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Id □ 32X 1 2 3 •^t 2 3 4 5 6 ^ \N «q-A-- ^ f A REVIEW OF BRITISH DIPLOMACY AND ITS FRUITS: 1 r w s ,..^^j,.^ \ "THE DREAM OF THE UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS OF 1776." {From the St. James' Magazine and United Empire Review=) ' This England never did, nor never shall, Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror. But when it first did help to wound itself. * * * « * Come the three corners of the world in arms. And wo shall shock them. Nought shall make us rue, If England to itself do rest but true." King John, Act v. Scene 7. ■?• BY IIOBT. GRANT HALIBURTON, M.A., F.S.A. FKIiliOW OF THE EOYAL SOCIETY OF NOBTHEEN ANTIQT;AEIE3 OF COPENHAGEli, AUTHOE OF "COAL TEADE OF THE NEW DOMINION," " INTEECOLONIAL TBADE," " NEW MAIEEIAL3 FOE THE HISTOEY OF MAN," ETC. SAMPSON LOW, MAESTON, LOW, AND SEARLE, CROWN BUILDINGS, lliS, FLEET STREET. 187-2. ;aiJfr-;.r^r.;T*'^ -••■.. ^.nH«iiiPiiii«iii«iipnPiiiipiipp FE] s y' A REVIEW or BRITISH DIPLOMACY AND ITS FRUITS: " THE DREAM OF THE UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS OF 1776." (From the St. James' Magazine and United Empiee Keview.) ' This England never did, nor never sball, Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror, But when it first did help to wound itself. * * * * # Come the three corners of the world in arms, And we shall shock them. Nought shall make us rue. If England to itself do rest but true." KiNa John, Act v. Scene 7. DT ROBT, GRANT HALIBURTON, M.A., F.S.A. FELLOW OP THE BOTAL SOCIETY OF NOETHEBN ANTIQUAEIE3 OF COPENHAGEN, AUTHOB OF "COAL TBADE OP THE NEW DOMINION," " INTEECOXONIAL TEADE," "NEW MATEEIALS FOB THE HI8T0EY OF MAN," ETC. &ontlon : SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, LOW, AND SEARLE» CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET, 1872. Frice One Shilling. LONDON ; OILBEET AND EIVINGTON. PEINTEBS, 52. ST. JOHN'S SQrABE. CLEEKENWELL, AND 28, WHITEFEIABS STEEET E.G. INTRODUCTION. British Diplomacy having* forced the nation to face the unpleasant alternative of rejecting* the Alabama Treaty, or of being reduced to a worse condition than a conquered people, any minor consi- derations connected v/ith it affecting merely the welfare of the Canadians, must sink into insignificance. To the people of the New Dominion they will have a far deeper and mere enduring interest, and may exercise no slight influence on the future of the New World. A few days after this article appeared in the St. James* Magazine, a report of a lecture delivered by a veteran statesman of British America, the Honourable Joseph Howe, Secretary of State for the Provinces, reached England, and excited a good deal of hostile criticism. It was assumed that he was sug- gesting new views of our national policy to the young men of the New Dominion that would be likely to create a spirit of discontent. It is as well to remove any misapprehension on this point, for Mr. Howe has only given utterance to the very universal feeling of dissatisfaction that exists throughout British America. Mr. Marshall, in his interesting work, "The Canadian Dominion," thus refers to the same subject : " The time has not yet come when the Dominion may stand alone. The time need never come when the connexion with England should terminate. The Canadians have their dream of a united empire, with England at its head, and London as its metropolis. The sons of England in these colonies fret at the thought of English decadence, the signs of which they think they see in the indifference she manifests towards her colonial possessions. A wise policy, they believe, might con- A 2 IV INTRODUCTION. solidate an English empire which the world would be compelled to respect. Our present policy they fear will reduce England to a third-rate povv'er. The imperial policy, favouring Canadian inde- pendence, is regarded, I have said, with some contempt as well as with sorrow. It is supposed to indicate a weak fear of a rival power, a feeling which no great nation can consciously retain with- out a fatal loss of self-respect. Such a fear, if it exists, Canadians say proudly, is wholly unreasoiiable. The United States would not fight for Canada ; nor could they obtain Canada by fighting." Mr. Marshall, who as a stranger may be considered unprejudiced, says of their capabilities for defence, " The Canadians themselves are a peculiarly warlike people both in their training and temper, presenting in this characteristic, inherited from England, a marked contrast to the growing disposition of the people of the United States. * It was difficult to conquer the South,' they say, with quiet assurance, ' but to subdue the North would be impossible.' They are hardy, stubborn, valorous ; a nation of soldiers more truly than any people of this age, with the doubtful exception of Prussia." Mr. Howe speaks as strongly of the timid policy of the British Government, which aims at buying peace at any cost : — *' But, it may be said, are we not part and parcel of a great empire upon which the sun never sets, which contains three hundred millions of people, whose wealth defies estimate, whose army is perfect in discipline, whose great navy dominates the sea. What have we to fear when this great empire protects us ? This was our ancient faith, and proud boast under every trial. In the full belief that they were British subjects, that the allegiance which they freely paid to the Crown of England entitled them to pro- tection, our forefathers helped to conquer, overrun, and organize these Provinces. " But of late new doctrines have been propounded in the Mother Country. The disorganization of the Empire has been openly promulgated in leading and influential organs of public sentiment and opinion. Our brethren within the narrow seas have been CO I aiK I INTHOUUCTION. )) i counselled to adopt a narrow policy, — to call home their legions, and leave the outlying provinces without a show of sym])athy or protection ; and, under the influence of panic, and imagiiuiry l)attles of Dorking, troops are to he massed in the British Islands, and their shores are to be surrounded by ironclads. One Cabinet Minister tells us that British America cannot bo defended, and another, that he hopes to see the day when the whole continent of America will peacefully repose and prosper under Republican institutions. And a third, on the eve of negotiations which are to involve our dearest interests, strips Canada of every soldier, and gathers up every old sentry-box and gun-carriage he can find, and ships them off to England. " I do not desire to anticipate the full and ample discussion which Parliament will give to England's recent diplomatic efforts to buy her own peace at the sacrifice of our interests, or of that Comedy of Errors into which she has blundered ; but this I may say, that the time is rapidly approaching when Canadians and Englishmen must have a clear and distinct understanding as to the hopes and obliga- tions of the future. If Imperial policy is to cover the whole ground, upon the faith of which our forefathers settled and improved, then let that be understood, and we know what to do Leading newspapers have told us that our presence within the Empire is a source of danger, and that the time for separation is approaching, if it has not already come. Noble lords and erudite commoners have sneeringly told us that we may go when we are inclined. As yet, neither the Crown, the Parliament, nor the people of England have deliberately avowed this policy of dis- memberment, although the tendency of English thought and legis- lation daily deepens the conviction that the drift is all that way. We must wait, my young friends, for further developments, not without anxiety for the future, but with a firm reliance on the goodness of Providence, and on our own ability to so shape the policy of our country as to protect her by our wit, should English- men, unmindful of the past, repudiate their national obligations.' )} I VI INTRODUCTION. The answer to thib has been the assertion that there is no dis- position to loosen the tics that bind us to the Empire, and that the present policy has been necessary in order to teach us self- reliance. This statement is negatived by facts, and facts speak more strongly than words. Canadians do not object to the withdrawal of the troops, but to the spirit in which this measure was adopted. Tliiit wo did not need such a stimulus to do our duty to the Empire and to