112 APPENDIX TO BRITISH CASE. 



Ghent did constantly refer to it as existing and in full force, nor 

 was an intimation given that any further confirmation of it was sup- 

 posed to be necessary. It would be for the British Government ulti- 

 mately to determine how far this reasoning was to be admitted as 

 correct. There were, also, considerations of policy and expediency, 

 to which I hoped they Avould give suitable attention, before they 

 should come to a final decision upon this point. I thought it my duty 

 to suggest them, that they might not be overlooked. The subject was 

 viewed by my countrymen as highly important, and I was anxious to 

 omit no effort which might possibly have an influence in promoting 



friendly sentiments between the two nations, or in guarding 

 66 against the excitement of others. These fisheries afforded the 



means of subsistence to multitudes of people who were desti- 

 tute of any other; they also afforded the means of remittance to Great 

 Britain in payment for articles of her manufactures exported to 

 America. It was well understood to be the policy of Great Britain 

 that no unnecessary stimulus should be given to the manufactures in 

 the United States, which would diminish the importation of those 

 from Great Britain. But, by depriving the fishermen of the United 

 States of this source of subsistence, the result must be to throw them 

 back upon the country, and drive them to the resort of manufactur- 

 ing for themselves; while, on the other hand, it would cut off the 

 means of making remittances in payment for the manufactures of 

 Great Britain. 



I thought it best to urge every consideration which might influence 

 a party having other views in that respect, to avoid coming to a 

 collision upon it. I would even urge considerations of humanity. 

 I would say that fisheries, the nature of which was to multiply the 

 means of subsistence to mankind, were usually considered by civilised 

 nations as under a sort of special sanction. It was a common prac- 

 tice to have them uninterrupted even in time of war. He knew, for 

 instance, that the Dutch had been, for centuries, in the practice of 

 fishing upon the coasts of this island, and that they were not inter- 

 rupted in this occupation even in ordinary times of war. It was to 

 be inferred from this, that, to interdict a fishery, which has been 

 enjoyed for ages, far from being a usual act in the peaceable rela- 

 tions between nations, was an indication of animosity, transcending 

 even the ordinary course of hostility in war. He said that no such 

 disposition was entertained by the British Government; that to 

 show the liberality which they had determined to exercise in this 

 case, he would assure me that the instructions which he had given to 

 the officers on that station had been, not even to interrupt the Ameri- 

 can fishermen who might have proceeded to those coasts, within the 

 British jurisdiction, for the present year; to allow them to complete 

 their fares, but to give them notice that this privilege could no 

 longer be allowed by Great Britain, and that they must not return 

 the next year. It was not so much the fishing, as the drying and 

 curing on the shores, that had been followed by bad consequences. 

 It happened that our fishermen, by their proximity, could get to the 

 fishing stations sooner in the season than the British, who were 

 obliged to go from Europe, and who, upon arriving there, found 

 all the best fishing places and drying and curing places pre-occupied. 

 This had often given rise to disputes and quarrels between them, 

 which in some instances had proceeded even to blows. It had dis- 



