nts, at which Lord Elgin shone. A British peer is always an
object of interest in a democracy. This one possessed most agreeable
manners, a charm to which Southerners are peculiarly susceptible, and
also an unusual gift of oratory which won him favour with a public
accustomed to the eloquence of Daniel Webster and Wendell Phillips.
These things told with the Democratic majority. That the treaty 'was
floated through on champagne' is an exaggeration; but there was
undoubtedly much hospitality shown on both sides and much good
fellowship. Ten days after his arrival at Washington Lord Elgin was
able to tell Mr Marcy that the Democrats would not oppose the treaty,
and on the fifth of {152} June it was actually signed. Oliphant
furnishes most amusing details of the actual ceremony of appending the
signatures. It went into force only after it had been formally
ratified by the legislatures of Great Britain and the United States.
The most important provisions were as follows.

Natural products were to be admitted free of duty to both countries,
the principal being grain, flour, lumber, bread-stuffs, animals, fresh,
smoked and salted meats, lumber of all kinds, poultry, cotton, wool,
hides, metallic ores, pitch, tar, ashes, flax, hemp, rice, and
unmanufactured tobacco. In return the American fishermen obtained the
coveted privilege of fishing within the territorial waters of the
Maritime Provinces, without any restriction as to distance or
headlands. Canadians were accorded the right to fish in the depleted
American grounds, north of the 36th parallel N. latitude. Nova
Scotians were not pleased at these concessions, especially as they were
not allowed to share in the American coasting trade; but as trade grew
up and prices rose, their discontent naturally vanished.

The benefits accruing to Canada from the treaty were immediate and
plain to every {153} eye. In the first year of its operation the value
of commodities interchanged between the two countries rose from an
annual average of fourteen million dollars to thirty-three millions, an
increase of more than one hundred per cent. The volume of trade rose
steadily at the rate of eight or nine millions per annum. When the war
broke out between the North and the South, prices jumped, and, during
the four years of the struggle, Canada had a greedy market for
everything she could produce. The benefit to both countries was
obvious. For the first time since the Revolutio