^^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 5< fe, 1.0 1.1 11.25 US ^5 US :!f ii£ 12.0 1.4 n ^\ 7 // 7 /A Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WIST MAIN STRUT WnSTIR.N.Y. 1«5S0 (716) •72-4503 .V d to nt ie pelure, 9on d 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 MEMORANDA AND PROSPECTUS OF THE M m AND LAND COMPANY. An Act of Incorporation will be applied for this Session of Parliament, due notice of which has already been given. PKINTED AT THK ULOBK OFFICE, KINO STRKFIT WEST, TORONTO. IH58, "AT r MEMORANDA. -«•»- With a population equal to that of Scotland when as an independent nation, she defied England in her might ; equal to that of the United States of America when they spurned the tyrannical acts of a despotic power, pro- claimed their independence, and took their stand among the nations of the world ; equal to that of Belgium, when she became a king- dom ; — Canada is subjected to the insults of a Colonial Secretary, whose dispatches recently laid before the Legislature of this country, openly and distinctly avow that the profits of some two hundred fur-traders of the city of London are dee, jd of more importance than those principles of commercial freedom which they violate — than those rights, liberties and privileges of a British people which they outrage ; and worthy of more consideration than the progress and welfare of this Province. Mr. Ldbouchere seeks to perpetuate upon this continent an odious monopoly, the entire fa- bric of which has been built upon utterly false and fictitious grounds, without one shadow of reality in law or in justice for the exercise of those acts of control heretofore in- dulged in, and which are now claimed to be continued as "rights." It is this conviction that urges us to sub- mit the following arguments and statements to the Canadian pub'ic, in order to show that the Hudson's Bay Company, while claiming author- ity under an old charter invalid in law, have only exercised a monopoly in trade since the year 1821, and that this trade so monopolized was first opened out and successfully carried on by Canadian Traders, long before the Hud- son's Bay Company had entered into that coun- try now claimed by them either under charter or license of exclusive trade. " I do not propose to discuss the question of the validity of the claims of the Company in virtue of their charter over the whole territory known as Rupert's Land." — (Dispatch of Mr. Labonclicro to Sir E. W. Head, dated 22nd Jan. 1858.) The under Secretary, Mr. Merivale, in his let- ter to Mr. Shephor I, the Governor of the Hud- son's Bay Company, dated 20th Jan. 1^58, says that Mr. Labouchere is disposed to " advise Her Majesty to renew the existing license of exclusive trade for a further period o/ 21 years, and adds that Mr. Labouchere is prepared to propose to Canada and to the Iludson'e Bay Company a.s a further condition for the renewal of the license, " That the Company shall Ear- render to the Orovn sucli portions of the ter- ritory now claimed by it under the Charter oa may be available to and required by Canada for pnifoaea of settlement." Thus although Mr. Labouchere does not pro- pose to discuss the validity of the charter, nevertheless he has decided tkat it is valid. Unless it is so, the Hudson's Bay Company own no territories, and they cannot be called upon to surrender that which they do not possess. Should Canada prove so false to herself, no blind to her interests as to yield assent to this artful and designing proposition of the Hud- son's Bay Company, she will have placed that Company in a position which it has never yet ac- quired ; Canada would thereby recognize claims and rights in the Hudson's Bay Company which have never existed, and which her traders, du- ring half a century after the year 1763, had not heard of. Should Canada yield assent to the propo- sition, she would make that legal which is ille- gal now, and she would deprive herself of rights which cannot be controverted,but which if carelessly surrendered or flung away, will enable the Hudson's Bay Company to ask com- pensation from Canada for yielding up to her lands and territories which, in fact, are portions of that Canada which was purchased by British blood for Britain's Crown, not for the Hudson's Bay Company. ^ The Attorney General aiid the Solicitor (Jen- f eral of England, in a letter dated Lincoln's Inn, < July, 1857, give their opinion to Mr. Labo'^ih- ere, and say : " That the question of the valid- ity and construction of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany's Charter cannot be considered apart from e enjoyment that has been hiul under it during nearly two centuries, and the recognition made of the rights of the Company in various acts,both of the Government and the Legislature.'