[DUPLICATE.] g7 



proposed by us, was rejected by Great Britain, whatever were her 

 reasons for rejecting it ; whether, as above suggested, (170) she might 

 have suspected gome tacit reservation, or want of faith, on our part ; 

 or supposed, from the price we at once bid for the fishing privi- 

 lege, that we overrated its value, and might concede for it even 

 more than (1^1) the free navigation of the xMississippi, with all its ac- 

 cessary advantages. 



(172) Let me not, in an}' thing which I have said, be misunderstood. In 

 judging on the interests of the great whole, I am not disposed to undervalue the 

 interests on any of tlie constituent parts. No one can more highly appreciate 

 than I do, a branch of industry which not only adds to national wealth, but 

 seems to create it. Nor can any one more warmly admire the usefulness and 

 patriotism of those citizens wlio are engaged in it, and who have never ceased 

 to deserve well of the republic. In times of peace they bring home, amidst con- 

 flicting elements, the treasures of the deep to enrich their country; and in time* 

 of war they contribute, by their skill and intrepidity, to her defence and glory. 

 But, in our country, where all are equal, the essential security and prosperity of 

 the many must be prefened to the convenience and minor interests of the few. 

 In giving this preference, I will frankly confess I had to silence early prepoa- 

 sions and local predilections, and to listen to the councils of a more enlarged 

 patriotism; and to this patriotism I dare appeal for my. vindication, not only 

 with those to whom I am officially responsible, but with those with whom I am 

 more immediately connected in society, and whose interests maybe considered 

 to have been unfavourably affected by the views which I have dcenied it to be 

 iny duty to adopt. I have always been willing to make any sacrifice for the 

 fishing privilege, which its nature, or comparative importance could justify, but 

 I conscientiously believe that the free navigation of the xMississippi, and the 

 access to it which we expressly offered, were pregnant with too much mischief 

 to be offered, indirectly, under our construction of the treaty ; or, directly, as 

 they were in fact offered, as a new equivalent for the liberty of taking and dry- 

 ing fish within the British jurisdiction. 



I will frankly avow, however, that my impressions were, and still are, that 

 Great Britain, calculating on the success of the powerful expedition which she 

 has sent against New-Orleans, confidently expected that she would have become 

 the mistress of Louisiana and all its waters ; and that she did not, in this event 

 intend to abandon her conquest under the terms of the treaty of Ghent. 



Her ministers had, almost from the commencement of the negotiation, not 

 only affected to consider our acquisition of Louisiana as evidence of a spirit of 

 agrandizement, but insinuated a defect in our title to it. Expecting, therefore, 

 to obtain the free n-ivigatioii of the Mississippi for nothing, she would not con- 

 sent to part even with the fishing liberty as an equivalent. If she be disap- 

 pointed in her views on Louisiana, and 1 trust in God and tho valour of the 

 ^vest that she will be, I shall not be surprised if, hereafter, she grant us the 

 fishing privilege, which costs her absolutely nothing, without any extravagant 

 equivalent whatever. 



At any rate, we are still at liberty to negotiate for that privilege in a treaty 

 of commerce, and to offer for it an equivalent, fair in its comparative value, 

 und just in its relative effects ; and to negotiate for it in this way is evidently 

 more wise than to demand it as a condition of peace, or to offer for it a price 

 beyond its worth, and which, however excessive, runs the hazard of being re- 

 fused, merely by the operation of those unaccommodating passions which are 

 inevitably engendered by a state of war. 



I have the honour to be, with the most profound respect, sir, your faithful 

 and obedient servant, JONA. RUSSELL. 



To the Hon'ble James Monroe, 



Sec'']/ oj State of the United States, Sec. &:e. Sec. 



A true copy of a paper left by Jonathan llussell, esq. at the De- 

 partment of State, 22d April, 1822, to be communicated to the 

 House of Representatives of the United States. 



J. Q. ADAMS, Secretary of Slate, 



