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SPEECH

DELIVERED BY

THE HON. JOSEPH HOWE

AT THE

DETROIT CONViENTION,

THE COlViMERCIAL RE

IJATIO^NS

GREAT BRIT|«N m) THE UNtTED STATES,

AUGUST 14, 1865.

4iy|i^.

DON:

EDWARD STAWOlRD, 6, OHARING OROSa

1865.

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/ . / INTRODUCTION. . /. .

The Detroit /Convention was composed of 600
Merchants, Bankers, Lawyers, oid Politicians, re-
presenting all the Boards of Trade and other
commercial organizations in the Northern States
and British Provinces.

There were forty reporters present. In a few
days nearly as many versions of the Speech we now
republish were circulating over half the continent
It was revised in Canada, and we are indebted to
*The Hamilton Spectator' for the copy from
which we print. We have appended a few news-
paper notices, selected from scores, all writtei^
in the same strain, to show the estimation in
which this oratorical effort is held by two branches
of the great family, which it was the speaker's
purpose to unite by the ties of honourable fraternity
and of prosperous commercial intercourse. Let us
hope that the third branch will not less highly

appreciate the object, even should the style of the
performance be subjected to a severer criticism.

Mr. Howe is already favourably known in
England, by his speech at Southampton in 1850 ;
by his speech on the Organization of the Empire,
republished here in 1855; by his tri-Centenary
Oration on Shakspeare, which. -Bryant the poet
declared was the best that had been delivered on
either side of the Atlantic. The Speech at Detroit
deals with commercial principles and details with a
fullness of information that will, perhaps, be best
appreciated by practical business men; but all
classes in these islands will mark with satisfaction
the manly firmness with which the honour and the
interests of Great Britain and her Colonies were
vindicated m a distant country, and the frank good
humour with which the acute judgments of our
friends across the sea were moulded to a common
decision, while prejudices of some years' standing,
and which recent events had been calculated to
inflame, were adroitly swept away.

. h

SPEECH.

-♦o«-

The Hon. Joseph Howe, of Nova Scotia, took the
floor and made a long and eloquent speech. He
said: Mr. Chairman, I never prayed for the gift
of eloquence till now. Although I have passed
through a long public life, I never was called upon
to discuss a question so important in the presence
of a body of representative men so large. I see
before me merchants who think in millions, and
whose daily transactions w nM. sweep the harvest
of a Greek Island or of a R^issian Principality. I
see before me the men who whiten the ocean and
the great lakes with the sails of commerce — who
own the railroads, canals, and telegraphs, which
spread life and civilization through this great
country, making the waste plains fertile and the
wilderness to blossom as the rose. I see before me
the men whose capital and financial skill bulwark
and sustain the Government in every crisis of public

affairs. [Cheers.] On either hand I sec the gentle-
men who control and animate the press, whose
laborious vigils mould public sentiment — whose
honourable ambition I can estimate from my early
connection with the profession. On those benches,
Sir, or I mistake the intelligence to be read in their
faces, sit those who will yet be Governors and
Ministers of State. I may well feel awed in presence
of an audience such as this ; but the great question
which brings us together is worthy of the audience
and challenges their grave consideration.

What is that question? Sir, we are here to
determine how best we can draw together, in the
bonds of peace, friendship, and commercial prosperity,
the three branches of the British lamily. [Cheei's.]
In the presence of this great theme all petty interests
should stand rebuked — ^we are not dealing with the
concerns of a City, a Province, or a State, but
with the future of our race in all time to come.
Some reference has been made to " Elevators " in
your discussions. What we want is an elevator to
lift our souls to the height of this great argument.
Why should not these three branches of the family
flourish, under different systems of government, it
may be, but forming one grand whole, proud of a
common origin and of their advanced civilization ?
We are taught to reverence the mystery of the
Trinity, and our salvation depends on our belief.
The clover lifts its trefoil leaves to the evening

dow, yet they draw their nourishment from a single
stem. Thus distinct, and yet united, let, us live and
flourish. Why should we not? For nearly two
thousand years we were one family. Our fathers
fought side by side at Hastings, and heard the
curfew toll. They fought in the same ranks for the
sepulchre of our Saviour — in the earlier and later
civil wars. We can wear our white and red roses
without a blush, and glory in the principles those
conflicts established. Our common ancestors won
the Great Charter and the Bill of Rights — estab-
lished free Parliaments, the Habeas Corpus and
Trial by Jury. Our Jurisprudence comes down
from Coke and Mansfield to Marshall and Story,
rich in knowledge and experience which no man
can divide. From Chaucer to Shakspeare our
literature is a common inheritance. Tennyson and
Longfellow write in one language, which is enriched
by the genius developed on either side of the
Atlantic. In the great navigators, from Cottereal
to Hudson, and in all their " moving accidents by
flood and field " we have a common interest On
this side of the sea we have been largely reinforced
by the Germans and French, but there is strength
in both elements. The Germans gave to us the
sovereigns who established our freedom, and they
give to you industry, intelligence, and thrift ; and
the French, who have distinguished themselves in
arts and arms for centuries, now strengthen the

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Provinces which the fortune of war decided they
could not control. But it may be said we have
been divided by two wars. What then? The
noble St. Lawrence is split in two places — by Goat
Island and by Anticosti — but it comes to us from
the same springs in the same mountain sides ; its
waters sweep together past the Pictured Rocks of
Lake Superior, and encircle in their loving embrace
the shores of Huron and Michigan. They are
divided at Niagara Falls, as we were at the revo-
lutionary war, but they come together again on the
peaceful bosom of Ontario. Again they are divided
on their passage to the sea; but who thinks of
divisions when they lift the keels of commerce, or
when drawn up to heaven they form the rainbow or
the cloud ? It is true that in eighty-five years we
have had two wars — ^but what then? Since the
last we have had fifty years of peace, and there
have been more people killed in a single campaign
in the late civil war, than there were in the two
national wars between this country and Great
Britain. You hope to draw together the two con-
flicting elements and make them one people. And
in that task I wish you God speed! [Cheers.]
And in the same way I feel that we ought to rule
out everything disagreeable in the recollection of
our old wars, and unite together as one people for
all time to come. [Cheers.] I see around the door
the flags of the two countries. United as they arc

there, I would ever have them draped together, fold
within fold — and lot '

— — " thoir varying tints tinito,
And form, in hoavon's light,
Ono arch of poaoo."

