lot, and which, had I been wise enough to | Sir Allan M'Nab, who had been one of sell it at one moment, would have realized his bitterest opponents ever since the a handsome profit, became worthless, and Montreal events, was sent for to form a I had to sell the doors and windows to pay ministry Lord Elgin by this act satis. the taxes, for the place was deserted. factorily disproving the charge of having Five years ago a slow upward movement either personal or political partialities in commenced, and I accepted an offer which the selection of his ministers. After some exactly covered the money expended upon little delay, Sir Allan succeeded in formit during the previous five-and-twenty ing a coalition ministry, which adopted years. Since then, I believe it has come the address of their predecessors in toto, under the influence of what is called "a and thus committed themselves to passboom," and the purchaser is in possession ing the two important measures alluded of a property which will yield him a large to in it, in exactly the same sense as their return. Such are the ups and downs of opponents intended to do a sense which western towns, and of people who specu- they had always resisted. Meantime the late in them. Reciprocity Treaty also passed unanimously, and the governor-general went down in state to give it the royal assent.

Lord Elgin's own reputation, for it gave unanswerable evidence to the constitutionality of his conduct, which had always been impugned. I cannot do better than quote his own words on this subject:

The Canadian elections had been completed during my absence from Quebec, and Lord Elgin opened the new Parlia We immediately afterwards started on ment a few days after my return. I found a tour through Upper Canada, which was that I arrived just in time for another a triumphal progress throughout the political crisis, as the elections had re- people, many of whom until lately had sulted unfavorably for the government. been his Excellency's bitterest opponents, The two great questions which it was turning out en masse to do him honor; Lord Elgin's great ambition to settle be- while at sundry banquets, and on other fore closing his term of office, were the numerous occasions when he was called abolition of seigneurial tenure and the upon to speak, he explained to the people secularization of the clergy reserves, the advantages of the treaty he had se which, in his speech from the throne, he cured for them. In fact, a reaction of recommended to the attention of the popularity had set in; and the defeat of House. To the settlement of both these the previous administration, which at first questions in the popular sense, the oppo seemed an untoward circumstance to have sition, or Tory party, had been vigorously occurred so near the close of his governopposed. When, therefore, the government, proved the most fortunate event for ment was beaten on the election of the speaker, the fate of these measures seemed somewhat critical. I was peculiarly fortunately situated for watching the progress of the Parliamentary proceedings, and the crisis resulting therefrom. By virtue of I have brought into office the gentlemen who my office, I had a seat on the floor of the House, without, however, the right of vot and obnoxious for personal hostility to myself, made themselves for years most conspicuous ing or of speaking, except to offer expla- thus giving the most complete negative to the nations in the event of any question affect- allegation that I am swayed by personal moing the Indians coming up. I was thus tives in the selection of my advisers; and these present at all the debates, and on excellent gentlemen have accepted office on the underterms with the leaders of both Parliament-standing that they will carry out in all particu. ary parties. In fact I had practically all the fun of being a member of the House without any of the responsibilities, and after the vote on the speaker was taken, had sundry confidential meetings in the small hours of the morning with the prom. inent men on both sides, the result of which was, that I could not resist, in my excitement, waking the governor-general up at 5 A. M. to inform him of the defeat of the government, and what I had learned since. The day following, the prime min. ister placed his resignation in his Excellency's hands; and to the great astonishment of the public, as well as to his own,

lars the policy which I sketched out while my
former Administration was in office, thus prov-
ing that the policy in question is the only one
suited to the country- the only one which an
the blindest can fail to draw this inference
Administration can adopt. I do not see how
from these facts. The first thing which my
new Administration have had to do is to adopt
and carry through the House the address re-
sponsive to my speech from the Throne.
is, certainly for me, and I hope for the country,
the most fortunate wind-up of my connection
with Canada which could have been imagined.*

This

Extracts from the Letters of James, Earl of Elgin,

to Mary Louisa, Countess of Elgin, 1847-1862. Privately printed.

From The Spectator.

