506 CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 



Mr. Everett to Mr. Buchanan. 



(No. 305.) London, April 23, 18 %o. 



Sra: With my despatch, No. 278, of 25th March, I transmitted 

 the note of Lord Aberdeen, of the 10th of March, communicating 

 the important information that this government had come to the 

 determination to concede to American fishermen the right of pur- 

 suing their occupation within the Bay of Fundy. It was left some- 

 what uncertain by Lord Aberdeen's note whether this concession was 

 intended to be confined to the Bay of Fundy, or to extend to other 

 portions of the coast of the Anglo-American possessions, to which the 

 principles contended for by the government of the United States, 

 equally apply, and particularly to the waters on the northeastern 

 shores of Cape Breton, where the "Argus " was captured. In my 

 notes of the 25th ultimo and 2d instant, on the subject of the " Wash- 

 ington " and the "Argus ", I was careful to point out to Lord 

 Aberdeen that all the reasons for admitting the right of Americans 

 to fish in the Bay of Fundy apply to those waters, and with superior 

 force, inasmuch as they are less landlocked than the Bay of Fundy, 

 and to express the hope that the concession was meant to extend to 

 them, which there was some reason to think, from the mode in which 

 Lord Aberdeen expressed himself, was the case. 



I received last evening, the answer of his lordship, informing me 

 that my two notes had been referred to the colonial office, and that 

 a final reply could not be returned till he should be made acquainted 

 with the result of that reference, and that, in the meantime, the con- 

 cession must be understood to be limited to the Bay of Fundy. 



The merits of the question are so clear that I cannot but anticipate 

 that the decision of the colonial office will be in favor of the liberal 

 construction of the convention. In the meantime, I beg leave to 

 suggest, that in any public notice which may be given that the Bay 

 of Fundy is henceforth open to American fishermen, it should be 

 carefully stated that the extension of the same privilege to the other 

 great bays on the coasts of the Anglo-American dependencies, is a 

 matter of negotiation between the two governments. 



I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant, 



Edward Everett. 

 James Buchanan, Esq., 



Secretary of State. 



Mr. Crampton to Mr. Webster. 



Washington, July 5, 1852. 



Sir : I have been directed by her Majesty's government to bring to 

 the knowledge of the government of the United States a measure 

 which has been adopted by her Majesty's government to prevent a 

 repetition of the complaints which have so frequently been made of 

 the encroachments of vessels belonging to citizens of the United States 

 and of France upon the fishing grounds reserved to Great Britain 

 by the convention of 1818. 



Urgent representations having been addressed to her Majesty's 

 government by the governors of the British North American prov- 



