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THE PACIFIC RAILWAY.
BRITA NNICITS' I.ETTEES
-FROM THE-
OTTAWA CITIZEN.
OTTAWA;^
|Utntcb bw Ibr "4'itr.ru" ftmtinci \m)3 |hiblisbtiig Coiti^uira.
181
.l-i>
//:
PACIFIC RAILWAY.
BRITANNICUS' LETTERS IN OTTAWA CITIZEN.
ii
"THE PACIFIC RAILWAY QUESTION."
LETU^ER, IVo. 1.
To the Editor of The Citizen :
Dear Sir, — Under this bending we have just had from
the Montreal Ministerial presi, viz.. Herald, Witness and jStar,
a series of articles urging, in effect, the impolicy of a Canadian
Pacific Railway from ocean to ocean, wholly on Canadian
ground. At the same time, with an inconsistency which can
only be rightly read through the glamour of an " organized
hypocrisy," they hold forth, to use the words of the Star, that
" owing to its magnitude, and involving as it does the vital
interests of the Dominion, the question of constructing the
Pacific Railway is, by all odds, the most important which
could occupy the attention of the Canadian press and people."
" The Conservatives insist," the Star goes on to say, 'Hhat
the policy of the Macdonald Government concerning it was
better than that of the present Administration."; The
writer then gives his " facts " and " figures " and general
prelections — wild, exceedingl / — in support of his argument,
concluding with the damning sentence — ^^The entire project
appears to be nothing short of
A STUPENDOUS ACT OF FOLLY
on the part of its orignators, as well aa their successors, and
the Colonial OfSce authorities as well." In other words, and
as so emphatically put in the House by Mr. " Speak Now "
Wood, in his memoiT^ble thirty shekellod speech against his
former friends and masters in this " vital " matter of Pacific
Railway in and for Canada — " Is the mad scheme of a mad
Government." " :,r
Where — if anywhere— i\iQ madness is, in the matter, I
cannot, even at this advanced moment, after much actual
w,-
if;?.
knowledge of the full truth of much of what, at the initiation
of the scheme, was unavoidably assumed merely in predicate,
really say. This much, however, I can say. That at the
general election — one sprung on the country, as a trap, so
strong and unanimous was public opinion in favor of the
scheme, that even the Chief of the Ultra- Annexation Section
Ministry of the day, the Hon. (and now Chief Justice)
Dorion, on the hustings of Napiervi lie, standing amongst the ;
sons of old Chateauguay, and seeking then and there their ;
" sweet voices " for election, answered, when anxiously asked
on the point, " our scheme" (i.e.. The Pacific Railway),
" WILL BE IN THE MAIN THAT OF THE LATE MINISTllY."
As to the soundness — impos ojt compos— o? the mind of the
honorable gentleman, to whom, according to all reports, the
Chief Justiceship of our Supreme Court has just been offered,
and who now, by the pre-eminent ability manifested by him
in his present high office, commands the respect and approving
regards of all parties, I leave it to his successor in the office
of Minister of Justice to this Dominion, and to the " Stars,"
varied and somewhat erratic and nebulous perhaps, in his :
immediate galaxy to show forth. Our night, political, is
dark, no doubt, and we look anxiously for Aurora, (not Mr.
Blake's however), look for the dawning of a better and
a longer day.
■"■^ No ! the cry, utterly false, of the moment, on the part
of a few, a very few, not "nine-tentbs" as Sir Alexander
Gait in his letter of the olhtr day hath it, yea, not one-tenth
of one tenth of onQ-ianih. o^ ihQ people proper of Canada, of
" No Pacific Railway," I say, is
NOT MADNESS EXACTLY BUT SOMETHING WORSE,
something rather of that treachery to national entity, which
men call treason. I speak plain in this matter, for the occa-
sion, in its imminence, calls for it.
And now as to this issue of relative schemes, the so-
called " Macdonald one " and so-called " Mackenzie one," I
take up the gage of our enemies, and shall do my best to show
which is the better cause. The ground I propose to go over
is top ejctended for a single letter and will probably require
He
so
he
on
[
a series, but which I shall make as short as possible, compati-
bly with the nature and importance of the case.
I purpose to show, in the first instance, what the first
project was, and in doing so to confine myself, as mi^ch os
possible, to authenticated dakij and to deductions which muy
fairly defy cavil — and all to the effect that the first scheme
was one which, as ever appeared, and as still appears to me,
and as I believe to all of Canada, or out of it, who had honestly
looked into it, was and is best calculated for the immediate
consolidation and
;, PERMANENT V/ELFARE OF CANADA
as well as for the advancement and safeguard of those larger
and higher interests, material and moral, involved in the
v/ork in its national and international aspects.
As to the details of the scheme, I shall, as need be for
the argument, take them up; and in so far as space in your
columns will allow, shall make my reasoning as exhaustive
as possible. ,..,-.-.,'■■., -J ■■v^.^^i ..■^.^•^^^vv ■■^A .><.>.'
Vf. • In adopting the term " Mackenzie scheme," however, I
beg distinctly, in limine, to say that I do not consider it as a
Pacific Railway in any sense. When I come to it in discus-
sion I shall explain this.
In the meantime, in connection with this view, I would
point to the incident that at this moment I have evidence of
the fact in the open and vancry avowal of " No Pacific Rail-
way" in Canada on the part of Mr. Mackenzie's special
nominee, Mr. Thomas Workman (Oh, unhellevuig Thomas !)
in the pending Montreal election. Add to that, as evidence
indubitable, our Premier's own speech at his own Sarnia, just
forty -eight hours ago. At the same time Messrs. Blake and
Huntington — statesmen whose avowed policy is to drive
British Columbia out of our Confederation — hold seat and high
rule in executive in Ottawa.
Yours,
.liv*.
BRTTANNICUS.
Ottawa, 14th October.
The Montreal Star, so far as we understand, is an In-
dependent and not a Ministerial journal. — Ed. Citizen.
The Macdonald Scheme. ,'
To the Editor o/ The Citizen: • ;. ;•,
Sir, — The theme is a large one, and for fair dealing
should be accompanied with an extended line of introductory
remark to show, as it were, the immediate "reason (neces-
sity) of the thing ; " but, as the public mind has been, we
assume, for the nonce, already favorably impressed on this
point, and that all effort to change it, now and of late, has
so far failed, at least to any extent worthy of mark, we defer
observation on this head to general comment, in conclusion,
on review of the comparative schemes in question.
THE SCHEME AS FORMULATED IN CONTRACT,
and as set forth in the charter was laid thus: ''Whereas,
by an Act of the Parliament of Canada," — we cite verbatim
from the charter act — " passed in the thirty-fifth year of our
reign, entitled an Act respecting the Canadian Pacific Rail-
way, it is provided, upon the considerations therein declared,
thf t a railway to be called ' The Canadian Pacific Railway,'
should be made in conformity with the agreement referred
to in the preamble to the said Act, and should extend from
some point o/iornear Lake Nipissing, and on the south shore
thereof to some point on the shore of the Pacific Ocean ; both
the said points to be determined by the Governor in Council,
and the course and line of the said railway between the
said points to be subject to the approval of the Governor in
Coimcil."
" And whereas it is, by the said Act, further provided,
that two, and only two certain branch lines, viz : The Pem^
bina one and the then contemplated Nepigon one (if required
and as might be determined by ultimate survey lor location)
should be constructed within certain periods, viz., the former
by Slst December, 1874 ; the latter, together with the lohole
* Lake Superior section^' from Lake Superior to Tied River, hij
the 3ls< December, 1876."
railway. , , .; . ■ 3
" That the Company may and shall lay out, construct,
equip, maintain and work a continuous railway, of the width
^V-ltl^
or gauge of iour feet eight and one-half inches; which rail*
way shall be made in conformity with the Act hereinbefore
recited, and with thia our royal ciiarter; and such railway
shall extend from such point on or near Lake Nipisaing, and
on the south shore thereof, to some point on the shore of
the Pacitic Ocean, both the said points to be determined by
the Government, and the course and line of the said railway
to be subject to the approval of tlie Government."
Then follow provisions as to " specifications " to be
agreed on by the Governirient and the Company. And
further, it was stipulated — Sec 8,
"That the Company shall" [should] " within two years
from the 20th July, 1871, commence simultaneously the
construction of the railway from the Pacitic Ocean towards
the Rocky Mountains, and from a point [/. e. on or near the
south shore of Lake Nipissing, as fixed by Act of Parliament
as already sto,ted] in the Province of Ontario, hereafter
[thereafter] to be determined by the Government, cowards
the Pacitic Ocean, to connect the seaboard of British Columbia
with the raihoay system of Canada, i. e., by a continuous rail-
wtiy wholly in Canada. The whole to be finished within
ten years from 20th July, 1871."
" The Ciipital stock of the company shall be ten million
dollars [distributed rateably, according to population, through-
out the provinces in the Federation, and in the sums respect-
ively, stated in the charter] which shall not be increased
but by Act of Parliament [such capital stock having been
already subscribed as aforesaid] to be held in shares of one
hundred dollars each, which shall in all respects be deemed
personal property, and ten per centum thereon shall be paid
mto the hands of the Bectiver- General of Canada, in money or
Canadian Government securities, within one month after the
date of these presents, to remain in his hands until other-
wise ordered by Parliament." Interest on deposit while
The section following, at considerable length, provides
for calls on shares after the ten per centum thereof so placed
in deposit.
By section "41" — too long for citation at present —
power to issue bonds for construction to an apiouut " which
shall not exceed forty thousand dollars per mile, to be issued
in proportion to the length of railway to be constructed," is
given to the company, such bonds to be a " first charge on
the railway and its appurtenances."
LAND GRANT.
" Fifty millions acres of land, in blocks [alternate] not
exceeding twenty miles in depth on ciu^h aide of such main
line." [We italicise the words " each side," for they vary —
vary very much to the advantage of the grantees — from the
terms quoad hoc of the Mackenzie scheme, according to
which the railway may hisect the " blocks of twenty square
miles each" (alternate) "along the line of paid railway."]
The blocks in the former as in the latter case, to be "alternate,"
but with a frontage or " width " of " not less than six miles
nor more than twelve miles, the alternate blocks to be held in
reserve by the Government at the " upset price " of two dollars
and a half per acre, the average value as prediijed in the
contract of the lands so granted.
