10 The Fishery Question : 



get free access to these 'private fislieries of Canada, tliey have 

 heretofore raised the issue, that the line of demarcation between 

 exclusive and common water should not be measured from the 

 headlands of bays, but should follow the shores of those iiidents 

 as if they were sinuosities of the coast. If their contention were 

 founded on any sound principles of international law, or sustained 

 by any generally admitted authority, then it would be difficult 

 to exclude them from the most important ii>hing-grounds of 

 America. We do not propose to go at any length into this 

 question, inasmuch as it is only necessary to refer our readers to 

 all the recognized authorities on the subject to prove that the 

 issue raised by the Americans is entirely untenable. Their own 

 jurists and legal authorities have disposed of the question in a 

 sense favourable to the British interests involved in the matter. 

 That well-known authority Wheaton states the rule very clearly : 

 *'The maritime territory of every State extends to the ports, 

 harbours, bays, mouth of rivers, and adjacent parts of the sea, in- 

 closed by headlands belonging to the same State." Chancellor 

 Kent, an equally hii>h authority, admits that bays like Delaware 

 Bay, which may be compared in many respects to Bay des 

 Chaleurs, is wholly within the territoriid jurisdiction of the United 

 States, and that this jurisdiction extends for three miles seaward 

 from its headlands, Capes May and Henlopen. The same rule 

 applies to Chesapeake and Massachusetts Bays, which are also 

 inlets of large size. The eminent lawyer and statesman, Daniel 

 Webster, admitted, when the question came under his notice in 

 185:<i, that the claim of England to draw a line from headland 

 to headland, and to capture all American fishermen who might 

 follow their pursuits inside of that line, was well founded, and 

 that " it was undoubtedly an oversight in the Convention of 

 1818 to make so large a concession to England ! Indeed, if we 

 look at the first article of this Convention, we find that the 

 United States " hereby renounce for ever any liberty hereto^ 

 fore enjoyed or claimed " by their people in British waters. In 

 these words they acknowledged the exclusive right of the British 

 to certain fisheries, and solemnly withdrew any pretensions they 

 had previously advanced to those fisheries. In the various 

 documents that have been published by the British and Canadian 

 Governments ever since the fishery question has been a matter 

 of controversy, the whole issue is clearly set forth, and the posi- ^ 

 tion of Great Britain is shown to be incontrovertible. The word 

 " bay " has always received a positive definition in all text- 

 books, and is invariably spoken of " as a portion of sea enclosed 

 within indents of coasts," and it is also estalDlished beyond reason- 

 able doubt that the three marine miles from which Americans 

 are excluded must be measured from the outer edge or chord of 



