Arizona silver belt., 1888-09-15
THE FISHERIES.

Ben Butler, in one of the. ablest speeches of the campaign, reviews the fisheries question. showing that Cana da, backed by England, has always acted dishonorably, and that the course of the United Staies Government, ever since the fisheries became a dispute, has been one of humiliatlng concession.
 In framing the treaty of peace ot 17S3 the English commissioners pro- 1 posed that in giving up Canada we should also relinquish our claims to the fisheries, but Jehn Adams, on be- half of the United States, replied that rather than surrender a single right to the fisheries, he would favor the continuance of war, and so the treaty of 1783 guaranteed to us the free en- joyment of the fisheries, which con tinued unmelested until 1917. The war of 1912 had been fought, and in 1917, by claiming that, by the law of nations, declaration of war between two countries abregated all existing treaties, and also that because the treaty of peace of 1915 d1d not men, ton the fisheries, we had therefore lost all rights to them, England sue ceeded in bullying out of US the treaty of 1918, shameful surrender of our claims. By that treaty the United States agreed to "renounce forever any liberty heretofore enjoyed or claimed by tho inhabitants thereof to take, dry or cure fish on or within three marine miles of any of the coasts, bays, creeks or harbors of his Britan- nic Majesty's dominioHs in America provided, however. that the American fishermen shall be admitted to enter such harbors for the purpose of shel- ter and of repairing damages therein of purchasing wood and of obtaining water, and for no other purpose whatever"
 That three mile limit IS treated, in international law, as being the extent to which a cannen throws a shot, and to be the line within which any nation can clam jurisdiction as against any other nation on the open sea. Not satisfied with this construction, Cana da interpreted that limit as being a straight line drawn from a point three miles from one headland of bay to Q polnt three miles from the ether head land of the bay, and as the coast is very irregular our fishermen could not tell when they were within or without that line. The American in- depreciation is the only far and reas- onable one viz: that the line should follow the coast, the limit being three miles distant at every point. Under the Canadian construction, American fishermen were unjustly excluded from some of the most valuable fishing grounds on the Canadian coast, and from time to time the Dominion Gov ornment has harrassea our fshornon Tn every possible way, upon the finn siest pretexts, arresting them for fish ing within the three mile limit, under the "hesdland" construction, when ott-times they were not within sight of land, and in one instance a vessel was seized fer buylng coal in Cana dian port, when the treaty mentioned only wood
 In March, 1887, President Cleve- land, by the almost unanimous con- sent of both houses of Congress, was given authority to adopt and put in force measures of retaliation agalnst Canada, deemed amply effective. This power the President has net availed himself of. Congress was opposed to making a new treaty and refused te sanction the appointment of commls- slon for that purpose, asked by the President. Ignoring this refusal of Congress, and upon his own responsi- blllty, President Cleveland negotiated the treaty rejected by the Senate, and he approved ef that treaty, although it gave to Canada the privilege of cx- tending the three mile limit to five miles from the coast, and Canadian fish and fish oil were to be admitted into the United States free of duty. All this was granted to Canada by the rejected treaty, After using every influence in his power to have thls treaty ratified, and failing, President Cleveland performs complete somer- sault and recommends retaliation.
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