1170 NORTH ATLANTIC COAST FISHERIES ARBITRATION. 



So that the "Argus" was also made a test case. It may be here 

 opportune to bring again to the attention of the Tribunal the fact 

 that these two vessels, the "Washington" and the "Argus," seized, 

 respectively, in 1843 and 1844, for the purpose of making test cases, 

 are the only seizures ever made during this entire controversy by 

 the Government of Great Britain outside of a line 3 miles from 

 land. 



I desire, if the Tribunal please, to devote a few minutes to trav- 

 ersing the statement made at the bottom of p. 83 of the British Case, 

 which reads : 



" This view * 



That is, the American contention 



" was not insisted on, and it would seem that the British contention, 

 with an exception in favor of the Bay of Fundy, was officially 

 accepted by the United States Government, at least it was accepted 

 by Mr. Everett, United States Minister in London, and by Mr. 

 Webster, United States Secretary of State." 



That statement, in regard to the acceptance by both Mr. Everett 

 and Mr. Webster, was repeated in the oral argument of the dis- 

 tinguished counsel who opened in behalf of Great Britain. I shall 

 now, at this stage, confine myself to showing that the statement 

 regarding Mr. Everett's having acquiesced in any such interpreta- 

 tion as is now put forward, or as then put forward by the Govern- 

 ment of Great Britain, is not borne out by the records at all. 



Turning to the letter of Mr. Everett, dated the 25th May, 1844, 

 upon which this statement is based, and which is set out at length in 

 the Appendix to the Case of the United States, on pp. 478 to 482, 

 inclusive, I desire to read therefrom but two extracts one of which 

 is relied upon by Great Britain, and the other of which explains the 

 meaning of the statement relied upon by the counsel for Great 

 Britain, and shows conclusively just what Mr. Everett had in 



mind. 



706 1 refer the Tribunal to p. 480 of the Appendix to the Case of 

 the United States, at the bottom of the page, where will be 

 found these words, in this letter from Mr. Everett to Lord Aber- 

 deen : 



" In estimating this distance, the undersigned admits it to be the 

 intent of the treaty, as it is itself reasonable, to have regard to the 

 general line of the coast; and to consider its bays, creeks and harbors, 

 that is, the indentation usuallv so accounted, as included within that 

 line." 



That, if the Tribunal please, is the statement upon which the 

 British Case relies in this submission, to show that Mr. Everett was 

 in accord with the contention of the Government of Great Britain. 



If the Tribunal will now kindly follow me to p. 481 of the Ap- 

 pendix to the Case of the United States 3 from this same letter from 



