The Sun.
London, England, 1870-12-20 00:00:00

`1 RE SUA, LONDON, TUESDAY, I{ 20, 1870

PRESIDENT GRANT'S MESSAGE
TO CONGRESS.

We have receiver by 'the American mail copies, in

amphlet fohn; of General Grant's annual address to

(longress, in which. sb much allusion to the relations
between the Milted States and Great Britain was made.

The Message, it will bo remembered, was telegraphed to
England briefly, but we think it maybe of interest to place
here in full the more important portions of the Message,
and especially the passages in it which are of moment to
English readers. The President, addressing the Senate
and House of Representatives, said :
A year of peace and general prosperity to this nation

has passed since the last assembling of Congress. We
have, through a kind Providence been blessed with abun-
dant crops, and have been spared from complications and
war with foreign nations. In our midst comparative
harmony has been restored. It is to be regretted, how-
ever, that a free exercise of the elective franchise has, by
violence and intimidation, been denied to citizens in ex-
oeptional cases in several of the States lately in rebellion,
and the verdict of the people has thereby been
reversed. The States of Virginia, Mississippi and
Texas have been restored to l'epresentation in our
national councils. Georgia, the only state now without
repreeentation, may confidently be expected to take her
place there also at the beginning of tho new year, and
then, let us hope, will be completed the work Of recon-
struction. With an acquiescence on the part of the
whole people in the national obligation to pay the public
debt, created as the price of our union ; the pensions to
our disabled soldiers and sailors, and their widows and
orphans ; and in the changes to the Constitution which
have been made necessary by a great rebellion, there is
no reason why we should not advance in material pros-
perity and happiness as no other nation ever did, after so
protracted and devastating a war. •

attempt to enforce it, it will become my duty to take such
steps as may be necessary to protect the rights of the
citizens .of the United States.

It has been claimed by Her Majesty's officers that the
fishing vessels of the United States have no right to enter
the open ports of the British possessions in North
America, except for the purpose of shelter and re-
pairing damages, of purchasing wood and obtaining
water ; that they have no right to enter at the British
custom-houses, or to trade there except in the purchase of
Wood and water, and that they must depart within
twenty-four hour. 3 after notice to leave. It is not known
that any seizure of a fishing vessel carrying the flag of the
United States hag been made under this claim. So far
as the claim is founded on an alleged construction of the
convention of 1818, it can not be acquiesced in by the
United States. It is hoped that it will not be insisted on
by her Majesty's Government.
During the conferences which preceded the negotiation
of the convention of 1818 the British commissioners pro-
posed to expressly exclude the fishermen of the United
States from " the privilege of carrying on trade with any of
his Britannic Majesty's subjects residing within the limits
assigned for their use," and also that it should not be
" lawful for the vessels of the United States engaged in
the said fishery to have on board any goods, wares, or mer-
chandise whatever, except such as in ay be necessary for
the prosectition of their*oyages to and from the said
fishing grounds. And any vessel of the -United States
which shall contravene this regulation 'nay be seized, con-
demned, and confiscated, with her cargo."
This proposition, which is identical with the construe-

tion now put upon the language of the Convention, was
emphatically rejected by the American Commissioners,
and thereupon was abandoned by the British plenipo-
tentiaries, and Article I, as it stands in the Convention,
was substituted.

If, however, it be said that this claim is founded on
provincial or colonial statutes, and not upon the Conven-
tion, this Government eannot but regard them as un-
friendly and in contravention of the spirit, if not of the
letter, of the treaty, for the faithful execution of which
the Imperial Government is alone responsible.
Anticipating that an attempt may possibly be made by

the Canadian authorities in the coming season to repeat
their unneighbourly acts toward our fishermen, I recom-
mend you to eonfdr upon thq 141xecutive the power to sus-
pend by proclamation the operation of the laws authorising
the transit of goods, wares, and merchandise in bond,
across the territory of the United States to Canada ; and,
further, should such an extreme measure be necesaary, to
suspend the operation of any laws whereby the vessels of
the Dominion of Canada are permitted to enter the waters
of the United States.