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1 2 3

4 5 6

'REFERENTIAL TRADE REUTIONS

BETWEEN

GREAT BRITAIN AND HER COLONIES.

AN ADDRESS

DELIVERED BEFORE THE

MONTREAL BOARD OF TRADE

JANUARY 20th, 1896,

BY THE

HON. SIR CHARLES TUPPER, BART., G.C.M.G., C.B.,

Secretary of State, and for ihe Last Eleven Years High Commissioner

FOR Canada in England.

(Reprinted from the Annual Report of the Montreal Board of Trade,)

MONTREAL :

THE GAZETTE PRINTING COMPANY.
1896

C, 5

PREFERENTIAL TRADE RELATIONS

BETWEEN

GREAT BRITAIN AND HER COLONIES.

AN ADDRESS

DELIVERED BEFORE THE

MO]NTEEAL BOARD OF TRADE,

JANUARY 20th, Hm,

BY THE

HON. SIR CHARLES TUPPER, Bart., G.C.M.G., C.B.,

Secretary of State, and for the Last Eleven Years High Commissioner

FOR Canada in England,

{From the Montreal Gazette, Jan. ilst, 1896.)

The Exchange flail of the Board of Trade, as the centre of the commercial life of
the city, naturally draws within its walls the most important business men of the
community ; but it is rare, indeed, to see such a large and representative gathering
as assembled there yesterday afternoon. The size and quality of the audience were
tributes at once to the eminence of the speaker. Sir Charles Tupper, Bart., up to a
few days ago High Commissioner for Canada in England, and the importance of his
subject— " Preferential Trade Relations Between Great Britain and Her Colonies."
Sir Charles spoke for two hours, and dealt with his subject in a very vigorous and
lucid style. His able array of the facts, showing the progress tlie question of
preferential trade with the colonies has made in England during the last few years,
was listened to with the greatest attention by the vast gathering which filled the
ha.'l and overflowed into the galleries, and the eloquent advocacy of the fast Atlantic
service, with which he closed, was heartily applauded.

those present.

Among the members of the Board of Trade present were :— Messrs. James
Alexander, Andrew A. Allan, H. Montagu Allan, R. B. Angus, William Angus,
A. A. Ayer, F. Bacon, John C. Badgley, George Baird, C. J. Baird, John Baird, Joel

i'J

C. Baker, John Black, "W. M. Blaiklock, E. H. Botterell, A. J. Brice, H. A. Budden,
W. B. Bulling, H. Buhner, David Campbell, sr., David Campbell, jr., David N.
Campbell, J. Stewart Carter, J. N. Chabot, Charles Chaput, Esmonde L. Clark, J. P.
Cleghorn, William Clendinneng, C. E. Colson, John Corbett, E. F. Craig, W. W.
Craig, John Crawford, A. M. Crombie, Charles H. Cunningham, James A. Cuttle,
John Crowe, John Dillon, Hon. Geo. A. Drummond, George E. Drummond, John
Dillon, Thomas J. Drummond, William Drysdale, William B. Evans, S. W. Ewing,
Fred. Fairman, Thomas Forde, John Forman, A. D. Eraser, Donald Eraser, N. J.
Eraser, Robert Gardner, Daniel Gilmour, W. E. Goodhugh, W. S. Goodhugh, O. M.
Gould, A. W. Grant, Michael M. Green, Jacques Grenier, George Hague, Alex.
Hamilton, M. Hannan, W. A. Hastings, Norman Henderson, Fred. C. Henshaw,
Jonathan Hodgson, J. C. Holder, George R. Hooper, J. E. Hunsicker, Henry Joseph,
Horace Joseph, J. H. Joseph, Edgar Judge, John Kennedy, John Kerry, G. M.
Kinghorn, R. S. Kinghom, William Kinloch, J. M. Kirk. G. A. Kohl, Hospice '
Labelle, J. B. Learmont, James Leggat, W. F. Lewis, Charles Lyman, John Magor,
Victor Magor, E. J. Magor, J. W. Marling, S. E. Marsan, Henry Mason, F. Massey
Robert Meighan, Henry Miles, J. W. Molson, L. E. Morin, D. Morrice, J. T. McBride,
J. T. McCall, W. C. McDonald, C. H. McFarlane, Alex. McFee, James H.
McKeown, John McKergow, P. W. McLagan, D. W, McLaren, H. P. McLea,
Ewan McLennan, Hugh McLennan, W. J. McMillan, W. McNally, James McShane,
M.P. ; Arch. Nicoll, T. Nicoll, William Niven, W. W. Ogilvie, James Oliver, C. N.

D. O.sgoode, E. W. Parker, Walter Paul, T. Peck, C. Feveriy, C. S. J. Philips, J. X.
Porrault, Thomas Porleous, R. W. Reford, Captain Arch. Reid, James E. Rendell,
F. H. Reynolds, John E. Riley, G. W. Robinson, J. D. Holland, J. R. Kolland, F. A.
Routh, J. H. Routh, George W. Sadler, Thomas Samuels, J. J. Semple, S. O. Shorey,
James Slessor, Charles F. Smith, Sir Donald Smith, G. F. C. Smith, R. W. ^^nepherd,
J. H. Stiles, R. Wilson-Smith, George R. Starke, J. Al6x. Stephenson, Jas. Strachan,
Jas. Thorn, F. Wolferstan Thomas, George A. Thomson, W. F. Torrance, Thomas,
Trimble, J. O. Villen' uve, Hon. J. K. Ward, Alex. McTavish Watt, D. A. P. Watt,
William Weir, Richard White, E. A. Whitehead, R. E. Wight, Thomas Williamson,
A. A. Wilson, James Wilson, Walter Wilson, W. R. Wonham, and A. C. Wieland.

The following members of the Chambre de Commerce were present :— Mayor
Villeneuve, Messrs. J. D. Holland, L. E. Morin, J. X. Perrault, Charles Catelli, ex-
Alderman Ciesse, and others.

On Sir Charles Tupper entering the hall the applause was loud and long. He
was accompanied by Messrs. James A. Cantlie, President ot the Board ; John Tor-
rance, First Vice-President ; John McKergow, Secona Vifce-President ; Charles F.
Smith, Treasurer ; George Hadrill, Secretary ; L. I. Boivin and Sir Donald Smith,
who occupied seats on the platform.

The President briefly introduced Sir Charles Tupper, and stated the subject of
his address, for which, he observed, no more fitting place could be found than the
Board of Trade of the commercial metropolis of Canada, tb" head of ocean naviga-
tion, and the largest shippiiig port of the Dominion. They ail recognized the value
the work done by Sir Charles Tupper in forwarding the commercial interests of
Canada, not only in Great Britain, but in other parts of the world, and, he was sure
that those present, who were engaged in commercial pursuits, would find the address
most instructive and valuable. (Applause.)

HOW THT'! ENGAGEMENT WAS MADE.

Sir Charles Tapper, who was very warmly received, said : Mr. President and
Gentlemen of ihe Board of Trade,-'-I huve greatplcasure in meeting yon hero to-day.
I may say, in a few words, how I 'came to be here. Inmiediately after my arrival
from London, and when I expectc'd, and, I may say, hoped, very shortly to return
there, I had the pleasure of meetinii: your President at dinner, and I took tlie oi»por-
tunity of pointing out to him my ,;reat anxiety that the Board of tliis, lh< great
commercial metropolis of Canada, should pay great attention to an invitation which,
I knew, had been forwarded to theni, to send representatives to attend the great
Congress of the Chambers of Commerce of the Empire, to be held in London in June
next. I mentioned to the Presidei'.t the great advantage that I l)elieved might
result to Canada, if the various Boartls of Trade and Chambers of Commerce all over
this great Dominion availed themseives of the opportunity that they would then
have of bringing under the notice, not only of the people of England, but of all th(;
outlying portions of the Empire, whic'i would be represented on that occasion, the
views and sentiments on commei'cial questions that were held in this country. I
had the great pleasure of co-operating 'vith the delegates whom you sent to repre-
sent you, and who represented you so ably, at the second Congress of the Chambers
of Commerce of the Empire, and I had reason to believe that the interests of Canada
would be promoted in a very important degree, if you availed yourselves of the in-
vitation now tendered you. Mr. Cantlie was kind enough to suggest that, as I
attached so much Importance to this question and was desirous of reaching the
people, not only of thic great commercial centre, but of all the commercial centres
In Canada, that, perhaps, it would be well for me to deliver an address to you on the
subject. I at once said that, if invited to do so, I should be very happy to comply
with the request. I am glad to know that we have still some questions in this
country, and very important questions, too, that are outside of the domain of party
politics, I am very glad to know that this is one of them. 1 took up the groat
organ of the Liberal party of this country — the Globe newspaper, of Toronto— and I
found it there stated that Sir Charles Tupper proposed to deliver an address on pre-
ferential trade, in the city of Montreal. I was glad to find the statement that, on
that question, every person in this country, of all parties, would hold up both hands
in favor of preferential trade. (Applause.) That statement warrants me in believ-
ing that this question is outside the domain of party politics, and is one of the great
questions on which gentlemen of all parties, interested" in the progress and prosper-
ity of Canada, may unite heart and hand. The Globe, however, went on to say that
this was not the place to deliver the address— that no one required to be converted
to these doctrines in Canada, for w^e were all agreed on them, but that England was
the place to which we must look for the purpose of giving expression to what we so
much desired, for upon England would rest the responsibility of carrying such a
scheme into eflect. And it went on to express a great fear that it would be a long
time before we would be enabled to impress the people of the Mother Country
with the value and importance of this great principle. I quite agree with the
Globe ; and it is with a view of pointing out to you some of the reasons why I think
we ma.y entertain the hope that, at no very distant date, we shall see this ^reat
princij^'le of preferential trade recognized throughout the British Empire, that I ap-
pear here to-day— (applause)— to see if 1 can offer some encouragement from the
standpoint which was calculated to advance the progress of this great question.

