90 CASE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



end of that clause; and it will be found upon an examination of the 

 circumstances surrounding these seizures that they were all made 

 for offenses alleged to have occurred under this clause of the treaty 

 and witliin three marine miles of the shore. 



In 1838 two vessels are reported to have been seized: the 

 Hero and the Combine. The former was seized in June of that year 

 at Turney's Cove, Gut of Canso and the latter in November, about 

 three quarters of a mile from the western shore of the Gut of Canso." 



In 1839 ten vessels were seized: the Hart, the Magnolia and the 

 Independence, seized in May in Tusket Island Harbor; the Java, 

 seized in June in Beaver Island Harbor; the Eliza, the BaiteUe, the 

 Hyder Ally and the Mayflower, seized in June at Beaver Harbor; 

 and the Oharles, seized at Canso.'' 



As the result of an inquiry made on the part of the United States 

 the Assistant Secretary of State, Mr. Vail, wrote to Mr. Fox, the 

 British Charge at Washington, on July 10, 1839, communicating to 

 him information received by the Department showing that "some, 

 at least, of those seizures were made for causes of a trivial character, 

 and with a rigor not called for by circumstances," and he stated that 

 his object in sending this communication was 



to invoke your good offices in calling the attention of Her Majesty's 

 provincial authorities to the ruinous consequences of those seizures 

 to our fishermen, whatever may be the issue of the legal proceedings 

 founded upon them, and to the consequent expediency of great cau- 

 tion and forbearance in future, in order that American citizens, not 

 manifestly encroaching upon British rights, be not subjected to inter- 

 ruption in the lawful pursuit of their profession. '^ 



On August 14th of the same year Mr.Vail made a report to the Presi- 

 dent, in obedience to his direction requiring him to report, among 

 other things, the seizure of American fishing vessels on the coast of 

 Nova Scotia and "the nature and circumstances of the cases which 

 have been presented to this government by our citizens as infractions 

 of right on the part of the British authorities." In this report, after 

 referring to a statement made on June 18, 1839, by the United States 

 Consular Agent at Yarmouth,'^ as containing the most detailed infor- 

 mation in possession of the Department in relation to the "nature 

 and circumstances of the cases," Mr. Vail says: 



« Appendix, p. 412. c Appendix, p. 424. 



6 Appendix, pp. 415, 419-423, 434, 1076, 1077. <^ Appendix, pp. 430-434. 



