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I 
 
THE 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY 
 
 AND 
 
 THE COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 LIFE AND WRITINGS OF 
 
 JOHN ALFRED POOR 
 
 KDITKI) I!V 
 
 LAURA ELIZABETH POOR 
 
 "rEACE IIATlI HEk VICTORIES 
 NO LESS RENOWNED THAN WAR" 
 
 G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 n WEST TWHNTV-T„,KD STKK.BT ,,, hB„ "'""'''"''^ 
 
 <fl)e inithrrbochfr {.Irrss 
 1892 
 
 FOKU STREET, STRAND 
 
i P^ 
 
 2 6 7112 
 
 COPVRIOHT BV 
 
 LAURA ELIZAHETH POOR 
 
 i38y 
 
 Cbe ftnichcrboclicr prcos, Hew SJorR 
 
 Electrotypcd and Printed hy 
 G. P. Putnam's Sons 
 
"Imagination is, in the popular mind, obstinately connected 
 with poetry and romance. When the attempt is made to ex- 
 tend the application of the creative energy of the imagination 
 to business and politics, the sentimental outcry against such a 
 profanation of the term becomes almost deafening Evjry 
 poetaster is willing to admit that Newton is one of the few 
 grand scientific discoverers that the world has produced ; but 
 he still thinks that, in virtue of versifying some commonplaces 
 of emotion and thought, he is himself superior to Newton 
 in imagination. In fact, it is the direciion given to the crea- 
 tive faculty, and not the material on which it works, that dis- 
 criminates between Fulton and Jkyant, Whitney and Long- 
 fellow, Bigelow and Whittier, Goodyear and Lowell. De- 
 scending from the inventors, it would be easy to show that, in 
 the conduct of the every-day transactions of life, more quick- 
 ness of imagination, subtlety and breadth of understanding. 
 and energy of will have been displayed by our men of business 
 than by our authors," 
 
 — E. P. Whipple, on American Literature. 
 
M < 
 
 4 
 
 ■a i 
 
T 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 The Life ok John Alfred Poor , 
 
 List OK PuiiMSHED Writings . . . . . 136 
 First Article on the St. Lawrence and Atlantic 
 
 Railway. For the " Sheriirooke Gazette " .142 
 First Article on the Atlantic and St. Lawrence 
 
 Railway. For the " Portland Advertiser " .147 
 Plan kor Shortening the Time ok Passa(;e between 
 
 New York and London . ,r. 
 
 . 154 
 
 The Northeastern Boundary. Report ok the Se- 
 LPXT Committee of the House of Representa- 
 tives 
 
 An American Zoll-Verein. Letter to the Ship 
 Canal Convention 
 
 The Transcontinental Railway. Address Deliv 
 ered at Rutland, Vermont, June, 1869 
 
 A National Highway. Memorial to the Congress 
 of the United States 264 
 
 A Bill to Secure Cheap Transportation ok Bread- 
 stuffs AT Uniform Rates .... . 275 
 
 The Father of English Colonization in America : a 
 Vindication of the Claims ok Sir Ferdinando 
 Gorges. Delivered hkkore the Historical So- 
 cieties OK Maine and New York, 1859 . . .282 
 
 The First Colonization of New England. An Ad- 
 dress Delivered at Fort Popham, Maine, 1862 . 353 
 
 Appendix 
 
 • • • • • • • -397 
 
 176 
 
 211 
 
 218 
 
I i 
 
 .Mii 
 
FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 
 
 The following pages will try to dopict a hero 
 of coninien e. Mr. Poor'n name is well known, yet 
 few persons have any adetpiate idea of the toil 
 which filled up and sliortened his years; of the 
 vastness of the schemes carried out by his instru- 
 mentality ; and of the patriotism which imi.elled 
 him to devote his life to that cause which he per- 
 petually pursued, and which underlaid his every 
 thought. Mr. Poor's opinions and character can 
 best be show^n from his writings; yet his writings 
 serve only to illustrate his actions. More than with 
 most men, his thoughts and his deeds went together ; 
 it is impossible to separate tlitm. The simplest 
 narrative therefore will connect them, and show 
 the gradual but steady development, till the day of 
 his death, of the ideas which had inspired his youth. 
 
 Although IVIr. Poor was considered to have the 
 genius of a worker, and really wrote only to 
 express his conception of what should be done, few 
 professedly literary men can show a st\]e of more 
 force and clearness. When he leaves his marshalling 
 
F/RS T INTERNA TfOXA f. RA /L II A V. 
 
 of hard factH jind ^iven free })luy to liis iinairiimtion 
 and (Mithusiasiii, his Htutely HtMitciicen are not im- 
 wortliy of that Webster wlioso style he ho nuieh 
 admired. 
 
 FroTii a list of his published writiriu^s a seleetioii 
 has l)eeii made, as they involve necessarily some 
 repetitions; but the list itself is far from complete. 
 Mr. Poor himself said : " The list herewith submitted 
 em])raees only such papers as contain oriij^inal sug- 
 gestions, or the record of imj)ortant pi-oceedings. 
 The bulk of my writings have been occasional con- 
 tributions to tlie newspapers of Portland, Hangor, 
 Montreal, Washington, Boston, and the lower British 
 Provinces, advocating the various measures in which 
 I liave been engaged." In addition to this Mr. Poor 
 edited, for six years, the daily newspa[)er which he 
 owned, and there are few of its issues whi(!h do not 
 contain some article by him ; and liimself di'ew up 
 the different railway bills presented by him to Con- 
 gress, and the Legislatures of Maine and Massa- 
 chusetts. 
 
 " William the Con(pieror's third and youngest son 
 Prince Ileniy, was rather snubbed by his older 
 brothers, and lived a jovial life in Normandy. One 
 morning, as he was riding at the head of his mounted 
 men-at-arms, in the vicinity of the city of Caen, he 
 approached a small chapel — of the Roman Catholic 
 faith, of course — just as its bell rang forth the call, 
 to matin prayers. The gay yet devout young pnnce 
 halted his men, dismounted, and entered the humble 
 sanctuary, where the parish priest, a gaunt, spare 
 man, known as Father Roger, at once recognized him. 
 
pniition 
 
 not iiii- 
 
 M> itiiich 
 
 scloctioii 
 ly some 
 omplete. 
 ihmitttHl 
 iiml sug- 
 L'ccdiiigH. 
 oiial con- 
 Hiuigor, 
 ir Hriti.sli 
 ill M liicli 
 Mr. Poor 
 v^bicli lie 
 •li do not 
 drow lip 
 II to Coii- 
 Massa- 
 
 iiijest son 
 lis older 
 ly. One 
 mouuted 
 C'Mn\, lie 
 Catholic 
 the call, 
 :ig pnnce 
 himible 
 nt, spare 
 ized him- 
 
 T//F. LIFE OF JO/LV ALFRED POOR. 3 
 
 Tlie pri<'st, recollecting douhtlcss that soldierH do not 
 like I()ng prayers, and l)eing, i)erhaps, himself more 
 anxious for favor on earth than in heaven, despatched 
 the morning service with extraordinary rapidity. 
 * Whereat,' says the liistorian, * they were so well 
 pleased that the jjrince said to him, " Follow my 
 camp," wliich he <Iid.' Soon afterwards the prince 
 went to England to join his brother, King William 
 Rufus, and he took the Caen j)riest as his chaplain. 
 On crossing the Channel, *n'ery Norman assumed a 
 surname, and the lean chaplain becam* Roger Poor. 
 The nomenclature of that day was ba'=«t d, as in this 
 case, on i)ersonal characteristics or ' »cal habit?'' !,)ns. 
 The families of Short, Long, Black, W^itc, Brown, 
 Ciia}, and Head, with many others, thus obtained 
 their surnames. 
 
 "In the year 1100, King William liufiis, while 
 hunting in the New Forest, wjis accidentally killed 
 by an arrow which was fired at a buck, but which 
 glanced from a tree and pierced the monarch's heart. 
 His younger brother. Prince Henry, who was hunt- 
 ing with him, no sooner \vitnessed his death, than he 
 hastened to London anu seated himself on the throne 
 of England, regardless of the claims of the elder 
 brother, Duke llobert, who was making love in Italy. 
 
 " Roger Poor thus became his Majesty's chaplain. 
 He kept up his Norman I'eputation for short prayers, 
 and soon became such a favorite that the king made 
 him his private secretary, although the historians 
 say — alas, that I must repeat it in this presence — 
 'he was rather illiterate.' As a courtier, hov.ever, 
 Roger Poor excelled, and he was generally liked, 
 
 ..ji 
 
Is^U--.,.-.. _-.-.-iJ iJJS 
 
 I ; 
 
 1 1 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 altboiigli perhaps not much respected. His faculties 
 expanded with his good fortune, and while exercising 
 his religious duties he supported the ro^al preroga- 
 tive with such zeal, and displayed such submission 
 to the royal will that King Henry appointed him 
 Bishop of S.irum. 
 
 " Bishop Roger Poor was in due time promoted 
 to the office of Chief Justiciar, or Lord High Chan- 
 cellor, which made him in reality Prime Minister, 
 and during the king's visits to Normandy, sometimes 
 extending over a year, he governed England as 
 regent. Up to this time the crown of England had 
 only descended in the male line, for although Queen 
 Boadicea had ruled over the Britons, no female had 
 ever sat on the Anglo-Saxon throne. Bishop Roger 
 Poor (to please King Heniy, who had no legitimate 
 sons, and who desired to leave his crown to his 
 daughter Matilda) laid it down as incontrovertible 
 doctrine ' that the crown, like a private inheritance, 
 should descend to the daughter of the person last 
 seized.' He was also greatly instrumental in ob- 
 taining from the barons of England, as well as those 
 of Normandy, a recognition of the Princess Matilda 
 as the successor to her father in both countries. 
 Under this decree, promulgated by Bishop Poor, 
 Queen Victoria now occupies the English throne, 
 and it was the origin of what are now tenned 
 ' Woman's Rights.' 
 
 To the favor of King Henry, Bishop Roger Poor 
 owed a privilege, eagerly coveted by the turbulent 
 nt)bility of the times, when the consequence of indi- 
 viduals was estimated by the strength and splendor 
 
y. 
 
 faculties 
 sercising 
 preroga- 
 bmissioQ 
 ited Mm 
 
 )romoted 
 r\i Chan- 
 Minister, 
 ometimes 
 o-land as 
 jland had 
 >h Queen 
 male had 
 op Roger 
 egitimate 
 n to his 
 overtible 
 eritance, 
 son last 
 al in ob- 
 as those 
 Matilda 
 countries, 
 op Poor, 
 throne, 
 teiTned 
 
 )ger Poor 
 ;urbulent 
 ;e of indi- 
 splendor 
 
 Tff£ LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 5 
 
 of their fortified residences. He built a castle at 
 Devizes, which was considered as one of the most 
 sumptuous and stately edifices in England ; and a 
 second at Sherborne, little inferior ; and he repaired 
 the castle of Sarum, which was entrusted to his cus- 
 tody. He al8o expended large sums in completing 
 and emliellishing the cathedral of Sarum, which had 
 been injured by a storm soon after its dedication. 
 Indeed some of the old English chroniclei's distin- 
 guish him by the title of 'the great builder of 
 churches and castles.' 
 
 " In addition to Bishop Roger Poor's vast wealth, 
 which flowed from his numerous places and prefer- 
 ments, his great influence enal>led him to bring from 
 Normandy several of his relations, and to obtain for 
 them honorable positions. One of his nephews, 
 Alexander, was first made Archdeacon of Sarum, 
 next Chancellor, and finally, in 1123, Bishop of 
 Lincoln. Another nephew, Nigellus, was appointed 
 a prebend in the chuich of St. Paul's, and, in 1183, 
 Bishop of Ely. King Henry, late in life, (piarrelled 
 with Bishop Roger Poor, and dismissed him from 
 civil office. For this the bishop i-evenged himself 
 after the king's death in 1135, Ijy forgetting his 
 sworn allegiance to the Princess Matilda, and aiding 
 in giving the crown to Stephen, Earl of Blois. He 
 defended himself l)y asserting that circumstances 
 had changed, but that he remained consistent to his 
 principles, and he was rewarded by a restoration to 
 his position as Chief Justiciar. The Bishop of Ely, 
 his nephew, was appointed Treasurer of the realm, 
 and his son, Roger Poor, was made Chancellor. 
 
■i 
 
 I 
 
 ) I 
 
 ' ,'[ 
 
 11 
 
 m 
 
 6 • FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 " King Stephen also gave Bishop Roger Poor ex- 
 tensive landed possessions, yielding large revenues, 
 and when asked by an attendant if he was not dis- 
 playing too much generosity towards his favorite, 
 the monarch replied : ' By the Nativity, I would 
 give him half of England if he had asked for it. 
 He shh,ll sooner be tired of asking than I of giving.' 
 The bishop obtained a grant of the burgh of Malmes- 
 bury, and displayed his characteristic fondness for 
 building by commencing a stately castle there, like 
 those at Devizes and Sherborne. 
 
 "Foi'tune — fickle jade, — after a long attendance 
 on Bishop Poor, at last deserted him, and pierced 
 him vdth scorpion's sting. 
 
 " King Stephen's Jealousy was inflamed V>y the in- 
 sinuation of some of his courtiers, and he determined 
 to stop the further erection of the castles which were 
 being erected all over England, commencing with 
 that of Bishop Poor at Malmsbury. Summoning 
 the bishop to a great council at Oxfoixl, he received 
 him with mai'ked respect, but his retinue was 
 involved in a quarrel with the attendants of the 
 Earl of Brittany, in which one of the latter was 
 killed and another dangerously wounded. This 
 affray was made the pretext for ordering Bishop 
 Poor and his connections to deliver up their castles. 
 They complied, with the exception of Nigellus Poor, 
 Bishop of Ely, who fled to the castle of Devizes, and 
 prepared for resistance. 
 
 " Enraged at this contumacy, King Stephen mai'ched 
 with a body of troops to Devizes, carrying with him 
 Bishop Poor and his son as prisoners. Bishop Nigel- 
 
 I ■! 
 
 w» 
 
't>or ex- 
 venues, 
 Qot dis- 
 avorite, 
 would 
 for it. 
 giving; 
 ^lalmes- 
 less for 
 jre, like 
 
 endance 
 pierced 
 
 f the in- 
 ermined 
 cb were 
 [ig with 
 imoning 
 eceived 
 ue was 
 of the 
 ter was 
 This 
 Bishop 
 castles, 
 us Poor, 
 Izes, and 
 
 mai'ched 
 ith liini 
 p Nigel- 
 
 THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 7 
 
 lus, refusing to surrender, King Stephen ordered a 
 gallows to be erected, and informed Bishop Roger 
 Poor that his son Roger, to whom he was much 
 attached, should be hung unless the castle was sur- 
 rendered to Lim. The aged prelate sujiplicated for 
 mercy, and with difficulty prevailed upon his nephew 
 to open the gates of the castle. The bishop's sacred 
 office protected him from violence, but the treasures 
 which he had accumulated during long yeai-s of pros- 
 perity were seized by King Stephen, and the old man 
 sank under his troubles, dying in December, 1139 — 
 an example of that instability of power and caprice of 
 fortune which Shakesjieare has so feelingly described. 
 
 "Alexander Poor, Bishop of Lincoln, succeeded 
 his uncle as Lord Chancellor, but died when on a 
 mission to the Pope in 1147. The great seal was then 
 entrusted to Bishop Roger Poor's son Roger, who 
 possessed neither the ability nor the pliancy of his 
 father. Taking part with the barons who held out 
 their castles against the king, he was made prisoner, 
 and refused to take the oath of submission, even 
 when threatened with the penalties of treason. As 
 a singular favor he was allowed to abjure the realm, 
 and he died in exile. 
 
 " Another nephew of Bishop Roger Poor, Richard 
 Poor, located himself in Gloucestershire, and brought 
 up three sons, Herbert, Richard, and Philip. The 
 two fii-st named were educated for the Church, and 
 were advanced by old friends of their great uncle, 
 Bishop Roger. 
 
 "Herbert Poor was made Archdeacoi: of Can- 
 terbury, and in 1194 was consecrated Bishop of 
 
 'i!^ 
 
if! 
 
 8 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 Sarum. In 1194 he appears on the rolls as one 
 of the king's justices, and in 1199 he attended at 
 the coronation of King John. He had great trouble, 
 however, at Sarum, the soldiers of the garrison not 
 agreeing with the priests at the cathedral. 
 
 " Bishop Richard Poor, brother of his predecessor, 
 was first Dean of Sarum, consecrated Bishop of Chi- 
 chester in 1215, and removed to Sarum in 1217. His 
 first care was to have the new cathedral at Salisbuiy 
 commenced, and the stately Gothic pile soon rose in 
 all its fair proportions. In unity of design and as a 
 specimen of old English ecclesiastical architecture, it 
 is unequalled, and its elegant spire, 406 feet high, 
 the loftiest in England, though added in the reign of 
 Edward the Third, is in perfect harmony with the 
 rest of the edifice. 
 
 " Bishop Richard Poor was translated to the see of 
 Durham before the cathedral was completed. ' He 
 was,' says Godwin, '• a man of rare learning in those 
 times, and of notable integrity for his life and con- 
 versation.' Matthew Paris says that perceiving the 
 approach of death he caused the people to be 
 assembled, and from the pulpit addressed them in a 
 pious discourse, desiring them to mark well his ex- 
 hortations, as he was shortly to be taken from them. 
 The next day he did the same, bidding them farewell, 
 and requesting the prayers and forgiveness of those 
 whom he had offended. The third day he sent for 
 his particular acquaintances ; and calling together his 
 family and servants, distributed among them his last 
 benefactions. He then tenderly dismissed each indi- 
 vidual, and having arranged his temporal afllairs, be- 
 
 i ' 
 
 ,*Sf 
 
THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 
 
 as one 
 ided at 
 Touble, 
 3on not 
 
 eceasor, 
 of Chi- 
 L7. His 
 ilisbuiy 
 rose in 
 ind as a 
 cture, it 
 it high, 
 reign of 
 ,'ith the 
 
 le see of 
 1. 'He 
 in those 
 nd con- 
 ing the 
 
 to be 
 em in a 
 
 his ex- 
 n them, 
 ai-ewell, 
 f those 
 lent for 
 ther his 
 his List 
 ch indi- 
 airs, be- 
 
 took himself to prayer, in which act of devotion he 
 gave np the ghost, on the fifteenth day of April, 1237. 
 
 " Salisbury Cathedral contains the monument of 
 Bishop Roger Poor, brought from Sarum, and of 
 Bishop Richard Poor. In the library are manu- 
 scripts of the Old and New Testaments, transcribed 
 under the auspices of Bishop Poor, and also his 
 seal. Philip Poor of Amesbury, from ^^■hom I 
 believe that we are all descended, was the brother 
 of Bishops Herbert and Richard Poor, and the Poors 
 still live in Wiltshire." 
 
 The preceding account of the rise of the family 
 was made by Major Ben: Perley Poore for a 
 gathering of the Poors at Newburyport, Massachu- 
 setts. The name of the three bishops is Poor on their 
 tombstones at Salisbury Cathedral ; but a Roger 
 obtained the title of Sir Roger le Poer ; settled in 
 Ireland ; from him descended the family name of 
 tlie Marquis of Waterford, De le Poer. From the 
 county of Hampshire and the town of Andover, 
 Daniel Poor, a Puritan, came to New England in 
 1638. His name is on the town records of Andover, 
 Massachusetts ; and for nearly two hundred years 
 the Pooi-s lived and died in Essex County, Massa- 
 chusetts. Finally the land grew too straitened for 
 them, and in 1790 three brothers of the name went 
 down into the wilderness of Maine. In a beautiful 
 mountain valley in the northern part of what is now 
 Oxford County, Maine, they found Deacon Ezekiel 
 Merrill, its first settler, descendant of Nathaniel Mei'- 
 rill, who came to Ipswich, Massachusetts, from England 
 in 1633. The Poors joined him ; a few other families 
 
10 
 
 FIJiST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA V. 
 
 'It 
 
 m 
 
 followed ; all men of force and also of an intelligence 
 and education far above those of the average pioneer; 
 and all of pure English stock. The town received 
 the name of East Andover ; which it retained till 
 the separation of Maine fi'om Massachusetts in 1820. 
 
 It seems impossible that only a hundred years 
 have passed since the conditions described by Mr. 
 Poor, as follows : 
 
 "Died, in Andover, Me., in 1848, Sarah Merrill, 
 relict of the late Deacon Ezekiel Merrill, aged ninety- 
 three years and eight months. She was a daughter 
 of Moses Emery, of Newbuiy, Mass., and was born 
 1753 ; at nineteen, married, and soon after with her 
 husband united with the church in thei'* native 
 place. Apprehensive, with others in the vicinity 
 of the sea-coast, of the danger to which the out- 
 break of the American Revolution exposed them, 
 they removed to Pelham, N. H., where they 
 lived until after the peace of 1783. As their 
 pecuniary means had become reduced, they con- 
 cluded to remove to Maine, where land was cheap ; 
 and in March, 1788, with seven children — the eldest 
 a son fourteen years old, the youngest a daughter 
 about four — they started for Sudbuiy-Canada, now 
 Bethel. At Fryburg their road terminated. There 
 Mr. Mei'rill employed men with snow-shoes, and six- 
 teen sleds drawn by their own hands, to carry the 
 family and movable articles to Sudbury-Canada, a 
 distance of about thirty miles. There was then no 
 house or inhabitant on their route. They threw up a 
 camp for the night about midway between Fryburg 
 and Bethel; and the second day reached the fii*st 
 
 i 
 
THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. ii 
 
 house. In tliia place they remained about fifteen 
 months, when with a small company in Andover, 
 Mass., he became a purchaser from Massachusetts 
 of the township on Ellis River, now called Andover. 
 From their I'esidence in Sudbury-Canada to this place 
 the distance was about thirteen miles by land, and 
 three times as far by water. 
 
 " Having procured boats of the Indians, in the 
 month of May, 1789, the family, nine in all, em- 
 barked and sailed easily down the Androscoggin to 
 the mouth of Ellis River, whence they stemmed the 
 current. They supped and rested f(.)r the night 
 under a large pine. Early the next morning they 
 re-embarked, and proceeded up the river to the 
 Forks, where they were received by some Indian 
 families, from whom they had procured their boats, 
 into their cabins, and treated with much hospitality 
 for the night. 
 
 " The vear before, Mr. Merrill and his sons had 
 felled some trees, and made a slight camp about two 
 miles from the Indian cabins. The third morning, 
 Mrs. Merrill with one son and a guide walked thi'ough 
 the woods to this place, and the other children in the 
 boat were pushed up the stream against the camp. 
 It was towards noon, and they now prepared what has 
 been called their Thanksgiving Dinner. Their pres- 
 ent situation is thus described : 
 
 " ' The cabin they had built was so small that very 
 little could be put into it; therefore some of the 
 men felled a few trees and stripi)ed off the bark; 
 they set up four crotched stakes, and laid on sap- 
 lings, and spread bark overhead so as to keeji off sun 
 
 .1 .-, 
 
xa 
 
 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL IVA Y. 
 
 and I'ain. Under this shelter they put the articles 
 which the weather would injure. They then drove 
 stakes into the ground, and laid wicker brush for 
 their bed-steads, to keep their beds from the ground, 
 — they having no floor, and there being no boards 
 nearer than twenty-five railes, nor any road by which 
 they could be brought. The children pulled up the 
 small bushes, and wet and trod the ground so as to 
 make it hard. This finished the third day from Bethel. 
 The next day their companions from Bethel returned.' 
 
 "They soon sowed some grain, and planted some 
 potatoes ; after which they built a log-house, con- 
 taining one room ; this they covered with bark, and 
 made doors of bark, and laid round saplings overhead 
 for chamber floor. They were now twelve miles 
 from any white inhabitants ; they, however, received 
 great kindness from the Indians ; not only in supplies 
 of food from their hunting, but especially when the 
 next year, in July, 1790, in this solitude, another 
 daughter was added to the family. 
 
 "In the year 1791 many beginnings of settlements 
 were made by proprietors. The next year one more 
 family came into town ; and in 1793-4 three or four 
 females. In May of 1793 their oldest daughter, not 
 fifteen years old, was married. In October of the 
 same year their house and most of its contents were 
 burned. The children sleeping overhead were 
 awakened by the fire in thr roof, and barely escaped, 
 losing all but the clothes in which they slept. This 
 was a heavy loss ; they were able, however, to erect 
 a frame house before winter, — a saw-mill having been 
 erected a year or two earlier, — and thenceforward, 
 
ijX been 
 
 THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 13 
 
 with their neighbors, now becoming more numerous, 
 adv^anced in general prosperity. A church was 
 formed in 1800 ; the town was incorporated by the 
 name of East Andover in 1804." 
 
 The second of these brothers, Dr. Silvanus Poor 
 married Mary, tlie daughter of Ezekiel Merrill. She 
 was a woman of uncommon beauty; of an active, 
 cheerful temperament, full of sensitiveness and sweet- 
 ness ; and had been educated at Fryburg, the well- 
 known school. Dr. Poor was a man of good educa- 
 tion; a strong and independent thinker; Amiinian 
 in theology; a Jefferson democrat in politics; a 
 stern man, with a certain grim humor and immense 
 powers of sarcasm. He was a member of the con- 
 vention which framed the constitution of Maine; 
 his mental power was recognized by all who came in 
 contact with him, but an indolent temperament pre- 
 vented his making the full use of his abilities. He 
 was, at the same time, physician and farmer ; for 
 many years postmaster, the books of the Social Li- 
 braiy were kept at his house; the relatives and 
 friends who came and;tvent, kept up connection with 
 the outside world. 
 
 John Alfred Poor, their second son, was boni Jan- 
 uary 8, 1808. He passed his childhood at home; 
 when he was twelve years of age, the family received 
 a visit from his aunt who had married Hon. Jacob 
 McGaw, a graduate of Dartmouth College, and a 
 lifelong friend and correspondent of Daniel Webster. 
 Mrs. McGaw was a person of great beauty, vivacity, 
 and social talent, the " Miss Poor " who is alluded to 
 in Mr. Webster's published correspondence. 
 
 pi 
 
 i 
 
 
j- 
 
 14 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 11 
 
 Mr. AVebster came to East Andover to see her, 
 and his visit is still remembered. As darkness came 
 on, he found himself far from Ins destination, and 
 rode up to the nearest farmhouse to ask a lodging 
 for the night ; but the good woman of the house 
 took him for a highway robber, and shut the door in 
 his face ; and he was obliged to drive three miles 
 farther until he reached Dr. Poor's liouse. 
 
 The boy Alfred was so beautiful and intelligent 
 that his uncle invited him to go to Bangor, Maine. 
 Upon his way he 8to[)ped at Belfast, Maine, to visit 
 his uncle, a clever physician, and there for tlie first 
 time, he saw the ocean ; it was an epoch in his life. 
 He often alluded to it, and nearly fifty years after- 
 wards spoke of it, in an oration delivered at Belfast. 
 " I was brought up among the grandest mountain 
 scenery of New England; but my heart panted for 
 a sight of the ocean, whose sublimer aspects and mys- 
 terious revels had been pictured to my youthful 
 mind by stories of travellers and descriptions in the 
 impassioned language of poetry ; and when, a boy of 
 twelve, I fii'st beheld, in the clear sunlight of a win- 
 ter morning, the outstretching waters of Belfast Bay 
 embosomed by its surrounding hills and distant 
 islands, I experienced all those sublime emotions of 
 delight that Wordsworth has recorded in the finest 
 of his poems. * The Wanderer,' as enjoyed by the 
 young herdsman, when on the top of the high moun- 
 tain 
 
 " * He beheld the sun 
 Rise up, and bathe the world in light ! He looked — 
 Ocean and earth, the solid frame of earth 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
/. 
 
 THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 15 
 
 see her, 
 (ss came 
 ion, and 
 lodging 
 e house 
 ! door in 
 ee miles 
 
 telligent 
 [•, Maine. 
 !, to visit 
 the first 
 L his life, 
 irs after- 
 b Belfast, 
 mountain 
 anted for 
 and mys- 
 youthful 
 ns in the 
 , a boy of 
 of a win- 
 If ast Bay 
 distant 
 lotions of 
 the finest 
 ;d by the 
 gh moun- 
 
 oked — 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 And ocean's liquid mass, beneath liim lay 
 
 In gladness and deep joy. The clouds were touched 
 
 And in their silent faces did he read 
 
 Unutterable love. Sound needed none, 
 
 Nor any voice of joy ; his spirit drank 
 
 The spectacle ; sensation, soul, and form 
 
 All melted into him ; they swallowed up 
 
 His animal being ; in them did he live 
 
 And by them did he live ; they were his life. 
 
 In such access of mind, in such high hour 
 
 Of visitation from the living God, 
 
 Thought was not ; in enjoyment it expired.' 
 
 " This first visit to the seaside influenced, no 
 doubt, my whole life, made me fond of adventure 
 on the ocean, eager for geographical knowledge, and 
 studious of those agencies that stimulate commercial 
 progress. I love the ocean with almost filial devo- 
 tion, and without a daily sight of it I am never fully 
 satisfied and contented." 
 
 Mr. Poor paid another visit, which impressed him 
 permanently, to Dr. Vaughan, of Hallowell, a friend 
 of Dr. Silvanus Poor. This learned man was born 
 in Jamaica, educated at Cambridge, and studied 
 medicine in Edinburgh. His political opinions were 
 so radical that he was forced to leave England at the 
 time of the French Revolution, went first to France, 
 thence to Maine. Here Mr. Poor saw for the first 
 time a noble private library. 
 
 After two years at the Academy, he returned to 
 Andover, where his work upon the fanii was varied 
 by occasional terais of school and steady study with 
 his brother-in-law, Rev. Thomas T. Stone, of An- 
 dover, pastor of the Congregational church ; he 
 
i6 
 
 F/UST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 taught Hcliool for one winter at Betliel, Maine. 
 W'lienover the farmer's team went to Porthmd for 
 fiiipplieM, it waH driven hy liiin. Mr. Poor distinetly 
 recollected the first time he tasted licjuor: on his 
 way home, one cold winter's nitjht, a ^i-own man 
 gave him "something to keep him warm." Mr. Poor 
 never touched tobacco in any form in his wliole life ; 
 although he might drink ale or wine on occasions, 
 lie did not even take wine regularly at dinner. Un- 
 doubtedly he owed to those Andover years the 
 splendid physical vigor which stood him in such 
 good stead throughout his laborious life. During 
 these Andover years the a})pointment of cadet at 
 West Point was offered to him, but declined at his 
 mother's ui'gent recpiest. 
 
 Finally, Mr. Poor decided upon his plan of life. 
 On the 5th of September, 1827, he left Andover, 
 returned to Bangor to study law, and entered the 
 office of his uncle, Mr. McGaw, who was at that time 
 the president of the Penobscot bar. Mr. Poor's 
 earliest writings date from this period. They are : 
 an account of Andov^er, furnished for Mr. William- 
 son's "History of Maine," which was so full and 
 accurate that he received the thanks of the historian ; 
 a Report of the Committee of the Young Men's 
 Lyceum against Nullification; a lecture delivered 
 before the Bangor Lyceum upon the Advantages of 
 Debating Societies ; a lecture on Temperance ; and, 
 strangely enough, an elaborate paper delivered before 
 the Lyceum upon the Theory of the British Gov- 
 ernment, and the Constitution of the British Colo- 
 nies, showing how early he was impressed with the 
 
 .i 
 
THE LIFE OF JOIIX ALFRED I'OOIi. 
 
 17 
 
 Maine, 
 iiul for 
 stiiK'tly 
 
 on hirt 
 vn iniiii 
 tr. Poor 
 ole life ; 
 •casi(»iii^, 
 ir. Un- 
 ?ai'H the 
 in Hucli 
 
 During 
 cadet at 
 (I at his 
 
 1 of life. 
 Andover, 
 ;ere(l the 
 that time 
 Poor's 
 hey are : 
 William- 
 full and 
 listorian ; 
 g Men's 
 delivered 
 ,ntages of 
 Ince; and, 
 ed before 
 ish Gov- 
 ish Colo- 
 with the 
 
 subjt't't h«' afterwards developed I'jiglish eoloiiiza- 
 tion. 
 
 On his twenty-fourth l)iit]iday, Mr. Po«)r was 
 ndiiiitted to the bar. Mi". MeGaw ))roi)osed a i)ai't- 
 iiership on e(iual terms with himself, but Mr. Poor 
 preferred to Itej^in his professional life alone. lie 
 I'emoved to Oldtown, twelve miles above Bangor, 
 entered at once upon a lucrative practice, though his 
 active mind took hold of tlui needs about him. 
 
 The renmant of the tribe of the Penobscot Indians 
 was living upon an island near Oldtown, and one of 
 tiiem, n:i < 1 Pol Susof (Paul Jo8e[)h), had shown 
 some talent for art. Mr. Poor became interested in 
 him. Ill coiiiH'ction witli some voung men of Pangor, 
 he sent the young Indian to Pangor to study paint- 
 ing with a profes.^ional artist. Mr. Poor wrote an 
 acccnmt of him which was made the basis of a 
 flowery article by Mrs. Child, the editor of the 
 Juvenile Miscellain/. But civilization had no real 
 hold upon Pol Susof; lie soim returned to liis Indian 
 friends, leaving one or two paintings behind him, 
 and could never be induced to leave Oldtown aijain. 
 For some time the Indians had been without a pi'iest 
 at Oldtown Island, and as they expressed a great 
 desire for the services of the Roman Catholic Church, 
 Mr. Poor wrote on their behalf to the Roman Catho- 
 lic Bisliop of Boston. Accordingly Bishop Fenwick 
 of Boston sent a priest to the Indians, and a letter of 
 thanks to Mr. Poor. 
 
 But, in eight months, Mr. Poor returned to Bangor, 
 where he married, in 1833, Elizabeth Adams Hill, 
 eldest daughter of Hon. Thomas Adams Hill, a 
 
 H 
 
 'h' 
 
 
w 
 
 \i I 
 
 i8 
 
 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 prominent lawyer, candidate for Governor of the 
 anti-masonic party, and a nephew of tlie celebrated 
 Hannah Adams. Mr. Poor formed a law partnership 
 with hi^ uncle, Mr. McGaw, continued till that gen- 
 tleman retired from practice. He then formed a 
 partnership with his youngest brother, Henry Var- 
 num Poor, Esq., a graduate of Bowdoin College. 
 
 A short but admirable biography of Mr. Poor was 
 written by Charles W. Tuttle, Esq., of Boston, and 
 published in the Historical and Genealogical Itegii^- 
 ter of October, 1872, and of this memorial we shall 
 make as much use as possible. Mr. Tuttle says : 
 " During the fourteen years he was at the bar in 
 Bangor he earned the reputation of being a sound 
 lawyer and a public-spirited citizen. His practice 
 was large, and extended to all branches of the law. 
 Among the notable causes in which he was retained 
 was the suit of Veazie vs. Wadleigh, involving title 
 to valuable lands and water-power on the Penobscot. 
 This suit attracted a good deal of public attention at 
 the time, not only on accoiuit of the parties inter- 
 ested, and the matter in issue, but of the great emi- 
 nence of the counsel engaged. Daniel Webster was 
 opposed by Jeremiah Mason, the then acknowledged 
 heads of the bar in New England. Mr. Poor, wdio 
 was associated with Mr. Webster as Junior counsel, 
 prepared the history of the legal title to the disputed 
 territory with so much completeness that Mr. Web- 
 ster personally complimented him for the work. 
 This was in 1835, only three years after his admis- 
 sion to practice." Mr. Poor felt the enthusiastic 
 admiration which Mr. Webster knew so well how to 
 
i^P 
 
 THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 19 
 
 I- of the 
 :»lebrated 
 rtnersliip 
 bliat gen- 
 [ormed a 
 iiiiy Var- 
 llege. 
 Poor was 
 ,&ton, and 
 cal Regi^- 
 1 we shall 
 ttle says : 
 he bar in 
 r a sound 
 L8 practice 
 »f the law. 
 IS retained 
 )lving title 
 Penobscot, 
 ttention at 
 rties inter- 
 great enii- 
 ebster was 
 nowledged 
 Poor, who 
 lor counsel, 
 e disputed 
 t Mr. AVeb- 
 the work, 
 his admis- 
 enthusiastic 
 ^ell how to 
 
 inspire, and often spoke, in later years, of the pro- 
 found impression made upon him by Mr. Webster. 
 " I was awed," he said, " and felt myself in the j)res- 
 ence of a great man." Mr. Poor wrote an enthusi- 
 astic account of Mr. Webster's visit to Bangor, which 
 was published ; and supported Mr. Webster for the 
 Presidency in 1852, for Mr. Poor loved his friends. 
 
 Bangor was at that time a new and flourishi'jg 
 town, full of commercial and also of literary activity. 
 A theological seminary supplied the scholarly ele- 
 ment which is usually wanting in such towns. Mr. 
 Poor shared in all the movements of an American 
 town ; he was a member of the city government ; he 
 gave both time and money towards church building 
 at Bangor, Oldtown, and Hampden : he took a very 
 prominent part in forming the Bangor Lyceum, a 
 literary and debating society, and the Bangor Social 
 Library. In one of his first letters from Montreal, 
 
 dated February 17, 1845, he says : " Tell that 
 
 I have catalogues from the Pencinian and Athenieum 
 societies at Brunswick, the Athenaeum at Portland, 
 the great library in Canada, and some others, and I 
 think I can do good service here in preparing for the 
 new library." Many years later Mr. Poor made 
 great efforts to establish a free public library in 
 Portland ; but he was entirely in advance of the sen- 
 timent of the town. Libraries had always an irre- 
 sistible fascination for him. Amid all his business 
 occupations in New York and Washington he ahvays 
 spent some time in the Astor Library or anuuig Gen- 
 eral Force's books. How great was his delight when 
 he discovered the beautiful L'Escarbot in New York. 
 
 4- 
 
 i'}i 
 
'l 1 
 
 warmmmmimm 
 
 -;* 
 
 20 
 
 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL IVA Y. 
 
 m 
 
 il 
 
 But his attention was not confined to Bangor. He 
 took an active part in politics, and was a member of 
 the Whig State Committee. In 1839 he sent to tlie 
 Portland Advertiser three letters, for which he re- 
 ceived the thanks of the publishers, giving an account 
 of the Northeastern boundary difficulties, those trou- 
 bles on the borders of Maine and New Brunswick, 
 which threatened to assume serious proportions ; the 
 militia of Maine was called out, the streets of Bangor 
 were full of men arming for the " Aroostook War," 
 when the matter was settled by the Ashburton treaty. 
 A Canadian remarked : " As it displeased bo^ Par- 
 ties, it was probably equitable." An article in the 
 Qtiarterly, January, 1887, speaks of " that unfortu- 
 nate Ashburton Treaty." The following communica- 
 tion explains itself : 
 
 " Portland, Nov. 16, 1869. 
 "To His Excellency, 
 
 " The Governor of Maine. 
 " Sir : 
 
 " I deem it proper to lay before your Excellency, a 
 copy of the Executive Document, number 132, House 
 of Representatives, 37th Congress, 1st Session, con- 
 taininc: the Messac^e of the President of the United 
 States, under date of €June 14, 1866, in reply to 
 a resolution of the House of the 28th of May, re- 
 questing information as to the maps of the Boundary 
 Survey under the Treaty of Washington, for the pur- 
 pose of explaining fully to your Excellency the 
 object I have in view in addressing you this note. 
 
 "While in Washington in the autumn of 1861, 
 as Commissioner on the Coast Defences of Maine, I 
 
 li 
 
y. 
 
 gov. He 
 ember of 
 nt to the 
 ch lie re- 
 el account 
 lose trou- 
 runswick, 
 ions ; tlie 
 )f Bangor 
 .ok War," 
 ;on treaty, 
 bo*^ var- 
 3le in the 
 t uufortu- 
 )mmunica- 
 
 6, 1869. 
 
 cellency, a 
 32, House 
 ssion, con- 
 he United 
 1 re|:)lv to 
 f May, re- 
 Boundary 
 or the pur- 
 llency the 
 his note, 
 n of 1861, 
 of Maine, I 
 
 T/IE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 21 
 
 thought it advisable to look at the maps of the 
 Boundary Survey, which might be of great import- 
 ance in case of a war with England, by affording us 
 valuable information as to the routes of approach 
 and means of defence, etc. 
 
 " In the performance of these duties, I called the 
 attention of the Secretary of State to the incomplete- 
 ness of the maps in question ; and, at my suggestion, 
 Geoi'ge E. Baker, Esq., disbursing agent of the De- 
 paitment of State, addressed a letter to Lieut.-Col. 
 I. D. Graham, under date of November 25, 1861, in 
 reference to the maps in question, whose reply, in 
 due course of mail, dated Chicago, November 30, 
 1861, is on pages 13, 14, and 15 of the Document 132 
 enclosed. His letter will put you in possession of 
 information necessary to a full understanding of the 
 object of this note. 
 
 " The maps of the line and adjacent teriitory, from 
 the Monument at the source of the St. Croix to the 
 St. Lawrence at St. Regis, a distance of 675 miles, 
 were drawn upon a scale of four inches to one mile 
 in separate sheets uumbered from 1 to 63, Nineteen 
 other maps made by the American engineers were 
 also prepared of the several tributaries of the St. 
 John, on our side of the Boundary. 
 
 "These maps were destroyed ])y Hre, on the nlgLt 
 of Ap:Il 19, 1848, and afterwards reproduced under 
 an appropriation of Congress under the direction of 
 Col. Graham, on a reduced scale of two inches to one 
 mile, one fourth only of the supei-ficial size of the 
 originals. These maps or drawings I found in 84 
 sheets in the State Department at Washington, 
 
 '1 
 
 „jp 
 
■Mi' 
 
 •f ^^r 
 
 ! 
 
 as 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 but no index, maps, or any notes or other papers 
 connected with the Boundary Survey. 
 
 " In accordance with the advice of Col. Graham's 
 letter of November 30, 1861, under an appropriation 
 of Congress, requiring copies to be furnished to tl^e 
 Executive of every State bordering on foreign terri- 
 tory, the maps in sheets were engraved or litho- 
 graphed ; a labor that required some years' time, 
 but efficiently done under charge of George E. 
 Baker, Esq., and copies furnished, as required by 
 law, to the Executives of the different States. 
 
 "In the spring and summer of 1866, being in 
 Washington engaged in prosecuting the payment of 
 the claims of Maine and Massachusetts, in behalf of 
 the European and North American Railway, to 
 whose benefit they had been assigned, I applied to 
 the State Department for the use of the maps in 
 question, being mainly anxious to examine the index 
 map and other papers connected with the boundary 
 survey. But nothing had been done beyond the 
 engraving of the maps. At my request the Hon. 
 John II. Rice, representing the fourth district of 
 Maine in the 37th Congress, introduced a resolution 
 of in(piiry, which ^' as adopted on the 28th of May, 
 18G6, in answer to which the Message of the Presi- 
 dent of June the 14th with the accompanying docu- 
 ments was returned ; and the letter addressed by 
 the Secretary of State to Gen. Delafield, Chief of 
 Bureau of Engineers, under date of June 2, 1865, 
 was drawn forth, and submitted as a part of the 
 correspondence. 
 
 " I deem it proper to say, that the Hon. Wm. H. 
 Seward, Secretary of State, took the liveliest interest 
 
 i^ If' 
 
IV. 
 
 THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 
 
 23 
 
 jr papers 
 
 Graham's 
 •opriation 
 Led to the 
 3igu terri- 
 or litlio- 
 ars' time, 
 reorge E. 
 juired by 
 tes. 
 
 being in 
 ayment of 
 behalf of 
 lilway, to 
 applied to 
 e maps in 
 the index 
 boundary 
 eyond the 
 the Hon. 
 district of 
 resolution 
 ;h of May, 
 • the Presi- 
 ying docu- 
 Iressed by 
 I, Chief of 
 le 2, 1865, 
 )art of the 
 
 m. Wm. H. 
 
 est interest 
 
 and expressed the highest gratification at the effort 
 I hud made to cause the plans of the Boundary 
 Survey to be perfected and preserved ; and, at his 
 recpiest, I examined all the correspondence and other 
 jiapers in the State Department bearing on the ques- 
 tion, and prepared the abstract, or rather selected 
 from the mass of papers on file such items of corre- 
 spondence as I thought necessary to have reported 
 to Congress, and as they now appear in Document 
 132. 
 
 " But the call of the Secretary of State upon the 
 Bureau of Enijineers brouijht at the time nothinsc in 
 reply. At the I'equest of the Secretary of State, 
 I applied personally to Gen. Delafield and his sub- 
 ordinates, who took every means possible to get 
 information as to the missing maps and oflicial 
 papers in the hands of Col. Graham at his death. 
 
 '' I also opened correspondence with different ofiicers 
 u})()n th.e subject without any show of success, until 
 I applied to Gen. George Thom, of the U. S. Army, 
 in charge of the public works in Portland. He suc- 
 ceeded in recovering the index map in an incompleted 
 condition, as also the astronomical observations of 
 IVIajor Graliam, the tabulation of the angles and 
 measured distances, and the tabulation of the monu- 
 ments u[)on the line, and other papers referred to in 
 Col. Graham's note to Mr. Clayton of May, 18i9, 
 given on pages 8 and 9, Document 132. 
 
 " The index map and other papers were obtained 
 and forwarded by Gen. Thom to the War Depart- 
 ment at AVashington, as stated in his letter to me. 
 
 "On visiting Washington, ina869, I called at the 
 State Department on the matter, but found that 
 
 
\\\ 
 
 
 m 
 
 H 
 
 FIRS'f' INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 nothing was known in I'eference to the index maps 
 or other papers in ([uestion. 1 then visited the War 
 Office, and after (Jiie or two unsuccessful attempts, 
 found the index map in the office of Col. Woodniif, 
 wliich liad been returned to that office as completed 
 on the 3d of March, 1869. 
 
 " Knowing that the index map was to be publislied 
 by the State Department, by calling on Mr. Baker I 
 ascertained from him that the balance of the aj^pro- 
 priation on hand was adequate to pay for the engrav- 
 ing of the index map, and that the State Depart- 
 ment would cause it to be done as soon as may be 
 after receiving it. At his request I called on Gen, 
 Humphrey, Chief of Bureau of Engineers, and lai(i 
 before him the copy of Document 132, calling his 
 attention to the note of the Secretary of State of 
 June 2, 18(56, requesting the deposit of the index maps 
 and other papers in (piestion in the State Department, 
 which Gen. Humphrey assured me should be done. 
 
 " Since then I liave received letters from Mr. Baker, 
 the latest of whicli informed me that no index map 
 or other papers connected therewith had been re- 
 ceived at the Department of State. 
 
 " The large sums of money expended by the govern- 
 ment in making the Boundary Siu'veys, the importance 
 of the information thus obtained to the whole coun- 
 try, and to the State of Maine more especially, and 
 the deep historic interest connected with the north- 
 eastern boundaiy question, leads me to hope that 
 measures will be taken by you to secure the publica- 
 tion of the index map in question, and the other 
 information Avhich has been fortunately preserved." 
 
 ^i 
 
 1 
 
THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 25 
 
 ex maps 
 the War 
 iitteiupts, 
 V^oodmff, 
 oiiipleted 
 
 ;>ul)lislie(l 
 . Baker I 
 lie appro- 
 le eiigrav- 
 3 Depart- 
 ,s may be 
 1 on Gen. 
 , and laid 
 lalliug his 
 : State of 
 ^dex maps 
 partment, 
 be done. 
 VI r. Baker, 
 ndex map 
 
 been re- 
 he govern- 
 mportance 
 lole eoim- 
 cially, and 
 the north- 
 liope that 
 le publica- 
 
 the other 
 •eserved." 
 
 The closing paragi-aph ot this comiiniiiication has 
 been unfortunately lost, but it Avas signed John A. 
 Poor, a citizen of Maine. One of the very last let- 
 ters written I)y Mr. Poor, in the summer of 1871, 
 was in reference to this matter. Uj) to that time 
 the index ni;ii) had not been completed ; it is to be 
 hoped that some other citizen of Maine will ui'ge on 
 the work where Mr. Poor's hand drop[)ed powerless 
 in death, and carry it to a successful termination. 
 
 But while thus active in whatever duty came to 
 his hand, the real inspiration of his life had not yet 
 arisen. We resume our quotations from Mr. Tuttle's 
 memoir: "Many years ])efore moving to Portland 
 he became profoundly interested in the subject, then 
 fresh, of locomotive railways. The inti'oduction of 
 railways into New England was an event that made 
 a dee[) impression on his mind, and gave direction 
 to his future life. He seems to have com[)i'ehended, 
 at once, the full magnitude and im])oi'tance of this 
 new method of transportation, which he tersely 
 characterized as ' the great achievement of man, the 
 most extraordinary instrument for good the world 
 has yet reached.' The year 18134 is memorable in 
 the history of locomotive railways in New Eufjland. 
 On the IGth of April of that year the first locomo- 
 tive engine, with passenger cars attached, ran over a 
 railway freshly laid l)etween Boston and Newton, 
 and afterwards extended to Worcester and l)eyond. 
 A lai'ge number of persons were present in Boston 
 to witness this novel experiment of ti'avel by rail- 
 way. Among the spectators who \\aited with 
 breathless anxiety the first movement of the train 
 
if^ 
 
 
 26 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 WJiH Mr. Poor, then only twenty-six }ear8 of age, 
 wlio had come from Banc-or to witness the introdiic- 
 tion of this new wonder of the age. Many years 
 after the event, he described this scene and the 
 impression it made on liim. ' Phiced,' lie says, ' upon 
 the track, its driver, who came witli it from Eng- 
 hmd, stepped upon the platform with almost the 
 airs of a juggler or a professoi* of chemistry, placed 
 his hand upon the lever, and with a slight move of 
 it, the engine started at a speed worthy of the com- 
 panion of the "Rocket," amid the shouts and cheers 
 of the multitude. It gave me such a shock that my 
 hair seemed to start from the roots rather than to 
 stand on end ; and as I reflected in after years, the 
 locomotive engine grew into a greatness in mind that 
 left all other created thing's far behind it as marvels 
 and wonders.' This kindled in him an enthusiasm 
 on the subject of locomotive railways which con- 
 tinued to the end of life. He returned to Maine to 
 meditate and reflect on what he had seen with his 
 own eyes, little dreaming of the fame he was to 
 achieve for himself in railway euteiprises within the 
 next foiiy years. 
 
 " In 1836 the first locomotive railway was built in 
 Maine, singularly enough, between Bangor and Old- 
 town. The practical working of this road was under 
 his own observation ; and from it he probably 
 learned his first lessons in railway economy. This 
 new mode of travellincc soon commended itself to the 
 public. The Legislature adopted measures which led 
 to the survey of several routes, for a I'ailroad, between 
 the seaboard in Maine and the St. Lawrence in Can- 
 
V. 
 
 of age, 
 nti'0(hic- 
 ly yejira 
 uiul the 
 •s, ' upon 
 )in Eng- 
 nost the 
 Yj placed 
 move of 
 the eoni- 
 id cheers 
 : that my 
 • til an to 
 years, the 
 nind that 
 s marvels 
 ithusiasm 
 hich con- 
 Maine to 
 with his 
 e was to 
 vithin the 
 
 IS built in 
 and Old- 
 
 hvas under 
 probably 
 
 my. Tliis 
 self to the 
 which led 
 
 d, between 
 
 ice in Can- 
 
 r//^' Z/T£ OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 27 
 
 ada. That which connected Belfast and Quebec was 
 rci^ardcd the shortest and most practicable route. 
 This enter[)rise died in its birth, and notliing, but 
 the re}H)rt of the engineer ever came of it. A rail- 
 way fi'om the sen))oard to the St. Lawrence was more 
 and more desired in Maine, as well as in Canada. In 
 1839 a survey was made for a railway between Port- 
 land and Lake ChamjJain ; but this enterprise also 
 died. It was obvious now that a hand to execute, 
 as well as a head to plan, was needed in such an un- 
 dertalving ; that vast energy, rare executive powers, 
 and great persistency were rec^uired to carry out so 
 great an enterprise. 
 
 " While Mr. Poor was busily engaged in his profes- 
 sion in Bangor, he was not unmindful of what had 
 been going on. lie was studying the whole subject 
 of future railways in Maine from the highest point 
 of view, and aiming to construct a system. Thor- 
 oughly ac(juainted with the physical geography, tlie 
 commercial, agricultural, and manufacturing capaci- 
 ties of the state, he had a grasp of the entire subject 
 superior to any other person; and in 1843 he made 
 puljlic his plan for two great railways, both coming 
 from without the state, traversing it nearly its entire 
 length, and converging on Portland. The eastern 
 tei-minus of one road was Halifax, and the western 
 terminus of the other, Montreal. This stupendous 
 project of connecting two empires by a common in- 
 terest, besides the inestimable commercial advantages 
 designed for Maine, looked to the shortening of the 
 time of passage between New York and Liverpool, 
 about two days, and to a direct railway route from 
 
 m. 
 
 ■■«. 
 
 ■:0 
 
m 
 
 a8 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 Portland to Montronl, tlience to the great lakes and 
 prairies in the west. TliiH magnificent scheme, wliich 
 must have seemed impossible of execution to most 
 persons wlien he projected it, in the infancy of rail- 
 ways in Maine, he liv^ed to see accomplished, through 
 his own agency and indomitable perseverance, ir, less 
 than tliirty years." 
 
 These may faii'ly l)e called the first intei'national 
 railways in the United States ; they were also based 
 upon the idea, then new, that railways should serve 
 to develop the country, build up lousiness ; not, ac- 
 cording to the Massachusetts theory, act as local 
 lines in an already settled comnumity. When it is 
 remembered that there was not, in 1844, a railway 
 east of Portland, the Boston Journal is correct in 
 saying : " Mr. Poor is the father of the railroad sys- 
 tem of Maine, especially in its relations to British 
 North America." 
 
 Thus early he made practical application of the 
 idea he expressed in writing in 1852: "The true 
 pi'inciples upon which all public im[)rovements 
 should rest are the simplest laws of physical geogra- 
 phy and commercial advantage." 
 
 Of the origin of his railway plan, Mr. Poor wrote 
 in 1860 : "The plan of the railway from Portland to 
 Montreal was the w^ork of my own mind exclusively. 
 I never received a hint or suggestion that ever aided 
 me from any quarter." Of the train of thought which 
 led to this conclusion, we find a description in the 
 speech delivered at Bangor in 1869. "From 1830, 
 onward, I watched with eager curiosity the develop- 
 ment of the railway, its mysterious workings and 
 
y. 
 
 THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 29 
 
 ikes au(l 
 e, which 
 to most 
 r of rail- 
 tliroiigh 
 le, ir. less 
 
 [•luitional 
 Iso based 
 Lild serve 
 ; not, ac- 
 as h)cal 
 Hien it is 
 I railway 
 correct in 
 Iroiul sys- 
 ,0 Britisli 
 
 on of the 
 The true 
 •ovements 
 al geogra- 
 
 :)or ^vrote 
 ,)rtland to 
 :clusively. 
 ver aided 
 ^ht which 
 on in the 
 •om 1830, 
 e develop- 
 kings and 
 
 iiiarvellons power ; and I siglied and longed for the 
 introdiKttioii of r-'uh'oads into Maine. I saw how 
 the railroad, wherever introduced, attracted capital 
 and industry. As early as 1835, I j)erceived that 
 the tide of iiiunigration into Maine, from other parts 
 of New EngLand gradually dimiiiislied, and finally 
 was clieeked completely by tlie growth of manufac- 
 tures. I could not help seeing that a tide of emigra- 
 tion from Maine was rolling on ; for in 1843, on a 
 visit to my native town with less than seven Imn- 
 dred people, eighty young persons had been drawn 
 fi'om it to the workshops and factories of Massachu- 
 setts. I felt irresistibly impelled to an eifort to re- 
 sist if possible this state of things. I tried in 1843, 
 as a citizen of Bangor, to move in a 2)lan for a rail- 
 way east, toward St. John and Halifax, but the time 
 had not come, and I threw my energies into the pro- 
 ject of a line from Poi'tland to Montreal, as the great 
 section to l)egin upon. I saw then, as now, that the 
 travel and traffic between Monti'eal and Halifax 
 must pass across Maine." 
 
 Another wrote : " While the first section of the At- 
 lantic and St. Lawrence Railroad ^vas in construction, 
 w^e met at Norway village and took the mail stage to 
 Portland. I asked him what suc-icested to his mind 
 an enteiprise of such vast magnitude as uniting 
 Montreal and Portland ])y a railroad. He answered 
 that it was a matter he felt disinclined to make pub- 
 lic, but as I A\-as a Swedenborgian, he could tell me 
 without prejudice, as perhaps I might understand 
 the philosophy of it. Said he : * It was a vision, in 
 which I saw the whole line pass before me like a 
 
30 
 
 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y, 
 
 ■ I 
 
 grand paiirtraiim, and in continuation a vast Hystem 
 of railroads permeating tlio wliole coinitry, from the 
 Bay of ('lialeur to the Gulf of Mexico ; with new 
 cities with a dense population ; with every facility 
 for ocean steamships from every countiy ; and the 
 coast of Maine lined witli cities rivalling the cities 
 on the coast of the Baltic." His vision is fast be- 
 coming a reality, for seaside cottages now line every 
 shore of Maine, and a summer city beai's witness to 
 the uni(pie beauty of Bar Harbor. 
 
 In the winter of 1843-4 he wrote petitions which 
 were presented to the Legislature of Maine, and re- 
 ferred to suitable committees. In January, 1837, 
 Mr. Poor had lost the wife of his youth when tliey 
 had been married three years and six months. Some 
 years after, he married. Elizabeth, daughter of Hon. 
 Benjamin Orr, of Brunswick, a member of Congress, 
 and one of the most brilliant lawyers who have ever 
 practised in Maine ; she died suddenly ; three daugh- 
 ters had previously died in their infancy, but one 
 child, a daughter, was left. He w^as a man of the 
 strongest domestic affections ; he had found his hap- 
 piness in his charming home ; but henceforward he 
 threw himself into <• arrying out that idea which 
 seemed to absorb his whole being. August the 
 fifth, 1844, he wroto in his private journal as follows : 
 " Man has a duty to perform, and a destiny to fulfil. 
 I have been more than most men stimulated to action 
 by the allurements of life and the incitements of the 
 imagination. Real sorrow calms and moderates the 
 expectations of youth." 
 
 Mr. Poor was at this time thirty-six years of age ; 
 although not a rich man, he was not a poor man ; 
 
(K 
 
 At system 
 from tlie 
 vitli lunv 
 y facility 
 ; and the 
 ihii cities 
 4 fast be- 
 iiie every 
 vitness to 
 
 DTis which 
 e, and re- 
 iry, 1837, 
 rvhen they 
 ti8. Some 
 >r of Hon. 
 Congress, 
 have ever 
 ree daugh- 
 but one 
 lan of the 
 d his hap- 
 orward he 
 ea which 
 uorust the 
 IS follows : 
 ly to fulfil, 
 d to action 
 3nts of the 
 lerates the 
 
 ars of age ; 
 3oor man ; 
 
 TJ/£ LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 31 
 
 and tliere was no reason tliat lie should h'ave a well 
 estal)Hshed l)usiness to work where lie had no prop- 
 erty to he benefited, and witliout suitable pay ; no 
 reason except that the inward voice had called him ; 
 and he obeyed. Mr. Tuttle says : " In the autunni 
 (»f 1844, having matured his plans, he ])ravely entered 
 ui)on the execution of his great design to connect 
 Portland and Montreal by an international railway, 
 the first ever projected on this continent. The im- 
 dertaking then might well seem appalling : more 
 than two Imndred and fifty miles of railway, at an 
 estimated cost of $10,000,000. He traversed the 
 valley of the St. Lawrence, from Lake Erie down- 
 wards, to gain information ff)r his jiui'pose. From 
 Montreal he crossed over his projected route to Poi't- 
 land, part of the way on foot, examining the country 
 and making known his railway project." 
 
 He caused public meetings to be held at Sher- 
 brooke, Canada ; Canaan, Vermont ; and Colebrooke, 
 New Hampshire : at which he spoke. He wrote a 
 connnunication to the Sherhronke Gazette, September 
 the fifth, 1844, a date memorable as the beginning of 
 anew era in Maine — the commercial and historical era. 
 
 For Maine proper it began in the homestead of 
 Silvanus Poor. From that farm-house Mr. Poor 
 wrote a communication to the Portland Advertiser, 
 September tenth, 1844. The citizens of Andover, 
 Maine assembled there to listen to Mr. Poor, and 
 made up a purse to pay the expenses of Deacon 
 Samuel Poor, who accompanied Mr. John Alfred 
 Poor to Portland. 
 
 Portland was at this time known throughout the 
 State as " the deserted village." Mr. Tuttle says : 
 
 '■■■ ■•t 
 
 : V 
 
 
 i 
 
[, llll'll 
 
 32 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 n !' 
 
 " Hia letter ci'eated a profound sensation in Portland, 
 whicli be compared to * an alarm-bell in the night 
 struck by the hand of a strangei'.' lie went to Poi't- 
 land with a deputation from the country, and urged 
 the citizens to embark in the undertaking. The 
 principal citizens, appreciating the force of his argu- 
 ments, and seeing the advantages certainly to accrue 
 to the city, immediately came forward, headed by 
 Judge Preble, to assist the Bangor lawyer in his 
 great enterprise. The favorable action of Portland 
 was felt throughout the whole length of the proposed 
 route, and the work of preliminary organization went 
 rapidly forward. A provisional survey of the route 
 was executed before December. He devoted his 
 energies to the organizing of a company and to the 
 procuring of a charter for the road. Just before the 
 charter was obtained it was discovered that the 
 wealth and enterprise of Boston were in Canada, 
 urging the Canadians to unite with that city and 
 build the road to Boston. This created great alarm 
 among the friends of Mr. Poor's project. It was a 
 critical moment for Portland and for Maine interests. 
 Canada desired an outlet for her staple products and 
 merchandise, and it mattered but little to her in 
 which of the Atlantic ports she found it." 
 
 It may be well to give a more detailed account of 
 the opposition ; we will, therefore, copy what Mr. 
 Poor wrote some years later : " Before the road to 
 Montreal had been suggested in Portland, three great 
 lines from Boston to Montreal hiid been entered upon, 
 the necessary charters obtained, and the projects 
 themselves, well endorsed by Boston capital, in full 
 
 ■»*■"' 
 
IV. 
 
 Portland, 
 the niglit 
 t to Port- 
 iiid urged 
 ng. The 
 ; liis argu- 
 te accrue 
 leaded by 
 ^er iu his 
 ; Poi-tland 
 3 proposed 
 ation went 
 E the route 
 3voted his 
 aud to the 
 before the 
 
 that the 
 n Canada, 
 ,t city aud 
 rreat alarm 
 
 It was a 
 le interests, 
 ■oducts and 
 
 to her in 
 
 account of 
 
 what Mr. 
 
 he road to 
 
 three great 
 /cered upon, 
 lie projects 
 3ital, in full 
 
 T//£ LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. n 
 
 possession of the public ear of Canada. These lines 
 were the Boston, Concord, and Montreal i-ailroad 
 charters in 1844, acting at that time in connection 
 with the Passumpsic road, whose charter is of an 
 earlier date ; the Vennont Central Railroad, in con- 
 nection with the Northern Raili'oad of New Hamp- 
 shire ; aud the Rutland and Bnrlington Railroad, as 
 an extension of the Fitchbur^ road. All these com- 
 panies Avere in the field ; all had their agents in 
 Montreal in advance of Portland, and during the 
 whole time that the railway policy of Canada was 
 under discussion in the Provincial Parliament in 
 1845." 
 
 At the head of the oj^position was the Hon. Eras- 
 tus Fairbanks, afterwards Governor of Vermont, 
 backed by that celebrated letter of advice to the 
 merchants of Montreal, and Canadian Parliament, 
 which was signed by the Hon. Harrison Gray Otis, 
 Hon. Abbott Lawrence, and three hundred and 
 fifty-seven othei's, certified by the Mayor of Boston 
 to be " among the most wealthy capitalists and busi- 
 ness men of the city," admonishing the citizens of 
 Montreal and the Parliament of Canada not to listen 
 to the emissaries from Portland who were advocatinar 
 the Portland route. This celebrated dr i ^^.nt, 
 among other statements, has the following, viz. : " If 
 a conununication is to be opened between Montreal 
 and the Atlantic Ocean, it mnst be from Boston, etc. 
 Any grant by the Provincial Pa'liament giving a 
 preference to a different route would be calculated, 
 we believe, to defer, if not ultimately defeat, the ob- 
 ject so much desired by business men in Canada and 
 
 t. 
 
 WM 
 
 m 
 
34 
 
 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA V. 
 
 m 
 
 ■I-' 
 
 the United States." A document quite worthy of 
 the calm assumption of superiority characterizing 
 the Massachusetts person. 
 
 By the very irony of fate, Boston merchants rep- 
 resenting the Chamber of Commei'ce met a commit- 
 tee of the United States Senate in Boston, September, 
 1889, and declared before it that the " Grand Trunk 
 Railway is to New England what the Erie Canal is 
 to New York." 
 
 Mr. Poor hjistened to Canada to prevent the Board 
 of Trade of Montreal from committing itself to the 
 Boston interests. He set out from Portland at mid- 
 night on the fifth of February, five days before the 
 Legislature of Maine wanted the charter for his 
 road, in the face of the most terrific snow-storm of 
 the winter, and drove through deep snows to Mon- 
 treal, reaching that city on the morning of the fifth 
 day of his journey, when the thermometer was 
 standing twenty-nine degrees below zero. Sorat^ 
 years later, Mr. Poor wrote an account of his jour- 
 ney, which we will give entire. His passage of 
 Dixville Notch is sufficient to cause that mountain- 
 gorge to be forever associated with his name : 
 
 " A snow-storm among the mountains is the most 
 fearful thing in nature. The e.irth(|uake, the vol- 
 cano, the hurricane are fearful exhibitions of the 
 strife of the elements; but these, in the nature of 
 things, are limited in extent and of short duration. 
 But a snow-storm amonj? the mountains or in the 
 polar regions is a fearful type of vengeance, of ter- 
 ror, and of wnith. The dwellei's in the city, or those 
 who traverse the deep have no power to conceive of 
 
AY. 
 
 worthy of 
 racterizing 
 
 jliants rep- 
 a commit- 
 September, 
 and Trunk 
 e Canal is 
 
 t tlie Board 
 tself to the 
 and at mid- 
 , before the 
 -ter for his 
 ow-storm of 
 )ws to Mon- 
 of the fifth 
 ometer was 
 ero. Some 
 of liis jonr- 
 passage of 
 ,t mountaiu- 
 ame ; 
 
 is the most 
 ike, the vol- 
 tions of the 
 le nature of 
 ort duration. 
 IS or in tlie 
 jance, of ter- 
 city, or those 
 L) conceive o{ 
 
 T/Ii: LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 
 
 35 
 
 the sublimity or the grandeur of the snow-tempest 
 among the hills. I made the trial once, aud found 
 it more than my fancy had painted it. 
 
 "On the morning of the fifth of February, 1845, 
 at half-past twelve o'clock, the writer started for 
 Montreal iu a stoi-m not unlike that of yesterday. 
 Some people in Portland may remember the event. 
 The recollection of it has haunted the writer of this 
 as a lurid dream or a tormenting nightmare e\'er 
 since. The storm of February sixth, IS'IS, was re- 
 markable for its severity and its extent. At that 
 time we had no telegraphic announcement of Its 
 approach. A fcAV days of clear, bright weatlier gave 
 promise of an easy ride through the woods to Canada. 
 Delay was caused by the tediousness in preparing 
 the necessary papers, and it was finally arranged 
 that I should leave at midnight, between the fourth 
 and fifth, on the arrival of the eastern mail. Some 
 preparations had been made for relays of horses to 
 Sherbrooke, and the roads for some da}s prior had 
 been in good condition for that season of the year. 
 A dark and portentous sky hung black over the east 
 all the day of the fourth. ... At ten o'clock in the 
 evening the ^vind had increased almost to a gale, and 
 slight specks of snow came dancing through the air 
 * It is too cold to snow,' was the common remark, ana 
 the thermometer stood at thirty-five degrees below 
 the freezing-point. Before twelve o'clock the snow 
 fell fast, but it was like ice or hail ; the wind, blow- 
 ing with violence, seemed to sweep it almost entirely 
 away. The fierce howl of the blast, aud the clatter 
 of the snow against the window-panes and awning- 
 
 pi 
 
 %' 
 
 %,- 
 
 
 \:% 
 
 m 
 
36 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 posts made every one anxious to keep witliin doors. 
 Entreaties and remonstrances were showered upon 
 me to desist from the effort. But it was felt to be 
 a turning-point in the history of our railway to Mon- 
 treal. The mission undertaken in fair weather 
 must be performed in spite of the tempest. Sub- 
 sequent events proved the necessity of its perform- 
 ance. 
 
 " Only one ma^ • could be found in Portland to en- 
 counter with me the first seven miles. At half-past 
 twelve o'clock, we started for Gray. A gentleman 
 volunteered his spirited horse, in a sleigh for that 
 stage of the Journey, and I took the reins for the 
 start. The horse seemed more wise than his driver, 
 and resolutely determined to turn back. He dodged 
 the drifts, plunged over stone walls, upset us time 
 after time, from his inability to face the pelting 
 snow. The rising snow cut the face like a knife, 
 and the only way in which we could protect our 
 eyes was to allow the icicles to hang from our eye- 
 brows, and then with the end of one finger to melt 
 a small orifice through which to see. 
 
 " The snow came down so fast that the track was 
 lost, where the snow was not thrown out of the road : 
 and after six hours of incessant labor, we reached 
 Teak's tavern in Falmouth, seven miles from Port- 
 land, frozen in hands and face. Before daylight, a 
 foot of snow had fallen on a level, and before noon 
 that day, it had reached a depth of eighteen inches. 
 Starting again with the first streak of day, we reached 
 Gray Corner before noon, and ^>Vaterhouse'8 hospita- 
 ble house at Paris, by dark. 
 
 I 
 
THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 
 
 37 
 
 eye- 
 melt 
 
 was 
 oad : 
 iclied 
 Poi-t- 
 lit, a 
 noon 
 dies, 
 iclied 
 spita- 
 
 "Tlie wind had come round to the northwest, and 
 tlie drifts were higlier tlian the tops of tlie fences 
 everywliere. Nothing coidd induce tlie experienced 
 and daring AVatorhouse to move out on that night, 
 but the first dawn found us on our way to Kunifonl 
 and Andover; tlii'ough fields, over fences, and every- 
 Avliere tliat a track could be forced. Tlie way in 
 which the northwest wind sweeps down the valley 
 of the Androscoggin, and through the valley of the 
 Ellis River, and tlie size of the drifts that are piled 
 across the road in that region, are the terror of the 
 inexpeiienced traveller. But there is nothing so 
 sweet to the younn; mountaineer, as storms and snow- 
 drifts. The air is bracing; the nervous system 
 wrought almost to a pitch of delirium ; and to wres- 
 tle, to combat Avith cold and snow, is a pleasure. 
 
 " At lluniford, where I found acquaintances, I sent 
 out videttes as horseback riders, who made a single 
 horse track to Andover. The young men of the coun- 
 try, as many as six or eight in number, mounted on the 
 best horses, broke the path. At Andover, I found 
 friends in waiting to aid me : a few miles brouijht us 
 into the roads, but those miles were the most trying 
 we had met. The drifts, the terror of all travellers, 
 disaj)peared after entering Andover Surplus and 
 throui2:li to Umbao-ocr Lake. That night, however, the 
 thermometer stood at eifjliteen degrees below zero. 
 There was not a track from Andover to Colebroke, 
 over forty miles, and the level of the new snow in 
 all that distance was two feet. From Andover, till 
 we had passed Dixoille Notch, our speed with two 
 horses in a single sleigh was but two miles an liour. 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 
 ■/,'. ;:\ 
 
f 
 
 38 
 
 FIRSr INTERNATIONAL RAIIAVAY. 
 
 "'T 
 
 The passage cf the Dixoille Notcli was the great 
 feat in the expedition ; for when tliis was accom- 
 plislied, the northwest wind wonhl aljate its fury. 
 The terrific liowl with wliich it sAveeps down those 
 giant cliffs eight hundred feet high ; the huge moun- 
 tain baidv of snow that is })iled in the bottom of the 
 gorge, at the summit line of the I'oad, make one shud- 
 der at the recollection. Tlie Rev. T. Starr King 
 thus describes Dixoille Notch : ' The first view of it 
 is very impressive. It opens like a titanic gateway 
 to some rcgi' r . vast and mysterious desolation. 
 The pass is much narrower than either of the more 
 famed ones in *he ^^-^^ute Mountains, and thiv)agh 
 its whole extent of a mile and a quarter has more 
 the character of a notch. One cannot but feel that 
 the mountain was rent apart by some volcanic con- 
 vulsion of nature, and the two sides left to tell the 
 story l)y the correspondence, and the naked di'eai'iness 
 of the pillars of rotting rock that face each other. 
 There is little mt^re than room for a road at the bot- 
 tom, and. the walls slope away from it so sharply, 
 that considerable outlay is required from the state 
 every year to clear it of the stones and earth which 
 the frosts and rains roll into it every Avintev and 
 spring. No description can impart an adequate con- 
 ception of the mournful grandeur of the decaying 
 cliffs of mica slate which overhang the way. They 
 shoot up in most singular and fantastic sha})es, and 
 vary in height from four hundred to eight hundred 
 feet. A few centuries ago the pass must have been 
 very wild, but the |)innacles of rock which give the 
 scenery such an Alpine character are crumbling 
 
 f 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 
 
 39 
 
 (1 
 
 le 
 
 »'g 
 
 W 
 ■I 
 
 i 
 
 away. Some have decayed to half tlieir original 
 lieiirlit, and the side walls of the notch are strewn 
 \vith the debris which the ice and storms have [)ried 
 and gnawed from the decrepit cliffs. The whole 
 aspect is one of ruin and wreck. The creativ^e forces 
 seem to have retreated from tlie spot, and abandoned 
 it to the sport of the destructive elements. One 
 mi<dit entertain the thouixht that some awful crime 
 had been committed tliere, for which the region was 
 blasted with an everlastino; curse.' If such an im- 
 pression was made upon the mind of a visitor in the 
 (juiet autumn, what language can adequately convey 
 to others an idea of its fearful ness, its terrific grand- 
 eur in a winter's stoi'm. 
 
 " The first thing that struck us on approaching the 
 gorge was the fact — the road is lost ! The road in 
 summer leads far along a narrow steep of rock, 
 windino; its sinuous course alone; its eastern side. 
 At this time, not only were all signs of a track gone, 
 but we could see no way in which a man on foot 
 could find room to pass ; the sides presented perpen- 
 dicular walls of snow. Our experienced guide, known 
 as the "Notch-Tender," led the way with shovels, 
 others soon made a foothold for the horse ; the sleigh 
 and baggage were carried over by hand, until we 
 came to the principal barrier, a mountainous drift 
 twenty feet high, rising directly across the gorge. 
 
 " Two young men of Erroll, N. H., by the name of 
 Bragg, assisted by three others enlisted on the way, 
 after two hours' labor, opened a cut, through which 
 my horse was pushed. Tiie fearful thing to the un- 
 initiated is the danirer of beiuc; smothered in the snow. 
 
 M 
 $ 
 
 t ( 
 
1 
 
 ■PG 
 
 40 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 Every few steps we had to turn round to catch oiii- 
 breath. The wind blew through the Notch a fear- 
 ful gale, so continuous as hardly to exhibit a lull or 
 pause, and the air was dark with the drifting snow. 
 The place is over two thousand feet above the level 
 of the sea, and the biting sharpness of the cold can 
 hardly be described. Slowly and toilsomely we 
 made our way onward, shifting horses as we could 
 find them, keeping an outrider ahead to engage 
 relays. To break a track to Sherbrooke, in a dej)th 
 of eighteen inches of snow, was no trifling task, 
 though the northwest wind on the other side of the 
 White Mountains made the depth of snow somewhat 
 less. I reached Montreal at half-past five in the 
 morning of February tenth, but on the opposite side 
 of the St. Lawrence River. The river was full of 
 broken and drifting ice, and for some time, I could 
 find no one to carry me across. Finally, I prevailed 
 upon a Frenchman ; after struggling with the ice for 
 an houi", we reached the Montreal shore. I arrived 
 at the hotel at seven in the morning, and the ther- 
 mometer stood at twenty-nine degrees below zero. 
 
 "In accomplishing the eiitire journey, I took off my 
 clothes but twice, and slept but seven hours during 
 the five days ; a frame of less vital power might 
 have yielded on the way. My appearance at Mon- 
 treal bringing information, two days in advance of 
 any other news from the Atlantic coast, was looked 
 upon with surprise." 
 
 Speaking in another place of his dreadful journey, 
 and his mission, many years later, he said: "Eveiy 
 fibre of my frame thrills with horror at the recollection 
 
 •f 
 
■ m 
 
 THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 41 
 
 
 '4 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 of it. I nccoraplished my task. I met the Montreal 
 Board of Trade at ten in tlie morning of that (hiy, 
 and prevented the adoption of a resolution, previ- 
 ously prepared, in favor of going to Boston with 
 their line instead of Portland, wliieli would have 
 been carried unanimously hut for ray siuhlen ap[)ear- 
 ance and the assui'ance given by me of tlie superior 
 advantages of Portland over Boston. I was justly 
 proud of the achievement. In return, I carry in my 
 person the renewals of suffering, which fever and 
 sciatica, following in the train of fatigue and ex- 
 posure, have entailed upon an otherwise strong con- 
 stitution. I could not go through such another ex- 
 posure again, if I would, and I would not do it for 
 all the wealth of the world. The terrors of a Cana- 
 dian winter are too fearful to encounter in this way 
 a second time. But my heart was in the enterprise, 
 and my health, my life, and my future sufferings 
 were not thought of. All the events of this early 
 history are more fresh in my mind than those of the 
 last session of the Legislature, for I trend^led at 
 every step with the timidity of a youthful adven- 
 turer over the perilous Alps, in view of the vast 
 importance of the enterprise to the state." 
 
 Another adjunct to the success was described as 
 follows : " iVfter much discussion at Montreal by 
 Mr. Poor and the Boston agents, it was decided to 
 run an express team from Portland to Montreal on 
 the arrival of a certain steamer fr(^m Liverpool, which 
 was to touch at Portland and proceed at once to Bos- 
 ton. The express team was to start from Portland 
 at the time of the steamer's arrival there, and the 
 
 ,',< 
 
 '■ i 
 
 ••.1!: 
 
 3 
 
I! 
 
 II 
 
 ¥ 
 
 43 
 
 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL IVA Y. 
 
 express to start from Boston at the time of its 
 ari'iv.'il tliere. Tlie steamer was exj)ected to arrive 
 at Boston about the first of Febi'uary, 1845. 
 
 " Mucli interest was manifested in botli cities, and 
 great efforts were made l)y the friends of botli routes 
 to be ready for the race, and botli parties were 
 anxious to secure the favor of Montreal. Teams 
 were provided and stationed along the route from 
 Portland at distances fi'om five to fifteen miles apart, 
 and the right road at different places was marked 
 out by sticking up evergreen bushes on each side of 
 it, that there should be no delay by taking the 
 wrong road in the night-time ; and all was in readi- 
 ness several days before the ariival of the steamer. 
 
 " The steamer arrived at Portland about tlie tenth 
 of Febi'uary, 1845. Part of the mail from England 
 for Mortreal was obtained, and put into a small bag 
 made for the occasion, and strap})ed to the shouldei'S 
 of a Mr. Haskell, and the race began. Mr. Water- 
 house drove at the farther end of the route, and 
 reached Montreal, with his coach-and-six decorated 
 for the occasion with the stars and stripes flying, 
 more than twelve hours befoi'e the express reached 
 there by way of Boston, and cheer after cheer was 
 given by the people there for the route to Port- 
 land." Mr. Tuttle says : " But for his well-directed 
 efforts in Montreal, the road would have been 
 built to Boston instead of Portland. This struggle 
 for the Atlantic terminus of the road was severe 
 and protracted. He fought, single-handed, against 
 every aj'gument which wealth and commercial prea 
 tige could devise, before the Committee on Hail 
 
THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 
 
 43 
 
 ways of tlio Canadian Parliament, then in scsHion. 
 Tlie arrival of Judj^e Pivble at Montreal, nweek later, 
 with the eharter granted ))>' the Legislatures of Maine, 
 assisted him in giving a final blow to the o[)[)osition." 
 On his return Mr. Poor went to Boston, where lie 
 was seized with a frightful illness. For weeks, lie 
 suffered such pain as would have killed an ordinarily 
 strong man; and ruved iu delirium, until two men 
 could not hold him. In one of his intervals of pain 
 he had a strange vision. He felt that he had died, 
 and was in the other worhl. lie saw the friends 
 whom he had lost; was free from pain, and perfectly 
 ha])py; when he heai'd a voice telling him, that his 
 work on earth was not done, and that he must go 
 back. He Ijegged and im[)lored to stay, but in vain, 
 and he was conscious of unutterable anguish as he re- 
 turned. The inflammation settled in the sciatic nerve 
 of the left leg ; and for several months he could walk 
 oidy by the aid of two crutches. He apparently re- 
 covered perfect health, but was never again free from 
 pain and sensitiveness in the left leg, at any change 
 of weather. 
 
 « Before Mr. Poor started for Montreal, several Port- 
 land men raised the sum of one hundred and fifty 
 dollars for his ex])enses. Eveiy generous heart will 
 throb with indignation to know that the Atlantic and 
 St. Lawrence Railway Company considered five dol- 
 lars u day for six weeks' time sufficient pay for Mi-. 
 Poor's services in procuring the charter ; and that 
 for money spent in 1844 in ac(piiring information, 
 for his fi'ightful illness, and for his enforced idleness 
 during six months Mr. Poor w\is never paid. 
 
 'I 
 
 
 ,'.t 
 
 ,i : 
 
 
 
44 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 In 1840, Mr. I'oor removed to Portljind, to devote 
 liiniself more fully to the intereHts of the I'uilvvjiy. 
 Rumoi'H of war between England and Ameriea hav- 
 ing alarmed tin; Canadians, discouraged siil)seri[)tions 
 to the capital stock: a pai'ty of Canadian gentlemen 
 visited Wasliington with Mr. Pool*. There they 
 lieard Mr. Calhoun's s[)eech on tlie Oregon (juestion: 
 listened with much interest to Hon. 11. C. AVinthi'o[)'8 
 account of the danyjers and difficulties of enterini; 
 Boston harbor. In a letter, Mr. Poor says: "The 
 Canadians left for home, satisfied that ccMitinued 
 peace is in store for us, full of faith in our 8U(!cess. 
 They will now take up the l)alance of the $1,200,000 
 and go to work." Portland, June 10, 1840: "The 
 railroad is going on. Peace is secured for years to 
 come by the Oregon Treaty." Mr. Tuttle says : 
 "The woik of organizing under the charter, and of 
 procui'ing sul)scri[)tions to l)uild the road, went I'ap- 
 idly forwai'd. Judge Preble was chosen president, 
 and IMr. Poor a directoi", oi the Atlantic and St. Law- 
 rence Railroad Company ; this being the corporate 
 name of the American part of the line." So import- 
 ant was the undertaking considered, that the Fourth 
 of July, 1846, was selected to begin the construction 
 of the Portland end of the line. In the presence of 
 the assembled senators and representatives of Maine, 
 and a vast concourse of citizens and strangers, and 
 with great ceremony and applause, the work of 
 building began on this memorable day, at Fish Point, 
 at the entrance to Portland harbor. This must have 
 been a proud day for him. The Canadian company 
 having organized, the work of construction began 
 also at Montreal. 
 
THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED L'OOJi. 
 
 45 
 
 At the time of tlieir visit to W.-isliiiighm, tlie Cmm- 
 (liaii L'cntU'iiu'ii tuul Mr. JV)or also visitt'd tiio t'lii^ino 
 shops niid cjirnmnufju'toru'H in Boston, New York, uiid 
 Phil.'ulelphia, and soon after Mr. Pooi-'h return to Poll- 
 land ho organized n eoinpany, and procui'cd for it a 
 charter, for the manufacture of loeomotiveH and cai-H. 
 This was an entirely suecesHful enterprise, and a great 
 benefit to the city as well as to the state. For some 
 yeais lie was president of the ct)mpany, and on re- 
 siirning in 1851 he received the thanks of the officers 
 for " originating and carrying forward the company." 
 
