1852, Attorney-General Street introduced a
series of resolutions in the New Brunswick legislature favouring the
building of the Intercolonial Railway jointly by Canada, New Brunswick
and Nova Scotia, according to terms which had been agreed upon by the
delegates of each. This arrangement was that the Intercolonial Railway
should be built through the valley of the St. John. These resolutions
were carried by a large majority. During the recess, Mr. Chandler, as
the representative of New Brunswick, and Mr. Hincks, the representative
of Canada, went to London to endeavour to obtain from the British
government financial aid to build the Intercolonial Railway. This was
refused on the ground that such a work had to be one of military
necessity. Further efforts were made in 1855, and again in 1858, to
influence the British government in favour of this railway, but without
result; the answer of Downing Street being that the heavy expenditure
involved in the Crimean War prevented the government from assisting in
the construction of public works, such as the Intercolonial Railway,
however desirable in themselves.

{DELEGATION TO ENGLAND}

The effort to secure the construction of the Intercolonial Railway was
renewed in 1861. At a meeting of delegates representing Canada, Nova
Scotia and New Brunswick, which was held at Quebec on September 30th, it
was resolved that the three governments should renew the offers made to
the imperial government in 1858 with reference to the Intercolonial
Railway, and that the route to be adopted be decided by the imperial
government. The Hon. Mr. Tilley, who was at this Quebec meeting, was
sent to England as a delegate to confer with the imperial government
with regard to the railway, while Nova Scotia was represented by the
Hon. Joseph Howe, and Canada, by the Hon. P. M. Vankoughnet. The
delegates reached England in November and placed themselves in
communication with the Duke of Newcastle, who was then colonial
secretary, and they also had interviews with the prime minister, Lord
Palmerston, the chancellor of the exchequer, the secretary of war, and
the president of the board of trade. While in England, the seizure of
the commissioners of the southern confederacy, Messrs. Mason and
Slidell, by Commodore Wilkes, on board the British mail steamer _Trent_,
produced a crisis in the relations between Great Britain and the United
States which seemed likely to lead to a war, and greatly strengthened
the