QUESTION FIVE. 185 



It will also be recalled that these seizures were the only ones ever 

 made in the great bays when the vessels were beyond three miles 

 from land, and that they were made for the specific purpose of " test- 

 ing the question" 



The United States and Great Britain squarely presented the issue 

 raised by these seizures to the joint commission and later to the umpire. 

 The decision of the umpire was against the contention of the Govern- 

 ment of Great Britain, and held that these large outer bays, similar 

 to the Bay of Fundy and the bay formed by a line from Cow Bay 

 Head to Cape North in Cape Breton, were not bays within the mean- 

 ing of the treaty of 1818. 



During the continuance of the reciprocity treaty of 1854, inas- 

 much as the inhabitants of the United States were by the terms of 

 that treaty permitted to resort to all the inshore fisheries without any 

 limitation as to the distance from shore, the question, presented and 

 determined in the two cases of the ^Washington and Argus, was not 

 the subject of controversy between the two powers, nor was it the 

 subject of discussion between the provincial authorities and the Gov- 

 ernment of Great Britain, so far as the evidence discloses. 



THE POSITION OF GREAT BRITAIN AFTER THE TERMINATION OF 

 THE TREATY OF 1854. 



On the termination of this treaty the American fishermen reverted 

 to the provisions of Article I of the treaty of 1818 as the measure of 

 their rights on the non-treaty coasts. 



The Earl of Clarendon, in a note to Sir Frederick Bruce May 11, 

 1866, stated : 



Her Majesty's Government are most desirous that the rights of the 

 colonies should be so enforced as to give the least possible occasion 

 for complaint or discussion. They have cordially approved and 

 have recommended to the governments of the other British provinces 

 a proposal made by the authorities of Canada that American fisher- 

 men should for the present season be allowed to enjoy under special 

 licenses, the benefits conferred by the reciprocity treaty. 



It is apparent from a note of Mr. Cardwell of the foreign office 

 that the authorities of Nova Scotia were opposed to the policy of 

 issuing licenses to the fishermen of the United States. 6 The lieuten- 



a U. S. Case, Appendix, 575. * U. S. Case, Appendix, 676. 



