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 BRITISH NORTH AMERICA 
 
 -AT THE- 
 
 DETROIT CONVENTION. 
 
 W*Ji- till'* 
 
 Qv/ly^' 
 
 ^ THE 
 
 NEW B^^UN'"^-.^ 
 
 V 
 
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f 
 
 BRITISH NORTH AMERICA 
 
 • AT THE 
 
 DETROIT CONVENTION. 
 
 The Comniercial Convention, to be held at Detroit on 
 11th July, purposes to discuss the important subjects of 
 Cotnmeree, Finance, Communications of Transit from, the 
 West to the Sea-hoard, and Reciprocal Trade between the 
 United States and British Provinces. 
 
 A sufficienth' important programme to warrant close 
 and careful study of the various objects to be achieved, by 
 the investigation of the different subjects of which it is 
 composed, the whole of vital interest to the welftire and 
 happiness of two great nations, and destined to influence 
 their future career in no ordinary degree. 
 
 The political and commercial interests of the British 
 North Ainerican Provinces are indissolubly bound up in 
 those of the Empire of which they form component parts, 
 and each year's experience tends to draw more tightly the 
 bonds Avhich biiid them together. Nor is this much to be 
 wondered at. Their traditions, laws, language, Govern- 
 ment, and even commercial transactions, are founded on 
 English precedent and precept, and their material interests 
 are as identical as those of any shire in her realm. 
 
 Under the auspices of the Imperial Government a 
 treaty of Reciprocal Trade was negotiated in 1854, by 
 which the raw products of these Provinces were admitted, 
 duty free, to the markets of the United States, w^hile similar 
 privileges were secured to the latter power, together with 
 
very oxtonsive fishing rights in British wuterrt, for whlcli no 
 equivalent was obtained. 
 
 Interpreted l»y the United States anthorities in a very 
 narrow and illiberal Ri)lrit, the Treaty was, neverthelebs, 
 maintained by the Imperial Government an m advantage, 
 although the balance of Trade so-called was decidetlly 
 against the Colonics at tlie outset, and has since continued so. 
 
 For reasons l)est known to themselves, the United 
 States (T(>vernnient, acting under a provision of the Treaty 
 which rerpiires a year's notilication before it can be termi- 
 nated, gave notice to the Imperial Government of their 
 intention to abrogate it, and the termination may be looked 
 for in April, 1860. 
 
 As tlie abolition of this Treaty woidd completely 
 isolate the United States in a connnercial point of view ; 
 and as the high customs dues she is compelled to levy for 
 revenue purposes will amount to positive j)rohibition as 
 far as her own people are concerned, a ver}- commendable 
 desire is expressed by her commercial men to investigate 
 the whole data on which her mercantile svstcm is founded, 
 and, if possible, devise measures more in consonance with 
 the principles of modern civilization than those which the 
 present position of affairs foreshadows. 
 
 Hence this Convention at Detroit, at which the repre- 
 sentatives of tiie commercial interests of British North 
 North America are invited to be present, — more it is to be 
 presumed, in the character of parties about to receive over- 
 tures, than in that of parties making them — because they have 
 found no fault with the Treatv, nor is it bv any act of the 
 Imperial Government, or theirs, it is about to terminate. , 
 
 That it had serious faults is undeniable, and no better 
 o})portunity can occur than the present for the rectification 
 of those errors, which the experience of eleven years has 
 demonstrated to exist ; but as the first step to unrestricted 
 
 V 
 
 it 
 
5 
 
 Free Trade l)ctvveL'n Great Britain and the United States, 
 it was, ]>erlu4>s, one of the most skilful and statesmanlike 
 Treaties ever devised. 
 
 If Connnerce is the interchange of the surplus products 
 t»f one country' for those of another, and if its effects are to 
 enable tha jrroduoer to sell in the dearest and buy in the 
 cheapest nnirket, then unrestricted Free Trade is one of the 
 necessary conditions of its development, by releasing b(»th 
 labor and capital to find an outlet wiiere both can be most 
 |>rofitably employed. 
 
