56 Tlie Fishery Question. 



ilege upon his tormentors.^^ Statements in 

 regard to the trade were contradictory. In 

 England the utiHty of protecting the Cana- 

 dians was questioned, as fish caught by British 

 subjects could not be disposed of in Europe 

 or the United States. It was useless to con- 

 tend against the American bounty system. ^^ 

 On the other hand, modifications in the 

 United States revenue laws were opposed, on 

 the ground that Canadian fish already monop- 

 olized the export trade.^^ At this juncture 

 Lord Elgin, then Governor General of 

 Canada, arrived in Washington with the ex- 

 press object of negotiating a treaty. The 

 " Nebraska Bill " was the absorbing event in 

 political circles at the time. He was in- 

 formed by the Pierce administration that the 

 greatest hostility to the treaty might be 

 looked for among the Democrats, and he set 

 about to overcome it with so much tact and 

 the quality since recognized as " personal 

 magnetism," that at the conclusion of a fort- 

 night the negotiation of seven years' standing 

 between the governments was brought to a 

 successful termination. There was a eood 

 deal said, intimating that the treaty had been 

 " floated through on champagne," but there 



