MISCELLANEOUS. 1217 



Lord Palmerston that the American government has received informa- 

 tion, that in the House of Assembly in Nova Scotia, during the session 

 of 1839-'40, an address to her Majesty was voted, suggesting the ex- 

 tension to adjoining British colonies of rules and regulations relating to 

 the fisheries, similar to those in actual operation in that province, and 

 which have proved so onerous to the fishermen of the United States; 

 and that efforts, it is understood, are still making to induce the other 

 colonies to unite with Nova Scotia in this restrictive system. Some of 

 the provisions of her code are of the most extraordinary character. 

 Among these is one which declares that any foreign vessel preparing 

 to fish within three miles of the coast of any of her Majesty's dominions 

 in America, shall, together with the cargo, be forfeited; that in all 

 cases of seizure, the owner or claimant of the vessel, c., shall be held 

 to prove his innocence or pay treble costs; that he shall be forced to 

 try his action within three months, and give one month's notice, at 

 least to the seizing officer, containing everything to be proved against 

 him, before any suit can be instituted; and also prove that the notice 

 has been given. The seizing officer, moreover, is almost wholly irre- 

 sponsible, inasmuch as he is liable to no prosecution, if the judge certi- 

 fies that there is probable cause; and the plaintiff, if successful in his 

 suit, is only to be entitled to twopence damages, without costs, and the 

 defendant fined not more than one shilling. In short, some of these 

 rules and regulations are violations of well established principles of the 

 common law of England, and of the principles of the just laws of all 

 civilized nations, and would seem to have been designed to enable her 

 Majesty's authorities to seize and confiscate with impunity American 

 vessels, and embezzle, indiscriminately, the property of American citi- 

 zens employed in the fisheries on the coasts of the British provinces. 

 It may be proper, also, on this occasion, to bring to the notice of her 

 Majesty's government the assertion of the provincial legislature, 'that 

 the Gut or Strait of Canso is a narrow strip of water completely within 

 and dividing several counties of the province,' and that the use of it 

 by the vessels and citizens of the United States is in violation of the 

 treaty of 1818. This strait separates Nova Scotia from the island of 

 Cape Breton, which was not annexed to the province until the year 

 1820. Prior to that, in 1818, Cape Breton was enjoying a government 

 of its own entirely distinct from Nova Scotia, the strait forming the 

 line of demarcation between them, and being then, as now, a thorough- 

 fare for vessels passing into and out of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The 

 union of the two colonies cannot, therefore, be admitted as vesting in 

 the province the right to close a passage which has been freely and in- 

 disputably used by the citizens of the United States since the year 

 1783. It is impossible, moreover, to conceive how the use on the 

 part of the United States, common, it is believed, to all other nations, 

 can in any manner conflict with the letter or spirit of the existing 

 treaty stipulations. The undersigned would, therefore, fain hope that 

 her Majesty's government would be disposed to meet, as far as prac- 

 ticable, the wishes of the American government in the accomplishing, 

 in the fullest and most liberal manner, the objects which both gov- 

 ernments had in view in entering into the conventional arrangement 

 of 1818. He has accordingly been instructed to bring the whole 

 subject under the consideration of the British government, and to 

 remonstrate on the part of this government against the illegal and 

 92909 S. Doc. 870, 61-3, vol 3 38 



