74 CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



Minister in London, and by Mr. Webster, United States Secretary 

 of State. 



At a later period, however, the present contention was formulated, 

 and it was argued that the renunciation clause applied only to bays 

 not more than 6 miles wide at their opening. 



UNITED STATES VIEW, 1779-82. 



1779-82, The general position of the United States as to jurisdic- 

 tion over territorial waters in the years preceding the treaty is ma- 

 terial. It appears that in 1779 Congress was willing to concede to 

 Great Britain jurisdiction over 3 leagues (9 miles) of the sea a ; and 

 a report (16th August, 1782) of a Committee of Congress showed 

 the widely divergent opinions then entertained some asserting 30 

 leagues, some 100 miles, some 60 miles, some 14 miles, and some, as 

 far as could be seen from land on a fine day. 



DELAWARE BAY, 1793. 



1793. The French frigate " PEmbuscade " captured the British 

 ship " Grange " in Delaware Bay at a distance, from the shore, of 

 more than 3 miles. Declaring that the whole of the bay was within 

 its jurisdiction, the United States required the restoration of the 

 frigate. France complied. The bay has a headland width of 10 

 miles. 



Having been requested by the French Government to state its view 

 as to the limits of its jurisdiction in the ocean on unindented coasts, 

 the United States, after pointing to the unsettled condition of opinion 

 (ranging from 1 sea league to 20 miles), declined (App., p. 56) 



to fix on the distance to which we may ultimately insist on the right 

 of protection, 



but gave instructions to its officers 



to consider those heretofore given them as restrained for the present 

 to the distance of 1 sea league. 



The President of the United States further declared that, as to 

 rivers and bays (App., p. 56) 



the laws of the several States are understood to have made provision, 

 and they are, moreover, as being landlocked, within the body of the 

 United States. 



85 UNITED STATES CONTENTIONS, 1804. 



180 4. The question of the extent of territorial waters became 

 important in connection with the British assertion of the right of 

 search for British seamen in United States ships on the high seas. 



a See the Proceedings of Congress of July 22 and August 14, 1779, and 

 January 8, 1782. 