^ This opinion involves the admission that of itself the charter is invalid, audit assumes that a recognition by acts of the Legislature has cured its illegality. The acts referred to are 6th Ann, ch. 37 ; 14th Geo. Ill , ch. 83 ; 1st & 2nd Geo. IV., ch. 60. The last one created the license of exclusive trade. In each of them al- lusion is incidentally made to the lands grant- ed to adventurers trading at Hudson's Bay. No one of the acts gives validity to the Charter, which is left as it stood previous to these acts, and entirely unaffected by any or all of them. Had any one of these acts confirmed or rati- fied the Charter, tbero would have been no necessity for setting up a prescriptive title ; the very fact of doing so involves the ad- mission, likewise, that the acts referred to by tho^e learned gentlemen are not sufficient to give validity to the Charter. When false premises are given in order to draw deductions favourable to theCompany,and adverse to Canada, the friends of Canada will assert it,and the public will believe it, that the Hudson's Bay Company are the clients of those gentlemen whose opinion has been thus laid up in the archives of the Colonial Office, by Mr Labouchere, the impartial Chairman of the Hudson's Bay Company Committee. Had those Warned gentlemen — Mr. Attorney General Bethel, and Mr. Solicitor General Keating — stat- ed that the claims set up by the Hudson's Bay Company hai not been exercised during a period of two centuries from the date of the charter, then they would have stated something of his- torical facts. The fur trade is coeval with the history of Canada. In the year 1626, Louis XIII. of Franco granted a charter to a company formed in Quebec fo * the purpose of trading through- out Canada, called " La Compagnie de la Nouvelle Fran^'e." Canada, as described in this Charter, extended from the Atlantic shores to the Arctic circle, and to the westward beyond Lake Superior its limits were undefined. That Company continued to trade throughout the whole of what is now British Xorth Amer- ica, up to the year 1763, when Canada was oeded to the British Crown. Hudson's Straits, and Hudson's Bay had, however, been ceded to Britain by the treaty of Utrecht, in lYl4, and in accordance with this treaty, " La Compagnie de la Nouirelle France " were permitted to withdraw their forts, establishrajnts, munitions of war and merchan- dize from the shores of the bay. They withdrew, accordingly, to about sixty milei inland, an:i continued to carry on their trade at about that disianje from the shores of the bay, communicating with their forts not by the buy, but the lakes to the west, and by the chain of rivers and lakes to Montreal and the Atlantic. tensive trade along its coasts in open defiance and contempt of the preposterous cleims of the Hudson's Bay Company. In the year 1783 a number of these independent traders formed an union of Interests, and organized themselves as the " North West Company" of Montreal. The magnitude of the opera. .ons of Ma Com- pany was enormous. It carried on a most ex- tensive and lucrative trade, making Montreal the great centre and depot of that trade. They traversed Canada in e.'ery direction, not only from Montreal to Hudson's Bay ; but with their fleets of boats and canoes crossing the contin- ent through a connected chain of lakes and livers from Montreal to Puget's Sound, and to t'le Russian possessions within the Arctic circle ; laden with goods for the Indians and retnrnin£; with furs for Europe. On every water-course, in every mountain gorge, on every plain, in. every forest, between Atlantic and Pacific shores, and the coasts of Arctic seas, — did the servants of this Company appear bartering the varied necessarlds of life, and the products of European lorms, the scarlet cloth, che flaunt- ing print and ribbon, the tinselled orniiment, the flashing gew-gaw so attractive to barbaric life, for the rich furs of the north, destined in their turn to minister no less to the vanity of tliose who dwell in the countries of civiliza- tion. From a work entitled " MoKenzie's Voj ages," published in 1801, we learn something of the trade which was carried op by the North West Company in the earlier period of its existence. • in two or three years after the formation of that Company, the annual value of the trade had reached $600,000, and it continued yearly to increase its dividends until the year 1816, when the Hudson's Bay Company had enterep the field, and resorted to violence. 5000 Cana- dians found employment in the service of the Vorlli West Company, and the wealth that Company realized was freely flung back to cir- culate in Canada, amid ttie varied industrial pursuits ot'life which a trade like this had call- ed into action. The North West Company had pioneered the way in evory instance. The Hudson's Bay Company have but feebly though selfishly trod- 1 den in the steps of those Canadian merchants. Thus the charter of Louis the I3tb dates 44 ' ^'^.^'l« ^Jl ^f ^' ^^'^ ^"l'^^ J?