FRANCO-AMERICAN CONTROVERSY, 1822-1824. 119 



the fisheries at the controverted points, and from the result of your 

 oral communications with Mr. Robinson, in the course of your in- 

 quiries relating to this affair, it is not to be doubted that the whole 

 contest will continue to be seen in its true light by Great Britain. 



Copies are herewith transmitted to you of the correspondence be- 

 tween Mr. Gallatin, in the execution of his instructions, with the 

 Viscount de Chateaubriand, in which you will find all the argument 

 that France has been able to adduce in support of her claims to the 

 exclusive right of fishery. It completes the demonstration that the 

 pretension cannot be supported. But you will see that Mr. de Cha- 

 teaubriand, in his letter of the 5th of April last, while evading or 

 abandoning the attempt of reply to Mr. Gallatin, with regard to the 

 claim of exclusive fishery, says that he had some time since instructed 

 the charge d'affaires of France at this place to enter upon explana- 

 tions with the Government of the United States concerning this 

 object, and that he was then writing to him again about it. With 

 regard to the exercise of force within the British jurisdiction the 

 Viscount has given Mr. Gallatin no answer whatever; but Mr. Gal- 

 latin, in his letter to this Department of 17th April, states that in a 

 conversation with the Minister of Marine, to whom he knew the 

 subject had been referred, that minister " gave it as his opinion, in 

 explicit terms, that France, being in possession of the exclusive right 

 of fishing on the coast in question, inasmuch as she had not before 

 the last occurrence been disturbed in it by the fishermen either of 

 England or America, she had the right to retain such possession, and 

 ought to continue to exercise that .right by expelling any vessels that 

 should attempt to participate in the fisheries." Mr. Gallatin had not 

 ascertained whether the Viscount de Chateaubriand and the other 

 minister concurred in this opinion of the Minister of Marine, the 

 candor and explicitness of which must be acknowledged, but the 

 charge d'affaires of France here declares that he has received no 

 instructions from his Government to give the explanations promised 

 by the letter of Mr. Chateaubriand to Mr. Gallatin, and we should 

 no longer be excusable for refraining from a representation of the 

 whole case to the Government of Great Britain. The question con- 

 cerning the jurisdiction belongs peculiarly to her. The documents 

 cited by you, in your correspondence with Mr. Gallatin, show that 

 the premises of the French Marine Minister, upon which he relies 

 for the basis of his opinion, are as incorrect in point of fact as his 

 conclusion is extraordinary in point of principle. The deliberate 

 pretension to exercise force within purely British waters was un- 

 expected on the part of France. We shall not, for the present, em- 

 ploy force to meet force, although that result was properly presented 

 by Mr. Gallatin to the French Government as a consequence to be 

 anticipated from the perseverance of their armed vessels in disturb- 

 ing our fishermen. We respect the territorial jurisdiction of Great 

 Britain in resorting to her for the effectual exercise of it to carry 

 into execution her engagements with us. 



The President desires that, in your conferences with the British 

 Secretary of State, you will give him information of the present state 

 of this concern between us and France. You will be careful to pre- 

 sent it in the aspect the most favorable and friendly towards France 

 that can be compatible with the effective maintenance of our own 



