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A'/ AN ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE REQUEST OF THE MEMBERS OF THE Bliuubcstci' ilefonu Chvb. ft'- >>' BY EDWARD JENKINS, ESQ., M.P, AGE NT- GENERAL FOR CANADA. % " CANADIAN NEWS " OFFICE, ;l, WHITEFRIARS STREET. 18 75. THE GREAT DOMINION. "When" an Englishman sets his face westward from Queens- town or Londonderry ho looks across the seas towards an appanage of the Crown of Great Britain, within one hundred and fifty thousand square miles as large as the whole of Europe — in extent of territory surpassing the United States^ exclusive of Aliaska, by raore than four hundred thousand square miles. It is not enough to say that this is the greatest Colony in the world. Consider properly its natural resources, its physical grandeur, the variety both of its grandeur and its resources, and the mind wearies in contemplating the possibilities of em- pire in a region so marvellously endowed. This country, lying between the latitude of Rome and the North Pole, is approached by the unrivalled water-gate of the St. Lawrence. On the left, to the south, keeping watch and ward over the enormous Gulf, lie three thriving maritime colonies, constituting together probably ihe most general shipowning community in the world estimated perhead of the population. Let us stay for a few moments and glance at these three provinces — Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. They have a united area of 32,140,17J acre, or more than 50,000 square miles, with a population of 767,415, the average being only 15^ persons per square mile. Of the 32,000,000 of acres it is stated that 25,500,000 arc good settlement lands, of which New Brunswick has 1 1,000,000, Nova Scotia 1 0,000,000, and Prince Edsvard Island 1,500,000. The cereals, root and fruit crops of Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, and the magnificent savannah lands of New Brunswick, are almost proverbial in North America. Twenty-nine millions of acres of these provinces are forost lands, and, making allowance for the large proportion of these which are of no value, there still remain enormous quantities of lumber of the best quality. The value of the total ex- ports of lumber from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in the fiscal year ending June, 1873, was $5,328,954. From St. John, N.B., alone 347,181 tons of shipping were engaged in carrying Its export of wood. If we turn to the register of shipping we shall find some astonishing items. Nova Scotia owns 430,000 tons. New Brunswick 300,000 tons. Prince Edward Island 40,000 tons— total 770,000 tons, or about a ton of shipping to each head of the population. The St. John Daily Telegraph challenges, with just pride, any one to find a countr}', province, state or community in the whole world, equal in population, and of whom not more than 100,000 live in the cities or large towns, whose people own as much shipping as the maritime provinces. " If," says the Telegraph, "all Canada owned shipping in the same pro- •* portion, we should have as large a mercantile marine as the '"' United States. As it is, even now, we are not so far be- " hind them in sea-going vessels, and 7,0 can point to the " fact that St. John, with its 250,000 tons of shipping, is " the fourth town as regards shipping in the British Empire— 5 " only being surpassed by Liverpool, Londou, and Glasgow " — and owns more sea-going vessels than New York or Phila- " delphia— a pretty good exhibit for 50,000 people/' Or, take again the fisheries ; for the calendar year 1873 the fi.sh product of the three maritime provinces reached a total of $9,060,000, This product is nearly doubled by the fishery of the United States in English waters. In minerals, the provinces of Novu 8cotia and Now Brunswick are peculiarly rich, with the groat advantage of proximity to the world^s commerce: Coal, iron, gold, and stone already give a considerable yield. There is no doubt that both provinces have iron of the very best quality in as favourable proximity to vast coal measures as it is in Great Britain. Nearly 1,000 miles of railway are already in operation, and 545 more are in course of construction. If you glance at the map you will observe that Nova Scotia constitutes a peninsula, connected by the Isthmus of Chignecto with the province of New Brunswick, and that, consequently, the communication of the River and Gulf of the St. Lawrence with the Bay of Fundy and the Atlantic ports of tlie United States, can only be established either by going round Cape Breton, or by sailing through the Strait of Canso. It is intended to connect the Gulf of the St. Lawrence with tlie Bay of Fundy by a canal at Baieverte, whicli will save between the upper parts of the St. Lawrence and New York more than 300 miles of navigation, to Boston and Poriland 400 miles, and to St. John at least 500 miles. In the mouth of the Gulf lies Newfoundland, having a supremacy of position, and containing within itself undeveloped sources of riches and national strength, which might well stay our inquiry for this whole evening, were we not bound to hasten on to vaster areas and more wonderful storehouses of nature. Twelve hundred miles round, the whole coast swarming 6 with fiah, it has regions wholly unoxplorc:! of riclily wooded lands and fine alluvial soil. ]\[r. Murray, the provincial sur- veyor, has, during the summer, reported to his Government tho discovery upon tho Gander River of vast forests of valuable timber, and of a country capable of supporting an agricultural population of at least 100,000 people ; and this is but an instalment of future promise. It is, however, to be regretted that tho possession and enjoyment of this noble island should be restrained and qualified by alleged French rights, which the British Government has not the hardihood to repudiate or the policy to abolish. On the "West coast our fisheries are invaded, and claims are even made, and partially enforced, to exclusive dominion over the shore and adjacent districts. The assertion of these claims — doubtful in right, to say the least — is becoming so intolerable as to require the early attention of the British Government. Passing through the Straits of Belle Isle, you enter upon inland waters, stretching inwards for 2,200 miles. The dis- tance to Lake Ontario is 700 miles, and a vessel of 4,000 tons can steam unobstructed to Montreal, a distance little short of 600 miles from the entrance of the River St. Lawrence. On either side is an endless panorama of holiness and beauty, of wildness and cultivation, from the highland mountains of Gasp^ to the smiling fields and quaint villages of the Isle d'Orleans, stretched out in a patchwork of cultivation. This