IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 !f* JL M III 2.5 5« MM |||||2.2_ ^ 2.0 m 1.25 1.4 1.6 ^ 6" — ► c*^ w ,1% ^^s S' % h o 7 Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER. NY. 14S80 (716) 872-4503 ..#^ 'V^^ # <■' c. ($> » .($> CIHM/fCMH Microfiche Series. \v^ CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut canadien de microreproductions historiques 1981 Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibiiographiques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be biblio.graphically unique, which may alter any of tha images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming, are checked below. D a D Colotired covers/ Couverture de coulsur I j Covers damaged/ Couverture endommag^e Covers restored and,^or laminated/ Couverture restaurde et/ou peiliculde Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque Coloured maps/ Cartes gdographiques en couleur Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) I I Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ D Planches et/ou illustj'ations en couleur Bound with other material/ Relid avec d'autres documents Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin/ La i-eliure serr^e peut causer de. I'ombre ou de la distortion le long de la marge intdrieure Blank leaves added during restoration may appear withio the text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming/ II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajout^es lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte, mais, lorsque cela 6i:ait possible, ces pagus n'ont pas 6t6 filmdes. Additional comments:/ Commentflires suppl^mentaires: L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. Les details de cet exemplaire qui sont peutdtre uniques du point de vue bibliographique. qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une modifecation dans la mdthode normale de filmage sont indiquds ci-dessous. D D □ y □ D D n Coloured pages/ Pages de couleur Pages damaged/ Pages endommag6es Pages restored and/or laminated/ Pages restaurdes et/ou pellicul6es Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages d6color6es, tachetdes ou piqu^es Pages detached/ Pages d^tach^es Showthrough/ Transparence Quality of print varies/ Quality in^gale de I'impression Includes supplementary material/ Comprend du materiel supplementaire Only edition available/ Seule Edition disponible Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to ensure the best possible image/ Les pages totatement ou partiellement obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure, etc., ont 6t6 filmdes d nouveau de fapon d obtenir la meilleure image possible. This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est filmd au taux de reduction indiqu6 ci-dessous. 10X 14X I8X 22X / 26X 30X 12X 16X 20X 24X 28X 32X The copy filmed here has been reproduced thanks to the generosity of: Library of the Public Archives of Canada The images appearing here are the best quality p>'>88ible considering the condition and legibility of the original copy and in keeping with the filming contract specifications. Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed beginning with the front cover and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All other original copies are filmed beginning on the first page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impression. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol —»> (meaning "CON- TINUED "). or the symbol V (meaning "END), whichever applies. Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reductior^ ratios. Those too largo tc be entirely included in one exposure are fiimod beginning in the upper left hand cornei, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: L'exemplaire fiimi fut reproduit grSce & la g6n6rosit6 de: La bibliothdque des Archives publiques du Canada Les images suivantes ont 6t6 reproduites avec le plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition et de la nettet^ de I'sxemplaire film6, et on conformity avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en papier est imprim6e sont film^s en commengant par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la dornidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par le second plat, selon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont film^s en commenpant par la premidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et on terminant par la dernidre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symbole^^ suivants apparaitra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole — ♦- signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbole V signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., pjuvent dtre film^s d des taux de reduction diff^rents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clich6, i! est filmd d partir de Tangle supdrieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 m ■■'■{ fi y '■{ ttt '■',-■■* I ■ TO THE UNITED STATES: IS IT DESIRABLE? AND IS IT POSSIBLE? ^h> By ''ONE OF THE PEOPLE.' ■■.1 «*K» , > HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA, PRINTED BY JAMES BOWES & SONS, HOLLIS STREET, 1868. \ i K' fy % )'\ t \ /'•' ,»t-v ^v '^ >•'' IiNTEODUCTION. The following pages have been compiled and written in the face of numerous difficulties. With few authorities at hand, and with the cares and interruptions of a business requiring constant attention, much of the information furnished had to be curtailed and condensed within certain limits, both as regards time at the writer's disposal, and space to be occupied in publication. The statistics and data, however, as hr as given, have been obtained from authentic sources, carefully examined, and may be valuable apart from the use now made of them. No time has been found for revising, remodeUing, or attending to the niceties of literary polish, and a few of the pages have before appeared in contributions by the writer to some of the newspapers of the city. No apology is oxTered for the subject. It is one so intensely important to ihe future interests and welfare of the people of Nova Scotia, that, in the absence of a more able advocate, the writer esteems it a solemn duty to make more widely known those arguments which to him appear calculated to support and advance it. Indeed, were i^ not so, he would never enter upon so hazardous a pecuniary venture as is the publication of a pamphlet in Nova Scotia. Halifax, December 19, 1868, ., ANNEXATION TO THE UNITED STATES. ^i<' What is to be the future of Nova Scotia i Will she become ii reconciled, willing, and obedient naember of the Canadian Dominion ? Will she be allowed, by consent of England, to become such an appendage to the British Crown, as she was before Confederation became the subject of Imperial legislation ? Will she seek new national relations ? Or will she by force of circumstances be comjidlcd to adopt that new nationality to which she has shewn such unmistakable repugnance ? These are questions which must suggest themselves to every lover of his country — to every one who has given the slightest attention to the political events which have lately transpired in the Prc^ince of Nova Scotia. To the discussion of some of these propositions the time and talents alike of the youthful aspirant for literary honors, the political demagogue, and the grave and thoughtful legislator and statesman, have variously been given. But while the humble l)amphlet of the Province, as Avell as the more assuming volume of the London publisher, have exhausted every view of the advan- tages to accrue to this Province, by maintaining intact in some sort, that connection which has always existed between it and the Mother Country, comparatively little attention has been bestowed upon the question — " Can Nova Scotia improve her condition by seeking and obtaining a peaceable connection with the United States ?" The rebellious disturbances which agitated Canada in 1837-8, and the difficulties which arose out of the Aroostook dispute in New Brunswick, threw the subject of " Annexation " to the surface temporarily in those Provinces, — as the prospect of forcible "Confederation" has led to some desultory allusions to the subject in the debates in the Local Legislature of this Province, and more recently in the ii wspapers, in various forms. To present the '■■■'■ ■■■■■'■■ ' • • .'m^j- riHUiiill 6 ANNEXATION. arguments in favor of the advantages of a political and permanent union with the United States, as well as to shew the possibility of honorably effecting such a Union, in a less ephemeral shape than these arguments have heretofore been presented, and with a view to their making a more enduring impression upon the public mind, this unpretentious theorem is designed. I. gsi m\x » Mn\m Ht^ixMt ? That Nova Scotia has never reached a position of greater material prosperity is no less a matter of surprise to her own sons than to those from abroad who have become acquainted with her vast natural resources and her advantageous maritime situation. Start- ing in the race for improvement on an equal footing, and at least with as fair a field as the New England States, she has never, at any time, excited t^)0 attention, maintained the vigor, or accom- \ plished the results which hav. unarked the history of those pros- perous members of the great Republic. Possessed of a variety of native wealth, unknoAvn to them, she can in addition boast of such harbors as will be searched for in vain from Maine to Oregon. With a people of great physical stamina, of fine intellectual mould, of remarkable readiness in adaptation to peculiarities of circum- stances, she never has made headway against the only incubus which it is possible to imagine as the source of her misfortunes. Under a Republican Government Nova Scotians have been elevated to the higher State positions, — have acquitted themselves honor- ably in the pulpit, the press, the bar, in the army, in the navy, and on the stage, — have been entrusted with offices of responsibility in the National Government, in the merchant's office, in the manu- facturer's establishment, and in the mechanic's workshop, and have generally exhibited an intensified energy and enterprize only to be understood as the result of admixture with a people relieved from the depression of institutions which seem to be unsuited to this continent. As a people are distant from the circle of influence of this Government on this side the Atlantic, apathy, want of self- reliance and national spirit characterize their existence. It is proposed to discuss this first question under the following heads, in brief: 1. English ignorance and indifference. 2. Trade and Reciprocity. 3. Government. 4. War. 5, Debt and Taxa- tion. 6. Progress. ^ ' ANNEXATION. ' 1. English ignouance and iNniFFERENCE. A recent writer saya : — " There are no people the details of whoso affairs are so invariably uninteresting to the majority of Englishmen as British colonists. A man may prose with impunity on Maorics or lied Indians, Kaffirs or Brahmins, hut the moment he descants upon our fellow-countrymen in distant lands, Bore becomes his name."* The same writer confirms the idea so generally entertained by colonists that but little is known of the geography of this Province in the Mother Country. lie says ; " Every child knows the capi- tal of most foreign nations and that of most English counties. Few know the principal cities of the Australian colonies or the capitals of the British North American Provinces. Canadian affairs have* it is true, attracted of late years a considerable amount of attention, but until quite recently the Provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward's Island have been almost unknown in England. That Halifax, St. John and Charlottctown being in British North America must be somewhere in Canada, was till lately the belief of four out of five ordinarily educated English- men. The correspondent of the London Times, sent out to record the incidents of the journey of the Prince of Wales through these colonies, first turned up in a city in Canada, in his so irch for the colony at which the fleet should first land his Royal Highness. The indifference with which even the most important interests of the colony are viewed, and the slight attention paid to these interests by those who represent the wealth, the intelligence and the power of the British nation, the following extracts from letters, recently published by the Hon. Joseph Howe, abundantly shew : " Turning to the purely political, or governing classes, as they arc sometimes termed, let us see how we fared among them, and what the prospects are before us of any much more happy result. In 1867 pam- phlets and public documents were circulated among these people by the ream. I have recently read over the "case" of Nova Scotia, submitted by Messrs Annand, McDonald and myself, to Earl Carnarvon, to en- deavor to discover, after months of further reflection and experience, if anything had been omitted that ought to have been said. As an argu- * The Confederation of British North America, by E. C. Bolton and H. H. Webber, Royal Artillery. 8 ANNEXATION. i I meut, covering the whole ground, it appears to me unanswerable, and it certainly never has been answered. But what ll)cn ? Tlioiiifh it was hacked by petitions from thirty-one thousand of our people, and though wo prayed but for a few weeks delay, the British America act was pass- ed, with a celerity and unanimity that proved the strengtii of the combin- ation we had to face, and that our summer's labor had been lost. To sit in the lobbies of the Lords and Commons, and hear your country's dearest interests disposed of with reckless haste or supreme indifference is not a pleasant pastime. Having endured tl:e mortification twice, I have made up my mind never to submit to the infliction a;i;ain. « # » " Let us see l\ow matters stood when the debates in the two Houses were over. Of six hnndrod and lifty members of tlie House of Commons, three hundred and lifty did not ti'kc interest enough in the question to occupy their seats. Of the three hundred who did attend, but eighty seven could be got to vote, not for repeal, mark ye, but for enquiry only. " In ihe House of Lords the defeat was still more decisive. Tliough the tone of the debate was courteous and respectful, but fifty Peers out of four hundred were present. And of those fifty, not a mo.n raised his voice or voted for Repeal, and but two spoke in favour even of enquiry, " By a careful analysis of the division lists it will appear that every supporter of the Government in tlie House of C* mmons, with one excep- tion voted against us. " That of forty members, wlio represent the great financial and railway interests of the three Kingdoms, every man wa against us. " And in both Houses almost every prominent Whig, who was in the last Cabinet or expects lo be in the next, led by Earl llusscll in the one House fvud by Mr. Gladstone in the other, voted against us. "Of the thirty-one great governing families, whose names arc interwo- ven with the most striking events of history, whose vast estates arc to be found in every county, who largely control elections and influence gov- ernments, whatever party is in power, every one is against us." Commenting upon these letters, the editor of the Toronto Telegnqih says: " The truth is really as Mr. HoAve puts it : They don't want more of us in England than they can help. They are very much obliged to us (poor relations) for calling when we happen to be in town. But the fact is, they are a numerous family at home, and they will be all the more obliged to us the sooner we get in a fair way of doing for ourselves." " The prime question to-day, with Tory politicians and Whig polhi- cians alike is : how to get rid of us with the best possible grace. The withdrawal of the troops — the refusal of prominent statesmen to take the place of Governor here — the Buckingham 'orders' making our provincial officials of less account than they were seventy years ago — all these things go to show anyone who cares to think at all on the subject, that they don't care of our keeping up the connection any longer than a decent re- gard to appearances will permit." The questiL-a will very naturally present itself — " How would Nova Scotia have been situated in corresponding relations to the MM t ANNEXATION. l^nltod States ?" Ignorance of any portion of their possessions is no eharacteristic of even the iimnblest child in that country. Their school geographies are all designed to impress the mind, -with any feature peculiarly American which may bo of interest. And, with riper years, comes through the press a more intimate knowledge of the political aspects and minutiie of the day. Governmental changes, the policy of parties, the developments and prospects of individual States, arc discussed far and near. Every man knows something ol politics, — every man keeps an eye on the boundaries of the country, — every man luu an individual pride in maintaining the dignity and welfare of the Commonwealth. That m'o could ever have been sufferers by either the ignorance or the indifference of our rulers, is, therefore, simply impossible.* Can we doubt, on this score, the desirability of union with such a people .' o 1 Tradk and Recipkocity. The most intimate trade relations which have existed between Nova Scotia and the United States arc those which extended over a period of ten years, when what i^ known as the Reciprocity Treaty, Avas in force. Ey this treaty a number of articles were agreed upon to be placed in the free list of the res])ective cus- toms' tariffs of the treating countries ; and, while the treaty was in being, a most remarkable impetus m;'.s given to the exports of this Province. Prior to the year 1854, Avhen the treaty came into operation, our exports to the States were never more in value than $1,593,380, but, at the termination of the treaty in 1804, they had * Tlio convention of delegates from several of the New Enp;lan(l States, nicli •Tssembled at Hartford in December, 1814, — during the last American war .vith Enjj;land, — and known as the Hnrt/ord Convention, illustrates our case. Massa- chusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut were at this time destitute of the protec- tion of tlie national troops, and exposed to the ravajjes of the enemy, with scarcely any other than their own resources, which were being continually diminished by an onerous system of taxation for the national treasury. What should be done iti this state of affairs became a subject of solemn deliberation. A conference was proposed by the Legislature of Massachusetts. Delegates met. An earnest ap- plication was sent to the Government at Washington, tor power to meet their difficulties, and suggestions made relative to alterations in the national constitu- tion, calculated to prevent the recunx'nce of the evils of which they complained. Witliin three weeks after the adjournment of this convention, an Act passed both Houses of the Legislature of the United States meeting their wishes / and before the commissioners who were sent to confer with the Government could reach Washington, a Bill passed the Senate providing for the payment of the troops and militia already called into service under the authority of the States. 