of exertion and success, are revolving very large ideas, some
So long as the Government of Washington plays fair, of them perhaps a little dangerous. We have repeatedly we have no objection to raise even to this gigantic scheme. pointed to the evidences which show that the old in. It is for Canada rather than for us to say how far she difference about Canada is vanishing, and that Americans, chooses to agree to it ; nor have we any, even the smallest, who formerly regarded Canada as little as we regard right to control the treaties made by American Ttepublies. Norway, would be glad to absorb the Dominion, if they They have a right to establish Free-trade with the United could do it without a war with England, or the acquisition States alone, if they so please, and if they are not prevented of hostile provinces ; and this very week a prominent by specific treaties, or even, if they see fit, to place them- Senator has acknowledged that this is the feeling in his selves under the protection of the American flag. We are heart. It is one which will produce consequences, not afraid for English trade, which has survived a "Con- even if the war of annoyances with which Canada is tinental System" before now ; and as for the profitable threatened should be averted, and her means of trans- supply of capital, we can probably undersell any rivals porting goods into the Union should not be roughly whom the next thirty years will bring into the field. Bug- impeded by an alteration in what would be called land is a storehouse of accumulated wealth, with too little here the bonding system. So, we cannot but think, will room for its expenditure. As to the sale of goods, if the the speech delivered by President Harrison in Texas Americans can beat us in open market, let them ; for even on April 19th. Though Canada is not named in that then every second dollar they employ will pay a dividend speech, the idea which pervades it is, that the Union to an English investor. All that we ask in that connection desires the leadership on both the American continents, if is, that Americans shall not offer Reciprocity treaties to an not a general Protectorate. President Harrison, who, it entire "hemisphere," and then declare that they believe will be remembered, has evaded negotiation with the only in the system of Protection, because a conflict like present Government of Ottawa, obviously because it is that betwixt words and acts is intellectually provoking. opposed to complete Reciprocity, speaks as if the Union But we would call our readers' attention to the new had a natural right to monopolise the commerce of Spanish tone underlying the President's speech, to the vast- and Portuguese America. "The commerce," he says, "of ness of the projects which he treats as if they were the Republics south of us," which stretch, be it remem- details—be only alludes, you see, ea passant to that bered, from Texas to Patagonia, is naturally ours by mighty work, the Nicaragua Canal—and to the calmness neighbourhood, nearness of access, and the sympathy that with which he asserts American right, as if it were not binds the hemisphere that is without a King." That is a only unassailable, but past question, to the commerce of strong utterance, that "naturally ours ;" and to show that half the world. There is a ring in his words which, if he the word " neighbours " has no restricted meaning, the were a King, would suggest that he entertained vast President continues :—" The provisions of the Bill passed ambitions ; and they may be present in the mind of the real by the last Congress, looking to reciprocity of trade, not King for whom and to whom he is speaking, the people of only met my official approval when I signed it, but also re- the United States. President Harrison, be it remembered, ceived my zealous promotion. Before the Bill was reported, is seeking a second term, and, as an experienced politician, a treaty with Brazil had already been negotiated and pro- is not likely to be mooting projects which he knows to claimed. I think that, without disclosing any Executive be disagreeable to his vast audience of king-makers. secret, I may tell you that the arrangement with Brazil is Of course the interval between talking of projects such as not likely to abide in lonesomeness much longer, that these and carrying them into effect, may be a long one. others are to follow, and that, as a result, the products of It is by no means certain, to begin with, that the American the United States will find free or favoured access at the people intend their Treasury to keep so full, or that they ports of many of these South or Central American States." will not at the next election find themselves face to face The President, in fact, desires to establish a Zollverein with vital questions, such as those raised by the Farmers' throughout the Americas, in which the Union, by right of Alliance, in the presence of which the idea of commercial its strength, its wealth, and its repute for impregnability, treaties to be contracted with a whole hemisphere may will take the lead, dictate every change of duty, and in no recede into the obscurity of a distant future. Then, long period exercise a direct control over all financial opera- although Brazil has yielded in part to Mr. Blaine's seduc- tions. "The Republics" are to buy all goods of the tions, it is by no means certain that all Spanish America Union, which will be sent them, says the President, still will. The new Republic in Brazil greatly needs warm further developing his thought, in subsidised American foreign alliances, and its older sisters may prefer those steamers, and will be protected by a reconstructed and they already have, more especially as the Spanish Amen- powerful American Navy. "I much want the time to cans entertain, as the Portuguese Americans do not, a come when our citizens living in temporary exile in foreign deep-rooted dislike and dread of the English-speaking Re- ports shall now and then see fine modern men-of-war flying public whose citizens invent contemptuous nicknames for the United States flag, with the best modern guns on them, and tell them openly that the Union is, in the their decks and brave American crews in their forecastles." two Americas, the reversionary general heir. There are This Navy, we may add, is being built, though rather slowly, treaties, too, with the most-favoured nation clause in the politicians of Washington preferring to swell their them, which have not yet expired, and the Republics are or want of it, is one datum in considering his claim to gigantic pension-list to spending money on ships whose confidence, and before accepting his counsel implicitly, we crews, when abroad, cannot vote ; but it is rising, and the should like to know more clearly whither his wishes tend. only remaining obstacle to the great plan is the distance of To subscribe £10,000 for the support of Parnellism may the Pacific coast from New York by water. Even President be a clever piece of tactics when one wishes for support in Harrison cannot talk of the " nearness " of Valparaiso or Parliament, but it is not of itself evidence that the sub- Callao while they can only be reached by sea by a voyage scriber is opposed to the dismemberment of the Empire. round Cape Horn ; but he is ready to remove that diffi- culty. "I think," he says, " we should add to all this, if happily it is likely to be accomplished, by making bull- PRESIDENT HARRISON'S SPEECH. vidual efforts for the early completion of the Nicaragua jealous of abandoning their complete control over duties which alone enable them to raise sufficient revenue. They are too thinly settled as yet to raise ranch by direct taxation, and they are dependent for the conditions of "progress," in the commercial sense, upon European capital. It is by no means certain, either, that the era of anarchy in Spanish America has closed at last, or that the Republics have yet devised a form of government which will give them the stability necessary to the maintenance of any permanent policy. Still, the dreams of governing men in the -United States are not inapt to fulfil themselves, and these dreams are for the moment of the most ambitious kind. Mr. Harrison is a much more important man than Mr. Blaine, because he is so much more like an average American ; and if Mr. Blaine's visions have captivated him, they are not unlikely to be added, if not to the per- manent policy of the Union, at least to the permanent platform of the Republican-Protectionist party. "The commerce of this hemisphere is naturally ours,"—that is President Harrison's dictum ; and it is at least important enough for Europe, and especially Great Britain, to reflect upon its meaning. The Western Hemisphere, with Free- trade within and strict Protection without, would be very like a separate planet.
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