]74 THE ARGUMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



is rightfully claimed by Great Britain as a bay within the meaning 

 of the treaty of 1818. And they equally maintain the position which 

 was laid down in the note of the undersigned, dated the 15th of 

 April last, that with regard to the other bays on the British American 

 coasts, no United States 1 fishermen has, under that convention, the 

 right to fish within three miles of the entrance of such bays as desig- 

 nated by a line drawn from headland to headland at that entrance." 



The "high legal authority" was the remarkable opinion of the 

 Law Officers of the Crown. 



It is, therefore, apparent from Lord Aberdeen's note that the Gov- 

 ernment of Great Britain did not regard the Bay of Fundy as com- 

 ing under any different rule of law than any of the other bays on the 

 British American coast. This becomes important in view of the 

 fact that it may be concluded that the concession, to be hereafter 

 noted, regarding the Bay of Fundy was based upon some conclusion 

 not applicable to the other bays; and especially is this important in 

 the light of the decision rendered in 185G on the legality of the 

 seizure of the Washington. 



Lord Aberdeen nevertheless informed the Minister of the United 

 States : 



* * * The undersigned has accordingly much pleasure in an- 

 nouncing to Mr. Everett, the determination to which Her Majesty's 

 Government have come to relax in favor of the United States fisher- 

 men that right which Great Britain has hitherto exercised, of ex- 

 cluding those fishermen from the British portion of the Bay of 

 Fundy, and they are prepared to direct their colonial authorities to 

 allow henceforward the United States fishermen to pursue their avo- 

 cations in any part of the Bay of Fundy, provided they do not ap- 

 proach except in the cases specified in the treaty of 1818, within 

 three miles of the entrance of any bay on the coast of Nova Scotia or 

 New Brunswick. 



In this note, the Government of Great Britain conceded that the 

 fishermen of the United States could fish within the waters of the 

 Bay of Fundy, but must not approach within three miles of the en- 

 trance of any bay on the coast of Nova Scotia or New Brunswick. 



The Government of Great Britain here occupies the position of the 

 Government of the United States with reference to the Bay of Fundy, 

 and applied the term " three marine miles of any of the coasts, bays, 

 creeks, or harbors of His Britannic Majesty's dominions in America," 

 to bays found within the three mile limit. 



In fact, Great Britain had undoubtedly at this time determined 

 not to enforce the Nova Scotia theory of interpretation. The head- 



U. S. Case, 115 ; Appendix, 489. 



