Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the Second Session Thirty-eighth Congress, Part II
Lord Lyons to Mr. Seward.
Sir: I have the honor to transmit to you copies of a despatch and its enclosures which I have this day received from the governor general of Canada, relative to the detention of live stock by the United States customs authorities at Niagara suspension bridge. I beg you to be so good as to recommend these papers to the immediate attention of the proper authorities, and I should be extremely obliged to you to let me have an answer at your earliest convenience.
I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, &c., &c., &c.
Viscount Monck to Lord Lyons.
My Lord: I have the honor to transmit herewith to your excellency an approved minute of the executive council of this province, together with a report of the chief officer of the customs department on which that minute is founded.
I shall feel obliged if your excellency will bring these documents before the notice of the Secretary of State of the United States, in order that, if the construction put by the United States customs officers at the suspension bridge, Niagara, on the orders issued by the Treasury and War Department is erroneous, instructions may be given accordingly.
I have, &c.,
Lord Lyons.
[Untitled]
On a representation made by Messrs. Nash and Davies, of Hamilton, O. W., stating that a large number of live hogs imported by them from American markets have been stopped by the American customs authorities at the Niagara suspension bridge, under certain alleged orders from the War and Treasury Departments at Washington, which they interpret as prohibiting the exportation of live hogs, and requesting the assistance of the government to obtain relief in the premises, the honorable the minister of finance recommends that a copy of a report on the above case made by the commissioner of customs be transmitted by your excellency to her Majesty’s minister at Washington, with the view of having its subject-matter brought under the notice of the American government.
The finance minister states he is persuaded there must have been some misapprehension of the scope of the orders issued by the War and Treasury Departments at Washington, on the part of the custom-house official on the Niagara frontier, as they have not been construed as prohibiting the exportation of live hogs to Canada at any other point.
The committee advise that the above recommendation be approved and acted on.
Certified.
Report upon the case of Messrs. Nash and Davies, of Hamilton, C. W., relative to certain live stock detained by the United States customs authorities at the suspension bridge.
Messrs. Nash and Davies are, it appears, large dealers and contractors in the pork-packing business at Hamilton, C. W., and having lately made, as such, large purchases of live hogs in American markets, had directed that the hogs should be forwarded to them in Canada, via Niagara suspension bridge.
They now represent that on the 21st of December last, the hogs in question were detained in transit by the American customs authorities, at the suspension bridge, under certain orders issued by the War and Treasury Departments of the United States, prohibiting the exportation of arms, ammunition, and munitions of war, the first of which orders having date November 21, 1862, appears from the copy transmitted to have issued under the direct authority of the President; the other two bearing, respectively, date the 13th and 19th of May last, having issued the one from the War and the other from the Treasury Department of the United States.
Messrs. Nash and Davies do not appear to have been aware of the existence of such a prohibition, or at least of its extending to live stock, it being well known that down to the time of the detention of their hogs at the bridge, importations of all sorts of live stock, horses, horned cattle, sheep, swine, &c., had been made into Canada from the United States throughout the year, and long therefore after the date of the prohibitory orders referred to.
By the official returns to this department, it would appear that during the first [Page 487] three quarters of 1863 the importations of live stock from the United States into this province were as follows :
| Horses. | Horned Cattle. | Sheep. | Pigs. | |
| First quarter | 445 | 1,521 | 900 | 1,768 |
| Second quarter | 451 | 2,093 | 441 | 5,299 |
| Third quarter | 423 | 1,903 | 1,414 | 3,300 |
| 1,319 | 5,508 | 2,755 | 10,367 |
The returns for the last quarter of 1863 have not all come in, but the statements received from eight only of the anadian ports show the following importations :
| Horses | 277 |
| Horned cattle | 664 |
| Sheep | 2,707 |
| Pigs | 7,517 |
Messrs. Nash and Davies were therefore taken by surprise when informed that 211 live hogs, which they had purchased in American markets, were stopped at the suspension bridge under the prohibitory orders referred to, and thus now appeal to this department to ascertain, it is presumed, how far through its instrumentality any measures of relief could be obtained, to meet the consequences of their inability, under such circumstances, to fulfil the contract they have entered into of the right of the government of the United States, as of all other national governments, to prohibit the exportation of any article, or class of articles, which it may be their policy to retain at home for war and other purposes, there can, it is believed, be no doubt.
The prohibitory orders in question do not appear to transcend that right, and the undersigned can therefore see no means by which their consequences can be avoided in Canada; nor can this non-exportation order be viewed, as supposed by Messrs. Nash and Davies, in the light of an interference with the reciprocity treaty, such order having no bearing upon our exports to the United States under that treaty. Under these circumstances, the case of Messrs. Nash and Davies appears to be without any direct remedy, except by special representation of the government at Washington, founded upon the fact, which it so abundantly established by official returns, that long after the promulgation of the orders in question in the United States, and before their existence or scope were generally known to the trade in Canada, importations of live stock continued to be made as usual from the United States into Canada, justifying the impression that the prohibition was not considered by the customs authorities of the United States as extending to the exportation of live stock.
Upon this basis it is believed that the case of Messrs. Nash and Davies might be brought under the notice of the Treasury Department in Washington, and submitted for favorable consideration; at the same time the undersigned would respectfully suggest that public notice be given in this province of the prohibitory order in question, issued by the United States government, so soon as the scope of such order can be officially ascertained.
Respectfully submitted.
Hon. L. H. Potter, Finance Minister.