154 



to waive the point nllogether in the provisional, and leave the question 

 to be adjusted in the definitive treaty that was to tr)llow. To this Mr. 

 Adams would not listen. He stood on ground from which he could 

 not be driven by any device or evasion oi" diplomacy ; and he emphati- 

 cally declared, " I will never put my hand to any articles without satis- 

 faction about the fishery." "When Congress," he added, "three or 

 four years ago, did me the honor to give me a commission to make a 

 treaty of commerce with Great Britain, they gave me positive instruc- 

 tions not to make such a treaty without an article acknowledging our 

 right to the fishery; and I am happy that Mr. Laurens is now present, 

 who, I believe, was in Congress at the time, and must remember it." 

 Mr. Laurens confirmed the statement; and Mr. Jay followed widi the 

 remark, that "it could not be a peace — it would only be an insidious 

 ti-uce," without the stipulations contended for; and thus the riglit., so 

 courageously maintained, was acknowledged in the thu"d article of the 

 treaty, and in the following terms: 



"It is agreed tliat the people of the United States shall continue to 

 enjo}^, unmolested, the right to take fish of every kind on the Grand 

 Bank, and on all the other banks of Newfoundland; also, in the Gulf 

 of St. Lawrence, and at all other places in the sea where the inhabit- 

 ants of both countries used at any time heretofore to fish ; and also, 

 that the inhabitants of the United States shall have liberty to take fish of 

 every kind on such part of the coast of Newfoundland as British fisher- 

 men shall use, (but not to dry or cure the same on that island,) and also 

 on the coasts, bays, and creeks, of all other of his Britannic Majesty's 

 dominions in America ; and that the American fishermen shall have 

 liberty to dry and cure fish in any of the unsettled bays, harbors, and 

 creeks of Nova Scotia, Magdalen islands, and Labrador, so long as the 

 same shall remain unsettled; but so soon as the same, or either of 

 them, shall be settled, it shall not be lawful for the said fishermen to 

 dry or cure fish at such settlement, without a previous agreement lor 

 that purpose with the inhabitants, proprietors, or possessors of the 

 ground." 



The privileges thus conceded were ample; since, with regard to 

 catching fish, all were continued to us that we could or should have en- 

 joyed had we remained colonists; while, in drying and curing we were 

 not injuriously restricted. 



It has been remarked that the American commissioners were in- 

 structed to conclude no treaty with Great Britain without the concur- 

 rence of France, and that they disobeyed the injunction. Such, indeed, 

 is the fact. Mr. Adams, communicating ofiicialiy with Mr. Livingston, 

 says that obedience "would have infallibly prevented the whole 

 peace." The Count de Vergennes complained of the course of the 

 mission in words which show deep sensibility. "I am at a loss, sir," 

 he wrote to Franklin, "to explain your conduct, and that of your col- 

 leagues, on this occasion. You have concluded your preliminary 

 articles without any communication between us, although the instruc- 

 tions from Congress prescribe that nothing shall be done without the 

 participation of the King. You are about to hold out a certain hope 

 of peace to America, without even informing yourself on the state of 

 the negotiation on our part. You are wise and discreet, sir; 3^ou per- 



