with it, and with ordinary prudence and wisdom on the part of her statesmen, it will be a great, a glorious and inevitable reality." ་ Turning from this statement held up by the great organ of the party when Sir HUGH ALLAN proposed to enter into an agreement with the American capitalists to subordinate the commerce of this country to rival lines, in the speech of the Hon. First Minister, on this subject, he said: the construction of a great national high- the Government was not founded on the 'It is felt that it is extremely difficult for us to pour a large population into that country, when the expense of transportation to Fort William, westward, is so great; and it is deemed advisable that we should not be driven, for any length of time, to pour a tide of emigration through any portion of the United States, in order to reach our own territory." What would the House and the people think of the policy of the Government, with the light that had been thrown upon it by the hon. member for Algoma? After all this expenditure on a land and water route between Lake Superior and Fort Garry, did anyone suppose that an emigrant on a steamer on Lake Superior would travel by it when he could run down to Duluth and travel by an all-rail route to the very heart of Manitoba, as he could do after the completion of the Minnesota line to Pembina, and the construction of the Pembina Branch. Looking at it from that point of view, it appeared to him that if the object of the Government was not-and he did not for a moment intimate that such was their object—to hand us over bond slaves to our neighbors, and to fetter the commerce of Canada for the next fifty years, then it was an act of insanity. The hon. members for Marquette and Selkirk had shown that it was impossible for the Parliament of Canada to commit a greater folly than to appropriate this large sum to be expended outside of the Canadian Pacific Railway, instead of grappling with the great work itself. The hon. member for Algoma had asserted that it would take one hundred years to build the section north of the lakes. Did the hon. member forget that the Premier had laid upon the table a contract for constructing the 200 miles of railroad from Douglas to Georgian Bay within two and one-half years from the present time? The hon. gentlemen would believe, in view of this fact, that if the energies of the Government were rightly Brooks, directed, and directed with equal vigor to Cameron (Caldwell), Hon. Mr. Tupper. Pacific shore of Lake Superior in fifteen years, this House is of opinion that no time should be lost in beginning the eastern portion of the Canadian Pacific Railroad, and constructing it as rapidly as is consistent with a due regard to economy, from the point fixed by Parliament at or near to the south of Lake Nipissing, westward to Lake Nipegon and thence to Red working eastward and westward, and that River, commencing at Lake Nipegon and the Government should employ the available funds of the Dominion in the first place for the completion of that great national work-a continuous railway on Canadian territory by the shortest route from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.” A division was taken on the amend ment, which was rejected by the following vote :- Yeas: McDonald(Cape Breton),. Horton, Colby, McQuade, Huntington, Costigan, Masson, Irving, Currier, Mitchell, Jones (Halifax), Hall, Cuthbert, Monteith, Kerr, Wood, Desjardins, Montplaisir, Domville, Palmer, Dugas. Pinsonneault, Young-117. Farrow, Pope, Ferguson, Robitaille, Flesher, Rouleau, Mr. MASSON said when he addressed the House a few days ago he remarked that he was opposed to the policy of the Government in regard to the location of the Pacific Railway, and as in favor of the plan of the late Government on that subject. The House had now decided to build the Georgian Bay branch, but he trusted that rights which had already been acquired would be respected. He therefore moved in amendment: That this resolution be not now concurred in, but that it be resolved that in the opinion of this House no contract shall be entered into with any company for the construction of the Georgian Bay branch of the Canadian Pacific Railway, nor any subsidy granted for the construction of the railway from the Eastern terminus of said Pacific Railroad to Douglas or near Douglas until a thorough and complete instrumental survey shall have been made of the route proposed and the route by the Matawan, to ascertain which would be the shorter and more economical of construction. Hon. Mr. BLAKE called attention to the fact that the contract for the construction of this branch had been laid upon the table and was subject to the ratification of the House. He thought it would be better to pass upon it by direct resolution and it seemed to him that his hon. friend should not proceed with the motion of this point. Mr. MASSON said it was competent for any member to move that an amount be struck out of the estimates, which would be the effect of his amendment. Hon Mr. HOLTON admitted that the motion