DESPATCHES, REPORTS, CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 487 



a matter of reciprocal convenience and right, a means of preserving the fisheries 

 at their highest point of production, and of conciliating a community of inter- 

 est by a just proportion of advantages and profits. 



Her Majesty's Government do not interpret these expression in 

 any sense derogatory to the sovereign authority of Great Britain in 

 the territorial waters of Newfoundland, by which only regulations 

 having the force of law within those waters can be ma'de. So regard- 

 ing the proposal, they are pleased not only to recognize hi if an 

 indication that the desire of Her Majesty's Government to arrive at 

 a friendly and speedy settlement of this question is fully reciprocated 

 by the Government of the United States, but also to discern in it the 

 basis of a practical settlement of the difficulty; and I have the honour 

 to request that you will inform Mr. Evarts that Her Majesty's Gov- 

 ernment, with a view to avoiding further discussion and future mis- 

 understandings, are quite willing to confer with the Government of 

 the United States respecting the establishment of regulations under 

 which the subjects of both parties to the Treaty of Washington shall 

 have the full and equal enjoyment of any fishery which under that 

 Treaty is to be used in common. The duty of enacting and enforcing 

 .such regulations, when agreed upon, would, of course, rest with the 

 Power having the sovereignty of the shore and waters in each case. 



As regards the claim of the United States fishermen to compensa- 

 tion for the injuries and losses which they are alleged to have sus- 

 tained in consequence of the violent obstruction which they encoun- 

 tered from British fishermen at Fortune Bay on the occasion referred 

 to, I have to state that Her Ma-jesty's Government are quite willing 

 that they should be indemnified for any injuries find losses which 

 upon a joint inquiry may be found to have been sustained by them, 

 and in respect of which they are reasonably entitled to compensation ; 

 but on this point I have to observe that a 1 claim is put forward by 

 them for the loss of fish which had been caught, or which, but for 

 the interference of the British fishermen, might have boen cau'ht by 

 means of strand fishing, a mode of fishing to which, under the Treaty 

 of Washington, they were not entitled to resort. 



The prosecution by them of the strand fishery being clearly in 

 excess of their Treaty privileges, Her Majesty's Government cannot 

 doubt that, on further consideration, the United States Government 

 will not be disposed to support a claim in respect of the loss of the 

 fish which they had caught, or might have caught, by that process. 



(Signed) GRANVILLE. 



No. 174. 1881, February 4 : Letter from Mr. Evarts to Mr. Lowell. 



No. 110 DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 



Washington, February 4, 1881. 

 JAMF.S RUSSELL LOWELL, Esqre. 



&c. &c. &c. 



SIR: The communication from Her Britannic Majesty's Secretary 

 of State for Foreign Affairs. Lord Gr^nville. of October 27. 1880. 

 respecting the disturbance which occurred at Fortune Bay on the 



