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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 :J V* * ^ '1 V, '/"v \ 1 V ^ ' ( ^ •*) v-* ^.^^._ ^;t, t' a?' .'\ A ..fit .s-*^ ■*1 ■> ^ V '.V ^ ' "« ,i ' ■* ifXvv ■**-' I Sal 'i • >^''y ' '"^ .^* 1^. 1. -t ( ;> ■* ? I ( ' . I -^/i ' 1 / * ' ' V I ^ ''i -- ; . , , and 1855 application to the Legislature was renewed, but on each successive occasion was rejected on the same ground. Now. however, a more auspicious future seems to be dawning for the promoters of tliis stupendous worlv. Bc^peated attempts have been made by the Cana- dian I'arliamcnt to prove the invalidity of the Company's charter, on the plea that when the territory was conveyed to them by Charles II., it really belonged to France. But the law advisers of the Crown Q 2 42C59 2^38 THE TRUE NOiri'II-WEST I'ASSAGE. have (lissuacled the Imporiul Go-s-eniment from encouraging any pro- ceedings on the part of Canada that would involve the Crown in liti- gation with the Company, since the tenure of the latter, covering a period of two hundred years, could with difficulty be now legally disturbed. Ikit when the deputatioii from the Canadian Government was recently in this country, conferring with the Colonial Secretary in regard to the contemplated British North American Confederation, one of the propositions agreed upon was, that the Canadian authorities should negotiate with the Hudson's Bay Company for the transfer to Canada of the entire north-west territory bounded by the Rocky ^Mountains, that the claims of the ComiDimy should be liquidated by fair compensation, and that her Majesty's Government should guarantee the loan to be raised for that purpose. Should this business be satisfactorily arranged, as there is every reason to believe it will, the chief obstacle to the making of this great highway of conunerce from Asia to Euroj)e Mill be removed. The tide of emigration has. since the earliest swarming of man- kind, been rolling westward from Asia, and still advances restlessly toward the lands of the setting sun, undeterred by the turbulent watei's of the Atlantic, or tlie lonely wilds of the great American continent. As certainly as Europe, once the abode of barbarians, has become densely studded with tlie homes of civilisation, so will the expanse of pi'airie and forest on British American soil, extending from ocean to ocean, become cheerful with the sound of well-remune- rated industry, and bcaiitiful with the ornaments of cultivation. The increasing necessities of this nuiltitude, whose watchword it "West- ward, Ho ! " will unavoidabh^ create the machinery of transit to which I have referred. Then, as time progresses, and the relation of England to Eastern, countries becomes still more intimate, <^he expediency of making an inter-oceanic railway, to run the entire distance through British America, will be increasingly felt, both on commercial and political grounds. Control of trade with the East has been coActed as a prime source of wealth by western nations, from the remotest antiquity. Mercan- tile conmiunities, engaged from age to age in carrying Eastern freight, have invariably prospered from that cause, and the grandest cities of ancient and modern times have owed much of their splendou]- to this rich traffic passing throiigh them ; in tlic degree, moreovc]', to which it was at any time diverted from an accustomed channel, the com- mercial centres that had previously thrived under it declined. The Tyrians, Greeks, Romans, Saracens, Venetians, Portuguese, Dutch, and English, affijrd monumental illustrations of these statements. Alexander the Great had no sooner obtained a fijoting in India than he set about opening up conmiunication between that country and his western possessions. Failing to discover a suitable overland « THE TRUE NORTH-WEST PASSAtii;. 