272 APPENDIX TO BRITISH COUNTER CASE. 



our note of the 14th of that month, signed by all the American mis- 

 sion, which said that " to such an article, which they viewed as merely 

 declaratory, the undersigned had no objection, and have offered to 

 accede." 



If he had referred, at the same time, to the despatch of the 25th 

 December, 1814, he would there have seen that, in fact, a majority 

 only, and not the whole of the mission, decided to make that pro- 

 posal. The words of the despatch, in reference to that proposal, are, 

 " to place both points beyond all future controversy, a majority of us 

 determined to offer an article confirming both rights." Mr. Adams 

 signed that despatch, and thus, at that time, attested a fact which 

 he now positively denies. 



No. 31. 1822: Extract from Mr. J. Q. Adams'' Rejoinder to Mr. 



Russell. 



Mr. Russell has taken infinite pains to fasten exclusively upon me, 

 the imputation of being the only asserter of this doctrine, that from 

 the peculiar character of the treaty of 1783, and from the nature 

 of the fishing rights and liberties, they had none of them been abro- 

 gated by the war, and needed no new stipulation to preserve them. 

 And it is this doctrine, which in the calmness of his urbanity he 

 styles the dream of a visionary. 



I certainly never should have claimed the credit of having been 

 alone in the assertion of this principle. I should have been willing 

 that all my colleagues, who united with me in asserting it in the 

 note of 10th November, 1814, at Ghent, signed by them all, should 

 have gone through life with the credit, and have left to posterity the 

 reputation, of having had each an equal share in this assertion. But 

 Mr. Russell has effectually disclaimed all his portion of it, and its 

 consequences. He has represented it as, on the part of the minority, 

 a PRETEXT to preserve the "fishing privilege, and to get rid of a propo- 

 sition confirmative of the British right to the navigation of the Mis- 

 sissippi. He says he does not recollect that any member of the mis- 

 sion, except myself, appeared to be a very zealous believer in that 

 doctrine. I thank Mr. Russell for that concession. If there was 

 moral virtue or has been successful result in the assertion of that 

 principle to preserve the fishing liberties, I ask no more than an equal 

 share in the esteem of my country, for having asserted it, with those 

 of my colleagues who are yet willing to bear the imputation, not as 

 a pretext^ but with sincerity of heart, and as very zealous believers in 

 it. But were every other living member of the mission to s-ay, and 

 were the spirit of Bayard from the tomb to join with them and 

 declare, that they assumed this principle only in the spirit of com- 

 promise, and as a pretext, but that they considered it only as the 

 dream of a visionary, I would answer the dream of the visionary 

 was an honest dream. He believed what he affirmed and subscribed. 

 And, I might confidently add, it has saved your fisheries. Nor should 

 I need other proof, than the negotiations with Great Britain since 

 the peace, and the convention of 1818. 



