128 THE ARGUMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



The Secretary of State added in the note containing this proposal : 



If the distance of four leagues cannot be obtained, any distance not 

 less than one sea league may be substituted in the article. It will oc- 

 cur to you that the stipulation against the roving and hovering of 

 armed ships on our coasts so as to endanger or alarm trading vessels 

 would acquire importance as the space entitled to immunity shall be 

 narrowed. 



Lord Holland and Lord Auckland, the British Commissioners, 

 November 14, 1806, prior to the signing of the treaty, wrote to Lord 

 Howick for instructions concerning " the extension of jurisdiction " 

 suggested by the American Commissioners : 6 



// your Lordship should deem it expedient on other grounds to 

 concede any extension of jurisdiction to the United States beyond 

 that which their independence necessarily implies, the American 

 Commissioners have more than once assured us that they are ready 

 in the article itself to acknowledge it as an exception to the general 

 rule arising from the particular circumstances of their situation and 

 peculiar nature of their coast. We shall also observe that their 

 utmost expectation after our conversation on the subject, is two 

 marine leagues. * * * 



We might, on the other hand, derive some little advantage from 

 the 9 cla>im it would justify of an extended jurisdiction and conse- 

 quent protection of revenue and commerce on the coasts of our colo- 

 nial possessions. 



January 3, 1907, the Commissioners for the United States trans- 

 mitted to the Secretary of State the treaty which they had concluded 

 on the 31st day of December. In commenting upon Article 12, they 

 wrote: 



The twelfth article establishes the maritime jurisdiction of the 

 United States to the distance of five marine miles from their coast in 

 favor of their own vessels, and the unarmed vessels of all other 

 powers who may acknowledge the same limit. This Government 

 [Great Britain] contended that three marine miles was the greatest 

 extent to which the pretension could be carried by the law of nations, 

 and resisted, at the instance of the admiralty and the law officers of 

 the Crown, in Doctors Commons, the concession which was supposed 

 to be made by this arrangement with great earnestness. The min- 

 istry seemed to view our claim in the light of an innovation of danger- 

 ous tendency, whose admission, especially at the present time, might 

 be deemed an act unworthy of the Government. * * * It is 

 fair to presume that the sentiment of respect which Great Britain 

 has shown by this measure for the United States, will be felt and 

 observed in future by her squadrons and their conduct on our coast 

 and in our bays and harbors. It is equally fair to presume that the 

 example of consideration which it affords in their favor by a nation so 

 vastly preponderant at sea, will be followed by other powers. 



British Case, Appendix, 60. 

 6 British Case, Appendix, 61. 

 c U. S. Counter Case, Appendix, 96. 