I may say that since I met Mr, CantHe I have received a letter from the
central committee, the orRaniziug committee o' the great Congress of Chambers of
Commerce of the Empire, in which they have done me the honor to invite me to
become one of the Vice Presidents. The Rt. Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, Secretary
of State for the Colonies, has accepted the position of Honorary President of that
Congress, and I was gratified— as I am sure you will be— to find that the first ques-
tion that Is to receive the attention of that great body Is " commercial relations
between the mother country and her colonies and dependencies." (Loud applause)
I feel quite sure that you will agree with me in attaching great importance to
Canada having as large and as able representation as possible from all the Chambers
of Commerce and all the Boards of Trade throughout this wide Dominion. I may
say, In passing, that it Is not necessary absolutely to send a delegate, because any
Board of Trade, or any Chamber of Commerce, will be entitled to name, as Its dele-
gate, if It Is not convenient for It to send one from Canada, a gentleman who would
have Its confidence, and who resides on the other side of the water. I may say that
I believe that the present moment Is one singularly favorable for the consideration
of this great question of preferential trade between the United Kingdom and her
various colonies and dependencies, spread all over the world.

ENGLAND'S POSITION NOT SATISFACTORY.

The trade position of England Is not a very satisfactory one. She Is face to face
with the important fact that, since 1890, there has been a decline in Briti.sh ei'cports
of no less than £47,700,000 sterling. I think that I only require to mention these
figures to you to show the great importance of that country turning its attention to-
the best means by which that decline, that serious, that vast decline, of something
like 18 per cent, shall be arrested and the trade of that great country restored to Its-
former position. Not only Is that the case, but at this moment, as one and all of you
are perfectly aware, agricultural depression is beir.3 felt most seriously throughout
the United Kingdom. Public men, from the leader of the Government of that great
country down to the humblest man who takes an interest in the affairs of the nation,
are engaged in deploring the constant.steady decline in the great and important indus-
try of agriculture throughout the United Kingdom. Since 1870, no less than 3,000,000
acres of land have gone out of wheat cultivation, and have been laid down to grass.
And with what result ? Land that, for the cultivation of wheat, would require
twelve men can be tilled by a man and a boy when laid down to grass. The conse-
quence is that there is a vast and steady procession of agricultural laborers, through-
out the United Kingdom, wending their way to the great towns, and there becoming
buriihensome upon the country by furnishing an amount of labor for which there is
no employment, and leaving hundreds and thousands of industrious and good men in
the miserable position of having no work to do. This is a condition of things that
has received the attention of the first minds in the United Kingdom and I may
briefly turn your attention to what is regarded by the highest authorities as the
cause of this decline in the manufacturing industries, and which has given rise to
such a tremendous falling-ofF In the export trade of England. When I refer to her
trade, I refer to a decline ot nearly £48,000,000— £47,700,000— sterling in the exports
from Great Britain, which represents the manufacturing industry of that country.
What Is the cause? No less an authority than Lord Salisbury dealt with this subject
in a memorable speech at Hastings in 1892. He said :

" Forty or fifty years ago everybody believed that free trade had conquered the
world, and they prophesied that every nation would follow the example of England,
and ^ve itself up to absolute free trade. The results are not exactly what they

proplic! led, but the more au/erse the results were, the more the devoted propliets of
fre(i trade dechirod tliat all would couie right at lust; tli;! vvorne tliu fcarills of foreign
countiies became, the more confident were the prophecies of an early victory, j^ut
we see now, after many years" experience, that, explain it how we may, »oreiKri
nations are raising, one after another, a wall -a brazen wall— of protection around
their shores which excludes us from their markets, and, so far as tney are concerned,
<io their best to kill our trade."

He also went on to say :

" We live in an age of war of tarifTs. Every nation is trying how it can, by
agreement with its neighbour, get the greatest pwssible protection for its own
Industries, and, at the same time, the greatest i)ossiblt; access to the market of its
neighbors. This kind of negotiation is continually going on. It has been going on
lor the last year and a half with great activity. I watit to point out to yon that
what I observe is that while A is very anxious to get a favour of 13, and \i is anxious
to get a favour of C, nobody cares two straws al)out getting the commercial favour
of Great Britain. What i.s the reason of that? It is that in t'lis great battle (ireat
Britain has deliberately stripped herself of the armor and the weapons i)y which
the battle has to be fought."

I can give you no better illustration of the truth of Lord Salisbury's statevnent
than to say that Spain made a treaty with the United States of America in which it
was agreed that if the United States would not impose duties upon three or four
articles that would give a preferential position in the markets of the United States^
not only for the products of Spain, but, what was of still more importance, the pro-
ducts of the Spanish Antilles, Spain would give her compensating benefits. Then
Great Britain said : " Surely, if you are going to give these advantages to the United
States of America for such an insignificant and small consideration as allowing three
or four articles, which you produce, to go into their country free, you will give the
same to a country like England, which permits everything you have to send, either
from Spain or her colonies, free into her markets." " Not at all," she said. " This i8
a boon that we have only power to g'.ve for a quldpro quo. We are only authorized
to make concessions to countries for something they have to give us, and as you have
given us all you have already, you have got nothing to give."

Consequently England, treating Spain in this spirit, found that, as Lord
Salisbury said in the closing sentences of his speech, she had stripped herself of the
armor and the weapons by which the battle had to be fought. Now, I need not
labor that point, but I have given you, I think, a sufficient evidence of the
cause of the decline in the magnificent industries of Great Britain by showing you
that while the manufacturing interests of France and Germany and the United
States of America and all other countries of the world are admitted free into Great
Britain, without the charging of a farthing of duty on their products, these
countries, instead of reciprocating, adopt quite the opposite policy. Cobden, when
he introduced the doctrines of free trade, expected that other nations would follow
England's lead and that free trade would become the policy of the world. But the
contrary has been the fact. Instead of returning England's generosity, as Lord
Salisbury says, they have built their tariff walls higher and higher against England,
because they know she is powerless to defend herself or retaliate in the slightest
degree for the course which they pursue. Now, what is the remedy for this state of
things? I will quote another gentleman of the highest possible authority on all
financial and commercial questions. There are few men in the United Kingdom
who stand higher, as I am sure you will acknowledge when you hear his name. I
refer to the Right Hon. Mr. Goschen, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer of

ill

Lord Sftllsbury's Government and the present First Lord of the AdmlrnUy. Mr,
Goschen said at Sheffield, on May 22nd, 1889 :—

"Take the expansion of this country. I wish that a book called 'The iCxpan-
slon of Enpland " could be printed in a cheap form ; it miptht be distributed amongst
the working; classes of the country, .uul tlien they might see what an interest they
all nave in the expansion of our colonies and in the maintenance of our dominion*
beyond the seas. There was an old toast which used to be drunk, ' Ships, Colonies,
and Coninu!rce,' but it is a toast which mi^ht be drunk with the samt- appropriate-
ness in every workingman's club at the present day : 'Ships, Colonies, and Com-
merce.' What does it mean? It means prosperity in the industries of the country,.
good wages, and constant work."

Now, I may say that I gave a little attention to this subject in a paper which
I read before the Royal Colonial Institute. You are well aware that at the great
conference which was held in Ottawa it was resolved that the Interests of all the
colonies, and of tlio United Kingdom as well— in fact of the Empire as a whole-
would be greatly promoted by two measures: One was the fast steam service
between the United Kingdom and Canada and between Canada and Australia and
Canada and the East, China and Japan, which we already have. Another was that
the protection of Australia would be greatly promoted, and the commercial interests-
of Canada would be greatly promoted, if, in connection with this steamship com-
munication between Canada and the great colonier of Australasia a Pacific cable
was laid from Vancouver to Australasia. The result of this, of course, would be to
make Canada a great centrr.l thoroughfare for a vast amount of traffic that would
not otherwise come near it. This measure was attacked by two gentlemen,
especially. One was Sir John Colomb, a very estimable friend of mine, who took
the opportunity o? airing a favorite notion of his, that before anything was done for
any colony it must contribute to the fund f o maintain the British navy. The other
was Sir John Pender, a very eminent authority in connection with cables, one of the
great cable kings of the Avorlu, who attacked this project because, unfortunately, he
thought it would militate (and he was not very much mistaken in that) against the
lines of cable communication which had been established under his protection con-
necting the United Kingdom with Australasia.

In order to prevent the public sentiment from being thrown into a wrong^
channel by these efforts to take action against these great measures, and to preju-
dice the public mind and the Government of England, and to prevent the colonies
from obtaining the assistance from the Imperial Exchequer, which was necessary
for success, I read a paper before the Royal Colonial Institute, in wliich I under-
took to show the vast interest that England has in botii these subjects. I do not
intend to weary you with the repetition of what I said on that occasion but I would
merely draw your attention to the result of my investigations as to the value of the
Colonial Trade as compared with the Foreign Trade of England, and to show that if
England wanted to increase her trade, to maintain her pristine influence and position,
in connection with her trade, she could adopt no better mode than to turn her atter-
tion less to foreign countries and more to the great colonies which form part of
her own dominions. (Applause.)

I said on that occasion : —

" The maxim ' that trade follows the flag ' is proved beyond question by the
Trade Returns, which show that the self-governing Colonies and West Indies take
of British exports, £2 IBs. 9d. per head, as against 8s. 5d. per head of the popniatioa
of the United States, or seven times as much.

"Six of the Colonies importing the larceat quantiiv of British produce— the
Cape, Canada, New South Wales, Victoriii, New Zealanu and Queensland -took in
1891 £3 Us. lOd. per head, a8 against 5a. Kd. head of the population of the United
States, Germany, France, Spain, Brazil, and Russia together, or a little over twelve
times a8 much.

" In 1H92 th J same Colonics took British goods to the extent of £3 Is. 5d. per
■capita, as against 6s. 5d. in the foreign countries already mentioned, or u little over
cloven times as much."

The reason that I took and that I keep before you the trade between England
And the Colonies in 1801, is that in that year a very serious financial crisis arose in
Australasia, which struck down their power to im|)ort as they had previously done.

I am glad to know, and I am sure you are all glad to know, that they are "apidly
overcoming that financial depression, and that, in a short time, they will resume
their wonted strength in reference to the trade of their country.

COLONIAL AND INDIAN TRADE.

