Page:The empire and the century.djvu/398

 It is difficult for anyone who has not closely followed the story of this work to understand the difficulties with which it has been beset at every point. Even the majority of Canadians fail to appreciate the magnitude of the achievements of their own country. The proximity and geographical relation of the wealthy and populous country to the South has been a deterrent factor in a variety of ways.

Take, for instance, the case of the Inter-Colonial Railway.

The shortest and best route from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to Montreal is through the State of Maine. When the project of building a railway from New Brunswick to Quebec through British territory was first mooted, it was denounced by Maritime Province newspapers as savouring of lunacy. Why, it was said, take a long and difficult route in preference to a short and easy one? The Canadian route involved an additional length of about two hundred miles, and traversed a much more difficult country. Nevertheless, national and Imperial sentiment prevailed. The construction of the road was made a part of the understanding upon which confederation was brought about. It was undertaken and completed. To-day we so fully recognise the wisdom, nay, the necessity, of the work that we are about to construct another shorter and better all-Canadian line from Quebec to the Maritime Province ports.

Consider the case of the Canadian Pacific. It was so much easier to connect the Eastern Provinces with the North-West by utilizing American railways, already constructed south of Lake Superior, that the project of building around the barren, rocky, and inhospitable north shore was regarded with the greatest disfavour. It is even said that, after the contract for building the line was made and ratified by Parliament, some of the original incorporators of the Company never could take the plan seriously, and even went so far as to dissociate themselves from the enterprise when they found that no