Chapter II: Part 2

But, my dear friend, I might go on this way for ever, pointing out town after town, and district after district, showing how the wealth and prosperity of each would go on rapidly increasing. I cannot, however, quit the subject without a passing word on Montreal, in which city I have passed many happy days, and from whose inhabitants I have received much kindness and civility. That noble city has already made some steady advances to a great capital, and the time cannot be far distant when she will rival even the most flourishing on the North American Continent. To her this proposed Railway would be highly important. She has shown that she already understands the value of such things; for not only has she a small one of her own to La-Chine, about seven miles up the river, but she has also, I understand, finished about thirty miles towards the Atlantic in the direction of Portland. The interest of these Companies would not of course be lost sight of, but their profits taken into the general calculation. The great Trunk Line of Railway would naturally, I conclude, go through a country some distance to the north of Montreal; but one of the most important termini must of necessity be at that city where the business of the Government is carried on, and where of course a general Railway Communication with every town and district would be established. Toronto would naturally be considered in the manner in which so loyal and devoted a city ought to be, and where was held, even to a very late period, the parliament of a great country, surrendered only to her sister Montreal on public considerations and for the general good;[see Note 62] and the Main Line of Railway should be brought as near Toronto as the communication between the Atlantic and Pacific (its great object and principal view) would permit. Hamilton, Kingston, Byetown and several other places must not consider themselves neglected, if not herein specially mentioned; but in fact as regards these Colonies, the song of your friend, the Clockmaker, about them cannot be sung too often. "Oh Squire! if John Bull only knew the value of these Colonies, he would be a great man, I tell you,--but he don't." Truly do I hope that I may now sing to them with confidence,--

"There's a good time coming yet,
Wait a little longer."

In your conversation with the Clockmaker you have observed, "it is painful to think of the blunders that have been committed from time to time in the management of our Colonies, and of the gross ignorance or utter disregard of their interests that has been displayed in treaties with foreign powers. Fortunately for the Mother Country, the Colonists are warmly attached to her and her institutions, and deplore a separation too much to agitate questions, however important, that may have a tendency to weaken their affections by arousing their passions." Should the Government of Great Britain, upon whose consideration will be forced the present situation of her Colonies, consider it right to give their support to this proposed Atlantic and Pacific Railway for the reasons herein explained, or from any other cause,--the great benefit that Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and the Canadas will derive from having open to them a free and easy access to the Atlantic and the Pacific, will, I trust, occasion such an activity of mind and such an employment of matter, that in the general good arising therefrom, all thoughts of former ill treatment or unkindness from the Mother Country will soon be forgotten.

The great question, however, is, and will be on all sides, Where is the money to come from?[see Note 56] and that question I am weak enough to fancy is easily answered. Let us consider this subject a little. Let us remember, first, that England expended 630 millions during nineteen years in war, and, notwithstanding which expenditure, the country got richer and richer every day;[see Note 14] and if the country is not poorer now than it was in the years when it was able to raise the sum of 150 millions in a single year--the greater part of which it could afford to expend in one year in war, and grow richer all the time--surely such a country can afford to expend some few millions for the benefit of those colonies on account of whom she was lately ready to go to war, and on whose account she did actually expend about two millions, caused merely by the rebellion and disturbance of a few discontented spirits. But the money that England would be called upon to advance in the proposed undertaking would secure to her not only the attachment of her children in the North American provinces, by making it as well their worldly interest, as it is their natural feeling and wish, to remain Englishmen; but that money, and the interest of that money, could be secured to her by proper arrangements being entered into with the Hudson's Bay Company, and with the North American provinces, and be ultimately reimbursed to her by the formation of the proposed Company.