ourselves, is proved by the fact, that before the troops were withdrawn, and at a time when such a step was disavowed. Nova Scotia, at the suggestion of its Adjutant-General, Colonel Sinclair, adopted a modification of the Prussian system. In 18G6, out of a population of 300,000, over 40,000 went through battalion drill, or one-ninth of the whole population were trained to arms. A similar spirit and system here would create a force in Great Britain of four millions of soldiers. But even if it were true that we needed a spur to urge us to do our duty to our country^ was it necessary to remove not only every soldier, but also even the symbol of English rule, the British flag ^ Was it decent, even if justifiable, to have a grand auction of the military stores and munitions of war in our fortresses advertised for the benefit of Yankees and Fenians in the New York Herald, among its list of bankrupt sales : " To be sold at a bargain, for whatever it will bring, all the stock-in-trade of a great nation that is returning to Europe, and is retiring from the business of supremacy "? This spiritless policy was a few years ago appropriately in- augurated by speeches in Parliament and elsewhere, which created wide-spread fears and a feeling of irritation throughout the Colonies, which this bankrupt sale, and the recent surrender of the navigation of the St. Lawrence, as well as almost every act of the British Government where our rights have conflicted with the claims of the / mericans, have tended to confirm. To negligence or indiflference may be attributed some, at least, of the remarkable features in the history of British diplomacy in our affairs. A recent writer in the Times has described in an amusing I no (lia- ind that us aelf- ak more ihdrawal adopted. Empire ps were 1, Nova Sinclair, out of a drill, or Jns. A Britain us to do \y every sh flag 9 of the vertiscd Herald, ain, for 1 that is oiacy'^? -ely in- created olonies, ig'ation British i of the east, of in our musing- ( i INTllODUCTiON. Vll letter the ridicule which a foreign diplomatist cast upon our states- men, v/hose achitrements puzzled him. He could not sufficiently admire our generosity. Over and over again we have been over- reached by the Americans, and have sacrificed immense tracts of valuable country, but we reward our statesmen for their blundering. The following article may supply a key to unlock the mystery. It was easy to be generous when it was only Colonists who suffered. Without any voice in Parliament, or a representative in the Colonial Office, which is merely a useful training-school for young statesmen, where they can try their " prentice hand " occasionally on Colonial subjects, experimentum in corpore vili, wo have no power even to complain with any chance of being heard. The Government is not likely to entertain any criticism on its own policy, and if a protest is sent to a member of the Opposition, ho is apt to be too much engrossed by local and pariy questions to be able to think of the interests of remote portions of the empire, and in all probability he has not the leisure to read the letter. When Colonial subjects are intruded upon Parliament, a significant remedy is sometimes resorted to. The Times of the 27th April says, "Mr. R. Fowler had risen to call attention to the affairs of South Africa, when the House was countcu out at 25 minutes past 8 o'clock." Need we be surprised at this? An Australian or Canadian Legislature, if it were invited to master that interesting subject, the sewerage and the smells of London, that so often very properly engrosses the attention of Parliament, might be tempted to imitate the example set by it on Friday last, and might escape the ordeal by being counted out. " Liertness," it is said, " is generally con- scious incapacity." It is possible that Parliame. is beginning to find out at last, what Colonists have long since learned to their cost, that the House of Commons is neither able nor willing to legislate for an Empire. Something formed on a far wider basis will be needed to satisfy the aspirations and the wants of the wide- spread English race, and to stay the progress of dismemberment. Elected by the people of the United Kingdom, instead of an VIU INTRODUCTION. i United Empire, the House of Cotninous is merely a local Legisla- ture, that is useful only for " Home Rule." The apathy that exists as to every thing that occurs outside the United Kingdom has been slightly disturbed by a lu'^ky incident that has at length forced the shortcomings of British statesmen on the attention cf the public. Our diplomacy has very nearly succeeded in reducing the nation to the position of a conquered people. That was transgressing the bounds of prudence. As long as it only sacrificed Colonists, it earned very safely its titles and rewards ; but the pocket of the British tax-payer has been invaded, and our diplomacy is at a discount — Sed periit postquam cerdonibua esse timendus Coeperat. As "a fellow-feeling makes us wondrous kind,'^ a temporary interest may be excited in the following sketch of our experience during the past century of British diplomacy and its fruits. Vast and valuable as the territories are which we ha"e lost through the generosity and blundering of British Statesmen, the article on " Transatlantic Britains " from the St. James' Magazine and United Empire Review, that is appended to this, will show the immense extent and enormous resources of the Dominion of Canada, and the great future that is awaiting it. Since these articles appeared, a correspondence between the Canadian and the British Governments has been laid before Parlia- ment, and gives to the subject I have discussed a fresh interest. But I am induced to republish them not only for this reason, l^t also because rn article has appeared in the Time% which has openly avowed that Canadian rights were sacrificed by the Waoui'^gton Com- missioners, and has clearly expressed the iews in favour of dismem- berment which have for some years past inspired our Colonial policy. R. G. Haliburton. 4 1 27, Cleveland Gahdens, Hydb Fabk^ May 2Hd, 1872. Legisla- itside tiie incident statesmen ly nearly conquered As long ;ities and . invaded, THE DREAM OF THE "UNITED EMPIBE LOYALISTH" OF 1770: A IIEVIEW OF nUlTJSH DIl'LOMACY AND ITS FRUITS \ BY UOBETIT ftRANT IIALIBURTON, F.S.A. emporaiy xperience )• ha^e lost smen, the Magazine show the P Canada, i^een the re Parlia- erest. ason, I At as openly ton Com- dismem- al policy. URTCN. A FEW months ago it seemed a hopeless task for a colonist to appeal to the people of the mother country against the Alabama Treaty. It was gererally imagined that it was a iinancial and diplomatic success ; and the fact that it sacriliced the rights of Englishmen ahroiid, and ignored the minor consideration of national honour, was far more likely to he appreciated by Canadians, who knew that, as far as they were concerned, it was both a humiliation and an injustice. As the exorbitant demands of the American Goveriiment have shown that our concessions have been unwise and, what is worse, unprofitable, thousands may now feel some desire to know something of the history of British diplomacyin theNew World, which at the end of a century has produced such unwelcome and un- looked-for results. The following observations therefore, originally intended only for Canadian readers, may interest Englishmen, as ahow- inff the view which those who know most of the Americans take of the Alabama Treaty and its results. The fact that since this article 1 When this article was written it was intended for publication only in Canada. As it opens a new page in our history it is believed that, as a Colonial review of tlie past century, it will be irtcresting to the British public. It is from the pen of a sou of the lati> Judge Haliburton.