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LONDON: EDWARD STANFORD, 6, CHARING CROSS. 1861. (^ M )• THE COUNTRY v. THE COMPANY. As to why British North America may be peo- pled, it will be sufficient to observe thnt the recent explorations which have been respectively conducted under the auspices of the Canadian and Imperial Governments — those, namely, of Hind and of Pal- liser — have abundantly corroborated all previous testimony, and have established beyond doubt, if doubt ever existed, that the vast tract of country forming" the interior of British North America is perfectly fitted for inhabitation, more so, in not a a few respects, than many parts of the prosperous and noble country known as Canada. That vast interior, extending* from Canada to British Columbia, forms, in the next place, the only link wanting to complete the chain of British colonies from shore to shore of the American conti- nent. It affords besides incomparably the best com- munication for the new colonies of British Columbia and Vancouver Island with Great Britain. These colonies are now only accessible either throuo-h a most circuitous and expensive transit across the Isthmus of Panama, or by the j^et more circuitous and tedious passage round Cape Horn. The communication across British North America would not, liowcver, bo of use to these new colonies only, but it is also, in many respects, the best* that can anywhere be constructed, or established, for the whole Northern Pacific seaboard, whether Asiatic or American, The abbreviation which can be obtained in the time of transit, moreover, and which is the necessary result of three thousand miles of the distance be- tween Europe and the Pacific, being" by land in- stead of on the sea, as well as the consequent still greater rapidity of telegTaphic intercourse, render the communication the most prompt that can be formed, even with respect to New Zealand and Australia. Lastl}^, the interior of British North America is already the seat of a certain population, a colony that fain would be, and that has long* struggled to be, but the inhabitants of which have not yet been enabled to emancipate themselves from a yoke, and to overcome an obstruction that has been to the pre- cent time the insuperable barrier in the way of their prosperit}'. They have long* earnestly sought to become, and they require to be, a population of freemen (that is the very term in local use), and * This subject has been fully dealt with in the works and writings of Major R. Carmichael-Smyth, Mr. Asa "Whitney, and others. In the 22nd volume of the " Journal of the Royal Geo- graphical Society," and in a pamphlet entitled "Great Britain One Empire," the above statement will be found conclusively estab- lished. ■m 5 thus to surmount a spurious and artificial impedi- ment, the solitary and most striking* remnant of a system and an abuse, at utter and irreconcileable variance with every principle and practice of the present day. How this may be accomplished, that is, how Bri- tish North America may be peopled, and how it may be done to the best advantag-e, may be discussed together; for if it be desirable that it should be ■done, it is unquestionably as desirable that it should be done to the best advantage. Now, there is but one way to carry out any en- terprise with success, which is, to plan it with pre- meditation and to execute it according* to opportu- nity ; and there is but one means of carrying* out any enterprise to the best advantaj^e, and this is, so to plan it that it shall fully unite every attainable end, and so to execute it that the combined re- sources interested in the enterprise shall be broug'ht to bear with the utmost effect upon impediments reduced to the smallest possible dimensions. Judg-ed by this simple but undeniable rule, the peopling" of the interior is not of necessity a work of difficult}' ', but, on the contrary, the difficulty, if there be any, is of extraneous and artificial impo- sition, A tract of country, lying' in the direction of the very best and larg^est, or, at the least, of one of the very best and larg'est commercial hig-hwa3's of the world, is not likely to remain uninhabited, except for some insuperable reason. mmmmmmmmmmm I What, then, are the reasons commonly assig^ned ? It we g-o back to the year 1847 or 18^8, when such proposals were first made in definite form, we shall find, in the first place, that the g-eog-raphical rela- tion resulting* from the position of America between Europe and the Pacific and Asia was then too little generally understood to be either received or con- tradicted. Still less appreciated was the self-evi- dent abbreviation of a track in proportion to its position northward, although it is the necessary con- sequence of the earth's form. A just apprehension of the subject became, under such circumstances, hopeless. Not only, moreover, was the physical geography of the country to be traversed as little known, but the necessary results of its formation were as