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Date: 1864-04-13
By: Lord Lyons
Citation: Despatch from Lord Lyons to Mr. Seward (13 April 1864) in Journal of the Legislative Council of the Province of New Brunswick (1865).
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Washington, 13th April, 1864.

SIR,—With reference to the Note which you did me the honor to address to me on the 17th of last month, and to, the previous Correspondence in which I have been for many months engaged with you on the subject of the restrictions imposed on the trade between the United States and British Colonies, I desire to ask you to take into serious consideration the two papers which I transmit to you herewith.

The one is a copy of a Despatch from the Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island to me, and the other a copy of a Memorial addressed to the Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick, by the Chamber of Commerce of the Town of Saint John in that Province.

Waiving, for the moment, all discussion on the principle involved in the exaction of the Bonds which Merchants are now in many instances compelled to give on shipments from the United States to British Colonies, I cannot but hope that the statements made in the enclosed papers will convince you that while the exaction of such Bonds is particularly injurious to the Provinces of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, it may certainly in the case of those two Provinces be safely dispensed with.

I have, &c. (Signed) LYONS.