SECTION III.-Correspondence, Documents, and PAPERS-Continued. Subsequent to the treaty of 1818—Continued. Period from 1905 to 1909-Continued. Lord Elgin to Governor MacGregor, September 19, 1906..... Lord Elgin to Governor MacGregor, September 19, 1906.... Lord Elgin to Governor MacGregor, September 20, 1906.. Governor MacGregor to Lord Elgin, September 21, 1906.. Sir Edward Grey to Sir H. M. Durand, September 26, 1906. Lord Elgin to Governor MacGregor, September 29, 1906.. Governor MacGregor to Lord Elgin, September 29, 1906.. Lord Elgin to Governor MacGregor, October 1, 1906... Sir Edward Grey to Sir H. M. Durand, October 1, 1906. Governor MacGregor to Lord Elgin, October 4, 1906.. Memorandum communicated by the foreign office to Mr. Carter, Governor MacGregor to Lord Elgin, October 5, 1906. Governor MacGregor to Lord Elgin, October 13, 1906. Lord Elgin to Governor MacGregor, October 23, 1906. Governor MacGregor to Lord Elgin, October 26, 1906. Lord Elgin to Governor MacGregor, October 27, 1906.. Governor MacGregor to Lord Elgin, November 1, 1906. Mr. Reid to Sir Edward Grey, July 12, 1907.... Lord Elgin to Governor MacGregor, July 19, 1907.. Lord Elgin to Governor MacGregor, July 23, 1907....... Lord Elgin to Governor General Grey, August 8, 1907. Governor General Grey to Lord Elgin, August 14, 1907. Governor MacGregor to Lord Elgin, August 30, 1907.. Lord Elgin to Governor MacGregor, August 31, 1907. Lord Elgin to Governor General Grey, August 31, 1907. Governor MacGregor to Lord Elgin, September 1, 1907.. Governor MacGregor to Lord Elgin, September 14, 1907. Lord Elgin to Governor MacGregor, September 2, 1907. Lord Elgin to Governor MacGregor, September 2, 1907. Lord Elgin to Governor MacGregor, September 3, 1907. Governor MacGregor to Lord Elgin, September 4, 1907. Lord Elgin to Governor MacGregor, September 6, 1907. Lord Elgin to Governor MacGregor, September 7, 1907. Lord Elgin to Governor MacGregor, September 9, 1907. Lord Elgin to Governor MacGregor, September 11, 1907. Governor MacGregor to Lord Elgin, September 12, 1907. Lord Elgin to Governor MacGregor, September 14, 1907. Governor MacGregor to Lord Elgin, September 15, 1997.. Lord Elgin to Governor MacGregor, September 16, 1997. Governor MacGregor to Lord Elgin, September 21, 1907. The charter of Massachusetts Bay, 1691..... Extracts from minutes of colonial legislative assemblies, miscellaneous British-colonial and other correspondence, reports, etc................... Extracts from the minutes of the legislative assembly of Nova Extracts from journal of the legislative assembly of Nova Scotia, Lord Russell to Lord Falkland, April 9, 1841.... Under secretary of state to Mr. Stephen, April 2, 1841.. Lord Falkland to Lord Russell, April 28, 1841............. Case for opinion of law officers of Crown.. Address to the Queen, April 24, 1844.... Extracts from journal of the legislative assembly of Newfoundland, Report of the committee of the Newfoundland assembly ap- pointed in 1845 to enquire into the state of the fisheries on the banks and shores of Newfoundland..... Extracts from the minutes of the legislative assembly of New- List of vessels seized and prosecuted from 1817-1851. List showing places where seizures were made.. Provincial Secretary Howe to Captain Laybold, August 26, 1852 Captain Daly to Provincial Secretary Howe, August 28, 1852. Captain Dodd to Provincial Secretary Howe, August 29, 1852. Provincial Secretary Howe to Captain Daly, September 1, 1852. 1082 Captain Dodd to Provincial Secretary Howe, September 1, 1852. 1082 Extracts from the journal of the legislative assembly of Newfound- Duke of Newcastle to Governor Bannerman, August 3, 1863.. 1082 Portions of "Case of Her Majesty's Government" before the Fishery Commission under the treaty of Washington of May 8, 1871.......... 1109 Award of the Fishery Commission under the treaty of Washington, British order in council, for regulating the commercial intercourse between the United States and the British colonial possessions, Extracts from the Revised Statutes of the United States, 1878, relat- ing to the regulation of commerce and navigation........1126, 1300, 1301 Extracts from report on the principal fisheries of the American seas, PERIOD FROM 1871 TO 1905. Earl of Kimberley to Lord Lisgar. DOWNING STREET, 17th June, 1871. MY LORD, I have the honor to enclose, herewith, copies of the Treaty signed at Washington, on May 8th, by the Joint High Commissioners, which has been ratified by Her Majesty and by the President of the United States, and of the Instructions to Her Majesty's High Commissioners and Protocols of the Conferences held by the Commission. The Dominion is, from its geographical position as the immediate neighbor of the United States, so peculiarly interested in the maintenance of cordial relations between that Republic and the British Empire, that it must be a source of satisfaction to the Canadian Government, that Her Majesty has been able to conclude a Treaty for the amicable settlement of differences which might have seriously endangered the good understanding between the two countries. Moreover, the Rules laid down in Article