IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // ^ 4. 1.0 I.I 1.25 1^ IIM 1^ 12.2 t K4 Ij 2.0 U III 1.6 ^^ V] />^ e^ <3 1% e, % > y >^ iV CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques 1980 Technical Notes / Notes techniques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Physical features of this copy which may alter any of the images in the reproduction are checked below. D D Coloured covers/ Couvertures de couleur Coloured maps/ Cartes giographiques en couleur L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. Certains difauts susceptibles de nuire d la quality de la reproduction sont not6s ci-dessous. D Coloured pages/ Pages de couleur Coloured plates/ Planches en couleur Th po of filr Th coi or api Th( filr ins Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages d6color6es, ta^hetdes ou piqudes Tight binding (may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin)/ Reliure serrd (peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distortion le long de la marge intdrieure) n D Show through/ Transparence Pages damaged/ Pages endommagdes Ms in < upi bol foil a Additional comments/ Commentaires suppl^mentaires Bibliographic Notes / Notes bibliographiques n n Only edition available/ Seule Edition disponible BounH with other material/ Reli6 avec d'autres documents Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque Plates missing/ Des planches manquent n Pagination incorrect/ Erreurs de pagination Pages missing/ Des pages manquent Maps missing/ Des cartes gdographiques manquent D Additional comments/ Commentaires suppldmentaires The images appearing here are the best quality possible considering the condition and legibility of the original copy and in keeping with the filming contract specifications. Les images suivantes ont 4t6 reproduites avec le plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition at de la nettetd de I'exemplalre filmd, et en conformitd avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol —^(meaning CONTINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. The original copy was borrowed from, and filmed with, the kind consent of the following institution: Library of the Public Archives of Canada IVIaps or plates too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la der- nidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbols — ► signifle "A SUIVRE", le symbole V signifle "FIN". L'exemplaire film6 fut reproduit grdce d la g^n^rosiv^ de I'dtablissement prdteur suivant : La bibliothdque des Archives publiques du Canada Les cartes ou les planches trop grandes pour dtre reproduites en un seul cliche sont film6es d partir de Tangle supdrieure gauche, de gauche d droite et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Le diagramme suivant illustre la mdthode : 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 i. •, 'J ■■' m «* ! .*«»• ■K OUu^ /lO /^^/? i%': THE LESSONS OF HISTORY. SPEECH BY ME. J. J. OUERAN, M.P. Delivered in. the Bouse of Commom, Wednesday, March ilst, 1888. I ^S'i 'fir =£: K-. iUlZ 4 .' THE LESSONS OF HISTORY. ■■< * SPEECH BY MR. J. J. CURRAN, M.P. Bilivered in l?ie House of Commons, Wednesday, March 2hl, 1888. How Unrestricted Reciprocity Des- troyed Ireland's Prosperity. A WARNING TO CANADA. Ireland Abandoning Protection Becomes a SlauKbter Market for England— Tlie €ai»e Parallel to Our Own— Wliy Goldwln Nmith Supports ' Commercial Union— Mr. C^rran's Great Speech in tbe Commons. \ The following is a verbatim report of the speech delivered by Mr. J. J. Curran, member for Montreal Centre in the House of Com- mons, on Wednesday last, on the resolution of Sir Eichard Cartwright in favor of unres- tricted reciprocity with the United States : — Mr. Speaker, I trust that hon. gentlemen will consider the apology I owe them for intruding upon them at this late period of the debate as having been expressed, and I shall at once proceed to discharge the duty that now devolves upon me, in the first place, by alluding briefly to the speech de- livered by the hou. member for North Vic- toria (Mr. Barron) before the house adjourned last night, and then dealing with the ques- tion in a general way as briefly as the im- portance of this debate will allow. Yester- terday, this house had the pleasure of listen- ing to a speech from my hon. friend the member for Westmoreland (Mr. Wood), which, for pith and point and power, has seldom been equalled in the halls of the Do- minion Parliament of Canada (applause), and the hon. gentleman who followed him, and whom I am now following, I think, by the speech which he delivered last night, made the most ample confession that the address of my hon. friend from Westmoreland waa absolutely unanswerable, and that the argu- ments he adduced could not be met by him in any way whatsoever. From the begin- ning to the end of the speech delivered by my hon. friend from North Victoria, he care- fully avoided any single argument adduced by my hon. friend from Westmoreland. He made no attempt to refute his speech, and he did not even mention the hon. gentle- man's name from the beginning to the end of the address which he delivered. (Ap- plause). Ou the other hand, the hon. gen- tleman told us that it was not his intention to address the house upon the question in a general way, that he was going to confine himself not merely to a provincial view, but was going to confine himself in a very great measure to the view, us I understood it, which would concern his own consti- tuency. Now, I consider that, in discussing a question of this kind, any such line is en- tirely at variance with the interests of the country at large, is entirely unworthy of the position occupied by a representative of the people in this house, and should be looked upon by the people of this country as ut- terly untenable when the question before the house has for its object, as has been stated by the mover ot this resolution, a complete economic revolution. But the hon. gentleman made some statements that, to my mind, and the minds of those who surrounded him, must have appeared simply astounding. He told us that the National Policy was a policy for the benefit of the few to the detriment of the majority ; and to prove that the farmers were oppressed by it, he said that the number of farmers in On- tario, according to his computation, was 1,144,520. Now that is a marvellous figure, v^ V one which I think it will be difficult for the hun. gentleman to justify by statistics ; be- cause after all, it is n*t merely in the Pro- Tince ofQuebec