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Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratioc. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate tha method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre fiimis A des taux de reduction diffArents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul clichA, il est film6 A partir de I'argle supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n^cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m4thode. rata > elure, 3 32X 1 ?. 3 1 2 3 4 S 6 U.6v- \ s r" Till PACIFIC EAILWAJ, AND THE CLAIMS OF SAJNT JOHN, NEW BRUiNSWK K, TO BE Tiir-; ATLANTIC TKUMIXITS. RKAD ni-l-OKE TIIH MKiHAMCS' l\STiri:TK OF SAINT JOllX. FEBFXj'ARir 7j 1859. BYT. T.Vl^RNON SMITH, ('. E. riihlisiied iU ijic mjiicst of llic !• its id cut iiiid Hi ruler.;. SAINT JOHN'. X. IJ: I'JilNTED BY WILLIAM 1. AVEUY. -jr, I'laxcH WM. SlLKin \ L-4~-^^ • -"! TB RE P] TUB PACIFIC RAILWAY AND THE CLAIMS OF SAINT JOIlN,NE\f BRUNSWICK, TO PB THB ATLANTIC T E I. M I N U S . READ BEFOUE THE MECHANICS' INSTITUTE OF SAINT JOHN. FSSRVABir 7, 285S. BY T. T. VERNON SMITH, C, E. . Published at the request of the President and Bircctora. i SAINT JOH.V, N. B: PRINTED BY WILLI .\.M L. AVERY, 25 PRINCE WM. STREET. 1859. •H PACIFIC RAILWAY. >f Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, Roads, Railways and Canals, the channels through which the principal movement of a conntry is conducted, have been classified by economists into three varieties, to indicate the objects sought, and the results to be expected from their construction. The Russian, Knglish and American Railways afford illustrations of the military, commercial and territorial systems, and though each nation presents examples of roads 'not exclusively of one character, yet in the majority of lines in these countries the intention is sufficiently evident. In Russia, and to some extent in France also, the Railway sys- tem will be when complete a vast military engine, to maintain constant and rapid communication between head quarters and the distant out-posts, to enforce the will and energy of the one central mind on the threatened frontier, or it may be to concentrate the guards of each scattered station for the defence or coutroul of the imperial capital itself. In England, Railways are merely the media of commerce, tho veins and arteries of a constantly expanding traffic, con- tinually demanding additional facilities, closer connection and more frequent communication. Purely commercial, they are the ollspring of a trading capital, ready to invest in any legitimate enterprise that promises a fair return on tho outlay. In America, land speculations and territorial con- siderations have been at least an important, if not sometimes the principal advantage to be derived ; and the development of the country, the enhancement of price of the contiguous property, and the opening up and settlement of the wilder- ness have contributed two-thirds of the mileage of tho Railways on this continent. The different purposes for which Railways are constructed, the military, commercial or territorial results they are intended to accomplish, ough tto impart a marked character upon the works themselves, both in general outline and in minor details ; and failures and miscalculations have arisen generally, more from a want of appreciation of the object sought to be obtained than from anything else. As a general rule, military works, whether canals, railways, steam frigates, or stone fortifications, belong to that class of necessary, but B?02V 4 nonrcmiincrativc expenditure that dove-tails in very im- perfectly with commercial pursuits, and the '' military considerations" that establislied the route of the Ottawa and llidcyu Canals in Canada, rendered them all but com- mercially useless. The character of a commercial Kuilway, on tlso other hand, the necessity of seekinp: the centres of industi'ial development, and folloM'iu'ji: the beaten track of trade, the purposes of which it iqiltsci \ es by more permanent and ehi])orate mechanical nppliancos, varies widely from the rou,u;h and ready a])plication of the tame principles to a thoroughfare intended merely to open up a new area for settlement, and to afiord a cheap ar. 1 speedy outlet for the product 'Gils of the district. The same design might be use- less extravagance for the one, and niLi'gardiy mistaken economy for the other; and the outlay that would raise the price of the land above its market value, might be totally insufficient to deviate the stream of traffic from its accustomed channel, or contribute one atom to the commercial resources of the country. The first design of the Pacific Railway, extending from the Atlantic to the Tacific Ocean, across the Continent of Ame- rica, had for its object the territorial advantage only of opening up a belt of land shut out from cultivation by its distance from navigable water, and Ironi the markets of the Eastern States. Ever since the settlement of Oregon, and before' the cession of California to the Federal Government, Mr. Whitney laboured at this gigantic immigration scheme with a zeal and perseverance worthy of a better reward. Unlike most modern Railway projectors, Mr. Whitney asked from the public no capital ; a belt of land thirty miles wide was the only requirement, and the 20,000 acres per mile thrown into the market was expected to pay for the con- struction of the road. Tiie subsequent acquisition of California became another and a powerful inducement to its construction; the political and commercial ascendancy of the Union was seen to be identiiied v/ith the land project; and the line became a national link to connect the new with the older States — to give a Pacilic frontage to the former pos- sessions, and to open a new field to enterprize and ambition. Ceded as late as 1848, California presented itself to the Federal Government as a desirable acquisition from its sup- posed command of the Cacilic trade. '•' The number of our Avhalc ships alone in that sea," said the Presidential message, « exceeds 700, with 20.000 seamen, and a capital of forty 5 very im- ' militarv ; Ottawa but com- K ail way, ciitros of track of cnnancnt from tlic lies to a area for }t for the lit 1)0 use- mis taken raise tlie be totally !customcd resources f from the it of Amc- only of ion bv it.^ ets of the cgon, and vernment, n scheme r reward, ucy asked liles wide per mile ' the coii- isition of lent to its ncy of the »joct; and with the rmer pos- ambition. elf to the , m its sup- icr of our L message, I of forty million dollars invested in that branch of businosf? alone. I>y the ])o.--session of California we are brouirht into im- mediate proximity with the west coast of America from Cape IIoiMi to the llussian boundary, and by a voyafjfc of thirty davs, we shall be in direct communication with Canton and the ports of China." Irfimultaneously with the closintr of the aj^reenunt for the cession of the district, <«:old in quantity was accidentally discovered, the newly acquired territory assumed an unexpected importance, and within four months from llic ratification of the treaty between the United States and llio Mexican Government, GOOO j^-old diggers were at work, and $600,000 worth of gold dust had been collected, '^i'lic impetus given to immigration and travel by the con» tinned success of these mines lead to the proposition, almost immediatoly, of no less than three lines of Railroad across the Continent to communicate, with the new El Dorado. Only one of these has been as yet really commenced, and in ten yoars the Pacific Railroad, so called, has been opened about one hundred and fifty miles only, westward from St. Ijor.is. Much discussion has taken ])lacc, and immense inlliion.ce been brought to bear upon the Government, by the partizans of the rival routes, but that the St. liouis line will ulti:natoIy be the choice of Congress has been lately iiidicated by tlio establishment of a semi-weekly mail, and arrangements for the settlement of stations, at every ten or fifteen miles of the distance between St. Louis and San Francisco. Sirn'o 184:8, when the mineral v>'ealth of the Pacific coast first attiacted attention, a series of explorations and surveys havo been undertaken by the United States Government to dc- teriniuo the best direction and most feasible course for this Railv- ay, the construction of which has now become a national w.vit tliat each succeeding year renders more important, for the p-'iitical, commercial and social well-being of the whole community. These researches have so far had an opposite lendeicy to what was expected, and have developed physical diiiicuUies to be overcome, and natural obstacles so insur- mor.ntablc by any ordinary appliances, that the Pacific Railway, if ever completed on United States territory, must be the slow elaboration of years, and constructed at an expense not at all commensurate with any commercial advantage to be gained, or any value to be impart od by the belt of land to be intersected. Th'! continent of North America is traversed in a iNoi-th and SouHi direction by two extensive mountain ranges, which fallowing the general direction of the Atlantic and PaciliG coasts div^rf^c from each other as they proceed northward, Icavincj between them an immense and fertile valley, con- taininc^ over three million square miles of territory, and includinir nine-tenths of all the really valuable land, cither in the United States or British possessions. This valley comprises three basins or areas watered by the Mississippi and its tributaries on the South, the St. Lawrence in the middle, and the Saskatchawan to the North — the water-shed or swell of land dividing: these basins scarcely averaging three hu.idred feet above the ordinary elevation of the Great Valley itself. Of these three largo tracks of valuable land, the North-Wcstern section watered by the Saskatchawan, Assiniboine, and the Red River of the North, all flowing into Lake Winnipeg, — an inland sea as larr^o as Lake Erie, and equally capable of supporting a busy population— .has been until lately comparatively unknown and undervalued, and recent investigations have shewn that through this district the only pa.s.