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( 119 )

AiiT. V. — 1. TTie Expansion of England. By J. R. Seeley,
M.A. London, 1884.

2. Bi/ the West to the East. Memorandum on some Imperial
Aspects of the Completion of the Canadian Pacific Raihcay.
London, March 1886.

3. Parliamentary Debates. Canadian Hansard. 1880-1-2-2-

4 — 0.

4. Canadian Pacific Railway : Annual Report for 1885.

ROBERT CAVELIER, better known as the Sieur de la Salle,
accepted in 1666 from the Sulpician Fathers of Montreal
the grant, on easy terms, of a tract of land situate about nine
miles from that settlement, and just above the last and fiercest
of tb'j rapids of the St. Lawrence. Cavelier certainly did not
accept this grant with the intention of merely cultivating his
new property, nor even of aiding his feudal lords in defend-
ing the village from Indian incursions. The post of danger
occupied by La Salle was regarded by him as a base from which
to push onward to the discovery of a new route to China and
Cathay, an enterprise to wL^t^h, from the first day of his landing
in Canada, he seems to have devoted himself. Like many others
who, themselves firmly possessed of an idea, have failed to make
their friends share in their enthusiasm. La Salle was regarded
as a dreamer. When his first expedition to the West reached,
after much suffering, the end of Lake Ontario, its leader found
no one willing to pursue with him the supposed route to China
by the valley of the Ohio River ; and those who turned back
eastwards gave to his seigniory near the St. Lawrence rapids,
in derision, we are told, of their leader's dreamy projects, the
nickname of ' La Chine.'

In a strange way, and after long intervals, the onward march
of the world is resumed along tracks once trodden, but which for
ages have been deserted. The old route by the Ottawa Valley,
which the pioneers and missionaries of the seventeenth century
used for reaching the upper Lakes of North America, was for
nearly two centuries neglected and almost forgotten, in favour
of the easier line by the St. Lawrence and the lower Lakes.
But now once more that line resumes its importance ; and,
while it was never given to La Salle himself to approach the
Pacific Ocean or even to penetrate further west than the Missis-
sippi, trains will in a very short time be thundering across his
old homestead at Lachine, carrying passengers, mails, and
merchandise, by that which, after all, has proved to be the most
expeditious route between Europe and China.

Of necessity in a country so extensive as Canada the develop-
ment

x/-*t^

120

The Canadian Facijic Railwaij

ment of lines of communication between its several parts has
been one of the primary duties of the Government. Hence the
enormous outlay upon canals and railways made both before
and since the Confederation of the several Provinces. Hence,
too, it results that the construction of Canada's latest and most
important work, the Canadian Pacific Railway, is really the
history for the time of Canada itself. A work, then, which
is so particularly representative of England's greatest colony,
which is so vast in length, and has been so dramatic in the
rapidity of its execution, should have in these pages some
record of its history and of its construction. And, further, as
as it promises to be intimately associated with the great future
of the British Empire, it may also claim consideration in
respect of its Imperial and commercial value.

It is unnecessary to decide to whom is due the credit of first
giving practical shape to the idea of constructing a transconti-
nental railway in British North America ; but as long ago as
1847 Major Carmichael Smyth, in a letter addressed to ' Sam
Slick,' strongly advocated its execution as an Imperial work.
* This national highway,' he wrote, ' from the Atlantic to
the Pacific, is the great link required to unite in one chain the
whole English race. It will be the means of enabling vessels
steaming from our magnificent colonies — from New Zealand,
Van Diemen's Land, New South Wales, New Holland, from
Borneo and the West Coast of China, from the Sandwich Isles,
and a thousand other places — all carrying the rich products of
the East, to land them at the commencement of the West, to be
forwarded and distributed throughout our North American
Provinces and delivered within thirty days at the ports of Great
Britain.'

Railways have rendered most efficient aid in making Canada
the country that she is to-day. The Grand Trunk line first
practically united Upper and Lower Canada. The unfortunate
Ashburton Treaty, by extending the northern frontier of Maine
to the highlands overlooking the St. Lawrence, having made
the separation between the maritime and inland provinces of
Canada almost complete, no close political or commercial
union between them was possible, until railway communication
from the Atlantic seaboard to Quebec through British territory
had been provided. Hence the repeated efforts made to
construct such a road, the necessity for which was more than
ever demonstrated at the * Trent Affair' in 1861; and hence,
when the proposal for a Confederation of all the Provinces
was mooted in 1864, one of the essential conditions stipulated
for by the Maritime Provinces was the immediate construc-
tion

The Canadian Pacific Bailway.

121

tion of the Intercolonial Railway. For military and political
reasons that railway was kept as far as possible from the
American frontier, the mileage between Halifax and Quebec
beir -^ thereby increased to a very considerable extent ; and
for this, among other reasons, the line can hardly be con-
sidered to have been commercially a success. It has been in
some quarters assumed that, because the Canadian Pacific
Railway is the result of political necessity, therefore its com-
mercial fate cannot be other than that of the Intercolonial
Railway. But, as we proceed with our narrative, it will be seen
that the conditions of the two lines are not similar, and that
their prospects therefore will most probably be different.

On July 1st, 18G7, the Act of Union, assented to by the
Imperial Parliament in March, came into force, :^nd the Pro-
vinces of Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia,
became the Dominion of Canada, 'n 1870, Rupert's Land and
all the territories theretofore controlled by the Hudson's Bay
Company; in 1871, British Columbia; and in 1872, Prince
Edward Island, were severally admitted into the Confederation,
which since the latter date has comprised all British North
America with the exception of Newfoundland.

In a country of such peculiar geographical features, a political
union, however cleverly designed and ably directed, would avail
but little, were not a physical union by means of a trans-
continental railway speedily provided. Riel's rebellion in 1870
demonstrated alike the necessity and the difficulty of reaching
the Red River Settlement. No one doubted the vigour and
* push ' of Colonel Wolseley, but it took the expeditionary force
which he commanded ninety-five days to reach Fort Garry
from Toronto. It would have been impossible for the Govern-
ment at Ottawa to control a sparse population in the North-
West, so far removed from the Executive and the more settled
provinces ; while the attempt to do so could not but result
in enormous expenditure, with no corresponding advantage.
To increase the population was difficult, so long as the sole
access to the country lay through the United States. It was
not, however, the North-West Territories only that had to be
considered. As the Atlantic Provinces had stipulated for the
construction of the Intercolonial Railway, so the Pacific
Province, on entering the Confederation, insisted upon the
construction of a railway that should give her access through
British territory to her sister provinces in the East. Com-
pliance with this demand was felt to be a commercial as well
as a political necessity, and Sir John Macdonald, with a bold-
ness that exasperated his opponents and almost staggered his

friends,

122

Tlie Canadian Pacific Railwaij.

friends, promised that the line should be completed within ten
years.

