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Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tubHeaux, etc., peuvent dtre film^s A des taux de reduction diff6rents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clich6, il est filmd d partir de Tangle supdrieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n^cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m^thode. 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 GE I .. Qi c # GRiKD TRUNK RAILWAY. LETTEE OF MR. BRASSEY, TO THE HON. JOHN ROSS, PBBSIOCNT or TBI OOMPAKY. ■'16' ONTO; i'RtNTKI) AT THK LEADER AND PATKlOr OF 1850. KICK. GRAND TRMK RAILWAY. LETTER TO THE HON. JOHN ROSS, PRESIDENT OF THE COMPANY. Toronto, 25th April, 1856. SIR, — The circumstances in which, on our arrival in this Country, wo fir.d the Grand Trunk Railway Company, and the very important results that must flow from the decision to be arrived at by the l^ublic and the ( Jovernment in regard to this undertaking within the next few weeks, war- rant us in addressing to you, for the purpose of publicity, certain statements bearing upon our first connection with Canada, and upon our present position and responsibilities implied and expressed towards the Province, and to the Company over which you preside. We do not desire to occupy your attention with any unnecessary recital of facts — but in support of our own position, and as evidence of our uniform and unwavering efforts to fulfil our engagements, we must briefly sketch out the circumstances which led to our connection with this Province. In the Spring of 1852, when the Hon. Mr. Hincks was in London on a mission connected with the proposed International Railway from Quebec to Halifax, our firm was in communication with the Directors of the Quebec and Richmond Railway. Mr. Hincks was thus brought into contact with us, and subsequently when that gentleman believed that no adequate support was to be given to the proposed national work by the Imperial Government, he sought our aid with the view of undertaking tkose works of internal com- munication in Canada, required, in his opinion, to develope the growing Wealth atnl reaoiim's of tlio Province. Wo thus phic-e^l ourselves in coinTnuuication with the Preniior and Fin.inro Minister of Caiindn, believing that further knowledge in England of the inereasiuif i»ro8|)erity of the rrovince was only required to secure for its tmderlakings at least an equal :iU])jtort to that given to American enter]>rizes. We take no credit to ourselves for an appHiciation of Canada, which was probably Hrst in- duced by a regard to our own interests ; but we may fairly say, that whatever our oriiiinal cause of interest in this j'roviiice, weoujrht not to be blamed if we have sought to find here that which we could, without a doubt, have secured on the ('ontincnt of Kuropo or from any of the Western American States. And if wo may not be entitled to consideration we feel that it should not bo charged against us that we se- lected Canapposition, iiy specific legal ob- 2sted that Y interests 3 uniform jtition, in- the pre- ay Bridge to Mon- 1 ready r«- mgements the nature lould con- hesitation hiebec and Richmond Company ; and, as has been stated, to the h'ne from Montreal to Toronto, which together involved ms large engagements as we wished to un- dertake. We also doubted the propriety of undertaking a work so expensive as the Victoria Bridge upon an extent of mileage no greater than the To- ronto Koad ; while we felt that to give the scheme an acceptable character with the public, it must bear, first, th(! assurance of being a complete work, connecting the fertile and prolific regions of thy West with the Ocean ; and secondly, such a relation to the general interests of the Province as would justify us in associating its prospects with the growing prosperity and julvance of the Country, and also with the political connections of Canada with the Lower Trovinces. We do not state these matters as sui>jccts weighing on our own minds, but as facts known to you, when representing the Province in the iirrauge- ments referred to ; and we wish to recall to your attention, that in con- sidering the [troprioty of the general amalgamation, your design was, at least, as much to serve great ])ublic objects, as to place the project in a favorable light before the Knglish Public. You