122 CASE or THE UNITED STATES. 



rence, such a force of small sailing vessels and steamers as shall l)e 

 deemed sufficient to prevent the infraction of the treaty. ** 



At the same time a circular letter under date of May 26, 1852, 

 addressed by Sir John Packington, Secretar}' of State for the Colonies, 

 to the Governors of the several North American Colonies, was brought 

 to Mr. Webster's attention, in which letter it was stated — 



Her Majesty's Ministers are desirous of removing all grounds of 

 complaint on the part of the colonies, in consequence of the en- 

 croachments of the fishing vessels of the United States upon those 

 v.aters, from which they are excluded by the terms of the Convention 

 of 1818, and they therefore intend to despatch, as soon as possible, a 

 small naval force of steamers or other small vessels, to enforce the 

 observance of that Convention. ^ 



This letter also expressed a disinclination on the part of the British 

 Government to prevent the colonies from adopting legislation for 

 promoting the fisheries by means of bounties, and in it occurred the 

 expression "and especially pending the negotiation \\'ith the United 

 States of America for the settlement of the principles on which the 

 commerce with the British North American Colonies is hereafter to 

 be carried on."'' 



The information thus received led Mr. Webster to believe that the 

 British Government proposed to change its former policy and attempt 

 to apply the Nova Scotia construction of the meaning of the word 

 "bays" to the Bay of Fundy and to the other bays on the provincial 

 coasts as well. This view was shared by the President and all the 

 members of the Cabinet, '^ and under date of July 6, 1852, Mr. V7ebster, 

 who had left Washington on the previous day, prepared at liis home in 

 Massachusetts a public letter which was given out for pubUcation on 

 July 19th, and appeared in a Boston newspaper on that date. In 

 this letter Mr. Webster states that "with the recent change of Mnis- 

 try in England has occurred an entire change of pohcy," and after 

 quoting from the Packington circular, and enumerating the British 

 and Colonial armed vessels which were to compose the fleet to be 

 sent out to seize the American vessels, and reciting and commenting 

 on the provisions of the renmiciatory clause of the treaty of 1818, 

 and referring to the construction adopted by the Law Officers of the 

 Crown as to the meaning of the word "bays" as used in that treaty, 

 he concludes the letter as follows : 



o Appendix, p. 50t>. & Appendix, p. 508. c Appendix, p. 543. 



