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PUBLIC ARCHIVES 
 NOVA SCOTIA 
 
 Presented by: 
 
 Mrs, K. L. Dawson, 
 Halifax, N.3. 
 
 1^0. 
 
w 
 
 ■■spi^..,. 'l..U.,«„,^_^„^ MJ_ 
 
 
 #|;lji5 Jittif(j«i«((ii,ti( <i{ 4fm^ 
 
 
 A LECTURE 
 
 / DELIVERED BY 
 
 THE REV. M. HARVEY, 
 
 ON BEHALF OF THE ST. JOHN'S ATHEN.EUM, 
 
 Jtehruari/ ^ft, 1878. 
 
 ST. JOHN'S, N. F.: 
 
 V. W. BOWDEN, PitlNTER, 
 1878. 
 
 .^^ 
 
i 
 
 f 
 
■ - at nm fc ^-^M 
 
 PEEFACE. 
 
 
 Regarding the following Lecture, I have merely to say 
 that it was prepared without any viott to publication ; and 
 that it is now published in deference to tho strongly expressed 
 wishes of many of those who heard it. I have not attempted 
 to revise it ; so that it is now printed almost exactly as it was 
 delivered. I have not even eliminated the little pleasantries 
 which were introduced to enliven tho spoken address. They 
 can harm no one, and may help to enliven the perusal of 
 the printed page. 
 
 It is my most earnest wish that this little production may 
 help some to think more highly and hopefnlly of " Tni^ 
 
 NEWFOUXDLA.XD OF OURS." 
 
 M. H. 
 
THIS NEWFOUNDLAND OF OURS. 
 
 - ^ K ^S CtK ^^'-^ — 
 
 I have underfcakon to spoak to you, for a little, this 
 ovcniug, regarding '• Tuis Newfoundland of Ours." Tho 
 8abject, at all events comes home to our own bosoms, and is 
 thoroughly practical in its bearings. Tho land we live in — 
 with nearly all of us, either tho land of our birth or of our 
 adoption — can never cease to be an object of paramount inter- 
 est. It may not bo very lovely or picturesque in its scenery ; 
 it may not possess a soil so fertile that it has "only to bo 
 tickled to laugh into a harvest ;" great prosperity may not 
 have crowned tho labours of its people ; and their placo among 
 tho nations may not be very exalted, but still it is ours — tho 
 spot of earth on which Ood has placed us and said " go 
 work," and we lovt it as fondly as if it wore a part of classic 
 GreoGQ or Italy, or held within its bosom the vale of Cash- 
 mere, " with its rases the brightest that earth ever gave." I 
 cau tjuito understand how mxuy who hoar ma regard this 
 Newfou.vdla.N"d of Ours with something of tho same tou- 
 darness that all good children feel towards the mother who 
 bore them, and " looked on their childhood." Hero they 
 drew the first breath of life; here, perhaps, "love's young 
 dream" first cast its halos around their youthful imagiuations. 
 With its scenes, all that is brightest and best in their lives is 
 entwined. Toils, sorrows, joys, gains,, losses — all have en- 
 deared to them this spot of earth ; and its rugged rocks, to 
 them are encircled with a glory manifold. They have learned 
 to love its very storms and ice-fields, its frost and snows which 
 give vigour to the frame, and send tho healthful blood tingling 
 through the veins; and a mystic beauty, born of the best in- 
 stincts of the heart, spreads over its valleys, and lights up the 
 very waves that leap around their own sea-girt isle. Such a 
 feeling is to be honoured ; it is one of the deepest and purest 
 in our nature ; and he who has never experienced one throb 
 of love for his country — poor though it may be, — is unworthy 
 of the name of man. lb is the same feeling which, in its 
 highest form, has nerved the patriot's arm in freedom's battle» 
 
Tilts XEWFOUNDLAND OF OirRH. 
 
 and struck tho loftiost notes from tlio poet's lyre, and givou 
 pathos anil power to tlio orator who has corninandoil tho ap- 
 p\auso of listoninj; senates, and swaj'od tho hearts of myriads. 
 Wliy sltoujd not t!io love of cotnitry boat as strcn<;ly in the 
 heart of a Xi^wfoiindlandcr as in that of an ancient (ireek or 
 a modern Briton or American ? Ho too has a country and 
 though he cannot say 
 
 " One Imlf its soil Imn walked the rest , 
 
 111 poetH, beroQB, nmrtyra. sa{,'eH." 
 
 Yet it is not unworthy of his lovo. It may not bo able to 
 boast of refinement, wealth and all tho culture that wealth 
 brings with it. No anciont institutions, hoary with ago, arc 
 here ; but here is a new land, with a bright and limitless futnro 
 before it, on whose soil life will take fresh developments, and 
 genius and entcrpriso now forms, starting with all tlie 
 experience of tho past to guide them, and all tftio mighty 
 discoveries of modern science at command, and with natural 
 resources which I hope to show you before I have dene, aro 
 all that could bo desired for securing a great and prosper- 
 ous career. 
 
 I think we noi?d not blush to own Tins Newfoundland of 
 Ours. It is a goodly heritage — ono wo can bequeath, with 
 the confident hope of future greatness, to those who are to 
 come after us. To say nothing of its splendid geographical 
 position, anchored near the shores of the New World, and 
 reaching farther than any other American land towards tho 
 Oid World, destined thus, as I believe, to furnish the short- 
 est and safest route between both ; to say nothing of its being 
 already tho great telegraphic station whence stretch the 
 nerves which unito both liomispheres ; not to dwell on the 
 command of the Galf of St. Lawrence which its situation se- 
 cures, and putting out of view for a little its fisheries, agricul- 
 tural capabilities and minerals— of all which you will hear 
 presently — look for a moment at its present population as the 
 nucleus from which may be developed an energetic, indus- 
 trious, intelligent race, wi*^^h plenty of iron in thoir blood, and 
 able 10 shoulder their way in the struggles of the coming 
 time, and bear an honourable part in the physical and intel- 
 lectual conapotitions of future years. There is a great deal in 
 race, in ancestry, in good blood. I, for one, believe in the 
 
THI8 MCWFOUNDLAND OF OURS. 
 
 1. 
 
 iiiipovtiinco of cominti of a good Btock. You uro tlio epitomo 
 of a loug liuo of aucuhtry ; tUo coucoutratod uasouce of tbeiu 
 nil ; tht! Biuniuin;^ up of wLolo jjBUoratioiis whosci laboars uud 
 moral and iutolloctual attaiumonts havo oulminatod in you, 
 aud inado you what you aio. Now It .,cems tomu tlio people of 
 N'cv;toundlund aio conu! of a good Htock ; and luoroovor, that 
 the blood has b«eu Ijopt puro, aud the race, so fur, developed 
 uudor favourable couditious. We justly boau;t that this is the 
 most ancient of all the Culouios over which (Jroat IJritaiu sways 
 iier set'ptre ; that this is the lirst portion of tho westera world 
 ou which tho Auj^lo-Saxou set bis foot ; that hero the nation 
 which was ilcstinod to discovci." tho North West Passapjo, and 
 tho «uurcos of tho Nile, and to plant American, Indian and 
 Australian empires, first raised its Hag ami tiled its firet ex- 
 porimout in colonization. Aud tho first oolouis,' . who settled 
 Jicro were not men who were forced to "loavo their country 
 for their conutry'a good." Some of t' ^ a wcio u)er* born 
 in the hi^roic days of P^ngland, m."n bravo, cuterprising, 
 true oa-kiuys who could fearlessly lay their hand on 
 occau's uiane ; many of them Devonshire Uion, the county 
 that produced Sir Walter KaleigU and Lis haU-brotber Sir 
 Humphrey Gilbert, and Drake and Hawkins and many ano- 
 ther old English worthy. To this was added, at a later date, 
 some of Ireland's beat blood; for tho men who wore brought 
 out here by Lord Baltimore, Viscount Falkland and Sir David 
 Kirke, from Ireland, were of the right stamp for colonists. 1 
 may state that a small dash of Scotch blood was added latoi 
 still, to "make tho mixtaro slab and good." Thus, on the 
 soil of Newfoundland, tho strong enduring Sax<m, and the 
 more lively, imaginative, versatile Colt have met, aud the 
 result is a wholesome amalgamation of races whence have 
 sprung the stal^'art men aud comely matrons and maid:-, now 
 around our shores, and there certainly seems to be no fear of 
 the race dj'ing out, judging by tho rata at which marryings 
 and givings-in-marriage are going on. The race has taken 
 kindly to the soil and thriven. Breathing au invigoiating 
 atmosphere, engaged largely in opsn air occupations, a hardy 
 energetic race has grown up, in whom the red cor2)usclcs of 
 the blood preponderate, aud who are well fitted for the 
 world's rough work. Tho great naturalist, Agabsiz, held that 
 
