The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-28 00:00:00

THE FUTURE OF CANADA.
(From the Colonial Gazette.)
A new era is opening upon Canada. The progress of
settlement, of the development of territorial resources, is
about to take a fresh start. The recent mineral disco-
veries on the Canadian shores of lakes Superior and
Huron present a remunerative field for the investment of
capital and labour. A due admixture of enterprise and
judicious caution will soon call forth busy settlements in
that region as populous and thriving as those on the rich
agricultural peninsula between lakes Eric and Huron.
Of the extent and local features of the mineral region
our information is limited and desultory. But according
to a letter from Mr. Allan Macdonnell, of the Quebec
Mining Company, in the Montreal Times, the rich mi-
neral district on the north (or Canadian) side of Lake
Superior commences at Maimanse, only 45 miles from
Soult St. Marie, at the outlet of the lake; and according
to the statement made by Mr. Forrest Shepherd at a
meeting of the Montreal Mining Company, held on the
16th of October, it extends to Nirigon, not far from
Fort William, which is near the western extremity of
the tongue of Canadian territory running out between
the United States and the lands of the Hudson's Bay
Company. Specimens of the ores analysed by Professor
Silliman have been found to yield from 40 to 63 per cent.
of copper, and may be expected to work on a great scale
from 30 to 50 per cent. The ore is, in many instances,
combined with iron ores, and in some with native silver.
On the northern shore of the lake numerous islands and
bays form available harbours. Waterfalls for driving
machinery abound. Respecting the mining districts on
Lake Huron we are without information.
When public attention in Canada was first directed
towards this mineral region, licenses to explore were
issued for a short time; but an Order in Council was
soon passed by the Local Government to the elf et that
no more should be granted. Those issued were not,
however, withdrawn; and the region has been widely
and minutely examined for mining localities, principally,
it would appear, by parties in connexion with the two
companies named above. The provincial geologist, Mr.
Logan, passed the last season on Lake Superior, making
surveys and marking locations for the adventurers.
On the 7th of October last a minute in Council was
made under which the then several license-holders were
to be permitted to work the mines, under the authority
of the licenses which they held, with the option, either
then or at any other time within the period of two years,
to purchase locations of ten square miles, at the rate of
4s. per acre, payable one-fifth part in hand, and the re-
mainder in five yearly payments, with interest. It is
added that, when the licenses which have been issued
are all located, the lands on lakes Huron and Superior
are to be forthwith opened for sale at the minimum price
of 4s. per acre in blocks of ten miles square. On the
7th of last month a public notice, issued from the Crown
Lands department, intimated some further regulations
agreed upon at a meeting of Council on the 2d. Every
license-holder, whose location is designated by the Pro-
vincial Geologist, is entitled to a certificate of location
from the Commissioner of Crown Lands on payment to
that officer of 1501., to cover the cost of survey and
other contingent expenses. This sum is to be placed
to the credit of the locatee, as a part of his first instal-
ment, when the price shall be confirmed, and shall be
forfeited to Government, and the land again offered
for sale, in the event of his declining to purchase the
location or failing to pay the first instalment within two
years. All future applicants for locations are entitled
to the same rights on the same conditions. Before any
further locations are surveyed the Commissioner of Crown
Lands is to require of each applicant to point out the situa-
tion of the land he wishes to obtain on Bay field's map, and
to receive the 1501. The Commissioner of Crown Lands
is to report on the best method of laying out the mineral
locations on Lake Superior ; and a surveyor will be ap-
pointed to lay out the mining districts on Lake Huron
whenever the applicants shall have complied with these
requirements. All grants are to be subject to such re-
gulations to ensure the working of mines as may be
hereafter enacted by (the Provincial) Parliament.
Under these regulations, the Quebec Company have
already secured locations at Maimanse and elsewhere.