-^able route for a Pacific Railway can be expected. The Eastern range of mountains dividing the Great Valley fiom tlie Atlantic, the Apalachian or Alleghany system arc unbroken in the whole length of their course, except in one place, where the Hudson River deeply cuts them to their base, and affords a natural outlet from the West, which our neighbours have admirably improved by the construction of the Eric and Champlain Canals, and the New York Central Railway. The Rocky Mountains on the "West are unbroken through the whole length of the range from Mexico to the Arctic circle, and it is with this extensive mountain system that the great diliiculties of the Pacific Railway must be en- countered, and the physical features of which must determine the ultimate route to be adopted. These difficulties will be the best appreciated by a brief comparison of the works already executed on the Alleghanies, with those necessary to overcome the far more gigantic steeps of the Rocky mountain range. The swell of lanu or water-shed of the Alleghanies has an average elevation of 3000 feet, although many of the ridges and peaks based upon it are very much higher, rising in some places to 6000 feet. The most difficult and expensive works on the Railways of the United otates have been encountered in crossing this chain of hills, an obstacle which ny line from the Atlantic to the Mississippi Valley, south of Albany, must surmount. The New York and Erie Road rises from tide-water by gradients several 7nile3 in extent, of one in eighty-eight or sixty feet per mile tj aj n til ward, cy, con- ry, and i, cither valley 'sissippi in the cr-shcd [craging c land, hawan, Jig into ie, and ts been •d, and district ^cctcO. \^alley cm arc in one > their oh our ion of entral •roken '0 tho ystem )c en- rmino ill be vorks ssary 'ocky f tho ough nuch icult iates , an ippi oric oral nilo f to an elevation of 1,760 feet above the soa, ovorcomirifT altogether four summits by a total rise and fall of 8,050 feet, equivalent in mechanftcal power to raising and lowering every train one and a half miles of vertical elevation, in the rouird trip between New York and Buffalo. Tho Pennsylvania Central passes its principal summit 2,121 feet in height, by a tunnel three-fourths of a mile long, approached from tho East by gradients averaging for twelve miles, over ninety- four feet per mile. The summit of tho Baltimore and Oliio Railroad is over half a mile vertically above the sea, in a tunnel nearly a mile long, with thirty miles of gradients, varying from one in forty-three to one in fifty-six. This lino has fifteen tunnels, together about two and a half miles long, the execution of which entailed a frightful expense. Four other Railways pierce the Alleghanies, their summits vary- ing from 2,200 to 2,800 feet, by tunnels of from one quarter to one and a quarter miles long, all of them approached by heavy, if not dangerous gradients, and constructed at an enor- mous outlay. Besides these executed works the State of Pennsylvania sunk £8,000,000 sterling, and suffered a still more serious loss in national credit, in the construction of an unfinished water-communication between the Atlantic and tho Ohio ; and it must i)0 borne in mind that these works have all been undertaken in a densely populated country,, with every modern a-ppliance close at hand, roads and other facilities round them in every direction, and labour and ma- chinery in any quantity constantly procurable. Yet tho difficulties have been so great, and the expenditure so enor- mous, that all these Alleghany works have occupied years in their construction, and have been brought to their present imperfect state of efficiency only by taxing to the utmost both the skill and the finances of their respective corporations. The Rocky Mountain range consists generally of v wove complicated and difficult system than the AlleghanieS; and includes numerous parallel ridges, and an upheaved table- land of very considerable extent, occupying altogether one- third of the entire breadth of country to be traversed between the Atlantic and the Pacific. " This Great Western mountain system of tho North American continent, may be described," says Professor Henry in a Report presented to the United States government, " as a broad elevated swell or plateau of land, the prolongation of the Andes in South America, ex- tending northwards in the general direction of the Pacific coast, with varying elevation and width, to tho Arctic circle. It occupies nearly the wliolc breadth of Mexico from tlio , Rio del Norte to the PaciPic, and as it extends northward bo- comes still broader, until in t!io latitude of New York it oc- cupies one-third of the breadth of the Continent, the other two-third.s being about equally divided by the Mississippi river." Resting upon this great swell of land is a scries of parallel ridges, the general dirccli^ii of -whic'i is Nortli, and between these ranges are extensive elevated vallics of ex- treme dryne.rs, and in the Summer, of intense heat. Pro- ceeding North from the high piaias of Islcxico, the base of the mountain system gradually declines to tlio parallel of Natchez in the State of Mississippi. The average elevation is here about 4,0i)l) feet, and the lowest notch 5,700 feet above the sea, more than double the higaost suinmit crossed by any Railway on the Atlantic side, and •.)ne third of a mile higher than the most elevated part of the OopiLil)a Railway in Chili, on the snow-bound passes of the Andes, where a gradient of tljree liuudred feet per mile, as steep as the upper part of King Street, has been ucccs^iarily resorted to. Pro- ceeding northward from this point, the system gradually rises until in latitude ■>5'', the average elevation is 5,500 feet, and the lowest pass of the principal range, over a mile and a half of vertical elevation. Still rising to the parallel of St. Louis, the whole system ot mountains has an elevation of O' T T,000 feet, and the lowest notch in the main ridge has the impracticable altitude of over 10,000 feet above the sea level. Northwards from this, the mountain range gradually declines both in average height, and in width of base, until about one hundred and forty miles South of the British boundary, the average elevation is reduced to about 2,500 feet. The lowest pass is still however, double the height of any railway summit of the Alleghanies, and therefore t") be deemed impractic:ible, nor is there so fiir as is now known, any more feasible route, than the one last indicated — the route suggested by Mr. Whitney. But the main difficulty to contend with in the United States portion of tlie range arises not only fiom the enor- mous elevation of the passes, the length of broken and intricate country to be crossed, and the unheard of engineering difficul- ties to be encountered, but the character of the soil, the geolo- gical formation, and the general physical features of the whole route, form a still more insuperable objection to the construction of a Railway through any portion of the United States between the Mississippi and the Pacific- Referring from tUe nvard be- ork it cc- tho other ississippi series of orth, and C3 of cx- at. Pro- base of rail el of elevation 700 feet t crossed of a mile Railway wlierc a lie upner 0. Pro- :radually SOOfV^et, mile and rallcl of raticM of idge lias the sea ad u ally c, until British it 2,500 height fore t") known, d— the United cuor- itricato uiflicul- g:colo- of the to the United 'erring again to Roporta presented to Con-^ross, and deriving all our informalion from unprejudiced American authorities, "wc arc told by Professor Henry that the p^eneral character of the soil is a barren waste, over which the oyc may roam to the extent of the visible horizon, without finding any object to break the monotony. Dr. Lcatherman, surs^eon to tlio Uni- ted States army at Fort Defiance, describes the country alonj^ the parallel of 35^ as a series of inountain ridges, broken in many plat ^-- by deep cracks called canons, which afford the only means ot traversing the country, except with great dif- ficulty and labour. Dr. Anticeto, geologist to the exploring expedition for the southern route, describes the country tra- versed as utterly destitute of the means of supporting a population. " The entire district," he says, '' is bare of soiL and vegetation, except a few varieties of the cactus. Over the greater portion of northern Sonora, and the southern part of New Mexico, sterilitj reigns supreme." The greater part of this extensive desert, occupying one third of tho total area of the United States, has now been thoroughly explored for the purpose of findiii,:;- a route for the Pacific Railway, and of the five lines examined and reported upon, it appears that the least distance of uhcullivable land that