632 CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 



Upon the receipt of yours of the 29th, which came to hand yester- 

 day, I caused copies to be at once prepared, and despatched the same 

 by mail, accompanied by a letter to each, of which the inclosed is a 

 copy. Two, at least, of the important consuls, those at Halifax and 

 St. John, are now absent on leave from the Department, and I fear 

 their deputies may not be as accurate in collecting information as 

 the consuls would have been if at home. 



It seems to me that the unfriendly construction given by the 

 Dominion government of the treaty of 1818 was intensified in its 

 harshness by the almost covert manner in which it was sought to 

 be enforced. It was with the greatest difficulty that our consuls could 

 ascertain from the commanders of the various armed vessels what 

 they would consider cause for seizure and condemnation. 



No adequate or suitable notice was given to the captains of Amer- 

 ican fishing vessels, and they were seized for acts which they had 

 been permitted to do from time immemorial, as well before as subse- 

 quently to the above-mentioned treaty. 



Information has come to me from so many sources of declarations 

 made by the various ministers of the Dominion government, that I 

 cannot doubt, and it is openly proclaimed here and believed to be 

 true, that the enforcement of the above mentioned treaty, in the 

 manner it has been enforced, has two objects, viz: one of which is to 

 create a Canadian sentiment in antagonism to the United States, with 

 a view to check the spread of American sentiment here looking to 

 ultimate annexation; the other object is, by the close control of the 

 fishing interests to compel the United States, through her interests, 

 to make a treaty of reciprocity of trade between the United States 

 and the British provinces in North America. 



The prevention of our vessels from purchasing supplies in Nova 

 Scotia and Prince Edward Island is injuring the trade and commerce 

 of those points, while the Dominion government is deriving no corre- 

 sponding advantage. 



But a small fraction of the fish taken there is taken by the Cana- 

 dians, and the exclusion of the people of the United States from 

 there will not be likely, in view of the character of the inhabitants, 

 and the duty upon fish, if maintained, to increase the number of 

 Canadian fishermen. 



I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 



William A. Dart, 



Consul General. 



Sir Edward Thornton to Mr. Fish. 



Washington, January £6, 1871. 

 Sir: In compliance with an instruction which I have received from 

 Earl Granville, I have the honor to state that Her Majesty's Govern- 

 ment deem it of importance to the good relations which they are 

 ever anxious should subsist and be strengthened between the United 

 States and Great Britain, that a friendly and complete understand- 

 ing should be come to between the two Governments as to the extent 

 of the rights which belong to the citizens of the United States and 

 Her Majesty's subjects, respectively, with reference to the fisheries on 



