732 APPENDIX TO BRITISH CASE. 



Pursuant to this Act, President Jackson, on the 5th of October, 

 1830, in accordance with a mutual understanding upon the subject 

 with the Government of Great Britain, issued" his proclamation, 

 putting this Act of 1830 into effect (Stats., v. 4, p. 817). And on the 

 18th of November, 1830, a British Order in Council was issued, de- 

 claring among other things 



That the ships of, and belonging to, the United States of America may import 

 from the United States aforesaid into the British possessions abroad goods with 

 produce of those States, and may export goods from the British possessions 

 abroad to be carried to any foreign country whatever (British Foreign and 

 State Papers, v. 17, p. 894.) 



It is clear that under this Act of Congress all British vessels, with- 

 out regard to their occupation, whether fishing or other, coming from 

 British North America, were entitled to admission into our ports for 

 all purposes of trade and commerce. Canadian fishing A'essels had 

 the same rights as any other, for they fell within the general descrip- 

 tion stated in Jhe statute. So. too, reciprocally, our fishing vessels 

 ^ell within the general description of " ships of and belonging to the 

 United States." Before this time all American vessels were excluded 

 from British North American ports with the then recent exception 

 before stated ; then, under this arrangement all ships of the United 

 States were to be admitted into British North American ports. The 

 former almost universal exclusion was abolished without reserve. 

 If any literal reading of this British Order in Council can be sug- 

 gested as of a narrower construction, it would destroy the mutuality 

 of the action of the two Governments and be unworthy of a Gov- 

 ernment. 



Surely no nation not in a state of vassalage would consent that its 

 citizens or subjects should for a moment be treated in or by another 

 nation in a less favourable way than it treated the citizens and sub- 

 jects of the same class and occupation of such other nation. 



From the conclusion of the treaty of 1818 clown to nearly 1840. as 

 we have seen, the incidents of collision or difficulty in respect of the 

 rights of the purely American fishing vessels under that treaty were 

 comparatively few; and, so far as the committee is advised, such 

 incidents of difficulty as occurred did not arise under any bay or 

 headland pretension of Great Britain, but came out of a few Amer- 

 ican vessels, from time to time having come within 3 miles of the 

 British North American shores, being seized upon one accusation or 

 another. 



In the year 1836 the province of Nova Scotia passed laws of a more 

 stringent and unjust character than any that had existed before, and 

 in the year 1838 that province complained, in an address to the Queen, 

 of American aggressions and asking for a naval force to prevent 

 them. It appears that a British force was accordingly placed on the 

 British North American coast and the seizures of American vessels 

 became much more numerous. (See reports and papers on the sub- 

 ject, Senate Ex. Doc. 100, thirty-second Congress, first session.) 



It appears from these papers that most of the cases of British seiz- 

 ure were for alleged violations of the customs laws. That others of 

 them were for violations of the privileges secured by the treaty of 

 1818, by coming within 3 miles of the shore: and so far as it is known, 

 it was "not until the 10th May. 1843, that any American vessel was 



