572 APPENDIX TO BRITISH CASE. 



After the termination of the Fishery Articles of the Treaty of Washington, in ; 

 June last, it seemed to me then, and seems to me now, very hard that differences 

 of opinion between the two Governments should cause loss to honest citizens, 

 whose line of obedience might be thus rendered vague and uncertain, and their 

 property be brought into jeopardy. Influenced by this feeling, I procured a 

 temporary arrangement, which secured our fishermen full enjoyment of all 

 Canadian fisheries, free from molestation, during a period which would permit 

 discussion of a just international settlement of the whole Fishery Question ; but 

 other counsels prevailed, and my efforts further to protect fishermen from such 

 trouble as you now suffer, were unavailing. 



"At the end of the interval of six months the United States' author- 

 ities concluded to refrain from any attempt to negotiate for larger 

 fishery rights for their people, and they have continued to enforce 

 their Customs laws against the fishermen and people of Canada. 



The least they could have been expected to do under these circum- 

 stances was to leave to the people of Canada the full and unquestioned 

 enjoyment of the rights secured to them by Treaty. 



The Government of Canada has simply insisted upon those rights, 

 and has presented to the legal tribunals its claim to have them 

 enforced. 



The insinuations of ulterior motives, the imputations of unfriendly 

 dispositions, and the singularly inaccurate representation of all the 

 leading features of the questions under discussion may, it has been 

 assumed, be passed by with little more comment. They are hardly 

 likely to induce Her Majesty's Government to sacrifice the rights 

 which they have heretofore helped our people to protect, and they are 

 too familiar to awaken indignation or surprise. 



The undersigned respectfully recommends that the substance of 

 this memorandum, if approved, be forwarded to the Secretary of 

 State for the Colonies, for the information of Her Majesty's Gov- 

 ernment. 



(Sd.) JNO. S. D. THOMPSON, 



Minister of Justice. 



OTTAWA, 82nd July, 1886. 



No. 209. 1886, July 23: Letter from the Earl of Roselery to Mr. 



Phelps. 



FOREIGN OFFICE July 23 1886. 



SIR, I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your note of 

 the 16th instant, enclosing a copy of a telegram from Mr. Bayard, in 

 which he calls iipon Her Majesty's Government to put a stop to the 

 action of Canadian authorities towards United States' fishermen, 

 which he characterises as unjust, arbitrary, and vexatious. 



Mr. Bayard further states that the readiness of the United States' 

 Government to endeavour to come to a just and fair joint interpreta- 

 tion of Treaty rights and commercial privileges is ill met by per- 

 sistent and unfriendly action of the Canadian authorities, which is 

 rapidly producing a most injurious and exasperating effect. 



I cannot help regretting that the tone of this communication 

 342 should not have more corresponded with the conciliatory dis- 

 position of Her Majesty's Government, for the expressions 

 which I have cited can hardly tend to facilitate a settlement of the 

 difficult questions involved. 



