DESPATCHES, REPORTS, CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 259 



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

 purpose whatever. But they shall be under such restrictions as may be neces- 

 sary to prevent their taking, drying, or curing fish therein, or in any other 

 manner whatever abusing the privileges hereby reserved to them. 



It would appear that, by a strict and rigid construction of this 

 Article, fishing vessels of the United States are precluded from enter- 

 ing into the bays or harbours of the British Provinces, except for the 

 purposes of shelter, repairing damages, and obtaining wood and 

 water. A bay, as is usually understood, is an arm or recess of the sea, 

 entering from the ocean between capes or headlands ; and the term is 

 applied equally to small and large tracts of water thus situated. It is 

 common to speak of Hudson's Bay, or the Bay of Biscay, although 

 they are very large tracts of water. 



The British authorities insist that England has a right to draw a 

 line from headland to headland, and to capture all American fisher- 

 men who may follow their pursuits inside of that line. It was un- 

 doubtedly an oversight in the Convention of 1818 to make so large a 

 concession to England, since the United States had usually con- 

 sidered that those vast inlets or recesses of the Ocean ought to be 

 open to American fishermen, as freely as the sea itself, to within three 

 marine miles of the shore. 



.In 1841 .the Legislature of Nova Scotia prepared a case for the 

 consideration of the Advocate General, and Attorney General of 

 England, upon the true construction of this Article of the Conven- 

 tion. The opinion delivered by these officers of the Crown was: 



That by the terms of the Convention American citizens were excluded from 

 any right of fishing within three miles from the coast of British America, and 

 that the in-escribed distance of three miles is to be measured from the head- 

 lands or extreme points of land ne.rt the sea, of the coast or of the entrance of 

 bays or indents of the coast, and consequently that no right exists on the part 

 of American citizens to enter the bays of Nova Scotia, there to take fish, 

 although the fishing, being within the bay, may be at a greater distance than 

 three miles from the shore of the bay; as we are of opinion that the term 

 " headland " is used in the Treaty to express the part of the land we have before 

 mentioned, including the interior of the bays and the indents of the coast. 



It is this construction of the intent and meaning of the Conven- 

 tion of 1818 for which the colonies have contended since 1841, and 

 which they have desired should be enforced. This the English Gov- 

 ernment has now, it would appear, consented to do, and the immediate 

 effect will be, the loss of the valuable fall-fishing to American fisher- 

 men; a complete interruption of the extensive fishing business of 

 New England, attended by constant collisions of the most unpleasant 

 and exciting character, which may end in the destruction of human 

 life, in the involvement of the Government in questions of a very 

 serious nature, threatening the peace of the two countries. Not 

 agreeing that the construction thus put upon the treaty is conform- 

 able to the intentions of the Contracting Parties, this information 

 is, however, made public, to the end that those concerned in the 

 American fisheries may perceive how the case at present stands, and 

 be upon their guard. The whole subject will engage the immediate 

 attention of the Government. 



DANIEL WEBSTER, Secretary of State. 



