QUESTION ONE. 15 



In consequence of the decision of the Commission, the American 

 note of the 10th November, 1814, claimed in regard to the fisheries 

 that (App., p. 138)- 



From their nature, and from the peculiar character of the treaty of 

 1783, by which they were recognised, no further stipulation has been 

 deemed necessary by the government of the United States to entitle 

 them to the full enjoyment of all of them. 



The British Commissioners challenged this contention at once, and 

 on every occasion when it was put forward. In his despatch of the 

 30th October, 1815, Lord Bathurst refers to it in the following terms 

 (British Case, App., p. 69) : 



A pretension of this kind was certainly intimated on a former occa- 

 sion, but in a manner so obscure that His Majesty's Government were 

 not enabled even to conjecture the grounds "upon which it could be 

 supported. 



In 1815 Mr. Adams made an elaborate presentment of his argu- 

 ment (British Case, App., p. 64) in the despatches exchanged with 

 Lord Bathurst and Lord Castlereagh, and it is from that time, that 

 the full claim of the United States on this point must be taken to 

 have been adopted by the Government of that country. It has been 

 invariably rejected by Great Britain on every occasion on which it 

 has been raised. 



FORM OF THE TREATY OF 1783 INCONSISTENT WITH UNITED STATES 



CONTENTION. 



It is further submitted that the form of the treaty of 1783, and 

 of the preliminary articles, is altogether inconsistent with the view 

 of the United States. They contain no suggestion of partition. In 

 form they constitute a relinquishment by the King of England of 

 his claim to " the Government property and territorial rights " of 

 the areas constituting the thirteen United States, and nothing more. 

 There is no reference to the rights of Great Britain over the remain- 

 ing portions of North America, nor any agreement by the United 

 States to concur in the retention of those areas by Great Britain. 

 The sovereignty of the King of England is assumed to con- 

 20 tinue over the whole of the British North American posses- 

 sions with the exception of those parts which are specifically 

 dealt with in article 1, that is, the territories of the thirteen States 

 as defined in that and the subsequent article. The provision in 

 regard to the fisheries, recognises the continuance of the right of the 

 United States to fish in the high seas, but the liberty to fish in British 

 waters is conceded in different terms; it is not treated as a continu- 

 ance of an existing right, but is a fresh grant made by and depend- 

 ent on the treaty. It has already been pointed out, that the distinc- 

 tion between a " right " and a " liberty " was present to the minds 