Now, I may draw your attention for a moment to the question of colonial
trade, and, in order to show thut I don't take any particular year, I have pre-
pared a memorandum of the British exports to foreign countries and to the
colonies and India, comparing the one with the other for periods of five years from
1870 to the present time, and I find these figures, when averaged, are very instructive
as showing the development in the trade with the colonies and India as compared
with that with foreign countries.

The average export of Britisli and Irish produce to foreign countries between
1870 and 1874 was £174,280,811. In the period from 1875 to 1879 the average was £134,-
852,914, a decrease of 23 per cent, over the period 1870 to 1874. From 1880 to 1884 the
average was £153,515,258, a decrease of 12 per cent, over the period 1870 to 1874.
From 1885 to 1889 the average was £146,9:i;3,450, n decrease of 16 per cent, compared
with the period 1870 to 1874. From 1890 to 1894 the average was £155,829,922, a
decrease of 11 per cent, as compared with the period 1870 to 1874.

Now, I will contrast the trade with the colonies and India, h. order to emphasize
the immense interest that England has in cultivating trade with her own posses-
sions, in preference to foreign countries.

The average export to the colonies and India between 1870 and 1874 was
£60,445,799. The proportion of colonial and Indian trade to the total export trade
"was 26 per cent. From 1875 to 1879 the average was £66,622,806, or an increase of 10
per cent. The proportion of colonial and Indian trade to the total export trade was
33 per cent. In the period from 1880 to 1884 the average was £80,759,741, an in-
crease of 33 percent, over the period from 1870 to 1874. The proportion of colonial
and Indian trade to the total export trade was 34 per cent. From 1885 to 1889 the
average was £79,311,416, an increase of 31 per cent, over the period from 1870 to 1874.
The proportion of colonial and Indian trade to the total export trade was .35 per
cent. From 1890 to 1894 the average was £7S,J>22,405, or an increase of 30 per cent, over
the period from 1870 to 1874. The proportion of colonial and Indian trade to the
total export trade was 33 per cent.

The average exports to the colonies, excluding India, between 1870 and 1874 was
£40,193,061. This represents 17 per cent, of the total average export trad(\ From
1875 to 1879 the average was £4.3,294,.")85, or an increase of 7 per cent, over the period
from 1870 to 1874. It represented 21 per cent, of the total export trade. In the

■ I Tllllff.M* . '

period from 1880 to 1884 the average expor^ was £50,517,116, an incrpase of 25 per
cent, over the period from 1P70 to 1874. It also represented 21 per cent, of the total
export trade. Between 1883 and 1889 the average wf.s £48,305,051, an ir '"ease of 20
per cent, over the period from 1*^0 to 1874. It represented 21 per cent, ot the toial
export trade. From 18P0 to 1894 the average was £48,362,883, an increase of 20 per
cent, over the period from 1870 to 187.t. It also represented 21 per cent, of the total
export trade.

It will be seen, therefore, that while the average decrease in the exports to
foreii^i couiit i s in the periods in question, compared with 1870 to 1874, has been 15
per cent., the average increase in the exports to the colonies and India in tie same
periods has been 26 per cent. In the case of fcae colonies^ excluding India, the aver-
age increase has been 18 per cent.

No better evidence could be f<iven of the '■mmensc importance of Britain doing
all that lies in her pc/er to develop her colonies, and to increase their population
and their means of trade v.uth her, in preference to levoting her attention to
foreign countries.

BRITISH EXPORTS FROM 1866 TO 1894.

I have prr-pared a table showing the exports of British and Irish produce to
foreign countries and British possessions, includin,'? India, from 1865 to 1894.

Yeai.

Foreign
countries.

Briiish
posse. ; ons.

India,

18b6

135,000,000
148.000,000
16/;00(),000
131,000,000
152,000.000
105,000,000
143.000,000

34,000,000
33,000,000
48,000,000
40.000,000
50.000,000
52.000,000
43.000.000

20
18
22
2;i
28
23
23

20.000,000
19^000,000

1870

1874

24,000,000
21,000,000
31,000,000
31,000,000
29,000,000

1879

1884

-iSS9

1894

Per cent.
Dev^rease in exports of British and xrish produce to foreign countries, Ifew, com-
pared with 1870 ; 4

Increase in exports of British and Irish produce to foreign countries 1889 over
1870 12

Increase in exports of British and Irish produce to British pos-sessions (exclud-
ing India) 1884 over 1870 50

Increase in exports of British and Irish produce to British possessions (exclud-
ing India) 1889 over 1870 60

increase in exports of British and Irish produce to British possessions (exclud-
ing India) 1894 over 1870 30

N. B.~1893-94 were very bad colonial years.

Increase in exports of British and Irish produce to Ind'a 1889 coaipared with 1870. 63

lg94

The imports from Foreign Countries and British Pos tensions and India were :—

Year.

Foreign Countries.

British
Possessions.

Percentage
OfB. P. on
total, exclud-
ing
India.

India.

1866

223,000,000
238,000,000
288,000,000
284,000,000
294,000,000
330,000,000
314,000,000

35,000,000
40,000,000
52,000,000
54,000.000
62,0iO,000
61,00t»,000
66,000,000

13
14
15
16
17
16
17

£
37,000,000

1870

25,000,000
31,000,000
25,000,000
34,000,000

1874

1879

1884

1889

36,000,000

1894

28,000,000

Per cenL

Increase in imports from foreign countries .' 1894 over 1870 . .

1889 " 1870..

Increase in imports from British possessions (excluding India) 1884 " 1870..

1889 " 1870..

" " " '• " 1894 " 1870..

Increase in imports from India. 1889 " 1870. ,

1894 " 1870..

32
40
55
52
65
44
12

The trade returns for the year 1894 bear out the point that I have been endeavor-
ing to make, viz., the vital importance to the United Kingdom ot cultivating trade
with her colonies. The colonial trade of the United Kingdom since 1893 has shown
a greater recovery, both relatively and absolutely, than the trade with foreign
countries. The imports from the colonies for the year 1894 were £2,142,712 more
than in the previous year : the increase in the iiiiports from foreign countries during
the same period was £1,413,920, or more than £1,000,000 less increase than in the
imports from the colonies. The exports to the colonies in 1894 were -£2,616 more
than in 1893, whilst the exports to foreign countries were £3,355,049 less, showing
that the combined trade with the colonies was plus £2,145,328, whilst with foreign
countries there was a decline of £1,941,129. The trade returns do not show the
relative importance of the figures in this regard, as justice has not been done to
Oanada, and every gentleman here will appreciate that in a moment when I tell
you why. You sent a great export of hay a year or two ago. When the hay crop was
c t off and the cattle were all but starving in the United Kingdom, that country
was able to successfully turn to the great Dominion of Canada and obtain a large
amruvit of the best hay that has ever been consumed in the United illngdom.

I might mention in that regard that a gentleman who fed 600 horses, gave me the
information that he was able to keep his horses on Canadian hay in infinitely better
condition at a very much less expense than on the best hay gvow n in the United
Kingdom. (Applause.) I mention that for a double purpos-— I w^ant to point out to
you the vital importance, in reference to every industry of that kind, of taking the
utmost care when the market is opened, as to the quality of the expo^'ts. It seems
to me that the Grovemment of the country and the commercial centres are bound to
adopt means, when the import trade is opened up, to prevent its being depreciated
and injured by an inferior article being sent forward. (Hear, hear.) The other point
which J wish to bring out, is that it has been demonstrated that when hay is
required, this i& the country to which, above all others, the United Kingdom may

look, anrl look with confirlcnce, for the relief it needs. But what happened in the
caae of the greatly increased export of hay, to which I have referred ? You found
veiy little hay in the trade returns. I was reminded of the story of the lawyers
pleading before the jud^e. There was a lawyer upon each side, and there was an
intermediate lawyer, who was guarding some special interests. He got up and said
to His Lordship : "I am like the donkey between two bundles of hay." The judge
immediately put on his spectacles, and said, "1 don't see the hay." (Laughter.)
"Well, when I looked into the trade returns I confess I did not see the hay. I
investigated the subject, and I had a long correspondence, which is still going on,
with the Colonial office and the Board of Trade of Great Britain. The same thing
applies to all the products of this Dominion that go through United States
ports. The trade returns credit the United Stages with those products, instead of
crediting Canada.

The unacknowledged trade of the Dominion of Canada in the Imperial Returns
forms a considerable amount annually, and' it is a matter that calls for a special
statement when the trade of Canada with the United Kingdom comes to be dealt
with publicly on the basis of the returns of the Board of Trade.

Canada's geographical position coupled with the influence of the trade exchanges
of the United Kingdom with the United States, leads inevitably to a considerable
import and export trade with Canada being conducted through United States ports.
This trade, however, invariably appears in the Board of Trade returns as purely with
the United States.

For the fiscal year ended June 30th, 1894, the official trade returns of Canada
show that the value of foreign goods passing in bond through the United States
direct to the Canadian importer amounted to §14,753,686. Of this amount fully two-
thirds ($10,000,000) probably represents imports from the United Kingdom, and
Canada therefore loses the credit in the Imperial Returns of that sum, which goes
to swell the trade with the United States. In a similar manner th-- exports of Can-
adian products, via the United States, in bond, for the same period, is given as
$11,485,357, almost the whole of which is sent to the United Kingdom, and on their
arrival there credited to the United States. On the other hand the United States
use tho Canadian route for a portion of their exports to the United Kingdom, the
amount so lorwarded during the same period being $6,471,567, credited to Canada in
in the Imperial Returns. Thus, on balance, Canada still loses the advantage in the
English returns or her exports to Great Britain of $5,000,000, and on the imports
from Great Britain $10,000,000, or a total annually of say $15,000,000.

It may be added that a certain quantity of imports into the United States from
Great Briiain are forwarded via Canada. There are no figures to show this trade,
but it would have to be deducted from the $15,000,000 above mentioned, in order to
be statistically accurate.

I hope to have the assistance of commercial men in this country in the att°!mpt
to secure for Canada credit for the trade to which she is entitled, but the point to
which I just now wish to draw your attention is that, if it were not for this failure
of the trade returns to show the count: y of origin you would find this contrast that
I have just given, that is already so largely in favor of the colonies, would be vastly
increased, and we should stand very much higher, with reference to our export trade
to the mother country, than we do at present. (Applause.)

