ARGUMENT OF CHARLES B. WARREN. 1181 



" It is a bay used synonymously with a harbor, which may be re- 

 sorted to for the same purposes. It is hardly less than absurd to 

 say, as it appears to the undersigned, that the meaning was that a 

 United States fishing vessel might put into the Bay of Fundy for 

 shelter, or the Gulf of St. Lawrence for repairs, or the Bay of Cha- 



leurs for wood and water. 

 712 " Most clear is it then, that the term bay, used in the proviso, 



means landlocked recesses, places inaccessible to winds, in short 

 natural harbours. 



" What ground is there for giving to the term bay, in the principal 

 clause, any broader extent, especially as giving it that broader ex- 

 tent, and understanding it in the sense in which the provincial au- 

 thorities appear to understand it, would be to suppose that the Ameri- 

 can Commissioners had given up all the old ground upon which the 

 United States had stood, and which they had maintained from the 

 first, and to violate their own instructions, purposes which there is no 

 proof of whatever kind, that they even contemplated." 



Furthermore, there is evidence before this Tribunal which com- 

 pletely refutes the idea that the Government of Great Britain be- 

 lieved that the position of the Government of the United States was 

 in harmony with the contention of the British Government. 



I refer now to a letter under date of the 20th July, 1852, found in 

 the British Case Appendix, on p. 155, from President Fillmore, then 

 President of the United States, to Daniel Webster, which reads as 

 follows : 



" Your note of the 17th, dated at Franklin came to hand this 

 morning, inclosing a copy of your's of the same day to Mr. Crampton, 

 and Mr. Hunter has shown me your telegraphic despatch of yester- 

 day, requesting him to ask me whether it was not best to send one 

 of our naval ships to Newfoundland to look after the disturbances 

 among the fishermen. I have also perused your article in the Boston 

 Courier of yesterday, and sincerely hope that these difficulties will 

 not prove as serious as you seem to anticipate. I have seen Mr. 

 Crampton who informs me that he will leave for Boston to-morrow 

 morning, for the purpose of having a consultation with you upon 

 the subject of the fisheries. He informs me also, that he has ad- 

 dressed a circular to the several Governors of the British Provinces 

 of North America advising moderation and forbearance upon this 

 subject. I doubt not that when you and he meet, you will be able 

 to agree upon some line of proceeding that will allay the present 

 excitement and prevent any bloodshed. I would suggest that you 

 unite in a publication in which you should express your regrets that 

 any misunderstanding had arisen between our fishermen engaged in 

 the fisheries at Newfoundland, and the colonial subjects of Great 

 Britain; that the differences of opinion which have arisen between 

 the two Governments, in reference to their respective rights under 

 the Convention of 1818, have called the attention of both Govern- 

 ments to the subject, and that together with the subject of reciprocal 

 trade between Her Majesty's Provinces of North America and the 

 United States, will doubtless become the immediate subject of nego- 

 tiation between the two countries; that in the meantime and until 



