ARGUMENT OF ELIHU BOOT. 2239 



torialise bays in 1818, and Great Britain would not do it." Well, 

 what about the argument upon which the United States have been 

 relying, that we had come to a definite agreement in 1806 with regard 

 both to the maritime zone and to bays. Apparently that was the 

 argument on which Mr. Warren founded himself. Mr. Root now 

 seems not only to abandon that, but to treat it as inconsistent with 

 the true state of the facts. I venture to say that Mr. Root has made 

 clear, if any further clarity were required he has made clear what 

 was in the minds of all those who read these letters and made this 

 treaty. Wherever they talked of the maritime jurisdiction they were 

 talking of the coastal belt to be drawn round a coast. They consid- 

 ered that all bays were within the jurisdiction of the country in which 

 they were situated, and that, being within the jurisdiction, they were 

 subject to full control over fishing rights, and that the bays in ques- 

 tion in this case were granted by the treaty of 1783, and renounced 

 by the treaty of 1818. 



THE PKESIDENT then spoke as follows: 

 Gentlemen : 



There is a noble custom prevailing among the members of the 

 Bar in Anglo-Saxon countries, to address one another as " friends," 

 even if they represent the adverse parties of a litigation. So counsel 

 on one side and on the other have done in this international pro- 

 ceeding. 



So much the more it may be my privilege, in the name of the 

 Tribunal, to address counsel on both sides as our friends, and to 

 thank you for all the friendly assistance you have lent us during 

 these weeks and months. You have led us through the maze of a 

 hundred years of diplomatic correspondence, through the jungle 

 of entangled statutes, through the dark forest of almost meta- 

 physical problems, in which it was sometimes difficult to see our path, 

 up to the summit of the mountain, where we hope we may see the 

 problem we have to deal with in the light of truth and of justice. 



I thank you all for the most valuable assistance we have had from 

 your speeches, for the courtesy you have shown us, and especially 

 for the courtesy you have shown to one another. I am sure that 

 the chivalrous spirit in which you have treated the grave contro- 

 versies existing between your countries will facilitate us to come 

 to a just and liappy solution of them. 



It is with regret that we take leave of you, who have been our 

 friends and our guides in this long and sometimes laborious journey. 



I beg the agents of both parties, as well as the Secretary-General 

 and his colleagues, to accept the preliminary expression of our thanks, 



