740 APPENDIX TO BBITISH CASE. 



the claim of violations of the treaty of 1818) of any seizure of any 

 American fishing vessel for the act of fishing in any 'bay indenting 

 the British North American coast more than 3 miles" from the shore. 



It is curious to note that in the opening British case before the 

 Halifax Commission, no mention is made of the headlands question 

 that had from time to time been a subject of theoretical discussion 

 between the two Governments. But after the case had been pre- 

 sented the question was referred to, but it appears to have been 

 dropped in view of the fact that fishing in such bays did not appear 

 to be of any substantial value at that time. Thus the bay and head- 

 land matter stood when these last negotiations began. 



The first article of the treaty now under consideration provides 

 for the appointment of a mixed commission, to delimitate " the Brit- 

 ish waters, bays, creeks, and harbours of the coasts of Canada and 

 of Newfoundland, as to which the United States, by article I of the 

 convention of October 20, 1818, between the United States and Great 

 Britain, renounced forever any liberty to take, dry, or cure fish." 



Certainly a delimitation of 3 miles from the shore could not pos- 

 sibly be made more clear than it was by the treaty of 1818. Monu- 

 ments can not be set up in the sea which shall separate the waters 

 of Her Majesty's dominions from the waters belonging to the fisher- 

 men and all other people of the United States in common with the 

 rest of mankind. 



The only possible point must be to describe what were British bays, 

 etc., and if this article had only been devoted to naming the bays, etc., 

 that were less than 6 miles wide, there might have been some theoretic 

 ground for such an operation. But the treaty easily dismisses all 

 such as a part of the coast line, and proceeds to show that the 3-mile 

 limit mentioned in the treaty of 1818 is not the one that is to define 

 the rights of citizens of the United States, but that a new and differ- 

 ent principle, entirely favourable to Great Britain, is to be adopted. 

 To this end the third article of the treaty provides that the 3 marine 

 miles mentioned in the treaty of 1818 



shall be measured seaward from low-water mark; but at every bay, creek, or 

 harbour not otherwise specially provided for in this treaty, such 3 marine miles 

 stall [be] measured seaward from a straight line drawn across the bay, creek, 

 or harbour, in the part nearest the entrance at the first point where the width 

 does not exceed ten marine miles. 



By this simple British process the 3 miles mentioned in the treaty 

 of 1818 is nearly doubled and extended to 5 miles from either shore 

 at the entrance or along the bays indenting the coast. It needs no 

 comment to show that this provision is not an execution of the treaty 

 of 1818, but is making, by an assumed construction or otherwise, a 

 new one of entirely different dimensions and entirely in the interest 

 of Her Majesty's Government. 



But this is not all. The " plenipotentiaries " went still further 

 (not stopping at nearly doubling the area of British municipal do- 

 minion measured by the treaty of 1818), and agreed that many of 

 (and perhaps all the valuable) great bays, much more than 10 miles 

 in width, should be forevermore included in British municipal do- 

 minion, and that forevermore no American fisherman should have 

 the right to drop a line or cast a seine therein. 



These great bodies of water, thus given up to the British, are 

 named in the treaty as follows: (1) the Baie des Chaleurs; (2) Bay 



