work-once more appealed (in August, 1850) to Earl Grey, to aid her with the imperial guarantee or indorsation, and offered to assume the whole burden of its cost. This application, with reference to a section of only provincial and not imperial importance, received no encouragement; whereupon the persevering little province, determining to make a final effort, dispatched a delegate, who arrived in England in November, 1850, and immediately opened his batteries on the colonial office, with such effect, that on the 10th of March, 1851, Earl Grey surrendered; agreeing to guarantee the interest on the cost of the Nova Scotia Trunk line, but only on condition that the other colonies, Canada and New Brunswick, should place themselves in the same position. Of course the line was to go to Quebec or Montreal, instead of Portland. It was stipulated that the line should pass wholly through British territory, and should be approved of by the imperial government; but it was not required that it should necessarily be the one recommended by Major Robinson and Captain Henderson.

In announcing this decision to the delegate, the under secretary wrote, that "Her Majesty's Government would by no means object to its forming part of the plan which may be determined on, that it should include a provision for establishing a communication between the projected railway and the railways of the United States." The delegate read this to mean, that the guarantee would be extended to two lines through New Brunswick, the one to Quebec, and the other to Portland; thus connecting the maritime colonies both with Canada and the United States. On March 14th, 1851, dispatches were sent to all the governments, suggesting a conference at Toronto. New Brunswick, which had, in mean time, become excited on the question of the railway to Portland, passed resolutions, before her legislature adjourned, rejecting any proposition based on the conditions laid down by Earl Grey; evidently not feeling certain that the interpretation

of the Nova Scotian delegate was to be relied upon. Delegates, however, from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick came to Toronto, in June, 1851, according to the suggestion of Earl Grey, when it was agreed that a line from Halifax to Quebec should be undertaken on jointaccount. Crown lands on each side of it were to be conceded for the benefit of the road; the receipts to be common property until payment of cost and interest; after which each province should own the portion within her own territory. The legislature of Canada, then in session, at once adopted this agreement. The government of New Brunswick favorably received it, but in consequence of a change of ministry, no legislative action was then had. At the very time, however, when Nova Scotia was rejoicing over the acceptance, by her legislature, of the imperial offer, a dispatch was on its way out, which upset all that had been done. On the 27th of November, Earl Grey called the attention of the lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia to an error into which he had fallen, in his speech when opening the extra session, by assuming that the imperial government intended to guarantee the amount necessary to construct the Portland line through New Brunswick, as well as that leading to Quebec. Earl Grey explained, that the passage which had led Nova Scotia's delegate astray, only meant that the imperial government would sanction, but not aid, the Southern, or European and North American lines, through New Brunswick-which, he was quite aware, was preferred by that province to the Northern, or Quebec and Halifax line.

The great preponderance of population, wealth, and political influence in New Brunswick, lies upon the Bay of Fundy and the river St. John, while Major Robinson's line ran along the Gulf of St. Lawrence. For this reason, New Brunswick would not contribute to the Halifax and Quebec line, unless she in turn was aided to make the line she preferred; and she saw clearly that the military con

siderations, set forth in Mr. Hawe's letter of the 10th of March, 1851, would keep the line either on the eastern coast or in the wilderness between it and St. John.

