DESPATCHES, REPORTS, CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 343 



transmitting, in answer to a resolution of the House, a letter from 

 the Secretary of the Navy, accompanied by copies of " the corre- 

 spondence with, and various orders which have been issued during the 

 past year to, the officers of the United States Navy commanding ves- 

 sels on the coast of British North America, for the purpose of pro- 

 tecting the rights of fishing and navigation secured to citizens of the 

 United States under Treaties with Great Britain." 



Among these papers I would particularly call your Lordship's at- 

 tention to the letter from Mr. Secretary Dobbin to Commodore Shu- 

 brick, dated the 14th of July last, because it professes to put Com- 

 modore Shubrick in possession of the past history of the controversies 

 and Treaties between the United States and Great Britain in regard 

 to the Fishery questions, as well as the views entertained by the pres- 

 ent Administration of the United States. 



I have already had occasion to remark upon the unsoundness of the 

 arguments by which it has been attempted to invalidate the construc- 

 tion of the Convention of 1818, held by Her Majesty's Government in 

 regard to the meaning of the word " bays " in the first Article ; and 

 from the confidence with which the American doctrine on this subject 

 has been re-asserted, more especially in the President's message on 

 the opening of the present Congress in December last, I had expected 

 that some additional, if not more plausible, argument in its support 

 would have been adduced. 



Your Lordship will, however, perceive from a perusal of Mr. 

 Dobbin's letter that nothing of the sort has been attempted. 



Mr. Dobbin contents himself with stating that the American Gov- 

 ernment contend that American fishermen have a right to enter and 

 fish in any of the bays, which indent the shores in question, " pro- 

 vided they never approach for the purpose of taking fish, within 

 three marine miles of the coasts by which such bays are encompassed," 

 without alleging any reason for so manifest a departure from the 

 obvious meaning of the words of the Convention, or seeming to per- 

 ceive that the adoption of his construction would render the insertion 

 in the Convention, after the word " coasts," of the words " bays, creeks, 

 and harbours," inexplicable, or leave them without any meaning 

 whatever, a position inadmissible according to the invariably received 

 canons of legal construction. 



Appearing, however, to feel that so manifest a departure from the 

 grammatical sense of the words of the provision in question requires 

 some support, he endeavours to obtain it from a reference to the suc- 

 ceeding provision of the Convention, the true tenor of which it is 

 evident he does not understand. This provision authorizes American 

 fishermen " to enter such bays, creeks, and harbours," that is, those 

 described in the preceding clause, " for the purpose of shelter, and 

 repairing damages therein, of purchasing wood and obtaining water, 

 and for no other purpose whatever ; " and Mr. Dobbin states that the 

 President is further of opinion that this clause precludes the idea that 

 the Convention alludes to large open bays, because these would afford 

 little better shelter than the open sea." 



It is difficult to conceive under what impression the President can 

 suppose that the word " bays " must therefore be restricted to narrow 

 small baj^s and harbours. For it is clear that the permission con- 

 tained in the proviso applies, for the purposes therein enumerated, 



