to make a mile beyond her own frontier. Was this a breach of faith? or was it not a substantial service rendered by Nova Scotia to all the parties who were interested in the accomplishment of common objects? To the charge that Nova Scotia was interfering unfairly with the policy of New Brunswick, he replied "We have never done so. The only time that we ever interfered with your Provincial affairs was a few years ago, when we pledged every pound in our treasury, and every bayonet upon our soil, to aid in defence of your Province, from invasion."

He explained how many years had been wasted in Nova Scotia in fruitless endeavors to make railroads by companies. How, by commencing the Shubenacadie Canal with insufficient means, ruin and disgrace had been brought upon the country; how the cost of American roads had been enhanced by the enormous discounts paid for money to complete them.

The policy I recommend is simply to borrow the money, with the aid of the British government, in the cheapest market in the world where money can be had; to make the Railroads with that money, on the pledge and security of the Provincial revenues and lands; and thus to effect those works completely in four or five years, which would never be secured by mere private speculation. I have been also influenced by a desire to keep these Provinces in the hands of the people, to whom, in all time coming, I believe that they ought to belong. Even if we could effect these great works ourselves, I believe that if we were to withdraw such large sums of money from the industrial pursuits of the country, we should produce here the very same evils which were formerly produced by similar causes in England. It is a common thing, in discussing such projects as these, for men in humble positions in society to ask, What are the great capitalists going to do? Let us inquire what the great capitalists are doing. Take the wealthiest man that we can see around us. If he is a shrewd, clear-headed man, of business habits, and alive to his own interest, where is his money? Is it hid in an iron chest, or stowed away in an old bureau? No. Then where is it? In the hands of the industrious, and circulating all over the country; it is in the mortgage of the farmer and the trader; in the notes-of-hand of business men, and in every form and shape of commercial operation; earning not only six per cent. to the man who lent it, but also profits to the man who employs it. The money of Nova Scotia is

thus employed, to my certain knowledge. Suppose, then, we draw two millions and a half of this money out of such circulation. It is all very well for the poor man to say, "Let the rich build the railroad." But where are the rich to get the money from? The rich man must come down on Tom; he must come down on Dick, to get his money back from them; somebody's ship must be a long while before it can be launched; another's must be a long time before it can get out to sea; business must be impeded; every thing must be cramped, and the whole business of the country must be far more deranged and injured, than would be counterbalanced by all the benefits of the railroad, even if it were made. What happened in England in this respect? I believe, that if all the railroads of England had been made by the government, it would have saved millions of pounds to the country. The railroads drew from general circulation more than even rich England could afford; and hence came difficulty and distress. In the fall of 1847, bankruptcy was prevailing everywhere throughout England, Ireland, and Scotland; and Willmer and Smith's paper came out by every mail, with lists of bankrupts almost as long as my arm. This was the effect of private companies, and of railroads constructed by private associations, even in wealthy England. Suppose, then, we withdraw half a million or a whole million of money from our commercial resources, why, the whole country would feel the pressure, and general distress would be the result. Then my policy is the most beneficial for us, because I wish to keep the money in the hands of the people, for their own ordinary pursuits; while its withdrawal from them would cramp the business of the country, and produce universal commercial distress.

He thus explains why the coöperation of New Brunswick was not asked in the first instance :

When I was selected to go to England I would gladly have had the company and assistance, in my mission, of a delegate from New Brunswick. But this Province had recently had a general election, the people were divided in opinion, the result of the elections with regard to future policy was doubtful, the government appeared likely to be overturned, and therefore we did not suppose Sir Edmund Head was then in a position to assume the responsibility that we had undertaken, as he had no settled or stable government to advise him, and to sustain him afterwards in the Legislature. Therefore it was that we did not ask New Brunswick to send a delegate to coöperate with us, because this Province was not at that time in the same settled position as we were. I will not disguise

