36 FISHERIES ARBITRATION AT THE HAGUE 



American fishermen, and when they were speaking about the 

 practical exercise of the privilege they spoke about the people 

 who would be there. 



Sir Charles Fitzpatrick: Each one of these words has a 

 meaning when read in the context. Whoever' drafted that clause 

 gave a special meaning to each of these words. 



Senator Root: I do not doubt that. Now, a further word 

 about the meaning of "American fishermen." Plainly it is a 

 personification of the vessel which is owned and manned by Ameri- 

 cans, just as these British statutes which have been cited here so 

 fully speak of vessels receiving bounties and of vessels carrying 

 on the fishery. Take the Act of 1775, British Case Appendix, 

 p. 545 — I hardly think it is worth while to look it up, for it is a 

 perfectly simple thing, but I will read from Article 7 : 



"All vessels fitted and cleared out as fishing ships in pursuance of this 

 act" — 



that is, the Act 10 and 11 Wm. Ill, having reference to New- 

 foundland — 



"shall not be liable to any restraint or regulation with respect to days or hours 

 of working." 



There is the ordinary personification of a ship. The vessels 

 shall not be liable to any restraint or regulation. At p. 565 of 

 the same British Case Appendix you will see that the Act of 18 19, 

 passed to put this treaty into effect, in the second article provides 



"that if any such foreign ship, vessel or boat; or any persons on board thereof, 

 shall be found fishing," etc. 



The Preshjent: Does the term "inhabitants of the United 

 States" embrace persons who are not citizens of the United States; 

 or does it embrace also British subjects resident in the United 

 States? Can a British subject resident in the United States be, 

 under the terms of the treaty of 1818, an inhabitant of the United 

 States ? 



Senator Root: I should think so. Ideas were then quite 

 vague and indefinite about what was the connection between the 

 great body of the people in the territory who made up the political 



