CANADA

AN ESSAY:

TO WHICH WAS AWARDED THE FIRST PRIZE BY THE PARIS EXHIBITION COMMITTEE OF CANADA.

SHERIDAN HOGAN.

PRINTED BY JOHN LOVELL, ST NICHOLAS STREET. 1855.

5O12. Hfe

INDEX.

PAGUL

GENERAL INTRODUCTION. — What the people of Canada have to show for

their labour, and who were the labourers, 9

GEOGRAPHICAL AND TOPOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION of United Canada, and

of both Provinces separately, 11

RIVERS OF CANADA, 15

LAKES, 21

THE PIONEERS OF THE FOREST. — And herein of

The Early Settler of UppelJBanada, 24

The Farmer of Upper Canada, as distinguished from the Earlj

Settler 27

TJie Habitant, or French Canadian Farmer of Lower Canada,. ... 32

POPULATION, — The growth of, and the same contrased with the United

States, 36

CITIES AND TOWNS, — The rise of, and the same compared with the United

States, 39

AGRICULTURE. — Its progress, and the same contrasted with the United

States, 42

NATURAL PRODUCTS: —

Timber, 46

Fish, 47

GEOLOGICAL FEATURES. — Soil, <fcc 48

CLIMATE 52

MANUFACTURES, AND SHIP-BUILDING, 56

TRADE AND COMMERCE, 59

TENUE AND EXPENDITURE, 62

INKS, 63

)UCEMENTS TO EMIGRANTS. — "Wages, Price of Land, <fec 64

VTION AND MORAL PROGRESS, 68

IGION, 74

IV INDEX.

PAGB.

INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS. — And herein of

THE ST. LAWRENCE. — Its Thousand Islands and Rapids. — Their Naviga- tion.— The magnitude of the Canals and Locks constructed to avoid the Rapids on the passage up. — The Welland Canal as the com- pleting link of the entire navigation of the St. Lawrence. — This Eiver considered as the great outlet to the sea from the West and North-west. — Its magnitude and adaptation to the commercial wants of the valleys and slopes it waters. — The same contrasted with the Erie Canal, its rival for the business of the West.- -The Erie Canal made little by the progress of America, and its future still greater inefficiency considered. — New enterprise of Chicago Merchants, and Ocean Steam Navigation to Quebec. — Its effect upon the passenger trade to America. — The advantages of taking the Quebec route to the west and interior of America. — The two thousand miles of . interior navigation by the St. Lawrence. — Features of interest by the way. — River passes through the very garden of America. — Cheapness and convenience to emigrants of taking it.— The diffi- culties attending the Gulf navigation removed.— How long the St. Lawrence is open for navigation. — The same contrasted with the Erie Canal and Hudson River, 77

RAILROADS, — Enterprise of Canada in relation to.— Their value and importance not only to Canada but to the rest of America. — Their extent, construction, routes, &c 98

THE MUNICIPAL SYSTEM OF UPPER CANADA, — Its great success, <fec... 103 THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA, AND ITS FUTURE 107

DECISION OF JUDGES.

PARIS EXHIBITION OFPICE, QUEBEC, 3rd May, 1855.

The Executive Committee of the Paris Exhibition submit herewith the decision of the Judges appointed to decide upon the merits of the Essays on Canada and its resources, for which prizes were offered by the Committee.

.REPORT OB THE JUDGES:

The Committee to whom the Executive Committee on the Paris Exhibition referred the selection of the Prize Essays on Canada submit the following Report :

The Committee have received from the Secretary nineteen Essays, eighteen of which have been carefully considered, but the nineteenth is so illegibly written that it has been quite impossible to decipher it, without an amount of time and pains, which the several Members of the Committee have been unable to give.

Of the eighteen Essays tho Committee have selected three with the following mottoes : " Labor omnia vincit," — " J'ai vu oe que je raconte," — and " Virtute et labore dum spiro, spero,"— as those which in theirjudgment are entitled to prizes, but they liave been unable to decide upon the order in which they shall stand, as they a»e equally divided in opinion upon their classification, and they, therefore, report them to the Executive Committee simply as prize-worthy, considering it better not to make I>articular reference to their notes, as to the position which each Essay should occupy on the prize list.

In addition to these three Essays, the Committee recommend those with the following mottoes : " Suam quisque pellem portat,"— " Reddi tubi Cererem tellus inarata quotannis,"— and " It is with nations as with nature, she knows no pause in progress or development, and attaches her curse to all inaction,"— to the favorable consideration of the Executive Committee, either as deserving to be published at the public expense, or as entitling their authors to some gratuity to assist in their publi- cation, as the Executive Committee shall deem best, with the consent and at the option of the authors themselves.

The Committee have been most favorably impressed by several of tho remaining Essays, and while they have not considered it necessary to make any further classifi-

6 DECISION OF JUDGES.

cation, they cannot avoid congratulating the Country that the opportunity has been afforded to so many able writers of displaying the capabilities of this noble Province. In conclusion, the Committee regret that their various avocations, since they were named as Judges, have kept them so constantly engaged, that they have not been able to give so close an attention to all these Essays as they should have desired, but they have given them the most careful consideration the time allotted would permit, and although there is not one, even of those reported without several errors of detail or description, they have risen from their perusal with much gratification, arising as well from the great amount of correct statistical information that has been brought together, as from the agreeable and readable shape in which much of it has bee n prepared for the public eye.

(Signed,) J. HILLYARD CAMERON,

D. B. STEVENSON, ROBERT CHRISTIE,

E. PARENT,

L. H. HOLTON, A. N. MORIN. Quebec, 23rd April, 1855.

The Executive Committee had determined that in case the majority of the Judges should be unable to agree as to the classification of the Essays for the Prizes, it would be advisable to request His Excellency the Governor General to make the award, and accordingly on receiving the above Report, they begged His Excellency to undertake the task, which His Excellency was good enough to consent to.

The following is the decision of His Excellency: —

The Governor General having carefully perused and considered the Essays placed in his hands by the Judges assigns the first place to tliat one bearing the motto

" Labor omnia vincit."

The other two, though very different in character, he has great difficulty in placing, The French Essay ( J'ai vu ce que je raconte) is more readable, and in some respects preferable to the English one

" Virtute et labore, dum spiro, spero."

On the other hand, the English is more systematic and concise, and for purposes of reference conveys more information, and if it is impossible to treat them as equal, which His Excellency would willingly do, it seems proper to assign the second prize to the latter of the two, and the third to the French.

(Signed,) EDMUND HEAD. 1st May, 1855

DECISION OF JUDGES. 7

The Executive Committee have, therefore, to announce that the First Prize is to John Sheridan Hogan, Esquire, author of the Essay with the motto ** Labor omnia vincit," (*)— the second prize to Alexander Morris, Esq., of Montreal with the motto " Virtute et labore, dum spiro, spero,"— and the third prize to J. C. Tache", Esquire, M. P. P., author of the Essay with the motto " J'ai vu ce que je raoonte."

In accordance with the recommendation of the Judges, the Executive Committee have awarded three extra prizes of £25 each to the authors of the Essays bearing the mottoes " Suam quisque pellem portat,"— " Reddit ubi Cererem tellus inarata quotannis,"— and " It is with nations as with nature, she knows no pause in progress and development, and attaches her curse to all inaction." The authors of these Essays are Hector L. Langevin, Esq., of the City of Quebec ; E. Billings, Esq., of the City of Ottawa, and William Hutton, Esq., Secretary Board of Statistics, Quebec The authors of the other Essays may obtain them on application to the Assistant Secretary of the Committee, I. E. Eckart, Esq., Quebec.

FRANCIS HINCKS, Chairman Executive Committee.

(*) Mr. Hogan's card, in addition to his name, contained the following memoran- dum : — " He takes the opportunity of stating that the valuable Statistics upon Agri- eulture and Commerce in the accompanying Essay were derived from Evelyn Campbell, Esquire, of the Statistics Office.

CANADA.

IN England, or France, or any of the States of Europe, if upwards of a million of the working classes had, within a short space of time, and by means hitherto unknown or unthought of, raised themselves to comparative affluence and independence, their example would be alike a matter of wonder and of instruction. To the poor, who are struggling against becoming poorer; to those who, though they may be able to steer clear of actual want themselves, have the painful picture constantly presented to their minds, of their offspring being otherwise circumstanced ; to the mere " hewers of wood and drawers of water," who are too low to dream even of comforts or respectability, how deeply interesting should be the knowledge, not only that a million and a-half of people like themselves had been able to cast their poverty behind them, but that many millions more could " go and do likewise." Nor to the statesman, who gathers from such examples the knowledge of how to make nations great, and to become great himself; or to those who are engaged in the humane task of endeavouring to mitigate the evils of redundant population, should such a fact be less interesting or valuable. And this, without exaggeration, is the lesson that may be learned from the industrial history of Canada, but especially of the Upper Province. In 1829 the population of Western Canada — for that Province, having exhibited greater progress in population and wealth, I

10 PRIZE ESSAY

shall at present allude to — had but one hundred and ninety-six thousand inhabitants. Its assessable property, being the real and personal estate of its people, was estimated, and I think with sufficient liberality, at £2,500,000. Its population in 1854 had increased to 1,237,600; and its assessed and assessable property, not including its public lands, the timber on them, or its minerals, is set down, in round numbers, at fifty million pounds. This sum is over the assessors' returns, but when it is considered that the assessments were based upon the people's estimates of their own property, and that these are proverbially made with a view to avoiding taxation rather than to appearing rich, and that bonds and mortgages and other valuable effects were not included in the assessments, the addition of fifteen per cent. — being that made — is by no means an error on the side cf exaggeration. The Marshalls appointed to correct similar returns in the United States make a much larger addition, although the property I have named, as exempted in Canada, is all assessed in the States.

Thus then the remaining inhabitants of 1 829, and the descendants of those who have died, together with the settlers who have come into the Province since, divide between them fifty million pounds worth of property, being £200 4s. 2d. to each family of five, and £40 Os. 2d.to each man, woman and child, — a degree of prosperity it would be difficult to credit, were it not established by proofs wholly incontrovertible.

And who and what are the people who divide among them this magnificent property? And how have they acquired it? Did they come in as conquerors, and appropriate to themselves the wealth of others? — They came in but to subdue a wilderness, and have reversed the laws of conquest ; for plenty, good neigh- bourhood, and civilization mark their footsteps. Or did capi- talists accompany them, to reproduce their wealth by applying it to the enterprises and improvements of a new country ? No ; —

ON CANADA. 11

for capitalists wait till their pioneer, industry, first makes his report, and it is but now that they are studying the interesting one from Canada, Or did the generosity of European Princes, or European wealth or benevolence provide them with such outfits as secured their success ? On the contrary, the wrongs of Princes, and the poverty of Nations, have been the chief causes of the settle- ment of America. Her prosperity is the offspring of European hopelessness. Her high position in the world is the result of the sublime efforts of despair. And he who would learn who they are who divide among them the splendid property created in Canada has but to go to the quays of Liverpool, of Dublin, of Glasgow, and of Hamburg, and see emigrants there embarking, who knew neither progress nor hopes where they were born, to satisfy himself to the fullest.

It is the object of this Essay to describe the country, its soil, its climate, and its resources, in which these people have pros- pered; to trace their advancement and its causes; to describe the public works and improvements they possess ; to show how they govern themselves, and what are their institutions — religious, educational and municipal ; to exhibit, in short, what may guide industry in search of a place wherein to better its condition, and capital in quest of fields for profitable investment.