Up to the present moment England has, I believe, only expended the sum of L148,000,000 on her Railways, and, I believe, nearly 5000 miles are finished; and on an average these Railways are said to give a return of about four per cent., and "with the increase of the national wealth and population, and with the increase of habits of social inter-communication and the transit of goods, the traffic on Railways would increase, and the profits and dividends would not be less but greater; and in the case of some of them, no man would pretend to say how great might be the increase of dividends from the improved and economical modes of working Railways, which, there is every reason to believe, will day by day be freshly discovered." [_Bradshaw's Almanack, 1849_]. And who will say that L200,000,000 expended (even should such a sum as that be required) in making a Railway Road from the Atlantic to the Pacific through our own territories, and therefore completely under our own controul, would not increase by a tenfold degree the value of that property already expended in England? When the Railways now in contemplation at home are finished, their total length will, I believe, be about 10,000 miles, and the expenditure between 200 and 240 millions. The length of the Railway proposed to go through our colonies may be spoken of roughly as at about 4000 miles; but when we take into consideration the relative value of land in England and our colonies, and a thousand other Railway contingencies in a highly civilized country, creating enormous legal, legislative and other expenses, we naturally come to the conclusion that the outlay per mile must of course be considerably diminished in the colonies. Taking it, however, at the English expenditure of L24,000 a mile on the average, it would only cost L96,000,000;[see Note 32]--L5,000,000 has been estimated as sufficient for six hundred miles of Railway from Halifax to Quebec. But calling it L100,000,000, and supposing the work to be five years completing, that would only be at the rate of L20,000,000 a year, the interest of which at five per cent. would be L1,000,000. Surely, then, such a sum as that could be easily raised, even by the Hudson's Bay Company alone, upon the security of their extensive and valuable territory. For so great a difference would soon arise between the value of that territory as it is now--merely the abode of Indians and hunters--and what it would be then; with its clearings, its improvements, its roads, its trade, its manufactures, and its towns, that any amount of debt almost might be incurred. But our loyal colonies would no doubt equally enter into securities to England, and be glad, in fact, to share their chance of the profit; for these colonies, as well as the Hudson's Bay Company, would be immense gainers. Still it may be argued, that unless it can be shown that England herself would be a gainer, she would not be justified in advancing any money on such an undertaking. Let us, then, consider this point a little. Mr. Cobden has asserted (what some of our public journals confess to be true), "that if the revenue had fallen off, it was because the balance sheet of the merchants and the manufacturers had fallen off likewise." If then we show by the undertaking of such a work as is now proposed, the balance sheets of the merchants and manufacturers must increase immensely, we surely make out a case for the good of the country generally, as far as revenue is concerned.

Let us then first consider, that "So interwoven and complicated are the fibres which form the texture of the highly civilized and artificial community in which we live, that an effect produced on any one point is instantly transmitted to the most remote and apparently unconnected parts of the system." And again--"The exportation of labourers and capital from the old to the new countries, from a place where their productive power is less to a place where it is greater, increases by so much the aggregate produce of the labour and capital of the world."

Now, with regard to the first remark, the effect that would be produced by the necessary exportation of all the machinery for the making and working of this Atlantic and Pacific Railway, would of course produce, even in England, a very great increase both to the productive power and to the consumption of a variety of articles apparently unconnected with the affairs of the Railway; and when, again, we look to the necessary exportation of labourers and of capital to the towns on the Line of the Railway where there is less productive power at work, by increasing that dormant power we shall increase the aggregate capital of the world, and consequently that of England. Again--"Could we suddenly double the productive power of the country, we should double the supply of the commodities in every market, but we should by the same stroke double the purchasing power--every body would bring a double demand as well as supply--every body would be able to buy twice as much, as he would have twice as much to offer in exchange." Also--"A country which produces for a larger market than its own, can introduce a more extended division of labour--can make a greater use of machinery, and is more likely to make inventions and improvements in the progress of production." Again--"Whatever causes a greater quantity of any thing to be produced in the same place, tends to the general increase of the productive powers of the world." Now it surely will not be denied, that the undertaking of this National Railway would cause in England a greater quantity of machinery to be made and exported to the North American provinces, thus producing for it a larger market than the home, and causing a greater quantity to be made--thus a general increase of the productive powers of the world must be produced; and as "wealth may be defined as all useful or agreeable things which possess exchangeable value," it necessarily follows that the immense increase that would be given to the productive powers of England, to those of her North American provinces, and of the Hudson's Bay territory, by an undertaking on such an extensive scale, if it did not completely, would nearly double these powers; and as whoever brings additional commodities to market brings additional power to purchase, it follows that the inhabitants of our North American provinces, and of the Hudson's Bay territory, would be enabled to take nearly twice the quantity of our manufactured goods.

Lord Stanley, in moving an amendment to the Address from the Throne, says: "the exports of the six principal articles of British industry, cotton, wool, linen, silk, hardware and earthenware, exhibit a diminution as compared with 1847, of no less than four millions, and as compared with 1846, of five millions;" such being the case, it becomes highly important to consider the cause of this falling off, with a view to a remedy, and some great measures must be adopted towards our own colonies that will enable them to receive a greater quantity of manufactured goods from the mother country,--and this great Railway is suggested as one that would increase the productive power and population of our North American colonies, and a consequent increasing necessity for hardware and earthenware, to say nothing even of the other articles of British industry, or of the facility of communicating with our other Colonies.

These few remarks will suffice to show that the balance sheets of the merchants, and consequently of the revenue of England, as well as the capital of individuals, must increase immensely during the construction of and at the completion of the proposed undertaking. Mr. Montgomery Martin has stated that "Railways are the very grandest organization of labour and capital that the world has ever seen:" that "the capital actually invested in Railways advanced from L65,000,000 in 1843 to L167,000,000 in 1848--no less than L100,000,000 in five years." And why should we not look forward to an equal--aye--and to a much larger investment--on such a magnificent Line of Railway? joining, as it would, all the northern dominions of the old world--crossing, as it would, the northern territories of the new, and making an easy opening to the rich and thriving world that may be considered of the present day. For "the word has been given, an active and enterprising population will be poured in, every element of progress will be cultivated, and the productive countries on the shores of the Pacific, heretofore isolated, will be brought into active and profitable intercourse. It may truly be said that a new world has been opened.