will, therefore, remember that, at. this perioj, the negociat'ons broken ofT l)y Mr. Hincks, were renawed bv you with the Colonial Secretarv, and that we had evei'v reivsou to believe that^the liritish Government would furnish such aid as would com- plete, not merely the lino from Trois Pistoles to Krederi(;kton, but also place the whole line to Halifax on a perfret footing, with such arrangements with the Cunard ^Fail Service, as would have ensured (ortain results to the more Eastern Section of the great Grand Tnnik Scheme, which, from Quebec to Trois Pistoles, would not otherwise have been undertaken. The negociations to which wo refer were conducted by you, and we think tliat you will bear out our statement that both you ' and wo had i-eason to believe the Imperial Government would adopt your views. We will only add, that while a conviction of the necessity of immediate acticn, caused the anticipation of their decision, by the issue of the Grand Trunk Prospectus, still nothing but the. [)rospect of war preventcil tho completion of the intentions then held by the (roverninent of (rreat Britain. Under the view we have stated of tlie importance attiiched by Mr. llincks to one Uniform Railway System throughout tho Province, you are aware the promoters of the Company consented, in March, 1853, to ac- cept the Toronto and Sarnia Line, as giving the Grand Trunk Company 4 ji Wostcru coiinoctioii ; l>u(, in tho construction of this section wo have never liiwl any interest wliatover. Uy th(.'sn stAtenients wc bring down the i)Osition wo lield towarcl8 the Provinco to this — that our (letinitiv« promise was to raise the means tor «:oni|iloting the line from Toronto to Montreal, on receiving aid to the amount of L.3,000 ])or mile, and that the other enijagemcnts entered into wen! Wit solely fraught witfi profit to us, nor properly included in our ori- ginal prop(xsitions. Takitig the cost of the Road from Toronto to Mon- treal as under our contract L.3,000,0()0 Less Provincial aid 1,035,000 We engaged to raise L. 1,905,000 In one form or another to fulfil our engagements. Wo wish this point to be clearly understood, because, tho difficulties of the Company arc generally attributed to failure on our part, rather than, as is really the case, to the introduction of other schemes of importance to the Province, but yielding us no positive iulvantage, beyond that which we always regarded as very great, of having the whole Avork looked upon as a national undertaking. Wo shall now proceed to show what we have ourselves done, in com- pletion of our engagements, and how far we have shared with the Pro- vince, in the efibrts necessary to carry through an undertfiking with which we had identified ourselves. As we have already shown, the amount of private capital required for the original scheme was Ll,965,000, the amount raised has been L.4,950,900, of which wo now retain no less than L.'794,000. If, therefore, the Pro- vinco have increased their aid by L.900,000, or less than one-half of their original advance, we, with the other Shareholders, have raised nearly three times the amount wo originally contemplated. Under our original plan, we were to build 345 miles of Railway. IJy the realized plan — there arc completed, or will be this year, 40 miles below (.Quebec, and 445 luiles from Montreal to Stratford, with a large expendi- ture on tho Victoria Bridge, as well as an outlay of L.900,000, upon the line from Montreal to Portland. So far therefore from there being any just charge against us of having failed to fulfil our promises to the Provinco, we may fairly take credit for very much more having never .rds tlio Kills for 1 to the rod into our ori- to Moii- ,000,000 035,000 ,9(>5,00() julties of ler til an, rtanco to lat which I upon as in com- the Pro- ing with uired for ,950,900, tho Pro- f of their irly three y. liythe iles below expendi- ►00, upon •oin there r promises re having boon dom^ than was oiiiiinally intended; a:id if di-appojntniont have ensued, we, at least, eipially share in it. We wish, now, to refer more particularly to our prosont rt'lations with tin; Company iiiuler our (Contracts. Wo scok no relief tVom thosiM'.ontratts ; Imt wo think, all things considered, jiistico ivipiir.'s that we should not ho charged with a failiirn in our oiigag.'meuts, eitln'r iuipliel or e\pn»*s. to- wards llio i'roviiK'e or tho Ooinpany, unless it can Im- clearly shewn. In I'litering upon this hraiieh «>f the suhjeet, we wish to rei'.