QUESTION FIVE. 121 



It is agreed that the people of the United States shall continue to 

 enjoy unmolested the right to take fish of every kind on the Grand 

 Bank, and on all the other banks of Newfoundland ; also in the Gulf 

 of Saint Lawrence, and at all other places in the sea where the in- 

 habitants of both countries used at any time heretofore to fish. And 

 also the inhabitants of the United States shall have liberty to take 

 fish of every kind on such part of the coast of Newfoundland as 

 British fishermen shall use, (but not to dry or cure the same on that 

 island) and also on the coasts, bays and creeks of all other of His 

 Britannic Majesty's dominions in America; and that the American 

 fishermen shall have liberty to dry and cure fish in any of the un- 

 settled bays, harbors and creeks of Nova Scotia, Magdalen Islands 

 and Labrador, so long as the same shall remain unsettled; but so soon 

 as the same or either of them shall be settled, it shall not be lawful 

 for the said fishermen to dry or cure fish at such settlements, without 

 a previous agreement for that purpose with the inhabitants, proprie- 

 tors or possessors of the ground. 



Therefore, in these first negotiations and the subsequent treaty be- 

 tween the people of the United States and Great Britain, all broad 

 claims to extensive jurisdiction in respect of the fisheries over the 

 waters adjoining the coasts of His Majesty's dominions in North 

 America were abandoned by the Government of Great Britain with 

 the recognition of the independence of the United States. 



The people of the United States were henceforth to enjoy the fish- 

 eries in common with the subjects of Great Britain along the coasts 

 and in the bays and creeks of all the British possessions in North 

 America. 



This article is clear in meaning. What the people of the inde- 

 pendent colonies had theretofore enjoyed they were to continue to 

 enjoy. The colonists had fought for, and used these fisheries. They 

 were demanded in the partition of empire upon their independence 

 and became a part of their domain. The possession of these fisheries 

 was the moving cause of the early conflicts with the French in 

 America. 



At the beginning of the year 1776 Great Britain possessed seven- 

 teen colonies upon the North American continent. The time had 

 come when they must decide upon a permanent form of government. 

 The thirteen southern colonies chose independence, and on July 4th, 

 1776, published their Declaration of Independence. 



The four northern colonies, Quebec, Nova Scotia, St. John's Island, 

 and Newfoundland, chose to remain a part of the British Empire. 



In 1782 the independence of the thirteen colonies was recognized 



U. S. Case, Appendix, 24. 



