CHAPTER XVII.

The Acadian Confederation—Union is Strength—The Provinces—New Brunswick—The Temperature—Trade of St. John—Climate and Agriculture of Nova Scotia—Prince Edward Island—Newfoundland—The Red River District—Assiniboia—The Red River Valley—Minnesota and the West—The Hudson’s Bay Company—Their Territory—The North-West Regions—Climate of Winnipeg Basin—Its Area—Finances of the Confederation—Imports, Exports, and Tonnage—Proposed Federal Constitution—Lessons from the American Struggle.

We have now seen the dangers which threaten Canada, we have to some extent examined the means of resisting them, and have followed the process by which a severe injury was inflicted on her powers of defence. Mr. Webster was a grand specimen of unscrupulous intelligence—he was a colossal “Yankee.” It will be observed that he regarded the acquisitions so dexterously made—quocunque modo rem—as valuable on account of their military capabilities—that he took the highest point accessible to the American mind when he showed that his work could be made available for the annoyance and injury of Great Britain. In so far he betrayed—if indeed there is any deception in the matter—the animating principle of American political life. Let any public man prove that he has hurt the English power or affronted it—that he has damnified its commerce and lowered its prestige, and the popular sentiment will applaud him, no matter the agency by which his purpose was effected. Recent events have greatly inflamed the spirit which always burned againstus. The very events which have broken up the Union may resolve its fragments into a new combination more formidable and more aggressive.

The course open to Canada, which may feel once more the force of that permanent principle in the American mind, is plain. Great Britain may be too far off. She may be too much engaged to be able to aid Canada efficiently and fully. But on the borders of Canada there are provinces with great resources and a great future, which have hitherto been prevented by various considerations from welding themselves into a Confederation. The time has come now in the white heat of American strife for the adoption of the process. The Confederation of States with divers interests under a weak executive has fallen to pieces. All the more reason for a Confederation of States with common interests and with one governing principle. If we accept the common governing principle of all the Colonies and Provinces to be their attachment to Monarchical institutions, any pressure from the influences of Republican institutions can but consolidate their union.

Under the circumstances in which the various distinct dependencies of the British Crown in the Continent of North America find themselves placed, it is not surprising that the idea of a Confederation for the purposes of common defence and military corroboration should have arisen. It is surprising that it should have floated about so long, and have stirred men to action so feebly. I think it is the first notion that occurs to a stranger visiting Canada and casting about for a something to put in place of the strength which distant England cannot, and Canadians will not, afford.At least, there is no sign as yet that the Canadians will quite arouse from a sleep which no fears disturb, although they hear the noise of robbers. They will not prepare for war, because they wish for peace, and it is plain enough that if war should come instead of peace, England would be too late to save them, because she would be too far. Now, let it not be supposed that any confederation of the Canadas and British North American provinces would yield such an increase of force as would enable the collective or several members of it to resist the force of the Republic of the Northern American United States—at least, not just now. But in the very conflict in which the Northern and Southern Confederations are engaged, we see the vast energy and resources of a union of States in war time as compared with the action of States not so joined:—France, Great Britain, Turkey, and Sardinia were associated in the war with Russia, but their power would have been much greater had they acted under a common head. There is in every association of the States the danger of ultimate convulsions, and of death itself, whenever the Constitution and ideas of one State differ from those of another: for the difference of constitution and ideas is sure to produce soon a conflict of interests and opinions which the bond of Federation cannot compress. In the two Canadas there are certain opposing principles at work which have interfered with harmonious action at times. These might receive greater vitality and power on each side if the cohesion of the British dependencies were not complete. The religious questions which now are mixed with questions of race would perhaps acquire development, and become more active and more mischievous. But the actualpositive visible dangers of non-Confederation are more weighty than those which may come by-and-by from the adoption of a common central government subject to the Crown. Setting out with the principle of submission to the Throne—with the recognition of the sovereignty of the monarch of Great Britain and Ireland—with the full acknowledgment of the rights and prerogatives pertaining to the Crown—with the charters of their several and collective liberties in their possession, the only great schism to be apprehended is one which might arise from the exercise of Parliamentary control over the action of the Confederation, because colonists will never admit that the Parliament can stand in the place of the Crown. Let us take a glance at the vast area, and consider the importance of the various colonies which own now no bond of connection, except a common obedience to the Queen, in order that we may appreciate their strength as a Confederation.