Special provision is made for arrangement with the Pro-
vince of Ontario as to grant in that portion of the railway
within it: and further the charter provided: — '
" That if it shall be found that any of the alternate
blocks lai<l out along the I'ne of the railway are unfit for
settlement, the company shall not be bound to receive from
the Government any greater depth of land in such blocks
than one mile, computed from the railway.
That the lands to be granted in aid of the main line of
railway from out of the lands of the Dominion, and the lands
to be granted in aid of the said branches (Pembina and Nepi-
gon) shall consist of su(th land as shall be found east of the
llocky Mountains, between the parallels forty -nine and fifty-
seven of north latitude, and the Company shall not be bound
to receive any lands which are not of the fair average quality of
the land in the sections of country best adapted for r^ttlement
lying within those limits; and the same shall be J rid out as
nearly as may be, contiguous to the lands granted along the
main line of Railway, and to the Lake Superior Branch."
We especially emphasize this passage ; because the terms
— most loose and really most reprehensible — in the Mackenzie
scheme, allow of selection anywhere in the whole *Torthwe8t,
issued
;ed;' is
rge on
;e] not
1 main
vary —
om the
ling to
square
[way. ]
trnate,"
X miles
held in
dollars
I in the
(:he Pro-
railway
Iternate
mfit for
Lve from
h blocks
n line of
he lands
nd Nepi-
st of the
ind fifty-
be bound
:[uality of
ittlement
lid out as
along the
nch."
the terms
lackenzie
orthwest,
including coal and gold lands for any number of miles of
railway done. Of this, more anon.
SUBSIDY IN MONEY.
*'That a subsidy or aid in money, amounting to $.30,-
000,000, is heieby granted to the company, payable from
time to time by inntalments at intervals of one month as any
portion of the railway is proceeded with, in proportion to the
length, difficulty of construction and cost of such portion,
si'ch proportions to be ascertained and sottled in the same
manner as is herein provided with respect to the grants of
land." Costs of survey to be included in such sul»sidy.
BOARD OF TIIUSTPJES.
That the company may by by-law create a Board of
Trustees to consist of three persons, to be chosen and to be
removeable at pleasure, as follows, that is to say : one member
thereof bv the Government, one other meml)er thereof by
the Board of Directors, and the one other member thereof l)y
the bondholders, in such a manner as may be provided by
such by-law.
The duties and powers of this Board are defined at much
length, and are obviously in safeguard of the interests of the
Government and bondholders, as well as for proper function
of the company in the course of their work.
It ought to be stated also that a telegraph line, in con-
nection with the railwa}^, and for public utility is an. ^jiy
provided for in the charter. And further it was provided that
the company should convey by their railway whatever mili-
tary forces, naval or military stoi^os, ammunition, guns, bag-
gage, &c., should be required by the military or naval au-
thorities, " on such terms and co ditions and under such re-
gulations as the Government should from time to time make."
-^''■'-"^ - ^ ^'-■'•V'BRITANNICUS.
Ottawa, 15th October, 1875.
ti
LET'Tl^l^ JXo. 3.
Further Consideration of the Scheme.
To the Editor of The Citizen : ' *'"':- ^•
Sir, — In my last I was longer than I intended to be
but could not well be shorter, as the contsact itself was so
■i ■
:8
terse and so full of detail — providing everything, and against
every contingency — that I found it impossiblo to further
abreviate ; and besides, I happened to be hurried, by press
of urgent duties, when I wrote. One word, however, before
I close on this head.* -i
THE MACDONALD CONTRACT <] '..-uii , .* 'Uht'
was framed eminently in the public interest, and in terms
to defy the acutest hypercriticism of its bitterest assailants.
There was, in safeguard of public interest, no flaw in it, and no
one, of any character at stake for professional ability or recti-
tude, dared to pretend, in the House, nor even in the press,
that there was any in it. On the contrary, the defect or
fault of the contract was that it was too oneroue " ?iard,'' and
restrictive on the contractors , and from the tenor ol Sir Hugh
Allai^a^te|»limony on this point, on the Royal Commission,
thev^EaoDe^un to feel this. For instance, in the ir.attftr of
bona issue, the restriction to forty thousand dollars per mile
was too narrow. In my humble opinion, taking the total
length of line from the eastern terminus to the Pacific shore
at 2,(:)65 miles, my estimate, as stated in detail in my letters
of 18G9, and as subsequently confirmed by actual survey, as
reported by Mr. Fleming, and giving a total estimated cost
of $150,000,000, viz. ; 50,000,000 acres at $2.50 per acre,
and 130,000,000 in money. The bond margin should have
been wider, viz., $60,000 per mile. Other points in the same
line of remark I might-make, but forbear for the present. ,,;
i; FE.'iSIBILITY OF THE MACDONALD LINE. ,iii
*' Thirty millions of dollars and some fift} millions of
acres of land were devoted to the wjrk of constructinff a
road by a line that had never been eurveyed, through a7i un-
known land savo to the fur trader and the Indian.''
So says the tStar in his article under consideration.
It is not true.
In the first place, at the very initiation of the project
the Government had before them, abundance of reliable in-
formation derived from the late Mr. Waddington'^ reports
and plans of actual survey from the Pacific coast eastward to
the valley of tlic river Montreal in the Ottawa Valley, or at
least, of some of the most difl&cult portions of the route, and
a careful and exhaustive collection of facts from Imperial
p
1
9
bluebooks and our own as to our north-west, and from the
Crown Land Office of British Columbia, and also from the
ever faithfully kept itineraries, journals, reports and maps,
[M.S.S.] of leading officers in the Hudson's Bay Company's
service lont for the occasion, and from the Thompson and
other professional reports of exploratory survey in our own
archives, and in all these the Government had abundant data
to go on. But further. In April, 10th, 1872, ten months
before the date of charter in question, Mr. Fleming, the En-
gineer-in-Chief of the work, published his progress report,
::howing enough to confirm the assumption of feasibility ; and
on the 2ud of that month, on the strength of actual know-
ledge acquired the Government by formal Minute of Council
adopted the Yellow Head Pass — as first indicated by Wad-
dington and myself — as the " (jate ''—railicay gate — to British
Columbia from the east. From that time to the* date of con-
tract the survey with a staff of come twenty -two or twenty-
four companies strongly equipped — a survey force of power
and effective energy beyond parallel — was continued un-
tiringly, and by that time it was fully known to the contract-
ing parties that not only a feasible line of railway hut one in-
finitely easier, cheaper and better than any possible A merican
one, from our Eastern Raihuay System to the Pacific Ocean,
existed within our oivn borders !
I state this from thorcugh lersorial knowledge ; but to
prove the fact I would, but briefly, refer to Mr. Fleming's
last report of survey, viz : that of 1874, and which has been
scattered broadcast over the land. His conclusion — see page
34-6 in general summary — is thus expressed by himself, viz :
'■* That the practicability of establishing railway communication
across the continent, wholly toithin the limits of the Dominion, is
no longer a matter of doubt.
It may indeed"-— he goes onto say — " be now accepted
as a certainty, that a route has been lound, generally possess-
ing fiivorable engineering features, with the exception of a
short section approaching the Pacific coast ; which route,
tak^iig its entire length, including the exceptional section
alluded to, will on an a^'3rage show lighter work and "will
require les.« costly structures than have been necessry on
many of the railways now in operation in the Dominion."
By.
■2:2/ I irmririmmn—itiHHiMfciiMai
■j n "
I i ■:•'>.
10
the " Mackeuzie
next, I propofc'e taking up
BRITANNICUS,
In my
Scheme."
,,//:.■;■:.. .^ , - , ;; ,-
Ottawa, 15th Oct., 1875. ,,
/ LETTKR. IVo. -t.
Further Consideration of the Scheme.
7b /7ic J5'(?iVo?' o/ The Citizen: /
« THE MACKENZIE SCHEME,"
As originally laid, is to be found in Chap. 14 of our Dominion
Acts of 1874. (Assentedto, 26th May, 1874.)
THE LINE OF RAILWAY
is defined thus : —
" Section 1. A railway to be called the ' Canadian Pacific
Railway ' shall be made from some point near to and south of
Lake Nipissing to some point on British Columbia on the Pa-
cific Ocean, both the said points to be determined and the
course and line of the said railway to be approved of by the
Governor in Council.
" Section 2. The whole line of the said railway, for the
purpose of its construction, shall be divided into four sections :
The first section to begin at a point near to and south of
Lake Nipissing, and to extend towards the upper or western
end of Lake Superior, to a point where it shall intersect the
second section hereinafter mentioned ; the second section to
begin at some point on I^ake Superior, to be determined by
the Governor in Council, and connecting with the first sec-
tion, and to extend to Red River, in the Province of Mani-
toba ; the third section to extend from Red River, in the
Province of Manitoba, to some point between Fort Edmon-
ton and the foot of the Rocky Mountains, to be determined
by the Governor in Council ; the fourth section to extend
from the western terminus of the third section to some point
in British Columbia on the Pacific Ocean."
; . BRANCHES.
::' " Section 3. Branches of the said railway shall also be
constructed as follows, that is to say : —
" First — A branch from the point indicated as the pro-
posed eastern terminus of the said railway to some point on
v.- 1
11
jkenzie
nniiiion
I Pacific
outh of
the Pa-
iDd the
f by the
i'ov the
ectioDS;
south of
western
:sect the
action to
lined bv
first sec-
d£ Mani-
', in the
, Ednion-
:ermined
) extend
me point
11 also be
3 the pro-
point ou
i
the Georgian Bay, both the said points to be determined by
the Governor iii Council.
" Secondly. — A branch from the main line near Fort
Garry, in the Province of Manitoba, to some point near Pem-
bina on the southern boundary thereof."
By section 4, these branches are to be " considered, to all
intents and purposes, as forming part of the Canadian Pacific
Railway."
TELEGRAPH LINE.
" Section 5. A line of electric telegraph shall be con
structed in advance of the said railway and branches, along
their whole extent respectively, as soon as practicable, after
the location of the time shall have been determined upon."
By Section 6. The " guage " (gauge) of the railway is
defined to be four feet eight inches and a half; and further
it is laid down, as a distinctive principle in the manipulation
of the scheme, that the " grades of the railway, and the ma-
terials and manner of and in which the several works form-
ing part thereof shall be constructed, and the mode of work-
ing the railway, includinc the description and capacity of
the locomotive engines and other rolling stock, shall be such
as shall be determined by the Governor in Council."