is the province of Quebec. And what a province ! Let me group together a few facts about it. Its length is between 700 and 1,000 miles, its breadth about 300. In area it occupies 193,355 square miles, or nearly 124,000,000 of acres. To this enormous territory there is at present only a population of 1,191,500, or 6*16 persons per square mile. Yet, one of the oldest colonies in America, imbued with many of the cliaracterUtics of an oli society, it is well worth staLi^tioal or historical research. Nearly one million Freach-speakiag Roman Catholics hero live, proud of the privilege of British citizenship, while retaining their language, their Breton and Normandy jp«/ow and songs, their quaint and simple manners and habits of thought. Few people in England know what a field of delightful and picturesque study is within ten days of them in British domain, and ensconced on the very borders of the blaring and novel civilizition of America. Turning from the in- sufficient population to the capacities and attractions of this province, we shall be amazed that it has not developed more rapidly, resources exceeding in variety and splendour those of any State of the American Union. Fisheries along the Gulf of the St. Lawrence and the Labrador coast, ample to support the whole fishing population of Norway and Sweden ; timber limits untouched and unsurveyed, covering 107,000,000 of acres ; riverine valleys and stretches of plain in the latitudes of Liverpool, London, and Paris, their situation modifying those extremes of temperature which alarm the ignorant, but are viewed by the expert as beneficent climatic conditions, endowing this great province with advantages in health and wealth beyond those of many more southern latitudes. The most recent surveys of the vast stretches of country in the rear of the settled strips along the northern banks of the St. Law- renceand OttawaRivers indicate that there lie here undisturbed territories with soil, climate, and capabilities of access and pro- duction equal to anything yet occupied within the province. The extent of the mineral wealth is as yet only guessed at, but it is known by survey and experience tobeenormous. Gold, silver copper, iron, lead, plumbago, zinc, and other metals— here, within easy reach of English capital, under the protection of 8 British Government, arc ficldfi far Iraus.cndin^j; in promise, security, und facility of access the distant foreign VA Dorados, wliich so delude the adventurous speculator. Q lebeo has been too long neglected by English cnlerpiise, and deserves raoro attention from the scientific man, the capitalist, ti'^'l iho emigrant. Its fisheries alone would, if properly \voiked,producu a great revenue. On the shores of the little island of Anti- costi, which is 140 miles long, almost uninhabiletl, a schooner has been known to catch 1,100 barrels of herrings in one day. Codtish and halibut abound, and there is, on Sir William Logan's authority, an arable soil infoiior to none on the Con- tinent. Here, within eight or nine days of England by steamer, lies this rich pendicle of Quebec, in the possession of some hundred persons, or one to cvci-y 2G0 square miles. On the mainland the vigour of the Provinclul Government and of local capitalists is opening the way into new country, or improving communication in the old, by several important railways, one at least of which promises to reduce consider- ably the distance between the maritime provinces and the Dominion. But, returning to our original journey, we must hasten on. From Montreal the astonished visitor may take steamer up the St. Lawrence or the Ottawa, the latter leading him, should he choose to pursue his way by water beyond the last steamboat wharf, towards the very limits of the province of Quebec, to latitudes inhab'ted in Europe by immense popula- tions, but, by an absurd perversity, deemed to be in America too "Northern" for ordinary human beings ; but yet, at all events, affording work enough for the lumberman and his axo for some generations. Or, should the traveller prefer to follow the larger river, he can proceed to the heart of the province of Ontario — itself the very heart and life of the Dominion. 9 Tho population of Quebec is l,l'-^lj676, and of Oatario, l,020j850. Tliis province runs south- westerly along tho bank of tho St. Lawrence to tho lake of its own name, still keeping u south-westerly direction along Lake Erie, then skirting northward tho great Lake Huron, with its huge embrasure, the Georgian Bay, and passing along the north of Lake Superior to a boundary, as yet unsettled, lying between longi* tude 85° and 90° west. Lut me try by a few statistics to give an idea of this mag- nificent province. In length, from south-east to north-west, about 750 miles, and fi'om north-east to soutli-west, about 500 miles, its area, including the inward i' ors and lakes, but excluding the vast inland seas which bound it, is 107,780 square miles, or GS,979,37:^ acres. The ^jrovincicl iights in the S.. L. wrencc and the lakcsextend over 27,0: I square mile3. It is only necessary to look at tho latitude anJ. position of this beautiful country, and to be told that tho greater portion of its settled districts and a practically unlimited pait of its unsettled portions consist of a superior, fertile soil, to be assured of the variety of its agricultural wealth, the extent of its capacity, and, what in these vast regions is of immense consequence, the facilities of communication which the great water-gate of tho St. Lawrence gives it with all parts of the world. The great peninsula which stretches between Lake Huron and Lake Erie is undoubtedly becoming one of the richest agricultural districts in North America. The wheat which is raised here, paying a duty of Is. a bushel, can be sold in the United States in preference to their native-grown wheat. Trxdian corn comes to per- fection ; the other cereals and root crops, as might be expected, are of a superior character; and such fruits as apples, plums, peaches, and grapes are not readily to bo 10 excelled. If you look over the surface of those great districts which have only with'n a comparatively recent period been opened up for settlement, you will see that it is diversified by lakes which in Europe would bo considered enormous, by chains of smaller lakes, and by numerous rivers which carry their fertilising influence in every direction, and enable the iulmbitants to communicate by steam from lake to lake and river to river with the greatest facility. Here, also, the capitalist may find ready to his hand the means of untold wealth. Iron, copper, lead, plumbago, manganese, silver, and gold are found in various parts. The mineral wealth of the northern shore of Lake Superior