1278 NORTH ATLANTIC COAST FISHERIES ARBITRATION. 



Department on the subject the letters to which I alluded in conver- 

 sation with you. 



" Avoiding unnecessary repetitions, I will endeavor to give, in the 

 following, all that seems of importance in a more concise form." 

 ******* 



" I had believed the vessels seized had been generally guilty of 

 systematic violation of the revenue law ; but I was soon led to suspect 

 that this was not the cause, so much as a pretence, for seizing. 



" A vessel once seized must be condemned, unless released as a 

 favor ; because the. owners will not claim her under the present laws 

 of Nova Scotia, where the only seizures have taken place. 



" The questions on which dispute may arise are 



" 1st. The meaning of the word Bay, in the convention of 1818, 

 where the Americans relinquish the rights before claimed or exer- 

 cised, of fishing in or upon any of the coasts, bays, &c., of Her 

 Britannic Majesty's provinces, not before described, nearer than three 

 miles. 



" The authorities of Nova Scotia seem to claim a right to exclude 

 Americans from all bays, including those large seas such as the Bay 

 of Fundy and the Bay of Chaleurs; and also to draw a line from 

 headland to headland; the Americans not to approach within three 

 miles of this line. 



" The fishermen, on the contrary, believe they have a right to 

 work any where, if not nearer than three miles to the land. 



" The orders of Admiral Sir Thomas Harvey, as he informed me, 

 are only to prevent their fishing nearer than three miles. 



"According to this construction, Americans may fish in the Bay 

 of Fundy, Bay of Chaleurs, and the Bay of Miramichi ; while their 

 right would be doubtful in Chedabucto Bay, and they would be pro- 

 hibited in the other bays of Nova Scotia. 



" On that part of the coast of Newfoundland where the right of 

 fishing is relinquished, there are several bays in which fisheries may 

 be prosecuted at three or more miles from the land." 



He goes on with other things, and there is just one passage, on p. 

 122, that I want to read : 



" If the grounds assumed by the British provincial authorities be 

 carried out, it will be in their power to drive the Americans 

 771 from those parts of the coast where are some of the most valu- 

 able fisheries ; whereas, if the ground maintained by the Ameri- 

 cans be admitted, it will be difficult to prevent their procuring articles 

 of convenience, and particularly bait; from which they are precluded 

 by the convention, and which a party in the provinces seems resolved 

 to prevent." 



The contents of that report, Sirs, is the only reason why I use, for 

 the sake of brevity, the expression " fishermen's theory." It is dated 

 in 1839 and, as the Tribunal now knows, conflicts at that time were 

 apprehended. Seizures were being made and there was a possibility 

 of bloodshed at any moment. 



The United States, however, took no position, even after they had 

 got Lieutenant Paine's report, until 1841; when, for the first time, 