little underatood. Lastly, when the irrefutable proofs of the general bearings of the question were adduced from the very conformation of the globe, the sterility of the soil, and the unconquerable rigours of the climate, and the impossibility of crossing the Rocky Mountains, were triumphantly upheld ; and the mass of evi- dence to the contrary was attempted to be finally got rid of by unscrupulous and unhesitating asser- tions, that the similar line proposed in the United States admitted of easier construction, where the climate was more favourable, the Government and people far more energetic, and that the British question might therefore be dropped without farther inquiry, as two lines were then and for ever im- possible. : Two linos of quickest transit across the continent of America, in the healthiest and most advantageous latitude, impossible I These assertions have all been severally refuted by facts, the most unanswerable of all evidence. The line in the United States has not been constructed ; its very propounder* has testified to the superior merits of that proposed in British territory, and has declared that in the United Statss to have become, through the force of circumstances, impossible of execution upon the plan he had sugg-ested. The construction of railroads throughout the length and breadth of Canada has been the practical reply to their alleged impossibility and uselessness. The ex- plorations with their accompanying* scientific obser- vations have equally refuted the asserted impracti- cability of the country for inhabitation or settlement ; and the often traversed mountains have once more been proved to be passable not impenetrable. Strongest and most influential of all, however, was, in all probability, the general impression and reasoning derived from the fact that such advan- tages and opportunities, as were, by the favourers of this enterprize, alleged to exist, had not been de- veloped by those in virtual sovereignty and in actual possession of the country, and who moreover, far from bestowing* upon them their co-operation, ap- proval or favour, met the propositions advanced * See Letter of Mr. Asa Whitney to Morning Chronicle, 1 858, upon this subject. , . 8 1 ): with their most determined disfavour and their nost strenuous opposition. The opponents of the measures certainly hehl the nine points^ the strong* points or the law. They held possession of these premises, and of the country. This general impression is probahly the chief re- maining*, or at lenst the foremost remaining obstacle to the development of British North America ; but the specious reasoning on which it rests would prove too much. Excepting indeed the gratification of curiosity^ and the abstract promotion of science, every object for the attainment of which the North West was ever sought can be accomplished over the territory though not over the Arctic ocean of America ; but whilst expedition after expedition has been allowed to sail at a vast expenditure of men and money to a region from which but one account ever could be returx:ed, the suggestions of Sir Alexander Mac- kenzie* have been steadily treated with neglect. The tracts of country severally lying west of the mid- channel of the Mississippi, west of the Kocky moun- tains and south of the parallel of 49° north latitude, were all successively surrendered or got rid of, and the valuable character of each, conceded only after its abstraction from British territor}^, then, however, to be scrupulously allowed and most sedulously pro- claim* 1 to the disparagement by comparison and contrast of what remained British possession. * The first discoverer overland of the Pacific and Arctic sea boards of North Amt^rica. 9 As is \vcll known all tlint territory thnt lins l)ecn described, ns well as tlmt of the Cjilifornias,* not only niioht have been, but actually would have formed part of the BritiHli empire had the state of g-eneral information been such as to lead public opinion to require it. British neg'lect of American resources proves then either too little or too much. The countries that have been most exalted in opposi- tion to what remains to Eng^land in America have once been equally or even more neglected. It will be said Colonisation never should be, and never can be, forced, and that a well favoured country will, at the proper time, attract to it its own population and then form the best and the most prosperous, indeed the only practicable coloni- sation. No proposition can be more correct; but there are others not less true. One is, the aphorism does not apply in a case where colonisation labours under artificial obstruction ; and to contend for the abolition of such impediment is not to force coloni- sation nor yet attempting* to do so. It is to require for it a fair field and a free opportn^iity. Of all restrictions, surely the mos barbarous, the most reprehensible, yea, even the most criminal and cruel, in an age redundant with population and in a country where man meets man in an industrial struggle for the very means of existence, is that which for the private benefit of an unscrupulous fiiction whose bad faith is stamped upon the records * See Captain SirE. Belclicr, C.B., R.N. upon this subject. ■■P Such errors would be fatal to the best success of such an undertaking as the present ; they might altogether endanger its success. 