we invited the co-operation of the American Government, but in vain, and every opportunity was seized to thwart our policy. Even the Chinese know they may expect to see the flag of any other power in union with our own, but never that of America. There was, indeed, a moment, when our men were falling under a murderous fire, that for once an American was heard to declare that "blood was thicker than water." It would ill become us to forget the noble conduct of Commodore Tatnall on that occasion. He was a Southerner, and is now a "traitor and a rebel."

The Oregon boundary question was pushed to the very brink of war, when for peace' sake we were constrained to abandon our settlements upon and possession of the Columbia River. There was subsequently the Maine boundary question. Let any one take the present map of the United States, and consider, as a matter of reason, whether, when peace terminated the revolutionary war, a boundary line would be so drawn as to sever our colonies in two, and this at a point where nothing existed of interest or value to the United States. That peace was negociated by Franklin. When the treaty on this subject was made by Lord Ashburton, the Government of the United States was in possession of the map sent by Franklin to the French ministry, and deposited in their archivesa map authenticated by a note in his own handwriting. On that map appeared a strong red ink

line drawn by Franklin's own hand, and referred to in his note. The Government was also possessed of a map found in Jefferson's collection, on which again a similar red ink line delineated the true boundary. Franklin's map was discovered by Mr. Jared Sparks, who, when forwarding it to the United States' Government, wrote thus: "The line is bold and distinct in every part, made with red ink. There is no other colouring on any part of the map. Imagine my surprise on discovering that this line was wholly south of the St. John's. It is exactly the line contended for by Great Britain, except that it concedes more than is claimed." All this evidence was produced before the Senate Jefferson's map as well as Franklin's -the two as Mr. Rives observed, "coinciding minutely and exactly." Here was absolute proof of the truth. Yet it does not appear that any was found in that Senate to rise and say, "Let us do what is right; we see in Franklin's own handwriting as though he had risen from the

grave to instruct us what was the true boundary agreed to by him; let us obtain no advantage by concealment of these maps, but seek what is just to others and honourable to ourselves." In the place of such sentiments, it appears to have been considered a clever thing to cajole a British negociator, and to sever Canada from New Brunswick.

The boundaries of the waters have been disputed as well as those of the land, and there was the tempestuous question of the fisheries along the shores

of our own coasts. To this followed the Crimean enlistment difficulty. In that case, unquestionably, the zeal of subordinate officers, who foolishly imagined that American sympathy would be with the oppressed and with us, carried them beyond a proper limit; but their action was instantly disavowed by our Government. our Government. At the worst, it was

assuredly no ground to subject this country to the coarse insult of dismissing its minister from Washington. The Central American question, another of this prolific family, was, after endless difficulties, apparently adjusted at last by the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, but this question had a second life. After the dispute as to the territory was settled by the treaty, the treaty itself had to be disputed, and the remarkable effort made of teaching us the signification of the words of our own language; all of which ended, as usual, in our retiring for peace' sake from positions occupied by us before the United States had come into existence. Then sprung up with sudden violence the question of searching slavers, which threatened us with "broadsides first and explanations afterwards," and which resulted in the fact, that the slaver has only to hoist the "stars and stripes" as the shield of his iniquitous traffic and go on unharmed. Last, so far, was the seizure but the other day of the island of San Juan-a little islet, as natural a dependency of the great island of Vancouver as are the Scilly Isles of Cornwall. This was seized and occupied in military force,

although at the time the commissioners of the two countries were employed in drawing the boundary. The event might have kindled war between the two countries, had not the admiral on the station refrained from using his overwhelming force to throw the invaders into the sea. This remains on hand, a pending difficulty, for our offer of reference to an impartial power has not been accepted. When it reappears, the doctrine of the Ostend manifesto need but to be applied, to demand Vancouver's Island as well as its little dependency.

From this sketch of the treatment received by us from the Union it would hardly appear that we are placed under any obligation, or burthened with the duty to desire its continuation. Is there in the history of modern times, any instance of similar treatment received by one great power at the hands of another? Nor does it appear likely to amend, now that the North has taken the rule into its own hands. No American could be unaware that the Morrill tariff would be a grievous injury to this country. They know that with the exception of tobacco, taxed for the sole purpose of revenue, we receive their products free of duty. We hear of no one who cared to think of the gross injustice to us of this return. It would be just to impose on American cotton, to promote its growth in India, the same duty they imposed on our iron to promote its manufacture in Pennsylvania. They know well we shall not do this. They inflict this injustice upon us in the firm

reliance that we shall not retaliate, just as it is perpetrated on the South in the belief that they are helplessly fast in the Union.

The next measure taken by the North was that of blockading the Southern ports, an act of mere arbitrary power; for no one will pretend that the Constitution confers any such power on the Government, or that the law of the United States permits this punishment for treason. It is directly opposed to the position taken by themselves recently when the King of Naples blockaded rebellious ports. It may be expedient to copy the Neapolitan king, but it cannot be right to assert principles, and reverse them, to suit the convenience of the hour. Nor, was it unknown at Washington how vast and helpless is the industrial population in this country, in dependence on the cotton trade for daily bread. They could not be ignorant that a campaign, if victorious, would render a blockade unnecessary, and that if unsuccessful it would be futile. Yet for the sake of this means of inflicting mere injury and annoyance, they do not scruple to jeopardize the existence of some millions of our people.

It was well known at Washington that the South would retaliate by privateering. Upon this we adopted the course of all imaginable the most beneficial to the North, for unless we had acknowledged the Southerners as belligerents we must have disputed the blockade. Yet because it did not chime in with the humour of the moment we