I04 FISHERIES ARBITRATION AT THE HAGUE 



discretion any portion of the territory of another, without compensation or 

 corresponding indidgence, cannot rest on any other foundation than con- 

 ventional stipulation." 



That is the basis of Great BritaLa's position in ending the 

 "Hberties" granted in 1783. 

 He proceeds: 



"It is unnecessary to inquire into the motives which might have originally 

 influenced Great Britain in conceding such hberties to the United States, 

 or whether other articles of the treaty wherein these Hberties are specified 

 did, or did not, in fact afford an equivalent for them, because all the stipula- 

 tions profess to be founded on reciprocal advantages and mutual convenience. 

 If the United States derived from that treaty privileges from which other 

 independent nations, not admitted by treaty were excluded, the duration of 

 the privileges must depend on the duration of the instrument by which they 

 wei;e granted ; and if the war abrogated the treaty, it determined the privileges." 



You will perceive how material and necessary to the argument 

 was this definition of the nature of the right that Great Britain had 

 granted to the United States. Other nations might exercise privi- 

 leges at the discretion of Great Britain by acquiescence, subject 

 always to be withdrawn or modified. Other nations might exercise 

 privileges in the territory of Great Britain accorded by statute, 

 always in the discretion of Great Britain to alter, amend, or repeal, 

 but that an independent state shall occupy and use, at its discretion, 

 any portion of the territory of Great Britain without compensation 

 or corresponding indulgence cannot rest on any other fovmdation 

 than conventional stipulation. 



The President: But then, must it not be expressed in the 

 conventional stipulation that this right is to be exercised at the 

 discretion of the party entitled ? 



Senator Root: The conventional stipulation which he is de- 

 scribing contained no such stipulation. He is ascribing that quality 

 to the grant of 1783, which contained no such express stipulation. 



On the following page (276) Lord Bathurst argues that this 

 grant was temporary and experimental, and depending on the use 

 that might be made of it, and so on, and on the condition of the 

 island and the place where it was to be exercised, and on the general 

 convenience and inconvenience, from a naval, military, or commer- 

 cial point of view, resulting from the access of an independent nation 



