Father de Smet, the missionary, a man whose name is a tower of strength and faith, describes a district which makes us wonder that poverty should ever be known in Europe, and corroborates the glowing picture of Sir George Simpson:--a soil and climate better suited for agriculture than that of Toronto--a region abounding in game of all kinds, rivers and lakes swarming with fish, plains covered with buffaloes--seams of coal--delicious wild fruits--forests of pine, cypress, poplar, and aspen. Even at Edmonton, potatoes, wheat and barley, corn and beans, are produced in abundance. “Are these vast and innumerable fields of hay,” asks Father de Smet, “for ever destined to be consumed by fire, or perish in wintry snows? How long shall these superb forests be the haunts of wild beasts? Are these abundant mines of coal, lead, sulphur, iron, copper, and saltpetre doomed to remain for ever valueless? No; the day must come when the hand of labour shall give them value, and stirring and enterprising people are destined ere long to fill this void; the wild beasts will give place to domestic animals; flocks and herds will graze on the beautiful meadows, and the mountain-sides and valleys will swarm with life.” Before this picture, however, be realised, some communication must be opened east or west between the community and the outer world; and if the British Government does not take some steps to secure a settlement of these regions by its own subjects, the irresistible agency of American emigration will erase mere lines upon the map, and determine the question of nationality beyond the power of appeal or alteration. It is agreeable to admit that the inhabitants of the State of Minnesota have not hitherto evinced any design of raising difficulties as to jurisdiction, or of disturbing the relations between the two Governments. In fact, the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce, in 1862, presented a strong memorial against the proposal to suspend or abrogate the provisions of the Reciprocity Treaty. This memorial says:-- “Central British America, including an inhabitable area of 300,000 square miles, and extending north-west of Minnesota to the Rocky Mountains, will probably be organised as a crown colony of England, with the seat of government at Selkirk. There is good reason to believe that a bill for this purpose will become an Act of Parliament at the session now impending. British Columbia, on the Pacific coast, having received a similar organisation in 1858, the establishment of the province of Central British America will go far to realise the hope so gracefully expressed three years since from the throne of England: ‘That her Majesty’s dominions in North America may ultimately be peopled in an unbroken chain from the Atlantic to the Pacific, by a loyal and industrious population of subjects of the British crown.’