1819.] THE NOOTKA CONVENTION EXPIRED IN 1796. 319 



the Americans to fish on the banks of Newfoundland (that is to say, 

 in the open sea) was there distinctly acknowledged, while the liberty 

 to use the British coasts for the same purpose was conceded to them ; 

 and that, although the right subsisted in virtue of the independence 

 of the United States, the liberty expired on the declaration of war 

 in 1812, and could not again be enjoyed, without the express con- 

 sent of Great Britain. It may be added that the position thus 

 assumed by the British government was maintained throughout the 

 negotiation ; at the end of which, the liberty to take and cure fish 

 on certain parts of the British American coasts, so long as they 

 should remain unsettled, was secured to the citizens of the United 

 States, in common with British subjects, forever, by the first article 

 of the convention of October 20th, 1818.* 



Applying to the Nootka convention the rule thus enforced by 

 Great Britain in 1815, with all its exceptions in their widest sense, 

 there can be no question that this compact was entirely abrogated 

 by the war between that power and Spain, begun in October, 1796. 

 On analyzing the convention, it will be seen that the first, second, 

 and eighth articles relate exclusively to certain acts, which were to 

 be forthwith performed by one or both of the parties, and which 

 having been performed, as they all were, before 1796, those articles 

 became dead letters. By the third, article, " it is agreed, in order to 

 strengthen the bonds of friendship, and to preserve, in future, a perfect 

 harmony and good understanding between the two contracting parties," 

 that their respective subjects shall not be disturbed or molested in 

 navigating or fishing in the Pacific or Southern Oceans, or in land- 

 ing on the coasts of those seas in places not already occupied, u for 

 the purpose of carrying on their commerce with the natives of the 

 country, or of making settlements there; " under certain restrictions, 

 nevertheless, to the specification of which the fourth, fifth, and 

 sixth articles are entirely devoted : the remaining seventh article 

 merely indicating the course to be pursued in cases of infraction of 

 the others. The Nootka convention thus contains nothing which 

 can be construed as a perpetual obligation, no assertion or recogni- 

 tion of right, which can be deemed irrevocable ; but is, as a whole, 

 and in each of its separate stipulations, a concession, or series of 

 concessions. To navigate and fish in the open sea, and to trade 

 and settle on coasts unoccupied by any civilized nation, are indeed 

 rights claimed by all civilized nations : Spain, however, did not 



* Correspondence annexed to President Monroe's message to Congress of Decem- 

 ber 29th, 1818. 