And to make certainty doubly sure on this score, it is
enacted, by Section 7, that — " The said Canadian Pacific Rail-
way and the branches or sections hereinbefore mentioned,
and the stations, bridges and other works connected there-
with, and all engines, ireight, and passenger cars and rolling
stock shall be constructed under the general superintendence
of the Department of Public Works." and, of course, of its
own proper workmen.
And further, still, for jobbery, it is enacted by Section
8, that — '' The Governor in Council may divide the several
sections of the said railway into snh'sections, and may con-
tract with any person, co-partnership, or company, or com-
pany incorporated * * * for the construction of any
section or sub-section of tne said railway, includiug all works
connected therewith," &c., subject t^ the following pro-
visions : — v . i . ; ,.„ :
*' 1. That'thr works or any secHon or suB-section of tht^
iRid railway shall not be given out to any contractor or con-
!
•'.A
w
i s
\\:
tractoi-s except after tenders shall have been obtained for the
same." [Note. — So far well, but the Departmental principle
now, and of late, as exemplified in the Pakn and certain
large canal contract affairs, is evidently a very uncertain one
in this matter of *• tenders."]
" 2. That the contract for any portion of the said works
shaU not be given to any contractors unless such contractors
give satisfactory evidence that WiKiy i'>ossess — [Note — "Pos-
sess I" but, pray, with what security of continued possession
pending contract ?] — a capital of at least four thousand dol-
lars per mile of their contract, and of which twenty-five per
cent, in money. Government or other sufficient securities ap-
proved by the Governor in Council, shall liavei been do-
posited to the credit of the Receiver-General," &c.
_ , . ; , ., . , , . SUBSIDY. ^ •,
"3. That the total sum to be paid to the contractors
shall be stip^ilated in the contract, and shall be ten thousand
dollars for each mile of the section or sub-section contracted
for — [Note. — That, for whole line, including branches, would
make up fully 130,000,000, to which is to ])e added what
follows as to the four per cent, interest for twenty-five years
on capital on construction.] — and that such sum {le..^ $10,000
per mile) shall be paid to the contractors as the work pro-
gresses, by monthly payments, in proportion to the value of
the work then actually performed (according to the esti-
mates of the engineers designated for the purpose by the
Minister of Public Works) as compared with the value of the
whole work contracted for, including rolling stock and all
things to be done or furnished by the contractors; and ex-
cepting money arising from the sale of lands, as hereinafter
provided, no further sum of money shall be payable to the
contractors, as principal, but interest at the rate of four per
cent, per annum for twenty-five years from the completion
of the work, on a sum (to be stated in the contract) for each
mile of the sectum or sub-section contracted for, shall be
payable to the contractors in like manner and proportion,
and on like conditions, as payments are to be made on the
principal sum above mentioned ; and the tenders of the work
shall be required to state the lowest sum per mile on which
such intexest and guarantees will be required."
18
br the
inciplo
certain
bin one
works
ractors
" Pos-
session
id dol-
ve per
ies ap-
en do-
;ract()rs
ousand
tracted
, would
1 what
3 years
H0,000
I'k pro-
alue of
le esti"
by the
J of the
and all
nd ex-
dnafter
to the
)ur per
pletion
or each
hall be
)ortion,
on the
le work
I which
' • This, in effect, opens, it may be said, a tathomless gulf
of expenditure nominee "Pacific Railway." It is the most
reckless and astounding piece of legislatlirH,! kni*w ol, and
even already, in the face of an adverse vote in one branch of
the Legislature, viz. : of twenty -three (or tAventy-five) to
eighteen in the Senate in the matter of the Georgian Branch
contract, although no possible part ot the Pacific Railway
proper, is fast being acted on. Of thir', more anon.
LANDS. ' '
'' 4. That a quantity of land, not exceeding twenty thou"
sand acres for each mile of the section or subsection con-
tracted for, shall be appropriated in alternate sections of
twenty square miles each alonxj the line of the sr^aid r.iilway."
[Note. — Not on each side, and to the full depth of the twen-
ty milee on each side, in alternate blocks as in the Macdonald
scheme] — " or at a convenient distance therefrom, eacli section
having a frontage of not less thnn three miles, nor more than
six miles, on a line of the said railway, and that two-thirds
of the qaantitij of land so appropt'iated s\m\\ be sold by the
Gov ernment " — [no limit, mimimnm or maximum, as to price]
" at such prices as may be from time to time agreed upon be-
tween the Governor in Council and the contract rs, and the
proceeds thereof accounted for and psiid half yearly to the
contractors, free from any charge of administration or
management — the remaining third to be conveyed to the
contractors. The said lands to be of fair average
quality, and not to include any land already granted or oc-
cupied under any patent, license of occupation or i)re-emption "
(Query — squatter?) U^r*" right," ''and when a sulficient
quantity cannot be found in the immediate vicinity of the
railway " — [as in the whole (JOO miles, in Ontario from Ni- •
pissing to the western boundary of Ontario, beyond Lake
Superior] — " then the same quantity or as much as may be
required to complete such quantity, shall be appropriated at.
such other places as may be determined by the Governor in
Council." Not, be it remarked, as in the Macdonald scheme,
restricting the grant in such case, to con tiguitt/ to other lands,
granted, along the line. As before stated, this (the Mac-
kenzie Act) gives the power of indefinite selection over the •
whole vast area of our Dominion wild lands.
m
,'■ T
'* ' In* connection with this, I would cite, from the same
statute book the following — Chap. 19, (An Act to amend the
Dominion Lands Act),sec> 9. " iSection forty-four of the said
hereinbefore first cited Act" (35 V , c. 23 — ''The Dominion
Lands Act ") " is hereby repealed, and the following is sub-
stituted for and shall be read as the said section forty- four.
The Minister of the Interior shall have power to protect any
person or persons desiring to carry on coal mining in uns'iu'-
veyed terrilonj^ in the possession of the lands on which such
mining may be carried on, provided, that before entering on
the working of such mines, such person or persons make
written applications to the local agent to purchase such land :
* * survey * * estimate * * number of acres * * which shall
not exceed " — [i. e. for each person or body of persons] — "isix
hundred and forty acres, '* at the rate of one dollar per acre!'
No matter how valuable the coal measures be ! and some of
them are reported of nearly twenty feet in thickness, crop-
ping out conveniently on the river bank, and of good quality
for all industrial uses of such article. British Columbia best
kinds, including anthnjcute command from $12 to $20 per
ton in San Francisco, or at least did so lately, and the demand
for it is ever increasing.
The coal of the Saskatchewan, McLeod, Athabaska,
Peace and Mackenzie Rivers, is lignite, or terhttiry coal, a
compact bitumen, good for forge work, as proved at Fort
Edmonton by the Hudson's Bay Company, and by such
scientists as Sir John Richardson, and by our own geological
staff, I believe, has been most favorably reported on. More-
over, ever close by it is iron ore and limestone in abundance.
To throw away such wealth — vital wealth — of a nati<m is
simply worse than folly.
-,^^ My criticisms in this letter are long, but they arc so
from a desire to do Mr. Mackenzie ever f/ justice. In my next
1 propose to show how his whole '-four sections" of P.R.
have been virtually dropped by him, leaving to us two worse
tiian useless so-called branches, and a pretended mixed land
and vv'ater — or substitutional link-stringed sausage-like line —
the whole involving a waste, absolute, of many millions of the
people's money, and at the same time, by that very waste, dis-
'k\X
abling ub from ever accomplishing a Pacific Railway of our own.
Yours,
BRITANNICUS
Ottawa, October 16th, 1875.
Further Consideration of the Sehem \
lo the Editor of The Citizen :
As part of the " Mackenzie scheme," and an important
incident in it, I would now touch on
THE BRITIISEI COLUMBIA DIFFICULT!.
That the aim and policy of the Mackenzie Ministry is,
and has ever been, to drive British Columbia out of the
Union, and thereby leave to the American Northern Pacific
Railway Company the monopoly of railway terminus and
seaport on the Northern Pacific coast, Avith command of the
Northern Pacific trade, there can be no doubt. The concur-
rence of all facts and acts on that side of the present issue,
lead conclusively to this as the primum mobile of the " diffi-
culty " as raised — raised in obvious American behalf.
As on all false issues, so in this, fallac}^ and untruth
have played much their part to subvert truth and right.
The assumeci ground on which the repudiation of the
Federal pact wath British Columbia -was made, was, as we all
know, the pretence that it was '• impossible " to accomplish
within the ten years prescribed in clause eleven of the
" Terms of Union," the railway in question. On that point
we have evidence of the fact in the American Pacific Rail-
way, a larger and far more difficult work, constructed in less
th'in half that time, and that when circumstances were most
unfavorable for such extra strain on American labor and
financial resources, viz. : at the end of their terrible war,
that there was ample time to do the work. On that score
the contractors, so far as appears from their testimony on the
Royal commission and from their ourse in the matter, had
no fears whatever. The Engineer-in-Chief had himself
stepped every inch of the way, and reported, as the result of
actual survey, two or three lines of feasible route. So that
■
- 1
.1
as to the "^)o.9^t7;i7%" of the thing there was really no
reasonable ground for doubt.
But, moreover, even if the physical difficulties of the
rou^o were such as to absolutely call for a prolongation of
time for completion, the Iccial ohligatmi in so fiir as the
Dominion Government was concerned, still ever held with
full force. On this point Sir John Macdonald's opinion, as
given, commends itself as sound in reason, and we may all
well assume as sound in law, whatever, to the contrary,^ Mr.
Blake (Mr. Mackenzie's present Minister of Justice) may say,
or decline openly to say. But to proceed.
,, I take up the blue-book of last Session (a copy got with
great difficulty), styled '■'■ Message relative to the Terms of
Union with the Province of British Columbia." From pages
thirty-five to forty is a long and alfgmentative Minute of
Council, dated 17th Sept,. 1874. It runs tbus: "The Com-
mittee of Council have had under their consideration the
despf..ch of the Right Honorable Lord Carnarvon, relating to
the complaints of the BritJah Columbia Government with
respect to the Pacific Eailway, and suggesting certain modi-
fications made by the Dominion Government, through Mr.
Edgar, on the 8th May last"
The Minute goes on to respond to the different proposi-
tions laid be Lord Carnarvon, but while, as compelled by the
inherent force of these most reasonable propositions, the Ca-
binet of Canada yield, or rather pretends to yield, with a sin-
gular — I shan't say perversity, for that would be unparlia-
mentary, perhaps — ^^ingular — taste, say — keep up a running
comment of protest, in the course of wliich they manifest
clearly their intention to make out their case, if possible. For
instance, in page 37, they say: — "Whatever may be the
route finally chosen, the line will of necessity traverse a
country wdth exceedingly rough topographical features for a
distance of five or six hundred miles from the eastern slope
of the Rocky Mountains to the extreme limit of the Provinces
on the Pacific."
