156 THE ARGUMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



ticular vessel was in need of wood or water; but the great fact re- 

 mains that by the instructions of the Government of Great Britain, 

 the treaty was being construed, in so far as the great outer bays were 

 concerned, in accordance with the interpretation of the United States, 

 and not in accordance with the interpretation later originated by the 

 authorities of Nova Scotia, and now contended for by Great Britain. 



In reviewing the various seizures made between 1821 and 1824 

 and no seizures were made after 1824, prior to the passage of the 

 Nova Scotia Hovering Act in 1836 the Case of the United States a 

 establishes, in respect of each seizure, that the claim was made on 

 behalf of Great Britain that an offense had been committed within 

 three marine miles of the shore and that no attempt was made prior 

 to the appearance of the Nova Scotia theory of interpretation to 

 prevent any American fishing vessel from fishing in the waters of 

 any of the large outer bays so long as the vessel remained outside of 

 the three-mile limit from the shores, or outside of bays, harbors, or 

 creeks six miles or less in width at their mouths. 



The Nova Scotia Hovering Act was adopted by the legislature of 

 Nova Scotia, March 12, 1836. 6 The period after the passage of this 

 act requires separate consideration, as a new interpretation of the 

 treaty was not many years after, strenuously urged by the authori- 

 ties of Nova Scotia. 



It is, however, clearly established by the instructions issued to the 

 Dotterel, and by the actions of the Government of Great Britain, that 

 from 1818 until 1836, covering a period of eighteen years, the prac- 

 tical construction put upon this renunciatory clause of the treaty was 

 that American fishermen must desist from fishing within three miles 

 of the shores of the great bays, and that no fishing vessel would be 

 permitted to enter the small bays, six marine miles or less in width, in- 

 denting the coasts of Nova Scotia, including the coasts of the great 

 bays, and the coasts of Cape Breton, unless it was clearly established 

 that it had entered such bay, creek, or harbor for one of the four pur- 

 poses specified in the treaty. 



Solomon Thayer, a citizen of the United States, wrote in 1839 

 in a letter, which was eventually forwarded to the Secretary of State : 



I have this morning been informed that some depredations have 

 already been made upon Grand Menan by our fishing vessels that 



U. S. Case, 77-82. 



6 U. S. Case, Appendix, 119. 



