The Acadian Confederation--Union is Strength--The
Provinces--New Brunswick--The Temperature--Trade of St.
John--Climate and agriculture of Nova Scotia--Prince Edward
Island--Newfoundland--The Red River District--Assiniboia--The
Red River Valley--Minnesota and the West--The Hudson’s Bay
Company--Their Territory--The North-West Regions--Climate of
Winnipeg Basin--Its area--Finances of the Confederation--Imports,
exports, and tonnage--Proposed Federal Constitution--Lessons from
the American struggle.
We have now seen the dangers which threaten Canada, we have to some
extent examined the means of resisting them, and have followed
the process by which a severe injury was inflicted on her powers
of defence. Mr. Webster was a grand specimen of unscrupulous
intelligence--he was a colossal “Yankee.” It will be observed that
he regarded the acquisitions so dexterously made--_quocunque modo
rem_--as valuable on account of their military capabilities--that
he took the highest point accessible to the American mind when he
showed that his work could be made available for the annoyance and
injury of Great Britain. In so far he betrayed--if indeed there is
any deception in the matter--the animating principle of American
political life. Let any public man prove that he has hurt the
English power or affronted it--that he has damnified its commerce
and lowered its prestige, and the popular sentiment will applaud
him, no matter the agency by which his purpose was effected.
Recent events have greatly inflamed the spirit which always burned
against us. The very events which have broken up the Union may
resolve its fragments into a new combination more formidable and
more aggressive.
The course open to Canada, which may feel once more the force of
that permanent principle in the American mind, is plain. Great
Britain may be too far off. She may be too much engaged to be
able to aid Canada efficiently and fully. But on the borders of
Canada there are provinces with great resources and a great future,
which have hitherto been prevented by various considerations
from welding themselves into a Confederation. The time has come
now in the white heat of American strife for the adoption of the
process. The Confederation of States with divers interests under
a weak executive has fallen to pieces. All the more reason for
a Confederation of States with common interests and with one
governing principle. If we accept the common governing principle
of all the Colonies and Provinces to be their attachment to
Monarchical institutions, any pressure from the influences of
Republican institutions can but consolidate their union.
Under the circumstances in which the various distinct dependencies
of the British Crown in the Continent of North America find
themselves placed, it is not surprising that the idea of a
Confederation for the purposes of common defence and military
corroboration should have arisen. It is surprising that it should
have floated about so long, and have stirred men to action so
feebly. I think it is the first notion that occurs to a stranger
visiting Canada and casting about for a something to put in place
of the strength which distant England cannot, and Canadians will
not, afford. At least, there is no sign as yet that the Canadians
will quite arouse from a sleep which no fears disturb, although
they hear the noise of robbers. They will not prepare for war,
because they wish for peace, and it is plain enough that if war
should come instead of peace, England would be too late to save
them, because she would be too far. Now, let it not be supposed
that any confederation of the Canadas and British North American
provinces would yield such an increase of force as would enable
the collective or several members of it to resist the force of the
Republic of the Northern American United States--at least, not just
now. But in the very conflict in which the Northern and Southern
Confederations are engaged, we see the vast energy and resources of
a union of States in war time as compared with the action of States
not so joined:--France, Great Britain, Turkey, and Sardinia were
associated in the war with Russia, but their power would have been
much greater had they acted under a common head. There is in every
association of the States the danger of ultimate convulsions, and
of death itself, whenever the Constitution and ideas of one State
differ from those of another: for the difference of constitution
and ideas is sure to produce soon a conflict of interests and
opinions which the bond of Federation cannot compress. In the two
Canadas there are certain opposing principles at work which have
interfered with harmonious action at times. These might receive
greater vitality and power on each side if the cohesion of the
British dependencies were not complete. The religious questions
which now are mixed with questions of race would perhaps acquire
development, and become more active and more mischievous. But the
actual positive visible dangers of non-Confederation are more
weighty than those which may come by-and-by from the adoption of a
common central government subject to the Crown. Setting out with
the principle of submission to the Throne--with the recognition of
the sovereignty of the monarch of Great Britain and Ireland--with
the full acknowledgment of the rights and prerogatives pertaining
to the Crown--with the charters of their several and collective
liberties in their possession, the only great schism to be
apprehended is one which might arise from the exercise of
Parliamentary control over the action of the Confederation, because
colonists will never admit that the Parliament can stand in the
place of the Crown. Let us take a glance at the vast area, and
consider the importance of the various colonies which own now no
bond of connection, except a common obedience to the Queen, in
order that we may appreciate their strength as a Confederation.
* * * * *
The Province of New Brunswick contains just 28,000 square miles;
it lies between 45° and 48° lat. (north), and 63° 45’ and 67°
50’ long. (west), washed on the east by the waters of the Gulf
of St. Lawrence, and on the south by those of the Bay of Fundy.
It has a very extensive seaboard, not less than two-thirds being
maritime; whilst on the west it is bounded by the frontier
of the State of Maine, and on the north by Lower Canada. The
population in 1851 was 193,000, and it probably is not less
now than 225,000 souls. The boastfulness of the Americans, and
more especially of New Englanders, in all that relates to their
country, causes us to overlook the progress of our own colonies,
and we shall be surprised to find the increase of people in New
Brunswick has been greater than that of Vermont, Maine, or New
Hampshire, by an average of 10 per cent. within the decade up to
1851. The Government is vice-monarchical and parliamentary; the
Lieutenant-Governor of the Province being Commander-in-Chief,
Admiral, and Chancellor. His ministers are the Executive Council,
consisting of nine members, whose tenure of office depends on the
will of the people, inasmuch as they must retire on a vote of
want of confidence. The Parliament consists of the Legislative
Council, which is somewhat analogous to the House of Peers. It is
composed of 21 members, who are appointed by the Crown _durante
placito_, but who usually hold office for life. Although the
Peers of Parliament are in one sense nominated by the Crown, they
are legislators _durante vitâ_, and cannot be removed from their
functions by the Crown, and in other respects there are defects
in an analogy between them and the House of Lords. The House of
Assembly, consisting of 41 members, is elected every four years by
the people of the fourteen counties, and of the city of St. John.
The House levies taxes and duties, and regulates the expenditure
and internal affairs of the Province; but the Legislative Council
may reject all its measures except those relating to money matters,
and the assent of the Governor-General is needed to all measures
whatever. But it does not follow that the consent of Council,
Assembly, and Lieutenant-Governor will do more than stamp the
measure with the popular and official _imprimatur_ in the eyes of
the Home Government, because Her Majesty in Council may reject any
law whatever. It is rather in theory than in practice, however,
that such an exercise of prerogative exists; but in case of any
marked difference of opinion between the Home Government and the
Colonial Legislature, it is obvious that such a power, however
consonant with monarchical right and tradition, might cause serious
antagonism and create wide breaches. The risk of such disturbing
influences would, of course, be diminished by the action of a
general government.
It is little more than 100 years since a number of English settlers
and colonists, then loyal, coming from Massachusetts, sailed from
Newbury Fort to the coast of New Brunswick, which had been ceded
by France to the British in 1713. Constantly menaced by the French
Canadians, the few English who represented the Crown could scarcely
be considered to hold the most attenuated possession of the
Province, until the French were obliged finally to cede all claims
to the possession of an acknowledged nationality in British North
America. The English maintained that the whole tract of country
now known as Nova Scotia and New Brunswick belonged to the Crown
by virtue of the discoveries of Sebastian Cabot; but the French
were the first to found permanent settlements, and certainly gave
good reason why Acadia, as they termed the district, despite its
frosts and snows and long lugubrious winters, should belong to the
_fleur-de-lys_. As soon as Wolfe’s victory had established the
power of England, the enterprising spirit of the New Englanders
led them to undertake settlements in these neglected regions. They
carried with them what they had derived from the old country--a
love of law, not of litigation; the forms of justice in the courts
which administered its substance:--a magistracy, a police, a moral
life and social liberty; these were possessed by the settlers at a
time when the vast majority of the people of Ireland was deprived
of any semblance of such rights; and when Scotland, unsuccessful
in her last effort for legitimacy and the Divine right of kings,
was just recovering from the swoon into which she had fallen as the
last volleys rolled away from Culloden.
