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"From an examination of the official charts and Records of the Commission, it will be ascertained that the intention of the Treaty to reserve only 'rivers, and the mouths of rivers' has been, with a few unimportant exceptions, strictly and fairly carried out by the Commissioners.

"THE RIVER ST. LAWRENCE.

"Of all the questions which arose, the most important was the determination of the mouth of the River St. Lawrence. During the discussion relating to the northeastern boundary, Great Britain had indirectly claimed that the mouth of that river was between Cape Rozier and the Mingan Islands; and, until very lately, the Gazetteers and Charts assigned to it the same extended limit. The British Commissioner under the Reciprocity Treaty made claim to the same line, which, if granted, would have excluded the fishermen of the United States from a body of water larger than the Bays of Chaleur, Fundy, Delaware and Chesapeake put together. To meet this pretension, an argument was prepared, after a thorough inves tigation of the case, based upon the extent of country drained by the inland current of fresh water; the amount of the discharge and its effects; the tides, freshets, currents, depth and specific gravity of the water between the mouth of the Saguenay and the Island of Anticosti, showing that the mouth of the River St. Lawrence terminated at Pt. de Monts. The area embraced between the two lines respectively claimed by the United States and Great Britain, contained over 10,000 square miles of deep sea, valuable for its fisheries.

"It was finally decided by the Commissioners that the mouth of the river was at Pt. de Monts, and, consequently, that all that body of water lying between Pt. de Monts and the Island of Anticosti, constituted the northwest arm of the Gulf.

"WORK LEFT UNFINISHED.

"At the last meeting of the Commission, H. M. Commissioner was unprepared to designate the places intended to be reserved on a short section of the southern coast of Newfoundland, or to mark the mouths of the Rivers Potomac, Rappahan · nock, York, and James, in the State of Virginia. At all other points, the duty assigned to the Commission had been performed.

"CAUSES OF THE DELAY.

"Among these may be mentioned the extreme view, taken by H. M. Commissioner, of his duty under the Treaty to make an examination in person of each 'place' intended, or having any pretension to be reserved, without regard to the full and reliable charts in our possession; the death of Mr. Perley in 1862, and the time lost before his successor was appointed; the examination by H. M. Commissioner of coasts not embraced within the provisions of the Treaty; and others of minor importance, alluded to in the different Reports.

"The Reports submitted to the Department, from time to time, will show the persistent efforts made, on our part, to hasten and to close the business of the Commission, and the success or failure which attended them, in each instance.

"EXPENDITURES.

"The expenses of the Commission have been comparatively light. The U. S. Surveyor availed himself of the information acquired previous to his appointment and while engaged in the survey of the coast of the United States; and such expenditures only were made by the U. S. Commissioner, on the Provincial coasts, as were strictly demanded for the just and intelligent performance of his duties. Indeed, for some years back, no expenditures have been incurred beyond those barely necessary for the existence of the Commission. "I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obdt. Ser't, "RICHD. D. CUTTS,

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"APPENDIX No. 2.

"Rivers and their mouths' reserved from the common right of fishing therein, under the 1st and 2d Articles of the Treaty.

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"Rivers and their mouths' reserved from the common right of fishing therein, under the 1st and 2d Articles of the Treaty-Continued.

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The awards of the umpire, which, as has Text of Umpire's been said, were dated at St. John, New Bruns

Award.

wick, April 8, 1858, were as follows:

"By the 3rd Article of the Treaty of 1783 between Great Britain and the United States it was stipulated, 'That the people of the United States should continue to enjoy unmolested the right to take fish of every kind on the Grand Bank, and on all the other Banks of Newfoundland; also in the Gulph of Saint Lawrence, and at all other places in the sea where the inhabitants of both countries used at any time theretofore to fish. That the inhabitants of the United States shall have liberty to take fish of every kind on such part of the coast of Newfoundland as British fishermen shall use (but not to cure or dry them on the island) and also on the coasts, bays and creeks of all His Majesty's dominions in America. And that the American fishermen shall have liberty to dry and cure fish in any of the unsettled bays, harbours and creeks in Nova Scotia, Magdalen Islands and Labrador, so long as the same shall remain unsettled: but so soon as the same or either of them shall be settled, it shall not be lawful for the said fishermen to dry or cure fish at such settlement, without a previous agreement for that purpose, with the inhabitants, proprietors, or possessors of the ground.' The War of 1814 between Great Britain and the United States, was held by the former to have abrogated this stipulation, and the declaration of peace, and Treaty of Ghent, which subsequently followed, were entirely silent on the point. This silence was intentionalduring the negotiations the question had been expressly raised, and the claim of the United States to the continued enjoyment of the rights secured by that stipulation denied. By the Convention of the 20th October 1818, the privilege of the Fisheries within certain limits was again conceded to the United States-and the United States by that Convention 'renounced any liberty before enjoyed or claimed by them, or their inhabitants, to take, dry or cure fish, on or within three marine miles of any of the coasts, bays, creeks, or harbours of any of the British dominions of America, not included within that part of the Southern Coast of Newfoundland extending from Cape Ray to the Rameau Islands; on the Western and Northern Coast of Newfoundland, from Cape Ray to the Quirpon Islands-on the shores of the Magdalen Islands-and also on the coasts, bays, harbours, and creeks, from Mount Jolly on the South of Labrador, to and through the Straits of Bellisle, and thence Northerly along the Coast.' This concession was to be without prejudice to any of the exclusive rights of the Hudson Bay Company, and the American Fishermen were also to have the liberty, forever, to dry and cure fish in any of the unsettled bays, harbours, and creeks of the Southern part of the Coast of Newfoundland therein described, and of the Coast of Labrador, but so soon as the same or any portion thereof should be settled, it should not be lawful for the said Fishermen to dry or cure fish at such portion so settled without previous agreement for such purpose with the inhabitants, proprietors or possessors of the ground; and was further subject to a proviso, that the American Fishermen should be permitted to enter the bays and harbours in His Britannic Majesty's dominions in America, not included within those limits, 'for the purpose of shelter, and of repairing damages therein, of purchasing wood and of obtaining water, and for no other purpose whatever. 5627-29

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