only say that, if the distinguished Major-general is right, _from a
purely British point of view_, in depreciating the island and its
resources, he thereby furnishes a _very strong argument why Great
Britain should, for a reasonable compensation, cede this island to the
United States_. I am perfectly sure that the majority of the 200,000
inhabitants would not have the slightest objection to exchange the
Union Jack for the stars and stripes. But I do not think that, in
making this exchange myself, I have abandoned my old English habits of
thought; and so I would mention some reasons why, even if I were still
a fellow-citizen (or should I say subject?) of Major-general Dashwood,
and were as much bound as he is to place the interests of the British
crown above every other interest of my life, I should for that very
reason differ with him in opinion, first of all, from a strategic
point of view. We must not, because my distinguished fellow-citizen,
Captain Mahan, has so brilliantly painted the sea-power of England,
forget also her _man-power_. Most certainly, Viscount Wolseley would
not do so; and I think Major-general Dashwood, from whose interesting
little book, "Chipplequorgan," I have learned that he came with his
regiment to Halifax after the "Trent" affair, will agree with me that
it would then, in case of a war with the United States of America,
have been very convenient if Newfoundland had been peopled by half a
million hardy farmers, woodmen, and miners, in addition to its few
fisher-folk. England has to take undergrown and underfed boys into her
army now; but, if the sturdy Irishmen who have been driven to the
United States by famine and eviction had been provided each with the
"three acres and a cow" of Joseph Chamberlain's speeches in the
valleys of the Humber or Codroy Rivers, surely the experience of
Louisbourg and a hundred well-fought battles since then may tell us
how much more they would have contributed to Britain's honor and
interest than they do now as American voters. The south-western part
of Newfoundland reminds one very much of old Ireland in its climate
and its physical features, and certainly is quite as well fitted to
sustain a sturdy peasantry of small land-owners.
The best answer to the distinguished officer's objections may be found
in the official reports of the geological survey of Newfoundland,
published by Edward Stanford, Charing Cross, London. The present
director of that survey, Mr. James P. Howley, F.R.G.S., has replied in
part to Major-general Dashwood's remarks in a letter written a
fortnight ago, from which I extract a few passages. The Major-general
said at the Royal Geographical Society that the timber of Newfoundland
is all scrub, and fit only for firing. Mr. Howley writes: "Our
lumbering industry is in a most flourishing condition. Ten large
saw-mills are in full swing, besides several smaller ones, around our
northern and western bays. Large shipments of lumber were made last
summer to the English markets. Messrs. Watson & Todd, of Liverpool,
England, purchased 3,000,000 feet of lumber in the island last summer;
and the market quotations in the Liverpool trade journals will be the
best index to the value of the lumber. The Exploits Milling Company
at Botwoodsville purchased $25,000 worth of stores in Montreal to be
used in the winter's lumber-felling operations. They calculate on
cutting 100,000 pine logs. Though the mill has been ten years in
operation, the lumber shows no signs of exhaustion; while the other
and far more abundant products of the Newfoundland forests, such as
fir, spruce, birch, tamarack, etc., have scarcely been touched.
"The Benton Mill, owned by Messrs. Reid, contractors for the Northern
& Western Railroad, though scarcely a year in existence, has put out
3,000,000 feet of first-class lumber."
As to the coal fields, Mr. Howley, referring to his own official
reports for 1889, 1891, and 1892, as published by Stanford, writes:--
In the Bay St. George coal fields 16 distinct seams were discovered,
ranging from a few inches up to several feet in thickness: the Cleary
seam has 26 inches good coal; Juke's seam, 4.6 feet; Murray seam, 5.4
feet; Howley seam, 4.2 feet.
In the Grand Lake carboniferous area 15 distinct seams were
discovered, also ranging from a few inches to several feet. Two seams
on Coal Brook show 2.4 and 3.5 feet. On Aldery Brook, three seams show
2.6 feet, 3.8 feet, and 14 feet of coal. At Kelvin Brook 3 seams
contain 2.6 feet, 3.8 feet, and 7 feet.
Specimens have been submitted to experts in connection with the
Colonial Office, and have been found, in some cases, superior to the
Cape Breton coal. So much for the report of a man who understands his
business, and has had better opportunities than any other living man
of studying the question.
For myself, I may say that during twenty years of travel, in which I
have been from the Gulf of Mexico to Ottawa, and from the Straight
Shore of Avalon to the Muir Glacier of Alaska, I have studied every
State which I have visited with a view to its attractions for British
emigrants, and, before the passing of our present absurd immigration
laws, have been instrumental in transferring many skilled operatives
from the foul slums of Manchester and Salford to the healthy and
pleasant factory villages of New England.
I need hardly say that Newfoundland is not the right place for such
men; but, under a just and wise imperial government, it can be made a
happy home for thousands of hardy Scotch and Irish peasants, who need
not, in crossing the ocean, change their political allegiance. But
England must first do her duty.
She must build her railroad from Port aux Basques along the French
shore to Bonne Bay, or further north, so as to give the people a means
of communication which shall not be impeded by the French treaty
rights; and she must arrange her tariffs so as to defend her fishermen
against the unjust discrimination of foreign bounties. As an American,
I can have no interest in saying these things to Englishmen. If
Major-general Dashwood is right, so much the better for us.
Our Whitneys are awakening new life amid the ruins of Louisbourg,
although the Duke of York and those who followed him as proprietors of
the Sydney coal fields could do so little with them; and so, if
England cannot help Newfoundland, _America can_, and can serve herself
well at the same time. Take the fishing for an instance. The French
bounties do not hurt the Massachusetts fishermen, because we have a
_home_ market which the Frenchmen cannot touch, and seek only a
foreign market for the very small quantity that our own people do not
consume. And to share in this American _home market_ alone would be
more profitable to Newfoundland than all its connection with England
can ever be.
J.F.
* * * * *
End of Project Gutenberg's Newfoundland and the Jingoes, by John Fretwell