(1822)
Early in the last century, the merchants of Montreal realized that a country’s trade and progress are to be measured by its transportation facilities, and that until these are secured, there can be little advance. Accordingly, when on July 19, 1821, the first sod of the Lachine Canal was turned by one of their number, the Hon. John Richardson, a vista of a future inland waterway system and consequent commercial progress was unfolded. Individual action had prevailed so far, but now the value of union among the merchants was seized upon. A few months later, on April 11, 1822, the Hon. John Richardson presided at a preliminary meeting held in the Exchange on St. Joseph Street (St. Sulpice) of merchants and others interested in commerce, which gave birth to the “Committee of Trade.”
At this meeting a resolution was adopted stating “that the ruinous consequences now apprehended from the growing embarrassments of Canadian commerce can no longer be averted or even delayed by the solitary exertions of individuals or by the occasional hasty and inadequate deliberations of public meetings, and that the present alarming crisis demands the establishment of a standing committee of merchants to be authorized by their constituents to watch over the general interests of the trade of the country.”
The subscription of the members of this organization was placed at three guineas per annum, and the original subscribers numbered fifty-four, who elected the following thirteen gentlemen as the first committee of trade: Horatio Gates, George Auldjo, George Moffatt, Henry McKenzie, Campbell Sweeney, John Forsyth, Peter McGill, F.A. Larocque, John Fleming, Samuel Gerrard, Thomas Blackwood, Charles L. Ogden, James Leslie. This committee began its operations in a very humble way, for at its second meeting Mr. Auldjo was authorized to finish the proposed agreement with Mr. A.L. Macnider for a room for the accommodation of the committee, including fuel and attendance at the rate of thirty pounds per annum. The population of Montreal at this time was 18,767, increasing to 27,997 by 1831.
From the records we possess of this Committee of Trade, it is clear that Montreal recognized early its vocation as the commercial metropolis of Canada, for its rules “authorized and required the Committee to make to His Majesty and the Legislature of the United Kingdom, and others in authority, such representations on Trade matters as might be deemed advisable in the defence of such suits as involved the General Trade of the country.”
The securing of the construction of the Lachine Canal warranted this assumption of authority by the merchants of Montreal, who were not unopposed in Upper Canada through mistaken motives of jealousy. The Committee of Trade foreseeing that Montreal was to become the commercial port of Canada, set to work at once to encourage large vessels to come to the St. Lawrence. In 1825, it made strong efforts to induce the Government to deepen the channel in Lake St. Peter so that “vessels of nearly 250 tons burthen, might reach Montreal fully laden during the whole season.” It is a far cry from such vessels to the magnificent steamers which now perform the service between Great Britain and Montreal, some of which are nearly fifteen thousand tons.
Steadily the Committee of Trade began to prepare for the future destiny of the port. One of its number, the Hon. James Leslie, presented in Parliament a petition praying for aid to deepen the channel to sixteen feet. In spite of the cholera outbreaks of 1832 and 1834 and the rebellion of 1837 and 1838, the Committee of Trade went on, until 1839, effecting further improvements.
THE MONTREAL BOARD OF TRADE
(1842)