This statement is very incorrect, save as to roughness
to some extent. The average breadth — see any good map —
of British Columbia is only about 400 miles, and as the heads of
the inlets, Bute, Burrard's, or Bella Coola, or Douglas, to be
%'
17
touched by railway, penetrate from forty to fifty miles inland,
the actual traverse would be only about 350 miles. Mr. Flem-
ing's charts show this.
The Minute goes on to say : — " The country is an im-
mense plateau which maintains the general elevation to within
a few miles of the sea, but often rises into imshapely moun-
tain ranges; some of these ranges tower to a height of over
0,000 feet." ,v,:.:,,.^;: -. .v. .,„ i, ;.•;...;.:,. ...,.;-;
This is singularly incorrect. Mr. Fleming's report of
1874 shows it to be so. His loscription of the Chilcotin
Plain, and that still lowxr plateau whose easterly outlet is
the Peace River Pa^s — Pass with ascertained height of only
" 1,750" (seventeen hundred and fifty) feet above sea level
— gives an average from this height to only about one-tJiird
of the pretended " 9,000 feet " in question, and the highest
height visible reported (see page 117) is laid by Mr. Marcus
Smith, engineer-in-chief, conducting the survey in British
Columbia, at only from 4,200 to 4,500 feet above the sea
level, while as per chart No. 4 to the report, the highest
point of railicay route there, is laid at only 3,700 feet.
I thus allude to this incident in evidence of the animus
of the dictator or dictators of the Minute in question.
But further, while Lord Carnarvon insists upon a con-
i'muods line of railway from the Pacific to Lake Superior, they
answer only thus : — " It is intended by the Government that
the utmost diligence shall be manifestedm obtaining a speedy
line of communication by rail and ivater from Lake Superior
westward, completing the various links of railway as fast as
possible, consistent with that prudent course which a com-
paratively poor and sparsely settled country should adopt.
* * * The Committee advise that Lord Carnarvon be in-
formed that, while in no case could the Government under-
take the completion of the whole line in the time mentioned"
(viz. 1890) "an extreme unwillingness exists to another
limitation of time : but if it be found absolutely necessary to
secure a present settlement of the controversy hy further con-
cessions, a pledge may be given that the portion loest of Lake
Superior will be completed so as to afford connection by rail "
{i.e., rail and water, as above-stated in the same Minutej
" with existing lines of railway, through a portion of the
c— Ry.
■ . ,'1
I
\>, 'ul
v:)
; I
18
United States and by Canadian waters during the season of
navigation by the year 180U as suggested."
And iiow have they carried out even this feubstiiutiunal
undertaking ?
Only, HO iar as known, putting the " links " cf the Dav-
son route under contract lor railway. That route, at its
eastern terminus, is about a hundred miles south, and ont of
the shortest and best (the Nii)eg()n) line of route, as laid by
Mr Fleming, and over a much greater height and through
rougher country.
The portage links on this route are numerous, and vary
between a few yards and a quarter of a mile or so, on an
average between Lake Shebandowan and the Lake of the
Woods.
To put "steel rails" with, of course, corresponding lo-
comotive engines on such links of poftage, would be like put-
ting elephants to wheelbariows. An ordinary tramway,
costing less than one quarter the cost of steel rails alone,
woidd answer all purposeH, and be best.
But, dear sir, who, with the Port of Duluth close at hand,
and offering continous vail trans])ort thence to Manitoba,
would ever ttiink of taking such a trail, broken, arduous and
almost dangerous — as the Uaw.-on-Mackenzie route — for loco-
motiveSjjWcrald have scircely space to stop, as well as start,
on thosejTniking passages? The absurdity of the scheme is
evident.
As to the railway route westward of lied River, that,
according to all accounts, is intended to be equally, yea, mnch
more, oft' the true line;, by a '"linking" digression through
the irrecliiniable, and for any commercial passage, impass-
able swamps of the hyperborean Winnipegoosis.
"' Bevond this section, No. 3 of the Statute of 1874, we
have the British Columbia sectiim. As to it all Avi» have,
^yet, from Mr. Mackenzie, is, that he has had some three hun-
dred and sixty-live persons, all summer past, scouring the
countrj^, in " survey " to find a route. '• None " — they say —
"so blind, as those who «;o;^'< see." Nearlv one hundred
years ago, another Alexander McKenzie (brave Sir Alexan-
der) had no difficulty — not the slightest — to find a way from
Montreal via our Peace River, to the shore of the Pacific.
19
i8on of
itiuiuil
3 Dav-
at its
I Old of
tiid by
hrough
cl vary
on an
of tho
ling lo-
ke put-
Linvvny,
alone,
.tliand,
mitobii,
)us and
for loco-
is start,
lemc is
r, that,
a, mucli
tb rough
inipass-
574, we
» have,
-ee hun-
ing the
y day—
lundrecl
Alexan-
ay from
Pacific.
Besides, our own Chit-f Engineer has — and in his report and
plans, in exhaustive detail, puhllshrd nine 'months he/ore the
date of tlic Mumte of Conned, uforesitld — showed, not only a
feasible, but comparatively to the American (with its more
than double of mountain height and way) an exceedingly fa-
vorable line.
Last not least, I take up
THE GEORGIAN BAY BRANCH. ^ '
The scheme, as I have before said, is not and cannot be
proper, or in any way belong to the Pacific Railway scheme.
It is, to all intents and pur])oses^ an Ainericdii work t ) draw
to American ports, New York and Busti)n. To cull it a
"branch," and at the same time insist — as Mr. Mackenzie in
the aforesaid Minute ofCjuncil, and has ever since, other-
wise, do'.ic — on the eastern termiuus of the Pacific Kiiilway
bying fixed to "some point on the western shore of Lake Su-
perior/' six hundred miles from such branch, and nearly eight
hundred miles from the present Canadian system of railway,
is simply gibber. And what, to the public treasury, vrill lie the
COST ?
I cite Ihti terms of the Foster contract, as published.
Length of road, estimated in contract at eighty-five miles:—
Subsidy, cash, $10,000 per mile 6850,000
'• ' '-4 ))er cent, for Iwouty-tivo years oii
1^7,500 por mi lo • •
Lund— icleetion tiiroughout all oui- Norlii-We.st — nay
ixtrenio iniui'muin) S-'> pf-'i" "t'^'c, "-iO, ()!)!) :iercs
(i37.500
(^
)or mile.
Add ior utterly tiseicss te]e.f;ra]>li lino in advance
of
ocation »^f niilvvay line, and in tho tooth of tho
statute ad hoc.
8,500,000
).J)8T.51)U
800,000
Al
so, we inav t<t
ly. loss Oil hteel rail-s pi
'O
hub
)lv
$10,787,500
500,000
$11,237,500
Finally, loss of survey plans by tire, reported a
$1,500,000, but
1,000.000
$12,287,500
20
0/EK TWELVE MILLION HuLLAilK
lost, or about to be, and which to that extent would cripple
Canada in any furtlier effort for a Pacific Railway.
The figures I give are really tcUhhi mark, and if chal-
lenged, I am prepared to prove them. v^ - r r
■ Yours,
imiTANNICUS.
Ottawa, October 18th, 1875. a . •
.Kr4
iNo.
«.
To the Mditor of TiiE CiTiZEf: :
Having thus hastily presented the two schemes, 1 would,
before passing to anoiher head, just briefly observe as to
relative character and bearing, that in the former,
,v ."THE MACDONALD SCHEME,"
we have, in the statute, charter, contract, and every State
paper and official report and document on the subject, besides
the vast field work done at the very start, the strongest pos-
sible evidence of the houesty of purpose, practicability, and
proper adaptation of means to ends in view. *'In this respect
the scheme, as laid and started, bore, on its face, the charac-
ter of reality for the public good. On the other hand,
according to the internal evidence of its inherent defects and
faults, the latter
-■Mm^v:. V .; ;-, .i THE MACKENZIE SCHE3IE"
can claim no such merit ; but, to say the least of it, is a siiam
and mischievous delusion.
Another feature worthy of remark in the issue is that
the Mackenzie Government have ever iuinored the national
and international aspect of the work.
The}^ and those who write for them, treat it as merely —
as they call it— l " domestic " work, and by w^hich, the country
— the present vast wdlds to be traversed — first to be filled up
with settlers by means of the rail-water routes of Mr. Mac-
kenzie All this is fatuous folly.
The whole, from Nipissing to the Pacific shore is, as we
all know, a comparative wild, wuth physical features and
general geodesy of such character as to require — absolutely
require — a railway from the settled portion of Canada, with
«■
21
»
its railway system eiiHtwarc'; direct, or direct .is possible, to
Manitoba and our further North-West. This route, namely,
via the nortli shore of Lake Superior, in hus stated by Mr!
Fleming iii his report of 1874, page 33 :—
" FiiOM Foirr (iAiaiv to Toronto and ^[Ontreal.-j.v raiir
To Toronto. To Moutmil.
Miles. Miios.
Via tho Canadian raeilic Kaihvay to Nipisnint!:.
and eontinnation T. 1,17:] :, 1,288
Via IVmbina and Chitago, JJotroit, &u 1,580 1,923
J")ifforcnv:'o in favor of the Canadian Pacific
^iailway 410 ' " ({'{T
From Red River to the Pacific Ocean, as we all now
know, there is no course of navigation that would be avail-
able for extended commerce, and for the whole route, even
for internal develojtrnent alone; a railway is ntcessary.
But, looking at the work in its bearing as an Inter-
Ocemic Highway, we have this to bear in mind, that as such
it would dominate ocer all others.
Firstlij. Because, between the gj-eat " sailing arcs," as
laid down byl5faury and others, across the North Atlantic
and Pacific Ocoiuis, our line from Halifax to some port near
the north-western end of Vancouver's Island, would be that
of nearest connection.
Secondly. Our more norlh-rn route, in its shorter arc, is
shorter than a.iy possible American one north of Mexico;
and, moreover, it lies in the direct line between mid-Europe
and mid-China and Japan.
Thirdly. The physical features of the route are far
more favorable than the present American one, with not one
half of monntain height to overcome, and with less snow diffi-
culty^ and also less Indian trouble (if any) to contend with —
and with coal, wood and water in abundance, for railway
function, as well as for settlement, all along.
