Another subject on which I am very solicitous, is the free admission
of Canadian products into the States. At present the Canadian farmer
gets less for his wheat than his neighbour over the lines. This is an
unfortunate state of things. I had a long conversation with Mr.
Baldwin about it lately, and he strongly supports the proposition
which I ventured to submit for your consideration about a year ago,
viz. that a special treaty should be entered into with the States,
giving them the navigation of the St. Lawrence jointly with ourselves,
on condition that they admit Canadian produce duty free. An
arrangement of this description affecting internal waters only might,
I apprehend, be made (as in the case of Columbia in the Oregon treaty)
independently of the adjustment of questions touching the Navigation
Laws generally. I confess that I dread the effect of the continuance
of the present state of things on the loyalty of our farmers. Surely
the admission of the Americans into the St. Lawrence would be a great
boon to them, and we ought to exact a _quid pro quo_.

He was sanguine enough to hope that these measures, so simple and so
obviously desirable, might be brought into operation at once; but they
were not carried until many years later, one of them, as we shall see,
only by aid of his own personal exertions; and his disappointment on this
score deepened the anxiety with which he looked round upon the
difficulties of his position, already described. On August 16 he writes:--

The news from Ireland--the determination of Government not to proceed
with the measure respecting the Navigation Laws--doubts as to whether
the American Congress will pass the Reciprocity of Trade Bill--menaces
of sympathisers in the States--all combine at present to render our
position one of considerable anxiety.