ARGUMENT OF MR. ROOT 27 



Near the very beginning of the British Argument, p. 6, Great 

 Britain cites a paper which was interposed by Mr. Rush in the 

 negotiations with Great Britain which followed the French inter- 

 ference with American rights on the coast in 1820, 1821, and 1822, 

 in which Mr. Rush refers to the French right of fishing on the coast 

 as being a right in common, and that view was the view always 

 taken by the British regarding the French rights of fishing on 

 that coast, 'always denied by the French, always asserted by 

 the British. 



Judge Gra\ : Mr. Root, in order that I may fuUy understand 

 your position, your contention is that the use of the words "in 

 common" in the citations that you have just made from M. Rayne- 

 val and Comte de Vergennes was such as to contra-distinguish it, 

 in those instances, to exclusiveness. 



Senator Root: Precisely, sir. 



The Peesident: Please, Mr. Root, do not some of these quo- 

 tations — not all — but some of them apply to the first draft 

 of the treaty of 1782 or 1783, in which it was said: 



"That the subjects of His Britannic Majesty and the people of the said 

 United States shall continue to enjoy unmolested the right " 



and so on, and at the end of that passage: 



"And His Britannic Majesty and the said United States will extend equal 

 privileges and hospitality to each other's fishermen as to their own" ? 



In this draft there was considered a reciprocity which, at a late 

 stage, was omitted. Now, perhaps some of these quotations refer 

 to this suggestion of a considered reciprocity ? 



Senator Root: That may be, Mr. President. For the pur- 

 pose of my present contention that would not make any difference. 

 What I am endeavoring to point out is that "in common," which 

 is inserted in this treaty of 1818, was a phrase which had been 

 customarily used in describing the non-exclusive character of the 

 rights which were negotiated about, granted, and exercised under 

 these previous treaties, so that it was a natural use of terms. When 

 they talked about the fishery right that was being negotiated in 



