m^'" "" 



■^ennii^ 



l" 



440 



much money as when there was no duty raid at all. The remission of duty, thereft re, is 

 a benefit to citizens of the United States and not to us. 



I have, in order to chise this argument to-day, passed over a number of subjects 

 to which I at one time intended to call to the attention of tbe Commission. But tlie time 

 is pressing. We arc all lo a considerable extent worn out with the labours of the 

 Commission. Yesterday I asked the Commission to open at an earlier hour to-day in 

 Older that I migiit finish my remarks without further adjournment, and I am happy to be 

 able to redeem my promise. 



I have now brought my argument on behalf of Great Britain to a close. To the 

 shortcomi ,gs and defects of that argument I am painfully alive. But the cause I have 

 advoc'ted is so righteous in itself, has been supported and sustained by evidence so 

 trusl\^'"y^"f'\; and conclusive, and is to be decided by a tribunal so able and impartial as 

 that '^l", ^I'lave tlie honour to address, that I entertain no fears of the result. 



. .?<L'h I rejoice that a responsibility which for many months has pressed with no 

 ordij Cpp]' weight upon my learned colleagues and myself, is well nigh ended, yet I cannot 

 hut igoji piii)s; of regret that the days of my pleasant intercourse with the gentlemen 

 engt F' in and connected with this most important in(]uiry, are drawing to a close. 



my St 

 and 



''fir the kind consideration, and unfailing urbanity extended to my colleagues and 

 ', I tender to your Excellency and your Honours my most sincere aclaiowledgment 



anks. 



' .lut shall I say to my brethren of the United States ? To their uniform courtesy 

 tacf nd kindly feeling, we chiefly owe it, that this protracted inouiry has almost reached 

 its ' ...mation without unpleasant difi'erence or dissension of any kind. 



To the cause of the United Stales, which both my patriotism and my professional 

 duty constrain mc to regard as utterly untenable, the ability, ingenuity, and elocjuence of 

 Judge Foster, Mr. Dana, and Mr. Trcscot, have done more than justice. They have 

 shown themselves no unworthy mcml)ers of a profession which in their own country 

 has been adorned and illustrated on the Bench antl at tiic Bar by the profound learning 

 of a Marshall, a Kent, and a ■■ >ry, and by the brilliant elo(iucnee of a Webster and a 

 Choate. From my learned, able, and accomplished bretbien of the United States, I shall 

 part when this Commission shall have closed its labours with unfeigned regret. 



A few words more and I have done. To the judgment of this Tribunal, should it 

 prove adverse lo my anticipations, Great Britain and Canada will how without a murmur. 

 Should, however, the decision be otherwise, it is gratifying to know that we have the 

 assurance of her counsel, tliat America will accept the award in the same spirit with which 

 England accepted the Geneva judgment, and like England piiy it without unnecessary 

 delay. This is as it should be. It is a spirit which retlects honour upon both countries. 

 The spectacle presented by the Treaty of Washington, and the arbitrations under it, is one 

 at which the world must gaze with wonder and admiration. While nearly every other 

 ration of the world settles its difiiculties with other Powers by the dreadful arbitrament of 

 the sword, England and America, two of the most powerful nations upon the earth, 

 whose peaceful flags of commerce float side by side in every quarter of the habitable 

 globe, whose ships of war salute each other almost daily in every clime and on every sea, 

 refer their difi'erenees to tiie peac'cful arbitrament of Christian men, sitting without show 

 or parade of any kind in open court. 



On the day that the Treaty of Washington was signed by the High Contracting 

 Parties, an epoch in the history of civilization was reached. On that day the heaviest 

 blow ever struck by human agency tell upon that great anvil of the Almighty, upon which 

 in His own way and at His a|)pointcd time, the sword and the spear shall be transformed 

 into the plough-share and the reaping-hook, 





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h^f. 