ORCHARDS.

THE orchards of England are surely amongst the fairest bits of nature still left to us. Let it be premised that by this name we do not suggest a prosperous, well-pruned, highly cultivated piece of land, its monotonous rows of decorous apple-trees allowing an undergrowth of gooseberry-bushes. No doubt plenty of good fruit can be obtained from such an enclosure; at certain seasons of the year these cannot fail to be beautiful; but charm, fascination, must be sought elsewhere. The orchard of which we are thinking is old, but not too old; it is full. of variety, yet not forlorn or neglected. The croft is, of course, close to a gabled farmhouse, with its picturesque grouping of barns and sheds and stacks; the ground. slopes upwards from the house, and around the orchard are sheltering elms,

It was indeed a fortunate wind-up, and | as I did so that this was only the second we determined to celebrate it as such. of twenty-two passages I was destined to For the last three months of our residence make across the Atlantic in the course of at Quebec we lived in a perfect whirl of the ensuing seven-and-twenty years. gaiety. Balls, dinner and garden parties, and picnics, were the order of the day. Society took the cue from Government House, and I found, under the temptation of more congenial pursuits, my Parlia mentary attendance getting slack. The delights of a Canadian winter, with its sleighing and tobogganing parties, have become proverbial. Unfortunately we only enjoyed one month of them, as Sir Edmund Head, Lord Elgin's successor, had arrived, and we merely remained a few weeks to facilitate the transfer of the government. Sir Edmund was so kind as to urge me to remain with him in the of fice I was now filling; but a promise which Lord Clarendon had previously made to find me employment in the East, where the stirring nature of the events which were transpiring offered the strong. est attraction, induced me to decline this offer and to return to England with Lord Elgin, and Lord Bury became my successor in Canada. When I left home I had not expected to be absent above eight weeks, but the same number of months world now nearly have elapsed before our for fruit-trees, as well as flowers, dread return to British soil. It was neverthe- nothing so much as keen, blighting winds. less with a heavy heart that on a bitter The trees, mostly apple-trees, are scatmorning towards the end of December, tered about on the soft grass in charming with the thermometer 26° below zero, I confusion, here in vigorous youth or full left Quebec; the streets were for the last maturity, there in gnarled old age, bent time lined with troops as we drove down and mossy, but always picturesque. Pears to our place of embarkation, and the and damsons and cherries grow also in greater part of the society was collected our orchard, nor is there wanting a veneron the bank of the St. Lawrence, as, after able mulberry-tree, or that most majestic taking an affectionate farewell of the of fruit-bearers, the walnut. At no season friends with whom I had formed ties of is the orchard deficient in interest. In warmer friendship than is usual after so winter, in the west country, the mistletoe short a residence, we stretched ourselves makes the ancient apple-trees still green. at the bottom of the bark canoes in which and cheerful, for the mistletoe has forwe were to be ferried across the broad saken the oak, and has transferred its bosom of the river, at this time encum-affections to the apple and poplar. But bered with huge ice-floes and enshrouded February has come, and the orchard in a dense fog. The traject is not without draws us with irresistible power. There danger, and is exciting in proportion. under the old trees, amongst the moist Our muscular boatmen paddle us rapidly grass, spring the snowdrops, gentle, across the narrow lanes of swift open pure prophets of the beauty that is comwater, haul us up on the ragged floes, and ing. A few weeks later, and in many running on the ice by the side of the parts of England the daffodils are sure to canoes, rush us rapidly across them, to follow; and they have scarcely faded, plunge us into the river again on the when on some morning, as we throw open. other side, until, after more than an hour's the window, we feel that the air has battling with the ice, we find ourselves changed, that, for a time at any rate, safely hauled up under the bank at Point the stern thraldom of the east wind has Levi. A few days afterwards I watched been broken, and we understand that delithe outline of the American continent cious bit of homesick longing, fading on the horizon, and little imagined | Oh! to be in England now that April's there !