In 1871 the Dominion Parliament passed a Resoluticii to the
effect, that the Pacific Railway should be undertaken * by private
enterprise, and not by the Government, and that the public
aid to be given to secure the undertaking should consist of
such liberal grants of land, and such subsidy in money or other
aid, not unduly pressing upon the industry and resources of
the Dominion, as the Parliament of Canada shall hereafter
determine.' That aid was in 1872 fixed at $30,000,000 in
cash, and a land grant amounting to 54,700,000 acres. But
Sir Hugh Allan, and the Company which he formed, could not
induce capitalists to embark in the undertaking on these
terms. In 1874, the Liberal-Conservative Cabinet of Sir John
Macdonald gave way to a Liberal, or ' Grit,' Government under
Mr. Alexander Mackenzie's leadership ; and, however they might
criticize the recklessness, as they termed it, of a policy that had
undertaken to accomplish impossibilities, the new Administra-
tion frankly admitted that all Canada was in favour of, and was
committed to, the construction of a transcontinental line with all
speed ; with the reservation, however, equally insisted upon by
both parties, that its construction should not materially increase
the fiscal burdens of the people. In 1875, as the original compact
was then obviously impossible of fulfilment, a new agreement
with British Columbia was, by Lord Carnarvon's help, arrived
at, by which a large sum was to be annually expended on rail-
ways in that province, and the line was to be completed as
far eastward as Lake Superior by 1890. Thus, within fifteen
years some 1900 miles of railway were to be constructed ; a
task of the probable fulfilment of which Mr. Mackenzie could
only bring himself to speak in the following cautious terms :
* We shall always endeavour to proceed with this work as fast
as the circumstances of the country — circumstances yet to be
developed — will enable us to do, so as to obtain as soon as
possible complete railway communication with the Pacific
Province. How soon that time may come I cannot predict.'
Mr. Mackenzie's aspirations, it will be observed, were limited
to the construction of a line from Lake Superior westward ; the
link eastwards to form a connection with the railways of older
Canada being an undertaking far too onerous, it was then
thought, to be embarked in.

The new Cabinet altered the form of subsidy, and offered
$10,000 and 20,000 acres per mile, and in addition a Govern-
ment guarantee of 4 per cent, for twenty-five years on such
further amount of capital as might be named by those who

tendered

The Canadian Pacific Railway.

123

tendered for the work. But these terms, also, were unsuccessful
in attracting capitalists, and in 1875 the decision of the
previous Parliament in favour of private enterprise was re-
versed, and it was settled that the work should be undertaken
by the Government itself.

Sufficient work was done in the next few years to show,
not only how fatal to the success of the great Transcontinental
Railway its construction by Government would be, but also
how imperfectly each of the political parties understood what
was required to make such a line a commercial success.
Mr. Mackenzie, for instance, must be credited with the in-
genious proposal to give an amphibious character to the line,
by * utilizing the magnificent water stretches ' which lakes and
river afforded ; a proposal which, if carried out, would have
absolutely marred the usefulness of the railway as a through
route.

When the Mackenzie Cabinet fell in 1879, and Sir John
Macdonald returned to power, the Railway Department was
placed in the hands of Sir Charles Tupper, an indication at
once of the important part that railway extension would play
in the policy of the new Cabinet, and of the vigour with which
that policy would be maintained. The work both of surveys
and of construction was accordingly pushed on ; the * magnificent
water stretches ' were abandoned ; rails were laid from Emerson
to Winnipeg, so that, at least through the United States, railway
access to Manitoba was secured ; and at the same time every
effort was made to complete the line between Lake Superior
and the Red River, so as to obtain, at all events in summer,
a purely Canadian route to the North- West.

About this time the attitude of the Liberal party towards
the Pacific Railway project appears to have undergone a
change. Mr. Mackenzie, we have seen, had, when in power,
admitted and heartily striven to carry out the obligations in
regard to the construction of this line, which his predecessor
had contracted. The Conservative Opposition, though in the
nature of things critical as to details, seem in the main to have
loyally supported the Government in pressing on the work.
But soon after the parties changed sides in the House of
Commons, and especially when Mr. Mackenzie's influence with
his party, owing to his failing health, began to wane, a new
departure in Opposition policy was made. The Liberals
said that to carry out the country's obligations to British
Columbia was impossible ; that to attempt to do so would
impose upon the Dominion financial burdens of an absolutely
ruinous oppressiveness ; that the idea of a railway from ocean

124

T^>.c Canadian Pacific Railicarj.

to ocean, entirely avoiding foreign soil, must be relegated to a
dim and very distant future ; and, with a strangely unpatriotic
perverseness, they laid stress upon the merits and advantages of
the Westwn States of the Union as a reason why their own grand
possessions in the Canadian North-West would long remain
neglected. The result, however, to the country of this strange
perversity was good ; for the Cabinet, thwarted by the obstacles
put in their way, were driven to revert to the original plan of
having the work executed by an independent company.

A few Canadians, whose reputation stood equally high for
shrewdness, courage, and probity, had recently converted a
bankrupt railway in the Western States, thereafter known as
the St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Manitoba Railway, into a
prosperous concern ; profitable to themselves and extremely
useful to the public. To these gentlemen, most of them
their political opponents, the Government turned, and induced
them, after due consideration, to take upon themselves the
execution of a work that had already upset one Government,
had materially contributed to defeat another, and which, it was
commonly said, would yet be the death of many another Ad-
ministration before it was completed.

In January 1881 Sir Charles Tupper, as Minister of Rail-
ways and Canals, introduced into the House of Commons
Resolutions to give effect to the Provisional Agreement already
arrived at between the Government and the Syndicate, as it was
called. "^ wing, as he was able to do, that the terms (which
will be ;n in detail later on) were far more favourable to
the country than any which had been previously proposed, and
even than those on which the late Government had attempted
to get the work executed, he appealed to the Opposition to
unite with his own supporters in bringing this great national
work to a triumphant and satisfactory conclusion. But the
appeal was in vain. The Canadian Opposition missed, on this
occasion, an opportunity of adopting a course, that would have
been at once creditable to themselves and advantageous to their
country. It must be confessed — as the wearisome pages of the
Canadian Hansard fully testify — that the captious criticism on
the subject of the Canadian Pacific Railway has not redounded
to the reputation of the Opposition as patriots or statesmen ;
while it cannot be questioned, that the tactics so persistently
adopted by them have at times done much abroad to shake the
credit and position of the Colony. Canadians have during the
past few years been often heard bitterly to say, that the worst
enemies of their country and the greatest obstacles to its progress
were to be found among their own countrymen. But, without

pursuing

■1

(

Tlic Canadian Pacific Railway.

125

pursuing this topic any further, it is enouj^h to say, that tho
Resolutions above referred to were adopted by large majorities
in both Commons and Senate, and that on February 17, 1681,
the Canadian Pacific Railway Act received the Royal Assent,
and the Company its charter.