that the farming community like to sing ■** Vive la Canadlenne, et ses lolls yeuxdoux." The fact is that the farmers of Ontario have ^ weakness for the fair sex also ; they are not all bachelors, and if we make a compu- tation of five to a family, according to his statement it would give 5,722,600 persons as belonging to the farming community in Ontario, or more than the whole population of the Dominion of Canada. (Cheers.) The hon. gentleman also told us that the trade of Ontario and the Dcminion, in horned cattle, would be vastly benefited by un- restriotcd reoiprocity. Ho did not tell us, however, what the effect w«uld be to-day under unrestricted reciprocity ; he did not toll us that while United States cattle are scheduled in the British market Canadian cattle are not kept in quarantine, nor slaughtered, which they would certainly be if we had unrestricted reciprocity ; but he led this house and the country to suppose that he, who was speaking, as he said, not for the country at large, but simply for one agricultural constituency, was not aware of the important and vital interest at which he was striking, a vital interest to every cattle raiser in the vast province from which he comes. He told us that experience was good for something, and I agree with him there, and before I resume my seat, Mr. Speaker, I shall endeavor TO ESTABLISH WHAT EXPERIE^CB TEACHES in connection with this question, not with reference to the constituency that I repre- sent only, nor with reference to the con- stituency that the hon. gentleman repre- sents, but how this scheme will affect the people of the Dominion, from the Atlantic to the Pacific ; and I believe that the expsr- ience I shall bring to bear on this subject, will be satisfactory' to the overwhelming majority of the Canadian people. We have also had alluBion made, in the course of this debate, to the terrible state of things in this country at the present time, by the seaior member for Halifax (Mr. Jones), and that hon. gentleman's sympathies went out so far, almost, us to cause him to shed tears over my nativo city of Montreal. He quoted from the speech of Mr. Drummond, at the Board of Trade the other day, concerning the assumption by the Government of the Lake St. Peter debt. He did not tell us what was the occasion of the speech, but he sought to make it appear to the people of this Dominion, not that the {sec- tions of the country which are supplied from Montreal as a great distributin,:.'- centre, would be improved by tha a8s:impuon of that debt, but that by unrentrictt'd recipro- city the great end which thoso people are now clamoring for, would be attained. He did not toll us that he was oae of the mem- bers who stood up in the House only last session and denounced the idea that the Government should assume the debt of Lake St. Peter. He did not, for one moment, re- fer to figures to show that inttr-provincial trade has done a great deal for the St. Law- rence route, and he never gave us the com- forting assurance that he was bound during the present session, as a patriot, to relieve the suffering city of Montreal, and to change his attitude from that which he occupied during the last session of this Parlia- ment. (Cheers ) We have had the same story repeated over and over again with re- ference to the want of statistics, we have had statements made that the country was going back, was going to the dogs, that the children were not attending school, that the country was far from being in a ]»rosperous condition. I do not intend at this moment to enter, at any length, into the discussion of that branch of the question ; it has been already amply dealt with. I shall merely give some statistics from the Boman Catholic institu- tions of Lower Canada, since these are con- sidered of such immense value by hon. gen- tlemen opposite. I have a statement fr m one of the school commissioners, who act jointly with the clergy, because there are both clergy and laymen on the Catholic School Board of Montreal. Mr. Edward Murphy says : " I send this statement to show the progres- sive increase in the school attendauue. From 6,406 in 1877, it increased to 7,005 in 1881. From7,ai6 in 1882, it increased to 9,932 In 1884, This is tke attendance at the€omrais- sioners' schools. There are of course a great many otber schools independent of the Com- mlasioners, but the report of tiie Coniniis.sion- ers shows an increase iu school attendance from 6,405 in 1877, to 9,332 in 1884, or 65 per cent, in seven years." Now, we have also had from my hon. friend the member for Rouville (Mr. Gigault) a Bomplete answer to the charges that were made by the hon. mover of this resolution, and in support of my hon. friend I can sup- ply figures, with reference to the City and District Savings bank, perhaps the best in- 6 Btitution to judge by in this country, as the depoBitB there do not average more than $200 each. At the time the National Policy was inaugurated, there w«r« but $3,000,000 depos- ited in that institution, by about 20,000 de- positors. To-day, tb« deposits in that bank have swollen to $8,000,000, by about 40,000 depositors. These facts and others to which I might point, the fact that when the Na- tional Policy was inaugurated we had 1,500 dwellings, shops and other buildings vacant in Montreal, and to-day wc have scarcely one single house fit to live in or one tenement unoccupied — show that all the lamentations on the other side of tho house are entirely unfounded and unnecessary. Leaving that branch of the subject, and proceeding as ra- pidly as I can to tho geueral consideration of what is now before us, I cannot refrain from referring to one or two speeches that have been made here, and which I think WERE CALCULATED TO DO GREAT HARM in this community. It was sought by the hon. member for Kamouraska (Mr. Dessaint) a few dayu ago, and by the hon. member for Montmagny (Mr.Choquette) last night, to im- press upon a large section of the people of ' this country, upon the whole French Cana- dian people, that there were members on this side of tho house who were their enemies and who had launched forth against tlfem on the floor of Parliament observations to the effect that the French Canadian people who have emigrated to the United 8tates were hewers of wood and drawers of water. Mr. Speaker, I feel that every hon. member who heard the observation made by the hon. member for North Perth (Mr. Hesson) is aware of the fact tkat his interruption during the speech of tho hon. iniroduc«r of this resolution, when