^} Company years anterior to the pretended charier of ^"^^ '"d>^«'^^ 'J? f"-"™ ^" »°'°''/f '"^^rests with Charl.s the Second, and 1S7 years prior to the : t >e Hjidson's Bay Company of London. From conquest of Canada. The articles of capitula- *''^** '^^^ Canadian interests in the North West tion guaranteed to the Canadian people the i ^^'^ ^^.^^^^ '° ^^ ^'r ?1 . \ ""f ^n '''T' continued exercise of the trade then being car- i"^' '^rjsm^to Canada frorn. that trade altogether ried on by the traders of Canada. Immediate- l^'^'^I^V ^^^ selfish policy of the Hudson's Iv after the conquest, numerous Canadian mer- ^"l ^o™P*n7 was to keep the trade a secret chants of British origin followed in the foot-j'*'''^ thereby to monopolize it. steps of the French traders, and traded not In the year 1821, a liceuse of exclusive trade only to the westward of the great lakes, was procured from the Imperial Government but they also entered into Hudson's Bay, and ! over rartain territories, ani this license was in exercising the inherent rights of British sub- furt the oric^in of the exercise of exclusive claims ject.'i, built establishments and carried an ex- to mnnoftnli). [Tntil that year, they did not er, open dejianct clcims of the year 1783 a iT3 formed an ^hemaelvea as itreal. ! of this Com- on a most ex- i\ng Montreal trade. They on, not only >ut with their ^ the contin- of lakes and ound, and to Art-tie circle ; ind returning water-course, *ry plain, ir. and Pacific eas, — did the bartering the products of , (he flaunt- ed ornament, e to barbaric h, destined in the vanity of s of civiliza> ie's Voj ages," lething of the le North West its existence. formation of ) of the trade itinued yearly he year 1816, had enterep . 5000 Oana- k-rvice of the I nqalth that g back to dr- ied industrial this had call- pioneered the ludson's Bay selfishly trod- n merchants. est Company interests with >ndon. From he North West and the reven- •ade altogether the Hudson's rade a secret xclusive trade Oovernment licen$e wa$ in :dusive claimt they did not 5 -otended rights they now •'■ Charter of Charles the exercise those r claim in virtue ot Second. In that year the trade of the North- West ceai- ed to belong to Canada. The route of transit was changed. Time, and the weiilth, and pow- er, and influence of the Hudson's Bay Company has, as it wer«, obliterated from the mind of Canadians, that a North-West Company had ever existed, or that such a trade had ever been. Aided by the wonderful improvements and facilities in transport, both in navif^ation and land carriage undreamed of by those enterprising Canadian traders of times past, let ua now re- vive that trade, and exercise those rights which they enjoyed during half a century subsequent to the conquest of this country. To carry on their trade the North-West Com- pany bad chains of trading posts at various distances apart, extending from Montreal along the sh^^res of the great lakes to the head of Lake Superior. Also ti.^y had chains of posts from Montreal to tudsonsBay; and likewise chains of posts and forts along the Ottawa to Lake Nipissising and to Lake Huron, and thence to the head of Lake Superior. The two latter were canoe routes, the first a batteau route. Michipicoton, at the North Eastern extremity of Laka Superior, was the depot for the Hudson's Bf.y trade. The river connects the Lake and that i^ay. Fort William, at the Western exticmity of Lake Superior, was the grand depot for the ti ade of the West. To lay down the yearly supply of goods at Fort William, cost the Company £30,000. The same quantity of goods might now be laid down there for X250. A steamer could now take them from Toronto, or from Montreal. Notwithstanding this enormnua expenditure — £30,000 — the profits of the Company were im- mense. Their trade was confined to the skins of wild animal . A greater traffic than that Com- pany enjoyed, is open to the Canadian mer- chants of thi present day. Enterprise will grasp it, and give an almoat unlimited extent to Canadian commerce and to Canadian trade. The Nortii West Company had in their em- ployment the most scientific men that could be engaged, among whom was tlie late David Thompson, Esq. These have surveyed and ex- plored the whole country from the Eastern shores of Lake Superi ir to those of the Pacific Ocean, and northward lO the Arctic Seas. We have the benefit of these explorations and sur- veys made and continued from the year 1790 up to the year 1821. These have never yet been pub- lished, but there are in existence topograpiii- cal surveys of every route from tUe head of Lake Superior to the .westward and to the Pacific shores, with all the portages, levels and dis- tances, accurately and correctly taken . More recj>nt geological researches, and sur- veys and explorations made in 1851, 1852, 1853 and 1854; as regards the country between Lake Superior and the Red River Valley, corroborate the former information prepared for the North West Company. There are several points besides those used by the North West Company whence good roads may be constructed to