The New Englanders who settled Mangerville and civilised Sunbury
were loyal to the Crown in the revolt of the colonies; they formed
a nucleus round which gathered many of the New England Tories and
their families, so that in 1783 it was considered expedient by
the Government to locate those who were called loyalists, and who
shook the dust off their feet at the door of the New Republic,
along the cleared settlements adjoining the Bay of Fundy and the
water of St. John. It is strange that the first newspaper should
have been printed by these outcasts at a time when there were
scarcely half-a-dozen journals known in the mother country; but the
peculiar circumstances under which these immigrants were placed
no doubt developed the energies of a press which was not shackled
by any political censorship. The wealth of the people lay around
them; their mines were in the forest, and the axe provided them
with currency. To Sir Guy Carlton, the first Governor, when New
Brunswick received a distinct Charter and a new Constitution and
was separated from Nova Scotia, in 1788, must be conceded the
credit of having nursed for twenty years, with singular care and
success, the infancy of the colony:--a succession of Presidents
or Governors and Councillors, whose names are reproduced in the
history of the American colonies,--such men as Beverley, Robinson,
Putman, Winslow, and Ludlow,--succeeded in the charge, and
gradually developed the resources of the rising community.
Fire has wrought more than one great wrong to this land of frost
and snow. Yet it would not be just to describe New Brunswick as
a Siberia. From Christmas to March the country is tolerably well
provided with a coating of snow. From April to May ploughing and
seed time last, and before October the harvests are generally
gathered in. A glorious autumn yields to the rainfalls of November,
and these in their turn harden to sleet and snow in December; but,
after all, nearly seven months give space for sowing, ploughing,
reaping, and saving. The New Brunswickers, indeed, believe that
the very seventy of the frost in winter tends to render the
cultivation of the land more easy than it is in Britain; and
certainly rainfalls, and all the variableness of climate, do more
injury in England than they do in New Brunswick. The greatest
ranges of temperature are in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where they
reach from 20° below zero to 90° above it; the highest temperature
at St. John may be reckoned at 86°, the lowest at 14°. There are
about 180 clear days and 120 cloudy days in the year, and the
snow-storms rarely last more than two days at a time. Now here
is a region to which one would think the bedrenched Highlander,
the betaxed Englishman, and much-vexed Irishman would resort in
myriads. And there is land for many. At least 6,000,000 acres
of land suited for crops and wood settlements are still to be
disposed of. For half-a-crown a man may buy an acre of land, but
of that sum only 7½_d._ is demanded on sale, and the remainder
may be paid in instalments extending over three years. The sales
of the country lands are monthly. If the settler likes to pay on
the spot he can have his land for 2_s._ an acre. Think of that,
conacre men of Tipperary and Leitrim! Think of that, farmers of
the Lothians, or tenants of the Highland straths! Shall I ask the
men of Dorsetshire and East Gloucester to think of it too? Nor
need they fear to change their mode of life, except it be for the
better, after the first rude work of labour is done; nor need
they fear to suffer from climate or disease. Typhus will cease
to kill--fever and dysentery to decimate. And if the settler has
kinsmen and friends willing to join with him, he can claim for
himself and each of them 100 acres of land, and pay for it by the
work of road-making in the new country, so that in four years, if
the work set by the Commissioners be executed, each man who has
been one year resident and has brought ten acres into cultivation,
becomes, _ipso facto_, owner of the whole lot of 100 acres. Now
this is in a country which has been described by no incompetent
witness, not as the peer of any region on earth in the beauty of
wood and water, but as the superior of the best. The St. John
flows in all its grandeur through the midst of the province, and
the Restigouche gives a charm of scenery to the forest not to be
surpassed. Lakes and streams open up dell, valley, and mountain
pass. Every creek in the much-indented coast swarms with fish. The
Bay of Fundy abounds with codfish and pollock, bake, haddock, shad,
herring, halibut, mackerel, eels, skate, and many other kinds of
fish. The mouths of the rivers swarm with salmon, trout, striped
basse, gaspereaux, shad, and white trout. The Gulf of St. Lawrence
and the Bay of Chaleurs yield nearly every description of valuable
fish, as well as lobsters, crabs, oysters, and other shellfish. The
Province receives nearly 100,000_l._ a year in exchange for the
fish packed in ice, or cured and exported to foreign countries. Its
wealth in timber is incalculable, because the value rises gradually
with the demand for the produce of its forests all over the world,
and, with prudent management, these forests may be considered as
inexhaustible. Coal of a bituminous character has been worked for
some years past in several districts; iron, manganese, lead, and
copper, also exist in considerable quantities, and the mineral
produce of the Province will no doubt add much to its importance as
the works receive greater development.
Although the trade of shipbuilding does not show a regular
increase, the size of the vessels built at St. John and Miramichi
has been increasing. Upwards of 100 ships were launched at these
ports in 1860, with a measurement of 41,000 tons, and were worth
upwards of 320,000_l._ Various branches of trade have obtained
respectable dimensions and are growing steadily. Fredericton, the
capital of the Province, is situated on the St. John, eighty-two
miles from the sea, where the navigation for sea-going ships
may be regarded as at an end. The number of great lakes which
are available for internal commerce and transport complete the
facilities offered by the river system and by the main roads, the
latter of which have been liberally promoted by the Province. The
water power of the colony is boundless. Education is provided by
the Legislature, so that the poorest man can give his children the
advantage of a sound instruction almost without cost. Religion
is free, and the voluntary system mitigates the animosity of
sects. Emigrants from the South of Ireland have found here all the
conditions of prosperity, and have turned them to good account.
Scotch and English thrive exceedingly. Indeed, if it were not that
the greater clamour and bustle of the United States had succeeded
in overpowering the appeals of New Brunswick to the favour of the
emigrant, many thousands of our countrymen would have there found
the ease and comfort which they have sought in vain under the
rule of the Republic. The very name, New Brunswick, has no doubt
repelled settlers. A New Brunswick ship they know nothing of even
if they see one, and the name itself rarely reaches their ears.
* * * * *
Nova Scotia formerly comprised the Province of New Brunswick,
but is now reduced to the length of 256 miles, and the breadth
of 100 miles. The island of Cape Breton, which belongs to it, is
100 miles long, and 72 broad. The area of Nova Scotia and Cape
Breton is over 18,000 square miles. The population is estimated at
370,000, the Census of 1861 having given 330,860 and the ratio of
increase having been on an average of four per cent. per annum;
but emigrants are rarely attracted to the colony. In 1861, of the
people, 294,000 were native Nova Scotians, 16,000 were of Scottish,
9,000 of Irish, 3,000 of English origin; France, which founded the
colony, had only 88 representatives on land. The English Church
had 48,000 members, the Scotch Church numbered 88,000, the Church
of Rome 80,000; there were 56,000 Baptists, 34,000 Wesleyans, and,
wonderful to say, only 3 Deists. When it is considered that the
coal-fields of Nova Scotia are the finest in the world, that her
mining wealth is extraordinary, that her seas, lakes, and rivers
teem with fish, that her forests yield the finest timber, that the
soil gives an ample return to the farmer, and the earth is full
of mineral resources, it is surprising that emigrants of limited
means have not been tempted to try their fortune, in spite of the
threatening skies and somewhat rigid winters. Nearly five millions
and a half acres of land are still in the hands of the Crown,
of which upwards of four million acres are open for settlement,
and the average price is about 1_s._ 8_d._ an acre. From a very
trustworthy work prepared by Messrs. Hind, Keefer, Hodgins, Robb,
Perley, and the Rev. Wm. Murray, to which I am indebted for much
valuable information, it would appear that the climate of Nova
Scotia is by no means so severe as it is reported to be, both in
Great Britain and the United States. Though, at some seasons,
the weather is very severe, as compared with England, Ireland,
the South of Scotland, and a great portion of the United States
of America, still it is more conducive to health than the milder
but more humid corresponding seasons in those countries. The
length and severity of Nova Scotia winters are greatly compensated
by the mildness and beauty of autumn--which is protracted, not
unfrequently, into the middle of December--as well as by the months
of steady sleighing which follow. The extreme of cold is 24° Fahr.
below zero; the extreme of heat, 95° above, in the shade. These
extremes have not been often attained to of late years. The mean
temperature of the year is 43°. There are about 100 days in which
the temperature is above 70° in summer. There are about twenty
nights in the year in which the temperature is below zero. The
coldest season is from the last week of December till the first
week of March.