"Our fathers watched the progress of America, we ourselves have seen that of Australia, but the opening of the Pacific is one of the greatest events in social history since, in the fifteenth century, the East Indies were made known to Europe; for we have not, as in America or Australia, to await the slow growth of European settlements, but to witness at once the energetic action of countries already in a high state of advancement. The Eastern and the Western shores of the great Ocean will now be brought together as those of the Atlantic are, and will minister to each other's wants. A happy coincidence of circumstances has prepared the way for these results. Everything was ready, the word only was wanted to begin, and it has been given.

"The outflowings of Chinese emigrants and produce, which have gone towards the East, will now move to the West; the commercial enterprise of Australia and New Zealand has acquired a new field of exercise and encouragement; the markets which Chili and Peru have found in Europe only, will be opened nearer to their doors; the north-west shore of America will obtain all the personal and material means of organization; the Islands of the Pacific will take the place in the career of civilization for which the labours of the missionary have prepared them; and even Japan will not be able to withhold itself from the community of nations.

"This is worth more to our merchants and manufacturers, and to the people employed by them, than even the gold mines can be; for this is the statement of certain results, and the working of the gold mines, however productive they may prove, must be attended with all the incidents of irregularity and uncertainty, and great commercial disadvantages."--(_Wyld's Geographical Notes._)

Surely then there would be no difficulty with Parliament to encourage and facilitate the formation of an Atlantic and Pacific Railway Company, by obtaining its sanction to the loan of L150,000,000 in such sums as might be required (to be issued under the sanction of a board appointed for that special purpose), particularly when it is recollected that the expense of the greater part of her own convicts could be provided for by that advance.

It will easily be seen that it would be impossible to complete this Atlantic and Pacific Railway, without at the same time giving great encouragement to the emigration of labour; and this "is only practicable when its cost is defrayed _or at least advanced by others_, than the labourers themselves. Who then is to advance it? Naturally it may be said, the capitalists of the colony, who require the labour, and who intend to profit by it. But to this there is the obstacle, that a capitalist, after going to the expense of carrying out labourers, has no security that he shall be the person to derive any benefit from them." To those who would object to Government interference in a case like the present, we can only say, in the words of Mr. Mill, that "the question of Government intervention in the work of colonization involves the future and permanent interests of civilization itself, and far outstretches the comparatively narrow limits of purely economical considerations; but, even with a view to these considerations alone, the removal of population from the overcrowded to the unoccupied parts of the earth's surface, is one of those works of eminent social usefulness which most require, and which at the same time will best repay, the intervention of Government." "No individual or body of individuals _could_ reimburse themselves for these expenses." Government, on the contrary, _could_ take from the increasing wealth _caused by the construction of this Railway and consequent great emigration, the fraction which would suffice to repay with interest the money advanced_. These remarks apply equally to the governments of the North American provinces as to those of the Hudson's Bay Company and Great Britain.[see Note 57]

Let us now personify our Atlantic and Pacific Railway, and endeavour more immediately to apply some of the reasoning as regards colonization to the money part of the question as regards the Railway. As regards colonization the question--Who is to advance the money? has, I think, been very clearly answered by Mr. Mill. As regards the undertaking of this Railway, and the answer to the question, Where is the money to come from? let us first suppose then that "there is an increase of the quantity of money, caused by the arrival of a foreigner in a place with a treasure of gold and silver; when he commences expending it, he adds to the supply of money and by the same act to the demand for goods. If he expends his funds in establishing a manufactory, he will raise the price of labour and materials; but, at the higher prices, more money will pass into the hands of the sellers of these different articles; and they, whether labourers or dealers, having more money to lay out, will create an increased demand for all things which they are accustomed to purchase, and these accordingly will rise in price, and so on, until the rise has reached every thing." Now let us for a moment suppose this foreigner to be represented by our friend the Atlantic and Pacific Railway, (imagined, for the sake of our argument, to be completed), and we will no longer consider him a foreigner, but a brother. This brother, on his arrival in England finds that he has unfortunately forgotten to bring with him his purse, that in fact he has neither gold nor silver, the representatives of wealth, and here, be it remembered, that wealth is any thing useful or agreeable, and that money is a commodity. We will then suppose this North American brother to say, My good brother of England, I am here without gold or silver, or without any kind of wealth; the commodities I have left behind me are of such a nature, that without much labour I could not put them in such a shape as would enable me to bring them to this country, nor could I obtain silver or gold enough to represent them; unless, therefore, I send some labouring people and machinery to my country, I am afraid I cannot obtain all the commodities I wish to have. Now you have plenty of spare labourers, and plenty of spare machinery and other useful materials, and for which you would be glad to receive valuable commodities in my country; and if you will only send the labourers and machinery out, I will order that in return you shall be allowed to bring away all the useful and agreeable things, that is, all the wealth that may be found, and have the use of such things as you may prefer to keep in my country. Now if you will make this agreement with me, I will return with you to my native land, and will not only assist you to obtain all these commodities, but I will engage also to pay you a certain annual income out of my saving; and I will show you the short way to the most extensive region of wealth ever known to any nation in the world; and you can then travel that road, so that at no future period (at least within the imagination of man) shall you ever again complain of too great a population on your soil, or too small a market for your labour.

