PERIOD FROM 1871 TO 1905. 763 



pose of shelter and of repairing damages therein, of purchasing wood, 

 and of obtaining water, and for no other purpose whatever ; 



Of all of which you will take notice and govern yourself accord- 

 ingly. 



(Sd.) GEORGE E. FOSTER, 



Minister of Marine and Fisheries. 

 DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES, 



Ottawa, ,5th March, 1886. 



Mr. Bayard to Sir. L. West. 



DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 



Washington, May 10, 1886. 



SIR : On the 6th instant I received from the consul-general of the 

 United States at Halifax a statement of the seizure of an American 

 schooner, the Joseph Story, of Gloucester, Mass., by the authorities 

 at Baddeck, Cape Breton, and her discharge after a detention of 

 twenty-four hours. 



On Saturday, the 8th instant, I received a telegram from the same 

 official announcing the seizure of the American schooner David J. 

 Adams, of Gloucester, Mass., in the Annapolis Basin, Nova Scotia, 

 and that the vessel had been placed in the custody of an officer of the 

 Canadian steamer Lansdowne and sent to St. John, New Brunswick, 

 for trial. 



As both of these seizures took place in closely landlocked harbors, 

 no invasion of the territorial waters of the British Provinces, with 

 the view of fishing there, could well be imagined ; and yet the arrests 

 appear to have been based upon the act or intent of fishing within 

 waters as to which, under the provision of the treaty of 1818 between 

 Great Britain and the United States of America, the liberty of the 

 inhabitants of the United States to fish has been renounced. 



It would be superfluous for me to dwell upon the desire which, I 

 am sure, controls those respectively charged with the administration 

 of the Governments of Great Britain and of the United States to pre- 

 vent occurrences tending to create exasperation, or unneighborly feel- 

 ing, or collision between the inhabitants of the two countries; but, 

 animated with this sentiment, the time seems opportune for me to 

 submit some views for your consideration, which I confidently hope 

 will lead to such administration of the laws regulating the com- 

 mercial interests and the mercantile marine of the two countries as 

 may promote good feeling and mutual advantage, and prevent hos- 

 tility to commerce under the guise of protection to inshore fisheries. 



The treaty of 1818 is between two nations, the United States ot 

 America and Great Britain, who, as the contracting parties, can alone 

 apply authoritative interpretation thereto, or enforce its provisions 

 by appropriate legislation. 



The discussion prior to the conclusion of the treaty of Washington 

 in 1871 was productive of a substantial agreement between the two 

 countries as to the existence and limit of the three marine miles 

 within the line of which, upon the regions defined in the treaty of 