Let us now go back six years, and look at the problem then
before the organizers of the new Company. Canada's object
was to connect the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans by a
railway to be made entirely on Canadian soil. This meant
the construction of at least 2500 miles of new line. Of this
length, the 650 miles between the upper Ottawa River and
Port Arthur lay through a district of which all that was known
was its extreme unsuitability for railway construction. The
fertility of the great prairie plains, stretching for 900 miles
westward from the Red River, was theoretically believed in by
the {ew^ but was not yet practically demonstrated to the many ;
while in the West there were three mountain ranges to be crossed,
and the dangerous canons of the British Columbian rivers to
be threaded. Through these the three-quarters of a million
sterling already spent on surveys had hardly resulted in discover-
ing one feasible line for the passage of the railway to the Pacific.
Any estimate of the cost of construction was necessarily little
more than conjectural, while the market value to be set upon
the Land Grant, upon which it was expected that so much of the
capital needed for the work would be raised, was also problem-
atical. Then, as to time — the Government wanted the line com-
pleted in ten years; but Mr. Mackenzie had, as we have seen,
expressed grave doubts whether the western section, from Lake
Superior to the Pacific, could be completed even in fifteen years.
Then the Government stipulated, that the line should be worked,
as well as made, by any syndicate that undertook its construction.
But how was the cost of working it to be met ? Had not a high
authority lately estimated that cost annually at eight million
<lollars beyond the earnings? Had it not been officially argued
that, since for many years the line would not pay its expenses,
the Government must grant a heavy subsidy? The men
who, in the face of these awkward facts, and of still more
awkward uncertainties, entered upon the task put before them,
and who, before appealing to the public for aid, subscribed
a million sterling as an evidence of their own faith in the
ultimate success of their undertaking, were not wanting in
courage.

The conditions of the contract now made were, briefly, as
follows. The Government were to complete and hand over to
the Company the lines then under construction, amounting in

all

120

The Canadian Pacific Railway.

all to 718 miles, and representing approximately an outlay
of 5|30,000,0(X). The remainder of the line between Cal-
lendar — a geographical expression for the terminus of the
yet unfinished Canada Central Railway — and the Pacific coast,
an estimated total of at least 1900 miles, was to be completed
by the Company before May 1891. The construction was to be
equal to the standard of the Union Pacific road. The subsidy
was fixed at $25,000,000 (5,000,000/. sterling) and 25,000,000
acres of land ; each amount to be given to the Company in stated
proportions to the work done on each section. Materials used
in the first construction of the road were to be admitted free of
duty. The Company's lands, if unsold, were to be free of taxes
for twenty years, and its property was to be exempt from taxation.
The right of way over lands owned by the Government was to
be free. The rates charged by the Company were to be exempt
from Government interference until the shareholders were in
receipt of 10 per cent, on their stock ; and for twenty years no
competitive lines were to be allowed to cross the American
boundary in Manitoba or the North- West Territories.

With these concessions the Company at once set to work.
The first thing done was to secure the Canadian Central Rail-
way, by which Ottawa was reached, and a connection at Brock-
ville with American lines ; and the next thing was to acquire
from the Quebec Government the line from Ottawa to Mont-
real. This brought the Canadian Pacific to tidewater; to
the chief port and city of the Dominion. But Montreal, im-
portant centre as it is, is only a summer port ; and arrange-
ments were made for the control of railways giving access
to the Atlantic coast. To this we shall return later on.
Again, an acquaintance with Canada, or a glance at the

map, will show that the main line of the Canadian Pacific does
not touch South-Western Ontario, the great district between
Lakes Ontario, Erie, and Huron, whose capital is Toronto, and
which is, on the whole, the most prosperous section of the
Dominion. The manufacturers and merchants of Ontario were
naturally looking forward to a large business with the new
settlers in the North- West ; but it was obvious that, unless the
Syndicate gained access to that district, and could exercise some
control over its traffic, almost the whole of the latter would pass
to Manitoba via Chicago, and thus be lost to the national
railway. An arrangement was accordingly made with those
who were then constructing the Ontario and Quebec Railway
between Toronto and Montreal; and that line, together with
other lines affiliated to it, were leased to the Canadian Pacific.
The Canadian Central Railway not having in 1881 reached

Callendar,

v^m^

The Canadian Pacijic Railway,

127

Callendar, it was obviously impossible for the new Company
to undertake much work beyond that point. Its chief energies
v/ere therefore first directed to the construction of the line from
Winnipeg westwards. At the outset two decisions of import-
ance were made : first, to adopt a more southern route across
tLe plains and through the mountains than had formerly been
advocated ; and secondly, to construct the line in a more sub-
stantial manner than the contract required. The former deci-
sion would, it was, calculated, save between 70 and 100 miles
in the through distance, but the latter necessitated the aban-
donment of all the work done by the Government beyond Win-
nipeg, at a time when it was supposed that a ' Colonization
road ' of a cheap character would suffice.

We enter now upon a record of construction that is absolutely
without parallel in railway annals. People talk of the * Prairie
section' as if the country weie as level as a billiard-table, and
that little more was required than to lay the rails on the surface
of the soil. But those who have been in the North- West know
well that, except between Wirudpeg and Portage, there is very
little level country. The earthwork on this whole section
averaged at least 17,000 cubic yards per mile, and the railway was
constructed unusually high above the ground, so as to avoid as
far as possible the risk of snow blocks. Work was commenced
in May 1881, and by the close of the season 165 miles had been
completed. This rate of progress, however, was not fast enough.
So in the spring of 1882 a contract was made with Messrs.
Langdon and Shepherd, of St. Paul, to complete the line to
Calgary, 839 miles from Winnipeg. The work was sublet by
them in short sections, according to the ability of the sub-
contractors. But in a country where even the stone and timber
for construction, as well as the food for men and horses, had
to be brought up from an ever-receding base, it was absolutely
necessary that the control of the whole should be centred in
one management. To provide for the sixty different parties
employed, to see that eacli had its requisite materials, and that
work in each year was being done up to time, as well as up to
the standard, could only be effected by perfect organization.
From an account given by an eye-witness, himself very capable
of appreciating what he saw, we extract the following graphic
description of the work : —

' The rapidity of construction of this section of the road is without
parallel . . .

• As soon as a gang had finished one section they had to move from
a hundred to a hundred and fifty miles ahead, where in another
six weeks they were tolerably sure to hear the locomotives behind

them,

128

Tlic Canadian Pacific Railway.

them, and the clanging of the hundred hammers of the track-layers
close at their heels.