Then the good brother of England says to this Atlantic and Pacific brother,--We believe all you say of your wealth, and we see the great advantage it would be to us to partake of it, and to have the command of the road you point out, but what security are we to have that when our labourers and machinery are sent to your country they will be employed; and if you have neither gold nor silver nor other commodities ready to give us in exchange for the work and the articles, how are we to pay the people to prepare the machinery, and all our other labourers, whose wages would in England of course become higher, as they would be less in number, and there would be a greater quantity of work to be done. The brothers, in talking over this matter, discovered that "credit is indispensable, for rendering the whole capital of the country productive. It is also the means by which the industrial talent of the country is turned to most account for purposes of production. Many a person who has no capital of his own, or very little, but who has qualifications for business, which are known and appreciated by some person of capital, is enabled to obtain either advances of money, or more frequently goods, on credit, by which his industrial capacities are made instrumental in the increase of public wealth." The Pacific and Atlantic brother observed,--This is exactly my case. Only give me credit, and I will bind myself on my own personal security to give up whatever portion of my annual income you may consider necessary; and I will also secure the money advanced by you on my land, on the minerals thereof, and in any other way that may be deemed necessary. My brother of the Atlantic and Pacific Railway, says the Englishman, you have nearly convinced me; we will immediately appoint friends to draw up all the necessary agreements between us, that will enable me, if possible, to advance you such labour and machinery as may be required; and we will also proceed to appoint other friends, who shall take into consideration, in the first place, the expense incurred from your birth to a state of manhood, and the annual income that is derived from your business and your property; and leaving you sufficient to maintain yourself as a gentleman, we shall appropriate to ourselves whatever may remain, as a reward for our exertions and the risk to be incurred, and as a security for the interest of the money expended upon your account. The brothers having thus agreed in a general way, proceed immediately to appoint friends and to call upon their good old mother, Great Britain, to advance the money required, and their North American relations, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Canada, and Hudson's Bay, to come forward and make a general family treaty for the security and payment of such advances. The brothers were then congratulating themselves on what they considered the success of their project, when it was whispered to them that something of a similar plan had been proposed for their relation Ireland, by one "whose loss is too great to be slighted, and too recent not to be felt;" and it had been suggested that for every L100 expended on Railways in that country, L200 should be lent by Government; upon which occasion it had been observed by one who has greatly influenced, whether for good or evil, will be hereafter known, the destinies of the British Empire, that "the public credit of the State is one of the elements of our financial strength, and that it was not possible to appropriate a great portion of that public credit to the encouragement of commercial enterprises, without, to the same extent, foregoing the power to apply that public credit in another direction, in the event of the national exigencies requiring you to do so." The brothers replied, this is certainly true; but the proposed undertaking is not a commercial enterprise, although no doubt it would produce great commercial and colonizing results; but it is a grand national work,--a desideratum that has been wished for, looked for, and cared for, ever since the new world was discovered--that has repeatedly called forth great expenditure of money, great suffering, and loss of life in searching for it, to the north. It is, in short, the great high road between the Atlantic and Pacific--the expense of making which you are called upon to consider.

As regards Ireland, another bold measure has been suggested for that country; without giving any opinion upon it, I cannot help asking why we should not be as bold in peace as we were in war. Must we wait until

"The news is, sir, the Voices are in arms;
_Then indeed_--we shall have means to vent
Our musty superfluity?"

"Without raising one shilling out of the Exchequer," says Lucius (see _Morning Post, Jan. 31st_), "boldly apply the national credit to relieve the national distress; at once authorize the Bank of Ireland, or a bank to be created for that purpose, to issue twenty or thirty millions in aid of the landed proprietors; secondly, for the judicious encouragement of emigration, transplant those who cannot earn a subsistence at home to a comfortable settlement in our colonies, and to promote such mercantile or other undertakings, let the notes issued be made legal tenders for all payments whatever, and let the entire soil of Ireland be pledged for their ultimate security." Far be it from me to give any opinion on what is best to be done for Ireland, but certain I feel that what is here proposed and suggested regarding an Atlantic and Pacific Railway could not interfere with any plan Government might think right to adopt for the regeneration of Ireland, unless indeed by greatly facilitating all emigration plans and permanent employment.

