406 APPENDIX TO BRITISH CASE. 



or harbours without a license, or after the expiration of the period 

 named in the last license granted to it, they provide that the vessel, 

 with her tackle, &c., shall be forfeited. It is not known that any 

 condemnations have been made under this statute. Should the au- 

 thorities of Canada attempt to enforce it, it will become my duty 

 to take such steps as may be necessary to protect the rights of the 

 citizens of the United States. 



It has been claimed by Her Majesty's officers that the fishing ves- 

 sels of the United States have no right to enter the open ports of the 

 British possessions in North America, except for the purposes of 

 shelter and repairing damages, of purchasing wood, and obtaining 

 water; that they have no right to enter at the British Custom-houses 

 or to trade there except in the purchase of wood and water; and that 

 they must depart within twenty-four hours after notice to leave. 

 It is not known that any seizure of a fishing vessel carrying the 

 flag of the United States, has been made under this claim. So far as 

 the claim is founded on an alleged construction of the Convention 

 of 1818, it cannot be acquiesced in by the United States. It is hoped 



that it will not be insisted on by Her Majesty's Government. 

 242 During the Conferences which preceded the negotiation of 



the Convention of 1818, the British Commissioners proposed 

 to expressly exclude the fishermen of the United States from " the 

 privilege of carrying on trade with any of His Britannic Majesty's 

 subjects residing within the limits assigned for their use ; " and also 

 that it should not be " lawful for the vessels of the United States, 

 engaged in said fishery, to have on board any goods, wares, or mer- 

 chandize whatever, except such as may be necessary for the prose- 

 cution of their voyage to and from the said fishing-grounds. And 

 any vessel of the United States which shall contravene this regula- 

 tion may be seized, condemned, and confiscated with her cargo." 



This proposition, which is identical with the construction now r put 

 upon the language of the Convention, was emphatically rejected by 

 the American Commissioners, and thereupon was abandoned by the 

 British Plenipotentiaries, and Article I, as it stands in the Conven- 

 tion, was substituted. 



If, however, it be said that this claim is founded on Provincial 

 or Colonial Statutes, and not upon the Convention, this Government 

 cannot but regard them as unfriendly, and in contravention of the 

 spirit, if not of the letter, of the Treaty, for the faithful execution 

 of which the Imperial Government is alone responsible. 



Anticipating that an attempt may possibly be made by the Cana- 

 dian authorities in the coming session to repeat their unneighbourly 

 acts towards our fishermen, I recommend you to confer upon the 

 Executive the power to suspend, by Proclamation, the operation of 

 the laws authorizing the transit of goods, wares, and merchandize 

 in bond across the territory of the United States to Canada; and 

 further, should such an extreme measure become necessary, to sus- 

 pend the operation of any laws whereby the vessels of the Dominion 

 of Canada are permitted to enter the waters of the United States. 



A like unfriendly disposition has been manifested on the part of 

 Canada in the maintenance of a claim of right to exclude the citizens 

 of the United States from the navigation of the St. Lawrence. This 

 river constitutes a natural outlet to the ocean for eight States with 

 an aggregate population of about seventeen million six hundred 



