The Sun.
London, England, 1858-07-09 00:00:00

THE ROCKY M:JUIVTAINS.

Destiny, which has lately riveted our attention
on the burning plains of the extreme East, now
claims our solicitude for the auriferous mountains
and rushing livers of the far West and the shores
of the remote Pacific. What must of us know of
these ultra-occidental regions may ho summed up
in a very few words. We have most of us read
Washington Irving's charming narrative of Astoria,
sympathisrd with the untimely fate of Captain
Thorn and his crew, and read with breathless in-
terest the wanderings of the pilgrims to the head
watere, of the Columbia. After thirty years the cur-
tain rises again on the stormy period of the Ash-
burton Treaty, when the " patriots " were bent
upon " whipping the Britishers" out of every acre
ot land on the western side of the Rocky Moun-
tains. And now for the third time we are recalled
to the same territory, no longer as the goal of the
adventurous trader or the battle-ground of the
political agitator, but as a land ot promise—a new
la Dorado, to which men are rushing with all the
avidity that the presence of the one thing which
all men in all times and in all places insatiably de-
sire is sure to create.

The Parliamentary paper circulated yesterday
morning, and the able epitome of it given in the
speech of the Secretary of State for the Colonies
in the House of Commons last night, dispelled to a
considerable extent the obscurity which hung over
this portion of the American coneinent, and which
tttn rcaana 4.6... A.. nrirn►:-.•• of
last year had only partially removed. The terri-
tories of the Hudson's Bay Company may, for the
purpose of understanding the arrangements now
in progress, be divided into three parts—the ter-
ritory to the east of the Rocky Mountains, held
principally under charter from the Crown ; the
territory to the west of the Rocky Mountains,
held under a license for exclusive trade, granted
under an act of Parliament • and Vancouver's
Island, handed over to the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany during the colonial administration of Lord
Grey. The Company proved, as might Lave been
expected, better fur-traders than colonists. The
settlement languished under their auspices ; they
are accused of overbearing private trade by the
weight of an irresistible competition ; the price of
their land, too, was unreasonably high, having
been fixed by act of Parliament at if. an acre,
in pursuance of the colonial policy of the day ;
the resources of the island were not developed,
nor did its population materially increase. The
Committee of last year therefore recommended that
Vancouver's Island should be taken from the Hud-
,0.1,, p,", Company, and formed into a separate
colony ; isuu ineaeuiea ;“) presume, be
immediately taken to carry that decision into
effect. Mr. Roebuck has given notice that he will
on a future evening call the attention of the house
to the case of the Hudson's Bay territories east of
the Rocky Mountains. A deputation has waited on
Lord Derby, pressing upon him the necessity of
taking these territories also from the Hudson's
Bay Company, and Lord Derby has expressed
his general concurrence with the views of the
deputation ; but no immediate action is to be
expected, and we may therefore await with patience
the result of the threatened Parliamentary dis-
cussion. The fate, however, of the district which
lies between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific
has just been decided by the Government and the
House of Commons. It is to enter into the list of
British colonioa under the euphonous, but not
novel title of New Caledonia. It is a wild and
mountainous land, intersected with deep ravines
and rivers fed from the inexhaustible moisture that
rolls down the sides of the Rocky Mountains,
having very little level ground, but a healthy and
temperate climate. Two of these rivers, the Fraser
and the Thompson, the names of which recall the
native land of the traders of the Hudson's Bay
Company, the first flowing from the north, the
second from the east, unite at about 330 miles
from the sea, and it is at their junction that the
golden deposits which have so suddenly dragged
this obscure region into notoriety are found. The
approach to this point is described as exceedingly
difficult and even dangerous, and many persons
have already perished in the river in pursuit of the
wealth which has been discovered on its banks.
The Indians are numerous and warlike, quite
aware of the value of the gold, and firmly deter-
mined, if possible, to keep it for themselves. They
are described by the few millets who straggled to
the spot last year, as abstaining from acts of
violence and bloodshed, but as keeping a vigilant
watch on the motions of their unwelcome visitors,
and, whenever they find that they have broken
ground, as quietly hustling them away from the
place, and confiscatieg the mine to their own use
and benefit. This year, however, matters look
more serious. A large emigration of persons
trained in the rough school of California has set
forth. They carry with them their tools and the
necessaries of life, for there is no food in the land
whither they go. The Indians regard them with
suspicion and hatred, and there is reason to ap-
prehend a collision between the savages and these
outcasts of civilization, which can hardly be ex-
pected to terminate without bloodshed.
These are the facts under which the Colonial
Minister is called upon to act, and be has intro•
dueed a BM for the purpose of dealing with
them which pro'esses to give law, order, go:;d
government, and protection to life and property.
This is very welt as far as law-making goes, but it
was pointed out by more than one speaker that for
the preservation of law and order something more
than an Act of Parliament is necessary, and that,
in fact, no time should be lost in despatching a re-
spectable force to the place. So far from regarding
suet an event as a piece of good fortune, worthy
of the glowing periods in which the Colonial Mini-
ster celebrated the future of his infant colony, we
regard Such a state of things as exceedingly unto-
ward. We could well have afforded to await until
the wave of population, flowing steadily onward
from the South-east, had peopled these solitary
valleys with a race capable of governing themselves
and of supplying a police adequate for their own
wants. The gold will probably enrich the adven-
turers who'dig it up, but will contribute but little

to the support of the Government in whose land it
is found ; while the rude and turbulent habits of
the miners call upon us to detach a force which at
the present moment we can but ill spare, and to
enter into expenses which even a Chancellor of the
Exchequer who has, like Mr. Disraeli, discbvered
the philosopher's stone, would very gladly avoid.
Nor can we join the Colonial Secretary in his wish,
which had in it more of poetry than statesman-
ship, that the colony may not be enriched by the
gold. We would gladly have dispensed with its
presence, but, as it has come, we. must make the
best of it, and seek, by settling the population on
the land, to avoid a situation similar to that of the
Australian Colonies, where the human tide flows
out almost as fast as it flows in, and deprives th•
land of the riches which men have come there to
gather, but carry elsewhere to invest and.lto enjoy.
We do not believe that those who have had of late
years full experience of the blessings of local
self-government in California will be at all un-
willing to enjoy that particular species of liberty
which assumes the form of enlightened despotism.
To work in peace and to enjoy the fruits of their
labour will be to them a condition of life equally
new and precious, and we should imagine it would
take some years before they will recowe i taste
enough for a democratic Government seriously to
disturb the paternal sway of Mr. James Douglas.—

Country Markets.

MA.NOFIESTER ---JuLy 8.

There was a good attendance at our market this morn-
ing, but owing to the high prices demanded by holders
the business passing was very restricted. English wheat,
in the sales effected, was held for an advance of fully 24
per qr., and !d to 3d per 701bs. on foreign, since this day
iannight. Flour also improved is to 2s per sack, with a
slow sale. Oatmeal neglected. Oats met rather more
inquiry at extreme rates. Beans, peas, Indian corn, and
barley each is per qr. dearer.