QUESTION ONE. 23 



(2.) That Mr. Adams made appeal to those - 



principles of benevolence and humanity which it is the highest 

 glory of a great and powerful nation to respect. (British Case, 

 App., p. 68.) 



And also to those (British Case, App., p. 69.) 



advantages to other British interests, namely, the supplying to 

 American fishermen of " the means of remittance and payment for 

 the productions of British industry and ingenuity," and, " pouring 

 into her lap a great portion of the profits of their hardy and labo- 

 rious industry." 



And that, moved by these appeals, Lord Bathurst gave way. 

 saying that Great Britain was (British Case, App., p. 71.) 



by no means insensible to some of those considerations with which 

 the letter of the American Minister concludes. 



It is submitted, therefore, that the liberties of the treaty of 1818 

 were not, and could not have been intended to be, the " identical 

 liberties " which had been granted by the treaty of 1783. 



It is clear from the records that the treaty of 1818 was not a 

 recognition of rights, which the fishermen of -the United States 

 possessed as subjects of the Crown before the declaration of inde- 

 pendence. That contention had been expressly put forward, and 

 had been expressly rejected. It is impossible to hold that Great 

 Britain entered into a contract on a basis which she had repudiated 

 on every occasion on which it had been set up. Whatever may have 

 been the case in 1782, and on that His Majesty's Government have 

 already submitted their observations, the treaty of 1818 was a new 

 arrangement. It must stand by itself and be construed according 

 to the terms in which it is framed. 



British Statute of 1819. 



The United States Case, as an argument against the existence 



29 of the British right of regulation of the coast-fisheries, refers 



to the British statute of 1819, passed shortly after the date 



of the treaty, and argues that that enactment was intended (United 



States Case, p. 72.) 



to authorize the adoption of regulations for the purpose of pre- 

 venting interference by British subjects with the fishing liberties 

 which were secured to the American fishermen by the treaty and 

 which had been denied them since the War of 1812. 



This interpretation of the meaning of the act is confirmed by the 

 action of the British Government in giving it practical application, 

 and an examination of the regulations adopted by orders in council 

 under this section of the act will show that in every instance such 

 regulations have applied to British subjects and not to American 

 fishermen and that this section of the act has never been interpreted 

 in such orders as authorizing the imposition of regulations upon 

 American fishermen. 



