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to navigate the Mississippi, we objected, that by our construction 

 of the treaty of 1783, it was unnecessary. If we admitted tbeii 1 

 construction of that treaty, so as to give them a new right to the 

 navigation, they must give us an equivalent for it. We offered 

 an article recognising the continuance of the rights on both sides ; 

 this offer met, however, with very great opposition among our 

 selves for there were two of us against making it, and who thought 

 the navigation of the Mississippi incomparably more valuable than 

 the contested part of the fisheries. Not so did the British govern 

 ment think ; for they, instead of accepting it, offered us an article 

 stipulating to negotiate hereafter for an equivalent to be given by 

 Great Britain for the right of navigating the Mississippi, and by the 

 United States for the liberties of the fisheries within British juris 

 diction. This was merely to obtain from us the formal admission 

 that both the rights were abrogated by the war. To that admission 

 I was determined not to subscribe. The article was withdrawn 

 ta*t Thursday by the British plenipotentiaries, who accepted our 

 proposal to say nothing in the treaty about either, and to omit the 

 jrliele by which they had agreed that our boundary west from the 

 Lake of the Woods should be the 49th parallel of north latitude* 

 They at the same time referred again to their original declaration, 

 that the fisheries within British jurisdiction would not hereafter be 

 granted without an equivalent. It is evident that it must be the 

 subject of a future negotiation. The only thing possible to be done 

 now, was to preserve our whole claim unimpaired, and with that I 



consented to sign the treaty. 



&quot; As a citizen of Massachusetts, I felt it to be most peculiarly HIV 

 duty not to abandon any one of her rights, and I would have refused 

 to sign the treaty had any one of them been abandoned : but it was 

 impossible to force a stipulation in favour of the fisheries ; and for 

 a temporary possession of Moose Island, merely until it shall be as 

 certained whether it belongs to her or not, we could not think of 



continuing the war. 



&quot; My colleagues propose to leave Europe about the first of 

 April, in the Neptune, which is waiting for them at Brest. I have 

 great satisfaction in saying, that our harmony has been as great and 

 constant, as perhaps ever existed between five persons employed 

 together upon se important a trust. Upon almost all the important 

 questions, we have been unanimous. J. Q. A. 5 



The information requested in these letters was collected, and 

 transmitted to me, and received at Londen in the summer of 1815, 

 The material parts of it are contained in the following papers, th 

 first of which is from a letter of James Lloyd, Esq. to my corres 

 pondent, and is now published with Mr. Lloyd s permission. It 

 was written in consequence of the communication to him of the 

 above letter from me, and, as will be seen by its date, within four 

 weeks after tUat of Mr. Russell s letter to Mr. Monroe from Paris. 



