I.

MEMORIAL

ON

THE CANAL DE HARO

AS

THE BOUNDARY LINE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

1 D

PRESENTED IN THE NAME OF

THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT

ΤΟ

HIS MAJESTY WILLIAM I,

GERMAN EMPEROR AND KING OF PRUSSIA,

AS ARBITRATOR,

BY THE AMERICAN PLENIPOTENTIARY,

GEORGE BANCROFT.

MEMORIAL.

The treaty of which the interpretation is referred to Your Majesty's arbitrament was ratified more than a quarter of a century ago. Of the sixteen members of the British cabinet which framed and presented it for the acceptance of the United States, Sir Robert Peel, Lord Aberdeen, and all the rest but one, are no more. The British minister at Washington who signed it is dead. Of American statesmen concerned in it, the minister at London, the President and Vice-President, the Secretary of State, and every one of the President's constitutional advisers, except one, have passed away. I alone remain, and after finishing the three-score years and ten that are the days of our years, am selected by my country to uphold its rights.

Six times the United States had received the offer of arbitration on their Northwestern boundary, and six times had refused to refer a point where the importance was so great and the right so clear. But when consent was obtained to bring the question before Your Majesty, my

country resolved to change its policy, and in the heart of Europe, [4] before a tribunal from which no judgment but a just one can *em

anate, to explain the solid foundation of our demand, and the principles of moderation and justice by which we have been governed. The case involves questions of geography, of history, and of international law; and we are glad that the discussion should be held in the midst of a nation whose sons have been trained in those sciences by a Carl Ritter, a Ranke, and a Heffter.

The long-continued controversy has tended to estrange from each other two of the greatest powers in the world, and even menaced, though remotely, a conflict in arms. A want of confidence in the disposition of the British government has been sinking into the mind of the States of the Union now rising on the Pacific, aud might grow into a popular conviction, not easy to be eradicated. After having secured union and tranquillity to the people of Germany, and attained a happiness never before allotted by Providence to German warrior or statesman, will it not be to Your Majesty a crowning glory now, in the fullness of years and in the quiet which follows the mighty struggles of a most eventful life, to reconcile the two younger branches of the great Germanic family?

THE POINT FOR ARBITRATION.

The point submitted for arbitration is limited with exactness. By Article I of the Treaty concluded at Washington on the 15th of June, 1846, between the United States and Her Britannic Majesty, it was stipulated that the line of boundary between the territories of the United States and those of Her Britannic Majesty, from the point on the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude up to which it had already been ascertained, should be continued westward along the said parallel of north latitude "to the middle of the channel which separates the continent from Vancouver's Island, and

Appendix No. 1, p. 3.

Appendix, p. 4, 1. 20,

[5] thence *southerly, through the middle of the said channel and of Fuca's Straits to the Pacific Ocean." The British Government claim that the water-line here referred to should run through a passage which they have thought proper to name the straits of Rosario, and which the United States, for the purpose of this reference, permit to go by that name. The United States claim that the water-line runs through the canal de Haro. The arbitrator is to say finally and without appeal which of those claims is most in accordance with the true interpretation of the treaty of June 15, 1846. That is the point submitted, and that alone; nothing more and nothing less. If the United States can but prove their claim to be most in accordance with the true interpretation of the treaty, it is agreed that the award shall be in their favor; how much more, then, if they prove that their interpretation is the only one which the treaty admits!

21.

HOW THIS DISCUSSION WILL BE CONDUCTED.

In conducting this discussion I shall keep in mind that the restoration of friendship between the two powers which are at variance is the object of the arbitration. Nothing that has been written since the ratifications of the treaty were exchanged can alter its words or affect its interpretation. I shall, therefore, for the present at least, decline to examine all communications that may have taken place since that epoch, except so far as is necessary to explain why there is an arbitration, and shall thus gain the advantage of treating the subject as simply an investigation for the ascertainment of truth.

