HC Deb 20 December 1847 vol 95 cc1437-8
MR. EWART

wished to put a question to the noble Lord the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, which had relation to a point of considerable importance to the commerce of this country. They had been informed by the noble Lord a few nights ago, that an arrangement had been made for the purpose of bringing to a conclusion those hostilities which had so long prevailed in the River Plate, and which had been so prejudicial to British commerce. The question he had to put was, whether in that arrangement measures had been adopted to preserve open the general commerce and the navigation, not only of the River Plate, but of its tributaries, the Uruguay and Parana, whose waters gave facility to commerce with Montevideo, Paraguay, Bolivia, and the south of Brazil? He was anxious to have an answer to the question, whether any measures had been taken by Her Majesty's Government with a view to this result, as the interior part of this vast territory was of the greatest importance to British commerce?

VISCOUNT PALMERSTON

said his hon. Friend was aware that what was strictly called the River Plate was an estuary of the sea, and therefore there could be no question as to its being open to the commerce of all nations. With regard to the internal rivers discharging themselves into the Plate, such as the Uruguay and the Parana, they were subject to the general law of nations, which his hon. Friend must be aware assigned the dominion over a river to the country through whose territory that river flowed. Consequently, if these rivers flowed through the State of Montevideo, or of Buenos Ayres, they would be subject to one or other of them; and if they divided those two States, then each State was entitled to the command of a particular portion of those rivers. The arrangement which had been proposed to the contending parties, therefore, had no bearing upon any point relating to the dominion or the sovereignty of the internal waters.

MR. EWART

said, his question pointed to this—whether, in the arrangements regarding the lower part of the River Plate, the free navigation of the upper waters, including the Uruguay and Parana, had been provided for?

LORD PALMERSTON

The navigation of those rivers that were internal would remain subject to the usual law of nations, which made such waters subject to the dominion of the States through whose territories they flowed.