INTRODUCTION xxxix 



a clause apparently due to the fact that French fishermen claimed an 

 exclusive right under the treaties of 17 13, 1763 and 1783, which, 

 however, Great Britain strenuously denied.' The Treaty of 1783, 

 therefore, restricted American fishermen to such part of the coasts of 

 Newfoundland as British fishermen should actually use. This cautious 

 phraseology was probably justified in 1783, when Great Britain was 

 concluding peace with France after a war in which it could not be 

 said to have been oversuccessful. The situation in 1818 was, how- 

 ever, diflerent, for but three years before France had been crushed at 

 Waterloo, and Great Britain emerged from the revolutionary wars 

 crowned with victory and not unnaturally flushed with success. The 

 language of the Convention of 1818, therefore, might well be expected 

 to negative an exclusive right on the part of French fishermen in 

 Newfoundland waters, and Great Britain might be willing to acknowl- 

 edge a Kberty to American fishermen in common with British subjects 

 in such waters irrespective of the claim of France to an exclusive fishery 

 within certain portions thereof. 



The territorial limits within which the Americans were to enjoy the 

 liberty of fishing are thus defined: 



" On that part of the Southern Coast of Newfoundland which extends from Cape 

 Ray to the Rameau Islands, on the Western and Northern Coast of Newfoundland, 

 from the said Cape Ray to the Quirpon Islands, on the shores of Magdalen Islands, 

 and also on the Coasts, Bays, Harbours, and Creeks from Mount Joly on the South- 

 em Coast of Labrador, to and through the Streaights of Belleisle and thence 

 Northwardly indefinitely along the Coast, without prejudice, however, to any of the 

 exclusive Rights of the Hudson Bay Company."' 



An examination of the instructions issued to the American commis- 

 sioners shows that the fishing grounds actually obtained were more 

 extensive than the minimum which the commissioners were authorized 

 by their instructions to accept.^ 



The convention then proceeds to define the nature and extent of the 

 liberty to dry and cure fish. It will be recalled that the corresponding 

 clause of the Treaty of 1783 denied to American fishermen the liberty to 

 dry or cure fish in Newfoundland, a restriction due, in part, to the claim 

 of French fishermen in their treaties with Great Britain and the Declara- 

 tion of 1783 to an exclusive use to what is called the French shore. The 



'See Lord Salisbury's memorandum on the subject. (Appendix, U. S. Case, Vol. II, 

 pp. 1086-1098.) 



'Appendix, p. 380; Article I of the Convention of 1818. Appendix, U. S. Case, p. 

 24-25. Appendix, British Case, p. 30. 



' Mr. Adams' Instructions to Messrs. Gallatin and Rush, dated July 28, 1818. (Appendix, 

 U. S. Case, Vol. I, p. 304-) 



