1236 NORTH ATLANTIC COAST FISHERIES ARBITRATION. 



States fishermen found themselves in was due to an "oversight" 

 his word on the part of the United States negotiators in 1818. That 

 notice, published on the eve of a Presidential election, was taken 

 advantage of, very naturally, by the opponents of the Fillmore ad- 

 ministration, in which Mr. Webster was Secretary of State. There 

 was a tremendous, as Mr. Webster speaks of it, " flare-up " in the 

 Senate. The newspapers were full of it. Was the administration 

 " going to give away bays to which we are rightfully entitled ? " 

 And eiforts were made to calm this excitement, and to get rid of the 

 difficulty, by negotiations for a settlement of the whole subject, in 

 the way afterwards accomplished by the reciprocity treaty. That 

 was Mr. Webster's way out of the difficulty. He saw no other way. 

 He tried his hand at a memorandum, but he could make nothing of 

 it ; and he tried by negotiation to get rid of the difficulty, which -he 

 could see no other way of getting rid of by bringing about a recip- 

 rocal trade arrangement, including this difficult subject of these 

 fisheries. 



We then have here, not merely a concession from Mr. Everett in 

 1845, not merely a tacit agreement or understanding a better 

 word from 1845 to 1852 but we have a man with such an intellect 

 as Daniel Webster's, doing his best for his country, under the pres- 

 sure of a Presidential election, to formulate some theory upon which 

 he can contend that 3 miles from a bay does not mean 3 miles from a 

 bay; and Daniel Webster could not do it.' 



The result of the elections was to put Mr. Marcy in the place which 

 had been vacated by Mr. Webster's death. And the Government 

 seems to have re-adopted the fishermen's idea. It was not necessary 

 at the time to discuss the question with Great Britain, and no discus- 

 sion seems to have taken place. The treaty of 1854 came into opera- 

 tion during the next year. 



So now we are back to the fishermen's idea again in 1853, having 

 come through the cycle. 



That was the situation because the reciprocity treaty, as we 

 know, was continued by licenses down to 1870, and then the treaty 

 of 1871 came into operation, which opened all bays to every- 

 745 body, and made it unnecessary to discuss this question so 

 that was the situation, when in 1877 it became necessary for 

 the United States to formulate some position with reference to the 

 construction of this treaty, and to try to prove in some way or other 

 that 3 miles from a bay did not mean 3 miles from a bay. It was 

 necessary, because of the proceedings at Halifax, in order to ascer- 

 tain the amount of compensation that was to be paid by the United 

 States to Great Britain. And the United States wished to argue 

 that they had a right to all these bays, with the exception of 3 miles 



