DESPATCHES, REPORTS, CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 225 



the law to take its course in the hope that the question might be 

 adjudicated on and finally determined. 



It is worthy of remark that the American Government, or even 

 any American citizen, can settle the point in dispute at any time, 

 by appealing to the Courts of Law; but the trespassers on our fish- 

 ing grounds prefer invoking the protection of their ambassador, and 

 charging the provincial authorities with impropriety of conduct, 

 which impropriety, if any exists, is, in the present instance at least, 

 solely attributable to the reliance of those authorities on the opinion 

 of the English Crown Officers. 



Mr. Everett says " it is believed that no such construction as that 

 now sought to be put on the terms of the Convention was set up by 

 the provincial authorities for several years after the negotiation of 

 that instrument." But his Excellency is mistaken on this point, as I 

 have already shown, in the Despatch, No. 75, which accompanies 

 this. 



Mr. Everett complains of " the harsh measure of proceeding to 

 '' the capture " of the vessels of a friendly power for taking a few 

 fish within limits alleged to be forbidden, although allowed by the 

 express terms of the treaty" thus assuming the point at issue, in 

 contradiction to the judgment of Dr. Dodson, and Sir Thomas Wilde. 



In conclusion I deem it my duty, as the advocate of the interests of 

 the province of Nova Scotia, to state to your Lordship in the most 

 forcible terms that the cession of the right of fishery, to the extent 

 claimed by the American Minister (that is to say within the head- 

 lands of the bays and harbours of Nova Scotia when those bays or 

 harbours shall exceed three miles in depth) would, although ap- 

 parently treated by his Excellency as a matter of small moment, be 

 nearly destructive of a branch of commerce the prosperity of which 

 is of the utmost importance to the welfare of this colony, and, that 

 such a measure would be viewed with extreme apprehension by all 

 classes of its inhabitants. 



I have the honour to be, my Lord, 



Your Lordship's most obedient humble servant 



FALKLAND : 

 The Lord STANLEY, 



&c &c &c 



No. 77. 1844, April 15: Letter from Lord Aberdeen to Mr. Everett. 



FOREIGN OFFICE, April 15, 1844' 



The note which Mr. Everett, envoy extraordinary and minister 

 plenipotentiary of the United States of America, addressed to the 

 undersigned, her Majesty's principal Secretary of State for foreign 

 affairs, on the 10th of August last, respecting the seizure of the 

 American fishing vessel Washington by the officers of Nova Scotia, 

 having been duly referred to the colonial office, and by that office to 

 the governor of Nova Scotia, the undersigned has now the honor to 

 communicate to Mr. Everett the result of those references. 



The complaint which Mr. Everett submits to ^her Majesty's gov- 

 ernment is that, contrary to the express stipulations of the conven- 

 tion concluded on the 20th of October, 1818, between Great Britain 

 and the United States, an American fishing vessel was seized by 

 92909 S. Doc. 870, 61-3, vol 4 25 



