QUESTION FIVE. 97 



upon it; and there was no principle of the law of nations under 

 which the meaning could be limited to bays of a certain extent only. 



USAGE OF NATIONS. 



The usage of nations is consistent only with this conclusion. The 

 United States and Great Britain have both continuously insisted on 

 claims which would not have been tenable if there had been any such 

 limit as is now suggested by the former Power, and other States have 

 exercised sovereignty over territorial waters equally extensive. 



UNITED STATES. 



Turning first to the United States, it will be found that they have 

 claimed wide rights in respect of bays. 



DELAWARE BAY. 



In 1793. France seized a British vessel, the " Grange," in Delaware 

 Bay more than 3 miles from land. 



This bay has a w r idth between its headlands of 10| miles, and it 



extends in length about 30 miles before the distance between its 



110 shores reduces to 6 miles. The United States demanded the 



release of the vessel on the ground that the seizure had been 



made in neutral waters because Delaware Bay was United States 



territory. Chancellor Kent, in his " Commentaries," refers to this 



incident in the following terms : 



The executive authority of that country in 1793 considered the 

 whole of Delaware Bay to be within its territorial jurisdiction, rest- 

 ing its claim upon those authorities which admit that gulfs, chan- 

 nels, and arms of the sea belong to the people with whose lands they 

 are encompassed, and it was intimated that the law of nations would 

 justify the United States in attaching to their coasts an extent into 

 the sea beyond the reach of cannon-shot. a 



Since that time the United States have continuously treated Dela- 

 ware Bay as their territory, and have prescribed regulations for 

 fishing which apply to the whole of the bay. (App.. p. 788.) 



UNITED STATES CLAIM, 1804. 



In 1804, in the discussions which arose as to the right asserted by 

 Great Britain to search American vessels for British seamen, Mr. 

 Jefferson, the President of the United States, writing to the United 

 States Secretary of the Treasury on the 8th September, put forward 

 a claim to sovereignty over enclosed waters which included bays 25 

 miles in width. An extract from this letter has been set out at p. 



Kent's " International Law " (Abdy's 2nd ed.), p. 101. 



