The greater part of the correspondence which has taken place between the
two Governments has heretofore been communicated to Congress, and at as
early a day as possible I shall transmit the remaining portion to this
date, accompanying it with the joint protocols of the conferences which
resulted in the conclusion of the treaty now submitted to you.
You will thus be fully possessed of the record and history of the case
since the termination on June 30, 1885, of the fishery articles of the
treaty of Washington of 1871, whereby we were relegated to the
provisions of the treaty of October 20, 1818.
As the documents and papers referred to will supply full information of
the positions taken under my Administration by the representatives of
the United States, as well as those occupied by the representatives of
the Government of Great Britain, it is not considered necessary or
expedient to repeat them in this message. But I believe the treaty will
be found to contain a just, honorable, and therefore satisfactory
solution of the difficulties which have clouded our relations with our
neighbors on our northern border.
Especially satisfactory do I believe the proposed arrangement will be
found by those of our citizens who are engaged in the open-sea fisheries
adjacent to the Canadian coast, and resorting to those ports and harbors
under treaty provisions and rules of international law.
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