The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-09-04
THE aUSH-BAGoT TREATY.

the water me that n-arES the tOuuu1iS
between Canada and the United States is
protected, not by harbor defenses, nor
gunboats, nor torpedoes. but by an in
formal convention that hardly reaches
the dignity of a treaty.
After the war of 1872, at the instance OF
Mr.. Monroe, then secretary of state, the
American and British govern pents agreed
to dismantle their fleets on the great
lakes, Except four vessels each, of not more
than one hundred tons burden, and car
rying one eighteen-pound cannon. These
vessels to be placed, one on lake Cham
plain. one on lake Ontario and two on
the upper lakes. The upper lakes meant
lakes Erie, Huron and Michigan. Lake
Superior not being accessible at that time
and no vessel of that size having been on
its waters. was not included in the con-
vention. The agreement stipulated with
this exception no other war vessels should
be built or armed; that these vessels
Should be used for the protection of the
revenues and the transportation of troops
spect interfere with the armed vessels OF
the other nation
Although this treaty was made before
steam was factor on water navigation
and when an eighteen-pounder was big
gun" although the agreement did not
contemplate the exclusion of future ship
yards from the privilege of building war
vessels, and although by its own provis-
ions, it can be abrogated on six months
notice by either party. it has stood as the
supreme law of the land for nearly
eighty-ffve years. Notwithstanding the
fact that it was never ratified by Great
Britain and was broken by both parties
and abrogated formally by one it is still
in force and acts as serious handicap
on the shipbuilding interests of the great
lakes.
When we remember the fact that the
value of the commerce and the tonnage OF
the great lakes, bear favorable compar-
ison with the value and tonnage of the
entire foreign commerce of the United
States, and that nine large shipbuilding
plants are located on these lakes, the I'M
portance of the Rush-Bagot convention
stands out in its true form In case of
war with Great Britain this commerce
would be annihilated in a month and our
lake cities would be at the mercy of the
Britishers; while on the other hand the
shlpouHding interests are barred from
of war or naval ordnance.
That the trainers of this convention did
not intend that it should be construed
against the building of war vessels for
the high seas, is manifest from the fact
that when it was entered into, no pos
Sible way was open to the ocean except
by wagon. The letter of the convention
was broken by Great Britain during the
Canadian rebellion in 1887 and by the
United States later by placing on the
lakes revenue cutters of 500 tons burden
and armed with modern guns In 1864
the treaty was formally abrogated by
joint resolution of congress, but before
the abrogation was acknowledged by
Great Britain it was taken back by the
United States and both nations have act
ed on the supposition since, that it re-
mains in full force and effect The ship
building interests became so insistent for
modification or the abrogation of
the treaty-that it was handed over in
1898 to the joint high commission to dis
pose of with the many other differences
between the United States and Canada
AS this commission is now in state of
innocuous desuetude. the matter will
have to be handled by some other force
So far as the disarming of the two ma
tions these inland and common waters
goes the treaty is to be highly commend
ed, as it saves vast expense for ships
as we'll as for Notifications On the other
hand the clause forbidding the building
of war ships on the lakes is extremely
prejudicial to the shipbuilding interests
of that vast region.
With the development of the iron in
dustries of Michigan and Minnesota the
shipbuilding interests will gain import
armored war vessels. We are aware that
at this time war ships longer than 27O
feet, with 45-foot beam and 14-foot
draught cannot pass to the ocean through
the Welland canal. But all patriotic
Americans hope to see within the next
decade an all-American canal to the sea
with minimum depth of 81 feet and with
locks which will admit vessels 400 feet
long.
As the situation is now, in case of war
with Great Britain, we would have to
capture the Welland canal at all hazards
and hold it against the combined force of
the enemy, for with it open our lake
cities would be at the mercy of the
British gun boats which can pass through
the canals.
The Rush-Bagot treaty should be
amended to meet the modern conditions
The building of war vessels should be al
lowed and the new treaty of disarma-