i 



'T 



S63 



purpose of dryinp; nets and cnrinp; fish. That was a very antique idea. Il has quite 

 passt!d out now, tbrlnnatfiy, for these i)rovinc'('s an> bi^comini;- well selth'd, and no riiyiit 

 ever existed to land and dry fish where a private ri^ht is interfered witii. Tiicre is no 

 evidence to show that, since 1871, we liave cxereisod that rifjht or cared anytiiino; 

 about it. It was p>it in tlie Treaty to follow the languaj^e of the old Treaties, for 

 whatever it nu<;lit bo wortli. 



Vour Honours will also observe tliat, \nitil 1830, tlio niack(>rel fislieries were 

 unknown. Tiiere was no fishery but the eod-fisiiery. The cud-tlshories were all the 

 ])arties liad in mind in niaUinj;;; tlie Treaty of 1818, and to this day, as you have observed 

 from some of the witnesses ''fisliin^'," by tlie conunou speech of Ciloucester lishing^, 

 means, p.r r/' /rrm/nj, cod-tishiua:. Kishinj;' is one tiling, and " mackerelinj? " is another. 

 In Mr. Adams' pain]>ldet, on the 2'Avd pa^;e, he si)eaks of "fishery," as synonymous 

 with cod-lishery. lu 1818 the question was of the riiiiit of En^huid to exclude. 

 Now, tor the first time, the doctrine resjiectinsi; the three-mile line had beg;im to show 

 itsi'lf in international law. Cireat Britain availed herself of it, contrary to the doctrine 

 stated by Queen Klizabetli — a very wise princess, certainly surrounded by very wise 

 cinniscllors — availed herself of it to set uji a claim to exclude the deep-sea fishermen, 

 thouiih they did not touch the land or distiu'b tlie bottom of the sea, lor a distance 

 of three miles out. We denied tluit there was any such rii2;ht by international law, 

 certainly none by Treaty. But Kn^land was a powerful nation. She foui;;ht us in 

 1812 and 1814 with one liand — L acknowledj^e it, though it may be as;ainst the 

 pride of American citizens— while she was fi^litina: nearly all Europe whh the otiier, 

 but she was now at peace. Both nations felt strong; ; both nations were takini? breath 

 after a hard conlliet, and it was determined that there should be an adjustment, and 

 there was an adjustment, and it was this: Great liritain tacitly waived all claim to 

 exclude us from any part of the hi^'h seas She expressly waived all rii^ht to exclude 

 us from the coasts of Labrador, froni Moiuit Joly northward and eastward indetinitcly, 

 throui;h those tiiinbrms;' moimlains of ice, where we formerly pursued our tiiiiantic 

 Kam(\ She expressly withheld all claim to exclude us from the Magdalen Islands, 

 and from the soiitiiern, west(>rn, ami northern sliores of Newtbundland ; and, as to all 

 the ri'st of the Bay of St. Lawrence and the coasts of Nova Scotia and New 

 iirunswick, we a^■re(Hl to std)mit to her claim to exclude us. So that it stood thus; 

 that, under tluit Treaty, and only tuider that Treaty, we admitted that Cireat Britain 

 mii;hl exclude us, tor a distance of three miles, from lishiui; in all the rest of her 

 possessions in British Nortii America, exct-pt those where it svas expressly stiptdated 

 site should i\ot attempt to do it. So she Juid a rii;ht to (>xclude us for a distance of 

 three miles from the shores of Cape Breton, Prince Kdward Island, Nova Scotia, a 

 portion of Newfoundland and New Brunswick, and what has now become the 

 I'rovinei' of (^uein'c, while she could not exclude us from the coast of Labrador, the 

 Magdalen Islands, and the rest of Newtbundland. There was the coni[>roinise. We 

 got all that was tiien thoui^ht useful in tlie times of cod-tisliin^:, with the rinhl to dry 

 nets and cure fish wherever private property was not involved. The Treaty of 1818 

 lasted imlil 1H51 — thirty-six years. So we went on under that compromise, with 

 a portion of our ancient rights secured, and another portion suspended, and nothing 

 nion.'. 



(ireat changes took place in that period. The mackerel fishery rosi into importance. 

 Your Honours iiav(; had betbre you the inlerestiug spectacle of an old iiiun wlio tiiinks 

 that lie was the first who went from Massacliusetts into this gulf and fished tor 

 mackerel in 1827, or thereabouts. He probably was. But mackerel-fishing did not 

 bi'come a Iratle or business until considerably afier 1830, and the catch of mackerel 

 became iaiporlaiU to us as well as to the i)roviiices. 



But there were great dilficulties attending the exercise of this claim of exdusicm, 

 very great dilliculties. There always have been, there always must be, and 1 pray there 

 alw ays shall b(> such, until there be free fishing, as well as free trade in fish. They jnit 

 uiion the stand Captain Hardinge, of Her JNIajesty's navy now or Ibrmerly, who had 

 taken an ;u'live jiarl in siiiierinteiuiing these fisheries, ami driving olf the Americans. 

 We asked him w lielher the maintenance of this marine police was not expen.sive. He said 

 thai it was exjjensive in the extreme, that it cost lt)0,0()0/. — I believe that was the sum 

 named. He did not know the exact amount, but his languag'o was quite strong as to 

 the expensiveness of excluding the Americans .roni these grounds, of maintaining these 

 crui/.ers. But it also brougiit about dilliculties between CJreat Britain and her ])ro- 

 vinecs. The provincial authorities, on the 12th April, I8()(i, after this time (luU; they 

 acterl througluiiu with the sanie purpose, and the same siiirit) undertook to say that 

 every ba\ sliould be a British private bay which was not more than ten miles in width; 

 1 2801 2 N 2 



