DOCUMENTS BEARING ON THE TREATY OF GHENT, 1814. 257 



would probably, on longer experience, have been almost universally 

 used by them. It was to be believed, therefore, that a discontinuance 

 of the privilege of taking and curing fish, within the British jurisdic- 

 tion, would not, at all, diminish the aggregate quantity taken by the 

 people of the United States, or very materially vary the details of the 

 business. That part of the fisheries which would still have belonged 

 to us as a nation, being exhaustless, would afford an ample field for 

 all the capital and industry hitherto employed in the general business 

 of fishing, or merchandise of fish, and on that field might the few 

 fishermen, who had hitherto used the liberty of taking and curing 

 fish within the jurisdiction of Great Britain, exert their skill and 

 labour without any serious inconvenience. This liberty, liable in a 

 very considerable degree by the terms in which it was granted, to be 

 curtailed by the government and subjects of a foreign state; already 

 growing into voluntary disuse by cur own citizens, on account of the 

 difficulties inseparable from it, and absolutely incapable of extension ; 

 was totally unnecessary to us for subsistence or occupation, and 

 afforded, in no way, any commercial facility or political advantage. 

 This privilege, too, while it was thus of little or no utility to us, cost 

 Great Britain literally nothing. 



The free navigation of the Mississippi, with the necessary access to 

 it, is a grant of a very different character. If it was not heretofore 

 used by Great Britain, it was, perhaps, because she did not consider 

 herself entitled to it, or because the circumstances of the moment 

 suspended its practical utility. The treaty of 1783 stipulated for her 

 the navigation of this river, under the presumption that her terri- 

 tories extended to it, and, of course, could not intend to give her an 

 access to it through our territories. The British possessions to the 

 westward of Lake Erie, being almost entirely unsettled, rendered, 

 perhaps, the free navigation of the Mississippi, for the moment, of 

 little advantage to her, particularly as her right to reach it was at 

 least equivocal ; and as, by another treaty, she could carry on trade 

 with our Indians. 



This navigation might, indeed, for a long time to come, be of little 

 use to her for all the legitimate purposes of transit and intercourse ; 

 but every change that could take place in this respect must increase its 

 importance to her ; while every change in the fishing liberty would be 

 to the disadvantage of the United States. 



The freedom of the Mississippi, however, is not to be estimated by 

 the mere legitimate uses that would be made of it. The unrestrained 

 and undefined access which would have been inferred from the 

 article which we proposed, would have placed in the hands of Great 

 Britain and her subjects all the facilities of communication with our 

 own citizens, and with the Indians inhabiting the immense regions of 

 our western territory. It is not in the nature of things that these 

 facilities should not have been abused for unrighteous purposes. A 

 vast field for contraband and intrigue would have been laid open, and 

 our western territories would have swarmed with British smugglers 

 and British emissaries. The revenue would have been defrauded by 

 the illicit introduction of English merchandise, and the lives of our 

 citizens, and the security of a valuable portion of our country exposed 

 to Indian hostilities, excited by an uncontrolled British influence. 

 If our instructions to guard against such an influence forbid us to 

 renew the British liberty to trade with our Indians, we certainly 