Two shipments of ores have already been made by them
with a view to test their qualities, and the rate of re-
muneration which may fairly be expected for exporting
them. Mr. Shepherd, the agent of the Montreal Com-
pany, has also secured locations with excellent
harbours and mill sites ; has got the islands and
shores of the lake on and near which they
are situated laid down in a map, with all their
mineral and geological features ; has erected cabins,
houses, and blacksmiths' shops—in all thirty buildings,
with entrances for boats and schooners ; has prepared
ground for making bricks and for gardens, and has, in
short, got everything in readiness for setting to work
next spring. All this betokens energy and judgment,
and was accomplished " without losing a man, or a boat,
or scarcely an oar." But the most creditable circum-
stance for the company remains to be told. At the
meeting of the 16th of October, the Hon. Mr. Moffatt
stated :—" Inquiries have been frequently addressed to
the trustees, to know the value of stock ; what loca-
tions the company had got, and the mineral value of
them ; and I have been asked for a copy of the articles of
assocation. The greater part of these questions seemed
to have in view some operation on the price of shares—
all had this tendency. The trustees resolved to be no
parties, directly or indirectly, to any influence of the
price of shares. They have never desired to see the
shares rise in price, because, until we had got our loca-
tions from Government, and until Mr. Shepherd had re-
ported the character of the discoveries he was engaged
in making, we had nothing solid, nothing in hand upon
which real value could be based. If the explorations
were to turn out unsuccessful, it was right that the ori-
;inal parties to them should bear the loss."
There can be little doubt of the eventual success of en-
terprises conducted by men animated with the honour-
able sentiments expressed by Mr. Moffatt, and the
enterprise evinced by Messrs Shepherd and Macdonnell.
The arnlysis of Professor Silliman establishes the value
of the ores, and the concurrent reports of all who have
examined the region, their abundance. Their is a fair
field of investment, and it has been entered in the spirit
of real labourers and legitimate traders, not of parlour
and Stock-Exchange speculators. As to the regulations
adopted by the Local Government for guiding and en-
suring the bond fide working of this colonising experi-
ment, they seem fair and just, and likely to be condu-
cive to its success. Something there is, no doubt, in the
remarks of the Montreal Pilot, that the issuing of a
limited number of licenses at first, then the temporary
intermission of' the issue, the holders of those issued
being allowed to proceed with their investigations, looks
like favouritism. But what is past cure is with us past
care. The better system is now fairly in operation. If
the suspicions of the Pilot are well founded, it is a matter
to be kept in mind by the Canadians when public men
ask their confidence, but it cannot materially affect the
future development of Canadian resources.
The working of the mines over the vast mineral region
will necessarily fix upon it an industrious settled popu-
lation. The region, so far as hitherto known, is nut re-
markable for fertility, and its climate is likely to be
rather inclement. It is from the fertile districts to the
south that the mining settlements must draw their stores
of provisions. Under any circumstances, the Huron
district and the rest of the great alluvial peninsula of
Canada West would have as fair a chance of being their
principal garner as any of the neighbouring states of the
Union. But, as Canada West lies in the track of the
navigation by which the ores will be carried to the sea-
board, the vessels employed in that carriage, finding
both out and return cargoes, will be able to carry from
it at cheaper rates, and thus give to the British farmer
a preference in the markets of the mining districts.
The mineral region will not only become the seat of a
flourishing and industrious population—it will accelerate
the settlement of Canada to the eastward of it. There
are two obvious lines along which industrial enterprise will
act in rivalry to make them thechannels of communication
between the mining districts and Montreal. Montreal,
of course, either as at the head of the sea-nagivation of
the St. Lawrence, or as the western terminus of the St.
Lawrence and Atlantic Railway, is certain to be the
depiit of the mining trade. The carriage of the ores
will, in the first instance, be by the lakes. But com-
paratively short and expeditious routes may be con-
structed, either from Goderich to Toronto; or by the
line projected long ago by Mr. Sheriff from the em-
bouchure of French River in Lake Huron to the waters
of the Outawa. We look for the revival of the pro-
jected railway from Goderich to Toronto, and the un-
dertaking of a mixed line of water and railway commu-
nication from Montreal by the Outawa to the north-east
angle of Lake Huron. And the opening of these lines
of communication will open up the country on either
side of them for settlement.

The effect of bringing into play this mineral region of
Canada will be to give the interior of British North America
a valuable article of export, and to create an extensive
home market for the agriculturists. It is pretty certain
that the simultaneous discovery of rich deposits of copper
in Australia and on the lakes of Canada will be to keep
down the price of the metal. But it is available for so
many purposes, and the population and industrial wants
of civilised (and of uncivilised) nations are so rapidly
increasing, and thereby widening the market for it, that
the obtaining a fair price need not be feared for all that
can be produced. The growth of a settled population to
the north and west of lakes Huron and Superior, and
over the whole intermediate country between that
region and Montreal, and the settled agricultural dis-
tricts of Canada West, will give British North America
what it has been hitherto most deficient in—breadth of
settled territory. So long as Canada is a mere strip
along the St. Lawrence—a mere hem along the broad
cloak of the United States' population—it can have no
weight in the political balance of the American continent.
