22 READJUSTMENT AFTER WAR 



tively insignificant as strongly to suggest that 

 they were merely a cover for retreat from a 

 too advanced position on the main questions. 

 Whatever was the truth in this matter, the 

 failure of the project left active a serious men 

 ace to the peace of the two nations. The peril 

 was destined to endure until the progress of 

 ideas had undermined the British conviction 

 that the brutal practice of impressment was the 

 only adequate means by which to insure naval 

 pre-eminence, and until the growth and prestige 

 of the United States had made respect for her 

 claims as to the rights of her citizens a neces 

 sity in practice if not in theory. 



Of the subjects on which agreement was 

 actually embodied in the convention of 1818, 

 the majority involved relations between the 

 United States and the British possessions to 

 the north of it. Most important was the ad 

 justment of the differences as to the fisheries 

 on the Atlantic coast. By the treaty of peace 

 in 1783 Great Britain recognized the right of 

 the people of the United States to take fish 

 on the banks of Newfoundland, in the Gulf of 

 Saint Lawrence, and at sea in general, and 

 further accorded the &quot;liberty&quot; of fishing on 

 practically all the coasts, bays, and creeks of 