[Ap[)lause.] Ho thanked the Board of Trade, and
the jKJople of the city for the hospitality extended
to the Provincial Delegates, and proceeded as
follows to the general exposition of his subject :

The most important question to bo considered at
this great meeting of the commercial men of North
America, involves the relations w^hich are to subsist
between the inhabitants of the British empire, and
the citizens of the United States. Before we can
deliver a rational judgment upon this question it
becomes us to consider what those relations are
now. The British Government controls the des-
tinies and regulates the trade of 250,000,000 of
people, distributed over the four quarters of the
globe ; and in the British Islands alone the machinery
in constant running order does the work of
800,000,000 more. Now, in what spirit has the
British Government, controlling this great empire,
dealt in commercial matters with the United States ?
It has extended to them all the privileges of the
most favoured nation, and has opened up to them,
on the most easy terms, the consumption, for every-
thing that they can produce, of all these people.

{

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Millions of emigrants and hundreds of millions of
money have flowed in here without any attempt, by
unAvi^e laws, to dam up the streams of industry and
capital. Leaving those of her Provinces that have
legislatures free to regulate their own tariffs, Great
Britain restrains them from discriminating, as
against the productions of this country, even in
favour of her own. Though weighted with enormous
debt, and always compelled to confront the military
monarchies of Europe with a powerful force by land
and sea, the people of England prefer to pay direct
taxes to burthening commerce with heavy import
duties. Year by year the highest financial skill of
the nation has been employed to discove how its
tariff could be simplified — port charges i duced —
obsolete regulations removed, and year by rear, as
trade extends and revenue increases, t? :es are
reduced or abolished upon articles of prime acessity,
consumed by the great body of the p )ple. I
notice that some writers in the west compium that
wheat is sent into this country from Canada^ duty
free ; but it should be remembered that the surplus
of all the cereals, ground or unground, is not only
admitted to the British Islands duty iree from the
United States, but to almost, if not to all, the ports
in our widely extended empire. It is sometimes
said that because this country admits breadstuffs
fi-om Canada, manufactures, free of duty, should be
taken in return. But Great Britain and the Pre

yinces take annually an enormous quantity of
breadstufifs and meat from this country, but do not
ask from you the privilege that those persons would
claim from us.

In three departments of economic science Great
Britain has made advances far outstripping in
liberality the policy of this or of any foreign
country. France and the United States continue
to foster and extend their fisheries by high bounties,
but she leaves her people without any special en-
couragement to meet on the sea, and in foreign
markets, the unfair competition to which they are
subjected by this system. . .

Great Britain throws open to the people of
this country the coasting trade of the entire Empire,
A ship from Maine or Massachusetts, or from any
state in the Union, may not only visit and unlade
at the port to which she has been cleared, but she
may go from port to port and from Province to
Province, until she has circumnavigated the globe,
the discretion of her owners being the only limit to
the extent of her transactions. The Government
of the United States gives to British subjects no
participation in their coasting trade. Whether they
find a market or not, they must break bulk and
sell at any port they enter. With our fifty Colonies,
spread over the face of the globe, your shipowners
participate in the same privileges as our own.
And when I speak of the shipping interest, it must

be admitted to include many interests — the lumber
interest (and an important one it is), the industry
of the blacksmith, of the caulker, the rigger, the
ropemaker, and of the men who work in copper.
All these branches of industry are represented in a
ship, and fostered by this policy of Great Britain.
[Cheers.] '

Mr. YouNGLOVE, of Philadelphia. — ^I would ask
the gentleman if the rights he speaks of, on the
part of the shipping interest, are dependent on the
Eeciprocity Treaty.

Mr. Howe. — Yesterday, our worthy friend, Mr.
Hamlin, talked about Reciprocity in " slices," and
I am now simply showing you how many slices we
gave you before the Reciprocity Treaty was nego-
tiated. [Loud cheers and laughter.] I assert that
Great Britain, with a liberality which would do
honour to any Government, has thrown open this
whole trade without any restriction. She says to
us in effect, if not in so many words, " You are all
children of mine, and are dear to me. You are all
on the other side of the Atlantic, possessing a com-
mon heritage ; make the best of it." [Hear, hear.]
Your vessels are permitted to run to Halifax, from
Halifax to St. John, from St. John to British Co-
lumbia, and from British Columbia to England,
Scotland, or Ireland. They are allowed to go
coasting around the British Empire until they rot.
But you do not give us the privilege of coasting

anywhere from one end of your Atlantic coast to
the other. And now I hope that our friend from
Maine will acknowledge that in granting this privi-
lege, with nothing in return, Great Britain gave
you a pretty large slice. [Cheers and laughter.]

The citizens of this country may build in any of
its ports steamers or sailing vessels, and clothe
them with the character and invest them with the
privileges of British ships by registering them in
any part of the Empire. In peace this is a great
privilege, and gives to the ship-builders of Maine
and Massachusetts, a very decided advantage over
those on the opposite side of the Bay of Fundy. In
war, assuming Great Britain to be a neutral, it is
a protection. I trust I have shown, 1st, That the
British Empire is sufficiently extended, populous,
and powerful, to be independent of the hostility or
fiscal errors of any foreign State : 2nd, That her
commercial code is characterized by principles of
liberality so broad, as to invite exchanges with all
the world, and that, altogether independent of the
Reciprocity Treaty, she has granted privileges to
this country for which no equivalents have been
asked or given.

The Reciprocity Treaty was a special arrange-
ment forced upon both countries by a long frontier,
by the proximity of rich fishing grounds, and by
the difficulty of drawing accurate and recognized
boundaries upon the sea. T need not enter upon

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the history of this question, which has been most
accurately given by Lorenzo Sabine, Esq^ in his
very able reports to the Boston Board of Trade.
It is sufficient for us to know that for forty years
the use, by American citizens, of the in-shore
fisheries upon the coast of British America was in
controversy between the two Governments, — that
every year American fishing vessels were seized or
driven oflF, it being impossible to define accurately
a sea-line of five thousand miles — that disputes
were endless, tending ultimately to the employment
of naval forces, with evident danger of hostile col-
lisions and of war.

On the other hand, the Canadians, seeing the
great staples of the United States freely admitted
into every part of the British Empire, naturally
claimed that their breadstuff's should pass with
equal freedom into the United States, the greater
portion being only in transitu to the mother-country.
The Maritime Provinces, admitting breadstufifs from
the United States duty free, and all their manufac-
tures under low import duties, not exceeding 10 to
12 J per cent, naturally claimed that their own
unmanufactured staples should be admitted free
into this country. They as fairly claimed that their
tonnage should be entitled to the right of registry
in the United States, and to participate in its
coasting trade. >

The Reciprocity Treaty was a compromise of

all these claims and interests. For the Provinces
it was an unfair compromise. The right of registry
and to trade coastwise was not conceded. The free
interchange of the produce of the soil, the forest
and the mine, was satisfactory. The right to
navigate Lake Michigan was perfectly fair to both
countries.

