162 THE ARGUMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



and vexatious proceedings of the authorities of Nova Scotia towards 

 our fishermen, and request that measures be forthwith adopted by 

 Her Majesty's Government to remedy the evils arising out of this 

 misconstruction, on the part of the provincial authorities, of their 

 conventional obligations, and to prevent the possibility of the recur- 

 rence of similar acts. 



The Secretary of State instructed the American minister in great 

 detail, as to the claims of the United States under the treaty of 1818, 

 which instructions Mr. Stevenson embodied in a note to Lord Palmer- 

 ston, Her Majesty's principal secretary of state for foreign affairs, 

 under date of March 27, 1841 : 



It also appears, from information recently received by the Govern- 

 ment of the United States, that the provincial authorities assume a 

 right to exclude the vessels of the United States from all their bays, 

 (even including those of Fundy and Chaleurs,) and likewise to pro- 

 hibit their approach within three miles of a line drawn from head- 

 land to headland, instead of from the indents of the shores of the 

 provinces. They also assert the right of excluding them from British 

 ports, unless in actual distress ; warning them to depart, or get under 

 weigh and leave harbor, whenever the provincial custom-house or 

 British naval officer shall suppose that they have remained a reason- 

 able time ; and this without a full examination of the circumstances 

 under which they may have entered the port. Now, the fishermen of 

 the United States believe (and it would seem that they are right in 

 their opinion, if uniform practice is any evidence of correct construc- 

 tion), that they can with propriety take fish anywhere on the coasts 

 of the British provinces if not nearer than three marine miles to land, 

 and have the right to resort to their ports for shelter, wood and 

 water ; nor has this claim, it is believed, ever been seriously disputed, 

 based as it is on the plain and obvious terms of the convention. 

 Indeed, the main object of the treaty was not only to secure to Ameri- 

 can fishermen, in the pursuit of their employment, the right of fish- 

 ing, but likewise to insure to them as large a proportion of the con- 

 veniences afforded by the neighboring coasts of British settlements 

 as might be reconcilable with the just rights and interests of British 

 settlements, and the due administration of Her Majesty's Dominions. 

 The construction therefore, which has been attempted to be put upon 

 the stipulations of the treaty by the authorities of Nova Scotia, is 

 directly in conflict with their object, and entirely subversive of the 

 rights and interests of the citizens of the United States. It is one 

 moreover, which would lead to the abandonment to a great extent, of 

 a highly important branch of American industry, which could 

 not for a moment be admitted ~by the Government of the United 

 States. * * * 



He has accordingly been instructed to bring the whole subject under 

 the consideration of Her Majesty's Government, and to remonstrate 

 on the part of his Government against the illegal and vexatious pro- 

 ceedings of the authorities of Nova Scotia against the citizens of the 

 United States engaged in the fisheries, and to request that measures 

 may be forthwith adopted by her Majesty's Government to remedy 



U. S. Case, 100; Appendix, 460-462. 