GEOGRAPHICAL AND TOPOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION.

Canada extends, in length, from the coast of Labrador to the River Kiministiquia at the western extremity of Lake Superior, about sixteen hundred miles, with an average breadth of about two hundred and thirty miles, being nearly three times as large as Great Britain and Ireland. It contains an area of about three hundred and fifty thousand square miles, or two hundred and forty millions of English acres.

12 PRIZE ESSAY

Upper, or Western Canada, is comprised -within the parallels of 40° to 49° N., and the meridians of 74° to 117° W. of Greenwich, and embraces an area of about one hundred thousand square miles, or sixty-four millions of acres. Of these there were, up to the first of January, 1854, twenty-one millions forty-nine thousand one hundred and sixty-four acres surveyed, consisting of thirty-one thousand one hundred and seventy-five acres of mining tracts on the shores of Lakes Huron and Superior, four hundred and fifty- three thousand five hundred and fifty-eight acres of Indian reserves in the same localities, and twenty millions two hundred and forty-three thousand four hundred and forty-one acres in farm, park lots, and sites for towns and villages.

Lower, or Eastern Canada, is comprised within the parallels of 45° and 50° N. latitude, and the meridians of 57° 50" to 80° 6" W. of Greenwich, and embraces, according to the best estimates, an area of about two hundred and five thousand eight hundred and sixty-three square miles. This is, however, exclusive of what is occupied by the St. Lawrence, and part of the gulf, which cover fifty-two thousand square miles. Eastern Canada therefore con- tains, in the whole, about a quarter of a million square miles, or one hundred and sixty millions of English acres. Of this the number of acres of Crown Lands surveyed is eight millions one hundred and twenty thousand and fifty-six acres, of which four millions three hundred and thirty-four thousand two hundred and nine acres have been granted, and three millions seven hundred and ninety-one thousand are ungranted. Those heretofore held under the Seigniorial Tenure are nine millions twenty-seven thou- sand eight hundred and eighty acres, and as Indian reserves two hundred and thirty thousand acres.

The natural features of the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada are, for the most part, very different. In the Lower Province the scenery is of a far bolder character than in the Upper. On the

ON CANADA. 13

lower part of the St. Lawrence both sides of the river are moun- tainous, and on the northern side the range which runs as far as Quebec presents the most sublime and picturesque beauties. On the southern side the range called the Alleghanies commences at Perce in the County of Gaspe, and, about sixty miles below Quebec, turns off and enters the States. Above Quebec, on the north side of the river, and between that city and the River St. Maurice, the country is not so bold : here the land rises gradually from the banks, and that which was but a short time ago a boundless waste of forest has been cleared acre by acre, and now presents a succession of towns and villages and corn fields.

Above the St. Maurice, and so far as Montreal, the shore is a little more abrupt, with considerable table-ridges. This country is also well settled and highly prosperous.

On the southern shore, commencing from the sea at Gaspe, — which rather seems to be geographically a slice of New Brunswick than a part of Lower Canada, — there is a country but little explored, and chiefly valuable for its fisheries. The River Restigouche runs through a part of this country, and in its vicinity the land is well wooded, and watered by numerous small rivers and lakes, and is ex- ceedingly rich and fertile. From Cape Chat, the western extremity of Gaspe, to the River Chaudiere, Canada extends along the River St. Lawrence 257 miles, bounded on the south-east by the boundary line of the United States, in part defined by a high ridge of land, and partly imaginary. The character of this district may be described as hilly, with extensive valleys, and some parts of the counties of Kamouraska, L'Islet, Bellechasse and Dorchester, are extremely fertile.

"West of the Chaudiere is a magnificent tract extending to the 45° of N. lat., which forms the south and south-eastern boundary of Canada, dividing it from the States of New York, Vermont and Hampshire. As this district advances westward it gradually

14 PRIZE ESSAY

becomes a highly cultivated and luxuriant plain, and through it run the Rivers Richelieu and Yamaska. The scenery south is extremely picturesque, interspersed with swelling ridges and lofty mountains. In this section of the country the British American Land Company have extensive possessions.

As compared with the Lower Province, Upper Canada is in general a level champaign country, with gently undulating hills and rich valleys. At a distance of from fifty to one hundred miles north of Lake Ontario there is a ridge of high rocky country run- ning towards the Ottawa or Grand River, behind which there is a wide and rich valley of great extent, bounded on the north by a mountainous country of still higher elevation. From the division line on Lake St. Francis to Sandwich, along the shores of the St. Lawrence and Lakes Ontario and Erie, there is not an elevation of any consequence, and throughout this extent the soil is generally remarkably rich.

The first ridge we find is that commencing almost at the boundary line, and running between the Rivers St. Lawrence and Ottawa. The ridge commencing at the Bay of Quinte runs westerly along Lake Ontario, joins the Burlington and Queenstown heights, and beyond Niagara enters the United States.

There are some peculiar features in this country, which were ascer- tained by an Engineer employed on the Rideau Canal. On looking at the north shores of the River St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario all the rivers on that side the ridge, which join them, are short and unimportant, while those which run north into the Ottawa are long and broad, and flow through a large extent of country : the solution of this was found by ascertaining that the level of Lake Ontario is about 130 feet higher than that of the River Ottawa.

Having thus cursorily glanced at the geographical position and divisions of the two Provinces, I turn to their vast means for water communication, their majestic rivers and inland seas, the most magnificent in the world.

ON CANADA. 15

RIVERS OF CANADA.

The waters of all the lakes and rivers of Canada empty them- selves into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which is formed by the western coast of Newfoundland, the eastern shore of Labrador, the eastern extremity of the Province of New Brunswick, and by parts of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton.

The River St. Lawrence rises in Lake Superior in Upper Canada, and flows through Lakes Huron, Erie, and Ontario, a distance of about 3000 miles, with a breadth varying from one to ninety miles, and by the aid of the Welland, St. Lawrence and Lachine Canals, is navigable the whole distance for large class ships. It has, however, in its course, received different names, viz : between Lakes Ontario and Erie it is called the " Niagara," between Lakes Erie and St. Clair the "Detroit," between Lakes St. Clair and Huron the "St. Clair," and between the latter and Lake Superior the " Narrows or Falls of Ste. Marie."

It is said to discharge into the ocean annually 4,300,000 millions of tons of fresh water ; and it has been ingeniously calculated by Mr. McTaggart, that for 240 days of the year it discharges 4,512 millions of tons per day, and for the 125 remaining days 25,560 millions of tons per day.

The Island of Anticosti is at the embouchure of this river, a desert island 130 miles long and 30 broad, on which the Govern- ment have erected two light-houses, each amply supplied with pro- visions for shipwrecked mariners. Between this and the mainland the channel is about forty miles in width, but above, the river spreads out to an extent of ninety miles. At the Island of Bic, about 153 miles below Quebec, there is very good anchorage, and the Government are about to make a harbour of refuge. Several beautiful islands stud the river above this, especially the He aux Coudres, which is five miles in length and fifteen in circumference ; it is in a high state of cultivation, contains nearly eighty farms and a population of 971 persons.

16 PRIZE ESSAY

Twenty-four miles below Quebec is Grosse He, the quarantine station, and near the city the He d'Orleans divides the river : it is nineteen miles long and five and a-half broad, containing five par- ishes, with a population of 4450. Mr. McGregor has justly observed :

"The River St. Lawrence, and the whole country, unfold scenery " the magnificence of which, in combination with the most delight- u ful physical beauty, is unequalled in America and perhaps in the " world. From both land and water there are frequently prospects " which open a view of from fifty to one hundred miles of river, from "ten to twenty miles in breadth. The imposing features of these " vast landscapes consist of lofty mountains, wide valleys, bold " headlands, luxuriant forests, cultivated fields, pretty villages and " settlements, some of them stretching up along the mountains, "fertile islands with neat white cottages and rich pastures, and " well tended flocks, rocky islets and tributary rivers, some rolling " over precipices, and one of them, the " Saguenay," like an inland " mountain lake, bursting through a perpendicular chasm in the " granite chain, while on the bosom of the St. Lawrence majestic " ships, large brigs and schooners, with innumerable pilot boats and " river craft, charm the mind of the immigrant or traveller."

The river at Quebec is only 1314 yards wide, but the junction of the River St. Charles, below the city, forms a basin of nearly four miles long and two broad, with the greatest depth of water at twenty-eight fathoms, and a tide rising eighteen feet at neap, and twenty-four at spring tides. The scenery on approaching Quebec is truly magnificent. " On the left, Point Levi with its romantic " church and cottages ; on the right, the western shore of the He " d'0rle"ans, said to resemble so much the Devonshire coast ; " beyond the lofty mainland opens to view, and the spectator's " attention is rivetted by the magnificent Falls of Montmorenci, a " river as large as the Thames at Richmond, and which precipitates " its volume of waters over a perpendicular precipice 220 feet in

ON CANADA 17

height. The eye then runs along a richly cultivated country for miles, terminating in a ridge of mountains, with the City and " Battlements of Quebec rising amphitheatrically, cresting, as it " were, the ridge of Cape Diamond, and majestically towering " over the surrounding country, as if destined to be the capitol of " an empire, the whole panorama being one of the most striking " views in the old or new world."

About 90 miles above Quebec, on the north shore, at the Town of "Three Rivers," the " St. Maurice" runs into the "St. Lawrence," after draining a country 140 miles in length and from 20 to 100 in breadth, forming an area of 8 or 9000 square miles, covered with inexhaustible forests of the finest timber, which have hitherto been almost untouched. The tributaries of this river are numer- ous, and up the western branch there is an extraordinar}7 chain of lakes, twenty-three in number, and of immense depth.

I The " Chaudiere," which rises in Lake Megantic, and drains a country 100 miles in length and about 30 in breadth, or an area of 3000 square miles, runs into the " St. Lawrence " on the south shore about seven miles above Quebec. The " Richelieu," which joins the " St. Lawrence" at Sorel, rises in Lake St. George, in the United States, and drains, in its course of 160 miles, a surface of 4800 square miles.

Before alluding to the " Ottawa," I may mention that there are numerous other rivers which, after flowing through highly cul- tivated districts, empty into the " St. Lawrence," The chief of these is the " Saguenay," a majestic stream, of which no less than thirty rivers are tributaries. It flows into the " St. Lawrence " about 100 miles below Quebec. In some parts this river is said to be unfathomable, and its banks vary from 200 to 2000 feet in height, rising in some places perpendicularly from the river's side. For a distance of ninety miles this river is navigable for vessels of large tonnage, and some of the largest saw mills in the Province are erected upon it.

18 PRIZE ESSAY

The River " Ottawa," second only in size to the " St. Lawrence," rises about 100 miles above Lake Temiscaming, which is upwards of 350 north-west of the latter river. It flows 450 miles through a country abounding in natural wealth, and admirably adapted for the purposes of agriculture and settlement. Its tributaries are equal in size to the largest rivers of Great Britain, and it drains an area of 80,000 square miles, which, as presumed by Bouchette, is capable of maintaining a population of 8,000,000 souls. It is impossible here to dilate upon its varied and magnificent scenery, its cascades, its rapids, and its lakes. Bouchette describes the country as present- ing unusual inducements to agriculture, industry, and commer- cial enterprise; and Lord Elgin, in his despatch of the 5th Sep- tember, 1853, alludes to this fact as worthy of special notice. His Lordship remarks, " that the farmer who undertakes to cul- " tivate unreclaimed land in new countries often finds that not only " does every step of advance which he makes in the wilderness, by " removing him from the centres of trade and civilization, enhance " the cost of all he has to purchase, but that moreover it diminishes " the value of what he has to sell. It is not so, however, with the " farmer who follows in the wake of the lumberman : he finds, on the "contrary, in the wants of the latter, a ready demand for all that " he produces, at a price not only equal to that procurable in the " ordinary marts, but increased by the cost of transport from them " to the scene of the lumbering operations."