must be passed, on any line between the Mississippi and the ocean, exceeds 1200 miles in length, whilst four out of tho five require the crossing of a desert 1400 miles long, in ono vast unbroken solitude. As the only means for the convey- ance of materials and iron for the construction of the road and the supplies of the men, must be carried on any of these routes by the finished portion of the railway itself, only com- paratively short sections could be undertaken in advance of the parts actually completed, and the experience of every work, so situated, teaches us that its progress must be ex- tremely slow, and the expense enormously increased. With the bes!. arrangements, and a lavish outlay of means, years must elapse on any of these routes, before the most difficult portions of the line oould be even commenced, and by what ir !ans the number of men necessary to operate efficiently amongst the gorges of the Rocky Mountains, could bo con- centrated, fed and otlierwise provided for, a thousand miles in the interior of such a desert, i3 a problem that has not yet been solved, or is likely for some time to be attempted. The country North of the international boundary, between the United States and British America, in latitude 49 », was a short time since, as utterly unknown to the general world D 10 i\ '. in I ! as any place possibly could bo. Granted by a very doubtful title to a rich and powerful monopoly, few had the curio55ity or interest to disturb the solitude, purposely depreciated by the Hudson Bay Company. Even the best means of access to it was, for exclusive motives, and to shut out travellers and explorers at the very threshold, systematically dis- regarded ; and a portage so accessible that without previous preparation, and for a moderate compensation, a regular mail from Toronto has for some time been carried over it, was purposely neglected by the Company, who preferred the ad- ditional expense and inconvenience of a voyage, some thou- sand miles long, round the inhospitable shores of Hudson's Bay, to the admission of strangers upon their premises, or the knowledge of the real value of the land locked up from cultivation becoming generally known. Indeed so perfect a system of secrcsy seems to have prevailed through the whole establishment, in order that the monopoly might be undis- turbed, that the existence of a valuable agricultural district, the size of Europe, and of the highest Icrtility, has been looked upon, until very lately, as an impossible absurdity, and fit only for the purposes of the trapper and the huntsman. The expiry of thf^ Company's charter last year, the strong feeling that exists in Canada against the monopoly, the open- ing of the Sault Ste Marie Canal, which brought Lake Su- perior into navigable communication with the Canadian Lakes, and the development of the valuable mines o^ copper and iron on tlic verge of the unknown territory, all attracted attention to a part of the continent, the value and accessibility of which was fast becoming evident. A surveying and ex- ploring party, deputed by the Canadian government, under the guidance of Captain Kennedy, an old North West hunter and former friend of Sir John Franklin, visited the Saskatch- awan Vallej^, and have only lately made their report. The beauty and fertility of this magnificent valley is now an es- tablished fact. It is described as a vast oasis of continental dimensions, and prairie character. The numerous herds of buffaloes supported by it, and browsing throughout the win- ter, is a sufficient warrant both of the extent of its resources, and the moderation of its climate ; whilst the beds of coal known to exist on the Upper Saskatchawan, and well de- veloped on the Red River, give to these woodless but fertile pasture fields a commercial and political importance that cannot be too highly appreciated. The river divides into two branches, both of them navigable for gtcamboats to the I 11 fy doiibtfal lO curiosity rcciated by 3 of acce33 travellers tically di.s- lit previous )gular mail ver it, was •ed the ad- some thou- Hudsou's ernises, or id up from ) perfect a the whole be undis- il district, has beea absurdity, luntsman. the strong the open- Lake Su- an Lakes, pper and attracted essibility ; and ex- it, under 't hunter jaskateh- I't. The w an es- itinental herds of the win- sources, of coal ivell de- t fertile CO that [es into ! to the foot of the Rocky Mountains, and within 300 miles of the Pacific, presenting a continuous water communication, inter- rupted by only one rapid from the foot of Lake Winnipeg, nearly 800 miles due West on the course of the projected Railway. The exploring party had scarcely returned, before the dis- covery of gold fields of great extent and value are reported on Frazer's River, a stream flowing into the Pacific through British territory, and forming at its mouth one of the finest harbours in the world. The gold fields are situated within 200 miles of the head of navigation of the Saskatchawan, and when it was further determined that the gold bearing stream itself presents one of the lowest and most practicable passes through the Rocky Mountains that has yet been discovered, i^uch that does not exist further South, lower in absolute elevation than the Alleghany summits of the Atlantic Rail- ways, and accessible by navigable rivers on both sides to the base of the mountains, nothing further remains in an engineer- ing point of view, and tha Pacific Railway on this route pre- sents no works of magnitude or tVLfBculty to prevent its rapid and easy completion, whilst by far the greater proportion is a surface line of the most economical description. Steamers of 400 tons can now pass from Quebeo to the head of Lake Superior, a distance of over IGOO miles. For- ward to Red River, crossing the water-shed that divides the rivers flowing into Lake Superior from those emptying into Lake Winnipeg, the distance as at present travelled by the mail is about 700 miles, of which less than thirty is obstructed navigation, and much of the remainder composed of rivers sufficiently large and sluggish to permit of the employment of steamboats. The North West Transportation Company however, propose to shorten this part of the route by the immediate construction of three or four portage roads, and when their arrangements are complete, the distance from Lake Superior to Red River will be reduced to 500 miles, one hundred and forty of which will be a wagon road, and the communication maintained by four steamboats running in connection with each other. One of these navigable reaches on Rainy River and Lake of the Woods is 160 miles long, and available for a passenger boat of respectable dimensions. From Red River, which is itself navigable to some distance in the State of Minnesota, Lake Winnipeg and the Saskatch- awan, form with one single break of less than a mile, a continuous route westward of over 1,000 miles to the foot of II i! 13 Iho Rocky range, much of it available for steamboats of the largest class. From this point to the Pacific, 400 miles by the Frazcr's River, only 200 is necessarily land poitage ; so that in all probability in another year or two, of the 3,500 miles from Quebec to Vancouver's, following the course of the navi^nMe streams, nearly 3,200 will be provided with steamboats, and travellers will be able wjthout any additional Railway facilities than those now in existence, to reach Fra- zer's River from Montreal in ten days, without more fatigue than usually incurred in an ordinary journey of that duration. We have seen that in any scheme for a Pacific Railway through American territory, the works can only be commenced from each end, each section as it is finished being necessary to forward the supplies for the next, so that operations can only be carried on from mile to mile as each is completed, but in the Canadian route a few unimportant links only are wanting to at once open a through communication, and the works may be commenced on any district, or if necessary, bo carried on simultaneously over the whole length of the line, wherever the most difficulty presents itself. Another com- raunication will probably be com.plcted this next season, partly by portage road, and partly by steamer between -St. Paul on the Mississippi River, and tlicRcd River settle' mcnt,* which will form an important feeder to the Saskatch- awan route, and open by far the shortest route from New York and the Mississippi Valley to California and the Pa- cific, and it is understood that arrangements are completed whereby the Hudson's Bay Company will import their sup- plies the next year by way of St. Paul. * At a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce, of St. Paul, Minnesota, hold lafit v;cek, a geographical report Avas mado upon the Keel River and Saskatch- a"vvan country, with a view to the doTclopmcnt of navigation on the great rivers there abounding. The lied lliver is said to have a depth of six feet for a considerable distance above tl.c mouth of the Cheyenne, and below that nine to twelve feet down to Kcd Lake llivtr, and thence to J.ake Winnipeg of eixtccn feet The current is moderate, beiiig only about two miles per hour. The Cheyenne is navi^'jable one hundred miles, and the Assiniboine probably two hundred. The Red River is navigable live hundred and scvonty-tive miles, and il£ tributaries about three hundred and fifty, making over nine hun- dred miles of navigable watpr in this valley alone. Lake Winnipeg is two hundred and fifty miles in