8 
 
 THIS NEWFOUNDLAND OF OURS. 
 
 a fish diet is most favourable for intellectual development, — ' 
 a theory on which we can perhaps account for the success of 
 Newfoundlanders abroad, in intellectual contests. And when 
 education has done its work, who can toll how many of the 
 descendants of our fishermen, with their strong brains, and 
 iron muscles which will enable them to " toil terribly," will 
 be found among the successful statfesmen, lawyers, preachers, 
 bankers, merchants, engineers and tradesmen, in the great 
 cities of the coming ago. The feebler denizens of the smoke- 
 coVored city will go down before these fish-eating Newfound- 
 landers, whose fathers buffetted the billows, and fought the 
 crashing ice-floes, and drank in the health-giving sea breezes. 
 According to Samson's riddle, " out of the eater came forth 
 meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness." At all 
 events, we have this advantage over our continental neigh- 
 bours,— that our isolation has kept the stock pure from unde- 
 sirable admixtures. We have here the intermingling of varieties 
 of race, not of ti/pes, and that is very important. In the 
 United States we see going on a commingling of types of 
 mankind, of all nationalities, white men, black men, yellow 
 men, red men, producing an amalgam which awakens some 
 anxiety regarding the future of that great country. Here, 
 however, the principle of "natural selection" and the "sur- 
 vival of the fittest" has been operating on a pure race, reared 
 in one of the healthiest climates in the world ; and I think 
 that with due culture and the spread of education, a superior 
 specimen of the genus homo ought to grow up here. If you 
 tell me that our soil is barren, I reply, even granting that for 
 a moment, which I am prepared to dispute, what is witheld 
 from the land is put into the men. The best races the world 
 has ever seen were those who grew up on a poor and rugged 
 soil, who had to struggle with difficulties, and to whom 
 nature was a stern nurse ; but in the struggle, they gained 
 energy, courage, self-reliance, all that constitutes true man- 
 hood. Take the noblest nations of the earth, past and 
 present, they were not nurtured amid th^ flowers of the 
 south, but in the cold and stern north, where they had to 
 smite down the forest, and diain the swamp, and transform, 
 by sweat of brow, the barren wilderness into the waving 
 cornfield. From the hardy, much- enduring sac© that have 
 
THIS NEvrFnL'yi)r.AXD of ouus. 
 
 of 
 
 len 
 
 tbe 
 
 and 
 
 will 
 
 lers, 
 
 ;reat 
 
 oke- 
 
 und- 
 
 b the 
 
 jezes. 
 
 forth 
 
 kt all 
 
 aeigh- 
 
 unde- 
 
 xrieties 
 
 In the 
 
 rpea of 
 
 yellow 
 
 8 some 
 Here, 
 " sar- 
 reared 
 : think 
 
 iuperior 
 If you 
 that for 
 ■witheld 
 world 
 I rugged 
 whom 
 y gained 
 •ue man- 
 last and 
 irs of the 
 had to 
 ransform, 
 te waving 
 ihat have 
 
 le 
 
 f^rown up here, ligbtiii<^ cold uml liuu^er often, dniviUf^ their 
 scanty subsistence niaiuly from tbo boisterous iJCMs urouml 
 those shores, feiirlessly pursiitug their fivocations amid storms 
 and icefields, will spiing a people from which great things may 
 bo expected. They have conquered the sea, now they buvo 
 to conquer tbo land, and set to work himboving, gruhbing, 
 plougliiug, sowing, draining, extracting the precious minerals 
 with which thesa old rocks arc charged, — seaming the 
 country with railroads and common roads, and making 
 smooth the rugged face of uaturo in an island, one sixth larger 
 than Ireland, and possessing many a:lvantages which aro 
 denied to the Green Isle. All that could bo asked for, as tho 
 elements of national greatness, are here in i)rofusion ; and if 
 this country docs not rise into iirosi^erity, iu coming years, it 
 must bo either from tho people proving untrue to themselves, 
 or from some combination of unfavourable conditions of which 
 we do not yet see the slightest foreshadowing. 
 
 Perhaps you will tell mo that I am givuig a loose rein to 
 tho imagination and indulging in speculations which are 
 
 " Sncli stull as elreairs are made of, 
 And their little life rounded with slecp'-^ . 
 
 I do not think so, and I shall presently give you very 
 substantial reasons for all I am advancing*; but, in any 
 case, building castles in the air is better than rearing 
 dungeons in the smiling azure overhead. To desyjair of 
 of the land wo live in ; to think meanly or contemptuously of 
 it ; to hold that it is incapable of progiess, is, I think, not 
 only unwarranted by facts, but the worst kind of infidelity, 
 leading to stagnation and death. If wo nmy net believe all 
 things about Tuis Newfouxdland of Ours, we may bfc per- 
 mitted at least to hope all things ; and let us remember that iu 
 matters temporal as well as spiritual, " wo aro saved by 
 hope." Possibly I may be a little prejudiced and over- 
 sanguine. Having spent a quarter of a century here — tho 
 best working part of my life — I am next door to being a native. 
 I have learned to like this land of fog and codfish, with all its 
 drawbacks. I have grown to love its grim palaeozoic rocks, 
 its storms and its sunshine ; its grand battlements that frown 
 defiance at tho wild Atlantic ; its niaguiliceut bays stretching 
 their arms far iulaud ; its hcaltL-giviug brcezos audits kiudly 
 
10 
 
 THIS NEWFOUXDLAN'D OF OURS. 
 
 people. Nay, as years advance, I fmd a sort of siicakiuf^ 
 attachment growin;^ up in my brea^st towards tho very goats 
 that perambulate the streets of tho Capital without asking 
 leave, to whom wo have generously accorded the " freedom of 
 the city." I notice that, as j'cars roll past, 0';t. city goats are 
 becoming more and more literary — devouring whole acres of 
 wall-literature ; so that, in tho course of time, they may bo 
 applying tor admission to tho membership of the Athenaeum, 
 on the ground of thsir attainments in letters. Byron says 
 " Dear is the helpless creature we defend a;^aiust the world." 
 For years and years, as most of you know, I have been doing 
 my little best to defend Tins Newfoundland of Ours against 
 a hostile vt'orld, and trying to make it known and respected 
 abroad ; for as you are all aware we are something worse 
 than unknown, wo are mis-known sadly. While engaged 
 in these efforts, i)ossibly I have formed an exaggerated esti- 
 mate of our country ; but if an error, it is on the right side : 
 and I must now go on to give you some reasons tor the faith 
 that is in mo regarding the future of Tms Newfoundland 
 OF Ours. 
 
 I have said enough regarding the people, and now I turn 
 to the country itself. Things are on a largo scale on this side 
 the Atlantic ; and Newfoundland is no exception, being the 
 tenth largest island in the world, t According to an excellent 
 littlo manual of the Geography of Newfoundland, published 
 lately by Mr. James Howley, Assistant Geological Surveyor, 
 and which every one should possess who wants to know what 
 the country is. This Newfoundland of Ours is 817 miles in 
 length, 316 miles in breadth, with an area of 42,000 square 
 miles of land. So far as size goes, therefore, we have a very 
 considerable estate ; and, in the long run, size tells immensely, 
 and becomes a measure of political power. Our island is one 
 third larger than New Brunswick ; more than twice the size of 
 Nova Scotia ; contains 10,000 square miles more than Ireland ; 
 12,000 square miles more than Scotland ; is throe times as 
 large as Holland, and twice as large as Denmark. As to 
 Prince Edward Island, if it were cut up, we could drown it iu 
 three of our largest lakes. Oar Grand Lake has an area of 
 102 square miles ; the cclebrateil lake of Como, in Italy, has 
 only 90 squares miles ; and the rexiowned Killarnoy only 8 
 
 '4 
 
Tins NF.\VrOTNIit.ANI) 01" OUIiS. 
 
