1650 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



this treatv. are of greater value than those accorded by Articles XIX and XXI of this 

 tifatv to the subjects of Her Britannic Majesty, and this assertion is not admitted by 

 the Government of the United States, it is further agreed that Commissioners shall be 

 pixnntetl to determine, having regard to the privileges accorded by the United States 

 to the subjects of Her Britannic Majesty, as stated in Articles XIX and XXI of this 

 treat v. the amount of any compensation which, in their opinion, ought to be paid by 

 tin* Government of the United States to the Government of Her Britannic Majesty, in 

 return for the pririltges accorded to the citizens of the United States under Article XFIIL 



Now, under this treaty there stands before you to-day a balance, on 

 one arm of which hangs the 18th Article of the Treaty of 1871, and on 

 the other the 19th and 21st Articles. Yon cannot add to either scale 

 one scruple, one pennyweight, which the treaty has not put there. You 

 cannot transfer weights from one to the other. You can only look at 

 the index and see whether the register shows that one is heavier than 

 the other, and how much heavier. What are the advantages conferred 

 by the 18th Article of the Treaty of 1871 on the citizens of the United 

 States f 



It is agreed by the High Contracting Party, that in addition to the liberty secured 

 to the United States fishermen by the Convention between Great Britain and the United 

 States, signed at London on the'SOth day of October, 1818, of taking, curing, and dry- 

 ing fish on certain coasts of the British North American Colonies therein defined, the 

 inhabitants of the United States shall have, in common with the subjects of Her 

 Britannic Majesty, the liberty, for the term of years mentioned in Article XXXIII of 

 this treaty, to take fish of every kind, except shell-fish, on the sea-coasts and shores, 

 and in the bays, harbors, and creeks of the Provinces of Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New 

 Brunswick, and the Colony of Prince Edward Island and of the several islands there- 

 unto adjacent, without being restricted to any distance from the shore, with permis- 

 sion to land upon the said coasts and shores and islands, and also upon the Magdalen 

 Islands, for the purpose of drying their nets and curing their fish. 



That is the only advantage which is given to us by the 18th Article 

 of the treaty, and it is the only advantage so given to us, the value of 

 which you have any right to estimate. 1 am perfectly willing to admit 

 a set-oft' of this kind, which is provided for apparently. It is agreed in 

 Article XXI that for the term of years mentioned in Article XXXIII 

 of this treaty, fish-oil and fish of all kinds (except fish of the inland 

 lakes and of the rivers falling into them, and except fish preserved in 

 oil), being the produce of the fisheries of the United States or of the 

 Dominion of Canada or of Prince Edward Island, shall be admitted into 

 each country, respectively, free of duty. 



Sow, if against the $350,000 of duty remitted upon fish and fish oil im- 

 ported from the Dominion into the United States, you can set off any 

 duty on fish and fish-oil imported from the United States into Canada, 

 you will have the right to do it; but that is the extreme limit to which, 

 under the words of that treaty, you have a right to go. It is nothing 

 whatever to you whether the advantage to us is great or small of the 

 remission of that duty. It is a positive advantage to the citizens of the 

 Dominion ; it is given to them as an advantage, and in return for it they 

 have given us a right to do one thing and nothing else, and under that 

 treaty you have no right to value any other advantage against us. 



I have now stated, as concisely as I have been able, the scope of our 

 argument the principles which we think ought to be applied to the 

 olution ol this question. As to the facts, you will judge them by the 

 impression the witnesses have made upon yourselves, and not by any 

 representations of the impressions they have made upon us. And wt> 

 fully and gratefully recognize that you have followed the testimony with 

 patient and intelligent attention. 



It seems to me (and this I would say rather to our friends on the 



other side than to yon) that at the end of this long investigation, the 



rue character of the case is not difficult to see. For a century the re- 