The following table exhibits the annual mean temperature of several
European cities, as compared with Halifax, Nova Scotia, and
Toronto, C. W.:--
Latitude. Fahrenheit.
44° 40´ Halifax 43·8
43 39 Toronto 44·4
52 31 Berlin 47·5
53 23 Dublin 49·1
50 7 Frankfort 49·5
49 39 Cherbourg 52·1
MEAN SUMMER TEMPERATURE.
Fahrenheit.
Halifax 62·0
Toronto 64·5
Greenwich 60·9
Berlin 63·2
Cherbourg 61·9
The annual quantity of rain which falls is about forty-one inches.
Of this quantity about six and a half inches fall in the form of
snow. The annual depth of snow is eight and a half feet. Much of
this quantity of snow is not allowed to rest long in its solid
form. There are about 114 days of rain on the average in each
year; much of this occurs in winter. The average number of days
of snow in each year is about sixty. Violent tempests are not of
frequent occurrence in Nova Scotia. The prevailing winds are the
south-west, west, and north-west. In summer the north, north-west,
and west winds are cool and dry. In winter they are cold and
piercing. The south and south-west are mild--agreeable--delightful.
The north-east brings the greatest snow-storms; the east and
south-east the most disagreeable rain-storms. Spring commences in
Nova Scotia with the beginning of April. Seed-time and planting
continue till the middle of June. Summer begins with the latter
part of June, and embraces July and August. Vegetation is very
rapid in the middle and western parts of the province, where the
hay crop, and usually nearly all the grain crops, are harvested by
the last week of August or first week of September. Autumn is the
finest season in Nova Scotia. It is mild, serene, and cool enough
to be bracing, and the atmosphere is of a purity that renders it
peculiarly exhilarating and health-giving. The “Indian summer”
occurs sometimes as late as the middle of November, and lasts
from three to ten days. The winter in Nova Scotia may be said to
comprise about four months. It begins, some seasons, with the 1st
of December, and runs into the month of April. In other seasons
it begins in the middle of December and ends with the last of
March. The mean temperature of spring is 49°; of summer, 62°; of
autumn, 35°; of winter, 22°. Similarity in agricultural productions
furnishes a very fair criterion for the comparison of the climates
of different countries. Wheat, rye, oats, barley, buckwheat, Indian
corn, potatoes, turnips, mangel-wurzel, tomatoes, and other roots
and grains grow in abundance and perfection in Nova Scotia. Apples,
pears, plums, cherries, and a multitude of smaller garden-fruits
attain the utmost perfection. In some sections of the country
peaches and grapes ripen in the open air. The climate of Nova
Scotia is highly favourable both to health and length of days.
Men and women frequently attain to the age of eighty years with
the full possession of their mental faculties, and in excellent
bodily health. It is not unusual to find men enjoying good health
at ninety; and not a few reach one hundred years, while some pass
that extreme boundary. Let the proportion of deaths to population
in Nova Scotia he compared with that in Great Britain and the State
of Rhode Island:--
Nova Scotia, 1 in 70·71, or less than 1½ per cent.
Rhode Island, 1 in 46·11, or more than 2 ”
Great Britain, 1 in 44·75, or more than 2 ”
The climate of Nova Scotia is not noted for the generation of any
disease peculiar to itself. Diphtheria has, of late years, been its
most terrible scourge.
* * * * *
Prince Edward Island--called so after the father of Queen
Victoria--is another member of the great group of British colonies
and dependencies. This island, which is about 130 miles long and 30
miles broad, has less than 100,000 inhabitants. It contained less
than 5,000 souls in 1770, when it was separated from the government
of Nova Scotia, and was erected into an independent province
under unfavourable circumstances, arising out of the unfortunate
conditions which were made when the land was allotted to the
original proprietors. The early history of the colony afforded a
remarkable exemplification of wrong-doing with good intentions, and
the errors of the first English rulers who regulated the settlement
of the province were not atoned for till many years of patient
effort on the part of the people had been devoted to a removal of
abuses. The island is under a Governor named by the Crown, whose
Cabinet consists of an Executive Council of nine, selected from
the Legislative Council and from the House of Assembly, the former
consisting of twelve, the latter of thirty members, elected by the
people.
Newfoundland is 420 miles long, and has an extreme breadth of 300
miles. The population is now about 130,000. Notwithstanding its
name, there is reason to believe that it was known to Icelanders
and Norwegians, to Vikings and Danes, four centuries before Cabot
came upon his Bonavista. The early history of our connection with
this great island is not creditable to those who had influence with
the home authorities. In 1832, following the principle of universal
suffrage, which was considered applicable to a colony, though it
was rejected at home, a Legislative system was erected on the basis
of manhood franchise, the only qualification being that the voter
should have been a year in the same house. The Governor, who is of
course a representative and nominee of the Crown, is assisted by an
Executive Council of five members, and the Parliament consists of
a Legislative Council of twelve and a House of Assembly of thirty
members.
* * * * *
There exists on the west of Canada a vast region which may,
perhaps, become great and flourishing in less time than the
districts which, inhabited by red men and wild beasts in 1776, now
form some of the most important of the North and South American
States.
It is one of the very greatest of the evils connected with our
parliamentary system, that small or local interests at home are
likely to receive attention in preference to the largest general
interests of dependencies. The Colonial Office is a sort of
buffer between Parliament and the shocks of colonial aggressions
and demands; and the Chancellor of the Exchequer can at any time
find easy means of squelching any tendency in the chancellor of
a barbarian administration “to dip his finger” into the Imperial
purse. Now, when “the People of Red River settlement” address a
memorial to the British and Canadian Governments with the view
of obtaining a road to open up the wonderfully fine country they
inhabit to British subjects and to commerce, without dependency
on the United States, it may so happen that at the period in
question the smallest claim of a metropolitan borough shall be
considered of far greater preponderance; nor will the Government
or the Colonial Office at any time be much disposed to irritate
a friendly member who is inimical to colonies, or to provoke the
animosity of economists, for an object which is as intangible and
incomprehensible to the mass of Parliament as a project to run
a railway to Eutopia, or to connect Timbuctoo with China. Mr.
