QUESTION ONE. 19 



tions to American fishermen under the treaty of 1818 should in effect 

 correspond exactly to the legislation adopted by Great Britain in 

 1788 for the purpose of carrying out its obligations to the French 

 fishermen under its treaty of 1783, (which will be found to be the 

 case upon a comparison of the provisions of the Act of 1788 and the 

 Act of 1819, which has already been examined) ; and that, as has 

 already been shown, the regulations adopted by Great Britain under 

 the Act of 1819, in relation to the liberty of the American fishermen 

 to take fish on the treaty coasts under the treaty of 1818, were directed 

 not against American fishermen, but against British subjects, and 

 required them " not to interrupt in any manner the aforesaid fishery " 

 carried on by the inhabitants of the United States on their treaty 

 coasts. 



It is, therefore, evident that at the time the treaty of 1818 was 

 made, Great Britain claimed no more authority to impose fishing 

 regulations upon the American fishermen under that treaty than 

 upon the French fishermen under their treaty of 1783; and that 

 by adopting these acts of Parliament for the purpose of carrying 

 out the British obligations under respectively the French treaty of 

 1783 and the American treaty of 1818, and by the course pursued by 

 Great Britain in giving these treaties effect, the British Government 

 gave notice to all concerned that in both cases alike the controlling 

 obligation imposed upon Great Britain by these treaties was non- 

 interference with the French and American fishermen in the exercise 

 of their liberty of fishing on their respective treaty coasts. 



Again in 1886, Great Britain officially disclaimed any authority 

 to regulate the French fishermen in the exercise of their fishing 

 liberty on the French treaty coast. This disclaimer followed the 

 adoption, on August 9 of that year, by the Newfoundland Govern- 

 ment of an order in council prohibiting the taking of lobsters, except 

 for bait or local consumption, during a period of three years, in 

 Rocky Harbor, Bonne Bay, on the French treaty coast, which order 

 contained no reservation respecting treaty rights. 



The French Charge at London wrote to the Earl of Iddesleigh on 

 September 20, 1886, referring to this order as follows : 



I am instructed to inform Your Excellency that, in view of the 

 fishery right conferred on France by the Treaties in the part of the 



U. S. Case, p. 69. 



