UK, House of Commons, “Return […] Copy of Correspondence between any of the North American Provinces and the Imperial Government, relating to their Application for Assistance in raising a Loan for an International Railway” (26 Jul 1864)
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Date: 1864-07-26
By: United Kingdom, House of Commons
Citation: UK, HC, Return to an Address of the Honourable The House of Commons, dated 30 June 1864; for Copy of Correspondence between any of the North American Provinces and the Imperial Government, relating to their Application for Assistance in raising a Loan for an International Railway (1864).
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NORTH AMERICAN (INTERCOLONIAL RAILWAY)
RETURN to an Address of the Honourable The House of Commons dated 30 June 1864;–for,
“COPY OF CORRESPONDENCE between any of the NORTH AMERICAN PROVINCES and the IMPERIAL GOVERNMENT, relating to their Application for Assistance in raising a LOAN for an INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY.”
(In continuation of Parliamentary Paper, No. 210, of 1862.)
Colonial Office,
25 July 1864.
FREDERIC ROGERS.
(Mr. Adderley.)
Ordered, by the House of Commons, to be Printed,
26 July, 1864.
[…]
COPY OF A DESPATCH from the Duke of Newcastle, K.G., to Governor General Viscount Monck.
Downing-street, 12 April 1862.
My Lord,
You are aware that I duly received your Despatch, No. 4,* of the 31st October last, reporting that at a meeting in the Council Chamber at Quebec of Members of the Councils of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, it was resolved that those three Governments should renew the offer made to the Imperial Government on the 26th October 1858, to aid in the construction of an Intercolonial Railway between Halifax and Quebec, and that a delegation from the Provinces should proceed to England with the view of promoting this object.
You reported to me that the Honourable Philip Vankoughnet was appointed to represent Canada, and not long afterwards this gentleman, associated with the Honourable Joseph Howe from Nova Scotia, and the Honourable Samuel Tilley from New Brunswick, arrived in England.
I had several interviews with these gentlemen, who urged with great ability the project committed to their charge, and eventually embodied their views in a Memorandum communicated to me in a letter dated the 2d December 1861. But owing to the urgency of business connected with the threatening aspect of affairs in the United States, I was unable to bring the subject under the consideration of Her Majesty’s Government before the deputies were obliged to return to their homes, and other urgent matters have hitherto prevented the adoption of a decision. The subject has now been before Her Majesty’s Government, and I need scarcely assure you that they have examined it with the care due to the importance of the question, to the high authorities from whom it has emanated in the Provinces, and to the character and position of the delegates by whom it has been so powerfully presented to notice in this country.
The length of railway necessary to complete the communication between Halifax and Quebec is estimated at 350 miles, and the cost, after deducting the right of way which the Provinces will provide, is estimated at three millions sterling. Such being the data supplied by the deputation, the project is that the Imperial Government should join the three Provinces in a guarantee of four per cent. upon 3,000,000 l., in which case the Provinces are ready to pass bills of supply for 60,000 l. a year (20,000 l. in each Province) if the Imperial Government will do the same. The selection of the route is left solely to the British Government.
Should the sum of three millions be found insufficient, nothing very definite is said on the essential point of the provision to be made for the completion of the railway.
I much regret to inform you that, after giving the subject their best consideration, Her Majesty’s Government have not felt themselves at liberty to concur in this mode of assistance. Anxious, however, to promote as far as they can the important object of completing the great line of railway communication on British ground, between the Atlantic and the westernmost parts of Canada, and to assist the Provinces in a scheme which would so materially promote their interests, Her Majesty’s Government are willing to offer to the Provincial Governments an Imperial guarantee of interest, towards enabling them to raise by public loan, if they should desire it, at a moderate rate, the requisite funds for constructing the railway. This was the mode of action contemplated by Earl Grey in the year 1851, and is the same method which was adopted by Parliament in the Act of 1842, in order to afford to Canada the benefit of British credit in raising the money with which she has completed her great system of internal water communications. The nature and extent of the guarantee which Her Majesty’s Government could undertake to recommend to Parliament, must be determined by the particulars of any scheme which the Provincial Governments may be disposed to found on the present proposal, and on the kind of security which they would offer.
I fear that this course will not be so acceptable to the Provincial Governments as that which the delegates were authorised to propose for consideration. It is, however, the only one in which Her Majesty’s Government, after anxious deliberation, feel that they would be at liberty to participate. I trust that the proposal will at all events be received as a proof of their earnest wish to find some method in which they can co-operate with the Provinces in their laudable desire to complete a perfect intercolonial communication over British territory, And it will be a source of sincere pleasure to me if, adverting to all the different bearings of the subject, and to the condition of their respective finances, the Provincial Governments should end by finding it in their power to make use of the present offer, and to propound some practicable scheme for applying it to the attainment of the desired object.
I have addressed a similar Despatch to the Lieutenant Governors of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and I must now leave the subject in the hands of the several Provincial Governments, who will best know, in case they prosecute he subject further, how to provide for the requisite mutual consultations.
I have, &c.
(signed) Newcastle.
[…]
Quebec, 12 September 1862.
My Lord Duke,
REFERRING to your Grace’s Despatch, of 12th* April, I have great satisfaction in transmitting to you the accompanying approved Minute of my Executive Council on the subject of the mode of executing the proposed railway between this Province and Nova Scotia.
I have to add that it is intended that a deputation of my Executive Council should proceed in the course of the autumn to England in order to give further facilities, by means of personal communications, for completing the arrangements proposed.
I have, &c.
(signed) Monck.
[…]
Downing-street, 14 October 1862.
My Lord,
I HAVE had the honour to receive your Lordship’s Despatch, No. 136, of the 12th of September, accompanied by a Minute of your Executive Council, containing a Memorandum, by which it appears that the several gentlemen from Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, who consulted on the subject, had arrived at a conclusion in favour of assuming, with the aid of an Imperial guarantee of interest, the liability for the expenditure necessary to construct the Intercolonial Railway.
I have received this intelligence with much satisfaction.
I have, &c.
(signed) Newcastle.
[…]
Fredericton, New Brunswick, 6 May 1862.
My Lord Duke,
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Grace’s Despatch of the 12th ultimo, containing the reply of Her Majesty’s Government to the application made by the Provinces of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, for Imperial aid towards the construction of an Intercolonial Railway.
2. I shall lose no tine in submitting this important communication to the consideration of my Council, but the members of that body are at present without exception absent, and some little time must elapse before they can be again collected here.
3. In the meanwhile, however, I may venture to assure your Grace that no step will be hastily taken on the part of this Province, and that the consideration of the offer, now made by Her Majesty’s Government, will be undertaken with a strong desire to adopt the proposed arrangement.
4. At the same time it is, of course, felt, that although the proposal now made by Her Majesty’s Government is similar to that made by the Provinces 10 years ago, the position of the question as regards New Brunswick is by no means the same as it then vas; a considerable extent of railway having since that period been constructed, and a heavy amount of debt consequently incurred by the Province, and it is my duty frankly to confess to your Grace, that I see very great difficulty in the adoption of a course which, even at the most moderate rate of interest, must add so largely to the burdens of the Colony.
5. I shall have the honour of addressing your Grace on this subject again, and probably at greater length when I have ascertained the views of my Executive Council.
I have, &c.
(signed) Arthur H. Gordon.
[…]
Fredericton, New Brunswick, 26 May 1862.
My Lord Duke.
IT was only on Thursday last, the 22d instant, that I was enabled to collect my Executive Council together at this place in order to communicate to them your Grace’s important Despatch of the 12th u’t.* on the subject of the aid to be afforded by the Imperial Government towards the construction of an Intercolonial Railway.
