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hot, and consequently that the hemp produced there is too fine for large cordage. This may probably be the cause of failure in that quarter; but no such deteriorating effects are produced by the heat of the Canadian climate. The Society for the Encouragement of Arts say, in the Preface to the 21st volume of their Transactions, that they have ascertained by actual experiment, that Canada can furnish hemp for the use of the navy, equal in quality to that which is imported from the Baltic. Monsieur Vondervelden, in a letter to the Society, attributes the bad success in Canada to the attachment which the Canadians have always evinced to old customs, and to the opposition and prejudice of their priests, who would derive no advantage from the cultivation of hemp, as it is not, agreeably

to the existing laws, a tytheable article. The seigneurs and merchants also gave it considerable opposition; the one from a conviction that it would destroy the profits of their wheat-mills, from which their greatest revenues are derived; and the other, because they were apprehensive, it would have a powerful tendency to set aside that system of barter which they had long found to be more profitable than a ready money trade.

Only some of these difficulties exist at present in the Lower Province; and, I think, the principal among them might be obviated by making hemp a tytheable article. But in Upper Canada, which, on account of the superiority of its soil and climate, is much better adapted to the growth of hemp, a still smaller number of obstacles would be experienced than in the Lower Province; and it is the opinion of the best-informed men in the country, that if a plan like that which I have now described were pursued, a sufficient quantity of hemp might be reared, in less than five years, to render the British Government completely independent of foreign supplies, and to save us from the humiliating necessity of annually paying the sum of a million and a half to a foreign power, for an article, which, by a little encouragement on one hand, and by industry and perseverance on the other, we might raise in our own colonies, to the great benefit of Canadian settlers.

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The people of Canada annually pay to the Republican Americans upwards of 100,000 dollars in specie for SALT alone, every shilling of which might be kept in the Province

i. e. if the smallest encouragement were extended to its manufacture there, by the government, — the country abounding in saline springs.

Of all British dependencies, the

Canadas are perhaps the most im-
portant and the most neglected. They
are what mathematicians would call
a conjugate portion of the empire,
little less vitally requisite to its per-
fect integrity than if they were all
contained within the one boundary.
The question respecting the utility of
colonies may be disputable in some
cases; in this it is not. Our Cana-
dian empire is a curb in the mouth of
the most arrogant and ambitious peo-
ple on the face of the earth; a people
who would swallow us if they could,
and with whom we shall, one day or
other, have to contend in a death-
struggle, a struggle not for glory or
dominion, but for life. That day is
distant, but it is inevitable: we should
be prepared for it. Canada is the first
morsel which the Western Leviathan
will attempt to gulp; and it must be
rendered such as shall choke him:
if not, it will be but as a whet to his
appetite. Prompt, bold, and wise
measures should be taken to convert
that country into one bulwark.
By "martello towers," fortifications,
fleets, and soldiers? No! Not by
these alone, nor by these chiefly; but
by

manning it with subjects, loyal because they are well governed, brave because they are free, and powerful because they are prosperous. Let their manufactories be encouraged, their internal commerce facilitated, their agriculture promoted, and, above all, their local government purified, invigorated, and rendered acceptable to the people. This is the only means of doing well that which should be so done, or not done at all. To do less than this is to do worse than nothing. It would be only cultivating a future province for the Union, fostering another head for the hydra. Never let this be left out of sight: Canada is either as one for us, or, lost to the States, much more than as two against us. Not like Hanover lost to Russia, where, both from its distance and situation amongst other little avail to the gainer; not even kingdoms, its resources would be of (taking into consideration the relative force of the two provinces) like Ireland lost to France; but rather like Normandy, when it was wrested from us by the latter kingdom, adding the weight of another member to the force of a consolidated body. We

talk of Greece as a bridle for the Cossack; but where is the foot-lock for the Yankee?-It is Florida!*

If the view which we have here taken of the ultimate importance of the Canadas be correct, nothing can be easily imagined more worthy of our serious attention than the affair of Emigration. It is well known that the majority of the Canadian population are French in their pedigree and in their manners: we suspect moreover that they are French in their hearts. Now to correct this lurking anti-British feeling, Emigration from Great Britain is the only means which can be devised. Indeed, whether it exists or not, our conduct should be the same. By Emigration we could man the soil with such a tenantry as would, in process of time under a liberal form of government, render the north bank of the St. Lawrence impregnable to the Yankee, and throw him back with ruin and disgrace on his own boundary if he attempted to transgress it.

