PERIOD FROM 1854 TO 1871. 149 



Canada" which he said "seem to contemplate an interference with 

 rights guaranteed to the United States under the first article of the 

 treaty of 1818, which secures to American fishermen the right of fishing 

 in certain waters which are understood to be claimed at present as 

 belonging to Canada."" 



In the correspondence which ensued on this subject, it became 

 necessary for Mr. Fish to renew his objection to the [)rovision of the 

 order in council above quoted, which he did in his note of May 31, 

 1870, to ]Mr. Thornton, from which the following extract is taken: 



The question arose, What are the waters of Canada? 



At the date of the treaty of 1818 the boundary of Canada, as under- 

 stood, was defined by the 27 chap. 49 George III., entitled "An act for 

 establishing courts of jurisdiction in the island of Newfoundland and 

 the islands adjacent, and for reannexing part of the coast of Labrador 

 and the islands lying on said coast to the government of Newfound- 

 land," C^Iarch 30, 1809,) by the 14th section of which it was enacted 

 "that such parts of the coast of Labrador from the river Saint John 

 to Hudson's Streights, and the said island of Anticosti, and all other 

 smaller islands so annexed to the government of Newfoundland by the 

 said proclamation of the seventh day of October, one thousand seven 

 hundred and sixty-three (except the said islands of Madelaine,) shall 

 be separated from the said government of Lower Canada, and be 

 again re-annexed to the government of Newfoundland." 



The mouth of the river Saint John, referred to in this act, is under- 

 stood to be between the 64th and 65th meridian of longitude west from 

 Greenwich. 



We further understood that in June, 1825, by the 9th section of cap. 

 59, 6 Geo. IV., entitled ''An act to provide for the extinction of federal 

 and seigniorial rights and burthens in lands held a titre de tief and a 

 titre de cens, in the province of Lower Canada, and for the gradual 

 conversion of those tenures into the tenure of free and common socage, 

 and for other purposes relating to said province," it was enacted that 

 so much of the said coast as lies to the westward of a line to be drawn 

 due north and south from the bay or harbor of Ance Sablon, inclu- 

 sive, as far as the 52d degree of north latitude, with the island of 

 Anticosti, and all other islands adjacent to such part as last aforesaid 

 of the coast of Labrador, shall be, and the same are hereby, reannexed 

 to and made a part of the said province of Lower Canada, and shall 

 henceforward be subject to the laws of the said province, and to none 

 other. 



The bay or harbor of Ance Sablon is understood to be in the longi - 

 tude of about 57° 8', at or near the entrance of the Straits of BeUe 

 Isle. 



The treaty of 1818 secures to the inhabitants of the United States, 

 in common w^ith the subjects of her Britannic ^Majesty, the liberty to 

 take fish of any kind on the shores of the Magdalen Islands, and also 

 on the coasts, ba^^s, harbors, and creeks from Mount Joly, on the 

 southern coast of Labrador, to and through the Straits of Belle Isle, 

 and thence northwardly, &c. 



a Appendix, p. 581. 



