"It may be added that while thus resisting all attempts to curtail the liberty secured to American fishermen on the coasts of the Colonies, we applied no principle or definition which we did not apply to our own coasts, in favor of British fishermen. "IV. "THE UMPIRE AND HIS AWARDS. "In consequence of the disagreements, above referred to, between the two Commissioners, an Umpire was chosen, by lot, July 20, 1857, with a previous understanding, however, that a new Umpire should be agreed upon, or chosen, in case of any future difference of opinion. "The Umpire chosen was the Hon. John H. Gray of New Brunswick, and to him were referred the 24 'places' on the Island of Prince Edward, asserted by the British Commissioner to be 'rivers,' and, by us, to be inlets of the sea, or 'creeks;' and also the disagreements in regard to the seaward limits of the mouths of the Rivers Buctouche and Miramichi, in New Brunswick. At the same time, the U. S. Commissioner forwarded to the Umpire a communication in which were given, in each case, the reasons upon which his own decision had been based. "The Umpire delivered his awards, May, 1858, at which date his duties and term of office ceased. (See "In six cases, the Umpire decided in favor of the United States, and in all others, in favor of British fishermen. Appendix No. 1.) "These awards were not satisfactory, not so much from the interests involved or their loss, as from their flagrant partiality, taken in connection with the fact that the Umpire claimed to be a permanent member of the Commission which, if by any contingency should be allowed, would give him the decision in other fore-shadowed cases of disagreement, in which the fishermen of the United States were largely and deeply interested. "A full report on the subject of the awards was made by the U. S. Surveyor, in which the attention of the Department of State was drawn to the above facts, with the suggestion that the charge of flagrant partiality should be referred to the British Government for its friendly consideration. This course was approved and adopted by the Department, and the result was all that was expected or desired. The British Government, while denying the partiality of the awards and claiming that they should be final and conclusive in accordance with the provision in the Treaty to that effect, declared that it was not averse to the appointment of another Umpire, should a further disagreement arise. "In consequence of the firm attitude taken in these early cases, the British Commissioner withdrew the claims he had advanced as to the mouths of the Rivers Shediac, Cocagne and St. John; gave up his intention of asserting that the mouth of the River St. Lawrence terminated at the Island of Anticosti; and, in fact, adopted a more just construction of the concessions made to the fishermen of the United States. "V. "RECORDS OF THE COMMISSION. "In compliance with the 5th paragraph of Record Book No. 1. the 1st Article, a record, in duplicate, was kept of the decisions of the Commissioners, in each case, and signed by them respectively. In this book were also recorded and subscribed the declarations made by the Commissioners and the Umpire, before proceeding to any business, as prescribed by the Treaty. The records are numbered from 1 to 56 inclusive, and reference is made, in each, to the corresponding and appropriate chart in Record Book, No. 2. "The original copy of the awards of the Umpire, signed by him, is already on file in the Department of State. "No. 2 is a portfolio, containing 58 separate Record Book No. 2. charts consecutively numbered, and each signed by the Commissioners and Surveyors. They show the lines which designate the extent of the reservations, according to the description given of them in the different decisions, and therein referred to. "These charts are, with few exceptions, of a most reliable character, and, as previously stated, were adopted with a view to save the labor and expense which would have attended new surveys and detailed examinations by the Commission. "There are two original charts, one of the coasts of the British North American Colonies, and the other of the coasts of the United States, north of the 36th parallel, showing, at a glance, the places reserved from the common liberty of fishing. The reservations are marked in blue. The coasts are laid down with great care and according to the latest surveys and determinations of latitude and longitude, and in case the Treaty had been continued, it was intended to suggest to the Department the propriety of publishing the charts, on a reduced scale, as well as the official records, and of directing that the master of every vessel engaged in the fisheries, should provide himself, before his clearance is granted, with copies of said charts and descriptions. They would inform him where he could fish and where he could not, and would also serve for the purpose of navigation. 1 and 2. "These two volumes contain copies of the corCorrespondence, Vols. respondence and reports, and of other papers connected with the duties of the Commission. "The following table will give the date and character of the official reports, heretofore submitted to the Department. They afford full information in regard to the meetings, proceedings and field operations of the Commission, and of the delays, at different periods, in the transaction of its business. Report Of operations from Aug., 1855, to date. Of John Hubbard approving of U. S. Surveyor's A general, statistical report of the proceedings and "RESULTS. By whom made. G. G. Cushman. John Hubbard. E. L. Hamlin. "The number of 'places' presented for examination on the Provincial coasts amounted to 167, and on the coasts of the United States, to 54. "Of these 221 places, 105 were reserved and excluded from the common liberty of fishing under the terms of 'rivers, and the mouths of rivers,' and the remainder were withdrawn by the respective Commissioners, as either not coming within the intention of the Treaty, or the jurisdiction of the Commission. "The following table will show the number of places examined and of rivers and their mouths where boundaries were determined, in each Province and State. "For further details, reference is respectfully made to Appendix No. 2, which will be found to be an Index, giving the name of each river reserved, the number of the record and page of the decision and by whom made, and also the number of the chart, or plan, on which the boundary line is drawn. "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 expendi tures 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, Miramichi River. Includes the inner Bay Does not include the inner Bȧy. of Miramichi. In favor of Great |