ho said that if we were to carry out the policy of unrestricted reciprocity was that not the French Canadian but the whole Canadian people would become hewers of wood and drawers of water to the people of th« neighboring republic. But whilst we deprecate the in- troduction of such subjects into a discussion of this kind, whilst we deprecate appeals to race sentiment and especially race prejudice, it is fair, it is right perhaps that we should show, if there be any such thing as fanatic- ism in this matter, where that fanaticism lies, that we should point out to those inter- ested in knowing, what is the object and design of the great apostles, and of the l^iad ing apostle perhaps, of this great movement now said to be foremost in the peoples' minds. I refer you, Mr. Speaker, and the House to the statement made in the pnblio press by Mr. Goldwin Smith, only a few months ago, when urging the people of Can- ada to adopt a policy of commercial union or unrestricted reciprocity. He said: " It is said Quebec is against commercial union. If she is it is not on any commercial grounds. It is because the dominant and tithe- levy Ing prlestliood of Quebec want to keep Its domain in a state of isolation and shrinks from any increase of intercourse with tlio re- ligious equality and free opinion of the Ameri- can Republic." (Hear, hear.) That was the statement published and sent broadcast over the country, and yet we find hon. gentlemen opposite trying to fight an imaginary fc>e, while they have a real and genuine one right before them if they wish to attack him. Perhaps it may be said that this was a slip of the pen, that Mr. Gold- win Smith, the apostle of this new political gospel that is going to regenerate the Do- minion of Canada, did not really hold such sentiments. Let me read to the house what he said on September 6th, 1887, only a few months ago : — " While I have watched the action of the unifying forces which draw us toward our kinsmen in the United States, I have also watched the growth both in bulk and in in- tensity within our own political border of a French nationality as alien to us as anything can well be, which seems fatal to our hope oi a really united Canada." — (Hear, hear). That is the statement made by this apostle nmercial union and unrestricted reci- pi. There is an opponent whom hon. gem. .. ^en oppoite ean fight if they feel dis- posed to fight with some one, and lest there should be any mistake as to the position of this wonderful statesman, who has come here to do so much for Canada, whose words and whose writings and publications have never once been repudiated by a single gen- tleman on the other side of the house, I shall read a further quotation to show exactly what his sentiments are respecting one and a half millions of the inhabitants of Canada. He said : — " In trutli our one chance of modifying the Frencli element and arresting its growth into an alien nationality, appears to be to open it to tiie lull influence of the English-speuliing continent, which may be strong enough for the work of assimilation, wliile that of British Canada alone has proved to be too weak. The very reason which makes the ecclesiastics of Quebec recoil from commercial union with the Republic ought to make us the more ready to embrace it." (Hear, hear and cheers.) This statement was also published broadcast over the country ; and yet we have hon. gen- tlemen opposite rising and working them- selveH into a terrible rage in regard to an imaginary iuHuit, but not one of tliem has a word to say in condemnation of the utter- ances ui this great commercial unionist and unrestricted reciprocity advocate, nor have his words, as 1 have already said, ever been repudiated or condemned by a single leading man on the other side of politics. Having thus dealt with that episode of this debate, it now becomes my duty to examine as to . ' WHAT IB THK POSITION OCCUPIED by hon. gentlemen opposite. In my opinion they must feel very much in the position of the pagan priests of old. If they never speak as they pass by they smile at the claptrap with which they are trying to bamboozle the people of Canada — (laughter) — they wink at one another over the various trans- formations through which their policy has passed in only one short year. It strikes me that the hon. gentleman who has charge of this resolution must have been studying the works of the late lamented Artemus Ward. We l^now that Artemus tells us in his book that among the greatest objects of interest he possessed was one wax figure which did very good service indeed. In the morning he exhibited it in the character of George Washington, in the afternoon it was made to do duty as Louis Napoleon, and in the evening it was exhibited to an admiring audience as Judas Iscariot. (Laughter and cheers.) We have had a similar process go- ing on on the part of hon. gentlemen oppo- site. We have had hon. gentlemen exhibit- ing their policy to the people as quite a harmless little object, there was nothing connected with it that would for one mo- ment disturb the great industries that had been inaugurated in Canada and that had grown up under the National Policy. That was proclaimed throughout the length and breadth of the Province of Ontario, and dur- ing the last election, lest there should be any mistake upon the minds of those who were engaged in manufactures, the then leader of the Opposition was brought all the way down to Montreal to make his profession of faith there, face to face with those engaged in the great manufacturing industries of the country. And that hon. gentleman went there lest there should be any mistake about it, lest there should be any misinterpretation, and he said in efl'ect : " 1 am not going to have any mistake or misinterpretation, and I will just read you my Malvern speech over again." (Cheers.) That was the first phase, and the next onei, a little while after, is, that we find Mr. Gold- win Smith, wo find Mr. Wiman, we find the hon. gentleman who moved this resolution, we find the hon. gentleman who sits beside him, and we find a whole host of gentlemen on the other side of the house in a new trans- formation scene with their policy of com- mercial union. (Cheers.) Commercial union was the only thing that could save the land they said, commercial union was their policy and they were going to stand or fall by it In fact I heard the hon. gentleman " who has proposed this unrestricted recipro- city resolution declare at Hastings in the county of East Northumberland, in