He Was Bound To Take That Answer As A Correct Statement; And He Then Asked, Was It Possible That Her Majesty's Government Could Remain Inactive When A Trade Of 10,000,000l A Year And The Issues Of Future Peace Or Disturbance Were In The Balance?

Were the proposed notice to terminate the treaty any matter of suddenness or by way of surprise, he might comprehend it; but for above three years the subject had been agitated and discussed in Congress, in Canada, and in all the Chambers of Commerce in the North-west.

It had been notorious to everybody that one party desired isolation from the British Provinces and another desired the operations of the treaty to be extended. It was, therefore, a question to be discussed in advance of the present entanglement; and, as Canada had no treaty-making power, the responsibility rested with the Government at home. This was a question so serious from every point of view that the House would have to take it up as soon as the noble lord at the head of the Government laid upon the table the notice which he had told them would be given on the 15th March next. Then would be the time to discuss it fully and in all its bearings. His object now was to prepare for that discussion by obtaining all the facts. The papers laid before the House last week did not go back far enough. It appeared that in the autumn of 1861 the New York Chamber of Commerce memorialized Congress for a revision of the treaty, and a committee reported upon it in February, 1862. That report he had here. It did not advocate notice; no, it advocated adherence to the principles of free exchange, and it proposed that commissioners should negociate an extension of the treaty. In March, 1864, Mr. Ward reported resolutions appointing commissioners for that purpose, and ultimately the discussion was postponed to December, 1864. During all this time surely communications of some kind passed to or from this country; and it was self-apparent that the treaty might have been revised and extended before recent causes of irritation had appeared. Those causes had led to much bitter feeling, and it might now be too late to restore the principle of the treaty and of the Bonding Acts in all their integrity. He now moved for all papers subsequent to December, 1861, with a view to further discussion hereafter. He would call attention to a very singular letter, given at pages 70 and 77 in the papers printed last week. That letter had been intercepted by General Augur, and was stated by Mr. Seward to be undoubtedly genuine. He would ask whether any explanation of that letter had been offered by his Excellency the American Minister, Mr. Adams? And, if so, why that explanation had not been printed? The letter was from a Confederate agent residing in Canada, apparently to Mr. Seddon, the Confederate Secretary for War. It must have been written at the end of October last year. It stated that the writer had made an arrangement with parties 'powerful and influential with the Government of the United States' to deliver supplies of meat in exchange for cotton, 'at any port Mr. Secretary Seddon may designate on the east side of the Mississippi,' or on 'the west side,' and after this delivery it was said that 'the way was perfectly clear to deliver anywhere within General Butler's department.' He adds, that he has made another contract with another Federal American citizen, 'by which supplies of meat will be furnished at Mobile by written permission of the President of the United States to the free passage of the blockading fleet at that port.' His contract, he says, is for 5,000,000 lbs. of meat in exchange for 5,000,000 lbs. of cotton. Now, if this were true, it opened up a very large question. Merchants in England who had run the blockade had been most properly censured for the practice. Their having done so was naturally matter of diplomatic complaint; but here were the seal and the signature of the President of the United States himself made use of to send supplies to the enemy on the one hand, and to give cotton to the manufacturers of the Northern States on the other. He thought that letter ought not to have been printed without some comment. If explanations had been given by Mr. Adams and were not printed, the omission was a slight; and he thought a good understanding with the United States, desired so sincerely by, he hoped, the House at large, would not be promoted by its publication."

The "Observer," referring to this speech, made the following remarks: -

"There is a great disadvantage in bringing any important question before the House of Commons at a late hour of the night, because in such a case it is impossible, arising from the exigencies of the morning papers, that full justice can be done by the parliamentary reporters to the speech of the speaker. An illustration, of this occurred on Friday evening. Mr. Watkin, in moving for papers respecting the Reciprocity Treaty between the United States and the British North American Provinces, entered at considerable length and with great ability into that important subject. His speech will be found in another part of our impression. It would not be easy to overrate the importance of the interests to this country involved in the question which Mr. Watkin so lucidly brought before the House. He showed that under the operation of the existing treaty British trading interests to the extent of 10,000,000l. per annum were involved. This is no inconsiderable sum. Assuredly it is much too large to be heedlessly sacrificed if means can be found consistent with the honour of the country to prevent it. And yet, notwithstanding the great and manifest importance of the subject, and though the United States have given notice of their intention to terminate the treaty in twelve months from the present time, it would appear that no steps have yet been taken on the part of the Imperial Government to avert the evils of which the termination of that treaty would be productive to the British North American Provinces, and through them to the Mother Country; for, apart from the stoppage that would ensue to the international trade now existing between the States and Canada and her sister provinces, the old vexed question as to the right of Americans to participate in the fisheries in the Gulf of the St. Lawrence, along a shore upwards of 1,500 miles in length, is again raised.

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