668 APPENDIX TO BRITISH CASE. 



nical violation of the Customs Act, in omitting to report at the cus- 

 tom-house, though having no business at the port (and in some in- 

 stances where the vessel seized was not within several miles of the 

 landing), the United States Government claim, while not admitting 

 that the omission to report was even a technical transgression of the 

 Act, that even if it were, no harm having been done or intended, the 

 proceedings against the vessels for an inadvertence of that sort wore 

 in a high degree harsh, unreasonable, aiid unfriendly, especially as 

 for many years no such effect has been given to the Act in respect to 

 the fishing vessels, and no previous notice of a change in its con- 

 struction had been promulgated. 



It seems apparent, therefore, that the cases in question, as they 

 are to be considered between the two Governments, present no points 

 upon which the decision of the Courts of Nova Scotia need be 

 awaited or would be material. 



Nor is it any longer open to the United States Government to an- 

 ticipate that the acts complained of will (as said by Mr. Fish in 

 the despatch above quoted) be repudiated as "the pretensions of 

 over-zealous officers of the .... colonial vessels," because they 

 have been so many times repeated as to constitute a regular system 

 of procedure, have been directed and approved by the Canadian 

 Government, and have been in nowise disapproved or restrained by 

 Her Majesty's Government, though repeatedly and earnestly pro- 

 tested against on the part of the United States. 



It is therefore to Her Majesty's Government alone that the United 

 States Government can look for consideration and redress. It can 

 not consent to become directly or indirectly a party to the proceed- 

 ings complained of, nor to await their termination before the ques- 

 tions involved between the two Governments shall be dealt with. 

 Those questions appear to the United States Government to stand 

 upon higher grounds, and to be determined, in large part, at least, 

 upon very different considerations from those upon which the 

 Courts of Nova Scotia must proceed in the pending litigation. 



Lord Iddesleigh, in the note above referred to, proceeds to express 

 regret that no reply has yet been received from the United States 

 Government to the arguments on all the points in controversy con- 

 tained in the Report of the Canadian Minister of Marine and Fish- 

 eries, of which Lord Roseberv has sent me a copy. 



Inasmuch as Lord Iddesleigh and his predecessor Lord Rosebery, 

 have declined altogether, on the part of Her Majesty's Govern- 

 ment, to discuss these questions until the cases in which they 

 399 arise shall have been judicially decided, and as the very elabo- 

 rate arguments on the subject previously submitted by the 

 United States Government, remain, therefore without reply, it is 

 not easy to perceive why further discussion of it on the part of the 

 United States should be expected. So soon as Her Majesty's Gov- 

 ernment consent to enter upon the consideration of the points in- 

 volved, any suggestions it may advance will receive immediate and 

 respectful attention on the part of the United States. Till then 

 further argument on that side would seem to be neither consistent 

 nor proper. 



Still less can the United States Government consent to be drawn, 

 at any time, into a discussion of the subject with the Colonial Gov- 

 ernment of Canada. The Treaty in question, and all the interna- 



