QUESTION SIX. 235 



manner by their competition the fishery of the French during the 

 temporary exercise of it, which is granted to them, upon the coasts 

 of the Island of Newfoundland." 



It is well known that the French have had free access under 

 these treaties for two centuries to all the bays, harbors, and creeks 

 on the coast assigned them. Their right included the right to dry 

 fish, but it was not at any time deemed necessary to refer to bays 

 and harbors, though it was only in them that landings could be had 

 for purposes of drying. 



The word " coast " was used to define the French right and the 

 same word was used to define the American right. If it included, as 

 it did, " bays, harbours and creeks " for the French, it included them 

 for the Americans. 



It is to be further noted in considering this Question that the treaty 

 of 1818 is explicit in excepting the rights of the Hudson Bay Com- 

 pany ; and in providing against the free use of the southern coast of 

 Newfoundland and the entire coast of Labrador when they become 

 settled, for the curing and drying of fish ; and in guarding on the non- 

 treaty coasts against the abuse of the privilege of entry for shelter 

 and repairs and of procuring wood and water. In a treaty contain- 

 ing such provisions as these so vital a matter as the treaty rights of a 

 great and powerful nation like the French, if anyone supposed them 

 to be paramount or exclusive, would not have been left to inference. 



A further weakness in the argument presented in the British Case 

 on this point is evident, when it is remembered that the French coast 

 did not include the southern coast of Newfoundland, nor any part of 

 the Magdalen Islands, while the British Case, however unwillingly, is 

 compelled to include both in its contention. 6 



TBEATIES OF 1854 AND 1871. 



The British Case contends that 



The treaties under discussion are by no means singular in their use 

 of the word "coasts." In the treaty of 1854 (known as the reci- 

 procity treaty) between Great Britain and the United States, for 

 example, the word means, as in the 1818 treaty, something different 



TJ. S. Case, Appendix, 55. 6 U. S. Counter Case, 88. 



92909 S. Doc. 870, 61-3, vol 8 16 



