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PREFACE.
PREFACE.
The following pages have been written at the request of many old friends, some of them co-workers in the cause of permanent British rule over the larger part of the Great Northern Continent of America. In 1851 I visited Canada and the United States as a mere tourist, in search of health. In 1861 I went there on an anxious mission of business; and for some years afterwards I frequently crossed the Atlantic, not only during the great Civil War between the North and South, but, also, subsequent to
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CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER I.
Preliminary—One Reason why I went to the Pacific. A quarter of a century ago, charged with the temporary oversight of the then great Railway of Canada, I first made the acquaintance of Mr. Tilley, Prime Minister of the Province of New Brunswick, whom I met in a plain little room, more plainly furnished, at Frederickton, in New Brunswick. My business was to ask his co-operation in carrying out the physical union of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and through them Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland
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"THE BAR AT LIVERPOOL.
"THE BAR AT LIVERPOOL.
"SIR,—You inserted some time ago in 'The Times' a letter from Professor Ramsay detailing the troubles arising to travellers from the other side of the Atlantic, owing to shallow water outside the entrance to Liverpool, and you enforced the necessity of some improvement, in a very able article. Professor Ramsay was at that time returning from the meeting of the British Association, held in the Dominion of Canada. "Still, while time goes on, and the question becomes more and more urgent, the bar,
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CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER III.
To the Pacific—Montreal to Port Moody . On the evening of the 12th September I left Quebec by the train for Montreal, and travelled over the "North Shore" line of 200 miles. One of the secretaries of the Vice-President of the Canadian Pacific, Mr. Van Horn, called upon me to say that accommodation was reserved for me in the train; and that Mr. Van Horn was sending down his own car, which would meet me half way. It was no use protesting against the non- necessity of such luxurious treatment. I wa
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CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER IV.
Canadian Pacific Railways . The pioneer suggestion of a railway across British territory to the Pacific has been claimed by many. To my mind, all valuable credit attaches to those who have completed the work. The christening of "La Chine"—the town seven miles from Montreal, where the canals which go round the rapids end, and the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa rivers join their differently coloured streams—contained the prophecy of a future great high road to the then mysterious East, to China, to J
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("ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS," 1861.)
("ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS," 1861.)
My letter of the 15th November, 1860, to a friend of Mr. Thomas Baring, then President of the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, gives concisely my general notions of opening up the British portion of the Great Continent of America. A while later a leading article written by me appeared in the "Illustrated London News" of the 16th February, 1861. The article was headed, "A British Railway from the Atlantic to the Pacific." I will here quote a portion of it:— "'I hope,' said her Majesty, on proroguin
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"ROUTE THROUGH UNITED STATES TERRITORY.
"ROUTE THROUGH UNITED STATES TERRITORY.
Liverpool to New York 3,046 New York to Chicago, via N.Y.C. and M.C. Railways 961 Chicago to San Francisco 2,357 San Francisco to Yokohama 4,526 San Francisco to Hongkong 6,128 Liverpool to Yokohama 10,890 "For distance to Hongkong, add 1,602 miles to the distance to Yokohama. " Note ,—Distances by rail are statute miles. Distances by sea, geographical miles....
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"ESQUIMALT AND NANAIMO RAILWAY AND COAL MINES AT WEST WELLINGTON AND NANAIMO.
"ESQUIMALT AND NANAIMO RAILWAY AND COAL MINES AT WEST WELLINGTON AND NANAIMO.
"The Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway runs from West Victoria, near Esquimalt, to Nanaimo, which latter place is a small mining town in the Island of Vancouver, lying on the east coast, on the shore of the Straits of Georgia, nearly opposite Burrard Inlet, from which it is distant about 28 miles. "The line is well constructed with a good and substantial road-bed; steel rails, weighing 54 lbs. per yard (except a few miles near Nanaimo, where they are 50 lbs. per yard); well ballasted, and well tied;
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"ESQUIMALT HARBOUR AND DOCK.
"ESQUIMALT HARBOUR AND DOCK.
"The harbour at Esquimalt is quite land-locked, and can be very easily protected from an enemy approaching by sea, the heights around being easily fortified, as there are many in good positions for commanding the entrance, both at a distance from it, and also in the immediate vicinity; there is plenty of depth of water at low tide to enter the harbour. A fort on the Race Rocks, where there is a lighthouse, and which are some 2 miles or so from the coast, would, if supplied with heavy guns capabl
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"SAN FRANCISCO TO CHICAGO.
"SAN FRANCISCO TO CHICAGO.
"Left San Francisco on 29th September, 1886, at 7.30, by steam ferry to Oakland, 4 miles across the harbour; left Oakland by train at 8.10 a.m.; 32 miles from Oakland we reached Port Costa, where the train was ferried across an estuary of the sea to Benicia; for 20 miles from there the line (the Central Pacific division of the Southern Pacific Railway Company) runs, across a flat, marshy country, then into a cultivated country with the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada rising around it, the
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CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VII.