10 ANNEXATION. ii reached $^,446,110. How the abrogation of the treaty affected us may bo judged from the fact that in one year (1806) our exports fell off 1391,247, and no marked change for the better has since been perceptible. The principal articles which have gone to make up these figures have been coal, fish, gypsum, grindstones, firewood and vegetables. Let us see how some of these stood befoic, throtigh, and at the close of the treaty. In 1854 the coal shipped to the United States was valued at $155,075.: in 18-39 it reached $178,275 ; in 1864, $684,642. In 1854 the codfish shipped was valued at $51,545 , in 1859, $178,275 ; but war reduced it in 1864 to $53,771; herring, in 1854, $86,545; in 1859, $368,335 ; fell in 1864 to $90,929; mackerel, in 1854, $605,815; in 1864, $895,554; scalefish, 1854, $3,630; in 1864, $16,322; gypsum, in 1854, $71,170 ; in 1859, $83,155 ; in 1864 descending to $40,830. Potatoes, in 1854, $215,620; in 1859, $328,390; in 1864, $73,724 ; and oats and barley, in 1855, $3,560 ; in 1864, $30,206. An examination of these figures shows that our mercantile connec- tion with the States, from 1854 to 1861, Avas a very important period of our history ; that, until Mar intervened, a gradually increasing natixe trade sprung up, and Avhich would, doubtless, ha\e assnined larger proportions had not the treaty been annulled, Tbe chansre in coal, in fish and in veEtetablcs has been so marked as to produce stagnation in all the branches of industry affected by them. A universal desu'e has been expressed to have the treaty renewed, and the influences of the British and British North Amer- ican Governm.entp have been exerted to secure i^'s favorable con- sideration, but without the slightest success. Some reasons and opinions may here be given going to demon- strate the exceedingly doubtful chances of a renewal of the Reciprocity Treaty with these colonies on the ^Kirt of the United States. " There are two powerful agencies in operation against it : one is the idea of annexation ; the other is the coal, ship-building, and agricultural interests of this country. Already Mr. Seward is informed by leading men who have always supported his measures, that in this thing they will oppose him, and will personally use their influence upon every member of Congress to defeat the measure when it comes up for debate. There are statesmen here who lionestly believe that annexation will largely benefit both ANNEXATION, 11 fected us • exports las since i to make firewood 1 betbic, 1 shipped t rcaciicd pped was till 1864 335; fell in 18G4, ypsum, in ) $40,830. in 1864, , $30,206. le connec- important gradually doubtless, annullcdj so marked ffocted by the treaty th Amcr- rablo con- to deipon- d of the ic United 1 gainst it : -building, Seward is incasurcs, onally use lefeat the spien here uciit both countries, and on principle they will labor to defeat any mcasuro whose tendency will be to delay tiie consummation of tbat thing. TV-cre ore others, and there name is legion, who are personally and pecuniarily interested in the coal enterprises of the country. Their influence is widespread and powerful. The artillery of these in- terests will be brought to bear upon Congress, and, no doubt, with success. The main argument used will be the necessity of revenue, and on this plea Congress will be induced to vote against the measure."* So much for our trade relations Avith the United States. Dur- ing the operation of the Keciprocity Treaty onr farmers found a * Washington correspondent of the II:ilif;ix J/ornui^' Chronicle. The following is a resolution reported by the n! 30 restricted, !rfect union ? ! yet derived ing trade of ot privileges 1 were we a jf commerce Mas shipped >ricultural or inced by the Iding stones, the treaty, 1 the cost of s of our fish ould largely s, and mer- er and forcible er, of the 17tli easy of access inil »inex])lo.-C(l on. or $7,000,- liiis eiKTiiious ?tuich our own y Pennsylvania tor in his effort i^ I chants. If the close proximity of coal and iron be calculated to attract the manufacturer to their vicinity, these lie contiguous in tliis Province. If our gold fields would increase the traffic of the country, we have an earnest of the vigor Avith which they would be developed, in the fact that we are largely indebted to American capital and American enterprise for the celebrity they have already acquired. Canada does not require, and will not take our fish, our coal, our fircAvood, or our vegetables. She has regulated her tariff so as to protect her own manufacturers from the inroads of American com- petitors, but she has refused to place our coal in a like position, Ou; trade is wholly one-sided. We are almost compelled to take from her a large proportion of the articles which we once imported from the United States, — while we can return comparitivcly none of those commodities which so enriched us by shipment to our republican neighbors. The relative value of trade with Canada and with the United States may be seen in the trade returns for 1865, Avhen we export- ed to all the British North American colonies goods to the value of $1,700,755, to Great Britain $7()4,()42, and to the United States $3,619,797, showing that our trade with the Republic M-as more than that with all the rest o the world. It should also be remembered that much that we sent to the other colonies were goods that had been received from abroad, and were not home pro- ductions, whereas nearly all that the Americans took from us were what we had produced ourselves. It is a self-evident fact that a trade with less than throe millions, who want nothing that we pro- duce but gold, can never be so advantageous as trade with over thirty-five millions who will take all that we have to sell, and sell us all that Ave want, both at fair prices. Surely all classes must agree that under this head arguments suf- ficient have been adduced to prove the desirability of annexation to the United States. 3. Government. Of the forms of government which Nova Scotia may choose — there Avoidd seem to be b^ t tAvo Avhich come Avithin the "domain of practical politics," and these are the semi-Monarchical of the Do- minion, and the Republican of the United States. " Repeal " — the , I I 14 ANNEXATION. t I i^ 1 , II ! !■.! i ! I i 1 j 5-1 !M restoration of old Immunities and benefits — has lost its most able advocate in Mr. Howe. In the letter before quoted, he says : " Now let us look at the results of the last delegation, nud sec how much cncouiagcmeut we liave to send anotlior. We went in- structed to demand Repeal. Our first interview satisfied me 'hat it would not be got if Her Majesty's Ministers could Iielp it ; and we naturally addressed ourselves to the ordinary means by wliidi pressure may be brought to bear upon a reluctant Government. Reams of peti- tions, addresses and resolutions were struck off; arguments and explana- tions to suit every taste and capacity were prepared. These were ad- dressed to every member of both Houses, and to all the leading newspa- pers of the three kingdoms. Correspondence was opened and personal interviews sought with members of Parliament and other influential per- sons. Tliis sort of thing went on for months. With what result? Let the country judge. "When it became necessary to shape the resolution to be submitted to Parliament, Mr. Bright told us frankly that though he would go down and ask for "Repeal," pure and simple, if we insisted upon it, it was so unusual, so opposed to English habits of thought and Parliamentary prac- tice, to repeal in such haste an important statute, without any precedent enquiry by a Parliamentary committee or a Roysd Commission, that he did not know at that moment two members who would vote with him, nud should expect to be left m a minority of ten. " With this cheerless prospect before us we had no alternative, and consented to modify the resolution. Availing ourselves of an invitation from the Duke of Buckingham to discuss the general subject again, we urged every argument we could think of to induce His Grace to yield eithe" a committee or a commission. The issue of tlie two debates all the world knows. What others felt I know not, but when I -walked out of the lobby of the House of Commons it was with the full determination never to go there again, on any such errand. " I used to believe thai in a ease involving vested interests, constituti- onal principles and great sums of money, British statesmen and legislators would do justice, though the Heavens should fail. As I strolled home that nigiit, with deep sorrow, aud a sense of humiliation not easily des- cribed, I was compelled to acknowledge that I had cherished a delusion. Anybody else may try a third experiment, and they shall have all the honor and glory if they succeed ; l3Ut I have too much respect for myself, and for my country, to go a third time begging for justice where it is uot to be obtained." Courtesy to England may demand that the subject should be referred to her for a final decision. But few beside those who have some faint hope of indulging in one of those expensive delegations, of which Nova Scotia has for some years been the victim, will believe that another appeal to the British Parliament will be pro- ductive of any practical results. Loyalty is at a discount, — and a new issue arises before the people, demanding their calm and AXXEXATIOX. 15 its most , he says : a, aud see 3 went in- me that it t ; and Ave •h pressure 113 of peti- nd explana- a were ad- ng ncwspa- id personal icntiul per- jsult ? Let ubmitted to ;d go down ;, it was so :ntary prac- Y precedent on, that he 5 with him, [•native, an.] .n invitation again, we ice to yield ebates all alkcd out termination oonstituti- Icglslators lied home easily des- dolusion. ava all the for myself, jre it is not should be who have clcgations, ctim, will ill be pro- it, — and a calm and serious attention, their careful and deliberate judgment, and their manly and independent vote. "Confederation" has been " weighed in the balan^s and found wanting." Confederation has been found to be the oppression of the weak by the strong ; the assumption of office by political dicta- tors ; a provision most liberal for those farthest away from the reach of the people ; a multiplicity of offices ; a concentration of power, and patronage, and place, and fiscal, trade and postal regulations, and veto privilege and superabundant legislative representation, and fortification and militia humbug, in one member of the Con- federacy. '^The Government of the United States is characterized by full, free and fair representation in the National Legislature ; by but few heads of departments, and these at moderate salaries ; by com- paratively insignificant military and naval expenditures in time of peace ; by the absence of a class that could sustain the part of an aristocracy (the " thirty-one great governing families, who largely control elections and influence governments," — whose own peculiar Avelfarc must always be uppermost with regard to national polity, — and who have so few points of sympathy with the loAver or middle classes) ; by all its offices being open to the ambition of tbe peo- ple ; and by its being a stranger to the state-craft and mystery of other and older countries. In the language of John Bright* — referring to the United States — " an instructed democracy is the surest foundation of government, and education and freedom are the only sources of true greatness and true happiness among any people." Confederation demands a Governor-General, by appointment of British office-holders, at a salary of $50,000. Annexation gives us a 'President, elected by vote of the people, at $25,000. Confede- ration demands thirteen heads of departments, to conduct the government of four millions of people, at an outlay of $65,000 for salaries. Annexation introduces us to seven gentlemen who per- form this work for $56,000. Confederation requires for her four Provinces nearly as many apjwintcd Senators as Annexation would shew us the thirty-eight States (two to each State) found it neces- * Speech at Rochdale, Nov. 24, 18G3. I' 1 s ir> ANNEXATION. sary to c/^-c^. Confederation elects one hundred and eighty-two incmbcrs to her House of Commons, without regard to population. Annexation gains us sixty-three representatives, in the true sense of that word.* Confederation apjmints Lieutenant-Governors at $15,000 per annum. Annexation elects them at salaries of from $1,000 to $7,000, according to wealth and population. There arc several considerations which properly come under this head. 1. The reduction of governmental expenses, by the existence of one where there would be two chief magistrates. 2. The reduction of expenses in connection with governmental build- ings — there being need of bxit one capitol. 3. The diminishing of liveried and salaried officials and attendants, in all the public de- partments. 4. The saving of time in the discussion of the public policy of the country. 5. The diminution of extravagant and ponderous delegations to the British Government. (5. The abolition of " a line of demarkation from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Pugct's Sound, bristling with antagonistic armaments, and studded with a double row of custom-houses." When we think of these and the other advantages enumerated, can we have a doubt ao to where it would be most desirable for us to look for a government calculated to be conducive to our material prosperity and legislative interests ? Hi 4. War. Lord Durham, in his celebrated Report on Canada and British North America, said : " A union for common defence against foreign enemies is the natural bond of connection that holds together the great communities of the world, and between no parts of any kingdom or state is the necessity for such a union more obvious than between the whole of these colonies." And almost every Englishman who has given the union of these colonics any attention, and written or spoken at length in reference to it, haf awarded due prominence to the " common defence " consideration. This is not very remarkable when we consider that they have been * New York, with a population about equal to the Dominion of Canada, sends thirty-one members to the House of Kcprcsentativec at Washington. This wouhl have been tlie number tluit sliould have gone to Ottawa liad representation been in the same ratio, and had not tiie concoctors of the Quebec and London Scheme, been anxious to buy it into existence, through a multiplication of offices. pi AXXEXATIOX. 17 glity-two ipulation. -uc sense n'nors at of from ne under , by the rates. 2. ital build- lishing of public de- thc public igant and e abolition to Puget's led with a numerated, able for us Lir material and British ice against that holds DU no parts anion more A.ud almost olonies any ;e to it, hap nsideration. ■f have been Canada, sends This would itation been in ndon Scheme, Roes. I I largely indebted for their facts to the information -which they would derive from parliamentary blue books, laden as they must necessarily have been with a plethora of military returns and military opinions from military men. If our governors have not been alike represen- tatives of the Colonial and War Offices, we have always had from the latter office a commandant for the forces of the garrison, who has considered it necessary in some form to shew to his superiors the evidences of his military genius. These have consisted largely in recommendations as to the " defences " of the country, — the spending of " appropriations " in fortifications, arsenals, hospitals, &c., — the disposition of troops, — and in a general way so far out- stripping his predecessor as to make the " improvements " of the latter of little practical worth. In this manner we are told that there is spent in one year no less than $1,500,000 in the payment and maintenance of troops and sailors in this Province, and, in seven years, something like a million dollars have been expended in adorn- ing the city of Halifax and neighborhood with those imposing and ornamental structures known as fortifications and barracks ! We might have borne all this somewhat complacently had not the military ardor of the Avriters and generals of England been of so infectious a character as to extend itself to our new Dominion officials. A military neophyte has been provided in the person of the Minister of Militia, and we are already beo'inning to compre- hend some of his ideas of the duties of his station. What is now very generally known as the Militia Bill was the chiid of his creation, — and in all its provisions it is as objectionable us to colo- nists generally would be any bill, having for its design the creation out of themselves of an army of targets as •* food for powder." If it makes it necessary for one hundred thousand meii to put in an appearance for drill, &c., of course there will be no end of officers and officials, and, perhaps, a military school — the Hythe or West Point of Canada ! But into the sickening details of this bill we cannot go. An engine of oppression to the people, — it would make common soldiers of them, — and pay them out of money drawn from their own pockets. But whither does this peculiar spirit of a Monarchical Government lead us ? How shall we con- trol it ? Where will it stop ? IS AXXEXATIOX. i'« Cowper says : <, •' War's a Rumc, which were their subjects wise, Kings would not play with." And if this militia preparation is to be taken as an earnest of the j)caccable intentions of the " powers that be," Nova Scotians have every reason to continue to manifest the disapproval of it, which they have already shewn. «. " What is the military strength of the Dominion ?" asks a Canadian writer ;* and proceeds to answer the question in this way : " In settled couutries, one fifth is almost exactly the number of males between eighteen and forty-five years of age, in new countries the pro- portion is rather greater ; Ave are therefore, within the mark if we say that tlie Dominion, with 3,879,885 souls, has a fighting population of 775,000, or that British America, with 4,259,223 souls, contains 852,000 fighting men. Any militia system, to be perfect, should then provide for the training to the use of arms, Vj a certain extent, of three quart- ers of a million. IIow manj' oi these could be supported in the field must of course depend on circumstances — upon our enemies, upon our alliances. In the event of war »vith the United States, if we were fairly supported by Great, Britain, we could probably place at least one tenth of them in the field — say one hundred thousand men, and keep our ac- tive contingent up to that number from reserves. " "hi the Cicnt of war with the United States.^* Is this the secret of all this preparation ? Is the United States the only source from which invasion or trouble is apprehended ? And is it for this that we are to have nice calculations made of the available " fighting population of the country?" Verily, we have need of exerting ourselves to frustrate this unnatural prospective " game." How to defend these colonies and where to defend them " in event of war with the United States," have been posers to such men as Jervois and Bolton and Webber. f And while all agree as to the impossibility of defending a frontier like that presented by * Canadian Year Book, 18G8. . ' 1 1 venture to say, that there is not a man in this House, or a sensible man out of it. who, apar^^^ from the consideration of this vote, or some special cirftumstances attending it, believes that the people of this country could attempt a successful defence of the frontier of Canada against the whole power of the United States. I said the other night, that I hoped we should not now talk folly, and hereafter, in the endeavor to be consistent, act folly, We all know perfectly well, that we are talking folly when we say that the government of this country would send either ships or men to make an effectual defence of Canada against the power of the United States, supposing war to break out. — Sptech of John Bright in House of Commons, March 23, 1866. ANNEXATION. 19 Canada, the latter two gentlemen sec hope of England's mainte- nance of power on this continent only in rearing Nova Scotia into a Crimea, of which we might expv ct Halifax to be the Sebastopol.