229 of lick iTlie Itcli, lidia ktry land route he sent a fleet down the Indus to explore the passage thence to the mouth of the Euphrates. Not satistied with the route by the valley of the latter river, he resolved to bring the wealth of India to Europe by the Red Sea and the Nile. He, therefore, fixed on the western mouth of that stream as the site of the city whicli was to perpetuate the memory of his name and his political sagacity. Antiochus the Great, Tamerlane, and Nadir Slnih, all sought, like the famous general above-mentioned, to enrich their kingdoms by fostering commerce with India and the countries bej'ond ; and what privileges they coidd not secure from Eastern nations bj' rccpiest, they endeavoured to extort by force of arms. In the Persian era a large trade Avas carried on between Greek cities in the Black Sea and Scythia, north and east, from Siberia to India. Different caravan routes Avere used from time to time ; cities sprang up at the extremities of these routes, and extensive depots wei-e established at intervals on the AA'ay. A chain of mercantile peoples extended at a A'ery remote day from China and India to the Black Sea and tl :- countries in the Mediterranean. Gold was then so plentiful that iron was accinnted more valuable, and armour, bridle-bits, and vessels were plateci with it. Mahduiet, who in early life was a shrewd merchant, authorised his followers to associate objects of commerce Avith their religious pilgrimages to ^lecca ; and the astonishing spread of their faith in the eastern parts of Asia Avas greatly indebted to this cause. Vast caravans of pilgrims from the distant rcgitms of the East, as Avell as from the shores of the Atlantic, travelled to Mecca, and the profitable disposal of their Avares at this iT/if/ioiis nn/rf gave a considerable impetus to commerce by sea and land. In the Holy City Avero exposed for sale the chintzes and muslins of Bengal, the shawls of Cashmere, the spices of Malabar, the diamonds of Golconda, the pearls of Kilcare, the cinnamon of Ceylon, the nutmegs and cloves of the Moluccas, and the silks of China. The Arabians, imder Caliph Omar, experienced a remarkable im- provement in their condition from the same potent influence. From barbarian hordes, violent robbers, "dAvellers in tents," and tlespisers of ciAalisation, they became patrons of art, contributors to science and literature, and founders of cities. So hiffhlA' did tlicA' esteem mercantile relations Avith the East that they built Bassorah to protect their monopoly of Eastern trade ; and it is significant that their ovcrAA'helming poAver as conquerors and as propagators of i-eligioii was contemporaneous Avith their being exclusive carriers betAveen China and Europe. Their trade was uniA^ersal in the Indian Archipelago, and their vessels plied from the Persian Gulf to all the ports of China. The Saracens Avere so numerous at one period in Canton that the Emperor gnmted his sanction to their having a rmli 230 THE Tr.UE NORTH-WEST TASSAGE. of their own religion. Trudo flowed afterwards from the north-west of (Jhinii to Coihstuntinople, and infused such life into that city that tlic historian Robertson says tlie dechne of tlio Roman Empire, of which it was then the capital, wass v<^tarded in consequcnc(>. When the commerce of India was conveyed by the I'oisian Gulf, the Euphrates, and the Syriiin desert, " Tadmor in the "VVilderncsa " burst into splendour, like some huge tropical blossom. In presence of great and ambitious neighbours it long enjoj'ed prosperity, and even rivalled the "Eternal City." Egypt, Mesopotamia, and a largo section of Asia Minor, were subdued by its anns, ana its renowned queen, Zcnobia, did not shrink from contesting dominion Avith a Roman Emperor. When subsequently Eastern commerce was diverted from the Persian to the } rabian Gulf, the sun of Eabylon, Uasriorah, Palmyra, and Tyre went down, and Petra arose as a chief mediimi of supplying Europe with Oriental merchandise. At length the renown of Alexandria eclipsed all surrounding commercial centres. The glory of Venice, " the bride of the sea ; " of Genoa, '' the superb, the city of palaces ; " of Florence, the metropolis of arts ; of Bruges, the grand inland point for the distribution of Eastern goods (o Western Europe under the TIanseatic league, of Antwei'p, Lisbon, and London, — the glory of all these cities, whether as scats of commerce, manufactures, learning, or art, was derived in various degrees from their being mouths to receive Oriental freiglit for the supply of adjacent countries. The discovery ^' a path to India by the Cape of Good Hope not only turned the course of trade carried on between Europe and the eastern parts of Asia, but changed the political "balance of power." The golden tide now swept the shores of Portugal and Spain, and liy sharing the boon that had enriched other nations, these kingdoms suddenly rose into commercial magnitude, and vieu in opulence, political weight, and maritime adventure, with the proudest nations of that time. The next