258 



DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE AND FOREIGN RELATIONS. 



peared in the correspondence between Sir Ed- 

 ward Thornton and Mr. Fish, and to defer the 

 consideration of the adjustment of "all other 

 claims, both of British subjects and citizens 

 of the United States, arising out of acts com- 

 mitted during the recent civil war in this 

 country," as described by Sir Edward Thorn- 

 ton in his letter of February 1st, until the sub- 

 jects referred to in the previous letters should 

 have been disposed of. 



The American commissioners said that they 

 supposed that they were right in their opinion 

 that British laws prohibit British subjects 

 from owning slaves ; they therefore inquired 

 whether any claim for slaves, or for alleged 

 property or interest in slaves, can or will be 

 presented by the British Government, or in 

 behalf of any British subject, under the treaty 

 now being negotiated, if there be in the treaty 

 no express words excluding such claims. 



The British commissioners replied that by 

 the law of England British subjects had long 

 been prohibited from purchasing or dealing 

 in slaves, not only within the dominions of the 

 British crown but in any foreign country; 

 and that they had no hesitation in saying that 

 no claim on behalf of any British subject, for 

 slaves or for any property or interest in slaves, 

 would be presented by the British Government. 



Referring to the paragraph in Sir Edward 

 Thornton's letter of January 26th, relating to 

 "the mode of settling the different questions 

 which have arisen out of the fisheries, as well 

 as all those which affect the relations of the 

 United States toward her Majesty's posses- 

 sions in North America," the British commis- 

 sioners proposed that the Joint High Commis- 

 sion should consider the claims for injuries 

 which the people of Canada had suffered from 

 what were known as the Fenian raids. 



The American commissioners objected to 

 this, and it was agreed that the subject might 

 be brought up again by the British commis- 

 sioners in connection with the subjects re- 

 ferred to by Sir Edward Thornton in his letter 

 of February 1st. 



At the conference on the 14th of April, the 

 Joint High Commission took into consideration 

 the subjects mentioned by Sir Edward Thorn- 

 ton in that letter. 



The British commissioners proposed that a 

 commission for the consideration of these 

 claims should be appointed, and that the con- 

 vention of 1853 should be followed as a pre- 

 cedent. This was agreed to, except that it 

 was settled that there should be a third com- 

 missioner instead of an umpire. 



At the conference on the 15th of April, the 

 treaty articles XII. to XVII. were agreed to. 



At the conference on the 26th of April, the 

 British commissioners again brought before 

 the Joint High Commission the claims of the 

 people of Canada for injuries suffered from the 

 Fenian raids. They said that they were in- 

 structed to present these claims, and to state 

 that they were regarded by her Majesty's Gov- 



ernment as coming within the class of subjects 

 indicated by Sir Edward Thornton, in his let- 

 ter of January 26th, as subjects for the consid- 

 eration of the Joint High Commission. 



The American commissioners replied that 

 they were instructed to say that the Govern- 

 ment of the United States did not regard these 

 claims as coming within the class of subjects in- 

 dicated in that letter as subjects for the consid- 

 eration of the Joint High Commission, and that 

 they were without any authority from their 

 Government to consider them. They there- 

 fore declined to do so. 



The British commissioners stated that, as the 

 subject was understood not to be within the 

 scope of the instructions of the American com- 

 missioners, they must refer to their Govern- 

 ment for further instructions upon it. 



At the conference on the 3d of May, the 

 British commissioners stated that they were 

 instructed by their Government to express 

 their regret that the American commissioners 

 were without authority to deal with the ques- 

 tion of the Fenian raids, and they inquired 

 whether that was still the case. 



The American commissioners replied that 

 they could see no reason to vary the reply 

 formerly given to this proposal ; that in their 

 view the subject was not embraced in the 

 scope of the correspondence between Sir Ed- 

 ward Thornton and Mr. Fish under either of 

 the letters of the former; and that they did 

 not feel justified in entering upon the consid- 

 eration of any class of claims not contemplated 

 at the time of the creation of the present com- 

 mission, and that the claims now referred to 

 did not commend themselves to their favor. 



The British high commissioners said that 

 under these circumstances they would not urge 

 further that the settlement of these claims 

 should be included in the present treaty, and 

 that they had the less difficulty in doing so, as 

 a portion of the claims were of a constructive 

 and inferential character. 



ARTICLES XVIII. TO XXV. 



At the conference on the 6th of March, tl 

 British commissioners stated that they wei 

 prepared to discuss the question of the fish- 

 eries, either in detail or generally, so as either 

 to enter into an examination of the respective 

 rights of the two countries under the Treaty 

 of 1818 and the general law of nations, or to 

 approach at once the settlement of the ques- 

 tion on a comprehensive basis. 



The American commissioners said that wil 

 the view of avoiding the discussion of matters 

 which subsequent negotiation might render it 

 unnecessary to enter into, they thought it 

 would be preferable to adopt the latter course, 

 and inquired what, in that case, would be the 

 basis which the British commissioners desired 

 to propose. 



The British commissioners replied that they 

 considered that the reciprocity treaty of Jui 

 5, 1854, should be restored in principle. 



