295 



le war 



nds on 

 on the 

 mdary. 

 •10 nnfe 

 cJ our 

 one by 



helium, 

 w wliat 

 in slatu 

 ion, our 

 idcr our 

 I say so, 

 1 >;orth 

 King in 

 now, on 

 IS to fish 

 ays had 

 cd ques- 

 ,'hen the 

 lies came 

 civ right 

 lous con- 

 larizcd in 



study of 

 vhicli has 



when the 

 y, we did 

 ssols were 

 chambers, 

 where we 

 anal law ; 

 of peace, 

 g lietwccn 

 in a mere 

 nent, as it 

 imt Powers 

 would not 

 word was 

 , any more 

 leni, al the 

 le English 

 abandoned 

 > attempted 

 lii^e. (iroat 

 lilc line, or 

 *l(iunt Joly 

 foundland ; 

 s a Treaty 



:;idf ot St. 



dr. Ciallatin 

 that was of 

 aiiiie in the 

 slii'vies, and 

 11 • si lores to 

 llv nothing. 

 my use of 



•ni to govern 



I'gion, and to 



ihtcilly gave 



lisadvantage. 



and others, 



to carry into elTect tliis exclusive system, to drive our fishermen oflT, not only from the 

 tbire-niilc \uu\ as we undcrslantl it, liut from tlie three-mile line as any captain of a 

 cruizer chose to understand it. Nohody knew what tlic tlu'ee-mile line was. Was it 

 to l)e drawn from lieadiaiid to headland ? They so claimed. They made maps and 

 marked out a line, running the whole length of Pvinee Edward Island, within three miles 

 of wliicli we must not go. They made otlier lines, so that the Bay of St. Lawrence, 

 instead of being an open bay, an international bay, for the use of all, was cut up into 

 preserves for fish, for tli(> sole use of the inhabitants of the Dominion, by these arbitrary 

 lines, drawn upon no international autliority; and we never could know where we were, 

 wiietlier we were liable to seizure or not ; and wc could not predict wliat decisions the 

 Courts might make against us in case we were seized. It was a dangerous, a most 

 imju.«t and unltappy state of things, llu; attempt to carry out tlic claim of exclusion at 

 all, and nobody lelt it more than Great Britain. She felt that it was, as one of the 

 captains of tiie Royal Navy said npon tlie stand the other day, immensely expensive to 

 Great Britain to keep up this armament and tliis watch along the coast by British ships, 

 and more particularly by the small Provincial cruizers. It was perilous to confide to 

 these men, the new-born officers of the Provincial cruizers, the right to decide questions 

 of international law, cpiestions of tlie enustruction of the Treaty, at their discretion, upon 

 the (|iiarter-deck, with a deep interest to secure wliat they were in search of, that is 

 vessels tiiat could be seized. Then there was a guard of police to be maintained along 

 the siiore, and iiitbrmation to he conveyed from point to point. The result was irritation, 

 coUison, honest didirencc of opinion; tlie American lishermen .saying, "I am more than 

 three miks from that coast, 1 know," and the British Commander sajing, witli perliaps 

 equal honesty, •' Vou are less," and neither abh; to determine it, and the vessel is seized 

 and carried into port, and nobody ever can determine where that vessel was when slie 

 was seized. And then wc iiad pretty burdensoni'.' duties laid upon us by the Legislatures 

 of tliese Provinces. The burden of proaf w as tlirown ui)on every ship to prove that she 

 was not subject to conviction, and siie was liable to threefold costs if she failed ; she 

 could not liiigate the question williout bonds tor costs, and it seems to have been left 

 to tlie discretion of the captor when he should bring his captured ship into port, until 

 we hear al last a .Judge in one of the Provinces calling for an explanation wliy it was 

 that an Anieriean shi[), unjustly scizi.'d and discharged by him, had not been brought 

 before him for months, until the voyage was destroyeil, the men scattered, the cargo 

 ruiiK.'d, and tlie vessel greatly delerit)rated, and no answer was given, nor did their 

 majesties, the commaiuh-rs of tlie cutters, think it necessary to give any, and I do not 

 su{)pos(! it was. The wliole subject became a matter of most serious diplomatic corres- 

 pondence, and, as I had the honour to suggest (and it was too painful a suggestion to 

 repeat), a very little change in the line of a shot might have brought these two nations 

 into war, because, when p;iasion is roused, when pride is hurl, when sympathies are 

 excited, it is hard to keep peace between even the best Uoveriunents and most highly 

 educated peoples. They feel the point of honour, they feel the sentiment, that the flag has 

 been insulted, that blood has been shed. The whole subject became too perilous to 

 allow it to stand any longiT. (ireat Britain was also led into difficulties with her 

 Provinces, by reason of tlieir eflbrts to make the most of their three-mile exclusion, to 

 which she was utterly inditrerent. The Provinces saw fit to make their lines as they 

 pleased, and when they could not bring their great capes or headlands of the bays near 

 enough together to exclude us, then they increased the line of separation, which 

 the law established. If " the mountain would not go to Mahomet, IMaliomel must go to 

 the inountain." If the bay persisted in being" more than six miles wide, then the 

 provincials met it by a Statute that it would do if it was ten miles wide ; and they were 

 telegraphed instantly from England, " That will not do, you must not treat the American 

 people in that way. Go back to your six-mile line," and they obeyed at once. Then 

 tliev allempled lo reconcile the whole matter by the aid of a suggestion from Great 

 Britain to give us licences to fish within the three miles upon a nominal rent. "They 

 have always fished there," she said. '• We cannot have peace unless they do. We 

 have tried to exclude them, and it is in vain. AVe must give up this exclusion ; but we 

 do not want to give it up and surrciider it for nolhiug. We do not care for iheir money, 

 but let lliein [lay us a nominal licence fee as a recognition of our right to exclude." 

 Very well ; they put tlu> fee at 50 cents a ton, and many Americans paiil it , not, tiiey said, 

 because they considered the. right to fish further than ihey had fished '.u be worth that 

 amount, i)ut peace was worth it, securily was worth it. To escape the claws of the cutters 

 and hical police, to avoid the uncertainly of a conlliel of judicial opinions, such as I have 

 had the honour to lay before you, they did pa\ , to some extent, the charge for the licence. 

 Then, as I have said, in that unaccountable and unaccounted-for manner, the licence 

 [2«0] 2 11 2 



