AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 1725 



in itself to preserve to Great Britain her sovereignty in that part of her 

 dominions. 



When the war of 1812 was brought to an end, the United States had 

 not lived long enough as an independent nation to create that pleiad of 

 eminent jurists, publicists, and secretaries of state who have since 

 brought them up to the standard of the oldest constituted states of Eu- 

 rope. The characteristic 'elation of the nation who had but recently 

 conquered their national existence marked the conduct of the United 

 States Government during the negotiations of the Treaty of Ghent in 

 1814. They persistently refused to recognize a rule of international law 

 which 110 one would now dispute, and which was, however, fully ad- 

 mitted by some of the United States representatives at Ghent, that war 

 abrogates all treaties between belligerents. 



Henry Clay, one of those representatives at Ghent, answered in the 

 following manner the proposition of the British plenipotentiaries, who 

 desired to include the fisheries in that treaty, as appears in the Dupli- 

 cate Letters The Fisheries and the Mississippi. By J. Q. Adams. P. 

 14 in fine : 



" In answer to the declaration made by the British plenipotentiaries 

 respecting the fisheries, the undersigned (United States representatives) 

 referring to what passed in the conference of the 9th of August, can only 

 state that they are not authorized to bring into discussion any of the 

 rights or liberties which the United States have heretofore enjoyed in 

 relation thereto. From their nature and from the peculiar character of 

 the Treaty of 1783, by which they were recognized, no further stipula- 

 tion has been deemed necessary by the Government of the United States 

 to entitle them to the full enjoyment of all of them." 



In order to fully understand the views entertained by the British and 

 American plenipotentiaries, a few extracts from the correspondence be- 

 tween American diplomatists, published from 1814 to 1822, and con- 

 tained in the book of Mr. Adams, will show the course adopted at 

 Ghent by himself and his colleagues. 



(Extract from Protocol of Conference held 1st December, 1814, at 

 Ghent, p. 45:) 



The American plenipotentiaries also proposed the following amendment to Article 8, viz : 

 " The inhabitants of the United States shall continue to enjoy the liberty tj take, dry, and 

 cure fish, in places icithin the exclusive jurisdiction of Great Britain, as secured by the 

 former treaty of peace ; and the navigation of the river Mississippi, within the exclusive 

 jurisdiction of the United States, shall remain free and open to the subjects of Great Brit- 

 ain, in the manner secured by the said treaty." 



The following is the answer made by the British plenipotentiaries 

 (extract from Protocol of Conference, 10th December, 1814, Ghent, p. 



47): 



His Britannic Majesty agrees to enter into negotiation with the United States of America 

 respecting the terms, conditions, and regulations under which the inhabitants of the said 

 United States shall have the liberty of taking fish on certain parts of the coast of New- 

 foundland, and other His Britannic Majesty's dominions in North America, and of dry- 

 ing and curing fish in the unsettled bays, harbors and creeks of Nova Scotia, Magdalen 

 Islands, and Labrador, as stipulated in the latter part of the 3d Article of the Treaty of 1 

 in consideration of a fair equivalent, to be agreed upon between His Majesty and the sid 

 United States, and granted by the said United States for such liberty aforesaid. 



The American plenipotentiaries replied as follows (extract from 

 American note after conference, of 12th December, 1814, p, 49 :) 



For the purpose of meeting what they believed to be the wishes of the British Government, 

 they proposed the insertion of an article which should recognize the right of Great 

 to the navigation of that river, and that of the United States to a liberty in certain hi 

 which the British Government considered as abrogated by the war. To such 

 which they viewed as merely declaratory, the undersigned had no objection, and 

 to accede. They do not, however, want any ne.v article on either of those s 

 have offered to be silent with regard to both. 