The water power of this river is positively unlimited ; and both it and the River Gatineau water a country which affords an inex- haustible supply of iron, abundance of timber, copper, lead, plum- bago, marble, and various ochres.

The greater part of this country is covered with a luxuriant growth of red and white pine, forming, according to Bouchette, the most valuable timber forests in the world, abundantly inter- sected with rivers to convey it to market when manufactured.

ON CANADA. 19

Lord Elgin remarks, that " the route of the ' Ottawa,' the ' Mat- " tawa,' and Lake Nipissing, is that by which Europeans first " penetrated the West. By this route Champlain in 1 6 1 5 proceeded "as far as Lake Nipissing, and the Recollet Father Le Caron " bore the Gospel to the Huron tribes along the same track, and " was followed soon after by those Jesuit Missionaries, whose endur- " ance and sufferings constitute the truly heroic portion of American " annals."

This district supplies annually to the European market above 25,000,000 cubic feet of timber, 850,000 deals and planks, and an innumerable amount of staves and other timber.

The water shed of the Ottawa is said to be above 1000 miles, and its length 780, or about fifty miles shorter than the Rhine. In its course it receives the River Blanche, the Montreal River, running a distance of 120 miles from the north-west, being the river route of the Hudson's Bay Company; then the Keepewa, a river of vast size, passing through an unknown country, and exceeding in volume the largest rivers in Great Britain, with a magnificent cascade of 120 feet in height; then the River Dumoine. Fifty miles above the City of Ottawa, formerly Bytown, it receives the River Bonne Chere, 110 miles in length, and drain- ing an area of 180 miles; eleven miles below this, the Madawaska, 210 miles in length, and draining 4100 square miles; and twenty- six miles from the City of Ottawa, the Mississippi, 101 miles in length, draining a valley 120 square miles.

At the City of Ottawa the river receives the Rideau, with a course of 116 miles, and draining an area of 1350 square miles; and a mile lower down, from the north, the Gatineau, its greatest tributary, which drains an area of 12,000 square miles, and is 420 miles long. The upper course of this river is unknown, but Bouchette describes it as being 1000 feet wide 217 miles from its mouth.

20 PRIZE ESSAY

Eighteen miles lower, from the north, the Ottawa receives the Riviere du Lievre, in length 260 miles, draining an area of 4100 square miles. Fifteen miles lower down, on either side, the North and South Nation Rivers, the former 95, and the latter 100 miles in length ; still lower it receives the Riviere Rouge, 90 miles long, the Riviere du Nord, 160, and just above its mouth, the River Assumption, 130 miles in length.

The Government have already expended £94,371 in constructing the timber slides on the Ottawa, and a further sum of £11,000 is required for their completion ; and the canal recently projected and in course of construction between the Lakes des Chats and Chaudiere will render the navigation from Ste. Anne to Portage du Fort, a distance of 154 miles, perfect for vessels of large tonnage.

An extract from the Report of Mr. Russell, the Government Agent to the Crown Lands Department, furnishes some idea of the wealth of this district. In one item alone, he says: " On prin- " ciples of calculation admitted by persons of experience to be " correct, after making deduction for barren ground and future " destruction by fire, it is estimated that there are still standing " on the Ottawa and its tributaries about 45,811,200 tons of tim- " ber, of the kind and average dimension now taken to market, " and about 183,244,800 tons of a smaller size, though still " valuable."

At the present rate of consumption this would last at least 150 years, without taking into consideration the natural growth during that period.

Of the many other rivers in the two Provinces it is impossible to give any description here. Many of them, especially those running into the lakes, are of considerable size, and navigable for many miles from their embouchure.

ON CANADA. 21

THE LAKES OF CANADA.

The lakes of Canada are almost innumerable, and some of them, especially in the Upper Province, may, with truth, be styled Inland Seas, and afford a water communication unrivalled in the world.

Lake Superior, the monarch of all fresh water lakes on the globe, is the largest and most elevated of these inland seas. It is 627 feet above the level of the sea, 430 miles long, 160 miles broad, 1200 feet deep, and lYoO miles in circumference; and it is said that more than 200 rivers and creeks flow into it. Its shores are rocky, with bold promontories, and occasional sandy bays, the most remarkable elevation being the Thunder Mountain, 1200 feet high. It contains numerous islands, and its shores are, for the most part, covered with timber. Its waters are discharged into Lake Huron by the River St. Mary, now rendered navigable by a short canal for large sized vessels.

Lake Huron is 580 feet above the sea, 250 miles long, 220 miles broad, 900 feet deep, with a circumference of 1100 miles, divided by the chain of the Manatoulin Islands ; the northern portion being known by the name of the Georgian Bay. There are many good harbours on the northern coast, but the southern is for the most part flat and shallow ; it receives the waters of many rivers. The great Manatoulin Island is eighty miles long, eighteen broad, with an area of about 1500 square miles; it is fertile in some parts and contains valuable timber. It lias two known com- munications with the River Ottawa, the one through Lake Simcoe and a chain of lakes to the River Madawaska, which falls into the Lake des Chats ; the other up the French River, through Lake Nipissing, and down to the Ottawa. This route, either by water or railway, would shorten the communication from the St. Lawrence to the northern lakes to an extent of several hundred miles. The River Severn connects Lake Huron with Lake Simcoe, and the River St. Clair with Lake Erie.

22 PRIZE ESSAY

The third great lake, Erie, unlike Huron and Superior, runs nearly east and west, and the southern shore is exclusively within the territory of the United States. It is about 280 miles long, 63 broad, with an area of 11,000 square miles. Although the navigation of this lake is at times difficult and dangerous, its com- mercial position is highly favorable, being bordered by one of the most fertile regions of North America. The River Niagara having in its course one of the wonders of the world, the FALLS, connects this with Lake Ontario, and the obstruction in the navigation is overcome by the Welland Canal.

Lake Ontario, the last of the great lakes, is 180 miles long, 80 broad, with a circumference of 7000 miles, and though inferior in size to Lake Erie, is far more picturesque in its outline. It abounds in excellent harbours of great depth of water, and, like the other lakes, is fed by numerous rivers. From this point the St. Law- rence, having wound its course through the great lakes, runs uninterruptedly for 700 miles into the sea.

It would be impossible to compute with accuracy the traffic of these inland seas, either present or prospective. It is chiefly made up of the natural productions of the forest, the mineral kingdom, and agricultural produce, to which may be added the fur trade and fisheries. The admirable lectures of Professor Williamson, of the University of Queen's College, Kingston, give some very interesting particulars on the subject, which are freely used in this sketch.

The quality of the iron found near Lake Superior is said to be very good. The report of English manufacturers, who have recently submitted it to the test, added to the examination of scientific men, fully corroborate the statement. Its ultimate tenacity in bars has been found to be 89,882 Ibs. to the square inch, that of the best Russian being only 79,000. The copper mines on Lakes Superior and Huron appear to be inexhaustible ;

ON CANADA. 23

but their real value has been only recently ascertained, large quantities of this ore having been shipped during the past year. Of all natural productions, however, the traffic in timber appears at present, at least, to equal that of agricultural produce, and far exceeds that of any other description.

In 1851 the amount of sawed lumber which reached the Hud- son River was upwards of 71 1,000 tons, valued at about £4,000,000 currency. At least three-eighths of this was brought from the lake country, and is independent of the immense quantity shipped from Canada to various ports in the United States for local consumption. Taking the export timber trade on the lakes, and to the seaboard by the Hudson, and adding to this the amount exported from Upper Canada by the St. Lawrence to Great Britain and other markets, the export productions of the forest from the lakes is upwards of £2,000,000 annually.

The whole through tonnage which arrived at the Hudson, and shipped from the Western States and Canada, by Buffalo and Oswego, in 1851, yielded £6,750,000 currency ; add to this 47,000 tons, a great part of the business of the New York and Erie Railroad, and it makes a total of £7,500,000. If from this be deducted £1,500,000 as the value of the products of the forest, that of the farms will not be less than £5,500,000 of the remainder ; and if to this is added £500,000 as the value of the agricultural products of the lakes, shipped for the sea-board by way of the St. Lawrence, it leaves, at a very moderate estimate, £6,000,000 for the total value of the agricultural exports of the lake basin. The whole value of the various products, natural and industrial, exported from the area of the great lakes cannot now be less than £10,000,000 of surplus produce, over and above what is required for home consumption.

The amount of imports into the area of the lakes is much greater. The value of the merchandize which left the Hudson River for the Western States and Canada in 1851 was £15,500,000, indepen-

24 PRIZE ESSAY

dently of that which left by railroad, which would make the whole £16,000,000. Of this upwards of £2,000,000 were for Western Canada alone. Adding £2,000,000 of imports by the St. Lawrence into Western Canada from Great Britain and other countries, it makes the Upper Canadian imports about £4,000,000, and the whole imports of the lake basin £18,000,000 ; thus the imports into the United States and Canada, by way of the lakes, is equal to one-third of the entire imports of the United States.

Hitherto the imports and exports of the lakes have more than doubled every four years, and there is every reason to believe that this rate of advancement will more than continue. The St. Law- rence will probably become the great highway to the Pacific and to the East, and on her waters alone can the western portion of the continent find an outlet for its enormous traffic.

The length of the navigation of the lakes is said to be about 1 800 miles, and as Professor Williamson describes them, they are " innumerable canals in one."

Combining these with the net-work of railways now intersect- ing her shores, Canada may safely boast as fine internal commu- nications as any in the world.

THE EARLY SETTLER OF UPPER CANADA.

Great as has been the prosperity of America, and of the settle- ments which mark the magnificent country just described, yet nature has not been wooed in them without trials, nor have her treasures been won without a struggle worthy of their worth. Those who have been in the habit of passing early clearings in Upper Canada must have been struck with the cheerless and lonely, even desolate appearance of the first settler's little log hut. In the midst of a dense forest, and with a " patch of clearing "

ON CANADA. 25

scarcely large enough to let the sun shine in upon him, he looks not unlike a person struggling for existence on a single plank in the middle of an ocean. For weeks, often for months, he sees not the face of a stranger. The same still, and wild, and boundless forest every morning rises up to his view; and his only hope against its shutting him in for life rests in the axe upon his shoulder. A few blades of corn, peeping up be- tween stumps whose very roots interlace, they are so close together, are his sole safe-guards against want; whilst the few potatoe plants, in little far-between " hills," and which struggle for exist- ence against the briar bush and luxuriant underwood, are to form the seeds of his future plenty. Tall pine trees, girdled and blackened by the fires, stand out as grim monuments of the pre- vailing loneliness, whilst the forest itself, like an immense wall round a fortress, seems to say to the settler, — " how can poverty ever expect to escape from such a prison house."

