1094 MISCELLANEOUS. 



37. On the 18th June, 1783, the British Ambassador sent home the 

 draft of the French Counter-Declaration, which contained these 

 words: "Quant a la pe"che exclusive sur les cotes de Terre-Neuve qui 

 a e'te' 1'objet des nouveaux arrangements dont les deux Souverains 

 sont convenus sur cette matidre elle est sufFisamment exprimee par 

 1'Article du Traite de Paix signe" aujourd'hui, et par la Declaration 

 remise egalement ce jourd'hui par I'Ambassadeur et P16nipotentiaire 

 de Sa Majest6 Britannique, et Sa Majeste declare qu'elle est pleine- 

 ment satisfaite a cet e"gard." 



38. The Duke of Manchester was thereupon instructed, if he could 

 not obtain the omission of the word "exclusive" to make another 

 Declaration upon the French Counter-Declaration, protesting that 

 the King of England did not mean to grant exclusive fishery any other- 

 wise than by ordering his subjects not to molest by concun^ence, &c. 



39. The Duke reported that the French Minister had bee > per- 

 suaded to omit the word "exclusive" in the Counter-Declaration, 

 which would render another Declaration from the British Plenipo- 

 tentiary unnecessary. 



V. Negotiations of 1801-02. 



40. M. Waddington alludes to a proposal made by the Cabinet of 

 Paris in 1802, that the exclusive rights of France should be estab- 

 lished by a modification of Article XIII of the Treaty of Utrecht, and 

 states that "Le Ministre Fox avoua qu'il ne reconnaissait pas 1'oppor- 

 tunite' de recourir a cet amendement, et qu'il suffisait de revenir pure- 

 ment et simplement au texte de 1783, qui confirmait dans toute leur 

 forse les droits d'Utrecht, le Gouvernement Britannique n'ayant 

 jamais mis en doute le droit d'exclusivite" de peche en notre favour." 



41. There must obviously be some mistake about this, for Mr. Fox 

 was not at the time in office. Mr. Addington was Prime Minister, and 

 Lord Hawkesbury was Foreign Secretary. The Preliminaries of 

 Peace were agreed upon in London between Lord Hawkesbury and 

 M. Otto, and the negotiations for the Definitive Treaty were conducted 

 at first at Paris, and subsequently at Amiens, between Lord Cornwallis 

 and M. Joseph Buonaparte. 



42. On the 26th November, 1801, Lord Cornwallis reported that on 

 the Xlllth Article of the Preliminaries of Peace, "M. Buonaparte 

 observed that they wished for some adjustment about the fisheries, to 

 which I replied that I was not sufficiently conversant in that business 

 to enter into particulars, and could only at present say that it was a 

 matter in which the British Government must act with the utmost 

 caution, as any improvident cession in that Article would create a 

 most violent clamour, and be attended with very disagreeable 

 consequences." 



43. In the instructions sent to Lord Cornwallis in reply, Lord 

 Hawkesbury observed: "With regard to what Joseph Buonaparte 

 stated to your Lordship on the subject of the fisheries on the Banks of 

 Newfoundland and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, I have to inform you 

 that, from the representations of the different bodies interested in 

 those fisheries, it appears to be scarcely possible to make any new 

 concessions to France in this respect which could be considered as real 

 benefits to that Power, and which would not be injurious to the inter- 

 ests of His Majesty's subjects who are engaged in this branch of com- 



