1180 NORTH ATLANTIC COAST FISHERIES ARBITRATION. 



ican vessels could not fish unless within three miles of the land, either 

 on the one side or the other." 



I submit, therefore, that Counsel for Great Britain conveyed a 

 very erroneous impression as to the state of affairs in the seven years 

 from 1845 to 1852. The quiet which existed was due not to the fact 

 that Americans did not enter the large bays, but to the fact that the 

 British and colonial governments, hopeful of reciprocity, made no 

 attempt to interrupt them in so doing. That they were fishing in 

 the bays is shown by the evidence, and by the alarm caused among 

 American fishermen by the report that Great Britain intended to 

 exclude them from those waters. 



It appears that Mr. Webster, then Secretary of State, was in- 

 formed that the British colonies complained that the treaty was not 

 strictly enforced, and the Secretary of State, evidently fearful of a 

 complete interruption of the extensive fishing industry of the United 

 States, published an open letter, the 19th July, 1852, in a Boston 

 newspaper, which contained a warning to American fishermen about 

 the change of attitude, and the supposed changed policy on the part 

 of the Government of Great Britain, and which closed with the fol- 

 lowing words, which will be found on p. 510 of the Appendix to the 

 Case of the United States: 



" Not agreeing that the construction thus put upon the treaty is 

 conformable to the intentions of the contracting parties, this infor- 

 mation is, however, made public to the end that those concerned in 

 the American fisheries may perceive how the case at present stands, 

 and be upon their guard. The whole subject will engage the imme- 

 diate attention of the Government." 



It is perhaps unnecessary for me to pause to correct the statement 

 in the British Case, made on p. 84, which I have already read dur- 

 ing the afternoon, that Mr. Webster, the United States Secretary of 

 State, agreed with the British construction of this treaty, because 

 Mr. Webster distinctly stated, in the paragraph that I have just read, 

 that he did not agree that the construction to be put upon the treaty 

 was conformable to the intentions of the contracting parties. How- 

 ever, we have before this Tribunal conclusive proof of the position 

 of Mr. Webster on this question, and I respectfully refer the Tri- 

 bunal to the letter prepared by Mr. Webster shortly before his death, 

 which he was intending to send to Mr. Crampton, the Minister for 

 Great Britain in the United States at that time, and which appears 

 in the Appendix to the Case of the United States on p. 530. Mr. 

 Webster, in this memorandum, stated: 



" The signification of the word bay therefore, is known by its con- 

 comitants. It is a bay where shelter is to be had, where damages 

 may be repaired, & where wood and water may be obtained. 



