ARGUMENT OF JOHN S. EWART. 1273 



by saying I did not consider it strong evidence) to support the view 

 that the United States originally coincided in the opinion of Great 

 Britain as to the construction of this treaty. I referred to the pe- 

 riod of 1821, 1822, and so on, when the United States fishermen were 

 operating in the bays on the west coast of Newfoundland. 



The United States, in its Counter-Case and Argument, makes a 

 strong point against us, when discussing Question No. 6, upon the 

 ground that the United States vessels were fishing in those bays, and 

 upon that fact is based the argument that as early as 1824 there is 

 evidence as to the interpretation of the word " coasts " as submitted 

 in Question No. 6. 



The fact that these men were fishing in the bays there is material 

 upon the subject that I am now addressing myself to, because it 

 seems to me very clear that, if the United States held the view that 

 they now do as to the construction of the treaty of 1818, they would 

 not have submitted, without question, to being excluded from St. 

 George's Bay ; and yet we find that they made no point as to whether 

 they were fishing within the 3 miles or outside of the 3 miles. In fact, 

 when they were ordered out of the bay altogether, as stated in the 

 United States Counter-Case, the only point that they took about it 

 was, not that they w r ere on the high seas at all when they were 3 

 miles from land, as they would now say, but that the French had 

 no exclusive right there. They therefore appealed to Great Britain 

 to exercise her sovereign jurisdiction in that vicinity, and to vindi- 

 cate the right of the United States to fish in those bays. 



JUDGE GRAY : Would you put the pointer on St. George's Bay ? 



MR. EWART: Yes, Sir (indicating by means of map on the wall). 



JUDGE GRAY: Thank you. 



MR. EWART: The Tribunal will find an account of the operations 

 of the United States vessels in the United States Counter-Case, at 

 p. 89, the third paragraph : 



" Under the liberty of fishing established on this coast by the 

 Treaty of 1818, the American fishermen at once began to engage in 

 fishing in the bays, creeks, and harbors, as well as in all the other 

 waters of the west coast of Newfoundland, and having found that 

 the fishing there was of great importance," 



and so on. Then the next sentence : 



"It appears, however, that in the years 1820 and 1821, a French 

 war vessel undertook to interrupt this practice by ordering them 

 away and forbidding them to fish on that coast. In the latter part of 

 May, 1820, the American schooner Aretas, and other vessels in com- 

 pany with her, were ordered out of St. George's Bay by the com- 

 mander of a French naval vessel and forbidden to fish at any harbor 

 or island ' on the west coast of Newfoundland ; and in the following 

 year the same vessel was ordered out of the Bay of Port-au-Port on 

 that coast, and threatened " 



