ARGUMENT OF MR. ROOT 



313 



a line, they were bound to lay down a line, and we are bound to 

 assume that they were laying down a line that a fisherman could 

 find. What fisherman could find a line 3 miles outside of a line 

 60 miles in length drawn from Grand Manan to the headland here 

 (indicating on the map), not clear across the bay; that would be 

 more than 100 miles; but a line from the headland of Nova Scotia 

 to the nearest point of British land on the other side of the Grand 

 Manan, or Mur Ledge, which I think sticks up out of the water, 

 is a full 60 miles in length ? What fisherman could, on perU of the 

 seizure and forfeiture of his vessel, be expected to find that hne ? 

 It would be wholly impracticable. That is not the method by which 

 international law proceeds to construe instruments. There is a 

 basis for that talk in these letters here, that old idea about being 

 able to see from headland to headland, taking in what comes within 

 a line of sight. It is because the rules of international law are made, 

 and treaties are construed for the practical use of mankind. You 

 do not give a book on navigation to an unlettered fisherman who 

 is to sail along the coast and find his way to the place where he earns 

 b's daily bread. You give him a rule of thumb; you give him some- 

 thing he can see and guard himself by. And the conclusion to 

 which we have come here, upon these plain declarations of Great 

 Britain as to what the limits of her territorial sovereignty, of her 

 maritime jurisdiction were, is in agreement with the requirements 

 of the making of this treaty — to lay down a line that fishermen 

 shall not transgress, that it is possible for a fisherman to find. 



The President: If you please, Mr. Senator Root, is the word 

 "any" in the renunciatory clause in no connection with the 

 word "bays," or is it to be considered as having relation to the 

 word "bays"? 



"On or within three marine miles of any of the coasts, bays, creeks, or 

 harbors." 



Senator Root: I should think that that qualified the whole. 



The President: The whole ? 



Senator Root: I should think so. 



The President: Then it refers also to "bays" ? 



