APPENDICES TO OBAL AEGUMENTS. 2293 



the fisheries in the waters of the British North- American colonies, 

 with permission to those fishermen to land on the coasts of those col- 

 onies for the purpose of drying their nets and curing their fish, pro- 

 vided that in so doing they do not interfere with the owners of pri- 

 vate property, or with the operations of British fishermen. 



" Her Majesty's Government would require, as an indispensable condition in 

 return for this concession, that all fish, either fresh or cured, imported into the 

 United States from the British North-American possessions, in vessels of any 

 nation or description, should be admitted into the United States duty free, and 

 upon terms in all respects of equality with fish imported by citizens of the 

 United States." 



The deliberations of the Joint High Commission, as preserved in 

 the protocols of their conferences on the fisheries, exhibit, with per- 

 fect distinctness, the British opinion as to a free market for the prod- 

 uct of the provincial fisheries being a value to the provincial inter- 

 ests which could not be missed, or replaced by a pecuniary substitute, 

 in any settlement of the question. Thus our High Commissioners 

 stated " that if the value of the inshore fisheries could be ascertained, 

 the United States might prefer to purchase for a sum of money the 

 right to enjoy, in perpetuity, the use of these inshore fisheries in com- 

 mon with British fishermen, and mentioned 1,000,000 dollars as the 

 sum they were prepared to offer." The British High Commissioners 

 replied " that this offer was, they thought, wholly inadequate, and 

 that no arrangement would be acceptable of which the admission into 

 the United States, free of duty, of fish, the produce of British fish- 

 eries, did not form a part," After a consideration of commercial 

 equivalents, in which the offers of our High Commissioners were not^ 

 accepted by the British High Commissioners, all such propositions on 

 our part were withdrawn, and our Commissioners renewed their pro- 

 posal to pay a money equivalent for the use of the inshore fisheries, 

 and further, proposed that, " in case the two Governments should not 

 be able to agree upon the sum to be paid as such equivalent, the mat- 

 ter should be referred to an impartial commission for determination." 

 To this the British High Commissioners replied, " that it would not 

 be possible for them to come to any arrangement except one for a 

 term of years, and involving the concession of free fish and fish-oil 

 by our High Commissioners; but that, if free fish and fish-oil were 

 conceded, they would enquire of their Government whether they were 

 prepared to assent to a reference to arbitration as to money payment." 

 Our High Commissioners replied " that they were of opinion that 

 free fish and fish-oil would be more than an equivalent for those fish- 

 eries, but that they were also willing to agree to a reference to deter- 

 mine that question, and the amount of any money payment that 

 might be found necessary to complete an equivalent." Hereupon, as 

 stated in the protocol " the British Commissioners having referred 

 the last proposal to their Government, and received instructions to 

 accept it," the fishery articles of the treaty were agreed to. 



These opinions of Her Majesty's Government were entirely in 

 accord with the views of the leading provincial statesmen. Mr. 

 Stewart Campbell, of Nova Scotia, declared that " under the reci- 

 procity treaty the total exemption from duty of all fish exported 

 from the maritime provinces to the markets of the United States 

 was also a boon of inestimable value to the very large class 

 1386 of British subjects directly and indirectly connected with our 



