72 COUNTER CASE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



that such extension was only for the particular purposes specified in 

 the treaty, which are set forth in Article 12 as follows : 



And whereas it is expedient to make special provisions respecting 

 the maritime jurisdiction of the high contracting parties on the coast 

 of their respective possessions in North America on account of 

 peculiar circumstances belonging to those coasts, it is agreed that in 

 all cases where one of the said high contracting parties shall be en- 

 gaged in war, and the other shall be at peace, the belligerent Power 

 shall not stop except for the purpose hereafter mentioned, the vessels 

 of the neutral Power, or the unarmed vessels of other nations, within 

 five marine miles from the shore belonging to the said neutral Power 

 on the American seas. 



Provided That the said stipulation shall not take effect in favor of 

 the ships of any nation or nations which shall not have agreed to 

 respect the limits aforesaid, as the line of maritime jurisdiction of the 

 said neutral state. And it is further stipulated, that if either of the 

 high contracting parties shall be at war with any nation or nations 

 which shall not have agreed to respect the said special limit or line 

 of maritime jurisdiction herein agreed upon, such contracting party 

 shall have the right to stop or search any vessel beyond the limit of 

 a cannon shot, or three marine miles from the said coast of the neu- 

 tral Power, for the purpose of ascertaining the nation to which such 

 vessel shall belong; with respect to the ships and property of the 

 nation or nations not having agreed to respect the aforesaid line of 

 jurisdiction, the belligerent Power shall exercise the same rights as 

 if this article did not exist; and the several provisions stipulated by 

 this atricle shall have full force and effect only during the continu- 

 ance of the present treaty. 



In this connection attention is called to the following extract from 

 the letter written on January 3, 1807, by Mr. Monroe and Mr. Pinck- 

 ney, Commissioners on the part of the United States, to Mr, Madison, 

 the Secretary of State, transmitting the treaty then just concluded, 

 with reference to which they say : 



The twelfth article establishes the maritime jurisdiction of the 

 United States to the distance of five marine miles from the coast, in 

 favor of their own vessels and the unarmed vessels of all other Pow- 

 ers who may acknowledge the same limit. This Government [Great 

 Britain] contended that three marine miles was the greatest extent 

 to which the pretension could be carried by the law of nations, and 

 resisted, at the instance of the Admiralty and the law officers of the 

 Crown, in Doctor's Commons, the concession, which was supposed to 

 be made by this arrangement, with great earnestness. The ministry 

 seemed to view our claim in the light of an innovation of dangerous 

 tendency, whose admission, especially at the present time, might be 

 deemed an act unworthy of the Government. The outrages lately 

 committed on our coast, which made some provision of the kind 

 necessary as a useful lesson to the commanders of their squadrons, 

 and a reparation for the insults offered to our Government, increased 



U. S. Counter-Case Appendix, p. 22. 