important historical event bearing upon commerce with the East was the discovery of America. The hope which inflamed the ambition and roused the energy of Columbus in undertaking that flrst exploratory voyage westward was that across the imtracked Avaters of the Atlantic lay flic true, tho s/iortenf, and the bed imij to the richcN of the E<(d. All the earlier expeditions of discoA'ery from Europe to the shores of the Western Continent had their origin in this idea. It was in prosecuting tho search of a passage to the East that the Atlantic seaboard came to be more accurately known. It was while exploring for a maritime route to China that John Cabot, in the reign of Henry TIL, discovered the coast of Newfoimdland and afterwards entered the St, Lawrence, The thought that gave inspiration to all the luckless attempts THE TRITR NORTH-WKST PASSAGE. 231 !inpts that have been made by J^-iig-laiul, durinp^ the last sovouty years, to find a north-west passage, was that conunerce with the East nii^lit bo facilitated. After examiiiino: every sinuosity of the Anieriiau ft*. t, shore in both oceans, from north latitude ;)0'^ to the Arctic Sen, and cxjjending ni)wards of one million pounds in the Avork, it has at iengtli been demonstrated to be impracticable. In passing through the icy portals of the Frigid Zone, in 18o0-f51, McClure, as far as mercantile interests Averc concerned, closed the gates behind him. "While l*ular expeditions have met with defeat, projects have be^n meditated by France and other powers to pi(n'ce the AVestern Continent within the limits of a foreign country, an 1, last April, Mr. Laurence Oliphant, M.P., one of the secretaries of the Royal Geographical Society, read a i)apor before that body on the expediency of cutting a canal through the Isthmus of Panama to unite the two oceans. But wliy should England, with unrivalled facilities within her own territory for a north-west passage to Asia and to her colonies in the South Pacific, imperil her monopoly of Eastern trade, and place her- self at the mercy of foreign nations 'f British North America is ready to her hand, a natural link connecting the continents of Europe and Asia, and lying in the track of their nearest and best com- munication with each other. Why, then, it may be again asked, if this Wcstein route to the East exists, has it never yet become a practical reality ? The reason is obvious ; the speediest line of transit, tliougli earnestly longed for and indiistriously sought, has never been sought in the way in which it ffor.s- exist, and cannot bo found in the way in which it has aearly always been attempted. A maritime passage has been the object of all preceding ages, and, prac- tically, commimicati on by that medium is impossible But there is a passage across the continent by rivers, lakes, and land, and that may be made immensely more valuable than any mere maritime passage coidd have been, even had such been available. " Two irresistible agents are at work, bringing to light the incalculable value of that con- formation [across British Americal so long deemed an insuperable obstacle. They have changed the requirements for the attainment of the objects of the North- West passage, and liave disclosed the inexhaustible latent wealth of a /and instead of a maritime j^assage. Railroads and the electric telegraph will cause new commerce and new life to spring up at every step along the distance. ... It is too late, alas I to lament the waste of life, of money, and of energy, that have been expended in rejieated Arctic voyages which were impossible of success, so far as these related to any passage of practical use ; but they serve to illustrate very forcibly the predominance of the ideas of mav'ttimp effort and of iiinvitimc connection with the Pacific. The lavish and continued expenditure thus incurred appears in striking contrast to the rigid refusal simultaneously main- 232 Till': 'J'UUK ^'0UTII-^VEbT I'Assage. tiiiiKxl (»f ull aid to (]io i)rosocution of the same work iind of tlic sinno object in its imicticiiblo form by laiul; and this rt'fii.siil, anioiintin<^' alniost to ojipoHitioii, has extended from the days of McKenzie, the tlrst great discoverer of both tho northern and western coasts of tho continent, and is not yet perfectly dispelled." ' The principle known as " great circle sailing," by wliicli distance is abridged in long voyages, may be advantageously foUowtnl in travelling westward across