Query??? : why did Benhuron back up the seige and capture of St. James? [question asked by] Jeremiah El. Muth, chief rabbi
Subtitle: [answer] Because the Captains of the Host were Sons of St. Crispin, whom Benhuron delighteth to honor, for was not his father one? and did not he instil into his infant mind that in all sieges "there is nothing like leather?" [signed] A "Paddy", who wore brogues of his making
Publisher: publisher not identified
Published: 1858
Place of publication: United States?]
Language: eng
Subjects: Tariff; Political satire; Tarif douanier; Satire politique
Notes: Small broadside.

Possibly a political satire on a tariff policy relating to the importation of leather goods into Canada--possibly the Cayley-Galt tariff of 1858/59. Benhuron can be translated to mean Son of Huron (i.e. Huron County?); Cayley represented this area as a Member of Parliament in the 1850s. St. James is an American town in Missouri known for its leather manufactures. Jeremiah, one of the early prophets, was noted for preaching moral reform with threats of doom. El Muth refers to an obscure phrase in Psalms 9, Muth-labben, which some scholars suggest is an instruction that the Psalm be read as a dirge. St. Crispin is the patron saint of leather workers. Both American and British industry objected to the Cayley-Galt tariff, the first protective tariff in Canadian history. It imposed duties on imported manufactured goods of 20% and a duty of 10% on partially manufactured goods in an attempt to spur domestic manufacturing industries. The anger of the Americans played an important role in their 1866 repeal of the Reciprocity Treaty that had led to free trade in natural resources. The tariff was only a foretaste of the much more complete system of protection set up under the National Policy of 1879.