 The Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad went la- 
 boring on under many difficulties, but with rare mag- 
 nanimity Mr. Poor never relaxed his watchful care 
 over it. The question of gauge for the road arose at 
 the very beginning, and threatened for a time to 
 destroy all possibility of uniting the two lines at the 
 border. Some of the Canadians wished to have the 
 English broad gauge of six feet. A small minority, 
 under the influence of Boston ideas, desired the 
 gauge of four feet eight and one half inches. A. C. 
 Morton, Esq., the chief engineer of the road, pro- 
 posed the gauge of five feet six inches. This had 
 just been fixed as the standard gauge for the railway 
 system of British India, l)y a committee of the Engl- 
 ish Parliament, after a lone and thorouiijh investimi- 
 tion. There is no doubt that it is intrinsically the 
 best gauge in the world, but the narrow gauge would 
 nevertheless have been adopted, but for Mr. Poor's 
 great exertions then and afterwards. The blow 
 which had been dealt in 1845 by the capitalists and 
 business men of Boston was repeated in 1847. On 
 the last of Julv, on the suwestion of some Boston 
 
 ■ ^^1 
 
 
 .'.t 
 
46 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 mon, a law was passed in tlie Canadian Parliament 
 iixing the gauge of tlie St. Lawrence and Atlantic 
 road at four f{;et eight and one half inches, unless 
 the (rovernor in Council shall ])y an order in Coun- 
 cil, within six calendai' months, determine upon any 
 diiferent gauge, etc., "and any diiferent gauge so 
 established shall be the one used in the said road," 
 etc. Ilis interference led to a long and full investi- 
 gation of the (piestion of gauge by the authorities of 
 Canada, in concurrence with the jiublic men of 
 tlie Lower Provinces. In October, 1847, Mr. Poor 
 and Judge Preble were despatched to Montreal by 
 the Poard of Directors of the Atlantic and St. Law- 
 rence Railway. 
 
 Accompanied by a delegation from the Board of 
 Directors of the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railway 
 of Montreal, they had an audience with Lord Elgin, 
 the Governor-Genei'al of Canada, and in a week they 
 returned to Portland, bi'inging with them the " Order 
 in Council " establishini>: the ij-auo-e of five feet six 
 inches. Again in 1851, wlien the question of gauge 
 for the Great Western road of Canada was before 
 the Canadian Parliament, ]\Ir. Poor went to Toronto, 
 and before the Parliamentary Committee urged the 
 adoption of this gauge vvdth success. The gauge of 
 the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railway was deter- 
 mined upon, therefore, after the fullest consideration, 
 and Mr. Poor hoped, by the ado[)tion of a third rail, 
 ultimately to extend this gauge to Boston and New 
 Yoik. Although the railroads recently built have 
 followed the four-feet-eight-and-one-half-inch gauge, 
 simply because it was fixed upon the country by the 
 
in 
 
 3 
 
 r///? I./f/^ OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 
 
 47 
 
 first riiilroiulM huilt, it inuHt be renieinbered tliat in 
 18-15 t]i(^ ([uestioii of m.'Uiii;^ was uii ()[)eii oiu^ 
 Notiiliijj: is o.'isier tluin for aininl)le tlicorists to criti- 
 cise tiie past by tlie liglit of the present ; but tlic 
 2)ioiu'er succeeds precisely because lie does not clinuf 
 to theories, but skilfully a(hi[)ts himself to the emer- 
 gency of the liour. All great institutions ,u'e founded 
 u[)on com[)romises ; but for this the road would not 
 hav'e been built at all ! Undoubtedly, too, the road 
 was aided by the s(;ntinieiit of state; [)ri(le in having 
 a ijrauije of its own, which Avas known in Boston as 
 " John A. Poor's gauge." 
 
 A ])ublic s[)eaker long afterwards said : " John A. 
 Poor was the bold man that struck out foi* a policy 
 adverse to the policy of Massachuscitts in railroad 
 nuitters. He struck out for the English broad gauge, 
 for the very purpose of not having such a comiectioii 
 as would enable Poston to control tlie railroads of 
 Maine throu<!;li lier narrow-jxauo-e svst<!in. He foui^ht 
 as the lion fights for her whelps, in this cause of 
 gauges, and so far as the Provinces and INIaine wei'e 
 concerned lie trium[)hed foi* a s(!ason ; and tlie 
 triumph was a progressive one, and a glorious one. 
 Your Grand Trunk llailway was l^uilt under tliat 
 triumph in hostility to Massachusetts, and especially 
 to Poston. Poston fouixht that, not so mucli IxK'ause 
 they cared for having a railroad, but they did not 
 want a railroa<l that should ))reak tlu; gauge and 
 throw an impediment in the current of business to 
 their own centre. They fought it, but they failed : 
 the Grand Trunk was laid." 
 
 Mr. Poor had not forgotten, liowever, his original 
 
 ■■^1 
 
48 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 design to buikl a single-trunk line east, extending 
 ultimately to St. John and Halifax, and throwing 
 off branches to the other parts of the state, north 
 and south. It was pro])osed to use the Atlantic 
 and St. La\vrence Railway, as far east as Lewiston, 
 then make an extension to Gardiner and Anojusta, 
 with a branch of Brunswick and Bath. But as soon 
 as this was proposed, the people of the Kennebeck 
 valley began a rival line to the east from Portia , 
 on the nari'ow gauge in 1845. In 1846 a broad- 
 gauge line, called the Androscoggin and Kennebeck, 
 was started from Danville Junction east, by the 
 aid, and under the auspices of the Atlantic and St. 
 Lawrence Railway, but only after assui'ances from 
 the latter company that they would make connection 
 with the roads leading out of Portland on the 
 western side. As early as 1846, the directors of the 
 Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railway, by a committee 
 (of Avhich Mr. Poor was the leading member), 
 agreed that such a connection should be formed, 
 and that the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railway 
 Ct)mpany would transfer all passengers and mer- 
 chandise desirous of going west of Portland, to and 
 from the railway station of the Boston roads, with- 
 out unnecessary delay, and without additional cost 
 or charce on account of such transfer. This aijree- 
 ment, made at Waterviile, in 1846, was ratified by 
 the Board of Directoi's of the Atlantic and St. 
 Lawrence Railway Company. The idea itself origi- 
 nated ^vith Mr. Poor, who thus early recognized the 
 impolicy of placing an^-^ restriction upon railway 
 transit. To carry it out, he suggested the building 
 
 P 
 

 y 
 t. 
 
 T//E LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 
 
 49 
 
 of a new street, extending across a part of tlie city 
 from the station of tlie Atlantic and St. Lawrence 
 Railway to that of the Boston roads, on which a 
 railway track should be laid. Strange to say, this 
 met with most violent oppos'tion from some of the 
 liirectors of the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railway 
 and from the owners of wharves and flats. But Mr. 
 Poor persevered until the street was built ; Mr. Poor 
 was opposed, howevei", to gi'anting to any one rail- 
 way company the exclusive use of this street, saying, 
 " that it should be left open for the use of all rail- 
 Avays." Commercial Street has resulted in the Mar- 
 ginal Way, a street one hundi'ed feet wide, which 
 extends around the city for three miles. 
 
 This war of the gauges \vas closed by the 
 consolidation into one line of the parallel and com- 
 peting railroads from Portland to Waterville, by 
 Boston capital, with the Boston gauge. By this the 
 whole conti'ol of the business of Maine was trans- 
 ferred to Boston. Mr. Poor had maintained for 
 many years that^;/*o rata rates for passengers should 
 be established upon the Maine raili'oads, to destroy 
 the discrimination which had existed in favor of 
 Boston as against Portland. But such a measure 
 would be forever rendered impossible, if the rail- 
 roads were controlled in Boston. In May, 1870, a 
 series of meetings was held in the City Hall of 
 Portland for five successive evenings. Mr. Poor 
 s[)oke for four evenings ; at Waterville, he made 
 another speech. Bnt consolidation was a foregone 
 conclusion ; the weakest must always go to the 
 wall. The Boston newspapers consolingly remarked, 
 
 I 
 
 
 ;;■ 
 
 ,<.;,' 
 
 .?; 
 
I!!i 
 
 »'■'■'! 
 
 iJli 
 
 SO 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 " that it Avas no wondei* ]Maine felt badly to lose 
 tlie control of her railways ; the only wonder was 
 that she had kept it so long." 
 
 Fortunately Mr. Poor did not live to see the abso- 
 lute reversal of the original sj'^stem. Since his death 
 every prediction which he made has l^een fulfilled. 
 The consolidated railways now extend to the boun- 
 dary of New Brunswick, run around Portland, and 
 no stranger would imagine that a city lay behind the 
 hill ; the gauge has also been narrowed upon the 
 Grand Trunk Railway. It was, of course, state 
 pride wliich inspired Mr. Poor's opposition, natural 
 and pardonable in him, though uncommercial. It 
 must be distinctly understood that Mr. Poor did not 
 oppose all ]'ailway consolidation of short lines as 
 such, — he Avas too sagacious and practical a man for 
 that, — but oidy this particular consolidation as injuri- 
 ous to INIaine. lie would not have objected to a 
 consolidation supporting the railway system of 
 Maine, and run in the interest of Maine. As early 
 as 1848, he wi'ote : "The state of Maine, from its 
 geographical position, has, naturally, less connection 
 with the neiixliborins; States than with the British 
 Provinces. Iler railway system, now partially devel- 
 oped, based u]^>on the natural hiAvs of tnide, has but 
 few relations to the other railways of New England, 
 and has been projected upon a plan of complete 
 independence to them all. 
 
 " Instea<l of followingr the lead of Boston — which 
 city originally held all New England in commercial 
 subjection, arid now controls the railways oi New 
 Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island 
 
 ■* 
 
THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 51 
 
 and a portion of Connecticut, — tlie state (^f Maine 
 entered upon a railway system of liei- own in 1844, 
 makinix tlie Portland and Montreal road tlie base line 
 of her operations. PorfJand is the natural aeapoi't 
 of the Canadas. This one statement explains to the 
 people of other lands, the motive of our exertions, 
 and the cause of our success, and is the key to the 
 whole movement toward building the railway to 
 M(Mitreal. But the line does not stop at Portland." 
 
 An important adjunct in the success of the Mon- 
 treal railway was so well explained in an article writ- 
 ten by Mr. Poor, February the seventh, 1848, that 
 we copy part of it : " It is now tlii'ee years and a 
 little more, that the project of a railway to Montreal 
 has occupied tlie attention of our people. The scep- 
 ticism and incredulity at first excited by its sugges- 
 tion soon gave way to a deliberate conviction of its 
 importance ; and the success which has attended the 
 measures put forth by its friends have nearly, if not 
 rpiite, demonstrated to the minds of the most sceptical 
 the certainty of its ultimate completion. 
 
 " In Canada the project at the outset met with gen- 
 eral indifferrnce. A railway from Boston to the 
 eastern townships had been somcAvhat talked of in 
 Canada as a measure likely to take place at some 
 futui'e day, but among the mei'chants of Montreal it 
 met with comparatively little favor. Canada was at 
 that time prosecuting the great system of canals, 
 with a view to diverting the trade from the Erie 
 Canal through the St. Lawrence. The protection 
 then extended to colonial produce by the British 
 government gave to Canada a monopoly of the ti'ade 
 
I 
 
 52 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 in bread-stuffs between tliis continent and Great 
 Britain. Had there been no change in the commer- 
 cial relations between Canada and the United 
 States, it is difficult to believe that the railway could 
 have been carried through — at any rate without 
 great delay and embarrassment — with the means at 
 the command of those first encrasred in it. 
 
 " The Portland and Montreal Railway was fii^st sug- 
 gested by the Welland and St. Lawrence canals. 
 The idea was purely commercial. New York by the 
 Erie Canal had di-awn to her own port the trade of 
 Lake Erie and the regions of the lakes beyond it. 
 Boston by the Western Railway had afterwards 
 diverted a portion of this trade to her own doors. 
 New York and Massachusetts on the one side, and 
 Canada tlirough the St. Lawrence on the other, were 
 striving for the trade of the valley of the lakes, and 
 the idea of a cheaper and more expeditious channel 
 to the sea had not then been proposed. Hence at 
 the outset the Montreal road had to encounter oppo- 
 sition fi'om the shipping interests of Montreal on the 
 one hand, the merchants of New York and Boston 
 on the other, and the more formidable obstacle, the 
 indifference of our own capitalists at home. 
 
 " Its success depended on a change of opinion and 
 feelins: in Canada. The merchants of Montreal had 
 at that time no fear of the consequences of our pro- 
 posed drawback law upon their trade, or even of its 
 passage for years to come, and treated with perfect 
 indifference the suggestion of her losing the trade of 
 LTpper C.*.iada when that project should become a 
 law. The passage of that law, and the loss of trade 
 
THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 
 
 53 
 
 to Montreal iiniuediately following it, was the great 
 nieasiii'e wanted to ensure the hearty support of her 
 merchants to the railway. 
 
 "The supj)lies for Canada AVest at once sought 
 their way thi'Oiii>h the Erie Canal instead of their 
 foi'iner channel, the St. Lawrence, and numerous 
 other projects sprung up at once, all aiming at the 
 same object as ourselves, a moi'e direct channel of 
 the trade for the west than the Erie Canal or the 
 St. Lawrence River. The railway from Ogdensburg 
 to Boston was proposed ; another from Cape Vincent 
 or Sackett's Harbor to Rome was projected ; and 
 another from Oswego to Syracuse was got up and 
 cari'ied forward to com[)letion ; and the New York 
 Erie Railroad, which had been suspended, was re- 
 vived and put in progress. The Concord and Stan- 
 stead road, the Cheshire road, the t^vo roads from 
 the Connecticut River to Burlington were all pushed 
 vigorously forward by the respective friends of each ; 
 some of them, as was remarked at the time by one 
 of the Boston papers, * for the purpose of heading 
 off the Portland and Montreal Railway.' 
 
 "Among all the projects named there is not one that 
 has gone forward ^vith so much success, under all 
 circumstances, as our own. Without attempting 
 more than we could perform, the steady perse\er- 
 ance of its friends and the impregnable advantages 
 of our position have given our enterprise a standing 
 and a name beyond that of any railway project in 
 the country. 
 
 Montreal is the natural depot of the business of 
 the St. Lawi'ence valley. At the head of sea navi- 
 
 ■■•I 
 
 ■.'.( 
 
 ^■\ 
 
 , 1i 
 
 '!* 
 
 ^•1 
 
 % 
 
ii 
 
 
 '1', 
 
 i i}: 
 ji ft 
 
 54 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 gfttion, and i\i tho foot of the great canals connecting 
 her with tlie lakes, the i)olicy of Canada must for- 
 ever give her the connuand of the trade of tlu? St. 
 Lawrence. She could now dra^v the trade from the 
 Erie Canal to her wiiarves, if her proi>obed outlets 
 to the sea were o[)en. 
 
 "But a (question more important to Cana(hi than our 
 dmwback law has since occurred — a chani-e of tlie 
 conunercial system of Great Bi'itain. If any measure 
 were wanted to ensui'e the com[)letion of our railway, 
 the repeal of the corn-laws would only ]>e re([uired. 
 To the cousteniation and sui'prise of the British col- 
 onies, this repeal came years before it was generally 
 believed possible; and from and after February 1, 
 IS-tO, all protection to colonial produce is to be Avith- 
 drawn. The famine in Ireland last year led to a 
 suspension of the corndaws till March 1, 1848, and 
 the trade in bread-stuffs betweeii this country and 
 Great Britain the first year has been free. This has 
 given Canada a foretaste of her future position under 
 a permanent system of free trade in bread-stiiifs. It 
 has revobitionized opinion throughout Canada. Un- 
 conditional free trade is now demanded, and a repeal 
 of tlie navigation laws. The Portland Railway fi'oni 
 an object of mdift'ereuce has now become the favorite 
 and paramount measure, not only of Montreal, but 
 of Canada. 
 
 " The political opinion has been as much affected 
 as the commei'cial ideas of Canada within the last 
 four years. There is not time noAV to review her 
 histoiy, and I allude to it only in connection with its 
 beai'ijig upon the railway. The troubles of 1837 ai'e 
 
.1 
 
 THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 55 
 
 still fresh in miiul. lu 1838 Lord Broiisiluiin urged 
 tlie Whig ministry to adopt measures for 'uniting 
 to^'etlier the whole of our North Amei'ieaii posses- 
 sions, to form un independent and ih^irisliing state 
 which may balance tlie colossal empire of the 
 west.' 
 
 "The advice of the greatest of British statesmen 
 was unheeded, and Canada has been convulsed with 
 political dissensions. The great struggle has been on 
 the question of ' responsible govei'nment,' which 
 principally caused the outl)reak in 1837 in Upper 
 Canada ; Lord Durham, Lord Sydenham, and Sir 
 Charles Bagot favoring the Liberal pai-ty, and Lord 
 Metcalfe the Tory. The present Whig ministry have 
 taken up the idea of Lord Brougham ; and in a 
 despatch from Eai'l Grey to Lord Elgin of December 
 31, 1846, his Lordship clearly indicated the union of 
 all the British American colonies as an ultimate 
 ineasui'e, and proposed a meeting of delegates or 
 commissioners to agree upon such preliminary ar- 
 rangements as w^ould favor this plan. A meeting of 
 these delegates took place in Montreal in September 
 last, where, among other measures, the Portland Hall- 
 way came up for discussion, and the gauge of five 
 feet six inches was adopted in concurrence with the 
 views of the commissioners from the Lower British 
 Provinces. 
 
 "In 18'44 the Liberal ministry of Canada, of Sir 
 Charles Bagot, disagreed with Lord Metcalfe on the 
 question of responsible government, and I'esigned 
 their places on the ground of certain o]:>jectionable 
 appointments. Parliament was dissolved, and a new 
 
 V^'T 
 
 
S6 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 election ordered. The Tory party came into power, 
 and Sir Allan McNabb was elected Speakvjr of the 
 AH8eni])ly by a majority of three votes over the lion. 
 Mr. Moi'in. But since the arrival of Lord Kl^jin the 
 Metcalfe ministry have failed to connnand a working 
 majority in the Assend)ly, and a new electioi; was 
 ordered some eight or ten months befc^re the expn'a- 
 tion of the former Parliament. 
 
 " In this new election, the commercial policy of 
 Canada was a new element in the controversy, and 
 the Liberal party came out strongly for unconditional 
 free-trade. Many of the merchants of Monti'eal who 
 had formerly voted with the Tory i)arty united with 
 the Liberals, and Messrs. La Fontaine and Holmes 
 were proj)osed as candidates for Montreal, and 
 triumphantly elected upon their pledges of su2>port 
 to the principles of free trade, and government aid 
 to the Portland Railway. 
 
 " The meeting: of Parliament is fixed for the fourth 
 of March next, and jNIr. Morin, who is to be ])resident 
 of the Portland Railway, will undoubtedly be one of 
 the new ministry. In his annual re[)ort, iis president 
 of the railway, he gives notice that application will 
 be made by the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railway 
 Company to the next Parliament for aid in such 
 form as will be most acce2)table to the government. 
 The Montreal Herald of tlie 2Gth January, in its 
 summary of ue^vs for the European mail, says : ' The 
 Legislature, at its next meeting, will grant a 
 guaranty for a dividend of six per cent, in favor of 
 the shareholders in the St. Lawrence and Atlantic 
 Railway.' It will be recollected that Lord Elgin, in 
 
THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. <,*j 
 
 his address to tlie people of the colonies, on iissuinini^ 
 tlie reins of lijovernnient, pledged himself to render 
 all j)r()i)er aid and encouraL^enient to [)u))lic improve- 
 ments, and all those measnivs calculated to j)romote 
 intercourse and develop the resources of the country. 
 
 "The ciunniercial and political changes in Canada 
 have been largely aft'ected by the incieasing inter- 
 course Avith the United States, and the iiujuiry is 
 openly made among themselves of the comparative 
 advantages of colonial dependence, — of a se[)ai'ate 
 government composed of all the British North Ameri- 
 can colonies, or of a union with the United States. 
 
 "It was distinctly asserted by the authorities of 
 the British government, a few years since, that to 
 ^ ield to the demand of the Radicals of Canada for 
 responsible government was a virtual separation of 
 the colonies from the crown. These princi[)Ies are 
 now triumphant in Canada as well as in Nova Scotia, 
 after the fullest and fairest trial, and tlie recent 
 movement toward a colonial union was stated by 
 one of the delemites to be an intimation to the 
 colonies, in behalf of the home government, to take 
 cai'e c)f themselves. The time M'as Avlien Great 
 Britain, would have pei'illed every thing for the pur- 
 pose of retaining these colonies. The extent of her 
 colonial possessions has satiated the love of domin- 
 ion, and the prevalence of free-trade principles has 
 laid the foundation for a conn)lete change of colonial 
 [)olicy. Commercial and uot ])olitical connectives 
 are now the aim and object of British statesmen. 
 
 " Maine is the natural sea-coast of the Canadas. 
 Every thing now betokens a speedy realization of 
 
 ♦ ■'? 
 
 '•.•?i 
 ''^1 
 
 i 
 
 ■ ..\ 
 
 Mi 
 
 
w 
 
 58 
 
 FIRST INTERXATIONAL RAILWAY, 
 
 the tnitli of Uiis rcniiirk. C'aiiadii will sudu be at 
 tile l>t)iiii(lury with her railway, oil her way to the 
 sea. Shall wo meet her (here? " 
 
 111 184S Mr. Poor went b(!for(! the Le<jjishitiv(; Com- 
 mittees of New llam|whire and \'ermoiit to [)r()cure 
 chartei'8 across these states, lie iiujt with much 
 o[)])ositiou fj'oiii the Boston inlluence, all powerful 
 there, hut iinallv succeeded in his delicate mission. 
 In KS4U th(^ road threatened to be l)rouu:ht to a 
 standstill for want of mt)iiey. Mr. Poor, afterwards, 
 wrote ill relation to this: *' The people of Portland 
 and Canada eiiil)ark(!d their means in the construc- 
 tion of the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railway 
 with coiilidence in its idtimate success, but with- 
 out being able to see in what precise mode, 
 or from what particular source, the looked-for 
 assistance would come. This feeling of confidence 
 forever llagged when tliey had expended a 
 million dollars at each end of the line, and 
 failed to .see the expected assistance from England 
 coming to its support. The report of the directors 
 of the com[)any in ISiO, concurred in by a very 
 huge majoi'ity of the board, was regarded abroad as 
 an admission of defeat ; or, at any rate, of a prolonged 
 suspension of the work, — a result e([ually fatal to 
 the interests of Portland. Had the proposed sus- 
 pension then taken place, the completion of the line 
 would have been postponed to an indefinite period. 
 The jMontreal Company would in that event hi, 
 confined its exertions, for a long time to come, to ti 
 completion of the line to Quel)ee, and the Boston 
 roads would have secured the great prize for \vhich 
 
 I 
 
THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 59 
 
 [II 
 li 
 
 '■:f 
 ■I 
 
 1 
 
 we liiid coiitciidtMl. This was tln3 critical period in 
 tlio history of Poitland and of the Montreal Rail- 
 road. I'lit the plan by which the road was carried 
 throuuh in 1841), aiul 1850 — the contiact with 
 lilack, Wood, h Co. — was the salvation ol" the liiu^ 
 It was a plan of my own creatiiiii;. Morton and 
 Gait aided, but the plan was my own; the results of 
 our interview at Lebanon in 1840, in which Cralt, 
 IJlack, Wood, Morton, and myself took ])art, were 
 clearly stated by me before the nieetinn". I lost my 
 election as director in 1849 through the jealousy of 
 some and the hostility of others to the plan itself; 
 yet I had the j)leasure of seeing the plan adopted in 
 all its pai'ts. 1 urged the payment of a large price 
 for the work, as the only uieans of saving the con- 
 tractors from failure, and this wise policy was 
 violently assailed at the time, but the contract with 
 IJlack, AVood, ct Co. was the salvation of the line." 
 The plan was to place the whole road under contract 
 as one line. 
 
 ^Ii-. Poor spent the winter and spring of 1841) at 
 the Astor House, New York ; and purchased the 
 Americcui lidihvm/ Journal, which afterwards was 
 owned and edited by Mr. Ilenry Varniim Poor. He 
 was urged to stay in New York, and after lie was 
 turned out oi the directorship of the Atlantic and 
 St. La\vrence Kaihvay wouhl have been perfectly 
 Justified in so doing; but, with I'are magnanimity, 
 remained in Portland. The Gas-Light Company 
 having fallen into difficulties, the work liad been 
 suspended ; Mr. Poor was chosen president of the 
 compan^', held the office until the sale of half of the 
 
 M 
 
 n 
 

 6o 
 
 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL \VA V. 
 
 capital stock to the city placed the company on 
 a fiiiii l)asis, and resiij^iied the presidency in 1852, 
 receiving the thanks of the company. 
 
 In 1851 Mr. Poor was chosen pi'esident of the 
 York and Cumberland, now the Portland and llocli- 
 ester Railway, lie carried the road successfully 
 throui^di a lawsuit with the contractors, reora'anized 
 the company, and secured the building of the line 
 from Gorham to the Saco River. In connection 
 with this I'oad, a j)lan was suggested for a continuous 
 track around Back Cove, to render that subui'b more 
 accessible to Poi'tland. He resigned the presidency 
 in 1852, receiving the thanks of the company. 
 
 On iiis return from Monti'eal, in 1847, he pub- 
 lished two articles in the BdiK/or M ///(/, in relation 
 to the railroad to 8t. John ; and wrote as follows to 
 his brother, i\»rtland, Decembei- 1, 1847 : 
 
 " I beg of y( u to put forward the petition for the 
 St. John railroad. !)(>, I pray and beg, put that 
 along. It is time and high time to do it. . . . 
 You want a reconnaissance this fall. You can get 
 one, if you start now ; as soon as you move, we will 
 s([uare away at it here." j\[r. Poor also wrote arti- 
 cles npon the subject of the I'oad to St. John, which 
 were forwarded to Montreal and incorporate(l into 
 the annual re[)oi'ts of the directors of the St. Law- 
 rence and Atlantic Ilailway for two successive years, 
 a fact Avhicli has never before been made known to 
 the public. 
 
 The followlni? account of a rival scheme was writ- 
 ten ])y Mr. Poor afterwards : " No sooner liad the 
 Portland and Montreal Ilailway been fairly entered 
 
wm 
 
 THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 6i 
 
 upon, and the plan of the line east from Poi'tland 
 to Halifax suggested, than the rival jiroject of a rail- 
 way from Quel)cc to Halifax was f-^tarted, and threw 
 nnicli endjarrassment in the way of Portland. The 
 more immediate dependence of the people of the 
 Lower Provinces ni)on England, and the str<mg 
 antipathy of the people of Nova Scotia to the 
 Yankees, gave force and vigor to the eifort. The 
 Pn^vinces paid for a s\irvey, and offered £20,000 
 sterling annually each, and any amount of public 
 lami.; on the route in case the home oi' im])erial 
 government would undertake the accomplishment 
 of the scheme. For a time it diverted the attention 
 of Canjida {^Iv. Poor and Judge Preble met the 
 agents of the Quel)ec and Halifax road at Monti-eal 
 in 1847), but the idea itself was destitute of com- 
 mercial merit. After much di[)lomatic shuHling, the 
 JJritish ministry, by a despatch of Earl (irey, under 
 date of June 19, 1850, gave a decided negative 
 to the a})plication of the Pritish Provinces foi* as- 
 sistance to the (Quebec and Halifax line ; and the 
 peo[»le of th.e Lower Provinces at once gave support 
 to the Portlai\d route. (Quebec pro])osed to connect 
 with the Poi'tland and Montreal road at Richmond, 
 ft)rniinix thereby her connection with the Atlantic 
 coast at Portland instead of Halifax ; and also con- 
 nection with Montreal, and event'ially wit'' the 
 Lower Provinces." 
 
 Li 1850, tlierefore, the Quebec and Halifax scheme 
 being disposed of, the extension of the railroad from 
 Portland u» M'.oitreal l)eine: assured by the contract 
 with Black, Wood, tfe Co., Commercial IStreet being 
 
 •J 
 : I 
 
 .■J 
 
 ;:* 
 
I! 
 
 i''; 
 
 62 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 provided for, the two rival lines to the east having 
 readied AVaterville, Mi*. Poor's plan for the raihvay 
 to St. Jolm began to crystallize. 
 
 Mr. Tuttle says : " Early in the summer of 1850 
 he petitioned the Legishitiire to authorize a survey 
 to discover the best and most practicable route 
 between Bangor and the New Brunswick line for tliis 
 road. In this petition he took occasion to present 
 strong reasons why the state should favor the 
 building of this railway. Very soon aftei', as cliairman 
 of a committee of citizens of Portland, he issued a 
 circular-letter addressed to the Governor and Council 
 and the Legislature of Maine, and also to railroad 
 companies and to friends of public improvement, in 
 the United States and in the British Provinces, 
 inviting them to attend a convention at Portland, 
 to consider the project by which it was claimed 
 the transit between the two continents would be 
 reduced to five days, and ])etween London and New 
 York to seven." The idea of the convention exposed 
 Mr. Poor to merciless ridicule. 
 
 Mr. Poor wrote : " The earliest maps and charts 
 of North America were projected upon the simplest 
 laws of navigati<^n, in view of the then existing com- 
 merce of the world. That portion of this continent 
 which approaclies nearest to Europe formed the base- 
 line of their calculations, and the distance across the 
 Atlantic v/as shown to be 1,700 miles, and not 3,000 
 miles, as commonly stated in modern geographies. 
 These teach us that the passage of the Atlantic is 
 3,000 miles simply because the common route of 
 travel is between points thus remote — New York 
 
 f,^ 
 
m 
 
 THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 
 
 (>i 
 
 and Liverpool. T,i oiii' pi-oposal to sliorten the 
 transit l)etwecri New York and London, we are 
 merely revising and bringing into practice the ideas 
 clearly entertained by tlie great navigators of the 
 fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The idea of an 
 Atlantic ferry, according to Loi-d Bacon, between 
 those points ' where the ends did nearest meet,' has 
 been a controlling sentiment ever since John and 
 Sebastian Cabot discovered Newfoundland in 1497, 
 months before Columbus came in sight of the main- 
 land of the continent." 
 
 From a history of the European and North Ameri- 
 can Railway, published in the Portland Advertiser 
 December 27, 1869, ^\e take the following account 
 of the convention : *' The seal of the European 
 and North American Railway Company represents 
 what twenty years ago Avas familiarly known as the 
 Atlantic Ferry. In the spring of 1850 the Britannia 
 tubular brid \e across the Menai Striiit had been 
 opened, and ihe trains from London on the North- 
 western line swept past Liverpcjol, over the strait 
 and out into the Irish Channel to Holyhead, whence 
 in three hours and a half the steamers i-an to Dublin. 
 From Dublin the Midland Railway of Ii'eland was 
 already half completed, ai; ^ig at Gahvay Bay 
 on the Atlantic coast, and from Galway to Nova 
 Scotia — the nearest portion of the American conti- 
 nent — the distance is hardly 2,000 miles, and the 
 Collins lihe had just been subsidized for ten years 
 by the United States to ply between New York and 
 Glasgow. The route from Galwav to Halifax, savin^^ 
 oue third of the distance over seas, was happily 
 
64 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 iiiiined tlie Atlantic Fei'iy, and tiie Britannia bridge 
 even snijfgested tlie possibility of still further short- 
 ening the sea-voyage l)y bi'idging the Gut of Canao, 
 and sail'ng from Louisburg in Ca])e Breton. 
 
 " The convention ussendjled in the City Hall on the 
 thirty-first of July, and was a great and indisputable 
 success. The walls of the hall were hung with maps 
 of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Canada, and the 
 New England States, and the best English charts of 
 the Amei'ican coast and the Atlantic Ocean. Behind 
 the president's chair a map of the proposed line was 
 displayed, measuring eleven feet by eighteen, and on 
 either side liung the Cross of St. George and the 
 Stars and Stripes. From the roof of the building 
 tlie flags of the two English-speaking nations floated 
 side by side. Governed- Hubbard presided with 
 great dignity. The Extcnitive Council, both branches 
 of the Legislature, the judges of the State and United 
 States Courts, the reverend clergy, and the leading 
 business men of Maine, from Portland to Calais, 
 min<ji;led with the deletrates from Canada, New 
 Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. Leading members of 
 the provincial parliaments and governments were in 
 attendance as delei^ates. It was the first social re- 
 union of American rebels and loyal colonists, after 
 the angry separation seventy years before, and a fine 
 glow of fraternal feeling pervaded the assembly. 
 Dr. Chickering prayed for a divine blessing on the 
 delil)erations of the convention. Memorials were 
 read from railroad meetings at Bangor, Calais, Bridge- 
 town, Fredericton, St. Stephen, St. John, Annapolis, 
 Amherst, Pugwash, Wallace, Truro, Pictou, Dor- 
 
m 
 
 THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 
 
 65 
 
 Chester, Windsor, Kciitsville, and (Irjuiville. Let- 
 ters were received from President Fillmore, who said 
 snbstantially nothing; Edward Everett, who thonght 
 the })assage to Liverpool wonld 1)e reduced to nine 
 days ; fi'om our Maine Senators and Congi'essmen, 
 wlio weiv watchino; the Futritive Slave Bill in AVash- 
 iiigton, and could not get away ; from M. F. Maury, 
 wlio obligingly hinted that Congress ought to give 
 some ])art of tlie public domain to the entei'prlse as 
 a niilitai'}' road ; from Charles Sunniei-, who quoted 
 Tibullus : 
 
 ' Quum bene Saturno vivehnnt rege ; priusquam 
 Tell us in longas est patefacta vias,' 
 
 in order to say that, in his opinic^n, Tibullus was 
 mistaken, and the Golden Age was still to come, 
 after the long ways ai"e opened. Latin was as free 
 as water in the convention. 
 
 "The oidy ripple of dispute was occasioned by 
 the proposition of Mr. J. AV. AV. Johnston, of Hali- 
 fax, to connect by steamer across tlje Bay of Fundy, 
 and he \vas put down at once by Mr. Gi'ay, of St. 
 John, who favored an all-rail route, and said ' the 
 Bay of Fundy Avas a statio malefida cai'inis.' For 
 three days the enthusiasm kept mounting higher and 
 higher, reaching the maximum when General Dear- 
 born, of Itoxbury, predicted that within live years 
 he should ride over the road to Halifax, and there 
 enibai'k for Gal way, Holyhead, and London. 
 
 After adopting rose-coloi'ed resolutions and choos- 
 ing an executive committee, the convention at last 
 adjourned with "three notabh; and astounding 
 cheers." AIi-. Poor, who had been repeatedly recog- 
 
 
 , ) H 
 
 . \: 
 
66 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 
 W^-A 
 
 \i 
 
 nized as the moving spirit of the enterprise, tlioiigh 
 modestly disclaiuiiiig any credit, was made cliairman 
 of the committee. 
 
 Tlie convention naturally excited great attention 
 at home and abroad. Speaking of it, the BoHton 
 Journal said : '' The convention wfis one of the most 
 pleasing, interesting, and important which have been 
 lield in our country for many years. ... Of the 
 importance of the proposed v/ork there can be but 
 one opinion." 
 
 The London Chronv'le (England) of October 81, 
 1850, said : " The great importance of th s jii'oject to 
 the United States is so evident that t does not 
 require further notice ; but to the British Provinces, 
 and, in connection with them, to Great Britain, the 
 advantages are so vast, that it may not be out of 
 place to point out where and in what way they may 
 be best employed. The C(mvention appears to have 
 selected Gal way, on the west of Ireland, and White- 
 haven, Cape Canso, in Nova Scotia, for packet stations, 
 ... Of the advantages Ireland "would derive from 
 such an establishment, an estimate can hardly be 
 formed ; but to make her the highway and place 
 of embarkation to and from the New World, foi' the 
 tens of thousands who annually cross the Atlantic, 
 must bring advantages that will materially aid in 
 rescuing her from the misery and degradation under 
 which the people are suffering. It is to be hoped 
 that the promoters of this project may find any 
 appeal they may make in this countiy, either to 
 the government for countenance or to the public 
 for assistance, i ay receive the attention it deserves. 
 
THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 
 
 67 
 
 111 
 
 br 
 
 fy 
 
 Ito 
 ic 
 
 From all that is shown it promises well as an invest- 
 ment for capital ; bnt that it is an undei'taking of 
 great im[)ortaiiee, both politically and commercially, 
 is beyond conti'adiction. It may interfei'e with the 
 p.'U'ticulai' interests of companies now established, and 
 may divert some portions of trade from the present 
 channels; bnt the British Provinces, and conse- 
 (piently the mother conntry, will be great gainers if 
 this enter[)rise is accomplished, and in this sense the 
 pnblic will valne it." 
 
 The ]>^ew York Journal of Commerce notices the 
 convention and the scheme in the following manner : 
 "This convention excited the most extraordinary in- 
 terest, not only from its numbers, but for the display 
 of business talent, and of the most exciting ehxpience. 
 We have looked over the account of the proceedings, 
 and can but consider the convention as one of the 
 most fortunate events of the times. . . . Much of 
 interest that attaches to the scheme i^rows out of its 
 international and intercolonial character." 
 
 The Fredei'kton (New Brunswick) Ilead-Quarftrs 
 said : " This magnificent project was not pi'ovincial ; 
 it was not colonial ; it was not national ; it was cos- 
 mop(»litaii. It laid a massive hand upon the world's 
 necessities ; and finding us athwart the directest 
 practical)le route, proposed for its own great pur- 
 poses to lay down a road which, while created for 
 and controlled by those paramount interests, would 
 yet, as a fortnnate incident, bring us into communi- 
 cation with the other world." 
 
 The executive committee at once opened communi- 
 cations with the British and American gov^ernments 
 
68 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 ..;-! 
 
 concerning mail contracts, with tlic directors of the 
 Midland llailway of Ireland, with the proprietors of 
 the Canard and Collins steamers, and with the 
 various railway companies between New York and 
 London. The Maine Legislature granted a cliarter 
 foi'thwith, appropriated $5,000 to survey the route in 
 this state, and instructed the Governor to apply to 
 the United States for aid. In New Brunswick a 
 charter was granted in March, 1851, with liberal 
 land grants, and a cash subsidy erpial to the private 
 subsci'i})tions which might from time to time be 
 expended upon the line. In Nova Scotia the Hon. 
 Joseph Howe, of the Executive Council, in a speech 
 of remarkable brilliancy and force, had taken the 
 ground that the railway should be a public highway, 
 and as such should be built by the g<n'ei'nment, and 
 he had accordingly been sent to England to secure 
 an imperial guaranty to the Nova Scotia bonds to 
 be issued for this purpose. The guaranty was 
 granted in 1851, with some I'eluctance, on condition 
 that, by the co-operation of Ne^v Brunswick and 
 Canada, a connection should be secured through 
 British territory, from Halifax to Quebec. The line 
 of such a road had been surveyed by the imperial 
 government when the Portland and Monti'eal I'oad 
 was begun, and the colonial line was a revival of the 
 same project, thrice abandoned l)ut never forgotten. 
 The condition proved too onerous, and Mr. Howe's 
 mission came to nothing. 
 
 In 1851 Mr. Howe visited Portland, and made an 
 eloquent speech in favor of the Halifax and Quebec 
 road, and he was answered by Mr. Poor, speaking 
 
 C 
 \\\ 
 
 bi 
 tol 
 
 uj 
 
ip 
 
 
 THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR, 
 
 69 
 
 e an 
 ebec 
 "king 
 
 %. 
 
 a- 
 
 for tlie European ami Xorth American road as inter- 
 mitioiial ami coiumeroial rather than intercoloiiiul 
 and political. 
 
 In 1851 yiv. Poor's committee applied to the 
 Massachusetts Legislature for a grant of the public 
 lands in Mahie belonging to the former state, and 
 came very near obtaining them. Very favorable 
 reports were made by both V)ranches of the Legisla- 
 tui-e, l)ut Avere defeated by small majorities. In 
 1852, he applied again to tlie Massachusetts Legisla- 
 ture, and a joint connnittee from both branches, 
 embi'at'inij: their al)lest men and including: lion. 
 Caleb Gushing, and lion. K. B. Curtis, afterwai'ds 
 Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States, 
 after full hearing and investigation, nnanimously 
 agreed to re[)ort a bill loaning the credit of the 
 state to the amount of ^500,000. liut the bill was 
 defeated by the combined influence of the merchants 
 of Boston, the attorneys of the Vermont railways, and 
 the agent of the Cunard steamers. Failing in this, 
 Mr. Poor persuaded the Legislature of Maine to 
 purchase the lauds from Massachusetts. In 1852, he 
 was appointed one of two connnissloners to conduct 
 the sale, and Maine became the owner of all her 
 public lands. 
 
 In 1852, Mr. Poor's committee ap})lied to the 
 Congress of the United States for aid. ]\Ir. Poor 
 wrote to the Maine members of Coni;;ress : " The 
 great [)oint to be aimed at, is the passag'- of the land 
 bill now awaiting the action of the Senate, granting 
 to Maine 1,350,000 acres of the public lands of the 
 United States (known as Bennetts' land bill). If this 
 
 « ■ ■ ,( 
 
 ■ '■■'■ K'i 
 
'■ 
 
 
 70 
 
 FIRST INTERNA TIONAI. RAIL WA Y. 
 
 land can be secured in uid of this y^wxxi road, it will 
 be l)uilt." And lie drew a bill Lciving these lands 
 and ]>(!i'nianent mail contraets to the European and 
 North American Railway Com[)any. This \\as one 
 of the railway bills which have since been adopted 
 by comj)anies asking land grants ; but Bennetts' 
 land bill did not pass. The road Avas presented 
 as a means of shortening the mails, and supported 
 by I'esolves from the Legislature of jVbiine. 
 
 In 1852, lion. Francis Ilincks, a leading statesman 
 of Canada, went to England to seek assistance from 
 the imperial government toAvai'ds building a trunk 
 line of railway for Canada. By means of the branch 
 from Richmond on the line of the St. Lawi-ence and 
 Atlantic Railway to Quebec it would extend from 
 Quebec to Montreal, from thence to Toront(^, and 
 could be prolonged as far as desirable. Wearied out 
 with the delays of ,he Colonial Office, he finally 
 decided to adopt a commercial basis, and made 
 arrangements for the building of the line with the 
 l>rinci[)al firm of English railway contractors, Messrs. 
 Jackson, Brassey, Peto, and Betts. One of the 
 contractors personally exi')lored the wilderness from 
 Quebec to Fredericton, New Bi'unswdck, and thence 
 to Halifax with a view of extendiucr the line from 
 Quebec to Halifax. Mr. Poor met the contractor at 
 Fredei'icton ; he adopted Mr. Poor's suggestion of a 
 connection between Canada and the Lower Prov- 
 inces across Maine. To give the most direct and 
 
 pi 
 
 acticable route, the scheme included also a cut-off 
 
 from Bethel to Bangor, by which Bangor would be 
 only thirty miles farther than Portland from Montreal, 
 
r 
 
 I ' »mn 
 
 (I 
 
 7'I/£ LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 71 
 
 and would receive its su[)[)lies directly from the west 
 by way of Montreal, and the extension from Bangor 
 to St. John by the way of Calais, along tlie shore. 
 The Enudish contractors pro[)osed to l)uild this line 
 from Waterville, Maine, to Halifax, advancing 80 ])er 
 per cent, of the money needed, intending to bi'ing 
 the scheme out in London as a gran<l whole. The 
 charter was refused by the Legislature, thi'ough the 
 jealousy of a few men in Bangor. The (rrand Trunk 
 scheme was delayed for the Bangoi' })art until 
 April, 1853, and then brought out alone in London. 
 Such was the abundance of money at the time, that 
 nine times the capital of the (Irand Truidc was 
 offered by responsible parties, which \vould have 
 built the Bangor cut-oft*. 
 
 I-)ut though the European and North American 
 Hallway was thus slain in the house of its fi'iends, 
 Portland received from the agitation of the scheme, 
 an incalculable beneiit. Li 1852, Mr. Poor had 
 accompanied the English contractor from St. John 
 to Halifax, and then learned the plan of the great 
 trunk railway for Canada. "But what," said IVfr. 
 Poor, "will become of your western freight, when 
 Montreal harbor is closed in the winter? You 
 should lease the line of railway from ]Montreal to 
 Portland, and thus secure youi'self a winter harbor." 
 Mr. Jackson was much im})ressed by the idea ; he 
 proposed it to his partners in England. 
 
 The Canadian idea had originally been of mere 
 local traffic between Montreal and Toronto ; but ttie 
 contractors saw that a through business was neces- 
 sary, and wished to provide for extension at both 
 
 I J: 
 
 4h 
 
 ^^ 
 
 
 
 i 
 t 
 
 • ■• 
 ■A 
 
 
 
 
 f. 
 
 
 
 ■ ^ 
 
 
 
 -I 
 
 
 
 
 
 '•> 
 
 
 
 
 tli 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 ^'V 
 
 I 
 
 ,■ *■.. 
 
 
 ( 
 
 1 
 
ri^i" 1 
 
 73 
 
 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL \VA Y. 
 
 ends. The wostiM'ii cxttMisioii lias Ix-cii cMiii-fl out 
 to Cliicai^^o ; wlicn u tlir(»iigh train from Chicnjj^o 
 rolled into Portland, Maine, in 1881), Mr. Poor's 
 visio!i^! wcrt^ ni;iL,'nilicc'ntiy fulfilled. The oastcrn 
 extcnisicn was pi'ojxjsed to the Portland and Montreal 
 road. The same spirit which liad tui-ncd IMi-. Poor 
 out of the directorship in 184*.), which had opposed 
 the openiuLj of Commercial Street, and seoli'ed at the 
 project of the Portland conventi(»n, ap])eared again ; 
 and it was only after hesitation that the directors 
 acce[)ted a lease at six per cent. In Auirust, 1853, 
 the lease of the line, composed of two companies, to 
 the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada was formally 
 concluded. It was all the moi'e timelv, as the eon- 
 tractors afterwards liad to spend a million and a half 
 on the Portland end; another million from the 
 boundai'v to Montreal to make it woikable. For this 
 inestimable service, IVIr. Poor never i-eceived even a 
 vote of thanks from the directorship), or the city of 
 Portland ; though by a most brilliant connnercial 
 victory the city retained both its road and its money. 
 IIo^N'ever others may have aided in carrying out 
 Mr. Poor's movements, we unhesitatingly claim for 
 liim the Avliole ci'edit of this lease, which saved the 
 stockliolders and the contractors. Some time after- 
 wards, Mr. Poor wn'ote : "The advantau'es of this 
 lease are to be found in the extension of the line 
 rather than in the transfer of the Portland and 
 Montreal section at its cost." It lias well been 
 called " one of the most splendid triumphs of com- 
 mercial \Narfai-e." The Grand Ti-unk Railway was 
 opened to Montreal in 1853. In 185G, when it was 
 
\U 
 
 TJIE LIFE 01< JOHN ALFRED FOOR. 
 
 73 
 
 (»[)cikmI to Toronto, u iiiiiii;iiilic'»'iit ci'Iehration was 
 lifld lit iMoiiti'cal, ill wiiicli Mr. Poor took part. 
 '\\w Canadian liist(trians datf tluf new cia t)f' ])i'o8- 
 jH'i'it}' in Montival from IS.").'} and tlu' Grand Tiunk 
 Railway: l)ut tlie Gi'and Trunk Hallway itself u:rew 
 out of the Portland convention of 1850. "That 
 first act of re-union, after a sepai'ation of seyenty- 
 four years, had all tlie tVeshness of novelty an«l the 
 charm of intense earn»'stness." " Tlu^^lfect of that 
 convention," said IVIr. Jackson, "on the public niincl 
 of Knu'land \yas jrreater than any event since the war 
 of 1812, if not since the Declai'ation of Independence, 
 in the United States." 
 
 Nothing ccudd be more qnaint or inte^restinc: to an 
 American than St. John, New Bi'unswick, before 
 the Portland conyention. To see its inner life was 
 to turn back a Imndred years ; to l)e in the man- 
 ners an<l customs which j)reyailed before the Revo- 
 lution. It was settled by loyalists ileeinu^ from 
 New York and Boston in 1783; among its first 
 councillors are names still borne in New York and 
 Salem. In its graveyard lies the last lioyal Attor- 
 ney-General of Massachusetts ; in a church the last 
 lioyal Coat-of-Arms in the revolted colonies. It was 
 separated from Nova Scotia in 1785,l)ecame a distinct 
 2)rovince with a charter goy(>rnment of its own. Then 
 came a succession of royal governors from "Home," 
 and regiments of soldiers. The Province Buildings 
 at Fredericton, where the Parliament met, held au 
 arm-chair where the Govei'nor sat to represent 
 royalty ; above wliicli was the British Coat-of-Arms. 
 Large s(juare wooden houses grew up, in the style 
 
 k 
 
 M 
 
74 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 wliit'li we ackiiDwlodL^^e as "colonial," filliHl with old 
 iiiahogaiiy, silver, and oliiiia, with enibi'oidei'ed coats- 
 of-anus, and j)oi'ti'aits by Coj)ley. All their ideals 
 were Enulish ; " the States " were an unknown and 
 dreaded world, seen for the tii'st tinu; at the Portland 
 Convention. 
 
 ]\lr. Poor afterwards wrote: ''The ean'yini>: out 
 of our intei'national railways l)rou<ji:ht in its train the 
 reciprocity treaty. I foresaw this as early as 1843, 
 when I saw the elfect of the Treaty of W ashington 
 of 1842 on the public mind of New Prunswick and 
 Maine." Of the Reciprocity Treaty 3Ir. P(.or \vas 
 one of the wai'niest advocates and earliest friends; 
 at the i'e(iuest of the Board of Trade of Portland he 
 wrote a i)etition in favor of its renewal, which was 
 presented to Congress. ]Mr. Poor Avent even further 
 than this : ho suu;geste(l the establishnuint of an 
 American ZoUverein l)etween the United States and 
 the British North American Provinces; in other 
 words, as free and unrestricted trade between us and 
 them, asl)etween the States of the American Union. 
 For while ]\Ir. Poor advocated the T)olicy of protec- 
 tion for American interests towards foreisji-n conn- 
 tries, Ik; felt and maintained that conuiiercial inter- 
 course between the English-speaking people on this 
 continent should be free. This idea is more fully 
 deveh)pe(l in a letter to the Chicago Ship (Janal 
 Coruentior. in 1863. 
 
 The first period of railway T)uilding had passed in 
 Maine ; the peoi)le were not ripe for another. Had 
 Mr. Poor been merely a business man, he would at 
 once have left Abiiie, gone where tliei'e were new 
 
¥ 
 
 i 
 
 THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 
 
 75 
 
 , u 
 
 Ull 
 
 in 
 
 |;ul 
 ut 
 
 railways to be built, jind allowt'd Bangor to take the 
 conseciueiices of her inconeeivaljle folly. Instead, 
 fiudiiiii!; that all h()])e of foreign aid was lost in 1853, 
 Ml'. Poor deteu'iiiiiied to seek assistanee at home, 
 undaunted at the prospect of years of toil ; the 
 European and North American Railway was not 
 begun in Elaine till 1867. 
 
 Viw Tuttle says : " Finding that h<! ^vas nnalde to 
 reach the public; mind and to give an exposition of 
 liis plans of rail-extension through the medium of 
 a press guided and controlled by othei's, he resolved 
 on finding means to give his views to the public, and 
 to advocate his measures in his own way. To this 
 end he established a newspaper in Portland, which 
 he o\vne(l and edited ^'rom the tiuu' of its first issue 
 in 185'^ to 1859, when it bfcame uurgecl in the 
 JJaihj Advertiser, a paper in \vliich he had })ur- 
 cluised i\\\ interest. It \vas called TJte State of 
 Maiw: — a name purposely and felicitously chosen, 
 since it was specially devoted to the advocacy of the 
 deveio[)ment of the great interests of the state, and 
 was issued dail}', tri- weekly, and weekly. His fore- 
 most purpose in this enterpi'ise was to educate tlm 
 ])ublic to a full com{)rehension of the importance to 
 the interests of ]\[aine of building the l*]uro[)ean and 
 North American Railway, and to secure for it favc^ra- 
 ble legislative action. To the cari'\inL;' out of this 
 great railway enterprise, ))i'oj('ct('d by him many 
 years ])efore, he labored with his pen without ceas- 
 ing. Ib> made tlie columns of his pa[)er a vehicle to 
 carry far and near every argument which could be 
 devised favoi'able to the execution of this great 
 
 kH. 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
ir 
 
 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL R. ■ L W. i V 
 
 IBJWiertalcinii:. He saw r«^retfiilly i]m wasting of the 
 b««t energies in tlie state in pwa'ty strifes, and lie 
 lamented tliat for a period of f«»rty years struggles 
 foi' personal success in polities had l^een paramount 
 ideas, with a few intermitt^'nt exceptions, in Maine, 
 while the great natural resources of the state excited 
 no })ul)lic interest and lay undeveloped." lie always 
 contencU'd that if a state policy favorable to rail- 
 Avays and to manufactur"s had l)een early adopted, 
 Maine would have been, ic this time, not inferior to 
 Massachusetts as a manufacturing state. 
 
 The establishment of The State of JIaine gave a 
 new start to the newspaper press of the state. It 
 was the first attempt to supply full telegraphic 
 reports of nevrs, in the manner and style of the news- 
 papers of large cities, which ^v'ere published in The 
 State of 2Ialne simultaneously with the Boston and 
 Ne^v York ne^vspapel■s. It was larger than any other 
 of the Portland papers, and was the first newspaper 
 in the state to furnish verbatim reports of speeches, 
 phonogra[)]iically re})orted. The next morning, after 
 a dimier given to the otlicers of the Sarah Sands, 
 the first ocean steamship from Liverpool which ever 
 arrived in Portland harbor, llie State of Maine u:ave 
 a full re])ort of the dinner and speeches, almost six 
 closely set columns of matter. The plan of the 
 dinnei' given to Tyord Elgin, in Portland, also origi- 
 nated with Mr. Poor. An account of this reception, 
 and Lord Elgin's s])eech, are given in the life of 
 Lord Elgin, published in London. 
 
 Up to 185(3, tlie newsp.'ipi^r had not been political ; 
 but the repeal of the Missouri Compromise startled 
 

 T///^ LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 77 
 
 the whole North. Viw i^oor at once pronoiiiiced thi;^ 
 to 1)6 the " (leuth-blowof the Demoemtic parly," and 
 felt that party politics had been raised to tlie diirnity 
 of s2;i'eat moral questions. lu 185G he was offered 
 ten thousand dollars, and an office in addition, to 
 sup[H)rt ]\lr. Buchanan for the Presidency, as in the 
 breaking u^) of political parties the third or Whig 
 party then held the balance of power, but he i'«'fuse<l, 
 and snppoi'ted the Republicans ; and in April, 
 18.57, in the pi'os[)e''tus of liis newspaper he wrote: 
 "The wi'onirs of Kansas, the dei^radation of the 
 Supieme Court to the uses of the slave powei", the 
 disenfranchiseiuent of man on account of race or 
 color, are wrongs that nuist be redressed." 
 
 In politics, as elsewhere, IVIr. Poor proved himself 
 a leader. His articles upon public affairs Avere a 
 day in advance of those of the other Maine news- 
 papers, which waited for the arrival of New York 
 and Washington pa}H'rs and h'tters, to express an 
 opinion or advise a policy ; but Mr. Poor's leaders 
 were written as soon as the news arrived, and almost 
 invariably coincided with those of the ablest news- 
 papei's in the large cities, when they afterwards 
 reached Portland. 
 
 He had also the courage of his convictions, as to 
 making Prohibition a political (piestion ; for the 
 struggle which has extended over the whole country 
 began in Maine. The State of Alaiur newspaper 
 t(^ok the lead against it, as Mr. Poor considered it 
 illegal and unphilosophical ; and for this he was 
 absolutely persecuted by the Prohibition portion of 
 the Republican party. The newspaper was a total 
 
fr^ 
 
 ^^V 
 
 78 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 pecuniniy Joss, hut was undoubtedly ta necessaiy 
 means to Lis life-^voJ'k. 
 
 During tliese yeai's lie had w v-er ceased to present 
 to tlie ])ul)Iic;, on every possible opportunity, the 
 claims of the Kuropeirn and North Amei'ican Rail- 
 way ; articles in its fa^fU' were written for his news- 
 paper; the charter was twice extended. A writer in 
 the Portland Advertiser said: "The European and 
 Nortli American llailroad Com])any of Maine had 
 been organizv'd in 1853; Mr. Poor had been chosen 
 president. For the next ten yeai's the road was per- 
 petually coming up befoi-e the Legislatures of Maine 
 and Massachusetts and the Congress of the United 
 States in the most ingenious and surprising dis- 
 guises. 
 
 Mr. Poor had written and published in The State 
 of Maine newspaper articles calling attention to the 
 great value and fertility of the lands in Aroostook 
 County, Maine. To everybody except the lumber 
 merchants of Bangor, " the Aroostook " was as truly 
 an unknown land as an island in the South Seas, in 
 1857 Mr. Poor wrote and presented to the Legis- 
 lature of Maine a memorial signed by himself and a 
 numbei' of the most respectable citizens of the state, 
 end)odying the same idea. To develop these lands, 
 Mr. Pool" suggested opening them to settlement l)y 
 means of a railroad, bringing settlers to them ly 
 immigration from foreign ccnintries, and establishing 
 manufactures in them by exempting manufactures 
 from taxation foi' a term of years. It wjis called a 
 New State Policy, and three thousand copies of the 
 memorial were printed by ordei' of the Legislature 
 
r 
 
 1 
 
 THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 
 
 79 
 
 in s[)ite of a protest by some newspaper ajj^ainst 
 "Air. Poor's plan for developing resources of Art)08- 
 took by exliai^-ting those of the state." Mr. Poor 
 drew lip a bill, Aviiicii was passed })y the Legislature 
 of the state, enabling aliens to hold real estate, this 
 having been forbidden by the makers of the state 
 constitution. 
 
 In 1858 he made another memorial, asking for 
 a geological and water-power survey of the state, 
 and general statistics of Maine : and the state lands 
 to secure the construction of the European and 
 North American Kaih\ay, with branch lines to 
 Aroostook and Piscatatpiis counties. Thi-ee thou- 
 sand copies of this memorial were also printed by 
 order of the Legislature, in consecpience of which, a 
 large inuiiigration of our own citizens, and especially 
 of the young men of the state, took place into Aroos- 
 took County for several j^ears afterwards. 
 
 The memorial of 1861 carried out his own sug- 
 gestions, for it contained an historical sketch (>f the 
 state ; an elaborate statistical review of tlie various 
 resources and industries of the state, with plans for 
 developing them by means of settlements on the 
 lands and by encouraging manufactures ; statistics 
 of manufactures, ap[>lied in sup})ort of this argu- 
 ment in the interesting manner ^\■^lich ]\Ir. Poor 
 knew how to use towards all statistics ; an elaborate 
 wolo'ncal sketch of the state, furnished to Mr. l\)or 
 by Sir AVilliam Logan, the state geologist of Can- 
 ada ; finall}', the recommendation that the State 
 lands should be criven to secure tlie buihlino; of the 
 European ai. 1 North American Railway and the 
 
s 
 
 ii • 
 
 80 
 
 J^/J?ST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 Lnuicli lliKs. Tliis also was printed uiul distributed 
 by tlie Legialature. 
 
 In the winter of 18G2, the European and North 
 American Railway was carried to a larirpr audience. 
 In the autumn of 1861, Mr. Seward called the atten- 
 tion of governors of states to their coast defences. 
 Mr. Poor at once wrote a conmumication in rclatiou 
 to the defences of Maine, which was signed hy the 
 Governor and foi-warded to the Pi'csident ; and ac- 
 cepted the position of " Joint Connuissioner on the 
 Coast Defences." The Conmiiasion pi'oceeded to 
 Wasliington, wliere they had audience witli the 
 President and the Secret aiy of War. They discov- 
 ered an a))propi'iation of $10<>.000 for a fort at the 
 mouth of the Kennebec Kiver, whicli had been over- 
 looked by the Maine representatives for several 
 years. They petitioned that work should be put in 
 progress on this fort; als" that it should receive the 
 name it now bears, F(U't Popham, — both of which 
 petitions were successful. They had audience with 
 the Secretary of the Treasury, and made nrrange- 
 ments that the money advanced by the state of 
 Maine sliouhl be returned by the United States in 
 twenty-year six-per-cent. bonds, which was regarded 
 as highly patriotic on the part of Maine. The senior 
 Commissioner, ]\Ir. AVilliaj^"', tlien left for home, and 
 Mr. Poor remained in AVashington. The Pi-esident, 
 the Secretary of AVar, the Chiefs of the Engineer 
 and Ordnance Bureaus expressed much interest in 
 the subject ; but Mr. Poor met w ith vexatious delays, 
 which are well understood by all pei'sons familiar 
 with business in AVashington. In his report to the 
 
11' 
 
 THE LIFE OF JOII.Y ALFRED POOR. 
 
 8i 
 
 Govenioi', 1k' wrote: ''The pretJSure of the I'oiitiiie 
 of (hiily duties coiisec^ueiit on tlie Ut'lx'llioii drew ott' 
 attention from tliese 'extraordinary matters,' as tliey 
 wei'e [)leased to call thosc^ set fortli in your letter of 
 October 2.")d ; and I may venture to express the 1)6- 
 lief, that l)ut for tlie presence of an agent in AVash- 
 injfton in your service, followinu; iii) in a constant 
 I'ound of visits the same oflicei's then in charge, 
 luu'li u'l'eater delav would have occurred in the 
 preparation of their reports on the defences of Maine. 
 The fi'onticr position of j\Iaine, remote fi'om the 
 national govermiient, the few ])eople of the State 
 visiting the Ca[)itol I'oi" the purpose of iniluencing 
 pnhlic action, compai'ed with the numbers that 
 throng all its avenues, and often al>sorl), if not 
 monopolize, with their own ])i'ojects the time of 
 public otlicials ; the halnt of command thus ac(p,iired 
 by men of the large!" and more central states, lead 
 one to cx[)ect, as a matter of course, that the claims 
 of a distant state like Maine will be undervalued, if 
 not overlooked and disi'egarded. Hence, the mo- 
 ment the [Hiblic mind was moved by the unfortunate 
 affair of the Trent, upon the iirst whisper of <langer 
 (»f hostilities with Enixland, the overwhelminsj: and 
 paramount claims of the city of New York threw 
 aside the admitted den)ands of Maine. . . .It 
 was in vain lU'ged, in the midst of the exciting pres- 
 sure, that the great point of danger in a collision 
 with England was Maine." 
 
 Mr. Poor forever persistently haunted tlie Engi- 
 neer and Ordnance Bureaus until the ju'operai'mament 
 was despatched to tlie forts of Maine, and reports 
 
 'I'," 
 
 •^' 
 
lis' 
 
 82 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 were piiLlislied on tlie subject. These reports sug- 
 gested fuller appro] >nations for the existiiii^ forts, and 
 a sum of Sj>5 50,000 for temporaiy foi'tiHeatious of 
 towns uufoi'titied. These reconiiuendatious ])assed 
 Congress and became a law in February, 18G2. It 
 will be seen, therefore, that the commission accom- 
 plished important work, viz. : piittiug in progress the 
 fort at the mouth of the Kennebec, hastening the 
 work of the Engineer and Ordnance Bureaus, larger 
 appropi-iatious for existing forts, and the sum of 
 $550,000 to be ex|)ended at the discretion of the 
 President. President Lincoln offered to IMi-. Poor the 
 expenditure of this sum of money as " Commissioner 
 in Charge of the Northeastern Defences." But Mr.. 
 Poor declined this, because he felt that it was un- 
 necessary to create such an office, and Mr. Lincoln 
 said : " I will not call you Mr. Poor, but Mr. Strong." 
 It was a time of the greatest excitement in Wash- 
 ington as re2:arded financial matters. Mr. Poors 
 versatile mind was tui-ned in that direction, and he 
 wrote a letter on the national finance which 2>rocured 
 for him the offer of a position in the Treasury De- 
 partment, to which we have alluded, but ^vhich he 
 declined. Mr. Poor was not to be turned from his 
 onginal purpose. At the War Office he had met 
 with the most cordial support from Secretary Stanton 
 in his plans for coast defence. He received a card 
 admitting him at all hours at a time when the gen- 
 eral public were limited to a single day a week., and 
 when Congressmen often besieged the door in vain. 
 Instead of sendins a memorial to Conirress on a 
 further plan for coast defence, Mr. Poor addressed a 
 
THE LI-E OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 
 
 83 
 
 a 
 
 letter to the War Office ; in luldition to the otlier 
 means for defending tlie coast of Maine, lie suggested 
 the building of the European and North American 
 Railway as a military railroad. Accompanying this 
 letter was a bill to carry out these measures by 
 making a small annual grant to the European and 
 North American Railway for carr3dng mails, troops, 
 munitions of war, etc., per mile. Afterward this 
 pi'oposition was supported by a letter addressed to 
 Secretary Stanton by a distinguished engineer. 
 These documents were for\varded to the Senate by 
 Mr. Stanton, who expressed great interest in them 
 all, but gave no opinion upon their merit officially. 
 The bill, with accomjianying documents, was intro- 
 duced into the Senate, and into the House also, but 
 it did not pass. Congress could not be made to 
 realize that any thing was due to Maine. In the 
 autumn of 1863 Mr. Poor made an application to 
 Congress, but in vain. 
 
 A newspaper said: "The people of Bangor had 
 gone astray after Oldtown and Lincoln road, the 
 Penobscot road, the Aroostook road. In 1863 Mr. 
 Poor had the pleasure of uniting all these enter- 
 prises under the name of the European and North 
 American Railway." This route as finally adopted 
 was much longer than the original plan under the 
 English contractor. In 1864 the anmml application 
 to the Legislature of Maine was crowii d with suc- 
 cess; after being encumbered by branch lines to 
 Piscataquis County, the European and North Ameri- 
 can Railway received from the Legislature a grant 
 of about 800,000 acres of public lands lying on the 
 
 M 
 
r 
 
 84 
 
 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL \VA Y. 
 
 Penobscot and St. John waters, subject to a claim 
 of Massacliusetts for ^2r)0,0()0 for payment for the 
 hinds bouglit in 1852, and also of all the claims of 
 Maine ai^ainst the genei'al government prior to 18(50, 
 held jointly with Massachusetts. The Legishiture 
 also passed resolves reconunending the road to the 
 Legislature of Massachusetts and the Congress of the 
 United States. 
 
 To AVashington, therefore, hastened Mr. Poor, 
 alone and unaided. lie prepared a report giving 
 a history of the northeastern boundary question, and 
 suggesting that IMaine should l)e repaid for her 
 sacrifices to preserve ]ieace at that time, by aid to 
 the European and North American Railway. As 
 Texas had received a gratuity of ten million dollars 
 for surrendering doubtful claims to a much less valu- 
 able territory, the claim of Maine had a good foun- 
 dation in precedent, as well as in justice. By most 
 umisual success, he succeeded in forming a special 
 committee of the House of Eepresentatives who 
 adopted his report; the road was also indorsed as 
 a military road by General Dix, major in com- 
 mand of the De^^artment of the East, in January, 
 1864. In the summer, Mr. Poor orcranized a visit 
 to Maine of the Congressional Committee on De- 
 fences of the Northeastern Frontier, with a num- 
 l)er of invited guests from abroad, and from home. 
 The connnittee visited the coasts of INlaine, Bangor, 
 and St. John, New Brunswdck, in the United States 
 Revenue steamer Mahoning. The visitors from 
 abroad were delighted with the scenery and com- 
 mercial advantages of JMaine, and convinced of the 
 
f 
 
 THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 
 
 85 
 
 ■' 1 
 
 :'9 
 
 iiuportaiice of the Euro^x'.'iii and Noi'tli Aiiu'rii'un 
 Uuilway. In 1805 Mr. Poor, um ])resi(lent of tlic 
 Kui'oin'aii and Noitli Ann'rican Railway, niaih^ an 
 api'lication to the iMassaclmsetts Legislature, asking 
 an assignment of its claims against tlie United States, 
 held jointly with Maine, a discharge of tlie debt 
 due from Maine on account of the purchase of the 
 ])ul>lic lands, and a loan of state credit — all in favor 
 of the Kuro[>ean and North American Ilailway ; also 
 a memorial to the Governor, sui^westiuLC an exchan<2:e 
 of state of j\Iaine bonds. We (^uote Mr. Tuttle : 
 " Oh ap])lication to ^Massachusetts for aid, it was 
 refust'd, on the ground of a statute of Elaine, passed 
 in 1<S()0, foi'bidding tlie change of gauge on any 
 railroad in Maine, which was regarded as unfriendly 
 legislation. Without the aid of Massachusetts, the 
 grant by ]\Iaine to aid the building of the road was 
 not available. Mr. P(x>r I'egarded the statute of no 
 advantage to the interest of Maine, but otherwise, 
 and he applied at once to the Legislatui'e of Maine, 
 then sitting, for a i'e])eal of it, and for leave to lay a 
 third rail on the Portland, Saco, and Portsmouth 
 llailroad, with a view of extendiuic the broad-<2i;au2re 
 line from Halifax to Boston and New York. He 
 a})peai'ed befoi'e the Committee on Railways on the 
 foui'teenth of February 1865, and made a long argu- 
 ment in favor of re[)eal, reviewing at length, and 
 with great ability, the railway interests of INlaine 
 and the history o^ the various roads, which is 
 ]»iinted, lie claimed that there should be no re- 
 striction on railway transit. The Legislature of 
 Maine, not without much opposition from interested 
 
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 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 parties, and from those of narrc»w views in these 
 matters, repealed the act, and then he prevailed on 
 Massachusetts to release its claim on these lands 
 granted by Maine, and also to allow the road the 
 part of her joint claim with Maine against the gen- 
 eral government in May, 1865." 
 
 As the general government had repudiated these 
 claims for more than thirty years, the gift cannot be 
 called munificent ; whatever the European and North 
 American Railway got from Congress for them may 
 be, therefore, considered as absolutely created. 
 
 It would be interesting to follow the political 
 changes of New Brunswick, so far as they affect 
 railway mattera, as we have those of Canada. But 
 we may briefly say, that the Halifax and Quebec, 
 that is, the Intercolonial plan, was offered incessantly 
 to New Brunswick instead of the European and 
 North American Railwav, the International and 
 Comjriercial plan. New Brunswick had steadily op- 
 posed the confederation of all British North Amer- 
 ica, year after yeai*, and had steadily clung to the 
 Commercial Railway. Mr. Poor had kept up com- 
 munication with the New Brunswick politicians ever 
 since the Portland Convention. In February, 1865, 
 a strong anti-confederation government had been 
 formed ; as soon as the business was settled with 
 the Massachusetts Legislature, Mr. Poor hastened to 
 St. John, in June, 1865. Fortunately, for the anti- 
 confederation party was turned out of power in 
 1866, a strong confederation party came in, who 
 would have opposed the European and North 
 American Railway. 
 
rt 
 
 THE LIi^^E OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 
 
 87 
 
 In 1865 Mr. Poor, in behalf of his company, pro- 
 posed to complete the lines in New Brunswick and 
 Nova Scotia for an annual subsidy of $80,000, from 
 the two provinces, guaranteed until the lines should 
 j)ay six per cent, of the cost. The New Brunswick 
 government declined to enter into this arrangement, 
 but voted $10^000 a mile to complete the line from 
 St. John westward to the boundaiy. Mr. Poor, as 
 president of the Maine Company, made a contract 
 with the European and North American Railway 
 Company of New Brunswick ; he then made a con- 
 tract for building the entire line through the state 
 and the province as one line. The city of Bangor 
 loaned its credit to the amount of $1,000,000, and 
 work began at St. John in November, 1865, con- 
 tractors being induced to take hold by this plan of 
 a long line. But for this timely contract, the golden 
 opportunity would have slipped by. The glittering 
 bait of the Intercolonial Railway, built by the im- 
 perial government, proved too tempting to New 
 Brunswick and Nova Scotia ; both accepted the 
 confederation in 1867. 
 
 Both Mr. Poor and the contractors made great ex- 
 ertions to induce Boston capitalists to share in the 
 enterprise, but they refused. However, in 1866 Mr. 
 Poor applied again to the Massachusetts Legislatui-e. 
 In April he left the negotiation in charge of the late 
 Governor Andrew, who entirely failed to get any 
 thing from the Legislature. Mr. Poor went alone to 
 Washington, where, instead of a separate coiuraittee, 
 his bill was assigned to the important Committee on 
 Foreign Relations. Mr. Poor appeared before them, 
 
88 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 Ws^ 
 
 'p. 
 
 made a speech, and the committee reported in favor 
 of his bill. On the veiy last night of the session, at 
 midnight, Mr. Sunmei*, chainnan of the commit- 
 tee, rose twice to present the bill to the Senate ; but 
 more eager men pushed in to catch the Speaker's 
 eye, till the time for closing came. In leaning upon 
 Massachusetts Mr. Poor had leaned upon a reed. He 
 was thrown out of the presidency ; Pennsylvania capi- 
 talists came in and obtained the grant from Congress. 
 Ground was broken at Bangor in January, 1867. 
 The road was completed some years before the 
 Intercolonial, and was opened to the public by a 
 grand celebration at Bangor, and another at the 
 boundary line, in both of which the President of the 
 United States and the Governor-Genei'al of Canada 
 took part, in October, 1871. Mr. Poor had died six 
 weeks before. 
 
 ' One writer has said : " Its construction in this gene- 
 ration is due absolutely and entirely to the persever- 
 ance and unyielding courage of its projector and first 
 president." " His name," says another well acquainted 
 with the history of the road, " will be forever associ- 
 ated with the European and North American Rail- 
 way, as inseparably as the name of De Witt Clinton 
 with the Erie Canal. With no funds to build the 
 road except a small land grant find an assignment of 
 the claims of Maine and Massachusetts upon the 
 general government, claims which that government 
 had repudiated for more than thirty years, he went 
 to work alone, and by ceaseless industry, and by 
 using influences which no one else knew how to 
 wield, by persistent and unanswerable arguments 
 
THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 89 
 
 everywhere applied by both pen aud tongue, he en- 
 listed legislators in Congress and pul^lic men in the 
 states in his favor, secured the confidence of capital- 
 ists, overcame all difficulty, bore down all opposition, 
 wearied out delay itself, and achieved a final and 
 complete success." 
 
 If annexation ever take place, the railwnys will 
 bo the most powerful instruments in bringing it 
 about. The recent protests from Boston and Port- 
 land against refusing bonding privileges to the 
 Canadian Pacific Railway, show how intimate is the 
 connection between New England and Canada. If 
 Bangor has not received all she hoped, she neetl only 
 remember that she might have had the railway years 
 befoi'e. The consolidated lines now extend to the 
 boundary by the same terms of lease which Bangor 
 refused in 1853; the name of the European and 
 North American Railway is gone. The location of 
 the Piscataquis Railway was not what Mr. Poor 
 desired, but he was obliged to accept it because the 
 Legislature would not give the state lands to the 
 European and North American Railway until the 
 members from Piscataquis County were satisfied. 
 
 In 1869, Mr. Poor made the following lemarks at 
 the Bangor Centenary, which were omitted from the 
 published volume, and they show his foresight : 
 "Radiating fi'om Bangor as a necessary centre of 
 trade, lines of trade must strike in all directions, and 
 before many years, Bangor, with a line direct to 
 Montreal by way of the St. Francis valley, will 
 shorten to its lowest limit the time of railway tran- 
 sit from Montreal to St. John, Halifax, and New- 
 
 Am 
 
 
 I. ' 
 
 7x1 
 
 b 
 
 
 
 mm 
 
 '■tij 
 
 
 
9° 
 
 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 j i; ' - 
 I-' 
 
 'i ' '' 
 
 m 
 
 In 
 
 foundland. By completing your line to St. John 
 with a branch to Woodstock and Little Falls, bring- 
 ing the basin of the St. John to your market, you will 
 double the population of your city ; you will construct 
 another line to Bucksport, Ellsworth, and along the 
 coast line to Calais ; you will extend your Piscataquis 
 branch to Moosehead Lake, and it will erelong cross 
 the border and follow the Chaudiere to Quebec." 
 
 While he was in Washington, the Portland fire of 
 1866 took place. In spite of the heat of the weather, 
 Mr. Poor exerted himself to get up a public meet- 
 ing, and subscription for the sufferers by fire. The 
 Mayor of Washington publicly thanked Mr. Poor 
 for the plan of organization which was suggested by 
 him, and led to so large a subsciiption for Portland 
 from Washinixton. Mr. Poor's exertions for this 
 object, during the heat of a Washington summer, 
 brought on a sunstroke and a partial paralysis of the 
 optic nei'\'^e of one eye. He eventually recovered 
 his sight perfectly, but for the remaining years of 
 his life he Avas obliged to dictate all he wrote. The 
 great amount of work he accomplished under this 
 drawback is amazinar. 
 
 His physician ordei'ed entire rest of body and 
 brain, but in the winter of 1867, in reply to a 
 request from the governor of Maine, he wrote a 
 report upon the confederation of the British North 
 American possessions, which was adopted by the 
 committee of the Maine Legislature, and passed both 
 branches. It was dictated at one sitting. 
 
 The spring of 1867 brought forth the realization 
 of a long-cherished idea of Mr. Poor's — the hydro- 
 
 . 
 
m 
 
 THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 91 
 
 graphic survey of 'he state. Mr. Tuttle says : " Thie 
 history of this is but another illustration of Mr. 
 Poor's devotion to the development and utilization 
 of the natural advantasje of his native state." The 
 original idea of the survey is found in the following 
 letter : 
 
 "Portland [1845 or 1846]. 
 " My Dear Brother, — 
 
 " I send you some memo, touching the distances 
 and elevations on the railway line. You see that 
 Umbagog Lake is twelve hundred and fifty-six feet 
 above the water, falls one hundred and forty-one 
 feet from the lake to the head of Berlin Falls ; the 
 river then falls three hundred and thirty-four feet in 
 sixteen miles. Here is unquestionably the greatest 
 water-power in the country. The upper lakes are 
 unquestionably many hundred feet above Lake Um- 
 bagog. Richardson's Lake is, at least, three hundred 
 feet higher than Umbagog. From Lake Umbagog 
 to Berlin Falls is some twenty to twenty-five miles. 
 You wnll see, therefore, that a vast and inexhausti- 
 ble water-power is here." 
 
 And he gives in the same letter tables of elevation 
 above tide-water of other points on the line of the 
 Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railway. In one of the 
 memorials in favor of the European and North 
 American Railway : " Maine," he says " with its ex- 
 tended and deeply indented sea-coast, on the line of 
 favoring winds ; its mountainous regions that distil 
 in profusion the clear waters that swell its rivers, 
 descending from high elevations, by circuitous 
 
 -■'«■ 
 
 m 
 
 ■■viN 
 
 m 
 
92 
 
 F/J?ST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 courses, in a succession of cascades to the ocean, 
 amiil rich forests, and through a productive soil, may 
 in time rival any region of the globe in the extent 
 of its manufactures and coramei'ce. Its great and 
 distinguishing natural feature is its water-power, 
 surpassing that of any section of the globe of equal 
 extent." In a memorial to the Legislature, pi'epared 
 by him for the Agricultui'al Society of Maine, in 
 1858, he strongly urged a public survey of the water- 
 power of the state. This appeal was renewed and 
 suppoi'ted with a great vai'iety of illustrations, in a 
 memorial to the Legislature in 1861, prepared by 
 him in behalf of the European and North American 
 Railway Company. 
 
 In September, 1866, Mr. Poor wrote to the govern- 
 or, in spite of his own ill health, upon the material 
 development of the state, and especially upon the 
 advantages of a hydrographic survey, and the gov- 
 ernor recommended it. Mr. Tuttle says: "The ex- 
 pediency and necessity of such a survey were at 
 length recognized by the Legislature ; in the spring 
 of 1867 it authorized such a survey to be made, 
 under the direction of three commissioners, to be 
 appointed by the governor and council. He was 
 appointed one of the commissioners and chairman of 
 the board. In December, 1867, the commissioners 
 made their report to the governor. This report? 
 filling thirty closely printed octavo pages, was writ- 
 ten by Mr. Poor, and it bears all the marks of his 
 vast knowledge and full appreciation of the geo- 
 graphical and physical characteristics of Maine. The 
 result of the survey is two printed volumes, making 
 
THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 93 
 
 over eight hundred pages, containing a full descrip 
 tion of the water-power of the state, prepared by 
 Walter Wells." 
 
 In connection with the hydrographic survey, he 
 endeavored to form a statistical society, and sent out 
 the following circular-letter, which met with no ade- 
 quate response : " The undei*signed citizens of iSIaine, 
 believing that an association for the collection and 
 publication of facts and statistitfs, showing the Iiis- 
 tory and profits of industrial and manufacturing 
 enterprises now in operation in this state, and the 
 advantages and resources of the state for all branches 
 of manufacturing and productive industry, respect- 
 fully invite a meeting of all pei*son9 interested in 
 the prosperity of Maine, at Portland, on Tuesday, 
 August 27, 1867, at ten o'clock in the morning, for 
 the purpose of taking into consideration the best 
 method of accomplishing the objects afoiesaid ; and, 
 if found expedient, of forming a Statistical and In- 
 dustrial Society, or Union, within the state." 
 
 In 1868 the commissioner of the general land 
 office in Washington applied to Governor Chamber- 
 lain for an account of the progress in poi)ulation, 
 manufactures, agriculture, and commei'ce, in I\L*iine, 
 since the last national census. The Governor 
 immediately requested Mr. Poor to furnish this 
 important information, recognizing in him the best 
 qualified person in the state for this undertaking. 
 He accepted the commission, and executed it with 
 his usual ability and to the entire satisfaction of the 
 government. His elaborate statistical report fills 
 fourteen closely printed pages. 
 
 { 
 
 K^fi 
 
 
 tm 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 f 
 
 
 'i' ■ 
 
 
 ir; 'f, 
 
 
 :| 
 
 
 
 im 
 
 
94 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 :■«•■«■ 
 
 i>'.^i 
 
 In 1867 Mr. Poor was invited by the citizens of 
 Belfast, Maine, to address them on the subject of 
 railways. On the Fourth of July, 1867, he delivered 
 an address, with interesting and carefully compiled 
 statistics, it is true, but full also of poetry and 
 eloquence. Tied down to no one railway project, 
 his imagination had full play in describing what he 
 had been so early to recognize — the wonder and 
 beauty of the locomotive railway, the triumph of 
 man over nature. The same idea is rendered with 
 perfect skill in one of Turner's greatest pictures, 
 " Rain, Steam, and Speed,'' where an advancing train 
 crosses a lofty viaduct, and the light from the loco- 
 motive gleams luridly through the streets of pouring 
 rain. Unfortunately, the Belfast and Moosehead Lake 
 Railway Company did not follow Mr. Poor's advice 
 in the location of their railway ; he insisted upon 
 Newport as its point of contact with the Maine 
 Central Railway. Mr. Poor suggested a complimen- 
 tary dinner, from the citizens of Portland, to Messrs. 
 Potter and Brydges, the president and vice-president 
 of the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, but Mr. 
 Potter's unexpected return to England prevented 
 their acceptance in 1869. 
 
 Mr. Poor received letters requesting assistance and 
 advice in distributing copies of reports of commis- 
 sioners to revise the United States Statutes, and sent 
 names of persons who should receive such reports. 
 
 Mr. Poor also lived to see successfully carried 
 out a measure which he had suggested many years 
 before ; though the working details were all per- 
 formed by others. "We use Mr. Tuttle's account of 
 
 :i^:; 
 
THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 
 
 95 
 
 the Swedish immif'ration into the state : " One of 
 his favorite plans for developing the material re- 
 sources of the state and adding to the public 
 wealth was legislative encouragement of settlements 
 on <"he unoccupied public lands. His grand idea of 
 the capacities of the state, and his plans of improve- 
 ment, locked to an almost indefinite enlargement of 
 the wealth and population of the state in this 
 direction. The state of Maine," he says, "from 
 the extent of its terrltoiy, its geographical position, 
 its physical geography, and its geological structure, 
 has all the f^ements essential to an independent 
 empire. By a development of its resources, it can 
 sustain a population at a rate per square mile equal 
 to that of the most densely populated countries in 
 Europe." In several memorials written by him, and 
 presented to the Legislature between 1849 and 1862, 
 he fully set forth his views on this subject, and 
 urged the Legislature to adopt a state policy favora- 
 ble to settlements on these lands. 
 
 As early as June, 1850, he wrote: "We have 
 failed so far as to attract to the state the most 
 valuable class of immigrants that seek for a climate 
 and soil similar to that of Germany and Switzer- 
 land, which resemble our own. If proper encourage- 
 ment were held out to them we might expect the 
 immigrants from the north of Europe to prefer the 
 soil and climate of Maine to those of the Mississippi 
 valley." 
 
