410 CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 



Mr. Forsyth to Mr. Banish cad. 



Department of State, 

 'Washington, January 18, 1836. 



The undersigned, Secretary of State of the United States, has the 

 honor to acknowledge the note addressed to him on the 6th instant, 

 by Mr. Bankhead, charge d'affaires of his Britannic Majesty, with 

 its enclosures complaining of encroachments by the fishermen of the 

 United States on the limits secured, by the convention of 1818, ex- 

 clusively to British fishermen. Though the complaint thus pre- 

 ferred speaks of these encroachments as having been made from 

 time to time, only one is specifically stated, viz ; that of the schooner 

 Bethel, of Provincetown. But the President, desirous of avoiding 

 just ground of complaint on the part of the British government on 

 this subject, and preventing the injury which might result to Ameri- 

 can fishermen from trespassing on the acknowledged British fishing 

 grounds, has, without waiting for an examination of the general 

 complaint, or into that respecting the Bethel, directed the Secretary 

 of the Treasury to instruct the collectors to inform the masters, 

 owners, and others engaged in the fisheries, that complaints have 

 been made, and to enjoin upon those persons a strict observance of 

 the limits assigned for taking, drying, and curing fish by the Ameri- 

 can fishermen, under the convention of 1818. 



The undersigned avails himself of this opportunity to offer to Mr. 

 Bankhead the renewed assurance of his high consideration. 



John Forsyth. 

 Charles Bankhead, Esq., &c., &c, &c. 



Circular instructions to officers of the customs residing in collection 

 districts where vessels are licensed for employment in the fisheries of 

 the United States. . . . 



Treasury Department, January 21, 1836. 



^Representations have been made to our government through the 

 charge d'affaires of his Britannic Majesty, of encroachments by the 

 American fishermen upon the fishing-grounds secured exclusively to 

 British fishermen by the convention between the United States and 

 Great Britain, bearing date the 20th day of October, 1818. 



The President, being desirous of avoiding any just cause of dis- 

 satisfaction on the part of the British government on this subject, 

 and with a view of preventing the injury which might result to the 

 American fishermen from trespassing upon the acknowledged British 

 fishing-grounds, directs that you will inform the masters, owners, 

 and others employed in the fisheries in your district, of the foregoing 

 complaints; and that they be enjoined to observe strictly the limits 

 assigned for taking, drying, and curing fish, by the fishermen of the 

 United States, under the convention before stated. 



In order that persons engaged in the fisheries may be furnished 

 with the necessary information, the first article of the convention, 



