Read Ebook: A Letter from Major Robert Carmichael-Smyth to His Friend the Author of 'The Clockmaker' by Carmichael Smyth Robert

Font size: 10 px 15 px 20 px 25 px 30 px 35 px

Background color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Text color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Apply/Save settings

Ebook has 144 lines and 28625 words, and 3 pages

Surely then there would be no difficulty with Parliament to encourage and facilitate the formation of an Atlantic and Pacific Railway Company, by obtaining its sanction to the loan of ?150,000,000 in such sums as might be required , particularly when it is recollected that the expense of the greater part of her own convicts could be provided for by that advance.

Let us now personify our Atlantic and Pacific Railway, and endeavour more immediately to apply some of the reasoning as regards colonization to the money part of the question as regards the Railway. As regards colonization the question--Who is to advance the money? has, I think, been very clearly answered by Mr. Mill. As regards the undertaking of this Railway, and the answer to the question, Where is the money to come from? let us first suppose then that "there is an increase of the quantity of money, caused by the arrival of a foreigner in a place with a treasure of gold and silver; when he commences expending it, he adds to the supply of money and by the same act to the demand for goods. If he expends his funds in establishing a manufactory, he will raise the price of labour and materials; but, at the higher prices, more money will pass into the hands of the sellers of these different articles; and they, whether labourers or dealers, having more money to lay out, will create an increased demand for all things which they are accustomed to purchase, and these accordingly will rise in price, and so on, until the rise has reached every thing." Now let us for a moment suppose this foreigner to be represented by our friend the Atlantic and Pacific Railway, , and we will no longer consider him a foreigner, but a brother. This brother, on his arrival in England finds that he has unfortunately forgotten to bring with him his purse, that in fact he has neither gold nor silver, the representatives of wealth, and here, be it remembered, that wealth is any thing useful or agreeable, and that money is a commodity. We will then suppose this North American brother to say, My good brother of England, I am here without gold or silver, or without any kind of wealth; the commodities I have left behind me are of such a nature, that without much labour I could not put them in such a shape as would enable me to bring them to this country, nor could I obtain silver or gold enough to represent them; unless, therefore, I send some labouring people and machinery to my country, I am afraid I cannot obtain all the commodities I wish to have. Now you have plenty of spare labourers, and plenty of spare machinery and other useful materials, and for which you would be glad to receive valuable commodities in my country; and if you will only send the labourers and machinery out, I will order that in return you shall be allowed to bring away all the useful and agreeable things, that is, all the wealth that may be found, and have the use of such things as you may prefer to keep in my country. Now if you will make this agreement with me, I will return with you to my native land, and will not only assist you to obtain all these commodities, but I will engage also to pay you a certain annual income out of my saving; and I will show you the short way to the most extensive region of wealth ever known to any nation in the world; and you can then travel that road, so that at no future period shall you ever again complain of too great a population on your soil, or too small a market for your labour.

