Canada and the States Part 14

"a.s.suming a rush of miners to different portions of the territory, the machinery of Government for the preservation of order cannot be for a moment neglected, or its construction be delayed. This involves, again, the question of the establishment of a new colony. Is that colony to be governed by the Hudson's Bay Company, who are essentially a trading and landowning corporation, or is it to be governed in the name of her Majesty, the Hudson's Bay Company, so far as the limits of the Crown Colony are concerned, becoming merely traders and landowners, and ceasing to govern as at present?

"All the difficulties at Red River--which, after all, have been much exaggerated, and can be very easily dealt with--would be disposed of at once were a Governor, appointed by the Crown, to be sent out; and it does not follow that representative inst.i.tutions need at first be granted, though ultimately they would become matter of necessity. The great object of the Governor and Committee--and Governor Dallas and myself perfectly agree in the view--should be to induce the Colonial Government to found a Crown Colony under arrangement with the Hudson's Bay Company with the least possible delay.

"Such a Government would not only relieve the Hudson's Bay Company of an immense responsibility, but it would render t.i.tles to land sold by them, and claims to interest in the minerals, far more certain, marketable, and profitable than at present.

"The commercial re-organization of the Company is a matter perfectly easy in the hands of Governor Dallas, empowered 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 15,000_l_. 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 20,000_l_. as an outside sum, and that it is impossible that the cost of this portion of the work should exceed 30,000_l_. 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 a.s.surance 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 a.s.sume, 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 a.s.sistance 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 att.i.tude 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 a.s.sisting 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 pa.s.sed, 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 circ.u.mstances of doubt and difficulty as to the opinions of the shareholders of the Hudson's Bay Company which you represented to me. And with a desire to avoid similar complaints, I do not propose to make any charge whatever for my own expenses, or, if I may be excused the word, services, in connection with the mission I have had to undertake. That mission, however, cannot go without explanation, for I am anxious to avoid all misconception now, or hereafter, and I desire, therefore, by a frank statement, at once to court contradiction, should it be merited.

"Having had much to do with the discussions which led to the transfer of the Hudson's Bay Company's property, I had expressed my willingness, inconvenient as it must be to me, to act as a member of a proposed commission of three, including Captain Glyn, R.N., and Captain Synge, R.E., whose duty would be to investigate the position of the undertaking at its head establishment,--to report upon the re- organization of its business, the development of its mineral resources, the settlement of portions of its territory as a new colony, and the opening up of the country by the telegraph and by means of transit.

Captain Glyn and Captain Synge had both been consulted, and the Duke of Newcastle had been applied to to obtain leave for Captain Synge at the War Office. I had been led to believe that my services were considered of some value, and I left England on the 20th June, expecting that Captain Glyn and Captain Synge would follow me in a week, and that we should at once proceed to Red River, and send home a first, but full, report by the beginning of October. I understood also that such a report was desired, to clear away any objections to the operations of the re-organized Company which might be factiously raised. And when, after my arrival in Canada, I received the prospectus with your name as Governor of the Company at its head, I found a condition of that doc.u.ment to be that I was to examine and report and advise generally, in concert with other gentlemen, specially qualified for the duty, not only upon the question of telegraphic and postal communication, but also as to the other objects proposed in the scheme officially laid before the public.

"Before leaving England, I repeatedly pressed the necessity of communicating with the Governor and 'wintering partners' of the Company in America, so that they should not hear of the transfer of the property for the first time from the newspapers; and I expected to be specially authorized to give the needful information and a.s.surances. I was no party, I beg to say, to this mention of my name in the prospectus; but my friends and business connections who may have taken shares on the faith of my name, will naturally hold me responsible accordingly. Still, anxious to witness the success of a project which, energetically managed, is so intrinsically sound, I refrained from writing to you to decline the responsibility, hoping that the original plan of delegation, though delayed, would be carried out. That plan, I must observe, involved not a mere commission of engineers to explore the route for a telegraph to Jasper House, as a.s.sumed in the Secretary's letter of the 13th inst., but far wider objects, the realization of which would, I venture to think, have given satisfaction at home, and have dissipated many misconceptions, now existing, inimical to the interests of the new proprietary.

"Your letter to me of the 6th July did not reach me till the 20th, and in the meantime the newspaper notices in England led to many official and unofficial inquiries from me, involving difficulty of answer. I found, in fact, that the staff of the Hudson's Bay Company was quite at fault, and that public men in Canada misunderstood the objects of the new organization, for want of information very simple in its nature, but which--except so far as the prospectus authorized me--I had no right to supply.

