134 APPENDIX TO BRITISH CASE. 



The advantages of this portion of coast are accurately known to 

 the British Government; and, in consenting to assign it to the uses 

 of the American fishermen, it was certainly conceived that an accom- 

 modation was afforded as ample as it was possible to concede, without 

 abandoning that control within the entire of His Majesty's own har- 

 bours and coasts which the essential interests of His Majesty'^ do- 

 minions required. That it should entirely satisfy the wishes of those 

 who have for many years enjoyed, without restraint, the privilege 

 of using for similar purposes all the unsettled coasts of Nova Scotia 

 and Labrador, is not to be expected; but, in estimating the value 

 of the proposal, the American Government will not fail to recollect 

 that it is offered without any equivalent, and notwithstanding the 

 footing upon which the navigation of the Mississippi has been left 

 by the treaty of Ghent, and the recent regulations by which the 

 subjects of His Majesty have been deprived of the privileges, which 

 they so long enjoyed, of trading with the Indian nations within the 

 territory 01 the United States. 



I have the honor to be, &c. CHARLES BAGOT. 



No. 24. 1816, December 30: Letter from Mr. Monroe to Mr. Bagot. 



DEPARTMENT or STATE, December 30, 1816. 



SIR : I have had the honour to receive your letter of the 27th No- 

 vember, and to submit it to the consideration of the President. 



In providing for the accommodation of the citizens of the United 

 States engaged in the fisheries on the coast of His Britannic Maj- 

 esty's colonies, on conditions advantageous to both parties, I concur 

 in the sentiment that it is desirable to avoid a discussion of their 

 respective rights, and to proceed, in a spirit of conciliation, to ex- 

 amine what arrangement will be adequate to the object. The dis- 

 cussion which has already taken place between our Governments has, 

 it is presumed, placed the claim of each party in a just light. I shall, 

 therefore, make no remark on that part of your note which relates to 

 the right of the parties, other than by stating that this Government 

 entered into this negotiation on the equal ground of neither claiming 

 nor making any concession in that respect. 



You have made two propositions, the acceptance of either of which 

 must be attended with the relinquishment of all other claims on the 

 part of the United States, founded on the first branch of the fourth 

 article of the treaty of 1783. In the first, you offer the use of the 

 territory on the Labrador coast, lying between Mount Joli and the 

 Bay of Esquimaux, near the entrance of the Strait of Belleisle ; and, 

 in the second, of such part of the southern coast of the Island of New- 

 foundland as lies between Cape Ray and the Ramea Islands. 



I have made every inquiry that circumstances have permitted, 

 respecting both these coasts, and find that neither would afford to the 

 citizens of the United States the essential accommodation which is 

 desired; neither having been much frequented by them heretofore, 

 nor likely to be in future. I am compelled, therefore, to decline both 

 propositions. 



I regret that it has not been in my power to give an earlier answer 

 to your note; you will, however, have the goodness to impute the 



