It is not known that any
seizure of a fishing vessel carrying the flag of the United States has
been made under this claim. So far as the claim is founded on an alleged
construction of the convention of 1818, it can not be acquiesced in by
the United States. It is hoped that it will not be insisted on by Her
Majesty's Government.
During the conferences which preceded the negotiation of the convention
of 1818 the British commissioners proposed to expressly exclude the
fishermen of the United States from "the privilege of carrying on trade
with any of His Britannic Majesty's subjects residing within the limits
assigned for their use;" and also that it should not be "lawful for the
vessels of the United States engaged in said fishery to have on board
any goods, wares, or merchandise whatever, except such as may be
necessary for the prosecution of their voyages to and from the said
fishing grounds; and any vessel of the United States which shall
contravene this regulation may be seized, condemned, and confiscated,
with her cargo."
This proposition, which is identical with the construction now put
upon the language of the convention, was emphatically rejected by the
American commissioners, and thereupon was abandoned by the British
plenipotentiaries, and Article I, as it stands in the convention, was
substituted.
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