nor and good faith of the Nation; and if in
pursuance of that conclusion the award shall be paid, the President
shall, as soon as may be convenient thereafter, lay the correspondence
with the British Government relating thereto before Congress." Mr.
Hamlin pointed out in his report the possibility that "the Halifax
Commission had proceeded _ultra vires_ and taken into consideration
certain elements not fairly in the case submitted." "When the King of
the Netherlands," said the report, "was selected as umpire in 1827 to
settle the North-eastern Boundary dispute between Great Britain and the
United States, his award was set aside on the plain and justifiable
ground stated by Mr. Clay, then Secretary of State, that his Majesty
had recommended a mode of settlement outside of the facts and terms of
submission." Had Mr. Delfosse and Mr. Galt proceeded in a similar
manner?

Attention was called by Mr. Hamlin to the fact that the award was made
only by two Commissioners, the third dissenting. In the two other
Commissions organized under the Treaty of Washington it was
specifically provided that a majority of the Commissioners should
decide, but in constituting the Fishery Commission no such provision
was made. What was the fair inference? Redmond on arbitration and
awards, Francis Russell, and other eminent English authorities, lay
down the doctrine that "on a reference to several arbitrators, with
no provision that less than _all_ shall make an award, each must act,
and _all_ must act together; and every stage of the proceedings must
be in the presence of all, and the award must be signed by all at the
same time." The _London Times_, July 6, 1877, just before the
Commission was organized at Halifax, had asserted that "on every point
that comes before the Fishery Commission for decision, the unanimous
consent of all its members is, by the terms of the treaty, necessary
before an authoritative verdict can be given." And Mr. Blake, the
Minister of Justice for Canada, had declared in 1875 that "the amount
of compensation we shall receive must be the amount unanimously agreed
upon by the Commissioners."

Mr. Hamlin, representing the Committee on Foreign Relations, was
careful not to put the United States in the attitude of repudiating
the award. "However much," said the report, "we may regard the award
made at Halifax as excessively exorbitant and possibly beyond the
legal and proper power of those making it, your Commit