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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m^thode. rrata to pelure, 1 d 32X 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 ISHERY TREAT ^<^^ RITMI OF THE GIVEAW Position by Copious Extracts from Offi Documents. ^ ;x^ ^ -infl jroi >*nue the (iiscussWRpf it in the MJ^gh^iOl 4:ili9t#flfedrwith great 'tofirTO^e very able and eloquent s Mr. Mitchell— Mr. Speaker, I feel that on rising to address the Hoase on this occasion I am speaking on, perhaps, one of the most important subjects that has ever occupied the attention of this colonial legislature since the Dominion was formed. It is not too much to say that, perhaps, no question has ever come be- fore us which has caused so much agita- tion, so much public attention on the part of Her Majesty's Ministers at home and so much trouble and interest to Her Majesty's Ministers in the colonies as this fishery question. And, Sir, I am more than pleased to find that the gentle- men who^have spoken upon that ques- oj^jlpeGI'^fedes of the Hou|%ghave en on it ae JLi)e^fcare >Pee from any ifWSUBS^^ry pmitics andjn a nian- shOM: that«iiri|T^*^^€*pftfed to ap- eCiflismeTauan of it and to con- same atten- very able and eloquent speech of the hon. the Finance Minister, and while I have always admired that gentle- man's abihty, and acuteness, and dig- nity and eloquence, perhaps on no occa- sion has he ever presented a case to the House in which a bad cape was so well put as that put by the hon. gentle- man on Tuesday last. Sir, I listened to him witii great attention when he Hsked thif; House to believe that the Gov- ernment of which he was a member and the commission of which he was one of the representatives of England, in se- curing this treaty had r)erformed a feat which would command the admiration of Canada, and enure to the benefit of her people. Sir, on these points I differ with him, but though I may differ with him in relation to the praise that he takes for the Commission and the lauda- tion which he gave to gentlemen con- nected with it on the British side, and to thti conclusions at whic^h he arrived in reference to the benefits it would be to this country, I must say that, looking at it, and looking at it in Ihe consequences [ which the perpetuation of {)eace with ' our great neighbors on tno soiUh will bring about, although I look at the treaty as completely giving away the interests of Canada in almost every particular, 1 must tell this House that " give away" as ; it is and whatever the consequences of ! it may be, we have got to confirm [ and to carry out the treaty We have got to do that, Sir, not because it is a just and a fair treaty to Canada, which it is not, and before I sit down I think I will be able, if not to satisfy gentlemen on that side of the House, I will be able at all events to induce the hon. the Minis- ter of Finance to say that he certainly has colored the advantages which he alleged Canada would receive rather too highly. I speak now not for the purpose of opposing the treaty, but I speak fe the purpose of putting the case of Canada fairly before this House and before the i country. I do it not for the purpose of 'obstruction, or bringing into disrepute the hon. gentleman v hose work during that long and tedious negotiation of three months in Washington, I have no doubt was done in the best interests as he conceived of the country which he served. I speak, Sir, for the pur- pose of placing that gentleman and the Government he repre- sents on this side of the water, and the Government on the other side of the water that accredited him to Wa8hington,inthe position which I think they ought to be in, and to show that the credit they assume to adopt, for having accomplished the conclusion of a diffi- (Uilt question is not of that creditable character to them which the hon. gentle- man assumes it is. Sir, these gentlemen believe that in accomplishing peace at any price they have accomplished a benefit for the country. Well, Sir, they have. Peace at any price is an advan- tage to Canada in her position in relation to our great neighbors to the south. Peace at any j)rif'e is an advantage to Canada in the situation in which we are placed and in consideration of the way we have been deserted by Her Majoaty's Ministers in Kttgland and bv thatBritisli Government wiiich the hon. gentleman has stated to us when he spoke the other day when he said: That when we appear at a commission or a convention or a p'iblic assembly of any kind our weight and our influence is measured by the power that is behind us, and I sitting at that commission in Washing- ton as the representative of the greatest Empire in tlie world, felt that my state- ments and words carried with them a weight which I could not have assumed nor could have carried had I been simply a representative of Canada. Perhaps in some cases the hon. gentleman might be right. It is an advantage when we appear in a representative character to have power and influence behind us, to have a moral and material weight that can carry out our wishes or that can en- force our wishes with ix)wer if it is necessary, or with that moral weight which it is always But, Sir, when that that moral