 11 
 
 oats 
 
 iing 
 m o£ 
 s are 
 cs o£ 
 ly be 
 oeum, 
 I says 
 orld." 
 
 doing 
 .gainst 
 pected 
 
 worse 
 ngaged 
 )d esti- 
 it side : 
 be faith 
 
 NDLAND 
 
 7 I turn 
 this side 
 eing the 
 ixcellent 
 Lblished 
 urveyor, 
 iw what 
 miles in 
 lo square 
 e a very 
 menselyj 
 id is one 
 |be size of 
 Ireland ; 
 times as 
 As to 
 •own it in 
 area of 
 |ltaly, has 
 sy only 8 
 
 square miles. As far us si/o goes, Gaudcr Lake, of winch 
 we know uotbing almost till our ablo Goolo^^dcal Surveyor, 
 Mr. Murray, explored it, would make more than five Killar- 
 lieys, though I fear it will be a good while till it attracts as 
 many visitors as tho K<5rry lake, haunted by the niemoricH 
 of the lovely Kate Kearney. Gander Lake has an area of 41 
 square miles, aiid Rod Indian Lake, 09 square miles. In tho 
 whole world there is not an equal area of laud with such an 
 extent of cpast-liue as Newfoundland, which, I thinlc, cannot 
 bo leas than 2,000 miles in length. This is owing to the fact 
 that the shores are indented with so many bays, arms and 
 inlets of the soa, thus furnishing the most splendid facilities 
 for commercial intercourse, and, at tho same time, carrying 
 the finny tribes far inland, within roach of tho fisherman's 
 hook and net. We have harbours innumerablo, many of thcni 
 ranking among tho finest in tho world. Whalj a time nature 
 must have taken in chiseling out our magnificent bays, some 
 of them forty and fifty milos in depth, and having scenery 
 which cannot be surpassed ; and in scooping out those count- 
 loss lakes and lakelets which cover about a third of the 
 surface of the island, giving us enough and to spare of water. 
 Vast processes of denudation, as tho geologists call it, 
 must have been going on for doubtless ages, shaping our 
 valleys and bays, sculpturing our coast-Hne, and the contour 
 of our hiUs and mountain ranges^ The final touch was 
 given, no doubt, during tho glacial period, when Newfound- 
 land was in the condition in which Greenland now is, — 
 covered with an enormous mass of ice, many thousands of feet 
 in thickness, with huge glaciers at work, grinding its rocks into 
 soil, shaping its river-beds and valleys, tearing down its hills 
 and scattering the fragments far and wide, and scooping out 
 its lakes. Do you ask me how do I know that our island was 
 ever under this mass of thick-ribbed ice ? You can see the 
 evidence with your own eyes by taking a walkiu any direction 
 into the country and observing the boulders, or big stones, 
 Avhich cover the surface wherever the land has not been 
 cleared -some small, some of great size — but all rent from the 
 parent rock by glacial action, carried considerable distances 
 and flung about in. promiscuous confusion. Only those old 
 ice-rivers which we call glaciers, could leave such mementoes 
 
 
.1: 
 
 THIS XF.WFOUXDf.AND OF OURS. 
 
 balilud tlioin. I£ you ask mo how lou^; this ylacial Jiction wout 
 on, I refer you to the geologist; but if I might indulge in a 
 guoss, I shouLl say perhaps :]50,000 years. If you ask again 
 how long is it since the ice rlisappcired ? I reply I don't know, 
 and never hope to know in this life. But this much I do 
 know, that there must have been "hard times" while it lasted 
 — "a good deal of cold out," and fine opportunities for skating. 
 During this " cold suaj)" of a quarter of a million of years, I 
 I'ather think there were no AthontEum lectures, — no general 
 elections — no water rates or duns — no Supreme Court or 
 lawyers. Bruis, the great triumph of Newfoundland cookery, 
 had not been discovered, and the game of five-and-forty was 
 still iu the womb of time. When nature set her glaciers to 
 work to hurl blocks of stone over the country, she was nob 
 thinking of the farmers who would have to clear the ground; 
 but kindly grinding the hard rocks, she gave us splendid 
 materials for road making. We are inclined to think she 
 might have left as a little more of the carboniferous formation, 
 instead of planeing it all away, except the strips on the western 
 shore; for it often yields coal and gives a deep and fertile soil ; 
 but then she has " engineered " our noble bays, and brought 
 up the sea to every one's door, and taken great pains with our 
 harbours and coves, and given us codfish and seals and part- 
 ridges and deer and an unlimited supply of huriz, and 42,000 
 square miles of land — so that we must not complain. She 
 has, too, thrown in a liberal deposit of Silurian recks, kindly 
 allov.ang us an immense share of tlie Quebec group, contain- 
 ing, I have no doubt, enough copper ore and other minerals 
 to keep us prospecting and mining for centuries to come. 
 Add to all this, our forest and agricultural lands, of which 
 more anon ; our encompassing seas with their inexhaustible 
 treasures — these ocean farms of ours requiring no ploughing 
 or sowing, only the reaping ; — the materials tor shipbuilding 
 which have beeu prepared — the fxcililies for the construction 
 of railroads and common roads which nature has furnished 
 in the absence of any lofty range of mountains. Consider all 
 this and say, shall we not pronunce " This Newfoundland 
 OF Ours " a goodly land — one to be cherished and raised to a 
 high place among the young communities around us, now 
 taking organic form, and as Milton said of England, " like an 
 eagle mewing their mighty youth." 
 
THIS NKWFOUN-DL.Wn OF OURS. 
 
 18 
 
 The course of Newfouudlaud history may bo divitlod into 
 three periods— first the chaotic or anarchic period ; second, 
 the transitional, and third the period of maturity. I think wo 
 aio still in the transitional period, though I trust approaching 
 its last stage ; and I doubt not that many whom I now address 
 of the younger generation, will live to see their country come 
 of ago and enter on its mature condition. Long and weary 
 was the chaotic period of Newfoundland history, extending 
 from 15S3, when Sir Humphrey Gilbert landed at St. John's"^ 
 and took possession of the country in the name of Queen Eliza- 
 beth, to 1728, when the first Governor, Captain Henry Osborne, 
 wag appointed, and Newfoundland was raised to the rank of 
 a British colony. I call this long period of 145 years chaotic or 
 anarchic, because it was marked largely by misrule and op- 
 pression among the resident population, and by an xmhappy 
 policy on the part of England, which aimed at making the 
 island merely a stage for curing fish, and steadily prohibited 
 the occupation of the country by a settled population. " lb 
 weoms to us, at this distance of time, almost incredible that 
 laws should have been enacted and maintained for more than 
 a century which prohibited the occupation of land, or the 
 erection of houses, except such as were absolutely neces- 
 sary for carrying on a summer fishery. Ships and fishing 
 crows came out here early in the summer ; the fish caught 
 were salted and dried ashore ; and when winter approached 
 the fishermen were compelled by law to re-embark for England, 
 carrying with them the products of their labour. ° The 
 English shipow::ers and traders wished to retain the harbours 
 and fishing coves for tho use of their servants in curing the 
 fish ; and they regarded all settlers on the land as interlopers, 
 hostile to their pursuits.\Unhappily the British Government 
 of the day fell in with their selfish views ; and regarding the 
 Newfouudland fisheries as a nursery for seamen, tljcy secured 
 the enactment of laws prohibiting settlement. Justice was 
 administered by the notable Fishing Admirals, perhaps the 
 most remarkable machinery for administering law adopted 
 in any age or country. It was solemnly eujicted that the 
 master of the first ship entering a harbour was to b3 admiral 
 therein for the fishing season, and bo empowered to decide all 
 complaints. '^AVe can fjmcy one of these rougii, old skippers, 
 

 14 
 
 nils NKWIOUNDLAM) <)F OLUS. 
 