2. I accompanied the communication of your Grace’s Despatch by the Minute of which I have the honour to inclose a copy.
3. I was aware that much timidity existed in the minds of my Council that some unwillingness would be expressed with respect to a further prosecution of the scheme. It was, therefore, my object to confine the discussion within the narrowest possible limits, and to secure the appointment of delegates to meet those of the other Provinces at Quebec.
4. In this object I am glad to say I entirely succeeded; and, although one or two members of the Council appeared averse even to such an appointment, or at all events to that of delegates unfettered by precise instructions, a decision was finally adopted in accordance with the views which I had expressed.
5. It is my intention to repair to Quebec, at the time at which the delegation will be there. Lord Mulgrave will, I believe, take the same opportunity of meeting the Governor General and myself.
6. I cannot be insensible to the great difficulty which will be felt in the assumption of new liabilities by this Province, the estimated revenue of which for the current year amounts only to about 120,000 l., and which is*already burdened by a debt of above 1,000,000 l. sterling; but I look upon the question as one which largely affects the welfare of British North America as a whole, and which must, therefore, not be regarded from too exclusively a Provincial point of view by any one of the separate Colonies interested.
7. Should, therefore, Canada and Nova Scotia both desire the prosecution of the work on the terms now proposed, and should the people of those Provinces express their willingness cheerfully to bear the additional burdens which must be imposed, in order to attain the accomplishment of this great object, I certainly shall be indisposed to permit it to be defeated by the reluctance of my Responsible Advisers to incur the unpopularity attaching to an augmentation of the public burdens, and I should at least require ample evidence that they were expressing the deliberate sentiments of the Legislature, and people of this Province, before I acquiesced in the rejection of un offer of the Imperial Government, which had been accepted as a boon by the sister Colonies.
I have, &c.
(signed) Arthur H. Gordon.
[…]
Downing-street, 20 June 1862.
Sir,
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatches, Nos. 61* and 66 of the 6th and 26th of May, on the subject of the aid which the Imperial Government have offered to afford towards the construction of an Intercolonial Railway.
I have, &c.
(signed) Newcastle
[…]
Fredericton, 9 June 1862.
My Lord Duke,
OWING to the change which: has taken place. in the composition of the Canadian Cabinet, all discussion upon the question of the Intercolonial Railroad is at present deferred.
2. In all probability a conference between the representatives of the several local Governments interested will now take place in the early part of the month of September.
3. I do not myself regret this postponement, as I think the delay will probably lead to the adoption of juster views on the subject than at present prevail in this Province, and will allow the feelings of disappointment caused by the rejection of the proposition made from hence to subside before it becomes necessary to take any decisive action.
I have, &c.
(signed) Arthur H. Gordon.
[…]
Fredericton, 21 August 1862.
My Lord Duke,
I HAVE the honour to enclose for your Grace’s information a copy of a Despatch from the Governor General of Canada, suggesting that a conference should take place at Quebec on the 1oth proximo, between members of the Canadian Government and those of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a view of entering into an arrangement for the completion of an Intercolonial Railway upon the basis suggested by the Imperial Government.
2. I have also the honour to enclose for your Grace’s information the copy of a Minute of my Executive Council in committee, recommending me to appoint three members of the Government as a delegation to attend the proposed conference, and also to authorise them to enter into arrangements with the delegates of the other Provinces, interested for the construction of an Intercolonial Railway, provided the liabilities to be incurred by New Brunswick for that purpose do not exceed 35,000 l. sterling per annum.
3. This Minute is signed by all the members of the Executive Council, with two exceptions. The Solicitor General, as your Grace will perceive, appends to the Minute a note assenting to the appointment of the delegation, but recording his opinion that the liabilities to be incurred by the Province should not exceed a capital sum of 3,000,000 1., whilst the Attorney General, in a separate Minute, of which I have also the honour to enclose a copy, records his dissent from the 20 policy of his colleagues, and reserves to himself such liberty of action as he may deem necessary.
I have further the honour to inform your Grace, that in compliance with the advice of my Council, I have nominated as delegates the Honourable the Provincial Secretary, the Honourable W. H. Steeves, and the Honourable P. Mitchell.
These gentlemen will leave Fredericton for Quebec in about a week’s time.
I have, &c.
(signed) Arthur H. Gordon.
[…]
Downing-street, 26 September 1862.
Sir,
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch, No. 87,* of the 21st of August, respecting the Conference which was proposed to be held at Quebec on the 10th of this month, relative to the construction of the Intercolonial. Railway, and stating that you had nominated as Delegates from New Brunswick the Provincial Secretary, the Honourable W. H. Steeves, and the Honourable P. Mitchell.
I have, &c.
(signed) Newcastle.
[…]
Fredericton, 4 October 1862.
My Lord Duke,
YOUR GRACE bas already been informed by the Governor General of Canada of the result. of the Conference at Quebec of the Delegates of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, on the subject of the completion of an Intercolonial Railway.
It is, however, my duty formally to transmit to your Grace a copy of the report presented to me by the Delegates from this Province, which accordingly [ have now the honour to enclose.
I have, &c.
(signed) Arthur H. Gordon.
[…]
Downing-street, 3 November 1862.
Sir,
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch, No. 102,* of the 4th October, forwarding memoranda agreed to by the Delegates of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, at the late Conference held at Quebec, on the subject of the Intercolonial Railway.
I have, &c,
(signed) Newcastle.
[…]
Fredericton, 13 October 1862.
My Lord Duke,
I HAVE the honour to inform your Grace that I have directed the Provincial Secretary, the Honourable S. L. Tilley, to proceed to England immediately, to confer with the Imperial Government on the subject of the proposed Intercolonial Railway, and that I have accordingly granted him leave of absence from the Province for two months.
I have, &c.
(signed) Arthur H. Gordon.
Government House, Halifax, Nova Scotia,
[…]
16 October 1862.
My Lord Duke,
YOUR GRACE has already, I am informed, been made aware, by bis Excellency the Governor General of Canada, of the result of the deliberations which took place at Quebec last month, when the Lieutenant Governors of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, with certain delegates selected from the leading men of these Provinces, assembled there for the purpose of discussing the subject of the proposed Intercolonial Railroad.
I conceive it, nevertheless, to be my duty to transmit to your Grace a copy of the Resolutions adopted on that occasion, and to inform you, that as it has been determined by the sister Provinces to send certain members of their Government to England, for the purpose of arranging with Her Majesty’s Ministers the nature of the securities to be given to the Imperial Government, with a view to uniformity of legislation in all the Provinces, I have commissioned the Honourable Joseph Rowe to proceed to England, and to put himself in communication with your Grace for that purpose.
So much has already been written and said upon the subject of the very great importance of this line of railroad, and being fully aware of the favourable opinion entertained by your Grace with reference to it, I feel I should only intrude upon your time if I were to enter generally upon the whole question; but I trust I may be excused in bringing to your notice the very essential benefit in a military point of view which would be derived from its construction.
I would take leave to bring to your Grace’s recollection the very great difficulty and enormous expense which was incurred in December last, when I was called upon to pass a force, consisting of upwards of 10,000 men, through the Province of New Brunswick, along the frontier of the State of Maine, into Canada; which owing to a combination of favourable circumstances was success- fully performed, but which in a time of war could scarcely be accomplished at all, and certainly not without great loss of life.
Although, in the event of any rupture between Great Britain and the United States, the Metis Road is being prepared for the purpose of enabling troops to proceed to Canada during the winter, out of the reach of any hostile force, it must be borne in mind that the risk of passing large bodies of men over it during an inclement season would, as in the former case, be considerable, the delay unavoidably great, and the expense enormous; whereas if railway communication were once established, both troops and munitions of war could at all times be rapidly and safely transported to Canada, and mutual military operations would thereby be vastly facilitated.
Under all these circumstances, the great advantage which would be derived from the establishment of a railway such as is in contemplation (provided the site be judiciously selected) cannot, in my opinion, be over-estimated.
