III. REPLY OF THE UNITED STATES ΤΟ THE CASE OF THE GOVERNMENT OF HER BRITANNIC MAJESTY, PRESENTED TO HIS MAJESTY THE EMPEROR OF GERMANY, AS ARBITRATOR, UNDER THE PROVISIONS OF THE TREATY OF WASHINGTON, JUNE 12, 1872. REPLY. The United States on the 12th of December last presented their Memorial, on the Canal de Haro as the boundary line of the United States of America, to the Imperial Arbitrator, and to the representative of Her Britannic Majesty's Government at Berlin. To the Case of the Government of Her Britannic Majesty, likewise submitted at that time, they now offer their reply. A formal answer to every statement in the British Case to which they take exception, would require a wearisome analysis of almost every one of its pages. They hold it sufficient, to point out a few of the allegations which they regard as erroneous; to throw light upon the argument on which the British principally rest their Case; to establish the consistency of the American Government by tracing the controversy through all its changes to its present form; and, lastly, to apply to the interpretation of the Treaty some of the principles which Her Britannic Majesty's Government itself has invoked. 1. THE BRITISH CASE. British Case, p. 3. The argument of Her Britannic Majesty's Government has kept in the background the clear words of the Treaty describing the bound[4] ary, and has made no attempt to bring them into harmony with the British claim. On the contrary, in the statement of the question submitted for arbitration, it assumes that the Treaty of 1871 speaks "as if there were more than one channel between the continent and Vancouver Island through which the boundary may be run." The United States are of the opinion that the Treaty of 1846 designates the Haro Channel precisely as the only channel of the boundary. The words are: "The channel that separates the continent from Vancouver Island;" and there is but one such channel. The soI called Straits of Rosario touch neither the continent nor Vancouver Island. The name of the continent of South America, as used by geographers, includes the group of islands south of the Straits of Magellan. The continent of Asia includes Ceylon and Sumatra; the continent of Europe includes Great Britain and Ireland, and the Hebrides. Asia Minor includes Lesbos, and Scio, and Samos, and Rhodes, and Tenedos; and so the continent of North America includes all adjacent islands, to the great Pacific. Were the question to be asked, "What channel separates the continent of Europe from Candia?" the answer would not draw the line north of the greater part of the Egean Archipelago, but, like all European diplomacy, would point to the channel south of Santorin. In like manner, when the Treaty speaks of "that channel which separates the continent from Vancouver Island," nothing is excepted but Vancouver Island itself. The United States assented, in 1871, to no more than that Great Britain might lay her pretensions before an impartial tribunal, all the while believing and avowing, that the simple statement which has just been made is absolutely conclusive on the point submitted for arbitration. British Case, p. 33. [5] Senate Documents, The British Case seeks to draw an inference unfavorable to the American demand from the proviso in the Treaty of 1846 which secures to either party the free navigation of the whole *of Fuca's Straits. It is quite true that the right was safe, and was known to be safe "under the public law;" yet it appears vol. ix. Doc. 489, p. from documents printed at the time, that, as the recent assertion by the Russian Government of a claim to the exclusive navigation of a part of the Northern Pacific Ocean was recollected, it was thought best to insert the superfluous clause, recognizing the straits of Fuca as an arm of the sea. 44. Appendix to Memorial, p. 47. British Case, pp. 10, 32 Appendix No. 62, The British argument seems suited to mislead by its manner of using the name "straits of Rosario." The first channel from the straits of Fuca to the north, that was discovered and partly examined in 1790, was the Canal de Haro. The expedition under Lieutenant Eliza explored that channel in June, 1791, with the greatest industry and care, and discovered the broad water which is its continuation to the north. That water, lying altogether to the north p. 100, 1. 37, 38. of the northern termination of Haro Channel, was named by the expedition, El Gran Canal de Neustra Señora del Rosario la Marinera. Thus the Canal de Haro and the true Spanish Channel of Rosario form at once the oldest historical continuous channel, as it is the one continuous boundary-channel of the Treaty of 1846. The passage which the British authorities now call the Straits of Rosario, appears as early as 1791 on the map of Eliza as the Channel of Fidalgo. Vancouver, coming after Eliza, transferred the name of Rosario to the strait east of the island of Vancouver Island Texada. The British Admiralty, soon after receiving the From the surveys made under its orders in 1847 by Captain Kellett, suddenly removed the name of the straits of Rosario from the narrow water between the continent and the island of Texada, where it had remained on British maps for fifty years, to the passage which the Spaniards called the channel of Fidalgo. And yet the Government of Her Britannic Majesty advances the assertion, that "how the name has come to be" British Case, p. 10. so "applied in modern days does not appear." For this act of the British Admiralty in February, 1819, there exists no historical justification whatever. Мар К. Admiralty Map of and the Gulf of G. Vancouver, R. N., 1793, Captains D. 1792, Captain H. Kellett, R. N., 1947. Published Feb. 28, 1849. [6] Мар К. *The United States have obtained from the Hydrographical Bureau in Madrid a certified copy of two reports, made in 1791, of the explorations of de Eliza, and a fac-simile of a map which accompanied them. On this authentic map, of which a lithographic copy is laid before the Imperial Arbitrator, the position of the canal de Haro, of the Spanish canal de Rosario, and of the channel of Fidalgo may be seen at a glance, as they were determined by the expedition of Eliza in the year 1791. The British Case exaggerates the importance of the voyage of Captain Vancouver. So far were American fur-traders from following his guidance, they were his forerunners and teachers. Their early voyages are among the most marvelous events in the history of commerce. So soon as the Independence of the United States was acknowledged by Great Britain, the strict enforcement of the old, unrepealed navigation laws cut them off from their former haunts of commerce, and it became a question from what ports American ships could bring home coffee, and sugar, and spices, and tea. All British colonies were barred against them as much as were those of Spain. So American ships sailed into eastern oceans, where trade with the natives was free. The great Asi |