6 



Convention of 1818, cxplicJily renounc&l all liherft/ prevlouslt/ 

 enjoyed tojisli "on or wiih'ni three inarine 7inl.es of any of the 

 coads, oays, creehs or harhors of his Britannic Majesty's do- 

 nmiions,'' they gave up any claims they may previously have 

 had, and confined themselves to the waters a league distant 

 from those indents measured from headland to headland. 

 The British Government, however, as alleged by Canadians, 

 in its desire to afford every facility to the United States con- 

 sistent with their sovereign rights and the interests of the 

 people of British North America, have since 1845 thought it 

 expedient to relax, in the case of the Bay of Fundy, the ap- 

 plication of the rule to which they have generally adhered. 

 They have permitted American fishermen to pursue their 

 calling in any part of the bay, provided they should, not ap- 

 proach, except in cases specif ed by the treaty of ISIS, loithin 

 three miles of the entrance of any hay on the coast of Nova 

 Scotia or New Bransvjick. While maintaining, as a matter of 

 strict construction, that this large bay is rightfully claimed 

 by Great Britain as a body of Avater within the meaning of 

 the Convention of 1818, they have considered that in one 

 respect this inlet could be treated exceptionally, inasmuch 

 as there was some plausibility in the reasoning of the United 

 States, that the headlands were not only sixty miles apart, 

 but one of them was not British ; and that, as pointed out 

 by Mr. Everett to Lord Aberdeen in 1844 : " Owing to the 

 peculiar confguration of the coasts of this arm of the sea, there 

 is a succession of hays indenting the shoreshoth of Nova Scotia 

 and New Brunswick, within any distance not less than three 

 miles, from which Ataerican -fishermen were, necessarily ex- 

 cluded by holding the vjhole body <f water to be i?i the British 

 ter7'ifo7'ial limits.'' The same argument could not be used 

 in the case of the Bay of Ohaleurs or other important indents 

 of the coasts. 



The imperial aiithorities have on many occasions strictly 

 maintained the rights they possess under tl)e law of nations. 

 From 1818 to 1854 the British cruisers detailed by the Im- 

 perial and Colonial Government for the protection of their 

 fisheries captured and confiscated several American vessels 

 that were found ranging at points varying from quite near 

 the shore to a distance of upwards of ten miles from land, 

 on the ground that they were within the headlands of bays. 

 In 1854, after considerable negotiation for years, the two 

 Governments arranged a Reciprocity Treaty, which tempo- 

 rarily settled the increasing difficulties on the question. By 

 this treaty the United States obtained free access to the 

 fishing grounds on the east coast of British North America, 

 and certain natural products of these two countries, like 

 fish, coal, flour, meal, lumber and salt, were allowed to enter 

 into each free of duty. This arrangement was of undoubted 



