ARGUMENT OF JOHN S. EWART. 1293 



me that he will leave for Boston tomorrow morning, for the purpose 

 of having a consultation with you upon the subject of the fisheries. 

 He informs me also, that he has addressed a circular to the several 

 Governors of the British Provinces of North America advising mod- 

 eration and forbearance upon this subject. I doubt not that when 

 you and he meet you will be able to agree upon some line of proceed- 

 ing that will allay the present excitement and prevent any blood- 

 shed." 



Then he goes on to suggest that they should unite in a publication 

 in which certain statements should be made with reference to the 

 views of the two Governments, and Mr. Warren dwelt upon this for 

 the purpose of showing that the notice which Mr. Webster had issued 

 would not bear the interpretation which we put upon it. He said, 

 in effect : " Here are the instructions from the President to the Secre- 

 tary of State, and it would be quite impossible for the Secretary of 

 State to do anything which the instructions forbade." Mr. Warren 

 overlooked the fact that the notice was issued on the 19th July and 

 that this letter advising a joint publication was written after the 

 President had actually read the notice in the newspaper. Mr. 

 Crampton seems to have gone to Marshfield on the 26th July, and on 

 the 2nd August he wrote a letter to the British Foreign Minister 

 which will be found in the British Case Appendix, commencing at 

 p. 156. He wrote this from Mr. Webster's home in Marshfield in 

 the State of Massachusetts. I read from the top of p. 157 : 



" I observe with satisfaction that Mr. Webster now clearly per- 

 ceives and fairly admits the correctness of the construction of the 

 Convention of 1818 maintained by Her Majesty's Government. The 

 opinion of the Queen's Advocate and of the Attorney General is, 

 Mr. Webster said, ' undoubtedly right ' : and he afterwards informed 

 me that the President, from whom he had just received a letter on 

 the subject, now concurred in that opinion. 



" Mr. Webster remarked however that he thought that more had 

 been conceded on the part of the United States by the Convention 

 of 1818 strictly interpreted, than had been intended, or ought to have 

 been conceded : and that at all events a very important Ameri- 

 780 can interest had grown up under its practical operation: an 

 interest which was now threatened with destruction by a strict 

 enforcement of its provisions, and one which the American Govern- 

 ment could not, if it would, abandon. Any injury which should 

 be now inflicted upon that interest by the measures contemplated 

 by Her Majesty's Government, would not fail to excite an angry 

 feeling on the part of the inhabitants of the new England States 

 against the neighbouring British Colonies, which he was most anx- 

 ious to prevent: He felt therefore, he said, most desirous that the 

 whole matter might noAV be taken up by negotiation, and he read 

 to me a letter addressed to the President of the United States, in 

 which he recommends the adoption of this course in preference to 

 a settlement of the matter by legislation, stating his apprehension 

 that the arrangement of the matter by the latter mode, though pref- 

 erable on some accounts, might be subjected to indefinite delay." 



