Canada and the States Part 27

Ores 10 " "

Peas 25 cts per bushel Pork 1 ct per lb Potatoes 10 cts per bushel Seed, Timothy, and Clover 20 per cent ad val Trees, Plants and Shrubs, Ornamental and Fruit 15 " "

Tallow 2 cts per lb Wheat 20 cts per bushel

"'MEMORANDUM C.

"'In reference to the Memorandum received from the Committee of Ways and Means, the Provincial Delegates regret to be obliged to state that the proposition therein contained in regard to the commercial relations between the two countries is not such as they can recommend for the adoption of their respective Legislatures. The imposts which it is proposed to lay upon the productions of the British Provinces on their entry into the markets of the United States are such as in their opinion will be in some cases prohibitory, and will certainly seriously interfere with the natural course of trade. These imposts are so much beyond what the delegates conceive to be an equivalent for the internal taxation of the United States, that they are reluctantly brought to the conclusion that the Committee no longer desire the trade between the two countries to be carried on upon the principle of reciprocity. With the concurrence of the British Minister at Was.h.i.+ngton, they are therefore obliged respectfully to decline to enter into the engagement suggested in the memorandum, but they trust that the present views of the United States may soon be so far modified as to permit of the interchange of the productions of the two countries upon a more liberal basis.

"'WAs.h.i.+NGTON, "'_February 6th_, 1866.'

"This abortive negociation was followed (March, 1866) by a United States Bill for enabling a new treaty upon impossible terms; that Bill was at last hung up in Congress, and so the matter ended, so far as the States were concerned.

"The operation of the treaty from 1854 to 1866 may now be considered.

"The Report of the Revenue Commissioners shows that the trade under it increased from 20,000,000 dollars, to 68,000,000 dollars in 1864, and that this trade was larger than the trade of the United States with any country in the world except Great Britain. It was 31/2 times more than with China; 31/2 times more than with Brazil; above 3 times more than with even Mexico; 21/4 times more than with Hamburg and Bremen, notwithstanding the direct line of steamers to and from New York; 21/4 times more than with France, with all its wines, silks, and fas.h.i.+ons; and one-third more than with Cuba and the Spanish West Indies.

"Then, on the whole, 'the balance of trade,' as it is called, was in favour of the States during the whole period of the treaty by a sum of 56,000,000 dollars.

"As regards coal, the quant.i.ty taken in 1865-6 from Pennsylvania and other States to Upper Canada was about 180,000 tons; while the quant.i.ty of Nova Scotian coal taken to Boston and the Eastern States was about 200,000 tons. Thus the supply of districts 1,000 miles apart had nearly balanced itself under the treaty. As regards fis.h.i.+ng rights, the United States appeared largely to have the advantage, for they had, by the treaty, access to excellent fis.h.i.+ng grounds and pa.s.sage through the Gut of Canso, while the provincial fishermen rarely troubled the coasts of Maine or Ma.s.sachusetts--'bare pastures' for fish. As an example, the boats employed by the United States in the mackerel fishery in 1852 were 250, the tonnage 18,150 tons, and the value 750,000 dollars, while the catch of fish was 850,000 dollars; while in 1864 it showed 600 vessels, 54,000 tons, 9,000 men, and a catch worth 4,567,500 dollars.

"Upon the general question, Mr. Derby says in his report:--

"'If the Maritime Provinces would join us spontaneously to-day--sterile as they may be in the soil under a sky of steel--still with their hardy population, their harbours, fisheries, and seamen, they would greatly strengthen and improve our position, and aid us in our struggle for equality upon the ocean. If we would succeed upon the deep, we must either maintain our fisheries, _or absorb the Provinces_.'

"'No negociations' and 'no papers'--say our Government. This may be true. Or it may be true that the Foreign Office have had papers, and the Colonial not. Or that the Board of Trade have had papers, and the Foreign and Colonial people have not; but, however that may be, Canada has made, in good time, very serious representations. It is believed that her Government had long before made personal appeals to both the Colonial and the Foreign Offices, but the following doc.u.ment (19th February, 1865), will speak for itself; and the Government at home cannot deny that they had it, but which of the three departments will admit its receipt is yet to be seen; always let it be remembered that in _May_, 1865, there were 'no papers:'--

"'_Copy of a Report of a Committee of the Honorable the Executive Council_, approved by his Excellency the Governor-General on the 19th February, 1865.

"'The Committee of the Executive Council deem it to be their duty to represent to Your Excellency that the recent proceedings in the Congress of the United States, respecting the Reciprocity Treaty, have excited the deepest concern in the minds of the people of this Province.

"'Those proceedings have had for their avowed object the abrogation of the treaty at the earliest moment consistent with the stipulations of the instrument itself.

"'Although no formal action indicative of the strength of the party hostile to the continuance of the treaty has yet taken place, information, of an authentic character, as to the opinions and purposes of influential public men in the United States has forced upon the Committee the conviction that there is imminent danger of its abrogation, unless prompt and vigorous steps be taken by Her Majesty's Imperial advisers to avert what would be generally regarded by the people of Canada as a great calamity.

