The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1870-12-08

the st. Lawrence. This river consti-
tutes a natural high way to the ocean,
with an aggregate population OF H.
000,0 600 inhabitants. ard with an ag-
gregate tonnage of 6Gl, ,36T tons upon
the waters which discharge into It
The foreign commerce Of our ports in
these waters is open to British com
petition. 9nd the major part OF it i
done in British bottoms. II the
American seamen be excluded from
this natural avenue to the ocean, the
monopoly of the direct commerce Of
the lake ports with the Atlantic
would be in foreign hands, their YES
sells on transatlantic voyages having
an access to our lake ports, which
would be denied TO American vessels
on similar voyages. To state such
proposition j. to T-Sute its justice.
During the administration Of Mr.
John Quincy Adams, Mr.. Clay Un-
questiOnably demonstrated the natur-
al right Of the citizens of tire United
States to the navigation of this river,
claiming that the act Of the Congress
Of Vienna, in opening the Rhine and
other rivers to all nations. showed
the judgment Of EuroDean jurists and
statesmen that the inhabitants Of
country through which a navigable
river passes have a natural right TO
enjoy the navigation IF that river 70
and into the sea, even though passing
through the territory Of another pow
er. This right does not exclude the
co-equal right of the sovereign pos
sessing the territory through which
the river debouches into the sea to
make such regulations relative 10 the
policy Of the navigation as may be
reasonably necessary, but those regu
latiOns should be framed in a liberal
spirit of comfy, and should not i'm
pose needless burdens upon the COM
merce which has the right of transit.
It has been found in practice more
advantageous to arrange these regu-
lations hy mutual agreement. The
United States are ready to make any
reasonable arrangement as to the
policy of the st. Lawrence which
NAV be suggested by Great Britain
| If the claim by Mr.. Clay was just
when the population of the States
! bordering on the shore of the lakes
was only 100000, it now derives
greater force and equity from the in
Z creased population, wealth, prOduc-
/ ton, and tonnage Of the States on the
! Canadian frontier. Since Mr.. Clay
advanced his argument in behalf Of
our right, the principle, for which he
contended, 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 1881
| the Rhine was declared free from the
point where it is first navigable into
| the sea. By the convention between
Spain and Portugal, concluded in
/ 1885, the navigation of the DOurO
/ throughout the whole extent was
made free for the subjects Of both
crowns. In 1853 the Argentine con-
I federation by treaty threw open the
/ free navigation of the Parana and
| Uruguay to the merchant vessels of
all nations. In 1856 the Crimean war
was closed by treaty which prOvid-
ed for the free navigation of the Dan
ube. In 1853 Bolivar, by treaty, de-
clared that it egarded the rivers Am
azOn and La Plata, in accordance with
/ the fixed principles of national law
as highways or channels opened by
Z lldtuhG lbI LllC tplnllElCC vi Ill Ia
/ tons. In 1859 the Paraguay was
made free by treaty, and i'm December
| 1866, the Emperor of Brazil, by an
imperial decree declared the Amazon
/ to be open 20 all the frontier of Brazil
and to the merchant ships of all ma
tiOns. The greatest living British
authority on this subject, while as
serting the abstract right of the Brit
| ish claims, says it is difficult to deny
that Great Britain may ground her
refusal upon strict law, but it is equal
/ ly difficult to deny: first tnat in SO
doing she exercises harshly an eX-
! treme and hard law; secondly that
! her conduct with respect to the navi-
| CATION of the st. Lawrence is in glar-
/ ing and discreditable inconsistency
with her coneuct with respect to the
navigation of the Mississippi. On
/ the ground that she possessed a small
/ domain, in which the Mississippi took
| its rise, she insisted on this right to
navigation the entire volume of its
waters. On the ground that she pos
! sessed both banks of the st. Law
renee where it deb0uches into the sea
she denies to the United States the
right of navigation, though about
one-half of the waters of Lakes On
| tario, Erie, Huron and Superior. and
| the whole ofLake Michigan through
which the river flows, are the proper
/ ty of the United States. The whole
nation is interested in securing cheap
| transportation from the agricultural
States of the West TO the Atlantic
seabOard, to the citizens of those
| States. 1t secures a greater retprn
/ for their labor; to the Inhabitants of
| the seaboard it offers cheaper food; to
/ the nation an increase in the annual
surplus of wealth. 1t is to be hoped
| that the government of Great Britain
will see the justice of abandoning the
narrow and inconsistent claim to
which her Canadian provinces have
urged her adherence.
THE DECLINE OF AMERICAN COM
MERGE.
Our depressed commerce is a sub
! ject to which l called your special at
! tention at the last session, ahd sug-
! gested that we will in future have to
/ look more to the countries south of
us, and to China and Japan, for its
| revival. Our representatives to all
! these governments have exeTted their
influence to encourage trade between
the United States and the countries
/ to which they are accredited, but the
! fact exists that the carrying is almost
entirely in foreign bottoms, and while
( this state of affairs exists we cannot
/ control our due share of the commerce
of the world. That between the Pa
cific states and China and japan is
about all the carrying trade now con-
I Quoted in American vessels. I would
recommend a liberal policy toward
/ that line of American steamers, one
I that will insure its success and more
! increased usefulness. The cost of
/ building iron vessels, the only ones
! that can compete with foreign ships
| in the carrying trade, is so much
greater in the United States than in
| foreign countries that without some
assistance from the government they
cannot be successfully built here.
There will beseveral propositions laid
! before Congress in the course of the
! present session looking to q remedy
for this evil. Even if it should be az
some cost to the National Treasury,
/ hope such encouragement will be
given as will secure American ship
ping on the high seas and American
ship building at home.
CARE OF THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES.
/ The condition of the archives at the
/ Department of State calls for an ear
| Iy action of congress. The building
now rented by that department is a
! frail structure at an incOnvenient dis
| tance from the Executive Mansion
and from the other departments. II
is illy-adapted to the purpose for
which it is used, has not the capacity
! to accommodate the archives, and is
not fire-prOof. Its remote situation,
! its slender construction and the alb
sence of q supply of water in the
neigborhood leaves but little hope of
safety for either the building or its
contents in case of n fire. Its
destruction would involve the loss OF
the rolls containing the original acts
and resolutions of Congress of the his
toric records of the revolution and Of
1 the Confederation, of the whole series
of the diplomatic and consular ar
chives since the adoption of the Con-
stitution, and of tine many other val
liable records and papers left with
that department when it was the
principal depository of the govern
ment archives. recomnent an ap-