1890 NOBTH ATLANTIC COAST PISHEKIES ABBITRATION. 



to fish or to withhold leave to fish. I think this feature of the con- 

 troversy to which I am about to draw attention may perhaps have 

 escaped notice, because it is mixed up with another feature of the con- 

 troversy, which, for my present purpose, is immaterial. After the 

 treaty it appears that American vessels went to fish in the bays of 

 the west coast of Newfoundland. They went to the three principal 

 bays, to the Bay of Islands, Port-au-Port, which is a bottle-necki'<l 

 bay, although the entrance is more than 6 miles wide, and St. George's 

 Bay. They went to these three bays, and they were at once ordered 

 away by the French. The moment they were ordered off by the 

 French they made a complaint to Great Britain. They did not, as 

 it happened, tell Great Britain that they were fishing in bays, or else 

 I should have very little to say for myself on Question 6; but they 

 complained that they were fishing on the west coast, and had been 

 turned off. 



On looking at the affidavits on which they acted, it will be found 

 that they were fishing in these three bays, and the United States, 

 apparently not appreciating the importance of that circumstance, 

 have themselves drawn attention to it in their Counter-Case, on p. 

 89. They say, on p. 89 of the United States Counter-Case : 



" The controversy in regard to the French claim in 1823 grew out 

 of an attempt by France to exclude American fishing vessels from the 

 west coast of Newfoundland. 



" Under the liberty of fishing established on this coast by the 

 treaty of 1818, the American fishermen at once began to engage in 

 fishing in the bays, creeks, and harbors, as well as in all the other 

 waters of the west coast of Newfoundland; and having found that 

 the fishing there was of great importance,"- 



I must say I cannot quite accept that as an accurate statement of 

 the fact; but still, for the present purpose, I need not draw atten- 

 tion to it 



" as it could ' be commenced there several weeks earlier than on any 

 other part of the coast, and the season is so short, at longest, as 

 barely to give time sufficient for making the voyage in the best man- 

 ner,' they returned there annually in considerable m:nil>ers. It ap- 

 pears, however, that in the years 1820 and 1821, a French war vessel 

 undertook to interrupt this practice by ordering them away and 

 forbidding them to fish on that coast. In the hitler part of May. 

 1820, the American schooner Aretas, and other vessels in company 

 with her, were ordered out of St. George's Bay by the commander 

 of a French naval vessel and forbidden to fish ' ;it any harbor or 

 island ' on the west coast of Newfoundland ; and in the following 

 year the same vessel was ordered out of the Bay of Port-au-Port on 

 that coast, and threatened with seizure if attempting again ' to catch 

 fish anywhere on that coast.' So also, in 1821, the American 

 schooners Betsy and John Quincy Adams were ordered out of the 

 Bay of Port-au-Port by an officer of the French warship, and for- 

 bidden to fish ' there on anywhere on that coast.' Again, in the 



