THE AMERICAN PRESS UPON THE FISHERIES QUESTION. [From the Times, August 11.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 771, 22 December 1852, Page 4

THE AMERICAN PRESS UPON THE FISHERIES QUESTION. [From the Times, August 11.]

Tbe speech of Mr. Webster at Marshfield, in which he said the British Government should be held responsible for the confiscation of- American fiching smacks seized within the prohibited waters, is lauded by the Amerioan press as patriotic, and as taking the true American ground with spirit. The New York Herald ha 3 favoured its readers witkseveral- belligerent articles, from which we quote the following morceaux: — "In the event .of a European war, and of our being involved in it, our external commerce of five hundred millions, vessels and cargoes, must be, at least for a season, almost completely at the mercy of the enemy. In a short time, however, a deficient navy could be swelled into the most formidable n,avy, in ships and equipments, in the world ; and with the 30,000 men disciplined to the se?i,Dow: engaged in the American fisheries, we should have an ample reserve npon which to draw for practical seamen. * * * No doubt the Tory Administration of the British Government have devised their policy to arrest, as far as possible, our commercial progress ; and hence the blow which they have aimed at the primary schools of our seamen, the abounding fisheries of $he stormy waters of the northeastern Atlantis seaboard; Hence we find, after our fishermen have shared the benefits of the disputed waters from 1818 to the, present day, without let or hindrancei a nejr .version of, the treaty is jtrumped up ; the provincial constabulary and coast guard' jfrj> ordered out tp protect their exclusive claims to cod And, mackerel ; and her Majesty's Home Government co-operate by detaching a fleet of war steamers to seise and confiscate, or disperse the smacks of the poaching Yankees. The construction of the treaty, as laid down by Mri Webster, will undoubtedly be maintained by our Government. The fishermen's rights involved are worth the hazards of a little war, as preferable to the abandonment of those rights. On the other hand, the uninterrupted, interchange, of our commerce with Great Britain is of infin.itely more value to her than all the fisheries on tbe face of the earth. * With the single article of cotton, we have the power of maintaining the long admitted rights of our fishermen to the colonial waters from which they are now to be expelled. » * « * Let us, have a war with England. The time is propitious. We have provocations enough to impel us, inducements enough to tempt us : and the sure and immeasurable advantages which would follow, to us, to liberal principles, and to mankind at large, all suggest the justice. and tbe sonnd policy of a war with England. Sooner or later such a war is inevitable ; and better have it sooner than later. Now is' our time. The fishery question affords the direct provocation — t*he vasus belli. * v * The Derby Ministry, as an expedient for home popularity, or, as we would term it in this country, 'a3 a movement for Buncombe, have been suddenly seized with the conviction that our Yankee fishermen are poaching upon the cod aud mackerel of her Majesty's colonies ; and that these intruders, to the number of 30,000, representing a capital of from 15,000,000 dollars to 20,000,000 dollars, must leave, or be expelled, or submit to have their property seized and confiscated. This proceeding of the British Government is popular in the colonies, and will be popular in England because it wears a bullying ,asyect^owar^rCEe; United States. *"* * '* It maybe the^ policy of the Derby Ministry, in league with the principle of legitimacy on the Continent', to curb the dangerous progressive spirit of * Young America,' and to chasten it, in ;a lesson which will teach us that England is still the arbiter among the nations of the earthj and the' breakwater against tbe reckless innovations of ' the model Republic' Be it so, then. -The British nation, with £22,000,000 sterling, gold and silver, in the vaults of the Bank of England* and inflated with the. recent gold di'scovejries and products of gold in Australia, equipped 'with the' most powerful steam navy in the world, and with but little employment for her army, except a war of territorial spoliation in India,- and a similar war in South Africa, may even be disposed', to push this' fishery quarrel to an open rupture with the United States. Let it come. We are ready. Let us have all our difficulties; settled in the lump, the affairs of the notth-east coast,' the nortfr-west coast, Mexico, Central America, Cuba,~«nd Hayti, all together. * * The struggle may shake this old beldame earth like an earthqaike ; but when we emerge from the smoke' and dust of the conflict tbe British North American provinces will be ours, their fisheries will be onrs, Cuba will be ours, and the absorption' of Mexico and Central America will be left wholly to oar discretion. Such are the splendid, foresbado .rings of manifest destiny and,

of a war with England. Let »nch a war bt de,c]ared, and in six months we could muster a force of ,200 ocean war^ steamers, and the most powerful and the swiftest on the ocean. In one month we could muster a well appointed and well disciplined army of 300,000 men for the conqnest of Canada ; and, more terrible than this, with the first tap, of the drum Ireland would rise from the dust, like a giant refreshed by sleep, and burning to avenge the - accumulated wrongs of 500 years, principle and interest. A hundred thousand fighting Irishmen from the United States would hasten across the sea to aid their countrymen in wiping out the disaster* of the Boyne, Vinegar-hill, and Slievegammon. More .terrible still, the Irish Directory of this city, with their sinking fund of, some thirty odd thousand dollars — which has been sinking very mysteriously for the last four, years — they, too, headed by Archbishop Hughes, would also come up to the rescue, notwithstanding his Grace is dead against intervention in Hungary. The result of such a contest as this would not