Its Imiierial Importance. 17 



that their interests would be eventually guarded by the new 

 Commission that was to consider the question of compensation. 

 Their hopes were not disappointed by the decision of the Com- 

 mission, which met at Halifax in the summer of 1S77. Tlie 

 three Commissioners — M. Maurice Delfosse, Belgian Minister at 

 Washington ; Mr. E. li. Kellogg, and Sir A. T. Gait — gave a 

 most patient hearing to the claims of the parties to the issue, and 

 after v.onsidering all the evidencj submitted to them, a majority 

 decided to award the sum of 5,500,000 dols. in gold, to be paid 

 by the Government of the United States to the Government of 

 Great Ikitain, in accordance with the provisions of the Washing- 

 ton Treaty. Mr. Kellogg, however, on the part of the United 

 States, dissented i'rom the award, though it is impossible to read 

 the Blue-book containing^ the evidence and arofuments of counsel 

 on both sides without coming to the honest conclusion that the 

 Dominion made out a clear case, and that the sum in question 

 was only fair compensation over and above the relatively small 

 commercial advantages conceded to Canada by the terms of the 

 Treaty of Washington, In all probability the Americans were 

 surprised that for once in the history of treaties between them- 

 selves and Great Britain they were obliged to concede more than 

 they intended when they proposed a Commission for the settle- 

 ment of the question. The history of the JVIaine, Oregon, and 

 San Juan boundaries, had taught them probably to believe that 

 a little diplomatic ingenuity on their part would enable them to 

 get the better of England and her great dependency in this 

 matter. Iliac illw lachryinco. 



However disappointed the Americans may have felt at the 

 award, they had no other alternative open to them than to pay 

 the money and carry out the provisions of the Washington 

 Treaty. The arrangement was advantageous to both countries, 

 since it set at rest a vexatious question and stimulated com- 

 mercial intercourse between them. The Canadians were not 

 surprised, however, to find that the American Government, in 

 accordance with their ])ast policy with respect to the fisheries, 

 gave due notice of the repeal of the treaty after it had been in 

 existence for twelve years. Consequently it expired in July 

 1SS5, and the Convention of 1818 should have once more 

 immediately governed the relations of the two nations. It was 

 not thought advisable, however, by either the Canadian or 

 the Imperial Government to exclude American fishermen at 

 once from the fisheries, as many of them were already in Cana- 

 dian waters when the treaty came to an end, and had they 

 l)een seized without full notice having been previously given 

 them, a serious feeling might have arisen between the countries 

 immediately interested. After considerable correspondence 