Canada, on receiving the interpretation of the original dispatch, and knowing that New Brunswick would now abandon the Quebec line, sent off three of her ministers to Fredericton to console her distressed sister, and at the same time to feel her pulse. As Earl Grey had not insisted, on Major Robinson's eastern-shore line, although reserving the right of approval of the route, New Brunswick assented to "try on" a Halifax and Quebec line which should follow the Southern or European and North American one as far as the city of St. John, and then ascend the valley of that river to Lake Temiscouata. Re-enforced by a delegate from the New Brunswick cabinet, the Canadians journeyed on to Halifax, where they found a new difficulty. Nova Scotia had no idea of standing a third of the cost, if the road should first debouche on the Atlantic Ocean at St. John, instead of at its rival, Halifax. Canada, acting as mediator and umpire, finally proposed that as New Brunswick would decidedly gain by the adoption of the southern instead of the northern route,-getting her connection with Quebec and Portland where she wanted it, and with 100 miles less of her chosen railway to make at her own cost, she should assume five-twelfths and Nova Scotia one-fourth, Canada taking her old proportion of one third. At this stage the New Brunswick delegate put the question to his Canadian fellow-travellers, whether a proposal from English contractors to construct both roads, on receiving £90,000 to £100,000 per annum for twenty years from the colonies, besides a grant of 3,000,000 to 5,000,000 acres of land, would be entertained? The answer was, "not for a moment;" whereupon New Brunswick, with dignified resignation, agreed to the new subdivision on Jan. 31, 1852. On Feb. 5, one of the Canadian delegates wrote from Halifax to Earl Grey, detailing the scheme as amended, and announcing that delegates from the three provinces

would wait on him in London. To this, on Feb. 20, Earl Grey replied, declining to commit himself to the new route without more specific information, but expressing solicitude for a successful issue, and approving of the intended delegation to London. The Canadian delegate proceeded to London in advance of his colleagues, where he found Earl Grey out of office, and Sir John Packington as his successor. Sir John, on May 20, 1852, notified him that as all previous negotiations had been based on Major Robinson's line, or something near it, the route by the valley of the St. John was out of the question; and as the delegates were authorized to treat only for the latter, he must terminate the question by declining, &c. The provinces were thus left to carry out their own railways in their own way; they had, however, gained by the discussion. The mere proposal on the part of the British government to indorse their bonds, raised these in a market where they were not known; and before the adverse decision had been announced it had been anticipated, and Canada had thrown herself into the open arms of Messrs. Jackson, Peto, Brassey, and Betts, the great railway contractors.

Viewing the question as an imperial as well as an intercolonial one, it is evident that the first blunder committed by the colonies was in agreeing to pay the whole expenses of a railway survey which was to be made solely under imperial and military control. They thereby, at the outset, assented to the position that the imperial government had no substantial interest in the question, and at the same time they failed to ascertain the facilities for other routes, if such exist, than those recommended. Without impugning the ability of the royal engineers who conducted the exploration, there is little doubt that a more satisfactory survey could have been made by civil engineers, accustomed to similar surveys in the forests of this continent; and the want of some reliable knowledge of the practicability of other lines besides that recommended by Major Robinson, has been a stumbling-block in the way of every subsequent

movement down to the present hour. It must also be admitted that the mother country drove a hard bargain with her offspring. Her own colonial secretary, Lord Glenelg, suggested the communication to her own high commissioner, Lord Durham, not as a military road solely, but as a political measure. When the colonies took up the idea, the mother country steadily refused all aid except that which, as had been proved to her in the case of Canada, was but nominal; while she exacted for this nominal aid sacrifices from the colonies which were real and important. She would not build the road, nor aid in building it, because it would not pay; and she would not permit the colonies to build it where they believed it would pay, at least, its working expenses. She had already

guaranteed a loan for the cost of the canals of Canada, which were constructed wholly on commercial principles, and with the route of which she did not interfere, though military considerations were wholly disregarded in the case of the Beauharnois Canal. She acknowledged an imperial interest to which she attached but a nominal value; she felt for the colonies, but would not feel in her pockets for them.

Ten years have elapsed, and in the interim sections of the proposed Halifax and Quebec, and European and North American Roads have been constructed, the former by Canada and Nova Scotia, the latter by New Brunswickand again the project is revived, by the renewed assent of the imperial government, to guarantee the funds for the construction of the diminished distance (reduced from 635 to 370 or 470 miles, according to the route to be selected); and as military considerations are now predominant, it is understood the selection of the route will be left to the imperial government.

For the revival of this project we are no doubt indebted to the exigencies of the Grand Trunk Company, aided by the re-establishment of the entente cordiale between the Colonies and the Colonial Office, consequent upon the visit of H. R. H. the Prince of Wales; by the subsequent