IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 1.25 15 ™^ " fc£ IIIIIM 1^ 1.8 1.4 IP 1.6 m ^ /a /a M w^'^ o 7 Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 \ iV •S55 \\ ^■ ^ ^ <1> A, ,y CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques '<^ Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographiques Thiv edition available/ Seule Edition disponible Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata slips, tissues, etc.. have been refilmed to ensure the best possible image/ Les pages totalement ou partiellement obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure, etc.. ont M fiimies A nouveau de fa^on A obtenir la meilleure image possible. 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MDCCCL. n M INTRODUCTION. " The consinmnation of our Colonial Empire is necessary for our domestic peace."* '% Our most gracious Sovereign the Queen having been pleased to grant her Royal Authority that a work, now in the course of publication, " to make the con- " dition and worth of the colonies more generally " understood and more fully appreciated,"! should be dedicated to Her Majesty, I venture again to call the serious attention of my countrymen to the vast importance of an Imperial Railway Communi- cation between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans ; not merely as regards the ultimate consequences of the work itself, but as it will afford the means of establishing distinct, yet regidar and permanent systems of emigration and transportation. We were told last year that we had " a super- " abundance of capital, a plethora of talent, scientific " and commercial," that only wanted " an outlet to " be beneficially employed ; " |and this year we learn that "manufactures, commerce, shipping, money and ** credit are increasing, we are evidently approaching * Kdiiihurgli lleview, January, 1850. t iMontgomery Martin's new work on the Colonics. : Morning Herald, 1849; Times, 1850. B ( iv ) ** a period, when the nation, like a promisinjr youth, *' conscious of new faculties and strength, will natu- ** rally look about for some fresh employment of its " accumulated means." Humbly do I conceive that Providence has re- tained for our use, and pointed out to us the field, V, hereon the generous and enlightened sons of England may work out the noble destiny that awaits them, and become as far-famed and vic- torious in the productive works of peace, as they ever have been in the destructive splendour of war. Let but the people of the British Empire will it; — and in aifew years, when the Royal Standard shall be hoisted at Halifax, and the royal salute fired in honour of -.her iVlajesty's Natal Day — then shall be heard the continuous roar of British artillery, and the ' ^spiring sound of British cheers, from ocean to oc ii, — from the Atlantic to the Pacific ; and the wire of the electric telegraph will point to the astounding news, — that the morning gun, which in Nova Scotia announced the approach of a day so welcome to all English hearts, had been responded to at sunset, from the rock of Alexander Mackenzie, in New Caledonia. Who then will talk of an- nexation, and what enemy will approach the frontier with hostile intentions, when the first gun fired would be answered by an instantaneous peal of British artillery across the Continent of North America ! " Our day dream," says one of the standard If I I ( V ) periodicals just published,* *' is six hours /rom ' London to llolvhcad, — tlien an iron screw ' steamer, double the size of the Great Britain, ' ' ruling the waves straight,' and bidding sea ' sickness avaunt, — two hours to Kingston, — then ' ft)ur hours to Galway, th(^ heaping off place for ' the West, — then in another giant steamer six days ' to New York," — to Halifax is surely meant, and in six days more, through the British North Ame- rican Provinces, to the Coast of the Pacific, ' What say ye, educators of the people, rulers ' of the state ? — ' Where there's a will there's a ' ' way ' is an old English proverb ; and gladly do ' we pay tribute of respect to one who holds the * foremost place in the work of mercy — of civi- ' lizing the world, by the removal of physical ob- * stacles to personal communing between nations. * Robert Stevenson may be regarded as the type ' and pattern of the onward moving English race, ' practical, scientific, energetic, and in the hour of ' trial heroic." England has capital, has surplus population, convict labour, and the requisite engineering enter- prize and talent. " Even if it were desirable, it is " not possible that she can remain stationary, she " must either advance or recede in her great- " ness."t And let me ask, what is to prevent her forward movement ? She has a man " with a * Westminster Review. t Blackwood's Magazine. ( vi ) " clear brain and sound digestion, a man whose " breakfast was never disturbed by tlie apprehen- " sions of physical difficulties in enu^ineerinjj^." " Ride on," says the Psalmist, " and thy rif^ht hand " shall teach thee." Is it for nothing " that to " England has been committed the sway of an " empire on which the sun never sets, at that pre- " cise period at which scientific discoveries have *' won their latest triumphs over space and time?" . . . " In England, the largest experience is now " united