618 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



seeming but a narrow slip lying close under the high cliffs 

 of the land, and when it is taken into account that the 

 whole sea outside is free to every comer, whether British 

 or foreign, the slight boundary within shore ought to be 

 strictly kept." Sometimes, however, the French were accused 

 of infringing the limit from a common misconception on 

 the part of our fishermen that the boundary was the tradi- 

 tional one of three leagues or nine miles, instead of only 

 three miles. Upon explanation, they admitted their mis- 

 apprehension, " but," said the Commissioners, " with a sig- 

 nificant expression of their wish that it had been leagues 

 instead of miles." 



The French herring vessels swarmed chiefly about Berwick, 

 and the coast of Northumberland, and in 1853 a question 

 of the limit at the Fame Isles was raised by the French 

 commodore. He interpreted the words of the convention 

 (which did not specify islands) as meaning that the three 

 miles was to be measured from low - water mark on the 

 mainland, which would have allowed the French to fish 

 close to the islands. The British naval superintendent, on 

 the other hand, held that the limit extended to three miles 

 from low-water mark on the islands as well, but, pending 

 a legal opinion, he released two French vessels he had seized 

 for fishing within that distance from them. The Queen's 

 Advocate decided in favour of the latter interpretation, and 

 the point does not appear to have been again raised. 1 The 

 infringement of the boundary by the French gradually became 

 less frequent, and in 1867 it was reported that they had 

 begun to fish at a greater distance from the coast than 

 formerly, and even out of sight of land. 



At this time it was found to be desirable to conclude 

 another fishery convention with France. Nearly all the 

 elaborate regulations under the convention of 1839 had turned 

 out to be unworkable or were disregarded, and much differ- 



o 



ence of opinion existed as to what actually were "the seas 

 lying between the British Islands and France" to which 

 they applied. 2 In this second convention, in 1867, the ex- 



1 Reports of the Commissioners for the British Fisheries, 1852. 1853, 1862. 

 ' 2 Report of the Commissioners appointed to Enquire into the Sea Fisheries of the 

 United Kingdom, I. Ixix. (1866). 