The Province of New Brunswick contains just 28,000 square miles; it lies between 45° and 48° lat. (north), and 63° 45’ and 67° 50’ long. (west), washed on the east by the waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and on the south by those of the Bay of Fundy. It has a very extensive seaboard, not less than two-thirds being maritime; whilst on the west it is bounded by the frontier of the State of Maine, and on the north by Lower Canada. The population in 1851 was 193,000, and it probably is not less now than 225,000 souls. The boastfulness of the Americans, and more especially of New Englanders, in all that relates to their country, causes us to overlook the progress of our own colonies, and we shall be surprised to find the increase ofpeople in New Brunswick has been greater than that of Vermont, Maine, or New Hampshire, by an average of 10 per cent. within the decade up to 1851. The Government is vice-monarchical and parliamentary; the Lieutenant-Governor of the Province being Commander-in-Chief, Admiral, and Chancellor. His ministers are the Executive Council, consisting of nine members, whose tenure of office depends on the will of the people, inasmuch as they must retire on a vote of want of confidence. The Parliament consists of the Legislative Council, which is somewhat analogous to the House of Peers. It is composed of 21 members, who are appointed by the Crowndurante placito, but who usually hold office for life. Although the Peers of Parliament are in one sense nominated by the Crown, they are legislatorsdurante vitâ, and cannot be removed from their functions by the Crown, and in other respects there are defects in an analogy between them and the House of Lords. The House of Assembly, consisting of 41 members, is elected every four years by the people of the fourteen counties, and of the city of St. John. The House levies taxes and duties, and regulates the expenditure and internal affairs of the Province; but the Legislative Council may reject all its measures except those relating to money matters, and the assent of the Governor-General is needed to all measures whatever. But it does not follow that the consent of Council, Assembly, and Lieutenant-Governor will do more than stamp the measure with the popular and officialimprimaturin the eyes of the Home Government, because Her Majesty in Council may reject any law whatever. It is rather in theory than in practice, however, that such an exercise of prerogative exists;but in case of any marked difference of opinion between the Home Government and the Colonial Legislature, it is obvious that such a power, however consonant with monarchical right and tradition, might cause serious antagonism and create wide breaches. The risk of such disturbing influences would, of course, be diminished by the action of a general government.

It is little more than 100 years since a number of English settlers and colonists, then loyal, coming from Massachusetts, sailed from Newbury Fort to the coast of New Brunswick, which had been ceded by France to the British in 1713. Constantly menaced by the French Canadians, the few English who represented the Crown could scarcely be considered to hold the most attenuated possession of the Province, until the French were obliged finally to cede all claims to the possession of an acknowledged nationality in British North America. The English maintained that the whole tract of country now known as Nova Scotia and New Brunswick belonged to the Crown by virtue of the discoveries of Sebastian Cabot; but the French were the first to found permanent settlements, and certainly gave good reason why Acadia, as they termed the district, despite its frosts and snows and long lugubrious winters, should belong to thefleur-de-lys. As soon as Wolfe’s victory had established the power of England, the enterprising spirit of the New Englanders led them to undertake settlements in these neglected regions. They carried with them what they had derived from the old country—a love of law, not of litigation; the forms of justice in the courts which administered its substance:—a magistracy, a police, a moral life and social liberty; these were possessed by the settlers at a time when the vast majorityof the people of Ireland was deprived of any semblance of such rights; and when Scotland, unsuccessful in her last effort for legitimacy and the Divine right of kings, was just recovering from the swoon into which she had fallen as the last volleys rolled away from Culloden.

The New Englanders who settled Mangerville and civilised Sunbury were loyal to the Crown in the revolt of the colonies; they formed a nucleus round which gathered many of the New England Tories and their families, so that in 1783 it was considered expedient by the Government to locate those who were called loyalists, and who shook the dust off their feet at the door of the New Republic, along the cleared settlements adjoining the Bay of Fundy and the water of St. John. It is strange that the first newspaper should have been printed by these outcasts at a time when there were scarcely half-a-dozen journals known in the mother country; but the peculiar circumstances under which these immigrants were placed no doubt developed the energies of a press which was not shackled by any political censorship. The wealth of the people lay around them; their mines were in the forest, and the axe provided them with currency. To Sir Guy Carlton, the first Governor, when New Brunswick received a distinct Charter and a new Constitution and was separated from Nova Scotia, in 1788, must be conceded the credit of having nursed for twenty years, with singular care and success, the infancy of the colony:—a succession of Presidents or Governors and Councillors, whose names are reproduced in the history of the American colonies,—such men as Beverley, Robinson, Putman, Winslow, and Ludlow,—succeeded in the charge, andgradually developed the resources of the rising community.

