DESPATCHES, REPORTS, CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 605 



should carry no merchandise, was rejected by the American negotia- 

 tors; and it is shown that the above proposal had no application to 

 American vessels resorting to the Canadian coasts, but only to those 

 exercising the right of inshore fishing and of landing for the drying 

 and curing of fish on parts of the coasts of Newfoundland "and 

 Labrador. The Report, on the other hand, shows that the United 

 States negotiators proposed that the right of "procuring bait" 

 should be added to the enumeration of the four objects for which 

 the United States fishing vessels might be allowed to enter Cana- 

 dian waters; and that such proposal was rejected by the 

 361 British negotiators, thus showing that there could be no doubt 

 in the minds of either party at the time that the " procuring 

 of bait " was prohibited by the terms of the Article. 



The Report, moreover, recalls the important fact that the United 

 States Government admitted, in the case submitted by them before 

 the Halifax Commission in 1877. that neither the Convention of 

 1818 nor the Treaty of Washington conferred any right or privilege 

 of trading on American fishermen; that the "various incidental 

 and reciprocal advantages of the Treaty, such as the privileges of 

 traffic, purchasing bait, and other supplies, are not the subject of 

 compensation, because the Treaty of Washington confers* no such 

 rights on the inhabitants of the United States, who now enjoy them 

 merely by sufferance, arid who can at any time be deprived of them." 



This view was confirmed by the ruling of the Commissioners. 



Whilst I have felt myself bound to place the preceding observa- 

 tions before you in reply to the arguments obtained in your note. I 

 beg leave to say that Her Majesty's Government would willingly 

 have left such points of technical detail and construction for the 

 consideration of a Commission properly constituted to examine them, 

 as well as to suggest a means for either modifying their application 

 or substituting for them some new arrangement of a mutually satis- 

 factory nature. 



I gather, however, from your note that, in the opinion of your 

 Government, although a revision of Treaty stipulations on the basis 

 of mutual concessions was desired by the United States before the 

 present disputes arose, yet the present time is inopportune for 

 various reasons, among which you mention the irritation created in 

 the United States by the belief that the action of the Canadian 

 Government has had for its object to force a new Treaty on your 

 Government. 



Her Majesty's Government learn with much regret that such an 

 impression should prevail, for every effort has been made by the 

 Canadian Government to promote a friendly negotiation, and to 

 obviate the differences which have now arisen. Indeed, it is hardly 

 necessary to remind you that, for six months following the denuncia- 

 tion by your Government of the Fishery Articles of the Treaty of 

 Washington, the North American fisheries were thrown open to 

 citizens of the United States without any equivalent, in the expecta- 

 tion that the American Government would show their willingness 

 to treat the question in a similar spirit of amity and good will. 



Her Majesty's Government cannot but express a hope that the 

 whole correspondence may be laid immediately before Congress, as 

 they believe that its perusal would influence public opinion in the 

 Unted States in favour of negotiating, before the commencement of 