only give us exclusive occupation of North America, ', but would dismember and liberate at least a portion of the J united kingdom itself. Let, then,' ! Mr. Webster stand firm. Let Congress sustain 'him: the people will back him up. Let it be understood that the rights of our fishermen, as they hare enjoyed them from the treaty of 1818 down to this day, are to be conceded, and unconditionally conceded, at the risk of war. Possibly England may risk it. It so, let us hive a war with England." The New York Courier and Enquirer, has the .following : — " The late demonstration of the British Governraent against the American fishing vessels on the north-east coast has aroused an indignant, spirit everywhere^ throughout the country. It is a most noteworthy fact that the solitary step which^ England has taken towards invading our maritime rights has kindled a universal resentment among the whole American' people which, at the period of the last war, a train of the most flagrant indignities and wrongs, continued without cessation for years, was insufficient to inflame. The intensity of the excitement was, of course, far greater then, for the provocation was far greater ; but there was nothing like the same general participation of one feeling, A large party were in favour of submitting to all the British encroachments upon our national rights rather than resort to forcible measures of redress. Now, the words that spring universally and, as it were, spontaneously, from every American lip, are emphatic with determination to defend American rights and honour at all hazards and every ; extremity. * * * Yet, while this feeling of [indignation is universal, all do not agree in re,gard to the mode of settling the matter. War, of course, is a vast national calamity, and is to be averted if possible. But averted by what means ? Many of our contemporaries talk as if it were to be done by negotiation or, by arbitration. We have no belief, whatever that war will come, but surely these are" not the modes by which it will be prevented. Our national honour imperatively forbids it. The despatch of a fleet of 19 armed vessels, without the slightest notification, to enforce a new construction of a treaty, different from what has prevailed for 30 years, and the subsequent seizure and confiscation of American vessels.-ii, a national insult which requires atonement, That atonement can only be rendered in one way, and that way is by apology. * * * To the glory of our country this reparation has always in this latter class of cases been demanded by its Government, and has never yet been demanded in vain. But in one respect this indignity differs from almost every other that has preceded it. It comes directly from the home government, and therefore cannot be escaped from, as is so frequently done, by the simple disavowal of action of subordinates. The British Cabinet has, in fact, taken a position which it cannot maintain without incurring direct collision with this country, and yet from which there is no side path in any direction. It must either come to blows or retreat straight backwards. * * * The extraordinary procedure of the British Ministry can be attributed to nothing but the same motive which has prompted many of its other acts— namely, the hope to avert its impending fall by raising new and more popular issues with their opponents. They understand full well' that the pride of the English people is peculiarly enlisted in the maintenance of the maritime privileges of England 1 all over the world, and they trust that they can commend themselves above" their predecessors' by dint of greater zeal in this sphere of effort. Thus the policy, of Lord Aberdeen and Lord Palmerston on the Anglo-American coasts has been reversed ; and reversed, too, most summarily and without preliminary negotiation, inasmuch as the failings fortunes of the Ministry made it necessary tfr gain at once all that was to be gained by the movement. We have no apprehension, however, jtbat Sir "John Pakington's foray into the fishing ! grounds will be sustainedby the English people. [The resolutiveness with. which his attempts have ibeen met by our Government will satisfy them at jonce that, if- persisted in, they- can only lead to twar with .America r the very worst calamity that |could befall them on earth. It is already settled that ; the Ministry will have a majority against.it in, the new Parliament. Its, speedy dissolution Ms, inevitable, and we have.littfe, doubt that, in a 'new^and more liberal Cabine.t, the difficulties !wjll be met, in a. proper spirit, and will find a ,peaceful solution, worthy of the two nations which hold in their hands the. hopes and the destinies of the world." • * The Washington correspondent of Tlie Journal of Commerce says :—: — '■ " The affair* happens at an unfortunate time fcr the reason that the feelings it. will excite will be aggravated by a recollection of the recent novel" demonstration of Great Britain on the Mosquito coast and on the coast of Cuba. It is also still more unfortunate, because it will be made use of I>y the ultra-Protectionists to defeat any contemplated legislation on the subject of, a reciprocity of trade between the United States andtbe British American provinces. The intelligence of the capture of an American fishi tigschooner in the Bay of Fundy, by the British, vessel of war Nettle., was received here to-day, by a telegraphic despatch to the Speaker of the Honse, and was soon noised about, and produced a great sensation. In fact, this first act of violence, committed under the order of May 26, and without the courtesy of a notice to the United States' Government, is of itself considered as

