2172 NORTH ATLANTIC COAST FISHERIES AKBITRATION. 



vessel 60 miles off the shore, it became neceary. or practically neces- 

 sary, for Great Britain to put a limit upon her disavowal, to -how 

 how far it went. The United States was claiming to have the right 

 to fish clear up to the shore. She claimed that the right survived 

 from the treaty of 1783, which carried her fishermen clear to the 

 shore and into every bay, harbour, creek, and inlet. So when Great 

 Britain made a disavowal of this act of her officer in command of 

 the " Jaseur," it was incumbent upon her to show how far the dis- 

 avowal went, to guard herself against having it apply to the whole 

 American claim ; and in the performance of that duty Lord Bathurst, 

 who then held the seals of the Foreign Office, wrote this letter of the 

 7th September, 1815, and I will ask you to bear with me while I read 

 it. It is very brief : 



" Foreign Office, 

 " Sir, " September 7, 1815. 



" Your several despatches to No. 25 inclusive have been received 

 and before the Prince Regent. 



"The necessity of immediately dispatching this messenger with 

 my preceding numbers prevents my replying to the various topics 

 which your more recent communications embrace. I shall therefore 

 confine myself to conveying to you the sentiments of His Maje>t\ 's 

 Government on the one requiring the most immediate explanation 

 with the Government of the United States, namely, the fisheries, 

 premising the instructions I have to give to you on the subject, with 

 informing you that the line which you have taken in the discussion on 

 that point, as explained in your No. 24. has met with the approbation 

 of His Majesty's Government. 



"You will take an early opportunity of assuring Mr. Monroe that, 

 as, on the one hand, the British Government cannot acknowledge the 

 right of the United States to use the British territory for the pur- 

 pose connected with the fishery, and that their fishing vessels 

 1313 will be excluded from the bays, harbours, rivers, creeks, and 

 inlets of all His Majesty V pM-sc--;ions: so, on the other hand 

 the British Government does not pretend to interfere with the fishery 

 in which the subjects of the United States may be engaged, either on 

 the Grand Bank of Newfoundland, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, or 

 other places in the sea. without the jurisdiction of the maritime 

 league from the coasts under the dominion of Great Britain." 



You will perceive that here he draws a line between, on the one 

 hand, all the waters from which it is the purpose of the Government 

 of Great Britain to exclude American fishermen, and, on the other 

 hand, all the waters from which it is the purpose of the Government 

 of Great Britain not to exclude American fishermen. Those waters 

 from which it is the purpose to exclude are described as " hays, har- 

 bours, rivers, creeks, and inlets" specifically. They are all within 

 the jurisdiction of the maritime league from the coasts under the 

 dominion of Great Britain, for it is the purpose not to exclude Ameri- 

 can fishermen from any waters without the jurisdiction of the mari- 



