UNITED STATES AND CANADA 175 



millions of capital that is now invested in those great 

 enterprises. And yet, gentlemen, some time ago, 

 and possibly even now, there are men who would 

 contemplate without anxiety such a disturbance as 

 that which I have suggested, and who look forward 

 with a light heart to a commercial war, the result of 

 which no man can foresee. And this is by no means 

 the worst thing that might happen if a satisfactory 

 and friendly agreement is now admitted to be im- 

 possible. 



RIGHTS UNDER THE EXISTING TREATIES 



You referred, Mr. President, to the occurrences of 

 a year or two ago in 1887, and still later in 1886. 

 The Canadian Government, with the full support of 

 the Government of Great Britain, acting as it be- 

 lieved in the exercise of its undoubted treaty rights, 

 found itself constrained to interfere with numbers of 

 American fishing vessels pursuing their operations 

 in Canadian waters. This interference, whether it 

 was justified by law or not, naturally and inevitably 

 provoked great indignation and ill-feeling in this 

 country, and it is not too much to say, that for some 

 time peaceful relations between the two greatest, 

 freest nations in the world — or if not the peaceful 

 relations, at all events the friendly intercourse be- 

 tween them — was at the mercy of the officials of 

 either of them, acting at great distances from the 

 central authorities, and who might be hot-headed, 

 or indiscreet, or unreasonable in the exercise of 

 extremely delicate functions. 



Well, I remember when I first came to New York 



