DESPATCHES, EEPOBTS, CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 289 



He did not state the foundation on which the claim to this terri- 

 tory rested, insisting merely upon the fact of its having been captured 

 from the United States during the war which brought it within the 

 Treaty. He then proceeded to observe that he had a complaint to 

 make respecting the interruption which had been given to several 

 American vessels fishing off the coast of the British North American 

 Provinces, which had been ordered away by one of His Majesty's 

 ships of war, and warned by a notice endorsed on their papers not to 

 return. This he said was a violation of a clear right which the 

 United States possessed under the Treaty of 1783, and which the 

 American Government conceived to be still in force, owing to the 

 peculiar character of that Treaty. 



In my answer I reminded him of the firm and decided language 

 which had been held by Great Britain throughout the negotiations 

 at Ghent with respect to the supposed continuance of the right of 

 the United States to catch and dry fish within His Majesty's juris- 

 diction in North America; that this privilege had been distinctly 

 and repeatedly stated to the American Commissioners to have been 

 purely of a conventional nature, to have therefore ceased on the war ; 

 and that as it had not been renewed by the late Treaty of Peace, it 

 could not be considered at present in existence. I remarked that the 

 doctrine which had been advanced by the American Commissioners 

 was judged equally novel and extraordinary, and that no satisfactory 

 reasons had ever been adduced in support of it. 



Mr. Monroe did not press the subject further, and led me to expect 

 that he would make a written communication respecting it, and like- 

 wise relative to the restoration of the settlement on the Columbia 

 Kiver. In some conversation which afterwards ensued he complained 

 of the want of reciprocity which existed in the commercial inter- 

 course between the United States and the British Colonies, and 

 thought that the former would be justified in placing the same 

 restrictions upon the navigation and trade with the Colonies which 

 were enforced against the United States. Although these 

 175 remarks were merely thrown out in the course of conversation, 

 with no apparent view to any result, I have thought it right to 

 mention them, as tending to show the present tone of this Government. 



I received this morning the note respecting the interruption to 

 the fishery, a copy of which is inclosed. It does not, it will be per- 

 ceived, embrace the wide subject of the alleged right, as I had reason 

 to believe would have been the case from what had passed, but is 

 confined to much narrower ground. It states the instance of one 

 vessel fishing in longitude 65 20', latitude 42 41', and said to have 

 been distant about 45 miles from Cape Sable, which was ordered 

 away by His Majesty's brig Jaseur, as well as the other American 

 vessels in sight, and warned by an endorsement on her papers not to 

 come within 60 miles of the coast. Mr. Monroe states this measure 

 to be altogether incompatible with the rights of the United States, 

 and therefore presumes it has not been authorized by His Majesty's 

 Government. Both the distances mentioned, it will be observed, are 

 without His Majesty's maritime jurisdiction. I have sent copies of 

 the note and inclosure to Rear-Admiral Griffiths, the Naval Com- 

 mander-in-chief at Halifax, requesting information as to the facts 

 alleged, as likewise an explanation respecting the grounds on which 



