275 



There is now bu't little to add to complete a record of the more im- 

 portant events connected with the history of this controversy. 



The Queen of England, in her speech at the opening of Parliament, 



8. Resohed, That the cession of the Aroostook territory, and the free navigation of the St. 

 John, the right of registry in colonial ports, and the free admission of the productions of the 

 United States into British America at revenue duties only, have been followed bynocor- 

 responsling relaxation of the commercial system of the United States which would justify a 

 further saoiifice of colonial interests. , 



9. Sesolved, That while more than one half of the seacoast of the republic bounds slave 

 States, whose laboring population caimot be trusted upon the sea, the coasts of British America 

 include a frontage upon the ocean greater than the whole Atlantic seaboard of the' United 

 States. The richest iisheries in the worlcl surround these coasts. Coal, which tie Americans 

 must bring with them, should they provoke hostilities, abimnds at the most convenient points. 

 Two millions of adventurous and industrious people already inhabit these provinces, and the 

 citizans of Halifax would indeed deplore the deliberate sacrifice of their interests, by any 

 weak concession tp a power which ever seconds the efforts of astute diplomacy by appeals to 

 the angry passions — the fall force of which has been twice on British America mthin the 

 memory of this generation, and, in a just cause, with the aid of the mother country, could be 

 broken again. 



ADDEESS. 



To Ids ExceUetwy Colonel Sir J. GAsrARO Lemarchant, Knight, and Knight Commander 

 of the Orders of St. Ferdinand and of Charles the Third of Spain, Lieutenant Governor 

 and Commander- in-chief in and over her Majesty's province of Nova Scotia and its depend- 

 encies. Chancellor of the same, &c. 



May it please your Excbllenoy : We, her Majesty's dutiM and loyal subjects, the mayor 

 and aldermen of the city, and representatives of the city and county of Halifax, respectfully 

 request that your excellency wiU be pleased to transmit, by this night's mail, to the right hon- 

 orable the Secretary of Stat8~ for the Colonies, to be laid at the foot of thei throne, a dutiful 

 and loyal petition, unanimously adopted this day by a very large and influential meeting of our 

 fcllow-eitizeiis, held in the Province Hall. 



We also pray that the resolutions, a copy of which is annexed, and which were passed with 

 equal unanimity,' may be also' forwarded to the right 'honorable the Colonial Secretary. 



This petition, and these resolutions, have been adopted in consequence of the alarming in- 

 telligence having been received that negotiations are pending between the British government 

 and the American minister in Loudon, for surrendering to the citizens of the United States 

 the right of fishing on the coasts and within the bays of the British ISforth American colonies, 

 from which they are now excluded by the convention of 1818. We euti-eat your excellency, 

 as the Queen's representative in this province, to convey to her Majesty's government a strong 

 remonstrance against any such concession of the fishiug rights as appears to be contemplated. 



The immediate .departure of this mail will not permit oar detailing all the disastrous results . 

 to be apprehended from the concessions now required by the American government, but we 

 must beg that you wUl assure her Majesty's ministers that the information just received has 

 occasioned the most intense anxiety throughout the community, it being evident that our 

 rights, once conceded, can never be regained. 



By the torms of the convention of 161S the United States expressly renounced any right of ' 

 fishing within three marine miles from the coasts and shores of these colonies, or of enierini'^ 

 their bays, greeks, and harbors, except for shelter, or for wood and water. 



If this restriction be removed, it must be obvious to your excellency that it will be impos- 

 sible to prevent the Americans from using our fishing grounds as freely as our own fishermen. 

 TJiey will be permitted to enter our bays and harbors, where, at all times, unless armed ves- 

 sels are present in every Jiarbor, they will not only fish in common with our omi fishennen, but 

 they will bring With them contraband goods to exchange with the inhabitants for fish, to the ■ 

 great injury of colonial traders and loss to the public revenue. The fish obtained by this il- 

 licit traffic will- then be taken to the United States, where they will be entered as the produce- 

 of the American fisheries, while those exported from the colonies in a legal manner are sub- 

 ject to oppressive duties. 



We need not remind your excellency that the equivalent said to have been proposed— ^that 

 of allowing our vessels to fish in the waters of the United States — ^is utterly .valueless,; and un- 

 worthy of a moment's consideration. 



W? would fain hope that the reports which have appeared in the public press respeetini' 

 tiie pending negotiations between the two governments are without any good foundation. 



