(330 CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 



capable of dispute, either by reference to the bearings of certain 

 headlands, or other objects on shore, or by laying the lines down in 

 B map or chart. 



With this object it is proposed that a Commission should be ap- 

 pointed, to be composed or representatives of Great Britain, the 

 United States, and Canada, to hold its sittings in America, and to 

 report to the British and American Governments their opinion either 

 as to the exact geographical limits to which the renunciation above 

 quoted applies, or if this is found impracticable, to suggest some line 

 of delineation along the whole coast, which, though not in exact 

 conformity with the words of the Convention, may appear to them 

 consistent in substance with the just rights of the two nations, and 

 calculated to remove occasion for further controversy. 



It is not intended that the results of the Commission should neces- 

 sarily be embodied in a new Convention between the two countries, 

 but if an agreement can be arrived at, it may be sufficient that it 

 should be in the form of an understanding, between the two Govern- 

 ments, as to the practical interpretation which shall be given to the 

 Convention of 1818. 



Mr. Fish to C 'onsul- General Dart. 



No. 12G.] Department of State, 



Washington, October 29, 1870. 



Sir: Several seizures of American fishing vessels are reported by 

 the consular officers within your consulate general, and by the parties 

 interested. Some of the vessels thus seized upon the charge of vio- 

 lating the laws of the Dominion of Canada, or the other British 

 North American provinces, have been taken into port for adjudica- 

 tion by the tribunals to which that function is assigned by the laws 

 of the respective provinces. It is to be presumed that those tribunals 

 will decide the cases respectively with intelligence and impartiality. 

 It is the duty of the owners of the vessels to defend their interests 

 before the courts at their own expense and without special assistance 

 from the Government in the present stage of affairs. It is for those 

 tribunals to construe the statutes under which they act. If the con- 

 struction they may adopt shall appear to be in contravention of our 

 treaties with Great Britain, or to be (which cannot be anticipated) 

 plainly erroneous in a case admitting no reasonable doubt, it will 

 then become the duty of the Government — a duty it will not be slow 

 to discharge — to avail itself of all necessary means for obtaining 

 redress. The present embarrassment is, that while we have reports 

 of several seizures upon grounds as stated by the interested parties, 

 which seem to be in contravention of international law and special 

 treaties relating to the fisheries, these alleged causes of seizure are 

 regarded as pretensions of over-zealous officers of the British navy 

 and the colonial vessels, which will, as we hope and are bound in 

 courtesy to expect, be repudiated by the courts before which our 

 vessels are to be brought for adjudication. It is the desire of this 

 Government, nevertheless, that our consular officers should watch the 

 course of proceeding in these cases, and give prompt and authentic 

 information of any decision which may be made in them. In par- 

 ticular if the charge aga : ist any American fishing vessel is only 

 that she has been preparing to fish, without actual fishing in the pro- 



