16 The Fishery Question : 



be otlierwise than seductive of the loyal attachment and pcrsonjil 

 enterprise of our seaboard population. It discourages the independent 

 employment of Canadian fibbing craft and provincial fishermen. It 

 tempts our fishermen to catch and sell their fish clandestinely to owners 

 of Air.erican vessels, who can afterwards market them in the United 

 States, free of duty, as American-caught fish. This practice demoralizes 

 our population, and accustoms them to violations of our own laws. 



Finally, owing to the urgent representations of the Canadian 

 Government, the Imperial authorities arranged with the Admmis- 

 tration at Washington the appointment of a joint British and 

 American Commission " to treat of and discuss the mode of 

 settling the different questions which have arisv .1 out of the 

 lisheries, as well as those which affect the relations of the United 

 States towards Her Majesty's possessions in North America." 

 Though the chief object of this Commission, when first discussed, 

 was to consider the fishery question, the Government of the 

 United States succeeded in having its scope subsequently enlarged 

 so as to include the Alabama controversy. Consequently the 

 fishery question soon took an altogether secondary place, and the 

 strong claims which the Canadians had against the Washingt()n 

 Government for the expenses and losses incurred by them 

 through the Fenian invasions of 18G6 and 1^70 were entirely 

 ignored by the High Commission. The history of this Commis- 

 sion is well known, and all that is necessary to say here is, that 

 it looked very much for a while as if the fisheries of Canada 

 were to be given up to the United States without adequate com- 

 pensation. The American Commissioners, in accordance with 

 the policy which the United States had steadily pursued towards 

 Canada since 1805, refused to consider a new Reciprocity Treaty, 

 and it was at last decided to admit the United States to the 

 inshore sea fisheries of British North America, on condition that 

 Canadian fish and fish-oil were atlmitted free of duty into the 

 American market, and that commissioners be appointed to deter- 

 mine the amount of any compensation which in their opinion 

 ought to be paid by the Government of the United States in 

 return for the privileges accorded to their citizens under the 

 treaty. It will be seen that the claim which the people of 

 Canada had been making for years to have coasting privileges on 

 the American shores were not yielded, if indeed they were ever 

 seriously considered. But strong as were their doubts of the, 

 justice of the Treaty, regretful though they were that the 

 whole question of the fisheries, especially as respects the three 

 miles' limit, had not been for once and ever settled on a 

 fair and equitable basis, the Canadians acknowledged' the diflfi- 

 culties of the situation from an Imperial point of view, and 

 determined to yield to the force of circumstances, with the hope 



