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called upon to pronniinco upon u qucslion entirely novel to liim, I believe tlmt if your 

 honours think it at all wortli while to look over this o])inion, in wiiicii lie undertakes to say 

 that ("oneejition liay is an interior hay of Newfoundland, ami not pul)lie waters, allhouf;h 

 it is some fifteen or more miles wide, you will fnul that he makes this statement, whieh is 

 true, that an Act of Parliament is binding ujuMi him. whether the Act be in con- 

 formity with international law or not. JJut the Act is not Lnulinfj ui)on you, nor 

 is the decision. Hut there is nothing in the Act of Parliament wiiich speaks upon 

 that sidiji'ct. It is the Act 59 (ieorti^e 111, intended to carry out the Treaty of 1818, 

 and for punisliini: jiersons who are li-ihini;' within tiie bavs; and he infers fron\ that, 

 by one single jnnij), without any authority whatev(>r, tif judicial decision or legislative 

 lanmiasic, that it must have meaiU to incliule such hays as the bay in (juestion. (Direct 

 United i>l(ites Calilc Co. vs. Ani/lo-Ainerican Ttlei/nipk Co., Kni;lish Law Reports, ap|)oal 

 cases. Part 2, j). M!)4.) 



'J'his state of things lasted until the Treaty of 18."'4, commonly called the 

 Reciju'ocity Treaty. 'J'lie ij-nat feature of that Treaty, the only >ne we I'are about 

 now, is. that it i)ut us back into our orii::inal condition. It left us ii. Dossession of our 

 jreneral riu^ht. It made no atteni]it to exclude us from tishiufj; anyw! "re within the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence, and it allowed no i;eo;;rap]iical limits. And from l!S." 4 to ISGG we 

 continued to enjoy and to use the free tisliery, as wo had enjoyed an I used it from 

 ]()20 down to Is 18. 



linr the Treaty of 1854 was terminated, as its provisions permitted, by notice from 

 the United States. And why .' (Jreat Hritaiu had obtained from us a ;;('neral free 

 trade. Larue parts of the United States IJKmi^lit that free trade pressed liardly upon 

 them. I have no doubt it was a selfish consideration. I think almost every witness who 

 appeared upon the stand at last had the trnthtulness to admit, that when lie sustained 

 citlier duties or e.vclnsion, it was upon the selfish motive of pecuniary benefits to himself, 

 his section, his Statt', or his country ; and if that were the ),M'eatest o"ireiiC(! that nations or 

 individual politicians committed, 1 tiiink we niiijlit well feel ourselves .safe. W'e had 

 received, in return for this advantage, a concession from Cireat Britain of our };eneral 

 rii;lit to lisli, as we always had (islied, withoiU j;;eo;;raphical exclusion. .My learned 

 friend, Judj^e Foster, read to you (which 1 hacl not seen before, and whicli was very 

 fitrikiiifr), the confidential report of Consul Sherman, of Prince Kdward Island, in 1804. 

 1 dare say my learned friend, the counsel frem th;it Island, knows him. Now, that is a 

 report of ureat value, because it was written while the 'JVeaty was in existence, and 

 before notice had been y;iven by our Ciovi'riiinent of the intention to repeal it. It was 

 liis confidential advice to his own country as to whether our interests, as he had ijbserved 

 them, were pmmoted by it ; and he said, if the Hi'eiprocily Treaty was considered as a 

 ]i(ion to the United States, by seeurinu; to us the rii;lit to inshori^ lishiiii;;, it had cou- 

 spieiuaisly fail'd, and our hopes had not been reali/.ed. I think tlies(> are his very 

 word.s. lie spoKe with the {greatest strenj;lli to his country, writini,^ from Prince Kdward 

 Island, which claims to furnish the most important inshore fi.shery of any, and declared 

 that -so far as the L'niled States was concerned, the benefit that came from that was 

 illusory, and it was not worth while for us any lon;j;er to pay an\ tiling- for it. And that, 

 as your Honours have seen, and as I shall have I he pleasure to presiMit still further 

 bv-and-by, was ijorne out hy the j;eneral stale of feelinj; in America, 'flie result was, that 

 in IStlti. the R<'cipr()eity Treaty was repeal"d. That repeal revived, as my country 

 ad mitt id, the Treaty of 1818, and W"ea>;;ain laid, of course, the duties on the British imj)or- 

 tation of mackerel and herrinji;. W'e were remitted to the anli(|uated and most undesirable 

 ])osition of exclusion; but we remained in tiiat position only live years, from iSfiti until 

 ls7l, until a new Treaty could be made, and a little while longer, until it could lie put 

 into operation. What was the result of returnin;^ to the old system of exclusion i 

 Whv, at onci; the cutters and the ships of war that were watching- these coasts, spread 

 their sails; they stole out of the harbours where they had been lurking ; they bankeil their 

 fires; they lay in wail for the American ves.sels, and they pursued them from headland to 

 headland, ami from bay to bay ; sometimes a British olheer on the (|uarter-deek — and 

 then we were comparatively safe — but sometimes a new-lledj,fed provincial, a temporary 

 oflieiT, and then we wcm'c anythins;" but .safe. And they seized us and took us, not into 

 Court, l)ul they took us into harbour, and they stripped us, and the crew left the vessel, 

 and the earjj;o was landed ; and at their will and pleasure the case at last mi^ht come 

 into Court. 'J'lieii, if we were dismissed, we had no c(js1s, if there was probable cause; 

 we could not sue if we had not <i;iven a month's notice, and we were helpless. Not only 

 did it revive the expensive and amioyinj'' and irritatiiif^ and dangerous ssstem of 

 revenue cutters, and marine police, up ami down the coast, telei;raphin^i; and 

 writing to one another, and burdening the Provinces with the expense of their most 



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