mmMimLm 





no 



line drawn from headland to headland across the mouths of the bays on the Cana< 

 dian coast, yet the rule would be relaxed so far that American vessels would be 

 permitted to fiKh in the Bay of Fimdy at any pari not less tlum three miles from 

 shore, and " |>rovi(le(l they do not approach, except in the cases spcciKcd in the 

 Treaty of 1818, within three miles of the entrance of any bay on the coast of Nova 

 Scotia or New Brunswick.'' 



Mr. Everett, March 25, 1845, thanks Lord Aherdeen for " tlie amicable disposi- 

 tion evinced bv Her Majesty's Government;" but he still maintains the American 

 construction of the Treaty, saying that he does this, not " for the sake of detracting 

 from the liberality evinced by Her Majesty's Government in relaxing from what 

 they regard as their right, but it would be placing his own Cjovcrnment in a false 

 position to accept as mere favour that for which they have so long and strenuously 

 contended as due to them from the Convention." 



"In the case of the 'Washington,' whicli formed tlie sultjcct of the nutu of the Undersigned of 

 the 25th of May, 1844, to which the present comniuiiication of Lortl Alierdeeii is a reply, the capture 

 complained of was in the waters of the Bay of Fundy. The principal portion of the argument of the 

 Undersigned was addressed to that part of the subject. 



" In the case, howevor, of the ' ^Vi'gus ;' which was treated in the note of tiic Undersigned of the 

 'Jtli of October, the capture was in the waters whicli wasli the north-eastern coast of Cape Breton, — a 

 portion of the Atlantic Ocean intercepted, indeed, l)etweeii a straight line drawn from Cape North to 

 the northern head of Cow Bay, but possessing none of tlie characters of a bay (far less so than the Bay 

 of Fundy), and not called a ' bay' on any map which the Undersigned has hvvu. The aforesaid line 

 is a degree of latituile in lengfli ; and, as far as reliance can bo placed on the otdy maps (English ones) 

 in the possession of tlic Undersigned on whicli liiis coast is distinctly laid down, it would exclude 

 vessels from tisliing-grouiids wliicli might lie thirty miles from tlie shore. 



" But if Her Majesty's )irovincial authorities arc permitted to regard as a ' bay ' any jiortion of tlie 

 sea which can be cut oft' liy a direct lin- connecting two points of the coast, however destitute in other 

 respects of the character usually imiilied by that name, not only will the waters on the north-eastern 

 coast of Cape Hreton, but mi many other jiarts of the shores of the Anglo-American Dependencies 

 where such exclusion has iidt yet been thought of, be prohibited to American lishermeu. In fact, the 

 waters which wash the entire south-ea.stern coast of Nova Scotia, from Cajie Sable to Ca])e Canso, a 

 distance on a straight line nf rnther less than ;iO() miles, would in this way eonstituto a bay, from which 

 the United States' fishermen would be excluded. 



" The Undersigned, however, foibeai's to dwell on this subject ; being far from certain, on a com- 

 parison of all that is said in the two notes of I.iord Akenleen of the 10th instant, as to the relaxation 

 proposed by Her Majesty's (!o\ernment, that it is not intended to embrace the waters of the north- 

 eastern coasts of Capo I'reton, as well as the Bay of Kundy. ' 



"The British colonial tisbcrmeii possess considerable advantages over those of the United States. 

 The remoter lisheries of Newfoundlinid and Labrador are considerably more accessible to the colonial 

 than t<j the United States' fisherinen. I'lie Hshing-grounds on the coasts of New Brunswick and Nova 

 Scotia, alH)un<ling in cod, mackerel, and herring, lie at the doors of the former : he is therefore able to 

 pursue his avocation in a smaller class of vessels, and recptires a smaller outfit ; he is able to use the 

 net and the seine to great advantage in the small bays and inlets along the coast, from which the fisher- 

 men of the United States, under any construction of the Treaty, are excluded. 



" All or nearly all the materials of shij)building — timber, iron, cordage, and canvas — are cheaper in 

 the Colonies than in the United States ; a.s are salt, hooks, and lines. There is also a great advantage 

 enjoyed by the former in leferi.'iice to the supply of bait and curing the fish. These and other causes 

 have enabled the colonial tisheniieii to drive those of the United States out of many foreign markets, 

 and might do so at home but lor the protection afforded by the duties. 



" It may be added, that the highest duty on the kinds of fish that would W sent to American 

 market is less than a half-penny per pound, which cannot do more than counterbalance the numerous 

 advantages possessed by the colonial. 



" The Undersigned sujiposes, though he has no iiarticular infomiation to that effect, that equal or 

 higher duties exist in the (.'oloniefnoii the importation of tisli from the United States. 



"The Undesigned ie(|uests the Karl uf Aberdeen to accept the assurance of his high considera- 

 tion." 



On the same date, March 2;), 1845, Mr. Everett writes to Mr. Calhoun, report- 

 ing the communication of Lord Aberdeen, granting American fishermen permission 

 to fish in the Bay of Fundy : — 



" You are aware that the construction (if the 1st Article of the Convention between Great Britain 

 and the United States, of 1818, i-elativc to thi; right of fishing in the waters of the Anglo-American 

 Dependencies, has long be»ni in clisciission betweitn the two Governments. Instructions on thissuliject 

 were sevend times addivs.^cd b\ Mr. Knisytli to iii) prcilecessor, particularly in a despatch of the 2()th 

 of February. IStl, which I'miiiumI lIh' Imsis u( an abh^ and elaborate note li'imi Mr. Steven.son to I>onl 

 Palmerstoii of tlu' liTlli of the following iiioiitli. Mr. Stevenson's rc]ireseMlatioiis were acknowledged 

 and referred by the Oiloiiial Otlicc to the I'rovincial (ioveriiiiicnt of Nova Scotia, but no other answer 

 was returned to them. 



"The exclusion of American lislieiincii from the watei-s of the Bay of Fundy was the most 



