No. 324.
Mr. Fish
to Sir Edward Thornton.
Washington, May 25, 1874.
Sir: With reference to the draft of a proclamation submitted by you at our interview on Saturday last, and which it is proposed shall be issued by his excellency the governor of Newfoundland, in relation to extending the provisions and stipulations of articles XVIII to XXV inclusive, and Article XXX of the treaty between the Government of the United States and Her Britannic Majesty, concluded at Washington on the 8th of May, 1871, to that colony, I have the honor to inform you that, with the modifications proposed to bring the proclamation into conformity with the act of the legislature of Newfoundland, passed March 28, 1874, and the further verbal change which I have indicated on the margin of the draft in question, i. e., substituting the word “citizens” for “subjects,” where the latter term is used in reference to citizens of the United States, the draft in question, it is conceived, will fulfill the requirements in regard to such proclamation.
I transmit herewith for your consideration a draft of a protocol, similar in form to that entered into on the 7th of June of last year, with reference to Canada and Prince Edward’s Island.
Upon the conclusion of the protocol on the subject, the President has signified his willingness to issue his proclamation simultaneously with the issuing of the proclamation of his excellency the governor of Newfoundland.
By this arrangement it is believed that the provisions and stipulations of the articles named of the treaty of Washington may be given effect to between the citizens of the United States and Her Majesty’s subjects in the colony of Newfoundland, on the 1st of June of the present year.
I have, &c.,