DESPATCHES, REPORTS, CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 359 



claimed by them, from the first settlement of the continent down to 

 the time of the revolution, and that it was subsequently enjoyed in the 

 same manner, in common, by the United States and the British Prov- 

 inces, from the treaty of 1783 down to the treaty of 1818. 



This right was based originally on what Dr. Paley well regards, 

 in his discussion of this subject, " as a general right of mankind; " 

 and the long and undisturbed enjoyment of it furnishes just ground 

 for the belief that the United States negotiators would be slow in 

 relinquishing it. 



They certainly would not be likely to relinquish more than was 

 asked for, or what the United States negotiators a few years before 

 contended was held by the same tenure as the national independence 

 of the United States, and by a perpetual right. 



In the negotiation of the treaty of peace in 1814, no provision was 

 inserted as to the fisheries. Messrs. Adams and Gallatin notified the 

 British commissioners that " the United States claimed to hold the 

 right of the fisheries by the same tenure as she held her independ- 

 ence; that it was a perpetual right appurtenant to her as a nation, 



and that no new stipulation was necessary to secure it." 

 214 The negotiators on the part of the British Government did 

 not answer this declaration, or contest the validity of the 

 ground taken. 



Afterwards, in 1815, the consultations had between Lord Bathurst 

 and Mr. Adams, the then Secretary of State, relative to the fisheries, 

 show on what grounds negotiations were proposed, which were per- 

 fected by the treaty of 1818 ; and that the renunciation desired, from 

 the treaty of 1783, consisted of the shore or boat fisheries, which are 

 prosecuted within a marine league of the shore, and no others. 



At the first interview of the commissioners, Lord Bathurst used this 

 distinct and emphatic language : 



As, 011 the one hand, Great Britain cannot permit the vessels of the United 

 States to fish within the creeks and close upon the shores of the British terri- 

 tories, so, on the other hand, it is by no means her intention to interrupt them 

 in fishing anywhere in the open sea, or without the territorial jurisdiction. 

 a marine league from the shore. 



Again, he said on a subsequent occasion : 



It is not of fair competition that his Majesty's government has reason to 

 complain, but of the pre-occupation of British harbors and creeks. (Sabine's 

 Report on Fisheries, p. 282.) 



It is clear that it was only within these narrow limits the British 

 government designed to restrict the fisheries by the citizens of the 

 United States. 



The views of Messrs. Gallatin and Rush, the American negotiators 

 of the treaty of 1818, appear from their communication made to the 

 Secretary of State, Mr. Adams, immediately after the signature of 

 the treaty. 



In this communication they say: 



The renunciation in the treaty expressly states that it is to extend only to 

 the distance of three miles from the coast; and this point was the more impor- 

 tant, as, with the exception of the fisheries in open boats in ccriain harbors, 

 it appeared that the fishing-ground on the whole coast of N&va Scotia was more 

 than three miles from the shore. 