Then the good brother of England says to this Atlantic and Pacific brother,--We believe all you say of your wealth, and we see the great advantage it would be to us to partake of it, and to have the command of the road you point out, but what security are we to have that when our labourers and machinery are sent to your country they will be employed; and if you have neither gold nor silver nor other commodities ready to give us in exchange for the work and the articles, how are we to pay the people to prepare the machinery, and all our other labourers, whose wages would in England of course become higher, as they would be less in number, and there would be a greater quantity of work to be done. The brothers, in talking over this matter, discovered that "credit is indispensable, for rendering the whole capital of the country productive. It is also the means by which the industrial talent of the country is turned to most account for purposes of production. Many a person who has no capital of his own, or very little, but who has qualifications for business, which are known and appreciated by some person of capital, is enabled to obtain either advances of money, or more frequently goods, on credit, by which his industrial capacities are made instrumental in the increase of public wealth." The Pacific and Atlantic brother observed,--This is exactly my case. Only give me credit, and I will bind myself on my own personal security to give up whatever portion of my annual income you may consider necessary; and I will also secure the money advanced by you on my land, on the minerals thereof, and in any other way that may be deemed necessary. My brother of the Atlantic and Pacific Railway, says the Englishman, you have nearly convinced me; we will immediately appoint friends to draw up all the necessary agreements between us, that will enable me, if possible, to advance you such labour and machinery as may be required; and we will also proceed to appoint other friends, who shall take into consideration, in the first place, the expense incurred from your birth to a state of manhood, and the annual income that is derived from your business and your property; and leaving you sufficient to maintain yourself as a gentleman, we shall appropriate to ourselves whatever may remain, as a reward for our exertions and the risk to be incurred, and as a security for the interest of the money expended upon your account. The brothers having thus agreed in a general way, proceed immediately to appoint friends and to call upon their good old mother, Great Britain, to advance the money required, and their North American relations, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Canada, and Hudson's Bay, to come forward and make a general family treaty for the security and payment of such advances. The brothers were then congratulating themselves on what they considered the success of their project, when it was whispered to them that something of a similar plan had been proposed for their relation Ireland, by one "whose loss is too great to be slighted, and too recent not to be felt;" and it had been suggested that for every ?100 expended on Railways in that country, ?200 should be lent by Government; upon which occasion it had been observed by one who has greatly influenced, whether for good or evil, will be hereafter known, the destinies of the British Empire, that "the public credit of the State is one of the elements of our financial strength, and that it was not possible to appropriate a great portion of that public credit to the encouragement of commercial enterprises, without, to the same extent, foregoing the power to apply that public credit in another direction, in the event of the national exigencies requiring you to do so." The brothers replied, this is certainly true; but the proposed undertaking is not a commercial enterprise, although no doubt it would produce great commercial and colonizing results; but it is a grand national work,--a desideratum that has been wished for, looked for, and cared for, ever since the new world was discovered--that has repeatedly called forth great expenditure of money, great suffering, and loss of life in searching for it, to the north. It is, in short, the great high road between the Atlantic and Pacific--the expense of making which you are called upon to consider.

As regards Ireland, another bold measure has been suggested for that country; without giving any opinion upon it, I cannot help asking why we should not be as bold in peace as we were in war. Must we wait until

"Without raising one shilling out of the Exchequer," says Lucius , "boldly apply the national credit to relieve the national distress; at once authorize the Bank of Ireland, or a bank to be created for that purpose, to issue twenty or thirty millions in aid of the landed proprietors; secondly, for the judicious encouragement of emigration, transplant those who cannot earn a subsistence at home to a comfortable settlement in our colonies, and to promote such mercantile or other undertakings, let the notes issued be made legal tenders for all payments whatever, and let the entire soil of Ireland be pledged for their ultimate security." Far be it from me to give any opinion on what is best to be done for Ireland, but certain I feel that what is here proposed and suggested regarding an Atlantic and Pacific Railway could not interfere with any plan Government might think right to adopt for the regeneration of Ireland, unless indeed by greatly facilitating all emigration plans and permanent employment.

But, independently of all this money question, "there is the strongest obligation on the government of a country like our own, with a crowded population and unoccupied continents under its command, to build as it were and keep open a bridge from the mother country to those continents." Let us reflect that "the economical advantages of commerce are surpassed in importance by those of its effects, which are intellectual and moral. It is hardly possible to overrate the value, for the improvement of human beings, of things which bring them in contact with persons dissimilar to themselves, and with modes of thought and action unlike those with which they are familiar. Commerce is now what war once was--the principal source of this contact. Commercial adventurers from more advanced countries have generally been the first civilizers of barbarians, and commerce is the purpose of the far greater part of the communication which takes place between civilized nations. It is commerce which is rapidly rendering war obsolete, by strengthening and multiplying the personal interest which is in natural opposition to it."-- In whatever point of view, therefore, we regard this subject--whether as one of duty by providing the means of healthy and legitimate employment to our numerous artificers and labourers now in a state of destitution--a domestic calamity likely to be often inflicted upon us--unless new fields, easy of access, are made permanently open to our continually increasing population--and "it would be difficult to show that it is not as much the duty of rulers to provide, as far as they can, for the removal of a domestic calamity, as it is to guard the people entrusted to their care from foreign outrage"--will they "slumber till some great emergency, some dreadful economic or other crisis, reveals the capacities of evil which the volcanic depths of our society may now hide under but a deep crust?"--or whether we view it as a means of assisting any general system in the penal code--or whether we view it as a point of individual or government interest, by turning all that extra-productive power, now idle, in the direction of our own colonies, and thus connecting and attaching them more strongly to the mother country--increasing their wealth, their power and our own:--or whether we consider it in a moral and religious point of view, as affording greater and quicker facilities for the spread of education and the Gospel of Christ--or whether we look upon it as an instrument for the increase of commerce, and the necessarily directing men's minds, with the bright beams of hope from their own individual and immediate distress, as well as from the general excitement and democratic feeling and spirit of contention showing itself amongst many nations for--