the mouth of January last, that as a Privy Coun- cillor he was prepared to advise Her Ma- jesty the Queen to sanction the introduction of commercial union as the policy of this country. Sir Richard Cartwright — Mr. Speaker, I said no such thing. Mr. Curran — That will not do. Sir Richard Cartwright — It will do. Mr. Currau/— That will not do. ~-~ Sir Richard Cartwright — And I call upon the hon. member to withdraw the statement. The hon. gentleman wHoUy misunderstood and misinterpreted me if he says I said any- thing of the kind. I said nothing of the kind. What I stated in my address and what I said was the same as I said here the other night, that I would most undoubtedly advise Her Majesty, if she called on me for advice, to adopt the policy laid down in this resolution — in the words of this reso- lution. Mr. Curran — There was no unrestricted reciprocity then. Nobody was talking of unrestricted reciprocity at that time. Sir Richard Cartwright — Oh, oh. Mr. Curran — Very good ; I accept the hon. gentleman's statement, but I am going to make my own statement, too. Sir John Macdonald — We accept your statement. Mr. Curran — Why, sir, the Toronto Globe gave inspiration to my honorable friend the member for Queen's, P.E.I. (Mr. Davies), and on the strength of its article the hon. gentleman no doubt made his great speech before the Board of Trade of Chariotte- town on the 14th September — the Toronto Globe had declared in the most emphatic language that nobody but a fool would .V think of iinreBtricted reciprocity. (Cheers.) It could not be carried out. It would not be accepted by the Americans. And that article is there in black and white to refer to. The official organ of those gentlemen on the other side has declared that, and any one can see it who wishes to take the trouble to read it. That, then, was the position of affairs only a short time ago. But still later what was the condition of affairs? Surely gentle- men on the other side will not deny that which has taken place here in the, presence of several members of Parliament only a few days ago. The hon. member for South Middlesex (Mr. Armstrong) put upon the table of Parliament a resolution to be proposed by him embodying COMMERCIAL UNJON AS THK POLICY that ought to prevail for this country. But, gentlemen, was he not sat upon ? Had he not to «!rop his commeicial union resolu- tion in order that gentlemen opposite might come before the country with the policy which only a few months ago was declared to be wtterly wnworthy of the consideration of sensible men? (Cheers.) Now we are told that there is a very maiked difference — a very, very marked difference, indeed — be- tween commercial union and unrestricted reciprocity. What that difference is in the results I should like somebody to show, be- cause we have not bad it pointed out yet. One thing is certain, that unrestricted reci- procity between Canada and the United States means, so far as those two countries are concerned, commercial union ; that is, free trade between them. Nobody can deny this, but lest they should I shall again quote the gentleman for whom I have a great weakness, Mr. Goldwin Smith. Speaking on the 27th September last: — " He made a speech," says the Olobe, " of an hour's duration, In which he clearly showed the general advantages that would ensue to Canada by tlie adoption of commercial union, which practically meant unrestricted recipro- city or absolute tree trade between Canada and the United States." (Cheers.) • ^ '> That is Mr. Goldwin Smith's definition, and the other day, in a letter written for the pur- pose of fortifying the hon. gentleman who has proposed this resolution, and written for the purpose of giving him nerve to go on and carry out his views, he said — -on Saturday last only : — " There seems to t)e a nervous disposition to drop the name * Commercial Union ' " Mind you, the hon. gentleman tells us he never hod that policy. Mr. Smith con- tinues : — " —and to adopt unrestricted reciprocity in Its place. I should myself have preferred conti- nental free trade, had we not oecn told tnat the phrase ' Free trade ' would raise theoretic questions, which were not involved, and which it was our policy to avoid. Commer- cial union, as I understand it, differs from un- restricted reciprocity only in moreclearlj' in- cluding mutual participation in the fisheries and coasting trade. It was adopted, I be) -.eve, in direct contradistinction to political union, and made for the special purpose of guarding against any such idea. However, the nnmo has now become thoroughly current in Eng- land, in the United States and in Canada, and is imbcded in all the literature of the ques- tion. An attempt to change it will look like the hauling down of a flag, and would not pro- pitiate opponents wlio are already crying out that unrestricted reciprocity, like commercial union, is annexation In disguise." (Cheers.) That is a statement of their own apostle. It is the statement of their own adviser, the man who does all the writing for them, and tries to get up the sentiment in the country. They may try to shuflle out of it as they like, but there they stand, convicted by their own best witness. (Hear, hear.) Now, up to the present time, we have had in this house a very strange discussion on the part of hon. gentlemen opposite. We have been told that they are now proposing to intro- duce an absolute economic revolution in the country, a revolution, which, it is admitted, is going to ruin a great many people, which, the hon. gentlemen opposite say, cannot bo helped, because no great revolution of this kind can be carried out without hurting some one. We are to RISK ALL THK INVESTED WEALTH IN MANUFAC- TURES in this country, which have been fostered under the National Policy — wealth that was put there under the solemn promise of Par- liament that the policy would be adhered to, we are to do away with all that for h prospective benefit ; and what argument have we had on the other side to bring us to that fra.me of nuiid? We have had statistics, we have had gentlemen of great skill and ability taking a number of figures and tossing them about, endeavoring to make it appear from their standpoint that such and such results must flow from their speculations. But strange to say, sir, on a question of this kind which involves such mighty interests, we have not had one appeal to history. Not one parallel has been cited from the history of the pjuit, at least not on the floor of this hoase, aUi though it was done