u 



claiinod by C.-uiada ail riyliln lliereloforo enjoyed or vldhned 

 })[l the Un'itvd St<ile>i -irerc venomicA'd , and it was tlu.'ii agi'ocd 

 tiiat the treaty of 1818 should and did spcciiically settle all 

 the rights and privileges which the United States were to 

 have in Canadian waters. In the first section of that treaty 

 the Unit(>d States " renounce forever any liberty heretofore 

 enjoyed or claimed by the inhabitants tlien^of to tak(!, dry or 

 cure fish on or lo'dldn three marine miles of any of the 

 coasts, bays, creeks or harbours " of the British dominions 

 in America. After the provision whei'eby the Americans 

 renounced all the rights and liberties aforesaid, it was pro- 

 vided that American fishermen were to be permitted " to 

 enter such bays and harbours for the purpose of shelter and 

 repairing damages therein, of purchasing wood, of obtaining 

 water, ami for no other purposes whatever^ Applying the 

 rule as laid down by AVheaton and Kent, two American 

 jurists of great learning and repute, the United States 

 will be shut out from the most prolific fishing grounds in 

 the world. It must, however, be admitted that the legal 

 authorities cited are almost beyond (question. They are quite 

 in accord with the English jiidicial decisions on the same 

 subject. 



Under the provision relating to the circumstances under 

 which American fishermen may enter Canadian ports, those 

 fishing vessels which have entered for bait and have been 

 seized therefor, were not protected by the treaty, and it 

 would appear that the seizures were legally justifiable. It 

 may ap})ear to many as a harsh proceeding, but was it undiily 

 so when it is considered that since July, 1885, when the 

 treaty then in existence expired, at the instigation of the 

 Zlnited States, the . Canadian government has endeavored, 

 without success, to efi'ect some new treaty, while the Ameri- 

 can people, though recommended so to do by President 

 Cleveland, have not evinced anv desire to renew the old or 

 enter into a new one ? So long as matters remained as they 

 have been since July, 1885, the Americans have certainly had 

 all they desired. The Canadians felt undoubtedly that a 

 few seizures would l:>ring their neighbors to a sense of their 

 position as a similar course did in 1877, when the United 

 States was called upon to pay and did pay $5,500,000. The 

 people of Canada are now, as in 1885, desirous of meeting 

 the people of America in some fair settlement of the exist- 

 ing difficulties, and have expressed themselves to that effect, 

 and it is thought and hojied that there is a similar desire 

 among the people of the United States. Both countries 

 have rights and both will maintain them, neither country 

 will 1)0 driven into sacrificing those rights however much 

 thor{> ma}' lie of the rant of a lick-s]iittle class of politicians 

 who feel that an occasional wrench of the lion's tail is a 



