MISCELLANEOUS. 1281 



The bodies of sea-water of more than six miles in width were not 

 claimed, then, in 1817, and pending the negotiations; and Admiral 

 Milne acted hi strict conformity to Lord Bathurst's suggestion to Mr. 

 Adams in 1815, that we must relinquish "the harbors and creeks," and 

 the ' ' maritime jurisdiction three marine miles from the shore." If the 

 construction of the crown lawyers is just, it follows that the conven- 

 tion in 1818 is an injury rather than a benefit, for the simple reason 

 that previous to that year we were allowed to fish hi the bays which, 

 it is pretended by these gentlemen, we cannot enter under the stipula- 

 tions of that instrument. 



What, in the second place, has been the course pursued since 1818? 

 Some of the colonial writers have affirmed during the present year, 

 (1852,) that the act of Parliament of 1819 (cited hi this report) asserts 

 the British construction as now maintained. It is not so. The act 

 does indeed recite the first article of the convention, and was passed 

 in consequence of it; but it does not contain a word which defines the 

 term "bays," or which indicates the manner of measuring the three- 

 mile interdiction. It authorizes the seizure of vessels that should 

 violate its provisions. The proceedings of British naval officers on the 

 American stations, who have always been furnished with a copy of the 

 act, and with a copy of the convention, and whose orders from the 

 Lords of the Admiralty have always been founded on both, will enable 

 us to ascertain whether or not the ships-of-war have allowed our vessels 

 to fish anywhere and everywhere, hi the bays and outside of the bays, 

 more than three miles from the shore. 



While my home was on the eastern frontier, hardly a year passed 

 without my seeing one or more ships of the royal navy which were em- 

 ployed on this service in the Bay of Fundy; and I am sure that a 

 case of seizure for "fishing broad" in tnat bay never occurred 

 previous to the year 1843. Even Captain Hoare, of the Dotterel, 

 who, as we have seen, spread consternation among our fishermen in 

 1824, and subsequently, informed Admiral Lake, his commander-in- 

 chief , that his orders to the officers in command of his armed boats 

 had been to capture only such American vessels as "they found 

 within three marine miles of the shore," and to except those "in 

 evident distress, or in want of wood and water." The same was 

 observed elsewhere. The report of Captain Fair, of her Majesty's 

 ship Champion, in 1839, shows that he passed through a fleet of six 

 or seven hundred American vessels in various positions some within 

 the headlands of the bays, and some along the shores; but none 

 within the three-mile interdiction. His frank declaration on the 

 subject is honorable to him. While cruising in the vicinity of Prince 

 Edward Island he states that there was not "a single case which 

 called for our interference, or where it was necessary to recommend 

 caution; on the contrary, the Americans say that a privilege has 

 been granted them, and that they will not abuse it." Tnat, in allow- 

 ing several hundreds of our fishermen to pursue their avocation with- 

 out molestation, his conduct was in accordance with his instructions, 

 we have positive evidence; for Lieutenant Paine, who visited the 

 fishing grounds the same year in command of the Grampus, stated 

 after his return, in a letter to the Secretary of State, that the orders of 

 "Admiral Sir Thomas Harvey, as he informed me, were only to pre- 

 vent" our countrymen from "fishing nearer than three miles." But 

 92909 S. Doc. 870, 61-3, vol 3 42 



