Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1852-09-24

On the bill declaring the Wheeling Bridge n
| lawful structure and Il post route alJ
| Mr.. MI LLSON said: 'uI.H -..u..0 .-- Fa.al.
Mr.. SrEAKER: Volumes have already been writ
ten upon the Wheeling Bridge case. The theme
is, indeed, fruitful one, and it would be impcs-
sble ornny one man TO exhaust 1t within the li-
its allowed speaker in this Hall. shall leave
TO other gentlemen, who, understand, VIII COME
after me, the discussion of this question i'll its de-
tails and more immediate practical results, and
applynyself to the examination OF these principles
which lie at the bottom of all controversies OF Tins
nature. listened with great pleasure to the able
and philosophical Argument addressed to the House
| by the gentleman from South Carolina, (Alr.
| Woodward;) and it is with reluctance venture to
dissent from any oil the propositions advanced by
| him. If it were necessary to sustain the conclu-
sion to which the gentleman arrived, that all the
| views he presented should be adopted by Others,
| Should have great hesitation i'll expressing any
difference of opinion; but when consider that
many of these views were only concessions to the
other side, and were announced by him seemingly
with the purpose of showing how much he could
concede 10 his opponents and still maintain his
| ppstion-with what confidence i'll his own powers
| he could abandon his outworks, and still defend
himself within the citidel, l am the more cncoura-
ged to express my dissent from some OF then do
so thu; more freely W hen remember that if shall
succeed in making an impression upon Others
shall onlyb aiding the objects of his own arsu-
nent and that If fail, l cannot injure them.
! 10 what extent did Virginia, at the time of the
adoption of the Constitution, exercise control over
her navigable rivers! The whole of the Ohio river
was within her territory, and it may be remember
ed that Pittsburgh ITSELF laying almost at the
head of navigation, was an integral part OF Virgil
MIA, and was re presented i'll her Legislature. Con-
ceding, however, that Pennsylvania had navigabe
streams uniting with the Ohio, what was the ma
vigatlOu oil that river!
The gentleman from South Carolina claims this
| right for Pennsylvania, well under the law Of
nations rs by the Constitution of the United States
admit that, under what is called the law of Ma
tons, she had right to the navigation OF the Ohio
river, through the territory of Virginia., to the
| ocean. But what sort of right was 1t! Was 1t an
absolute, Independent perfect right!l Gould she
claim ils exercise against the consent of Virginia,
| and in defiance Of any conditions she might impose
| upon it! Unquestionably not. The right of pa-
| rian States to the navigation OF rlver winch
flows through their territories, is what publicsts
| call an imperfect right. it is something which
ought not TO be denied, where it can be innocenly
used, but which cannot be insisted on. 1t is foun-
| ded alone on those considerations OF mutual good
will and reciprocal benefit, which induce nations
to concede to others such privileges as may not be
| hurtful to themselves. Wheaton, who is one of
| the latest writer's on national law, thus speaks of
this right: 7 .g...r
"The right of navigation for commercial purpo
ses, river which flows through the territories Of
dilerel States, is common to all the nations IN
habting the different parts OF its banks; but this
right of innocent passage being what the text wri
ter call an imperfect right, its exercise is necessar-
" modified by the safety and convenience of the
State affected by it, and can only be secured by
mutual convention regulating the mode OF Its eN-
ercSe,'' -''@S' "tAsi h''i'-- i4si1"
The older writers on the law of nations take the
same view OF this subject; nor, indeed, do | sup
pose that my friend from South Carolina means TO
be understood as insisting that this right is any
other than an imperfect one. 1t is only right of
innocent passage. 1t ought not to be claimed,
and it would not be granted if it caused any detr-
ment; much less would nation be expected to
withhold any important advantages or facilities from
its own people, lest they might in some degree in
terfere with the exercise Of this right by another
The gentleman from South Carolina allIdes to
the claim of the United States, some fifty years
ago. to the free navigation of the Mississippi, and
to the controversy with Spain upon that subject
But it will be recollecte0 that the nam argument
relied upon was, that not only the free navigation
of the river, but the right to deposlte goods upon
the Spanish territory, had been, treaty, secured
to us for three years and even longer, if it was
found 70 be not prejudica TO the interests of Spain;
and our chief complaintwa that the Spanish In
tcndant had violated that treaty by prohibiting the
landing of goods at New Orleans, without designa-
ting some other place. as stipulated in the treaty.
1t is true that we also urged our right under the
law of nations, butt was not denied to be an inn
perfect one or that its exercise was subject to such
notifications as the convenience of Spain might
require. sh1ill re- +ai ~. Z" pa II"
The gentleman from South Carolina also referred
to the navigation of the European rivers, and he
mentioned particularly the Rhine and the Scheldt.
Now, sir, the right 10 navigate the Rhine and the
Scheldt has always been the subject ofconyention-
al arrangement, and has been ascertalned, limited,
and secured v compact between the nations hav-
ing an interest in the navigation Itisony of late
years that the subject has been definitely adjusted
twas stipulated in the treaty of Paris in 1874 that
the navigation of the Rhine and the Scheldt, the
former OF which had been impeded by various reg
ulatiuns Of the riparian States, should be hence
forth free, and it was left toa future Congress to
secure this freedom of navigation of all the other
European rivers that ran through different States.
plenipotentiaries, of the eight contracting powers
adopted regulations respecting the navigation of
the Neckar, the Mayne, and other rivers, and es
tablished general principles, which, while they