THE NORTHWESTEllX' BOUNDARY -LINE. 225 



Britain the concession of recognizing certain preten- 

 sions of that Company in Oregon and Washington, 

 founded on mere encroachment, and, in order to be re- 

 lieved of these pretensions, paying to the Company a 

 small sum in satisfaction of its claims, about one tenth 

 of what was demanded for it in the name of the Brit- 

 ish Government. 



Lord Milton expresses the oj)inion that "On a. just 

 and equitable solution of the so-called San Juan Water- 

 boundary Question depends the future, not only of 

 British Columbia, but also of the entire British pos- 

 sessions in North America." By "just and equitable 

 solution" he means, of course, decision in favor of 

 Great Britain. If the premises are correct, then the 

 consequences are a fact accomplished. But he over- 

 estimates the value of the Archipelago of San Juan to 

 Great Britain. His opinion assumes what is impossi- 

 ble, the acquisition of considerable intrinsic strength 

 on the part of British Columbia, sustained by railroad 

 connection with the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec. 

 But what would avail, in a military point of view, a 

 railroad runuino: throuo-h a thousand miles of com- 

 paratively uninhabited country within easy reach at 

 every point to the armies of the United States ? .1 

 think the future of the British possessions in North 

 America depends on a different order of facts, of which 

 something will be said in another chapter in speak- 

 ins: of the commercial relations of the United States 

 and the Canadian Dominion. 



P 



