xlii INTRODUCTION 



American negotiators had proposed that the fishermen be permitted to 

 purchase bait, but this proposition was expressly rejected. 



Such is in brief the analysis of the first article and explanation of its 

 terms, together with some reasons for the form in which they are 

 expressed. As, however, this article, the measure of American fishing 

 liberties within British waters and British territory, has since the year 

 1818 been the fertile source of controversy, it seems desirable not to 

 endeavor to interpret it in this connection, but to consider its provisions 

 in connection with the award of the Tribunal on each of the ques- 

 tions submitted at The Hague by the special agreement of January 27, 

 1909. 



Discussion of the Fisheries Question between Mr. Root 

 AND Sir Edward Grey 



The appointment of Mr. Root as Secretary of State, on July 7, 1905, 

 was not only fortunate in itself as bringing to the Department of State 

 a highly accomplished lawyer with a mind seasoned and trailied in 

 administration as Secretary of War, but in placing in charge of our 

 foreign relations a public servant famiUar with controversies between 

 Great Britain and the United States and alive to their serious conse- 

 quences if not settled by agreement before they had strained the foreign 

 relations of the two countries. Mr. Root's experience as Commissioner 

 in the Alaskan Boundary Question, decided in London in 1904, showed 

 him how diflScult it was to settle a controversy in time of stress, 

 which might have been adjusted previously without threatening the 

 good relations of Great Britain and the United States. He therefore 

 determined to take up the various questions pending between the two 

 countries and to secure their adjustment with the least possible delay 

 and friction, both because the Alaskan question had shown the danger 

 lurking in a simple question of fact, and because the friendly relations 

 of the two countries suggested the advisability of removing from the 

 future relations of Great Britain and the United States the possible 

 danger of misunderstanding and unfriendliness resulting from a diver- 

 gence of view upon questions of great importance to both countries. He 

 therefore took advantage of a report which reached him in October, 

 1905, that the Newfoundland Minister of Marine and Fishery had "for- 

 bidden all vessels of American register to fish on the Treaty coast where 

 they now are, and where they have fished unmolested since 1818,'" to 

 open up the fishery question, and by a frank discussion between the two 

 governments to reach, if possible, a solution of this vexed question. 



« Appendix, pp. 441, 442; Appendix, U. S. Case, p. 964; Appendix, British Case, p. 491. 



