"Does it not seem as if the whole business was let alone, neglected,
despised?
"What were our Government doing from 1861 to 1865?
"POLAND exercised the minds of the Foreign Office from an early date,
and they have given us papers from July 31st, 1862, December 31st of
that year, and on to April 23rd, 1863, when that affair ended.
"DENMARK revived their old discussions in 1863, and they began to write
despatches about them. They have given Parliament papers about the
'Conference,' which only began January 23rd, 1864, and ended March
26th, 1864.
"The whole number of papers printed for Parliament, and laid on the
table in 1864, was 369. Yet there was not, out of these, one single
paper about the Reciprocity Treaty.
"The whole number of papers printed for Parliament, and laid likewise
upon the table in 1865, was 170, but not a line appears about the
Reciprocity Treaty. So much for the attention of the people we pay to
watch over our affairs.
"The question, as regards our relations with the States, Was a great
opportunity lost? arises. Let us see. 1st, the Chamber of Commerce of
New York, and its 1,300,000 people, ask for a treaty in 1861; 2nd,
Congress asks for it by appointing a committee in 1861; 3rd, the
committee ask for it by their report of 1862 and by their resolutions
of 1864; 4th, Mr. Seward endorses it even so late as November, 1864;
and 5th, the Convention at Detroit ask for it so late as the 14th July,
1865.
