to in the Convention, were not only perfect, but were secured 'forever.' "Upon examination, it was ascertained that, since 1818, the eastern boundary of Canada had been extended from Natashquan Pt. or Mt. Ioli, to auce au Sablon; and that consequently, the Canada of the Treaty included a section of the coast covered by the Convention. Notwithstanding this fact, the abovementioned section of the Canada coast and all of Labrador, as well as the coast of Newfoundland extending from the Rameau Islands to Cape Ray, and thence, along the western side, to the Quirpon Islands, were carefully withdrawn by us from any official action on the part of the Commission. This course, so plain and imperative, would not require to be even alluded to, were it not that H. M. Commissioner had presented certain rivers on those coasts to be marked, and had devoted a portion of his time to their examination, altho' promptly and repeatedly notified that we should decline, as we did decline, to recognize any 'place' which he might offer to be reserved on the coasts defined in the Convention of 1818. "THE CHARACTER AND EXTENT OF THE EXAMINATION TO BE MADE. "During the first season's operations in 1855, the field work, under the guidance of II. M. Commissioner, was confined to an actual survey of the River Buctouche, and to the examination of the Miramichi, in New Brunswick. From the comparatively slight progress made during that season, and from the desultory character of the proceedings, it was clearly perceived that to examine, in detail, 5500 miles of coast, and to make a new survey and chart of each of the 'places' which might be desig nated by either Commissioner to be reserved, would require an amount of time, labor and expenditure, not authorized by the temporary character of the Treaty, and, in no respect, necessary for a strict and thorough performance of the duties assigned to the Commission. Hence, on the arrival of H. M. Commissioner at Washington, in May, 1856, the U. S. Surveyor, with the approbation of the Department of State, presented to him a plan, introducing economy in the field work, and order and system in the proceedings and expenditures of the Commission. "It was stated that the Provincial coasts had been carefully surveyed by competent officers under the direction of the British Board of Admiralty; that similar surveys had been made of a large extent of the coast of the United States by the officers engaged in the survey of the coast, under the authority of Congress; and that full and elaborate charts had been published by our respective Governments. In view of these facts, it was urged that in any case where the Commission possessed an official chart of the river and its mouth,' no special resurvey was necessary. To this II. M. Commissioner agreed. "It was also urged that the Commissioners should adopt, as official, the charts of Bayfield and of the Survey of the Coast; should designate and mark thereon the reservations upon which they could agree; and should visit such localities only in regard to which there was a doubt, or a difference of opinion, as to the character or extent of the 'place.' While discussing this proposition, in the presence of Mr. Marcy and Mr. Crampton, H. M. Commissioner gave to it a partial assent, but soon afterwards declared that he considered it to be his duty to make a personal examination of every locality which was, or might be, intended to be reserved, and to this decision, he and his successor adhered throughout. "On our part, while we have made a general examination of the coasts embraced within the provisions of the Treaty, and a particular examination of such localities concerning which special information was desired, we have, as a rule, depended upon the official charts, and, consequently, were prepared, years ago, to close the business of the Commission. "The additional proposal that the Commission should keep, in duplicate, an official Journal of all its meetings and adjournments, proceedings, minor agreements and other matters incidental to the main duty assigned to it by the Treaty, was not accepted. It was, therefore, necessary to accomplish the same object by means of official correspondence, reports, &c, two volumes of which will accompany this Report. "III. "THE TERMS USED IN THE TREATY, THEIR DEFINITION AND APPLICATION. "As the Treaty declared that 'bays,' harbors and 'creeks' should be free, and that only 'rivers and the mouths of rivers' be reserved, it was advisable, at the very outset, to define the precise meaning of these terms, in order that a creek' might not be reserved under the name of a river,' or a 'bay,' as its 'mouth.' With this view, the terms, 'bays, creeks and rivers' were interpreted in strict accordance with the definitions given to them by Geographical Science, and each body of water was decided to be one or the other, on its own merits, irrespective of the name found on the chart, or of the designation which might be claimed for it by H. M. Commissioner. "Numerous examples of what we believed to be a misapplication of the terms and intention of the Treaty, occurred during the different meetings of the Commission. In one instance, H. M. Commissioner presented 24 places on the little Island of Prince Edward to be reserved as 'rivers.' In our opinion, they were 'creeks.' He also offered the Bay of Bras d'Or, in the Island of Cape Breton, to be excluded from the common liberty of fishing, as the mouth' of various rivers. This claim was so clearly unreasonable that we declined even to entertain it. Somewhat similar claims were presented on other parts of the Provincial coasts which, from one cause or another, were afterwards withdrawn by H. M. Commissioner. "It may be added that while thus resisting all attempts to curtail the liberty secured to American fishermen on the coasts of the Colonies, we applied no principle or definition which we did not apply to our own coasts, in favor of British fishermen. "IV. "THE UMPIRE AND HIS AWARDS. "In consequence of the disagreements, above referred to, between the two Commissioners, an Umpire was chosen, by lot, July 20, 1857, with a previous understanding, however, that a new Umpire should be agreed upon, or chosen, in case of any future difference