with the largest powers and the largest " empire." Let us away then to fell the forests of British North America, to people its prairies, to cross the Rocky Mountains to the far West, to establish our mercantile navy at Nootka Sound, and *' thus diffuse over a new created world the laws of " Alfred, the language of Shakspeare, and then " Christian Religion — the last great heritage of " man." " Immer immer nach VVest ! " " South of Vancouver's Island, till you come to San Francisco, there is not " a single available spot where a ship can take shelter. Under these circum- *' stances I must say it is no answer to tell us of the distance of V^ancouver's " Island from Great Britain. The efforts which are now making for the " colonization of neighbouring districts, make it certain that some means of " overland communication will, before long, be discovered." — Lord JAncoln, 1849. " Whether it be possible to establish regular and rapid communication, v'ul '' Canada, with the Coast of the Pacific, remains yet to be ascertained." — The British Ciilonies, 1849. By R. Montgomery Martin, L'si/. " There need be no hesitation in affirmiiig that colonization, in the present " state of the world, is the very best affair of busi, ss in which the capital of •' ail old and wealthy country can possibly engage." — Mill. — Principles of Political Economy. " Yet all this time we are lefl wholly in the dark as to what the State ought " to do with its offenders. ... At the present moment there really is no " positive and practicable plan before the Nation. It is true every now and " then philanthropic and ingenious projectors come before the public, and offer, " at the trifling outlay of a Quarter of a Million, to convert, year by year, " two hundred young pickpockets into respectable men. We cannot afford " such expensive experiments. We cannot afford to spend £50 a year upon " a convict at home."— T/ie Times, 1849. •M I n t ^^ " l.ct lliosc, who iliscar.. .. , Jiuions like these as wiltl antl improhahic, " recur to the stale of public op.n.ot. at no very remote period on the subject of " Sieam Navigation. "Within the memory of persons not yet past the meridian of life the impos- •' s.bihty ot traversing by Steam F-ngine the channels and seas that surround " and intersect these islands was regarded as the dream of enthusiasts." • ''"^ ■"■-''/■» /■».AS, i^V«^« TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE EARL GREY, mn marnW^ IJrInrtpal J^rrrctars of ^iait for tfie CToIontrfi. My Lord, When we reflect upon the very great interest tJiat now attaches to all the much-talked of routes between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, and the various discus- sions that are daily taking place as to the relative merits or advantages of each foreign line proposed, whether for Ship Canal or Railway,— it is not surely unnatural to conclude that any tolerable arguments in favour of an Imperial or British Colonial Communication across the continent of North America will also be listened to with attention, and be equally with those for other routes " weighed in the balance." In the early part of last year, my Lord, an attempt was made, by the publication of a pamphlet, to call more particular attention to this subject, and later in the year, owing to the advice of friends as well as to the indulgence and encouragement given to the Author's first attempt, * Dr. Lardner. 8 ) Hi a revised edition of that Pamphlet was brought out, a copy of which I have now tlie honour to forward to your Lordship. Independent however, my Lord, of this great commer- cial and poHtical question of the age, the Trans-American Ship Canal or Railway, by means of which the people of the United States hope " to revolutionize the commerce of the world," there are numei jus other highly important questions now befbrs the British public, two of which your Lordship is well aware stand prominently forward as of vital consequence to this empire — Emigration and Transportation.* As regards the first, my Lord, we have long since been told that " the duty of Government is first " to regulate the stream, . . so that if a man be de- " termined on leaving the United Kingdom, he may settle " in one of its colonies;' and as regards the second, we have only a few days ago been asked *' How are we to " deal with the puor wretches whose youth, whose poverty, ** v/hose ill education, whose manifold misfortunes, whose " still sacred souls p'ead for our care? Ten thousand flip- " pant .legatives will not meet the question — we want a " positive answer !" That positive answer, my Lord, may, I think, be given, should Her Majesty's Ministers determine to employ convicts in certain localities, to prepare the way for an Imperial Railroad Communication from Halifax through the Canadas and some part of the Rocky Moun- tains to the shores of the Pacific, and in clearing the land on each side of such a route for the purposes of settlement. But before, my Lord, proceeding to take into consi- deration the various details necessary to estdblifc.i a ,;roper system for the emplcyi^;ert of convicts on such a work, it will be well to look at the practicability of the work itself, and to such other mear s as we have at hand for the accomplishment of an undertaking appa- rently so gigantic. And I am