from a letter from Admiral Bayfield explaining his use of the term "sea-creeks."

Without quoting further from the awards of the umpire, it is evident that the fundamental difference between his view and that of Mr. Cushman was that the latter maintained that the term "river" should be construed in the geographical sense of an "inland stream of fresh water" of some considerable magnitude, while the umpire, relying upon other circumstances, and largely upon the terms used in acts of local legislation, construed the term as including what Mr. Cushman described as "inland currents of salt water." Questions were also raised by Mr. Cutts as to the consistency of the awards with one another, but as the awards are herewith printed in full it is unnecessary to enter into this subject.

As to the River Miramichi, a special argument was submitted by the American commissioner to the umpire. In this case it was admitted that the stream was a river, but the commissioners differed as to the line which should mark its mouth, and it was upon this difference that the umpire was required to decide. The line claimed by the United States was not at the termination of the purely fresh-water stream, but twentyfour miles lower down, where, at the mouth of "a long estuary of brackish and finally salt water," the fresh water was "entirely lost in and absorbed by the sea." The British claim and the decision of the umpire may be found in the latter's awards. Mr. Cutts contended that the decision disregarded the topography of the place, the opinion of Captain Bayfield, and public acts and grants, to which great weight has been given in other cases.1

Progress of Commission's Work.

After Earl Russell's answer touching the umpire and his awards was received, the commissioners proceeded to agree upon and mark the mouths of the streams in Prince Edward Island which had been held to be rivers. Meanwhile, however, they had been acting upon other places as to which they had not differed. On April 19, 1858, Mr. Perley presented a list of twenty-two rivers in Canada to be examined. In May the River St. Croix

1 Mr. Cutts referred to the Revised Statutes of New Brunswick, I. ch. 1, pp. 16, 17, 44. He quoted Captain Bayfield as saying: "The Miramichi river may be said to commence at Sheldrake Island; for below that point the Inner Bay, with its low and widely receding shores, bears no resemblance to a river."

was inspected, and from the 2d to the 7th of June the commissioners, in session at Portland, agreed on all the Maine rivers. On the 12th of June Mr. Perley submitted a list of seventytwo rivers in Nova Scotia and Cape Breton.

Changes of Commissioners.

On July 1, 1858, Mr. Cushman, who had resigned, was succeeded by Benjamin Wiggin as commissioner. Mr. Wiggin spent July and part of August in examining rivers in the United States. From the 7th to the 12th of November he examined the rivers flowing into Long Island Sound, and on the 13th of November he met Mr. Perley at the St. Nicholas Hotel, in New York City. During this session they agreed on all the rivers in Nova Scotia. Nothing was done as to the rivers in Cape Breton. Four Connecticut rivers were marked.

On March 9, 1859, John Hubbard was appointed United States commissioner in place of Mr. Wiggin, resigned. The coast of the United States from the St. Croix to the Hudson had now been examined and the rivers marked, but nothing had been done south of New York. In the British provinces the rivers of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia had been marked and those in Prince Edward Island examined, while the rivers of Cape Breton, Canada, and Newfoundland yet remained to be inspected. Owing to the continued suspension of the umpire cases, the commissioners were at this time unable to agree on a plan of joint operations, and decided to proceed separately. Mr. Hubbard examined the coasts of the United States as far as the Susquehanna, and then proceeded to Cape Breton. He also examined the river St. Lawrence. In November he met Mr. Perley in Philadelphia. During the year 1860 Mr. Hubbard reviewed the St. Lawrence and certain rivers along the northern gulf coast of Canada from Mount Joly to Point de Monts, and also circumnavigated Newfoundland, and hav ing completed his field work he invited the British commissioner to fix a time for deciding upon all places not already marked. The commissioners met in Boston on the 15th of November. "We agreed and decided upon," says Mr. Hub bard, "all places that remained undetermined in Her Majesty's Provinces, including the river St. Lawrence, and excepting

1 Mr. Cushman in a report of July 2, 1858, stated that the expenditures of the commission during the three preceding years had been $26,999.29. 2 Mr. Hubbard to Mr. Cass, Sec. of State, December 10, 1859. (MSS. Dept. of State.)

only those of Newfoundland and those lying on the northern Gulf coast of Canada between Mt. Joly and the western extremity of Anticosti. On the United States coast but one was marked, the Hudson, making in all 45 rivers marked and finally disposed of this year. Her Majesty's commissioner requires further time to bring his examinations up to ours."1

In March 1861 Mr. Hubbard was succeeded as commissioner by E. L. Hamlin.

On the 12th of August 1862 Mr. Perley died, and his place was not filled till the following year, when Joseph Howe, of Nova Scotia, was appointed to succeed him.

Close of Commission's
Work.

This change caused much delay, since Mr. Perley had done a great deal of field work of which his successor could not, under the circumstances, avail himself. But when the treaty was termi nated in 1866, all the delimitation had been completed except on a small section of the southern coast of Newfoundland and a section of the coast of Virginia.