 And this is more eminently true where all are pro- 
 ducers to a c(nisideral)le extent — where manufactures are 
 in their infai u^y, and production is altogether confined to 
 agriculture. 
 
 In dealing thus with the questions before lis in their 
 most simple form, the trade between Great Britain, her 
 Provinces and the United States, will be chiefly confined 
 to agricultural products and nuiuufactures. 
 
 The geographical position of the British North 
 Americnm Provinces i>laces the control of the communica- 
 tions of the (/rain jr/'oducin^ States in the power of the 
 Imperial Government ; and as will be shewn further on, the 
 facilities afforded can be extended to the utmost possible 
 development of these States. Andif proper orfair trade regu- 
 lations existed between the two powers, Great Britain would 
 become the best and most valuable customer the Western 
 States could ever \\o\)G for in the article of their surplus 
 produce. 
 
 During ordinary seasons she spends £26,000,000 stg. 
 for bread stuffs alone, and a bad harvest entails an outlay of 
 <£40,0()0,000, the proportions in which it is drav\'n from 
 various countries are as follows : 
 
 Russia, 19i per cent. 
 
 Prussia, 31^ 
 
6 
 
 Mecklenburg, 8 per cent. 
 
 Ilansetowns, 4^ .... 
 
 France, ^ 
 
 Turkey and Principalitii-s, 5^ 
 
 Egypt,. L>i .... 
 
 United Stated, 7i 
 
 As a general rule the prices of grain of all kinds are 
 lower in tlie United States than in any of those Countries 
 enumerated. It is evident then that a high protective tarif\ 
 while serving a mere class interest — the mnmifacturers — has 
 inflicted an injury, deep and lasting, on the whole com- 
 munity, hy restri(!ting the development of its standard 
 interest — ayriculture — and retarding the full settlement of 
 the Western States. It gives, in other words, the farmer 
 the option of selling in the cheapest and buying in the 
 dearest nuvrket, thus reversing the plainest of all commercial 
 axioms. 
 
 It has been asserted that it costs the Western Farmer 
 six bushels of grain to fetch one to market — the absurd 
 fiscal regulations practically denying him a choice of route 
 — and he really pays a large proportion of the revenue of 
 these States through which he is forced to send his grain to 
 tlie sea-board. 
 
 If the Detroit Convention will endeavour to bring about 
 a remedy for this state of affairs, and, by the establishment 
 of an enlightened commercial policy, shew the world that 
 the American Merchant understands the true mercantile 
 interests of his country, the Provinces will offer singular 
 advantages in transit which can be obtained in no other 
 direction. 
 
 First — they offer the unrivalled canals on the frcitier, 
 which places Chicago within 40S1 miles from Liverpool. 
 Secondly — they offer one line of direct railway route by 
 which the cargo can be placed on the sea-board w^ithin 
 
 f 
 
 i 
 
i 
 
 2,800 niilert froiu Liverpool. Tliinlly — tliey otter fuciliticH 
 lor the conritnictioii of other channoU liy water, of which 
 the Ottawa and Lake Huron is the chief. Fourthly — they 
 furnirfh illimitable water power for the manufacture of 
 grain on its downwanl jiaHsaj^e. And, lastly — they are blesh- 
 ed with that indirtpensahle temperate climate, without which, 
 the transmiBsion of grain or flour in bulk would be impow- 
 sible. The routes through the Provinces are shorter and 
 cheaper than in any other direction, and could not fail to 
 draw the trattic in grain largely to the Western States ; 
 especially wlien it is known that a fair average jn-ice for 
 wheat in England is aiaiy shillingn sterling |)er quarter of 
 eight bushels, or $1.87^ per bushel. 
 
 To the Western farmer a steady market at 70 cents per 
 bushel would be a real boon, the cost of transmission to 
 Liverpool by existing Provincial Canals, 45 (rents, insurance, 
 tolls, profits, <fec., 35 cents. Total cost by St. Lawrence 
 Canals, $1.50. Difference in favor of Western producer, 
 37^ cents per bushel. 
 
 The proposed Ottawa Canals, when completed, coidd 
 carry a bushel of grain, covering all exjjenses liberally, 
 including two cents per bushel for tolls, at a round cost of 
 54 cents between Chicago and Liver];ool, or a total (at 
 which it could be profitably sold) at $1.24. 
 
