"'Mr. MORRILL: That will have to be postponed until you, gentlemen,
assume your seats here.'
"Mr. Derby coolly discusses the question as to whether concession or
coercion will best succeed in inducing the British Provinces to 'come
over,' and his recipe for all outstanding grievances is the following.
He says, in his report of January 1st, 1866: -
"'And if as an inducement for this treaty and in settlement of Alabama
claims we can obtain a cession of Vancouver's Island, or other
territory, it will be a consummation most devoutly to be wished for.'
"Would our Government 'devoutly wish' such a consummation?
"Mr. O. S. Wood had to resign his position as manager of the Montreal
Telegraph Company: that was done by public opinion in Canada. But Mr.
Potter, who attends a meeting to enforce the annexation of a part of
the Queen's dominions, by the consent of the Washington Government, is
still Consul at Montreal.
"But what are these dominions which Mr. Potter would annex? Read what
Mr. Ward's Report of 1862 says: -
"'The great and practical value of the British North American Provinces
and possessions is seldom appreciated. Stretching from the Atlantic to
the Pacific Oceans, they contain an area of at least 3,478,380 square
miles - more than is owned by the United States, and not much less than
the whole of Europe, with its family of nations!
* * * * *
"'The climate and soil of these Provinces and possessions, seemingly
less indulgent than those of tropical regions, are precisely those by
which the skill, energy, and virtues of the human race are best
developed. Nature there demands thought and labour from man as
conditions of his existence, and yields abundant rewards to a wise
industry.'
"Specially, as regards Canada; let us recapitulate her progress, as
compared with that of her giant neighbour, the United States.
"During the interval between the last census and the preceding one
(1850-1860), the decennial rate of increase of population in Canada
exceeded that in the United States by nearly 51/2 per cent. - Canada
adding 40.87 per cent. to her population in ten years, while the United
States added only 35.58 per cent. to theirs. She brought her wild land
into cultivation at a rate, in nine years, exceeding the rate of
increase of cultivated lands in the United States in ten years by
nearly 6 per cent., - Canada in 1860 having added 50 acres of cultivated
land to every 100 acres under cultivation in 1851, while the United
States in 1860 had only added 14 acres to every 100 acres under
cultivation in 1850. The value per cultivated acre of the farming lands
in Canada in 1860 exceeded the value per cultivated acre of the farming
lands of the United States - the average value per cultivated acre in
Canada being $20.87 and in the United States $16.32.
