QUESTION ONE. 19 



that the British Government did not intend to grant to the United 

 States, gratuitously, the privileges formerly granted to them by 

 treaty, of fishing within the limits of British sovereignty, and of 

 using the shores of the British territories for purposes connected 

 with the fisheries. 



In the course of the negotiations various proposals were made in 

 regard to the fisheries, but Great Britain never departed from this 

 attitude, and two days before the treaty was agreed on, the same 

 declaration was expressly repeated by the British Commissioners. 

 (United States Case, App., p. 256.) 



In view of these facts, it can hardly be maintained that the question 

 was left open;if by that phrase is meant that Great Britain reserved 

 it for future discussion. Her vieAv was that the fishing rights were 

 at an end; she was in exclusive possession of the fisheries, and she 

 had no more to gain by discussion. Immediately on the termination 

 of war, the British naval officers in command in the colonial waters, 

 took steps to prevent Americans from resuming the liberties they had 

 enjoyed under the treaty of 1783. Ships were ordered to watch the 

 coasts and to warn off American fishing- vessels. 



24 BRITISH ACTION, 1815-18. 



On the 17th June, 1815, Lord Bathurst issued instructions to the 

 Governor of Newfoundland. (British Case, App., p. 63.) He stated 

 that the American right of fishing within British jurisdiction was at 

 an end, and that American fishing-vessels were to be prevented from 

 using British territory for purposes connected with the fishery, and 

 were to be excluded from the bays, harbours, rivers, creeks, and inlets 

 of all His Majesty's possessions. 



He made an exception as a matter of indulgence, for the season 

 which had then already begun, in the case of fishermen of the United 

 States who, through ignorance of the circumstances which affected 

 the question, had already commenced a fishery similar to that carried 

 on by them previous to the late war, and had occupied their former 

 establishments, which could not be suddenly abandoned without con- 

 siderable loss. These fishermen, however, were to be informed of the 

 real state of affairs, and it was to be made clear to them that they 

 Avere not in any future season to expect a continuance of the samp 

 indulgence. 



The action of the naval commanders was the subject of complaint 

 by Mr. Monroe to Mr. Baker, the British representative at Washing- 

 ton. The interview is recorded in a despatch from Mr. Baker to 

 Lord Castlereagh, dated the 19th July, 1815, in the following passage 

 (App., p. 174) : 



He then proceeded to observe that he had a complaint to make 

 respecting the interruption which, had been given to several American 



