trade of Canada was of
little value to the United States; that the reciprocity treaty had
enriched Canada at their expense; and that the abolition of the treaty
had brought Canada nearly to its wits' end. There was some excuse for
these misapprehensions. Until confederation, the trade returns from
the different provinces were published separately, if at all. No clear
statement of the combined traffic of the provinces with the United
States was published until 1874, and even Canadians were ignorant of
its extent. American protectionists founded a "balance of trade"
argument on insufficient data. They saw that old Canada sold large
quantities of wheat and flour to the United States, but not that the
United States sent larger quantities to the Maritime Provinces; that
Nova Scotia and Cape Breton sold coal to Boston and New York, but not
that five times as much was sent from Pennsylvania to Canada. Brown
prepared a memorandum showing that the British North American
provinces, from 1820 to 1854, had bought one hundred and sixty-seven
million dollars worth of goods from the United States, and the United
States only sixty-seven million dollars worth from the provinces; that
in the thirteen years of the treaty, the trade between the two
countries was six hundred and thirty million dollars according to the
Canadian returns, and six hundred and seventy million dollars
according to the American returns; and that the so-called "balance of
trade" in this period was considerably against Canada. It was shown
that the repeal of the treaty did not ruin Canadian commerce; that the
external trade of Canada which averaged one hundred and fifteen
million dollars a year from 1854 to 1862, rose to one hundred and
forty-two million dollars in the year following the abrogation, and
to two hundred and forty million dollars in 1873. In regard to wheat,
flour, provisions, and other commodities of which both countries had a
surplus, the effect of the prohibitory American duties had been to
send the products of Canada to compete with those of the United States
in neutral markets.

This memorandum was completed on April 27th and was immediately handed
to Mr. Fish. It was referred to the treasury department, where it was
closely examined and admitted to be correct. From that time there was
a marked improvement in American feeling.

Brown also carried on a vigorous propaganda in the newspapers. In
New York the _Tribune_, _Herald_, _Times_, _World_, _