But the retention of the bounties gave to the
fishermen of the United States an unfair advantage,
and for the free navigation of the rivers and canals
of British America no equivalents were given. To
the Maritime Provinces the concession of the in-
shore fisheries, with the right to dry and cure fish
upon their coasts, was particularly distasteful. So
long as American fishermen were kept outside of a
line drawn three marine miles from the headlands,
as fixed by the Convention of 1818, the mackerel,
herring, and ale wife fisheries were secure from
intrusion within those limits, and the cod-fishery
within the great bays of Newfoundland was a close
preserve, while the protection of the revenue in all
the Provinces gave the Grovemments but little
concern. But the moment that American fisher-
men obtained the right to fish in all the bays,
harbours, and estuaries of British America, their
line of operations was doubled in length, and the
privilege, if they chose to use it, of carrying on
illicit trade with the inhabitants of the sea coast,
and of sending goods into the interior free of duty.

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gave them facilities extremely difficult to control.
A very large amount of spirits and manufactures
have in this way been introduced into the Maritime
Provinces free of duty, within the past ten years,
that it would not be easy to trace in the regular
trade returns. So distasteful was this great con-
cession, without equivalent, to the people of the
Lower Provinces, that it was denounced by some of
their ablest public men as an unrequited sacrifice
of their interests.

i In this connection it is but right to show that^
whether the Treaty was fair or unfair, in the working
of it, the citizens of this country have had advan-
tages not contemplated when it was signed. The
arrangement was completed on the 6th of June,
1854, but was not to come into foil effect till
ratified by the Colonial Legislatures. Mr. Marcy
requested that, pending the decisions of the Pro-
vinces, the American fishermen should be permitted
to enter upon the in-shore fisheries in as foil and
ample a manner as they would be when the Treaty
came into force. The concession was yielded and
the British and Colonial cruisers were withdrawn.
When the Colonies claimed the free entry of their
products, pending the ratification of the Treaty, in
return for this concession, existing revenue laws
were pleaded and this very reasonable claim was
denied; so that at the outset the citizens of the
Republic enjoyed the chief advantages of the Treaty

for nearly a year before the Colonists were practi-
cally brought within its scope and operation.

Again, when the civil war broke out, one-half
the seaboard of the United States was blockaded,
and all the advantages of the Reciprocity Treaty,
so far as the consumption of the ten millions of
people in the Southern States was a benefit to the
Provinces, were withdrawn. Assuming that the
Treaty runs over ten years, it will be seen that for
the whole of that period the people of this country
have enjoyed all the benefits for which they
stipulated, while the British Americans, for one
year of the ten, have derived no benefit at all,
and for four entire years have lost the consumption
of one third of the people with whom, by the
Treaty, they were entitled to trade. Recognizing
the political necessities of the period, British
subjects have made no complaints of this exclu-
sion, but it ought to be borne in mind, now that
the whole subject is about to be reviewed.

Let us now look at the working of the Treaty,
and estimate, if we can, in a judicial spirit, its fair
and legitimate fruits. We must confess that, as a
measure of peace and national fraternity, it has been
most successful. It has extended to the Gulf of
St. Lawrence and to the North Atlantic, the free-
dom and security enjoyed by the Great Lakes,
under a kindred arrangement. There have been no
more intrusions, warnings, captures — no rival squad-

rons guarding boundaries not possible to define.
This treaty settled amicably the last boundary
question, about which the Governments of Great
Britain and the United States could, by any possi-
bility, dispute. This was a great matter, had no
other good been accomplished, and he is no friend
to either country who would desire to throw open
this wide field of controversy again. Looking at
the industrial results of the Treaty, any fair-minded
and dispassionate man must admit that they have
far surpassed, in utility and value, all that could
have been hoped by the most sanguine advocates
of the measure in 1854. The trade of the United
States and of the Provinces, feeble, restricted, slow
of growth, and vexatious before, has been annually
swelled by mutual exchanges and honourable com-
petition, till it is represented by a grand total of
456,350,391 dols., in nine years. This amount
seems almost incredible, but who can hazard an
estimate of the figures by which this trade will be
expressed ten or twenty years hence, if this wise
adjustment of our mutual interests be not dis-
turbed ? If there be any advantage in a balance
of trade, the returns show that the citizens of the
United States have had it to the extent of
55,951,145 dols. But in presence of the great
benefits conferred upon both countries by the
measure, it would be a waste of time to chaflfer
over their distribution. In the interests of peace

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and honest industry, we should thank Providence
for the blessing, and confidently rely upon the
wisdom of our statesmen to see that it is pre-
served. ' '

Mr. Chairman, let me now turn your attention
to some of the topics touched by other gentlemen
in the course of this three days' debate. Some
gentlemen seem to be apprehensive that if this
treaty is renewed it will lead to illicit trade along
the frontier. For a long time your duties were
lower than ours. Mr. Sabine said he was once a
smuggler. At that time he could not carry on
trade or business at Eastport and be anything else.
The traders on the whole coast of Maine were
engaged in the same business, and so were those
of Massachusetts; and small blame to them.
The smuggler is a check upon the extravagance
of governments and the increase of taxation.
[Cheers.] Any country that raises its tarifis too
high, or increases its taxation too far, will be kept
in check by smugglers. The boot was formerly on
your leg; it is now perhaps on the other. — ^You
have been driven into a war which has created a
large expenditure and increased your taxation. It
would perhaps pay at this moment to smuggle some
articles from the Provinces into this country. You
are entitled to defend yourselves against it. But
at the same time bear this in mind, that one of the
main objections in the Maritime Provinces to this

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Treaty was that it gave to your people the power
of smuggling. And that power you possess, and
may use to any extent you please. Over thousands
of miles of coast we cannot afford to keep revenue
officers. Down come cutters from Maine with flour,
pork, salt, &c., but who can tell what they have in
the salt. [Great laughter.] Why, Sir, we some-
times laugh at Yankee notions. One of those is
what is called " white-eye *' in the Provinces — a
life-destroying spirit, with which these coasters
deluge our coasts; and it comes in the salt.
[Laughter.] So in like manner with tea, tobacco,
and manufactures. Why, a fisherman can land on
any part of our 6,000 miles of coast, and when
challenged by our custom-house officers, he can
answer that he has a right to land there. The
officer withdraws, and the white-eye is landed.
And I tell you what we do to adapt ourselves
to the circumstances. We are free traders, and
we maintain our Governments, have overflowing
treasuries, and carry on our public works with a
tariff of ten per cent. [Hear, hear.] The only
way we can keep out smuggling is to keep our
tariff so low as to make it not worth while for any
one to smuggle.

