The Sun.
London, England, 1858-03-05 00:00:00

MILITIA.

The Queen having granted permission to the
Aberdeenshire Militia to call the regiment " the
Royal Aberdeenshire Highlanders," and to wear
the Highland uniform, recruits have come forward
in large numbers, and the depot promises not only
to have a full complement, but to supply many
volunteers well drilled to Highland regiments of
the line. The Royal Aberdeenshire Highlanders
are now at Dublin.

GREAT SHIP CANAL.

(From the Morning Herald.)

As the discovery of the passage to India round
the Cape of Good Hope comp'etely changed the
course of trade between Asia and Europe, so in our
times on the North American continent we may
witness a revolution of a character scarcely less
important, which will render the ports of St.
Lawrence the main conduit of the produce of the
north-western States of the American 'Union,
superseding the Erie Canal and the harbour of
New York. The Canadians already speculate on
the junction of the Atlantic and Pacific by a rail-
way stretching from the St. Lawrence to Van-
couver's Island, through British territory ; and
they are actually preparing to connect Lake On-
tario with Lake Huron by a ship canal. They cal-
culate on transporting to Europe the agricultural
products of a million and a half of square miles,
lying around the great lakes, with the region west
and north-west, where all the grains and grasses
are capable of growing luxuriantly, where flocks of
sheep will yield rich fleeces, and fat beeves reward
the enterprise of the grazier. The line of coast
formed by the margins of the lakes is upwards of
4,000 statute miles, and the region above the lakes,
organised into the North-Western territory in
1787, now embraces the States of Illinois, Indiana,
Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin, and it is proposed
to divert the whole of the enormous and annually
expanding trade of these vast countries through the
channel of the St. Lawrence forshipment to Europe.
Nor is the scheme visionary, but has many recom-
mendations, among which relative distances are
prime elements. The distance from Quebec, to
Liverpool is 475 miles less than from New York to
Liverpool. Kingston, at the foot of Lake Ontario,
is 125 miles nearer Liverpool than New York is.
From Hamilton, at the head of Lake Ontario, it is
the same distance as from New York to Glasgow.
From Lakes Ontario, Erie, and the southern point
of Huron, is nearly a straight line to the ports of
Great Britain, through the St. Lawrence and the
Straits of Belle Isle.

The sagacity of Washington foresaw this possible
revolution in trade. In writing to a member of the
national legislature, he urged the policy of prevent-
ing " the trade of the western territory from set-
tling into the bands of either the Spaniards or the
British." " If," he observed, "either of these
happen, there is a line of separation drawn between
the eastern and western country at once, the con-
sequences of which may be fatal. . . If, then,
the trade of that country should flow through the
Mississippi or the St. Lawrence—if the inhabitants
thereof should form commercial connections which,
we know, lead to connections of other kinds, they
would in a few years be as unconnected with us as
are those of South America. It may be asked how
are we to prevent this 1" In answer he recom-
mends the extension of the inland navigation of
the eastern waters, connecting them as neatly as
possible with those which run westward; the open-
ing of these to the Ohio ; of those which extend
from the Ohio to Lake Erie ; and, these points
accomplished, then he considered that his country-
men would not only draw the produce of the wes-
tern settlers, but tke peltry and fur trade of the
lakes.

As soon as the war of independence had been
brought to a successful termination the citizens of
the new republic desired to reach the unexplored
territory of the west and utilise its natural resources.
The plan proposed was by the construction of
canals, and Washington himself projected a plan
which was to stretch to the west by ascending the
Potomac. But this effort and some others failed,
because public opinion was not sufficiently ad-
vanced, or because capital was wanting. At length
the genius and energy of De Witt Clinton, whose
name will ever be honoured as one of the most emi-
nent benefactors of the United States, conceived
and executed the plan of the Erie Canal connecting
New York with Buffalo, and by this channel Ame-
rican enterprise had access to the western territory.
The canal is 363 miles in length, and seven feet in
depth. The original cost was 7,143,780 dollars,
and the enlargement 12,989,851 dollars, being at
the rate of 13, 8651. stg. per mile. This truly mag-
nificent work was commenced in 1817 and finished
in 1825 ; audit is a remarkable proof of the spirit
of the population of the state of New York who
then only numbered 1,300,000 souls.
The British Government, perceiving the value of
internal trade to Upper Canada, constructed the
Welland Canal, which connects the Lakes Ontario
nd Erie. The length of the main trunk is 28 miles ;
he junction branch to Dunnville 21 miles, and the
Broad Creek branch 1i miles, making altogether 50i
miles. It is not sufficientfor traffic lyinground Lake
Erie, and now it is proposed to carry a ship canal
from Ontario to Huron, a distance of 100 miles, by
which the commerce of all the lakes would be
brought into direct communication with the St.
Lawrence. With equal spirit the merchants of Chi-
cago are prepared to cut a canal 140 miles in length
through the southern part of Michigan, to avoid the
dangerous navigation of the St. Clair Flats, which
connect Huron with Erie. The position of Chicago
for commerce is most commanding. It is the prin-
cipal trading mart of Illinois, standing on the south-
western bend of Lake Michigan, at the head of
navigation as regards the lakes. Its rapid advance
is a wonder, for in 1833 the Red Indian built his ,
wigwam on its site, and the stag, free and fearless,
bounded over its plains. Lake Michigan opens to
Chicago the trade of the north and east, while the
Illinois and Michigan Canal gives it the trade of
the south and south-west, traversing about 100
miles to the head of steam-boat navigation on the
Illinois River. It opens a water communication of.
f
1,700 miles to the Gulf of Mexico, and
ulf of
completes
an inland navigation of 3,200 miles
St. Lawrence, by way of the lakes,ies to the
the Canada 1
canals, and St. Lawrence River ; and also by way
of the lakes, the Erie Canal, and the Hudson
to the city of New York, a distance of River,
3,100
The country surrounding Chicago, a mixture of
woods and prairies, diversified with gentle slopes,
and irrigated with numerous clear streams, is the
most fertile and beautiful that can be imagined.
These rich territories demand an outlet to the
ocean to avoid the heavy cost of trans-shipment, and
this can be effected by the junction of the Ontario
and Huron by a ship canal. Goods could then be
conveyed from Chicago to Liverpool and Glasgow
without breaking bulk, and the same vessels that
carried the agricultural products of the Far West to