ARGUMENT OF JOHN S. EWART. 1235 



dence to the Tribunal, that Mr Everett's admission was an acceptance 



of the British view, accompanied by an attempt to distinguish 



744 the case of the Bay of Fundy, and to withdraw it from the 



application of the general principle, the validity of which Mr. 



Everett admitted. 



We have therefore, from 1824, a seeming agreement I put it no 

 higher than that of the United States with Great Britain, until 

 1841 and then we have the fishermen's idea, picked up by Mr. Paine 

 upon the fishing-ground, adopted by Mr. Stevenson, and afterward? 

 by Mr. Everett, and finally abandoned by Mr. Everett. That situa- 

 tion, the assertion of a principle on the part of Great Britain, and 

 the attempt by Mr. Everett to withdraw the Bay of Fundy from the 

 application of that principle, pointed to the possibility of an ar- 

 rangement. The Bay of Fundy was, of all the bays, the one of 

 greatest use to the United States, and Lord Aberdeen, seeing a way 

 out of the difficulty, said that he would " relax," to use his own words, 

 the application of the principle to the Bay of Fundy. He did so be- 

 cause of the admission by Mr. Everett of the validity of the general 

 principle. He did not say so to Mr. Everett. If he had the case 

 would not be now before the Tribunal. But that he did admit or 

 concede the Bay of Fundy to the United States, because of the ad- 

 mission made by Mr. Everett is very clear, and I shall point it out 

 when I come to a more detailed statement of the facts of the case. 



That arrangement *l am almost justified in using the word "ar- 

 rangement " because Sabine uses it ; for myself I would not put it as 

 high as an arrangement, and so I shall not use the word but that 

 sort of tacit understanding, an admission of the general principle 

 upon the one hand, and a concession of its inapplicability to the 

 principal bay that the United States were interested in on the other 

 hand, remained in operation until 1853, when it was repudiated. 

 But its operation may, perhaps, be said to have continued on the 

 part of Great Britain until 1854, when the reciprocity treaty, which 

 lasted for twelve years afterwards, supervened and put an end, of 

 course, to all arrangements, and an end to all contentions. 



During the period between 1845 and 1854 the Webster incident 

 took place in 1852. The determination of Great Britain to exer- 

 cise greater vigilance in the enforcement of her views upon the treaty 

 grounds, unfortunately synchronised with the approach of a Presi- 

 dential election ; and what happened is what always happens when 

 you touch a match to a barrel of gunpowder a tremendous explo- 

 sion. The United States was alive with excitement upon this ques- 

 tion because Mr. Webster had published a notice on the 19th July 

 indicating his agreement I do not think I am putting it too strongly 

 when I say that indicating his agreement with the view of the 

 British Government, and saying that the difficulty that the United 



