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CuTHBSRT & SocTHEY, Printers, 155, Fenchurch Street. IMPROYED BRIDGE PROM STARVATION TO PLENTY. ANNEXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN TO HER COLONIES. Whilst in Ireland able-bodied labourers (or rather labourers who would be able-bodied if they were fed) are expensively caged up in unproductive work- houses, the British provinces of North America, close at hand, contain millions of acres of fertile land without inhabitants ! I ! Can anything be more senseless, if not criminal, than the neglect of this bountiful provision of Providence towards the cure of Irish distress ? In order to avail of it, it is necessary to establish a good steam communication between the West of Ire- land and the British Colonies, and, simultaneously with this, the Halifax and Quebec Railway must be commenced. A country will thus be tapped for the absorption of settlers, within the British Dominions, and profitable employment will be secured for suc- cessive arrivals of emigrants. The present communication between the North American provinces and the Mother country is in every respect bad ; and does nearly nothing to- wards fostering that degree of intimate intercourse which is essential to the development of those coun- tries, by enabling people who might contemplate settling there, to visit and reconnoitre them with that facility both as to time and expense which would be calculated to make their resources more extensively explored and known. The intercourse must be always restricted so long as a passage costs £35. ! and so long as it is impos- sible to calculate with any certainty on crossing the water in less than a fortnight. This may suit a li- mited number of people with positive business, or who may have come to the conclusion to transfer themselves, once for all, permanently to the New World, with no hope of revisiting their kindred in their native land ; but the facilities of crossing and re-crossing ought to be such, both as regards time and expense, as would induce crowds, in comparison, to pass to and fro. If a steam transport, colonization yacht, or ocean omnibus, suitable for the service, were constructed, the result would be astonishing, and the British pro- vinces of North America would thereby become, practically, an enlargement of the United Kingdom. The proposed steamer would carry 2,000 persons, and at a speed which should insure the passage between the West of Ireland and Halifax being accomplished within an average of six days. The cost of a cabin passage should be fixed as low as £10., in order to promote such intercourse as would P e vivify the Colonies. — Intermediate passengers should be taken at £5. or £0. each, and a lower class of passengers much cheaper. A vessel could make a voyage every four weeks, and would produce the following result : £. s, d. The cost of thirteen voyages would be for Coals, Captain, Engineers and Stokers, Crew, and all their Provisions, ' Oil. TaUow, &c 45,000 Interest of money and Insurance, Tear and Wear of Ship and Ej^gines and depreciation 34,000 Total cost of thirteen voyages £79,000 In return for which there could be conveyed — 100 Cabin Passengers, each Passage, at £10. each, net Passage-money, (the Feeding would be about 40». extra) for twenty-six passages is £26,000. 200 Intermediate Passengers, each trip at £5. . 2G,000. 52,000 Leaving excess of Expense beyond the Earnings from the above sources, and which Excess would remain to re- present the cost of conveying 1,500 Emigrants each voyage outwai"ds (thirteen voyages) £27,000 In thirteen outward passages this would be 19,500 emigrants, who would thus, it appears, be conveyed from the United Kingdom to British North America for under 28s each, exclusive of provisions, which may be considered 78. extra ; and for this small ex- pense of 28s. each, 19,500, or say nearly 20,000 emigrants would be landed at their destination in the Western Hemisphere in six Jays, instead of about forty djiys as at present by inferior sail vessels. The value of their labour in America at a low rate of wages, for the mere time saved on the voyage would thus be more than equivalent to the whole cost of their transport. If it were desired to carry a greater number of emigrants than the services of one vessel would accomplish, a large increase of the number would certainly cost higher per head than the above rate, because the more remunerative cabin and interme- diate passengers might not increase in proportion ; but even if the whole expense were incurred for the emigrants, the cost would still be very moderate, and not materially exceed the cost of the bad passage now afforded to them by sail vessels, besides which, in the foregoing estimate, no credit is taken for mail service, or parcels, specie, &c. This steam communication will be fu^'ther ad- verted to presently ; but in the meantime let us glance at the landing-place of the emigrants on the other side of the water. It is absolutely essential that, simultaneously with the production of the proposed steam transport, the Halifax and Quebec Railway should be commenced. The merits of