America. Communication with tlio East is made shorter and shorter the farther north its Hue of route ia removed. The api)lication of a string to tho measurement of tho distance between two places on a geographical globe Avill at onco illustrate the system of sailing or travelling on " the spherical lino of shortest distance." Tlie gi'catest breadth of the Western Continent happening to lie in British North American territory, here (para- doxi(!al though it may seem, but nevertheless in strict conformity with the principle just adverted to, which is universall)' acknow- ledged in practical navigation) we have tho shortest possible route from England to tho East. It is surely an interesting circumstance that wlierc we desired the connection between Eastern ^Vsia and AVestern Europe should be Ibrmcd, through America, almost every possible facility for its formation is lavishly afforded. Our place of starting- may be Europe, the west coast of Africa, the West Indies, or the eastern coast of the !N"orth American Continent ; but if tho East bo o> tination, our best route is miqnestionably across the great p? .i Central British America. T/icir is tho point of junction where aU the traffic of the continent, south, east, and north, most naturally luiites, if its goal be yet farther west, till the eastern antipodes be reached. To this position we are inevitably shut up. It is, in fact, determined for us by the spheroidal conformation of tho earth, and the relative distances thereby created. Tho long con- tinuation of rainless deserts and passless mountains in the territory of the great Republic renders Yankee competition with us, as to facilities of overland transit, hopeless. Can it be uneconomic, then, to open a country having this generality of access, and yet holding such a monopoly of advantage ? If the utmost abbreviation of distance be our object, and the far East the goal, by availing ourselves of the proper season avo may shorten the distance from Europe 1,500 miles, by proceeding across Hudson's Bay. But from wherever we may come, wo necessarily unite in the great stream of traffic that, bound for tho East^ in future years Avill meet on the plains of the Red River or the Sas- katchewan. In this region, where the climate is the most healthful on the American continent, and Avhere the flag of England still (1) Paper read on " Central British North America," hy Col. Synge, R.E., F.R.G.S., July, 1864, before the British North American Association. •I'll I : TUUH N<:)ltTII-\VES'l' PASSAGE. 233 •G.S., waves, imturo has imirkod out the most oxpoditious lino of route, and eoinhined every topo0)j^raphy of America that, in the direction of the 8t. LaAvrence, and there only, the rivers of America, follow a. course east and west. The Mississippi and the Missouri, having their courses close to tlie liritish frontier, disembogue into the Gulf of Mexico ; the ^IcKenzie, after winding its way through nearly sixteen pai'allels of latitude, discharges into the Arctic Sea. On the other hand, in that track which possesses the climate most favourable for an overland route, the waters of tlie St. Lawrence, penetrate well-nigh half-way across the continent. That river joins on to u chain of lakes and navigable streams that tiually merge in the "Winnipeg River, and by the branches of >he Saskatchewan, tliis water system strikes into the heart of the Rocky 31ountaius, marking out the practicable passes through that otherwise stern barrier. As misrepresentations resiiecting the soil and climate of that section of British North ^Vmerica now mider review have prevailed in this country, let a word or two suffice for the inquiry whether the nature of the country in these particulars is incompatible with settlement in, and transit through, it. The space between Fort "William, at the head of Ijake Superior, and Fort Garry, Red River, copiprises large and fertile tracts, varying from 20,000 to 200,000 acres in size. Sir George Simpson, in his evidence on the subject given before a Conunittee of the House of Commons, in 1856, eulogises the qualities of the soil in the valley of Kamenis Toquoiuh. Every one of the ten thousand settlers already cultivating the laud in the Red River district is a wdtness to the aboimding agricultural wealth found there. For 400 miles up the Assiniboine, to its junction with the Moose River, there is nothing to be seen but prairie, covered Avith long red grass. " On the