PERTAINING TO NEGOTIATION OF TREATY OF GHENT. 255 



Protocol of conference on December 12, 181b. 



The protocol of the preceding conference held on the 10th instant 

 was settled. 



After much discussion relative to the first and eighth articles, the 

 conference ended by the American plenipotentiaries undertaking to 

 return an answer in writing to the propositions brought forward by 

 the British plenipotentiaries at the last conference. 



C. Hughes, Jim. 

 Secretary of American Mission Extraordinary. 



American note, written after the conference of the 12th December. 



Ghent, December 14, 181b. 

 The undersigned having considered the propositions offered in the 

 conference of the 10th instant by the British plenipotentiaries on the 

 few subjects which remain to be adjusted, now have the honor of mak- 

 ing the communication which they promised. 



******* 



To the stipulation now proposed by the British plenipotentiaries as 

 a substitute for the last paragraph of the eighth article, the under- 

 signed cannot accede. 



The proposition made respecting the navigation of the Mississippi, 

 in the alteration first proposed by the British plenipotentiaries to 

 that article, was unexpected. In their note of the 31st of October 

 they had stated that they had brought forward, in their note of the 

 21st of the -nine month, all the propositions which they had to offer; 

 and (hat subject was nol mentioned either in this last mentioned note, 

 or in the firsl conference to which it referred. In order to obviate 

 any difficulty arising from a presumed connexion between that sub- 

 ject and that of the boundary proposed by the eighth article, the 

 undersigned expressed their willingness to omit the article alto- 

 gether. For tie- purpose of meeting what they believed to be the 

 wishes of the British Government, they proposed the insertion of an 

 article which should recognize the right of Great Britain to the navi- 

 gation of thai river, and that of the United States to a liberty in cer 

 tain fisheries, which the British Government considered as abrogated 



DT the war. To such an article, which they viewed as merely de- 

 claratory, the undersigned had no objection, and have offered to 

 accede. They do not. however, want any new article on either of 



those subjects ; they have offered to be silent with regard to both. To 



the stipulation now proposed, or to any other, abandoning, or imply- 

 ing the abandonment of any right in the fisheries claimed by the 



I'hited States, they cannot subscribe. As a stipulation merely that 



the parties will hereafter negotiate concerning the subjects in que 

 tion. it appears also unnecessary. Yet to an engagement, couched in 



general terms, BO as to embrace all tin- subjects of difference not yet 



adjusted, or so expressed a to imply in no manner whatever an 

 abandonment of any right claimed by the United State . the under- 

 signed are read} to agree. 



******* 



