262 THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR 



ceded to the Americans by the Reciprocity 

 Treaty of 1854 in return for the free admission 

 of leading Canadian products into the United 

 States, and that the privilege expired with the 

 abrogation of the treaty in 1866. Friction be 

 tween the American fishermen and the authori 

 ties of the Maritime Provinces, such as had been 

 common and troublesome prior to 1854, made its 

 appearance again after 1866. Efforts to read 

 just things on the basis of tariff concessions, as 

 in the Reciprocity Treaty, failed before the 

 uncompromising refusal of the Americans to 

 modify their duties. In the Treaty of Wash 

 ington an agreement was reached through the 

 offer of the Americans to pay for the privilege 

 of the inshore fishing in hard cash. This prop 

 osition was accepted, but the negotiators were 

 quite unable to get together on the amount that 

 should be paid. This question, therefore, was 

 left to arbitration. The treaty provided that 

 the inshore fisheries should be open to the 

 Americans, and, on the other side, that Canadian 

 fish and fish-oil should be admitted duty-free 

 to the United States. This arrangement was 

 to last for ten years, after which it was subject 

 to termination on two years notice by either 

 party. The task of the commission of arbitra- 