weight is it has been for forty Sir, I think it is of little sent to represent the desirable to liave, moral power and simply a name, as years past, then, use to a man interests of a country like Canada, and it is not a fact to be proud of. That is the position which I assume, and before I sit down I think I will satisfy my hon. friend, and the gentlemen who sit beside hira, as well as the gentlemen on this side ot the House, that I am right. In mak- ing that statement I am making a statement which the records of the last forty years will sustain ; and. Sir, when I come to that part of my speech, or rather my explanation, becau e I will not call it a speech, I will ask the for- bearance of this House if I have to delay for some time, perhaps it may be too long, in reading authorities with regard to the statement I am making that the record of the last forty years has been a British desertion of the interests of her brightest and greatesc colony. My hon. friend devoted a great part of his time to laudation of the gentlemen with whom he was associated. With that I will not pretend to find much fault, but I will say this with relation to Mr. Chamberlain, of whom the 'ion. gentleman said : No man in England coulf^ have been selected more fit to represent England and to se- cure the interests of Canada at Washing- ton than the Hon. Joseph Chamberlain. That Mr. Chamberldn is an able and a clever man no one will deny. That he occupies a prominent position in the political life of Enaland is true, that he may have rendered services to the coun- try of his 1 irth and of his occupation is also true, but, Sir, when he was selected i to come out and to represent Canadian : interests — or rather nominally English ' interests, but practically Canadian in- ! terests — at Washington, I differ with my I hon. friend when he says that the selec- tion was a good one, and that no move fitting man could have been selected to occupy that position. Sir, surely Mr. Chamberlain showed before he left Eng- land that he wanted and lacked that dis- cretion which a statesman should possess. At a public meeting, shortly before he left England, he boasted of the position he was going to occupy and said tliat he was going out and that he would conclude a treaty, and he particularly referred to theCanadian claims which had been maJe and wliich could not and ought not to be sustained. Sir, what would you think of ajaryman going on a jury to try a man for his life, who told us before he went on that jury that he knew the man was guilty. Suppose you appointed a person as arbitrator, what would you think of a man stating before he went on there that he was going to give a verdict a^rainst you. That is the position of Mr. Cham- berlain. But there is another objection to Mr. Chamberlain and I think it is a subject of regret, because of it, that ht was appointed. We know, Sir, that there is a very powerful section of the British Empire who have a great cause of grievance against the Government of that countrv. We know in Ireland where the people have been striving and struggling, whether rightly or wrongly— I believe rightly myself whatever differ- ence of opinion there may be about that — I say rightly or wrongly they have been struggling for privileges which have beeu denied them, and Mr. Chamberlain has been one of those men -vho have taken a strong part against tl je national aspirations of the Irish people. Sir, when we look at the United States and find the composite character of its population, when we find the large number of seven or eight millions, if not more, of Irish- men and their descendants who are in that country and wherever Irishmen are you find them occupying prominent posi- tions in the executive of the country, in the legislative halls and in the adminis- tration of the public affairs. Will any- one tell me if we desire to get that treaty passed — if it is a desirable treaty to pass —that the fact that Mr. Joseph Chamber- lain was appointed to come out to en- deavor to secure the treaty was calcu- lated to recommend him to" that import- ant and influential class of people in America who have something to say about the passage of this treatv before fi 3 J the Senate? Sir, my impression is that Mr. Chamberlain made a mistake in his utterances, and my impression is that the British Government made a mistake on the part of Canada in selecting Mr. Chamberlain for the posilion. Perhaps I might have said nothing about that were it not that my hon. friend, with a generous desire to speak friendly of the men with whom he has been associ- ated, felt it necessary to give Mr. Chamberlain an amount of laudation and credit to which I have grave ; doubts abor.t his being entitled. That : is my justification for referring to him ; and had the hon. gentleman not brought ] before this House Mr. Cliamberlain's public services, his great ability, and his fitness for the position, and praised t he Government who selected him, I should not have felt it necessary to refer to him in the way I have done. With regard to Sir Sackville West, I believe him to be a ^ very respectable man. He also came in * for a considerable degree of praise and laudation from the hon. gentleman. We know that in his