When the Committee of Commerce, to which the Legislature of New York referred its petition against the Reciprocity Treaty, made their report, they gave expression to very different sentiments; and enlarged on the magnitude of the present possessions of the British Crown on the American continent, and the probable grandeur of their future, in a manner which indicated certainly the existence of a feeling not far removed from jealousy. With great truth they say, that the value of the British North-American possessions is seldom appreciated: stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, they contain an area of at least 3,478,380 square miles. The isothermal line of 60 degrees for summer rises on the interior plains of this continent as high as the 61st parallel,--its average position in Europe. And a favourable comparison may also be traced for winter and other seasons in the year. Then, elevated by the subject, and warming by degrees, the Committee draw a glowing picture of this enormous empire. “Spring opens simultaneously,” they say, “on the plains, which stretch for 1200 miles, from St. Paul’s to the McKenzie River. Westward are countries of still milder climate, now scarcely inhabited, but of incalculable value in the future. Eastward are the small settlements, yet distant from the other abodes of civilisation, enjoying the rich lands and pleasant climate of the Red River.” It may well surprise the inhabitants of these isles, who have not got 100 miles of natural navigable rivers in the three kingdoms, to learn that this same Red River is capable of steamboat navigation for 400 miles. The following extract from this Report gives perhaps the best idea of the British Possessions in a few words which can be presented to the reader: “It is asserted by those who add personal knowledge of the subject to scientific investigation, that the habitable but undeveloped area of the British Possessions westerly from Lake Superior and Hudson’s Bay, comprises sufficient territory to make twenty-five States equal in size to Illinois. Bold as this assertion is, it meets with confirmation in the isothermal charts of Blodgett, the testimony of Richardson, Simpson, Mackenzie, the maps published by the Government of Canada, and the recent explorations of Professor Hind, of Toronto. “North of a line drawn from the northern limit of Lake Superior to the coast at the southern limit of Labrador exists a vast region, possessing in its best parts a climate barely endurable, and reaching into the Arctic regions. This country, even more cold, desolate, and barren on the Atlantic coast than in the interior latitudes, becoming first known to travellers, has given character in public estimation to the whole north.