' In advance of the track-laying party were two bridge gangs, one
working at night and the other in the day, and as every stick of timber
had to bo brought from Eat Portage, 140 miles east of Winnipeg,
they were seldom more than eight to ten miles ahead of the track-
layers. The timber had to be hauled from the point where it could
be unloaded, as near to the end of the track as possible, to the place
where it was wanted ; and this was generally done in the night, to
interfere as little as possible with the other work. Where not a stick
of timber nor any preparation for work could be seen one day, the
next would show two or three spans of a nicely finished bridge ; and
twenty-four hours afterwards the rails would be laid, and trains work-
ing regularly over it. Following these came the track-laying gang,
the most attractive and lively party of the lot, and on which most of
the interest of those who visited the work seemed to centre. There
were three hundred men and thirty-five teams in this gang. Moving
along slowly but with admirable precision, it was beautiful to watch
them gradually coming near ; everything moving like clockwork, each
man in his place knowing exactly his work and doing it at the right
time and in the right way. Onward they come, pass on, and leave the
wondering spectator slowly behind whilst ho is still engrossed with
the wonderful sight. The returning locomotive, with her long string
of empty cars rushing past Lim, awakens him from his reverie ; and
another pushing before her more slowly her heavy load, and taking
them up to the front, shows him that where an hour before there was
nothing but an upturned sod, two ditches and a low embankment, there
is now a finished working railway. The emblem of civilization has
passed, the subjugation of the land is accomplished, and that which was
the hunting-ground of the Indian and the home of the buffalo yesterday,
has gone for ever from his occupation ; is Britain to-day, not in name
only, but for use, and will probably be occupied within a week by
some hopeful and happy British family, who in another season or
two will make it a smiling home and the abode of lasting comfort
and prosperity. No wonder that it was a sight that hundreds came
to see ; it was a miracle of progress, the visible growth of an empire ;
the practical realization of the dream of centuries, as the highway
was gradually being laid down destined to conduct the commerce of
Europe to that wonderful Orient where a prodigal Nature pours out
her riches to supply the wants and luxuries of the world. All that
Columbus and Champlain and others had hoped to discover, all that
Magellan and Hudson and Franklin had died to find out, all that
England and Spain had bestowed their money to explore, and all that
Franco had lavished her energies and sacrificed her heroes to control,
was quietly being accomplished by that motley gang and those few
locomotives, as the north-west passage to Asia was advancing over
these hitherto unserviceable prairies. Each day from twenty to
twenty-five heavy twenty-ton cars of rails and fastenings, and from
forty to fifty cars of ties and other materials were laid by this busy

track-laying

•s

The Canadian Pacific Railway.

129

tmck-laying gang, and nearly all of this had ciome an average of
a thousand miles by rail before it was safely delivered at the " end
of the track." '♦— « Engineering,' April 25, 188-i.

The result of this energy was very conspicuous. But in
the spring of 1882 disastrous floods occurred in the upper
Red River, the only route by which supplies could then reach
the North-West ; and consequently in the three months ending
30th June less than 70 miles were completed. This comparative
inactivity was, however, counterbalanced by the work of the
next six months, which, at the rate of over 58 miles a month, pro-
duced 349 miles of finished railway. In 1883, 37G miles were
completed, and this included the gradual ascent of the Rocky
Mountains to within four miles of the summit of the pass.
The total advance for the three years was 962 miles, exclusive
of 66 miles of sidings. The greatest length of mileage laid
in one month was 92 miles, in July 1883 ; the highest daily
average during several weeks was 3"46 miles per diem for the
eight weeks ending August 5th ; and the greatest length laid in
one day was 6*38 miles on July 28th in that year.

For the details of that remarkable day's work we again refer
to the paper above quoted : —

' There were twenty-four men to handle the iron, that is twelve
unloading it from the cars, and twelve to load the trollies. It took the
same number to lay it down iu the track. The total number of rails
laid that day was 2120, or 604 tons. Five men on each side of
the front car handed down 1060 rails, 302 tons each gang, whilst the
two distributors of angle plates, and bolts, and adjusters of the rails
for running out over the rollers, handled 2120 rails, 4240 plates, and
8480 bolts. These were followed by fifteen bolters, who put in on an
average 565 bolts each ; then thirty-two spikers, with a nipper to each
pair, drove 63,000 spikes, which were distributed by four peddlers.
The lead and gauge spikers each drove 2120 spikes, which, averaging
four blows to each spike, would require 600 blows an hour for 14
hours. There was 16,000 ties or sleepers unloaded from the trains,
and reloaded on to waggons by thirty-two men, and thirty-three teams
hauled them forward on to the track, averaging seventeen loads of
30 sleepers to each team. Ou the track eight men unloaded and
distributed them, and four others spaced them, two others spaced
and distanced the joint tics, and two others arranged and adjusted
displaced ties immediately in front of the leading spikers. Four

* An opinion having been expressed, tbat the then projected lino from Buakim
to Berber could bo completed in four nioutlis, provided tiuit the working parties
were protected from Oemiiu Digma's attack, the assertion was promptly made by
the leading London journal, that it was impossible to construct n railway
" telescopically " from one base. And yet in three years thcso Cuuadiana had
just constructed 'JGO miles " teloscopicallv ! "

Vol. 164.— iVb. 327, K. iion

130

The Canadian Pacific Railway.

iron carboys and two horses were used to haul the iron to the front.
The first two miles of material were hauled ten miles along the
prairie, and the rest from three miles up, as the usual side track
gang put in a siding two thousand feet long during the day.'

But dramatic as was the completion of such a length of
mileage within three working seasons, the work which had
meantime been going on near Lake Superior was no less
remarkable. Operations in this case were not confined to the
ends of the line, but were carried on at all points to which
access could be gained on or from the Lake. From Callendar
westwards a more favourable route than had been expected
was found ; and on several long stretches progress was very
rapid. But some of the most difficult and expensive work
on the line was required along the northern edge of the
Lake itself. The amount of rock-cutting was very heavy, and
here, as in the Rocky Mountains, it was found desirable to
establish dynamite factories on the spot. It is said that
1,500,000/. sterling was expended in dynamite, and that
^10,000,000 were laid out on one 90-mile section of road.
Even all through the winter of 1884-5 this work went on,
some 9000 men being employed. And well it was for Canada
that such energy had been shown and such progress made in
that district ; for when Riel, in the spring of 1885, raised a re-
bellion a second time in the far North- West, the citizen soldiers,
who flew to arms from all parts of Canada, were hurried forward
over that uncompleted but still most valuable piece of railway,
and by this means speedily and unexpectedly arrived at the
scene of the revolt. The experience of the men could not
have been a very pleasant one as, in the early spring and
in intense cold, they were carried in contractors' cars over the
unballasted road, and had to march over the frozen margin of
the lake on arriving at each gap in the unfinished line. But
patriotism triumphed over natural obstacles as well as over the
rebels. The Pacific Railway, though incomplete, enabled the
Government to crush the rebellion promptly : completed, it
makes future rebellions impossible. By the time the troops
returned in the early summer, the gaps had been finished, and
there was a continuous line of rails stretching from Montreal to
the summit of the Rocky Mountains.

The summit, we have seen, was reached by the track-layers at
the end of December 1884. It was not unreasonable that those,
who had crossed the prairie with such speed, should pause awhile
at one of the greatest declivities down which a railway has been
carried. It was not, however, from exhaustion either of resources
or of energy that a short halt was then called, but in order that

one

The Canadian Pacific Railway,

131

one more examination might be made of the two passes, by either
of which the west slope of the Rockies might be descended.
The Howse Pass presented easier gradients, but it would have
added thirty miles to the line, while to reach it an altitude of
another 1000 feet would have to be surmounted — a very serious
matter in the region of snow. So the Kicking Horse Pass, with
all its difficulties, was selected. The decision once made, the
work went on.

