In America, the most notable feature in the recent history of the British possessions is found in the growth of wealth and population in the Dominion of Canada. It has been shown how that Colony rose in rebellion in the first year of the present reign, and how Lord Durham framed a Constitution for it in his report. Lord Durham died, and his scheme lay in a pigeon-hole of the Colonial Office till 1867, when it was virtually carried into effect by Lord Carnarvon's Act for the Confederation of the British North American Provinces. Upper and Lower Canada, the English and French territories of the rebellion, are now known as the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec, and with them are confederated New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, British Columbia, Manitoba, and the North-West Territories. The population of Canada has risen from about one million and a half in 1841 to five millions at the present day, and progress in commerce and wealth has been equally rapid. [Illustration: _Carl Haag, R.W.S._} {_From the Royal Collection._ EVENING AT BALMORAL OLD CASTLE--THE STAGS BROUGHT HOME.--September 1853.] CHAPTER VIII. 1853-1854. The "Sick Man"--Position of the Eastern Question--Projects of the Emperor Nicholas--The Custody of the Holy Places--Prince Menschikoff's Demand--Russian Invasion of Moldo-Wallachia--The Vienna Note--Declaration of War by the Porte--Destruction of the Turkish Fleet--Resignation of Lord Palmerston--Great Britain and France Declare War with Russia--State of the British Armaments. [Sidenote: The "Sick Man."] "We have on our hands a sick man--a very sick man; it will be a great misfortune if one of these days he should slip away from us before the necessary arrangements have been made."