association with other men, the great talents and abilities of our friend the hon. Minister of Finance command attention and respect. We know that Sir Sackville West is and has been all his life an employee in the dip- lomatic service of the British Gov- ernment, and we know that his object is to serve the British Government. Serve Canada! What cares Sir Sackville West for Canada ? What cares Mr. Joseph Chamberlain for Canada ? What they desire to secure is the commendation of England and the English Government. That is the thing they have aimed at, and that is the thing they have obtained by this treaty, and it is the only thing. Sir, my hon. friend, in Iiis speech of Tuesday last, gave an historical account of the fishery (luestion for the past one hundred years. He pointed out what the arrangements were under the Treaty of 1783 ; tlien he came to the Treaty of Glient; then he came ti) the convention of 1818 ; and hs went on to tell us that the British Government had for the last forty years abandoned the view they had entertained as to the construction of the con- vention of 1818 for the pre- vious forty years. Tiie hon. gentleman noticed me shaking my head when he ; made that statement, because I knew it was not true. I do not mean to impute wilful inisstateineats to the hon. gentle- man. I would be sorry to do that, and if anything I say woiil 1 sewm to have that bearing, i know he will believe that I would not desire in the least to doubt his word, or suppose that he would make a statement to this House which he knew to be incorrect. But, Sir, I have been identified with this fiehery question. Seven years of my life I spent in work- ing it up. When'l took it in hand the British Government was about to desert us; and for seven years my efforts were directed to trying to keep those men on the other side of the water, in the British Foreign Office and in the Colonial Office, up to their work, and pre- venting them from sacrificing and desert- ing Canada. Sir, I am making bold statements, but I will prove them before I sit down. The hon. gentleman next referred to the Treaty of 1854, eflfected by Lord Elgin, and he pointed out the g/eat advantages which we had derived from that treaty, and I entirely agree with him. I believe that that treaty was the first entering wedge of free coinmercial intercourse between Canada and the United States. During the twelve years tliat that treaty lasted, tol86G, more real commercial progress and prosperity were developed in Canada, more farming in- dustries were created, more mechanical employments were given to our people, than they had at any period up to that time. Sir, it was a matter of regret, not alone to the people of one sec- tion of this country — for we were then a number of isolated Provinces — Nova Siiotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edjvard Island and British Columbia, with separate Governments, Quebec and Ontario as old Canada united — but every province sharing in the benefits of that treaty, regretted its abrogation at the in- stance of the American Government. Sir, the hon. gentleman stated rightly that eflTorts were made by the several Governmruts to bring about a renewal of that treaty. Their efforts failed, I am sorry to say. Neither one party nor the other of the political parties in this coun- try was to blame for that failure. It arose from the fact, as tlie hon. gentle- man rightly stated, that an unfounded prejuiiice existed, whether rightly or wrcngly, based on the belief that we had favored the southern portion of the United States in the iaternecine struggle which had been carried on in tliat country for six or seven years. W hether we did or not may be a matter of opinion, but my hon. friend's state- ment was correct, I have no doubt, that a ve/y large portion of the people of this country sympathised with the North, because for one man who was found in the S iuthera afmy, sis or saven or eight 4 were to be found in the Northern. At any rate, the treaty was repealed, and the United States Government refused to renew it ; and when Mr. George Brown and Mr. Justice Henry, who I am sorry is so low to-night Mr. Ferguson (Leeds.) — Better. Mr. Mitchell— I am glad to hear it, for the country can ill spare a raan like him, who has taken such a pn minent part in this country, both in his political and judicial capaci<-,y. When he was sent from Nova Scotia and Sir Albert Smith from New Brunswick and the gentlemen from Canada went to Washington and failed to obtain a renewal ot the Treaty in 1866, it was a inatter of great regret in all the Provinces. Those who remember the history of Canada will remember the position the country was in at that time. Old Can- ada was so torn with political dissensions that there was scarcely a Government that could last a \\ eek with any degree of certainty. We found one of the old Provinces struggling against another, and it was then that the idea btruck the hon. gentleman at the head of the Govern- ment and a number of hon. gentlemen connected with him, to form a confedera- tion of British America. Sir. we did form it, and I am proud to say that I took some part in its foraaation. As the Premier of my own Province, after one defeat I was