 He aimed at arresting emigration from the state, 
 as well as inviting immigration to it. A comparative 
 view of the population at various epochs showed 
 
 V 
 
 
 ''if 
 
 
 ;#* 
 
 
 » |"l 
 
 ' •'4?j 
 
9« 
 
 F/JiST INTERNATIONAL HAILU'AY. 
 
 'm\i 
 
 !l ■;; 
 
 tliat emiL^ratioii from the state was coiustniitly going 
 on. "Tliis," lie HJiys, "is a great (lra\v))ack to her 
 prospeiity. No finer ])eo[)le are born on tlie face of 
 tlie globe, ami those who leave her distinguish them- 
 selves all over the eountry. Our duty is to keep 
 those men at home, to develop our own state ; to 
 rear villages at all the waterfalls ; to cultivate the 
 rich soils of the Penobscot, the Kennebec, the 
 Aroostook, and St. John valleys ; to own, as well 
 as build and sail, our own commercial marine." Per- 
 suaded that some immediate legislative accion fa- 
 vorable to immigration and settlement in the great 
 forests of the state was i*e(piired, he delivered a 
 public address, in 1864, in the hall of the House of 
 Representatives, giving his views on the subject, and 
 urging public action in the matter. Gradually the 
 importance of his suggestions began to be favorably 
 received. In 1870 the Legislature of Maine estab- 
 lished a board of immigration to carry out this plan 
 of settling a Scandinavian population in the north- 
 eastern part of the state ; and in July of that year 
 the first colony from Sweden arrived and settled in 
 the valley of the Aroostook. This colony has since 
 been much increased, and is in a flourishing condi- 
 tion, promising to be as great a public benefit as he 
 anticipated twenty years before." 
 
 Mr. Poor was requested by the American Social 
 Science Association, of which he was an original 
 member, to furnish them some information for the 
 hand-book of immigration which the society was 
 then preparing for publication. He sent them an 
 elaborate paper upon " Maine : its Climate, Resources, 
 
 'r't**i 
 
 1 
 
THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 
 
 97 
 
 and Adaptation for Imniii^raiits," for wliicli he re- 
 c('ive<l tlie thanks of tlic assoc-iation. 
 
 Cut down in the midst of his labors, he left 
 behind him enterprises l)e!jjun, or suggested, greater 
 than those he had acc(miplished. As an incidental 
 thing, Mr. Poor sent to the Legislature a petition that 
 a new county should be formed of the towns now 
 lying in the valley of the Sebasticook River, to be 
 called Sebasticook. He was much pleased with the 
 idea of making a naval and militaiy station uf ]Mount 
 Desert, Maine ; wrote a communication to the gov- 
 enior nptm the subject, with statistics, nd procure J 
 the passage through the Legislature of a n solv e re- 
 queslliig the governor to apply to Congress lo carry 
 out this idea, which originated with General Totten, 
 Engineer Corps. It was also through his persistent 
 efforts that the water between Cape Sable and Caj>e 
 Cod was named the "Gulf of Maine." It was first 
 so called on the map of the United States Coast 
 Survey, at his personal application. Mr. Poor re- 
 ceived no pay for his reports on the Ilydrographic 
 Survey, on Confederation, to the General Land Office 
 at Washington, to the American Social Science Asso- 
 ciation, for his address at Belfast, — all dictated after 
 his illness in August, 1866; nor for his historical 
 labors. 
 
 These things, however, were but the secondary 
 suggestions of a mind which neglected nothing that 
 could conduce to the prosperity of Maine. The 
 great work of the closing years of Mr. Poor's life 
 was his third great railway project. This was in 
 fact the complement of the other two, for he felt 
 
 
 ' ''\\ 
 
98 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 , t 
 
 
 ■■■ft 
 
 i 
 
 :^-' . 
 
 that tlio C(»iunuM'('i.'il powitiou of Mjiiue and of Port- 
 land wonld not ho coniploto till this wliould be 
 carried out. Through Mr. Poor^H whole lift', no on(3 
 had been more keenly alive to the demands of the 
 hour than he. The great problem of '* cheaj) trans- 
 portation" impressed itself very early upon Ids mind, 
 and the third i!;reat railway whieh he pi'ojeoted rone 
 beyond the limits of a loeul line and wjis an attem[)t 
 to solve this problem. We have but imperfectly 
 describetl Mr. Pt)or, if the reader has not recognized 
 in him, an enthusiasm which was ca[)able of inspir- 
 ing others to action, a pertinacity which never n^lin- 
 quished an object of which he had once really taken 
 liold, a versatility which enabled him to seize new 
 phases of a cause, and thus to turn the most over- 
 whelming defeats into tinal victory. To carry out 
 this third railway scheme would, therefore, have 
 been entiivly within the limit of his powers. 
 
 That the problem of " cheap transportation " had 
 suggested itself to his mind, before it bec^ime uni- 
 versally recognized as the great question of the hour, 
 in the United States, is proved by Mr. Poor's letter 
 to tlie Chicago Ship Canal Convention in 1863, 
 
 where he says : " Your call 
 
 may fairly ojx^n 
 
 the entire question of the internal commerce of tlie 
 country, and the means of transit between the grain- 
 growing legions of the interior of the continent, the 
 great Nortliwest, and their place of market. Ques- 
 tions of this character are of interest to all, and must 
 for years, if not for generations to come, become the 
 most engrossing topic of public concern. . . . 
 With the aid of all existing canals and railroads, a 
 
 3!; 
 
 ■tw-. 
 
^^ 
 
 THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 
 
 99 
 
 buHlu'l of wlieat in tluj Norfcliwcst is only worth 
 one half it8 vjihie in Liv(!r[)0()I, so unonnouH is the 
 cost of prcHtait tninH[K)rt}ition. Tlie qucHtiou is, 
 IIovv sliiill this (lifticulty ])e overcome ? . . . Wliat 
 is wanted are clieap and expeditious means of transit 
 from tlie Upper Lakes to tlie o[)en sea." And tlie 
 same idea is tlie key-note of all the speeches, 
 memorials, and <locum(n>ts written by Mr. Poor 
 from 1808, onward, in relation to this railway. 
 
 Mr. T\ittle says: "Always aiming to achi«;ve 
 great commercial results, and to make great public 
 improvements, regardless of political boundaries 
 and [>rejudices, he directed the whole force of his 
 energies, early in 18(»8, to the carrying out of his 
 h)ng-meditated plan of making an eastern outlet, for 
 the great staple commodities of the West, su[)ei'ior 
 to any in existence or hitherto projected. His plan 
 was to connect, by railway, Chicago, and other 
 great commercial centres in that direction, with the 
 capacious harbor of Portland, the ocean terminus of 
 his other great railways. But this did not em})race 
 his ultimate design, for he graspetl the commei'cial 
 relations of the whole continent, leaving no room for 
 another railroad projector between tlie Atlantic and 
 Pacific Ocean in these hititudes. He looked upon 
 this line, designed to afford cheap and ready trans- 
 portation of bread-stuffs to the Atlantic States, and 
 to Europe, as ' a chief link in that golden belt which 
 is to span the continent of North America at its 
 widest pai-t, under the name of "The Transcon- 
 tinental Railway." ' This stupendous design had for 
 it? object the connecting, so far as possible by rail- 
 
 m 
 
 ■?^i 
 
 ■:k% 
 
loo FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 way, of the great commercial centres of Europe, 
 North America, and Asia." 
 
 Indeed, in 1869, Mr. Poor wrote in a private let- 
 ter : " For more than thirty years I have contemplated 
 as a certainty the completion of a line of railway' 
 across the continent of North America, at its widest 
 part, as the means of securing the shortest possible 
 transit of passengers, mails, and valuable merchan- 
 dise between the centres of Europe and Asia. As 
 early as 1845 I had correspondence with Asa Whit- 
 ney on the subject." 
 
 Mr. Poor procured from the Legislature a charter 
 from Portland to Rutland, Vermont, by way of the 
 Ossipee Valley, White River Junction, and Wood- 
 stock. The line then went to Whitehall, at the head 
 of Lake Erie, thence to Oswego, near the lower end 
 of Lake Ontario, from Oswego to Buffalo, at the foot 
 of Lake Erie, thence to Detroit and Chicago. In 
 1868 Mr. Poor wrote from Portland: "Aline run- 
 ning due west, striking White River Junction, Wood- 
 stock, Rutland, and Whitehall, at the head of Lake 
 Champlain, will enable the traveller by way of 
 Schenectady, the Suspension Bridge, and Detroit, to 
 reach Chicago in a distance of 1,045 miles from 
 Portland, or 83 miles shorter than by any other route 
 from Europe." In a prospectus Mr. Poor invited at- 
 tention to the road as " the channel of a vast trade 
 between the seaboard and the interior. Its line will 
 be a great immigrant route to the West, as it occupies 
 the most important section of the Transcontinental 
 Raihvay, and must command a large through travel. 
 Its construction will add largely to the trade and 
 
 
 i^>3' ^ 
 
THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. loi 
 
 basmess of Portland as the natural shipping port of 
 the Northwest^ 
 
 It was also to make Portland the distributing 
 point of western produce to Boston and New Eng- 
 land, as the Grand Trunk Railway had done before 
 it. In hid speech at Bangor, in 1869, Mr. Poor said: 
 "The greatness of Maine cannot be fully compre- 
 hended till the Transcontinental Railway is under- 
 stood, and we realize in practical effect our com- 
 manding geographical position. If Portland is not 
 so near the West as New York City, she is practically 
 and geographically vastly nearer to Europe. The 
 products of the great West come to the seaboard 
 for a market, Chicago, the great centre of western 
 trade, sends her surplus produce to New York. 
 This is now the beaten track. New York capital 
 takes from the western farmer, or his Chicago mer- 
 chant, his crop by advancing money on its delivery 
 to the railway. But the market for the western 
 farmer is not New York City, but New England and 
 Europe, and the practical question of the day is, how 
 shall the western faraier reach the manufacturinj' 
 towns of New England and the larger markets of 
 Old England and other European countries. Nearly 
 all the states outside New England raise their own 
 bread in the field. New England raises hers in the 
 workshop and exchanges Avith the western farmer. 
 Now what we of Portland are considering is this 
 question : Can we offer the cheapest rates of transit, 
 or, in other words, the highest price for western 
 produce ? A direct line of railway from Chicaj^o to 
 Portland, vith favorable grades and cheaper cost, 
 
 , 
 
I02 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 will allow all the manufacturing towns on the Mer- 
 rimac and Saco to get their supply by this route 
 without handling or transshipment by means of 
 intersecting lines of railway, and we can at Portland 
 bring the railroad alongside the ocean steamer, 
 affording cheaper transit from Chicago to Liverpool 
 or Bremen than can be found at New York." 
 
 Had the citizens of Portland snpported Mr. Poor's 
 plan, the road might have been in operation long 
 ago, as a railway-building period continued until the 
 panic of 1873 ; but they preferi-ed to follow their 
 own devices, and opposed him violently. It would 
 be amusing, if it were not pathetic, to see how con- 
 stantly men are opposed when they are sincerely 
 endeavoring to benefit their fellow-men by something 
 new. Mr. Poor offered to Bangor, in 1853, the rail- 
 road she most needed ; Mr. Chester W. Chapin offered 
 to Boston the road which Commodore Vanderbilt 
 purchased, and which became afterward the New 
 York Central ; the Iron Mountain Railroad, which 
 is " the beginning of the greatness of modern St. 
 Louis and the first dawn of the new era of thrift in 
 Missouri," could not borrow $100,000 in St. Louis, 
 and was obliged to go to New York for it. Profes- 
 sor Agassiz said that as soon as he announced a 
 discovery in science j^eople laughed at him; next 
 they said it was not true. When he succeeded in 
 proving it, they declared that they had always 
 thought so. Mr. Poor's experience was precisely 
 similar. Portland had already the Portland and 
 Rochester road running westerly, and Mr. Poor, as 
 an experienced railway man, proposed to utilize this 
 
THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 103 
 
 by making it a trunk line for at least eighteen miles, 
 then tapping it at proper distances for the Oswego 
 road, and the new line which Portland favored, to 
 Ogdensburg, N. Y. He made his proposition to the 
 two railways, and it was distinctly refused, though 
 it would have given one paying road to the city. 
 Mr. Poor's railway plan ran through the level valley 
 of the Ossipee, over a thickly settled country to a 
 trade centre ; the Ogdensburg through the White 
 Mountains. The Ogdensburg plan was well known 
 to Mr. Poor; he had killed it once. While in 
 Canada in 1847, the Portland delegation were 
 approached by Boston gentlemen interested in other 
 lines. A road from Boston to Ogdensburg had 
 been proposed simultaneously with the line from 
 Portland to Montreal, as a rival to that project ; and 
 the friends of the Ogdensburg road proposed that 
 Portland should abandon the Montreal connection, 
 turn west at Island Pond to Ogdensburg, before 
 reaching Montreal. But the Portland gentlemen 
 thought differently, and declined the proposition ; 
 the growth of Montreal and the decay of Ogdens- 
 burg have proved their wisdom. The Portland and 
 Ogdensburg Railroad, after taking nearly two mil- 
 lions of dollars from Portland, has passed under the 
 control of Boston. 
 
 But in the true pioneer is a sacred fire, which sneers 
 and frowns fan rather than extinguish. As the 
 Boston Journal said : " Mr. Poor never faltered be- 
 fore ridicule, nor succumbed to indifference. A vol- 
 ume might be written of his efforts — a volume worthy 
 to stand on the same shelf with the life of Stephen- 
 
 % 
 
 
 m 
 
 f 
 
 a;; 'rni 
 
 ?H^5 
 
104 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA V. 
 
 son aud other great pioneers of railroading on both 
 sides of the water." Instead of allowing Portland 
 to take the consequences of her folly,-^Mr. Poor 
 foi'med a plan for building the Oswego I'oad. 
 
 Mr. Poor's favorite method for impressing an idea 
 in the strongest manner upon the largest number of 
 minds, was by a public convention. His immense 
 acquaintance among men prominent in political, his- 
 torical, as Avell as commercial circles, made him pe- 
 culiarly fitted to call together these conventions. Mr. 
 Tuctle says : " He conceiv^ed the idea of advancing 
 the interests of his projected road by an international 
 commercial convention to be held at Portland, for 
 the purpose of concentrating public attention n\ m 
 the splendid harbor there, as the cheapest port of 
 exportation of western produce, as well as upon his 
 great plan of a direct railway across the continent 
 from the Atlantic to the Pacific shore. He prepared 
 a call for the convention, in which he set forth, with 
 a masterly hand, his railway plans and designs." The 
 convention met in Portland on the fourth of August, 
 1868, and was presided over by Governor Merrill, of 
 Iowa. More than three hundred persons responded, 
 and were present, many of them distinguished in 
 public life, from all parts of the United States and 
 the British Provinces. In spite of active opposition 
 from many citizens of Portland, the convention was 
 a brilliant success, and Mr. Poor's plan was heartily 
 endorsed. 
 
 He said : " Two facts are necessarily to be estab- 
 lished to secure assent to the doings of this conven- 
 tion. First, the superiority in speed of railway 
 
THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 105 
 
 transit over water transportation ; and second, that 
 the widest part of the continent of North America 
 lies in the direct line from Hong Kong to London. 
 These two propositions admitted, no one can doubt 
 that the laws of commercial gravitation will force 
 the construction of such lines of railway as will 
 reduce the transit between the Orient and the Occi- 
 dent to its lowest possible limit of time and ex- 
 pense." Mr. Poor's rallying cry, " From Hong Kong 
 to London," has now been adopted by the Canadian 
 Pacific ! 
 
 Mr. Tuttle says: "In the last of June, 1869, he 
 delivered before a railroad convention, at Rutland, 
 an address on the subject of his plan for a continen- 
 tal railway, but more especially in favor of building, 
 at once, the road from Portland to Rutland and Os- 
 wego. This address fills seventy-five octavo pages, 
 find bears the mark of a mature judgment, profound 
 and various knowledge on the subject of the economy 
 of railroads, and of their relations to the commerce 
 of the country." 
 
 Mr. Poor drew up a bill which was presented in 
 Congress, in January, 1871, and which was to be 
 applied in aid of the Portland, Rutland, Osweg(^, and 
 Chicago Railway. Mr. Hamlin, January nineteenth, 
 asked and obtained by unanimous consent leave 
 of the United States Senate to bring in a bill to 
 secure cheap transportation of breadstuffs and pro- 
 visions from the West to the seaboard at uniform 
 rates throughout the year. He explained it thus: 
 " It secures direct and rapid communication betw^een 
 the West and Europe by finding an ocean outlet two 
 
 
 
 |( 
 
 
 
 
 •i'fiij 
 
ii 
 
 II 
 
 io6 FIRS T INTERNA TIONAL RAIL IVA Y. 
 
 Lundred and sixty miles nearer Europe than any 
 other in the United States that has commercial ad- 
 vantages; and prevents the extortions of combina- 
 tions by placing a regulating power in the hands of 
 the government. It does not take a dollar from the 
 public treasury, or ask a foot of land. It asks the 
 government to become a guarantor, by the issue of 
 its bonds, and receive as security the first mortgage 
 bonds of a first-class corporation, on such terms as 
 will protect the nation from loss in any contingency." 
 It will be found among the printed writings. 
 
 The Bostmi Journal said : " His bill does not 
 ask a cent of money nor an acre of land from gov- 
 ernment ; it is the first of the kind introduced to 
 the attention of Congress — a novelty in its way. It 
 provides for a contract by the Postmaster-General 
 with the Portland, Rutland, Oswego, and Chicago 
 Railway Company to construct and maintain a 
 double-track line of raihvay, with an adequate equip- 
 ment, and with steel rails and iron bridges. Upon 
 the completion and equipment of forty miles of the 
 road, the Secretary of the Treasury is to issue to the 
 company United States bonds, payable in thirty 
 years, to the amount of fifty thousand dollars per 
 mile, which issue shall constitute ipso facto a first 
 mortgage on the whole line of the road and property 
 of the company, and so on for p*^ery forty miles 
 completed ; the interest and bonas as they fall due 
 to be paid by the company ; the location to be ap- 
 proved by an engineer appointed by the President of 
 the United States ; and the railway is declared to 
 be a ' national highway and a post-road ^ ; Congress 
 
THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 107 
 
 to pass all needful laws for protection of the same ; 
 and it is made the duty of each state through 
 which it passes to cede jurisdiction over the terri- 
 toiy occupied by the road. In case of failure to 
 pay the interest on bonds, it is made the duty of 
 the Postmaster-General to take possession of the line 
 and run the road to the expense of the company, 
 and Congress shall dispose of it ' as to justice and 
 equity may appertain.' The rate of fares and freight 
 to be established by the company shall be subject 
 to revision and alteration by Congress, and to be 
 uniform throughout the year. Government may at 
 any time take possession of the road, franchise, and 
 property of the company, paying such compensation 
 therefor as may be awarded by commissioners." 
 
 In July, 1871, occurred the annual meeting of the 
 Portland, Rutland, Oswego, and Chicago Railway 
 Company. It was made the occasion for another 
 convention, in which prominent men took part from 
 all sections of the line. The Governor of Maine 
 presided. Senator Hamlin made a speech explain- 
 ing the bill before Congress. Mr. Poor, as presi- 
 dent of the company, presented their annual report 
 at the meeting. His versatile and comprehensive 
 mind had prepared a plan for building the road. 
 Six railway companies along the projected route had 
 agreed to unite and act as one company. The repre- 
 sentatives of five companies were present, ready to 
 sign the contract of union ; owing to the delay of 
 one company, the joint agreement could not be car- 
 ried into effect at that meeting, and it was adjourned 
 till the twenty-ninth day of September. On the 
 
 If 
 
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 ^'M 
 
 
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 108 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 fifth of September, the greut head of the entei-prise 
 died smhlenly without a moment's warning, forty- 
 four years from the day of leaving home, twenty- 
 seven years from his conmiunicatiou to the Sherhrooke 
 Gazette. 
 
 The Christian Mirror said : " Tlie deceased 
 wrought to the very last in his life's mission. The 
 same morning Mr. Pooi* died, the Argun contained 
 an article on ' Railroad Improvements,' with the 
 well-known initials J. A. P. 
 
 " As Mr. Poor left his office Monday night, for the 
 last time, and handed some manuscript copy to his 
 clerk, he playfully said : * What will the railroad 
 people do after I am gone ? ' This may have been 
 the involuntary suggestion of overwrought nature, 
 made all unconsciously by one who forgot himself 
 in his work ; but the first thought in many a mind 
 on hearing of Mr. Poor's death, Tuesday morning, 
 was in substance the last official expression of his 
 lips the night previous : What will become of our 
 railroad interests now that Mr. Poor is gone ? Who 
 like him will make the public weal his mission, so 
 that it may be said of his life, its flower and fruitage 
 was the public good ? " 
 
 Mr. Tuttle said : " His death made a profound 
 sensation, for he had been publicly and widely 
 known for a quarter of a century. All classes of 
 the community expressed the sincerest sorrow. In 
 the Superior Court appropriate notice of his decease 
 was taken by the Bar. The City Government and 
 the Board of Trade of Portland passed resolutions 
 expressing their sense of his merits and the public 
 
w 
 
 THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 109 
 
 loss. The Maine Historical Society held a special 
 meeting, and passed a s<Ties of resolutions, express- 
 ing a sense of deep o])ligation to Mr. Poor for his 
 great services in the depai-tnient of history, as well 
 as in behalf of the material interests of the state, and 
 declaring tiiat he is entitled to be considered a pub- 
 lic benefactor, and to be held in grateful remembrance 
 by his fellow-citizens." The newspapers of Rutland, 
 Woodstock, Glenn's Falls, Oswego, Jackson Michi- 
 gan, and Boston contained notices of him ; a despatch 
 from a prominent railroad man said : " It is no less 
 a public calamity than a personal sorrow." The 
 Michigan newspaper said : *' His loss at this time 
 is national rather than local. Twenty millions of 
 people, including those of the entire Northwest, are 
 interested in the new outlet proposed to the ocean ; 
 and it will be difficult, if not impossible, we fear, to 
 find the man or men to fill the place he has left va- 
 cant." No one has been found ; the road was never 
 begun ; and the Canadian Pacific Railway has carried 
 out Mr. Poor's idea with a terminus in Canada. 
 
 The technical cause of his death was the breaking 
 down of the walls of the heart ; but it is doubly 
 true that he died of a broken heart. The loss of his 
 suit against the European and North American Rail- 
 way ; the accusation that he was working in the 
 interest of Boston ; the triumph of consolidation ; 
 the delays in the Osw*ego road, actually brought 
 him to his death. " Then burst his mighty heart," 
 — in the fulness of his intellectual powers, in the 
 splendor of his undimmed beauty, he passed to his 
 reward in a better world. 
 
 (* 
 
 '. ►" 
 
 
 %M 
 
I lo F/RS T INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 , ,» 
 
 The early history of Maine is as pictures(iiie as its 
 scenery. Not more do its pine-clad, wave-washed 
 cliffs differ from the flat, sandy slun'es of Massachu- 
 setts, than do the gi'im and colorless lives of the 
 Puritan settlers from the conflicts and vicissitudes of 
 the Maine colonists. French Protestant and French 
 Romanist, gentleman, fisherman, priest ; English Cava- 
 lier, English Puritan ; Scotch, Scotch-Irish, Ger- 
 man, Dutch, assisted immigrant, have in turn owned 
 and occu^ned its territory, each contesting the land 
 title of its predecessor. Undoubtedly the vigor and 
 originality of the Maine character is due to the 
 admixture of races. Barbarous Indians could easily 
 swoop down from Canada upon its exposed frontiers 
 whenever the interests of France demanded it. 
 
 It is hard to realize that before the Pilgrims set 
 foot on Plymouth there were English fishing stations, 
 and even settlements, on its coiist ; that Robert Jor- 
 dan, a Church-of -England clergyman, in 1640, by his 
 intelligence and firmness suppressed the fii*st attempt 
 of " the villainy of witchcraft in Maine " ; that Maine 
 eastward from the Kennebec was first Acadia, then 
 Nova Scotia until 1759, when Massachusetts for- 
 mally set up its jurisdiction on the Penobscot ; that 
 French settlements existed at Norridgewock holding 
 the Kennebec until 1724, at Castine until 1745, at 
 Lubeck in 1758 ; that France claimed the territory 
 until after the Revolution; that patriots fled from 
 Nova Scotia to Machias, Maine, and by their bravery 
 and wisdom caused the St. Croix instead of the 
 Penobscot to become the boundary line of the 
 United States ; that tories fled from Boston to Cas- 
 
THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. ixi 
 
 tine " to seek an ftsyluni from the tyranny of Con- 
 grews," uiul endeavored to found the royal province 
 of New Ireland, to extend from the Penobscot to the 
 St. Croix ; that the final evacuation of the United 
 States was not at New York in 1783, but at Castine 
 in January, 1784; that in the war of 1812 the in- 
 habitants of Machias and Eastport were required to 
 take the oath of allegiance to the British Crown, as 
 occupying British territoiy. 
 
 Mr. Tuttle says : " Mr. Poor's historical investi- 
 gations, "vliich form no inconsiderable part of his 
 title to ^ ablic consideration and remembrance, oc- 
 cupied much of his attention during the best years 
 of his life. However widely different this interest 
 may seem from +he leading pursuit of his life, it 
 is embraced in his early design to place his native 
 state, in all respects, Avhere the motto on its official 
 seal assigns her. * If there is any thing,* he says, 
 * which I desire above all things else, it is to do 
 what in me lies for the honor, the welfare, and the 
 glory and renown of Maine. It is my native state, 
 and I inherit, perhaps to a fault of weakness, a 
 love for her as my native land and home. I have 
 seen something of other states and other lands, 
 and until I had gone abroad, I never knew the 
 true beauty, the inherent greatness, the wondei-ful 
 resources of Maine ; so rich in its natural scenery, 
 so full of all the elements of wealth and power, and 
 so capable of the highest results of the most refined 
 civilization.' 
 
 " His interest in local history must have begun 
 early, for he furnished AVilliamson for the history of 
 
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 Maiiio, u sk<»l('h of IiIm imtivo (own, \vliil(i a Hlndciit 
 of law. Soiiu* actniaiiiianct" with lli(> provincial 
 ami aiil('|>rovincial liislory of Maiiu* lu^ iiniHt 
 liavo iua<l(^ Nvhil(> Iraciii^ (lu^ (illc (o laiHln in [\w 
 W'a/.io Huit. His iiit(>n»s|. in i\\{> IiIhIiM'V of Maiiio 
 was inu<'li stinnilal('(l hy liis (wiMTiciicc in ('aiuula, in 
 lSir>. wluMi llu^ (MMnincrcial position of Maine wan 
 maU'lu'd wilh Massj'.t'lmst'tlM in iluwonlcHi, for llu^ 
 Allanlii' ItMininnH of his proji'rtod railway. His 
 opponiMils did not, Hpart> Ids nali\M» hUvU\ nor for«:;('t 
 liow nvcntly slu* wji.t Mubslanlially a provin<'() of 
 l\las!*aolinMotts. NcitlnM* I'onnncrcially, nor polili- 
 oally, nor historically, was sh(> allowed the slandiniif 
 he I'lainieil for Ium", l»y ihost^ oj)|)osed lo Portland an 
 the tenninus of the railway. His indimiation waH 
 thon>iii;hly a'oused, and he resolved to exaininu 
 more tlu>roui;hly, not only the merits of his own stat.e, 
 l>nt tlie fonndatit»n of the pretences of h(>r assailants. 
 
 '* 'l'lu» next year, 184(>, he was chosen u mend)er of 
 the Maine Historical Society, and was a mt)st usefnl 
 and active mend)er to the end of his days. It was 
 at this time that (iori:;es' ' liriefe Narration' ap- 
 ]>eared in the second volnme of the collections of tim 
 Maine Historical Six'iety, and lixed Ids attention 
 upon this great author whom he never after ceased 
 to praise and to honi)r. He devoted his leisnro 
 time to the study of the early liistory of New Kmr- 
 land, seeking for the facts in documents ami publi- 
 cations of that period, rather than in Liter writers. 
 
 "His interest in the subject grew^ stronger us he 
 advanced, and when lie ti'aced English navigators 
 and English settlei*s to the shores of Maine prior to 
 
w 
 
 77/ A' LIFE ()/•' JOHN A I.I' NED I'OOU. 113 
 
 KiL'O, (111' nHHmiH'«I Ix'iKiiiniii!.'; of Now iMiL'^ljind 
 liiHloi-y, ill*' Huhjrcl, Ik-cuiim! n |))iHHi<»ii with liim, 
 i\\\i\ iH'Vcr jilti»l,»^(l wliilr Im lived, 
 
 " AiM(»iiL( I.Ik^ m<!iii<>i'ul>I<i liisloricul <»rciirn'ri(r(!H, 
 r()niM'<'((Ml widi cjiily Miii^IiHli ('oloniz.'iiioii in ArrK'.r- 
 i(wi., (.Iu)H«'! vvirM'li (iiiUHpinid vvilliiii (lie liiriiln of 
 Miiiiie prior to iiiiy conHcfcnilcd in our |»oj>ulnr 
 liistoi'y, i/ijidt" H deep itnprcHHion on Iiin mind. Noi 
 IcHH inipn^ssive vvuh IIhi fju-i l.lml, proniirK^iif, ninori^ 
 IIm' iioM<i men conccrnrd in llini ^rcul. )iclii(!V('in(!nf, 
 wITn-li Hcciircd foi' l^jii^Iuiid a por(.i(»n of ilie vuHt 
 doni.'iin of (Ik^ New \V<)rld, was Sii' K<^rdinjindo 
 (}<>rL!;(V'^, tin* illnslrioiiM founder of Maine, Ahhooiiuh 
 \w. Iiad inaHl<'re(l (lie liiHtory of ICnii;liHli ('oionizalion 
 on this eoniineni, he niKolved t,(> ^ive to Maine; and 
 f.o Iiei" <i;re}it founder tlieir t.rne liiHioric position in 
 New Knjjjland liislory, 
 
 "TIk! lirst fruit of lii.s liiHtoriejd Htu<II«;M and inveHti- 
 gation, was ati <;l;d»(tr;i,(e pap(ir on ' ICni^lisIi ('oloni- 
 zation in Aineiien,' wliieli lie, rc^ad Ixifore tin; Maino 
 Ilistoricid Soci(;ty, in June, IS;")!), ami also hefoi-e, tlio 
 New York IIIstorI(\*il Society, in (hrtolxM* following, 
 reaiivint; IIk; tliaidvs of both Hoeietif'M. In thiw 
 ]»ap(;r, w!ii(di attracted a i^ood (h'n! of attention 
 amoniL^ liiHtorieal Htudcnits, Ik; <le('lared his int(!ntion 
 to })e " to trac(5 the earlictHt pi'actical elfoilH to ])lant 
 the English race; in America, an«l to vindicate the 
 claims of Sir Ferdiiiando Gor^^es, the proj)rietor of 
 my native state, to the proud title of Fdth/'r of 
 KryjliHh (hlonization in Atnerica^ 
 
 "The title by which England held poHHCHsions in 
 North America, and the services of those actively 
 
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 ,i„V 
 
 1 14 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL IVA Y. 
 
 concerned in securing this title, and maintaining it 
 by acts of jurisdiction and possession, to tlie exclu- 
 sion of other European nations, were the points 
 which he aimed to make conspicuous, to whicli to 
 invite public attention. He fixed upon the royal 
 charter granted by King James of England to a 
 company of his subjects, April 10, IGOO, authorizing 
 the 'planting of colonies or plantations in North 
 America,' between the thirty-fourth and forty-fifth 
 degrees of latitude, as the initial step in the estab- 
 lishment of English title to New England. The 
 taking of formal possession under this charter, at the 
 mouth of the Sngadahoc, now Kennebec River, 
 August 19, 1607, by a band of English colonists, he 
 regarded as the consummation of the English title, 
 and as the great event in Amencan history. 
 
 " To the enterprising Sir Ferdinando Gorges, whom 
 he so much resembled in energy of character, per- 
 sistency, and public spirit, he awards the merit of 
 saving the territory of New England from the grasp 
 of the French, and of introducing and settling it 
 with English colonists. 'But for Gorges,' he says, 
 'the western continent must have fallen under the 
 dominion of Roman Catholic France, and Celtic 
 civilization would have changed its destiny ; for all 
 New England was in possession of the French prior 
 to 1606.'^ 
 
 " He expresses his indignation in strong terms at the 
 treatment which Gorges and his associates received 
 at the hands of their Puritan contemporaries, and of 
 our historians on account of their religious and 
 political attachments in that age, and rejoices that 
 
 in 
 
 4^ 
 

 THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 115 
 
 the time lias come when a more liberal s})irit pre- 
 vails, and when the merits of these men can be 
 recognized. ' But Gorges' fame/ he adds, ' shall 
 yet eclipse that of any other name in our American 
 annals. My native state has been remiss in the dis- 
 charge of this duty, and supinely allowed the history 
 of New England to cluster around the rock of 
 Plymouth instead of standing clearly out in the 
 earlier deeds of the great minds that saved New 
 England and the continent from the grasp of the 
 French.' 
 
 " Designing to procure some honorable recognition 
 in Maine, for the name of Gorges, he drew up, in 
 1860, a petition addressed to the secretary of war, 
 and procured signers to it, asking that the new fort 
 in Portland harbor may be named Fort Gorges, and 
 it was ordered to take this name. He had a design 
 to form an association for the purpose of erecting a 
 monument to the memory of Gorges, within the 
 limits of the ancient 'Province of Mayne.' 
 
 " The position he had taken with regard to the his- 
 torical and political significance of the royal charter 
 of 1606, and the settlement at Sagadahoc the follow- 
 ing year, awakened a new interest, especially in 
 Maine, in the subject of English colonization in New 
 England. The transfer of the point of the initial 
 movement of English colonization from the shores 
 of Massachusetts to the shores of IVIaine, and the 
 placing of Gorges at the head of it, created a iiew 
 era in historical investigation. 
 
 " Believing the settlement at Sagadahoc to have all 
 the significance which !ie claimed for it, he aimed to 
 
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 1 16 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 direct public attention to the event, and to revive 
 the memory of the actors in the great enterprise. In 
 the autumn of 1861, he persuaded Mr. Williams, his 
 associate commissioner on the coast defences of 
 Maine, to join with him in an application to the Sec- 
 retary of War, requesting that the new fort about to 
 be erected at the mouth of the Kennebec River, on 
 the site of the first settlement, may be named Fort 
 Popliam, in honor of the venerable George Pop- 
 ham, who led the first British colony into New 
 England in 1607. This name was approved by the 
 national government, and the work of construction 
 begun. 
 
 " His associates of the Maine Historical Society, 
 approving his design of attaching these historic 
 names of Popham and Gorges to gi'eat national 
 works of defence within the state, joined readily 
 with him in a design to place a memorial stone, with 
 apj)ropriate inscriptions, in the walls of Foii; Pop- 
 ham. Leave to do this being obtained of the 
 government, it was agreed by all intei-ested to make 
 the act of placing the stone in position one of 
 solemn commemoration ; and August 29, 1862, 
 being the anniversary of the settlement, was se- 
 lected for the commemoration service. A large 
 executive committee, of which Mr. Poor was one, 
 consisting of leading citizens in all parts of the state, 
 carried out the design on a scale commensurate 
 with the magnitude and importance of the occasion. 
 He was selected to deliver the historical address, 
 while several of his distinguished associates of the 
 Historical Society performed conspicuous parts in 
 
THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 117 
 
 the commemoration services. He deliv^ered the 
 address at Fort Popham on the two hundred and 
 fifty-fifth anniversary of the event, in the presence of 
 the principal officers of state, and of many distin- 
 guished persons from other New England states. 
 It is estimated that six thousand persons were 
 present on the occasion. It was a day never forgot- 
 ten by him ; for this act and this ceremonial were the 
 result of his own efforts to secure for Maine her true 
 place in history. His address was appropriate, full 
 of historical research, and contained a complete nar- 
 rative of English colonization on these shores. He 
 enforced his views of the importance of the event 
 with vigorous reasoning and with full historical 
 illustration. This address, and the one on English 
 colonization, with many historical papers procured 
 by him from European archives, are printed in the 
 memorial volume of the Popham celebration. 
 
 " About this time he drew up a memorial asking for 
 an appropriation to defray the expense of procuring 
 copies of documents bearing on the early history of 
 Maine, from the British State-Paper Office ; and was 
 Joined in this by the Rev. Dr. Woods and the Rev. 
 Dr. Ballard, both eminent historical scholars, and 
 deeply interested in Mr. Poor's historical investiga- 
 tions. This memorial was presented to the Legis- 
 lature and an appropriation made." A similar 
 memorial was presented to Congress in 1889 signed 
 by college professors and officers of historical 
 societies throughout the country. 
 
 " Commemorative services have been held annually 
 ever since at Fort Popham. On nearly every occa- 
 
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 1 1 8 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 sion he has been present and taken part in the 
 proceedings. In 1868 he prepared and read there 
 an elaborate address, in which he restated his posi- 
 tion on the ' Popham question,' as it is called, added 
 some freshly discovered evidence in support of his 
 views, chiefly from De Carayon, and reviewed the 
 various attacks made on the position he had taken with 
 regard to the historical and political importance of 
 the settlement under Popham. He was present 
 there, for the last time, on the two hundred and 
 sixty-second anniversaiy of the event, and made a 
 brief speech. 
 
 "At the field meeting of the Historical Society 
 held in the ancient town of York on the twenty-ninth 
 of August, 1870, he was present and read a carefully 
 prepared paper, reviewing the events leading to 
 colonization on these shores, and introducing imjior- 
 tant documentary evidence, recently obtained from 
 European archives through the agency of the Rev. 
 Dr. Woods, bearing on the title which England 
 assei-ted to the tenitory of New England in 1613, 
 when Argall destroyed the French settlement at 
 Moiuit Desert. It appears that the English govern- 
 ment justified the act of Argall on the ground that 
 the French were then within the limits of territory 
 granted to English subjects, 1606, who were in 
 possession of the same ; and that France acquiesced 
 in the claim. A few days later, at a joint meeting 
 of the Maine and New Hampshire Historical Socie- 
 ties, held at Portsmouth, he was present, and m.ade 
 a brief characteristic speech, reviewing the early 
 history of the two states, which closed his public 
 historical addresses. 
 
y 
 
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 THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 119 
 
 " It is quite impossible to give an adequate idea, in 
 this brief sketch, of Mr. Poor's historical laboi-s, 
 covering a period of more than fifteen years. The 
 results are known and appreciated by historical stu- 
 dents. Besides awakening a general interest in 
 our early history, he gave an immense impulse to 
 the work of the Maine Historical Society ; resulting 
 in sending the Rev. Dr. Woods to Europe to make 
 historical researches, bearing on the early discovery 
 and settlement of Maine, and in the publication 
 of a valuable volume on discovery, soon to be fol- 
 lowed by others on colonization. Long before his 
 death he had no superior in knowledge, and in ap- 
 preciation of our early history. He was member of 
 the New England Historic, Geneological Society, and 
 corresponding member of the Historical Societies of 
 New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, and Pennsyl- 
 vania." 
 
 Mr. Poor's main proposition is incontrovertible, 
 though it has been misunderstood and therefore mis- 
 represented. 
 
 It is well explained in the following newspaper 
 article written by Mr. Poor himself answering attacks : 
 
 "The value of the Popham settlement, as it seems 
 to me, depends upon its influence in establishing the 
 title of Old England, to the territory of New Eng- 
 land. To determine this, we must resort to the co- 
 temporaiy history of the times. We need not claim 
 for it anything more, as a settlement, than a writer 
 declares it to have been, ' an abortive settlement on 
 the sand spit at the mouth of the Kennbec,' if it 
 accomplished the purpose of making good the title 
 of England to the country. That is the question in- 
 
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I ao FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA V. 
 
 volved in the celebration, and those who have exam- 
 ined it, in the light of modern discoveiy, find the 
 proof satisfactory to their own minds. 
 
 " The discovery of the continent of America changed 
 the commercial if not the political ideas of Europe. 
 The Pope promptly donated the new^ world to Spain 
 and Portugal. But in the reign of Elizabeth, the 
 people of England, having become enfi'anchised from 
 Catholic rule, asserted a new doctrine in regard io 
 the rights of nations, repudiating the claim of the 
 Pope, and held that possession of a newly discovered 
 country was essential to the establishment of title. 
 France agreed to the same doctrine, and in all the 
 early charters of both France and England for the 
 peopling of North America, there was a reservation 
 that no right of occupation was granted where the 
 country ^tvas actually possessed by any Christian 
 Pi'tnce or people!' This language was used in the 
 first Virginia charter of King James, April 10, 1606, 
 granting the country between the 38 and 45th deg. 
 north latitude. The French charter to De Monts, 
 of Nov. 8, 1603, granted the territory between 40 
 and 46 deg. of north latitude, under which the coun- 
 try was possessed, from Cape Breton to Cape Cod. 
 This charter was revoked in 1607, and before Cham- 
 plain had obtained foothold in Canada. This Act 
 in the English grant took precedence of the French 
 title to Canada, and in this way, the forty-Jifth par- 
 allel of latitude became the boundary line, from 
 Lake Champlain to the Connecticut, between the 
 French and English. But for the revocation of De 
 Monts' charter, in 1607, the French, as all now admit, 
 
THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 121 
 
 would Lave held the couutiy from the 40th parallel 
 north. If your readers will examine the letter of 
 the French historian, L'Escarbot, to Louis XIII, 
 written in 1618, a translation of which will be found 
 in the Popham memorial volume, they will be able 
 to comprehend the importance of the settlement of 
 Sabino. 
 
 " Formal possession of the country was there taken, 
 Aug. 29, 1607, claiming it from the 34th to the 45th 
 deg. north latitude, and this claim was always and 
 pertinaciously maintained. The (question was a novel 
 one and information limited, and there was great 
 difficulty in getting parties to remain in the countiy. 
 Gorges actually hired men for this purpose. The 
 title of Sagadahoc was fully established by continuous 
 occupation. The French Jesuits say, that the English 
 were there in 1608 and 1609. When Samuel Arcjall 
 made a voyage from Jamestown to Bermuda,in 161 0, — 
 according to Piuchon (vol. IV, p. 1758,) ' missing the 
 same on account of the fog, he put over to Sagadahoc.^ 
 Edward Harlow and Nicholas Hobson made voyages 
 there in 1611. Richard Vines who came over in 
 1609 remained continuously in the country and win- 
 tered at Saco in 1616. They all claimed to hold the 
 country under the charter of 1606, and the French- 
 men occupied West Sagadahoc after 1607. So 
 anxious was Gorges to hold the country, against the 
 French, Spanish, and Dutch claimants, that he 
 invited the Leyden flock hither in 1617, and they 
 came over in 1620, under the protection of Gorges. 
 Capt. John Smith in 1614 gave the country the name 
 of New England, and made a map of it from actual 
 
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122 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL JVA Y. 
 
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 surveys from tlie 45tb parallel South, which map was 
 published iu Eiiglaml iu 1616. The title rested ou 
 the charter of 1606, which was publicly read at 
 Sabiuo, Aug. 29, 1607, with the constitution and 
 code of laws establishing their government. I might 
 multiply proof on this head, but these are sufficient 
 for n^y pur[)ose ; not to undervalue the Plymouth 
 settlement of 1620, but to show that the English 
 title to North America dates back to Sabino. 
 
 "In the New England charter of 1620, granted 
 before the Plymoutli settlement on the Petition of 
 Sir Ferdinando Gorges, it is stated, that he ^had 
 actual possession of the country,' and ' had already 
 settled some of our people therein.'' In the letter of 
 Gov. Bradford to Gorges, dated at Plymouth June 
 9, 1628, he says, 'you have ever been, nor only a 
 favorer, but a most special beginner and f urtherer of 
 the good of this country, to your great cost, and no 
 less honor.' In the commission of Sir Ferdinando 
 Gorges as Governor of New England, the King says, 
 you made '^ the first discovery of these coasts and the 
 first seizure thereof^ " 
 
 It is another proof of Mr. Poor's deductive habit 
 of mind, and also of the correctness of liis intuitions, 
 that these documents, procured from the British 
 State-Paper Office, fully Justified the positions which 
 Mr. Poor assumed in his Gorges' address as early as 
 1859. 
 
 It ^va^ always his design to go to Europe, and 
 there study the history of the period of discovery 
 and colonization of New England, in the archives of 
 maritime nations, and he eagerly looked forward to 
 
THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 123 
 
 the time when he could devote himself to his histori- 
 cal studies. In one of tlie last letters written by 
 him, in 1871, he says: "I am too much engaged in 
 railroad labors to give much attention to historical 
 matters, which I hope will be the solace and em- 
 ployment of my later days. If I now had the 
 leisure I would devote my time to the investigation 
 of American history, which is moi'e the history of 
 ideas in their active workings, than of outward 
 events." Mr. Henry Stevens, to whom this letter 
 was written, was so strong a friend to Maine and her 
 documentary history that the following notice of 
 him should be preserved, wiitten by the London 
 correspondent of the New Yorh Trihune : 
 
 "Henry Stevens came to London in 1845, and 
 soon, as he has often said, 'drifted' into the British 
 Museum. He retained his connection there as agent 
 for the buying of books till the last ; none of his 
 financial misfortunes terminated it. Panizza, who 
 then ruled the museum in a sense far other than 
 that in which Mr. Bond now does, was his staunch 
 friend. He understood Stevens' value, and he made 
 use of his services in a way for which an American 
 can never quite forgive either of the pair. IVIr. Bond 
 writes tlie notice of Stevens in the Atlienwum, and. 
 says with a touch of pardonable exultation that as 
 the result of Stevens' efforts the British Museum 
 now contains a more extensive library of American 
 books than any single library in the United States. 
 No doubt it does, and the fact is a reproach, not to 
 Stevens, but to Americans in general, and to the 
 Congress of the United States in pai'ticular. 
 
 f."'t *'i 
 
 I 
 
 \l 
 
 m 
 
m 
 K 
 
 134 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 "Ileniy Stevenn, an AiiU'ricau to tlie backbone, 
 would have rejoiced to do for liis own country what 
 he did for England. But England employed him to 
 do it and Ameiica did not, and it is too late to repair 
 the blunder. No collection of American books ec^ual 
 to tliat in the British Museum can ever again })e got 
 togetlier. The time is past. Stevens' catalogue of 
 this, completed in 1857, is a volume of six hundred 
 octavo pages, and includes twenty thousand vol- 
 umes. When he began collecting for the musemn, 
 in 1845, the whole number di<l not exceed four 
 thousand volumes. The other sixteen thousand are 
 due to liim. One of his reasons for printing the 
 catalogue was to show, side by side, as he says, both 
 the richness and the poverty of the collection. He 
 effected his object, and between 1857 and 1862 the 
 number doubled. That is to say, in 1862 the Ameri- 
 can department in the British Museum possessed 
 foi'ty thousand volumes, counting only books printed 
 in America, and not counting books, maps, etc., in 
 all languai^es relatini? to America, in which the 
 museum is very rieli. nor counting American books 
 reprinted in this country. 
 
 " And I suppose for much of what we actually have 
 in America concerning oui* own ' ountry we have to 
 thank Henry Stevens. He was the agent of many 
 American collectors, often with authority to buy on 
 his own judgment. His best known general client 
 was perhaps Mr. James Lenox, whose library, now 
 one of the chief treasures and ornaments of New 
 York, was formed by Henry Stevens. No man 
 knew so much about early editions of the Bible ; no 
 
 i'^.i 
 
THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 
 
 one pei'lmps ho inucli about 'arly voyaj^cH /ind 
 travels. These, with the Americana, \V(!re the huI)- 
 jectH to which Stevens devoted hiiiisi^lf, and on which 
 he will ever remain an authoiity. Caxton was an- 
 other topic which interested him, and In^ did nuich 
 for the Caxton Exhibition at South Kensington in 
 1877, cataloguing the Bibles then shown. He had a 
 wide and always an exact knowledge, not merely of 
 books, but of subjects. Some of this he has put into 
 print or read before literary societies, but the mass, 
 of it dies with him. He is a real loss to letters as 
 well as to bibliography. The English papers abound 
 in eulogies on him. I hope the American papers do 
 as much, for he was a man who held high abroad the 
 American name. * Esteemed,' says the I'lmes, * for 
 his knowledge, ability, and shrewd common-sense, he 
 was even more beloved for his frank manliness, hia 
 kindly nature, and rich, genial humor.' The tribute 
 is not too strong." 
 
 Mr. Poor showed his usual breadth of view by his 
 strong desire to popularize historical knowledge, and 
 his labors to that end. As early as 1867 he sug- 
 gested that a course of lectures upon the history of 
 Maine should be delivered by competent persons 
 under the auspices of the Maine Historical Society. 
 The idea was adopted and carried out by the Massa- 
 chusetts Historical Society ; such a course was actu- 
 ally delivered in Boston, and resulted in the publica- 
 tion of a large volume containing the lectures. Mr. 
 Poor also proposed that the fiftieth anniversary of 
 the incorporation and oi'ganization of the society 
 should be celebrated. It was to occur in April, 
 
 m 
 
 \m 
 
r< I, 
 
 136 FIRST IN rr.RNA TIONAl. liAIl. ll'/l V. 
 
 'ti ■; 
 
 1H72; Uw \An\\ whh cHjjjcrly vvclcoiMcd l»y tliti ho- 
 ci<fty, but no hucIi ci^Ii^brjiticm look [>Ih<m< jiCUm' li'm 
 (Icjilli. During tlio luHi two inoiiiliH «>f Ii'ih life in 
 1871, tlilH (IcHin^ to exloiid t\u) knowhxigo of ilu? 
 history of Mnimi wjih Htiil more: Htronj^ly (\\pr<'HH(Ml. 
 Although th(i jMvpunitioiiM for tho iimmal iiuuftiiig 
 and convention of lUo. niilnuid to Owwcgo <h:ninnd(>d 
 inceHHunt hil)or, Mr. Poor, novcrtlich'HH, fonnd tinio 
 to write an chihonitj^ report. Ah cluiinnan of a coni- 
 niitteo of thi^ Hocicity "for incnvisiiig tiie Hociety'w 
 usefuhieHs," ho read <his report before tlieni at their 
 annual meeting, July, 1S71. It urged tiiat all limi- 
 tations as to tho num})er of memherH, which is now 
 confined to one hundred, should he n^moved ; and 
 that the number of mend>ers should be indefinitc^ly 
 increased ; tliat s[H'cial meetings should be calUid as 
 often as desirable ; that a public oration sliould be 
 delivered annually. With this effort to benefit tlie 
 many rather than th(^ few, closed Mr. Poor's histori- 
 cal labors. 
 
 From his earliest youth Mr. Poor longed to be- 
 come a good speaker as well as writer. His writings 
 and his actions have been described ; his s})eech must 
 perish with him. But if we may Judge by the ef- 
 fects it produced, tho concessions it wrung from 
 unwilling Legislatures, it must have been with power. 
 He spoke with extraordinary I'apidity, uttering three 
 time8 as many words iu one minute as ordinary 
 speakers, and Avith much animation. His victories 
 were won by appealing to the highest motives — to 
 patriotism, or to international brotherhood, and by 
 putting subjects on their broadest foundation. He 
 
rUE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 127 
 
 viiuiutt ])(! c.'iUjmI h loljfjyiwi, liecmiM! Ik; Hpolv*; only 
 from (H)nvic.tiori, and upon liiHown rnilwayH; ulthongJi 
 lie. uH'.t in (l(rl)Hl,(! hiudinf^ nwri of (/'armdji, the Lowor 
 ProvinccH, and tlin W(iHt ; and HjMjkj; Ix^fonj romniit- 
 tccH of tin; L<'giHlat;ure in Maine, MuHHacliuwiftH, N<!W 
 llanipsliirc, Vcnuorit; of tli(; PaiTiarrunii of Canada, 
 of tlio Con<j^r(!HH of the (Jniled Stat(;H;and tlu; Ili.s- 
 torical S()(ti(iti(jH of Maine, N(!W IlainpHhin!, Ver- 
 mont, and N(!\v York. 
 
 He Icift behind him a mass of JetterH, many of 
 them from promirufnt men in the lJnite<l Sfaten and 
 tlu! Dominion of Canmla. A v(!ry influcintial man 
 of BoMton, at the eloHe of a lonij l(!tt(;r, wrotr; to liim 
 as folIovvH : " I hav(! reml with gn^at int(*r(;Ht and in- 
 Ktruetion your arginru^nt Ijefore the Committee of 
 th(5 Mainci Legislature upon * ReHtrieti(mH on Railway 
 Transit.' Apart from the Him[)le purpose of tin; 
 argument in that case, vv}ii(!h is so ably and adroitly 
 put, the com[)rehensive and j)hiloHO[)hieal views of 
 the ca[)abilitieH^ resources, and growtli of the New 
 England States, and the statistics bearing uj)on the 
 relative advantages of different localities, are most 
 valuable. ... I only wish we liad in Boston 
 some gentleman of your intelligence, ex[)erience, tact, 
 and energy, who would devote himself to the inter- 
 ests of tlie city and state as you do to like interests 
 in Maine. With the amount of business aim ^.apital 
 here to back up liis efforts, I think he might do two 
 things : make this one of the greatest cities on the 
 continent ; and make for liiraself r. fortune while liv- 
 ing, and secure a statue among its benefactors after 
 he is gone." 
 
I i ■ ■ ., iii 
 
 T 28 F/JiST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL IV A Y. 
 
 '\V 
 
 But Mr. Poor duul a poor man, and Maine lias 
 erected no statue to lier benefactor. AVlien lie was 
 once reproached that he did not make money his lirst 
 object, he answered : " I thought if the work were 
 good the money woidd come." 
 
 It is not too strong to say that he liad a contempt 
 for oftice. His political, being as keen jis his other 
 instincts, he was the first man in Maine to support 
 General Taylor for the Presidency in 1848, and the 
 ofiice of Postmaster of Portland was within his 
 reach. The followiniij letter was written in Novem- 
 ber, 1848: "I thank you for the frank manner 
 in which you have expressed yourself. I have 
 very little ambition for any place myself ; and if 
 I could be gratified by any thing, it would be to 
 be in a position of greater independence, where I 
 could pursue with greater zeal certain ideas which 
 have occupied my thoughts for some years." lie 
 declined the ofiice of Oonsul-General to Canada in 
 1801, and an important i>osition in the Treasury 
 Department at AVashington in 186.'^ ; and the only 
 offices he ever held were those created expressly for 
 him, which lapsed when he gave them up. He also 
 refused w hat was to him a greater temptation — a 
 share in I'ailway enterprises in the West. 
 
 Mr. Poor married in 1860 Mrs. Margaret Gwynne, 
 of Cincinnati, daughter of Mr. William Bar* , a pio- 
 neer, and a man of great force of character. Mi's. 
 Poor, who had a fortune, would have been glad that 
 Viv. Poor should live in Cincinnati, or at least that 
 he should spend his time in Europe. But neither 
 ease nor pleasure could draw him from his work, and 
 
-a 
 
 THE LIFE OF JO JIN ALFRED POOR. 129 
 
 d 
 
 ]\Irs. VooY clicerfully m'coiniiKulatt'd herself to his 
 ]ihiiiM. Ill the success of tluit work he found liis 
 li;il)[)iiiess ; and in Hj)ite of a sensitive and niehui- 
 choly teiii|)enunent, lie was an exceptionally happy 
 man, — ha|)|)y also in his domestic life, and in the 
 scenery mikI climate of Maine, lie declared that the 
 daily sight of the White Mountains was a" perj)etiial 
 inspiration " to him. Hut had it been otherwise, he 
 wouM still have been cheerful, for he considered 
 cheerfulness in and for itself, to be an absolute duty. 
 
 It was sometimes a regret to him that he did not 
 live among libraries, {)ictures, operas, noble ])uild- 
 ings, for he keenly loved all these, understood and 
 appreciated them, lie enjoyed large, high I'ooms, 
 and l)oautiful, becoming <lress for women ; and not 
 through ostentation, but pure love of beauty in every 
 form. But a man who is trying to help his fellow- 
 men by great industrial undertakings that bring 
 prosperity to thousands, can be happy without the 
 embroideries of life. 
 
 Mr. Poor was a man of splendid beauty, six feet 
 two inches in height, weighing at last two hundred 
 and fifty pounds ; of noble and commanding pres- 
 ence, with clear-cut Grecian features, and a sensitive 
 yet resolute iiiouth; Horace Greeh^y said that he 
 had a mouth like Henry Clay's. In the winter of 
 1849, when j\lr. Poor was forty-one years of age, he 
 was living at the Astor House, New York. AVhile 
 standing one day in the office, he saw that he was 
 closely watclied by a man, wh> walked around him 
 several times, and finally spoke to him thus : " I 
 beg your pardon, sir, but have you ever been in the 
 
 l< 
 

 1 30 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL \VA Y. 
 
 ring ? " " Never," said Mr. Poor. " Then you Hhoiild 
 go in at once ; with such a figure you would make 
 your fortune." The man proved to be the most 
 celebrated prize-fighter of the day. 
 
 His genial mannei*, his hearty laugh, his suggestive 
 talk, made him fascinating in society ; one of the 
 Canadian public men said : "We really loved Mr. 
 Poor"; his playfulness and tenderness made him 
 passionately beloved at home. 
 
 His anger was terrible ; yet it would be a great 
 mistake to sujk ose that Mr. Poor was naturally 
 belligerent. His opinions were so advanced and 
 original, his nature so eaniest, that he could not fail 
 to differ ; yet it is strictly true to say that he never 
 attacked others until they attacked him ; but when 
 stung to anger by misrepresentations, t'^eachery, or 
 ingratitude, his blows fell fast and hard. One of 
 his contemporaries wrote : " His services to his 
 native state we are confident will be recognized and 
 honored. AVe desire now only to add our tribute to 
 his character as a man and a fnend ; to record our 
 admiration of his large-heartedness, his generous im- 
 pulses, his ready recognition and encouragement of 
 the merit of other's, his freedom from all narrowness, 
 his genial social qualities, his exhaustle^ss fund of 
 information ever at the service of his friends." 
 
 The growth of Mr. Poor's mind can best be traced 
 from the books he bouglit and read. They were in 
 early life, books oi poetiy and theology. Isaac Tay- 
 lor, author of the " Natural History of Enthusiasm," 
 Coleridge, and Robert Hall were then his favorite 
 authors, read and re-read. Indeed, it was owing to 
 

 TIf£ LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 131 
 
 a letter from him to a publisher tliat the works 
 of Robert Hall were collected and published in this 
 countiy ; Mr. Poor having met tliem in a small Eng- 
 lish book of his selections. His love of poetry he 
 retained to the very last of his life, and the evening 
 but one before his death, he read through his favor- 
 ite poem, " Comus." He was very fond of Byron's 
 letters, but not of his poetry ; he extravagantly loved 
 Webster's speeches and Gray's " Ode on the Progress 
 of Poesy " ; he cared very much for beautiful style 
 in music also, — Weber's were his favorite operas. In 
 the last few years of his life he would read and 
 re-read Gerald Griffin's poem, " The Sister of Char- 
 ity," and Robertson's sermon upon the Queen 
 Dowager Adelaide, — " The stranger not born in the 
 laud, but who came in to do good to it." 
 
 When Cosmos appeared, Mr. Poor studied with 
 eagerness its successive volumes; he then rea<l 
 Lyell's books on Geology ; for the last years of his 
 life, early American history absorbed him more and 
 more. The study of Humboldt and Lyell undoubt- 
 edly educated that instinctive eye for the topo- 
 graphical features of a country, which he seemed to 
 possess. When the survey was suggested for the 
 railway from Glenn's Falls to Oswego, New Y<»rk, 
 people talked of the impenetrable wilderness of 
 Northern New York. No instrument luid ever Ijeen 
 put upon Pisceo Lake, but Mr. Poor knew the eleva- 
 tion of the land, the grade to the mile, the height of 
 the mountains, and persuaded the people to make the 
 survey. A most favorable route for a railway was 
 found, unexpectedly to them, but not to Mr. Pool*. 
 
 m 
 
 1 ♦.!,■ 
 
 ■V'A 
 
 ■■if' 
 
 
 : ■ ■1'% 
 'i 
 
132 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 
 
 
 The height of the mountains was even less than he 
 had predicted, the grade to the mile being thirty-five 
 feet, where he had foretold forty feet. 
 
 It was said of Mr. Poor that he assimilated 
 and digested into one harmonious Avhole, ready for 
 use, every fact which he took into his mind. Yet he 
 used these facts to justify himself in the conclusions 
 at which he had already arrived, rather than to aid 
 him in forming these conclusions, his habit of mind 
 being eminently deductive, and his predictions 
 Justified by "fter discoveries ; and this is still more 
 clearly shuwii in his historical writings. Indeed, he 
 was bv mature an idealist; in his childhood he 
 dreamed Dj. jh, and walked in his sleep; in later 
 years he would go to bed with all the pei-plexities 
 of his business complications unsettled, and in the 
 morning he would awaken with a definite plan of 
 action formed, he knew not how, — a power uncom- 
 mon and peculiar to some minds, but which Leibnitz 
 recognizes when he says : " There are mental processes 
 of which we are unconscious at the time, but which 
 we recognize as having taken place, by finding 
 certain results in our mind." 
 
 It must not be thought, however, that Mr. Poor 
 spared himself the labor of study. He left behind 
 him carefully prepared memoranda on all subjects 
 which interested him, — memoranda historical, com- 
 mercial, statistical. These were put into envelopes, 
 which were marked on the outside, and aiTanged at 
 his right hand, ready for use. Yet Mr. Poor was 
 not in the least dependent upon a certain place, or 
 certain surroundings, for ability to express himself in 
 

 3S, 
 
 TI/£: LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 133 
 
 writing. Such was liis power of concentration tliat 
 no conversation in tlie room interrupted him. PHh 
 memoir of Mr. Williams was written at his room in 
 the hotel at Washington, in the intervals of business, 
 and even his address at Fort Popham in precisely 
 the same way, while subjected to a thousand inter- 
 rujitions. He never wrote with such ease to himself 
 as during the last four years of his life, which were 
 peculiarly busy ones, yet every thing was dictated. 
 
 No memoir is complete until we have gone behind 
 its facts to seek what was their real inspiration, and 
 what should be, therefore, their true interpretation. 
 We have seen that books of theology interested Mr. 
 Poor deeply. While a student of law in Bangor, he 
 wished to become a member of the Trinitarian Con- 
 gregational Church, but was withheld solely by 
 doubts upon their points of belief, as defined in 
 their own creed and formularies. Although holding 
 oj)inions of his own which were Congregational as to 
 church government, and Unitaiian as to doctrine, he 
 attended the services of the Presbyterian or Episco- 
 pal church with his wife or daughter. He had, 
 however, a rich and full personal communion with 
 God, and on one occasion he said, with the simplicity 
 and force which can only come from experience : 
 "You can never be happy until you give up your 
 own will wholly. It is so simple. Then you will be 
 perfectly satisfied and i\k peace." And in this spirit 
 of absolute self-surrender to the divine will, he took 
 up and carried to the end the peculiar work to 
 which God had called him. 
 
 That the work opened gradually before him, and 
 
 %. 
 
 &% 
 
 
 
 in 
 
 m 
 
 \ m 
 
 3f' 
 li 
 
134 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 I'm 
 
 ■::«--i: 
 
 I li :. 
 
 led him on from step to step, he hardly knew how, 
 is evident from expressions of his own at different 
 periods of his life. The following, which were found 
 in his private journal after his death, had never been 
 seen before. 
 
 In 1860 he wrote : "The great purpose of my life 
 is in a great measure accomplished. In sixteen 
 years Maine has been raised greatly in commercial 
 importance, and in the next sixteen years will take 
 relatively a much higher position than now, though 
 the growth of every thing in Maine is slow. What 
 toils, what anxieties have I not suffered these sixteen 
 years ! " 
 
 In the year of his death, he wrote : " Portland, 
 January 8, 1871. This is my sixty-third birthday. I 
 have always looked forward to this day with a sin- 
 gular feeling of hope and dread, for I am sure that it 
 is a turning-point in my life. A man of robust 
 frame, with freedom from dissipation, reaches his 
 maturity, or manhood, at forty-nine ; and culminates, 
 as a physical being, at sixty -three. So I have been 
 taught by philosophers and naturalists. From this 
 day forward, I run on in my career on the descend- 
 ing grade, or the downhill of life. ... I am quite 
 ready to take my leave of worldly objects, or, in 
 other words, to give up my life, whenever it may 
 please the Father of mercies to take it, but I intend 
 to work with more diligence and labor with more 
 system than ever, in the vocation to which I have 
 been called. No one can conceive of the self-denial, 
 the labor, and the waste of strength to which I have 
 been subjected. ... I have had an unquenchable 
 
THE LIFE OF JOHN ALFRED POOR. 135 
 
 desire for knowledge in certain departments of 
 human thought, and an ambition for glory and fame 
 /IS a friend of my race. I honor the men who have 
 acquired success in the useful arts, as the great bene- 
 factoi*s of their age. I have honored Watt, Ark- 
 wright, Stephenson, Fulton, and Whitney more than 
 any of the heroes of war ; and I had a desire from 
 my first recollection to do something in this line. I 
 resorted to the profession of the law, as a means of 
 livelihood, and of honorable renown, but before I 
 had been ten years in the profession, I had enjoyed 
 all in it that I was capable of, and my career since 
 in influencing the History, the Geography, and the 
 Physical Resources of Maine has brought me an 
 exceeding great reward — for I have enjoyed it. 
 
 " I thought the projecting and carrying out of the 
 railway to Montreal from 1844 to 1853 was enough 
 for any one man, and yet I had to carry forward the 
 line of the European and North American Railway, 
 and have yet to finish the Transcontinental line, — or 
 the section from Portland to Chicago." 
 
 Such are the men who sink broad and deep the 
 foundations of the Republic. 
 
 ■ s 
 
 '■1 •"■',' 
 
 '.[ir:pi?i^ 
 
 
 Vtwm- 
 
 
 m 
 
 \ •'»-J;:l 
 
 \W 
 
w 
 
 '1 'j 
 
 1.? ■:<■ 
 
 
 
 Ut 
 
 m'fJ 
 
 ^ «. ' 
 
 'fr, 
 
 LIST OF PUBLISHED WRITINGS. 
 
 No. 1. Memorial to the Legislature of Maine asking for the 
 opening of direct communication between the principal towns 
 of Maine and the St. Lawrence River. January, 1844. 
 
 No. 2. Project of a railway from Montreal to the Atlantic 
 coast at Portland, Maine. Sherbrooke Gazette, September 5, 
 1844. 
 
 No. 3. Plan for a line of railway from Portland to Montreal, 
 through the northern extremities of New Hampshire and Ver- 
 mont. Portland Advertiser, ?)Q^tQmhQX 17, 1844. 
 
 No. 4. Railroad to Montreal. Portland Argus, September 
 25, 1844. 
 
 No. 5. Railroad from Portland to Montreal. Portland 
 Bullrin, September 25, 1844. 
 
 No. 6. Extracts from the Report of the Directors of the St. 
 Lawrence and Atlantic Railway Company advising a line of 
 railway from Lewiston, Maine, to Bangor, and St. John, New 
 Brunswick, in connection with the line from Portland to Mon- 
 treal ; written by John A. Poor, and adopted by the Directors 
 in Montreal. January 19, 1847. 
 
 No. 7. Montreal and St. John Railroad. Bangor Whig, 
 November 23, 1847. 
 
 No. 8. Extracts from Report of Directors of St. Lawrence 
 and Atlantic Railroad Company in favor of a line to the east 
 from Danville Junction to Bangor, and St. John, New Bruns- 
 wick ; written by John A. Poor. January 19, 1848. 
 
 No. 9. Portland and Montreal Railroad. Portland Argus, 
 February 7, 1848. 
 
 No. 10. Portland and Montreal Railroad. Portland Argus, 
 February 16, 1848. 
 
 136 
 
:b 
 
 LIST OF PUBLISHED WRITINGS. 
 
 m 
 
 No. II. Railroads in Maine. New York Railroad yoitrnaly 
 November i8, 1848. 
 
 No. 12. Railway Economy; cost of running at high speed. 
 New York Railroad J^ournal, April 20, 1850. 
 
 No. 13. Plan for Shortening the Time of Passage be- 
 tween New York \nd London, with map : petition to the 
 Legislature of Maine in aid of the European and North 
 American Railway. Octavo, pp. 24. 1850, 
 
 No. 14. Proceedings of Portland Convention, etc., European 
 and North American Railway. Octavo, pp. 156. 1850. 
 
 No. 15. Prospectus of the European and North American 
 Railway Company. Octavo, pp. 32. 185 1, 
 
 No. 16. Petition to Legislature of Massachusetts for aid to 
 European and North American Railway. Octavo, pp. 8. 185 1. 
 
 No. 17. Remarks of John A. Poor upon the European and 
 North American Railway at the City Hall, Portland, at a gen- 
 eral meeting July 22, 185 1, in opposition to Hon. Joseph 
 Howe, of Nova Scotia. Octavo, pp. 8. 1851. 
 
 No. 18. Memorial to Thirty-first Legislature of Maiiu in 
 relation to the European and North American Railway for 
 shortening the transit of mails between New York and Lon- 
 don. Octavo, pp. 16. 1852. 
 
 No. 19. Memorial to Congress of the United States for aid 
 to the European and North American Railway. Octavo, pp. 
 16. January 20, 1852. 
 
 No. 20. Proceedings of Legislature of Massachiiset^^s on 
 petition in aid of the European and North American Railway. 
 Octavo, pp. 8. 1852. 
 
 No. 21. Report of Directors of the York and Cumberland 
 Railway Company. Octavo, pp. 8. 1852. 
 
 No. 22. Railroad Convention to unite the various railroad 
 interests in Maine to better aid the building of the European 
 and North American Railway. Octavo, pp. 16. October i^, 
 1852. 
 
 No. 23. Documents in relation to the disposition of the 
 public lands of Maine. Octavo, pp. 30. 1853. 
 
 No. 24. Memorial of the Executive Committee of the Euro- 
 pean and North American Railway Company to the Legisla- 
 
 m. 
 
 • m- 
 
 I 
 
 
;■ Ml. 
 
 138 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 ture of Maine, for amendment of its charter and for state aid ; 
 containing an historical ijketch of the state, and suggesting 
 immigration. Octavo, pp. 24. 1853, 
 
 No. 25. Plan for building the European and North American 
 Railway in Maine. Octavo, pp. 4. 1853. 
 
 No. 26. Memorial to the Thirty-third Legislature of Maine : 
 a petition of the President and Directors of the European and 
 North American Railway Company. Octavo, pp. 8. 1854. 
 
 No. 27. The Paris Exhibition. Octavo, pp. 8. 1854. 
 
 No. 28. Petition to the Parliament of Canada praying for a 
 charter for the Northern Pacific Railway Company, Quebec. 
 Octavo, pp. 8. Lovell & Lamoureux : reprinted by Ira Berry, 
 Portland. 1854. 
 
 No. 29. Commercial importance of Portland, with map. 
 Octavo, pp. 50. 1855. 
 
 No. 30. Memorial to the Legislature of Maine concerning 
 the public lands of Maine, for a State Policv, and for meas- 
 ures to promote the settlement and sale of the public lands, 
 and to encourage manufactures. Octavo, pp. 12. 1857, 
 
 No. 31. Memorial to the Legislature of Maine of the Maine 
 State Agricultural Society, for the adoption of measures to 
 promote the settlement and sale of the public lands of Maine, 
 and to encourage immigration and manufactures. Octavo, 
 pp. 26. 1S58. 
 
 No. 32. Memorial to the Congress of the United States 
 of the Board of Trade of Portland, Maine, for the extension 
 of the Reciprocity Treaty. Senate Doc, pp. 4. 1859. 
 
 No. 33. A Vindication of the Claims of Sir Ferdinando 
 Gorges, as the Father of English Colonization in 
 America, with map and documents. Octavo, pp. 144. 1859. 
 
 No. 34. Report to the Legislature of Maine, of minority of 
 Committee on Railways, in favor of a trunk line of railway 
 acroL.. the state; and the granting of the public lands of 
 Maine to aid its construction from Bangor to the eastern 
 boundary of the state. Octavo, pp. 22. i860. 
 
 No. 35. Memorial to the Legislature of Maine in aid of the 
 European and North American Railway Company and for a 
 State Policy favorable to immigration and the encouragement 
 
LIST OF PUBLISHED WRITINGS. 
 
 139 
 
 of manufactures ; containing a geological and historical sketch 
 of the state of Maine. Octavo, pp. 52. 1861. 
 
 No. 36. Report to the Legislature of Maine of Commission- 
 ers on the Coast Defences of Maine, and documents relating 
 thereto, in favor of building the European and North American 
 Railway as a military railroad. Octavo, pp. 16. 1862. 
 
 No. 37. Letter to Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War, 
 proposing to build the European and North American Railway 
 as a military railroad. Octavo, pp. 26. 1862. 
 
 No. 38. The National Finances : Letter to Congress with 
 statistics. Octavo, pp. 8. 1862. 
 
 No. 39. Documentary History of Maine : Memorial to 
 the Legislature of Maine for procuring papers from the British 
 State-Paper Office in regard to the early history of Maine. 
 Octavo, pp. 4- 1862. 
 
 No. 40. The First Colonization of New England : An 
 address delivered at the erection of a monumental stone in the 
 walls of Fort Popham, August 29, 1862, com' icmorative of the 
 phnting of the Popham Colony on the peninsula of Sabino, 
 August 19, 1607, with documents. Octavo, pp. 58. 1862. 
 
 No. 41. Proceedings of the Legislature of Maine, in favor 
 of procuring documents from the British State-Paper Office, as 
 to the early history of Maine. Octavo, pp. 4. 1863. 
 
 No. 42. Report to the Legislature of Maine on the Coast 
 Defences, with documents, in favor of building the European 
 and Noich American Railway as a military railroad. Octavo, 
 pp. 32. 1863. 
 
 No. 43. Memoir of Mrs. Mary Barr. Octavo, pp. 10. 
 
 No. 44. Memoir of Hon. Reuel Williams. Octavo, pp. 66. 
 1863. 
 
 No. 45. The Futur»: of North America : A letter to the 
 Chicago Ship-Canal Convention suggesting a Zoll-verein 
 WITH Canada. Octavo, pp. 4. 1863. 
 
 No. 46. Memorial to the Legislature of Maine asking aid to 
 the European and North American Railway by a grant of the 
 public lands lying on the Penobscot and St. John waters ; and 
 of the claims of Maine against the U. S. Government held 
 jointly with Massachusetts. Octavo, pp. 4. 1864. 
 
 i ' 
 
 
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1 40 FIRS T INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 No. 47. Report to the Legislature of Maine, of the Joint 
 Standing Committee on Frontier and Coast Defences, with 
 bills and resolves in aid of European and North American 
 Railway. Octavo, pp. 24. 1864. 
 
 No. 48. Resolutions of the Legislature of Maine, in relation 
 to the defences of the northern frontier of the state. Octavo, 
 pp. 4. 1864. 
 
 No. 49. Report of Special Committee of House of Repre- 
 sentatives at Washington on Northeastern Defences, with 
 documents : in favor of building the European and North 
 American Railway as a compensation to Maine for her terri- 
 tory sacrificed iu running the line of the Northeastern 
 Boundary. Octavo, pp. 82. 1864. 
 
 No. 50. Prospectus of the European and North American 
 Railway. Octavo, pp. 68. 1864. 
 
 No. 51. Memorial to the Legibiature of Massachusetts ask- 
 ing an assignment of its claims against the United States held 
 jointly with Maine ; a discharge of the debt due from Maine 
 on account of the purchase of the public lands, and a loan of 
 state credit. Octavo, pp. 4. 1865. 
 
 No. 52. Memorial to the Governor of Massachusetts asking 
 an exchange of State of Maine bonds : statement of facts. 1865. 
 
 No. 53. "No Restrictions on Railway Transit" : Ar- 
 gument of John A. Poor before the Joint Standing Committee 
 on Railroads, Ways, and Bridges, for authority to extend a broad- 
 gauge track on the railway from Portland to Boston : delivered 
 in the Senate-chamber of Maine, with documents. Octavo, 
 pp. 75. 1865. 
 
 No. 54. Memorial of the European and North American 
 Railway Company of Maine to Congress of the United States, 
 praying aid in constructing a military road from Bangor to the 
 St. John River, with map and documents. Octavo, pp. 38. 
 1865. 
 
 No 55. Memorial of the European and North American 
 Railway to the Legislature of Massachusetts for State aid, with 
 documents. Octavo, pp. 42. 1866. 
 
 No. 56. Report and Resolves in relation to the Confedera- 
 tion of the British North American Provinces, Maine Legisla- 
 
LIST OF PUBLISHED WRITINGS. 
 
 141 
 
 ture. Senate Doc. No. 87, pp. 8. Adopted by the Legislature. 
 1S67. 
 
 No. 57. The Railway : Remarks at Belfast, Maine. Oc- 
 tavo, pp. 62. 1867. 
 
 No. 58. Report of the Commissioners of the Hydrographic 
 Survey. Octavo, pj. 30. 1867. 
 
 No. 59. Across the Continent : Atlantic and Pacific Rail- 
 way ; Portland and Rutland Railroad. Official record of the 
 corporators. Octavo, pp. 59. 1868. 
 
 No. 60. Proceedings of the International Commercial Con- 
 vention held in Portland, Maine, August 4, 5, and 6. Octavo, 
 pp. 160. 1868. 
 
 No. 6r. Prospectus Portland and Rutland Railway. Octavo, 
 pp. 4, 1868. 
 
 No. 62. Report for the Social Science Society of general 
 statistics in regard to Maine. Octavo, pp. 8. 1869. 
 
 No. d-i,. The Transcontinental Railway : Remarks at 
 Rutland, Vermont, June 24. Octavo, pp. 78. 1869. 
 
 No. 64. Remarks at Waterville, Maine, at a special meeting 
 of the stockholders of the Maine Central Railway Company. 
 May 31. Octavo, pp. 50. 1870. 
 
 No. 66. Memorial to the Congress of the United States, for 
 aid to the Portland, Rutland, Oswego, and Chicago Railway ; 
 with A Bill to secure cheap transportation of breadstuffs and 
 provisions from the West to the seaboard, at uniform rates 
 throughout the year, accompanying the same, January 19, 187 1. 
 
 No. 66. First Annual Report of the Directors of the Port- 
 land, Rutland, Oswego, and Chicago Railway Company. July 
 26. Octavo, pp. 58. 187 1. 
 
 .-i M 
 
 ■1 
 
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I i'.t ■ 
 
 FIRST ARTICLE ON THE ST. LAWRENCE 
 AND ATLANTIC RAILWAY. 
 
 FOR THE SHERBROOKE GAZETTE. 
 
 The recent movements, having in view the exten- 
 sion of a railroad from Montreal to the Atlantic 
 coast, have attracted the attention of the business 
 community throughout the Canadas and the Northern 
 States of the Federal Union. That the accomplish- 
 ment of the object desired will be eventually realized 
 there can be no reasonable doubt, but as to the 
 mode and manner, the time when, and the place 
 where, there is still much room for discussion. 
 Having recently traversed much of the territory in 
 the neighborhood, and made myself acquainted with 
 the proposed routes and the plans entertained by the 
 respective friends of each, I felt inclined to state 
 some facts, and make some suggestions that might 
 perhaps be of interest to this portion of the country. 
 
 The great object in view is a railroad from Mon- 
 treal to Boston. Two or three routes are proposed, 
 but if we take into view the natural advantage of 
 the country, the coui*se of trade, and the circum- 
 stances favoring its accomplishment, the chances and 
 the arguments are vastly in favor of the route by the 
 way of Sherbrooke. Its central position as to Mon- 
 
 143 
 
(n.[ 
 
 THE ST. LA WRENCE b* A TLANTIC RAIL WA Y. 143 
 
 treal and Quebec ; its lying, too, directly in the line 
 of the most easy and practicable route from bol:b 
 those cities to the Atlantic coast, or to any good 
 port thereon, will, if the matter is understood, settle 
 the point in favor of the Sherbrooke route. 
 
 There has been so little intercourse with Maine 
 heretofore, that the people of this region are very 
 generally unmindful of the fact that Portland in 
 Maine, with one of the best, if not the very best, 
 harbor of the United States, is one hundred miles 
 nearer to Montreal than Boston ; and taking into 
 view the facilities for a railroad, there cannot be 
 a doubt that the best way of reaching Boston from 
 Montreal is by the way of Portland. 
 
 The route most talked of here is by the way 
 of Concord, New Hampshire. The distances are as 
 follows, viz. : 
 
 Montreal to Sherbrooke 91 miles 
 
 Sherbrooke to Stanstead 34 miles 
 
 Stanstead to Haverhill 80 miles 
 
 Haverhill to Concord 70 miles 
 
 275 miles 
 Railroad, Concord to Boston 76 miles 
 
 Total 351 miles 
 
 The distances by way of Portland are as follows, 
 viz. : 
 
 Montreal to Sherbrooke 91 miles 
 
 Sherbrooke to Canaan, Vermont 31 miles 
 
 Canaan to Colebrooke, New Hampshire 10 miles 
 
 Colebrooke to Letter B, Maine 30 miles 
 
 Andover to Portland 70 miles 
 
 246 miles 
 
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 144 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 Railroad, Portland to Boston 105 miles 
 
 Total 35 1 miles 
 
 The distance to make by Concord is 275 miles 
 
 The distance by Portland 246 milts 
 
 making an advantage of twenty-uine miles in favor 
 of the Portland route. 
 
 If tlie railroad ran from Montreal to Portland, the 
 British mail steamers might land at that place, which 
 has a far better winter harbor than Boston, and is 
 about half a day's sail short of Boston. 
 
 Boston has a vast amount of capital, and would at 
 once construct a railroad to Montreal, if her business 
 could be thereby proportionally increased. But it is 
 the opinion of many men there that Montreal would 
 gain more by the railroad than their city. 
 
 The people of Maine have, if possible, less informa- 
 tion in regard to the business and importance of the 
 Canadas than your people have of her resources. 
 The intercourse between the two countries has been 
 trifling. But now the settlements, having been 
 pushed back toward each other, are beginning to 
 meet, and their people to understand respectively 
 their position to each other, and the importance of 
 opening means of communication. They are begin- 
 ning to awake to your movements and will, I have no 
 doubt, meet you with corresponding efforts. There 
 is much more reason to expect success by the people 
 of this region pushing for Portland than for Concord. 
 A railroad from Montreal to Portland is sure to go| 
 by way of Sherbrooke : there are competitoi's for the 
 Concord route. Again, too, Quebec is as much in- 
 
THE ST. LA WHENCE ^f A T LAN TIC RAIL WA V. 145 
 
 terested in the route as the citizens of tliis region. 
 The St. La\vrence River may be leached seventy- 
 three miles from Sherbrooke; Quebec in one hun- 
 dred and eighteen. Quebec Mall then be but two 
 hundred and seventy-four miles from Portland, and 
 the distance by the Kennebec route is three hundred 
 miles. 
 
 But whether a railroad can be speedily expected 
 or not from Sherbrooke to Portland, a good stage 
 road can easily be made ; thereby connecting the St. 
 Lawrence River, at its different points, w4th Portland, 
 the principal seaport, and Augusta, the capital of 
 Maine, and that, too, in the most direct route to the 
 Atlantic coast. The latter place is only fifty miles 
 from Andover, making the distance from Sherbrooke 
 to Augusta one hundred and thirty-five miles, and 
 from Montreal to Augusta two hundred and twenty- 
 six miles. 
 
 From Portland to Andover is one of the most 
 level routes in the countiy, and a fine stage coach 
 now runs three times a week each way, in twelve 
 hours' time. 
 
 Fr'-.m Andover to the line of New Hampshire a 
 good road would at once be finished, if exertions 
 should be made here to extend the road from Sher- 
 brooke to the Canada line. The enterprising people 
 of Colebrooke are exerting themselves, and will 
 cause the road to be opened across New Hampshire, 
 as soon as the residue of the way is completed ; so 
 that the people of Montreal can, by the way of Port- 
 land and Sherbrooke, get European news one day 
 sooner than by any other route. 
 
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 146 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 The eighty -five miles of road between Andover to 
 Sherbrooke are all passable with wagons, though 
 some parts are rough and unfinished. If it all lay in 
 one of the States, so important a line of communica- 
 tion would not be neglected a single day. Situated 
 as it is, the citizens of Canada, New Hampshire, and 
 Maine along this road need only see how important 
 it is to their interests, to ensure its speedy and 
 thorough completion. 
 
