No. 109.-1852, August 20: Letter from Commodore Perry to ViceAdmiral Seymour. U. S. STEAM FRIGATE MISSISSIPPI AT SEA Aug. 20th. 1852. SIR: Your communication of yesterday, the receipt of which I now have the honour to acknowledge, did not reach me until the moment of the sailing of the Mississippi from Halifax. It is true that I informed you, that I had come into these seas, to warm the American fishermen not to encroach upon the limits prescribed by the Convention of 1818 between Great Britain and the United States, as recognized by general interpretation and usage for the last 34 years, but I also informed you that I should deem it my duty to protect from visitation or interference all vessels of the United States, that might be found in those waters, the jurisdiction of which under the Convention was left in any doubt, and for reason as I intimated to you, that according to the representations made to me, there were enough actually trespassing upon the acknowledged jurisdiction of Great Britain, whose seizure would answer all the purpose of salutary admonition and example without the unnecessary resort to doubtful authority of capture, and I urged the policy of abstaining from such captures, upon the ground of a probable mutual disposition of the two Govts to come to some more definite understanding upon the points at issue. Up to this time I have heard of no unnecessary exercise of rigour or harshness by the officers under your command, on the contrary I have every reason to believe, that they have in the execution of your instructions exhibited a degree of forbearance as honourable to themselves as to the enlightened views entertained by yourself upon the question, which has recently produced so much discussion. It is not for me to reply to the second paragraph of your letter, in which you declare against any interference on the part of the naval force of the United States whilst the two countries are at peace, in preventing any vessels charged with infraction of the Convention of 1818 being detained for adjudication before the civil courts which by the received practice of nations, forms the proper tribunal, by which the facts can be ascertained, and in the first resort judgment pronounced. My instructions certainly do not authorize any improper interference with the admitted right of seizure and adjudication by Her Majesty's authorities, of American vessels, detected in a positive violation of the Convention-but such as these instructions are, my duty is, to obey them-Yet I am free to repeat in this formal manner the assurances made to you personally, that whilst they enjoin the most careful watchfulness over the just rights and interests of the American fishermen, they hold forth the strongest solicitude of the President to adhere most faithfully to all the stipulations of the Treaty. In conclusion permit me thank you, for the courteous manner in which you have met my personal communications, and to assure you that I duly appreciate and cordially reciprocate those motives which should prompt us both, so to administer the duties respectfully [respectively] entrusted to our direction, as to calm rather than provoke, the excited feelings which seem to have grown out of this vexed question of the fisheries, and which I trust, may soon be amicably disposed of, and in a way alike honourable to the two nations. I have &c. Vice Adml. Sir GEORGE SEYMOUR (Signed) Commander in Chief. M. C. PERRY. 194 No. 110.-1852, August 23: Letter from Mr. Crampton to the Earl of Malmesbury. No. 134. WASHINGTON. 23rd. August. 1852. MY LORD: The official communication in regard to the measures taken for the protection of the British fisheries which Mr. Webster informed me he was about to make to this Legation, has not yet been addressed to me. The subject nevertheless continues to occupy much of the attention of Congress and of the public. This hesitation on Mr. Webster's part is no doubt to be attributed to the embarrassing position in which the United States Government now finds itself placed in respect to this question. The excitement in regard to it is still very great. Mr. Webster would no doubt be very willing to arrange the matter by a negotiation with Her Majesty's Government embracing the whole subject of reciprocity of trade with the North American Colonies, but a strong objection is felt to this mode of arrangement in many quarters, and a strong feeling seems to prevail against it in Congress,-which, on the other hand, being about to separate, is not prepared to take any legislative measures for a settlement of the question. Under these circumstances some other means of putting the matter upon a footing satisfactory to the American interests engaged in it were looked for;-but the more correct information which has lately been obtained in regard to the real facts of the case and their bearing on those interests, has added very much to the embarrassment already felt in regard to an independent solution of the difficulty. The position which I have reason to think was intended to be taken by the United States Government