UNITED STATES AND CANADA 179 



CONCESSIONS MADE BY CANADA 



On the contrary, I say that in this matter Canada 

 has conceded everything that the claims of humanity, 

 the claims of international courtesy, or the comity 

 of nations can possibly demand, and at the same 

 time Canada has maintained, as she was bound to 

 maintain, the vital and essential interests of her 

 citizens. (Cheers.) I do not believe that there is 

 any international jurist of the slightest reputation 

 who would deny that Canada had the legal right to 

 refuse the great majority of the concessions that 

 have been made in this Treaty. 



At the present moment the relations between the 

 two countries with regard to fishery operations are 

 regulated by the Convention of 1 8 1 8 . That we have 

 gone back to a Treaty that was made seventy years 

 ago is not the fault of Canada. It is not the fault 

 of Britain. It is the act of the United States of 

 America, the Government of which country de- 

 nounced successively the substitutes for the Con- 

 vention of 1 8 18, which have been arranged in the 

 shape of the Treaty of 1854, and the second Treaty 

 of 1 87 1. By the action of the United States of 

 America, the condition of affairs was relegated back 

 to the Treaty of 181 8. 



The Treaty of 18 18 declares in express terms 

 that the fishing vessels of the United States shall 

 have access to the harbours of Canada for four pur- 

 poses, viz., for wood, for water, for shelter or for 

 repairs, and for no other purpose whatever. It is 

 impossible that language could be plainer, and yet 