 with a ruiirli'jcj-.spiku iu oue hand, a pipe iu the otlior, ami o, 
 botcio of ruiu at his elbow, prcsuliu<^ in Lis court of justice. 
 It is not surpi'isiijg to find, as tlio result of inquiries after- 
 wards instituted, that tlio most frightful abuses were perpe- 
 trated, and thc! most tyrannical practices universal under such 
 a system. It speaks volumes, too, for the pluck and energy 
 of the people of those days, that in the teeth of those unjust 
 opprcssivulaws, a resident population steadily increased, and 
 obtained foot by foot, a firm hold upon the soil, and finally 
 got the obnoxious laws rajjealod, (ho Fishin;; Admirals 
 " sponged off the slate," and secured the administration of 
 justice iu regular courts of law. But the battle was loug and 
 severe. It Avas not till 1728 that the first germ of local self- 
 government wa3 obtained by the appointment of a Governor ; 
 and it is but eighty-six years since the Supreme Court of 
 Judicature foi- tho inland was instituted ; and it is but sixty- 
 seven years since thc crcotiou of houses, without a special 
 license Ivom tho (lovenior and the cultivatiou of land were 
 Icgalisocl. Only fifty-two years have elapsed since tho first 
 roads were laid dawn. What Newfoandlaud would be to-day, 
 had settlement been encouraged, aud civilization fostered, as 
 iu tl:e other provinces, instead of being thwarted and tram- 
 pled down, it is vain now to conjecture. ' .But let it be remem- 
 bered that uo living 7'uan cau bo held accountable for tho 
 wrongs and cruelties of the past ; and if I refer to them, it is 
 not to stir up reseutiueuts, but to point to them as warning 
 beacons for tho futurj ; aud as a ground of hope, now that 
 their pressure is removed, for steady progress in the time to 
 come. To mc tLic wonder is that matters are now as favour- 
 able as wc see them to bo. Among those early settlers w^ho 
 fought and won tlie battle, under such disadvantages, there 
 must have been many good and true men, of great vigour of 
 character, aud st»lid worth. Let us honour the memory of 
 our conscript brothers who for us bore the burden aud heat of 
 the day. 
 
 So'tie of the transactions iu those anarchic times look to 
 US suliicio'itiy ludicrous, though serious enough to those who 
 went througli tliom. Out of the wreck of the past has been 
 preserved a petition bearing the date of 1770, — or about a 
 century ago — fi-om the " IMerehants, Boatkcepers and Priuci- 
 
 H 
 
 1' 
 
THIS NKWFOUXDLAND OF OURS. 
 
 16 
 
 ami a 
 ustice. 
 after - 
 perpc- 
 3r such 
 eucrf^y 
 unjust 
 ed, and 
 finally 
 ^drairals 
 ition of 
 3ag and 
 cal self- 
 ivernor ; 
 jourt of 
 ut sixty- 
 i special 
 i,nd were 
 the first 
 le to-day, 
 itered, as 
 nd tram- 
 ?, rcmem- 
 e for the 
 liem, it is 
 warning 
 now tbat 
 le time to 
 IS favour- 
 tiers who 
 ^Gs, thero 
 vigour of 
 aeraory of 
 ud boat of 
 
 OS look to 
 those who 
 has been 
 or about a 
 nd Princi- 
 
 pal Inliabitanis of St. John's, Potty Harbour and Torbay," 
 and addressed to " The Hon. the Commons of Grrat Britain 
 in Parliament assembled." This petition contains some 
 curious items showing how things were looked at in those 
 days. The petitioners prayed for an increase of bounty to 
 the extent of six .shillings a ton on all vessels engaged iu tbo 
 fisheries — a very desirable arrangement for them, no doubt. 
 Also they ask for admission of tlieir oil. seal sldnsand blubber 
 into Britain free of duty — wbich was only reasonable. Fur- 
 ther,— they plead tbat " if a master or iiprson acting under 
 him should at any time see it necessary to correct any sei'vant 
 under them, with moderation, for not doing his duty in a 
 proper manner," tbat tlie said servant be not allowed to 
 summon his master before a justice of the peace, '* which in 
 the height of the fishery has been found very detrimenttJ." 
 In other words, these honcf«t men wanted the Commons bf 
 England to give thfm the power of thrashing their servants 
 as thoy thought proper, without being made answerable in 
 any v/ay. They also asked Parliament to send off all shop- 
 keepers fi;om the country at si:, months' notice, or else 
 compel them to keep fishing vessels ; as thoy were interfer- 
 iug with their own profits in supplying their own servants. 
 This was rather rough on the shopkeepers of a hundi'od years 
 ago, and shows that the principle of buying iu the cheapest 
 market v/as not then recognized. The petition winds up by 
 reipiesting tliat no more ground be enclosed for farms, as the 
 gardens of the officers ptatioueu hero " obstructed the public 
 pathways to the woods." What a curious picture this gives 
 us of tho .state of matters in St. John's a hundred years ago 
 — merchants and planters eudgclliug their servants — charging 
 them whau tliey pleased for supplies, and askmg Parliament 
 to rcraovo all shopkeepers. A letter from Governor Milbank, 
 dated October 1700, or 88 years ago, acldressod to Goorgo 
 HutchiuK, Esq., is also extant, in whicli tho Governor orders 
 the house of '^a certain Alexander Long to be pulled down 
 because '"it had a complete chimney in it, if nut iwo,t\.n(\ 
 lodging for at least six or eight dieters," and so had been 
 orectod contrary to law ; and tho sturdy old Governor further 
 says that he will not ?llow possession of any land except such 
 as is employed hi the fisheries. But I have still a worse case 
 
IfJ 
 
 THIS NEWroUNDLANI) 01' OUHS. 
 
 to tell yon of — a certain Major, Lieut. Governor Elford, about 
 tho year 1783, sent a despatch to the British Parliament re- 
 oommondinf; strongly that " all the women located on tho 
 islantl shoukl be removed, and that in future no women should 
 be allowed to land." Only fancy our present highly-esteemed 
 and pojiular Governor, issuinj^ such an inhuman order for 
 the removal of all the ladies in tho colony. I am sure ho 
 never would do so unless he meant to accompany them. But 
 how came women to be in Newfoundland at all, in such 
 rough times ? This is the first mention of them in our history. 
 How did they get here ? Blessings on them, they had 
 come to take care of the unfortunate men. " Where the 
 carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together." 
 Wherever man is, woman is suio to venture. She knows wo 
 require to be looked after, and that alone, man is as useless 
 as one side of a pair of scissors. I feel satisfied that this 
 ill-natured Governor, who must have been an old bachelor, 
 did not succeed in driving out the women, and preventing all 
 ilew arrivals. I should like to see the Governor or the laws 
 that could accomplish that. As Horace said long ago, if you 
 drive out nature with a fork she will return on .you. Tho 
 tender passion is not to be eliminated from human nature by 
 any forcible measures. Tho Italians tell a story of a noble- 
 man ^\ho grew sick of the worlil, and especially of the better 
 half of it — woman-kind ; and so he retired with his son, then 
 an infant, to a castle in the mountains where no girl 
 or woman was ever allowed to come ; f.,nd there the child 
 grew up to be a young man without ever having looked into 
 the face of woman. At last his father ventured down with 
 him to a great public festival that was to be held in the 
 valley ; and there among other wonders he saw for the first 
 timo young girls ; and with wide-open eyes ho whispered to 
 his father, " What arc they" ? " They are devils my son," 
 the father answered, "don't look at them, -or think about 
 them." Ho thought, no doubt, he had made all safe. But as 
 they were about to go homo he said, "My son what is thero 
 in the fair you would like, and I wil' get it for yon ?" Now 
 tho poor 5'outli had seen a lassie of the hills, with a blush on 
 her cheek like the Alpine rose, and eyes as blue as Italian 
 ibkies or Juliets dark liquid orbs ; and she had shot a glance 
 
THIH NLWFOUNM-ANP OF OURH. 
 
