1 6 FISHERIES ARBITRATION AT THE HAGUE 



and Great Britain could not so contend; Great Britain never 

 contended that regulations might be framed which would put the 

 natives of the dominion concerned in a better position than the 

 United States fishermen who have been admitted to share in 

 the benefits of the fishefy." 



But, when the counsel for Great Britain are confronted by the 

 manifest unfairness of having a right vested in us which cannot be 

 affected or modified by any legislation or regulation on the part of 

 the grantor of the right which is not reasonable, fair, appropriate, 

 and necessary, and at the same time arrogating to the grantor the 

 right itseK alone to determine what is reasonable, fair, appropriate, 

 and necessary, he seeks refuge from the consequence by the prop- 

 osition which I will now read from the copy of his argument 

 at p. 176: 



"It is not claimed for the British Government, or for the Colonial Govern- 

 ments, that they can determine the question whether any regulation is reason- 

 able. All that they claim is the right to make reasonable regulations, and if 

 the point is raised as to whether any regulation is reasonable or not, it is not 

 for the Colonial Government, it is not for the British Government, it is not 

 for the United States Government to determine whether that regulation is or 

 is not reasonable. It is for this Tribunal, to which the parties can, if such a 

 difference arises, come." 



Where did the right stand before the year 1908 ? 



What are you to adjudge the rights to be tmder the treaty of 

 1818? 



Under any arbitration proceeding, in any determination which 

 you may make under the articles of this treaty following the ones 

 submitting the question in any determination which may be made 

 under the rules of procedure which you may frame and which may 

 possibly be accepted, or under the short form of procedure at The 

 Hague, provided for by Article 4, what must be the foundation but 

 an ascertainment of the rights of the parties under the treaty of 

 1818, and a procedure based upon the award which determines those 

 rights? And, in determining what those rights are imder the 

 treaty of 1818, of course you must proceed without any reference 

 whatever to the fact that, recognizing the inequity of their own 

 position, recognizing that that position would be revolting to the 

 sense of justice of an international Tribunal, Great Britain has 



