No. 4.] THE HARVEST OF THE SEA. 153 



United States. Now, if the government of the United 

 States did that, did it have the right, or not? 



Mr. Russell. Will you please mention what treaty that 

 was? 



Captain Church. What they call the Halifax treaty. 



Mr. Russell. Is that treaty in existence ? 



Captain Church. No, sir, it is not in existence ; I did 

 not say it was in existence. I say the government of the 

 United States has done that thing. 



Mr. Russell. The treaty between the United States and 

 Great Britain is the treaty of 1818. That is the treaty 

 which is now held in abeyance, and our tishing is simply 

 protected by what was called the onodus Vivendi of live years 

 ago, and we are liable to come right under that treaty, and 

 liable to have fishing vessels seized under it at any time. 



Captain Church. The gentleman said that that thing 

 had never been done. It has been done twice. 



Mr. Russell. What I said was this, that the State of 

 Massachusetts had never proposed to part with any right 

 over her own territory and over the w-aters and bays in her 

 territory, and I d()u1)t if she ever has ; and there is no exist- 

 ing treaty that does interfere with those rights. 



Captain Church. The gentleman knows and everjdiody 

 knows that those treaties were made bv the oovernment of 

 the United States. There was not one word of protest 

 uttered by any Senator or Representative of this State when 

 those treaties were confirmed by the government of the 

 United States. Now, if the State of Massachusetts did have 

 the rights that the gentleman says, and those treaties inter- 

 fered w^ith the rights of this State, why was it that the 

 Senators and Representatives of this State made no protest 

 against them? 



]\Ir. Russell. I want it understood that the State of 

 Massachusetts has resumed her rights. 



Captain Church. We have always been in the enjoyment 

 of free fishing from the foundation of the government of the 

 United States. We have always had a license, and that 

 license says that we have a right to fish. We supposed that 

 that license was sacred, that it meant something. We were 

 arrested in Buzzard's Bay under this law of 188G. We 



