MISCELLANEOUS. 1221 



reluctance, even in November, 1842, is apparent. The subject to 

 which it relates, said he, "has frequently engaged the attention of my- 

 self and my colleagues, with the view of adopting further measures, if 

 necessary, for the protection of British interests in accordance with the 

 law as laid down by these functionaries. "We have, however, on 

 full consideration, come to the conclusion, as regards the fisheries of 

 Nova Scotia, that the precautions taken by the provincial legislature 

 appear adequate to the purpose; and that being practically acquiesced 

 in by the Americans, no further measures are required." (The closing 

 declaration, which I have placed in italics, will not fail to attract 

 notice.) 



Meantime (between August, 1841, and November, 1842,) Lord Falk- 

 land had forwarded to the colonial secretary two additional reports 

 made by committees of the House of Assembly, "complaining of the 

 encroachments of American citizens on the fisheries of British North 

 America, and praying the establishment of a general code of regula- 

 tions for their protection. A change had occurred in the ministry of 

 England, and Mr. Everett had succeeded Mr. Stevenson as our envoy 

 at the court of St. James. 



The colonists were not tardy in acting up to the suggestion of Lord 

 Stanley, that our government had "practically acquiesced" in the con- 

 struction of the convention of 1818, presented in Lord Falkland's 

 "CASE," and affirmed by the crown lawyers. Early in 1843, the sub- 

 ject was considered at a meeting of the chamber of commerce of Hali- 

 fax; and the opinion of the Queen's advocate, and her Majesty's 

 attorney general, was received with great satisfaction by the merchants 

 of that city. Henceforth, in the judgment of some, competition be- 

 tween the colonial fishermen and our countrymen was at an end. The 

 latter, excluded from the great bays by lines drawn from headland to 

 headland, refused passage through the Strait of Canso, and deprived of 

 the right of landing on the shores of the Magdalene islands, were, in 

 effect, to be confined to the Newfoundland and Labrador fisheries. 

 Assuming, as the colonial authorities did, that we were bound by a 

 private and ex parte opinion, of which our government had no official 

 knowledge, the schooner Washington, of Newburyport, was seized for 

 no reason, as appears, other than "fishing broad (to use a term of 

 fishermen) in the Bay of Fundy. The fact was communicated to Mr. 

 Upshur, Secretary of State, who, on the 30th June, 1843, addressed 

 Mr. Everett in the following terms : 



"Sin: I have the honor to transmit to you, herewith, copies of a let- 

 ter and accompanying papers, relating to the seizure, on the 10th of 

 May last, on the coast of Nova Scotia, by an officer of the provincial 

 customs, of the American fishing schooner Washington, of Newbury- 

 port, Massachusetts, Cheney, master, for an alleged infraction of the 

 stipulations of the convention of October 20, 1818, between the 

 United States and Groat Britain. 



"Upon a reference to the files of the legation at London, you will 

 find ti at this complaint is not the first of a similar character which has 

 arisen out of the proceedings of the authorities of Nova Scotia under 

 their construction of the convention, and that representations upon 

 the subject have heretofore been made to the British government on 

 behalf of American citizens, but, so far as this department is advised, 

 without leading to a satisfactory result. 