the fact, that I left home for England, feeling the weight of all the difficulties attending the object I had in view; and let anybody who does not appreciate such a position, go on a similar mission, and try for himself what such difficulties are. I trust I approached the subject in a proper spirit; and I hope that in no single instance did I assume to represent either New Brunswick or Canada, or to exceed the legitimate limits of my mission, which was, to borrow money for the public works of Nova Scotia, either with or without the guarantee of the British government. But I felt it my duty to state frankly what I felt to be the public opinion, not only of my own country, but of New Brunswick and of Canada also; and I trust that, in doing so, I have in nothing misrepresented you, nor offended the public sentiment of this Province; though I must say frankly, that I could not urge my own cause without also urging yours. I first wrote to Earl Grey, setting forth the value of these Provinces, the importance of free and speedy communication between them and the mother country, and the importance of building up large seaports and cities in these Colonies, as rivals to those beyond the frontier; and I did not hesitate to express what I believed to be the views of public men in the Provinces. I assumed that we wished the aid of England; that we desired to continue the connection with England, and to raise ourselves to a higher status, one imposing higher obligations than that we at present occupied; and in doing this, I am sure that I did not offend the public sense of New Brunswick; I am sure that no man will say that I betrayed the trust reposed in me, as the advocate of the railroad from Nova Scotia to Portland. It has been said that I have betrayed my trust, and that I was sent to England to represent the Portland convention. Now, the plain truth is, that I never represented any convention, but the government of Nova Scotia, which was not represented at that convention. I did not abandon the Portland line; I placed it before the British government in every light that my imagination could conceive, and urged it on their consideration as honestly and favorably as any man from either of these Provinces could have done. But that was not the whole of my mission; we had other objects of equal importance to discuss. Suppose that to-morrow we make our Provinces a thoroughfare for strangers and foreigners, do we want nothing else? Our Provinces have been such a thoroughfare for years past, ever since the Cunard steamers were established; but as for the great advantages supposed to arise from such transit, I would back a dozen clippers employed in our fisheries against all the steamers that can be built. I thought it was now full time that we had higher objects in view than a mere transit traffic, and therefore I urged the general as

pects and views of these Provinces, for the purpose of preparing the public mind in England to promote their elevation to a far higher status in the scale of nations.

Having, very adroitly, sketched some of the prominent public men of New Brunswick, and brought out in bold relief the proportions of that great field of honorable emulation and exertion, which they would tread, when union of the Provinces. by iron roads had been followed by the political organization which would be the immediate result, he said:

If the sphere were wide enough here, what would you do with such men? You would send Judge Wilmot to administer justice, where? To a small Province? No; but to an American empire. You would place Mr. Chandler on the bench of the United Provinces ; you would hold out to the young men of your country a sphere and a field for their exertions and their ambition, which none of them have open to them now. How? By violence? By rebellion? By bloodshed? No. You would seek to live under the old flag; you would seek not separation from the mother country; that would be madness, folly, and bad faith; but with the consent of the sovereign and the acquiescence of the Imperial authorities; by the united action and good sense of all these Provinces, you would seek by union to elevate them all to a higher status than any of them separately can ever occupy. I believe that railroads will be of very great use to these Provinces; but I believe, also, that it is necessary, nay, almost indispensable, to produce a social and political organization of the people, to raise these Provinces to a higher position than they can ever singly attain. I saw that if New Brunswick was called upon to make two hundred miles of railroad with money borrowed at six per cent., it would be no great hardship for her to make four hundred miles, with money at three and a half per cent. But look also at the territory of New Brunswick. I believe that your extent, in proportion to ours, is thirty thousand square miles to eighteen thousand square miles; therefore, New Brunswick has twelve thousand square miles more than Nova Scotia. The natural inference is, that your Province will hold a great many more people than ours, and that it will ultimately be inhabited by a great many more. Professor Johnston, you know, calculates that New Brunswick will support five millions of inhabitants, and population produces revenue. How, then, can you best incur this obligation? I be

นา

lieve Nova Scotia is quite ready to do her part; and the question is, How can you undertake yours? By this mode. I believe that to make the Portland line, the money to be borrowed will not only cost six per cent., but will eventually cost from six to eight per cent. But it is said that that line will pay and yield a profit. Then my answer is, that if it will pay the people who make it on speculation, at six or eight per cent., it will pay the government for making it at three and a half per cent. But then it is said, there is a wide difference between making it in the way that you propose, and in the way that we propose. Suppose that the company be formed, and the money raised to-morrow? If the money be raised in the Province, it must be borrowed at six per cent. interest at least. Does any man in the Province buy stock that will not yield six per cent? No; no man in New Brunswick would lend his money under six per cent. Will anybody in England do it? When I was there, a person came to me (a gentleman of high standing, and agent for a number of foreign noblemen, who had money to invest) and offered to loan me £100,000, at six per cent. interest. I declined the offer, and said that I could get it at three and a half per cent. elsewhere, and I heard nothing more of him for a month or six weeks. No doubt, if English capitalists were to go into the State of Maine or New Hampshire, and offer to lend the people plenty of money at three and a half per cent. interest, they would take it most readily; they would make bonfires, and eat I do not know what quantity of pumpkin-pies, in honor of the event. But strange things do happen; and I never thought, that after the British government had offered us so large an amount of money, it would be so difficult to persuade our people to take it.

He thus contrasts the two great lines, and shows how honorably the great interests involved in each had been considered:

I want to put the Portland line through as speedily as possible. But it is said that I want to clog it with another line, that nobody wants, and that will not pay. I was not authorized to say to the British government that the Provinces did not want that other line. Each of the Provinces had pledged their money and lands to secure its construction; therefore, I had a right to assume that that line was very near and dear to the people of all the Provinces. It has also been said, that we want to array the North against the South. How? We have done nothing of the kind. I, for my part, have not held any communications with any parties for any such purposes; I have not written or published any thing in