NEWS OF THE WEEK
THE San Juan question, as it is called, i.e., the question as to the boundary between Vancouver's Island and the American territory south of the 49th parallel, has been decided against us by the Emperor of Germany,—the arbitrator appointed by the Treaty of Washington. The boundary is to run along the channel between Vancouver's Island and the Island of San Juan (the Hero Channel), which at one point is so narrow that the 'communication between Victoria and the continental part of British Columbia might be almost cut off in time of war by an American fort erected on the island of San Juan. We have explained elsewhere the principal considerations urged on both sides of the dispute, and how difficult it is to think that "the .claims of the United States fully accord with the true inter- pretation of the Treaty of the 15th June, 1846," as the Berlin telegram asserts. Though we are far from denying that there was a strong American case, it seems incredible that what seems to us the still stronger British case should be regarded as not even suggesting a doubt ; but of course we have nothing to do but to accept loyally the somewhat unpleasant and unexpected decision. Practically it means that if the United States choose to fortify San Juan, we must always keep an ironclad on the Vancouver station.
