The Goodhue volunteer. [volume] (Red Wing, Goodhue County, Minn.) 1861-1864, 1862-02-26
laws q ne stnte 81 Min nesota,

ss9as ssss5 Il Ass II ] MEMORIAL
Upon the National defence Of the
Northern Minnesota frontier.
,: lo the Congress ct the, United States:
u The Legislature Of Minnesota would
respectfully ask the cooperation of
The National Government in measures
Of military necessity, upon the frontier
between Minnesota and the English
settlements at Selkirk, in Central
British America. $50 -. i,e@ ~. II l.
Tits we'll known that North of lati-
tude forty-nins degree 40 deg.) and
West of latitude ninety.four degrees
"a deg.) there extends to the Rocky
Mountains a district which may be
properly styled Central British Amer
al This region, a, least to latitude fifty
four degrees (54 deg. five degrees Of
latitude i'll width and eleven degrees
Of longitude in lengths connected
with Minnesota by internal river and
lake navigation, and is capable of sus-
tanning as dense population as the
States of Michigan, Wisconsin and
Minnesota.
The climate and soil invite similar
agriculture. Selkirk Settlement, with
population of ten thousand souls, i'm
mediately joins Minnesota, and is the
key to the future occupation and de-
syelopment Of the fertile valleys and
navigab1e streams which converge to
Lake Winnipeg. One of these streams,
the. Red River Of the North, is navi-
gable for four hundred miles Ivy its
course within the United States forms
ing the Northwest boundary of Min
a. nesota.
1t was favorite policy Of the Der
by Ministry, and especially of Sir Ed
ward Bulwer Lytton, Colonial Secrc-
1ary,>~t organize a Crown Colony of
Central British America, with the seat
OF government at Selkirk.
A draft Of bill for that purpose
has not been pressed during the Pal
merston Administration, greatly to the
dissatisfaction Of the people most i'll
terested.
Meanwhile the revenue and postal
system Of the United States has been
extended to Pembina, and beyond,
and, with the aid of steamboat navi-
CATION, transferred to the Red River
from the adjacent sources Of the Mis-
sissippi, by the enterprise Of the citi-
zens Of Minnesota) has rapidly re.
moved former prejudices to CONNER
cial and even political association with
the United States. 1t is not too much
to say, that if England shall no, i'm
mediately take measures in behalf of
the Red River and Saskatchewan dis.
districts, by political organization,
and effective measures of colonization,
that the Americanization Of grain
region as large as six States of the size
of Ohio, cannot long be postponed.
Hitherto the people Of Minnesota have
desired no other relations with their
Northern neighbors than the concord
Of international treaties. a.
They still seek no other, satisfied
with the political frontier entrusted to
their keeping, although claiming to be
central to vast division Of physical
geography. With these preliminary
observations, purposely emitting many
considerations which late events would
suggest, but upon which it may be in
= expedient to enlarge, your memorial
lists proceed to an enumeration of a
few, topics, which seem, at this time,
essential to the relation of Minnesota
81 to an important, although hitherto iso-
lated, portion OF British dominion on
this continent. Il e.S =.
- First. We urge the immediate con-
struction and occupation Of a Fort Of
the United States near Pembina on
the international frontier. ?"''.' -.
20. The merit of this suggestion is en-
forced by an appropriation of fifty
. thousand (5o,oo0 dollars at late SEES
, sion Of Congress, although the expen,
sditure for that purpose has been tenn
porarily ! postponed by our present
national difficulties. Such, a fortress
would powerfully contribute TO- the
suppression of the hereditary feud be-
tween the Chippewas and Dakotahs.
The Red River of the North is tie
boundary, not iaaptly called the Red
4 River, which separates these implaca:
bic foes. ' S5 - 49, " IN. ...5 : ,s-
ID, Second Tie extension of settle
4 ments to Otter Tail Lake, to George
town, on the Red River, and other
/ points, renders it highly expedi.nt to
! close treaty with the Red Lake bands
of Chippewas, removing all impedi-
: ments to the transit of mails, merchan-
disc, and emigrants, on the routes be-
tween the settlements of the Upper
Mississippi river anil Lake Superior,
. the American community at Pembina,
i. and the English settlements At The
mouth Of the Red River Of the North.
,rg# On this subject, the Legislature
heartily accords with the recommend
sation sf the Hon. Clark w. Thomp.
son, Superintendent of Indian Affairs
I. for Minnesota, and Of the Governor Of
/ Afinnesota, in his annual message Of
4 january ninth, ono thousand eight
hundred aud sixty,two. r..,rs.s.,. ..s..5~,
Third. Besides the advantages 81
the present mail service in the valley
of Red River to citizens of Minnesota,
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