might be in order, but seeing that the effect of it, if carried, would be to strike the whole grant for the Pacific Railroad from the estimates; and the hon.. member and his friends had been calling very loudly for the construction of that road at the earliest possible moment, he thought it would be the better course to withdraw the amendment. Mr. MASSON consented to withdraw the motion in the meantime. Hon. Mr. HOLTON desired it to be un- | such progress as will justify the hope of the derstood that the hon. member reserved completion of the line within the time his motion until the contract was before mentioned. the House; otherwise he (Mr. HOLTON) would object to its withdrawal. "3rd. That the Company shall enter into an agreement to grant running powers The amendment was withdrawn and the on terms to be approved by the Governor item concurred in on a division. THE CANADA CENTRAL SUBSIDY. Hon. Mr. MACKENZIE moved that this House do ratify the Order in Council granting a subsidy to the Canada Central Railway under authority of the Act providing for the construction of the Canada Pacific Railway, 37 Vict., Cap. 14, which order is to the following effect : "The Committee of Council have had under consideration the application of the Canada Central Railway Company for the subsidy proposed to be granted to Railway Companies under the terms of the Act, 37th Vic., cap. 14, entitled 'An Act to provide for the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway,' and they advise that a subsidy of $12,000 per mile be granted to the said Company, to aid in constructing their line from the vicinity of the village of Douglas westward to the eastern end of the Branch Railway, proposed to be built from Georgian Bay by the Government, being about one hundred and twenty miles, upon and subject to the following conditions, namely :--- "1st. That the road shall be built upon in Council to the Northern Colonization Railway Company. The Kingston and Pembroke Railway Company from the point of intersection of their respective lines, provided such point of intersection is on the subsidized line or within five miles of the same, and also to such other Companies as may have the termini of their systems on or towards Lake Huron, and may be designated or approved by the Governor in Council as entitled to such running powers, provided that the terms of such running powers may be mutually agreed upon by the Canada Central Railway Company and the other Companies named, and in the event of a disagreement, the conditions shall be settled by arbitration, one arbitrator to be selected by each Company, and one by the Governor in Council. "4th. The Government or lessees of the Government line from Georgian Bay to the western terminus of the subsidized line, or any future owners of said line, shall possess running powers on said railway on similar terms to the Companies designated. "5th. That payment of the subsidy shall only be made on the completion of a line to be approved by the Minister of the railway in sections of not less than Public Works, but which may be defined twenty miles, each payment to be made on generally as ascending the valley of the the certificate of an Engineer, to be Bonnechere from the vicinity of the vil-appointed by the Government, that a seclage Douglas via Golden Lake and Round Lake, thence by as direct a line as may be found to Burnt Lake, and thence to the proposed terminus of the Government Railway, at about the 85th mile from Georgian Bay. "2nd. That the Company shall within one month from the ratification of this Order of Council by the House of Commons, satisfy the Minister of Public the Minister of Public Works that they have entered into a bona fide contract or contracts for the building of the Railway, and have provided sufficient means with the Government bonus to secure the completion of the line on or before the first day of January, 1877, and also that the Company shall, from the date of such contracts, make continuously Hon. Mr. Holton. tion or sections has or have been completed; paymentmay, however, be made of an amount equal to the subsidy on twenty miles, cn work extended over a larger distance, which in value will be equivalent to not less than twenty-five miles of finished roadway; payment will also be made on rails line to be constructed, to the extent of delivered at any point of the such rails to become the property of the Seventy-five per cent. of the value thereof, Government until they are laid on the road for use. the ratification of this Order in Council by "The grant to be operative only after resolution of the House of Commons. Certified. W. A. HIMSWORTH, Clerk, Privy Council." NAYS: Messieurs Laird, Lajoie, Landerkin, Langlois, Mills, Burpee (Sunbury), Moffat, Campbell, Carmichael, Cartwright, Casey, Casgrain, Paterson, Cauchon, Pelletier, Charlton, Perry, Cheval, Pettes, Church, Pickard, Cockburn, Pouliot, Coffin, Power, The following Bills were introduced and read a first time : Hon. Mr. HOLTON (for Mr. JETTE) -To change the name of the Mutual Insurance