QUESTION SIX. 227 



In the view of the United States, the custom and usage of the 

 ninety years following the treaty, which are fully proved in its Case 

 and Counter Case, and the unquestioned interpretation of the treaty 

 during that period both by the parties to it and also by Newfound- 

 land, preclude the possibility of the adoption of Sir Eobert Bond's 

 theory of construction; and, moreover, the necessary results flowing 

 from an adoption of the theory conclusively negative its validity. 

 It will, however, be convenient, before presenting these considera- 

 tions in detail, to take up the British contention in the form in which 

 it is stated. 



A full examination of the British Case and Counter Case discloses 

 that Great Britain in support of its contention entirely disregards 

 the negotiations which resulted in the treaty of 1818 and everything 

 which has transpired since that time. Apart from an unsupported 

 assumption concerning the intention of the negotiators of the treaty, 

 and a suggestion that there may have been a motive resulting from 

 the claim of the French to an exclusive right on the western coast 

 of Newfoundland, the British contention rests entirely on a verbal 

 nicety. 



It is based on the use of the word " coasts " followed by the words 

 " bays, harbours, and creeks " in defining the liberty to fish on the 

 Labrador coast, and on the use of the word " coast " alone when 

 speaking of the liberty on the Island of Newfoundland, and the use 

 of the word " shores " alone when speaking of the liberty on the 

 Magdalen Islands. Stated in greater detail, the British contention 

 is this : The word " coast " is used alone in one place and is fol- 

 lowed by the words " bays, harbours and creeks " in other places 

 in the treaty, and, therefore, " coast " must mean " something 

 distinct from bays, harbours and creeks." This distinction must be, 

 if the argument is to have any force, that " coast " means so much of 

 the " coast ", as is left after the " bays, harbours and creeks " have 

 been subtracted. Applying this " more restricted " meaning to the 

 word " coast " where it appears in defining the liberty on the Island 

 of Newfoundland, i. e. " the southern coast " and " the western and 

 northern coast of Newfoundland," and understanding the word 

 " coast " to have the same meaning in all parts of the treaty, the 

 result is reached that only portions of the coast of Newfoundland are 

 secured to Americans. By some process of reasoning, which is not 



fl British Case, 124. 



