1853 Andrews Map of the Maritime Provinces

A rare, beautiful and gigantic map of the Canadian Maritime Provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Prince Edwards Island. Also includes much of Quebec and parts of New York and New England. Depicts from Quebec City and the mouth of the St. Lawrence River eastward to the Maritime Provinces. Offers magnificient detail with regard to the towns, cities, and rivers systems of this area. Prepared by Henry Pearley for Israel D. Andrews' Report to the Secretary of the Treasury.

Cartographers

Israel de Wolfe Andrews (1813 - February 17, 1871) was an American consul, special agent, lobbyist, and sometime smuggler. He served as Consul of the United States for Canada and New Brunswick from 1851 to 1854. Little is known of his youth, but from the earliest, his life straddled the border between the United States and British Canada. His birthplace is contested: either he was born in Eastport, Maine, or he was born in New Brunswick, and later naturalized as a United States citizen. He maintained family ties in New Brunswick, however, and these led to an early career as a smuggler. His history appears to have forged in him a strong conviction: that the geographical opportunities afforded by the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence and their reach into the west had been unjustly impeded by the historical accidents that had placed these two arteries in the hands of separate governments, and that these impediments ought to be bypassed (by smuggling) or removed (by political cooperation, ideally by the political unification of the United States and British Canada). His past was shady; he spent time in debtors' prison on more than one occasion. Andrews' appointment as a consul in Saint John in 1843 seems abrupt, unless his role as a smuggler was itself seen as a credential for research on the problems associated with illicit trade across the United States' northern and maritime borders. Almost right away, his regular demands for budget increases as consul and special agent attracted accusations of fraud, until his discovery of a confidential letter concerning British fishing concessions earned him favor with then-Secretary of State and future president James Buchanan. His hand appears everywhere in the eventual creation of the Reciprocity Treaty of 1854. He defined the treaty's content, assisted in its negotiation, and lobbied for its ratification. The American demands of the treaty had been formulated by Andrews as early as 1848, in a letter addressed to Buchanan. He was on hand for drafting the treaty in 1853. Andrews' two reports, in his capacity as a special agent to the Treasury Department,  were intended to rally support in Congress. He caused favorable articles on reciprocity to be published in the press and lobbied executive branch members personally. He also was able to bring pressure to bear on influential people in the British Maritime provinces, including Moses Henry Perley (whose son, Henry F. Perley, produced the map accompanying his 1853 report to Congress). Andrews spent lavishly (lobbying or bribes) to encourage the treaty, between fifty and sixty thousand dollars for the American Government, and forty thousand for the Canadians, which has led contemporaries and historians alike to condemn him as a grifter. The ratification of the treaty led to Andrews' 1855 appointment as American Consul General to the British North American provinces, an office created by the treaty. He would hold the post until his resignation in 1857, thereafter continuing to lobby for the treaty against efforts to terminate it and to promote North American unification. He received an honorary MA from Yale in 1858. He died February 17, 1871, in Boston, reputedly due to alcoholism.   Further Details...

Henry F. Perley (1831 - July 15, 1897) was a Canadian surveyor and engineer working in the later part of the 19th century. His parents were Moses Henry Perley and Jane (Ketchum) Perley at St. John, New Brunswick, Canada. Perley attended Kings College of Engineering, which is today the University of New Brunswick, Canada. Pearly entered public service in 1848, and was employed up to the summer of 1852 in the exploratory surveys for a proposed system of railroads. In the fall of 1852, he became employed by Messrs. Petto, Betts, and Brassy on surveys in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and remained with the firm until 1856 working on the construction of the Grand Trunk Railway. He left the firm in 1856 to again work for the public good, working as the Resident Engineer on the European and North American Railway between St. John and Shellac, a position which he held until the line was finished in 1860. Perley engaged in private practice from 1861 until 1863. In May 1863, Perley entered the service of the Government of Nova Scotia, working as Provincial Engineer until August 1865, when he resigned to accept a position with Messrs. Kelk, Waring Brothers, and Lucas, who were contractors for the construction of the Metropolitan Extension (underground) Railway, London, England. After completing this project, Perley returned to New Brunswick, and took charge of work in connection with improving the freighting facilities of the Government railways of the province and the construction of the deep water terminus and extension line at St. John. In May 872, Perley was appointed the Engineer in charge of harbors, etc., in the Maritime Provinces for the Department of Public Works, a position he held until the end of 1879, when he was named Chief Engineer of Public Works. Perley retired in 1891, only to be reemployed by the Department of Public Works as an Engineer, a position he held until his death. He worked as the Chief Engineer of the 800 meter St. Peter's Canal, on Cape Breton Island, and also designed the dry dock in Kingston, Ontario and docks in British Columbia, among many other important Canadian engineering projects.   Further Details...

Source

Communication from the Secretary of the Treasury, transmitting in compliance with a resolution of the Senate of March 8, 1851, the Report of Israel D. Andrews, consul of the United States for Canada and New Brunswick on the Trade and Commerce of the British North American Colonies, and upon the Trade of the Great Lakes and Rivers; also, notices of the internal imporvements in each state, of the Gulf of Mexico and the Straits of Florida, and a Paper on the Cotton Crop of the United States., (1853 editon).    

Condition

Very good condition. Minor discoloration along original foldlines. Professionally flattened, restored, and backed on linen.

References

Univesity of Delaware, Box 1 Folder 3, 03001 h. Stevens, Henry, Catalogue of the American Books in the Library of the British Museum at Christmas MDCCCLVI, p. 5.