Fourthly. That with its easier grades and cheaper fuel,
besides shortness by about 300 or 400 miles, at least, and
with its more economic, though not inferior construction, the
Canadian line would assuredly command a fair share of the
*/A8T TRAFFIC OF THE PACIFIC.
What that is, according- to last trade returns (blue book) I
mm
2?
U'\
-: I
gave, Mr. Editor, in considerable detail in one of my letters
in your columns daring hisl session in Ottawa. To repeat,
it is ^
ONE THOT'SAInD millions OF DOLLARS TELl ANNUM.
Thus, in summ;..y : —
Eritish Tacific Trade, as per return of 1873 S.")02,28'7,4()5
United States Trade, as per return of 1873-4 154, J 12,438
: i ^.-:;-A-:L, ^•■•.v..i:.-.' $057,190,843
Add for Kurope (except Britain) say (at least) 342,800,157
■■''"'■' ■■ "-^^:':'^^''^-.'-'-^'- -.^^■■■-■i-:'. ■■':-'-^^^^^^^ $1,000,000,000
0.1 that, the present gross annual transit revenue of the
American Paciiic Railway line or lines Irom New York to
San Fiancisco is — as in one of my Brirannicus letters of 1869
I estimated it would be — at least ^35.0u0,<i00. On thi» point,
I would refer to the annual report of tiie Government direc-
tors /'/i ye the Ui^iion Pacitic railroad, who have just iiled their
annual report for tlie year ending July 1st, 1875, at Wash-
ington. '' The gross receipts," they say, " were $11,522,021 "
■ — " operating expenses, ^4,788,630 ' — '• reduction of debt
last year of ^678,000, and a total of |2,000,0U0 land grant
bonds paid oft since the completion of the road." " Increase "
(of revenne) " they estimate can be run up to ^20,000,000
per annum without any increase of its bonded debt." Finally
they conclude by saying: "The road is a vast and valuable
property, vrell cred and well maintained and cdpahle of re-
tiu'ulng It) the Goctrnmeni the iiiv^fdineid it has made thcni/L"
This, be it noted, is only as to a portion, and that the
most diftitiult and costly to maintain in the whole route
from Atlantic to Paciiic. The other parts of the line are not
so authentically reported on, but they certainly may be as-
sumed at fully double the above.
Estimating the cost of our line at $150,000,000 or even
$200,000,000, two percent, (say about half oi the present
Ainericin percentage on transit revenue of their line) on the
said total of Pacific Trade — a fast growing one — would amply
pay cost of construction, maintenance, and at the same time
give good dividends.
WHY SHOULD WE L'.SE ALL THIS!
Besides, why should we lose British Columbia ? In her
n
t3
whole vast area of SSOj'OOO square miles there is abounding
weilth. Gold, and other valuable minerals in her mountains'
— all over — fertility, beyond compare in our land, in her
valleys, vast plateaux, and ever green shores. Her haborage
is the best of all the Pacific shore in its wliole 50,000 miles
of length ; and h(;r teeming waters are the richest in the
world. A wealth, undeveloped, lor enipire is there. It i-
our's by every right under heaven ; and ours it is, in duty,
to !iold to it, and as behts us as men in the lamilics of nation:^.
to use it for weal.
The same considerations, the same sentiments, the same
higher sense of duty holds as to our North-west. We, the
British people won, and under Provideuv-e, are vouchsafed
that grand new heritage. Shall vfe sell ii, as a mess of po-
tage, to another? Have we Canadians no land we can call
"our own?" Have we no country with its altars and its
hearths, which we may cling to in life ? or, are we to be but
the victims of a deep-laid treachery ?
These are no idle questions.. They are evoked by the
startled sense of a sudden anu portentous danger. In the
life of a people, as of the individual, occasion will anon arise,
when in crisis, and for " dear life," the arm must strike, and
that with utmost force. Such is our present.
Like the unravelment of a vast conspiracy, v/hen once
the secret is out, is the development of that '• attempt on
Canada," which bega]p. witli the desecration of the sanctities
of a private escritoire, and which, so far, has but advanced in
the same or similar line of path. What then, it may be
asked, is
••' THE DUTY OF THE HOUR ? "
It is, as declared by our Imperial Parliament, with the assent
of Her Majesty, in the Preamble of the Union Act — that
solemnity under which we assumed, and l)ecame professedly,
and, in lact, a '■• Union of certain Provinces," '• to conduce to
the welfare of these Provinces, and promoce the interests of
the British Empire."
. These are the very words, grave and potent, of the —
to us — great and paramount " British N«a:th xVmerica Act of
1867," — the command and duty of our Confederation .
Yours, BlUTANNICUS.
Ottawa, 19th October, 1875.
1'
Pi
h
II
- t i!:
() 'I
- i.
^. !
"24
How the Government are proceeding under the Act?
To the Editor of The Citizen: ' ' ' v !' * -r
Sir, — Your exposition of the Sifton, ^yard & Company s
contracts for the construction of certain -'links" in Mr. Mac-
kenzie's telegraph and rail-water scheme for our Pacific rail-
way has just reminded me that I ought to have said more
than 1 did, in my letters in your columns the other day, in
this matter of telegraph line in connection with the Pacific
Railway. The facts — esoteric fticts — you bring out in relation
to the mysterious contracts in advance both for the telegraph
line and the so-called Pacific railway of Mr. Mackenzie, sug-
gest to one the propriety of staling more fully, on this head,
(Pacific Telegraph Line) the /a /(; of the case of our statute
book.
THE SOLE AUTHORITY FOR THE WORK
is the Act (Dominion) of 1874, Chap. 14. under head, "An
Act to provide for the construction of the Po,cific Railway,"
section 5 of which runs thus : — " A line of electric telegraph
shall be constructed in advance of the said railway and
branches," (l. c. as described in sections 1 and 2 of the same
Act, the " Canadian Pacific Railway " to l»e " made from some
point near to and south of Lake Nipissing to some point in
British Columbia on the T^acific Ocean " — thei^e are the very
words of Mr. Mackenzie'?^ own said Act on the subject) —
" along their whole extent respectively " — says section 5,
now cited — '"'as soon as possible after the location of the line
shall have been determined on.''
The particular f^icts, in relation to the above, worthy of
note, are : —
Firstly. That at the time for tender for such work (the
telegraph), ^'iz , to 22nd July, 1874, there was no location of
i.^cific Railway, as required by the Act — Act just passed —
less than two months before.
Secondly. That the line of route for the telegraph in
questioii, between the mouths of the Kaministiquia and Red
River, is not, and can never be, part of the Pacific Railway
as contemplated, and in terms in the statute clearly defined.
Thirdly. Tupt as to the British Columbia section, we
26
a
An
have Mr. Miickeiizie'8 own ussurance —in his sp(30ch at Sariiiu
the other day — that oven yet, the road there h not located.
t'ourtldy. Tliat a telegraph terminus on the western
shore of Lake Superior — eight hundred miles from the
Canadian system of telegraph — can be of no use to any one
in Canada, save those who may pocket the money i()r such
jobbery.
Fifthly. To this day, not an inch of the '* Canadian Pacific
Railway," as defined ,by our statute, and as subsidized by
the Imperial Government as m'cU a> I'v ilie Dominion of
Canada, has been '^' located " — in the sense of the law, viz. —
by actual location in field, and deposit of plans thereof, as by
?aw (our statute jjf 1874 invokhig. <ul hoc •• the Railway Act
of 1868") required.
Sixthly. That tlie appropriation of one million dollars, •
specifically for this (the Telegraph) in the -• supplies" of last .
session is in the teeth of the statute, and obviously beyond.
considerations relating tc the Pacific Railway in question.
Finally. That the authorization by Act, chap. 3 of last
session, to borrow money, on Dominion Credit, to the amount
of $20,926,666. 67 (twenty millions, nine hundred and twenty
six thousand, six hundred and sixty-si:: dollars, sixty-seven
cents) ostensibly for ^' Balance of Loan for Canadian Pacific
Eaihvay,'' is one, whicli in the light of recent developments,
calls for jealous regard en the part of tlie people most
concerned.
More, on this head, miglit be said, but, for the present,
it is well for all to Avatch, and as things fall out and teli, act,
or prepare to act, decisively.
Yours, BRITANNICUS,
Ottawa. 26th Oct., 1875. ., ^
Repudiation by Ministry.
7o the Editor of TlIE CiTIZEN :
The report, just received. (>!" the success of Canada's
I^luance Minister in negotiating a further loan, of something
over $12,000,000, sny twelve uiillion and a half, in tht^ Lon-
don Money Market, suggests a remark or tAvo, in so((uencc to
what 1 liave just advanced in your columns.
D—Rr.
li--.!
l\ i
^,;r ■£■■■■. :,;;;■ ' 'Wc ' m':'.\0--'^
Of tliiy iimouut, throe-fiftlis arc, it is authoritatively
-stated, covered by the ■ ■-
IMPERIAL GUAllANTEii:.
• As to that guarantee, extending- to £2,500,000 sterling,
say about $12,500,000, it is to be remarked, that it was
PillNCIPALLY FOR TKE rACIElC RAILWAY,
As then (1871) when granted, contemplated in the terms of
Union with British Columbia, and as defined in our statute
(the Canadian Pacific Railway Act) of 1872.
Whether thx) other two-fifths of this special guarantee
has been already touched in this very large loan (about $20,-
000,000) of last year, does not, so far as I have been able to
gather, appear. But be that as it may. we have now the
fact, that w have
ON IT, BORROWED MONEY TO THE EXTENT OF AT LEAST ^0,000,000.
And at the same time have used the credit for floating, con-
junctly, a fcAV millions move of our own unguaranteed paper,
and which, of course, indirectly, got the benefit of the
Imperial Guarantee, The result of which was on allocation,
on 4 per cent, interest, at only about 1,^ (one and a quarter)
per cent, below par. Whether or not, this was a "good
loan " for Canada, I leave others to show. What I inu'poso
to show now, is, that, in this transaction there is
SOMETHING MOST Ql'ESTIONABLE.
Let me explain myself, ond for that I must crave indul-
gence for reference to "dry law" — statutes — on the subject.
[ shan't 1)0 long.