I have, &c.
(signed) Hastings Doyle, Major-General,
Administering the Government.
[…]
Downing-street, 3 November 1862.
Sir,
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch,* No. 92, of the 16th October, forwarding memoranda agreed to by the Delegates of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, at the late Conference held at Quebec on the subject of the Intercolonial Railway.
I have, &c.
(signed) Newcastle.
[…]
TREASURY MEMORANDUM.
IT is proposed,—
1. That Bills shall be immediately submitted to the Legislatures of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, authorising the respective Governments to borrow 3,000,000 l., under the guarantee of the British Government, in the following proportions:—5-twelfths, Canada; 3 1/2 twelfths, Nova Scotia; 3 1/2 twelfths, New Brunswick.
2. But no such loan to be contracted on behalf of any one Colony until corresponding powers have been given to the Governments of the other two Colonies concerned, nor unless the Imperial Government shall guarantee payment of interest on such loan until repaid.
3. The money to be applied to the completion of a Railway connecting Halifax with Quebec, on a line to be approved by the Imperial Government.
4. The interest to be a first-charge on the Consolidated Revenue Funds of the different Provinces, after the Civil List and the interest of existing debts, and as regards Canada after the rest of the six charges enumerated in the 5 & 6 Vict. c. 118 and 3 & 4 Vict. c. 35 (Act of Union).
5. The Debentures to be in series as follows, viz.
£. 250,000 to be payable 10 years after contracting loan.
£. 500,000 “ 20 years “ “
£. 1,000,000 “ 30 years “ “
£. 1,250,000 “ 40 years “ “
In the event of these debentures, or any of them, not being redeemed by the Colonies at the period when they fall due, the amount unpaid shall become a charge on their respective revenues, next after the loan, until paid. The principal to be repaid as follows:
First decade (say 1863 to 1872 inclusive), 250,000 l.in redemption of the first series, at or before the close of the first decade from the contracting of the loan.
Second decade (say 1873 to 1882 inclusive), a sinking fund of 40,000 l. to be remitted annually, being an amount adequate, if invested at five per cent. compound interest, to provide 500,000 l. at the end of the decade; the sum to be remitted annually to be invested, in the names of trustees, in Colonial securities of any of the three Provinces prior to or forming part of the loan now to be raised, or in such other Colonial securities as Her Majesty’s Government shall direct and the then Colonial Governments approve.
Third decade (say 1883 to 1892 inclusive), a sinking fund of 80,000 l. to be remitted annually, being an amount adequate, if invested at five per cent. compound interest, to provide 1,000,000 l. at the end of the decade; the amount when remitted to be invested as in the case of the sinking fund for the preceding decade.
Fourth decade (say 1893 to 1902 inclusive), a sinking fund of 100,000 l. to be remitted annually, being an amount adequate, if invested at five per cent. compound interest, to provide 1,250,000 l., being the balance of the loan at the end of the decade. This amount, when remitted, to be invested as in the preceding decade.
Should the sinking fund of any decade produce a surplus, it will go to the credit of the next decade; and in the last decade the sinking fund will be remitted or reduced accordingly.
It is of course understood that the assent of the Treasury to these arrangements presupposes adequate proof of the sufficiency of the Colonial revenues to meet the charges intended to be imposed upon them.
6. The construction of the Railway to be conducted by five Commissioners, two to be appointed by Canada, one by Nova Scotia, and one by New Brunswick; these four to choose the remaining Commissioner.
7. The preliminary surveys to be effected, at the expense of the (Colonies, by three engineers and other officers nominated, two by the Commissioners, and one by the Home Government.
8. Fitting provision to be made for carriage of troops, &c.
9. Parliament not to be asked for this guarantee until the line and surveys shall have been submitted to and approved of by Her Majesty’s Government, and until it shall have been shown, to the satisfaction of Her Majesty’s Government, that the line can. be constructed without further application for an Imperial guarantee.
[…]
London, 13 December 1862.
Dear Sir,
As I must return home by this night’s mail, Mr. Howe and I have anxiously conferred upon the draft of the Treasury Minute read to us this morning. accurately describes the terns proposed to the Delegates in the various interviews with which we have been honoured by his Grace the Colonial Secretary and the Right Honourable the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
As I understand the matter, the Delegates have obtained the assent of Her Majesty’s Government to every proposition they submitted, and there is no difference of opinion except on the single point of the sinking fund.
As the Intercolonial Railway is a work in which the Imperial and Colonial Governments are assumed to have a joint interest—as in the Provinces we regard it as indispensable to national defence and to the transportation country in winter of breadstuffs, in case war with the United States should ever arise, I hope that Mr. Gladstone nay be induced to reconsider the matter of the sinking fund, and trust that the Cabinet may be enabled to convince Parliament that, under ail the circumstances of this peculiar case, a sinking fund should not be insisted upon. But if it is, Mr. Gladstone having consented that this sinking fund may be invested in our own or other Colonial securities, 1 will not assume the responsibility of perilling [sic] or delaying this great enterprise by rejecting what the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Cabinet may regard as an indispensable condition.
I have, &c.
(signed) S.L. Tilley.
[…]
Messrs. Sicotte & Howland to His Grace the Duke of Newcastle, K. G.
THE undersigned, representing the Government of Canada, as Delegates specially deputed to arrange with the Imperial Government the terms of the loan to be effected upon the Imperial guarantee offered, as well as the nature of the security, concerning the construction of the International Railway between Halifax and Quebec, have the honour to submit to your Grace the following Memorial.
On the part of the Government of Canada, they must again assert—what has been admitted at every period of the negotiations both by British statesmen and by Colonial Governments—that the construction of a Railway connecting the British North American Colonies ought to be regarded as a matter of Imperial concern, and, to use the words of the late Colonial Minister, as a great national road.
A brief review of the opinions expressed by public men, and of the views entertained by the different Governments of Great. Britain and of the Colonies since 1839, is perhaps necessary now, to explain fully the conditions proposed on the part of the Imperial Government as well as on the part of the Colonial Governments.
In 1839, Lord Durham, in an answer to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, instructing him to turn his attention to the formation of a road between Halifax and Quebec, in connexion with the determination of the Imperial Government to establish steam communication between the former port and Great Britain, strongly recommended the construction of a railway between the two cities.
During Sir Robert Peel’s Administration, in 1843, they caused a survey of a military road, but, when nearly completed, it ‘as abandoned by the Imperial Government in favour of railroad.
In 1846 Mr. Gladstone, then Colonial Secretary, organized a survey for the Railroad at the joint expense of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, and the Imperial Government.
Major Robinson, in his report, expresses himself as follows, as to the nature and object of such a Railroad: “In a political and military point of view, the proposed Railroad must be regarded as becoming a work of necessity.
“The increasing population and wealth of the United States, and the diffusion of railroads over their territory, especially in the direction of the Canadian frontier, renders it absolutely necessary to counterbalance, by corresponding means, their otherwise preponderating power.
“It is most essential that the Mother Country should be able to keep up the communication with the Canadas at all times and all seasons. However powerful England may be at sea, no navy could save Canada from a land force.
“Weakness invites aggression, and as the Railroad would be a lever of power by which Great Britain could bring her strength to bear in the contest, it is not improbable that its construction would be the means of preventing a war at some more distant period.”
The expense of one year’s war would pay the expense for a Railway two or three times over.
In 1848, Earl Grey, in transmitting the report of Major Robinson to Lord Elgin, stated in his Despatch:—
“I have perused this able document with the interest and attention it so well merits, and I have to convey to you the assurance of Her Majesty’s Government that we fully appreciate the importance of the proposed undertaking, and entertain no doubt of the great advantages which would result, not only to the Provinces interested in the work, but to the empire at large, from the construction of such a Railway ; but, great as these advantages would be, it is impossible not to be sensible that the obstacles to be overcome in providing for so large an expenditure as would be thus incurred would be of a very formidable kind.
