806 CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 



Mr. Bayard to Mr. Phelps. 



No. 372.] DEPARTMENT or STATE, 



Washington, July 30, 1886. 



SIR : Notwithstanding the express language of Article I of the con- 

 vention between the United States and Great Britain, concluded 

 October 20, 1818, by which it is provided that the inhabitants of the 

 two contracting countries " shall have forever in common * * * 

 the liberty to take fish of every kind " on certain coasts therein de- 

 scribed, and, as part thereof, " on that part of the southern coast of 

 NeAvfoundland which extends from Cape Ray to the Rameau Islands 

 on the western and northern coast of Newfoundland; from the said 

 Cape Ray to the Quirpon Islands, on the shores of the Magdalen 

 Islands, and also on the coast, bays, harbors, and creeks from Mount 

 Joly, on the southern coast of Labrador, to and through the Straits 

 of Belle Isle, and thence northwardly indefinitely along the coast, 

 without prejudice, however, to any of the exclusive rights of the 

 Hudson Bay Company," I have to-day received the sworn statements 

 of the captain of an American fishing vessel, the Thomas F. Bayard, 

 of Gloucester, Mass., to the effect that he has been hindered of his 

 lawful rights, so expressly secured by the convention referred to, " to 

 take fish of every kind " in the harbor of Bonne Bay, on the western 

 coast of Newfoundland and within the geographical limits herein- 

 before stated. 



I inclose a copy of the affidavit and likewise of the formal notice 

 received by the master of the Thomas F. Bayard from the customs 

 officials at Bonne Bay, whereby, to avoid the seizure of his vessel by 

 the local authority of Newfoundland, he was compelled to abstain 

 from the exercise of his lawful right to obtain fish for bait to be used 

 in the open-sea fishing, and to break up his voyage and return home, 

 thus suffering great loss. 



The affidavit of Captain McEachern, of the American schooner 

 Mascot, of Gloucester, Mass., which I hand you herewith, discloses 

 the fact of the threat of the customs officials at Port Amherst, in the 

 Magdalen Islands, to seize his vessel should he there obtain fresh 

 fish for bait, although those islands are expressly designated and 

 included in the region wherein the liberty forever to take fish of 

 every kind is expressly secured by the convention of 1818. 



Previous attempts or suggestions have been made by the local au- 

 thorities of Newfoundland to inhibit the purchase or sale of fresh fish 

 for use as bait, and the same have been distinctly disapproved by Her 

 Majesty's Government, notably by the Duke of Newcastle, when 

 secretary of state for the colonies, in his dispatch of August 3, 18GB. 

 to the governor of Newfoundland, Sir A. Bannerman, a copy of 

 which you will find at page 111 in the public document (Ex. Doc. 

 No. 84, House of Representatives, Forty-sixth Congress, second ses- 

 sion) sent you by this mail. 



You will please draw the attention of Her Majesty's secretary of 

 state for foreign affairs (Lord Iddesleigh) to these infractions of 

 treaty rights, and request that such instructions may be promptly 

 issued to the Newfoundland officials as will prevent a recurrence of 

 such wrongs to the lawful pursuits of American citizens; and you 

 will also notify his lordship that remuneration for the damages 



