THROUGH THREEFOLD TENSION 187 



The abandonment of the restrictive system 

 generally by Great Britain left the North Amer 

 ican colonies, and especially Canada, still in an 

 uncomfortable plight. Free trade made their 

 prosperity dependent on the commercial policy 

 of the United States as fully as protection had 

 kept it dependent on the policy of the United 

 Kingdom. From the point of view of pro 

 duction the northern part of the United States 

 and the British provinces were a unit; the out 

 put of their fields and forests was practically 

 the same. From the point of view of markets 

 the colonists were at a great disadvantage. In 

 the United States population was much denser, 

 and the facilities for transportation were vastly 

 superior. The Canadians were not yet beyond 

 the stage of canals, while on the other side of 

 the border railways had attained a remarka 

 ble development. What was necessary to the 

 prosperity of the Canadians was free access to 

 the markets of the greater neighbor. But the 

 Americans made no haste to remove the tariff 

 barrier with which they had met the old policy 

 of restriction. To the advances of the British 

 Government looking to reciprocal free trade on 

 the Canadian frontier they presented the old 

 familiar question: What have you to offer in 



