Such liberty of access by American vessels to British colonial ports on this continent was the subject of fruitless negotiation by each of the first six Presidents. The endeavour was continued during forty years, and was only successful in the hands of General Jackson, as President, Mr. Van Buren as Secretary of State, and Mr. McLane as Minister to London, and then by concerted legislation relating at first only to the British West Indies. It having been arranged that there would be legislation at London opening to us the British colonial ports to the south of us on this continent, Congress, on 29th May, 1830, authorised President Jackson to proclaim our ports open "indefinitely, or for a fixed term," to British vessels from the islands, provinces, or colonies of Great Britain, on or near the North American continent," and north, south, or east of the United States.

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Soon thereafter, and on 5th October, 1830, President Jackson did issue the proclamation, and on 26th June, 1884, Congress again reduced tonnage dues on Canadian vessels of all sorts entering our ports. By such concerted and reciprocal legislation the mediæval barriers around colonial possessions in America by which the mother country had so long endeavoured for her own benefit to hamper and restrict the trade of the colonies, and to levy differential duties in favour of colonial produce, have been broken down. The Privy Council and the Governor-General of the Dominion of Canada, while conceding that Canadian ports are now open to American trading vessels, attempt to apply that medieval and discarded restrictive system to American fishermen on the high seas.

In 1845, after many years of effort by the United States, England again relaxed the rigour of the restrictions of her ancient laws of transportation, as applied to her colonies, and the two countries entered upon a new period of prosperity flowing from the unhindered carriage of merchandise in bond by land and water. That legislation covering the British North American provinces began, on our part, on 3rd March, 1845. In 1846 came the comprehensive system of warehousing, the general features of which are now in force, devised and perfected, during the administration of President Polk, by my distinguished predecessor, Mr. Robert J. Walker. In 1849, 1850, 1854, and subsequently, that system of warehousing, and transportation in bond by railway and steamboat, has been amended and improved so that to-day we of the United States and they of the Dominion of Canada are reaping the advantages of an international organisation by which merchandise, whether dutiable or free, and if dutiable without payment of duties in transit, can if entered at one of our ports proceed immediately over our territory to Canada, or, if landed at a Canadian port, can come freely to its destination in the United States, or can pass from one of our own ports to another over Canadian soil, and, in like manner, from one Canadian port to another over American soil. It is to be regretted that the British North American provinces impede and impair the full fruition of this beneficent system of international intercourse and transportation by unworthy and petty spite in their ports against American deep sea fishermen.

From 1821 to 1832, the aggregate annual traffic between the United States and the British North American provinces averaged only $3,257,153; from 1832 to 1845 it rose to $6,313,780, but, under liberal transportation arrangements, it rose from 1846 to 1853 to no less an

annual average than $14,230,763, leaving in our favour, during that period of eight years, a balance of trade of over 40 millions of dollars.

It was in 1845 that England, changing her colonial policy, empowered the Canadian provinces to make a tariff on imports to suit themselves. During the next year those provinces removed the barrier against American products which existed, in the form of differential rates in favour of British products, and admitted commodities from our side of the line on the same terms as commodities were admitted coming from British ports. In 1849, England, having by her Minister at Washington previously communicated with the Treasury Department, presented a further proposition for a further reciprocal relaxation of commercial restrictions which impeded trade across the boundary line. The administration of President Fillmore endeavoured to promote the object for which my predecessor in this department, Mr. Robert J. Walker, strove, in 1846, in his correspondence with the British Minister.

This good result of only a partial experiment of reciprocal comity naturally led to negotiations for a more comprehensive international arrangement, and such a one was concluded in 1854 by negotiations conducted at Washington on our side during the administration of President Pierce by a wise and illustrious statesman and citizen of New York, Mr. Marcy, who was then Secretary of State. That reciprocity treaty was in force till 1866, a period covering our civil war. Under its influence, the aggregate interchange of commodities between ourselves and the inhabitants of all the British provinces,-numbering not as many as those of the State of New York,-rose from an annual average of a little over 14 millions of dollars, in the previous eight years to over 33 millions in gold in 1855, to nearly 50 millions in 1856, and to 84 millions in the last year of its existence. During the thirteen years the British provinces, according to their official returns, purchased from us articles valued at over 359 millions of dollars in gold, and we bought from them 197 millions, thus making an international traffic of nearly 5563 millions of dollars on a gold valuation. I can but think that if that treaty of 1854 had remained in force till this day, the two peoples,-divided by a boundary line which can only with difficulty be discerned from the Arctic Ocean to the Pacific, from the Pacific to Lake Superior, and from Lake Lake Ontario to the Atlantic,-would now be one people, as least for all purposes of production, trade, and business.