in some parts of the country. Now, I think this is unprecedcnt» ed. When any great movement of this kind •was proposed in any deliberative assembly in the world, something has been done to show what have been the results of like movements in the past. Not to weary this house with examples, I shall merely draw your attention to the great speech delivered by the Hon. Mr. Gladstone, in 1886, when he introduced his Government of Ireland bill. On that occasion he went over the whole history of Europe. He took every country and showed how such a measure as his had been carried under such and such circum- stances, going from Norway and Sweden down to Austria and Hungary, and showing by historieal parallels what they might ex- pect to realize from the measure he had laid before the house. We have had nothing of that kind hvre, Mr. Speaker ; but through- out the country, when these gentlemen were talking commercial union, although they deny it now, there was a parallel sought to be drawn between the position of Canada and the United States, and the position of Scot- land and England at the time of the Scottish union. Is there a gentleman in this House who has not read their speeches, and who does not remember this argument having been advanced, not only by Mr. Goldwin SmUh, but also by the hon. gentleman who has proposed this resolution ? (Cheers). I do not think it necessary to detain the House very long in discussing a question which must be familiar to all ; but I shall take this opportunity of showing that there is no parallel whatever between the two cases. Whatever hon. gentlemen opposite may say, Canada is not a beggarly country ; Canada is not a country that is reduced in any way to great straits. The people of Canada to-day are in a fairly good condition at any rate. We have no mendicancy here to speak about ; we have no people in the throes of despair. Every honest man who wishes to earn an honest day's pay by an honest day's labor can earn that honest day's pay. (Cheers). Sir Richard Cartwright — How do a mil- lion native born Canadians leave Canada, then? Mr. Curran — I am going to tell the ho:i. gentleman in a few moments if he will allow me. I am going to point out to him that a million native Canadians would never have left Canada if Canada had had the good fortune to adopt the National Policy ten years before we did. (Cheers.) There are three French-Canadians in the United States to every one of any other origin, and the great majority of those went there, tak- ing their wives and families with them, to work in the factories, and they have remain- ed there and form a very large portion of the industrial population of the United States. That is the reason those people have gone there, and if others have gone there, and if they have gone since the adop- tion of the National Policy, it has been be- cause that policy has not enabled this coun- try even to the present day, although it is making great strides, to recover from the soup kitchen policy of hon. gentlemen op- posite. (Cheers.) But, to continue my argument. I am quoting from Lecky'» history : " The commercial clauses of the union laid the foundation of the material prosperity of Bcotlund, and they alone reconciled the most intelligent Scotchmen to the partial sacrifloo of their nationality. The country was, in- deed, reduced to aconditionof chronic famine,, and the emancipation of Scotch trade had be- come a cardinal object of every patriot. • • • The treaty of union, however, as it was Anally carried, was drawn with great skill and with, much consideration for the weaker nation. li provided that the land tax should be so ar- ranged that when England contributed £48,- 000, or rather less than a fortieth part, that in consideration of the heavy English debt by which the taxation of the whole island would be increased, an equivalent of about £400,000 should be granted to Scotland." which was equal to six years of the annual revenue of Scotland, both from excise and customs. Now, I contend that there is no parallel whatever between the case of Can- ada and the case of Scotland at the time of union ; but I think I can establish A PARALLEL WHICH CANNOT BE DENIBD. I think I shall be able to shov*^ that these hon. gentlemen who have been going about the country asserting that Canada is in the position of Scotland at the time of the union, and that this country would be benefitted to- an enormous extent by the influx of Ameri- can capital and by the opening of thoir mar- ket to us, are merely repeating here the argu- ments tkat were adduced by Castlereagh in the Irish Parliament in order to induce the people to give up their national autonomy, and become commercially as well as politi- cally united with England, and enjoy the great benefits of unrestricted reciprocity. If anybody will take up Plowden's historical sketch of the Irish nation at the time of the union, he will &ndtheiptitsima verba of those gentlemen falling from the lips of Castle- reagh himself ; and I think the spirit of thai unfortunate stateBman, no doubt, in a very tropical region just now, must be plundering and plagiarising his ideas, and not giving him credit for them. (Great cheers and laughter). « The Rise and Fall of the Irish Nation," by Barrington, sets forth, in a very concise form, the arguments used at that time. He says : " At present, It must suffice to state the ab- stract points on which the arguments of (iov- ernment fur annexation were founded, and those by whicli they were so ably and unan- swerably refuted : first, the distracted state of the Irish nation; secondly, the great commer- cial advantages of the union, which muKt eventually enrich Ireland by an extenslou of Us commerce, the Influx of British capital, and the confidence of England in the stability of Its Institutions, when guaranteed by the union. Thlrdly.the Government pressed with great zeal the example of Scotland, wlilch had so improved, and became so ricli and prosper- ous after its annexation; a precedent which must ensue from a similar Incorporation. (Cheers.) Those are the very advantages which are set forth by hon. gentlemen op- posite, to be derived by us from unrestricted reciprocity. The enormous commercial ad- vantages that would arise if we had access to the great markets on the other side, and the euormous amounts of capital that would flow into the country from the more wealthy people with whom we are asked to have that unrestricted reciprocity. What does Mr. Barrington say further : " The second ground of argument used by the supporters of the unlon,great com- mercial advantages, appeared still more falla- cious. Its deception was too palpable to de- ceive the most ignorant of the people.