ARGUMENT OF CHARLES B. WARREN. 1045 



Close upon the shore were the creeks and waters within the mari- 

 time jurisdiction of Great Britain- and all the sea, a marine league 

 from the shores was not within the exclusive maritime jurisdiction 

 of Great Britain. 



As stated by Mr. Bagot, " within the British limits " lay the creeks 

 and harbours close upon the shore and within the " maritime limits," 

 he stated, lay the interdicted waters. Beyond a marine league from 

 the shore all was open sea. 



THE PRESIDENT : It would be of the greatest value, Sir, if it would 

 be possible to elucidate a certain discrepancy which exists between 

 the letter from Lord Bathurst to Mr. Baker of the 7th September, 

 1815, in the British Case Appendix, p. 64, and the report which Mr. 

 Adams made to Mr. Monroe, stating the conversation which he had 

 had with Lord Bathurst concerning these instructions, appearing 

 also in the British Case Appendix. In that letter Lord Bathurst says 

 to his Minister at Washington, Mr. Baker : 



" You will take an early opportunity of assuring Mr. Monroe that, 

 as, on the one hand, the British Government cannot acknowledge the 

 right of the United States to use the British territory for the purpose 

 connected with the fishery, and that their fishing vessels will be 

 excluded from the bays, harbours, rivers, creeks, and inlets of all 

 His Majesty's possessions." 



629 Thus Lord Bathurst writes to Mr. Baker. Mr. Adams re- 

 ports to Mr. Monroe that he had had a conversation with Lord 

 Bathurst concerning these instructions, and he had asked Lord 

 Bathurst what the substance of these instructions was. On p. 65 it 

 is stated that Lord Bathurst replied that he could give the substance 

 of the answer that had been forwarded, and that it had been that 



" as, on the one hand, Great Britain could not permit the vessels of 

 the United States to fish within the creeks and close upon the shores 

 of the British territories, so, on the other hand, it was by no means 

 her intention to interrupt them in fishing anywhere in the open sea, 

 or without the territorial jurisdiction, a marine league from the 

 shore." 



In the letter Lord Bathurst speaks of the bays, while in the report 

 which Mr. Adams makes concerning the conversation he had had 

 with Lord Bathurst, he does not speak of the bays. One of these re- 

 ports must be incorrect. Either Mr. Adams had not quite correctly 

 reported what he had heard from Lord Bathurst, or Lord Bathurst 

 had forgotten something which he had written to Mr. Baker, or in his 

 oral communication he had said something different from what he 

 had written. Then there is the possibility that Mr. Baker did not 

 quite exactly communicate the contents of the despatch of Lord 

 Bathurst to the American Government. There must be some misun- 

 derstanding, and it would be interesting to know who was incorrect 

 in his report. If it were possible to elucidate such a question it 



