BRITISH, COLONIAL AND OTHER CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 529 



and to instruct the senior officer of such force to co-operate cordially 

 with any United States force sent on the same service. It was also 

 found necessary to employ a local marine police force for the same 

 purpose. 



The result of these measures was the capture and forfeiture of 

 several American vessels for infringing the provisions of the Con- 

 vention of 1818, both by fishing within British waters and by fre- 

 quenting Canadian ports for objects not permitted by the Conven- 

 tion, and notwithstanding the steps taken by the British Government 

 to mitigate as far as possible the stringency of the orders given for 

 the exclusion of American fishermen from British waters, it was 

 found fit the close of the season of 1870 that many seizures of Ameri- 

 can vessels had been made by cruisers both of the Imperial and Do- 

 minion Governments. 



The difficulties caused by these untoward events subsequently led 

 to the reopening of negotiations for the settlement of questions con- 

 nected with the Fisheries. 



It is unnecessary here to relate the circumstances which led to the 

 appointment of the Joint High Commission in 1871. Suffice it to 

 say that, towards the end of 1870 Sir John Rose, having been com- 

 missioned to proceed in an unofficial character to Washington for 

 the purpose of ascertaining the views of the United States on the 

 subject, was able in the month of February, 1871, to announce that 

 the United States Government were prepared to refer all questions 

 between the two countries to a Joint High Commission. 



The Commissioners held their first meeting at Washington, on 

 the 27th Februarj^, 1871, and the treaty was signed on the 8th of 

 May of the same year. 



FISHERY ARTICLES OF THE TREATY OF WASHINGTON. 



The articles in this treaty relating to the Fisheries, and in virtue 

 of which this commission is constituted, are Articles XVIII, XIX, 

 XX, XXI, XXII, XXIII, XXIV, XXV, XXXII. and XXXIII. 

 They are as follows: 



[Here follow the Articles.] 



The acts necessary to enable these articles to be carried into effect 

 were passed by the Imperial Parliament of Great Britain on the Cth 

 August, 1872; by the parliament of Canada on the 14th June, 1872; 

 by the legislature of Prince Edward Island (which did not at that 

 time form part of the Dominion) on the 29th June, 1872; and by the 

 United States Congress on the 25th of February, 1873. A proclama- 

 tion, dated Washington, 7th June, 1873, fixes the 1st of July of that 

 year as the day on which these articles should come formally into 

 operation. 



Some difficulties having arisen in the case of Newfoundland, it 

 was not until the 28th of March, 1874, that the necessary act was 

 passed by that colony; and a proclamation issued on the 29th of May, 

 of the same year, fixed the 1st day of June, 1874, as the day on which 

 the Fishery Articles of the Treaty of Washington, so far as they 

 relate to Newfoundland, should come into effect. 



In the case of Canada, it was deemed advisable to admit Ameri- 

 can fishermen to the practical use of the privileges specified in 



