The Washington times., 1901-11-09
Circulation Statement
Canadian Presensicns i'm Alaska.

the matter of the rejected Hay-Paunce-
fote Treaty has made the American
public watchful and wary of Anglophile
tendencies on the part of national Off
GERS. Until the gratuitous offer to sur
render American interests and rights to
Great Britain was sprung upon the
country and the Senate as an ugly sur
prise, and until the violent seizure of
the Porcupine district by the British
was condoned by the Hay-Tower modus
viyendi. the people of the United States
had not believed it possible that in this
generation an American statesman
could be found Indifferent enough to his
country's good and glory to think of
such concessions to British pride and
obstinacy and to Canadian impudence
and greed.
The lesson has not been lost, as far
as we are able to know, even upon the
public servant who was most in need of
one, and severe one. Ard respec' Tor
the people viii prevent a repetition lT
such mistakes and offences. If we are
correctly informed, the British Govern
ment has seen the folly Of further irri-
tating American sentiment by longer
maintenance Of the contention that the
Clayton Bulwer convention is alive.
when there Is not a scruhwoman in the
Foreign Office who does not know as
well as the Marquis Of Salisbury does
that, if it ever became operative, which
as a legal proposition we doubt. it was
hit on the head and killed by Great
Britain in 1862 1t is a wise thing for
the Kings Ministers to cut that ex-
ploded agreement out of their calcula-
tions. Thereby they also win eliminate
cause of bad feeling toward the
mother country on this side of the At
lantic which was =cpidly growing into
hatred. They viii be similarly well ad-
vised if they will order the Canadians
TO evacuate the pirated territory in
Alaska which they now hold without
Shadow of right Public opinion, if not
his own rooted Americanism. will com
pei President Roosevelt to drive them
out of the Porcupine district if that be
the only way to get rid of them; and a
peaceable retirement would be prefer
able
We say we are glad that our people
have had their eyes opened to the dam
ger of a too lenient attitude on the part
of some OF our pastors and masters in
the face of British aggressions Other
wise there might be a chance that the
demand of Canada for the arbitration
of its ridiculous claim TO a slice OF our
Alaskan territory would be conceded.
As matters stand. there does not appear
TO be any probability of the sort. Our
right and title TO the whole OF Alaska,
by a conveyance from Russia the terms
of which admit Of no possible dispute,
and by a prescription of over seventy
five years standing, are so clear and in
vulnerable that it would be the veries,t
nonsense TO even consider the possibility
that We ever could be insane enough to
allow one surface inch Of the territory
TO go to arbitration with England, Can
ada, or any other Power or colony.
Nevertheless. the Canadians are ener-
getically teasing the home Government
TO continue its former backing of their
senseless pretensions. What is much
more surprising, their leading poll
ticians really seem To harbor the belief
that the United States can be worried
into granting what they want. Why
they should think SO is a matter beyond
our comprehension. President Roose-
welt is not the kind of man TO surren-
der American territory TO anybody
without a fight. and Congress would
steer clear Of anything of the kind as
surely as small boy would run away
from a bear. What our provincial
neighbors are doing and saying in the
connection win result solely in creating
enmity toward them and their colony
II they can afford that, there Is moth
ing more to be said. If they cannot, the
sooner they quit the better. AS an il
lustration Of the density which affiicts
the Canadian brain on the subject of
Alaska, we quote paragraph from a
speech made by a MIR. Charlton, lead
ing member of the Dominion Parlia-
ment, before the New York Chamber of
Commerce on Thursday of the present
week. In the course Of his remarks Mr..
Charlton said:
The Canadian view OF this case assumes that
Lynn Canal s territorial water. and Canadians
cannot understand how the United States should
bold that an inlet less than two marine leagues
In width is part Of The high seas, white de-
clining to apply the same yIc~ 70 the Chesa-
lsntic coasts. Che Canadian view Of the case is
that the coast line crosses Lynn Canal at its
mouth; that the boundary line under the pro-
visions OF the Treaty Of 1924 should cross the
canal Thirty miles from lis mouth, and that
Skaguay Is upon British territory. The accept
snce Of the Canadian contention would Of
courAe. give the United States command Of the
BeapoGts tnar might be situated beyond the line
claimed by Canada as the proper boundary line,
for fortiGcatiuns would command the mouth OF
the canal Upon this question it is no secret
that the Joint High Commission reached a dead
lock. The most natural solution Of the difficulty
Is % refer tho matter 10 arbitration. Canada is
prepared 10 abide by the result Of such refer
ence whether il gave back the territory claimed
or gave compensation for II, or gave nothing,
md IL would certainly seem that this is OBJ
yjously the proper course 10 pursue"
What the American people cannot un-
derstand Is how the Canadians can have
the enrontery TO contend that an open
arm Of the sea, on a coast which is an
unbroken succession of fords, is not
part OF the American shore line, when
the deed Of cession under which we hold
the possession. and which repeats the
terms Of the treaty under which the
vender held it since 1925, recites with
special reference to those indentations,
that our seaward line is TO follow the
"neanderings Of the coast" Were we to
ADMIT the Canadian claim that our out
side line should be drawn from headland
TO headland- what would be the value
of the definitive statement In our title
deed? Mr. Charlton argues that the
most natural solution of the difficulty