*' f^^'heers.) In the same way, the argument used here in favorof unrestricted reciprocity, based on the same supposition, is too palpably deceptive to hoodwink even the most ignorant man in the Dominion of Canada. Mr. Barrington goes on to say : — " The crafty prediction that English capital would flow into Ireland when a union was eflTocted, was a visionary deception. The third and most deceptive argument of the support- ers of the union, because the most plausible, was the precodent of which, at that period, flowed In full tide upon the public of Scotland, and the great advantages derived by her In consequence of her union. Of all the false reasons, misstated facts, fallacious promises and unfounded conclusions that any position ever was attempted to be supported on, the arguments founded on the Scottish precedent were the most erroneous, and no uecepMon was ever more completely and fully detected than by the speeches made In the Irish Parlia- ment In 1709 and 1800, and in several able pamphlets. Mrst. asto the matter of fact.Scot- land and Ireland in their relations with Eng- land stood on grounds diametrically opposite to each other on every point that oould war- rant a union on the one side, or reject it on the- other." And the writer goes on to show that, im point of fact, Scotland never had representa- tive institutions silch as existed in Ireland and such as exist in Canada to-day. There- fore, there is no parallel whatsoever in that case. But we have, I say, in the first plaoo^ with regard to the comimrison and the par- allel I am about to draw, the contiguity of" Ireland to England and that of Canada to- the United States. We have, in the second place, a similarity as regards population. There were then something over 4,000,000 ia. Ireland, nnd we have 4,000,000 to 5,000,000" people in Canada to-f Mr. Lyons is con- verted into a bleaching green," arf the result of this commercial tinion. Mr. Mills (Bothwell)-.That is what Novr Scotia says. Mr. Curran — We shall see what this book says as to unrestricted reciprocity, and we may hope that Canada will guard against the same thing. (Cheers.) To go on to Limerick it says : — " About forty years ago there were In Lim- erick more than 1,000 woollen weavers, who were in constant employment, and in tne en- joyment of comfort and independence. At present there are not seventy weavers in the city, and even these are scarcely able to pro- vide a scanty subsistence." In regard to Bandon it says : — " This town was famed for Its manufacture of camlets, cord and stufll?. The camlet trade was originally the staple of tbe town and neighborhood, and flourished about fifty years ago. The manufactured article was almost entirely exported to Lisbon, from whence the most remunerative returns were always made, producing over £100,000 a year. In 1835 a small mill for spinning woollen yarn, used in the manufacture of a fabric called Welbore, had been erected in Baudou, but the number of hands employed in it is Inconsiderable, and the demand not sufficient to enable the pro- prietor to keep the concern regularly at work. The village of Enniskean, about seven miies west of Bandon, gave employment at one time to several combers; at present there is not one in the place. In fact the only branch of the woollen trade in existence in this dis- trict is that of freize for the country people." The whole of tbe great industry, the finer work which gave employment to tbe skilled hands, had entirely disappeiirod at the timo of these reports. In Kilkenny : " At the period of the union, there were no less than 56 manufacturers, principally en- gaged in the manufacture of blankets, for which fabric Kilkenny gained an unrivalled character. These employed among them all 333 looms, and In the various processes of the woollen manufacture there could not have been less than 3,000 altogether;;employed. \t present there are not more^han 100 employed. IB 1800 there were 40 of the looms engaged in making superfine blankets, then technically called "twelve-quarter blankets.' Bui such was the cflTect of the union that tn three years afterwards everyone was thrown idle, and has since remained so. According to the returns appended to the Revenue commissioners' re- f>ort above referred to, there was in Kilkenny n 1822 twelve master rnauufactHrers.employ- Ing among them 935 persouH. The merino factory produced superfine cloths, whUh sold so high as from 2U8. to 348. per yard. The ' \ ■■■i ■ ^•■['■y ■ value of cloths made at this factory has reached £40,000 in one year." These were the iudustrieB which were to be more progressive and more prosperous un- der the political and commercial union with England. I " Carrlck-on-Sulr was famous from an early .period for its ratteens and freizes, having largely experienced the bounty of Parliament up to 1796 or 1797, in nurturing these manu- factures. Even the finer descriptions of cloth were made here with a success." iHe goes on to give the same tale of woe with regard to that industry as to all the others. He says : " However, Immediately after the Union, advantage was taken of a want of a domestic legislature, and influence was put to work whereby the standing order for obliging the military on the Irish establishments to be clothed here, was not only evaded, but In a short time totally rescinded, and supply thrown open to the competition of overpower- ing British capital and machinery. Mr. Moore retired; his successor followed his example, and from 400 to 600 persons were by that step Immediately thrown out of bread. Henceforth the manufactures of Car rick presented but a sickly and faded existence. The amount of capital then invested exceeded £50,000 ; at present there are but 100 persons partially employed, and the wool-combing business has already altogether disappeared." In Roscrea, they were exactly in the same condition : " About 1800 the manufactures became centered in the hands of a few master manu- facturers, and one of them employed beyond 600 persons ; about three or four hundred more may have b en engaged by others. This trade continued to flourish till the period of the peace, and soon after 1815 began to decline." And so it goes on. Mr. Grotty was examin- ed before the Assistant Inquiry commission- .ers in 1834, and he gave the following testi- jmony: " Six years ago 1,000 persons, of