Let me now draw your attention for a moment
to the value of these North American Fisheries.
You have behind and around you here, boundless
prairies, which an all-bountiful Creator annually

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covers with rich harvests of wheat and com. The
ocean is our prairie, and it stretches away before
and around us, and Almighty God, for the sus-
tenance of man, annually replenishes it with fish
in myriads that can^t be counted, having a com-
mercial value that no man can estimate. The
fecundity of the ocean may be estimated by the
fact that the roes of thirty codfish annually replace
all the fish that are taken by the British, French,
and American fishermen on the Banks of New-
foundland. In like manner the schools of mackerel,
herring, and of all other fish that swarm in the
Bays and trim round the shores, are replaced year
by year. These great store-houses of food can
never be exhausted. But it may be said, does not
the free competition which now exists lower the
prices? No. Codfish have never been higher in
the markets of the world than they were last
summer. Herrings are now selling in Baltimore
for 13 dols. a barrel. Thirty years ago I used
to buy No. 1 mackerel in Halifax for 4 dols. a
barrel. They now cost 18 dols., and I have seen
them selling since the Reciprocity Treaty was
signed for 22 dols. The reason of this is that,
relative to all other employments, fishing is a
perilous and poor business, and that, with the
progress of settlement and growth of population
in all these great States and Provinces, to say
nothing of the increased consumption in Spain,

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the Mediterranean, the Brazils, and the West
Indies, — all that your fishermen and ours can catch
will scarcely supply the demand. I placed before
the Committee a paper, signed by two American
merchants, carrying on trade in Prince Edward
Island, which proves that, under the Treaty, your
mackerel fishery has flourished and expanded to an
extent unexampled in its former history. Taking
two years prior to the existence of the Treaty and
contrasting them with the last two years, they
show that your mackerel fishery has grown from
250 vessels measuring 18,150 tons, valued at
750,000 dols. and manned by 2,750 men, secur-
ing a catch worth 850,000 dols., to 600 vessels
measuring 64,000 tons, employing 9,000 men,
securing 315,000] barrels, worth 4,567,500 dols.
The herring fishery is equally prosperous. I
have seen two American seine-boats take 500
barrels of herrings, at Baltimore prices, worth
6,500 dols., on the coast of Labrador, in a summer
afternoon. The net fishing is also profitable. The
Bank earns and the Mill grinds while the banker
and the miller sleep. The fisherman sets his net
at night, and finds in the morning that a kind
Providence, without a miracle, except the " wealth
of seas," that standing miracle, has loaded his nets
at night with a liberal hand. These fisheries. Sir,
are sufficient for us all. The French, who are
anxious to build up a powerful navy, maintain

10,000 iiAon by their bounties in these North
American water/* and it is most creditable to our
fisherman, that i/i the face of these bounties and of
yours they have been able, by strict economy and
hardy enduraiiro, to wrestle for a share of these
ocean treasures, to maintain their families and
increase their numbers.

A gentleman asked — But had we not the right
to fish on the Banks of Newfoundland before the
treaty ?

Mr. Howe. — Yes, but not in the great bays of
Newfoundland, and along the coast lines where the
people of Newfoundland, who frequent the banks
but little, catch all their codfish. Some of these
bays are twenty or thirty miles in width, and
deeply indent the island, being broken into
numerous fiords or smaller bays, where fish are
plenty. By the Treaty American fishermen can
now use all these bays as well as those upon the
coasts of Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick,
and Prince Edward Island. The command of the
in-shore fisheries gives to your people the oppor-
tunity to supply themselves with bait, whether
they resort to the banks or fish around the coast.

I trust I have thus shown you, Mr. Chairman,
that the fisheries are inexhaustible, and of inesti-
mable value ; that free competition does not lower
the prices, and that your fishermen and the French
have special aids to stimulate their industry. But

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my great objection to the abrogation of this Treaty
is that it throws open again a wide field of contro-
versy. Who can measure by the eye a mile even
upon the land ? And how are your fishermen to
measure accurately three marine miles at sea even
in fair weather ? In a fog it is impossible to do so ;
and the naval officers, who may be sent down to
guard our mutual rights, will be as much mystified
and puzzled as they were before.

But it may be said you gave us your in-shore
fisheries when we gave you ours. You did, but they
were of comparatively little value. This was the
objection that we took to the Treaty in Nova Scotia
in 1854. Let me illustrate. Suppose a farmer,
living on a poor farm exhausted by successive
cropping, were to say to a neighbour having a rich
soil in high cultivation, let us save fencing and
throw our farms into one. [Laughter.] That was
your proposition, and it was accepted. Now mark
the result — that while your vessels have swarmed
in our waters for the last nine years, carrying oflF
enormous values every year, we have never sent a
vessel south during all that time, or caught a single
cargo of fish on the coasts or in the bays of the
United States. [Hear, hear.]

Let me ask your attention to another matter
which requires to be explained. Mr. Seymour, of
New York, who made an excellent speech in favour
of the resolution, took exception to the high tariff

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of Canada. Now, in the Provinces our people are
naturally anxious to improve their internal commu-
nications, and bring them up to a level with other
portions of the continent. Yielding to this pressure
the Government of Canada has expended large
sums in the construction of railroads and canals ;
and let me say that for every pound expended this
western country has, either directly or indirectly,
derived some benefit. But the money being ex-
pended, of course the interest has to be paid, and
that this might be done changes have been made in
the tariff from time to time. But you have been
compelled to raise your tariff, and although I have
not the two to compare, I assume that yours is
much higher than that of Canada. Of this we do
not complain. Why should you ? Both countries
must maintain their credit and pay their obligations.
I was very much amused by a speech made by Mr.
Morrill in your Congress, who assumes that " the
magnificent railway improvements of Canada have
been made with the profits derived fi*om the
Eeciprocity Treaty." But Mr. Morrill ought to
know that out of about £13,000,000 expended
upon the Grand Trunk Kailway and the Victoria
Bridge, £10,000,000 were subscribed by a body of
Bi itish capitalists, who have never got a shilling in
return for their outlay. I was even more amused
at the gentleman from Maine who took exception to
the construction of the Intercolonial Road. He

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ought to remember that a very large amount, for
which Canada pays interest, has gone to improve
and re-stock the road running through Maine to
Portland, and to pay interest to the American pro-
prietors from whom it was leased. As respects the
road from Halifax to Bangor, I am happy to be able
to inform him that the Governments of Nova Scotia
and New Brunswick have made 160 miles of that
road since the Treaty was signed, while the State of
Maine has not yet made a single mile to meet us.
It ought to be remembered that Canada is spending,
at this moment, a million of dollars on her frontier.
For what ? To keep her own people from coming
to injure you ? Why, not a man would ever come.
It is to keep the people from your side, who abuse
the rights of hospitality, from injuring or compro-
mising us.

