To act in accordance
with his own best judgment; but this question of the government of the
country is, after all, the grand difficulty, and, if successfully
negociated, the grand hope of success as regards the future settlement
of this vast district.
"As to the suitability of an immense portion of the district west of
Fort Garry for eligible settlement, Governor Dallas - who has now made
journeys of 1,800 miles in the last year - has no doubt whatever; and I
trust that the old traditional phantoms of inhospitable deserts will be
finally dismissed from the minds of the new Governor and Committee,
especially when they have before them the many letters and reports in
evidence of the true state of affairs, which must be in possession of
the Company in Fenchurch Street.
"As regards telegraphic communication, I have made every inquiry
necessary upon the subject, and Governor Dallas agrees with my views of
the importance of connecting the Hudson's Bay posts by telegraphic
communication.
"Subject to further discussion, I may indicate my opinion that the
route suggested by Governor Dallas through the Hudson's Bay territory,
viz., from Jasper House by Edmonton, Carlton, and Fort Pitt to Fort
Garry, would be the proper route for a telegraph.
"This portion, as it seems to me, should be constructed at once, and by
the Hudson's Bay Company.
"Were it to be constructed in Canada, it would not cost more than
15,000l. sterling. It may cost less, though in some cases it may
cost more, through your territory; though I am inclined to think that
it may be constructed for 20,000l. as an outside sum, and that
it is impossible that the cost of this portion of the work should
exceed 30,000l. in any event.
"This outlay being sanctioned, the connection with the American
telegraph through Minnesota would be a matter of negociation; and the
extension of telegraphic communication to Fort William on the one side,
and to Fort Langley on the other, would depend upon the subsidies to be
obtained from Canada, and from British Columbia and Vancouver Island.
"I have the assurance of the present leader of the Canadian Government,
that the offer to give a subsidy, made last year, will be officially
renewed, and I shall endeavour to get this promise put into writing,
and send it to you home.
"British Columbia, I assume, would do what the Colonial Office
requested, but, in any case, we ought not to commit ourselves to a
through communication through Canada and British Columbia without a
clear understanding as to the subsidies. At the same time, if you, the
Hudson's Bay Company, have command of one thousand miles of telegraph,
enabling you to transmit information through your own channels with a
new expedition, you will practically have command of the future
discussion of this large question.
"I have obtained estimates, and made calculations of the cost of these
telegraphic operations, and I have selected a very eligible gentleman,
Mr. Wood, the Manager of the Montreal Telegraph Company, who, I am
quite sure, will carry out the operation, with the assistance of the
employes of the Hudson's Bay Company, and under the orders of Governor
Dallas, with perfect success.
I should recommend that immediate steps be taken; and there is no
reason, in my opinion, why all the materials should not be on the
ground by the end of the coming winter, since much of it can be taken
by canoe, and the remainder may be taken across the snow in the winter;
and why may not the whole telegraph from Jasper House to Fort Carry be
completed by September in next year?
"The present attitude of the Sioux Indians in the State of Minnesota
deserves serious attention. Little Crow has waited upon Governor
Dallas, and the Governor has written to General Sibley.
"I have suggested whether a visit to Washington would not be desirable,
and that the opportunity of assisting the American Government to make
peace with these troublesome Indians should be improved, by attempting
to get a settlement of your Oregon claims.
"I have the honour to be, Sir,
"Your most obedient Servant,
"(Signed) EDWARD W. WATKIN.
"Sir EDMUND WALKER HEAD, Bart., &c. &c.,
"Governor, Hudson's Bay Company."
Finding, however, that the Governor and his Committee were not prepared
to act with the energy and preciseness I had desired, I closed my,
unpaid, mission by the following letter of 26th August, 1863, from my
house, Norfolk Street, Park Lane.
"NORFOLK STREET, PARK LANE,
"August 26, 1863.
"MY DEAR SIR,
"I have to thank you for sending me copies of the official letter from
the Secretary of the 13th instant, in reply to my report and private
letter of the 24th July, and of your private notes of the 13th and 18th
instant, the latter noticing my letter of the 4th instant.
"I desire at once to say that the heads of arrangement which I have
written down with the Montreal Telegraph Company and with Mr. Wood, for
your consideration, were of course entirely subject to the sanction of
the Governor and Committee of the Hudson's Bay Company. And, in
accordance with what I understood to be your views, when to-day you
were good enough to leave the Deputy-Governor in order to see me in the
board room by appointment, I shall consider it my duty to cancel all
that has passed, in such a manner as, I trust, will be perfectly
satisfactory to your colleagues. There will then remain nothing beyond
a responsibility for a few essential materials, as to which time was an
object, amounting to not more than a few hundred pounds at the utmost,
which I shall take entirely upon myself, under the circumstances of
doubt and difficulty as to the opinions of the shareholders of the
Hudson's Bay Company which you represented to me.
