336 BALCH— THE AMERICAN-BRITISH [April 22. 



without any explanation or hearing being given to her captain. At 

 Digby, a paper, wliich was alleged to be the legal precept for her 

 capture and detention, was nailed to her mast. But this alleged 

 writ was placed so high that it could not be read. The Canadian 

 authorities refused the requests of both the captain of the vessel 

 and of the American Consul General to be allowed to detach this 

 paper in order to learn its contents Neither would the captain of 

 the Landsdoivne tell the American Consul General the ground upon 

 which he had captured the American vessel. After many vigorous 

 protests by Secretary Bayard and Minister Phelps to Lord Rose- 

 berry, the British Foreign Secretary, Sir Lionel Sackville West, the 

 British Minister at Washington, communicated to Mr. Bayard a 

 minute of the Canadian privy council that agreed that the condemna- 

 tion proceedings against the David J. Adams should be stopped 

 for the alleged violation of the fishery statutes, provided that the 

 owners of the vessels would agree that they would not base upon 

 this discontinuance a claim for damages or expenses. This minute 

 of the Canadian privy council was practically an avowal that the 

 seizure of the David J. Adams had been made without good or suffi- 

 cient cause.*^ 



On October 7, 1886, a little before midnight, the American fish- 

 ing vessel, Marion Grimes, arrived seeking refuge from a storm at 

 sea, at the outer harbor of Shelbourne, Nova Scotia.*^ She an- 

 chored about seven miles from the port of Shelbourne, no one leav- 

 ing her until six o'clock the next morning. She then hoisted sail and 

 stood out to sea. As soon as she had started, however, the Canadian 

 cruiser Terror sent a boat's crew to arrest the Marion Grimes. 

 Captain Landry of the American vessel, was then forced to proceed 

 to Shelbourne to appear before the collector of customs there. In 

 spite of the fact that the customs house was closed during the night, 

 that the storm proved he had merely sought a haven of refuge from 

 its violence, that he had stayed a very short time and that the Marion 

 Grimes was equipped only for deep sea fishing. Captain Landry 



""Foreign Relations of the United States, 1888," Washington, -1889, Part 

 I., p. 802. 



*' " Foreign Relations of the United States, 1886," Washington, 1887, pp. 

 2,62-2,70. 