--or whether we look at it in a political point of view, as keeping open to us at all times, without the necessity of interference with other nations or of war, a great high road to most of our colonial possessions, and particularly to India--viewing it then in any one of these points, who can doubt for a moment the beneficial results that must attend such an undertaking. But when all these considerations are taken together, we must repeat what we said in a former page, that it is a grand and a noble undertaking, and that it must be accomplished by Great Britain and her colonies.

Let us reflect, lastly, my dear friend, that "the world now contains several extensive regions, provided with various ingredients of wealth, in a degree of abundance of which former ages had not even an idea." Your native land, and the other North American provinces, have, even by their own exertions, made rapid advances in wealth, accompanied by moral and intellectual attainments, and can look forward at no very distant period to be enabled to take a very prominent position in the affairs of the world. But the Hudson's Bay Company's territory is still nearly in its primitive state, and much indeed is to be expected from its advancement, when it shall have taken its proper station in the general trade and commerce of mankind; the position of Vancouver's Island is such that there is little reason to doubt its wealth and consequence will place it high in the scale of England's offspring.

But, my dear friend, unless your mind has become as fully impressed as my own with the vast importance of this great Railway undertaking, I shall only tire you the more and detain you to no purpose by dwelling longer on the subject; and indeed even should your mind be satisfied with the importance of the work, it may yet conceive it to be of an impracticable nature. "Who in the living generation would be reimbursed for the outlay? and without that, who will undertake a national work, however grand or remunerative to future ages?" To this I answer fearlessly, that thousands of human beings of the present generation would benefit by the outlay; that the employment would be a quite sufficiently lucrative one and visibly so, as to induce the English capitalist to come forward and undertake the formation of a Company; for even at this moment Railways are in contemplation, if not actually commenced, from Halifax to Quebec and from New Brunswick to Halifax; and how much more would these Lines be paying Lines when they had also an opening to the Pacific! But no individual nor combination of individuals could have sufficient influence with, or, if they had the influence, could have the necessary power to induce, the Hudson's Bay Company to open its territories, and to enter into all the arrangements and all the agreements that would be necessary to be made with that Company, with England, and with the North American Colonies, before a work affecting the interests of so many could be commenced.

It is necessary then that Government should take the initiative, and it is not uncommon for her so to do in all great national works, such as roads, surveys, expeditions either for the objects of science or commerce; such as those sent to discover the north-west passage, upon which thousands have been spent, and on account of which, at this very moment, England has to deplore, in all probability, the loss of many a noble son, whose relatives have been for so long a time kept in all the agony of suspense. Upon no other description of work would Great Britain be required to advance a single penny; but the very fact of her undertaking what may be considered legitimate expenses of a government, the survey and marking out the whole Line, the entering into treaties with her Colonies and the Hudson's Bay Company for the general security of the money, and for the interest for a certain number of years of the capital of the Company, would give such a confidence to the public mind, that a very short time would bring into full operation in that direction, sufficient of the power and wealth of England to accomplish the work; and when accomplished, Government would still hold a lien upon it until she was reimbursed every penny. And, let me ask, are there not a thousand expenditures that have been undertaken by Government for which no reimbursement has ever taken place; and are not individuals every day risking their capital and their accumulation of savings, in speculations in foreign lands, when the result of those past connections have been such as to lead the Minister of Foreign Affairs, even in his place in the House of Commons, to hold out as it were a threat to the whole world, if England's children did not receive their due. Surely it would be more prudent, more politically wise, and more economical, for Government to encourage the expenditure of our own capital in our own Colonies.

