212 APPENDIX TO BRITISH CASE. 



I am instructed by the President to conrey to you his desire that, 

 on the receipt of this letter, you immediately address a representation 

 of the whole subject to Her Majesty's Government, earnestly remon- 

 strate against the illegal and vexatious proceedings of the author- 

 ities of Nova Scotia towards our fishermen, and request that meas- 

 ures be forthwith adopted by Her Majesty's Government to remedy 

 the evils arising out of this misconstruction, on the part of the 

 provincial authorities, of their conventional obligations, and to pre- 

 vent the possibility of the recurrence of similar acts. 



It is important that this subject should be acted upon without 

 delay, as in the House of Assembly of Nova Scotia, at the session 

 of 1839-'40, an address to the Queen was voted, suggesting the exten- 

 sion to the adjoining British Colonies, of rules and regulations relat- 

 ing to the fisheries similar to those in actual operation in that prov- 

 ince, which have proved so onerous to American fishermen, and 

 efforts, it is understood, are still making to induce the other colonies 

 to unite with Nova Scotia in her restrictive system. Some of 

 125 the provisions of her code, supposed to be substantially the 

 same with those of the provincial law above referred to, are 

 of the most extraordinary character. For instance, a foreign vessel 

 preparing to fish within three miles of the coast of Her Majesty's 

 dominions in America, is, together with her cargo, to be forfeited; 

 in cases of seizure the owner or claimant of the vessel, &c., to be 

 held to prove his innocence or pay treble costs ; he is forced to try his 

 action within three months; to give a month's notice to the seizing 

 officer, which notice must contain everything intended to be proved 

 against him, before a suit can be instituted ; and also to prove that the 

 notice has been given. The seizing officer is almost wholly irrespon- 

 sible, since he is liable to no prosecution; if the judge certify that 

 there was probable cause, and the plaintiff in such suit, if he be 

 successful, is only entitled to two pence damages without costs, the 

 defendant to be fined not more than one shilling, &c., &c. In short, 

 some of these rules and regulations are violations of well established 

 principles of the common law of England and of the principles of 

 all just powers and all civilized nations, and seem to be expressly de- 

 signed to enable her Majesty's authorities, with perfect impunity, to 

 seize and confiscate American vessels, and to embezzle, almost indis- 

 criminately, the property of our citizens empljyed in the fisheries on 

 the coasts of the British possessions. 



In pointing out to her Majesty's government the points in these 

 regulations which have proved or are likely to prove most injurious 

 and oppressive in their practical operation on the interests of the 

 citizens of the United States, it will also be proper to notice the 

 assertion of the provincial legislature, that the Strait of Canso is a 

 "narrow strip of water completely within and dividing several coun- 

 ties" of the province, and that our use of it is in violation of the 

 convention of 1818. That strait separates Nova Scotia from the 

 island of Cape Breton, which was not annexed to the province until 

 1820. In 1818, Cape Breton was enjoying a government of its own 

 entirely distinct from Nova Scotia, the strait forming the line of 

 demarcation between them, and being then, as now, a thoroughfare 

 for vessels passing into and out of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The 

 union of the two Colonies cannot be admitted as vesting in the 

 province the right to close a passage which has been freely and 



