138 CASE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



will be glad to learn that the Lower Provinces have adopted an 

 arrangement intended to prevent the change of circumstances from 

 operating suddenly to the injury of the fishing interests of citizens of 

 the United States; but they cannot engage indefinitely to adhere to 

 this system, though they are perfectly prepared to concert with the 

 United States for substituting for it a more permanent arrangement 

 which, either solely applicable to fisheries, or more generally com- 

 prising the common interests of Her Majesty's subjects, and those of 

 the citizens of the United States, shall hold out a promise of mutual 

 interest to both parties, and the strongest assurance of peace and 

 good-will between the two Governments. 



You will, of course, freely communicate with Her Majesty's Colo- 

 nial authorities on the matters referred to in this despatch. ** 



Great Britain's unwillingness ''to continue to allow, during the 

 sitting of the Commission, fishermen of the United States to enjoy in 

 British waters the privileges under the reciprocity treaty which the 

 Government of the United States have now renounced for their 

 citizens" left open the whole question of how a recurrence of the 

 hostile treatment of American fishermen by the provincial authori- 

 ties could be prevented pending the settlement of their differences as 

 to their respective rights under the treaty of 1818. 



This difficulty was in pert met by carrjdng out the proposal above 

 referred to by Lord Clarendon, which had been made by the authori- 

 ties of Canada, "that American fishermen should for the present 

 season be allowed to enjoy, under special licenses, the benefits con- 

 ferred by the reciprocity treaty." This plan was concurred in by 

 Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward's Island as Mr. 

 Seward was advised by Sir Frederick Bruce in his notes of June 24, 

 and July 21, 1866,^ and was continued until 1870. 



During this period, however, an attempt was made by the provin- 

 cial authorities to apply to American fishing vessels found without a 

 special license an even more extreme and severe interpretation of 

 the treaty and the local laws adopted for its enforcement than had 

 been attempted at any time prior to the treaty of 1854. The British 

 North America Act of March 29, 1867, under which the provinces of 

 Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Quebec became a part of the 

 Dominion of Canada, gave the Dominion Government authority 

 over their sea-coast fisheries, and on May 22, 1868, that Government 

 adopted an act respecting fishing by foreign vessels on those coasts." 

 The treatment of American vessels under this act and under the 



« Appendix, p. 574. ^Appendix, pp. 578, 579. c Appendix, p. 133. 



