The daily union., 1852-08-14


surrendered there escape from the admission III
AN oyEasIGHr TO MAKE 50 LARGE CONCESSION TO Emo.
LAND The concession was then made-was IL moi Ii
the dispute is aran end and yet them il hard
task to justify the summary process through which Eng
land has sought 10 compel ITO compliance with the
cesson particularly as she had, to say the least OF IT,
suffered our fishermen 10 hauat the Bay OF Fundy, by
express allowance, IN 1874, and 10 make their haunting
other bays rightiul by continuous, open, and public
enjoyment OF them; ever since the convention of 1918
But TO this shall presently revert.
"Ihe precise words OF The treaty." says my friend
from Maine, in the remarkable speech he delivered the
other day. may al first view seem TO carry that
sructon" bu, he denies Immediately that the consruc,
tlon be correct and so does the distinguished senator
from Michigan. who has shed much light on this con-
troyersy. and handled with dextery all the
questions OF secondary right arising under the treaty OF
1915
The honorable senator from Massachusetts grants that
by the ierms OF the treaty American fishermen
cuded IRON the coasts bays, habors and creeks. Sc
me BRUSH government says he, RAISE question OF
consrucuon-namely, that we cannot hsh within three
miles OF any Of these bays; that we are excluded, to
distance OF three miles, only from the coasts, but
also from the bays, including in that term the Bay OF
Fundy and other lager bays" But with that peculiar
energy which characlerzes his manner OF argument he
also denies that such be the term OF The exclusion pred
cates his own understanding OF the article upon The
obvious meaning which lis whole context bears, and
sirenuousy contends Tor the American construction
placed upon it.
For my own part, Mr. President consider that the
terms OF the treaty need, in no wise be defended upon
such collateral issues Their true import stands on lrmer
ground than that of pathological discrimination infer
enal argument. They are most clear and preclse-the
very terms, the appropriate terms, Tor expressing that
which was intended they should convey Had our nego'
atons spoken of bays and harbors, without specifying
what bays and harbos they meant we should remain
cluded from, there might be for doubt and for dis
pute But they did not so speak. On the contrary they
distinctly pointed TO the specific places OF exclusion-the
bays creeks, and harbors OF HIS MAJEsTYs DoMINIoNs
and The question recurs, Which the bays which
his Majesty could claim dominion :
THIS question, though not novel one, still has lis
merits and attractions, and may, percnance, be deemed
not altogether unworthy OF notice shall proceed brief
/ ly to It's consideration.
England has, from time out OF mind attempted to ar
rogaie to herself the supremacy OF the She
ruled it supreme. But the sceptre has fallen from her
hands. and the sea has resumed its freedom 1t is OF
all and belongs to none. VINO dares 10 claim, al this
day, to be the owner OF III Who presunes TO command
TO lis waves and 10 its currents. and 10 its storms
.'Tne EARTH" says the Psalmst. "was given 10 the
children OF men but the sea is OF God alone" The sea
s from It's very nature unsuscepible OF human owner
ship. The idea OF ownership implies that OF exclusive
possession, and OF consequence the right OF using the
thing owned at will and not only that, but the right
OF excluding others from Its possession. and the necess
~ of excluding them that the possessor may make
HIS all the advantages j, yield The has Of
the characters that could constitute il in ownership of
any nation lis immensi,y its 1uidity, must for
ever prevent It's being subject TO possession II may be
turned 10 profit, is true but by each and by all OF the
human species, without its enjoyment By some imparng
or diminishing its enjoyment by others It's capacity Is
ncommensurable. There is volume that exhaust
lit Thousands OF fleets may be sunk IN to-day, and to-
morrow it will again ingulph millions OF others without
ever being filled notably compressed. There are no
signs, marks through which TO attest its occupancy.
Even those frghtfu though majestic, evathans that
plough II over, in all directions leave not behind them
any trace of their passage The rolling wave padded
back as they move on, waits away IRON lis surface the
last vestiges OF their march
To make thing yours by possession, you mus, pos
sess in continuity the same thing Identity IN the thing
owned constitutes one OF The main elements oil posses
sion. held, forest may be upurned. and altered, and
transformed; they will still be the same field the same
forest. Not so with the ocean, increasingly chang
ing in its form, place, and surface; now sinking It's up
per layers IN the uemos receses oil The deep and then
tA..n hal tba
ii 10 spread them the light OF Heaven in glorious
ultancy Its inexhaustibiy renders lis exclusive en-
oyment not only useless but impossible. You may take
IRON IL for years and with thousands and millions
OF you may seize upon lis pearls and s coras,
and lis SALTS and its hshesyou but develop It's powers
OF production and multiply the yiedlngs OF the mine
from which you draw BY the DEGREES OF God the
is OF all men, Nations may undertake to explain and
interpret those DEGREES; they cannot abrosate them
Yet sir, nations have claimed ownership over II, or
such supremacy seemed 10 constitute II in sort OF
monarchy. They would have other nations call them
the the sea- Yes SIR they claimed to appropriate
to themselves the sea- and 10 subject II to their exclu-
sive dominion. The discovery oil America and the vast
development OF commerce and navigation incident on it.
gave zest TO and became powerful stimulus for such
assumptions Thus Venice arrogaied herself the
Adriac; Genoa, the Lgurian sea the Portuguese and
the Spanish the OF the two Indies and IN the egh.
teenh century, England claimed to be the mistress and
sovereign OF oil ns seas IN communication pih those
surroundi,g her celS; which, OF course, less
than to claim sovereignty over all the seas IN the
world as they all communicate with each other. But
these arrogant assumptions on the part OF powerful
States never were assenied by those whom they
cluded from the common domain The history OF Eng.
land furnishes with striking example OF her own
susceptibility whenever such claims set against
her At tune when. though powerful on the ocean, she
could not yet pretend TO rule her rivals out of H. and
when Spain, in the pamiest days OF her strength and
glory and aided by the bulls of the Pope, claiming
titles all the lands and OF the two Americas, this
latter nation sent her ambassadors to the English court
and loudly complained OF the devastalions which an
iustrous navigator, Sir Francis Drake, was committing
on her domains Here is the answer which the super
cilous and unbending Elizabeth made 10 her complaints
sThe use Of the md Of the air Is common TO all No
people private person claim any power the
for neither It's nature nor It's public usage win allow
its being occupied
| We fnd, il is true, in all ages, nations who, being
more especially addicted 10 commerce and navigation,
obtained for a line what the writers the law OF ma
sns would call prepotency over the sea; but even
under that prepo,ency they pretended 10 be the
sole tenants OF IT, Tyre, Rhodes, Athens, Lacedenon,
Carthage and Rome herself never claimed its absolute
AMI exclusive enjoyment but suffered other nations TO
enjoy il with them Thoagh II was said oi the Cartha-
genlans that they exercised such power over the sea
to render lis navigation dangerous-ateo pofsniss
mari vt omnibus noIilbus naViyalo pericuOSd essti-
YET they but aimed a nominal supremacy; and there
fore is that according TO Strabo, they earned their
commercial jealousy far 10 nterdct the nations
who contested with her for that supremacy from land
ing upon their coasts and 10 sink all vessels with which
her own met. directing their towards Sardinia,
or towards what called afterwards Gibraltar"
read in a most lucid and interesting treatise on the
rig h of property by Comte, that the shores OF The sea
which formed part OF the Roman empire were considered
the property of the Roman people the use OF them was
held 10 be common to all mankind for fishing and navi
gable purposes, and though the authority OF the petor