But, independently of all this money question, "there is the strongest obligation on the government of a country like our own, with a crowded population and unoccupied continents under its command, to build as it were and keep open a bridge from the mother country to those continents." Let us reflect that "the economical advantages of commerce are surpassed in importance by those of its effects, which are intellectual and moral. It is hardly possible to overrate the value, for the improvement of human beings, of things which bring them in contact with persons dissimilar to themselves, and with modes of thought and action unlike those with which they are familiar. Commerce is now what war once was--the principal source of this contact. Commercial adventurers from more advanced countries have generally been the first civilizers of barbarians, and commerce is the purpose of the far greater part of the communication which takes place between civilized nations. It is commerce which is rapidly rendering war obsolete, by strengthening and multiplying the personal interest which is in natural opposition to it."--(_Mill, Polit. Econ._) In whatever point of view, therefore, we regard this subject--whether as one of duty by providing the means of healthy and legitimate employment to our numerous artificers and labourers now in a state of destitution--a domestic calamity likely to be often inflicted upon us--unless new fields, easy of access, are made permanently open to our continually increasing population--and "it would be difficult to show that it is not as much the duty of rulers to provide, as far as they can, for the removal of a domestic calamity, as it is to guard the people entrusted to their care from foreign outrage"--will they "slumber till some great emergency, some dreadful economic or other crisis, reveals the capacities of evil which the volcanic depths of our society may now hide under but a deep crust?"--or whether we view it as a means of assisting any general system in the penal code--or whether we view it as a point of individual or government interest, by turning all that extra-productive power, now idle, in the direction of our own colonies, and thus connecting and attaching them more strongly to the mother country--increasing their wealth, their power and our own:--or whether we consider it in a moral and religious point of view, as affording greater and quicker facilities for the spread of education and the Gospel of Christ[see Note 58]--or whether we look upon it as an instrument for the increase of commerce, and (as an important consequence) the necessarily directing men's minds, with the bright beams of hope from their own individual and immediate distress, as well as from the general excitement and democratic feeling and spirit of contention showing itself amongst many nations (an object greatly to be desired) for--

"The times are wild....
....Every minute now
_May_ be the father of some stratagem;"

--or whether we look at it in a political point of view, as keeping open to us at all times, without the necessity of interference with other nations or of war, a great high road to most of our colonial possessions, and particularly to India--viewing it then in any one of these points, who can doubt for a moment the beneficial results that must attend such an undertaking. But when all these considerations are taken together, we must repeat what we said in a former page, that it is a grand and a noble undertaking, and that it must be accomplished by Great Britain and her colonies.

Let us reflect, lastly, my dear friend, that "the world now contains several extensive regions, provided with various ingredients of wealth, in a degree of abundance of which former ages had not even an idea." Your native land, and the other North American provinces, have, even by their own exertions, made rapid advances in wealth, accompanied by moral and intellectual attainments, and can look forward at no very distant period (if even left to their own exertions) to be enabled to take a very prominent position in the affairs of the world. But the Hudson's Bay Company's territory is still nearly in its primitive state, and much indeed is to be expected from its advancement, when it shall have taken its proper station in the general trade and commerce of mankind; the position of Vancouver's Island is such that there is little reason to doubt its wealth and consequence will place it high in the scale of England's offspring.[see Note 59]

But, my dear friend, unless your mind has become as fully impressed as my own with the vast importance of this great Railway undertaking, I shall only tire you the more and detain you to no purpose by dwelling longer on the subject; and indeed even should your mind be satisfied with the importance of the work, it may yet conceive it to be of an impracticable nature. "Who (I have been asked) in the living generation would be reimbursed for the outlay? and without that, who will undertake a national work, however grand or remunerative to future ages?" To this I answer fearlessly, that thousands of human beings of the present generation would benefit by the outlay; that the employment would be a quite sufficiently lucrative one and visibly so, as to induce the English capitalist to come forward and undertake the formation of a Company; for even at this moment Railways are in contemplation,[see Note 40] if not actually commenced, from Halifax to Quebec and from New Brunswick to Halifax; and how much more would these Lines be paying Lines when they had also an opening to the Pacific! But no individual nor combination of individuals could have sufficient influence with, or, if they had the influence, could have the necessary power to induce, the Hudson's Bay Company to open its territories, and to enter into all the arrangements and all the agreements that would be necessary to be made with that Company, with England, and with the North American Colonies, before a work affecting the interests of so many could be commenced.

It is necessary then that Government should take the initiative, and it is not uncommon for her so to do in all great national works, such as roads, surveys, expeditions either for the objects of science or commerce; such as those sent to discover the north-west passage, upon which thousands have been spent,[see Note 44] and on account of which, at this very moment, England has to deplore, in all probability, the loss of many a noble son, whose relatives have been for so long a time kept in all the agony of suspense. Upon no other description of work would Great Britain be required to advance a single penny; but the very fact of her undertaking what may be considered legitimate expenses of a government, the survey and marking out the whole Line, the entering into treaties with her Colonies and the Hudson's Bay Company for the general security of the money, and for the interest for a certain number of years of the capital of the Company, would give such a confidence to the public mind, that a very short time would bring into full operation in that direction, sufficient of the power and wealth of England to accomplish the work; and when accomplished, Government would still hold a lien upon it until she was reimbursed every penny. And, let me ask, are there not a thousand expenditures that have been undertaken by Government for which no reimbursement has ever taken place; and are not individuals every day risking their capital and their accumulation of savings, in speculations in foreign lands,[see Note 61] when the result of those past connections have been such as to lead the Minister of Foreign Affairs, even in his place in the House of Commons, to hold out as it were a threat to the whole world, if England's children did not receive their due. Surely it would be more prudent, more politically wise, and more economical, for Government to encourage the expenditure of our own capital in our own Colonies.

