2G8 I'OKKI'.SI'O.MM'.NCK. KTC, SUBSEQUENT to TREATY OF 1818 



be allowed by Greal Britain, and that they must not return the next 

 year. It was not so much the fishing, as the drying and curing on 



the shores, that had been followed by bad consequences. It happened 

 that our fishermen, by their proximity, could get to the fishing sta- 

 tions sooner in the season than the British, who were obliged to go 

 from Europe, and who, upon arriving there, found all the best lisliing 

 places and drying and curing places pre-occupied. This had often 

 given rise to disputes and quarrels betw r een them, which in some 

 instances had proceeded even to blows. It had disturbed the peace 

 among the inhabitants on the shores; and, for several years before 

 the war, the complaints to this Government had been so great and so 

 frequent, that it had been impossible not to pay regard to them. I 

 said that I had not heard of any such complaints before, but that 

 as to the disputes arising from the competition of the fishermen, a 

 remedy could surely with ease be found for them, by suitable regula- 

 tions of the Government,- and with regard to the peace of the inhabit- 

 ants, there could be little difficulty in securing it, as the liberty 

 enjoyed by the American fishermen was limited to unsettled and unin- 

 habited places, unless they could, in the others, obtain the consent 

 and agreement of the inhabitants. 



The answer which was so promptly sent to the complaint relative 

 to the warning of the fishing vessels by the captain of the Jasevr, 

 will probably be communicated to you before you will receive this 

 letter. You will see whether it is so precise, as to the limits within 

 which they are determined to adhere to the exclusion of our fishing 

 vessels, as Lord Bathurst's verbal statement of it to me. namely, to 

 the extent of one marine league from their shores. Indeed, it is to 

 the curing and drying upon the shore that they appear to have the 

 strongest objection. But that, perhaps, is because they know^ that the 

 immediate curing and drying of the fish, as soon as they are taken, is 

 essential to the value, if not to the very prosecution of the fishery. 

 I have no expectation that the arguments used by me either in sup- 

 port of our right, or as to the policy of Great Britain, upon this 

 question, will have any weight here. Though satisfied of their validity 

 myself, I am persuaded it will be upon the determination of the 

 American Government and people to maintain the right that the 

 continuance of its enjoyment will alone depend. 



Mr. Adams to Lord Bathurst. 



Charles Street, 

 Westminister, September 25, 1815. 

 In the conference with your lordship, with which I Avas honored 

 on the 14th instant, I represented to you, conformably to the instruc- 

 tions which I had received from the Government of the United 

 State-, the proceedings of several British officers in America, and 

 upon the American coast, marked with characters incompatible not 

 only with those amicable relations which it is the earnest desire of 

 the American Government to restore and to cultivate, but even with 

 the condition of peace which had been restored between the two 

 countries by the treaty of Ghent. 



