, 1858-06-18
From the San Francisco Herald
A British Pacific Railroad.

taken the'initiatory steps for the construc-
ton of Pacific Railroad through Canada
and the possessions of the Hudson's Bay
Company, and from the energy which in all
ages has been the characteristic of that Ma
ton, it is not too much to conclude that If
practicable route should be discovered,
the Atlantic and the Pacific will be united
by bonds Of iron at no distant day. AL
ready an expedition has been organized for
the purposes of exploration, and that be-
fore the news of the gold discoveries in the
possessions Of the Hudson's Bay Company
could have reached England, and it is cur
rently reported, will soon start For the
last ten years the subject of building Pa
cifc Railroad has been agitated in the
United States, and though surveys have
been made, we are apparently as near the
accomplishment of the project to-day as
when the idea OF the great Continental
Railroad was first broached There can
be no doubt of the fact that the recent gold
discoveries will give new aud in all prob
ability an irresistible impulse to the projec-
ted British Pacific Railroad, and that be-
fore we have got through our squabbles
about an Insignificant territory in the heart
Of the country, the British locomotives will
awaken the echoes in the heart of the
northern portion Of the American Cont
nent, and secure to that power the posses
sion of the commercial sceptre of the world.
The lie Pays et Journal de PEmpire, Of
Paris, Of the 18th of March, in an elabor-
ate article INDUCES in some speculatious on
the subject, and its remarks are entitled to
the greatest consideration The LIE Pays
says
The astonishing enlargement and increase
Of the trade and commerce of the Western
States and provinces of North America
development which has taken place only
within the last few years-has for some
time past excited much attention, and
awakened a lively interest both in England
and America.
The great expedition which is about to
start from London in a short time, having
for its object the explorations Of the re-
gions of the far West which belong to
England. has been evidently fitted out with
no other view bnt that of determining the
course and direction TO be given TO The i'm
kra1a Af A maniac vrrhioI, h.
the commercial enterprise Of both countries
has within the last few years assumed such
gigantic dimensions. 1t is indeed pretend
ed that the object of this great expedition
is merely Of scientific character 1t is
osteusibly put forth o.the world that it is
a mission entrusted with the business of ex-
pIoring the several countries which are
still under the government Of the Hudson
Bay Company, 1t is known that the re-
gions under the sway of this company COM
prise immense Territories, which are alto
gether unknown at the present day, and
which are, the greater part Of them, still
in the same wild and savage state as when
they were first created by the power Of the
Creator Of the world; they are countries
where the feet Of men have never yet trod-
den, where the echo of the sound of the
human voice has never yet been beard
The expedition of which we here speak is
commanded by Colonel Elliott, of the Roy
al Engineers; it consists Of a company Of
sixty engineers, and will be accompanied by
a troop of forty men under the command
Of Captain Haig, Of tho Royal Artillery.
On arriving at Vancouver 1t will be rein
forced by hundred men, as pioneers,
selected from the most experienced and
hardy servants of the Hudson Bay Com
pany, and will then push on and go ahead,
as the mercy Of Providence may please to
favor it.
But we who live in the world and who
are not altogether blind to the progress and
proceedings of such kind of things as
these, are not to be deceived nor to be made
dupes of as to the real purpose of such an
undertaking. England and the United
States are both of them fully sensible that
the time has arrived when the sceptre of
the commercial world must be grasped and
held by the hand of that power which shall
be able to maintain the most certain and
the most rapid communication between
Europe and Asia. 1t is not merely by the
Isthmus Of Suez or by the Red Sea, that
henceforth the trade with the East is going
to be carried on. The eastern continent of
Asia will be walked up to a new CONNER
cial activity from other ports, and especial
ly from the several ports of the Chinese
Empire. Consequently, the empire of the
world, in a commercial point of view, will
henceforth belong to one of the two pow
ers of England and America which shall
be the first to find means to establish a di-
rect road across the continent Of America
whereby to communicate most rapidly with
the great East on the Pacific side, and with
Europe on the Atlantic side. This will be
the greatest highway by which the products
of the Old World will have to be carried
to the Eastern world. Such a road is
wanted in order to transport with abun-
dance and celerity both the multitude of
emicPnnts and the abundance of the pro-