Sitting in his arm chair, in his office in London, the Minister of Great Britain can now convey his thoughts, his wishes, his commands, in a few moments to every part of England and Scotland, and will soon be enabled to do so to Ireland. He can send the soldiers, horse and foot, as well as the artillery of Great Britain, flying through the land at almost any rate he wishes. And all heavy stores and goods of the merchants can be easily forwarded at about twopence, and even, I believe, a penny a mile per ton, and at about twenty miles an hour; and a penny a letter now enables every individual in England to communicate, at almost every hour, with his distant friends and relations; the post office itself travelling at a rate and with an ease little to be comprehended by those who have not witnessed it. The result of such immense wealth and such enormous power is more than is required for England, and would necessarily carry with it its own destruction, was not her empire one which encircles the world.

Let the minister then who guides and directs the wealth and power above described, and in whose hands the destinies and happiness of thousands are placed, picture to himself the encouragement that would be given to British industry and British enterprize, if, at ten days distance from her shores, a port was established from which he would be enabled to send across the Continent of America his thoughts, his wishes, and his commands, with the same speed at which they now travel throughout England; and if these thoughts, wishes and commands would reach every one of our own Colonies in the Pacific in about fifteen days after leaving the western shore of North America; and if from the same port could also be despatched the troops of Great Britain, if unfortunately necessary, travelling at the rate before described; if heavy stores and merchants' goods could also be enabled to cross the Continent of America, at the same price and at the same speed as they now travel in England; if the post office system could also be introduced, and if letters at a penny each might pass between relation and relation, between friend and friend from England to her most distant Colonies--if her children gone forth to colonize could then either return or communicate their every wish to England in less than a month; and reclining in his own arm chair, reflecting as he ought to do and must do upon the power and wealth of England, let him not say that all here described is not easily within her reach. Let him rather consider the subject with a view to become the Leader of the Country in such a noble work. If it is a bold work, let him remember that fortune favours the brave.--"Si secuta fuerit, quod debet Fortuna, gaudebimus omnes, sin minus, ego tamen gaudebo."

And now, my dear friend, whose patience I have so long taxed, it is time that we should part--

"Whether we shall meet again I know not; If we do meet again--why we shall smile. If not, for ever and for ever farewell."

Believe me,

Ever your's,

Sincerely and faithfully attached,

ROBERT CARMICHAEL-SMYTH.

CONCLUSION.

"Sul campo della gloria noi pugneremo a lato: Frema o sorrida il fato vicino a te star?, La morte o la vittoria con te dividero."

ROBERT CARMICHAEL-SMYTH.

NOTES.

The writer of this letter, when returning from Halifax to England in the spring of 1838, had the good fortune to take his passage in the same government packet with the author of the Clockmaker, who was proceeding to England with the second series of that work: and afterwards, when paying a momentary visit to Halifax in the winter of 1844, he experienced the high gratification of knowing, by the very kind reception he met with, that he had not been forgotten neither, by his Compagnons de voyage, Haliburton and Howe, nor by the other kind and highly valued friends he had formerly made in that city.

The history and particulars of this canal are well known at Halifax, and Samuel P. Fairbanks, Esq. brought to England with him in the Tyrian all the plans, maps, &c. connected with that canal, and was, I believe, sent as a representative of the parties connected with the work, in the hope that he might be able to induce the government to advance sufficient money for its completion. The fine large locks of this canal remain to tell the tale of money sunk in an unfinished work. No encouragement certainly to canal speculations.

"The distance, as I make it, from Bristol to New York Lighthouse, is 3037 miles; from Bristol to Halifax Lighthouse is 2479; from Halifax Light to New York Light is 522 miles, in all 3001 miles; 558 miles shorter than New York Line, and even going to New York 36 miles shorter to stop at Halifax, than go to New York direct."--So says the Clockmaker in 1838.

The same author, in speaking of the principal features of the Iron Bound Coast and Western Archipelago, in the centre of Vancouver's Island, the Straits of Fuca and Puget's Inlet, says, "Its maritime importance is entirely confined to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and southern extremity of Vancouver's Island. Here are presented a series of harbours unrivalled in quality and capacity, at least within the same limits; and here, as has been remarked, it is evident the future emporium of the Pacific, in West America will be found." And now that it has been settled that this magnificent strait and its series of harbours is open to that great and enterprising nation, the people of the United States, as well as to ourselves, it becomes most important to us that we should, and quickly, open the best possible and shortest road to communicate with it.