* Is Canada in possession of a secret which, when brought into operation, will prove these men to be the merest upstarts { Now, the United Statvs have no Sebastopols upon this continent. Before the rebellion they had but fourteen thousand troops. They are as speedily as possible reducing them to their former number. If fourteen thousand were sufficient for a population of thirty-five millions in time of peace, what ought to be sufficient for a popula- tion of one-tenth of that numl>cr ? But how will all this effort to place the Dominion army upon a war footing be viewed by the people of the United States ? Miles O'Reily set afloat among his countrymen of the American " persua- sion " a sentiment something liko this : Ko "Dominion" s...ill be North of us. And South of us no foe — Our Stars and Stripes in the Canadas, And likewise Mexico ! And it is no mere ebullition of Irish fancy, but a deep-seated', strong, ever-growing prejudice, it may be, taking the form of a firm, quiet, unmistakeable determination in the public mind. Is it wise to quicken this preju Jice ? To arouse this determination If * The argument running over the book of Capts. Bolton and Webber is, that' England lias no inducement to hold the Canadas,— that their frontier is indefen- sible, and tlie people lip-loyal, — that their sympathies are peculiarly American, — that the more money tfiey get from England tlie more they will want, — and that the sooner tiiey are given over to the United States, the cheaper and better it will be for those concerned. New Brunswick is more loyal, but contiguous to and at- tracted towards the United States. Their govtmmcnt would be the best for New Brunswick. Nova Scotia, it is assumed, is most loyal of the four, partly because of the army and navy expenditures, and partly because tlvere were twenty thousand loyalists landed on her shores, when war broke out between England and her thirteen colonies. Nova Scotia should, therefore, be retained, and made the Gib- raltar or the Malta of tlie Atlantic. While this little work shows cleverness and research, it is an exceedingly one- eyed argument from a military "tand-point. Soldiers .ire dangerous advisers with regard to colonial rule and requirements, and Messrs. Bolton and Webber are not exceptions in the case. It is time the Local Legislature of Nova Scotia entered their protest against the British Government making the Province a prospective battle ground, even though realizing to us finally a new and more prosperous career. Fifteen years ago Sebastopol had 80,000 inhabitants; to-day it has &,000; and some of its streets have become pastures for cattle. t " The fort at Rouse's Point, which Bouchette describes as ' neglected and la ruins,' has been enlarged to the standard of a flrst-class fortress, and is to us a. more obnoxious object than Luxemburg can possibly have been to France, or Na- poleon's fleet at Boulogne to England, constructed as it is to liold an army, and 9^ ANNEXATIOX. General Grant says — •• Let us have peace !" Canada says — " In time of peace prepare for war." So said President Johnson — •* Let us have peace." And Maximilian had only faintly said — '* In time of peace let us prepare for Avar," ere hia allies became fejvrful of unpleasant entanglements, and forsaking him, left the kingdom of Mexico to fall about its unhap])y Emperor's ears. Perhaps there is a lesson for Canada in this — perhaps not. We shall see,* ,;^/- ,,.,,:,': ,-,;.:?,••. a:,.. -. ■'(',,,.■ . ..■■'■ Certain it is, that if it is desirable that we should escape the dread contingency of war, equally certain is it that that desire can only be realized by our becoming a part of the United States, for it is only in this position that we can be certain of the best material guarantee of a perpetuity of peace. 5. Debt and Taxation. One of the invariable and inevitable concomitants of that " war which mothers hate," is public debt. England, whose National Debt at the end of the seven years' war was $650,000,000, and at the end of the American war, $1,190,000,000; at the close of the Peninsular war had reached the enormous sum of $4,300,000,000. i;l 'I!'' ill ■i( ni 'i pi situated almost witliin cannon shot of Montreal, tlie very heart of the country. In a few years we may perhaps expect to find anotlier fort built on the licad waters of the St. John, to which the States have no more cquital)le light than they liave to Rouse's Point, as menacing to Quebec as the existing fortress is to Montreal. I'os- sibly, however events may take another turn. Injustice, arrogance and fraud do not always prosper long. It would be hard to tell how it may be brouglit about, but the writer entertains the hope tliat some day, by purchase, by the vote of the people of the districts in question, by voluntary or perliaps even by involuntary cession on the part of the United States, these districts, as well as the coiintry between the Kennebec and St. Croix, all parts of our home farm, will be re-unite J to the Dominion." — Canada Year Book, 1868. * " Our best plan is to develop our strength by living at peace with our neigh- bors, and turning our resources into agricultural, commercial and manufacturing channels, instead of standing armies, forts, and ships of war. Our debt already amounts to $75,000,000, and after building the Intercolonial Railroad, and pur- chasing the Northwest Territory, and opening it up, that will, it is believed, bo increased to $110,000,000, the interest of which must amount to nearly seven millions. Is this country so wealthy that we may add to this enormous debt millions of dollars each year? " Furthermore, whatever may be said by a few parties who know little about the country, we believe that the great majority of peace-loving, sober, and sen- sible farmers and mechanics of the Dominion would, if they could make their voices heard, loudly protest against being called from their farms and their work- shops, thirty or sixty days a year, to learn to drill, when no danger threatens from any quarter. Besides the expense of such efforts, there would be the deleterious influences of soldiering continually affecting the community." — Mon- treal Witness. ANNEXATION. n The United States emerged from one of tlie most fratricidal wars of this or any other time, with an accumulated war debt upon her shouhlers of nearly $3,000,()()0,()()0. England was engaged in war from 1854 to 1859 ; first with llussia, then in India, and lastly with China. At the close of 1859 she experienced a period of commercial depression, equalled only hy that which succeeded (ten years before) the China war and the wars of Scinde and the Pun jaub. During the continuance of these wars certain branches of business were stimulated to unusual activity. Manufacturing ability was plied to its utmost to prepare one class of the materiel of war, and the i-ecruiting sergeant was everywhere in requisition to secure another class. Idleness had nothing to say for itself. Close in the ■wake of these war periods came as usual monetary crises, stagnation and distress. But the country weathered it all, as the old flag had *' the battle and the breeze," and no one ever thought of attribut- ing a disaster, great though it were, to a defect in the constitution — to inability in the administration to meet a great crisis — or believed in perpetual financial upheavals and irrevocable taxation. The United States have been placed in similar unpropitious circumstances. They have just shaken themselves clear of a terri- bly exhaustive war. Business that flowed in one new channel during hostilities Is dammed up now. The old channels of trade have to be cleared out. Of course the stream Avill be a little turbid for a while, but it will be clear enough as soon as it has come to a pebbly bed. The newspapers of Halifax said that republican institutions were on their trial — that their weak points would now be made apparent. That the fate of ancient governments of the populace, in days of ignorance and degraded moral perceptions, was to be the fate of a republic with all the advantages and advancement of the nine- teenth century. Division, governmental change, financial ruin, wore prognosticated. But the Republic still lives. The evils which followed in the wake of Avar with England, ten years ago, have followed in its wake in the United States. There are some political problems, some monetary problems, some societary pro- blems to be solved growing out of the war, and these solved, and solved they will be, all will be well. no ANNEXATION. To draw comparisons unfavorable to the Republic, while in the transition state between war and peace, is an unfair position to assume. • >/ We are told that the tax per capita, in England, is $10.92, in the Dominion of Canada $3.8(5, and in the United States $11.46. Taking these figures as correct, we find that England generally maintains in round numbers about five hundred thousand troops, inclusive of the forces in India, with say one hundred thousand militia, available in the event of war. Canada, as yet, has an army only on paper. The United States, previous to the rebellion, kept about fourteen thousand regular troops. Four years' hostilities demanded two million men from the loyal States, and about five hundred thousand from the insurgents. England's taxes may be said to be a permanent institution — the national debt has become so venerable that the existence of the country has been considered problematical without it. It is safe to say that her per capita figures will remain as they are. V Canada's' $3.80 is of certain increase. Customs exactions from Nova Scotia seem to indicate no ability if there is the desire to diminish that sum. When she has a veritable army, and when she begins to incur expenses for fortifications, for gunboats, and for the materials of war, we shall know something more of her per capita tax. When she ceases to be a tax upon England, she may not be fairly chargeable with a share of the per capita tax of her mother.* The United States placed at fifty-two cents a head more than Great Britain, in annual contribution, is placed at $50. "72 per head less in apportionment of the national debt. ^ The tax of the United States is a temporary tax, incidental to the raising, equipping, and sustaining of an army of stupendous magnitude, demanded on an occasion of unusual occurrence. Having burdened herself in a war which bequeathed to her children the heirloom of freedom from slavery, she is njw making unusual eflforts to bequeath to them the V * Le Canadien of Quebec observes that fourteen years ago when McDonald and Carticr went into power, the public debt amounted only to $18,000,000. Five years later it bad reached $60,000,000. Then in 18G7 they had added to it about fl.'ijOOOjOOO. Now witli thirteen ministers, Intercolonial railways, fortifications, a permanent army, and the North West to buy, there are but poor prospects of a debt less burdensome than that of the United States at present. N s y ANNEXATION. 23 N sjy heirloom of freedom from debt. Her army by the 1st of January, 18()9, will be reduced to about forty-three thousand ; and as were the principal part of the fourteen thousand by rebellious design located at the commencement of the war, so now arc the greater part of these of necessity required in the Southern States As angry feelings subside this number will be gradually diminished until the army reaches something like its former proportions. The obliteration of the debt has been commenced. Into the ups and downs of the reducing amounts it is needless to enter. By the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, for the year 18G8, it is incontestibly shewn that in the three years and seven months Mhich have elapsed since the close of the war (from the 1st of April, 18G5, to Ist of November, 18(58,) the accumulated debt, properly chargeable to that event, of something under $3,000,000,000, has been reduced by the payment of $470,256,650. But during this period *herc has been paid for Alaska the sum of $7,200,000, and advanced to the great Pacific llailroads $42,194,000; and while a great reduction of internal taxation had been miide, an unusual military expenditure was incurred in opera- tions against the Indians on the frontiers, and in the maintenance of large forces at expensive points in the Southern States.* And all this, while for a large portion of the time the industry of one- third part of the country was exceedingly depressed, and the other two. thirds had by no means fully exerted their productive power. "Fifteen years hence," say, Harpcr''s Weekly, "our greatly ex- panded resources, our increased productive power, and the greater volume of our products seeking exchange, will bring the value of gold and paper money to a close approximation. Besides our pre- sent annual gold product of $100,000,000 would of itself nearly suffice to pay off the national debt in fifteen years. The volume of of our currency will rest upon no doubtful basis then, and resumption must come naturally and necessarily, if not sooner accomplished by extraneous means." It is estimated that, by the regular natural increase of population and wealth, the burden of the public debt * Subsistence supplies liave been furnished to a daily average of 1G,000 per- sons by the Freedmen's Bureau, which is upholding 1,831 scliools, with 104,327 pupils. The Bureau has expended on these schools during this year f 'J-12,523.GU, which does not include the expenditures of benevolent societies, estimated at $700,000, and by Frcedmcn, estimated at $3GO,000. ! if \t 24 ANNEXATION. ■will diminish in a sum eqalvalent to a reduction of fifty millions of , the principal per annum. At the end of the year 1868 the per capita of the United States will be less than that of England. "^ It should be known .hat the equ..l distribution of the debt makes its burden less oppressive upon the poor than is generally supposed. No man is taxed upon the first thousand dollars of his .' annual profits. On all his profits over that he pays five per cent. — not of his earnings, but of his net profits. If a nan receives one dollar per day, and pays no taxes, and another receives three dol- lars, and pays fifty cents, or one dollar for taxes he is still better off than the man with one dollar and no taxes. And this is the proportionate difference between the mechanic In this Province and in a State of the Union. "Whether if v.e should become connected with that country we should be subject to all the inconveniences of the debt, directly or not, is questionable. Situated as we are, we are not overrun with Americans fleeing from their responsibilities, and but very few of those who leave our shores, with a view to settlement among them, return to remain under their old government for any length of time. But in the face of national debt or per capita tax, what do we find ? England, Franco, Germany, and all the Continental powers, all the Colonial dependencies, be their per capita high or low, parting with a per centage of the young, the strong, the self-reliant, who are pressing into the midst of this thirty-five millions of l)eople so debt-burdened and tax-ridden ! -^ Respected abroad, we find the Republic has not fiulcd to meet all her public obligations at home, — while the energy and enterprise of her people suffer no diminution, and give promise of raising her to a summit of pros- perity never before reached. " " ' ' " " ""^' '*'*'^-''' '' With the debt or without it, there must be such advantages as to leave no doubt of the desirubility of connection with that country, whose — " Free iiitch-string never was drawn In -••'^■*-''- S .';ji' ' 1. Agaiust the poorest child of Adam's kin." <+ yj "i:. < .iji'iii^^iM, 6. Progress. Hinte have not been wanting ti Nova Scotians, that, on their own soil, they lack enterprise, — that they are deficient in " snap," — IH *■ r ANNEXATIOX. N that, like Micawber, they are " waiting for something to turn up/* — and that they are " an easy, hum-drum, apathetic " people. The T^jngiish and the American writer have both had their fling at us for oar Provincial shortcomings. The Englishman sees nothing venerable among us, and the American sees nothing progressive among us. That it is desirable to remove these stigmas is unquestionable. That we could do so, in other circumstances, can be clearly shewn. •The trutli is, British Americans, so long as they remain mere nominal sub- jects of the British Crown, must ever be seen to disadvantage. They compare unfavorably with their American neighbors in all, or nearly all, that has raised the citizens of the United States to their present proud position; they compare un- favorably with Englishmen in all, or nearly all, that has made the English nation feared and respected. Nor is this much to be wondered at, when we come to con- sider tlie very trying circumstances under whicli Britifli Americans, as auch, exist. The North American colonies, unlike any other British colony, lie side by side with a nation whose rapid rise to greatness has no parallel in the history of the world. Rich in all Nature's gifts, and peojjled by a race energetic and enter- prising in the highest possible degree, the great Western Republic offers a bright contrast to that larger portion of America which still remains under the nominal rule of Great Britain. / Ti:e Canadians can, by a mere expression of opinion, at almost any moment be annexed to the States, and there can be little doubt that the result of such annexa- tion would, in the long run, prove highly favorable to Canadian interests. In dealing with the American colonists, England has to treat witl'. men who aiC, as a rule, far more American than English ; indeed in many imi)ort.:nt particulars the tone of the colonists is purely American anu utterly un-English. Living in close proximity witli the States, and numbering among their citizens many families of American descent, it Is but natural that British Americans should in their every- day life exhibit some unmistakable traits of Yankeedom. Their press, their rail- ways, their hotels, their recreations and gei.eral mode of living, tlieir ideas con- cerninf' the " righ>.. of man," their dollar worsliip, their phraseology, and, above all, their utter sensitiveness, regarding foreign criticism, are more in accordance with American than English tastes. It is true, as it now stands, tlie bulk of tlie colonists in Lower Canada and the Maritime Provinces greatly prefer British to American rule, but were the Home authorities to recall the Britisli troops, and say to the colonists : Garrison your own towns in time of peace ; it is by no means improbable that the pu'-tiality of our trans-Atlantic fellow-subjects for Britisli con- nection would be considerably diminished. In the city of Halifax, for example, the money yearly expended by the army and navy, added to that expended upon fortificaticns, cannot be less than a ruarter of a million, or about £U per head for every man, woman and child within the confines of tlie city. Withdrav/ the army and navy from Halifax, and the metropolis of Nova Scotia would speedily subside into a. state of insignificance. If, however, we turn to the town of Yarmouth, situated on the western coast of Nova Scotia, and deriving no pecuniary benefit from England, we find a popula- tion virtually Amciican, and, as such, prosperous and energetic. The same re- mark, s'-'jhtly mollified, holds good re^jarding the inhabitants of St. John, the thief ci^y of New Brunswick; in fact, throughout the whole extent of the Lower Provinces the greatest material prosperity is found in those localities wherein the Yankee element prepon -derates most sU'ongly. Such being the case, it is by no means strange that tb.u colonists, taken en masse, should regard tmy prospect of a v*-ar with the United States as a calamity far greater than a rupture of those fragile ties vhich now link them to the policy of Great Britain. — The Confederation of li. N. America, by Capts. Bolton and ^'''ebber. ( i 26 ANNEXATION. II Let us examine some stadstics, compare figures, and draw some fair deductions : .j-!. ,. The population of Nova Scotia is not, to-day, over 375,000. Forty years ago it is said to have been 150,000. Tbo Province covers an area of 18,600 miles, and no part of it is rxiore than twenty miles from the salt water. lu 1866 the total tonnage owned was about 400,895 tons, valued at $13,749,547, there having been built in that year 390 vessels, registering 58,955 tons, and valued at $2,388,580. The quantity ox coal raised in one year, 1865, was 651,256 tons, but in 1867 this quantity was reduced to 542,128, in consequence of the abrogation of the Recipiocity Treaty. The yield of gold for the year 1867 was 27,588 ozs.; and in 18t>o the value of the lumber and timber exported was $794,997 ; of fish, $3,244,940; fish oil, $133,826 ; horned cattle and other animals, $174,219; vegetables, $210,619; and butter and lard, $138,180. The total exports for 1866 Avere valued at $8,043,095, and the im- ports at $14,381,008.