1074 NORTH ATLANTIC COAST FISHERIES ARBITRATION. 



limits of the British sovereignty,' or 'His Britannic Majesty's Do- 

 minions in America;' and throughout the negotiations thereafter, it 

 was ever in the minds of the representatives of both powers that the 

 'British jurisdiction' in America or 'His Majesty's Dominion' was 

 without question acknowledged to be limited, in respect of the fish- 

 eries, to one marine league from the shores of the British possessions 

 in North America, within which lay the bays, creeks, harbors, and 

 waters close upon the shores now denied to the vessels of the United 

 States. This admission of the limitation of British jurisdiction nec- 

 essarily implied that beyond such limit no right to exercise sover- 

 eignty was claimed as againt the rights and liberty of the people of 

 the United States in respect of the fisheries." 



The negotiations resulting in the unratified treaty of 1806 have 

 been reviewed with considerable detail, and it plainly appears that 

 the Commissioners on behalf of Great Britain stated, in a note to 

 their Government printed in the British Appendix at p. 61 : 



" The distance of a cannon shot from shore is as far as we have 

 been able to ascertain the general limit of maritime jurisdiction and 

 that distance is for the sake of convenience practically construed into 

 three miles or a league:" 



And it also appears from those negotiations that while there was 

 a desire on the part of the United States to make some broad pro- 

 vision for the waters between headlands, that the result of the nego- 

 tiations was, I submit, that no such provision was inserted in the 

 treaty, because of the resistance of Great Britain to the incorporation 

 of such a stipulation in the treaty. 



The negotiations following the war of 1812 have just been reviewed, 

 and it appears that the sole demand made in behalf of the Govern- 

 ment of Great Britain was that thereafter, because of the war of 

 1812, the inhabitants of the United States should not be entitled, with- 

 out an equivalent, to fish or dry and cure fish " within the limits of 

 the British sovereignty." 



Counsel for Great Britain relies to prove that the statement in the 

 American Argument which was read, but was not connected with 

 the other extracts which I have just read, was without any evidence 

 to support it counsel for Great Britain relies I say on various 

 treaties, notes, and documents to be found in both Cases submitted to 

 this Tribunal, to establish that both the United States and Great 

 Britain were making broad claims to exclusive jurisdiction over the 

 high seas; so as to preclude the conclusion that the negotiators of the 

 treaty of 1818 understood that the extent of Great Britain's claim to 

 exclusive jurisdiction comprehended only the waters lying within the 

 3-mile limit. 



There is an evident attempt to avoid the necessity of proving the 

 assertion of jurisdiction over bays in the Case, Counter-Case and Ar- 

 gument of Great Britain, and counsel relies in oral argument, instead 

 of proving an assertion of jurisdiction over bays, upon certain evi- 



