PERTAINING TO NEGOTIATION OF TREATY OF 1183. 221 



and take the gold and silver, than we? France would never spend 

 any of that money in London. We should spend it all, very nearly. 

 As a source of contention, how could we restrain our fishermen (the 

 boldest men alive) from fishing- in prohibited places? How could our 

 men see the French admitted to fish, and themselves excluded by 

 the English? It woiild then be a cause of disputes, and such seeds 

 France might wish to sow. That I wished for two hours' conversa- 

 tion on the subject with one of the King's council. If I did not 

 convince him he was undesignedly betraying the interest of his sov- 

 ereign, I was mistaken. Strachey said, perhaps I would put down 

 some observations in writing upon it; I said, with all my heart, 

 provided I had the approbation of my colleagues; but I could do 

 nothing of the kind without submitting it to their judgments; and 

 that whatever I had said or should say upon the subject, however 

 strongly I might express myself, was always to be understood with 

 submission to my colleagues. I showed them Captain Coffin's letter 

 and gave them his character. His words are : 



" Our fishermen from Boston, Salem, Newbury, Marblehead, Cape 

 Ann, Cape Corl. and Nantucket, have frequently gone out on the 

 fisheries to the Straits of Belleisle, north part of Newfoundland, and 

 the banks adjacent thereto, there to continue the whole season, and 

 have made use of the north part of Newfoundland, the Bradore 

 coast, in the Straits of Belleisle, to cure their fish, which they have 

 taken in and about those coasts. I have known several instances of 

 vessels going there to load in the fall of the year, with the fish taken 

 and cured at these places, for Spain, Portugal, &c. I was once con- 



rned in a voyage of that kind myself, and speak from my o\mi 

 knowledge. 



" From Cape Sables to the Isle of Sables, and so on to the banks 

 of Newfoundland, are a chain of banks extending all along the coast, 

 and almost adjoining each other, and are those banks where our 

 fishermen go for the first Tare, in the early part of the season. Their 

 second fare is on the hanks of Newfoundland, where they continue 

 to fish till prevented by the tempestuous and boisterous winds which 

 prevail in the fall of the year on thai coast. Their third and last 

 fare is generally made near the coast of Cape Sables, or banks ad- 

 joining thereto, where they are not only relieved from those boister- 

 ous gales, but have an asylum to fly to in case of emergency, as thai 



coast is lined from the head of Cape Sables to Halifax with in 



excellent harbors. The sea cow fishery was, before the present war, 

 carried on to great advantage, particularly from Nantucket and 

 Cape Cod. in and about the river St. Lawrence, at the Island St. 

 Johns and Antico ti. Bay of Chaleurs, and the Magdalen Islands. 

 which were the mo i noted of all for that fishery. This oil has the 

 preference to all of h< !>! spermacel i." 



Mr-, day desired t<> know whether Mr. Oswald had now power to 

 aclude and ign with us. Strachey said he had. absolutely. Mr. 

 Jay d< ired to know if the propositions now delivered us were their 

 ultimatum. Strachey seemed loath to answer, but at La t said no. 

 We agreed thee were go< n of Lncerity. Bancroft came in 



this evening and aid it was reported that B courier had arrived from 



M. Rayne al, in London, and that after it. the Count de Vergennes 



told the king that he had the peace in 1 1 i s pocket, that he was now 



master of I he peace. 



