THE NORTHEAST COAST FISHERIES 509 



based upon the convention of 1818. England had receded 

 from her contention of mare clausum in regard to the Bay 

 of Fundy. Barring some minor disputed points, there existed 

 between the two governments a fairly good understanding 

 as to the broad principles of law underlying the question. 

 In future, American rights in the inshore waters, and upon 

 the shores of Canada, were to become matters of purchase, 

 and the whole fishery question, with its record of strife and 

 contention, was transferred from the domain of law to that 

 of political economy. What are the fisheries worth to New 

 England, and what will be a suitable quid pro quo were the 

 queries to be answered. The compensation Canada most 

 desired for the freedom of her shore waters was commercial 

 favors. The fisheries, therefore, became associated with 

 commercial reciprocity, and the two questions have become 

 so thoroughly associated, that to-day they cannot well be con- 

 sidered separately. Although those larger and more serious 

 disagreements which had formerly characterized all negoti- 

 ations concerning the fisheries, and which had rendered their 

 successful termination so difficult, were removed, minor issues 

 of a legal nature were yet to appear, and to produce at times 

 a high degree of irritation. 



The treaty of 1854 permitted a free exchange of nearly 

 all the land and sea products of Canada and the United 

 States. The first article relating to the fisheries is as 

 follows : 



It is agreed by the high contracting parties that in addition to 

 the liberty secured to the United States fishermen by the above- 

 mentioned convention of October 20th, 1818, of taking, curing, and 

 drying fish on certain coasts of the British North American Col- 

 onies therein defined, the inhabitants of the United States shall 

 have, in common with the subjects of Her Britannic Majesty, the 

 liberty to take fish of every kind, except shell fish, on the sea- 

 coasts and shores, and in the bays, harbors, and creeks of Canada, 

 New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward's Island, and of the 

 several islands thereunto adjacent, without being restricted to any 

 distance from the shore, with permission to land upon the coasts 

 and shores of those Colonies and the islands thereof, and also upon 

 the Magdalen Islands, for the purpose of drying their nets and 