length, and the iSaskatchawan is navigable up- wards of seven hundred miles in a direct line, but by the course of the stream nearly twice that distance. It is mentioned as a singular fact that the sources of Frazcr's River are separated from those of Peace River by only three hundred and seventeen yards, the first running into the Pacific, and the latter north eastwardly into Mackenzie's River. The area reached by the naviga- tion of the Rivera abovfc mentioned, is estimated at four hundred thousand square miles of fertile soil, favorable climate, useful minerals, and fur bear- ing and food yielding aniraal>i. The meeting concluded by offering a bonus ^1 II 13 boats of tho 00 miles by poitagc ; so of the 3,500 10 course of ovided with y additional ) reach Fra- lore fatigue at duration, ific Railway commenced ? necessary rations can completed, vs only are 311, and the cessary, be of the line, other com- st season, r between iver settle- ) Saskatch- from New 3d the Pa- completed their sup- iiesota, hold nd Saskatch- )n the great h of six feet d below that Winnipeg of les per hour, ine i^rob/tbiy ;y-live miles, • nine liiDi- lipeg is two yi gable up. f the stream . the sources only three id the latter -he naviga- d thousand d fur bear- "g a bonus I have, I fear, tired your patience in the comparison of the United States and Canadian routes before the subject is ex- hausted. There are numerous well established facts and observations that I have been compelled to omit tending to confirm beyond the possibility of a question, tlio infinite su- periority of the northern route, the one in which alone Saint John is fntercsted, over any of the southern lines which would feed, without a British rival, New Orleans and New York. I omit too, a more particular description of tho Great North West Prairies, and the territorial advantages to every section of British America in particular, to be de- rived from opening this magnificent expanse of land to set- tlement and civilization, and filling with a busy population this back country of our Proviuce. A consideration of the route forward will be found to have equal advantages in its favor. Neither for freight nor passengers would there bo any saving, cither in time or expense, by leaving the British waters for a route through the United States, or, preferring Boston or New York as the point of embarkation for Europe, over Montreal or Saint John. At the head of Lake Winnipeg, the point of debouche of the Red River of the North, and 1400 miles from the Pacific the traffic divides, partly turning South by way of*the Red River, and the Mississippi to Saint Paul, where it meets the United States Railway system, stretching from that point over the whole Union, whilst the other stream of traffic from the Saskatchawan valley will continue on Canadian waters, or by a railway already proposed across the water- shed of the Lake Superior Rivers, to Fort William or Thun- der Bay, on the navigable waters of the Saint Lawrence. The distance to Saint Paul is about 70U miles from Lake of $1,000 to any one who would put a steamboat of a hundred tons on tho Ked llivci, and run her during the navigable season of the present year, com- mencing on or before the 1st of June. Proposals were subsequently received from one party who now has a steam- boat on the waters of the (Jrow Wing River, near the mouth of the Gull River, v/liich point is only ninety miles from Brcckenridge, the head of navigation or the Red River. This is the first steamboat that ever ascended the Miss- issippi as high as Crow Wing, and was taken over the Little Falls during the very high water of last spring The owner offers for a bonus of ^2080 to trans- port on sleds immediately the machinery, and ruch portions of the bout as is practicable, and by the ISth of May next, to launch the boat at Breckenridgc, or some other point thought best for the purpose. The requisite amount has been raised by private sub.?cription, and the Board of Trade of St. Paul oii'r.T, in addition, a bonus of $500 each fur three boats to be delivered in the Red R^ver any time during the summer of 1859. Ntio York Tribune, Fobru.iry Uh, 1869. u y^i VwMuijjog, a<^aiiidt 500 to Fort William, the proportion of iijivigablc water about the same, and the cost of carriage in favor of the British line. Fairly afloat on Lake Superior, the chain of canals is completed to the Ocean, and Ijcavy goods during the open scasLon of the year will not probably leave the vessel in which they are deposited on Lake Supe- rior until they reach the foot of Lake Eric, where the rivalry between the CaiiaLJian and American canals will again form a question, the solution of which is of the greatest importance to ourselves as well as to the whole of British America. Permir me to state the position as briefly as possible, and take the analogous case of a ton of Hour brought from Chi- cago to be delivered at Liverpool. From Lake Michigan or Lake Superior, British and Ame- rican shipping sails side by side to the terminus of the Wcl- land or Erie Canal at the foot of Lake Erie, arriving cither by sail or steam, under precisely similar circumstances, the flats of Lake St. Clair limiting the size of the vessel more than the locks of the Saultc Stc Marie Canal, connecting Lake Superior to the others. If intended for Montreal, the vessel passes through the Welland, the locks of which admit steamers of 400 tons measurement, drawing nine or ten feet water, into Lake Ontario, and thence down the Saint Law- rence and its noble canals to Montreal, arriving at the head of ocean navigation with unbroken bulk in three days. If however, the cargo on Lake Erie is intended for New York, two courses are open, either to tranship at Buffalo into the boats of the Erie Canal, on passing through the Welland pro- ceed in the same vessel to Oswego, on Lake Ontario, and there be transhipped into the barges of the Oswego branch of the New York State canals ; in either case reaching Albany, on the Hudson River, by the Erie Canal, and being towed thence by steamer to New York. The enlarged locks of the Erie Canal are adapted only for boats of about seventy tons burden, intended to be drawn by horses ; and to make the comparison of routes clearer, we will suppose all the en- largements to be complete, and the consequent reduction in freights to have taken place. The Montreal route saves first, the cost of transhipment into these barges, either at Buffalo or Oswego, which is worth twenty cents per ton ; secondly, the use of large vessels instead of small ones for one-third of the distance, which involves great economy ; and thirdly, the use of steam the whole way instead of thrcQ or four hundred miles of hoi dol \0A dal vo Hoi Cj 9^1 oportioii of carriage in 3 Superior, and heavy )t probably Lake Supe- the rivalry ,'ain form a mportancG America. 5sible, and from Chi. and Ame- /' the Wcl. lag cither ances, the ssel more onnccting treal, the lich admit r ten feet lint Law- the head day?. If 3W York, into the land pro- rio, and ) branch Albany, g towed :s of the nty tons lake the the en- ction in lipment 'hich is f largo istancc, ^ steam liles of 15 horse traction. Besides this, thoro iis the towa^o of barges down the Hudson from Troy to New York ; and last, but not least, the longer time taken on the route. It takes three days to *• 'anship the cargo at Buffalo, occupies eight to tra- verse the Erie Canal, and two in the towage down the Hud- son, against three days, the total time to Montreal by tho Canadian route. The lowest cost that all this can be done for, according to Clark in the Appendix to the Board of Works Report to tho Legislature of Canada, for 1856, from Chicago to New York for a ton of ten barrels of flour is $8.G4 via. Biilfalo, and $3.3 via. Oswego. Another authority, Mr. M'Alpine, for- m<)rly Engineer to the State of New York, estimates iu his Report to the Harbour Commissioners of Montreal, that when tii'e Eric and Welland Canals are both enlarged, and every facility afforded for the employment of the largest class of boats, the distance from Chicago to New York, per ton of 2000 lbs., may be worked for $0.36 by steamer, and $1.46 by sailing vessels. The same authority gives tho corres- ponding cost to Montreal at §4.69 by steamer, and $2.78 by sailing craft, or a saving to Montreal of 8s. currency per ton by cither class of vessel. This saving to Slontreal is how- ever lost on the ocean passage to Liverpool, in consequenco of the high freights ruling from Montreal in comparison with New York. The average freights from the latter port ta Liverpool, as taken from a pamphlet by the Honorable John Young, gives $5 per ton against $9 from Montreal, as tho average of the nine years preceding 1855. During the last three years several circumstances have tended to bring down ocecm freights to something more like an equality between the two ports, but physical and natural causes will always prevent Quebec or Montreal competing on equal terms with New York, Boston, or our own St. John. There is however one vital advantage, which New York at present enjoys, that the construction of a Railway from the St. Lawrence to St. John would enable us to share in, and by so doing assist to that extent Quebec, Montreal, and tho Canadian route go« nerally. Until lately both these cities and the St. Lawrence itself, for a portion of the year, was in the position of a cul- de-sac, and flour arriving too late in the fall remained on hand the winter. The construction of the Grand Trunk Railway