The Soil And
Climate May Perhaps Be More Favourable, And The Vicinity Of American
Energy May Have Some Effect; But The Secret Of The Greater Growth Of
This Province May Be Traced To Its Settlement By American Loyalists In
1783.
These men, driven away from their country by their adherence to
the British Crown, here found a refuge and new home.
The whole land
along the St. Lawrence, above the French settlements, was formed into
townships, and farms were allotted to these, the 'United Empire
Loyalists,' who thus became the fathers of Upper Canada. The population
of Upper Canada was not more than 210,000 in 1830, now it is nearly
1,000,000. Much of the land in the Province is equal to any in the
world; and nature seems to have given every aid to the formation of a
great country. All that is wanting would seem to be that independence,
which, with all its reputed vices, would appear to be the condition of
Anglo-Saxon progress. Canada has been hitherto the resort of British
settlers only, while the United States have become a home for all the
world."
What precedes was written nearly thirty-six years ago. I need not
apologise for its crudeness, for I only represent, in plain words, the
impressions of the time. And I think I have troubled the reader quite
enough about my "first visit to America, and the reason for it." I may
say, however, that my trip induced many other visits to the growing
countries of North America. I was, to some extent, a pioneer traveller
to the other side of the Atlantic.
CHAPTER XVIII.
The Reciprocity Treaty with the United States.
After asking various questions in the House of Commons, to which I
received unsatisfactory replies, I brought the subject of the
Reciprocity Treaty with the United States before the House of Commons
late one night in February, 1865. My observations, as reported in
"Hansard," were: -
"That the hour was too late to permit more than a speech in outline as
to the Reciprocity Treaty and the Bonding Acts. Under the latter,
articles chargeable with duty could be sent through United States
territory and Canada in bond, and as Canada was for the present, and
would be until the completion of railway communication to Halifax on
the Atlantic, cut off from access to the ocean for five winter months
of the year, the Bonding Acts enabled her commerce with the outside
world to pass unimpeded. The Northwestern States received in return
corresponding facilities of access through Canada. The Reciprocity
Treaty included three essential provisions - the rights of fishery on a
shore line of 1,500 miles, the free navigation of the St. Lawrence, and
the free interchange of productions between the British Provinces and
the United States. (The beneficent theory of the treaty was to make two
countries, politically distinct, commercially one, and to induce the
two peoples, otherwise opposed, to live in co-operation and in peace.)
The provision as to the fisheries had settled for the time difficult
questions leading, in past days, and over and over again, to dispute,
collision, and sometimes the imminence of war.
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