No. 255.
Sir John Young to Mr. Thornton.
Sir: With reference to your dispatch No.
13, of April 22, 1870, I have now the honor to forward herewith a
copy of a minute of the privy council of the Dominion, covering a
report of the minister of marine on the subject of the order in
council of the 8th of January last.
These papers will place you in possession of the views of the
Dominion government on the points alluded to in your dispatch.
Report of the committee of the honorable the
privy council, approved by his excellency the Governor
General, on the 10th day of May,
1870.
The committee of council have had before them the dispatch dated
22d April, 1870, from her Majesty’s minister at Washington,
inclosing copy of a note which he received from Mr. Fish, in
which he invites his attention to the first paragraph of the
order in council of the 8th of January last, discontinuing the
system of fishing licenses, and stating that Mr. Fish also made
a verbal communication to him upon the same subject, and said
that the phrase “waters of Canada” might be supposed to include
some of those waters in which, by the treaty of 1818, American
fishermen have a right to fish, but which, by an extension of
the boundaries of Canada, may now be comprised within the
“waters of Canada.”
Mr. Thornton states that he assured Mr. Fish of his conviction
that the above-mentioned order in council has no intention of
abridging any of the rights to which citizens of the United
States are entitled by the treaty of 1818, and that he would
call your excellency’s attention to the subject.
The committee have also had under consideration the annexed
report, dated 28th
[Page 414]
April, 1870, from the honorable the minister of marine and
fisheries, to whom the above dispatch was referred, and they
entirely concur in the views expressed in that report, and
advise that a copy thereof be transmitted by your excellency to
Mr. Thornton, for the information of the United States
Government.
Certified:
WILLIAM H. LEE, Clerk Privy
Council.
[Untitled]
Department of Marine and
Fisheries,
Ottawa, April 28, 1870.
The minister of marine and fisheries has the honor to state, with
reference to Mr. Thornton’s dispatch of the 22d instant,
accompanied by a note from Mr. Secretary Fish, in which the
latter calls attention to the first paragraph of the order in
council of 8th January last, and expresses his apprehension of
interference with certain fishing rights guaranteed to the
United States by article one of the convention of 1818, that the
wording of the minute of council referred to clearly shows, by
providing for the prevention of “illegal
encroachment by foreigners” on the in-shore fisheries of Canada,
that the Canadian government never contemplated any interference
with rights secured to United States citizens by the treaty in
question between the British and American governments.
Mr. Thornton was therefore quite right in assuring Mr. Fish, in
general terms, that there could be no intention to abridge any
rights to which citizens of the United States art entitled by
treaty.
The undersigned remarks that Mr. Fish also labors under a
misapprehension in supposing that the present boundaries of the
Dominion comprise any fishing grounds affected by the existing
treaty stipulations to which Mr. Fish’s note refers, which were
not formerly within the bounds of the old province of Canada.
With regard to the general effect of the first paragraph of the
order in council of 8th January last, quoted at length, and
underlined in Mr. Fish’s note, the undersigned would further
observe that the act relating to fishing, by foreign vessels,
under the authority of which licenses were issued to United
States fishermen, applied to all foreigners; and as the
discontinuance of the license system which had existed under it
applies also to other foreign vessels and fishermen frequenting
bur coasts, and who are not entitled to fish anywhere in the
waters of Canada, the terms of such formal discontinuance were
necessarily general, and in any case they could apply only to
those waters within which our “in-shore fisheries” are situated,
and in which neither American nor other foreign subjects have
any legal right to fish.
The whole respectfully submitted.
P. MITCHELL, Minister of Marine and
Fisheries.