But when it extends in breadth as well as in length, its
substantive existence will be felt by all. The mineral
regions may find other outsets to the sea than the St.
Lawrence: they lie close to the upper waters of those
rivers which disembogue themselves at the Hudson's Bay
Company's fort of Albany.
Some will regard the opening of this new field of en-
terprise in Canada as a compensation for the " protec-
tion" of which it has recently been deprived. We re-
gard the removal of that " protection" as the first step
to the adoption of a new commercial system, under
which alone these mineral regions can be worked with
profit. The "protection," with its corresponding re-"
strictions, was the remnant of that system under which
Pennsylvania was, before the war of Independence, pro-
hibited to establish founderies or manufacture grates,
pots, and kettles, lest the cast-iron ware of Great
Britain should be undersold in the American market
The abolition of "protection" on Canadian produce
must lead to the abolition of all restrictions on Canadian
trade ; for the abolition of these restrictions is neces-
sary for the prosperous development of its mineral
wealth. The claims of the Montreal Board of Trade
cannot long remain ungranted :
"1. The repeal of the Imperial differential duties. 2.
The repeal of the 3s. frontier duty on American wheat.
3. Such a modification of the British Navigation Laws as
will leave us free to employ, at our option, the cheapest
vessels we can procure,whether they be British or foreign.
4. The removal of all restrictions that now operate
against the free trade of the St. Lawrence.

tier is pretty much in the same condition now, as to
strength and tranquillity, that it has been for two years
past, the inferences to be deduced from this are, either
that the force of 15,000 men hitherto maintained for its
defence, has been superfluously strong, or that 7,000, to
which it is about to be reduced, must be dangerously
weak. The truth is not unlikely on the present occa•
sion to lie between the two :—the financial difficulties
from which we at present are suffering, naturally lead
to the contraction of the drain through which a million
sterling is annually drawn to meet the deficiencies in
Sinde ; while the approaching change in the political
arrangements on the Indus will get rid of the necessity
of maintaining an enormous army to enable a warlike
Governor to indulge his love of battle by going forth
into the wilderness or the mountains to see and provoke
some one to quarrel. Her Majesty's 17th is about to
embark for England ; her Majesty's 86th is understood
to be on the eve of its return to Borebay ; while her Ma-
jesty's 60th Rifles are said to be intended for service in
Bengal; the three corps are now at Kurrachee. The
building of the barracks for Europeans at Hyderabad still
goes on, though it is now known that they are never
likely to be occupied. Two curious instances of wil-
fulness on the part of the supreme local authority
here just been brought to lieht in reference to trials by
ceurternartial. Mr. Macdonald, a commissariat con-
ductor, was tried some time since for permitting pro-
visions to be served out with false weitehts and steel-
yards, whereby the soldier was cheated
-in his supplies.
Ile was fully and honourably acquitted ; and the Court
having been ordered to recoasider its finding, adhered to
it, when it was refused to be confirmed. The conductor
had been stigmatised beforehand in general orders, and
must endure so much of the punishnlent, though ac-
quitted of all the guilt. Mr. Clifford, of the same
department, haling been accused of permitting some of
his people to seize on a bullock for commissariat use,
without paying for it, was tried by court martial so far
back as July last, and, like Mr. Macdonald, fully and
honourably acquitted. The Court, in this, as in the
other case, having persisted in adhering to its finding,
was dissolved—a new one being assemble, and a fresh
trial, on the same charges twice submitted, ordered to
take place. The result in the second case was the same
as that in the first—a full and unqualified acquittal. The
Court, having by order revised and re-considered the
evidence, adhered to their original finding, and there the
matter rests. The prisoner, twice fully committed, con-
tinues, as he has been for five months, in arrest, to suffer
the punishment that would have befallen him if guilty—
deprivation of his warrant. The following statement
has appeared in the Bombay Courier. (We can give no
further vouchers for its accuracy than these—that,
monstrous as it seems, it is not one whit more so than
some dozen of the circumstances revealed in the Blue
Book, and that it appears in a journal remarkable for
the caution and mildness of its tone, and the general cor-
rectness of its information on Sinde affairs):—
" Our intelligence from Sinde is but scanty. It em-
braces, however, one or two items of interest. From
Hydrabad we obtain a most painful and humiliating
proof that the adroit policy ' which led to the appropria-
tion of Sinde, still characterises the administration of
the affairs of that province. The mother of Meer
Shaded, we are informed, recently applied to Sir Charles
Napier for permission to send four men on a mission to
her son. Permission was granted,—and by Sir Charles's
orders, the men were provided with purwannahs, or
passports of safe conduct to Surat. More treacherous
than the conduct of Proteus to Bellerophon, was that of
the Governor of Sinde to the royal lady whom he thus
pretended to oblige. The same officer who was directed
to furnish her messengers with the purwannahs, was
also instructed to have these men narrowly and secretly
watched; to have them waylaid on the frontier of Sinde,
carefully searched, and then brought back to Hydrabad.
