THE NORTHEAST COAST FISHERIES 505 



of harbors and bays, international usage has long established 

 the propriety of reserving within the limits of national 

 jurisdiction bodies of water, or arms of the sea, the en- 

 trances to which from the ocean may exceed six miles in 

 width. Many examples of this can be found in England 

 and France ; in the United States no one doubts the legality 

 of our claim to the full jurisdiction over Chesapeake and 

 Delaware bays, and over Long Island Sound, all of whose 

 entrances from the open sea measure more than six miles from 

 headland to headland. An approximate rule only may be 

 formulated respecting the length of the line from headland to 

 headland that may reasonably be claimed to form a divisional 

 line between the open ocean and jurisdictional waters. This 

 may be somewhat vaguely stated as double the length of a 

 cannon shot ; or, in other words, all bays, recesses of the sea, 

 or inland waters connected with the ocean, whose entrances 

 may be defended by cannon placed upon the opposing head- 

 lands, are properly subject to the jurisdiction of the nation 

 possessing their shores. 



The English construction of the terms "three marine miles 

 of any of the coasts, bays," etc., was undoubtedly correct, so 

 far as that principle governs the smaller indentations of the 

 seacoast, but the gross error in their contention lay in the 

 effort to include within the definition of " bays " such great 

 bodies of water as the Bay of Fundy or the Bay of Chaleurs. 

 The distances from headland to headland at the entrances of 

 these great estuaries measure no less than sixty miles, clearly 

 excepting them from the most liberal designation of closed 

 seas. 



The British Government, however, showed some signs of 

 relenting, though not of receding from the position it had 

 taken regarding the closed nature of the Bay of Fundy. In 

 1845 Lord Aberdeen announced that out of considerations of 

 courtesy Great Britain would yield to the United States the 

 right of her fishermen in that bay, " provided they do not 

 approach, except in the cases specified in this treaty of 1818, 

 within three miles of the entrance of any bay on the coast of 

 Nova Scotia or New Brunswick." Mr. Everett, the Ameri- 



