After Waiting Some While, Following, As
We Did, About A Dozen Previous Waiters On The Chancellor, We Were Shown
Into Mr. Gladstone's Working Room, Or Den.
The room was very untidy.
Placards, papers, letters, newspapers, magazines, and blue boots on the
table, chairs, bookshelves, and the floor.
It looked, altogether, as if
the window had been left open, and the contents of a miscellaneous
newspaper, book, and parliamentary paper shop had been blown into the
apartment. Mr. Gladstone, himself, looked bored and worried. Though
perfectly civil, he had the expression of a man on his guard against a
canvasser or a dun. He might be thinking of the "Trent" affair. We
stated our errand, and as I had, as arranged, to say something, I used
the argument of probable saving in the Atlantic mail subsidies, by the
creation of land routes, &c. He brushed that aside by the sharp remark,
"Those subsidies are unsound, and they will not be renewed." He then
spoke of the objectionable features of all these "helps to other people
who might help themselves." He did not seem to mind the argument, that
assuming this work to be of Imperial as well as of Provincial
importance, unless aid, - costless to England, or, at the highest, a
very remote risk, and not in any sense a subsidy, - were given, the work
could not proceed at all. He struck me to be a man who thought spending
money, or taking risks, however slight, a kind of crime. That, in fact,
it was better to trust to Providence in important questions, and keep
the national pocket tightly buttoned. We got little out of him, save an
insight into the difficulty to be overcome. And yet he had been a party
to the Crimean War. On the final discussion, in the House, on the vote
for the Intercolonial guarantee, on the 28th March, 1867, Mr. Gladstone
concluded his speech by declaring, "I believe the present guarantee
does depend upon motives of policy belonging to a very high order, and
intimately and inseparably associated with most just, most enlightened
views of the true interests of the Empire." Thus we had sown the seed
not in vain, and the counsel of the Duke was not forgotten.
Mr. Van Koughnet arrived on the 26th November. On the 27th I took him
to see the Duke, and we had a long conference.
Finally, it was decided to send in a memorial to the Duke to lay before
the Cabinet. Howe prepared it. It was most ably drawn, like all the
State papers of that distinguished man, and it was sent in to the
Colonial Office on the 2nd December, 1861. Thus, all had been done that
could then be done by the delegation. We had to rely upon the Duke. Our
difficulty was with Mr. Gladstone.
In the time of waiting, Howe, Tilley, and I, attended meetings at
Bristol, Manchester, Liverpool, Oldham, Ashton, and other places,
endeavouring, with no small success, to make the Intercolonial Railway
a public question.
But the delays; the "pillar to post"; the want of knowledge of
permanent officials, whose geography, even, I found very defective,
made our efforts irksome, and now and then, apparently, hopeless.
But an event had startled England, like a thunderclap in a summer sky.
On the 8th of November, 1861, Captain Wilkes, of the United States ship
"San Jacinta," took the Southern States envoys - Messrs. Slidel and
Mason - and two others, forcibly from the deck of a British mail ship,
"The Trent." The country was all on fire. Palmerston showed fight, and
the Guards and other troops, and arms and stores to the value of more
than a million sterling, were sent out to Canada. The delegates were
sent for to the War Office, and, as desired, I accompanied them. At the
time all seemed to hang in the balance. The powers had joined England
in protest, and our ambassador was instructed by despatch, per ship
- for the submarine wires were not at work - to leave Washington in seven
days if satisfaction were not given.
At the War Office we met Mr. Cornewall Lewis, Minister for War, a man
erudite and accomplished, who had lived on public employments nearly
all his life, but who hardly knew the difference between the two ends
of a ramrod. He asked, in long sentences, the questions which
Palmerston had put shortly and in the pith; all sorts of queries as to
winter transport in the Provinces, the disposition for fight of the
people, and so on. Then it was demanded, What we had to suggest? Van
Koughnet, who writhed under the tone adopted, bluntly said, "Why, to
fight it out, of course; we in Canada will have to bear the first
brunt. But we cannot fight with jack-knives; and there are no arms in
the country. You have failed to keep any store at all." This led to a
deliberate note being taken by the Under Secretary, the present Marquis
of Ripon. Other details followed, and then, finally, we were asked if
we had anything more to propose? To which I answered "Yes; send out a
man who may be truly regarded as a general." This was received with
silence and open mouths. The fact was, the soldier in command in Canada
was General Fenwick Williams, a most gallant man, who, in a siege,
would eat his boots before he would give in: but was not the man who
could so manoeuvre small bodies of men as to keep in check, in forests
and on plains, large masses of the enemy. When we left, Captain Gallon
came running after us, and said, "I am so glad you said that, we all
feel as you do here" - (the War Office).
Although the Government of the United States retreated from an
undefendable position, wisely and with dignity, by surrendering their
prisoners, who, delivered over to a British man-of-war, landed in
England on the 29th January, 1862, - still it was decided to keep the
troops in the Provinces, to reinforce them, to add to the armaments,
and to adequately arm strategic points alongside the American frontier.
And, as President of the Grand Trunk, I was asked to go out to Canada
to aid and direct transport across the country.
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