Year: 1873

nearly all OF them. But while very little Is said or
printed about the ''coming grandeur" or the
"predestined prosperity" of the Queen City OF
Canada, the popular conviction may be distinctly
read in the costly character o. the public improve
menrs In process of construction and the magnln-
cent propositions under consideration for making
the harbor unrivalled In capacity, and almost un-
surpassed In the sOlidity and extent Of its docks
l cannot discover alter carefully poring over the
statistics of dozen years, that the present pres
sure OF commerce neceSsitates all of this liberal
outlay for extending facilities so the conclusion IS
forced that the canny Scotch and the deep-think-
ing English merchants who are. urging and for
warding these astounding preparations have dis
covered the magical process Ivy which they are to
be suddenly utilized.


THE CANADIAN POLICY.


Ny recent correspondence from this place has
explained the Inauguration in the Domin.
ion of q broad policy designed to bring
the Canadian people into prominence as
an independent nation. 1t is the popular
determination to accomplish by mighty effort, If
possible, In ten years. what the United States have
achieved in the last twenty-five. Accordingly the
attempt to render Montreal q port worthy OF the
finest fleets known to the ocean is but an incl
dental feature Of the whole grand scheme of ma
toAal expansion which absorbs the public atten-
ton from Cape Breton to Victoria.


"POsITIOS Is EVERYTHING"


Montreal is geographically centred 80 as to
equally command the inland and the ocean nagi-
cation belonging to the northern portion OF
the Continent. You may step ON board a
steamer Of 1900 tons and 400 feet in length
lying alongside the magnificent docks that wall the
st. Lawrence In front Of the city, and sail away for
any foreign port you choose to name or you may
take passage on board q river steamer, and pro-
ceed, via lake and river, to cities ten and twelve
hundred miles westward. Except at New Orleans
no like facilities are found combined in any one
port this side OF the ocean. True, at present.
the interior voyage Is interrupted in the passage
from Lake ontario to Lake Erie, but in little
while the enlargement OF the Welland Canal
will be completed, and the same steamboat
will carry the tourist via Kingston and Toronto to
Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, Chicago or
Duluth, and there is even prospect for boats OF
moderate draught continuing from Lake Michigan
via Green Bay and the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers
(Which are being rendered available) into the
waters of the Mississippi, ana thence to. the Gull Of
Mexico or to points along the great tributaries of
the Father OF Waters


THE PRESIDENTIAL CONUNDRUM.


The answer is thus practically given to the in
quiry proposed by President Grant in his last mes
sage as to ''the feasibility OF almost continuous
land-ocked navigation from the Atlantic to the
Gulf OF Mexico"


Montreal is a days steaming nearer to Glasgow
and Liverpool than New York, and, when the Ca
madam line shall be finished, will also be twenty
four hours nearer to the Pacific Ocean, In the
future she will stand as the grand station on the
shortest line of transit between the British isles
and the China ports and will also be the gateway
for a vast amount of traNic across the North At
lantic to and rom the Central, Northern and North
western cluster of States Of the Union, as well as
the distributing point for all the heavy commerce
of the Dominion, which now comprises an area of
over


3,50O0 SQUARE MILES.


Montreal must be the New York of Canada for 1t
relatively occupies precisely the same position to
the Dominion that New York does to the United
States. Indeed, excepting New York, 1t would be
difcult to find port admirably located as 1t is
at the confluence Of two grand highways OF
the worlds commerce from the South and
West. Under the circumstances the wonder
Is not so much that the citizens of
this eligbly centred emporium are providing for
a vast increase In business on their wharves, but
rather that they should have delayed preparations
to almost the eleventh hour. for 1t requires but the
completion OF the ship canal system OF the Do
minion to double in month the tonnage of Mon
treal Harbor.


CANADAs OPPORTUNITY.


couple Of years ago the Hon. John Young, NJ. p.
from Montreal, and for years most efncient Har.
Dor Commissioner. stated before q Council of the
Board of Trade Of Montreal that .ft would be
difllcut to overestimate the Importance to the
people OF the Dominion OF securing to the ioute
OF the st. Lawrence the great and growing trade
Of the Northwest. In the possession OF the st.
Lawrence the Dominion has power Independent
OF political boundaries or political distinctions.
The people now resident in the Western United
States IS well as those who will yet inhabt that
vast region west Of Lake SUPERIOR are all just as
much interested in the opening up OF the route
from the Upper Lakes through the StLawrence TO its
Canada, in creating the Dominion, has, by the act
OF Confederation, assumed continental attitude.
the cc hsr ru xtsnd &c to
Canada has not sufficiently appreciated the present
and e o. M 9 y % nor Of
that growth"


This language is the keynote OF the policy now
at work mere, and think suhcien tiy indicates the
style and extent OF the expectations which are
now generally INDUCED in by our neighbors. 1t
themselves with the elements now at work to
relieve them OF the task OF taking charge OF the
them that the for So don9
are ample and nearly ready; but by cooperating
WI Win ar 0posn ns Go s
they now labor under in the matter OF trans
Porta. for tapping the Canadian
canal (enargcd) they will not only retain in their
own hands an amount OF business that will other.
wise now directly to Montreal and New England,
but will greatly increase the volume OF tranc be.
tween the waters OF the Hudson and the great
lakes. Having already dwelt upon the practica.
bty OF insuring this result-which will be literally
to snatch victory nom the Jaws OF dceat-I need
not renew details in this correspondence.


FACTS AND FIGURES.


'The Annual Report OF the Commerce OF Mon.
trcal for 1872" prepared by Mr.. VIM. J. Patterson,
Secretary Of the Board OF Trade and Corn Exchange
Association, furnishes much valuable information
upon the growth and present rank OF this port.
Increased 100 per cent from 1851 to 1871, and in
1872 the aggregate was 1885, 5S2 tons. The ratio
OF increase during the last five years has been
twenty.threc and a half per cent This year there
are 1fty-two steamships plying between Montreal
and ports in the United Kingdom and OF
these the Allan line owns twenty-five. In 1850