 17 
 
 (1, about 
 ucut re- 
 1 ou tho 
 a should 
 jsteomed 
 rder for 
 I sure ho 
 sin. But 
 
 in such. 
 i: history, 
 they had 
 'hero tho 
 vogcthcr." 
 knovvs "SVG 
 3,8 useless 
 
 that this 
 
 bachelor, 
 
 cnting all 
 
 r tho laws 
 
 igo, if you 
 
 you. The 
 
 nature by 
 
 : a noble - 
 
 the better 
 
 1 son, then 
 
 no girl 
 
 tho child 
 ookod into 
 lovvu with 
 icld in the 
 3r the first 
 hispered to 
 
 my son," 
 hiuk about 
 fo. But as 
 
 at is thero 
 u ?" Now 
 
 a blush on 
 
 as Italian 
 lot a glance 
 
 ttt him and wickedly elttin him ; and so ho said, with a frronjt 
 Rulp, " father, I should like bo much to have that yoim^ 
 ]>evil to take home with me." If tho story is not true in fact, 
 it is as tiuo as lieaven and earth can make it of this human 
 nature of ours. Y©u may bo quite suro tlie women did not 
 leave this island, on the rough hint of tho Governor ; and if 
 they had a one so, fresh importations would have been soon 
 called for. 
 
 Chaos ended, I have said, and Cosmos began in 1728, 
 when our first Crovernor was appointed, and wo were ra'sed 
 to the rank of a colony, — 
 
 " The mills of the gods fjrind slowly 
 But tbey griud exceoding small." 
 
 They ground up at last the old Fishing Admirals and th«ir 
 marline-spikes ; and after thoni tjio " Surrogates" of blessed 
 memory, and all the stupid selfish laws which prohibitctl 
 local industry but authorised religious intolerance ; and I 
 thiidc, that these same " mills of tho gods" will one day 
 grind up those ancient treaties which have shut us out from 
 tho best half of our island, and most seriously impeded the 
 lirogrcss ot tho colony. Still Cosmos came with" slow foot- 
 steps, lu 1805 tho country made a big leap forward and got 
 a post office ; and in the same year the Royal Gazette, tha 
 first newspaper was printed. The transitioi: may be consi- 
 dered to have been fairly established in 1882, when tho colony 
 obtained the boon of Eepresentative Government, which in 
 1855 was followed by Responsible Government, its natural 
 and necessary sequel. Almost every one will now admit tl^at 
 great and beneficial results have followed the introduction of 
 local self-governmont, which is simply the application of the 
 principles of the British Constitution to the subjects of Queen 
 Viotoria in Newfoundland. We are now as free as any people 
 under the sun. I should like to know what greater degree of 
 liberty any man could reasonably ajsk for than that enjoyed 
 here. We elect our representatives, having a household suf- 
 frage ; make our own laws ; select our ©wn Government ; 
 pay them to govern us, and then we have the privilege and 
 happiness of governitig them. Think how closely we watch 
 our Government at every turn and abuse them when they go 
 contrary to oar wishes. Think of the generous, disinterested. 
 
I 
 
 IH 
 
 Tni9 NKWFOUNDl.AND OF OUIW. 
 
 watchrul ciir(> of tlioOppositiou t« kwc'p tlieiu rit;lit ; uud liow 
 our faithful I'rosn pours «nt tho viiils of it« wrath at tiiiios ou 
 tho dovott'd hoadu of the Cloverimwnt, and suy are we not 
 Builiciently froo '} Kvcn tho rcpresontativo of royalty him- 
 scll, wlicii lio iirrivoH hero, finds huiiMi'lf, a vory liuiitod iiiou- 
 jirch indued. With Rosi»oiisibli! Oovoi-uoiruj then our trausi- 
 tion was fully iuunguriited, aTid wo are jogginy ou now fairly 
 towards tho stage of our maturity, ua an organized uud 
 civilized community. 
 
 Do you ask mc when the period of our maturity will 
 bcgui ? I answer, without lu.'sitation, when oui- island in 
 j)ierc(5d by a grand trunk railway, with branches radiating to 
 all tho prijicipal districts— then and not till then, will our 
 majority have arrived. Permit me for a moment to state my 
 honest convictions ou this Hiibject. Kight (>• wrong, you will 
 J hopo give mo credit for sincerity, for I havo no " axe to 
 grind,' and I am uuinlluencod by any political bias. And my 
 conviction is this — that Newfoundland has reached that 
 stage in which a railroad has become an absolute necessity, 
 if she is to make further progress ; and that wo ought to strain 
 every nerve, and submit to almost any sacrifice in order to 
 obtain this grand necessity of modern civilization. Wo havo 
 all that could bo wished for, at present, as regards ocean and 
 local steam communication. Wo have tho splendid steamers 
 of the Allan Line calling hero weekly ; and they havo given 
 to the world a practical demonstration of the magnificence 
 of our geographical position. In ten minuterf after leaving 
 the broad Atlantic they are moored at the wharf, in one of 
 tho safest harbors in tho wotld. Their prows are turned 
 eastward, and ten minutes after clearing the wharf they aro 
 again, in the Atlantic, with net a rock or shoal between them 
 and Queenstown, which they reach in six days almost as 
 regularly as a railway train. People understand now tho 
 superiority and safety of this route, and are getting to havo 
 faith in St. John's, as a port of arrival and departure. Now 
 suppose we had a railway built, and conld whisk passengers 
 across the island to St. George's Bay in nine hours, and put 
 them across the Gulf in tiftoeu more, and that then they 
 could take rail for all parta of tho Contincut, do you not 
 think we should have Hao bulk of passengers who cross tho 
 
 i 
 
Y 
 
 ! 
 
 'litis NKWl'OT'NUr.AM) Ol' otnis. 
 
 n» 
 
 UUll I low 
 tiuios ou 
 we not 
 ilty bim- 
 itod mou- 
 nt trail si - 
 ow fairly 
 i/tid uud 
 
 urity will 
 
 island in 
 
 di!itiu<» to 
 
 will our 
 
 state my 
 
 , you will 
 
 '• axe to 
 
 And my 
 
 bed tbat 
 
 necessity, 
 
 t to sfcraiu 
 
 crdov to 
 
 Wo have 
 
 )coan and 
 
 steamers 
 
 avo given 
 
 guitieence 
 
 r leaving 
 
 in one of 
 
 :e turned 
 
 ' they are 
 
 een them 
 
 ilmost an 
 
 now the 
 
 g to have 
 
 re. Now 
 
 lassongers 
 
 , and put 
 
 ;hen they 
 
 3 you not 
 
 cross the 
 
 AtlaiiLic Inking this swift route, and that wo should have tho 
 grciitci' )t;irt of tlio mails tnuisiuitted hy th*; HaUK; track, whou 
 London would thu^J bo biou;^ht witiiui soven days of \ow 
 York. This is no dream. One of Llur mtjst emiuont of living 
 enginecTs — .Mr. Siindford FIciniug — has pronounced it tjuito 
 a pr!ictieabl(! aehi(!venieut thus to establish eouuuunieation 
 beiAvcen the two ht-uii-phures. When wo can lurnish ut once 
 the bafest and quiekosb route btlrwweu the Old and Now 
 Worlds, our cbiims are sure one day to be recognized- l>uL 
 sotting this aside fur u moment, let us look at our internal 
 condition, as suggesting tho necessity for a railroad. What are 
 we going to do with this huge territory of 12,01)0 square miles '.' 
 Are we going to' leave the mteriur for ever to tho wolves and 
 the deer',' Are the line agricultural districts to remain soli- 
 tudes, when our own people and tho people of other counlrius, 
 who aro in need of bread, would occupy them if they were 
 made acc(>ssil)lc, and transform them into smiling farms, and 
 niako them the haj)j)y hom<'S of men '.* Must our noble forests 
 be left to rot and biu'n '.' — our coal beds and mineral deposits 
 sleep for over where bountiful nature has stored thorn ? Shall 
 our people eliug for ever to the rocky shores, and content 
 tiiemselves with a precarious subsistence derived from tho 
 stormy deep / HhaRio on us if wo do not rise to a nobler con- 
 ception of our destiny as a people, and utilize the gifts of a 
 bountiful Trovidence. To me it seems that the present gene- 
 ration are brought face to face with the task of constructing a 
 railroad across the island, and that tboy will prove untrue to 
 their duty if they do not lay aside all party considerations 
 anct unitedly and valiantly gird themselvoB for the work. 
 Tiiink for a moment winit the construction of such a railroad 
 means to us ! It means the opening up ®f this great island — 
 the union of its eastern and western shores — the working of 
 its lanils, forests iMid minerals — its connection by a rapid 
 means of communication with tho neighbouring continent. 
 It means tho increase of its population by a stream of 
 immigratioii — it means the conversion oi the country into a 
 hive of industry, and the commencement of a material pros- 
 perity to which we can set no limits. It means employment 
 at good wages to cur population— many of whom alas ! aie 
 now very scantily supplied with the poorest nocessuries of 
 
w 
 
 rnifl NT.wFOTTVi)r,A\» OF onus. 
 