Negociations as to the Intercolonial Railway; and North-West Transit and Telegraph , 1861 to 1864. It was in September, 1861, that I visited Frederickton and Halifax on the question of the Intercolonial Railway, travelling by way of Riviere du Loup, Lake Temiscouata, Little Falls, Woodstock, round by St. Andrews, Canterbury, Frederickton, St. John, Shediac, and Truro to Halifax. Later in the autumn, representatives from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia visited Quebec and Montreal, and it was genera
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CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER VIII.
Negociations for Purchase of the Hudson's Bay Property . In response to our demand for a large tract of land through the "Fertile belt" of the Hudson's Bay territory, the Governor answered, almost in terror, to the Duke of Newcastle:—"What! sequester our very tap-root! Take away the fertile lands where our buffaloes feed! Let in all kinds of people to squat and settle, and frighten away the fur- bearing animals they don't hunt and kill! Impossible. Destruction— extinction—of our time-honoured in
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CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER IX.
The Right Honorable Edward Ellice, M.P. I have alluded to this remarkable man under the soubriquet attached to him for a generation—"the old Bear." I assume that when his son, who for many years represented the Scotch constituency of the St. Andrews Burghs, grew up, the father became the "old" and the son the "young" Bear. Mr. Ellice was the son of Mr. Alexander Ellice, an eminent merchant in the City of London. Born, if the "Annual Register" be accurate, in 1789, he died at the end of 1863. It
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CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER X.
The Select Committee, on Hudson's Bay Affairs, of 1857. This Committee was appointed "to consider the state of those British possessions in North America which are under the administration of the Hudson's Bay Company, or over which they possess a licence to trade." Lord John Russell, Mr. Gladstone, the present Lord Derby, Mr. Roebuck, Mr. Labouchere, Mr. Lowe, and Mr. Edward Ellice, were of the nineteen members of which the Committee originally consisted. Later on, the names of Mr. Alexander Mat
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CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XI.
Re-organization of Hudson's Bay Company . Thus, after a long and continuous period of inquiry and investigation— a grave game of chess with the Hudson's Bay Company—many anxieties and a great pecuniary risk, surmounted without the expected help of our Government, the battle was won. What now remained was to take care that the Imperial objects, for which some of us had struggled, were not sacrificed, to indifference in high places at home, or to possible conflicts between the two Provinces in Can
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CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XII.
The Hudson's Bay Company and the Select Committee of 1748-9. The history of the old co-partnery, the "Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay," ought to be written by some able hand. Samuel Smiles or Goldwin Smith, with the aid of the archives held by the Governor and Committee, would make a book which would go round the world. To publish such a record is a duty incumbent upon Mr. Eden Colville and his colleagues. From no merit or prevision of theirs, a happy and
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CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIII.
The Hudson's Bay Posts—to-day . In their Report of 28th June, 1872, the Governor and Committee report the details of the varied posts from Ocean to Ocean of the Hudson's Bay Company, as follows:— Statement of Land belonging to the HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY, exclusive of their claim to one-twentieth of the Land set out for settlement in the "Fertile Belt," or the district coloured green in the accompanying Map [in front of this volume] . ———————————————————————————————— | | Acres District | Post | of
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"CANADA RAILWAY LOAN.
"CANADA RAILWAY LOAN.
"[ March 28, 1867.] "In reply to Mr. Lowe and others, "Mr. Watkin said that, in following the right hon. gentleman (Mr. Lowe), he felt very much as a quiet Roman citizen must have done on passing the chief gladiator in the street— inclined to pass over to the other side, and to have nothing to say to him, for fear of the consequences. "But some years ago he was requested by the late Duke of Newcastle to make inquiries, which convinced him that the hobgoblin fears expressed that night in regard t
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CHAPTER XV.
CHAPTER XV.
" Governor Dallas. " I should do injustice to my own loving memory of the man, if I did not publish some letters from the late Governor Dallas, which are, to my mind, especially interesting. Though some of his views, in 1863, as to the value of the Hudson's Bay lands, and their settlement, did not accord with my own, yet his experience should plead against mine. No one was more pleased than he to find that the country was in process— after many delays, over which he and I used to groan in concer
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CHAPTER XVI.
CHAPTER XVI.
The Honorable Thomas d'Arcy McGee. Amongst the men, able and earnest, who carried the union of the British, separated, Provinces, and made the "Dominion," no man gave more soul and substance to the cause, by his eloquence, than Mr. d'Arcy McGee. His had been a chequered career. Beginning, like Sir George Etienne Cartier, in revolt against what he believed to be British tyranny, he ended his life, one of the most loyal, as he was one of the most eloquent, of Her Majesty's subjects. In 1848 he was
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CHAPTER XVII.
CHAPTER XVII.