"'The Committee would specially bring under Your Excellency's notice the importance of inst.i.tuting negociations for the renewal of the treaty, with such modifications as may be mutually a.s.sented to, before the year's notice required to terminate it shall be given by the American Government; for they fear that the notice, if once given, would not be revoked; and they clearly foresee that, owing to the variety and possibly the conflicting nature of the interests involved on our own side, a new treaty could not be concluded, and the requisite legislation to give effect to it obtained before the year would have expired, and with it the treaty. Under such circ.u.mstances--even with the certain prospect of an early renewal of the treaty--considerable loss and much inconvenience would inevitably ensue.

"'It would be impossible to express in figures, with any approach to accuracy, the extent to which the facilities of commercial intercourse created by the Reciprocity Treaty have contributed to the wealth and prosperity of this Province; and it would be difficult to exaggerate the importance which the people of Canada attach to the continued enjoyment of these facilities.

"'Nor is the subject entirely devoid of political significance.

"'Under the beneficent operation of the system of self-government, which the later policy of the Mother Country has accorded to Canada, in common with the other Colonies possessing representative inst.i.tutions, combined with the advantages secured by the Reciprocity Treaty of an unrestricted commerce with our nearest neighbours in the natural productions of the two countries, all agitation for organic changes has ceased--all dissatisfaction with the existing political relations of the Province has wholly disappeared.

"'Although the Committee would grossly misrepresent their countrymen if they were to affirm that their loyalty to their Sovereign would be diminished in the slightest degree by the withdrawal, through the unfriendly action of a foreign Government, of mere commercial privileges, however valuable these might be deemed, they think they cannot err in directing the attention of the enlightened statesmen who wield the destinies of the great Empire, of which it is the proudest boast of Canadians that their country forms a part, to the connection which is usually found to exist between the material prosperity and the political contentment of a people, for in doing so they feel that they are appealing to the highest motives that can actuate patriotic statesmen--the desire to perpetuate a dominion founded on the affectionate allegiance of a prosperous and contented people.

"'The Committee venture to express the hope that Your Excellency will be pleased to bring this subject and the considerations now submitted under the notice of Her Majesty's Imperial advisers.

"'W. H. LEE, C. E. C.'

"Does it not seem as if the whole business was let alone, neglected, despised?

"What were our Government doing from 1861 to 1865?

"POLAND exercised the minds of the Foreign Office from an early date, and they have given us papers from July 31st, 1862, December 31st of that year, and on to April 23rd, 1863, when that affair ended.

"DENMARK revived their old discussions in 1863, and they began to write despatches about them. They have given Parliament papers about the 'Conference,' which only began January 23rd, 1864, and ended March 26th, 1864.

"The whole number of papers printed for Parliament, and laid on the table in 1864, was 369. Yet there was not, out of these, one single paper about the Reciprocity Treaty.

"The whole number of papers printed for Parliament, and laid likewise upon the table in 1865, was 170, but not a line appears about the Reciprocity Treaty. So much for the attention of the people we pay to watch over our affairs.

"The question, as regards our relations with the States, Was a great opportunity lost? arises. Let us see. 1st, the Chamber of Commerce of New York, and its 1,300,000 people, ask for a treaty in 1861; 2nd, Congress asks for it by appointing a committee in 1861; 3rd, the committee ask for it by their report of 1862 and by their resolutions of 1864; 4th, Mr. Seward endorses it even so late as November, 1864; and 5th, the Convention at Detroit ask for it so late as the 14th July, 1865. In further testimony, a member of Congress said, on the 14th March, 1866, on the debate on the _abortive Bill_ for regulating trade with British North American Provinces:--

"Mr. Brooks, 'Dem. N. Y.,' said, 'that he would not have risen to obtrude any remarks on the committee on a subject that had been discussed with an ability and ingenuity reminding him, of ancient times in the House, and demonstrating that upon subjects which interest our own race there is as much ability here as of old, if he had not voted last year, with others, for an abrogation of the Reciprocity Treaty, and if he did not see now, from the tendencies and sympathies of the House, that the moment the Bill pa.s.sed from the hands of the committee of the whole it would receive its final death blow. He did not believe there would have been thirty votes obtained in this House last year for the abrogation of the Reciprocity Treaty with Canada, but for the explicit understanding that some sort of reciprocity in trade would be forthwith re-established, either through the treaty-making power, or through the legislative power of the Government. The people of the United States were ground down by the internal revenue taxation, and he had not felt at liberty to let the Reciprocity Treaty stand, without being at liberty to make some sort of bargain with the people of Canada, that whatever our internal revenues might be, the same would be levied, either by them or by us, on our imports from them. It was exclusively on that understanding that he had voted for the abrogation of the treaty. And he now saw in the additional claims of those who represented the lumber interests, and the coal and other interests of the country, that advantage was to be taken of the present opportunity, and that never again were we to have reciprocity with the neighbouring Provinces. On the contrary, we were to impose as high duties as could be imposed upon their products, higher if possible than those now levied under the general tariff bill. If that were to be so, he never should regret any vote that he gave in his life as he would regret his vote of last winter to abrogate the treaty. He had given it with the understanding that it should be substantially renewed. He spoke of the people of the Provinces as being connected with us by kindred and by blood, and as rightfully belonging to us; and he hoped to live to see the day when the seats on this floor and in the Senate would be occupied by representatives and senators from Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward's Island, and all the other American dependencies of Great Britain.'

