BRITISH NORTH AMERICA. 



73 



r.IUTIfill NORTH AMERICA, comprising 



la, Nuv.-i Scotia, New linm-wick. 

 foiiiiilhiiid, mid I 'rin cc Ed ward Island. His Ex- 

 cdiency l:i-lit. I Inn. Charles Stanley, Viscount 

 Monck, Governor-General of British North 

 America, and Captain-General ami <;<>vernor- 

 in-v-liirf in and over the Provinces of Canada, 

 Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and tlio Island of 

 1'rincc- Kdward. and Vice- Admiral of the same, 

 > ((. 1). -nis Godtey. Governor-General's Secre- 

 tary; Lieut. -Col. Hon. Richard Monek. Military 

 Sc-retary; Capt. Pemberton, 60th Rifles, aide- 

 de-camp ; Lieut.-Col. Irvine, Provincial aide-de- 

 camp; Lieut.-Col. Bernard and Lieut.-Col. F. 

 Cumberland, Extra Provincial aides-de-camp. 



Th Canadian Cabinet. Sir N. F. Belleau, Re- 

 ceiver-Gcneral and Premier; Hon. A. J. Fergusson 

 Blair, President of the Council ; John A. Macoonald, 

 Attorney-General for Upper Canada, and Minister of 

 Militia; George E. Cartier, Attorney -General for 

 Lower Canada; W. P. Howland, Acting Minister of 

 Finance ; William McDougall, Provincial Secretary : 

 Thomas D'Arcy McGee, Minister of Agriculture and 

 Immigration ; A. Campbell, Commissioner of Crown 

 Lands ; W. P. Howland, Postmaster-General ; J. C. 

 Chapaia, Minister of Public Works; James Cock- 

 burn, Solicitor-General for Upper Canada ; Hector 

 E. Langevin, Solicitor-General for Lower Canada. 



Nova Scotia. His Excellency Lieutenant-General 

 Sir William Frederick Williams, of Kars, Baronet, 

 K. ('. B., LiouU'nant-(!overnor. 



New Brunswick. His Excellency Major-General 

 Charles Hastings Doyle, Administrator. 



Newfoundland. His Excellency George Dundas, 

 Esq., Lieutenant-Governor. 



Princt Edward Island. His Excellency Anthony 

 Musgrave, Esq., Lieutenant-Governor. 



The Reciprocity Treaty between Canada and 

 the United States. This was the subject of a 

 conference between a delegation from the Colo- 

 nial Government of Canada and the Committee 

 of Ways and Means of the United States House 

 of Representatives, in January, 1866. The in- 

 terviews took place at the Treasury Depart- 

 ment, Washington, with the approval of Hon. 

 Mr. McCulloch, Secretary of the Treasury. The 

 Colonial delegates were the Hon. Messrs. Gait 

 and Howland (Canada) ; Henry (Nova Scotia) ; 

 and Smith (New Brunswick) ; and the Congres- 

 sional committee, Messrs. Morrill, of Vermont ; 

 Hooper, of Massachusetts; Brooks, of New 

 York; Garfield, of Ohio; Wentworth, of Illinois; 

 Conkling, of New York ; Moorhead, of Penn- 

 sylvania; Allison, of Iowa, and Hogan, of Mis- 

 souri. 



After a general discussion upon the subject 

 of reciprocal trade, Mr. Morrill submitted, on 

 behalf of the committee, the following list of 

 articles which ho thought should be admitted to 

 the United States with no higher duty than the 

 pressure of the United States internal revenue 

 tax: Fish of all kinds ; products of fish ; hides, 

 furs, skins, and tails, undressed ; horns, ma- 

 nures ; pitch, tar, turpentine ; ashes ; coal, fire- 

 wood; plants, shrubs, and trees; fish-oil; rice, 

 bark ; gypsum, nnground ; burr and grind stones, 

 unwrought; rags, except woollen, unwrought. 



The articles mentioned below he thought 

 should be made to bear a higher impo"t duty 



than the pressure of the United States internal 

 revenue tax: Grain, Hour, and ln-.-ud ti.tl's of 

 all kinds ; aniinal.s of all kind> ; : d, and 



smoked meats ; cotton, wool, wed.-, and voge- 

 talil.-s; undried fruits, dried fruits; poultry, 

 eggs; stone or marble, elate; batter, cheese, 

 tallow, lard; timber and lumber of all kinds; 

 pelts and wool ; dyestuffs ; flax, hemp, and tow ; 

 unmanufactured tobacco; woollen rags; burr 

 and grind stones, wrought. 



There were three other points embraced in 

 the proposition from the House coin'mit (<<-. 

 First, the mutual use of the waters of Lake 

 Michigan and the St. Lawrence. Second, the 

 free transit of goods under bond between the 

 two countries, and in that connection the abo- 

 lition of the free ports existing in Canada. 

 Third, the concession of the right of fishing in 

 provincial waters. 



Tho Hon. Mr. Gait, on behalf of the Colonial 

 delegates, stated their objections to the propo- 

 sition with frankness and ability. He thought 

 that all the articles on the free list of the reci- 

 procity treaty, and such others as might be 

 agreed on, should be dealt with on the basis of 

 imposing custom duties as heavy as the internal 

 taxes of the United States. With reference to 

 the fisheries and navigation, he took the ground 

 that no new arrangements were required. AH to 

 the transit trade, he agreed that it would be 

 desirable that the regulations for passing goods 

 under bonds should be reduced to the form of a 

 law, and there seemed to be no reason why a 

 uniform system should not be adopted. With 

 reference to the assimilation of duties between 

 the two countries, he said that it would be the 

 desire of the Colonial delegates to unite with 

 the committee in making the duties upon 

 spirits, beer, tobacco, and cognate articles af- 

 fected by the excise duties upon them, such as 

 might be determined to be the best revenue 

 standard. As to other articles, the Colonial 

 Government was disposed to make mutual ar- 

 rangements on a satisfactory footing. Mr. Gait 

 expressed the hope that the time would come 

 when the policy of the United States would not 

 be as restrictive as now. With regard to the 

 navigation of the internal waters, it would seem 

 to bo advantageous to both sides to have the 

 trade free. He also expressed the willingness 

 of the Canadian authorities to assimilate their 

 patent laws to those of the United States. 



On the 6th of February, all the questions in- 

 volved having been discussed at numerous sit- 

 tings, the Colonial delegates rejected the Amer- 

 ican proposition as a whole, and expressed a 

 feeling of disappointment at the unsuccessful 

 termination of the conference. Mr. Gait stated 

 that the Canadian Government were prepared to 

 let the present trading facilities continue with- 

 out asking for any further security from the 

 United States, or giving any assurances on the 

 part of Canada. The question of the fisheries 

 they would leave, as it would be left at the termi- 

 nation of the treaty, to be dealt with by the sev- 

 eral Legislatures of the United States on the one 