Sandford Fleming, who has been selected as the agent of these
very settlers, has set forth their case with much ability; but
he will scarce become the Lesseps of this overland Suez, unless
some members of the House, who really look beyond the interests
of the day, and take heed for the future of the Empire, can be
induced to listen to his facts and arguments. In 1863 a statement
was submitted by that gentleman to Lord Monck in elucidation of
the memorial of the settlers, which contains most interesting
facts and some valuable arguments. Among the works of good
Governments the making of roads and securing of easy means of
intercommunication among the people subject to them must ever
be of paramount importance. The people of Red River ask for the
opening of the Lake Superior route to British Columbia, and to
have a telegraphic line established, to both of which objects
they will contribute to the best of their ability. The point of
British territory nearest to the Red River settlement by water is
on the northern shore of Lake Superior, 400 miles distant; and the
intervening distance can only be traversed by a combined system
of “portages” and canoe voyages so difficult and tedious as in
effect to bar the access of commercial enterprise, and to chill
any spirit but that of adventurous geography, amateur travel,
or the search after gold and game--thus, in fact, constituting
obstacles which are well described as “practically exiling the
settlers for the last two generations.” The route proposed for the
links which are to connect the exiles with the world would be a
part of the great project to connect the shores of the Atlantic
and Pacific within the British possessions; and it is maintained
that the favourable character of the Red River district for such a
road removes the objections which might be formed on the ground of
distance and difficulty. The Hudson’s Bay Company used the Pigeon
River route, which runs along by the boundary of the United States,
and is therefore not desirable in case of hostilities, and the
Kaministiguia route, called so from the river of that name. Mr.
Fleming, taking up the suggestions of Mr. Dawson in his report to
the Canadian Government, recommends the creation of a territorial
road from some point in connection with the railway system, such as
Ottawa, to Nipigon Bay on Lake Superior, which would be ample as a
trading port, whence a stage and steamboat communication could be
established by making 197 miles of roads and two dams--one at the
outlet of Dog Lake, and the other at Little Falls; or, by making
232 miles of road, and a couple of locks at Fort Francis, and a
dam, the route might be reduced to 273 miles of water, if the
road were pushed on to Savanne River. It must be remembered that
the Americans have already established a route by Chicago; but
an examination of the distances from Toronto shows that the Lake
Superior route would save no less than 715 miles of rail, 35 of
water, and 58 of road. The American route, however, possesses the
advantage of having already 820 miles of rail, of which 514 carry
the traveller to Chicago from Toronto, and 306 convey him from
Chicago to Prairie La Crosse; whereas there is only a length of 95
miles open in Canada, from Toronto westwards to Collingwood. There
is also an American route by Detroit, Milwaukee, and La Crosse to
Port Garry, 1696 miles long, but that is still 646 miles longer
than the communication which could be made by means of 232 miles
of road, the construction of a dam and the locks in question.
Labour might be tempted by offering, as is suggested, blocks of
100 acres to settlers on condition of their giving ten days’ work
in each year for ten years on the road, and thus preparing it for
a railway track; but the settlers must be more patient and easily
satisfied than their language now indicates, if they are content
with the prospect of such a tedious fulfilment of their wishes.
They are willing to open a road 100 miles long to the Lake of Woods
if England or Canada will guarantee the rest of the road to Lake
Superior; and they believe such a road would rapidly fill Central
British America with an industrious loyal people, and counteract
the influence of the North American Republics. Whether the grand
confederation which they foresee of flourishing provinces from
Vancouver’s Island to Nova Scotia, commanding the Atlantic and the
Pacific, and keeping in line the boundaries of the Republicans, be
ever realised in our day, it is plain that the people will neither
be British nor loyal if they are neglected. The Americans have long
been turning their eyes in the direction of these regions. Mr.
Sibley, the last Governor of Minnesota, ordered Mr. James W. Taylor
to obtain reliable information relative to the physical aspects and
other facts connected with the British possessions on the line of
the overland route from Pembina, viâ the Red River settlement and
the Saskatchewan Valley, to Frazer’s River. That gentleman’s report
was presented by Governor Ramsay to the Legislature of the State
in 1860, with a recommendation to their attention as “relating
to matters which concern in a great degree the future growth and
development of our State.” Mr. Taylor was received by Mr. McTavish
at the Selkirk settlement with every respect and consideration. He
found the British colony of Assiniboia prosperous and flourishing.
Respecting that colony he says:--
“Of the present community of ten thousand souls, about five
thousand are competent, at this moment, to assume any civil
or social responsibility which may be imposed upon them. The
accumulations from the fur trade during fifty years, with few
excitements or opportunities of expenditure, have secured general
prosperity, with frequent instances of affluence; while the
numerous churches and schools sustain a high standard of morality
and intelligence.
“The people of Selkirk fully appreciate the advantages of
communication with the Mississippi River and Lake Superior
through the State of Minnesota. They are anxious for the utmost
facilities of trade and intercourse. The navigation of the Red
River by a steam-boat during the summer of 1859 was universally
recognised as marking a new era in their annals. This public
sentiment was pithily expressed by the remark: ‘In 1851 the
Governor of Minnesota visited us; in 1859 comes a steamboat; and
ten years more will bring the railroad!’”
The persons who expressed that sentiment differed entirely from
the memorialists already mentioned; but it must be that the
Selkirk people, if neglected, will incline towards the hand which
is stretched out to them across the waste, no matter whence it
comes. “Most amicable relations” do no doubt “exist between
the trading-post at Port Garry and Kitson’s Station at St.
Boniface;” but long as they may endure--and I trust they may be
perpetual--they will not amount to a preference for Republican
institutions, if the mother country seeks to secure the settlers
by the most tender or subtle link of interest or regard. What
change may be made in respect to the jurisdiction and powers of
the Hudson’s Bay Company by the home authorities must depend for
the time on circumstances; but the actual settlers seem to hope
that the rumours which attributed to Lord Derby’s Government the
intention of organising a colony, bounded by Lakes Superior and
Winnipeg on the east, by the Rocky Mountains on the west, by
the American frontier on the south, and by lat. 55 deg. on the
north, may yet be justified. The Canadian Government, Palliser’s
expedition, Noble’s explorations, Mr. J. W. Hamilton’s surveys,
and a considerable number of public and private investigations
conducted in the interests of politics, commerce, religion, and
geographical science, have all contributed their share to our
knowledge of this vast territory; and the more we know of it the
more eligible it seems as a field for individual enterprise, and an
area for the exercise of legitimate Imperial ambition.
From Lake Winnipeg to the highest navigable point of Red River,
which flows into the lake with a course from north to south,
there is a distance of 575 miles, only interrupted by some very
insignificant shoals at the mouth of Goose River and the Shayenne.
Red Lake River and the Assiniboina extend the area of “coast”
navigable by steamers in the Red River Valley to 900 miles--much
more than is enjoyed internally by the United Kingdom and France
together. Throughout the districts thus permeated by navigable
rivers, rye, oats, barley, potatoes, grass, and wheat, grow as
well as they do in Minnesota; and to these wild regions must be
added the country along the great north Saskatchewan, and even the
region which lies between it and the Rocky Mountains in a northerly
direction. When Mr. Taylor wrote his Report, there was no reason
to believe that “an adjustment of the future relations of the
British Provinces and of the American States on a basis of mutual
good-will and interest” might not be practicable; but Fort Sumter
changed all that, we fear, and there seems little chance of such an
international compact as he anticipates for a customs and postal
union. In reference to such an adjustment he says:--
“It should, at all events, stipulate that the Reciprocity
Treaty, enlarged in its provisions and renewed for a long period
of years, shall be extended to the Pacific Ocean, and, in
connection therewith, all laws discriminating between American
and foreign built vessels should be abolished, establishing
freedom of navigation on all the intermediate rivers and lakes
of the respective territories. Such a policy of free trade
and navigation with British America would give to the United
States, and especially to the western States, all the commercial
advantages, without the political embarrassments, of annexation,
and would, in the sure progress of events, relieve our extended
northern frontier from the horrors and injuries of war between
fraternal communities.”
It is little to be doubted that the people of Minnesota are very
well-disposed to remain on friendly terms with their neighbours;
but the Federal Government at Washington, no matter for what party
or section it acts, must, by the very necessity of its being and
conditions of power, conduct the policy of the United States in a
very different spirit. It is true, our friends have, even so early,
given some indications that they are prepared for eventualities.