— Editor of St. James Mayazinc B 2 THE DREAM OP THE "UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS ^^ OF 1776. was written, a Canadian minister has warned his countrymen that the aim of British statesmen is soon to be attained, and that a separa- tion of the New Dominion from tlie Empire is at hand, gives a practical interest to the following- sketch of the history of that policy of dismemberment that is about to rea}) its first fruits. It has been urged, that even if the Wasliington Treaty is a sacrifice of colonial rights, as an atonement for British wrongs, it is our duty to submit, for the honour of the empire. Let us see if this is the case. A century of British diplomacy has taught us to regard the arrival of English statesmen with the same dread that heralds in the coming of the cholera or the approach of an earthquake. A country larger than Prussia, extending nearly in a direct line from Maine to Vancouver's Island, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, is the monument of their generosity and of our misfortunes. Lord Stormont, in criticizing the exploits in 1783 of our first Plenipotentiar}^, " that very extraoidina.y geographer and politician, Mr. Oswald ,^^ says, " There was prefixed to the article a very pompous preamble, setting fr^rtli that those treaties were the best observed where there were reciprocal advantages. He was for a long time at a loss to understand the meaning of those words. But at last he discovered that they meant only the advantage of America. In return for the manifold concessions on our part, not one had been made on theirs. In truth the American Commis- sioners had enriched the English language with several new terms and phrases. ^ Reciprocal advantages,' for instance, meant the advantage of one of the parties onlyj and a regulation of boun- daries meant a cession of territories." That Mr. Oswald was more affectionately regarded by American statesmen than by ourselves may naturally be inferred. The astute Dr. Franklin, who had successfully hoodwinked him, bears this equivocal testimony to his merits as a diplomatist : — " The truth is, he appears so good and so reasonable a man, that though I have no objection to Mr. Grenville, I am loth to lose Mr. Oswald. He \ \ 1776. THE DREAM OF THE "UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS" OF 1776. 3 [1 that the a separa- ; gives a of that its. satj is a ^roiiji^'s^ it us see if g-ard the eralds in irect line a Pacific, s. our first olitician, ) a very the best '•as for a e words, ntage of part; not I!ommis- iw terms ant the if boun- merican le astute ars this truth is, 1 I have Id. He seerai to have nothing- at heart but the good of mankind and putting a stop to mischief.^' What a charming field for an unbounded philanthropy, from which none but colonists were likely to suffer ! It appears, how- jver, that he was in his dotage, " Mr. Oswald, as an old man, seems now to have no desire but that of being useful." We can well imagine what was the fate of our fisheries when entrusted to such a benevolent diplomatist. They were given away without any equivalent whatever. The subject of the American fisheries came up, but was very generously jmd summarily disposed of. When Lord North sar- castically suggested, that, merely " as a show of this boasted reciprocity," the right to enjoy the exhausted fisheries of the United States should have been j:ro forma secured, Lord Shel- l)urne made a very startling reply, which would well repay the attention of our Commissioners and of the public : — " But why have you not stipulated a reciprocity of fishing in the American harbours and creeks? I will tell your lordships. Because we have abundant employment in our own. Would not an American think it sordid in the extreme, nay, consider it honhnng on madness, to covet sterile wilds when we have fertile savannahs of our own ?" If such was the deplorable condition of these fisheries a century ago that none but a lunatic would ask for them, it is to be feared that lime has not very greatly enhanced the value of such acquisitions. The writer recently visited an American fishing district, and was told of a village of two hundred houses that had entirely been deserted by its inhabitants ; and he passed through another where fishing had been abandoned for shoe-making, and the people had been driven to make soles where they had formerly caught them. The deterioration in these fisheries has given double force to Lord Shelburne's objection, that we must bo demented to wish for them. Our Commissioners, howe^'er, seem rather to have inclined B 2 ■■'* 4 THE DUEA^r 01' THE "UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS" OP 1770. to Lord North's view, that tliey should bivc been secured, if " merely for a show of this boasted reciprocity." Anticipation is always better than reality; and an imaginary priviltig-e, even thoug-h slightly lunatical, is better than none at all. The treaty, therefore, establishes our claim to these fisheries and to Bedlam. Surely Goldsmith must have had a prescience of this treaty when he provided a precedent for our diplomatists, by sending Moses as a Commissioner to Wakefield fair, and by bringing him back with a gross of green spectacles. The navigation of the St. Lawrence has been secured to the Americans for ever, while its equivalent, a similar right over Lake Michigan, expires in ten yearr:?. The " manifest destinj^ " of the Munroe doctrine, to which our Commissioners have bowed, knows no limit but the Continent and eternity. The Canadians are tenants by sufferance, or at most can only claim a life-interest, and ten years, it is to be hoped, will see them out. Even Dr. Cumming's faith in the unpleasant proximity of the end of all things has hardly tempted him or his followers to exchange freeholds for yearly tenancies. But had he been appointed one of these Commissioners to dispose of Colonial rights, what a sore temptation it would have been to him to have triumphantly vindicated his belief in the great tribulation coming ! It is evi- dent that our Commissioners, in limiting our future, must have taken either Mr. Munroe or Dr. Cumming as their guide. In justice to Mr. Oswald it must be admitted that when he re- turned to England he set an excellent example to succeeding diplomatists. Having heard at last a little of the vast extent of the territories and the rights which he had benevolently sacrificed, he made all the amends in his power — /lewepi ! *' lie gave to niitjerj' (all be had) a tear." A similar contrition on the paro of our Commissioners would, no doubt, be gratefully received as a graceful tribute to distress. When the Canadian Parliament meets much that has been kept THE DREAAf OP THE "UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS" OF 1770. 5 bade will be submitted to the public. The fullest information as to American ti'ade has no doubt been lono^ ago collected, and will be accessible. The American fisheries have been secured. Such an important step was evidentl}'^ not taken in the dark. We may iherefore hope to be supplied with trustworthy information on one all-important point, " What opening for industry in boots and shoes will be supplied to us by the American fisheries ?" It may, however, be admitted that the settlement of the Alabama claims was in a great measure ensured by the one-sided reciprocitv which characterizes this treaty, and that it is our duty to waive our interests and our rights for the sake of the empire. It has been already shown what we have hitherto done in that way, but there were even more serious sacrifices imposed upon us a century ago, which rise up in judgment against those who have forgotten them. The Jacobites suffered much, but it was nothing compared to the privations and neglect with wliich a grateful country has re- paid the United Empire Loyalists and their descendants for their fidelity. In 1783 a treaty was signed with successful rebels, in which no amnesty was secured for those who had for more than eight years fought through a weary civil war, and liad risked their lives — their all — for the English Crown. At the merciless fiat, ite eapelkcy more than fifty thousand scapegoats of British diplomacy, men, women, and children, were driven into the wilderness. The flower of the wealth, the intellect, and the refinement of the old colonics, these " Refugees," as they were significantly called, comprised the Faneuils, the Sewells, the Delanceys, the Robinsons, the Brentons, the Barclays, and a host of other well-known names, for even one of their enemies has admitted that all the giants went forth with the Tories. A few of them rose again to the surface, and won a place and a name abroad ; but the great mass of them, consigned to poverty, were lost to the world and to the memory of men in the solitude of the backwoods, TUmoiit <«l' Trade ;'" and that is devastating- (.'uba by fire and sword. It is an okl friend witli a new faei'j bnt it is u fj^i'cater tax tipon our patience, as it assumes the niaslv of liberality, and, wiiiU; euttin<^ loose the unprofitable ties that bind us to the Empire, it throws upon us the burden of «4*ratitude for its g-enerous concession