in their proposed communication to me was 1st. to contest the correctness of the British construction of the Convention of 1818 as regards the definition of bays, and to insist on the justice of an extension of the relaxation of that construction which was conceded by Her Majesty's Government in 1845 as it regarded the Bay of Fundy, to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 2ndly. to endeavour to obtain for American fishing vessels the right of passing through the Gut of Canso, as necessary to a free access to that gulf;--and 3rdly. to urge as a motive for these concessions, the disposition of Congress to impose a prohibitive duty, in case of refusal, on British caught fish, on importation into the United States. These intended demands and the accompanying threat were based upon the two following assumptions: 1st. That the close fishing within three miles of the shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the privilege of landing and curing fish thereupon, was not what the American fishermen required. It was stated that they were in the habit of taking their fish in the great bays at a greater distance than three miles from shore,--of pickling it on board their vessels and carrying it home to the American market. It was thought therefore that it would be sufficient to procure for the American fishermen the liberty of entering those bays to fish. 2ndly. It was supposed that the only or at least the principal market for British caught fish was the United States, where it is consumed in considerable quantity, though subject to a duty of 20 per cent ad valorem, and that consequently an intimation that a prohibitive duty might be imposed upon it would compel Her Majesty's Government to accede to the terms proposed. Both these assumptions however turn out, upon more accurate investigation, to be entirely unfounded in fact. The close fishing or the power of following the fish within a mile or half a mile of the coast is absolutely essential to the successful prosecution of the mackerel fishery which is now the chief and most lucrative branch of the trade, and were American fishermen to be effectually excluded from this, they would be obliged to abandon the pursuit altogether. No interpretation therefore of the Convention of 1818 which could by possibility be contended for, or the extension of the privilege accorded in regard to the Bay of Fundy to the other British waters, would be of the least service to the American fishing interest, and of this the United States Government is now, I believe, perfectly aware. As regards the market to which British caught fish is brought, they now find that they have equally been in error. The United States is by no means the exclusive or most important market for the commodity:-by far the greatest consumption of it takes place at Messina, Naples, in Portugal, in Brazil, and the Spanish and British West India Islands. The demand for mackerel, on the other hand, in the United States has very much increased, and the fisheries in which it is taken in American waters are very inadequate to its supply; were American fishermen therefore prevented from taking it in British waters, the consumer in the United States would either be deprived of the article altogether, or obliged to pay a very heavy duty on British caught fish. 195 These considerations have rendered the United States Government more than ever anxious to arrange this matter in the only way in which it can be arranged satisfactorily to the American interests concerned in it,-that is to say, by negotiation upon the basis which has been proposed by Her Majesty's Government; and I understand that strong efforts will be made in the course of the present week to procure the passage of a resolution by Congress which will empower the President to arrange the matter in this mode. I have the honour to be with the greatest respect, my Lord, You Lordship's most obedient humble servant, JOHN F. CRAMPTON. The Right Honourable, EARL OF MALMESBURY. &c. &c. &c. No. 111.-1852, August 26: Extract from Report Commander Campbell, of the "Devastation," to Vice-Admiral Seymour, dated off Prince Edward Island on the 26th, August, 1852. Had made Prince Edwards Island 14 miles to the westward of this point, while standing along shore observed 18 sail of American fishing vessels within about two miles of the land, hove to and apparently fishing. While nearing them observed the American Commodore coming along shore in the opposite direction. The distance which the steamers were from each other was very short at this time, as the weather was thick and when this sloop was within hail of the "Mississippi," the intruders or those of them which had not stood off were in-shore of both vessels, at this time the distance of the "Devastation" from the shore was about 2 miles. Commodore Perry in alluding to the fisheries told me, that he was fully aware that the United States fishermen frequently violated the "Treaty, and pointed out what he considered the limits in nearly the same words, as he used while speaking to you in my presence