I may finish this section by stating that, as respects the new Hudson's Bay shareholders, their 20_l_. shares have been reduced by returns of capital to 13_l_., and having, nevertheless, in the "boom" of lands in the West, been sold at 37_l_. as the price of the 13_l_.; they are now about 24_l_. Thus, every one who has held his property, and will continue to hold it, has, and will have, a safe and unusually profitable investment. These shareholders, besides the large reserves near their posts, which I shall enumerate later on, have a claim to one-twentieth of the land where settlements are surveyed and made. This gives a great future to the investor. On the other hand, Canada--in place of the Mother Country, to whom the whole ought to have belonged, for the purposes previously set forth--has obtained this vast and priceless dominion for a payment of only 300,000_l_., on the award of Earl Granville; and the Pacific Railway, by reason of that great possession, has been completed and opened. But there is much to record between the period of purchase and the sale to Canada. I here give to the reader some letters of the Duke's relating to these negotiations generally:-- "DOWNING STREET, "14 _Augt._ 1862. "MY DEAR SIR, "I am glad to tell you that since I received your letter of Saturday last, the Hudson's Bay Company has replied to my communication, and has promised to _grant_ land to a company formed under such auspices as those with whom I placed them in communication. The question now is--what _breadth_ of land they will give, for of course they propose to include the whole _length_ of the line through their territory. A copy of the reply shall be sent to Mr. Baring, and I hope you and he will be able to bring this concession to some practical issue. "I was quite aware of the willingness of the Company to _sell_ their _whole_ rights for some such sum as 1,500,000_l_. I ascertained the fact two months ago, and alluded to it in the House of Lords in my reply to a motion by Lord Donoughmore. I cannot, however, view the proposal in so favourable a light as you do. There would be no immediate or _direct_ return to show for this large outlay, for of course the trade monopoly must cease, and the sale of land would for some time bring in little or nothing--certainly not enough to pay for the government of the country. "I do not think Canada _can_, or if she can _ought_ to, take any large share in such a payment. Some of her politicians would no doubt support the proposal with views of their own,--but it would be a serious, and for some time unremunerative, addition to their very embarrassing debt. "I certainly should not like to _sell_ any portion of the territory to the United States--_exchange_ (if the territory were once acquired) would be a different thing,--but that would not help towards the liquidation of the purchase-money.