"'In Reference To The Memorandum Received From The Committee Of Ways
And Means, The Provincial Delegates Regret To Be Obliged To State That
The Proposition Therein Contained In Regard To The Commercial Relations
Between The Two Countries Is Not Such As They Can Recommend For The
Adoption Of Their Respective Legislatures.
The imposts which it is
proposed to lay upon the productions of the British Provinces on their
entry into the markets of the United States are such as in their
opinion will be in some cases prohibitory, and will certainly seriously
interfere with the natural course of trade.
These imposts are so much
beyond what the delegates conceive to be an equivalent for the internal
taxation of the United States, that they are reluctantly brought to the
conclusion that the Committee no longer desire the trade between the
two countries to be carried on upon the principle of reciprocity. With
the concurrence of the British Minister at Washington, they are
therefore obliged respectfully to decline to enter into the engagement
suggested in the memorandum, but they trust that the present views of
the United States may soon be so far modified as to permit of the
interchange of the productions of the two countries upon a more liberal
basis.
"'WASHINGTON,
"'February 6th, 1866.'
"This abortive negociation was followed (March, 1866) by a United
States Bill for enabling a new treaty upon impossible terms; that Bill
was at last hung up in Congress, and so the matter ended, so far as the
States were concerned.
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