 Assuming the price of flour at the rate per bushel of 
 wheat, of $1.87^, and that five bushels will produce one 
 barrel of flour, its cost at Liverpool would be $9.37^ ; it could 
 be manufactured on its downward transit to the sea board, 
 and profitably sold in the English • market, by the St. 
 Lawrence route, at a cost of $8.00, and by the proposed 
 Ottawa route, at a cost of $7.00. Any person acquainted 
 with the trade will be satisfied that the sums stated are 
 more than ample ; in fact they embrace a maximum rate 
 which could he reduced in each case at least 20 per cent. 
 
8 
 
 If HufKcient iiHlucciiient coiiM he ]u>l<l out to tlie 
 Klil|»j)or in the wlmpe of return freight, no <louht wonUl he 
 ontortHined of tlie tlireetion wliieh the IJritiHJi ^niin tnulo 
 wouhl take. At present it iH HinioHt nolelv eonfinetl to New 
 York, hecnime Enjjjiish nmnnfju'turcd j^oods niulersell 
 Aniorienn in uhnost every depurtnieiit, notwithtitandin}^ 
 roHtrietive protection ifit taritfn, and therefore vewselB are glad 
 of the opportunity to turn the voyage to aeeounthoth ways; 
 hut a furtlier rine in chitien will entirely destroy tliis trade. 
 It ia therefore the interest of the WeHteiu ])ro(lneerH to take 
 BUeh measures as may secure more outlets than those now in 
 working order in the United States, and the British 
 I'rovinces oifer unrivalled facilities in water (M)nimunication. 
 
 The St. Lawrence Canal now in operation opens the 
 navigation lietween the Gulf of the same name and the 
 great lakes. They are com]K)8ed t)f two great sections, the 
 St. Lawrence Canals proj»er — which consist of «^f^w distinct 
 artificial channels, of an aggregate length of 43 miles, with 
 27 locks, over(!oming the elevation of 234 feet 9 inches, 
 at which Lake Ontario stands ahove the general level of 
 tidal water — opening an uninterrupted navigation from the 
 Hea-board to the head of the Lake. The locks on those 
 Canals are each 200 feet in iengtli, 45 feet between tl»e 
 (pioins with. feet of water on the lock-sills. They are 
 capable of admitting vessels ISO feet long, 40 feet beam, 
 drawing 8 feet of water, and of 300 tons burthen. They 
 are open for 220 days each season, and their full capacity 
 at siie lockages per hour, is e(]\»al annually to 9,504,000 
 ton», or 4,752,000 tons ilownwards. 
 
 Between the heiwl of Lake Ontario and foot of Lake 
 Erie, the Welland Canal — the second section of those great 
 works — enables the natural obstacles interj)osed by the 
 Niagara Falls to the navigation of the Upper Lakes to bo 
 overcome. Its length is 28 miles of continuous navigation. 
 It has 27 locks, bv which the dift'erence of 330 feet between 
 
 WW— aMMttlMiiMmrri -' 
 

 ^ 
 
 tlie lovolt* of L«ik(j Oiituri*) iiud Lake Kri»; uiv ovorconu'. 
 Those Loj'kn iin; 150 feet in l«;n|^tli, 20^ feet Itotweon the 
 <HioinH, with ten f"c(Jt of waiter on thoelllH. They can adiuit 
 Hohooueiti of 142 feet in hui^th, 2r» fe(?t beam, dniwiii^ 9 
 feet of water, and of 350 toiiK burthen; but the 8t. Law- 
 rence Canals limit the capacity of the Welhmd by their 
 lighter drauglit. 
 
 The distance botweeji Chicago and Montreal by this 
 route ie 1348 miles, of which 1145 are lake, 132 river, and 
 71 miles canal, — the whole l»eing opened by the admirable 
 Bystem of artificial navigation described. From Montreal 
 to Qu<;bcc by river is 150 miles, and thence to Liverpool 
 2585, — the whole distance between that point and Chicago 
 being 4081 miles. 
 