-ill to tho attention of tho, I'lihlic, that of tho amount of Provincial ;iiil given to the grantl Trunk Railway, aniouuting in all to. . L.M.I ll,.")!)!) the following amounts had been granted previ- ously to our connection w'th the Govorniiient through ^Ir. Ilincks, vi/, : St. Lawrence and Atlantic Jiailroad L. t07,r)(K» (Quebec and Richmond 'J."j(»,0(K» And the amount of aid granted last Session, was not for works in which we were in tho slightest degree interested, but to replace capital origi- nally intended for our works, and abstracted to complete 'necessary outlays on tli«! line from .NFon- treal to Portland 900,000 By the Act distributing the Provincial aid over the entire expenditure of tho Comi)any (passed in No- vember, 1854) tho guarantee originally granted for our line to Trois Pistoles, was transferred to the line from Toronto to Stratt'ord, in wliich we had no interest whatever. Thus making a further diversion of Provincial aid from our works of L.M,0(mi jkt mile, on 91 miles, or '_'91,0()O 1,!)0S,500 Thus leaving only , L.1,'JO;{,00() of the entire aid provided by the I'rovince. which has really been apj)liea- ble to the following works embraced in <)Urc()ntracts,and which entitled tho Province to expect from us thecomplotimi (A' 40 miles 1 elow (,)ueliec, and the lino from Montreal to Toronto, i if t his amount of jei,'JO;!, 000 no less 6 than L..") 46,000 whs still in the Immls of the I'lovinct^ at 1st April instant 'I'hns sli<»\vin;i; that wliih^ wo haij cnnipUitcil tho 10 nnlos troni t^iuihctr to St. Thomas — j'xpendod ahout L.;rjo,000 (»n the N'icloria Hri(l;,'(f and so far completed the Montreal and Toronto line that only ahunt L.:{00. ()»»() of work remained to ho done, the entire amonnt of Provinrial aid which had been paid to tho drand Trnidc Company, in respect of these works, was only L. 057,000. Surely under tlu^so circumstances wo may holdjy ask at the hands of the Canadian I'nblic consideration and candid discussion. We claim, so far a-; the ['rovimte of Canada is concerned, to have much more than fullilled all wo ever undertook towards it, and if reference ho had to tlio u;reat change in nioney matters in Ent,dand, consoipient on the war, as well as to the enormous ailvanco in the price of labour, materials, and every r.ecessary of life in Canada, the rni>lic may form some idea of the extent ol the sacrifices we liavo made, to preserve inta(;t our reputa- tion for an honest fulfilment of our enga<;ements. Our relations to the (rraiid Trunk (,'ompany, are subjects with winch in reality, tho I'rovinco lias no direct concern, so lopn^ as w(! can show that they have in no respect caused a failure on our part towards th«; Province, but as these relations are very tjreatly misunderstood, wo desii-e, in all candour, to state the real position. There ;;i !■•. <",iiestion that, with money worth only two per cent, in England, li.e parties representing the Province and ourselves, foreseeing no (jutbreak of wai, did not hesitate to enter into mutual engagements which a ditierent state of things has made extremely onerous to all. AV'e shared the confidei ce expressed by yourself, Mr. Ilincks, and the Legislature of Canada, in the future of this country. We thought it ottered ;i fair field for investment. And we consider it no subject for blame, that we should have sought a fair and reasonable return for services we believed it in our power to render. We did not therefore hesitate at assumiuj^ responsibili- ties of a magnitmle we might have shruidc from, had we known the future ; and wo consented to the views of the Agents of tho Province in the terms of the original prospectus, to an extent that has been from that hour both injurious to us and very damaging to the Com})any. We allude to the en- gagements in the Prospectus of tho Grand Truidc Company, whereby we undertook to pay the interest upon the capital employed in our works J i •il instnnt n (^lU'he*'. in Uiid^c Illy nljout I'roviiu'ial II respect itiinces wo ation nu jufli^e how far this oblij.fatioii has pressed ujion us, when within the twelve nioutlis stipulated, war was declared, and moii'jy ruse from two to »ix and even eight per cent. This altered state of allairs t^d far atleeted even the stock already issueil to the public, that witlnuit any particular respect to our wishes, the Lon- don Directors, with our concurrence, determiued to suspend a portion of the (Jrand 'rrunk works, in order to relieve the Shareholders, And lindiiig the works on the Montreal and Portland section liad absorbed L900, ()()(» of the money inteii(lc«l for our works, the lioaril applied to your Leirisla- turo for aid, whi.