DESPATCHES, REPORTS, CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 517 



the rejection of the proposal can only, therefore, be used to indicate 

 that the right to carry merchandise exists in relation to those coasts, 

 and is no ground for supposing that the right extends to the regular 

 ports of entry, against the express words of the Treaty. 



The proposition of the British negotiators was to append to Article 

 1 the following words : " It is, therefore, well understood that the 

 liberty of taking, drying, and curing fish, granted in the preceding 

 part of this Article, shall not be construed to extend to any privilege 

 of carrying on trade with any of His Britannic Majesty's subjects re- 

 siding within the limits hereinbefore assigned for the use of the fish- 

 ermen of the United States." It was also proposed to limit them to 

 having on board such goods as might " be necessary for the prosecu- 

 tion of the fishery, or the support of the fishermen while engaged 

 therein, or in the prosecution of their voyages to and from the fishing 

 ground." 



To this the American negotiators objected on the ground that the 

 search for contraband goods, and the liability to seizure for having 

 them in possession, would expose the fishermen to endless vexation, 

 and in consequence the proposal was abandoned. It is apparent, 

 therefore, that this proviso in no way referred to the bays or har- 

 bours outside the limits assigned to the American fishermen, from 

 which bays and harbours, before and after this proposition was dis- 

 cussed, it was agreed that United States fishing vessels were to be 

 excluded for all purposes other than for shelter and repairs and pur- 

 chasing wood and obtaining water. 



But Mr. Bayard's argument that the rejection of a proposition 

 should lead to an interpretation adverse to the tenor of such proposi- 

 tion suggests strong evidence that United States fishing vessels were 

 not intended to have the right to enter Canadian waters for bait, 

 to be used even in the prosecution of the deep sea fisheries. The 

 United States negotiators made the proposition that the words " and 

 bait " be added to the enumeration of objects for which their fisher- 

 men might be allowed to enter, and the proposition was rejected. 

 This could only have referred to the deep sea fishing, because the 

 inshore fisheries had already been specifically renounced. 



Mr. Bayard on more than one occasion intimates that the inter- 

 pretation of the Treaty and its enforcement are dictated by local and 

 hostile feelings, and that the main question is being " obscured by 

 partizan advocacy and distorted by the heat of local interests," and 

 that the administration of the laws is being " conducted in a puni- 

 tive and hostile spirit which can only tend to induce steps of a re- 

 taliatory nature," and in conclusion expresses a hope that " ordinary 

 commercial intercourse shall not be interrupted by harsh measures 

 and unfriendly administration." 



The undersigned observes that it is not the wish of the Government 

 or the people of Canada to interrupt for a moment the most friendly 

 commercial intercourse. The mercantile vessels and the commerce 

 of the United States have at present exactly the same freedom that 

 they have for years past enjoyed in Canada, and the disposition of 

 the Canadian Government is to extend reciprocal trade with the 

 United States beyond its present limits; nor can it be admitted that 

 the charge of local prejudice or hostile feeling is justified by the 

 calm enforcement, through the courts of the country, of the plain 

 terms of a Treaty between Great Britain and the United States, and 



