2308 NOETH ATLANTIC COAST FISHEBIES AEBITRATION. 



that each member shall be so chosen as to be as far as possible free 

 from any inclination to exercise that power on one side rather than 

 on the other. If a jury were constituted on the principle that the 

 plaintiff should chose one-third of it and the defendant another third, 

 very few persons would be found to expose themselves to the cost or 

 an action at law. Had it been known five years ago that an award 

 would be prevented by the dissent of one of the members of an 

 arbitration constituted on the same principle, though I do not venture 

 to conjecture what the course of the United States Government would 

 have been, I feel confident that England would have declined to enter 

 upon so unfruitful a litigation. 



Her Majesty's Government may appeal to a cogent proof that in 

 accepting this arbitration they did not contemplate that the award 

 was liable to be prevented by the requirement or unanimity. Believ- 

 ing, in agreement with the majority of the commission, that they 

 were heavy losers by the exchange of concessions contained in arti- 

 cles 18, 19, and 21 of the treaty, they nevertheless have for five years 

 allowed those concessions to come into force, trusting to the com- 

 pensation which the commission would give to them. That they have 

 done so is a sufficient proof that they did not anticipate a construc- 

 tion of the treaty which would make the delivery of award almost 

 impossible. A valuable property has actually passed into the en- 

 joyment of others, and cannot be recalled. The price to be paid for 

 it was to be determined later by a Tribunal agreed upon between the 

 parties. Is it conceivable that they should have deliberately con- 

 stituted a Tribunal for this purpose, in which a decision could be 

 wholly prevented by the dissent of a member nominated by the party 

 to whom the property has passed ? 



Reciprocating cordially the courteous and friendly sentiments by 

 which Mr. Evarts's language is inspired, Her Majesty's Government 

 feel confident that the United States Government will not. upon re- 

 flection, see in the considerations which have been advanced any suffi- 

 cient reason for treating as a nullity the decision to which the major- 

 ity of the commission have arrived. 

 I have, &c. 



(Signed) SALISBURY. 



