UNITED STATES AND CANADA 219 



voting in favour of ratification, and thirty Re- 

 publicans opposing it. It wasn't a question of the 

 merits of the Treaty, but a strict party vote. The 

 Times correspondent at New York telegraphed as 

 follows : 



** Probably extreme political partisans never made 

 a greater error, even from the narrowest point of 

 view. The Senators from the mode of their elec- 

 tion, and the length of their tenure, never closely 

 reflect popular opinion. Accordingly, although the 

 popular vote long ago removed the Republican 

 majority from the lower house, that party retains 

 power in the Senate. The chief motive of this re- 

 jection is to embarrass the Administration, in which 

 it will fail. Whether it succeeds in producing a 

 Commercial War with Canada, or Diplomatic 

 tension with Great Britain, either event will solidify 

 the entire population of the United States against 

 the Republican Leaders." 



Now although the privileges accorded by the 

 modus Vivendi were nominally secured for two years 

 only, local legislation enacted in Canada and New- 

 foundland, and renewed from year to year, enabled 

 American fishermen, on payment of the licence fee 

 of $1 .50 per register ton, to pursue their calling in the 

 Canadian and Newfoundland bays, and although it 

 became necessary to submit to the Hague tribunal, 