I am now dealing with the question of how the remedy is to be found for the
condition of things in the United Kingdom which I have described, revealing such

an alarming falling off in the trade of the country. I have pointed out that all
the trade returns and the investigation of the ablest men agree upon this point,
that if England wishes to expand her trade she has got to expand it with her colonial
possessions ; if she wishes, instead of retrograding, to go forward, all she has to do is
to promote the development of her great colonial possessions, and in that way to
obtain a market for the products of British and Irish industries that she cannot
hope for by looking to foreign countries, who day by day and year by year are
building up higher and higher tariff walls against her to shut out everything British
from going into these countries, instead of reciprocating the manner in which
Great Britain treats them by allowing everything they have to come in free and to
compete with their own industries without paying a farthing to the revenue of the
country.

I will now draw your attention to this point that I think requires to be labored,
and that is that preferential trade with the colonies is the great means for England
to recover the ground she is fast losing. I have shown you some reasons why we
have the ground for advocating that policy in the interests of the United Kingdom
as well as in the interests of the colonies, in fact the interests of the Empire
as a whole. I might say here that when I am told that this question of
preferential trade is making no progress in England, I think I may venture
to say, that those v/ho make that statement do not know what they are
talking about. My friend. Sir Donald A. Smith, who is sitting on the platform
with us to-day, and my friend, Mr. Perrault, who sits before me, will bear me out in
the statement, that, at the last Congress of the Chambers of Commerce of the
Empire, held in London, in 1893, the only question that really obtained great and
elaborate consideration was this question of preferential trade with the colonies.
Aft'ir ten or eleven years' residence in London, during the time that the office of
High Commissioner has been under my charge, I have no hesitation in saying that,
conservative as they are in England— I was almost going to say fossilized with
reference to the adoption of any new principle, for you can hardly conceive the
difficulty there is in that country in getting anything that is new or anything that
mears a change taken up and adopted — I have no hesitation in saying that I have
never witnessed on any question such a radical, thorough and v-ictespread change as
is pervading the public mind in the United Kingdom from one end of it to the other
in favor of preferential trade with the colonies. (Cheers.) Even half a doxen years
ago you could not have two hour's discussion in that great Congress of the Empire
on this question of preferential trade, and yet these gentlemen Miiom I have
mentioned know that for two days this was the only subject discussed, and more
attention was given it than to anything else. But then, they say, we were beaten.
Beaten — what does that mean ? I wonder if the Corn Laws were repealed when repeal
was first proposed by Richard Cobdeu and the other great men who advocated it.
Why, it was after long etlo^^, continued year after year, that they actually got the
public mind to take hold of the question at all. Here was a question that was
comparatively new, that was advocated practically for the first time at this Congress
in 1893. What was the result? lam afraid to speak from memory, and not anticipating
that this question would come up I have not the figures under my hand, but my
recollection is that we were defeated by 34 votes to 27. I think those are about the
figures, and I regarded it as a perfect triumpl*. of the cause that we advocated,
indicating a most wonderful change of public opinion. That is not all. I took the
subject up, and in an article which I communicated to one of the quarterlies, over

' 5 "^

my own signature, I pointed ouc that if the representativen of Chamhera of
Commerce in Australia and the Cape had all of them voted with us, according to
the instructions that they had received, and according to the opinions that the
Governments held and maintained, the resolution would have been carried. I do not
hesitate to say that if Canada does justice to herself, and sends to the Congress, to
be held next June, such a representation as she ought to send, and charged to
uphold this policy, which was approved by the Ottawa Conference, I have not only
no doubt that the resolution will be handsomely carried by the Congress of the
Chambers of Commerce of the Empire, but I am sure that an impression will be
made on the mind of the Government of England and the great commercial centres
of England that will result at an early day in the adoption of this principle. (Cheers.)

Canada cannot be charged with not having done her duty, for, on April 2.5th,
1892, this resolution was put on the journals of the Dominion House of Commons :—

" That if and when the Parliament of Great Britain and Ireland admits Canad-
ian products to the markets of the United Kingdom upon more favorable terms than
it accords to the products ot foreign countries, the Parliament of Canada will be
prepared to accord corresponding ad vantages by a substantial reduction in the duties
it imposes upon British manufactured goods."

The House of Commons of Canada obtained great attention in the United King-
dom at that time. The most potent indicator of public sentiment in Britain came
out with an article in which it said that it did not know that this was exactly free
trade, but, after all, free trade was made for man, and not man for free trade,
and if the other colonies adopted the principle propounded in this resolution, it
would be the duty of the government of the day to give careful consideration to the
best means by which effect could be given to that principle. (Applause.^ That has
already taken place. A very remarkable thing, a thing that, a few years ago, would
have been regarded as utterly futile for any person to attempt, was accomplished
when

THE GREAT COLONIAL CONFERENCE

was held at the seat of government of Canada, at which representatives from South
Africa, representatives from Australia and representatives from New Zealand met
the representatives of Canada and met the representative of Her Majesty's Gov-
ernment, the Earl of Jersey, who had been sent from England for that purpose. I
am proud to know that that great movement was removed entirely from anything
in the shape of party, or partizan politics. need not remind you that on that oc
casion the late lamented Sir John Thompson uttered a most eloquent eulogium upon
that great event, and pointed out the tremendous advance of Canada and the col-
onies, as exemplitied by the fact that such a conference had been held. But that
eloquent speech was, perhaps, exceeded by one made by Mr. Laurior, the silver-
tongued orator of the Canadian Parliament.' (Applause.) I may tell you that I had
the honor, the pleasure and the great satisfaction of reading a resume of these
speeches to a large body of commercial gentlemen, and they were received with
most hearty acclaim. There was but one voitj and sentiment throughout the
United Kingdom as to the significance and importance of that conference, at which
this resolution, among others, was passed :—

"Whereas the stability and procresa of the British Empire can bo best assured
by drawing continually closer the bands that unite the colonies with the Mother

, Country, and by the continuous growth of a practical sympathy and co-operation In
■ all that pertains to the common welfare ;

" And whereas this co-operation and unity can in no way be more effectually
promoted than by the cultivation and extension of the mutual and profitable inter-
change of their products :

'• Therefore resolved : That this conference records its belief in the advisability
of a customs arrangement between Great Britain and her colonies by which trade
within the Empire may be placed on a more favorable footing than that which is
carried on with foreign countries ;

*' Further resolved : That until the Mother Country can see her way to enter
into customs arrangements w'th her colonies, it is desirable that, when empowered
so to do, the colonies of Great Britain, or such of them as mav be disposed to a(!cede
to this view, take steps to place each other's products, in whole or in part, on a more
favored customs basis than is accorded to the like products of foreign countries ;

" Further resolved : That for the purpose of this resolution the South African
Customs Union be considered as part of the territory capable of being brought
within the scope of the contemplated trade arrangements."

That is the principle upon which, I hope, the Boards of Trade throughout this
Great Dominion, irrespective of whatever party they may be composed of, will instruct
their delegates to act at the Great Congress of Chambers of Commerce of the Empire
to be held in June next. If they do, I have no hesitation in saying that I believe
that policy will be triumphantly adopted, and the effect upon the public mind and
upon the Government of England will be one of which you will have no reason to
complain. The Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain has taken up, with great zeal and
his accustomed ability, the question of how best to promote trade between the
United Kingdom and the outlying portions of the Empire. A despatch has been
sent to all the colonies inviting them to give suggestions and to point out how best
to promote closer commercial intercourse between the colonies and the mother
country ; but I believe that Mr. Chamberlain will search long and far before he will
find any means half so effective to accomplish the end he has in view as the
adoption of the principle placed on record by the Intercolonial Conference. From
the highest source come the warmest commendation of the proceedings at that
Conference. In the Queen's speech at the prorogation of Parliament on August
2oth, 1894, it was stated :

" A conference was held at Ottawa in the month of June last, at which repre-
sentatives of the Imperial Government, the Dominion of Canada, the Cape and the
Australian Colonies met to consider questions relating to intercolonial tariffs and
communications.

" I have learnt with satisfaction that the proceedings of the Conference were of
a character calculated to strengthen the union of the colonies concerned, both
among themselves and with the Mother Country."

Lord Rosebery's Government, which was then in power, raised no difficulty in
connection with the matter, but gave it the imprimatur and approval of the
S vereign.

SOME OP THE DXPFICULTIES.

You will naturally expect me to refer for a few minutes (and I hope I am not
wearying you too much) to the difficulties to be encountered in this struggle. It is
an old saying that " to be forewarned is to forearmed," and if we can appreciate
exactly the difficulties with which we have to deal and can remove them, we shall
have won the battle. The first point with which we are met is : But this would be
protection, for you want Great Britain, which now admits free the products of all
countries alike, to draw the line and say, "A portion of the world's surface is
occupied by the English-speaking rac, and they are entitled to favors that foreign

countries have no claim to whatever." (Loud applause.) We point them to Spain, to
France, to Holland, and to all the governments in the world, and we defy them to
show one on the face of the globe that does not make a difference in commercial
matters and commercial intercourse in favor of its own colonies.

Some people have the folly to argue that England's foreign trade is so much, and
that her trade with her o .vn possessions is much smaller. I i)elieve that if the policy
to which I have referred was adopted, these figures would be relatively changed.

There is no reason why, if England adopted a policy favoring her own colonies,
foreign countries should, for a moment, have the slightest ground of complaint.