“Before, therefore, Her Majesty’s Government proceed to consider the question as.to whether any steps should be taken to carry this plan into effect, it is necessary that we should be informed how the several Provinces would be prepared to co-operate in its execution.”
Lord Elgin declared in his answer to that Despatch:
“It is obvious, that as soon as Railway communication is extended throughout the Provinces, a smaller military force than is now requisite will suffice for their protection.
“But, looking to the anxiety which your Lordship bas repeatedly expressed, that a diminution in the expenditure incurred by Great Britain on this account should be effected at the earliest period, I am prepared to go a step further in this direction, so confident am I that the mere undertaking of the work in question will tend to raise the Colonists from the despondency into which recent changes in the commercial policy of the empire has plunged them; to unite the Provinces to one another and to the Mother Country, to inspire them with that consciousness of their own strength, and of the value of the connection with Great Britain, which is their best security against aggression, that I would not hesitate to recommend that an immediate and considerable reduction should take place in the force stationed in Canada, in the event of the execution of the Quebec and Halifax Railway being determined on.”
In 1851, Lord Stanley, in the House of Lords, reviewing the scheme propounded by Earl Grey, stated in a speech, which was accepted by the Colonies as the expression of the opinions and feelings of the people of England . We hold, therefore, that the establishment for a line of communication between Halifax and Quebec, for a distance of about 700 miles through an exclusively British territory, rendering two points and two points essential for the power of this country, which are now separated by a vast extent of wilderness on the one side, and by a difficult, and for a great portion of the year, frozen coast on the other, rendering their communication from being what they now are, most uncertain, most difficult, and most dilatory, rendering it rapid, easy, and constant, that, he said, was an object in itself of primary importance to the interests and to the Imperial power of this country on the Continent of America.
“But it was also a matter of incalculable importance. that we should open to the teeming thousands and- millions we were pouring out from this country, where they were unable to obtain a livelihood, that we should open to them in a healthy climate, and within a very limited distance from our own shores, which did not exceed a 12 days’ passage by steam, and the rapidity of that passage was every day increasing; it was of the highest importance, whether we looked at it as affording a relief for our pauperism, or an increase of our power in those regions, that we had 11 or 12 millions of acres of unoccupied lands, fertile, and possessed of great mineral wealth, and which at the same time would be the means of extending our military power and securing the permanence of oi empire in America. This has no ordinary case of a Railway project where the question very properly might be, would the line pay or not? But it is a Railway which, even in a pecuniary sense, lie had sanguine expectations would pay if they took into consideration not merely the traffic on the Railway, but the adjuncts they would raise by the formation of it. But lie said if it would not pay 1s. for the 100l. in a pecuniary point of view for the next 10 years to come, the interposition of this country, not for the purpose of involving itself in an enormous and needless expense, but for the purpose of aiding with its credit, if not by more than its credit, those who were anxious to the utmost of their power, and even beyond their power, not for a local but for an Imperial object, this was a subject. well worthy of the consideration of the Imperial Parliament, and was not to be looked upon as a matter of pounds, shillings, and pence.
“Now he felt that to grant our aid was a Wise, a sound, and even an economical course in the end, even though in the first instance it would involve an outlay; and sure he was that it would confer immense benefits on the Colony, and bestow incalculable advantages on this country itself, and confirm its territorial power in North America.
“And if the noble Earl would only say which course lie should be prepared to take, and if the Government would give any sanction and assistance for the execution of what these Colonies could not accomplish unassisted, although lie believed a comparatively small aid on the part of the Government, or its liberal guarantee for the capital required, on account of which guarantee they would never be called upon to pay a single shilling; such an amount of assistance from the Government, he firmly believed, would enable the great work to be carried to a successful completion, and equally certain lie was that unless our Government and our Parliament did interfere, these advantages would be indefinitely postponed, the communication between two most important points would be permanently cut off, the stream of emigration would continue Io be directed, as it was now directed, from this country and Ireland, not to our own Colonies but to the territories of the United States; the communication between Halifax and Quebec would ultimately be through the United States, be wholly dependent upon then, and liable at any moment to be cut off in the case of hostilities, while the United States would be able to reap all the advantages of the transit in times of peace.
“Now we had the option whether we should give to the United States these great advantages, and at the same time deprive the subjects of this country of the opportunity of receiving a useful and most valuable population settling in our Colonies, and by their emigration relieving the overburdened Mother Country of its surplus labour, or whether we would by a prompt and liberal course of action, which would ultimately cost us nothing, enable our dependencies to complete that which would cement a stronger union between our North American possessions, and to teach them to feel that they were regarded by the Imperial Government and Parliament as an integral portion of the Empire.” On the other hand, we beg to recal [sic] to your Grace’s recollection the fact that—
The Legislature of the Colonies and their Governments have always represented the road as a necessary means for the defence of the country, and as a work of national concern.
“On the 6th January 1849, the Legislative Council of New Brunswick passed a series of resolutions from which the following extracts are made:—
“Viewing the relative positions of the North American Colonies, and the great importance, in a national point of view, of improving the facilities for mutual intercourse, we consider it a matter of the greatest moment for the permanency of British interests in this Continent that a, Railway should be laid down to connect the Lower Provinces with the interior of Canada.
“We believe that no measure can be devised which will so certainly consolidate the Colonies and perpetuate our connection with Great Britain; while without it we fear that our position as Colonies will be of short duration.
“We think the plain broad question on this subject is, ‘Do the people of England wish to retain the North American Colonies or not?’ If they do, the Trunk Railway is indispensable, and should be completed at any cost.
“On the 1st May 1858, the Legislature of Nova Scotia addressed Her Majesty as follows:—
“This great enterprise of National, no less than Colonial importance, has been through many years pressed upon the consideration of Your Majesty’s Government.
“The benefits of the measure, both in its National and Colonial relations, are acknowledged.
“The gigantic work has been facilitated by the efforts and expenditure of the Provinces, but its accomplishment is beyond their unaided resources, and on the efficient assistance of Your Majesty’s Government depends the great result.”
In 1858, the Legislature of Canada passed the following Resolutions:—
1. ” That the construction of an Intercolonial Railroad, connecting the Provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia with Canada, has long been regarded as a matter of national concern, and ought earnestly to be pressed on the consideration of the Imperial Government.
2. “That, during several months of the year, intercourse between the United Kingdom and Canada can only be carried on through the territory of the United States of America, and that such dependence on, and exclusive relations with a foreign country cannot even in tine of pence, but exercise an important and unwholesome influence on the State of Canada as a portion of the Empire, and nay tend to establish elsewhere that identity of interest which ought to exist between the Mother Country and her Colonies.
3. “That while the House implicitly relies on the repeated assurance of the Imperial Government that the strength of the Empire would be put forth to secure this province against external aggression, it is convinced that such strength cannot be sufficiently exerted during a large portion of the year from the absence of sufficient means of communication, and that should the amicable relations which at present so happily exist between Great Britain and the United States be ever disturbed, the difficulty of access to the ocean during the winter months, might seriously endanger the safety of the province.
4. “That in view of the speedy opening up of the territories now occupied by the Hudson Bay Company, and of the development and settlement of the vast regions between Canada and the Pacific Ocean, it is essential to the interests of the Empire at large that a highway extending from the Atlantic Ocean, westward, should exist, which should at once place the whole British possessions in America within the ready access and easy protection of Great Britain, whilst by the facilities for internal communication thus afforded, the prosperity of those great dependencies would be promoted, their strength consolidated and added to the strength of the Empire, and their permanent union with the Mother-Country secured.
In 1861 the Colonies pressed again upon the Imperial Government the advantages and necessity of constructing the Railway.
