Diary of John Adams, volume 3
1782-11-28
This Morning I have drawn up, the following Project―
That the Subjects of his Britannic Majesty, and the People of the said United States, shall continue to enjoy, unmolested, the Right to take Fish of every kind, on the Grand Bank and on all the other Banks of Newfoundland: also in the Gulph of St. Laurence, and in all other Places, where the Inhabitants of both Countries, used at any time heretofore to fish; and the Citizens of the said United States shall have Liberty to cure and dry their Fish, on the Shores of Cape Sables, and of any of the unsettled Bays, Harbours or Creeks of Nova Scotia, or any of the Shores of the Magdalene Islands, and of the Labradore Coast: And they shall be permitted in Time of Peace to hire Pieces of Land, for Terms of Years, of the legal Proprietors in any of the Dominions of his said Majesty, whereon to erect the necessary Stages and Buildings and to cure and dry their Fish.1
Compare the earlier draft in the entry of 4 Nov., above; also Article III in the “third set” of propositions (Wharton, ed., Dipl. Corr. Amer. Rev.
, 6:75–76); and that in the Preliminary Articles as signed on 30 Nov. (Miller, ed., Treaties
, 2:98).
“Thursday Novemr. 28h.... In the Evening called again on Mr. Adams. He had dined at Passy, was to meet the Commrs. again this Evening, desired to see us at 1/2 past Nine.... He said he had laid down a line and beyond that he would not go let who would be 79ready.—At 1/2 past Nine he returned from the meeting—was in Spirits and said all was going well—but some difficulties had been started which he was sure had been in Consequence of Renevals going to England. Had a pretty long Conversation with him. He says Dr. F is the most Violent of the three for not admitting the Tories—but speaks very well of him in the course of the Negotiation” (Matthew Ridley, Diary, MHi).