navigable waters, affording an excellent navigation to the Red River settlement. This navigation is inter- rupted by various portages, none of which are of any great extent, nor is there a single one over which a loaded batteau cannot be trans- ported with ease. There are long reaches of watei- communica- tion capable of taking large steamers, the water bfing deep and free from obstructions. The distance in which steamers might even now be used varies from 10, 25, 60, and 150 n>ile3. Taking tbe Red River settlement as a centre of operations, a good communication may be had partly by water and partly by land, from either of two points upon Lake Superior, and the distance be about 38" miles, though the canoe route now travelled is about 683 miles. From the Red River is an uninterrupted na- vigation direct to the valley of the Saskatche- wr.n, and but for a trifling obstruction in the river of that name, ateum navigation can be carried on from the Red River, for a distance of 1800 miles into the interior, to localities where goods now do not reach, coining via Hudson's Bay, until the second year after leaving Eng- land. The advantages of the old route through Lake Superior, are so immeasurably greater, that the Hudson's Bay Company could only compete for the trade by using the route pro- posed. Gooda can be laid down at tbe Red River Settlement, via Lake Superior, bv the month of June. By the Hudson's Bay route goods can- not be laid down at the same point before the month of Oct'iber. Goods can likewise belaid down on tbe shores of Hudson's Bay, via Lake Superior, by the month of June. They cannot be laid down there by the Hudson's Bay route before the month of September. Hudson's stiaits leading into Hudson's Bay, are frequently blocked with ice until the month ot August, and the Company's ships do not letve England for Hudson's Bay until the month of June, so that gooda could be aent from Eng- land and landed on the shores of the Hudson's Bay, via the St. Lawrence route, before the gooda for the Hudson's Bay Company could even leave England. The Americans are now opening a trade with the Red River Settlement, and have construct- ed roads and built bridges over the rivers and swamps, in order to afford facilities for traffic, and thereby cause the trade to enter at St. Paul's. r> The distance iravelltd from tbo Red Hiver Settlement to that point, ia between 600, and 700 miles. The traffic is carried on by means of carts ; each cart carries about 700 pounds weight, and the charge for transport is from $45 to $49 : the time occupied in the transport is from 20 to 30 days. The route being intersected by lakes and rivers, over which the carts, the goods, and the merchandise must be ferried, and the cattle swam across, involves not only time but the labour and assistance of many men. Upwards of 500 carts went from the Red River to St. Paul's the last year and carried $180,000 worth of furs. The goods taken in exchange would in all probability average about the same value, but be of much greater weight, and consequently cost more in the transport than the furs. Besides there is the duty paid on the furs, and also a duty paid upon the articles caTied back. This hitherto has been exacted by the Hudson's Bay Company, but is perhaps now not paid by importers. Thus it is shown that notwithstanding the difficulties of transport a largo trade has sprung into existence, although it is but confined to the fur trade, and is siill in its infancy. Against the 700 miles of land carriage we ofier 380 miles of water navigation, interrupted, it is true, by short liiuJ crtiiiagc occasionally ; and perhaps by a road from tlie lake of the Woods to the Red River, if we do not use the Jieed Grass or the Rat rirem, wliieh connert llu' Lake, of the Woods and lid River. These routes were sometimes used by the old North West Com- pany. Even though we sh-^uld confine ourstlves to the transport by Ijultcaux, we would possess a decided advanta<^(! over the American'route. . A batteau woul.l easily carry 5 tons, and 5 men would man her and triins|ion lier cargi) from the shores of lake SiiMcrior to tiie Rfd River in the space of 15 days. If witli favour- able weather, it could l)e accomplished iu much less time, for on the long reaches of water which the chain of lakes and rivers afford, with a good breeze a batteau will make 100 miles a day ; in fact the distance might be done in 7 days, or less. The cost, then, of transport — say wages to men $20 per month, which are high wages — voya- geurs may be had very readily at $15 per month ; 5 men 15 days at the rate of $20 per month would be $50. The cost, then, of transporting five tons would be but $50 ; this without the aid of steam on the water or horse power to haul across the portages. As tliese improve- ments would be introduced, the cost would he less. To transport five tons by the carts to St. Patil's requires K! carts besides men and cattle, which at present rate— $45 