Sir L. S. Sackville
West to Mr. Bayard.
Washington, December 6,
1887. (Received December 7.)
Sir: With reference to your note of the 17th of
August, 1886,* I have the honor to inclose to you herewith copy
of a report of the privy council for Canada, as well as copy of a letter
from the officer in command of the Canadian schooner F. E. Conrad to the deputy minister of fisheries, relative to
the accusation that he had forbidden the master of the United States
schooner Golden Hind to enter the Baie des
Chaleurs for the purpose of renewing his supply of fresh water.
In communicating to you these documents I am requested by the Marquis of
Salisbury to express to you his regret that the United States Government
should have remained so long without a reply to their representation in
this case.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 1.]
Report of a committee of the privy council of
Canada, approved October 27, 1887.
The committee of the privy council for Canada have had under
consideration a dispatch, dated the 9th of September, 1886, from the
right honorable the secretary of state, for the colonies,
transmitting a copy of a communication from the foreign office,
together with a note from Mr. Secretary Bayard, protesting against
the action of the commander of the Canadian cruiser F. E. Conrad in forbidding the master of the
United States fishing schooner Golden Hind to
enter the Baie des Chaleurs for the purpose of renewing his supply
of fresh water.
[Page 773]
The minister of marine and fisheries, to whom the dispatch and
inclosure were referred, submits herewith Captain Smeltzer’s
statement of what occurred on the day the schooner Golden Hind is stated to have been at Baie des
Chaleurs.
The minister observes that Captain Smeltzer denies that the master of
the Golden Mind mentioned any desire to enter
the bay for water, but that he asked for a copy of the “warning,”
which had been issued by the fisheries department to the masters of
United States fishing vessels, which was given him. This “warning”
states distinctly the purposes for which United States fishing
vessels can enter Canadian ports.
The minister further observes that there are no grounds to
substantiate the charge of a violation of the treaty and the common
rights of hospitality, to which Mr. Bayard gives expression.
[Inclosure 2.]
No. 545.
Mr. M.
Smeltzer to the deputy minister
of fisheries, Ottawa.
Government Schooner F. E. Conrad,
Souris, Prince Edward
Island, October 5,
1886.
Sir: I am this day in receipt of your
letter, dated 27th of September, concerning a complaint made by
Reuben Cameron, master of the American fishing schooner Golden Hind, of Gloucester. In reply,
referring to my boarding books, I find I boarded the said vessel on
the 22d July, 1886, near the entrance to the Baie des Chaleurs. On
boarding him I asked for his report, etc., which he gave me. I then
told him my orders were not to allow any American fisherman to enter
the bay, and warned him not to do so. He then asked me if I had any
printed “warnings “to give him; I told him I had. He then sent his
boat to my vessel for the same. I gave him one, and to impress my
orders on his mind, I wrote on the back, “Don’t enter the Baie des
Chaleurs.” He did not say he wanted water, nor did he say he wanted
to go into Port Daniel. He merely asked me about the headlands of
the bay. The foregoing particulars are exactly what occurred with
reference to my boarding the said schooner Golden
Hind.
I am, etc.,
M. Smeltzer,
In command of Schooner F. E.
Conrad.
