1378 NORTH ATLANTIC COAST FISHERIES ARBITRATION. 



Now, that refers to the first clause of the treaty, and the sugges- 

 tion was to strike out the word " right " with reference to the ocean 

 fisheries, not, as Senator Turner thought, with reference to the coast 

 fisheries. I continue reading; and we shall see whether Mr. Adams 

 agreed that the change proposed by Mr. Strachey made very little- 

 difference : 



" Mr. Fitzherbert said the word right was an obnoxious expression. 

 Upon this I rose up and said, gentlemen, is there or can there be a 

 clearer right? In former treaties, that of Utrecht, and that of Paris, 

 France, and England have claimed the right, and used the word. 

 When God Almighty made the Banks of Newfoundland at three 

 hundred leagues distance from the people of America, and at six 

 hundred leagues distance from those of France and England, did He 

 not give as good right to the former as to the latter? If Heaven, 

 in the creation, gave a right, it is ours at least as much as yours. If 

 occupation, use, and possession give a right, we have it as clearly as 

 you. If war and blood and treasure give a right, ours is as good as 

 yours. 



"We have been constantly fighting in Canada, Cape Breton, and 

 Nova Scotia, for the defence of this fishery, and have expended be- 

 yond all proportion more than you; if then, the right cannot be 

 denied, why should it not be acknowledged, and put out of dispute? 

 Why should we leave room for illiterate fishermen to wrangle and 

 chicane ? " 



That seems to me to be perfectly clear; but if there could be any 

 doubt about it I refer to Mr. Adams' biographer, his grandson, Mr. 

 C. F. Adams, an extract from whose book will be found upon p. 105, 

 in the middle of the first paragraph: 



" The discussions which ensued for the next four days, were long, 

 animated, and often vehement. The great struggle was upon the 

 fisheries. Great Britain was willing to concede the use on the high 

 seas as a privilege," 



832 That is precisely accurate 



" whilst she denied it altogether within its three miles' juris- 

 diction on the coasts. America, on the other hand, claimed the for- 

 mer as a right, and asked for the privilege of the latter." 



Precisely in line with what I have said to the Tribunal. 



Then, if one wants further evidence of it, we can take the letter 

 from Mr. Fitzherbert one of the British agents in Paris) to Lord 

 Shelburne, on p. 110 of the British Counter-Case Appendix, omitting 

 the first sentence : 



" I can truly assure your Lordship that in regard to the fishery, no 

 pains nor instances were spared in order to settle that article accord- 

 ing to the ideas of the British cabinet, 1st by restraining the Ameri- 

 cans to the fishery upon the Great Bank; 2d by restraining them 

 (agreeably to the hint thrown out in your Lordship's letter to me of 

 the 24th) merely to the cod-fishery; 3d by preventing them from 



