r sons, and the accomplishment of the
undertaking will soon reward the labour, courage and skill which would
undoubtedly be exhibited. Sir Alexander Mackenzie inscribed in large
characters, with vermillion, this brief memorial, on the rocks of the
Pacific, "Alexander Mackenzie from Canada by land the 22nd of July,
1794." Who will be the first engineer to inscribe upon the Rocky
Mountains "On this day engineer A. B. piloted the first locomotive
engine across the Rocky Mountains;" and what then will be the feeling of
Englishmen, when even now Steam is considered the "exclusive offspring
of British genius, fostered and sustained by British enterprise and
British capital!" We have seen that on the highest habitable spot of the
Mountains of the Alps stands a monument of war, placed there by the hand
of a powerful man in the pride of victory over his fellow-men, and in
honour of his companion in arms. We trust before long that on the
highest habitable spot of the Rocky Mountains will stand a monument of
peace, placed there by an enterprising nation in honour of the victory
of science over nature, and in memory of some enterprising son.

After all her wars, her victories and her revolutions, in what condition
is France?

What may not England expect to be with all her victories over
nature--her trade and commerce?[see Note 52] May she march forward in
her career of peace as bravely, as nobly, and as proudly as she did in
that of war; and may she now take as great an interest in, and make
the same exertions for, the welfare and happiness not only of her own
people, but of those of other nations in all quarters of the globe, as
she did in former days for their protection from a desolating foe.

What the ultimate consequences of such a link of connection would be,
are indeed far beyond the reach of the human mind to foresee; but its
immediate results stand out apparently to the most common observer. In
the first place, Cape Horn (_the roughest point to weather in the whole
world_) would be avoided. In the next, the long passage by the Cape of
Good Hope to innumerable places in the Pacific Ocean would become also
unnecessary. In both these cases a great amount of time (which in
commerce is money) would be saved. Again, it would be no longer
necessary to send goods by the route of the Hudson's Bay[see Note 27] to
the territories of that Company; and thus _a climate horrible in winter
and summer_, would also be avoided.[see Note 44