Israel De Wolf Andrews was a diplomat and politician who served as U. S. Consul General for Canada.
Background
Israel De Wolf Andrews was born of Nova Scotian parents, Israel and Elizabeth, either in Campobello, New Brunswick, or in nearby Eastport, Maine, probably in 1813, although his death certificate indicates 1820. His paternal grandfather had emigrated from Danvers, Massachussets, in 1738 and married Elizabeth DeWolf, for whose family it is claimed Wolfville, Nova Scotia, was named.
Of Andrews' life before 1849 and after 1856 almost nothing is known.
Education
From records it is known that he studied in Yale.
Career
He was serving as American consul in New Brunswick when in 1849 Secretary of State John Clayton appointed him a special agent to gather statistical information concerning the commerce of all British North America. The St. Lawrence River provinces were at the time suffering from an acute depression caused in part by the repeal of those British trade and navigation laws which gave preference to colonial enterprise. Canadian exporters, facing a permanent loss in the British market, sought greater access to the American.
As special agent, Andrews traveled extensively, assembled data for an exhaustive report, and established contact in both countries with those whose interests would be served by reciprocity. He remained in the service of the American government and in 1851-1852 prepared two further reports, one on Canadian trade, and one on the navigation and commerce of the St. John River. Despite his official position, Andrews acted freely as a self-appointed promoter of reciprocity.
Shuttling back and forth across the border, he solicited the support of chambers of commerce, arranged the publication of sympathetic articles in the press, and sought to neutralize or convert the opposition.
From the Canadian government he secured secret support and as early as 1850 approached the British minister in Washington with a long memorandum and a request for funds to be spent in liquidating American opposition.
Andrews was the first to suggest a deal by which the United States would open its markets to Canadian products and secure in exchange privileges in the inshore fisheries of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. This proposal met with ready support in the St. Lawrence provinces, but in the maritime country, where protection of the fisheries was a fixed principle of public policy, determined opposition arose.
Sent thither by President Pierce in September 1853, he was provided with funds by the American and Canadian governments, and also, it appears, though not certainly, by the British. His accounts detail frankly an open-handed purchase of votes and editorial support. His work was fruitful, and when this obstacle was surmounted Andrews transferred the scene of operations to Washington, where the treaty was about to come before the Senate.
By generous entertainment and perhaps even by persuasive argument he allayed the fears of Southern senators who professed to believe that reciprocity presaged annexation of a large free and abolitionist territory. Andrews's usefulness as a promoter was freely conceded by those of his contemporaries who were in a position to judge of it; but his reputation was permanently clouded by the implication that he tried to collect from both Canadian and American governments reimbursement for identical expenses.
It is clear that he used the same vouchers for the two claims; his defense was, that for most of his "expenses" it was impossible to procure receipts. In any case he received altogether from known public and private sources at least $132, 000 against claims in excess of $200, 000.
It is clear that Andrews, while promoting reciprocity, incurred large debts; that they were wholly connected with outlay is perhaps doubtful. His efforts to collect from the American government were vain and he was repeatedly imprisoned for debt and more than once rescued by grateful committees of the Boston Board of Trade.
He was unable to resume his post as consul, and at length President Buchanan removed him. In later years he emerged from obscurity only as a tireless claimant and, in 1858, as recipient of an honorary degree of master of arts from Yale.
Unmarried, he died of chronic alcoholism in the Boston City Hospital in February 1871.
Achievements
Personality
Andrews had acute depression and serious problems with alcohol.