The New York herald., 1871-05-04
The Jsint High observation-disclosures OF a
Great Treaty Of Peace.

treaty which will mark the beginning OF
q new epoch of peace, harmony and
prosperity, not only to the two great
commercial nations directly concerned,
but to all the civilized States Of the
globe. The heavy work of the Commission,
we understand, is finished; the secondary
details are nearly all settled, and the reci-
prociies agreed upon will within few days
be ready for submission in due form to the
London for ratification. General Grant, in
expectation of this treaty, has called an extra
session Of the Senate to meet on the 10th
instant, and our Secretary Of State, Mr. Fish,
has made his arrangements to retire from tho
| Cabinet on the 1st Of June from which we
infer that, as Secretary Of State and as men,
ber of the High Commission, he expects
that by the lst of June the treaty in question
will have become an established law between
the two countries, justifying his official retire.
ment with the public approval of "Well done,
good and faithful servant"
The labors of this High Commission have
embraced the settlement of the international
|
the Newfoundland and Nova Scotia fisheries,
the navigation Of the st. Lawrence, a boundary
question on the Pacific coast and the Alabama
claims. From the various reports and rumors
set aloat touching the arrangements and en-
gagements entered into by the high contracting
parties, we conclude that upon the fisheries
question the Commission have agreed that
American fishermen shall have substantially
the same rights as her Majestys subjects in
the sea fisheries of her North American prov
inces to the shore line; that her Majesty's
fishermen shall have corresponding privileges
along our Atlantic coast down to Delaware
Bay, and that board of arbitrators-one to
be appointed by President Grant, one by
Queen Victoria, and the third, or umpire, by
these two, or, if they cannot agree, he is TO be
chosen by the Emperor of Austria and King
of Hungary-and these three arbitrators are
to determine the difference in cash between
these fishery concessions on the one side and
the other, and the difference is to be paid in
cash by the party having the best of the bar
| gain.
Is not this fair arrangement? We think
it is. Under existing treaty stipulations
| American catchers of cod and mackerel in
those wonderful cod and mackerel placers of
| the Gulf and Banks of Newfoundland are pro-
hihited fishing within marine league from the
shore. To make this exclusion worse, the
| New Dominion authorities have construed the
treaty line as running from headland to head
land across their smaller CULTS and bays,
| inside of which our fishermen cannot venture
without danger of seizure and confscation.
General Butler, In behalf of his fishing con-
| stItueuSs, uas vurruucuoa upe~ .hia euas
ton, and to quiet him and his belligerent
fishermen the Joint High Commission have
| agreed that his fishermen shall have full
sweep, even to the shore line Of her Majestys
provinces, and certain shore privileges to dry
their fish, &c. but that between these and
similar concessions granted on our side we
shall pay the difference on fair cash valua-
tion. General Butler, and likewise General
Banks, it is said, will oppose this arrangement
with all their might; but still we think 1t
ought to be, and will be, satisfactory to the
| Senate.
Next, in regard to the navigation of the st.
Lawrence, 1t is agreed that we shall have the
same rights as the Canadians, in paying the
tolls Of the st. Lawrence canals. To our
readers who do not know exactly what this
means we may say that the ST. Lawrence, not
withstanding the tremendous volume of wat er
| which it bears to the sea, is not q navigable
| river between Lake Ontario and Montreal, in
consequence Of its rapids. Flatboats pirogues
and steamboats, frequently descend these
rapids at great risks, but no sort of craft can
ascend them. These rapids are named the
Long Sauit (twelve miles), the Gallopades
| (where the descending boat seems to be gal
Looping like horse over the waves), the
| Cedars (from the numerous cedars there
among the rocky islands, the Cascades and
the Lachne rapids, the worst of the line, just
above Montreal. Around all these rapids
our British American neighbors, at the cost
of many millions of money, have constructed
great canals, with walls of stone block equal
in size to the stones in the Egyptian pyramids,
and thus, including the Welland Canal the
rapids Of the st. Lawrence and the Niagara
Falls themselves are surmounted by vessels
from Montreal or from Liverpool. The British
concessions, therefore, in regard to the naviga-
tion Of the st. Lawrence, are all that we can
| ask.
The Northwe stern Pacific coast boundary
dispute is about little island in the dividing
straits of San Juan de Fuca which to great
extent commands those straits. This island
the High Commission surrender to the United
States which Is all we demand in that quarter
The main difficulty Of those Alabama claims.
then, Is all of this budget Of difficulties that
is left, and upon this the High Commission
have adopted the saving alternative of arbtra-
ton. A board Of arbitration Of five membera