ARGUMENT OF JOHN S. EWAET. 1275 



MR. EWART: No, Sir; they could have blown the French ships out 

 of the water, as we ought to have done, as suggested by Mr. Turner. 

 a little later on. The nature of the claim that was set up by the 

 United States appears from the British Case Appendix, pp. 102, 

 103, 110, and 111. 



Nothing further seems to have happened until 1839. During that 

 period it seems to me that, upon the evidence I have given, I can very 

 well say that the view of the United States (so far as it had formu- 

 lated a view) was the same as we have presented to the Tribunal. 



In 1839, however, the mackerel having now deserted the United 

 States coasts and coming very largely upon ours, the fishing in the 

 Bay of Fundy and Chaleurs and other places became important, and 

 immediately the question arose. 



In the United States Case Appendix, at p. 426, will be found a 

 letter from the Secretary of the Treasury to the Secretary, or rather 

 the Acting Secretary of State, enclosing certain letters which he had 

 received, and asking that they might be laid before the President. 



The letters enclosed with that letter (p. 426 of the United States 

 Case Appendix) are set out upon the subsequent pages, and I wish 

 to refer to three of them. 



The first is from Mr. Thayer to Mr. Parris, at the foot of p. 426 : 



" I have this morning been informed that some depredations have 

 already been made upon Grand Manan by our fishing vessels, that 

 now number four or five hundred in the Bay of Fundy. and that a 



serious attack is in contemplation. 



769 "The complaints of the inhabitants of this island have 

 resulted in refusing to our vessels any shelter during bad 

 weather." 



I may pass on to the third last paragraph : 



" Towing our vessels indiscriminately to sea, whatever may be the 

 state of the weather, is justified upon the ground that our vessels have 

 no right to enter the Bay of Fundy, much less any of the bays and 

 creeks of the Bay of Fundy. 



" Our fishermen are generally armed, and will not bear these indig- 

 nities. They can furnish some thousands of as fearless men as can 

 be found anywhere, at short notice ; and, unless our Government send 

 an armed vessel here without delay, you will shortly hear of blood- 

 shed : five hundred fishermen, with an average crew of ten men, will 

 not long suffer the tyranny of drunken lieutenants in the British 

 Navy." 



We are getting to the subject of blowing out of the water again. 



Then below, from Mr. Barker to Mr. Woodbury : 



" The communication of Messrs. B. and J. M. Leavitt, in reference 

 to the treaty stipulation by which our fishermen are regulated, pre- 

 senting a question of diplomatic character, it is respectfully con- 

 ceived, ought to be submitted to the Secretary of State. I therefore 

 return it enclosed." 



