SONNET. I WOKE, and she was there-a moment there, Which, beaming from herself, suffused her quite. : Yet did the vision smile, e'en as it faded; THE CANADAS. EMIGRATION. Two subjects of higher import than those embraced by the prefixed title could scarcely be blended into one article. Nor are they of particular British, but of general national interest. This may not at first sight appear evident. How the several empires of the earth are to be affected by such remote influences, as a wilderness on the north bank of the St. Lawrence, and the dis-location of a few uneasy Scotch and Irishmen, can exert, is not perhaps a matter of intuition. But if we penetrate the question, wider views, and clearer ones, may spread before the eye of the mind: a vista may open into that boundless prospect to which we have alluded. Some of the political contingencies will of course be found to be distant and doubtful; others more near and probable; whilst the remainder are of so imminent and certain a description as to merit a far greater portion of regard than they have yet obtained. Thus it will be a long time before China sensibly perceives the increasing weight of the Canadas and the Emigrants in her own or the opposite scale; France will acknowledge it earlier; but a very few years may elapse ere it trims the balance between Great Britain and the United States, or for ever depresses it in favour of the latter nation. This we look upon as an axiom in politics: that the beam must shortly tremble between these DEC. 1824. two empires; and if so, the Canadas will necessarily furnish that influence which is either to establish an equilibrium, or destroy it wholly. It is for this vital reason that we, as ardent lovers of our constitution and country, for the respective permanence and prosperity of which we are deeply anxious,-now seek to attract general notice to the state of the Canadas and the subject of Emigration. Our remarks, however, shall be brief; confident that a word in some cases is enough to catch public attention and fix it. The plentiful harvest of dishonour, which this nation reaped in its last American war, was the result, as is well known, of ignorance and imbecility not to be paralleled in the annals of administration. So gross was the former, that, amongst other things, water-casks and wood were dispatched from England at a vast expense, both of time and money, to our ship-carpenters on the borders of the Ontario, a fresh water lake in the midst of an universal forest! So extreme was the latter, that with a navy powerful enough to sink the whole American fleet with the very wind of a broadside, we were baffled on the lakes, beaten on the seas, insulted on our own shores, and disgraced all over the world. Let us hope that the new members and supports which administration has lately taken in exchange for its old ones, may have imparted 2 P strength and stability to the whole body. Whatever may be said of the permanent functionaries, we have at least reason to congratulate ourselves and each other that the interests of the British nation are no longer confided to a Secretary incapable of speaking plain English, and a Chancellor of the Exchequer scarcely able to speak at all. If we must go down the hill of destruction, it is some consolation to be led to our fate by a man of eloquence and a man of understanding, not by Shallow and Silence.Having adverted to the ignorance in which the nation and its ministry are, even as yet, we surmise, profoundly immersed upon the subject of Canada and its internal economy, we cannot but indulge ourselves in a remark, which we would fain hope might have its proper effect in the proper quarter. This prolific soil of ours is the fruitful mother of adventure, commercial, military, philosophical, and foolish: we furnish officers to be roasted by the Anthropophagi of Sierra Leone, and missionaries to be ridiculed by the savages of Siberia; we explore the deserts of Africa, and the wilds of Tartary; we dispatch one connoisseur to bring us paradoxical bones from the pyramids, another to turn Turk for a sight and a specimen of Palmyrene marble, a third to gather shells on the Erythrean shore, and a fourth to inspect the architecture of the Esquimaux; this ship sails to the poles, that to the tropics; we do all this, and a great deal more, for the prospect of remote or equivocal advantages, for abstract,'insignificant, ridiculous, or no purposes. But in the mean time we sit down in fat contented ignorance of some of our own provinces and colonies: Ontario is taken for a salt water lake, Canada for a woodless country; nay, to step no farther than from Port-Patrick to Donaghadee,-Ireland is thought by one half of us to be nothing but a purgatory of Orangemen, by the other one paradise of White-boys. For our own part we much question whether a late minister, upon being shown the map of his native land, could have put his finger on his birth-place: we are pretty sure that neither he nor any of his assessors at the councilboard could positively have sworn that there was timber for a fleet of cock-boats in all Canada.* It is, we acknowledge, scarcely to be expected that antiquaries or inquisitors should proceed of their own accord to such unclassic ground as Hibernia and the Canadas, or be sent thither by their patron societies: the local history of such countries is neither very seductive to a student, nor altogether indispensable to private individuals. But with ministers the case is different; to them an accurate, and minutely topographical knowledge of the provinces under their governance is absolutely necessary, for the purposes of enabling them to act upon occasion with promptitude, vigour, and success. A geographical spy or two, with a modicum of secret servicemoney in his pocket, or the prospect of a place on the pension-list, would in all probability have furnished such information respecting the Canadas as would have rendered the late American struggle less disastrous, or, at all events, somewhat less disgraceful. We should never have so appositely illustrated the proverb of "carrying coals to Newcastle," nor have committed that illimitable series of blunders which made us the scorn of our enemies, the shame of our friends, and the laughter of all Europe. Or why not oblige the delegated authorities there to furnish the necessary information? Why not make their services in this way the price of their places? Are they so dull that they cannot?-They must be admirable officers! Are they so idle that they will not?