The All Red Line; the Annals and Aims of the Pacific
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
1 11 RJ 1 H 1H 4 S ^! R4440 1 11 i/i^ith the Compiim3nt3 of The Board ofirade of the City of Oitawa, 5 THE ALL RED LINE The Annals and Aims ...OF... The Pacific Cable Project EDITED BY GEORGE JOHNSON, Honorary Member of The Royal Statistical Society. OTTAWA James Hope & Sons 1903 Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year 1903, by George Johnson, at the Department of Agricnltnre. Printed and Bound by Thk Roi.la L." Grain Co., Limited, OTTAWA THE PROBLEM OF AN EMPIRE-GIRDLING STATE-OWNED TELEGRAPH SYSTEM (Sir Henry Parks) "The crimson thread of kinship." (Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain) "Our gi-eat ideal is unity of the Empire. In the words of a Canadian poet " "Unite the Empire—make it stand compact Shoulder to shoulder let its members feel The touch of British brotherhood ; and act As one great nation—strong and true as steel." (Right Hon. Sir Edmund Bartoni " Conarratulations on the completion of the Pacific Cable. 1 trust that the connection, and with it the community of feeling and interest between the sister Dominions may strengthen them and the whole Empire." (Right Hon. R. j. Seddon) " New Zealand extends hearty congratulations to Canada on completion of Pacific Cable, forming strong link in chain of communication through all our great Empire, bringing dominions over the seas into closer contact." (Right Hon. Sir Wilfrid Laukier) "Canada fully reciprocates the sentiments conveyed in your message over the newly completed Pacific Cable with the sincere hope that the sti'p may be soon followed by others still more important in the same line ... It should be hailed with satisfaction throughout the Empire." (Sir William Mulock) " Rejoice with you in completion of the Pacific Cable, an important link of Empinj and trust the red line may be con- tinually extended until it connects the mother country with all parts of the Dominions beyond the seas. (Sir Joseph Ward) "Glad to hear of Sir William Mulock's advocacy of state- owned cables within the Empire. That is what we, one and all, should strenuously fight for." Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/detaiJs/allredlineannalsOOjohnuoft a PREFACE In the introduction which follows, the writer explains how he came to examine the mass of literature bearing on the annals of the Pacific Cable ; how as he read he became fascinated with the subject and especially with the great Imperial project of which the globigerina-ocze- buried Cable of the Pacific Ocean is only a part. In these pages will be found an account, in sufficient detail, of the gradual development of the larger proposal. The most convincing reasons are submitted for the estab- lishment of an Empire-girdling telegraph system— system whi<^ would confer on the State the means of a high degree of practical ubiquitj^ and bring inestimable advantages to the British people in the four quarters of the globe. CONTENTS PAGE Introductory The Editor 5-9 Bibliography " " 10-44 Chronology of Cables " " ... 45-49 CHAP. I The Jubilee Conference, 1887. W. D. leSueur, Ll.D . 50-76 CHAP. II The Nautical Survey The Editor 77-90 CHAP. Ill Mission to Australia J. L. Payne 91-120 CHAP. IV Mid-Ocean Islands : . .L, J. Burpee 121-14S CHAP. V The Ottawa Conference, 1894 The Editor 149-204 CHAP. VI Tenders for Cables The Editor 205-213 CHAP. VII The Imperial Committee, 1896 F. Hamilton 214-235 CHAP. VIII The Jubilee Conference, 1897 The Editor 236-249 CHAP. IX State Partnership. , C. Morse, D.C.L 250-294 CHAP. X The Enemies The Editor 295-307 CHAP. XI A Pan Britannic System F. Hamilton 308-314 CHAP. XII Girdling the Globe W. Wilfrid Campbell. 315-343 CHAP. XIII Postal Cable Service Wm. Smith, B.A 344-376 CHAP. XIV Cable Laying Otto Klotz 377-414 CHAP. XV The Coronation Conference 1902. The Editor 415-427 CHAP. XVI Wake Up 428-438 ADDENDUM Interview with Sir Sandford Fleming on the completion of the Pacific Cable 441-455 APPENDIX A The First Telegraphic Message Around the World with fac- simile of cable slip 457-462 APPENDIX B New Year's Greetings to and from the Eight Australian Premiers . 