"'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 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. 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.'