-They must be meritorious pensioners! But if such unprofitable servants must be retained for past services or present convenience, are there no men to be found who would write descriptions of Canada for money? If they were mere statistical accounts, mere geographical surveys, without any attempt at philosophising, or "seeming wise," such a quantity of local knowledge In support of this conjecture, we beg leave to remind the reader, that upon the same memorable occasion which called for wood and water-casks to supply the necessities of Lake Ontario, a couple of gun-brigs, to act upon the Lakes, were also dispatched to Quebec, ministers not being aware that certain things called Rapids intervened between that city and the ultimate destination of the said gun-brigs. 1824. The Canadas.-Emigration. might be collected from their united contents, as would in the event of a war, or any other circumstance requiring the interposition of government, considerably lighten the darkness in which ministers must walk without it. They would be able to reflect back some of the light, and illuminate the paths which were to be trod towards glory, the steps which led on to success. By such an industrious provision as this they might enter the Cabinet with systems prepared and minds made up; as competent to decide upon what was to be done, the when, the where, the why, the how, as if the Canadas were within range of a bomb from the centre of the councilboard. With such facilities as ministers possess they should be as familiar with every "concession" in our American colonies as with the lids of their own snuff-boxes; as intimately conversant with the great lines of demarcation there, as with their own signatures. We see no reason why they should be a whit less particularly informed upon the state of our possessions at one side of the river St. Lawrence, than the American Cabinet of theirs on the other. The President of Congress visits Fort Niagara as seldom perhaps as our Prime Minister visits Fort George. At least there ought to be no such difference as should render a nation which hardly knows the sound of a cannon equal at the end of a campaign to one which has scarcely known the sound of any thing else for the last century. Any fracas between us and the United States should, as yet, be but play to one party and death to the other. It is only by a combination upon our part of ignorance and imbecility such as "conducted us" through the last war that the Americans can for a long time attempt to meet us in the field or on the waves, without being trampled into the dust of the earth or swept off the face of the ocean. But independent of prospective prudence such as this, the welfare of these colonies demands the present attention of government in a peculiar degree. Unlike other distant members of the empire they have little internal strength to support themselves, and therefore cannot be left to themselves without danger. The custom of making over a province itself, must either lie inactive, or strike about at random, knocking down a friend instead of an enemy, demolishing what is harmless, and wearying itself to no purpose or a bad one, like that of Don Quixote among the puppets? Besides, a grown-up state is very often best left to itself to work out its own prosperity, but an infant state requires the supporting hand of its parent. The former has experience and judgment to direct it what to do for its own benefit; it has also wealth and physical power to carry its projects into execution. Ministerial interposition is, in this case, impertinent, and ministerial assistance superfluous. But in the other case experience and judgment, wealth and physical power, are all and equally wanting to the infant community, which should therefore be supplied as far as may be, from the maternal resources, or by maternal regulations. Here indeed would interposition be kind and assistance useful; and it is exactly here that neither are forthcoming. Like the relatives of a man beginning the world who will neglect him whilst he is struggling with the waves of fortune, but as soon as he has got his chin above them "encumber him with help," so ministers have ever been found ready to interfere with prosperous colonies and to leave unhappy ones to themselves. The government of a great state, which has many colonies, will always find as much matter for internal administration among the latter as within the former. Canals, harbours, docks, arsenals, public institutions, such as schools, colleges, hospitals, &c. encouragement of agriculture, commerce, and manufacture, regulation of official services, inspection of accounts, and supervision of conduct, with numberless other details, would give full employment to an active Colonial Secretary, and would properly engage much of the attention of the council itself. We are not quite sure but that the interests of the empire would be as much advanced by our ministers directing their vigilance to these neglected matters, as by watching an insolent association of three or four forked animals- blasphemously self-denominated-the Holy Alliance. Adverting particularly to the subject of Canada, we beg leave to ask whether the following passages from a work now before us contain nothing worthy of ministerial interference or public notice. TOBACCO, though very little cultivated in wherever it is tried: But, I think, it could either of the provinces, seems to thrive well not be planted to such an extent as would render it profitable as an article of commerce, except in the London and Western Districts of the Upper Province. The soil and climate of these districts are so very favourable to its growth, that some samples have been recently exhibited in the Western District, not at all inferior in quality to any ever produced in the United States. If the attention of the farmer in these two Districts were almost exclusively directed to the production of Tobacco and Hemp, they would undoubtedly return a profit sufficient to compensate him for his labour, and to stimulate his exertions, which, however trifling it might be, would be more than he can now derive from the cultivation of any kind of grain, For it is a fact universally acknowledged in Canada, that a bushel of wheat, in the present depressed state of affairs, costs the farmer thirty per cent. more than he can obtain for it, if his time be estimated at the is, however, no spirit for enterprise in the common price of a day-labourer. There country; and, as it has been well observed by a late writer, "all plans for its improvement, however