9 



coimlderativnii cannol lie otherwitie than seductive of the loijai 

 atfui'liinent and peraomd enterprise of our seahoard 2)(>i>ulation,. 

 It d}t<cnHr<i<jc6 the i))drj)endent emj^loyiaent of Caimdianfish- 

 linj craft and 2>roviuciaL Jiahcnnen. It temptu our Jiaheriuen to 

 catch and sell their fish clandestinely to mvners of A'nierican 

 vessels, icho can afterwards -niarhet them in the United States, 

 free of duty ^ as Am.erica)h caught fsh. Tliis practice d,euior- 

 alizes oar pojnUation and accustoms them to violations of our 

 own laws. 



Finally, the imperial antlioiities arranged with the admin- 

 istration at Washington the appointment of a joint British 

 and American Commission, " to treat of and discuss Uie mode 

 of seftliiuj the dijfereid questions which have arisen ont of the 

 fisheries, as well as th,ose which affect the relations of the 

 United States toivards Her Majestijs jjossessions in North 

 jiinerica." The histor}^ of this Commission is well known. 

 The American Commissioners refused to consider a new re-* 

 ciprocitj treaty, and it was at last decided to admit the 

 United States to the inshore sea fisheries of British North 

 America, on condition that Canadian fish and fish-oil were 

 admitted free of duty into the American market, and that 

 Commissioners be appointed to determine the amount of any 

 compensation which in their opinion ought to be paid by 

 the Government of the United States in retm-n for the priv- 

 ileges accorded to their citizens under the treat}'. The 

 Commission met at Halifax in the summer of 1877. The 

 three Commissioners, M. Maurice Delfosse, Belgian Minis- 

 ter at Washington, Mr. E. H. Kellogg and Sir A. T, Gait, 

 gave a hearing to the claims of the parties to the issue, and 

 after considering all the evidence submitted to them, a ma- 

 jority decided to award the sum of $5,500,000 in gold, 

 to be paid by the Government of the United States to the 

 Government of Great Britain, in accordance with the pro- 

 visions of the Washington Treaty. Mr. Kellogg, however, 

 on the part of the United States, dissented from the award. 



However, the Americans had no other alternative open to 

 them than to pay the money and carry out the provisions of 

 the W'ashington Treaty. The arrangement was advantage- 

 ous to both comitries, since it set at rest a vexatious ques- 

 tion and stimulated commercial intercourse between them. 

 J'he American Governiuent gave due notice of the repeal of 

 the treaty after it had been in existence for twelve years. 

 Consequently it expired in July, 1885, and the treaty 

 of 1818 should have once more immediately governed the 

 relations of the two nations. It was aot thought advisable, 

 however, by either the Canadian or the Imperial Government 

 to exclude American fishermen at once from tiie fisheries, as 

 many of them were already in Canadian waters when the 

 treaty came to an end, and had they been seized without 



