192 CASE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



that the regulations contained in it are of no force except within 

 three miles of the shore of the colony. 



2nd. That no act can be allowed which prohibits expressly, or is 

 calculated by a circuitous method to prevent, the sale of bait. 



3rd. That all fishing acts shall expressly declare that their provi- 

 sions do not extend or interfere with any existing treaties with any 

 foreign nation in amity with Great Britain. 



4th. That, in any part of the colonial waters, it v^ould be highly 

 unjust and inconvenient to impose upon British fishermen restrictions 

 which could not, without violating existing treaties, be imposed 

 upon foreigners using the same fisheries. On this point, however, I 

 would refer you to my despatch, marked ''confidential", of the 2nd 

 of February.'' 



Mr. Bayard also enclosed in his letter of July 30, 1886, to Mr. Phelps, 

 a copy of a notice served by the Newfoundland customs officer on 

 the captain of the schooner Thomas F. Bayard at Bonne Bay under 

 date of July 12, 1886, which was as follows: 



I am instructed to give you notice that the presence of your 

 vessel in this port is in violation of the articles of the international 

 convention of 1818 between Great Britain and the United States, in 

 relation to fishery rights on the coast of Newfoundland, and of the 

 laws in force in this country for the enforcement of the articles of the 

 convention and that the purchase of bait or ice, or other transaction 

 in connection with fishery operations, witliin 3 miles of the coasts of 

 this colony, will be in further violation of the terms of said conven- 

 tion and laws.'' 



The facts out of which these cases arose and the position of the 

 United States with respect thereto, will appear from the following 

 extract from the note written by Mr. Phelps, pursuant to Mr. Bayard's 

 instructions, on September 11, 1886, to Lord Iddesleigh, Secretary of 

 State for Foreign Affairs, with reference to these cases and others 

 which were then pending : 



To two recent instances of interference by Canadian officers with 

 American fishermen, of a somewhat different character, I am spe- 

 cially instructed by my Government to ask your lordship's attention; 

 those of the schooners Thomas F. Bayard and Mascot. 



These vessels were proposing to fish in waters in which the right 

 to fish is expressly secured to Americans by the terms of the treaty 

 of 1818; the former in Bonne Bay, on the northwest coast of New- 

 foundland, and the latter near the shores of the Magdalen Islands. 



For this purpose the Bayard attempted to purchase bait in the port 

 of Bonne Bay, having reported at the custom-house and announced 

 its object. The Mascot made a similar attempt at Port Amherst in 

 the !NIagdalen Islands, and also desired to take on board a pilot. 

 Both vessels were refused permission by the authorities to purchase 

 bait, and the Mascot to take a pilot, and were notified to leave the 



o Appendix, p. 1082. & Appendix, p. 807. 



