QUESTION SEVEN. 265 



This is the real issue presented by Question Seven ; and the United 

 States, resting upon the language of the treaty of 1818 and upon the 

 nature of the fishing liberty and of commercial privileges, repeats 

 that the treaty can not be interpreted as meaning that the inhabitants 

 of the United States are not entitled to have for their fishing ves- 

 sels, when duly authorized in that behalf, the commercial privileges 

 accorded to American trading vessels generally ; that the exercise of 

 the fishing liberty under the treaty is in no way inconsistent with the 

 exercise of commercial privileges; and that the inhabitants of the 

 United States, whose vessels are permitted to trade, are not debarred 

 from using the same vessels in the exercise of their treaty liberty 

 of fishing. 



