92 CASE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



under the convention of 1818, the United States had forever re- 

 nounced the right of their vessels to take, dry and cure fish; retaining 

 only the privilege of entering them for the purposes of shelter, repairs, 

 purchasing wood and obtaining water, and no other. In the absence 

 of information of a character sufficiently precise to ascertain either, 

 on tlie one side, the real motives which carried the American vessels 

 into British harbors, or, on the other, the reasons which induced their 

 seizure by British authorities, the department is unable to state 

 whether, in the cases under consideration, there has been any flagrant 

 infraction of the existing treaty stipulations. The presumption is, 

 that if, on the part of citizens of the United States, there has been a 

 want of caution or care in the strict observance of those stipulations, 

 there has been, on the other hand, an equal disregard of their spirit, 

 and of the friendly relations which they were intended to promote 

 and perpetuate, in the haste and indiscriminate rigor with which the 

 British authorities have acted.** 



The grounds assigned for the seizure of the Mayflower, Battelle and 

 Ryder Ally are set forth in a report made by the Advocate General 

 of Nova Scotia on June 20, 1839, as follows: 



The three American schooners seized at Beaver harbor, by Mr. 

 Darby, have been proceeded against by me as advocate general, and 

 the examination duly taken; whereby it appears that the crews of 

 two of them had actually fished v/ith set nets in that harbor, and 

 had taken fish on board therefrom on the night before the seizure; 

 and this evidence is confirmed by the mate of one of those vessels, 

 an American subject. In the case of the third, which is one of those 

 noticed by Mr. Morrow, the evidence at present is not so conclusive.'' 



In addition to the vessels mentioned in Mr. Vail's report several 

 other American fishing vessels appear to have been subjected to 

 interference and detention on the Nova Scotia coast during the 

 year 1839 ; but as these were afterwards released, they do not require 

 more than passing mention here, with two exceptions, the Charles and 

 the Amazon. The diaries was seized in June, 1839, at Canso, 

 although the alleged offense apparently occurred at the Magdalen 

 Islands, which were outside of the jurisdiction of Nova Scotia. It is 

 reported in a letter to the Secretary" of State from the United States 

 Collector at Frenchman's Bay, dated July 15, 1839, that "the only 

 pretense for this seizure was that the schooner was under cod-fishing 

 license and had on board herrings"/ After being detained for about 

 nineteen days she was discharged without any expenses under 

 instructions for her release from the Attorney General of the prov- 

 ince.'^ 



a Appendix, p. 440. c Appendix, pp. 417, 425. 



& Appendix, p. 424. ^ Appendix, pp. 423, 434. 