* The Provincial grants for education a- mounted in 1867 to $162,060, while the amount raised by the vari- ous sections Avas $262,912, supplemented by payments made by counties of $91,477; the total appropriations reaching to $516,449. From these data, an approximate estimate may be had of the com- merce, the industry and the material wealth of the Province. We now turn to the Republic, and take a New England, a Western, and a Pacific State, which may in all justice be placed in juxtaposition. They are all larger in area than ^T^^nva Scotia, but mere size does not give one country an advantage over another. There are striking points of similarity in the physical geography of two of the States — '> V / s / \ y Great Britain *. . $287,884 Canada 574,762 New Brunswick 665,482 Newfoundland 604,395 Prince Edward Island. 263,60 J United States 3,228,550 British West Indies. . . .1,636,678 Tc all other countries. . 882,747 $8,043,096 IMPORTS. Great Britain. . . §5,893,596 Canada 726,164 New Brunswick 820,814 Neiyfoundland 175,37'.^ Prince Edward Island . 346,469 British West Indies 1,013,363 fcipanish West Indies. . . 1,091,456 United States 4,041,844 Another countries 271,930 - -|.«»4 $14,381,008 Shewing, as already rtated, that more than one-third of our exports go to the U- nitcd States, as also that our imports thence are nearly equal in value; wliile the great disparity of these in our trade with England is no less striking. In short, we are able to return to the United States native productions in almost sufficient quan- tities to pay for what we ob;ain in that quarter, — but are compelled to send gold to England for the greater pari of what we import from her. *' ::• AXXEXATIOX. 27 s \ Maine and Wisconsin — but wken wo come to Nevada, yvc find .nothing but its silver mines and its rocks to afford us an object worthy of comparison with our own promising country. Maine was separated from Massachusetts, of which State she was originally a part, in 18^0. The area of sciuare miles covered is about double that of Nova Scotia, and the population is about double the number. This has been the maintained ratio as far back as 1825. A difficulty meets the seeker after fair statistics in this State. A people who could contribute seventy-one thousand five hundr-'d and fifty-eight soldiers, more than one-tenth of the popu- lation, to the national cause, at an expense of upwards of fourteen million dollars, and at a loss of fifteen thousand and eighty -eight disabled or killed, should not be expected to regain their status of population, trade, and pursuits in a few years of peace. And yet, not- withstanding the absence of the varied natural resources of this Pro- vince, and her dependence almost wholly upon her timber, ship- building and manufacturing interests, Maine has conducted her civil administration at a cost of less than $325,000, expended for all pui'- poses $2,882,080, and was able to announce that the State Tax could be reduced at least $1,200,000 in 1866, Maine expended for educa- tional purposes in 1826 the same amount expended by Nova Scotia in 1865. The rateable estates of her chief city in 1850 were established by State valuation at $7,311,561. In 1860 they had reached the sum of $21,856,000, Portland, Bangor, Augusta, Gardiner, Calais, Eastport, ]\Iachias, Bath, Topsham, Thomastown, and Hallowell (cities and towns of respectable dimensions and populations), saw-mills and factories and shipyards, steamboats and railroads, have all their history, to show the benefits which Maine derives from her connection with the Ilepublic. With neither the coal, the plaister, the grindstones, the iron, the gold, the alluvial marshes, the extensive seaboard, or the prolific fisheries of Nova Scotia, she yet moves on with the tide of prosperity which seems to flow correspondingly into the most remote and humble, as into the most central and wealthy, members of the great Commonwealth. Wisconsin was admitted to the privileges of a State of the Union In 1848, with a population of 200,000. In 1830 it had only 3,245 inhabitants; in 1850, 305,538, and to-day its popula- tion is probably 1,000,000 ! It covers an area of 56,000 square ■I •teMMitM^Mib« , .."*^ll ■'•V«»/-''.''?*':^:V 28 ANNEXATION. miles, with portages upon Lakes Michigan and Superior, and 1140 miles of railway running wholly through its southern half. The great business of its people is farming and lumbering. From Mil- waukie, in 1866, there were nearly 12,000,000 bushels of wheat, and 1,500,000 bushels of oats shipped, while it is computed that the value of flour and meal ground in the State in that year was $11,510,834, and of the lumber sawed and planed about $4,000,000. The rapid growth of population has been met with proper provisions for education and for the circulation of information among the masses. There are one hundred and forty-nine neAvs- papers in the State, and the appropriation for public schools in 1866 was $1,075,572. Wisconsin possesses many features similar to Nova Scotia. The mean annual temperature of the one is 46°, of the other 44°. The winters of both being cold and generally dry; the springs sometimes backward, often cold and rainy ; the summers short and hot ; the autumns mild and almost always pleasant. Our dyked marshes being given as a set off to the prairie lands of this State, we find the products of the soil similar, — the native animals nearly the same, and the resemblance in the nationality of inhabitants not unlike, there being no less than twenty thousand British North Americans in this one State. Its progress has not equalled some of its sisters, but with many of the advantages, and without many of the sources of wealth and prosperity which Nova Scotia possess, it hiiS far outstripped her in material progress and increase of popula- tion. Let us now turn to another State in the American Union — with no such climate as Nova Scotia has — -with no such soil — " the land of sage bushes and alkali," one of their own daily papers calls it, — / with no State railroads ; mountainous, sterile, with the most dan- gerous of highways, — the State of Nevada, — with only one inviting- feature in its composition — its mines of silver and gold.- Organized into a Territory in 1861, admitted into the Union in 1864, it has now a population of from forty-five to fifty thousand. Eight years ago, Virginia City, the capital of the State, contained in buildings, all counted, three canvas houses, inhabited by about fifty persons. A traveller says : " I suppose a more forbidding, dreary, desolate spot does not exist on the face of the globe. Not a living thing r } AXNEXATION. 29 ; grew on the barren, desert waste, if you except a few stunted pine and cedar bushes. Yet on this naturally miserable spot, whoso only redeeming yet ail powerful feature was the minerals hidden beneath its surface, has arisen a magnificent city, rivalling very many more prosperous ones on the Atlantic slope."* .,,.•;;;,,,.,, "... 'J'his is confirmed by a popular writerf who passed through the country in 1859, and who further says : " I estimate that 300 habi- tations, mainly log, are quite as many as existed in the entire region which is now the State of Nevada, that its civilized population did not exceed five thousand, and that its ^aggregate product was barely adequate to the subsistence of this number. To-day, Nevada .pro- duces more silver, and little less gold, than any other State or Ter- ritory ; and the next census will give her a population of at least two hundred thousand." The full and exhaustive report of Mr. J. Ross Browne, upon the resources of this State, shews that " ignorance and indifference " of any portion of the United States, could not be predicated upon the supineuess of that government. t j, , j ":.|,j Alaska, even, for the acquisition of which that astute statesman, W. H. Seward, is said to have zealously labored, and who was the subject of no little ridicule for his " ice-berg purchase," has proved already what great possibilities are attainable under the a^gis of the American eagle. Who knew or who cared to know anything about Russian America before it passed out of the hands of Russia ? llow different now. Its topographical and geological peculiarities are being investigated. Gold, furs and fish are attracting emigrants from the other States, — while California has been receiving thus early the evidences of her wealth of the sea. ' > ,i .;'./ ,!■' \V * "The Great We3t," Sampson & Co., London, 1868. t "Recollections of a Busy Life," by Horace Greeley, 1808.- J " Report of J. Ross Browne on the Mineral Resources of the States and Ter- ritories West of the Rocky Mountains." Appended to a •• Report by J W. Taylor, on the Mineral Resources of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains," is a very able letter by P. S. Hamilton, of Hali- fax, to that gentleman, on the Coal and Gold Mines of Nova Scotia. It is somewhat significant that enough interest is attached to our capabilities and resources to make them the subject of so much investigation and outlay on the part of a foreign govern- ment. Nova Scotia has been the recipient of larger favors in this respect from the American Government than from the English, as is evidenced by a very elaborate report upon her " Trade Relations " with the United States, by K. H. Derby, a gentleman deputed to make enquiries under this head in the British North American Provinces, and who quite astonished some of the Halifax newspapers by the industry and perseverance ho manifested in procuring information out of our public offices in a very short time. 30 ANNEXATION. 4 Having now produced pretty clear evidence that we have not attained to that state of prosperity, which has attended some States of the American Union, under circumstances of superior situation, equal capabilities, and greater age in Nova Scotia, — the question naturally arises, why could we not obtain a like prosperity ? Why should not a combinttion in this Province of most of the sources of advancement which have given these States their name and fame, produce for us, in like position, like results? This of comiiarative progress. Of i)rosi)cctivc progress, not posi- tively involved under former heads, we may summarize as making not less desirable a union with the United States : — 1. A more direct and cheaper connection with Maine, and consequently with all the States, than by the Intercolonial Railway, through the Euro- pean and North American Railway ; when the Pacific Railroad is completed, giving us unbroken travel from Halifax to San Fran- cisco.* 2. A larger and better protected and encouraged develop- ment of our industrial and natural resources. 3. The completion of old and opening of new canals, and the starting of steamboat and other enterprises. 4. The rapid increase in the value of real estate. 5. The larger opening for the abilities of our literary, scientific, and business men, our mechanics, manufacturers and others. 6. The partaking of those influences which operated in forming the national character at home, and which now wield so great a power abroad. f • On the Ist of December, 18tj8, there was an interval of less thiin four hundred miles remaininf? between the two main portions of the Pacific Railroad line. Of this gap the greater portion was graded, and it is believed that the whole line may be opened to the P.aciflc waters by June, 18G9. It appears that no less than seven hundred miles of this great national thoroughfare have been built within the year 1868, exclusive of the branch lines, which must have been two hundred and fifty miles additional. Of this the eastern portion of tiie main stem line has contributed four hundred miles between the crests of tiie Black Hills and Uinta Mountains. The Central Pacific Company, who build and control the westerly portion, with a late start over the Sierra Nevada Mountains, have, by dint of energy and abun- dant supplies of cheap and serviceable Asiatic labor, swept east at the rate of fifty miles per month up the valley of the Humboldt, and threading their way from the head waters of that river to the northern point of Salt Lake, there they may be expected to arrive with the track all laid in March, 18G9. t Frequent allusions are made in our city newspapers to the crime, distress an'^ social condition of society in the United States. It is fair to assume that these allusion' are made not so much from an inclination in every case to give the impression that al these evils arise through the tendencies of Republican institutions, as from the ob- trusive frequency with which such records are met, owing to the daily receipt of news- papers from the principal cities of the Union.'Tiew York is within forty-eight hours and London twelve days sail of Halifax. Every day's news i-eaches us from one 4Uarter; only a few days out of twelve from the other. We are more impressed with matters transpiring on this side of the Atlantic than on the other. Consequently, when^ we ANNEXATION. St Wc have adduced enough to shew that neither with England, as under former rule, nor with Canada, under prciient rule, is it to our advantage to be united. The incubus upon us has been — a government at too wide a distance from us — an aim unfixed as to the future — our sympathies and interests divided — and a destiny to us altogether dark and uncertain.* The desirability of permanent connection with the United States does not admit of a doubt. hear of fifty thousand people being out of employment in New York, at a period, pro- bably, wlien certain branches of business are at rest, — weoverlookthc fact that London, and the manufacturing cities of England, have a far larger proportion of their popula- tion in like condition, — and that in one end of London alone there are fifty thousand paupers, a pupetual, unproducing part of the community. When we hear of all the crimes in the calendar being committed in New York, we stand aghast at their near- ness, — although exactly similar transactions are occurring; over the sea. When we pee the number of divorces granted up to a certain day paraded in our newspapers as the record of only that day's applications, and as indicativeof every day's applications for divorce, — we forget that the business of the Divorce Court in England is not made s j public as it is in the States, — and that the brutality and crime of husbands, high and low, denote but little respect for what is so generally esteemed a sacred ordinance, and may well call up the suspicion that married misery on one side is not always to be pre- ferred to divorced happiness on the other. New York is not unmindful of religion or of benevolence. In 1834 there were one hundred and twenty churches in that city ; and in 1867, four hundred and nineteen churches, chapels and missions. In 1834, there were twenty-five benevolent societies, whose receipts were over §500,000 ; in 1867 there were three hundred benevolent so- cieties. The receipts of the leading national societies were $6,000,000 ; of the local societies 82,000,000 ; besides special gifts of Si'2,500,000 to various philanthropic ob- jects. And there is a corresponding record of devout feeling and philanthropic effort in every town and city in the Union. While tliere is enough of crime and distress and social evil in both countries to give all good men work to do with mind and means and soul, there is none of that abject poverty for a Peabody to relieve iu' his own country, which he has found his great wealth inadequate to overcome in the land of his adoption ; and America has reason to be thankful that it has never been necessary for her to receive from the home of her forefathers a Jamestown or a George Griswold to alleviate the miseries of the starving poor or the distressed operative. * The embarrassments which arise on all hands make us fear that the present plan of Confederation has not produced marvellously good results. Everything appears un- certain. We are told of the foundation of a great Empire ; but the different parcels from which it is to be made up are not strongly united. On the other hand, we may say that there is an underground labour of dislocation. Nova Scotia is, so to .^eak, in in- surrection. New Brunswick murmurs ; Lower Canada is not in love with the Union ; and Upper Canada takes pleasure in counteracting the policy of the Federal Govern- ment. The Premier of the latter Province troubles himself vory little to please the Federal Cabinet, and to act in unison with the conservative doctrines of Sir John A. MacDonald. According to appearances the Ottawa Ministers do all in their power to embarrass the Provincial Governments, and thus to execute the policy of centralization and absorption, which the authors of the Quebec Conference had in view. In tlie face of the conflict what should we do ? Should wc not fight boldly in favour of Local Gov- ernments? We believe that a free government in Lower Canada is necessary for the conservation of its nationality. A legislative union would diminish certain expenses of legislation such as the usage of the two languages ; but according to us it can never be a " renovation in which we should again saturate ourselves in the living springs of fi'eedom." We should prefer the American system which recognizes the independence and sovereignity of the several States. The Pays seems to desire the abolition of local governments as strongly as the Montreal Gazette and the Telegraph, which, however, have for a few days retreated, so as not to awaken suspicion." — Quebec Canadien. 