England, free trade country as she is, now raises twenty millions of pounds
sterling per annum, or about that— it was £19,000,000 odd this last year— in customs
duties, and if she says to these foreign countries which, as Lord Salisbury said, are
building up a brazen wall of protection higher and higher against her instead of
meeting her with any consideration for the favor that she shows them, ii she says :
*' We are going to adopt, not your policy of a protective tariff, but we are going to
put an insigniflcaut duty, not a duty of thirty or forty or fifty per cent against your
product, but say a duty of ten per cent, while we allow everything to come in free
from our own dependencies, and thus we propose to raise a small additional portion
of our revenue." And it would not be a small additional portion ; it would be
enough to pay the cost of her army and navy if she charged ten per cent on what now
comes in free. If England said this, there would be no country in the world that
would have the slightest ground to call it protection. But that question has been deal
with by as high authority as the present Prime Minister of Great Britain. Lord
Saliisbury was applied to, if it would be protection for England to make an arrange-
ment for her colonies to come in under more favorable circumstances than foreign
countries He instructed his private secretary to write under date April 5th, 1887 :
" I am to reply that Lord Salisbury does not imagine that dilTerential duties in favor
of our colonies, whatever may be said for or against them," (he is a very cautious
man, as you see) " can properly be described under the term protection."

There is this story of their being obliged to oopose preferential trade, because it
' is contrary to free trade principles, wiped away by a single stroke of the pen of Lord
Salisbury, and it commends itself to any public man in any country in the world that
such a policy as that cannot properly be called protection or involving any abandon-
ment whatever of the principles of free trade to which England has held so long.

THE BELGIAN AND GERMAN TREATIES.

Now, there is another objection, and it is a lion in the path to many. It is
the German and Belgian treaties. At the intercolonial conference to which I have
already referred, the following resolutions on this subject were passed :

" That provision should be made by Imperial legislation enabling the depen-
dencies of the Empire to enter into agreements of commercial reciprocity incluaing
the power of making differential tariffs with Great Britain, or with one another.

" That this conference is of opinion that any provisions in existing treaties bet-
ween Great Britain and any foreign power which prevent the self-governing
dependencies of the Empire from entering into agreements of commercial recipro-
city with each other, or with Great Britain, should be removed."

The Ottawa conference, therefore, asked the mother country to adopt such
measures as would remove, by statute, all the impediments that stood in the way
of commercial arrangements or reciprocity treaties between the various colonies.
As I dare say you know, when that Congress met we could not have any treaty with

MMMpitfc

any of those Australasian colonies because under tlie!, charter, which gave them
their constitution, they were deprived of the power of malcing any commercial
arrangements outside their own borders. The law has already been changed, and
to-day Canada is in a position to enter into reciprocal treaties with any one or
with all of the Australasian colonies in such a way as may be found tlie most
expedient and best calculated to develop tlie trade between Canada and those
colonies. But we want to go further. We want those Belgian and German treaties
removed, and that has been pressed upon Her Majesty's Government. I will detain
you for a moment while I read you Lord Salisbury's opinion on those treaties, and I
think, when I have read you that, 3'ou will consider that it is not quite so hopeless
AS many people suppose io get them changed. In reply to an address from the
United Empire Trade League, who proclaim to all that their policy is such a free
admission of colonial products into Great Britain, and the imposition on the
products of foreign countries of a slight duty in order to favor the outlying portipns
of the Empire, Lord Salisbury said :

"Those two unlucky treaties were made by Lord Palmerston's Government
some thirty years ago."

This was in June, 1891, so that it would now be thirty-three or thirty-four years
ago. Lord Salisbury continued :

"I am sure that the matter of the relation of oar colonies could not have
been fully considered. We have tried to find out from official records what species
of reasoning it was that induced statesmen of that day to sign such unfortu-
nate pledges ; but I do not think they had any notion that t hey were signini^- any
pledges at all. I have not been able to discover that they at all realized tlie import-
ance of the engagements upon which they were entering. I think I can give
you, with the greatest confidence, an assurance that not only this Government, but
no future Government will be disposed to enter into such engagements aj^ain.
We shall be glad, indeed, to take every opportunity that arises for delivering our-
selves from those unfortunate engagements."

Why these treaties were made no one can tell. No one would presume to make
such a treaty now, but While these treaties last it would be impossible to give pre-
ferential consideration to the products of the colonies without giving the same to
Belgium and Germany, to whom that had been accorded in express terms. It has
also been extended to almost every other nation in the world, because, having most
favored nation treatment, they are entitled to claim whatever Belgium and Germany
can claim. In order to establish preferential trade, it is necessary that those
treaties with Belgium and Germany should be modified by taking out that clause
that relates to the colonies, and, as I have told you. Lord Salisbury, instead of say-
ing that it was a thing that was not to be thought of, or a matter of no consequence,
said : "We shall be glad indeed to take every opportunity that arises for delivering
ourselves from those unfortunate engagements." He admits thac it is an evil for
the United Kingdom to be bound by treaties which prevent her making any arrange-
ments with her colonial dependencies that she may desire. Then he says, with
reference to this question of preferential trade :—

" You have to state the details of your policy, and spare no pains in the effort of
{impressing it upon your fellow-men. But it is essential that you should explain it.
Tou must submit to your countrymen precisely what it is you want them to do, so
^hat they may examine what will be the results upon their commerce and their own
life, so that an estimate of their exect value may be formed, and they may give
effect to their opinions in consequence. I am sure that those who are thoroughly
convinced of the truth of their doctrines will feel this ordeal to be one from whicn
they will not shrink, but will heartily welcome, and devote all their energies to it.

'ii!

T wouW ask you first to give to your propositions sharpness and deflnlteness, so
that tliese matters may be threshed out and argued before the country. I know the
orclinjiry view of the duty of the Government is to devise for itself the measures it
may bring forward, and then let them take their chance, whatever that maj; be.
And no doubt it is in a great measure true with respect to the large mass of legisla-
tion on secondary (juestions that they have to propose; but it is not true with
respect to ' an organic question which concerns and will control the very existence
of our Empire and the very foundation of our trade.' On this matter public opinion
nmst be framed or formed before any Government can act. No Government can
impose its own opinions on tlie people of this country in these matters. You are in-
vited, and it is the duty of those who feel themselves to be the pioneers of such a
movement and the ajjostles of such a doctrine, to go forth and fight for it, and when
tney have convinced the people of this country, their battle will be won."

I give that to you as sound, constitutional doctrine. No m-'" lias the right to
ask the Prime Minister of England to embarrass his government by the adoption of
a policy for which the country is not prepared. He says : " You must educate the'
people ; bring the public mind into unison with yours ; get the people to ratify j^our
doctrine that the colonies should be put on a better footing than foreign countries.
Let the people of this country be convinced of that, and you will have no trouble
with me," It is in response to this that I ask the Boards of Trade, which are
charged with the commercial interests of the Dominion, to fight that battle, and I
trust that, not only by Canada, but by Australasia and South Africa, the matter
will be pressed home upon the minds of the people of England, and it can be done
in no place, and under no circumstances, better than by an able presentation of thf,-
question at the forthcoming Congress of Chambers of Commerce of the Empire.

Another very high authority, a gentleman who is now occupying the impor-
tant and distinguished position of Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Michael Hicks-
Beach, when this subject was discussed in Parliament on February 9th, 1892, said : —

"The treaty of 1802 with Belgium, and the treaty of 1865 with the ZoUverein,
do not prevent, as I think my rignt honorable friend is aware, the establishment of
any kind of relations between the different colonies of this country. All they do
prevent is the establishing of, so to speak, preferential relations between the United!
Kingdom and one of the colonies, and one of the colonies and the United Kingdom.
I am willing to admit that those provisions in the treaties are relics of a past gene-
ration. We should not dream, at the present day, of entering into any commercial
treaty with foreign nations affecting our self-governing colonies without the consent,
of these colonies, and the colonies are well aware of that. I do not think it advis-
able that we should be bound by any treaties of the kind, which would prevent us
from establishing any relations between our colonies and ourselves."

Therefore, you have not only Lord Salisbury's statement, but I have given you

the authority of Sir Michael H!cks-Beach bearing upon this important question.

i «

■ -■]

i
1 1

REPLY TO LORD RIPON.

'You will probably say to me, " Has not there recently been a very important
pronouncement upon this matter by the late Colonial Minister, the Marquis of;
Ripon?" Quite true; and I shall never mention his name, except with the most
profound respect, because I was indebted to him, for about three years, while he,
held the rjsition of Colonial Minister, for the utmost kindness personally, and fori
the most constant and earnest consideration of every question that I brought before
him in the interest of Canada. But on this question I think he is a little behind
the age, and I propose, very briefly to deal with his statement on these treaties.

Parajcraph 49 of his elaborate despatch dealing with this subject, says :—

" The following figures may serve to indicate generally how the inte-ests of the
United Kingdom are affected :—■

'■■}'i

"The annual value of the exports from the United Kincrdom, according to the
tatistical Abstract, may be roughly estimated as having been in 1893 :

To Germany £28,000,000

To Belgium 13,000,000

Total i^h^^

'* The value of exports from the United Kingdon to all the self-governing
colonieb for the same year may be roughly estimated at £35,000,000 (India not
Included).

" The comparison would not be quite the same if account were taken of the
exports of British and Irish produce only. Here it would seem that the exports
from the United Kingdom to British self-governing colonies exceed the exports to
Belgium and Germany. T ■; self-governing colonies, moreover, being geographically
distant, the exports to them give proportionately more employment to shipping than
do exports to adjacent countries like Belgium and Germany. But the exports to
Belgium and Germany are undoubtedly important in themselves."

It may be as well to state that the British exports to Germany in the year in
question were £17,698,457, the re-exports of imported articles amounting to £10,256,-
037. To Belgium rhe British exports were £7,128,862, and the re-exports £5,887,588.
The British exports, therefore, to Belgium and Germany are under 25 millions
sterling.

It may be mentioned in this connection that the population of Germany and
Belgium is about 58 millions, while the white population of the self-governing
British Colonies, excluding India, is under ten millions, and yet the trade with
the self-governing colonies, apart from the re-exports, was ten million more with the
ten millions of people than it was with the flfty-six millions.

It is not clear why Lord Ripon should confine his comparisons to the trade with
Belgium and Germany with that with the self-governing colonies, as the restrictive
treaties with the countries in question affect all the colonies, and not only the self
governing ones.

The following tables, however, are interesting as explaining at a glance the
trade of Great Britain with the self-governing colonies and with Belgium and
Germany.

Table 1 enumerates the total export trade to the self-governing colonies and to
Belgium and Germany. Table 2 enumerates the export of British and Irish produce :
{a), to the self governing colonies ; (&), to all the colonies; and (c), to Belgium and
Germany. Table 3 gives the same information as in Table 2, with the exception
that in the second column the exports to India are included.