has often excited the superlatives of tourists and geologists, but it is doubtful whether any of them have been able to express an adequate estimate of the richness of the region. We only know tliat at Silver Islet and in its immediate vicinity on the shore of the lake there exist some of the richest veins of silver in the world, and it cannot be doubted that as soon as the energies of population and the enterprise of capitalists shall have been directed upon that region of treasure, there will be developed there alone the means of employment and sustenance for a mining population greater than that of the whole of England. The English visitor who goes amongst the people of this province finds here that he is with brethren and friends. Though almost every nationality in Europe, from Iceland to Italy, has its representatives, the mainstays of the population are those from the British Islands. Their physical vigour, their British energy, their loyalty to the Crown, their love for the country from which they have sprung, the air of British society, with its manners and tone, which pervades the whole community, make one feel that here we have but ft transfer to a larger area— under novel conditions, it is true n — of a piece of Great Britain. "Vv e shall find that amongst tliese people there are a particular freedom, a strength and activity of political thought and action, toned nevertheless by a sound conservative common sense essentially British, which distinguishes them markedly from their mercurial Republican neighbours on the other side of the river and lakes which form the boundary between the two countries. The popula- tion is already about 1,620,000, and affording as it now does a large field for the absorption of labour, it promises within the next few years to increase in a ratio equal to that of some of the most successful of the Western States. Not many years ago the statesmen of Ontario appeared to be entirely ignorant of the real extent of its resources. One or two even ventured to state publicly that all its cultivable land had been already surveyed and settled ; but as settlements were pushed further and further to the north, it was found that among tho lakes and rivers, though here and there the spurs of tho great Laurentian chain interposed a dreary obstacle to settle- ment, there were valleys of great richness, and areas of the best land for agricultural purposes. But within the last ten years the gradually-advancing waves of population havo broken further and further into the interior, and it has been found that Ontario has not yet more than half developed her resources. It is indeed a province of which any Englishman may be proud. On every side, he sees in railways and roads, and thriving towns, and a busy trade, the proofs of a growing State ; and should he visit the borders of settlement and see how rapidlv civilization |^is encroaching on the ancient, un- disturbed domain of the forest, he may be disposed to turn bick contented, and say : " At length I have reached the borders of empire." But in truth he has only made a stage. He is but one- third 12 of the way across the great Dominion. At least 40 degrees of longitude intervene between him and the Western Pacific coast. It is this intermediate territory, of which it is impossible in any condensed relation to give an adequate idea, which has been handed over to the Dominion Govern- ment to govern, to develop, to populate, and to convert into an Empire larger, and I think I may truthfully say, more vigorous and powerful than that of the United States. Starting from the boundaries of Ontario oa our way across this tremendous territory, we come to a small square of it, which is a sort of midway station across the continent — the ■ province of Manitoba. Compared with the provinces we have been considering, this is like Lot's city, but a little one, con- taining only some 9,177,600 acres, all lying south of tlie latitude of London. The great prairie of middle America stretches up into this province, affording to the agricul- turist fields of loam as rich as that of the Western States, but, from the position in which the province lies, in a supe- rior climate. You may read in official publications the evidence of experienced farmers, who assert that the wheat and the root crops of this region excel anything they have ever seen in the best- cultivated districts of Eng- land or of any part of the American continent. Wlicat weighing from sixty-four to sixty-eight pounds to the bushel, on land bearing thirty-two, thirty-six, and forty bushels an acre ; potatoes and other roots of gigantic proportions ; the wheat testified by no less an authority than the Agricultural Bureau at Washington to be of an extraordinary quality. Such are the facts now made familiar by the Government of Canada in its emigration literature. . Stretching out a map of the intermediate tract from Red Biver to the Rocky Mountains, you can observe for yourselves 13 t , one or two remarkable facts. Look to the south of this territory in the United States, and you vainly seek for those sources of fertility and climatic salubrity — frequent rivers and lakes. liut here, almost from the head of Lake Superior, you track a gigantic system of lakes and rivers with innumerable feeders and outlets, extending from 1,200 or 1,300 miles to the foot of the Rocky Mountains, from the snow-capped peaks of which this amazing system originates. Captain Butler says that the forks of the Saskatchewan, a little to the east of longitude 105°, can, by ,the construction of a canal one hundred miles in length, of an easy course, be brought into direct connection with the St. Lawrence, and would allow steamers to reach Quebec with- out breaking bulk. During the last summer a single steamer has navigated the Saskatchewan, proving that with little difficulty an internal navigation of over eight hundred miles can be opened through the North-west. The consenting testimony of the comparatively few witnesses to whom we can refer for an opinion of the capabilities of this region is, that however limitless the tracts of desert to North and South, a great valley, bright with the radiance of life, gloomed with no shadow of death, offers exhaustless welcome to millions of settlers. Speaking of the vast American desert to the west of the 95th parallel, which brings up short the ambitious progress of the United States, Captain Butler says : " How it came to pass in the world that to the north of that great region of sand and waste should spread out suddenly the fair country of the Saskatchewan, I must leave to the guess-work of other and more scientific writers ; but the fact remains that alone from Texas to the subarctic forests the Saskatchewan valley