998 NORTH ATLANTIC COAST FISHERIES ARBITRATION. 



It will be my endeavour to compress what I may say into as small 

 a compass as possible, to dispense with all discussion of collateral 

 matters, and to confine myself to the subject-matter indicated by 

 the Question itself. 



The distinguished counsel who opened in behalf of Great Britain, 

 Sir Eobert Finlay, took occasion to express a fear which had, per- 

 haps, been already sufficiently manifested in the Case filed on behalf 

 of Great Britain, that the Award of this Tribunal would go beyond 

 the scope of the construction of the treaty of 1818 between the United 

 States and Great Britain. The United States well understands that 

 the submission here involves solely the interpretation of the various 

 clauses of this treaty of 1818, and entertains no doubt that the Tri- 

 bunal will perform that task only. Nor do I, for my own part, 

 believe that an Award by this Tribunal, finding, that antedating and 

 during the negotiations, and that by the very terms of the treaty 

 itself, it was understood between these two nations that " bays, 

 creeks, or harbors of His Britannic Majesty's Dominions in America," 

 for the purposes of this treaty, now submitted to this Tribunal, were 

 confined to those bodies of water lying landward of the 3-mile line, 

 agreed upon by the very terms of the treaty itself, would, as con- 

 tended by Great Britain, result " in difficulties and disputes in 

 every part of the world." 



In 1824, six years after the signing of this treaty, the orders of 

 the Government of Great Britain to His Majesty's sloop " Dotterel," 

 then stationed in the North Atlantic, were, as shown on p. 377 of 

 the Appendix to the Case of the United States, that any American 

 vessel found within three marine miles of the shore, except for the 

 four purposes specified in the treaty, should be seized. 



In 1839 the orders issued by the Admiralty of Great Britain to 

 Admiral Sir Thomas Harvey, in command in the North ' Atlantic, 

 were only to prevent American fishing-vessels from fishing nearer 

 than 3 miles to the land. This fact appears in the evidence on p. 

 451 of the Appendix to the Case of the United States. 



The construction of the treaty became a matter of contro- 

 600 versy about the year 1841, and was discussed between the 

 representatives of the two Governments for several years. It 

 was during these years that the authorities of the province of Nova 

 Scotia sought to have the Government of Great Britain change its 

 orders to the Admiralty. 



However, the Government of Great Britain, after long delibera- 

 tion, expressed its own judgment, as will be seen in the Appendix to 

 the British Case, on p. 146, in a note from Lord Stanley, Secretary 

 of State for the Colonies, to the Eight Honourable Viscount Falk- 

 land, to this effect: 