rational or practicable, are doomed to linger for want of supporters." The Colonial Government seems so little concerned about the prosperity of the country, that no encouragement to agriculture, or to any thing else, can be expected from that quarter. It seems to be a matter of perfect indifference to the existing authorities of the country, whether its inhabitants dwindle out their lives in penury and toil or enjoy the comfortable independence which might certainly be the lot of every industrious Canadian, if those measures were adopted by their rulers which appear to every unprejudiced mind as practicable, as they are indispensable to happiness and comfort; But more of this hereafter. HEMP is another article, the cultivation of which, though now totally neglected, would be much more likely to enrich the Provinces article of commerce with which we are acand benefit the parent State, than any other quainted. The soil and climate of Canada are allowed to be quite as favourable to its growth as those of Poland and Russia; and, although it is admitted by all persons of * Talbot's Five Years' Residence in the Canadas. 2 vols. 1824. Longman & Co. 1824.7 The Canadas.-Emigration. agricultural knowledge to be a most profitable plant, and productive of much wealth wherever it is exclusively cultivated, the two Canadas cannot at present afford a sufficient quantity to hang their own malefactors. Government,,in its wisdom, has recently proposed to purchase the naval supplies of this article from the Canadians, provided they can furnish them at as cheap a rate as they are obtained in Russia. This surely, at first sight, is a generous offer from a government, whose liberality to its subjects is without a parallel in the annals of the world! Would not a wealthy and independent father pay his needy mercantile sons a never-to-be-forgotten compliment, if, in the plenitude of his wisdom and affection, he were to inform them" that if they would supply him with groceries and other articles of domestic consumption, at as cheap a rate as he could purchase them from a perfect stranger, he would be graciously pleased to deal with them, but not otherwise!" If government entertained any doubt, that the Canadians could not supply the Navy with a sufficient quantity of hemp, it would perhaps be bad policy to offer them any competent encouragement for cultivating it extensively, as ministers might thereby incur the displeasure of Russia, who, to retaliate, would very probably, in the event of their want of success in the Canada market, refuse to afford Great Britain the usual supplies. But, as it has been ascertained by actual experiments, that these fruitful provinces are capable, and the colonists willing, to supply the navy, if suitable encouragement be given them, the government has no just reason for indulging in these fearful apprehensions. It is impossible, however, while the price of labour continues high, and while the navigation of the country remains in its present unimproved condition, that the Canadians, especially those of the Upper Province, should be able to grow hemp and transport it for sale to the Quebec market at a cheap rate, unless some efficient aid be rendered by the parent country. If his Majesty's ministers were to take into consideration the depressed state of agriculture in Canada, and would offer a small premium to such persons as should raise a given quantity of hemp annually, and if they would engage besides to purchase at the Russian price the quantity produced, they would very soon find themselves independent of a foreign power. The Russian price would fully compensate the farmer for the trouble and expense incurred in raising and preparing the hemp; and the premium, however trifling in amount, would, if paid in cash, operate as a powerful stimulus to his exertions; but, without this encouragement or something equivalent to it, the Canadians never can supply the British navy. It has been suggested, by a respectable writer, that, if the government would appoint agents in different parts of the provinces to purchase the article when prepared for sale, and to pay for it in specie, very favourable consequences would probably result. In support of this statement, it is argued with great justness, that if no such persons are appointed, the profit of this article, as well as of every other, will be entirely engrossed by a few speculating characters, who, like the merchants at present, would monopolize the whole trade with government. The Canadian farmers are actually too poor to purchase the machinery necessary for the proper manufacture of hemp, or to send it to any distant market; but if an agent were appointed in each district, with authority not only to buy the hemp, but also to advance small sums for the purchase of machinery, to such persons as could give good security for its repayment in hemp, all difficulty would very shortly be obviated, and the farmers of each township would in a few years be enabled to transport the produce to the Kingston market, and eventually to that of Quebec; when the country agents, if not instantly dispensed with, might be gradually reduced. After the temporary reward had imparted a strong impulse to agriculture, had given a fresh and salutary direction to industry, and had opened a new and profitable market for this sort of produce, it might be discontinued; and regular commercial enterprise would then achieve all that remained to be done for the encouragement of the farmer, by making its way to the best mart for the purchase of hemp, and by discovering the cheapest and readiest mode of conveyance. In the year 1822, the provincial parliament of Upper Canada voted the sum of 3001. for the purchase of machinery to manufacture hemp, and 50%. a year for three years to keep it in repair. The machinery was to be purchased by the Lieut. Governor, by and with the advice of the executive council, and placed in that part of the province in which his Excellency might think it was more immediately required. Since the voting of the money I have not heard any thing of the machinery; but, as yet, there has been no need of it. The writer to whom I have just alluded, observes: It is very extraordinary, that, although the British government has several times, since the commencement of the present century, exerted itself in some degree to promote the culture of hemp, not only in Canada but in the East Indies, those exertions have been hitherto utterly fruitless: It is said, that the East India climate is too * Mr. Lambert. |