Since the intention of the negotiators must rest on the knowledge in their possession at the time when the treaty was made, I shall use the charts and explorations which have advanced, or profess to have [6] advanced, our knowledge of the country in question, and which are anterior to that date. Of such charts I have found six, and six only; and though they are of very unequal value, yet for the sake of impartiality and completeness I present photographic copies or extracts of every one of them. Of charts of explorations of a later date, it was my desire to make no use whatever; but then, as will appear in the sequel, there would be not one map on which the channel claimed by the British government could be found with the name of "the straits of Rosario;" I am therefore compelled to add a later chart, on which that name is placed, as required for the arbitration. This chart also shows the length and breadth and depth of the respective channels.

My task is an easy one; for I have only to deduce the intentions of the negotiators of the treaty from its history, and to interpret its words according to the acknowledged principles of international law.

PARALLELS OF LATITUDE THE CUSTOMARY BOUNDARIES OF ENGLISH COLONIES IN NORTH AMERICA.

-17.

A parallel of latitude extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific was a usual boundary established by England for its colonies in North Appendix, p. 6, 1. 14 America. The charter granted in 1620 by James I, to the company of Plymouth for New England, bounded its territory by the parallels of 48° and of 40° north latitude "in length and breadth throughout the mainland from sea to sea." The charter granted by Charles I to Massachusetts in 1628 had in like manner for its northern and southern boundaries parallels of latitude running from sea to sea. So, too, had the old patent of Connecti

P. 6, 1. 24-27.

cut; so too had the charter to Connecticut, granted by Charles II, in 1662. The charter granted in 1663 by Charles II, to the Lords Proprietors of Carolina, adopted as their northern boundary the parallel of six and thirty degrees, and

P. 7. 1. 7-10.

P. 7, 1. 16-18,

as their southern boundary the parallel of "one and thirty de[7] grees of northern latitude, and so west in a direct line as far as the South seas." The precedent was followed by George II, in the charter granted in 1732 for Georgia; and in 1761 Appendix, p. 7, 1.29 George III officially described that colony as extending by 21. parallels "westward in direct lines" to the Pacific.

THE SAME RULE CONTINUED IN THE TREATY OF PEACE OF 1872.

In the first convention between the United States of America and

Great Britain, signed at Paris on the 30th of November, Appendix No. 4, p. 8. 1782, the northern boundary line of the United States was carried by the two powers through the great upper lakes to the most northwestern point of the Lake of the Woods. If from that point the line was to be continued, the treaty, adopting the precedent of the past century of colonization, and foreshadowing the rule of the future, prescribed "a due west course."

THE SAME RULE APPLIED TO THE BOUNDARY OF LOUISIANA.

By the treaty of April 30, 1803, between the United States of America and the French Republic, the United States came into possession "forever and in full sovereignty" of the colony and Territory of Louisiana.

Appendix No. 5, p. 8.

No sooner had the United States made this acquisition than they sent out an exploring expedition, which made known to the world the Rocky Mountains and the branches of the river of Oregon, the mouth of which an American navigator had been the first to enter.

By the acquisition of Louisiana the Republic of America and Great Britain, as sovereign over the territory of Hudson Bay, became neighbors still further to the west; and the two powers took an early opportunity to consider their dividing line west of the Lake of the Woods.

[8]

Appendix No. 6, p. 9.

Appendix No. 7. p.

The United States might have demanded, perhaps should have demanded, under the treaty of 1782, that the line "due west" should proceed from "the most northwest point of the Lake of the Woods." That point is near the parallel of 50°; the United States consented to the parallel of 49°. But with regard to the continuation of the line, while Mr. Madison, the American Secretary of State, was desirous not to advance claims that could be "offensive to Spain," both parties, adopting the words of 9, 19. the treaty of 1782, agreed as between themselves that the line should proceed on that parallel "in a due west course" to the Appendix No. 6, p. Rocky Mountains. In 1807 this agreement would have 9, 1, 2. been ratified; but the maritime decrees of the Emperor Napoleon, dated at Berlin and at Milan, disturbed the peace of the oceans, and orders in council in Great Britain, which finally provoked war with the United States, interposed delay.

When, in 1815, the terms of peace were to be adjusted, the American plenipotentiaries were instructed by their Government as Appendix No. 50, p. to the northwestern boundary, to consent to no claim

on

56.

the part of Great Britain to territory in that quarter south of the fortyninth parallel of latitude; and they implicitly adhered to their instruc