successful in bringing the .Province into hne and inducing it to onte : the Confederation. When I came here and took the position of Minister of Marine and Fisheries, what did I find ? I found that those gentlemen, in 1866, the year before we c^me here, had protested against the 6110113 of the British Govern- ment to induce us to allow the Ameri- cans to come in and occupy our lisheries for a year. I will oay for the Govern- ment of that day that they wrote a most pungent despatch, in which, although re- quested by the British ^Government, they refused to allow the Americans to come iu and occupy our fisheries as they had done under the treaty. They communi- cated with the Governments of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Ed- ward Island, and those Governments, out of deference to the wishes expressed by the British Ministers, consented, as did the Government of Canada, to an ar- rangement for allowing the Americans to come in on paying a tax of half a dollar a ton, but for cnly one year. That ar- rangement was agreed to in response to a despatch of Sir Edward Card well, then Colonial Minister. That despatch can he found in a return brought down iti re- sponse to a motion made by Mr. Blake in 1872. Sir Edward Cardwell urged the Gov- ernment of the Provinces to j)ermit the Americans to occupy the fisheries on the same terms as they did before the repeal of the treaty, stating that if they would consent to that, before the year was out some new arrangement would be made. We did it, the several Provinces did it, and before the term came around again in 1867, we had formed Confederation, and the duty was imposed upon me of creating the Department of Marine and Fisheries. I did create that department, and I think that I can appeal with satis- faction to the House and to the people generally to say whether, during my re- cord of seven and a half years, I did not perform my duty faithfully and effective- ly. "W hen. Sir, in 1867, we were appealed to again to renew the arrangement, I was called upon to enquire into and make a report on the matter, and I did make a report which is contained in the public ^ records of this ParUament. In that re- ' port, while I disapproved of the policy, at the urgent request of Her Majesty's Government, I recommended an in- crease of duty and consented to a continuance of the arrangement, but only for one year more. That ! year passed away. The number of j vessels which took out licenses the first ■ year was considerably larger than the I second, andwhen we were applied to the I third year, to allow the Americans to ! fish on the same terms, we resented the i application. We increased the duty, but i consented only to put it on for one year more. Before that year was finished, I \ found that th*- British Government had I again weakenea, and when I studied up I the history of the question for the pre- ' vious sixty or seventy years, I found that while the British Government had strictly enforced the headland question and the exclusion of Americans from the bays, and protected our inshore fisheries, about which there was never a dispute, for nearly forty years after the Treaty of 1818 was made', yet, when in 1854 the Elgin Treaty was made, our exclusive rights over these fisheries were suspended during its existence, for twelve years, and the Americans were permitted to go in and participate in the fisheries under the treaty while I it lasted. But when that treaty expired, in 1886, England resumed the protection ! of the fisheries of Canada, and stated ' the existence of our claims as being re- j vived as they existed in 1854, and led I Canada to believe that she would enforce j the treaty of 1818, as »lw had dune up to 5 the period of tlie Elgin Treaty, when our exclusive rights were suspended. In place, however, of defending the position of Canada, as she had done for the pre- vious forty years, we found that she weakened, and a large amount of cor- j respondence had to be carried on to ! stiffen the British Ministers, but while ogcasionally they would stiffen, they would weaken again. Wnen the hon. the Minister of Finance taunted me with the fact that we had not carried out our first instructions as issued by myself as Minister, he knew the reason, and I am surprised he did not do me the justice of explaining 'that it was under instructions from the British Government that I had issued my orders to carry out the instructions of Sir Edward Card well, then Colonial Secretary. Under this pressure, we had ; to recall our first instructions and to limit the exclusion to bays six miles in , width instead of ten miles. From that time, my efforts commenced; and let anyone refer to the volumes of sessional papers in the library and read over the efforts that were made during those seven years to protect the interests of ^ Canada, and he will see, at all events, ': that the Government of that day did their duty by Canada, and insisted upon ; the British Government not abandoning . our rights. I will not pass this stage ; without paying a tribute to the right | hon. the leader of the Government— for whatever may have been my feelings ; about him of later years, in those days, i at least, he stood out for the interests of the