together by trade arrangements
of mutual advantage, by which the colony should supply the mother
country with raw material and the mother country should supply the
colony with manufactured products. Suddenly all Canada's business was
dislocated by Peel's adoption of free trade in 1846. In consequence
Canada had no longer any advantage in the British market over the rest
of the world, and Canadian timber-merchants and grain-growers had an
undoubted grievance. The general commercial depression, which had set
in at the time of the rebellions, became worse and worse. {110} Lord
Elgin's often-quoted words picture the deplorable state of the country:
'Property in most of the Canadian towns, and more especially in the
capital, has fallen fifty per cent in value within the last three
years. Three-fourths of the commercial men are bankrupt, owing to free
trade; a large proportion of the exportable produce of Canada is
obliged to seek a market in the United States. It pays a duty of
twenty per cent on the frontier. How long can such a state of things
be expected to endure?' For a remedy the active mind of Hincks turned
to the obvious alternative of the British market, the natural market
just across the line; and he opened up negotiations with the United
States looking towards reciprocal trade. He could scarcely obtain a
hearing. The way was blocked by the complete indifference of the
United States Senate towards the whole project. Not until five years
later did relief come; and it came through the initiative and personal
diplomacy of Lord Elgin. To him belongs the credit for the famous
Reciprocity Treaty of 1854. This signifies that for the twelve years
during which the treaty was in force the artificial barriers to the
currents of trade between {111} adjacent countries were, to a large
extent, removed, certainly to the great advantage of all British North
America. It was a unique period in Canadian history. Never before had
the trade relations between Canada and the United States been so
friendly, and never have they been so friendly since.

In another great enterprise of national importance Hincks was more
successful. The forties of the nineteenth century saw the first great
era of railway building. This novel method of transportation was
perceived to have immense undeveloped possibilities. In Britain, where
steam traction was invented, companies were formed by the score and
lines were projected in every direc