this project will be found set forth in Major Robinson's Report, presented to Parliament last year ; and in Lord Elgin's recommendation of it, from which it will be observed that the proposed Railway will open up a fertile country capable of supporting many millions of industrious inhabitants, besides having collateral advantages too multitudi- nous here to enumerate. A few extracts from Major Holiiiison's report will he fbiiiid apiunded to these observations. There is every reason to believe that, in the course of not many years, this work vvouhl, as a mere rail- way, become highly productive; but its prospects, in this paltry view, are a secondary consideration, and they uuiy be too distant to nuike its construction feasible as a simple private underiakin^, from which, without reference to any indirect benefit to be ob- tained, instantaneous income is the sole object. It raust be undertaken by Government, and the nation would derive so many benefits from its con- struction, that there can be no question as to the policy of Government commencing it at once. If it were called a "road" instead of a "railroad," it would never have been hinted that it should be any- thing else than a Government work. The estimated cost of this Railway, which will pass 635 miles through British territory, is only £5,000,000 ; and it is satisfactorily shown by Major Robinson, and confirmed by the Railway Commis- sioners, that it can be opened for this sum. The probability of its being productive is dis- cussed in Major Robinson's report ; but, from the nature of the case, this does not admit of calculation, because many of the resources for its traffic are to be looked for in a country which it is intended to be the means of calling into existence, and which, for want of the railway, is as yet a wilderness without inhabitants, and destined so to remain so long as this railway is withheld. Those countries, especially new countries, which now have no railways, are in a quite different relative position from what they were H v>'!h»ji railways did not exist in nny conntry ; and if British Ameri -a be now denied that outfit by the Mother Country to put it on an equality with itfl neighbours, whicli is absobitely necessary for its pro- gress, we must be reconciled to the prospect of its remaining a wilderness for an indefinite period, and to see tiie emigrants from this kingdom transferring themselves iind their allegiance to a foreign nation, to the aggrandizement of the United States. Doubts expressed by tha Railway Commissioners as to the railway being immediately piofifable as a commercial speculation, need be no discouragement to the nation undertaking it, even if thU short- sighted view of the work were to be made the test of its merits. If the parties who built the Lighthouse on the Skerry Island off Holyhead, as a private speculation, in the last century, in consideration of the right to a toll of a penny per ton on ships passing, had applied for advice to the Railway Commissioners, they would, no doubt, have met with scepticism as to the growth of trade to be then expected in the Irish Channel, similar to what is now entertained as to the future destiny of British North America ; and it would then have been " judged necessary to ascer- tain," and '* prudent to calculate,' what did not, and does not, from the nature of things, admit of ascertainment and calculation. The undertakers of the lighthouse, however, acted with more sagacity and decision than the Railway Commissioners, with their calcinating machinery, would have counselled, and built it, and the result has repaid them ; for, after the proprietors had enjoyed a good revenue i'or many years, it wns nt last lately resolved by Parliament, that, with a view to a reduction of light dues, this and other such private lights should be purchased tur the public, through the medium of the Trinity House ; and, when its value was assessed, the income from the small toll on vessels passing was found so large that a jury awarded £444,084. 1 Is. to the proprietors, as the purchase-money for the lighthouse ; the public thus retracing, in rather a costly way, the original error of having left it to '* private enterprize" (as is now the fashion with railways) to make lighthouses. It is not necessary to establish the probability of the Halifax and Quebec Railway increasing in value in so great a proportion as this and other lighthouses have done ; but the future value of the Railway, supposing it to be made a Government work, must be looked at in conjunction with the enhancement of the Crown lands of the provinces through which it will pass. These Crown lands amount to 14,427,000 acres. For the effect on their value to be anticipated from the Railway, the evidence of Messrs. Uniacke, Perley, Carter, Pembcrton, and others, before a Committee of the House of Lords in 1047, can be consulted. On the granted lands adjoining the Railway a rate ought probably to be levied ; and when the immense mineral resources of the provinces are also remembered, a most sanguine expectation of their future career is anything but visionary. Prince Edward Island also must not be