PERTAINING TO NEGOTIATION OF TEEATY OF 1818. 291 



coast, and that all pretensions to fish or dry within the maritime 

 limits, or on any other of the coasts of British North America, should 

 be abandoned. 



Upon learning from you, some weeks afterwards, that, from the 

 information which you had received upon the subject of this coast, 

 you were apprehensive that it would not afford, in a sufficient degree, 

 the advantages required, I did not delay to acquaint you that I was 

 authorized to offer another portion of coast, which it was cer- 

 tainly not so convenient to the British Government to assign, but 

 which they would nevertheless be willing to assign, and which, from 

 its natural and local advantages, could not fail to afford every ac- 

 commodation of which the American fishermen could stand in need. 

 I had then the honor to propose to you as an alternative, that, under 

 similar conditions, they should be admitted to that portion of the 

 southern coast of Newfoundland which extends from Cape Ray 

 eastward to the Ramea islands, or to about the longitude of 57° west 

 of Greenwich. 



The advantages of this portion of coast are accurately known to 

 the British Government; and, in consenting to assign it to the uses 

 of the American fishermen, it was certainly conceived that an ac- 

 commodation was afforded as ample as it was possible to concede, 

 without abandoning that control within the entire of His Majesty's 

 own harbors and coasts which the essential interests of His Majesty's 

 dominions required. That it should entirely satisfy the wishes of 

 those who have for many years enjoyed, without restraint, the privi- 

 lege of using for similar purposes all the unsettled coasts of Nova 

 Scotia and Labrador, is not to be expected; but in estimating the 

 value of the proposal, the American Government will not fail to 

 recollect that it is offered without any equivalent, and notwithstand- 

 ing the footing upon which the navigation of the Mississippi has 

 been left by the treaty of Ghent, and the recent regulations by which 

 the subjects of His Majesty have been deprived by the privileges, 

 which they so long enjoyed, of trading with the Indian nations within 

 the territory of the United States. 



I have the honor to be, &c. • Charles Bagot. 



Mr. Monroe to Mr. Bagot. 



Department of State, December 30, 1816. 



Sir: T have h:ul the honor to receive your letter of the 27th of 

 November, and to Bubmil it to the consideration <>f the President. 



In providing for the accommodation of the citizens <>f the United 

 States engaged in the fisheries <>n the coast of His Britannic Majesty's 

 colonies, on conditions advantageous to both parties. I concur in the 

 sentiment that il i desirable to avoid ;i discussion of their respective 

 right-, and to proceed, in b 3piri1 <>f conciliation, to examine what 

 arrangement will be adequate to the object. The discussion which 

 already taken place between our Governments has, it is presumed, 

 placed the claim of each party in a jusi light. I shall, therefore, 

 make no remark on thai pari of your note which relates to the right. 

 of the parties, other than by stating that this Government entered 



■ -S. Dor. B70, 61-3. 70 2 