These orders were duly executed. About seven hun-
dred rupees in money, and some jewels, were found on
the men. The latter we believe were returned, the
former had not been so at the date of our corres-
pondent's latest information. Whether any letters were
found on the men, and what was their purport, we know
not; doubtless, however, Sir C. Napier expected to dis-
cover some mare's nest. And such is the state of official
morals in Sinde, that we should not be surprised if
some convenient Moydeen, or Gholam Shah, were to
substitute for the missives of affection actually
found on the messengers some treasonable effusion
from the widow of Noor Mahommed to the captive
Shaded, urging him to stir up the Talpnor blood within
him, to set fire to Surat Castle, murder the collector,
corrupt the troops, and, marching at their head, to re-
turn to Sinde, to execute the fabulous threat put into his
mouth by the Guernsey novelist, viz., that he would
place an iron ring in Charles Napier's nose, and thus
drag him in triumph throughout the towns and villages
of Sinde. There is no treachery, no meanness, so base
as to be beyond perpetration its Sinde. Of ti. truth of
this we have already had seine proofs: on the breaking
up of the Napierian rule, these wilt become mere rife.
Budrodeens, eloydeens, Meer Mahommed Khans, and
Gholam Shahs, speedily learn what would be agreeable
to the Butra Sahib;' and without a compunctious
qualm they supply it. No questions are asked, and
should any overscrupulous official express a misgiving,
Sir Charles has always those about him who, as in the
case of the Persian documents, are ready to assure him
that "there can be no doubt the papers are genuine."
But to return to the act of treachery itself. No political
uxigency can, in our opinion, justify so thoroughly un-
priticipled a deed. It was unworthy of a British officer, or
a Britt. ,h diplomatist. In comparison with it, SirJ.Graham's
Post-office espionage was manly, and becoming the cha-
r.icter of a gentleman. In comparison with it, Mr.
Bell's treatment of B4cjar appears scarcely dis-
gr..xelui. In comparison with it, Sir Charles Napier's
previous 'subtle expedients,' 'livey ideas,' and in-
genious deviser,' sink into insignificance. Nor is it
merely because it inflicts another foul blot on the faith of
Englishmen, and the honour of England, that we object
to it. We have another reason for denouncing it. A
military officer was the instrument used by Sir Charles
Ne pier in perpetrating this vile act ; obedience to the
instructioas of his General was a military duty inenne-
bent on that officer. Ile received the order, and though
his soul may have loathed alike the duty imposed on him,
and the man who imposed it, obey he must. There was
no alternative. Is it, we ask, to be tolerated that high-
minded British officers are to be exposed to the risk of
being compelled to perform mean and disgraceful actions,
whenever it suits the whims of one alike ready and un-
scrupulous in his expedients ? Whether the officer in
question was a high-minded man we know not, nor
shall we stop to inquire ; but he was a British officer,
and we are therefore bound to believe an honourable
gentleman."
