DOCUMENTS BEARING ON TREATY OP 1*783. 169 



the English? It would then be a cause of disputes, and such seeds 

 France might wish to sow. That I wished for two hours' conversa- 

 tion on the subject with one of the King's council; if I did not con- 

 vince him he was undesigaedly betraying the interest of his sovereign, 

 I was mistaken. Strachey said, perhaps I would put down some 

 observations in writing upon it. I said, with all my heart, provided 

 I had the approbation of my colleagues; but I could do nothing of 

 the ktnd without submitting it to their judgments, and that what- 

 ever I had said, or should say, upon the subject, however strongly I 

 might express myself, was always to be understood with submission 

 to my colleagues. I showed them Captain Coffin's letter, and gave 

 them his character. His words are: 



Our fishermen from Boston, Salem, Newbury, Marblehead, Cape Ann, Cape 

 Cod, and Nautucket, have frequently gone out on the fisheries to the Straits of 

 Belle-He, north part of Newfoundland, and the banks adjacent thereto, there to 

 continue the whole season, and have made use of the north part of Newfound- 

 land, the Labrador coast in the Straits of Belle-lie, to cure their fish which 

 they have taken in and about those coasts. I have known several instances of 

 vessels going there to load in the fall of the year, with the fish taken and 

 cured at these places for Spain, Portland, &c. I was once concerned in a 



voyage of that kind myself, and speak from my own knowledge. 

 102 From Cape Sables to the Isle of Sables, and so on, to the Banks of 



Newfoundland, are a chain of banks extending all along the coast, and 

 almost adjoining each other, and those banks are where our fishermen go for the 

 first fare in the early part of the season. Their second fare is on the Banks of 

 Newfoundland, where they continue to fish, till prevented by the tempestuous 

 and boisterous winds which prevail in the fall of the year on that coast. Their 

 third and last fare is generally made near the coast of Cape Sables, or banks 

 adjoining thereto, where they are not only relieved from those boisterous gales, 

 but have an asylum to fly to in case of emergency, as that coast is lined, from 

 the head of Cape Sables to Halifax, with most excellent harbors. The sea- 

 cow fishery was, before the present war, carried on to great advantage, partic- 

 ularly from Nantucket and Cape Cod, in and about the river St. Lawrence, at 

 the island St. John's and Anticosti, Bay of Chaleurs, and the Magdalen Islands, 

 which were the most noted of all for that fishery. This oil has the preference 

 to all other, except spermaceti. 



Mr. Jay desired to know whether Mr. Oswald had now power to 

 conclude and sign with us. Strachey said he had absolutely. Mr. 

 Jay desired to know, if the propositions now delivered us were their 

 ultimatum. Strachey seemed loath to answer, but at last said, No. 

 We agreed these were good signs of sincerity. Bancroft came in this 

 evening and said it was reported that a courier had arrived from M. 

 Rayneval, in London, and that after it, the Count de Vergennes told 

 the King that he had the peace in his pocket, that he was now master 

 of the peace. 



No. 106. 1782, November 25: Extract from MSS. Department of 

 State (United States} ; 5 Sparks' Dip. Rev. Gorr. 461. 



NOVEMBER 25, 1782. 



The three commissioners, Adams, Franklin, and Jay, met at Mr. 

 Oswald's lodgings at the Hotel de Muscovie, and after some confer- 

 ence Mr. Oswald delivered them the following articles, as fresh pro- 

 posals of the British ministry, sent by Mr. Strachey, viz : 



Articles agreed upon by and between Richard Oswald, the com- 

 missioner of his Britannic majesty for treating of peace with the 

 commissioners of the United States of America, in behalf of his said 



