11 



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claimed by Canada all rigJds theretofore eiijoyed or claimed 

 hy the United States were renomiced, and it was then agreed 

 that the treaty of 1818 should and did specifically settle all 

 the rights and privileges which the United States were to 

 have in Canadian waters. In the first section of that treat}' 

 the United States " reiiomice forever any liberty heretofore 

 enjoyed or claimed by the inhabitants thereof to take, dry or 

 cure fish on or within three marine miles of any of the 

 coasts, bays, creeks or harbours " of the British dominions 

 in America. After the provision whereby the Americans 

 renounced all the rights and liberties aforesaid, it was pro- 

 vided that American fishermen were to be permitted " to 

 enter such bays and harbours for the purpose of shelter and 

 repairing damages therein, of purchasing wood, of obtaining 

 water, and for no other pvrjwses whatever.'" Applying the 

 nile as laid down by Wheaton and Kent, two American 

 jurists of great learning and repute, the United States 

 will be shut out from the most prolific fishing grounds in 

 the world. It must, however, be admitted that the legal 

 authorities cited are almost beyond question. They are quite 

 in accord with the English judicial decisions on the same 

 subject. 



Under the provision relating to the circumstances under 

 which American fishermen may enter Canadian ports, those 

 fishing vessels which have entered for bait and have been 

 seized therefor, were not protected by the treaty, and it 

 would appear that the seizures were legally justifiable. It 

 may appear to manj'^ as a harsh proceeding, but was it unduly 

 so when it is considered that since July, 1885, when the 

 treaty then in existence expired, at the iTistigation of the 

 United States, the Canadian government has endeavored, 

 without success, to effect some new treaty, while the Ameri- 

 can people, though recommended so to do ])y President 

 Cleveland, have not evinced any desire to renew^ the old or 

 enter into a new one ? So long as matters remained as they 

 have been since July, 1885, the Americans have certainly had 

 all they desired. The Canadians felt undoubtedly that a 

 few^ seizures would bring their neighbors to a sense of their 

 position as a similar course did in 1877, when the United 

 States was called upon to pay and did pay $5,500,000. The 

 people of Canada are now, as in 1885, desirous of meeting 

 the people of America in some fair settlement of the exist- 

 ing diffitndties, and hav(* expressed themselv(>s to that effect, 

 and it is thought and hoped that therc^ is a similar desirc! 

 among the people of th(^ United States, lioth countries 

 have rights and both will maintain them, ntiither country 

 will be driven into sacrificing those rights however much 

 there may be of the rant of a lick-spittle class of ])oliticians 

 Avho feel that an occasional wrcMich of the lion's tail is a 



