"From 1855 to 1860 (both years included) her total imports from every country were $215,982,776, of which $114,259,345 were from American ports, shewing a balance in our favour against all other nations in those six years of $12,535,914, or more than two millions of dollars annually."

How unfairly Mr. Morrill has dealt with the facts is shewn by one illustration. He told Congress that the amount of gold sent out of the United States to Canada in 1863 amounted to $3,502, 180. That was the truth, but not the whole truth. The accounts of the American Secretary of the Treasury for 1863, shew that the importations of the precious metals from Canada amounted to $4,892,195; being a balance in favour of the United States of $1,390,015 in that one year!

During the years over which the treaty has extended, it is estimated that the "balance of trade" has been in favour of America to the extent of nearly $56,000,000. But, as has been eloquently said, "in the presence of "the great benefits conferred on both countries by this "measure, it is a waste of time to chaffer over their dis"tribution. In the interests of peace and honest industry, we should thank Providence for the blessing, and con"fidently rely upon the wisdom of our statesmen to see "that it is preserved."

The inhabitants of British North America, as a body, have behaved very well about this treaty. In its origin it was a compromise, and in its provisions they did not originally think it advantageous to them. They complained that the right of trading coastwise, fully conceded by the British to the Americans, was not conceded by America in reciprocity; that the right of registering their

colonial vessels for trade from America to foreign ports, was not permitted them; that no equivalent whatever was given for the free navigation of the rivers and canals of British America; that the concession of the right of fishing and curing fish within the bays and harbours, and in-shore fisheries of the maritime provinces was given without equivalent. Again, when the Civil War broke out, one-half of the sea-board of the United States was blockaded, and all the advantages of the Reciprocity Treaty were lost to the provinces, so far as regarded the consumption of many millions of the American population.

At the same time, the British Americans have been desirous to maintain the treaty, as a measure of peace and national fraternity. It has, they say, secured to both countries freedom from disputes and heartburnings. "There have been no intrusions, warnings, captures"no rival squadrons guarding boundaries impossible to "define." Had no other good been accomplished, he would be no friend to either country who would desire to open again the old field of controversy. The trade between the British Provinces and America, previously feeble, restricted, slow of growth, and, in many respects, vexatious, has been annually swollen by mutual interchanges and honourable competition, until it has come to be represented by a grand total of $456,350,000 in about nine years; or upwards of 91,000,000l.! If this wise adjustment of interests is not disturbed, who can estimate what this trade will amount to in the next decade!

What are the consequences of the policy of the American Government, in relation to this treaty? The Canadians, having for the past ten years enjoyed the advantages and sweets of commerce, are now endeavouring to seek outlets for it elsewhere. Having raised products for the American market, which the Americans will no longer take, and having built shipping for their service which the American Government will no longer allow their citizens to employ, the inhabitants of British North America are endeavouring to form treaties of commerce with Brazil, Mexico, the West India Islands, and other countries, where it is not thought so essentially necessary to refuse to conclude commercial arrangements on the ground that they ought to be the subject of direct legislative provision. The Americans, in fact, have created the Canadians into commercial competitors. On the whole continent, as long as the people of the United States and of British North America were united in trade under the Reciprocity Treaty, there was no one to compete with their joint trading. But the action of the Washington Government, in addition to all the other disadvantages which must result from such bad policy, will create a trading competition with the United States of America from their own continent.

The commercial men of the United States, and a large section of its press, are still pressing upon the American Government not to forego the existing advantages derived by America under this treaty, but to consent to postpone its termination, in order to enter into some more permanent arrangement for carrying out its general pro

visions. Some Americans may say, that in the present state of the revenue and expenditure of the United States, it is impossible to renew the Reciprocity Treaty without modifications which will favour their revenue. The people of the provinces do not fail to recognise the duty of the American Government to sustain the credit of their country, and to discharge its obligations. One of them, speaking at the Detroit Convention, said:

"If you do not, we should share in the disgrace; we should feel, as a part of the British family, that when you had issued your bonds, and sent them largely into other countries, we should be disgraced, as well as you, if you did not sustain them. But," he added, "the RESOURCES of your country are so vast and varied, and the development of its industry is so rapid and extensive, that I believe you will be able to master the debt, maintain your credit, and deal with your neighbours in good faith besides."-(Speech of the Hon. Joseph Howe, of Nova Scotia.)

SECTION VI.-RAILROADS.

CHAPTER I.

EXISTING LINES.

RAILROADS in the United States may be said to be cotemporaneous with those in England. Before steam power was applied to railway lines in America, iron tracks, on which vehicles were drawn by horse-power, were in use from granite and coal quarries to ports of debarkation. In Quincey, Massachusetts, one of these, terminating at the quarries with a self-acting inclined plane, was begun in 1826 and opened in 1827, and in the latter year similar lines were constructed in Pennsylvania. I apprehend, however, that these were very imperfect constructions. The first locomotive which was ever seen in America was imported from Mr. Stephenson's locomotive engine factory at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in 1829, and was for some time exhibited, as a curiosity, in New York. The first locomotive engine which appears to have been used in the United States, was constructed