e
interested, and with his Chicago partners endeavoured to enlist the aid
of the men behind the Northern Pacific--Jay Cooke, General Cass, W. B.
Ogden, T. A. Scott, and others.[2] {122} M'Mullen soon found that
Waddington had exaggerated his influence, and that the government was
not yet prepared to discuss terms. Sir Francis Hincks, stormy petrel
of railway building, whom Sir John Macdonald had just made his finance
minister, suggested to Sir Hugh Allan of Montreal that he should get
into touch with these Americans and provide the substantial Canadian
interest which was essential.

Sir Hugh Allan was then the foremost business man in Canada. He was
head of the great Allan steamship line, and had become interested in
railways shortly before, when rumours of the intention of the Grand
Trunk to establish a rival steamship line to Great {123} Britain had
led him to assist in promoting the North Shore from Quebec westward, to
compete with the Grand Trunk and ensure traffic for his steamers. He
now opened negotiations with the American capitalists through M'Mullen,
came to terms, and then sought associates in Canada. Here difficulties
arose: Ontario objected that Allan's control would mean a Quebec rather
than an Ontario terminus, and that the Northern Pacific directors with
whom he was associated were simply conspiring to get control of the
Canadian road, in order to delay its construction and prevent it
becoming a rival to their own northerly route. Sir George Cartier,
too, powerful in the Cabinet and salaried solicitor of the Grand Trunk,
was a stumbling-block; he declared himself emphatically opposed to
control by any '_sacree compagnie americaine_.' But Sir Hugh,
believing much in money and little in men, resolved to buy his way
through. He soon started a backfire in Quebec which brought Cartier to
terms. Ontario rivalry was harder to control: D. L. Macpherson and
other Toronto men organized the Interoceanic Railway Company to oppose
Allan's Canada Pacific Company. Both companies sought charters and
aid. Allan {124} pretended to drop his American associates; Macpherson
charged that the connection still existed. The government endeavoured
to bring about an amalgamation, with Allan as president, and, failing
this, to organize a new company. In the meantime Allan was spending
money so freely that even his New York associates were astounded. The
Dominion elections were held in August 1872, and Macdonald, Cartie