150 



Britain, a stipulation be made on their part not to disturb the inhab- 

 itants of these States in the free exercise of their common right to the 

 fisheries aforesaid, and that a reciprocal engagement be made on the 

 part of the United States." Fourth : " That the faith of Congress be 

 pledged to the several States, that, without their unanimous consent, 

 no treaty of commerce shall be formed with Great Britain previous to 

 such stipulation." Fifth: "That if the explanatory article should not 

 be ratified by his Most Christian Majesty, nor the stipulation aforesaid 

 be adopted by Great Britain, the minister conducting ihe business shall 

 give notice thereof to Congress, and not sign any treaty oi" peace until 

 their pleasure be known. " 



The opposition to these resolutions was determined and violent in 

 the extreme. Those who enlisted against them insisted that it was 

 unreasonable and absurd to ask or expect that a war commenced for 

 fi-eedom, should be continued for the humble privilege of catching fish. 

 Mr. Gerr}^ who had grown up among the fishermen of Massachusetts, 

 replied: "It is not so much fishing," said he, "as enterprise, industry, 

 employment. It is not fish merely which gentlemen sneer at; it is 

 gold, the produce of that avocation. It is the employment of those 

 who would otherwise be idle, the food of those wdio would otherwise 

 be hungry, the wealth of those who would otherwise be poor, that 

 depend on your putting these resolutions into the instructions of your 

 minister." 



'ihe majority of Congress sustained Mr. Gerry's propositions, in fifteen 

 divisions on calls of the ayes and noes, and rejected numerous amend- 

 ments offered to modify them; but consented, finally, to the adoption 

 of the single declaration, that "although it is of the utmost importance 

 to the peace and commerce of the United States that Canada and Nova 

 Scotia should be ceded, and more particularly that their equal common 

 right to the fisheries should be guarantied to them, yet, a desire of 

 terminating the war has induced us not to make the acquisition of these 

 objects an ultimatum on the present occasion." 



This declaration appears to have been the result of concession and 

 compromise; since Mr. Adams was instructed, in September, 1779, 

 first, "that the common right of fishing should in no case be given 

 up;" second, "that it is essential to the welfare of all these United 

 States that the inhabitants thereof, at the expiration of the war, should 

 continue to enjoy the free and undisturbed exercise of their common 

 right to fish on the Banks of Newfoundland, and all the other fishing- 

 banks and seas of North America, preserving inviolate the treaties be- 

 tween France and the said States;" third, "that our faith be pledged 

 to the several States that without their unanimous consent no treaty of 

 commerce shall be entered into, nor any trade or commerce whatever 

 carried on wdth Great Britain, without the explicit stipulation hereinaf- 

 ter mentioned. You are, therefore, not to consent to any treaty of 

 commerce with Great Britain without an explicit stipulation, on her 

 part, not to molest or disturb the inhabitants of the United States of 

 America in taking fish on the Banks of Newfoundland, and other fish- 

 eries in the American seas, anywhere, except within the distance of 

 three leagues of the shores of the territories remaining to Great Britain 

 at the close of the war, if a nearer distance cannot be obtamed by ne- 



