PEKIOD FEOM 1836 TO 1854. 547 



Consul Norton to Mr. Marcy. 



No. 86.] Consulate of the United States, 



Pictou, Nova Scotia, June 27, 1853. 

 Sir: I have the honor to communicate to the Department for the 

 information of the Government, intelligence just received from my 

 Agent at the "Magdalen Islands," that the right to prosecute the 

 Fisheries from the shores of those Islands as hitherto enjoyed by 

 American Citizens will be brought in question this season, and that 

 on the arrival of Her Britannic Majesty's Cruisers, attempts will be 

 made to prevent American Fishermen from setting nets in "Pleasant 

 Bay " a right they have always enjoyed in common with British 

 subjects, since the Treaty of 1818. Should such be the case, there are 

 strong reasons for believing that consequences of a serious nature will 

 arise between the Fishermen of both Countries; and as a majority 

 of the American Fishermen have iioav left home to prosecute the 

 summer Fishery in the Gulf and from the shores of those Islands, 

 entirely ignorant of the probability of such a restriction being placed 

 upon them, I would beg leave to suggest the necessity of placing an 

 armed Cruiser in that quarter for the protection of our Countrymen. 

 I have the honor very respectfully, Your obt. svt. 



B. Hammatt Norton, 



United States Consul. 

 Hon. William L. Marcy, 



Secretary of State, Washington City. 



Extracts from " Occasional Productions, Political, Diplomatic and 

 ftfiscellaneoue" 1>>j Richard Rush — {published at Philadelphia^ 



i ■ eo ) . 



To My Ex ii I ions: 



Having requested you in my will to publish a letter I wrote in July, 

 i - 53, to the Secretary of state then Mr. Marcy, in answer to an official 

 application from him for my views on t lie const met inn of the Fishery 

 Article in the Convention with Greal Britain of 1818, it seems proper 

 1 should give the reasons for this request. 



I was the surviving negotiator of that Convention, all others 

 officially sharing in ii directly or otherwise, namely, President Adams, 

 (the younger,) Mr. Gallatin. I'n- ident Monroe and President Madi- 



'i. having passed away. ETence <hc call upon mi-. || was made 



while negotiations were going on between the Onited States and 

 Great Britain to arrange this and other matters of international con- 

 ccni. Great Britain, it may be inferred, expected equivalents if 

 yielding anything to u on this Fishery Question. It was the most 



important alio 1 pre ingof any then pending. How it ever became 



a question, and when. I have endeavored to how: but, once raised 

 by Great Britain, -lie adhered to it. t<> the extent of instructing her 



ship Of War to order OUr h hing ve el away, if found on what she 



claimed as exclusively her (idling grounds. Lord Elgin, then Gover- 

 nor-General of the British Provinces north of us, was the British 

 negotiator, and the Secretary of State, ours. The negotiations dragged 



92909°— 8. Doc. 870, 01-3, vol 2 — 36 



