588 OOUBESPONDENOE, ETC. 



[Sub-lnclosure 1.] 



Report of the committee of the honorable and privy council, approved 

 by his excellency the Governor General, on the 10th day of May, 

 1870. 



The committee of council have had before them the dispatch dated 

 22d April, 1870, from her Majesty's minister at Washington, inclosing 

 copy of a note which he received from Mr. Fish, in which he invites 

 his attention to the first paragraph of the order in council of the 8th 

 of January last, discontinuing the system of fishing licenses, and 

 stating that Mr. Fish also made a verbal communication to him upon 

 the same subject, and said that the phrase " waters of Canada " 

 might be supposed to include some of those waters in which, by the 

 treaty of 1818, American fishermen have a right to fish, but which, 

 by an extension of the boundaries of Canada, may now be comprised 

 within the " waters of Canada." 



Mr. Thornton states that he assured Mr. Fish of his conviction that 

 the above-mentioned order in council has no intention of abridging 

 any of the rights to which citizens of the United States are entitled 

 by the treaty of 1818, and that he would call your excellency's atten- 

 tion to the subject. 



The committee have also had under consideration the annexed 

 report, dated 28th April, 1870, from the honorable the minister of 

 marine and fisheries, to whom the above dispatch was referred, and 

 they entirely concur in the views expressed in that report, and advise 

 that a copy thereof be transmitted by your excellency to Mr. Thorn- 

 ton, for the information of the United States Government, 



Certified. 



William H. Lee, 



Clerk Privy Council. 

 [Sub-lnclosure 2.] 



Report of the Minister of Marine and Fisheries. 



Department of Marine and Fisheries, 



Ottawa, April 28, 1870. 



The minister of marine and fisheries has the honor to state, with 

 reference to Mr. Thornton's dispatch of the 22d instant, accompanied 

 by a note from Mr. Secretary Fish, in which the latter calls attention 

 to the first paragraph of the order in council of 8th January last, and 

 expresses his apprehension of interference with certain fishing rights 

 guaranteed to the United States by article one of the convention of 

 1818, that the wording of the minute of council referred to clearly 

 shows, by providing for the prevention of " illegal encroachment by 

 foreigners " on the in-shore fisheries of Canada, that the Canadian 

 government never contemplated any interference with rights secured 

 to United States citizens by the treaty in question between the British 

 and American governments. 



Mr. Thornton was therefore quite right in assuring Mr. Fish, in 

 general terms, that there could be no intention to abridge any rights 

 to which citizens of the United States are entitled by treaty. 



The undersigned remarks that Mr. Fish also labors under a misap- 

 prehension in supposing that the present boundaries of the Dominion 