 Next in importance is the proposed Ottawa Canal, 
 following the course of the river of the same name, from 
 the head of the Lachine Canal (the last of the sub-divisions 
 of the St. Lawrence, which it will use in common) for a 
 distance of 305 miles. It ascends the River Matawan for 
 40 miles, crosses a summit between Upper Trout Lake, the 
 source of that Iliver and Lake Nippissing by an artificial 
 channel three miles in length, uses the latter sheet of water 
 as a summit level reservoir of 5G0 square miles in area, and 
 33 miles of its length as a navigable channel ; the cutlet 
 by which the surplus waters of its catchment basin are 
 discharged is reached, and a descent of 60 feet, in a distance 
 of 49 miles on the French River, plactes the Voyageur on 
 the shores of Lake Huron, 430 miles from Montreal, and 
 500 from Chicago. Its navigation consists of 30 miles 
 canal, 370 miles river, 530 lake. Its locks are designed 
 to be 250 feet in length, 50 feet between quoins, with 12 feet 
 water on sills, — calculated to admit vessels of 280 feet in 
 length, 48 feet beam, drawing 11 feet of water, and of 1000 
 tons burthen. Its capacity at six lockages per hour, for a 
 season of 220 days, would be 31,680,000 tons, or 15,840,000 
 
10 
 
 downward movement as a maximum. There would be an 
 upward lockage of 60 feet, and a downward of 622 feet, 
 making a total of 682 feet, or 68 locks. This is destined 
 to become the premier route to the Western States, because 
 nature has inter})08ed lees real obstacles to the creation of 
 artificial channels than in any other direction. It is 
 adapted to the class and style of vessels which must even- 
 tually carry the trafii" of the great lakes — screw propellers 
 — because the season is limited in which the prodnceofthe 
 Western States can be got out, and the value of speedy 
 trips will be better understood when a trade commensurate 
 with their development has been created. 
 
 The distances between Chicago and Liverpool by this 
 route are as follows : — To Montreal 930 miles, Quebec 150, 
 Liverpool 2583, — total 3563 miles. As it penei-rates the 
 centre of the great lumber region of Canada, a return 
 freight is a certainty. Any quantity of s;iwed lumber could 
 be obtained at almost any point above French River, and it 
 could be delivered for many years to come at $12 per M 
 feet B. M. at Chicago, if the canals were built ; whereas 
 priv.c8 for the same material now range from $23 to $25 
 per M. Canada exports to the United States about 
 120,000,000 feet B. M., of which five-sixths are taken from 
 the Ottawa valley, which can furnish double the supply 
 for the next two centuries. 
 
 As a proof of the entire facility of this project, the 
 present state of the communication between Montreal and 
 Lake Huron may be cited as a conclusive example. The 
 Ottawa River between Montreal and mouth of Matawan 
 River has a length of 305 miles, as follows : — Canals, 
 Lachine and St. Ann's, 9 miles; Carillon and Grenville, 12 
 miles — total 21 miles; obstructed in whole or part by 
 rapids, 23^ miles. Open navigation, three to twenUj 
 fathoms water, 260f miles. The Matawan River is 40^ 
 miles in length, of which 11^ miles is obstructed in whole. 
 
11 
 
 •)r part — 29^ miles open navigation-^v^to twenty fathoms 
 water. 
 
 At the liead of Upper Trout Lake, a summit or height 
 of land interferes between it and Lake Nippissing. It is 
 4^ miles in length, and its greatest elevation is only 10 feet 
 above the water surface ; in fact a cutting at one point ^w 
 feet in depth, for 1500 feet, would send the water now 
 flowing eastward to the Ottawa, westward to Lake Nippis- 
 sing. This latter lake is about 60 miles in its greatest 
 length, and 20 in its greatest width. It covers an area of 
 560 square miles, and drains a valley 9000 square miles in 
 extent, in which another lake (Temingamangue) of about 
 350 miles in area, acts as a compensating and regulating 
 reservoir, and is connected with Nippissing by the Sturgeon 
 River. Lake Nippissing is 632 feet abo^•e the level of the 
 sea ; between the point at which the proposed canal joins it 
 and that from which its effluent, the French River, goes out, 
 is a distance of 31 miles. French River, from Take 
 Nipj)issing to its confluence with Lake Huron, has a length 
 of 49 miles, of which Jive and three-fourth miles are 
 obstructed, ^r\^ forty -three and one-fourth miles open navi- 
 gation, with a general depth oi four fathoms water. At 
 its entrance a magnificent harbour is formed by the Bustard 
 Islands, and the southern projecting sweep of the eastern 
 shore, with six fathoms water clear up to the banks. 
 
