Certainly, In 1861, This Great Idea Seemed Like A Mere Dream Of The
Uncertain Future.
Blocked by wide stretches of half-explored country:
dependent upon approaches through United States' territory:
Each
Province enforcing its separate, and differing, tariffs, the one
against the other, and others, through its separate Custom House; it
was not matter of surprise to find a growing gravitation towards the
United States, based, alike, on augmenting trade and augmenting
prejudices.
Amongst party politicians at home, there was, at this time, of 1861,
little adhesion to the idea of a Colonial Empire; and the reader has
only to read the reference, made later on, to a published letter of Sir
Charles Adderley to Mr. Disraeli in 1862, to see how the pulse of some
of the Conservative party was then beating.
There was, however, one bright gleam of hope. That was to be found in
the, still remembered, effects of the visit of the Prince of Wales,
accompanied by the Duke of Newcastle, to Canada, and the United States,
in 1860.
Entertaining, with no small enthusiasm, and in common, these views of
an Anglo-American Empire, Mr. Tilley and I were of the same opinion as
to practical modes. We must go "step by step," and the Intercolonial
Railway was the first step in the march before us.
In the following pages will be found some record of what followed.
Suffice it here to say, that the Railway is made, not on the route I
advocated: but it is in course of improvement, so that the shortest
iron road from the great harbour of Halifax, in Nova Scotia, to the
Pacific may be secured. The vast western country, bigger than Russia in
Europe, more or less possessed and ruled over, since the days of Prince
Rupert, the first governor, by the "Merchant Adventurers of England
trading to Hudson's Bay," has been annexed to Canada, and one country,
under one Parliament, is bounded by the two great oceans; and, as a
consequence, the "Canadian Pacific Railway" has been made and opened
for the commerce of the world.
Mr. Tilley, now Sir Leonard Tilley, is, at the moment, Lieutenant-
Governor of New Brunswick, having previously filled the highest offices
in the Government of the "Dominion of Canada;" and he has not forgotten
the vow he and I exchanged some while after our first acquaintance.
That vow was, that we neither of us would die, if we could help it,
"until we had looked upon the waters of the Pacific from the windows of
a British railway carriage." The Canadian Pacific Railway is completed,
completed by the indomitable perseverance of Sir George Stephen, Mr.
Van Horne, and their colleagues - sustained as they have been,
throughout, by the far-sighted policy and liberal subsidies, granted
ungrudgingly, by the Dominion Parliament, under the advice of Sir John
A. Macdonald, the Premier. I have, in the past year, fulfilled my vow,
by traversing the Canadian Continent from Quebec to Port Moody,
Vancouver City, and Victoria, Vancouver's Island, over the 3,100 miles
of Railway possessed by the Canadian Pacific Company, and have "looked
upon the waters of the Pacific from the windows of a British railway
carriage."
My impressions of this grand work will be found in future chapters.
"The Dominion of Canada" now includes the various Provinces of North
America, formerly known as Upper and Lower Canada, New Brunswick, Nova
Scotia, Prince Edward Island, British Columbia, Vancouver's Island, and
the extensive regions of The Hudson's Bay Company, including the new
Province of Manitoba, and the North West Territories; in fact, the
whole of British North America, except Newfoundland.
This territory stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, and
(including Newfoundland) is estimated to contain a total area of some
four million square miles.
As matter of mere surface, and probably of cultivable area, also, more
than half the Northern Continent of America owes allegiance to the
Crown and to Queen Victoria. So may it remain. So it will remain if we
retain the Imperial instinct. These noble provinces are confederated
into a vast dominion, with one common Law, one Custom House, and one
"House of Commons" - by a simple Act of the Imperial Parliament, the
Confederation Act of 1867, passed while Lord Beaconsfield was Prime
Minister and the Duke of Buckingham Colonial Minister. This union was
effected quietly, unostentatiously, and in peace; and (circumstances
well favouring) by the exertions, influence, and faithfulness to
Imperial traditions, of Cartier, John A. Macdonald, John Ross, Howe,
Tilley, Galt, Tupper, Van Koughnet, and other provincial statesmen, who
forced the Home Government to action and fired their brother colonists
with their own enthusiasm.
At home, all honour is due to a great Colonial Minister - the Duke of
Newcastle.
Taking up, some years ago, a tuft of grass growing at the foot of one
of the grand marble columns of the Parthenon at the Acropolis at
Athens, I found a compass mark in the footing, or foundation - a mere
scratch in the stone - made, probably, by some architect's assistant,
before the Christian era. I make no claim to more than having made a
scratch of some sort on the foundation stone of some pillar, or other,
of Confederation. And I throw together these pages with no idea of
gaining credit for services, gratuitously rendered, over a period of
years and under many difficulties, to a cause which I have always had
at heart; but with the desire to record some facts of interest which,
hereafter, may, probably, be held worthy of being interleaved in some
future history of the union of the great American provinces of the
British Empire. I have another motive also: I should wish to contribute
some information bearing upon any future account of the life of the
late Duke of Newcastle. He is dead: and, so far, no one has attempted
to write his biography. That may be reserved for another generation. He
was the Colonial Minister under whose rule and guidance the foundations
of the great measure of Confederation were, undoubtedly, laid; and to
him, more than to any minister since Lord Durham, the credit of
preserving, as I hope for ever, the rule of her Majesty, and her
successors, over the Western Continent ought to attach.
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