Their delegates strongly urged that—
“Without that road the provinces are dislocated and almost incapable of defence for a great portion of the year, except at such a sacrifice of life and property, and at such an enormous cost to the Mother Country, as makes the small contribution sink into insignificance. With that Railroad we can concentrate our forces on the menaced parts of our frontier, guard the citadels and works which have been erected by Great Britain at vast expense, cover our cities from surprise, and hold our own till reinforcements can be sent across the sea; while, without the Railway, if an attack were made iii winter, the Mother Country could put no army worthy of the national honour, and adequate to the existence of the Canadian frontier, without a positive waste of treasure far greater than the principal of the sum the interest of which she is asked to contribute, or rather to risk.
“The British Government have built expensive citadels at Halifax, Quebec, and Kingston, and have stores of munitions and warlike materials in them; but their feeble garrisons will be inadequate for their defence, unless the provincial forces can be concentrated in and around them. An enterprising enemy would carry them by coups de main before they could be reinforced from England, and once taken the ports and roadsteads which they have been erected to defend, would not be over-safe for the naval armaments sent out too late for their relief.
“That the subject should be looked upon and dealt with mainly to the consideration of permanent connection between Great Britain and the provinces, and the relative positions of England and the United States, in the event of hostilities between them.”
The Imperial Government gave a final answer to all these demands and considerations, by the Despatch of your Grace of the 12th April 1862, in which your Grace says,—
“I much regret to inform you that after giving the subject the best consideration, Her Majesty’s Government have not felt themselves at liberty to concur in this mode of assistance. Anxious, however, to promote. as far as they can, the important object of completing the great line of Railway communication on British ground between the Atlantic and the westernmost parts of Canada, and to assist the provinces in a scheme which would so materially promote their interests, Her Majesty’s Government are willing to offer to the Provincial Governments an imperial guarantee of interest towards enabling them to raise by public loan, if they should desire it, at a moderate rate, the requisite funds for constructing the Railway.”
The Colonies held, in consequence, a conference at Quebec in September, and then by their delegates agreed,—
1st. “That whilst they had learned with very great regret that Her Majesty’s Imperial Government bas finally declined to sanction the proposals made on behalf of these provinces in December 1861, and at previous periods, they at the same time acknowledged the consideration exhibited in substituting the proposal of an Imperial guarantee of interest towards enabling them to raise by public loan, if they should desire it, at a moderate rate, the requisite funds for constructing the Railway.”
2d. ” That with an anxious desire to bind the provinces more closely together, to strengthen their connection with the Mother-Country, to promote their common commercial interests, and to provide facilities essential to the public defences of these provinces, as integral parts of the Empire, the undersigned are prepared to assume under the Imperial guarantee the liability for the expenditure necessary to construct this great work.
3d. “That, in arriving at this conclusion, the undersigned have been greatly influenced by the conviction that the construction of the road between Halifax and Quebec must supply an essential link in the chain of an unbroken highway extending through British territory from the Atlantic to the Pacific, in the completion of which every Imperial interest in North America is most deeply involved.”
The Colonies have declared their willingness to assume the whole liability of the cost of the road, provided they are assisted in raising the requisite funds for its construction at a moderate rate of interest by the Imperial guarantee. It may fairly be said that the proposal now is, not of a loan of Imperial monies to the Colonies for Colonial purposes only, but of a mode involving no actual liability to the Imperial Government, to facilitate the construction of a great national work in the interest of the Empire, as well as of the Colonies.
The only question involved, as regards Great Britain, is the sufficiency of the security offered by the Colonies to cover this distant liability resulting from the Imperial guarantee.
If their past condition, compared with the present, does not establish fully their ability to repay the loan in the periods proposed, such a comparison would only prove more strongly than any other fact that this admittedly necessary work of military defence ought to be adopted by the Imperial Government alone.
But to make evident the ampleness of the security offered by the Colony, it is sufficient to compare the Revenue of the Colony in 1842, when the first Imperial Guaranteed Loan was effectuated with the Revenues in 1861.
In 1842 it was 365,605 l. currency ; in 1861 it was 1,785,156 l., after deduction of the costs of collection.
After several interviews with your Grace and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when the conditions of the loan, the nature of the security, and the arrangements of a sinking fund were discussed without coming to any positive understanding, the delegates have now been officially informed that the Imperial guarantee will be given on certain conditions stated in the annexed document.
The delegates regret to state that, in their opinion, some of these conditions are of a nature to render the Imperial guarantee of no advantage, and others to render its availableness so remote or encumbered with difficulties that the Colonies could not accept it, as an assistance towards an undertaking, and a measure to provide facilities essential to the public defences of the provinces as integral parts of the Empire.
The stipulation that the loan is to be the first charge after the interest of existing debts seems to them shaped so as to operate against the payment of other debts coming due before the repayment of the loan.
The annual repayment of the loan renders the period of payment much shorter than the period proposed; and, beside the loss it involves, it deprives the Colony of a large sum which, employed during such a period towards internal improvements, would afford a greater security than this annual payment, by the development of the resources and of the wealth of the country. In any arrangement the Colonies ought not to be fettered by conditions of payment through any form of sinking fund, which would make this Imperial guarantee an impediment to future internal improvement, while, by increasing the rate of interest and by the expenses and loss incurred in its management, the Imperial guarantee would thus cease to be of any real aid and advantage.
The investment of these annual payments into colonial securities will not give a better security than the engagement of the Colonial Government to pay a fixed sum at a fixed period.
These investments into colonial securities, “as Her Majesty’s Government shall direct, and the Colonial Government shall approve,” will lead to difficulties which, if not of a graver character than those that have already arisen out of the disposal of the sinking fund created for the first Imperial guarantee, fully satisfy the delegates that these arrangements are not more favourable than the former.
The experience of Canada is strongly adverse to a sinking fund; it created annoyances and difficulties, made the rate of interest higher than she would have paid by borrowing on her unassisted credit.
The delegates are informed that ” it is of course understood that the assent of the Treasury to these arrangements pre-supposes adequate proof of the sufficiency of the Colonial resources to meet the charges intended to be imposed upon them.”
When, after more than 20 years negotiation, the offer of an Imperial guarantee was made, the Colonies had sone right to believe that the sufficiency of their revenues to meet these increased charges was known and acknowledged, as all information which they could give is already in the possession of the Treasury, and is set forth in the fullest detail in the statistical table annually published by Her Majesty’s Government. No survey, no legislation, can take place before the Colonies are made aware that adequate proof has been made of the sufficiency of their revenues to meet the intended charges; and it would be important for the Colonies to be informed, at the earliest period, what further proof is wanted.
The 8th condition is, that fitting provision is to be made for the carriage of troops, &c. &c.
If it is meant that the troops are to be carried free of any charge, the delegates must observe that, when this vas offered by the Colonies, it was as a part of the scheme then proposed, that England should contribute half the cost of the construction of the road.
When it is now proposed that the whole cost should be borne by the Colonies, it cannot be expected that they must also relieve the Imperial Government from all expenditure attending the transport of troops, &c.
All these conditions pre-suppose that the Imperial government has no interest to serve, or no policy to uphold in the construction of this great railway, that the Colonies must be treated as any other government asking a loan from the Imperial Treasury; proof is required, as it is enacted from any unknown debtor, as to the sufficiency of his means to meet his engagement. With an ordinary debtor, when this sufficiency is established, he may do what he pleases with the monies borrowed; but, in this instance, the funds are to be applied to an undertaking admitted by all to afford an immense development to the wealth of the creditor, enabling him to maintain more efficiently his power and supremacy, with the control even of directing the location of this work where, in his opinion, it will secure all these advantages most efficiently, although the cost to the debtor may be much increased and the pecuniary advantages made much less, if not a great loss, thereby.
