6 The Fisher ij Question : 



during the hundred years since the United States became inde- 

 pendent of Great Britain. As long as the old colonies remained 

 in the British Emjnre they had a right to participate in the 

 valuable fisheries found on the coasts of Nova Scotia and other 

 parts of the British North American dominions. Until the 

 War of Independence, and indeed for many years afterwards, 

 the fisheries off the Atlantic coast of the United States wore 

 valuable, and sufficiently engrossed the enterprise and industry of 

 American fishermen, and there was no occasion to go beyond 

 their own territorial limits ; but as the population of Nev/ 

 England increased, and the American fisheries became less 

 prolific, it became necessary to seek fresh sea pastures in order 

 to supply the urgent demands of commerce. Then the people 

 of the American coast, especially of Maine and Massachusetts, 

 looked longingly to the rich fisheries owned by the countries 

 which remained faithful to the Empire, and have ever since ex- 

 ercised their ingenuity to obtain access to British American 

 waters. 



The history of the efforts made by the United States to 

 obtain the liberty of fishing on the coasts and within the bays 

 over which Great Britain claims, as an incident of her sove- 

 reignty, full territorial jurisdiction, affords abundant evidence of 

 the value their people have heretofore attached to the fisheries 

 of Canada and Newfoundland. All that diplomatic or legal 

 ingenuity could devise in the shape of argument has been 

 brought forward to influence Great Britain to concede the use 

 of these fisheries to the fishermen of New England, as long and 

 on as easy terms as possible. As we shall see in the course of 

 this paper, Great Britain has in this, as in other negotiations 

 affecting the relations between herself and the United States, 

 acted in a spirit of compromise and conciliation which at times, 

 in the opinion of some Canadians, seemed likely to lessen the 

 value of the fisheries, and consequently jeopardize the interests 

 of the British people who own this great source of national 

 "Wealth and greatness. But the statesmen of Canada as well as 

 of Great Britain have invariably been ready to take into con- 

 sideratiou the importance of having the most amicable under- 

 standing on all disputed points with a people so nearly allied to 

 them by language and interest, and have made concessions to 

 the United States which perhaps some of their citizens have not 

 always fully appreciated at their full value. 



When Great Britain formally acknowledged the independence 

 of the Thirteen Colonies, and it became necessary to consider 

 the question of the fisheries, the United States obtained " the 

 liberty " to take fish on the coasts of Newfoundland, but not to 

 dry or cure the same on that island. They were also allowed 