Fire has wrought more than one great wrong to this land of frost and snow. Yet it would not be just to describe New Brunswick as a Siberia. From Christmas to March the country is tolerably well provided with a coating of snow. From April to May ploughing and seed time last, and before October the harvests are generally gathered in. A glorious autumn yields to the rainfalls of November, and these in their turn harden to sleet and snow in December; but, after all, nearly seven months give space for sowing, ploughing, reaping, and saving. The New Brunswickers, indeed, believe that the very seventy of the frost in winter tends to render the cultivation of the land more easy than it is in Britain; and certainly rainfalls, and all the variableness of climate, do more injury in England than they do in New Brunswick. The greatest ranges of temperature are in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where they reach from 20° below zero to 90° above it; the highest temperature at St. John may be reckoned at 86°, the lowest at 14°. There are about 180 clear days and 120 cloudy days in the year, and the snow-storms rarely last more than two days at a time. Now here is a region to which one would think the bedrenched Highlander, the betaxed Englishman, and much-vexed Irishman would resort in myriads. And there is land for many. At least 6,000,000 acres of land suited for crops and wood settlements are still to be disposed of. For half-a-crown a man may buy an acre of land, but of that sum only 7½d.is demanded on sale, and the remainder may be paid in instalments extending overthree years. The sales of the country lands are monthly. If the settler likes to pay on the spot he can have his land for 2s.an acre. Think of that, conacre men of Tipperary and Leitrim! Think of that, farmers of the Lothians, or tenants of the Highland straths! Shall I ask the men of Dorsetshire and East Gloucester to think of it too? Nor need they fear to change their mode of life, except it be for the better, after the first rude work of labour is done; nor need they fear to suffer from climate or disease. Typhus will cease to kill—fever and dysentery to decimate. And if the settler has kinsmen and friends willing to join with him, he can claim for himself and each of them 100 acres of land, and pay for it by the work of road-making in the new country, so that in four years, if the work set by the Commissioners be executed, each man who has been one year resident and has brought ten acres into cultivation, becomes,ipso facto, owner of the whole lot of 100 acres. Now this is in a country which has been described by no incompetent witness, not as the peer of any region on earth in the beauty of wood and water, but as the superior of the best. The St. John flows in all its grandeur through the midst of the province, and the Restigouche gives a charm of scenery to the forest not to be surpassed. Lakes and streams open up dell, valley, and mountain pass. Every creek in the much-indented coast swarms with fish. The Bay of Fundy abounds with codfish and pollock, bake, haddock, shad, herring, halibut, mackerel, eels, skate, and many other kinds of fish. The mouths of the rivers swarm with salmon, trout, striped basse, gaspereaux, shad, and white trout. The Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Bay ofChaleurs yield nearly every description of valuable fish, as well as lobsters, crabs, oysters, and other shellfish. The Province receives nearly 100,000l.a year in exchange for the fish packed in ice, or cured and exported to foreign countries. Its wealth in timber is incalculable, because the value rises gradually with the demand for the produce of its forests all over the world, and, with prudent management, these forests may be considered as inexhaustible. Coal of a bituminous character has been worked for some years past in several districts; iron, manganese, lead, and copper, also exist in considerable quantities, and the mineral produce of the Province will no doubt add much to its importance as the works receive greater development.

Although the trade of shipbuilding does not show a regular increase, the size of the vessels built at St. John and Miramichi has been increasing. Upwards of 100 ships were launched at these ports in 1860, with a measurement of 41,000 tons, and were worth upwards of 320,000l.Various branches of trade have obtained respectable dimensions and are growing steadily. Fredericton, the capital of the Province, is situated on the St. John, eighty-two miles from the sea, where the navigation for sea-going ships may be regarded as at an end. The number of great lakes which are available for internal commerce and transport complete the facilities offered by the river system and by the main roads, the latter of which have been liberally promoted by the Province. The water power of the colony is boundless. Education is provided by the Legislature, so that the poorest man can give his children the advantage of a sound instruction almost without cost. Religion is free, and the voluntarysystem mitigates the animosity of sects. Emigrants from the South of Ireland have found here all the conditions of prosperity, and have turned them to good account. Scotch and English thrive exceedingly. Indeed, if it were not that the greater clamour and bustle of the United States had succeeded in overpowering the appeals of New Brunswick to the favour of the emigrant, many thousands of our countrymen would have there found the ease and comfort which they have sought in vain under the rule of the Republic. The very name, New Brunswick, has no doubt repelled settlers. A New Brunswick ship they know nothing of even if they see one, and the name itself rarely reaches their ears.

Nova Scotia formerly comprised the Province of New Brunswick, but is now reduced to the length of 256 miles, and the breadth of 100 miles. The island of Cape Breton, which belongs to it, is 100 miles long, and 72 broad. The area of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton is over 18,000 square miles. The population is estimated at 370,000, the Census of 1861 having given 330,860 and the ratio of increase having been on an average of four per cent. per annum; but emigrants are rarely attracted to the colony. In 1861, of the people, 294,000 were native Nova Scotians, 16,000 were of Scottish, 9,000 of Irish, 3,000 of English origin; France, which founded the colony, had only 88 representatives on land. The English Church had 48,000 members, the Scotch Church numbered 88,000, the Church of Rome 80,000; there were 56,000 Baptists, 34,000 Wesleyans, and, wonderful to say, only 3 Deists. When it is considered that the coal-fields of NovaScotia are the finest in the world, that her mining wealth is extraordinary, that her seas, lakes, and rivers teem with fish, that her forests yield the finest timber, that the soil gives an ample return to the farmer, and the earth is full of mineral resources, it is surprising that emigrants of limited means have not been tempted to try their fortune, in spite of the threatening skies and somewhat rigid winters. Nearly five millions and a half acres of land are still in the hands of the Crown, of which upwards of four million acres are open for settlement, and the average price is about 1s.8d.an acre. From a very trustworthy work prepared by Messrs. Hind, Keefer, Hodgins, Robb, Perley, and the Rev. Wm. Murray, to which I am indebted for much valuable information, it would appear that the climate of Nova Scotia is by no means so severe as it is reported to be, both in Great Britain and the United States. Though, at some seasons, the weather is very severe, as compared with England, Ireland, the South of Scotland, and a great portion of the United States of America, still it is more conducive to health than the milder but more humid corresponding seasons in those countries. The length and severity of Nova Scotia winters are greatly compensated by the mildness and beauty of autumn—which is protracted, not unfrequently, into the middle of December—as well as by the months of steady sleighing which follow. The extreme of cold is 24° Fahr. below zero; the extreme of heat, 95° above, in the shade. These extremes have not been often attained to of late years. The mean temperature of the year is 43°. There are about 100 days in which the temperature is above 70° in summer. There are about twenty nights in the year in which thetemperature is below zero. The coldest season is from the last week of December till the first week of March.

