NEGOTIATIONS FOR THE TREATY OF GHENT, 19 



The British plenipotentiaries then stated that with respect to the 

 8th Article, their Government offered in lieu of the American pro- 

 posals to retain the amended article as far as the words " Stony 

 mountains," and insert the following stipulation : 



" His Britannic Majesty, agrees to enter into negotiation with the 

 United States of American, 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 

 Newfoundland, and other of His Britannic Majesty's dominions in 

 North America, and of drying 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 third article of the treat}^ of 

 1783, in consideration of a fair equivalent to be agreed upon between 

 His Majesty and the said United States, and granted by the said 

 United States, for such liberty as aforesaid." 



'' The United States of America agree to enter into negotiation 

 with His Britannic Majesty respecting the terms, conditions, and 

 regulations under which the navigation of the river Mississippi from 

 its source to the ocean, as stipulated in the eighth article of the treaty 

 of 1783, shall remain free and open to the subjects of Great Britain, 

 in consideration of a fair equivalent, to be agreed upon between His 

 Majesty and the United States, and granted by His Majesty."" 



The protocol of the conference of December 12th reports that after 

 much discussion relative to this article and others, the American 

 Plenipotentiaries undertook to return an answer in writing to the 

 propositions brought forward by the British Plenipotentiaries,^ and 

 this they did in their note of December 14, to the British Plenipoten- 

 tiaries as follows: 



To the stipulation now proposed by the British plenipotentiaries 

 as a substitute for the last paragraph of the eighth article, the under- 

 signed cannot accede. 



The proposition made respecting the navigation of the Mississippi, 

 in the alteration first proposed by the British plenipotentiaries to 

 that article, was unexpected. In their note of the 31st of October 

 they had stated that they had brought forward, in their note of the 

 21st of the same month, all the propositions which they had to offer; 

 and that subject was not mentioned either in this last mentioned note, 

 or in the first conference to which it referred. In order to obviate 

 any difficulty arising from a presumed connexion between that subject 

 and that of the boundary proposed by the eighth article, the under- 

 signed expressed their willingness to omit the article altogether. 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 Britain to the navigation of that 

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

 which the British Government considered as abrogated by the war. 

 To such an article, which they viewed as merely declaratory, the un- 

 dersigned had no objection, and have offered to accede. They do not, 

 however, want any new article on either of those subjects ; they have 



"Appendix, p. 254. ^Appendix, p. 255. 