"Then it will not be forgotten that the Government and Congress of the States ratified a treaty with Great Britain, which never could before be acted on, viz., that affecting the African slave trade, on the 7th April, 1862, and they agreed to the important additional article on the 17th February, 1863. At these dates the Government and people of the United States were most anxious, therefore, for friendly relations with us. But Earl Russell lost the golden opportunity. British interests were entirely neglected.

"We must now look at the new features of difficulty which have sprung up; and first, there is now a Congress with a Republican majority, and the majority of that majority are Protectionists: while a considerable number are Annexationists.

"The Convention at Detroit was appealed to by the latter. Mr. Consul Potter, United States Consul at Montreal, Canada, and Mr. O. S. Wood, Manager of the Montreal Telegraph Company, appear in the following report of a speech of the Consul at a meeting specially convened by him at Detroit:--

"Mr. Consul Potter, at Detroit, July 12th, 1865, said, "'I would meet the people of Canada on the most friendly footing, but I would say to them, in making an arrangement, we must look to our own interest as well as yours, and in looking to our interest we cannot forget that the policy we may adopt in relation to reciprocity will have a very great influence on the future relations of the two countries. Now, we are ready to give you in Canada the most perfect reciprocity. We will give you complete free trade, but we ask you to come and share with us the responsibilities of our own government. We make this proposition, but not in a spirit of conquest, for, as I remarked before, if it were positively certain that by one day of war we could obtain possession of the whole Provinces for ever I would say--No!--for this reason, that after the conquest you would find a feeling of opposition to the United States and our government on the part of the people of Canada which would prevent any harmonious working. When they come, let them come by their own consent, let them come as brothers, and let us be all brothers with one flag, under one destiny. The question then is, Shall we simply be content to give the Canadians all the privileges of our markets? For the true policy is, that in getting those privileges they should be placed on equal footing with our own citizens in relation to our responsibilities and in relation to taxation. I believe I express the general feeling of those who are the most friendly to the United States in Canada when I say it is not the policy of our Government, or our policy, to continue this treaty, and I believe that in two years from the abrogation of the Reciprocity Treaty, the people of Canada themselves will apply for admission to the United States. I repeat that I believe in two years they would ask for admission. I have a letter which I received on the evening of my departure for Detroit, and I may say I came here, with the consent of my own Government, to express my views on reciprocity. This letter is from a gentleman in Montreal, than whom none stands higher--a gentleman of intelligence and wealth, and whose judgment is as good as that of any person in Canada on these matters:--

"'MONTREAL, "'_July 10th._

'"MY DEAR. MR. POTTER,

"'I am much delighted to hear that you have decided to attend the Detroit Convention, as it is in my opinion of the greatest importance that the real friends of the United States who reside here shall be represented at Detroit, or that our friends, before committing themselves to a renewal of the Reciprocity Treaty, may know our views on the subject; and I can a.s.sure you, from the knowledge I have of the sentiments of those who have been and still are the friends of the United States in this country, that not one in fifty of them wants a renewal or extension of the treaty. On the other hand, every man who has been openly hostile to us is for the renewal. The reasons are obvious, as it is clear to all intelligent men that a failure to renew the treaty will result in thorough reciprocity. All the friends of the Western States here, and they are rapidly increasing in numbers and influence, would rejoice to submit to temporary inconvenience and loss, for the purpose of accomplis.h.i.+ng this result, while those who are against us wish for a renewal of the treaty which, during the last four years, has given so much trouble to both sides. They know that a renewal of the treaty would be the only effectual check on the annexation movement. I believe the renewal of it would be one of the greatest political blunders on the part of the United States. This is the feeling of our friends on this side, and I am sure our friends on the other side of the frontier who have already suffered so much, will join us heartily in this additional sacrifice, if such it should prove.'

"As Mr. Potter closed reading the letter there were loud cries from the Canadian delegates of 'Name, name.'

"Mr. Potter gave the name, 'O. S. Wood, Superintendent of the Montreal Telegraph Company'--a gentleman, he said, of wealth and the highest respectability in Montreal.

"Some one asked whether Wood was a born Canadian.

"Mr. Potter replied he was not, but came originally from New York.

"The Republican journals in the West have since taken up this tone, and Mr. Morrill, the Protectionist chairman of the 'Committee of Ways and Means,' echoed it even in conference with the provincial delegates at Was.h.i.+ngton last February:--Witness the following:--

"'Chicago Tribune' (Republican), Jan. 6th, 1866.

"The 'Tribune' concludes:--'The Canadians will soon discover that free trade and smuggling will not compensate them for the loss of the Reciprocity Treaty. They will stay out in the cold for a few years and try all sorts of expedients, but in the end will be constrained to knock for admission into the Great Republic. Potter was right when he predicted that the abrogation of the treaty would cause annexation.'