8 CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



periods, Mr. Oswald received assistance from Mr. Strachey, Mr. 

 Vaughan, and Mr. Fitzherbert (British Minister at Paris). Dr. 

 Franklin's colleagues, Mr. John Adams and Mr. John Jay, joined him 

 towards the end of the summer, and Mr. Laurens (a third colleague) 

 arrived late in November. Preliminary articles were signed on the 

 30th of that month. The final treaty bears date the 3rd September, 

 1783. 



The following is the text of article 3 which relates to the fisheries 

 (app., p. 13) : 



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 the other banks of Newfoundland : also in the Gulf 

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

 itants of both countries used at any time heretofore to fish. And 

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

 take fish of every kind on such part of the coast of Newfoundland 

 as British fishermen shall use, (but not to dry or cure the same on 

 that island), and also on the coasts, bays, and creeks of all other of 

 His Britannic Majesty's dominions in America ; and that the Ameri- 

 can fishermen shall have liberty to dry and cure fish in any of the 

 unsettled bays, harbours, 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 the said fishermen to dry or cure fish at such 

 8 settlements, without a previous agreement for that purpose 



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



Attention is called to the difference in the stipulations affecting 

 the two sorts of fisheries. As to the bank-fisheries. 



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

 enjoy unmolested the right; 



whereas, in regard to the coast fisheries, the agreement is 



that the inhabitants of the United States shall have liberty to take 

 fish. 



According to the contention of His Majesty's Government, the 

 former was a recognition of a " right " to fish in the ocean and the 

 gulf: the latter was a liberty or license to take fish in British ter- 

 ritorial waters conceded by Great Britain for political reasons. 



In addition to the fishing liberty, a grant was made at the same 

 time of a large extent of territory that had been part of the Province 

 of Quebec, and was at the date of the treaty in the occupation of 

 Great Britain. 



TREATY, GREAT BRITAIN AND FRANCE 1783. 



On the same day a treaty of peace was signed by Great Britain 

 and France. Among other provisions it was stipulated that French 

 fishing rights should be exercised on the coast of Newfoundland 

 from Cape St. John to Cape Ray, instead of from Cape Bonavista 

 to Point Riche, as in the Treaty of Utrecht. (App., p. 11.) 



