DESPATCHES, REPORTS, CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 99 



if an Act of Parliament should pass preventing the landing of 

 Plaister of Paris northward and eastward of Boston, from British 

 vessels as that article has become valuable in the Southern States for 

 the production of grain and grass, and cannot be procured in any 

 part of America, but in His Majesty's provinces; British vessels 

 would then have the sole benefit of carrying it to the place of con- 

 sumption and it would furnish a good nursery for seamen of his 

 Majesty's ships of war, at present most of this advantage is enjoyed 

 by American subjects as it is principally brought from the mines by 

 small vessels owned in Nova Scotia and this Province and landed at 

 the boundary line in the Bay of Passamaquady about 40 leagues from 

 the mines; it is there re-shipped in American vessels: and conveyed 

 to the place of consumption, to the great injury of our carrying 

 trade, as these Provinces can furnish any quantity of shipping neces- 

 sary to supply the w r hole United States with that article. It would 

 also remove the pretence for illegal traffick which has been hitherto 

 carried on by American vessels at the Boundary line who came under 

 pretence of loading plaister of Paris, with contraband Articles on 

 board which were clandestinely shipped in the small British vessels 

 belonging to the small harbours and creeks in Nova Scotia and New 

 Brunswick. w r ho can easily elude the vigilance of craizers, or officers 

 of the Customs, to the great injury of the Revenue and fair trader. 

 As no laws in the Colonies can be made to counteract this evil, I 

 humbly conceive it must be by Act of Parliament. 

 I have the honour to be with the greatest respect 

 your most obedient Humble Servant 



GEO : LEONARD 

 Supert. Trade and Fishery. 

 JOHN SULLIVAN Esqre 



Under Secretary of State, &c <&c (&c. 



No. 8. 1804, January 5: Extract from Letter from Mr. Madison 

 (Secretary of State), to Mr. James Monroe. 



2d. The British pretentions to domain over the narrow seas are so 

 absolute, and so indefensible, that they never w 7 ould have occurred as 

 a probable objection in this case, if they had not actually frustrated 

 an arrangement settled by Mr. King with the British Ministry on the 

 subject of impressments from American vessels on the high seas. At 

 the moment when the articles were expected to be signed, an exception 

 of the " narrow seas " was urged and insisted on by Lord St. Vincent ; 

 and being utterly inadmissible on our part, the negotiation was 

 abandoned. 



The objection in itself has certainly not the slightest foundation. 

 The time has been, indeed, when England not only claimed but exor- 

 cised pretensions scarcely inferior to full sovereignty over the seas 

 surrounding the British Isles, and even as far as Cape Finesterre to 

 the south, and Van Staten in Norway to the north. It was a time, 

 however, when reason had little share in determining the law, and the 

 intercourse of nations, when power alone decided questions of rights. 



