PEEIOD FROM 1854 TO 1871. 5 GO 



the proviso at the end of the article shows that the word ' bay ' was 

 used designedly, for it is expressly stated in that proviso that under 

 certain circumstances, the American fishermen can enter bays, by 

 which is evidently meant that the} 7 may, under these circumstances 

 pass the sea-line which forms the entrance to the bay. 



According to this construction, so undefined and indefinite, the bays 

 of Fundy and Chaleur, or any extent of the sea lying between distant 

 headlands, may be reserved under the name of bay, for the exclusive 

 use of British fishermen. 



The United States are firmly opposed to such a construction, be- 

 lieving it to be totally unauthorized by the language or intention of 

 the convention, or by the right acquired by usage. In the opinion of 

 this government repeatedly announced at different periods, the 

 American fishermen have a clear right to the use of the fishing: 

 grounds lying off the provincial coasts, whether in the main ocean or 

 in the inland seas, provided they do not approach within three 

 marine miles of such coasts, or of the entrance to any bay, creek or 

 harbor not more than six miles in width; and to such bays only does 

 the renunciatory clause in the first article apply. They object to 

 the British construction on the ground that, if such arms of the sea 

 as the bays of Fundy and Chaleur. or such curves in the coast as the 

 bay of Miramichi, or such part of the sea included between headlands 

 as the wide indentation on the coast of Cape Breton, lying between 

 North Cape and Cape Percy, were the " bays " renounced, there 

 would be an inconsistency, if not a clear contradiction in the very 

 next sentence of the article, which authorizes American fishermen, 

 "to enter such bays for the purpose of shelter and of repairing 

 damages." It can hardly be contended that "shelter" can be ob- 

 tained in the hay of Fundy, an arm of the sea forty miles wide and 

 one hundred in length, or that either shelter, wood, or water can be 

 obtained, or damages repaired, in the curve of the coast between the 

 headlands of St. Escumenac and Blackland Point, designated on the 

 chart as the bay of Miramichi. It is objected to. also, for the reason 

 that it would permit the drawing of lines anywhere in the gulf or on 

 the coast from headland to headland any one of which could be made 

 to embrace, at one sweep, many bays, creeks, and harbors, besides a 

 portion of the high seas, and from which the American fishermen 

 could be kept an indefinite distance, and be thereby driven From the 



fishing ground-. 



Moreover, it i- believed thai while the British construction is not 

 uece aary to secure to the people of the provinces the in-shore fish- 

 eries or to protect their rights of property, or their territorial juris- 

 diction, all of which are amply secured by the three marine miles 

 re triction, it would materially restrict tlie full enjoyment of the 

 right which we po e ed before the Revolution, which was acknowl- 

 edged in the definitive treaty of pence, which was not affected by 

 the treaty of Ghent, and which, according to the decision of Great 

 Britain, expres ed in the corre pondence which preceded the conven 

 tion. was not abrogated by the war of L812. That right is " to take 

 fi h of any kind "iii the gulf of St. Lawrence, and at all other 

 places in the sea where the inhabitants of both countries used at any 

 time heretofore to li h." No con truction Liable to uch indefinite 

 ezten ion or application can be correct or be allowed* 



