New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-03-19
THE FISHERIES.
ALETTER FROM WALKER BLAINE.
Il HsTORICAL AND CRITICAL RhvIEw--HOW DUN
FIRST RIGHTS WE'RE WON SUCCESSIVE TREATY


To the EditOr Of The frf6mhe.
Sir: The question Of the fisheries is one which
has occupied tho Government OF the United statcs
from It's foundation and one which IL may be reason
ably anticipated Will engage its attention for some
time to Vchcmenty and passlonately dis
cussed along seaboard, the inland States view 10
with passive Indifference under the hasty genoralzar
ton that an eternal bcicr over the right to catch
cod or mackcrel IS ono unworthy the dignity Of
great country and too insignificant to become
question Of National concern Canadian public opn'
ION IS honestly convinced that in all the trcaties
which have been made between Great Britain and
the United States the Yankee has driven the better
tarsain; the American fisherman and tho American
student of diplomatic history have come to quite
opposite conclusions The present treaty, submitted
during tho last month to the United States Ssnatc,
and now before that body for ratification oi rejection,
makes this an opportune time for vcntuiing TO lay
before such Of your Ica'crs as may be interested
therein. as coDcsely possible, statement OF tht
question which has been the subject Of more constant
disagreement putc than any other in our dip
lomatic history
1t is extremely probable that the banks OF New
foundland visited by hardy fishermen from
Brittany before Columbus sighted the Antilles.
However that may be, the New World had been bus
few years discovered when the fisheries along tho
North American coast became OF value TO nearly
all tho maritime nations. English and French, Por-
tuguese and Spanish were sending fleets TO tho Georges
and dropping anchor along the great banks In tho
first quarter Of tho sixteenth centNry, and though,
time went the fishing grounds were left In tho
possession OF the French and tho English, cvcn AZ
late 1888 Spain put forward a claim to right OK
participation IN this cherished privilege. This claim
quickly abandoned however, when tho Span
iarlS found that America and France were not dis
posed to sustain their contention, and that Spain her
self was too weak TO obtain from Great Britain tho
abandonment of Gibraltar in exchange for tho con
ccsson OF this pretended right. The French and
English werc not pcaccablc Joint tenants, and tho
long list OF continental between the two coun-
tries resulted In many conventions and treaties, in
which the right to take and euro fish was frc1ucn'y
defined by stipulation Tho capture Of Lou!sburg
and expulsion Of the French from Canada Icduccd
tho French possessions In North America TO ono or
Insignificant islands, and at the outbreak OF tho
Revolutionary war, tho fisheries of the North Atlantic
coast wcrc practically controlled by Great Britain
and enjoyed by her Colonial and Canadian subjects
Meanwhile, the industry had grown in Importance
and greatly increased In vauc the product cangit
by the fishermen of New England in 1894 bsing esii-
mated as worth u $1,000 The fish OF. the New
England coast so numerous at the discovery that
tho movements Of his vessels, GOswold reported,
seriously incrcrcd with, and the bay and capo
were hence married. In his charts Cape Cod and
Cape Cod Bay, had been cXterminacd by over stlmi-
laon Of the Industry, a. today tho salmon OF th'
Oregon or the pine Of Michigan are bci8S rapidly
and finally exhausted. IIcrcc from l7GO to tho
present time New England fishing vessels havc been
driven for a catch to the more northern shores so
important this interest deemed that pior TO tho
Revolution a painted Goldfish hung in the State House
In Boston as a constant reminder to the law mahers
that the rights of the fisheries were to be above al
jcalousy guarded.
With the French driven from Canada and the fish
cries secured forever 20 the inhabitants of North
America a victory to which Colonial troops ana
Colonial money had contributed not a little, the Rev
olutOnary came on, and from 1876 to l1s2 every
resource OF tho colonies heavily taxed in tho
maintenance Of tho unequal but happily successful
struggle. In the latter year John Adams, John Jay,
Henry Laurcns and the postmaster philosopher, poll
/ tlcan and the irst and possibly the greatest
| diplomatic representative who has ever borne tho
credentials Of this country. benjamin Franklin met in
Paris 10 negotiate the preliminary treaty Of peace.
Tho three paramount interests which the American
representatives. zeaous.y contendcd for, and which
they wcrc instructed satisfactorily to determine wcTo
lndc pcndcncc, boundaries and the fSherc'. To John
Adams has boon almost universally accorded the solo
credit Of the third article OF that treaty, but II IS TO
the diplomatic ability OF Franklin who at critical
juucturo in the negotiation played the British desire
for compensation to the 10y aSts against concession
OF fishery rights, that tho United states secured
definition OF their rights satisfactory as the follow
Ing prOvlsIon:
Art. Ill It is agreed that the people of the United
states shall continue to enjoy unmocsted the right
10 take fish of every kind on the Grand Bank, and on
all tho other banks OF Newfoundland, also I'm tho
Gulf Of ST. Lawrence and at all other places in tho
where the inhabitants OF both countries used az any
OF the United states shall havc liberty TO take fish
Of every kind such part OF the coast of Ncwfound-
land British fishermen shall use tbut not to dry
the same on that island and also on tho
coasts. bays aud creehs of all other of Ills British
Majcstys dominions In America aud that me Amori-
can fishermen shall have liberty 10 dry and curc fish
any OF the unsettled hays har1o a6 ana Teo sS On %,
the shall remain unsettled, hut so soon
the either of them Shall he settled. It shall
be law fu for the said fishermen to dry or euro
fish at such settlement without previous agreement
for that purpose with tho Inhabitants, proprctors or
poSscssOrS OF the ground.
Had this provision, which was copied literally into
the dcGnvo treaty OF peace signed the following year,
1888, remained from that time to this In force and
been by Great Britain and Canada honestly and hon
orably observed tho fishery question would Layc been
finally at rest but the ink which attestcd tho Sig
natures to the treaty hardly dry before Great
Britain began by narrow legislation and by restrictive
local regulation 20 violate the compact In spirit, II
not In letter. Then the OF 1872, which
still further seriously crippled tho liberties OF tha
fishermen, so that IN 1914 tho exports OF fish from
New England amounted to but $i2j,000 In tho
treaty OF peace negotiated at Ghcnt In that year,
mention viii be found Of the right of the people of
tho United statos to take FISH the Canadian coast.
THIS omission is easily explained by the damotrcaliy
opposite Views held by the commissioners upon this
question.
WHAT THE TREATY OF GHEvr LACKED.
Tho American representatives, at the head Of whor,
wero Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams, maintained
that the language OF the treaty OF 1883 showed that
tho right to take fish the Grand and other banks
Of New foundland, In the Gulf OF St. Lawrence and at
any and all places vherc the Inhabitants OF either
country had been used to tahe fish, as we'll as tho
provisions for drying and curing the same defined
the treaty, not created by that instrument but
recognized already existing 60 be regarded
identical with tho possession of land the demar-
cation Of boundary, and as permanent In nature, not
TO affected by the ruptHro restoration Of friendly
rotations. In legal phraseology, It was an executed
grant imposing q perpetual scrvItude The treaty
OF 1888 had implcdly given to Great Britain tho right
to free navigation OF the Mississippi River, but tho
Louisiana purchase Of Mr.. Jefferson and tho surveys
OF tho head Of the river In tho interval between
tho Treaty of Paris and the Treaty OF Client, had