NEGOTIATIONS FOR THE TEEATY OF GHENT. 15 



tentiaries, at a conference held on August 9th, that the point raised 

 by them with respect to the fisheries was not provided for in their 

 instructions." The American Plenipotentiaries were forbidden by 

 their instructions to permit the right of the United States to the 

 enjoyment of the fisheries under the treaty of 1783 to be brought into 

 question,'' and in consequence of these instructions they declined to 

 entertain any suggestion that a new basis for the enjoyment of these 

 fisheries be adopted or that their rights under the former treaty 

 be continued conditionally or in exchange for some equivalent, and 

 they explicitly declined to enter into any stipulation which could 

 be construed as a renunciation either directly or indirectly of their 

 rights under that treaty. The negotiations on their part were con- 

 ducted throughout on the basis that the fisheries provisions under 

 consideration had not been abrogated by the War of 1812. Notice 

 of the position of each Government on this subject seems to have 

 been given to the other at the second conference, held on August 

 9, 1814. No official record of the discussion on the subject at that 

 conference is found further than appears from two brief references 

 to it in the notes subsequently exchanged between the Plenipoten- 

 tiaries. In their note of October 21, 1814, to the American Plenipo- 

 tentiaries the British Plenipotentiaries said : 



On the subject of the fisheries the undersigned expressed, with so 

 much frankness, at the conference already refeiTed to the views of 

 their Government, that they consider any further observation on that 

 topic as unnecessary at the present time.'' 



The American Plenipotentiaries in their note of November 10th, 



wrote in response : 



In answer to the declaration made by the British Plenipotentiaries 

 respecting the fisheries, the undersigned, referring to what passed 

 in the conference of the 9th August, can only say 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 stipulation has been deemed 

 necessary by the Government of the United States to entitle them to 

 the full enjoyment of all of them.^ 



The position of the United States as presented at this conference 

 and as adhered to throughout the negotiations is stated in the report 



"Appendix, p. 243. <" Appendix, p. 247. 



^Appendix, p. 242. ^Appendix, p. 250. 



