Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1870-12-24


ject. residing within the limits assigned
for their use, and also that it should no,
be lawful for the vessels Of the Cuiied
States engaged in such fishery. 10 have on
board any goods, wares, OF merchandise,
whatever. excep, sech rs may be necessary
Tor the prosecution Of their voyages TO aud
from said fishing grounds, AMI any vessel
of the United States, which shall contra.
vene this regulation, may be seized, con.
demned and ccnfscated. with her cargo.
This proposition. which is identical with
the construction pu. on the language of the
Convention, was emphatical!y rejected by
the American Commissioners. and there
upon wa. abandoned by the British Plcni-
poteu,iaries, and Article | as it stands in
the Convention, was adopted. If, how
ever, it be said that the claim is founded
on provincial or colonial statutes, and not
upon the Convention, this Government
cannot but regard them as uufriendly, and
contravention of the spirit If not the
letter. of the treaty. for the faithful exccu.
ton of which the Imperial Government is
alone responsible.
FREE NAVIGATION ON THE ST. LAWRENCE.
Anticipating that an attempt may possi-
bly, be made by the Canadian authorities
in the coming season to repeat their un-
neighborly act toward our fishermen, l
recommend you to confer upon the Execu-
tive the power to suspend, by proclama.
ton, the operation of the laws authorizing
the transit of goods, wares and merchan.
disc, in bond, across the territory of the
United States to Canada and further,
should such an extreme measure DO neces-
sary, to suspend the operation of any laws
whereby the vessels of the Dominion Of
Canada are permitted to enter the waters
Of the United States.
A like unfriendly disposition has been
manifested on the part of Canada in the
maintenance of claim of the right to ex.
clude the citizens of the United States
from the navigation Of the St. Lawrence.
This river constitutes natural outlet to
the ocean for eight States, with an aggrc.
gate population of II 600, 900 inhabitants,
and with an aggregate tonnage of 76l 1869
tons upon the waters which discharge into
it. The foreign commerce of their ports
on these waters is open to British coupe
tition, and the major part Of it is done in
British bottoms.
If American seamcn be excluded from
the natural avenue to the ocean, the mon
opoly Of the direct commerce of the Lake
ports with the Atlantic would be in foreign
hands, their vessels on transatlantic voy-
ages having an access to our lake ports,
which would be denied to American YES
sells on similar voyages. To state such
proposition is to refute its justice. Dur
ing the administration of John Quincy
Adams, Mr.. Clay unquestionably demon
strated the natural right of the citizens Of
the United States to the navigation of this
river, claiming the act of the Congress of
Vienna upon the Rhine and other rivers,
and all nations to have the judgment of
European jurists and statesmen, that the
Inhabitants Of country through which
navigable river passes, has natural right
to enjoy the navigation Of that river to
and into the sea, even though passing
through the territory Of another power.
The right does not exclude the coequal
right of the sovereign of passing the ter
ritory through which the river debauches
into the sea to make such regulations, rel
alive to the policy of the navigation, as
may be reasonably necessary, but those
regulations should be framed in . liberal
spirit of comfy, and should impose no
needless burdens upon the commerce which
has the right Of transit. 1t has been found
10 practice more advantageous to arrange
those regulations by mutual agreement.
The United States are ready to make any
reasonable arrangement as to the practice
of the St. Lawrence. which may be sug.
gested by Great Britain: If the claim
made by Mr.. Clay was just when the pop.
ulation Of the States bordering on the
shores of the lakes was only 100000.
1t now derives greater notice and equity
from the increased population, wealth,
production and tonnage Of the States on
the Cananian frontier.
On the ground that she possessed a
small domain, in which the Mississippi
took its rise, she insisted on this right to
navigate the entire volume of its water.
On the ground that she possesses both
banks Of the st. Lawrence, where it dis.
embogues itself into the sea, she denies the
United States the right Of navigation
through about ons-half the waters of Lakes
Ontario, Huron and Superior, and the
whole of Lake Michigan, through which
the river flows, though they are the prop
erty Of the United States.
Since Mr.. Clay advanced his argument
in behalf Of our right, the principle for
which he coutended has been frequently
and by various nations recognized by law
or by treaty, and has. been extended to
several other great rivers. BY the treaty
concluded at Mayence in 1882, the Rhine
was declared free, from the point where it
was first navigable, into the sea by the
convention between Spain aud Portugal,
concluded in 1885, the navi gation of the
Douro, throughout its whole extent, was
made free for the subjects of both crowns
10 1858, the Argentine Confederation, BY