Yet there is, happily, a poetry in every man's nature ; and there is no scene in life, how cheerless soever it may seem, where that poetry may not spring up ; where it -may not gild desolation itself, and cause a few to hope where all the world besides might despair. That little clearing, — for I describe a reality, — which to others might afford such slender guarantee for bare subsistence, was nevertheless a source of bright and cheering dreams to that lonely settler. He looked at it, and instead of thinking of its littleness, it was the foundation of great hopes of a large farm and rich corn fields to him. And this very dream, or poetry, or what you will, cheered him at his lonely toil, and made him contented with his rude fire-side. The blades of corn, which you might regard as conveying but a tantalizing idea of human comforts, were associated by him with large stacks and full granaries ; and the very thought nerved his arm, and made him happy. His little lonely hut, into which I saw shrink out of sight his timid children — for they rarely

26 PRIZE ESSAY

if ever saw a stranger, — was coupled by him, not with the notion of privations and hardships you might naturally attach to it, but with the proud and manly idea, that it should be the place where he should achieve the respectability and independence of those chil- dren. But, besides this, he knew the history of hundreds, nay, thousands of others in Canada, who had gained prosperity against similar odds, and he said in his manliness, that he should go and do likewise.

Seven years afterwards I passed that same settler's cottage — it was in the valley of the Grand River in Upper Canada, not far from the present Village of Caledonia. The little log hut was used as a back kitchen to a neat two story frame house, painted white. A large barn stood near by, with stock of every description in its yard. The stumps, round which the blades of corn, when I last saw the place, had so much difficulty in springing up, had nearly all disappeared. Luxuriant Indian corn had sole possession of the place where the potatoes had so hard a struggle against the briar bushes and the under-wood. The forest — dense, impenetrable though it seemed — had been pushed far back by the energetic arm of man. A garden, bright with flowers, and enclosed in a neat picket fence, fronted the house; a young orchard spread out in rear. I met a farmer, as I was quitting the scene, returning from church with his wife and family. It was on a Sunday, and there was nothing in their appearance, save perhaps a healthy brown colour in their faces, to distinguish them from persons of wealth in cities. The waggon they were in, their horses, harness, dresses, everything about them, in short, indicated comfort and easy circumstances. I enquired of the man who was the owner of the property I have just been describing? "It is mine, sir," he replied ; "I settled on it nine years ago, and have, thank God, had tolerable success."

ON CANADA. 27

Such was an early settler of Upper Canada. Such were his hardships, his fortitude, and his success. His history is but that of thousands in the same Province.

THE FARMER OF UPPER CANADA, AS DISTINGUISHED FROM THE EARLY SETTLER.

There is perhaps no class in the world who live better — I mean who have a greater abundance of the comforts of life — than men having cleared farms, and who know how to make a proper use of them, in Upper Canada. The imports of the country show that they dress not only well but in many things expensively. You go into a church or meeting-house in any part of the Province, which has been settled for fifteen or twenty years, and you are struck at once with the fabrics, as well as the style of the dresses worn by both sexes, but especially by the young. The same shawls, and bonnets, and gowns which you see in cities, are worn by the women, whilst the coats of the men are un distinguishable from those worn by professional men and merchants in towns. A circumstance which I witnessed some years ago in travelling from Simcoe to Brantford — two towns in the interior of the Province — will serve to convey an idea of the taste as well as the means of enjoyment of these people. At an ordinary Methodist meeting- house in the centre of a rural settlement, and ten miles from a village or town, there were twenty-three pleasure carriages, double and single, standing in waiting. The occasion was a Quarterly Meeting, and these were the conveyances of the farmers who came to attend it. — Yet twenty years before, and this was a wilderness. — Twenty years before, and many of these people were working as labourers, and were not possessed of a pair of oxen. — Twenty years before, and these things exceeded even their brightest dreams of prosperity.

28 PRIZE ESSAY

To persons not practically acquainted with Upper Canada, these evidences, not only of comfort but of considerable refinement may appear extraordinary, because mere rude husbandry, just emerging from a wilderness, could hardly be expected to produce such results. Wealth in agriculture, like wealth in every other occupation, is usually the offspring of skill and judgment, as well as of labour and perseverance. But it is a remarkable fact that the farmers of Upper Canada have opportunities of improvement, and of enlarging and correcting their views, beyond what are enjoyed by many of their class even in England. And this arises from the circumstance of the population being made up of so many varieties. The same neighbourhood has not unfrequently a representative of the best farming skill of Yorkshire; of the judicious management and agricultural experiences of the Lo- thians, and of the patient industry and perseverance of Flanders. In a country so peopled the benefits of travel are gained without the necessity of going away from home. Other countries, in .fact, send their people to teach Canadians, instead of Canadians having to go to other countries to learn. A thousand experiences are brought to their doors, instead of their having to visit a thousand doors to acquire them. Nor is the advantage of this happy admixture of population altogether on the side of the Canadian ; for whilst he gleans from the old countryman his skill and his science, he teaches him, in return, how to rely upon himself in emergencies and difficulties inseparable from a new country, — how to be a carpenter when a storm blows down a door, and there is no carpenter to be had ; and how to be an un- dismayed wheelright when a waggon breaks down in the midst of a forest, and there is no one either to instruct or to assist him. The one, in short, imparts to a comparatively rude people the know- ledge and skill of an old and highly civilized country : the other teaches skilled labour how to live in a new land. The conse-

ON CANADA. 29

quence is, the old countryman of tact becomes, in all that relates to self-reliance and enterprise, a capital Canadian in a few years J whilst the Canadian, in all that pertains to skillful industry, becomes an excellent Englishman. As a natural result of this, there is scarcely an improvement effected in English farming which does not find its way into Canada soon after ; nor is there an agricultural implement of value, which can be adapted to Canadian soil, that is not immediately copied or imported. And Agricultural Societies have sprung up and prospered in the country, to an extent hardly parallelled in any other part of the world. The result is that Durham cattle may be seen at the very verge of civilization in Western Canada ; that there is scarcely a neigbour- hood where may not be found the descendants of Berkshire pigs, nor a village that has not horses which exhibit all the fine peculia- rities of the best breeds of England and Scotland. That a country so circumstanced, with a fine climate, and with abundance of land for those who had the energy to clear and cultivate it, should have enjoyed great prosperity, is really not so much a wonder as it would be a matter of surprise if it had not had such success.

The same causes which have produced these results upon agri- culture have also had an eminently beneficial effect upon society. The settler who nobly pushes back the giant wilderness, and hews out for himself a home upon the conquered territory, has necessarily but a bony hand and a rough visage to present to advancing civiliza- tion. His children, too, are timid, and wild, and uncouth. But a stranger comes in ; buys the little improvement on the next lot to him ; has children who are educated, and a wife with refined tastes, — for such people mark, in greater or less numbers, every settlement in Upper Canada. The necessities of the new comer soon bring about an acquaintance with the old pioneer. Their families meet — timid and awkward enough at first perhaps ; but children know not the conventionalities of society, and, happily, are gov-

30 PRIZE ESSAY

erned by their innocence in their friendships. So they play together, go to school in company ; and thus, imperceptibly to themselves, are the tastes and manners of the educated imparted to the rude, and the energy and fortitude of the latter are infused into their more effeminate companions. Manly but ill-tutored success is thus taught how to enjoy its gains, whilst respectable poverty is instructed how to better its condition. That pride occasionally puts itself to inconvenience to prevent these pleasant results, my experience of Canada forces me to admit ; and that the jealousy and vanity of mere success sometimes views with unkindness the manner and habit of reduced respectability — never perhaps more exacting than when it is poorest — I must also acknowledge. But that the great law of progress, and the influence of free institutions, break down these exceptional feelings and prejudices, is patent to every close observer of Canadian society. Where the educated and refined undergo the changes incident to laborious occupations — for the constant use of the axe and the plough alters men's feelings as well as their appearances, — and where rude industry is also changed by the success which gives it the benefit of education, it is impossible for the two classes not to meet. As the one goes down — at least in its occupations, — it meets the other coming up by reason of its successes, and both eventually occupy the same pedestal. I have seen this social problem worked out over and over again in Upper Canada, and have never known the result different. Pride, in America, must " stoop to conquer ;" rude indus- try rises always.

The manner of living of the Upper Canadian farmer may be summed up in few words. He has plenty, and he enjoys it. The native Canadians almost universally, and a large proportion of the old country people, sit at the same table with their servants or labourers. They eat meat twice, and many of them thrice a day : it being apparently more a matter of taste than of economy as to

ON CANADA. 31

the number of times. Pork is what they chiefly consume. There being a great abundance of fruit, scarcely a cleared farm is with- out an orchard ; and it is to be found preserved in various ways on every farmer's table. Milk is in great abundance, even in the early settlers houses, for where there is little pasture there are sure to be large woods, and " brouse ; " or the tops of the branches of trees, supply the place of hay. The sweetest bread I have eaten in America I have eaten in the farmers' houses of Upper Canada. They usually grind the "shorts" with the flour for home con- sumption, and as their wheat is among the finest in the world, the bread is at once wholesome and exceedingly delicious. Were I asked what is the leading characteristic of the Upper Canadian farmer, I should unquestionably answer, PLENTY. Plenty reigns in his granary, plenty is exhibited in his farm yard, plenty gleams from his corn fields, and plenty smiles in the faces of his children. But let it not be imagined that this plenty is gained without continuous labour, and the exercise of judgment and intelligence. Many of the finest farms in Upper Canada have passed out of the hands of those whose fathers won them from the forest; and many more are exhausted and unproductive, through injudicious management, indolence, or inattention ; and in some instances the very labourers on the farms which have been sold and wasted by the second generation, have been able to purchase them. Industry literally converted the labourer into the lord, whilst extravagance and indolence reduced the lord to the labourer. Nor have old country people, who brought habits of extravagance with them, or who knew not how to work, and refused to learn, fared much better. For labour, which achieves, as I have shown, so much in Canada, may, by reason of its great cost, be proportionally ruinous, if it is injudiciously employed, or misdirected. It is like the sails, which if the steering be good, may fill and work beautifully ; but if the helm be ill managed.

32 PRIZE ESSAY

may bring everything to a stand still, or endanger the whole ship. As a general rule, the gentleman farmer, or rather the gentleman who would not be a farmer, because he would not learn the value of labour, or how to direct it when he employed it, has lamentably failed in Upper Canada. The gentleman, however, who is willing to take his coat oft', and, as the Yankees quaintly observe, " to march forward to the music of his own axe," may be certain of plenty, and have the consolation as well — through the rise of property — of leaving his children well off. At all events he will leave them where they will have been taught how to succeed, and where success is attainable. But it is undeniable, — if such a circumstance may not rather be called admirable, — that the agricultural wealth of Canada has chiefly fallen into the hands of the poor practical farmer, and the still poorer labourer.

THE HABITANT, OR LOWER CANADIAN FARMER.

No persons can contrast more strongly than the habitant of Lower Canada and the farmer of Upper. The latter is enterprising, adventurous, and cosmopolitan in his feelings. He is always ready to change his neighbourhood for a better one ; and his homestead of a hundred acres of cleared land is never more dear to him than five hundred acres of wilderness, if he can satisfy himself that the latter would be better for his children. The habitant, on the contrary, knows no love stronger than that for his often contracted farm. The place were he was born, though giving him, in many cases, but a slender livelihood, is still dearer to him than all the world. In vain for him has the magnificent West been opened up, in vain for him have America and Europe been filled with accounts of prosperity in it. His dreams hover round his own fireside. His imagination is bounded by the fences round his farm. He

ON CANADA. 33

asks no better lot than to live where his father lived, and to die where his father died.