over- looked. The railway, although it will not go through Prince Edward Island, will go close to the point from whence B 10 i i the ferry to it is only seven miles wide ; and if the railway were to effect n^; other end than thus bringing Prince Edward Island into jnxta-position with the United Kingdom, its cost would not be an unavailing investment. Some interesting particulars of the capabilities of this Island will be found in the evidence of Mr. Cunard before the Committee of the House of Lords in 1847, where he corroborates Lord Durham's report about it, which says, that out of 1,400,000 acres there are only 10,000 supposed to be unfit for the plough and that " Had the natural advantages of Prince " Edward Island been turned to proper account, it ** might at this time have been the granary of the ** British Colonies ; and instead of barely supporting " a poor and unenterprising population of 40,000, " its mere agricultural resources would, according to " Major Head, have mr.intained in abundance a po- " pulation of at least ten times that number." — (677, 678.) With regard to the productions, Mr. Cunard says ** that the wheat is very good, more so than in the ** adjoining provinces ; and the oats are beautiful — " we have no such oats here." — (629.) t( « « « * There is no part of the world better ** calculated for fishing than Prince Edward Island." " The climate is healthy and the soil good, and ** the production is very good. It is a beautiful spot. " Nobody can visit it without admiring it." — (696.) But how are people to admire what they can't see? -'■ --.■■ii.- -^ ■,.;. ?- •. ,f£- ' Facility of visiting it is therefore the desideratum. 11 If, then, the future value of the Railway and of the public domain, to which it is to impart value, be looked at, as they ought to be, as a whole, the pro- spective value is immense, and the propriety of Government undertaking it evident. Neither is the investment of £5,000,000 at all a formidable national exertion ; and it would be much better to have the overflow of British capital directed into such channels as this, than lent to Russia to make a road from Petersburg to Moscow. An in- vestment of £5,000,000 would cost, with the funds at 96, only £150,250 per annum gross outlay, sup- posing (an absurdity) no return to be got from it ; and even this outlay would be incurred only gra- dually, during the years occupied in constructing the road. The public voice is happily loud against extravagance and waste of money, but " he that is " slothful in his work is brother to him that is a ** great waster ;" and any one who can advocate this nation being so slothful as to leave its dominions untilled, and can desire the means to be withheld from this essential work — essential equally for the prosperity of the Colonies and for the necessities of the United Kingdom — is not an economist. For extensive particidars of the merits of this Railway, Major Robinson's Report can be consulted ; but without a suitable steam communication with the Mother Country, an indispensable link would be wanting, and Major Robinson has said little about this. The intercourse at present kept up does not at all meet the requirements of the case. The steamers having the course to 'aemselves get un- -^-..Mi. IS I i merited credit for being fast, and they certainly are a contrast to the sail vessels which preceded them, from which the popular European notion of the distance of America is formed. But the present steamers are, in fact, very slow ; and when, under favourable circumstances, they make a passage in less time than usual, it simply proves that Halifax is not far away. It would be quite erroneous, from even the shortest passage hitherto performed, to infer that it was done at a high speed. The modern improvements in Steam Navigation are not introduced in the Transatlantic vessels, either British or American, and it is merely their large scale which makes them passable. All large vessels excel amall ones, ceteris paribus ; but this is more particularly the case with steam vessels, from the principle that their ability to carry propellimg power increases by an increase of tonnage in a much higher ratio than the resistance increases. Hence the self-satisfied parties who sway the Trans- atlantic steamers have been, from the tameness of the public, enabled to despise improvements, and will continue to do so while the public tolerate mediocrity; their vessels attaining their present speed, such as it is, from their mere size, whilst those vessels that have as yet been scientifically constructed, have not the same advantage of a large scale. A steam vessel combining the advantages of scale and science does not yet exist. When such a one shall be produced, present ideas as to the expanse of the ocean will be revolutionized. The period seems now to have arrived when the construction of such a steamer ought not to be longer delayed. ? ^y a The accommodation of steam to British America is also, at present, inaccessible, except to that limi- ted number of cabin passengers who can afford to pay heavily, to whom the expense is treble, and the distance practically double