John Quincy Adams Digital Diary

15. IV:30. Finished the draft of a despatch to A. Gallatin; but the remainder of the Morning till Noon was idled away. At the President’s I met Mr Crowninshield. The President spoke to me with some regret that he could not bestow one of the Appraizer’s Offices at Boston, upon William Foster junr. and directed me to write to him and offer him that of Consul at the Island of St. Thomas. When I came to the Office, I found Mr Bagot already there. He came to make the proposals, already broached by Lord Castlereagh to Mr Rush, stating that with regard to the Slaves carried from the United States by British Officers after the late Peace, the British Government accepted the proposal made by that of the United States, to refer the question of Construction of the Treaty which has arisen upon it, to the arbitration of a friendly Sovereign— But it was thought advisable to take as a previous measure the course of the Treaty in regard to other questions between the parties, and to refer the question to Commissioners mutually chosen. At the same time it was wished to take the opportunity for settling another and the only remaining question of 350boundary between the two Countries; namely that of the line from the North-west corner of the lake of the Woods, westward— It had been left undetermined at the Treaty of Ghent; though it was known that the line of the Treaty of 1783 was a nullity, and the Treaty of 1794, by which some provision was made for the difficulty, no longer existed.— And as our Settlements westward were on both sides pushing on very rapidly, it was very desirable, that the present favorable moment should be taken for coming to an arrangement of the question; which it was proposed to do also by the means of Commissioners I observed to him that there was a third question which had also been suggested by Lord Castlereagh to Mr Rush; that relating to Columbia river. He said he considered it as involved in the other. And he further observed that his Government had been a little hurt at learning from him of the Ontario’s having been despatched to take possession of the Mouth of Columbia River, without giving notice to him of the measure. That his Government in the fullest and most explicit manner admitted the obligation of restoring any Post, which had existed there at the commencement of the late War under the authority of the United States. That on receiving information of the Ontario’s expedition immediate orders had been issued from the Lords of the Admiralty, to prevent any collision in the Execution of the Ontario’s orders— That no resistance would be made against them; but he was instructed to add that the British Government did not admit the validity of our title to that territory— I told him that although I was here when the Ontario sailed, the measure had been determined upon, before I came— That I should inform the President of the substance of his communication; but in the meantime I could assure him that the omission to give him notice of the object of that expedition, was not from any intentional concealment; but altogether in consequence of the answer given by Mr Baker, when in 1815. the restoration of that Post had been demanded by Mr Monroe— Which was that the American Post, at the mouth of Columbia river, taken by the British during the War, had not been occupied by them, but immediately abandoned— That concluding thence, that there was no British Post there, the Ontario had been sent there with instructions to persons on board merely to resume the possession of the United States; and as it was expected that no British Post would be found there, it had not occurred that there was any occasion to give notice of the expedition to him, or to his Government. He said he was entirely satisfied with this explanation which he was sure would be equally satisfactory to his Government. I said that no force was intended to be used in the execution of this Service— The Officers charged with it were instructed if they should find any settlement there, and any opposition made to their taking possession, not to commit any act of hostility or of force. He said no resistance would be made— I told him that we had no thoughts of making War, at present for the Empire of Astoria, but, with regard to the title we had not only that settlement actually established before the late War, but a purchase of a large tract of the Country made from the Indians in the year 1787. more than thirty years since— He said he had never heard of that before— I told him I was not aware of any material objection that there would be to referring these Subjects to Commissioners, unless it should be the dissatisfaction, which has been manifested in Congress at the slowness, and expensiveness of the Commissions now in operation. But there were other Subjects to be arranged between the two Countries— There were the fisheries— The renewal of commercial arrangements, to meet the expiration of the Convention of 3. July 1815— The additional Articles proposed by Lord Castlereagh, and, I hoped some further liberal provision with regard to the West-India trade. A hope that I the more freely indulged after seeing Lord Castlereagh’s Speech in February last, in answer to Mr Lyttleton’s questions on the Slave trade abolition Treaty, with Spain. He said those remarks of Lord Castlereagh had been generally, and much applauded every where in England— With regard to the Convention of 1815, the impression of many of the merchants among us here, was that its operation was disadvantageous to us, and to the advantage of Great-Britain. Yet I believed rather than incur the greater evil, of setting the whole business afloat again; of reviving the discriminating duties on both sides, and letting loose, all the petty fractious regulations, so troublesome to the merchants, we should be willing to agree at all Events that the duration of the Convention should be prolonged for some years: but if Great-Britain objects to that, and prefers that the Convention should be permitted to expire it will be necessary to give notice of it very soon; that the Merchants may be prepared accordingly. To all this Mr Bagot fully agreed. 351As to the fisheries he said he regretted very much not having received from us the proposal that had been promised him; as now the Legislature of Nova-Scotia had taken up the subject— They were addressing the crown, and although their influence might be not very great, yet it must always be something— I said I hoped they would not listen to the Nova-Scotia Legislature, who suffered their temper to run away with their interest. They had found themselves compelled to repeal their Plaister Law, and now took up the fisheries by way of avenging themselves. If they were suffered to have their way they would make perpetual war between Great-Britain and the United States He said that was very true. But that we did not seem to think the complaints of the great inconveniences suffered by the British, in consequence of our fishermen frequenting their coast, were well founded. I said we knew very well there was the inconvenience of competition. Their fishermen would be better satisfied if they had the whole Coast to themselves— This was an old inconvenience which had always existed when the fishery was common to the French and English— The competition also sometimes gave rise to quarrels between the fishermen of the different Nations— That was an inconvenience, but it did not affect the question of right. He said he alluded to the opportunities afforded for smuggling. I said there might have been something in that, at one particular period of time before the late War; when large American ships went there and took Cargoes for Europe— A state of things which probably would never happen again— Our fishing vessels now and in all ordinary times were small; without Cargoes; frequenting chiefly a desert Coast, where there could be no smuggling. I thought there was very little cause for such complaint now— The case of one of our vessels seized last Summer at St. Andrew’s about which I had written to him, shewed there was much more suspicion than real smuggling on that Coast— As to the proposal, which was to have been made to the British Government, and which had hitherto been delayed, its postponement had been owing to difficulties which had been discovered since it was promised. It was founded on the principle of assuming a range of Coast within given Latitudes, for our fishermen to frequent, and abandoning the right to fish for the rest— But the fish themselves resorted at different times to different parts of the Coast, and a place which might be selected as very eligible now, might be in the course of four or five years entirely deserted. For my own part I had always been averse to any proposal of accommodation— I thought our whole right as stipulated by the Treaty of 1783 so clear, that I was for maintaining the whole, and if force should be applied to prevent our fishermen from frequenting the Coast, I would have protested against it, and reserved the right of recovering the whole by force, whenever we should be able. It had however been determined, otherwise here, and a proposal had been promised. Perhaps we should ultimately offer to give up the right of drying and curing on the shore, and reserve the whole right of fishing— He said that whatever was done, he hoped to hear from me again soon, upon this, and the other subjects of this interview— W. Lee called upon me to propose to me from Mr R. Parrott, the purchase of fifty acres of land upon Rock Creek, and adjoining the City. Parrott also proposed it to me by Letter. I agreed with Lee to go and view it with him to-morrow Evening, if fair weather— Received despatches from R. Rush, and Jonn: Russell; which I sent over to the President— The weather is again cool, and I was able to write, after dinner— Mrs Adams was unwell.