Whilst they have not been indifferent to the erection of a military
post at Pembina, some of their politicians, with a ludicrous
pretence of fear from the colonists, in case of war, have called
for the creation of frontier forts; and the Indians in the
north-west of Minnesota, who had a reservation, are to be treated
with the usual measure of justice used by the white skin in dealing
with the red skin, and to be exterminated or driven into space as
soon as convenient or practicable. Mr. Taylor, in reference to
the existence of coal near the sources of the Saskatchewan, which
is undoubted, admits the uncertainty of carboniferous strata in
the ridges between the Minnesota and the Red River north of the
Mississippi and Saskatchewan, though there are geological reasons
to hold that they will be found there. In justice to the spirit in
which this Report is conceived, I quote the concluding passages:--
“The allusion just made to the exploring expedition conducted
under the authority of Canada, justifies a tribute to the zeal
and intelligence with which the enterprise of an emigration
and transportation route, from Fort William on the north shore
of Lake Superior, to Fort Garry, is prosecuted. With the civil
organisation of Central British America, a waggon road between
those points, to be followed by a railroad, will receive all
requisite encouragement, certainly from the Canadian Treasury,
perhaps by the efficient co-operation of the Home Government. The
North-west Transit Company, acting under a Canadian charter, but
understood to have enlisted London capitalists, is expected to
resume operations during the summer of 1860. These movements of
our provincial neighbours cannot fail to influence the policy of
Minnesota in favour of more satisfactory communications than we
now possess between Lake Superior and the channels of the Upper
Mississippi and the Red River of the north.
“I desire, in conclusion, to express my obligations to the
late Executive of Minnesota, for the confidence implied by the
commission, to which the foregoing is a response. Believing
firmly that the prosperity and development of this State is
intimately associated with the destiny of North-west British
America, I am gratified to record the rapid concurrence of
events which indicate that the frontier, hitherto resting upon
the sources of the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi, is soon to
be pushed far beyond the international frontier by the march of
Anglo-Saxon civilisation.”
It is indeed “a country worth fighting for;” and whether the
contest be carried on by the slow processes of immigration or by
the ruder agencies of neglect, the conqueror and the conquered will
have reason to regard the result with very decided sentiments of
joy or sorrow at no distant time. In the language of the report of
the New York Chamber of Commerce--“There is in the heart of North
America a distinct sub-division, of which Lake Winnipeg may be
regarded as the centre. This sub-division, like the valley of the
Mississippi, is distinguished for the fertility of its soil, and
for the extent and gentle slope of its great plains, watered by
rivers of great length, and admirably adapted for steam navigation.
It has a climate not exceeding in severity that of many portions of
Canada and the eastern States. It will, in all respects, compare
favourably with some of the most densely peopled portions of the
continent of Europe. In other words, it is admirably fitted to
become the seat of a numerous, hardy, and prosperous community. It
has an area equal to eight or ten first-class American States. Its
great river, the Saskatchewan, carries a navigable water-line to
the very base of the Rocky Mountains. It is not at all improbable
that the valley of this river may yet offer the best route for
a railroad to the Pacific. The navigable waters of this great
sub-division interlock with those of the Mississippi. The Red
River of the north, in connection with Lake Winnipeg, into which
it falls, forms a navigable water-line, extending directly north
and south nearly eight hundred miles. The Red River is one of the
best adapted to the use of steam in the world, and waters one of
the finest regions on the continent. Between the highest point at
which it is navigable, and St. Paul, on the Mississippi, a railroad
is in process of construction and when this road is completed,
another grand division of the continent, comprising half a million
square miles, will be open to settlement.”
It would be unjust to the Hudson’s Bay Company to refuse them
the praise due to the efforts of their servants in exploring the
vast region over which they ruled, and to the constancy with
which they have resisted aggression; but as the privileges of
that body have now become part of the stock-in-trade of a great
mercantile association, there can be no reason for doubting that
a change of policy, in consonance with the tone of the governing
sentiment of the age, will take place, and that the interests
of free trade, and the more extensive interests connected with
Imperial and Colonial progress and with colonisation itself, will
be found not incompatible. When the ichthyophilists of London
betake themselves, in the leafy month of June, to Gravesend, in
search of the placid turtle or the strenuous shrimp, they may be
startled by the booming of guns from the bosom of the river, and
by certain loud cheers from two strict-rigged craft anchored in
the stream. A gaily-decked river-steamer, from the flag-staff of
which flutters a hieroglyph in blue and white, with the motto,
“_Pro pelle cutem_,” is lying alongside the larger of the two.
On board the steamer are many sorts and conditions of men--the
friends of directors, outlying members of both Houses, old salts
and older commercial personages, and men wearing the bright, crisp,
clean look of prosperous clerkdom. These circulate from the deck
of the steamer to the broader expanse of the vessel alongside,
where a stout weather-beaten crew are drawn up, listening to the
recital of articles. Dipping down the companion it is probable
that the visitor will find in the captain’s cabin an assemblage
of gentlemen, eating biscuit and drinking sherry to the health
of the skipper, whilst others are peering into compartments
and berths ’twixt bulkheads filled with odd merchandise, from
gas-pipe-barrelled guns to needles, anchors, blankets, crinoline,
and artificial flowers. They are people whom we might meet in any
place in London from west to east, wearing the indescribable air of
men “out for the day.” On deck are some old-fashioned brass-bound
boxes, inscribed “Hudson’s Bay Company,” guarded by very ancient
and fish-like attendants, in a red and blue livery. The steamer
leaves the bluff double-cased sides of the vessel for a visit to
her consort, for the two ships now-a-days form the sum total of
the fleet sailing annually to the Hudson’s Bay settlements, where
once there was a flotilla of smaller craft, dressed in all their
bravery of flags, and making old Gravesend re-echo to their salvos
as they went forth on that which was then a dubious and adventurous
voyage. Then, after much leave-taking, and drinking of anchor cups,
the steamer starts, amid the cheers of the outward-bound crew,
for the Nore, to enjoy a little fresh air before she comes back
to the Falcon at Gravesend, where the annual dinner is held, and
where many good speeches are made and friendly sentiments expressed
in support of the Hudson’s Bay Company. The sagacious face of
old Edward Ellice, seamed with the fine graver of thought, and
plastic still as in youth, for many a long year fixed men’s eyes
with kindly regard; and the _mitis sapientia_ of his counsels, his
unrivalled tact, albeit the exquisite touch lay inside a shagreen
glove, and his great ability in the conduct of affairs, gave the
Company that which Rupert’s charters, Charles’s parchments, or
prescriptive rights, never could have secured so long.
It was under Sir E. L. Bulwer’s administration of foreign affairs
that the most strenuous attempt was made by the Government to
adjust the conflicting claims of Canada and Great Britain with
those of the Hudson’s Bay Company, by the decision of the Judicial
Committee of Privy Council; but the Company, though always willing
to enter into an arrangement with the Government for the adjustment
of contending interests, uniformly and not unwisely refused to
accept any arbitration or judgment involving the question of the
validity of their charters. The refusal of Parliament to renew the
exclusive right of trading, in 1859, and the assumption of the
control of Vancouver’s Island by the Crown on the expiration of the
lease in the same year, were heavy blows at the vested interests
of the Company, which deprived its _cessio bonorum_ to the
English Credit Mobilier, in 1863, of great political importance,
though enormous commercial results may still be obtained from
the extension of trading and from settling and gold-exploring
operations. When the speedy colonisation and rapid rise of
British Columbia caused some attention to be directed towards
the means of getting there, and of cultivating an acquaintance
promising such great advantages, and it was found that from east
to west two routes were practicable, it was not surprising if
jealousy and alarm were aroused because the Americans, by further
representations, unhappily baseless, respecting the energy of
the initiative taken by Canada and England, had first started
to clear the way to the west, and to open communications with
the Red River settlement, _en route_. Fort Garry, in the Selkirk
settlement, was first visited by a steamer from the American post
of Fort Abercrombie, in 1859. Minnesota was a State which had the
advantage of a continental existence on the soil of the Great
Republic. “Organised as a territory in 1849, a single decade had
brought the population, the resources, and the public recognition
of an American State. A railroad system, connecting the lines of
the Lake States and Provinces at La Crosse with the international
frontier on the Red River at Pembina, was not only projected, but
had secured in aid of its construction a grant by the Congress
of the United States of three thousand eight hundred and forty
acres a mile, and a loan of State credit to the amount of twenty
thousand dollars a mile, not exceeding an aggregate of five million
dollars. Different sections of this important extension of the
Canadian and American railways were under contract and in process
of construction. In addition, the land surveys of the Federal
Government had reached the navigable channel of the Red River;
and the line of frontier settlement, attended by a weekly mail,
had advanced to the same point. Thus the Government of the United
States, no less than the people and authorities of Minnesota, were
represented in the north-west movement.”
