The other question was that which related to the common rights of fishing to be enjoyed by the citizens and subjects of the two high
The Fisheries
question.
The contention on the part of Great Britain in regard to this subject was that the rights and privileges accorded to the citizens of the
The Halifax
commission
and award.
The President named, as the representative of the United States, the Hon. Ensign H. Kellogg. The Queen appointed, as her representative, Sir Alexander T. Galt. And the two high contracting parties not being able to agree upon the third member of the commission, the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador to the Queen named Maurice Delfosse, the Belgian Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States. Delfosse had been proposed by the British Government to the Government of the United States as the third commissioner, and the President had objected to him as being the representative of a country whose interests were too nearly allied with those of Great Britain. It was naturally understood by the President that this had disposed of Delfosse, and the Government at Washington was taken by surprise when the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador at London, Count Beust, made it manifest that he should name Mr. Delfosse. Mr. Fish, the Secretary of State, with true diplomatic instinct, immediately accommodated himself, however, to the situation, and congratulated Delfosse upon his appointment. Count Beust announced the choice of Delfosse on the 2d of March, 1877, nearly six years after the Washington Treaty was negotiated and signed, during which period the fisheries of Newfoundland were brought under the same agreements as those of Canada, Prince Edward's Island, and the United States above the thirty-ninth parallel. The Commission finally met at Halifax in the latter half of the year 1877 and on November 23d, 1877, made its award, sustaining by a vote of two to one the contention of Great Britain, and adjudging that the United States Government should pay the Government of Great Britain the sum of five millions five hundred thousand dollars in gold.
The representative of the United States, Mr. Kellogg, dissented from the decision; and it was felt in the United States that the Government had been overreached in the matter. Considerable delay in the payment of the amount thus resulted, and some controversy over it with Great Britain occurred. But finally, on November 21st, 1878, the draft for the amount was delivered to the British Government by Mr. Welsh, the Minister of the United States at the Court of St. James.
Two other events of an international character happened within the decade between 1867 and 1877 to which brief reference should be made, viz., the Chinese Treaty of 1868, and the strong and persistent attempt of President Grant to bring Santo Domingo under the sovereignty of the United States.