 The series of waters described, traverse a country rich 
 in mineral wealth and the natural products of the forest. 
 It contains mines of iron, (black magnetic oxide) of a purity 
 of 72 per cent. ; lead, copper, plnmbago and antimony. Its 
 forests of pine are inexhaustible. It furnishes over 600,000 
 tons of freight in tliis article already, and could readily 
 supply jf?v« times that £\,mount ; barely twenty per cent of the 
 timber available being now taken out of the forest, owing 
 to the want of a market for dimension stuff". 
 
 The Ottawa drains a valley of over 87,700 square 
 
12 
 
 railev?. Its average cHscliarge of water amounts to 5,818,674 
 cubic feet of water ])er minute, and its channel averages a 
 width of half a mile. 
 
 The Matawan drains an area of 960 square miles, equal 
 to a discharge of 60,607 cubic feet per minute. Width of 
 channel six to eight hundred feet. 
 
 The French River is tlie outlet to the drainage of 
 9000 square miles. It discharges 477,370 cubic feet per 
 minute. Width of cliannel eight hundred to two thousand 
 feet. Between Montreal and the mouth of the French 
 River there are twenty falls, at which the motive power of 
 those rivers can be rendered available. On the French 
 River the power available, after making allowances for 
 water at the rate of 12,500 cubic feet per minute — for 
 navigable purposes — would be equal to 40,707 horse-power 
 —the fall 60 feet. 
 
 As lake Nippissing would be the navigable summit 
 level, the whole surplus waters of the Matawan may be 
 taken as available for manufacturing purposes — its fall of 
 148 feet would give 12,745 horse-power for manufacturing 
 purposes. 
 
 The Ottawa, with an average available discharge of 
 1,000,000 cubic feet per minute, and a total available fall 
 of 350 feet, would have 497,159 horse power available for 
 manufacturing purposes, making a total of 550,611 horse 
 power on the route, which presents a feature of manufac- 
 turing and commercial usefulness, in this particular, 
 wholly unique and unequalled by any other series of rivers 
 on this continent. 
 
 As the unit of motive power used is 44,000 lbs. raised 
 
 one foot in height per minute, some definite idea may be 
 
 formed, by bearing in mind that a single run of stones, 4^ 
 
 feet in diameter, used in manufacturing flour, will absorb 
 
 four horse-power. 
 
 n 
 
 P 
 o 
 
 t( 
 
18 
 
 Eminently adapted as this navigation is for tlie manu- 
 facture of bread stuffs, it presents unusual facilit'^s for the 
 establishment of another branch of industry- 1 manufac- 
 ture of cotton — which could be imported via ihe Illinois 
 Canal, opening a profitable trade vt^ith freight both ways, 
 as the distance between Chicago and St. Louis, on the 
 Mississippi, is only 340 miles by that route, and thence to 
 New Orleans, 1248 miles, — making the total distance 
 between Montreal and Chicago 2518 miles. 
 
 It will thus be seen that those Provinces presents not 
 only many advantages to the producer in the Western 
 States, but they furnish him with the proper outlets for his 
 surplus produce, and inducements for the creation of a fair 
 mercantile reciprocity, or unrestricted free trade. 
 