partially removes this disadvantage, and flour can now bo forwarded to Portland cheaper than it can be laid down in New York. But Portland cannot answer the purpose of a 16 ';r depot A3 St. John can. Tlio great market for weatorn pro- duce is not so much Eii'^land as the Eastern States and these Lower Provinceg. Out of equivalent to three million barrels of brcadstuITrf arriving at New York annually, only one rail- lion is exported, the rest is consumed on this side of the Atlantic, and principally eastward of New York. As a dis- tributinp; port for the Atlantic seaboard, St. John has ad- vanta«ar, a direct line from St. John can compete from Montreal cl t| al if al 11 I I n iro3tora pro- 53 and thoso ilion barrels nly one rail- side of the As a dis- olm has ad- e that pi^rt ual Railway by the She. sherieg, and I lumbering tap pin 2^ tlio oinmanding occupies a ould not bo >oard. ;s from Clii- lias como aid all the 1, or Troig igation pei- additional S3 than the Erie Canal ork. The John will ew York, exceed tho or fifteen irect llail- w York as ual, if not ions there immense Is, all in- awa route ompleted le of tho jlished,is c present it may Montreal even to a western port, such as Boston or New York, with the Portland line, for the through St. Lawrence trallic The additional cost of freight to the Riviere du Loup, over stop- ping at 3>[ontreal, is as before noticed, (at six mills per ton per mile,) sixty cents per ton, loading and transhipment twenty cents, freight two hundred and seventy miles at on(3 and a half cents, $4.05; total, $4.85 cents per ton of 2.210 lbs., or forty-four cents per barrel. Last winter the Grand Trunk carried flour from Montreal to Portland for forty-five cents, making our position apparently equal to theirs, but in reality the rate per mile on that line cannot be as low under the same circumstances, as in New Brunswick to be er|iially reinuaerativc. The Portland section of the Grand Trunk cannot compare in cfilciency and economy with a first class line through this Province, or with the other portions of their own magnificent Raihvay. Contracted for by local cor- porations in tiie cheapest and most niggardly manner, the greater portion of the capital raised in town bonds and de- bentures of the most unmarketable character, the work like the pay was not very good, and the general arrangements were by no means equal to the average of second rate Ame- rican roads, and not to be compared with the subsequent execution of the other portions of the Grand Trunk. The route is by no means easy, nd the crossing of the "White Mountains is more picturesspie than practical, more attractive to lovers than locomotives, and though interesting to tourists, is lost in the romance of a flour barrel, or the aisthetics of a truck. The nearest possible distance from Portland to Longucil is two hundred and three miles ; tho actual distar.ee is two hundred and ninety two, or nearly fifty per cent more. The air line from Montreal to the crossing of tho Province line is ninety-two miles — the Railway makes it one hundred and twenty-seven. The true direction from tlie St. Lawrence terminus to the boundary is fifty degrees East from the merediin — the road starts off for thirty miles at an angle of 78". In the Canadian portiou of the road, which is by far the best of the two, eighteen per cent, or nearly olic fifth has grades exceeding forty-five feet to ihe mile. The curvature in the same length is equally objectionable, one quarter of the whole line is on a curve, and the total deflection gives a com])lcte circle about every twelve miles, whilst a large pro- portion of these deviations from the straiglit or tangent line, are at an angle so acute a':; to Feriously in:rca.-'e the cost of c > *■■■ ■^ (8 I mamtcnancc and the expense of opc^atin;^^ N"or is tlie uli:^a- mcnt the OHly detriment to the ccDnomy of workini^, t!.o execution of many of tlic works was extremely deficient in the first instance, and mnst ever entail a fri^^htful expense. The breadth, both of ciittinj^'s and embankments, was iii- Bufiicient for the stability of the road, and a worse lot of wooden bridges were probably never crectt;d. Since the pre- sent Company have had possession of the Railway, the repairs in many instances, have amounted almost to a reconstruction, and from Mr. Kecfer's Report to the Directors, the outlay on new bridges alone for the next four or five years will probably absorb the nett earnings of the whole section south of the St. Lawrence*. It is with no unkind feelings, or with any disparagement to the works of the Grand Trunk Com- pany that these defects of one portion of their line aro pointed out. The greater part of that section forms no por- tion of a British Pacific Railway, and the exceptional gra- dients of the Portland Branch will not interfere with any traffic in which we arc concerned. The routes from tlie Great West and the Pacific to Baltimore, Philadelphia, Bos- ton and New York, arc so nicely balanced, that a few cents turn an on )rmou3 traffic, and to compote at all, a new lino must be as complete as possible in its details, and as perfect as can be constructed. Whatever natural advantages a fino harbour or a secure roadstead may present as an ocean ter- minus, bad gradients and objectionable curves will tell upon the carriage of heavy goods, and the poorest economy in tho world is a shabby cheap Railway, unreliable and incomplete, Were Halifax as near to the Saint Lawrence as Saint John, and as available as a distributing depot for western produce, the execution of the Nova Scotian Railways, their bad curves, enormous gradients, and deficient arrangements, would go far to destroy any possible advantage that can be urged in favor of their capital. Tho construction of Lord Bury's line, if it were adopted, must commence at Halifax and not at Truro, before the Pacific carrying trade could be deviated from the United States Railways. As a passenger terminus and for the military purposes of Great Britain, no one can * Sec Report of S. Keefer. E^q., on the Saint Lawrence and Atlantic Rail- "ivay, December 18tli, 18.52. lu Appendix to Journals of Lc;j;iplative Assem- bly, Canada, l8,52-'y, Vol. II, No. 8, Appendix V. V. V. Also Report of !Mc3.srs. Keefer and Shanly on the folate ot the Railroad Bridges in Lower Ca- nada, April 4ta, 1857, laid before LegiBlative Assembly, April 'i.jd, lSo7. Ai^.o Rcj.ovt of Charles liultou Gregory, Esq., Soptcmlu v 10th, IG/jJ, to lli- rci.'tor'' uf Oiand Trim': Railwav on the M')v.lr''al and rorlland Scetiou. 3 tllO uli:L^ri- [lofioient in »1 cxpcnge. , was in- )rso lot of ICC the prc- llic repairs nstruction, the outlay years wriH 3tion south i^s,or with runk Com- r line arc 'ras no por- tional gra- ^vith any from the Iphia, J3o3- • few cents a new lino as perfect [iges a fino ocean ter- l toll upon omy in tlio icompletc, aint John, n produce, 'ad curves, would go ! urged in ury's lino, nd not at I deviated ' terminus ) one can [lantic Kail- tive Asscm- Kcp&rt of 1 Lower Ca- i 23d, 18.57. .So7, to Di- 19 fail to a|)prcclatc the advantageou.3 po.sitiou of Halifax, but as a freighting port fur the American continent, or even British America, it possesses not one single advantage. The same reasons that militate against Montreal in comparison with New York as the importing and cxportiiig depot of the West, tell with much greater eflect against Halifax in comparison with Saint John. ^ Without a large export trade it is impos- sible to scci'.re an importing one, and tlie vessels that carried the rails for the Nova Scotian Railway from the same con- signees in Great Britain to Ualifax for 2Ss. per ton, and to Saint John for 12s., did not necessarily make a worse bargain in one case than in the other. Ocean freights at Halifax rulo too high to permit her to enter the lists against hfaiut John, Boston and New York, and now that the chimera of ice in the winter season at E-aint John has been cleared away from the imagination of Railway projectors over the water, the only place where it ever existed, it is to be hoped that tho bona fide value of our noble harbour, and its position as the key to the winter trade of the Cauadas, may receive their duo meed of appreciation. I have endeavoured to trace the course of tho Pacific trado from Vancouver's to Saint John, following the lines of water communication principally, and attempted to establish this as the most available for freighting purposes for time, ex- pense and outlay. A Railway to suit a more valuable traffic follows, especially in Canada, a somewhat diilcrent route, and Halifax as one of the Atlantic termini, and for military purposes, must not be neglected. Starting from a point, be- tween Saint John and the Bend on the present lino of rail- way, available for freight traffic seeking the shortest land route, and for passengers avoiding as much as possible tho water, and embarking at the nearest port to Europe; through the heart of New Brunswick to the Saint Lawrence, along the Grand Trunk Railway to Montreal, up the Ottawa Valley to Lake Nippissing, thence round the heads of Lakes Superior and Winnipeg to the Great North West valley of the Sas- katchawan, the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific, makes a total stretch from Saint John to the harbour of Do Fuca of 3,200 miles. The local advantages previously referred to, as the nearest and cheapest outlet from Lake Superior to the Atlantic, and tho immense territorial possessions in tho North West Prairies, in the valley of the