IMPORTANT TERRITORIAL QUESTIONS IN NORTH AMERICA.
Belfast, 15th October 1856.
Sra—A time of alliance with France and war with Russia is peculiarly appropriate to the settlement of certain important territorial questions con- cerning North America.
The vast regions that lie North of the United States are politically distri- buted into five British colonies, (including. the insular ones,) the Hudson's Bey Company's territory, which stands in the same relation to the.Bri- tish Crown as India before the trade was opened, and the Russian American Company's territory, which stands in the same relation to the Russian Crown, with the important difference that its affairs are much more directly under the control of the Imperial Government.
An agreement is said to exist between these two Companies, with the sanction of their respective Governments, which protects their re- spective territories from hostilities during the present war. The exist- ence of this agreement, of course, is not proved, but it seems very pro- bable; for if our treaty with France, which debars us from making any permanent conquests, is to be literally maintained, no end could be served by occupying or destroying a few trading posts in the North Pacific. The at- tack on Petropaulovski was not directed against the Kamtachatkan territory, but against the Russian fleet.
But this treaty is not a guarantee of the Russian territory, as has been ab- surdly supposed; it is an arrangement between the Allies only, and may be modified by mutual consent. A glance at the map will suffice to show what a desirable addition Russian America would be to our American empire. The Southern part of Russian America, where Sitka, the capital, is situated, is a mere strip of sea-coast, cutting off our possessions in that part from the sea, and rendering them i useless. It is indeed impossible that so awkward a territorial arrangement could have been consented to by any British diplomatist who had the map of North America before his eyes. Besides the importance of their position, the coast and islands of Russian America contain large supplies of valuable and accessible timber, and are probably rich in minerals,—having the same geological character, so far as known, as the British territories to the South.
Of course we cannot conquer and annex this territory without the consent of France. But there are reasons why France should consent ; for other- wise the Russian Government may sell it to the Americans : an event which would go far to give the Americans an ascendancy in the North Pa- cific, and therefore would not suit the views of the French any more than our own. And for us, I need not enlarge on the undesirableness of our having the Americans on the North as well as on the South of our North American-possessions.
If we make such a conquest, however, it is but fair that France should receive an equivalent : and this may be provided by letting France occupy and colonize Saghalien, a large island lying opposite the mouth of the Amoor, which has not vet, I believe, been occupied by the Russians, although it is no doubt included in their projects of empire. The French are doing all they can to extend their colonies in the Pacific; and the project of con- verting Saghalien into a colony was lately started in France, in a news- par article which had the look of a Government "feeler."
There is another set of territorial questions concerning North America which a period of alliance with France is an appropriate time to settle. Few persons seem aware that the Gulf of St. Lawrence is still _partly French. The French possess guaranteed rights of fishery on the British American coast, and a rocky islet or two for the purposes of their fisheries ; besides rights concurrently with us over the South and West coasts of New- foundland.
I need not spend many words in proving the awkwardness of a concurrent territorial right, and the desirableness of making the Gulf of St. Lawrence purely British. I have now to propose a way of attaining this end.
We bad a concurrent territorial right with the Americans in the Oregon territory; which, however, was only a temporary arrangement, and was ended by partitioning the territory. This precedent is evidently not applicable to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. But we have another treaty with the Americans that affords a good precedent for this case. I refer to that "signal act of na- tional good sense ', Lord Elgin's Canadian reciprocity treaty ; by which the United States and the British Colonies granted each other mutual freedom of trade in their unmanufactured produce, of navigation in their waters, and of fishery on their coasts. A somewhat similar treaty might be negotiated with France, by which the French should cede the sovereignty of all coasts and islands of the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the British Crown, receiving in ex- change the same unrestricted rights of fishing and navigation in the American waters enjoyed by ourselves and our Colonies, and now shared by the United Staten. Both parties, it is evident, would gain by such a treaty : we should be freed from the possibility of future very disagreeable complications; and the French would enlarge their rights of fishery in the American waters, to which they attach great importance, while they would abandon nothing of any. real value ; for the Americans, under the existing treaty, may dry their fish on our coast as on their own, and the same right should be extended to the French.
I would go farther than this, and propose to France to recognize British America as an independent state, under the Sovereign of Great Britain, but no longer forming part of the British empire, and neutral in any possible future war. between Britain and France; and this state should be bound for ever to allow perfect freedom of navigation, fishery, and naturalization, to British and Frenph subjects, and to admit British and French products at duties never exceeding those now imposed on British products. By such an arrangement we should be freed from possible future embar- rassments arising from the anomalies of the colonial relation. The French would have their rights in North America extended and secured , and the interests of both would be served by the formation of a state in America which would be a " limitation " and partial " counterpoise " to the aggressive de- mocracy of the United States. Such a state would probably join the Western Alliance on the same terms as Sardinia ; at least if the annexation of Russian America were held out as a reward. This is said indeed, to be already talked of by the Canadians. Worthless as are the French territorial rights in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, it is evident they could be ceded much more easily for the peat political ob- ject of building up an Anglo-French independent state in North America than merely in exchange for enlarged rights of fishery. And, as we do not intend to be always at war with Russia, the cession of Russian America might at the conclusion of peace be placed on the same footing ; Russian subjects obtaining the same privileges as British and French in British America, and the Russian American Company being in- demnified for the surrender of its privileges at the expense of the Govern- ment of British America. Any reasonable ground of offence to the United States might be removed by admitting them to the same rights ; most of which, indeed, they enjoy already, under Lord Elgin's reciprocity treaty al- ready referred to. The consolidation of British America, however, is mainly in our own pow- er, without reference to either France or Russia. All our American Colonies are now self-governing, and are already thinking of a union among them- selves. Let us facilitate and sanction such a union : let us annex the Hud-
son's Bay territory to Canada, on payment of its value to the Company, RAowners, owners, out of the Canadian treasury ; and let us erect British America into
an independent kingdom, under Queen Victoria.
A part of the Pacific sea-coast would thus become Canadian ; and the in- telligent and enterprising people of Canada would be able to commence the work about which the Americans are talking, of a railway to the Pacific. Mr. Whitney, an American, has shown how to raise the fund for such an undertaking, by selling the public lands along the railway, as fast as the railway is made : the railway will give value to the land, and the price of the land will make the railway. There is not the slightest doubt that this can be done, where the land is good all the way • but between Louisiana and California lies a desert to which no railway could give value' British America, on the contrary, is fertile from the Atlantic to the Pacific ; and the Rooky Mountains afford passes that need not daunt the engineers who have brought railways over the Alleghenies. (See Sir George Simpson's Overland Journey Round the World.) British America is the moat valuable group of colonies in existence ,• and it does not need much statesmanship to raise it into a respectable political power.
Previous page
