DESPATCHES, REPORTS, CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 573 



I beg, however, to state that the views of the Canadian Government 

 upon the whole matter will very shortly be communicated to the 

 United States' Government in a despatch which I have addressed to 

 Her Majesty's Minister at Washington, in reply to the various com- 

 munications which he has received from Mr. Bayard. I shall have 

 the honour to place a copy of the despatch in question in your hands. 



As regards the disposition expressed by Mr. Bayard to come to a 

 iust and fair joint interpretation of Treaty rights, Her Majesty's 

 Government have already displayed their full readiness to negotiate 

 on more than one occasion, and their view of Treaty rights has been 

 explained both in my conversations with yourself and in despatches. 



I trust, therefore, that this expression of the wishes of your Gov- 

 ernment, corresponding as it does so entirely with our own desire, 

 indicates the willingness of the United States to enter as speedily as 

 possible into definite arrangements which may lead to negotiations on 

 a practical basis for the settlement of this question. 

 I have, &c., 



(Signed) ROSEBERY. 



No. 210. 1886, July %3: Letter from the Earl of Roselery to Sir 



L. S. S. West. 



FOREIGN OFFICE, July 23, 1886. 



SIR: I have received your dispatch No. 28 (Treaty.) of the llth 

 May last, inclosing a copy of a note addressed to you by Mr. Bayard, 

 in which, whilst expressl} 7 referring to the seizure by the Canadian 

 authorities of the American fishing vessels Joseph Story and David 

 J. Adams, he discusses at length the present position of the North 

 American Fisheries Question. 



I have also received a communication upon the same subject from 

 the United States Minister at this Court, dated the 2d June last, 

 which, although advancing arguments of a somewhat different char- 

 acter, is substantially addressed to the consideration of the same 

 question. 



I think it therefore desirable to reply to these two communications 

 together in the present despatch, of which I shall hand a copy to 

 Mr. Phelps. 



The matter is one involving the gravest interests of Canada; and, 

 upon receipt of the communications above mentioned, I lost no time 

 in requesting the Secretary of State for the Colonies to obtain from 

 the Government of the Dominion an expression of their views thereon. 

 I now inclose a copy of an approved Report of the Canadian Privy 

 Council, in which the case of Canada is so fully set forth that I think 

 it would be desirable, as a preliminary step to the further discussion 

 of the questions involved in this controversy, to communicate a copy 

 of it to Mr. Bayard, as representing the views of the Dominion Gov- 

 ernment ; and I have to request that, in so doing, you will state that 

 Her Majesty's Government will be glad to be favoured with any 

 observations which Mr. Bayard may desire to make thereon. 



In regard to those portions of Mr. Pholps's note of the 2d June, in 

 which he calls in question the competence of the Canadian authorities 