The following table exhibits the annual mean temperature of several European cities, as compared with Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Toronto,C. W.:—

The annual quantity of rain which falls is about forty-one inches. Of this quantity about six and a half inches fall in the form of snow. The annual depth of snow is eight and a half feet. Much of this quantity of snow is not allowed to rest long in its solid form. There are about 114 days of rain on the average in each year; much of this occurs in winter. The average number of days of snow in each year is about sixty. Violent tempests are not of frequent occurrence in Nova Scotia. The prevailing winds are the south-west, west, and north-west. In summer the north, north-west, and west winds are cool and dry. In winter they are cold and piercing. The south and south-west are mild—agreeable—delightful. The north-east brings the greatest snow-storms; the east and south-east the most disagreeable rain-storms. Spring commences inNova Scotia with the beginning of April. Seed-time and planting continue till the middle of June. Summer begins with the latter part of June, and embraces July and August. Vegetation is very rapid in the middle and western parts of the province, where the hay crop, and usually nearly all the grain crops, are harvested by the last week of August or first week of September. Autumn is the finest season in Nova Scotia. It is mild, serene, and cool enough to be bracing, and the atmosphere is of a purity that renders it peculiarly exhilarating and health-giving. The “Indian summer” occurs sometimes as late as the middle of November, and lasts from three to ten days. The winter in Nova Scotia may be said to comprise about four months. It begins, some seasons, with the 1st of December, and runs into the month of April. In other seasons it begins in the middle of December and ends with the last of March. The mean temperature of spring is 49°; of summer, 62°; of autumn, 35°; of winter, 22°. Similarity in agricultural productions furnishes a very fair criterion for the comparison of the climates of different countries. Wheat, rye, oats, barley, buckwheat, Indian corn, potatoes, turnips, mangel-wurzel, tomatoes, and other roots and grains grow in abundance and perfection in Nova Scotia. Apples, pears, plums, cherries, and a multitude of smaller garden-fruits attain the utmost perfection. In some sections of the country peaches and grapes ripen in the open air. The climate of Nova Scotia is highly favourable both to health and length of days. Men and women frequently attain to the age of eighty years with the full possession of their mental faculties, and in excellent bodily health. It is not unusual to find men enjoying good health at ninety;and not a few reach one hundred years, while some pass that extreme boundary. Let the proportion of deaths to population in Nova Scotia he compared with that in Great Britain and the State of Rhode Island:—

Nova Scotia, 1 in 70·71, or less than 1½ per cent.Rhode Island, 1 in 46·11, or more than 2 ”Great Britain, 1 in 44·75, or more than 2 ”

The climate of Nova Scotia is not noted for the generation of any disease peculiar to itself. Diphtheria has, of late years, been its most terrible scourge.

Prince Edward Island—called so after the father of Queen Victoria—is another member of the great group of British colonies and dependencies. This island, which is about 130 miles long and 30 miles broad, has less than 100,000 inhabitants. It contained less than 5,000 souls in 1770, when it was separated from the government of Nova Scotia, and was erected into an independent province under unfavourable circumstances, arising out of the unfortunate conditions which were made when the land was allotted to the original proprietors. The early history of the colony afforded a remarkable exemplification of wrong-doing with good intentions, and the errors of the first English rulers who regulated the settlement of the province were not atoned for till many years of patient effort on the part of the people had been devoted to a removal of abuses. The island is under a Governor named by the Crown, whose Cabinet consists of an Executive Council of nine, selected from the Legislative Council and from the House of Assembly, the former consisting of twelve, the latter of thirty members, elected by the people.

