Chapter 5

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."

"Our exports have increased in value since 1824 from 38 millions to 68 millions."

(14) "It will be found by the Parliamentary Tables, which all can consult, that the amount of money raised in those eighteen years was nearly 1500 millions. The total revenue raised in those years was more than 981 millions; and the total of the money borrowed was more than 470 millions; making, in all, 1451 millions. And it is worth while to note, that, in one of those years, namely, in 1813, the sum of more than 150 millions was raised in revenue and loan, of which nearly 82 millions was loan for the national use; and this in a single year; and that year 1813, in the midst of a dreadful war, and thirty-five years ago;--since when the country has grown much richer."

"Now, dividing the sum of 1451 millions by eighteen years, it appears that 80 millions a year was raised; and, taking the legitimate expenditure of the country, during those eighteen years, at an average of 45 millions a-year, a sum so high as to preclude all cavil, it appears that the country raised and expended eighteen times the difference between 45 and 80 millions, that is 630 millions; notwithstanding which expenditure, let it be observed, the country _got richer and richer_ every day."--_Bradshaw's Almanack, 1848._

(15) "Our economical friends need not be alarmed;--we are not going to propose a large addition to the military force of the empire."--(_Times._) No:--but before it is reduced and its system interfered with by those who understand not its working, we would strongly recommend the perusal, first of the evidence of Sir Herbert Taylor before the Finance Committee on this subject, and then that of his Grace the Duke of Wellington, and we would ask the intelligent public of Great Britain to reflect well before it allows her present army to be trifled with. We firmly believe our army to be in as high a state of discipline, and as ready "to go any where and do any thing," as it was at the moment his Grace gave up in France the active command of it.

As to our Navy,--let those advocates for reduction go as my friend Captain B----r wished they would,--to the top of the monument, and look around at the forest of masts they will see of vessels coming from and going to all parts of the world; then reflect for a moment on the power required to defend all their interests; and (if they dare), [see Note (63)] then come down and ask for reduction.

We strongly recommend the perusal of the letter of Emeritus on this subject in the _Times_ of the 5th February.

(16) "This vast power has penetrated the crust of the earth, and drawn from beneath it boundless treasures of mineral wealth which without its aid would have been rendered inaccessible. It has drawn up in numberless quantity the fuel on which its own life and activity depend."--_Dr. Lardner._

(17) "It seems a provision of Providence to have formed different races to bring about, by their crossing, an improved state of things. The Teutonic variety is undoubtedly the most vigorous and able, both in body and mind, of all the species of the genus of man that exist, and seems destined to conquer and civilize the world. The Teutonic variety, in its different sub-varieties, agree best with a temperate climate; it is, however, capable of bearing a high degree of cold, but seems to prosper best northward of 45 deg. of northern latitude.

"Teutonic prevailing in Great Britain and part of Ireland, 22,000,000."--_Physical Atlas of Natural Phenomena._--_Alex. Keith Johnson._

And it is very curious to observe, that, in the new world, the first colony of Great Britain we reach after crossing the Atlantic is called Nova Scotia; and the last land we should leave after crossing the continent would be New Caledonia; and both in Nova Scotia and New Caledonia (Vancouver's Island) nature seems to have placed great deposits of coal, as if she there intended the industry of man and the advancement of science to overcome all natural barriers between the different nations of the earth.

(18) "A pint of water may be evaporated by two ounces of coal. In its evaporation it swells into 216 gallons of steam, with a mechanical force sufficient to raise a weight of thirty-seven tons a foot high. The steam thus generated has a pressure equal to the common atmospheric air; and by allowing it to expand by virtue of its elasticity, a further mechanical force may be obtained at least equal in amount to the former. A pint of water, therefore, and two ounces of common coal, are thus rendered capable of doing as much work as is equivalent to seventy-four tons raised a foot high."

"The Menai Bridge consists of about 2000 tons of iron, and its height above the level of the sea is 120 feet; its mass might be lifted from the level of the water to its present position by the combustion of four bushels of coal."--_Dr. Lardner._

(19) "In addition to the instances of combination between directly competing companies, recent experience has furnished numerous instances of the tendency of smaller lines, sanctioned as independent undertakings, to resign their independence into the hands of more powerful neighbours."--_Report of Board of Trade._ It is not to be doubted, therefore, that all proposed or partly finished Railways in the North American provinces will readily join in the grand undertaking, making one great interest for the whole.

"The traffic of a system of lines, connected with one another, can always be worked more economically and conveniently under one uniform management than by independent Companies. The Company which works the main trunk line, and possesses the principal terminal stations, can run more frequent trains, and make better arrangements for forwarding the traffic of the cross lines, than it could afford to do if two or three separate establishments had to be maintained, and the harmony of arrangements depended upon two or three independent authorities.

"It is found also in practice, that unless a very close unity of interest exists among the different portions of what really constitute one great line of communication, it is scarcely possible to introduce that harmony and accuracy of arrangement which are essential to ensure speed and punctuality. Many important branches of traffic also are apt to be neglected, which can only be properly developed where a long consecutive line of Railway is united in one common interest. Coals and heavy goods, for instance, can be conveyed for long distances with a profit, at rates which would be altogether insufficient to remunerate a Company which had only a run of ten or twenty miles: and thus many of the most important benefits of Railways to the community at large can only be obtained by uniting through-lines in one interest."--_Report of Board of Trade on Railways. Sess. 1845._

(20) "The two most expensive commodities in England are crime and poverty; of these the most costly is poverty; and the extent of poverty, by its sufferings, vastly increases the amount of crime. You have heard the expenses of poverty. The cost of crime in England and her penal establishments exceeds a million and a half."--_Speech of Francis Scott, Esq. M.P._

(21) "The circumstance which must first strike any person as extraordinary, in regard to the expatriation of criminals from this country, is the choice of the station to which they have been sent. That a country which, like England, is possessed of an almost boundless tract of unsettled fertile land within four weeks' sail of her own shores, should, in preference, send her criminals to a territory which cannot be reached in less than as many months, thus multiplying the expense of their conveyance, is a course which requires for its justification some better reasons than have ever yet been brought forward."--_A. R. Porter, Esq., Progress of the Nation._ This system has, we believe, come to a close, and Gibraltar and other places fixed upon; (some in Great Britain); but her convicts ought not to be employed at home if it can be avoided, as they of course perform the work that would be performed by the labourers of the country, many of whom are thus thrown out of work.

Since the year 1824, a considerable establishment of convicts has been kept up in Bermuda, employed in constructing a breakwater and in perfecting some fortifications at Ireland's Eye. The number at present (1836) so maintained is about 1000.