 The immense trade between Canada and the States 
 is far from being generally understood ; and it would 
 rapidly increase, if facilities of communication ex- 
 isted. The recent census shows a population of 
 about fifteen hundred thousand in Canada, and 
 Montreal is the great depot of its business. 
 
 For nearly six months of the year all communica- 
 tion by water with the home government is cut off. 
 Her immense products want a passage to a place of 
 shipment on the Atlantic coast. Let her have this, 
 and there is no country under heaven that has equal 
 advantages. 
 
 Her splendid canals will next year give her a line 
 of inland communication of more than fifteen hun- 
 dred miles, through one of the most fertile districts 
 in the world ; and with her magnificent water-power 
 and great capacities for production, she need not fear 
 comparison with any portion of the globe. 
 
 A Citizen of Maine. 
 
 Sherbrooke, September 5, 1844. 
 
 
FIRST ARTICLE ON THE ATLANTIC AND 
 ST. LAWRENCE RAILWAY. 
 
 FOR THE PORTLAND ADVERTISER! 
 
 So mucli has been said, heretofore, in reference to 
 a railroad from Portland, running north or west, — at 
 one time proposing to connect with Lake Champlain, 
 and at others with Quebec and the Canadas, — with- 
 out producing any results favorable to the objects 
 proposed, that any remarks upon the subject may 
 seem idle and superfluous. But a recent visit to the 
 territory naturally connected with Portland, and a 
 knowledge of the measures now in progress in the 
 Canadas to secure railroad communication with the 
 Atlantic coast, lead me to make some suggestions for 
 the consideration of the citizens of Maine, and par- 
 ticularly those of the city of Portland. 
 
 There was a plan entertained a few years since of 
 running a railroad from some point on the Atlantic 
 coast in Maine to Quebec. The movement, I think, 
 proceeded upon an erroneous view of the Canadas. 
 Quebec is a place of very little importance, except 
 as a military station, and a port for the shipment of 
 lumber, and its lumber trade is less than that of 
 Bangor in our own state. Its high northern latitude 
 and frontier position have caused its former trade to 
 
 147 
 
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 148 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 pass gradually into the hands of its more prosperous 
 rival, Montreal. The city of Montreal ic now the 
 political as well as the commercial capital of the 
 Canadas, and from its position and natural advan- 
 tages is destined to be one of the three great cities 
 of the continent. It is the natural dep6t of the 
 business of the valley of the St. Lawrence, the ex- 
 tent and value of which are very inadequately un- 
 derstood by the people of the United States ; while 
 the magnificent chain of its inland seas and the sur- 
 passing attraction of its variegated scenery are cele- 
 brated throughout the world. 
 
 The progress of the Canadas in business, popula- 
 tion, and wealth is equal to that of the most favored 
 states of the Union. A recent census, just com- 
 pleted, shows a population of about fifteen hundred 
 thousand, which shows that it has nearly doubled 
 in twenty years — a growth more rapid than that of 
 the state of New York. Her business has increased 
 in a still greater ratio, owing to her facilities of trade 
 with the home government and means of supplying 
 British goods along the two thousand miles of our 
 frontier. These facilities are being rapidly increased. 
 Her public works are of an equal cost with those 
 of the state of New York, and are accomplished 
 with greater assurances of success as to business 
 advantages. 
 
 The Rideau Canal, one hundred and thirty-five 
 miles long, connecting the Ottawa with Lake Onta- 
 rio at Kingston, though undertaken as a military 
 work, and paid for from the military chest, at an 
 expense of seven million dollars, is a work of great 
 
 I 
 
THE A TLANTIC 6- ST. LA WRENCE RAIL WA Y. 149 
 
 importance in a business point of view, it being the 
 upward route of the large steamers which pass down 
 the Long Sault Rapids. 
 
 The Welland Canal., forty-two miles long, connect- 
 ing Lakes Erie and Ontario for sloop navigation, 
 passing Niagara Falls, originally cost two million 
 dollars. This canal is now in the process of enlarge- 
 ment, to correspond with the great canals on the St. 
 Lawrence River ; and when completed will be fur- 
 nished with fifty-five feet locks, and ten feet depth 
 of water, so as to allow the passage of steamers of 
 one hundred and eighty feet in length and four hun- 
 dred or five hundred tons burthen. This is a link in 
 the great line of canals commencing at Montreal. 
 
 Of these the first is the Lachine Canal, from Mon- 
 treal to the village of Lachine (eight miles), which 
 distance is now passed by stage in descending the 
 river. 
 
 The next is the Beauharnois Canal, which extends 
 sixteen miles, passing the Cedar Rapids, so cele- 
 brated for their disasters. 
 
 The third is the St. Laiorence Canal, now finished 
 and extending twelve miles, and passing the Long 
 Sault Rapids. 
 
 These three last-named works will cost over seven 
 million dollars, and be completed, as will also the 
 enlargement of the Welland Canal, during the com- 
 ing year, 1845 ; so that, during the coming year, 
 steamboats of a large size and other vessels will have 
 a continuous line of communication from the Gulf of 
 Newfoundland up the whole length of the St. Law- 
 rence River through the Great Lakes to the head of 
 
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 1 50 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 ii.r. 
 
 Lake Superior, if not to the Lake of the Woods, a 
 distance of over two thousand miles. 
 
 The trade and traffic of the vast region drained 
 by the St. Lawrence River on the Canada side, and 
 much on the American, centres at, or raulates from, 
 Montreal. Already containing a population of over 
 fifty thousand, it is now increasing both in popula- 
 tion and business, relatively faster than any city on 
 the continent. There is only one drawback to the 
 growth and prosperity of this city, and that is the 
 interruption of the communication with the ocean 
 for the long period of winter. 
 
 The climate of all British North America below 
 the forty-seventh degree of latitude, except in the 
 neighborhood of the Atlantic coast, is exceedingly 
 mild, and the soil one of great fertility. Fruits of 
 all kinds are abundantly raised at Montreal, and the 
 climate is much softer than that farther south in the 
 highland regions of Maine, New Hampshire, and 
 Vermont. 
 
 The St. Lawrence River enters the ocean between 
 the forty-ninth and fifty-first degree of latitude, and 
 for six months in the year its navigation is danger- 
 ous or entirely obstructed. This is a serious check 
 to the business of Montreal. One great staple of 
 the Candidas — jlour — can with difficulty be got to the 
 market in season for fall navigation ; and the fluctu- 
 ations in price frequently lead to great losses, which 
 a ready shipment would avert. Last w^inter almost 
 the whole stock of flour lay over till spring ; and, 
 before it could be shipped, had fallen something 
 like one dollar and fifty cents per barrel. 
 
THE A TLANTIC 6* ST. LA WRENCE RAIL WAY. 15 1 
 
 No one can fail for a moment to see that the city 
 of Montreal must have an outlet to the Atlantic co^iat. 
 This subject is now occu[)ying the attention of the 
 people of Canada, and lier movements are attracting 
 the attention of the people of the United States, on 
 some of the proposed routes. 
 
 No little diversity of opinion exists as to the best 
 route to be selected, but no one doubts the early 
 accomplishment of this object. Meetings have been 
 held in various places and moneys raised to explore 
 and survey the best routes. I was at Sherbrooke a 
 few days since, and was surprised to find so nmch 
 interest and enthusiasm on the subject. This is a 
 thriving Yankee-looking village, and the headquar- 
 ters of the British-American Land Company, who 
 own large quantities of land in the eastern town- 
 ships. These townships embrace a territory equal 
 in size to the state of Vermont, with a soil far su- 
 perior in quality. This region is rapidly filling up, 
 and improvements of all sorts are in pi'ogress. A 
 cotton factory, eighty feet by forty, is now being 
 erected at Sherbrooke. 
 
 Situated in the central position as to Montreal 
 and Quebec and in the line of the most direct and 
 practicable route to the Atlantic coast, the people of 
 Sherbrooke confidently expect the proposed railroad 
 to pass through their town. It is ninety-one miles 
 from there to Montreal, seventy-three to the St. Law- 
 rence River, and one hundred and eighteen to Que- 
 bec. A survey for a railroad is already in progress 
 from Montreal to Sherbrooke, and the people of 
 that region are seeking the best outlet to the ocean. 
 
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 159 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 The distance to Portland is as follows : 
 
 Montreal to Sherbrooke 91 miles 
 
 Sherbrooke to Canaan 30 miles 
 
 Canaan to Colebrooke (New Hampshire) 10 miles 
 
 Colebrooke to Andover 43 miles 
 
 Andover to Portland ' . . . 72 miles 
 
 Total 246 miles 
 
 Another route spoken of is by way of Concord, 
 New Hanii)9hire, to Boston ; the distances are as 
 follows, viz : 
 
 Montreal to Sherbrooke 91 miles 
 
 Sherbrook to Stanstead 34 miles 
 
 Stanstead to Haverhill 80 miles 
 
 Haverhill to Concord 70 miles 
 
 Concord to Boston 76 miles 
 
 Total 351 miles 
 
 Another route still talked of, by the way of Brat- 
 tleborough, and thence to Sherbrooke or Burlington. 
 But more difficulties are to be anticipated in finding 
 a route there than by way of Concord. 
 
 Boston may be reached l)y the way of Portland 
 as easily as by Concord ; and by twenty-nine miles 
 less of road to be built. 
 
 One strong reason requiring the opening of a rail- 
 road from Montreal to the Atlantic is the necessity 
 of more rapid transmission of the great British - V 
 The difficulties of the navigation of the Ne\\ id- 
 land seas and the St. Lawrence are such that ..fter 
 this year the Halifax and Quebec line is to be given 
 up, and the Cunard steamers will not touch at Hali- 
 fax. It is exceedingly important that the shortest 
 
THE A TLANTIC ^ ST. LA WRENCE RAIL WA V. 153 
 
 route should be preferred. I'^very citizen of I\)rtliiiid 
 is aware that liis city is more than one liundi'e«l 
 miles nearer Montreal than Boston is ; but the peo- 
 ple of the Canadas are not generally aware of the 
 fact. It is known, too, to almost every one in 
 Maine, that the easiest and most practicable route for 
 a railroad is by the Avay of Sherbrooke to Portland ; 
 and yet the peo[)le of Portland are far from being 
 alive to the importance of this railroad to her i)r()S- 
 perity. The vast products of Canada only want a 
 road to make their transit to Portland, thence to be 
 forwarded to England, or our goods taken in return. 
 The sale of American goods in Canada is far more 
 than is commonly supposed. Amei'ican goods to 
 over three million dollars in value paid duty at the 
 city of St. Johns at the foot of Lake Clmmplain, in 
 the year 1843 ; and this is believed by good judges 
 to be less than one fifth of the whole amount which 
 annually passes into Canada. An important portion 
 of this trade would go by a railroad. 
 
 The citizens of Portland may rest assured that 
 within a short time a railroad will be extended to 
 some point on the Atlantic coast from Montreal. So 
 much is certain, when and where is for them to say. 
 It would require v^oliimes to point out the advan- 
 tages of it to your city, and I cannot believe they 
 will remain indiiferent Avhile these advantages are 
 within their reach. 
 
 P. 
 
 Andover, September lo, 1844. 
 
 ■'.,'•'* 
 
 
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 PLAN FOR SHORTENING THE TIME 
 PASSAGE BETWEEN NEW YORK 
 AND LONDON. 
 
 OF 
 
 The plan of extending a line of railway across 
 the State of Maine and the Provinces of New 
 Brunswick and Nova Scotia to the nearest available 
 point of North America to Ireland has been fre- 
 (j[uently suggested to very many minds of both con- 
 tinents — looking at the (question from various and 
 distinct points of observation. No one familiar with 
 the commonest pi'inciples of commercial economy 
 can for a moment doubt the truth of the assertion, 
 that at some time or other the necessities of trade 
 will require the adoption of the shortest possible 
 sea voyage between the continents of Eui'ope and 
 America. The discei-ning minds of botli continents, 
 have seen the rapid approach of this event in the 
 various measures by which the lines of railway 
 liave been pushed out from the great commercial 
 centres of England and the United States toward 
 each other, in the general direction of tke shortest 
 line between them ; and in the employment of 
 steamships of the most approved models for speed 
 and safety, in preference to the ordinary sailing ves- 
 sels of formet' times. 
 
 154 
 
 iv • ■'. 
 

 SHORTENING TIME OF PASSAGE. 
 
 155 
 
 To have attempted to carry out the idea of 
 reducing the time of passage between New York 
 and London to its lowest possible limit at the time 
 the line of the Cunavd steamers was established, 
 would have been premature. The plan can never be 
 properly successful till the business along the rail- 
 way lines from London to the west coast of Ireland, 
 and fi'om New York to Canso, including through 
 and way business united, will justify the investment 
 of the capital necessary for its completion. Whether 
 or not that time has arrived is a question which has 
 been fairly propounded, and which the business 
 men of both countries are now preparing to solve. 
 The movement on this continent toward accomplish- 
 ing this result has been made, in consequence of 
 the grant of monay made by the British government 
 toward the completion of the Midland Gi'eat West- 
 ern Railway of Ireland, to extend from Dublin to 
 Galway ; and in aid ot the Britannia Tubidar Bridge. 
 
 Under the impression that the completion of the 
 line ')f railway across the Menai Strait and across 
 the breadth of Ireland must change the course of 
 travel, and the point of its embarkation to this con- 
 tinent from the British Islands and tlie continent of 
 Europe, an effort was made to arouse the public 
 mind of Maine in favor ( f a correspc^nding move- 
 ment on this side of the Atlantic, at a railroad meet- 
 ing held at Bangor in February, 1850. The interest 
 avvalv'ened by the discussion on that occasion led to 
 the presentation of the matter to tlie Legislature 
 of Maine, in the following petition, which was laid 
 before that body : 
 
 
 
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 156 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 PETITIOX. 
 
 To the Honorable, the Senate and House of 
 Representatives of the State of Maine, in session at 
 Augusta, A.D. 1850: — The undersigned, citizens of 
 Maine, respectfully request your honorable body to 
 cause to be surveyed and ascertained, the most prac- 
 ticable route for a railway from the city of Bangor 
 to the eastern boundary of the state, in the general 
 direction of the city of St. John, New Brunswick ; 
 and to take such further action in the premises 
 as will tend to favor the construction of a rail- 
 road from the city of Bangor to some good harbor 
 on the eastern shore of Nova Scotia, or Cape 
 Breton, best fitted to become the entrepot and 
 terminus for the most direct line of Transatlantic 
 navigation. 
 
 From the easternmost point of Nova Scotia, Cape 
 Canso, in latitude 45 deg. 1 7 min. N. and in longitude 
 61 deg. 3 min. W., to Galway Bay, in Ireland, in 
 latitude 53 deg. 13 min. N. and in longitude 9 deg. 
 13 min. W., the distance is about 2,000 miles. As- 
 suming a speed of seventeen miles an hour in steam 
 vessels, the Atlantic Ocean can be crossed between 
 these points in five days' time. 
 
 The nearest accessible harbor to Cape Canso — 
 Whitehaven, in latitude 45 deg. 10 min. N., longitude 
 61 deg. 10 min. W., according to the authority of Ad- 
 miral Owen, in a report on the subject made to Sir 
 John Harvey, September, 1846 — ''is a most splendid 
 and commodious port, at the nearest available point 
 of North America to Ireland; its natural facilities 
 greatly exceeding those of Halifax, or any other 
 

 'I > ;,''[' 
 
 SHOx<TENING TIME OF PASSAGE. 
 
 157 
 
 .t;''"? 
 
 point upon the coast." Galway Harbor is one of the 
 iinest in the world, having great advantages over 
 Bristol or Liverpool as a steamship terminus. 
 
 The Gut of Canso could possibly be passed by a 
 bridge ; but upon this point there is at present no 
 satisfactoiy information. By means of a ferry across 
 the Gut of Canso, the line could be extended to 
 Louisburg Harbor in Cape Breton, still farther east, 
 to a point less than two thousand miles distant from 
 Galway Bay, as will appear by map or plan. 
 
 From Galway to Dublin a line of railway is nearly 
 completed across Ireland, and is in actual operation 
 from Dublin to Mullingar, a distance of fifty miles. 
 From Dublin, the distance of sixty-three miles across 
 the Irish Channel to Holyhead, is passed with steam 
 packets, at the rate of eighteen miles an hour, to which 
 place ^he Chester and Holyhead Railway is already 
 finished, connecting with Liveipool and London — 
 crossing the Menai Strait by the Britannia Tubular 
 Bridge, which was opened for trafiSc on the 18th of 
 March, 1850. 
 
 The route of the steamship from Liverpool to 
 New York passes nea to Cape Race in Newfound- 
 land, Cape Breton, and Cape Canso, and thence along 
 the coast of Nova Scotia by Cape Sable, and paral- 
 lel with the general line of the c</ast of New Bruns- 
 wick and Maine. From Cape Canso to New York 
 the distance can be passed in about the length of 
 line by land as by water, and in one third the time. 
 From New York to Waterville the railway is already 
 finished, a distance of four hundred and ten miles. 
 From Waterville to the city of St. John the distance 
 
 ' !3 
 
»S8 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 V ■^ 
 
 \\' U- 
 
 ^f -;.• 
 
 
 would probably be about two hundred miles ; and 
 from St. John to Whitehaven less than two hundred 
 and fifty miles farther ; making the entire distance 
 from New York to Whitehaven from eight hundred 
 to nine hundred miles in all. 
 
 From Whitehaven to the head of the Bay of 
 Fundy, at Sackville, a feasible route for a railway 
 has been ascertained, passing near to Pictou, through 
 the valuable coal districts along the shore of the 
 Gulf of St. Lawrence ; and it is believed that the 
 Legislature of Nova Scotia would cheerfully engage 
 to construct that part of the line whenever the other 
 portions are secured. 
 
 A line of railway from Halifax, passing in the 
 vicinity of Truro, could be easily connected at r^ome 
 feasible point with the main trunk ; and it cannot 
 be doubted that the enterprising citizens of Halifax 
 would engage in its construction at once. At the 
 present time they are urging the completion of a line 
 from Halifax to Windsor, and a survey of the route 
 has been accomplished. 
 
 From the city of St. John to Shediac Bay, on the 
 Gulf of St. Lawrence, a line has been surveyed for a 
 railway on the general line of the route to Sackville, 
 and Provincial aid to a large amount proposed. The 
 Province of New Brunswick has recently appropri- 
 ated £60,000 currency— $240,000, to construct that 
 portion of the distance between Shediac Bay and the 
 bend of the Petecodiac River — ihe head of naviga- 
 tion on the Bay of Fundy. No doubt can be enter- 
 tained that the Province would extend this line from 
 a point of connection with the Nova Scotia line to 
 
 »«•? 
 
^11 
 
 SHORTENING TIME OF PASSAGE. 
 
 159 
 
 '' : ' i*i^ 
 
 the city of St. John ; and it is believed that the local 
 business of the country between the city of St. John 
 and the head of the Bay of Fundy would at the 
 present time pay a tolerable remuneration 10 the 
 stockholders. 
 
 From the city of St. John to Bangor it is supposed 
 that a route tolerably direct can be found without 
 encountering serious obstacles. The necessary infor- 
 mation upon this point has never been ascertained ; 
 and it is for the purpose of asking that this service 
 may be speedily accomplished, that we approach your 
 honorable body. From Bangor to Waterville pri- 
 vate enterprise has already demonstrated the fact 
 that either of several cheap and practicable routes 
 can be adopted. 
 
 The only grant asked of the Legislature, or that 
 will be necessary to obtain, is an appropriation suf- 
 ficient to secure the completion of the remaining 
 link in the line of surveys, and at a suitable time, 
 the necessary gi'ant of a charter to carry forward 
 this work, which, from the progress of events, must 
 soon claim the public attention. 
 
 The citizens of Maine are generally aware of the 
 importance of the question to the best interests of 
 the state ; but the work is too great for individuals 
 to undertake with their present means. The proper 
 surveys once being completed would place before 
 the country the great advantage of the position of 
 our state for a leading part in the commercial move- 
 ments of the age. Private enterprise ought not to 
 be so largely taxed as it must necessarily be without 
 the grant of aid to the proposed survey in whole or 
 
 I'M 
 
 
 * •(■■Jstfj 
 
 ^^T^il 
 
li'i'--;: 
 
 i6o FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 in part by the state, for the purpose of procuring 
 valuable information, equally desired by, or at any 
 rate of equal importance to, all. Maine ought not, 
 either, to I'emain indifferent to the great advantages 
 which may now be brought within her reach by a 
 proper attention to the great movements in ocean 
 steam navigation and commercial affairs. 
 
 The most strenuous efforts are now made to revive 
 the plan of the Quebec and Halifax line ; and vari- 
 
 ous proje^+s 
 
 are now engagmg 
 
 tin. attention of the 
 
 British Fjovinces, with a view to se ire in some form 
 the aid of the home jjovernment. The movement is 
 gaining favor in Great Britain. From Halifax to 
 Quebec the distance, according to the survey for a 
 railroad by Major Robinson, is six hundred and thirty- 
 five miles ; and this road is urged upon public atten- 
 tion with a view to draw over it a portion of the 
 "Western trade, and place the Lower Provinces in the 
 great line of communication between the grain-grow- 
 ing regions of this continent and Europe. Without 
 going into an extended examination of the merits of 
 this project, it seems to us that it must strike every 
 intelligent mind that the most natural — the cheapest 
 and best — mode of obtaining a communication by 
 railway between the Lower Provinces and Montreal 
 and the West will be found by extending a line of 
 raihvay in the direction of Bangor and Waterville, 
 Maine. From Waterville to Montreal, a distance of 
 three hundred miles, the entire line is finished or 
 under cont^'^ct for completion in 1852, and a branch 
 to Quebec ii^ay be regarded as secured within three 
 years from the present time. 
 
SHORTENING TIME OF PASSAGE. 
 
 i6i 
 
 The highest importance therefore attaches to every 
 movement having reference to the extension of rail- 
 ways east of Bangor, or from the Lower Provinces 
 in the direction of the St. Lawrence River. One 
 great central line for the whole state, and for Euro- 
 pean communication, once laid down, into which the 
 various branch lines could enter, on either side as 
 required — connected with a line extending to Mon- 
 treal and Quebec, — a system of railways would be 
 secured surpassing in value and importance any that 
 has yet been proposed. 
 
 It is not proposed to urge any one to embark 
 hastily in the construction of the projected line ; but 
 to so far present the advantages of this route for the 
 great ends in view, over any other possible line, as to 
 secure for it such aid as in the progress of events its 
 advantages may call forth. If the practicability of 
 the line were properly demonstrated, it is believed 
 that it would command support from the great com- 
 mercial interests of Great Britain and the United 
 States. If already built, no one can doubt the value 
 of the undertaking as a mode of profitable invest- 
 ment. Those who may incline to hesitate, in yield- 
 ing assent to the truth of this assertion, are invited 
 to very carefully review the present condition of 
 affairs. 
 
 The United States now embrace a territory of 
 2,187,490 square miles not organized ini„ states, 
 including Texas. If this whole territory was as 
 densely populated as the state of Massachusetts, it 
 would contain a population of over two hundred 
 millions of people. The same extent of territoiy in 
 
ii.: 
 
 ,.> , 
 
 >,mt^ 
 
 m ■ 
 
 '• '1 
 
 'Ml 
 
 3 
 
 1 6 2 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 Europe, under similar climate, and with fewer 
 natural advantages, contains a still greater popula- 
 tion, while the United Kingdom of Great Britain 
 and Ireland has a ratio of population to the square 
 mile more than twice as great as Massachusetts. 
 The twenty-nine remaining states, exclusive of 
 Texas, comprise an extent of 1,065,158 square miles 
 more. The increase of population in the United 
 states from 1790 to 1800, was at the rate of 35.01 
 percent.; from 1800 to 1810, 36.45 per cent.; from 
 1810 to 1820, 33.35 per cent.; from 1820 to 1830, 
 33.26 per cent. ; from 1830 to 1840, 32.67 per cent. 
 It is believed that the census of 1 850 will show that 
 from 1840 to 1850, the increase has been as great as 
 at any other period of ten years. Causes now at 
 work tend rather to increase than diminish the ratio 
 of increase ; and many now alive will see this nation 
 numbering one hundred and fifty millions of people. 
 
 Commercial intercourse between the United 
 States and Europe has gone on increasing more 
 rapidly than the population of the country. In the 
 year 1820, the attempt was first made to establish a 
 line of packet ships to Liverpool, to sail on certain 
 stated days. Almost every one prophesied their 
 failure, though embracing only two in number, and 
 of 450 tons burthen. At this time there are lines 
 of regular sailing packets from all our large cities, 
 embracing vessels of over 2,000 tons burthen, and 
 reaching hundreds of ships in number. 
 
 About fifteen years ago, the scientific world lis- 
 tened ^'ith attention to the assertion of the learned 
 Dr. Lardner, that it was impossible to navigate the; 
 
71 
 
 '■1 
 
 SHORTENING TIME OF PASSAGE. 
 
 163 
 
 Atlantic Ocean by steam. This theory was dis- 
 proved by the amval of two steamers, the Slriiis and 
 the Great Western, in New York Harbor, one from 
 Bristol, the other from Liverpool, on the 23d day of 
 April, 1838, both on the same day. More than 
 twenty steamships during the present year will run 
 as regular packets between this country and Europe, 
 while the number of sailing vessels is greater than at 
 any former period. 
 
 The number of immigrants which anived in New 
 York in 1838 was 25,581. In 1849, the number 
 reached 231,779. The number which left the United 
 Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland for the United 
 States in 1848, was 188,223 ; and the whole immigra- 
 tion into this country in that year exceeded 250,000. 
 In the year 1849, the number of immigrant ariivals 
 reached 325,000 ; and it is estimated that the number 
 will exceed 400,000 the present year. 
 
 Every year gives fresh impulses to the cause of 
 immigration to the United States, and the disturbed 
 condition of all commercial affairs on the continent 
 of Europe is operating to invite a better class of 
 immigrants than heretofore, embracing much of the 
 skill and mechanical industry of Switzerland, France, 
 and Germany. 
 
 The most indifferent observer will admit that the 
 increase of facilities for tra/el with Europe, must 
 increase far more rapidly for the next ten years, than 
 at any former period. The tiade between the 
 United States and Great Britain is constantly in- 
 creasing and at the present moment beyond any 
 former example. The exports to England in 1840, 
 
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 m 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
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 t 
 
 
 
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■I 
 
 mv:. 
 
 
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 < ''BIS 'if 
 
 1 ■ 
 
 ;ii' 
 
 ,11 ' 
 
 li 
 
 
 'I 
 
 ,lv*i ■■■■.* 
 
 >l'.. 'U ':■ .1 . 
 
 164 yJ'/^^T' INTERNA 7 ZONAL HAIL WA Y. 
 
 were $24,599,666, in 1848 $71,752,315. The imports 
 from England in 1830, were $22,755,040, in 1848 
 $59,763,522. Both exports and imports in 1847 ex- 
 ceeded those of 1848, but the extraordinary demand 
 for food occasioned by the famine in Ireland, gave an 
 unusual impulse to trade in that year. 
 
 A route which would enable the traveller to see 
 an' attractive portion of this continent, the best 
 portion of Ireland, and the most extraordinary work 
 of human skill, the Britannia Tubular Bridge, would 
 of itself invite the pleasure tourist to take this route, 
 if no saving of time or expense were secured. But it 
 is confidently asserted that while to the man of 
 business the same attractions would be offered by the 
 plan proposed, the expense of a trip to Europe can 
 be largely reduced, while it shall save him much if 
 not all uncert^ aty as to the time of his arrival, and 
 some days' time for pui-poses of business. 
 
 From New York to Liverpool, in the shortest line, 
 is 3,000 miles, the route usually traversed is over 
 3,300 miles. By taking the railway from New York 
 to Halifax or Canso, employing the swiftest steam 
 packet from thec^e to Gal way, crossing the Great 
 Midland Railway from Gal way to Dublin, a distance 
 of about 120 miles, and from thence to Holyhead 
 Harbor, a distance of 63 miles, and from thence 
 to London, by the Chester and Holyhead and Lon- 
 don and Northwestern Railways, a distance of 263 
 miles — employing about 1,200 miles of railway, and 
 2,000 miles of steam navigation, — the passage from 
 New York to London may be reduced to seven days' 
 time at all events, and possibly to six days within a 
 few years at farthest. 
 
SHORTENING TIME OF PASSAGE. 
 
 165 
 
 This can only be achieved by 8liortening the sea 
 voyage, and dispensing with the vast weight of coal 
 and other siipeiiluous load now carried. Vessels 
 designed for crossing the ocean with speed, should 
 be relieved of all load not requisite for steadiness 
 and good carriage. Oidinary merchandise will 
 always go more cheaply in sailing vessels. Valuable 
 goods could be transferred to boats of still greater 
 speed, from the ocean terminus, running if necessaiy 
 to the v^arious Atlantic cities, if too bulky to go by 
 railway. In this way, the safest and swiftest pas- 
 sage would be secured. In a few years, instead of a 
 semi- weekly, a daily arrival of steamships may be 
 expected. 
 
 One hundred through passengers a day each way 
 by the railway, would give a most profitable business 
 to the road, in addition to its local business ; and the 
 highest price would readily be paid for the carrying 
 of the mails. The British and the American gov- 
 ernments would willingly enter into a perpetual or 
 permanent contract for this service, at rates of com- 
 pensation representing a capital equal to one third 
 the entire cost of the line. If the proper surveys 
 were now completed, and the necessary chartei's 
 granted, for a continuous line from Bangor to White- 
 haven or Halifax, the scheme would offer induce- 
 ments for the employment of capital, unsurpassed by 
 any enterprise of the age. 
 
 Looking forward but twenty-five years uuly. we 
 shall see this government containing fifty millions of 
 people. Its great rivers and inland seas — its mineral 
 wealth and inexhaustible soil — within a latitude 
 favorable to health of body and vigor of mind, — all 
 
 .!< 
 
 i 
 

 ! a;? F 
 
 ! 
 
 1 66 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL IV A Y. 
 
 conspire to give the fullest development to the spint 
 of progress, recjuisite to supply means for the fullest 
 gratification of every want known to the highest 
 civilization. 
 
 • Under any form of government known to civilized 
 man, the progress of the race would be, under such 
 influences, rapid and vigorous. When, therefore, an 
 enteiprising race, in the possession of such physical 
 advantages as this country possesses, are stimulated 
 to exertion by the action of a free government upon 
 the energies of the whole people, we may confidently 
 expect a higher development in the ideas and institu- 
 tions of society, and a more practical application of 
 knowledge to the wants and necessities of life. 
 
 Maine, from her frontier position and severe cli- 
 mate, has been heretofore regarded as the least 
 favored of all the states in the Union ; while it has 
 the power to become the great manufacturing and 
 great ship-owning state of the Confederacy, if not 
 the first in point of commercial importance. Our 
 climate and our geographical position, generally 
 spoken of as our misfortunes, are in fact the great 
 elements of our strength. The increased necessities 
 which our climate imposes upon us, beyond those of 
 a warmei* latitude, are far more than compensated by 
 our superior capacity for labor, our greater power of 
 endurance, and our extraordinary fondness for exer- 
 tion. With a more extended line of sea-coast than 
 any other state in the Union, and more good harbors 
 than all the other states together, Maine will present 
 at some future day, along her bays and rivers, a line 
 of cities surpassing those which are now found upon 
 
 "f- 
 
 w.- 1 . 
 
 
*■ • ^'i 
 
 SHORTENING TIME OF PASSAGE. 
 
 167 
 
 ♦ . ■'■ 
 
 the shores of the English Channel, or the Baltic 
 Sea. 
 
 This result will be hastened by attracting into our 
 own state the great stream of European business and 
 travel, where it shall divide into two great channels 
 — one flowing uoi'thward to the St. Lawrence valley 
 and the West, the other flowing southward to the 
 great commercial cities of the continent. 
 
 Without the fertile soil of the West, or the rich 
 deposits of coal and iron of Pennsylvania, Maine for 
 twenty years past has not kept pace with the ratio of 
 increase of the whole countiy. From 1820 to 1830, 
 the ratio of her increase was 33.9 per cent., or about 
 the same as that of the whole Union. From 1830 to 
 1840 the rate of increase was only 26.2 per cent. 
 Notwithstanding the healthiness of our climate, the 
 extent of our public lands, with all the facilities in- 
 viting emigration from the more densely populated 
 districts of New England, immigration into the state 
 had become nearly stationary, and the tendency of 
 our people to emigrate west, remained unchecked, 
 till the movement was made to construct a railroad 
 from Poi*t]and to Montreal. The effect of that move- 
 ment is already apparent upon the character, the 
 enterprise, and the business of the state. A small 
 portion only of the energy which has been applied 
 to that undertaking, will speedily accomplish the 
 end now proposed ; — favorably affecting that great 
 enterprise, and all the leading interests of Maine. 
 
 The time is not regarded by most persons as par- 
 ticularly favorable for entering upon new enterprises. 
 The great interests of Maine, ship-building and lum- 
 
 i 
 
 '; 
 
 I 
 
IBPp 
 
 m 
 
 w 
 
 . |;\' ^ [ 
 
 m 
 
 
 Mb* 
 
 
 ^If^ 
 
 ■■■i^'i 
 
 .^■'^ 
 
 1 68 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 bei'ing, for some three years past have been severely 
 depressed, fiiriiisliing less returns ev^en than invest- 
 ments in railwavs. These, in common with all other 
 business interests, are destined at times to suffer. 
 Railway property will, however, advance in value 
 with the growth and increase of business in the 
 state ; while it will also tend to foster industry and 
 stimulate production in every department of labor, 
 beyond any other species of investment. 
 
 It is in vain to expect to retain the natural increase 
 of our population without holding out inducements 
 for labor beyond what are offered by the pursuits of 
 agricidture and lumbering; and we have failed so far 
 to attract to this state the most valuable class of 
 immigrants, that seek for a climate and soil similar to 
 those of Germany and Switzerland, which resembles 
 our own. If proper encouragement was held out to 
 them, we might expect emigrants from the north of 
 Europe to prefer the soil and clhnate of Maine to 
 those of the Mississippi Valley. Instead of this, for a 
 series of years w^e have been compelled to witness 
 the gradual withdrawal of much of our capital into 
 enterj_)rises of other states, an ' a departure from 
 among us of many of the most enterprising of ^he 
 young men of Maine. Real estate has advanced but 
 moderately in value for the last fifteen years, while 
 the new states have grown up within that brief 
 period into wealth and importance. Our frontier 
 position, and the want of a proper state pride and a 
 state policy, have been pointed out as the principal 
 hindrances to the growth of Maine. The opening of 
 the great a\ enues already in progress and proposed, 
 
SHORTENING TIME OF PASSAGE. 
 
 placing Maine in the direct liiie of the gi'eat commer- 
 cial intercourse of the globe, will create new relations 
 in every department of business, and call into exercise 
 such agencies as will soon give to Maine a strength 
 and a position equal to that of any portion of the 
 Union. 
 
 The present period seems to ns favorable for the 
 proposed movement. An experiment is now making 
 to run steamships from Galway to Halifax, aided 
 by the Grea"^ Midland Kailway Company of Ireland. 
 The capital of this company is £2,596,666, or more 
 than 12,000,000 of dollars. 
 
 "'his company has a direct interest to jubserve by 
 inviting the travel between this country and Europe 
 upon its road. The same is true also of the Chester 
 and Holyhead and the TiOiulon and Northwestern Rail- 
 way Companies. These companies, with their various 
 branch lines — under one management — embrace 
 nearly one eighth of the entire traffic of the United 
 Kingdom. The London and Northwestern Railway 
 Company, August !, 1849, owned 478|^ miles of road 
 already finished — built at a cost of £30,617,620, or 
 $150,000,000— 60f miles more in progress, and held 
 the leases of over 200 miles more — including the 
 Chester and Holyhead Railway, representing a capi- 
 tal of at least 200,000,000 of dollars. Amid all the 
 depressions of railway stocks and business, for the 
 past few years in England, the stock of this company 
 has never been sold except above par ; and by the 
 recent advices i'rom Europe, was selling at an 
 advance. The influence of this capital ^vill be 
 brought at once, in aid of any line that shall bring 
 
 5il 
 
170 FIRST INTERNA TIONA r RAIL WA V. 
 
 I : 
 
 across Irelnnd to Dul)]ii.\ the trii\ A ot tliis continent. 
 The same motive which ijaduced the British Gov- 
 ernment to aid the constnatrtiou of the Britannia 
 Bridge, — to obtain the m(.)st direct route from Lon- 
 don to Ireland, — will letid them to favor the plan 
 herein j)roposed. 
 
 Believing, therefore, that the state has only to 
 display to the business community the pi'acticability 
 and advantages of this great route through Maine, to 
 insure at the proj)«?i ime its completion, ^ve respect- 
 iiMy ask your honorable body to cause the line from 
 Bangor ^i 8t. John to be surveyed at the ex[)ense of 
 the state, and such farther measures adopted as will 
 give proper encotiragement to the undertaking. 
 
 June 12, 1850. 
 
 State of Maine. 
 House of Represen patives, /tine 15, 1850. 
 Ordered, That 500 copies of the foregoing petition be printed 
 for the use of the Legislature. 
 
 The printed copies of this petition and map reached 
 the Provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia 
 by a most fortunate concurrence of circumstances, 
 through the agency of A. C. Morton, Es(i., the dis- 
 tinguished engineer of the Portland and Montreal 
 Railroad, at or about the time of the receipt of the 
 following despatch of Eai'l Grey, Colonial Secretary, 
 which negatived forever the request for government 
 assistance to the Quebec and Halifax Railway. 
 
 Dov/NING Street, Jtine 19, 1850. 
 
 Sir : — I have to acknowledge your dispatch No. 168, of the 
 2d ult., enclosing a resolution of the Legislative Council, that 
 
SHORTENING TIME OF PASSAGE. 
 
 171 
 
 an address be presented to yourself, requesting you again to 
 call the attention of her Majesty's government to the subject 
 of the proposed railway from Halifax to Quebec. 
 
 Her Majesty's government have not failed to give their best 
 attention to a subject in which 5-0 deep an interest is taken by 
 the inhabitants of Nova Scotia. But I am bound to state, 
 that they are not prepared to submit to Parliament any 
 measure for raising the funds necessary for its construction, 
 considering the great amount and pressure of the exigencies 
 which continue to weigh on the Imperial treasury. 
 
 [Signed] I have, &c., &c., 
 
 Grey. 
 
 Lieut.-Governoi Sir John Harvey, &c. 
 
 The receipt of tlie plan for the proposed railway 
 through the Provinces and Maine, followed by the 
 despatch of Earl Grey, aroused ai; once to the high- 
 est pitch of excitement the peo2)le of the lower 
 British Provinces in favor of the scheme, and awak- 
 ened a corresponding feeling in the minds of the 
 citizens of Quebec. The plan of a convention at 
 Portland, Maine, to consider the various schemes 
 which had been proposed to conrect the upper and 
 lower British Pro\inces by raih 'ay. was at once 
 agreed upon, and the necessary measures put in 
 progress toward its accomplishment. 
 
 An invitation in the form of a circular was issued 
 by a connnittee of the citizens of Portland, addressed 
 to the Governor, the Council, and the Legislature of 
 Maine, the railroad companies, and friends of jniblic 
 improvement throughout tlie United States and the 
 several British Provinces. The ])urp()se9 of said 
 convention were set forth in the circular of said 
 committee, as follows: 
 
lit. 
 
 
 "^ ' 
 
 '111 rs 
 
 '■' 'it 
 
 
 
 H 
 
 • ' 
 
 
 'T^ 
 
 1 7 2 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA V. 
 
 f ■ 
 
 CIRCULAR. 
 
 Tlie plan of extending \ line of railway through 
 the State of Maine to the lower British Provinces, 
 and to some good harbor on the eastern coast of 
 Nova Scotia has long been regarded as a measure 
 of the highest importance to the commercial interests 
 of this continent and Europe. Events which have 
 occurred on this side the Atlantic within the last few 
 years, in the British Provinces and the United States, 
 have led the most discerning minds of both countries 
 to concur in the belief that the time is rapidly ap- 
 proaching, if not already arrived, when an effort 
 should be made, by all parties interested in such 
 a result, towards its consummation. 
 
 The region of this continent lying to the East of 
 Lake Champlain and the Hudson River, and be- 
 tween the river and the Gulf of St. Lawrence and 
 the Atlantic Ocean, — in reference to its geological 
 features, its topographical and physical geogra[ ihy, — 
 presents many striking characteristics, inviting the 
 attention of the naturalist and the scientific inquirer. 
 Its soil, climate, and commercial advantages indicate 
 that it possesses the greatest natural advantages for 
 the development of the highest physical and social 
 condition of man, and point it out as the future abode 
 of the most enterprising portion of the race. 
 
 This region of country, from the circumstances of 
 its early settlement and the political changes it has 
 undergone, has witnessed the most exciting scenes in 
 the history of this continent, has been the theatre of 
 the fierce contests of different races, and shared in all 
 
 b X: 
 
SHORTENING TIME OF PASSAGE. 
 
 173 
 
 the eventful changes with which for more than two 
 centuries the nations of Europe have been disturbed. 
 
 The final predominance of the English race through- 
 out this region had scarcely become established, when 
 new relations awakened an equally embittered hos- 
 tility between England and her former subjects, 
 leading both countries into bloody and desti'uctive 
 wars. 
 
 The spirit of peace has at last prevailed — national 
 animosities, sectional and political hostility, have dis- 
 appeared between the English races since the estab- 
 lishment of the boundaries of Maine and Oregon, 
 and the contests of w^ar have been succeeded by 
 a noble and generous rivalry for the promotion of 
 the arts of peace. 
 
 The introduction of the steamship and the railway 
 has made former enemies friends, and the citizens of 
 Montreal and Portland, of Halifax and Boston, of St. 
 John and New York, are to all intents and purposes 
 one people, speaking a common language and strug- 
 gling for the same destin}^ National hostility has 
 given way to commercial and social intercourse, and 
 under whatever form of government they may here- 
 after exist, they can never again become hostile or 
 unfriendly. 
 
 An effort is now made to increase the means of 
 communication between different parts of this ex- 
 tended region. In aid of this purpose, a convention 
 is to be held at Portland, on the 31st of July instant, 
 at eleven of the clock in the forenoon, at the City 
 Hall, at which time and place it is proposed to con- 
 sider tht various schemes which have been proposed 
 
 ,*;■■' 
 
 .i\ 
 
 
Pf 
 
 
 ^74 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 for tlie aocoinplisliinent of tliia result. Tlie im- 
 mediate ()l)ject of this convention is to agree upon 
 the most feasi])le ]>lan for pi-olongiiig the line of rail- 
 way from the state of Maine to the lo\ver Britisli 
 Provinces, to some good harbor beat fitted to ]>ecome 
 the entrepot and terminus for the most dii'ect line 
 of Transatlantic navigation, and form a connection 
 by railway ])et\veen the upper and lower British 
 Provinces tlirouofh the state of Maine. 
 
 Sucli a line of railway extended from New York 
 and Montreal to a point of connection in IVIaine, and 
 from thence to Halifax, would undoubtedly prove 
 the most popular and most fre([uented high way for 
 all travellers between Europe and America, and a 
 i^reat thoroujj^hfare both for the old and new world. 
 The Atlantic can br most readily crossed from the 
 eastei'U coast of No\a Scotia to tht^ western coast of 
 Ireland, thence by laihvay to I)ul)lin, and by steam 
 to Holyhead, whence the Menai Strait is crossed by 
 the Britannia Tubuhu- Bridge, and so to London ov 
 Liverpool, or any part t)f Great Britain or the conti- 
 nent of Europe. One great central line for European 
 comnuinication once laid do\^Ti, into whicli the various 
 branch lines could enter on either side as recpiired, 
 connected also by lines of railway willi Montreal and 
 Quebec, Avould secure :. system of railways surpass- 
 ing in value and impoi-tance any that has yet been 
 proposed. 
 
 We are encouraged to believe that the completion 
 of this great work can l3e secured within a reasonable 
 time, without withdrawing any portion of the means 
 
SIIOR TENIA' G TIME OF PASSAGE. 
 
 175 
 
 of the people nloiig tlio line, Avanted l^y tliem for tlie 
 ordinary ])iu'poses of l)Usiness. A liberal ;j^rant of 
 pul)lic lands, and of pidjlic credit, from Nova Scotin, 
 New Brunswick, and Canada, e([iial to that tendered 
 in aid of the Quebec and Halifax Kailway, with 
 8uita])le compensation from the British and Ameri- 
 can jj^overnments for the carrying <»f the mails, will, 
 we believe, at once invite into it private caj)ital from 
 Plui'ope and the commercial interests (»f this country 
 fully ade(piate to its eai'ly completion. 
 
 But whatever may be the pecuniary merits of the 
 enterprise, it has social and commercial relations of 
 the most delicate and patriotic character. Whatever 
 shall tend to allay national prejudice, and harmonize 
 national differences, contributes to advance the high- 
 est interests of humanity, and promote the welfare 
 of the race. 
 
 The most sublime spectacle which the history of 
 the world has CN'er disclosed, is being enacted in our 
 day by the advancement of the English race towards 
 universal supremacy, — a supremacy not maintained 
 by tyranny or force, but resting upon the solid foun- 
 dations of intellectual superiority — a love of freedom 
 and of social order. Regardless of artificial lines of 
 demarkation, or of the politi<'al divisions of this con- 
 tinent, we desire that intercourse between those who 
 speak a commcm language, and are striving for the 
 same destiny, shall be as free as the thoughts of the 
 mighty race who have become the mastei'S of the 
 world. 
 
 Portland, yuly 13, 1850. 
 
 
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 THE NORTHEASTERN BOUNDARY. 
 
 REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OP 
 
 REPRESENTATIVES. 
 
 Subjects of the gravest character are necessarily 
 involved in the resolutions and other legislative 
 proceedings of the state of Maine submitted to the 
 committee ; calling for inquiry into systems of mili- 
 tary defence, the value of railways as a means of 
 attack and defence in time of war, and a careful 
 consideration of the force of national obligation 
 and of public faith growing out of the complex 
 relations of federal and state governments under 
 our national Constitution. With every desire to 
 present the matters referred to them intelligently to 
 Congress, the committee have sought to abridge into 
 the narrowest limits possible the statements of fact 
 and of argument which have iniluenced their judg- 
 ment in reaching the conclusion that the general 
 government should co-operate with Maine in its 
 efforts to provide defences for the northeastern 
 frontier. 
 
 The northeastern boundary dispute has been one 
 of the most embarrassing subjects of American 
 diplomacy, and has filled a large space in the public 
 discussions and in the annals of the State Depart- 
 
 176 
 
 l^- 
 
NOR THE A S TERN BO UNDAR V. 
 
 •77 
 
 ment, moivi so, perlia])s, than any other piihlic (jiies- 
 tion since tlie foiuuhition of the government. It 
 will always forcibly recur to the thoughts of pul)lic 
 men and to the minds of our people on the sugges- 
 tion of a possibility of a disturbance of our friendly 
 relations with Great Britain. The [)olitical dis- 
 closures of the last twenty years, the gradual modi- 
 fication of the colonial policy of England, and the 
 increasing intimacy of the people on each side of 
 the line along the eastern and the noi'thern border, 
 enable us the better to understand the motives of 
 England in seizing upon that northeastern section of 
 the Union. The possession of this territoiy^ afforded 
 her the means of comnuinication between her upper 
 and lower provinces in the war of 1812-15, and she 
 held it with unyielding pertinacitj^, menacing a war, 
 until she induced our government to acquire the 
 consent of Maine, and to surrender a military route 
 through the valley of the liver St. John, and yield 
 up to her this key to her Noiili American posses- 
 sions. 
 
 Maine held this territory by an unquestioned title. 
 Without her consent there was no power to agree 
 on a conventional line of boundaiy which should 
 secure to Great Britain this greatly coveted advan- 
 tage. Such was the explicit statement of our gov- 
 ernment in all its negotiations with Great Britain, 
 asserted by lion. Edward Livingston, Secretary of 
 State in General Jackson's admiiistration, in his 
 despatch of July 21, 1832, to Charles Bankhead ; 
 and by Hon. Mr. Forsyth, and others, from the time 
 of the failure of the award of the King of the 
 
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 1 78 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL Jf'A Y. 
 
 Netherlands, to the conchision of the treaty of 
 Washington, August 9, 1842. The facts, there Foiv, 
 set forth in the preamble to the resolutions of Maine, 
 of March 25, 18()4, in the words following, to wit: 
 "Whereas it is made the duty of the federal govern- 
 ment, under the Constitution of the United States, 
 to protect and preserve the integrity of tin; Union, 
 and defend each state in the maintenance of its 
 sovereignty over its havful territory; and whereas 
 the original boundary of JVIaine extended northward 
 to the dividing ridge that separates the St. Lawi'ence 
 waters from those of the St. John Iliver, the title to 
 which was clear and unquestionaljle ; and whereas 
 the United States government neLclected and J'efused 
 to maintain and enforce the I'ight of this state to 
 the upper basin of the St. John Iliver, permitting 
 British troops to march across said territory in the 
 war of 1812, and at the time of the Canadian I'ebel- 
 lion in 1837, and after^vards to hold military pos- 
 session of the country ; and whereas the state of 
 Maine, in 1838 and 1839, attem[)ted to repossess 
 herself of her lawful territory, and to protect her 
 soil from spoliation by Provincial trespassers; 
 and whereas the United States goverament inter- 
 posed its paramount authority, calling upon Maine 
 to withdi'aw all armed forces detailed for the pro- 
 tection of its ten'itoiy, and assumed the duty and 
 insisted on its right to exclusive control over all 
 matters of needful defence of the same ; and whereas 
 this duty of defending the territory of Maine was 
 so imperfectly performed by the United States gov- 
 ernment, that the territoiy was stripped of its most 
 
NOR TH EASTERN BO UNDAR Y. 
 
 »79 
 
 gov- 
 most 
 
 valu<'i])le timber before Muine could get possession 
 of wliut remained to lier after tlie ratification of the 
 treaty of Washington, wliereby a just and valid 
 chiim now exists against tlie general government 
 which has been j)ractically recognized by the federal 
 authorities at Washington," cannot be called iu 
 question. 
 
 The matters involved in that controversy have 
 often been presented, but their importance cimld 
 not be realized at the time, and cannot be measured 
 now without estimating the value of our institutions 
 and forms of government in contrast with those of 
 that nationality that now divides and holds dominion 
 with us upon the continent of North America ; and 
 comprehending in some adequate measure the future 
 of the race under tvt^o independent governments 
 speaking a common language and striving for the 
 same objects and the same destiny upon this broad 
 theatre of the New World. 
 
 Vast as is our present national domain, it is less 
 in extent than that of the colonial empire of Great 
 Britain under the government of her North Amer- 
 ican Provinces, and that empire is in possession of 
 such elements of strength as might lead her people 
 to aspire to supremacy upon the continent, had they 
 commercial advantages such as would be secured to 
 them by the possession of the sea-coast of Maine. 
 This sea-coast was the chief object, as it was also 
 the principal theatre, of the terrific struggles h^- 
 tween France and England from the first occupation 
 of the country by the European races, till its final sur- 
 render to Great Britain at the close of the French war. 
 
 
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 Waiving, for the present, all discussion us to the 
 comparative advantages of the two systems of gov- 
 ernment now brought prominently into contrast by 
 the expansion of the colonial empire of Great 
 Britain in North America, and looking only at the 
 chances of war, we must estimate the importance of 
 the question before us, in view of our exposure to 
 danger by the wresting from us of a further section 
 of the eastern frontier — aifoi'ding thereby, as it 
 would, increased means of offence to an enemy, and 
 diminishing our own strength, in the event of a 
 European war. All exteraal dangers to our country 
 — all dangers arising from the possible diminution 
 of our territory — ^lie at the east and north, along our 
 eastern and northern frontiei's. An tneray might 
 burn and destroy the cities and ii'/ns of the sea- 
 board in the Central and Southern States for the pur- 
 pose of inflicting injury, as done, to some extent, in 
 the war with England in 1812-15, but no one would 
 think of penetrating very far into the interior of the 
 country. No foreign power will ever wage war on 
 us for the conquest of the heart or central portions 
 of the country. The eastern seaboard, the northern 
 lakes, and portions of the Pacific States, would be 
 seized upon as worthy objects of conquest. The 
 possession of thesey or either of them, would give 
 strength to our northern neighbor, whether the 
 country continued under the dominion of England 
 or were transferred to France. 
 
 A war between France and England would, 
 naturally lead to a struggle for the control of 
 Canada; and in the event of a war between the 
 

 NORTHEASTERN BOUNDARY. 
 
 i«i 
 
 United States and Gi'eat Britain, Maine, all British 
 North America, and the entire frontier from the 
 mouth of the St. Croix to the Pacific Ocean, would 
 be directly involved in the struggle. 
 
 The upper or interior provinces of Great Britain, 
 originally belonging to France, with over a third of 
 the present population of Fi'ench origin, speaking 
 their original language, and inheriting all the 
 prejudices of their race, are situated, in reference to 
 the commerce of the Avorld, like the empire of 
 Russia, dependent on the frozen Baltic or the 
 narrow confines of the Black Sea. These British 
 Provinces form a vast empire at the north of our 
 boundar^'^, extending across the breadth of the con- 
 tinent. Shut up in winter from active participation 
 in the traffic of the Atlantic Ocean, the great theatre 
 of the commerce of our day, it was long since per- 
 ceived that they must have better access to the sea 
 than is afforded by the natural outlets of the 
 countiy. The merchants of Montreal had long 
 realized this necessity, and they naturally fell iu 
 with the views of their neighbors in Maine in 1844, 
 and embarked their means in a common enterprise — 
 a railway from Montreal to Portland. This railway 
 has given Canada an open seaport, inviting thither, 
 by means of this new avenue to the St. Lawrence, 
 the capital and trade of British North America. 
 Portland is made the winter port of Canada, and the 
 packet station, for twenty-four weeks of the year, of 
 its lines of ocean steamers. 
 
 This line of railway is as important in its military 
 aspects as in its commercial bearings; yet it had 
 
 f --in 
 
 
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 182 
 
 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL IVA V. 
 
 
 neve" entered into tbe military calculations of our 
 government till attention was called to it by the 
 authorities of Maine. All former plans of the War 
 Office and of the Engineer Bureau were based on 
 the idea that the route by the valley of Lake 
 Champlain was the only one between the 8t. 
 Lawrence and the seaboard till the valley of the 
 Kennebec was reached; while the prescience and 
 forecast of commerce connected the St. Lawrence 
 and the Atlantic seaboard, in a favorable latitude, 
 at the ^Kjints where the navigable waters of each 
 apj)roach nearest — Montreal and Portland. One of 
 the boldest and most successful of the commercial 
 enterprises of modern times was the construction of 
 this line of railway, with its extension across the 
 Victoria Bridge at Montreal, and to the foot of Lake 
 Huron, affording an uninterrupted line of railway, of 
 uniform gauge, for the transit and transfer of freight, 
 without change of cars, from all the lake ports fiom 
 Sarnia to Montreal, into ocean steamers and sailing 
 vessels at Portland harbor. 
 
 This magnificent river of commerce, though but a 
 few years in operation, has already influenced the 
 direction of businesis, if not chaniyed the course of 
 trade. Western produce, destined to Boston and 
 other eastern New England ports, comes, to some 
 extent, already, by way of Portland, over the Grand 
 Trunk Railway, while Eastern Maine, and the lower 
 provinces look more and more to this route every 
 year for their supplies. Montreal is commercially 
 situated, in reference to Portland, as Albany and 
 Buffalo are to New York City, or Paris to Havre, in 
 
NOR THEASTERN BO UNDAR Y. 
 
 183 
 
 France. With the growth of tlie Northwest, and the 
 development of the lake trade, this comparison will 
 be the more striking, for at this point on the St. 
 Lawrence, during the season of navigation, the trans- 
 fer of goods from sail-boats to sea-going vessels is 
 effected. Hence, Portland and Montreal will natu- 
 rally seek one commercial law for themselv^es, if not 
 ft)r the entire English-speaking and English-governed 
 peojtle of the continent. The commerce of these 
 two cities has been rapidly developed by the rail- 
 way. The import trade of Montreal increased from 
 $9,245,884 in 1852, to $20,529,893 in 1862. Her 
 exports were $2,119,228 in 1851, and $10,415,738 in 
 1801. The foreign imports into Portland in 1849 
 were $498,340. In 1803 they amounted to $9,034,- 
 520, including $8,419,005 passing into Canada, with- 
 out the payment of duties. The exports of Poiiland 
 to foreign countries were valued at $643,529 in 
 1849; in 1803 they reached a valuation of $5,018,- 
 356. These recent triumphs of the arts of pea'^e, 
 disclosing more distinctly the natural relations of 
 the two countries, must influence the action of our 
 national government — called upon to meet the new 
 necessities which the experience of the hour and the 
 civilization of the aije call forth. 
 
 While extending national dominion, by the rapid 
 expansion of our population, wealth, and material 
 power, on each side of the continent, on the north 
 and east by the surer conquest of the arts of peace, 
 and the more intimate relations of commerce and 
 trade, unmindful of political dangers at home, the 
 people of the Northern States are summoned to new 
 
 
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 *'■ '('.'3 
 
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 1 84 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 f1 
 
 
 duties by tlie ntirring scenes of civil war. Called to 
 meet this new order of events, it is tlieir duty to con- 
 template the certainties of the future. The future 
 tliat lies before us is not that golden age anticipated 
 and heretofore pi'edicted by a hopeful view of 
 past history. Our golden age is i)ast. The future 
 of our goveraiuent must be one of stern responsi- 
 bility, in view of the ticcumulated experience and 
 burden of this hour of trial. 
 
 Our nation must soon be called upon to take the 
 responsibilities of a great military and conunercial 
 power among the nations — duties lieretofore un- 
 known to American statesmanship — instead of yield- 
 ing a blind submission to manifest destiny — a half- 
 fonned trust in accident and Providence. 
 
 British North America, holding the chief command 
 of the North American fisheries, and all the out- 
 ports of the continent east of the St. Croix, has 
 to-day an extent of territory greatei" than was ever 
 included in the boundaries of the American Union ; 
 and though its frontier on the Atlantic Ocean and 
 the northern seas above the St. Lawrence is of com- 
 paratively little value for settlement, the eastern 
 districts are full of all the elements of wealth ; and 
 the vast interior above our northern border, includ- 
 ing the Pacific slope and the region drained by the 
 rivers of the north, contains more arable wheat- 
 growing laud than the entire region of the United 
 States lying between the Missouri River and the 
 Pacific Ocean. This country is destined, in time, to 
 sustain a population as dense as that inhabiting 
 the same latitudes on the eastern continent, in 
 
NOR THE A STERN HO UNBAR Y. 
 
 Noi-tbern Europe and Asiji, juhI could sustain a 
 2)opulation as great as that now under tl>e do- 
 minion of the government of Russia. Wheat is 
 raised over a bieadtli of more tlian ek^ven degrees 
 of latitude north of the forty-ninth parallel, and 
 Indian corn can be grown north of the forty-ninth 
 2>arallel of north latitude, over the vast and well- 
 watered table-land plains of the Northwest. 
 
 Dividing with us the empire of the great lakes ; 
 holding the outlet of that vast mediterranean sea, 
 the St. Lawrence, from the f(»rty -fifth i»arallel to the 
 ocean, they can control the trade and transportation 
 of all the Northwest, competing with us for the trade 
 of the entire lake basin. Ships of a size capable of 
 navigating the ocean can pass through the canals to 
 Chicago and Superior City ; and there in no reason 
 to doubt that railroads and canals will yet connect 
 Lake Superior with Lake Winnipeg, and the 750 
 miles of the navigalde waters of the Saskatchewan 
 send its traffic through this route to the Atlantic. 
 There are those far-seeing enough to predict that in 
 time, through these great watercourses of the North- 
 west, by connecting Frazer's River with the Sas- 
 kjitchewan River by canal, goods may be water- 
 borne from the St. Lawrence to the Pacific seas. 
 
 British statesmanship, if not British dii)lomacy, 
 has for the last fifty years concerned itself mainly 
 with c[uestions of colonial empire. The war of 1812 
 revealed the weakness of her North American pos- 
 sessions, and confii-med the opinion of King George 
 the Third, who objected to the St. Croix in 17S.3, and 
 insisted on the Piscataqua as the boundary ; England 
 
 ■f .■ 
 
 
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 i: 
 
 I 
 
 1 86 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL \VA V. 
 
 agreed to a peace, as she saw our government 
 ffutlierlnu: streni^th for a continuance of tlie strus^i^le. 
 Maine j)enetrates like a wedge from the Atlantic 
 seaboard to within almost cannon-sliot distance of 
 the St. Lawrence, practically severing the comnuini- 
 cation between the upper and lower British Prov- 
 inces. The only route between them, from the 
 harbor of Halifax, her great naval station on the 
 continent, to Quebec, the military fortress of the St. 
 Lawrence, was across the territoiy of Maine, through 
 the valley of the St. John. Troops were landed at 
 Halifax in midwinter, pushed through to Canada by 
 this route, enabling her to strike our foi'ces on the 
 northern fi-ontier, with her glazed veterans from 
 the battle-fields of Euro[)e, before our forces in the 
 Northwest were aware of their danger. The value of 
 the St. John valley for military puiposes was then 
 fully undt 'stood by her, and she closed the war by 
 the treaty of " ',)eace and amity," concluded at Ghent, 
 December 24, 1814. By the 2d article of this treaty 
 it was agreed that every thing was to be restored to 
 the status ante helium, except certain islands which 
 were to be made the subject of examination and 
 future settlement. By this treaty, however, we 
 were completely overreached and outgeneraled. 
 
 Prior to this no (piestion was ever raised as to the 
 boundary between New England and the British 
 possessions, for, to use the language of the best 
 English geographer, Professor Long : " No language 
 could have been made use of, with the then existing 
 knowledge of the physical geography of the country, 
 more clearly establishing the right of the United 
 
St. 
 
 to 
 licli 
 and 
 
 we 
 
 the 
 itish 
 best 
 Liage 
 !tinf]r 
 
 lited 
 
 NOirrnrwiSTERN boundary. 
 
 187 
 
 States to tlie entire territory than that enii)h)ye(l in 
 tlie treaty of 1783."— (See Lilirary of Useful 
 Knowle<lge, History of North America.) 
 
 Tlie treaty of (ilient, article Sth, provided for the 
 appointment of commissioners to run the line, etc. 
 It further provides that : " If the said conunissioners 
 shall agree, etc., such decision shall be final and 
 conclusive." 
 
 "And it is further agreed, that in the event -if the 
 two commissioners dirfferimj xjxm all or any of the 
 matters no referred to them, or in the event of both or 
 either of said coniniiss toners refasing or declininyj or 
 wilfnlhj omitting to act as such,'" etc., " some friendly 
 sovereign or state to be then named for that ])urpose 
 who shall decide," etc. 
 
 By this language Great Britain found a chance to 
 escape from her treaty obligations. She set up a 
 show of good faith ; ai)pointed her commissioner, 
 under the 5th article of the treaty^, to run and mark 
 the boundary line, from the source of the St. Croix 
 to the head of the Connecticut Kiver ; api)ointed 
 her conmiissioner to determine the channel of the St. 
 Croix, as provided foriii the 4th article of the treaty, 
 and another connnissioner to establish the line in the 
 channel of the St. Lawrence River, as requii'ed in the 
 6th article of the treaty. The two latter commis- 
 sions were executed; one on November 24, 1817; 
 the other on June 18, 1822. — (See Statutes at Large, 
 vol. 8, pp. 250, 274.) 
 
 But the attempt to execute the commission for the 
 running of the line, imder the 5th article of the 
 treaty, failed. The commissioners were named in 
 
 
 
 
FT 
 
 Pi 
 
 1 88 FIRS T INTERNA TIONAL RAIL \VA Y. 
 
 1816. Our governiiuiut ai)p()inted Mr. Johnson ; the 
 British j^overnment selected Mr. Bouchette; they 
 met at St. Andrew's, Sei)teniber 28, 181(5, and tlie 
 work was undertaken and partially performed in the 
 years 1817 and 1818. Mr. Bouchette was removed, 
 and Mr. Odell, a more pliant surveyor, substituted, 
 and under imperial itistructions the contini^ency 
 j)rovided for in the 5th article of the treaty of Ghent 
 happened, by the refumloiWvd British commissioner 
 October 23, 1820, to carry out the work; and our 
 government was forced into an agi'eement for an 
 umi)ire — a reference to a friendly sovereign or state. 
 Such an opj)ortunity for the exhibition of bad faith 
 was never suggested as a possibility to the minds of 
 the honorable American gentlemen who negotiated 
 the treaty, any more than the thought that it was 
 possible for Great Britain to demand in our day the 
 surrender of the rebel emissaries. Mason and Slidell, 
 contrary to all her previous declarations, the uniform 
 hereditary j)olicy of her government ; or, what is still 
 more I'ecent, an apology from our government for the 
 seizu? -^ of the pirates of the Portland steamer CJiesa- 
 peahe in a Provincial harbor. 
 
 Maine always comprehended the question and in- 
 sisted on maintaining [)ossession of the territory. The 
 state of Massachusetts holding, at the time of the 
 treaty of 1783, jurisdiction over the district of 
 Maine, granted the townships of Eaton and Ply- 
 mouth in 1807 and 1808, both lying north of the 
 Aroostook River, and within the terntory subse- 
 quently brought iui:o dispute. 
 
NOR THE AS TERN BO UN DA R Y. 
 
 TS9 
 
 Hon. Mr. Stevenson, writing to Lord Pahnerston 
 on tliis subject of the Biitish claim, under date of 
 April 21, 1838, says : " It has oidy been hi nee the treat ij 
 of IS 14, (tnd the failure to ohf a in the territory hy ces- 
 sion ami purchase, that the claim has been set up," 
 etc. — (Parliamentary Papers of 1838, appendix, 
 page 80.) 
 
 The instructions to the commissioners in 1810 
 were to run due north till they reached the waters 
 flowing into the St. Lawrence, which carried the line 
 far north of the St. John River. 
 
 From the time of her refusal to nm and mark the 
 boundary line, to the ratification of the treaty of 
 Washington, the conduct of Great Britain was alike 
 distinguished for the absence of honorable dealing, 
 and the abundance of expressions of her distin- 
 guished consideration. Our government dreaded 
 war on what was esteemed so slight a pretext as the 
 lo.-is of a portion of our territoiy; and hesitated, 
 instead of insisting on a choice of line, even if the 
 ado[)tion of such a line should bring about an inter- 
 ruption of friendly relations. Had they insisted, 
 there is no doubt that the line would have been lun 
 and estal)lislied, and the whole matter closed, twenty 
 years earlier, without loss of territory, of honor ; or 
 the shedding of blood. 
 
 The appointment of the King of the Netherlands, 
 under the convention of September 29, 1827, as 
 arbitrator, failed to settle the controversy. He 
 awarded the bed of a river, in the execution of a 
 commission to find the highlands separating the 
 waters that flowed in opposite directions, from the 
 
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 1 
 
 f^\ 
 
 i.'' 
 't'. 
 
 
 
1 90 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL ]VA V. 
 
 northwest angle of Nova Scotia to the liead of the 
 Connecticut River. TheabHurdity of such an award 
 served only to excite ridicule, and the Senate of the 
 United States, by a vote of 35 to 8, rejected the 
 award, as not responsive to the submission. But 
 Great Britain gained time. AVhile agreeing to 
 abstain from exercising jurisdiction over the territoiy, 
 she hesitated not to violate this contract. Sir 
 Howard Douglass, as Governor of New Brunswick, 
 in 1824, gave licenses to cut the timber, and assumed 
 jurisdiction over land. Our government protested 
 against these proceedings, as extracts from public 
 docunents will show. 
 
 I^^rom President's Message, Decemher^, 1827. 
 
 " While these questions [boundary, etc.] have 
 been pending, incidents have occurred of conflicting 
 pretensions and of dangerous character upon the 
 territory itself in disjiute between the two nations. 
 By a common nnJer standing between the govern- 
 ments, it was agreed that no exercise of exclusive 
 jurisdiction hy either party, while the negotiation was 
 pending, should change the question of right to be 
 definitely settled." 
 
 Mr. Clay, Secretary of State, to Mr. Vaughan, 
 British Minister, November 17, 1827. 
 
 After reciting instances of British jurisdiction on 
 the Aroostook River, Mr. Clay concluded his note in 
 these words : " The proceedings which it discloses 
 being incompatible with tlie rights of the United 
 
NORTHEASTERN BOUNDARY. 
 
 191 
 
 Statfii*, nt vtiriiince with tliat forbcnraiice and moder- 
 ation wliich, it has heeii Kudcrstood hetween v.9, were 
 to he mutmdhj ohncrvcd, ami exhibiting the exercise 
 of I'igorous acts of authority within the (lis[)Ute(l 
 territory whieli coiihl only be justified ])y consider- 
 ing it as constituting an incontestable part of the 
 British dominions, I have to recjuest such explana- 
 tions as the occasion calls for." Subsequently Maine 
 ^vas ousted of all jurisdiction. 
 
 
 -; '4*1 
 
 ■..;y» 
 
 Mr. Van Buren, Secretanj of State, to Governor 
 Smithy March 18, 1831. 
 
 "I am instnicitil by the President to express his 
 desire that ^vliile the matter is under deliberation, 
 no steps may be taken by the state of Maine, with 
 regard to the disputed teriitory, wdiich miglit b*' 
 calculated to internipt or embarrass the action of 
 the executive branch of this government upon the 
 subject." 
 
 Mr. Livingston, Secretary of State, to Governor 
 Smith, October 5, 1831. 
 
 " In directing me to make this communication, the 
 President has instructed me to ask for such informa- 
 tion on the subject as you may possess, and to add 
 the expression of his earnest wish that no measures 
 may be taken by the state authorities that will 
 change the state of things, before the whole sub- 
 ject can be acted upon at the ensuing session of 
 Congress." 
 
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 I'lNOiMilivi' of (li(< ll|iilr«l SlulcM lo roiifonn willi 
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 sl.'ilo o( (liiiisrs MM it (lien rNistctl on l)o(li hu\oh nnlil 
 ii liM.'il »lisj>osilion r«MiM l)o in.'ulo of (ho «[U<'H(i(>ii/' 
 
 (tt^vd'/h^r Snn'f/i ti> Mr. I.ii'l)hjst(U>, Xoiuinhcr 10, 
 
 1 s;i 1 . 
 
 "In your Inst i»'I(»m' I miu infoniUMJ (hnl nn Mn'!m<!:<'- 
 luout \v;»s m.'wK' with (iu» uiinislcr of ({rcMJ Hiilniti 
 for iMH's*^^!!!!; i\w stnh' of things jim it IIhmj (vxislcd 
 on ln>tl» si«los, until ;» tinnl ilispositi«»n «'<tuM lu' niM«l(< 
 of tlio (|iiostion. .'intl (It.-it tlio aiTanu^MncMit wmm roni- 
 nwmiontt^d \o \\\o, I run only s<}it<\ in reply, (luii 
 until your l;ist lettiM* no ni>(ii'o of mucIi an jirrnni:: '• 
 niont wMs (>\ tM' rr*'('i\ < (1 1>\ nn\ .'in«l n«> cou\ of it. cnn 
 1h» found aniiMii:: tlie arrliivi's o'i this statt*. Though 
 allusiiMi is made \o sui-h an arranp'UUMit. in (he eor- 
 Tvs|HnnUMUv betweiMi Mr. Clay, fornior Secretary of 
 State, anil \\\\ ]M*etleeessor, the late (Jovenu>r Lincoln, 
 it was then stated to liave been violatt'd 1)V the Hrit- 
 ish authorities. . . . Purini*: the whole proijress 
 of this negotiation M.-iine has continued respivt fully 
 but decidciily to ivnionstrate nuainst proceed iniLi:H 
 directly involviuij her riixhts and interests ns a state, 
 and to which her ass<Mit w.ia never reijuested. Slie 
 contends that the United States have not the power, 
 by the federal Constitution, to alienate, by negotiii- 
 
NOh' /'///• IS /'/•/: /\ /lOl'X/i.th'V. 
 
 '91 
 
 {\\)\\ or «•( liriwisc, jiiiy itoilKtii of I lie Icriiloty of >i 
 hI.'iIo williniil, llio coiiMt'iil (tf HiM'li hIiiIp. MImi op- 
 
 poHI'd tllO MIliltlliMMDill of |||(< tjIM'Mlioll l<) MlhilnilJiMI." 
 
 'riMMiHciM'tMiiiiiKMil of llic liiii' of IxiiiiMl/iry ill Mi<^ 
 ni.'tniMT |>iovi<lr(l fof ill iIk; Imily of ((liciit whm 
 oxIiMiiHind l>y llin i-(<tVi-(<nr<> lo dm iirhilrr nii<l (lir 
 rrjrrlioii of liiw jiunid. Tlir only mode l<f|, for 
 rMiryiiii^ oiil. Iln' Irrjily whm (lie )i|)|ioiiitni)'iil, of /i 
 new roiiiiiiiHsioii mikI ili<> iiiiiiiiii^ oiil, of ||m> lino. 
 (Ji'cjit hriljiiM drcliin-d IIiIh (o Itc iinpoHHildr uimI ho 
 |)(<r(iiiiM'ioiiM w'lH (ir«<nt nrilnin in iiiHiMlitiK on iioid- 
 iiij^ on lo IIm^ I<'| riloiy, llml. oiir ^ovornmrnl. wjih 
 in<iii('<'(i l(» cnlrr inlo nri^oliiilion for' iln itiiicliiiH*;. It 
 in n soiirc(< of iiiorlirK'.'ilion lo an Ani('i-i(;un <'.if.i/<!n Ut 
 n'.'ul I iio ('on«'S|ioii(iri)«'«i nrid lo (»I»h('Ivi', IImi |»;il(,iy 
 «|ni)>l>lrH nnd niiiy Hiihl.rrfnL^i'H l»y wliifji, for yitarn, 
 oil!" govrniiiM'iil. w.'iM d«'iiid»'<l iiihI l«'d oil' from iJii; 
 <|ii(>Hlion in iHHiic, lill wl IhmI, tlm nnt.liinkin^ iriMHH of 
 tli(^ |)('o|)l(f of IIh' (■(Hinl.iy ^oI, tired of tlw! diHpulo, 
 
 wr 
 
 ]ind fnvoTcd n, HCiltlnncnt on any IcrriiH. In a 
 nci^olialioiiM tlic! HriliHli j^oxM'rniiM'iit l<«'i>(, tliin oru? 
 idea in view ; to \wv \^\^' lani^nai^r <»f licr iniiiiHtfr at 
 Wasliinj^don, Sir i). U. Vaiijrlian, of July 4, IS."..",, to 
 Lord rainicrHJon : '■''(h'eat Jliiliun rn/unt cindcnd 
 forevcv for an, imJuhrriipfcd amini.iimioaiion, hi/ the 
 UHHiil (IihI ((('('UHUmu'd rodil hebnccii, JIallJ'ax a7ul 
 Quehcry — (Pariiuincntary PajxuH, p. .'»<>.) 
 
 Our govci'iiUKMit projtoHod n(!W linrjH of }>oMndary 
 for tho Hak<f of pcs'Ku;. It offt'n'd to tn^at on <jt}i(!r 
 matt(M'H in connection. Tliis inspired England with 
 courage, and our national i^overrini(;nt finally listened 
 to proposals for ''■a co7ivertti(mal liner 
 
m 
 
 
 1 .* ' 
 
 1 94 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA V. 
 
 Maine wan offered one million of acres of land in 
 Michigan by General Jackson's cabinet, selected by 
 her and located in a S(j[uare foi-ni, in case she would 
 submit to the award of the Dutch king. This offer 
 she declined, and by resolutions luumimously adopted, 
 called on the federal government to run and mark 
 the boundary line. — (See Resolutions of Maine, of 
 March 25, 1837.) Great Britain renewed her de- 
 mand for a conventional line. On April 28, 1835, 
 Mr. Forsyth, United States Secretary of State, in- 
 forms Mr. Vaughan, the British minister, " that the 
 President does not possess the poiver to estahlish a con- 
 ventional houndary without the consent of the state 
 of Maine r — (Parliamentary Papers, p. 83.) 
 
 Lord Palnierston, in his reply of November 19, 
 1837, daunted by nothing, notices this statement of 
 the rights of Maine, and combats it to avoid giving 
 an answer to the direct proposal made by Mr. For- 
 syth for a ne^^' commission " to trace out the line." 
 The proposal made by our government, " that a com- 
 mission of exploration and survey should be a[)- 
 pointed for that purpose," is evaded and finally 
 declined. Lord Palnierston proposes the removal of 
 " the constitutional difficulties^^ by " a new agreement 
 for a conventional line," and says, " it would he in- 
 dispensahle that the state of Maine shotdd he an 
 assenting partij to the arrangem.ent.'" — (7i., p. 98.) 
 
 Maine, seeing the stripping and waste of her lands, 
 renewed her request )'ear after year. Our govern- 
 ment would do nothing. New Brunswick, without 
 any shadow or pretence of title to the territoiy, 
 Ijang, as it did, west of the due north line from the 
 
NORTHEASTERN BOUNDARY. 
 
 '95 
 
 St. Croix, which had always been the western limit 
 of the territory of Nova Scotia, and in later times 
 of New Brunswick, was giving permits to cut the 
 timber; appointed a warden over it, and hesitated 
 not to grant titles to the lands. 
 
 Maine sought to protect the territory from spolia- 
 tion by force in 1838 and 1839, and brought on 
 what is known as the Aroostook war. The general 
 government then interposed its paramount authority, 
 and forced Maine to retire from the territory, or 
 encounter a war with the United States. 
 
 Great Britain achieved lier object. She made 
 Maine the party on one side, and the government of 
 the United States the nominal party for her benefit 
 on the other, ready to agree to any terms that could 
 be extorted from Maine. 
 
 Mr. Webster found the controversy thus made up 
 when he became Secretary of State in 1841. lie 
 was not inclined to regard it in any other light than 
 as one belonging to Maine, rather than one affecting 
 the highest interests and honor of the nation. The 
 country demanded at his hands a settlement of the 
 question, for which task no one of his predecessors 
 had been equal. His great power, and his vast in- 
 fluence over the minds of the people of New Eng- 
 land, alone enabled him to force a settlement of the 
 dispute. The general government, during all the 
 previous negotiations, had declined to look at its 
 merits, to demand a settlement on the ground of title, 
 and to face England on the true issue : though the 
 Senate had declared the title of Maine "clear and 
 unquestionable." 
 
 ■ • ''■Ri 
 
 '-■ H 
 
 < •.J 
 
 /'I 
 
 \3*\ 
 
 i . 
 
 i 
 
 1: 
 
r , 
 
 liii 
 
 i ■ J 
 
 
 
 196 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 Maine, deserted by the national administration, 
 was forced to yield to the demands of power, or 
 wage war single-handed for her rights, not only 
 against the British government and her colonies, but 
 against the government of the federal Union. She 
 was, in this way, robbed of 5,012 square miles 
 (3,207,180 acres) of territory, larger in extent than 
 the State of Connecticut, or rather forced to yield it ; 
 or dispose of it for the paltry sum of $300,000 : a 
 sum not one tenth the value of the timber taken off 
 the territory by Provincial trespassers. 
 
 Great Britain would, no doubt, have paid millions 
 sterling for the acquisition of this territory, but such 
 an idea as making a bargain for money never entered 
 the minds of the people of Maine. They knew the 
 value of the territory (for it was covered with tim- 
 ber), its rich soil and favorable i)osition for purposes 
 of settlement, and its military importance to the 
 country, and they scorned the idea of making money 
 out of it by a surrender. In the heated secret de- 
 bates of the Legislature of Maine, on the proposal of 
 General Jackson to pay the value of the land taken 
 by the Dutch king's award, no man ever dared to 
 raise the suggestion of making money out of the 
 question. He would have been forever execrated as 
 a traitor. The feeling throughout Maine was uni- 
 versal, that it was a crime to sell it ; parting with an 
 •invaluable military outpost would be a political 
 offence, akin to the treason of Arnold. The United 
 States government, with the same reason, might, as 
 they believed, give up by treaty and surrender the 
 right to levy duties on imports, to appease the com- 
 mercial cupidity of Great Britain. 
 
■ ■^.■:'M 
 
 NORTHEASTERN BOUNDARY. 
 
 197 
 
 To make a show of title, England, after 1817, set 
 up a claim to, and exercised jurisdiction over, the 
 entire St. John basin, including that part of Maine 
 lying west of the due north line from the source of 
 the St. Croix, containing 12,027 square miles, equal 
 to 7,697,280 acres, though she only wanted a military 
 road across it. The treaty of Washington gave 5,012 
 square miles of this territory to England, and left 
 7,015 square miles to Maine, equal to 4,489,600 
 acres, from all which the more valuable timber had 
 been taken off. 
 
 A brief historic sketch, showing the origin of the 
 title to the territory, will establish all that has been 
 asserted in reference to the bad faith of England 
 and tlii^ disingenuousness of her diplomacy. This 
 history goes back to the earliest efforts at European 
 colonization. 
 
 France and England started together in their 
 efforts to possess this empire of the New World. 
 Disregarding the Pope's donation to Spain and Portu- 
 gal, they watched, with the same jealousy as now, 
 every movement of each, and of every other power, 
 to gain title to the country. Agreeing in the doc- 
 trine of Elizabeth, in 1580, that 'po88esm>n was 
 essential to the establishment of title, France granted 
 to De Monts the New World, from the 40th to 46th 
 degree of north latitude, November 8, 1603, reserving 
 " any lands therein held by any other Chiistian prince 
 or people." 
 
 England granted, in like manner, or with similar 
 leservations, to the company of Virginia, the country 
 from the 34th to the 45th parallel of north latitude, 
 April 10, 1606. The French took possession at the 
 
 57? 
 
 -.■U 
 
 i. 
 
I 
 
 M 
 
 1 98 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 St. Croix, iu Maiue, in 1604 ; the English at Sagada- 
 hoc, in Maine, in 1607 ; both claiming to the extent 
 of their charters. The French monarch, Henry IV., 
 through the influence of the Jesuits, was induced, in 
 1607, to revoke the charter of 1603 to De Monts, a 
 Protestant nobleman and a member of his household, 
 after the settlement of the English at Sagadahoc ; 
 thus letting iu and giving priority to the English 
 title over the subsequent Fi'ench charters to Cham- 
 plain and Poutrincourt. Champlain took possession 
 of the St. xjawrence in 1608, and discovered and 
 gave his name to Lake Champlain. But on finding 
 it south of the 45th degree of latitude, the northern 
 limit of the English grant, he retired above that line, 
 and in this way this most ancient landmark became 
 established. The charter of New England of 1620 
 extended its line as far north as the 48th degree, but 
 it met at the 45th parallel the possessions of the 
 French on the St. Lawrence. 
 
 The future of France and England in America 
 was practically determined by these events of 1607 ; 
 and all men now see that the most important event 
 of modern times was the establishment of the title 
 of the English to the New World. England traces 
 the growth of her empire by the expansion of her 
 commerce, to that of her North American colonies. 
 
 The struggle for the sea-coast of Maine between 
 England and France, commencing in 1607, ended 
 with the peace of Ryswick, in 1697, and the future 
 of the continent seemed all this time in suspense. 
 In 1613 Argall found the Jesuit Fathers, Baird and 
 Masse, at Mount Desert, with their faithful follower 
 
NORTHEASTERN BOUNDARY. 
 
 199 
 
 , •:* 
 
 from the monasteries of France, living in peace with 
 the native tribes. He promptly destroyed their 
 settlement, killing or carrying them into captivity. 
 This shedding of blood, the second act in the drama 
 of empire in North America, aronsed all Europe to the 
 consequences of the measure, and called forth angry 
 diplomatic controversy. France yielded again to the 
 domination of England, who held the country to 
 the 45th degree of north latitude. Champlain, from 
 1620 to 1635, insisted to liis sovei'eign that whoever 
 held the basin of the St. Lawrence should hold the 
 open sea-coast of Maine ; and although Cadillac, the 
 future governor of Louisiana, and the founder of 
 Detroit, after the commencement of the long war of 
 1687, known as the ten yeai's' war, submitted a plan, 
 in 1692, for conquering the English posts and hold- 
 ing the seaboard of Maine, he failed to receive ade- 
 quate support from his government — till, in 1697, 
 the peace 01 llyswick, establishing by treaty stipula- 
 tion the right of England to the seaboard east of 
 the river St. Croix, again defeated the hopes of 
 France for supreme control in the New AVorld. 
 
 The struggles of France and England on this con- 
 tinent — perhaps stimulated by differences of religion 
 and race — had their oiigin in an intuitive faith in 
 the leading minds of both nations, in the future 
 greatness of the country, and the hope of dominion. 
 The French leaders, far ahead in theoretic ideas, 
 found less support than the English in the disposi- 
 tion and character of their colonists. 
 