At the watershed is a lake, from either end of which issues a
stream — the outlet of one stream is in the Atlantic, via Hudson's
Bay, the outlet of the other is in the Pacific. The latter stream,
the Kicking Horse River, begins its turbulent course through a
cleft of crystallized limestone of excessive hardness, and falls
1100 feet in three and a half miles. To complete at once the
circuitous route by which this descent could be accomplished
without exceeding the gradient of 2*2 per 100 feet, which had
been decided upon as the maximum to be allowed in the Moun-
tain section, would have delayed the work beyond that point so
many months, that it was determined to construct, at the most
difficult part, a temporary line on which a very steep gradient
would for the time be admitted. This was accordingly done, and
not only the construction trains but those for the regular traffic,
after the completion of the line, have ever since been so easily and
safely worked up and down this heavy gradient, that it seems
doubtful if it will ever be necessary to undertake the longer and
easier route. In the 44 miles between the summit of the Rockies
and the mouth of the Pass in the valley of the Columbia River,
a fall of 2757 feet was accomplished, and in that distance, in
addition to other minor streams, the Kicking Horse River was
crossed nine times, and, exclusive of tunnels, 1,500,000 cubic
yards were excavated, 370,000 of which were of rock. The drill-
ing for this, owing to the impossibility of conveying machinery
to the spot, was done by hand. In one part treacherous land-
slips gave far more trouble than even the hardest rock. It was,
therefore, not to be wondered at that, by the 18th of June, the
permanent way had only been laid 8 miles west of the summit.
By the end of the season, however, there was a satisfactory
record of 75 miles of finished line, including a very considerable
bridge over the Columbia River.

By the time the work was, in the spring of 1885, resumed at
the mouth of the Beaver River, the line in course of construction
by the Government from Port Moody to Savona's Ferry, near
Kamloops, was approaching completion. The gap between the
two ends was only 220 miles, but two mountain ranges, the
Selkirks and the Gold Range, had to be surmounted. Through

K 2 the

132

The Canadian Pacific Raihcay.

the latter, the more westerly of the two, Mr. Moberley had some
years before, by following the true indication of an eagle's flight,
discovered the Eagle Pass ; but for many years the magnificent
Selkirks had defied the attacks of all surveying parties. To
Mr. Moberley attaches the credit of having pointed out that,
up a certain branch of the llle-cille-wait River, the long-looked-
for route would, if at all, be discovered ; and Major Rogers, the
Canadian Pacific Company's engineer, has the honour of being
the first man known to have crossed this range, by a pass to
which his name has been very properly given, and through which
the railway came close upon the heels of its first discoverer.

Even to those who had triumphed over the obstacles of the
Kicking Horse Pass, the ascent and descent of the Selkirks
presented problems that taxed to the utmost the skill and courage
of the engineers. The traveller, who in his luxurious carriage
is enjoying some of the most splendid mountain scenery in the
world, will also certainly admire the ingenuity and daring of
the men who devised and executed the railway along which
he is so smoothly carried. While the track-layers from the
East were steadily making their way through the Rogers Pass,
those from the West were making good progress across the
Gold Range ; and as the autumn advanced, it became an in-
teresting question when and where the two parties would meet.
As expressive, in an American manner, of a huge distance, there
was an old saying, that on one of the Dalrymple farms in the
Western States the furrow was so long that, when the gang of
ploughs returned, they found the harvest ripening from the seed
dropped on their first passing. Some idea of the length of
the Canadian Pacific Railway and the speed of construction
may be formed from the fact, that several miles of permanent
way yet remained to be laid in the West, when the first train,
that was destined to pass from the St. Lawrence to the Pacific
coast, left Montreal. Steadily westward moved the train, steadily
onward from both sides proceeded the work ; until when the
locomotive reached a point in the Eagle Pass, not far from the
second crossing of the Columbia River, the two parties were
found on November 5th, 1885, face to face, and the Canadian
Pacific Railway, with the exception of one rail, was an accom-
plished fact. It is significant of the business-like, unostenta-
tious manner, in which this whole work was accomplished, that,
whereas the Northern Pacific celebrated the driving of their
* golden spike ' by an extravagant excursion, that admittedly cost
the Company ^175,000, and probably cost them half as much
moxe, the last spike on the Canadian Pacific was driven by Sir
Donald Smith, in the presence of not more than a dozen persons

besides

The Canadian Pacific Railway.

133

besides those who had been actively employed in laying the
permanent way. * The last spike,' Mr. Van Home had long
before announced, ^ will be just as good an iron spike as any on
the road ; and those who want to see it driven will have to pay
full fare.' There was no banquet, no speech-making in the
depths of that British Columbian forest ; and, having seen the
last rail duly laid, the whole party, it is said, quietly went
fishing at the next 'likely' stream. But the telegraph — for the
wire had throughout kept pace with the railway — flashed the
news of the completion of the undertaking far and wide ; and
a graceful and fitting testimony to the importance of the great
work was conveyed to the President of the Company in the
following message : —

' I am desired by the Governor-General to acquaint you, that he
has received Her Majesty's commands to convey to the people of
Canada her congratulations on the completion of the Canadian Pacific
Railway. Her Majesty has watched its progress with much interest ;
and hopes for the future success of a work of such value and import-
ance to the Empire.

' Melgund, Governor-General's Secretary.'

The contract stipulated for the completion of the line by
May 31st, 1891. As we have seen, the last rail was laid on
November 5th, 1885, and a regular through train service
commenced on June 28th, 1886, or five years in advance of
the specified time. When it is remembered that in the West
three mountain ranges were traversed, and that in the East,
near Lake Superior, the work for more than 100 miles was one
of the utmost difficulty, the construction of more than 2200
miles of railroad in four years and a half must be regarded as
a most wonderful achievement. That this was not effected
by scamping the work is proved, by the independent testimony
of English, French, and American engineers who have ex-
amined the line, as well as by the formal certificates from time
to time given by the Government Engineer. Indeed, it was
obviously to the interest of the future proprietors of the railway,
that it should be most substantial in construction, and that the
gradients should be easy ; more especially as in the conveyance
of transcontinental mails, passengerS| and freight, upon which the
future of the line so greatly depends, high speed will necessarily
be required. A few statistics will show that this can be easily
obtained. The three heavy gradients in the mountains are all
contained within three sections of, say, 20 miles each ; a con-
centration that tends to security and economy in the working.
Between Montreal and Winnipeg there is no gradient exceeding
-53 feet to the mile ; between Winnipeg and a point close to the

summit

134

The Canadian Pacific Railway.

summit of the Rockies there is but one that exceeds 40 feet.
Since July, the schedule time between Montreal and Burrard's
Inlet has been 136 hours ; soon to be reduced to 120 hours ;
and this again, when the China and Australian mail service
commences, will, we are promised, be reduced to 90 hours, or a
through speed of 32 miles an hour.

For making fast time, a comparison between the American
and Canadian transcontinental railroads is most markedly in
favour of the latter. On the Canadian Pacific, as we have seen,
the heavy gradients are all within a short length of line ; whereas
on the lines in the States they are stretched over hundreds of
miles. Then, too, in the summit levels to be reached the
Canadian line has an immense advantage. The Northern
Pacific passes are respectively 3940, 5500, and 5563 feet above
the sea ; those on the Union and Central Pacific are 6160,
7017, 7835, and 8240 feet ; while those on the Canadian Pacific
are 1996, 4306 and 5296 feet only.