 life — "Too littl(5 to live on and to much to dio on." To St. 
 Joliii'fl itsuif a rdilroud menus u vast iucruaso of biisitisss uf 
 uU kinds, — uow houses goiny np— mtofuuura arriviuy and do- 
 purting ovory day — roal ostato iiicroiisud in valuo fourfold; ami 
 tin end to all grumbling luuoug our traders about bad dubts 
 and h«uvy stocks ou hand at tho closo of tho soason. lb 
 means openings of all kinds for tho talents and energy of tho 
 young tjoneration. But wanting a railroad, nono of thoso 
 beiiulils will u jmu, and we shall be simply at a stand-still and 
 all our ruBMuruos must roiuain undovelopuil. 
 
 But thou it is askod how is a poor colony liko this to 
 build a railroad ? We can't afford it. I reply you can't afford 
 to do without it. Your poverty is your strongest argument 
 for going at it, in order to transform tliat poverty into woalth. 
 It seems to mo that a railroad is peifoctly within our reach 
 by a very little sacrifice. Tho first stop has been taken by 
 securing a survey of tho lino ; and, in my humblo judgment, 
 never was public money hotter spent than in that instance, 
 for it has lodged tho idea of a railroad iu the public mind, and 
 that will not be eradicated till it is translated into a fact. 
 Moreover — it has shown that there aro no serious difficulties 
 ill the construction of auch a road. This is one of tho easiest 
 countries iu the world to piorco with a railroad. I have high 
 authority for saying that a subsidy of j£30,000 per annum, for 
 a limited number of years, with a liberal grant of unoccupied 
 land along the line, would secure this grand desideratum. 
 What is wanted is that tho people should arouse themselves 
 to the necessity of getting a railroad, and tell their representa- 
 tives that it must be done ; and that if there are diflicultios, 
 they aro sent te the halls of legislation to overcome difficul- 
 ties, and lead tho way in the path of progress. If I wero 
 Prime Minister I should, in Yankee phrase, " freeze to" this 
 railroad. I would plot and scheme and scrape and pare, and 
 reriso tho tariff, and do everything short of stealing, till I got 
 money enough for the railroad. I think I would take that 
 million or million and a quarter of dollars which we have had 
 the good fortune to obtain by the award of tho Fishery Com- 
 mission— thanks to the goodness of our case, and the ability 
 and zeal of our reprosculative, Mr. Whiteway; — and I would 
 permanently invest it, and thus obtain jeiO,000 per aunu-m, or 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 

 Tins VRWFOUNDI.AM) OF t)lJRS, 
 
 :i 
 
 this 
 
 a third <»f all that is wantntl for our railroad. I vroiild keep 
 at it, Hlod^o-bumtueri'i)^, kuucking dowu all oppouentn, conh< 
 dont thut 1 Hhuuld win, in tho lung run, aud that a gratoful 
 posterity would ouo day blo.sa my memory, aud that my 
 Htutuu would stand over tho groat luteruatioual Railway 
 Stiitiou that HhiiU yot adoru St. Johu's. Oucu it is built, ail 
 thiut^s uro pobsiblo. Hail to tho gr«ut Horcuftor, whon Now- 
 fouudhiuderki will bomakm^ excuTHious by rail, ou their public 
 holiduyH, to witness a regatta ou Gaudur Lake, or lied ludiau 
 [jiiko ; whon pic-nicH will bu hold at Sorpeutiuo Mouutaius or 
 I'owilor-hor'i Hill, and daucos at the foot of the Blow-mo-dowu 
 Kaugo ; vrhou Sunday school childrou will bo takon in happy 
 batches inoxcursiou trains, to gather hurtx and play gatuos ou 
 the tableland of tho interior ; whon day schools will bo whisked 
 off tu spend a churming day in visiting the mines aud great- 
 copper Ri*'<ilting works of tho north, or in wandering along tho 
 bunks (. ' the Humbor — when visitors from the United 
 States and Canada will be crowding the Imperial Hotel at 
 Long Pond, where cold and hot salt water baths can then ba 
 hull and oxcollont livery stables are kept ; and when return 
 tickets for Japan and China, viu tho Canadian Pacific Kaiiway 
 will be issued at a cheap rate ; and such will ba the facilities 
 for travellmg that we shall seldom live at homo. Don't toll 
 nie that, with all these glowing prospects before us, we cannot 
 uft\jrd to build a railway. With an annual revenue of 
 $8^3,000 and yet not ablo to construct 850 mile* of railway t 
 Then might we ask 
 
 " Ihuiu- civilizatiou a failure, 
 Or is tlie Cixucussiau played out ? " 
 
 Let US abjure such faithless ideas. 
 
 ''Lay down your rails, ye uatious, uearandfar, — 
 
 Yoke your full trains to steam's triuuiiilial car; 
 
 Liuk towu to town ; unite iu iron band:^ 
 
 The long-ustrauged auil oft-embattled lands. 
 
 Peace, mild-eyed Seraph — knowledge, light divine,, 
 
 Shall send their messengers by erery line. 
 
 Blessings on science and her hand-maid steam I 
 
 Tliey make Utopia only half a dream ; 
 
 Aud show the iervont, of capacious souls, 
 
 Who watch tho ball of Progress as it rolls, 
 
 That all as yet completed or began, 
 
 Is but the dawuiyg that piecedea the mu.' 
 
i! 
 
 m 
 
 \l 
 
 ±1 
 
 THIS NEWFOUNDLAND OF OURS. 
 
 m 
 
 i 
 I. 
 
 I f": 
 
 J must now draw this rather leiif^thj' address to a close ; 
 aud I shall do so by ciulcavoriu<^ to show you that this conu- 
 try has made such real and, I might say, wonderful progress 
 during the last forty or fifty years, aud more especially during 
 the last fifteen or twenty years, that we are warranted in pre- 
 dicting great things of it in the near future. I begiu with its 
 progress in road-making which has boon very considerable, 
 thongli much remains to be done, lloads are types of civili- 
 7ution. Where there arc no roads the people are savages ; 
 where roads are few and bad, law is weak and society semi- 
 l)arbarons. If you want to know whether a peoijlois stagnant 
 or progressive look at their roads. Wherever there is mental 
 activity, enterprise and a liberalizing spirit of any kind you 
 will see their manifestations in the building of roads for travel 
 and intercourse. All the great epochs of civilization in the 
 world's history were ages of roads. Nothing marked the 
 splendid cm of the Roman Empire so strikingly as the magni- 
 ficent system of roads which radiated from the forum of Rome 
 to the furthest oxtremitieos of the most distant provinces. 
 This is emi)hatically the age of roads, not only of stone but of 
 iron, along which rushes the iron horse, with heart of tire and 
 muscles of steel and breath of steam. Then we make roads 
 over the ocean by our steamship ; and roads for thought by 
 the telegraph wire ; and the day is not distant when the world 
 will l7e one vast scasoriuin, with nerves of communication to 
 the very ends of the earth. In tlie Highlands of Scotland, in 
 what was ouco a very wild district, but which is now well fur- 
 nished with excellent roads, there stands a stone bearing chis 
 inscription, which reads rather like an Irish bull but is really a 
 High land one :— 
 
 " If you liad seen tbese roads before they were made. 
 Vou wunM lift tip yoiu' liauds and bless (General Wade." 
 
 Now in like manner I might say if you had seen the excellent 
 roads that now radiate from St. John's " before they were 
 intwle," you v oukl bless, first of all, the memory of Sir Thomas 
 C'ychrane, one of our GovorHors, wlio in 1H2.') made the first 
 road to Portagal Cove, aud also the road between Harbour 
 Giace and Carbunear. Like our present Governor, he was 
 not afraid of the ])Ogs and bushes, aud travelled far and 
 wide to iuform himself le^^irliu^ thu couutry aud poople. He 
 
THIS NKWFOUXDLAND OF OURS. 
 