east, north, and south," says Sir George, " there was not a mound or tree to vary the vast expanse of green sward ; while to the west were the gleaming bays of the Assiniboine, separated from each other by Avooded points of considerable depth." The productiveness of Red River settlement may be inferred from the yield of Avheat there, as compared Avith the average in the adjoining States of ximerica. In Minnesota it stands 234 TIIK TlJi;i: NOHTII-WKST I'ASSAGK at 20 busliols to tlio iicro, (n MiiHsnchiisotts at 1(>, niul In ]{vd lilvor nt 40. The tivi'raj>'(' wcM'^ht, iiorlh of tlu; SUites' boinuluiy, is f'lom 64 to 07 lbs. \)vv iniptn-iHl biiHhcl, wliilf that of thv best Tllinoi.s wheat is from (iO to ()■> lbs. per buhlu'l. M. ]{our^cau, botanist to tho Pallisor oxpoditinn, in a letter to Sir Wiiliani Jlookt'i', writes thus in reyard to tlic Saskateliowan district: — "This district is miu'h more adapted to tlie culture of tlu' staple crops of temperate climates — wheat, rye, barley, oats, &c. — than one would have been inclined to believe from its high latitude The prairies offer natural pasturage, as favourable for the luaintenaneo of numerous herds as if they had been artificially created. On tho south branch of the North Saskatchewan 'xtend rich and vast prairies interspersed with woods and forests, where thick wood plants furnisli excellent pasturage for domestic animals." ^ A vast coal formation, too, has been traced from the 4!)tli pai'allel of latitude far beyond tlic 60th, which, with other elements of wealth in the soil, woidd seem to indicate that the region is designed to become a gi'c>at field for human industry. In regard to the climate of the route, it may be stated generally that the ocean to tlio windward of Amei'ica being larger and warmer than tliat which washes Its eastern shores, and the inland Avatevs being so extensive north of the boimdary, the clnnate is tempered accordinfflv. The isothermal line therefore runs farther north on the west coast than on the east. That line starting from New York, for instance, and drawn across the continent, would pass through Lake AVinnipeg to Fort Simpson, which is 1,000 miles north of the commercial capital of the United States. The northern shore of Lake Huron enjoys tlie mean summer temperature of IJordeaux in the south of France (70^ Fahr.), while Cumberland House, in lat. 54^, long. 102"^, on the Saskatchewan, exceeds in this respect lirussels and Paris. One of the witnesses before the n(nise of Commons in 1850 stated that on the 1st of !May the Saskatchewan country Avas free from snow, and the river half fidl of water ; and Captain I*alllser records that on January 9tli, 1858, there was little or no snow on the ground from Edmonton to Rocky Mountain House. The superiority of our advantages in reference to the courses of rivers, and the basins formed bA' them, has already been touched upon. We also enjoy facilities immeasurably surpassing those of the Americans in having convenient passes through the Rocky Mountains. The peculiar physical dIfHcultles that ojiposc the con- struction of an inter-oceanIc railway through American territory, as contrasted with the much fewer trials of engineering skill to be met with on the British side, give us an opportunity of yet being first, if we will, to complete this enterprise, though the rival nation has so (1) Explorations by Captain Pallisor, p. 250. TIIH 'ClUJK Noirril-WEST I'ASSAGK. 2V) s of clied of ocky con- , as met t, if 8 SO fur liot the Khirt. Ever hi'iuh* llii' dis(.'((Vt'rv of iiioors of tlir Unit(>(l States have been ('ii;4ii<>'t'(l in Hoarchiii}^ for a practicable' outlet in the Ivocky Momitaiiis, but not a HiiiLrle \y.\sH has been detected for 1,000 nu'les south of the 4!)th paralU'l less than (1,000 feet liigh. Ten years aj^o, wlieii Jefferson J)avis was Scerelary of War, he said, "the only practicable route for ra'lway coTnnrunicution between Kiv Atlantic and the I'aciiic coasts of Nortli America is throu{>h the Hudson's Ikiy territory, on account of the desert land from the north boundary of the United States to the extreme south of Texas." In 18')S the Governor of ^Miimesota also admitted that a " o;reat inter-oceanic comnumication is more likely to be constructed through the Saskatchewan basin than across the American desert." Depressions in the passes north of hit. 49*^ are generally manageable, numerous, and so well distributed us to leave us at no loss in entering