1851.—First Visit to America: a Reason for it. My first visit to America was mainly induced by a misfortune which happened to me in the spring of 1846. The year 1845 had been one of excitement, and my hands had been very full at that time. I was to a great extent a water drinker. I had the habit of sticking to my work, various and complicated as much of it was, day by day, until that day's work was done. It often happened that I forgot to eat the modest lunch carefully put in my pocket by my wif
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"'MEMORANDUM A.
"'MEMORANDUM A.
"'The trade between the United States and the British Provinces should, it is believed, under ordinary circumstances, be free in reference to their natural productions; but as internal taxes exceptionally exist in the United States, it is now proposed that the articles embraced in the free list of the Reciprocity Treaty should continue to be exchanged, subject only to such duties as may be equivalent to that internal taxation. It is suggested that both parties may add certain articles to those n
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"'MEMORANDUM B.
"'MEMORANDUM B.
"'In response to the Memorandum of the Hon. Mr. Galt and his associates, Hon. Mr. Smith, Hon. Mr. Henry, and the Hon. Mr. Howland, the Committee of Ways and Means, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, are prepared to recommend to the House of Representatives for their adoption a law providing for the continuance of some of the measures embraced in the Reciprocity Treaty, soon to expire, viz.—For the use and privileges as enjoyed now under said treaty in the waters of Lake Michigan
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CHAPTER XIX.
CHAPTER XIX.
The Defences of Canada. In February and March, 1865, I spoke in the House of Commons on the general question of the defences of Canada; and, also, on the special vote (carried by a majority of 235) of 50,000_l_. for the fortifications of Quebec. The first of these speeches was delivered on the 13th March, 1865; the second on the 23rd March. On the second occasion I was followed by Lord Palmerston; and I commend his speech, pithy and decisive as it was, to the statesmen who have to deal with our
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CHAPTER XX.
CHAPTER XX.
Intended Route for a Pacific Railway in 1863 . The result of mature consideration, reasoning carefully upon all the facts I had collected, was, that, at that time, 1863, the best route for a Railway to the Pacific was, to commence at Halifax, to strike across to the Grand Trunk Railway at Riviere du Loup, 106 miles east of Quebec, then to follow the Grand Trunk system to Sarnia; to extend that system to Chicago; to use, under a treaty of neutralization, the United States lines from Chicago to St
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MISTAKE ABOUT HONORS.
MISTAKE ABOUT HONORS.
When the Act for Confederation had been passed, and while some of the delegates were still in England, a notification was made of honors intended to be conferred by Her Majesty on some of those who had devoted anxious hours of labour to the great cause of Union. In my case, my name was mentioned for knighthood, while the names of Mr. Cartier and Mr. Galt were named for the honor of "C. B.," and Mr. Langevin's name appeared to be entirely omitted. When, how, or by whom, the leader of the great Fr
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UNFORTUNATE DISCUSSIONS.
UNFORTUNATE DISCUSSIONS.
These discussions were both unfortunate and embarrassing; in the course of them, I had suggested that the way out of the difficulty was generously to offer a baronetcy to Mr. Cartier. During the discussion Dr. Tupper arrived in England. He cordially agreed with me. He deplored the mistake made, and, acting from his official position, and with the great judgment which he has always shown, he was able to assist in the desired happy solution. On the 22nd of April I received the following letter:— "
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PERMITTED INVASION.
PERMITTED INVASION.
Sir George Cartier's allusion to the neglect by our Government in permitting, without remonstrance, the repeated invasion of Canada, makes one shiver with shame. As President Johnson said to me in 1865, "Why don't your people remonstrate?" My countrymen may feel assured that if remonstrances, firm and dignified, had anticipated each known intended outrage—English and Irish-American conspiracies would have not been as now. "ROSE HILL, NORTHENDEN, near MANCHESTER, "12th August, 1868. "I, gladly, e
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CHAPTER XXII.
CHAPTER XXII.
Disraeli—Beaconsfield. No one aided the cause of Canada more readily than Mr. Disraeli, and I ought to explain how I first gained his confidence and kindness. But Mr. Philip Rose, who was his solicitor, his friend, his executor; who had stuck by him "per angusta ad augusta," was of priceless service in placing before him, from time to time, the facts, affecting Confederation, as I collected them. My first acquaintance with Mr. Disraeli was the consequence of my connection, as an honorary secreta
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CHAPTER XXIII.
CHAPTER XXIII.
Visits to Quebec and Portland, and Letters Home , 1861. Leaving Montreal by the night boat, I arrived at the wharf at Quebec; and, after a visit to the hotel and a walk round the city, called on Mr. Cartier, the Chief Minister of Canada, at the small house he then inhabited. My first relation with Quebec was in acting as Honorary Secretary to a Committee in Manchester, which raised 7,500_l_. by subscription, and sent it out in money and goods to relieve the people, houseless and ruined by the gr
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