SECRET

Ante, Chapter XXI,

+ “Harney was a kleptomaniac of the school of the first Napoleon. He occupied first and explained afterwards, and his explanation aggravated the outrage, —How Treaty- Making Unmade Canada, in the Canadian Monthly for May, 1876,

The Beginning of a New Era. 511

couver Island, displayed much discretion, and carefully abstained from committing any overt act which might be construed into one of hostility ; though he vigorously protested against the proceeding, and threatened to land à military force on the island to protect British interests. British war ships were summoned from China, and anchored in Esquimault harbour. Erelong General Winfield Scott appeared on the scene as United States Commissioner. Being a soldier, and not a swashbuckler like Harney, the General and Governor Douglas soon came to terms. A joint occupation, until the conflicting claims should be adjusted by arbitration, was speedily agreed upon, and this arrangement subsisted until the final settlement of the question in 1872, to be presently referred to.

Such were the various interests to be reconciled by the Joint Commission. The United States representatives on that body were appointed on the 10th of February, and consisted of the Hon. Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State; the Hon. Robert C. Schenck, United States Minister to the Court of St, James; the Hon. Samuel Nelson, of the Supreme Court; the Hon. Ebenezer R. Hoar, of Massachusetts, and the Hon. George H. Williams, of Oregon. The five British representatives were appointed six days later, and consisted of Earl de Grey and Ripon, Sir Stafford H. Northcote, Sir Edward Thornton, Sir John A. Macdonald, and Mountague Bernard, Chichele Professor of International Law in the University of Oxford. Sir John Macdonald was placed on the Commission for the purpose of watching over the Canadian interests which entered so largely into the subject-matter of the negotiations. The Commissioners held their first meeting at Washington on the 27th of February. Their labours were not completed until the Sth of May, when the treaty, known as the Treaty of Washington, was signed. On the 24th it was ratified by the United States Senate, and on the 17th of June it was formally ratified in London on behalf of both the contracting parties. It provided for the settlement of the Alabama claims by a Board of

512 The Last Forty Years.

Arbitration, to be held at Geneva, in Switzerland. Into the particulars of that arbitration it is not necessary to enter in this work. The San Juan boundary question was left to the arbitrament of the Emperor of Germany, who, in October, 1872, rendered a decision in favour of the United States, whereupon the island was evacuated by the British troops. With respect to the fisheries, the most important matter of consideration so far as Canada was concerned, they were thrown open for a peried of ten years, and it was agreed that fish and fish-oil should be admitted free into the United States and Canada during the same time. The money compensation to Canada for this use of her fisheries by the United States was left to be settled by a Commission. The free navigation of the St. Lawrence and the canals was guaranteed to the Americans, and that of Lake Michigan to British subjects. Other comparatively insignificant privileges, including that of transportation in bond, were granted by the United States, but upon the whole they came out of the controversy, as they had come out of all previous international controversies, with the sunny side of the bargain. Their Commissioners refused to consider the claims of the Dominion for losses sustained by the Fenian raids.

The Washington Treaty as a whole was regarded with great disfavour in Canada. It was felt that our interests had been sacrificed, and Sir John Macdonald was severely taken to task, both in Parliament and in the press. The fact is that Sir John found himself altogether overweighted on the Commission, where Imperial and United States interests were paramount, and where Canadian interests were regarded as being of only secondary moment, The clauses of the treaty relating to Canada required ratification by the Dominion Parliament, and, notwithstanding the widespread dissatisfaction, the ratification was conceded, out of respect for the interests of the Empire at large. The Imperial Government, in turn, showed their appreciation of this by guaran-

n in ated nost ned, reed ates n to ft to Ja Wat of nifiwere ut of ional misosses

breat been task, ohn here here dary uired the t of berial aran-

np aûfihpétut

The Beginning of a New Era. 513

teeing à large Dominion loan to aid in the improvement of the canals and the construction of an interoceanic railway, and by continuing a guarantee of a smaller loan previously granted. To make a final disposition of this matter, it may here be mentioned that the Commission appointed to consider the compensation due to Canada for the use of her fisheries met at Halifax in 1877, and awarded à sum of $5,500,000 to the Dominion, which sum, after much grumbling and remonstrance, was paid over by the United States within the time appointed for the purpose.

The Dominion Parliamentary session of 1871 opened on the 15th of February. Sir Francis Hincks’'s budget speech showed a very satisfactory condition of the finances, the revenue having exceeded the expenditure by more than $200,000. Measures were passed for assimilating the currency, for amending and readjusting the tariff, for the establishment of a new Banking system, and for regulating the management of Savings Banks. But the most important topic under consideration during the session was the admission of British Columbia into the Union. The local Legislature of that colony had in January passed resolutions in favour of such admission, and the question now came before the Legislature of the Dominion. An address { » Her Majesty in favour of the project was passed in both Houses, and duly forwarded to its destination. The Government still had to encounter à firm Opposition, but could command a safe working majority. Parliament was prorogued on the 14th of April.

On the 16th of May, in compliance with the address from the Canadian Legislature, and with an address to a similar purport from the Legislature of British Columbia, an Imperial Order in Council was passed admitting that colony to the Confederation. The Order came into operation two months later, when British Columbia became a Province of the Dominion, with a representation in the Canadian Parliament proportionate to its population, which was estimated at

514 The Last Forty Years.

60,000. An annual subsidy of $35,000 was granted to the new Province, in addition to eighty cents per head of the population, and the general provisions of the British North America Act were extended to it. A special feature of the terms of agreement was an undertaking on the part of the Dominion “to secure the commencement simultaneously, within two years after the date of the Union, of the construction of a railway from the Pacific towards the Rocky Mountains, and from such point as [might] be selected east of the Rocky Mountains towards the Pacific, to connect the seaboard of British Columbia with the railway system of Canada; and further to secure the completion of such railway within ten years from the date of the Union.” This was the first important initiatory step towards the construction of that great work which has ever since engrossed s0 large a share of attention, and out of which, as will presently be seen, grew the comnlications that led to the downfall of the Administration. The on. Joseph William Trutch was appointed first Lieutenant-Governor of the newly-created Province.

In the autumn took place the last attempt to subjugate the British Empire by means of a Fenian raid upon Canadian territory. O’Neil, undeterred by his previous failures, planned a “movement ” in conjunction with some of Riel’s confederates in the Red River rebellion. On the 5th of Cetober à handful of half-drunken tatterdemalions crossed the Manitoba frontier and took possession of the Hudson’s Bay Company's fort at Pembina, Scarcely had they done so when a squad of United States troops arrived, and, seizing the “ Generals ” and about à third of the “forces,” marched them back across the boundary-line, and placed them in custody. The rest of the “army ” made good their retreat with great promptitude. The attempt from first to last was even more absurd than the former ones had been, and the indignation to which it might otherwise have given rise was merged in a sense of the ridiculous. When the affair was at an end, Riel, who had meanwhile returned to his home

1e new ulation, ct were was an imence- Union, > Rocky ; of the joard of further rom the ory step er since , as will downfall tch was Province.

wate the erritory.

ement ” d River n tatterin of the ey done izing the ed them ly. The hptitude.

e former btherwise Vhen the his home