Ottawa, and in our own Province, thrown open to settlement and civilization, are a small part of the whole question. They serve mercl v Hi!; 'I \ 20 to indicate tiio importance of each separate iiuk in the scries, and to establish the local necessity for the construction of each section of the system. They convince us of the pro- priety of an expenditure, the interest of which is provided ]>y an existinp; traffic, and the principal will be almost cx- tinp;uished by the land sales of G0,()00 square miles of fertile territory, devoid of nn available outlet, and waitini^ only for the introduction of the locomotive and the steamboat to teem with life and cncrjry; and to link under one soverei^,n the whole noble expanse of these British possessions, stretchinp? from Ocean to Ocean, and span'.In;jj the North American continent, where that continent is tne broadest, its lands the most valuable, its rivers the most magnificient, its future the most promi^-^ing, and its destiny the most elevated. Let us for a moment glance at the description of commerce that will pour its wealth into the Lower Provinces when British America becomes the highwnv of the world, when the traffic of P^urope and Asia is concentrated on its Pacific Railway, its inland seas, its mighty rivers, its magnificent canals. The Pacific Railway is no local or secondary project. America great as she is, and greater as she will be, is only one of its tributaries. The roving Englishman and the wan- dering Chinaman, the East Indian merchant returning to the home of his childhood, and the European soldier going to his Oriental duties, the Australian and the Californian, the Birman and the Peruvian, the Mohawk and tlie Mogul, must all tread its busy avenues, and swell the motley multitude that throng its termini and croAvd its carriages. That traffic which yearly sends its fleets from the Spice Islands to Europe ; that still supports the caravans of Cairo and Damascus ; that loads a weekly steamer on the Black Sea with the shawls of Cash- mere, and the cotton, silk and drugs of Armenia ; that over- flowing trade which congregated in a few years a population of 600,000 souls in the city of Alexandria ; and last, but by no means least, that trade which the wants of three hundred and iifty millions of Chinese, recently throAvn open to the world, must require and will have eventually. These currents of trade, swelled from Australia, South Americaon their manufactures. In all the useful arts which depend yi\)r.n a di velopmcnt of principles and a proirressive im- provcmcnt in their application, the Oriental has long since been utterly distanced by European and American manufac- turers, but in those rare productions where extreme patience, laboiious and unremitting attention, and manual dexterity, are the main requirements, the Asiatic with instinctive fidelity reproduces the same pattern for ages, and supplies to his European customer the ornate and costly copy of the same article that adorned the monarch of a thousand years' oblivion, or decorated the temple whose last column is crum- bling into forgot fulness. Time with us is too valuable, hu- man hands too few, human hearts too susceptible, to waste the precious energies of life in the adornment of a shawl, or the embroidery of a skull-cap ; but fashion dictates, luxury demands, taste sanctions, and wealth pays for the sacrifice; and in this store room of the world, human beings arc nu- merous and unemployed, nature is bountiful in her supplies, life is rank, cheap and swarming, hands not minds work, fingers not feelings are employed; and man, debased, degraded man, steeped in superstition, lost to noble and regenerate feelings, performs the duties, plods through tho drudgery of living, unfeelingly, unwittingly, almost unwillingly. Not the least remarkable of the wonderful changes that have recently taken place in the Asiatic world is the breaking up of the seclusion of centuries in the Celestial Empire, and the wholesale emigration of the Chinese to Australia, Cali- fornia and the Spanish dependencies in the Gulf of Mexico. This exodu.^, so strangely unexpected and apparently acci- dental in its commencement, bids fair to form a new feature in the ethnological history of the present century, and the formation of any more direct route would have in this Coolie emigration, an immediate return and an immensely prospective revenue. The Chinese already form a considerable portion of the labour of Cuba, they contributed largely to build the I^anama and Central American Railways, and British screw steamers arc now engaged in the trade to that quarter, doubling Cape Horn with their living cargoes, and coasting round nirij-tcnths of the South American continent. In ten OO niontlis of 185."), one liuiulrcd and thirty square rl-^gcd vessels cleared from IIoiii^ Koni^ witli nearly 15,000 passcni^era. Da- rin;,' the same period 11 000 cleared for Cuba from other ports ; the stream fed by the teeminp; millions of the Central Pro- vinces has increased ever since, and though only vague calculations can be made as to the total number, if the present ratio of increase is continued, it is certain that from China alone, a stream equal to the emigration from Great Britain, nearly 1000 per day, -will shortly seek a communication to or across this Continent. The frightful mortality on the passage lias diitherto checked the number of the solf-cxilcd Celestials, and the removal of that by the construction of the Eaihvay would no doubt double and treble the stream of emigration. Of the total number iu 1855 that sailed for Cuba, one in seven, or nearly fifteen per cent, succumbed to the horrors of ihe middle passage, and died before reaching their destination. As an item of trafiic on the Pacific Rail- ■\vay, the present Coolie exodus would load heavily a train a day for five months in the year, at the very season too ■when freights ordinarily arc most in request. The tea trade of China, extensive and valuable as it now i?, would receive an impetus -Vom the Kailway, the influence of which would certainly incre se the consumption. Western Europe and the Eastern coast f America require annually about 50,000 tons, or nearly two pounds per head of the population. The freight, insurance and expenses, average from Hong Kong to England nearly five cents per pound, and in this trade alone, which would employ one freight train per day the year round", the saving to the European and American consumers in freight alone, would be over $1,000,000. The silks and cotton of China and Hindoostan await only this communication to supply Europe with a description of fabrics difierent, and it may be better than any at present imported. Up to the middle of the last century the old world was sup- plied from these countries almost exclusively with the better description of goods, and indications arc not wanting that the future consumption of cotton will be drawn mainly from India, from the Great Plains of the Coromandel coast, and the valleys of the Godavery and the Kistna. The cotton plant is indigenous to India. Professor Schouw of Copen- hagen calls it the characteristic plant of Hindoostan, where it forms the sole article of clothing of one hundred and fifty million inhabitants, and is cultivated over the length and breadth of the land to the extent of 400,000 tons per annum. ill ^A «xp<^l covr plai'J of c| Bur tincl will •vcsC 23 feed vessels tJier ports: entral Pro. [onJy vague I'le present pom Ohfua cat Britain, fnication to ■Jjtj on the l^-cxilcd |ction of the stream of sailed for 'cumbed to ■e reach ino- acific RaiF- ^''y a train 't-'ason too as it no^ t^ influence Western ^al] J about opulation. ^m Hong Id in thil ' per daj ^"loricaa ^0. The 0"ly this '^i'abrics "ported, ^'as sup. e better ug that Jy from 1st; and cotton Copen- ^'here Id fifty h and .4 f IJniliig the last fifLceu years tlio rclutivu consuinptiou of A^'crican and Indian cotton in Enp^land has been six to one in favour of the former, bat fifty millions sterling arc bciniT; Expended on Indian Railways, and .yuo shall estimate the Oorrcspondin:? improvement in that country when its vast plains and rich vallies shall be fairly opened, to ihc a;j;cnGie3 of civilization and improvement? As the cheapest route to Europe, the North American Railway and the Dritish Pro- yinccs generally will share in every advancement in India., will profit by every outlay there, and will reap golden har- Tcsts from a country where they have not strawed. But there is another clement — time — affecting, even more than the cost of freight and the course of trade ; and in no do- ecription of commerce is this so apparent, or of so much con- sequence, as in the Eastern trade with luiropo. The Aberdeen clippers obtain from X8 to j612 sterling per ton from Cliina on the finer description of teas, in consideration of a ^cw days •aving in time, and any route that can reduce the period of transit from China to England from eighty days, the present -iveragc clipper time, to fifty, at an expense not exceeding X5 or £Q per ton additional cDst, may safely calculate upon 150,000 tons of European exports to the East, and at least the same weight of imports from Western Asia. When t!io simple value of these Oriental productions is considered, the clement of time is seen at once to be of far more conscM^ucnco than a few pounds in freight. The silk and silk goods of India and China average from £'2,000 to x3,000 sterling per ton in value ; the indigo of Hindoostan ranges from X500 to ,£1000 per ton, whilst tea, coffee, spices, shell lac, and over 70,000 tons per annum of Eastern exports range from XlOO to <£300 per ton. The bare interest alone, on a saving of thirty days time, equals the present freight of X8 to «£12 per ton on the silk goods, whilst insurance and risk of da- mage or delay on such valuable and perishable commodities would insure their carriage by rail wherever the same were practicable.' Independently of the saving in time and cost of transport of the.