Newfoundland is 420 miles long, and has an extreme breadth of 300 miles. The population is now about 130,000. Notwithstanding its name, there is reason to believe that it was known to Icelanders and Norwegians, to Vikings and Danes, four centuries before Cabot came upon his Bonavista. The early history of our connection with this great island is not creditable to those who had influence with the home authorities. In 1832, following the principle of universal suffrage, which was considered applicable to a colony, though it was rejected at home, a Legislative system was erected on the basis of manhood franchise, the only qualification being that the voter should have been a year in the same house. The Governor, who is of course a representative and nominee of the Crown, is assisted by an Executive Council of five members, and the Parliament consists of a Legislative Council of twelve and a House of Assembly of thirty members.

There exists on the west of Canada a vast region which may, perhaps, become great and flourishing in less time than the districts which, inhabited by red men and wild beasts in 1776, now form some of the most important of the North and South American States.

It is one of the very greatest of the evils connected with our parliamentary system, that small or local interests at home are likely to receive attention in preference to the largest general interests of dependencies. The Colonial Office is a sort of buffer between Parliament and the shocks of colonial aggressions and demands; and the Chancellor of the Exchequer can at any time find easy means of squelching any tendencyin the chancellor of a barbarian administration “to dip his finger” into the Imperial purse. Now, when “the People of Red River settlement” address a memorial to the British and Canadian Governments with the view of obtaining a road to open up the wonderfully fine country they inhabit to British subjects and to commerce, without dependency on the United States, it may so happen that at the period in question the smallest claim of a metropolitan borough shall be considered of far greater preponderance; nor will the Government or the Colonial Office at any time be much disposed to irritate a friendly member who is inimical to colonies, or to provoke the animosity of economists, for an object which is as intangible and incomprehensible to the mass of Parliament as a project to run a railway to Eutopia, or to connect Timbuctoo with China. Mr. Sandford Fleming, who has been selected as the agent of these very settlers, has set forth their case with much ability; but he will scarce become the Lesseps of this overland Suez, unless some members of the House, who really look beyond the interests of the day, and take heed for the future of the Empire, can be induced to listen to his facts and arguments. In 1863 a statement was submitted by that gentleman to Lord Monck in elucidation of the memorial of the settlers, which contains most interesting facts and some valuable arguments. Among the works of good Governments the making of roads and securing of easy means of intercommunication among the people subject to them must ever be of paramount importance. The people of Red River ask for the opening of the Lake Superior route to British Columbia, and to have a telegraphic line established, to both of which objects theywill contribute to the best of their ability. The point of British territory nearest to the Red River settlement by water is on the northern shore of Lake Superior, 400 miles distant; and the intervening distance can only be traversed by a combined system of “portages” and canoe voyages so difficult and tedious as in effect to bar the access of commercial enterprise, and to chill any spirit but that of adventurous geography, amateur travel, or the search after gold and game—thus, in fact, constituting obstacles which are well described as “practically exiling the settlers for the last two generations.” The route proposed for the links which are to connect the exiles with the world would be a part of the great project to connect the shores of the Atlantic and Pacific within the British possessions; and it is maintained that the favourable character of the Red River district for such a road removes the objections which might be formed on the ground of distance and difficulty. The Hudson’s Bay Company used the Pigeon River route, which runs along by the boundary of the United States, and is therefore not desirable in case of hostilities, and the Kaministiguia route, called so from the river of that name. Mr. Fleming, taking up the suggestions of Mr. Dawson in his report to the Canadian Government, recommends the creation of a territorial road from some point in connection with the railway system, such as Ottawa, to Nipigon Bay on Lake Superior, which would be ample as a trading port, whence a stage and steamboat communication could be established by making 197 miles of roads and two dams—one at the outlet of Dog Lake, and the other at Little Falls; or, by making 232 miles of road, and a couple of locks at Fort Francis, and a dam, the route might be reduced to 273 miles of water,if the road were pushed on to Savanne River. It must be remembered that the Americans have already established a route by Chicago; but an examination of the distances from Toronto shows that the Lake Superior route would save no less than 715 miles of rail, 35 of water, and 58 of road. The American route, however, possesses the advantage of having already 820 miles of rail, of which 514 carry the traveller to Chicago from Toronto, and 306 convey him from Chicago to Prairie La Crosse; whereas there is only a length of 95 miles open in Canada, from Toronto westwards to Collingwood. There is also an American route by Detroit, Milwaukee, and La Crosse to Port Garry, 1696 miles long, but that is still 646 miles longer than the communication which could be made by means of 232 miles of road, the construction of a dam and the locks in question. Labour might be tempted by offering, as is suggested, blocks of 100 acres to settlers on condition of their giving ten days’ work in each year for ten years on the road, and thus preparing it for a railway track; but the settlers must be more patient and easily satisfied than their language now indicates, if they are content with the prospect of such a tedious fulfilment of their wishes. They are willing to open a road 100 miles long to the Lake of Woods if England or Canada will guarantee the rest of the road to Lake Superior; and they believe such a road would rapidly fill Central British America with an industrious loyal people, and counteract the influence of the North American Republics. Whether the grand confederation which they foresee of flourishing provinces from Vancouver’s Island to Nova Scotia, commanding the Atlantic and the Pacific, and keeping in line theboundaries of the Republicans, be ever realised in our day, it is plain that the people will neither be British nor loyal if they are neglected. The Americans have long been turning their eyes in the direction of these regions. Mr. Sibley, the last Governor of Minnesota, ordered Mr. James W. Taylor to obtain reliable information relative to the physical aspects and other facts connected with the British possessions on the line of the overland route from Pembina, viâ the Red River settlement and the Saskatchewan Valley, to Frazer’s River. That gentleman’s report was presented by Governor Ramsay to the Legislature of the State in 1860, with a recommendation to their attention as “relating to matters which concern in a great degree the future growth and development of our State.” Mr. Taylor was received by Mr. McTavish at the Selkirk settlement with every respect and consideration. He found the British colony of Assiniboia prosperous and flourishing. Respecting that colony he says:—

