52 The F is hay Question. 



angles and outside of such an imaginary line ; 

 that the convention of 1818 did not negative 

 the right of the United States to navigate the 

 Strait of Canso, but that independent of 

 treaty, no foreign state possessed such a right. 

 Also, that by the terms of the convention 

 American fishermen were prohibited from 

 landing on the shores of the Magdalen 

 Islands. 



As a general principle the exclusive jurisdic- 

 tion of a government over its bays may be 

 asserted, and no other reason than its own 

 convenience need be alleo^ed. The United 

 States has so asserted it, and has in some 

 cases drawn the line from headland to head- 

 land, ^^ yet it was fair to conclude that the con- 

 vention of 1 818 should be interpreted in a 

 friendly spirit, as intended to give to Ameri- 

 can fishermen every advantage compatible 

 with the terms. On general principles also, 

 the riofht to navisfate a strait was no infraction 

 of the territorial jurisdiction of the state in 

 possession of both shores, but was controlled 

 by the right to navigate the seas thus con- 

 nected. ^^ The Strait of Canso separates Nova 

 Scotia from Cape Breton.^"* It is twenty 

 miles long and in one place not more than a 