10 > 1 ; ) • In order to escape such errors and to obtain the advantages to be secured by the united exertions of the government and of commercial companies, it is accordingly proposed, That the enterprize should be planned and carried into execution as a whole, al-' though consisting of distinct component parts and entrusted, either each or altogether, to one or more commercial companies. Thus the railroads wherever executed would have one guage, and be without any break or interrup- tion^ whether through diversity of construction or through the private hostility of uncontrolled com- panies. The improvements of the navigation would be carried out with reference to all the waters forming part of the same connection. The accumulating volume and increasing depth of water of descending streams would be kept in view ; and natural advan- tages would not be liable to be frustrated by injudi- cious local construction, but would, on the contrary, be improved to the fullest possible extent. Telegraphic communication would be so con- structed as to keep in view the complete ultimate connection as well as the requirements of each localit3\ ' The physical geography of the country is such as to favour the separate and gradual execution of the several parts of the track in the highest possible degree, and to render it thereby a safe commercial 17 enterprise, easy of execution, and capable even of self-reg-ulating" adjustment. Where then is there any difficulty remaining'? There is not any in fact, if the will only be not wanting- j for what, lastly, are the aspects under which this proposal presents itself to the Govern- ment and to the capitalist whose co-operation is sought ? The first point is the deliverance of the land from the yoke, dominion, and exclusive privileges of trade of the existing' Hudson's Bay Company. The power to effect this at any moment has been expressly reserved by the Crown, and it would be at once accomplished by the proclamation of any part or parts thereof to be made a colony or colonies. Where the inhabitants have expressed so anxious and persistent a desire for this boon as has been the case by those of the Red River settlement, the Go- vernment can have but one object) ri'. to acceding to the request, the expense, namely, of providing the necessary local government, r v - If this objection cannot be met by a mortgage on the territory of the new colony, or by the retention of special tracts for the repayment of the Imperial treasury, the now incontrovertibly authenticated accounts of the resources of the country must, by some inexplicable mystery, be after all a fable, and the whole enterprise falls to the ground. This, however, is not the case, and with whomsoever and howsoever negociated a mortgage for the amount on B i v f n ,)' { 18 the territory or proximate funds of the new colon}^ would furnish an ample* security. Nor is it neces- sary that the Imperial treasury should furnish the expense. The Imperial guarantee would be suffi- cient to enable the young* colony to obtain the ne- cessary sum, and at once to charg^e itself with the burden of its own expenses. Its debt would be pro- portioned to and yet be liquidated by the rate of its development. Does it admit of question that the opening" of the colony would be immediately followed by steamers plying upon its noble and varied natural navig-ation? Yet, as has been said^ this once effected, the Rocky Mountains are accessible to their very base. Will not this ler.d to inhabitation ? Will not that inha- bitation lead ag'ain to the farther improvement of sucli natural navigation, and yet more speedily perhaps to the railroad traversing' its magnificent plains ? Are not all these undertakings, however, compactly predesigned to form a perfect whole, capable of execution by any number of separate and limited companies? Cannot land companies, or companies for fishing or mining purposes, be formed on the same model in as great numbers as may find occasion? . : ■ v; r: * The withdrawal of the Imperial troops from Canada was ad- vocated as a measure of economy, yet the " Ordnance Lands," simultaneously surrendered, yield a revenue sufficient to maintain a larger military force than had ever been sent to the country ! This statement rests on the authority of a distinguished member of the Canadian legislature. w '?4 10 Or what, ng^ain, is to hinder one chief companj', or a confederation of companies, or of branches of one company, from conducting* the speculation as a whole, in parts severally perfectly distinct in liabiHty and profit ? The best development of British North America, let it be borne in mind, would