“Of the present community of ten thousand souls, about five thousand are competent, at this moment, to assume any civil or social responsibility which may be imposed upon them. The accumulations from the fur trade during fifty years, with few excitements or opportunities of expenditure, have secured general prosperity, with frequent instances of affluence; while the numerous churches and schools sustain a high standard of morality and intelligence.“The people of Selkirk fully appreciate the advantages of communication with the Mississippi River and Lake Superior through the State of Minnesota. They are anxious for the utmost facilities of trade and intercourse. The navigation of the Red River by a steam-boatduring the summer of 1859 was universally recognised as marking a new era in their annals. This public sentiment was pithily expressed by the remark: ‘In 1851 the Governor of Minnesota visited us; in 1859 comes a steamboat; and ten years more will bring the railroad!’”

“The people of Selkirk fully appreciate the advantages of communication with the Mississippi River and Lake Superior through the State of Minnesota. They are anxious for the utmost facilities of trade and intercourse. The navigation of the Red River by a steam-boatduring the summer of 1859 was universally recognised as marking a new era in their annals. This public sentiment was pithily expressed by the remark: ‘In 1851 the Governor of Minnesota visited us; in 1859 comes a steamboat; and ten years more will bring the railroad!’”

The persons who expressed that sentiment differed entirely from the memorialists already mentioned; but it must be that the Selkirk people, if neglected, will incline towards the hand which is stretched out to them across the waste, no matter whence it comes. “Most amicable relations” do no doubt “exist between the trading-post at Port Garry and Kitson’s Station at St. Boniface;” but long as they may endure—and I trust they may be perpetual—they will not amount to a preference for Republican institutions, if the mother country seeks to secure the settlers by the most tender or subtle link of interest or regard. What change may be made in respect to the jurisdiction and powers of the Hudson’s Bay Company by the home authorities must depend for the time on circumstances; but the actual settlers seem to hope that the rumours which attributed to Lord Derby’s Government the intention of organising a colony, bounded by Lakes Superior and Winnipeg on the east, by the Rocky Mountains on the west, by the American frontier on the south, and by lat. 55 deg. on the north, may yet be justified. The Canadian Government, Palliser’s expedition, Noble’s explorations, Mr. J. W. Hamilton’s surveys, and a considerable number of public and private investigations conducted in the interests of politics, commerce, religion, and geographical science, have all contributed their share to our knowledge ofthis vast territory; and the more we know of it the more eligible it seems as a field for individual enterprise, and an area for the exercise of legitimate Imperial ambition.

From Lake Winnipeg to the highest navigable point of Red River, which flows into the lake with a course from north to south, there is a distance of 575 miles, only interrupted by some very insignificant shoals at the mouth of Goose River and the Shayenne. Red Lake River and the Assiniboina extend the area of “coast” navigable by steamers in the Red River Valley to 900 miles—much more than is enjoyed internally by the United Kingdom and France together. Throughout the districts thus permeated by navigable rivers, rye, oats, barley, potatoes, grass, and wheat, grow as well as they do in Minnesota; and to these wild regions must be added the country along the great north Saskatchewan, and even the region which lies between it and the Rocky Mountains in a northerly direction. When Mr. Taylor wrote his Report, there was no reason to believe that “an adjustment of the future relations of the British Provinces and of the American States on a basis of mutual good-will and interest” might not be practicable; but Fort Sumter changed all that, we fear, and there seems little chance of such an international compact as he anticipates for a customs and postal union. In reference to such an adjustment he says:—

“It should, at all events, stipulate that the Reciprocity Treaty, enlarged in its provisions and renewed for a long period of years, shall be extended to the Pacific Ocean, and, in connection therewith, all laws discriminating between American and foreign built vesselsshould be abolished, establishing freedom of navigation on all the intermediate rivers and lakes of the respective territories. Such a policy of free trade and navigation with British America would give to the United States, and especially to the western States, all the commercial advantages, without the political embarrassments, of annexation, and would, in the sure progress of events, relieve our extended northern frontier from the horrors and injuries of war between fraternal communities.”

