St. Paul daily globe., 1888-05-30
He Hurls Inveetive, a la In
gals, at the Ca
nucks,
And Makes Sneering Refer
eneeS to Cleveland and
Bayapd.
He Considers the Treaty 8
CoWardly Surrender Of
Our Rights.

Mr.. Frye said the question involved the
dignity and honor of the great republic
and the rights of its citizens. The
question was, should citizens of the
United States fishermen, but still
citizens) be protected against injustice
and wrong and outrsge inflicted Dy q
neIghborihg nation-emboldened to it
only because it rested under the agis of
mighty power beyond the seas. Our
country had not protected its fisher
men, and so Canada commenced by
every conceivable outrage, wrong and
injustice to drive our vessels away.
She drove them to sea in storms;
she seized them on the high seas and
searched them; she put armed men on
board and literally confined their
captains and crews in their vessels
with the American flag flying over
them. They were tried in colonial
courts, and their vessels confiscated,
one after another, until the perils of
the sea were only half as many as the
terrors of the law on shore. He de-
clared that the modus vivendi only
secured to us to us upon the payment
OF Sl.50 per ton commercial privileges
which we were already fully entitled to.
He said that the Canadians
CONTINUED THEIR oUTRAGEs
IN season and out of season, and the
congress of the United States was lust
Oh the point of passing retaliatory law
III response to petition from the fish
ermen of New England, when diplomacy
again rQcnrtnd tO -, 4Lo
treaty of 1871. We had just emerged
from terrible conflict, during which
Great Britain clearly desired that this
country should be cut in two in the
middle. She wanted the Southern mar
ket, and she had not the slightest hest
tatien in regard to the right. She rec
ognized belligerent rights on the part of
the South, and joined with France in
the attempt to build up monarchy in
Mexico, and sent troops of war to Can
ada: She built vessels, armed and
equipped them, and sent them out upon
the ocean to destroy our commerce.
When the war was over our people, who
had been damaged by her cruisers, sent
in their claims and Great Britain re-
fused to pay them. Then our peace
loving president, Grant, sent message
to his people, saying to them, ''Send me
your bills and | will collect them in
time,' and then negotiations for treaty
were had. The Alabama claims were
put i'll the treaty and other matters also
included, and the treaty was made. 1t
stipulated that if there was any balance
due Canada, for the privilege she had
given us of the right to fish, we should
pay it, and that commissioners should
be appointed to see if anything was due.
Mo also thpm q fraa mo of fO, ha
fish. The commission was appointed,
and we had for our representative a
weak old man, no more fit to cope with Sir
John A. Macdonald or Sir Charles Tup-
per than Mr. Bayard is with Hon. JOS
eph Chamberlain in diplomacy. The
umpire was Mr.. Delfosse, of Belgium
practically owned by Great Britain
and Great Britain knew it when he was
appointed.
Mr.. Frye related the story of the in
veStigation by the commission and its
findings. That attempt at diplomacy,
said Mr.. Frye, cost us 81, 100000. At
last notice was given of the termination
of this treaty, and then if this great
country had simply stood on its rights,
this thing would have ended There
would have been peace, and we would
have had the rights we were entitled to.
Secretary Bayard had an
ITCHING PALM FOR DIPLOMACY,
and it delighted his very soul to be en-
gagged in diplomatic correspondence.
He was profoundly ignorant of the fish
cry matter then, as could be proved
without the slightest difficulty, and he
presumed the secretary himself would
admit it. But there was a gentleman
here, Sir Lionel Sackvilie West, who
was not ignorant of the matter, and he
persuaded Secretary Bayard that it
would be six months before congress
met; that it was right in the midst of
the fishing season: that there would be
conflicts between the fishermen of the
United States and the fisher
men of Canada, that very likely
that might lead to a war with
Great Britain, and Mr.. Bayard said:
that you say" And he granted the
moduS vivendl, clearly without any
right to do it under the constitution.
He gave US the right for six months to
fish in the British waters; and the Can
adams the right to fish in OURS for the
same length of time. But that was not
the nub of the treaty. 1t was this:
That the president of the United States
shall recommend to congress the ap-
Dointment of a commission to settle
fishery rights. The president recon-
prove, and once more the peace was
broken, and the next year and half
120 American vessels were seized in
those waters under every conceivable
pretenSe. Vessels were driven to sea
in storms; they were refused hospital
ity; they were treated so barbarOusly
that a Democratic secretary OF the
treasury declared the treatment to be
brutal.
Mr.. Frye referred sareastieally to the
meetings of the plenipotentiaries at
with $40 orchids; themselves living like
princes, and having much elegant leis-
ure on their hands. And what is the
result? he asked. Here it is, he said,
holding up copy of the treaty. The
mountain labored; here is the mouse.
All that nave to say about that treaty
is that it is the most disgraeeful, humil-
iating and
COwARDLY SURRENDER
which the American republic has ever
made in its whole history, not except
ing the treaty of 1918.
At this stage Of his remarks Mr.. Frye
complained that the air was exceedingly
oppressive, and suggested that if the
senate would give its consent he would
finish his speech tomorrow. There be-
ing some dissent to that, recess was
taken for half an hour and the gallery
doors and windows were ordered to be
opened.
Mr.. Frye then resumed his argument,
dwelling at some length on the head
lands theory and arguing that it was
never more than theory; that it never
had been reduced to practice, except in
two cases when it was overruled, and
that it would have remained settled had
not Secretary Bayard reopened it.
Mr.. Beck undertook to controvert
some of Mr.. Frye's statements. The
latter replied that if Great Britain con-
tended that she owned the United States
of America he Sunnosnd .thA senator