Bennison to Colonial Secretary
[157, CO 60/26, p. 247; registered 2 January 1867
]
Fredericton N.Bk
Decr 11th 1866
To The Colonial Secretary Gt Btn
I should like that the British GovtGovernment should commence
laying down a rail Road from the main Land back of Vancouvers
Island through to Lake Superior at once. Giving one Half of
the Land in Lots of 200 acres 80 Rods front to actual Settlers; the
GovtGovernment reserving the remaining lots of Land as first charge
for the Rail Road and the Government of the Country; that
vast Country said to be, I mean that vast Pra[i]rie Country
on the Saskatchawan River 800 miles long by 100 miles Broad,
saying nothing of the 200 miles remaining in breadth. I
should like the Land given to English, Irish, & Scotch
Settlers, and an Asylum for the poor persecuted Southern
Gentlemen of the United States. Let the British Government
offer them an asylum. Should the same dissatisfaction
continue as at present in the United States, thousands yea
Millions will leave it for a place of quietness & repose,
and would not, like British People be offering it to their
own kith & kin. This Land is as good if not superior to
any part of the United States and of Superior Climate being
so far north. Here the wild oats grow in abundance, also
rye and other Grains and millions of Buffalo roam at large;
the Lakes are filled with fish & fowl and all that is
required is a rail road and the British People are able to
build one. Young men from New Bk think little of going
to Wisconstan & Minesota on the very borders of this vast
plain. 10,000 Settlers are located on the Red River and get
their supplies and seek a market in the Western States and
the Yankees have an eye on it thinking some day to annex it,
when they get a proportion sufficiently thrown in or located
there, to join it to the United States. By the by, I saw
by our late Papers that they have got up the annexation cry
in Vancouvers
Island the House of Assembly should be subverted.
Half a Dozen British Regiments should be sent there and hang
a few of the Ring Leaders and annex them to Eternity. I told
a Yankee the other day that if I had my way that there would
be but one Law for all such fellows, & that would be like
the law of the Meeds & Persians "which abereth not;" that I
would hang every man who dared to open his mouth about
annexation to the U. States in a British Province. I'd soon
make them scarce. The HonbleHonourable Joseph Howe has expressed
my views in some measure in regard to this vast, this
magnificent Country but if the British GovtGovernment lay down a rail
Road I would say, Keep the grip on the Lands till it was paid
for and not give them, the people, a representative assembly
till it was asked for, though the Country should contain
Millions of souls and then only one representative to 20,000
or more of a population. Should a Civil War open in the United States
no doubt not only this Country would be populated by hundreds of
thousands, but even upwards of a million of souls in a year I
doubt not would flow into that fine Country. English, Irish,
& Scotch have seen fighting enough in the United States and
would flee from it as from a pestilence or plague. Should this
idea be acted upon what better men could be selected as
Governors than such men as the Honorable Joseph Howe & S.L.
Tilley yet the same men notwithstanding my Grandfather Capt.
George Bennison who was actively engaged throughout the Old
American War, and was a severe sufferer and never got, because
he never asked for, services, most signal too, because he had too
proud a British Spirit. I say that notwithstanding this, though
I should like that either of these Gentlemen was appointed
Governor, I would be the last man that either of the two would
give a place of profit to. I love the British People, I love
the British Flag, in fact I love every thing British, but I
want them to be up to the Yankees and I would like this fine
country open to the Southern People who love the Yankees as
much as I do myself.
Yours with Respect
R.S. Bennison