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proposed bj us, was rejected by Great Britain ; whatever were 

 her reasons for rejecting it ; whether, as above suggested. (170) she 

 suspected some tacit reservation, or want of faith on our part, or sup 

 posed, from the price we at once bid for the fishing privilege, that 

 we overrated its value, and might concede for it even more than 

 (171) the navigation of the Mississippi, with all its accessary advan 

 tages. 



(172) We are still at liberty to negotiate for that privilege in a treaty of com 

 merce, should it be found expedient, and to offer for it an equivalent, fair in its 

 comparative value, and just in its relative effects. In any other way, I trust, 

 we shall not consent to purchase its renewal. 



I have the honour to be, with profound respect, 



Sir, your faithful and obedient servant, 



JON A. RUSSELL. 



My argument to demonstrate the abrogation of the treaty of 1783, by the pre 

 sent war, and the consequent discontinuance of the fishing privilege, will, I trust, 

 not be ascribed to any hostility to those who were interested in that privilege. I 

 have been always ready, and am still ready, to make every sacrifice for the pre 

 servation of that privilege which its nature and utility can justify; but I have 

 conscientiously believed that the free navigation of the Mississippi was pregnant 

 with too much mischief to be offered indirectly under our construction of the 

 treaty, or directly, as a new equivalent for the liberty of taking and curing fish 

 within the British jurisdiction. 



We had three other ways of proceeding : 



First. To contend for the indestructibility of the treaty of 1783, thence infer- 

 ing the continuance of the fishing privilege, without saying any thing about the 

 navigation of the Mississippi, which would have reserved our right of contesting 

 this navigation on the grounds I have mentioned, specially applicable to it. 



Secondly. To have considered the treaty at an end, and offered a reasonable 

 equivalent, wherever it might be found, for the fishing privilege. 



Thirdly. To have made this liberty a sine qua mm of peace, as embraced by 

 the principle of status ante bellum. 



To either of these propositions I would have assented, bull could not consent 

 to grant to revive the British right to the navigation of the Mississippi, in or.de/ 

 o procure or preserre the fishina; liberty. 



