f : 



n 



VI 



356 



class of seamen wliich constitutes the outer fortiticiilion of every country, and of protecting 

 lier aijainst tiie advance of licr enemies on the seas. Would it not ho a monstrous 

 anomaly if, by means of an indirect compcnsiition under the name of offset, the Canadian 

 (Government siiould l)e taxed for eieating a United States navy, from whieli alone 

 Canadians migiit cnteitain appreiiensions in the future ? I am sure any tril)unal would 

 pause before committin;; sueh a flagrant aet of injustice. Your Honours will remcnibcr, I 

 am teitain, that, although the Treaty of Washington is apparently made for a jjcriod of 

 twelve years, it might become the starting point of a perpetual Treaty of Peace, if not 

 stained by the verdict of this Commission, as an iniquitous instrument. It is, on the 

 contrary, to be hojicd that future diplomatists will find both in our proceedings and in the 

 award the dements upon wliicii to base an everlasting adjustment, which will for ever 

 settle the question of tjie Hritish North American fisheries. On presenting such a result 

 to the three (iovernments interested in tliis matter, we would collectively and individually 

 feel ])roud of having been associated with this international trial. 



I cannot close these remarks without acknowledging the valuable aid I have received 

 from Professor Hind's book, filed in this case. As a specialist in the several branches of 

 science connected with this case, he elucidated several grave questions, and gave the key 

 to a great ])art of the evidence. My learned friend and esteemed colleague, Mr. Weatherbe, 

 with whom I more ])articularly consulted, and who was so well acquainted with every spot 

 in Nova Scotia, directed my attention to those parts of the evidence which brought in 

 relief the advanced post occupied by this province in the fisheries. To both I here tender 

 my most cordial thanks. The inexhaustible patience and endurance of your Honours 

 during these proceedings extending over a perioil of five months, were only ecjualled by 

 the exquisite urbanity and kindness with which we have all been treated. To my other 

 British and American confreres before the Commission, I wish to express a feeling of 

 fellowship which I will for ever cherish. The American and British Agents and the 

 Secretary will also be associated in my remembrance with one of the most pleasant 

 incidents of my life, — enlivened by their sincerity of purpose, and the uniform good-will 

 they have brought to bear in the discharge of their onerous duties. 



No. IX. 



Final Arguments on behalf of Her Britannic Majesty, by Mr. Thomson. 



Monday, November 19, 

 THE Conference met. 



May it Please your Excellency ^nd your Honours : — 



IT has now become my d /, after the evidence taken during this long and tedious 

 inquiry has been concluded, to present the final argument on behalf of Her Majesty's 

 Government. I could wish, in view of the great importance of the issue, that the 

 matter had been placed in abler hands, I shall not go very much into the historical 

 question which has been involved in this inquiry, because my learned friends who preceded 

 me have gone fully into that ; and, although I dissent from some of the views presented by 

 the learned Counsel for the United States, and may, incidentally, in the course of my 

 remarks, have occasion to state some particulars of that dissent, I do not think there is 

 anything in those views that calls upon me to consider the subject at length. 



There was one matter v hicli, if f may use the expression of my learned friend, the 

 Agent of the United States at one time appeared likely to loom up with very great impor- 

 tance. I refer to the headland question. I feel that I can congratulate this Commission 

 that, for the i)urpose of their decision upon the subject submitted to them, that question 

 does not assume any importance whatever in this inquiry. But I wish to guard myself 

 distinctly from assenting to the view presented by Mr. Foster, when alluding to that subject. 

 He rather appeared to assume that, for practical purposes, this headland question had been 

 abandoned by Her Majesty's Government, and that the mode of conducting this inquiry, 

 on the part of the Counsel for Her Majesty's Government, showed such an abandonment. 

 I beg to set my learned friends on the other side right upon that matter. There has been 

 no abandonment whatever. It only comes to this : that in this particular incjuiry the 

 evidence has so shaped i self, on either side, that your Excellency and your Honours arc 

 not called upon to prono mce any opinion on tiic subject. There can be no doubt that 

 under the terms of the Treaty, your Excellency and Honours are not empowered to pro- 

 nounce any authoritative decision, or efiect any final settlement of that much-vexed 

 question. Incidentally, no doubt, it might have fallen within your province to determine 