In 1794 this enterprising man ascended to the principal water of the Mackenzie River, which he found to be a small lake situate in a deep Snowy Valley embosomed in woody mountains; he crossed a beaten path leading over a low ridge of land, of 817 paces in length, to another lake, situated in a valley about a quarter of a mile wide, with precipitous rocks on either side,--the head waters of the Frazers' River. On the 19th of July, he arrived where the river discharges itself into a narrow arm of the sea thus showing that a communication between the west and east of North America was open to mankind.

I regret I cannot say when exactly, nor where, his Grace gave his opinion on this subject, and I regret this the more, because I cannot give his Grace's exact words; but of the fact I have no doubt, and I must only trust to your forbearance and memory when I cannot point to the day and place.

"Considering all the natural and acquired advantages that we possess for this purpose, it should rather create surprise and regret that our commerce is so small, than engender pride because it is so large."

For "a very large amount of capital belonging to individuals have, of late years, sought profitable investment in other lands. It has been computed, that the United States have, during the last five years, absorbed in this manner more than ?25,000,000 of English capital." And how much more, it may be asked, has gone to the continent of Europe and elsewhere?

The Spectator has seriously remarked--"It is sometimes observed, that although taxes have been remitted to the amount of millions, the revenue has kept up; and that fact is vaunted as the vindication of free trade: but one inference to be drawn from it has escaped notice--it shows that the riches of the country must have increased enormously, and it implies that many of the wealthy are escaping more and more from a due share of the general burden, as taxation is diminished and wealth increased."

"Our exports have increased in value since 1824 from 38 millions to 68 millions."

"It will be found by the Parliamentary Tables, which all can consult, that the amount of money raised in those eighteen years was nearly 1500 millions. The total revenue raised in those years was more than 981 millions; and the total of the money borrowed was more than 470 millions; making, in all, 1451 millions. And it is worth while to note, that, in one of those years, namely, in 1813, the sum of more than 150 millions was raised in revenue and loan, of which nearly 82 millions was loan for the national use; and this in a single year; and that year 1813, in the midst of a dreadful war, and thirty-five years ago;--since when the country has grown much richer."

"Our economical friends need not be alarmed;--we are not going to propose a large addition to the military force of the empire."-- No:--but before it is reduced and its system interfered with by those who understand not its working, we would strongly recommend the perusal, first of the evidence of Sir Herbert Taylor before the Finance Committee on this subject, and then that of his Grace the Duke of Wellington, and we would ask the intelligent public of Great Britain to reflect well before it allows her present army to be trifled with. We firmly believe our army to be in as high a state of discipline, and as ready "to go any where and do any thing," as it was at the moment his Grace gave up in France the active command of it.

"It seems a provision of Providence to have formed different races to bring about, by their crossing, an improved state of things. The Teutonic variety is undoubtedly the most vigorous and able, both in body and mind, of all the species of the genus of man that exist, and seems destined to conquer and civilize the world. The Teutonic variety, in its different sub-varieties, agree best with a temperate climate; it is, however, capable of bearing a high degree of cold, but seems to prosper best northward of 45? of northern latitude.

And it is very curious to observe, that, in the new world, the first colony of Great Britain we reach after crossing the Atlantic is called Nova Scotia; and the last land we should leave after crossing the continent would be New Caledonia; and both in Nova Scotia and New Caledonia nature seems to have placed great deposits of coal, as if she there intended the industry of man and the advancement of science to overcome all natural barriers between the different nations of the earth.

"A pint of water may be evaporated by two ounces of coal. In its evaporation it swells into 216 gallons of steam, with a mechanical force sufficient to raise a weight of thirty-seven tons a foot high. The steam thus generated has a pressure equal to the common atmospheric air; and by allowing it to expand by virtue of its elasticity, a further mechanical force may be obtained at least equal in amount to the former. A pint of water, therefore, and two ounces of common coal, are thus rendered capable of doing as much work as is equivalent to seventy-four tons raised a foot high."

"The traffic of a system of lines, connected with one another, can always be worked more economically and conveniently under one uniform management than by independent Companies. The Company which works the main trunk line, and possesses the principal terminal stations, can run more frequent trains, and make better arrangements for forwarding the traffic of the cross lines, than it could afford to do if two or three separate establishments had to be maintained, and the harmony of arrangements depended upon two or three independent authorities.

