Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1870-12-13


engaged in such fishery to have on board any
goods, wares or merchandise whatever, ex-
| ccpt such as may be necessary for the prose-
| cution of their voyages 10 and from the fish
| ing grounds and any vessel of the United
| States which shall cOntravene this regulation
may be seized, condemned and contiscated
with her cargo. This proposition, which is
[ identical with the construction now pvt upon
\ the language of the convention, was emphat-
ically refused by the American commissioner
and thereupon was abandoned by the British
Plenipotentiares, and article one, as it stands
in the convention, was substituted. If, how
ever, it be said that this claim is founded up
on provincial or colonial statutes, and not
upon the convention, this Government cannot
but regard them as unfriendly, and in contra
vention of the spirit, if not of the letter of
the treaty, for the faithful execution of which
the Imperial Government is alone responsible.
Anticipating that an attempt may possibly be
made by the Canadian authorities, in the
coming season, to repeat their unneighbory
act toward our fishermen, | recommend YOU
to confer upon the Executive the power to
suspend, by proclamation, the operation of
the laws authorizing the transit of goods
wares, and merchandise in bond, across the
territory of the United States TO Canada;
and further should such an extreme measure
become necessary, to suspend the operation
Of any laws whereby the vessels OF the Do
minion of Canada are permitted to enter wat
ers of the United States.
NAVIGATION OF THE ST LAWRENCE RIVER.
A like unfriendly disposition has been man. :
Tested on the part of Canada in the maintain
ance of claim Of right to exclude citizens of
the United States FROM the navigation Of the
ST. Lawrence. This river constitutes nat
ural outlet to the ocean for eight stptcs, with
an aggregate tonnage of 66l, 1867 tons upon
the waters which discharge into it. The for
cign commerce Of their ports on those waters
is open to British competition, and the major
part of it is done in British bottoms If the
American seamcn be excluded from this nat
ural avenue to the ocean, the monopoly of the
direct commerce of the lake ports with the
Atlantic would DO in foreign hands, their YES
sells on transatlantic voyages having access
to our lake ports, which would be denied to
American vessels on similar voyages TO
state such proposition is to repudiate its JUS
tce. During the administration of Mr. John
Quincy Adams, Mr.. Clay unquestionably de-
monstrated the natural right of citizens of the
United States to the navigation of this river,
claiming that the act Of the Congress OF Wien
ma, in opening the Rhine and other rivers to
all nations, showed the Judgment of European
jurist statesmen, in that the inhabitants of
country through which navigable river passes
1--we a natural right to enjoy the navigation of
that river to and into the sea, even though
passing through the territory of another pow
err This right does not exclude the coequal
right Of the sovereign possessing the terrific
~ through which the river debouches into the
sea, to make such regulations relative to the
policy of the navigation as May be reasonably
necessary, but these regulations should be
framed in a liberal spirit of comfy, and should
not impose needless burdens upon the COM
merce which has the right Of transit. 1t has
been found in practice more advantageous to
arrange these regulations by mutual agree
inent. The United States are ready to make
any reasonable arrangement as to the naviga-
ton of the St. Lawrence, which may be sug-
gested by Great Britain. If the claim made
by Mr.. Clay was just when the population of
the states bordering on the shores Of the lakes
was only 3,400 600, it now derives greater
force and equity from the increased population,
wealth, production and tonnage of the states
on the Canadian frontier Since Mr.. Clay
advanced his argument in behalf of our right
the principles for which he contended have
been frequently, and by various nations, re-
cOguzed by law or 10y treaty, and been ex-
tended to several other great rivers by the
treaty concluded at Mayence. In 1881 tie
Rhine was declared free from tie point where
it was first navigable into the sea, by the con
vention between Spain and Portugal, con.
cluded in 1855, the navigation OF the Dourse
throughout its Whole extent was made free for
the subjects OF both crowns. In 1858 the
Argentine Confederation, by treaty, threw
open the free navigation of the Parana aud
Uruguay, to the merchant vessels of all nations
In 1856 the Crimean war was closed by a
iol, laI
of the Danube. In 1885, BOLIVIA. by treaty,
declared that it regarded the rivers Amazon
and La Plata, in accordance with the fixed
principles of national law, as highways for
channels opened by nature for the commerce
Of al nations. In 1859, the Paraguay was
made free by treaty, and in December, 1866,
the Emperor Of Brazil, by imperial decree
declared the Amazon TO be open TO al! the
frontier Of Brazil, to merchant ships Of all
nations. The greatest living British authority
on this subject, while asserting the abstract
right on the British claim, SAYS it seems
difficult to deny that Great Britain may
ground her refusal upon strict law but it is
equally difficult to deny, first, that in so doing
She exercises harsh!y an extreme and hard
law secondly, that her conduct with respect
to the navigation of the st. Lawrence is in
garing aud dscreditable inconsistency with
iitt CuHuuIb VIII Iceptct W TIC NAV lSdtOA OF
the Mississippi. On the ground that she
possessed small domain in which the Mssis
sippi took its rise, she insisted on this right to
navigate the & tire volume of its waters. on
the ground that she possessc both banks of
the St Lawrence where it emptics into the
sea, she denies to the United States the right
of navigation though about one half of the
waters of Lakes Ontario Erie. Huron and
Superior, and the whole of Lake Michigan,
through which the river flows are the property
of the United States. The whole nation is
interested in securing cheap transportation
from the agricultural States Of the West to
the Atlantic sea-board to citizens of these
States It secures a greater return for their
labor to inhabitants OF the sea board 1t offers
cheaper food to the nation, and an increase in
the annual surplus Of wealth. 1t is hoped that
the Government Of Great Britain will see the
justice of abandoning the narrow and incon-
sistant claim to which her Canadian provinces
have urged her adherence.
ESTIMATE OF EXPENSES.
The estimates or the expenses of the Gov
crnmentfor the next fiscal year are $40, 244,-
346Ol less than for the current ono, but cx-
coed the appropriations for the present year.
for the same items, SS,972, 127. In this est
mate, however, are included 500, 1873 27S for
public work heretofore begun under Congress
sional provision, and of which only so much
Is asked as Congress may choose to give
The appropriation for the same worl; for the
present fiscal year was $ll, 984 ,5lS.0S.
GOLD AND CURRENCY.
The average value of gold, as compared
with the National currency for the whole of
the year 1869, was about 1856, and for eleven
months Of 1870, the same relative value has
been about ll5 The approach Of a specie
basis is very gratifying, but the fact cannot be
denied that the instability Of the value of our
currency is prejudicial to our prosperity, and
tends to keep up prices to the detriment Of
trade The evils of deprecated and huctu-
atinr currency, are SO great that now, when
the premium on gold has fallen so much, it
would seem that the time has arrived when,
by wise and prudent legislation, Congress
should look to a policy which would place our
currency at par with gold at no distant day
REDUCTION OF THE TAXES.
The tax collected from the people has been
reduced more than $4,000 00O per annum.
Bv steadiness in our present course there is
no reason why, in few short years, the Ma
tional tax gatherer may not disappear entirely
from the door Of the citizen With the rev.
1