The Despatch Which I Copy - Dated Downing Street, 5 March,
1863 - Distinctly Says, In Its Third Paragraph, "Her Majesty's
Government Are Of Opinion That They Cannot Apply To Parliament To
Sanction Any Share In The Proposed Subsidy By This Country."
"DOWNING STREET,
"5th March, 1863.
"SIR,
"I am directed by the Duke of Newcastle to acknowledge the receipt of
your letter of the 27th of December, and to express his Grace's regret
that so long, though quite unavoidable, a delay should have occurred in
replying to it.
"I am now desired to make to you the following communication: -
"Her Majesty's Government are of opinion that they cannot apply to
Parliament to sanction any share in the proposed subsidy by this
country; and though they take great interest in the project
contemplated with so much public spirit by the gentlemen represented by
you for carrying a telegraphic and postal communication from the
confines of Canada to the Pacific, they do not concur in the opinion of
the Canadian delegates that the work is of such special 'Imperial
importance' as to induce them to introduce for the first time the
principle of subsidizing or guaranteeing telegraphic lines on land.
"Her Majesty's Government are further of opinion that without a
submarine Transatlantic telegraph the proposed line in America will be
of comparatively small value to the Imperial Government, and that
whenever a scheme of the former kind is renewed, it is almost certain
that this country must be called upon to bear a much larger charge for
it than that which it is now proposed to devolve upon the British
Colonies in respect of the land-telegraph and communication.
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