248 



the seafliring community has ever been considered, as well in the 

 United States as Great Britain, as resting on peculiar grounds of expe- 

 diency. It is the great school not only of the commercial but of the 

 public marine, and the highest considerations of national policy require 

 it to be fostered. 



" The British colonial fishermen possess considerable advantages over 

 those of the United States. The remoter fisheries of Newfoundland 

 and Labrador are considerably more accessible to the colonial than to 

 the United States fishermen. The fishing grounds on the coasts of New 

 Brunswick and Nova Scotia, abounding in cod, mackerel and herring, 

 lie at the doors of the former ; he is therefore able to pursue his avoca- 

 tion in a smaller class of vessels, and requires a smaller outfit; he is able 

 to use the net and the seine to great advantage in the small bays and 

 inlets along the coast, from which the fishermen of the United States, 

 under any construction of the treaty, are excluded. All, or nearly all 

 the materials of ship-building, timber, iron, cordage and canvass, are 

 cheaper in the colonies than in the United States, as ai'e salt, hooks and 

 lines. There is also great advantage enjoyed in the former in reference 

 to the supply of bait and curing the fish. These, and other causes, 

 have enabled the colonial fishermen to drive those of the United States 

 out of many foreign markets, and might do so at home but for the pro- 

 tection afforded by the duties. 



"It may be added that the highest duty on the kinds of fish that 

 would be sent to the American market is less than a half-penny per 

 pound, which cannot do more than counterbalance the numerous ad- 

 vantages possessed by the colonial fishermen. 



'* The undersigned supposes, though he has no particular informa- 

 tion to that effect, that equal or higher duties exist in the colonies on the 

 importation of fish from the United States. 



" The undersigned requests the Earl of Aberdeen to accept the assu- 

 rance of his high consideration." 



At the date of these letters, Mr. Everett seems to have believed that 

 "the negotiation was in the most favorable state for a full and satis- 

 factory adjustment" of every question in dispute. This is evident 

 from his despatch of April 23d, 1845, to Mr. Buchanan,* who had suc- 

 ceeded Mr. Calhoun as Secretary of State, and from other sources 

 which are equally authentic. The opening of the Bay of Fundy, con- 

 sidered in itself alone, " though nominally confirming the interpretation 

 of the treaty which the colonial authorities had set up, was," in fact, 

 " a practical abandonment of it ;" and we have the highest assurance 

 that the British government " contemplated the further extension of 

 the same policy by the adoption of a general regulation that American 

 fishermen should be allowed freely to enter all bays of which the 

 mouths were more than six miles wide." This intention was com- 

 municated to Lord Falkland by Lord Stanley in a despatch of May 

 19, 1845. The former, in his reply, dated June 17, requested that, as 

 the plan had reference to matters deeply affecting the interests of Nova 



Executive Document 100, page 152. 



