DESPATCHES, EEPOETS, CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 325 



a vessel which had been discovered infringing within 3 marine miles 

 of the British shore, was liable to seizure subsequently, when out of 

 that limit (I consider it manifestly just that the vessel contravening 

 the Treaty should be liable to seizure altho' she might have succeeded 

 in getting beyond that limit & the want of such power would enable 

 those w*ho had transgressed the limits to escape in 9 cases out of 10 

 with impunity) 



9 The 2nd clause of the Act 59 Geo: 3. cap 38, authorize the 

 seizure of vessels which shall be found fishing or to have been fish- 

 ing, or preparing to fish, but I am of opinion that no action in its 

 exercise, under the language of the Convention of 1818, however 

 necessary will be more liable to opposition from the United States, 

 than a seizure beyond the British waters, and that the principle 

 which I brought under their Lordships observation in my letter No 

 101, of the 8th July, postscript of legal questions, should be estab- 

 lished I think future difficulties more likely on this subject than 

 any other; 



10 In reference to the United States desire to enjoy to [the] 

 privilege to fish upon our coasts, I took occasion to inquire whether 

 it was not illegal for a native of any other State than Massachusetts 

 to fish on its shores which, Commodore Perry admitted 



11 I have since examined the Statute cap: 85 of the laws of that 

 State which enacts that " no person living without the State shall 

 " take any lobsters, tantog, bass, blue fish, or scappang, within the 

 " harbours, streams or waters, of any town on the sea coast, under a 

 " penalty not exceeding : 20 dollars," which shows that the rights of 

 fishery, even on their own shores, are restricted to the immediate 

 inhabitants 



(Signed) G. SEYMOUB V : Admiral 



No. 108. 185%, August 19: Letter from Sir J. S. Pakington (British 

 Colonial Secretary] to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. 



The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. 



DOWNING STREET, 19. August 1852. 



My LORDS : In my letter of the 2d. June last, I conveyed to you Her 

 Majesty's commands for stationing off the coasts of the British Pos- 

 sessions in North America a sufficient force of small vessels to protect 

 the fisheries and prevent infractions of the Convention of 1818 with 

 the United States, desiring at the same time that the officers employed 

 on this service should be enjoined to avoid all unnecessary interfer- 

 ence with the vessels of friendly Powers and all harshness in the per- 

 formance of their duty. 



Since the time when these instructions were issued, apprehensions 

 have been expressed in the United States that it was intended by them 

 to withdraw the concession made by Her Majesty's Government in 

 1845, of liberty to the fishermen of the United States to pursue their 

 avocation within the waters of the Bay of Fundy, provided that they 

 should not approach within 3 miles of the inlets and coasts of the 

 British Provinces situated within that bay. 