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Here then is a necessity turned into a possible advantage: we must get rid of our superfluous population, and we may not only do this by encouraging its emigration to Canada, but, by rendering its settlement there commodious and happy, convert that which was a burthen to oppress, into a bulwark to defend, us. But by its very nature this superfluous population, being in a great measure the scum not the cream of society, will require the more wisdom and ability in the local authorities to exalt and purify its debased condition, till it becomes eventually that which we would make of it, and which might be made of it. The Union itself was a scion from such another rascal stock; yet what a goodly tree it is already!-Why then might not Canada, by means of emigration, be equalized, for its dimensions, with the United States?

Its natural advantages are fully as great as those of the opposite shore. Why has it not been equalized? It moves, not the envy, but the anguish of a good subject to hear and read the different accounts which travellers give of the American and the British side of the St. Lawrence: activity, enterprize, public spirit,power, on the one; inertia, timidity, public spiritlessness,-debility on the other. Wherefore,-why is this? Shall the democrat tell us to our face that it arises solely from the different forms of government prevailing on the opposite shores? Shall he not only tell, but seem to prove it to our face? O let it not be said! Let not a form of government which all historians from Herodotus to Sismondi tacitly unite to condemn, have this practical evidence of its superiority over that which Cicero praised as a beautiful vision, and Montesquieu as a realized dream!-Or shall we have to confess that Puritanism sketched out a mighty empire which a more orthodox creed has been unable to imitate even in miniature? Whichever ground we take, whether we stand forth as the reprobators of democracy or sectarianism,-tell us to look across the St. Lawrence, and we must be dumb. The sincere lovers of monarchy and episcopacy should be furnished with a practical answer to a practical argument.

In this national point of view the question of Emigration is of momentous significance. As it regards individuals also, if not as universally, it is more immediately important. The eventual prosperity of the empire, the present happiness of a great many of our countrymen, are deeply involved in it. For the double purpose of affording the Emigrating and the permanent population (amongst which ministers may find some benefit in enrolling themselves) of the three United Kingdoms some infor

The supine indifference with which we beheld Florida ceded to the Union, marks with a most expressive character, either the want of public spirit or of common political foresight, which allowed that measure to take place almost without regretting it. How many men-of-war frigates will the ports of Florida fit out in the next twenty years, to take our honest "fifties" in tow after a broads de?

In this suspicion, which (all circumstances considered) is not a very rash one to indulge, we are countenanced by the opinion of an intelligent friend who resided many years in the Canadas. His experience leads him to conclude that although the inhabitants would rather remain under our government than that of the Bostonois as they usually designate the subjects of the United States, they would decidedly prefer reverting to the dominion of France.

mation upon this subject, we will quote a few paragraphs relating to it from the volumes lying on our table. They may furnish matter of reflection to both parties, some reasons perhaps for change of opinion respecting Emigration, and some motives for change of conduct in principle or in detail. The subject has been hitherto much misrepresented and of course much misunderstood.

