Re: Re: RE: Re: Argentina, Australia and Canada

[phillp2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Michael,

I don't know enough about Argentina to do a proper comparison,
but a few points on Canada -- since the break with British
colonialism in Canada's case was initiated by Britain over the
opposition of the ruling elite in Canada.

1.  The British were losing money on the Canadian colonies since
the cost of defense for such a few isolated colonies against
American imperialism was heavy. (e.g. war of 1812-14).

2.  There were 'liberal' revolts (incipient revolutions) against the
colonial elite by the farmers and small business in 1837 which led
Britain to appoint a commission to find an answer to the failing
colonial administration.  A particular problem was Quebec which
held no allegience to Britain and was opposed by the increasing
numbers of British (Irish) immigrants and Empire Loyalists from the
US.  There was also a self-rule movement in the Maritimes.
Remember, at this time, Canada existed as essentially 8 different
colonies each under different forms of rule (from the Chartered
Company rule of the Hudson's Bay Company over the Northwest
Territories and over Vancouver Island and British Columbia until the
gold rush) to the various forms of semi-independent colonial
regimes in the Maritimes and Upper and Lower Canada.

3.  The rise of the free trade (anti-corn law) movement in Britain
meant the end of colonial preference for Canada's major staple
industries -- end of timber preferences, end of the corn laws, end of
the navigation acts -- completely gutted the "commercial empire of
the St. Lawrence," the merchant-capitalist system based on
exports to Britain, the leading one being timber.  US grain shipped
through Canada was given preference as Canadian grain and with
that, Canadian merchants had financed canal and railway systems
(1840s-1850s) backed by British bondholders.  This all came
crashing down with the end of the Br. Imperial System.  The
Canadian colonies were told to go on their own and the British tried
to negotiate the cheapest deal possible.

4.  The Canadian alternative was to a. join the US; b, negotiate a
'free trade agreement'; c. amalgamate into an independent country.
 B. was tried but the US repudiated the treaty as a result of the civil
war.  A. was rejected by the Canadian population.  C was the final
result with the formation of Canada with the British North America
Act of 1867.  Confederation was the compromise solution of
domestic commercial-financial capital.  To the extent there was
any industrial capital interest it was tied up with the railways which
were financed in Britain but run for the benefit of Canadian
commercial capital.

The evolution of industrial capital is a much more complicated
question but really post-dates Canadian 'independence'.  However,
this is the subject of a major debate of interpretation of Canadian
development which I won't go into here.

Paul Phillips

Date sent:      	Sat, 13 Apr 2002 12:31:55 -0700
From:           	Michael Perelman <michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject:        	[PEN-L:24882] Re: RE: Re: Argentina, Australia and Canada
To:             	pen-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Send reply to:  	pen-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

> Louis tells us that that the British behaved differently toward Argentina
> than Canada.  Why?  Was it because the settlers were ethnically different
> in Argentina from those in Canada?  Did Britain have to behave differently
> toward Commonwealth countries?
>
> Paul, could you give us a brief outline of the answer?
>
> I also enclosed a quote from very interesting book that I know Lou has
> read.
>
> Drayton, Richard. 2000. Nature's Government: Science, Imperial
> Britain, and the "Improvement" of the World (New Haven: Yale
> University Press).
> 104: The American Revolution taught the British that they should
> desire colonies with dissimilar climates to their own so that the
> colonies with the complements rather than competitors.
>
>
> --
>
> Michael Perelman
> Economics Department
> California State University
> Chico, CA 95929
>
> Tel. 530-898-5321
> E-Mail michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>