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Show -38- that part of the rivers St. Lawrence arid St. Croix forming a common boundary between the two countries was expressly granted in the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of the year 18lj2j90 and in the Treaty of 185^ a revocable privilege of navi- gation all the way to the ocean was granted by Great Britain in return for con- cessions on the Great Lakes by the United States;91 finally, by the Treaty of Washington (I87I), the claims of the United States as set forth by John Quincy Adams a half century before were recognized in fact, if not in theory, by Great Britain.92 The presidential term of John Quincy Adams also encompassed the completion ef the Erie Canal connecting the Great Lakes with the Hudson River; the peak of twenty years of disagreement between Pennsylvania and New Jersey over diversion of waters from the Delaware River and its tributaries for canal purposes;93 and the beginning of railroad construction that was destined to drive river navi- gation from its place of pre-eminent importance to relative insignificance withii the United States. new explorations lead to the discovery of possibilities of passage along the Mississippi for Canadians, this passage shall not be contested." Finally, perceiving that each party will stock to its reasons, the United States prefer to give up the discussion and arrive at some practical arrange- ment. Great Britain, as well as the United States, has an interest in making such an arrangement. But there can be no question, on the part of Great Britain, of claiming territorial concessions in exchange for the right of navigation. "Nor can this Government agree to barter away any portion of the territorial sovereignty of Maine, or the proprietary rights of the Commonwealth of Massachus- etts, for the navigation of a river in which neither of them has any direot inter est. Ii* the question of the navigation of the St. Lawrence could be accommodated in a manner satisfactory to both parties, so as to let the citizens of the United States into the practical and beneficial enjoyment of it, their Government would be willing that the arrangement should be equally silent in regard to the ad- mission on the one side, or the abandonment on the other, of the RIGHT, as claim- ed and denied by the parties respectively." (Italics added.) QO 8 Stat. at L. 572, 1 Malloy*s Treaties, 650. There were similar stipu- lations for equal and free navigation of the Detroit and St. Clair rivers and other connecting waters. See Art. VII of this treaty. 91 1O Stat. at L. 1089, 1 Malloy»s Treaties, 668. 92 7 17 Stat. at L. 863, 1 Malloy's Treaties, 700. The here pertinent pro- visions arej Art. 26.-"The navigation of the river St. Lawrence, ascending and descend- ing from the forty-fifth parallel of north latitude, where it ceases to form the boundary between the two countries, from, to, and into the sea, shall forever remain free and open for the purposes of commerce to the citizens" of the United States, subject to any laws and regulations of Great Britain, or the Dominion of Canada, not inconsistent with such privilege of free navigation. "The navigation of the rivers Yukon, Porcupine and Stikine, asoending and de- scending, from, to, and into the sea, shall forever remain free and open for the purposes of commerce to the subjects of Her Britannic Majesty and to the citizens of the United States, subject to any laws and regulations of either country within i-ts own territory, not inconsistent with such privilege of free navigation Art 27» -"The government of Her Britannic Majesty engages to urge upon the |