In the first settlement of the country, as might naturally be expected, the shores of the St. Lawrence, and of the Lakes Ontario, Erie, and St. Claire, became the choice and the property of those persons who first arrived in the Province. The

banks of the rivers which empty themselves into these lakes, and all the circumjacent country, have, since the termination of the war, become entirely settled: So that it is now impossible to procure land, except by purchase, in any part of Upper Canada in which the various great advantages of situation are attainable. But this is of little consequence to any, except to the poorest class of emigrants: For those who carry "their friend in their pocket," may purchase land in the finest and most eligible townships, with less than is paid for a Go

vernment GRANT in the midst of interminable forests. This is an assertion which may surprise persons who are unacquainted with the country, and offend the chaste ears of others who are well enough acquainted with it. But it is not a mere of which I shall be able to substantiate by assertion; it is a stubborn fact, the validity arguments that may bid defiance to refutation, and that present themselves incidentally in the discussion of emigration.

This matter of Government grants is important to be made known. Before the year 1819, the fees on obtaining such grants were: for 200 acres the sum of 81. 8s. 9d., to which was to be added 41. 4s. 4d. for every hundred the fee for 200 acres was augmented acres more. After the same period, to 16. 17s. 6d., and the additional fee for every additional hundred acres was increased to 7l. 14s. 1d.

And now that unfortunate emigrants procure money more easily than it could be procured heretofore, the fees are raised to the following enormous amount :-Fifty acres to pauper emigrants gratis; for 100 acres, 127.; for 200, 301.; for 300, 604.; for 400, 751.; for 500, 1257.; and for every additional hundred acres up to 1200, 251. is to be paid.

These sums are payable in three equal instalments: The FIRST, on the receipt of a location ticket, which is always obtained

as soon as the Council have determined on the quantity of land to which the applicant is entitled: The SECOND, on filing a certificate of settlement-duty: And the THIRD, on receipt of the fiat for a patent. Every British subject, of what stamp soever his creed, is entitled, on his arrival at the seat of government for Upper Canada, to receive any quantity of land, within the provincial limit of 1,200 acres, which he may possess the means of cultivating, and for which he is willing to pay the required fees.

I do not question the right of the Government to charge such enormous fees on lands which it has fairly purchased, and is of course entitled to dispose of in such way and manner as may most effectually accomplish the objects which it has in view. But if it be the wish of England to increase the population of Canada, and thus render it of some value to the parent-country, I very much doubt the policy of those mea

sures which the Canadian Government is now pursuing. Since the increase of the fees, I have known many emigrants, who in the country, but who, on finding that came here with a determination of settling the Government, instead of freely GRANTING land to the unfortunate among its subjects, was actually in the habit of SELLING IT at an extravagant rate, turned their backs on the British Colonies, and immediately went over to the United States, formidable rivals. I can very confidently to add strength and numbers to our already state, that, since the new scale of fees was dred which were previously granted. The adopted, there have not been five hundredacre lots of land taken up for the one hun object of increasing the fees, whatever it might have been, must therefore have defeated itself; unless, indeed, it were to retard the settlement of the country. Some persons, perhaps, in the plenitude of their loyalty, may, for the honour of the thing, prefer dealing with government on these terms to dealing with private individuals on much more advantageous terms: But than wit. For land, in townships which these persons, if I may be allowed such plainness of speech, have much more money have been long settled, and whose contiguity to navigable rivers gives them a decided superiority over government-lands, can now be purchased for less money than is required in accepting a grant of an equal number of acres from Government.

You must not, however, suppose that I mean to represent the Lieutenant Governor and Council as a company of land-speculators, who dispose of their forests in the sanie manner as private individuals. Far from it! There is a very particular difference in the method which they adopt. For instance, if you feel disposed to accommodate the Government with your cash, you

must humbly petition for its value in land, and be particularly attentive to the manner in which you receive their munificent gift, taking especial care, in look and word, to express no other sentiments than those of unfeigned thankfulness.

