As Lord Durham had suggested, they were resolved that "Lower Canada must be ENGLISH, at the expense, if necessary, of not being BRITISH."But it was not only the political basis of the old colonial system that was rudely shattered.The economic foundations, too, were passing away, and with them the profits of the Montreal merchants, who formed the backbone of the annexation movement.It has been seen that under this system Great Britain had aimed at setting up a self-contained empire, with a monopoly of the markets of the colonies.Now for her own sake she was sweeping away the tariff and shipping monopoly which had been built up through more than two centuries.The logic of Adam Smith, the experiments of Huskisson, the demands of manufacturers for cheap food and raw materials, the passionate campaigns of Cobden and Bright, and the rains that brought the Irish famine, at last had their effect.In 1846 Peel himself undertook the repeal of the Corn Laws.To Lower Canada this was a crushing blow.Until of late the preference given in the British market on colonial goods in return for the control of colonial trade had been of little value; but in 1848 the duties on Canadian wheat and flour had been greatly lowered, resulting in a preference over foreign grain reckoned at eighteen cents a bushel.While in appearance an extension of the old system of preference and protection, in reality this was a step toward its abandonment.For it was understood that American grain, imported into Canada at a low duty, whether shipped direct or ground into flour, would be admitted at the same low rates.The Act, by opening a back door to United States wheat, foreshadowed the triumph of the cheap food agitators in England.But the merchants, the millers, and the forwarders of Montreal could not believe this.The canal system was rushed through; large flour mills were built, and heavy investments of capital were made.Then in 1846 came the announcement that the artificial basis of this brief prosperity had vanished.Lord Elgin summed up the results in a dispatch in 1849: "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 endure?"In October, 1849, the leading men of Montreal issued a manifesto demanding annexation to the United States.A future Prime Minister of Canada, J.J.C.Abbott, four future Cabinet Ministers, John Rose, Luther Holton, D.L.Macpherson, and A.A.
Dorion, and the commercial leaders of Montreal, the Molsons, Redpaths, Torrances, and Workmans, were among the signers.
Besides Dorion, a few French Canadians of the Rouge or extreme Radical party joined in.The movement found supporters in the Eastern Townships, notably in A.T.Galt, a financier and railroad builder of distinction, and here and there in Canada West.Yet the great body of opinion was unmistakably against it.
Baldwin and La Fontaine opposed it with unswerving energy, the Catholic Church in Canada East denounced it, and the rank and file of both parties in Canada West gave it short shrift.Elgin came out actively in opposition and aided in negotiating the Reciprocity Treaty with the United States which met the economic need.Montreal found itself isolated, and even there the revival of trade and the cooling of passions turned men's thoughts into other channels.Soon the movement was but a memory, chiefly serviceable to political opponents for taunting some signer of the manifesto whenever he later made parade of his loyalty.It had a more unfortunate effect, however, in leading public opinion in the United States to the belief for many years that a strong annexationist sentiment existed in Canada.Never again did annexation receive any notable measure of popular support.Anational spirit was slowly gaining ground, and men were eventually to see that the alternative to looking to London for salvation was not looking to Washington but looking to themselves.
In the provinces by the sea the struggle for responsible government was won at much the same time as in Canada.The smaller field within which the contest was waged gave it a bitter personal touch; but racial hostility did not enter in, and the British Government proved less obdurate than in the western conflicts.In both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick little oligarchies had become entrenched.The Government was unprogressive, and fees and salaries were high.The Anglican Church had received privileges galling to other denominations which surpassed it in numbers.The "powers that were" found a shrewd defender in Haliburton, who tried to teach his fellow Bluenoses through the homely wit of "Sam Slick" that they should leave governing to those who had the training, the capacity, and the leisure it required.In Prince Edward Island the land question still overshadowed all others.Every proposal for its settlement was rejected by the influence of the absentee landlords in England, and the agitation went wearily on.
In Nova Scotia the outstanding figure in the ranks of reform was Joseph Howe.The son of a Loyalist settler, Howe early took to his father's work of journalism.At first his sympathies were with the governing powers, but a controversy with a brother editor, Jotham Blanchard, a New Hampshire man who found radical backing among the Scots of Pictou, gave him new light and he soon threw his whole powers into the struggle on the popular side.
