kii INTRODUCTION 



Treaty of Versailles, wished to insert the word "exclusive" in the Decla- 

 ration. Great Britain refused and stated that if the word "exclusive " 

 figured in the French Declaration it would be met by a counter-declara- 

 tion of the British Government, negativing the exclusive character of 

 the right and stating the opposite interpretation which Great Britain 

 placed upon it.^ 



It may be said that the matter was doubtful and that Great 

 Britain was unwilling to enforce its contention in a case of doubt; but 

 this theory is inconsistent with the foreign policy of Great Britain, which 

 is noted for its uncompromising statement and successful defense of its 

 rights. It is a fact, however, that Great Britain always denied the 

 exclusiveness of the French right, whether based upon the original 

 treaties or the Declaration of 1783. 



In a carefully prepared memorandum, dated July 9, 1889, and 



transmitted to M. Waddington, French Ambassador to Great Britain, 



Lord Salisbury traces the origin of the French rights from their beginning 



and analyzes their nature, in the course of which memorandum he says 



that "the views expressed in Lord SaUsbury's note to M. Waddington, of 



the 24th August, 1887, are in accord with the general principles laid 



down in that note [Lord Palmerston's note of July 10, 1838, quoted on 



page xxi], and with the position constantly maintained by Her Majesty's 



Government, that the French had not an exclusive right of fishery under 



the Treaty engagements, and that the British have never given up their 



right to a concurrent fishery, although in exercising their right they 



are not to interrupt French fishermen. 



" It is difficult to understand how it can be supposed that such a contention has 

 now been advanced for the first time, whereas it has formed the basis of all action 

 and argument on the part of Her Majesty's Government for the last 120 years."* 



In view of this clear statement Great Britain would seem to be 

 estopped from maintaining that American fishing rights differ from the 

 French in that the latter were exclusive and from justifying a difference 

 of treatment due to the doubtful nature of the French right. 



If the French fishing rights were not exclusive they were, so far as 

 Great Britain is concerned, concurrent. The American fishing rights 

 were frankly concurrent, and the United States never claimed an exclu- 

 sive right. Not only was the British attitude made clear to France, but 

 no recognition of exclusiveness was indicated by the Convention of 1818, 

 because the French shore extended to Cape Ray, the extreme southern 

 point of the southwestern shore of Newfoundland, and the Convention 



' See Lord Salisbury's memorandum, enclosed in his note, dated July g, 1889, to M. Wad- 

 dington. Appendix, U. S. Case, Vol. II, pp. 1093-1094. 

 ' Appendix, U. S. Case, Vol. II, p. 1095. 