As might naturally be expected, avarice has little to do with such a character. If he knows not the rewards of grasping ambition, he knows not its feverish disappointments, or its mortified pride. There is not, in consequence, a more cheerful, happy, and con- tented being in existence than the Lower Canadian habitant. His little farm — for, as a general rule, on account of frequent subdivi- sions, the farms in Lower Canada are small — supplies him with enough to live upon ; and he never by any chance invokes the cares of to-morrow. He has five or six cows, and he knows they should give milk enough for himself and his family, and he never gives himself anxiety about the economy of increasing their number or improving their quality. He has six or eight pigs, and instead of fattening two or three for market, — as an old countryman would be sure to do, — he takes the blessings of Heaven as they are sent to him, and eats the whole of them. He copies no man's improve- ments, and imitates no person's mode of living. His life, his food, his enjoyments are regulated by the opportunities of the day. If he fares sumptuously, he thanks Providence, and is happy. If he occasionally fares otherwise, he thinks it is all right, and is equally contented. Simple therefore is his life, but happy in its simplicity. For generations his character has not undergone a perceptible change ; but happily, his gentleness, his innocence and his cheerfulness have been equally enduring.

I cannot take leave of the habitant of Lower Canada without alluding to his amiable disposition and native politeness. You pass through a country parish in any part of the Province, no matter how remote, and you are saluted on all hands, by both old and young, and so gracefully, yet with so much ease and frankness, that you forget for the moment where you are. You go into a habitants house — always clean, with flowers in the

34 PRIZE ESSAY

windows, and the walls well whitewashed — and though the man may be the poorest in his parish, his hospitality is dispensed with so much cordiality and refinement, so wholly unembarrassed and unembarrassing, that you can with difficulty believe such peo- ple could have always lived in such a place. You speak execrable French — many English people unfortunately do — and make mis- takes which would provoke the risibility of a very saint, yet you never see a smile on the face of your entertainer, nor even on the faces of his children. Of course, after you go away, they enjoy the fun amazingly. Your religion, your politics, or your country, may, from accidental circumstances, be distasteful to him, yet as long as you are under his roof, — if it were for months, — you would never hear a word that could hurt your feelings, or wound your pride. In enterprise, in that boldness of thought and action which make a people great and a country prosperous, they are unquestionably far behind the rest of America. In not seeking to understand, and sometimes opposing the introduction of, palpable improvements and inventions, their conduct is below their own intelligence. But in refinement and good breeding, in all that fascinates the stranger, and makes the resident happy among them, they are immeasurably above any similar class on this continent. And all that America can teach them in enterprise would not exceed what they could teach America in the finest features of civilization — namely, gentleness and good manners.

From these general observations it may be inferred that there has been little improvement ;n agriculture in this Province. Such, however, is not the case. Of late years, particularly since the union of the Provinces, the best breeds of cattle have been gradu- ally finding their way into the settlements of Lower Canada; and Agricultural Societies — the great radiating points of knowledge and practical improvement — have sprung up and are springing up in the more advanced settlements. At an Exhibition held at

ON CANADA. 35

lebec last autumn, the show of Durham cattle, of imported ine, and of horses, would have done credit to any part of lerica. Whilst the vegetables, especially potatoes, beet roots

id turnips — for which> however, the land about Quebec is singu-

rly well adapted — were finer than those exhibited in Upper

mada. If these exhibitions are promoted, and succeed as well Lower Canada as they have done in Upper, — and there is no

jason why they should not, — they will change the whole aspect Lower Canadian farming in a few years. Bad customs will ippear before them like bad weeds. For people, when they

>me to contrast the productions of labour and skill, cannot but prefer what brings honour as well as profit, over what entails in- convenience, and invites disrespect. Nor will men long continue to carry errors home with them, when truth is discovered to be a much more valuable commodity. Competition indeed shames error out of its follies ; for no person, however dogged he may be, will face the ridicule that is attached to clinging to absurd customs in the midst of universal improvement. To expose folly and ignorance to general condemnation, and to draw general admiration to skill and ingenuity, is, in fact, to give the latter a triumph at once. And AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES, with their thousand rewards for the best productions of the country, and their thousand exposures of the systems and prejudices which occasion the worst, strike me as admirable contrivances to make men ashamed of being behind the age, and honoured by keeping pace with it.

The feudal tenure, by which the great bulk of the lands in Lower Canada were, from their first settlement, held, has been regarded, and I believe with truth, as a great drawback to the improvement of the country. Where property could not change hands without serious taxes and impediments, and where improve- ments became but partially the property of those who made them,

36 PRIZE ESSAY

enterprise shrunk from having anything to do with the land, and the spirit of improvement was universally damped ; but the Legis- lature, at its last sitting, wisely and patriotically swept this tenure away for ever, and the people can now acquire property with little cost, and hold it in fee simple. This great measure, it is thought will work a complete revolution in Lower Canada. The knowledge that improvements will be for their own sole benefit, will stimulate the people to make them ; and the proud consciousness, that they will become the lords of their own soil, will beget a strong and manly desire to acquire it. There is nothing that has exerted so powerful an influence for good, in America, as the feeling that a man could win for himself an estate. It has caused pride to spring up in natures where it might have been deemed impossible. It has nerved to exertion many an arm that would have otherwise fallen. It has infused the poetry of refinement, respectability and civiliza- tion into natures accustomed to all the rudeness of extreme poverty, and all the slavishness incident to long continued and debasing servitude.

THE GROWTH OF POPULATION IN CANADA, AND THE SAME CONTRASTED WITH THE UNITED STATES.

Up to 1829, the population of both Canadas being but 696,000, they occupied a very humble position in the industrial history of America. Since then, although they have had far less than their share of the honor awarded by Europe to the extraordinary advancement of the United States, they have not the less enjoyed the blessings of a prosperity second, as I shall take occasion to show, to no part of them. In 1800 the free population of the United States was 5,305,925. In 1850 it was 20,250,000, show- ing an increase of nearly four hundred per cent.

ON CANADA.

In 1811 the population of Upper Canada was 77,000, and in

II it was 952,000, exhibiting an increase, in forty years, of )en hundred per cent.

During the last ten years, and when an extraordinary impetus given to the population of the States, on account of the public

>rks in course of construction, and the very high rates of wages

lid, their rate of increase was 35*27 per cent. In Great Britain for the same period the rate of increase was 13*20 per cent. In Upper Canada it was one hundred and four per cent.

The free population, as I have remarked, from 1800 to 1850, of the United States, increased 14,944,075, or a little less than four times. The population of Upper Canada from 1811, being the first year the Census was accurately taken, up to 1851, increased 875,000, or ten times, closely approaching thrice the increase of the United States as a whole.

There is perhaps no part of the world known to modern history with the exception of California and Australia, where a greater increase has taken place in the population. In the latter countries the discovery of gold has imparted an unnatural stimulant to set- tlement ; but in these places, unfortunately, the chief things which labour leaves to mark its footsteps are unsightly cuttings and mounds, — the monuments too often of hardships without rewards, and bitterly disappointed hopes. But in Canada labour is marked by corn fields, which contribute to the riches and comforts of the whole world ; and success is of that character, that it raises man by its example, and makes whole races respectable.

Lower Canada, on account of the great tide of emigration constantly flowing westward, has not increased in population in an equal ratio with Upper Canada. In the last twenty-five yeare, however, she shows an increase of ninety per cent. ; her population in 1829 having been 500,000, and in 1854 it was 1,048,000.

38

PRIZE ESSAY

The whole of Canada is settled by people of the following countries :

Origins.	Lower Canada.	Upper Canada.	"ij 1
h* 0 r Bor Bir	f England and Wales . . . • •	11230 14565 51499 669528 125580 12482 474 480 51 47 4 159 359 28 18 12 8 38 2 118 293 830 10 2446	82699 75811 176267 26417 526093 43732 3785 2634 79 345 106 9957 1007 15 57 29 188 209 11 24 131 1351 168 889	93929 90376 227766 695945 651673 56214 4259 3114 130 392 110 10116 1366 43 75 41 196 247 13 142 424 2181 178 3335
Canada French origin ...
United States
Nova Scotia and Prince Edward's Isl'd
Newfoundland . ... ...
Switzerland,
Jersey and other British Islands,
Total Ponulation...
890261	952004	1842265

Since this Census was taken, the population has increased to 2,300,000, Upper Canada having increased 308,000, and Lower Canada, 150,000.

In Upper Canada the native born Canadians are eleven nine- teenths of the whole population, and the natives of Ireland more than double the number from any other country.

In Lower Canada the native born Canadians are as eight to one of the entire population, and the natives of Ireland are four times more numerous than the natives of any other country. In the

ON CANADA. 39

Counties of Sherbrooke, Stanstead, Shefford, Megantic, and Missis- quoi, in this Province, a more than ordinary number of natives of the United States have settled : in Missisquoi there are two thou- sand, and in Stanstead more than three.

The inhabitants of French Canadian origin in Upper Canada are most numerous in the Counties of Essex, Prescott, Glengary, and in the City of Ottawa.

In Lower Canada there are very few Upper Canadians.

The Township of Waterloo, in Upper Canada, contains 5237 persons of German o'rigin, and it is remarkable for great pros- perity and very fine farms. In the Counties of Haldimand, Perth, East York, and Welland, the German population is also numerous and equally prosperous.

THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF TOWNS AND CITIES IN CANADA, AND THE SAME COMPARED WITH THE UNITED STATES.

The most striking effect of the rapid increase of population in America is the rise and growth of towns and cities. At the head of a lake, or where a stream empties into one of those inland seas, and forms a natural harbour ; or upon the bank of a navigable river which flows through a fertile country, a pioneer of the forest, or an adventurous speculator sets himself down, and says, that " here shall be a city." If his judgment be good, and the country around his imaginary "Thebes or Athens" be inviting, the waves of population which perpetually flow westward, stop for a time at his " location," and actually verify his dream. This is, literally, the history of the foundation of Chicago and Milwaukie in the United States, and of Brantford and London in Upper Canada ; and of many other towns and cities in both countries. And to

40 PRIZE ESSAY

convey an idea of the wealth that is created by population being thus suddenly centralised in a comparative wilderness, I have but to name the fact, that within twenty years land was sold for a pound an acre in many cities, towns and villages, in the western part of America, where it is now purchased for twenty-five pounds a foot. There is not an old inhabitant of Buffalo or of Chicago in the States, or of Toronto or Hamilton in Canada, who cannot recount numerous instances of property, now worth thousands, even tens of thousands of pounds, being bought, twenty years ago, for a cow, or a horse, or a small quantity of goods out of a shop, or a few weeks or months labour of a mechanic. These things form the topics of fireside history in these places. The poor refer to them as foundation for hope. The rich regard them as matters of congratulation. The speculator and the man of enter- prise learns from them how and where to found a town, and to make a bold push for a fortune.

In this singular and instructive feature of American progress, how does Canada compare with the United States ?

The u World's Progress? published by Putnam of New York,— a reliable authority, — gives the population and increase of the prin- cipal cities in the United States. Boston, between 1840 and 1850, increased forty-five per cent. Toronto, within the same period, increased ninety-jive per cent. New York, the great emporium of the United States, and regarded as the most prosperous city in the world, increased, in the same time, sixty-six per cent., being thirty-five less than Toronto.