No matter how prosperous a colony of Great Britain may he,
a colony it must be so long as it is not independent. The
first result of the prosperity of an American colony is its
independence as a State, and its incorporation as a member of the
common sovereignty. The distinction arises from geographical
considerations, but it is not the less potent--I shall not yet say,
more to be regretted. The retention of Canada would be of little
value to us if there were to the west of it a great and populous
community, absorbing its capital, labour, and enterprise for the
benefit of aliens, and if to the south there were a series of
States animated by an intense _political_ dislike to the mother
country. But there is, as they say in Ireland, “the makings” of
four free and independent States, on the American model of Ohio,
in that district between the valleys of the North and South
Saskatchewan. In 1858 an American writer again described the
region which the British Government, the Colonial Office, and the
Imperialism of bureaux, inclined to cast away without even a mess
of pottage. That writer says:--
“Here is the great fact of the north-western areas of this
continent. An area not inferior in size to the whole United
States east of the Mississippi, which is perfectly adapted to
the fullest occupation by cultivated nations, yet is almost
wholly unoccupied, lies west of the 98th meridian, and above the
43rd parallel, that is, north of the latitude of Milwaukee, and
west of the longitude of Red River, Fort Kearney, and Corpus
Christi; or, to state the fact in another way, east of the Rocky
Mountains, and west of the 98th meridian, and between the 43rd
and 60th parallels, there is a productive, cultivable area of
500,000 square miles. West of the Rocky Mountains and between the
same parallels, there is an area of 300,000 square miles.
“It is a great mistake to suppose that the temperature of the
Atlantic coast is carried straight across the continent to
the Pacific. The isothermals deflect greatly to the north,
and the temperatures of the Northern Pacific are paralleled
in the high temperatures in high latitudes of Western and
Central Europe. The latitudes which inclose the plateaus of the
Missouri and Saskatchewan, in Europe inclose the rich central
plains of the Continent. The great grain growing districts of
Russia lie between the 45th and 60th parallel, that is, north
of the latitude of St. Paul, Minnesota, or Eastport, Maine.
Indeed, the temperature in some instances is higher for the
same latitudes here than in Central Europe. The isothermal
of 70 deg. for the summer, which on our plateau ranges from
along latitude 50 deg. to 52 deg., in Europe skirts through
Vienna and Odessa in about parallel 46 deg. The isothermal of
55 deg. for the year runs along the coast of British Columbia,
and does not go far from New York, London, and Sebastopol.
Furthermore, dry areas are not found above 47 deg., and there
are no barren tracts of consequence north of the Bad Lands and
the Coteau of the Missouri; the land grows grain finely, and is
well wooded. All the grains of the temperate districts are here
produced abundantly, and Indian corn may be grown as high as the
Saskatchewan.
“The buffalo winters as safely on the upper Athabasca as in
the latitude of St. Paul, and the spring opens at nearly the
same time along the immense line of plains from St. Paul to
Mackenzie’s River. To these facts, for which there is the
authority of Blodgett’s Treatise on the Climatology of the United
States, may be added this, that to the region bordering the
Northern Pacific, the finest maritime positions belong throughout
its entire extent, and no part of the west of Europe exceeds
it in the advantages of equable climate, fertile soil, and
commercial accessibility of coast. We have the same excellent
authority for the statement that in every condition forming the
basis of national wealth, the continental mass lying westward
and northward from Lake Superior is far more valuable than
the interior in lower latitudes, of which Salt Lake and Upper
New Mexico are the prominent known districts. In short, its
commercial and industrial capacity is gigantic. Its occupation
was coeval with the Spanish occupation of New Mexico and
California.”
The climate of this district is at least as favourable to the
agriculturist as that of Kingston, Upper Canada, and is quite
salubrious. Special science thus describes it:--
Professor Hind, who spent two summers in the country in charge
of an expedition sent out by the Canadian Government, writes:
“The basin of Lake Winnipeg extends over twenty-eight degrees
of longitude, and ten degrees of latitude. The elevation of its
eastern boundary, at the Prairie Portage, 104 miles west of Lake
Superior, is 1480 feet above the sea, and the height of land
at the Vermillion Pass is less than 5000 feet above the same
level. The mean length of this great inland basin is about 920
English miles, and its mean breadth 380 miles; hence its area is
approximately 360,000 square miles, or a little more than that of
Canada.
“Lake Winnipeg, at an altitude of 628 feet above the sea,
occupies the lowest depression of this great inland basin,
covering with its associated lakes, Manitobah, Winnipegosis,
Dauphin, and St. Martin, an area slightly exceeding 13,000 square
miles, or nearly half as much of the earth’s surface as is
occupied by Ireland.
“The outlet of Lake Winnipeg is through the contracted and rocky
channel of Nelson River, which flows into Hudson’s Bay.
“The country, possessing a mean elevation of 100 feet above Lake
Winnipeg, is very closely represented by the outline of Pembina
Mountain, forming part of the eastern limit of the cretaceous
series in the north-west of America.
“The area occupied by this low country, which includes a large
part of the valley of Red River, the Assiniboine, and the main
Saskatchewan, may be estimated at 70,000 square miles, of which
nine-tenths are lakes, marsh, or surface rock of Silurian or
Devonian age, and, generally so thinly covered with soil as to be
unfit for cultivation, except in small isolated areas.
“Succeeding this low region there are the narrow terraces of
the Pembina Mountain, which rise in abrupt steps, except in the
valleys of the Assiniboine, Valley River, Swan River, and Red
Deer’s River, to the level of a higher plateau, whose eastern
limit is formed by the precipitous escarpments of the Riding,
Duck, and Porcupine Mountains, with the detached outliers,
Turtle, Thunder, and Pasquia Mountains. This is the great
_prairie plateau_ of Rupert’s Land; it is bounded towards the
south-west and west by the Grand Coteau de Missouri, and the
extension of the tableland between the two branches of the
Saskatchewan, which forms the eastern limit of the _plains_ of
the north-west. The area of the prairie plateau, in the basin of
Lake Winnipeg, is about 120,000 square miles; it possesses a mean
elevation of 1100 feet above the sea.
“The plains rise gently as the Rocky Mountains are approached,
and at their western limit have an altitude of 4000 feet above
the sea level. With only a very narrow belt of intervening
country, the mountains rise abruptly from the plains, and present
lofty precipices that frown like battlements over the level
country to the eastward. The average altitude of the highest part
of the Rocky Mountains is 12,000 feet (about lat. 51 deg). The
forest extends to the altitude of 7000 feet, or 2000 feet above
the lowest pass.
“The _fertile belt_ of arable soil, partly in the form of
rich, open prairie, partly covered with groves of aspen, which
stretches from the Lake of the Woods to the foot of the Rocky
Mountains, averages 80 to 100 miles in breadth.”