It is little to be doubted that the people of Minnesota are very well-disposed to remain on friendly terms with their neighbours; but the Federal Government at Washington, no matter for what party or section it acts, must, by the very necessity of its being and conditions of power, conduct the policy of the United States in a very different spirit. It is true, our friends have, even so early, given some indications that they are prepared for eventualities.

Whilst they have not been indifferent to the erection of a military post at Pembina, some of their politicians, with a ludicrous pretence of fear from the colonists, in case of war, have called for the creation of frontier forts; and the Indians in the north-west of Minnesota, who had a reservation, are to be treated with the usual measure of justice used by the white skin in dealing with the red skin, and to be exterminated or driven into space as soon as convenient or practicable. Mr. Taylor, in reference to the existence of coal near the sources of the Saskatchewan, which is undoubted, admits the uncertainty of carboniferous strata in the ridges between the Minnesota and the Red River north of the Mississippi and Saskatchewan, though there aregeological reasons to hold that they will be found there. In justice to the spirit in which this Report is conceived, I quote the concluding passages:—

“The allusion just made to the exploring expedition conducted under the authority of Canada, justifies a tribute to the zeal and intelligence with which the enterprise of an emigration and transportation route, from Fort William on the north shore of Lake Superior, to Fort Garry, is prosecuted. With the civil organisation of Central British America, a waggon road between those points, to be followed by a railroad, will receive all requisite encouragement, certainly from the Canadian Treasury, perhaps by the efficient co-operation of the Home Government. The North-west Transit Company, acting under a Canadian charter, but understood to have enlisted London capitalists, is expected to resume operations during the summer of 1860. These movements of our provincial neighbours cannot fail to influence the policy of Minnesota in favour of more satisfactory communications than we now possess between Lake Superior and the channels of the Upper Mississippi and the Red River of the north.“I desire, in conclusion, to express my obligations to the late Executive of Minnesota, for the confidence implied by the commission, to which the foregoing is a response. Believing firmly that the prosperity and development of this State is intimately associated with the destiny of North-west British America, I am gratified to record the rapid concurrence of events which indicate that the frontier, hitherto resting upon the sources of the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi, is soon to be pushed far beyond the international frontier by the march of Anglo-Saxon civilisation.”

“I desire, in conclusion, to express my obligations to the late Executive of Minnesota, for the confidence implied by the commission, to which the foregoing is a response. Believing firmly that the prosperity and development of this State is intimately associated with the destiny of North-west British America, I am gratified to record the rapid concurrence of events which indicate that the frontier, hitherto resting upon the sources of the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi, is soon to be pushed far beyond the international frontier by the march of Anglo-Saxon civilisation.”

It is indeed “a country worth fighting for;” and whether the contest be carried on by the slow processes of immigration or by the ruder agencies of neglect, the conqueror and the conquered will have reason to regard the result with very decided sentiments of joy or sorrow at no distant time. In the language of the report of the New York Chamber of Commerce—“There is in the heart of North America a distinct sub-division, of which Lake Winnipeg may be regarded as the centre. This sub-division, like the valley of the Mississippi, is distinguished for the fertility of its soil, and for the extent and gentle slope of its great plains, watered by rivers of great length, and admirably adapted for steam navigation. It has a climate not exceeding in severity that of many portions of Canada and the eastern States. It will, in all respects, compare favourably with some of the most densely peopled portions of the continent of Europe. In other words, it is admirably fitted to become the seat of a numerous, hardy, and prosperous community. It has an area equal to eight or ten first-class American States. Its great river, the Saskatchewan, carries a navigable water-line to the very base of the Rocky Mountains. It is not at all improbable that the valley of this river may yet offer the best route for a railroad to the Pacific. The navigable waters of this great sub-division interlock with those of the Mississippi. The Red River of the north, in connection with Lake Winnipeg, into which it falls, forms a navigable water-line, extending directly north and south nearly eight hundred miles. The Red River is one of the best adapted to the use of steam in the world, and waters one of the finest regions on the continent.Between the highest point at which it is navigable, and St. Paul, on the Mississippi, a railroad is in process of construction and when this road is completed, another grand division of the continent, comprising half a million square miles, will be open to settlement.”

