432 APPENDIX TO BRITISH CASE. 



(2.) Nor do the American cod fishermen fish for bait to any consid- 

 erable extent in the territorial waters of the British dominions. Their 

 vessels are so large, and their outfit is so expensive, that they find it 

 more economical when the first supply of bait, which is always 

 brought from home, is exhausted, to purchase fresh bait of the Cana- 

 dians, who fish for it in open boats or small craft near their own 

 homes, to which they return every night. The best bait for cod and 

 other similar fish is the frozen herring, large quantities of which, of a 

 quality too poor for any other use, are taken in seines by the Cana- 

 dians and sold to the United States fishermen. The importance of 

 this and other kinds of traffic to the poor inhabitants of the Canadian 

 fishing villages, and the destitution to which they were reduced, when, 

 from motives of policy, and to affect the negotiations between the two 

 Governments, it was broken up by the Canadian authorities, will 

 appear from their own testimony and from official documents. This 

 subject will receive attention hereafter. Suffice it now to observe that 

 the claim of Great Britain to be compensated for allowing United 

 States fishermen to buy bait and other supplies of British subjects 

 finds no semblance of foundation in the treaty, by which no right 

 of traffic is conceded. The United States are not aware that the 

 former inhospitable statutes have ever been repealed. Their enforce- 

 ment may be renewed at any moment, and the only security against 

 such a course is the fact that such uncivilized legislation is far more 

 inconvenient and injurious to the Canadians than it can possibly be 

 to American fishermen. It will appear in the sequel that, in the 

 unanimous opinion of that portion of the Canadians who reside on 

 the seacoast, the benefits of such commercial intercourse are at least ad 

 great to themselves as to foreign fishermen. 



IV. 



It is next proposed to consider the advantages derived by British 

 subjects from the provisions of the Treaty of Washington. 



In the first place, the admission of American fishermen into British 

 waters is no detriment, but a positive advantage, to colonial fisher- 

 men; they catch more fish, make more money, and are improved in 

 all their material circumstances, by the presence of foreign fishermen. 

 The large quantities of the best bait thrown over from Ameri- 

 258 can vessels attract myriads of fish, so that Canadians prefer to 

 fish side by side with them; and, when doing so, make a larger 

 catch than they otherwise could. The returns of the product of the 

 British fisheries conclusively show that the presence of foreign fisher- 

 men cannot possibly have done them any injury. 



Secondly. The incidental benefits arising from traffic with Ameri- 

 can fishermen are of vital importance to the inhabitants of the British 

 maritime provinces. When, after the abrogation of the Reciprocity 

 Treaty, the Canadian authorities saw fit to prohibit such commercial 

 intercourse, the disastrous consequences which ensued are thus de- 

 picted by the Hon. Stewart Campbell, M.P., in his letter to the de- 

 partment of marine and fisheries, in 1869: 



The principal source of inconvenience and grievance on the part of the British 

 traders and subjects, generally, in the maritime provinces, who are connected 

 with the fisheries, is to be found in the great change of circumstances broi^ht 



