QUESTION TWO. 89 



THE EVARTS REPORT. 



The British Case quotes a statement made by Secretary of State 

 Evarts in 1880, in his report to the President on the treaty of 1871, 

 as sustaining its contention with reference to Question Two. That 

 statement was as follows: 



There was, to be sure, a restriction imposed upon both countries 

 which excluded both equally from extending the enjoyment of 

 cither's share of the common fishery beyond the " inhabitants of the 

 United States " on the one side, and " Her Britannic Majesty's sub- 

 jects " on the other, thus disabling either Government from impair- 

 ing the share of the other by introducing foreign fishermen into the 

 common fishery." 



It is evident, when the statement of Secretary Evarts is read in 

 connection with its context, that nothing was further from his mind 

 than the proposition under consideration. He was arguing that the 

 treaty of 1871 had effected a division of the fisheries between the two 

 nations the fisheries in their natural extent and he deduced there- 

 from that neither nation could extend the enjoyment of the fisheries 

 beyond its own people, nor impair the share of the other by intro- 

 ducing foreign fishermen into the common fishery. He was mani- 

 festly referring to extensions of " either's share of the common fishery 

 beyond the inhabitants of the United States " on one side, and " Her 

 Britannic Majesty's subjects " on the other, by treaties with foreign 

 countries introducing " foreign fishermen into the common fishery." 

 This fishery he considered was held in equal undivided parts by the 

 United States and Great Britain, and could not be impaired by either 

 without the consent of the other. No question had then arisen or 

 been remotely suggested of the possibility of a contention that the 

 inhabitants of the United States were limited in the human instru- 

 mentalities which they might employ in carrying on their fisheries, 

 because the treaty grant was to " inhabitants of the United States." 



REFUTATION" OF THE BRITISH CONTENTIONS. 



As shown in the Counter Case of the United States, the con- 

 tention of Great Britain is, not that every person on board an 

 American fishing vessel must be an inhabitant of the United 



British Case, Appendix, 284. 



