The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1872-01-04
Butler ON the Fisheries and the wash
ington Treaty

ington Treaty
Ben. Butler delivered lecture at
Provencetown, Massachusetts,, on
Thursday evening last on the fisheries
interests as effected by the Washington
Treaty. The telegraph reports him
as saving that England, from 1904 to
the present time had protected and
aided her Colonies to the detriment of
American interests. The rights of
the fisheries were ours, because our
fathers took them from the enemy
for their country The General criti-
cised sharply the conduct Of England
during the war, and arraigned the
conduct of the Canadian authorities
as inimical to the United States. He
said the reason the treaty was made
was because of the fear of war with.
England. The reason of this fear was
that everybody held large quantity
of bonds in the United Stases, and in
case of war they would go down
and there is nothing SO cowardly as a
half million of capital except mil
lion.
After ridiculing the idea of war
with England, General Butler said the
Washington Treaty, with the sense of
wrong and injury it wonld bring upon
the people, was more likely to pro-
duce war within ten, years than any
other question. Nobody knows, con-
tinued the General, what this treaty
is. II has not been published any
where, that / know of, except that
newspaper correspondents stole por-
ton of it and published it to the world,
and they fell to discussing with great
deal more eagerness the question.
whether the correspondents had the
right to steal it. than the question of
what its provisions were. The Cen
eral continued at length, criticising
the treaty, and expressing the hope
that the obnoxious fishing clauses.
might be eliminated from it.
Butler evidently don't have very
high appreciation of this treaty which
Grant and his admirers regard as the
chief glory of his administration
Ben. is spelling for fight with the
g mother" country, and won't be sat-
isfied till the matter is worked up.
The point made by Mr.. Cox, that
Rhode Island must have deducted
from her. representative: population
the number of citizens debarred from
the ballot by reason of her real estate
qualifications has heretofore been
touched upon at length by the WORLD.
The reasoning, which is general and
applies to more States than Rhode Is
land, is that under the second section
of the fourteenth amendment the
number, of citizens whose right to
vote is denied or abridged in any
State, . except for participation in the
rebellion, or other crime," must be
deducted from the representative pop
ulation of such State. The language
being express that nothing but crime
is to disqualify, all Statss having tax,
property, or educational suffrage quail
ifcations, or denying suffrage to pau
pers, or conditioning the elective fran
/ chise on the taking of an oath or oaths
must have. their representative popula-
ton decreased to the extent of the
restriction. In some cases the opera
tion of this rule will justly chastise
fraud and in others work undeniable
| injury to wholesome regulations
! Massachusetts,, it is true, can no longer
count toward her Federal representa-
/ ton the illiterate and pauper popula-
ton to which she denies suffrage at
home, and Rhode Island must cease to
seat a second member in the House as
representative of her disfranchised
naturalised- citizens; but, on the other
hand, that just and proper rule which
excludes from any participation in the
government of the State those who
will not pay their taxes towards the
support of the State will be under
mined. That the amendment will re-
turn to chastise those most active in
foisting it upon the country is con-
solat1on, but one a1Ioyed Dy the fact
that the botch will also injure commu-
mites innocent of its authorship
| World. M kisi5