what it ought to be. ^ All this can be remedied, and it must be done. That eminent practical and scientific engineer, Mr. Penn, of Greenwich, having been consulted, gives the following as his opinion, viz. " Having been consulted on the subject, I do not •' hesitate to say, that an Ocean Steam Emigrant " Ship can be constructed capable of conveying two " thousand people, and maintaining an average speed •' of at least sixteen nautical miles per hour, between " Ireland and Halifax* and under favorable circum- '* stances the speed would be much greater. I would ** stake my professional reputation on accomplishing " fully this performance. A naval architect who also *' anticipates the above result from the power applied ** as I propose, remarks in one of his communica- *' tions in reference to it, that— 'the advantages attend- " * ing such a vessel as regards comfort over the finest " * vessels now in existence, and the certainty with ** * which the voyage would be made within the " ' stated time, almost to an hour, together with the ** * almost total freedom from sea-sickness, would *• * render this conveyance as preferable to the pre- " * sent class of vessels as the railway train is to a " * waggon, with the additional advantage of a cheaper ** * fare.' The result would be splendid." (Signed) "John Penn, Engineer, Greenwich. " January 24th, 1850." - . ,. . - . .'fl ^A* * A speed of 16 nautical miles per hour is 5 J days for the passage from Ireland to Halifax. 14 This will be double the speed of the Royal Mail Fleet, and it will be an improvement to the extent of fifty per cent, on the speed of the best of the present transatlantic vessels. In bad and adverse weather, more particularly, will the contrast be stunning. Of course interested parties will sneer at this, but the truth cannot be suppressed — unless the public are asleep. An encouragement to the agitation of this subject at present is the consideration that the attainment of an approach to perfection in the transit to Halifax is reconcileable with economy. It clears the way at once for a saving of at least £150,000. per annum in the West India mail service, on the expiration on the 1st January, 1U52, of the royal mail contract, which now costs £240,000. per annum. r, - The difference between this, and the assumed sa- ving of £150,000 per annum is £90,000. per annum, which is more than ample to secure the efficiency of the West India mail service as an offshoot from Ha- lifax, whatever should be the detail required. It would also include the cost of an efficient separate line of screw vessels between the United Kingdom and that part of the West Indies which may be thought to lie rather out of the Halifax direction ; viz., Guiana and the Windward Islands, &c. >%> As regards Jamaica, and all places beyond it or to the north of it, it is very important to observe, that the route to it by way of Halifax is not circuitous, and it is hoped that the authorities will not permit themselves to be misled on this point by the re- presentations of any advocates of the Royal Mail Company. Jliiil The West India Packets must call at Halifax whatever company they belong to. The distorted position of places on Mercator's chart exaggerates the apparent detour of Halifax in some people's minds, but on a great circle course, which is the shortest between two places, it will be found tliat Halifax is not at all out of the course to New York, and that it is so very little out of the shortest course to Jamaica as to be quite unimportant, the extra dis- tance being no more than 180 miles, (as may be seen by stretching a thread on a globe), a distance far more than counterbalanced by the higher speed at- tainable by the class of vessels applicable to the shorter runs made practicable by the division of the voyage — besides which a communication between Halifax and Jamaica will, when the Quebec Railway shall have been undertaken, be secondary in im- portance only to the communication with the United Kingdom. With fair play, Halifax is destined to become one of the greatest places in the world. The concentration of the intercourse at one point has everything to recommend it. The ferry between the West of Ireland and Halifax will fulfil all the de- siderata of a packet station. It is a shorter run between the two hemispheres than any other points afford ; and hence a class of vessels of a speed higher than could by any possibility be attained on a longer voyage can be introduced. Then, the concentra- tion of the communication at one point evidently indicates the admission of larger vessels than if the intercourse were dispersed ; and this is of vast im- portance, from the numerous advantages of a large vessel over a small one ; and further, on this station, I la but only on tliis station, large vessels can, by ac- commodating emigrants, have their capacity made profitably available without subversion of their speed, which would not be the case if goods instead of emigrants were to be the cargo, the carriage of goods being an application of space which cannot possibly be reconcileable with packet duties. The improved steam communication to