During the past summer, while American vessels, regularly documented, have been excluded from the hospitality and privileges of trading in Canadian ports, Canadian fishing-vessels have been permitted freely to enter and use American ports along the New Eng land coast, have been protected by this department in such entry and use, and have not been required to pay any other fees, charges, taxes, or dues than have been imposed upon the vessels of other Governments similarly situated. The hospitality elsewhere, and generally extended in British ports to American commercial vessels has not been less, in quality or quantity, as I am informed, than the hospitality extended to British vessels in American ports; but there is this marked difference, that, while this department protects Canadian fishermen in the use of American ports, the Dominion of Canada brutally excludes American fishermen from Canadian ports. This

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dependence of port hospitality, as between this Government and the British Government, in respect to vessels of either, is emphasized by the 17th section of the law of 19th June, 1886, empowering the President to suspend commercial privileges to the vessels of any country denying the same to United States' vessels. That section is in harmony with a section in the British navigation law which authorises the Queen, whenever British vessels are subject in any foreign country to prohibitions or restrictions, to impose by Order in Council such prohibitions, or restrictions upon ships of such foreign country, either as to voyages in which they may engage, or as to the articles which they may import into or export from any British possession in any part of the world, so as to place the ships of such country on as nearly as possible the same footing in British ports as that on which British ships are placed in ports of such country.

REVENUE LAWS AND REGULATIONS.

The head of this department, having the responsibility of enforcing the collection of duties upon such a vast number of imported articles, under circumstances of so long a sea-coast and frontier line to be guarded against the devices of smugglers, should not be inclined to underestimate the solicitude of the local officers of the Dominion of Canada to protect its own revenue from similar invasion. The laws for the collection of duties on imports in force in the United States and in the Dominion of Canada, respectively, will be found, on comparison, to be on many points similar in their objects and methods. They should naturally be similar, for both had, in the beginning, the same common origin. In the United States, Congress has divided the territory of each State by metes and bounds, usually by towns, cities, or counties, into collection districts, for the purpose of collecting duties on imports, and in each collection district has established a port of entry and ports of delivery. In that manner ail our sea-coast frontier is sub-divided for revenue purposes. The object of our law is to place every vessel arriving from a foreign port in the custody of a customs officer immediately upon her arrival, in order that no merchandise may be unladen therefrom without the knowledge of the Government. The Canadian law is much the same as our own in that regard, and in comparison with our own does not seem to me [to] be unnecessarily severe in its general provisions. Our own law provides, for example (sec 2774, Rev. Stat.,) that:

Within twenty four hours after the arrival of any vessel, from any foreign port, at any port of the United States established by law, at which an officer of the customs resides, or within any harbour, inlet, or creek thereof, if the hours of the business of the office of the chief officer of customs will permit, or as soon thereafter as such hours will permit, the master shall report to such officer, and make report to the chief officer, of the arrival of the vessel; and he shall within forty-eight hours after such arrival make a further report in writing to the collector of the district, which report shall be in the form, and shall contain all the particulars required to be inserted in and verified like the manifest. Every master who shall neglect or omit to make either of such reports or declaration, or to verify any such declaration as required, or shall not fully comply with the true intent and meaning of this section, shall, for each offence be liable to a penalty of one thousand dollars.

Condemnation does not, in the opinion of this department, justly rest upon the Dominion of Canada because she has upon her statute

books and enforces a law similar to the foregoing, but because she refuses to permit American deep sea fishing vessels, navigating and using the ocean, to enter her ports for the ordinary purposes of trade and commerce, even though they have never attempted to fish within the territorial limits of Canada, and intend obedience to every requirement of the customs laws, and of every other law of the port which such vessels seek to enter. American fishing-vessels duly authenticated by this department, and having a permit "to touch and trade," should be permitted to visit Canadian ports, and buy supplies, and enjoy ordinary commercial privileges, unless such a right is withheld in our ports from Canadian vessels. That right is denied by the Privy Council and the Governor General of the Canadian Dominion, upon the ground that it would be in effect a pro tanto abrogation of the treaty of 1818. That contention is an error, in the opinion of this department, because the treaty of 1818 has no application to the subject matter. If the right claimed by this department for American vessels authenticated by this department were conceded by Canada, it would only apply to a few ports established by law for the entry of foreign vessels, and would merely enable United States' fishing vessels to pursue their regular business after entry into or departure from such ports, under the same rules and regulations as are applied to the commercial vessels of other nations. We ask that American fishing-vessels shall enjoy hospitality in such Canadian ports as are set apart for the entry of foreign vessels, for the unlading and shipment of merchandise, and generally for foreign

commerce.

