DESPATCHES, REPORTS, CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 607 



those of the common law. That a man should be charged by police 

 or executive officers with the commission of an offence and then be 

 condemed upon trial unless he can prove himself to be innocent is 

 a proposition that is incompatible with the fundamental ideas upon 

 which the administration of justice proceeds. But it is sought in 

 the present case to carry the proposition much further. And to hold 

 that the party inculpated must not only prove himself innocent of 

 the offence on which his vessel was seized, but also of all other 

 charges upon which it might have been seized, that may be afterward 

 brought 'forward and set up at the trial. 



Conceiving that if the clause I have quoted from the Act of 1868 

 can have effect (if allowed any effect at all) only upon the charge on 

 which the vessel was originally seized, and that seizure for one offence 

 cannot be regarded as primd facie evidence of guilt of another, the 

 counsel for the owners of the vessel have applied to the prosecuting 

 officers to be furnished with a copy of the reports made to the Gov- 

 ernment of Canada in connection with the seizure of the vessel, 

 either by Captain Scott, the seizing officer, or by the Collector of 

 Customs at Digby, in order that it might be known to the defendant 

 and be shown on trial what the charges are on which the seizure was 

 grounded, and which the defendant is required to disprove. This 

 most reasonable request has been refused by the prosecuting officers. 



Under these circumstances I am instructed by my Government to 

 request of Her Majesty's Government that the solicitors for the 

 owners of the David J. Adams in the suit pending in Halifax may 

 be furnished, for the purposes of the trial thereof, with copies of 

 the reports above mentioned. And I beg to remind your Lordship 

 that there is no time to be lost in giving the proper direction, if it 

 is to be in season for the trial, which, as I am informed, is being 

 pressed. 



I have, etc., E. J. PHELPS. 



No. 224. 1886, December 3: Letter from Mr. Phelps (United States 

 Minister at London} to the Earl of Iddesleigh (British Foreign 

 Secretary") enclosing proposal for Settlement of Questions in Dis- 

 pute in relation to Fisheries. 



LEGATION OF UNITED STATES, 



London, December 3, 1886. 



MY LORD: I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your 

 note of 30th November, on the subject of the Canadian fisheries, and 

 to say that I shall at an early day submit to your Lordship some 

 considerations in reply. 



Meanwhile, I have the honour to transmit, in pursuance of the 

 desire expressed by your Lordship in conversation on November 30, 

 a copy of an outline for a proposed ad interim arrangement between 

 the two Governments on this subject which has been proposed by the 

 Secretary of State of the United States. 



And I likewise transmit, in connection with it, a copy of the in- 

 struction from the Secretary of State which accompanied it, and 

 which I am authorised to submit to your Lordship. 

 I have, etc.. 



E. J. PHELPS. 