The necessities of Canada, from these large ex-
penditures, compelled her to raise her import duty.
And after all Canada cannot levy a tax upon your
manufactories that she does not also lay on those of
Britain, so that you may be easy on that point. "We
are no more fond of taxation than you are, and
there is no more popular cry for a man to get up in
our legislatures than that of reducing taxation.

Passing from the subject of railroads, let us
speak of canals : I candidly confess, that when I
came to this Convention, I was ignorant on the sub-
ject of western extension, but I listened with great

pleasure to the speeches made here, and especially
to that of Mr. Littlejohn, and I began to feel the
importance of the question. But this has been felt
in Canada for many years. Has not Canada always
been in advance of her means in trying to improve
the course of navigation ?

I know that a large portion of her debt has been
expended in these canal improvements to accom^
modate the great West, and I know that there is no
question at this time which engrosses the attention
of Canadians more than how they can best extend
these highways of commerce. [Cheers.] And let
me say, that from what I have heard here, when
New York and Pennsylvania and Canada have
done their best, and made their canals as efficient as
they can, there will be business enough to occupy
them all, and the produce of the great West will
still crowd all these avenues. [Loud cheers.] The
complaint that Canada has given drawbacks and
discriminated has been fairly met by my friend Mr.
Eyan. There is no complaint against the Maritime
Provinces, as the Boards of Trade of Boston and
New York acknowledge with great candour. New-
foundland takes nearly all her breadstuflfs and pork
froui this country free, and all your manufactures,
under a very low tariff. As Spain, the Mediter-
ranean, and the West Indies take all her codfish, she
has very little to send in return. Prince Edward
Island sends you barley, oats, and eggs, and takes

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from you by far the largest portion of her whole
import from other countries.

My friend, Mr. Hamlin, seemed reluctant that
any expression of opinion should go from this body.
When any expression goes it must go from American
citizens. All we can do is to express our individual
opinions. It is for American citizens to judge of
what their rights are. That is for you, and not for
us, to determine. But I do not believe that any ex-
pression of opinion from any body of men in this
country, will bo looked upon as an interference with
the authority of this Government, if I know the
men at the head of your affairs, and understand
your system. [Applause.] I may say that I
believe this whole matter may be safely left in the
hands of the very able man who presides over your
State Department. [Cheers.] I have no hesitation
in saying, as a British subject, that the manner in
which he has dealt with the variety of vexed
questions between the two countries, for the last
four years, gives me a fair assurance that upon this
question, as upon all others, he will deal with these
important interests as an intelligent, able, and
experienced statesman. [Loud cheers;] But I
quite agree with Mr. Hamlin and other gentlemen,
that in making this Treaty you must have regard to
the revenue you have to raise. I know that to be
perfectly true. You have had a large expenditure,
and I entirely approve of the spirit in which this

.assembly recognizes the duty of the Government to
sustain the credit of the country and maintain its
obligations. We know you must do that. Why,
if you did not, we should share in the disgrace ; we
should feel, as part of the British family, that when
you had issued your bonds and sent them largely
into foreign countries, we should be disgraced as
well as you, if you did not sustain them. [Cheers.]
But I believe that the resources of this country are
so vast and varied, and the development of its
industry is so rapid and extensive, that you will be
able to master the debt, maintain your credit, and
deal with your neighbours in a kindly spirit besides.
Why, Sir, if it was said by your minister that this
Treaty could not be renewed in consequence of your
financial wants, there is not a man in the Colonies
but who would take that answer. [Cheers.] But if it
were refused in any other way, we would say : " It
is not done from necessity, it is not done for revenue,
it is done in temper, and is an indication of feelings
which we must endeavour to eradicate." If Mr.
Seward tells us that he cannot retain this Treaty
and have a revenue, we shall be satisfied, and shall
live beside you and be good neighbours, and wait
until your finances are in a better condition. [Lord
cheers.] Now I quite admit the general principle
laid down by Mr. Hamlin, that it is not wise to
enter into treaties that shall withdraw large portions
of produce from the operation of general revenue

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laws. But there may be circumstances that will
render it expedient to make exceptions to that rule.
We have a large debt in England ; but, neverthe-
less, one of the most signal illustrations of this
principle was that great achievement by that noble
man whose loss is deplored by all parties, and who
was, in all respects, a representative Englishman —
I mean Richard Cobden. [Great applause.] The
treaty that he concluded with France was justified
by the public necessities, and the importance of
that trade. And the exception to the rule in the
case of the Reciprocity Treaty, is justified in the
same way. The French Treaty was essentially a
Reciprocity Treaty, and has rapidly developed the
commerce of the two nations, and has bound with
ties of amity and peace the people of two great
countries who for centuries thought they ought to
be natural enemies.

Among the interests represented here is the
lumber interest. Now, I know something of the
lumber trade, although the Province I come from is
not very largely interested in it ; but the Provinces
of Canada and New Brunswick are. The gentlemen
from Maine seem to be afraid of the competition of
colonial lumber. I wish I had all these gentlemen
on the river St. Croix. On the one side of that
river is built the town of Calais, and on the other
the town of St. Stephen's. They are connected by a
bridge, and they have a railway for the transpor-

tation of lumber. It is about twenty miles long,
and it accommodates the lumber of the two countries.
A merchant in Calais is loading a vessel at his
wharf, and he has not got lumber enough to make
up his cargo. Down goes from the other side a few
loads of lumber to make up the cargo, and the next
day down goes American lumber to load a British
ship.

These two communities are thus made one by
that reciprocity, and I do not believe, in the case of
a war, that there is a single man in St. Stephen's
who would shoot a man in Calais. [Laughter.] They
are kept together by this Treaty, and why should it
not be so with reference to these Western States ?
If there is more lumber in Michigan than in Canada,
why should it not go there ; and if there is more in
Canada than on your prairies, why should not our
lumber go out upon the prairies ? Why would any
one refuse to the poor settler the privilege of buying
the cheapest lumber he can get ? [Loud cheers.]