The cities of St. Louis and Cincinnati, which have also expe- rienced extraordinary prosperity, do not compare with Canada any better. In the thirty years preceding 1850, the population of St. Louis increased fifteen times. In the thirty-three years, preceding the same year, Toronto increased eighteen times. And Cincinnati increased, in the same period given to St. Louis, but twelve times.

ON CANADA. 41

Hamilton, a beautiful Canadian city at the head of Lake Onta- rio, and founded much more recently than Toronto, has also had almost unexampled prosperity. In 1836 its population was but 2846, in 1854 it was upwards of 20,000.

London, still farther west in Upper Canada, and a yet more recently founded city than Hamilton, being surveyed as a wilder- ness little more than twenty-five years ago, has now upwards of ten thousand inhabitants.

The City of Ottawa, recently called after the magnificent river of that name, and upon which it is situated, has now above 10,000 inhabitants, although, in 1830, it had but 140 houses, including mere sheds and shanties; and the property upon which it is built was purchased, not many years before, for eighty pounds.

The Town of Brantford, situated between Hamilton and London, and whose site was an absolute wilderness twenty-five years ago, has now a population of 6000, and has increased, in ten years, upwards of three hundred per cent.; and this without any other stimulant or cause save the business arising from the settlement of a fine country adjacent to it.

The Towns of Belleville, Cobourg, Woodstock, Goderich, St. Catherines, Paris, Stratford, Port Hope, and Dundas, in Upper Canada, show similar prosperity, some of them having increased in a ratio even greater than that of Toronto, and all of them but so many evidences of the improvement of the country, and the growth of business and population around them.

That some of the smaller towns in the United States have enjoyed equal prosperity I can readily believe, from the circum- stance of a large population suddenly filling up the country contiguous to them. Buffalo and Chicago, too, as cities, are magnificent and unparallelled examples of the business, the energy, and the progress, of the United States. But that Toronto should

D*

42 PEIZE ESSAY

have quietly and unostentatiously increased in population in a greater ratio than New York, St. Louis, and Cincinnati, and that the other cities and towns of Upper Canada should have kept pace with the Capital, is a fact creditable alike to the steady industry and the noiseless enterprise of the Canadian people.

Although Lower Canada, from the circumstance already alluded to of the tide of emigration flowing westward, has not advanced so rapidly as her sister Province, yet some of her counties and cities have recently made great progress. In the seven years preceding 1851, the fine County of Megantic, on the south side of the St. Lawrence, and through which the Quebec and Richmond Railroad passes, increased a hundred and sixteen per cent. ; the County of Ottawa eighty-five ; the County of Drummond seventy- eight, and the County of Sherbrooke fifty. The City of Montreal, probably the most substantially built city in America, and cer- tainly one of the most beautiful, has trebled her population in thirty-four years. The ancient City of Quebec has more than doubled her population in the same time, and Sorel, at the mouth of the Richelieu, has increased upwards of four times; showing that Lower Canada with all the disadvantages of a feudal tenure, and of being generally looked upon as less desirable for settlement than the West, has quietly but justly put in her claim to a portion of the honour awarded to America for her progress.

AGRICULTURE AND ITS PROGRESS. THE SAME COMPARED WITH THE UNITED STATES.

Canada, but especially the Western Province, is and has been essentially an agricultural country. Acting upon a policy which it is neither necessary to explain, nor to discuss the merits of here,

ON CANADA. 43

England has always desired to make Canada, and indeed all her North American colonies, marts for the consumption of her manu- factures. The consequence is, that Canada's energy has been chiefly directed to agriculture. It is true that she has valuable minerals- but it is only recently that public attention has been directed to them, and that capital has been applied to their production. Whatever prosperity the Canadian people enjoy, it is emphatically to the soil, the use they have made of it, and the timber they found upon it, that they owe it. To follow the plough, there- fore, is to follow what has led to Canada's wealth. To count her stacks of corn is to tell what she has to show for her labour. The statistics which mark her annual production are the mile-stones on her road to prosperity; and if the reader has a fancy for well-stored granaries, rich harvest fields, farm yards teeming with plenty, and beautiful animals — for they are not the less so for being domestic and useful, — I would invite him to take a short excursion upon this pleasant road of Canadian prosperity.

The value of all the vegetable productions of Canada in 1851 was estimated at £9,200,000, — grain being £5,630,000, other products £3,570,000. The wheat crop of that year in Upper Canada was 12,682,550 bushels, or nearly 13£ bushels for every inhabitant, while that of the United States in the same year gave only about 4£ bushels to each inhabitant.

It would exceed the limits of an Essay to trace the large increase in the vegetable productions of Canada. The progress of the American States, unexampled perhaps in the history of the world, afford, by contrast, the best proofs of the agricultural advancement of Canada. Ohio, the best of these States for agricultural purposes, and where land is held, on an average, at double the price of that of the whole Union, produces, with nearly acre for acre under wheat cultivation, one-seventh less in quantity than Upper Canada, there being one and a-half bushels less to each inhabitant.

44 PRIZE ESSAY

In the last ten years the growth of wheat in the whole United States increased 48 per cent., and that of Canada, in the same period, increased 400 per cent. Even in Indian corn the pro- duction of Canada compares most favorably with the States, the increase in the States, fora period often years, up to 1851, being 56 per. cent. ; and for nine years, up to the same period, that of Canada was 163 per cent.

Of oats, the growth in Upper Canada has, in nine years, increased 133 per cent., and in Lower, seventy, against 17 per cent, during the same period in the United States.

The amount of live stock is justly considered one of the most important features in agriculture, and one of primary consideration in good farming, as without it the properties of the soil could not be sustained, the expanse and difficulty of introducing Guano, Nitrate of Soda, and other costly manures pressing too heavily upon the farmer in a young country. In addition to this, stock is a source of wealth, as affording butter, cheese, wool, and other marketable produce.

In 1851, Canada possessed 592,622 milch cows, being two to every 6J persons, and 46,939 more than the State of Ohio, which had in this year about an equal number of inhabitants. In sheep, Upper Canada had ten, and Lower Canada eight to every one hundred inhabitants, whilst the whole United States had 7£. In ten years the increase in the States of the latter animals was equal to 10 per cent., and in the weight of their fleece 32 per cent. In Canada, for the same period, the increase in animals was 35 per cent., and in wool 64, the quality of Canadian wool being declared, at the Great Exhibition, to be nearly equal to the finest samples of German.

Canada possesses one horse to every five inhabitants, and the increase in ten years has been 50 per cent. The best cattle increased 64 per cent, in six years, and the total live stock, accord-

ON CANADA. 45

ing to the Census, in 1851, was 4,249,314 head. The increase since that period must have been very large ; and the importation )f the finest European breeds, carefully selected, has enabled the Canadian farmer to compete, in stock, with any part of the world.

From a summary of the facts elucidated by the last Census of Canada and the United States, taken within a year of each other, it appears that Canada far exceeds the most productive State of the Union in wheat, peas, rye, barley, oats, buckwheat, hay, hemp, flax, hops, maple sugar, and potatoes; Ohio largely exceeding Canada in butter, cheese, grass seed, wool, tobacco, beef and pork ; and if the produce of the forest be added, of which Canada exported in 1851 to the value of upwards of a million and a-half of pounds, the relative wealth is greatly in favor of Canada.

Already the population of Canada is more than one-thirteenth of the United States, the area in square miles, exclusive of territories, being one-sixth; her growth of wheat is one-sixth that of the American Union, and possessing, as she does, the great highway of the St. Lawrence to the West, her resources present an unrivalled field for energy and enterprise.

As a wheat exporting country Canada has made great progress ; and as the improved methods of agriculture are more generally adopted, and her rich territories in the west become better settled, her exports of breadstuff's will be immense. It would appear that the United States, on the contrary, during the last twenty years, have been unable, even with the temptation of famine prices, to increase their export, for in 1831 their export of wheat and flour was equal to 9,441,091 bushels, and the value $10,461/715. In 1851 the export was 11,028,397 bushels, the value $11,543,063, the increase in twenty years being only 1,587,306 bushels.

In 1838 Canada exported 296,020 bushels of wheat, and, in 1852, 5,496,718 bushels, thus increasing eighteen times. Her exports in grain have doubled four times in fifteen years, or more

46 PRIZE ESSAY

than once in every four years. They are now equal to one-half the entire exports of the United States.

There are, however, two articles which, until lately, occupied little attention in Canada, namely, hops and flax. Of the former a considerable amount has been already exported, and the quality was considered fully equal to the British at the Great Exhibition. The growth of flax is likely to become a very important feature in Can- adian industrial wealth, for the soil and climate of Canada are regarded as better suited for its growth than the great flax-produc- ing countries. The fibre is of the best description, and Canadian hemp is fully equal to that from the Baltic. The Government have already shown a disposition to foster and encourage this new source of national wealth, and its manufacture will soon become very general in the country.

NATURAL PRODUCTS.

TIMBER.

The products of the forest are second only to those of agri- culture in importance, and are at least their equal in value. The exports in 1853 amounted to £2,355,255, to which may be added the value of the ships built at Quebec, being £620,187. Of the timber, £1,682,125 was exported to Great Britain, £11,000 to the British Colonies, and £652,544 to the United States. The white and red pine, oak and elm, form the most important items in this amount. The export of pot and pearl ashes was £157,000, and of furs and skins £32,000. The timber exported, however, forms a very small proportion of the forest-wealth, as the home-consumption, for domestic purposes, for building, and for the construction of wharves, railways, fences, &c.,is valued at considerably more than £2,000,000, and this would give the total value of the produce of the forest, in 1853, at about £4,532,000.

ON CANADA. 4

It is said that three times the amount of timber reaches England from the Baltic, since the reduction of duties ; and it was thought for a time that the Canadian export would be seriously injured by the change. It is, however, found that both Baltic and American timber are required for different portions of house and ship building, and thus an increase in the consumption of the one benefits equally the other. Canada possesses almost every variety of ornamental timber, and her black walnut surpasses, in durability and exquisite graining, the mahogany and rosewood so extensively used in Europe.

In sawed lumber the increase has been very great, as appears

* by a comparison of the quantities exported during the last three

years. Of this the year 1851 produced 120,175,560 feet, and 1853, 218,480,000 feet, and added to eight millions for the broken item of planks and deal ends, and 38,740,168 cubic feet of squared timber, the total would be 727,188,010 feet of board measure, which is equal to 61,265,667 cubic feet of timber. The returns, however, from the nature of the business, and the vast extent of country it is spread over, are no doubt far under the mark.

FISHERIES.

The fisheries in the Gulf of the River St. Lawrence, the mouths of the Saguenay, and other large rivers, and in the great lakes, give occupation to several thousand persons. The Gulf fisheries are of great value, but in these Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland are equally interested, and by the recent Reciprocity Treaty with the United States, they have free admission to these waters. The principal stations immediately appertaining to Canada are those of the Magdalen Islands, Gaspe and the Bay of Chaleurs, and on Lakes Huron and Ontario. The

48 PRIZE ESSAY

produce of this trade in 1853 was about 110,000 barrels, and of these were exported to the value of £85,000: £18,355 being exported to the United States, £15,072 to British North American Colonies, £8801 to Great Britain, and £42,770 to foreign countries.

GEOLOGICAL FEATURES AND SOIL.

