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cure iisli ; and that at other parts wc shall not have such rights. Then came tlie 

 Treaty of 1854, which said nothing about any of those rights of which I am 

 speaking, but merely dealt with the question of our right to iish within three 

 miles, where we could exercise it, and where not ; and our right to cure and dry 

 tish, and to dry nets. In Article XV'Ill of the Treaty of 1871, the question is taken 

 up again in tl>e same way : — 



" It is iiLiicrd liy tlio llijili t'diitiiutiiig I'lirtii's ilint i)i inlditiou tn llic lilicrty rp<'1iiv(1 to 

 Unitfd States' lislu'ViiifU liv tlic ( '(invciitidii lii'twccn the riiitcil Stiitcs ami (livat Jiritaiii, hIi^ik^cI iit 

 Loiuldii on litltli Oi'tdlier, 1818. tor tiikiiit;, cuiiiii:, ami divim,' tisii on c(^i'tain coiislH of tlic liritisli 

 Xoitli Aiueviciiii Coloiiit's tluMviii iiaiuiMl, the iiilialiiluiits ol' tlu' I'liitcd Slates sliall liave, in cumniou 

 with till' sulijcois of Her Jiiilaiiiiic Miijosty. the lilii'Vty, for tile tt-riii ol' yyiirs iiicutioiit'il in Article 

 XXXIIl of lliis Treaty, to take lisli of every kiiiil,e.\(e|it slu^ll-tisli, on the sea-uoasls ami shores, ftuil ill 

 tlie hays, liarlMiurs. and ereeks of the I'rovinei's of (^iiieliec. Nova Scotia, and Ni'w l>rMnswi"i'k, ami 

 tlieC'olony (if I'rinee Kdward Nland and the several islands llieii'imto ailjaeelit, villiont lieiiii; restrietiid 

 to any distance from the shore, with iiennission to land n)ioii the said coasts, and shores, and islands, 

 nnd also npon the .Ma^'chilen [slands, f(Mthe i>Mr]ios|. i.fdryinu their net.s and ciirini; tlieir ti-^li." 



Thon it is stated tiiat, whereas it is claiinod lliat Great Britain thereby has 

 given thi! United States more valuable tislietir.s tlian tlicy had before, there is 

 something to be paid. N(»w if tlie Treaty did not give us the right to do so, 

 hov,- came we to be buying bait .' Why, we have alw;l^'s done it. From the tinjc 

 there was a ir.aii there with bait t-) sell, there was un American to buy it from 

 him. We have never asked lor the right to buy bait. Yt)ti cannot find a 

 diplomatic letter anywhere in which we have complained that we were prohibited 

 from buying bait. Alter the Treaty of 1S;")4 had e.\pired, it is true the Canadians, 

 who felt sore about the matter, tiiidertook to say we should not buy any bait ; that 

 if we did we would l)e pimished therefor. They were immediately stopped by 

 Great Britain, who, without saying in terms that the Americans had a right to bu\ 

 bait by the Treaty of 181N, or iriespective of all Treaties, declared it to be against 

 the pidicy of the nation to prohibit it ; and they stopped this petty persecution of 

 American tisheraien. 1 care not what line of reasoning induced the British Govern- 

 ment to take that course with their Canadian subjects. I ilo not care whether they 

 considered tiiat the Treaty of 1S18 gave it to us (I do not see how they could) or 

 whetiier, as is more probable, thoy, biing large-minded meti, who had studied the 

 subject, considered it soinethinj; which, not being piohibilcd, belonged to^s, and 

 they did not intend to |)rohiL)it it. 



Now, who are the men who buy the Iish for bait? They ate not the men who 

 Iish within tite three-mile lim'ilatioii. We do not buy bait lieri; to catch mackerel. 

 The bait we buy is lor the Banks, and dec|) sea cod-lishery. There is no pretence 

 from any evidence that our mackerel tishermen come here to buy bait ; it is only the 

 Bank cod-fishermen who do so. I respectfully submit to this learned tribunal, 

 that it can have nothing to do with how the tishermen on the Banks see fit to 

 employ themselves. The Treaties of It; 1 8, 18 j4, and 1871, related solely to iishing 

 within the three miles. The Treaty of 17S.'5 rfrofiitizrs the right of American iisher- 

 men to Iish on the IJaiiks -on the high seas- a rigiit wiiicli had always belonged tt> 

 American fishermen, never ceded to them by any Treaty, but which they hold b\ 

 the rigiit of common humanity. These men come into Canadian jiorts to buy bail 

 What has this tribunal to do with them .' 



Have not America, lisliermeii. Iishing on the high sea,s, the right to run into 

 British ports, by comity, by tlic universal law of nations, if thev are not specially 

 excluded on some ground which the United States admits to be proper and right.' 

 Have they not the rigiit to come in and imy bait and ot'u-r fiecessaries ';" Cireat 

 Britain |)ossesses the power to put any regulation on tliem it pleases, to require 

 them to enteral the Custom-house, lo be searclied to see whether they are mer- 

 chants in disguise, and to levy duties upon them; but in tlie ahseiice of a prohibi- 

 tion, there is no right to prevent those tishermen buviiig bait or supplies. 



1 next come to the question of shelter, repairs, piirehasiiig ice and other articles, 

 and transshii)piiio cargoes. I do not projio.se tc admit that we iiavenot these rights, 

 iir that we are exercising them simply because we f.re not punished lor doing so. 

 or that because the Treaties of I8l8 or 18/1 have not given ihem to us, wv. do n«)t 

 possess them, and that it is within the jiower of the Provinces to exclude us fniin 

 them altogether. That depends upon considerations, which are not necessary for 

 us to take in view. If your Hoiimirs should decide tiiat you have no right to 

 reeogni/.e, among the elements of compensation, those rights of which I speak, then, 

 if the Colonics shuuhl pass a law which should punish every American iishernmn 



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