DESPATCHES, REPORTS, CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 795 



patriotically borne for the public good. An immense volume of population, 

 manufactures, and agricultural productions, and the marine tonnage and rail- 

 ways to which these have given activity, all largely the result of intercourse, 

 between the United States and British America, and the natural growth of a 

 full half century of good neighborhood and friendly communication, form an ag- 

 gregate of material wealth and incidental relation of most impressive magnitude, 

 I fully appreciate these things, and am not unmindful of the great number of 

 our people who are concerned in such vast and diversified interests. 



In the performance of the serious duty which Congress has imposed upon me, 

 and in the exercise, upon just occasion, of the power conferred under the act 

 referred to, I shall deem myself bound to inflict no unnecessary damage or in- 

 jury upon any portion of our people ; but I shall, nevertheless, be unflinchingly 

 guided by a sense of what the self-respect and dignity of the nation demand. 

 In the maintenance of these and in the support of the honor of the Government, 

 beneath which every citizen may repose in safety, no sacrifice of personal or 

 private interests shall be considered as against the general welfare. 

 Yours, very truly, 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 



GEORGE STEELE, 

 President American Fishery Union, and others, Gloucester, Mass. 



From this letter, to which the minority of the committee refer with 

 great satisfaction, as a correct exposition of the duties that Con- 

 gress has imposed upon the President in the enforcement of our laws 

 of retaliation, it will be seen that the present administration 

 478 will treat this subject in the same sense that Congress has 

 treated it, as a question of national concern, and not as a means 

 of promoting the pecuniary interests of those who control and derive 

 the chief benefit of our fisheries, such as the owners and outfitters of 

 fishing fleets, and warehousemen and those engaged in salting, dry- 

 ing, and canning fish for the interior markets. 



The hardy fishermen of the United States will, we believe, also 

 be protected in the administration of our retaliatory laws, and othei 

 similar statutes, against the common practice that speculators in the 

 fishing industry now resort to of placing their vessels in charge of 

 captains and crews imported from Canada, because they can under- 

 bid our fishermen in the matter of wages. 



This practice is a far more serious injury to our fishermen and to 

 the people of the United States than would come from yielding 

 twice the area of fishing waters that are yielded by the delimitations 

 of this treaty, even if they were good fishing waters. It has already 

 compelled many of our best fishermen to withdraw from this, and to 

 seek a living in other pursuits. 



XIV. THE QUESTION or THE BRITISH HEADLAND THEORY, AS TO SMALLER 



BAYS AND HARBORS ALONG THE COASTS, AND THE LIMITS OF OUR RE- 

 NUNCIATION OF THE RIGHTS OF FISHING, AND THE NATURE OF THE 

 RESTRICTIONS UPON THE RIGHTS OF OUR FISHERMEN TO E1NTER THE 

 BAYS AND HARBORS OF BRITISH NORTH AMERICA, ARE MATTERS OF DIS- 

 PUTED RIGHT. ADMISSIONS MADE HERETOFORE BY AMERICAN DIPLO- 

 MATISTS, AS TO THE DIFFICULTY OF CONSTRUING, GRAMMATICALLY, THE 

 TEXT OF THE TREATY OF 1818, GIVE COLOR TO THE BRITISH CONSTRUC- 

 TION, AND PROVE, AT LEAST, ITS SINCERITY. 



It is boldly asserted, in opposition to this treaty, that there is no 

 sort of equivalent for the 1,127 square miles of fishing waters that 

 we concede by the fixed lines of delimitation in this treaty. This 

 assertion impeaches both the right of the British Government and 

 the sincerity of its claim of the headland theory, as it applies to 