Since the year 1824, a considerable establishment of convicts has been kept up in Bermuda, employed in constructing a breakwater and in perfecting some fortifications at Ireland's Eye. The number at present so maintained is about 1000.

"It would indeed be a heart-sickening prospect if, in looking forward to the continued progress of our country, in its economical relations, we must also contemplate the still greater multiplication of her 'criminals'. Still we fear that, for a long time at least, we shall have of them a large proportion, and that arrangements must be made for their employment. What we have already stated prove that there is no decrease as yet."

"The flight of a quarter of a million of inhabitants of these islands to distant quarters of the globe, in 1847, was one of the most marvellous events in the annals of human migration. It is nevertheless a fact, that the migration of this year is nearly equal to that of the last."--

"Nor is there any reason to believe that 1849 will witness a diminution in the rate at which this extraordinary process of depletion is going forward; on the contrary, there is every symptom of its probable acceleration."--

A few extracts concerning them will be interesting. "The chain of the Rocky Mountains, after being considerably depressed in latitude 46? and 48?, attains a much higher elevation from latitude 48? to 49?, and, continuing in a westerly direction, it separates the affluents of the Saskatchewan and M'Kenkie from those of Columbia or Oregon and other rivers which flow into the Pacific. These mountains appear to decrease again from about 58? to 62? northern latitude, where probably they do not exceed 4000 feet in height; and, still further north, are estimated at less than 2000 feet, between the latitudes of 42? and 58? north. Several peaks rise far above the snow line.

"Wherever the head waters of the rivers, on the east and west sides of the Rocky Mountains, approach nearest each other, there have been found passes through them. Of these, perhaps the most important is the south pass. Between Mount Brown and Mount Hooker, in latitude 52 1/2 , another very important pass, offering great facility of communication between the Oregon and Canada, by the waters of the Columbia and the north branches of the Saskatchewan, which, flowing into Lake Winnipeg, gives easy access to Hudson's Bay and the great lakes.

The first who penetrated the Rocky Mountains was Sir Alexander Mackenzie, then in the service of the North-West Company. In the year 1793 he crossed them in about latitude 54?, discovered Frazer's River, descended it for about 250 miles, then struck off in a westerly direction, and reached the Pacific in latitude 52? 20'. In 1808 Mr. Frazer, also under the orders of the North-Western Company, crossed the Rocky Mountains and established a trading post on Frazer's River, about latitude 54?; and in 1811 Mr. Thompson, also an agent of that company, discovered the northern head waters of the Columbia, about latitude 52?, and erected some huts on its banks.

Frazer's River has its embouche six miles to the north of the 49th parallel, which defines the United States boundary. It is a mile wide. The country around is low, with a rich alluvial soil.

Fort Langley is twenty miles from its mouth.

Sir George Simpson made a journey of 2000 miles in forty-seven days, from the Red River, vi? Fort Edrington, to Fort Columbia, in 1841; he crossed the Rocky Mountains, at the confluence of two of the sources of Saskatchewan and Columbia, at an elevation of 8000 feet above the level of the sea.

Little, perhaps, did Mr. Pitt suspect the time was to be so near, when that country he had loved so well and served so nobly, would be able to send any quantity of artillery by the mail; and that not eight or ten hours would be required, but hardly three. Would that he was amongst us now. What could England not hope for, or expect to see realized, in her advanced condition, if directed by such a mind as his.

Mackenzie says, "There is not perhaps a finer country in the world for the residence of uncivilized man, than that which occupies the shore between the Red River and Lake Superior; fish, various fowl and wild rice are in great plenty: the fruits are, strawberries, plums, cherries, gooseberries, &c. &c."

We are quite aware that the American Lines are made at a much cheaper rate, but we are here advocating a grand permanent link of connexion with Great Britain and all her Colonies and dominions--and however cheaply the Line may be opened, we must not deceive ourselves, but look to a proportional outlay to the greatness of the undertaking. It is in its results and consequences that we look forward to the great benefit and financial return to Great Britain and to her people, both abroad and at home.

Share on: WhatsApp @Hash Facebook Tweet