Ill actual distance, also, across the Continent, Canada has a
considerable advantage : the distance from Montreal to Van-
couver being only 2905 miles, wh'le from New York to San
Francisco it is 3271 miles. And whereas the various Ameri-
can railways making up the transcontinental line are owned and
managed by several distinct companies, the whole traject from
the St. Lawrence to the Pacific is under one undivided control.
In carrying the Pacific and Atlantic mails to and from Japan,
China, and Australia, the advantage of having the line from end
to end under one management, so that it can be kept clear, of
shorter mileage, and of easier gradients, will continually be felt.

In July 1886, as we have seen, Montreal found itself in easy
daily communication with the Pacific coast. But neither
Canada nor the Railway Company were satisfied to rest there.
The St. Lawrence is only available f jr summer traffic. True,
the Grand Trunk connects Montreal with the harbour of Port-
land, Maine. But it was deemed essential that the national
transcontinental line should have its own independent access to
all the Atlantic ports; and especially that the Maritime Provinces
of Canada should be brought into closer commercial relations
witn the rest of the Dominion. To effect this, the Canadian
Pacific prepared to bridge the St. Lawrence ; and the Govern-
ment agreed to subsidize a company which undertook, by
acquiring such lines as were already available, and by con-
structing the missing links where needed, to make an almost

* Bee line ' between Montreal and the head of the Bay of Fundy,
round which it was necessary to ^o to reach Halifax. This

* Short Line,' or International Railway, is to be completed by

the

The Canadian Pacific Raihoay.

135

■

the winter of 1886-7, and the effect will be to bring the New
Brunswick port of St. John, and the Nova Scotian port of
Halifax, 279 and 125 miles respectively nearer to Montreal than
they are by the present Intercolonial Railway route. The Short
Line will, of course, as it passes for some 150 miles through the
State of Maine, not be available for troops and war-materials ;
but commerce fortunately can, by sealed cars and bonding
arrangements, afford to disregard political boundaries.

We move quickly now-a-days ; and that which was deemed
almost one of the world's wonders a few years ago is now
thought little of, being superseded by something else which in
most instances is better and has also cost far less than its pre-
decessor. In 1860 the Prince of Wales formally opened the
Victoria Tubular Bridge at Montreal. Crossing the St. Law-
rence at one of its widest points, it is over 9000 feet long ; it
took more than five years in construction, and cost the Grand
Trunk Company, it is said, over six millions of dollars. It
was, in its day, a wonderful work. In January 1886 the
Canadian Pacific made a contract for the construction of a steel
truss-bridge across the St. Lawrence at Lachine. There were to
be fifteen stone piers, two of which stand in 27 feet of water
running at the rate of about seven knots. There were to be two
cantilever spans over the steamboat channel of 408 feet each,
two level spans of 270, eight of 240 feet ; the whole length
being 3454 feet. It was late in April before the contractor for
the masonry could get to work at the piers, which he was bound
to finish by November 30th. A fortnight in advance of that
time he reported the work accomplished. The bridge-builders
are close behind the masons, and by the time these words are in
print it is expected that the Lachine bridge will be ready for
the trains. The cost has not been made public, but it is said
not to exceed 250,000/.

It is supposed that, at one time, when the work of construction
was in progress all along the Canadian Pacific line, as many
as 25,000 men were employed upon it. And before leaving this
part of the subject, a word ought to be said in praise of the
Dominion regulations for keeping the peace in the vicinity of
great public works, and also of the Temperance rules which are
so honestly and strictly enforced in the North-West. It was
only by the help of these efficient rules and regulations, that such
a record of unprecedented work was possible, and that peace and
order could be, and were, as well maintained at ' the end of the
track ' as in a quiet English village. The contrast between this
state of things in Canada and the rampant rowdyism that
marked the construction of the Western railroads in the United

States

■3Sf-

136

The Canadian Pacific Raihoay,

States aroused, as well it might, the warm approval of an old
Yankee contractor at work on the Canadian Pacific. * When
a man breaks the law here,' he said, 'justice is dealt to him a
heap quicker and in larger chunks than he has been accustomed
to in the States. I tell you there is a way to do it, and they
are doing it here, right from the scratch.'

Although we are not writing for financial readers, still the
question will naturally be asked. What has been the outlay on
all this gigantic work, what is the capital charge of it to the
Company, and is a sufficient rate of interest likely to be provided
by the traffic receipts ? It is needless to say, that the Company
has received substantial aid from the Dominion Treasury, as well
as constant moral support from the Government. It is equally
needless now to recapitulate the various forms which at times
that aid assumed. Suffice it to say that, on one side, the Com-
pany's contract is admitted to have been honestly and satisfac-
torily fulfilled, while on the other it has already repaid to the
Government all the money advanced to it in excess of the
original subsidy. Each party to the contract is now, therefore,
clear of the other.

On the Canadian Pacific proper the capital charge appears
to stand at 7,000,0007. sterling, in 5 per cent, bonds, placed
on the London market by Messrs. Barings, and 13,000,0007. in
shares. For the latter an annuity of 3 per cent, per annum
for ten years, expiring in August 1893, was purchased, out of
capital, from the Dominion Government. This is an inalien-
able payment secured to the shareholders, totally irrespective of
any surplus earnings that in the meantime may be available in
the form of dividends. The main line, however, and its
branches and leased lines are treated by the Company as one
system, and as such must be regarded. The total liabilities of
the whole system, capitalized, represent about ^135,000,000,
say 27,000,0007. sterling. (This includes an estimate for the
cost of the St. Lawrence bridge, &c.) Taking the total mileage
when completed at 4500 miles, this represents exactly ^30,000,
or 60007. per mile — certainly an extraordinarily low capital
charge. After making as careful an allowance as we can, to
cover all the additions made since the last Report was issued,
we shall not be far wrong in placing the Fixed Charges for
1887 at ^3,340,000, to cover which the line only requires to
earn $750, say 1507., per mile.* It has hitherto been both

ridiculous

* We have said that there is no other railway whoso position is so parallel to
the Canadian Pacific as to allow of useful comparisons being made between them.
But, for whatever they may be worth, wo give the following figures. Over a

period

The Canadian Pacific Railway.

137

ridiculous and impossible to attempt to say, either what have
been, or what ought to have been, the earnings per mile of an
incomplete road of such an exceptional character as the Canadian
Pacific. The railway has been incomplete; most of the
country through which it passes is undeveloped ; much of it is
still absolutely without population ; and traffic, commerce,
everything, has to be created. Above all, the through traffic
may be said not to have yet commenced. That a line with all
these things against it should already be earning a substantial
amount in excess of its Fixed Charges is astonishing, and
cannot but be gratifying to its shareholders. These charges
for 1886 amount to $3,110,000, over which the net earnings for
the year — the last two months still being estimated — will
apparently show a surplus of some $500,000. As the Fixed
Charges will, presumably, not increase for some time to any very
large amount, beyond the figure given on the previous page,
whereas in the nature of things, with only an ordinary increase
in the population and business of the country, the traffic receipts
must yearly show a large development, the financial success of
the undertaking seems as assured as the construction of the
railway.

