IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) # /. ^ // i< i/.x f/x 1.0 III III I.I 1.25 1 1^ 2.2 us 2.0 1.4 mil 1.6 ^ V] 7 ^# /A '/ Hiotographic Sciences Corporation 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MSSO (716) 872-4503 \ Q V -i"V. ;■ ', .i^j*i"./-iii.-j''-* ryar NATIONAL U81VARV CANADA BIBLIOTHkQUE NATION^UE CANADA AID GUEAT BRITAm. J Iteport of ERASTUS WIMAN on the Coiiirress of the Chambers of Cowimerce of the British Empire, helcl ill London, June, 1892. 0IIARLE8 WATEEOUS, Esquire, %. -. President Brantford Board of Trade : The imdersigued desires to express through you hia> thanks to the Couneil of the Brantford Board of Trade, which, by electing him a delegate, permitted him to be present on the floor of tJie recent Congress of the Cham- bers of Commerce of the British Empire, held in London. It may interest you and your members to know what were the paramount impressions reflected from this great gathering, and in order to set them forth, the undersigned takes this liberty of communicating with you. >,.,-. In the first place, that which seemed to be the most marked impression reflected from the assemblage and ita proceedings was the intense loyalty to Great Britain. This sentiment found expression on almost every occp^ sion, and it was a testimony not only to the liberality of British institutions, but to the sagacity and skill w:ith whicn government had been administered, that througlj^i i out (countries so numerous and areas so broad, with m "> ^ ia interests so divergent and a population so enormous, there was no sentiment reflected except that of an affectionate veneiation for the governing power. Tlirougii- out the i>roeeediugs this was tlie paramount feature of the occasion, and so far as it could be exhibited, the ties of affection v» hich bind colonies and dependencies alike are strong and apparent from every land. That this should be so was a remarkable circumstance, when, as one of the resolutions stated, the British Empire covered no less than one-eighth of the habitable globe, containing a population of 350 million souls. - It, therefore, the meeting had been called together to discuss the ties of affection which bind the Empire to- gether, there would have been little difference of opinion. But the purpose of the meeting was evidently largely to discuss the ties of interest which exist between the mother-country and the outlying nations under her con- trol, and if it were possible that the ties of interest could be created so that they might enforce, resemble and strengthen the ties of aff'ection, a great and good purpose would be accomplished. There seemed, however, to be some necessity api)arent for a change in the relations of Great Britain and her colonies, because otherwise this vast question would not have been the subject chiefly discussed at an assemblage so important. Indeed, the impression left upon the mind of the observer, next to the exhibition of loyalty, was the need or urgency for re -adjustment, with an intense desire to avert a calamity which seemed to threaten the integrity of the Empire. This was evident from many indications. The frantic appeals of the Imperial Federationists are perhaps the strongest evidence of the desire for a cliange, finding expression in such terms as "Federate or perish." Indeed, the circumstances surrounding this assemblage of the Chambers of Commerce, and the attempt made to in- X 3 fliience the future i>olicy of Great Britain, indicated the urgency of the situation, and the lookin|oj forward to some disaster unless somethinj^' was done. The existence of this sentiment of apprehension as to the future rela- tions of the mother-country and her dependencies was far more intense in Great Britain than it seemed to be elsewhere, and was a matter of surprise to strangers who encountered it in its intensity for the first time. Discuss- ing privately the question with prominent delegates and others, especially from the United Kingdom, there seemed to be a feeling of dismay entertained at the possible pros- pect of the secession of colonies or outlying dependencies, unless there was something done to reconcile the conflict which seemed to impend between loyalty and the ties of affection, on the one hand, and interest and material ad- vantage on the other. W-.?;..V.V..,;.- W ... -,,«•■•*•-.- .:.-^r- ,^- The remedy proposed, and strongly advocated by the Canadian delegates, was that Great Britain should re- verse the x3olicy which has so successfully raised her to the greatest commercial power, and l)y putting a tax upon foreign products, especially food and fibre supplies, stimulate the production of these within her own colonies by admitting free their surplus, the colonies in return, agreeing, by equal x>referential duties, to admit Eiiglish manufactures at discriminating rates. There was great care, however, exercised to prevent their free admission in competition with existing protected manufactures. The ' I)roi)osition was a very revolutionary one, so much so that ithe most intelligent speakers regarded it as absolutely " ftital to the foreign trade of Great Britain, which amounts to two-thirds of her entire commerce, and though it was ^prompted in Canada and elsewhere as the outcome of the most vociferous loyalty, it w as by a vote of two to one of the delegates stigmatized as " Politically dangerous and economically disastrous." It would be difficult to coin a sentence more condemnatory, and even had the i)ro])OSal of commercial union between Canada and the United States been offered, wliicli throws the average loyalist into convulsions, it could not have been more severely stigmatized thanwas-the proposal of these loyalists them- selves, that Great Britain sliould run a risk so enormous to accomplish purposes so remote. ■■■■ ' .. -: ..yi The situation having been admitted, that a change was absolutely essential, the remedy suggested having been voted down as utterlj^ inadequate and possibly dangerous, and no other substitute, even in the shape of a remote suggestion, having been proposed, it would seem that so . far as the Congress is concerned, no possible advantage has been gained. Indeed, injury to the belief in per- manency ^nd a destruction in conticTence as to the future, is the result of the deliberations, -tor it practically leaves the colonial i^roblem unsolved, and each of the colonies at liberty to cast about for a change and re-adjustment of t^Lioir Eolations, which is a condition full of siguiticaiice, and equally full of possibilities for the future. Of all the colonies most deeply affected by this (condi- tion, the Dominion of Canada, the nearest and greatest of British possessions, stands first to be considered. In relation to Canada, throughout thediscussions*^ the point that most imi)ressed the observer was the total lack of api)rehensiou of the sacrifices the