undersigned invites the attention of Lord Aberdeen to a note of INIr 

 Stevensfm, addressed to Lord Palmerston on the 27th of March, 1S41 

 The receipt of tliis note was acknowledged by Lord Palmerston oi 

 the 2(1 of" April, and Mr. Stevenson was informed that the subject wa: 

 referred by his lordsliip to the Secretary of State for the colonial de 

 partmcnt. 



"On the 28th of the same month Mr. Stevenson was further in 

 formed by Lord Palmerston, that he hnd received a letter from th< 

 colonial department, acquainting his lordship that Mr. Stevenson's com 

 munication would be forwarded to Lord Falkland, with instructions t( 

 inquire into the allegations contained therein, and to furnish a detailec 

 report upon the subject. The undersigned does not find on the files o 

 this legation any further communication from Lord Pahnerston in replj 

 to Mr. Stevenson's letter of the 27th March, 1S41, and he believes tha 

 letter still remains unanswered. 



"In reference to the case of the 'Washington,' and those of a simila; 

 nature which have formerly occurred, the undersigned cannot but re 

 mark upon the impropriety of the conduct of the colonial authoritie; 

 in undertaking, without directions from her Majesty's government, t( 

 set up a new construction of a treaty between the United States anc 

 England, and in proceeding to act upon it by the forcible seizure o 

 American vessels. 



*' Such a summary procedure could only be justified by a case of ex 

 treme necessity, and where some grave and impending mischief requirec 

 to be averted without delay. To proceed to the capture of vesseL 

 of a friendly power for takmg a few fish within limits alleged to b< 

 forbidden, although allowed by the express terms of the treaty, mus 

 be regarded as a very objectionable stretch of provincial authority 

 The case is obviously one for the consideration of the two governments 

 and in which no disturbance of a right exercised without question fbi 

 fifty years from the treaty of 1783 ought to be attempted by an} 

 subordinate authority. Even her Majesty's government, the undersignec 

 is convinced, would not proceed in such a case to violent measures o 

 suppression without some understanding with the government of thf 

 United States, or, in the failure of an attempt to come to an under- 

 standing, without due notice given of the course intended to be pursued 



" The undersigned need not urge upon Lord Aberdeen the desira- 

 bleness of an authoritative intervention on the part of her Majesty'^ 

 government to put an end to the proceedings complained of The 

 President of the Unitfxl States entertains a confident expectation of" ar 

 early and equitable adjustment of the difliculties which liave becumow 

 for so long a time under the consideration of her Majesty's government 

 This expectation is the result of the President's reliance upon the sense 

 of justice of her Majesty's government, and of the fact that from the 

 year 1818, the date of the convention, until some years after the at- 

 tempts of the provincial authorities to restrict the rights of American 



