East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1865-07-05

a Histosy OF the Negotiations Pre-
oedtng the Adoption OF the Reci
pr0ofty Treaty. liis
To the Editor Of the Detroit Ere, Prsss
,s'l FLINT, June 20, II $685.
It has been with much pleasure
have read in the columns of your val
liable paper, various editorials, and
extracts from other loading newspa.
pers, touching the great importance o,
the Commercial Convention that meet.
in your city on the 18th Of July. The
objects to be considered at this Con
vention, / understand to be generally
commerce, finance, communications, ,oi
transit from the West to the Atlantic
seaboard, and the advantage of recip-
rocal trade between the United States
and the British North American Prov
inces; and in the success of all OF
these measures, the commerce of NO
less than eight States of the Union
are immediately and directly interest
ed, and especially in the re-establish-
ment upon firm and liberal basis OF
those reciprocal relations, so hastily
sacrificed under the influence of an
uDwise Legislation by the last Con-
gress. The States interested embrace
population at this time Of not less
than Is, 1000, 900, or nearly one half OF
the population of the entire Union,
and Of which 4, 900, 900 are dependent
upon the Lakes for market for their
produce. The valley of the great
Lakes includes coast of about s, 900
miles-a distance as great as from
Panama to Cape Horn, or from the
Equator to Behring's Straits---and
represents commerce whose yearly
aggregate Of exports and imports ex-
ceeds $4O0, 900, 600! With this simple
and yet truthful statement of the ter
ritory to be benefited by judicious
action on the part Of the Convention,
and the vastness Of the resources an
nually finding their way to the mar
kets of the world, i am induced to
believe that might render some ac-
ceptable service to the country by ex-
hibiting history Of the various di-
plomatic negotiations in reference TO
the various measures regulating the
commerce Of the two countries, and
to the free navigation Of the st. Law
renee. BY the treaty of peace be-
tween the United States and Great
Britain in 1888, the uninterrupted
navigation of the Mississippi River,
from I" its source to the ocean," was
stipulated to remain forever free and
open 10 the subjects of the United
States and Great Britain. The stipu-
lation was insisted upon by Great
Britain, because at the time il was
believed that it took its rise in the
territorie3 of the mother country,
which subsequent and more accurate
explorations have proved TO be incor-
rect The River St Lawrence, second
only to the Mississippi, as great nat
ural highway. and in many --rrects
even more gigantic than the Mississippi
itself, and which really runs for hun
dreds of miles through the territories
Of both countries, and forms the sole
outlet to the Atlantic for large por-
ton of the continent, received no con-
sideration whatever from the /" high
contracting parties"
At the commencement of the six
teenth century Great Britain first be-
gan to establish her colonies on this
side Of the Atlantic, in the perform
ance of which she followed the ex-
ample of every maritime nation in
Europe, by adopting at once the prin-
ciple of Colonial monopoly, and de-
clsring the right to the sole and
exclusive trade Of all of her Colonial
possessions. The war of the revolu-
ton in l776 in part arose from the
unfairness Of this very Colonial sys-
tenn, and terminated all commercial
transactions between the two coun.
tries. The restoration of peace made
each of the contracting parties, to all
intents and purposes, foreign nations
and many of the Colonies, (now States,
who, anterior to the revolution, de-
rived large portion of their trade
from the other colonies of Great Brit.
ain were prevented by the treaty o.
1888 from carrying on any CONNER.
cial intercourse with each other. Thi,
state of things existed for few years
when Parliament gave authority te
George III. TO dispense with certain
provisions Of the celebrated navigation
act Of Charles III. so far as they re-
lated to the British possessions il
North America, and while vessels O.
every o;.hasT foreign nation were pro.
hibited and absolutely excluded from
the colonial ports Of Great Britain :
Vessels of the United States fount
themselves il the harbors Of the Ber
mudas, Halifax, New Brunswick ano
Newfoundland, and not unfrequentl,
the st. Lawrence was navigated a
far as Quebec and Montreal, by tn
hardy and adventurous seamen Of tn
New England States. The importanc
of measures regulating the commerc
between the two countries suggeste'
themselves to President Washingtol
at an early period, and in 1893 h
dispatched Mr.. Jay to Great Britain
as Envoy Extraordinary, clothed wit
full power and ample authority I
a negotiate treaty upon all subjects {
$ interest to either party, and especiall
;, to arrange the colonial trade with til
United States. A treaty was accorc
ingly concluded on the 10th of M
vember of that year, having referenc
however, only to the carrying trad
y to any of the West India Islands an
the British Colonies in the Easi Indi,
!. allowing vessels of the United Stat
: to touch at tho Island of st. Heller
y for water and provisions but in re
70 erence TO Canada, to the navigation
70 the 81 Iavrence or ANYTHING co