820 APPENDIX TO BRITISH CASE. 



I need not argue with the Government of Great Britain that the 1st 

 section of this Act purports to authorize the very kind of official 

 conduct which led to the establishment in England of the rule 

 against unreasonable searches and seizures, now firmly embedded in 

 the jurisprudence of both nations. Nor need I argue that American 

 vessels are of right entitled to have on them in the waters of the 

 Treaty Coast both fish of every kind, and the gear for the taking of 

 fish, and that a law undertaking to make that possession primd facie 

 proof of crime deprives them of that presumption of innocence to 

 which all citizens of Great Britain and America are entitled. 

 When the Legislature of Newfoundland denies these rights to 

 American fishing-vessels, it imposes upon them a heavy penalty for 

 the exercise of their rights under the Treaty, and we may reasonably 

 apprehend that this penalty will be so severe in its practical effect 

 as to be an effectual bar to the exercise of the Treaty right. 



I feel bound to urge that the Government of Great Britain shall 

 advise the Newfoundland Government that the provisions of law 

 which I have quoted are inconsistent with the rights of the United 

 States under the Treaty of 1818, and ought to be repealed; and that, 

 in the meantime, and without any avoidable delay, the Governor in 

 Council shall be requested by a Proclamation which he is authorized 

 to issue under the 8th section of the Act respecting Foreign Fishing- 

 Vessels, to suspend the operation of the Act. 



There is still another phase of this subject to which I must ask 

 your attention. I am advised that there is a a very strong feeling 

 among the Newfoundland fishermen on the Treaty Coast against the 

 enforcement of the Newfoundland Act prohibiting the sale of bait, 

 and that at a recent mass meeting of fishermen at the Bay of Islands, 

 Resolutions were adopted urging the repeal or suspension of that 

 Act, and containing the following clauses : 



If our requests are not granted immediately we shall be compelled, In justice 

 to ourselves and families, to seek other ways and means to engage with the 

 Americans. 



We would also direct the attention of his Excellency the Governor in Council 

 to what took place in Fortune Bay a few years ago when Captain Solomon 

 Jacobs seined herring against the wishes of the people, and the result. If a 

 similar occurrence should take place here, who will be responsible? 



This Resolution indicates the existence of still another source from 

 which, if not controlled, may come most unfortunate results when the 

 American fishermen proceed to the exercise of their Treaty rights, 

 that is, the Newfoundland fishermen themselves acting independently 

 of their Government. 



You are aware that for a considerable period American fishing- 

 vessels, instead of themselves taking herring, caplin, and squid upon 

 the Treaty Coast, have been in the habit of buying those fish from 

 the Newfoundland fishermen. For many of the Newfoundland fish- 

 ermen this trade has been a principal means of support. That has 

 been especially so in and about the Bay of Islands. It has been 

 profitable to the local fishermen, and it has been for the Americans a 

 satisfactory substitute for the exercise of their Treaty right to catch 

 the fish themselves. It is, indeed, not unnatural that these fishermen 

 should struggle in every way open to them to prevent the loss of their 

 means of support, and that if they cannot control their own Govern- 

 ment so as to secure permission to sell herring and bait, they should 



