I.—Protocol of conference between the high commissioners on the part of the United States of America and the high commissioners on the part of Great Britain.
The High Commissioners having met, their full powers were respectively produced, which were found satisfactory, and copies thereof exchanged, as follows:
ULYSSES S. GRANT, President of the United States of America, to all who shall see these presents, greeting:
Know ye that, reposing special trust and confidence in the integrity and ability of Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State; Robert C. Schenck, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Great Britain; Samuel Nelson, an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States; Ebenezer R. Hoar, of Massachusetts, and George H. Williams, of Oregon, I have nominated and, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, do appoint them, jointly and severally, to be Commissioners on the part of the United States, in a Joint High Commission between the United States and Great Britain; hereby empowering them, jointly and severally, to meet the Commissioners appointed or to be appointed on behalf of Her Britannic Majesty, and with them to treat and discuss the mode of settlement of the different questions which shall come before the said Joint High Commission, and the said office to hold and exercise during the pleasure of the President of the United States, for the time being.
In testimony whereof I have caused these letters to be made patent, and the seal of the United States to be hereunto affixed.
[seal.] Given under my hand at the city of Washington, this tenth day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, and of the independence of the United States of America the ninety-fifth.
U. S. GRANT.
By the President:
Hamilton
Fish,
Secretary of
State.
VICTORIA, Reg.—Victoria, by the Grace of God, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c., &c., &c., To All and Singular to whom these Presents shall come, Greeting!
Whereas for the purpose of discussing in a friendly spirit, with Commissioners to be appointed on the part of our Good Friends The United States of America, the various questions on which differences have arisen between Us and Our said Good Friends, and of treating for an Agreement as to the mode of their amicable settlement, We have judged it expedient to invest fit persons with Full Power to conduct on Our Part the discussions, in this behalf:—Know Ye, therefore, that We, reposing especial Trust and Confidence in the Wisdom, Loyalty, Diligence, and Circumspection of Our Right Trusty and Right Well-beloved Cousin [Page 382] and Councillor George Frederick Samuel Earl de Grey and Earl of Ripon’ Viscount Goderich, Baron Grantham, a Baronet, a Peer of Our United Kingdom, President of our Most Honourable Privy Council, Knight of Our Most Noble Order of the Garter, &c., &c.; of Our Right Trusty and Well-beloved Councillor Sir Stafford Henry North cote, Baronet, a Member of Parliament, Companion of Our Most Honourable Order of the Bath, &c., &c.; of Our Trusty and Well-beloved Sir Edward Thornton, Knight Commander of Our Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Our Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Our Good Friends The United States of America; of Our Trusty and Well-beloved Sir John Alexander Macdonald, Knight Commander of Our Most Honourable Order of the Bath, a Member of Our Privy Council for Canada, and Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of our Dominion of Canada and of Our Trusty and Well-beloved Montague Bernard, Esquire, Chichele Professor of International Law in the University of Oxford; have named, made, constituted, and appointed, as We do by these Presents, name, make, constitute, and appoint them Our undoubted High Commissioners, Procurators, and Plenipotentiaries:—Giving to them, or to any three or more of them, all manner of Power and Authority to treat, adjust, and conclude with such Minister or Ministers as may be vested with similar Power and Authority on the part of Our Good Friends The United States of America, any Treaties, Conventions, or Agreements that may tend to the attainment of the above-mentioned end, and to sign for Us, and in Our Name, everything so agreed upon and concluded and to do and transact all such other matters as may appertain to the finishing of the aforesaid work in as ample manner and form, and with equal force and efficacy, as We Ourselves could do, if Personally Present:—Engaging and Promising upon Our Royal Word, that whatever things shall be so transacted and concluded by Our said High Commissioners, Procurators, and Plenipotentiaries, shall be agreed to, acknowledged, and accepted by Us in the fullest manner, and that We will never suffer, either in the whole or in part, any person whatsoever to infringe the same, or act contrary thereto, as far as it lies in Our Power.
In Witness whereof We have caused the Great Seal of Our United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to be affixed to these Presents, which We have signed with Our Royal Hand.
Given at Our Court at Windsor Castle, the Sixteenth day of February, in the year of Our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Seventy-One, and in the Thirty-Fourth Year of our Reign.
It was proposed by the British High Commissioners that Mr. Fish, Secretary of State of the United States, should preside.
The United States Commissioner stated that, although appreciating the proposal, they did not consider it necessary that a president should be named.
The High Commissioners, on the suggestion of Mr. Fish, requested Lord Tenterden, Secretary to the British High Commission, and Mr. Bancroft Davis, Assistant Secretary of State of the United States, acting as secretary to the United States High Commission, to undertake the duties of joint protocolists.
The High Commissioners then agreed that the subjects for discussion should be those mentioned in the following correspondence which had taken place between the two Governments.