468 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
_ calculated to bring Quebec within 18 hours of Halifax. Meanwhile, it appears that 
Mr. Brydges, the managing director of the Grand Trunk Railway, with the view of 
doing as much as possible during the interval, has given an immediate impetus to the 
intercolonial traffic of the Grand Trunk by placing two lines of steamers from its 
terminus at Portland, the one to St. John’s, New Brunswick, and the other to Halifax. 
In a pamphlet lately published at Montreal, Mr. Brydges asserts that a large trade 
is likely to be carried on from Canada, and from Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire 
with Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, through the Grand Trunk line to Port- 
land, with the aid of these steamers, pending the construction of the Inter-colonial 
Railway. 
London Times, 17 Aug. 1866. 
The following relates to the question of the Inter-colonial Railway through the 
British American provinces and the contemplated Imperial guarantee :— 
“Sir,—In your Money Article of this morning reference is made to the See 
of the Confederation of the British North American Provinces, and a guarantee on 
the part of the Imperial Government of the required funds for constructing the pro- 
posed intercolonial railway. Several errors have unintentionally crept into this 
statement. 
“In the first place, although the Nova Scotia and New Brunswick Commissioners 
or delegates have arrived in London with plenipotentiary power to arrange with the 
British Government the draught of an Act of Parliament to confederate the provinces 
they represent, the Canadian Commissioners have not arrived. It is expected, how- 
ever, that they will arrive early in September, and it is understood that the Earl of 
Carnarvon will meet with the delegates from the provinces represented as soon as 
they have settled among themselves the basis of arrangements more immediately 
affecting their respective positions and interests. 
“By the terms of what is known as the Quebec scheme, and which it is expected 
will still constitute the basis of Confederation, the loan to be guaranteed by the 
Imperial Parliament is not to be upon a ‘primary guarantee to be given by the Provin- 
cial Legislature, five-fifths by Canada, and three-and-a-half-twelfths by New Bruns- 
wick, and the same proportion by Nova Scotia;’ that was the arrangement of 1862, 
which has been abandoned. The amount, say 4,000,000/. which it is proposed to 
raise by means of an Imperial guarantee to construct the Intercolonial Railway, is 
to have for its basis an Act of the Confederated Provinces pledging their entire 
revenues for payment of this loan. 
“ONE OF THE DELEGATES.” 