The first act under which the present Ministry borrowed
and continue to borrow money, is Chapter 2 of Dominion
Session of 1874 — in the preamble of which it is textually
stated, as ground of loan, that — " Whereas, one of the terms
and conditions on which the Colony of British Culumbia was
admitted into union with the Dominion of Canada, by an
Order of Her Majesty in Council of the sixteenth day of May,
1871, was that tiie Government of the Doininion should
secure the construction of a raiUmy (in this Act referred to
as the Pacific Railway) to connect the seaboard of British
Columbia with the railway system of Canada, in the manner
more particularly mentioned in the schedules to the said
order.
IjS^l^
\l ^l
27
'•' And wliereaH it is expedient to raise by way ol' loan
Io"Ttlic imrposc of the construction of the Pacific Railway^ and
al«() for the improvement and enlargement of Canadian canals,
a snni not exceeding eight millions sterling." * * * *
''And Avhereas by the Act of the Parliament of the
United Kingdom, known as '' The Canadian (Pnblic Works)
Loan Act of 1873 " — after the recital of the facts aforesaid."
(viz., as to loan for Pacific Railway and canals, and one
million one hundred thousand pounds sterling for fortifica-
tions under " The Canada Defences Loan x\ct of 1870 ") —
'' and that it is expedient to authorize the Treasury "
(British) '' to guarantee a portion not exceeding two million
five hundred thousand pounds of such' loan of eight million
pounds sterling for the above mentioned purposes, and to
guarantee a further portion of the said loan not exceeding
one million one himdred thousand pounds" (sterling) "in
substitution for a guarantee of a loan under '*' The Canada
Defences Loan Act, 1870 " — the said Act is repealed ; and it
is enacted that, subject to certain conditions to be observed
by the Parliament of Canada the Treasury may guarantee in
such manner and form, and on such conditions as they think
fit, the payment of the principal and interest (at a rate nc t
exceeding four percent, per annum) on all or any part of any
loan raised by tiio Government of Canada /or the purpose of
the construction of the Pacific Railway and the improvement
and enlargement of the Canadian canals," {i.e., I take it,
canals — comparatively limited — as contemplated at the date
of the Imperial Act, ad hoc, viz., oG 37 v. ch. 45) — "so tliat-
the total amount so guaranteed from time to time " — con-
tinues the preamble — ** do not exceed three million six
hundred thousand pounds."
Professedly in accordance with this preamble the Act
(ch. 2 of 1874) was passed. Under it Mr. Cartwright mad(>
his great loan of last year. Under it, we find moreover in
the Su]iplies of that year, the following special votes [page
13] as to the Pacific Railway :
Fort Guny ami I'einhiii.a IJuilway 6 050,000
Pacific Eailway Survey " 500,000
Pacific R.iilway construction, and improvements on navigable
waters in interior in connection therewith 1.500,000
In all, then ^2,650,00
/
28
it'-
L^y
[ >4tJ
In tlic fullowing session, last past, \vc have in cliap. 3 of
it, the lollowiiig furthov authorization for loan, sec. 4> "' And
whereas, there remain unborrowed and nea'otiable of the loans
authorized by Parliament for the several works hereinafter
mentioned."' &c., — infer alia. — '• Balance of the loan for fhe
ronatrudioii of (he Canadiaii Pccific Railvxiy $20,U26, 666,67.
[Twenty millions, nine hundred and twenty-six thousand
six hundred nnd sixty-six dollars, sixty -seven cents.]
In connection witii the above, in the su])plies of last
session [page 10 of statutes,] under the head '' Pacilic Kail-
way" we iiave a total of ^0,250,000, including an item of
^2,000,1H)0 Jbr steel i-ails and fastenings," and an item — a
re-vote, 1 take it — of $500,000 f(n' '• Pembina Branch."
Taking all tliese facts together, it may fairly be assumed
ilirtt the present Cloverument have by loan, as stated, drawn
all or nearly all, that was vouchsafed to us in the Imperial
guarantee lor the Pacific; Railway.
The money ••secured — j^oclicied in a sense — they note o^tenly
arou- their policy of no Pacijic llaihcay !
In the meantime, not an inch of the road has been built.
The whole is emphatically repudiated, and with it every
solemn ('om])act and obligation relating to it. As to the '" steel
rails " — ti stern, reality — they, I presume, will sell well as
'•' old iron,"' and will just answer the American line across
our border, and thence into our Fort Garry.
But, apart from the aspects of the case, in its material
features, there is a higher consideration it stake in this
wondrous scheme of revolution by '* organized hypocrisy,"
&c. It is the honor of the Canadian name ! Wluxt of it ?
Yours,
I3RITANNICU8.
Ottawa. 2nd Non-. 1S7o.
Misappropriation of North- West Lands.
To the Editor of The Citizen.
SiK, — This, to tlie Donn'nitm, is a vital matter. It has
just come to my notice in reading the report of the ^'' Foster
contract " for the building of the so-called " Georgian Bay
Branch of the Canadian Pacific Kailwav."
29
?•>
Tlu; Till claiiso of tliut contract, as laid before the Iloiifec,
runs thus : — -'Thi^ road to be constructed in comforniity witli
the C. P. Railway Act of 1874, and subject toallitsproviHions
€^ccj>t those which provide for the land appropriated haciiuj ii
certain frontatje on theraUicatj ; and inasmuch as the Dominion
Government may not become pro])rietors of land on this
railway, the contractor will receive land in some other portion
of the Dominion.''
The only statutory enactment on the subject is section
4 of chapter 14 of last session of our Dominion Parliament
under the head "' Canadian Paciiic Railway,"' to wit :—'- That
a quantity of land not exceeding twenty thousand acres ibr
each mile of the section or sub-section contracted for. shall
1)6 appropriated in alternate sections of twenty square miles
each alonf) the line of the said railway, or at a conccnicnt dis-
tance therefrom^ each section having a frontage of not less
than three miles nor more than six miles on the line of the
said railway, &c. * * * * *
And when a sufficient quantity cannot be found in the
immediate vicinity of the railway, then the same quantity,
or as much as may be required to complete such quantity,
shall be appropriated at such other places as may l)e deter-
mined by the Governor in Council/'
The obvious meaning of the above is that the land so
granted shall be on the line, or if it cannot be found, then
the nearest that can be found, hut no other, shall be available
tor the purpose. This limitation to line of route is an
essential principle in all such subsidies, and from the
exceptional character of the act (alienation of puldic lands
" Crown desmesne ") it is to be strictly, i.e., most restrictively
interpreted. The quantity is in consideration of the mixed
quality, had as icell as fjood, on the line of route. In the face
of all this we have now before us, pressed with the force of
an immense majority, the proposition that In' a statute of
o\u' land, may, and shall, nearly two millions of acres of the
'• very pick" of our North West lands, practically be granted
to the Boston Or other foreign capitalists (represented b}'
Mr. Foster), capitalists, who to raise revenue for their Hoosac
Tunnel and its costlv lines incidental, and to secure imto
themselves our North West transit trade, thus extend to us
¥m
30
ii
tlicir arniH. Tlio prescDl selliiij^- price of these land!=<, in the
outskirts of settlement, even l)erore the issue of a single
patent, or promise of title in any shape, is from $4 to ^10
l)er acre ibr pre-emption or squatter rights. So said Dr.
Tupper in his speech the other night on the matter of Pacific
Railway, and w.' believe he Avas right. But our immense
and most valuable
COATi LANDS
"' measures " of good economic seams, running up to twentv
feet in thickness, cropping out in surface or river bank, and
that most abundantly on the direct line of railway or other
road route from Red River to the Yellow Head, or, in fact,
to any of our Rocky Mountain Passes, are worth infiiritely
more, and may, before long, whenever touched by rail or
settlement, he worth thousands of dollars per acre. As to
our
GOLD LANDS,
they also ma^^ I presume, be so given away. These are
startling facts, and should draw the closest and most jealous
attention to this scheme of Georgian Bay Branch subsidy.
Relatively also should these facts prompt some scrutiny at
least, as to the item of (only) $6,250,000 [six millions odd]
of dollars '* for the Pacific Railwav," and on which, Messrs.
Mackenzie and Blake, on the Jirst occasion of debate thereon,
so ruthlessly tried to gag all constitutional debate !
What atie we ?
Yours,
BRTTANNrCUS.
Ottawa, 10th March, 1875.
Lake Superior — Eastern Terminus ['' for all
Time"] of the " Canadian" Pacific Railway.
To the Editor of The Citizen :
Sir, — From what would appear some exceptional irr(*gu-
larity [suppressive] in the distribution, even amongst
members of Parliament [at least those on the " Opposition "]
of the papers [printed] in the matter of '' the British Columbia
difficulty," as " settled " by the intervention, in arbitration.
31
a
of the Right Honoi'iible the Secretary of State for the Colonies,
T have been unable to get communication of the important
documents until to-dav. They are too voUiminous for masterv
■-' */ «/
at a glance, but even in a cursory glance, I find enough to
isomewhat surprise anyone not in the secret.
In page 38 of the blue book on this subject, under the
head, " Copy of a Report of a Committee of the Honorable
the Privy Council, approved by His Excellency the Governor
General on the 17th September, 1874," I find the following
in response to the Earl of Carnarvon's proposition : —
" The fourth condition involves another precise engage-
'* meut to have the ivhole-o^tlm railway communication
*•' finished in 1890. There are the strongest possible objections
'•' to again adopting a precise time for the completion of the
" lines. The eastern portion of the line, except so far as the
mere letter of the conditions is concerned, affects only the
•'• Provinces east of Manitoba, and the Government have not
'* been persuaded either of the iris'dom or the necessitjj of imrne-
'"' diateiy constructing that portion of the railway v:hich traverses
" the countri/ from the west end. of Lake Superior to the proposed
" eastern terminus on Lake Nipissing near Georgian Bay, nor
" is it conceived that the people of British Columbia could,
" with "any show of reason whatever, insist that this portion
" of the work should be completed within any definite time,
" inasmuch as if the people, icho are chiejly if not wholly affected
'* by this branch of the undertaMng, are satisfied [?], it is
" maintained that the people of British Columbia would
'' practically have no right of speech in the matter."