Halifax, and the railway thence to the interior, form one subject, than which none can well be of more im- portance to the United Kingdom at this present time. Before concluding it may not be superfluous to allude to an untenable position taken by many peo- ple, who try to discourage the advocates for the colonization and settlement of British North Ame- rica, by alleging that it is an inferior country. The Railway is required in order to give Great Britain, without being, as at present, ( ' the inercy of the precarious courtesy of the United States, access to her own dominions in Western Canada, about the fertility of which there is no contro- versy ; but it is a mistake to suppose that even New Brunswick itself is an ineligible country for set- tlers,* and even if it were so, it is no reason why Great Britain, since it is her's, should not make the most of it. Sloth and idleness will not thrive in it, but it is a most hopeful country for settlement. Other regions of the earth, in the United States and elsewhere, may have some advantages, but the apparent advantages have their drawbacks, in- cluding ague. The most sunny climes do not always * See Appendix. See also despatch from Governor Sir Edmund Head to Earl Grey, dated Frederickton. 27th June, 1849. u support the most Nourishing communities ; as, for example. Great Britain contrasted with Italy can attest. And if the British provinces have severe winters, and some other drawbacks, to complain of, they are not entirely without compensation. Witness the deposits of coal and iron. The area of coal formation in the eastern provinces of British America is very great. The annexed diagrams show the relative area of bituminous coal in Great Britain and in the eastern provinces of British America: the larger figure representing the British American and the smaller the British bituminous coal area; viz, 10,000 square miles for the former, and 8,139 square miles for the latter.* The bulk of these coal {ields will be traversed or approached by the Halifax and Quebec Railway. Altogether the inducements for Great Britain tak- ing the simple measures obviously calculated to annex these valuable colonies to herself are so palpable and overwhelming, that the prevailing apathy about it is unaccountable, but it is hoped that this apathy is about to terminate. Further preliminary negotiations across the At- lantic ought not to be allowed to create delay ; for if parliament should at once proceed to the consider- ation of the subject, and authorize the outlay, the power can of course be reserved to government of dictating equitable conditions to the colonies before commencing operations. •»« See Tayloi-'s Statistics of Coal. . , ,!' ' ' f V ! » "■}.■, ;s. *{'. ^ri- f .•! ,fcil' i»i^^: «, ...i, ^ * i* ;«v- i,.,-H)!»-f» ;»'^ 5- \ .i',»'--' *iV APPENDIX. Extracts from the Report of Major Robinson, of the Royal Engineers, on the Halifax and Quebec Railway, presented to Parliament February, 1849. " In New Branswick there are, according tx> an official Report of the Surveyor-General, dated 15th December, 1847, 20,000.000 acres, of which about 6,000.000 are either granted or sold, and 3.000,000 may be considered as barren or under water ; leaving, therefore, at the dis- posal nf the Government. 11.000,000 of acres of forest land fit for settlement. " Of the 6.000.000 granted or sold, only 600,000 acres are estunated as being actually under cultivation. - ■ »; • ''j -- , " By a statistical table published by W. Spackman, London, there are — Acres Cultivated. Acres Unsnltivated. Acres Unprofitable. Total Acres. 25,632,000 3,117,000 5,265,000 12,125,280 600,000 3,454,000 530,000 5,950,000 4,900,000 16,400,000 3,256,400 1,105,000 8,593,930 2,416,664 3,000,000 32,342,000 Wales 4,752,000 Strntland ......•«•« 19.738.000 19,441,944 New Brunswick .... 20,000,000 " Population of England. 14.995.508 , „j , , = „ Wales 911,321 ./,,„,, Scotland 2.628.957 „ Ireland 8.205.382 New Brunswick 208.000 " In Ireland there appears to be 1 7.000,000 acres of ground fit for cultivation, and it has a population of 8,000,000 to support. " In New Brunswick there is an equal amount of ground to cultivate, and it has only a population of 208,000 persons. ij| I 'a 20 " If the land yet uncleared and fit for cultivation be added, which re- rnains in the northern section of Nova Scotia, and again between the boundary of New Brunswick and the JAiver St. liawrence to the eaat of Quebec, then there would be a quantity of nearly equal to that of Eng- land itself, supporting a population of 400,000 souls. " It is not too much then to say, that between the Bay of Fundy and the St. Lawrence, in the country to be traversed by the proposed rail- way, there is abundant room for all the surplus population of the mother country. ■ ■ •:. , ■■■■^ j:i^ '' " Of the climate, soil, and capabilities of New Brunswick, it is impos- sible to speak too highly. " There is not a country in the world so beautifully wooded and watered. " An inipection of the map will show that there is scarcely a section of it without its streams, from the nmning brook up to the navigable river. Two-thirds of its boundary are