id act of war. The war ii commenced, and it is idle to suppose that this country will fail torn eet it with resentment, however unable we may be at present to meet it with effectual resistance. * The Senate have, it seems, taken up the idea r borrowed from some ' frenzied Protectionist of New York, that Great Britain has resorted- to this assault on our fisheries with the view to promote the passage of a bill by Congress for the establishment of a reciprocity of trade with the British provinces, and they already .declare that no legislation of the kind, and no negotiation* referring to the object, shall be tolerated. The idea is absurd that 'the Brjtish high Tory-Pro-tectionist Ministry should make a war for the protection of free trade. But this preposterousidea is used here for the purpose of defeating the action of Congress on the measure of reciprocity which the Committee of Commerce of the House is about to recommend. The project of the committee will, if agreed to, settle the fisfiing question on. terms mutually advantageous to both parties. The bill will provide for interchange,, freeof duty, between the United States and theBritish American provinces of all articles, being, the product of the sea, the field, and the forest,, tthe same to take effect whenever tbe BriNab Government shall accede to the following measures, namely :—l,: — 1, To grant to the United States, the free navigation of the St. Lawrence. 2. To> grant also to the United States the' free, navigation of the St. John. 3. To exempt from duty; the American lumber shipped at the St. John. 4. To open to the , inhabitants of the United States, in common with those of the provinces and^ of the British people, the right of taking and cur* ing fish of every kind to the same extent to which the inhabitants of the United States enjoyed such right under the articles of the treaty of 17&3. Should this arrangement he made the British colonists may bring their fish into every port of the United States duty free. It will give them a large business, It will enable our fishermen to make five dollars wbere they do two now, It will enable them to dry and cure their fish in a more perfect manner than at present, and, render them vastly more saleable. But the British Tory Protectionists and the American Tory Protectionists will never allow so liberal a measure as this to be adopted. * * * The Protectionists here would rather have a war with all Christendom than to' relax, in any way, their policy of restriction. The use which they have made, and will make, of the feeling produced by this * untoward event,' is to get up a clamour •gainst the proposed system of reciprocity of commerce, to some extent, between the United States and the British American provinces. * * * The new Administration must have been perfectly aware of the construction which had be.en put upon the treaty by the previous Administration, and of the practical concessions in favour of our fishermen which had been inoperation since 1845. Common courtesy, it seems to us, required that the new Administration, before revoking these concessions, should have at least notified our Government of its intention. We do not mean by this that her claim in regard to bays hundreds of miles wide, if it is proper to calkthem bays, should or could- have been admitted by our Government. Our opinion is, that such is not the fair and obvious meaning of the treaty ; and that the.practical enforcement of such an interpretation, 'if attempted, sbbnld be regarded as ad usurpation; to be met by such countervailing measures as we may judge our own interest demands. It ,rs too late in the day for John to expect to carry his points with Jonathan by bullying. * * We can tell Mr. Bull that there is a large party in- this country who will be very happy to go as far as he will in the line of mutual restriction, even though it extend to absolute non-intercourse. And nothing is better fitted to promote the success of this party than the selfish, grasping, exclusive policy of the Protectionist Ministry of England, as evinced in the recent seizures of American fishermen, &c. We shall deem it fortunate if these movements do not prove fatal, for the present at least, to the project (which was apparently on the eve of adoption) of reciprocal free trade with the British provinces." The Washington Republic^ alluding to the treaty of 1818, says, — "A common sense interpretation of the treaty of 1818 repudiates the extravagant views, of the colonists, and will unquestionably be sufficient to compel the English Cabinet to abandon, the extreme policy they now venture to inaugurate., ' Three marine miles of aqy of the coasts' is a, phrase that can bear but one. sensible meaning, and that has the further advantage of having been, sanctioned by the uninterrupted practice of 34 years. The construction propounded by the British Colonial Minister would exclude American fishermen from the only fishing grounds that, ,can repay them for their labour. From bays and indents not over six miles in width our people are pi course, excluded ; but where the water exceeds, that width, whether they be called bays, gulfs, or indents, they have as much right to fish, asjn^ any other part of the sea. The opposite supposition, is founded upon a perversion of words that, may suit the exigencies, of a Minister or the wishes of drowsy colonists', bqt it can never receive the .sanction of the English, nation. Certainlyat can never be tolerated by the Government or, people of the United States. It is an infraction of our, rights and, interests, to which neither the Government nor the people will submit. It does not follow, however, that the advancement of the, claim, on one side, or, the rejection of it on the,, other*' will necessarily embroil the two countries in the. formidable, ' difficulties ' for which some journalists would have us prepare. We have badj more intricate difficulties with the same power,. without incurring the calamity of war, and. there. is not' the slightest reason for apprehending a less fortunate result in the present case." f The Southern (Washington) Press, referrin to the bluster of its;conteraporaries, and the londS L toagued denunciations of the Secretary of State " deprecates unnecessary bullying. " ' t " The great fault,"- it says, "of, the Secretary hitherto in our eyes has been the timidity he has displayed; but it often happens in Such* cases that Luther's illustration of human nature ap.tly^ applies : ' Human nature,' said be 'is likq a drunken peasant on horseback — prop him. up on, one side, he falls over on the other.' "