2146 NORTH ATLANTIC COAST FISHERIES ARBITRATION. 



the limits of British sovereignty, usng a variety of expressions which 

 we find in these negotiations and correspondence, all referring to 

 the same thing. The subject-matter in controversy is limited to the 

 exercise of the liberties within the territorial waters of Great Britain. 

 That follows necessarily from a great number of expressions which 

 were used in the negotiations, and which were authoritative state- 

 ments of the position of Great Britain which the United States had 

 to meet, and which were statements of the subject-matter which \\ a> 

 to be settled. An expression of this is to be found in Lord Bathurst's 

 letter of instructions to the Commissioners at Ghent, which appears 

 in this pamphlet, p. 9. He says to the Commissioners, at the foot of 

 the first paragraph : 



" You are instructed to state that the three material points which 

 remain for consideration are the following: " 



Then, at the foot of the page : 



" Secondly, the fisheries. You are to state that Great Britain 

 admits the right of the United States to fish on the high seas with- 

 out the maritime jurisdiction of the territorial possessions of Great 

 Britain in North America." 



Then he goes on to say something, which I shall refer to hereafter, 

 regarding the extent of that, and continues: 



" But they cannot agree to renew the privilege, granted in the 

 Treaty of 1783, of allowing the Americans to land and dry their fish 

 on the unsettled shores belonging to his Britannic Majesty." 



etc. As to everything without the maritime jurisdiction of the ter- 

 ritorial possessions of Great Britain there was no controversy, there 

 was agreement. As to the area of water within the maritime juris- 

 diction, within the limits of British sovereignty, there was contro- 

 versy, and to that controversy this statement related. 



THE PRESIDENT: As to the waters without, there was no contro- 

 versy ; whereas, as to the waters within, there was controversy ? 



SENATOR ROOT: Precisely. 



THE PRESIDENT: How am I to understand that? I should think 

 that if, concerning the waters within, there was controversy, tin- 

 controversy would extend each way, and would, therefore, also ex- 

 tend to the waters without, because what is not within is without, 

 and what is not without is within. 



SENATOR ROOT : You will see that they would be quite different con- 

 troversies. The controversy to which I refer was a controversy as 

 to whether, within those limits, whatever they were, we had the 

 right to fish or not. We said that within them we had the right 

 to fish because we had it before, that it was granted in 1783 and still 

 continued, notwithstanding the war. Great Britain said: Within 

 those limits you have no right to fish; you have the right outside of 

 them, but within them you have not, because your treaty grant of 1783 



