276 FISHERIES ARBITRATION AT THE HAGUE 



sion. We cannot have a better statement of the precise situation 

 than was made by the British negotiators of the treaty of 1806, 

 Lords Holland and Auckland, at p. 61 of the British Appendix. 

 In the second paragraph of their report to the British Foreign Office 

 of the 14th November, 1806, they condense a statement of the law 

 and the existing conditions in the world at that time most admirably. 

 Let me read the first two paragraphs, for they both are apposite. 

 They say: 



"My Lokd, 



"In elucidation of the subject of our pubKc despatch we beg leave to 

 lay before you the following observations on the nature of the extension of 

 jurisdiction suggested by the American commissioners, on the real value of 

 such a concession compared with that which they seem to set upon it as well 

 as the reasons which in our opinion induce them to urge it so strenuously. 



"The distance of a cannon-shot from shore is as far as we have been able 

 to ascertain the general limit of maritime jurisdiction and that distance is 

 for the sake of convenience practically construed into three miles or a league. 

 All independent nations possess such jurisdiction on their coasts; and the 

 right to it is not only generally contained in the acknowledgment of the 

 independence of the United States, but seems to have been specifically alluded 

 to in the 25th article of the treaty of 1794. Particular circumstances resulting 

 from immemorial usage, geographical position or stipulations of treaty have 

 sometimes led to an extension of jurisdiction, and may therefore, when appli- 

 cable, be urged as a justification of such a pretension." 



That is the precise situation in which Great Britain and the 

 United States stood. 



The President: Does this passage refer to bays, or does it 

 refer only to an extension of the distance on the open coast ? 



Senator Root: I shall show you, sir, that it refers to bays. 

 It refers to any extension beyond the 3-mile Hmit. 



The PEEsmENT : The fourth paragraph in this despatch begins 

 with the words "the space between headlands is more generally 

 laid down, and admitted by Grotius himself, as subject to the 

 exclusive jurisdiction of the power to whom the land belongs." 

 That is in the fourth paragraph of the same despatch. 



Senator Root: Yes. They go on to discuss the proposition 