The general features of Canada exhibit a granitic country, with occasional calcareous rocks, of a soft texture, and in horizontal strata. The calcareous region extends in a line north-west beyond Lake Michigan, as far as trie sources of the Mississippi, and thence to the great range of the Rocky Mountains.

All the great lakes are placed in the line of contact between two vast chains of granite and limestone. At the narrowest part of Lake Winnipeg, where it is not more than two miles broad, the western shore is skirted by calcareous rocks, while on the oppo- site shore there are still higher rocks, of a dull grey granite. In the Lower Province, particularly, the granite prevails, with clay and limestone occasionally. The north shore of the St. Lawrence offers a rich field for the mineralogist, and at the Falls of Mont- morenci there is a dense bed of limestone, exhibiting deep fissures, which appear to confirm the account of the earthquake in 1663, of which so many traces are visible.

The granite is invariably found in strata more or less inclined to the horizon, but never parallel with it. From Quebec to Niagara the red slate is perhaps the prevailing rock. The sub- soil around Lake Ontario is limestone on granite, real granite being seldom seen. On Lake Erie the strata are limestone, slate> and sandstone ; and at Niagara the stratum of slate is nearly forty feet thick, and almost as fragile as shale, — so much so, indeed, as to sink the superincumbent limestone, and thus verifying, to

ON CANADA. 49

some extent, the opinion that a retrocession of the falls has been going on for ages. On Lake Huron limestone is found with detached blocks of granite and other primitive rocks. On the south shore of Lake Superior are sandstone, resting on granite, chal- cedony, cornelian, jasper, opal, agate, sardonyx, zeolith, and ser- pentine, with iron, lead, and copper imbedded. The north shore is of older formation, with vast beds of granite, and mines of copper.

An elaborate and highly interesting report, recently presented by Mr. Logan, the Provincial Geologist, to His Excellency the Governor General, furnishes much valuable descriptive detail of the country between Montreal and Cap Tourmente, thirty miles below Quebec, having a length of about two hundred miles, gradually widening from Cap Tourmente, and having an area of of about 3000 square miles.

"It presents a general flat surface, rising in many places by " abrupt steps, (the marks of ancient sea margins,) into successive " terraces, some of which are from 200 to 300 feet above the level " of the river, and the whole have a general parallellism with it. " These terraces are occupied by extensive beds of clay and sand." The economic materials of this district, traversed by the St. Maurice and other large rivers, appears to be those of log iron ore, of which the largest fields appear in the country between St. Maurice and Batiscan ; and in the same localities, especially in the St. Nicholas range of Pointe du Lac, iron ochre is extensively found, occupy- ing, it is said, an area of about 400 acres, with a depth ranging froni four to six feet, and affording eight varieties in colour. Iron sand, wad, and bog manganese are also found, and clay for pottery, bricks, and roofing tiles, to an extent which enables them to be manufactured in almost any locality where wanted ; and the white sandstone, although harder than most building stone, pos- sesses, as Mr. Logan remarks, the valuable property of resisting

50 PRIZE ESSAY

fire. This, with limestone and the yellow calcareous stone, called the " Deschambault stone," and the millstones over the Potsdam beds, fit for flagging, are in beds from one to two feet thick. Marble of various colours, and susceptible of the highest polish, is found, and peat has been turned by the habitants to excellent account, for when burned, and combined with the surface beneath, it becomes a very fruitful soil.

The conflagrations which have destroyed so large a portion of the two principal cities in Canada have naturally called public attention to the roofing of the houses, and several slate quarries in the Townships of Kingsey and Elzear are now in operation. Their specific gravity and chemical composition are said to resemble the finest Welsh slate. In the Eastern Townships of Lower Canada clay slates have been extensively discovered.

Sir Charles Lyell and Mr. Logan have declared — and it is feared with too much truth — that from the geological structure of Canada coal cannot exist.

If Canada, however, has not coal she is conveniently situated to it : on the north-west are the immense coal fields of the Michigan Territory, and on the south-east is the still greater coal field of Appalachia, the one with a supposed surface of 12,000, and the other of 60,000 square miles, and said to be the largest known car- boniferous tracts in the world.

But little copper has been found in Lower Canada. On the River L'Assomption and other places where it has been discovered the lode is said to be of trifling value.

Mr. Logan has devoted much attention to the discovery and distribution of gold. The auriferous tract is clearly shown to exist over 10,000 square miles on the south side of the St. Lawrence, especially in the Eastern Townships, in the valley of the St. Francis, from Richmond to Salmon River, and on the Magog River above Sherbrooke ; but he remarks " that the deposit will not, in general,

ON CANADA. 51

" remunerate unskilled labour, and that agriculturists, artisans, and " others engaged in the ordinary occupations of the country, would " only lose their labour by turning gold hunters."

The Report of Mr. Logan on the Upper Province is accompa- nied by one by Mr. Murray, the Assistant Geologist, who especially refers to the district between Kingston and the River Severn, connecting Lake Simcoe with the Georgian Bay. The economic materials met with in this district are magnetic and specular iron ore, which exists chiefly in the Township of Bedford in the County of Frontenac,Madoc and Marmora in Hastings, Belmont in Victoria, and Seymour in Northumberland ; and of these Mr. Murray thinks the deposits in Madoc, Marmora and Belmont will become of great commercial importance. The Marmora mines are now worked by an English Company with large capital, and every modern improve- ment in machinery. They are situated on a rocky flat, and the iron ore is said to be rich in the extreme, yielding sometimes ninety per cent. It is found chiefly on the surface, or in its immediate vicinity. The Company owning them also possess extensive beds of marble and lithographic stone. In the same district are found galena and plumbago ; and the Potsdam formation yields grindstones and flagging stones ; clay producing the red and white brick is also abundant.

The copper on Lakes Superior and Huron is becoming an important article of national wealth, and is found occasionally in masses of 2000 pounds weight in a pure and malleable state.

Canada abounds in mineral springs, and the Caxton, Planta- genet, St. Leon and St. Catherines waters have acquired great celebrity.

The soil of Canada is generally extremely fertile, and consists principally of yellow loam on a sub-stratum of limestone. It greatly improves to the westward, and its quality, when unculti- vated, is easily ascertained by the timber it produces, the

52 PRIZE ESSAY

larger and heavier kinds growing on the best soil. In Upper Canada the brown clay and loam, intermingled with marl, pre- dominates in the district between the St. Lawrence, and the Ottawa ; but further west, and north of Lakes Ontario and Erie, the soil becomes more clayey and far more productive. The virgin soil is rich beyond measure, and the deposit of vegetable matter for ages, improved by the ashes of the fires which sometimes sweep the forest, render it abundantly productive for several years without extraneous help.

CLIMATE.

The acknowledged influence of the atmosphere, not only upon the productiveness of the soil of a country, but upon the temper, habits, and industry of its inhabitants, renders an enquiry into the climate of Canada a subject of great importance.

Her inland seas, with an area of 100,000 square miles, and a supposed content of 11,000,000 cubic miles of water — far exceed- ing half the fresh water in all the lakes in the world, — exercise a powerful influence in modifying the two extremes of heat and cold. The uniformity of temperature thus produced, although low, is found to be highly favorable to animal and vegetable life. It is therefore found that in the neighbourhood of the lakes the most delicate fruits are reared without injury, whilst in places four or five degrees farther south they are destroyed by the early frosts. The quantity of rain, which for the most part falls in summer and early autumn, is no doubt greatly increased by evapo- ration from these immense bodies of water. The winds are most variable, and rarely continue for more than two or three days in the same quarter. This has the effect of preserving the equilibrium and renders the occurrence of disastrous storms less frequent. The

ON CANADA. 53

>. W., the most prevalent wind, is generally moderate, with clear The N. E. and E. bring continued rains in summer and

irly autumn, and the N. W., springing from the regions of ice, is

ivariably dry, elastic, and invigorating. Since 1818 the climate greatly changed, owing principally, it is supposed, to the large

learings of the primeval forests.

The salubrity of the Province is sufficiently proved by its cloudless skies, its elastic air, and almost entire absence of fogs. The lightness of the atmosphere has a most invigorating effect upon the spirits. The winter frosts are severe and steady, and the summer suns are hot, and bring on vegetation with wonderful rapidity. It is true that the spring of Canada differs much from the spring of many parts of Europe ; but after her long winter the crops start up as if by magic, and reconcile her inhabitants to the loss of that which, elsewhere, is often the sweetest season of the year. If, however, Canada has but a short spring, she can boast of an autumn deliciously mild, and often lingering on, with its "Indian summer" and -golden sunsets, until the month of December.

A Canadian winter, the mention of which, some years ago, in Europe, conveyed almost a sensation of misery, is hailed rather as a season of increased enjoyment than of privation and discomfort by the people. Instead of alternate rain, snow, sleet and fog, with broken up and impassable roads, the Canadian has clear skies, a fine bracing atmosphere, with the rivers and many of the smaller lakes frozen, and the inequalities in the rude tracks through the woods made smooth by snow — the whole face of the country being literally Macadamized by nature for a people as yet unable to Macadamize for themselves.

It must not be supposed that the length of this season is neces- sarily prejudicial to the farmer, for mild winters are generally found to be injurious to fall crops of wheat, and a serious hindrance to

54 PRIZE ESSAY

business and travelling. The summer, short and eminently fruc- tifying, occupies the whole of the farmer's time. It is in winter that the land is cleared of timber, the firewood dragged home from the woods on sleighs over ground impassable by wheel carriages, and that the farmer disposes of his produce, and lays in his supplies for the future. The snow forms a covering for his crops, and a road to his market. On the arrival of winter the care of his fat stock ceases, for the whole is killed, freezes, and can be disposed of as the state of the markets suggests.

Comparing the two Provinces, it is admitted that the cli- mate of Upper Canada is the most favorable for agricultural purposes, the winter being shorter, and the temperature less severe ; but the brilliant sky, the pure elastic air, and uninter- rupted frost of Lower Canada, though perhaps lingering too long, are far more exhilarating, and render out-door exercise much more agreeable. Few who have enjoyed the merry winters of Quebec and Montreal, with the noble hospitality and charming society of these cities, their sleigh drives and their pic-nics, can ever for- get the many attractions of a winter in Lower Canada.

It would indeed be strange if some did not complain that the climate of Canada was too hot, without reflecting how neces- sary and how valuable this occasional extreme may be. Although the summer season is short it is highly favorable for the growth of hay, mangel wurtzel, turnips, and other roots, which enable the farmer to fatten his cattle before the arrival of winter ; and in a country where labour is not only high, but often difficult to be had, the heat is of incalculable value. The average amount of harvest labour in England is said to be about 13s. sterling per acre, whilst in Canada it does not amount to more than 6s. or 6s. 6d. This arises from various causes. The Canadian harvest ripens earlier, and is generally much less injured by weather than in England, and when cut, can, for the most part, be bound at once,

ON CANADA.

55

and carried to the barn. The climate is so favorable that there is little or no trouble in " mating " either grain or grass. Add to this the very general use of reaping and mowing machines, induced, no doubt, by the difficulty of obtaining hands. It will be found, on an average, that the crops are housed in half the time and with half the labour and expense that they are in England ; and, notwithstanding the length of the winter in Canada, the har- vest of Upper Canada is generally garnered by the first or second week in August, the farmers thus having longer days for labour.

There is still another advantage arising from the summer heat, namely, that of cleaning the land, killing all noxious weeds, and preparing it for green crops.

