ARGUMENT OF JOHN S. EWART. 1299 



The first part of the treaty of 1783 acknowledged certain rights, 

 rights not only on the banks of Newfoundland, in the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence, but in all other places where the fishermen of both coun- 

 tries used to fish. Now, he says, places where American fishermen 

 used to fish included the bays ; therefore in this first part of the treaty 

 of 1783 the bays were included. The rights acknowledged in that 

 first part of the treaty have always endured, because they were rights 

 that were acknowledged, and so were not affected by the war. There- 

 fore, Mr. Webster said, we have got them yet. He had difficulty, of 

 course, with the other part of the treaty and the renunciation clause 

 in the treaty of 1818. And with that subtlety of mind for which he 

 was most remarkable he analysed the renunciation clause and tried to 

 reduce it to a renunciation in connection with drying and curing, 

 and not in connection with the fishing. 



I should like very shortly to call the attention of the Tribunal to 

 the course of this argument reading only a few words of it, but 

 pointing out its course. 



On p. 524 of the United States Case Appendix, it will be seen that 

 Mr. Webster commences at once with the difference between right 

 and liberty. Then he goes on to quote from Mr. Adams's speech 

 (which we are now familiar with) during the negotiations of 1782 

 when he rose up and said : " When God Almighty made the Banks of 

 Newfoundland " fcc. he quotes from that long speech. Then in the 

 middle of p. 525 he quotes the instructions to which Mr. Adams re- 

 ferred. These were the resolutions in Congress of 1779 with which 

 the Tribunal is familiar. Then on p. 526, near the top: 



" Upon this assertion of right on our side and its admission on the 

 other, the Treaty of Peace of Nov. 30th, 1782, was negotiated and 

 signed." 



Then he quotes the treaty of 1818, and just below that I would ask 

 leave to read a little : 



" Nothing can be more clear or definite than this Article. It ad- 

 mits a common right on the part of the Citizens of the United States 

 with the subjects of Great Britain. 



" What those Citizens and subjects had been accustomed to do, they 

 are to have a right to do thereafter. It is not a right granted, but 

 a right acknowledged and continued." 



Observe that he puts the emphasis there. What they "had been 

 accustomed to do, they are to have a right to do thereafter. It is not 

 a right granted, but a right acknowledged and continued." 



" It is undeniable that under this provision of the Treaty of Peace 

 of 1783 & the preliminary Treaty of 1782 the citizens of the United 

 States continued to carry on the Fisheries in all the Eastern waters, 

 with the exception of approaching to and using the shores in certain 

 localities. 



