Year: 1859

From the London Times april L.


BRITISH CoLUMBIA.-It is certainly fortunate that
sir Robert Feel made firm stand on the Oregon
question and secured this noble tract for his coun-
trymen. After the sacrifice of territory by the
Ashburton Treaty such success was necessary to
restore his reputation as an administrator of for
eIgn affairs. The country to which British emigra-
tlon and enterprise invited is one which
must before long take a high place in the world.
The Americans have founded two States-Califor-
MIA and Oregon, the Pacific coast and these are
growing with rapidity unexampled even in their
annals. They are pushing steadily across the con-
tnent; the cities often years since are now far
within the limits of civilization. Chicago has
become venerable metropolis to the citizens of
st. Paul, Dubuque and Superior. The transit
across the lsthmus is being regularly organized
and there Is reason to hope that the troubles which
desolate Central America will pass away, so that a
rapid and cheap communication between the two
oceans may be permanently established. All these
things point to the speedy prosperity of the British
territory on the Western coast containing as it
does some of the finest harbors in the world with
fertile SOIL a healthy climate, winters less severe
than was anticipated, and above all mineral wealth
to which there seems no bound.


1t would certainly ill become the British Govern
ment and people to neglect the priceless territory
on which they have planted their flag. In days to
come, when the Pacific coast is under Anglo Saxon
dominion from the FrLzen Sea to the Isthmus of
Panama, when the Australians are a powerful COM
munity, when China and the whole of Eastern Asia
are penetrated by the enterprise of English-speak-
inS iaces tne region now known as 15rltlsh C0lum-
bia will most assuredly rank among the most
prosperous and powerful. 1t rests with the English
people OF the present day to decide by whom this
fabric shall be constructed, and whether the new
community shall grow up with English habits and
instincts; or be furnished with population and ideas
by kindred, but still very different, people, We
are exposed in British Columbia not only to the
rivalry, but to the invasion, of the Americans.
They are firmly established in the neighborhood,
and while the territory is many thousand miles
from the English either of the home country or
Australia, it is within a few days sail of great
American city. The first object of our Government
should be to encourage large British emigration.
We happy to say that the working classes of the
present day are firmly attached to the Government
of the mother country and that the Irish obey
peacefully the law and the constituted colonial
authorities wherever they go. A large infusion of
English settlers is the primary want of the colony
Of course, it is question of money, and we do
not want the Government to interfere with private
enterprise; but still government NAV give encour-
agement, or even originate ideas, and the passage
of emigrants across Panama Tehuantepec seems
no extraordinary than the transport of troops
to India, scheme about which the official world
hesitated greatly.