This department has had occasion in the past, and may be compelled in the future, to seize and prosecute to forfeiture foreign as well as domestic vessels violating in our own ports, the customs law, but I believe there never has been in the past, and I hope there never will be in the future, such passionate spite displayed by the officers of this Government, as has during the last summer been exhibited in the Dominion of Canada toward well meaning American fishermen. Congress has forbidden the head of this department to prosecute even for evasion of tariff law unless satisfied of "an actual intention to defraud."

TONNAGE OF VESSELS ENGAGED IN AMERICAN FISHERIES, AND THE NATIONALITIES OF THE FISHERMEN.

During the periods of the enquiry made of me by the House, the tonnage of American fishing-vessels of over twenty tons burden, other than whalers, will be seen in Appendix D.

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That tonnage reached its maximum 203,459 in 1862, and during the subsequent seven years diminished by more than 70 per cent. The lowest number of tons was touched in the middle of the period between the expiration of the reciprocity treaty of 1854 and the conclusion of the treaty of Washington of 1871. The falling off is perhaps to be attributed in great part to the repeal in 1866 of the laws allowing bounties to the vessels engaged in the fisheries. By the law of 1813 there was paid by the collector of the district where such vessels belonged, to the owner thereof, if the vessel had been employed at sea, in fishing for the term of four months, and for 92909°-S. Doc. 870, 61-3, vol 4—50

each ton burden, a specified sum, not to exceed $272 on any one vessel for one season, of which bounty three-eighths accrued to the owner and the other five-eighths to the several fishermen. In 1817 it was enacted that the bounty shall be paid only to vessels whereof the officers, and at least three-fourths of the crew, shall be citizens of the United States, or persons not the subject of any foreign Prince or State. In 1819, soon after the conclusion of the treaty of 1818, the bounties were increased, but not to exceed $360 for each vessel. In 1864 it was enacted that the bounty shall not thereafter be paid to any vessel until satisfactory proof shall have been furnished to the collector of customs that the import duty imposed by law upon foreign salt has been paid on all foreign salt used in curing the fish on which the claim to the allowance to the bounty is based, and the law was repealed on 28th June, 1864, (U. S. Stats. at Large, vol. 13, p. 201,) which required two-thirds of those on board to be American citizens. On 28th July, 1866, all laws and parts of laws allowing fishing-bounties to vessels thereafter licensed to engage in the fisheries was also repealed, but under the condition that duties shall be remitted on all foreign salt used by such vessels in curing fish It seems quite probable that anticipation of the enactment repealing bounties induced, in great part, the great falling off in tonnage between 1862

and 1869.

The best estimate that can be made by this department of the relation of aliens to citizens engaged in American fisheries, in the North Atlantic, other than whalers, is that during the last year (1886) of the 14,240 employed, seventy-eight per cent, were American citizens.

PRESENT CONDITION OF AMERICAN FISHERIES, AND THE SUM OF DUTIES COLLECTED ON FOREIGN FISH.

On May 28, 1886, and in furtherance of a suggestion made by our fish commissioner, this department issued a circular letter of instruction to collectors, a copy of which will be found in Appendix (E). The replies received have been transmitted to that commission, and therefrom valuable facts, respecting our fisheries, have been obtained, some of which the commissioner has kindly grouped and placed at my disposition. They are respectfully submitted to the House in Appendix (E). In Appendix (C) will be found such an exhibition of the duties collected on fish as the records of this department, for reasons set forth in the Appendix, make available for immediate presentation to the House.

DANIEL MANNING, Secretary of the Treasury.

The Honourable the SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

No. 228.-1887, January 15: Report of a Committee of the Privy Council for Canada, approved by His Excellency the GovernorGeneral in Council.

The Committee of the Privy Council have had under consideration a despatch dated 22nd November, 1886, from the Right Honorable the Secretary of State for the Colonies, enclosing letters from Mr.