Table I.

of the

Self-governing
Colonies.

Belgium and
Germany.

1870

£20,282,000
34,430,000
41,024,000
44,850,000
43,.54(),000
4.'5, 104.000
38,047,000
34,807,000
34,387,000

£37,041,000
42,043.000

. 1S,S0

1.S.S4

45 ii()0 000

1880

44,0()2,(!()0

1890

1891

44,111,000
43,110,000
42 455 000

1892

1893 . .

40,970,000
42,258,000

1894

Table II.

Table III.

Self-governing
Colonies.

All Colonies.

Eclgiuni and
Germany

1870

£18,540,000
31,267,(M)0
36,649,(KK)
40,019,000
39,1)60,000
40,703,000
34,6;W,7o9
30,(i80,(K)0
30,711,000

£32,511,000
44,803,000
50,291,000
.52,231,000
53,729,000
54,77S,(K)0
4(),727,()00
43,2:«),(KK)
43,340,000

£24.807,000

1880

22,729,(KI0

1884

27,239,0(K)

1889

2.'>,707,0<K)

1890

26,932,000

1891

26,178,(M)0

1892

24,.'-)26,(HK)

1893

24,827-,0(K»

1894

25,427,000

Self-governing
Colonies.

Colonics and
India

Belgium and
Germany.

1870

£18,.540,0O0
31,267,000
36,649,000
40,019,000
39,:m»,ooo

40,703,000
34,6,33,000
30,680,000
30,711,000

£51,814,000
75,2.54,000
80,875,000
83,276,000
87,370,000
85,9.o6,()o0
74,(W0,{M)0
72,015,000
72,640,000

£24,897,000

1880

22,739,{KJ0

1884

27,22!) 000

1889

25,707,0(X)

1890

26.9;{2 000

1891

26,178 000

1892

24 52<i,000

1893

24,827,(K)0
25,427,000

1894

Table No. 1 is interesting as showing that between 1870 and 1891 there was a
continuous development in the total export trade to the self-governing colonies,
and that in the last-named year it had become greater than the exports to Belgium
and Germany. It is true that there has been a falling off since 1891, but that is
entirely owing to the financial and commercial crisis which has affected Australasia
in recent years.

The tendency seems to be for the export trade to Belgium and Germany to de-
cline, while, but for the depression in Australia, there is very little doubt the figures
or the self-governing colonies would now have been in excess of what they were
n 1891. An early recovery may also in all probability be looked for.

Table No. 2 is probably more useful for the purpose of showing the fallacy of
Lord Ripon's arguments than Table No. 1. Table No. 2 only includes the exports of
British and Irish produce, the re-export of imported foreign and colonial merchan-
dise being omitted. It will be seen that in the case of the self-governing colonies
there was a remarkable development between 1870 and 1891, the trade having more
than doubled, while in the same period the exports to Belgium and Germany showed
a very trifling expansion. It is well to remark also that, while the exports of British
and Irish produce to the self-governing colonies in 1891 were £40,7a3,000, to Belgium
and Germany in the same year they were only £26,178,000. There has been a falling-
off since 1891, owing to the Australian crisis, but even in 1894 the export of British

and Irish produce to the self-Roverninp: colonies was £30,711,000, ns against £25,427,000
to Belg: im and Germany, such exports to the colonies being, tlierefore, more than
double i loso to Belgium and CJermany. This statement seems to me to be fatal to
the arguments Lord Ripon has used In this connection.

The exports have fallen olF since 1891, as before explained, but even In 1894 the
export of British and Irish produce to all the colonies was 72 per cent, greater than
to Belgium and Germany. It will be seen that British exports to the colonies were
more than three times as largo as those to Belgium and vierraany, while, even in
1894, notwithstanding the large decrease in the colonial tradq, the proportion
remained nearly as three to one.

Paragraph 50 of Lord liipon's despatch reads : —

" The denunciation of the treaties with Belgium and Germany would thus
expose the trade of the United Kingdom to some risks, and might possibly be
followed by a loss of some part of the export trade to those countries : probably of
some portion of it, which consists in the distribut ion of foreign and colonial produce.
With the denunciation of the treaties, the commerce of the Empire with these
countries would have to be carried on under fiscal conditions sulyect to constant
changes and fluctuations, or at all events, without that permanence and security
which is of primary importance to successful and profitable interchange. It would
be extremely difficult, in existing circumstances, to negotiate new treaties of a
satisfactory character at an early date, and the loss which might in the nieantinie
result to a trade of forty-one millions sterling would, perhaps, prove to be irrepar-
able. On the other hand, no scheme has been {)roposed which foreshadows any
precise advantages to be secured to the export trade, amounting to thirty-tlve
millions steiling, from the United Kingdom to the British colonies in the event of
the termination of these treaties."

In the first place, it appears to be overlooked that British imports from Germany
amount to £26,.3G4,849, and from Belgium to £16,84S,979. It will be seen, therefore,
that our imports from Germany are 50 per cent, larger than our exports of British
produce, while our imports from Belgium are more than double 'vhat we export to
them. Surely, both Belgium and Germany would hesitate before taking any meas-
ures to interfere with our export trade, if tliey were given to understand that in
those circumstances attention would be directed to our imports from them. There
is little doubt that a firm representation on the subject, dealing with the matter
from a general point of view, would lead to the abrogation of the particular clauses
of the treaties, and the insertion of another one providing, as in modern treaties,
that the British colonies should become parties to the treaty or not as they wished.
In these circumstances, the trade of the United Kingdom would not suffer at all,
and the colonies would be enabled to negotiate treaties on their own account with
Belgium and Germany, if they wished to do so, or to become parties to the existing
treaties and the general most favored nation cla'tses. In any cose, inter-imperial
preferential trade would become a possibility.

Paragraph 51 of Lord Ripon's despatch reads :—

"I may further observe that the self-governing colonies themselves would lose
any advantage they now derive from their inclusion in the German and Belgian
treaties ; since, if those treaties were denounced, both countries would, in view of
the circumstances attending the passing of the resolution of the Colonial Confer-
ence and in vieAV of the high tariffs existing in noany of the colonies, no doubt de-
cline to include the British Colonies in any new treaty that might be negotiated,
and considering the small amount of their trade, it would he very difficult for them,
if in an isolated position, to secure advantageous terms except by very heavy con-
cessions. In this connection, it naight be expedient for the self-governing colonies
themselves to consider how much their interests are involved. A large item in the

exports from the United Kingdom to Bclvcium and Germany Is 'wool,' about £8,000,-
000 in value, largely, there Ih no doubt, colonial wool. Other articles of colonial ex-
port aho llnd a market in lielgium and CJennany."

It would almost seem that the pruposuls of the colonies are not understood by
Iler Majesty's Government. They merely wish the objectionable clauses to be done
away with, which provide that Belgian and German products should be admitted
into the colonies on the same terms as Imports from Great Britain. They would
have no objection to the general most favoured nation clause in the treaties, binding
themselves to give Belgium and Germany any other concessions they might give to
foreign countries. This might form part of the proposals to be made to Belgium
and Germany for the modification of the treaties, and it would get rid of the diffi-
culty which has given rise to the discussion, and place the colonies In the same
position as they arc under many of the other treaties in operation, which bind them
to treat imports from certain foreign countries on the same terms as may be accorded
to any other power. As already stated, this would leave the trade relations of Great
Britain and the colonies unhampered.

It is more than probable that Belgium and Germany would consider twice before
refusing the modification that is asked for, if it involved the abrogation of the
treaties and the negotiation of new ones. Both treaties contain stipulations relat-
ing to other matters than trade, and affect the subjects of the different countries
when domiciled la Belgium, Germany and the British Empire respectively. These
clauses probably affect Belgium and German subjects much more than British
subjects, for the reason that there are many times more Belgians and Germans in
Great Britain, apart from the other parts of the Empire, than there are British
subjects in Gemany and Belgium. Therefore, Belgium and Germany have a greater
interest in meeting the views of Her Majesty's Government than they otherwise
would have, and I have no hesitation in saying that I believe that aflrm stand by that
Government on these tioaties would result in the colonies being enabled to make
with Belgium and Germany treaties to suit themselves, in the same way as Canada
has with France.

As already pointed out, the argument in the matter of the re-export trade is
largely hypothetical, but, in any case, it should not be forgotten that Lord Ripou
himself speaks of it as already threatened.

Paragraph 52 of Lord Ripon's despatch reads : —

" In these circumstances, as preferential arrangements in which this country
should be included, cannot, under present conditions, be considered a matter of

Sractical politics, and as the clauses in the treaties do not, in the view of Her
lajesty's Government, prevent inter-colonial preferential arrangements, Her
Majesty's Government consider that it would not be prudent to contemplate the
denunciation of the treaties at the present moment, bearing in mind that this could
always be done on twelve months' notice, if circumstances should hereafter show it
to be desirable."

Lord Ripon apparently forgets that in another part of the despatch he refers to
the desirability of any inter-colonial arrangement being extended generally to the
other colonies and to the Mother Country,

I have treated the subject at great length, in consequence of its importance, and
I have arrived at the conclusion that, if England says to Germany and Belgium :
" We are simply anxious to eliminate this colonial clause that prevents our having
the same opportunity of treating British colonies in our own dependencies in the
same way that every other country treats, with more favorable consideration, its
colonists, and, if you will consent to that modification, we will leave the remainder

£8,000,-
)iiiul ex-

•

stood by
be done
idmitted
y would
, binding
t Kive to
llelgium
the dim-
he Hunie
nd them
accorded
of Great

ce before
of the
ins relat-
countrles
These
British
rnian.s in
British
a greater
athervvise
id by that
to make
,3 Canada

t trade is
)rd Ripon

s country
matter of
w of Her
snts, Her
iplate the
this could
er show it

e refers to
illy to the

tance, and
Belgium :
)ur having
sies in the
iration, its
remainder

of the treaty as It Is," the intrrcsts that lk'l^illm and Germany have in the other
portions of tlie treaty are so great that I believe tiiut flriii action on the part of Her
Majesty's CJovernment would havij great e(Jeci, and that the dilliiulties if\ the way
of preferential trade between Great Britain and her colonics would be removed.

