34 THE ARGUMENT OP THE UNITED STATES. 



had uniformly been carried, and it was not unnatural that the 

 American negotiators who were as familiar with the meaning of such 

 terms as were the British, should accede to the use of the technical 

 terms. We find accordingly, from the statement of John Adams, 

 that this consideration was the one which governed the use of the 

 word liberty in the treaty of, 1783. " They said it (the use of the 

 word liberty) amounted to the same thing, for liberty was right 

 and privilege was right; but the word right might be more unpleas- 

 ing to the people of England than liberty, and we did not think it 

 necessary to contend for a word." 



The treaty of 1818 but followed that of 1783 in the use of the word 

 liberty, and the term was employed by the American negotiators in 

 the first draft of the treaty of 1818 proposed by them, and was ad- 

 mitted by them in the subsequent British draft, pursuant to the 

 principle upon which they were conducting the negotiations, namely, 

 that they could not demand more and would not accept less in point 

 of right (although they would accept less in extent of coast) than 

 had been before enjoyed by the Americans under the treaty of 1783. 



Great Britain has never denied that the French fishery on the 

 Newfoundland coast was a fishery as of right. That right was 

 described as follows by the treaty of 1713, between France and Great 

 Britain : 



But it shall be allowed to the subjects of France to catch fish and to 

 dry them on land, in that part only, and in no other besides that, of 

 the said island of Newfoundland, which stretches from the place 

 called Cape Bonavista, to the northern point of said island, 6 etc. 



In the treaty of 1763 between the same powers, the right is de- 

 scribed thus: 



The subjects of France shall have the liberty of fishing and drying, 

 on a part of the coasts of the island of Newfoundland, such as is 

 specified in Article XIII of the treaty of Utrecht, which article is re- 

 newed and confirmed by the present treaty. 



Here the right is described as a liberty, but referred to as a renewal 

 of the right conferred by the treaty of 1713, which treaty in con- 

 ferring the right employed the words " it shall be allowed." 



In the treaty of 1783 between the same powers, the French fishery 

 right is referred to as, " the fishery assigned to the subjects of His 

 Most Christian Majesty," and the article concludes, "the French 



U. S. Case, p. 31 ; Appendix, 318. U. S. Case, Appendix, 52. 



*U. S. Case, Appendix, 51. 