per cart- wouM cost $720, against the $50 by our route. When facilities for the transport of merchan- dise to the Red River are afforded, the trade and traffic on the route will increase at a com- pound ratio, for with it will advance immigra- tion and all those industrial pursuits which are incidental to the opening up a new and progressive country. This route re-opened — by which the oldPronch traders, and their British Canadian successors, and the North West Company entered into, and traded throughout the North West territories, long before the Hudson's Bay Company attempted to do so, or advance their preposterous and anti- British claims to exclusive monopoly — other traders and trading, companies will be induced to follow and participate in the trade of the country ; their only rivalry a fair and honest competition, which doubly blesses. It blesses him who gives and him who receives. It is a creative cdarity which brings forth a thousand- fold. It converts the wilderness into smiling fields and Iiappy homes of an industrious and enterprising population, and gives to millions employment for ages. Exclusive trade is a blighting curse, the most iron of all despotisms, because a despotism without personality or conscience ; a trading monopoly, whose fruits selfish enjoyment, bless the labours of as it were perish in their By it no fields are won to mankind. The Hudson's Bay Company are deriving immense emoluments from their trade with that country — a trade which emphatically belongs t ) Canada, and which until the year 1821, was enjoyed by the merchants of Canada ; from the time that the flag of France first waved over her, when that gave place to Britain's banner, the exercise of that trade was guaranteed to the Canadian people for all time to come. The time has arrived, the feelings of the Ca- nadian people proclaim it. If Canada hopes to secure commercial frt^edom, and the rights and privileges of a H.itish people, that trade must now be revived. In the Parliamentary papers of 1842, Sir John Pclly, the Goi!enwr if the Hudson's Buy Com- pany — (Sir George Simpson is called the Gov- ernor of Rupert's land)— says in his letter to Lord Glenelg, that from sixty to seventy per cent. is generally divided among the sharehold- ers. Now the capital of the Comiiany is called £500,000, consequently the profits must be £350,000 per anumn. Alex. Simpson sets the [irotits down at i,'450,000. The original capital stock of the Company was £10,000. When the Companies united each called their respective stocks £200,000, thus making £400,000. And this, in fact, a nominal capital. The capital stock is, however, now shown as above stated. The trade of the Company is confined exclu- sively to the skins of wild animals, no other fro 251 of! 601 avl 261 Tl Hil cart- woulil route. of merchan* ^f the trade »8e at a com- Qco imniigra- rsuitfl which ' new and ieoldPrcnch 1 siiccessora, ■el into, and ' territories, «y attempted us and anti- poly— other be induced rade of the and honest it blesses es. It is a I thousand- to smiling strious and to millions trade is a 'espotisms, onalitj or hose fruits ^njojment. lubours of e deriving with that y belongs 1821, was from the i'^ed over s banner, »nteed to me. f the Ca- hopes to e rights at trade Sir John 'y Corn- he Gor- Jtter to nty per rehold- I called ust be ets the capital len the lective And wn as ixclu- other I arlicla of commerce, save, iierliaps, oil, from Hudson's Bay, is traded in. And yet there are Tarioiis productions which arc open to a Cana- dian Fur Company. Take for instance the buffalo. The hunters from the Red River settlement alone kill 26,000 annually, and this in about three months of the year. Each buffalo will produce from 60 to 70 pounds of tallow ; but let us take an average at 40 pounds per bu£falo : — 26,000, at 40 lba,=one million lbs. This at say 10 cents per lb $100,000 Hides at say $3 per hide 75,000 $r( 5,000 This calculation is made supposing the above to be the value of these articles in the city of Toronto. The value may possibly be greater. .No calculation is made for the value of the carcass, or the tongues, each of which would be articles of trade, and probably of quite as much yalue as those above given. There is no meat better adap ad for curing than that of the buffalo, scarcely any that can command so high a price in the market. It is estimated that upwards of 150,000 buf- falo are annually slaughtered in the valley of Saskatchewan, — thousands of them wantonly kille>^,andas many killed only for their tongues. Sir George Simpson, an authority not likely to state anything favourable to the resources of the country, tells us that " he has seen 10,- 000 carcasses lying putrid in one bed of the valley of the Saskatchewan, infecting the air for many miles around. When the Indians find that the carcass, the tallow, the tongue, &c,, would procure the necessities of life just as well as rich furs, the only coin with which they purchase