The present position and future prospects of the Grand trunk railway company of Canada.

PROSPECTS OF ®(jc (granir tank |lailfoag Cjompng of (taata.Various causes have recently brought this important under- taking prominently before the public.The depressed state of the share and debenture capital, and the inability of the Company to provide for the interest due upon a portion of their bonds, have caused a host of letters and leading articles to appear in the public press, some of them displaying an amount of political, geographical, nautical, and commercial ignorance of British North America, which is quite distracting.Answers would be thrown away upon many of them ; nevertheless, some of the absurd statements and propositions ought not to go forth to the public unanswered.One writer thinks that conclusions drawn by individuals having proved fallacious, is a reason why the Canadian Government ought to give a guarantee; another describes Portland as in Canada ; another, to use a simile, would subsidize a line of mail steamers between St. Katheriue's Docks and Antwerp, but not between Dover and Calais ; another complains of the management, because they will not give the United States Railways what in justice they have no right to ask for, and which they can only otherwise obtain by ruining themselves.The sooner the hope of obtaining a guarantee from the Canadian Government is dispelled the better ; the proposition isutterly impracticable ; and the sooner the competing lines in the United States confine themselves to their natural and legitimate boundaries, the less fear there will be of their falling the half of Europe.Its internal navigation is unparalleled in the world.The Grand Trunk Railway, commencing at River du Loup, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 110 miles below Quebec, runs for nearly 1,000 miles through the most fertile portion of Canada to Sarnia, at the foot of Lake Huron.It passes on its way Quebec, Three Rivers, Richmond, Montreal, Brockville, Kingston, Cobourg, Toronto, Stratford, and London.It embraces within its area a local population of upwards of one million and a half of people.But for upwards of five months in the year its terminus in the Gulfof St. Lawrence is closed by ice, and Canada becomes hermetically sealed, so far as railway communication with the Atlantic is concerned, except by diverging into the United States.Over 200 miles of its western section it runs parallel to the Great Western Railway of Canada, the latter line diverging into the United States at Niagara Bridge.It is crossed obliquely by the Buffalo and Lake Huron, running direct into the United States.In addition to these, there are six railways, running from the Canadian frontier, intercepting the traffic above the Portland branch of the Grand Trunk, and running to the ports of Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston.A great portion of the freight of Canada and the Western States therefore finds its exit or entrance at Niagara Bridge, Oswego, Sackett's Harbour, Ogdensburg, and Montreal.The through freight of Canada and the Western States is divided between the Grand Trunk Railway and those lines diverging from it and passing through the United States ; and it therefore becomes essential for the success of the Grand Trunk that its Atlantic terminus should possess some manifest advantages over those of its competitors.River du Loup or Quebec are out of the question for six months of the year, owing to the closing of the navigation ; and therefore at present its only alternative is Portland.Portland is not (all things considered) on a par with Boston ; and there is this great disadvantage -it is in the United States, and therefore a foreign port to Canada and the Grand Trunk line ; whilst Boston and New York and Philadelphia and Baltimore are home ports to the railways and navigation of the United States.St. John, New Brunswick, is a better freight port than Portland.It is in British territory, and nearer to Europe than an^r port in the United States ; and it is about the same distance from the St. Lawrence as Portland.St. John has a great trade with Europe and the West Indies, and described by The Times Correspondent as " The Liverpool of our North American Pro- " vinces, the finest and most flourishing of all our colonies out " here."It is situate at the mouth of a river more extensive than the Hudson, and running through the most beautiful and fertile valley in America.It has railway communication with ' Shadows, clouds, and darkness ' will rest upon the abodes of our fathers ; the free soil of England will not be long un- profaned, and the gratitude of Turks and the friendship of Austrians or Republic Americans will form but a poor substi- tute for the hearts and hands that have been flung away.

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