lays its fair length for 800 miles in unmixed fertility." Hind, Archbishop Tache, Butler, Falliser, and Selwyn, 14 the reports of the exploring parties for the Pacific Railway, all confirm this statement. Of the western curve of the fertile belt, especially that portion through the Blackfeet country (of most of which Butler in winter spoke so slightingly), ex- tending for 300 miles along the eastern faces of the Rocky Mountains, with a varying breadth of from sixty to eighty miles— one scientific and official observer speaks as " the future garden of the Dominion," magnificent with regard to scenery, with soil of surpassing richness, and in respect of climate with an average temperature during the winter months 15 degrees higher than that of the western portion of^ Ontario. Here, as yet uninhabited except by the roving Indian and the wild animals of the prairies and forest, are undoubtedly regions of cultivable land, and of a climate as salubrious for a hardy race as any in the world ; an area greater than that now inhabited by 40,000,000 of American citizens. The tide of emigration, which has been bearing upon the centre of the American continent, and rolling westward in great waves, is now checked by the impassable borders of the great American desert. Who can doubt that it will diverge to the north, and bear its current of life and civilization up the great valley of the Saskatchewan ? The last link in this long chain of empire is British Columbia, on the Western coast, combining in itself almost all the advantages possessed by the most favoured northern countries of Europe, with a concentration and variety of wealth and solidity of promise which, could it only be reached by population, would make of it alone a mighty nation. We shall see directly that British Columbia has, in its situation, climatic advantages rivalling those of Great Britain. A great stream running from the tropics impinges upon its coast and disseminates its salubrious influences over an extent of country 15 much greater than that of the British Isles. The facts re- lated about this wonderful region, whether as regards its agricultural capacity or its mineral riches, are almost in- credible. It is said that in its forests are trees of six, ten, or even twenty- seven to thirty feet in diameter, some of them ranging from 150 to 300 feet in length without knots or branches. The total area is 350,000 square miles, of which the wheat area south of lat. 55<* N. is 96,000,000 acres. Twenty -two millions of dollars of gold have been extracted from its mines, which can scarcely be said to have been as yet fairly explored. Its coal-fields, in which are found A'cius unexampled in size and quality, will probably before long be the chief source of supply for Pacific navigation. Tlie result of recent explorations of these coal-fields gives these surprising facts. The productive area may be safely considered to be at least 300 square miles. Following the rule applied to coal-fields in South Wales, the Union Mine at Cromot alone would yield 16,000,000 tons per square mile, and the Baynes Sound Mine, 7,860,000 tons per square mile. The total thickness, it is stated, of the coal measures in the Nanairao Coal-fields may be safely estimated ac 2,500 feet. It will be seen at once how important this place — so fortunately situated, so richly endowed by Nature- is likely to become. The Canadian Pacific Railway will place New Westminster about 500 miles nearer to London than San Francisco. The railway will run upon a lower and more level grade. The greater part of it will pass, as we have seen, not, like the Union Pacific Railway, through a desert, but through a country capable of bearing a vast population. No harbours like those of British Columbia can be found else- where on the Pacific coast, and when communications are esta- blished, and trade is developed between the Pacific shores of 16 I ; i It the Dominion and China, Japan, and even Australia, who can doubt the important part which British Columbiu is destined to play in the history of the British Empire ? Thus we have surveyed from end to end this domain, which I love to look upon as but a vast suburb of Great Britain. I have shown that from Newfoundland to the north of Lake Superior there is yet room for an enormous additional popula- tion, and that soil remains untilled, promising industries are neglected, and mines of wealth lie unregarded alike by the capitalist and the labourer. In Great Britain the movements which are going on in society around us need cause us less anxiety when we see such an outlet for ill-paid or discontented labourers, such a field for superabundant capital. If, for instance, the wages of labourers in some of the agricultural districts prove that two men are looking after one man's work, it is not enough that economists should tell us that it would be possible by financial and economic reforms — which t would take probably a century to effect — to mitigate the unhappy lot of a struggling population ; or if, looking at the disputes which have taken place during the last two years in the coal and iron trades, we see from the fact that, while for so great a length of time great bodies of men ceased to be productive, nevertheless prices arc falling and wages are decreased, it is a mathematical demonstration that in that market also there exists at this moment a surplus of labour, we may fairly ask, " Is this surplus to continue to introduce its disturbing elements into the social crucible, or is it to be turned into the wider and more elastic moulds which British colonies afibrd ? " Or, again, it is not improbable that amongst the results of the great move- ment in the agricultural districts, one of the most important will be that the small farmers will find it impossible to hold 17 their ground. They huve some capital, they have energy they have knowledge and experience, and many of them have families, to aid them. For such people as these, driven from the land which they and their fathers for generations have cultivated, wluit better alternative can be offered than large farms of rich land at moderate prices in a Dominion governed by British laws, v/ithout the restraint and obstructions of vested interests and social prejudices, amongst neighbours and friends who are at once brothers and compatiiots ? This is the nearest Colony to Great Britain ; this is the Colony in which the climate is best suited to the vigorous and active energies of the natives of Great Britain. This is the country which, lying alongside of one populous nation in which there is a daily increasing demand for its agri- cultural products, and within so easy a reach of the other great nation to which it is akin, is the grandest field for