ABGUMENT OF CHARLES B. WARREN. 1071 



The Tribunal is entirely familiar with the fact that Great Britain 

 claimed that the second clause of article 3 of the treaty of 1783 was 

 abrogated by the war of 1812, and that the United States claimed the 

 right to enjoy all the privileges recognised by article 3 of the treaty 

 of 1783. 



At the first conference of the Commissioners at Ghent, the proceed- 

 ings of which are recorded in the Appendix to the Case of the United 

 States, on p. 242, this statement was made: 



"The British commissioners requested information whether the 

 American commissioners were instructed to enter into negotiation on 

 the above points. But before they desired any answer, they felt it 

 right to communicate the intentions of their Government as to the 

 North American fisheries, viz. : that the British Government did not 

 intend to grant to the United States gratuitously the privileges for- 

 merly granted by treaty to them of fishing within the limits of the 

 British sovereignty, and of using the shores of the British territories 

 for purposes connected with the fisheries." 



As I have stated, it is quite unnecessary for me to go through these 

 protocols. The result was that the Plenipotentiaries of both Powers 

 expressed their willingness to omit any article referring to the fish- 

 eries, or to the navigation of the Mississippi by the subjects of Great 

 Britain; the right of the subjects of Great Britain to navigate this 

 river having been denied by the United States, and having been 

 brought into the discussion. 



I shall depart from the direct course of my argument a moment to 

 remind the Tribunal of the fact that there was an evident belief at the 

 time of the making of the treaty of 1783 that the boundary fixed 

 between the dominions of the United States and Great Britain gave 

 British subjects access to the Mississippi River, and to the additional 

 fact that when the boundary line was extended, it was found that the 

 Mississippi River did not rise, and was not accessible in the territory 

 of Great Britain. This brought the Mississippi River into the dis- 

 cussion at the conferences in 1814. 



The British Plenipotentiaries, in a note dated the 22nd December, 

 1814, to be found in the Appendix to the Case of the United States, 

 on p. 256, stated to the American Commissioners: 



" The undersigned, returning to the declaration made by them at 

 the conference of the 8th of August, that the privileges of fish- 

 645 ing within the limits of the British sovereignty, and of using 

 the British territories for purposes connected with the fish- 

 eries, were what Great Britain did not intend to grant without equiva- 

 lent, are not desirous of introducing any article upon the subject. 



" With a view of removing what they consider as the only objec- 

 tion to the immediate conclusion of the treaty, the undersigned agree 

 to adopt the proposal made by the American plenipotentiaries at the 

 conference of the 1st instant, and repeated in their last note, of 

 omitting the 8th article altogether." 



92909 S. Doc. 870, 61-3, vol 10 12 



