The Sun.
London, England, 1860-03-15 00:00:00

soon after abandon able all her possessions on the
Pacific, the possession of San Juan by America will

inevitably'lead to a war.
San Juan American, and Vancouver's Island and
Columbia British, are incompatible with peace.
Our Government made a first false s t ep,—namely,
to enter upon negotiations before first insisting upon
the restoration of the status quo ante bellum. All
the American troops should have been removed,
and then negotiations could have been entered into
by the parties upon equal terms. This neglect of
our Government will give them more trouble than
they foresee and strengthens the pretensions of the
Americans.

There are some things in the conduct of the Ame-
rican Government which are very significant, and
which hare not been brought as they deserve under
the notice of tie English public. I will mention
three facts. In the first place, the Government has
not, that I can learn, disavowed General Harney's

act of invasion, or whatever it may be called. In
the next place General Scott certainly did not dis-
avow it when out here ; aid, in the third place, the
cause of complaint was not removed, but still exists ;
90 soldiers are still on the island, and General Har-

ney still commands them as well as the rest of the
force in his military division, of which he is still
the chief. We can learn nothing of his recall.
Some of his own officers do not believe that he will
be removed.

Much has been attempted to be made by the
American Government and by the press of the re-
moval of the great body of the troops from San
Juan by General Scott, and he made as much of it
as he could himself. But what is the fact ? On his
arrival in Puget Sound Gen. Scott found, to his dis-
may, that Gen. Harney's rashness in removing as
he did very nearly all the troops from Oregon and
Washington territory had left the vast frontier of
these:two countries entirely exposed to the incur-
sions of the Indians, who are hostile to the Ameri-
can people. If proof were wanting of the great
risks to which the denuding of the frontier posts of
their soldiers exposed the citizens of these two ex-
tensive countries;the general found it most conclu-
sively in the fact that just before his arrival some
of the soldiers in San Juan itself had to be detached
to repel an Indian attack upon the village of What-
corn, on the mainland in Washington territory.
Gen. Scott, seeing the danger of keeping his sol-
diers immured in San Juan, hastened to repair Gen.
Harney's imprudence, and sent them back to their
former qnarters. This was the true cause and rea•
son of the removal of the greater portion of the
American troops. They could not be left to remain
any longer away from their different posts without
exposing the country to the most imminent risks;
and Gen. Scott tried to pass off upon us as a con-
cession what was really a necessity of his own po-
sition. lam not aware that the American Govern-
ment has yet made one step towards an amicable
adjustment of our difference with it. On the con-
trary, I am informed that the allusion to the affair
in the President's Message is not satisfactory.
Gen. Totten, the chief of the engineer corps of the
American army, was here the other day on a tour
of inspection, to select, it is said, sites on the sound
and elsewhere in this neighbourhood eligible for the
erection of fortifications.
Business is brisk for this season of the year, when
mining is partially suspended. The value of land is
steadily progressing in Victoria, and is now very
high ; and the growth of the town continues with-
out abatement. Even the wet weather does not
stop building.
Her Majesty's ships Ganges, bearing the flag of
Rear-Admiral Baynes, Captain Fulford ; the Tri-
bune, Capt. Hornby ; the Satellite, Capt. Prevost;
and the Plumper, Capt. Richards, are in harbour.
The Tribune leaves for England via Valparaiso in
a few days. The other vessels remain here for the
.present. It is pretty well understood now that the
Government has decided upon making this the
head-quarters of the Pacific squadron. This is a wise
decision, and one imperatively called for, to pro-
tect the large English interests fast growing up in
this part of the world. A Government powder
magazine is about to be built at Esquimalt, and it
is to be hoped a dockyard will soon follow.
An English bark from London, the Sea Nymph,
arrived at Victoria two days ago, after being out 13
months. She had to put in at two places to repair
damages. Nine passengers came in her.
In my last letter I spoke of the vast extent of
the goldfield of British Columbia, extending for
hundreds of miles east and north of the coast. Ever
since then we have been receiving accounts, chiefly
from New Caledonia, each succeeding ono more
favourable than the preceding. The other day four
Germans came down from Quesnell's River with
24,000 dols., which they dug out of a small stream,
a tributary of that river, in the short space of five
weeks. I can vouch for the truth of this state-
ment, and I wish the Germans had remained in
New Caledonia five weeks longer, for they have en-
ticed away a gardener who was at work for me to
go back with them, and who spurned my 5 dols. a
day on seeing the " pile" of his countrymen.
For the last few months so many successful
miners have returned to California with " piles"
that we are promised a considerable immigration
from that country in the spring. It is now ad-
mitted that the average earnings are much greater
in British Columbia than in the older goldfields,
where the surface digging are worked out.
A good deal of legislation has been passed for
British Columbia lately. So much of the English
Limited Liability Law as is locally applicable his
been established ; also so much of the County Courts
Act as will apply to facilitate the recovery of small
debts has been put in force. But the most impor-
tant measure by far is the passage of a law whereby
the acquisition of land for agricultural purposes is
facilitated.
Under this law any British subject may acquire
160 acres of land which is unsurveyed and unoc-
cupied in any part of British Columbia, excepting
only such portions as are reserved for town sites
for the Indians and as may be required for mining.
To acquire a good inalienable claim to a perfect title
to 160 acres all that the claimant has to do is to
enter upon the possession as soon as he makes his
selection, record his claim to it (that is, report the
fact in writing) to the nearest magistrate, and give
a description of the land. On taking possession he
Pays nothing for the land, but has to pay a fee of
Bs. for recording his claim. When the land shall
have been surveyed by the Government the claim-
ant or his heirs acquire a title from Government on
payment of a sum not to exceed 10s. per acre. It
is expected that the price which will really be de-
manded will only be about ss. per acre. This will
depond upon the determination of the Imperial Go-
vernment, and it is to be hoped that they will agree
to the reduction, so as to meet the competition of
land in the adjoining countries, which is a dollar
and a quarter an acre.
With the view of encouraging improvement, a
person in possession can sell his land as soonagsohode
effects improvements to the value of 10s. per acre.
This condition complied with, he can pass a
title to the purchaser.
The acquisition of land under the law above ex-
plained is what is technically called" pre-emption."
And any person holding land under pre-emption—
i. 160 acres, may, in addition to his 160 acres,
purchase at any time any additional quantity of
land he chooses, not otherwise appropriated, at a
price not to exceed 10s. an acre, of which ss. per
acre to be paid down, and the residue at the time
of survey, if demanded. As it must be some consi-
derable time before the land can be surveyed, it is
likely that parties taking up land promptly will
have several years' possession before they are called
upon for payment.
Land pre-empted and afterwards abandoned may
be claimed and taken by any other person on the
original terms, even if improved by the first oc-
cupant.

Parties pre-empting land and occupying it have
the same legal remedies of actions of ejectment and
trespass against intruders as they would have at
common law if they were seised of the legal estate;
and purchasers of quantities over and above 160
acres pre-empted have the same legal rights.
Questions of boundaries and disputes between
parties
may be referred to the nearest magistrate
for adjustment, who may summon a jury to dispose
of them in a summary way; an appeal to the courts