-^ Eastern productions. Great Britain has another and a more important necessity for the construction of this rail- way than at first sight may appear. One other European power has an Empire in Asia, and a frontage on the Pacific. No other country is advancing so rapidly in all the arts of civilization and improvement, or promises so soon to atta'a to a i:omiu<,M-(:ial importance of the first rank as Bus-ia. 21 I ! i Wiihia the last t.vo yoars she ha^ taken a decided step to. wards t!ic lii;^licst modern civilization, and apart from hcv military power must soon rank amoni^'st the first class aatious of the world. Within tliat period the tariff on forei.^jn im- portations has been modified, and the steam communication ])ctwcen Groat Britain and her qnondar.i enemy is now ex- tensive and mutually profitable. The cultivation of the arts of peace arc raisiufi; Russia to a moral elevation that the warklikjg ambition of the late Czar could never have antici- pated. Her rivers arc now navigated by steam, her indus- trial resources are bcini^ developed to the utmost, internal improvements are projected in all directions, and her ports and harbours have become the centres of a busy and flourish- ing commerce. Forty steamers arc owned by one Company on the Black Sea, before the end of this year seventy will bo employed on the Sea of Azof, and Russian propellers ply re- <^ularly from Odessa to Marseilles, Trieste, Genoa and even London. Between China and Russia an overland transit trade has long existed, which has lately assumed an importance that Great Britain must soon look upon as the omen of a serious rivalry for the carrying trade of the East. It may serve to some extent to remove the prejudices of some who fancy that a railway 3000 miles long, across this Continent, can never form part of a freight line between England and China, to learn that the manufactories of Warsaw and of Moscow have latterly driven the woollen cloths of Prussia and Ger- many out of the Chinese market, where they had previously sold to the extent of $8,000,000 per annum. These Russian woollens arc transported /^jOOO miles by land, over the steppes of Siberia to Kiatchka, the frontier market of ex- change, situated 1300 miles from Pekin. From 18150 to 1840, this transit trade between Russia and China increased 1000 per cent., and so perfect is the communication that the news of the Chinese war, and the details of the late Treaty were well known in St. Petersburgh a fortnight before the official dispatches were received in London by steamboat, telegraph and rail. To shorten this overland communication both in time and distance, to improve the watercourses, and take advantage of her noble rivers, Russia at the present time is bending all her energies. Forty-five millions sterling of French capital arc being expended in the construction of a railway 2,000 miles long, to which our projected Pacific ?chcmc is a pigmy attempt. Ten millions nior'^ lia^-o been m od .stop to. ^'•om ho I' ^S3 uatio:is oi'oii^a im. niunication 13 now ex- of the arts' I that the are antici- internal Jior ports d flourish- Company tj will bo r.s ply re- aiid even trade has :anGo that a serious ' serve to lio fancy iicnt, can nd China, AIoscow and Ger- 'criou,3ly Kiis'sian 3ver the t of ex- 18^0 to 'Creased that the Treaty oro the i-mboat, lication es, and ^resent terlinn- tion of Pacilic ' been 25 authorised on other lines to complete the communication to the Black Sea and the Oural Mountains, and to connect the navigation of the Volga and the Don. Steamers have been placed on Lake Baikal, the Superior of Asiatic Russia, and the navigation of the Amoor, a large river 2000 miles long on the direct route to the Pacific, and whose tributaries drain Chinese Tartary, is soon to be opened. All these undertakings tend to oppose our present almost monopoly of the Asiatic trade with Western Europe, and Great Britain must either prepare to lose to a great extent the cream of that commerce, or rival Russia in the extent of her expenditure on a new line of communication, where the Bpeeu of the locomotive will be substituted for the clipper ship; and the punctuality of the land route for the precarious uncertainty of the lonj, sea voyage. Such are some of the advantages and necessities of the Pacific Railway in its commercial importance to Great Brit- ain. It remains to bo briefly considered in its political and military character. The British Empire in India gradually aggregating to itself the smaller principalities has become cither by conquest or treaty one of the most powerful colo- nial dependencies that the world has ever witnessed. Recent events have shewn us that whilst India requires management, strong and energetic, and that promptness is one of the most important elements in the solution of the question of supre- macy, our present communication is not adequate to the .military wants or exigencies of her government. The mails from Bombay, the nearest of the Presidencies to London, average thirty-five days, whilst sailing vessels round the Cape take one hundred and twenty. Even under the most urgent circumstances, steam vessels have seldom made the passage in less than ninety days, and did no other argument exist for the construction of a British Railway to the Pacific, the re- cent painful events in India would supply the deficiency. On the 9th of April, 1857, the first telegram arrived in London, announcing the murderous resort of the Bengal Sepoys to fire and sword, and measures were immediately taken to reinforce our troops in that quarter. On the 26th of June telegrams again arrived announcing the revolt at Meerut, and the seizure of Delhi, the government were then perfsctly sensible of the position of afi'airs in India, and the press and the public were unanimous in the demand for instantaneous action, in the despatch of the troops. The choice lay between the Egyptian and the Cape route.-*. f mi u 20 between sailing vessels and steamers, and in lookiu-j; back upon the course pursued, it is scarcely fair to blame the govern- ment by the ligli't of facts gleaned since. The tremendous risk we were running of losing our Indian Empire altogether, the terrific suffering of our countrymen overpowered by num- bers, and the contagious exanpln to other districts still faithful, of a successful rebellion, put all questions of economy or inconvenience on one side ; it was a consideration merely of time and quantity. Steamers by hundreds were ready in England, but how on the Red Sea ? Australian clippers were performing their journeys in equal time and with more cer- tainty than Australian steamers. The passage of troc^/o through a foreign and distant territory, the possible objec- tions that might delay or stop them en route, the unhealthiness of the Red Sea and Desert in July and August, and a thousand other suggestions all forced themselves upon the attention of the Commissioners, and wrongly perhaps, they decided in that moment of anxiety and suspense in favour of sailing vessels and the Cape route. Of thirty-one vessels taken up by the 10th of July, nearly all were sailers, and in looking back at their performance, we may take these trips as re- presenting the best that can be done between England and India. The average length of voyage of twenty-two sailing vcocels between the lOtli of June and the 27th of August, from England to Calcutta, was one hundred and sixteen days, the average of nine steamers subsequently between the 6th of August and 21st of October was eighty-six days, and the average loss of time of 16,000 men, embarked in fifty-five sailing vessels, was thirty seven days over what might have been done had steamers been available and at once taken up. Had a British Pacific Railway at that time been in existence, and a fleet on the Pacific in such condition as it would ne- cessarily be when that communication is open, an army, how- ever extensive, might have been transported across this continent to Calcutta, accumulating at every military post on its route, in at most fifty-five days from England, saving sixty days over the time actually occupied by the greater part of the army despatched to the scene of difficulty. It is a simple question when the elements are known, to calculate the saving in the transportation of an army occupying fifty- five days in place of one hundred and sixteen. It is an easy matter to estimate the value of the time of 16,000 men, two months longer than necessary upon their passage, but what human head can sum up the amount of misery endured, the irrc ihc fcn( 100 cici refi! Tha 27 1^- ba-'^- ■^'^ upon \ho iK:ovcrn. rcmcndous altogether, ed by num- tricts still of economy ion merely e ready in [ppers were more cer- of troc^o lible objec- healthiness a thousand 5 attention decided in of sailing s taken up in looking t'ips as re- gland and wo sailing 3f August, ^tcen days, en the 6th S; and the a fifty-fiFe ight have taJcen up. existence, n »^ould ne- fmy, how- foss this tary post d, saving greater •y- It is i calculate ing fifty. J an