300 FISHERIES ARBITRATION AT THE HAGUE 



without having included in the treaty any stipulation regarding 

 the fisheries, and that some little time after that, the master of a 

 British naval vessel, the " Jaseur," seized an American vessel some 

 60 miles off the coast of the British possessions. There was an 

 immediate protest and an immediate disavowal of the act of this 

 officer. In disavowing his act in seizing a vessel 60 miles off the 

 shore, it became necessary, or practically necessary, for Great 

 Britain to put a limit upon her disavowal, to show how far it went. 

 The United States was claiming to have the right to fish clear up to 

 the shore. She claimed that the right survived from the treaty of 

 1783, which carried her fishermen clear to the shore and into every 

 bay, harbor, creek, and inlet. So when Great Britain made a 

 disavowal of this act of her officer in command of the "Jaseur," 

 it was incumbent upon her to show how far the disavowal went, to 

 guard herself against having it apply to the whole American claim; 

 and in the performance of that duty Lord Bathurst, who then held 

 the seals of the Foreign Office, wrote this letter of the 7th Septem- 

 ber, 181 5, and I will ask you to bear with me while I read it. It is 

 very brief: 



"Foreign Office, 

 "Sir, "September 7, 1815. 



"Your several despatches to No. 25 inclusive have been received and 

 laid before the Prince Regent. 



"The necessity of immediately dispatching this messenger with my pre- 

 ceding numbers prevents my replying to the various topics which your more 

 recent communications embrace. I shall therefore confine myself to con- 

 veying to you the sentiments of His Majesty's Government on the one requir- 

 ing the most immediate explanation with the government of the United States, 

 namely, the fisheries, premising the instructions I have to give to you on the 

 subject, with informing you that the line which you have taken in the dis- 

 cussion on that point, as explained in your No. 24, has met with the appro- 

 bation of His Majesty's Government. 



"You will take an early opportunity of assuring Mr. Monroe that, as, 

 on the one hand, the British Government cannot acknowledge the right of 

 the United States to use the British territory for the purpose connected with 

 the fishery, and that their fishing vessels will be excluded from the bays, har- 

 bors, rivers, creeks, and inlets of all His Majesty's possessions; so, on the 

 other hand the British Government does not pretend to interfere with the 

 fishery in which the subjects of the United States may be engaged, either 

 on the Grand Bank of Newfoundland, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, or other 