washed by the sea ; the remainder is embraced by the large rivers the St. John and Restigouche. i'^nf " For beauty and richness of scenery this latter river and its branches are not surpassed by anything in Great Britain, r > .. - 1 >i»<»(u» w;-. " Its lakes are numerous and most beautiful, its sur&ce is undulating, hill and dale, varying up to mountain and valley. It is everywhere, ex- cept a few peaks of the highest mountains, covered with a dense forest of the finest growth. " The country can everywhere be penetrated by its streams. " In some parts of the interior, for a portage of three or four miles, a canoe can float away either to the Bay Chaleurs and the gulf of St. Law- rence, or down to St. John's in the Bay of Fundy. " Its agricultural capabihties, its climate, &c., are described in Bou- chette's works, in Martin's British Colonies, and other authors. The country is by them, and most deservedly so, highly praised. " There may be mentioned, however, two drawbacks to it, and only two. " Tlie winter is long and severe; and in siunmer there 's the plague of flies. " The latter yield and disappear as the forest is cleared ; how far the former may be modified by it experience only can show. " For any great plan of emigration or colonization, there is not another British colony which presents such a favourable field for the trial as New Brunswick. 21 •• To 17,000,000 of productive acres there arc only 208,000 inhabi- tants. " Of these 11,000,000 are still public property. '• On the surface is an abundant stock of the finest timber, which in the markets of England reaUse large sums annually, and afford un unlimited supply of fuel to the settlers. " If these should ever become exhausted, there are the coul-fleldi underneath. " The rivers, lakes, and sea-coasts abound with fish. " Along the Bay Chaleurs it i» so abundant that the land smells of it ; it is used as manure ; and while the olfactory senses of the traveller are offended by it on the land, he sees out at sea immense »hoals darkening the surface of the water. '• For about the same expense, five emigrants could be landed in New Brunswick for one in the Antipodes. Being within a fortnight by steam from London, any great plan of colonization could be directed and con- trolled by the Home Government. " In case of distress or failure, it would be long previously foreseen ; the remedy or assistance could be appUed ; or, if beyond these, there would be the upper country and the far west always open, and ready to receive the colonists. -'iH-'h «.'!*.. Tir,' .rcf nrr .•?'■.<■," -.■■ \'tu'; ;vcv- --'ii..'r " The present limited population being so generally engaged in the pursuit of the timber trade and in the fisheries, there is the richest open- ing for agriculturists. " New Brunswick annually pays to the United States upwards of £200,000. for provisions and other articles which she can raise upon her own soU. " Nova Scotia does very nearly the same thing. ' '' - .,i.:tt.. •' Whilst within a few miles' reach of their own capitals, there is abundance of land for agricultural productions ; these two provinces are dependent for large supplies of food upon the United States. -.i-n^rA - " Flour is imported fVom as far as New Orleans. " Wheat grown in the valley of the Mississippi is shipped at St. Louis, and imported into New Brunswick. It is ground into flour at the mills of St. John, and furnishes a large share of the bread eaten by the la- bourers of that city. " There exists, therefore, a good market already on the spot for agri- cultural produce ; and it would be a strange anomaly, indeed, if a country situated within three or four weeks' sail of the markets of England, could 22 not compete with the growers of produce in the valley of the Miatiuippi and the countries round the great lakes in the fur west . " One thing, however, is greatly to be deprecated ; that is, any sudden or large emigration without previous preparation. " Before wheat or food of any kind can be grown, the forest has to be removed; and that is a work of time and bard labour, during which those engaged in it must be fed from other sources. " With some little previous detailed surveying, the proposed railway can be commenced both at the Quebec and Halifax ends as soon as deci- ded upon, and carried on for miles. During which time the ftirther detailed survey necessary for the remainder of the line, and particularly the portion through the wilderness might be made, and the line actually marked and cut throughout. " This line, when cut, would form a basis for laying out extensive blocks of land, and dividing them into allotments for settlers. " It will be unnecessary in this Report to recapitulate aU the good effects produced upon every country in which railways have been estab- lished : but some may be mentioned. " They have become necessary to the age, and that country which has them not must fall behind in the onward march of improvement and in the development of its resources. And the longer it is suffered to do so, the greater and more unfavourable wrill be the contrast which it will present to the world. . ■: a. r i " Already in this respect the British provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are far behind their enterprizing neighbours. " One of the immediate effects of making this railway would be to place them in a position of equality. They are now dependent upon them for food." * * * * * * * * * * «' " Halifax would become tiie grand emporium of trade for the Britiali provinces. ..