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 Washington, 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.
"'WASHINGTON,
"'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 fashions;
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 quantity taken in 1865-6 from Pennsylvania and
other States to Upper Canada was about 180,000 tons; while the quantity
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 fishing rights, the United
States appeared largely to have the advantage, for they had, by the
treaty, access to excellent fishing grounds and passage through the Gut
of Canso, while the provincial fishermen rarely troubled the coasts of
Maine or Massachusetts - 'bare pastures' for fish.
