273 



the responsibility, nnd it rests upon us. Let us no longer excite our- 

 selves and agitate the country with Unavailing debates ; but let us ad- 

 dress ourselves to the relief of the fishermen, and to the improvement 

 of our commerce. 



" Now, sir, there is only one wa};- that Congress can act, and that is 

 by reciprocal legislation with the British Parliament or the British colo- 

 nies of some sort. I commit myself" to no particular scheme or project 

 of reciprocal legislation, mid certainly to nunc injurious to an agricul- 

 tural or a manufacturing interest." 



As to the course to be pursued, he said, in concluding his speech, 

 "I, for one, will give my poor opinion upon this subject, and it is this : 

 that so long hereafter as any force shall be maintained in those north- 

 eastern waters, an equal naval f)rce must be maintained there by our- 

 selves. When Great Britain shall diminish or withdraw her armed 

 force, we ought to diminish or withdraw our own; and in the mean 

 time a commission ought to be raised, or some appropriate com- 

 mittee of this bod}^ — the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Com- 

 mittee on Fmance, or the Committee on Commerce — should be charged 

 to ascertain whether there cannot be some measures adopted by recip- 

 rocal legislation to adjust these difficulties and enlarge the rights of our 

 fishermen, consistently with all the existing interests of the United 

 Stales." 



It is understood that the Committee on Commerce, at the moment of 

 the misunderstanding in July, had nearly matured a bill which em- 

 braced, substantially, the propositions submitted b}^ Sir Henry Bulwer, 

 in June, 1S51. To assume that such is the fact, and that the bill 

 would have passed Congress, but for the precipitancy of the parties to 

 the Toronto agreement, recalls the significant remark of Mr. Davis, 

 once aJread}'^ quoted, that the colonists were " playing a game which 

 mav not advance materially the interests they have in view." 



Our record, thus far, contains a rapid notice of events connected with 

 the controversy to the close of August, lS-52. It comprises, as will 

 be perceived, no account of any action on the part of the two govern- 

 ments to adjust the difficulties between them, either by negotiation or 

 b\' legislation. 



But there is good authority for saying that the British admiral (Sey- 

 mour) was instructed by the admiralty, in the course of August, to id- 

 low our fishermen to pursue their avocation in the Bay of Fundy, on 

 the terms of the arrangement of 184-5; to allow us to fish at the xMag- 

 dalene islands, as in former years; to forbear to capture our vessels 

 when more than three miles from tlu! shore, as measured without ref^ 

 crence to the "headlands," and by th(; old construction of the conven- 

 tion; and generally to execute his orders with forbearance and moder- 

 atit)n. That the British ministry have been disposed, from first to last, 

 to adjust the controversy on honorable terms, can hardly be doubted. 

 In lbo2, as in ISIO, th(^ clamors, remonstrances, and, I will add, the 

 misrepresentations of the colonists, changed (heir intentions. As at 

 every former time, the politicians of Nova Scotia led off in opposition 

 to a settlem -nt. Early in September, a public meeting was called at 

 Ilalif^ix, which, according to the; published report of its proceedings, 

 Wiis attended by persons of all classes and interests, " to petition her 

 18 



