[boueixot] builders OF NOVA SCOTIA 179 



Let me now enquire, Mr. Ohairman, whether we have or have not other 

 elements upon which to rest our claims. Is there any reason to fear that our 

 ships will rot in the docks for want lof conimodities to carry, or of commercial 

 activity ? Look to our imports of 1853 : — 



Canadja £8,200,640 



Nova Scotia 1,194,175 



New Brunswick, 1852 1,110,600 



Newfoundland, 1852 795_738 



Prince Edward Island 298,543 



£11,599,696 



The imT)orts of the whole United States in 1791, sixteen years after they 

 had established their independemce, only amounted to $52,000,000 ; but a trifle 

 ovar w^hat ours are at the present time. Tet with that limited amount of 

 commerce, they had gone throng-h a bloody and expensive war with one of 

 the foremost nations of the world ; whose statesmen, unfortunately, still go 

 on dreaming that they can keep continents filled with freemen, without making 

 any provision for their incorporation into the realm or for securing to them 

 any control over their foreign relations. 



Let me now turn your attention /to the exports of British America :— 



Canada .' £5.570,000 



Nova Scotia 970,780 



New Brunswick, 1852 796,335 



Prince Edward Island (aibout) 242,675 



Newfoundland 965,772 



£8,545,562 



And if we add to this amount another million, for the value of new ships 

 annually built and sold, we may take the whole at £9,545,562. Turn again to 

 the statistics of the United States for 1791 and you wdll perceive, that sixteen 

 years after they had declared their independence, their exports amounted to 

 but $19,000,000, or about half the value of our own. 



Glance again at the parent state, from whom we have learnt so much, 

 and to whose histoiry we always recur with interest. She occupies a proud 

 position now ; but what was she, commercially, a few centuries ago ? 



In 1354, when the Black Prince was carrying the conquering arms of 

 England half over France, her exports were but £212,338 ; less than one- 

 fourth of what the exports of Nova Scotia are now. Turn to the period of 

 the civil wars, when the people of England felt strong enough to dethrone 

 a King and cut off his head. When Cromiwell's Puritan sea warriors so raised 

 the national character abroad, that an Englishman was secure and respected 

 in every quarter of the globe, how limited was the trade of England then ! 

 Even after the Restoration, so late as 1669, the exports of England and "Wales 

 only amounted to £2,063,294. I have another remarkable contrast for you, Mr. 

 Chairman. In 1688 England secured for the first time in her history that 

 system of acknowledged accountability which we call responsible Govern- 

 ment. Now, from 1698 to 1701 the average lexpoirts of England and Wales did 

 not exceed £6,449,394 ; less than our own by two millions ; not more than 

 ours were when we claimed and established the same political safeguards. 

 The exports of England in 1850 had risen to £175,416,000. Expanding with 

 the principles of unrestricted commerce, their value must now be above £200,- 

 000,000. While then we look back at her days of decrepitude let us borrow hope 

 from her small beginnings, and cherish the freedom and self-reliance which 

 have ensured her prosperity. 



