264 



" The c()lom^ of Newfoundland lias fitted out an armed vessel for the 

 purpose of resisting the encroaclnnents of French fishing vessels on the 

 coast of Labrador; but when read}' to sail fioni her port, the governor 

 of that colony, acting under imperial instructions, refused to give the 

 comm;mder of this colonial vessel the necessary authority for making 

 prize of French vessels found trespassing. This is an extraordinary 

 circumstance, especially when taken in connexion with the fact that the 

 like authority to seize American fishing vessels, under similar circum- 

 stances, has never been refused to the cruisers of any of the North 

 American colonies. 



"The colony of Nova Scotia has now four armed cruisers, well 

 manned, on its coasts, ready to pounce upon any American vessels who 

 may, accidentally or otherwise, be found fishing within the limits defined 

 by the crown officers of England. 



" New Brunswick has agreed with Canada and Nova Scotia to place 

 a cutter in the Bay of Fundy to look after American fishermen there; 

 and at Prince Edward Island, her Majesty's steam-frigate 'Devasta- 

 tion' has been j)laced, under the instructions of the governor of that 

 colony." 



Mr. Webster then recites the first article of the conventio of 1S18, 

 and concludes in the following terms : 



"It would appear that by a strict and rigid construction of this 

 article, fishing vessels of the United States are precluded from entering 

 into the bays or harbors of the British provinces, except for the pur- 

 poses of shelter, repairing damages, and obtaining wood and water. 

 A bay, as is usually understood, is an arm or recess of the sea, en- 

 tering from the ocean between capes or headlands ; and the term is 

 applied equally to small and large tracts of water thus situated. It is 

 common to speak of Hudson's Bay, or the Bay of Bisca}^, although 

 they are very large tracts of water. 



" The British authorities insist that England has a right to draw a 

 line from headland to headland, and to capture all American fishermen 

 who may follow their pursuits inside of that line. It was undoubt- 

 edly an oversight in the convention of 1818 to make so large a con- 

 cession to England, since the United States had usually considered 

 that those vast inlets or recesses of the ocean ought to be open to 

 American fishermen, as freely as the sea itself, to within three marine 

 miles of the shore. 



"In 1841, the legislature of Nova Scotia prepared a case for the 

 consideration of the advocate general and attorney general of Eng- 

 land, upon the true construction of this article of the convention. 

 The opinion delivered by these officers of the crown was, ' That 

 by the terms of the convention, American citizens were excluded from 

 any right of fishing within three miles from the coast of British America, 

 and that tlie j^'^'cscnbcd (/isftnicc of three miles is to be medsurcd from the 

 headluruh or extreme 'points of land next the sea, of the coast or of the en- 

 trance of bays or indents of the coast, and consequently that no right 

 exists on the part of American citizens to enter the hays of Nova Scotia, 

 there to take fish, although the fishing, being within the baij, may be at a, 

 greater distance than tliree miles from the shore of the bay; as we are of 

 opinion that the term ^ lieadlajuV is tiscd in the treaty to express the part of 



