National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1869-02-05

oI oolnS things aC Copenhagen, u
vessel ofwar suddenly ordered our
fishermen to retire ticenty leagues
from all the coast of British colonies !!
It's hardly to be credited that
Great Britain should have claimed
that the war Of 1872, so barren of
British laurels, had abrOgated rights
so freely acknowledged in the trea-
ties of 1882 and 1888, or that any
representative of the United States,
after a lapse of thirty.fve years,
could have yielded to such an un,
founded, not to say impudent, claim.
If Great Britain, wheth er stung by
the rivalry her fishermen or her
sailors had experienced, put forth
such pretensiOns no dread of Water
loo should have prevented their
plump denial. She had no valid
claims, and if she had the time to
have asserted them was in the treaty
of peace in 1915. The treaty OF
1918 was weak surrender of our
part of rights that peculiarly be,
longed to us, and of other rights
which belong to all other nations
which choose to assert and exercise
them. Not won by the blood and
treasure of the mother country, they
belonged to us by the right of dis
covery and occupancy, and because
while we were yet colonies our rights
were fought for and our title con.
firmcd by our own valor; but nei-
ther the French nor the British
ought to be permitted to monopo,
lize the sca-fisheries. BY any rule
of facts or principle in the partition
of territory and rights, when our
independence was acknowledged we
were entitled to all the fisheries,
rather than Great Britain, and
might with much more propriety
have insisted, not only that we
would not be excluded, but upon
excluding the British. We had al
ways enjoyed them to larger ex.
tent than all the world beside, and
they were of greatest value to U.S.
1t is time the world refused to put
fetters Oh the sea, and if any nation
persists i'll such expansive despotism
it challenges resistance. Exclusive
rights to the products of the ocean
is relic of feudal ages, and as obi
ous to nations as game laws are to
common people.
1t should be noticed that when
Nova Scotia was ceded to Great
Britain by the treaty of Utre cht
the French subjects we're thereafter
excluded from fishing within thirty
leagues of the coast, and this eX.
clusion was renewed in the treaty
of Paris, 1863, by which Spain was
ALSO wholly excluded from fishing
rights in the neighborhood of New
foundland. So it would appear
that these exclusive claims have
within the century past diminished
from thirty leagues to three marine
miles from the coast.
But We did agree in 1878, let IL.
say it in sackcloth and ashes, tC
limit the boundaries Of our fishing
grounds and acknowledge some eX
elusive rights OF the Hudson Bay
Company; and we did agree to re
nouncc forever "hook and line, bol
and sinkcr'-on our own motion =
any liberty heretofore enjoyed Il
take, dry, or cure fish within three
marine miles of any coasts, bays
creeks or harbors of his "Britani'
f Majcsty's" dominion in America.
AS general international rule
, the exclusion of foreign fishermen
{ within three miles from the shore
of any country, is not, perhaps, Il
be complained of; but from thcs'
fisheries never having been so eS
cluded prior to 1918 it was strang
remuneration on the part of tn
+, American negotiators, and canno
, bc atoncd for with anything les
, than the complete restoration of on
f ancient rights.
$ Among the many treaties mad
{ between the United States an
0 Great Britain, there are four whic
|, will never be likely to increase tb
4 self esteem Of Americans. mea
n those of 1904, 1918. 1918, and 1854
$ The inclusions and exclusions yer
noticeable in those treaties show
# not lack of ability on the part {
@ the American negotiatOrs Of til
# thrc earliest treaties, but II lack ,
i weight in the cannon known TO |
:. behind them. The last. name
;. treaty was negotiated shortly aft
gross attempt had been made
;. bully ns into n similar compact h
d sending a considerable fleet of We
g sells of war to seize by force an
.s stealth and coniiscatc, rs they di
Il seize and cOnfscate hundreds Of II
- vessels of our hardy fishermen, {,
d pretended infractiOn of Britis
: rights under % Dew interpretatic
10 given by them to the old treaty
/. 1918. This was an affrOnt tn,
d should have barred reciprocity tres
d ties forever. Peace is cminently o,
n necessity, but not more n ncccssi
!, here than in Great Britain. Is
0. too much to claim that we hereaft
" treat and be treated by her, whs
d we treat at all, M her equal, and,
70 to reciprocity, not to treat ut al
- No commercial privileges are woi
ir purchasing. The interests of nj
Q. tiOns dictate policies Of mutual bel
,e eGts, and these will grow. Th'
b. cannot be bought with price. Il