cxxx INTRODUCTION 



of a line drawn from the headlands of Cow Bay to Cape North, a dis- 

 tance of fifty miles." 



From a careful examination of all seizures of vessels while fishing 

 within the larger bays of the non-treaty coast for alleged violation of the 

 renunciatory clause, the cases of the Washington and the Argus are 

 believed to be the only ones in which the seizures took place at a point 

 more than three miles from a line following the sinuosities of the coast. 

 They were regarded as cases calculated to test the correctness of the 

 British or American interpretation , and were submitted to the Anglo- 

 American Commission, for the determination of British and American 

 claims, provided for by the Claims Convention of February 8, 1853. 

 They were argued before this commission upon the headland theory, and 

 the theory was rejected and the seizures of both vessels were pronounced 

 illegal under the Convention of 1818.' 



The opposition of the United States to the headland theory, pro- 

 pounded by the Province of Nova Scotia and justified by the opinion 

 of the Crown officers, evidently led the British Ministry to a careful 

 reconsideration of the entire question, the first fruits of which were the 

 rejection of the headland theory as applied to the Bay of Fundy, 

 made as a concession by Great Britain in 1845, but claimed as a right 

 by the United States. The question, however, seems to have worried 

 the Cabinet, and Lord Aberdeen, then Secretary of Foreign Affairs, 

 directed Lord Stanley, then Secretary for the Colonies, to inform the 

 Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia that Her Majesty's Government 

 would henceforth interpret the Convention of 1818 in accordance with 

 the American contention. This important action was taken in 1845, 

 as is evident from the following note, dated May 19, 1845: 



"H. M. Govt having frequently had before them the complaints of the Minister 

 of the U. States in this country on account of the capture of vessels belonging to fisher- 

 men of the U. States by the provincial cruisers of N. Scotia and N. Brunswick for alleged 

 infractions of the Convention of the 20th Oct. 1818 between G. Britain and the U. States, 

 I have to acquaint your Lordship that, after mature deliberation, H. M. Govt deem it 

 advisable for the interest of both countries to relax the strict rule of exclusion exer- 

 cised by G. Britain over the fishing vessels of the U. States entering the bays of the 

 sea on the B. N. American coasts. H. M. Govt therefore henceforward propose to 

 regard as bays, in the sense of the treaty, only those inlets of the sea which measure 

 from headland to headland at their entrance the double of the distance of 3 miles, 

 within which it will still be prohibited to the fishing vessels of the United States to 

 approach the coast for the purpose of fishing. I transmit to your Lordship herewith 

 the copy of a letter, together with its enclosures, which I have received from the For- 

 eign OflSce upon this subject, from which you will learn the general views entertained 



' For the Case of the Washington, see Moore's International Arbitrations, Vol. IV, pp. 

 4342-4344. For the Argus, ibid., pp. 4344-4345. 



