DESPATCHES, REPORTS, CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 793 



Taking the contention of the United States that no headland 

 theory is to be found in the treaty of 1818, and that the exclusive 

 fishing limit is a line 3 miles from the shore, at low water, that enters 

 all harbors, bays, and creeks that are more than 6 miles wide at the 

 entrance, and follows the sinuosities of the coast thereof, this estimate 

 of the area surrendered in this treaty is greatly exaggerated. 



This is the narrowest limit to which we have confined our renuncia- 

 tion- in the treaty of 1818, of the common right of fishery, in our con- 

 tentions with Great Britain. 



The total area as to which we renounced the common right of fish- 

 ing, according to this construction of that treaty, is 16,424 nautical 

 square nailes. 



The additional area of renunciation under the delimitations of the 

 proposed treaty, now before the Senate, is 1,127 square miles, being 

 6A per cent, addition to the former area of exclusion. 



The total area of bays, creeks, and harbors not more than 6 miles 

 wide at their mouths is about 6,599 square miles, and is included in 

 the above-mentioned measurement of 16,424 square miles. 



The British claim as the true construction of the agreement in the 

 treaty of 1818, that it fixed the line within which we renounced the 

 common right of fishery at the distance, measured seaward, of 3 miles 

 from the entrance of all bays, harbors, and creeks of His Majesty's 

 dominions. This would add an area of 3,489 square miles to the 

 exclusive fishing grounds claimed by the British Government, while 

 the area in which we have renounced the common* right of fishing in 

 those bays, harbors, and creeks under the proposed treaty now before 

 the Senate is 1,127 square miles. 



Thus, under the British contention that Government yields, in this 

 treaty, 3,489 square miles of exclusive fishing waters to the people of 

 the United States as a common fishery, and we yield 1,127 square 

 miles to the British Government as exclusive fishing waters, which 

 we now claim to enjoy with them as a common fishery under our 

 construction of the treaty of 1818, which they refuse to admit. 



They yield more than two-thirds of their claim to us. and we yield 

 less than one-third of our claim to them, for the sake of settling for- 

 ever a dispute that has lasted for seventy years, and has been in 

 every way a costly and disturbing contention to our people. (See 

 official statement from the Coast Survey, marked D.) 



If these disputed areas were the richest fisheries in the world, the 

 settlement of our respective rights in them, as arranged in the treaty 

 now before the Senate, should be welcomed by the American people 

 with entire satisfaction. 



When we know, from the examination and report of the Senate 

 Committee on Foreign Relations, that this disputed area is of no real 

 advantage to our fishermen, and that this statement is supported by 

 conclusive evidence, furnished by the Halifax Commission, and by 

 Professor Baird, our former Commissioner of Fisheries, no ground 

 seems to be left for the contention of those who oppose this settlement. 



