28 COUNTER CASE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



coasts. It, therefore, becomes necessary to point out that imme- 

 diately after the portion of this circular quoted in the British Case 

 will be found the following very important paragraph : 



A naval force under the command of Commodore W. B. Shubrick, 

 has been ordered to the fishing grounds to protect the American fisher- 

 men in their just rights. 



In no event, however, can the circular be regarded as supporting 

 in the slightest degree the British contention under Question I, in 

 view of its real purpose, which, as stated in the introductory para- 

 graph, was to prevent any disturbance or collision between the fisher- 

 men which might interrupt the negotiations, then pending, for the 

 Reciprocity Treaty of 1854. The statement of this purpose appears 

 in the portion of the circular immediately preceding the extract 

 quoted in the British Case, as follows: 



The President feels a deep interest in this important branch of 

 national industry, and he is now anxiously engaged in negotiations 

 respecting the conflicting interests of Great Britain and the United 

 States, which may be seriously impeded, as well as greatly compli- 

 cated, by any actual collision between the subjects of Great Britain 

 and the citizens of this country. The President relying confidently 

 on your intelligence and activity, is persuaded that you will use all 

 the means in your power to diffuse a good understanding amongst 

 those engaged in the fishery interest. You will warn them of the 

 consequences of committing any unfriendly act during the progress 

 of the pending negotiations, as any such act may postpone indefinitely 

 the settlement of this vexatious question; and the result would be 

 likely, in any event, to prove hazardous to themselves. 



Within a year after the Reciprocity Treaty of 1854 went into opera- 

 tion, Mr. Marcy issued a circular under date of July 12, 1855, for 

 the information of the American fishermen, on the subject of the 

 observance by them of British colonial fisheries regulations applying 

 to British fishermen in the waters of the treaty coasts to which Ameri- 

 can fishermen were admitted by the new treaty, and enacted before 

 that treaty was made. In this circular he stated that " there is 

 nothing in the Reciprocity Treaty between the United States and 

 Great Britain which stipulates for the observance .of these regulations 

 by our fishermen ", but he added that " as it is presumed they have 

 been framed with a view to prevent injuries to the fisheries in which 

 our fishermen now have equal interest with those of Great Britain, it 

 is deemed reasonable and desirable that both should pay a like respect 

 to those regulations, which were designed to preserve and increase 



British Case Appendix, p. 201. 