The Treasury proposes another condition, which must greatly delay al the arrangements, and may, after all the expenses attending the requisite surveys, the trouble and the difficulties of carrying the necessary legislation in the different Colonial Legislatures, render all this trouble, all this expenditure, all this legislation, useless and of nu avail, leaving certainly a strong feeling of dissatisfaction in the minds of the inhabitants of the Colonies.
“The Imperial Government is not to be asked for this guarantee. until the line and the surveys shall have been submitted to and approved by Her Majesty’s Government, and until it shall have been proved to the satisfaction of Hr Majesty’s Government that the line can be constructed without further application for an Imperial guarantee.”
The proposed guarantee is limited by the Treasury to 3,00,000 l. It is possible that the railroad may cost half a million or more above this fixed sum of 3,000,000 l., and this, by the fact of a selection of a route chosen for its military advantages and upon consideration certainly as Imperial as Colonial. And then the Colonies, before obtaining this guarantee, must prove to parties not always showing too much confidence in their wealth, that the line can be constructed without further application for an Imperial Guarantee.
Another period of many years will probably elapse before the discussions upon this point close.
The Schedule pre-supposes that the rate of interest is fixed by the Treasury at four per cent., while it was demanded by the delegates, after consultation with the fiscal agents of the province, that the rate should be fixed at 3 per cent., and that the debentures should bear that rate of interest.
The surveys and the selection of the route must be settled as preliminary proceedings to any legislation prepared to carry out the offer of the Imperial guarantee in the Colonial Legislature.
By the proposal of the Treasury, it is only after the surveys and after the selection of the route that the provinces can act in regard to their guarantee, if the cost is established at no more than 3,000,000 l., and when information is given to the Colonies that their resources are judged sufficient to bear the charge.
If the cost of construction is above 3,000,000 l., proof must be made, to the satisfaction of Her Majesty’s Government, that the line can be constructed without further application for an Imperial guarantee. Pending the discussion which may follow during a long period, to establish this fact or this possibility, no action, no legislation, can be adopted.
Some of these conditions. and demands are a strange commentary upon the official statement made by Earl Grey, in 1848. “Her Majesty’s Government fully appreciates the importance of the proposed undertaking, and entertains no doubt of the great advantages which would result not only to the provinces interested in the work, but to the Empire at large, from the construction of such a railway; but before proceeding to consider the question whether steps should be taken by Her Majesty’s Government to carry this plan into effect, it was necessary that they should be informed how the several provinces were disposed to co-operate in its execution.”
These demands, rather ungracefully unsay the eloquent words of Earl Derby, that to grant an Imperial aid was a wise, a sound, and even an economical course in the end, even though, in the first instance, it would involve an outlay ; and sure he was that it would confer immense benefits to the Colonies, and bestow incalculable advantages on this country itself, and confirm its territorial power in North America.
The question of the public defences of the Colonies, as integral parts of the Empire; the question of the maintenance, of the extension of the political and social influence of England over the whole of her immense possessions in North America; the economical questions of so vast magnitude to the welfare of the nation; the question of unemployed capital, of surplus labour, underlie every link of the great and national road which Canada is anxious to build by the largest and most liberal contribution, from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
They had a just right to ask the co-operation of Great Britain, and when she only demands an advance of’ guarantee, which can by no eventualities involve the liability of a single halfpenny, to use the language of Earl Derby, she has certainly fair grounds to expect a prompt and liberal course of action.
If the different groups of population spread over British America, and which will numerate at least 12 or 15 millions in twenty-five years, are allowed to proceed in different directions, to have no common tendencies, without any centralisation of their political existence, no other bond but their disjointed interest, fostered by different commercial policies, and settled upon principles of localities, they must continue weak and powerless, and an easy prey to the powerful Republic girdled round these Colonies.
Bind all these small communities by closer intercourses; make a whole strong by its unity of interest, of tendencies, of political organisation, of common views; create by commercial relations mutual interests amongst themselves and with England, direct the minds towards a general and comprehensive policy; you will thus benefit the industry, the wealth of England, extend your power of civilization, and lay the foundations of large and important States, friendly and grateful.
The Canadian Government does not press this undertaking because it is popular with their people; on the contrary, they have to encounter a strong and popular opposition; but fully appreciating the strength and the importance it will eventually give their country, and more particularly the facilities it will provide for the public defences of their part of the Empire, they have not hesitated to adopt a policy which appeared to them sound, highly national, and conducive to the greatness and the defence of the Empire at large.
As a measure of defence, Canada will cheerfully bear her share of the large burden imposed by the construction of the road. But if the policy of the Imperial Government in relation to this work is practically a declaration that they are not disposed to treat it as a measure of national concern and of public defence of a portion of the Empire, the enterprise will not become more popular.
The views and the policy involved and following out of the conditions attached to this so distant liability of the Imperial Exchequer, are so much at variance with the views and the policy entertained by Canada, that the undersigned have considered themselves bound to review these long pending negotiations, and to contrast the views of the Colonies as to the military and Imperial character of the work, with the Imperial policy refusing to contribute towards it, and arranging, not an advance of money, but of a simple guarantee, which the work alone would sufficiently protect, in a manner illiberal, obstructive, and which refuses to acknowledge any corresponding duty on the part of the Mother Country.
They will hasten to submit to their Government the conditions and arrangements proposed by the Imperial Government to carry out the offer of an imperial guarantee, with the hope that upon the pressing instances of the Colonies this aid of an Imperial guarantee will be given in the manner explained by the Delegates at their different interviews with your Grace and the Treasury.
These conditions, urged by the Delegates, and detailed in the annexed paper, in enabling the Colonies to borrow the requisite funds at the low rate of ai per cent. would render the Imperial guarantee a real and tangible assistance, accepted as an equivalent to the contribution of the Imperial Government towards a work of national concern and a measure of public defence. The actual and future wealth of the Colonies are ample and sufficient securities to the Imperial Ex- chequer against the possibilities, even the most remote, of any loss, and a satisfactory proof that the road would be constructed if these conditions were accepted.
We have, &c.
(signed) L. V. Sicotte.
Wm. P. Howland.
London
23 December 1862.
[…]
Downing-street, 17 January 1863.
My Lord,
You will no doubt have received from Messrs. Sicotte and Howland, the copy of a Memorandum which they have addressed to me respecting the proposed loan for the construction of the Intercolonial Railway.
My first impression derived from the language end general character of that document, was that it amounted to a final though indirect rejection on the part of Canada, of the terms offered by Her Majesty’s Government, and thus required no present notice from me. As, however, the Act of the Canadian delegates is not necessary to be taken as that of the Government, and as, therefore, the question will probably be further agitated in the Colony, I have thought it best to inform you generally of the circumstances under which this Memorandum was sent to me.
The whole question of the loan was very fully canvassed at this office in repeated interviews between the four delegates and myself; and I was certainly under the impression that, with a single exception, the very numerous objections interposed by Mr. Sicotte had been successively removed by explanation or concession: the exception related to the mode of securing repayment of the principal sum borrowed, but I collected that, even on this head, the substantial objection to a sinking fund was admitted to have been removed by providing that the payments to that fund might be employed in extinguishing the debt or invest it in other Colonial securities.
At this period of the negotiation the Canadian delegates left London for Paris, where, I presume, they received a copy of the memorandum embodying the terns, as altered after discussion, which Her Majesty’s Government were prepared to sanction, and which the delegates of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have signified their readiness to accept. On their return to England, Messrs.: Sicotte and Howland sought no further communication with, or explanation from, this department, but on the day on which they embarked for Canada, left this statement, repudiating the terms which had been accepted by their colleagues, and which I had been led to suppose contained little that was unacceptable to themselves.