Dr. James Hector, and all the explorers, agree in their
descriptions of this region. It is difficult to reach; but is it so
difficult to reach as the shores of America itself were, 300, or
200, or 100 years ago? We cannot conceive what a century has done
in America, or at home. How little, then, can we conjecture what
the next fifty years will effect in these distant lands! The map,
which now is crowded with the names of cities where red men roamed
_in terra incognita_ so recently as the beginning of this century,
should reprove any incredulity. The nations are like water. When
a country is filled above its capacity, its surplus overflows. As
soon as all the eligible districts of Canada are occupied, the
streams of settlers will pour westwards; tracks and roads will be
made; and, if the land be good, it will soon be filled with people.
As to the great regions which lie to the west, and open on the
Pacific, it can only be said that they are to us what California
was to the United States on the first discovery of gold; and that
after fifty years they may be less than California is now, if
steps be not taken to bind them up with British interests, and to
oppose the Americanisation with which they are threatened. Without
reference to the Far West, or the Far North-West,--without regard
to the Red River and Assiniboia or to British Columbia, there
is before us the great fact, that out of the Canadas, and the
British North American Provinces and dependencies, can be created
a powerful Confederation attached to this country, and capable of
the grandest development in spite of climatic influences. We have
already given a slight sketch of the extent and capability of these
provinces, and hinted at the difficulties that may arise in the
working of the Confederation. Canada is now more than threatened
with the loss of the advantages which were supposed to depend
on the Reciprocity Treaty, and Great Britain is formally warned
that she must prepare to meet Federal encroachments on the Lakes.
Mr. Galt, in a very elaborate speech, exhaustive of the topics
connected with the financial aspect of the future Confederation,
lately laid before his hearers a series of calculations which
deserve close attention, and which are, we believe, entitled to
full confidence. The United States at the end of the year 1865
will either have effected the subjugation of the South by the
destruction of all her armies in the field, or she will see an
increase to her debt of at least forty millions sterling, or she
will have arranged a compromise with the South of which one feature
will be the assumption of the Southern debt. In the first case,
the North must prepare for a long and costly military occupation.
In no case as yet have the trade and commerce of any Southern
port or city subjugated and held by Union troops, paid the Federal
Government for the cost of holding it. In the second case, increase
of taxation must fall with such a crushing weight on the poorer
classes, especially in the agricultural States, as to force many of
the people to take refuge in Canada, unless deterred by unforeseen
obstacles. In the third case, the immediate result will be to throw
on the Northern States for some considerable period, a greater
amount of debt, and of consequent derangement, than they would
have been subjected to by either of the preceding conditions.
There can be no just comparison between the United States and the
projected Confederation, except in the ratio of taxation _per
capita_. And, if we take income, expenditure, and possible debt at
the end of 1865, and contrast the financial position of the British
Confederate with that of the American Federalist, we will find that
the advantage is decidedly on the side of the latter.
According to the Hon. A. T. Galt, the following is a fair statement
of the revenue and expenditure of the provinces, of the debts and
liabilities, of the trade exports and imports, and of all the
assets and demands by which the future Confederation would be
influenced, excluding of course the cost of such undertakings as
great intercolonial roads or enlargements of canals. Mr. Galt may
not be a favourite with some theorists of the Colonial Office; he
certainly is not popular at Washington, and he is not more honoured
at home than most prophets, but he is an able, clear-headed,
trustworthy man:--
THE FINANCIAL POSITION OF THE PROVINCES.
Debt, 1863. Income, 1863. Outlay, 1863.
Nova Scotia $4,858,547 $1,185,629 $1,072,274
New Brunswick 5,702,991 899,991 884,613
Newfoundland (1862) 946,000 480,000 479,420
Prince Edward Island 240,673 197,384 171,718
----------- ----------- -----------
Maritime Provinces $11,748,211 $2,763,004 $2,608,025
Canada 67,263,994 9,760,316 10,742,807
----------- ----------- -----------
Totals $79,012,205 $12,523,320 $13,350,832
INCREASED REVENUES IN 1864.
Canada, without the produce of the new taxes $1,500,000
New Brunswick 100,000
Nova Scotia 100,000
-----------
$1,700,000
Deficit of 1863 $827,512
Surplus of 1864 872,488
-----------
$1,700,000
Total Revenues of all the Colonies, 1864 $14,223,320
Outlay 13,350,832
-----------
Estimated Surplus $872,488
THE POSITION OF THE CONFEDERATION, ESTIMATED ON THE BASIS OF 1864.
Revenue now Local Revenues Subsidy to Difference,
produced for which would be paid to available for
General not go into the each the purposes
Government. general Chest. Province. of the Genl.
Canada $11,250,000 $1,297,043 $2,006,121 Government.
Nova Scotia 1,300,000 107,000 264,000
New Brunswick 1,000,000 89,000 264,000
Prince Edward
Island 200,000 32,000 153,728
Newfoundland 480,000 5,000 369,000
----------- ---------- ----------
$14,230,000 $1,530,043 $3,056,849 $9,643,108
Difference
Expenditure. Local Outlay. payable by
the Genl.
Canada $9,800,000 $2,260,149 Government.
Nova Scotia 1,222,555 667,000
New Brunswick 834,518 424,047
Prince Edward Island 171,718 124,016
Newfoundland 479,000 479,000
----------- ----------
$12,507,591 $3,954,212 $8,553,379
----------
Surplus at the disposal of the General Government $1,089,729
AVERAGE OF THE PRESENT TARIFFS.
Canada 20 per cent. Newfoundland 11 per cent
Nova Scotia 10 ” Prince Edward Island 10 ”
New Brunswick 15½ ”
FUTURE POSITION OF THE PROVINCES.
Estimated Outlay Estimated Local
for 1864 under Outlay under
Local Revenues. present Government. the Union.
Nova Scotia $107,000 $667,000 $371,000
New Brunswick 89,000 404,047 353,000
Prince Edward
Island 32,000 171,718 124,015
Newfoundland 5,000 479,000 250,000
--------- --------- ----------
$233,000 $1,721,765 $1,098,015
Canada 1,297,043 { [1] 2,021,979 [3]
{ [2] 238,170
---------- ---------- ----------
$1,530,043 $3,981,914 [3]
[1] Average of the last four years.
[2] Interest on excess of debt.
[3] Not estimated by Mr. Galt, for reasons given in the speech.
THE AUDITOR’S STATEMENT OF THE LIABILITIES OF CANADA
Debenture Debt, direct and indirect $65,238,649 21
Miscellaneous liabilities 64,426 14
Common School Fund 1,181,958 85
Indian Fund 1,577,802 46
Banking Accounts 3,396,982 81
Seigniorial Tenure:--
Capital to Seigniors $2,889,711 09
Chargeable on Municipalities’ Fund 196,719 66
On account of Jesuits’ Estates 140,271 87
Indemnity to the Townships 891,500 00
--------- 4,118,202 62
----------------
$75,578,022 09
Less--Sinking Funds $4,883,177 11
Cash and Bank Accounts 2,248,891 87
--------------- 7,132,068 98
----------------
$68,445,953 11
From which, for reasons given in his speech,
Mr. Galt deducted the Common School Fund 1,181,958 85
----------------
Leaving as Net Liabilities $67,263,994 26
IMPORTS, EXPORTS, AND TONNAGE OF THE PROVINCES.
Sea-going Tonnage.
Imports. Exports. Inward and Outward.
Canada $45,964,000 $41,831,000 2,133,000
Nova Scotia 10,201,391 8,420,968 1,432,954
New Brunswick 7,764,824 8,964,784 1,386,980
Prince Edward Island 1,428,028 1,627,540 No returns.
