1838 NORTH ATLANTIC COAST FISHERIES ARBITRATION. 



Now, this is the short statement of my argument upon that para- 

 graph: The United States Commissioners adopt phraseology which 

 shows that they wanted the whole of the fishery. They proceed to 

 enumerate its parts, and in enumerating its parts they are not content 

 to let " bays " be included in the word " coast." They have, in dealing 

 with Nova Scotia, dealt only with " shores," They are thinking only 

 of shores, because they are referring only to " curing fish." They are 

 not thinking about the fishery in the bays. 



Well, now, that phraseology is carried on for the same reason 

 through several instances. At the bottom of p. 12 there is a rather 

 curious note: 



" On folio 493 is a paper in the writing of John Jay, which appears 

 to be the first form of this paragraph. The differences are: For 

 4 common right ' read ; equal right ' ; for ' coasts, bays and banks of ' 

 read 'coasts of] and for ''continued unless' 1 &c. read 'continued, un- 

 less our Allies shall absolutely refuse and threaten to make a separate 

 peace? " 



Now, I read that note, not for founding any very special argument 

 upon it, but to show how carefully they are considering these words. 

 They are not using the words " bays, banks, creeks and harbours," 

 &c., without reflecting as to whether they have any meaning or not. 



Mr. Jay thinks he had better not put these words in ; somebody else 

 says " we had better have them," and so the words " bays and banks " 

 are put in. I cannot read their minds. We know what they said 

 and what they did, but I cannot conjecture the precise argument 

 that Mr. Jay may have addressed to the other negotiators or they to 

 him. All I can say is that these words are not put in with a mere 

 running pen. Clever men, earnest men, men acting under the stress 

 of the greatest national need, having to be careful of every step they 

 took and of every word they used these men were setting down this 

 very paragraph and weighing every word. 



JUDGE GRAY : Is folio 493 containing that note in this record any- 

 where ? 



SIR W. ROBSON : I have not seen it ; in fact, I very recently noticed 

 this. It was useful to my argument, but I really had not noticed it 

 before. That is the sole observation I found upon it. Well, now, 

 to come to some other instances, just following the same book, p. 29, 

 where the word 



THE PRESIDENT: Might there not be an explanation concerning the 

 circumstance that the bays of Nova Scotia are mentioned specially. 

 whereas, with reference to Labrador, they speak only of the coast? 

 If one looks at the map at some distance, or if one looks at a map 

 on a small scale, there appears a striking difference between the bays 

 of Nova Scotia and the bays of Labrador. The bays of Nova Scotia 

 present themselves to the eye, at first glance, as separate entities, as 