 The outlets which can be created, if additional induce- 
 ments are given, or if the magnitude of the traffic called 
 into existence, will warrant the outlays, are by no means 
 confined to the Ottawa River. The Georgian Bay and 
 Lake Huron proposed Canal Avould be fully equal to the 
 Ottawa in freight capacity, if constructed according to 
 proposed designs, but it will involve over eight]/ miles of 
 canal, and 805 feet of lockage, and can furnish no motive 
 power. As the capacity of the Ottawa navigation can be 
 doubled by adding a second series of locks, the united 
 values of all the means of water communication through 
 Canada would be fully equal to Jlfiy millions of tons Sii\n\x- 
 ally to the sea-board, while the Richilieu navigation, with 
 12 miles of canal, and 77 of open river navigation, with an 
 up lockage of 84 feet would enable 3,168,000 tons of freight 
 annually to be placed in Lake Champlain. 
 
 A canal has been proposed by the Provincial Govern- 
 ment from Caughanawaga to Lake Champlain, capable of 
 passing vessels of 850 tons. Its capacity, during 220 days 
 of navigation would be, at six lockages per hour, 13,464,000 
 tons up, and the same down ; but its capacity would be 
 
14 
 
 restricted by the Champlain Canal, wliicli, including its 
 junction with the Erie Canal, is 73 miles in length, with 
 an lip lockage of 55^ feet, and a down Ui'kage to the 
 Hudson of 150 feet, equal to 205^ feet. It has 20 locks, 
 each 90 feet long, 15 feet wide, with 4 feet water on the 
 sills. It admits vessels of 50 tons, and its capacity annually 
 is equal to 792,000 tons each way, or one half the capacity 
 of the Richelieu Canal. It is barely possible that this canal 
 could be enlarged so as to have Lake Champlain for a 
 summit level, otherwise it would be useless labor to enlarge 
 the Provincial Canals leading into that sheet of water. 
 
 It is well established as a practical fact, that Western 
 produce has outgrown, and is outgrowing all available 
 channels to the sea-board — its greatest outlet, the Erie 
 Canal, has been enlarged to the utmost its hydraulic powers 
 will bear. Theoretically it is assumed that 300 lockages per 
 day can be passed, and this will require 18,000 cubic feet 
 of water per minute, and the su]»ply is only about 25,000 
 cubic feet — therefore building a ship canal round the Falls 
 of Niagara will be no relief to the surplus freight of the 
 West, as it must go through the Erie Canal to reach the 
 sea-board. Nor will the enlargement of the Illinois Canal 
 remedy matters. It is almost, if not entirely physically 
 impossible. First, for want of sufficient supply of water at 
 summit level, and, secondly, the impossibility of making 
 Lake Michigan the supplying rescrvior. Even if completed 
 it could not become a channel for the transmission of bread- 
 stuffs, and the passage through an inter-tropical climate 
 would destroy the material. 
 
 The Erie Canal, at the rate of ten lockages per hour, 
 for a period of 220 days each year, with vessels of 200 tons, 
 can send down 4,880,000 tons, and a like quantity up. The 
 various railways leading from Chicago, can probably do as 
 much more, so that 10,000,000 tons exhausts the available 
 outlets of the United States. 
 
15 
 
 In addition to our canals we have the Grand Trunk 
 Railway, equal to 1,000,000 tons annually, the Great 
 Western equal to a like amount, the Northern Railway the 
 same, so that the total facilities offered by Canada would 
 be little shoi't of sixty millions of tons of through freight 
 aimually. It remains to be seen whetlier the full advantage 
 will be taken of those facilities, by a wise and liberal com- 
 mercial policy, or whether class interest will prevail to the 
 extent of retarding the developenient of a country, whiijli 
 its advocates declare can produce 400,000,000 bushels of 
 wheat, annually, and all otlier grain in proportion. 
 
 If a liberal reciprocal commerce will be the result of 
 the Detroit Convention, no limitation can be put to the 
 trade arising therefrom. Beneficial as it will be to British 
 North America, it will be many huiulred times more so to 
 the Western States, and by giving them the best chance of 
 saving the vast outlay Great Britain yearly makes for food, 
 enable the producer to bear the heavy* fiscal burthens a 
 long and severe struggle has entailed on the country. 
 
 Whatever the result may be, British North America 
 will go to the Convention without soliciting, as a boon, 
 what her manifold advantages must secure eventually as 
 a matter of interest. 
 
 BKLL &. WOODIUIRN, PniNTEIlB, OTTAWA,