212 
Indiana University 
that the British g-overnment had failed to do its duty; pro- 
visions for submitting to different commissions of arbitra- 
tion the various questions relating to the Alabama claims, the | 
San Juan boundary, and the northeastern fisheries; and an j 
agreement on several other questions such as bonded transit, 
certain features of the coasting trade, the navigation of cer- 
tain rivers and canals as roads of commerce, and the use of 
the St. John River by the American lumbermen. 
On several points the treaty did not satisfy the wishes of 
the Canadians. On March 6, and later, the British commis- 
sioners by the wish of Canada had suggested the renewal of 
the reciprocity treaty in principle, but the Americans de- 
clined.®^ The British offered to concede the navigation of the 
St. Lawrence for the navigation of Lake Michigan ; but the 
United States claimed that she had a natural right to navigate 
the St. Lawrence from 45° to the sea. The British then of- 
fered to recognize the St. Lawrence as forever free and asked 
the right of navigating the Alaskan waters — which the United 
States granted. For the use of the Canadian canals, the 
Americans gave the free navigation of Lake Michigan for 
ten years and also the American canals connecting the lakes. 
The Canadians, who had urged the presentation of the claims 
for Fenian raids as one of the subjects to be adjusted, were 
indignant because the English commissioners had found it 
necessary to insist that they must withdraw them. 
The treaty for the peaceful settlement of difficulties was 
doubtless a surprise to the Russian government, which appar- 
ently expected that the United States would continue to press 
large war claims and ask England to withdraw from her 
North American colonies at a time when it would embarrass 
Messages, Despatches, and Minutes of the Privy Council relative to the Treaty of 
Washington (Ottawa, 1872). (State Department Pamphlets, No. 8486.) 
On June 23, 1870, the House had sought further information in regard to the 
state of trade between the United States and British America. The data requested were 
obtained by J. N. Lamed, a special agent of the Treasury Department, whose report 
was not submitted until February 3, 1871. He urged that the United States could never 
agree to trade relations on the basis of the reciprocity treaty of 1854 ; and, in case 
Canada should not decide upon political union with the United States, he was inclined to 
a Zollverein or commercial union. Stating that the cause of Canada’s tardy growth was 
isolation, he said in substance : “If the provinces do not choose to become one of us 
politically they must become one of us commercially. Canada wavers, much affected by 
dissatisfaction with relations with England and also with the mistaken belief that it is 
the American policy to coerce them to surrender themselves and their territory to the 
United States. The United States cannot give Canada the advantages of statehood 
so long as she holds her relation with Great Bidtain. Canada must decide her own 
destiny by determining which affects her interests most — political relations with Great 
Britain or commercial and industrial association to the United States.” (Hcnise Execu- 
tive Documents, No. 94, 41-3, Vol. VHI, February 3, 1871, 39 pp.) 