Sitting in his arm chair, in his office in London, the Minister of Great Britain can now convey his thoughts, his wishes, his commands, in a few moments to every part of England and Scotland, and will soon be enabled to do so to Ireland.[see Note 66] He can send the soldiers, horse and foot, as well as the artillery of Great Britain, flying through the land at almost any rate he wishes. And all heavy stores and goods of the merchants can be easily forwarded at about twopence, and even, I believe, a penny a mile per ton, and at about twenty miles an hour; and a penny a letter now enables every individual in England to communicate, at almost every hour, with his distant friends and relations; the post office itself travelling at a rate and with an ease little to be comprehended by those who have not witnessed it. The result of such immense wealth and such enormous power is more than is required for England, and would necessarily carry with it its own destruction, was not her empire one which encircles the world.

Let the minister then who guides and directs the wealth and power above described, and in whose hands the destinies and happiness of thousands are placed, picture to himself the encouragement that would be given to British industry and British enterprize, if, at ten days distance from her shores, a port was established from which he would be enabled to send across the Continent of America his thoughts, his wishes, and his commands, with the same speed at which they now travel throughout England; and if these thoughts, wishes and commands would reach every one of our own Colonies in the Pacific in about fifteen days after leaving the western shore of North America; and if from the same port (ten days distance from England) could also be despatched the troops of Great Britain, if unfortunately necessary, travelling at the rate before described; if heavy stores and merchants' goods could also be enabled to cross the Continent of America, at the same price and at the same speed as they now travel in England; if the post office system could also be introduced, and if letters at a penny each might pass between relation and relation, between friend and friend from England to her most distant Colonies--if her children gone forth to colonize could then either return or communicate their every wish to England in less than a month; and reclining in his own arm chair, reflecting as he ought to do and must do upon the power and wealth of England, let him not say that all here described is not easily within her reach. Let him rather consider the subject with a view to become the Leader of the Country in such a noble work. If it is a bold work, let him remember that fortune favours the brave.--"Si secuta fuerit, quod debet Fortuna, gaudebimus omnes, sin minus, ego tamen gaudebo."

And now, my dear friend, whose patience I have so long taxed, it is time that we should part--

"Whether we shall meet again I know not;
If we do meet again--why we shall smile.
If not, for ever and for ever farewell."

Believe me,

Ever your's,

Sincerely and faithfully attached,

ROBERT CARMICHAEL-SMYTH.

JUNIOR UNITED SERVICE CLUB,
_February, 1849._

CONCLUSION.

The last correction for the press was scarcely finished, when "Canada in 1848" was put into my hands. Had I, a month ago, seen that little pamphlet, written as it is with so much spirit and ability, I should hardly, perhaps, have felt sufficiently inclined to have suggested one Line of Railway, in opposition to the views of its talented author. I trust I need scarcely assure Lieut. Synge, that in any observations I have made upon Canals, I had no reference whatever to his grand scheme,--nor the least intention of treating lightly his magnificent project, of which, until a day or two ago, I did not even know the existence. I cannot now, however, let my Letter to my friend the Author of the Clockmaker go forth to the public, without availing myself of the opportunity thus afforded me, of bringing also to the notice of those who read that letter "the existing resources of British North America," so fully and powerfully pointed out by Lieut. Millington Henry Synge, of the Royal Engineers. Educated myself at Woolwich, and having served for seven years in his sister corps, the Artillery, I feel proud and happy that there are so many points upon which we can and do agree. There are some, however, and one in particular most important, on which we are completely at issue. Lieut. Synge says, "A ship annually arrives at Fort York for the service of the Hudson's Bay Company; who can tell how many may eventually do so?" Now my wish is that the one "annually" arriving may never have again to travel that Bay, _whose climate in winter and summer is horrible_. I shall say no more on this subject at present; but I strongly recommend all those who have condescended to read and reflect upon the foregoing pages, to read and reflect also upon what has been written by Lieut. Synge. His pamphlet has afforded me the greatest possible pleasure. The manner in which (p. 5) he speaks of the people of the Colonies is completely in unison with my own expressed feelings; and all the arguments that he brings forward in favour of the great work upon which he has evidently thought so much, and in his pamphlet so clearly explained, bear equally in favour of the suggested Railway. He states that there is "a field open to almost an illimitable capital of labour; that the systematic development of the resources of British North America will, so far from being a drain upon Great Britain, be of immediate advantage to her. That such development entails a natural, enduring, and perfect union between Great Britain and that part of her empire in North America. That completeness of communication, including facility, rapidity, and security, is indeed the true secret of the rapidity and completeness of the development of the country." These are the thoughts of Lieut. Synge, and I think I have already explained that they are equally mine. We have suggested different methods. Lieut. Synge wishes to improve the old Line of water communication; and Colonization would then be naturally confined to the banks of Rivers and of Lakes. A great Line of Railway communication would, on the other hand, be naturally of some distance from the River, and in many instances carried through the heart of the country, and thus serve as another main artery, in which would circulate the wealth of the empire, and on each side of which would be opened valuable land, on which settlers could locate without being lost, or disheartened by the solitude of the wilderness. Again, Lieut. Synge asks, "Is it not wonderful that no independent mail route exists, to give the British Provinces the benefit of the geographical position of Halifax. Is it not wonderful that there should be no interprovincial means of rapid communication?" Such are the questions of Lieut. Synge--and such questions, I trust, will soon be answered by a Colonial Minister--that a new era will soon be open for the Colonies--new life and energy be given to them. But time presses, and I must here conclude, with again assuring Lieut. Synge of the sincere pleasure with which I have read his pamphlet, and that I shall make use of such extracts as can be hastily added, in the shape of Notes, to my own Letter to the Author of the Clockmaker:--happy shall I be if we agree--