emboldened therefore to hope that your Lordship will excuse the step 1 am now ♦ ft. ee Edinburgh Review, July, 1847 , .January, 1850. ( 9 ) of now taking of intruding on time so valuable, and that before I proceed further, your Lordship will even permit me to ex- p.lain that in the publication of the pamphlet, I have now the honour to forward, I was impelled by no personal motive, influenced by no feelings of ambition, and had no specula- tion to promote. But, my Lord, I had long observed the struggles made by the people of the United States to force their way across the continent of America, and to obtain the command of the Pacific, either for commercial or political purposes, and early had I understood their diffi- culties. It was therefore, my Lord, with anxiety that I watched the final arrangements for the settlement ot the North West Boundary Question, feeling certain that upon it depended, not merely that of the Annexation of the Canadas to the United States, but the even more im- portant one of an imperial communication, safe and rapid, with the shores of the Pacific. But not until very lately did I contemplate taking any active measures to bring these ideas before the serious consideration of my country- men ; peculiar circumstances alone, unnecessary here to mention, have led me forward in this difficult path — and I am well aware, my Lord, how very deficient is the accom- panying Pamphlet of all those details so important to make it valuable as an argument in favour of, or as induce- ment to urge forward, any great commercial undertaking. But if your Lordship should be satisfied that it contains sufficient reasoning matter to show the importance, and, in a general way, the practicability of the great National Work proposed, and should your Lordship be pleased to consider that the prosperity and glory of this mighty empire may be thereby augmented, I shall at all events have the satisfaction of knowing thut I have neither thought nor written in vain ; for I should then rest sa- tisfied, my Lord, that all the necessary detail and requisite information would soon appear at your Lordship's bidding; and proud indeed ought to be the feeling of all those who might be caller! upon to afford their mite of labour or of c2 » ' -^ »: '■■ ( 10 ) knowledge towards the accomplishment of so great a National Work, which, if commenced after prudent con- sideration, but with i.; the broadest part of the Continent of North Ame- rica ; but, my Lord, those who would argue against its adoption on this account have not sufficiently reflected upon the subject, or it would have occurred to them that the wonderful power of steam, that agent which the Almighty has allowed to be so fully developed by man, enables us to travel three or four times quicker by land than by sea ; but even should we allow for our calculation only a little more than half as quick, and consider the average passage from Liverpool to Halifax as ten days, the 3000 miles across the Continent of British America would easily be traversed over in five ; the Sandwich Islands would be reached in about ten days more. "The value of these " Islands to the commerce of the North Pacific is incalcu- -* lable ; they form indeed a hotel and a storehouse for the '' refreshment and supply of vessels, situated in the most " convenient position immeditately on the highway between " Asia and Ameri .." A few years' labour then, my Lord, and propotional judicious outlay of capital, would enable the merchants of Great Britain and of Europe to com- municate in less than a month with one of the most im- portant points in the Pacific, to say nothing of the direct communication to Japan and China, and the whole route be under Jie Imperial Government of Great Britain. Neither ought it to be forgotten, vuy Lord, by those who would argue against crossing the broadest part of the Continent, that almost every acre of that land micrht cr'we a home to I ( n ) ^ the houseless wanderer, and daily bread to the starving man ; and since the cultivation of land is, after all, the only real source of wealth, an ultimate profitable return must ensue to the Capitalists who might be induced to come forward and assist in the formation of Settlements, and in the construction of a Line of Railwav across the North American Continent through British Dominions. I trust, then, my Lord, that your Lordship will be of opinion, that the time has arrived, when the policy and vast scheme suggested by Sir Alexander Mackenzie, (whose other ideas have all been carried out) " of opening an intercourse be- " tween the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and forming " regular establishments through the interior and both ex- ** tremes," may be fully carried out; and that before long both the travellers and the mails from Europe may be enabled to pass with ease and safety through the wide territories of our North American Colonial Empire. And then, indeed, my Lord, " I am a Man of the North," will be no vain nor idle boast, but may be the watchword of a pov;erful nation, and become the emblazoned motto on a Royal Standard — " the Crest of the World" being carried and occupied ; may not the ideal Paradise " the Happy " Hunting Grounds" of the eastern tribes of the prairies " of the Mountains of the Setting Sun," become