QUESTION SIX. 87 



or indirectly, was made on either side, to the existence of any French 

 claim, and that nothing occurred in those negotiations to warrant 

 the inference drawn in the British Case that the existence of the 

 French claim was regarded by Great Britain as having any bearing 

 whatsoever upon the use by the American fishermen of the bays, 

 creeks, and harbors of the portion of the American treaty coast which 

 coincides with the French treaty coast. 



Furthermore, any such inference as is drawn in the British Case 

 as to the influence upon the negotiations of the existence of the 

 French claim is directly contradicted by convincing evidence, which 

 is furnished in the official records of the negotiations, that the 

 Plenipotentiaries on both sides distinctly understood that the word 

 " coast," as used in the negotiations, was intended to include, bays, 

 creeks, and harbors, and that the British Plenipotentiaries under- 

 stood it as including rivers as well. It will be found that in the 

 counter-draft proposed by the British Plenipotentiaries to the Ameri- 

 can Plenipotentiaries on October 6, 1818, they offered to agree that 

 the American fishermen should have the liberty of fishing " on that 

 part of the western coast of Newfoundland which extends from Cape 

 Ray to the Quirpon Islands, and on that part of the southern and 

 eastern coasts of Labrador which extends from Mount Joli to Hunt- 

 ingdon Island." It will be noticed that bays, creeks, and harbors 

 are not expressly mentioned in describing the coast to which the lib- 

 erty of taking -fish was to extend, but the article continues hi the next 

 paragraph " and it is further agreed that nothing contained in this 

 Article shall be construed to give to the inhabitants of the United 

 States any liberty to take fish within the rivers of His Britannic 

 Majesty's territories as above described." 



In commenting on this feature of the British proposal, the Ameri- 

 can Plenipotentiaries, in their memorandum delivered to the British 

 Plenipotentiaries on the following day, said : " The liberty of taking 

 fish within rivers is not asked. A positive clause to except them is 

 unnecessary, unless it be intended to comprehend under that name 

 waters which might otherwise be considered as bays or creeks,"* 

 thus distinctly showing their understanding that the coast to which 

 the liberty of fishing extended was intended to include bays and 

 creeks. It appears, therefore, that the understanding both of the 



U. S. Case, p. 57. 6 U. S. Case, p. 59. 