ANOTHEU OBJECTION ANSWERED.

But there Is another point which is being brought forward. They say "We dare
not adopt tliis policy that is proposed. We dare not impose a duty of 5 per cent, or
10 per cent, upon the products of foreign countries con>ing into England so as to
favor our colonies, because, if we do, those countries will retaliate, and we shall
have our great foreign trade interfered with." Retaliate— how can they retaliate ?
When you get a fence as high as it is possible to erect it, you cannot get it any
higher. Knowing that England was bound hand and foot by this policy of free
trade to which she nad committed herself, that whatever they did they could do it
with impunity, foreign countries have gone on iHiilding up their tarifls against her.
Show me the country in the world that has exhibited the slightest appreciation of
the magnificent generosity of England in deling what no other country in the world
has done for them, that is, allowing them to send evtirything they manufacture or
produce into the United Kingdom to strike down and paralyze British industvv,
agricultural and manufacturing, from one end of the country to the other, and yet
receiving no consideration whatever. (Clieers.; We have had an opportunity of
seeing how grateful countries are for the favor with which England has treated
them. What is the fact with reference to the great Rejniblic to the south of us?
In 1890, when they sent 94,000,000 of American products into England without
having to pay one farthing of duty, and only received something like 32,000,000 of
British products in return into the United States of America, one would have
supposed that that would satisfy the most greedy nation in the world so far as
reciprocal trade was concerned. But it did not. What did they do ? They sat
down and devised a McKinley tarilT, by which they could see how much more they
could strike down this 32,000,000 which they were taking in exchange for 94,000,000.
With what object? With the object of paralyzing the trade of the United Kingdom,
with the object of ruining industries in the United Kingdom, and with the object of
striking a severe blow at England's great dependency, the Dominion of Canada.
(Applause.)

They not only constructed this McKinley Tariff to break down what little trade
England was able to send Into their country, but they adopted a reciprocal clause.
With what object ? Why, with the object of being able to say to the South Ameri-
can Republics, " Unless you give us the trade of your country, unless you shut out
tL>i trade that comes from Great Britain, and give your trade to the United States
of Ame'' , we will impose special duties against you to force and compel you to
do it." And the result was that under those clauses consul after cousul throughout
South America wrote to the Foreign Minister in London to point out that their trade
was all bein j; swept away by this grasping policy of the Great Repuolic. Now, I
have not a word to say in reference to their adopting such a policy as may seem
most wise and beneficial and advantageous to tb*»raselves ; but I think you will
agree with me, gentlemen, in th« statement that they would not be the country that
would venture to say that they must retaliate upon England if she imposed 10 per
cent, duty In place of the 30 per cent, or 40 per cent, or 50 per cent, they impose.

■-:,%

(Applause.) Nor do I see how it would be possible for any country in the world to
•take such lines.

Lord Farrer, the great apostle of free trade, and a roan who resists in the most
strenuous way, of any peisoc that I know in England, any attempt at favoring the
outlying portions of the Empini in their commercial relations with the mother
country, Lord Farrer says, " I am opposed to all restrictions of trade. I am un-
wiUng to do anything that will cause trade restrictions- " I say to him, "There is only
one means by which you can remove the restrictions that limit and cabin and confine
the trade of England, and that is by placing yourself in the position that if a country
deals with you without the slightest consideration for the commercial advantages
that you give her, you are not bound by any policy, however old, you are not bound
and tied f^nd preven';ed from considering the interests of the outlying portions of
your own Empire in preference to those of foreign countries." I not only givc you
„/j It as sound doctrine, as my belief that if you want to remove trade restrictions, if
if you want to pull down those gigantic tariffs that are being >)uilt higher and higher
to shut out ths trade of England, the mode is the mode I sugp;est, the adoption of a
policy by which a portion of the revenue of the United Kingdom shall be raised from
the products of f jreign countries which corae in to compete with the interests of the
people in the United Kingdom ; but I say further, and perhaps I can best bring i/lie
point home to you bymeans of an illustration which actually occurred. I have read
a portion of Lord Salisbury's speech at Hastings. In the course of that speech he
said he was afraid the Government might have to arrive at the conclusion that if
they ccuid get no justice from foreign countries owing to being shackled and bound
by the policy of free trade, they would ha^e to consider the means by which they
could retaliate upon those countries. It was only the expression of opinion, it was
only the word of a single man, and yet what did it do ? It contributed largely to the
election of President Clevelaxi J in the United States of America, and helped to bring
about a very extensive modification of the McKinley tariff. That speech was de-
livered just at the time of the Presidential election. In the New York. Herald, which
was sent all over the States, great importance was attached to Lord Salisbury's
speech. They represented him as saying "England is not going to stand t>:je
McKinley tariffs any longer," and they said to every farmer, every man engaged in
exporting wheat in the United Kingdom : " If you want to keep the advantage you
have got, we have get to change our policy and pull down this i»IcKinley tariff and
these increased ta 'es upo^^ the commerce of other countries." I do not say that that
speech elected President Cleveland, but I say that tens of thousands of the agricul-
turists find artisans in the United States, whose interest lay in maintaining the
advantage that they had in free admittance to the English market, went to the polls
to vote for the man who would pull down the McKinley tariff.

■ 4i

AMERICAN OPINION.

Therefore, I say that that speech of Lord Salisbury's at Hastings exercised ft
wide influence in removing tariff restrictions. (Applause.) It was said on the floor
of the House of Commons that, not only would there be retaliation, but bittc ani-
mosity, and that people would complain of any such action on tlie part of the Par-
liament of the United Kingdom. But I sought in vain the colunu>s of the Americau
papers to find a sing'e word of threat in reply to that speech. I found such state-
ments as this, which was made by Representative McCall, of Winchester (Repub-
lican) :

"Hirt (Lord Saliabury'a) idea of tarilFi , as expressed-in his speech, is the idea
of the Republican part^ . The McKinley bill, in numerous instances, recognized

J-"

that it was better to make our tariff laws with special reference to the tariff laws of
other nations rather tlian to make a general law covering '.very case, and not pro-
viding for getting some benefit in return. Lord Salisl)ury's idea is reciprocity pure
and simple, Undoubtedly England can, by levying a tariff against certain of our
products which she consumes largely, compel us to make some concession to her.
As Lord Salisbury says, that is business like. As we would say in America, that is
reciprocity. I do not think the position of Lord Salisbury will strengthen the posi-
tion of the so-called tariff reformers in this country who are trying to legislate for
the benef o of the whole world, and not for America. The speech Is good Repub-
lican campaign mat' rial."

So that the worst thing that resulttd from the veiled threat of Lord Salisbury
that England might be compelled, in order to get fair play from foreign countries,
to take up this question of retaliatory duties, was, on the part of the United States,
to strengthen at the polls the men who were disposed to pull down the high tariffs
against Canada and the United Kingdom, and who declared that it would force
them to the adoption of reciprocal arrangements with the Mother Country.

In dealing in Parliament with this subject on February 17th, 1891, Mr.
Goschen said :

" T i-hink it possible that the advantages of the consolidation o" the Empire
may be so great that, if the increase in the price of the loaf is extremely small, the
producers, with whom the power now lies far more than with the consumers, may
not object. I differ with the honorable member for Leeds, who supposed that if we
had any customs union or ar/angement by which favor was shown to the colonies,
the United States would have a right to interfere. I do not think the United
States would have a right to remonstrate or interfere in the way he suggested.
The right honorable gentleman suggested England would he brouglit to her knees,
but I must enter my protest against such an extreme vie^ -, that under no circum-
stances could we make any arrangements with our colonies without bringing in the
other bread-producing countries. If we find we could make tli<^ whole Empire one
as regards customs, surely we have the same right of zollvcrein union as Ger-
many has with Bavaria or the United States among themselves. I claim for our-
selves the same right. We ought to have securities from the colonies, not merely
that they would put a 5 per cent extra on foreigners, but that their tariff itself
should be such as would be likely to protect this country from loss."

I give you, therefore, the opinion of the ablest men in the Government of the
United Kingdom to show that there is nothing impracticable in carrying out this
question of preferential trade, and that no foreign country could have the slightest
right to complain. I venture to say that no foreign country would complain, if a
small duty were imposed on the products of foreign countries, whilst Uiuse from the
outlying portions of the Empire were allowed to go into the United Kingdom free.
It is said, " You will increase the price of bread." Well, if wheat were worth a
little more at Mark Lane than it is now, I don't think any of these ruined agricul-
turists would complain. I don't believe that it would increase the price of bread ;
but, presuming that it did, it would be an insignificant result, compared with tho
enormous advantages that would follow. I believe the day is not far distant when
you will have ♦^he agriculturists of England standing side by side with the artisans
and the men engaged in the manufacturing industries throughout that great coun-
try, standing shoulder to shoulder, and demanding that this policy shall be estab-
lished, this policy which, we claim, would be so essential to the benefitmg of the
Empire, and would be, in the highest degree, advantageous to the carrying on of the
industries of the Mother Country. (Applause.)

FAST STKAMSHIP SERVICE.

I want, now, to say a word or two with referenct to the fast steamship tsrvlcei
Tou are so familiax with the subject, that I need not detain you at any length ; hnt,

-'m

mmmmm

maa

I am proud to say, that our efforts have at last culminated in success. With the aid
of an able and distinguished man, and the Minister of a powerful Government, we
have brought the question ,o a happy conclusion. I am able to speak on this sub-
ject, also, as a non-party question, because I am glad to say that the vote of
£150,000 sterling for ten years was carried in Parliament without a single division,
and the attitude of the conference in that regard was thus ratified.

