QUESTION SIX. 95 



the United States on the American treaty coast of Newfoundland, 

 as one of the subjects for discussion; and it appears from the pro- 

 tocol of the 10th Conference, which was held on March 29, 1824, that 

 " he stated at length the circumstances constituting the case which his 

 Government thought it advisable to bring under the view of the 

 British Government," and presented a written memorandum on the 

 subject." 



In this written memorandum Mr. Rush, after reviewing the circum- 

 stances of the case and the grounds upon which the United States ob- 

 jected to the action of France, set forth the attitude of the United 

 States toward Great Britain on the question as follows: 



Furthermore, the United States cannot suppose that Great Britain, 

 by the convention of October, 1818, above recited, would ever have 

 agreed that the inhabitants of the United States should have (for a 

 just equivalent contained in the convention) the right or the liberty 

 to take fish on the very coast in question in common with British sub- 

 jects but under the conviction that British subjects had the liberty of 

 resorting there; and if they had, the claim of France to drive away 

 the fishing vessels of the United States cannot stand. 



The above summary may serve to present the general nature of the 

 question which has arisen between the United States and France 

 respecting fishing rights, and which Great Britain will doubtless 

 desire to see settled in a manner satisfactory to the United States. It 

 is obvious that, if Great Britain cannot make good the title which 

 the United States hold under her to take fish on the western coast of 

 Newfoundland, it will rest with her to indemnify them for the loss. 6 



At the 14th Conference, held on April 13, 1824, the British Com- 

 missioners, who were Messrs. Huskisson and Stratford Canning, in- 

 formed Mr. Rush that " they conceive that the case, as previously de- 

 scribed by him, was hardly of a nature to be entertained among the 

 subjects of the present negotiation," their objection being that it had 

 been varied in some degree from a direct question between the United 

 States and Great Britain by the issues between the United States and 

 France, which were independent of the treaty of 1818 between the 

 United States and Great Britain. 



They stated, however, that 



The citizens of the United States were clearly entitled, under the 

 convention of October, 1818, to a participation with his Majesty's 

 subjects in certain fishing liberties on the coasts of Newfoundland; 

 the Government of the United States might, therefore, require a 

 declaration of the extent of those liberties as enjoyed by British sub- 



U. S. Counter-Case Appendix, p. 123. 6 U. S. Counter-Case Appeiidix, p. 125. 

 U. S. Counter-Case Appendix, p. 126. 



