INTRODUCTION cxlvii 



It will be observed that the question is restricted to the treaty coasts 

 because American fishermen are only entitled to fish in the waters 

 specified in the Convention of 1818. The liberty of taking, drying, and 

 curing fish is alone secured by the convention, and. although the grant 

 is to American inhabitants, the fishery is usually considered a vessel 

 fishery, because it can only be carried on by means of vessels. 



In the correspondence between Great Britain and the United States 

 it was repeatedly asserted that American vessels as such had no rights 

 under the convention, and the contention of Great Britain was con- 

 stantly denied by the United States because without permission to use 

 vessels the grant is useless. Insistence upon technicalities of this nature 

 seems objectionable. It is no doubt true that American vessels as such 

 obtained no rights under the convention, but American vessels employed 

 by the inhabitants of the United States are the instrumentalities of 

 fishing, and as fishing vessels they could not well be excluded from the 

 treaty waters. The right of American fishermen to frequent the treaty 

 coast arises from the treaty, and the right of the vessel, from which the 

 fishery is conducted, to enter the treaty waters depends upon the United 

 States, because it and it alone can properly determiae American char- 

 acter. An American fisherman, on board an American vessel provided 

 with a fishing license, enters as of right the fishing waters and needs no 

 local certificate or license for the fishing venture. But the right under 

 the Treaty of 1818 is the liberty to fish, not to trade, for the Treaty of 

 1818 is the measure of the right, and the right to trade is not granted in 

 express terms, nor is the right necessary to enable the American vessel 

 to accomplish its object. Indeed, the right to trade under the treaty 

 would seem to be negatived by the negotiations leading to the treaty, 

 because the proposal that the Americans might purchase bait within 

 British jurisdiction was expressly rejected by the British commissioners. 

 Again, the British negotiators wished it to be understood that the fishing 

 liberty was separate and distinct from permission to trade, saying in a 

 proposed article: 



"It is further well understood that the liberty of taking, drying, and curing fish 

 . . . shall not be construed to extend to any privilege of carrying on trade with 

 any of His Britannic Majesty's subjects residing within the limits hereinbefore 

 assigned for the use of the fishermen of the United States, for any of the purposes 

 aforesaid." ' 



If American vessels frequenting the treaty waters possessed the 

 right to trade it is evident that they did not enjoy such right by virtue 

 of the convention. 



• Appendix, British Case, p. 8g. 