But if your inclination should lead you to trade with private land-owners, you find yourself quite differently circumstanced. Instead of being the suppliant, you become the supplicated. In the one case, you must obtain a royal fiat for the disposal of your cash; in the other, you are presumed to possess a legitimate right to do so of your own accord. In dealing with the former, you must relinquish your own judgment altogether, and allow the Lieutenant Governor and Council to select for you, in such places as they may deem expedient, the article which they may be graciously pleased to grant you. Whereas, if you treat with the latter, you are at perfect liberty to exercise your own judgment, and to make such selection of land as may appear most likely to conduce to your future welfare and respectability. The honour, however, of an interview with his Excellency and the different members of the Executive Council, and the pleasure of contemplating an enormous seal suspended from your deed, with the Royal Arms thereon impressed, are considered, by some persons, advantages sufficiently substantial to counterbalance the paltry saving which is effected by dealing with men in the humbler walks of life. Who is there so vile, that would not give four or five hundred dollars more for a deed with half a dozen honourable signatures and the imposing seal of Chancery thereto annexed, than for a title with the signature of an obscure individual, and the simple impression perhaps of a steel-bottomed thimble?

It is supposed by many persons in Canada, that the Supreme Government at home is wholly ignorant of the amount of fees claimed from emigrants on their ob. taining land: But this, I think, is certainly an absurd supposition. Surely it is not possible that his Majesty's Ministers can be so ignorant of the affairs of Canada as not to know exactly how the Executive Government is exercising its prerogative. For my part, I cannot entertain an idea so derogatory from their acknowledged vigil

ance.

I believe, nay, I know, they are as intimately acquainted with the matter as I am myself; and I think that persons who come to Canada under the impression of being able, on their arrival here, to obtain gratuitous grants of land, take very little trouble to be rightly informed on the subject previous to leaving their native country: For, I am well assured that all applicants at Earl Bathurst's office for information on this subject regularly receive due attention. Instances of persons being induced to emi

grate to this country by the confident hope of obtaining a gratuitous grant of land are too frequent; and, I am sorry to add, they are sometimes treated by the Executive Government here with a degree of contempt, for which it is difficult to account. The Lieutenant Governor and Council seem to think that they, and they only, are the persons to whom applications for land should be made, and appear resolved to convince all who have been so presumptuous as to make application elsewhere, that it would have been better for such applications to have been deferred until the will and pleasure of the Government were ascertained.

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It is very impolitic, for those who can afford to pay for land, to pursue the latter course-rent cleared farms; but, in the case of poorer emigrants, I consider it much better to do so than to accept of a grant of fifty acres from the government. To persons acquainted with America it would be unnecessary to say, that fifty. acres are insufficient for the support of a moderate family. Allowing twenty acres for fuel, which would only be reserving a quantity sufficient for the same number of years, and dividing the remaining thirty into pasturage, meadow-land, and tillage, it might, if well managed, barely maintain a family. But a man who is in the possession of this small quantity of land, is in a situation little superior to that of the Irish peasant. Like him, he is compelled to toil hard all day, and to find at eventide that he has earned what is hardly enough to prolong his existence,-a sort of prison-allowance, which prevents him from dying of hunger, while at the same time it removes him very far from repletion. Like him, he has no hope of improving his circumstances, or of attaining to that independence for which he braved the dangers of the deep. His field is too contracted, and the means of extending it are not with in his reach.

It is admitted by all persons acquainted with the Canadas, that 100 acres of land are as small a quantity as an agriculturist should ever consent to cultivate in this country. This may appear very extraordinary to English or Irish farmers; but it is nevertheless a fact, which could easily be demonstrated. The severity of the winter makes it necessary for every farmer to provide a large quantity of forage for his horses and cattle, and the excessive heat and drought of the summer render the meadow-lands rather unproductive. The high price of labour, and the shortness of the tillage season, preclude the possibility of cultivating the lands in that excellent manner which would render them as productive as English soils; and these circumstances united with the low price of produce, and the exorbitant cost of British

merchandize, prove the necessity of farming on a large scale, and the difficulty of existing on a grant of 50 acres.