in reality the cultivated places occupied (as the Indians imagine them to be) by " towns of free and generous spirits ;'* and why may we not hope to see those very Indians themselves become a civilized portion of those societies and members of the Church of Christ. The beautiful country between the Saskatakewan River and the tributaries of the Missouri is thus described by an American author: — "All the re- " gion along the base of the Rocky Mountains is agreeably " diversified by gentle hills and fertile plains. It is watered " by innumerable small Streams and Lakes, all kinds of " Animals abound. This region extends IGO miles to the " eastward, and is the favourite abode of the jiilackfeet " Indians." ( 12 ) It will now be necessary, my Lord, to take a general glance at the several routes proposed, so as to enable me to bring forward the arguments I mean to use in favour of the British Colonial Communication in such manner as to render them apparent even to those who have not as yet had their attention called to this subject. The routes to be considered may then be divided under three heads : — I. Central America. 1. Across the Isthmus of Panama, — Railway or Ship Canal. 2. By Nicaragua,— Ship Canal. 3. By Tehuan tepee, — a Ship Canal or Railway. II. United States of America. 4. From New Orleans across Texas. 5. From St. Louis by way of Gila, — Port San Diego. 6. From some point on the Missouri, by the Platte or Kansas, through the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains. 7. From Lake Michigan, or some point on the Mis- sissippi, across the Rocky Mountains to the Head Waters of Puget's Sound. III. British America. 8. Imperial or British Colonial Communication from Halifax to Frazei's River and Nootka Sound. Commodore Wilkes, of the United States Navy, has said, — " 1 am in favour of all routes, but my examinations " of the country have satisfied me that some of them are impracticable, — obstacles being interposed by nature, " which even the energies of a great nation cannot over- "come."* ci I ■A.. ■^ !^ * The physical and engineering di^culties of the Central American Routes are vvell shown by the sections given in a map just published by J, Wyld, of Charing Cross ( 13 ) ! *' The routes over the Isthmus of Panama and Tehuan- " tepee," says Commodore Wilkes, " have occupied the •^ attention of Europe for a long period of years, and nu- ** merous examinations and surveys have been made. " * * * It is but recently that these schemes have " been revived with any prospect of success, and this has " grown out of the necessity which is felt to exist through- *' out the whole country of having an easy and rapid com- " munication wilh our distant territories. As a temporary " measure for communicating with the coast of South " America and our own possessions, its construction is to " be desired, and this is all it can achieve; it can go no " farther, commercially speaking, with reference to the " countries more remote; such additional expenses would " be incurred as entirely to overcome the benefits arising " from a gain of time." Speaking of the routes already alluded to, namely, those of Central America, Commodore Wilkes further states, — " There is another view of great " force in a political light. The whole of the capital for " construction will be drawn out of our own country, and " we will be building up, by making these expenditures, *' commercial depots to rival our own cities, and remove *' the channels of trade from us altogether, to the prejudice " of our own country and its citizens. For ten years it " may be advisable to use one of these routes, or until " such time as the routes through our own territory can " be completed and in operation ; but it can never satisfy *' the wants of the nation, or preserve those advantages " we should look forward to obtain." All these extracts, my Lord, it is true, merely record the opinions of an individual, but they are the opinions of a talented and scientific naval officer, who is for all routes, and are therefore entitled to full weight. But as the three routes of Central America may be ultimately all Ship Canals, and the question of the transhipment of goods thereby excluded in the consideration of these communi- cations, it will be unnecessary to dwell longer upon them, ( 14 ) further than to point out the opinion given by Commodore Wilkes, as regards the climate and prevailing winds. " The " route across the Pacific from Panama offers many diffi- " culties to sailing vessels in the prevailing winds, calms, " &c. Panama is indeed one of the worst ports on the " Western Coast to arrive at or depart from. The seasons " there are divided into the fine and the rainy ; the former, " or what is called summer, though in North latitude, is " from December to May, and only during this period is *' it advisable to approach this coast. In the rainy or " winter season, from June to November, every part of it " is liable to hard gales, tornadoes or heavy squalls, suc- " ceeded by calms and deluges of rain, and the most dan- " gerous lightning. Sickness begins at Panama as early " as March, and continues until December; and, with the " exception of the fine season, the whole coast in its vici- " nity may be described as dangerous, and on every ac- " count to be