The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-08-17
THE SEPTEMBER MAGAZINES.



Samuel Osgoed, ID. D.; "Onthank: the Ty-
rants Triumph" ''The Brontes and their
Home-Two Days at Haworth, Mrs. e. p.
Evans; ''Montauk, F. II. Angler; ''Pedro el
Moro, the Sword Blade Maker of Puebla," N.
A. Knox; ''The Northwestern Boundary Dis
pute," General Alvord; Railway Musings"
J. II. Vosburg; apartment Houses Practi-
cally Considered" P. B. Wight "Arctic
Travelling in Winter" George Kennan;
danish Peasants, Our Danish Contributor;
''Malvina, Mrs. J. " Eames "Society vs..
Insanity, w. A. Hammond, M. D.. 'Edito-
rial Notes." Literature at Home" ''Litera-
ture, Art, and Science Abroad"
The completion of the Northern Pacific
Railroad will make it more important than
ever that the United States should insist upon
obtaining all their rights in the Northwest,
and it is especially necessary that we should
be able to command the ship channels of Puget
Sound. 1t was a great mistake that we al
lowed ourselves to be bullied out of Vancou-
ver's Island and it will be greater one if
we yield the island of San Juan and its chan
mel to the British. As the question of the
occupation of the island is likely to be
brought prominently before the public of
paper on '''The Northwestern Boundary Dis
pute" will be of particular Interest,"
There are few people in the United States
who have known that, throughout the whole
Of the civil war, and since 1859, the British
and American flags have both been flying on
San Juan Island. This joint military occu-
patton has been justly very odious to our
Government, to the authorities of Washing
ton Territory, and to the Americans on the
disputed islands, and ought to be terminated
at the earliest possible moment. There are
one hundred and seventy square miles of
area in The Archipelago de Haro, sixty of
which are arabic land and eighty grazing
land The United States should as speedily
as possible be placed in full possession, the
civil authorities be enabled to exercise
therein their functions, and the land-laws
be carried into effect. During the Rebel
lion the people of that frontier were
urged to be quiet, and wait until the
war was over, and the Government
should be at leisure to assert our rights.
The language of the treaty of 10Th June,
1876, required that the boundary line should
run ''along the 10th parallel Of north latitude
to the middle of the channel which separates
the continent from Vancouver's Island, and
thence southerly, through the middle of said
channel, and of Fuca's Straits, to the Pacific
Ocean,"
The English Government claims the Rosa
rio straits, the channel nearest the continent,
Is the boundary line; we claim the Canal de
Haro as the proper boundary.
That our claims to the Archipelago de Haro
are of the most unmistakable character
abundantly appears to one who will carefully
read the Senate document entitled 1.-The
Northwestern Boundary Question, which con-
tains full statement of the whole matter. It
begins with a letter of Mr.. Seward, which
says:-'Every officer of this Government,
who had any part in the negotiation, adop-
ton, or ratification of the treaty, assented to
it with the full understanding that the de1ec-
tion Of the boundary from the 10th parallel
was consented to for the sole purpose of CIV
ing the whole of Vancouver's Island to Great
Britain, and that, to effect this purpose the
line was to be carried through the Canal de
Haro to the Straits of Fuca, on its way to the
Pacific Ocean"
This document was prepared in the State
Department, by Archibald Campbell, Esq,
United States Boundary Commissioner, whose
correspondence with Captain j. G. Provost,
of the British navy, the English commits
sioner, is given at length Mr.. Cass, in his
despatch of 10th October, 1859, to Mr.. Dallas,
very Justly says that Mr.. Campbells "whoe
argument is marked both by ability and re-
search" The entire document is drawn up
in the most thorough and conscientious man
ner 1t has, besides an excellent map of the
region in dispute, plate showing four cross
sections of the whole channel:-1st, along the
49th parallel; I'd, along the parallel of As deg.
45 min; 3D., along that OF IS deg. 30 min;
4th, along that of 4S deg. % min. 1t has,
also, a complete physical and geographical
description Of the Archipelago de Haro, and
each of the islands, and quotations from the
reports of General Persifer f. Smith and
General j. q. Totten, the late Chief of
Engineers, showing the military value of
these islands. The Boundary Survey had
for astronomer, in running the 49th parallel,
John G.. Parke then Lieutenant of Engi-
neers, since distinguished as Maj aior-Gen
OF Volunteers in every part of the field
during the late war. The astronomer of the
British Boundary Commission was Col. John
s. Hawkins, of the Royal Engineers The
u. s. Coast Survey assisted materially in
completing the survey and the excellent maps
of the Archipelago de Haro.
We will endeavor to condense, into a few
distinct heads, the principal points brought
out in the argument on our side.
lst. The Canal de Haro is the shortest,
deepest, and widest channel to connect the
Gulf of Georgia with the Straits of Fuca. A
glance at the cross-sections given in the plate
referred to will show that the main BODY of
water goes through that channel to the ocean
1t seems to be fair to assert that the treaty
means that the line of deepest water (the
.fIum GquG) shall be the boundary-line. The
least depth in the Canal de Haro is greater
than the maximum depth in the Rosario
Straits (see p 129 of the Senate Document.
The average cross-section throughout of the
former will show that its surface is about
three times that of the Rosario Straits.
I'd. 1t appears that Lord Aberdeen, on the
18th Of Nav 1876 wrote to the British Minis