THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE.

"IT MIGHT BE DONE, AND ENGLAND SHOULD DO IT."

FROM THE PAINTING BY SIR J. E. MILLAIS. BART., P.R.A., D.C.L., &c. IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF BRITISH ART.

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CHAPTER XVIII.

THE REIGN OF VICTORIA (continued).

Termination of the Hudson's Bay Monopoly—British Columbia and Vancouver—Mr. Locke King's Bill for the Abolition of the Property Qualification—Evils of the old System—Cordial Reception of the Measure—Attempt to abolish Freedom of Arrest for Debt—Mr. Bright agitates for Reform—The Conservatives propose a Reform Bill—Mr. Disraeli's Speech—His New Franchises—Liberal Objections—Secession of Mr. Walpole and Mr. Henley—Mr Henley's Explanation—Lord John Russell's Resolution—Seven Nights' Debate—Replies of Lord Stanley and Sir Hugh Cairns—Mr. Bright's Speech—Progress of the Debate—Speeches of Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Disraeli—Defeat of the Government—Lord Derby announces a Dissolution—Prorogation of Parliament—The General Election—Parliament reassembles—Lord Hartington's Amendment—Defeat of the Government—Lord Malmesbury's Statement in his "Memoirs"—Union of the Liberal Party—Lord Granville's attempt to form a Ministry—Lord Palmerston becomes Premier—His Ministry—The Italian Question in Parliament—State of the Peninsula—Speeches of Napoleon and Victor Emmanuel—Ambiguous Attitude of Napoleon—Lord Malmesbury's Diplomacy—Lord Cowley's Mission—The Austrian Ultimatum—Malmesbury's Protest—"From the Alps to the Adriatic"—The Armies in Position—First Victories of the Allies—Magenta and Milan—Battle of Solferino—The Armistice—Treaty of Villafranca—Lord John Russell's Commentary.

THE vast territory of the Hudson's Bay Company was converted into a British colony in 1857. For nearly half a century the varied productions of this territory had enriched that Company—fur and skins of various kinds, fish, timber, all of excellent quality. Agriculture was discouraged and the land was preserved as well as possible for the use of fur-bearing animals, although the soil was in many places extremely rich; it was watered by magnificent rivers, and abounded in minerals. Several attempts had been made to open this region for the purposes of colonisation, and thus to connect the Atlantic with the Pacific, the whole intervening country being the property of the British Crown. The monopoly of the Hudson's Bay Company, however, effectually resisted those attempts until its licence expired, contemporaneously with the discovery of gold in 1857. This discovery attracted an immense number of adventurers from California and other parts of the United States, and from China, as well as Great Britain, its dependencies, and the American colonies. The time was therefore come when a regular government for the whole territory should be provided, and in the Session of 1858 Sir E. Bulwer Lytton, then Colonial Secretary in Lord Derby's Government, brought in a Bill for the purpose. He stated that the Government intended the following year to resume possession of Vancouver's Island, and to include it within the new colony, which was first called "New Caledonia," but the name was afterwards changed to British Columbia. Sir E. Bulwer Lytton, at the conclusion of his speech, remarked—"I do believe that the day will come, and that many now present will live to see it, when a portion at least of the lands on the other side of the Rocky Mountains, being also brought into colonisation, and guarded by free institutions, one direct line of railway communication will unite the Pacific with the Atlantic," a prophecy fulfilled by the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway. In the Queen's Speech at the close of the Session her Majesty expressed a hope that this new colony on the Pacific might be but one step in the career of steady progress by which her dominions in North America might be ultimately peopled, in an unbroken chain from the Atlantic to the Pacific, by a loyal and industrious population of the subjects of the British Crown. This hope was destined to be realised sooner than even sanguine minds anticipated, by the rapid progress of colonisation and the creation of the Dominion of Canada, stretching across the Continent from ocean to ocean.