10 CASE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Scotland, and Ireland to the Britons. The treaty was nothing more 

 than mutual acknowledgment of antecedent rights." 



The coursv^ of the negotiations was briefly as follows : 

 Before the arrival of the other American Commissioners, Messrs. 

 Franklin and Jay proposed a series of articles which, under date of 

 October 8, 1782, were agreed upon ad referendum by the British Com- 

 missioner and sent to England by him for the King's consideration, 

 in which articles it was provided — 



3rd. That the subjects of his Britannic Majesty and people of the 

 said United States, shall continue to enjoy unmolested, the rights to 

 take fish of every kind on the banks of Newfoundland, and other 

 places where the inhabitants of both countries used formerly, to wit, 

 before the last war between France and Britain, to fish and also to 

 dry and cure the same at the accustomed places, whether belonging 

 to his said Majesty or to the United States; and his Britannic Maj- 

 esty and the said United States will extend equal privileges and hos- 

 pitality to each other's fishermen as to their own.^ 



The articles thus proposed were not approved by the British Gov- 

 ernment and a new series of articles, under date of November 5, 

 1782, was agreed upon and signed by the British and American Com- 

 missioners, in which series the fisheries article appeared in the fol- 

 lowing form: 



That the subjects of his Britannic Majesty and the people of the 

 said United States shall continue to enjoy unmolested the right to 

 take fish of every kind on all the banks of Newfoundland, also in the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence, and all other places where the inhabitants of 

 both countries used at any time heretofore to fish; and also to dry 

 and cure their fish on the shores of the Isle of Sables; Cape Sables, 

 and the shores of any of the unsettled bays, harbors, or creeks of 

 Nova Scotia, and of the Magdalen Islands. And his Britannic Maj- 

 esty and the said United States will extend equal privileges and hos- 

 pitality to each other's fishermen as to their own.^" 



It will be noted that the chief difference between these articles is 

 that the Gulf of St. Lawrence is specifically mentioned as among 

 the places where the inhabitants of both countries used formerly to 

 fish and where, under the provisions of both articles, they are to 

 continue to enjoy unmolested such right; and that the places to be 

 used for drying and curing fish, which in the first proposal were 

 described as the " accustomed places," whether belonging to his 

 ISIajesty or to the United States, in the second proposal are spe- 

 cifically named, and that all of the places thus named are on the 



"Appendix, p. 318. * Appendix, p. 217. "Appendix, p. 218. 