32 ANNEXATION. «\ Having thus established the first proposition propounded, by the .irguments — 1. That England is ignorant of our geographical posi- tion, and political requirements, as well as indifferent to our present condition and future prosperity ; 2. That our trade demands, as the existence of the ** Reciprocity Treaty " demonstrated, that we have closer affiliation with the United States ; 3. That the government ox that country is one better adapted to our needs than that of the Do- minion ; 4. That war, if it conies to our shores, is most likely to come through our connection with England ; 5. That the debt and taxation of the United States need be no serious impediment to our prosperity ; and 6. That our progress would bear some relative pro- portion to that which marks the States of the Union — nnd fortifying these arguments by evidence the most conclusive — it only remains for the reader to give this branch of the subject his honest investigation and judgment, and decide, as he will be called upon one day in some manner to do, whether it is not desirable that Nova Scotia should form one of that great nation, which is destined to say : — ' No pent-up Utica contracts our powers, '^ The whole, unbounded continent is ours. -■ :> We come now to the question : II. g$ it im^Mt Uv S0va 3Mn U htcmmt imnmA to From recent developments in the political world, not alone in Germany and Spain, but even in this little Province of Nova Scotia, we might very legitimately come to the conclusion that nothing affecting a change in the opinions of either governments or individ- uals is impossible I Transformations and revolutions and conver- sions are succeeding each other with wonderful rapidity, and blood-' lessness, and equanimity. What our national position may be — a twelvemonth hence — might fairly come within the range of pure speculation. Is it possible for Nova Scotia to become an integral part of the Republic adjoining the Dominion ? This is a grave question. Let us give it a grave answer. . v. To do 80 it is proposed to consider some facts, comparisons and deductions involved in — 1. The acquisitions of territory by the United States ; 2. The practical operation of the Monroe Doctrine ; > -> '> ; ANNEXATION. m o. The similarity to these colonies of ihc Ionian lsla7iJs, as regards geographical and governmental position ; and 4. Some logical sequences, fairly deducible from the premises. With a few practical hints as to organization, — a glance at the encouragements in our situ- ation, — the subject Avill be drawn to a conclusion by a suggestion as to the most effective course to be pursued in the future. 1^ i),r -.i*'^' ;,!;«<:(■;/:, ivij; 1. Tehuitouy. >;'^.f; v!m> ,v>.l,fl( The thirteen united colonies, which issued the declaration of independence, entered into the confederation of 1778, and formed' the constitution of 1789, were New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Penusylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. The States subsequently admitted into the Union were formed partly out of new territory and partly by subdividing some of those already named, -..-.i .!)...,• h » .. . »4 vvi, . v. i. vis •.,,.: The first purchase of new territory was made in 1812, when France was induced to part with Louisiana.* The extent of thig important and valuable purchase can only be comprehended by reference to a map of the United States. It comprised what are now the States of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Oregon, Nebraska, and Colorado, and the Territories of Idaho^ Washington, and part of Dacotah, as well as what is known as the Indian Territory. Bounded on one side by the Mississijipi, on another by British America, on another by the Pacific and oy the States and Territories purchased from Mexico, it meets the Missis- sippi again, almost at a point. A glance at the map will shoAv that it occupies an area of about one-third of the present United States. The next addition of territory was by the purchase of Florida from Spain, in 1819. This completed her possess* ons from Maine to Texas, and between those points excluded continental powers from the ownership of soil in proximity to her. Between 1845 and 1848, the United States came into possession of the present States of Texas, Nevada and California, and the • When the United States purchased Louisiana from the French Government for the sum of $15,000,000, two millions and a half were retained as a con.pensa- tion for the illegal captures made by France, in the hostilities between the two countries, in 1797-1800. Will the Alabama claims be settled in this or a similar manner ? 3 34 ANNEXATION. Territories of Utah and New Mexico, by purchase and conquest, from Mexico ; and of the Territory of Arizona, by purchase, in 1854 ; giving her, with Washington Territory and Oregon, a fron- tage upon the Pacific of about 1000 miles. ■ ' v ' - During the present year she has effected another purchase, that of Russian America, — now known as the Territory of Alaska, giving her a greatly extended frontage upon the Pacific : and, when put in pOo.ses8ion of the Island of San Juan, (commanding the Straits of Fnca between Vancouver and Washington Territory,) as she assuredly will be, almost enveloping British America upon the Pacific side.* Fully two-thirds of the domain of the United States have been additions made since 1812. All her conquests were made during the time the slave-holding element was uppcjmost in her councils, and in almost all cases resulted from difficulties arising out of the " peculiar institution." In her various negociations in reference to boundaries she has yielded nothing, invariably gaining her points. Let us see how far she has been successful in two or three im- portant particulars, especially with reference to boundaries between British North America and the United States. Without dwelling upon the various controversies which took place as regards the lines in dispute dividing Canada and New Brunswick from the Republic, it will suffice to say, that the main portion of the territory, that be- tween Canada and Maine, covered eleven millions of acres, which were then valued at $15,000,000, and which completely intercepted communication between Canada and the Maritime Provinces. The Ashburton treaty, which a Canadian authority says should ever be held infamous, surrendered two tracts of great importance : " Fint, the most fertile portion of the valley of the St. John, including the region watered by its tributaries, the Aroostook, the Fish River, the Allegash, &c.; covering some 8,000,000 acres, the possession of which by a foreign power impedes direct com- munication between Quebec and the lower Provinces by rail as well as by internal na- vigation. Secondly, the tract between the true line of 46° and the old line, which gave the Americans possesion of Rouse's Point. Of this Daniel Webster said, in an address to the New York Historical Society : — If we can trust the highest military authority in the country — if we can trust the general sense of intelligent persons acquainted with the subject — if we can trust our own common sense on looking to the map — an object . of threat importance has been attained for the United States and the State of New York. ' ' * The Washington correspondent of the Cincinnati Chronicle says : — " General Grant is known to be favorable to our obtaining possession of an unbroken coast line on the Pacific. I am dispowd to believe that an effort will also be made by his admin- istration to secure possession of Lower California and that portion of Sonora which •would place the head of the Gulf of California within the boundarieB of our territory, instead of being, as now, forty miles up the Colorado River." N « / \ " / ANNEXATION. 86 Again, in establishing the division line which separated Minne- sota and Dacotah from British America, ** from the water commu- nication between Lake Huron and Lake Superior to the north- western point of the Lake of the "Woods," a vast territory was surrendered by Great Britain. ;, . , ^ - Again, in defining the lines separating English and American territory on the Pacific coast, England claimed what is now Wash- ington Territory and the greater part of Oregon. By the Treaty of Washington, 1846, England surrendered her claim. With Russian America, the Americans have bought another boundary dispute which they will have to settle with England. We can scarcely doubt who may press her claim with most success.* From all these, facts we gather cognizance of the rapidly in- creasing territorial extent of the United States. That from being the smallest power on this continent, she has become the largest. That she needs but Mexico and the British possessions to give her uninterrupted sway from Newfoundland to Behring's Straits, and from Behring's Straits to the Bay of Campeche. And that she has never shewn any inclination to relinquish or abate her preten- sions to that which she once asserted was hers of right. The inference is fairly deducible also from these premises, that the thing called "Manifest Destiny" is no mere vapoury senti- ^ In all these negociations the indifference of England to Colonial rights and inter- ests is not less manifest than her determination not to risk anj breach of the peace between the two powers. The same striking disregard of Colonial privileges is to be found in her action with regard to the fisheries of these coasts. The Americans pressed for the privilege against the wishes of the colonists. Our rights and laws were ignored, and, as usual, the Americans were triumphant. The advantage which Americans are invariably allowed, in preference to another npture with them, is exemplified in the nogociations which succeeded the war of 1812. The United States demanded the return of or payment for her slaves who had escaped from the coast to British cruisers. After a long controversy, England paid over to the Americans the sum of $1,200,000 in lieu of the slaves. Another instance in point is the discussion which has taken place in reference the what is commonly known as the 'Alabama" claims. In Mr. Adams' note to the British Government, dated 23rd October, 1863, he proposed that the matters in dis> pute should be referred to some neutral power. To this Earl Russell replied August 30th, 1866 : " Her Majesty's Government must decline either to make reparation and compensation for the captures made by the Alabama, or to refer the question to any Foreign State." If we may judge by the despatches coming over the wires, a very material change has come over the spirit of the British Government, and the United States will virtually, if not actually, receive all fbr which they have been contending. Should they not, then the maritime [population of this ship-owning Province have a peculiarly unpleasant interest in the prolongation of these claims. England involved in a European war — and the precedent of England adopted in the United States — a dozen Alabamas might be let loose to prey upon our shipping. Of course, " Annexa- tion " would debar us from any danger in view of such a difficulty. 36 ANNFXATIOX. ment indulged in by " Fourth of July orators," but in the American mind has become an actuating principle, — a prophecy to be fulfilled by the nation.* Indeed, there are not wanting the evidences to shew that this *' destiny " is in course of completion. We have seen the strides made in the past. We have seen that England and France have left Mexico to her fate, — and what that fate will eventually if not speedily be, no one doubts. We know that Cuba has been a long coveted prize — that it has been brought before the nation by those who would have it by foul means as by those who would have it by fiiir means — and that recent movements of the Government at Washington shew that the acquisition of the " gem of the Antilles" — being considered " a political necessity" — the present is deemed a peculiarly proper and fitting time " to act and til r-yM. i:):;"jM'/r» f'-tl *'• What vigorous individual in the full career of success^ halts, and folds his arms contented with what he lias achieved if anytliin{j yet remains to he attained ? And of the active, eager, ambitious intrepid men is the active, eager, ambitious intrepid nation composed — urged on by the same passions, impelled by the same desires. ' The law of progress,' says Mr. Everett, 'is as organic and vital in the youth of States as in individual men.' We must be a great nation or a little one ; we must advance or we must recede. We cannot escape the destiny of our posi- tion. Perhaps it might be well, if it were possible, to pause in our impetuous career. Perhaps wealth and population would accumulate more rapidly in our large cities, agriculture in the old States would advance more steadily, their rural districts become more populous; but it is a vain expectation. Whil' Mexico is crumbling to pieces beneath her miserable rulers — while Central America is a stumbling-block and a stone of offense in the very path not only of our progress but of our communications — wliile Cuba, misgoverned and liable at any moment to fall a prey to European ambition, is within half a day's sail of our coasts — so long the territorial progress of America is a law of our existence." — Harper's Magazine. " We believe it is the destiny of the Canadas, and perhaps of all British North America, ultimately to unite its fortunes with ours. We iiold that contigu- ity, a common interest in the navigation of the great cliain of lakes and rivers which traverse the heart of our continent, our common origin, language, and re- presentative institutions, foreshadow and commend . .'ch a fusion. It is at war alike with her essential interests and with ours th^' ; long line of demarkation from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Puget's Sound i->juld bristle with antagonistic armaments and be studded with a double row of cu lom-houses. We shall soon need her timber, grain, cattle, and wood; she has like need of our cotton, sugar, agricultural machinery and manufactures ; and these mutual wants will in time command and secure a union like that between long jealous, hostile, belligerent, England and Scotland.'' — New York Tribune. " To be repressed on the north by a province whose governing power is instinct with the spirit of effete feudalism, whose Governor General is delegated in the in- terest and by virtue of the divine right idea which was repudiated on this continent by the Declaration of Independence, is repugnant to American notions of the fitness of things, confining and irritating to oor Republican institutions, and an obstacle to the realization of the manifest destiny of the American Republic — the absorption of the whole North American continent. The genius of our race will not forev - brook these metes and bounds. Our natural boundaries are the Atlan- tic, the Pacific, the Arctic Ocean and the Gulf. We can endure within these limits no rival ' Dominion.* " — New York Herald, \ i ^ ANNEXATION. 87 i / to act promptly." We find now an insidious attempt being made by England to fasten upon the American body a monarchical ex- crescence, which shews signs already of making itself unpleasant to sensitive olfactories.* If we see in Maine the point of ap/oic in- serted between Canada and New Brunswick, the time may arrive (sooner perhaps than we expect) when the gangrene of this sore might be thought to require a much deeper and rougher use of the surgical instrument than has yet been made ! The establishment of the Union upon a firmer basis than previous- ly, by the war that resulted in the exclusion of slavery from the National Constitution, must give to this " destiny " a more certain prospect of fulfilment. Until the settlement of their own internal differences was over, the decision upon future boundaries and future acquisitions could be attempted with no good grace. These are over, — and a brighter goal opens up for the South as well as for the North. New sources of agricultural wealth, and improved means of obtaining it, greater mechanical energy, larger develop- ments of natural resources in the South, are being made the subject of comment in the mercantile and scientific periodicals of the day. The cultivation of ramie, in addition to the staples of cotton, rice and tobacco, the invention and use of labor-saving machinery in raising the products of the soil, the discovery and utilization of the Charleston phosphates, the infusion of new blood, new energy, new enterprise into the South — which has indicated by the increased value of its productions for tl\p past year over that of the year before the war, how speedily it responds to the touch of the hand of industry-^all these are assurances that the war which has tempor- arily diverted the course of a high destiny, has only eventuated in a new starting point, with wonderfully increased advantages, for that great future which fate has fixed for the nation. If it were advisable to become united with the Republic to escape the horrible contingency of war, — it is no less certain from what has been adducedf that that stern arbiter would bring us de- liverance from the thraldom in which we are now held by Canada. We may, therefore, place it among those means by which we may possibly (if it be reluctantly) obtain admittance into that country — " Where once the embattled farmers stood, And fired the shots heard round the world." ai * « * Note at foot of page ] 9. t Page 18. r HBI wimr^immmmsi is ANNEXATION. 1^ 1^ 2. The Monroe Doctrine. , Before proceeding to a more direct answer to tlic question un- der consideration, we may be permitted to adduce another reference to the recognized policy of the United States, as an instance in tlie " logic of events," pointing to the possibility of our becoming a State in that country. The " Monroe Doctrine " had its origin on this wise : — When the allied powers, known as the " Holy Alliance," had restored to the throne of Spain that Ferdinand whom the people h id ejected from it, Mr. Canning, then one of the master-spirits of the British Ministry, gare the United States Government a hint of the possi- bility of an attempt being made to restore to Spain those American colonies which had then become independent of her. Mr. Canning thought a " moral demonstration " might be made with " less offence and no less efficiency " from this side of the Atlantic than from the otbor. Thus prompted, Mr. Monroe, in his address to Congress, in 1823, spoke as follows : — " The citizens of the United States cherish sentiments the most friendly in favour of the liberty and happiness of their fellow-men on that side of the Atlantic, In the wars of the European powers in matters relating to themselves, we have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy so to do. " It is only when our rights are invaded, or seriously menaced, that we resent injuries or make preparation for our defence. With the move- ments iu this hemisphere, we are of necessity, more immediately connec- ted, and by causes which must be obvious to all enlightened and impar- tial observers. The political system of the allied powers is essentially different, in this respect, from that of America. This difference proceeds from, that which exists in their respective governments. And to the de- fence of our own, which has been achieved by the loss of so much blood and treasure, and matured by the wisdom of our most en- lightened citizens, and under which we have enjoyed unexampled felicity, this whole nation is devoted. We owe it, therefore, to candour, and to the amicable relations existing between the United States and those powers, to declare, that we should consider any attempt, on their part, to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere, as dangerous to our peace and safety. " With existing colonies, or dependencies of any European power, we have not interfered, and shall not interfere. But with the governments who have declared their independence, and maintained it, and whose in- dependence wp have, on great consideration and on just principles, ac- knowledged, we could not view any interposition for the purpose of op- pressing them, or controlling, in any other manter, their destiny, by any European power, in auy other light than as the manifestatioa of an un- , , \ / r fi ANNEXATION. S9 friendly disposition towards the United States. In the war between those new governments and Spain, we declared our neutrality at the time of their recognition, and to this we have adhered, and shall continue to ad- here, provided no change shall occur, Avhich, in the judgment of the competent authority of this government, shall make a corresponding change on the part of the