1940 MISCELLAlTEOtrS. 



lie on that side which insisted on enjoying the privilege before the 

 boon was conferred. 



"In any view of the matter, as the American fisherman was never 

 meddled with until he had voluntarily passed the controverted limit, it 

 is difficult to comprehend why the American minister's proposition 

 would not stand reversed with more propriety than it exhibits in its 

 present form; for his excellency's regret might not unreasonably, it 

 would seem, have been expressed at 'the extremely objectionable course 

 pursued by American subjects in presuming to decide for themselves a 

 question under discussion between the two governments,' by fishing upon 

 the disputed grounds, and thereby reducing the provincial authorities 

 to the necessity of vindicating their claim or seeing it trampled on, 

 before any sanction had been obtained, either of legal decision or 

 diplomatic arrangement. 



"When Mr. Everett says that the necessity of fostering the interests 

 of their fishermen rests on the highest ground of national policy, he ex- 

 presses the sentiment felt in Nova Scotia as regards the provincial wel- 

 fare in connexion with this subject. The Americans are fortunate in 

 seeing the principle carried into practice; for the encouragement af- 

 forded their fishermen by the government of the United States is not 

 small, and its strenuous, persevering, and successful efforts to extend 

 their fishing privileges on her Majesty's coasts but too practically 

 evince its desire and ability to promote this element of national and 

 individual prosperity. As far as I can learn, a liberal tonnage bounty 

 is given on their fishing craft, besides a bounty per barrel on the 

 pickled fish thus guarding the fisherman against serious loss, in case 

 of the failure of his voyage; and he is, I believe, further favored by 

 privileges allowed on the importation of salt and other articles, while 

 a market is secured him at home which insures a profitable reward for 

 the fruit of his labor by a protecting duty of five shillings per quintal 

 on dry fish, equal to fifty per cent, of its value, and from one to two 

 dollars per barrel on pickled fish, according to the different kinds, 

 equal to at least twenty per cent, of their values. 



' 'The duty on American fish imported into the colonies is much less, 

 and the British colonial fisherman is unsustained by bounties; but 

 the chief drawback to his success is the want of certain and staple 

 markets, those on which he is principally dependent being very lim- 

 ited and fluctuating. 



"In the contrast, therefore, drawn by Mr. Everett, between the 

 advantages of the colonial and American fisherman, the extensive 

 home-markets of the latter, independently of the encouragement he 

 receives from bounties and other sources, much more than compen- 

 sates, I believe, for any local conveniences enjoyed by the former. 



"The colonists cannot understand the principle on which concession, 

 in any form, should be granted to the American people in a case 

 avowedly ' touching the highest grounds of national policy,' even 

 although concession did not involve consequences, as it unhappily 

 does in the present case, both immediate and remote, most injurious 

 to colonial interests. 



"The strong and emphatic language of the treaty of 1818 is, that 

 the United States ' renounce forever any liberty heretofore enjoyed or 

 claimed by the inhabitants thereof to take, dry, or cure fish on, or 

 within three marine miles of, any of the coasts, bays, creeks, or har- 

 bors of his Britannic Majesty's dominions in America not included 