■..s-^ -k .(<.t ^.n*l< 41 « " It may he asked what is to become of the labourers employed upon the railway during the winter. This is the season when lumbering or cutting of timber commences. They might engage in it also. But with the wages earned in the summer they should be incited to purchase small lots of ground of about 50 acres each. '•• ^ ' -!« -: ^ - ?' - j^ " The labours of the season over, or suspended upon the nulway, they could most advantageously employ themselves in clearing, logging, and improving their own lots. This they could do to surh an extent that in the spring the women and older children could bum the logs off and put ita some sort of crops for food, such as potatoes, Indian corn, &c. " Mechanics might either do the same, if railway work could not be found for them, or find employment in tae towns. " Another great effect of the railway woiild be to enhance almost im- mediately the value of all reil and personal property. The effects pro- duced by the Erie Cana! in doubling and nearly tripling that of the City of New York has been stated. " Villages and towns would, no doubt, spring up in its course the same as on the oanrl. The railway woiild give them birth. Agriculture and external commerce would support and enrich them. II 7SP 24 " But if, by its means, the navigation of the Gulf of St. Lawrence ia spared, what an amount of human suffering and loss of life will it not save. ■'■»' " The losses from shipwreck have been great, but not equal to that arising from protracted voyages and crowded emigrant ships. " In 1847, 89,738 persons emigrated to the British provinces, of whom 5,293 persons perished at sea, and 10,000 are said to have died after their arrival. « i» * * ♦ ■•( " The railway established, the ^ Jissage may be shortened, and the time of emigration may be selected at choice. "^ " Embarking and disembarking at Halifax, all danger and incon- venience from the Gulf navigation would be avoided. Time and expense vould be saved, and the season might be disregarded. " The mails to and from Canada could pass over British territory ex- clusively, and they would be received at Quebec before the steamer reached Boston, and at Montreal about the same time as it arrived at that port. " In a political and military point of view, the proposed railway must be regarded as becoming a work of necessity. " It is most essential, therefore, that the mother country should be able to keep up her communications with the Canadas at all times and seasons. However powerful England may be at sea. no navy could sa^e Ct<,nada from a land force. " Its conquest and annexation are freely spoken of in the United State? even on the fl ors of Congress. " Weakness invites aggression, and as the railway would he a lever of power by which Great Britain could bring her strengtlx to bear in the contest, it is not improbable that its construction would be the means of preventing a war at some no distant period. " The expenses of one year's war would pay fcr a railway two or three times over. " The following extract from the Report of Lord Durham, Her Majesty's High Commissioner and Governor -General of British North America in 1 839, is so apposite and just, and bears so strongly upon the subject under consideration, that it is conceived no better con^lv.sion can be made to this Report than to insert it : — 26 *• ' These interesto are, indeed, of great magnitude 5 and on the course which your Majesty and your Parliament may adopt with respect to the North American colonies, will depend the future destinies, not only of the milUon and a half of your Majesty's subjects who at present inhabit those provinces, but of that vast population which those ample and fertile territories are fit and destined hereafter to support. No portion of the American continent possesses greater natural resources for the main- tenance of large and flourishing communities. An almost boundless range of the richest soil still remains unsettled, and may be rendered available for the purposes of agriculture. The wealth of inexhausti- ble forests of the best timber in America, and of extensive regions of ths most valuable minerals, have as yet been scarcely touched. A'.