United States indispensible to their security." In this we have the " Monroe Doctrine," which, whatever its influence in governing Continental powers in their dealings with former possessions on this continent, is as popular in the United States at the present moment as it was when first it came from the eloquent lips which enunciated it. If this be doubted, take these confirmations, in language strong, and in pointedness most apparent, from the last message delivered by President Johnson : — " While tb^ United States have on all occasions professed a decided un- willingness tJiat any part of this continent, or of its adjacent islands shall be made . theatre for a new establishment of monarchical power, too little has been done by the United States on the other hand to attach the com- munities by which we are surrounded to our own country, or to lend even a moral support to the efforts they are so constantly making to se- cure republican institutions for themselves " The acquisition of Alaska was made with the view of extending the national jurisdiction and republican principles in the American hemis- phere Comprehensive national policy would seem to sanction the acquisit'on and incorporation into a Federal Union of the several adjacent continental and insular communities as speedily as it can be done peacefully, lawfully, and without any violation of national justice, faith or honor. Foreign possession or control of those communities has hitherto hindered the growth and impaired the influence of the United States. Revolutions ard anarchy there would be equallj' injurious. Each one of them when firmly established as an independent Republic, or when incorporated into tlie United States would be a new sources of strengtl: and power. Couforming my administration in these particulars to these views, I have on no occasion lent support or toleration to unlaw- ful expeditions on foot upon the plea of republican propagandism or of national extension or aggrandizement. The necessity however of repres- sing such unlawful movements clearly indicates the duiy which rests up- on us of adapting our legislative action as the new circumstances of a de- cline of European monarchical power and influence render necessary. . . '' [ am aware that upon the question of further extending our possessions it is apprehended by some that our political systeia cannot s«iccessfully be applied to an area more extended than our continent, but the convic- tion is rapidly gaining ground in the American mind that with the in- creased facilities for inter-communication between all portions of the earth the principles cf free government as embraced in or.r constitution, faith- fully mainiained and carried out, would prove of sufficient strength and breadth to comprehend within their scope and influence all the civilized nations of the world." , ,. ^ . . fi 4flHM 40 ANNEXATION. A notable instance of the Monroe Doctrine being brought into practical operation is found in recent Mexican events. Mexico, which between 1821 and 1862, had no fewer than forty-six revolu- tions and seventy-six Presidents, started, to all appearances, in 1864, upon a new and promising career. Maximilian, who had the countenance and encouragement of the principal European powers, ariiveJ at Vera Cruz on the 24th of Mav, and entered the capital amid manifestations of the greatest enthusiasm on the 12tli of June. AVhether it was that England foresaAV or was forewarned that the uphoidence of the new Emperor by foreign bayonets would be distasteful to the American Government, may not be known, but the apparent inclination which she shewed at an early stage of the movement to interfere in the affairs of Mexico very sudden- ly received a check, and she at once withdrew from a position which endangered her peaceful relations with the authorities at Washington. The Monroe Doctrine, which she had been instru- mental in evolving, could not but be fresh in her raemoiy. Maxi- milian had not long been installed into his new kingdom before he became aware of the futility of any hope of maintaining his author- ity without the assistance which Napoleon had hitherto given him. But, as with England, so -with France — some very striking inti- mations had been given that the continued presence of foreign troops to maintain a government " controlled " by a European power Avould be viewed " as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition towards the United States," — and Napoleon thought it prudent to leave this continent to its " manifest destiny." Poor Maximilian was executed by order of the leader of the so-called Liberal Party of Mexico, Juarez, on the 19th of May, 1867. So terminated the first disregard of the " Monroe Doctrine." v<, North-east of the United States, as Mexico lies against the south-west, stretch three colonies of England — Canada, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Possessed of a mild and limited representffiive government, they uttered but few complaints at their lot, and seemed destined to become a source of pride, if not of profit, to their mother country. One of these whose size and importance gave her innumerable political, mercantile, and manu- facturing advantages over the others, took measures not only to render her sisters politically subject to her, and in commerce and \ I /* i ANNEXATION. 4^- < \ 1 o d manufactures conducive to her immediate welfai-c, but to so in- fluence England as to make her an enforcing party to the transac- tion. It argues notlaing that recreant sons of the subdued colonies were found to lend themselves to the more powerful ; — the dishonest work was accomplished Not only so, but every fair representa- tion of the case of this Province, in particular, has been laid before the Imperial Parliament, and redress, or enquiry even, refused. While the nope of an ultimate independence was held out by Canada as an inducement for all the Provinces to coincide in the measure, there was an adroit reservation of power by England, which gives her the most direct control over their actions. The Governor General is appointed by the English Ministry ; has Vested in him the power of veto over all the Provinces ; and in conjunction with the army authorities, the immediate management of any necessary or unnecessary military operations. England, virtually, has all the naval and military pre-eminence of the past, while the colonies are to have a show of governing themselves, and the privilege of making contributions in money or in kind for their own " defence." The colonics which were the " existing colonies " at the time of the enunciation of the " Monroe Doctrine " are not now colonies, but have been suborned into a Dominion, — its •' destiny being controlled " by a " European power," under whose auspices Sebastopols of America are being talked about, — military railroads projected, — and a wonderfully animated spirit shewn in the " defence" depai^ment generally. At all these preparations Nova Scotia might smile in " her own qu* -vi'y," seeing in them a " happy deliverance out of all her tii.'f : , ' were it not that so many of them are being made upon Ler J it a sad cost to the poor of England — and with no wish or coiv ji* expressed or asked on our part.* Deliverance out of * Ho said that his object was to show how the British soldier and sailor could still have justice done to them without an injustice being inflicted upon tlie work- ing bread-winner in tliis country. He wislied to prevent tlie constant expenditure of millions of money upon hosts of armed men who were supposed to be required to ward ofl'some indefinite danger. Enormous sums of money were lying idle in the Banks of England and France, which ought to be employed in giving occupa- tion and comfort to vast numbers of men — but the constant fear of war kept tliose " ims unemployed. The net revenue of the country was 61t| millions sterling for 'o.!?, and of tiiat great sum there was spent directly upon the army and navy 20^ 1 'ions ; but even that did not en brace the whole of the expenditure upon the i'"o services* From the year 1836 to the outbreak of the Russian war in 1854, the expenditure upon the army and navy ranged from 11 to 16 mil- 4ie ANNEXATION. trouble, we say, not by the stern arbitrament of war, but by that silent force, which, when brought into operation in one instance upon this continent, proved so effectual and conclusive in the case of no contemptible or second-rate power, — that silent force : the " Monroe Doctrine." i,^\ 3. The Ionian Islands. It will not be out of place just here to call attention to a pro- tectorate which England exercised over the " Republic of the seven Islands " in the Ionian Sea, by consent of Russia, France and Austria, from 1815 to 1863. In 1817 England gave those Islands a constitution, by which it was provided that there was to be a British High Commissioner *■ Corfu, the capital of the State, and Great Britain was to have ti.c » t to occupy the fortresses and keep up the garrisons. The l Jh Commissioner convoked the Legislative Assembly, appointed the gjvernors of the different islands, and commanded the forces. As the result of the military rale, enormous sums were expended for fortification, and the gar- risons were kept up at an annual outlay of some $500,000. It is interesting to note (because there is in the fact a forecaste of what Canada may be expected to do), that in the way of fortifications &c., there were expended by England, up to 1849, $2,281,555, of which these islands were compelled to refund $1,538,135. About 1849 the lonians began to think that the High Commissioner was manifesting an undue exercise of his influence in their niternal lions. During that le. gthened period the position of England was as strong, and her foreign commerce was as stcure, as it wiis necessary to make them ; but after the Russian war. from some unaccountujle reason, the expenditure upon the two services began to rise, and it was now, in a time of profound peace, at upwards of 2G millions. . . . He had found it very difiScult to bring his mind to the conclusion that the high seas were not altogether made for Englishmen. The no- tion was disappearing that England ought to keep up squadrons in all the seas of the world, and maintain the police of those seas for the rest of the world ather own expense. Various strong positions in different parts of the world, such as Gibraltar, had been seized, and the English people were told that those places were "keys," which must be fortified. The fact was that in these days of iron-clad steamers such "keys " were practically useless. Twenty Gibraltars could not pre- vent those steamers from going into or coming out of the Mediterranean Sea. The military expenditures in Malta alone were not less than a million sterling. Canada and New Brunswick drained this country of large sums annually. No man in his senses could believe that Canada could be held by thirteen battalions against the overwhelming masses which the United States would pour into it. Those thirteen battalions cost England £1,600,000 per annum ; but if trouble should occur with the United States they would be wiped off to a man. — From ad- dre»$ of Capt. Osborne, R. N., at Birkenhead. » «- „,...,, ... , ,. ,, '. I ; ANNEXATION. 48 > affairs. They assumec' that by the Treaty of Paris, which placed them under the protectorate of England, they were to be allowed the control of these, while the defences of the country were to be in the hands of Great Britain. Discontent ripened into murmurs, and murmurs into petitions, — the petitioners praying that they be allowed to annex the islands to Greece. By the 26th of June, 1863, the high contracting powers found it necessary to meet in London, and consult upon the remedy to be applied. England was not averse to retaining the protectorate, for a leading member of the government left that to be implied by what he said in Parlia- ment ;* but the other powers decided, and England had to give her consent, that should a Parliament elected by the people of these islands affirm their inclination to connect themselves with the Hel- lenic kingdom, then, that affirmation should be acceded to, and they be annexed. In August following, the old Ionian Parliament was dissolved, and before the end of the year new representatives had met, — they unanimously re-affirmed the wish of their constitu- ents, — and the islands very shorilv afterwards became a part of the kingdom of Greece. Before the British troops were withdrawn, the fortifications were all dismantled and destroyed, — the lonians having the pleasure of seeing that hallucination termed " defences," towards which, in Corfu and Vido, they had contributed some $1,500,000, blown into the air with " villainous gunpowder !" Between those colonies, which, Mr. Howe says, were giveti to Greece, to round off a territory, and these North American colo- nies, there has been a somewhat striking parallel. The system of government in each — the predominance of the " defence " idea — the expectation of contributions for fortification, &c., — the mutter- ings, and murmurings, and petitioning — the growing feeling after annexation to a neighboring power — and the possibility of " round- ing off" a territory — maintain the similarity. As in the progress of events it will doubtless be necessary to give up this " key " of the Atlantic, — so the same reason which was given for relinquishing the Ionian Islands as the key of the Medi- terranean, may console the members of the British Parliament for giving up this. As Malta and Gibraltar were considered quite as British EncyclopoDdia, Annual Register, &c. p'; I.' I iyl u ANNEXATION. expensive "keys " as it was pleasant to contemplate for the Medi- terranean, — so it may be the Bermudas which were growing into formidable fortresses, under convict, but are becoming still more formidable under free labor, will be esteemed amply sufficient for all the purposes of u " key " in the Atlantic Ocean. If the allied powers were an impelling force to England to listen as attentively as she did to the wishes of the lonians — perhaps the United States may be quite as impulsive an instrumentality in securing to us an early audi- ence on the subject of a properly expressed desire. 4. Logical bEQUENCES. With these facts before us, let us see what are the logical sequences to be honestly drawn from them. *^It has been shewn that the United States has very largely increased the area of her possessions within the last half century ; that she has not given up a foot of her soil ; and that her march has been onward — right and left. We have seen that she has not allowed those with whom she negociated to have any advantage of her. That England invariably had to give way to the firmness of her diplomatists, — and that the Monroe Doctrine has become a national belief, not to be tampered with or invaded by even the most war-like of the European powers. That she has accomplished all this with a very quiet de- meanor, and without the crack of a pistol. We ha'-e also seen that England's peace policy (and perhaps the very best policy for what Napoleon the First called a "nation of shopkeepers ") has kept her peaceful when in circunis-.tances not dissimilar to what her relations are and may be to this Province ; and that an air of quiet good nature could be exhibited on an occasion when the Sebastopol of the Ionian and Adriatic Seas had to be given up, and the work of her engineers, in conjunction with the natives of the islands, for many years, was blown into the air. .iiuij:; : •- j ••;'' ?• : " . "^ It is true there have been attempts made to frighten the people of Nova Scotia into a state of abject quiescence. From our mili- taiy governor (a very excellent gentleman in his private capacity) who made a silly effort to control legislative debate, by investing a speech of the Attorney General with a treasonable garb, and the Hon. Mr. Howe, who occupied several columns of a newspaper to prove that England was a powerful nation, and had this colony / \ ANNEXATION. 45 / / V under perfect military control, — from these gentlemen down to the humblest toadies who are contc;- ' to write editorials in the little papers which f >>( V, ;:;><;> ,n * " To the great bulk of the people Loyalty is like the mercury in the barome- ter. As in the barometer the mercury rises or falls [according as the atmosphere is light or heavy, so (among the people Loyalty rises or falls according as the weight of the iiurdcns which they bear is lighter or heavier. Loyalty with the people in our days is purely a question of pounds, shillings and ponce. Increase the taxation, and the loyalty diminishes ; lighten it and the loyalty grows again. We are not speaking now of what ought to be ; we are just stating what is. The view of loyalty which we take is one that is borne out by historical facts, extending over hundreds of years. What loyalty, wc ask, from the time of that fierce Earl M'ho ruled in Corentz (if he ever did rule there) to the Reform Bill of 186G-7, was ever proof against ill-government and excessive taxation ? "Look at the history of the modern world, at the rise and fall of thrones, at the revolutions and riot, at the grasping and slipping of territory, and then let any one say that loyalty is an abiding principle among peoples. Did any loyalty keep together the Empire of Charles V. ? Did not the Netherlandcrs rise in rebellion, and was not one of the causes taxation ? Was there ever so popular a Queen as Elizabeth. In all English history there is no such instance of a Queen possessing so much absolute power and so much popular favor. When vac Spanish sails whitened the bosom of the 'narrow seas,' she asked for aid from the nation, and the city of London alone gave her thrice what she wanted. But monopolies were granted. The people began to feel the weight of them, and then not all the per- sonal popularity of good Queen Bess, not all the loyalty of the most loyal subjects in the world, could prevent the same city of London from rising in rebellion, and endangering the life and throne of Queen Elizabeth. Did any loyalty, we wonder, to the ' Throne of England and English Institutions,' prevent the Parliament from cutting off the head of Charles I., and the people from applauding the act? Did any loyalty to the 'Throne of England and English Institutions ' prevent the most slavishly loyal nobles and prelates from joining in the deposition of James II. ' Was there any loyalty in France when the head of Louis XVI. was cut off, amid a carnival of joy, as a means of remedying the financial embarrassments of the nation ? Was ther" any loyalty there again in 1830, when they hurled Charles X. froni the ' Throne,' which had come down to them from Clovis ? Was there any loyalty there for their latest darling of a Republic, when they allowed Louis Na- poleon to walk over their ' loyal' necks to the Throne. Coming back to England, did tiie loyalty of the American colonies prevent them from sundering their con- nection with the flag and the glories of a thousand years, when their taxes were improperly increased and collected? How much revolutionary disloyalty mingled with the agitations for the first, and even for the last. Reform Bill ? We have in- stanced these things, not because we wish to weaken the loyalty of this Province, or of the Dominion, but because we wish, when 'loyalty' is spoken of, to know h m ANNEXATION. no longer to submit to the shackles which have bound it, but in a " lawful and constitutional manner " to advocate a peaceable union with the United States. Now, if England exhibited a determination to proceed with the " defences " of the Ionian Islands up to the very week in which she was compelled to destroy them, she will make as strong a demon- stration, by the inevitable laws of " red tape," in the case of Nova Scotia or the other British North American colonies, until some pressure, equally gentle with that used towards and by our prototype off the coasts of Greece and Albania, is exerted to give the United States the opportunity of " rounding off" her territory at the north- east of her wide domain. :'. i,/ ^^w ■■?' \ The objection that England could not dispose of these Pro- vinces, without compromising the " national honor," has met an answer in the present attitude of Denmark as regards the island of St. Thomas, if not in her own surrender of the Ionian Islands. Denmark refused at first to listen to overtures, not being anxious to part with the property, and intimating that the transfer could not well be made with a proper regard for her own dignity. This opinion changed, when the precedent of Russia, Spain and France was presented. The transfer at last hinged upon the desire of the people of St. Thomas. Mr. Seward urged that Denmark should order an immediate vote on the question. This was done, — and the people affirmed their Avish to be united to the Republic, — and negociations are now taking place with a view to the final settlement of the transaction. Who might charge England with a loss of either honor or dignity, were she ' contemplate — with a safeguard for the honest convictions of the inhabitants, corresponding to that of Den- mark — the peaceful surrender of this colony to the Government of the United States ? If England succumbed to the demands of the United States, against the wishes of her own colonists, in territorial adjustments, will she persist in the upholdence of a colony or colonies, in defiance / N / \ .4 vhat it is, and of what value. We are every day told that the issue of the contest in which we are engaged is narrowing to either British connection (or Confedera- tion) or Annexation. In view of such an alternative being placed before us, and to prevent us from being placed like the ass between two bundles of hay, we desire (and we are sure the public desires) to examine the merits of both, and choose ac- cordingly." — Halifax Morning Chronicle. ANNEXATIOX. <^ of their expressed desire, — in the face of the " Monroe Doctrine," and in insane disregard of what the United States could urge as a bond likely to cement the two countries in terras of everlasting amity ? We have proved that to avoid the chance of war visiting this continent from across the ocean, arising out of differences as re- gards these colonies, it is desirable that we should be annexed to the United States.