243 



stances, the writer of tliis report assumed the t;isk of atternptinf>- to 

 impress the public mind with the ])rohnblc s{;ite of affairs. He wrote 

 for the periodical and tor the newspaper press ; he addressed letters to 

 persons interested in enterprises to ihe British colonial seas, and to 

 persons inofficial employments; he contip.ued his lal)ors, in various 

 other ways, f()r quite a 3'ear : he was uusupjjoited, and abandoned the 

 desii>n finally in despnir. 



The American people remained in ignorance of the tenor of the cor- 

 respondence referred to above until August, 1S52, when it was em- 

 braced in the documents submitted by the I'resident to the Senate, in 

 answer to a resolution of that bod\%* Lord Aberdeen's letter of March 

 10, lS45,t consenting to admit our fishermen into the Bay of Fundjs 

 "«5 the concession of a privdege,'''' and in relaxation of the new construc- 

 tion of the convention, and Mr. Everett's reply, of the 25th of the same 

 month,t accepting the same as the continuation of "a right" alwa3's 

 enjoyed, and never impaired, are properly inserted in this connexion. 

 The letter of our minister, it is to be observed, was among his last official 

 acts, as he was recalled fdmost immediately alter communicating to 

 our government the conditions which, in opposition to the remonstrances 

 of the colonists, and the alleged "practical acquiescence" of our own 

 cabinet in the opinion of the crown lawyers, he had been able to se- 

 cure ; it closed the correspondence. In ability, it is in no respect infe- 

 rior to his letter of May 2-5th, 1844, already copied, and is among the 

 most valuable state papers in our archives, inasmuch as it is the only 

 one wdiich we can cite to show our dissent to the British claim to the 

 Bay of Fundy, "as a hay within the meaning of the treaty of 181S." 



His lordship said : 



"The undersigned, her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for 

 Foreign Affairs, duly referred to the colonial department the note which 

 Mr. Everett, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the 

 United States of America, did him the honor to address to him on the 

 25th of May last, respecting the case of the ' Washington,' fishing ves- 

 sel, and on the general question of the right of United States fish 

 ermen to pursue their calling in the Bay of Fundy ; and having shortly 

 since received the answer of that department, the undersigned is now 

 enabled to make a reply to xMr. Everett's communication, which he trusts 

 will be found satisfactory. 



"In acquitting himself of this duty, the undersigned will not think 

 it necessary to enter into a lengthened argument in reply to the obser- 

 vations which have at different times been submitted to her Majesty's 

 government by Mr. Stevenson and Mr. Everett, on the subject of the 

 right of fishing in the Bay of Fundy, as claimed in behalf of the United 

 States citizens. The undersigned will confine himself to stating that 

 after the most deliberate reconsideration of the sul)ject, and with every 

 desire tx) do lull justice to the United Slates, and to view the claims 

 put forward on behalf of United States citizens in the most fiivor- 

 able light, her Majesty's government a re nevertheless still constrained to 

 deny the right of United States citizens, under the treaty of 1818, to 

 fish in that part of the Bay of Fundy which, from its geogi-aphical 



*Kx. Doc. lOfl. tK.\. Doc. 100, p i:}.'). t Ex. Doc lOf), p. 136. 



