52 The Fishery Questzoju 



angles and outside of such an imaginary line ; 

 that the convention of 1818 did not neeative 

 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 alleged. 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 18 1 8 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 right to navigate 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.^3 The Strait of Canso separates Nova 

 Scotia from Cape Breton. ^^ It is twenty 

 miles long and in one place not more than a 



