The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-12-05

Dispute: Is Hudson Bay . Closed Scar the nature of the Britisn and Canadian claims In respect of Hudson Bay is set forth with great clearness and fullness of detail: Great Britain in i7ls acquired from France the sovereign rights to the Bay and Straits of Hudson, together with all lands, seas, sea coasts. etc. A little more than a century later. the nsh- ermen of the United States were grant, cd. by the Treaty of Washington in ISIS, equal rights with the British on the west coast of Newfoundland, and north- ward indehniteiy along Labrador. with out prejudice. however, to any of the rights of the Hudson Bay Company. Does this mean that the Americans can Ash in the waters of Hudson Bay, if and where they did not infringe upon the rights of the Hudson Bay Company7 The Canadian government holds that the provisions of the treaty of ISIS have 60 such meaning. But 1t must be remen- bered that the United States has never subscribed to the British ''headland to headland" doctrine. by which all the wa~ ters lying within line drawn from headland to headland are held to De embayed or territorial. and to constitute the .'closed sea. of diplomatists. As Q matter of fact, the only people who have frequented the Bay the past sixty years are American whalers from New Bsd- ford, who winter on an island on it's western coast line. But Canada, in whose Parliament there is now a blll to change the name of this great inland sea to the Canadian Sea. has recently despatch ed an expedition to these waters. with two objects; one being to expel Ameri- c whalers from that region. and the other to determine its navigabllity as an ocean grain route. Should the American whalers resist the efforts of the Cana dian expedition to remove them from the fishing grounds which they have op- erated for so long period. and appeal for protection to the authorities at Washington. the question will at once become actual Because of the vast. ai- most iilimitable. resources of the region surrounding Hudson Bay. the subject is ore of the utmost importance to Cam ada, which may be expected to be as tenacious Of it's claims as it was in the case of the Alaskan boundary. The Quss- ton has an imperial side:
 Imperial considerations. too are largely shaping this new policy of turn ing Hudson Bay into an inland lake, and re-annexing all the surrounding country to the confines of the Arctic Cir- cle. There is alarm over the possible withdrawal of the bonding privilege by the United States. and a desire to be- come independent of it. There Is . be- lief that a second transcontinental rail- way line further removei from the inter- national boundary than the Canadian Pacific Railway. means an augmentation of Britain's safeguards. There Is a read mess to provide the means whereby Bri- tain may procure foodstuffs and stores from her oversees granary, and dea. patch men and munitions to the Far East or threatened points nearer home. Above all. there is the sentiment of Cam ada, flushed with the strength of a young giants that she has attained na- tional stature, and should fashion her schemes for the development of her im- perial heritage on lines commensurate with the future for which she eeems des- tined. Lord Strathcona. who Is presi- dent of the Hudson Bay Company, de. clared recently that within ten years Canada would be able to supply all the foodstuffs of the United Kingdom, and only now is American opinion awakening to an appreciation of the varied natural resources of British North America in grain, grazing, mineral and wood lands, and the wealth of the seas that wash its shores. The development of the coun- try must inevitably be large, and it is probable that all estimates hazarded now of the population decade hence, and of the value of it's exports. will be much below the actual figures that the next census will disclose"