228 APPENDIX TO BRITISH CASE. 



in America, and that the American fishermen shall have liberty to dry 

 and cure fish in any of the unsettled bays, harbors and creeks of 

 Nova Scotia, Magdalen islands and Labrador, so long as the same 

 shall remain unsettled ; but so soon as the same or either of them shall 

 be settled, it shall not be lawful for the said fishermen to dry or cure 

 fish at such settlement without a previous agreement for that pur- 

 pose with the inhabitants, proprietors or possessors of that ground." 

 These privileges and conditions were in reference to a country of 

 which a considerable portion was then unsettled, likely to be attended 

 with differences of opinion as to what should, in the progress of time, 

 be accounted a settlement from which American fishermen might be 

 excluded. These differences in fact arose, and by the year 1818 the 

 state of things was so far changed that her Majesty's government 

 thought it necessary in negotiating the convention of that year, en- 

 tirely to except the province of Nova Scotia from the number of the 

 places which might be frequented by Americans as being in part un- 

 settled, and to provide that the fishermen of the United States should 

 not pursue their occupation within three miles of the shores, bays, 

 creeks and harbors of that and other parts of her Majesty's posses- 

 sions similarly situated. The privilege reserved to American fisher- 

 men by the treaty of 1783, of taking fish in all the waters and drying 

 them on all the unsettled portions of the coast of these possessions 

 was accordingly by the convention of 1818 restricted as follows : 



The United States hereby renounce for ever any liberty heretofore enjoyed 

 or claimed by the inhabitants thereof, to take, dry, or cure fish on or within 

 three marine miles of any of the coasts, bays, creeks or harbors of his Britannic 

 Majesty's dominions in America, not included within the above mentioned 

 limits; provided, however, that the American fishermen shall be admitted to 

 enter such bays or harbors for the purpose of sheltering and repairing dam- 

 ages therein, of purchasing wood, and of obtaining water, and for no other 

 purpose whatever. 



The existing doubt as to the construction of the provision arises 

 from the fact that a broad arm of the sea runs up to the northeast, 

 between the provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. This 

 arm of the sea being commonly called the Bay of Fundy, though not 

 in reality possessing all the characters usually implied by the term 

 " bay," has of late years been claimed by the provincial authorities 

 of Nova Scotia to be included among " the coasts, bays, creeks and 

 harbors forbidden to American fishermen." 



An examination of the map is sufficient to show the doubtful 

 nature of this construction. It was notoriously the object of the 

 article of the treaty in question to put an end to the difficulties which 

 had grown out of the operations 'of the fishermen from the United 

 States along the coasts and upon the shores of the settled portions 

 of the country, and for that purpose to remove their vessels to a 

 distance not exceeding three miles from the same. In estimating this 

 distance, the undersigned admits it to be the intent of the treaty, 

 as it is itself reasonable, to have regard to the general line of the 

 coast; and to consider its bays, creeks and harbors, that is, the in- 

 dentations usually so accounted, as included within that line. But 

 the undersigned cannot admit it to be reasonable, instead of thus 

 following the general directions of the coast, to draw a line from 

 the southwestern-most point of Nova Scotia to the termination of the 

 northeastern boundary between the United States and New Bruns- 

 wick, and to consider the arms of the sea which will thus be cut off, 