the goods of the Hudson's Bay Company,a most important trade would be brought into existence. Time anJ again, efforts have been made by some of the Red River people to embark in the tallow trade, but the Hudson's Bay Com- pany have invariably prevented their doing so, by refusing to export the article. The hide of the buffalo may bo exported in its raw state, just as hides are brought here from South America. Canada importa annually from tho United States, three and-a-half million pounds of tal- tow, and pays therefor the sum of $360,000. We import and pay large sums of" money for the very articles of production which are pe- culiar to our own country. We import annually: Fur goods, value $109,572, duty thereon $24,07G $ 193,048 Furs, undressed, no duty thereon. . . 50,624 Tallow „ „ 360,000 Hides „ „ 259,136 Fish oil „ „ .... 249,588 Total $1,112,990 With the exccptiun of such furs as ore brought from England, the residue of the above imports are all from the United States. Immense fisheries may be carried on on Hud- son's I a distance of 845 miles, nearly the whole of which is only adapted to a small boat navigation, and interrupted by numerous and difficult portages, a route which forbids the possibility of ever using steamboats. The distance from the Red River to Saint Paul'H, by the route now travelled, is about 700 miles, and at the expenss of about 500 men and 500 waggons, and at a loss of nearly three months, at the most important season of the year to the settlers for action at home. To obviate this difficulty, and to bring supplies within an easy distance (and ulti^ mately to their very doors) the Transportation and Land Company propose to construct roads and open a highway by improving the water communica- tion,or building canals between navigable waters, so as to effect a rapid com- munication between the shores of Lake Superior and the Red River, and ultimately to extend the same weatward to the Pacific shores, as circumstuTices require. They proposed to cbtablish certain permanent depots, where goods, &c., can be exclianged. and the provisions, and the various productions of the country taken n.i a fair valuation. This will prove to present to Red River set- tlers, as well as to those wlio i.\ay, inconsequence of such facilities, become set- tlors, an immense benefit ami encouragement. The profits of thvi Company being anticipated to arise from the country, becoming a producing one, a great object will be to afford every facility and encouragement to our imniigvant population, entering it as speedily as possible. With that view, favourable ivicalities along the route will be selected for establishments where all those necessaries of life may be procured readily and cheaply. Should the Government be disposed to sell to the Company any conaidorablo tract of land, the Company would bind themselves to survey the tract selected, and place a certain number of immi- grants upon the locality within a given space of time, and dispose of the lauds upon the most liberal terms. Inasmuch as the Company must incur considerable expense in building road8^ erecting bridges, improving and creating water communications necessary for the commerce and traflie of the country, it cannot bo deemed unreasctnable that the Company should hold possession and control of all improvements made by them, until such tinKMis the (Jovernment should deem it nece, iry to acquire them. In the meantime, they should be open to all others upon tlut payment of ceria'u fixed tolls or charges, as regulated upon any other highway built by Joint Stock Companies. Whenever th(! (Jovernment deem it necessary to take poSiUssion of the works roads, bridges, &e., so built l)y the Company, the Gov- ernment to pay to the Company the value of the same, and which may be paid for in lands. Until a m(n'e expeditions mode of communication has been established, a proposition may be made for carrying the mails ; the revenue arising from that source would i'ssist somewhat towards current exjjenses. The chief point, andtlu; most important at present, is the formation of a cheap route, both for passc-ngers and nierchandi/,e, ns i'lir as the river that empties Lac La Pluie into ih(! Lake of the Woods, and from the Lake of the Woods to the Rod River. With a view of carrying out this project, it is [iroposed to construct roads, build bridges and canals where the distance; between navigable wat(>r is short (some donotexceiHl 200 yards, some as short as 10 yards) The number and extent of the portages have all been carefully measured, aTid levels taken. At many localities are several portages within short distance of each other; these, by constructing a longer road, may be obviated and thrown into one. * In others, again, by u slight improvement in the navigation, a portage will be du^ Lai iti| na> so raii| 8Uf 1 inhabitants ^leir supplies 1 distance of small boat route which >m the Red 8, and at the hree mouths, t home. To G (and ulti- any