QUESTION FIVE. 187 



Dominion of Canada, showing that, by an order in council of the 8th 

 January, 1870, the system of granting fishing licenses to foreign fish- 

 ing vessels was discontinued, and that six suitable vessels, in addition 

 to two already employed, were to be chartered and equipped for the 

 purpose of protecting the Canadian inshore fisheries.* 



Special instructions were given to the commanding officers of 

 these provincial cruisers in May, 1870.* 



The instructions, in reciting the powers and the jurisdiction of the 

 officers, stated: 



Until further instructed, therefore,^ you will not interfere with any 

 American fishermen, unless found within three miles of the shore, or 

 within three miles of a line drawn across the mouth of a bay or creek 

 (which is less than ten geographical miles in width) . In case of any 

 other bay, as Bay de Chaleurs, for example, you will not admit any 

 United States fishing vessel or boat, or any American fishermen, inside 

 of a line drawn across at that part of such bay where its width does 

 not exceed ten miles. * * * 



Be careful to describe the exact locality where the unlawful fishing 

 took place, and the ship, vessel or boat was seized. Also corroborate 

 the bearings taken, by soundings, and by buoying the place (if pos- 

 sible) with a view to actual measurement, and make such incidental 

 reference to conspicuous points and land marks as shall place beyond 

 doubt the illegal position of the seized ship, vessel or boat. Omit no 

 endeavor or precaution to establish on the spot that the trespass was 

 the Lords of the Admiralty, April 12, 1866. a 



This position of the Dominion of Canada, which now included, as 

 already stated, the Provinces of Canada, New Brunswick, Nova 

 Scotia, and Cape Breton, was a distinct departure from the abandoned 

 claim of excluding American fishermen from all the large bodies of 

 water adjacent to the British possessions in the North Atlantic, made 

 by the Province of Nova Scotia prior to the position taken by Great 

 Britain in 1845, that henceforward only those inlets of the sea which 

 measured at their entrances double the distance of three miles were 

 to be regarded as bays in the sense of the treaty, and prior to the 

 decisions in the Washington and Argus cases. 



The evidence now brought forward by the Government of Great 

 Britain, establishes the fact that these instructions were based upon 

 a letter from Mr. Cardwell, secretary of state for the colonies, to 

 the Lords of the Admiralty, April 12, 1866.* 



The Government of Great Britain had formerly decided that the 

 interpretation put upon the treaty by Nova Scotia, that every bay 



"U. S. Case, 148; Appendix, 580. TJ. S. Case, Appendix, 584. 



U. S. Case, 142-147; Appendix, 582. < British Case, Appendix, 221. 



92909 S. Doc. 870, 61-3, vol 8 13 



