940 THE TREATY OF WASHINGTON. 
any distance from the shore.” But we are not re- 
quired to pay for any relinquishment on the part of 
Great Britain of the fictitious claim founded on the 
erroneous opinion of the Law Officers of the Crown, 
which, on the false assumption that “headlands” are 
nientvioned 1 in the Treaty of 1818, extends an imagi- 
nary line seaward three marine auiles from each cape 
of bays and indents of the coast, joins the extremities 
of those two lines by a straight line, and then re- 
quires our fishermen to keep outside of this connect- 
ing line. Deluded by that opinion, the British Gov- 
ernment, indeed, absurdly undertook to exclude us 
by force from the Bay of Fundy, but failed to main- 
tain its pretension in that respect. . 
What we purchase i is the right to enter and fish with- 
in the three marine miles of the shores at the bottom 
of certain bays, harbors, and creeks (from which alone 
we were excluded by the Treaty of 1818), disregard- 
ing wholly the opinion of the Law Officers of the 
Crown. Looking at the clause under consideration, 
in this its only proper light, it is plain that it can 
not impose any serious charge on the United States. 