easy aen, two ut what red, Iho Irretrievaljlc mischief done, the desponding hearts broken, ^he suflcring inflicted upon the gentle, the lovely and the fonoccnt, through the lawless unrestrained passions of 100,000 ruffians preying for two months on the vitals of so- ciety; arid exulting over tlieir powerless victims with all the refinement of cruelty and the malice of fiendish revenge. That two months of misery endured, that two months of tinncccssary wrong and violence inflicted, plead louder than the two or three millions of disbursements that would have fcecn saved, and demands, necessitates, the creation of any route tliat can check or controul for the future a repetition of so terrible a chastening. The Frazer's River gold discoveries have an importance in connexion with the extensive coal deposits of Vancouver's Island, too palpably requiring protection to be disregarded l)y the British government. Situated between California and . the Russian forts of the Pacific, New Caledonia requires a strong police force to guard against the lawless fillibusters of the one, and a fleet to oppose to the powerful armament of the other in those northern waters. The necessity there- fore of a strong naval and military establishment at this half-way station between Halifax and India, at once points out the economy of a railway communication which would dispense to a great extent with a standing array in time of peace on the Pacific coast, and facilitate its movements in time of war. Halifax, Saint John, and Quebec, would then effectually guard our new dependency, and England with a chain of fortresses across this continent, wouid grasp the Indian Empire with a resistless strength that distance would not impair, nor delay be mistaken for want of means or vac- illation of purpose. The military value of the Pacific Railway has however one drawback which must be stated. For five months in the year, were it made to-morrow., it would be without an Atlantic ter- minus that England could use in time of war. The first link is still to construct, and that step belongs to New Brunswick to initiate. Two hundred miles separate the Canadian ter- ritory from the military line to Halifax or St. John, and that two hundred miles is the key to a commerce which St. John only of all the Atlantic ports seems unwilling to understand or appreciate. Boston, in railways alone, to secure the Saint Lawrence trade, has expended £12,000,000 sterling, New York in canals and railways, has up to the present time, disbursed X25,O00,0OO, and Philadelphia nearly ^d £8,000,000, all to secure a connection with the Great Lake?, which after all may not be the most economical. Portland, a small city, but made great by its enterprise, subscribed in cash, $50 per head of its inhabitants, and extended credits for $100 more, to secure its Montreal railway. A similar subscription on the part of the people of British America, would build tlie Pacific line from Halifax to Vancouver's three times over. Portland has not been irredeemably ruined by the speculation, the population has been doubled by its liberality. Boston and New York have grown rich by their expenditure, and the phenomenon of a country ruined by its railways is yet to be witnessed. There arc two points in connexion with Saint John, that viewed conjointly, give it as the terminus of a Railway three thousand miles long, advantages not possessed by any other port on the Atlantic seaboard ; these are its facilities for the formation of docks, both wet and dry, and its immense water power. A tide rising tierenty eight feet, and a railway running more than two miles over an alluvial formation, be- low the level of high tides, and waiting only an inexpensive canal and one pair of lock gates to give eight miles of quay- side frontage, and four hundred acres of wet dock, is a fea- ture not found elsewhere. The City of Portland with great liberality and at considerable expense, built two wharves, perhaps forty or fifty feet wide, to serve as landing places from the stem and stern gang-ways of the Great Eastern, a mile from the centre of the city, and forming, after all, only an uncomfortable and amphibious sort of connection with the monster, if ever she makes her appearance in transatlantic waters. At a less expense than it cost to put her into the water in the first instance, our so called mill pond in the heart of the city might be converted into a graving dock to repair the lowest plate in her hull or the bottom rivet of her keel ; or floating within fifteen feet of the Railway track a whole train might discharge its varied contents over her side in one-tenth of the time that the present arrangements at Portland would possibly admit. When such vessels become jnore common on the Atlantic, it will be a question of grave importance whether the ^nly open harbour in America that can float her at low water at" all seasons, and dock her at high Avatcr, will not command the trade, as the most eligible terminus for tlieir voyage. — ISaint John has another advantage, shared in only by Que- bec as tlie Atlantic terminus of a Railway, and at present i ecomc grave that ler at wholly unimproved in her immense water power. The ap- plication of the paradoxical principle in water and other fluids, whereby the weight on a certain area is made inde- pendent of the actual volume of water employed, and depen- dent only on the height of the head or point of supply, as a motive power for machinery, is as recent as 1846. In that year the corporation of Newcastle-on-Tyne put down the first hydrostatic crane for unloading vessels, the water being taken from the ordinary street mains. One of the most beautiful applications of this principle is for the purpose of supplying the power round Railway stations, for loading and unloading the cars, working the turn-tables, traversing ma- chines and waggon-lifts, for raising and tipping coal waggons, opening and closing swing-bridges and a variety of other purposes. At the Central Station at Newcastle a three inch service pipe from the street main turns the locomotives, puts the coke in the tender, loads and unloads the merchandize, and after it has done its work, is forced into the tank for the supply of the engines, so that there is literally no cost for the enormous power used round this busy depot, except- ing £5 per annum paid to the Water Company for the use of the water in its transit this way. During the late Cri- mean war ten of these water cranes were erected in the arsenal of Woolwich at a cost of X30,000. The ships that went out first were loaded in the river, and each vessel re- quired three weeks to take in her cargo. The saving effected by their use in time and labour after their completion, in eight weeks repaid the whole cost. In Great Britain alone twelve hundred of these machines are now at work, nearly all of the public docks and most of the government establish- ments have them in use, and wherever practicable, the Rail- ways have universally adopted them for lifting, hauling, hoisting, loading and discharging vessels, and every purpose for which a strong intermittent power is requisite or avail- able. Distributed under almost every street in Saint John, water, the cheapest, safest and best motive power yet intro- duced, at an enormous pressure, but nevertheless noiselessly and unseen, awaits the touch of science and mechanism^ to be led forth from its underground channel, to pull, or grind, or crush, discharge our vessels, turn our machinery, work the ponderous forge-hammer, or do the humble drudgery of our houses. Jn concluding this Lecture, which I fear has sadly taxed your patienoo, I must recall to mind the general argument 30 with which I commenced, and tlio details of which I have attempted to prove. As a commercial, territorial, and> military Railway, the Pacific line through British North America is the only possible route and the political necessity of the age, and as its Atlantic terminus this City has advan- tages, shared in by no other. The construction of the road, heavy and expensive as it is, is by no means without a precedent. Excluding the portion now complelcd, Vancou- ver's Inland may be connected with Halifax and Saint John at an expenditure not exceeding £25,000,000 sterling. Rus- sia with one line of 2,600 miles asks for £45 millions. The Lombardo-Venetian Company will require on their railroad of 1900 miles in length, probably the same amount. Twenty- six miles only of this road cost over two and a quarter millions, and ninety-six consecutive miles averaged over X45,000 ster- ling per mile. Spain has 1500 miles of railway built or building at a cost equal to our utmost requirement, and in England where the system is supposed to be nearly complete, 1000 miles of road are under construction, and the estimated expenditure this year is over X20,000,000. In India four long lines are being prosecuted simultaneously, and on one of them, stretching 1235 miles from Bombay, a single section of thirty miles, requires more labour than the whole of the Kew Brunswick roads together. There is nothing therefore impossible or improbable in the whole being completed in a few years from this present time, when the proud posi- tion this City will have attained will constitute it the com- luercial, if not the political capital of a Colonial Empire on this Continent, the value and importance of which to Great Britain, it is impossible sufficiently to appreciate. id> th of II- bo a u- ;in IS- ;ie id J- is, 3r ia LU* le )a le [•e in n- >n at