-h as before stated was «jbtained, to the extent of L. i)()(),0()0 not as an atlditional loan to us, but solely !»> enable the Sliai»;holders to fulfil their own en^'aiL^omcnts. The Company was then largely our debtors and wo might have suspended our works, and thus re- lieved ourselves from much embarassmeiit had not other motives actuated lis. Tiio oftect of the terms of the Act, granting additional aid, passed in May 18oij, recjuired ainodification of our contracts with the Uonipany.and this took place in London in July last, with the api)roval and aid of the Inspector (ireneral wlio was then in England, with other Members of the Canadian Cabinet, liy thi" agreement, we pledget! ourselves to proceoil witii and complete the Montreal and Toronto, and tiuebec anuppose(l that our firm had engaged to provide the interest on the Province lionds, and had failed to do so. This impression we desire to correct. O.ir engagoinent was solely to the (Jompany, and con- sisted in our pledge to pay six per cent interest, on all the Capital expend- ed on our works reserving to the Com})any the right of retaining this in- terest from the amounts due to us for work done. As the Company has generally boon in ariears to us, it must be manifest, that we are in no way responsible for any difficulties on this head. We have never as con- ' tractors received from the Province one single bond, our payments are promised us by the Company, in iiioney, and in their own securities. We are also perfectly aware that it has beon, and will bo, said that our firm is, in fact, the Compaii}, and that we cannot therefore free ourselves from any censure that may fairly attach to it. Put on this point we earnestly entreat the public to become disabused. We have never, from the day the Prospectus was issued, had any control over the affjvirs of the Company — its policy has not been directed by us — its expenditure has been great on works in which we had no interest, and except in the extent of our engagements, as respects the future acceptance of Shares and Bonds, we had no other interest in the C^ompany than Messrs. (Izowski & Co. in Canada. To those who know the character and position of the gentlemen forming the London Direction, it is needless to say that we could exert no improper inliuence upon the Company ; but to strangers it may be necessary to offer this assurance. Our present stake in the Company, owing to the arrar.^ements of July last, is necessarily large and daily increasing, and in i! '. respect we cannot but share the anxiety of the other Stockliolders \v \ -'.xng the I'rovince to afford the Company the relief necessary for ) anyiiig out the entire scheme in its integrity. Our relative interest in '•, . "derlaking may be best shown by the statement that of the amount uf private capital brought in L. 4,950,900 We only hold now, even under the operation of the .July agreement L. 794,000 Held by general Shareholders L. 4,150,900 The Canadian peojdij will thus clearly see that though our interest is en- ormous in amount, and fully indicates our own c Diifidence, still, by far the larger amount has been provided by the British public generally. to provide impression y, and con- c'vl expend- ng this iii- nipany has are in no ver as con- niotits are •ities. Id that our e ourselves I point we never, from Riirs of the e has been } extent of vnd Bonds, :i tfc Go. in gentlemen d exert no )e necessary wing to the ng, and in ,ockholders 3cessary for interest in the amount I. 4,950,900 L. 794,000 9 W« do not know what more we can 8<'iy to dl8|)el wluit we feel to bo misconceptions most seriously injurious both to oui-seLves and the Conipaiiy ; but, while we hope this statement may sutlice, we shall, Sir, at all tinio*, hoM ourselves ready to afford you and the Public, any further information in our power. I have the honor to ha, Sir, Your Obidient Servant, For self ami Partners^ THOMAS BKASSEY. , 4,150,900 merest is en- , by far the