 Maine belonged to England, and was partially 
 peopled after the St. Croix became the eastern 
 7 
 
 
 \ir3i 
 
 w' vt 
 
 ■^iSi 
 
 
 
 
 :'t. 
 
 ',: ■ 
 
 •: U 
 
M 
 
 il 
 
 III 
 
 li'-i 
 
 II 
 
 200 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL \VA K 
 
 boundary of New England ; but witli all tliuso ac- 
 quisitions from France, England had but a small 
 portion of the continent. Prior to the coiujuest of 
 1759, according to Bancroft, dividing North America 
 into twenty-five parts, Ei'ance ludd twenty, S[)aiu 
 four, and England but one. Q''^'''^^'^* ^^as captured 
 by Wolfe, in 1759. The treaty of peace of 170.3 
 gave Ntnv France to England. A new government 
 was to be established. In the royal proclamation of 
 October 7, 17G3, the line of boundary between the 
 newly ac(piired province of Quebec and New Eng- 
 land ran " from Lake Champlain, in 45° of north 
 latitude, along the highlands which divide the rivers 
 that empty themselves into the St. Lawience from 
 those which fall into the sea," etc. The same line 
 was established by the Quebec act of 1774. 
 
 In the commission of Governor AVilmot as gover- 
 nor of Nova Scotia, dated November 21, 1763, the 
 western boundary of that Province was established 
 as follows : " Westward by a line drawn from Ca[)e 
 Sable across the entrance of the Bay of Fundy to 
 the month of the river St. Croix, by said river to 
 its source, and by a line drawn due north from thence 
 to the southern boundary of the Province of Que- 
 bec." All this territory, belonging to Great Britain 
 in 17C8, was divided into New England, Nova 
 Scotia, and the new Province of Quebec, whoso lines 
 of boundary could not be more clearly statec^ , 
 
 In the war of the Revolution, neither Canada nor 
 Nova Scotia took part with the other thirteen 
 colonies. In the definitive treaty of peace of 1783, 
 notwithstanding the efforts of the king, George III., 
 
NORTHEASTERN BOUNDARY. 
 
 20 1 
 
 'Xm 
 
 to iiiJilvO the PiHcataciuJi instead of the St. Croix the 
 l)ouiuhiry, the lines were ('stal)Hshe(l as follows: 
 "From the northueHt anglt! of Nova Scotia, to wit, 
 that angle which Ih formed by a line drawn due 
 north fnmi the source of the St. Croix Uiver to the 
 highlands, along the highlands which divide the 
 rivers that emi)ty themselves into the; river St. 
 Lawrence from those which fall into the Atlantic 
 Ocean, to the northwesternmost head of the Connec- 
 ticut River," etc. 
 
 "Ejist by a line to be drawn ahmg the middle of 
 the river St. Croix from its mouth in the R*iy of 
 Fundy to its source, and from its 8<mrce directly 
 north to the aforesaid highlands." 
 
 By the 5th article of Jay's treaty of November 19, 
 1794, there was an agreement for a joint commission 
 to ascertain " what river was truly intended under 
 the name of the river St. Croix, mentioned in said 
 treaty of peace" (1783), etc. The duties of this 
 commission were i)erft)rmed in 1798, the St. Croix 
 was agreed on, and the source thereof marked and 
 established by a suitable monument. This adjudi- 
 cation solved every remaining doubt, and left noth- 
 ing open for dispute. To run and mark the line 
 " from the source of the St. Croix " to the heiid 
 of the Connecticut River, following the words of the 
 treaty, was as easy as to find the summit of Mount 
 Washington. 
 
 The lines agreed on in the treaty of 1783 coincided 
 with the lines of boundary of 1703, then established 
 for the convenient govei-nment of an em})iie, whose 
 ports belonged to the same power. No language could 
 
 P',> ! 
 
 ii 
 
 ' ■• M 
 
 
■ 
 
 4 
 
 202 FI/iST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 be more explicit, iiiul no ingemiity of statement 
 could ever throw a doubt over the matter. 
 
 From 1817 to 1842 our national government 
 sought to avoid war with Great Britain. They 
 could not fathom the depth t)f that duplicity that 
 led them into new ncgotiatiouH for the possession of 
 the northern i)art of Maine. The absurd pretence 
 that it \vas "impossible to execute the treaty of 
 1783," asseverated by Lord Palmerstou with the 
 assumed positiveness of conviction, almost ripened " 
 into an admission on the part of our government, in 
 the specious diplomacy of Lord Ashburton in 1842. 
 At the end of twenty-eight years after the treaty of 
 peace and amity concluded at Ghent, which was to 
 close all disputes and give repose to the eastern 
 border, at the end of the war of 1812-1815, Maine 
 found peace only in yielding up every thing for the 
 sake of the country. Her munici2)al charters, granted 
 in good faith to her few settlers who had gone into 
 the teri'itory, were vacated by the act of cession ; 
 her citizens ^vho liad been imprisoned for adhesion 
 to the American cause were left to seek new homes : 
 and that portion of the territory mainly valuable in 
 money for its timber, containing a rich soil suitable 
 for settlement and fitted for raising wheat, left to 
 them at the end of the struggle, which they had hoped 
 soon to fill with enterprising citizens, was stripped 
 of its more valuable timber. The locking up of the 
 country fi'om settlement for the space of twenty-eight 
 years was itself a cruel and disastrous blow to the 
 prosperity of the state. Maine complained, and she 
 has since been treated with harshness and neglect. 
 
NOR THE AS TERN BO UNDAR Y. 
 
 203 
 
 Jiglit 
 
 But the conduct of Maine bus been consistent. 
 She would liave vindicated her rights by the ar- 
 bitrament of anus but for the intei'ference of the 
 federal government. Her commissioners in 1842, 
 in giving their reasons for rejecting the terms pro- 
 posed by Lord Ashburton, were overborne by threats 
 of war. In their communication of July 22, 1842, 
 they say : 
 
 " The state of Maine has always felt insuperable 
 repugnance to parting with any portion even of her 
 disputed tei'ritory for a mere pecuniary recompense 
 from adverse claimants. She comes here for no 
 mere bargain for the sale of acres, in the spirit or 
 with the arts of traffic. Her conunissionei's have 
 been much less anxious to secure benefits and rec- 
 ompense than to preserve the state from unnecessary 
 curtailment and dismemberment." 
 
 The Governor of Maine, in his annual message to 
 the Legislature, January 7, 1843, says: 
 
 " I transmit herewith a report, with accompanying 
 documents, of the commissioners appointed under 
 resolve of May 26, 1842, to confer with the authori- 
 ties of the general government upon the subject of a 
 proposed settlement of the northeastern boundary 
 of this state, and for other pur[)Oses. 
 
 " The result and final adjustment of this question, 
 even if it should be regarded by the people of this 
 state as preferable to fui-ther procrastination and 
 another foreign arbitration : under present auspices, 
 I am persuaded, is far different from what they had 
 anticipated. For myself, I can truly say that I have 
 been deeply disappointed, to use no stronger terra. 
 
 I > .V,E 
 
 J.' -.^ 
 
 \ 
 
n 
 
 ■i ' ' ' 
 
 ' ! 1 
 
 ao4 FIRST INTERNA TTONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 By this, liowevei", I would not be understood as 
 intending to cast censure upon the conunissionera of 
 this state. Tliey were seh*eted hy the Legishiture as 
 gentk'nien of elevated standing — command ing in a 
 higli degree the confidence of the public, and as 
 eminently (jualified for such a service. The corre- 
 spondence on their part was conducted with signal 
 ability, and the embarrassments of their position, 
 and the circumstances by which they were ultimately 
 induced to submit the (jufcfstion to the determination 
 of the Senate of the United States, are fully ap|)re- 
 ciated. But however their course may be regarded, 
 the result is, nevertheless, a subject of deej) disap- 
 pointment. The course of the British government, 
 so far from having been, as Mas anticipated, con- 
 ciliatory and liberal, was marked by an unyielding 
 and grasping si)irit. Its liberality, if any was 
 evinced, was in unmeaning diplomatic comi)liment8, 
 while its exactions were in acres and substantial 
 privileges ; for this state can never admit that the 
 case presented was one of doubtful title, in which 
 the adversary parties might reasonably be expected 
 to compromise by ' splitting the difference.' The 
 1 linquishment of a claim, therefore, by the British 
 government, to a portion of what has been denomi- 
 nated the disputed territory, cannot be regarded by 
 us as in any sense a concession. If a portion of this 
 territory was necessary for the convenience of the 
 British government, this state had a right to expect, 
 on its being yielded, that a full and ample equivalent 
 in other territory would have been freely tendered. 
 Towards the fulfilment of such an expectation tliere 
 has not been the slightest approximation. 
 
 :1 i 
 
 ill 
 •ii 
 
NORTHEASTERN BOUNDARY. 
 
 205 
 
 
 "The indiitH't overtures on tlie part of tlu^ British 
 government for an jiniit'al»le adjuHtment of tlie boun- 
 daiy (luestion, it is well known, were met on the part 
 of this state in a spirit of magnanimous forgetfulness 
 of the past, and with a generous regard to the su[)- 
 poaed interests and wishes of her sister states. 
 Earnestly entreated by the general government, and 
 pressed as she was by circumstances, she could not 
 hesitate to place herself in a position admitting of an 
 amicable and honorable settlement of the <[uestion, 
 confidently ti'ustini' 'lat the government of the 
 Union, in some of it^ departments at least, would 
 secure her from sacrifice. For this step she has no 
 cause of sel f- re j) roach. It was taken undei* circum- 
 stances that would fully justify its repetition. IIow 
 this generosity and confidence on her part has been 
 rewarded, is seen in the result ! But I forbear to 
 dilate upon the subject, especially as it would be 
 imavailing. If in this Maine ' has not been treated 
 as she has endeavored to deserve,' it is far from being 
 the first instance. All her injuries, however, cannot 
 shake her sense of duty. As a member of the Union, 
 she will continue to be what she has ever been, faith- 
 ful and true. And if she could be satisfied that the 
 sacrifice was necessary for the good of the country, 
 she could in that find ample consolation. To inso- 
 lent and unfounded pretension she can yield nothing; 
 to the cause of patriotism and the Union, eveiy 
 thing." 
 
 An able committee of both branches of the Legis- 
 lature in their report of March 21, 1843, say: 
 
 "That the terms of the treaty of Washington, 
 concluded on the ninth day of August, 1842, so far 
 
J. J 
 
 
 •■■ til' 
 
 I- 
 
 MI<jfl|K|; ^ 
 
 '' 1* 
 
 9E''ra^H^ , .- e 
 
 1 ' 
 
 fm^K 
 
 
 !> ' 
 
 2o5 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 as they affect the state of Maine, are not satisfactory 
 to the people thereof. 
 
 " That the hopes and expectations under which 
 the state of Maine consented to participate in the 
 negotiation which eventuated in the treaty of Wash- 
 ington, are greatly disappointed by the result of that 
 negotiation. 
 
 " That the true meaning and intent of the resolves 
 passed by the Legislature of Maine on May 26, 
 1842, entitled * Resolves in relation to the north- 
 eastern boundary of this State,' did not authorize 
 the commissionerg elected under said resolves to 
 surrender any portion of the territory within the 
 line of the trr.iiy of 1783 as claimed by Maine, 
 without a full equivalent therefor." 
 
 The sum of $300,000 was paid over to Maine and 
 Massachusetts, in equal moieties, " for the lands re- 
 linquished to the United States, and excluded from 
 the dominion of the Union" by the new line of 
 boundary. This is the only condition of the treaty 
 that has been performed. But, for the fulfilment of 
 this condition, the faith of both governments. Great 
 Britain and our own, was pledged ; and so great was 
 Lord Ashburton's anxiety on this point, that he 
 made the payment of this money a subject of pub- 
 lic correspondence with the Secretary of State of the 
 United States. 
 
 The advantages proposed to Maine, for this sur- 
 render of territoiy, were the free navigation of the 
 river St. John and the payment over of the proceeds 
 of the timber robbery, which was to go into a " dis- 
 puted territory fund," to be kept by New Brunswick. 
 
 
NOR TH EASTERN BO UNDAR V. 
 
 207 
 
 That provision of the treaty for the free naviga- 
 tion of the St. John, in the following words, " All 
 the produce of the forests grown on those parts of 
 the state of Maine watered, bv the river St. John 
 " shall be dealt loitli as if it were the produce of the 
 province of Neio Brunswich,^'' was shamefully evaded 
 and defeated by the abolition of sturapage dues in 
 New Brunswick, and ^he imposition of a high ex- 
 port duty on all lumber floated upon the St. John 
 River — a plan substituted in place of the old method 
 of selling lumber. 
 
 The disputed territory fund, it is true, reached a 
 large sum, which Maine expected to receive ; but it 
 was all consumed by the claims for expense, and 7iot 
 a dollar of it was ever paid over to Maine. 
 
 Mr. Webster lived long enough to see the boasted 
 advantages ho had " secured to Maine by the treaty " 
 vanish into thin air. 
 
 How persistently Maine has always, and since the 
 ratification of the treaty, asserted, her rights, the 
 documentary history of the United States will sho^v ; 
 with what success, the vaiious bills and other mat- 
 ters on the files of Congress will establish. A bill 
 reported, in 1862, raid again in 1864, from the Com- 
 mittee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, compen- 
 sating Maine and Massachusetts for lands assigned 
 to occupants under the fourth article of the treaty 
 of Washington, lies undisposed on the table of the 
 Senate. 
 
 That Maine has not been disloyal, her whole his- 
 tory and the records of the last three years will 
 abundantly show. After reciting, in brief terms, her 
 
 ^^^-1 
 
. * 
 
 \:^n 
 
 ^-^r* 
 
 
 208 
 
 F/JSST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 claims on the government ; by the resolutions of 
 1864 she reiterates and renews her demands in the 
 language of the resolves of the Legislature, approved 
 by the governor, January 31, 1863, "that ^ Maine 
 expects and earnestly demands that measures be 
 taken at once by the general government for the 
 protection of its northeast frontier ' ; that this can 
 be accomplislied only by a military railroad from 
 Bangor to the St. John River. 
 
 '■'■ Resolved^ That the peo2:)le of Maine, zealously 
 attached to the principles of the Constitution and 
 and loyal to the government of the United States, 
 surrounded on three sides by the territory of a for- 
 eign power, its other side fronting the ocean, where 
 it *s at all times exposed to attack by a superior 
 naval power, by force of its position of incalculable 
 importance to, and steadily coveted by, the people 
 of the British North American Provinces, cannot 
 fail to perceive their danger in case of war with any 
 one of the great powers of Europe ; and they appeal 
 to Congress for such aid and support as will enable 
 them to protect their territory from foreign invasion, 
 and secure them against further diminution of their 
 ancient domain. 
 
 ^^ Resolved, Thaf; the government of the United 
 States having forced a reluctant assent from the 
 state of Maine to the treaty of Washington, by 
 which treaty the most valuable portion of the terri- 
 tory of the United States for military purposes was 
 surrendered to Great Britain, securing to her a mili- 
 tary route in the St. John valley, between Canada 
 and New Brunswick : the only adequate measure of 
 

 
 NOR THE A S TERN BO UN BAR V. 
 
 209 
 
 'il::^H«s 
 
 compensation that can be awarded to Maine is the 
 construction by the fedei-al government, or through 
 its aid, of a military railway fi'om Bangor to the 
 St. John River, as suggested in the resolutions of 
 Maine of January 31, 1863; that in order to secure 
 this result, the state releases and assigns to the 
 European and North American Railway Company 
 of Maine all claims on the federal government 
 accruing prior to the year 1860, in case the United 
 States government affords such aid to said railway 
 company as will enable it to carry out its line of 
 railway from the city of Bangor to the St. John 
 River, or to such point in the northern part of 
 Maine as may accom[)lish the objects and purposes 
 sought for by the government of this state and the 
 United States." 
 
 Maine practically asks nothing of the United 
 States government. The objects she seeks to accom- 
 plish ai'e national in their character in every sense 
 of the term. The defence of Maine is more essen- 
 tial to the maintenance of the national government 
 than that of any other secti'm of the country; and 
 this can only be effected by a line of railway, ex- 
 tending from the central and more densely popu- 
 lated portions of the country, to the northeastern 
 frontier. An interior line of railway, free from the 
 interruption of a^^ attack by sea, from New York, 
 Boston, and Portland, to the St. John River, would 
 enable our government to concentrate an overwhelm- 
 ing force upon it, and cut the line of communication 
 between Halifax and Quebec. This accomplished, 
 the line of railway from Portland to Canada in our 
 
 
 m 
 
2 lo FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 hands, and the city and harbor of Portland made 
 impregnable, British North America could not resist 
 one winter campaign in a war with us. Ability on 
 our part to strike the power of England from the 
 continent is our best guaranty of perpetual peace 
 with her. 
 
 June, 1864. 
 
AN AMERICAN ZOLL-VEREIN. 
 
 
 LETTER TO THE SIIIP-CANAL CONVENTION. 
 
 Gentlemen : — I am honored by your invitation to 
 attend a convention at Chicago, on the second of June 
 next, of those in favor of the enlargement of the 
 canals between the Mississippi and the Atlantic. 
 And I am further requested, in case I cannot attend 
 said convention, to communicate my views in writing 
 upon the matters embraced in the call. 
 
 Until to-day I had expected to have been able to 
 attend as one of the delegates of the Board of Trade 
 of Portland, Maine, some of whom are on their way, 
 and whose intelligent interest in the success of your 
 efforts will faithfully represent the prevailing opin- 
 ions of our people. 
 
 Your call seems to limit the object of the conven- 
 tion to the single purpose of an enlargement of the 
 existing canals between the valley of the Mississippi 
 and the Atlantic Ocean — works of obvious value, if 
 not of immediate necessity ; yet it may fairly open 
 the entire question of the internal commerce of the 
 country, and the means of transit between the grain- 
 producing regions of the interior of the continent — 
 the great Northwest — and their place of market. 
 
 Questions of this character are of interest to all, 
 and must, for years, if not for generations, to come, 
 
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 become the most engrossing topics of public concern, 
 from the physical configuration of the North Ameri- 
 can continent, the limited capacity of its natural 
 channels of trade, and the political difficulties in the 
 way of all eiforts at the opening of adequate avenues, 
 by artificial means, to meet the wants of a rapidly 
 increasing business. 
 
 Great as is now the internal trade of the country, 
 it is a tithe only of what it will, in a few years, 
 attain to. The production of food is not, at this 
 time, equal to one tenth of the cai:)acity of the 
 Northwestern states, without resort to the artificial 
 stimulants that are common in the British Isles. 
 Besides this, one half of all the grain raised in the 
 United States is produced at points so remote from 
 market that its value would be consumed in the mere 
 cost of transportation by the ordinary channels. 
 With the aid of all existing canals and railroads, a 
 bushel of wheat in the Northwest is only worth one 
 half its value in Liverpool, so enormous is the cost 
 of present transportation. The question is : How shall 
 this difficulty be overcome ? And it is this question 
 alone that will engage the time and thoughts of the 
 members of the convention. 
 
 It has seemed to me that the great difficulty lies 
 in the way of outlets /;'6>w Chicago, Milwaukee, and 
 other lake ports, rather than in the lack of means to 
 " >ring produce to the lake shores. Cheaply built and 
 ;- oiiomically worked lines of railway, with other 
 i:/>'i;is of transit, bring into these great granaries — 
 Jp lake ports — more produce than the outlets can 
 economically take away. 
 
AN AMERICAN ZOLL-VEREIN. 
 
 "3 
 
 What are wanted are cheap and expeditious means 
 of transit from the upper lakes to the open sea. 
 To secure these most effectually, we must make the 
 St. Lawrence waters an ope7i Mediterranean Seaj 
 60 that, from the head of Lake Superior and from 
 Chicago, ships of useful size for navigating the ocean 
 can pass, free of duty and with despatch, to the 
 Atlantic ports and Europe, and backward to the 
 same places, fully laden. By this means, you could 
 diminish by one half, the cost of transit, for the bene- 
 fit of the farmers of the Northwestern states; and 
 indirectly, for the advantage of the entire i^opulation 
 of the country. 
 
 xhis is a matter of easy accomplishment, if under- 
 taken in the right spirit and temper. The Eng- 
 lisli-speahing people of this continent are, for all 
 commercial purposes, one people, holding a territory 
 twice the size of the continent of Europe, capable of 
 sustaining as dense a population as that which now 
 occupies that favored portion of the globe. 
 
 This territory is held in nearly equal shares by 
 the people of the United States and of the British 
 North American Provinces, lying mainly on opposite 
 sides of this great Mediterranean Sea, formed by the 
 waters of the lakes and the St. Lawrence. 
 
 The laws of commerce disregard political bound- 
 aries, and the people of the Northwest should have 
 their choice of routes to the open sea. Ships should 
 load at Chicago for any port into which an Atlantic 
 sailer can enter, and by as mau}"^ routes as can be 
 created : from the St. Lawrence, by the way of Lake 
 Champlain into the Hudson, by the Ottawa, and by 
 
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 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
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 Lake Ontario. The advance in the price of a single 
 crop of wheat would pay for making all these routes, 
 from Chicago to the Atlantic, navigable for ocean- 
 going sailing-ships and steamers. 
 
 Montreal harbor could be made for the trade of 
 New York what Albany is now ; and that, too, 
 while the St. Lawrence basin, below the Victoria 
 Bridge, would be crowded, like the Thames in our 
 day, from London to the sea, when this continent is 
 as fully peopled as Europe. 
 
 ! From Chicago to the Atlantic, for nearly the 
 whole distance, navigation is as cheap as on the 
 ocean. Short canals and lockage would not detain 
 ships more than the average adverse winds of the 
 Atlantic, so that the transit of goods, to and from 
 Chicago and Liverpool, would be nearly as cheap as 
 to and from New York. At one tenth of the cost 
 of transportation by railway, such a line of naviga- 
 tion would supply an outlet to the trade of the 
 Northwest. To transport a ton of goods, by ordi- 
 nary highways, costs on an avei'age twenty dollars 
 per liuudred miles. The railroads will perform this 
 service for two dollars, the sailing-vessel for one 
 tenth of this, or twenty cents, per ton. Open a ship- 
 canal by the way of the St. Lawrence to Chicago, 
 and the cost of freight per mile will scarcely, if at 
 all, exceed the cost of transit on the ocean, or the 
 lakes. 
 
 Our great difficulties in this country are political 
 ones ; greater than the limited amount of capital in 
 business. Public improvements are mainly depend- 
 ent on local jurisdictions, Provinces or States, gov- 
 
 '* iJi! 
 
 iiiiii 
 
AN AMERICAN ZOLL-VEREIN. 
 
 "5 
 
 erned rather Ly sectional aims, than by regard to 
 the higher law of commercial convenience. In the 
 United States, nationality has scarcely been regarded 
 as an object of statesmanship, while state govern- 
 ments have seized upon the more valuable attributes 
 of sovereignty. The regulation of the currency and 
 of the channels of internal commerce which should, 
 beyond all other matters, be under the control of the 
 government of the Federal Union, have been assumed 
 by the states. 
 
 To this undue assumption of rights by the states, 
 incompatible with the national sovereignty, can be 
 traced the origin of the present atrocious civil war, 
 upon the part of rebellious states. This war, how- 
 ever, has already taught us a mode of supplying 
 a national currency which will never be superseded 
 — a discovery worth more than the cost of the war 
 to the present time. Should it enable the national 
 government to disregard political boundaries in the 
 construction of public works, looking only at l)hysi- 
 cal and commercial laws, this war may yet prove to 
 our nation a blessing. 
 
 The highest statesmanship of our day regards the 
 English-speahing people of both hemispheres as one 
 in purpose and in destiny. Such an opportunity for 
 greatness, as that enjoyed by the head of the British 
 ministry, has not before this time been offered to 
 any minister of state. He has only to recognize the 
 obvious duties of consanguinity and good-fellowship 
 to make the union of all who speak the English 
 tongue complete in every thing that tends to the 
 advancement of civilization, as they are one in pur- 
 
 i' 
 
 
3 1 6 FIRS T INTERNA TIONAL RAIL VVA Y. 
 
 f*\ 
 
 poae and desire. In this spirit let us act. Lot 
 political boundaries form no resti-aint upon commer- 
 cial enterprise ; and the continent, which it is our 
 good fortune to inhabit, shall display exhibitions 
 of material greatness worthy of a superior race, 
 descendants of the heroic men who wrested this new 
 world from the grasp of their less enterprising rivals, 
 and planted over this broad belt of the tempei'ate 
 zone, from the Atlantic to the Pacific seas, institu- 
 tions and laws favorable to commercial freedom and 
 constitutional liberty. 
 
 If, however, the time has not arrived when we 
 can treat the English-speaking people of the conti- 
 nent as properly subject to one commercial law — a 
 result not far distant from our day, when an ocean 
 tariff shall extend, with uniform provisions for the 
 collection of duties, from Quebec to the Rio Grande, 
 and upon the Pacific coast, with unrestricted internal 
 trade, — or, in other words, if the British North 
 American Provinces are not ready to adopt with us 
 an Amefi'ican Zoll- Verein, we must make use of our 
 own independent advantages. We can, mare cheaply 
 than the Canadians have built theirs, constmct a 
 8aip-canal around Niagara Falls, and from Oswego 
 to the Hudson, that shall, for years to come, take 
 away from the lakes the surplus produce of the 
 interior. AYe should further, with the same broad 
 view, deepen the channel of the St. Clair, and extend 
 this water-line, with a capacity equal to the passage 
 of an ocean steamer, from Chicago to the navigable 
 waters of the Mississippi, so that produce can pass 
 by either route to the sea. 
 
AN AMERICAN ZOLL-VEREIN. 
 
 n 
 
 The people of the Great Eepiiblie of North 
 America have been unexi)ecte(lly called ujk)u to 
 deal with great enterprises, vast and nndefiniible in 
 their extent ; and while expend ifig, witlioiit discon- 
 tent or enibanassment, large sums in suppi'essiiig 
 insurrection and guarding against foreign invasion ; 
 they have found time to contemplate, as necessary 
 practical measures, a railway from the Missouii to 
 the Pacific, and a line of ocean steamers from San 
 Francisco to the shores of the densely populated 
 continent of Asia. A further knowledi^e of the 
 capacities of our country and of the capabilities of 
 its people will insure for these, and all the enterprises 
 named, full and complete success. 
 
 With the highest regards, your obedient servant, 
 
 JouN A. Pooii. 
 
 Majf 30, 1863. 
 
 ■■■■;i 
 
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 THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILWAY. 
 
 ADDRESS DELIVERED AT RUTLAND, VERMONT, JUNE, 1869. 
 
 \ ■ 1 
 
 
 . w 
 
 Mr. President, and Gentlemen of the Convention : 
 I count myself fortunate in being able to partici- 
 pate in the proceedings of this convention, by your 
 kind invitation. It is a business meeting. I came 
 with my associates from Portland to report progress 
 at the eastern end of the route, rather than to take 
 active part in its labors. But for an important 
 political state convention in Maine to-day, other 
 friends fi'om our state would have been with you, 
 to show their appreciation of the enterprise you 
 have under consideration. 
 
 I am happy to meet so large and so earnest an 
 assemblage of business men, engaged in a work 
 which is to connect you in busines-', by railway, 
 with the harbor of Portland, — the liueths-; is to form 
 a chief link in that golden belt whicli. 's to span the 
 continent of North America at its widest part, under 
 the name of lite Transcontinental Railway. 
 
 Evidences of thrift and prosperity are around me 
 Oil all sides. This beautiful opera-house in which 
 we are assembled attests the wealth of Rutland. 
 But this visit to your flourishing town is a new 
 experience, for it is, I believe, the tirst time that 
 
 213 
 
THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILWAY. 219 
 
 the men of Maine have heen invited to speak for 
 railroadn in Vermont. It Ih pleasant to me to 
 recall the I'ailroad history of New England for the 
 last twenty-five years, and to note the gi-eat changes 
 in that time in the business of your region of the 
 country. 
 
 It was my fortune to meet some of the leading 
 railroad men of Vermont at Montreal, in somewhat 
 of an adverse character in 1845, urging the claims 
 of the Passumpsic Railroad, as an outlet for St. 
 Lawrence trade by way of St. Johnsbury and Con- 
 cord to Boston ; against our favorite direct route 
 from Montreal to the sea at Portland. You know 
 how events turned. Every thing went in our favor. 
 It is enough to say, that at Montreal Portland influ- 
 ence prevailed ; the Legislature and people of Can- 
 ada, with scarcely a dissenting voice, gave their sup- 
 port to the Portland line over all other projects, 
 against the remonstrance of the leading capitalists 
 and business men of Boston, presented at Montreal 
 by one of your prominent citizens, Hon. Erastus 
 Fairbanks, afterwards Governor of your state. He 
 persevered at home in pushing his railroad, after his 
 defeat in Canada ; presented his project to the people 
 of Boston, with a favorable response in the way of 
 subscriptions to his stock. We moved on also, and 
 in 1848, as our road to Montreal extended northward 
 toward your State line, it became my duty as one 
 of the directors of the Atlantic and St. Lawrence 
 Railroad Company, with my friend and associate, 
 Hon. P. Barnes, of Portland, to ask of the Legislat- 
 ure of your state a charter for our road across your 
 
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 2 20 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 northern counties. With generous unanimity the 
 Legislature granted our request. Many at heart, or 
 secretly, opposed our project. Others regarded it 
 as a mere paper corporation. Others, alleging that 
 the road would never be built, consented, but after- 
 wards stoutly resisted further grants required. As 
 our line advanced fi'om Portland toward the Ver- 
 mont border, every thing had to give way to the 
 necessities of business, — the line was forced on, and 
 opened through, so that cars came from Montreal to 
 Portland on July 18, 1853, inside of twelve hours' time. 
 
 Maine is no longer dependent on Boston. Since 
 then thinors have chanj^ed. Portland has risen into 
 commercial importance, and become a shipping port 
 and market for western produce, the packet station 
 in winter of the Montreal and other lines of ocean 
 steamers, and a better market than Boston for pro- 
 vincial trade. 
 
 The European mails are carried in winter direct 
 by way of Portland to Montreal and the West, with- 
 out paying tribute to Boston, or calling there, as in 
 the olden time. 
 
 The Cunard steamers have retired from Boston 
 since she lost the carrying trade of Canada, and the 
 foreign importations into Boston have fallen from 
 $45,988,545 in 1854, the highest point they ever 
 reached, to $37,039,771 in 1868,— while the importa- 
 tions into Portland have risen from $3,124,676 in 
 1854, to $17,100,957 in 1868, and its exports in like 
 proportion. 
 
 Portland, from its geographical position, is the 
 natural Atlantic port and market of a large portion 
 
 \ '■' 
 
m^§. 
 
 THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILWAY. 221 
 
 ■m 
 
 ;*r 
 
 of New Hampshire and Vermont. Portland, Bris- 
 tol, Woodstock, and Rutland are on the same par- 
 allel. Portland is 89 miles north of Boston, and 
 only 25 miles east of it. More than three fourths of 
 the territory of Vermont lies north of a due west line, 
 on the parallel of 43 ° 39 ', the latitude of Portland, 
 of Meredith, of White River Junction, of Wood- 
 stock, and the head of Lake Champlain, Whitehall. 
 Before the advent of railways or canals, Northern 
 Vermont came to Portland to market. The Noi-them 
 Canal from Lake Champlain, 73 miles from Albany, 
 was completed to the Hudson, at Waterford, 64 
 miles, in 1819, by the state of New York, which 
 di'ew at once the trade of Western Vermont to New 
 York City. 
 
 From 1820 to 1830 Boston made slow progress. 
 In 1830 she began railroad agitation, and in 1835 
 stretched out her iron arms in the form of railways. 
 She looked upon Maine commercially as still her 
 province, and paid little regard to railroads east or 
 north of Portland. She turned northwest and west, 
 and with railway lines crossed the states of New 
 Hampshire and Vermont to Lake Champlain, and to 
 the St. Lawrence at Ogdensburg, and drew to her 
 harbor the bulk of trade of both these states, and of 
 Northern New York. 
 
 But Maine awoke from her lethargy in 1844, and 
 Portland started her line to Montreal, which has large- 
 ly changed the course of the grain trade of the West. 
 The supplies of western produce for LoweVl, Law- 
 rence, and other places are left on the way, and do 
 not come to Boston as of old ; Boston herself drawing 
 
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 ■11 
 
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 •fl f!? 
 
 MP; 
 
 aaa FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 Bome of her domestic supplies from the West by way 
 of Portland. Flour comes down the St. Lawrence 
 and the canals and by the Grand Trunk Railway to 
 Montreal ; thence to Portland and to Boston by rail- 
 way and steamer. 
 
 Finding her plans frustrated in 1845, to anticipate 
 the completion of our railway from Portland to Mon- 
 treal, to supersede it in point of fact, Boston started off 
 on a new crusade — abandoning almost entirely the 
 Boston, Concord, and Montreal project, — a railway 
 to Ogdensburg, and completed it through by Boston 
 capital in October, 1850. Then came Boston's great 
 Railroad Jubilee, in full expectation that she would, 
 by her superior attractions, intercept, at Ogdensburg, 
 the produce of the West on its way to Montreal. 
 But the whole project has, so far, as a commercial 
 speculation, proved a failure, as the Boston Board of 
 Trade returns fully show. The Boston Daily Adver- 
 tiser ^ under date of June 9, 1869, admits that of the 
 43,415 barrels of flour which came into Boston in the 
 month of May, 1869, 3,200 barrels only came by the 
 way of Ogdensburg. The entire quantity of flour 
 which came by way of Ogdensburg and reache^^ Bos- 
 ton over the Northern and Fitchburg, and Boston 
 and Maine roads in 1868, was but 90,004 barrels, 
 against 704,070 barrels over the line of the Western 
 (now the Boston and Albany) Railroad. In 1863, the 
 northern roads delivered 326,900 barrels of flour into 
 Boston, coming from Ogdensburg, against 543,227 
 barrels by the Western Railroad. In the same year, 
 1863, 271,530 barrels of flour were sent from Port- 
 land into Boston, and in 1865, 454,421 barrels of 
 
 l-^Ai 
 
THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILWAY. 223 
 
 flour were sent into Boston by the Portland route. 
 These figures illustrate the tendencies of Western 
 trade. 
 
 Our railway from Portland to Montreal was pro- 
 posed in 1844 as an outlet for western produce, a 
 direct connection by the shortest line of railway be- 
 tween the navigable waters of the St. Lawrence and 
 an open Atlantic port, in a distance of 203 miles on 
 an air line. The work of construction was entered 
 upon in 1846, and the railroad line estimated at 250 
 miles in length. As built, it deflected materially from 
 the most direct route, after it had reached northwest 
 from Portland to Island Pond, mating the distance 
 292 miles from Portland to Montreal. A connection 
 between Quebec and Montreal, and the necessity of 
 keeping so far east of the direct line from Montreal 
 to Boston as to prevent diversion of trade to that 
 city, no doubt influenced its location. Without this 
 deflection, the means for building the line could not 
 at that time have been obtained. 
 
 The pressing and immediate necessity of Portland 
 to-day is a direct line from Island Pond to Montreal, 
 saving 46 miles over the present route by way of 
 Sherbrooke and Richmond. This is fully admitted, 
 and no one noio fears Boston competition. 
 
 Attempts have been made in former years to secure 
 this Island Pond cut-off, but without success, — the 
 funds of the Grand Trunk Railway having been ab- 
 sorbed by extension of other lines further west. If a 
 direct line of railway was extended from Island Pond 
 to Montreal, it would cheapen, at least by one fourth, 
 the cost of transit between Montreal and Portland. 
 
 V 
 
224 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 \\'\ 
 
 •i'i 
 
 
 
 
 At no very distant day, as I believe, this will be ac- 
 complished, as a necessity to Montreal and the Grand 
 Trunk Railway, to retain their present importance. 
 
 The railway from Montreal to Portland (the first 
 great international undertaking of this character) 
 has given Portland commercial importance, with 
 favorable results upon the social, political, and com- 
 mercial notions and relations of the two countries. 
 The beginning of that new order of things de- 
 veloped by our inte;"national lines of railway and 
 steamer, is making tliC English-speaking people of 
 this continent one in sei iiment and in commercial 
 undertakings. And it is pleasant to meet on this 
 platform to-day a gentleman from Ontario, in the 
 Dominion of Canada, representing one great link in 
 this chain of iron that is to bind the people of this 
 continent in bonds of perpetual peace. 
 
 But the progress of improvements in twenty-five 
 years has somewhat modified our opinions as to the 
 future of trade. Great changes have taken place in 
 the navigation of the St. Lawrence and the lakes 
 since 1844, and our views as to the value of the 
 navigation of the St. Lawrence, below Lake Erie, 
 have been somewhat modified. 
 
 The AVellaud Canal, begun in 1824, and opened in 
 1832, was found insufficient to pass the largest 
 vessels navigating the upper lakes, and in 1841, the 
 enlargement was undertaken by the government of 
 United Canada, and completed in 1848 or 1849, 
 with eight and one half feet of water on the mitre 
 sills of the locks, one hundred and fifty feet of 
 chamber between the gates, and twenty-six and one 
 
THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILWAY. 225 
 
 lialf feet in width in the clear. The h)cks would 
 allo\v the passage of any vessel that could then pass 
 the St. Clair Lake and the flats in that river, but less 
 than 500 tons, in burden. 
 
 Mr. Thomas C. Keefer, an accomplished engineer, 
 in his prize essay on the canals of Canada in 1850, 
 says : " The depth of \vater provided for in the St. 
 Lawrence and Welland canals is ample, being more 
 than is afforded in many of the harbors upon the 
 upper lakes, more than there is over the St. Clair 
 flats, and as much as the general features of the St. 
 Lawrence navigation will Avarrant." But since then 
 the United States government has opened a ship 
 channel through the St. Clair flats, 300 feet in width, 
 protected on each side by heavy walls raised five feet 
 above the highest waters of the lake, carrying fifteen 
 feet of water from Lake Huron into Lake Erie. 
 Propellers of over 1,400 tons burden noAV pass from 
 Buffalo to Chicago. 
 
 Freight formerly taken off at Collingwood and Sar- 
 nia, now goes through to Buffalo, which has become 
 the great depot of the grain trade of the Northwest. 
 
 The result witnessed within the last few years was 
 not foreseen in 1844, nor in 1852 when the Grand 
 Trunk Railway scheme was inaugurated, and our 
 line, the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad, ab- 
 sorbed into, or annexed by perpetual lease to, the 
 Grand Trunk Railway of Canada. The theory on 
 which our railroad to Montreal was built has, in one 
 respect at least, proved erroneous. 
 
 It was predicted, too, in 1844, that Montreal 
 would become one of the three great cities of the 
 
 4! 
 
 
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 1. 
 
 
 \' 
 
 226 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA V. 
 
 continent, from the commercial advantajjes of its 
 position, no one at th«t time anticipating the possi- 
 bilit}' of this deep ship channel between Lake Huron 
 and Lake Erie. Montreal has great advantages as 
 the commercial metropolis of Canada, has grown to 
 be a great city ; her population has risen from 57,715 
 in 1£"S0, to 101,602 in 1860, and to 160,000 at the 
 present time. Yet Montreal has not kept pace with 
 the city of Chicago. 
 
 The growth of Chicago is without example. Set- 
 tled in 1822, in 1850 it had a population of 29,463 ; 
 in 1860, 110,703, 1 in April of this year, 265,000. 
 
 In looking over the Chicago Directory for 1 868, I 
 found it con'ainod 94,000 names. The New York 
 City Directory of luis year, 1869, contained 189,443 
 names, or twice the number only of those found in 
 the Chicago Directory for 1868. Her trade, wealth, 
 and commercial importance have gone forward in 
 gi'eater proportion than the population. 
 
 Compilers of commercial statistics put flour for- 
 ward as a representative of trade, and it would be in- 
 teresting to look at the progress of the grain trade of 
 Chicago. 
 
 The President of the Chicago Chamber of Com- 
 merce said, in a late commercial convention this pres- 
 ent year : " When railroads shall carry grain cheaper 
 than lakes and canals, and when these go out of use, 
 the gi'ain from a great country, Avhich is now diverted 
 to Chicago, will seek a direct route to the seaboard." 
 He had reference, no doubt, to the lines of railroad 
 terminating at Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New 
 York, competing for the grain trade of the West, of 
 
 I ■■:V 
 
 i .; ■! 
 
THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILWAY. 227 
 
 wliicli I shall hereafter speak, which took off a por- 
 tion of the Chicago trade of 1867-8. The recovery 
 in 1868-9 is due to the great enlargement of trade 
 on account of better crops the past year. 
 
 In 1860 the quantity of grain moved eastward by 
 all routes was 78,632,486 bushels. We cannot give 
 as full statistics for the year 1868. The cost of ship- 
 ping a bushel of grain from Chicago to New York, 
 according to statement of the Chicago Tribune in 
 May last, was 32^ cents, divided as follows, viz. : 
 
 Inspection (in and out) \ 
 
 Storage i\ 
 
 Commissions \\ 
 
 Freight to Buffalo 6J 
 
 Insurance i\ 
 
 Elevator at Buffalo 2 
 
 Handling \ 
 
 Commissions at Buffalo i\ 
 
 Freight by canal to New York 13^^ 
 
 Expenses in New York 3 
 
 Total expenses 32} 
 
 It costs, therefore, 16^ cents a bushel to transport 
 grain by canal from Buffalo to New York City, 
 somewhat less than the charges by railway, showing 
 an actual cost of $11,029,690 to the grain trade of 
 Chicago, for the transportation of its products from 
 Buffalo, or by other routes, to New York City, in 
 1868-9, which were as high in 1868 as in 1869. The 
 great practical question, therefore, at Chicago and 
 Buffalo is, how can we induce the cost of transit to 
 the Atlantic seaboard ? 
 
 The supply of Western produce for Maine comes 
 by way of Montreal, and if we had free trade in 
 
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 228 ^/^^r INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 breadstuffs, this supply could in a few years equal 
 the wants of New England. 
 
 Montreal is now a great city. She has secured 
 a deep ship channel to the sea through Lake St. 
 Peter. Vessels of light draft only came to Montreal 
 from the sea in olden time, or prior to 1851. But in 
 1865 a depth of twenty feet was obtained, with a 
 three-hundred-feet channel, while there was only a 
 depth of eleven feet originally in the flats ; so that 
 after fourteen years of labor, from 1851 to 1865, the 
 largest steamer of the Transatlantic Montreal mail 
 line came regularly to the wharves in Montreal 
 during the season of navigation. This work is simi- 
 lar to that executed by our government through the 
 St. Clair Flats and Detroit River, already spoken of. 
 The effect of this measure on Montreal is shown in 
 the fact that the exports from Montreal have risen 
 from $2,319,228 in 1851, to $7,792,776 in 1867 ; her 
 imports from $9,178,840 in 1851, to $28,378,117 in 
 1867. 
 
 The Montreal ocean steamers known as the " Allan 
 Line," commenced in 1856 with four steamers, having 
 a capacity of 6,536 tons, are now increased to six- 
 teen steamships in number, with an aggregate of 
 32,606 tons register. 
 
 Portland owes every thing to her harbor, and her 
 present commercial importance to the Grand Trunk 
 Railway, and she should be jealous of all attempts 
 to disparage or underrate the Grand Trunk line. I 
 am sorry to say advantage has been taken of its trials 
 during our civil war, and others consequent on it, to 
 disparage and injure it in public estimation, in 
 
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 trials 
 it, to 
 
 an, in 
 
 THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILWAY. 229 
 
 which some of our public officials have beeu but too 
 prominent. Tlie claims of the Portland and Ogdens- 
 burg Railroad have been urged in hostility to that 
 great line, whose fault lies mainly in an inadequate 
 amount of local business travel, and an insufficient 
 supply of equipment or rolling stock for the autumn 
 ti'ade. She has passed through her troubles as other 
 roads have done, and is coming out all right. 
 
 What has the Grand Truuk line done for Port- 
 land? Portland in 1844 was literally a deserted 
 village, rich in retired capital, but poor in enterprise 
 and public spirit. The suggestion of a railway to 
 Montreal was like an alarm-bell in the night, struck 
 by the hand of a stranger. It aroused her sleepy 
 ones to a consciousness of their condition, and drew 
 into active energy whatever of dormant, or of patent 
 public spirit there was left in the entire population. 
 With generous emulation, forgetting past differences, 
 men vied with each other, not only in extravagant 
 hopes and predictions of its success, but in hard 
 work and substantial aid, and it went through in its 
 own way in spite of those most interested in its suc- 
 cess. Portland has risen into wealth and compara- 
 tive commercial importance since 1844, — her valua- 
 tion from $4,365,788 in 1844, to $18,962,514 in 1854, 
 to $26,953,939 in 1864, and to $28,572,748 in 1868, 
 and in business and wealth in vastly greater propor- 
 tion. Her valuation has kept up notwithstanding 
 she lost $10,841,525 by fire in 1866, with a return of 
 $3,528,180 only from insurance. Portland is com- 
 paratively free from embarrassment, but with an in- 
 evitable scarcity of money, which comes of such a vast 
 
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 230 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 loss. Insurance, public and private generosity have 
 done mucli to relieve the distress attendant on such 
 a calamity, and her courage and activity are greater 
 than ever before. 
 
 In their imjmtience for new business, some of the 
 people of Portland, or the more hopeful of them, 
 were encouraged to look for it in the building of a 
 line of railroad through the White Mountain Notch, 
 by way of St. Johnsbury and Lamoille valley to 
 Rouse's Point, aiming to make Ogdensburg the ob- 
 jective point of their scheme upon the St. Lawrence 
 waters. You know the history of this project. St. 
 Johnsbury wanted an outlet independent of the 
 Passumpsic Railroad, and proposed a railroad to 
 Montpelier, for which a charter was granted. Mont- 
 pelier declined to bond her town as St. Johnsbury 
 had done, and the measure hung fire. The St. 
 Johnsbury interest started off to Portland in advance 
 of the Montpelier people, and proposed a line from 
 Portland west, agreeing to build it, if Maine would 
 give them a charter. The Vermont Central were 
 standing ready, as they said, to take a lease of the 
 line to Portland at six per cent, on its cost. After- 
 wards, finding the scheme impracticable, they cut 
 loose from the Central line, and started a new scheme, 
 — a line from Portland to Ogdensburg by the way of 
 the White Mountain Notch. 
 
 To the support of this project I could never bring 
 the convictions of my judgment, and I have met no 
 little opposition, as some of you well know, for stand- 
 ing out in opposition to the Notch route. I do not 
 believe the line an easy one to build, and I do not 
 
 
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bring 
 
 THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILWAY. 231 
 
 think it will bring an adequate return of business for 
 the outlay, if it is built. Hence I cordially fell in 
 with your scheme and with the views presented by 
 the president of this convention, who, with his friend, 
 General Washbui'n, and other influential citizens of 
 Vermont, visited Portland, for this puri)ose, in Feb- 
 ruary, 1868. I shall never fail to thank you, Mr. 
 Chairman, in behalf of Portland and of Maine, for 
 your broad statesmanship and enlightened views on 
 this question, and for bringing the claims of the 
 Rutland and Portland line to the knowledge of our 
 people. 
 
 To understand the value to Portland of the Rut- 
 land route, over other projected lines to the West, I 
 have said to our people, it is essential to know some- 
 thing of the physical geography of the country 
 between Lake Champlain and the Hudson River 
 valley, and the territory of New England. 
 
 From New York City to Montreal, a distance of 
 about 400 miles along the route of the Hudson 
 River and Lake Champlain, is a comparative level, — 
 Lake Champlain being but 90 feet above tide- water; 
 and the highest summit between Hudson River and 
 Lake Champlain is 132 feet above tide-level. The 
 Green Mountain range, running nearly north and 
 south, parallel with Lake Champlain, extends from 
 the south line of Massachusetts to the St. Lawrence 
 waters, forming a continuous ridge, with occasional 
 depressions, but without any of the deep gorges and 
 pointed summits which characterize the granitic for- 
 mation lying east of the Connecticut River in New 
 Hampshire. Three lines of railway now cross the 
 
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232 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 Green Mountain rtinge; the Western Railroad of 
 Majssjichusetts, now the Boston and Albany line, 
 with long-continued heavy grades ; the Rutland 
 Railroad, over Mt. Holly summit ; and the Ver- 
 mont Central Railroad, by way of Roxbury and 
 Northfield. 
 
 The Rutland and Central Railroads cross the 
 state of Vermont diagonally by means of long as- 
 cents, over lofty summits, the exact height of which 
 are not known to me. The proposed Ogdeusburg 
 line, further north, is understood to be surrounded 
 with a still greater engineering difficulty in reaching 
 the Lamoille valley. The most favorable route for a 
 railroad across your state, south of Island Pond, as 
 far as grades are concerned, is by way of Montpelier, 
 where the Green Mountains can be passed, by easy 
 grades, at an elevation of 1,340 feet only, above the 
 level of the sea. The Nulhegan and Clyde summit, on 
 the Grand Trunk line, is only 1,158 feet above tide- 
 water. Neither the Rutland nor Central lines, already 
 built, or the Montpelier and St. Johnsbury lines pro- 
 posed, aiford, or can afford, a direct line across the 
 state. If one of your representatives wants to reach 
 Rutland from Montpelier, the state capital, he must 
 either go northwest to Burlington 40 miles, thence 
 south 67 miles to Rutland, 107 miles in all ; or run 
 down 104 miles to Bellows Falls, thence 53 miles to 
 Rutland, a total of 157 miles, when the distance 
 between Montpelier and Rutland is only about 40 
 miles. 
 
 A line directly across the state from White River 
 Junction to Rutland would shorten, by one half, the 
 
 
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 If, the 
 
 THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILWAY. 233 
 
 diritance by railway to the Htate capital, and afford a 
 natural and easy connection between all the i-ailroadw 
 in that state. It would concentrate at Rutland a large 
 amount of business, making it a great commercial 
 1, )wn. I am told, among other j^rojects in contempla- 
 tion here, is the building of a canal from Lake Cham- 
 plain. The ex|>erience of the last twenty years, in con- 
 nection with raih'oads, has demonstrated the fact that 
 Rutland is a point, if not the only point in the state 
 of Vermont, capal)le of becoming a great inland 
 town, by force of natural laws. Such, at any rate, 
 is ray conviction. One feels, on reaching Rutland, 
 that he has got outside or beyond the commercial 
 drift of New England, and that Rutland behngs 
 to the New York system of railroads, and within 
 reach of W(!stern connections. Trains of cars from 
 Jew York City at 8 o'clock a.ji. reach Rutland at 
 5 o'clock P.M., and there is a great movement, both 
 of passengers and of freight, north and south, as 
 well as across Mt. Holly to the Connecticut River 
 and the east. 
 
 It is obvious, therefore, that Rutland is the objec- 
 tive point for all successful railway movements from 
 Portland, west. Such a line would follow the natural 
 route from Portland to Lake Charaplcin, and on 
 reaching Whitehall, the nearest point from Lake 
 Champlain to the Atlantic, would not only meet the 
 present wants of business, but be prepared to receive 
 the accumulations which are sure to come to it by the 
 extension of a line on the western shore of the lake 
 from Plattsburg, and of a direct line of railway to 
 Oswego, on the completion of ship canals from Lake 
 
234 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
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 Erie into Ontario, and from the St. Lawrence into 
 Lake Champlain, tlie favorite project of Chicago and 
 the exporters of Western produce. 
 
 Tlie Nortlieiii seaboard cities have strongly sym- 
 })athized with the AYest in their desire for tlie Niagara 
 Ship Canal, and this idea has at times had great ap- 
 parent strength thi'oughout the country. Six years 
 ago, or in 1803, a call for a convention at Chicago to 
 aid the canal project wa-* numerously signed by niem- 
 beivs of Congress, near the head of which stood the 
 name of our p'-esent Minister to France, the lion. E. 
 B. AVashburn, of Illinois, a native of Maine. In 1809, 
 Mr. Washburn led oil' in the movement to postpone 
 and defeat the canal project, and it seems far less likely 
 of accomplishment now than it did six years ago. 
 The gi'eat Middle States, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and 
 Missouri, and all the country south of them, opjxise 
 the grant of money from the national treasury to 
 aid the building of this canal. The state of New 
 York is opposed to it, and insists if money is ex- 
 pended by the general government for canal purposes, 
 it should be applied to the enlargement of the Erie 
 Canal, — giving it sufficient capacity to float the lar- 
 gest propellers upon the upper lakes. The expense 
 of such an enlargement would be enormous, and the 
 caual could not compete with the railroads in trans- 
 portation. If such a canal had an unbroken level, so 
 that boats or vessels could cover its entire surface, it 
 could carry cheaper than the railroads; but the 
 delay of locks destroys the efficiency of canals, and 
 they could never compete successfully with railroads 
 with large quantities of business. The capacity of a 
 
 I \ 
 
 
and 
 
 THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILWAY. 235 
 
 canal is limited by its locks. A railroad is a canal 
 without locks, and you may cover the whole length 
 of the lines with trains, provided there is an ade([uate 
 supply of business. Looking, therefore, at the canal 
 question in its economical aspects, as a practical one, 
 it is obvious that the day for the enlargement of canals 
 is far off, if not already gone by. While serving useful 
 purposes in connecting by short links great basins of 
 navigable water, like Lake Huron and Lake Supe- 
 riorj or Lake Huron and Lake Erie, canals can never 
 compete with lines of railway in long transportation. 
 The canals of Ohio, connecting Lake Erie with the 
 Ohio lliver, serve a useful purpose in their own 
 neighborhood, but they cannot compete for a mo- 
 ment with railroads. 
 
 .It is obvious, therefore, to my mind, that railroad 
 plans based upon the idea of the early completion of 
 the Niagara Ship Canal must fail, — that a line of 
 railroad from Ogdensburg to the seaboard at Boston 
 or Portland must, as in the past, prove a failure. 
 It will be cheaper to take freight from Buffalo to 
 Portland by a direct line of railroad, than to pass it 
 through a canal into Lake Ontario to Ogdensburg, 
 and then transport it by rail to the seaboard ; or, at 
 any rate, cheaper to transport it by way of Oswego 
 to Portland, by a continuous line. Produce once 
 put upon a railroad should follow that track to 
 the seaboard without further handling, and if 
 moved slowly at only twice the speed of a canal 
 boat, it can go about as cheaply, if not cheaper, 
 b^ rail than by water, and be landed at the most con- 
 venient point at its place of destination. It is a 
 
 
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 236 J^VJiS T INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
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 k.^ 
 
 
 knowledge of this tliiit moved Buffalo jirid Chicago 
 to desire an independent railroad, and a shorter 
 line from Buffalo to the sea. Cheap navigation is 
 now found between Buffalo and Chicago in sum- 
 mer; and could a series of canals be provided, free 
 to all the world, from Lake Erie to the ocean, 
 allowing the largest vessels now known ui)on the 
 lakes to pjiss from Chicago to the open sea, the 
 St. Lawrence route might in time grow into favor; 
 but the St. Lawrence navigation below Quebec 
 is an object of dread in autumn ; at the West 
 many believe it impossible to make use of the 
 St. Lawrence below Montreal to any great advan- 
 tage, when the grain crop is pressing forward to 
 market, owing to the early closing of navigation. 
 The Portland outlet by railway is the great featiu'e 
 in the commercial policy of Canada. 
 
 If a ship canal, ecpial to the passage of propellers 
 carrying 1,500 tons burden, could be constructed from 
 Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, and from the St. Law- 
 rence into Lake Champlain, making Lake Champlain 
 an inland hasin^ the produce of the AVest would 
 undoubtedly flow into it in unmeasured abundance, 
 to be drawn off by railway, as wanted, for shipment 
 or home consumption, to Portland, Portsmouth, 
 Boston, and New York, in distances varying from 
 180 to 240 miles, — such a canal policy might solve, 
 in some measure, the question of transportation for 
 Western produce. A long line of canal of 322 miles 
 from Buffalo to Albany, or of 70 miles from Lake 
 Champlain at Whitehall into the Hudson at Troy, 
 cannot now, and never can, compete in transportation 
 
THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RATLIVAY. 237 
 
 ;^.r^ 
 
 with railroads aloiicr its route. Here, then, comes 
 tlie answer to tlie question, how can we reduce the 
 cost of transit from Buffalo to tht; Atlantic seaboard ? 
 By building a new line of railroad from Buffalo by 
 the most direct route to the Atlantic at Portland. 
 This line will serve as the cheapest outlet for prod- 
 uce fn^m Buffalo to the seaboard at the present 
 moment, and meet the fui'ther wants of trade, when 
 shij) canals are constructed from Lake Erie into Lake 
 Champlain. 
 
 But the most foimidable of all the obstacles to a 
 canal policy on the part of the government is the 
 opposition of the great railroad companies and great 
 railroad combinations, the mere statement of which 
 excites a feeling of alarm. These recent combina- 
 tions ai'e an object of Jealousy, almost of teri'or, at 
 the West, as they are 8ap[)ing the trade of the 
 western towns for the benefit of the Atlantic cities. 
 The first of these great combinations terminates 
 at Baltimore, of which the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- 
 road forms the base. It owns a continuous line 
 from Baltimore to Wheeling, a distance of 379 miles, 
 with a branch of 104 miles from Grafton to Parkers- 
 burg, on the Ohio River, which is being spanned by 
 a bridge — giving a continuous line to Cincinnati by 
 way of Marietta, a distance of 205 miles. This 
 company is constructing another bridge aci'oss the 
 Ohio at Benwood, between it and Bellaire, to ac- 
 commodate the Ohio Central Railroad, extending 
 from the Ohio River to Columbus, 137 miles, which 
 is a part of her chain ; and they have recently pur- 
 chased the intersecting road from Newark to San- 
 
 
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 238 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 dusky, 116 miles in length — giving them a hold 
 upon Lake Erie, as well as upon Ohio at Cincinnati. 
 The nearest outlet f i-om Cincinnati to the Atlantic is 
 at Baltimore, by way of Marietta, Parkersburg, and 
 Grafton, a distance of 588 miles. 
 
 The second grand consolidation rests upon the 
 Pennsylv^ania Railroad, with its various absorptions 
 and combinations, including the Pittsburg, Fort 
 Wayne, and Chicago line; and the Chicago and 
 Rock Island and Pacific road, reaching to the Mis- 
 souri River — already embracing 1,530 miles of com- 
 pleted railroad, with a capital equal to $122,110,164, 
 whose gross earnings in 1868 to $36,260,213. It is 
 now understood that this company have also secured 
 the control of the line from Columbus to Indianapolis, 
 and of the Miami Railroad, from Columbus to Cin- 
 cinnati. At Cincinnati, a company under their control 
 is bridging the Ohio from the Miami station to 
 Newport, which owns the new line from Cincinnati 
 to Louisville, a distance of 104 miles opened to 
 traffic in June the present year. These move- 
 ments have excited alarm among the business men 
 and the people of Cincinnati, which city has lost 
 almost the entire trade of the countiy lying east 
 of it, — goods being freighted through from the 
 Atlantic seaboard to all intermediate towns as 
 cheaply, or even cheaper, than to Cincinnati ; while 
 the railroads running east, north of Cincinnati, and 
 between it and the lakes, have carried the great 
 stream of travel east and west, away from her city, 
 and taken from her a large portion of the trade of 
 Northern Ohio, Indiana, and Central Illinois, which 
 
THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILWAY. 2sg 
 
 formerly made Cincinnati their market. Cincinnati, 
 aroused to the most determined action in an effort to 
 restore her lost advantages, has voted to use the credit 
 of the city, under authority of an act recently graiited 
 by the Legislature, to the amount of $10,000,000, to 
 build a railroad on the most direct route from Cin- 
 cinnati to Chattanooga ; in the hope, if not with the 
 certainty, of bringing the trade of Eastern Kentucky 
 and Tennessee, and of the whole country lying west 
 of the Blue Ridge, to her city, — a measui'e long in 
 contemplation, and recommended by President Lin- 
 coln as a measure necessary to the cari-ying on of the 
 war. But nothing could arouse Cincinnati to the 
 necessary measures to complete this work, except the 
 recent diversion of her trade to other places. 
 
 Coming to New York, the third great consolidated 
 scheme is that of the Erie Company, whose line, on the 
 six-feet gauge, extends northwest to Dunkirk and 
 Buffalo, and by means of the Atlantic and Great 
 Western Railroad to Cincinnati, from Salamanca on 
 the Erie line, 415 miles from New York, — a dis- 
 tance of 448 miles, on the same gauge ; where, in a 
 distance of 863 miles from New York at Cincinnati, 
 it connects with the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, 
 extending 340 miles from Cincinnati to St. Louis, — 
 fonnin<2r an unbroken broad-jraucje line from the 
 Mississippi River to New York, 1,203 miles. On 
 this line cai-s now run for the entire distance without 
 change. The plans of this company contemplate a 
 line to Chicago, which was a portion of the scheme 
 of Sir Morton Peto, interrupted for the time by his 
 disastrous failure, when the great railroad revulsion 
 
 
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 240 F/JiST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 took place in England, from wliich that country Las 
 not yet recovered. 
 
 But the greatest of all the combinations is that 
 formed and carried on under the guidance of a single 
 mind, that of Cornelius Vanderbilt, president of the 
 New York Central Railroad ; who has practically 
 united into one company the Hudson River Rail- 
 road, the New York Central, the Buffalo and Erie, 
 the Lake Shore, Cleveland, and Toledo, the Michigan 
 Southern (from Toledo to Chicago), and the Chicago 
 and Northwestern, reaching to Omaha, the eastern 
 terminus of the Union Pacific Railroad, — embracing 
 a length of 2,480 miles of lines in operation, costing 
 $164,485,056, whose income in 1868 was $44,820,- 
 893 ; and other plans are on foot for still further 
 absorptions and combinations. 
 
 These great railroad combinations In a measure 
 control the trade, the public men, and the politics of 
 the country. It is now understood that the Pennsyl- 
 vania Railroad combination, under the lead of J. 
 Edgar Thompson, are looking toward the Northern 
 Pacific Railroad project, and this same Mr. Thomp- 
 son, with Mr. Benjamin E. Smith, of Columbus, Ohio, 
 are prominent contractors in the building of the 
 European and North American Railway from Bangor, 
 Maine, to St. John City, New Brunswick. When 
 they come into control of the lines east of Bangor, 
 they may turn their thoughts and their labors to 
 the Northern Pacific, by a direct route from Bangor. 
 The operations of the men engaged in these com- 
 binations are as vast and as unfathomable as the 
 great deep, — the result of them, no man can estimate, 
 
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 com- 
 tbe 
 mate, 
 
 THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILWAY. 241 
 
 foresee, or conjecture. Tliey defeated the Niagara 
 Ship Canal. To bold control of their present busi- 
 ness, against all interference on the part of the 
 national or state governments, they may possiljly be 
 compelled to reduce the cost of railroad transporta- 
 tion. 
 
 Of one thing we may be assured, that while the 
 demands of trade and the necessities of business call 
 for additional outlets, the building of this shortest 
 practicable line from Chicago to the sea, will be 
 called for before any great reduction of freights will 
 or can take place. What direction shall this new 
 line take ? New Yorkers claim that they can find 
 a new route as favorable as ours. But let the 
 business men of Rutland take this question home 
 to themselves, and they can now determine the route. 
 
 You, Mr. Chairman, have had experience in man- 
 aging a railroad, in working a line with heavy grades 
 and large expenditures. At present, your business 
 is limited, yet you must charge enough to pay for 
 doing this business, and giving a return of profit on 
 the capital of your company. This business you can 
 enlarge. In addition to great advantages of situation, 
 sufficient to make you a great town, you are favored 
 with treasures of wealth, as valuable as the coal 
 deposits of Pennsylvania, in your marble quarries, a 
 visit to which we have enjoyed to-day. Such a 
 sight as I have witnessed is worth a visit of thou- 
 sands of miles, and was to me, fhe most instructive 
 lesson I have had for years. Thesje marble quarries 
 are enough to justify an expenditure equal to 
 half your valuation, as shown by the grand list, 
 
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 24 2 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA V. 
 
 or $2,000,000 of money to open the Transcon- 
 tinental Railway, and give you the market of 
 Chicago, and other cities in the West ; and the open 
 market of the world by a railway to the seaboard at 
 Portland. Your line to Boston is inadequate to your 
 wants. The elegant Post-office and United States 
 Court room, in Portland, in process of construction, is 
 of Vermont marble, taken from some of the quarries 
 north of you ; and if we had the direct line finished 
 to Portland, this beautiful mateiial would come 
 largely into use for building purposes, not only in 
 Portland, but in all the other Atlantic cities, as 
 soon as the cost of transportation would Justify it. 
 There is room enough and space enough to wor]\ 
 up here the material into public and private edifices, 
 so that it could go fonvard to market in the most 
 valuable form, shaped by the hands of your own arti- 
 sans. The great labor should be expended here. 
 You have in employ, probably, 1,000 laborer in the 
 working of marble to-day. In a few years you will 
 have ten laborers for every one now engaged, and a 
 city of 50,000 people will be gathered within the 
 limits of Rutland. 
 
 I have been speaking of a line of railway fronj 
 Rutland to Portland in connection with the uecessi- 
 ties of local trade. Is it not wise to go further, and 
 examine into its claims as a portion of the Transcon- 
 tinental Railway, or of that link of it which more 
 immediately concerns us, the section between Port- 
 land and Chicago ? The fact that flour would bear 
 transportation by railway for 1,000 miles in compe- 
 tition with water-carriage by canal, was first demon- 
 
THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILWAY. 243 
 
 strated on the Grand Trunk line, extending from 
 Lake Huron to Portland, since the completion of tlie 
 Victoria Bridge at Montreal without a break or 
 delay. This demonstration has forced competing 
 lines to combine, and the rapid development of rail- 
 way traffic against w^ater transportation has been one 
 of the great facts of the last ten years. In 1858, the 
 New York canals carried 3,665,192 tons of merchan- 
 dise, against 3,473,725 tons carried on the railroads of 
 New York. In 1867, the tonnage of the New York 
 canals has increased to 5,688,325 tons, against 10,- 
 343,681 tons carried by the railroads of New York, 
 the canals now being worked to their full capacity. 
 The increase and value of tonnage sent by canal and 
 railway amounting to $486,816,505 in value in 
 1858,— increased, in 1867, to $1,723,330,207. 
 
 A great item of transportation is breadstuffs, and 
 the question that the American farmers, whether 
 Canadian or Republican, more especially the pro- 
 ducers of Western wheat, must now consider, is, 
 what will be their condition when the surplus 
 produce of the West exceeds our necessary home con- 
 sumption, and the demands of the English market ? 
 In order, therefore, to maintain our bread crop, our 
 first duty is to cheapen the cost of transit to the sea- 
 board, not only from Buffalo and Chicago, but from the 
 the farm of the producer, two hundred miles west of 
 Chicago, from the Mississippi and Missouri rivers to 
 the northern Atlantic seaboard ; while we devote our 
 energies along the seaboard, and among the hills of 
 New England, to the development of manufactures, 
 as the necessary, natural, and only reliable market 
 
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 1 
 
 11 
 
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 14 
 
 244 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL IVA Y. 
 
 for the surplus produce of the West, and the proper 
 employment of our native population. If wo shall 
 be able for the next few years to keep out of our 
 market the cheap products of European labor, until 
 our manufactures shall become established iu New 
 England ; we may draw around our water-falls a busy 
 population, and plant in every valley of New Eng- 
 land thriving villages, with an industrious, inde- 
 pendent, and highly educated people. 
 
 Public enterprise and commercial necessity, look 
 upon this continent as one great field open to devel- 
 opment, regardless of national boundaries or state 
 lines. They conform their plans to physical facts 
 alone. Lines of railway, starting from great commer- 
 cial centres, or important commercial points, rely 
 upon the level and the transit as the only safe guide 
 to open the way to profitable investments. The re- 
 straints which hereditary customs and arbitraiy laws 
 throw in the way of railroads in the European coun- 
 tries are here comparatively unknown ; and the enor- 
 mous burdens which the peoj)le of the most favored 
 af the European states are compelled to bear, are 
 scarcely known to the people of this land, or those 
 of British North America. In the discussion of 
 railroad questions, as well as of all commercial 
 undertakings, we are bound to look forward to 
 the time, not far distant, when intercourse shall 
 be free, among all the English-speaking people 
 of the continent, as it is between different states of 
 the Union under our federal Constitution, and among 
 the several provinces now living under the new Do- 
 minion of Canada. Hence the necessity of looking 
 
THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILWAY. 245 
 
 at commercial considerations alonCy in projecting our 
 means of coramunications, whether of canal or railroad. 
 And the great practical question meets us at the 
 outset, as to what is the chea^iest method for bring- 
 ing Western produce from Lake Erie to the open sea. 
 If it be cheaper, or if it can be made cheaper, to send 
 prcxluce to Europe through the St. Lawrence by the 
 building of shi[) canals, so as to allow sea-going ves- 
 sels of the size suited for economical ocean naviga- 
 tion to pass in and out of Lake Erie, and to the head 
 of Lake Superior, fully laden — I must admit that 
 such a work will yet be accomplished. But I am not 
 prepared to admit that it will ever be found cheaper 
 to take proiluce from the level of Lake Erie, 565 feet 
 above tide-water, to the open sea, through ship canals 
 into Lake Ontario, and along the St. Lawrence ; than 
 it will be to bi'ing it all the way by rail, when we 
 shall have a line by the most practicable route, thor- 
 oughly constructed and fully equipped, with two^ or 
 even three sets of tracks, from Lake Erie, at Buffalo, 
 to the harbor of Portland, touching Lake Champlain 
 at Whitehall. 
 
 This brings me directly to the question of the cost 
 of transit by railway. This question was put to me 
 at Chicago by the President of the Board of Trade. 
 " What will ultimately be the cost of moving a bushel 
 of wheat or a barrel of flour, per mile, or per one 
 hundred miles and more, between great commercial 
 pc'its?" I sought to make the question plain by 
 repeating the statements made to me years since by 
 Moucure Robinson, esq., of Philadelphia, for many- 
 years the most eminent railroad engineer of the 
 
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 346 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 eountiy. lie projected the Reading Railmad, alwiit 
 oue hundred inile^^ in length, from Pliihulelphia, as 
 au outlet to the coal trade, whose headcjuarters are 
 at Reading. After thorough survey, he took his 
 plans and estimates to England, and laid them before 
 rich capitalists of London. His pr()[)osal >va8, a level 
 line of railway, one hundred miles in length, capable 
 of moving 3,000 tons per day, or 1,000,000 tons per 
 annum — toith an inexhaustihle Hupphj of tra^ for 
 all time to come — moved at the rate of thirty-seven 
 cents per ton, for one hundred miles. This, he con- 
 tended, would pay a six-per-cent. dividend on the 
 entire cost of the road — its equii)ments, stations, 
 wharves, and other business accommodations. 
 . These plans and estimates were submitted by the 
 capitalists, at his request, to the leading railroad 
 engineers of England. After careful examination, 
 these engineers reported the correctness of all the 
 calculations ; but declared the propositions absurd, 
 as no such state of facts could possibly exist. Mr. 
 Robinson showed them that his great line was so 
 adjusted as to form a level or descending grade in 
 the direction of the traffic — so that a locomotive 
 would haul as many loaded cars from Reading to 
 Philadelphia, as it would take back empty, from 
 Philadelphia to Reading. This demonstrated the 
 character of the line. The supply of business could 
 only be ascertained by careful examination. 
 
 The capitalists then proposed that if the facts 
 should sustain the theory, they would furnish the 
 capital. A contract was executed on the terms above 
 stated, and the most competent men, selected from all 
 
fl 
 
 THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILWAY. 247 
 
 Englanil by the cai)italists themselves, were sent over 
 to examine the ground. If they reported adversely, 
 Mr. Robinson and his friends were to pay for their 
 time, and all tlie expenses of the exploration and 
 examination. Parties came over, rei)orted the cor- 
 rectness of Mr. Robinson's representations, and under 
 this agreement the Reading Railroad was undertaken. 
 The company was chartered on tlie 4tli of April, 
 1833, and the work commenced in 1830; but the 
 great revulsion of 1837 embarrassed some of the 
 English parties, so that it did not go through as 
 rapidly as contemplated. But it was finally accom- 
 plished, and was the first great work of the kind 
 opened, and enjoys to this day the pre-eminence 
 of being the most important work engaged in the 
 coal-trade of the country. It made a profit on cany- 
 ing coal at 37 cents per ton, and John Tucker, for 
 many years president of the company, has declared, 
 that they have carried coal at a profit at 25 cents 
 per ton. At this time they charge somewhat more ! 
 [In 1801, their receipts for coal transportation were 
 at the rule of $1.12 per ton, and in 1862, $1.12 ; in 
 1803, $1.75; in 1804, $2.75; in 1805, $2.82; in 
 1800, $2.25; in 1807, $1.85; and in 1808, $1.77 per 
 ton.] In 1800, this company carried 3,714,084 tons 
 of coal, receiving therefor $8,245,090. This business 
 slic^htly diminished in 1807 and 1808 from causes 
 pUjtdy temporary and accidental. The stock of this 
 company averaged $140 to the $100 in 1804, was as 
 hig.i as $117 in 1800, and is at par at the present 
 time. The mileage of the road, with its branches, 
 being equivalent to 374 miles of single track, costing 
 
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 /'YAW /• f,V TEKNA r/O.VA/, KAII. W'A Y. 
 
 
 )i^a5,L> r);?,r)r>;i, wi I !i .rroMs i'sirnini^'s of $1(»,<.M)U,LMH in 
 1S()('», Hiul $S,7'.M/.»a7 in lHr>S, lu'conlinj^' to tlicir 
 |>ul)lisli(>il rcluni-'. 'I'liis coiiipany ('iii|>I()y('(l, in ISCiH, 
 1(),(U)4 (M ml -Oil IN, Tiu^ jivcr.'iij^tMViri^ht «»r <MMil-l.rainH 
 77t) *.)-l(M) Ions; (lu> wciu^lil of (Mnply c'lrM, per load, 
 [H«r train, !.'()(» tons — showinij^ :i nel. load of 51.'^ tons 
 of ooal moved per Irain, willi a (load uoii^lit; of ro- 
 tnrn caix i.H»<5 ions «)nlv sliou inij conditions of tradt? 
 ntdviiown npon a!iy o(lu>r line of railway in tlui world. 
 It ncvi'i' had a conniuMcial Knccc'ss liko the IVnn- 
 svlvania Railroad, < liaiicM-rd Aj>hl i.'J, 18'M>, now 
 enihraoini; a. niil('aii;e of r>.'KS miles, op(Mate(l as a 
 sini:;le eompany, costini:^ $r)l,l l.'i,7l(>, with an ineoino 
 in 1808 of $'J0,().*17,7I8. 
 
 These (wo companies, from their favorable |M)si- 
 tion an.) location throni^h pnxlnctive n\<jfions and 
 abnr.dant business, and under sysvcmatic inaiia^e- 
 ment, may ln' cited us examples to illustrati; the 
 workinjj^ capacity of railroads. But tluM'e is no 
 means (d' determiniuj;', eitlu'r in tliis country or in 
 Europe, the ])recise cost of movinjj^ friMi^ht under tlu; 
 most favorable circumstances. A railroad should be 
 ec(>nomically built, provid-nl with suitable means of 
 handliuix freiij:ht, and prudently m*uiag(>(l, to accom- 
 plish tlu^ hiuhcst results. In our iriwperience, the 
 cost of construction luus been greatly in excess of what 
 is now re(]uircd \(\ build a good line, and we liave ex- 
 perimented on the various methods of working, till we 
 begin to see more clearly the errors of former years. 
 Give railri)ads enough to do, and they will do your 
 work cheaply. Where the business is small, cost of 
 transportation is necessarily higli, as the same ma- 
 

 (i:;* 
 
 rUh: TRANSCONTINI'.NTAl, N Alt. WAY. 249 
 
 ('.liijK^ry ji?i(l <'(|ni))iii('iilH jiic r(M|iiir(f(l to do n hiimII 
 l)ilHiiioHH MH H larj^ii oiM'. All i?ici'<'aH(! of hiiHiiic.m mi- 
 crcHHciH, of coiiiHc, (,li(!<',oHt, of vvopkiiiLi u rond, hut hy no 
 iiicniiH ill proportion to tli<^ in<'i'<taH(; (^f hiiHincMM; tiic! 
 iidditioiial <m>h(, of luiiidlinj^ incirliaiidiHi! hciiiL^^ tli<? 
 principal additi(Ui to the, (vxpciisc, of inovint^ frci'.dit 
 upon a niilroad, with favoiahhi f^ia<li(!ntH. We. vm\ 
 Iciani Honictliiiijj; |>i'a(r(i('al, l»y looi<iii<^ at tlic roal- 
 trad(! of Kn<^l}iM(l, - tiM! ('(uil-tradc! of the. United 
 States, at preHc^nt, heiiiL^ Hinall, cornpj'n^d vvitli that 
 of (J ir.it Britain. In IS].",, 2,0r,.",,ll4 tons of coal 
 vv(!r(^ l)roiii;lit to liOixhui, and entirely hy KhipH. 
 In 18(;7, (v*>L>U,r)r)() t(UiH were l)roiJ^ht to Lon(h)n. 
 A hir^(! poii.'on of tliiw, or more than .'',()()(>,()0() tons, 
 was hrougl'j, l>y railw.'iy. TranHportation of (;oal hy 
 railway lias all Ixm'Fi d(!V(ilop(!(l in tin? last tw<;nty 
 years. Coal is now l)roiit!;lit to London from StaiVord- 
 sliire. a distance of IHO n»il(!s, for orn; shilling, or 
 tw(!nty-four cents j)erton ; thvi miiuirs or mining com- 
 j)anies owning, lojiding, and unloading tluiir own cars. 
 We may anticipate; as favorahh; "ates in this country, 
 with the j)r(>gress n(;w witn<!i'sed in itnprovfid 
 macliincM'y, and greatitr skill in maiiiigement. We 
 niiiy, witli profit, take hissons from Kngland, wluire 
 her railroads cost fiv(; timer as much as oursp<!i' mil<;, 
 and are operated for about one third the cost of 
 working lim^s in this country. 
 
 Looking jj.t the contin(Mit of North AjiKuica in it': 
 physical aspects, we an; impressed with the belief, 
 tliat it is b(!st fitted l)y nature of any of the great 
 divisions of the earth foi* the a})ode of man ; and that 
 iuM'e will be achieved the hi!i;hest results of a true civi- 
 
 ■i 
 
 
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 V M 
 
 250 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 :■!' 
 
 ■'*' 
 
 
 J .; 
 
 lization. It has all tlie elements of wealth and materi- 
 al power in convenient proximity, by the configuration 
 of its mountain ranges and the drainage of its great 
 rivers. Europe is broken up into small sections by 
 mountain chains, naturally leading to several and sep 
 arate states and nationalities. The centre of Asia is one 
 vast desert, so elevated above the level of the sea, as 
 to preclude the possibility of communication across it. 
 The great empires of Russia at the north, of China at 
 the east, and of India at the south, are completely 
 separated from each other, having no available means 
 of intercourse, except by distant voyages outside the 
 surrounding seas. Africa and South America are 
 prohibited, by the laws of climate, from great intel- 
 lectual development, or active participation in the 
 affairs of the world. 
 
 The most marked features of the North American 
 continent are the great basins of the St. Lawrence 
 and the Mississippi, the best grain-producing regions 
 of the earth. The valley of the Mississippi and its 
 tributaries has 1,244,000 square miles of territory, 
 about the same area as China. The St. Lawrence 
 basin has an area equal to 470,471 square miles. 
 All of this ten'itory, amounting to 1,714,471 square 
 miles, is within the limits of the United States, with 
 the exception of 357,812 square miles of the St. 
 Lawrence basin, which belongs to Great Britain, 
 within the Dominion of Canada. The markets of 
 Canada alone are sufficient to concentrate a vast 
 l)usiness, and build up a great metropolis at Mon- 
 treal ; and it would soon accomplish this result but 
 from the fact that the St. Lawrence, below Montreal, 
 
THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILWAY. 251 
 
 is closed by ice for the several months of winter, 
 compelling lier to Tn^-.ke use of Portland harbor for 
 her winter business. But while Montreal remains 
 under a different commercial system from our own, 
 she can never expect to equal the commercial cities 
 of the United States, or realize the great destiny that 
 awaits her. If goods could be imported in bulk into 
 Montreal, and sent to all the Western and Southern 
 states as now sent from New York City, Montreal 
 would at once become the great rival of New York, 
 and compete successfully for the Northwestern trade. 
 Her growth is now limited by the narrow confines of 
 Canadian trade. She would become imperial, if her 
 trade were continental. 
 
 Canada is comparatively well supplied with rail- 
 roads, while Maine and the lowe^* Provinces are 
 suffering for lack of them. But railroads are spring- 
 ing up at the east, and promise to grow into im- 
 portance and into mileage, in Maine, New Brunswick, 
 and Nova Scotii equal to what has been reached in 
 the five other states of New England. Maine has 
 now in operation 652 miles of railroad, and 218 
 miles more in process of construction : with 200 miles 
 of additional line chartered, the construction of which 
 will be entered upon at an earb day. New Bruns- 
 wick has 236 miles of railroad 11. v^peration, and 125 
 miles more in progress, without including any portion 
 of the Intercolonial Railway line. Nova Scotia has 
 145 miles of railroad in operation, and 200 miles more 
 in process of construction. 
 
 In projecting great lines of communication, Amer- 
 icans are relieved from the restraints of unfriendly 
 
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 ^ ■! 
 
 252 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 physical laws. They can extend a line or lines of 
 railway from the ports of the Atlantic to the ports of 
 the Pacific. But our line will be the most valuable 
 and the most commanding of all, for it will span the 
 continent at its widest part; and, for its entire distance, 
 pass through a region filled with elements of wealth, 
 awaiting development, whose business shall equal 
 any section of this continent, — portions of it already 
 occupied by a busy and prosperous people. Great 
 physical facts control its location. It may cross nar- 
 row straits more effectually to lengthen the land-route 
 at the extreme east, because the whole idea rests 
 upon the theory, that land conveyance is more expe- 
 ditious than water carriage, — but it is compelled to 
 touch Bangor, Portland, Rutland, and Whitehall on 
 its way, before it reaches Rochester, Buffalo, and 
 Chicago, the great centre of continental trade. This 
 question has received the attention of the business 
 men of the West. The Board of Trade of Chicago, 
 after full consideration by the most active and saga- 
 cious men of the country, adopted a series of reso- 
 lutions on this subject on May 21, 1869, as follows : 
 
 Resolved, That the construction of a line of railroad from 
 Chicago to the Pacific Ocean invites attention to the necessity 
 of securing a direct line of railway from Chicago to the most 
 eastern shore of the continent of North America, at its widest 
 part, so as to secure the shortest practicable line of transit 
 between the commercial centres of Europe and Asia. 
 
 Resolved, That the immediate advantage to the commerce 
 of Chicago, of a direct line of railway to the most eastern shore 
 of the continent, touching the unrivalled harbor of Portland, 
 Maine, running along the south shore of Lake Ontario, and 
 from thence by way of Whitehall and Rutland, due east, to 
 Portland, over a route recently chartered by the states of 
 
THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILWAY. 253 
 
 Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, calls upon the Chicago 
 Board of Trade to take action in favor of this line with a view 
 to encourage the preparation at Portland of facilities for the 
 receipt, distribution, and shipment of merchandise to and from 
 Chicago, without the delays attendant on other Atlantic ports. 
 
 Resolved, That the city of Chicago, at the heart of the 
 continent, midway between its eastern and western shores, at 
 its widest part over any practicable route for a railroad, can 
 only realize her greatest destiny by adhering to the policy of 
 avoiding the circuitous route by w;iy of New York for the 
 transit of passengers, mails, and valuable merchandise ; which 
 by means of the longest land conveyance and the shortest sea- 
 voyage, can be transported from Hong Kong to London in 
 thirty-eight days, and from Yokohama to London inside of 
 thirty-five days. 
 
 Resolved, That the citizens of Chicago and of the central 
 portions of the continent will welcome the completion of aline 
 of railway by the most direct route from Chicago to Portland, 
 to Halifax, Nova Scotia, to St. John's, Newfoundland, already 
 projected, built, or in progress, as a portion of the Trans- 
 continental Railway, — an event of the greatest importance 
 to this city, second only to the line to the Pacific, — enabling 
 pleasure tourists, men of business, and emigrants from Europe 
 to reach the heart of the continent, and future seat of empire 
 in the New World, without any of the delays, restrictions, or 
 detentions which come of circuitous routes, multiplicity of 
 companies, and governmental intervention. 
 