British emigration. With laws like our own, under the same Sovereign, with a people who in race are our brethren, and in characteristics our compeers, is it a foolish fancy to look for- ward to the time when this shall be the greatest suburb to the metropolitan centre of the British Empire ? Let us now take a comprehensive glance at the Dominion in regard to some of its general characteristics. The super- ficial area of Canada, including Newfoundland, is over 3,500,000 square miles, or about 150,000 square miles less than the whole of Europe, in the latitude of the greater part of which it lies. The whole of the Uuiied States, including Aliaska, is only 3,390,000 square miles, or 110,000 less than Canada; and, as we have repeatedly to recognize, Canada has a larger territory fit for population than the Iirpublic. , 111 a i'ew sentences I may disabuse your minds of erroneous 18 ideas regarding ilio Canadian climate, which are very prevalent. For the production of cereals tl'e climate of the greater part of Canada is superior to that of the United States, acd is equal to that of the best grain-growing countries of Europe. Over the latter it has the advantage of higher summer temperature, and more sunmicr rain — this is the secret of its superiority over its Southern neighbour. The western half of the United States, from the 100th meridian, is desert — scorched by similar hot summer winds to those which, commencing on the AYest Coast of Africa, blow across the vast Eastern continent, creating a band of dearth and desola- tion. ^' It is questionable wliether there is an acre of what a Canadian or English farmer would call good land for wheat and cultiv:»ble grasses between the Mississippi and Pacific slopo.^' KoWj grain and grasses ripen best in a summer of 60 to 70 degrees. The summers of a vast region across the centre of the Dominion are in this fertile range, with a fiummer rainfall shown by tables to be ample. The summers of such States as Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, whither too many English farmers and labourers have gone, are 10 degrees to 15 degrees higher than those of the best grain and grass districts, and 10 degrees too high for wheat, barley. Sec, and the cultivable grasses. Facts are confirmative of these theories. " The three decennial censuses of Canada show that " she produces more abundant and surer crops of cereals, grains, " grasses, and roots, and of better quality, than any of the "States of the Republic." The Canadian census of J 851 showed that even then Canada produced one- sixth as much wheat as all the thirty-one States and four Territories, half as much peas, over one- seventh as much oats, one-quarter as much barley, and nearly one-eighth as much hay. In 1860 and 1861 she had one-sixth in wheat, between a quarter and 19 one-fifLh in oats, in barley one-third, and in peas nearly equal to 34 States and Territories. Consider tlio positions of Canada and the United States relatively to Europe, and }ou will readily understand this. The parts of Europe north of latitude 45*^ embrace the British Islands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Prussia, Belgium, Holland, Austria, irungarv, Switzerland, Lombard}'', part of Sardinia, and most of France and Hussia. The chief grain and grazing portions of Europe are in the higher parts of the temperate zone, and so they will be on the American continent. The whole of the United States east of the lakes, except Maine, is south of 45°. Then the enormous water system of Canada tends to improve its climate for agriculture, and, as I have said, the shores of British Columbia are made temperate by a warm ocean current, resembling the Gulf Stream. It is stated that there are in the Dominion 1,500 lakes and rivers. In its extreme breadth from ocean to ocean, from the 49th parallel of north latitude, it stretcliea for 3,0GG geo- graphical miles. In its greatest depth it is 2,150 geogra- phical miles. The basin of the St. Lawrence and its estuary comprises an area of about 530,000 square miles. The great 1 dees cover about 130,000 square miles of this vast cistern. Passing up beyond this. Lake Winnipeg is 500 miles in length, and through it and its sister lakes, the Manitoba and the Winnipogosis, we communicate with the Saskatchewan, which runs for 900 miles from the Rocky Mountains, The Dominion is surrounded by more than 11,000 miles of sea- coast. Of course, a vast portion of this, towards the Arctic region, is not only uninhabitable, but cannot be reached for fishing purposes. Still, there are left along the coasts of Labrador, in the Gulf of the St. Lawrence, in Hudson's Bay, and on the Pacific coast inconceivable quantities of market- 20 able fii>h. But these supplies are not confined to the sea- coast ; the great lakes of the Interior, and the still great though lesser waters of Ontario and the North-west terri- tories, abound with fish, which is a favourite food with tlie inhabitants. The fisheries of the Dominion produced, in 1870, ^6,577.392; in 1871, !i?9,070,llG. In financial position Canada occupies a very proud and healthy elevation. Her debt does not exceed ^5 1,0,000,000, or, taking the population at 4,000,000, about £6 3s. 3d. sterling per head. Few of the Colonies can exhibit such a balance-sheet, and none such resources. More than half of this debt is represented by public works, canals, harbours, lighthouses, river Improvements, railways. Sec, and over $40,000,000 by railway and provincial securities. In four years — namely, from 1869 to 1873 — the trade of the Domi- nion leaped up from $128,000,000 to $217,304,516— an In- crease of nearly eighty-nine and a- half millions. The total value of the exports from the Dominion for the fiscal year ending June, 1873, was .SOO.G 10,573, and of the imports $120,586,523. The banking statistics of Canada show a steady growth, combined with a strength of position her Hopublican neighbours might well envy. The panic of 1873-4 In the United States affected Canada but slightly. Iler banks stood firm, and it will be shown by the statistics of 1874 how superior her people were to their neighbours in caution and resource. The paid-up capital In Canadian banks for the year 1872-3 amounted to $55,102,959 ; circulation, $29,516,046. From June, 1870, the banking capital rose from $29,801,000 to ,«i;55,102,000 In 1873. ' In one year, 1872-3, the capital rose from {;^14,741,000 to ^55,10-', 000 — an ir.crej;.e of 2208 per cent. . 21 The joint circulation ol' (jovernniout uiid banks fur 187:2-'] \>us thirty-three to forty million dullurs per month. The circulation and deposits of Ontario and Quebec for 1864 and 1874 were : — lS6i. 1874. 1 unease. Circulatiou ... $0,748,000 .^33, 188,000 340 per cent. Deposits 24,575,000 70,090,000 310 per cent.