

QUESTION FIVE. 89 



PROPOSALS FOR RENEWAL 1866. 



1866-71. The reciprocity treaty having been terminated by the 

 United States, the question again became the subject of diplomatic 

 correspondence, and Mr. Seward (United States Secretary of State) 

 in 1866 proposed to the Earl of Clarendon the appointment of com- 

 missioners to settle the difficulties. Pending negotiations little effort 

 was made by the United Kingdom to enforce the provisions of the 

 convention. The instructions of the Colonial Secretary (Mr. Card- 

 well) were as follows: 



101 COLONIAL SECRETARY'S INSTRUCTIONS, 1866. 



It is, therefore, at present, the wish of Her Majesty's Government 

 neither to concede, nor, for the present, to enforce any rights in this 

 respect which are in their nature open to any serious question. Even 

 before the conclusion of the Reciprocity Treaty, Her Majesty's Gov- 

 ernment had consented to forgo the exercise of its strict right to 

 exclude American fishermen from the Bay of Fundy; and they are 

 of opinion that during the present season that right should not be 

 exercised in the body of the Bay of Fundy, and that American fisher- 

 men may not be interfered with, either by notice or otherwise, unless 

 they are found within three miles of the shore, or within three miles 

 of a line drawn across the mouth of a bay or creek, which is less than 

 ten geographical miles in width, in conformity with the arrangement 

 made with France in 1839. 



American vessels found within these limits .should be warned that 

 by engaging or preparing to engage in fishing they will be liable to 

 forfeiture, and should receive the notice to depart which is contem- 

 plated by the laws of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Ed- 

 ward Island, if within the waters of one of these colonies under cir- 

 cumstances of suspicion . But they should not be carried into port 

 except after wilful and persevering neglect of the warnings which 

 they may have received; and in case it should become necessary to 

 proceed to forfeiture, cases should, if possible, be selected for that 

 extreme step in which the offense of fishing has been committed 

 within three miles of land. 



Her Majesty's Government do not desire that the prohibition to 

 enter British bays should be generally insisted on, except when there 

 is reason to apprehend some substantial invasion of British rights. 

 And in particular they do not desire American vessels to be pre- 

 vented from navigating the Gut of Canso (from which Her Majesty's 

 Government are advised they might be lawfully excluded), unless 

 it shall appear that this permission is used to the injury of colonial 

 fishermen, or for other improper objects. 



I have it in command to make this communication to your Lord- 

 ships as conveying the decision of Her Majesty's Government on this 

 subject. (A pp., p. 2-22.) 



This letter was embodied in instructions issued by the Dominion 

 Government to its fishery officers in 1868. 



