532 CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 



coasts, bays & creeks of all other of his Britannic Majesty's domin- 

 ions in America : and that the American fishermen shall have liberty 

 to dry & cure fish in any of the unsettled bays, harbors and creeks of 

 Nova* Scotia, Magdalen Islands and Labrador, so long as the same 

 shall remain unsettled ; but so soon as the same or either of them shall 

 be settled, it shall not be lawful for said fishermen to dry or cure 

 fish at such settlement, without a previous agreement for that pur- 

 pose with the inhabitants, proprietors or possessors of the ground." 



It is admitted that this is a liberty held by the inhabitants of the 

 United States by concession and not exempted from abrogation by 

 war. 



Lord Bathurst in his letter to Mr. Adams of Oct. 30, 1815, attempts 

 to escape from the Argument founded on the acknowledgment of this 

 right of fishery in their Treaty of 1783, by saying that " in the third 

 article, Great Britain acknowledges the right or the United States 

 to take fish on the Banks of Newfoundland & other places, from 

 which Great Britain has no right to exclude an independent nation. 

 But they are to have the liberty to cure & dry them in certain unset- 

 tled places within His Majesty's territory." 



The undersigned respectfully submits to the consideration of Mr. 

 Crampton, that this remark does not cover the whole ground and is 

 quite inconclusive. 



If Great Britain intended to acknowledge in behalf of the U. S. 

 no other right as to the fisheries, than such as she could not deny to 

 any other foreign nation, where was the necessity to make any 

 acknowledgment at all? 



France, Spain and Portugal have always fished on the Grand Bank 

 of Newfoundland without any permission or acknowledgment of 

 their right by the British Government. The whole claim, if it had 

 no other meaning than what Lord Bathurst ascribes to it, would be 

 without effect and wholly useless. But the very words of the third 

 article show that something more was meant than a mere acknowl- 

 edgment of the right which the United States possessed, and which 

 other nations possessed as an equal right, — for those words, to repeat 

 them over, are 



"It is agreed that the people of the United States shall continue 

 to enjoy unmolested the right to take fish of every kind on the Grand 

 Bank, and on all other Banks of Newfoundland; also in the Gulf of 

 St. Lawrence, and at all other places, in the sea, where the inhabitants 

 of both countries used at any time heretofore to fish." 



But "Great Britain acknowledges," says Lord Bathurst, "the 

 right of the United States to take fish on the Banks of Newfoundland 

 and other places, from which Great Britain has no right to exclude 

 an independent nation. But they are to have liberty to cure and dry 

 them in certain unsettled places within His Majesty's territory." 



It is too plain to be denied that Lord Bathurst commits a great 

 error in this statement of the contents of the third article. That 

 article acknowledges not only the right of American citizens to 

 fish where the subjects of other nations may fish; but in express 

 terms, the right of fishing in common with British subjects on the 

 Grand Bank, and on all other Banks of Newfoundland; also in the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence and at all other places in the sea, where the 

 inhabitants of both Countries used at any time heretofore to fish; 

 and also that the inhabitants of the United States shall have liberty 



