QUESTION FIVE. 175 



land theory had failed to convince the Government of Great Britain, 

 for after the receipt of the opinion of the law officers of the Crown, 

 Lord Aberdeen had conceded the waters immediately in dispute, and 

 had instructed Lord Stanley to advise the authorities of Xova 

 Scotia 



To regard as bays in the sense of the treaty only those inlets of the 

 sea which measure from headland to headland at their entrance, the 

 double of the distance of three miles." 



While making this so-called concession, which however the Gov- 

 ernment of the United States was unwilling to accept as a concession, 

 as will later appear, Lord Aberdeen took occasion to bring forward 

 for the first time a suggestion that the United States should reduce 

 its customs duties on the product of the British colonial fishermen. 



In thus communicating to Mr. Everett the liberal intentions of 

 Her Majesty's Government, the undersigned desires to call Mr. 

 Everett's attention to the fact that the produce of the labor of the 

 British colonial fishermen is at the present moment excluded by pro- 

 hibitory duties on the part of the United States from the markets of 

 that country ; and the undersigned would submit to Mr. Everett that 

 the moment at which the British Government are making a liberal 

 concession to United States' trade might well be deemed favorable 

 for a counter concession on the part of the United States to British 

 trade, by the reduction of the duties which operate so prejudicially to 

 the interests of the British colonial fishermen.* 



The Government of the United States is now furnished by the 

 British Case the opportunity of ascertaining the original source of 

 this suggestion, and it will be found that it came from the authori- 

 ties of the Province of Nova Scotia. 



Lord Falkland in a note to Lord Stanley, September 17, 1844, 

 stated : 



I regret much that the course which I view as unobjectionable in 

 this matter will not be so regarded by the provincial legislature, and 

 I feel very sensibly that while the Americans seek for every advantage 

 to be obtained by exercising the rights of fishery on the coasts of Nova 

 Scotia, the produce of the labor of the provincial -fisherman is ex- 

 cluded from the markets of the United States by prohibitive duties. 

 This consideration induces me to submit to your lordship whether an 

 opportunity of strongly urging on the Government of the United 

 States the immediate diminution of these duties is not afforded by 

 the present negotiation." 



That Great Britain declined to enforce the Nova Scotia theory of 

 construction is abundantly established. 



British Case, Appendix, 146. "British Case, Appendix, 136. 



U. S. Case, 120 ; Appendix, 489. 



