268 Butler—The Codfish in American History. 
yours, hook and line, bob and sinker, now and forever.” A 
fishing treaty negotiated in London by Cleveland’s minister, 
Phelps, was refused ratification by a republican senate. A 
reason given in confidence was that so good a treaty would add 
to the political capital of democrats. In public, however, 
the treaty was stigmatized as an unconditional surrender. 
At no point is there a more galling friction in the relations 
between the English mother and her prodigal sons beyond the 
Atlantic. New treaties will be concluded, but no settlement, 
beyond a modus vivendi seems probable until the granting of all 
that Franklin asked for — namely, the annexation of the Cana¬ 
dian dominion to the older brother shall in " the unity and mar¬ 
ried calm ” of greater Britain render all treaties superfluous. 
Ultimate union between us and our northern sister seems a 
foregone conclusion. It would be in line with our history, which 
records analogous Anions on every other side. Witness Louisi¬ 
ana, Florida, Texas, New Mexico, California, Oregon, Alaska. 
One fifth of the population born north of us have removed with¬ 
in our borders, and this emigration is coming faster and faster. 
We have more persons by four score thousand of Canadian than 
of English birth. The Canadians who cling to their homesteads 
and we are more and more drawn together by the cohesive at¬ 
traction of mutual interest reinforcing the ties of language and 
religion, as well as of identical aspirations and endeavors. 
The quarrel about fishing rights may perhaps be settled in 
another way, thanks to Seward’s securing Alaska. The codfish 
which are there numberless are in no point inferior to those 
which are the glory of eastern waters. The occidental banks 
are more enormous stretching over a larger area than the square 
miles of Ireland. The facilities for the capture and curing of 
fish are greater than on the Atlantic coast. 
In 1890 the cod taken numbered half a million, and but for 
glutting the market the supply would have been ten times 
greater. This industry must advance in equal pace with the 
growth of the Pacific slope and the extension of trade in the 
East Indies. According to the United States commissioner’s 
report the gulf of Alaska and Bering sea will whiten with mul¬ 
titudinous sails. In this way we shall outgrow dependence on 
