, 1860-01-06
Our Dispute with England. .
WAsHINeToN, Nov. 5

WASHINGTON, Nov. 5, 1859.
l have satisfactorily ascertaned that
though diplomatic rules, and perhaps pru-
Dental considerations, prevent the State
Department from disclosing the exact state
of affairs to the public, yet it is believed
that serious difficulties may, and probably
will, grow out of the dispute between the
United States and England in refeHhce to
the island of San Juan, or Bellevue, in the
Straits Of Juan de Fuca. 1t is generally
conceded that General Harney was entirely
right and not Trash, or "precipitate," or
'hasty," or "imprudent," as British parti-
sans have called him), in taking possession
of the island for the protection Of the Uni
ted States citizens there, and for the main
tenauce of the rights of this country to the
island, under the Pakenham treaty Of June
Is, l846. That treaty was negotiated al
Washington by Mr.. Buchanan, then Secre-
tary Of State, to close the 81 degrees 40
minutes controversy. 1t was ratified By
the constitutional majority Of the Senate of
the United States. The first article is in
these Words:--
allel Of north latitude, where the boundary
laid down in existing treaties aud conven-
ticns between the United States and Great
Britain terminates the line Of boundary
between the territories of the United States
and those of her Britanic Majesty shall be
continued westward along the said forty
ninth parallel of north latitude 10 the mid
die of ne channel i0hieh separates he eOnti-
MeHt from VaneoGreT's Island, and thence
SOuIherly through Le middle of Lde said chan
ael, and Of FEea's StraitS, to the Pacific
Ocean: Provided, however, That the nav
igation of the whole Of the said channel
and straits, south of the forty-ninth paral-
lei Of north latitude, remain free and open
to both parties"
1t will be reeollected that the United
States, anterior to that treaty, always
claimed Vancouver's Island, but consented
BY that treaty to relinquish its claim The
sole object of the clause designating the
line which have italicised was to separate
VanconVer's Island from the continent, and
to exclude it from the British relinquiSh-
ment, and to include it in the relinquish-
ment Of the United States, by which the
81 40 dispute was compromised. Vancou-
yer was claimed by the United States as
appurtenant to the continent. 1t is a well
settled and universally received maxim of
the Jus gsatium, that all islands contiguous
to the mainland and naturally appurtenant
to it are regarded ordinarily as subject to
the same political Jurisprudence as the main
land, or, in other words, as belonging to it.
The right to q continent or to q large
island, founded on prior discovery and oc-
cupation, draws with it the right to ada
cent islands. A State is regarded, in the
absence Of any specific relinquishment Of
said right, as owning islands contiguous to
her shores, because such ownership is often
imperiously necessary for the protection Of
such shores and enforcement OF her laws in
time Of peace, as well as Of war. Mere
convenience is q sound basis for such right.
1t is true Great Britain has not always OBJ
served the laws Of nations in this respect
and her conduct with respect to the islands
10 the Bay of Fundy, even littoral islands,
close under the coast Of Maine, and one
(Campabello) at the very entrance Of an
important seaport-but it is nevertheless
sound and just rule. The enforcement Of
the revenue laws, and health or quarantine
laws Of a nation, and of its police laws in
time of peace, often demand the concession
Of such ownership and Jurisdiction as ur-
gently as the defence and protection of its
coasts in time Of war. The British author
tiles, it is said, urge that the right to Belle
vue should be yielded to them because, in
a naval and military point Of view, it COM
mauds the Straits Of Fuca, in their course
to the Gulf of Georgia. This argument,
however, cuts both ways. The Gulf of
Georgia is partly below the boundary line
Of 49 deg, and on our side, and we have
equal right to the key to its connection with
the Fuea Straits as the British can have
on the score Of reasonableness aud proprie-
y, and greater when it is considered that
Bellevue commands as we'll all the smaller
Islands east of it and between it and the
shores conceded to be owned by us.
send you an engraved official map made
BY General Tilton, the Surveyor General
OF Washington Territory, in 1851, which
accurately delineates the Fuca Straits and
the location Of Bellevue or San Juan
Islands, and palmer than any other map or
chart that has come under my notice You
will perceive by the map that Bellevue is
clearly and unquestionably '1ittoral
island" naturally appurtenant to the main