128 CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



CANADIAN DOCUMENTS. 



Mr. Bayard's letter of the 10th May (ante) was dealt with in a 

 report of the Canadian Minister of Justice (May 1886) and by a 

 Canadian Order-in-Council (14th June, 1886). (App., p. 305.) Mr. 

 Phelps' letter of the 2nd June (ante) (App., p. 319) was the sub- 

 ject of a further report by the Canadian Minister of Justice (22nd 

 July). (App., p. 330.) The attention of the Tribunal is invited to 

 these documents. 



The correspondence was continued during the remainder of 1886 

 and during 1887, but the main contentions are sufficiently stated in 

 the letters and documents to which reference has been made. 



MR. MANNING'S REPORT, 1887. 



In the report by Mr. Daniel Manning, United States Secretary of 

 the Treasury, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives (10th 

 January, 1887) is the following (App., p. 373) : 



American fishing-vessels duly authenticated by this department, 

 and having a permit "to touch and trade," should be permitted to 

 visit Canadian ports and buy supplies, and enjoy ordinary commer- 

 cial privileges, unless such a right is withheld in our ports from 

 Canadian vessels. That right is denied by the Privy Council and the 

 Governor-General of the Canadian Dominion upon the ground that 

 it would be in effect a pro tanto abrogation of the treaty of 1818. 

 That contention is an error, in the opinion of this department, be- 

 cause the treaty of 1818 has no application to the subject-matter. 



UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 1887. 



To the same effect was the report of a committee of the House of 

 Representatives (18th January, 1887) : 



142 It is to be assumed that when this treaty of 1818 was signed. 

 the British statutes of Charles II, in restraint of navigation, 

 the rudiments of which are to be seen in 1650, and were aimed at 

 Dutch trade with British sugar colonies, were, on the English side, 

 rigorously enforced, so that no merchandise could be lawfully im- 

 ported into Canadian ports excepting in English bottoms. The 

 treaty of 1818 was concluded on the 20th October of that year, but 

 ratifications were not exchanged till the 30th January, 18l9. Cer 

 tainly on our side there was then in force legislative restriction on 

 navigation almost as severe as was the English enactment after 

 the restoration of Charles II. America had not then emerged from 

 the era of the embargo, Berlin and Milan decrees, and the influence? 

 of the war of 1812. On 18th April, 1818, the President approved a 

 law closing our ports after the 30th September, 1818, against British 

 vessels coming from a colony which, by the ordinary laws, is closed 

 against American vessels. Touching at a port open to American ves- 

 sels could not modify the restriction. Vessels and cargoes entering, 



