th sides assumed that mere
reciprocity would advantage the United States the more, so that by
Article 22 a commission was provided for to award Canada a proper
balance in money. By bungling diplomacy on our part the real power in
this commission was swayed by M. Maurice Delfosse, Belgian minister at
Washington, a gentleman certain to favor Great Britain at our expense.
As a consequence, we were forced to pay for reciprocity to the round
note of $5,500,000. The money was a trifle; but its exorbitant amount
had the unhappy effect of prejudicing our people against the new
arrangement. The result was that at the earliest possible moment, viz.,
July 1, 1883, our Government gave the notice necessary for its
abrogation. This followed on July 1, 1885, in the very midst of the
fishing season. A temporary diplomatic arrangement was effected, which
continued to our fishermen for the remainder of 1885 the advantages of
the recent treaty; but with the dawn of the new year, 1886, the old
convention of 1818 came once more into operation.

So soon as the fishing season was opened the plan of the British
Government was evident. It was to deny the fishing vessels all
facilities not guaranteed by the treaty of 1818--that is, fishing
vessels of the United States would be permitted to enter Canadian ports
for shelter, repairs, wood, and water, and "for no other purposes
whatever;" also to compel all such vessels strictly to conform to both
customs and port laws. Circular letters of instruction, enjoining
vigilance, were sent to all customs officers, and swift cruisers fitted
out to look sharply after all fishing vessels from the States. On the
other hand our fishermen were not, as a whole, disposed to conform to
the existing regulations. The Treaty of Washington had been abrogated at
their request, and now many, probably most, of them were inclined to
exercise all the liberty possible in the Canadian waters. Least of all
were they willing to submit to the British interpretation of the treaty
of 1818.

Complaints early reached Washington that the headland theory was being
applied by the provincial customs officials to exclude our vessels from
legitimate fishing places; but the Canadian Government denied that any
such thing had been done by its authority, and evidently did not incline
to push its old contention on this point. While the fishing schooner
Marion Grimes, of Gloucester, Mass., was under detention at Shelburne,
Nova Scotia, for