j country that he governed ; and in every : instance, without one single deviation \ he took my part in my efforts to bring : the Colonial and Foreisrn Ministers of ! England, who were both weakening in the interests of Canada, to their senses, ; and we did bring them to their senses pretty well. Whatcame next? In 1870, a crisis arose in relation to the fishery question. It was evident to every one in the Cabinet of Canada, and out of it, who understood the facts, that the British Government were weakening in sustain- ing our claims. First, in 18G0, they asked us to allow the Americans to come in for one year ; then they asked us to allow them to come in for another year ; and then, in 1808. for another year; and in 1869, at last, a little rebellion of a mental character arose in the minds of some of us at least. It became mj^ duty to deal with that question, and I did deal with it. But before discussing thisnoint, I may ask the permission of this House to read in reply to the statement of the hon. gentleman my report, because his remarks imply nothing less than that I went back on mv report and the position I assumed when I issued the orders and circulars to the marine police which I had organised. In that report I wil' prove that the statement of the hon. gentleman that the British Government had stood by Canada was not correct. Sir Charles Tupper — My hon. friend has entirely misapprehended my whole argument, and my reference to himself. He has not only misapprehended my ar- gument, but he has completely inverted the argument, and I will ask any gentle- man who has looked at the verbatim re- port of my speech, if my argument is not this : that while Her Majesty's Govern- ment had technically always sustained the extreme headlands extension, and the exclusion of the American fishermen from our bays, they had refused to sus- tain my hon. friend in his efforts to shut the American fishermen out of bays that are not less than ten miles in width. My argument was the reverse of what my hon. friend says it was. I showed that he had made that effort. I read his in- structions to the House in which he had upheld the ten-mile limit and gave his instructions to that effect to the cruisers, and I read Lr>rd Granville's despatch not to carry out these instructions, but to limit the exclusion to the three-mile limit. I showed that my hon. friend had been obliged, under the pressure of Her Majesty's Government, who would not support the larger contention, to issue further instructions in accordance with the expressed request of Lord Durha n. Mr. Mitchell here quoted from Sir Charles Tupper's speech in support of his views, when a brief conversational dis- cussion took place between them, after which he resumed his speech, reading lengthy and important extracts from correspondence between the Canadian and Imperial Governments •embodied in minutes of Council, to sus- tain his contention that Great Britain had virtually abandoned her own and Canada's claims in the fishery question. The extracts covered correspon ience for the past half century, with the Earl of Bathurst, Lord Granville, Earl of Claren- don, Rt. Hon. Edward Cardwell, Earl Kimberly and in fact all British Colonial and Foreign Secretaries who had to deal with the question. Mr. Mitchell then continued : Now, Sir, in the record which I have read of concessions yielded year after year by Her Majesty's Government, I think tny hoij. ffiead will fad to p»efCcive 6 that any strong uronnd has been taken or any material support given, in the interest o' Canada, such as lie spoke of in his introductory remarks on Tuesday last. Sir, I think it is a record which is a discredit to great Britain— to have the interests of a great colony, the greatest in the Empire, and one she is proud of, frit- tered away by piecemeal, as I have said. It is a record of concessions which have been made step by step without even consulting the people who are interested in them. I think the record of the last thirty years, at least the last twenty years, is a disgrace to the British Em- pire and the British Government. In : saying what I do, I do not intend to cast any reflections on the action of my hon. ; friend and his colleagues at Washington. ' He has very patriotically and very mag- nanimously taken the blame for the shortcomings in this treaty on himself. : It is natural for him to do that in such cases; but I know him too well, I know the facts too well, and I have had too j much experience in dealing with the '' fisheries, not to know that what he did i there he did under pressure. Al- though he spoke of the largest ^ power in the world being behind him, as a matter of fact that power! was not there. It was there in name, | but not in power; and if there has been j an act since the formation of this Do- 1 minion which has tended to loosen the ' bonds between Canada and the Empire. | if there has been an act which will tend i to produce dissatisfaction and to pro- i mote distrust in the British EmpireTwith : reference to the aflfairs of Canada.' it is! this last act of hers in abandoning us and taking away her fisheries, in the face i of the fact, as I have shown from the ' despatches I have read, that ihe stood pledged to maintain the interests of Canada as they stood when th^y were suspended in 1854. When the treaty ! lapsed by the act of the United States, where was the British Government ? Read h Sir Edward Cardwell's, Lord Kimberley's and the Earl of Aberdeen's despatches. 