QUESTION SEVEN. 133 



shores for certain limited purposes, but it did not do away with the 

 general prohibition against entry for other purposes ; it did not con- 

 fer on fishing- vessels those commercial privileges which were denied 

 at that time, and for years afterwards, to vessels of all other kinds. 



COMMERCIAL FACILITIES WOULD ALTER CHARACTER OF TREATY LIBERTIES. 



2. A liberty to exercise commercial privileges is not in accordance 



with the tenour of the treaty. It would enable American 

 147 fishermen to establish the head-quarters of their industry on 



British soil. Liberty for fishermen of another country to par- 

 ticipate in shore fisheries is one thing: liberty to make those shores 

 the bases of their fishing business is a distinct and much more ex- 

 tensive concession. No such grant as this was contemplated in 1818. 

 The right to use the shores was given for specified purposes only, 

 and subject to special limitations. The claim to trading privileges is 

 a claim to have the use of the shores for purposes other than those 

 specified, and subject to no limitations. 



NO RIGHT APART FROM TREATY. 



3. Apart from the treaty of 1818, there is no treaty or agreement 

 under which American fishermen can claim to exercise any rights in 

 British territorial waters. There has been a succession of temporary 

 arrangements relating to fisheries extending over a long course of 

 years, and liberty to trade for purposes connected with fishing oper- 

 ations has been generally conceded during the continuance of these 

 arrangements. But these concessions were merely voluntary and 

 terminable at will, and there can not be any obligation on Great 

 Britain to give to fishing-vessels the same commercial privileges as 

 are accorded as a matter of comity to trading-vessels. 



U. 8. CONTENTION IN HALIFAX ARBITRATION. 



4. The Government of the United States have themselves urged 

 before the Halifax Commission that the privileges of traffic, pur- 

 chasing bait and other supplies have been enjoyed by the inhabitants 

 of the United States on sufferance, and that they could at any time be 

 deprived of them by British legislation, and this contention was 

 accepted and acted on by the Commissioners. They further asserted 

 that a liberty to fish does not carry with it any right to buy bait, ice, 

 or supplies, or to transship cargoes. (App., p. 254.) 



COMMERCIAL PRIVILEGES CANNOT BE CLAIMED AS OF RIGHT UNDER INTER- 

 NATIONAL LAW. 



5. There is no principle of the law of nations under which com- 

 mercial privileges can be claimed as of right. It is within the power 

 of a State to close its ports to foreign trade, or to any particular 

 class of foreign trade, as it may please; it is equally within its power 



92909 S. Doc. 870, 61-3, vol 4 10 



