ARGUMENT OF CHARLES B. WARREN. 1029 



In the view of the United States the true interpretation of this 

 renunciatory clause requires the determination of the extent of the 

 coasts referred to, and the meaning of *the words " bays, creeks, or 

 harbours," when used in connection with the word " coasts," 

 619 and necessitates the determination of the extent, prior to 

 1818, of the sea adjacent to the shores of the British posses- 

 sions in North America over which Great Britain asserted a right 

 of sovereignty, in respect of the fisheries, as against the fishing- 

 vessels of the United States. 



The preamble, so to speak, of the treaty of 1818 is: 



" Whereas differences have arisen respecting the liberty, claimed 

 by the United States for the inhabitants thereof," &c. 



From this recital it is apparent that differences had arisen which 

 the treaty now before this Tribunal was intended to adjust. The 

 interpretation of the treaty is necessarily connected with the facts 

 disclosing the differences which existed and with the practical diffi- 

 culties which the treaty was intended to remove. 



I shall now review the circumstances and occasions from which 

 the controversy, at length resulting in this treaty, arose, and state, 

 in as brief a manner as seems consistent with the desire to have all 

 the facts before the Tribunal, the successive stages in the controversy 

 until the stage at which it is now found. 



THE PRESIDENT: Of course, we do not wish to trouble you with 

 any remark as to limitation of time, because we are most desirous of 

 having presented to us all the facts which are necessary for your 

 cause. 



MR. WARREN : I thank you, Mr. President. 



THE PRESIDENT: And if we expressed the opinion that counsel 

 might confine themselves to a certain number of days in the presenta- 

 tion of their arguments, that only meant that, in our opinion, the 

 case could be sufficiently developed within that time. But our prin- 

 cipal object is to obtain an entire cognizance of the case. 



MR. WARREN : I thank you, Mr. President, and the Tribunal may 

 rest assured that counsel would not consume the time of the Tribunal 

 after such an expression, unless he thought he was discussing matters 

 material to the issue. 



The British Case contains a most important statement regarding 

 the negotiations preceding and during 1818, and I desire to lay em- 

 phasis upon the fact that in this paragraph is to be found all that 

 is said regarding the negotiations immediately preceding the treaty 

 of 1818. I read from the bottom of p. 121 of the British Case : 



" In addition to these arguments, His Majesty's Government desire 

 to point out to the Tribunal that the circumstances existing at the 

 time of the negotiations of 1818 themselves negative the contention 

 that the term ' bay of his Britannic Majesty's dominions ' as used 



