PART r. 



STATUS PRIOR TO THE TREATY OF 1818. 



The Special Agreement of January 27, 1909, between the United 

 States and Great Britain, under which this case is presented, requires 

 the Tribunal of xVrbitration thereby constituted to answer a series 

 of questions submitted for its decision growing out of differences 

 which have arisen between the United States and Great Britain as 

 to the scope and meaning of Article I of their treat}^ of October 20, 

 1818 " and of the liberties therein referred to and otherwise in respect 

 of the rights and liberties which the inhabitants of the United 

 States have or claim to have in the waters or on the shores therein 

 referred to." 



It will be observed that the differences under consideration include 

 not only those which have arisen as to the scope and meaning of 

 the said Article and of the liberties therein referred to, but also those 

 which have arisen otherwise in respect of the rights and liberties 

 which the inhabitants of the United States have or claim to have 

 in the waters or on the shores mentioned in that Article. It will 

 also be observed upon an examination of Article I of the treaty of 

 1818 that its provisions which are now the occasion of differences 

 were themselves the outcome of differences existing with respect to 

 these fisheries when that treaty was made, the introductory recital of 

 Article I of that treaty being as follows : 



T\Tiereas differences have arisen respecting the liberty claimed 

 by the United States for the inhabitants thereof to take, dry and 

 cure fish on certain coasts, baj^s, harbors and creeks of His Britannic 

 Majesty's Dominions in America, its is agreed, etc. 



Therefore, before discussing the provisions of Article I of the 

 treaty of 1818 and in order that the various differences above referred 

 to and their relation to that Article may be clearly understood, it 

 will be convenient to examine into the antecedent conditions and 

 course of events leading up to the treaty of 1818 with a view to 

 showing the respective positions of the two Governments at that time 

 so far as they relate to the questions now in controversy. 



92909°— S. Doc. 870, 61-3, vol 1 9 7 



