DESPATCHES, REPORTS, CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 581 



the Canadian Minister, nor in the Customs Circulars or Warnings 

 thereto appended, in which attention is called to the various legisla- 

 tion on the subject, is any such Act pointed out. 



The absence of such Statute provision, either in the Act of Parlia- 

 ment (59 Geo. Ill, c. 38) or in any subsequent Colonial Act, is not 

 merely a legal objection, though quite a sufficient one, to the validity 

 of the proceedings in question. It affords the most satisfactory evi- 

 dence that up to the time of the present controversy no such construc- 

 tion has been given to the Treaty by the British or by the Colonial 

 Parliament, as is now sought to be maintained. 



Xo other attempt is made in the Report of the Canadian Minister 

 to justify the legality of these seizures. It is apparent from the 

 whole of it that he recognises the necessity of the proposed enactment 

 of the Act of the Canadian Parliament already alluded to in order 

 to sustain them. 



This remark is further confirmed by the communication from the 

 Marquis of Lansdowne, Governor-General of Canada, to Lord Gran- 

 ville, in reference to that Act, annexed by Lord Rosebery to his second 

 note to the British Minister of July 23, 1886, a copy of which was 

 sent me by his Lordship, in connection with his other note of same 

 date above referred to. 



I do not observe upon other points of the Minister's Report not 

 bearing upon the points of note to Lord Rosebery. So far as they 

 relate to the communications addressed to the British Minister by 

 Mr. Bayard, the Secretary of State will doubtless make such reply 

 as may seem to him to be called for. 



In various other instances American vessels have been seized or 

 driven away by the provincial authorities when not engaged or 

 proposing to engage in any illegal employment. 



Some of these cases are similar to that of the Adams, the vessels 

 having been taken possession of for purchasing bait or supplies to 

 be used in lawful fishing, or for alleged technical breach of Custom- 

 house regulations, where no harm was either intended or committed, 

 and under circumstances in which for a very long time such regula- 

 tions have been treated as inapplicable. 



In other cases, an arbitrary extension of the three-mile limit fixed 

 by the Treaty has been announced so as to include within it portions 

 of the high sea, such as the Bay of Fundy, the Bay of Chaleur, and 

 other similar waters, and American fishermen have been prevented 

 from fishing in those places by threats of seizure. I do not propose, 

 at this time to discuss the question of the exact location of that line. 

 But only to protest against its extension in the manner attempted by 

 the provincial authorities. 



To two recent instances of interference by Canadian officers with 

 American fishermen, of a somewhat different character, I am spe- 

 cially instructed by my Government to ask your Lordship's attention, 

 those of the schooners Thomas F. Bayard and Mascot. 



These vessels were proposing to fish in waters in which the right 

 to fi ; h is expressly secured to Americans by the terms of the Treaty 

 of 1818; the former in Bonne Bay, on the northwest coast of New- 

 foundland, and the latter near the shores of the Magdalen Islands. 



For this purpose the Bayard attempted to purchase bait in the port 

 of Bonne Bay, having reported at the Custom-house and announced 



