PERIOD FROM 1S36 TO 1854. 525 



Commerce with Great Britain, and it had given positive instruction 

 not to make any such Treaty without an Article acknowledging our 

 right to the Fisheries; and he added that there neither was, nor could 

 be a clearer right; that in former Treaties, as for instance those of 

 Utrecht and Paris, England and France had claimed the right and 

 used the right. 



"When God Almighty made the Banks of Newfoundland at 

 three hundred leagues distant from the People of America, and six 

 hundred leagues from those of England and France, did he not give 

 as good a right to the former as to the latter? 



" If Heaven in the Creation gave a right, it belongs to America as 

 much as to England. If occupation, use and possession give a right, 

 America is as much entitled to it as England. If war and blood and 

 treasure give a right, the claim of those who have been English 

 Colonies is as clear as that of Great Britain. For America has been 

 constantly fighting in Canada, Cape Breton and Nova Scotia for the 

 defense of these fisheries, and has expended beyond all proportion 

 more than England herself. 



" If then the right cannot be denied, why should it not be acknowl- 

 edged and put out of dispute ? " 



Mr. Laurens said, at the same time, with great firmness, that he 

 agreed with Mr. Adams and could never give his voice for any 

 Articles without an acknowledgment of the American right to the 

 Fisheries; and Mr. Jay added that it could not be a peace, it would 

 only be an insiduous truce without it. To all this, Mr. Fitzherbert, 

 one of the English Commissioners, replied, that the reasons appeared 

 to be good, and the argument was in their favor. 



The instructions to which Mr. Adams referred are the following: 



" I. That the common right of fishing shall in no case be given 

 up. II. That it is essential to the welfare of these United States 

 that the inhabitants thereof at the expiration of the war, should 

 continue to enjoy the free and undisturbed exercise of their com- 

 mon right to fish on the Banks of Newfoundland, and the other 

 fishing banks and seas of North America, preserving inviolate the 

 Treaties between France and the said states; III. That application 

 shall be made to His Most Christian Majesty to agree to some article 

 or articles for the better securing to these states a share in the said 

 fisheries; IV. That if, after a treaty of peace with Great Britain, she 

 shall molest the citizens or inhabitants of any of the United States, 

 in taking fish on the banks and places hereinafter described, such 

 molestation, being in our opinion a direct violation and breach of 

 the peace, shall be a common cause of the said States, and the force 

 of the Union be exerted to obtain redress for the parties injured; V. 

 That our faith be pledged to the several stales, that, without their 

 unanimous consent, no treaty of commerce shall be entered into, Dor 

 any trade or commerce carried on with Great Britain, without the 

 explicit stipulation hereinafter mentioned. Von are therefore not 

 to consent to any treaty of commerce with Great Britain without an 

 explicit stipulation on her part, not to molest or disturb the inhabit 

 ante of the United States of America in inking on the Banks of 

 Newfoundland and other fisherie in the American Sea anywhere, 

 excepting within the distance of three league-; of the shores of the 