1 The only man among the whole of them ' who has fairly stood by us was the Earl of Clarendon. Yet everyone of them, one after another, assured us that Eng- land intended to stand by us in main- taining the exclusive rights which the British Government claimed and en- forced up to 1854 ; and. Sir, everyone ol them, save Lord Clarendon, went back on his record, and left us to see our rights taken away from us by piecemeal and under false pretences. That is tho posi- tion of the British Government towards Canada for the last twenty years— and I speak of it with regret, for I have ever been as loyal a subject as any that stands in the Dominion of Canada. I have been loyal, in fact, I have been more, I have been also loyal in sentiment, but the sentiment is knocked out of me, and I fear that a great many others feel as I do ; and when we see the interests of Canada frittered away Ks they have been in this case, I fear that any desire to create a more permanent loyalty will ooze out of us, and we will become a dssatisfied people. They talk about the federation of the Empire— the ' veriest rot that ever was spoken. What interest have we in common with the j other side of the Atlantic? We owe to England our existence as a semi-nation, it is true; we owe to her our language and our laws, and we are proud of both ; but while England has been one of the greatest colonising nations of the world, there is no nation has worse adminis- I tered her colonies. Take the case of Cape Colony, a record of years of mis- i management, misrule and misgovern- ; ment. Look at her treatment of us in re- I gard to the boundary of Maine, as well as the Oregon boundary, in each of which cases an immense tract of territory was abandoned, either bv ignorance or im- becility, to the United States; and again look at the St. Juan afiair, they are all, as our Behrings Sea interests will I fear be, a complete siv« away, as our fishery rights, in my opinion, have been. In future we will have to look to ourselves to protect our interests, and want no more diplomatic interference by such men as Chamberlain and Sir Sackville West. Indeed what would Canada have been in the past without the administra- tive powers of the Canadians the nselves ? Mr. Mills (Both well)— Without the re- bellion ? Mr. Mitchell— Look at the record in this case. I, who was intimatelv con- nected with the whole affair and who felt deeply the necessity of standing up for our rights ; I, who spent day after day, and week after week, pressing these claims on the british Government and keeping them upto the n-ark, found them always receding at the first oppor- tunity—and now everything is gone. My hon. friend speaks of the advantages this treaty has given us ; he speaks of the limit of space which is descrilid by the points of the treaty ; he speaks about the delimita- tions which are name! in the treaty. Sir, let any man take up a map— and I regret that my hon. friend should have made the excuse he did about not pro- ducing the map— for it was his dutv to produce one. His excuse is, that there 18 a provision made for the appointment of a commission for the deUmitation on the treaty. True, there is ; that is the official delimitation. But it was the duty of the Cabinet to have prepared a map and to have it submitted to Parlia- ment, so that we could appreciate and understand these advantages my hon. friend has so eloquently described, but which I cannot see. I may tell my hon. mend that, looking to the contentions of Canada and England, as propounded in 1818, and maintained up to 1854, when they were suspended for twelve years : under the treaty of Lord Elg-.n, after i which they were urged to be enforced i again and recognised by the British Gov- ernment from that time out, until they i were again suspended in 1871 by a new treaty— I say if a map based on those I contentions, was taken from headland or I headland, and those exclusive rights to the bays delineated upon it, this House would see what the difference is i between the delimitation in that map ' and the concessions given up to the Americans. If I can understand the meaning of the statements in the grea; mass of despatches which I have had to wade throueh, in order to define how ' we have endeavored to maintain the in- terests of Canada, I should say that the men who wrote them were bound in honor to have stiod by Canada and en- forced those I ights. II they had done so, we would have stood to-day with our headland system maintained and our rights to bays recognized— because all that was wanted was a little firmness some twenty years ago— and we would not be in the position of having to beg for reciprocity. About the inshore fisheries, it was never disputed that we nad an absolute right to them, and yet my hon. friend comes here with his eloquent tongue and persuades us— he knows he can do anything in this country, for he can do what none of us can do, he can control the First Minister, as he saved him in the