* Nothing, perhaps, more signally illustrates the different characteristics of Canada and the Republic than their muni- cipal, provincial, and Dominion affairs of finance. Instead of reckless and corrupt public expenditure, or wild, immoral, and private speculation, even the worst days of Canadian political finance have shown no such wholesale rottenness as seems to have entered into the very veins of Ilepublican ad- ministration and society ; her private monetary adventures have been creditably free from the mad indifference to conse- quences which sometimes appears to possess that mercurial people, and from time to time involve so many of them in disastrous ruin — a ruin which their temperament enables them to face with equanimity. I do not wish to institute a comparison with other Colonies, but I venture to say, before a company of Manchester mer- chants, that, for safe investment, there is no field now open to British capital superior to Canada. There have been, it is true, some slight indications of a speculative epidemic in railways and in town lands — a natural impulse, no doubt, from the marvellous development of the new Confederation ; but it will not find congenial soil. The people, as a rule, are cautious and steady ; their modes of business are more British than Yankee. It ought to be known that * Some further statistics will be faund in the Appendix. i O.J money can be safely invcslcd to pay from seven to ten \)vr cent, on mortgage of town or agricultural lands, witli most umplo margin, in Ontario and Quebce ; that juclieious investments at superior rates of interest can constantly bo made in iho seeurilies of railways (managed and financed on the spot, and not by able boards of ignoramuses in London), in steamboat companies, and in munieipid and financial debentures of good security. Among the mines of Nova Scotia, Quebec, and Lake Superior, it must bo that before long English capitalists', proceeding with judgment and caution, will fall npon fortunes that will realise Dr. Johnson's aphorism of the " potentiality of wealth beyond the dreams of avarice." This, then, in the baldest outline, is the Dominion of con- federated Colonies, upon the political constiUition and the natural and commercial resources of which I was asked to- night to give a disquisition. It is clear enough, from the time it has taken to draft this more outline, that to perform the task in any adecpiatc degree was simply impossible. No single camera can take in the view ; no single canvas would contain the picture. You must be content with but a few side glimpses. One of the commonest errors among the ignorant classes in Great Britain is to confound Canada with the United States. That error has been assiduously cultivated by the agents of American railway and land companies, and has seriously injured the Colony with the emigrating population. It is almost as frequent an error of better cultivated people to confound Canadians with Yankees, and to conceive that there is little in the politics, the social life, the tone and manner of the Canadian people, to distinguish them from those of the United States. If in some unfortunate instances of Canadian travellers and Canadian newspapers there may appear to be , 2:3 just grouiuls fur this courusion, it is novoith(.lossi, as rc^^iinls Canndn, a serious blunder. Witli many of the cliuractcristics of a new communily, dovt'lopiiij^ its strength with u rapidity and freedom unobslnicted by old rules, habits, ciistoins, and privileges, the Canadian Government and people are, nover- theless, markedly dilf 'rent froin tlic Government and people of the United States. In tho ono you ha^o universal sutfrago, in the other property qualification ; in tho ono institutions purelj democratic, in tho other ample popular freedom without tho libertinism of a .Tlepublican Government. In tho ono you luivo a society bent upon tho reduction of every individual to ono level; ' the other a judicious, without a bigoted and tyrannical, recognuion of tho diversities of human ability and position In tho ono j'ou have a quaint commingling of habits and manners, half Continental, half English ; in the other you havo more of the scdateness and perhaps more of tho rougli but solid capacity of tho Britisli character. In the one you havo the relation cf the Executive to the country constantly involv- ing political difhcully and danger; in tho other order is established on a footing as cecure as the throne of Great Britain. The difference is remarkable. You notice it as so(m as you have passed the line. It runs through all society, and it modifies every relation of life. Another noteworthy feature of these new communities is the freedom and elasticity of their politics, their legisla- tion, and even tlieir administration. To begin with the latter, it would probably strike an English official aghast to visit Ottawa and view the Ministry and officials in harness. There is red-tape in Canada, as there is, I suppose, in every official community, but they manage to run verj'^ little of it off the reel. Tho office of the Premier is protected from the public by a small ante-room, 24 wlicre the messengers intercept visitors of every class and station who come on the smallest occasions for a personal interview. If it is a matter which can be settled by a few words to another Minister, he will put on his hat and accompany his visitor to that Minister's room. Notes or memoranda save many dispatches, and instead of posting acres of correspondence about the public buildings, the Minister will make a call or send a message. But this accessibility and freedom, according to my observation, is essentially different from that of the United States. It is not based on the " I'm-as-good-as-you " and '* you're-my-servant " principle, which draws out of American society that best andstiffest fibre of all society — the due recognition of relative rights ; but it is the curtness, the facility of business men, who always in their bluntest moments strive to make it understood that they regard the amenities of life. When you get a Canadian imbued with theYankee notions of equality, you get what Artemus "Ward would term the ^'cussedest of cusses ;" but, thank God, such creatures are the exception in Canadian experience. What I have called " the freedom and elasticity of politics and legislation " has been evinced a hundred times in the experience of the Canadian provinces. Could I to-night review the history of constitutional reforms, of educational, ecclesiastical, or social measures in the maritime provinces and in Quebec with their Catholic population, in Ontario with its many elements of fiery religious disturbance, it would, with all its