"Sul campo della gloria noi pugneremo a lato:
Frema o sorrida il fato vicino a te staro,
La morte o la vittoria con te dividero."

ROBERT CARMICHAEL-SMYTH.

JUNIOR UNITED SERVICE CLUB,
_February 28, 1849._

NOTES.

(1) The writer of this letter, when returning from Halifax to England in the spring of 1838, had the good fortune to take his passage in the same government packet with the author of the Clockmaker, who was proceeding to England with the second series of that work: and afterwards, when paying a momentary visit to Halifax in the winter of 1844, he experienced the high gratification of knowing, by the very kind reception he met with, that he had not been forgotten neither, by his Compagnons de voyage, Haliburton and Howe, nor by the other kind and highly valued friends he had formerly made in that city.

(2) The history and particulars of this canal are well known at Halifax, and Samuel P. Fairbanks, Esq. (Master of the Rolls at Nova Scotia) brought to England with him in the Tyrian all the plans, maps, &c. connected with that canal, and was, I believe, sent as a representative of the parties connected with the work, in the hope that he might be able to induce the government to advance sufficient money for its completion. The fine large locks of this canal remain to tell the tale of money sunk in an unfinished work. No encouragement certainly to canal speculations.

(3) "The distance, as I make it, from Bristol to New York Lighthouse, is 3037 miles; from Bristol to Halifax Lighthouse is 2479; from Halifax Light to New York Light is 522 miles, in all 3001 miles; 558 miles shorter than New York Line, and even going to New York 36 miles shorter to stop at Halifax, than go to New York direct."--So says the Clockmaker in 1838.

(4) "Get your legislatur' to persuade Government to contract with the Great Western folks to carry the mail, and drop it in their way to New York; for you got as much and as good coal to Nova Scotia as England has, and the steam boats would have to carry a supply of 550 miles less, and could take in a stock at Halifax for the return voyage to Europe. If ministers won't do that, get 'em to send steam packets of their own, and you wouldn't be no longer an everlastin' outlandish country no more as you be now. And, more than that, you wouldn't lose all the best emigrants and all their capital."--_Clockmaker, 1838._

(5) "The communication by steam between Nova Scotia and England will form a new era in colonial history. It will draw closer the bonds of affection between the two countries, afford a new and extended field for English capital, and develope the resources of that valuable but neglected province. Mr. Slick, with his usual vanity, claims the honour of suggesting it, as well as the merit of having, by argument and ridicule, reasoned and shamed the Government into its adoption."--_Clockmaker, 1841._

(6) "In the Duke of Kent the Nova Scotians lost a kind patron and a generous friend. The loyalty of the people, which, when all America was revolting, remained firm and unshaken, and the numerous proofs he received of their attachment to their king and to himself, made an impression upon his mind that was neither effaced nor weakened by time or distance. Should these pages happily meet the eye of a colonial minister, who has other objects in view than the security of place and the interest of a party, may they remind him of a duty that has never been performed but by the illustrious individual, whose former residence among us gave rise to these reflections. This work is designed for the cottage, and not for the palace; and the author has not the presumption even to hope that it can ever be honoured by the perusal of his sovereign. Had he any ground for anticipating such a distinction for it, he would avail himself of this opportunity of mentioning that, in addition to the dutiful affection the Nova Scotians have always borne to their monarch, they feel a more lively interest in, and a more devoted attachment to, the present occupant of the throne, from the circumstance of the long and close connexion that subsisted between them and her illustrious parent. He was their patron, benefactor and friend. To be a Nova Scotian was of itself a sufficient passport to his notice, and to posses merit a sufficient guarantee for his favour. Her Majesty reigns therefore, in this little province, in the hearts of her subjects, a dominion of love inherited from her father."--_Clockmaker, 1841._