When Robert Browning's emigrant ut- tion sufficient to guide the saunterer, and
tered those words, surely he was thinking there is a rare pleasure in watching year
of an English farmstead nestled amidst after year how our old friends are pros-
its orchards. On this April day we see pering. A cruel frost late in the spring
against the tender blue of the sky a dome may often deprive us of fruit from some
of snowy blossom; it is the old pear-tree cherished tree for years together; then
that has once more put on its court dress comes a genial season, and we see our
for the spring festival. And what madri- favorite once more bending beneath its
gals the thrushes and blackbirds are sing. rosy burden. What interest attaches to
ing! The birds rejoice in the orchard fruit-names, and how curiously varied are
as much as ourselves; they have their the designations by which the same apple
chosen hereditary country-seats. In that is known in differeut parts of England!
great pearmain, with its deep holes, tell- We cling to the apples of our forefathers,
ing where branches once grew, the star- just because they connect us with bygone
lings have built year after year, and now generations; and it is melancholy to see
their interminable chatter mingles with them ruthlessly banished from modern
the general chorus. In those smaller orchards as old-fashioned and worn-out.
crannies of the Keswick codling, the little Many of the new varieties have their un-
titmouse weaves her snug house, and a disputed excellences, but let us also pre-
few weeks later we shall watch the gay serve the best of the old apples. The
little pair frisking in and out with inde- Ribston pippin is becoming extinct. Is
fatigable energy to supply the needs of it possible to prevent the disappearance
the soft, tiny blue caps packed closely far of such a justly valued favorite? And why
within the hollow bough. The brown do we allow the small round damson to
wren also loves the orchard, and so does die out? An English apple harvest before
that shy recluse, the little tree-creeper. the days of telegraphs and telephones
But April glides into May, bringing the comes before our memory as we write. It
perfection of the orchard's witchery. We is a crisp autumn day, early in October.
stand beneath the trees, and wonder The orchard has been for many hours the
whether in creation there is anything more scene of picturesque labor, and now the
lovely than these branches. The clusters mellow afternoon sunshine is falling on the
of blossom and bud, the grace of the half-old, brown-jacketed laborer, who stands
unfolded leaves, the rich green of the on the ladder filling his wallet with the
young grass beneath, the blue of the May more sober apples reserved for winter
sky above, what a wealth of beauty lies stores. Below stands the great basket,
in these simple things! But there is a already half full, while the grass beneath
corner of the orchard which has its pecul- the trees is strewed with disregarded
iar charm; the clear pond claims as its fruit. Around, in the orchard, frolic the
own the old quince-tree, the wild crabs, children, for this season is a time of unal-
and the blackthorns; and truly the quince-loyed joy in their estimation. The rooks
blossoms, with their tints delicate as those
of a shell, and their gray-green leaves,
with the silvery silken lining, are a study
in themselves. Summer is not the most
attractive of the seasons so far as the
orchard is concerned, albeit many of us
can recall the delights of a seat amidst
the boughs of some old, bending apple
tree, in which the adventures of Robinson
and Friday unrolled themselves before
the childish eyes, eagerly bent on the
pages of the little brown book. But
towards the close of summer, the orchard
becomes a favorite haunt, as early crim-
son-streaked apples, with names so quaint
that they suggest histories, begin to ripen,
dropping on the grass on dewy August
mornings. Then comes the glory of the
orchard's year as September and October
bring round the time of the fruit harvest.
To enjoy these strolls under the laden
boughs, there should, however, be educa-

are preparing for their evening flight, and the clear air resounds with their sonorous voices. The sunlight falls on the water of the pond, into which the quinces and the yellow crabs have fallen; and thither come the children to fish them out with shouts of glee, and to take note of the harvest of sloes on the blackthorn bushes. From the boughs of the pear tree comes the robin's autumn song, and "in a wail. ful choir the small goats mourn," while over everything broods the restful peace of the year's closing toil.

From The Economist. THE EGYPTIAN PETROLEUM WELLS.