This lamentable decrease in the imports and exports, and consequent deficiency in the revenue, are attributed to the alterations in the laws of England, which regulate the importation of corn, flour, and meal into the United Kingdom. By these laws, the grain of the Canadas has been effectually excluded from the British market. The Canadians complain, and I think not without cause, that, whilst they are compelled to resort almost exclusively to England for a great variety of her manufactures, for which their staple commodities were formerly taken in exchange, they are prevented from sending to foreign countries such articles of their own produce as are excluded from the British markets, where they might obtain in exchange the merchandize of which they stand in need.

It is not necessary to possess any extraordinary powers of mental vision to perceive, that a colony whose imports, amounting only to 863,1561. exceed her exports by more 350,000l., must inevitably become bankrupt, unless some measures are promptly resorted to for her salvation. I think, however, the evils here complained of, which are now becoming daily more general, might be greatly alleviated, if not entirely removed, without adopting any measures that would have the slightest tendency to affect the agricultural interests of the parent state. That it would be highly impolitic to admit colonial or any other produce into the ports of the United Kingdom, so long as you are able to grow what is sufficient for your own consumption, is a fact, which every disinterested man will acknowledge. At the same time, it is, in my humble opinion, a great hardship that we, I speak as a Canadian, should be compelled to purchase your manufactures when you will not accept of our staple commodities in exchange. On the very principles of Free Trade," on which you seem inclined to act whenever we, as colonists, ask the slightest boon at your hands, we certainly ought to be allowed to avail ourselves of the advantages which are to be derived from commercial intercourse with foreign markets. Perhaps, if proper encouragement were given to the culture of hemp and tobacco in Canada, the balance of trade, which is at present decidedly against us, might be turned in our favour. It has been said, that England annually pays, to a foreign power, upwards of a million and-a-half, for the single article of hemp; every pound of which might be saved to the British empire, by promoting the culture of that plant in Canada.

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would manifest a spirited desire to improve the internal navigation of the Canadas, and to encourage the cultivation of hemp and tobacco, sufficient would be done for pauper emigrants, and particularly for young men, by landing them on this side of the Atlantic. Immediate employment might then be reckoned upon with certainty, and would be easily procured; and an industrious man, within the limits of a single year, could not fail to obtain a sufficient sum to establish him upon his own lands. If the Canadas are properly regarded, as a valuable portion of the British Empire, surely something more should be done for them than has ever yet been attempted. Sure I am, that if some of those hundreds of thousands which are almost annually voted away by the Imperial Parliament, for the further decoration of buildings already sufficiently splendid, and the support of establishments already too munificently endowed, were devoted to the improvement of this portion of the British Colonies, a great benefit would speedily devolve on the people of England. If the extension of your commerce be desirable,-if the enrichment of your remotest dependencies be an object worthy of regard,-if the possession of valuable territories, capable of receiving and sustaining millions of your overgrown population, now almost literally perishing for want of employment,-if these be advantages, and if Canada be worth the paternal care of your Government,-why has she not experienced greater attention? Why does she not obtain a portion of that liberality which the Parliament of England so frequently and laudably displays?

The total expense of transporting (without servants) from Europe to a family consisting of eight persons Upper Canada is estimated at about 680l. The writer is supposing the case of an Englishman worth 1500l. desirous of emigrating to Canada; he goes on to say:

For this sum, viz. 6817., the emigrant will be able to defray his expenses from his native country to Upper Canada, to obtain 500 acres of land, to clear and fence 25 acres, to erect a house and barn, and to provide himself with the necessary farming utensils, stock and furniture. For 3001. more, he may have 75 acres cleared, which in addition to the other 25, will make 100,-a quantity sufficient for any Canadian farmer.

I only mention these facts, to show the impolicy of Government in charging such enormous fees on wild and uncultivated land. By the statement which I have made, and which, you may rest assured, is perfectly correct, it appears that 500 acres of land, received from the Government, when improved in the way that has been described, will cost no less a sum to the proprietor than 3157. This land, it should

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