1864 it showed 600
vessels, 54,000 tons, 9,000 men, and a catch worth 4,567,500 dollars.
"Upon the general question, Mr. Derby says in his report: -
"'If the Maritime Provinces would join us spontaneously to-day - sterile
as they may be in the soil under a sky of steel - still with their hardy
population, their harbours, fisheries, and seamen, they would greatly
strengthen and improve our position, and aid us in our struggle for
equality upon the ocean. If we would succeed upon the deep, we must
either maintain our fisheries, or absorb the Provinces.'
"'No negociations' and 'no papers' - say our Government. This may be
true. Or it may be true that the Foreign Office have had papers, and
the Colonial not. Or that the Board of Trade have had papers, and the
Foreign and Colonial people have not; but, however that may be, Canada
has made, in good time, very serious representations. It is believed
that her Government had long before made personal appeals to both the
Colonial and the Foreign Offices, but the following document (19th
February, 1865), will speak for itself; and the Government at home
cannot deny that they had it, but which of the three departments will
admit its receipt is yet to be seen; always let it be remembered that
in May, 1865, there were 'no papers:' -
"'Copy of a Report of a Committee of the Honorable the Executive
Council, approved by his Excellency the Governor-General on the
19th February, 1865.
"'The Committee of the Executive Council deem it to be their duty to
represent to Your Excellency that the recent proceedings in the
Congress of the United States, respecting the Reciprocity Treaty, have
excited the deepest concern in the minds of the people of this
Province.
"'Those proceedings have had for their avowed object the abrogation of
the treaty at the earliest moment consistent with the stipulations of
the instrument itself.
"'Although no formal action indicative of the strength of the party
hostile to the continuance of the treaty has yet taken place,
information, of an authentic character, as to the opinions and purposes
of influential public men in the United States has forced upon the
Committee the conviction that there is imminent danger of its
abrogation, unless prompt and vigorous steps be taken by Her Majesty's
Imperial advisers to avert what would be generally regarded by the
people of Canada as a great calamity.
"'The Committee would specially bring under Your Excellency's notice
the importance of instituting negociations for the renewal of the
treaty, with such modifications as may be mutually assented to, before
the year's notice required to terminate it shall be given by the
American Government; for they fear that the notice, if once given,
would not be revoked; and they clearly foresee that, owing to the
variety and possibly the conflicting nature of the interests involved
on our own side, a new treaty could not be concluded, and the requisite
legislation to give effect to it obtained before the year would have
expired, and with it the treaty.