THE following is the official report of Mr. J. Jones, C.E. (of Messrs. Beaumont and Jones), to the Egyptian government

in regard to the recent discoveries of connected with tanking, etc., which I venpetroleum on the shores of the Red Sea: ture to think were injudicious and un"Acting under the written instructions necessary. I feel convinced and Mr. which received in London, I have vis- Mitchell (the government geologist), toited, at the request of the Egyptian gether with others there, shares my congovernment, Jemsah Jebel Zeit and the viction that the surface oil in the place neighborhood. In company with Mr. where struck is exhausted. M. Debay Mitchell, the Egyptian government geolo- states that he has checked the supply. I gist, I examined the entire line of country venture to say that the supply has exfrom Jebel Zeit to the foot of the Jebel hausted itself, and I base this opinion, Isa range opposite the island of Shadwan inter alia, upon the simple fact that he is on the Red Sea side. I further passed boring through the identical shaft where over the desert, through the metamorphic he found petroleum. Now, if petroleum range, and examined the run and charac- still existed there in the spot at which it ter of the rock to the west of it, and am of forced itself forty mètres, it is physically the opinion that the two sides are one and impossible that the mere placing of lining the same range of formation, parted only tubes should obstruct its flow while borby the presence of the older rocks. From ing is going on in the same shaft. Unless Jebel Zeit to the end of the Jebel Esh it is superior to ordinary hydrostatic laws, range there is a run of pretty uniform it would follow the boring and then rise ground, say, forty miles long by five to to the surface. Undoubtedly more surtwelve miles in width, all of which strata face oil may be found in other spots, but bears equally good indications of surface probably to no greater extent than that oil. While, however, the existence of already extracted. Surface oil itself is surface oil is proved beyond a doubt, I not likely to be in sufficient quantity to would remark that that fact is one the pay the cost of extraction. Its value is value of which may be very easily exag- an indication of the existence of further gerated. The existence of surface oil may supplies lower down, and that, as I have or may not be an indication of the exist- said, is of very uncertain value. I am of ence of quantities of oil at a lower strata opinion that there is very reasonable -the chances are about equal-but the ground for supposing the existence of quantity of surface oil is no indication as petroleum, and, so far as I am able to to the quantity of well oil. While the judge, I am inclined to believe that it will experience of Baku tends to show that be found at a very low depth, probably wherever there is surface oil well oil is not less than the Baku strata of eight sure to be struck within eight hundred and hundred and twenty feet. I am further twenty feet, the result of American bor- of opinion that the indications are suffi ings has been very different, and the re- ciently favorable to justify the preliminary mark that 'the Pennsylvanian fields have expense of borings, but they will always absorbed more dollars than they have be of a speculative character, and I would delivered' is probably correct. Two bor- venture to suggest that they should be ings may be made within a few yards of made in several places, until a bona fide each other, the one may produce nothing, strata is reached, that they should then be the other four thousand barrels a day, and plugged, and from the number of successthe supply may cease in a few months. ful soundings made it will then be possi. On May 1, 1865, Pithole, in Pennsylvania, ble for the government to judge as to the was a collection of huts in a forest, three advisability of working, in which case, but months later it was a town of sixteen not till then, reservoirs, means of transthousand souls, by January 1, 1866, it was sport, and refineries will become necesagain deserted. I mention these instances sary. The diamond-boring apparatus, in because I think it my duty to inform you which I am personally interested, would, that in strict language the discovery of though expensive, in my opinion, place petroleum on the Red Sea has not yet the question so rapidly beyond doubt that been made. Surface oil has been found, it would prove cheapest in the end. An has probably been known from time im- expenditure of 6,000l. to 10,000l. in six memorial, and there is very good ground months would be necessary. It might be for supposing that petroleum exists, but at perfectly fruitless. It might indicate the what depth, in what quantity, and of what source of enormous wealth. A lesser quality, it is quite impossible to say. The amount spread over a longer period might discovery of the surface oil, which it was suffice with hand boring, but I feel con perfectly certain must exist, appears to vinced it would not be equally satisfac have led the government into expenses tory."