But it is said that there is danger of the price
of your lumber being affected by the introduction
of ours. There is no evidence of this. The price of
lumber last year was very high, and I know that
since this Treaty has been in operation the people of
Bangor have all got rich. But let us reassure
them. There are causes at work over the face of
this continent that must always keep up the price
of lumber. Nobody plants a tree except for shade,

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and everybody is cutting them down. Many of
these States are almost cleared of pine from the
seaboard back to the lakes. There are a million of
axes cutting down trees, and millions of firesides
burning them up, to say nothing of railroads in
every section of the country in want of fuel. These
are our securities that the price of lumber will never
get too low. It has passed away or is passing
before the pioneer. Every poor German or Irish-
man who goes into the backwoods and destroys the
timber tends to keep up the price of lumber, and no
man in the State of Maine believes that the price of
lumber can come largely down. But even if it
does, is it not better that it should be so ? When
a hundred logs are thrown into a river, the Al-
mighty furnishes the trees and the means to bring
them down free. Why, then, should we divide the
river and the forest by restrictive regulations?
But we do not own all the timber in our possession.
In all the Provinces we have abolished our alien
laws. The American citizen can come and buy
mines and timber and land wherever he likes. And
I know of men in Maine and Massachusetts who
own as much as 20,000 acres in one block in Nova
Scotia. A large portion of the lumber of our Pro-
vinces is owned by citizens of this Republic. Take
the case of the river St. John, and you will find
that American lumber comes down th: re paying no
taxes, and the whole of that river is alive in the

summer with your lumber, taken off our land, and
worked by enterprising Americans. If there is an
American vessel there she loads it and carries it to
your own ports, or to England ; and so the lumber
trade, twisted and intertwined as it is, is a trade
owned in fact by the two countries.

A word with regard to coal. I was amused at
the exception taken to the action of a gentleman
from Philadelphia, and at the statement made by
some other speaker that he could see nothing but
coal and iron. Well, they are very good things to
see, and I am happy to say that in Nova Scotia
we have them both in large quantities, and we
have them near the sea; therefore I have great
sympathy with a Pennsylvanian who does not
undervalue coal and iron. But let me say this,
that I have just done what I have never had an
opportunity to do before— I have seen the front and
rear and centre of this State of Pennsylvania. I
have seen there what reconciles me to all the mis-
fortunes that may happen to her if this treaty
should go into efiTect. Pennsylvania is so rich in
a fertile soil ; so rich in honest industry ; so rich in
iron and coal ; so rich in fruits, and in all that can
embellish or give animation to industrial life, that
she need care nothing for this Treaty. God hns
been good to her, and her thrifty sons have made
the best use of the blessings that have been
bestowed upon them. As I passed over that State

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and saw her fertile fields, I should have fancied I
was in one of the richest districts in England, but
for the wooden fences. I visited Lor great work-
shop, and I saw a city that has no rival on this
continent — a city only matched by three or four in
Europe. There Pennsylvania stands in her beauty
and power, and she need not fear competition from
any of our provinces. But as with timber so with
coal. Do you think we own all the coal in Nova
Scotia ? I think not. There is hardly a steamer
comes down from New York or Boston that does
not bring American capitalists to invest money in
our coal.

Now a few words in explanation for the gentle-
men from Buffalo, who asked me if the Provinces
had not received some compensation, by blockade
running, for the loss of the Southern trade, and I
answer, certainly not . We have fifty seaports
where we maintain officers, and from whence we
carry on foreign trade. But one out of the fifty has
had anything to do with blockade-running. Now,
then, if fifty citizens of this country had the option
to do a thing, and but one had done it, it would be
rather hard to bring a charge against the whole lot
for the wrong done by one. But who has carried
on this blockade-running? Not our Nova Scotia
merchants. Has anybody put Nova Scotia capital
into this business? I do not believe £5. Then
where did the capital come from? It came from

your own country, cither in the shape of gold brought
there, or it came in the form of bills drawn on the
cotton loan in England, by your own people. A
gentleman from New York, or Portland, or Boston,
or anywhere else, comes down to Halifax, and says
to one of our merchants, I want you to buy 100
barrels of pork. He buys it and ships it to whatever
place he is directed. Our merchant receives his com-
mission, and that is all he has to do with it. Even
in this way I know of a very few merchants who
have touched it at all. There are a few, a very
few, but whether they have made a profit by it I do
not know. It has not amounted to anything as a
business, compared with the general volume of our
colonial trade. I have not been at home lately, but
I should not be very much surprised when I get
there, if I find that the rebellion caved in so rapidly
that some of these bills have not been paid in
England. '

Mr. Allen. — I did not inquire for any captious
motives. I have no doubt that American traitors
are as deeply concerned in it as Canadian speculators.
[Great applause.] ; , ; • <

Mr. Howe. — I believe you did not ; and let me
say, also, Mr. Chairman, that no gentleman from the
Provinces has taken offence at anything said or done
in this assemblv. We are accustomed to free debates
at home, and let me assure Mr. Hamlin that none of

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US felt aggrieved at his banter yesterday, which wo
accepted as a compliment to our shrewdness.

Mr. Chairman, I must now touch upon a subject
of some delicacy and importance. It has been urged
by Mr. Morrill in Congress, and by some people in
the United States, that the Treaty ought not to be
renewed, because it had bred no friendship towards
them across the lakes — that in their struggles the
sympathies of the Provinces were with the South.
Well, if that were true in its fullest extent, which it
is not — if you had not had one sympathizer among
the native people and British residents of the Pro-
vinces, it could fairly be said in response that when
Great Britain was at war with Russia the sympathies
of the American people were very generally with
the latter country. I was in the United States at
the time, and was perfectly astonished at the feeling.
Russia was at that time a country full of slaves, for
the serfs had not been emancipated, and England
was at war with her to prevent her making slaves
of the weak neighbouring countries. How the
American people could sympathize with Russia was
a perfect puzzle at first sight, and can only be ex-
plained in the same manner that much of the sym-
pathy for the South on the part of the British subjects
may be explained. And when the Canadians once
had a rebellion within their borders, where were the
sympathies of the American people then? Were

they with the Canadian Government or with the
rebels ? You not onl}^ sympathized with them, but
I am sorry to have to say it, you gave them aid
along the frontier in many ways, and to a very large
extent. I am happy to be able to say, that during
the whole four years of the rebellion in the United
States there has not been developed a i)artiele of
evidence to show that a single citizen of any British
North American Province put a hostile foot upon
your soil. [Loud applause.] Everything of which
complaint can be made has been the act of your own
people, in violation of the hospitality and right of
asylum everywhere extended to them on the soil of
Great Britain and of her dependencies.