of freedom to new nationalities. Spain iinds that Cuba does pay, and she is prepared to shed the last drop of l>lood of the colonists and of her soldiers to make it pay. The murderous stru^<>-le which has resulted in such misery to the unhapj)v Cubans is likely to b"in<^ us u rich harvest of mediaeval honours. Stern justice may compel us to enforce our neutrality laws, oven ag-ainst our sympathies ; but there is no obli- gation on us to accept any honours from the Spanish Govern- ment, or to disg-race ourselves by the favours of a despotism that is deg-radiufj^ humanity. Let us think what would have been the consequence if the United States had suffered foreig-n titles to be accepted by its citizens ? To settle the Alabama claims the British Cabinet mig'ht have spared the nation from doings penance by proxy, and might have relieved us from the necessity for g'ivinti;' up to the Americans Ibr ever the right to the navig-ation of the St. Lawrence. The difliculty could have been amicably arranged by making" a baron of every hero of Tammany, and dukes of all the notabilities of Washington. Gladstone, in this way, could have effectually popularized the House of Lords, and have killed two birds with one stone, by settling old scores with the Yankees and with the Aristocr&cy. The colonial statesmen who laid the foundations of the republic remembered that this farce had been long ago played out by the Chiefs of the Red Man. The Continent had been once already bartered away for the beads and baubles of the Old World. The example was not forgotten. The memory of the cocked hat and coat of paint of the happy savage was preserved, not as a precedent, but as a scarecrow and a warning. 14 THE DllEAM OP THE " UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS " OP ] 770. Orders of knif^lrhodd, fortunately, are not the only ties that bind us to the Mother Country. There is stil! tiuother left to us. " If an Englishman/' says Sir George Cornewall Lewis, " is to preserve a vestige of sympathetic Reeling towards his own countrymen as such, he should cortaii 'v never see them out of England." Colonial ciiticism is evidently assumed to be more lenient ; and the British Government therefore entrusts to an appreciative people an "Englishman out of England '^ — a Governor-General. The ordeal which awaits him is a very easy one, for the amenities of a cen- tury of British diplomacy have developed in us " sympathetic feel- ings " that are wanting in Englishmen themselves, and that are almost equal to any trial. His duties, which are light, are to draw the large salary which we supply, and to jiraetise among us the frugal virtues of official seclusion. Ke has to disqreetly temper all exuberance of loyalty on our part — a difficult tnsk, for colonial loyalty has an embarrassing exuberance, and a vitality that defies control. Nothing apparently can kill it. It thrives on exile and starvation. Snubl»ing, patronizing, and neglect only call forth its energies and its gratitude; and cold water cannot drown it. But its patience, like that of a long-sutfering, and long-eared animal, may be overtaxed, and some slight tact is needed in silencing and repressing, and especially in killing it. We are therefore occasionally reminded, in a very affiible way, that when we wish to change our allegiance (alliance, or allies, or whatever we may wish it to be), no difficulty whatever will be thrown in our way. It is not a hint for us to go, for that would be inhospi- table and unkind. We are merely now and then shown ihe door, to convince us tliat it is not locked, and to make us feel at home. The least return we can make for such distinguished courtesy would be to reciprocate the compliment. We prefer to compensate him with the more substantial, and probably not less accepuable reward of $50,000 a year, being double the salary that is paid to the President of the United States. He would, however, be a bold man, who would, for live times that amount, venture to play the THE DREAM OP THE "UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS " OF 1776. 15 saTh'> role among the Americans. Nothing" but our long-suffering loyalty and the mercy of Heaven could have made it such a safe and agreeable experiment. But he is merely fulfilling his mission, and must not be blamed for the mother country and the colonies being at cross purposes, and for there being a slight divergency in our views. The secret of the difficulty we can easily divine. That dream of the United Em^)ire Loyalists seems to have proved a will-o'-the-wisp that cost them their fortunes and their lives, and that has placed thfi.' descendants in a false position. A century ago the mantle of the Old Jacobites seemed to have fallen upon our ancestors. Loyalty to the Crown was the first "duty of man ; and rebellion was a grievous offence, not only against the King, but also against " the King of Kings." The State was a unit, and the colonies merely component parts of it. In the dim future, they saw a united empire, that, strengthened and cemented by time, was destined to overshadow the world. It was a pleasant dream, and had it been shared in by others it might in time have beccme a reality. But while we have been claiming that we v/ere British subjects, not as a matter of favour, but of right, for no people ever more dearly earned a title to their nationality than ourselves, the Mothei Country has looked on the mat^^er from a very different point of view. The empire was comprised within the limits of the United Kingdom. The colonies were merely offshoots, a numerous family whose future could safely be left to the cliapter of accidents. In her eyes we had arrived at manhood without having undergone the preliminary process of having been weaned. If the ordeal so long postponed had come rather hard on us^ this surely jirose from no weak fondness on her part ; of that she never was accused. She had never taken kindly, or even patiently, to maternity, and had never pretended to disguise her feelings on that poin . Each fresh addition to her family, so far from having been hailed as a grateful olive-brancl^, had always been bewailed as a IG THE DUEAM OF THE "UNITED EMPfUE LOYALISTS " 01' 177<>. melancholy areident; and instead of returning thanks for it to the Giver of all ;;'0od thino-s, she had onlv devoutlv wished that it had been her neig-hbouv's quiver that had been so richly blessed instead of her own. The time has now come for disunion and dismemberment, and the spirit of the old Loyalists, like Banquo's Ciiost, returns to re- proach us. That dream of a " United Empire " has risen from the dead, and claims once more to be a living issue. That such an idea will soon be realized by the whole English race is, as we have seen, daily becoming more and more improbable. Each succeeding Cabinet, content with the present, refuses to do any thing in this matter for posterity, for " what has posterity ever done for them ? " and damrs the future of a great nation with "after me, the deluge ! " Instead of our statesmen taxing our public spirit and our patriotism by the troublesome problem of a United Empire, these labour-saving machines arc sending us rejoicing on a down- ward career of dismemberment, that is as easy as it is effectual. With such an answer to the dream of the United Empire Loyalists before us, a protest on our part against the folly of the councils of the Mother Country might almost be excusable. We may at least indulge very safely and very sincerely in a regret that she shrinks from the costs and perils of supremacy, and " that she hath no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and will be for a lamentation.^' "This is merely a debit fnd credit affair after all," said one of these economists to a Canadian at a commercial meeting in London. " What does your Province pay ? If it brings 1000/. a year we may keep it. If it costs us that amount it must go." " I am not pre- pared," replied the colonist, " to answer your question ; for the way you have put it is somewhat new to me. The idea, however, is very old, and has been already acted on. You may have heard and perhaps may have admired the man, w ho was so mean that he cut off one of his feet to save himself in shoe-leather. The experiment proved highly successful. For the rest of liiti days he never needed more THE DREAM OF THE "UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS '' OF 1776. 