PERIOD FROM 1836 TO 1854. 497 



him in case of release. Secondly, because there was no reason why 

 the regular course of procedure in all similar cases should be deviated 

 from. The Argus crew had the means of immediate transport home 

 in the sister craft ? whose master had reported to me he came into port 

 to render any assistance they might require. Besides, the consul was 

 on the spot to provide all requisites, and there were ample means of 

 shipping to the States. No less than thirteen vessels, British and 

 United States, were loading for ports in the Union at that very time, 

 and also as the Sylph must immediately resume her cruise, I did not 

 think it prudent to allow a foreign prize to continue in charge of her 

 own hostile crew, with a sister ship lying alongside ready to render 

 any assistance required in a recapture, very easily effected, the Sylph 

 once again at Sea. 



The crew of the Argus remained on board that vessel from the 

 time she was brought into port, the night of the 7th August to about 

 mid-day of the 8th, and therefore the story about their removal in 

 fifteen minutes is not correct, and not less inaccurate is Doughty's 

 assertion that the crew were denied any of their personal effects, 

 because later on the 9th than the events I have narrated, Doughty 

 again applied at the custom-house for a hat said to have been left 

 behind, the Argus being then removed to her final anchorage. I 

 gave him an order to the ship keeper to give up the hat, and every- 

 thing belonging to the master and crew, some of whom subsequently 

 brought the hat on shore, together with some articles of cabin use, 

 omitted in taking the inventory. This is a simple narrative of the 

 facts. 



I am, &c., Henry Davenport, 



Collector. 



P. S. Dodd, Esq., &c., &c, &c. 



Mr. Everett to Lord Aberdeen. 



Grosvenor Place, March £5, 1845. 



The undersigned, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipoten- 

 tiarv of the Unitod States of America, has the honor to acknowledge 

 the receipt of a note of the 10th instant from the Earl of Aberdeen, 

 her Majesty's principal Secretary of State for foreign affairs, in 

 reply to the communication of the undersigned of the 15th of May 

 last, on the ease of the " Washington" and (he construction given 

 by the government of the United States to the convention of IMS, 

 relative to the right of fishing on the coasts of Nova Scotia and New 

 Brunswick. 



Lord Aberdeen acquaints the undersigned, that, after the most 

 deliberate reconsideration of the subject, and with every desire to 

 do full justice to the United States and to view the claims put for- 

 ward on behalf of their citizens in the most favorable light, her 

 Majesty's government are nevertheless '-till constrained to deny the 

 right of citizens of the rjnited States, under the treaty of 1818, to 



fish in that part of the Hay of Kundv which from its geographical 

 position may properly be considered as included within the British 

 possessions; and also to maintain that, with regard to the other hays 