I make these remarks in no spirit of auger or of
excitement, but to show how unfair it is to hold any
government or people responsible for the actions of
a few evil-disposed individuals, as well as how natural
it is for sympathy to be aroused in the minds of
people on one side or another. In our rebellion,
when its attention was called to the aots of its citi-
zens, the United States Government exerted itself
to keep them within bounds, and all that could have
been asked of the provincial authorities has been
freely done to prevent any cause of complaint against
them. It is something to be able to say that during
the four long, disastrous years of war just ended, not
a single act of which complaint can be made has
been committed by a Canadian. Notwithstanding

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the false reports that were circulated, I do not believe
there was a single intelligent citizen of my Province,
at least, who did not believe that the capture of the
* Chesapeake ' off the coast of Maine, by rebellious
citizens of the United States, was nothing less or
more than an act of piracy. And so of the St.
Alban's raid. The Government of Canada acted
most promptly and nobly in connection with that
affair, and has repaid the money which rebellious
citizens of the United States had carried into their
territory from the States banks. [Hear, hear.] As
to our harbouring the rebels and extending to them
the right of asylum, is there a single American here
who would have his government surrender that right ?
There is not an Englishman, an Irishman, a Scotch-
man, nor an American, who would not fight three
wars rather than give up that sacred right. [Ap-
plause.] How many excellent citizens of the United
States are in your country at this moment, and how
many are there who have helped you to fight your
battles, who dare not go back to their own native
lands across the ocean on account of political offences ?
You would not give these people up to their respec-
tive governments, and thus surrender your right
of asylum ; every man of you would fight first.
[Applause.] It is very proper that criminals should
be given up, and a treaty for that purpose has been
made between England and the United States. We
may sympathize with political offenders, but not with

criminals. When Abraham Lincoln fell by the
hand of an assassin, the act was reprobrated through-
out the Provinces as well as throughout the British
empire. [Hear.] But admitting that a large num-
ber of the people in the Provinces sympathized with
the rebels, what of that? Did not a very large
number in the Northern States sympathize with
them ? Nobody ever saw two dogs fighting in the
street, or two cocks fighting in a backyard, without
having his sympathies aroused, he scarcely knows
why, in favour of one or other of the combatants,
and generally the weakest. [Laughter.] Suppose
a good deal of feeling was excited in some portions
of the British Provinces, is that good reason for re-
fusing to allow us to trade with our brethren south
of the Lakes? The sympathy expressed for the
South ought to be well balanced by the young men
whom you have drawn from the Colonies into this
conflict. [Hear, hear.] For one ton of goods sent
to the Southerners, and for one young man sent to
aid their cause, we have sent fifty tons of goods and
fifty able-bodied soldiers to the North. The people
of the Provinces might lay the charge against you
of having seduced their young men away from their
homes, and left their bodies bleaching on Southern
plains or rotting in Southern prisons. Only a
short time ago I met no less than thirty British
Americans going home in a single vessel, after hav-
ing served three years in the war, and having left

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scores of their companions behind to enrich the soil.
At Washington I met with a brave nephew of one
of my late colleagues in the Legislature of Nova
Scotia, who held the rank of lieutenant in a Massa-
chusetts regiment, with only one leg to take him
back to his home instead of two. [Loud cheers.]
I met another veteran from my Province, who had
fought in twenty battles and was on his way home.
In my own family and person I have suffered not a
little by this unhappy rebellion. I have four boys,
and one of them took it into his head to enter your
army. He has now been for nearly two years in
the 23rd Ohio regiment, and has fought in all the
battles in which that regiment has been engaged
during that period. He was in both the great battles
under Sheridan, in which Early*s forces were scat-
tered and the Shenandoah valley cleared. [Loud
and long continued applause.] All the personal
benefit that I have derived from the Reciprocity
Treaty, or hope to derive from its renewal, will, never
compensate me or that boy's mother for the anxiety
we have had with regard to him ; but when he pro-
duced the certificates of his commanding officers,
showing that he had conducted himself like a gen-
tleman, and had been faithful and brave, it was some
consolation for all our anguish to know that he had
performed his duty. [Enthusiastic applause, during
which the speaker's feelings nearly overcame him ;
as this subsided, a gentleman proposed " three cheers

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for the boy," which were given with great viva-
city.]

- I know that it has been asserted by some, and I
have heard it uttered since I came to the conven-
tion, that if the Reciprocity Treaty is annulled the
British Provinces will be so cramped that they will
be compelled to seek annexation to the United States.
I beg to be allowed to say on that point that no man
knows better the feeling in the Lower Provinces,
and I believe I am well enough acquainted with the
Canadians to speak for them also, and I speak for
them all, with such exceptions as must be made
when speaking for any entire population, when I
make the assertion that no consideration of finance,
no question of balance for or against them, upon
interchange of commodities, can have any influence
upon the loyalty of the inhabitants of the British
Provinces, or tend in the slightest degree to alienate
the affections of the people from their country, their
institutions, their government, and their Queen.
[Cheers from the colonial delegations.] There is
not a loyal man in the British American Provinces,
not a man worthy of the name, who, whatever may
happen to the Treaty, — will become any the less
loyal, any the less true to his country on that account.
There is not a man who dare, on the abrogation of
the Treaty, if such should be its fate, take the hust-
ings and appeal to any constituency on annexation
principles throughout the entire domain. The man

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who avows such a sentiment will be scouted from
society by his best friends. What other treatment
would a man deserve who, for pecuniary considera-
tions, should turn traitor to his sovereign and his
government, and violate all obligations to the
country which gave him birth ? You know what
you call Copperheads, and a nice life they have of
it. [Laughter.] Just such a life will the man have
who talks treason on the other side of the lines.
[Applause.] The very boy to whom I have alluded
as having fought manfully for the "Stars and Stripes,"
would rather blow his own father's brains out than
haul down the honoured flag under which he was
born — the flag of his nation and of his fatherland.
[Cheers.] I do not believe there is a young Cana-
dian in the American army who does not honour his
own flag as you honour yours, and they ought to be
despised if they did not. If any member of this
Convention harbours the idea that by refusing reci-
procity to British America you will undermine the
loyal feelings of the people of these Colonies, he is
labouring under a delusion, and fostering an impu-
tation upon the character and integrity of an hon-
ourable people of the most dastardly kind that can,
by any possibility, receive a lodgment in his breast.
[Loud and continued applause.] ..

^j Some gentlemen from Maine asked me if we
were not building fortifications in the Provinces.
Well, after so many threats from Northern news-

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papers, that so soon as the rebellion had been put
down and Mexico attended to, the face of the army
would be turned towards Canada, it was not to be
wondered at that the mother-country should become
a little anxious about her children, so far from
home, and send out an experienced officer to report
upon the situation. The officer did not report any
armed force in sight, but reported that if they did
come Canada was in a very poor condition to
receive them ; and it was resolved to build some
further fortifications at Quebec, and there has been
some talk about places farther westward, but no
action has been taken. But what do we see on the
other hand ? I passed down the Penobscot River,
a few days ago, and what did I see there? A
great frowning fort, of the most approved pattern,
looking as new and pretty as if it had just come
from the hand of the engineer. [Laughter.] At Port-
land, also, I observed some extensive fortifications
in progress, and have been informed that you are at
work in the same line at other points, so that nothing
need be said if Canada does invest some money in
cosLly fortifications. But I have no faith in fortifi
cations. I do not rely on military defences :

. We need no bulwarks, -- -

\ : - No towers along the steep ; » ' . .;

>' - Our march is o'er the mountain wave,

and our homes are in the mart, on the mountain and
the prairie, wherever there is good work to be done.