whatever portion (,f Britisli Colundiia from noith to south ■we may desire. Captain I'lilliser takes notice of eiglit passes,^ the altitudes of which were ineasured by him, the Vermillion Pass, 4,944 feet high, being the most convenient of ascent he had discovered. About three years after the explorations c(m(luitt'd by thist gci'tleman, the Leather I'ass atti'ucted attention as the most lav()uval)le for ■wheel conveyances and as requiring the least expense for grading. It is situated in hit. o 1'^, is 400 or 000 feet lowt>r than the Vennillion, and has a mean clear ascent of only from ii\ to^^ feet in the whole distance i'voMi Fort Edmonton. It was crossed in iS&.i by several parties of adventnrei's bound for the mines of Ijritish C-olumbia, embracing more tlian t^wo hundred persons in all. One of these companies travelled ■with one hundred and thirty cxcn and seventy horses. From the lips of many of these emigrants I have received nniform testimony to the clear and level aspect of the coiuitry through M-liich they journeyed, and to the practicability of the Leather Pass for railway purposes. From the description given by Viscount Milton and Dr. Cheadle of their travels through the Hocky Moun- tains, it will bo seen that these sublime heights,- covered with eternal snows, are no longer invested to the traveller with repellent terrors. His lordship and his friend thns write : " From Red lliver to Edmonton, about HOG miles, the road lies through a fertile and park- like countr}', and an excellent cai"t trail already exists. From Ednumton to Jasper Hcuse, a distance of about 400 miles, the surface is slightly undulating From Jasper House to Tetc Jaune's Cache — 'the pass through the main ridge of the Rock}'^ Moun- tains, about 100 or 120 miles in length — a wide break in the chain, nmiiii);/ iicftr/// cast (uid icosf, offers a natural roadway, unobstructed except by timber. The rivers, with the exception of the Athabasca and the Eraser, are small and fordable, even at their highest. The (1) Explorations, p. 14. 236 THE TRUE NORTH-WEST PASSACiE. ascent to tliu lioiglit of land is very gradual, and, indeed, hardly per- ceptible. . . . Tlie descent on the western slope, thougli more rapid, is neither steep nor difficult. From the Cache the road might be carried ii) ahnost a straight line to Richfield, in Cariboo, lying nearly due Avest. . . . This part of the coimtry is mountainous and densely wooded, but the distance is not more than 90 miles, . . . and a road has already been made from the mouth of (iucsnelle, on the Fraser, to Richfield, through similar country." Engineering skill has already triumphed over natural obstacles infinitcl'.' more formidable than are here to be encountered, in cutting paths through the Alleghanies in the United States, the Sccmmering heights in Austria, and the Bhorc Ghauts in India. The railway from Kan-Kan to the Deccan, through the last-named mountains, had to contend with an elevation, in a very short distance, from a base 19G feet to an altitude 2,0:27 feet, with a gradient of 1 in 48. Twelve tunnels were formed, equal to 2,o35 j'ards ; also eight viaducts, eighteen bridges, and eighteen cid verts, at a cost of £-41,118 per mile, making a total of £597,222. In comparison, too, Avith the difficulties successfully grappled Avith by Russia in opening up internal communications through her sparsely populated and much more inhospitable tei'ritory, and in extending her trade Avith China through the interior of xVsia, those attaching to our overland enter- prise are of the most Lilliputian character. But the grand question lemains to be ansAVcred. What Avoidd bo the real gain to commerce by the proposed undertaking ? "Would it be satisfactory as an investment 'i It is the opinion of those fully competent to deal Avith this practical bearing of the subject that the amount of direct traffic Avhich Avould be created between Australia, China, India, Japan, and England, by a railAA^ay from Halifax to tlie Gulf of Georgia, AVOidd soon render the Avork a financial success. The folloAving table Avill illustrate the distance and time in the Vancouver Island, or Briti^^h Colmnbian route, from England to Hong-Kong, as contrasted with the present mail route via the Isthmus of Suez : — tl 11 ij 11 ii \\ PI pI ni cc al Distance, overland liy Suez, from Soiitliampton to Hong-Kong, J),4G7 miles, .50 — 60 days. Distance from Southampton to Halifax, 2,o;i2 miles, 9 days' steam. Distance from Halifax to VancouA'er Island 2,o;j(!miles, days' rail. Distance from Vancouver Island to Hong-Kong (J.Oo.'J miles, 21 days' steam. Total 11,121 miles, JJfJ daj's. "With a clear saving of some tAventy days the route noAv advocated Avould combine the adA'antago of shortening the time uoav spent at sea on the Aoyage via Suez by the same number of days, and a largo THE TllUE NOirni-WEST PASSAGE. 