^ i!; * 2jc '\i •;: ^ 5i<
" The committee advise that Lord Carnarvon be informed
" that while in no caseicould the Government undertake the
•• completion of the whole line in the time mentioned, an
" extreme unwillingness exsists to another limitation of
'• time ; but if it be found absolutely necessary to secure a
present settlement of the controversy by further concessions
' a pledge may be given that the portion west of Lake
Superior will be completed so as to afford connection by
'' rail with the existing lines of railway through a portion ol'
" the United States and by Canadian waters during the
season of navigation by the year 1890 as suggested.'"
a
a
a
32
111 l)a{^o 42 oi' the .sjimo blue book, wo have liord
Carnarvon's final reply on this point thus : ^' 5. Lastly, that
" on or before the 31st"ofDecembor, 1890, tlio railway shall
" be completed and open for traftio from tlie Pacili(^ seaboard
'•' to a point at the Western end of JmIcc SvjHrior, at Avhich it
" will fall into connection with existing lines of railway
'' through a portion of the United States, and also with the
'' navigation (m Canadian waters. To proceed at present
" with the remainder of the railwa}- extending by the country
" northward of Lake Superior, to the existing Canadian
'• lines, ought not in my opinion, to lie required, and the
"' time for undertaking that work must be determint;d by
'• the developement of settlement and the changing cir-
'•' cumstanccs of the country. The day is, however, I hope
" not very distant Avhen a continuous line of railway
" through Canadian Territory will be practicable, and /
'•' therefore looh upon this 2^ortlon of the scheme as postpoxed
'' rather than abandoned.
The italicization is my own, to obviate, for brevity
comment.
These extracts speak for themselves !
Read by the I'glit of surrounding facts — inter alia, the
fact, that the 500 miles and upw^ards of navigation from our
most westerly lake ports to the eastern terminus in (jucstion
is, in a sense, virtually American, per force of the American
Saidt Ste. Marie Canal — sole link of those great waters — the
great scheme as laid now, is essentially one to serve the
interests of the United States rather than Canada proper, or
Britain. That at least I believe is the opinion of some, if
not the bulk, of the people of Canada.
Yours, 13R1TANNICUS.
Ottawa. March IGth, 1875.
LETTER, IVo. 11.
British Columbia Settlement.
To the Editor of TiiE Citizen :
Sir, — In sequel to my last, I have only to add, as the
conclusions to wiiich every unbiased reader of the pa])ers in
question must arrive at on this subject.
83
the
1. That the determined ])olicy of tlie present Ministry,
from first to hist, has hocn to have tto Canadian Pacific Rail-
way, as proposed and ajireed to between (Janada and British
Cohimbia, and as implemented by Dominion Act, c"' . 71 of 35
Vic , and as snl)sidizcd by liie Imperial (lovernment.
2. That the expres.sion of '-hope ' on the part of Lord
(jarnarvon, tbat the section froni Nipissing to Red River is
to be considered as only " postponed ratiier than al)andoned "
(see page 42 of Bine Book), has not been acceded to by the
present Ministry, bnt that, on the contrary, their avoidance
of that line by noiv fixing- the eastern terminns at the month
of the Kaministiqnia River, about seventy miles south of
that line (the Nipigon one), reported by tlie chief engineer
of the work, Mr. Fleming, as the shortest and best in that
quarter, precludes all such hope, so long as they rule in the
matter.
3. That the practical elfect of >«ucli break (one of about
900 miles distance from the south-east corner of Lake Nipis-
sing to Rat Portage, north end of the Lake of the Woods,)
would be to make all our North West territories jmd British
Columbia an appanage of the United States in all commercial
relations, and with a tendency, naturally, to a change of
"flag" and social status in that direction.
4. That in this view, all expenditure in public works,
or even Government, west of the foot of Sault Ste. Marie
(the western limit of Canadian navigation proper), is worse
than a mere waste of puldic money belonging to Canada.
5. That as the object of scarcely secondary moment in
the scheme of a Canadian Pacific Railway as originally laid,
the great Pacific trade between Great Britain, Europe, and
the Eastern States was sought to be touched, and that to
that end the road in question should be in every sense a
through one, and short and good as possible, between the
two Oceans.
6. That that trade, even already, as appears by the last
official returns [of which I gave you, Mr, Editor, details in
my pamphlet herewith enclosed], amounts, for Britain and
the United States alone, to nearly $700,000,000 [seven hun-
dred million dollars] • and that on it, even at the start, the
K— Ey.
84
Aincrican Commercial Miiriiu' [Paciru'] aiitl tlii3 Ameiicjiu
Trail seoiitincntal Railways are last growiii*:; rich.
7. That the present Ministry seem to ignore this ele-
ment ot' transcontinental general transit trade, and pretend
to treat the work as a merely domestic one.
I close here for the present, l»iit shall continue the
suhject.
Yours,
BRITANNICUS.
Ottawa March 10th, 1875.
International Highway.
To the Editor qf The Citizen :
Sir, — In continuation, let me add the ft)llowing con-
sideration on this subject.
8. That it is in this larger view that by the earliest and,
in fact, by all sincere advocates of a British American rail-
way, from Atlantic to Pacific, this scheme has been chiefly
"rged. . ^
That this has been done from an intelligent appreciation
of the following f.iCts.
a. That we hold the most northern and shortest arc
possible for railway from ocean to ocean, north of Mexico.
h. That our higher latitude bears, in terrene oblate, a
lower level than any south.
c. That the physical ffttures and natural resources of
the whole country on our ihic of route, are no less favorable,
but the contrary, for railway construction and maintenance,
than the present American one, the summits and general line
in our route being in height less than half that of the
American one in question, or any other possible in the whole
area of the United States, and Avith less snow difficulty to
contend with.
d. That our route is in direct line of connection with
the two great " sailing arcs " (ocean highways) of the
Nortern Atlantic and Pacific, a line of best commercial transit
from mid-Asia to mid Europe, shorter, on an average (accord-
lencau
lis elu-
(reteiul
ue tliu
DUS.
)g cou-
i!st and,
m rail-
cliicfly
iciatioii
est avc
xico.
blate, a
uces of
rovable,
enance,
ral lino
of the
3 whole
ulty to
n with
of the
transit
' accord -
35
ing to reports) by 1,()0U to 2,(100 mih'Hthuu by San Francisco.
c. That the trade according to the last oflicial returns
for 1S7')-7I of (jJreat J5ritain aiul the UnittKl States, even
already, and with remarkalily rapid ratio of increase since the
establishment of a transcoiitinental railway to San Francisco
with its incidental Pacific steaniwhip lines in every direction,
amounts to nenrly ^700,000,000, vi/:—
imiTfSU PACniC Tli.VDE— A.I). 1S7."!.
Cliina, inchwlii'!.^ lloii.i;- Koii!^ uiul .Macao $i51,12(»,!)7r)
Japan ' ." ■ 45,877,500
Jslamls in the PaciHc 861,625
Stnlil^^ ScttleiiH-iits 38,081,595
Aus'ii-aliaii Colonics and Now7A'alan'l a66,73(»,710
Total 3503,287,405
UNITKD 8TATKS TllADK — A.D. 1873-4 lo JINE 30lll, 1874.
.lapano.so Free Ports 50,322,547
" China and Jaj)an " (Ihiif? lunipcd in blue book, sco pages
1124,433, meaning ('hina and Jn])anl|^'lusivo olMapancso
Fi-co Ports 54,221,554
Ih'lUsh Kast Indies and Au.strulia (IIiuh lumped in blue book) 25,147,007
Sandwieli Islands 2,013,401
Dutch East Indies 7,812,088
liuUion — China and Japan 15,395,181
Total $154,912,438
SL'M.MAUV Ol' TOTALS.
British Pacitic Trade ^503,287,405
United States do 154,912,438
3058,199,843
Add, for the rest of Europe, .say, fairly, one half of that
and we have a grand total of at least $1,000,000,000 (one
thousand million dollars). Two per cent, on which (an ex
tremely minimum pl-edicate) Avould, most prol^ably, pay cost
and something over.
9. That this consideration of the route as a through one,
for generol and international trade, was n(^t advanced, nor
even mentioned by either of the parties, in submitting their
respective ^'cascs" to Lord Carnarvon, as arbitrator ; and, in
fact, as appears by report of ''Minute of Council," our
Government seemed to studiedly exclude it, by limiting the
36
i'li'!
m '
Held Tor consideration to British Columbia and "nearest"
railway connection eastward, viz., with the United states
"system" of railways by the Peinlnna branch, i.nd with
"Canadian navigation" on the western shore ofLake Superior,
expresalv;, at the same time, denying the right of British
Columbia to urjje any considerations for ihe eastern sec-
tiou of the road as proposed and contemplated by clause
11 of the original "Terms of Union" of British Columbia with
Canada. The langurge in the Minute of Council in question
(see page 38) on this point, is so marked as to call for citation.
"'The eastern portion, except so far as the mere letter of the
" conditions is concerned, affect>J only the Provinces east of
"Manitoba, ******** *
" l7ie 2)eople of British Colainhla ivoidd pradicall y liave no rigid
" of speech in the matter ! /"
Lord Carxarvox, as arbitrator, could decide on the case
or cases, onhj as laid before him, and certainly this question
of "right of speech" as to thici eastern section, was not left to
]iim, but on the contrary, lie was in a sense, told not to touch
it. Yet, Sir, he did,iiin] that in a manner emphatic, imperative,
though gentle. As England's present chief guardian in such
matters, he spoke. It is for us, the people of Canada, to
respond. , On this point and others I shall conclude in my
next. Yours,
^ s BRITANNICUS.
LETTJai^ JVo. 13.
International High^?vay.
2h ihe Editor of The Citizen :
Sir, — Taking up this theme where I closed in my last,
I have tv) say : —
10. That Lord Carnarvon, in his ohiter dictum, in which
he was pleased to say that he considered the eastern sec-
tion merely "postponed and not abandoned," and that he
"hoped" — to use his own words — "that the day is not
very far distant when a cordimous line of railway through
Canadian territory will be practicable" — that is to say, I
take it, railway completed and in Avorking order— did, in
eflect, urge tliat to be done as soon as possible.
37
That the iirst coiisidciution in such ii work w hich weighs
•ill the Imperial mind, and that, as one of first and highest
moment, is the military one in relation to those parts (k the
cmjiire more immediately affected by it.
To that consideration we of Canada, as an integral part
of the empire, are equally, and, in fact, more especially,
bound.
Moreover, the British Government has. in a manner
which, so far as we know, bespeaks a desire to encourage us
to such 11 v/ork, offered, as a lirst offering or '' luck pennv,"
a subsidy of £2,500,000 stg. That is now at our comm-ind
for tJiG Canadian Pacific Railwaij, as determined at the time
of the grant, and not, I take it, for the pro-American scheme
of the present Government, Chap. 2 of last s«:^ssion nxju
obstante.