17 id 1(1 than one boot ; and that boot carried him to his grave more cheaply and expeditiously than a pair ever could ha'e done/' Our economists have thrown this man in the shade. Life is only a matter of debit and credit account, and does not pay. Its balance is vanity and vexation of spirit. National life is equally unsatisfac- tory, and is terribly expensive. But a panacea has been suggested that has the double merit of being an effectual remedy, and a good speculation. The nation is advised to cut its throat to save itself the cost of \i\ Ing. But the writer must not forget that he is not an American. He is not even an Englishman; he is only a colonist, and is trespassing on forbidden ground. " You protest as well as remonstrate. Were I cnticalli/ to examine your language I could not admit your right, even individually, to protest against any legislation which Parlia- ment may think fit to adopt in this matter." Such is the salutary lesson which a very distinguished British Minister has taugiit us. But he has also taught us another and a far more important lesson, that a century, that beginning with the amiable Oswald and ending with the Washington Treaty, has not even earned for us the empty right to " protest as well as to remonstrate," has been a slight mistake. A very trifling change in our destinies a hundred years ago would have made a very great change in the language of his homily. But a little reflection will suggest some sources of consolation. If " Praise undeserved is satire in disguise," British diplomacy has been a cruel satire, not only on the nation, but also on, what is more desirable, the Americans. Never was the prin- ciple more triumphantly vindicated, than " a little civility goes a very long way." The Government of the United States has paid a dear penalty for having repeatedly allowed the Fenians to invade the Dominion, and has been bitterly reproached by the obsequious thanks of timid servility. In this matter we may feel proud that we, as Canadians, can thank God that we have no apologies to offer to the Americans, and I I 18 THE DREAM OF THE "UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS" OF 1776. no protests or remonstrances to submit to British Ministers for critical examination. E\'en if we were disposed to intrude advice, the precedents before us are not encouraging. A hundred years ago, Dr. Franklin, at the Bar of the House of Commons, protested against the policy of dismemberment, and was denounced as a thief and a robber. He proved to be a prophet, and the old colonies were lost to the Empire. But that was only a paltry piece-meal proceeding, but a first step, towards national disintegration. It has needed a century to develope a comprehensive scheme of dis- memberment by which the interesting problem suggested by Dr. Franklin may be solved, " how a great nation may be made into a very little one." > If Englishmen are unwilling to face the future, and turn to the ledger as their guide, we cannot be expected to forget that dream of the past that cost our ancestors so dearly. Never was an idea so indelibly stamped upon tho history of a country. To such an extent has it entered into our daily life^ that " United Empire " has been abbreviated into " U. E." for popular use. The titles to lands in Ontario date back to what are still cited in courts of law as " U. E. grants." To claim to be descended from a U. E. family is like an Englishman's boast that his ancestors " came over at the Conquest." The very grave has claimed not only the dreamers but also' their dream; and " U. E. graveyards" are the honoured resting-places of the Loyalists and their descendants. As philan- thropic diplomacy stripped "the refugees" of all their worldly possessions, they had little to bequeath to us but the lessons of their misfortunes. If the writer has fearlessly recalled them, he may be pardoned for doing so. The right which he has claimed is his only heritage from a U. E. family. ri > r j, ■ j , ; i V,- ;/. , ■ ;• . It is to be feared that there is at present but little to encourage us to look across the w^ter in our aspiiations for national unity ; but we may hope at some future day we may, by a reunion of the English race on this continent pave the way for a grander and a \vider union. The pole-star of the United Empire Loyalists of 1776 was loyalty THE DREAM OF THE "UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS" OF 1776. 19 ^« to the Crowrij and it led them, as we have seen, to disunion, to exile, to sacrifices, to humiliation. The watchword of the United Empire Loyalists of the future must be " Reunion of the Empire," and " Loyalty to the Race." Such, then, is the answer which the history of a century of British diplomacy g-ives to the question. Are we called upon " for the encouragement of trade," to atone for British wrongs by the sacrifice of Colonial rights ? If we must submit to such a demand, let us at least take good care that the ratification of the Treaty is to be the last of a century of sacrifices, and that it must be an acquittance and discharge for ever, a pledge that we have earned at last our commercial emancipation. Most sincerely it is to be hoped that the Ti'eaty will be ratified, not because it is just, or what we had a right to expect, or because Bi'itisli diplomatists are entitled to any favours at our hands, but because it aftbrds us an opportunity of closing a century of discord and disunion, by "burying the hatchet," and by making a friendly concession to a kindred people, who, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, are not only our nearest, but also our only neighbours. Descen- dants of the Old Colonists of 1766, who, wiser in their generation than the United Empire Loyalists, refused to be sacrificed " for the encouragement of trade," they are now a great nation. Nature, which has, by ties of blood, united us to our kinsmen who are near us, and to a mighty Empire that is afar off, has divided us from the latter by an obstacle which nothing but the omnipotence of Parliament can remove. We need a statute to abolish the Atlantic Ocean, with its long and costly voyages, and its heavy taxes on trade for freight, commissions, &c. The impro- priety of such an obstacle is so apparent, that our commercial policy refuses to recognize its existence. It is, ho\vever, difficult to ignore the fact thatdissociabile ^^-^^ordivides us from the Old World; and that as markets are generally profitable in proportion to their proximity, nature itself has made our brothers across the line nearer and more desirable customers than the mother country across the sea. Heavy c 2 90 THE DIJEAM OF THE "UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS " OP 177G. taxation,liigh tariffs^ and old family feuds may neutralize the influence or ^geographical affinities and of ties of blood; but time will change all this. • We are on the threshold of another century, and must mould our future by the warnings and the lessons of the past. No one who reads the signs of the times can fail to see that we are on the eve of great changes, and perhaps in time of a " New Departure '^ in the history of the English race on this continent. Already the begin- ning of the end is at hand. The Old World is bidding farewell to the land, and to the dream of the United Empire Loyalists. While instinctively we are clinging to her skirts, the last hold on them is slipi)ing from our grasp : and when the last British soldier is called upon to do a last act " for the encouragement of trade,'* by furling" the British flag, and carrying it away with him from our shores, he will leave us a nation. While British statesmen are doing so little to realize the idea of a United Empire, and so much to render it impossible, there is an unexpected source of hope from a quarter whence we might least look for it, from a new and mysterious influence that during the past lew years is every whero making itself felt and obeyed. The tendency to a reunion of races is suddenly developing itself througliout the civilized world in an inscrutable and irresistible way; and language is exerting a new power on the destinies of nations. That it must ultimately make itself felt among ourselves we cannot doubt. The language of commerce is now the English tongue, a fact that was strongly impressed upon the writer during a recent visit to St. Thomas, Santa Cruz, St, Eustacius, St. Bar- tholomew, St. Martin's, and other colonies in the foreign West Indies, where the Danish, Dutch, Swedish, and French languages have been swallowed up by our own ; those islands being English comuiumties in every thing except in name. ' The English tongue is now more or less spoken throughout a larjVe portion of the civilized world, and more than one-half of the commerce and shipping of the world is controlled by the English race, THE DllEAAI OP THE "UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS" OP 1776. 