PERIOD FROM 1854 TO 1871. 157 



custom previously prevailing, and have been taken into the colonial 

 ports, their voyages broken up, and the vessels condemned. There 

 is reason to believe that this unfi'iendly and vexatious treatment was 

 designed to bear harshly upon the hartly fishermen of the United 

 States, with a view to political effect upon this Government. The 

 statutes of the Dominion of Canada assume a still broader and more 

 untenable jurisdiction over the vessels of the United States, They 

 authorize officers or persons to bring vessels hovering within 3 marine 

 miles of any of the coasts, bays, creeks, or harbors of Canada into 

 port, to search the cargo, to examine the master on oath touching 

 the cargo and voyage, and to inffict upon him a heavy pecuniary 

 penalty if true answers are not given; and if such vessel is found 



preparing to fish" within 3 marine miles of any of such coasts, bays, 

 creeks, or harbors without a license, or after the expiration of the 

 period named in the last license granted to it, they provide that the 

 vessel, with her tackle, etc., shall be forfeited. It is not known that 

 any condemnations have been made under this statute. Should the 

 authorities of Canada attempt to enforce it, it wiff become my duty 

 to take such steps as may be necessary to protect the rights of the 

 citizens of the United States. 



It has been claimed by Her Majesty's officers that the fishing 

 vessels of the United States have no right to enter the open ports 

 of the British possessions in North America, except for the purposes 

 of shelter and repairing damages, of purchasing wood and obtaming 

 water ; that they have no right to enter at the British custom-houses 

 or to trade there except in the purchase of wood and water, and that 

 they must depart within twenty-four hours after notice to leave. 

 It is not known that any seizure of a fishing vessel carrj'ing the ffag 

 of the United States has been made under tliis claim. So far as the 

 claim is founded on an aUeged construction of the convention of 1818, 

 it can not be acquiesced in by the United States. It is hoped that 

 it wiU not be insisted on by Her Majesty's Government. 



During the conferences which preceded the negotiation of the 

 convention of 1818 the British commissioners proposed to expressly 

 exclude the fishermen of the United States from ''the privilege of 

 carrj'ing on trade with any of His Britannic ^lajesty's subjects 

 residing within the limits assigned for their use;" and also that it 

 should not be "lawful for the vessels of the United States engaged 

 in said fisherj^ to have on board any goods, wares, or merchandise 

 whatever, except such as may be necessary for the prosecution of 

 their voyages to and from the said fishing grounds; and any vessel 

 of the United States which shall contravene this regulation may be 

 seized, condemned, and confiscated, with her cargo." 



This proposition, wliich is identical with the construction now put 

 upon the language of the convention, was emphatically rejected by the 

 American commissioners, and thereupon was abandoned by the 

 British plenipotentiaries, and Article I, as it stands in the convention, 

 was substituted. 



If, however, it be said that this claim is founded on provincial or 

 colonial statutes, and not upon the convention, tiffs Government can 

 not but regard them as unfriendly, and in contravention of the spirit, 

 if not of the letter, of the treaty, for the faithful execution of wlffch the 

 Imperial Government is alone responsible. 



