A Weak
Government Would Invite Attack, Deter Investment, And Check General
Confidence.
"Apart from the government by the Hudson's Bay Company, there appear to
be these alternatives:
-
"1. Government by Canada annexing to her territory a tract of country
extending to the limits of British Columbia, under some reasonable
arrangement with the Hudson's Bay Company, fairly protective of their
rights, and which arrangement ought not to be difficult to draw out,
when once the principle of the settlement of the country, and the land
system, and extent of land reserves, are agreed upon.
"2. Government by the Crown, as a separate Crown Colony, totally
independent of Canada.
"3. Government by the Crown as a separate Crown Colony, with
federation, more or less extensive, with Canada, and the establishment
of a customs union between the new and old communities.
"It must always be observed that a decision as to the fate of this
territory must be immediately made. It cannot wait political
necessities elsewhere, or be postponed to suit individual wishes. The
fertile country between Lake Winnipeg and the Rocky Mountains will be
now settled, since that is now a fixed policy, and its plan of
government must be in advance of, and not lag behind, that settlement.
The electric wire, the letter post, and the steamboat, which two years
more will see at work, will totally change the face of things; and as
Minnesota has now 250,000 inhabitants, where, in 1850 there was hardly
a white man, so this vast district may, when once it can be
communicated with from without, with reasonable facility, be flooded
with emigrants, not forgetting a very probable rush of English, Irish,
and Scotch farmers, and settlers from the United States, who here will
find a refuge from conscription and civil war.
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