* It will be conceded that the result of hostilities between the two countries could only be disastrous to England. We have now established the position that it is possible to become an integral part of the United States without the shedding of blood — with only the delightful prospect of the allayment of those dissen- sions which lead to perpetual national acrimony, — as we have also proved that the union would be advantageous, and nothing but advantageous to the people of this Province. / s Having discovered how nations conduct themselves in matters affecting their territorial rights and pessessions, — having found that England at least is guided by a large amount of common sense, and a due regard to the inevitable, when pushed to an ultimatum, — let us see how individuals affect nations, and where our duty lies, and what our duty is, in the present emergency. * In 1812 hostilities commenced between England and America. Canada had nothing to do with dragging American seamen from on board of American ships. But because arrogant and unscrupulous Britisli naval officers did forcibly impress American seamen, Canada found herself involved in war, and her soil invaded by an American army, which routed and drove before it the thoroughly disciplined and finely organized army of Sir Geoige Prevost, consisting of 14,000 regular British troops who had fought with distinction under Wellington. Canadian mili- tia, chiefly French habitants, were then brought up, who, in turn, checked and drove back the Americans. Thus when British troops failed to protect Canada in a purely English quarrel, the Canadians were obliged to defend themselves. It has been repeatedly admitted by English writers that the steady loyalty and bravery of the French habitans, alone saved Canada to the British Crown. And they were rewarded for it. Some time after, the Canadians wished for some reforms in the administration of their local affairs, and they sent home petitions by the ream (just as we have been doing, and with about the same result). Tired at last of supplications and remonstrances, which were treated with contempt, the Canadians betook them to the old weapons they had used so well in 1812. There was r. rebellion in 1837 which cost the British Government an expenditure of £6,000,000 to put down. On the suppression of the rebellion, the British Govern- ment granted to the Canadians the very reforms for which they had been petition- ing in vain for years. We shared in the benefits of that rebellion, for by it we obtained Responsible Government. True, Mr. Howe and his followers were agi- tating for it ; but without that rebellion their labors would have been as fruitless as the screaming of sea-gulls. — •' Inquirer," in Acadian Recorder, Dec. 17, 1868. 48 ANNEXATION. It was a slight matter that first led the early colonics of England on this continent to think of shaking themselves clear of the govern- ing power of the mother country. A simple stamp upon a sheet of paper, an insignificant tax upon a pound of tea, — led to that disaf- fection which terminated in the foundation of one of the greatest nations of the earth, — a nation whose friendship and favors the continental powers have not been slow to seek, when the red hand of war has threatened, or maimed, or scarred their own dominions ; a nation to which all other nations do homage as the land of labor and of liberty, — a nation which has no parallel in the rapidity of its rise, or the increase of its material prosperity. !it hu "' A slight matter — a discourtesy to the people — has given us cause to believe our liberties unsafe — our destiny unfixed. The right of England to deprive us of the constitutional pri- vileges we had gathered together, and to place us at the mercy of a distant colony, to be dealt with as seemed good to her, this is a right which has been assumed — despite our peti- tions and protestations — a right which no man could acknowledge without smothering the spirit of liberty which his Maker had created within him. With a sense of wrong upon our hearts, not unlike that which every Irishman feels as he remembers how and in the same manner he has been deprived of privileges that should now have been his, we turn our faces, as has many a son of the Green Isle his steps, to that country which deserves the name of the " home of the brave, the land of the free." ws«!,v.'nv( t>v!:M:-.vith most cheering encouragement to those who would see Nova Scotia occupying an equal and dignified position among the States upon it. What had Massachusetts to give her hope when she started fear independence — when Otis wrote his "Rights of the Colonies" — when John Adams wrote his " Essay on the Canon and Feudal Law " — when Dickenson wrote his " Farmer's Letters ? " Patrick Henry stood up in the House of Burgesses of Virginia, and read those cele- brated resolutions against the " Stamp Act " which he had pencilled upon the blank leaf of an old law book, and made that impassioned speech which fanned into a flame the latent embers of disaffection all over the British Colonies. But his exclamation : " Caesar had his Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell, and George the Third may profit by their fcxample," was interrupted by cries of *' treason* treason," from all parts of the House ; and the resolutibiii passed, fiSJ ANNEXATION. after a long and warm contest, by a majority of but one or two. And when John Adi'ms went down to Philadelphia from Boston to attend the Continental Congress, he was warned not to utter a word on the subject of independence, as it was as unpopular as tl e Stamp Act itself. Two years of the struggle for American freedom were spent in but little more than that preliminary work which has itherto marked Nova Scotia's efforts for " Repeal." The remaining eight years Avere devoted to sterner work, to greater trials of patience, to harder tests of endurance, than shall now be needed by the people of this colony. It was just eight years from the day of the battle of Lexington to the day in which Washington made the announce- ment to his army of the cessation of hostilities between England and what was once her loyal Colonies. And what an eloquent epitcne of the results of that eight years' conflict — what an argument in favor of our combination with the United States — v.ii t an encouragement to persevere in our efforts to effect that com.bination, — re these v-ords of the Hon. Joseph Howe, from that " Parthian* Protest " of the delegates, flung at the British Government, before they left the shores of England : '•' Nova Scotia fronts the populous, warlike, and prosperous New England States, that take all her great staples for which there is no market In Canada. The arsenak and dockyards of Boston and Portsmouth are within thirty hours' sail of Halifax, and behind these stretches a whole continent, free trade with which Avould place factories upon all her streams, supply capital for all legitimate enterprizes ; and, though political association with the thirty-four million of free men who inhabit this great country, might, for a time, involv^e high tax- ation, it would open a career for her children, and ensure to them adequate protection forever by land and sea." We were told '^y Earl Russell, in the debate upon the British North American Act, that " if it ever should be the wish of these provinces to separate from England, the parliament might be ready to listen to their requests, and to accede to their wishes in any way they may choose.'^ "' «-■ iAli*I tidi ^Wisft 4» o)ai B-jii, rry'l^ • The Parthians were liibst torniidable ih their flights, and it is'saicl the JlbttiAtts Dever gained a permanent advantage over them. It may be chaiitably supposed that Mr. Howe wished the simile to end here. He could not have desired the place of the great Persian who instigated the troubles among the Pa-'.l.ians, which even- tu»" ^d in their extinction as a free people. ■V \ V ANNEXATION. 58^ \ii \ \ On the same occasion, the Marquis of Normanby said — " If the North American Colonies feel themselves able to stand alone, and shew their anxiety either to form themselves into an independent country, or even to amalgamate with the Umtcd States, I think it would not be Avise to resist that desire." ,f,^ ^u. - ^; John Bright, " our friend, and the world's friend," whose pro- phecies have been so often fulfilled in the administrative economy of Enfrland, and who will have n controlling influence in all that af- fects the future policy of the present British Government, uttered these memorable words on the floors of tlic British House of Parlia- ment : " Your scheme [of Confederation] must break down if the Nova Scotians resolve they Avill not have it. ... It is not pos- sible to coerce them, ^f'.*'' . . There is no statesman living in England who will venture to bring about the shedding of one drop of blood upon that continent." ..rf..*^:«i *.- No such language as this cheered on the Colonists of 1774. No nation of freemen stood ready to shield them from oppression by the enunciations of a " Monroe doctrine." No hope was there for them except in the strength of their own right hand. Corresponding to the " history repeating itself" upon this Con- tinent, is in some measure, the signs and utterances of the press. The " Case " of Nova Scotia, prepare^ by the delegates from this province for the examination of the British Government, is, as Mr. Howe says, " unanswerable." "The "Protest," not to enumerate the Petitions and Letters which preceded it, had all the dignified appo- siteness, and indignant fervor, of any document of early continental days. ^'Despite Mr. Howe's late essays to quiet the storm of antipa- thy Avhich he had excited all over this province against British and Canadian rule (with some at present incomprehensible but suspicious purpose in view*) he has had to acknowledge how wide-spread is the disaflfection of the people — how imminent '' :;he perils " of their determination to connect themselves with the United States. One Governor Hutchinson, with all the antecedents of popularity and talent in Mr. Howe, played a not dissimilar part in the early days * While the concluding pages of this pamphlet were in the hands of the Printer, the following telegram announced how well-founded were tlie suspicions of the writer:— "Montreal, Jan. 30, 1869. — At Ottawa, to-day, the Hon. Joseph 110,7" was sworn into office as President of the Privy Council — an office which has been vacant since the death of the Hon. A. J. F. Blair." 54 ANNEXATION. I of Massachusetts, — but Massachusetts gained her independence, and Mr. Hutchinson died in obscurity in London. Our incentives counterbalance our losses. If we lose Mr. Howe — if we lose our leaders at home — we have indications that we may interest and are interesting equally good men abroad. We have had through the ready and fluent pen of Mr. Stiles at Wash- ington for a long time the disinterested, earnest, intelligent, and argumentative advocacy of our cause. Several concisely argued and well written letters have been contributed to the Acadian Re- corder by Mr. E. K. Wiswell, of New York. And a host of anony- mous correspondents from all quarters have shewn their warmth in this subject by interesting and varied and valuable ability. It is known that the subject of Annexation is at this moment receiving the earnest attention of influential legislators and masterly minds at Washington, and evidence is not wanting of the pleasure the move- ment here is exciting at the Capitol. Ever and anon, from the press of New Brunswick there comes the voice of incitement. This is particularly marked in the St. John Globe, the columns of which have been exhibiting tokens of the extremely liberal views of its editor, and have been freely open- ed to the advocates of " Annexation," — while the publication of a pamphlet upon the subject by Mr. Munro,* formerly a supporter of " Confederation," the change of base of some of the newspapers, whilom disposed to favor the Dominion, and the election of candi- dates now in every instance pledged to oppose the new order of things, — exemplify the marked change eighteen months have wrought in our sister over the bay. In this city of Halifax, the v^vidence of a wonderful revulsion of feeling in favor of " Annexation " is being every day made more apparent. The Acadian llecorder, the oldest sheet of the day, maintains its character as of old, as the early vedette of the coming army. There have been some sharp, sweeping, flaying cuts at the opponents of " Repeal," and some spirited, cogent, rattling shots fired for " Annexation."! If the Morning Chronicle is less sudden ♦ Annexation or Union with the United States is the Manifest Destiny of British North America. By Alex. Munro. St. Jolin, N.B., Barnes & Co. t See a very clever leader on "The ' Lovalty' of Nova Scotia " in the Recorder of January 8, 18G9. / / > M 1 ANNEXATION. 55 / . in its onslaughts, it is heavy artillery when it comes into action. It is something to say that we have with us this dignified exponent of public opinion. We may take one paragraph as evidence of its inspiriting tone towards the movement now firing the ardor of so many intelligent sons of the land of the Mayflower : " There is no necessity, in order to annex ourselves, that England and the United States should quarrel. We have pointed out, on other occasions, the growth of a party in England, not great in numbers, but great in influence, which desire to rid England of these expensive colonies. We have commented on the signiilcance of the withdrawal of the troops, — we have commented on the expres- sions of certain noble lords who made no diflBculty about allowing Nova Scotia *the whole world where to choose,' and we are fully convinced that if no redress can be had by the repeal of the Act of Union, and Nova Scotia should then unitedly demand Annexation, the demand would he granted — reluctantly indeed, but still granted, -^fhe desire for annexation is no mere mental aberration arising alone out of the Repeal agitation. It is a thought which is ever present to the minds of the people, because of their near proximity to, and commercial inter- course with the United States. It is not a thought which lias filled the vulgar mind alone ; it is a thought which has often filled the teeming brain of Mr. Howe himself, and fired him with such enthusiasm that at the thought he has risen from the essayist up to the poet." The Eastern Chronicle, the Bridgetown Free Press, and other of our Pr'-vincial papers outside the city, have given no uncertain sound as to their predilictions. They are doing good service in the battle of the people, like the Chronicle and Recorder, firing shots far more forcible than cannon balls — wielding an influence far more effective and irresistible than armies and batteries. Two hundred thousand British North American- iu the United States* send greetings to two hundred th' ui-d relatives and y * By the census returns of 1860 at Washington, it is shewn tliut tli> numlur of the population who acknowledged themselves British North Americiih .< us 240,970. They were distributed mainly through the following States: New York ■'i5,'.!73 ; Michigan, 36,482; Massachusetts, 27,069: Illinois, 20,1.32; Wisconsin, 18,146; Maine, 17,540; Vermont, 1.5,776; Iowa, 8,313; Minnesota, 8,023; Ohio, 7,082; California, 5,437; New Hampshire, 4,408 • ?.nd Connecticut, 3,145; and so in gradually decreasing numbers in every State and Territory in the Union, till the minimum is reached in North Carolin., 48. There can be no doubt that the actual total is much larger than the returns slicw. Many colonists have a strong disin dination to register themselves as r f Colonial birth — more particularly after nat- uralization. The French Cnnadir.ns (largely on the increase since tlie establish- ment of the Dominion) aic not unfrequently registered as natives of France, — and the number of British Nortli American^ in the course of transit unenumerated must necessarily be always considerable. Tlie next census will be taken in 1870 Immigration from the Provinces during the year ending Dec. 31, 186(5 23,853 " Dominion " " Sep. 30, I8G7... 