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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.

On July 1, 1858, Mr. Cushman, who had reChanges of Commis- signed, was succeeded by Benjamin Wiggin sioners. 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. Hubbard, "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. WM. 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

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.

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"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 covered 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 H. M. Commissioner agreed.

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

official, the charts of Bayfield and of the Survey of the Coast; should designate and mark thereon the reservations upon which they could agree; and should visit such localities only in regard to which there was a doubt, or a difference of opinion, as to the character or extent of the place.' While discussing this proposition, in the presence of Mr. Marcy and Mr. Crampton, H. M. Commissioner gave to it a partial assent, but soon afterwards declared that he considered it to be his duty to make a personal examination of every locality which was, or might be, intended to be reserved, and to this decision, he and his successor adhered throughout.

"On our part, while we have made a general examination of the coasts embraced within the provisions of the Treaty, and a particular examination of such localities concerning which special information was desired, we have, as a rule, depended upon the official charts, and, consequently, were prepared, years ago, to close the business of the Commission.

"The additional proposal that the Commission should keep, in duplicate, an official Journal of all its meetings and adjournments, proceedings, minor agreements and other matters incidental to the main duty assigned to it by the Treaty, was not accepted. It was, therefore, necessary to accomplish the same object by means of official correspondence, reports, &c, two volumes of which will accompany this Report.

"III.

"THE TERMS USED IN THE TREATY, THEIR DEFINITION AND APPLICATION.

"As the Treaty declared that 'bays,' harbors and 'creeks' should be free, and that only 'rivers and the mouths of rivers' be reserved, it was advisable, at the very outset, to define the precise meaning of these terms, in order that a creek' might not be reserved under the name of a river,' or a 'bay,' as its 'mouth.' With this view, the terms, 'bays, creeks and rivers' were interpreted in strict accordance with the definitions given to them by Geographical Science, and each body of water was decided to be one or the other, on its own merits, irrespective of the name found on the chart, or of the designation which might be claimed for it by H. M. Commissioner.

Numerous examples of what we believed to be a misapplication of the terms and intention of the Treaty, occurred dur ing the different meetings of the Commission. In one instance, H. M. Commissioner presented 24 places on the little Island of Prince Edward to be reserved as 'rivers.' In our opinion, they were 'creeks.' He also offered the Bay of Bras d'Or, in the Island of Cape Breton, to be excluded from the common liberty of fishing, as the mouth' of various rivers. This claim was so clearly unreasonable that we declined even to entertain it. Somewhat similar claims were presented on other parts of the Provincial coasts which, from one cause or another, were afterwards withdrawn by H. M. Commissioner.

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