 Resolved, That the laws of commerce disregard national or 
 artificial boundaries ; that the free transit of passengers, mails, 
 and goods over all natural and artificial routes in possession 
 of the English-speaking people upon the continent of North 
 America, is the finality of American statesmanship ; that 
 canals, in connection with our great chain of lakes, must ulti- 
 mately be provided, and of suflficient capacity to allow steam- 
 ers suitable for economical ocean-navigation to pass from the 
 ocean by way of the lakes, to the heads of Michigan and Supe- 
 rior, with inward and outward cargoes, — while the immediate 
 duty of the hour is to secure ship-canals between Lake Erie 
 
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 iirl'-,' 
 
 254 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 and Lake Champlain of sufficient capacity to transport the 
 produce of the West, seeking an Atlantic market, without 
 transshipment between Chicago and Whitehall. 
 
 TIME AND DISTANCE. 
 
 The following tables show the distance from London to 
 Hong Kong, via Newfoundland, Portland, Chicago, and San 
 Francisco ; also, the time consumed : 
 
 FROM LONDON TO CHICAGO. 
 
 Station. Miles, Days, Hours, 
 
 London to Holyhead, rail 263 o 10 
 
 Holyhead to Dublin, steamer 63 o 4 
 
 Dublin to Gal vay, rail 125 o 5 
 
 Galway to St. John's, Newfoundland, steamer. .1,656 . 10 
 
 St. John's to Cape Ray , .ail 280 ( 14 
 
 Cape Ray to Cape North, steamer 45 i 3 
 
 Cape North to Pictou, ra'.l 120 o 5 
 
 Pictou to St. John, New Brunswick, rail 250 o lo 
 
 St. John to Bangor, rail 196 o 8 
 
 Bangor to Portland, rail 138 o 6 
 
 Portland to Rutland, rail i63 o 8 
 
 Rutland to Schenectady, rail 85 o 4 
 
 Schenectady to Buffalo, rail 28'/ o 10 
 
 Buffalo to Detroit, rail 230 o 8 
 
 Detroit to Chicago, rail 284 o 10 
 
 Total 4.190 8 20 
 
 CHICAGO TO HONG KONG. 
 
 Chicago to Omaha, rail 494 00 18 
 
 Omaha to Promontory Summit, rail 1,086 i 10 
 
 Promontory Summit to Sacramento, rail 690 i 00 
 
 Sacramento to San Francisco, steamer 140 00 6 
 
 San Francisco to Yokohama, steamer 4,520 20 00 
 
 Yokohama to Shanghai, steamer 1,085 3 00 
 
 Shanghai to Hong Kong, steamer 800 2 10 
 
 Total 8,815 28 20 
 
 Grand Total 13,005 37 16 
 
 And it is proper in this connection to say, that 
 these resolutions were adopted on full consideration, 
 to meet in some measure the suggestions of Portland, 
 
■'. J ■ 
 
 ■' il 
 
 THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILWAY. 255 
 
 in proposing increased harbor accommodations, and 
 ample facilities for handling Western produce; as 
 shovvii by the Commissioner's report and map, made 
 under the direction of the Superintendent of the 
 United States Coast Survey. The present commer- 
 cial business of Portland is all transacted within the 
 inner harbor. The improvements contemplated will 
 be an entire addition, giving us two and one half 
 miles of additional water front ; with docks sufficient 
 for the lying afloat of forty ocean steamers, of 400 
 feet in length, at the gi,me time. And the extension 
 of Commercial Street, completely round the city 
 along side of tide-^vater, for the distance of six miles, 
 will give us such facilities for commerce, as can 
 nowhere else be found north of Norfolk, Virginia. 
 A leading New York paper stated a few years since 
 that it was the opinion of the best commercial men 
 in New York City, that she could well afford to pay 
 $300,000,000, or an annual rental on that sum, if 
 she could secure thereby a deep ship channel to the 
 open sea. She was annoyed that the Oi'eat Eastern, 
 ,yithout lighterage, could not enter her harbor, for 
 want of the same depth of water as at Portland. 
 
 Let us look at it, then, in its practical aspects. 
 One line of railway, from the Pacific to Chicago, 
 is completed. The Northern Pacific Railroad, pass- 
 ing through a better countr}^, over lower summits, 
 with easier grades, is an admitted necessity, and will 
 shorten, by 500 miles and more, the distance from 
 Chicago to Japan. 
 
 From Chicago, in latitude 41° 52', and in longitude 
 87° 35' to Portland, in latitude 43° 39', and in longi- 
 
 i^;!^^ 
 
 '.y 
 
 . i.ift* j 
 
 4 
 
256 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL \VA V. 
 
 3 1.«. 
 
 tude 70° 15', the distance is 871 miles, conforming, 
 in its route, very nearly to the principle of great 
 circle-sailing, adopting the lines already in contem- 
 plation. From Chicago to St. Clair River, by the 
 Michigan Air-line Railroad and its connections, 
 already in progress, the distance is but 280 miles, 
 over a route with easy grades, in a distance that 
 does not exceed by two and a half miles an air line. 
 From St. Clair River to Buffalo, by the chartered 
 route of the Erie and Niagara Extension Railway 
 Company, represented here to-day by Wm. A. 
 Thompson, esq., of Canada, the distance to Buffalo 
 will be but 170 miles, over a most favorable line; 
 making the entire distance, by rail, but 450 miles 
 from Chicaijo to Buffalo. 
 
 Buffalo is the great city of Lake Erie. Its natural 
 advantages gave it importance, but it received its 
 great impulse of growth, as it became the western 
 terminus of the Erie Canal. The country has out- 
 grown the canal, and the ideas of Buffalo have not 
 kept pace with the progress of railways. She failed 
 to secure, at the right time, a bridge across the head 
 of the Niagara River, at her own door, and is now 
 compelled to witness, from a distance, the great 
 stream of travel, east and west, across the Suspension 
 Bridge, instead of through her own city. From 
 this apathy Buffalo may yet recover ; and by 
 uniting with the friends of the Erie and Niagara 
 Railway, restore her lost advantages. By a direct 
 route from Buffalo to Oswego, uniting with the 
 friends of the Lake Ontario Shore Road, she can 
 secure a line to Whitehall, which shall make her 
 
 ;i H- 
 
THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILWAY. 257 
 
 great 
 
 by 
 
 the 
 
 le can 
 
 her 
 
 independent of the New York Central, and a greater 
 city than Montreal. The Chamber of Commerce of 
 Buffalo, more interested than Chicago in the Trans- 
 continental Railway, or in the section from Chicago 
 to Portland, adopted resolutions on the subject on 
 May 27, 1869, as follows : 
 
 Resolved, That the Board of Trade of Buffalo have ob- 
 served, with satisfaction, the measures in progress in the 
 states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, to secure the 
 construction of a line of railway from the unrivalled harbor of 
 Portland, Maine, to Buffalo, by the most direct and practicable 
 route, by way of Rutland Vermont, Whitehall, and south of 
 Lake Ontario ; that such a line of railroad will command the 
 trade of the lakes beyond any line practicable or possible, run- 
 ning from Portland west ; and, operated in connection with 
 lake steamers and sailing vessels from Buffalo, upon Lake 
 Erie and the upper lakes, will give such additional facilities as 
 are now required to take off the produce of the great West 
 which accumulates at Buffalo, coming from Chicago and other 
 lake ports. 
 
 Resolved, That the opening of a line of railroad from 
 the commercial centre of New England, at Portland, to 
 the West, touching the grand chains of lake and railroad 
 transit at Buffalo ; giving a new and more direct route for 
 pleasure tourists, men of business, and emigrants, must attract 
 the bulk of travel by this route from the East ; not only from 
 New England and the lower British Provinces, but from 
 Europe, on the completion of the chain of railways now built, 
 in progress, or projected, extending from this city east, to the 
 most eastern shore of the continent, — as contemplated by the 
 projectors of the " Transcontinental Railway ; " which, by 
 means of the longest land-route and the shortest sea-voyage, 
 will reduce the transit between th« commercial centres of 
 Europe and Asia to the lowest limits of time and t ist, — by 
 traversing the continent at its widest part, by an unbroken line 
 of iron rail from the Atlantic Ocean to the shores of the 
 Pacific Seaj. 
 
 i^ 
 
 Ii 
 i 
 
:\^ 
 
 11 
 
 258 FIRST INTERNA TI0N4L RAIL WA Y. 
 
 Resolved, That, while as citizens of the state of New York, 
 we have a just and becoming pride in the growth and commer- 
 cial importance of the city of New York, we, at the same time, 
 recognize the right and the duty of opening new outlets to 
 other Atlantic ports, for the better and cheaper transit of the 
 accumulating products of the Northwest, upon the great lakes ; 
 that we recognize the advantages of Portland harbor as a natu- 
 ral outlet and shipping-port for Buffalo, from its depth of water, 
 ease of access, and completeness of shelter, — where facilities 
 for handling merchandise can be indefinitely multiplied, as 
 called for by the demands of trade, on the completion of 
 a direct line of railway from the navigable waters of Lake 
 Erie, at Buffalo, to the deep water of Portland harbor ; which 
 harbor will be reached in a distance of 540 miles by way of 
 Schenectady and Rutland, as agarnst 457 miles to New York 
 City by the Central and Hudson River lines, — while by 
 straightening the line from Whitehall to Buffalo, the distance 
 from Lake Erie to Portland will be reduced to 480 miles ; in- 
 suring low rates of freight, from the cheaper cost of construc- 
 tion, over the existing lines of railway from Buffalo to New 
 York City. 
 
 And the gentlemen of this committee at Buffalo 
 have written letters, already read to you to-day, ex- 
 pressive of their hearty concurrence in the measures 
 you have now under consideration. 
 
 From Chicago to Buffalo will be but 450 miles ; 
 from Buffalo to Whitehall 280 miles, by the Lake 
 Shore Railroad to Fulton, 10 miles south of Oswego ; 
 thence due east, north of Oneida Lake, — making a 
 total of 730 miles from Chicago to Whitehall. From 
 Whitehall to Portland the distance is but 151 miles 
 on an air line, and if you add 33 miles more, on ac- 
 count of deflections, it would make the distance 914 
 miles from Chicago to Portland. 
 
 The great feature of our line from Portland to 
 Chicago is its advantages as a natural route for im- 
 
r .if 
 
 TIf£ TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILWAY. 259 
 
 migrants to the West, so well stated in the resolu- 
 tions of the Buffalo Board of Trade. This stream 
 of immigration from Europe will touch the nearest 
 American shore, and distribute itself along the line of 
 the railroads to the West, according to the attractions 
 held out to them. The manufacturing population, 
 mechanics, miners, mariners, weavers, and spinners, 
 forming an aggregate of 291,771 persons who came- 
 from Europe for the last thirteen years, will naturally 
 find employment in the lower Provinces and in the 
 Eastern States, which are to be rapidly developed 
 under the new order of things, which the European 
 and North American Railway is certain to introduce. 
 One line of ocean steamers has already proposed 
 to deliver five hundred immigrant passengers per 
 week to the railroad at Halifax, on the completion 
 of the line to the United States ; and the railroad 
 companies will be able to send a thousand immi- 
 grants per day from Halifax west, after suitable 
 preparation, cheaply and more expeditiously than by 
 any other means. 
 
 What, then, is the duty of the people on the route 
 from Portland to Rutland ? At this time they can 
 determine the route of the first line built from Port- 
 land to the West. The distance from Rutland to 
 Portland on an air line is only 136 miles. A rail- 
 road line will be probably at least twenty per cent, 
 longer, following the openings through the moun- 
 tains, which the God of nature in his wisdom has 
 provided ; and if this line exceeds in length our pre- 
 vious estimates, it will probably only require a line 
 as long as that of the present one from Rutland to 
 Boston. A line from Portland west is a necessity 
 
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a6o FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 that admits of no delay ; and probably no event has 
 or can occur to Rutland so great in importance as 
 that which shall make her a leading station on that 
 transcontinental chain, that shall first sweep the 
 long line of four thousand miles with the highest 
 speed of the locomotive, and command the choicest 
 traffic of the world. From Portland, east, the line is 
 in progress. The eyes of the world are already 
 turned toward the east, by way of the west, and we 
 already perceive, in the movements of business, a 
 foreshadowing of the great future that awaits the 
 American republic. 
 
 Every portion of the world is becoming subject to 
 the influence of railways ; and as nations become 
 advanced in civilization, they secure and enjoy their 
 advantages. Those who make the most use of rail- 
 roads surpass, in the same proportion, other nations 
 and peoples in the race of progress. The states of 
 Massachusetts and Connecticut, in the United States, 
 and the kingdom of Belgium, in Europe, are exam- 
 ples worthy of especial note in illustration. Mr. R. 
 Dudley Baxter, an able English engineer, in a paper 
 read before the Statistical Society of London, in No- 
 vember, 1866, illustrates the influence and value of 
 railroads in the creation of wealth and the enlarge- 
 ment of business, by comparing the railways of Bel- 
 gium and Holland. He says : 
 
 " Belgium is one of the most striking instances of the benefit 
 of railways. In 1830 she separated from Holland, a country 
 which possessed a much larger commerce and superior means 
 of communication with other nations by sea and canals. Five 
 years later, the total exports and imports of Belgium were only 
 
 
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 ^ 
 
THE TRANSCONTIl^ENTAL RAILWAY. 261 
 
 ;^io,8oo,ooo, while those of Holland were double that amount. 
 But in 1833 the Belgian government resolved to adopt the rail- 
 way system, and employed George Stephenson to plan railways 
 between all the large towns. The law authorizing their con- 
 struction at the expense of the state passed in 1834, and no 
 time was lost in carrying it out. Trade at once received a new 
 impetus, and its progress since that time has been more rapid 
 than in any other country in Europe." 
 
 My advocacy of railroads has been devoted mainly 
 to their moral, social, and commercial value, rather 
 than as means of money-making or the investment of 
 capital ; while railroads have been the means of in- 
 fluence and wealth to those who built and managed 
 them, and the foundation of fortunes to many ; their 
 great benefits have been received by the community 
 at large, — adding more wealth to the holders of real 
 estate than to any other class, while they have con- 
 ferred their blessings to a greater or less extent upon 
 all. No man has yet lived since the advent of the rail- 
 way, adecjuate to conceive, much less to describe in 
 words, the true greatness of its mission. While sim- 
 plest of all the agencies of progress, it is the grandest 
 of man's inventions. It gives to one community the 
 opportunities, the enjoyments, and the refinements of 
 every other ; it equalizes the burdens which come of 
 diversity of condition ; and lifts individuals and com- 
 munities alike in the scale of being. While genius, 
 talent, and persistent enterprise grasp the highest 
 rewards, the race is open to all, and those who win 
 are those who try. 
 
 It is no stretch of the imagination to cover the 
 broad plains of the beautiful valley in which we are 
 assembled, with myriads of habitations of men, in the 
 
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 262 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 ffai'off future. A few years only will be required to 
 change these sloping hill-sides now clothed in the 
 deep verdure of the summer forests, into cultivated 
 fields and smiling farms ; to bring forth the rich treas- 
 ures embowelled in the mountains for the uses of com- 
 merce and of art ; and a busy population engaged in 
 various departments of human industry, may enjoy in 
 this healthful climate, in the land of their birth, sur- 
 rounded by this magnificent scenery, the richest deli- 
 cacies, the most costly refinements, and the proudest 
 exhibitions of art. Laying aside lesser considerations, 
 — lookina; only to the highest welfare of the commu- 
 nity in which we live, — let us do all that in us lies to 
 carry forward this great work. 
 
 Our beneficent Crerttoi", by giving man the railway, 
 has endowed him almost with powers of creation, in 
 addition to those of de>'elopment and improvement. 
 If we cannot, in the shortness of our own earthly 
 dui'ation, enjoy in full measure all, — that those who 
 shall come after us may, — we can, at any rate, enjoy 
 much, and do much to bring to ourselves and to 
 our children the richest of earthly benefactions. 
 Our friend, Mr. Cain, president of your railroad 
 company, told us at Portland that h;. witnessed in 
 1830 the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester 
 Railroad ; where England's colonial minister, Huskis- 
 Bon, terrified by the fearful spectacle of a railroad 
 train in motion, rapidly approaching him, threw away 
 his life by an act of insane fear, — strangely in contrast 
 with our calmness, at this day, in witnessing the flight 
 of trains at a speed outstripping the bird upon its 
 wing, — with its precious freight sitting in the same 
 
 4 
 
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 THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILWAY. 263 
 
 security as around the family fireside. It is most 
 wonderful to uote the chauges vvoi'ked out by the 
 railway iu less than forty years, siuce Huskisson's 
 death, or the first locomotive train was started. But 
 I should weary you if I should attempt to describe 
 the prodigious increase of commerce, the wonderful 
 diffusion of wealth, the vast advance of human in- 
 telligence, and the spread of civilization, traceable 
 to the railway, during these last forty years. 
 
 '•!! 
 
 1 same 
 
 We are now entering the fourth stage of our exist- 
 ence as a nation. One hundred and fifty years were 
 required to plant our people in North America, and 
 expel therefrom other races that struggled for its 
 dominion. The colonization period terminated with 
 the capture of Quebec, in 1759 ; the overthrow of the 
 power of France in the New World was peacefully 
 consummated by the treaty of I'aris in 17G3. To 
 give us independence of European control, fifty years 
 more were required, terminating at the close of the 
 last war with Great Britain in 1815. The last fifty 
 years Live been profitably spent in vindicating the 
 principles of the Declaration of Independence, put- 
 ting an end to chattel slavery, endowing all men 
 wiih equality of political rights. This age of internal 
 political conflict terminated with the overthrow of 
 the slave-holders' rebellion, and the election to the 
 presidency of the hero of that war, General Grant. 
 
 The fourth stage in our national career, on which 
 we are Just entering, is the age of material develop- 
 ment, the limits of which no finite mind can foresee 
 or comprehend. 
 
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 A NATIONAL HIGHWAY. 
 
 MEMORIAL TO THE CONGKESS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The Portland, Rutland, Oswego, and Chicago 
 liailvvay Company, a corpor, *on established by law, 
 whose place of business is at Portland in the state of 
 Maine, respectfr^'y asks Congress to constitute the 
 railway of said com^iany, from the city of Chicago to 
 Portland harbor, a national highway / said company 
 having the necessary aut'.><»rity to cousti'uct and 
 maintain such a li.''e of railway, by virtue of a 
 charter for this purpose granted by the Legislature 
 of Maine, between the city of Portland and the city 
 of Chicago, with the approval , of other state Legis- 
 latures ; arrangements having been already made for 
 the formation of a company undei' this Maine char- 
 ter, with a common interest, from the harbor of 
 Portland to tlie naviscable waters of Lake Ontario at 
 the city of Oswego. 
 
 The admitted necessity of the country to-day is 
 an improved system of transportation of Western 
 produce to tide-water, for which the present system 
 of public Avorks is totally inadequate. The interior 
 basin of the continent, drained by the waters of the 
 Mississippi and St. Lawrence, containing an area of 
 1,714,471 S(]^uare miles of territoiy, is the great grain- 
 
 264 
 
A NATIONAL HIGHWAY. 265 
 
 producing region of tlie globe, capable of supplying 
 food for tlie entire liuinan family ; and it was stated 
 by Messrs. Baring, in u communication submitted to 
 the Oswego Transcontinental Railway Convention, in 
 October, 1869, that 500,000,000 bushels of American 
 wheat could annually find a market in Europe at the 
 present cost of production, if adequate facilities ex- 
 isted for its transportation to tide-water. To a clear 
 understanding of the relations of the proposed rail- 
 way to the commerce of the countiy, it is necessary 
 to notice the physical divisions of the United States, 
 as follows : 
 
 Square miles. 
 
 Atlantic slope 514,416 
 
 Northern Lake region , . 11 2,649 
 
 Gulf region 343.935 
 
 Mississii :>i Valley and tributaries 1,244,000 
 
 Pacific -ilope, south 49th parallel 786,002 
 
 Alaska, or '^ussiaii America 481,276 
 
 Total 3,482,278 
 
 The boundaries of the republic have expanded 
 from an area of 815,615 square miles of territory, at 
 the time of the formation of the <T;overnnient, tO their 
 vast i)resent 2)roportions, while the population has 
 risen from three to forty millions in less than one 
 hundred years. The increase of population from 
 1850 to 1800 was at the rate of 35.59 per cent., 
 wliile from 1860 to 1870 the ratio of increase has been 
 but 22 per cent. The grain-growing states of the 
 West exhibited a falling off in the ratio of increase 
 from 59 per cent, from 1850 to 1860, to 41.83 per cent, 
 from 1860 to 1870. 
 
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 266 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 During the last ten years, there was a lai-ge in- 
 crease of wealth and of manufacturing industry in the 
 northern seaboard states, without any corresponding 
 increase of wealth in the interior g.ain-growing states 
 of the country in spite of their increase of popula- 
 tion ; consequent upon the inadequate means of 
 transportation for the bulky and perishable prod- 
 ucts of the West, in the shape of breadstuffs and 
 provisions, which require the utmost possible rapidity 
 and certainty of transit to their markets. Cheap 
 food brouii'ht to the Atlantic seaboard states, would 
 be the greatest incentive and stimulant to their man- 
 ufacturing industry. The bracing climate and 
 abundant water-power of the New England and 
 other northern states give them facilities for man- 
 ufacturing for the West ; while the abundance of raw 
 productions in the interior states demands the 
 cheapest possible transportation on their way east, or 
 at the seaboard. Northern New York and New 
 England have found it more profitable to purchase 
 breadstuffs by the products of the shop, than by the 
 productions of the soil, one car-load of manufactures 
 bringing ten of grain in return. A wise political 
 economy, therefore, looks for such an adjustment of 
 the means of transit between the interior and the 
 seaboard, as will give to each, the greatest possible 
 facilities in the way of transportation ; looking to the 
 European markets for the disposal of such surplus as 
 the West may be enabled to supply. 
 
 The vast interior basin of the continent, so fitted 
 by nature for the production of food, has natural 
 outlets two thousand miles from the sources of their 
 rivers, the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence, almost 
 
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 fitted 
 latural 
 >f their 
 almost 
 
 A NATIONAL HIGHWAY. 
 
 267 
 
 as widely separated from each other at their mouths 
 as the breadth of the temperate zone ; one closed by 
 ice in the winter months, with an arctic climate, cut- 
 ting off water navigation for nearly one half of the 
 year; the other impeded by circuitous navigation, 
 shifting channels, and shoal water, at its entrance 
 into the Gulf of Mexico, with an unfriendly climate, 
 subject to tropical diseases. Hence the efforts of the 
 last fifty years have been the construction of artificial 
 channels by canals, and outlets by railway to the 
 sea, from the waters of the Mississippi Valley, and 
 alongside the unuavigable water-courses of the St. 
 Lawrence. These enterprises, vast and invaluable 
 as they have been, are due to the enterprise of states 
 and individuals, rather than to the general govern- 
 ment ; which abstained from the work of building or 
 aiding railroads until the public necessities compelled 
 its aid to the railroad to the Pacific. 
 
 Transportation is the great question of the day. 
 It is well known to all business men that the present 
 cost of transportation consumes one half the value of 
 the breadstuffs raised in the West ; while it is equally 
 certain that by means of a freight railway, with two 
 or three sets of double tracks with steel rails, iron 
 bridges, and an adequate equipment, breadstuffs and 
 provisions of the West could be delivered with cer- 
 tainty and despatch, and at uniform rates throughout 
 the year, from the producer to the seaboard, or the 
 consumer in the New England work-shops, far below 
 the present cost of transportation ; and enable the 
 Western farmer to send his products to market 
 without the present risks and fluctuations which 
 demoralize agricuiuural labor, and subject the agri- 
 
 
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 268 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 cultural producers of the West to the condition of 
 dependents upon brokers and speculators, — a combi- 
 nation of railroad men putting up the price of trans- 
 portation at the close of water navigation at their 
 pleasure. 
 
 The completion of the Pacific Railroad has changed 
 the course of trade to the East, and is destined at no 
 distant day to revolutionize the commerce of the 
 world. The completion of the European and North 
 American Railway, affording the shortest time of 
 transit between the commercial centres of the United 
 States and Europe, will conti'ibute to effect a change 
 in the routes of commerce, especially the lines of 
 travel. All-through lines of railway now projected 
 look to^vard the East Foreland of tlie continent as the 
 plane over which to deliver and receive European 
 passengers and valuable merchandise. The comple- 
 tion of the line from San Francisco to Chicago, a 
 distance of two thousand three hundred and eighty- 
 seven miles ; and the completion of a direct line from 
 Chicago to Portland, one thousand miles ; connecting 
 here with the European and North American Rail- 
 way line, in rapid progress with its connections to 
 Halifax, a distance of six hundred miles ; to be ulti- 
 mately extended to the eastern shore of Newfound- 
 land, one thousand and three miles from Portland, 
 renders it certain, that the passage from Hong Kong 
 to London by this route can be made in thirty-four 
 and one half days' time ; and on the completicm of 
 the Northern Pacific Railroad, reducing the distance 
 from Chicago to the Pacific Ocean at Puget Sound, 
 by more than three hundred miles, and shortening 
 the ocean voyage from Yokohama over eight hun- 
 
liiin- 
 
 A NATIONAL HIGHWAY. 269 
 
 dred miles, the time of transit from Hong Kong to 
 London will be reduced to thirty days ; while from 
 Lake Superior to Portland, by way of Mackinaw 
 across the northern peninsula of Michigan to the St. 
 Clair lliver, a shorter route will be found to the sea- 
 board at Portland ; and it is obvious at a glance 
 upon the map, that a line through British territory 
 from the Sault St. Marie to Montreal by the way of 
 Lake Nipissing and the Ottawa, will afford the 
 shortest possible route between the tide- waters of 
 the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, above the 40th par- 
 allel of latitude. 
 
 The following table shows the distance and the 
 length of time required to make the voyage around 
 the world, on the completion of the several links 
 herein contemplated, in the chain of railroads upon 
 the continent of North America east of Chicago ; re- 
 ducing the journey around the globe to sixty-nine days 
 and eleven hours, against eiglity days, the time now 
 required. 
 
 FROM LONDON To HONC. KOr<0. 
 
 Station. Miles. Days. Hours. 
 
 London to Holyhead, rail. ..... 263 o 8 
 
 Holyhead to Dublin, steamer 63 o 5 
 
 Dublin to Galway, rail 125 o 4 
 
 Galway to St. John's, N. F., steamer 1,656 5 o 
 
 St. John's to Cape Ray, rail 250 o 10 
 
 Cape Ray to Cape Nortli, steamer. 60 o 4 
 
 Cape North to Pictou, rail 120 o 4 
 
 Pictou to St. John, N. B., rail 250 o '■> 
 
 St. John to Bangor, rail 205 o 
 
 Bangor to Portland, rail 13ft o 4 
 
 Portland to Chicago, rail 1,000 I 6 
 
 Chicago to San Francisco, rail -,337 «* o 
 
 San Francisco to Yokohama, steamer. . . 4,520 !• O 
 
 Yokohama to Shanghai, steamer 1,085 4 • 
 
 Shanghai to Hong Kong, steamer 5S5 2 • 
 
 Total 12,707 34 " 
 
270 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 
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 FROM HONG KONG TO LONDON. 
 
 Station, Miles, Days. Hours. 
 
 Hong Kong to Calcutta, steamer 3.500 12 o 
 
 Calcutta to Bombay, rail 1,229 3 o 
 
 Bombay to Port Said, steamer 4,060 14 o 
 
 Port Said to Marseilles 1,440 4 o 
 
 Marseilles to Paris, rail 475 i o 
 
 Paris to London 252 i o 
 
 10,956 35 
 
 12,707 34 II 
 
 Grand total 23,663 69 11 
 
 Of tlie 23,663 miles of transit around the globe 
 by way of San Francisco, and through the great 
 cities of Europe and Asia, 6,300 miles are by rail, 
 and 17,342 miles by steamer ; and while by the 
 American route from London to China there is an 
 increase of distance ov^er the Red Sea route, 4,345 
 miles of the distance are traversed by rail, against 
 1,956 miles by way of the East. While, therefore, 
 it is obvious to every one that the shortest line of 
 transit in point of time, around the globe, will 
 eventually be secured, no matter how many delays 
 occur before reaching final success ; and while we 
 regard all the advantages of the Transcontinental 
 Railway as sui'e to follow in the train of its accom- 
 plishment ; our immediate purpose is so to construct 
 the line in question as to reduce at once the cost 
 of bringing the productions of the interior to the 
 open markets of the sea, where they can be handled 
 to the greatest advantage, and at the cheapest rates. 
 
 If the producer of Western breadstuffs and pro- 
 visions can be assured of ample facilities for bringing 
 his products to tide-water at all times, at reasonable 
 T2iiQ&,, permanently fixed and uniform throughout th^ 
 
 V^A ?<■ 
 
A NATIONAL HIGHWAY. 
 
 271 
 
 year ; with opportiMities to enlarge the means of 
 transit, as the demand for transportation increases, 
 there is no limit that can yet be assigned for the 
 growth and development of the United States. By 
 the building of a trunk line of railway from 
 Chicago to Portland, capable of delivering 500,000,- 
 000 bushels of wheat annually, or 15,000,000 tons 
 per year at tide-water, the cost of transit of wheat 
 might be reduced to ten cents per bushel; and deliv- 
 eries made on shipboard at Portland, within one 
 week's time of its receipt, and generally within four 
 days. The price of transportation by water from 
 Portland to Liverpool would regulate itself and 
 reach the lowest rate of ocean transit ever known, 
 from the abundant supply of freights going forward, 
 and the certainty of return cargoes, to the extent of 
 merchandise offering in Europe, for the American 
 markets. 
 
 In constructing lines of railway upon the continent 
 of North America, regard should be had to geographi- 
 cal and commercial laws, rather than to lines of state 
 or national boundary. The spirit shown by the 
 people and government of Maine and the Bi-itish 
 Provinces in the carrying out of the Grand Ti'unk 
 Kailway, and of the European and North American 
 Railway, indicated a strong tendency toward closer 
 commercial unity between the United States and the 
 continental Provinces of British North America ; 
 and the extraordinary spectacle of an Inter, oionial 
 Railway " entirely through British territor}^," forced 
 upon the new Dominion of Canada by the imperial 
 government of England, regardless of commercial 
 
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 ■ xv. 
 
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 a7a FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 laws and of natural routes of travel, by a circuitous 
 route through an uninhabited country, to subserve 
 imperial wants and necessity, imposing a cruel bur- 
 den upon the resources of the Dominion ; is evidence 
 of a disposition on the part of Great Britain to excite 
 and foster a spirit of hostility toward the people 
 and government of the United States, at war with 
 the spirit of the age. The United States govern- 
 ment cannot shut its eyes to this obvious purpose of 
 the imperial government, and it should be prepared 
 to meet any threatened military adv^antage. A line 
 of railroad " entirely through " American territory, 
 from its great harbor in the East, by the most direct 
 route to the basin of the great lakes, ready to meet 
 upon our own soil and maintain with equal effi- 
 ciency, military preparations along our entire northern 
 frontier, from our eastern boundary at the St. Croix 
 to the farthest west of parallel, and competing mili- 
 tary works, is an obvious necessity ; for the building 
 of the Intercolonial Railway, imposed upon the Do- 
 minion government, as a condition of union, was urged 
 upon military, and not upon commercial, grounds. 
 While it is our duty to meet this menace of Eng- 
 land face to face, a far higher purpose than national 
 antagonisms leads us to seek to carry out this United 
 States American Transcontinental line. Its con- 
 struction will enlarge commerce, promote civil order, 
 soften national asperities, and give to all men under 
 different governments greater means of individual 
 enjoyment, and new facilities for the acquisition of 
 property. This is the tnie purpose of the railway. Men 
 and nations can in no other way, so effectually pro- 
 
Do. 
 
 A NATIONAL HIGHWAY. 
 
 273 
 
 mote public interest and private advantage, as by 
 the extension of railways, owned and operated in the 
 interests of business, and for the ecpial advantage 
 of all. 
 
 Portland harbor has great natui'al advantages for 
 European trade over any other Atlantic poi*t, fi-ora 
 its great depth of water, completeness of shelter, and 
 nearness to the West and to Europe. The foreign 
 commerce of Portland has increased so that her ex- 
 ports to foreign countries in 1870 were $15,050,407, 
 greater than those of Boston by $3,566,774 in that 
 year. According to the statement of the Commis- 
 sioner of the Land Office, in his elaborate map of 
 1868, showing the commercial relations of the 
 United States with various parts of the world, 
 the distance from Philadelphia to Liverpool is 3,260 
 miles, from New York to Liverpool 3,050 miles, 
 from Boston to Livei-pool 2,930, from Portland to 
 Liverpool 2,770 miles, while from Montreal to 
 Liverpool by the St. Lawrence route it is 2,814 
 miles, from Quebec to Liverpool 2,634 miles, and 
 from Halifax to Liverpool 2,500 miles. The ac- 
 commodations for business in the way of wharves 
 and docks at Portland are altogether superior to 
 those of any city of the United States, while 
 preparations have here been made for a great en- 
 largement of ^vharf and dock accommodations by 
 mekns of a marginal street, for miles, upon tide- 
 water, for the accommodation of railroad tracks. 
 
 Looking at the demand for American breadstuffs 
 in Europe, and the vast capacity of our interior 
 states to supply this demand, lacking only a proper 
 
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 WEBSTER, NY. 14580 
 
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 outlet; by securing cheap transportat'ion from the in- 
 terior to the seaboard, we are constrained to believe 
 that the increased value of a single crop, added to it 
 by the construction of the proposed railway^ will 
 more than equal the entire loan to be affoi'ded the 
 company to carry out this project. But the company 
 does not ask the United States government to ad- 
 vance a dollar from its treasury, or risk a dollar in 
 the form of a loan, except with the most ample secu- 
 rity ; while the company itself, by uniting the inter- 
 ests of the East and the West upon this grand 
 national and international enterprise, will relieve the 
 "West from the great burden that now bears upon 
 its prosperity, and benefit alike eveiy section of the 
 country. 
 
 January, 1871 
 
'f-4 
 
 A BILL TO SECURE CHEAP TRANSPORTA- 
 TION OF BREADSTUFFS AT UNIFORM 
 
 RATES. 
 
 Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representa- 
 tives of the United States of America in Congress 
 assembled^ 
 
 That the Postmaster-General is hereby authonzed 
 to enter into contract with the Portland, Rutland, 
 Oswego, and Chicago Railway Company, for the use 
 of its line in the carrying of tho mails between the 
 city of Chicago, in the state of Illinois, and the city 
 of Portland, in the state of Maine, on terms and 
 conditions, in this act set forth ; in case said railway 
 company shall enter into contract with the govern- 
 ment of the United States to construct and maintain 
 a double-track line of railway, with an adequate 
 equipment and with steel rails and iron bridges, 
 from the navigable waters of Portland harboi*, by 
 the most direct practicable route due west or wes- 
 terly, across the states of Maine, New Hamp- 
 shire, Vermont and New York, to the navigable 
 waters of Lake Ontario at the city of Oswego, and 
 thence by the most direct practicable line to the city 
 of Chicago in the state of Illinois. 
 
 Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That whenever 
 said company shall have completed i^riy consecutive 
 
 275 
 
 If 
 
I ! 
 
 276 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA V. 
 
 > > 
 
 i.'J 
 
 miles of any portion of said line ready for the service 
 contemplated by this act, as a first-class railroad, the 
 President of the United States shall appoint three 
 commissioners to examine the same and report to him 
 in relation thereto ; and if it shall appear to him that 
 Awrty consecutive miles of said railroad have been 
 completed and equipped, the Secretary of the Treas- 
 ury shall issue to said company, bonds of the United 
 States of $1,000 each, payable in thirty years after 
 date, bearing 6 per cent, interest per annum, payable 
 semi-annually, on the first days of January and July 
 in each year, in lawful money of the United States 
 to the amount of fifty of said bonds per mile ; and so 
 on in like manner as each forty miles of said line are 
 completed, upon the certificate of said commission- 
 ers; which said bonds delivered to said company 
 shall ipso facto constitute a first mortgage on the 
 whole line of the railroad of said comj>any, together 
 with its rolling stock, fixture, and property of every 
 kind and description. 
 
 Sec. 3. And he itfurtlier enacted^ That the grants 
 aforesaid are made upon condition that said company 
 shall pay said bonds at maturity, with the interest 
 thereon ; and shall give said railroad a telegraph line 
 connected therewith, in repair and use ; and shall at 
 all times transmit despatches over said telegraph 
 lines, and transport mails, troops, munitions of war, 
 supplies, and public stores, upon said railroad for the 
 government, whenever required to do so by any de- 
 partment thereof; and the government shall at all 
 times have the preference in the use of the same, for 
 all the purposes aforesaid at fair and reasonable rates. 
 
 M ' 
 
 -i 
 
»y 
 
 TO SECURE CHEAP TRANSPORTATION. 277 
 
 Sec. 4. Ami he it fuHlier enacted^ That said rail- 
 road corporation may establish for its sole benefit 
 fares, tolls, and charges upon all passengers and 
 property conveyed or transported on its railroad at 
 such rates as may be determined by the directors 
 thereof, and may from time to time by its directors 
 regidate the use of its road ; provided that such rates 
 of fare, tolls and chai*ges and regulations shall at all 
 times be subject to revision and alteration by Con- 
 gress or such officers or persons as Congress may 
 api)oint for the purpose ; and in case no such officer 
 is api>ointed by Congress or under any law of Con- 
 gress, the Postmaster-General is hereby vested with 
 all the powers necessary to regulate the use of said 
 road, and fix the rate of fares, tolls, and charges as 
 contemplated by this act. 
 
 Sbc. 5. And be it farther eiiacted, That the gov- 
 ernment of the United States may at any time take 
 and possess the road of said com[)any with its fran- 
 chises and property after one year's notice in writing ; 
 paying such compensation therefor as may be 
 awarded by three commissioners appointed by the 
 President of the United States, who shall be duly 
 sworn to appraise the same justly and fairly; and 
 upon the payment of any such award or the ten- 
 der of payment thereof to said company, the title 
 of said railroad shall vest in and become the prop- 
 erty of the United States government. 
 
 Sec. 6. And he it further enacted, That on the 
 completion of said line of railway from the navigable 
 waters of Portland harbor to the navigable waters of 
 Lake Ontario at Oswego, with suitable docks, wharves 
 
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 378 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 and appurtenances for the handling of merchandise 
 and property, the Postmaster-General or other 
 officer appointed by law, shall establish the rates of 
 transjwrtation both for j>a8aengers and freight upon 
 all throui'h business between tide-water at Portland 
 and the city of Oswego ; which rates shall not be 
 changed without the consent of the Postmaster- 
 General, or other officer ap[)ointed by law; and the 
 same be uniform throughout the year. 
 
 Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That whenever 
 in the opinion of the President of the United States, 
 the business of the country shall require the build- 
 ing and laying down of an additional double-track 
 line alongside the existing road-bed of said company 
 and ^vithin the limits of its right of way, or any 
 portion thereof, and shall give notice thereof to said 
 company, said railway company shall forthwith 
 proceed to construct and maintain an additional 
 double-track line in conformity with the notice as 
 aforesaid ; and on the completion of forty consecutive 
 miles of said new line ready for the service contem- 
 plated by this act, fifty bonds per mile, of the tenor 
 aforesaid, shall in like manner be delivered to said 
 company, and so in the same manner as each forty 
 miles are completed, upon the certificate of said com- 
 missioners; which said bonds shall constitute a 
 mortgage on the whole line of railroad of said com- 
 pany, subject only to the piior mortgage of the 
 United States, to require from time to time as the 
 wants of business shall require additional double- 
 track lines to be constructed and maintained by said 
 company upon the terms in this act set forth ; the 
 
Ll.'i 
 
 
 TO SECURE CHEAP TRANSPORTATION. 279 
 
 government holding a lieu upon said lines, its rolling 
 stock, fixtures, and other property as contemplated 
 in this act, with a light to purchase the same at the 
 pleasure of the government as herein before set 
 forth; and the rights of the government to the 
 control of said line, and the rights of the company 
 shall continue the same after additional double-track 
 lines are built as provided by this act, in case a 
 single double-track line is built. 
 
 Sec. 8. And he it further enacted, That whenever, 
 in the opinion of the President of the United States, 
 an extension or extensions of said line shall be re- 
 quired, beyond the limits mentioned in this act, it 
 shall be lawful for the President of the United 
 States to notify said company to complete and main- 
 tain such extensions, with one or more double-track 
 lines, on the terms in this act set forth in reference to 
 its main line. But said company shall not be com- 
 pelled to build such additional lines, exceeding in all 
 two hundred miles in length, without the consent of 
 said company in writing, and it shall be lawful for 
 said company to purchase any existing line of railway 
 that may be found necessary or convenient in the 
 carrying out of the provisions of this act. 
 
 Sec. 9. And be it furtlier enacted, That before 
 entering upon the work of construction of said line 
 of railway, the location thereof shall be approved by 
 a competent engineer, appointed by the President of 
 the United States. 
 
 Sec. 10. And be it further enacted, That the rail- 
 way of said company is hereby declared to be a 
 national highway, and a post-road ; and the govern- 
 
 
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 a8o FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 ment of the United States shall have the ricfht to 
 pass all needful laws for the protection of said road 
 and the public ; and it shall be the duty of each state 
 through which said line shall pass to cede jurisdic- 
 tion over the territory occupied by said railroad 
 company, and said railroad company shall be subject 
 to no state or municipal tax, and be subjected to no 
 other burdens or obligations, except those imposed 
 by its charter or by the laws of the United States. 
 Provided^ however, that nothing in this act contained 
 shall relieve said company from any of its duties, 
 liabilities, and obligations to the public and to the 
 several states through which it passes, as set forth in 
 its charter, or the resj^ctive charters under which the 
 same is built. 
 
 Sec. 11. And he itfurtJier enacted ^ That in case of 
 failure of said company to pay the interest due on 
 the bonds issued by the government to aid its con- 
 stru .tion, or the principal thereof, as they severally 
 mature, f r fail to observe and fulfil the regulations 
 prescribed as aforesaid by authority of the United 
 States government ; it shall be tne duty of the Post- 
 master-General to take possession of said line, and all 
 the property of said company, and report the same 
 to the President of the United States to be by him 
 laid before Congress ; and it shall be the duty in that 
 event of the Postmaster-Genei'al, to operate said line 
 at the expense of the company, by projjer officere by 
 him appointed, for which authority is hereby 
 granted ; and it shall be the duty of Congress to pass 
 all necessary laws for the protection of the govern- 
 ment and the public, and make such disposition of 
 
 t?i 
 
 I't 
 
TO SECURE CHEAP TRANSPORTATION. 281 
 
 tlie propei-ty of saul coinpjiiiy as to justice and equity 
 niav appertain. 
 
 Sec. 12. And he it further enacted, That after the 
 payment of the bonds of the United States issued by 
 the government to aid tlie construction of said rail- 
 way, the goverinnent of the United States shall 
 retain control of said road in the same manner as 
 before, for the regulation of the transportation of 
 passengers and freight; and all fares, tolls, and 
 charges upon all passengers and property conveyed 
 or transpt)rted upon its road sliall be approved by 
 the Postmaster-General or other officer appointed by 
 Congress or under any law of Congress; so as to 
 prevent any unnecessary increase in the price of 
 transportation after such bonds are paid, and it is 
 made the duty of the government to maintain and 
 secure cheap transportation over said line at uniform 
 rates ami througlwut the year. And it shall be 
 lawful for said company at any time to pay the 
 bonds of the United States issued to aid the con- 
 struction of said line, or an e([uivalent amount of 
 United States bonds bearing the same rate of inter- 
 est, or any portion thereof, at its pleasure, and dis- 
 charge to that extent its indebtedness to the gov- 
 ernment; and it may receive from the government 
 bonds of the United States bearing a lesser rate of 
 interest than six per cent., if such shall be the pleas- 
 ure of the company at the time that any issue of 
 bonds is made. 
 
 January, 1871. 
 
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 THE FATHER OF ENGLISH COLONIZATION 
 
 IN AMERICA; 
 
 A VINDICATION OF THE CLAIMS OF SIR FERDINANDO 
 
 GOUGES. 
 
 PELIVERED BEFORE THE HISTORICAl, SOCIETIES OK MAINE ANU NEW YORK, 
 
 1859. 
 
 Two events, of ever increasing importance, have 
 marked the progress of tliis continent, destined here- 
 after to be regarded as the great epochs of its history 
 — the grant of authority from the British crown, un- 
 der which colonies were planted in America; and 
 the final surrender of the continent to the English 
 race, by the conquest of Canada from France, — the 
 former obtained through the efforts of the sagacious 
 and enterprising Sir Ferdinando Gorges, the latter 
 achieved by the heroic valor of Wolfe. France, at 
 one time, dividing with Spain the whole of North 
 America,' saw its power broken, and its dominion in 
 the New World extinguished, when at the charge ol 
 the British bayonet, the hitherto invincible columns 
 
 • On the evening on which this paper was read in New York, there was 
 presented to the Historical Socictr a Spanish globe, dated 1542, engraved 
 on copper, which shows the boundaries of Florida, and of " Verrazzan or 
 New France" — Florida extending as high as the 33° north, — New Franca 
 reaching north to Terra Corterealis. This globe is one of the most valuabltt 
 contributions yet made to the history of North America. 
 
 a8a 
 
 
THE FA THER OF ENGLISH COLONIZA T/ON, 283 
 
 ■t 
 
 of Montcalm broko and fled fiom the Plains of 
 Abraham, and the morning sunlight of September 
 18, 1759, revealed to the disappointed soldiei-s of 
 De Levis the pi'oud Cross of St. (leorge, floating in 
 triumph over the ancient citadel of Quebec. The 
 dominion of a continent was changed by a single 
 encounter; and English institutions are now planted, 
 as the fruits t)f that victory, over a region of territory 
 greater than all Eu/ope, extending from the Northern 
 Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, and from the Atlantic 
 to the Pacific seas. The future of this concpiering 
 race, no statesman or philosoi)her of this day is able 
 to foretell. My purpose is, to trace i\w. earliest 
 practical efforts to pla.t it in America, and to vin- 
 dicate the claims of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, the pro- 
 prietor of my native State, to the proud title of 
 Fatheu of Enolisu Colonization ix Ameiuca. 
 
 The greatness of England is due to her coloniza- 
 tion in America. She was but a second-rate power 
 at the commencement of the seventeenth century, till 
 raised to greatness by the iron will of Cronivvell. 
 After the destruction of the Dutch fleet, the compiest 
 of Acadia from France in 1654 ; of Jamaica from 
 Spain in 1655; the establishment of her navigation 
 laws and her protective policy, she was admitted as 
 an equal into the community of nations. The Vene- 
 tians and the Swiss sought the friendship of the 
 Protector. All the northern nations respected his 
 power, and the great Mazarin acknowledged his 
 authority as the lawful sovereign of Great Bi'itain. 
 
 The necessity of encouraging the colonies pre- 
 viously planted in North America, led to the Navi- 
 
 1 1. 
 
 i 
 
984 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 
 !■! 
 
 H1^i 
 
 giition Act of Cromwell, in 1651, which was the 
 foundation of the inaritirae superiority of Knglaiid. 
 That Htatute remained for nearly two centuries,' and 
 secured to Eni^land the entire trade of all her colo* 
 nies. It stimulated the commercial enterprise of 
 her people. It allowed Htrangers no importations, 
 uidess of their own products in their own vessels. 
 This act fell with crushing weight on the trj»(le of 
 Holland, and left England mistress of the commerce 
 of Europe. The protective policy of Cromwell, also, 
 gradually drew to lier own shores the manufactures 
 of Holland and Flanders, and finally those of France ; 
 after the revocation of the edict of Nantes, by Louis 
 XIV., on October 24, 1085. This celebrated edict 
 o^ Henry IV., in 1598, secured liberty of conscience 
 and perfect toleration to the Protestants of France, 
 with a right to share the public offices ; and its 
 repeal inflicted a blow on Fi'ance from which it has 
 never recovered. Over 800,000 of her best i)eople 
 fled from the persecution that followed, most of them 
 to Great Britain and her colonies. The most skilful 
 artisans of France sought refuge in England, over 
 50,000 taking up their residence in London. They 
 established the manufacture of silks, jewelry, crystal 
 glasses, and other fine works hitherto unknown in 
 England, but since that time successfully prosecuted 
 throughout the Bi'itish realms. Such has since been 
 the increase of the productive power of England 
 that, according to the statement recently made by 
 Lord Brougham in the British Parliament, the ma* 
 
 ' The Navigation Act of 165 1 was repealed with the Corn Laws, June 26, 
 1846, Ch. 22, 9 and 10 Victorias. 
 
 
 "y% 
 
THE FA TirER OF ES'GL rs/r COLON 17. A TION. 285 
 
 cliiiuM'y of Eiiu'laud, nt this time cinploytMl in tlio 
 various l)nin<'lM'H of industry, eijuals in effective 
 power tlie lahor of 800,000,000 of men, nn a<,'i,M'egate 
 tlireefold j^reater tlian the entire hil)oring population 
 of the glohe. Yet England was the latest of all the 
 KuroiH-an powers to encoujage its suhjeets who eame 
 to America by the direct aid of itsgovennnent, or to 
 take measures to plant its race in tlie New AV^orld. It 
 was not HO much the efforts of the government as the 
 genius of the people and the enterpnse of individuals, 
 that gave to its sons the iidieritance of this fair land ; 
 where free institutions Imve developed an expansi^ '• 
 energy, that demands for its race supremacy of the 
 sea and dominion over the land. 
 
 The discoveiy of North America by Seb.. lian 
 Cabot, in the ^^^ ice of Ileniy VII., in 1497, seven- 
 teen months ]^rior to the time when Columbus sjw 
 the mainland of the continent ; and the exploration of 
 its coarit from latitude 07°, 30' north, to Florida, has 
 often been urged in modern times, as giving to Eng- 
 land, claim of title. But it was followed by no act of 
 jurisdiction, or of occupation, for nearly a centuiy,' 
 while all the other maiitime jioweis of Euroi)e were 
 engaged in schemes of colonization. 
 
 ' The government of England was the first to lay down the true doctrine as 
 to the right to newly discovered countries. They distinctly affirmed in 1580, 
 in the reign of P'lizabeth, that discovery and prescription are of no avail 
 unless followed by actual occupation. " l^iu-scriptio sine fiossi'ssiont' hand 
 vakat." Camden, " Eliz. Annales," 15S0.— Hearnc's ed., 1717, p. 360. 
 
 " Occupation confers a good title by nature, and the laws of natioos." — 
 "Pari. Debates," 1620-21, p. 250. 
 
 Denonville's Memoir, on French limits in America. " N. V. Doc. 
 His.," vol. ix., p. 378. 
 
 " The first discoverers of an unknown country, not inhabited by Europeans, 
 who plant the arras of their prince, acquire the property oi that country." 
 
 .^iid I 
 
 ■ »I 
 
286 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 Emmanuel, Kintij of the Portuguese, whose sub- 
 jects, at that time, were the great navigators of 
 Europe, and whose vessels had visited the East by 
 way of the Cape of Good Hope, mortified at his 
 neglect of the offer of Columbus, determined to 
 make up for it by new conquests in the New World. 
 He despatched Gaspar Cortereal ' to North America 
 in 1500, who described its shores and forests, its 
 stately pines, suitable for masts, etc. But traffic in 
 slaves, then an established business of the Portuguese, 
 being esteemed the more profitable, he sailed north- 
 ward, took in, by kidnapping, a cargo of over fifty 
 natives, whom he earned to Europe and sold for 
 slaves. But the Portuguese did not maintain their 
 claim to the country. 
 
 Juan Ponce de Leon, in the service of Spain, took 
 possession of Florida in the name of his sovereign, in 
 1512, published a map of the country as far north as 
 Newfoundland, and claimed it as a possession of the 
 Spanish Crown. But the Spaniards chiefly sought 
 at that time mines of gold and silver, and never ex- 
 tended their occupancy of the country north of 
 Florida, at about 33 ° north latitude. 
 
 France, on the contraiy, sent out fishing vessels 
 manned by the Bretons and Normans, to Newfound- 
 land, as early as 1504." Those who came earliest 
 
 ' The country of Labrador is laid down as " Corterealis " on the Spanish 
 globe, spoken of in a previous note, and in contemporary maps of North 
 America. 
 
 * *' Relations des Jesuites." Contenant ce qui s'est passe de plus re- 
 marquable dans Les Missions des p6res de la compagnie de Jesus dans la 
 nouvelle France. Ouvrage public sous les auspices du Gouvernement Ca- 
 nadien, 3 vols., 8vo., 1858. Quebec : Augustine Cote, editeur imprimeur. 
 Vol. i., p. I, " Relations," 1611. 
 
 " Documentary History of New Vork," vol. ix., pp. i, 304, 378, 701, 781. 
 
 
M 
 
 THE FA THER OF ENGLISH COLON IZA TION aSy 
 
 ■ ■ 'ii 
 
 ■ North 
 
 named the country first visited Cape Breton, from 
 their own home. They discovered the Grand Banks 
 of Newfoundland, visited all the creeks and harbors 
 of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, gave names to the 
 localities which they still retain, and published n aps 
 of the country. Jean Denys of Honfleur madi3 a 
 map on his return in 1506, and Thomas Aubert, of 
 Dieppe, brought back natives and a plot of the 
 country in 1508. The ocean they crossed was named 
 the Sea of the West, 800 leagues broad in its narrow- 
 est strait from Fi'ance. The Western Ocean t'ley 
 called the Sea of China. In 1524 Giovanni Verrazzani, 
 a Florentine navigator in the service of Francis I., 
 returned from his last voyage of discovery to Amer- 
 ica, According to Champlain,' he made two vo} ages 
 to the New World, but we have no narrative from 
 his own pen of more than one. He sailed to the coast 
 of Carolina in a direct passage, where he found a 
 native population more refined in its manners than 
 that of any other country of the New AVorld. It had 
 never before been visited by Europeans. Verrazzani, 
 sailing northward, explored the coast, penetrated its 
 various harbors, entered the bay of New York, and 
 spent fourteen days in the harbor of Newport, Rhode 
 Island. At each place visited he made acquaintance 
 with the native population, which provt'd more and 
 more warlike and unamiable as he advanced north- 
 ward. Following the general line of the shore, he sailed 
 150 leagues along the coast of Maine, clearly defining 
 that great bay or gulf extending from (Dape Cod to 
 Cape Sable, known afterward as the Bay or Gulf of 
 Mains. To the entire tract of country never before 
 
 > "N. V. Doc. Hirt,," vol. ix., p. 2. 
 
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 vl 
 
288 FmST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL IVA Y. 
 
 t»s 
 
 discovered or frequented by Europeans lie gave the 
 name of New France. On reaching the 50th parallel 
 of latitude he sailed to France, and published a most 
 interesting narrative of his voyage.' France in this 
 way established her claims to the country. It was 
 not Cartier, as is commonly asserted, but Verrazzani, 
 that gave the name of New France ' to the country 
 he discovered, which extended from the 30th to the 
 50th degree of north latitude. This claim France, 
 maintained, ai.d named Carolina for Charles IX. 
 Dui'ing his reign in 1562 Ribaut built a fort there, 
 which was called Charles-fort in honor of the king.^ 
 It is a singular fact that neither Spain, France, nor 
 England had furnished up to this time any great 
 navigator in the discovery of America. They were 
 all Italians : Columbns a Genoese, Cabot a Venetian,* 
 and Verrazzani a Florentine. 
 
 r 
 
 * "New York Historical Collections," vol. i., p. 39, ct. seq., new series, 
 contains the full narration of Verrazzani's voyage, addressed to the French 
 monarch, translated by J. G. Coggswell, esq., of the Astor Library. 
 
 ' "Relations des Jesuites," vol., i., p. 14. Chaniplain, " N. Y. Docu- 
 ments," vol. ix., pp. 1-4. Do, vol. ix.,p. 266. Harris' "Voyages," vol. i, 
 
 * Garneau's " History of Canada," vol. i., p. 118. 
 
 Curiosity has been awakened the past year in regard to the location of 
 Charles-fort from the naval and military expedition to the same region under 
 command of Commodore Dupont and General Sherman. No traces of the 
 old fort have yet been found by these in the army of the Beaufort expedition. 
 General Peter Force, of Washington, whose authority is most valuable, 
 places the site of Charles-fort on the north side of St. Helen's Island. 
 
 * John Cabot, the father of Sebastian, undoubtedly was a Venetian. There 
 is much evidence lately brought to light, tending to prove that Sebastian 
 Cabot was born in Bristol. In Grafton's "Chronicles of England," page 
 1323, we find the following notice of Cabot of Bristol : "A native of that 
 city, but who with his father removed to Venice at the age of four years." 
 
 Sebastian Cabot, son of a merchant of Cathay, in London. — Eden, 249. 
 Eden says : " Sebastian Cabot told me he was born in Bristol, and at four 
 years of age went to Venice." — Page 255, 
 
'»™ 
 
 11 
 
 I 
 
 page 
 of that 
 ars." 
 
 THE FA THER OF ENGLISH COLON I ZA TION. 289 
 
 The Fi'encli monarcli, following out his plans for 
 the colonization of America, sent out Jac(]ues Cartier 
 in 1534; who, sailing from St. Malo on April 20 
 with two ships and 122 men» on May 10, 1534, came 
 in sight of Bonavista, Newfoundland, a spot discov- 
 ered by Cabot in 1497. In the " Relations of the 
 Jesuits," recently published under the patronage of 
 the government of Canada, it is stated that Cartier 
 had been on this coast ten years before, and it is 
 fair to conjecture that he was in the expedition of 
 Verrazzani. But we find no other account of any 
 such voyage. Cartier was most fortunate in his ex- 
 pedition. He found the localities of the Gulf of St. 
 Lawrence already known to the fishermen, having 
 the names they now bear. He sailed around New- 
 foundland, took possession in various places, both 
 on the mainland and the island of Newfoundland. 
 Taking with him two young natives of Gaspe, by 
 their full consent, he sailed for France and reached 
 St. Malo on September 5, 1534.' The report of Car- 
 tier's voyage and discoveries excited gi'eat cui'iosity 
 and interest ; and with a more ample equipment in 
 three ships, provided at the i-oyal expense, he sailed 
 on another expedition for the New World on May 
 19, 1535, carrying back to America his two young 
 savages, wdio became useful as interpreters to the 
 natives. Cartier on this voyage sailed up the Gulf 
 and into the River St. Lawrence, wliere he spent the 
 following winter at the fortified town of Hochelaga, 
 to which he gave the name it still bears, Montreal." 
 
 ' Cartier's " Voyages" ; Garneau's " History of Canada." 
 
 *Cartier's " Voyages " ; Garneau's " History of Canada," vol. i., p. 21. 
 
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 290 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 The next spring, erecting the cross in the name of 
 his sovereign at various points, and taking with him 
 the chief of the savages at Quebec, Donacana, and 
 his two young interpreters, he returned to France on 
 July 6, 1536. He made his third voyage in 1540, 
 but no new discoveries were made ; and for nearly 
 fifty years, the more northern portions of North 
 America were apparently forgotten by the govern- 
 ments of both France and England. 
 
 Spain, at that time the great European power, 
 subjugated to her dominion, and planted colonies in, 
 the rich countries of tropical and southern America, 
 held the Gulf of Mexico, and Florida to the 30th 
 parallel of latitude. 
 
 The spirit of adventure had only led the French 
 and English to take fish in the northern seas, and fur 
 and timber from the coast of Maine — though the 
 coast of America, from Labrador to the Equator, was 
 accurately delineated on maps published in Europe 
 within fifty years of its first discovery by Columbus. 
 The French sent Ribaut, in 1562, to Florida, and 
 joined with him Laudonniere, in 1564, but no results 
 of importance came of these expeditions, as the 
 French were driven out by the Spaniards. The 
 French asserted their right to the country north of 
 Florida, for nearly one hundred years after its dis- 
 covery, previous to any substantial claim to it being 
 set up on the part of England. 
 
 The first act of the British Parliament, concerning 
 America, was passed in the second year of the 
 reign of Edw^ard VI., in 1548, entitled "An act 
 against the exaction of money, or other dues, for 
 
( 1,- 
 
 TIfE FA THER OF ENGLISH COLONIZA TION. 291 
 
 license to traffic into Iceland, Newfoundland," etc 
 England seemed more intent on religious disputes 
 than on the extension of her dominions in America, 
 during the reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VI., and 
 Mary. No returns of the English fishery are found 
 prior to 1577. Those of the French date back to 
 1527 — three years after the expedition of Verrazzani. 
 In 1577 there were found one hundred and fifty 
 French fishing vessels on the coast of Newfoundland, 
 engaged in the cod-fishery, and only fifty English ones. 
 The heroic exploits of Drake, the first Englishman 
 that circumnavigated the globe, — who, sailing on this 
 voyage from Plymouth November 15, 1577, returned 
 to the same port September 26, 1580, — and the 
 " Discourse " of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, " to prove a 
 passage by the northwest to Cathaia," printed in 
 1576, had filled the youthful mind of England with 
 enthusiasm for noble undertakings, and stimulated 
 the ambition of all classes ; and Sir Humphrey Gil- 
 bert led the way in the plans of colonizing the New 
 World. He obtained from Queen Elizabeth a charter 
 "for planting our people in America," June 11, 1578, 
 in the twentieth year of her reign. Under this grant 
 he took possession of Newfoundland, and planted 
 the city of St. John's, in the presence or , thirteen 
 Europeans, of various nations — fishermen, who acci- 
 dentally, but not unfrequently, assembled in that 
 secure seaport, at that early day. This poi*t, long 
 after this, retained the name of " the English port," 
 and is so mentioned by the historian L'Escarbot, in 
 his history of the voyage of De Monts to Acadia, 
 in 1604. But the loss of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, 
 
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 292 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA V. 
 
 at sea, proved fatal to his plans, and it was some 
 years before Newfoundland became a permanent 
 settlement, or colony.' In 1584, the queen granted 
 letters-patent for the planting of a colony in Virginia 
 to the gallant and accomplished Sir Walter Raleigh, 
 whose heroic efforts for the honor of his country, 
 and whose melancholy fate, excite at this day the 
 sympathy of all generous minds. But the first colony 
 he transported to Virginia returned — the second 
 perished by some unknown means ; and thus was re- 
 served for another the glory of Ji)'st planting the 
 Saxo-Noi-man race in the New World.' 
 
 Such is, in brief, the history of European attempts 
 at colonization in North America, to the close of the 
 sixteenth century. There were not any European 
 
 ' John Guy was sent out as Governor of Newfoundland in 1610, and 
 began the colony at Conception Bay. The Newfoundland colony is the 
 oldest of the present colonies of Great Britain. 
 
 • Since the writing of this paper, a work of great interest to the student of 
 English history has been undertaken, " A Calendar of State Papers." Edited 
 by W. Noel Sainsbury. London, i860. Longman, Green, Longman, & 
 Roberts. It is subdivided into three great branches, or divisions — " Do- 
 mestic," " Colonial," and " Foreign." The first volume of each is already 
 published. That containing an abstract of colonial documents embraces the 
 period from 1574 to 1660, from which we condense the following, viz. : 
 
 1. 1574. Points stated in reference to proposed efforts to plant settle- 
 ments in the northern parts of America. Petition to the Queen, dated March 
 22, 1574, to allow of an enterprise for the discovery of sundry rich and un- 
 known lands " /ala//y reserved for England and for ike honor of your 
 Majesty." Endorsed, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Sir Geo. Peckham, Mr. Car- 
 lisle, and Sir Richard Grenville. p. i. 
 
 Sir Humphrey Gilbert's commission and charter are dated Juue 11, 1578. 
 
 2. 1580. Fragment of a report of persons who had travelled in America, 
 with John Barros, Andrew Thevett, and John Walker. Sir Humphrey Gil- 
 bert did confer in person. In 1580, John Walker and his company discovered 
 " a silver mine within the river Norumbega." p. 2. 
 
 1600. Consideration on " a proposition for planting an English colony in 
 the northwest of America. If the Prince would assist it, in part, his Ma- 
 jesty's merchants go liberally into it — the country be stirred to furnish 
 men ; some gentlemen moved to be adventurers, and a worthy general chosen, 
 qualified to judge by sight, of the strength of the places ; it might be a glorious 
 
THE FA THER OF ENGLISH COLON I ZA TION. 293 
 
 settlements from Florida to the Northern Ocean. 
 Two hundred and fifty years ago England, a second- 
 rate power in Europe, had not a colonial possession 
 on the globe. France and Holland were then the 
 great maritime nations ; and well did Sir Ferdinando 
 Gorges say in the House of Commons, when called 
 on to show why he should not surrender the charter 
 of New England, " TJmt so valuable a country could 
 not long retnain unpossessed, either by the French, 
 Spaniard^ or Dutch, but for his efforts here to settle 
 a flourishing plantation^ ' 
 
 action for our Prince and country, honorable for the general welfare, and 
 adventurers, and in time profitable." p. 4. 
 
 (This paper bears internal evidence that Sir Ferdinando Gorges was its 
 author.) 
 
 1603, Nov. 8. Copy of patent by the French King to De Monts, of 
 Acadia, front 40° to 46° of north latitude, p. 4. 
 
 (The early filing of this copy in the British State-Paper Office shows how 
 complete was the information of the government as to the movements of the 
 French towards colonizing the New World.) 
 
 1606, April 10. Grant of charter to Geo. Popham and als. by King 
 James, from 34° to 45°. p. 5, 
 
 1607, March 9. Ordinance enlarging the number, and augmenting the 
 authority of tlie council for the two several colonies and plantations in Vir- 
 ginia and A erica. Thirty members for the first colony, from 34° to 41' 
 north latitude and ten members for the second colony, between 38° and 45° 
 north latitude. 
 
 1607, March 13. Letter of Gorges to Challong. (See later note.) 
 
 1607, Dec. 13. Geo. Popham to King James. "Maine Hist. Coll.," 
 vol. v., p. 341. 
 
 1613, Oct. 18-28. Montmorency, Admiral of France to King James. 
 Complains of Argall at Mt. Desert. Requests compensation, etc. 
 
 The following are found in the " Calendar of Domestic State Papers " : 
 
 1603, July 26. Warrant, etc., to N. Parker (" Warrant Book," p. 102), 
 take possession of the office and papers of Sir Ferdinando Gorges on his sus- 
 pension from office. 
 
 1603, Sept. 15. Warrant to pay 56^. per annum to Sir F. Gorges, who 
 is restored to his former post of Captain of ihe new fort at Plymouth. 
 (" Warrant Book," fol. 18.) 
 
 1608, Letter. Sir F. G. to Thomas Gamel of Salisbury. Escape of 
 Challoner (Challong) out of Spain. Bad feelings of the Spaniards towards 
 the English. 
 
 1609, July 31. Warrant to deliver ordnance stores to Sir F. G., Cap- 
 tain of the forts at Plymouth Island. 
 
 ' Gorges' " Briefe Narration," vol. ii., p. 36. " Maine His. Coll." 
 
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394 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
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 The throne of England was filled by Elizabeth 
 from 1558 to 1603. That of France from 1589 to 
 1610 by the liberal-minded and chivaliic Henry IV., 
 who of all the sovereigns of his time seems most 
 fully to have appreciated the impoi'tance of Ameri- 
 can colonization. In the autumn of 1602, an expedi- 
 tion was fitted out by the merchants of Rouen, under 
 charge of Seigneur Du Pont Grav<3, of St. Malo; and 
 in the early part of 1603, Henry sent Champlain, the 
 great French navigator, to the St. Lawrence ; who 
 visited on his return from Quebec, Gaspe, the Bay of 
 Chaleur, and the other places occupied by the fisher- 
 men in the Gulf. He encountered icebergs of 
 prodigious length, between the 44th and 45th degrees 
 north latitude, and obtained from the savages a 
 description of the St. Lawrence above Hochelaga. 
 
 On the return of Champlain in 1603, Henry had 
 granted to Pierre du Gas, Seigneur De Monts, a 
 French Protestant, and a member of his household, 
 all that part of North America lying between the 
 40th and 46th parallels of north latitude, and con- 
 firmed it by letters-patent, November 8, 1603.' In 
 this grant the king says : " Fully confiding in your 
 great prudence, and in the knowledge you possess of 
 the quality, condition, and situation of the said 
 countiy of Acadia, from the divers voyages, travels, 
 and visits you have made into these parts, and other 
 neighboring and circumjacent, etc., etc., we do ap- 
 
 ' L'Escarbot " Historic de la nouvelle France," 1609. 
 
 Champlain's " Voyages" (ed. 1632), p. 44. 
 
 Hazard's " Coll.," vol. i., p. 45. 
 
 Williamson's " History of Maine," vol. i., app. 
 
 Sainsbury's " Calendar of Colonial State Papers," vol. i., p. 4. 
 
THE FA THER OF ENGLISH COLON IZA TION. 295 
 
 point you our Lieutenant-General, to rej^resent our 
 person in the country, coasts and confines of Acadia, 
 from the 40tli to the 46th degree of latitude." 
 The design was the occupancy of the country. 
 De Monts sailed from Havre de Grace March 17, 
 1604, with two vessels, in one of which. Captain 
 Timothy, of New Haven, master, were De Mouts, 
 Champlaiu, Poutrincourt, and the accomplished 
 scholar and historian L'Escarbot.' In the other, 
 commanded by Captain Morell, of Honfleur, was Du 
 Pont Grave, the companion and associate of De 
 
 ' L'Escarbot's " History of New France " is by far the most valuable of 
 all the works on America of that date. His first edition, published in 1608- 
 g, i2mo, contained a map of tiie country explored. This work was trans- 
 lated into English, and published by P. Erondelle, London, in 1609, as 
 an original work, without any allusion to the author. A second edition was 
 published in Paris in 1612, under the following title, which we translate from 
 the copy recently placed in the Astor Library : 
 
 " HISTORY OK NEW KRANCE, 
 
 Containing the Voyages, Discoveries and Settlements made by the French, 
 in the West Indies and New France, with the consent and authority of 
 our Most Christian King; and the diverse fortunes of those engaged in 
 the execution of these things, from a hundred years ago, till to-day. 
 
 In which is comprised the History Moral, Natural and Geographical of the 
 said Province : with Tables and Pictures of the same. 
 
 By Marc L'Escarbot, I^awyer in Parliament ; Eye Witness of a part of 
 
 the things here recited. 
 Multa renasccntur qua iain occidere cadcnt que. 
 
 PARIS: 
 
 John Millot, in front of St. Bartholomew with the three crowns, and in 
 
 his shop, on the steps of the great hall of the Palace. 
 
 1612. 
 
 WITH PATENT FROM THE KING." 
 
 In the Library of Congress is a copy of the third edition, published at Paris, 
 in 1618. 
 
 The Dutch and the French adopted the names of the rivers and places 
 given them by L'Escarbot. 
 
 I am aware that Warburton and others assert that L'Escarbot came out in 
 the second expedition in the ship/(?«aj, in 1606 ; but I find nothing to justify 
 this statement from his own writings. 
 
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 296 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 Monts. They called at Isle Sublon, and reached 
 the coast May 16, 1604, where they found a ship 
 trading with the natives contrary to the directions 
 of the king, which they seized and confiscated ; 
 giving the master's name, Rossignol, to the port, 
 his only return for the voyage. The port is now 
 called Liverpool, but a lake in the interior still 
 bears the name of the unlucky master. E\'[)loring 
 the coast westward, De Monts reached Port Mouton, 
 where they landed, waiting the arrival of Du Pont 
 Grave. The company of planters, those who de- 
 signed to remain in the country, was one hundred 
 in number ; and here they erected tents, and planted 
 the ground with grain, which two years later was 
 found bearing a good crop. 
 
 Champlain, impatient at the delay, proceeded west 
 in a shallop, explored the coast, and discovered the 
 beautiful island, which he named St. Croix — from 
 the fact that just above it the streams formed a 
 natural cross, one on each side, entering at right an- 
 gles with the main river — which river finally retained 
 the name of St. Croix, or Holy Cross, and now divides 
 New Brunswick from Maine. Champlain rejoined 
 his companions at Poi*t Mouton, after exploring as far 
 west as the Penobscot. On the arrival of Du Pont 
 Grav6 and Captain Morell, both ships sailed west, 
 entered the Bay St. Marie, discovered the Bay of 
 Fundy ; then sailing north reached Port Royal. 
 Poutrincourt, who came out to select for himself 
 a place of settlement, was so delighted with Port 
 Royal, that he solicited, and obtained from De Monts 
 a promise of a grant of it ; and with Du Pont Grav6, 
 
 h,ir. 
 
THE FA THER OF ENGLISH COLONIZA T/ON. 297 
 
 returned to France, in the autumn of 1C04, to arrange 
 for his removal to this country, and for afresh supply 
 of planters. 
 
 Under the advice of Champlain, I)e Monts' com- 
 pany proceeded west, discovered tlie river St. John, 
 followed the coast westward, and planted themselves 
 in the spot he had selected, known at this day as 
 Neutral Island, in the St. Croix river, within the 
 limits of the state of Maine. Tliis was the first set- 
 tlement of Europeans north of Florida. Hen; they 
 laid out a town, and planted the gi'ound. During 
 the autumn of 1604 habitations were erected, a fort 
 built, a magazine constructed, and a cluipel finished.' 
 The winter of 1604-5 was long and severe, and 
 thirty-five of their number died of the scurvy. In 
 
 ' " Leaving the River St. John, they came, following the coast twenty 
 leagues, to a great river — properly a sea — where they fortified themselves in 
 a little island, seated in the midst of this river, that the said Lord Champlain 
 had been to reconnoitre ; and seeing it strong by nature, and easily guarded ; 
 and in addition, seeing that the season was beginning to pass, and the 
 necessity of seeking a lodging without going further, they resolved to stop 
 there. The Island of St. Croix is difhcult to find for one who has not been 
 there — there are so many islands and great bays to pass, before reaching it, 
 
 " But there was one difficulty. The fort was on the northern side, where 
 there was no shelter, except the trees on the bank of the island. Without 
 the fort was the lodgings for the Swiss, and other little houses, like a suburb 
 of a city. Some had built cabins on the main land, near the brook. I'ut in 
 the fort was the house, or dwelling, of Lord De Monts, made of good car- 
 penter work, with the flag of Fran- floating above it. On the other side 
 was the magazine, where reposed the safety and life of all — similarly made 
 of good carpenter work, and covered with shingles ; and opposite the maga- 
 zine were the houses of Lord Orville, Champlain, Champdorc, and (Hher 
 noble personages, and on the opposite of the dwelling of De Monts, was a 
 covered gallery, for the exercise of play, and for workmen in rainy weather ; 
 and between the said fort and the platform where the cannon was, all tilled 
 with gardens. Each one amused himself, or worked with a gay heart. All 
 the autumn passed with this, and it was doing well to have lodged ourself, 
 and cleared up the Island before the coming on of the winter." — L'Escarbot, 
 book iv., ch. 4, p. 460, 2d edition, 1812. 
 
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39S 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 v- 
 
 ivi 
 
 the spring, I)e Monts, disappointed ut the rigor of 
 the winter, seeking a milder climate, proceeded to 
 explore the country west and south, designing to 
 settle four degrees south of St. Croix. lie visited 
 Mount Desert, the Penobscot, the Kennebec,' Casco, 
 and Saco ; and coasted as far south as Cape Malabar, 
 twelve miles south of Cape Cod. Portland harlior, 
 whicli he named " Mai'chin," from the Chief, or 
 Sagamore, who then resided here, and who was 
 killed in 1G07, took the name of Machigonne. De 
 Monts sailed into all the bays, hai-bors, and arms of 
 the sea, from St. Croix to Cape Malabar, a distance 
 of over four hundred leagues, " searching to the end 
 of the bays." Saco still retains the name "Choua- 
 quet," given to it by De Monts, in 1G05. South of 
 " Pescadouet," Piscutaway (Portsmouth), the harbors 
 were less and less satisfactory, and the country less 
 and less inviting ; and after reaching Cape Malabar, 
 De Monts despaired of finding a suitable place of 
 settlement, as he had designed. While at Cape Cod, 
 in 1605, they carried on shore a large kettle for cook- 
 ing, which the Indians seized in the absence of the 
 cook. On discovering the theft, he attempted to 
 rescue it from their hands; but he was slain by 
 them, and the kettle carried off. This was undoubt- 
 edly the same kettle that Bradfqrd speaks of, which 
 the Plymouth people found in their first explorations 
 in 1620. 
 
 ' " Sailing west, 1605, to find a place of settlement they, De Monts, 
 Champlain and Champdore, came to Norumbega, the river of Pentagouet 
 (Penobscot), and thence to Kinnibeki (Kennebec), which shortens the way to 
 the great river of Canada. There are a number of savages settled there, and 
 the lands begin to be better peopled." — L'Escarbot, book iv., ch. 7, p. 497. 
 
THE FA THER OF ENGLISH COLON IZA TION. 299 
 
 In the spring of 1605, Dii Pont Grave arrived at 
 St. Croix witli supplies antl a reinforcement >f forty 
 men, for the colony, which gave great joy. At hia 
 suggestion, the establishment was broken nj) at St. 
 Croix, and they removed to Port Koyal. Here, 
 under the advice of L'Escarbot, they cleared and 
 cultivated the lands, an<l built a mill for the grinding 
 of their corn. Though Port Royal was destroyed by 
 Argall, in 1613, it was rebuilt, and lias ever since 
 been peopled. A settlement was made on the St 
 John, above the Falls, by Du Pont Grave, and St. 
 Croix was also soon reoccui)ied. In 1611, when the 
 Jesuits, Biard and Masse, visited the Kennebec, for 
 the purchase of gru \, but without success; Plastrier, . 
 who lived at the Island of St. Croix, gave them, on 
 their return, two hogsheads of beans, which rendered 
 important aid, in supplying Port Royal with food in 
 the winter of 1611-12. Four French ships were at 
 that time taking fish at the White Rock, twenty-two 
 leagues west of St. Croix. The whole country was 
 familiar to the Fi'ench ; Charaplain and Champdor6 
 the pilot carried back reports to Europe. In 1609, 
 the work of L'Escarbot was translated and published 
 in England. De Monts sailed up the Kennebec river, 
 as is reported, in 1605, in the expectation of reaching 
 Hochelaga, or Montreal, by \vater ; led into this 
 attempt by the reports given him by the Indiana. 
 Though claiming the countiy as far south as the 
 40th parallel of latitude, there is no evidence that 
 De Monts ever sailed south of, or attempted to extend 
 his jurisdiction south of. Cape Malabar. All east of 
 this was claimed as within the control of France. 
 
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 300 F//iS T INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA V. 
 
 gil 
 
 Tlie country east of French Bay, or the Bay of 
 Fundy, was called Acadia ; between that and 
 
 CaiKuhl, NoUUMHKCA.' 
 
 At tlie conimencenient of the seventeenth century 
 the Dutch were the most conunercial and the most 
 powerful nation of ICurope, if superiority in wealth 
 and enterprise is to be regarded as the true measure 
 of greatness. Small in territory and infeiior in point 
 of numbers to France or England, Holland had 
 grown su[)erior to either in all the arts of civilized 
 life. Tolerant of religious opinion and enjoying un- 
 restricted conunercial fi'eedom, the people of the Low 
 Countries had accunuilated wealth, reclaimed their 
 marshes from the invasions of the sea, and cultivated 
 the arts of peace. Their prosperity excited the Jeal- 
 ousy of Fngland, and they were finally compelled to 
 yield to the iron will of the Protector, who infused 
 new life into all pursuits, not only of conunerce but 
 of war. The people of Holland had learned to practise 
 religious toleration long before those of any other 
 nation, and were the fii'st to recoc^nize the conunercial 
 code, or what is commonly called the "law of na- 
 tions." They were ecpuiUy in advance of other 
 powers in all conunercial ideas and undertakings. 
 As early as 1581 the Dutch merchants had estab- 
 lished a profitable trade with the AVest Indies, and 
 in 1597 had a still more lucrative one with the East 
 Indies. In IGOO the realized wealth of Holland sur- 
 passed that of France, England, or Spain. Her Ba- 
 tavian provinces :'.ad yielded abundant returns to 
 her nierciiants, though requiring long and tedious 
 
 ' " Relations des Jesuites." 
 
THE FA TIIER OF FNGLISII COLON fZ A TION. 30 1 
 
 voyages around the Cape of Good Hope ; and otlier 
 nations soutjlit to reach the same coveted treasure 
 by a shorter route 'icross tlie Atlantic, by the long- 
 hoped-for nortliioeHt pasmge to Cathay. With this 
 view the famous British East India Company was 
 chartered December 31, 1(500, with a ca[)ital of 
 £70,000. In 1602 the Dutch East India Company 
 was chartered with vastly greater capital. An exj)e- 
 dition for the colonization of North America was one 
 uf the early objects of the Dutch g()v<?rmiient and 
 people, and they claimed the country from the 41° to 
 the 45° of north latitude. Their ship, in conunand of 
 Henry Hudson, was off the mouth of the Penobscot 
 river July 18, 1609, and from that year they had 
 actual and permanent possession of Manatte, or New 
 York Island. So that France, Holland, and Eng- 
 land started almost simultaneously in a career of 
 colonization in the New World. 
 
 At this time a[)peared on the public siage Sir 
 Fei'dinando Gorges. Born 1573, at Ashton Philips, 
 in Somersetshire, he became a distinguished naval 
 officer in the Spanish war pi-ior to 1603, when, on 
 the accession of James I., he was made Governor of 
 Plymouth. How early he l)ecame interested in the 
 colonization of America does not (piite clearly ap- 
 pear, but being an intimate friend of Sir Walter 
 Raleigh, though twenty-one years younger, it is fair 
 to suppose that he possessed the same adventurous 
 spirit : and in his " Brief e Narration," speaking in 
 later times of the grant to himself of the Province 
 of Mayne, which was dated April 3, 1639, he says: 
 "Being now seized, of what I had travailed, for above 
 
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 302 
 
 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 forty (40) years, together with the expenses of many- 
 thousand pounds, and the best time of my age ; laden 
 with troubles and vexations from all parts, as you 
 have heard, I will now give you an account in what 
 order I have settled my aifairs, in that, my Province 
 of Mayne, with the true form and manner of the 
 Government, according to the authority granted me 
 by his Majesty's Royal Charter. First. I divided 
 the whole into eight Bailiwicks or Counties, and these 
 again into sixteen several hundreds ; consequent!}', 
 into Parishes and Tithings as people did increase 
 and the provinces Avere inhabited," etc. Gorges 
 speaks in familiar terms, at the commencement of his 
 narrative, of the efforts of Sir Humphrey Gilbert and 
 of Sir Richard Grenville to plant colonies in America, 
 the last of which terminated 1585, so that his mind 
 was evidently familiar, at an early day, with their 
 2)lans for American colonization. It has been recently 
 made to appear that he was directly concerned in 
 the great voyage of George Weymouth, in 1605, 
 regarded as the initial point in the history of New 
 England; and probably, in the previous ones of 
 Gosnold, in 1602,' and of Pring, in 1603. 
 
 ' Interest has of late been awakened as to the route and the purposes of 
 Gosnold's voyage, which at this time deserves notice. On March 26, 1602, 
 Capt. Barthoh)mew Goriiold, in the forty-second year of the reign of Eliza- 
 beth, sailed from Fal.nouth, in the County of Cornwall, for a voyage into 
 the north part of Virginia, in the Lark Concord, with thirty-two persons on 
 board — twelve of them sailors, and twenty " to remain in the country for 
 population." So that the priority of the English in efforts to colonize the 
 country is clearly established. The country that invited rival efforts at coloni- 
 sation by the Dutch, French, and English extended from Cape Breton to the 
 head of Delaware Bay. 
 
 Of those who came out with Gosnold, who was chief in command, and 
 who died in Virginia in 1607, the only names preserved to us are Bartholo- 
 
 till!: ji' 
 
THE FA THER OF ENGLISH COLON IZA TION. 303 
 
 The information, recently brought to light by a 
 publication of the Hon. Geo. Folsom, " A Catalogue 
 of Original Documents in the English Archives, Re- 
 lating to the Early History of Maine," proves, what 
 was before only a matter of conjecture, that Gorges 
 was the chief promoter of Weymouth's voyage. In 
 
 mew Gilbert, second officer ; John Angel ; William Street, shipmaster ; 
 Robert Solterne, who came out with Pring the following year — afterwards a 
 licensed clergyman ; John Tucker ; Jolin Hrereton, gentleman, and journal- 
 ist of the voyage ; James Rosier, the journalist of Weymouth's voyage in 
 1605, and Gabriel Archer, gentleman, and also journalist of the voyage, who 
 subsequently went to Virginia. 
 
