276 



November, 1852, remarked that " the present and well-grounded com- 

 plaints on the part of my North American colonies, of the infraction, by 

 the citizens of the United States of the fishery convention of 1818, in- 



We cannot imagine that her Majesty's govemment, after having taken prompt and decided 

 measm'es to enfoi'oo the true construction of the treaty, mil ever consent to such modification 

 of its terms as will render our highly valued rights .a mere privilege to be enjoyed in common 

 with foreigners. • 



We thei'efore pray your excellency to exert all your influence to induce her Majesty's min- 

 isters to stay any further negotiations on this vitally important question until the rights and 

 intei'ests of the inhabitants of this province are more fully inquired into and vindicated. 



Halifax, September 2, 1852. 



MEMOEIAIi. 



To tlie Queen's Most Excellent Majesty. 



The humble memorial of the undersigned, merchants and inhabitants of Halifax and other 

 parte of Nova Scotia, convened at a public meeting held at Halifax on Thursday, the 2d of 

 September, 1852, showeth: 



By the mail recently arrived from England, your memorialists have learned with deep con- 

 eem that it is in contemplation of your Majesty's ministers to surrender to the United States 

 of America privileges of fishing on the coasts of your Majesty's North American colonies, to 

 which, at present, your Majesty's subjects are alone entitled. 



Time is not afforded to enter at large on this subject, nor is it necessary. Repeatedly have the 

 vital importance of these fisheries, and the necessity of preserving unimpaired the restrictions 

 against encroachment by which they are guarded, been urged on the imperial govemment. It 

 was believed the time liad long passed when a question could be, raised on either of these 

 points. To stimulate imperial aid in protecting and maintaining acknowledged rights was all, 

 it was imagined, that was required of the colonies, and they fondly trusted this consummation 

 had been attained, when, in the present season, your Majesty's war steamers came commis- 

 sioned on this seiTice. 



Little, may it please your Majesty, was it anticipated these were , to be the precursors of a 

 ti'ansfer alike injurious and humiliating to your loyal colonial subjects, or for this aid that so 

 large a price would be demanded. 



May it please your Majesty, when the United States, by the treaty of 1818, solemnly renounced 

 forever the right to fish within three marine miles of the coasts, bays, creeks, or harbors of 

 certain portions of yom- North American territory, the stipulation was neither extraordinary 

 nor extravagant. It is matter of common histoiy, that sea-girt nations claim peculiar rights 

 within a league of their shores ; and equally plain that, according to the maxims of interna- 

 tional law, this claim is defined by lines drawn not only between the formations of bays, but 

 from the headlands of indentations of the coast. 



But had it been otherwise, the stipulation was part of a general treaty, in which concession 

 on one side may be presumed to have been compensated by concession on the other, and loss 

 in one particular by gain in another; and the engagement was made in language too explicit, 

 .and in terms too well understood, to admit the possibility of misapprehension. 



.Shall nations, may it please your Majesty, be absolved from the obligation of their contracts, 

 and complaints be respected when made by a people, which, between individuals, would be 

 treated as puerile 1 



If conciliation, irrespective of right, be the principle on which is to be withdrawn the re- 

 etriction against the entry of Americans into the bflys and indentations of the coast to fish, 

 limiitJBg them alone to the distance of three miles from the shore, the concession of the privi- 

 lege to.fish within this latter distance must. equally be granted — as, indeed, has been already 

 urged in .the American Congress: the restriction in both cases rests on the same authority ; 

 and'tiie concession in each would be demanded by the same principle. It may not be the 

 province of your Majesty's colonial subjects to suggest how far such a principle is consistent 

 .with oatiqaal honor and independence : they have a right to pray that it be not carried out at 

 their expense. 



When the welfare of the empire is supposed to demand extensive alterations in the laws of 

 trade and navigation, the peculiar interests of the colonies are not permitted to disturb the gen- 

 eral system by the continuance of conflicting regulations, however necessary, from long usage 

 . and the competition of foreigners more powerful and more fostered by their own government. 

 In the present case, the possession to surrender is no offspring of artificial ari'angements, 

 falling with a complicated policy of which it formed a part. 



No, may it please your Majesty, your loyal subjects in Nova Scotia raise their voice against 

 the iiyury of an inheritance conferred upon your North American subjects by nature, con- 



