kindred enterprise of connecting Halifax and Montreal by railway would
be promptly and vigorously proceeded with. It will also be requisite to
secure by formal agreements that the guarantee shall cease, and the
grants of land for railway purposes revert to the grantors, in case of
the permanent abandonment of the undertaking, of which abandonment some
unambiguous test should be prescribed, such as the suspension of
through communication for a stated period.

"The Duke of Newcastle does not object to five years as the maximum
period for the completion of the undertaking--and he thinks it fair to
exclude from that period, or from the period of suspension above
mentioned, any time during which any part of the line should be in
occupation of a foreign enemy. But injuries from the outbreaks of
Indian tribes and other casualties, which are inherent in the nature of
the undertaking, must be taken as part of the risks which fall on the
conductors of the enterprise, by whose resource and foresight alone
they can be averted.

"His Grace apprehends that the Crown land contemplated in Article 3, is
the territory lying between the eastern boundary of British Columbia
and the territory purporting to be granted to the Hudson Bay Company by
their charter. His Grace must clearly explain that Her Majesty's
Government do not undertake, in performance of this article of the
agreement, to go to the expense of settling any questions of disputed
boundary, but only to grant land to which the Crown title is clear.

"With regard to the 7th Article, the Duke of Newcastle could not hold
out to the Company the prospect of protection by any military or police
force in the uninhabited districts through which their line would pass
--but he would consider favourably any proposal for investing the