whom COO jor 700 were females, were employed by me in : Roscrea or its immediate neighborhood. The j females spun the worsted, and the men comb- ed and wove the wool ; the latter earned 1 s 8d a day at combing and about Is Id a day at .weaving; the women could not make more •than IJida day; but even this small sum being well applied, and for the most part to their own clothing, had a marked eflfect upon their appearance in general ; all are complete- ly destitute and the husbands are wandering about looking for work." That lias been the effect of unrestricted re- ciprocity with a great market and a rich country, in so far as the woollen industries arc concerned. The cotton manufacture in Dublin was exactly in the same condition. We find that the same results have hap- pened with regard to cotton industry in Ire- land from the effects of unrestricted recipro- city. The condition of the cotton manufac- tures in Dublin at the time of the union was as follows : — "There were flfty-flve master manufacturers engaged in the fabrics of cords, calicos, checks, shawls, fustians, muslins, dimities, etc., and several of them also combined the business of spinning. " There were from forty to flfty minor manu- facturers, keeping from five to ten looms go- ing, as undertakers for the larger manufac- turers. The total number of looms kept in work by the foregoing are computed upon the most accurate account to have been 8,000, and the number of operatives to whom they gave bread In the various processes was up- wards of 14,000." Now, these people were all wiped out. In calico printing the same result took place, and I want to point out particularly to hon. gentlemen here what the direct result of it wa8,and what the direct result would be here with regard to certain manufactures. What happened with regard to calico printing ? The calico printing was an important in- dustry. They tell us : " This particular branch has beep carried on to a great perfection, so much so that the Irish prints have often commanded a prefer- euce in the London market." And yet he says : — " It Is a humiliating reflection that these very choice prints must be represented as London prints to secure a sale with the better classes, nay more. Within the last four or five years our printed calicos have been ex- tensively exported to the American market, and put up ' n boxes and labelled In imitation French pad ages, and then sold as French goods." That was THE EKKEtT OF UNHE8TRICTBD RBCIPKOCITT with a great and prosperous country that was overflow! )ig with capital ; the effect was that the Irish people actually bad to put false labt'ls upon their goods ; they could not lab«l their goods as their own, and in orde: o get rid of the little remnants that were left, they had to sell them almost under false pretences. In Bandon the same thing took jjlace iia regard to cotton prints. There Avera 2,800 cotton weavers engaged in the raanu^ar ture of the various branches. In Belfas^^i Cho cotton trade is entirely wiped out. lu 1799 :— " fbjre were 2,000 calico looms at Balbrlg- gan at tull work, making calicos for printing. Th<;re were also from 400 to r>00 cord looms In I that town and the adjoining parishes of Ardeath, Clbnaboy and Garrfstown. There I were several eminent manufactureru here. I Now there are only 226 looms employed in 1 Balbrlggan, and the average earnings for each I does not exceed six shillings per week." , That was the result at the time this book' I was published. They had been reduced.' nion was [facturers s, checks, etc., ana iiBiness of lOr manu- [ooius go- man ufac- kept In upon the !en fi.OOO, lom they } was up- cut. In ok place, y to hon. !8Ult of it d be here 8. What )rinting? rtant in- D carried that the a prefer- hat these sented as the better jt four or been ex- n market, imitation bs French •BOCITT ntry that effect was i to put hey could 1, and in ants that xi almost the same >n prints. Qgaged in nehes. In ely wiped Balbrlg- 13 I looms in rlshes of n. There rera here, iployed in ;8 for each Ij." , his book' k reduced; down to that extremity, and now I am told they have disappeared. Let us see what took place in the silk manufacture, an indus- try that was carried to the highest perfec- tion. The tale given here with regard to that industry is appalling, and ought to caupe serious reflections to those hon. gentlem»in who are advocating unrestricted reciprocity for Canada. By a report made at the time it appears that in 1775 the artisans of the various classes employed numbered 5,840. " In some years afterwards tlie trade suffered a very considerable depression, which arose chiefly from the general use of muslins; but It was afterwards revived and the imports of raw silk nearly doubled. At the time of the union, after various fluctuations, we find its condition to have been as follows : "There are 72 master manufacturers, en- gaged in various tabrics of broad silk, tab- binets, velvets, silk waistcoatlngs, liandker- chiefs, crapes, persians, lining silks, modes, sarsenets, etc., and ribbons. The custom was *,o give out th" materials to the weavers, who wove It in their own residences, the members of their family assisting in the preparatory operations. Besides the foregoing employers there were innumerable minor undertakers, then termed 'Chamber masters,' having from two to six or eight looms, and among the entire there oould not have been less than 2,000 broad looms. In the ribbon line there were from 800 to 900 single hand looms, and 200 engine looms. In the ribbon branch there were at least 1,500 people employed; in the broad silk line, at least 5,000. In both not less than 6,500 persons were employed. The fourth report of the Irish Rcivenut' commissioners states the num- ber of looms in 18"3 at 1,500, and the number employed from 3,000 to 4,000. In 1834, by an accurate account taken, the numbers were found to have fallen to 537. In 1838, by the report on hand loom weavers, they are stated at 400, viz.: 310 on broad silk, 280 on tab- binets and tabbereas, 30 on velvets and 32 on ribbons. At the present day the whole aumber of broad looms in actual work is 250, viz.: about 170 on tabbinets, and the residue on velvet, waistcoating and serges, together with ten or a dozen ribbon looms. There were be- sides, within the year subsequent to the Union, seven proprietors who carried on the buslnessof silk throwing, and who gave em- ployment to 230 females, earning from 2s. to 7s. per week. Some years ago, large capital was expended In establishing oUk throwing