598 APPENDIX TO BRITISH CASE. 



assistances granted by the United States, and in a way especially 

 irritating, a deliberate plan of annoyances and aggressions has been 

 instituted and plainly exhibited during the last fishing season a 

 plan calculated to drive these fishermen from shores where, without 

 injury to others, they prosecute their own legitimate and useful 

 industry. 



It is impossible not to see that if the unfriendly and unjust system. 

 of which the cases now presented are part, "is sustained by Her 

 Majesty's Government, serious results will almost necessarily ensue, 

 great as is the desire of this Government to maintain the relations 

 of good neighborhood. Unless Her Majesty's Government shall 

 effectually check these aggressions a general conviction on the part 

 of the people of the United States may naturally be apprehended that, 

 as treaty stipulations in behalf of our fishermen, based on their 

 ancient rights, cease to be respected, the maintenance of the compre- 

 hensive system of mutual commercial accommodation between Canada 



and the United States could not reasonably be expected. 

 357 In contemplation of so unhappy and undesirable a condition 



of affairs I express the earnest hope that Her Majesty's Gov- 

 ernment will take immediate measures to avert its possibility. 



With no other purpose than the preservation of peace and good 

 will and the promotion of international amity, I ask you to represent 

 to the statesmen charged with the administration of Her Majesty's 

 Government the necessity of putting an end to the action of Canadian 

 officials in excluding American fishermen from the enjoyment of their 

 treaty rights in the harbors and waters of the maritime provinces 

 of British North America. 



The action of Captain Quigley in hauling down the flag of the 

 United States from the Marion Grimes has naturally aroused much 

 resentment in this country; and has been made the subject of some- 

 what excited popular comment ; and it is wholly impossible to account 

 for so extraordinary and unwarranted an exhibition of hostility and 

 disrespect by that official. I must suppose that only his want of 

 knowledge of what is due to international comity and propriety and 

 overheated zeal as an officer of police could have permitted such 

 action ; but I am confident that, upon the facts being made known by 

 you to Her Majesty's Government, it will at once be disavowed, a 

 fitting rebuke be administered, and the possibility of a repetition of 

 Captain Quigley's offence be prevented. 



It seems hardly necessary to say that it is not until after condem- 

 nation by a prize court that the national flag of a vessel seized as a 

 prize of war is hauled down by her captor. Under the fourteenth 

 section of the twentieth chapter of the Navy Regulations of the 

 United States the rule in such cases is laid down as follows : 



A neutral vessel, seized, is to wear the flag of her own country until she is 

 adjudged to be a lawful prize by a competent court. 



But, a fortiori, is this principle to apply in cases of customs seizures. 

 where fines only are imposed and where no belligerency whatever 

 exists. In the port of New York, and other of the countless harbors 

 of the United States, are merchant vessels to-day flying the British 

 flag which from time to time are liable to penalties for violation of 

 customs laws and regulations. But I have yet to learn that any 

 official, assuming, directly or indirectly, to represent the Government 