Dominion has been, and is, called upon to make, in order to maintain her connection with Great Britain. The progress made in the lesser and Southern half of the continent, included within the United States, and the comparatively stunted and meagre development in the Northern and greater half of the continent, included in the British possessions, is before the world as a comparison that is as lu » itable as it is irresistible, yet it w as never so much as referred to in the Congress. It might have been contended that 1 I 5 freedom from foreiji^'u interference and free trside between themselves liad been the foundation of the prosperity attained in the United States. It mif^ht equally have been urged that, had the same freedom of trade ex- tended over the whole continent, instead of half of it, the same relative i)rogress would have been i)08sible in the Northern regions as has been made south of the line that now cuts the continent in two. Hence the sacrifices made by Canada, and by Canadians, have to be measured by the difference in the comparative progress between the two portions of the continent. If opportunity had offered, it might have been shown that it is not because Canada is a portion of the British Empire that she has not grown with the same rapidity as the regions south of the line. It is not be- cause there is a difference in the forms of government, the one monarchical and the other republican, though to many an emigrant from despotic countries this consid- eration has been controlling. It could have been pointed out that it was because of the line of demarcation athwart the continent, south of its centre, resulting in the setting up of two commercial systems. The fate left to Canada therefore is, that the only products in which she can trade are produced in similar latitudes, and being cut off from exchange with products of other climates, she has been hide-bound and restricted from the highest success in commercial life. This line of demarcation, bad enough in itself, it could have been shown, has been made higher and higher by unwise legislation on both sides, by re- taliation and commercial belligerency, until it now be- gins to be realized that if the same policy is continued, logical result will be, and perhaps in a short time, the practical isolation and non-intercourse between the two English speaking nations that together hold the best of continents in common. ^ ^wpjupi This condition luivin^- btMMi loiiched in-this, the histde- uade of the century of the f^rejitest i)rogi'e8s, it is stran^je that in an asseniblaj»'e so intent upon tlie question under iliscussion, so little Avas apprehended of tlie contest that inevitably ensues in Canada between interest and material advantage, on the one hand, and loyalty and sentiment, on the other. It is true that in the fear of ilismenibernient, which found expression in tlie proposal to alter the commercial policy of Great Britain, for the prelusive benefit of the colonies, some vague idea may have been entertained that a compensation woidd be uffbrded to Canada to forever remain isolated from the greatest money-making, money-spending aggregation of humanity the world has ever seen — forever to deny her- self the offer of a market of G5 millions in exchange for a market of five millions — forever to refrain from par- ticipating in a commerce the greatest that exists on th(» inearth, which breaks like a huge wave and rolls back tipon itself from a border line unparalleled in length, and yet without permitting Canadians part and lot in the «ame. ■ i i t-1 ' .4 ' r! ^iir- fil ii'^iri ' •Hi ! i.ivfvBut even this proposed compensation, meagre and in- sufficient though it be, was voted down, without the slightest regard as to the sacrifices Canada is called Upon to make, on the one hand, nor on the other, without .tht3 substitution of any other plan to remedy existin g fiBoiiditions, in which she is called upon to resist a terrible i temptation to yield to the enormous material advantage '^hich a disloyal course w^ould beget for her and her •^f)eople at large. ^|i-. iAuother impression of the congress was the omission of any reference to the striking circumstances which #«how how far this temptation toward material advantage is being yielded to in Canada. Hardly a word was said about the Census returns, which indicated that while in ti "IPIP'J'I" ■.i'..n«y.^' A tlie last ten ycjirs, in the United States, the population Jiad grown Jit tl'O rate of IMI ])ereent.,tliat of Canada had hnlted at less than half that projjortionate increase. Farther, there was hardly any allnsion to the fact that since the result of the (^'ensns had been realized, the exodus which kept this proportionate* incjrease to a level so low, had been so auj^nieuted that now a personal annexation to the United States had taken place of male adults, greater in pro])ortion to i)opulation than from any other country whi(;h had been de]deted of the class of in- habitants on whom its futnie most depended. Xo allusion having been mjide to the fact, that as fVom almost every household some one member had been compelled to go into the neighboring country, there would necessarily follow further contributions in that direction. Further, that should those who remained seek the material advantages which a connection with the United States afforded, and loyalty set as lightly on those who remained as upon those who had gone away, the strain and stress on tliat sentiment would stand a i)oor chance in the contest between sentiment, on the one hand, and personal interest on the other. =■ i «* st^in*? - « >; «iJo.^ ;. Of course, with an absence in the discussion so com- plete, of subjects having so important a bearing on the future of Canada, there was no opportunity to consider the only plan by which the allegiance of Canada coidd be forever maintained to the British crown, and yet all the material advantages secured of a complete obliteration of the barrier which shuts out Canada from the highest degree of prosperity. This i)lan is that of Unrestricted Keciprocity with the United States, involving a perfect and free exchange of every product and every manu- facture of the two countries. Neither English nor foreign ^delegates seemed to understand, nor was there any effort !i)ermitted to enlighten them, that the McKinley bill 8 eoulny, luit that ]>y enhirgement of opportunity, botli in theXjiited States and Canada, for tlie emphiymeut of the enornums aecumulations of money now and hereafter to coneeutrate in Lon(h>n, there would be undoubted advantage to (Ireat lUitain. . */: f ■ t ) .-ifrrc^^i > Little or uo allusion was made to the fact that a great change has come over the tinancial aud commercial con- dition of Great Britain. This change is, that Great Britain now realizes a mucli vaster sum by levying tribute fr(jm every quarter of the globe as a baidvcr and nioney-len