Therefore, it is a question upon which all public men seem to be agreed, and I
think every person who knows what the construction of the Canadian Pacific Rail-
way has accomplished for Canada must acknowledge its importance. You have got
a great inter-oceanic line ot railway, constructed at vast expense and imposing a
heavy charge upon the revenue of the country, and if you want to derive all the ad-
vantage that is susceptible of being derived from that line, you have got to supply
the other link in the chain. You have got to hare rapid communication with
England just as you have with Australia and with China and Japan. Yc i will then
make Canada a great way oi inter-communication between great and rapidly extend-
ing portions of the Empire. Canada will then have advantages that any person who
looks at her geographical position will only wonder that she had not long ago. This
great object may now be said to be already attained, for Mr. Chamberlain has stated
that Her Majesty's Government are prepared to give us such substantial assistance
as will bring the enterprise to a happy conclusion. But he says that they can give
no aid to any line between Canada and England that does not attain a speed of 21
knots on a trial trip, and 20 knots across the ocean. Give us that and we are noc
only in a position to compete with the fastest ships that now run to New York, liut
we will be able to reach, not only vast portions of our own country, but a groat part
of the United States quicker than they can be reached in anyother|,way. (Applause.)
As I said, in my interview, the very day before I left England, when I had a long
conversation with Mr. Chamberlain on this subject and the determination of the
Imperial Government to take up this question with us :— " You are not only
drawing the colonies physically closer to yourselves, but you are adding most
valuable strands to the rope that strengthens the ties that bind the Mother Country
to her colonies." 1 believe that the increased development and advantages that will
accrue to Canada in consequence will be far in excess of anything that is disclosed.

I had a long interview with the President and Vice-President of the Grand
Trunk Railway before I left London. I told the President I wanted their hearty
co-operation and support in this great measure. He said: — "You shall have that.
AV'e recognize at once the enormous advantage it is going to be to Canada, to have
this fast service. We do not see any immediate direct advantage that we are likely
to obtain, but knowing that whatever benefits Canada is going to benefit the grout
enterprise in which we are engaged, we are heart and soul with you, and ready to
do anything that lies in our power to assist in carrying this project to a prompt and
thorough conclusion." I said, " I think I can point out to you that it is to the direct
interest of you and your shareholders. One of the great features of this fast At-
lantic serviije will be not only to provide accommodation to passengers that will be
equal to any that can be found floating upon the ocean in any part of the world, it
will not only be attractive to passengers and bring capitalists and other people
through Canada that otherwise would never see it, but one of the leading features
is to be that of cold storage. It is going to biiiig- Canada wfthin five days of the
United Kingdom, and with an admirable cold storage arrangt-ment you can spnd
your dairy products, your beef and mutton, and cheese and butter, and eggs— evory-

thing that is prodaced in this country of that kind, perishable things— you can have
them distributed in the London market with tlie sarr? facility and in as fresh and
prime condition as they can be gathered from any of the provincial towns in any
part of England. Your lines of communication all over Quebec and Ontario will be
bringing down to the ocean this dairy produce for cold storage, and thus you will
have an immediate and direct advantage that your shareholders will appreciate at a
very early day." I am glad to be able to say that this proposal, which has now been
brought to a happy conclusion, with the hearty sanction of the public men of all
parties aad all classes, will be of vast importance to the great lines of railway inter-
communication, which are of such vital interest to us. Nothing is so damaging to
the credit of Canada, nothing is so injurious to the commercial interests of this
countrj% as for capitalists to find that they have invested their money in the country
and that they do not get an adequate return. I say that every one of these measures
that is calculated to expand the commerce, and increase the commercial facilities of
the country, and enable capitalists to get a satisfactory return from their invest-
ments in Canada, is going to be of incalculable advantage to the whole country,
from end to end.

A BRITISH VIEW.

I thank you for listening to me so patiently ; but I want to say one more word
for the benefit of those who are a little incredulous as to the progress that this great
question is making in England. I will quote from the Saturday Review, one of the
most independent and influential journals that is to be found in the United King-
dom, and ifi it you will find a word picture that illustrates the progress that this
great question has n ade. But, before I do so, I may say— and I regard it as
evidence of no unimportant character— that I met a gentleman who has long been a
member of the House of Commons for a Welsh constituency, and he said to me :
" Four of my colleagues who were doing business in the same town with myself,
and who, like myself, were supporters of Lord Rosebery's Government, were defeat-
ed at the general election, whilst my majority was reduced by 1,000." I said:
" You surprise me very much. You were for Welsh dis-establishment and every-
thing the Welsh people wanted. How do you account for that ? " He replied : "I
will tell you, and when I do, I give you one of the most potent of all reasons that
influenced the general elections. My 1,000 votes were taken off at the poll by the
tr; e question. The people of tLis co'intry, agriculturists and those engaged in
manufacturing industries alike, have come to the conclusion thatj under the present
fiscal policy, the industries of Great Sri tain are not getting fair play from foreign
countries. That was what defeated my colleagues, and that was what reduced my
majority by 1,000 votes. I tell you this, that, at an early date, this principle you are
advocating so strongly of having an import tai iff upon goods from foreign countries
coming into competition with our own, and of consolidating the Colonial Empire
with the United Kingdom, is going to take such a position that people will be
perfectly astonished and unprepared for." I mention that as a,n evidence of the
faith that is in me, and as an overwhelming proof of what we may look for at an
early date. And now as to the Saturday Review. It said, in its issue of the 4th
inst. :—

"And as soon as America is conciliated we must proceed to set our house in
order. The greater part of the emigration into the United States comes from these
islands. It would need Imt little to deflect the major part of it liom the American

Northwest to the Canadian Northwest. A 10 per cent differential duty in tavor of
our colonies would settle up Manitoba in ten years, instead of settling up Minnesota
and Dakota. This differential duty would restore prosperity to New Zealand and
enrich Australia and Canada, ^yhile reducing to hardship and to straits the popula-
tion between the Alleghany Mountains and the Rockies, which is now clamoring
for war. There is a kernel of good even in things evil. Pressui-e on the outside,
science tells us, increases the cohesion between the units that compose the body
corporate. The threat of war by America will cause Englishmen to hold more
closely together, and will diminish that selfishness on the part of the mother coun-
try towards the colonies which has Litherto been regardc i as the true commercial
policy of the nation, and which has never deserved the name of policy, because it
makes for disunion and not for union, for weakness and not for strength." (Loud
applause.)

I agree with every word there except one, and that is, that the people between
the Alleghanies and the Rockies are clamoring for war. (Hear, hear.) I believe
that the people of the United States, like the people of Canada, appreciate too
highly the blessings of peace ; but, at the same time, no person can be surprised
that the attitude taken by the President of the (Jnited States, anu endorsed, as it
apparently was, by the Senate and the House of Representatives, in regard to
every portion, under British rule on this continent, engaged the serious attention of
this country. And I rejoice to say that this is another question which is not a mat-
ter of partisan politics. (Applause.) I l^ave read with the most unfeigned satisfac-
tion the statements made ir* vh2 great organs of the Liberal party in this country,
and I have been delighted to find that the press of Canada has uttered no uncertain
sound. There is no Canadian who would not regret a war between the
two great English-speaking families of the world as the most frightful
calamity to which civilization could be subjected. There is no C^jiadian who does
not appreciate to the full the gigantic and enormous interes*-s that Canada has at
stake in such a question, but, notwithstanding that, I have been delighted to find
that, from ocean to ocean, neither public men nor any portion of the press have ex-
hibited any uncertain sound— (applause)— and we present, to-day, the magnificent
spectacle to the world of being prepared to stand side by side, shoulder to shoulder,
men of all parties and men of all classes, in this country, without respect to race or
creed, in defence of those glorious British institutions of which we are all so proud.
(Loud applause.) Such a sight cannot, in my judgment, be over-rated by any intel-
ligent man. It showc that our neighbors to the south, instead of looking to Canada
as a country where they might find sympathizers with their policy to bring us under
American control, would find that they would be confronted by the men of the North
united as one man in favor of this gre^t heritage— half a continent— that has been
placed under our control. The effect upon the American mind will be of th» great-
est importance, for they will know that, while we feel it the first duty we owe to
ourselves and our families to maintain the most pacific relations possible with our
American neighbors, yet, at the same time, we have thrown in our lot with the
Mother Country, and that we are, if necessary, prepared to do and die in maintain-
ing the flag that, for over " a thousand years, has braved the battle and the breeze."
(Great cheering.)

SIR CHARLES RETURNS THANKS.

On the motion of Mr. Hugh McLennan, seconded by Mr. Robert Reford, a hearty
Tote of thanks was accorded Sir Charles, who, in reply, said :—

I thank you very much for your very kind and enthusiastic reception of me to-day,
&nd, I assure you that I feel very deeply the importance of having had the opportunity

■u

of putting before you the views to which you have so patiently listened. Z had no idea
that I was encroaching upon your time so much— so great was the pleasure of address-
ing you— until I looked at my watch and found bow long I had trespassed upon your
patience. However, I want to say one word more, and that is in reference to a question
to which, perhaps, the attention of Englishmen has been turned more within the last
few weeks than for many years before, and that is the dependent position in which
Great Britain stands as a country that has an import of £150,000,000 sterling of food
products every year. The i 'portance of a country that only raises one-sixth of the
wheat she requires being placed in such a contingency as might occur at no distant
date, in case of war, has brought the subject home to the people of England in a
way that has not happened in a great many years. I had the pleasure of delivering
an address to the Tyneside Agricultural Society, at Newcastle, shortly before I left
England, and you can hardly imagine the astonishment with which
^ey heard the statement I was able to make, that, in the Province
of Manitoba and the Northwest Territories, where we had only touched
the fringe of the wheat ' th;3 Dominion possessed, we had this year

produced more wheat than the whole of the United Kingdom. The impor-
tance of England depending for fruit and meat on importations from abr ad,
and the importance of her having half a continent here, within five da>s' sail, and
easily protected by her fleet, able to furnish at an early date all the products
that she would require, is a thought brought out in the Saturday Review, and
it is one which is going to carry to the minds of the English, in a way that nothing
else can, the vital importance of uniting the Mother Country and her colonies, and
of her looking to the development of the outlying portions of her Empire in order to
maintain that dominating position we are all so proud to know she possesses to-day,
ftnd wWch, I b-jlieve, wise arrangements in connection with her imperial possessions
■will enable her to occupy in a grander and more important degree in future. (Loud
applause.)

" God Save the Queen " was then sung, and the gathering dispersed.

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