Canada and the States

by Sir E. W. Watkin

"'When Messrs. Howland and Sicotte were in England, they expressed their opinion that Canada would be willing to aid the "Atlantic and Pacific Transit Company" in their enterprise of opening up communication across the Continent through British territory. Upon their return to this country, the matter was fully discussed, and it was understood, subsequently, that the Government of that day was prepared to recommend an appropriation of $50,000 per annum, provided that the Company gave the necessary assurances of their ability to commence and carry out the work. Since that time, however, those who formed that Association appear to have enlarged the field of their operations, and have included the whole of the Hudson's Bay Company, with their territory, prestige, and appliances, within the scope of their operations. But the same general policy which suggested the recommendation of the $50,000 referred to, would also prompt similar assistance to the New Hudson's Bay Company. It can be of little moment to Canada by whose agency the western territory is developed—that which is wanted is development.

"'Judging, then, by what has gone before, and from the exigencies which the spirit of progress imposes upon all Governments, it is not improbable when the new Company has itself determined what they will do, in what shape their enterprise will be promoted, that reasonable assistance will be given them. At present, it seems hardly likely that any exact conclusion has been made by themselves in this matter. Mr. Watkin, in whom a wide and just confidence is placed, not only by the shareholders in the new enterprise, but by the British Government itself, is here, engaged, no doubt, in collecting from the various sources within his reach such information as will enable him to report fully upon the matter. That done, the Company will be able to make propositions and to solicit the kindly aid of Canada. Looking at the wide field for enterprise that will be opened up; at the speedy colonization that is likely to take place, consequent upon the recent discoveries of gold; at the prospect that Canada may be made the high road for commerce between the great East and West; that the trade of the St. Lawrence, and all the various and manifold interests connected with it, will be inspired with new and energetic vitality,—from these and many other considerations it must be evident that the policy for Canada, let her political position as to parties be what it may, is to extend a friendly and greeting hand to those who come with capital and confidence to become the pioneers of a new order of things, which cannot fail to pour riches into the lap of Canada, and to lay the foundation of a prosperity which can be at present but dimly imagined.'

"The importance of assisting the work of opening up the North-west for telegraphic and postal purposes would, I believe, be alluded to in the Governor-General's speech on the 15th. [Footnote: This was done, and the following is an extract from the speech of the Governor-General of Canada, on opening Parliament:—

"I have received a despatch from the Secretary of State for the Colonies, enclosing copies of a correspondence between Her Majesty's Government and the agent of the 'Atlantic and Pacific Transit and Telegraph Company,' in reference to a proposal made by that Company for the establishment of a telegraphic and postal communication between Lake Superior and New Westminster, in British Columbia. The importance of such an undertaking to the British North American Provinces, both in a commercial and in a military point of view, induces me to commend the subject to your consideration. Copies of the correspondence shall be laid before you, and I feel assured that should any proposal calculated to effect the establishment of such communication on terms advantageous to the province be submitted to you, it will receive encouragement at your hands.">[ But whatever may be the extent or the value—as to which latter point I fear my opinion does not, as I regretted to find, quite coincide with yours—of the sympathy and support of Canada, any new bias in favour of your projects, as promised in your prospectus, has been mainly aided by the belief which, entertaining it, I inculcated, that without loss of time, and with the promptness and energy of English merchants, the new Government of the Hudson's Bay Company would establish, with the aid of the provinces east and west of the Hudson's Bay territory, but without shirking its own share of duty, telegraphic and postal communication in British interests, available for commercial, and requisite for other and even more serious, purposes. That the works would be begun at once, and that the Hudson's Bay Company, so long obstructive, would now set an example of despatch, and that that which had long been hoped for and promised by others, would now be accomplished by them as the pioneer works of an early settlement of the cultivatable portions of the country.

