The Professor, after trying in vain to induce the Canadian and British governments to remedy this flagrant injustice, laid the matter before Senators and Representatives in Washington.
Some little attention was attracted to these disclosures at the time, but presumably from a fear that a public discussion of them would reflect upon the party in power at the time of the negotiation of the treaty, no official action was taken, and the matter was permitted to drop out of sight.
The treaty of Washington also provided, that either Canada or the United States might export or import goods, wares and merchandise through the other's territory free of duty, and also permitted such goods, wares and merchandise as might be carried through Canada by rail from any point in the United States to another point in the United States, to pass through the Dominion of Canada and re-enter the United States free of duty. It also abandoned the right, which the United States had always claimed—and which England had always dreaded—to send out privateers in case of war.
Indeed, taken as a whole, the treaty of Washington may be fairly ranked as one of the greatest triumphs of British diplomacy. Having by their own privateers (for the "Alabama" and her consorts, although ostensibly "Confederate Cruisers," were in reality nothing more nor less than British privateers, built and equipped for the express purpose of preying on American commerce) effectually driven our flag from the ocean, they hoodwinked our diplomatists into a relinquishment of the right to fit out similar cruisers, as a sort of a "sop," to make the payment by Great Britain of the $13,000,000 damage award, a little more palatable. Verily, it would seem that for the first century of its national existence, the diplomacy as well as the financial policy of the United States was a creature of chance and circumstance. In diplomatic matters, our representatives seemed to be guided by no permanent policy; and to be able to see nothing beyond the immediate question at issue; and our whole financial policy was utterly devoid of anything like consistency or system.
The treaty of Washington was to remain in force for ten years; and was then subject to abrogation, as to certain of its parts, on two years' notice by either party.
Its gross unfairness to the United States was so apparent, that on the 3rd of March, 1883, (almost as soon as the treaty permitted) Congress directed the President to give the requisite notice to terminate certain articles of it, and thus, in 1885, the subject was again a matter of dispute between the two countries. The avowed policy of Canadian statesmen seems to have been to force the United States into a reciprocity treaty, which would practically secure commercial union between that country and Canada, and with that idea in view, Canada immediately commenced to annoy and harass American fishermen, claiming that the setting aside of the Washington Treaty revived that of 1818, and under the provisions of the latter, the right of our fishermen to enter Canadian harbors or bays, or to come within the three-mile limit for any other purpose than shelter, repairing damages, or to purchase wood and water, was absolutely denied; and several American fishing vessels were seized and condemned by the Canadian authorities, who were evidently determined to enforce their own harsh construction of the treaty of 1818, in the most offensive and unneighborly manner. Meanwhile, during the pendency of the treaty of Washington, Canada had been investing largely in railroad enterprises, and had subsidized one trans-continental line (the Canadian Pacific) to the extent of about $130,000,000. These railways, taking advantage of the clause in the treaty of Washington which permitted the transit of goods in bond through Canadian Territory into American, and vice versa, without the payment of duty, had obtained control by building, purchasing or leasing, of numerous connecting lines, which gave them outlets and inlets to all of the principal American cities; and had thus become open competitors with the American trans-continental lines for American business. The following extracts from an address made by General James H. Wilson before the Committee on Commerce of the House of Representatives on March 15, 1888, will show to what an extent this traffic had grown; and also that a feeling of impatience had begun to develop among Americans at the unneighborly and piggish attitude of Canada, in refusing ordinary hospitality to American fishermen, while robbing the American railways of millions of dollars worth of business each year.
"The simple fact is that while the arrangements under consideration are reciprocal in theory they are one-sided in practice, and inure tenfold more to the advantage of the Canadian people than to that of the American railroads or the American people. Nevertheless, as I have stated before, the amendments which I have had the honor to offer to the Inter-State Commerce Act do not cover, nor are they intended to interfere in any way with the particular transit trade carried on under the provisions of Article XXIX of the treaty of 1871. I make this statement clear and distinct, for the special information of the Chicago Board of Trade, and of those who have shared its apprehensions.
"Second. Under the provisions of paragraphs 3000 to 3006 inclusive, of the Revised Statutes, together with certain regulations thereunder, issued by the Secretary of the Treasury, a transit trade of great extent and value is carried on between the Eastern, Western, and Pacific States and Territories through the agency of the Canadian railroads, and certain American railroads owned and controlled by them. And it is to this variety of the transit trade to which I invite your most careful attention.
"It seems to have grown up pari passu with the Dominion system of railroads. It is now carried on principally by three Canadian railroads and railroad systems:
"1. The Canada Southern Railroad, opened for business in 1873. It was built, it is understood, entirely under American auspices, if not with American capital, and is now controlled by the Michigan Central Railroad Company in the interest of the New York Central system. Its main line runs from Windsor, Ontario, to Suspension Bridge, and, with its branches, is 302.44 miles long.