QUESTION THEEE. 59 



revenue cutters were authorised to board vessels in any port of the 

 United States, or within four leagues of the coasts thereof, if bound 

 to the United States, to demand manifests, examine the officers, and 

 search the vessels. The master of every vessel bound for a foreign 

 port was required to obtain a customs clearance before departure. 

 (App., p. 779.) 



1793, February 18, cap. 8. The masters of licensed fishing vessels 



intending to touch and trade in any foreign port were required to 



obtain permission from the collector of customs before sailing, and 



they were obliged to deliver manifests and make entries both 



68 of the ship and vessel and of the goods on board within the 



same time and under the same penalty as if arriving from a 



foreign port. (App., p> 782.) 



1799, March %, cap. 22. The master and person next in command 

 of every vessel from a foreign port compelled by distress of weather 

 or other necessity to put into any port of the United States were 

 required to make protest upon oath of the cause or circumstance of 

 such distress within twenty- four hours after arrival, and the master 

 was required to report in writing to the collector of customs within 

 the same time. (App., p. 782.) 



The fishery clauses of the treaty of 1871 opened to British fishermen 

 a certain part of the United States coast-fishing (App., p. 39), ancf 

 the language of the concession is very much the same as that of the 

 article of the 1818 treaty now under consideration. Those fishery 

 clauses remained in force until 1885 (App., p. 788), and during all 

 those years the following statute of the United States was operative : 



And be it further enacted that it shall be the duty of the master of 

 any foreign vessel, laden or in ballast, arriving in the waters of the 

 United States from any foreign territory adjacent to the northern, 

 north-eastern, or north-western frontiers of the United States, to 

 report at the office of any collector or deputy collector of the customs, 

 which shall be nearest to the point at which such vessel may enter said 

 waters; and such vessel shall not proceed further inland, either to 

 unlade or take in cargo, without a special permit from such collector 

 or deputy collector, issued under and in accordance with such gen- 

 eral or special regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may, in 

 his discretion, from time to time, prescribe. And for any violation of 

 this section such vessels shall be seized and forfeited. 



It cannot be doubted that the provisions of this Act would have 

 been applied in the case of any British or colonial fishermen availing 

 themselves of the privilege conceded by treaty, to fish in American 

 waters. 



UNITED STATES ENDORSEMENT OF COLONIAL ACTION. 



At a time of diplomatic tension when the United States Congress 

 was actively investigating and discussing the whole subject of colonial 

 action, Mr. Daniel Manning, the United States Secretary of the 



