134 FISHERIES ARBITRATION AT THE HAGUE 



the right of fishing granted in the same words, and never subject 

 to regulation by the laws of Great Britain; never. 



And, with that before them, is it credible that they conceived 

 that there would be an impHcation of such a right on the part of 

 Great Britain ? With that before them is it credible that, if they 

 had intended or supposed that there was to be such a reservation, 

 they would not have expressed it ? Would they not have followed 

 this universal custom and expressed it ? 



Now I beg you to observe, regarding the French right, that for 

 seventy years before the treaty of 1783 France exercised this right. 

 Before any declaration of 1783 France exercised the right, first 

 under the Treaty of Utrecht, which said the French citizens shall 

 be allowed, and then under the Treaty of Paris of 1763, which said 

 the "subjects of France shall have the hberty of fishing." 



Everybody knew, these negotiators knew, the question during 

 that seventy years was not whether Great Britain could regulate 

 France, but whether Great Britain had any right at all on the 

 coast, whether France could not exclude Great Britain. Of course 

 they knew that. This treaty of 1778 between the United States 

 and France treats the French right as exclusive. 



It is suggested here that these gentlemen had forgotten it. 

 Forgotten the great event of the French Alhance ! Forgotten that 

 compact which alone enabled the United States to secure its inde- 

 pendence ! The two great facts that stood out in American history 

 for everyone who approached the subject of diplomacy were the 

 treaty of 1778 with France and the treaty of peace of 1783 with 

 Great Britain. 



The whole history of the French right is very fully displayed 

 in the letter of Lord Salisbury, of 9th July, 1889, which appears in 

 the United States Case Appendix, p. 1083. In that letter Lord 

 SaUsbury argues to M. Waddington, not for the British right to 

 control the French fishery, but for the British right to participate 

 in it. He says, in the third paragraph on p. 1083 : 



"In my note of the 24th August, 1887, relative to this claim, I had stated 

 that the right of fishery conferred on the French citizens by the Treaty of 

 Utrecht did not take away, but only restricted during a certain portion of 

 the year and on certain parts of the coast, the British right of fishery inherent 

 in the sovereignty of the island. And in my subsequent note of the 28th 



