ARGUMENT OF CHARLES B. WARREN. 1005 



of the Commissioners would have now attached when one of the 

 phrases was again used. 



"It is not open to discussion that the words, 'of His Britannic 

 Majesty's Dominions in America,' transferred from the treaty of 

 1783, were the equivalent in all material respects of these other lim- 

 iting phrases. 



"The notes in the possession of the respective plenipotentiaries 

 disclosed no demand for the surrender of the historic rights of the 

 American fishermen in these great outer bays. There never had 

 been any discussion, between the two powers, of such extended juris- 

 diction. The protocols of the conferences, in which the proceedings 

 were to be recorded in detail." 



004 And the words " in detail " are taken from the protocol of 

 the first conference of the commissioners in 1818 



" contain no reference to the discussion of this question, and the 

 American plenipotentiaries stated that ' their instructions did not 

 anticipate that any new terms or restrictions would be annexed ' to 

 the proposals made to the American Government prior to the meeting 

 of the negotiators." 



THE PRESIDENT : If you please, Sir : If the words had a legal sense, 

 and not a merely geographical sense, if the words " of His Britannic 

 Majesty's Dominions " would be equivalent to British jurisdiction, 

 or limits of exclusive jurisdiction of Great Britain, or one of these 

 other expressions referred to in the printed Argument, would it then 

 not have been more appropriate to speak of His Britannic Majesty's 

 " dominion," instead of His Britannic Majesty's " Dominions " ? 

 Would not the conception of sovereignty be more adequately ex- 

 pressed by using the singular " dominion " instead of the word 

 " dominions " w T hich is used more to the territorial extent ? 



MR. WARREN: Mr. President, in answering that question, I first 

 wish to say this : That it seems to me, that it must always be under- 

 stood that these negotiators were not recording the results of philo- 

 sophical studies on this subject, but were using phrases as they were 

 commonly used amongst men. I have no doubt that the negotiators 

 well knew that the term " dominions " signified the territory over 

 which any particular State had the exclusive right to exercise sover- 

 eignty, and that the term " dominion " signified the sovereignty so 

 exercised ; and that in the minds of the negotiators of the treaty the 

 words would have been understood as synonymous. 



I will, Mr. President, continue reading from p. 145 of the United 

 States Argument : 



" The extent of the ' bays, creeks, or harbours of His Britannic 

 Majesty's Dominions in America ' could not be determined except by 

 the agreement of the two powers, provided there was to be any exten- 

 sion beyond the admitted jurisdiction within the three mile limit." 



Now, if the Tribunal please, that statement would seem to be a 

 fact; that the exclusive maritime jurisdiction of Great Britain could 