"Several of the Hudson's Bay Company's chief factors and traders had, it appeared, addressed a memorial to the then Governor and Committee, some months ago, upon the rumoured sale of the property, and had been, as stated to me, informed that no transfer was likely to take place, or would in fact be undertaken without previous consultation; and yet these gentlemen learnt for the first time from the public papers that new arrangements had been made. It was not unnatural, therefore, considering the relations of these gentlemen with the Company, that they should feel much annoyed; nor was it, perhaps, surprising that an influential member of the body should have predicted a general resignation of the factors 'from Labrador to Sitka,' followed by a confederation amongst them, in order to carry on the fur trade in compet.i.tion with the Hudson's Bay Company, they possessing, as was said, 'the skill, the will, and the capital to do it.'

"The appearance of Mr. Lampson's name as Deputy-Governor, in the absence of any prior explanation, aggravated the first feeling of distrust; for it was said that he and his connections had been, and then were, the Company's great, and often successful, rivals in the fur trade, carrying on a vigorous compet.i.tion at all accessible points.

"The arrival of Governor Dallas at Montreal some days before my receipt of your letter of the 6th July, enabled these misconceptions to be dealt with; and the issue of a circular by the Governor, together with many personal explanations, and some firmness on the part of Mr.

Dallas, will, I trust, very soon remove the want of confidence and dissatisfaction on the part of the staff, which at first looked threatening. These explanations, of course, took time, and rendered the Governor's presence in Canada necessary.

"Governor Dallas and myself made various opportunities of meeting members of the present and of the late Government of Canada, and of talking over the subject of the North-west, and of its organization and government; and I feel convinced that these unofficial discussions were of considerable use, and may help to prevent antagonism and territorial claims on the part of Canada, which, in my opinion, might be very embarra.s.sing, and ought to be foreseen and avoided. Possibly the following article in the Government organ, written by order, and handed to me by the Honorable W. P. Howland, will best exhibit, without further troubling you, the friendly spirit of the Canadian Government before I left for England:--

"(From the _Quebec Mercury_.)

"'The recent announcements concerning the transfer of the t.i.tle and territory of the Hudson's Bay Company to a new corporation have naturally awakened considerable interest in Canada. So far, however, no specific intimation of the opinions of the new Company has been given.

It is understood that they will not confine themselves to a mere following in the footsteps of their predecessors, but that colonization, telegraphy, the opening up of common roads, and eventually of railroad communication, enter into the scheme which, whether as regards the interests at stake or the capital involved, may be said to be colossal in its character. It is no doubt antic.i.p.ated by the new Company that the Canadian Government and people will cheerfully aid them in an enterprise which evidently concerns us so closely.

Speaking in general terms, we presume that it may be conceded that such antic.i.p.ations have been correctly formed. The development of Canadian territory, or of British territory immediately adjacent to it, could never be a matter of indifference to the Government or people. Though young in years, still Canada cannot forego those aspirations regarding the future which are naturally suggested by the magnificent domain which, stretches along the northern portion of the Continent. It is for Canadians to occupy and eventually to govern it, and any means which point to the furtherance of an object which may be called spontaneous in the Canadian mind must engender solicitude and evoke encouragement.

"'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 a.s.surances of their ability to commence and carry out the work. Since that time, however, those who formed that a.s.sociation 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 a.s.sistance 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 a.s.sistance 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 a.s.sisting 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 a.s.sured 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 doc.u.ment, 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, a.s.suming 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 a.s.suming 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 a.s.sume, 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 quant.i.ties, 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.

"While in Upper Canada, I received proposals for the establishment of steamers on your rivers and lakes: and no doubt these could be arranged for; but as the telegraph is to stand over for the present, I do not add to the length of this paper by any statement on this head.

"I would call attention, however, to the exploration of Dr. Hector, on behalf of the Canadian Government, of the lands adjoining Lakes Huron and Superior. Dr. Hector has surveyed a line of road all the way up to Dog Lake; and Mr. McDougal, the present Commissioner of Crown Lands, appears ready to recommend the gradual, but rapid, construction of roads throughout this territory, and onwards to that of the Hudson's Bay Company. Possibly you may consider the suggestion which I made in reference to obtaining an independent outlet to Lake Superior, in the direction of Superior City, as well worthy of consideration.