PERIOD FROM 1905 TO 1909. 1013 



Lord Elgin to Governor- General Grey. 



DOWNING STREET, August 81, 1907. 



MY LORD: As it has been decided, with the concurrence of Your 

 Excellency's Government, to submit to arbitration the questions at 

 issue between His Majesty's Government and the Government of the 

 United States of America with regard to the interpretation of the 

 fishery clauses of the Treaty of 1818 between Great Britain and the 

 United States, I have the honour to request that you will ask your 

 Ministers to be so good as to draw up, in consultation with the Gov- 

 ernment of Newfoundland, a draft of the terms of reference to the 

 Hague Tribunal for the consideration of His Majesty's Government, 

 and for submission to the Government of the United States. 



2. Your Ministers will also no doubt desire to consult with the 

 Newfoundland Government as to the mode in which the expenses of 

 the arbitration will be defrayed. 



3. A similar despatch has been addressed to the Governor of New- 

 foundland. 



I have, &c., ELGIN. 



Governor MacGregor to Lord Elgin. 



[Telegram.] 



(Received 3.15 p. m., September 1, 1907.) 



In reply to your telegram of the 30th August, I have received a 

 letter from my Ministers of which a resume follows : 



"My Ministers deeply regret that their proposal, which was made as 

 an honourable compromise, has not been accepted. They do not 

 understand how the proposal can be said to be too late, as the fishery 

 does not begin for four or five weeks from now, and the vessels cannot 

 have started yet. They fear that Mr. Alexander may advise the 

 American fishermen that they may with impunity violate the statute 

 laws of this Colony. 



My Ministers feel most acutely the manner in which their repre- 

 sentations have again been received by His Majesty's Government; 

 they made clear their position in regard to the modus vivendi in their 

 minutes of the 1st, 20th, and 22nd of August, to which they adhere, 

 and they cannot consent to the overriding of the constitution of this 

 Colony and the suspension of its laws. My Ministers, however, still 

 desire to aid His Majesty's Government as far as possible consistently 

 with their duty to this Colony, and the preservation of its rights ; they 

 will, therefore, grant permission to the fishermen of the Treaty Coast 

 to sell to Americans during the coming season on the receipt of an 

 assurance from His Majesty's Government that the terms of reference 

 to the Hague Tribunal shall include the question of the right of 

 American vessels to fish or trade in any or the bays, harbours, or 

 creeks of that portion of Newfoundland Coast between Cape Ray and 

 Quirpon Islands, together with all other questions that may be raised 

 under the Treaty." 



MACGREGOR. 