 The land-fall of Gosnold is thus described by Archer : 
 
 " On Friday, the fourteenth of May, early in the morning, we made the 
 land, being full of fair trees — the land somewhat lew — certain hummocks, or 
 hills, lying into tlie land ; the shore full of white sand, but very stony, or 
 rocky. And standing fair along by the shore, ai^out twelve of the clock the 
 same day, we came to an anchor, where eight Indians, in a Biscay shallop, 
 with mast and sail, and iron grapple, and a kettle of copper, came boldly 
 aboard us ; one of them apparelled with a waistcoat and breeches of black 
 ^ferge, made after our sea-fashion ; hose and shoes on his feet ; all the rest 
 (saving one that had a pair of breeches of blue cloth) were naked. These 
 people are of tall stature, broad and grim visage ; of a black swart com- 
 plexion ; the eyebrows painted white ; their weapons are bows and arrows. 
 It seemed, by some words and signs they made, that some Basques of St. 
 John de Luz, have fished or traded in this place, being in the latitude of 
 43°. But riding here, in no very good harbor, and withal doubting the 
 weather, about three of the clock the same day in the afternoon, we weighed, 
 and standing southerly off into the sea the rest of that clay, and the night 
 following, with a fresh gale of wind ; in the morning, we found ourselves 
 embayed within a mighty headland," etc. 
 
 This headland was Cape Cod, a name given to it by Gosnold, from the 
 abundance of cod taken there, and which it still retains, despite the efforts 
 of subsequent voyagers and writers to affix to it the name of Ca[)f James, in 
 honor of the king. John Brereton, the fellow-passenger and historian of the 
 voyage, thus describes Gosnold's land-fall : 
 
 " The 13th day, we landed in seventy fathoms, and observed great beds 
 of weeds, much woods, and divers things close floating by us, when as we 
 find smelling of the shore as from some southern ca]ie and Andalusia in 
 Spain. The 14th, about six o'clock in the morning, we discovered land, that 
 lay north, and the northerly part we called the Northland, in which to an- 
 other rock, upon the same, lying twelve leagues west, that we called Savage 
 rock ; for six leagues toward the said rock is an outpoint of rising ground, 
 the trees thereof were high and straight from the rock, east northe.ost. 
 But finding ourselves short of our pur[)osed i)lace, we set sail westward, 
 leaving them and their coast about sixteen leagues S. W, ; from thence we 
 perceived in that course two small Islands, the one lying eastward from 
 Savage rock, the other to the southward of it. The coast we left was full 
 
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 304 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 Gorges' letter, on file in the State-Paper Office, pub- 
 lished in full by Mr. Folaom, dated March 13, 1607, 
 addressed to Mr. Chalinge (Challong), he speaks of 
 the return of the former voyage, of hut the Jim 
 savages,^'' whom Weymouth took as " the chief return 
 TO us, WHO FIRST, Sent to the coast." ' 
 
 of goodly lands, fair plains, with little green round hills above the cliffs, 
 appearing unto us. 
 
 " The 15th clay we had again sight of the land, which made ahead ; being, 
 as thought, an Island," etc. This proved to be Cape Cod. 
 
 From these accounts. Dr. Belknap supposed Savage rock to be on the 
 northerly shore of Massachusetts Bay, about Nahant, Drake, in his elabo- 
 rate history of Boston, expresses the belief that " Savage rock " was in the 
 vicinity of Great Boar's Head, in Hampton, and that Gosnold's land-fall 
 was at Boon Island, on the Isle of Shoals, from the fact that they are nearer 
 to the 43° of latitude than any island on the coast. 
 
 The late John McKeen, Esq., of Brunswick, a thorough and accurate 
 observer an J explorer, in a paper read before the Maine Historical Society, 
 exposes the errors of modern writers, and shows that the statement of 
 Strachey, that Gosnold's land-fall was at the mouth of the Sagadahoc, is the 
 true one. Strachey was a contemporary, and undoubtedly wrote with the 
 narrations of Archer and Brereton before him ; and in constant intercourse 
 with those who shared this adventurous voyage, R. K. Sewall, Esq., in his 
 able work, " Ancient Dominions in Maine," concurs in fixing the land-fall 
 of Gosnold at Sagadahoc. 
 
 We think the evidence fully establishes the fact we assume, that Gosnold's 
 land-fall was at Sagadahoc : that on the 13th of May, 1602, he sighted the 
 islands from Seguinto Cape Elizabeth, and gave to the latter the name it still 
 bears, in honor of his queen ; that the name of Falmouth, subsequently adopt- 
 ed for the site of the present city of Portland, was so affixed in compliment 
 to the port from which the first voyage of exploration sailed. It was a favorite 
 idea with the English, from the first, to give the name of their former home, 
 or their place of embarkation, to the places visited in the New World, as in 
 case of Bristol, Plymouth, Falmouth, Yarmouui, Portsmouth, Dartmouth, 
 York, Wells, etc. The French, on the contrary, generally adopted the local 
 names of the country, attempting to express in language the sounds gathered 
 from the lips of the natives. 
 
 ' 1607, Mar. 13. Plymouth. Letter of Sir Ferdinando Gorges to Mr. 
 Chalinge. 
 
 Mr. Chalinge — I received your Ire sent me by the Mr. Nicholas Hines by 
 whom I rest satisfied for your pte of the proceedinge of the voyadge and I 
 doubte not but you will be able to answer the expectacon of all your freindes. 
 I hoope you shall receive verie shortlie, if alreadie you have not, an attesta- 
 
T^r mim 
 
 to Mr. 
 
 T//£ FA THER OF ENGLISH COLON I ZA TION. 305 
 
 Til is v^oyage of Weymouth was iioininjiUy iiiider- 
 taken to find the long-sough t-f or northwest passage 
 to India, and " as set forth " by the Earl of South- 
 ampton, and Arundell, Lord Wardour. But this 
 w^as undoubtedly a pretence to mislead the French 
 who claimed the country, and were, at this time, 
 occupying the territory and coasting along the shores 
 of Maine. De Monts and Weymouth were in the 
 same waters in 1605. AVeymouth sailed from the 
 Thames, March 31, 1605, ex'idored the coast of Maine, 
 and west as far as Nantucket. As AVeymonth had 
 been familiar with the coast in a previous naval ser- 
 vice of t\velve years, and knew that any idea of find- 
 
 tion out of the highe Courte of Admiraltie to give satisfacon of the truthe 
 of our intent, yt sett you out, let me advise you to take heede that you be 
 not ov'shott in acceptinge recompence for wrongs received, for you know 
 that the jorney hath bene noe smale chardge to us, yt first sent to the Coast 
 and had for our rcturne hut the five salvages 7vhereof two of the principal 
 you had with you and since within in two months after your depture we sent 
 out an other shippe to come to your supplie, and now again we have made a 
 nue preparacon of divers others, all of wch throughe your misfortune is 
 likely to be frustrate and our time and chardge lost, therefore you' demands 
 must be answerable hereunto, and accordinglie seeke for satisfacon which 
 cannot be lesse than five thousande poundes and therefore l^efore you con- 
 clude for lesse attende to receive for resohicon from hence, if they answere 
 you not thereafter, for if their condicon be not such as shall be reasonable, 
 we do know howe to right ourselves, for rather then we will be loasers a 
 penny by them we will attend a fitter time to gott us our content, and in the 
 mean time leave all in their hands, therefore be you careful herein, and re- 
 member y' it is not the buisness of merchants or rovers but as you knowe 
 of men of another ranke and such as will not preferre manie complayntes 
 nor exhibite divers petitions for that they understande a shoiter way to the 
 woode, soe comendinge you to God and continuing my selfe 
 
 your most assured and lovinge friende 
 
 Plymoth 13 of Ferdinando Gorges 
 
 Marche 1607 
 
 I'ostcript 
 
 I pray you use the meanes that the salvages and the companie be sent 
 over with as muche speede as is possible and yt you hasten yourself away if 
 you see not likelihoode of a present ende to be had for we will not be tired 
 with their delaies and endlesse sutes such as commonlie they use but leave 
 all to time and God the just revenger of wrongs 
 
 Ferdinando Gorges 
 [Endorsed] The Coopie of Sr. Ferdinando Gorges his Ire to 
 
 Mr. Chalens. 
 
 Received ye 6 day. 
 
 ■A 
 
 :A 
 
3o6 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 ing, by this route, a northwest passage to India, was 
 absurd ; the conclusion is inevitable, that Weymouth's 
 voyage was designed to lay the foundation of the 
 Royal Grant, which secured the continent to Great 
 Britain. In fact, Weymouth proposed to plant a 
 colony, and Owen Griffin and another man had agreed 
 to remain. A most interesting discussion is now 
 going on by many able writers in Maine, as to the 
 river visited by Weymouth, and which of the noble 
 harbors of that wonderful coast was the Pentecost 
 harbor, in which he anchored his ship Archangel, in 
 1605. Weymouth carried back to England, in 1605, 
 five natives of Pemaquid, from whom Gorges ob- 
 tained full " particulars of its stately islands, and safe 
 harbors, what great rivers i-an up into the land, what 
 men of note were seated on them, what power they 
 were of, how allied, what enemies they had, and the 
 like." By his glowing descriptions of the beauties of 
 the country, he satisfied the royal inquiiy, and laid 
 the foundation for the subsequent gi*ant from the 
 king. 
 
 It was through the eiforts of Gorges that King 
 James made the Royal Grant or Charter, dated April 
 10, 1606, granting to " the Council of Virginia " the 
 continent of North America, from the 34° to the 
 45° of north latitude, and all the islands within one 
 hundred miles of the shore. Sir Ferdinando Gorges 
 and the Earl of Southampton petitioned the king for 
 his charter, but no copy of this interesting document 
 has as yet been brought to light. The attacks on 
 Sir Ferdinando Gorges, for " grasping cupidity " in 
 obtaining charters from King James and the Stuarts, 
 
WPI 
 
 THE FA THER OF ENGLISH COLON J ZA TION. 307 
 
 are among the striking evidences of tbe intolerance 
 of the times. He, or any one, who would sacrifice his 
 private fortune to establish plantations in America, 
 deserved the gratitude of the nation and the warmest 
 commendations of modern times. Instead of this, 
 the historians of New England — those even of our 
 times, or such as follow Puritan authorities — unjustly 
 represent Gorges as a man of a selfish and grasping 
 spirit, whose only ambition was private advantage. 
 The grants to Sir Humphrey Gilbert and to Sir 
 Walter Raleigh by Elizabeth were as obnoxious 
 to the charge of monopoly as those subsequently 
 given to Sir Ferdinando Gorges and his associates, 
 which the Puritans attacked ; but no complaint was 
 made against Elizabeth for these grants, although 
 others, lavishly bestowed by her in various depart- 
 ments of trade and manufactures, were boldly attacked 
 by the Commons. 
 
 This charter of April 10, 1606, is the foundation 
 of the title of England to North America. It was 
 followed up by immediate acts of Jurisdiction and 
 possession. In May, 1606, the Lord Chief -Justice of 
 England, Sir John Popham, having become associ- 
 ated in the enterprise, sent out Captain Haines, " in 
 a tall ship belonging to Bristol and the river Severne, 
 to settle a plantation in the river of Sagadahoc " ; but 
 from the failure of the master to follow the course 
 ordered, the ship fell into the hands of the Spaniards 
 by capture, and the expedition failed of success. In 
 August, of the same year, a ship, sent out by Sir 
 Ferdinando Gorges, under command of Henry Chal- 
 long, with two savages as pilots, for the same pup- 
 
 1 
 
 
 
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 '.« 
 
 m 
 
 '■fi 
 
 ■A 
 
Vi 
 
 II 
 
 '13 
 
 
 308 /'/^^r INTERNA TIONAL RAIL IVA Y. 
 
 pise — the two designed to form one expedition, — 
 shared a similar fate. Another vessel, sent by the 
 Chief-Justice, in command of Hanam, under charge 
 of Mai*tin Pring as master, sailed two months later, 
 reached the coast of Maine ; but not finding Challong, 
 made a perfect discovery of all the rivers and harbors, 
 and brought back a most exact description of the 
 coast ; which so encouraged the company, that they 
 determined to send out a greater number of planters, 
 with better provisions for the planting of a colony 
 at Sagadahoc the next year. In consequence of these 
 mishaps Virginia was occupied prior to Maine. The 
 expedition of Captain Newport to the Chesapeake, 
 which sailed December 19, 1606, landed at James- 
 town May 13, 1607. 
 
 On May 31, 1607, the first colony to New Eng- 
 land sailed from Plymouth for the Sagadahoc, in two 
 ships — one called the Gift of God, whereof George 
 Popham, brother of the Chief -Justice, was command- 
 er ; the other, the Mary and John, which Raleigh 
 Gilbert commanded — on board which ships were one 
 hundred and twenty persons for planters. They 
 came to anchor under an island, supposed to be 
 Monhegan, July 31 ; and in two hours after, eight 
 savages in European apparel came to them from the 
 shore in a Spanish shallop, and after rowing about 
 the vessels awhile, boldly came on shipboard, 
 where three of them stayed all night. The next 
 day the others returned with three women in another 
 Biscay shallop, bringing beaver skins for the pur- 
 pose of trade, so familiar had these people become 
 with the habits and designs of their European 
 
THE FA THER OF ENGLISH COLONIZA TION. 309 
 
 visitors. The fish of Monhegan were already more 
 esteemed than those of Newfoundland, and this spot 
 was the common resort of all the trading vessels on 
 the coast. By this means, undoubtedly, the Indians 
 became possessed of French and Spanish shallops 
 prior to 1607. 
 
 After exploring the coast and islands, on Sunday, 
 August 9, 1607, tbey landed on an island they called 
 St. George, where they had a sermon deliv.3rtd uuto 
 them by Mr. Seymour, their preacher, and returned 
 aboard again. On August 15 they anchored under 
 Seguin, and on that day the Gift of God got into 
 the river of Sagadahoc. August 16 both ships 
 got safely in, and came to anchor. August 17, iu 
 two boats, they sailed up the river — Captain Pop- 
 ham in his pinnace, with thirty persons, and Captain 
 Gilbert in his long-boat, with eighteen persons, and 
 " found it a very gallant river ; many good islands 
 therein, and many branches of other small rivers 
 falling into it," and returned. August 18 they all 
 went ashore, and there made choice of a place for 
 their plantation, at the mouth or entry of the river, 
 on the west side (for the river bendeth towards the 
 northeast and by east), being almost an island, of 
 good bigness, in a province called by the Indians 
 " Sabino " — so called of a Sagamo, or chief command- 
 er, under the grand Bashaba. August 19, they 
 all went ashore, where they had made choice of their 
 plantation, and where they had a sermon delivered 
 unto them by their preacher, and after the sermon, 
 the President's commission was read, vdth the laws 
 to be observed and kept : George Popham, gent., was 
 
 ^* 
 
310 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 nominated President. Thus commenced the first 
 occiipiitioii and settlement of New England, and 
 from which date the title of England to the New 
 World was maintained.' 
 
 This act of formal possession of the country under 
 their charter, August 29, 1607, was the consumma- 
 tion of England's title to New England, and the 
 foundation of her future greatness ; and the day 
 should be observed as an epoch wherev^er thei'e exists 
 a community who enjoy the common law of England 
 or speak the mother-tongue. 
 
 This charter, of April 10, 1606, was ''for tlie 
 Ijlanting of colonies or planiations in North America.'''' 
 It placed the power in a council of thiiieen. To 
 
 ' The charter of De Monts was revoked by the king, in 1607, on account 
 of the intense jealousy of his rivals. This loss of title by the Trench allowed 
 the English charter of April 10, 1606, to take precedence of all French 
 grants. In all subsequent contests with rival nations, the Dutch and the 
 French, the occupation by the I'opham colony, in 1607, was put forward 
 as the ground of title. In 1632 the Dutch West India Company, in tl.eir 
 address to the States-General, under date of May 5th, say : " In the year 
 ifiof) his Majesty of Great Britain granted to his subjects under the names of 
 New England and Virginia, north and south of the river (Manhattoes), on 
 express condition that the companies should remain one hundred miles apart. 
 ^Vhereupon the English began about the year 1607 to settle by the river of 
 Sagadahoc. The English place New England between 41" and 45" of north 
 latitude."—" Holland Doc. N. Y.," p. 51. The Dutch contended that they 
 had the right to occupy the one hundred miles reserved by the charter as open 
 territory. 
 
 Count de Tillieres, French ambassador, writing to Secretary Conway, un- 
 der date of April, 1624, admits the claim of England to Virginia and to the 
 Gulf of Mexico, south five hundred leagues ; but denies all right north. In 
 answer to Tillieres, the charter of King James, in 1606, to the two companies 
 is quoted to show that the claim of both is equally valid. — " Calendar of Colo- 
 nial State Papers," i., p. 60. In 1631, Champlain, in his great memoir to the 
 king, giving a statement of the rival claims of the French and English, says : 
 " King James issued his charter twenty-four years ago, for the country from 
 the thirty-third degree to the forty-fifth degree. England seized the coast 
 
THE FA THER OF ENGLISH COL ONIZA TION. 3 1 x 
 
 encourage competition and excite rivalry, it provided 
 for the planting of two distinct and Hei)arate colonies, 
 each having a local government, of North and South 
 Virginia, the former subs'Mpiently known an the 
 Plymouth, the latter as the London Company ; each 
 company not to colonize or establish a i)lantation 
 within one hundred miles of each other. Neither 
 Gorges nor the Chief-Justice had their names inserted, 
 for fear of exciting, as it would seem, the jealousy of 
 rivals. Eight persons only were named in the charter, 
 four for each colony, who might be expected to join 
 the ex[ editions. 
 
 The history of this Po[)ham Colony is very im- 
 perfectly known. They called their settlement 
 
 of New France, where lies Acadia, on which they imposed the name of 
 New England." — " I-rench Doc. N. V.," vol. ix., pp. i and 2. 
 
 In 1630, September 9, the Scotch adventurers addressed a letter to the 
 king from the Council of Scotland — those claiming title under the grant to 
 Sir William Alexander, afterwards Lord Stirling, — in which they assert that 
 " the planting of New England in the north" was by Chief-Justice Popham. 
 — "Cal. of Colonial State Papers," i., p. iig. 
 
 In a work entitled " An Encouragement to Colonies," by William Alex- 
 ander, Knight, printed by William Stanly, London, 1625, it is said: " One 
 of them. Sir John Popham, sent the first company that went, of puqiose 
 to inhabit there, near to Sagadahoc." P. 30. 
 
 Captain John Mason, writing to Sir Edward Coke, Secretary of State, 
 under date of April 2, 1632, says : " Plantations in New England have been 
 settled about twenty-five years." — " London Doc. N. V.," vol. iii., p. 16. 
 
 In the work of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, grandson of the original proprietor 
 of Mayne, entitled "A Description of New England, — America Painted to 
 the Life," published in London, in 1659, he says: "New England is be- 
 tween 41° and 45° of north latitude. In 1606 the country began to be pos- 
 sessed by the English by public authority. ... A peninsula at the mouth 
 of the river Sagadahoc, where they built a fortress, which they named St. 
 George." P. 18. 
 
 Sir John Popham was ridiculed in his time for his efforts to plant colonies 
 in America. "Chief-Justice Popham not only punished malefactors, but 
 provided for them, and first set up the discovery of New England to main- 
 tain and employ those that could not live honestly in the Old." — Lloyd's 
 " State Worthies," p. 46. 
 
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 3 1 2 /-/i^J r INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 Fort St. George, the remaiiKS of wbicli are still 
 in existence ; from which phice, George Pophani 
 writes to King JanieH, under date of December 1.'], 
 1607, in tlie Latin language, in which he says: "My 
 well considered opinion is, that in these regions the 
 glory of God may be easily evidenced, the emjure of 
 your Majesty enlarged, and the welfare of Great Brit- 
 ain speedily augmented." They finished their vessel, 
 of fifty tons, in the winter and spring, called the V'w- 
 giniaoi Sagadahoc, in which they returned to England 
 that year. They lost their governor, George Popham, 
 during the winter, who died February 5, 1 108. Cap- 
 tain Gilbert, who succeeded to the command, was com- 
 pelled to return, to settle the estate of his brother, Sir 
 John Gilbert, who had deceased, and to whose estate 
 he was heir. Added to these, the death in England of 
 the venerable Chief-Justice Popham, who died June 
 10, 1107, and the terrible severity of the winter 
 through which they had passed, threw discourage- 
 ments in their way, which they had not the courage 
 to surmount. 
 
 This was the critical period in the history of the 
 English race, in the New World. Both France and 
 England were claiming title. The occupation of 
 the territory could alone determine the rights of the 
 parties. Poutrincourt, inflamed rvith all the zeal of 
 the Catholic faith, kept his hold on Acadia, and 
 returning to France, with De Monts, in 1607, ob- 
 tained from him a grant of Port Royal. He came 
 out at the instance of the king, with a new grant, 
 in 1610, with Fathers Biard and Masse; and being 
 free from the annoyance of the Huguenots, he 
 
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 m 
 
 THE FA TITER OF ENGLISH COLON 1 7. A TION. 3 1 3 
 
 1 
 
 (lesputchetl liia son Biencourt to France, to ln'ing 
 further recruits to liis colony. TJu' iiower of tlieir 
 youtli wei'e cheerfully eni^aujed for this service, from 
 all the Jesuit colleges of France. 
 
 As they were about to ciubark foi' Acadia, the 
 merchants of Diep[)e, who had furnished the sujv 
 plies for the ship, refused the Jesuits admission on 
 board, on account of their religion, so strong was 
 the Protestant faith at that time in France. The 
 zealous and enthusiastic Madame de Guerchville, 
 moved to anger by this refusal of the merchants, 
 raised the entire sum re([ulred for the voyage by 
 contributions among the Catholic nobility ; and des- 
 patched Biencourt, and his Jesuit missionaries, who 
 arriv ed at Poi't Royal just in time to save Poutrincourt 
 and his party from starvation. MeanwhileChamplaiu 
 had in 1608 laid the foundation of Quebec, and held 
 actual possession of the St. Lawrence under a new 
 charter. Emboldened by the breaking up of Pop- 
 ham's Colony, at Sagadahoc, the French pushed for- 
 ward their possessions, claiming the territor^^ as far 
 south as Cape Cod. Gorges knew the im[)ortanceof 
 maintaining possession of the country, and while 
 '■''all his associates gave up to these discouragements,^'' 
 his heroic spirit, so far from yielding, rose with the 
 occasion that demanded still greater sacrifices ; and, 
 as he says : " Finding I could no k)nger be seconded 
 by others, I became an owner of a ship myself, fit 
 for that employment, and under color of fishing and 
 trade> I got a master and company for her, to which 
 I sent Vines and others, ray own servants, appointing 
 them to leave the ship and ship's company for to 
 
 '■i 
 
 ■f:li)i' 
 
 . .Hi 
 
 ■ m 
 
 'im 
 
314 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL iVA V. 
 
 i 
 
 1! K 
 
 m: 
 
 follow their business in the usual places. By these 
 and the help of those natives, formerly sent over, I 
 came to be ti'uly informed, of so much as gave me 
 assurance, that in time, I should want no undertakers, 
 though as yet, I was forced to hire men, to stay 
 there the winter quarters, at extreme rates," etc' 
 
 We may therefore fairly claim that the occupancy 
 of Vines and others under Gorges saved the coun- 
 try from falling into the hands of the French. We 
 find the English at Pemaquid in 1608 and 1609." 
 Thither the Virginia colony sent annually for fish, 
 from 1608 and onward. Sir Francis Popham, the 
 son of the Chief-Justice, continued to send his ships 
 to Pfciuaciuid, and the same ship was found there by 
 Captain John Smith, on his first visit to the coast, in 
 1614. Belknap says that Vines came over a long time 
 before the settl:^ment at Plymouth, and the authori- 
 ties concur in fixing it in 1609. Sir Ferdinando 
 Gorges, though he does not name the year, speak- 
 ing of events in the order of their occurrence, places 
 the settlement of Vines before the voyage of Hobson ; 
 and tradition has assigned to Vines the honor of 
 Iioldiug Pemaquid, Monhegan, and Sagadahoc, from 
 1609 till he removed to Saco, where he spent the 
 winter of 1616-17. Captain Hobson came over as 
 early as 1611. Gorges says in connection with this 
 voyage, " for some years together nothing to my 
 private profit was realized, for what I got one way 
 I spent another." 
 
 In 1613, Argall, from the Virginia colony, on 
 visiting the coast for fish, learned that the French 
 
 ' Gorges' " Briefe Narration." ' Relations des Jesuites. 
 
*^\ 
 
 THE FA THER OF ENGLISH COLONIZA TION. 315 
 
 had a tradino-'liouse at Penobscot, and a settlement 
 at Mount Desert, or St. Saviour, anotlier at St. 
 Croix, and one at Port lloyal. After procuring a 
 sufficient force lie broke up these posts and destroyed 
 St. Saviour and Port lloyal, carrying the Jesuits 
 and some of their adherents to Virginia as priaonei*s ; 
 many of the French settlers fled to the Avoods, but 
 returned and re-occupied the places thus laid waste 
 by Argall. French fishing and trading ships were 
 constantly visiting these places. In June, 1014, 
 Captain Henry Plarley, one of Popham's Colony at 
 Sagadahoc, sailed in Gorges' employ with Assacumet, 
 one of those natives first taken by Weymouth, and 
 the famous Indian Epenow, of Martha's Vineyard, 
 who proposed to show them valuable mines of gold. 
 He was, as Gorges says, " a person of goodly stature, 
 strong and well proportioned," but he escaped from 
 them as soon as they came to the coast, and the ex- 
 pedition was productive t)f no useful results. It is 
 not necessary to narrate all the events connected 
 with the expeditions to the country, prior to 1C14, 
 when the eccentric but intrepid Captain John Smith 
 appeared on the coast, in command of four ships. 
 
 This venture of Smith paid a profit of j£l,500, 
 " by trafiic in otter and beaver skins, salt fish, train 
 oil, and such other like gross commodities." Smith 
 at this time made a plot or map of the country, 
 since known as Smith's map of New England, |)ub- 
 lished in 1616, and he was made Admiral of I*^ew 
 England by the company. In 1615 Smith sailed again 
 for New England, in two ships, which voyage ])roved 
 disastrous. He lost his masts in a gale, returned to 
 
 
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 3 1 6 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA F. 
 
 PlymoiitL, and again sailing was taken prisoner by the 
 Frencli. One of the vessels, however, in command of 
 Captain Dermer, made its way to New England and 
 returned well laden. In the same year, Sir Richard 
 Hawkins, Pi-esident of the Plymouth Com[)any, depart- 
 ed for these parts, and took in a cai'go for Spain, princi- 
 pally fish, which proved a profitable business. In 1G16, 
 eight ships from London and Plymouth made profit- 
 able voyages to New England, and the value of the 
 fisheries of Monhegan was fully established. There 
 can be no doubt that Monhegan was occupied with a 
 trading, though changing, population, many years be- 
 fore Plymouth was settled ; and when Edward AVins- 
 low, of the Plymouth flock, visited it, in May, 1622, 
 as he says, " to ohtain victuals for our famishing 
 plantation,^'' he found there thirty ships. He also 
 says : " I found there kind entertainment and good 
 respect ; with a willingness to supply our wants ; 
 through provident and discreet care, we were recov- 
 ered and preserved, till our own crop in the ground 
 was ready." 
 
 Such was the condition of New England affairs in 
 1616, befoi'e war had broken out among the Indian 
 tribes, pestilence destroyed the native populati<^n, or 
 the Pilgrim settlement been initiated. The country 
 was well known along the coast, from the Bay of 
 Fundy to Cape Cod, and the fisheries yielded abun- 
 dant profit. It was comparatively full of people, a 
 native population, subsisting not only on game .^.nd 
 the products of the soil, but on oysters, salmon, and 
 the choicest fish, in which the harbors, rivers, and 
 coves abounded. The territory, noAV known as the 
 
THE FA THER OF ENGLISH COLONIZA TION. 317 
 
 the 
 
 state of Maine, with its numerous and well sheltered 
 harbors ; its noble rivers, swamiing with the most 
 valuable fish ; its forests, of unrivalled beauty, sur- 
 passing, in the estimation of the navigators, those of 
 the north of Europe ; its soil, bearing readily the 
 choicest grains of Europe, in addition to Indian com, 
 and the potato indigenous to this continent ; the 
 charming vaiiety of scenery ; its undulating surface ; 
 its climate, that for healthfulness and salubrity left 
 nothing to desire, — attracted the most skilful of the 
 European voyageurs to its shoi'es. The region lying 
 between Cape Porpoise (Kennebunk) and the Penob- 
 scot was the most frequented of all, for it is by far 
 the most beautiful portion of New England, and 
 the possession of it excited the ambition of the 
 French and English alike. It was the seat of In- 
 dian empire, more populous than any portion of the 
 continent, the home of the Bashaba, whose authority 
 extended to Narragansett Bay. The Indians alvvjiys 
 occupied the best portions of the continent until 
 driven from them by superior force, as seen in our 
 day in the case of the Cherokees and Choctaws of 
 the South, and the Penobscots of our o\vn state. 
 The French were the first to perceive this great 
 fact, and their possessions followed closely the 
 grounds held by the Indians. We have not time 
 to pursue this inquiry, but we hazard nothing in 
 predicting that the seats of empire on this conti- 
 nent, of the European races will eventually coin- 
 cide with those of the aboriginal inhabitants. 
 
 The coast was at that time well delineated on 
 maps in common use ; the Dutch had a flouiishing 
 
 ^1 
 
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 M 
 
 VtSi, I . 
 
 
 '■m ) 
 
11 ^ f ^ 
 
 mil 
 
 318 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA V. 
 
 colony on the Hudson river ; and on the same day 
 that John Smith was exhibiting to Prince Charles, 
 for his approval of the names upon it, his map of 
 New England; the Dutch figurative map of New 
 Netherlands, extending east to the Penobscot, was 
 laid before the States-General for their inspection 
 and adoption. The early navigators saw nothing in- 
 viting between Cape Cod and Manhattan, while all 
 the harbors east of Cape Porpoise were filled with 
 voyageurs from the Old World. In 1602, when Gos- 
 nold came to New England, the Indians, clothed in 
 Indian apparel, vi> ited his ships without any signs 
 of surprise, as at Pr^(aH(iuid, in 1607, the aborigines 
 came fearlessly on boai ^^ the vessels of Popham and 
 Gilbert; and the famous Indian Sagamore Samoset 
 went from Pemaquid. to greet the Pilgrims at Ply- 
 mouth, in March, 1621, with hearty welcome in their 
 own language. " Welcome, welcome, En.glislimen,^'' 
 said Samoset, and proved his friendship to the end 
 of his life. The welcome of Samoset was sincere, be- 
 cause the Indian tiibes, who valued goodly rivers, 
 fertile fields, and abundant forests, as the best hunt- 
 ing grounds ; felt no jealousy of men who sought a 
 resting-place on the barren and deserted sands of Cape 
 Cod, where the native population had been swept 
 oif by the plague. And the Frencli looked with 
 equal indifference on that feeble band of fishermen 
 whose location at Plymouth in no way interfered 
 with their plans of dominion in the New World. 
 About this time, 1616, a bloody war broke out be- 
 tween the Tarratines, who lived east of the Penob- 
 scot, supposed to be incited to it by the French, and 
 
'1 
 
 THE FA THER OF ENGLISH COLONIZA TION. 3 1 9 
 
 ^ 
 
 the Bashaba of Pemaquid. He was slain, and Lis 
 people destroyed. At the same time, a devastating 
 pestilence swept off the Indian race without injuring 
 the whites. Gorges says : '' Vines and the rest with 
 him, that live in the cabins with these people that 
 died, not one of them ever felt their heads to ache." 
 
 The year 1616 brings us to what may be called 
 the Pilgrim period ; for at this time were initiated 
 those measures that resulted in what Mr. Webster 
 called the first settlement of New England. The 
 history of the times would disprove the popular 
 theory, that "religious impulse accomplished the 
 early settlement of New England " ; by which is 
 meant the settlement therein of the Pilgrims. But 
 the plan of colonizing America did not originate 
 with them, nor were they in any sense the leaders of 
 the movement. They resorted thither from neces- 
 sity, and while they profited by the labors and 
 enterprise of others, achieved nothing beyond those 
 in a subordinate position. The settlement of New 
 England was the work of many years, and was 
 achieved by the same influences as those still at work 
 to extend the Saxo-Norman race. It was the legiti- 
 mate result of the commercial ideas and adventurous 
 spirit of the times. 
 
 The Protestant faith was struggling to maintain its 
 foothold in the British Isles in the reigns of Henry 
 VIIL, of Edward VI., and of Mary, and not till the 
 reign of Elizabeth was it fully established. This 
 consummation gave internal repose to the nation, and 
 allowed the spirit of enterprise to exi)and and ripen. 
 This spirit sought employment in the New World, 
 
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320 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 »■!?■ 
 
 
 I'- -i * i i ■ 
 
 and drew from Elizabeth the earliest charteiu 
 The English Puritans exhibited the restless spirit 
 of change that had grown up in the English char- 
 acter, under the influence of the last fifty years ; and 
 not in the reign of the despotic queen, but in the 
 reign of the weak James, those who had not property, 
 or court favor, naturally preferred a life of adventure, 
 with the hopes of profit or preferment in a new coun- 
 try. It was the age of private enterprise and of intel- 
 lectual freedom. The East India Company was lay- 
 ing the foundation of English empire in the East; 
 while the Council of Virginia was planting the seeds 
 of a more glorious dominion over the wilds of nature 
 in the West. T^«^ same spirit that has filled the 
 valley of the Mio a^sippi and the Pacific shore, with 
 natives of New England and of Europe, within the 
 last fifty years, lOv to . ue first emigi-ation to America. 
 
 That "religious impulse" led the followers of 
 Robinson to Leyden, in 1608, is undoubtedly true, 
 but religious persecution in England soon ceased, 
 and no one there suffered death, for that cause, after 
 1611. The forms of the church service were as 
 harmless then as now, and were originally adopted, 
 after long debate, by a majority of one only, in a full 
 convention of the English clergy, in the reign of 
 Elizabeth. The articles of the church were Calvin- 
 istic, and in no wise differed in doctrines from those 
 of the Puritans. Elizabeth was a far greater stickler 
 for observance of church ceremonies than any one of 
 her successors. But the Leyden flock did not leave 
 England in her reign. 
 
 It is time to vindicate the truth of history ; to do 
 justice to the claims of Gorges, and to repel the 
 
1 
 i 
 
 THE FA THER OF ENGLISH COLON I ZA TION. 3 2 1 
 
 calumnious charges of the men who founded the 
 Theocracy of New Enghmd, — who persecuted alike 
 Quakers, Baptists, and Churchmen. Fifty years 
 after the putting of men to death for errors of doc- 
 trine had ceased in Old England, from which the 
 Massachusetts Puritans pretended to have fled *' for 
 conscience sake," they executed men of the most 
 blameless lives for the slightest differences of opin- 
 ion, or doctrine, in religion. On finding that Bap- 
 tists and Quakers and Churchmen were only 
 multiplied the more, by this means ; as persecution 
 grew more severe, they finally passed a statute, that 
 Quakers should be treated as vagabonds, whipped 
 from town to town by the magistrates, tiU driven 
 beyond the boundaries of the colony. In point of 
 fact, within the boundaries of the colony of Massa- 
 chusetts Bay, from the time they first landed, till the 
 arrival of Sir Edmund Andros as Governor in 1686, 
 the government of Massachusetts Bay was more 
 arbitrary and intolerant than any despotism from 
 which they fled from England. Stripes, imprison- 
 ment, and even death itself were inflicted on those 
 who regarded baptism as a sacrament, fit only to be 
 administered to those capable of understanding its 
 import. The banishment of "Wheelwright and 
 others for antinomian heresy, and his escape into 
 Maine, show the character of the times. 
 
 The Plymouth flock, a portion of those whom 
 Robinson had gathered at Leyden, were an amiable 
 and pious people. They gladly sought the protec- 
 tion of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, the founder of the 
 New England Company, prior to their removal from 
 
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322 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY, 
 
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 Holland, and came out in view of his promise of a 
 charter, from whom they obtained it in 1621. But 
 they never, in fact, exerted any considerable po- 
 litical influence on the histoiy of the continent. 
 The colony of Massachusetts Bay, on the other 
 hand, was guided by the boldest set of adventurers 
 that ever set foot on American soil. The fathers of 
 this colony, who first met in Nottinghamshire, 1627, 
 and those who led the way afterwards, were men 
 whom Charles had imprisoned for their too great 
 freedom of speech in the House of Commons, and 
 who gladly escaped to America to avoid a worse fate 
 at home. 
 
 Sir Fenlinando Gorges readily gave them a char- 
 ter, March 19, 1629. They came over the same year. 
 One condition, as Gorges says, of the grant was, that 
 it should not be prejudicial to the previous grant to 
 his son, Robert Gorges, made in 1622, then in the 
 actual occupation of his grantees. But writing 
 secretly to Eudicott, their first governor, under date 
 of April 17, 1629, " the Governor and deputy of the 
 New England Company for a plantation in Massa- 
 chusetts Bay," residing in England, advise him, that 
 Mr. Oldham had become the grantee of Robert 
 Gorges, and that the Rev. Mr. Blackstone and Mr. 
 Wm. Jeffreys had been duly authorized to put Old- 
 ham in possession of the premises; yet they held it 
 void in law, and advised that " they should take pos- 
 session of the chief e part thereof," and thus destroy 
 the value of the grant previously given to Gorges, 
 This was done, and Gorges' grantees were driven 
 out — a fair specimen of the sense of justice of that 
 
\ 
 
 THE FA THER OF ENGLISH COLONIZA TION. 323 
 
 Company. To mislead the people of England as to 
 their true designs, after leaving England, while on 
 shipboard, they publicly requested the prayers of 
 the English Church, for their success in planting 
 "the Protestant faith in America." But on lan<ling, 
 they forcibly expelled the two brothers Brown, who 
 came over highly recommended by the Company in 
 London, and against all protestations and reason they 
 were sent back to England by the first vessel that 
 i-eturned, because they absented themselves from 
 their meeting on the Sabbath. These men, in the 
 privacy of their own chamber, ^vere guilty of follow- 
 ing, in their devotions, the form of the English lit- 
 urgy. For this they were driven out of the country. 
 The Massachusetts Bay Company sent their char- 
 ter with the great seal of the king to America, to 
 render its recall the more difficult ; and when it was 
 subsequently vacated by writ of quo warranto^ re- 
 fused to comply with the order of court for its 
 return. The disputes at home, which resulted in the 
 beheading of Charles and the Revolution of 1688 in 
 England, alone saved the leaders and their followers 
 from punishment. The Royal Charter, uniting the 
 colonies of Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, the Prov- 
 ince of Maine and all the country east of it, under 
 the governorship of Sir Wm. Phipps, a native of 
 Pemaquid, put an end to the Theocracy of New 
 England in 1691. 
 
 The modern popular history of New England has 
 sought to conceal the exact truth, and to throw 
 apology over the grossest offences. Those who trust 
 to such early writers as the Cottons, the Mathers, and 
 
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 324 F/J?ST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 Hubbards of former days ; on whom the modern his- 
 torians of Massachusetts seem mainly to rely, may 
 find abundant means of correcting their opinions. 
 We may, at this time, venture to speak of these 
 men as they deserve. The accurate and accom- 
 plished historian of Rhode Island, in his recent his- 
 tory, speaking of the Massachusetts historians, justly 
 says: 
 
 " The opinions of men who maligned the purity of Williams, 
 of Clarke, and of Gorton, who bore * false witness ' to the char- 
 acter and the acts of some of the wisest and best men who ever 
 lived in New England ; who strove to blast the reputation of 
 people whose liberal views they could not comprehend ; who 
 collected evidence to crush the good name of their more virtu- 
 ous opponents by casting upon them the odium of acts wherein 
 they were themselves the guilty parties ; who committed out- 
 rages in the name of God, far more barbarous than the worst 
 with which they ever charged * the usurper ' ; — the opinions of 
 such men, we say, are not to be received without a challenge." 
 — Arnold's " History of Rhode Island," vol. i., p. 14. 
 
 The impartial and graphic Macaulay thus describes 
 the Puritans of that day : 
 
 " The persecution which the separatists had undergone had 
 been severe enough to irritate, but not severe enough to de- 
 stroy. They had not been tamed into submission, but bated 
 into savageness and stubbornness. After the fashion of op- 
 pressed sects, they mistook their own vindictive feelings for 
 emotions of piety ; encouraged in themselves, in reading and 
 meditation, a disposition to brood over their wrongs ; and 
 when they had worked themselves up into hating their enemies, 
 imagined that they were only hating the enemies of Heaven. 
 In the New Testament there was little indeed which, even when 
 perverted by the most disingenuous exposition, could seem to 
 countenance the indulgence of malevolent passions. But the 
 Old Testament contained the history of a race selected by God, 
 
THE FA THER OF ENGLISH COLON IZA TION. 325 
 
 to be witnesses of his wrath and ministers of his vengeance, 
 and especially commanded by him to do many things which, 
 if done without his special command, would have been atro- 
 cious crimes. In such a history it was not difficult for fierce 
 and gloomy spirits to find much that might be distorted to suit 
 their wishes. The extreme Puritans therefore began to feel 
 for the Old Testament a preference, which, perhaps, they did 
 not distinctly avow, even to themselves, but which showed 
 itself in all their sentiments aiid habits. They paid to the 
 Hebrew language a respect which they refused to that tongue 
 in which the discourses of Jesus and the Epistles of Paul have 
 come down to us. They baptized their children by the names, 
 not of Christian saints, but of Hebrew patriarchs and warriors. 
 In defiance of the express and reiterated declarations of Luther 
 and Calvin, they turned the weekly festival by which the church 
 had, from the primitive times, commemorated the resurrection 
 of her Lord, into a Jewish Sabbath. They sought for princi- 
 ples of jurisprudence in the Mosaic law, and for precedents 
 to guide their ordinary conduct in the books of Judges and 
 Kings. Their thoughts p.nd discourses ran much on acts which 
 were assuredly not recorded as examples for our imitation. 
 The prophet who hewed in pieces a captive king, the rebel 
 general who gave the blood of a queen to the dogs, the matron, 
 who, in defiance of plighted faith, and of the laws of Eastern 
 hospitality, drove the nail into the brain of the fugitive ally 
 who had just fed at her board, and who was sleeping under the 
 shadow of her tent, were proposed, as models, to Christians 
 suffering under the tyranny of princes and prelates." — Macau- 
 lay's " History of England," vol. i., p. 62. 
 
 The most odious features of Puritan intolerance 
 were developed in Massachusetts, with the rise of 
 that party to power in England ; and when the Com- 
 monwealth passed away at home, the weak counsels 
 of the Stuarts were unable to control the people of 
 New England. We find the Massachusetts Puritans 
 persecutors from the outset of their career, denying 
 
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 ■;■«:» 
 
3a 6 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL IV A Y. 
 
 Li 
 
 K'il'^ 
 
 
 
 the rights of citizenship to all })ut actual church 
 members, and refusing to othei-s j)rotecti<)n even 
 against the Indians. When the first New Englatid 
 league was formed in 1643, for better protection 
 against savage warfare, the delegates of Maine were 
 excluded because they were Churchmen, and those 
 of Rhode Island because they were Baptists.' 
 
 The settlement of Plymouth is clearly due to an 
 act of Sir Ferdinando Gorges. His aim from the 
 first was the settlement of the country, not advantage 
 to himself. He sought, by putting other men promi- 
 nently forward, and in every other way, to disarm the 
 jealousy that always follows upright public action 
 As Gorges says : " The planting of colonies in Amer 
 ica was undertaken for the advancement of religion 
 tte enlargement of the bounds of our nation, the in 
 crease of trade, and the employment of many thou 
 sands of all sorts of j)eople." The grant obtained on 
 his request says, " wa% never intended to he converted 
 to private uses,^'' and in answer to the Commons, who 
 sought to abrogate his charter, he publicly offered to 
 surrender it, " not only in behalf of himself, but of 
 the rest of those interested in the Patent, so they 
 would prosecute the settling of the plantation as was 
 first intended. Wherein," he said, " we would be 
 their humble servants in all that lay in our power, 
 without looking to the great charge that had been 
 expended in the discovery and seizure of the coast, 
 and bringing it to the pass it was come unto." 
 This was "after they had found, by our constant 
 
 ' Bradford's " History of Plymouth Plantation," p. 416 ; Brodhead's 
 History of New York," pp. 361, 362. 
 
THE FA THER OF ENGLISH COLON IZA TION. 327 
 
 perseverance therein, Home profit by a course of 
 lishiiig upon that coast." All writers agree that 
 after KUG the New Enghmd fisheries were successful 
 and profitable to the Englisli. 
 
 At this time, or prior to March, 1617, Gorges, in 
 pursuance of his policy of settling the country, in- 
 vited the Leyden church to emigrate to America. 
 He says : " Before the unhappy controversy hap 
 pened between those of Virginia and myself, they 
 were forced, through the great charge they had been 
 at, to hearken to any propositions that might give 
 ease and furtherance to so hopeful a business. For 
 that purpose it was referred to their consideration, 
 how necessary it was that means might be used to 
 draw into tliose enterprises some of those families 
 that had retired themselves into Holland for scruple 
 of conscience, giving them such freedom and liberty 
 as might stand with their likings. This advict; being 
 hearkened unto, there were, that undertook the put- 
 ting it in practice, and accordingly brought it forth," 
 etc. " Such as their weak fortunes were able to 
 provide," and they " with great difficulty I'ecovered 
 the coast of New England," etc., etc. The Council 
 of Virginia still held the country undei* the original 
 charter of 1606, and it was the work of Gorges 
 to draw the I.eyden flock to America. Bradford 
 says : " They liked not the idea of going South." 
 They had confidence in the success of Gorges' plan 
 of a separate charter for New England, The 
 Leyden flock early saw that they must soon become 
 extinct if they remained in Holland. They could 
 not remain longer in that country, or return to 
 
 "A 
 
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 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA V. 
 
 England to reside. They had little or no means of 
 support, and trusted to the chances of obtaining it, 
 in the new employment of fishing and trading to 
 New England, then so popular at home. Robert 
 Cushman and John Carver were sent to the Icing, 
 asking permission to "enjoy liberty of conscience in 
 America, where they would endeavor the advance- 
 ment of his Majesty's dominions, and the enlarge- 
 ment of the gos[)el." " This," his Majesty King 
 James said, " was a good and honest motive," and 
 asking " what i)rolit .aight arise in the part we in- 
 tended," (the most northern parts of Virginia,) 't was 
 answered " Fishing." " So God have my soul," said 
 James, " 't is an honest trade, 't was the Apostle's own 
 calling." Winslow says : " Some one of the Ply- 
 mouth Colony lent tliem .£300 gratis, for three years, 
 which was I'epaid." Winslow further says : " Some 
 of the chief of the Plymouth Company doubted not 
 to obtain our suit of the king, for liberty in religion." 
 Bradford says: "Some others wrought with the 
 Archbishop, and they prev^ailed in sounding his Ma- 
 jesty's mind, that he would connive at them, and 
 not molest them, pi'ovided they carried themselves 
 peaceably." ' 
 
 A still greater difficulty remained, the raising of 
 money for the expedition. This was finally done 
 through Mr. Thomas Weston, a merchant of London, 
 who with othei*s, seventy in all, "some gentlemen, 
 some merchants, some handicraftsmen ; some ad- 
 
 ' The date of their application was in 1618, as appears by the following : 
 1618. Seven articles which the Church of Leyden sent to the Council of 
 England to be coiisiiicreil of, in respect t>f their judgments, occasioned about 
 their going to Virginia. /ut(/orsf(/ " Copy of Seven Articles sent unto the 
 Council of England by the Brownists of Leyden." — " Calendar of Colonial 
 Papers," vol. i., p. 21. 
 
THE FA TIIER OF EN GUSH COLONIZA TFON. 329 
 
 ^71 
 
 II 
 
 ventui'ing great suiiih, soiiio small, as their cntatcia 
 aiul aft'ectionH nerved." Hy the liard conditioiiH 
 agreed to, the wliole Le^'den Company a<lveiitured 
 their pernoMH, as well as their estates, llutehinsoii 
 says: "They had wo notion of cultivating any moi-e 
 ground than would afford th(ur own niu^essaiy pi'o- 
 visions, but proposed that their chief secular eni[)loy- 
 ment shouhl be, commei'cci with the natives." Jt was 
 a trading company, not designing a community of 
 goods, but a fair adventure in business. Any idea 
 of founding a cokmy or of remaining in the country 
 beyond the seven years of their partnership, nowhere 
 a[)[)ears in tlieir earlier movements or writings. 
 Having made up their minds to emigrate from 
 Holland, th<^y formed a pai'tnershij) for seven years, 
 to pursue fishing and traffic in the New Woild. They 
 then ap[)lied to the Council of Virginia for a charter. 
 Bradfor<l says : " I5y the advice of some friends, 
 the Patent was not taken in the name of any of 
 their own C(mi])any, but in the name of Mr. John 
 Wincob, a religious gentleman, belonging to the 
 Countess of Lincoln, who intended to go with them." ' 
 The statement exi)lains fully the relations of the 
 parties This Countess of Lincoln had the most 
 intimate relations with the New Enii-land settle- 
 merits. Some of her children afterwards emigrated 
 to America, and lier daughter Frances was at that 
 time the wife of John Gorges, the eldest scm and heir 
 of Si!' Ferdinando. 
 
 Their departure from Deft Haven, their arrival 
 in England, and their trials in getting to sea have 
 been narrated with a minuteness and i)articularity 
 
 ' Bradford's " History of Plymouth Plantation," p. 41. 
 
 
 
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 330 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILV/AY. 
 
 that leaves nothing unsaid, and the voyage of the 
 Mayflower is as famous as that celebrated one 
 of ancient times, in quest of the Golden Fleece. 
 Captain Smith says the Brownists found his chart 
 or map "cheaper than his employment as a pilot," 
 and with that in their hands they sailed to New 
 England and sought Milford Haven, conspicuously 
 laid down in it, now Cape Cod Harbor. Here they 
 came to anchor, and sought New Plymouth, the pre- 
 cise spot designated on Smith's map four years before, 
 When the Pilgrims sailed, Gorges had not obtain* I 
 the charter for New England. On the return of the 
 Mayflower^ they sent to Gorges for their charter. In 
 speaking of it, he says : " They found that the 
 authority they had from the Company of Virginia 
 could not warrant their abode in that place ; . . . 
 They hastened away their ship with orders to their 
 solicitor to deal with me, to be a means, they might 
 have a grant from the Council of New England's 
 affairs, to settle in the place, — which was performed 
 to their particular satisfaction, and good content of 
 them all." 
 
 Their charter was dated June 1, 1621, granting to 
 John Pierce, a clothworker of London, and his asso- 
 ciates : One hundred acres of land to each settler, 
 with a nominal rent, commencing at the end of seven 
 years, the termination of their partnership ; with lib- 
 eral grants of land for public uses ; and also certain 
 rights of hunting, fishing, etc. It did not profess to 
 grant any civil rights, or confer on them the power 
 of making laws.' In that respect it differs from the 
 
 ' This long-lost charter has been recovered, and is printed in full in vol. 
 ii., series 4 of Massachusetts Historical Collections. 
 
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'"'fv| 
 
 THE FA THER OF ENGLISH COLON I ZA TION. 2>Z i 
 
 charter granted to Robert Gorges in 1622, which 
 vested ample powers for governing the countiy by 
 means of a Parliament, — one branch, like the Com- 
 mons of England, chosen by the freeholders of New 
 England, the other appointed by authority of the 
 Crown, with an Executive under the name of Gov- 
 ernor.' In this charter to Robert Gorges we find the 
 model, or pattern, of the British colonial govern- 
 ments of later times. The division of the powers of 
 government into three branches was unknown to the 
 Pilgrims, or to the Puritans, for a long period, and 
 this accounts for the despotic character of ti.eir gov- 
 ernments. It was a quarrel in the General Court of 
 Massachusetts about Mrs. Sherman's pig, that led to 
 the breaking up of the General Court and its division 
 into two branches, in 1645." The Pilgrim govern- 
 ment at Plymouth, which continued till the charter 
 of William and Mary in 1692, never attained to the 
 knowledge of a division of the legislative power into 
 two independent branches. Their government was 
 through the church. 
 
 The first charter granted to the Plymouth flock 
 came, therefore, from the original Council of Vir- 
 ginia, who held at that time the entire country. 
 Through Thomas Weston they had heard of the 
 plan of Gorges, for a separate grant of New Eng- 
 land, and they sailed for North Virginia, trusting to 
 Gorges for a grant. 
 
 The petition of Gorges for the New England char- 
 ter was dated March 3, 1620. An order in council 
 
 m 
 
 'm. 
 
 
 m 
 
 ' This charter to Robert Gorges is found in full in Gorges' " Briefe Narra- 
 tion," p. 44 ; vol. ii., Maine Historical Collections. 
 • This amusing story is found in Winthrop's " Journal," vol. ii., p. 260. 
 
 ■ijl 
 
332 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 I ! 
 
 111 f r 
 
 was made July 23, 1620, directing the preparation 
 of the new charter, and it passed the seals November 
 3, 1620. In this charter it says : " We have been 
 humbly petitioned unto, by our trusty and well be- 
 loved serv^ant, Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Knight, 
 Captain of our Fort and Island by Plymouth, and 
 by certain the principal Knights and Gentlemen 
 Adventurers of the said Second Colonye, and by 
 divers other Persons of Quality, who now intend 
 to be their Associates' divers of which have 
 been at great and extraordinary charge, and sus- 
 tained many losses in seeking and discovering a 
 Place iitt and convenient to lay the Foundation of 
 a hopeful plantation, and have years past, by God's 
 assistance and their own Endeavors, take?i actual 
 Possession of the Continent hereafter onentioned in 
 our name and to our use as Sovereign Lord thereof 
 and have settled already some of our people in places 
 agreeahle to their Desires in those places; and in 
 Confidence of prosperous Success therein, by the 
 Continuance of God's Divine Blessing, and our 
 Royall permission, have resolved in a more plenti- 
 ful and effectual manner to prosecute the same." 
 
 That Gorges had complete possession of the coun- 
 try before the Plymouth people came over, is also 
 shown by the complaints against him for a monop. 
 oly in fishing. Ha had brought the country suffi- 
 ciently into notice to attract thither the Pilgrim flock. 
 To deny to Gorges, therefore, the glory of being 
 the founder of New England because his own colony 
 was overshadowed by that of Massachusetts Bay, is 
 as unjust as it would be to deny to Columbus credit 
 
8US- 
 
 THE FA THER OF ENGLISH COLONIZA TION. m 
 
 as the discoverer of America, and to assign the glory 
 of it to Sebastian Cabot ; simply because Cabot first 
 discovered the mainland of the continent seventeen 
 months before it was seen by Columbus. All fair 
 minds agree that it was the far-sighted and gifted 
 Genoese, who, by inspiration, looked through the 
 darkness of ages, forecast the future, and pointed the 
 way for Cabot and Vespucci to the New World 
 across the ocean, though his modesty permitted the 
 name of another to be given to it ; that of Cabotia, 
 which for a time gained favor, yielding to that of 
 America. Still more clearly than Columbus did the 
 instinctive sagacity of Gorges foresee and predict the 
 fniits of his own great endeavor, and behold a rising 
 state in America free from European control. And 
 yet for the last thirty-nine years, or since Mr. Web- 
 ster's great speech at Plymouth, on December 22, 
 1820, the truth of severe history has been overlooked 
 in admiration of the creations of his genius. 
 
 As an epic poem, Mr. Webster's speech stands in 
 the same relation to history as the Iliad of Homer or 
 the ^neid of Virgil. The war of the gods on 
 Olympus, and the flight of Anchises, regarded at 
 one time as historic truths, were just as real and true 
 to history as Mr. Webster's description of the land- 
 ing of the Pilgrims. Among all the achievements 
 of Mr. Webster, there is nothing that shows his real 
 greatness so much as those efforts, by which, in the 
 style and manner of the ancient historians, he em- 
 bodies in an impressive form the great facts and 
 ideas that are supposed to govern human affairs. 
 It is fair to apply to this composition the defi- 
 
 
 
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 4 
 
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 334 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 nition of " Classical History," so clearly and beau- 
 tifully expressed in his address before the New 
 York Historical Society of February 22, 1852. 
 This Pilgrim speech is a true specimen of classical 
 history, " not," as he says, " a memoir, or a crude 
 collection of acts, occurrences, and dates; it is a 
 composition, a production, which has unity of de- 
 sign, like a work of statuary or of painting." As 
 such, his Plymouth speech bears the impress of his 
 creative mind. He transferred to the Plymouth 
 panorama a representation of the heroic achievements 
 of Gorges, of Popham, and of Vines. Mr. Webster's 
 poetry has been regarded as history. But it is such 
 history as are the writings of Livy, or the historic 
 plays of Shakespeare. The mission of the poet pre- 
 cedes that of the historian, and the imaginary char- 
 acters of a poetic mind continue for a while to walk 
 the earth under the shadow of a great name. The 
 Pilgrims have richly enjoyed this distinguished honor. 
 The Hon. Edward Everett, evidently on the author- 
 ity of Mr. Webster, says, in his Plymouth speech, 
 four years later : " This, the source of our being, the 
 birthday of all New England, — this grand under- 
 taking was accomplished on the spot where we now 
 dwell. ... A continent for the jirst time explored, a 
 vast ocean traversed by men, women, and children, 
 voluntarily exiling themselves from the fairest por- 
 tions of the Old World," etc. Modern historians of 
 the Massachusetts school have since then taken these 
 flights of poetic fancy for historic verities, and sought 
 to elevate them into the dignity of history. They 
 might as well insist, that a modern Fourth of July 
 
 |i8 
 

 THE FA THER OF ENGLISH COLON I ZA TION. 335 
 
 •M r I 
 
 oration was the cause of our lievolutionaiy war, 
 though uttered some years after that event had taken 
 place. 
 
 Kegarded as a political event, the Plymouth settle- 
 ment was not of the slighest consequence or import- 
 ance. It neither aided nor retarded the settlement 
 of the country, and is of no moment except as the 
 actors in that work were concerned, or those who 
 claim thence their inheritance. As a tale of indi- 
 vidual and personal heroism, in which patient resig- 
 nation was mingled with superstitious confidence, it 
 deserves sympathy and respect. But those who 
 seek to give it political importance confound the 
 Plymouth settlement with that of the Puritan Com- 
 monwealth of Massachusetts Bay : two events as 
 independent of each other in every respect as was 
 the settlement of New Netherlands from that of 
 Lord Baltimore, on the Chesapeake. The Pilgrims 
 had at the outset no idea of founding a colony. The 
 idea may have been suggested to them by the lan- 
 guage of the charter of June, 1621. It is true, they 
 dignified their head officer with the title of governor, 
 a term formerly applied to the head of any family 
 or company. He had no civil authority whatever, 
 and the fact that for the first seven years no records 
 of any sort were kept, and not a scrap of written 
 histoiy made, prior to 1627, shows how primitive 
 were all their ideas of government and of property. 
 
 Bradford began his history in 1630, and at a later 
 date, rejoicing over the downfall of the bishops, in 
 the days of the Commonwealth, he appends thereto 
 the following comments : '* When I began these 
 
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 '.i 
 
 Ji 
 
336 Fins T IN 7 ERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 scribbled writings, which was about the year 1630, 
 and so peeced up at times of leasure, afterwards; 
 little did I think their downfall was so near," etc/ 
 The compact signed on board the Mayflower, under 
 date of November 11, 1620, which has been eulo- 
 gized as " the germ of republican freedom," was, as 
 Bradford says, " a combination, occasioned partly 
 by the discontented and mutinous speeches that 
 when they came ashore, they would use their own 
 libertie," etc." In 1632, the first records of Plymouth 
 Colony were commenced, but they had before them 
 the example of the colony of Massachusetts Bay 
 whose records are of the same date as their settle- 
 ment. The famous Captain John Smith, a cotem- 
 porary, says : " About one hundred Brownists went 
 to Plymouth, whose humorous ignorance caused 
 them to endure a wonderful deal of misery, with 
 infinite patience." 
 
 It was under the charter given to John Wincob, 
 and in the protection of the original Virginia Com- 
 pany, with the map of Smith for their guide, they 
 came to America, too poor to own their vessel, 
 or to pay for the land they should here occupy ; and 
 
 ' Bradford's " History of Plymouth," p. 6. 
 
 ' Bradford thus explains the matter : "I shall a little returne backe and 
 begine with a combination made by them before they went ashore, being ye 
 first foundation of their governmente in this place ; occasioned partly by ye 
 discontented and mutinous speeches that some of the strangers amongst 
 them had let fall from them in ye ship. That when they came ashore they 
 would use their own libertie ; for none had power to command them ; the 
 patente they had being for Virginia, and not for New-england, which be- 
 longed to an other Government, with which ye Virginia Company had noth- 
 ing to doe. And partly that such an acte by them done (this their condition 
 considered) might be as firme as any patent, and in some respects more 
 sure." 
 
"■ i"W 
 
 1! 
 
 and 
 
 ngye 
 
 by ye 
 
 nongst 
 
 they 
 
 ; the 
 
 ch be- 
 
 noth- 
 
 dition 
 
 more 
 
 THE FA THER OF ENGLISH COL ONIZA TION. 337 
 
 yet these obligations were never repaid, or acknowl- 
 edged. The representations of Mr. Everett and 
 others would lead us to suppose that the Pilgrims 
 embarked for America across an unknown sea, to 
 seek a resting-place in thickest darkness of ignorance, 
 like that deep mystery that shrouded the Atlantic 
 when the vessel of Columbus first turned its prow 
 westward from the Canaries, one hundred and twen- 
 ty-eight years before. Oratory, painting, and poetiy 
 have brought their richest gifts to the Pilgrim altar, 
 and raised this feeble band of unlettered men to the 
 rank of statesmen and heroes. The genius of Web- 
 ster, the oratory of Everett, the industry of Ban- 
 croft, and the zeal of Palfrey have not failed to 
 offer incense to the pride of Massachusetts as the 
 leading community of the western world, — and in 
 their devotion to her, overlooked the great influences 
 that for a whole generation had been preparing the 
 way for the secure occupation of her soil. And 
 they have too readily followed the authority of 
 those partisan writers, whose zeal for their own 
 cause has outrun their sense of justice. And historic 
 truth demands that the view of the character of 
 Gorges, as drawn by the two latter, should be 
 corrected by the light of more recently discovered 
 information. Gorges' defence against the charge of 
 having unjustly betrayed the Earl of Essex refutes 
 it altogether, and should dispel the prejudice that 
 Mr. Palfrey's recent w^ork is calculated to perpetuate. 
 The long-lost history of Bradford, recovered in 
 1855, and published in 1856, since the first issue of 
 Mr. Bancroft's earliest volumes, will, undoubtedly, 
 
 .i 
 
 ■',.il 
 
 
 .. 'i 
 
 ■hi 
 
338 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 
 lead to a modification of the views expressed by liiin 
 as to the claims of Gorges. It seems strange that the 
 Pilgrims should have been advanced to the condition 
 of lieroes ; while the services of Gorges in a long and 
 illustrious life of duty sliould have been overlooked 
 and forgotten. But this is not difficult of explanation. 
 By force of accident, not now needful to relate, the 
 colony of Massachusetts Bay became the leading one 
 of New England ; and its population have always, 
 beyond any other people, indulged their jiride of an- 
 cestry, Mr. Webster easily sympathized with that 
 spirit of Massachusetts that demanded for her the 
 proud title of " Parent Commonwealth." He en- 
 stamped on his time, beyond any man of tliis coun- 
 try, the impress of his own proud and heroic spirit. 
 He inspired a love of country, a pride of home, a feel- 
 ing of contentment and satisfaction favorable to indus- 
 tiy, to religious sentiment, and the accumulation of 
 property. The industrial superiority of that state, the 
 growth of the last thirty years, is largely due to the 
 elevated sentiments by him inspired. 
 
 With the progress of refinement and the increase 
 of wealth in every civilized community of every age, 
 there is a tendency to exaggerate the past, to under- 
 value the present, and to question all anticipations 
 for the future. As wearj age looks at existing facts 
 as the limit of human experience, the poetic mind 
 encourages future hopes, reproducing from the past 
 all the varied forms of beauty or grandeur that the 
 page of romance has foreshadowed — and every culti- 
 vated community must have its classic and romantic 
 age, demanding a corresponding history. It glories in 
 
THE FA THER OF ENGLISH COL ONIZA TION. 339 
 
 IW^WM 
 
 after years in the fabled greatness of a remote but 
 heroic ancestry, till severe history dispels the poetic 
 charm. The Egyptian tradition pointed in after yeai-a 
 to the days of its earlier grandeur a thousand years 
 before the great Menes, the founder of the temple 
 of Karnac, whose dynasty commenced thirty-four 
 centuries before the Christian era. The Grecian 
 poets of its more modern times constantly dwelt on 
 the fabled glories of the past, the age that preceded 
 the days of Homer and Hesiod ; and the Roman 
 orators in the proudest days of its luxurious civiliza- 
 tion pointed back to the foundation of Rome, whose 
 fabled city was but the rudest structure of savage 
 life. England glories still in the crude institutions 
 of Alfred, while France with greater glory recounts 
 the heroic deeds of Charlemagne. 
 
 New England has had her days of hero-worship, 
 and brought her devout offerings in the same spirit 
 to the shrine of the Pilgrims, and raised them from 
 the humble condition of artisans and laborers to the 
 rank of founders of empires; and the sentimental 
 Mrs. Hemans, under the spell of Mr. Webster's 
 genius, has thrown the charms of her poetic fancy 
 around the rude homes of its early settlers. All 
 this is a pure myth. The war of the gods on 
 Olympus and the mythic tales of the love of Sappho, 
 are just as real. Had the Pilgrims landed on the 
 rocky cliffs of Sagadahoc, of Donaquet, or of Pema- 
 quid, the poetic fancy of Mrs. Hemans might have 
 had the color of the truth. But to talk of "the 
 rock-bound coast " of Plymouth, amid the sands of 
 Cape Cod; and of "the giant branches" of the 
 
 'W 
 
 ..^ 
 
 ■■:■■! 
 
 Hi 'I 
 
 % 
 
B'il' ' :> 
 
 
 
 m' 
 
 mm 
 
 340 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 scrubby pines on the south shore of Massachusetts 
 Bay, is simply a flight of fancy. " The bleak and 
 death-like desolation of nature " which, as Mr. 
 Everett truly says, " met the eyes of the Pilgrims on 
 their approach to land " is changed by the exuberant 
 fancy of Mrs. Hemans into chai'ming spots like those 
 which the voyagera had found in the rich forests of 
 that Norumbega, whose praises had been sung by John 
 Milton. The beautiful retreats at Diamond Cove and 
 Pentecost Harbor, — the rich forests on the banks of 
 the Penobscot, the Sheepscot, and the Kennebec, had 
 attracted thither numerous voyagers from the Old 
 World, before the Leyden church had been gathered 
 under the chaige of the pious Robinson. New 
 England had all the attractions described by the 
 early navigators answering the poetic descriptions 
 of Mrs. Hemans. It had "good harbors, very good 
 fishing, much fowl, noble forests, gallant rivers, and 
 the land as good ground as any can desire." But 
 this does not apply to the region where the Pilgrims 
 made their home. 
 
 Let every one read the poetic descnption of the 
 landing of the Pilgrims by Mr. Webster, and study 
 the picture of it by Sargent, with the simple history 
 of Bradford in his hands; and he is lost in admiration, 
 like that which the student of classic history feels, in 
 the perusal of the works of the great master of epic 
 poetry. According to Bradford, they embai'ked at 
 Deft Haven, July 21, 1620, sailed from Southampton 
 August 5, put back twice, — persevered in their 
 plans, and espied Cape Cod November 9, 1620, ol< 
 style, and came to anchor in Cape Cod harboi 
 November 11, 1620, and on the same day signed 
 
THE FA THER OF ENGLISH COLONIZA TION. 341 
 
 their compact of government, and chose, or rather 
 confirmed, John Carvei', governor. 
 
 Their ship remained at Cape Cod till December 25, 
 1620, new style. Prior to this, Bradford, Standish, 
 and others had explored the country, setting out 
 on December 16. On December 21 they passed 
 through Plymouth, and returned to the ship Decem- 
 ber 24. After mucli doubt and difficulty and days 
 of wandering, on Wednesday, December 30, they 
 detei'mined on their place of settlement. On Jan- 
 uary 4, 1621, they went fii-st on shore, and began to 
 cut timber for a house. The Mayjlower remained in 
 the harbor till April 15, when she departed for 
 England. Till then a large portion of them lived on 
 shi[)board, and there is no account of any distinct or 
 specific act of landing. The winter was mild beyond 
 example, and when Samoset, " the Sagamore of Mor- 
 atiggon, arrived, March 2(5, he was stark naked, only 
 a leather about his waist, with a fringe about a span 
 lonir, or a little or more." Had the winter been as 
 usual, or severe as that of 1607, when Popham win- 
 tered at Sagadahoc, not a soul of them could have 
 survived. Modern historians have accidentally fixed 
 on December 22 as the landing of the Pilgnms, and 
 they attempt to justify it by the statement of Brad- 
 ford, that on that day the explorers passed through 
 Plymouth and pitched upon it as one spot, to be 
 recommended for the settlement. But unfortunate- 
 ly for their accuracy, this day was the twenty-first, 
 and the adoption of the twenty-second is not justified 
 Sy any fact whatever.' 
 
 ' " And this being the last day of ye week (Saturday, Dec. 19, n. s.) 
 they prepared 'ther to keep ye Sabbath. On Munday they sounded ye harbor, 
 
 
 -'.1 
 ■■;!';! 
 
34* 
 
 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL JVA Y. 
 
 K' 
 
 Mr' 
 
 
 ^-^-^J 
 
 The gi'eat ni'sfdi'tiine of Gorges was that, as a man 
 of true honor, he felt compelled to siippoi't the for- 
 tunes of the weak and decaying Stuai-t dynasty, 
 to which he remained true to the last. lie also suf- 
 fered in his fortunes in not emiccraiinc: to America. 
 In a paper on file in the English State-Paper 
 Office, (pioted in the recent vol.une of Mr. Folsom, 
 it is stated that Gorc^es came to New Enifland with 
 Mason in 1649," but we find no confirmation of this 
 statement elsewhere. lie was conimissi(med, it is 
 
 and fouiulo it fitt for sliipping ; and marclied into ye land, and found diverse 
 cornfeilds, and litle nining brooks, a place (as they siippcjsed) fitt for situation ; 
 at least it was ye best they coulil find, and ye senson, and their prcsente 
 iiecessitie, made them glad to accepte of it. So they returned to their shipp 
 again with this news to ye rest of their people, wiiich did much con>fofte their 
 harts. 
 
 " On ye 15, (25 n. s.) of Desemr, they waycd anchor to go to ye place they 
 had discovered, and came within 2 leagues of it, but were faine to bear I'p 
 aj^aine ; but ye 16, (26) day ye wimle came faire. and they arrived safe in this 
 harbor. And after wards tooke better view of ye place, and resolved whcr 
 to pitch their dwellings ; and ye 25 day (Jan. 4, 1621, n. s.) begane to crccte 
 ye first house for common use to receive tnem and their goods." — Bradford's 
 " History," pp. 88, 89. 
 
 The above contains all that relates to the famous Landing of the Pilp'iins 
 on Plymottth Kock. The intelligent reader instinctively smiles at this recital, 
 when he contrasts this simple statement with the gorgeous decoration of the 
 event by Mr. Webster. When the anniversary of the Landing of the Pil- 
 grims was instituted, in 1769, the authors added eleven days for difference of 
 style, instead of ten the true difference. They fixed on Monday, the day 
 *'■ thtv sounded the harbor and marched into thc'la)id," as the one most deserv- 
 ing of commemoration. From this has grown the magnificent conception uf 
 the Landing of the Pilgrims ! 
 
 ' The title and ease of Robert I\lason touching the provinee of New Hampshire 
 
 in Nexil England. 
 
 A' 1616 King James L sends John Mason Ksq. as Governor to Newfound- 
 land, who after remaining there two years was ordered to New England and 
 with Sir J-'erdinando Gorges made a voyage along the coast in 1619, account 
 of ivbith they furnished to his Majesty. A" 1620 the King grants by Char- 
 ter to some of the nobility under the title of the Council of New England 
 the territory called New England with divers privileges &c. — Folsom's Cata- 
 logue, 1G74-5, March. 
 
 ilulu' 
 
 \^k 
 
p^ 
 
 1 
 
 THE FA THER OF ENGLISH COLON I ZA TION. 343 
 
 true, by the king as Governor of New England in 
 1637, but from the accidental loss of the s-iip in 
 vvhicli he was to embark he did not set sail for 
 America. 
 
 But he persevered in his great woi-k, and lived to 
 see in New England prosperous connnunities, and 
 his province of Mayne the besi governed of all. He 
 not only established the Pilgrims at Plymouth, but 
 subsequently caused to be granted to them a large 
 and valuable tract of land on the Kennebec, with an 
 enlargement of their charter, January 3, 1021). Nova 
 Scotia was also granted to Sir William Alexander, 
 afterward Lord Stirling, in 1G21. lie established 
 his son, Robeit Gorges, by grant at Nahant and 
 Boston, in 1C22. After this he planted Agamenti- 
 cus, and when Christopher Levett came over in 1623, 
 for the [>urpose of fixing on a place of settlement, he 
 found that Monhegan, Peniaquid, and Cape Newa- 
 gan liad been already taken up, and he selected the 
 peninsula of Machegonne, now the site of the city of 
 Poi'tland, for himself. There he built his house, and 
 gave, to what is now known us Fore Kiver, his own 
 name, calling it Levett's River. The Cape Ann set- 
 tlement was made in 1625, under a charter from 
 Lord Sheffield, but not continued ; and finally, the 
 Company of Massachusetts Bay came over in 1029, 
 whose men of deed and daring finally overrun the 
 whole of New En<>;land, and led Gorijes to ')redict 
 the final separation of their govei anient from that of 
 the British crown. lie says : " Some of the dis- 
 creeter sort, to avoid what they found themselves 
 subject unto, made use of their friends to procure 
 
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 *\\ 
 
 
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344 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 i 
 
 ill 
 
 I' ".'ft 
 
 
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 ill 
 
 p:j : 
 
 fi' 
 
 HRv' 
 
 H|P|m| I 
 
 from the Council for the Affairs of New England to 
 settle a Colony within their limits ; to which it 
 pleased the thrice-honored Lord of Warwick to write 
 to me, then at Plymouth, to condescend that a Pat- 
 ent might be granted to such as then sued for it. 
 Whereupon I gave my approbation so far forth as it 
 might not be prejudicial to my son Robert Gorges' 
 interests, whereof he had a Patent under the seal of 
 the Council. Hereupon there was a grant passed as 
 was thought reasonable ; but the same was after en- 
 larged by his Majesty, and confirmed under the 
 great seal of England ; by the authority whereof the 
 undertaking proceeded so effectually, that in a 
 very short time numbers of the people of all sorts 
 flocked thither in heaps, that at last it was specially 
 ordered by the King's command, that none should 
 be suffered to go without license first had and ob- 
 tained, and they to take the oaths of supremacy and 
 allegiance. So that wliat I long before prophesied, 
 when I could hardly get any for money to reside 
 there, was now brought to pass in a high measure. 
 The reason of that restraint was grounded upon the 
 several complaints, that came out of those parts, of 
 the divers sects and schisms, that were amongst 
 them, all contemning the public government of the 
 ecclesiastical state. And it was doubted that they 
 would, in short time, wholly shake off the royal 
 jurisdiction of the sovereign magistrate." ' Gorges 
 seems to have reached that conviction, common 
 to our race, at this time, that it is capable of shap- 
 ing its government to the wants of the people, 
 
 1 •• 
 
 Briefe Narration," p. 51. 
 
 w 
 
I"TIW 
 
 P 
 
 the 
 of 
 
 THE FA THER OF ENGLISH COLONIZA TION. 345 
 
 and that Episcopalian or Puritan theology, can- 
 not for any length jpI time find cause of difference. 
 He never persecuted ; on the contrary, he wel- 
 comed those who escaped Puritan persecution in 
 New England, or those who sought refuge from 
 priestly domination at home. He granted lands in 
 Maine to Rev. John Wheelwright and others, who 
 fled from Massachusetts, first into New Hampshire, 
 and then into Maine, banished on account of errors 
 of doctrine ; and was earlier than Rhode Island in 
 the practical adoption of unlimited freedom of 
 opinion. That he should have suffered in the esti- 
 mation of the Puritans, and be denounced by them 
 in opprobrious terms for being a royalist and a 
 churchman, ought not at this time to diminish 
 from the respect fairly due for his great services. 
 But for Gorges the western continent must have 
 fallen under the dominion of Roman Catholic 
 France; and Keltic civilization would have changed 
 its destiny, f r all New England was in possession 
 of the French prior to 1606. They had secured 
 the favor of the savages and held the country from 
 Cape Malabarre to the St. Lawrence. 1 hey do not 
 seem to have been aware of the voyages of Gosnold, 
 of Pring, or of Weymouth, though fully alive to 
 the danger that threatened heir possessions by 
 the plantmg of the colony of Popham, at Saga- 
 dahoc' 
 
 ' In a previous note we have referred to the correspondence between the 
 French ambass dor, Count de Tillieres, and the British government. In 
 Gorges' " Briefe Narration," p. 40, he thus speaks of this matter : 
 
 " The French Ambassador made challenge of those territories granted us 
 by the King, our sovereign, in the behalf the King of France, his master, as 
 belonging to his subjects, that by his authority were possessed thereof as a 
 
 ,1 
 
 
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 .Yk 
 
 !1 
 
346 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 Witli all the efforts of Gorges, the labors of the 
 Puritans, and the zeal of the British race from 1606 
 to 1759, the French held twenty times the extent of 
 the English territory on the continent, till the great 
 strugglt took place one hundred years ago on the 
 Plains of Abraham, and the power of France passed 
 from the continent forever. 
 
 Compare the services of Gorges with those of 
 Wolfe ; and all will agree that the claims of the for- 
 mer far surpass in real magnitude those of the latter. 
 Yet the name of Wolfe is immortal, while that of 
 Gorges is comparatively unknown. As the heroic 
 soul of Wolfe was Just ready to take its flight to the 
 world of spirits from the field of battle, as the light 
 had faded from his vision, his ear caught the words, 
 " They fly ! " " They fly ! " " Who fly ? " said the 
 dying hero. "The French," said the attendant. 
 " What, so soon ? " said Wolfe ; " then I die content," 
 and expired at the moment of victory. He knew 
 that he had gained an undying fame. The glory 
 accorded to Wolfe for the conquest of Canada 
 followed at once as the fruits of that victory. But 
 those, like Columbus or Gorges, who labor for 
 their countiy or for mankind in the less brilliant 
 pursuits of peace, must wait the slow but ever 
 faithful record of severe history to do them justice. 
 AVhen Columbus in old age, worn out in the ser- 
 vice of his adopted country, died amid j^overty and 
 neglect, they placed over his grave these words : 
 
 part of New France. To which I was commanded by the King to give 
 answer to the Ambassador his claim, which was sent me from the Lord 
 Treasurer under tlie title of I.c Memorial dc Monsieur Seigneur le Conte dc 
 'JllliereSy Ainlxissadeur pour le Roy de France. Wherr'ipon I made so full a 
 reply (as it seems) there was no more heard of that their claim." 
 
THE FA THER OF ENGLISH COLONIZA TION. 347 
 
 " Columbu8 has given a new world to the kingdom 
 of Castile and Leon." But, alas for human pride, the 
 fame of Columbus has arisen higher and higher year 
 by year in the admiration of men, while the empire 
 of Spain has passed from the continent of America, 
 and a weak and decaying dynasty fills the throne of 
 Ferdinand and Isabella. When Sir Ferdiuando 
 Gorges closed his life, in 1647, his countrymen should 
 have placed over his grave these words : " Gorges 
 saved North America to England." Instead of this 
 a cloud of obloquy rested on his name in both coun- 
 tries ; at home because he supported the monarchy, 
 and in New Enojland because he had not done 
 homage to the Puritan theoci-acy. And to this 
 hour the meed of praise has been selfishly withheld. 
 When George Popham, the ablt; and accomplished 
 governor of the colony at Sagadahoc, knew that 
 the hour of his departure had come, he was consoled 
 in the thought that his name would be imperishably 
 connected with the history of New England, for he 
 was thej^;'6-^ of his race whose bones should be laid 
 on American soil. Like Wolfe, he said : " I die 
 content, for my name will always be associated with 
 the first planting of the English I'ace in the New 
 World ; my remains will not be neglected away 
 from the home of my fathers and my kindred." 
 And yet to this hour, two hundred and fifty-two 
 yeai'S from the time that Popham died, the place of 
 his burial is unknown.' 
 
 ' While these pages are going through the press, measures are in prog- 
 ress to commemorate the first settlement of New England, and to preserve 
 the memory of the man who led hither the first English colony. 
 
 Congress has made an appropriation for a fort at the mouth of the Kenne- 
 bec — the ancient Sagadahoc, — which is to be called Fort Popham. 
 
 m 
 
 :.'u 
 
 ■J 
 
 A 
 
348 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA V. 
 
 Mr. Webster said, " the record of illustrious action 
 is safely deposited, in the universal remembrance of 
 mankind," and while we admit the truth of this 
 maxim, we cannot forget that the record is rarely 
 exhibited till the generations that knew their actors 
 had passed away. Homer's words were not listened 
 to in his lifetime, nor till his history and even his 
 birthplace were forgotten. He still lives, not in 
 history, but in his own immortal writings. The 
 greatest names of England, Milton and Cromwell, 
 were a by-AVord and a reproach for years after 
 their death. So it has been with the Father of 
 English toloni:':.tion in ^^ merica. Loadt 1 with re- 
 proach by all the Pilgrim and Puritan w ters of his 
 time. Lis only crime was that he never countenanced 
 persecution. The narrow and illiterate Bradford, 
 the arrogant and bigoted Winthrop, the leading co- 
 temporar}^ writers of the times of Gorges, were incap- 
 able of doing justice to his motives or his conduct. 
 Within the last forty years, the growth and de- 
 velopment of the English race in America, and the 
 importance of the United States in the community 
 of nations, have stimulated inquiry into its early his- 
 tory. The earliest settlement of the country, and the 
 influences by which it was achieved, have become 
 matters of the deepest interest. Events which we 
 supposed to be of the least apparent moment, at the 
 time, have influenced the direction of human affairs 
 and permanently affected the history of the race. 
 
 Two hundred and fifty-six years ago, the first 
 European settlement north of Florida was made at 
 St. Croix, in our state, by the French with every 
 
m 
 
 THE FA THER OF ENGLISH COLONIZA TTON. 349 
 
 assurance of permanently holding the continent. 
 In that same year, 1605, George Weymouth returned 
 to England, after having explored the coast of 
 Maine and of New England, not made known be- 
 fore, by the voyages of Gosnold and Pring. The 
 leading minds of England selected their place of 
 settlement, looking simply at the natural advan- 
 tages of the country. From Mount Desert to Cape 
 Elizabeth was the fairest land, and the most in- 
 viting sea-coast, that had tempted an Atlantic voy- 
 age. There, they made their first effort to plant a 
 colony, as the mears of enlarging the dominion of 
 their nation. The seat of empire accidentally passed 
 farther west, for a time, to avoid the dangers of In- 
 dian and French hostility, and in the struggle for 
 control of the continent between England and her 
 colonies, a large portion of Maine was the subject 
 of controversy. Her position became a subordinate 
 one in the time of the Commonwealth, and not till our 
 day has she been able to vindicate her just i30sition. 
 But we already see the initiatoiy steps that shall 
 realize the idea on which the thrice-honored and 
 renowned Warwick, and the sagacious Gorges, set 
 on foot this Empire of the AVest ; — and that chosen 
 spot they selected become the seat of its power. 
 Within the last sixteen years we have witnessed the 
 great minds of England uniting with those of our 
 own land, in cementing anew the ties of lineage 
 which the folly of an unwise ruler less than a cen- 
 tury ago had severed. Already the iron arm of tho 
 railway has joined States and Provinces into one 
 community of interests, and the iron locomotiv<. 
 
 iff, 
 
 ■|.t| 
 
 m 
 
350 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 departs from Casco Bay on an unbroken line of 
 iron to the distant waters of Michigan and Huron, 
 yet to be extended to the far-distant shores of the 
 Pacific. A giant work, greater than the Pyramids, 
 now spans the waters of the St. Lawrence, while the 
 ocean has been bridged by such lines of steamers 
 that have practically annihilated space and time in 
 the operations of business. It was the belief of 
 those who first planted our state that it would be 
 the fairest portion of America, and that the deep 
 waters of our bays should float the richest treasures 
 of an expanding commerce. The realization of these 
 visions is not far distant from our day ; and if 
 the sons of Maine are true to themselves and to 
 their state, the dawn of that day may be speedily 
 ushered in. 
 