It would be unjust to the Hudson’s Bay Company to refuse them the praise due to the efforts of their servants in exploring the vast region over which they ruled, and to the constancy with which they have resisted aggression; but as the privileges of that body have now become part of the stock-in-trade of a great mercantile association, there can be no reason for doubting that a change of policy, in consonance with the tone of the governing sentiment of the age, will take place, and that the interests of free trade, and the more extensive interests connected with Imperial and Colonial progress and with colonisation itself, will be found not incompatible. When the ichthyophilists of London betake themselves, in the leafy month of June, to Gravesend, in search of the placid turtle or the strenuous shrimp, they may be startled by the booming of guns from the bosom of the river, and by certain loud cheers from two strict-rigged craft anchored in the stream. A gaily-decked river-steamer, from the flag-staff of which flutters a hieroglyph in blue and white, with the motto, “Pro pelle cutem,” is lying alongside the larger of the two. On board the steamer are many sorts and conditions of men—the friends of directors, outlying members of both Houses, old salts and older commercial personages, and men wearing the bright, crisp, clean look of prosperous clerkdom. These circulate from the deck of the steamer to the broader expanse of the vessel alongside, where a stout weather-beatencrew are drawn up, listening to the recital of articles. Dipping down the companion it is probable that the visitor will find in the captain’s cabin an assemblage of gentlemen, eating biscuit and drinking sherry to the health of the skipper, whilst others are peering into compartments and berths ’twixt bulkheads filled with odd merchandise, from gas-pipe-barrelled guns to needles, anchors, blankets, crinoline, and artificial flowers. They are people whom we might meet in any place in London from west to east, wearing the indescribable air of men “out for the day.” On deck are some old-fashioned brass-bound boxes, inscribed “Hudson’s Bay Company,” guarded by very ancient and fish-like attendants, in a red and blue livery. The steamer leaves the bluff double-cased sides of the vessel for a visit to her consort, for the two ships now-a-days form the sum total of the fleet sailing annually to the Hudson’s Bay settlements, where once there was a flotilla of smaller craft, dressed in all their bravery of flags, and making old Gravesend re-echo to their salvos as they went forth on that which was then a dubious and adventurous voyage. Then, after much leave-taking, and drinking of anchor cups, the steamer starts, amid the cheers of the outward-bound crew, for the Nore, to enjoy a little fresh air before she comes back to the Falcon at Gravesend, where the annual dinner is held, and where many good speeches are made and friendly sentiments expressed in support of the Hudson’s Bay Company. The sagacious face of old Edward Ellice, seamed with the fine graver of thought, and plastic still as in youth, for many a long year fixed men’s eyes with kindly regard; and themitis sapientiaof his counsels, his unrivalled tact, albeit the exquisite touchlay inside a shagreen glove, and his great ability in the conduct of affairs, gave the Company that which Rupert’s charters, Charles’s parchments, or prescriptive rights, never could have secured so long.

It was under Sir E. L. Bulwer’s administration of foreign affairs that the most strenuous attempt was made by the Government to adjust the conflicting claims of Canada and Great Britain with those of the Hudson’s Bay Company, by the decision of the Judicial Committee of Privy Council; but the Company, though always willing to enter into an arrangement with the Government for the adjustment of contending interests, uniformly and not unwisely refused to accept any arbitration or judgment involving the question of the validity of their charters. The refusal of Parliament to renew the exclusive right of trading, in 1859, and the assumption of the control of Vancouver’s Island by the Crown on the expiration of the lease in the same year, were heavy blows at the vested interests of the Company, which deprived itscessio bonorumto the English Credit Mobilier, in 1863, of great political importance, though enormous commercial results may still be obtained from the extension of trading and from settling and gold-exploring operations. When the speedy colonisation and rapid rise of British Columbia caused some attention to be directed towards the means of getting there, and of cultivating an acquaintance promising such great advantages, and it was found that from east to west two routes were practicable, it was not surprising if jealousy and alarm were aroused because the Americans, by further representations, unhappily baseless, respecting the energy of the initiative taken by Canada and England, hadfirst started to clear the way to the west, and to open communications with the Red River settlement,en route. Fort Garry, in the Selkirk settlement, was first visited by a steamer from the American post of Fort Abercrombie, in 1859. Minnesota was a State which had the advantage of a continental existence on the soil of the Great Republic. “Organised as a territory in 1849, a single decade had brought the population, the resources, and the public recognition of an American State. A railroad system, connecting the lines of the Lake States and Provinces at La Crosse with the international frontier on the Red River at Pembina, was not only projected, but had secured in aid of its construction a grant by the Congress of the United States of three thousand eight hundred and forty acres a mile, and a loan of State credit to the amount of twenty thousand dollars a mile, not exceeding an aggregate of five million dollars. Different sections of this important extension of the Canadian and American railways were under contract and in process of construction. In addition, the land surveys of the Federal Government had reached the navigable channel of the Red River; and the line of frontier settlement, attended by a weekly mail, had advanced to the same point. Thus the Government of the United States, no less than the people and authorities of Minnesota, were represented in the north-west movement.”

No matter how prosperous a colony of Great Britain may he, a colony it must be so long as it is not independent. The first result of the prosperity of an American colony is its independence as a State, and its incorporation as a member of the common sovereignty.The distinction arises from geographical considerations, but it is not the less potent—I shall not yet say, more to be regretted. The retention of Canada would be of little value to us if there were to the west of it a great and populous community, absorbing its capital, labour, and enterprise for the benefit of aliens, and if to the south there were a series of States animated by an intensepoliticaldislike to the mother country. But there is, as they say in Ireland, “the makings” of four free and independent States, on the American model of Ohio, in that district between the valleys of the North and South Saskatchewan. In 1858 an American writer again described the region which the British Government, the Colonial Office, and the Imperialism of bureaux, inclined to cast away without even a mess of pottage. That writer says:—

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