MISCELLANEOUS. 1051 



ately availing themselves of the power conferred upon them by the 

 imperial government (by the act of the British Parliament called the 

 " British possessions act ") to regulate duties on the products both of 

 foreign nations and of the mother country, the duties on American 

 manufactures were lowered from 12^ to 7^ per cent., while those on 

 British manufactures were raised from 5 to 7 per cent., thus placing 

 the United States entirely upon a par with the mother country in this 

 important particular. 



That the feeling of disappointment to which I have alluded, and 

 the impression that there is now no hope of placing their commercial 

 relations with the United States on a more satisfactory and mutually 

 advantageous footing, should have the effect of causing the Canadian 

 legislature to retrace their steps in the liberal course which they 

 evidently wish to pursue with regard to the commercial relations of 

 the province with the United States, would assuredly be a subject of 

 great regret to her Majesty's government. It could not, therefore, 

 but be satisfactory for them to learn that the favorable consideration 

 of the government of the United States will now be given to this 

 subject, with a view to the negotiation of such a treaty as would 

 secure the proposed objects, should that appear to be a course likely 

 to insure their speedy attainment. 



I am the more desirous at the present moment of ascertaining the 

 disposition of the United States government with regard to this 

 matter, from having lately received an instruction from her Majesty's 

 Government directing me, with the concurrence of the lieutenant gov- 

 ernor of New Brunswick, to negotiate with the government of the 

 United States a convention, upon the principle of reciprocity, extend- 

 ing to that province also advantages similar to those proposed by the 

 contemplated measure as regards Canada; and I am, consequently, 

 already in communication with his Excellency Sir Edmund Head 

 upon this subject. 



It is, of course, on grounds of the interest of Canada and New 

 Brunswick that her Majesty's government urge this measure. It is 

 both the duty of her Majesty's government to look to those interests 

 in the first place, and it would also be absurd to pretend that that 

 consideration is not their governing motive. But there can be little 

 doubt that the measure of relaxation desired by the British North 

 American colonies on their own account would be almost, if not quite, 

 equally advantageous to the United States, as establishing a free and 

 unrestricted intercourse between them and the countries in question, 

 and thereby affording a much more extended demand for United 

 States produce than the Canadas or New Brunswick, in their present 

 restricted power of mutual exchange, are enabled to sustain. 



I am unwilling, on the present occasion, to enter into unnecessary 

 detail ; but I think that I can confidently appeal to the custom-house 

 reports, both of the United States and Canada, to show that the ex- 

 ports from the United States to Canada already much exceed the 

 imports from that province, leaving a heavy balance of trade against 

 the latter a state of things which, if not remedied, must clearly tend 

 to diminish, and not to increase, the profitable commercial transactions 

 between the two countries. That a more extended use of the canals 

 of the United States by the Canadian dealer in grain would take place 

 on the removal of the present inconvenient custom-house formalities, 

 cannot, I believe, be doubted. That the present state of the respective 



