PERIOD FROM 1871 TO 1888. 163 



passing that they both contained the express provision that nothing 

 therein should "affect the rights and privileges granted by treaty to 

 the subjects of any state or power in amity with Her Majesty," 

 which provision is common to all of the laws of Newfoundland relating 

 to the fisheries.'* 



The position thus taken by Great Britain led to a discussion 

 between the two Governments vnth reference to the validity of 

 British or Colonial legislation as applied to American fishermen 

 when the effect of such legislation was to limit or restrain the exercise 

 by American fishermen of the fishing liberty secured to them by 

 treaty. Although Fortune Bay is not on the treaty coast covered 

 by the treaty of 1818, and the discussion related to the fishing liberty 

 under the treaty of 1871, yet in both treaties alike such liberty is 

 described as a liberty in common with British subjects, and therefore 

 the discussion is of interest in connection with the questions at issue 

 in the present case. 



The following extract from a letter of instructions written on 

 August 1, 1879, by Mr. Evarts, then Secretary of State, to Mr. Welsh, 

 the American Minister at London, and communicated by him to 

 Lord Salisbury, then Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, reviews 

 the course of the discussion up to that time and states the position 

 of the United States on the questions involved: 



As soon as the violence to which citizens of the United States had 

 been subjected in Ne^\^oundland w^as brought to the attention of this 

 department, I instructed you, on 2d March, 1878, to represent the 

 matter to Her Britannic Majesty's Government, and upon such rep- 

 resentation you were informed that a prompt investigation would be 

 ordered for the information of that government. 



On August 23, 1878, Lord Salisbury conveyed to you, to be trans- 

 mitted to your Government, the result of that investigation, in the 

 shape of a report from Captain Sulivan, of Her Majesty's ship 

 Sinus. In furnishing you with this report, Lord Salisbury, on behalf 

 of Her Britannic Majesty's Government, said: 



"You will perceive that the report in question appears to demon- 

 strate conclusively that the United States fishermen on this occasion 

 had committed three distinct breaches of the law, and that no vio- 

 lence was used by the Ne%\^oundland fishermen, except in the case of 

 one vessel, whose master refused to comply with the request which 

 was made to him that he should desist from fishing on Sunday in 

 violation of the law of the colony and of the local custom, and who 

 threatened the Newfoundland fishermen with a revolver, as detailed 

 in paragraphs 5 and 6 of Captain Sulivan's report." 



o Appendix, p. 665. 