231 rocatod kent at largo proportion of passengers wlio at present tra^•cl to China by tliat isthmus and the Cape of Good Hope, might be expected to select in preference the railway through British North America, as less trying to the constitution as well as more expeditious than the routes now in nse. In these busy days, when the proverb, " Time is money," is more signally exemplified than ever, and when the six. hundred millions of Orientals in China and India arc becoming: increasinffly interested in our articles of export, an abbreviated communication with these countries cannot very much longer escape the attention of political economists and men of business. Largo cargoes Mould probably continue to be conveyed by the Cape, but light freiglit, mails, treasure, the better class of jiassengcrs, and troops, would be (certain to tro and come ria the Trans- American Railwav. Nor is this all. Not to speak of the reduction of distance to Vancouver Island and 13ritish Columbia, Avhicli by this mode of transit would be y,6'!>(> miles as contrasted with i),000 by the Panama route, consider the saving that would be etf'ected in the j^assage to our South Pacific colonies. The route b>' the Isthmus of Panama is the shortest prac- ticable one at iiresout in existence, and a steam-packet mail service is to be opened through it, at the beginning of 18(Jt), to New Zealand and New South Wales. But if the intended i-ailway were connected with a lino of steamers plying between A'ancouver Island and those colonies, Vancouver Island being f)()0 miles nearer to Sydney than Panama is, the time to Sydnev would be reduced to 47 davs, or ten days less than by steam from England rid Panama. But the importance of this railroad scheme is enhanced when its political iiiilitii is taken into account. Military emergencies may arise, if not in our day, perhaps in some coming generation, when necessity for such a great highway to our Eastern possessions, wholly through British territory, ma}' be strongly felt. Happily Great Brittiin lives at present on terms of amity Avith the rest of the civilised world. Can wo be certain, however, that in the extension of French power eastward, British and French interests will never come in collision 'r* Is it possible to prc^lict what may be the issue of the noiseless but real aggrandising policy of France in seeking fresh a(;quisiti<)ns of territory in the Mediterranean, and in expending so Aast an amount upon the formation of the Lcsseps canal across the Isthmus 0^' Suez ? In the e\ent of war with that or any other I'Airopean power interrupting the existing overland passage from England liy the Red Sea, it is almost needless to remark that our Indian empire Avould be placed in imminent jeopard}-. Should we, under these circumstances, be destitute of those facilities for the exneditious transport of troops and military stores Avhich the jjro- posed lino of railway could alore adequately supply, aeiio)} eisf would b > aptly descriptive of all we hold dear in the East. 238 THE TRUE XOIITH-WEST rAS:'.AGE. A 1 il! i i \l \"i I We are tlic only first-rate power on the globe that is not striving to obtain ready access to the Pacific for commercial and political objects through its own territory. Mexico is virtually under the control of France, and Chevalier, in his recent work on that country, helps us to unravel the secret of Napoleon's conquest of it. The erection of a l)ari'ier against the application of the Monroe doctrine by the United States, and the development of the boimdless resources of Mexico, are but subordinate acts in the great drama to be played there imder French appointment. The acute eye of the Emperor cannot fail to discern that the marvels of commerce and civilisation by A\'hich so high a degree of lustre has been shed on the European coasts of the Atlantic, arc about to bo repeated with probably tenfold greater brilliance on the American shores of the Pacific. He has deeply pondered the history of l^astcrn trade, now flowing eastward from