"No explanation has been given to Parliament; nor has a single paper of any kind been laid upon the table of the House by Her Majesty's Government. It is, therefore, thought to be time to ask for explanations, and thereby, so far as may now be possible, to prevent that gradual 'drifting' into serious complication which disfigured the transactions of the Whig Government in 1854 (Russian war), in 1861-2 (Poland), and in 1863-4 (Denmark). The Reciprocity Treaty provided not merely for free interchange of commodities between Her Majesty's North American Colonies and the United States, but it settled the fishery complications, on a coast line of 4,000 miles, and provided for the international navigation of the St. Lawrence (1,200 miles), and of the canals and locks of that mighty river, and of Lake Michigan and its tributaries. It thus dealt with questions which, unsettled and in doubt, had led to antagonism and the recurring danger of war; and, in the twelve years of its existence, its operation has alike enlarged the commerce and the friendship of the neighbouring subjects of the two powers parties to the treaty. Perhaps no convention of modern times has more tended to produce material prosperity and peace and goodwill amongst those concerned. But it has been, it is repeated, allowed to expire, and, as will be shown, owing mainly to the culpable negligence and maladroit management of those who have had charge of British interests. "On the 27th June, 1854, Lord Clarendon said in the House of Lords, in answer to a question put by Lord Fitzwilliam (see 'Hansard's Debates,' 27th June, 1854):--