270 



DOMINION OF CANADA. 



United States Government and the District of 

 Columbia in respect to the payment of the prin- 

 cipal and interest of the 3.65 bonds. Therefore, 

 in computing with precision the bonded debt 

 of the District, the aggregate sums above stated 

 as respects the 3.65 bonds now issued, the out- 

 standing certificates of the Board of Audit, 

 and the unadjusted claims pending before that 

 board, should be reduced to the extent of the 

 amount to be apportioned to the United States 

 Government. 



DOMINION OF CANADA. Since our last 

 extended notice of this Confederation, it has 

 been further enlarged by the admission of the 

 old British colony of Prince Edward's Island, 

 situated in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, southern 

 portion, and separated from the main-land by 

 the Northumberland Straits. It is a fertile 

 island, 130 miles long by 34 wide, devoted 

 chiefly to agriculture ; but its fisheries are val- 

 uable, and ship-building is also prosecuted with 

 some enterprise. Its population, according to 

 the latest census, is 103,000. For some time the 

 inhabitants of the island were more unwilling 

 than otherwise to enter the Union ; but seri- 

 ous financial embarrassment arose, and the pub- 

 lic mind naturally turned toward Ottawa for 

 relief. In addition to the benefit which Prince 

 Edward's will enjoy in common with the other 

 provinces forming the Confederation, it was 

 provided that the railroad, of 200 miles in 

 length, which the local government had under- 

 taken to construct at a cost of $3,250,000, 

 should become the property of the Dominion. 

 Further exceptional advantage was conferred 

 in the form of aid to steamboat and telegraphic 

 communication with the main-land. 



To complete the union of provinces as au- 

 thorized by imperial authority in 1869, it only 

 remains now to obtain the assent of New- 

 foundland; and, doubtless, means to that end 

 will soon present themselves. 



This being accomplished, the Dominion of 

 Canada will extend from the last-mentioned 

 possession, on the Atlantic Ocean, to Queen 

 Charlotte's Island on the Pacific, extending 

 across the continent in its broadest part, a dis- 

 tance of 80 of longitude, but in high latitude, 

 and occupying the whole of -the country north 

 of the territory of the United States. This 

 space appears large on the map, but we are 

 told that ",the greater part of it is beyond the 

 limit of the growth of trees, and much of the 

 residue is too cold to constitute a chosen resi- 

 dence for Europeans." Its geographical con- 

 figuration is also remarkable; denied expan- 

 sion on the one side by the frozen ocean, and 

 on the other by the United States, it somewhat 

 resembles a mathematical line, having length 

 without breadth. 



Recent political proceedings in the Dominion 

 have been of a grave character, arising in the 

 main from what may, in a country of such 

 limited resources, be considered a gigantic rail- 

 way policy. It will be remembered that, in 

 the parliamentary session of 1872, an act was 



passed authorizing the construction of a Pa- 

 cific Railway by a private company, to be sub- 

 sidized by the Government. On the 5th of 

 February, 1873, a charter was granted for this 

 purpose to Sir Hugh Allan and others, and 

 almost immediately arose suspicions of ques- 

 tionable prearrangements between the Gov- 

 ernment and Sir Hugh. Charges were accord- 

 ingly formulated, a parliamentary investiga- 

 tion, and, subsequently, an inquiry by royal 

 commission, were entered into, resulting iu 

 such disclosures of monetary transactions be- 

 tween the leader of the Government, Sir John, 

 and the leader of the company, Sir Hugh, 

 as finally caused the complete overthrow of 

 the Macdonald administration. A short time 

 previous to this event Sir Hugh Allan re- 

 linquished the charter, having been unable to 

 obtain in England the necessary capital to 

 commence the construction of the road. Al- 

 exander Mackenzie, Esq., the leader of the 

 opposition to the government of Sir John A. 

 Macdonald, became the prime-minister of the 

 succeeding administration, formed under com- 

 mand of the Governor-General, the Earl of 

 Duflerin, in November, 1873. 



The immediate and pressing question which 

 the new Government had to deal with was the 

 construction of the Pacific Railway, to which, 

 undoubtedly, the Dominion had been pledged 

 by the previous Executive, and in an address 

 to his constituents, the electors of the county of 

 Lambton, issued immediately upon his accept- 

 ance of office, Mr. Mackenzie is thus explicit : 



"We must meet the difficulty imposed on Canada 

 by the reckless arrangements of the late Government 

 with reference to the Pacific Eailway, under which 

 they pledged the honor and resources of this coun- 

 try to the commencement of that gigantic work in 

 July, 1873, and to its completion by July, 1881. That 

 compact has already been broken. Over a million 

 has now been spent in surveys, but no part of the 

 line has yet been located, and the bargain is, as we 

 always said it was, incapable of literal fulfillment. 

 With a view to obtain a speedy means of communi- 

 cation across the continent, and to facilitate the con- 

 struction of the railway itself, it will be our policy 

 to utilize the enormous stretches of magnificent 

 water communication which lie between a point not 

 far from the Eocky Mountains and Fort Garry, and 

 between Lake Superior and French Eiver on the 

 Georgian Bay. thus Avoiding for the present the con- 

 struction of about 1,300 miles of railway, estimated 

 to cost from $60,000,000 to $80,000,000, and render- 

 ing the resources of the country available for the 

 prosecution of those links of the Pacific Eailway 

 which are necessary in order to form a complete line 

 of rail and steamboat communication from east to 

 west. 



Recent official reports show that the surveys 

 for this work are rapidly advancing; that the 

 Pembina branch of the road is already under 

 contract ; that tenders for the line from Nipis- 

 sing to Georgian Bay have been called for; 

 the telegraph and wagon-road through British 

 Columbia commenced ; and that the premier, 

 availing himself of the favorable state of the 

 markets, has purchased 40,000 tons of steel 

 rails for the purposes of this great national 

 undertaking. 



