1376 NORTH ATLANTIC COAST FISHERIES ARBITRATION. 



Government a right to a bit of the Massachusetts coast or the Massa- 

 chusetts fishery. Of course, Mr. Adams would not have taken it that 

 far, and no Bostonian would have admitted any sort of a claim of 

 that kind. 



Mr. Adams, moreover, while he speaks of co-operation in 1745, 

 absolutely overlooks the fact that France was not ousted from the 

 North American continent in 1745, but afterwards, when the colonies 

 took no part in the attack upon Louisburg and Canada, when all 

 they did was to accompany some British expeditions, in their own 

 hinterland, against the French and the French Indians. They were 

 not with Wolfe at Louisburg in 1758, when Louisburg finally fell; 

 nor were they at Quebec in 1759 with Wolfe when Montcalm met 

 his defeat and France lost her position in Canada for ever; nor 

 even at the surrender of Montreal a quiet sort of affair the next 

 year. 



I pass from that point thus summarily because really I do not see 

 that it has very much bearing upon the matter before the Tribunal. 



The next paragraph in the letter may possibly have some more 

 bearing, and I shall ask leave to speak about it. Section 5 of the 

 letter (p. 318 of the Appendix to the Case of the United States), 

 referred to the negotiations, and then proceeded as follows : 



"We asked no pardon, we requested no grant, and would accept 

 none. We demanded it as a right, and we demanded an explicit 

 acknowledgment of that as an indispensable condition of peace; 

 and the word right was in the article as agreed to by the British 

 ministers, but they afterwards requested that the word liberty might 

 be substituted instead of right. They said it amounted to the same 

 thing, for liberty was right and privilege was right; but the word 

 right might be more unpleasing to the people of England than 

 liberty and we did not think it necessary to contend for a word/' 



The fact is that the word " right " was in the article as agreed to 

 by the British Ministers, but with reference to the ocean fishery only ; 

 and that the request that the word " liberty " might be substituted 

 instead of " right " related to the same ocean fishery. It would be 

 true to say that. " They said it amounted to the same thing, for 

 liberty was right, and privilege was right; but the word right might 

 be more unpleasing to the people of England than liberty, and we 

 did not think it necessary to contend for a word "-it would be true 

 if applied to the ocean fisheries. It would not be in accordance with 

 the fact if applied to the coast fisheries. 



The record will show that Mr. Adams drew the projet of the 



treaty which was afterwards accepted by the British Plenipo- 



831 tentiaries, and was incorporated in the treaty, and that in it 



he himself used the word " liberty " with reference to the coast 



fisheries. He had not done that in his first draft, but he did after- 



