I have to-day received from his excellency a communcation transmitting copy
of a report and accompanying documents upon the same subject, copy of which
I have the honor to inclose for the information of the Government of the
United States. You will readily perceive that these documents were
dispatched from Canada before the Marquis of Lorne could have received my
dispatch transmitting copy of your note of the 13th instant.
[Inclosure.]
Copy of a report of a committee of the-honorable the
privy council for Canada, approved by his excellency the
governor-general, on the 6th June,
1879.
The committee have had under consideration a dispatch from Her Majesty’s
minister at Washington to your excellency of the 18th of December last,
and inclosures, relating to the regulations in force on the lake coast
of Canada, respecting the treatment of wrecked vessels and property in
Canadian waters.
The honorable the minister of customs, to whom the above-mentioned
dispatch and inclosures were referred, reports that the question appears
to be misunderstood by the authorities at Washington, owing, he
believes, to the fact that the action of the customs department has been
presented to them not only in an exaggerated but a very erroneous
light.
That as it respects the departmental circular of March 8, 1878, a copy of
which he submits, it was, he states, addressed to collectors of customs
only, and was intended to remind them of the proper bearing of customs
law upon wrecked property actually stranded upon the Canadian shores,
and this they thoroughly understood.
That no Canadian officer ever interpreted the circular or the law as
justifying interference with the efforts of vessels of any nationality
to succor vessels in distress and save human life or property, while
there was a possibility of preventing their loss, nor has any case of
such interference ever occurred.
That in the matter of the steam-tug Sarah Bryant, wrecked in November,
1874, alluded to by Mr. Evarts, it is plain that the circular could have
had no influence upon the officers concerned, as it was not issued until
about three and one-half years after the occurrence, and that the
assertion made by the master of the Bryant that he took off “the frozen
dead bodies of the captain’s wife and others” is not justified by facts,
there being living witnesses and documentary evidence of the most
unquestionable character to prove that the living and the dead were
taken from the wreck by a Canadian boat’s crew before the tug arrived at
the scene of the disaster. The correspondence upon which point he also
submits
That in the case of the Champion it has been freely admitted that the
officer who seized her did so under a mistaken impression as to the
nature of the act, and that he was simply, as he supposed, enforcing the
law prohibiting foreign vessels from towing in Canadian waters; that
this description of work has never been allowed by the United States
customs to Canadian vessels in their waters; that the vessel, however,
was not detained an hour, and the only inconvenience suffered was
leaving a deposit for a short time with the collector of customs of the
sum of $400, which was promptly returned as soon as the commissioner of
customs became acquainted with the facts of the case.
That the desire of the Government of Canada has always been, and still
is, to effect a mutual arrangement by which the coasting laws might be
so ameliorated on both sides as to enable them to dispense entirely with
the present unpleasant and inconvenient restrictions upon the movements
of the vessels of either nation, but that in the mean time the laws must
be respected; and, while the claims of humanity have been, and always
will be, duly recognized, it is the special duty of the department of
customs to protect the rights and interests of the Canadian commercial
marine against the encroachments of all parties.
That the Government of Canada is not only willing but anxious that the
most liberal interpretation should be given to the laws relating to the
navigation of the inland lakes and rivers, and are ready to enter into
negotiations with the Government of the United States with a view to the
adoption of a more liberal policy in this respect; but that they cannot
consent to any measure which would give United States ship-owners
privileges in Canadian waters not secured in equal proportion to
Canadian ship-owners in United States waters, nor can any partial system
of reciprocity be accepted which, in its practical operations, would
favor the latter at the expense of the former.
The committee concur in the foregoing report, and advise that a copy of
this minute, when approved, be transmitted by your excellency for the
information of the United States Government.
Certified:
W. A. HIMSWOETH,
Clerk Privy Council,
Canada.
