Produced by Adrian Mastronardi, The Philatelic Digital Library Project at http://www.tpdlp.net, Anne Storer and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Print project.) [Illustration: Map of the North Atlantic Ocean] A LETTER FROM MAJOR ROBERT CARMICHAEL-SMYTH TO HIS FRIEND THE AUTHOR OF "THE CLOCKMAKER," CONTAINING Thoughts on the Subject OF A BRITISH COLONIAL RAILWAY COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE ATLANTIC AND THE PACIFIC, FROM THE MAGNIFICENT HARBOUR OF HALIFAX, IN NOVA SCOTIA (NORTH-EASTERN AMERICA), TO THE MOUTH OF FRAZER'S RIVER, IN NEW CALEDONIA (NORTH-WESTERN AMERICA), OR SUCH OTHER PORT AS MAY BE DETERMINED UPON. * * * "Let those, who discard speculations like these as wild and improbable, recur to the state of public opinion at no very remote period on the subject of Steam Navigation. "Within the memory of persons not yet past the meridian of life the impossibility of traversing by Steam Engine the channels and seas that surround and intersect these islands was regarded as the dream of enthusiasts." DR. LARDNER, 1840. * * * LONDON: W. P. METCHIM, 20, PARLIAMENT STREET. 1849. * * * * * PREFACE. "It is the duty--the imperative duty--of every individual (however humble) to express conscientiously, but calmly, his public opinions, for by such means truth is elicited."[1] Hence it may be permitted the writer of the annexed Letter to observe, that a momentous question is now brought to the notice of the people of Great Britain,--that it ought not to be neglected, until perhaps a voice from her colonial children may go forth proclaiming "it is too late,"[see Note 64]--for then the opportunity of uniting in firm and friendly bonds of union "this wondrous empire on which the solar orb never sets" will have passed away for ever. ----"Dum loquimur fugerit invida AEtas: carpe diem quam minimum credula postero." * * * [1] Montgomery Martin's History of the British Colonies, 1843; and to that work the writer of the following pages begs to refer all those who take an interest in the British North American Colonies. And if so humble an individual might be allowed to offer his advice, he would strongly recommend the republication, in a volume by itself, of the part connected with the North American Colonies. INTRODUCTION.