"Thus it will be seen that out of the whole distance one-half is over level prairies, and but 40 miles through mountains.

"There are now two steamers on the Red River of the North. With our present news there will be a necessity, in July, for a propeller through Lake Winnepeg, and a river steamer on the Saskatchewan. These furnished with a water communication from Georgetown, in Minnesota, would transport an emigrant to the new Eldorado in the Rocky Mountains, from which the Fraser flows to the Pacific, the Peace River to the Arctic Ocean, and the Saskatchewan to Hudson's Bay."

"The conception of an Inter-Oceanic Railway (writes an able correspondent of the Times), commencing at Halifax, and after passing in its entire length of 3200 miles, terminating at the new Liverpool, which, we may confidently hope, will, in a few years, rise up on the southern shore of Vancouver Island, is one the magnitude and importance of which cannot be over estimated. As compared with the route to British Columbia viâ Panama, the InterOceanic line would effect a saving of 22 days, while the position of Vancouver Island, as contrasted with Panama, in relation to China and Australia, is also very significant.

Panama to Canton, about.

Vancouver Island to Canton

Panama to Sydney

Vancouver Island to Sydney

Miles.

10,000

9,000

8,200

7,200

"This proximity to Australia," continues the writer, "is especially worthy of note at a time when the transmission of the mails across the Pacific is again being prominently advocated. It will be apparent from the aforegiven distances, that by transmitting the Australian mails from England to the Pacific across British North America via Vancouver Island, instead of viâ Panama, a saving of five days is effected between England and the Pacific, and of 1000 miles, or say five days more, in the passage across that ocean—ten

days saved in all.

"The advantages to Great Britain which would accrue consequent upon the entire service being performed through British territory are beyond all calculation. The construction of the railway would not merely open up to civilization a large territory in British North America hitherto almost unexplored, but it would open up to the cultivators of the soil in that territory and in Canada a means of transit to all the markets of the Pacific, and an open passage to the China seas and to our possessions in the East Indies. In every aspect, whether viewed politically, socially, or commercially, the establishment of the proposed railway would give a progressive impulse to the affairs of the world, which, in its results, would eclipse anything which has been witnessed even amid the extraordinary development of the present century. That the railway will infallibly be made is as certain as that now is the time to undertake

it. One does not require to be a prophet to predict that when the resources of British Columbia are fully opened up, and a communication established between the Atlantic and the Pacific, there will be enough traffic for a dozen steamers as large as the Great Eastern on both oceans. The British empire has now the opportunity of securing that position which it has hitherto occupied without dispute as the greatest commercial nation in the world."

Speaking on this subject, T. D. M'Gee (quoted in the Canadian News, of the 31st of October, 1861) remarks: "But there is a more important consideration connected with the territory of the Hudson Bay Company, for we know that through its prairies is to be found the shortest and best railroad route to the Pacific. Every one can understand that the American route from Western Europe to Asia, which lies farthest to the north, must be the most direct. Any one glancing at a globe will see where the 46th degree parallel leads the eye from the heart of Germany, through the British Channel, across to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and from our gulf westward to the Saskatchewan, to Vancouver's Island-the Cuba of the North Pacific-and from Vancouver to the rich and populous archipelago of Japan. This course was demonstrated by Captain Synge to be 2000 miles shorter between London and Hong Kong than any other in existence; it has but one formidable engineering difficulty to be overcomee-an elevation of 6000 feet above the sea-level in crossing the Rocky Mountains into Columbia. Such at least is the carefully-guarded statement of Mr. Stevens, the late American Governor of Washington territory, and such is said to be the result arrived at by Captain Palisser's more recent explorations. By a short tunnel at the favourable pass, the elevation may be reduced to 5000 feet, whose gradients,' it has been calculated, 'need not exceed 60 feet per mile, from the head of Lake Superior to Puget Sound.' An elevation of 5000 feet is not an insuperable obstacle, as has been shown at Mount Cenis and the Alleghanies. (On the Philadelphia and Pittsburg Road at Altona the gradient of 96 feet to the mile has been found practicable.) The name 'Rocky Mountains '—is more formidable to the ear than to the engineer; as the latitude has misled us with regard to climate, so the latitude has been overrated with regard to cost; but the science of this age once entering upon any experiment, it will neither be deterred by regions represented as uninhabitable, nor by mountains reputed to be impassable.'

Advice to Emigrants to Canada or the United States-Progress of Emigration to America-Comparative Increase in Immigration from 1861 to 1864-Emigration from Germany-Laws of Migration-Inducements to Settle in America— Stock-Breeding and Raising in Illinois.

ADVICE TO EMIGRANTS.

THE increase of the population each year in Europe compels a certain portion of the inhabitants to seek employment in another sphere. We can only say to those who seek either Canada or the United States as their future home, that they must be prepared to labour and to toil. In America, with ordinary prudence and judicious selection of land, a competence is almost a necessary result. Above all things, we must advise emigrants to avoid one moment's longer sojourn in a city than is absolutely necessary. To husband the resources is one of the most important rules which the new settler can lay down-never to spend a penny without he can see an absolute return of interest. When we have more leisure we shall probably revise this work and devote more space to the subject of emigration. The reader will, however, find in the Appendix much useful information to guide him.

The progress of emigration to America is shown in the following tables :

CANADA.

Comparative Statement of the Number of Immigrants arriving at the Port of Quebec, since the Year 1850 to 1861, inclusive.