190 THROUGH THREEFOLD TENSION 



tical statesman was the simple fact that the 

 Americans were as deeply interested to get 

 admission to the inshore fishing as the Cana 

 dians were to get free access to the markets 

 of the United States. The quid pro quo ex 

 pected by the Washington government was at 

 hand, and the bargain was formally struck in 

 the Reciprocity Treaty of 1854, concluded by 

 Lord Elgin and Secretary of State Marcy. By 

 this agreement the Americans acquired again 

 the liberty, renounced in 1818, of taking fish 

 in the bays, harbors, and creeks of the British 

 provinces (except Newfoundland), without re 

 striction as to distance from the shore. The 

 British colonists gained the coveted access to 

 the American markets through the provision 

 for the reciprocal admission duty-free of enu 

 merated commodities that included the prin 

 cipal products of the soil, the mines, and the for 

 ests. Reciprocity was further applied through 

 the admission of the Americans to the naviga 

 tion of the Saint Lawrence River, and the ad 

 mission of the Canadians to the navigation of 

 Lake Michigan. 



The effect of this treaty on the relations 

 between the English-speaking peoples of the 

 Western world was marked and salutary. Fric- 



