DESPATCHES, BEPORTS, COEBESPONDENCE, ETC. 275 



interest could have hardly been expected from these legal expounders. 

 On the main point the following was the opinion : 



2d. Except within certain defined limits to which the query put to us does not 

 apply, we are of opinion that by the terms of the Treaty American citizens are 

 excluded from the right of fishing within three miles of the coast of British 

 America ; and that the prescribed distance of three miles is to be measured 

 from the headlands, or extreme points of land next the sea of the coast, or of 

 the entrance of the bays, and not from the interior of such bays or inlets 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, excluding the interior 

 of the bays and the inlets of the coasts. 



4th. By the Treaty of 1818 it is agreed that American citizens should have 

 the liberty of fishing in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, within certain defined limits, 

 in common with British subjects; and such Treaty does not contain any words 

 negativing the right to navigate the passage of the Gut of Canso, and there- 

 fore it may be conceded that such right of navigation is not taken away by 

 that Convention ; but we have now attentively considered the course of naviga- 

 tion to the Gulf, by Cape Bi-eton, and likewise the capacity and situation of 

 the passage of Canso, and of the British dominions on either side; and we are of 

 opinion that, independently of treaty, no foreign country has the right to use 

 or navigate the passage of Canso; and attending to the terms of the Conven- 

 tion relating to the liberty of fishery to be enjoyed by the Americans, we are 

 also of opinion that that Convention did not, either expressly or by implica- 

 tion, concede any such right of using or navigating the passage in question. 

 We are also of opinion that c;t sting bait to lure fish in the track of any American 

 vessels navigating the passage would constitute a fishing within the negative 

 terms of the Convention. 



This decision goes for the whole; but it is accompanied with two 

 remarks little creditable to those high jurists-consults, and which 

 shake our faith in their opinion. 



The first is, that " the term HEADLAND is used in the Treaty to 

 express the part of the land we have before mentioned," &c. Un- 

 fortunately for their accuracy and their reputation, the word head- 

 land is not to be found in the Treaty, from one end of it to the other. 



The second drawback upon their intelligence is of a much graver 

 nature, and utterly destroys all confidence in their views. They say, 

 that "the prescribed distance of three miles is to be measured from 

 the headlands, or extreme points of land next the sea of the coast, 

 or of the entrance of the bays," &c. Here we have two kinds of 

 headlands one of the sea of the coast, and the other of the entrance 

 of the bays. "The former expression, if it means anything, means 

 that from headland to headland along any coast, however straight 

 and however unbroken such coast may be, resting upon the broad 

 ocean itself, a line may be drawn, and exclusive jurisdiction claimed 

 within it. This is more than the Nova Scotians asked, and more than 

 the Law Officers of the English Crown could give. It is preposterous. 

 The Bay of Fundy is not named specifically in this opinion, but 

 it was evidently intended to embrace it. Now, this bay is not within 

 the exclusive dominion of England, as part of the coast belongs 

 to Maine; and it has no marked entrance, nor any distinct headlands 

 on the northeastern side, being almost a straight line, both in Maine 

 and New Brunswick. It wants all the characteristics of a bay, as 

 defined in this opinion. It is, in fact, an open, exposed arm of 'the 

 ocean, running along the coast of Maine more than one hundred 

 miles. Geographers consider the Bay of Fundy as separated from 