be by such a com- j)any, confederation, or ui 'ou, however it mig'ht be defined. To such a coi "pany the instant acquisition of the whole trade and country is possible, and the prosecution of the fur trade in its legitimate sphere would be but one of its varied branches. It mig'ht, therefore, at once enter upon the liberation and settlement of interior British North America (and the successive construction of the route according* to the inflow of population and the growth of pros- perity, as already described), and do so with success, subject to the whole charg'es of the existing* Hud- son's Bay Company, if fairly valued. It could not lose, unless it conducted its affairs with less ability than the existing* Company. The only limits which can be traced to its possible prosperity are those which bound the civilization of the continent and the development of the triple communication from shore to shore. Does not, however, the suspicion ag*ain involun- tarily obtrude itself, that if this were all strictly true and absolutely correct, the conduct of the Hudson's Ba}^ Company, in neglecting* such oppor- tunities and in opposing* such proposals, is perfectly inexplicable. t n yl t ; I. -« 130 The reply might be an appeal to the acts and history of the Company, to exploring* expeditions suffered to g'o forth as expeditions of discovery to regions they had mapped ; but it may perhaps admit besides of other possible or probable solution. What if a limited number of persons receive, without exertion, trouble, or anxiety, a return on all the capital they so desire to invest, much greater in proportion to the extent of that capital, in other words, a fjir hig-her rate of interest on the amount of capital invested than can be expected, or than is pretended can be the case on the whole amount of capital required to open the country to civilisation and to cari'y out the route ? What if the fear be entertained, besides, that the exceedingl}^ g-ood divi- dends on the limited capital of a fur company mig'ht lessen before the advance of a much greater capital applied to purposes of civilisation, accompanied, indeed, by far more widely diffused prosperity, but by a less return on every separate i)ound invested ? What if it be feared that the ver^^ organisation of the Company might be endangered ? The extreme dependence of all the servants of the Company be exchanged for the comparative liberty of a proximity to civilised life ? What if their tastes were similarly affected, and the temptations to a change of life daily exhibited almost before their ver}^ eyes proved irresistible ? What if they all struggled to he free- men ? It is not said these things are so, or, if so, ■% 21 justly so. They are simply* surmise. Add thereto, however, a consciousness of conduct little fitted to bear the lig-ht of jmblic scrutiny, and little honour- able in its share as national history ; add a dying- charter, and a title questionable at the best. Are these not enough, if not to justify, yet to explain by natural causes, the opposition of the Company I It is not, indeed, the reasoning- of honour or of patriotism ; it is the reasoning* of selfishness ; and, let it not be forgottten, it is as much the reasoning" of error ; but it is not impossible. If the reasons admit only of surmise, the conduct of the Company and its impenetrable obstructiveness are matters beyond doubt, and must be ended. How then are the successive steps to be now taken to be summed up ? First, the country from the borders of Canada to those of British Columbia must be freed. There must be no exclusive usurpations from the parallel of the South* boundary to the northernmost limit of British American waters. This can be done either. By the Imperial Government by proclamation, as has been shown ; By purchase from, or by co-operation with, the Hudson's Bay Company ; * The position of the Company with respect to the enterprise is treated in a Letter to the Governor of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany in 1 853, now published for the first time. The attention of the reader is requested thereto, as well as to the publications to which reference has been already made. 1 !| By contest ngfninst the Hudson's Day Company. Secondly, a (Company nnist be formed so framed as to embrace as a whole the scheme that has been sketched, but so arrang-ed that the parts can be separately and successively taken up for execution, either hy the Company or other companies ; but in either case so as not to break the unity of desig'n and plan. The system should be approved and adherence to it provided for by Government. Where is there any difficulty ? What is to deter the capitalist ? There is no difficulty, there is nothing* to deter ; and it may be confidently stated, when once this imdertaking' is entered upon, and so conducted, it will speedily and triumphantly extend from end to end ; and it will accomplish, so long* as that plan is adhered to, all that has been said. THE END. 1 I 1 1 f ■ 1 i% i 1 j« '1