281 



an independent niition, and containing tlie terms and conditions on 

 \viiich the two parties of one empire had mutually agreed licncefbrlli 

 to constitute two distinct and separate nations. In consenting, ])y that 

 treaty, tliat a part of the North American continent should remain sub- 

 ject to the British jurisdiction, the people^ of the United States had re- 

 served to themselves the liberty, which they had ever before enjoved, 

 of fishing u[)on that part of the coast, and of drying and curing fish 

 upon the shores; and this reservation had been agreed to by ihe other 

 contracting party. 



" We saw not why this liberty — then no new grant, but a mere recog- 

 nition of a prior right always enjoyed — should be forfeited by a war 

 more than any other of the rights of our national independence ; or 

 why we should need a new stijjulation for its enjo3aTient more than we 

 needed a new article to declare that tlie King of Great Britain treated 

 with us as free, sovereign, and independent States. We stated this 

 principle in general terms to the Biitish plenipotentiaries in the note 

 which we sent to them with our prqjct of the treaty, and we alleged it 

 as the ground upon which no new stipulation was deemed by our gov- 

 ernment necessary to secure to the people of the United States all the 

 rights and hbcrlies stipulated in their favor by the treaty of 17S3. No 

 reply to that part of our note was given by the British plenipotentia- 

 ries."* 



To Lord Falkland's second and third queries the Queen's advocate 

 and her Majesty's attorney general reply: 



"Except within certain defined limits, to which the query put to us 

 does not apply, we are of opinion that, by the terms of the treaty, 

 American citizens are excluded from the right of fishing within three 

 miles of the coast of British America; and that the prescribed distance 



* It has been sugjTested to me by gentlemen of high consideration in onr national coiuicils, 

 that Mr. Adnms, by consencing to the convention of ISlrt, abandoned the piiuciplo which is 

 here so ably asserted. If it can be shown that he really did consent to that convention, the 

 suggestion is not without force, since it is manifest, that on the ground taken by our commis- 

 sioners at (jhent, no new stipulations were necessary. But I have never believed that Mr. 

 Adams, as Secretary of State, approved of the terms of the convention ; and my conjecture 

 has been, that he persisted in the views wliich he entertained in lriJ4, and was overruled by 

 other mcinbers of Mr. Monroe's cabinet. De.'^irous, if jjossible, to ascertain the precise fact 

 upon so iiii])ort;uit, a point, I addressed a note of imiuiry to the Hon. Charles l''ra>uMs A(hinis, 

 biH only surviving son and executor. This gentleman consulted iiis father's diary, and kindly 

 furnished me wiiii the following minutes of a conversation with the British ministei- at Wash- 

 ington, (Mr. Bagot,) on the 15th of May, 1*^18. This extract will remove all doubt, as it 

 Beems to me, as to the consistency of Mr. Ailaras, and shows tliat he siihmitird, rather than 

 consented, to a negotiation which he bad not the power to ]>revent, as well as to terms which 

 he disliked, and which had been ])ariially or entirely determined ui)on by our government 

 before his return from England, or before lie became a meml)er of thi' cabinet. 



"As to the jiroposal which was to liave been made to tin' British governuieuf," he recorded, 

 "and uliicli iiad hitlierto been delayed, its postpouemeut liad been owiui,' to ditliculties wiiieh 

 had been diseovered since it was promised. It was Ibuiided on riie principle ot' assuming a 

 range nt coast within given laiiindes for our fishermen to iVenuent, and abandoning lli(> right 

 to tish for the rest. But the (ish, themselves, resorted at dill'erenl times to dillerent ]>arts of 

 the coast, and a jdac(! which might be sf'lected as very eiii,'il)le now, nught l)e in tlu» course "of 

 four or five years entirely deserted. For my men purl, I hud utiruys hrvii arirsc to muj proposal 

 of arrommodiilion. I thought our iclioir, ris^lit, us sli/iulutnl hi/ the trruty of I7H:{, so clear, 

 that I irus for uitiintuiiiiiiir the whole, ; and ifforre should he uppliiil to prerrnt our Jishennen from 

 frrj/uenlim; the roast, I iniuld hare, protested ni,'iiuist it, and reserrril the rii'hl of rerorrriiier the 

 WHoi.K UY (■oncK, irheiierer ire shouldbe able. It mad, iiowkvkh, kkkn dk iv.kmim o oTnhHWisu 

 HEKK, ANO A i'i;oi-o,sAi. MAO iiKH.N pRoMisKi). INuliaps wc slioulti ultimately oher to givo up 

 the right of drying and curing ou tho shore, and rescn'o the whole right of tishiug." 