A letter from a Captain Napier, R.N., in reply to some
observations made by Mr. Sullivan at a meeting cf the
Court of Proprietors of India Stock, has just reached us;
we shall publish it in an early issue, accompanied by the
quotathens from the Parliamentary papers, to which, in
contradicting Mr. Sullivan, it gives the lie direct. The
statements of the India proprietor is ere mere repetitions
of what is set forth in the Blue Book by Sir Charles
Napier and Lord Ellenlx.rough, whom he has thus un-
wittingly contradicted. Unfortunately, there seems to
have been no one on the spot sufficiently familiar with
these things to silence him as his uncle was last year
silenced—by simple quotations. Perhaps, in the case
referred to, it would have been difficult to find a news-
paper at home willing to admit the contradiction ! No
men know better than the Napiers how to avail them-
selves of public gullibility, and to adventure on the most
hardy and groundless assertions—in the confidence that
impudence would carry the day, and that bold misstate-
ment might for a time escape detection. The system has
been extensively resorted to in India, but has invariably
resulted in the most miserable exposures. The climate
of the sea coast of Sinde is peculiarly agreeable at pre-
sent, and the country infinitely less unhealthy than it has
in the majority of cases been n, this season of the year.

TIRE PUNJ AI Ul3.

CASHMERE.—The tranquillisation of the discontented
Scikh districts, which promised to advance favourably
at the date of last dispatch, has all but realised its pro-
mise. We formerly noticed the simultaneous advance
of the two large forces under Brigadier Wheeler and
Major-General Sir John Littler—the former from the
Jullundur Doab, the latter from Lahore—both proceed-
ing in the direction of Cashmere. The following notice
of these movements, and of the present position of the
troops, has been furnished us by an officer with General
Littler's force ; it is later in point of date than any com-
munication from the same quarter we have seen :
LATEST NEWS FROM HEAD-QUARTERS OF
THE PUNJAUB DIVISION.
Camp Bukree Wallah, left bank of the Chenaub,
31st October, 1846.
Sir John Littler marched from Lahore on the 15th
instant, arrived at Seealkote on the 21st, and has com-
menced crossing the Chenaub to-day. The 12th Native
Infantry, sth Troop Ist Brigade Horse Artillery, 2d
Company 6th Battalion Foot Artillery with No. 9 Light
Field Battery, are directed to cross to-day ; H.M. 80th
Pout, 42d and 45th Regiments N. L, and Wing 2d Irre-
gular Cavalry, complete the Brigade marching with the
Major-General, and which is commanded by Lieutenant
Colonel Iluish, C. 8., senior officer present. The
Brigade under command of Brigadier Wheeler, C. 8., is
oue march in advance, moving towards Bimbur : it
consists of the 15th, 301 h, and 33.: Regiments Native
Infantry ; 4th l'roop Ist Brigade Horse Artillery,
and 4th Irregular Cavalry. Detachments of Sappers
are with each brigade, and a large depot of medical
stores—upwards of 100 camel loads—accompanies the
division. The mountain tops to our northwest are now
covered with snow."

Colonel Lawrence, agent for the Governor-General,
it will be remembered, quitted Lahore on the 15th of
October with a view of joining the foremost of the ad-
vancing troops. He joined the combined Seikh armies
of Ghoolab Singh and Tej Singh at Naoshera on the
18th. His assistants, Captain! Brougham, and Lieuts.
Edwardes, Nicholson, and Wroughton, ILA arrived there
before. Sonit days before this the leader of the insur-
gents, Sheikh Emaum-ood-Deen, had intimated his de-
sire to submit, and in evidence of his sincerity,
ordered the siege of Hurree Purvut to be suspended.
On the 17th and 18th the Jammoo troops were engaged
with the insurgents, the former being successful. About
this time Fuqueer Oola Khan, Chief of Rajouree, and
son of Huheem Oola Khan, one of the most active leaders
in the rebellion, surrendered himself to Lieut. Edwardes,
at Naoshera, and it was intimated that on the 23d the
Shield' himself was about to quit Cashmere with the in-
tention of surrendering. It is probable his purposes
might have been altered, aLd his departure delayed, as
he had not, so far as appears, been heard of at the head-
quarters of Sir John Littler on the 31st. Extended in-
formation dispels the delusion that the Cashmere insur-
rection was the result of any general feeling of indigna-
tion amongst the people, awakened by aversion to the rule
or hatred ofthe oppression of Ghoolab Singb. The excite-
ment seems to have owed its origin to the machinations
of two or three individual chiefs, who, caballing toge-
ther for their own personal ends, managed to collect
followers, r.nd to incite all the idle, dishonest, and dis-
contented to insurrection who hoped to gain by any
the dignity of war of
change. The cause has none of