1726 NORTH ATLANTIC COAST FISHERIES ARBITRATION. 



eignty; it was put, and very properly and very forcibly put, as an 

 appeal to the good feeling of the English people in relation to a class 

 who had once been their fellow-citizens, and whom they hoped they 

 might yet live with in peace and amity. It was said : Do not deprive 

 these men of their living. That was the argument. It was not a 

 demand on the part of the United States for a share in sovereignty. 

 Mr. Adams did not put it upon the ground that when this partner- 

 ship was coming to be wound up they would like to have, as their 

 share of the assets, the right to fish on the Banks of Newfoundland. 

 Not at all. Not a word of that sort was said or thought of. He said : 

 Do not let us throw these hardy men out of work. Do not let us take 

 away the bread from their wives and families. Let us give to these 

 individual inhabitants of the United States a right to continue in 

 peace, the only means by which they are accustomed to live. That 

 was it. And Great Britain replied, and I believe replied in a gener- 

 ous spirit. When one reads all these letters and documents one gets 

 the impression that each party is fighting for some advantage, as, of 

 course, they are, and I think one rather too easily assumes that both 

 are animated by motives of a selfish and sordid character. Well, 

 that is the effect which would be produced on the mind of a super- 

 ficial reader when dealing with these diplomatic negotiations between 

 States, as, indeed, you might have the same effect when you are read- 

 ing the lawyers' letters between two parties with regard to some con- 

 tract or purchase. But we know that behind the lawyer and 

 1044 behind these hard-bargaining documents we have, perhaps, 

 two gentlemen who are not unwilling to meet each other in a 

 friendly and generous spirit upon matters which are of detail, or 

 thought to be of detail. And it was so here. Lord Bathurst was an 

 English gentleman of most kindly disposition, as, indeed, was Lord 

 Shelburne, who was driven from power because he made the peace of 

 1783, but who still leaves a tradition of his own amiable and high- 

 principled character. These men thought : Well, now, we want peace. 

 At any moment at that tune, in the then state of the world, England 

 Ftood in danger of war. They thought: We want peace. We will 

 not haggle and bargain over every detail. We will make this con- 

 cession to that class whose claims are so forcibly put before us. Ami 

 so they were asked on grounds of humanity, and on grounds of 

 humanity they made a concession to these individuals. 



Let me read Mr. Adams' letter, which really is 



JUDGE GRAY: There was also, Sir William, an economic ground 

 urged that it might give the inhabitants of the United States the 

 ability to purchase British goods. 



SIR W. ROBSON : That it might give them the ability to purchase 

 manufactures, yes. That, I think, again, may be used rather to 

 strengthen my observation. 



