ed, that a communication on the subject, had been 

 already sent to Mr. Baker, and at the request of Mr. 

 Adams, he stated to him its substance, &quot; that as on the 

 one hand, Great Britain could not permit the vessels of 

 the United States to fish within the creeks, and close 

 upon the shores of the British territories, so, on the 

 other hand, it was by no means her intention to inter 

 rupt them, in fishing any where in the open sea, or 

 without the territorial jurisdiction, a marine league 

 from the shore. And, therefore, that the warning 

 given at the place stated, in the case referred to, was 

 altogether unauthorized.&quot; 



Mr. Adams then urged upon the consideration of 

 the British Minister, the existence of an absolute right, 

 on the part of America, still to take fish in the British 

 waters, and expressed an intention of addressing a letter 

 to him on the subject. 



Lord Bathurst, replied, that due attention should be 

 given to the letter, but that Great Britain had expli 

 citly manifested her intention concerning this subject, 

 that it had excited much feeling, and that the British 

 fishermen, considered it as an excessive hardship to be 

 supplanted by the Americans upon their own shores. 



Mr. Adams considered this feeling, as the sensibility 

 of a partial, and individual interest, which mistook a 

 right for a privilege. If an attention to that interest 

 was to have weight in determining the policy of the 

 British Cabinet, there was another interest liable to be 

 affected* which was also worthy of consideration ; the 

 manufacturing interest. &quot; The question of right had 

 not been discussed at the negotiations at Ghent. The 

 British plenipotentiaries, had given a notice that the 

 British government, did not intend hereafter, to grant 

 to the people of the United States, the right to fish, 

 and to cure and dry fish, within the exclusive British 

 jurisdiction in America, without an equivalent, as it had 

 been granted, by the Treaty of 1783. The American 

 plenipotentiaries had given notice, in return, that the 

 American government, considered all the rights and 

 liberties in and to the fisheries, on the coast of North 