"It can hardly be said that England has hitherto drawn any positive advantages from the possession of these provinces, if we place out of view the conveniences afforded during periods of war by the harbour of Halifax. But the negative advantage from them are evident, if we consider that the United Slates of America are greatly deficient in good harbours on the Atlantic coast, while Nova Scotia possesses, in addition to the magnificent harbour of Halifax, eleven ports, between it and Cape Canso, with sufficient depth of water for the largest ships of war."--_Clockmaker, 1841._

(7) "The necessity which is gradually developing itself for steam fleets in the Pacific, will open a mine of wealth to the inhabitants of the West Coast of America."--_Rev. C. G. Nicolay, 1846._

The same author, in speaking of the principal features of the Iron Bound Coast and Western Archipelago, in the centre of Vancouver's Island, the Straits of Fuca and Puget's Inlet, says, "Its maritime importance is entirely confined to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and southern extremity of Vancouver's Island. Here are presented a series of harbours unrivalled in quality and capacity, at least within the same limits; and here, as has been remarked, it is evident the future emporium of the Pacific, in West America will be found." And now that it has been settled that this magnificent strait and its series of harbours (this great emporium of West America) is open to that great and enterprising nation, the people of the United States, as well as to ourselves, it becomes most important to us that we should, and quickly, open the best possible and shortest road to communicate with it.

"Alexander Mackenzie, who had risen to the station of a partner in that Company, and was even among them remarkable for his energy and activity both of body and mind, having, with others of the leading partners, imbibed very extensive views of the commercial importance and capabilities of Canada, and considering that the discovery of a passage by sea from the Atlantic to the Pacific would contribute greatly to open, and enlarge it, undertook the task of exploring the country to the north of the extreme point occupied by the fur traders."--_Rev. C. G. Nicolay._

In 1794 this enterprising man ascended to the principal water of the Mackenzie River, which he found to be a small lake situate in a deep Snowy Valley embosomed in woody mountains; he crossed a beaten path leading over a low ridge of land, of 817 paces in length, to another lake, situated in a valley about a quarter of a mile wide, with precipitous rocks on either side,--the head waters of the Frazers' River. On the 19th of July, he arrived where the river discharges itself into a narrow arm of the sea thus showing that a communication between the west and east of North America was open to mankind.

(8) I regret I cannot say when exactly, nor where, his Grace gave his opinion on this subject, and I regret this the more, because I cannot give his Grace's exact words; but of the fact I have no doubt, and I must only trust to your forbearance and memory when I cannot point to the day and place.

(9) "Not long since a very general ignorance prevailed respecting the Western Coast of North America, and no less general apathy."--_Rev. C. G. Nicolay, 1846._

(10) "Oh, Squire! if John Bull only knew the value of these colonies, he would be a great man, I tell you,--but he don't."--_Clockmaker, 1838._

"We ought to be sensible of the patience and good feeling which the people of Canada have shown in the most trying circumstances."-_Mr. Labouchere, Debate on Navigation Laws._

(11) "Considering all the natural and acquired advantages that we possess for this purpose, it should rather create surprise and regret that our commerce is so small, than engender pride because it is so large."

"We may conclude then that improvements in production and emigration of capital to the more fertile soils and unworked mines of the uninhabited or thinly peopled parts of the globe, do not, as it appears to a superficial view, diminish the gross produce and the demand for labour at home, but, on the contrary, are what we have chiefly to depend on for the increasing both, and are even the necessary conditions of any great or prolonged augmentations of either; nor is it any exaggeration to say, that, within limits, the more capital a country like England expends in these two ways, _the more she will have left_."--_J. S. Mill, Polit. Econ._

(12) For "a very large amount of capital belonging to individuals have, of late years, sought profitable investment in other lands. It has been computed, that the United States have, during the last five years, absorbed in this manner more than L25,000,000 of English capital." And how much more, it may be asked, has gone to the continent of Europe and elsewhere?

"When a few years have elapsed without a crisis, and no new and tempting channel for investment has been opened in the meantime, there is always found to have occurred, in these few years, so large an increase of capital seeking investment, as to have lowered considerably the rate of interest, whether indicated by the prices of securities, or by the rate of discount on bills; and this diminution of interest tempts the possessors to incur hazards, in hopes of a more considerable return."--_Mill's Political Economy._

(13) The Spectator has seriously remarked--"It is sometimes observed, that although taxes have been remitted to the amount of millions, the revenue has kept up; and that fact is vaunted as the vindication of free trade: but one inference to be drawn from it has escaped notice--it shows that the riches of the country must have increased enormously, and it implies that many of the wealthy are escaping more and more from a due share of the general burden, as taxation is diminished and wealth increased."