THROUGH THREEFOLD TENSION 191 



tion over the fisheries passed away. Trade 

 increased by leaps and bounds. British Amer 

 ica and the United States tended manifestly 

 toward that economic solidarity which the 

 geographic conditions seemed to make natural. 

 In 1854, the last full year before the treaty went 

 into effect, the total trade between the two 

 peoples was about $35,003,000; in 1856, the 

 first full year after the treaty went into effect, 

 the total trade was $57,000,000. This increase 

 signified more than a mere enhancement of 

 mercantile profits. It meant the promotion of 

 the neighborly spirit and feelings between neigh 

 bors. It meant that those people who lived 

 on opposite banks of the Detroit or the Niag 

 ara River, or on opposite sides of a surveyor s 

 line, should no longer meet with legal obstacles 

 to the free intercourse that proximity invited. 

 It meant a great multiplication of the social 

 and financial ties across the frontier that are 

 sure to be created by increasing trade. In any 

 estimate of the influences that made for friendly 

 and sympathetic relations among English-speak 

 ing peoples in 1860, the Reciprocity Treaty of 

 1854 must stand side by side with the diplo 

 matic adjustments already described concern 

 ing Central America and the right of search. 