It is only right to point out, before leaving the financial
branch of the subject, that the Company, in the 14,500,000
acres of farming land still left to it in the North- West, possesses
a reserve of capital that cannot be estimated to-day at less than
4,500,000/. sterling ; an estate that costs its owner nothing in
taxes, and of which, by a process of ' unearned increment,' the
value is year by year rapidly growing. On these matters the
Directors of the Company, whose promises and predictions
have certainly been hitherto more than fulfilled, may fairly be
listened to ; and this is what they said to their shareholders in
their last Report : —

'In conclusion, tho Directors beg to renew their expressions of
entire confidence in the success of the enterprise, as a commercial
undertaking. With its main line stretching from the Atlantic sea-
board to the shores of the Pacific ; with its extensive system of branch
and connecting lines, enabling it to reach the chief centres of trade
in Canada and the Northern United States, with its own steamships
on the great Lakes, and all this under one management ; with tbo
further great advantage of having only to provide for a total capital
charge, including bonds, leases, and ordinary shares, of less than

period of nine years the Grand Trunk not earnings averaged $1850 per mile.
Tliose of the Great Western of Canada, during six years, $1105, Tho Northera
of Canada, during tlie post four years, $1300, and the Northern Pacific, during
the twelve months ending Sept. 1880, at tlio rate of 82190 per mile. Tho
Canadian Pacific can pay its fixed charges by earning only $750 per mile.

§30,000

138

The Canadian Pacific Railway.

$30,000 per mile, or about one-fifth of that of its principal Canadian
competitor, and far below that of any of its American competitors ; —
with all these advantages, and its superior facilities for attracting
business and conducting it economically and eflBciently, and with no
telegraph, sleeping-car or elevator companies, or any other private
interests whatever to sap its revenues, the Canadian Pacific Railway
can hardly fail to meet the expectations of its projectors, and to be a
source of large and certain profit to its shareholders ; and, finally,
with the establishment of steamship connections of the best class, both
on the Atlantic and the Pacific, it must soon become a powerful factor
in the world's commerce.'

The great project, except as regards the extension to the
eastern seaboard, being now practically complete, Canada has
already begun to reap some return for the sacrifices she has
made ; and we in England may all the more cordially hope that
her expectations may be entirely fulfilled, inasmuch as while
working for herself, she has also been working in the in-
terests of the mother country. For herself, she has welded
that iron band, without which her political system would dis-
integrate, but the possession of which promises to render
permanent a Confederacy occupying a line four thousand miles
in length, of which each section is now within touch, by wire
and rail, of the rest. The ' illimitable possibilities ' of the
Great North- West, with its millions of acres of land producing
abundantly the hardest wheat in the world, are now ready for
development. There is no longer any reason, why Canada's
sons should ' go to the States ' to make a new start in life, while
there is every reason, why emigration from our own shores
should, in preference to being allowed to drift to New York,
be judiciously directed to a land over which the British flag
waves, and where, in fourteen days from the date of leaving his
old home, the emigrant may be turning the furrow on an
estate of 160 acres of good wheat land which, at no cost to
himself, is, as children say, * his very own.' The Railway, too,
has solved the most difficult problem of the Indian question.
If the advent of the locomotive should make the buffalo extinct,
like the dodo, there is ample compensation in the fact, that * Big
Bears ' and * Sitting Bulls ' are also passing away. The remnants
of the races, that have left nothing but piles of bones to mark
their long occupation of one of the finest portions of the earth's
surface, will now have to exchange the scalping-knife, paint,
feathers, and heathen Sun-dances, for ploughs, and clothes, and
Christianity.

The ranching industry in Alberta, for which district American
cattle-men are deserting their former holdings further South, is

rapidly

The Canadian Pacific Railway.

139

rapidly growing, and, either ' on hoof or in refrigerator cars
and steamers, its products will, along with ' ^o. 1 Hard ' wheat,
soon make their mark in English markets. The eastern foot-
hills of the Rockies are underlaid by vast coal fields, which are
already supplying to the settlers on the treeless prairie that
cheap fuel, without which the cultivation of those rich acres
would be impossible. For lumber, too, about the future supply
of which Americans are, not without reason, becoming anxious,
the Canadian Pacific opens new districts near Lake Superior, in
Keewatin, and, above all, in British Columbia, whose forests are
perhaps the finest in the world. The impetus .given to mining
industry, too, is already most marked : witness the extraordinary
copper deposits near Sudbury, the silver ore that is rapidly
making Port Arthur a large industrial centre, and the gold
wealth of the Kootenay district, now for the first time made
accessible. Add to this list the opening of a large reciprocal
trade between the Dominion and Australia, and we have the
principal results to Canada herself of the completion of the
Canadian Pacific Railway.

But there are other and yet more far-reaching results that
affect Englishmen all the world over. Whether we regard it in
relation to the emigration problem, which must so soon be
grappled with ; or in connection with a possible Imperial
Federation ; or, lastly, as a contribution to the safety and defence
of the Empire at large, we shall find much to interest us in the
Canadian Pacific Railway. In order that this may be understood,
it will be necessary to show, by a few details, what a revolution
in our old-fashioned ideas of geography and routes this young
giant is already effecting.

Canada has hitherto been content with an ocean service that
has landed passengers in Quebec very comfortably in ten or
eleven days from Liverpool. But, in view of the understood
intention of the Imperial Government to subsidize a line of
mail steamers on the Pacific between Vancouver and Japan and
China, the Dominion Government are now calling for an
accelerated Atlantic service, and it seems certain that they will
be offered one of a character and speed at least equal to any
now running to New York. The result will be that, as Halifax,
projecting far into the Atlantic, lies nearer than New York to
Queenstown or Plymouth by 600 miles, passengers and mails
will be carried from shore to shore in (say) five days and a
half. From Halifax those travelling west to the East will be
carried to the Pacific coast in another equally short period —
say, eleven days from London to Vancouver. A year ago the
British Government called for tenders for a mail service

between

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between Vancouver, Yokohama, and Hongkong. The Canadian
Pacific people had, no doubt, already seen the possibilities of
that route, and promptly laid before the Imperial authorities a
scheme far in advance of what had been asked for. The
Postmaster-General having proposed a 10^-knot service, the
Company pointed out, that there would be no inducement
for the Dominion authorities to secure a fast service on the
Atlantic, or for their own trains to cross the Continent at express
speed, if time was thus to be thrown away on the Pacific, and
they promptly offered an efficient 15-knot service across that
ocean. In addition, they proposed to construct their mail
steamers under Admiralty supervision in such a manner as to
render them convertible at short notice into armed cruisers of a
formidable and useful character. This means, that not only
will the passage, between England, Yokohama, and Hongkong,
which now, via Brindisi, occupies 40 to 42 and 32 to 35 days
in either case, be reduced to 25 and 31 days respectively ;
but that the British Government could, in times of danger,
command the services of several first-class cruisers in those seas,
to which it will always remain difficult to send reinforcements
of ships, but on which it is, in view of our more intimate
relations with China, and our possibly less harmonious relations
with Russia, increasingly important, that England should not, at
a critical moment, be weak.