 As it was the foresight of Gorges that planted the 
 Saxo-Norman race in America, so it was the wisdom 
 of Cromwell that saw in them the great strength of 
 the nation. Both these great men have in their own 
 time suffered from the persecutions of their enemies, 
 so that a future age only could do justice to their 
 memories. Gorges, a devoted royalist, a persistent 
 friend of the Stuart dynasty, has been as obnoxious 
 to Puritan prejudice as were Cromwell and the Inde- 
 pendents to that of the restored monarchy and its 
 followers. But Gorges' fame shall yet eclipse that 
 of any other name in our American annals. My 
 native state has been remiss in the discharge of this 
 duty ; and supinely allowed the history of New Eng- 
 land to cluster around the Rock of Plymouth, instead 
 of standing clearly out in the earlier deeds of the 
 
I 
 
 THE FA THER OF ENGLISH COLONIZA TION. 351 
 
 great minds that saved New England and the con- 
 tinent from the grasp of the French. The high 
 position and character of Gorges are vouched by 
 his intimacy with the Chief-Justice of England, 
 and the chief noblemen of the realm, whose con- 
 fidence he enjoyed to the close of his long and 
 illustrious life; and his entire freedom from intoler- 
 ance is shown in every act. His ambition was to 
 people these realms with the best countiymen of Eng- 
 land, though he foresaw their early independence 
 of the crown ; and though a zealous Episcopalian, 
 he gave equal encouragement to Puritan and Church- 
 men. If the greatness of an individual is to be meas- 
 ured by his influence on human affairs, the name 
 of Gorges should be ranked with those of Cromwell 
 and of Peter the Great of Russia, the men who have 
 exerted most influence in shaping the history of 
 modern times. The English, or Saxo-Norraan, race, 
 less than 5,000,000 in 1620, to-day is supreme on 
 the ocean, and holds one sixth of the habitable globe. 
 It governs one fourth part of the human race, four 
 times in number the population of the Roman Em- 
 pire when its eagles overshadowed the world. 
 
 The strength of a nation, like that of an individual, 
 is its history ; and while we recount with pnde the 
 deeds of the great men who have j^receded us, we 
 should reflect on the value to us of that larger 
 theatre on which we are called to act ; nor forget him 
 whose genius and fidelity planted the English race 
 in America. While the Saxo-Norman race learns 
 more and more, and day by day to sympathize witli 
 whatever is good and true in old England, we find iu 
 
 ''|5 
 •■I 
 
 t 
 
 
 \\ 
 
35 a FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 England's great men a corresponding sympathy with 
 whatever is worthy of respect in the New England 
 of our day; so well expressed by Mr. D'Israeli, in a 
 speech at Aylesbury, in the last parliamentary elec- 
 tion: "Whatever may be the fate of the England 
 of the Old World," said D'Israeli, "all that she has 
 accomplished for good, in art, science, or political 
 economy, and all that is glorious in her history, her 
 literature, or her institutions, is destined to still 
 higher development in the hands of that race she 
 has planted, springing from our loins, and enjoying 
 a common ancestry with us, on the distant shores of 
 New England and Australia." 
 
;■ ! 
 
 THE FIRST COLONIZATION OF NEW ENG- 
 LAND. 
 
 ADDRESS DELIVERED AT FORT POPIIAM, MAINE, 1862. 
 
 We commemorate to-day the great event in Amer- 
 ican bistoiy. We are assembled on the spot that 
 witnessed the first formal act of possession of New 
 England, by a British colony, under the authority of 
 a royal charter. We have come here, on the two 
 hundred and fifty-fifth anniversary of that event, to 
 rejoice in the manifold blessings that have flowed to 
 us from that act, — to place on record a testimonial 
 of our appreciation of the value of that day's work, 
 — and to transmit to future generations an expres- 
 sion of our reijard for the illustrious men who laid 
 the foundation of England's title to the continent, 
 and gave a new direction to the history of the world. 
 
 We meet under circumstances of deep and peculiar 
 interest. The waters of the same broad Sagadahoc 
 move onward in their majestic course to the ocean ; 
 the green summit of the beautiful Seguin still lifts 
 itself in the distance, standing sentinel and break- 
 water to beat back the swelling surges of the sea ; 
 the flashing foam of the Atlantic still washes the 
 rocky shores of the peninsula of Sabino, and the 
 secure anchorage of this open bay receives the tem- 
 
 I« 353 
 
 m 
 
354 ^^^'^ T INTERNA TIONAL RAIL \VA Y. 
 
 poRt-toHt bark, as on the flay that the Oifl of God, 
 the gallant fly-lxmt of George Pophani, hel]M'(l into 
 port Raleigh Gilbert's good ship Mary and John, 
 freighted with the hopes of a new empire. Behind 
 ns rises the green summit of yonder mount, around 
 who've sides soon clustered the habitations of the in- 
 trepid Popham and his devoted companions ; and 
 the same rocky rampart that then encircled this 
 proud bay stands unmoved amid the changes of 
 two hundred and fifty-five years. All else is changed. 
 The white sails of many a gallant ship now cover 
 this broad expanse of water ; a towering light-house 
 rises high above the summit of Seguin, throwing the 
 rays of its Fresnel lens far out into the darkness, and 
 along these rocky shores ; habitations of men dot 
 every point of the surrounding landscape ; while the 
 stout steamer, unlike the ship of olden time, gladly 
 encounters the rude waves of the ocean. 
 
 " Against the wind, and against the tide, 
 Still steady, with an upright keel." 
 
 But the heart of man has changed less than all, in 
 these two hundred and fifty-five years. It still bows 
 in submission to Almighty God, and lifts its voice in 
 prayer and praise ; as when, in the solemn service of 
 his ritual, their pious preacher uttered these memor- 
 able words : 
 
 " At what time soever a sinner doth repent him 
 of his sins from the bottom of his heart, I will blot 
 all his wickedness out of my remembrance, saith the 
 Lord." 
 
 " I will go to my Father, and say to him. Father, 
 
FIJiST COLONIZATION Of NEW ENGLAND. 355 
 
 I luive Hi lined against lieaven and against thee : I am 
 no more worthy to be called thy son." ' 
 
 All this was permanent and enduring. The same 
 duty and the same dependence upon God, as tlit^n, 
 are upon us all. We seem to see before us the faith- 
 ful Richard Seymour, clad in the habiliments of the 
 priesthood, as we hear the same accents of prayer 
 and piaise that he uttered, — when, before him knelt 
 the faithful Popham and his hardy comrades, whose 
 deep responses were borne upward to the mercy-seat. 
 We listen to-day to the same strains of music and to 
 the same lessons that first burst forth from human 
 lips on the shores of this great continent ! That 
 same sense of sinfulness that then found utterance in 
 the language of the liturgy, finds expression in our 
 hearts to-day ; and may it please the Father of mer- 
 cies so to mould all hearts, that these words of peni- 
 tential confession shall find willing utterance from 
 all lips, and these words of prayer and praise, 
 raised in devout aspiration from all hearts, ])e con- 
 tinued from generation to generation through all 
 time, till there shall be one fold and one Shepherd, 
 and this mortal reach immortality at the final con- 
 summation of all things. 
 
 The greatness of an event is to be measured l)y 
 the influence it exerts over the destinies of mankind. 
 Acts of sublime moral grandeur, essential to the 
 education of the race, may surpass in real magnitude 
 the most brilliant achievements of material success ; 
 and the silent eloquence of truth do more to conquer 
 the fierce spirit of war, than the most imposing tri* 
 
 ' King James' Liturgy of 1604. 
 
 '"^^ \ 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 ■I ■ 
 
 "'i ' 
 
 '« 
 
 A 
 
 1: 
 
 
 "* 
 
356 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA V. 
 
 umphs of warlike ambition. The ignominious exe- 
 cution of the teacher of our religion, in a remote and 
 obscure province of the Roman Empire, was an event 
 of so little interest at the time, as to be overlooked 
 by the great writers of Roman history. The rise of 
 the Christian sect in Judea was noticed by the 
 younger Pliny in his letter to the Emperor Trajan 
 within the next hundred years; but no human vi- 
 sion could then have foreseen that their despised doc- 
 trines would, within the next few hundred years, 
 have become enthroned in the home of the Caesars, 
 and give law to the civilized world. 
 
 When Hannibal led his disciplined troops from 
 the shoies of Africa, through the perilous passes of 
 the Pyrenees and across the Alps, into Italy, and 
 slew more in number of the Roman youth than the 
 entire force of his army, we instinctively honor this 
 sublime exhibition of martial genius and energy. 
 When at last he failed to conquer Rome, only from 
 the lack of succor from his own countrymen; whose 
 jealousy of his success destroyed their country, we 
 respect that indignant sense of justice that bequeathed 
 his bones to a foreign resting-place, iest his unworthy 
 countrymen should in after times ' e honored by the 
 homage done to his remains. We weep at every 
 fresh recital of the splendor of his achievements, and 
 the magnitude of his misfortunes (however much we 
 may value the superior civilization of the Roman 
 people over that of the Carthaginians), as we reflect 
 that the history of future times hung suspended on 
 the issue of that campaign. We are willing to re- 
 joice that at last his ungrateful nation was blotted 
 
■i 
 
 !i:l1 
 
 FIRST COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND. 357 
 
 from the earth, and Carthage liveR only as a dishonor 
 to history, while his name stands foremost among 
 warriors and heroes. When the brave and accom- 
 plished Champlain returned to France after an 
 absence of three and a half yeai-s in Acadia,' having 
 explored all these shores, and given them the names 
 they now bear, and placed the symbols of the 
 authority of his sovereign, from Cape Breton to 
 Cape Cod, confidently anticipating the future great- 
 ness of his race and nation in this, their secure 
 home in the finest portion of the New World, he 
 found that the charter granted to De Monts, 
 under which he held and occupied the countiy, 
 had been revoked,^ and that the most hopeful 
 plan of empire ever revealed to human eyes had 
 been marred, if not destroyed. With generous valor 
 he sought a new hor^ie amid the snows of the St. 
 Lawrence, and in 1608 planted the flag and tlie 
 power of France upon the shores of that mighty 
 river, where his bones now lie, in the midst of the 
 race he there planted. But the folly of the great 
 King Henry of Navarre could not be overcome by 
 any heroism on his part ; for the stronger foothold of 
 Sir Ferdinando Gorges had meanwhile been planted 
 v,n the shores of this open sea, from Sagadahoc to 
 Plymouth ; and the flag of France was compelled to 
 withdraw across the Sagadahoc, never more to re- 
 
 • Champlain, with De Monts and his associates, sailed from St. Malo 
 March 17, 1604, in two ships. They returned to St, Malo Sepicmher 
 28, 1607. See Poor's " Vindication of Gorges," and the authorities there 
 cited. 
 
 *" " Champlain's Voyages," pp. 44, 45, 99 ed. 1632. L'Escarbot, p. 619, 
 2d edition, 1612. 
 
358 FIJ^S T INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA V. 
 
 IP 
 
 Hi: ,' 
 
 
 turn thither after 1607, and finally to y j;i the dust 
 before that cross of St. Georsxe, whi( . fi.st floated 
 from the rocky ramparts of Quebec on Septenil>er 
 li5^1759,' when the power of Frjinee was swept from 
 the continent forever. But all hearts instinctively 
 honor the immortal Charaplain. The sympathy of 
 all generous minds ever flows forth at the utterance 
 of his name. His monument still exists, in sight of 
 an admiring postei'ity, more enduring than this stone 
 we have this day raised iu honor of another ; and it 
 sliall forever lemain in "erpetual beauty, while the 
 waters from the loftv summits of the Adirondack, 
 mingling with those of the Green Mountains, shall 
 fill the deep recesses of the lake that bears the hon- 
 oied name, Cliamjylain ! 
 
 Our duty to-day calls us to honor another, and a 
 gr-^ater than '-ham])lain ; not greater in pin'pose, but 
 in the results he achieved for humanity and Lis race, 
 and more entitled to our sympathy from the blessings 
 Tve owe to his labors, — the man that gave North 
 America to his nation; and died without even the 
 poor reward that followed his great rival. That 
 colossal empire which Champlain planted on the 
 St. Lawrence, and watched over till the close of 
 his life,'' which eventually held four fifths of the 
 continent, was unable to regain its possession on these 
 Atlantic shores : and from this cause alone, it finally 
 fell beneath the power and sagacity of England's 
 
 ' The battle was fought September 13, 1759 ; the surrender of Quebec was 
 agreed on in the evening of the seventeenth, and the English flag raised on 
 the morning of the eighteenth. 
 
 ' Champlain died in the diseharge of the duties of the office of Governor- 
 General of Canada, at Quebec, December 25, 1635. 
 
 
 
■'ffl 
 
 HI 
 
 FIRST COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND. 359 
 
 greatest war minister, Pitt ; who gave to the heroic 
 Wolfe, in his youthful prime, the noblest oj^portunity 
 for fame that has yet fallen to a leader of armies. 
 But the hero who gave the continent to England 
 was neither Pitt nor Wolfe, but another and greater 
 than either, the illusti'ious and sagacious Knight, 
 whose manly daring and persevering energy upheld 
 the drooping cause of colonization in its darkest 
 hours against individual Jealousy and parliamentary 
 injustice ; and saw, like Isi'ael's great law-giver, from 
 the top of the mountain, the goodly land that his 
 countrymen should afterwards possess, though he 
 was not allowed to enter it.^ All honor, this day, 
 to SL- Ferdinando Gorges. His praise is proclaimed 
 by Puritan voices, after more than two hundred years 
 of unjust reproach. His monument stands proudly 
 er: ct among the nations, in that constitutional gov- 
 einment of these United States which sheds blessings 
 on tho world.'' His name, once perpetuated in our 
 annals, was stricken from the records of the state, 
 and no city, or town, or lake, or i-iver, allowed to bear 
 it to future times. But a returning sense of justice 
 marks the American character, and two hundred 
 y iars after his death it is heard once more in honor- 
 able renown. Busy hands, guided by consunnnate 
 skill, are now shaping into beauty and order a work 
 of endurinc: 8tren«:th and national defence, that does 
 honor to his name ; and rising iu sight of our chief 
 commercial city, more beautiful in situation than 
 
 ' See Poor's " Vindication of ("lorges." 
 
 " Cjorges foresaw and predicted the independence of the colonies of North 
 America, of the British crown. " Briefe Narration," p. 51 ; vol. ii., " iMaiiie 
 Hist. Coll." ; also Poor's " Vindication." 
 
 "if 
 
 
 I 
 
 %'i 
 
 J, I 
 
 Hi 
 
 
36o FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 any that graces the yEgean coast, or smiles from the 
 Adriatic shore, — the metropolis, too, of his ancient 
 " Province of Mayne," — proclaims Sir Ferdinando 
 Gorges, Fatlier of English Colonization in America.^ 
 And in after times, when hid race shall become, not 
 only masters of the continent, but of the earth, and 
 his mother-tongue the univei'sal language, Histoiy 
 shall perpetuate the deeds of his genius, and Song 
 shall make his name immortal. 
 
 The question that the European nations were 
 called upon to solve, at the commencement of the 
 seventeenth century, was, who should liereafter oc- 
 cupy and possess the broad belt of the temperate 
 zone of the New World, from the Atlantic to the 
 Pacific seas. All previous explorations were pre- 
 liminary efforts towards this one great object, but 
 the question remained open and undecided. The 
 voyages of the Northmen to these shores, interesting 
 to the curious, are of no historic value, because not 
 connected with the colonization of the country — un- 
 less it shall hereafter appear that Columbus obtained 
 from them information as to the extent of the Wes- 
 tern Ocean. At the time of discoveiy by Columbus, 
 the only races inhabiting the New World, north of 
 Mexico, were tribes of wandering savages, incapable 
 of accepting or acquiring habits of civilized life. 
 An extinct race had left their mounds in the West, 
 and their deposits of oyster-beds along the shores of 
 
 ' Fort Gorges. — The new fort in Portland Harbor, has been nametl iiy 
 the Secretary of War, Fort Gorges, in honor of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, 
 " the original proprietor of the Province of Mayne and the Father of English 
 Colonization in America." 
 
If! 
 
 FIJiST COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND. 361 
 
 the Atlantic, and passed from traditionary story. 
 The adventurous Magellan in 1520 proved, by the 
 first voyage round tlie world, tlie extent of the new 
 continent; and in 1579, Sir Francis Drake, the first 
 Englishman that circumnavigated the globe, in that 
 daring voyage which excited the admiration of his 
 countrymen, gave the name of New England to the 
 Pacific shores of the continent; which name Captain 
 John Smith afterwards, to strengthen the title to the 
 countiy, affixed to the Atlantic slope.' But till the 
 beginning of the seventeenth century. North Amer- 
 ica, north of Florida, remained unpeopled by Euro- 
 peans. The Spaniards, the Portuguese, the French, 
 the Dutch, and the English had all made voyages 
 of discovery, and laid claims to tlie country. As 
 early as 1542, it was parcelled off to the three powers 
 first named : Florida, belonging to Spain, extending 
 as far north as the thirty-tliirJ parallel of latitude ; 
 Verrazzan, or New France, from the thii'ty-third to 
 the fiftieth paralhd; and Terra Corterealis, north- 
 ward to the Polar Ocean, thus named in honor of 
 Gaspar Cortereal, a Portuguese, who explored the 
 coast in the year 1500. The Spaniards were in pur- 
 suit of mines of gold and silver, the Portuguese in 
 quest of slaves, and the French with hopes of profit 
 in the fur trade, and crude but indefinite ideas of 
 colonization. 
 
 Spain and Portugal originally claimed the New 
 World by grant from the Pope.' England, practi- 
 
 ' John Smith's " Description of New England," vol. ii., p. 2. Force's 
 Tracts. " Mass. Historical Coll.," 3d series, vol. vi., p. 104. 
 ' Bull of Pope Alexander VI., 1493. 
 
362 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 
 cally abandoning all claim from the discoveries of 
 Cabot on the Atlantic, and Drake on the Pacific 
 coasts, laid down, in 1580, the broad doctrine, that 
 prescription without occupation was of no avail; 
 that possession of the country was essential to the 
 maintenance of title. Prescriptio sine possessione 
 hand valeaV 
 
 Before this time the attention of England had been 
 turned to the northern parts of America, witli a 
 view to coh)nization. As early as March 22, 1574, 
 the queen had been petitioned to allow of the 
 discovery of lands in America '''■fatally reserved to 
 England., and for the honor of Her Majesty y ^ Sir 
 Humphrey Gilbert's charter " for planting our people 
 in America," was granted by Elizabeth, June 11, 
 1578; and in 1580 John Walker and his companions 
 had discovered a silver mine in Norumbega. The 
 explorations of Andrew Thevett, of John Barros, 
 and John Walker, alluded to in the papers recently 
 discovered in the British State-Paper Office, under 
 date of 1580, w^e find nowhere else recorded. The 
 possession of Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey Gil- 
 bert was abandoned, on his loss at sea, and it was not 
 till 1584 that the first charter to Sir Walter Raleigh 
 was issued, by Elizabeth. Raleigh named the 
 countiy Virginia, in honor of his queen. Of the 
 two colonies sent out by him, one returned, the other 
 perished in the country, lea^'i':g no trace of its history 
 and no record of its melancholy fate. Thus, at the 
 period of Elizabeth's death, in 1603, England had not 
 
 ' Camden's " Eliz. Annales," 1580. See Poor's "Vindication of Gorges." 
 * "Calendar of Colonial State Papers," edited by Sainsbury, vol. i., p. i. 
 
FIRST COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND. 363 
 
 a colonial possession on the globe. Sir Richard 
 Whitbourue had made voyages to Newfoundland 
 in his own ship in 1588/ and in 1600 there was a 
 proposition to the queen for planting a colony in 
 the NoHhivest of America, in which can be unmis- 
 takably traced the agency of Sir Ferdinando Gorges ; 
 who it now appears was also concerned in the 
 voyage of Gosnold in 1602, of Pring in 1603, and of 
 George Weymouth in 1605, the earliest ones of 
 which we have any authentic record.' That eloquent 
 passage in Gorges' " Briefe Narration," in which he 
 gives " the i-easons and the means of renewing the 
 undertaking of Plantations in America," deserves 
 our highest pi'aise ; and it excites feelings of the 
 warmest gratitude toward him, for it is a modest and 
 touchino; statement of his own heroic efforts in the 
 cause of Auiencan colonization.^ 
 
 But the Hollanders and the French were equally 
 aroused to the importance, and inflamed with the 
 purpose, of seizing upon these shores. The vast 
 wealth of the Dutch, their great commercial success 
 prior to this time in both the East and West Indies, 
 gave them the adx^antage. Ohamplain, with greater 
 knowledge of North America than any of his rivals, 
 had accompanied Pont Grave to the St. Lawrence, by 
 direction of the king, in 1603 : when, on his return 
 to France, he found Acadia granted to I)e JMonts, 
 a Protestant and a member of the king'p hours^ehold, 
 under date of November 8, 1603, extendiu^j across 
 
 if 
 
 1 
 
 >!l ! 
 
 iill 
 
 mm 
 
 m 
 
 'III 
 
 m!1I::! 
 
 ' "Calendar of Col. State Papers," »ol. i., p. 82 
 
 ' See ( lorges' letter to Challoiis. Prior's " Vindicat- m." 
 
 'Gorges' " Briefe Narration," p. i-O. 
 
364 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL IV A V. 
 
 'm 
 
 the continent, between the fortieth and forty-sixth 
 degrees of north latitude.' 
 
 In the spring of lo04, De Monts, accompanied 
 by Charaplain, Pont Grave, Poutrincourt, and the 
 learned and accomplished historian L'Escarbot, sailed 
 from Dieppe for the occupation of the New World. 
 They planted their colony at St. Croix, within the 
 limits of our own State, in 1604,^ and in the spring 
 and summer of 1605, explored the coast under the 
 lead of Champlain, from Cami:)seau to Cape Malabar, 
 twelve miles south of Cape Cod, " searching to the 
 end of the bays," the same year that Weymouth ex- 
 plored this most excellent and beneficial river at 
 Sagadahoc. To make sure of the country, Cham- 
 plain, Champdore, and L'Escarbot remained three 
 and a half years, fishing, trading with the natives, 
 and occupying at Boston, Piscadouet (Piscatajjua), 
 Marchin (Portland), Koskebee (Casco Bay), Kinni- 
 bequi (Kennebec), Pentagoet (Penobscot), and all 
 east, to Campseau and Cape Breton. Returning to 
 France in 1607, they found the charter of De Monts 
 revoked,^ on account of the jealousy of his rivals, and 
 a small indemnity fi'om the king as their only reward 
 for these four years of sacrifice and unremitting toil. 
 This shortsightedness of the great Henry of Navarre 
 cost France the dominion of the New World. For 
 on the return of Weymouth to Plymouth, in 1605, 
 with five savages from Pemaquid, Sir Ferdinando 
 Gorges gathered from them full particulars of this 
 
 ' L'Escarbot, p. 432, 2d edition, i6t2, 
 ' See Poor's " Vindication of Gorges." 
 * L'Escarbot, p. 460, 2d edition, 1612 ; Champlain, pp. 4.1, 45, gg. 
 
FIRST COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND. 365 
 
 whole region, its harbors, rivers, natural character- 
 istics and featiires, its people and mode of govern- 
 ment.' 
 
 Associating himself with the Earl of Southamp- 
 ton, Gorges, relying upon these circumstances as a 
 means of inflaming the imagination of his countiy- 
 men, petitioned the king for a charter,' which he 
 obtained, under date of April 10, 1606; gi'anting to 
 George Popham, and seven others, the continent of 
 North America, from the thirty-fourth to the forty- 
 fifth degrees of north latitude, extending one hundred 
 miles into the mainland, and including all islands of 
 the sea within one hundred miles of the shore. This 
 charter is tlie basis on which rests the title of our 
 race to the New World. It provided for a local 
 government at home, intrusted to a Council of 
 Thirteen ; with two companies, one of North, and the 
 other of South Virginia, for carrying into execution 
 the plans of colonization in the country.^ The ven- 
 erable Sir John Popham,* Chief-Justice of England 
 by the appointment of Elizabeth, a man of vast 
 wealth and influence, became the patron of the com- 
 pany ; and his son. Sir Francis Popham, was appointed 
 by the king, with Sir Ferdinando Gorges, one of the 
 Council of Thirteen, under whom, as the Council of 
 Virginia, the work of colonization was to be carried 
 
 ' Gorges' " Briefe Narration" ; " Maine Historical Collections," vol. ii., 
 p. 19. 
 
 ' Strachey's " Travaile into Virginia," p. 161. 
 
 3 The Council of Virginia, appointed by King James, November 20, 1606, 
 consisted of fourteen persons instead of thirteen. 
 
 * The fact of his appointment as Chief-Justice by Elizabeth, in the later 
 years of her life, proves him to have been a great lawyer. Elizabeth ap- 
 pointed the ablest n^en she could find to public office. 
 
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 if 
 
 
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366 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 forward. From tlie great fame of Chief-Justice 
 Popliara, and his interest in the matter, the coh)ny 
 sent by the North Virginia Company was popuhirly 
 known as Popham's Colony, though his name was 
 not in the charter, or included among the council. 
 " The planting of New England in the North, was 
 by Chief -Justice Popham," said the Scotch adven- 
 turers, in their address to the king, September 9, 
 1630, recently brought to our notice from the British 
 State-Paper Office.' In a work entitled " Encourage- 
 ment to Colonies," by William Alexander, Knight, 
 in 1625, he says: "Sir John Popham sent the lii-st 
 colony that went, of purpose to inhabit there near to 
 Sagadahoc."' But until the comparatively recent 
 publication of Strachey, the history of this colony 
 was almost unknown. Two unsuccessful attempts 
 at planting a colony were made in 1606.^ 
 
 On May 31, 1607, the first colony to New England 
 sailed from Plymouth for the Sagadahoc, in two 
 ships — one called the Gift of God, whereof George 
 Popham, brother of the Chief- Justice,'^ was com- 
 mander, and the other, the Mary and Jolm, com- 
 manded by Raleigh Gilbert — on board which ships 
 were one hundred and twenty persons, for planters. 
 They came to anchor under an island, supposed to 
 be Monhegan, July 31. After exploring the coast 
 
 • This paper is now printed for the first time in the appendix. 
 
 ' A copy of this rare work is in the possession of General Peter Force, of 
 Washington City. 
 ' See Poor's "Vindication." 
 
 * Note by R. H. Major, editor of Strachey's " Travaile into Virginia," p. 
 27, published by the Hakluyt Society — one of the volumes of its series. 
 Hubbard's " History of Massachusetts Bay," p. lo. 
 
of 
 
 FIRST COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND. 367 
 
 and islands, on Sunday, Angiist 0, 1607, they landed 
 on an Island tliey called St. (xeorge ; where they heard 
 a sermon, delivered nnto them by Mr. Seymonr, their 
 preacher, and so return(Hl aboard again. On Angust 
 15 they anchored under Seguiii, and on that day 
 the Gift of God got into the river of Sagadahoc. 
 August 16, after a severe storm, both ships got 
 safely in and came to anchor. The seventeenth, in 
 two boats, they sailed up the riv^er — Captain Popham 
 in his pinnace, with thirty persons, and Captain Gil- 
 bert in his long-boat, with eighteen j^ersons, and 
 "found it a very gallant river; many good islands 
 therein, and many branches of other small rivers fall- 
 ing into it," and returned. The " next day they all 
 went ashore, and there made a choice of a place for 
 their plantation, at the mouth or entry of the river, on 
 the west side, (for the river bendeth itself towards 
 the nor-east and by east,) being almost an island, of 
 good bigness, in a province called by the Indians, 
 * Sabino ' — so called of a Sagamo, or chief command- 
 er, under the grand bashaba." The nineteenth they 
 all went ashore where they had made choice of 
 their plantation, and where they had a sermon deliv- 
 ered unto them by their preacher, and after the ser- 
 mon the ^president's commission was read, with the 
 patent,' and the laws to be observed and kept.' 
 
 " George Popham, gent., was nominated President. 
 Captain Raleigh Gilbert, James Davies, Richard 
 
 ' By the original charter, the company had the right to sell lands, work 
 mines, coin money, transport thither colonists, expel by force all intruders, 
 raise a revenue by imposts, carry out goods free of duty to the crown, for 
 seven years, with a denization of all persons born or residing in the country. 
 
 * A constituent code of laws was prepared, and signed by King James, in 
 
 
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368 
 
 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 Seymour Preacher, Captain Richard Davies, Captain 
 Harlowe, were all sworn assistants ; and so they 
 returned back again." 
 
 Thus commenced the first occupation and settle- 
 ment of New England. 
 
 accordance with the provision to this effect set forth in the seventh section 
 of the charter of April lo, 1606. Lucas' " Charters of the Old English Col- 
 onies," p. 4. 
 
 This constituent code is contained in two ordinances, or articles of instruc- 
 tions, from the king, name^>y : 
 I. Ordinance dated November 20, 1606, appointing 
 Sir William Wade, Thomas Warr, Esq. , Sir Henry Montague, 
 Sir Walter Cope, Thomas James, Esq., John Doddridge, Esq., 
 
 Sir Francis Popham, Sir Ferdinando Gorges, John Eldred, Esq., 
 Sir George More, James Bagg, Esq., 
 
 Sir Thomas Smith. 
 
 Sir John Trevor, 
 Sir William Romney, 
 as the Council of Virginia. 
 This ordinance provided that : 
 
 1. Each colony may elect associates, and annually elect a president for 
 one year, and assistants or councillors for the same time. 
 
 2. The Christian religion shall be preached and observed as established 
 in the realm of England. 
 
 3. Lands shall descend to heirs as provided by law in England. 
 
 4. Trial by jury of twelve men in all criminal cases. Tumults, rebel- 
 lion, conspiracy, mutiny and sedition, murder, manslaughter, incest, rape, 
 and adultery only are capital offences. 
 
 5. In civil causes, the president and council shall determine. They may 
 punish excesses in drunkenness, vagrancy, etc. 
 
 6. All produce or goods imported to be stored in the magazine of the 
 Company. 
 
 7. They shall elect a clerk and treasurer, or cape-merchant. 
 
 8. May make laws needfuland proper, consonant with the laws of England. 
 g. Indians to be civilized and taught the Christian religion. 
 
 10. All offenders to be tried in the colony, 
 
 11. Oath of obedience to be taken. 
 
 12. Records of all proceedings and judgments fully set forth and pre- 
 served, implying a right of appeal. In all criminal cases, magistrates to 
 suspend sentence till opportunity of pardon is had by the king. 
 
 These were the laws " to be observed and kept." 
 11. Ordinance, dated March 9, 1607. 
 
 On the recommendation or nomination of the Southern Company, addi- 
 tional members of the Council of Virginia were appointed. 
 
FIRST COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND. 369 
 
 On a careful examination of tbis patent of King 
 James, and of the articles, instructions, and orders by 
 him set down for the government of these colonies, 
 we are struck with the sagacity and statesmanship 
 eveiywhere evinced by the monarch. He rose supe- 
 rior to the notions of his times, reduced the number 
 of capital offences to ten, and declared none should 
 be capital but the more gross of political and the 
 more heinous of moral crimes. He gijv:; them all 
 the liberties they could desire. In the subsequent 
 chartei-s for Virginia and New England, the same 
 broad principles of self-government were in the main 
 re-enacted. In the contests with the king and Par- 
 liament of England, one hundred and fifty years 
 later, the colonists only demanded their ancient 
 riglits, as subjects of the British crown. From 
 August 19, O. S , 1607, the title of England to the 
 New World was maintained. At this place they 
 opened a friendly trade with the natives, put up 
 houses, and built a small vessel during the autumn 
 and winter. 
 
 Richard Bloome, in his " History of the Present 
 State of the Territories in America," printed in Lon- 
 don, 1687, says: 
 
 " In the year 1607, Sir John Popham and others settled a 
 plantation at the mouth of the river Sagadahoc. But Capt. 
 James Davis chose a small place, almost an Island, to sit down 
 in, when, having heard a sermon, read the patent and laws ; 
 and after he had built a fort, sailed further up the river. They 
 call the fort St. George, Capt. George Popham being President ; 
 and the people (savages) seemed to be much affected with our 
 men's devotion, and would say King James is a good King, 
 and his God a good God ; but our God, Tanto^ is a naughty 
 
 i".i 
 
 : " 
 
370 
 
 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 God. In January, in the space of seven hours, they had 
 thunder, lightning, rain, frost, and snow all in very great 
 abundance." 
 
 On the 5th of February, 1608, George Popham 
 died,' and his remains were deposited within the wall 
 of his fort, which was named Fort St. George. It 
 is well known that the Popham Colony, or a por- 
 tion of them, returned to England in 1608, with 
 the ship they had built on this peninsula, the first 
 specimen of naval architecture constructed on this 
 continent, named the Virginia of Sagadahoc. 
 
 But this possession of the Popham Colony proved 
 sufficient to establish the title. The revocation of 
 the charter to De Monts gave priority to the grant 
 of King James, covering the same territory, and 
 this formal act of possession wae ever after upheld, 
 by an assertion of the title by Gorges. It was suffi- 
 cient, effectually, to hold the country against the 
 French and Spaniards alike." When Argall, in 
 
 ' Prince's " New England Chronology," p. ii8 ; Brodhead's " History of 
 New York." 
 
 * The Spanish Secretary of State in 1612 and 1613 complained to King 
 James for allowing his subjects to plant in Virginia and Bermuda, as the 
 country belonged to Spain, by the conquest of Castile, who acquired it by tlie 
 discovery of Columbus, and the Pope's donation ; to which Sir Dudley Carle- 
 ton, Secretary of State, by order of King James made answer : " Spain has 
 no fossfssions north of Florida. They belong to the crown of England by 
 right of discovery and actual possession by the two Englisk colonies thither 
 deducted, loliereof the latter is yet there remaining. These countries should 
 not be given over to the Spanish." 
 
 " Cal. of Col. State Papers," vol. i., p. 14, Nos. 28 and 2q ; also page 16, 
 Nos, 31 and 32, 
 
 In the memorials of the English and French Commission concerning the 
 limits of Nova Scotia or Acadia, under the Treaty of Utrecht, the French 
 Commissioners say : " The Court of France adjudged that they had the righ^ 
 te extend the western limits of Acadia as far as the River Kinnibequi " (p. 
 39). On page 98 of the same collections it says: "Chief-Justice Popham 
 planted the colony of Sagadahoc." 
 
FIRST COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND. 371 
 
 Si 
 
 1613, destroyed the French settlement at Mount 
 Desert,* the French Minister demanded satisfaction 
 at the hands of the British nation.' But no notice was 
 taken of this demand, because the French could show 
 no claim of title. Again in 1624, M. Tillieres, the 
 French ambassador, claimed the territory of New 
 England as a portion of New France, and proposed 
 to yield all claim to Virginia, and the country as far 
 south as the Gulf of Mexico ; overlooking entii-ely 
 the title of Spain to Florida, which had always 
 been recognized as extending to the thirty-third 
 parallel of north latitude. France had at this time 
 become aware of the importance of securing the 
 
 The English 
 
 ' Mount Desert was so named by Champlain in 1605 
 named it Mount Mansell, in honor of Sir Robert Mansell, the highest naval 
 officer of England, one of the grantees of the Virginia Company of 1609, 
 and of the New England Company in 1620. But it has retained the name 
 of Mount Desert. It has always been celebrated for the excellence of Its 
 harbor and the boldness of its shores. It is the most celebrated locality on 
 the Atlantic coast, and one of the three great harbors of the continent. The 
 French Jesuits, who settled there in 1613, called it St. Saviour. Their pre- 
 cise place of settlement is described in the " Relations of the Jesuits," vol. i., 
 pp. 44, 46. 
 
 What is of still more interest is the fact that this was the easternmost limits 
 of Mavosheen, or of the English discoveries up to i6og. See Purchase, vol. iv., 
 p. 1873. L'Escarbot, the historian of New France and of De Monts' expedi- 
 tion, says the Sagamo Marchin was residing at their next place west of Kin- 
 nibepui, and they named the place Marchin, (Portland), in honor of him. 
 Marchin was slain in 1607, and Bessabes was chosen captain in his place. 
 Bessabes was slain also, and then Asticou was chosen in his stead. Accord- 
 ing to the statement of Purchase, vol. iv., pp. 1873-4, at the easternmost part 
 of Mavosheen, at the river of Quibiquesson, dwelt Asticou. In 1613, Asticou 
 was dwelling at Mount Desert, and the assurance given by his followers to 
 Fathers Biard and Masse of his being sick and dessirous of baptism at their 
 hands, led them to go thither, and finally to yield to entreaties for making 
 their settlement there, instead of at Kadesquit (Kenduskeag,) Bangor, on the 
 Penobscot, as they had agreed in i6ii. It would seem from these facts that 
 the authority of Asticou extended from Mount Desert to the Saco, the river 
 of the Sagamo Olmouchin. 
 
 ' " Calendar of Colonial State Papers," vol i., p. 15. 
 
 i 
 
 
37« FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA V. 
 
 title and possession of these shores.' King James 
 called on Sir Ferdinando Gorges to prepare a reply 
 to the claims of the French monarch. " Whereunto," 
 says Gorges, " I made so full a reply (as it seems) there 
 was no more heard of their claim." ' From the abstract 
 of this reply, recently piinted in the Calendar of 
 British State Papers, it would seem that no notice 
 was taken of the Leyden flock, who were then at 
 Plymouth ; but Sir Ferdinando Gorges based the 
 claim of his government on the ground of the char- 
 ter of 1606, and the fonnal occupation of the coun- 
 try under it, with a continued claim of title. 
 
 In 1631, Champlain, — the greatest mind of his 
 nation ever engaged in colonial enterprise, the bold- 
 est and most wary of all his countrymen, second 
 only to Gorges in the results he achieved, — in his 
 memoir to his sovereign, as to the title of the two 
 nations, says: "King James issued his charter 
 twenty-four years ago, for the country from the 
 thirty-third to the forty-fifth degree. pJngland seized 
 the coast of New France, where lies Acadia, on 
 which they imposed the name of New England." ^ 
 
 The Dutch West India Company, in their address 
 to the States General, 1632, say: " In the year 1606, 
 his Majesty of Great Britain granted to his subjects, 
 under the names of New England and Virginia, 
 north and south of the river (Manhattoes), on ex- 
 press condition that the companies should reiriain one 
 hundred miles apart. Whereupon the English be- 
 
 ' " Cal. of Col. State Papers," vol. i., p. 60. 
 ' Gorges' ** Brief e Narration," p. 40. 
 » " N. Y. Doc. Hist.," vol. ix., p. 112. 
 
FIRST COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND. 373 
 
 gan, about the year 1607, to settle by the river of 
 Sagadahoc. The English place New England 
 between the forty-first and forty-fifth degrees of 
 north latitude." ' 
 
 In Garneau's Histoiy of Canada, speaking of the 
 destruction of Mount Desert and Port Royal in 1613, 
 he says : " England claimed the territory to the forty- 
 fifth degree of north latitude." This Wiis seven years 
 before the date of the New England charter. This 
 claim was founded on possession ; for Old England 
 stoutly maintained, from the time of Elizabeth on- 
 ward, that without possession there was no valid 
 title to a newly disco /ered country. 
 
 This view of history is overlooked by Puritan 
 writers, and those who follow their authority. That 
 protection of the British nation which enal)1ed the 
 Puritans of Massachusetts Bay, and the humble fol- 
 lowers of Robinson, to establish, unmolested, homes 
 in the New World, under organized forms of govern- 
 ment, was grudgingly acknowledged by them ; and 
 the man who secured to them these blessings, and 
 watched over them with the same jealous care as of 
 his own colony, they always stigmatized as their great 
 enemy ;" because, among other acts of humanity, he 
 allowed the mild and conscientious men, who could 
 not yield implicit obedience to their fierce doctiines 
 and more barbarous laws,^ to escape into Maine, and 
 
 » •• Holland Doc. N. Y.," p. 61. 
 
 • Winthrop, vol. ii., p. 14 ; Bradford's " History of Plymouth," p. 328. 
 
 * None but church members shall be allowed the privileges of freemen. 
 — Statute of 1631, " Massachusetts Colony Laws," p. 117. 
 
 Any attempt to change the form of government is punishable with death. 
 —Statute of 1641, " Col. Laws," p. 59. 
 
 'Ill' 
 
 4 
 
 
374 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL JVA Y. 
 
 there remain unharmed. When Cromwell granted 
 to Sir Thomas Temple the country east of the Saga- 
 dahoc, at the time that the persecution of the 
 Quakers was at its greatest height, with the design 
 of affording them a place of refuge beyond the limits 
 even of the Province of Maine,' which had just been 
 conquered by violence ; the anger of Massachusetts 
 Puritans fell upon the head of the Protector, himself 
 a Puritan, and an Independent of the strictest sect at 
 home. But time allows no allusion to-day to historic 
 details, except what is essential to the vindication of 
 the truth of history. The fact that August 19> 
 Old Style, is the true date of the foundation of Eng- 
 land's title to the continent, is all we are called 
 upon to establish. 
 
 It may be said that, in giving this prominence to 
 the occupation of the country by the colony of 
 Popham, we overlook other events of importance in 
 establishing the English title — the possession of the 
 
 Absence from meeting on Sunday, fast, or thanksgiving, subjected the 
 offender to a fine. — " Col. Laws," p. 103. 
 
 Keeping or observing Christmas was punishable by fine. — " Col. Laws," 
 p. 119. 
 
 Wages to be regulated in each town by vote of the freemen of each. — 
 "Col. Laws," p. 156. 
 
 Baptists are to be punished by banishment. — "Col. Laws," 1646, p. 120. 
 
 Quakers to be imprisoned and then banished, on pain of death if they re- 
 turned.— " Col. Laws," 1658. p. 123. 
 
 Witches shall be put to death. — " Col. Laws," 1641, p. 59. 
 
 Magistrates shall issue warrants to a constable, and in his absence to any 
 person, to cause Quakers to be stripped naked from the middle upward, tied 
 to a cart's tail, and whipped from town to town till conveyed out of our 
 jurisdiction. — "Col. Laws," p. 125. 
 
 Under these laws Baptists had their ears cropped in Boston as late as 
 1658, and Quakers were put to death. 
 
 • " N. Y. Doc. Hist.," vol. ix., pp. 71, 75. 
 
in 
 
 ■1 
 
 FIRST COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND. 375 
 
 Elizabeth Isles by Gosiiold in 1602, aud the settle- 
 ment of Jamestown May 13, 1607, prior to the 
 landing of the Pophani Colony at Sagadahoc. In 
 reference to the occupation of Elizabeth Isles by 
 Gosnold, it is sufficient to say, that it was piior 
 to the date of the Royal Charter, and consequently 
 of no legal effect in establishing title. As to the 
 settlement of Jamestown, it was south of the fortieth 
 parallel of latitude, and therefore did not come in 
 conflict with the French king's prior charter to De 
 Monts. The teriitory between the fortieth and the 
 forty-fifth degrees only was in dispute. Although 
 the maps of the time made New France to extend 
 from the thirty-third to the fiftieth degree of north 
 latitude, France practically abandoned the country 
 south of the fortieth degree from the time of the 
 grant of the charter to De Monts ; so that below that 
 line south it was open to any people who might 
 have the courage to possess it ; this south line of De 
 Monts' grant, intersecting what is now Pennsylvania, 
 just north of the city of Philadelphia, cuts Ohio, 
 Indiana, and Illinois very nearly in their centre. 
 Had there been no English settlement or occupancy 
 north of the fortieth parallel of latitude prior to 
 1610, when Poutrincourt obtained a new grant of 
 Acadia, the whole countiy north of that line must 
 have fallen into the hands of the French. 
 
 The reason, undoubtedly, why France at this 
 time extended her claims no further south than the 
 fortieth parallel was a fear of exciting the jealousy 
 and hostility of the Spaniards. In 1562, when Ribaut 
 and Laudonniere planted at Port Royal, Spain looked 
 
 
376 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 upon it as an invasion of her just domain, and 
 promptly expelled the French invaders. Recent dis- 
 coveries show that she watched with a most jealous 
 eye the fate of the earlier voyages of Cartier from 
 1534 to 1541. Spain, at that time, was the great 
 military and naval power of Europe. There can be 
 no doubt that the limiting of De Monts' charter to 
 the fortieth parallel of latitude, seven degrees short 
 of all her previous claims, was induced by a dread 
 of Spanish interference. Sjmnish jealousy showed 
 itself equally in opposition to the English occupa- 
 tion of the country; but the prompt assertion in 
 1613 of their title, averring the actual occupation of 
 the country; and the denial, on the part of King 
 James, of any validity in the bull of the Pope, up- 
 held the right of England. It was not Sp&in, how- 
 ever, but France that became the actual competitor 
 of England in the struggle for the new dominion. 
 The relations of S[)ain and France were friendly. 
 Between Spain and England there were many irrita- 
 tions, and so far had this ill-feeling grown, that the 
 capture of English ships by Spanish cruisers was 
 not an uncommon occurrence, as in the case of Chal- 
 lons, and others bound to New England for purposes 
 of colonization. The French, therefore, made no 
 claim to that Virginia occupied by the colony at 
 Jamestown, while Spain claimed the whole country. 
 French plans of empire looked northwai'd and west- 
 ward; resting their base on the great inland sea, or 
 gulf lying iiiside Cape Sable and Cape Cod, where, 
 for a whole century previous, from 1504, and on- 
 ward, their fishermen had found the choicest treasures 
 
1 
 
 FIRST COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND. 377 
 
 of the ocean. Whoever held this region, as all now 
 see, must eventually become the dominant power of 
 the New World. 
 
 The national feeling was not fully aroused in 
 either country to the greatness of the prize at stake. 
 Champlain comprehended the true measure of the 
 occasion, and its importance to his country ; while 
 Sir Ferdinando Gorges, with e({ual grasp of intellect, 
 rested on a more secure foundation — the confidence of 
 his sovereign. But the people of England were in- 
 capable of estimating the value of the prize, or doing 
 justice to the man who secured it. In the debate in 
 the House of Commons, in 1621 and 1G22, on the 
 bill to abrogate or annul the New England charter, 
 and throw open the fisheries, briefly reported in the 
 parliamentary journals, the issue was: " Which is of 
 most value, fishing or plantations? " and the result 
 showed that the enemies of colonization were in the 
 ascendant, and a bill to this effect passed the House. 
 By the influence of the King acting with the Lords, 
 it was prevented from becoming a law.' 
 
 From the time of the first conflict at Mount Desert, 
 where Father Du Tliet was killed in defending his 
 home, in 1613 — the first shedding of blood between 
 the French and English on this continent, — till the 
 
 • April 19, 1621, " Mr. Neale said three hundred ships, at least, had gone 
 this year from these ports," p. 591. November 20, 1621, " Mr. (Jlanville 
 moved to speed the bill," etc. " Sir Ferdinando Gorges hath exhibited 
 patent," etc. "Friday next Sir F. G. to be heard," p. 640. Decemlier i, 
 1621, bill under consideration. " Mr. Guy moves a provision ; debate by 
 Mr. Neale, Mr. Secretary, Dr. Gooch, Sir Edward Gyles, Mr. Guy, ami 
 Shewell, which is of most value, fishing or plantations?" ;^i2o,ooobroiir;ht 
 in annually by fishing." " Provision lost. Bill passed, p. 654. — ExtracUi 
 from the " Journal of the Commons." 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
378 FJRST INTERxYA TIONAL KAIL \VA Y. 
 
 full of Quuljoc, ill 1759, and the Treaty of Peuco 
 consuciiUMit tluToon, in 17G3, sunvinlering New 
 France* to (treat Britain, there was a .strife of races, 
 of nationalitieH, and of religion f<>K the territory of 
 New England ; while Virginia, along the Atlantic 
 8h)pe, was never molested by the FrcMich. The 
 western boundaiy of Virginia was the Pacific Ocean, 
 and she came into conflict with France when she 
 crossed the Alleghanies and descended into the 
 Mississipi)! basin, and there met the French settlers, 
 who had seized upon the western waters, claiming a 
 continuous possession of the entire regions <liaiiied 
 by the watei-s of the Mississi[)pi and the St. Law- 
 rence. Had England acquired nothing in the way 
 of title in the New World north of the fortieth par- 
 allel prior to the Plymouth Plantation in 1G20, there 
 is no reason to doubt that France would have swept 
 the British power from the continent at the first 
 clash of arms with Great Britain. It was this pos- 
 session of the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, within 
 the limits of the fortieth and forty-fifth degrees of 
 north latitude, prior to 1610, that settle<l the future 
 destiny of the continent of North America. The 
 consummation of title, therefore, perfected by the act 
 of possession of August 19, O. S., 1607, by the Pop- 
 ham Colony (whose two hundred and fifty-fifth 
 anniversary we this day celebrate), must, if these 
 premises are admitted, forever remain the great fact 
 in the history of the New World. 
 
 The Maine Historical Society, whose duty it is 
 made, by the charter establishing it, " to collect and 
 preserve whatever may tend to explain and illustrate 
 
1" 
 
 FIRST COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND. 379 
 
 the civil, I'tujlesiasticul, hikI natural liistoiy of this 
 State and the United States," waH pUuised to approve 
 of the act of two of its nieinhers, then in the service 
 of the state, who petitioned the authorities of the 
 general government, that this great W(»rk of national 
 defence, tlien about to be undertaken, should be 
 named Fort Popham, in honor of George Pophani, the 
 governor, who led the tirst IJritish colony into New 
 England, under the charter of April 10, 100C;and 
 who, dischai'ging the duties of his office as presi- 
 dent, and presenting a report, in the form of a letter, 
 to the king, dated at Fort St. George, I)ecend)er 13, 
 1007,' here laid down \\\a life — ilu- first man of the 
 English race whose bones were laid beneath the soil 
 of New England. The veneral 1e Cliief of ^^e Engi- 
 neer Bureau of the United blates Ariuy, to whom 
 this petition was referi'e<l, ever jcih ;is of the honor 
 of his country, not only as to the character of its 
 military structures, but as to the nanu^s to whose 
 honor they should attest, pi'omptly endorsed the 
 application ; and it met the ready approval of ihe 
 Secretary of War. To mark, with greater distinct- 
 ness, the event thus commemorated, the Alaine His- 
 torical Society asked permission to place within the 
 walls of this fort a memorial stone, bearing on its 
 face an appropriate inscription of the event ; and a 
 tablet, in memory of George Popham, so honorably 
 associated with the great event of that i)eriod. 
 
 By the favor of the government we have this day 
 performed that duty, with ai)propriate form and 
 ceremony. The learned president of the Maine 
 
 ' Popham's letter in the " Maine Hist. Coll.," vol. v., p. 341. 
 
 
 i 
 
38o FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 Historical Society has announced the historic facts 
 on which this somewhat novel proceeding has taken 
 place. The accomplished and honored chief magis- 
 trate of the state has given to the occasion the influ- 
 ence of his official station, and the more acceptable 
 service of eloquent words, proclaiming the import- 
 ance of the event commemorated, upon the history 
 of tlie country and the world ; while the Episcopal 
 bishop of the diocese of Maine, and the president of 
 our oldest seminary of learning, as chairman of the 
 Standing Committee of the Maine Historical Society, 
 have jointly participated in the appropriate services 
 of this occasion ; and that most ancient, the Masonic 
 Fraternity, has lent to the celebration whatever of 
 dignity or grace the wisest of their Order have been 
 able to embody in artistic form and expression. 
 With the consent of the government, these imposing 
 ceremonies have proceeded, and finally the skilful 
 hand of him who is charged with the construction 
 of this fort, will place this stone in its final resting- 
 place; for the information of those who come after 
 us, proclaiming to future times, in the simple elo- 
 quence of truthful words, that 
 
 The First Colony 
 
 On the Shores of New England 
 
 Was Founded Here, 
 
 August 19, O. S., 1607, 
 
 under 
 
 George Popham. 
 
 It would ill comport with the dignity of this 
 occasion to fail to speak of him whose name is thus 
 imperishably connected with the history of our state 
 
FIRST COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND. 381 
 
 and nation. To his family and the events of his life 
 others may more appropriately refer. We allude to 
 him as a public man, and to his claims to public 
 gratitude and respect. His chief distinction is, that 
 he was one of the eight persons named in the great 
 charter of April 10, 1606; and that he led to these 
 shores the first colony under that charter. In it he 
 is styled gentleman, and he must have been a man of 
 consequence and position, from the fact that he was 
 one of its grantees. After his death, Gorges in a few 
 beautiful lines thus sums up his character: "He 
 was well stricken in years, and had long been an 
 infirm man. Howsoever, heartened by hopes, Avilling 
 he was to die in acting something that might be ser- 
 viceable to God, and honorable to his country." ' A 
 glorious consummation of a long life, devoted to 
 duty, to his country, and his God. 
 
 Inside the walls of this fort, and as a companion- 
 piece to the memorial stone which recoi'ds the historic 
 fact of this day's celebration, the Maine Historical 
 Society will place a tablet in memory of George 
 Popham ; expressing, in that sonorous Latin language 
 which he employed in his communication to the 
 king, and which was at that time used by all who 
 wrote for enduring fame, these words : 
 
 In Memoriam 
 GEORGII POPHAM, 
 
 Angliae qui primus ab oris 
 
 Coloniam collocavit in Nov. Angliae terris, 
 
 Augusti mense annoque MDCVII. 
 
 Leges literasque Anglicanas 
 
 Et fidem ecclesiamque Christi 
 
 • Gorges' " Briefs Narration," p. 33 ; vol. ii., " Maine Hist. Coll." 
 
 1!'!^ 
 
 •I I'' 
 
 :ni 
 
 fl 
 
 I 
 
382 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA V. 
 
 In has sylvas duxit. 
 Solus ex colonis atque senex obiit 
 
 Nonis Februariis sequentibus, 
 £t juxta hunc locum est sepultus. 
 
 Societate Historica Mainensi auspicante, 
 
 In praesidio ejus nomen ferente, 
 
 Quarto die ante calendas Septembres 
 
 Annoque MDCCCLXII. 
 
 Multis civibus intuentibus, 
 
 Hie lapis positus est. 
 
 [translation.] 
 
 In Memory of 
 
 GEORGE POPHAM, 
 
 Who first from the shores of England 
 
 Founded a colony in New England, 
 
 August, 1607. 
 
 He brought into these wilds 
 
 English laws and learning 
 
 And the faith and the Church of Christ. 
 
 He only of the colonists, and in his old age, died 
 
 On the iifth of the following February, 
 
 And was buried near this spot. 
 
 Under the auspices of the Maine Historical Society, 
 
 In the fort bearing his name, 
 
 August 29, 1862, 
 
 In the presence of many citizens, 
 
 This stone was placed. 
 
 This fort, so conspicuously placed, bearing these 
 appropriate testimonials, thus becomes a fitting 
 monument to perpetuate the events of the early 
 history of New England ; and to transmit to future 
 times the memoiy of those illustrious men who laid 
 the foundation of English colonies in America ; to 
 which the laws, the institutions, and civilization of 
 
11 
 
 FIRST COLONIZATION OF NFIV ENGLAND, 383 
 
 England were transferred, and from which has sprung 
 the glorious fabric of American constitutional gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 Standing here to-day, in sight of the spot where 
 Popham, two hundred and fifty -five years ago, took 
 upon himself the office of president, and near the 
 place where, on the fifth of February following, he 
 died ; it seems our privilege to be admitted into his 
 presence-chamber, as for the last time he had sum- 
 moned around him his faithful assistants and com- 
 panions, and gave commands for the future. The 
 scene is worthy of a painter's pencil and a poet's 
 pen. The ever-faithful and heroic Raleigh Gilbert, 
 "a man," says Gorges, "worthy to be beloved of 
 them for his industry and care for their well-being," 
 — the future president of the colony, — is by his side. 
 The pious Richard Seymour administers to him 
 words of comfort and consolation. Captain Richard 
 Davies only, of all his assistants, was absent in Eng- 
 land. His devoted companions stand around their 
 dying chief, when, in the language of Israel's great 
 law-giver, laying the burden of the government on 
 Joshua, he might well say to Raleigh Gilbert: 
 " Be strong and of good courage, for thou must go 
 with this people into the land which the Lord hath 
 sworn unto their fathers to give them: and thou 
 shalt cause them to inherit it. And the Lord he it is 
 that doth go before thee ; he will be with thee, he 
 will not fail thee, neither forsake thee : fear not, 
 neither be dismayed." 
 
 " So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there, in 
 the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. 
 
 I'i 
 
 i '■! 
 
3S4 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 And he buried him in a valley in the land oC Moab, 
 over against Bethpeor ; but no man knoweth of his 
 sepulchre unto this day." 
 
 In the far-distant future, not two hundred and 
 fifty-five years from this day, the period of time that 
 has intervened since his death, but in that period of 
 more than three thousand years to come, like that 
 from the death of Israel's law-giver to that of Pop- 
 ham, these stones which are here builded, shall mark 
 the place of his sepulture ; and the myriads of 
 thronging pilgrims, led by eager curiosity to tread 
 the soil of this peninsula of Sabino, hereafter made 
 classic by song and story, shall pause and read, on 
 that memorial stone, the record of his great work ; 
 and when we who are now here shall have passed 
 away and beyond the reach of stoiy or tradition, 
 Popham's name shall live in the history of the 
 mighty race who have changed this continent from 
 one vast wilderness to a marvel of refinement and 
 beauty fitted for the enjoyment of civilized man. 
 
 His sagacity and ability are best evidenced by the 
 fact that, after the experiencvj of two hundred and 
 fifty-five years, the highest military skill has con- 
 firmed the wisdom of his choice of a place of settle- 
 ment, by the adoption of it as the proper site of the 
 great work of defence for the Kennebec River. To 
 this spot multitudes shall annually repair ; for this 
 region will continue to be — what it ever was to the 
 early navigators and colonists of both France and 
 England — a chief point of interest. The French 
 historian L'Escarbot, speaking of this river, says 
 " it shortened the way " to the great river of Canada.* 
 
 ' L'Escarbot, p. 497. 
 
FIRST COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND. 385 
 
 on 
 
 Gosnold's landfall, in 1602, was at Sagadahoc' 
 Pring, in 1603, made it the chief point of his dis- 
 coveries ; and the great voyage of Weymouth was 
 to " the most excellent and beneficyall river of Saga- 
 dahoc." ' Here the English remained in 1608 and 
 1609, as related by the French Jesuits.^ Here Vines 
 pursued his vocation,* and hither all the fishing 
 vessels came, because the finest fish were taken in 
 this region. The salmon of the Kennebec are to 
 this day known in all our cities. 
 
 The Council of New England, on July 24, 1622, 
 set apart " two great islands in the river of Sagadahoc 
 to be reserved for the public plantation," and "a 
 place between the branches of the two rivers for 
 a public cityy ^ Though the strife of races and of 
 nationalities has kept back the settlement of this 
 whole region, and the still more disastrous conflicts 
 of rival grants and hostile occupation destroyed for 
 
 !.s 
 
 ' Strachey, Hakluyt Society edition, p. 155 ; caption at the head of the 
 chapter. See Poor's " Vindication of Gorges." 
 
 ^ Much controversy and discussion have arisen as to the route of Wey- 
 mouth, and as to the river he explored. I find in Purchase a fact, not 
 alluded to by any of these writers, that may aid in solving the difficulty. 
 John Stoneman, of Plymouth, who went out with Weymouth, in 1605, sailed 
 as pilot in the ship Richard, of Plymouth, in charge of Henry Challons, 
 commander, in Gorges' employ, to found the colony at Sagadahoc, in 1606. 
 Nicholas Hine, of Cockington, near Dartmouth, was master. Although 
 Challons failed of his object, by disregarding his instructions, and was taken 
 captive by the Spaniards, his purpose of going to Sagadahoc is e^p^essly 
 stated, and his pilot was of Weymouth's party in 1605. This discover^ ci 
 the name of Hine, as master under Challons, also relieves us of the difficulty 
 in the apparent contradiction between Gorges and Strachey ; the former using 
 the name of Challons as master, the latter calling the master's name Haines, 
 leading us to suppose there were two several voyages, instead of one in fact. 
 
 • " Relations des Jesuites," vol. i., p. 36. 
 
 ♦ Gorges' " Briefe Narration," p. 24. 
 
 * Minutes of the Council of New England, July 24, 1622. — " Calendar of 
 Colonial State Papers," vol. i., p. 32. 13 
 
 ■ i 
 
 
386 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 generations all plans of improvement, who shall 
 ''are to say that these plans shall not be realized ? 
 When this Acadian peninsula, with its one hun- 
 dred and fifty thousand square miles of teriitory 
 and its abundant resources, shall contain a popula- 
 tion equal to that now peopling the Biitisli Isles, 
 this magnificent estuar}^, with its deep-sea soundings, 
 discharging a larger volume of water tlian any river 
 of the Atlantic coast between the St. John and the 
 Mississippi, may become the chief seat of wealth 
 and power of the mighty race who inhabit the con- 
 tinent, — why then may not the history of other lands 
 become ours, and another Liverpool here rival the 
 great commercial city of England ; and Boston 
 become to the city of the Sagadahoc, what Bristol is 
 to the great shipping poi*t of the Mersey ? ' 
 
 We must not, in this connection, forget our obliga- 
 tions to the people of the colony of Massachusetts, 
 and the early settlers of Plymouth, for their share in 
 conquering the continent for our race, though dealing 
 harshly with Maine." These Massachusetts Puritans 
 of the Saxon type, inheriting all the gloomy errors 
 of a cruel and bloody period, under the iron rule of 
 the Tudors, were ready to demand of Elizabeth the 
 enforcement of the Act of Uniformity against Papists, 
 but refused obedience to it themselves. Nor Avould 
 they yield to the decision of a majority of the clergy, 
 
 ' The extraordinary advantages of Bath for a naval and military depot, are 
 admitted by all military engineers, but no effort adequate to such a con- 
 summation has yet been made. 
 
 * See petition of Edward Godfrey and other inhabitants of Maine, to the 
 Parliament of the Commonwealth. — " Cal. Col. State Papers," vol. i., p. 
 479. Also, Godfrey's letters in Mr. Geo. Folsom's " Catalogue of Papers in 
 the Einglish State-Paper Office in Relation to Maine," pp. 52, 54. 
 
I! 
 
 are 
 con- 
 
 o the 
 
 ., p. 
 ers in 
 
 FIRST COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND. 387 
 
 who in 1562, in full convention, voted to retain the 
 priestly vestments and the forms of liturgy. While 
 agreeing to all the doctrines of its creed, they grew 
 restless under the forms of the church service, ele- 
 vated non-essentials into the dignity of principles, 
 and stigmatized the Prayer-book and the piiestly 
 robes as badges of Popeiy. 
 
 They imagined that by a severe austerity they 
 secured the favor of God, and became his chosen 
 people. They mistook their hatred of others for 
 hatred of sin. They set up their own morbid con- 
 victions as the standard of right; and rather than 
 submit to the laws of their own land, they endured 
 the penalties, or sought escape from them by expatrijv 
 tion. Once planted on the shores of New England, 
 the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay endeavored to ex- 
 terminate every thing that stood in the way of their 
 ambition.' Hence, after their conquest of Maine, 
 
 • The charter of the Massachusetts Company of March 4, 1629, authorized 
 them to make laws and ordinances for their government, " not contrary ta 
 the laws of England." Notwithstanding this they proceeded at once to 
 frame a code of laws designed for the purpose, abrogating the laws of Eng- 
 land whenever they stood in the way of their own wishes. The obvious 
 purpose of the charter was to allow such minor regulations to be made as 
 might meet the peculiar wants of the local population. A similar provision 
 is inserted in charters in modern times, designed to allow the recipients of 
 such grants to exercise their rights in any way they choose, not infringing 
 any of the general laws of the state. These Puritans construed their grant 
 differently from all others, because they designed to establish a religious 
 community on a plan of their own, discarding all portions of the English 
 law, unless re-enacted by themselves. Their be-praised Body of Liberties, 
 enacted in 1641, but not printed till within about thirty years, virtually 
 abrogated the laws of England. 
 
 Equally striking was their claim to the territory of Maine. The political 
 troubles at home, from 1637 to the restoration of Charles II. in 1660, with- 
 drew public attention almost entirely from America, and it was not till 1676 
 that the heirs of Gorges, nearly worn out in the controversy, obtained a decision 
 
 
 I .■!! 
 
388 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 they gloried in extirpating every trace of title 
 granted to others, making war on whatever was 
 opposed to them, aiming at unlimited despotism. 
 Ti-ue, they planted other men's fields, instead of 
 devastating them, and seized upon the territory of 
 others by the same authority and in the same spirit 
 as the Israelites drove out the tribes that formerly 
 possessed the valley of the Jordan. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to remind the student of 
 American history that, at the close of the seven- 
 teenth century, as at the beginning, the two great 
 geographical divisions of English dominion on this 
 continent north of the Delaware, were "the Prov- 
 inces of New York and Sagadahoc." Such are the 
 definitions employed in the grant of that dominion 
 by King Charles II. to his brother, the Duke of 
 York ; and such are the titles under which the Duke 
 of York when he ascended the throne as James II., 
 commissioned his governor. Col. Thomas Dongan, 
 afterwards Earl of Limerick, to exercise authority 
 over these countries. In England, a country of 
 precedents, where the law advisers of the crown 
 always scrupulously adhered to ancient records in 
 the preparation of official documents, such recogni- 
 tion, eighty years after the death of George Pop- 
 in their favor against usurpations. Thereupon March 13, 1677, for ;£^i,250 
 the Puritans purchased the title of Gorges' heirs. Finally in 1684, on scire 
 facias, the Court of Chancery declared their charter forfeited, and thereby 
 put an end to the Massachusetts theocracy. 
 
 A new charter, protecting all Protest, iit Christians in the exercise of their 
 religion, was granted by William and Mary, in 1691, including the Colony 
 of Plymouth and of Massachusetts, the Province of Maine, and Sagadahoc, 
 under one government, and Sir William Phipps, a native of Maine, was 
 appointed Governor. 
 
!! 
 
 was 
 
 FIRST COLON IZA TION OF NEW ENGLAND. 389 
 
 ham, is another proof, if any were wanting, of the 
 legal establishment of EnglancVs claims in these 
 latitudes being inseparable from the foundation of 
 the fii*8t settlement, which to-day we commemorate. 
 
 To review, in the most hurried manner, the events 
 affecting our race, that hjive transpired within the 
 two hundred and fifty-five years since it was i)lanted 
 here, would ti'anscend the jjroper limits of this occa- 
 sion. Less than five millions of people, at that time 
 engaged in the ruder forms of labor, were shut up 
 in the narrow limits of the Bntish Isles ; those who 
 speak the English language to-day in the two hemi- 
 spheres, hold dominion over one fifth of the earth's 
 surface, and govern one fourth of the human species. 
 Their material greatness commenced with colonizing 
 North America. Slowly, patiently, and in much 
 suffering our fathers gained possession of this soil. 
 The title was secured by the act of possession of 
 the Popham Colony. Others came in to help to 
 hold It ; political troubles at home favored emigra- 
 tion hither ; and one hundred years after Popham, 
 three hundred thousand people of the Saxo-Normau 
 race inhabited the then eleven existing colonies. 
 During the next sixty years they had mastered the 
 French, and gained the Atlantic slope from the St. 
 Lawrence to Florida. Before the end of the next 
 one hundred years the same people had grown into 
 the colossal Empire of the West, embracing thirty- 
 four states, and regions yet unpeopled of still greater 
 extent, including, in all their dominions, a territory 
 equal to the continent of Europe, inhabited by more 
 than thirty millions of human beings, speaking one 
 
 i'li 
 
 
390 FIRST INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY. 
 
 language ; while a new power Las arisen in Nortli 
 America, the Colonial Empire of Great Britain, ex- 
 tending over a larger but less valuable territory 
 than the United States, and containing more than 
 three millions of inhabitants. 
 
 Temporaiy differences and periods of alienated 
 feeling will from time to time arise, but nothing 
 can prevent the gradual and cordial union of the 
 English-speaking people of this continent in every- 
 thing essential to their highest welfare. Though 
 divided into various governments, each pui-suiug its 
 own lawful ends, in obedience to that pnnciple of 
 political harmony, that allows each to revolve, in its 
 own appropriate orbit, around its common centre ; 
 an enlightened sense of justice, and obedience to the 
 divine law, as the highest of all good to communi- 
 ties and states, is the daily lesson of their life. Let, 
 then, each returning anniversary of this day's com- 
 memoration draw closer and closer the bonds of fi-a- 
 temal fellowship ; and strengthen those ties of lineage 
 that shall gradually encircle the earth, and consti- 
 tute all mankind, of various races and nationalities, 
 one final brotherhood of nations. 
 
 Two hundred and fifty-five years have sufficed to 
 change this wilderness continent, as if by enchant- 
 ment, into the home of a refined civilization. Culti- 
 vated fields, clustering villages, the refinements of 
 city life, rise to our immediate view ; stretching from 
 this point eastward to Ascension Bay, northward 
 to the Laurentian Hills, southward to the Gulf of 
 Mexico, and westward to the Pacific seas ; where San 
 Francisco, at the Golden Gate, at the touch of the 
 
FIRST COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND. 391 
 
 telegraph, sends to us kiiuUy greetingH for this hour. 
 The improvenient in agricultural inipleiuents, the 
 wonders of the power-loom and the spinning-jenny, 
 the marvels of the steanwhip, the mysteries of the 
 photograph, the magic of the telegraph, and the 
 omnipotent power of the locomotive railway, have 
 since been made our ever-willinij ministei's ; so that 
 man seems almost invested with ubi(piity and om- 
 niix)tence ; yet each revolving year brings forth new 
 marvels, till the finite mind is overwhelmed at any 
 attempt to forecast the future. And the historian 
 of our race traces back this development to the two 
 fii-st acts in the gi-eat drama of American history by 
 which the title of England to the continent was 
 established : the first, closing with the grant of the 
 Great Charter of April 10, 1606 ; the second, with 
 the formal act of possession of the New World under 
 it, August 19, O. S., 1607, thereby making the title 
 forever clear and unquestionable. 
 
 On that day, and upon this peninsula of Sabino, 
 was unfurled that proud flag that had so long braved 
 the battle and the breeze ; then our fathers' flag — 
 and now the flag of the Fatherland, — and beneath its 
 waving folds were proclaimed, for the first time, the 
 political principles which lie at the foundation of 
 free government, in ever memorable words. 
 
 *' I give," said King James, " to my loving subjects, 
 liberty to settle Virginia, in the north of America, 
 between the thirty-fourth and forty-fifth degrees of 
 north latitude. I authorize them to transport thither 
 any of my own people, or those of other lands, and 
 appoint over them a government of their own choice, 
 
39* FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL IVA Y. 
 
 subject to my approval, according to the laws of this 
 kingdom. I authorize them to work mines, coin 
 money, collect duties by imposts, and to exi)el all 
 intruders therefrom by military force ; and I de- 
 clare, that all children born therein, and all persons 
 residing therein, are, and shall always remain, citi- 
 zens, entitled to all the rights, privileges, and im- 
 munities of the loyal subjects of the British realm. 
 And I do further declare, that these, my loving 
 subjects, shall have the right annually to elect a 
 President, and other officei's; that the Christian 
 religion, established in this our kingdom, shall be 
 therein preached and observed ; that lands shall 
 descend to heirs, according to the provisions of our 
 ancient laws ; that trial by jury of twelve men is 
 established in all criminal cases, with u right of par- 
 don by the King; that in civil causes the President 
 and Council shall determine between paiiy and 
 party, keeping full records of all proceedings and 
 judgments, with a right of appeal to the King in 
 Council ; that no man shall be tried as an offender 
 outside of the colony where the alleged offence was 
 committed ; and no offences shall be capital except 
 tumult, rebellion, conspiracy, mutiny and sedition, 
 murder, manslaughter, incest, rape, and adultery. 
 And I do further declare, and ordain, that my loving 
 subjects in America shall forever possess and enjoy 
 the right to make all needful laws for their own 
 government, provided only, that they be consonant 
 to the laws of England. And these, my loving sub- 
 jects, shall be, and forever remain, entitled to the 
 protection of the British crown, and I establish over 
 
 s 
 
FIRST COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND. 393 
 
 them the government of the King of Great Britain, 
 France, and Ireland." 
 
 Thia charter of liberties was never revoked. It 
 was a decree of univei-sal emancipation, and eveiy 
 man of any color, from any clime, was by this act of 
 King James redeemed, regenerated, disenthralled, 
 the moment he touched the soil of America, between 
 the thirty-fourth and forty-fifth degi'ees of north lati- 
 tude, and he at once became entitled to all the rights 
 of citizenship — one hundred and fifty years before 
 the decree of Lord Mansfield struck oif the chains 
 and fetters from the African in England. This 
 » 'dinance also established the right of the [)eople 
 Iv self-government, subject only to the paramount 
 authority of the crown and laws of England. 
 These solemn formalities, unknown to any other 
 of the eai'^y colonies, counselled by the Lord Chief- 
 Justice of England, M'hose brother, as president of 
 the infant commonwealth, planted on these shores 
 the emblems of the authority of his nation ; pro- 
 claimed in no doubtful accents to all other nations, 
 that here the title of England was established. That 
 pledge of the protection of his government, which 
 every Englishman has always felt when he planted 
 his foot on any portion of the empire of his sovereign, 
 gave strength and courage to this colony ; and when 
 the humble settlers of Plymouth, thirteen years 
 later, impressed with their feet the sandy shoi'es of 
 Cape Cod, the claim of England to the country had 
 been vindicated and established against the asserted 
 claims of both Spain and France. 
 
 The power of England remained undisturbed west 
 
394 
 
 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA V. 
 
 of Sjigadjilioc, jiiul Bouthvvai'd, till it was finally 
 yielded on Septend)ei' 8, 1783, — one hundred and 
 seventy-nix yeai's from the time it was first planted, 
 — when all political connection with Great Britain 
 was dissolved, t)n the conclusion of the definitive 
 treaty of peace. In announcing that fjict. King 
 Georijje the Third said : " In thus adniittini' their 
 separation frt)ni the Ch'ovvn of these kingdoms, I 
 have sacrificed every consideration of my own to the 
 wishes and opinions of my people. I make it my 
 humble and earnest prayer to Almighty God, that 
 Great Britain may not feel the evils which might re- 
 sult from so great a dismemberment of the em^iire ; 
 and that America may be free from the calamities 
 which have formerly proved, in the mother C(juntry, 
 how essential monarchy is to the enjoyment of con- 
 stitutional liberty. Religion, language, interest, 
 affections may, and I hope will, yet prove a bond of 
 permanent union between the two countries. To 
 this end neither attention nor disposition on my part 
 shall be wanting." Memorable words, for they admit 
 the national error. 
 
 But the repentance of the king had come too 
 late. The loyal subjects of King James had planted 
 on these shores the j)rinciple8 of civil and religious 
 liberty, under his guidance and his express authority ; 
 and it was not in the power of King or Parliament, 
 after one hundred and seventy-six years of the exer- 
 cise of these rights, to reclaim them by force of arms. 
 It was in defence of rights granted by King James, 
 that our fathers took up arms against the arbitrary 
 nactments of King George the Third and his Parlia- 
 
FIRST COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND. 395 
 
 meut, uiuler tlie lead of Sii" George Grenville, then 
 Firet Minister of the Crown. They defended u prin- 
 ciple since laade universal in its application in every 
 part of tlie liritish Colonial Empire. They claimed 
 only tluiir i-ights as loyal subjects of Great Britain. 
 Our fathers charged the acts of oppression, com- 
 mencing in 1708, and ending in the Revolution of 
 177C, on the King, as the responsible head of the 
 British government ; but the exact truth ha.^ remained 
 obscured, fi'om want of public access, till a recent 
 date, to the state papers of that period. If the odium 
 of these acts shall justly fall on the head of the 
 minister rather than on tlie King, to what an emi- 
 nence of guilt did Sir George Grenville attain; and 
 how different the award of future over cotem2)orary 
 times and opinions, as to the claims to veneration of 
 the two men of England most intimately associated 
 with American affairs ; Sir Ferdinando Gorges, the 
 father of English colonization in America, a private 
 citizen, and Sir George Grenville, the highest officer 
 of state. 
 
 The mind of each one present instinctively turns 
 back to-day, over this long line of liistory, pausing 
 to sui'vey, in this broad sweep, the great epochs that 
 mark its progress. It lingei's longest in contem- 
 plating the initiatory steps that gave title and pos- 
 session to the country, — and delights to loiter here, 
 around this cherished spot, and recall to present 
 view the deeds of Gorges and Popham, and those 
 who assisted them to transport hither the Saxon 
 Norman race ; for that race, planted on this new 
 continent, has favored and illustrated every thing 
 
396 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 that tends to the advaucement of freedom aud 
 humanity, whatever may have been its occasional 
 errors. AVe have established our power as a people, 
 developed the natural resources of our country, and 
 demonstrated the ability of our government to resist 
 foreign aggression. One further duty remains — the 
 vindication of its principles in reference to ourselves. 
 Can a government, resting for its strength and sup- 
 port on the consent of the governed, so far maintain 
 its power as to suppress insurrection without weak- 
 ening the safeguards to personal liberty ? Can pop- 
 ular elections fill the highest offices of the state, and 
 insure that strength and stability to the governm 
 that can vindicate its power in times of domestic in- 
 surrection, or open rebellion, like that now shaking 
 it to its foundations ? 
 
 Putting our trust in that Power that alone can 
 save us, invoking that Arm that can alone be stretched 
 forth for our deliverance, we bow our wills to the 
 Divine teaching. What though at this hour clouds 
 and darkness hang like a thick pall over our country, 
 and in the excess of our marvellous prosperity we are 
 called for a time to self-abasement and trial, the race 
 shall survive all shocks of civil strife and of foreign 
 invasion, and rise superior to both ; this free govern- 
 ment emerge into the full strength and measure of its 
 giant proportions ; and " the gorgeous ensign of the 
 Republic," known and honored throughout the earth, 
 shall once more float full and free, as in former days, 
 over a united and prosperous people. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 In another place, reference is made to a paper addressed to 
 the King, by the Scotch adventurers. Reasons Alledged for 
 Holding Port Royal, which is of so much historic interest 
 and value that we give the same in full, copied from the Brit- 
 ish State-Paper Office, and not heretofore published. (1862.) 
 
 PUBLIC RECORD OFl<ICE, LONDON. 
 Colonial, Vol. 5. No. 102. t. 
 
 Immediately about the time that Columbus discovered the 
 Isle of Cuba, Sebastian Chabot set out from England by 
 Henne the seuenth did first discouer the continent of Ameri- 
 ca, begmning at the Newfoundland, and thereafter going to the 
 Gulph of Canada and from thence hauing seene Cap Bretton 
 all along the Coast to Florida, By which discouery his Ma"« 
 hath the title to Virginia, New England and New Scotland as 
 being then first discouered by Chabot at the charges of the K 
 of England. 
 
 The Preach after this neglecting the knowledge they had 
 thereafter by Jaquef Cartier of theriuerof Canada as a cold 
 climate, or as it may bee in regard it was challenged as first 
 discouered by the English, having a great desire to possesse 
 themselues in some part of America, they planted first a 
 Colony vnder the charge of Mons' Villegas now i„ Brasill.and 
 an other vnder the charge of Mons' Laudoniere in Florida 
 from both which they were expelled by the Spaniards. 
 
 Then giving ouer all hope of attempting anything that was 
 belonging to the Spaniards and pressing by all meanes to have 
 some interest m America, notwithstanding that the English 
 (though they were not able to possesse the whole at first) had 
 
 397 
 
398 
 
 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA Y. 
 
 possessed themselves of that continent, discouered by them, by 
 a Colonie in the South part thereof now called Virginia, and 
 by an other in the North part thereof now called New Eng- 
 land and New Scotland planted by Justice Popham. 
 
 The French in the time of Henry the Fourth vnder the 
 charge of Mons' Poutrincourt hauing scene all the coasts of 
 Newengland and Newscotland to both which parts they did 
 then beginne to claime right. They seated themselues in Port 
 Royal, out of which soone as it was made knowne to the 
 English they were displanted by S'. Samuel Argall, as having 
 wrongfully intruded themselues within those bounds, which 
 did belong to this Crowne, both by discouery and possession. 
 
 The remainder of this French Collony not hauing occasion 
 to bee transported to France, stayed still in the Countrie, yet 
 they were so neglected by the State, not owning them any 
 more and hardly supplied in that which was necessary for 
 them by voluntary adventurers, who came to trade in hope of 
 their commodities in exchange of what they brought, and 
 during the time of King James there was no complaint made 
 vpon S'. Samuel Argall for hauing displanted them, and they 
 were now lately glad to demand that protection from his Ma'^ 
 which was not afforded them from any other. Whereby it may 
 euidently appeare that his Ma'" title was thought good. 
 Otherwise it is likely that the French King, if any wrong had 
 beene done unto him, would haue sought to haue had the same 
 repaired, either by Treatie or otherwise. But without making 
 either any priuat complaint, or yet doing any publick Act 
 against the same, They went next and seated themselues vpon 
 the Northside of the river of Canada at Kebeck, a place where- 
 unto the English by a prpreding title might likewise haue 
 claimed right. But small notice was taken thereof till during 
 the time of the late warre, a Commission was giuen by his 
 Ma**' to remoue them from thence, which was accordingly 
 performed, the place being taken a little after the peace was 
 concluded, which at that time had not come to the takers 
 knowledge, and a Colonie of Scottish was planted at Port 
 Royal, which had neuer beene repossessed nor claimed by the 
 French since they were first remoued from the same. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 l^^ 
 
 g 
 
 IS 
 
 rt 
 le 
 
 This businesse of Port Royal cannot be made lyable to the 
 articles of the peace, seeing there was no Act of hostilities 
 comitted thereby, a Colonny onely beeing planted vpon his 
 Ma'* owne ground, according to a patent granted by his Ma" 
 late deare father and his Ma" self, hauing as good right there- 
 unto as to any part of that Continent, and both the patent and 
 possession taken thereupon was in the time of his Ma'" late 
 deare father, as is set downe at length in the voyages written 
 by Purchas. But neither by that possession nor by the subse- 
 quent plata'on hath any thing beene taken from the French 
 whereof they had any right at all, or yet any possession for the 
 time, and what might haue beenc done either before the war re 
 or since the warre without a breach of peace, cannot bee 
 justly complained vpon for being done at that time. 
 
 After that the Scottish Colony was planted at Port Royal, 
 they and the French who dwelled there hauing met with the 
 Commanders of the Natives, called by them Sagamoes did 
 make choice of one of the cheefe of them called Sagamo 
 Sigipt to come in name of the rest to his Ma"" for acknowl- 
 edging of his title, and to become his Ma'^ subjects, crauing 
 onely to bee protected by his Ma"" against their enemies, 
 which demand of his was accepted by his Ma"" who did 
 promise to protect them as he reported to the rest at his 
 returne. 
 
 Mons'. La Tour, who was cheefe comand'of the few French 
 in that countrie beeing neglected (as is said) by his owne 
 Countriemen, and finding his Ma"" title not so much as ques- 
 tioned after theyr beeing expelled from Port Royall and the 
 coming in of the Scottish necessary for his securitie did come 
 along with the same Sagamo offring and demanding the like in 
 name of the French who Hue there, so that his Ma'" hath a good 
 right to New Scotland by discouere by possession of his Ma'^ 
 subjects by remouing of the French who had seated themselves at 
 Port Royall and by Mons. La Tour the comander of them there 
 his turning Tenant and by the volontarie turning tenants of the 
 rest to his Ma"". And that no obstacle might remaine the 
 very Sauages bj' their Commissioner willingly offering their 
 obedience vnto his Ma'" so that his Ma"* now is bound to 
 
400 FIRST INTERNA TIONAL RAIL WA V. 
 
 maintaine them both in regard of his subjects that have planted 
 there vpon his warrant and of the promise that he made to the 
 Commissioner of the Natiues that came to him from thence, as 
 he promised to the Commissioner of the Natiues, and as all the 
 subjects of his Ma'" ancient Kingdome of Scotland did hum- 
 bly entreat at their last conuention, as may appeare by a letter 
 to his Ma" from his Counsel to that effect. 
 indorsed. Reasons alleaged by the Scottish adventurers for 
 the holding of Port Royal 
 
 Discours 
 Concerning his Ma** right and title to the port Royall and 
 whole Canada, &c. 9 Sept* 1630. 
 Canada. 
 
 END. 
 
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