PERTAINING TO SITUATION IN 1852-1853. 161 



morrow morning, for the purpose of having a consultation with you 

 upon the subject of the fisheries. He informs me also, that he has 

 addressed a circular to the several Governors of the British Provinces 

 of North America advising moderation and forbearance upon this 

 subject. I doubt not that when you and he meet you will be able to 

 agree upon some line of proceeding that will allay the present excite- 

 ment and prevent any bloodshed. I would suggest that you unite in 

 a publication in which you should express your regrets that any mis- 

 understanding had arisen between our fishermen engaged in the fish- 

 eries at Newfoundland, and the colonial subjects of Great Britain; 

 that the differences of opinion which have arisen between the two 

 Governments, in reference to their respective rights under the Con- 

 vention of 1818, have called the attention of both Governments to the 

 subject, and that together with the subject of reciprocal trade between 

 Her Majesty's Provinces of North America and the United States, 

 will doubtless become the immediate subject of negotiation between 

 the two countries; that in the meantime and until these matters can 

 be amicably adjusted, you both concur in the opinion that under the 

 Treaty of 1818 our citizens had the unquestioned right of fishing on 

 the southern and western shore of the Island of Newfoundland, lying 

 between the Islands of Ramea on the south and the Island of Quiperon 

 on the north, and of entering upon any unoccupied lands upon the 

 shore of said island between Cape Ray and said Island of Ramea, for 

 the purpose of drying and curing fish ; and also of fishing upon the 

 shores of the Magdalen Islands; and with regard to all the rest of 

 the Island of Newfoundland, and the other islands and mainland of 

 Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, the English Government, so far as 

 they have not conceded it to the French have the exclusive right of 

 fishing in all the waters adjacent to such islands or mainland and 

 within three marine miles of the shore ; but as for those waters in the 

 several bays and harbours which are more than three marine miles 

 from the shore of such bay or harbour upon either side, and within 

 three marine miles of a straight line drawn from one headland to 

 the other of such bay or harbour, that you as the Representative of 

 the United States conceived that our fishermen have the right under 

 the Treaty to fish therein, but the British Government having held 

 that by a true construction of the Treaty such right belonged exclu- 

 sively to British subjects; and as those waters were thus in dispute 

 between the two nations, you respectively advised the citizens and sub- 

 jects of both countries not to attempt to exercise any right that either 

 claimed within the disputed waters until this disputed right could be 

 adjusted by amicable negotiation. 



I perceive by the papers that your publication in the Boston 

 Courier is somewhat misunderstood, and has consequently created 

 unnecessary alarm; and some such joint publication as I have sug- 

 gested above will, I think, quiet the apprehensions of the country, and 

 be generally acquiesced in and obeyed by the parties engaged in the 

 fisheries. I do not, of course, intend to indicate the precise words of 

 such a declaration, as I write in much haste, and you are much 

 more competent to prepare the article than I am. As to the subjects 

 of negotiation, beyond those growing out of the construction of the 

 Treaty of 1818, 1 will write you more fully hereafter. I do not know 

 whether our citizens engaged in the fisheries seek for anything more 