21 the United King-clom, in point of tonnage, standing first, the Uni»inii«ini'jiiiiii ■ 21 TRANSATLANTIC BRITAINS. ported that nature lia»l g^ivcn us advantaj^es which defy competition, and enable England to export her coal to the most distant countries on the globe. Turning to the New World, wo find the Eastern and "Western outlets of the New Dominion, Nova Seotia and Vancouver's Island, the very counterparts of the Mother Country in the posses- sion of geographical and mineral advantages which are destined to be the envy and the admiration of less favoured countries. From Alaska to Cape Horn there are no extensive deposits of coal and iron on the seal)oard that can be compared with those of Vancouver's Island. At present, for the reasons already given, these mines are comparatively undeveloped. Australia, though so much more remote, is able to export its coal to San Francisco at so low a rate that Vancouver's Island collieries cannot compete with it. This state of things is trraporary only. The Pacific Railway through the Dominion of Canada will termi- nate at British Columbia, and will create an immense trade in coal as back freight to the various ports of the Pacific. As Vancouver's Island possesses an excellent climate, unrivalled harbours, and coal-seams and beds of iron ore near the water's edge, it is clear that nature itself has stamped upon the map of the world the site of the future Britain of the Pacific. A few years only will prove, what is even now to any reflecting mind a matter of certainty, that Vancouver's Island must become in time the homo of a dominant race, that by their manufactures, commerce, and shipping must control the destinies of the Pacific. It is, however, *on the Atlantic seaboard of the New World that nature has especially favoured us. We find there a country that has natural advantages such as are enjoyed by no other part of the world. Like Britain, Nova Scotia is the only part of the Atlantic seaboard which possesses extensive deposits of coal and iron. From the Labrador to Cape Horn we find no country that in this respect can ever claim to be a rival, Virginia being its only com- /. /. XnANSATLANTIC DRTTAINS. 0% peti'tor. Like Britain, it has excellent harbours near its beds of coal and iron ; but in the extent of its coal deposits and in the value of its iron ores it far surpasses the mineral wealth of the mother country. The vertical thickness of the numerous coal-beds of the Pictou Basin is considerably over one hundred and fifty feet, one seam alone ranging from thirty-six to thirty-nine feet in thiekness,beinrivate enterprise. Unfortu- nately before much capital could be introduced into the country to develope these new mines, the American Government imposed a duty of $1.25' per ton on imported coal, which acted as a dami^er on collieries that had been partially developed, and discourag-ed the formation of new companies. The pressure of the Fre^^ '^'Vide party is yearly becoming- more and more effectiv.:;, and a few months, or a year at most, will see the obnoxious tax remitted. At present it is a grievous burthen on the people of the Atlantic seaboard, who arc heavily taxed by the monopolies that are ruling the Republic with a rod of iron. This commercial oligarchy has none of that prestige that is connected with a landed aristocracy. The latter have a stake in the prosperity of their countr}-, the former have no interest in the people, except so far as the ledger indicates their willingness and their ability to pay tribute to " the powers that be." The days of these gigantic monopolies are numbered in the United States, and when the burthens that are crushing manufactures and starving the consumer are thrown off, an enormous market will be XaANSATLANTIO BRITAINS. thrown open to Nova Scotian coal, and American and British capital will flow in to turn the neglected mineral resources of that province to g-ood account. This depression therefore in mining- enterprise is merely tem- porary, and its termination will witness a rapid rise in the price of available mining pro];)erties, and Nova Scotian coal will enjoy almost a monopoly along the seaboard of the Eastern States, except when brought into competition with English co»l. Thousands of persons, and several lines of railway, that are now forced to use wood, will be enabled to obtain a cheaper and a better fuel at a far lower cost. Ere long Transatlantic steamships, American con- sumers, and lines of railway in the Eastern States will depend on Nova Scotian collieries for their supplies of fuel *. Independently however of all these i^ources of futare develop- ment there is another that alone is sufficient to ensure a great future to the mineral deposits of Nova Scotia. The enormous cereal wealth of the "West seems almost to baffle sober calculation. It is increasing so rapidly that it overcrowds its outlets, and Western trade is clamouring for a direct highway by water to the ocean. At present New York, through its enterprise, is enabled to grow rich through its railways and its Erie Canal diverting Western trade from its natural channel. Massachusetts is spending - It •• oukl seem by the following passage in a letter received from Nova Scotia, that even the local demand exceeds the supply. " We have had a coal- famine here. The Mayor applied to the General, who could do nothing, but referred him to the Storekeeper at the dockyard, w^horo they are now issuing coal, and Halifax is now burning Welsh coal. But they have only 700 tons there, which, it is said, will not last until we receive some by rail or vessel. A number of steamers have lately put in for coal, which Cunard and 'Jo. have, foi'tunately, for the credit of the place, been able to supply. To crown all, the railway has been blocked up by snow, and when it is open, Hoyt will be unable to sell his coal to the town for some time, as he has to supply American contracts. Seeton's wharf is to be the depot for the sale of coal from the numerous mines of which Gisborne is manager. Coal is now 5?12.50 per ton." There has also been a coal-famine in Montreal, where cosil is §16 per ton. In the United States there have been similar complaints, but as long as a duty of ^1.25 is imposed on imported coal, the people must be at the mercy of Pennsylvanian monopolists. TRANSATLANTIC BRITAINS. 29 its millions on the Hoosac tunnel, to tempt some portion of the wealth of the West towards New England, The West is the Eldorado of the New World. Its merchant princes see that they are payinf^ hlaek mail to New York, and wish for some direct water communication with the ocean. This is supplied by the circuitous course of the Mississippi, and by the more direct line of the Canadian lakes and the river and Gulf of St. Lawrence. They are urging- that the locks should be enlarged and the canals deepened, so that propellers of 2000 tons may find their way, without breaking' bulk, to the ocean ; and the Canadian Govern- ment is taking- steps to afford the necessary accommodation to Western shipping-. Already propellers find their way from Toronto to Victou in Nova Scotia. But there is an era in Western traae about to be opened that has not been thoug-ht ot by Western traders. Supposing that every bushel that finds its way to Europe siiould be shipped through Canadian lakes and the St. Lawrence, only one-fifth of the products of the harvests of the West finds its way to Europe. The remainder is consumed at home, one half being- needed by ihe populous States on the Atlantic seaboard. Hence the utmost success that can be aimed at by Canadian statesmen is to divert one-fifth of Western trade into the St. Lawrence. A little energ-y only is needed to throw open a far more important branch of Western trade to the water highway ot the New Dominion. When a lake-propeller reaches Pictou, it may safely pass through the Straits of Canso and reach Halifax on the southern shores of the province, but there its voyage must terminate. The voyage thence to the Eastern States needs an ocean steamship, and is as formidable as a passag-e across the Atlantic. The cost and delay of such a transhipment are such that the Erie Canal, and, above