cxlvi INTRODUCTION 



would appear that Great Britain only permitted Sir Robert's question 

 to be arbitrated from an unwillingness to overrule the colony or to delay 

 the conclusion of the special agreement, for Sir Robert made the accept- 

 ance of the modus vivendi of 1907 conditional 



"on the receipt of an assurance from His Majesty's Government that the terms of 

 reference to the Hague Tribunal shall include the question of the right of American 

 vessels to fish or trade in any of the bays, harbours or creeks of that portion of the 

 Newfoundland Coast between Cape Ray and the Quirpon Islands, together with all 

 other questions that may be raised under the Treaty." ' 



In considering the question the Tribunal stated that "the evidence 

 seems to show that the intention of the parties to the Treaty of 1818, as 

 indicated by the records of the negotiations and by the subsequent 

 attitude of the Governments, was to admit the United States to such 

 fishery," and the Tribunal, therefore, very properly declared it to be 

 "incumbent on Great Britain to produce satisfactory proof that the 

 United States are not entitled imder the Treaty." ^ The Tribunal 

 examined and rejected the arguments advanced by Great Britain, based 

 upon the technical and descriptive meaning supposed to result from the 

 use of the words "coast" and "shore" in different connections, declared 

 them to be untenable and found as a fact that in the year 1823, just five 

 years after the conclusion of the Convention of 18 18, and when its terms 

 were fresh in the minds of both parties, "Americans were fishing in 

 Newfoundland bays and that Great Britain when summoned to pro- 

 tect them, against expulsion therefrom by the French [who claimed an 

 exclusive right] did not deny their right to enter such bays." ' 



The decision of the Tribunal on this point was of very great impor- 

 tance to American fishermen as it involved their right to share in the 

 valuable winter herring fisheries on the treaty coast. The question was 

 political rather than legal and seems to rest on no substantial basis of 

 law or fact. 



Question VII 



The seventh and last question submitted to the Tribunal for its 

 decision raised the question "are the inhabitants of the United States, 

 whose vessels resort to the treaty coast for the purpose of exercising the 

 liberties referred to in Article I of the Treaty of 1818, entitled to have 

 for those vessels, when duly authorized by the United States in that 

 behalf, the commercial privileges on the treaty coasts accorded by 

 agreement or otherwise for United States trading vessels generally?" 



'Appendix, XJ. S. Case, p. 1013. ^Appendix, p. 513; Oral Argument, p 14SS. 



' Appendix, p. 514; Oral Argument, p. 1456. 