on board the "Cumberland," I did not enter upon the subject with him more than I could help, but on his asking me, what I considered the sea boundary of the Bay of Chaleur, I told him that I thought from Miscon Point, to Point Macqueron, but that I was merely giving my private opinion. The Commodore then told me that all the fishermen he had seen complained more of the exclusion from Chaleur Bay, than any other part of the Gulf, but that he told them distinctly they could not fish in that bay without clearly violating the Treaty and that they must take the consequences if they attempted it. He then informed me that the "Telegraph" had detained another vessel called the "Golden Rule" but that it was "quite right" and that he had been told by the other American fishermen that that vessel was taken fishing within the 3 miles. The only other remark he made on this head was, that he had been informed that the "Telegraph" was disguised at the time of this capture. When this conversation was over, I called the Commodores attention to the position of the fishing vessels immediately inside of his ship, and observed that he himself must see the open violation of the Treaty. I then remarked that my present duty always a delicate one, became doubly so while in company with him, but that I felt it incumbent on me to request him to have the terms of the Treaty enforced, by at least obliging the intruding vessels immediately to stand off the land with a warning not to return to their present positions. He immediately ordered the boat to be manned and sent for the officer in my presence, desiring them to visit each vessel and warn her to stand out, and to say that she was violating the Treaty by being so close. I then said that after such orders from him I should not interfere, with any vessel while he was in sight. On returning to the "Devastation" I had the satisfaction to see that every vessel made sail and stood off after being boarded, and none remained within 3 miles. The Commodore remarked that he was going to New York immediately and from thence personally on to Washington, and was prepared to inform the Govt that the United States fishermen had no just ground of complaint and that considerable forbearance had been shown them. I neglected to mention that the Commodore remarked, that the Treaty excluded his country men from fishing in the bay, of which Cape St George and Port Hood are the headlands, but that he is at the same time clearly of opinion that the Treaty by no means provides against their navigating the Gut of Canso. 196 No. 112.-1852, August 31: Letter from Vice-Admiral Seymour to the Secretary of the Admiralty. [Commander in Chiefs visit to Prince Edwards Island. Fisheries in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.] No. 137 CUMBERLAND AT HALIFAX. 31st August. 1852. SIR: I beg to acquaint you that deeming it advisable to communicate personally with the Lt Govr of Prince Edward Island I proceeded to Charlotte Town, by way of Pictou, on the 23d instant from whence I visited the north part of the island and reembarked in H.M's S. sloop "Basilisk" off Richmond Bay on the 26th as I was desirous of observing the effect of the Mississippi's visit to the fishing grounds I did not meet that ship, but Commander Campbell of the Devastation" had fallen in with her on the preceding day, when Commodore Perry had found several United States vessels fishing within 3 miles of the coast and had warned them that they were liable to seizure. 2 I inclose a copy of Comr Campbells report of the circumstances and have approved of his conduct. 3 I received when in the Gulf a reply to the declaration. I had deiivered to Commodore Perry, on his quitting Halifax against the in'terference of the United States vessels of war with vessels detained for adjudication before a court of Vice Admiralty for contravention of the Convention of 1818, a copy of which is also inclosed 4 Their Lordships will observe that although the Commodores letter contains every assurance of his disposition to unite with me to calm rather than to increase the angry feelings, which have arisen on the fisheries, (and with which his conduct, so far as has come within my knowledge has been in unison) still the reference to his instructions shows that they would authorize the Commanders of United States' vessels to exercise a judgment as to the detention of the vessels which would cause a collision if persevered in 5 It appears from the admission made by Commodore Perry—as to his own opinion regarding the headlands, which from [form] the Bay of Chaleur, and George's Bay at the western end of the Gut of Canso that if he represents the views of his Govt there is not the wide difference of interpretation respecting the extent of the bays, from which United States fishermen are excluded, which has existed in the extreme views entertained on either side, of which I furnished their Lordships with an instarce in the chart which I inclosed by the last packet, in which the headlands of different islands, were supposed to mark the British claims for bays. |