PERTAINING TO UNBATIFIED TREATY OP 1806. 103 



the vessel or vessels so taken, whether the same be vessels of war or 

 merchant vessels. 



If any advantage is given to Great Britain by the arrangement 

 proposed by the twelfth article and this clause of the nineteeth, to 

 the prejudice of her enemies or of the United States, it must be by 

 this clause. She can certainly claim none under the twelfth article. 

 This clause consists of two distinct members of very different import. 

 The first contains a general stipulation conformable to the law of 

 nations, applicable to all the dominions of both parties, and equally 

 so to their ships of war and merchant vessels. With respect to the 

 latter, however, it is conditional. The second member applies to the 

 arrangement made in the twelfth article, and in the sense and spirit 

 of that article. If the twelfth article is carried into effect in favor 

 of other Powers, which can only be done by their consent, then the 

 advantage which is secured to them by it will accrue likewise to 

 Great Britain. What is that advantage? Protection to their mer- 

 chant vessels within the additional two miles, and nothing else. It 

 is obvious that the protection which is stipulated in favor of ships of 

 war is provided for by the first member of the clause, and not by the 

 second. It cannot be by both, for the distance defined by them is 

 different, it being three miles in one and five miles in the other. It is 

 equally obvious that the stipulation contained in the second member 

 of the clause relative to the twelfth article, is intended to operate 

 in the spirit of that article, and to be dependent on it. By the terms 

 " nor within the jurisdiction described in the twelfth article so long 

 as the provisions of the said article shall be in force," the stipulation 

 contemplated is made conditional. In force in respect to whom? 

 Not the United States, because it was unconditional as to them. It 

 was conditional only with respect to other Powers. Other reasons 

 might be given to show that the arrangement under consideration is 

 not liable to the objection made to it, but I presumed that those 

 stated will be satisfactory. 



The difficulty to obtain the accommodation which was yielded in 

 the twelfth article was extreme. We labored most earnestly to ex- 

 tend it to other Powers without their consenting to reciprocate it in 

 favor of Great Britain, but that could not be accomplished. The 

 British commissioners urged that as Great Britain predominated at 

 sea, and must lose by the concession in any form, it would be unjust 

 for her to make the concession in their favor, unless they would allow 

 her the advantage of it. Finding that it was impossible to extend 

 the additional limit to other Powers on other terms, we thought it 

 advisable to adopt the arrangement in respect to them conditionally, 

 putting it in their power to accept or reject it as they thought fit. 

 We flattered ourselves that as they could not lose by it, they would not 

 refuse their assent to an arrangement by which they might gain, 

 especially as it would prove advantageous to a friendly Power. We 

 deemed it highly important to establish the additional limit in favor 

 of the United States, from the advantage it might afford to their 

 commerce within it, and from the effect which the measure seemed 

 likely to produce on the future conduct of the British squadrons on 

 our coast, by whom it could not fail to be considered as a severe censure 

 on the past. 