Newfoundland 5,242,720 6,002,312 ” ”
----------- ----------- -----------
$70,600,963 $66,846,604 4,952,934
66,846,604 Lake Tonnage 6,907,000
------------ -----------
Total Trade $137,447,567 Total Tons 11,859,934
A people of more than four millions will owe something over
£13,000,000, as compared with a people of thirty millions owing
£900,000,000 sterling; and with a trade of £27,000,000 a-year there
is no compensating power in any commercial superiority the United
States may possess to establish an equation. If the expenses of
the local and of the Federal Governments be properly kept in hand,
the condition of the British Confederation, in a pecuniary point
of view at all events, must be infinitely better than that of the
Federal Union either by itself or with the Southern States.
The Confederation which has just been proposed by delegates
at Quebec, and which will come before Parliament soon after
this volume escapes from the printers, vests the Executive in
the Sovereign of Great Britain; a superfluous investiture,
unless the delegates meant rebellion; and it provides for its
administration according to the British constitution, by the
Sovereign or authorised representative. It does not appear very
plain how the Sovereign of a mixed monarchy with a limited
franchise for the people can administer his quasi-republican
and unaristocratic viceroyalty according to the principles of
the British constitution; particularly, as the Sovereign or his
representative is to be the Commander-in-Chief of the land and
naval forces of the Confederation, which are thus expressly removed
from the control of the War-Office at home. Difficulties of a
merely technical character will no doubt be overcome. But the King
of Great Britain and Ireland, in whom the Executive is vested,
will have to deal with a Transatlantic House of Commons founded
on abstract returns of population, and elected by the provinces
according to their local laws; so that some members will represent
universal suffrage, and others limited constituencies, which is
very different indeed from the House of Commons of Great Britain
and Ireland.
In the Upper House a Wensleydale peerage is reproduced. It is to
consist of seventy-six members nominated by the Sovereign for life,
of whom twenty-four are assigned to Upper Canada, and twenty-four
to Lower Canada, ten for Nova Scotia, ten for New Brunswick, four
for Newfoundland, and four for Prince Edward Island. The Lower
House, far less aristocratic in its relations to Lower and Upper
Canada, has eighty-two members from the latter, and sixty-five
from the former, nineteen from Nova Scotia, fifteen for New
Brunswick, eight for Newfoundland, and five for Prince Edward
Island. “Saving the Sovereignty of England,” the powers of the
Federal Parliament, as enumerated under thirty-seven different
heads, are very large, and on such heads as currency and coinage
seem to trench on dangerous ground, and in the last head of all
are dangerously vague. The appointment of the Lieutenant-Governor
by the Federal Government itself is obviously open to exception,
because it is anomalous; but as all the principles as well as the
details of the measure will receive the most careful consideration,
it is not necessary to treat the proposal as an accomplished fact,
although it certainly is most desirable to treat every article with
respectful attention, and to give every weight to the expressed
opinion of the delegates. Among the objects specially indicated
for the future action of the Confederate or Federal Government are
the completion of the Intercolonial Railway from Rivière du Loup
to Truro, in Nova Scotia, through the Province of New Brunswick,
and the completion of communication with the North-Western
territories, so as to open the trade to the Atlantic seacoast;
both to be effected as soon as the Federal finances permit. Here
there is the most tangible proposal for the opening up of the
great regions to which I have called attention; and the Valley of
the Saskatchewan is promised the facility which is alone wanting
to make it the seat of a flourishing colony. When the Red River
Settlement is once connected with Lake Superior, the way to the
sea is open, but the advantages of access to the world will be
increased enormously as soon as the railway is pushed on to the
shores of Lake Huron from Nova Scotia.
So eager is one to grasp at the benefits which some such
Confederation promises to confer, that the perils to the
prerogative of the Crown, and to the body so formed, are apt to
lie hid from view. But they must be well guarded against; and I
for one am persuaded that it would be far better for us to see
the Provinces of British America independent than to behold them
incorporated with the Northern Republic. The greatest of all these
internal perils is in the maintenance of the Local Parliaments,
which may come into collision with the Federal Government on local
questions impossible to foresee, or define, or adjust; but as the
delegates considered the plan of a complete Legislative Union
quite incompatible with the reserved rights of a portion of the
Confederation, the only way left to escape the mischiefs which
threaten the future life of the new body is to bind those Local
Parliaments within the most narrow limits, consistent with local
utility and existence.
It is not for the sake of our future connection, but for their own
integrity and happiness that such a course is recommended. They
have “an awful example” at their doors. The torrents of blood which
have deluged the soil of the North American Republics all welled
out of the little chink in the corner-stone of the Constitution,
on one side of which lay States’ Rights, and on the other Federal
Authority. Without some justification in law and in argument,
such men as Calhoun, and Stephens, and Davis, would never have
reasoned, and planned, and fought, and worked a whole people up to
make war against the Union. Sad as the spectacle is of a community
of freemen waging war against the principles of self-government,
it must be admitted that their instinct may be sounder than
their reasoning, and that they are engaged in a struggle for
self-preservation, in which they have swelled their proportions
into that of a gigantic despotism, but have after all attained a
giant’s port and strength. It is impossible to say whether the
corruption which Montesquieu has declared to be the destruction
of a democracy, has yet seized upon the tremendous impersonation
of brute force, of unconquerable will, of passion, of lust of
empire, which now rules in the Capitol, and occupies the throne
whereon feebly sat heretofore the mild impuissance of the old
Federal Executive; but if the pictures which have been presented
to us be true, there is a prophetic meaning in the words of the
philosophic Frenchman:--“Les politiques grecs, qui vivaient dans le
gouvernement populaire, ne reconnaissaient d’autre force qui pût le
soutenir que celle de la vertu. Ceux d’aujourd’hui ne nous parlent
que des manufactures, de commerce, de finances, de richesse, et
de luxe même.” The giant’s feet may be of clay, and his body may
be of that artificial stiffening which gives to worthless stuffs
a temporary substantiality, but behind the giant stand the great
American people, with hands dyed in their brothers’ gore, and who,
having sacrificed friendship, traditions, constitution, and liberty
at home, will think but little of adding to the pyre of their angry
passions the peace and happiness of others.
THE END.
BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.
[Illustration: (map of Canada.)
London; Bradbury & Evans, 11 Bouverie Street.]
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
the text and consultation of external sources.
Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,
and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.
Several instances of ‘Plattsburg’ changed to ‘Plattsburgh’.
Pg x: ‘Montmorency’ changed to ‘Montmorenci’.
Pg xii: ‘Rouse’s Points’ changed to ‘Rouse’s Point’.
Pg 6: ‘of illw-ill’ replaced by ‘of ill-will’.
Pg 7: ‘and his clientelle’ replaced by ‘and his clientele’.
Pg 19: ‘on toe Sleepy’ replaced by ‘on to Sleepy’.
Pg 28: ‘Shenectady!’ replaced by ‘Schenectady!‘.
Pg 56: ‘a bran new’ replaced by ‘a brand new’.
Pg 79: ‘then we clomb’ replaced by ‘then we climb’.
Pg 87: ‘on a clean day’ replaced by ‘on a clear day’.
Pg 100: ‘the sheen sides’ replaced by ‘the sheer sides’.
Pg 101: ‘fresh refts made’ replaced by ‘fresh rifts made’.
Pg 141: ‘melons, tomatos’ replaced by ‘melons, tomatoes’.
Pg 178: ‘Van Rensellaer’ replaced by ‘Van Rensselaer’.
Pg 225: ‘a per centage’ replaced by ‘a percentage’.
Pg 254: ‘betwen stumps’ replaced by ‘between stumps’.
Pg 276: ‘and Winnepeg,’ replaced by ‘and Winnipeg,’.
Pg 277: ‘3,478,380 miles’ replaced by ‘3,478,380 square miles’.
Pg 287: ‘of the Restegouche’ replaced by ‘of the Restigouche’.