After the commission had, by reason of the Report of Mr. Cutts. termination of the treaty, ceased to exist, Mr. Cutts made the following general report

of its proceedings:

"WASHINGTON CITY, D. C., March 31st, 1866. "Hon. Wм. H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

"SIR: I have the honor to submit the following general Report of the proceedings and results of the Joint Fishery Commission, appointed under the 1st Article of the Reciprocity Treaty between the United States and Great Britain, from the date of its organization in 1855, to the termination of the Treaty, March 17th, 1866.

"DUTIES OF THE COMMISSIONERS.

"I. Each to subscribe a solemn declaration that he would impartially, &c., examine and decide upon all such places as were intended to be excluded from the common liberty of fishing.

"II. To examine the coasts embraced within the provisions of the Treaty.

"III. To decide upon what places' were to be considered as Rivers' and intended to be reserved; and when any such

1 Mr. Hubbard to Mr. Cass, Sec. of State, December 8, 1860. Mr. Perley had not examined Newfoundland nor the coast of the United States south of the Hudson. There was a part of Canada also of which he had not completed the examination. (Ibid.)

place shall be decided to be a river, to designate its extent, or mark the seaward limits of its mouth.

"IV. To agree upon, or determine by lot, an Arbitrator or Umpire to decide in any case or cases on which the Commissioners may differ in opinion.

"V. To keep a record of the decisions of the Commissioners and of the Umpire, each to be in writing, and to be signed by them respectively.

"I.

"Under the 3d paragraph of the 1st Article, G. G. Cushman, Esq., was appointed Commissioner on the part of the United States, and Moses H. Perley, Esq., on the part of Great Britain. "The following memoranda will show their respective terms of service, and of their successors in office.

"During the entire period, Richard D. Cutts, Esq., of Washington, served as the U. S. Surveyor, and George H. Perley of New Brunswick, as the British Surveyor, attached to the Commission.

"II.

"WHAT COASTS WERE AND WERE NOT TO BE EXAMINED.

"Under the 1st, 2d, and 6th Articles of the Treaty, the Commissioners were directed to examine the eastern coasts of the United States, north of the 36th parallel of north latitude; and the coasts of Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and of the Island of Newfoundland, so far as applicable, or, in other words, all the coasts of the British North American Colonies which were not included within the provisions of the 1st Article of the Convention of 1818.

"The first step, therefore, was to declare the exact limits of the coasts defined in the Convention, with a view to their exclusion from the jurisdiction of the Commission. An additional reason, if any was necessary, for such strict discrimination, was the fact that our rights of fishery, on the coasts referred

to in the Convention, were not only perfect, but were secured 'forever.'

"Upon examination, it was ascertained that, since 1818, the eastern boundary of Canada had been extended from Natashquan Pt. or Mt. Ioli, to auce au Sablon; and that consequently, the Canada of the Treaty included a section of the coast cov ered by the Convention. Notwithstanding this fact, the abovementioned section of the Canada coast and all of Labrador, as well as the coast of Newfoundland extending from the Rameau Islands to Cape Ray, and thence, along the western side, to the Quirpon Islands, were carefully withdrawn by us from any official action on the part of the Commission. This course, so plain and imperative, would not require to be even alluded to, were it not that H. M. Commissioner had presented certain rivers on those coasts to be marked, and had devoted a portion of his time to their examination, altho' promptly and repeatedly notified that we should decline, as we did decline, to recognize any 'place' which he might offer to be reserved on the coasts defined in the Convention of 1818.

"THE CHARACTER AND EXTENT OF THE EXAMINATION TO BE MADE.

"During the first season's operations in 1855, the field work, under the guidance of H. M. Commissioner, was confined to an actual survey of the River Buctouche, and to the examination of the Miramichi, in New Brunswick. From the comparatively slight progress made during that season, and from the desultory character of the proceedings, it was clearly perceived that to examine, in detail, 5500 miles of coast, and to make a new survey and chart of each of the 'places' which might be designated by either Commissioner to be reserved, would require an amount of time, labor and expenditure, not authorized by the temporary character of the Treaty, and, in no respect, necessary for a strict and thorough performance of the duties assigned to the Commission. Hence, on the arrival of H. M. Commissioner at Washington, in May, 1856, the U. S. Surveyor, with the approbation of the Department of State, presented to him a plan, introducing economy in the field work, and order and system in the proceedings and expenditures of the Commission.

"It was stated that the Provincial coasts had been carefully surveyed by competent officers under the direction of the British Board of Admiralty; that similar surveys had been made of a large extent of the coast of the United States by the officers engaged in the survey of the coast, under the authority of Congress; and that full and elaborate charts had been published by our respective Governments. In view of these facts, it was urged that in any case where the Commission possessed an official chart of the river and its mouth,' no special resurvey was necessary. To this II. M. Commissioner agreed.

"It was also urged that the Commissioners should adopt, as