[308] Sess. Papers, Canada, 1861, No. 21.
CHAPTER XVIII
Canadian ocean mail service (cont.)—Series of disasters to Allan line steamers.
The year 1859 was a notable one in the history of transportation in Canada. In May, the steamers of the Allan line commenced their weekly trips between Liverpool and Quebec. In November, the completion of the Victoria Bridge over the St. Lawrence carried the lines of the eastern division of the Grand Trunk into Montreal, thus connecting by uninterrupted railway communication the cities of Quebec and Portland with the metropolis, and establishing a continuous line of railway from the Atlantic seaboard to the western boundary of the provinces. In the same month, also, the Grand Trunk extended its line across the border as far as Detroit, bringing, by means of allied systems in the United States, the cities of Chicago and New Orleans into communication with the eastern states and with Europe by the railway system along the shores of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence.
The system of land transportation between the ports of the Atlantic and the cities on the Mississippi being thus perfected, and available for the conveyance of mails between Europe and the heart of North America by practically continuous conveyance, the postmaster general of Canada, Sidney Smith, proceeded to Europe to improve, as far as possible, the communication between the important cities of Great Britain and the sailing ports of the Canadian vessels, and to arrange for the exploitation of this transportation system, in the interests of Canada.
Before leaving for England Smith paid a visit to Washington, and laid before the postmaster general there the advantages offered by the system under his control. He pointed out that, by the Grand Trunk railway, the journey between Portland and Chicago was made in forty-nine hours, and between Quebec and Chicago in forty-five hours, and, by making Cork a port of call for the mails, the voyage between land and land would be several hundred miles shorter than by any other route.
Smith's proposition was to convey the United States mails to and from Europe for the sea postage only, and to allow these mails to be carried across Canada without charge on the understanding that the Canadian mails to and from Great Britain should be carried free across the United States territory during the period of winter when the steamers called at Portland. The proposition was accepted by the postmaster general of the United States.
In London, where he arrived at the end of November, Smith submitted his scheme to the postmaster general,[309] who made the objection that the sailing arrangements interfered with the plans made for the other transatlantic mail steamers. Fortunately Smith had the support of the postmaster general at Washington, who was much impressed with the merits of the Canadian scheme, and who, in his annual report expressed the opinion that it would afford the most direct and probably the most expeditious communication between Chicago and Liverpool.