DESPATCHES, REPORTS, CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 107 



63 No. 14. 1815, June 17: Letter from Lord Bathurst to Governor 



Keats. 



DOWNING STREET, June 17, 1815. 



SIR, As the Treaty of Peace lately concluded with the United 

 States contains no provision with respect to the fisheries which the 

 subjects of the United States enjoyed under the Illrd Article of 

 the Peace of 1783, His Majesty's Government consider it not unnec- 

 essary that you should be informed as to the extent to which those 

 privileges are affected by the omission of any stipulation in the pres- 

 ent Treaty, and of the line of conduct which it is, in consequence, 

 advisable for you to adopt. 



You cannot but be aware that the Illrd Article of the Treaty of 

 Peace of 1873 contained two distinct stipulations; the one recognizing 

 the rights which the United States had to take fish upon the high 

 seas, and the other granting to the United States the privilege of 

 fishing within the British jurisdiction, and of using, under certain 

 conditions, the shores and territories of His Majesty for purposes 

 connected with the fishery; of these, the former, being considered 

 permanent, cannot be altered or affected by any change 01 the relative 

 situation of the two countries; but the other, being a privilege de- 

 rived from the Treaty of 1783 alone, was, as to its duration, neces- 

 sarily limited to the duration of the Treaty itself. On the declara- 

 tion of war by the American Government, and the consequent abro- 

 gation of the then existing Treaties, the United States forfeited, 

 with respect to the fisheries, those privileges which are purely con- 

 ventional, and (as they have not been renewed by a stipulation in the 

 present Treaty) the subjects of the United States can have no pre- 

 tence to any right to fish within the British jurisdiction, or to use 

 the British territory for purposes connected with fishery. 



Such being the view taken of the question of the fisheries as far 

 as relates to the United States, I am commanded by His Royal High- 

 ness the Prince Regent to instruct you to abstain most carefully 

 from any interference with the fishery in which the subjects of the 

 United States may be engaged, either on the Grand Bank of New- 

 foundland, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, or other places in the sea. 

 At the same time } T OU will prevent them, except under the circum- 

 stances hereinafter mentioned, from using the British territory for 

 purposes connected with the fishery, and will exclude their fishing- 

 vessels from the bays, harbours, rivers, creeks, and inlets of all His 

 Majesty's possessions. In case, however, it should have happened 

 that the fishermen of the United States through ignorance of the cir- 

 cumstances which affect this question, should, previous to your 

 arrival, have already commenced a fishery similar to that carried on 

 by them previous to the late war, and should have occupied the Brit- 

 ish harbours and former establishments on the British territory 

 which could not be suddenly abandoned without very considerable 

 loss, His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, willing to give every 

 indulgence to the citizens of the United States which is compatible 

 with His Majesty's rights, has commanded me to instruct you to 

 abstain from molesting such fishermen or impeding the progress of 

 their fishing during the present year, unless they should, by attempts 

 to carry on a contraband trade, render themselves unworthy of pro- 