Some of the grounds alleged for that repudiation would, I think, hardly have been advanced had the objectors thought it advisable to ascertain, by further conference, the intentions of Her Majesty’s Government. I will myself only observe upon them, first, that the repudiation by Messrs. Sicotte and Howland of any fixed arrangement for securing payment of the principal borrowed does not appear wholly consistent with the sixth article of their own counter-proposal; and next, that the British Treasury, in proposing 4% as the rate of interest, can hardly be supposed to insist on that rate being offered, if it should appear that the money could be obtained at par on more advantageous terms.
I shall, of course, wish to be informed whether the views set forth in the delegates’ paper are adopted by the Canadian Government, and whether I am to understand that the offer of Her Majesty’s Government is finally rejected.
I have, &c.
(signed) Newcastle.
[…]
[…]
(No. 8.)
COPY OF A DESPATCH from His Grace the Duke of Newcastle, K.G. to Governor General Viscount Monck.
Downing-street, 29 January 1863.
My Lord,
WITH reference to my Despatch, No. 4*, of the 17th of January, I transmit to you herewith a copy of a Minute by the Secretary to the Treasury,+ upon two questions raised in the annexed letter from Mr. Tilley, the New Brunswick delegate, on the subject of the proposed loan for the construction of the Intercolonial Railway, viz., the mode in which the loan should be raised, and the extent to which it should form a first charge on the provincial revenues.
I have, &c.
(signed) Newcastle.
[…]
Downing-street, 24 January 1863.
Sir,
I HAVE the honour to transmit to you herewith a copy of a Memorandum* which Messrs. Sicotte and Howland, the delegates from Canada, on the subject of the Inter-colonial Railway, have addressed to me, on their departure from England.
I have, &c.
(signed) Newcastle.
[…]
Downing-street, 24 January 1863.
Sir,
I HAVE to request that you will acquaint Mr. Tilley that his letter of the 5th* instant, addressed to Sir Frederic Rogers, on the subject of the Treasury Minute on the proposed loan for the construction of the Inter-colonial Railway, has been received in this department, and I enclose a copy of a memorandum which I have received from the Secretary to the Treasury on the points raised by Mr. Tilley respecting the mode of raising the loan, and the priority of charge on the Colonial Revenues, which I trust will be satisfactory to him.
Mr. Tilley will doubtless communicate this information to his colleague, Mr. Howe. I have therefore not sent a copy of this paper to Lord Mulgrave.
I have, &c.
(signed) Newcastle.
[…]
Downing-street, 24 January 1863.
Sir,
I HAVE the honour to transmit to you herewith a copy of a Memorandum* which Messrs. Sicotte and Howland, the delegates from Canada. on the subject of the Inter-colonial Railway, have addressed to me on their departure from England.
I have, &c.
(signed) Newcastle.
[…]
Downing-street, 31 January 1863.
My Lord,
WITH reference to my Despatch, No. 4,* of the 24th of January, I have the honour to transmit to your Lordship a copy of a Minute by the Secretary to the Treasury upon two questions raised in the annexed letter from Mr. Tilly,‡ the delegate of New Brunswick, on the subject of the proposed Loan for the construction of the Inter-colonial Railway; viz., the mode in which the loan should be raised, and the extent to which it should form a first charge un the Provincial Revenue.
I am, &c.
(signed) Newcastle.
[…]
Fredericton, 27 April 1863.
My Lord Duke,
IT is with great satisfaction that I transmit to your Grace a copy of a Bill to authorise a loan, and for the construction and management of au intercolonial railway, as finally assented to by me on the 20th instant.
2. The Bill passed through all its stages in the House of Assembly by considerable majorities, and in the Legislative Council only two voles were recorded against it.
3. So far as this Province is concerned, no more can at present be done towards the completion of this great work, but I earnestly trust that the Government of Canada may, before long, be induced to perceive the necessity of fulfilling their part of the agreement entered into between the different Provinces in September 1862.
I have, &c.
(signed) Arthur H. Gordon.
[…]
Downing-street, 16 May 1863
Sir,
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch, No. 31*, of the 27th ultimo, enclosing a copy of the Bill to which you had assented “to authorise a loan, and for the construction and management of an Intercolonial Railway.” The readines [sic] of the Legislature of New Brunswick to forward the work of an Intercolonial Railway has afforded much satisfaction ta Her Majesty’s Government
I have, &c.
(signed) Newcastle.
[…]
Downing-street, 10 October 1863.
Sir,
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt, together with other Acts of the Legislature of New Brunswick, of “Chapter V., an Act to authorise a Loan, and for the Construction and Management of an Intercolonial Railway,”*passed in April last.
This evidence of the readiness of the Legislature of New Brunswick to promote this important project of intercolonial communication has afforded me much satisfaction.
Her Majesty’s decision upon this Act, as well as upon a similar one received from Nova Scotia will, however, be reserved until the arrival of the corresponding Act from Canada.
I am, &c.
(signed) Newcastle.
[…]
Government House, Halifax, Nova Scotia,
29 April 1863.
My Lord Duke,
I HAVE much satisfaction in informing your Grace that I have this day assented to an Act passed by the Legislature of this Province, accepting the terms offered by Her Majesty’s Government for the construction of an intercolonial railroad; and I now enclose the copy of a Minute of my Executive Council, together with a copy of the Bill which has been passed.
I have, &c.
(signed) Mulgrave.
[…]
Downing-street, 16 May 1863.
My Lord,
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch, No.43* of the 29th ultimo, enclosing, together with a Minute of the Executive Council on the subject, a Bill to which you had assented “to authorise a loan, and for the construction and management of an Intercolonial Railway.” Her Majesty’s Government regard with much satisfaction this evidence of the readiness of the Legislature of Nova Scotia to promote this important undertaking.
I have, &c.
(signed) Newcastle.
[…]
Downing-street, 10 October 1863.
Sir,
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt, together with other Acts of the Legislature of Nova Scotia, of “chapter 21, an Act to authorise a loan, and for the construction and management of an Intercolonial Railway,” passed in April last. la my Despatch, No. 33* of the 16th May last, I intimated to you my satisfaction at this evidence of the readiness of the Legislature of Nova Scotia to promote this undertaking.
Her Majesty’s decision upon this Act, as well as upon a similar one received from New Brunswick, will, however, be reserved until the arrival of the corresponding Act from Canada.
I have, &c.
(signed) Newcastle.
[…]
COPY of a DESPATCH from Governor General Viscount Monck, to His Grace the Duke of Newcastle, K.G.
Quebec, 1 October 1863.
My Lord Duke,
I HAVE the honour to send for your Grace’s information a copy of a Despatch, and Enclosure which I have received from the Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick, in reference to the proposed Survey of the Line of the Intercolonial Railway, and a Minute of the Executive Council of the Province in answer to that Despatch.
I have sent a copy of this Minute to Mr. Gordon.
I have, &c.
(signed) Monck.
[…]
Downing-street, 20 October 1863.
My Lord,
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Lordship’s Despatch, No. 93,* of the 1st instant, enclosing a Minute of your Executive Council, approved by yourself, arising out of the proposed commencement of the preliminary surveys for the Intercolonial Railway.
I understand this Minute to embody the decision of the Canadian Government to the following effect : that the negotiations with the Imperial Government, commenced last winter, with a view to the construction of that railway, are conclusively abandoned; that the Provincial Governments (and therefore, of course, the Government of this country), are no longer bound by their respective proposals in relation to that project, and that by rejecting the offers made last winter by the Home Government, the Canadian Government bas placed itself at liberty to repudiate also the Convention of the previous September.
