38 APPENDIX TO BRITISH COUNTER CASE. 



lege to Great Britain not granted by that Treaty to France, so on the other 

 you shall not consent to any peculiar restrictions or limitations whatever in 

 favour of Great Britain. 



Secondly. In order that you may be the better able to act with propriety on 

 this occasion, it is necessary for you to know that we have determined 1st That 

 the common right of fishing shall in no case be given up. 2nd That it is 

 essential to the welfare of all these United States that the Inhabitants thereof 

 at the expiration of the war should continue to enjoy the free and undisturbed 

 exercise of their common right to fish on the Banks of Newfoundland, and the 

 other fishing banks and seas of North America, preserving inviolate the Treaties 

 between France and the Said States. Sly That application shah be made to 

 his Most Christian Majesty to agree to some article or articles for the better 

 securing to these States a share in the s:>id fis erie.s. 41y. That 'f after a 

 treaty of peace with Great Britain she shall molest the Citizens or Inhabitants 

 of any of the United States in t; king Fish on the Ranks and pi '-es !'e e- 

 inafter described, such molestation, being in our opinion a direct violation and 

 breach of the peace, sh;ill be a common cause of the said States, and the force 

 of the Union be exerted to obtain redress for the parties injured. And Sly 

 That our faith be pledged to the several States, that without their unanimous 

 consent no treaty of commerce shall be entered into, nor any trade or commerce 

 whatever carried on with Grent Britain, without the explicit stipulation herein 

 after mentioned. You are therefore not to consent to any Treaty of Com- 

 merce with Great Britain without an explicit stipulation on her part not to 

 molest or disturb the Inhabitants of the United States of America in taking 

 fish on the Banks of Newfoundland, and other fisheries in the American Seas 

 any where, excepting within the distance of three leagues of the Shores of the 

 Territory remaining to Great Britain at the close of the war, if a nearer dis- 

 tance cannot be obtained by negotiation and in the negotiation you are to 

 exert your most strenuous endeavours to obtain a nearer distance in the Gulf 

 of St.* Lawrence, and particularly along the shores of Nova Scotia. As to 

 which latter we are desirous, that even the Shores may be occasionally used 

 for the purpose of carrying on the Fisheries by the Inhabitants of these States. 



Sly. In all other matters you are to govern yourself by your own discretion, 

 as shall be most for the Interest of these States, taking care that the said 

 Treaty be founded on principles of equality and reciprocity, so as to conduce 

 to the mutual advantage of both nations, but not to the exclusion of others. 



On the question to agree to the above draft of instructions, the 

 yeas and nays being required by Mr. [Nathaniel] Scudder, . . . a 

 So it was resolved in the affirmative. 



24 Proceedings of Congress. 



Congress farther agreed to the following draft of instructions to 

 the minister plenipotentiary of the United States at the court of 

 France. 



III. 



SIB, Having determined, in order to put a period to the present war con- 

 formably to the humane dispositions which sway the Allied Powers, that we 

 would not insist on a direct acknowledgment by Great Britain of our right in 

 the Fisheries, this important matter is liable to an incertitude which may be 

 dangerous to the political and commercial Interests of the United States. We 

 have therefore agreed and resolved that our right should in no case be given up; 

 that we would not form any Treaty of Commerce with Great Britain, nor carry 

 on any trade or Commerce whatsoever with her unless she shall make an ex- 

 press stipulation on that subject, and that if She shall after a Treaty of peace 

 disturb the Inhabitants of these States in the exercise of it, we will make it a 

 comman cause to obtain redress for the parties injured. But notwithstanding 

 these precautions, as Great Britain may again light up the flames of war and 

 use our exercise of the Fisheries as her pretext, and since doubts may arise 

 whether this object is so effectually guarded by the Treaty of Alliance with his 

 Most Christian Majesty that any molestation therein on the part of Great 

 Britain is to be considered as a canus federis, you are to endeavour to obtain 



A vote was taken. Ayes 5. Noes 4. 