avoided. From December to May, the " prevailing winds are f. )m the North and North-west, " the remainder of the year they blow from the North- " east. South-east, and the West; but are at all times *' uncertain, and calms frequently prevail; vessels may be " detained on their passage, from these causes, so long as " to make this route of greater length than that now " followed by the China trade." From all then, my Lord, that can be gleaned from the opinions of Commodore Wilkes, we may fairly come to the conclusion that if these routes will not satisfy the wants of America, much less are they likely to satisfy the wants of the British Empire; and if they are to be looked upon by the Americans as mere temporary expedients, they never can be calculated upon by Great Britain as permanent routes to Asia. The next routes to be considered, my Lord, are those of the United States, all of which must, of course, be by Railway, and require therefore a transhipment of goods, to be made use of by British merchants. Upon these ( 15 ) I routes Commodore Wilkes observes : " The recognizance of " the country through which the Southern route by Rail- *' way, across the country by way of the Gila, would pass, " has been fully made known to us by Colonel Emory, " and his Report shows that it would be nearly impossible " for this purpose. The altitude of the mountains is in " itself sufficient to decide the question; but if we grant " that this can be overcome, the sterile country through " which it would run brings conviction to the mind, that, " if It is not impossible, it is certainly unadvisable. It can " never become an inhabited country ; therefore one great " object in the consiruction of a Railroad would be lost. " Again, if this last fact were not the case, the proposed " terminus on the Pacific, at the port of San Diego, would " never accommodate the trade, and half or two-thirds of " the ships would not be able to enter. The port is inade- " quate for the commerce that such an intercourse would " bring about; and the country around can never furnish " the necessary supplies. The proposition for terminating " it at San Francisco is equally objectionable, and amounts " to an impossibility, on account of the high mountain " ranges which surround it. *' Whether this road is to start from St. Louis or Texas *' is immaterial. The same route by the Gila is to be " followed, and, of course, the same objections exist in " both. " From the thirty-third to the forty-second parallel there " is no route by which the mountains can be avoided, and " the great arid plains would also present insuperable ob- " stacles. There are three ranges of high mountains " traversing from north to south three parallels : the Ana- *' huac, W^ahsatch and Californian, all equally impassable; *' and the last, in particular, shuts out all communication " with the ' El Dorado' and its port." Commodore Wilkes then says : " The route from the ** Missouri by the Platte or Kansas, through the south " pass, is too sectional, and would pass through a country ( 16 ) " throughout nearly its whole extent uninhabitable. It " would be below the head-waters of all the rivers, where *• there could be no bridging of the rivers, and the public " lands could not suffice to build the road, neither would " any portion of them be at all benefited by it; and the " whole northern section of our country be deprived of " any advantages to result from its construction, which " would be almost equally the case with our South Atlantic " States." And here, my Lord, even at the risk of being tedious, I cannot refrain a quotation from that universally admired author, when, in his Astoria, he speaks of Mr. Hunt's expedition from St. Louis across the Mountains to the mouth of the (Jolumbia (a distance in a direct line of about 1800 miles) : — " A part of their route lay across an im- mense tract, stretching north and south for hundreds of miles along the foot of the Rocky Mountains, and drained by the tributary streams of the Missouri and the Mississippi. This region, which resembles one of the immeasurable steppes of Asia, has not inaptly been " termed * the great American Desert.' It spreads forth its undi lating and treeless plains and desolate sandy wastes, wearisome to the eye from their extent and mo- notony, and which are supposed by geologists to have formed the ancient floor of the ocean, countless ages since, when its primeval waves beat against the granite " basis of the Rocky Mountains. " It is a land where no man permanently abides; for, " in certain seasons of the year, there is no food either for " the hunter or his steed. The herbage is parched and " withered ; the brooks and streams are dried up ; the *' buffalo, the elk and deer have wandered to distant parts, " keeping within the verge of expiring verdnre, and leaving " behind them a vast uninhabited solitude, seamed by ra- " vines, the beds of former torrents, but now serving only " to tantalize and increase the thirst of the traveller." The Rocky Mountains being crossed, " a dreary sandy (( <( tt e that the undertakin"; cannot be accom- plished without them, but, m^ Lord, because I consider that a certain class of them may be most usefully and beneficially employed at a saving of expense to the country, and at an advanta