I find some difficulty in reconciling the terms of this Minute with those of your Lordship’s Despatch, No. 87, of the 14th ultimo, in which you conveyed the recommendation of your Government that an engineer should be appointed by the Imperial Government for the preliminary surveys in apparent pursuance of the terms embodied in the Treasury Memorandum of December last, which Memorandum was based upon the negotiations which your Government now treat as abortive, and I am therefore somewhat at a loss to understand on what grounds, or in what capacity I have been requested to nominate a surveyor on behalf of the British Government. I have, however, no difficulty in stating that I have every desire to facilitate the operations of the Provincial Government in this matter, and in repeating that the preliminary survey may, in my opinion, very properly be placed in Mr. Fleming’s hands.
I have, &c.
(signed) Newcastle.
[…]
Government House, Quebec,
7 November 1863.
My Lord Duke,
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Grace’s Despatch, No. 108,* of 20 October, in reference to the last Minute of the Executive Council of this Province, which I transmitted to your Grace on the subject of the contemplated survey of the proposed line of the Intercolonial Railway.
In reply, I have to inform your Grace, that the Government of Canada considers that the disagreement between the Imperial Government and the delegates of Canada with regard to the terms on which it was proposed to grant the Imperial guarantee for the loan necessary for the construction of the line has rendered further proceedings on the basis of the agreement of 1862 impossible, and that, as a necessary consequence, neither the Imperial Government, nor that of Canada, should be considered as concluded by any of the stipulations entered into on that occasion.
The Canadian Government is however impressed with the importance of the proposed work, and desirous of taking every measure calculated to lead to its execution.
This Government entertains the strongest conviction, that in order to render the scheme acceptable to the public of Canada; and thereby to secure for it that support in the Legislature, without which it is useless for the Executive to enter into any further preliminary negotiations on the subject, a survey, which will afford a trustworthy basis for an estimate of the probable cost of the work, is indispensable.
Should the results of the survey prove satisfactory, the Canadian Government look forward to obtaining at some future period the co-operation and assistance of the Imperial Government in the execution of this work, and it is with the design that Her Majesty’s Ministers may be officially satisfied with the competence of the persons appointed to conduct the proposed survey, and of the trust which should be reposed in their reports that I have, at the desire of the Executive Council, requested your Grace to appoint an engineer to act on the part of the Imperial Government in the survey with those nominated by the Provinces interested in the work.
It is a matter of great satisfaction, both to myself and to the Executive Council of Canada, that your Grace is disposed to join with us in the proposed survey, and to express your approbation of the selection we have made of Mr. Sandford Fleming, as the engineer to represent Canada in the duties connected with it.
I have, &c.
(signed) Monck.
[…]
Quebec, 26 February 1864.
My Lord Duke,
I HAVE the honour to enclose for your Grace’s information, a copy of a Despatch which I have addressed to the Governors of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick respecting the survey of the line of the proposed Intercolonial Railway.
I have, &c.
(signed) Monck.
His Grace the Duke of Newcastle, &c., &c.
[…]
Downing-street, 26 March 1864.
My Lord,
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Lordship’s Despatch, No. 24,* of the 26th ultimo, enclosing a copy of a Despatch which you had addressed to the Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick, communicating the decision of the Canadian Government to undertake the survey of the line of the proposed Intercolonial Railway on its own responsibility, and at its sole expense, leaving the question of making any reimbursement to the discretion of the Governments of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
I am, &c.
(signed) Newcastle.
[…]
Quebec, 15 March 1864.
My Lord Duke,
I HAVE the honour to enclose for your Grace’s information, a copy of the instructions given by this Government to Mr. Sandford Fleming, for the survey of the line of the Intercolonial Railway.
I have, &c.
(signed) Monck.
[…]
Downing-street, 23 October 1863.
Sir,
LEARNING from Lord Monck’s Despatch to me of the 1st October (No. 93),* that his Lordship had sent you a copy of an approved Minute of the Executive Council of Canada, dated the 29th of last September, purporting to be an answer to your Despatch to his Lordship of the 18th of the same month, on the subject of the contemplated survey of the line for the Intercolonial Railroad, I deem it advisable to put you in possession of the Despatch which I have addressed to Lord Monck. I accordingly enclose you a copy for your information.
I have, &c.
(signed) Newcastle.
[…]
Downing-street, 19 March 1864.
Sir,
I TRANSMIT to you, for your information, a copy of a correspondence which has passed between this Department, the Treasury, and Mr. Watkin, the President of the Grand Trunk Railway, on the subject of the proposed Intercolonial Railway.
From, this correspondence you will learn the understanding upon which Her Majesty’s Government are prepared to accede to the proposition now submitted to them, with regard to the construction of a line of Railway between Truro and the Bend, in the Provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, as a part of the larger project for completing the railway communication between Halifax and Quebec.
The question whether this section of the railway should be at once undertaken is, of course, entirely for the decision of the Provincial Legislatures. I need hardly say that I shall myself view with interest any step which tends to facilitate the completion of the plan contemplated in the negotiations of 1862-3.
I have, &c.
(signed) Newcastle.
[…]
Downing-street, 23 October 1863.
Sir,
I HAVE the honour to transmit, for your information, the copy of a recent correspondence between the Governor of Canada and myself, on the subject of the survey of the line for the Intercolonial Railway.
I have, &c.,
(signed) Newcastle.
[…]
Downing-street, 19 March 1864.
Sir,
I TRANSMIT to you, for your information, a copy of a correspondence which has passed between this Department, the Treasury, and Mr. Watkin, the President of the Grand Trunk Railway, on the subject of the proposed Intercolonial Railway.
From this correspondence you will learn the understanding upon which Her Majesty’s Government are prepared to accede to the proposition now submitted to them, with regard to the construction of a line of railway between Truro and the Bend, in the Provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, as a part of the larger project for completing the railway communication between Halifax and Quebec.
The question whether this section of the railway should be at once undertaken is, of course, entirely for the decision of the Provincial Legislatures. I need hardly say that I shall myself view with interest any step which tends to facilitate the completion of the plan contemplated in the negotiations of 1862-63.
I have, &c.
(signed) Newcastle.
[…]
Halifax, Nova Scotia, 13 April 1864.
My Lord Duke,
I THINK it right to keep your Grace informed with reference to the action lately taken in the Legislature of this Province on the subject of the Intercolonial and other railway projects.
A Bill has passed both branches of the Legislature providing for the extension of the railway from Truro to Pictou.
A Bill has also passed the Lower House, by a. very large majority, repealing the Intercolonial Railway Bill, passed last Session.
Your Grace’s Despatch, No. 15,* of the 19th March, on the subject of the Intercolonial Railway received by last mail, was immediately ou [sic] its receipt laid upon the table of both Houses.
The second reading of the Repeal Bill has not been moved in the Upper House, and I do not know whether it will be pressed.
A resolution (copy of which is transmitted herewith) has also passed the House of Assembly by a majority of 28 to 8, and was yesterday laid on the table of the Legislative Council, but it appears uncertain what action will be taken upon it by that body.
I have, &c.
(signed) Hastings Doyle.
[…]
Downing-street, 5 May 1864.
Sir,
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch, No. 35,* of the 13th of April, relative to the action taken in the Legislature of Nova Scotia on the subject of the Intercolonial and other Railway projects.
I have, &c.
(signed) Edward Cardwell.
[…]
Downing-street, 25 June 1864.
My Lord,
I HAVE the honour to transmit to you, for your information, the enclosed copies of a correspondence which took place between this Department, the Treasury, and Mr. Watkin, relative to the construction by the Provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia of a railway between Truro and the Bend, which would serve hereafter as the first link in the Intercolonial Railway, if that project should be carried into execution.
These papers were not sent to you at the time, because they more immediately referred to a work which was confined to the Lower Provinces; but, considering the bearing which they have on the more general scheme of the Intercolonial Railway, and especially upon the applicability and duration of the offer which has been made of a guarantee on the part of Her Majesty’s Government, I think it right to bring then also within the knowledge of yourself and of your Government.
I have, &c.
(signed) Edward Cardwell.