11. This eastern section, for a distance of from 700 to
900 miles [according to what may hereafter be determined
as the western boundary "of the Province of Ontario] runs
through the Province of Ontario, whose Government, though
thereunto applied to by the Dominion (lovernment. has, so
far, declined to say or do aught Avith regard to the disposal
of her lands in Pacific railway subsidy, as proposed by the
Dominion. That in alternative, in the case of the. so-called
Georgian Bay Branch of the Pacific Raihva}, the present
Government have bound themselves to give an equal extent
in some other part (without defining v/here or whereabouts)
in the North-west tarritories of the Dominion of Canada.
That tlie illegality and unconstitutional character of
such alienation of the Crown domain — (me, if largelij applied,
frail^ht with dangers that strike at the very root of political
liberty in such a new field of social organization and govern-
inent — forbid its application tj the 700 or 900 miles in ques-
tion through Ontario.
That a land subsidy as to this portion may be assumed
as an impracticability on the part of the Dcmiinion Govern-
ment.
12. Tliat to meet the difficulty, and under considerations
which oJiviously commend themselves in the relations of
Canada and the Parent State as to such a work, the British
Government should, 1 liumldy think, ])o respectfully re-
•ami
38
quested to further aid the work in question by a suppie-
inentary subsiby, say of £3,000,000 sterling, making, with
the previous £2,500,000 sterling, a total subsidy of £5,500,-
000 sterling, suflicient, probably, to cover hall' the cost of
this section.
That the whole of this ])e applicable to the construction
solely of the eastern section, from tiie eastern terminus, as
first fixed by the Act of Parliament [Chap. 71 of 35 Vic],
to the western boundary of Ontario [wherever that may be].
That in consideration of such subsidy the determination
[location] ot" the precise point or place of such eastern ter-
minals, and of all main objective points along the wdiole line
of route to the Pacific shore, and the terminus [temporary or
permanent] there, be left entirely to the Imperial authori-
ties. But that all subsequent work in construction shall be
under the control of the Dominion Government, subject
however, to such regulations as may Ije prescribed and
agreed to for the proper applicati')ii of srch sub'.'idy in the
progress of the work.
That such work on the eastern section shall Ije begun
at the eastern terminus as soon as the same can be reached
])y rail or l)oat navigation, and simultaneously, or before
that, and as soon as possible, at or from the head of Nepigon
Bay, or such ])oint thereabout as may seem advisable, and
that from such point the work shall be prosec,uted eastward
and westward with all possible energy in the most direct line
possible, and vrithout any digression towards the Dawson
route, other than connection at Rat Portage at the head of
the Lake of the Woods, or wherever, thereabouts, the en-
gineer in chief of the railway in question may advise. *
That westward from the boundary of Ontario th<^ land
grant system, as pro\ ided l)y the first statute (chapter 71 of
35 vie.) of the Dominion Parliament on the subject shall apply
in connection with the money subsidy therein provided — or
such further ; um for the purpose as may he determined on
by the Parliament of Canada.
That in the meantime all the works now in hand or
initiated, in connection with the Pacilic Railway, or having
any subsidiary relation thereto do proceed as determined on
by Parliament.
39
)le-
ith •
DO,-
of
or
I have still a rciuurk or two to make Ijeforo I can well
conclude, but for that I must, Mr. Editor, crave your indul-
gence to another and really last letter.
Yours,
BRITANNICUS.
Ottawa, March 21th, 1875.
Our Heritage in Jeopardy.
To ilia EdltGv of The Citizen :
SiK, — In conclusion, I would respectfully ask attention
for a moment or two to the physical features, and also in-
cidentally, to the political aspects of the case in this respect.
Taking any true map of British North America, we may
observe, first, the compact unity — a feature itself an element
of strength in a country — of the whole vast terrain.
In area, we find from best authorities, that it is three
and a quarter millions of square miles, or within about one
hundred thousand square miles of that nssigned to the United
States. Of this total of Canada and Newfoundland, no less
than 2,200,725 square miles, according to the official report
[1872, page 14] of the Surveyor-General of Dominion Lands,
fall under the head of " Dominion Lands," and which, of
course, are exclusive of Provincial lands.
To this Dominion land total let us add, for our present
argument, tlic 350,000 .niuave mi' as of British Columbia and
we have a grand total of over two millions and a half of
« square miles, north and west of us, and which, for the nonce,
we may term our new^ grand heritage of the North West.
From the silver gleaming shores of Lake Superior to the
furthest golden mountain heights and isles of British Colum-
bia, a stretch of 2,000 miles w^ith an average cereal breadth of
500 miies, is the grandest and richest virgin field for home-
steads on earth. I know the land. On its far, northern,
horder I was born, and in early lifts, side by side Avith my
father, thence traversed it from Pacilic to Atlantic, and have
touched its three oceans.
Let us glance at its lioundaries. for they also, 1 hold, ar<'
elements' of strength unto the couniT ' On the east, we see,
tin
f
14
i
ii
40
«
a.s to (111 y elFort in war, a broad and impas.S'.ible belt of hyper-
borean ice-hill and field, and a rock-bound, ever tempest,
tossed '"oast. On the west (British Columbia) a vast moun-
tain, mural, rock coast, deeply horded, with al30unding shel-
tering harbors, but utterly unassailable to any naval force,
save, in the immediate coast (a very limited one) of the
Georgian Gulf, under the guns of our lost San Juan. On our
north is the intangible Arctic. On the south we have from
Puget Sound to the Rocky Mountains, a system of vast and
insurmountable mountain ranges running in varied directions,
Ossa on Pelion piled, and with passages so fcAV, narrow and
difficult, that no aggressive force could cope with any military
resistance in such Thermopylae. From the Rocky Mountains
to Pembina Ave . [ *7h^ defence, the so-called '•' American
Desert," the Prairie the Southern Saskatchewan, the home
of the ever (to Britain) loyal Bedouins of the Plain? -men of
utmost fight and ever fiercest hate against their tru.jtional
••enemies" — the "Boston Long Knives, or, briefly," "The Long
Knives," with such native army of Sikhs "true to their salt,"
the British North West could Avell hold its own. From Pem-
bina to Lake Superior is a region of swam]) and high rugged
rock impassable to military movement. Arrived at Lake
Superior we find ourselves on what, practically in every point
of view, are American (U.S.) waters, for that Power, in and
by virtue of its Sault Ste. Marie canal, alone Iwlds the
mcajis of placing war craft on this inner and thus dominating
"sea." On its death-still northern boundary ("the British")
shores, no British arscal, port nor jetty, can furnish aught
for fight. To transport nuiterial thither, for vessel construc-
tion, or gunboat of even smallest type, is utterly impossible
\7ithout a railway from the nearest Atlantic port, say Mon-
treal, Quebec or Halifax, to say, the sheltered head of
Nepigeon Bay.
As to Lake lluroii, on its northern shores especially, the
same misfortune and difficulty, but in modified degre e, would
occur.
In this — this immense unbridged, unroaded, untouched
wild 1)etween us of settled (older) Canada, and our yoimger
self in Manitoba — is our fn t al weakness Military authorities
teil us so. We see it.
/Ii
per-
ipesf,
oiin-
5hel-
)rce,
tlio
I our
rom
and
ons,
and
>,
I I
41
But wo. so .still. While negl-ictnig to open a military
roadway (rail) for our defence and commercial convenience,
by our unr.ssailable North, we construct one from the very
fort gate of our enemy on our southern border to within the
very portals — unguarded —of the capital of our heritage. In
other words, a Pembina and Winnipeg railway, without one
wholly on our own ground fjom the railway system of
Eastern Canada, would be a thing ever of menace or, in case
(»f war, of destruction to our national interests throughout all
the North and West of our Dominion. On the other hand,
with the latter, with UB countervailing power and effect, it
would, in war, he comparatively or perfectly harmless, and
in peace be but useful.
Hence the " necessity,"^ as has ever been urged by the
original promoters — necessily Lnperial as well as Canadian
— that the scheme of a British American Pacific Railway
should be one fit)m seaport to seaport, continuous, straight,
strong, and short as possible, but touching, on military and
commercial considerations, certain objective points.
TJ1U8 was the contract — one based on statute specific ad
hoc — carefully implemented hy the late Government. 77^?/.'^
did the i^^ople of all Canada vote for it. At the Napierville
hustings — on or close to the memorable battL field of old
Chateauguay — Chief Justice Dorion, then a candidate, and
the recognized chief of the tivowed '' annexation " section of
the present Government, distinctly said to his anxious con-
stituents, and to the country iu general, then and there, that
" their scheme icoidd be, In the maiv, tliatof (he late Government,
id est as a through and continuous railway from the railway
system of Eastern Canada to the Pficific. For that, and that
alone, I repeat, was the electoral voic of all Canada cast. Mr.
Mackenzie's prelections on the theme were, it is true, some-
what, and rather rapidly, varied, especially about the Ame-
rican border, but in the ^^ main " Ihey were as publicly de-
clared by his honorable colleague.
It was not the " scheme " that was, at the electoral urn
condemned, but it was the " story " of its moving as got up,
for a purpose, to the popular car. It was, in fact, too good, too
great, too transcendent in brimful promise of good to all con*
i
m
I pi
42
cerned in it for any rival interest or adverse national power
to passively let slip. Hence the record — scarce not trea-
sonous — of its defeat — so far ! Shall it rest so ?
Yours,
BRITANNICUS.
March 23rd, 1875.
,h
"it
OTTAWA :
I'duted by the Citizen Piinting and Puljlishing Company, Sparks Street.
1875.
ional power
!e not trea-
NNICUS.
a Street.
Page 2, line
" 6, line
" 8, line
« 13, line
" 14, line
" 14, line
" 16, line
•' 18, line
" 18, line
" 21, line
'< 27, line
" 28, line
" 35, line
" 41, line
«< 41, line
1 3 For " of compos," read " or compos."
] 7 For " predicted," read » predicated."
16_For " they had begun," read ■' they, evidently, had begun.'
3— For " legislature," read " legislation."
20— For " anthricate," read " anthracite."
24— For '■' territory," read " tertiary."
15_For "augmentative," reaii " argumentative."
25— For " those linking," read "those short linking."
33_For " who have," read " we have."
21 —For " Naury," read " Maury."
2— For " to the purpose," read " for the purpose."
2 For " sec. 5," read " sec. 4."
18— For "inclusive," read "exclusive."
n_For "the countervailing," read " its countervailing."
15_For " necessary," read " necessity."