Milford chronicle., 1888-06-08
Bayard's Boomerang.

When the fisheries treaty was laid
before the Senate comparatively few
persons outside of New England felt
sufficiently interested in the document
to give it even a cursory examination
The dispute which gave rise to the
commission was purely local, and no.
body, not even his bitterest enemies,
Imagined that Mr.. Bayard could be so
caioled by callow British diplomat
ist rs TO surrender TO the Canadians
almost boundless privileges which the
latter had never sought, and for which
they offered no corresponding advan-
tage. 1t was taken for granted that
one, considered capable by his party
of managing the most delicate inter
national negotiations, was at least IA
miliar with the salient features of
controversy which had extended over
a century and had engaged the states
manship ofsome of the brightest stminds
in the country. The people Of Mary
land and the neighboring states had
no reason to suppose that they were
personally involved in the squabble,
and took only a languid interest in the
alleged adjustment for which the Hon.
Joseph Chamberlain has received such
extraordinary demonstration of graf
itude i'm Great Britain.
Now that the facts are becoming
known, however, the Democrats in
Congress will no longer be able to
switch public opinion off the track
with cries Of prejudice against the
administration, party capital" and
the like. The splendid fisheries of
the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays
are threatened with annihilation by |
the adoption of the treaty. Mr.. Bay
ard either did not know or did not
heed the warnings of the wise states
men who addressed themselves to this |
snbject in past years. His father, the
late James A. Bayard, one of Della
wares greatest sons, placed himself OH
record in direct opposition to the fool
ish and destructive policy proposed by
the Secretary of State. In 1858 Sena-
tor DaYis,of Massaehusetts,in introduced
into the United States Senate a bill
allowing residents of Canada to fish in
American waters, provided they ex-
tended similar privileges to our fish
ermen in their inshore waters. Hon.
James A. Bayard said /:
Il am not willing TO sanction such
provision as applied to my State; that
is, am not willing to recognize the
right of the general government to ne
gotiate away or pass any law in rela-
tiOn to the common right Of fishery
within the limits OF my State. If gen
tlemen representing other States wish
to adopt that provision as regards their
States, shall not object"
Through amendments of Senators
Bayard aud Mallory the bill was killed.
The present Secretary of State evi-
IDENTIFY has not studied his fathers
speeches, or lie has been so blinded by 1
the dazzling radiance of a British dip 4
lomatist that he fails to comprehend !
their meaning. Article XII of the I
Bayard-Chamberlain treaty, the one d
now before the Senate, throws open to /
the Blue Noses two hundred square r
miles Of the best fishing in the Della
ware Bay, and several times that :
amount in the Chesapeake. Doubt :
less the Democrats will continue to y
oppose open sessions while this remark a
able monument Of Mr.. BaYard's diplo- T
macy ami this extraordinary reminder d
If President Cleveland's sagacily is S
lnder fire. Baltimore AmericaA. N