all, American lines of railway, would be less costly, and certainly far more expeditious. But Nova Scotia, which, as has been stated, is a peninsula stand- ing far out into the Atlantic, is connected only with the Con- vm 30 TRANSATLANTIC BRITAINS. tinent by a narrow neck of land that divides the Gulf of St. Lawrence from the Bay of Fundy, and that is formed of alluvial soil. Hence rock cuttings can be almost entirely avoided. The construction of a ship-canal therefore for a few miles only would enable lake-propellers to pass into the Bay of Fundy, the waters of which are navigated by American river-steamers that, with their hig-h deck saloons, are almost precisely similar to those that are to be seen Oil the lakes of the West. There would be then nothing to pro- vent a lake-propeller from loading at Chicago and reaching Boston in a few days without breaking* bulk, and without the necessity for transhipment. Thn route by the St. Lawrence and the Bay of Fundy, from Chicago to Boston, would be simply a coasting voyage. Such an outlet, it is clear, would defy all competition, and would become for all time to come ""'le great highway of Western com- merce. At present the objection to Montreal as a point of transhipment is, that there is nothing to send back to the West as return freight. Extend the voyage of lake-propellers, and they would not only secure at the Eastern extremity of the Continent, and at the most remote outlet of its railway system, emigrants and the manuftietures and products of Europe and of the Eastern States, but they would also, utilize the coal and pottery, and, if necessary, the extensive marble deposits of Nova Scotia, to replace the bulky articles that constitute the export of the West. We should find Nova Scotian coal utilized in the same way that England employs her supplies of fuel. Every propeller going West could always r(;ly upon an ample supply of coal, pottery, &c., to complete its return cargo ; and as British coal is still shipped to Quebec past the shores of Nova Scotia, the latter would be enabled to send her coal to the far West, as ballast or back freight, at a price that could defy competition on the part of the adjacent collieries of Illinois. Even if there were no demand for coal for the lines of steamships connecting with Europe, and if the American markets of the Eastern States were closed, there would be an abundant outlet i I TRANSATT. ANTIC BEITAINS. 81 u e supplied by the trade of the St. Lawrence, and the markets of the New Dominion, and of the Western States. In connexion with this great water highway, and along its whole extent, from Lake Michigan to Halifax, we have the Inter- colonial Railway, as an auxiliary rather than as a competitor, affording an outlet during those winter months when the water highways of the Continent are closed by ice. The very same causes which will lead to a vast development in the exports W'est, of coal, pottery, &c., apply to this railway. Herajjuth's Railway/ Journal has pointed out that the use of prepared peat for railway fuel will be greatly restricted by the importation of Nova Scotian coal. The downward freights by the Intercolonial Railway will be grain and other bulky articles ; the upward freights will Ije of a very different description, such as illuropean manufactures, and passengers. Hence there will l)e no freight for return trains, which will have to go back empty, or will be forced to carry back Nova Scotian coal, pottery, &c. The Intercolonial Railway therefore will be able to supply the West with Nova Scotian fuel at such a low rate, that even the moderate cost of Hodge's patent peat will fail to enable it to become a successful competitor. The construction of the North Pacific Railway, and the proposed line throug'h British territory, will tend still further to swell tlic volume of the trade that is destined to find its outlet at Nova Scotia. It is difficult to estimate the magnitude of the commerce that wiP * find its way through the waters and along the banks of the ' , I'awrence. Though only in its infancy, the grain trade of the , '■■■'^ .z so vast, that a trilling saving per bushel on the freight of Westeru produce would be such an immense sum in the aggre- gate, that it would suffice in a few years to defray the cost of the Intercolonial Railway. ±. LOSDOX GIIiBEBT AM) "i^^" ST. JOUN'S SU^^ABB. From The Times, Mai/ 3, 1872. It is impossible to read the Correspondence, just presented to Pav- liamont, between the Ministers of the Crown at home and tho Ministei's of the Crown in Canada, without seeing that questions arise in it of far greater moment than the difficulties, embarrassing as they are, whicli have brought them to the surface. The Corre- spondence relates to the Treaty of Washington, and it will be remembered that the clauses of that Treaty, dealing with the dis- puted subject of the Canadian Fisheries, were accepted by Her Majesty, subject to their ratification by the Parliament of the Dominion. 'No attempt was, however, made to procure this ratifi- cation during the Session at OttaAva of last year, and the (Corre- spondence before us fidly explains the omission. The Ministers of Canada drew up a Minute towards the end of last July, in which it Avas stated that the provisions Avere regarded Avith almost unani- mous dissatisfaction by all classes of the people, and in all places throughout the Dominion. This feeling was shared by all, and it was expressed Avith as much force in the agricultural districts of tho "West as in the jSIar'time Provhices. Lord Kimberley, as Secretary for the Colonies, ansAvered this !Minutelast Xovember, attempting to meet the objections ; but he foiled to satisfy the Canadian jSIinistry. "What is more, their reply, received here on the 5th of February, just as our Session begar.. plainly declared that, in order to bring the Fishery Clauses before the Dominion Parliament this year Avith a fair chance of getting them approved, the Ministry must be enabled to announce at tho same time some boon Avhich might reconcile the country to the Treaty. The bribe they suggested was that Ave should guarantee a Canadian Loan of four millions, being half the estimated cost of constructing the Pacific EailAvay and enlarging the St. LaAvrence Canals. Lord Kiniberley's last words are an offer on the part of the Home Government to proi)ose to tho Imperial Parliament a guarantee of a loan of 2,500,000/. as soon as measures should have been taken in Canada to give effect to the Treaty. The nature of the transaction is to be partly con- cealed by cutting it up into tAvo or three parts, by a process reminding us of " financial puzzles " and similar expedients of tho past ; but it is remarkable that Canada is to take the initiative, and trust to the poAver of the Home Government to carry the proposed guarantee through Parliament. The Correspondence closes Avith this despatch from Lord Kimberley, but Ave presume that his otter has been accepted by the Canadian Ministry. The Correspondence, avo have said, forces upon oar attention questions of deeper and more permanent interest than its direct subject matter. The people of Canada are profoundly dissatisfied Avith the manner in Avhich their interests Avere dealt Avith in the Treaty of Washington. Hoav could it be otherAvise 1 That Treaty was conceived Avith a vicAV of relieving England from pressing and contingent liabilities. Our immediate motive Avas the knoAvlcdgc tlmt there were staiuling claims against us on accjunt of the Alabama. AVo -watched with some uneasiness the repeated splut- ters of bad feeling between the fishermen of New England and the people of the Maritime Provinces, because we could never be certain that an ugly accident miglit n(;t some day force us, much against our will, to become the champions of a quarrel we could only half approve. It is easy, therefore, to understand with what motives our Ministers suggested a Commission, and with what readiness they yielded to *he hint that it should be allowed to settle all sub- jects of difference between the two countries. Lord Derby has repeatedly blamed their eagerness, and the American Government could not but be sensible of the advantage they obtained when the Commissioners arrived at Washington bound to come to some settlement on the points in dispute. It is true that one of the Commissioners was the Prime Minister of Canada, but against this circumstance must be set the facts that the other four approached their work from an English point of