42 The Fishery QiLcstion. 



ies the commission had done all that could 

 be done. 



The only equivalent they had to offer was 

 the navigation of the Mississippi, and that 

 had been refused. The British Government 

 at once proceeded to enforce its interpreta- 

 tion of the treaty, ^5 United States fishermen 

 were seized off Cape Sable, outside of the 

 three-mile limit, but the British charge d'af- 

 fairs at Washington replied to Mr. Monroe 

 that the captain of the English war vessel 

 had exceeded his authority. Other vessels, 

 were now seized, some for good reason. It 

 was resolved to hold a convention between 

 the countries to define their respective fishing 

 rights. 



The American case, developed in the cor- 

 respondence of John Quincy Adams, rested 

 on immemorial usage, discovery and part 

 conquest, and on the nature of the treaty of 

 1783 f^ whether England at that time had 

 acknowledged the inherent right of the Unit- 

 ed States to the Fishery in British waters.^' 

 To minds unacquainted with the peculiar 

 relations of the colonies to the Fisheries be- 

 fore the Revolution, or without sympathy for 

 the interests of the American trade, the de- 