 2a 
 
 were 
 
 U)1UIS 
 
 lirst 
 
 "bour 
 
 was 
 
 and 
 
 He 
 
 
 iuitiatod road-making, and othors have followed it up. Still 
 the labour of road budding went on slowly, Whou Mr. 
 Jukes, the geologist, was heroin 184U, he tells us that when 
 making an excursion to Topsail, ho found the first fiye miles 
 of the road from St. Jolin's " in a condition good enough for 
 a horse to trot along it" ; the rest was merely marked oat, 
 not gravelled, and cut through woods " leaving the stumi^s 
 and roots of the trees." When this was the case around the 
 Capital so lately as 37 years ago, it may bo imagined what 
 was the condition of the rest of the country in regard to 
 roads. You will agree with mo thon that, daring those 37 
 years, groat progress has l)eou made in road-building ; bub 
 still an enormous amount of work remains to be done before 
 our population shall bo provided as they ought, with roads — 
 the indispensable elements ot civilized existence. At tho 
 I)reseut date we can reckon up 7"27 miles of postal roads — 
 1,730 miles of district roads. The Groat Northern Mail Huute 
 when completed will bo 137 miles in length and 1,200 miles 
 are in process of making. 
 
 I must now very rapidly sum up other indications of 
 progress. In 1840 the first steamer ever st'on in Xewfound- 
 land made her oppearance ; in 1840, or 38 years ago, wo got 
 our first mail steamer ; a small one that ran te Halifax. 
 Now what a contrast ! Wc have ocean steamers calling 
 weekly ; wo have three local steamers ; and a fleet of some 
 2(5 steamcriij will be starting next month from •ur harbours 
 for the icefields. We ar« now able to spend :?121,420 per 
 annum on stnani communication. I call that genuine [)ro- 
 grcss ; and is is the work of tho last few years. It is au 
 uumistakal)le index of the growing wealth, enter])risc and 
 intellij.onca of the colony. Some dozen years ago it was 
 wdiispered that copper oro bad been found in the north of tho 
 island, but hardly any one gave any attention to the rumour 
 or expected anj^'thing out of it. Now what is the state of the 
 case '. From Botts Cove Mine alone •15,00() t >us «f ore Avoro 
 shipped last year, re(iuiriag a small fleet for its conveyance ; 
 and 1.200 men fouiid remunerative employment in that single 
 mine. It is well known that Tilt Cove is no losii valuable. 
 The whole region around these mines is covered with mining 
 Uconses ; 8i)eculatiou is rife and no \/ deposits of or« are con- 
 
« 
 
 
 t 
 
 J ,!i 
 
 24 
 
 THIS NEWFOUNDLAND OF OURS. 
 
 tinually discovered. The geologieal map of Newfoar.dlanJ 
 shews that the Serpentine rocks, with which the ore is asso- 
 ciated, have a spreai of 5,000 square miles — enough to furnish 
 scope for any amount of mining enterprise in the fatiire. 
 It is now put beyond a doubt that our island is destined to 
 become one of the world's great mining regions. Here then 
 is another great stride in advance. Mining means employ- 
 ment for our peoplo, — the improvement of our revenue— the 
 extension of our trade and the increaste of our population. 
 Even in agriculture we are advancing. The Solicitor Gene- 
 ral told us last year that the annual value of our agricultural 
 produce is at present over $612,000. Mr. Murray has calcu- 
 lated that there are nearly throe millions o'f acres of land 
 suitable for settlement on our eastern and western shores, all 
 at present unoccupied. When with such slight efforts now 
 put forth in the cultivation of the soil we raise produce valued 
 ot £153,000 per annum our whole population being only 
 161,000 what may we not anticipate when our present antiquti- 
 ted laws which impede settlement are repealed, the country 
 thrown open to enterprise in lumbering and farming; the 
 districts surveyed and made accessible ; information regard- 
 ing their soil, climate and capabilities widely circulated, and 
 means taken to attract emigrants to our shores, as is the case 
 in all the other provinces I 
 
 A word or two now about our jfisheries. Fears are 
 entertained by many that they are failing and may 
 become exhausted. Believe me such fears are utterly 
 unfounded. Of course they are now, as they have always 
 been, subject to considerable fluctuations ; aud as we 
 all know last year's results wore unfavourable. But so long 
 as the great Arctic Current, laden with the germs of fish life 
 and furnishing the true home for the Commercial fishes, con- 
 tinues to wash our shores, no one need dread an exhaustion of 
 our fisheries. Tb<;ir increase in value has been steady up to 
 the present hour, and with the aid of science they are capable 
 of indefinite expansion. Within a dozen years the value of 
 codfish, our grand staple has doubled. Where is the country 
 in the world of whose staple production a similar tale could be 
 tcfld! The more railways aro extended in those countries 
 which consume our fish, — such as Spain, Portugal, Italy and 
 
 
 1 
 
 I \ 
 
 \ 
 
.,'^ >'■* 
 
 THIS NEWFOUNDLAND OF OOTlS. 
 
 25 
 
 Brazil— the greater the demand for our codfish. Risks in its 
 shipments are now immensely less than in former years, partly 
 owing to the state of all markets being made known by 
 telegraph, and partly to increased facilities for its transpor- 
 tation inland by railways ; so that I am told it is here becom- 
 ing more and more a " cash article," like the flour of Canada 
 and the United States. It is a mistake to suppose there has 
 been any falling off in the quantity of codfish exported during 
 the last 57 years. In the year 1849, 1,175,167 quintals of cod 
 fish were exported ; in 1874,1,609,724 ; in 1875, 1,130,235 ; in 
 1876, 1,364,008 quintals. In the five years ending in 1856 the 
 average annual value of the products of our fisheries was 
 $5,166,129 ; during the five years ending 1876 the annual 
 value rose to $7,847,661— being an increase of $3,681,532, since 
 1856, in the annaal value of our fish products. Such a result 
 ought to quiet all our fears. What we want now is to call in 
 tho aid of science, and secure the services of an able practical 
 and scientific man to act as Fishery Commissioner. We havo 
 the most valuable fisheries in tho world, but unlike all other 
 countries, we have no one specially charged with watching 
 over their interests. 
 
 Did time permit I could show you that the tabic of our 
 exports and imports, the deposits in our Savings Bank now 
 reaching above a million dollars — and in our other Banks 
 whose shareholders are in ''pastures green" — and the healthy 
 state of our trade while most other countries have been 
 suffering from depression, — that all these further indicate 
 steady progress, and give promise of a prosperous future for 
 This Newfoundland of Ours. But I must now close. I 
 trust my subject will be to some extent an apology for the 
 unwarrantable length of this address. If I have detained you 
 too long, you can console yourselves with the thought that 
 you have been suffering for your country. I respectfully sub- 
 mit that I have made out my case and adduced sufficient 
 evidence to prove that the land we live in is not exactly, as 
 many believe, a stranded iceberg, but one that has all the 
 elements of prosperity in itself, and a great future before it. 
 I have proved, I flatter myself, that since imjust and oppres- 
 sive legislation ceased and it obtained a fair chance, it has 
 mode rapid progress and is likely, ere long, to overtake its 
 
26 
 
 THfSl XEWFOUNDLANI) OF OVlXH, 
 
 sister provinces which got a start of it iu the race. Nor is 
 our progress merely material — it is also social and moral. 
 During my residence here of twenty-Kve years I have obser- 
 ved a very great amelioration in many directions. The asperi- 
 ties of political and religious conflicts ai-e greatly softened. 
 Though there is still room for a little improvement, the 
 political warfare is now carried iu bettor taste, with more 
 moderation and greater regard for the amenities of life. 
 We have learned that our opponents arc not necessarily 
 fiends, knaves, or jack-asses, and that it is hardly polite to 
 yay so. I think that even the odium theeloyicum is greatly 
 toned down. The patriotic" spirit is rising gradually above 
 pal'ty strife and denominational zeal. This is what we require 
 to cultivate and extend, especially among our young men, on 
 whom the future of the country depends — that patriotism 
 which so respects and loves the country as to be willing to 
 make all racritices for the promotion of its highest and best 
 interests, and which will regard any trust which the country 
 commits to their keeping as among the most sacred of human 
 pledges — that enlightened patriotism which recognizes that 
 the true greatness and happiness of our country consists not 
 in more material prosperity, but in the education, the intelli- 
 gence, the virtue and the religion of its people. Let us each 
 try to do our part bravely and faithfully to leave the country 
 better than we have found it. And let our watchword bo 
 