27,558 «' •• P. E. Island 280 «« " Newfoundland 198—28,036 Estimated from the above-named dependencies year ending .SOth Sep., 1868.30,768 Of the large number of immigrants from the Dominion who pass over the boundary lines at various points, no account is given in these returns. m 1,1 ANNEXATION. friends in these Provinces, through social and business interchange. Who can doubt that nearly every letter is directly or indirectly an argument, an encouragement or u hope for a speedy change of the political relations of these colonies towards the country to which these writers have gone to better their circumstances ? Who can doubt that the same influences are operating here through those in- strumentalities, that have rccentlv manifested themselves in the working men of London ? — who believing that Mr. Reverdy John- son, the American ambassador, was not in perfect accord Avith the people of his own country — would rather offend him by a slight de- parture from ordinary etiquette than place themselves under the im- putation of a want of the most tender regard for the feelings of their brethren over the ocean. - • • ■ u f ,■ v.. . •;> j: Our Local Legislature is not wanting in the material of whic" patriots are sometimes made. The question now being discussed is comparatively a new one, and has been forced upon the people of Nova Scotia by agencies which they could not anticipate — but their present representatives have shewn themselves equal lo so sudden a crisis in the affairs of this country. They have not been able to overcome the crisis. !No body of men could, in their situation, be expected to do so. They have parried off the thrusts at their liberties as far as they could be parried off, and they have aimed some bloAvs at points which they thought might prove vulnerable. They have evinced a sensitiveness to the first touch of tyranny, — have spoken the language stamped Avith the spirit of an early Con- tinental Congress, — have shcAvn the inclination and the power to debate the possibilities of the future under altered national cohe- sions, — and noAv Avith the inevitable necessities and hopes of an unimpaired and permanent freedom before them, there cannot but be manifestations of a patriotism, youthful, ardent, and enduring, and as irrepressible, inspiring and ennobling as that of a Hampden, a Henry, or a Kossuth. "f '' But some, owing to the peculiarities of their position, are timid, and fearful, and hesitating. To them Ave say — much is as often ac- complished by patient endurance and moral resistance, as by direct, and bold, and fearless fighting. You arc still free to choose your oAvn representatives — still free to judge of the leanings of ai. , can- didate. Your voice may be heard, your influence exerted, you ANNEXATIOX. 57 country's future determined — through the " silent elocj^ucnce of a vote." ■ ji'^pir- -h'^^V:! -"•''".■ )C(v?.i ^'•■ifr i^iw^'nf b%/u r A people in a situation of distress need not abandon a cause because limited in physical resources, or because the odds against them are apparently overpowering. " The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the stronsr." Unforscen circumstances may in a moment give a favorable impetus to events, and carry a project to a successful issue, if it be but persistently pressed. The Roman Senator who finished every speech, no matter what the subject with — " Carthage must be destroyed" — nerved the Romans for the accomplishment of the act. In all proper positions, with no deviating jarnestness, hopeful under any temporary cloud of adver- sity, our watchword must be — "Acadia must be Annexed." -T?-:' ' A celebrated member of Parliament told the people of England that they might as Avell petition the rock of Gibraltar for a repeal of the Corn Laws, as petition that body. But the agitation went on, — Parliament was petitioned again and again, and the Corn Laws were abolished. And so it was with Slavery and the Slave Trade*, with Catholic and with Jewish Disabilities, with Parliamentary abuses, and "\\ ith other reforms. But these were all needed because affecting disastrously the national character ; needed to assimilate in some degree the national freedom of England to the national free- dom of America; nay, designed by Heaven, with the Naturalization Treaty which has just been effected, as stepping stones down the corridor of history, to that more comprehensive, if not more perfect Naturalization Treaty which shall be consummated when all these North American Colonies, having taken advantage of the relinquish- ment of the old dogma — " once a subject always a subject " — be- come part of one great people extending from ocean to ocean. .,'.-..i, -r "■' ■ Conclusion. • : " Tn conformity with the decision of the Convention, which was called together in August last — ** to seek a Repeal of the Union by all lawful and constitutional means " — the Local Government of the ♦ Two prominent opponents of the proposal to abolish Slavery and the Slave Trade were military meti, Generals Tarleton and Gascoyne. King George III., the Prince of Wales, and the whole Royal Family, with the exception of the Duke of Gloucester, were opposed to the abolition ! ^- 5S ANNEXATION. :: I Province are about to place the grievances of Nova Scotia once more before the Imperial authorities. If there were no other reasons for believing so — if all the antecedents of England were not against it — the want of interest and support outside cf herself would forbid the supposition that the appeal of Nova Scotia will be crowned with the success desired. Leaving out of the scale the weight of Mr. Howe's influence, there is yet no word of encourage- ment to completely counterbalance it from other colonies, nor has there been in England, in all the hustings' speeches which graced the late political campaign ooe cry of " Repeal " for poor Nova Scotia. Attorney General Wilkins may demonstrate, as he has demonstrated, almost beyond the possibility of a doubt, that the consummation of Union through and by the means used is a viola- tion of constitutional law, — while such interested parties as the pre- sent or prospective judges of England are to be the only expounders of that law, — and what will it avail ? The Rights of Colonies have hitherto only been conceded in one instance, and by one decision — that which was conceded in the acknowledgement of the Indepen- dence of the United States, and decided by the interposition of the Kuler 01 all events. " Repeal " — the restoration of Nova Scotia to the nothingness of an English colony, as she originally stood, has certainly nothing in it to stir the emotions of the people of the United States. They may see in it a repetition of their struggle as far as it has gone. They may think Ave have even more to contend for than had they. That in the language of John Bright : " It is not now a mere ques- tion of stamps, or 3d. to 6d. in the pound upon tea. It is a question of the absolute subversion and abolition of an ancient and honored and valued constitution." But what interest can they take in such a bald, abstract, outside question, as this grasping at the old leading strings of a distant country shapes itself into ? The Cooper Institute of New York is filled with enthusiastic listeners to such men as Henry Ward Beecher and Wm. Cullcn Bryant and the Rev. Dr. Bellows, when a meeting is called in behalf of the Cretans. They are four thousand miles or more away, — but they have been struggling for national liberty. We have had before us a wretched chimera, and hence we never heard in reference to any of our past efforts these words of cheer for the Cretans : — " We who wake up hope in the nations, y ANNEXATION. s» > must be the guides of the men that hope. We who by the example of our liberty make it seem possible to the world, must not be idle spectators in the struggle of others in the liberty which has made us so strong. America is the patron of liberty the world over."* >^Only let the people of I^ova Scotia see in the treatment to which they have been subjected — the treatment which the thirteen colo- nies of America received; — let this people see the advantages ad- vocated to induce them to give in their adhesion to Canadian union, multiplied into ten-fold greater advantages in union with the United States, — let us seek union with them, and not outside of them ; and the whole aspect of the question is changed, — and we have a powerful ally, and no longer an indifferent spectator. Now, in view of the ultimatum from England, and in view of the wonderful material progress and enlarged national status which we must enjoy under a more congenial government, — while parting with our loyalty of words, where lies our patriotic duty ? Where for our country should we seek a more highly respected name ? Where for our children should we seek a more promising future — a better nationality ? These are questions which must ere long come before the people in a practical form — first before their Local Legislature, afterwards before themselves for the confirmation or rejection of what their representatives had adopted as their line of policy. These are momentous questions, affecting as they will not only the people of Nova Scotia, but affecting as they must every colony in these At- lantic waters. Let the final appeal be made — let the final rejection take place — but let the delegates come back to find us forewarned, forearmed, and ready to fight our country's battle, upon a higher and more commanding plane. There is evidence of the most indubitable cha- racter, of the warmth with which any propositions on our part, haviiig the annexation of this Province in view, would be seconded by strong and influential men at Washington. It requires but a few judicious questions from our Local Legislature, or from a convention of delegates from all parts of the Province, judiciously put to any leading member of Congi*ess conversant with the general sentiment. * Henry Ward Beecher. 60 ANNEXATION. to prove this to be true. "It requires but this simple, lawful step, to excite a palpable sympathy for Nova Scotia from Maine to Califor- nia. It i-equires but this — or something equally jjromising of results — to have poor Nova Scotia assume an importance and obtain a cele- brity to which she has been a stranger in all her previous history. Newfoundland would then prick up her ears — New Brunswick would call her ranks to "attention" — and Prince Edward Island would shout aloud for joy. The old spirit of 1836 would re-assert a more peaceable but more effective predilection in Canada* ; and the thousands of families of British North Americans, scattered all over this continent, who have a life interest in thousands of families left behind in their respective colonies, would see the wall that has long sundered them destroyed, and they reunited by the bonds of a common government and a common country. The Local authorities and Legislature must shew themselves equal to the great emergency which looms up all over the political horizon. No official supineness — no self-satisfied occupation and enjoyment of place and power and emolument can be endured by the people now. There will be work to be done by our legislators — there will be work to be done by the people : — work on the plat- form — work in the press — work in the Leagues — work at the polls — there will be work to be done in our Legislative halls. And, then, before the British Parliament there will be once more work to be done. But now how changed the attitude of our Delegates. With what a dignity and power will they stand before those who have hitherto refused to listen to their prayer. The " moral demonstra- tion " which England elicited for others, will have come home to her- self, and her own colony will be supported in an application for a re- lease from that monarchical influence, which the United States will not allow to interfere with the destiny of " Republican principles in the American hemisphere." -Ts \ I Finally, there is such a thing as " Manifest Destiny," — and men with quickened perceptions and strong intuitions, have an inkling of coming events when their shadows are cast before, and * An Annexation Manifesto was framed and issued, and a petition presented by prominent gentlemen in Montreal, to the British Government, in 1849, for liberty to Canada to become a State in the American Union, This was long before the Reciprocity Treaty had demrnstrated what vast possibilities of prosperity there would be in the accomplishment of what they were endeavoring to obtain. \ J ANNEXATION. 61 \ A work with a M'ill in prosecuting M-hat evidently appears to be the design of Providence. ' * Napier, before D'Acre, exclaimed with more of heroism than reverence: "Fire away— and fulfil the prophecies."" In the same spirit, with more of faith and sacred respect for the manifest shap- ing of Divine ends, may we continue an agitation for the annexa- tion of this Province to the United States. It is our Manifest Dcs- tmy. Geographical structure, commercial currents, historic events, a common language, and community of feeling and interests, all testify to the fact that is yet to be— the unition of the entire continent of America under one government. »» "God give us grace, Each in liis place, To bear his lot, And murmuring not, Endure, and wait, and labor !" ':>■ A iifk. >,.:, Ji'i^ I'tH ,*Vi \ • ■ • 'hy^V^ {%■* :f 'A ■ \ ■ '.' t ■,.. .; , '■, if-*.^ APPENDIX. ,i<>. Since the first part of this pamphlet was sent to press, the Do- minion Government have made an attempt to bring the matter of a Reciprocity Treaty before the United States Congress, in such a way as to secure its accomplishment. A Mr. Brega had been entrusted ,. with a commission from the Ottawa side, to help the Americans to see their own best interests in the clearest possible light ! But he made a sad business of his mission — so sad that his patrons had to disengage themselves from their protege. If he was not invested with any authority from the Canadian Government, his magnificent promises, and his individual exertions, no less than his large expen- diture, in behalf of a renewed Treaty, are at least deserving of some slight recognition, and no doubt he will get it ! To the reasons already adduced for believing that no reciprocal \ trade relations of any practical advantage to the Dominion, will find favor with the Americans, the following opinions elicited during the present agitation upon the subject, may be added. " Acadia " the Washington correspondent of the Daily Evening Recorder, as well as of the Morning Chronicle, says — "It is reported by telegraph from Canada that Mr. Howe will visit Washington in the interest of efforts being made to secure a new treaty of reciprocity. I do not believe that the report is correct. Mr. Howe will hear while in Canada, that the bungling of Mr. Brega, through the V scheme to bny influence in and out of Congress, in favor of the measure, with British or Canadian gold, has caused an exposure of the whole affair, and the measure is scarcely mentioned in Washington by its friends. " However desirable a Treaty of Reciprocity might be, it is, I fear, in the same category with Repeal — among the wished-for things that will never be realized ; and I renew my oft>repeated statement that the one great boon within the reach of the People of Nova Scotia is a Union WITH THE American Republic. This involves a gigantic stride ; but Nature points with an unmistakeable index to this noble elevation. And after a few more defeated efforts to obtain a Reciprocity Treaty, and a few more unsuccessful petitions for Repeal, involving months, and per- haps years, of depressed trade and prostrated commerce, Necessity will school the hesitating and hard-to-convince communities of Nova Scotia into the only true road to great prosperity, position, and influence." ( I > ■J: 1 ANNEXATION. •8 some ^> < iprocal \ /v 'ill find ing the V / In a Report issued by Israel T. Hatch, Esq., a Commissioner of the American Government, containing a full and elaborate statement of the commerce between the Colonies and the States, during the last two years, the following references, among others, arc made by him to the Treaty : " The belief that the spirit nml substance of the Treaty of Washing- ton had been disregarded by the legislators of Canada, led to its termina- tion, and the refus'l to authorize any negotiations for its renewal. Nor have the Canadians, in the proposals submitted to Congress in 1863, or at any other time, ever offered to make such additions to the free list as would fairly carry out a system of just exchange. A treaty, if thoroughly reciprocal, would include all the products of labor on both sides, or, at least, provide for a fair and equal exclumge of them. The party selling the productions of agriculture and the forest should remove laws preventing the sale of manufactures on the part of the other ; and under the present condition of our revenue law competition between the people of the United States and Canada can only be on equal terms when duties equal to those directly or indirectly exacted by our government from our own citizens are levied on importations the products of Canada." " Since the termination of the Reciprocity Treaty foreign immigration to Canada no longer stops there, but passes on to the United States. If the value of the foreign labor immigration is correctly estimated in his recent able report by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue (and who doubts it when our vast imdeveloped resources, with our op- portunities for development are consiidered?) it has added $80,000,000 directly and $500,000,000 indirectly to the wealth and resources of this country since the termination of the war. The very large amount of revenue — not less than seven millioas of dollars — annually derived from Canadian productions, without diminishing their importation, deserves and must receive grave thought in any future negotiation between the United States and the New Dominion. So, also, will the advanced con- dition of many manufactures in Canada, originating in the unfair advan- tage taken of the freedom accorded to her by the treaty. " Instructed by the lessons of experience and a knowledge of our pre- sent financial requirements, a treaty so much desired by Canada might no doubt be made so comprehensive in all its details that neither party could be mistaken as to its results or be capable of evading its spirit or substance ; or our future intercourse might be left where it now is, to reciprocal or independent legislation, to be changed from time to time, as the varying interests of our domestic or international relations or the violation of reciprocal obligations may require." The Boston Post, an advocate of the Treaty, thus outlines his idea of what its provisions should be : " Canada, in any case, cannot expect us to relinquish the groat ad- vantages of the agricultural market which we have since created by so heavy a drain on our capital into manufacturing pursuits, without ren- dering a round equivalent on her own part ; but the very fact that she 04 AXXEXATION. needs that iniirkct so badly, warrants the belief that slic i.s ready to ac- cept the terms wliioh we are prepared to offer." " The recent report of Mr. Hatch to Secretary McCnlloch, on the whole subject of commercial intercourse with tlie Provihccs, is an ex- haustive presentation of the trade relations of the two countries,- with \\hat eacii side wants and expects. It is a collection of the very facts which are re(juired for an intelligent discussion of the wliole matter. And it shows, first of all, that no treaty should be framed except on the condition that Canada shall no longer discriminate as she now does against American products in her tariff." " The New York Herald tlisposes of the Treaty, after this fashion : " Sir John A. Macdonald and his associates may rest assured that all the i>aragraphs about Seward being favorable to a Reciprocity Treaty, and about Congress being certain to pass one, and about General Grant favoring Rciciprocity, which they see from time to time iu the Washing- ton reports, are only so many minnows set to catch larger fish, and we have no doubt they find that all such statements are followed by calls for more money for the lobby. The truth is, Congress v.'ill pass no Recipro- city law in favor of Canada, and which that government finds it woi'th her while to pay a large amoiint of money to secure ; so the Canadians had better keep their gold dollars at home. They may want them all before the winter is over." s^^ .;.,:■; ■ -- i ■■:. >^f s i\ f" iTtn iltlw •«; -«0^; I. ■iilfOib y. r : L.i ■Ait tfi i««iirTl. ■,;'■'■ *''' ■';" Hi ... , .. ^^ it-j inv^m-j 31' 3:-- . K 1 the n ex- wilh facts itter. I the does ion : that laty, rant mtmm