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fee was increased from 50 cents to a dollar a ton, and from a dollar a ton to 2 dollars 

 a ton, with the crrtain kiiowU-diie that as only a imrtion liad \n\n\ the 50 cents, and a 

 nnicli smaller iiortion had paid tho 1 dollar, prohaMv none would jiay the 2 dollars, 

 and so substantially it turned out. Now, why did they do it ? I do not know, as I 

 said before. I cliarge nothing upon tluni. 1 only know the result was, that wc could 

 not afTord to pay tlie licrncc. It was no longer wiiat the British Government iiit' ndod 

 it should be, a lieenee fee of a merely nominal siun, as an aeknowledgment of the right, 

 but it put us, unlicensed, entirely in tlieir power. Then lliey let loose n[)nn us their 

 cutters, and their marine poHee." Well, tiie two nations saw it would not do, tliat the 

 thin? must l)e i;iven up. and we came first to the 'j'reaty of IK)1, and for twelve years 

 we had the free scope of all tlii-se shores to fish wliere we liked, and there was |)eace, 

 and certainly the Dominion people had free trade, and tlure was a profit to them, and I 

 hope profit to us; and then wc terminated that Treaty, because we thouc;ht it operated 

 unequally against us. We got -ery little from the extendiHl right to fish, wliile they 

 got almost everythingfVoni tiie extended free trade. Tiien came l)ack the old dilfieullies 

 again. We returned to our duties. 2 dollars a barrel on mackerel, and 1 dollar a 

 barrel on herring, and they returned to their sNstem of exclusion, and tlieir cutters, and 

 their police, and th.eir arrests, and their trials. It became more and more manifest that 

 they could not use their inshore fisheries by t lieir boats to ])rofit, and we could not use them 

 by our vessels to profit, and all things working togt-th(>r, also the great diflicuUy that lay 

 between us and Cireat Hritain with n f'erenee to tiie " Alabama " cases, led to this great 

 triumph, gentlemen, l)ecause. 1 do not care w hich party got tlie best of it at this or that 

 point, it was a triumph of humanity. It was a triumph of tho doctrine of peace over 

 the doctrines of war. It was a substitution of a tribunal like this for what is absurdly 

 called the "arbitration of war." 



And now, gentlemen, that being th(" Iiistory of the proceedings, we have laid before 

 you, on behalf of the United States, the evidence of what Great Hritain has gained in 

 money value by our tying our liands from laving any duties whatever, and she has laid 

 before you the benefits she thinks we have gained by the right to extend our fisheries 

 along certain islands and coasts, and you are to determine whether the latter exceeds the 

 foriuer. CJreat Britain, I sn|)p()se, stimulated .<olely by the Donunion, called for a money 

 equivalent, and we have agreed to submit tliat cpiestion, therefore we have nothing 

 further to say against it. Wc stand ready to pay it if you find it, and I hope with as 

 little remark, with as little objection, asfheat Britain paid llie debt which was cast upon 

 her by another tribunal. The oi)inion of counsel, sitting here for seventy days in con- 

 ducting the trial, and in making an argument on tlio side of his own country, is extremely 

 liable to be biassed, and I therefore do not tliink that my opinion upon the subject ought 

 to be laid before tlfis tribunal as evidence, or as possessing any kind of authority. I 

 came here with a belief nuich more favourable to tlie Knglisli cause — I mean, as to what 

 amount, if any, Great Britain should receive — from that with which I leave the case. 

 The state of things that was developed was a snr[)rise to many ; the small value of the 

 extension of the geographical lino of fishing to our vessels — I nu'an, to vessels such as we 

 have to use — to the j)eople of the United States, and tlie certain value that attaches to 

 the Provinces in getting rid of duties, has given this subject an entirely new aspect, and 

 has brought my mind very decidedly to a certain opinion ; and I am not instructed by 

 my Government to present any case that 1 do not l)eliev(> in, or to u.sk anything that we 

 do not think is p(-rfectly right, and the counsel for the United States are of one opinion, 

 that when we ask this Conuuission to decide that there is no balance due to Great 

 Britain, in our judgment, whatever that judgment may bo worth, it is what justice 

 requires the Conuuission siioidd do. 



I have fini.-<lied what is my argument, within the tinu; which I intended last night; 

 but, Mr. President and genth'men, I cannot take leave of this occasion, and within afevv 

 days, as I must, of this tribunal, without a word more. Wc have been fortunate, as I 

 have had the jileasure to sny already, in all our circumstances. A vulgar and preju«liced 

 mind might say tliat tli(,' .Americans came down into the enemy's camp to try their case. 

 Why, gentlemen, it could not have been trie'd more free from outside influence in favour 

 of Great Britain luid it been tried in Switzerland or in (iermany. This city and all its 

 neighbourhood opened their arms, their hearts, to the Americans, and they have not, to 

 our knowledge, uttered a word which could have any ell'ect against the free, and full, 

 ano fair decision of our case. AVe have had tin; utmost freedom. We have fell the 

 utmost kindliness everv where. The counsel on the other side have met us with a 

 cordiality which lias begun friendsliips that, I trust, will continue to tlie last. 1 can 

 say, in respect to my associates in this case (^leaving mvself out), that America has 

 no cause to complain that her case has not been thoroughly investigated by her 