untoward incidents, be an astonishing — and to us who live in England an almost incredible — tale of mutual forbear- ance for the general interest. Take an instance in which religious or merely class passions are little, if at all, involved — the reform of local government. M r ! I ■ 4 ' 25 In England this has been a task Herculean, at which man of power after man of power has tried his strength, and either wholly failed or produced but puny remedies. Boundaries of municipalities, bounds of constituencies, bounds of counties, of parishes, and unions, and then of local government dis- tricts, and boards of health— there they lie, each of them defended by a garrison ; and who dare try to readjust them? But here before me is a masterty- drawn Act of 515 sections, passed in one Session cf the Ontario Legislature, and intituled " The Municipal lustitutions Act," which collects, codifies, and amends the laws regulating the muni- cipal government in all its branches for that province. It is preceded, with unique judgment, by a synopsis and analytical index, in thirty-two closely-printed pages. In the Act is set forth the law regulating the model municipal constitution of Ontario, with its grades of counties or united counties, townships, cities, towns, and villages. Representative councils in each case manage the affairs of their special juris- diction. In the counties the council consists of the reeves or deputy reeves of those townships and villages within the county which have not withdrawn from count}' jurisdiction, as thi^y may by certain formalit!?s. Cities have mayors and aldermen, town mayors and councillors, with a reeve and de- puty reeve in certain cases. This vast system is worked out with the greatest simplicity and ease. It is elastic and facilo in its movement. Provision is made for the continual changes in population, for the occupation of new territory, the addi- tion of fresh municipalities, and the gradual absorption into the municipal system of the country. One looks at this piece of legal art from amidst the rougli and intractable arrangements of England, with an envy of 't superiority, which is scarcely tinged with a hope of ever byirg able to rival it. What is w 2G the reason of the differeiice in the treatment of such questions there and here ? They are impelled by the general necessities of progress; wg arc obstructed by long-crystallised privileges and deeply-roc.tcd institutions. There is bigotry in Canada, a bigotry of many sects and of many phases of thought, and it does complicate, nay sometimes obstruct, legislation ; but it has not that immovaule spirit, that conservative stupidity, which neither admits the inevitable nor looks for solutions. "What is the reason of this ? First, I think it is tho fact that tho whole body social and politic is in motion — nothing can stop its progress. Even Quebec, with oncient traditions and an old organizition, where we should not expect to find the animation of newer communities, is com- pelled to move on. The spirit of progress rushes into it and through it, and every man feels tho impulse. The whole Dominion is instinct with life and the growth of life. I am no materialist, but I do believe in the awakening influences of material prosperity. Then, sccondl}'-, there is the distribution of the benefits. In proportion as prosperity is fairly distributed throughout a community will tho community wake up and live. Restrict it to a few, surround it with privileges, vest it in fractions of society, net it round with complicated exclusive laws and customs, leave the great balance of society outside its benefits, and your material prosperity will only intensify tho disintegrating influences just as it exaggerates the dis- proportion. In Great Britain we boast of our material prosperity, but we look with terror on its concomitant condi- tions. Economists may swear that it reaches and blesses tho whole community, but a stroll in the slums of a city, or along the byways of a country district, gives the lie to the state- ment. If you want to know what material prosperity means in a life-giving sense to tho whole community, you must go I 27 to American and Colonial States, and see how generally- distributed wealth improves the conditions of social harmony and human co-operation . Then will you best understand how great philanthropists, as well as eminent statesmen^ have been those men who have striven by political reforms in Great Britain to equalise, and to improve in equalising, the- political status of the pcoplo, or by economic legislation to distribute more equably the blessings of material prosperity. I think I have now incidentally answered many of the questions that would naturally have occurred to the majority of my audience, unless perhaps on one or two points of political importance, with regard, however, to which it might not be in place for me, considering my official relations, to express an opinion. But on the face of such facts as I have adduced, disquisitions on government and politics seem to dwindle in importance. As I have said, progress and ma terial prosperity loom up first into view, and fro-.n tliese govern- ment and politics take mucli of their shape and direction. I have presumed to-night that you did not desire from me a constitutional dissertation. The form of the Government of the Dominion was written upon our English Statute-book in the Act of 1867, and appears to be more intelligently understood by Englishmen than are the circumstances of the country which was thereby legislated upon. What you will desire to know is how the governmental machine works, and my answer is lliat the results appear in the marvellous development of the Dominion since the confederation in 1 867. You are probably aware that the confederation of the British provinces was hastened by the alarming and significant hints from time to time thrown out by British statesmen. It was supposed to be, and in effect it actually was, the theory of the school of politicians which took its name from Man- 28 Chester, lliat Culonies were but a burden and us;.les8 expense to Great Britiau ; and Mr. Goldvvin Smith was then a prominent advocate of views which possibly at this moment lie would not be prepared to propound. Mr. Roebuck, who had at one time represented the Colony in this countr}', with his characteristic wrongheadedness, was amon;^ the most noteworthy of those who expressed the view that the sooner Canada was separated from Great Britain, the better for her and for us. Opinion has grown. Facts have fought for the Imperialist dogma. I cannot conceive that to- night there will be many in this Rjform Club who will be prepared, after what they have heard, to get up anl advance that opinion. An additional