view, that the Commissioners as a body were instructed from day to day, and, we may almost say, from hour to hour, by the English Cabinet, and their work was done with an eye to the approval of the English people. It was inevitable that the results of their labours should not satisfy the inhabitants of the Dominion. We are far from saying that the Commissioners did not do their best for Canadian interests as they understood them, but it was not in human nature for them or their instructors to be to Canada what they are to England ; and, as the Treaty was conceived for the purpose of removing the present and contingent liabilities of England, it was agi'eed upon as soon as it was believed that these liabilities were settled. We have said that the Commissioners failed, and necessarily failed, to satisfy Canada, but we should only tell half the truth if we did not add that upon one of the subjects of Canadian dissatis- faction they acted with deeper knowledge than prevails in Canada itself. The Canadians have two complaints. They say that the Commissioners abandoned the Canadian claims for losses incurred through Fenian raids, and obtained from the United States no security that any effort would be made to prevent a repetition of these criminal irruptions. This is perfectly true. We have more than once endeavoured to explain the just indignation of Canada on the subject of the Fenian raids. A wretched crew of scoun- drels, repudiated as such by all the native elements of American life, were suffered to plan and organize, without let or hindrance, raids into a neighbouring country at peace with the United States ; and those raids, involving robbery and murder, never pai'took of the character of war, never, indeed, had any other object than that of keeping up a flow of subscriptions for the support of the Head Centres at IS'ew York and elsewhere. Peaceful Canadian students, farmers, and mechanics were compelled to turn out at a moment's notice at the busiest time of the year, and when, at a sacrifice of precious life, the marauders Avere driven back across the frontier, the utmost that was done was to subject a few specimen offenders t ■ ' t to mock trials and nominal punishments. Tho Canadians naturally resented this, and they expected that when the question of England's responsibility for lax neutrality in the matter of the Alabama Avas referred *>o arbitration, the lax neutrality of the United States should be referred also. Our Commissioners did moot these Cana- dian claims at Washington ; but when they were told that negotia- tions must be broken off if the c'irims Avere pressed, they at once dropped them. Can we be snrp .sed that the Canadians were disappointed ? Their second grievance, that their inshore fisheries have been sold for ten years, does not appear to us equally sub- stantial. We do not dwell on the fact that, being sold, money will be paid for them. The feeling we entertain, and which, \nidoubtedly, operated on the minds of the Commissioners, is that there is something not altogether sound in the assumed right of property in inshore fisheries. Fish come to a shore the bounty of nature, and though the authority of every maritime State extends to a league from its coast this authority rests upon the right of a State to keep the peace upon its shores by preventing strangers from coming without permission within gunshot. It is, in fact, an authority of police rather than of property, and where a country is not thoroughly settled, so that its own fishermen completely occupy its own fishing grounds, and the exclusion of strangers becomes necessary as a matter of police, their exclusion can scarcely be warranted on a technical claim of property. The Treaty of Wash- ington, conceived in the spirit of these principles, granted to Xew England fishenuen the right of fishing in Canadian waters in com- mon with Canadian fishermen for ten years, in consideration of money payments, to be ascertained by valuation ; and we confess that, if Ave have any regret about tliis part of the Treaty, it is that the grant Avas not made perpetual, so that United States' fishermen might for ever ""esort to Canadian Avaters, subject oidy to police regulations, just as our own fishermen of CornAvall go at the proper seasons to the neglected Avaters of Ireland. We shall, of course, guarantee the loan of £2,500,000. It is the only reparation Ave can offer for having throAvn overboard the Fenian claims at Washington ; though Ave believe tlie proposed guarantee of the projected Pacific Kaihvay to be a very doubtful kindness. But the question provoked at every stage of the discussion is — hoAV long are avc to go on aftecting io defend the in- terests of Canada, Avhich, in truth, Ave have neither the knowledge nor the ability to protect 1 Is there nothing in the precedent of Portugal and Brazil Avhich might be considered Avith advantage in respect of Canada and England 1 We keep up the form of governing Canada from England ; but, Avhenever it becomes a reality, Canada suffers, and the maiiitcuance of the form has the effect of keeping the statesmen and people of Canada in a condition of dependence, if not of pupilage, Wl7.;ii youths become men their fathers eman- cipate them, to the benefit of the Avorld and in the interests of affec- tionate feeling between them both ; and what is true of men in this respect is also true of nations. (From the Daily TELEoiiAPn uf Moij 6, 1872.) As it is likely enough that advantage will ho taken of the proposed arrangement for guaranteeing a Canadian loan of £2,500,000 to make party capital out of the proceeding in a sense hostile to the present Government, we think it right to dissociate ourselves at the outset from some of the arguments by which the transaction is sup- ported. In one quarter the guarantee — not the first of the kind, it must be remembered — is called a bribe, suggested by the Canadian ministry as necessary in order to obtain the assent of the Dominion Parliament to the Washington Treaty. The transaction is, neverthe- less, advocated, though " a very doubtful kindness at the best;" but the Canadians are told that the sooner they are divorced from our control and from a nominal allegiance to the Imperial Crown the better it will be for us all. ^N'ow, it is open to evcy one to place his own interpretation on the Treaty of Washington ; but we are quite certain that, in the mass, the English people, who are neither shufflers nor cowards, will repudiate the idea that tho convention was only a sneaking device to free us from the embar- rassing dependence of Canada. It is disingenuous and un- fair to pick out a single point in a complicated transac- tion, and to treat it without reference to the other features which show its full meaning. The object of the Treaty was to bring to a close every unsettled disiiute between Great Britain, Canada, and the United States ; and the end was sought, as such ends generally are, by a process of compromise, in which one side gave up something, as a supposed equivalent for a concession from the other. Obviously, the quarter whence the advantage came Avould be a matter of less practical inqjortance than the gain itself ; and all that either England, the Dominion, or the United States required to do was to strike a fair average of results, jS^ow, if the Canadians deem tlie speedy completion of their great railway across the continent a matter of more urgent practical importance than cherishing a grievance about the Fenian raids, it is no business of ours to rail at them as if their assent to the Treaty had been bought ; still less have we any right to speak of the act as a doubtful kindness on our part. Of that the Canadians are the best judges. It is possible they may think the development of the Dominion an object of prime importance, to forward which is worth even such a price as the restoration of amity between England and the States. As for the desirability of emancipating Canada from her connexion with England, and sending her adrift to sink or SAvim, the question lies in a nutshell. If tho Canadians request that the bond should be dissolved, v.'e are not the people to hold them fast against their will : we have long ago learned how futile that attempt would be. On the other hand, we will neither cut short the connexion by violent means nor shuffle out of it by trickery. The initiative may come from the other side j but it is not we who will deliberately set about the disintegration of our great Colonial Empire.