THE ARGUMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



The despatch from Lord Falkland to Lord Russell is most enlight- 

 ening in its bearing upon the position of Nova Scotia as to her juris- 

 diction over the disputed waters. 



I transmit a copy of a report of a committee on the fisheries of 

 Nova Scotia, which report has been adopted by the House of Assem- 

 bly, and to which I have been requested to call your Lordship's atten- 

 tion. 



The greatest anxiety is felt by the inhabitants of this province that 

 the convention with the Americans, signed at London on the 20th 

 October, 1818, should be strictly enforced; and it is hoped that the 

 consideration of the report may induce your lordship to exert your 

 influence in such a manner as to lead to the augmentation of the force 

 (a single vessel) now engaged in protecting the fisheries on the 

 Banks of Newfoundland, and the south shore of Labrador, and the 

 employment in addition of one or two steamers for that pur- 

 pose. * * * 



I have the honor to forward herewith, in accordance Avith a request 

 made to me in the same resolutions, a case stated (raising the neces- 

 sary questions as to the right of fishery which the people of these 

 colonies possess) for the purpose of being referred to the crown offi- 

 cers in England, in order that the existing treaties and the rights of 

 these North American Provinces under them may be more strictly 

 defined. 



I shall feel obliged by your lordship's allowing the opinion of the 

 Crown officers to be taken on the said case, and I am authorized by 

 the House of Assembly here to defray any expense that may be in- 

 curred in obtaining such opinion. 



There was no assertion of jurisdiction. Only " the greatest anxiety 

 is felt by the inhabitants of this province that the convention with 

 the Americans, signed at London on the 20th October, 1818, should be 

 strictly enforced." 



An examination of the case-stated, forwarded by Lord Falkland 

 " at the request of the House of Assembly ", will disclose the conten- 

 tion of Nova Scotia. 



The case recited the provisions of Article III of the Treaty of 

 1783, Article I of the Treaty of 1818, the act of Geo. Ill, chap. 38, 

 and the act of Nova Scotia of 1836, and then stated : 



Nova Scotia is indented with bays, many of which reach from 

 sixty to one hundred miles into the interior, such as the Bay of 

 Fundy, St. Mary's Bay, the Bras d'Or Lake, and Manchester Bay. 

 The land on the shores is entirely British territory, and Nova Scotia 

 proper is separated from the Island of Cape Breton by a narrow 

 strait called the Gut of Canso, in some parts not wider than three- 

 quarters of a mile. In the Bay of Fundy, St. Mary^s Bay, and the 

 Gut of Canso, Americans conduct the fishery* 



U. S. Case, Appendix, 1043-1044. 

 U. S. Case, Appendix, 1044. 



