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companies to which the broad gauge railways belong can be called upon to incur such an expense themselves (having made all their works with the authority of Parliament), nor even the more limited expense of laying down intermediate rails for narrow gauge traffic. Still less can we propose, for any advantage that has been suggested, the alteration of the whole of the railways of Great Britain, with their carrying stock and engines, to some intermediate gauge. The outlay in this case would be very much more considerable than the sum above mentioned; and the evil, inconvenience, and danger to the traveller, and the interruption to the whole traffic of the country for a considerable period, and almost at one and the same time, would be such, that this change cannot be seriously entertained."

Guided by the foregoing considerations, we most dutifully submit to your Majesty the following recommendations:

1. That the gauge of 4 feet 8 inches be declared by the Legislature to be the gauge to be used in all public railways now under construction, or hereafter to be constructed, in Great Britain.

2. That, unless by the consent of the Legislature, it should not be permitted to the directors of any

railway company to alter the gauge of such railway.

3. That in order to complete the general chain of narrow gauge communication from the north of England to the southern coast, any suitable measure should be promoted to form a narrow gauge link from Oxford to Reading, and thence to Basingstoke, or by any shorter route connecting the proposed Rugby and Oxford line with the South Western railway.

4. That as any junction to be formed with a broad gauge line would involve a break of gauge, provided our first recommendation be adopted, great commercial inconvenience would be obtained by reducing the gauge of the present broad gauge lines to the narrow gauge of 4 feet 8 inches; and we, therefore, think it desirable that some equitable means should be found of producing such entire uniformity of gauge, or of adopting such other would admit of the narrow gauge carriages passing, without interruption or danger, along the broad gauge lines.

(Signed)

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J. M. FREDERIC SMITH, (L.S.) Lieut.-Col. Royal Engineers. G. B. AIRY,

(L.S.)

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STATE PAPER.

TREATY BETWEEN HER MAJESTY AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, FOR THE SETTLEMENT

H

OF THE OREGON BOUNDARY.

Signed at Washington, June 15, 1846.

[RATIFICATIONS EXCHANGED AT LONDON, JULY 17, 1846.]

ER Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the United States of America, deeming it to be desirable, for the future welfare of both countries, that the state of doubt and uncertainty which has hitherto prevailed respecting the Sovereignty and Government of the Territory on the North-west coast of America, lying westward of the Rocky or Stony Mountains, should be finally terminated by an amicable compromise of the rights mutually asserted by the two parties over the said territory, have respectively named Plenipotentiaries to treat and agree concerning the terms of such settlement, that is to say :

Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland has, on her part, appointed the Right Honourable Richard Pakenham, a Member of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, and Her Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the United

States; and the President of the United States of America has, on his part, furnished with full powers James Buchanan, Secretary of State of the United States; who, after having communicated to each other their respective full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon and concluded the following articles :

I. From the point on the fortyninth parallel of north latitude, where the boundary laid down in existing Treaties and Conventions between Great Britain and the United States terminates, the line of boundary between the territories of Her Britannic Majesty and those of the United States shall be continued westward, along the said forty-ninth parallel of north latitude, to the middle of the channel which separates the continent from Vancouver's Island; and thence southerly, through the middle of said channel, and of Fuca's Straits, to the Pacific Ocean: provided, however, that the navigation of the whole of the said channel and

straits, south of the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude, remain free and open to both parties.

II. From the point at which the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude shall be found to intersect the great northern branch of the Columbia River, the navigation of the said branch shall be free and open to the Hudson's Bay Company, and to all British subjects trading with the same, to the point where the said branch meets the main stream of the Columbia, and thence down the said main stream to the ocean, with free access into and through the said river or rivers; it being understood, that all the usual portages along the line thus described shall in like manner be free and open.

In navigating the said river or rivers, British subjects, with their goods and produce, shall be treated on the same footing as citizens of the United States; it being, however, always understood, that nothing in this article shall be construed as preventing, or intended to prevent, the government of the United States from making any regulations respecting the navigation of the said river or rivers, not inconsistent with the present treaty. III. In the future appropriation of the territory south of the fortyninth parallel of north latitude, as provided in the first article of this treaty, the possessory rights of the Hudson's Bay Company, and of all British subjects who may be al

ready in the occupation of land or other property lawfully acquired within the said territory, shall be respected.

IV. The farms, lands, and other property of every description, belonging to the Puget's Sound Agricultural Company, on the north side of the Columbia River, shall be confirmed to the said Company. In case, however, the situation of those farms and lands should be considered by the United States to be of public and political importance, and the United States' Government should signify a desire to obtain possession of the whole or of any part thereof, the property so required shall be transferred to the said Government at a proper valuation, to be agreed upon between the parties.

V. The present Treaty shall be ratified by Her Britannic Majesty, and by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof; and the ratifications shall be exchanged at London at the expiration of six months from the date thereof; or sooner if possible.

In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and have affixed thereto the seals of their arms.