of opinion. "The Umpire chosen was the Hon. John H. Gray of New Brunswick, and to him were referred the 24 'places' on the Island of Prince Edward, asserted by the British Commissioner to be rivers,' and, by us, to be inlets of the sea, or 'creeks;' and also the disagreements in regard to the seaward limits of the mouths of the Rivers Buctouche and Miramichi, in New Brunswick. At the same time, the U. S. Commissioner forwarded to the Umpire a communication in which were given, in each case, the reasons upon which his own decision had been based. "The Umpire delivered his awards, May, 1858, at which date his duties and term of office ceased. "In six cases, the Umpire decided in favor of the United States, and in all others, in favor of British fishermen. (See Appendix No. 1.) "These awards were not satisfactory, not so much from the interests involved or their loss, as from their flagrant partiality, taken in connection with the fact that the Umpire claimed to be a permanent member of the Commission which, if by any contingency should be allowed, would give him the decision in other fore-shadowed cases of disagreement, in which the fishermen of the United States were largely and deeply interested. "A full report on the subject of the awards was made by the U. S. Surveyor, in which the attention of the Department of State was drawn to the above facts, with the suggestion that the charge of flagrant partiality should be referred to the British Government for its friendly consideration. This course was approved and adopted by the Department, and the result was all that was expected or desired. The British Government, while denying the partiality of the awards and claiming that they should be final and conclusive in accordance with the provision in the Treaty to that effect, declared that it was not averse to the appointment of another Umpire, should a further disagreement arise. "In consequence of the firm attitude taken in these early cases, the British Commissioner withdrew the claims he had advanced as to the mouths of the Rivers Shediac, Cocagne and St. John; gave up his intention of asserting that the mouth of the River St. Lawrence terminated at the Island of Anticosti; and, in fact, adopted a more just construction of the concessions made to the fishermen of the United States. "V. "RECORDS OF THE COMMISSION. "In compliance with the 5th paragraph of Record Book No. 1. the 1st Article, a record, in duplicate, was kept of the decisions of the Commissioners, in each case, and signed by them respectively. In this book were also recorded and subscribed the declarations made by the Commissioners and the Umpire, before proceeding to any business, as prescribed by the Treaty. The records are numbered from 1 to 56 inclusive, and reference is made, in each, to the corresponding and appropriate chart in Record Book, No. 2. "The original copy of the awards of the Umpire, signed by him, is already on file in the Department of State. "No. 2 is a portfolio, containing 58 separate Record Book No. 2. charts consecutively numbered, and each signed by the Commissioners and Surveyors. They show the lines which designate the extent of the reservations, according to the description given of them in the different decisions, and therein referred to. "These charts are, with few exceptions, of a most reliable. character, and, as previously stated, were adopted with a view to save the labor and expense which would have attended new surveys and detailed examinations by the Commission. "There are two original charts, one of the coasts of the British North American Colonies, and the other of the coasts of the United States, north of the 36th parallel, showing, at a glance, the places reserved from the common liberty of fishing. The reservations are marked in blue. The coasts are laid down with great care and according to the latest surveys and determinations of latitude and longitude, and in case the Treaty had been continued, it was intended to suggest to the Department the propriety of publishing the charts, on a reduced scale, as well as the official records, and of directing that the master of every vessel engaged in the fisheries, should provide himself, before his clearance is granted, with copies of said charts and descriptions. They would inform him where he could fish and where he could not, and would also serve for the purpose of navigation. 1 and 2. "These two volumes contain copies of the corCorrespondence, Vols, respondence and reports, and of other papers connected with the duties of the Commission. "The following table will give the date and character of the official reports, heretofore submitted to the Department. They afford full information in regard to the meetings, proceedings and field operations of the Commission, and of the delays, at different periods, in the transaction of its business. Date of Report. 1855, Dec. 17th. 1856, Nov. 13th. 1856, May 7th.. 1856, Aug. 24... 1857, Dec. 18th. 1858, May 25th. 1858, June 3d.. 1859, Feb. 15th. 1859, Apr. 22d.. 1859, Dec. 10th. Report Of operations from Aug., 1855, to date.. Of operations from Dec., 1855, to date, including. Relative to the marking of the middle of St. Croix. Of John Hubbard approving of U. S. Surveyor's A general, statistical report of the proceedings and "RESULTS. By whom made. G. G. Cushman. John Hubbard. E. L. Hamlin. "The number of 'places' presented for examination on the Provincial coasts amounted to 167, and on the coasts of the United States, to 54. "Of these 221 places, 105 were reserved and excluded from the common liberty of fishing under the terms of 'rivers, and the mouths of rivers,' and the remainder were withdrawn by the respective Commissioners, as either not coming within the intention of the Treaty, or the jurisdiction of the Commission. "The following table will show the number of places examined and of rivers and their mouths where boundaries were determined, in each Province and State. "For further details, reference is respectfully made to Appendix No. 2, which will be found to be an Index, giving the name of each river reserved, the number of the record and page of the decision and by whom made, and also the number of the chart, or plan, on which the boundary line is drawn. |