With its Eastern terminus at Halifax, where is a dockyard and
the only Imperial station on the Atlantic coast, and its Western
at Vancouver, and coal mines at both, the Canadian Pacific
becomes a strategic line of no little importance to the Empire.
Vancouver is exceptionally well adapted for the purposes which
Great Britain requires. The Pacific squadron, having its rendez-
vous in British Columbia waters, will no longer be cut off from
its base, and dependent on a foreign country for even telegraphic
communication with its own. The Admiral, lying in Burrard's
Inlet, which could itself easily be fortified, is, by a wire that no
foreigner handles, in touch with Halifax, Bermuda, and White-
hall, and can draw men and supplies in a week from Halifax, in
a fortnight from England itself. Across the Straits lie the coal
mines of Nanaimo, whence comes the only good coal on the
Pacific coast ; and at Esquimalt the Dominion has just com-
pleted a large dry dock, and has agreed, it is said, to erect
defensive works.

But it is not only our relations with Japan and China that
are affected by this railway. In speaking of the possible alter-
native route to India which it affords, we shall be careful not to
overstate its importance, although we knov«r that by some autho-
rities

The Canadian Pacific Railway.

141

rities that is estimated very highly. When the Suez Canal was
opened, a great part of the commerce of the world, from having
been oceanic^ became again more or less thalassic, in Carl Rilter
language. The present generation has come to look upon that
route as permanent, and such a very large proportion of ships
are now built on Canal measurements, that any blocking of * the
ditch ' will cause a very serious disturbance to trade. Yet all
are agreed that, in the case of a European war, the Canal, even
if not blocked, will be nearly useless, because the passage of the
Mediterranean, in the face of so many ports from which cruisers
could sally, will be so dangerous as to be practically unusable
except by strong squadrons.

* In that case we shall revert to the Cape route.' To a certain
extent, yes; but, if we are wise, not exclusively. We want
to send military and naval supplies of men and materials to
India. The transport has first to run the gauntlet of the ports
of Western Europe and of vessels lurking about the Western
islands. Then the centre of depression of war-clouds moves
now-a-days as fast as a south-west gale coming up from the
Atlantic, and troops and stores despatched via the Cape may
be sadly needed in Europe before they reach their destination :
but, once started, they are gone beyond recall. Granted, how-
ever, that the vessel safely reaches Bombay in, say, thirty-three
to thirty-five days.

Now let us look at the Canadian route. The North Atlantic
should be, and in case of war must be, safe for British shippings
if for no other reason than this, that otherwise we shall
starve. Neither Russia nor India will then send us a bushel
of wheat. Cargoes from New Zealand, California, South
America, will be risky ventures. It will be on such wheat-fields
and ranches in the North- West as we have been describing, that
many-mouthed England will depend for her food supplies ; and
the food problem promises to be for us one of the most serious
in the great wars of the future. Our transports, then, we must
assume, will be able safely to run to North America, from
whence they will bring back food supplies. Presumably, too,,
if the war-cloud lowers in the East, a force will have quietly
been concentrated at Vancouver. From that point, if need
arose, it could either be conveyed to England in a fortnight, or
landed in Calcutta in twenty-five days. The Halifax garrison
and more troops from England could reach India in five, and
eleven days longer, respectively. This is, at least, a second string
to our bow ; and such second strings are not to be lightly thrown
aside. In chronicling the suggestive fact, that the first through-
train on the Canadian Pacific carried, in six days from Quebec

58"

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TliP Canadian Pacific Railway.

to the Pacific, naval stores for Esquimalt, we do not wish to
give undue prominence to the part which this railway can play
in actual warfare, for in the peaceful development of com-
mercial intercourse will lie its greatest triumphs. In this
respect, fuller use of the Pacific route to Australasia demands
attention. Already we are told that a cable is to connect Van-
couver with Australia and New Zealand via Honolulu ; and
with such an Atlantic service as we have anticipated, and a
correspondingly fine service on the Pacific as will undoubtedly
follow, one cannot but foresee that Australia will shortly be
fortunate in possessing a mail service between London and
Adelaide via Suez, and another between London and Brisbane
via Canada, each covering the distance in about thirty-two days.
The political significance of the construction of the Canadian
Pacific and ita bearing upon the Egyptian question was grasped
by the deputy Whewell Professor of International Law, who
more than a year ago wrote : —

' When the representatives of England come to the discussion of
details [about the Suez Canal and EgyDt] in the Council Chamber of
the Powers, they will now be in a better position than they were a
few months ago, owing to an event which is about to happen in a
distant portion of the globe. I refer to the opening of the Canadian
Pacific Railway. The importance of this railway can hardly be over-
estimated from an Imperial point of view.'

And after describing the advantages, which we Vave touched
on above, of the alternative route to India which the railway
affords, Mr. Lawrence proceeds : —

* England's position with regard to the Egyptian Question has been
greatly altered by the opening of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The
8uez Canal is still of the utmost importance to us, and as far an our
commerce with the East is concerned there will in all probability be
little difference between the old state of things and the new. But a
free passage through the Canal for our transports, at all times and
under all circumstances, is by no means so essential to the defence of
the Empire as it was a -hort time ago. Wo have, therefore, far
greater liberty of action in dealing with the other Powers, than we
had before. On the one hand, wo can with safety accept proposals
as to the guardianship of the Canal, which involve some slight and
remote risk that measures of police may bo enforced against us at a
critical time, more from a desire to injure us than because our pro-
ceedings cause any ; lal danger to th 3 trallic. Now that we have an
alternative routo to India, we may be able to purchase other advan-
tages in the settlement of Egyptian affairs by giving om* consent to
an arrangement concerning the Canal, which prudence would formerly
have compelled us to decline. On the other hand, the necessity of
coming to an arrangement of some kind is not so great as it was. If

The Canadian Pacific Railway.

143

the Powers should endeavour to take advantage of our position as
rulers of India to impose upon us conditions which we deem alto-
gether inadmissible, we can decline to enter into any agreement at all,
and leave them to do their worst when a crisis arrives. The con-
tinuation of the present state of uncertainty as to the legal position
of the Canal is no longer as dangerous as before. A settlement of
the difficulty is most desirable, but it is not so essential that we need
concede more than we deem just and right in order to get it.' *

Much reference has lately been made to the 'immensa
majestas Romano; pacis.' England can hardly have a higher
ambition than to secure to the world the benefit of such a
peace. And anything that strengthens our position, that by
reducing time and distance enables us to concentrate and most
efficiently employ our necessarily scattered and somewhat
limited forces, and that for commercial advantage as well
as for political security brings the component parts of Greater
Britain into closer relationship with each other, is an advance
towards that most desirable object. Such a contribution to the
welfare and unity of the British Empire, and so to peaceful
interests throughout the world, has Canada now most obviously
made by the construction of her inter-oceanic lines, and by the
completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

* ' Essays on some disputed questions on IModern International Law.' By
T. J. Lawrence, M.A., LL.M., Dep. Whewell I'rofesaor, &c. &c., pp. 68-G9.

Art.