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and God*s gifts to be appropriated. I have faith in
our common brotherhood — in such meetings as this
— in such social gatherings as that magnificent
demonstration which we all enjoyed so much last
night. I sincerely hope that all thought of forcing
annexation upon the people of Canada will be
abandoned, and that if not, you will seek a more
pleasant sort of annexation for your children and
children's children. It was a novel mode of attach-
ing them that the people of Detroit adopted in
lashing a fleet of their steamers together, and
getting up such a grand entertainment, and there
is no question that it had a strong tendency to
promote one kind of annexation, especially among
the young people. [Laughter.] Old as I am, I
felt the fascination, and as a measure of self-pro-
tection, I put myself under the wing of a pretty
little New Brunswick woman, and charged her to
take good care of me until we got safe ashore.
[Laughter and applause, twice repeated.] I fear
I am detaining you too long. [Cries of " go on "
from all parts of the house.]

In conclusion let me say, that in dealing with
this great subject, I have spoken in an open, plain
manner, and kept back nothing that ought to be
said upon it, considering the limited time at my
disposal. My friend, Mr. Hamlin, wished us to
" show our hands ; " we have done so, and shown
our hearts also in all sincerity. The subject is of

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vast importance to us all. Though living away
down East, I take a deep interest in the great West,
and I trust God will spare my life long enough to
permit me to explore its vastness more thoroughly
than I have been able to do, that I may the better
discuss the great interests created by its commerce.
British America has a great West, as yet almost
entirely undeveloped, out of which four or five
States or Provinces may yet be formed, to pour
their wealth down the great Lake Huron into
Canada, and through the Straits, past the city of
Detroit, to the ocean, while the manufactures of the
United States, of England and of the Provinces go
back to supply their wants. The moment Provi-
dence gives me leisure, I will return to the West
and examine its resources, and understand its
position, in order that I may lay before my own
people, and the people of the Provinces generally,
and the capitalists of the mother-country, an
adequate idea of its importance, with a view of
promoting a more active settlement and develop-
ment of the territory on both sides of the boundary
line, for the trade would be as valuable to the world
on one side as on the other. Thanking the Con-
vention for the courtesy of so extended a hearing as
had been granted him, the Honourable Gentleman
left the platform, amidst deafening and long-con-
tinued applause. — Hamilton Spectator,

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APPENDIX.

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« The speech of the Hon. Mr. Howe, of Halifax, N. S., in the
Chicago Convention, which we printed yesterday, was a manly
and generous expression of respect and regard for this country,
and indicated a proper appreciation of its growth, power, present
and prospective, and the great advantage of commercial inter-
course and reciprocity between the British Provinces on this
continent and the United States. While the speaker maintained
with proper pride the loyal devotion of the Provinces to the
I>arent Qovemment, he admitted the obvious and successful
attractions of our own soil, and that the natural ties of friend-
ship which a common descent and a common interest in the
most marked events in the history of civilization, had united
the neighbouring peoples in a manner that almost obliterated
evidence of different nationalities. He alluded to the mutual
advantages of the Reciprocity Trealy — the great benefits accruing
from it to the United States in the fisheries and colonial coast-
ing trade, and stated facts which proved beyond doubt the
expediency of a renewal of a similar measure. In reply to the
intimation that Canada had favoured the South during the late
war, the Honourable G^entleman ran over the history of the
relations between the States and the Provinces during the
occasional disturbances of the last fifty years, and contended
that there was as much to be forgiven on the one side as the
other. That a whole people should not be held responsible for
the acts of a small number, and that it was wiser to forgive and
forget than to allow the past to embitter and alienate. The
allusion to the fact that his own son served in the Federal army
during the late rebellion elicited repeated and hearty cheers.
The whole speech was dignified, able, entirely appropriate,
instructive, and eloquent." — Boston Post.

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" The consideration of the Beciprooity Question was tlien re-
sumed, and the Hon. Joseph Howe, of Nova Scotia, addressed the
Convention in a speech of considerable length, great rhetorical
elegance, and elaborate and comprehensive argument in favour
of a Beciprocity Treaty. The speech occupied about two hours
and a half in delivery, and was listened to with marked
attention.

"It is not too much to say that in an assembly of six
hundred men, nearly all speakers of marked culture and merit,
the best elaborate argument was that of Joseph Howe, of
Halifax, and the best off-handed extemporaneous speech that of
Malcolm Cameron, of Quebec." — Boston Advertiser, n ~ ^ ;

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" Mr. Howe spoke for about three hours, and his remarks
were listened to with the closest attention by the delegates
from both sides of the line. He rose steadily, step by step,
and with the skill of a master in finding every avenue of human
nature, he opened the way to the American heart. Cheer upon
cheer filled the house as the English statesman thus vibrated
the chords of the American heart. Nor was the response less
hearty from the Canadian side. In their chosen champion they
were truly - epresented and nobly honoured on that floor." —
Cleveland Herald.

" Every person who takes an interest in the relative position
of the British Provinces and the United States, should possess
himself of this masterly exposition." — Woodstock Times,

"We value this speech as an important addition to our
editorial library, replete as it is with facts connected with the
resources of these Provinces, and abounding with healthful
expressions of loyalty to the British crown." — Woodstock Sentinel,

" It deserves to occupy a high place among the speeches of
modem times. Nova Scotia may congratulate herself on being
able to send such a delegate as Mr. Howe to the Detroit Con-
vention ; and every British Americttn should feel under obliga-
tions to him for the manner in which he discharged his duty.

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Tho gift of oloquonce such as his has boon bostuwod on com-
paratively fow, and it is well to see those who are so endowed
exerting themselves in a just and honourable cause."— O^/atra

Citizen,

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.L " Hr. Howe addressed the Oonvention most offoctivoly, and
was hailed with enthusiastic cheers throughout his speech.
Sound in argument, he carried conxlction to the mind of every
impartial business i^u in favour of increased commercial inter-
course between the two countries. Undaunted, enthusiastic,
and almost sublime in his patriotism, he enforced respect from
the most ultra-Bepublican." — Brant/ord Courier,

y:' " This is the most complete and valuable exposition of the
commercial relations existing between the United States and the
British American Provinces that has yet been uttered, and it
cannot be too largely circulated and studied. As a brilliant
oratorical effort, it will commend itself to the student of BdleS'
Letirea for its own intrinsic worth." — Qut^o Daily News,

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tOMDON : PRINTED KT E3WABI> WtAVWOKD, 6, CHAKIMa CROSS.

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