Company of Canada to the Dominion Life Insurance Company, and to amend its Acts of Incorporation. Mr. CARON-To authorize the St. Lawrence Navigation Company (steam) to change its corporate name to that of the St. Lawrence Steam Navigation Company, and to confer on it certain powers. Mr. CARON-To incorporate the Quebec and Lake Huron Direct Railway Company. Hon. Mr. LAIRD-To amend an Act respecting the appropriation of certain Dominion Lands in Manitoba. He explained that the object of this Bill was merely to correct a verbal error. Hon. Mr. CARTWRIGHT-To further amend the Civil Service Superannuation Act. He explained that the objects of the Bill were, in the first place, to amend the second section of the Act by inserting thirty in place of forty. It appeared an injustice that in certain Mr. Masson. cases men who had served for thirty years should be debarred that privilege. It was also provided that in case it appeared necessary to superannuate a party whose services should not have been entirely satisfactory, the Governor in Council may in such cases grant a superannuation allowance less than that to which he would otherwise have been entitled. This provision did not give the Government any more power than at present. Sir JOHN MACDONALD entirely approved of the last section of the Bill. He thought it would have a good effect, enabling the Government to show their sense of the demerits of a public servant. Hon. Mr. GEOFFRION-To provide for the salaries of County Court Judges in Nova Scotia and for other purposes. QUESTION OF PRIVILEGE. Mr. BURPEE (Sunbury) said-Mr. SPEAKER: before the Orders of the Day are called, I beg to bring before the attention of the House a question of privilege. Three or four hon. members of the House, including a member of the Government, have been accused of malpractices by a leading paper in the Dominion, viz., the organ of the hon. member opposite, the Toronto Mail, which, if true, would deprive us of our seats in this House. I beg to state the case without any circumlocution, and to give it a flat denial. The article is not a lengthy one, and I am sorry to have to read it to the House, in order to convey a correct opinion of what the charge is. With the consent of the House, therefore, I will read the article referred to, which appeared in the Toronto Mail of the 8th March, and is headed "Burpeeism." It is as follows: "Reference was made in our Ottawa despatch a few days ago to the annulling of a sale which had been made by the Dominion Government to a railway company in New Brunswick of a parcel of land in the heart of the city of Fredericton. The transaction, so far as the facts are known, was a most scandalous one. It is extraordinary that this sale could ever have been made. Of course the Minister of Customs, Mr. ISAAC BURPEE, has his Hon. Mr. Cartwright. influence in the Cabinet, and there are in the House, supporting the Ministry of which he is a member, Mr. ISAAC BURPEE, his uncle, Mr. PICKARD and Mr. APPLEBY, relatives in other degrees. What they might demand of the Government would be demanded with a strong voice; the more so as a director of the company to which the sale was made, the Fredericton Branch Railway Company, is Mr. E. R. BURPEE, a brother of the Minister of Customs. The combination was certainly a strong one. Well, some four or five months ago, the combination asked that this piece of land, five acres, should be sold to them, and they offered for it the sum of $6,000. The sale was effected; the money, we believe, paid over. The sale was made despite the protest of the Fredericton City Council which, we are credibly informed, has been ready to give for it, for park purposes, no less an amount than $100,000. Indeed, we are assured that in the recent interviews between the First Minister and the civic representative of Fredericton, Mr. MACKENZIE was given to understand that this amount would be paid for the land rather than that it should be so shamefully sacrificed. The result was the cancelling of the sale, as already announced in our columns. "We have heard much of late of the Tanneries 'swap.' There can be no doubt that in that transaction the Government of Quebec was shamefully swindled. But, bad though it was, it was not one-tenth part as bad as this sale to the BURPEE connection of a block of land worth $100,000, for the paltry sum of $6,000. Mr. MACKENZIE will, no doubt, take credit now for having blocked the swindle. Whatever credit may be due to him for this circumstance is more than discounted by the fact that he ever permitted the sale to be effected, and that he only stepped between the rascally combination and the public to avoid the obloquy which he saw was coming upon himself. He must have been very remiss in his duty-to speak with excessive moderation to have allowed the Treasury to be so shamefully cheated; and it is but a poor thing for a Minister to do under the pressure of fear what his better judgment and virtuous promptings had not dictated. We believe Mr. BURPEE says he was not present in Council when the sale was |