The Sun.
London, England, 1845-10-01 00:00:00

CANADA RAILWAYS.

By the Canada papers, arrived per the Britannia, we per-
csive that " the Toronto and Lake Huron Railway Com-
pany" in this country is regarded with the most intense in-
terest in every part of the western province. Several columns
in every journal are filled with discussions upon the merits of
the various routes proposed for the line, or lines, to Lake
Huron. It is natural that our fellow-subjects in Canada
should be as impressed with the advantages of railway inter-
course between their cities as ourselves. The present line of
communication between New York and Boston and the
rapidly increasing settlements of Wisconsin and Illonoies is
the River Hudson, and the Boston Railway to Albany;
thence by railways or canal to the ports on Lake Ontario, or
to Buffalo, at the foot of Lake Erie, and thence by the cir-
cuitous routes of Lakes Eric, St. Clair, Huron. and Michigan.
The south-westerly and westerly portions of Canada West
forms a peninsula, which has now to be rounded by travellers,
whilst the proposed railway reduces the di.tance to the head
of Lake Michigan, and Lake Erie is avoided altogether.
Lakes Erie, St. Clair, Huron, and Ontario, and the pro-
possd line from Toronto to Goderich form a triangle; the
railway being the base, 109 miles, and the lakes the remain-
ing sides, 500 miles ; and as these sides must be, and are now,
coasted, the saving of distance by railway will be
391. miles. The rising town of Hamilton desires that their
town and port should be a terminus, and shows for-
cibly, by tables of traflic, the advantages thereby accruing to
the Company. Goderich is not idle. Mr. Lizars, the very
intelligent and active clerk of the Crown of that part of
Western Canada, is in London for the purpose of urging upon
the Board in St. Helen's-place, the favourable position of
Goderich for a vast emporium of Western trtvle, on the forma-
tion of a line of speedy communication with Lake Ontario.
In support of the argument of Mr. Lizars, we may quote his
Excellency Sir George Arthur's remark, after carefully exa-
mining the town site and harbour :—" This place is well
adapted for a fortification and naval depot, the harbour being
so well sheltered on the north and south. In the event of
war, military and stores could at once be dispatched to any
point on the lakes ; but, to complete this, there should be a
railroad from this to Hamilton or Toronto ;" in which remarkS
Deputy Quartermaster-General Colonel BPKenzie Fraser,
most warmly concurred. It may be interesting also to add,
that the late Sir Richard,Downes Jackson, then commander-
in. chief of the Canada forces (1840), said, on view-
ing the lake and hatbour fom the heights on the
south side of it :—" Goderich, with its noble harbour, is one
of the prettiest sights I have ever seen ; and in a mili-
tary point of view, it could, at comparatively little expense, be
made a second Gibraltar." Mr. Gwynne, of Toronto, is also
over backed by a strong party anxious to carry the line in
the first instance from that place to Goderich, before the
second line to Guelph Stratford and Port Sarnia be made.
Mr. Widder is over from the "City of Toronto and Lake
Huron Railway Company," established by an Act of the last
session of the Canada Parliament, fully empowered to form
the basis of an amalgamation between that body and the one
in St. Helen's-place. We look to the speedy commencement
of operations by this joint corporation with much anxiety,
because we believe we may safely say, that all technical diffi-
culties'in its consolidation are now removed. This, we think
it but just to add, is mainly owing to the influence of the en-
lightened and sound views of the Chairman of the Company
here, Mr. Franks, of the house of Bosanquet, Franks and Co.,
of Lombard-street. This gentleman has judiciously
stood aloof from the besetting claims of parties natu
rally anxious to irrigate the property in their
districts with the present flood tide of British
capital; and taking a grand and national view of Canadian
enterprise, he has wisely marked out a course for its direc•
tion which will effect more for the prosperity of that portion
of the British empire, than, we will venture to say, any
measure of the last half-dozen of Colonial ministers. At no
distant day will Mr. Franks be hailed like Mr, Hudson, M.P.,
the Railway King of Western Canada. This rich and flourish-
ing province will, we trust, be covered with a net work of
railways, under a concentrated, unifonn, and therefore most
economical and effective, management. Success in such a
new district, cann,,t easily be otherwise attained. Sir Allan
Macnab and his friends at Sarnia and Hamilton will have
their line. Mr. Stewart and his Goderich friends will be satis-
fied, and thus all really Canadian interests being supported,
the parties now patted on the back by brother Jonathan,
must see the folly of embarrassing these grand and patriotic
measures, by.their Fort Erie or Queenstown line, by Long
point to Sandwich. Sir Allan has gained his high reputa-
tion, and the love of Canadians, by his devotion to British
American interests, and by his vigilance at dissecting and
counteracting every attempt at interference with our institu-
tions, social or political, on the part of restless citizens of the
United States; and he is not likely to lend any of his well-
deserved influence in support of anyyroject, however adroitly
masked, auxiliary to their schemes. The laying out of lines
throughout the whole of Canada is only a question of time;
—where the greatest and most immmediate traffic can be
shown, there and there only, will, we are sure, the ground be
first broken.