463-466 APPENDIX C An Empire-girdling, State-owned Telegraph Service-- Letter to Rt. Hon. J. Chamberlain from Sir Sandford Fleming467-48i INTRODUCTION. In a published interview in July last, the General Manager of the Pacific Cable Board stated that the sec- tion between Vancouver and Fanning Islands is the longest, and in other respects, the most important cable in the world. In view of the fact that there are, in all, more than 1,700 electric submarine cables, with an aggre- gate length of over 200,000 miles, it is obvious that the telegraph connecting Canada with Australia and New Zealand is an undertaking of the greatest magnitude. The Pacific Cable is jointly owned by six British Governments, a unique partnership arrangement effected in obedience to the strong desire of the people of the wide-spread British Empire to utilize electricity for the accomplishment of Imperial consolidation. In seeking a solution to the problem, the men of light and leading, anxious to shape the destinies of the Empire, recognize very generally that the public ownership of a system of submarine electric telegraphs would be followed by poli- tical, social and commercial advantages of great value. These considerations led the writer to examine such telegraph and cable literature as he found available, in- cluding many parliamentary returns bearing on the sub- ject. The more he studied the papers and documents, and made researches at the sources of information, the more he became satisfied that it would serve a useful purpose to collect the scattered materials so as to present the annals of the Pacific Cable project in a concise and consecutive form. With this object in view he invited several writers to prepare distinct portions of a connected story. Others undertook to deal in separate chapters with the aims and possibilities of this international British work. 6 THE ALL-RED LINE. Canada has good reason to regard with satisfaction the efforts to use electricity to increase vital circulation between the heart of the Empire and its outer members. Sir Edward Sassoon, a high authority, has said : " But for the tenacity of purpose shown by Canada and the sacrifices she has so willingly made, there is little doubt that the Pacific Cable scheme, with all its attendant advantages and lessons, would have come to nothing."' The same eminent public man has mentioned, in terms of warm eulogium, " the efforts that the Canadians under the guidance of Sir Sandford Fleming, that veteran pioneer of cable reform, * * * were mak- ing to establish the all-British Pacific Cable as a state- owned concern, forming, even in the fact of ownership in common, one more link between the Mother Country and her colonies." The idea of an all-red line around the world came to a Canadian as he, in his capacity of Chief Engineer of the Canadian Pacific Railway, constructed the land tele- graph lines from the Ottawa River to the Gulf of Georgia. The plan of carrying it out was evolved dur- ing years of study. In all of its stages, from prelimin- ary to final, it encountered determined opposition from a strongly-entrenched foe, who preferred private gains to public benefits. Canada and the Empire at large had, fortunately, in Sir Sandford Fleming, the man of means, of leisure, of attainments, specially qualifying him for a task involving travel on all the oceans and continents ; correspondence with men in favour of the comprehensive scheme, or needing enlightenment to become advocates ; preparation of timely statements for the purpose of overcoming in- ertia and indifference, and never ceasing watchfulness to counteract the combinations made to thwart the constant efforts to advance the project from a paper plan to a materialized institution. For three and twenty years Sir Sandford has de- voted himself to advocating a Pacific cable. For 15 years he has urged the project of a State-owned, State- INTRODUCTION. 7, operated cable system, which should play an important part in welding the British Empire by the great and sub- tile force of electricity. At a Conference held in Sydney, New South Wales, January, 1877, nine resolutions were passed respecting telegraphic connection between Australasia and the rest of the world. One of these resolutions authorized the Government of New Zealand to ascertain if the Govern- ment of the United States would pay a subsidy to secure the construction of a cable from New Zealand to the United States of America. The resolution appears to have been sent to the Colonial Office, and to Sir Julius Vogel, then Agent-General in London for New Zealand. The latter, with Hon. Archibald Michie, Agent- General for the Colony of Victoria, made a long report in which they refer to four routes to England by way of Asia, and one route from New Zealand to San Fran- cisco by way of Honolulu. The last route is referred to unfavourably, being considered almost impracticable on account of the great depth of water and other obstacles. The report is dated August, 1877. The Minutes of the Sydney Conference do not give the name of the person who proposed the resolution, nor do they attach the idea of the cable to any particular individual. But, undoubtedly, it was then and there proposed, to be, however, condemned by the two Agents-General. The first mention of the idea of a Pacific Cable that the Canadian Archives afford is in a letter from Sir Sandford (then Mr.