AEGUMENT OF JOHN S. EWABT. 1283 



there are. There are no bays, as the Tribunal will see, all along this 

 coast not one. The five bays which are referred to are the only bays, 

 in so far as I know and I think I am right inside of the Bay of 

 Fundy. Those, Mr. Everett said, are the bays referred to in the con- 

 vention of 1818. They are all wider than 6 miles. 



The correspondence between Lord Aberdeen and Mr. Everett 

 ended, as I indicated this morning, in the concession of the Bay of 

 Fundy to the United States and, as I also said, that concession was 

 made because of the admission of the principle in Mr. Everett's letter. 

 This reason was not stated to Mr. Everett at the time, but it was never- 

 theless the reason which actuated the concession. 



I should, before passing from Mr. Everett's letter have called the 

 attention of the Tribunal to a matter which Sir Kobert Finlay did 

 refer to but which might be overlooked unless I pointed it out in 

 the particular connection for which I now cite it. I refer to the fact 

 that Mr. Everett's letter was approved by the President of the United 

 States. At p. 135 of the British Case Appendix there is a letter from 

 the Secretary of State to Mr. Everett, in which the Secretary of State 

 says that 



" The President is perfectly satisfied with the manner in which you 

 have presented the case of the American vessel Washington, .... 

 and with the argument on the main question contained in your note 

 to the Earl of Aberdeen of the 25th of May last," 



Reference evidently was made by the Colonial Office to the Gover- 

 nor of Nova Scotia in connection with the correspondence just 

 referred to, and we have, on p. 136 of the British Case Appendix the 

 reply of the Governor of Nova Scotia. I shall commence reading at 

 the middle of the first paragraph : 



" Your Lordship likewise informs me that Lord Aberdeen is well 

 disposed, on mature consideration to relax the strict rule which has 

 hitherto been declared applicable to American vessels found fishing 

 within the limits of the Bay (but without renouncing the right of 

 Great Britain to consider the Bay of Fundy as distinguished from 

 the ocean) provided the fishermen of the United States do not ap- 

 proach within three miles of any inlet within the bay, or within three 

 miles of the coast, and you do me the honour to require my unreserved 

 opinion upon Lord Aberdeen's proposal." 



774 Then he refers to the seizure of the "Washington," and 

 proceeds : 



" In respect to the expediency of relaxing the strict rule which has 

 hitherto been declared applicable to American vessels found fishing 

 within the limits of the Bay of Fundy, I have found it difficult to 

 arrive at a conclusion, because although some members of the Execu- 

 tive Council believe, with myself, that such a concession, provided 

 it led to no other " 



