rers by the sepoy mutiny, L7,000 for
a public library, L8,000 for an university purely secular. After these
and similar votes, a cash balance of nearly half a million sterling
remained in hand.

BRITISH AMERICA

Nothing peculiarly calling for statement or remark was presented in the
aspect of the British American colonies in 1858-9, except Jamaica and
British Columbia.

_Jamaica_.--This island has been well styled the Queen of the Western
Indies. Slavery, bad government, the ignorance and bigotry of the
colonists, had all militated against its improvement--1858-9 was no
exception to these remarks. According to _De Cordova's Mercantile
Intelligencer_, the Commercial annals of the year "were peculiarly
unhealthy." This was the only British American colony to which such a
remark would apply.

_British Columbia and Vancouver's Island_.--This new settlement made
great progress from the very dawn of its recognition as a colony. The
capital, called Victoria, sprang up as if by magic, and became a centre
of business activity and colonial enterprise. Situated on the
Pacific, the climate is favourable, and the position, politically and
commercially, most important. The citizens of the United States laid
claim to an island near Vancouver's Island, which was a source of alarm
lest war between the two states should arise from the dispute.
This question was not adjusted when this History was brought to a
termination.

In 1859, the _Canadian News_ contained the following statements
illustrating the value of this colony:--"Her majesty's ship _Plumper_
arrived at Esquimault on the 1st of November from Nanaimo, having
concluded her surveying operations on the northern part of the Strait
of Georgia for the present season. During this cruise, several new
anchorages have been discovered and surveyed between Nanaimo and Cape
Laso (or Point Holmes, as it is sometimes called), a distance of about
fifty miles. But, perhaps, the most important discovery is the existence
of a considerable river in Vancouver's Island, navigable for boats or
small stern-wheel steamers, on the banks of which are extensive tracts
of excellent land, varying from 20 to 100 feet in elevation, and clothed
with a rich luxuriant grass. This land is ready for the plough, is
entirely clear of the pine-tree, and studded here and there with
a better kind of oak than is usually found on the cleared lands
of Vancouver's Island. This river, which has received the nam