214 FISHERIES ARBITRATION AT THE HAGUE 



at your earliest convenience to Collectors of the Customs at the ports of the 

 United States in which fishing vessels are fitted out or to which they resort, 

 enclosing to each of them, a sufficient number of copies of a printed notifica- 

 tion for distribution among the fishermen and the business firms interested 

 in the subject, setting forth the material facts presented in the enclosed papers, 

 and putting them on their gtcard against committing acts which wotdd render 

 them liable to the penalties prescribed by Canadian Laws, respecting inshore 

 fisheries not open to the fishermen of the United States under the ist Article of 

 the treaty between the United States and Great Britain of 1818." 



I hope the Tribunal will observe the perfectly clear and distinct 

 limitation: 



"putting them on their guard against committing acts which would render 

 them liable to the penalties prescribed by Canadian Laws, respecting inshore 

 fisheries not open to the fishermen of the United States under the 1st Article 

 of the treaty between the United States and Great Britain of 1818." 



That was Mr. Boutwell's warrant for issuing the circular, and 

 that was his sole warrant for expressing any opinion regarding the 

 international relations of the United States. Outside of that he 

 had no more power and authority to express the views of the United 

 States upon this subject than any man in the street. 



But we are not left without definite information as to what led 

 Mr. Fish to request this circular, and the Hmitations which he put 

 upon the request; for it appears by the circular that the law to 

 which it referred was a Canadian law of 1868. The circular appears 

 in the British Appendix, p. 235. This is the first circular, I think, 

 issued by Mr. Boutwell. He sends this out, under date of i6th 

 May, 187c, and I read from the bottom of the page: 



"In compliance with the request of the Secretary of State, you are hereby 

 authorized and directed to inform all masters of fishing vessels, at the time 

 of clearance from your port, that the authorities of the Dominion of Canada 

 have terminated the system of granting fishing hcenses to foreign vessels, 

 under which they have heretofore been permitted to fish within the maritime 

 jurisdiction of the said Dominion, that is to say, within three marine miles 

 of the shores thereof; and that all fishermen of the United States are prohibited 

 from the use of such in-shore fisheries except so far as stipulated in the first 

 Article of the Treaty of October 20, 1818." 



Then he quotes the article and proceeds: 



"The Canadian Law of the 22nd of May, 1868; . . . entitled 'An Act 

 respecting Fishing by Foreign Vessels,' among other things, enacts," etc. 



