PERIOD FROM 1871 TO 1888. 201 



Ineffectual attempt to revive the Headland Theory. 



An attempt was made, during this period, by a Canadian official 

 to revive the headland theory, but without success, owing to the 

 prompt action of the British Government, as will appear from the 

 following extracts taken from the correspondence on the subject 

 between the United States and Great Britain, and between Great 

 Britain and Canada. 



On Jime 14, 1886, Mr. Bayard wTote to the British Minister at 

 Washington as follows: 



I have also to inform you that the masters of the foiu- American 

 fishing vessels of Gloucester, Mass., Martha A. Bradley, Rattler, Eliza 

 Boynton, and Pioneer, have severally reported to the consul-general 

 at Halifax that the subcollector of customs at Canso had warned them 

 to keep outside an imaginary line drawn from a point three miles 

 outside Canso Head to a point tliree miles outside St. Esprit, on the 

 Cape Breton coast, a distance of 40 miles. This line for nearly its 

 entire continuance is distant 12 to 25 miles from the coast. 



The saAe masters also report that the}^ were warned against going 

 inside an imaginary line drawn from a point three miles outside 

 North Cape, on Prince Edward Island, to a point three miles outside 

 of East Point, on the same island, a distance of over 100 miles, and 

 that this last-named line was for nearly that entire distance about 30 

 miles from the shore. 



The same authority informed the masters of the vessels referred to 

 that they would not be permitted to enter Bay Chaleur. 



Such warnings are, as 3"ou must be well aware, wholly unwar- 

 ranted pretensions of extraterritorial authority and usurpations of 

 jurisdiction by the provincial officials. 



It becomes my duty, in bringing this information to your notice, 

 to request that if any such orders for interference "vWth the unques- 

 tionable rights of the American fishermen to pursue their business 

 without molestation at any point not witlnn tlu-ee marine miles of 

 the shores, and %\'ithin the defined hmits as to wliich renunciation of 

 the liberty to fish was expressed in the treaty of 1818, may have been 

 issued, the same may at once be revoked as violative of the rights of 

 citizens of the United States under convention with Great Britain. « 



This note was forwarded by the British Mnister to his Govern- 

 ment on the following day, and on July 12, 1886, in response to a 

 request from the Foreign Office for a report on the incident. Lord 

 Lansdowne, the Governor General of Canada, telegraphed to the 

 British Government, as the collector's explanation of the incident, 

 that "in conversation ^\^th the master of a fishing vessel, the Col- 

 lector expressed his opinion that the headland hne ran from Cran- 

 berry Island to St. Esprit," and Lord Lansdowne added ''but this 

 was not authorized by my Government in any manner."'' 



a Appendix, p. 787. 6 Appendix, p. 800. 