mills In the Liberty, with improved ma- chinery. Within the last six years, they em- ployed upwards of 200 females. The mills are now silent." In the hosiery the same result took place, and we have now at the end of this report the remnrks made by the great O'Oonnell by whom these reports were dedicated to his fellow countrymen. He says : — "Political economists have been much puzzled to fix upon tangible reasons for the wide-spread miseries of Ireland. At one time they will have it that Ireland is not suited for manufactures and can prosper only as an agri- cultural country; at another, that her miseries and failures are owing to her turbulent spirit, and the Insecurity for life and property conse- quent thereon ; at another, all mischiefs must be owing to excessive population. Then, again the religion of the people is arraigned as the sole cause of their poverty— with a thou- sand other equally wild and fallacious theories ; while almost universal Ireland pro- claims that all her woes and miseries are owing to the hateful union which took away her resident nobility and gentry, deprived her of the countenance and care of a domestic legislature, and subjected her to every species of impoverishment and neglect. One of the most fatal effects of that measure upon our trade and manufactures has been the prentia- ture withdrawal of the protecting duties ; whereby Ireland, emaciated by the drain of her resources for four and twenty years, was suddenly left open to a fruitless coinpetltlon against the overwhelming capital and in- fluence of England." That is the conclusion of this report which, I think, must have produced an affect upon the minds of every hon. gentleman here. But let us find WHAT WAS THB EFFECT UPON THE PEOPLE ? How did the people fare when the bloated manufacturers were disposed of? The people had, no doubt, been told that the farming interests of the country were op- pressed, that there was a lot of bloated man- ufacturers and monopolists living upon the vitals of the people in Ireland, and, if these were swept away the farmers would pros- per, that great wealth would tumble into their lap, and that the agrieulturists of Its- land, and all those who were not interested in those protected industries, would be bene- fited by the change. We have a report stating the result of this change of policy. In the report of the sick and indigent room- keepers for that year, we find the following appalling statements : " The mass of human misery which fell under the province of this charity to relieve has been unparalleled. In the year 1826, 6,497 families, containing 24,262 persons, have been relieved ; hundreds were on the eve of perlshlny from actual starvation, and the dreadful weight of tever and other malignant disorders, the consequence of the poverty and want which arose principally from a general stagnation of trade and want of employment in various branches ot manufacture, particu- larly the woollen, cotton and silk, in that part of the city called the Liberty. It is Impossible to describe the appalling state of privation In which these poor artificers were found l»y the Inspectors. " The committee were reluctantly obliged to lay aside Innumerable cases of distress, which were entirely out of their power to relieve, and early In the spring vast numbers of the arti- ficers in the branches of trade above alluded to, were seen in the streets In the deepest state of despondency. Their appearance exhibited evident proofs of poverty and starvation." Another report says : pwMwaawrm ^^^mm&mimim^ 14 in ■': •!'-\ ■I::;, '•Even the employers themselveb I'elt the depression; and many were Involved in the common rain— they could hold out no longer. The Roomkeepers' Charity was at last obliged to be resorte-'i to, and applications were num- erous from persons who had heretofore been in very comfortable circumstances." Auotlier report says : " There have been local causes of distress which operated to increase our numbers con- siderably, pressing with pecuiiar severity in 1825 and the immedlatoly following years. About this time a very serious, and In its progress at least, a very distressing change was taking place in many important manu- factures in the city. These manufactures had given employment to multitudes in Dublin, and although many famiiies have emigrated to England to obtain work, yet they have left behind them multitudes, more particu- larly females, deprived of their usual mode of employment." • " It is not for this committee to follow these manufactures through the differcntgradations as t'oey fluctuated, or as they declined; this committee has simply to put forward facts and it does so when it states that of forty-five establishmants that had been engaged in the woollen manufacture (in 1821) all, with the exception of twelve houses, and their depend- encies of human labor, had ceased to exist; and that in the summer of 1829, of what little that remained of those who derived their maintenance from those manufactures— 3,289 persons in the silk trade. 1,969 of the cotton trade and 1,193 of the woollen trade, making altogether 6,451 persons — were all out of em- ployment, and in the extreme state of desti- tution." We have it upon the authority of these re- ports that there were employed in those var- ious manufactures at the time when the peo- ple were sought to be induced to change their fiscal policy along with their political status, not less than 150,000 people who were directly making their living and acquiring a competency o\it of the manufactures of the country. But, as 1 said a moment ago, the people of the country at large have been told that if for a protective tariif they adopt- ed unrestricted reciprocity the people would have the wealth distributed among them, and the agricultural classes would benefit largely by the change. Now, what was the result in Ireland? I fiind it was described as follows : :v " The number of agricultural laborers in Ireland is computed by the Poor Law Com- missioners, at 1,170,000, and they assumed that one-half of these, being 586,000, are out of employment for thirty weeks in the year ; and as these have 1,800.000 dependent on them, the two numbers make 2,386,000 persons to be provided for thirty weeks in the year." X do not wish to read at greater length the reports upon this point ; but we haye in this volume evidence that must convince any man who has the slightest regard for the teachings of history, and when we read tins' tale of woe it should be one of WARNINO TO THB PB0PI