234 THE TREATY OF WASHINGTON. 



of the entrance of bays or indents of tlie coast," and 

 that, consequently, American fishermen had no right 

 to enter bays, there to take fish, although the fishing 

 might be at a greater distance than three miles from 

 the shore of the bay. 



This opinion, be it observed, makes no distinction 

 between close bays and open ones, large indents of 

 the coast and small ones, and, if carried into effect by 

 the British Government, would exclude citizens of the 

 United States from a large part of the productive fish- 

 ing-grounds on the coast of British America. 



Now, strange to say, this opinion of the Law Officers 

 of the Crown is based on a mere blunder of theirs, 

 or, to say the least, on a fiction, or a bald interpolation. 



After stating their conclusion, they assign, as the 

 sole reason of it : 



" As [tliat is, because] we are of opinion that the term ' head- 

 land' is used in the treaty to express the part of the land 

 ■vve have before mentioned, including the interior of the bays 

 and the indents of the coasts." 



It is not true that "the term 'headland' is used in 

 the treaty to express the part of the land we have 

 before mentioned." 



Neither the term " headland " nor any word of simi- 

 lar signification is to be found in the treaty. The 

 Law Otficers of the Crown undertook to construe the 

 treaty without reading it, and by this presumptuous 

 carelessness caused the British Government to initi- 

 ate a series of measures of a semi-hostile character, 

 which came very near producing another war be- 

 tween Great Britain and the United States. 



