BRITISH, COLONIAL AND OTHEB CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 283 



sure whether we did not before the treaty of 1854 to take that as 

 our limit. 



Hon. Mr. SCOTT. The United States were willing to concede the 

 ten mile limit. 



Hon. Mr. ABBOTT. After the expiration of the treaty of 1854, Great 

 Britain declined to enforce the seizure and forfeiture of ships taken 

 at a greater distance than three miles from the shore, even within 

 any bays, harbours and creeks, using the language of the treaty of 

 1818, and it was only after remonstrances by the Government of this 

 country, claiming that the ten miles was the proper limit, that Great 

 Britain was disposed to concede that it might be ten miles, but it 

 did not and would not order its vessels to make seizures governed by 

 that delimitation, always confining them of late to the distance of 

 three miles from the shore, whether in or out of a bay or harbor. 

 That is the way the question stood as between Great Britain, Canada 

 and the United States when this treaty was entered upon. Our own 

 Government contended for the ten miles ; England and her law officers 

 followed the doctrine very much of the United States in that respect. 

 The law officers were not disposed to place any territorial limit to 

 the width of our bays. They said we had a right to have the lines 

 measured from headland to headland, but though that opinion was 

 given many years ago, it was never acted upon by Great Britain by 

 enforcing its territorial jurisdiction beyond the three miles. We our- 

 selves contended, without any censure or reproach that I have ever 

 heard of, that the proper delimination should be ten miles. 



Hon. Mr. SCOTT. The Americans have been willing to concede that. 



Hon. Mr. ABBOTT. The Americans have contended that it should 

 be six miles ; that is their diplomatic contention, found in reports to 

 the British Government and in the diplomatic correspondence which 

 was constantly taking place between the two countries except while 

 the treaties of 1854 and 1871 lasted. That delimitation of ten miles 

 was one which was recognized elsewhere. 



Hon. Mr. BOTSFORD. In the north of Europe. 



Hon. Mr. ABBOTT. There was a convention between England and 

 France in 1839 with respect to this question by which the limits were 

 fixed at ten miles, and there was a treaty between England and Ger- 

 many in 1858 to the same effect making the limit ten miles. There was 

 the north sea convention between England, France, Belgium, Den- 

 mark, Germany and the Netherlands by which the limit was fixed 

 at ten miles, so that practically all the great nations of Europe have 

 agreed (with the exception of Russia apparently and Austria, but 

 Austria has not much to talk about in the way of sea board) and have 

 become parties to conventions fixing the delimitation at ten miles. 



Hon. Mr. MC!NNES (B. C.). Does that mean following the sinuosi- 

 ties of the shore? 



Hon. Mr. ABBOTT. No, drawing lines from headland to headland 

 where the bay is 10 miles wide. That is what is agreed upon by all 

 the leading nations of Europe except Russia and Austria, and what 

 is agreed upon by this treaty. The Ajnericans yielded so far as to 

 abandon their pretention that the limits should be 6 miles that is 

 to say, a marine league from each shore. England abandoned it, as 

 she has done in these conventions since 1839; and all the European 

 nations practically had abandoned the theory, that the limit should 



