2358 NORTH ATLANTIC COAST FISHERIES ARBITRATION. 



forfeiture, may well be called a law ; and if it be, however penal its 

 provisions, I am bound to enforce them. Now it is well known that 

 the principle fisheries at Labrador are actually carried on by people 

 from this island ; and I have purposely put this case, because I wish 

 it to be clearly seen to what extravagant consequences the principle 

 contended for must lead. The public instrument more immediately 

 connected with the proceedings before the Court is, indeed, of a very 

 different character, and I am aware that it was framed with the 

 benevolent view of quieting the differences which had arisen at Sand- 

 wich Bay. But I apprehend that the claims of individuals to the 

 right of fishing in the seas and rivers of that bay could not lawfully 

 be affected by the regulations of the Government. 