incentive to confederation was no doubt the anomaly of the position of the iS^ortli Atnericau Provinces. Responsible government had been conceded to each of them ; they had popular representatives ; taxation by representative bodies ; their offijials were appointed by local governments, and only the Governor was nominated by the Crown. Like the province of Australia, they were isolated, tlieir tariffs were different, each province was foreign to the other. The custom-houses on the frontiers interposed between States under the same Imperial Government. Each province had its distinct postal regulations. There was no harmony of action, as there was no unity or sympathy in government. In these different communities the conscious- ness of that anomalous position no doubt gave opportunity and strength to that party — never a very large one, but occasionally a very active one — which was in favour of annexation to the United States. Independence then was of course a dream. But when it was sugfijested that Canada should be left to its fate by the Government and the Empire of which she was one of the brightest jewel>^, 29 racn'a minds turned by common consent to the question whether nothinar could be done to unite her into a nation capable of supporting itself should it be obliged to become independent, or, in the hoped-for continuity of its relations to the British Empire, able to insist upon and maintain those relations on a, more equitable basis. For ten years, from 185 1 to 1 864, here and there men of some eminence in the various provinces propounded ideas of confederation, but their speeches led to no practical result. The solution was brought about by a d'ead lock in the Legislature of Canada, which then embraced the existing provinces of Ontario and Quebec. I might have cited this great confederate scheme as one of the instances of the flexibility of Canadian politics. So soon as it was seen that union was a necessity, all things gave way to it. It was settled by a convention in six months, and after con- siderable discussions, both at home and in the Colony, the Aot passed the Imperial Legislature in 1867. The ease with which this important measure has been accomplished, especi- ally considering the diff'erent interests and various populations, the diverse races and religions, whose status was intimately involved, would seem to show that, after all, if public opinion throughout the Empire were once to begin to turn in that direction, the diversities of position, the distinctions of govern- ment, the varieties of social life, might really all be adjusted • in harmony with a system of Imperial government for Imperial purposes, and of local government for each locality. The action of this great measure was immediately to give a national impulse and stability to the Canadian provinces, which now find themselves bound together by fiscal, postal, railway and canal, and military arrangements. The people are beo'innin"' to acquire that national sentiment which alone can enable them to put their country in the position 30 to treat upon an equality with Great Britain as a member of the British Empire. This is a necessary precedent to Im- perial federation if ever it is to be accomplished. Speaking to Manchester economists, I ought to draw your attention toonepoint, which.indiscussingthe fiscal policy of the federation, appears frequently to bo overlooked. It must be remembered tliat in Caniida, beinq^ a new countr}', with all the latent resources of which I have to-night spoken, I'ovenuo is not only necessary for govcrnmeut, but is also essential for development. Such a revenue, it is averred, can on!}'-, over so sparsely-settled a countr}', be levied by indirect taxa- tion. Hence it is important to note that the taxation of Canada is not for protection, but for revenue. Taxes are equally imposed on British and on foreign manufactures, and. this was the policy wliich, after the adoption of free trade in this countr}', was dictated by Earl Grey to the Colonies. In December, 1816, he thus wrote to Lord Elgin : — " The same relief from the burden of differential duties " which has been granted to the British consumer, the 8th and '' 9th Vict., c. 9i, has enabled their respective Legislatures " to be extended to the British Colonies, by empowering them *' to repeal the differential duties in favour of British produce " imposed in these Colonies by former Imperial Acts.^^ '•' 8o " far as [this] I can have no doubt that the Colonial Legisla- " tures will gladly avail themselves of the power " thus con- ferred. The policy of protection, abandoned at the instance of Great Britain, is discarded by the opinion of the majority f ihe Canadian people. Undoubtedly there are both active I'.id able agitators for protection, actual or incidental, but in face of the position, of the necessities of the Government, and of the difficulties of raising a revenue in another way, it is idle for English Chambers of Commerce and eminent news- 31 paper scribes » 1809 2,451,889 »» >> 1870 3,411,418 M >» 1871 4,509,296 ir >» 1872 6,260,733 )i » 1873 0,106,221 ■■!• ■ - 1874 7,210,200 Note.— Manitoba joined in 1872, British Columbia in 1878, and Prince Edward Island in 1874. BANKING CAPITAL OF THE DOMINION. Jiuie, 1870, returned at $-29,801,013 Sept., 1874, „ 71,700,000 at GENERAL TRADE OF THE DOMINION 18(ifi 1867 1808 1869 1870 1871 1878 1873 1874 Value of Imports and Exports >» M •> i* »> II •I II .? f)8,{)55.09.'J 119,79 7, 87!) 1;}1,()^7,53:> 130,889,946 148,087,8^9 170,206,589 194,070,190 217,304.610 210,756,097 The returns for I860 and 1867 are for the t^o Canadian Provinces only ; from 1868 the Maritime Provinces are inclnded. In 1872 Manitoba and British Columbia figure for the first time and Prince Edward Island appears in the 1874 returns. FIRE INSURANCE BUSINESS. 1869 1871 1873 Amount Insured $101,47 ri.6--*l 230,753,891 275,754,835 LiTE INSURANCE RETURNS. 1869 1871 1873 Amount Insu» A »' $35,080,003 45,409,769 77,600,896. SHIPPING OWNED IN THE DOMINION. By last return it is stated to be 1,200,000 tons, making Canada the fourth largest shipowning country in the worhl ranking next to iti nol^-^ "tour and rival, the Ui ited States. 39 "^ RAILWAYS OPENED AND WORKING IN THE DOMINION. In 1874 Miles 8,850. Traffic in 1872 on 2,508 miles, for which returns •were given ... •■• ■•• ••• wl3|436,018 Traffic in 187.3 on 2,639 miles, for which returns were given 17,189,876 Or equal to £23 13s. Id. per mile per week in 1872. £25 1873. TELEGRAPHS. As a last indication of the activity of Canadian business life, I give the Statistics of Telegraphy from one Company only : — 1873— Offices open, 1,118 ; messages seat, 1,633,282. W. i, J0HN80N, fRlNltfr' \:'l f'.K ;.:-»TMBlT, LOKDOV, E.C* CM