^.q; the whole line of sea-coast, around each island, and in every river, are to be found the greatest and richest fisheries in the world. The best fuel and the most abundant water-power are available for the coarser manufactures, for which ua easy and certain market will be found. Trade with other continents is favoured by the possession of a large number of safe and spacious harbours; long, deep, and numerous rivers, and vast inland seas, supply the means of easy intercourse, and the structure of the country generally afibrds the utmost facility for every species of com- munication by land. Unbounded materials of agricultural, commercial, and manufacturing industry are there. It depends upon the present decision of the Imperial Legislature to determine for whose benefit they are to be rendered available. The country which has founded and maintained these colonies at a vast expense of blood and treasure, may justly expect its compensation in turniag their unappropriated resources to the account of its own redundant population ; they are rightful patri- mony of the English people — the ample appanage which God and nature have set aside in the new world for those whose lot has assigned them but insufficient portion;:^ in the old.' " And if for great poUtica'i objects it ever become necessary or ad- visable to unite all the British provinces xmder one Legislative Govern- ment, then there will be formed on this side of the Atlantic one powerful British 8tat€, which, supported by the imperial power of the mother- country, may bid defiance to all the United States of America. " The means to t^e end, tlm first great step to its accomplishment, is the construction of the Halifax and Quebec Railway. (Signed) "Wm Robinson, " Captain Royal Engineers, Brevet-Major." » ITurn over.] 26 And Lord Elgin, the Governor-General, in the course of his despatch to Lord Grey, in favour of the work, says: — ^ -• ■■■■■' -.•.-., -vvva ..^.f-.,,, "It is obvious that as soon as railway communication is extended throughout the provinces a smaller military force than is now requisite will suffice for their protection. But looking to the anxiety which your Lordship has repeatedly expressed that a diminution in the expenditure incurred by Great Britain on this accoimt should be efiected at the earliest period, I am prepared to go a step farther in this direction, so confident am I that the mere undertaking of the work in question will tend to raise the colonists from the despondency into which recent changes in the commercial policy of the empire has plunged them ; to unite the provinces to one another and to the mother-country ; to inspire them with that consciousness of their own strength and of the value of the connexion with Great Brittun, which is their best security against aggres- sion ; that I would not hesitate to recommend that an immediate and considerable reduction should take place in the force stationed in Canada in the event of the execution of the Quebec and Halifax Reilway being determined on." ■ ~ »• /■i \ :»'»iiip;i:yfti:f; :Ui POSTSCRIPT. '^i'-y '■'j\ Lord John Russell in his speech of the 8th of February, in Parliament, upon the Colonies, expresses satisfaction with the present state of unaided and un- directed emigration, and apparently regards with com- placency, as a matter for congratulation, the appalling fact that, according to official returns furnished to him by Mr. Murdoch, no less than 796,354 emigrants have left this country in three years, the overwhelming majority of whom went to the United States, This, Lord John Russell is reported to have called, " one mode in which emigration is carried on bene- ficially." . In the same speech Lord John Russell de- nounces the agitation in Canada, for annexation of those Provinces to the United States, and he is reported to have said, that " he wondered how any " persons professing loyalty could entertain such a •* project — a project which, in the event of any inter- " national difference between England and the " United States of America, would place them in '* the position of being opponents of her Majesty, " and cause them to fight against the British flag." This is all right — but to be so horrified at the idea of the small present population of the Provinces of Canada transferring their allegiance, whilst the annual expatriation of nearly a quarter of a million of Her Majesty's home-bred subjects to the Republic of the United States is admired, is straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel. ^^.. ,4. The Halifax and Quebec Railway, combined with Ocean Omnibuses, is required to rescue those whose w 'sa lot compels them to seek a new field for their labor, from the necessity of submitting to expatriation. The British Provinces of North America, though so contiguous to the United Kingdom, are at present in an eddy, past which the stream of emigration and wealth, the fruit of emigration, flows ; but, by the enterprize here advocated, this stream may be so directed as to retain within the boundless, fertile, and inexhaustible British Dominions every willing subject of Queen Victoria, instead of transferring them to President Zachary Taylor, forgetting that — " In the multitude of people is the king's honor : but in the want of people is the destruction of the prince." '-*" ■,#,. '■■■ 'i; ■ Note. By the Poet Office regulations one single penny postage label transmits this small pamphlet fre« to the United States; but, though conveyed bv the same packet, the poiiitage exacted for its transmission to Halifax, or elsewhere in British North America, is four shillings and eight pence. j ^ , \ bor, ►ugh ssent and J the )e so rtile, illing rring liat— : bnf f the ►stage label »ut, though lemission to lillings and