 " Forward.'"— 
 
 '• Slauding still is childish folly, 
 (roiug backward is a crime ; 
 Nouc slioul;! patiently endure 
 Any ill that be can ciu:e. 
 Onward ! Keep the march of time — 
 Onward ! while a wrong remains 
 To be conquered by the right ; 
 While oppression lifts a finger 
 To affront us by his might ; 
 AVhile 6n error clouds the leason 
 Of the universal heart, 
 Or a slave awaits his freedom, 
 Action is the wise man's part 
 
 " Lo ! the world is rich iu blessings- 
 Earth and ocean, flame and wind 
 
 4 
 
THIS XK^FOUNDLANl) OF OUItS. 
 
 27 
 
 IS 
 
 ■al. 
 
 cr- 
 
 eri- 
 
 ed. 
 
 tbo 
 
 lore 
 
 life. 
 
 irily 
 
 ;eto 
 
 iatly 
 
 bOVG 
 
 [uire 
 1, on 
 ;tism 
 ng to 
 
 best 
 untry 
 uruan 
 
 that 
 ts not 
 ntelli- 
 s eacli 
 )uutry 
 ord be 
 
 Have uunuinbercd secrets still. 
 
 To be ransacked when you will, 
 
 For the service of mauiuiul ; 
 
 Science is a child as yet 
 
 And her power and scope ylmll f,'row, 
 
 And her triumphs in the future 
 
 Shall diminish toil and woe ; 
 
 Shall extend the jjouiids of pleasure, 
 
 Witli an ever-widening ken, 
 
 And of woods and wihUirncssos 
 
 JJake Mie happy homes of men. " 
 
^^^ 
 
 t 
 
 5» 
 
 \i 
 
^ 
 
 — :o:— • 
 
 No, I. 
 
 In support of the statement that our fisheries are not 
 deteriorating, the foUowing extract from Professor Hmd 
 Report on the Effect of the Treaty of Washmgton on our 
 Fisheries carries with it great weight : e " on our 
 
 "About forty years ago, the" Bank Fishery, so far as 
 regards Newfoundland, entirely ceased, and the fishei^ ha 
 since been carried on altogeUier within shore, and is expend 
 -g, year by year, further and further up Labrador. As fa. 
 
 how that the increase, during the last sixty or seventy years 
 since for instance 1804, has been almost perfectly unilorm 
 when you take into account the increase in the population ^f 
 the coun ry. Of course it is to a certein extent depend nt on 
 upon hat. and subject al«o to those fluctuations which con- 
 tinually take place in our fisheries-in the mackerel and cod 
 fi hones-and m the marine cUmate on the American coa ts 
 Also m the herring fishery the increase has been contZouJ 
 since I80O smce when there has always been a mean of one 
 milbon quinta s It reached one million quintals iu 1842 and 
 afj^rthatit either approached to or rose above it conUnu 
 
 The following is a table showing the exports of cod 
 £sh from Newfoundland since 1867 ■ t » ^oa 
 
 1807 
 1868 
 1869 
 1870 
 1871 
 1872 
 1873 
 1874 
 1875 
 
 1871) 
 
 Quintals. 
 
 1,06(),215 
 
 1,169,948 
 
 1,204,086 
 
 1,213,737 
 
 1,3^8,726 
 
 l,221,lu7 
 
 1,369, 20.3 
 
 1,609,724 
 
 1,136,235 
 
 .1,304,068 
 
■ IWiii w '«"• 
 
 ~^" 
 
 -!W?- 
 
 ■". T ^' 7:7:: 
 
 -lDr=5 
 
 n 
 
 ArPENDIX. 
 
 The following T.-iblo from tbc same lleport, hIiows lb', 
 gradual progress of tho value of tbo products of tbo Xew- 
 foiindland flsborioH, duriug cacli group of live years, from 
 liSi52 to 187G, iuclu.sivo : — 
 
 Average Value of Exports— Group of five years — 
 
 18o2 to 18.JG 
 18u7 to 18G2 
 18()2 to 1800 
 1867 to 1871 
 1872 to 187G 
 
 .$j,ir,(),129 
 r),i;>2,;392 
 
 0,080,445 
 7,011,407 
 7,817,001 
 
 The way in which tbfj Arctic cnrront which sweeps along 
 our shores, sustains our fishoi-ies will appear from the follow- 
 ing extracts from Professor Hind's Jveporl : — 
 
 *' It is a popular error that the cold of tho Arctic seas 
 is unravouruble to fish life. In tiutb the Arctic seas and 
 the groat currents flowing from them are in many places a 
 liviLig mass, a vast ocean ol living slime, and the all-pervading 
 life v.'bich exists there affords the true solution of the problem 
 v.hich has so often presented itself — where the food comes from 
 wliich gives .sustenance to the countless millions of fish "which 
 s\\aiTJi on the Labrador, on tho ccast of Newfoundland and 
 in Uomiijiou and United States waters, or wherever tho Arctic 
 ciuToat exerts an active influence." " This "slime" of the ocean 
 appears to live most abundantly in the coldest water and in 
 tiie neighbourhood of ice. The grsat ice-drift coming from" 
 tiio [Spitsbergen seas, sweeping round Cape Farewell, then 
 North-westerly by Davis' Straits, is augmented by immense 
 bergs and lloes from Baffin's Bay and Hudson's Straits, and 
 at length, on the banks of Labrador, countless thousands 
 of tlJChO ground, bringing with them tlicir "slime." Thus the 
 slime which accompanies the ica-bergs and ice-floes of the 
 Aiclic current, accumulates on the banks of Northern La- 
 btudor, and romlors the existence possible there of all those 
 forniH of niavlne life — from tho diatom to the minute crusta- 
 cean — from tho minute crustacean to the crab and prawn, 
 together with niulluscous animals ;ind starfish in vast pro- 
 fusion, which contril)ute to the support of vast schools of 
 cod, wliich also find their home there." 
 
 J 
 1 
 
 t) 
 
 ii; 
 In 
 
 wi 
 
 sal 
 
AITEKDTX. 
 
 in 
 
 No. II. 
 
 EviJouoea of llio progi-ess of tUo Culony aro supplied from 
 tlio ailviiuco iu the KKporLsond Iiuportn, the Deposits in tho 
 Saviu<4s' liiink and private liaulcs, and from tbo Iteveuue — 
 Iu 1800 the vahie of the Exports was $J,004,y05 ; in 1870> 
 $H,1(;S,:}10. Iu 1H(50 tho vaiuo of Imports was *r),78J,849 ; in 
 1H70, S7,'20:>,U07. At the close of 1870 tho deposits iu tho 
 Savings' P>ank amounted to $1,011,800. It is uuderstood that 
 our two private banlcs have very large sums, us deposits, at 
 the same rate of interest as that of tho Savings' Bank. Tho 
 Hcveuuo iu 1800 was $721,^90 ; iu 1877, $833,008 Tho public 
 debt of tho Colony in 18T0 was Sl,Jn!),3-l(). In 1785 tho popu- 
 lation of Xewfouudland was 10,211 ; iu 18.'37 it had risen to 
 122.038; iu 1800, to 110,530; and in 1874 to 101,371. In 
 180'J tho total number of boats employed iu tho shorii fishery 
 was 14,705 ; in 1874 they had increased to 18,011. In 1809, 
 tho number of per.sons onga<^ed iu catching and curing 
 fish was 37,259 ; Iu 1871, 45,85 1 persons wero so employed. 
 In 1874, the number of vessels, iueludiug sealers -was 1,197 
 with a ttnnagu of 01,551 tons, manued by 81,394 iishermcii 
 sailors.