propose communica- rapid com- Kivcr, and cumstances lore p^oods, ionn of the Kiver set- X'conio sot- pany being Teat object popuhxtiou, litios along U'ies of life isposed to ouid bind »>f iinnii- ho lauds ing roads^ .'ssary for able that made by o ac(]uire lymcnt of l»uilt by y to take the Gov- niay be lislu'd, a Vom that a <'hoap <'ii,iptioH 1h to the ouHtruct wat;im navigation from the Red River to a distance of 1,H00 miles ; ample evidence having been furnished that abundance of coal exists along its banks. From the head waters of that river perhaps the greatest difliculty in the whole route will be found to exist. Never- theless, when we know tliat in 1842, a body of two hundred settlers from the Red River, passed over and through the gorges of the Rocky Mountains with ox teams, it is not lik(>ly tliat with tlie superior facilities for transportation, any serious obstruction will be encountered by us. In 1846, Sir George Simpson travelled from the Red River Settlement with a large party, taking carts the grealer part of the way, and some 40 horses, to the mouth oi'the Columbia, within the space of 47 days, the distance being 2000 miles, averaging about 43 miles \h\v day. Is there any part of Canada still in a state of natun*, without rt)ads or the facilities of travel where such a speed can be attained ? It affords a strong proof that the route cannot be much broken or difficult to pass over. A very small portion of the route proposed forbids the use of steam naviga"* tion, and when once a conm\unication is opened, the route will immediately be* come most important in a commercial point of view. It would eoon be estab- h i 1$ lished as the cheapest route for the production of the East Indies, the paticulara of which it is not the present object of this prospectus to touch upon : Canton to London 19,000 miles. London to Montreal 2,800 " Montreal to Toronto 350 " ' 22,150 " Canton to mouth of Eraser's River 5,400 Eraser's River to Head of Lake Superior 1,500 Head of Lake Superior to Toronto 600 7,500 miles. Difference in fuvour of Toronto 14,150 miles. Europe would likewise find this the cheapest and speediest route for the ti'affic of the world : — Canton to London 16,000 miles. to Frascr's River 5,400 Fraser's River to Montreal 2,450 Montreal to London 2,800 10,650 miles. Difference 5,350 miles. With a diflercnco like tills in our favour, we place before ua a mart of 600,000,000 of people, and enable us geographically to command them ; opening the route, and leaving it to the guidaace of cotniuercial interests, Canada will, sooner or later, become the great toll-gate for the commerce of the worltl. The objects of the Xorth-wost Transportation and Land Cumpany will be to en- courag(! traffic and trade, promote immigration, carry passengers and merchan- dise, supply present and future settliMs witli all necessaries and rcMjuireinent^, and return laden witii '1 sucii productions as may be olVered in exchange. It seeks no exclusive privileges or unpopular monopoly in trade, all it asks for is the exercise of the right to wiiicl; every British sul)j(H't is entitled — that of free- dom to trade tin-ougliout their own country and Her Majesty's possessions in British North America. As individual capital would not be adequate to accomplish what here is sug- gested, a Joint Stock Association aflords the only means. It is therefore proposed to f(n-m the above; nanuul Company with a capital of £100,000 in 20,000 shares of £5 each, and with power to increase stock to iJ200,000. The price of shares being put at Je5 each will bring tiie stock within the reach of every farmer, of every meclianic, of all thos«' who take an interest in developing the great resoiu'ce of Canadian prosperity and power, tuid enabling them to participate in that copious shower of wealth which for 37 years past since 1S21, only poiu'cd itself exclusivuiy into the c(tlVers of the Hudson's Hay Compaiy of London. It is scarcely necessary to remark that the Citizens of Toronto, the Sharehold- ers of tie Northern Railway, the Canadian Merchants generally, are particularly interested in this Company l)eing brought into operation. A Government that has the welfare of Canada at heart, of whatever shade of politics it may be, cannot fail to side with our views and extend to us every le- gitimate protection pnd assistance. Notice ofanappliv^ation to the Legislature for charter has been duly given. Parties who are desirous of joining in the undertaking are requested to communi- . cate with Allan Macdonill, Esq. isci.. the paticulars pon : OOO miles. iOO " 550 '« 50 " 00 miles. 50 miles, route for the 00 miles. 50 miles, JO miles. us a mart of em ; opening Oauada will, World. will be to en- nd merchau- (iiiuironieutsi, xcliauge. It asks for ia -that of free- ssessioiiB in hero Ih sug« a capital of 30 Htock to jtock within an interest nd enabling years past idson's Bay ) Sharehold- partieularly er shade of 3 every le- luly given. communi*