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Early Western Travels
[Vol. 2
Were the English to remain in possession of every part of Canada, except the posts, numberless doors would be left open for the Americans [17] to smuggle in their goods, and in process of time the illicit trade would supersede the necessity of the exportation of British goods from England to Canada, and the commercial benefits arising from the consumption of our manufactures would be entirely lost.—In that case, Canada would be of little service to England in a commercial point of view: How far it is worth the expence of retaining, politically considered, is not for me to discuss.[1]
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- ↑ For the British determination to retain the Northern and Western posts, and arguments in regard to their legal right, see "Calendar of Haldimand Papers," Canadian Archives, 1885-89, also McLaughlin, "Western Posts and the British Debts," in American Historical Association Report, 1894.—Ed.
