1252 MISCELLANEOUS. 



"The colony of Newfoundland has fitted out an armed vessel for the 

 purpose of resisting the encroachments of French fishing vessels on the 

 coast of Labrador; but when ready to sail from her port, the governor 

 of that colony, acting under imperial instructions, refused to give the 

 commander of this colonial vessel the necessary authority for making 

 prize of French vessels found trespassing. This is an extraordinary 

 circumstance, especially when taken in connexion with the fact that 

 the like authority to seize American fishing vessels, under similar cir- 

 cumstances, has never been refused to the cruisers of any of the North 

 American colonies. 



"The colony of Nova Scotia has now four armed cruisers, well 

 manned, on its coasts, ready to pounce upon any American vessels 

 who may, accidentally or otherwise, be found fishing within the limits 

 defined by the crown officers of England. 



"New Brunswick has agreed with Canada and Nova Scotia to place 

 a cutter in the Bay of Fundy to look after American fishermen there; 

 and at Prince Edward Island, her Majesty's steam-frigate 'Devasta- 

 tion' has been placed, under the instructions of the governor of that 

 colony." 



Mr. Webster then recites the first article of the convention of 1818, 

 and concludes in the following terms: 



"It would appear that by a strict and rigid construction of this 

 article, fishing vessels of the United States are precluded from entering 

 into the bays or harbors of the British provinces, except for the pur- 

 poses of shelter, repairing damages, and obtaining wood and water. 

 A bay, as is usually understood, is an arm or recess of the sea, entering 

 from the ocean between capes or headlands; and the term is applied 

 equally to small and large tracts of water thus situated. It is common 

 to speak of Hudson's Bay, or the Bay of Biscay, althougli they are very 

 large tracts of water. 



"The British authorities insist that England has a right to draw a 

 line from headland to headland, and to capture all American fisher- 

 men who may follow their pursuits inside of that line. It was undoubt- 

 edly an oversight in the convention of 1818 to make so large a concession 

 to England, since the United States had usually considered that those vast 

 inlets or recesses of the ocean ought to be open to American fishermen, as 

 freely as the sea itself, to within three marine miles of the shore. 



"In 1841, the legislature of Nova Scotia prepared a case for the 

 consideration of the advocate general and attorney general of Eng- 

 land, upon the true construction of this article of the convention. 

 The opinion delivered by these officers of the crown was, ' That by the 

 terms of the convention, American citizens were excluded from any 

 right of fishing within three miles from the coast of British America, 

 and that the prescribed, distance of three miles is to be measured from the 

 headlands or extreme points of land next the sea, of the coast or of the en- 

 trance of bays or indents of the coast, and consequently that no right 

 exists on the part of American citizens to enter the bays of Nova Scotia, 

 there to takejish, although thejishing, being within the bay, may be at a 

 greater distance than three miles from the shore of the bay; as we are of 

 opinion that the term 'headland' is used in the treaty to express the part of 

 the land we have before mentioned, including the interior of the bays and 

 the indents of the coast. ' 



"It is this construction of the intent and meaning of the convention 

 of 1818 for which the colonies have contended since 1841, and which 



