468 APPENDIX TO BEITISH CASE. 



into the case. These were communicated to Mr. Welsh with my note 

 of the 7th November, 1878. Nos. 11 to 16, inclusive, are the affidavits 

 of the United States' fishermen, printed in the " New York Herald " 

 of the 28th January, 1878, and were received from Her Majesty's 

 Minister at Washington. They have not been received officially from 

 the Government of the United States, but Her Majesty's Government 

 see no reason to doubt their authenticity. Nos. 17 to 22 were an- 

 nexed to Mr. Welsh's note of the 13th August last. 



A careful examination of the above evidence shows that on the 

 day in question a large number of the crews of the United States' 

 fishing vessels came on shore, and from the beach barred the herrings, 

 the ends of their seines being secured to the shore. That the fisher- 

 men of the locality remonstrated against these proceedings, and upon 

 their remonstrance proving unavailing, removed the nets by force. 



Such being the facts, the following two questions arise: 



1. Have United States' fishermen the right to use the strand for 

 purposes of actual fishing? 



2. Have they the right to take herrings with a seine at the season 

 of the year in question, or to use a seine at any season of the year for 

 the purpose of barring herrings on the coast of Newfoundland? 



The answers to the above questions depend on the interpretation of 

 the Treaties. 



With regard to the first question, namely, the right to the strand- 

 fishery, I would observe that Article I of the Convention between 

 Great Britain and the United States of the 20th October, 1818, 

 secured to citizens of the United States the right, in common with 

 British subjects, to take fish of every kind on certain specified por- 

 tions of the coast of Newfoundland, and to use the shore for the pur- 

 poses of purchasing wood and obtaining water, and for no other pur- 

 pose whatever. 



Articles XVIII and XXXII of the Treaty of Washington super- 

 added to the above-mentioned privileges the right for United States' 

 fishermen to take -fish of every kind (with certain exceptions not 

 relevant to the present case) on all portions of the coast of that 

 island, and permission to land for the purpose of drying their nets 

 and curing their fish, " provided that in so doing they do not inter- 

 fere with the rights of private property or with British fishermen in 

 the peaceable use of any part of the said coast in their occupancy for 

 the same purpose." 



Thus, whilst absolute freedom in the matter of fishing in terri- 

 torial waters is granted, the right to use the shore for four specified 

 purposes alone is mentioned in the Treaty Articles from which 

 United States' 'fishermen derive their privileges, viz., to purchase 

 wood, to obtain water, to dry nets, and cure fish. 



The citizens of the United States are thus by clear implication 

 absolutely precluded from the use of the shore in the direct act of 

 catching fish. This view was maintained in the strongest manner 

 before the Halifax Commission by the United States' Agent, who, 

 with reference to the proper interpretation to be placed on the 

 Treaty stipulations, used the following language : 



No rights to do anything upon the land are conferred upon the citizens 

 Of the United States under this Treaty, with the single exception of the right to 

 dry nets and cure fish on the shores of the Magdalen Islands, if we did not pos- 

 sess that before. No right to land for the purpose of seining from the shore ; no 