VI, as to the international duties of neutral governments are of special importance to the Dominion which carries on such an extensive and increasing maritime commerce, and possesses such a considerable merchant navy. But independently of the advantages which Canada must derive from the removal of the causes of difference with the United States, arising out of occurrences during the civil war, Her Majesty's Government believe that the settlement which has been arrived at of the questions directly affecting British North America, cannot fail to be beneficial to the Dominion. I need not refer to the well known history of the Fishery question, further than to observe that ever since the termination, by the British Government in consequence of the war of 1812, of the liberty enjoyed under the Treaty of 1783, by American citizens of fishing in the territorial waters of the British Colonies, and the renunciation by the United States, in the Treaty of 1818, of all claim to that liberty, this question has in different forms been the subject of controversy with the United States. Her Majesty's Government have always contended for the rights of the Colonies, and they have employed the British Naval forces in the protection of the Colonial fisheries; but they could not overlook the angry feelings to which this controversy has given rise, and the constant risk that in the enforcement of the exclusion of American fishermen from the Colonial waters a collision might take place which might lead to the most serious consequences, and they would have been wanting in their duty, if they had not availed themselves of the opportunity presented by the late negotiation to remove a cause of 639 perpetual irritation and danger to the relations of this country and the Dominion with the United States. The Canadian Government itself took the initiative in suggesting that a Joint British and American Commission should be appointed, with a view to settle the disputes which had arisen as to the interpretation of the Treaty of 1818, but it was certain that however desirable it might be, in default of any complete settlement, to appoint such a Commission, the causes of the difficulty lay deeper than any question of interpretation, and the mere discussion of such points as the correct definition of bays could not lead to a really friendly agreement with the United States. It was necessary, therefore, to endeavor to find an equivalent which the United States might be willing to give in return for the fishery privileges, and which Great Britain, having regard both to Imperial and Colonial interests, could properly accept. Her Majesty's Government are well aware that the arrangement which would have been most agreeable to Canada was the conclusion of a Treaty similar to the Reciprocity Treaty of 1854, and a proposal to this effect was pressed upon the United States Commissioners, as you will find in the 36th Protocol of the Conferences. This proposal was, however, declined, the United States Commissioners stating "that they could hold out no hope that the Congress of the United States would give its consent to such a tariff arrangement as was proposed, or to any extended plan of reciprocal free admission of the products of the two countries." The United States Commissioners did indeed propose that coal, salt and fish, should be reciprocally admitted free, and lumber after the 1st of July 1874; but it is evident that looked at as a tariff arrangement this was a most inadequate offer, as will be seen at once when it is compared with the long list of articles admitted free under the Reciprocity Treaty. Moreover, it is obvious from the frank avowal of the United States Commissioners, that they only made this offer because one branch of Congress had recently more than once expressed itself in favor of the abolition of duties on coal and salt, and because Congress had partially removed the duty from lumber, and the tendency of legislation in the United States was towards the reduction of taxation and of duties, so that to have ceded the Fishery rights in return for these concessions would have been to exchange them for commercial arrangements, which there is reason to believe may before long be made without any such cession, to the mutual advantage of both the Dominion and the United States; and Her Majesty's Government are bound to add that whilst in deference to the strong wishes of the Dominion Government they used their best efforts to obtain a renewal in principle of the Reciprocity Treaty, they are convinced that the establishment of free trade between the Dominion and the United States is not likely to be promoted by making admission to the fisheries dependent upon the conclusion of such a Treaty; and that the repeal by Congress of duties upon Canadian produce on the ground that a Protective Tariff is injurious to the country which imposes it, would place the commercial relations of the two countries on a far more secure and lasting basis than the stipulations of a Convention framed upon a system of reciprocity. Looking, therefore, to all the circumstances, Her Majesty's Government found it their duty to deal |