286 APPENDIX TO BRITISH CASE. 



accorded to American fishermen in the exercise of the liberty of fish- 

 ing in British waters, I was enabled to demonstrate to him the in- 

 correctness of this assumption by placing in his hands the paper 

 which I have the honour to inclose, being a printed return of the 

 Court of Vice Admiralty at Halifax which had just been forwarded 

 to me by the Administrator of the Government of Nova Scotia, stat- 

 ing the number of American vessels which had been seized and con- 

 demned by the authorities of that colony for violations of the Con- 

 vention of 1818 from the year 1838 to 1851. 



This document clearly shows that however ineffectual may have 

 been the efforts of the authorities of Nova Scotia to preserve the 

 rights of British fishermen from encroachment, their efforts to do 

 so had nevertheless been unremitting, and, at all events, constitute a 

 substantial protest on their part against the violation of those rights 

 however unsuccessful this protest may in the main have proved. 



I have the honour to be, with the greatest respect, My Lord, 

 Your Lordship's most obedient humble servant, 



JOHN F CRAMPTON 



The Right Honorable, EARL or MALMESBURY 



&c. &c. &c. 



No. 101. 1852, August 10: Letter from the Earl of Malmeslmry to 



Mr. Crampton. 



No. 78 FOREIGN OFFICE, August 10, 1852. 



SIR: I have received and laid before the Queen your despatch Xo. 

 105 of the 20th ultimo, respecting the official publication, by the 

 Secretary of State of the United States, of certain information rela- 

 tive to the measures adopted by Her Majesty's Government for the 

 protection of British fisheries on the coasts, the mainland, and islands 

 forming part of Her Majesty's North American Possessions. 



Her Majesty's Government must necessarily entertain the sincerest 

 regret that such a publication should have been made without what 

 appears to Her Majesty's Government sufficient inquiry into the cir- 

 cumstances of the case ; for the terms of friendly alliance which so 

 happily subsist between the two nations Avould on the one hand not 

 have warranted Her Majesty's Government in adopting any meas- 

 ures which might be held to be offensive to the United States, and, 

 on the other hand, could not have justified the Government of the 

 United States in supposing that any such measures were intended. 

 Her Majesty's Government therefore, while it gives expression to 

 the abovementioned regret, will assume at once that neither Govern- 

 ment entertains towards the other any intention of acting dis- 

 courteously or of provoking collisions or unfriendly feelings be- 

 tween the subjects and citizens of the two countries; and I will now 

 proceed to explain to you how greatly this question of the pro- 

 tection of British fisheries has been misunderstood and misinterpreted 



in the United States. 



170 In the first place it has been assumed by Mr. Webster that* 



" with the recent change of Ministry in England has occurred 



entire change of policy;" and here I must take occasion to state, that 



the question of protecting British subjects in the exercise of their 



