262 



Her Majesty's minister desired Mr. Webster to inform him whether 

 our government was disposed to enter upon negotiations and conclude 

 a convention, on the terms suggested, or whether, preferring legisla- 

 tion, an urgent recommendation would be made to Congress, at the 

 earliest opportunity. The President declined to negotiate; bat in his 

 annual message, December, 1S51, he said: "Your attention is again 

 invited to the question of reciprocal trade between the United States 

 and Canada and other British possessions near our frontier. Overtures 

 for a convention upon this subject have been received from her Britan- 

 nic Majesty's minister plenipotentiary, but it seems to be in many re- 

 spects preferable that the matter should be regulated by recipj-ocal legis- 

 lation. Documents are laid before you, showing the terms which the 

 British government is willing to offer, and the measures which it may 

 adopt, if some arrangement upon this subject shall not be maJe." 



Months passed away; "Congress did nothing, said nothing, thought 

 nothing on the subject,"* and the parties to the Toronto agreement 

 became impatient. In March, 1852, the committee on the fisheries of 

 Nova Scotia, in a report to the House of Assembly, unanimously re- 

 commended a sufficient sum to be placed at the disposal of the execu- 

 tive of the colony, to employ four fast-sailing vessels during the fishing 

 season, with authority to seize all foreign vessels found employed within 

 the prescribed limits; and they recommended, also, the adoption of 

 measures to enlist the aid of the home government, and secure the 

 co-operation of naval steam-vessels. This plan was substantially ex- 

 ecuted by the Assembly. The government of Canada promptly fol- 

 lowed, and a vessel to cruise in the Gulf of St. Lawrence was ready 

 for sea early in May. New Brunswick was tardy, but the authorities 

 of that colony were reminded of their duty by the newspaper press, 

 and finally fitted out two vessels. P^'ince Edward Island furnished 

 one vessel, and Newfoundland, though not included in the arrange- 

 ments at Toronto, joined the movement. In June, the colonists re- 

 ceived assurances from Sir John Packington, the secretary for the colo- 

 nies, that "among the many pressing subjects which have engaged the 

 attention of her Majesty's ministers since their assumption of office, 

 few have been more important, in their estimation, than the questions 

 relating to the protection solicited for the fisheries on the coasts of Brit- 

 ish North America ;" and that "her Majesty's ministers are desirous to 

 remove all grounds of complaint on the part of the colonies, in conse- 

 quence of the encroachments of the fishing vessels of the United States 

 upon those waters, from which they are excluded by the terms of the 

 convention of 1818; and they therefore intend to despatch, as soon as 

 possible, a small naval force of steamers, or other small vessels, to en- 

 force the observance of that convention." 



The controversy was now rapidly approaching a crisis. As was 

 subsequently said by a distinguished statesman,! "this whole mat- 

 ter is to be explained as a stroke of policy. It may be a dangerous 

 step to be taken by the British government, and the colonies may be 



* Speech of Hon. W. H. Seward in the Seniite of the United States, August 14, 1852. 

 t Hon. Jolm Davis, of Massachusetts — speech in the Senate United States, August, 1852 