contest of a year ago— he comes with his eloquent tongue and persuades us that in this delimitation, which the treaty provides for, we have obtained a great concession. Sir, we have abandoned everything, and while we have done that, my hon. friend has forgotten one thing. Did he know there were two ends to the shores of America on the Atlantic? Where is the provision in the treaty to give tho Canadians th same rights in the Delaware and Chesa- peake, in Boston Bay, and Narraganset, and Albermarle, and from the Cape of Horida past the mouth of the Missis- sippi, that they have captured from us? Do we find that the interpretation which I they set upon their shores, bays and I coasts is the same as they ask us to set upon ours? Have they not i rights which they claim from head- land to headland, and which are enforced even among themselves, and from which we are excluded ? Where is our right to ! enter their bays ? It is true it is the sep- arate states own them there, but that does not alter the law or right on the question. Where has my hon. friend ; provided in the treaty that we should I liave the use of those bays to the south of where our boundary terminates ? Why have we not secured the same privileges in the American bays, straits, and head- lands, that they demand in ours ? There IS no such provision in the treaty. L?t a Canadian fisherman go down to Dela- ware and Boston, or the sound, or go down amongst their oyster bays and at- tempt to fish, and he will soon find him- self in prison. Where is tho withdrawal of the outrageous American pretension in reference to Behringo Sea, and why was the settlement of that outrageous claim omitted from the treaty ? Did my hon. friend forget all about these impor- tant questions f I am sure not. But my hon. friend found himself in Wash- ington with instructions in Mr. berlain's hands to make a and as to what that treaty be neither Chamberlain nor the British Government, nor Sir Lionel Sackville West cared, and the only man who did care was my hon. friend Sir Charles Tupper, and he had to obey his instructions as a servant of the British Government and representing their in- terests. He was handicapped, weighted down and overborne by the influence of thatgreatest Empire of the world.ofjvhose power he has boasted. I feel I have taken up too much time of the House to-night, but I felt it to be my duty, even at the risk of wearying the House, to place upon record the history of this fishery question, not for the purpose of eclat to myself, but as a duty I owe the country, that we mp-y be able to trace in some available way the history of the iniquitous manner in which the British Government has treated this colony of ours. I am as loyal a subject as any man, and I hope to remain so, but I will remind the House that the time is fast coming when, if the British Governmenc continues to allow our interests to be frit- Cham- treaty, should 8 tered away in this way, she will find the colony itself frittered away before long. It is as well some plain speaking should be heard. I do not wish to be un- derstood to express the opinion that I desire it. I should regret it notwith- standing this treatment, and while I have heretofore felt proud of belong- ing to a colony of England, Canada can- not and will not always remain a colony, and I should not be surprised to find that this treaty will promote such change. Children do not always remain in their father's house, and we are gradually growing into the position when the inter- ests of Canada demand we should branch out for ourselves. I do not desire to see this for some time to come, but a few more cases Uke this and I would not give much f6> the power of England in this colony w Canada. There are a great ma^y "^points I wanted to talk about, but I have taken up so much time in submitting the proof of these matters in otder to sustain my contention, that I think it would be trespassing too much on the time of Parliament for me to con- tinue. I will, therefore, not take up the time of the House any longer in dis- cussing this painful matter. I and felt I had a duty to perform, I only regret that I have per- formed it so inefficiently. Of course this treaty will pafs ; there is no doubt about that, but I disapprove of it entirely, as I think the Americans have got everything and we have got nothing. I soeak with knowledge of the subject when I say that we have got nothing. The delimitations that are spoken of are simply allowing us to retain an infinitesimal part of what Britain has over and over aeain declare! we had an absolute right to, and has for nearly forty years enforced before the treaty put them in abi^yance. Our rights revived when that treaty ceased, and what did we find ? AVe found that taken from us by the Commission which sat under the authority of the British Crown. I regret very much that England should have so much humiliated herself before her c.tiildren here, and it is a humilia- tion, and I regret that it should be done by a nation which professes to have kei)t faith, especially with her colonies. I re- gret that I have to speak as I am now speaking of England, but I say this as a duty to my country, Canada, as a duty to myself, and as a duty to this House.