BRITISH ACTS AND ORDERS IN COUNCIL. 73 



that the Governor of Newfoundland do conform himself to the said 

 Treaty, and to such instructions as he shall from time to time receive 

 thereon in conformity to the said Treaty, and to the above-recited 

 Act, from one of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, any- 

 thing in His Majesty's Commission under the Great Seal, constituting 

 him Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over the said island 

 of Ne^\^oundland in America, and of the islands and territories 

 thereunto belonging, or in His Majesty's general instructions to the 

 said Governor, to the contrary notwithstanding; and His Royal 

 Highness, in the name and on the behalf of His Majesty doth hereby 

 annul and make void each and every of the said general instructions 

 which are or shall be deemed contrary to the intent and meaning of 

 the said Convention and of the said Act. And the Right Honorable 

 Earl Bathurst, one of His Majestj^'s Principal Secretaries of State, 

 is to take the necessary measures therein accordingly.** 



This action taken by the British Government within five months 

 after the ratification of the treaty is of peculiar significance as show- 

 ing that, in the opinion of those who were responsible for making 

 the treaty and w^ere thoroughly familiar wdth its purpose and mean- 

 ing, the appropriate regulations to be adopted for giving effect to 

 the fishing liberty which the American fishermen had in common 

 with British subjects under the treaty, were regulations requiring 

 British subjects "not to interrupt in any manner the aforesaid 

 fishery so as aforesaid allowed to be carried on by the inhabitants 

 of the said United States" and to require the Governor of New- 

 foundland to "conform himself to the said Treaty," anything in 

 his commission or general instructions to the contrary notwith- 

 standing, and in fact the order even went further than this and 

 annulled and made void "each and every of the said general instruc- 

 tions which are or shall be deemed contrary to the intent and mean- 

 ing of the said Convention and of the said Act." 



The action taken at that time by the British Government is 

 of particular importance in connection with the contention which 

 many years later was brought forward by the Newfoundland Govern- 

 ment that because the American fishing liberty on these coasts 

 was a liberty held in common with British subjects, the Newfoundland 

 Government was entitled to impose restrictions without the consent 

 of the United States upon the exercise of such liberty upon the 

 treaty coasts of Newfoundland, this contention being one of the 

 questions in controversy in the present Case. 



oAppendix, p. 115. 