"It is obvious that, unless materials are supplied and plans arranged before the end of September, the overland operations must wait a year's time. Therefore, apparently under a misapprehension of your wishes or policy, as our interview of yesterday showed, I looked out for the best practical man I could find fit to undertake the construction of a telegraph and system of posts, enabling postal and telegraphic service to be worked together. I found that man in Mr. O. S. Wood, an American settled in Canada, the engineer and manager of the 4,000 miles of telegraph owned by the Montreal Telegraph Company, which pays 23 per cent, upon its capital of 100,000_l._; and believing him to be exactly the man for the occasion, I agreed with him, subject to your sanction, to superintend and be responsible for the erection and operation of a telegraph and system of posts between Fort Garry and Jasper House. I do not trouble you with the document, as it is to be cancelled, so far as your Company is concerned; but I may shortly state that it proposed the completion of the works by October, 1864, and in addition to a liberal, but not excessive, payment for Mr. O. S. Wood's work, responsibility, and experience, it awarded a percentage upon all savings on the total sum of L30,000_l._, the outside estimate taken for the whole job, and a small premium for all time saved in the completion of the work. These payments were to be so made that the integrity, completeness, and success of the work would be their main condition.

"I also made a very important conditional agreement with this Montreal Telegraph Company, under which they were to extend a new and independent, or precautionary, line of telegraph from Halifax (Nova Scotia) to Mirimichi and on to Father Point, connecting with the other existing telegraphs up to Arnprior (Ottawa), and another telegraph from Arnprior to the Sault St. Marie, where you have a trading port. On the other hand, subject to the aid of Canada and British Columbia, your Company were to extend, or obtain the extension of, a telegraph from the Sault by Lake Superior to Fort Garry, and another by Jasper House to Fort Langley. All these telegraphs were to be completed by October, 1865. The Montreal Company were also to obtain the extension of the Minnesota telegraph to your boundary near Pembina, you extending your telegraph to that point. Thus, assuming the Fort Carry and Jasper House telegraph to be completed by October, 1864, and knowing that this, and the telegraph from Fort Langley to Jasper House, could be finished as easily, a complete and independent Atlantic and Pacific telegraph, stretching for more than 1,000 miles through your territory, might have been secured,—always assuming that this season of 1863 were saved, which was the great practical object before me. I obtained, as a condition, that in dividing the rates paid for messages, your telegraphs should have a bonus of 33 per cent. so long as your capital did not pay a clear 10 per cent. dividend.

"To this end, I advised you to confirm the order of 175 tons of charcoal wire and of the insulators, post pins, batteries, and instruments needed for the length between Fort Garry and Jasper House (the wire from England, and the other material from Canada and the United States), at a total cost, already given you in complete detail, estimated, when delivered at Fort Garry, as not to exceed 10,000_l._. This statement of cost, and a reference to my past statements, will answer the question in Mr. Fraser's letter of the 13th, as to whether I had calculated the heavy expense of carriage— 20_l._ per ton to Fort Garry. The question shows that it had not been calculated in Fenchurch Street that the poles and timber would be got in the country, and that the whole weight of material to be sent to Fort Garry was about 200 tons at the most.

"I may pause, however, in answer to another similar question, about the relative prices of American and English wire, &c., to say, that the best market for wire is England; and the best market for the less important articles is the United States, while the proper prices chargeable for the best article by the best houses are known to all practical men. I may add, as I am asked what is the weight per mile of telegraphic wire, that 'best charcoal No. 9 electric wire' is 320 lbs. to the mile of 1,760 yards.

"On leaving this subject, I may add, that if on further consideration you determine to store the material above named (cost and carriage 10,000_l._) at Fort Garry, there is yet time to get it out to St. Paul, and some, if not all, may go through to Fort Gany. There is a post three days per week to Fort Garry, and posts go through all parts of your own territory regularly, the 'Winter Express' leaving Fort Garry on Christmas Day. Though, in my humble opinion, not the best thing, still the transmission and storage of that material would be looked upon as an evidence of your intentions, and would help to keep you right in Canada and in your own territory, as also in British Columbia, and would expedite a final and favourable decision as to the proposed subsidy. So strong is my opinion, that I am ready to join any four or five gentlemen of your Committee feeling an interest in the work, in providing and paying for the material itself, if you will send it through at once.

"It will, I assume, be apparent to you how necessary it is to keep the section of telegraph in your own special district in your own hands. Your organization, also, will enable you to convey and erect material very cheaply. As to all details, I refer to the papers already sent over containing full particulars, and showing quantities, kind, cost, means of conveyance, and, more important than all, character of country and proposed route; the latter from the personal experience and knowledge of the country of Governor Dallas and Mr. Hopkins, whose reliability and capacity as advisers no one will question.