Done at Washington, the fifteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-six.

RICHARD PAKENHAM. (L.S.)
JAMES BUCHANAN.
(L.S.)

ASTRONOMICAL DISCOVERIES.

N our volume for the year 1845, discoveries (and in especial in and in the 189th page of the astronomy), the merit has been CHRONICLE, the reader will find claimed by at least two parties, briefly recorded the discovery of a and their respective causes have new planet, by M. Henke, of Ber- been taken up with great warmth lin. This event, sufficiently inter- by their friends and countrymen. esting in itself, and more so from Without pretending to express any the circumstance that it has verified opinion as to whom the chief credit the scientific suspicions of philo- is due, it may be permitted sophers, that such a body (being one to observe, that had our distinof the group of small planets situ- guished countryman, Mr. Adams, ated between Mars and Jupiter, been as decided in promulgating called Asteroids, of which Ceres, his calculations as his French Juno, Pallas, and Vesta are the competitor, the honour of the disother members) must, should it covery would unquestionably have really exist, in the course of its belonged to England; but as M. periodic revolution round the sun Le Verrier had proceeded with his pass near the position in which elaborate calculations simultaneM. Hencke's diligence finally dis- ously, was the earliest in announccovered it, has now received an in- ing his theory, and the discovery creased degree of importance, by of the planet resulted more imthe discovery in this year of another mediately from such publication planet exterior to all similar bodies than from the private communicaof our system. This latter dis- tion of Mr. Adams to his scientific covery partakes in no degree of that friends, the French have very character of accident which is at- plausible grounds for claiming the tached to one part of the discovery of honour for their gifted countryman. Astræa; for whereas the latter was perceived by M. Hencke while sweeping that part of the heavens with his glass, immediately known by him to be a new body, and suspected to be the planet which the reasoning of astronomers had taught was to be expected in that part of the system, this new and more wonderful discovery was the result of pure reason and calculation, and affords an admirable proof of the truth and accuracy of astronomical science. As has been the case with many other great

The following extracts from the Report of the Royal Astronomical Society will convey the most correct and most scientific account of these important discoveries :

AnI. Report Jan. 1, 1846. nouncement of the Discovery of the new planet Astræa; with Observations, Elements, &c.

The addition of a new planet to the solar system is a fact so interesting and important in astronomy, as to require that the numerous communications of which it has already been the subject

should be treated and discussed, in the publications of this Society, with a greater regard to classification and arrangement than is necessary, or indeed always practicable, in other cases of less prominent interest. Instead, therefore, of giving an abstract of each separate communication that has been received respecting the new planet Astrea, it is proposed to give, first, a brief historical notice of its discovery, and of the manner in which the search after it was prosecuted; secondly, a tabular statement of the observations of the planet which have been received; and, thirdly, the elements which have been computed. With regard to its history, the first fact that occurs to us, as equally creditable to its discoverer and instructive to amateur astronomers and others who are desirous to extend the bounds of astronomical science, is, that its discovery was by no means accidental, but the reward of long and well-directed search. Perhaps many persons are apt, on occasions like the present, to regard the discovery of any new body in our system as a lucky accident, resulting from a casual or careless sweep among the stars, though the fact with regard to the greater number of such discoveries is directly the opposite of this. The four asteroids which have been for years recognised as belonging to our system were the reward of three or four successive steps of true philosophical inquiry. An obvious analogy existed in the distances of the primary planets from the sun, which, though not the result of any known law of nature, was yet sufficiently evident in fact to draw the attention of astro

nomers to its equally remarkable failure at one particular distance,

viz. that at which those bodies were afterwards discovered. It was at least worthy of an attempt at its verification; and such was accordingly instituted by several astronomers. Lambert appears first to have suggested the idea of the existence of a yet undiscovered body, and Bode's celebrated empirical law was published by him in 1772; but no serious attempt by means of co-operation was made to effect its discovery till the autumn of the year 1800, when an Association of twenty-four astronomers was formed, having Schröter for their president and Zach for secretary, who engaged to observe thoroughly every star visible within the zodiacal limits. The announcement of the discovery of Ceres by Piazzi, on Jan. 1, 1801, was made to Lalande, Bode, and Oriani on the 24th of January following, very soon after the formation of this Association*, and its planetary nature was soon recognised. discovery was speedily followed by that of Juno by Harding, and of Pallas and Vesta by Olberst. The last planet, it is well known, was discovered through a search suggested by the curious yet natural hypothesis of the bodies being fragments of a large planet which had been shattered into fragments. Uranus also, to use Sir John Herschel's own words, "was discovered by Sir W. Herschel, in the course of a review of the heavens, in which every star visible in a telescope of a certain power was brought under close examination, when the new planet was immedi

This

* It is a singular fact that Piazzi was not a member of this Association, and that, in spite of such an organization, the

discovery was, in fact, accidental.

+ Pallas was discovered in 1802; Juno in 1804; and Vesta in 1807.

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