ARGUMENT OF SIR WILLIAM ROBSON. 1881 



minds the closed bay. And they said: "We shall be admitted to 

 come into it," like a man who knocks at the door and asks for admis- 

 sion, and it is opened, and he is admitted to enter; not like an open 

 door, which he may pass through at any moment and without any 

 request. So that they treated the bay as a whole, and it was entering 

 the bay that they wanted, and they knew that it was entering the bay 

 which was forbidden to them. It would have been very inappro- 

 priate language if they had been allowed to come in on the terms 

 that they must keep 3 miles from the shore. That would not have 

 been the proper language at all. But mark what they wanted to get 

 in for. They wanted to come in for bait. Now, as to obtaining bait : 

 There are two ways of obtaining bait; you may buy it or fish for it. 

 Probably here they referred to fishing for it, because it was quite 

 clear that we would not give them any commercial privileges. We 

 were not going to do it, and we did not give them any. We would 

 not give them any commercial privileges, so that what they contem- 

 plated there was fishing for that bait- The moment we saw that, we 

 would not allow it. We said : " No. That will mean fishing inside 

 our bays." It was suggested to me from the Tribunal that the 

 only importance of keeping the United States out of the bay was to 

 prevent them landing, and not to prevent them from fishing; but a 

 minute examination of this clause reveals another motive. They 



would have had the right to fish if they had been entitled to 

 1138 come in and get bait: and so we put our clause forward. It 



appears on p. 312 of the United States Case Appendix, at the 

 bottom of the page. 



" His Britannic Majesty further agrees that the vessels of the 

 United States, bond -fide engaged in such fishery, shall have liberty 

 to enter the bays and harbors of any of His Britannic Majesty's 

 dominions in North America, for the purpose of shelter, or of repair- 

 ing damages therein, and of purchasing wood and obtaining water, 

 and for no other purpose ; " 



Then it goes on to say, below that: 



" It is further well understood that the liberty of taking, drying, 

 and curing fish, granted in the preceding part of this article, shall 

 not be construed to extend to any privilege of carrying on trade." 



Those words " for no other purpose " were really as good a form of 

 renunciation, in substance, as you could want ; because it said : " You 

 may come into these bays; you may have your shelter; but you shall 

 not fish." That is what " no other purpose " means there : " You shall 

 not fish." So that here you have a clause which is absolute and ex- 

 plicit, saying you shall not fish in any bay, which indents the coasts 

 of the King's dominions. What more can be said than that? That 

 is what we are claiming to-day. We are claiming to-day that those 

 words meant what they said: That the bays are still our national 



92909 S. Doc. 870, 61-3, vol 11 20 