Asia, while in the past it has only streamed westward. He sees the imperative necessity of possessing an uninterrupted route over soil of Avhicli lie has absolute connnand. Mexico affords this desired facility, stretching as it does from ocean to ocean. A raih\'ay is in piogress from Vera Cruz, in the Gulf of ^Mexico, and now rapidly approaches the city of Mexico. Thence it is to be carried Avestward to Acapulco, the ancient port for Spanish trade with ^Manilla on the one hand, and (Spain on the other. From Acapulco he has resolved that there shall be lines of French steamers in future years plying to China, Japan, the Sandwich Islands, and the more fertile portions of southern Polynesia. French interference in some of the islands of the Pacific of late has been specially noticeable. Tlien llussia, whose aggressive policy was regarded by the first Xapoleon with more apprehension than was fclt by him in reference to any otlier single European nation, has recently established herself in great maritime strength on the banks of the Amoor river, in the vicinity of China and Japan. She alone of all the Powers of Europe has possessions extending in luibroken continidty from the European shores of the Atlantic, or at least tlie Baltic, to the Pacific, and all her energies are bent to the gigantic task of completing clear and easy transit from her Asiatic shores, ria Siberia, to St. Petersburg. That she Avill eventually have a railway from the Baltic to the Pacific is beyond doubt. Already she is active in building a line of tele- graph over this route, and at the present moment there is a fleet at Behring Straits engaged in surveys with a view to bringing that line from the ^Vmoor river across to Sitka, or New Archangel, the capital of the Prussian possessions in America. But how shall I speak of the indomitable and restless enterprise of theFnited States in this respect ? Tlie House of Representatives at AVa! with China r.nd Japan, the lion's share of which already falls to California, among countries on the western shores of the American continent, the government of the United States lias just granted a subsidy ^o a line of steamers about to rmi betweei' San Francisco and the coasts of Asia. So bold and liberal a measure must bring incal- culable commei'cial returns. Vancouver Island is 200 miles nearer the Ainoor river, JiOO miles nearer Shanghai, and 240 miles nearer Canton and Calcutta than San Francisco is. Yet wo arc compelled to stand by and see a neighboui iug country, much less conveniently situated to Asia, carrying ofi' the prize that ought to bo jealously guai'dod by ourselves. The young and thriving populations that increase with such fabulous I'apidity oil the western shores of America will soon be found emulating the zeal and enterprise of ancient nations, in regard to commerco with the East, and that nation wliicli happens to possess the greatest tc)])ographical advantages for uniting the two oceans by a railway, and is also quick to improve these advan- tages, must become master of the sititation. The fear cannot br, altogetlicr repressed, that notwithstanding the obviously superiu'* advantages presented by our territory for the execution of this noble and desirable worlc, those may be nullified by oui' national indifierence about the matter, and our designs forestalled by more progressive rivals. Would that the cogont ap])eal of Loi'dl3ury, some years since (a nobleman who lias no equal in the British legislature in acquaint- rnce with this subject), were duly cunsidered by the government and the people : — " Our trade in the Pacific Ocean, wiljji China and Avith India, must ultimately be carried througli our Xotth American pos- sessions ; at any rate, our political and commercial supremacy will have utterly departed from us if we neglect that very great and important consideration, and if we fail to carry out to its ''uUest extent the physical advantages which the country offers to us, and which we have only to stretch out our hands to take advantage of." Through the ignorance and neglect of her rulers twenty years ago, England threw away much rich territory on the north-west coast, and she has still much at stake in the Pacific. She once snatched from Holland the East Indian trade, and if she allow herself to be blinded by past prosperity to the urgent claims of present interest, some rising power may gradually eclipse lier commercial glory. Ma'ithew Maci'ik. F