, 1863-02-24

snoQlQ pass tnr0uGh her hands than she
had to ask TINT the cotton Of the great val
ley Of the continent should be shipped
from her docks in=tcad Of those Of New
Orleans. What the West needs is direct
trade with Europe, and both England and
Canada will find it vastly to their adyan-
tage to remove all obstacles from one of
the great natural water courses of the con-
, tinent, and give the vast commerce Of the
West the largest liberty Of trausit to the
ocean, So FAR as Canada is concerned, the
mere statement of the proposition carries
with it the mos: convincing argument.
The statesmen Of England are beginning
rightly to appreciate the importance Of the
agricultural riches Of the West to their
own people. Statistics recently received
chow that in round numbers England i'm.
ported from other countries during the last
year Of cereals, one hundred and eighty
millions Of bushels. OF this amount, about
one third was received from this country
and Mr: Golden in q recent speech
at Rochdale, stated that had not
this been received from America, all the
gold in Lombard street could not have
bought it, for all the nations of the old
world had no: the surplus to sell them.
Hence it is that 10 England the food is
vastly more important than the. cotton
question. The freight to Liverpool now
takes seven-eightbs of the value Of the
corn shipped; that is, OF. eight bushels OF
corn starting from Illinois. it takes seven
Of them to lay the eighth down in Liver
pool. Reduce the freight twenty
per cent, and England will
buy hundred and twenty instead Of
sixty millions Of grain, from the West.
And besides, if the Canadian cannls be en-
1arged, cattle by the tens Of thousands can
be shipped alive to the Liverpool market
The amount Of pork, provisions and other
products that would seek ar European
market by the Canadian canals, we're they
sufficiently enlarged to bring down freights
to proper figure, is practically without
limit. The rapid increase Of Western
products, as shown By the above tables,
will continue to the astonishruent of the
commercial world, if these products can
only find remunerative market Vast Is
they now are, the West has but just begun
to pour her e&haustlcss treasures into the
store houses Of the world.
But the. mese opportunity to buy our
products in ten-fold greater quantities, and
at greatly reduced rates, is By no means
all the advantage that England and Cana
da would reap from the enlargement Of her
St. Lawrence canals. The West wants
and is able to pay for immense quantities
Of the manufactures Of England, and their
consumption would be limited only by the
capacity Of English capital and labor to
supply the demand Goods will come as
return freight and to pay for produce, and
thus the channels Of commerce would be
always full.
These facts, and such as these, presented
to the Canadian and Imperial Govern
ments, ~iGbe sure, in the end, to produce
1he desired result. AL men who study the
subject will come to the same conclu-
sion enunciated By one Of the Chicago del
egates at the Toronto meeting in 1856. We
reproduce the paragraph, albeit some Of
the figures are now sadly behind the
age" ~
II the products Of tue West, gathered from
only s., 600 square miles have built M a cHy
Of IS 600 people in the short space Of eighteen
years for 1t is only few months more than
That since 1t vas incorporated-who dares to
estimate what the next twenty years will ac.
complishy ! once heard Capt. Hugunin, a
veteran sailor Of our city, who commenced
his cventfu1 career OH Lake Ontario In 1879,
after referring to the growth and the endless
productive value Of the products Of the West,
say, that " the great God, when he made The
mighty West, made also the lakes and the
mighty St. Lawrence to font It's commerce to
to the ocean," and ! might add, as well at
Tempt to lead the boiling current Of Niagara
to the sea in hose pipe, as to chip the pro-
dnct Of these 700,000 square miles to the
ocean ~ the Eric and Welland Canals, and all
Ine railroads now or hereafter to be con-
Fn,ruc1ed. n The West needs the Georgian. Bay
at tS.t ~ ano cVerH other avenue to the ocean
loa1 ean possibly be opened.