066 COKKESPONDENCE, ETC. 



these waters must be delivered over to anarchy, it will not be in. con- 

 sequence of any pretensions of the United States Government, but 

 because the British Government has, by its own treaties, to use Lord 

 Salisbury's phrase, limited the scope of British sovereignty. I am 

 not aware of any such treaty engagements with other powers, but if 

 there are, it would be neither my privilege nor duty to consider or 

 criticise their consequences where the interests of the United States 

 are not concerned. 



After a careful comparison of all the depositions furnished to both 

 governments, the United States Government is of opinion that the 

 following facts will not be disputed : 



1. That twenty-two vessels belonging to citizens of the United 

 States, viz, Fred. P. Frye, Mary and M., Lizzie and Namari, Edward 

 E. Webster, W. E. McDonald, Crest of the Wave, F. A. Smith, Here- 

 ward, Moses Adams, Charles E. Warren, Moro Castle, Wild-fire, 

 Maud and Effie, Isaac Rich, Bunker Hill, Bonanza, H. M. Rogers, 

 Moses Knowlton, John W. Bray, Maud B. Wetherell, New England, 

 and Ontario, went from Gloucester, a town in Massachusetts, United 

 States, to Fortune Bay, in Newfoundland, in the winter of 1877- 

 1878, for the purpose of procuring herring. 



2. That these vessels waited at Fortune Bay for several weeks 

 (from about December 15, 1877, to January 6, 1878) for the expected 

 arrival of schools of herring in that harbor. 



3. That on Sunday, January 6, 1878, the herring entered the bay 

 in great numbers, and that four of the vessels sent their boats with 

 seines to commence fishing operations, and the others were proceeding 

 to follow. 



4. That the parties thus seining were compelled, by a large and vio- 

 lent mob of the inhabitants of Newfoundland, to take up their seines, 

 discharge the fish already inclosed, and abandon their fishery, and 

 that in one case, at least, the seine was absolutely destroyed. 



5. That these seines were being used in the interest of all the United 

 States vessels waiting for cargoes in the harbor, and that the catch 

 undisturbed would have been sufficient to load all of them with profit- 

 able cargoes. The great quantity of fish in the harbor, and the fact 

 that the United States vessels if permitted to fish would all have ob- 

 tained full cargoes, is admitted in the British depositions. 



" If the Americans had been allowed to secure all the herrings in the 

 bay for themselves, which they could have done that day, they would 

 have filled all their vessels, and the neighboring fishermen would have 

 lost all chance on the following week day." (Deposition of James 

 Searwell.) 



" The Americans by hauling herring that day, when the English- 

 men could not, were robbing them of their lawful and just chance of 

 securing their share in them ; and, further, had they secured all they 

 had barred, they would, I believe, have filled every vessel of theirs in 

 the bay." (Deposition of John Chutt.) 



See also affidavits of the United States captains. 



6. That in consequence of this violence all the vessels abandoned the 

 fishing grounds, some without cargoes, some with very small cargoes, 

 purchased from the natives, and their voyages were a loss to their 

 owners. 