Of the general salubrity of the Province, its vital statistics, as compared with those of other countries, afford satisfactory evidence; and the following table, communicated by Professor Guy, is not devoid of interest, as shewing the proportion of deaths to the population in various countries :

Austria, 1 in

Belgium, 1 "

Denmark, 1 "

England, 1 "

France, 1 "

Norway and Sweden,

Portugal,

Prussia,

Russia in Europe,

Spain,

Switzerland,

Turkey,

United States,

Upper Canada,

Lower Canada,

All Canada, 1 "

1 " 1 " 1 " 1 " 1 "

40 43 45

46 42 41 40 39 44 40 40 30 74 102 92 98

56 PRIZE ESSAY

MANUFACTURES AND SHIP BUILDING.

As a manufacturing country Canada is only beginning to be important. English Canada is more than a century younger than the United States, and until recently her population was almost exclusively occupied in the pursuits of husbandry. She has, however, within the last few years, made considerable progress in manufactures, many of her articles having obtained prizes at the Great Exhibition in London, and several of them receiving favor- able notice.

Of all manufactures in timbers the most important is that of ship building, and this is carried on chiefly at Quebec.

The increase in the trade has been very great, not only from the extensive demand for vessels, but because of the high reputation Canadian built ships have acquired for symmetry, solidity, and speed. In the year 1853 forty-eight ships, with a tonnage of 49,000 tons, were built at Quebec, valued at £500,000, being an increase in one year, of twenty-two ships, and of value £340,000. A great number of these ranged from 1000 to 1800 tons, and some of them have made remarkably short passages. The " Boomerang" made one of the best passages ever made by a sailing vessel to and from Australia, beating the fastest American ship thei on the ocean. The " Shooting Star" 1520 tons, and the "Arthur the Great," 1600 tons, built in 1853 by Mr. Lee, a French Cana- dian of Quebec, are among the finest ships now in Her Majesty's transport service ; one of them, the " Shooting Star," having made the fastest passage on record from Plymouth to Malta. Many of these ships were sold at £13 10s. per ton; and notwithstanding the depression in the trade, the keels of thirty ships, of from 800 to 2000 tons burthen, were laid down in the past winter. Of the increase in ship building in the inland waters, it would be impossible here to give any description. In 1817 two steamers

ON CANADA. 57

were built on Lake Ontario, and in the following year one was unched in Lake Erie. At the present time thousands of vessels, m and sailing, traverse the waters of the five great lakes and the iver St. Lawrence, and of the former many are decorated in a le which fully entitles them to the name of floating palaces. After a season of apathy and mismanagement, the manufactures of iron and copper have assumed a health} condition. The Mar- mora works, in the County of Hastings, possessing singular advan- tages, have, as already remarked, passed into the hands of an English Company, with large capital and every improvement in machinery. The bed is easily mined, and the ores are of excellent quality. Thd Three Rivers mines, on the River St. Maurice, have been many years in operation, and at this time employ about 300 hands The proprietor obtained a prize medal at the Great Exhibition. The exports of this branch of Canadian industry, destined to become so important, have been hitherto trifling. The magnetic iron on Lake Superior and elsewhere has been recently examined by scientific men from England, whose report is highly favorable, and the general quality of the bar iron is said to equal the best Swedish in toughness and ductility. Some of the iron from Lake Superior has been pronounced superior to any in the world, its ultimate tenacity being nearly 90,000 Ibs. to the square inch, and that of the best Russian being only 79,000 Ibs.

If, however, Canada produces at the present moment but littje iron, her consumption of it is very large. She manufactures railway locomotives of the most approved construction, and every variety of castings, with land and marine steam engines, and fittings for all kinds of machinery. Her fire engines equal those of any other country, and gained the first prize at the Great Exhibition. She manufactures railway carriages and waggons ; and her pleasure carriages are not surpassed, for elegance of design, durability, and finish, by any in the world. She makes edge tools of every variety,

58 PRIZE ESSAY

and many of them are sought by the artisan and backwoodsman in preference to those of European manufacture. Agricultural machines and implements are extensively made in the Province ; and Upper Canada stands almost unrivalled in the manufacture of cooking and ornamental stoves. Even in printing types, and stereotype plates, in philosophical and surgical instruments, and in piano-fortes and other musical instruments, she competes most creditably with other countries.

In cotton fabrics Canada has made but little progress, but in woollen goods and mixed fabrics she is a large producer, and of a quality so good as to have taken prizes at the New York and London Exhibitions.

In the manufacture of furs, and other articles for which her northern territory affords peculiar advantages, she is unrivalled ; and the exquisite graining of her timber for cabinet work, especially that of the black walnut, has lately created a great demand for it in the European markets.

Passing over the less important manufactures, there remain the grist and saw mills of the Province, which minister to the first wants of the pioneer of the wilderness, and produce the staple exports of the colony. Of the latter, especially those on the river Ottawa and Saguenay, Canada has perhaps the largest in the world. The returns of the Census of 1851, though very imperfect, give 158 steam and 1473 mills worked by water-power, producing 772,612,770 feet of lumber per annum, exclusive of 4,590,000 planks. There were 1153 grist mills returned, of which 45 were steam power, employing a capital of over £1,000,000. Several counties, however, made no return ; and the statistics generally bearing upon this important branch of industry and capital are very imperfect in the public returns, the only sources of informa- tion open to the writer.

ON CANADA. 59

TRADE AND COMMERCE.

The mercantile progress of Canada has been, at least, equal to that of her population. Of this the trade and navigation returns afford a striking confirmation.

In 1834 her imports amounted to £1,063,645, and her exports to £1,018,922. It would be tedious to trace the progress of the colony in these items, for they have naturally grown with her growth. I will, therefore, deal with the present. The increase in her commerce in one year, from 1852 to 1853, — the latest period at which we have the Government returns, — was £5,047,159, or 57 per cent., the total value of imports and exports in 1853 being £13,945,684 against £8,898,524 in 1852.

Of goods paying specific and ad valorem duties there were imported in 1853 £7,995,359, and of free goods £443,977, the largest items being those of cotton goods, £1,315,685; woollen, £1,254,255 ; silk, £360,330 ; linen, £133,414 ; iron, manufactured and unmanufactured, £1,385,626 ; tea,£390,105 ; sugar, £297,058^ and earthenware, £36,579; and of the whole she imported

From Great Britian £4,622,280 3 10

" B. N. A. Colonies 159,034 13 3

" the United States 2,945,536 1 7 0

" other foreign countries 268,507 7 0

The total imports divided among the whole population, as it stood on the 1st January, 1854, give £3 14s. lOd. to each individual. The imports of the United States for the same period give only £2 7s. to each individual.

The exports of Canada in the year 1853 amounted to £5,950,325, consisting of :

Produce of the mines, £27,339 3 2

" " sea, 85,000 13 8

" " forest, 2,355,255 2 2

Animals and their produce, 342,63 170

60 PRIZE ESSAY

Vegetable food, £1,995,094 15 0

Other agricultural products, 26,61 8 17 11

Manufactures, 35,106 9 0

Other articles, 15,823 11 3

to which must be added the value of ships built at Quebec, £620,187 10s., and twenty per cent, to the inland ports, *£447,268, 5s. 5d.

The total exports divided into the whole population, on the 1st January, 1854, gives £2 15s. to each individual. The exports of the United States give £2 7s. 2d. per individual.

In six years the imports of Canada have quadrupled, and the exports have increased in an equal ratio.

The total customs receipts of the United States, for the year 1849, (vide Boston Almanac for 1851,) amounted to $28,346,738, exceeding but little over eleven times those of Canada, although their population was more than fifteen times greater. The value of their exports for the same year was $132,666,955, being but thirteen times more than those of Canada.

The great importance to Great Britain of the British North American trade, even over that to the United States, valuable as the latter unquestionably is, may be gathered from the fact, that she exported to the States, in 1853, to the value of £23,461,971, being little over one pound to each individual, whilst her exports to Canada were £4,922,280, being equivalent to £2 6s. 7£d. to each inhabitant. It may be remarked that the Canadian tariff contrasts most favorably with that of the United States, the duty on all manufactured articles being considerably less. Canada's whole consumption, at the United States' tariff, would cost her £500,000 per annum more than she now pays.

* This addition has been made for years in the Trade and Navigation Reports, it being found that the inland ports are undervalued.

ON CANADA. 61

Of the whole exports and imports of 1853, the value of 1,085,425 was conveyed by the way of the River St. Lawrence; id the total amount of duties collected in that year was 51,028,676, being an increase of nearly five times in ten years. In the year 1805, 146 vessels, with a tonnage of 25,136 tons, rrived at Quebec. In 1854 there arrived at the same port 1315 vessels, with a tonnage of 580,323 tons. In addition to this there were numerous vessels entered at the Ports of Amherst, Gaspe, and New Carlisle. The coasting traffic, and that of the inland waters, between Canada and the United States, employed, of British ships, steam and sail, inwards and outwards, 4,951,313 tons, and of American vessels 2,518,999, or a total of 7,470,312 tons.

The ports of Canada take rank thus in the value of their exports and imports in 1854: — In exports — Quebec, Montreal, Toronto, Coaticook, Dalhousie, Kingston, St. Johns and Whitby. In imports — Montreal, Quebec, Toronto, Hamilton, Kingston, Stamford, Prescott and Stanley. In exports Quebec has made the largest absolute, and Toronto the largest relative advance. In imports Montreal has made the largest advance absolutely, and Hamilton relatively.

The importance of the trade of the St. Lawrence with other countries should be estimated more by the nature of the commo- dities exchanged than by their intrinsic value, as Canadian exports, being largely made up of timber, require an immense bulk of shipping, and consequently give employment to a great number of the best sailors.

62

PRIZE ESSAY

REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE.

In 1843 the revenue of Canada was £445,578, and its expendi- ture £836,754. In 1853 the former amounted to £1,714,350, am the latter to £834,668, giving a balance to the credit of the Con- solidated Fund of £834,668, having increased four-fold in ten years. Of the revenue £1,029,782 were derived from the custoi £123,002 from public works, £93,770 territorial, and £15,( casual revenue. Of the customs revenue the sum of £986,597 was net, after deducting salaries and all other expenses.

The revenue for 1854 is estimated at £1,423,520, and the expenditure at £939,595, or at the rate of 8s. 2d. for each inl itant. The Boston Almanac gives the expenditure of the Unil States at £12,939,876, which, divided into the population, makes lls. Id. per individual, or thirty-seven per cent, higher than the indirect taxes of Canada; but this includes 3,204,067 slaves, 01 nearly one-seventh of the whole population, who are not taxed ; deducting these it would add fifteen per cent, per individual to tax on the free inhabitants of the States.

From a table recently compiled in England it appears that sum contributed by the inhabitants of Canada to the revenue is considerably less than that contributed by any other British Colony. The inhabitants of the Australian Colonies contribute two pounds per head, the West India Islands one pound, and th< other British North American Provinces ten shillings. Canada contributes eight shillings and two pence.

From the expenditure of the Province about twenty per cent, may, however, be fairly deducted, as it is given back to the several counties for local purposes ; being for the support of common schools, the administration of justice, the payment of the salaries of public officers, and the grants to agricultural societies and me- chanics' institutes, to both of which the Government is very liberal.

ON CANADA. 63

The only direct taxation in Canada is for municipal pur- and this is returned many-fold to the inhabitants by the

mstruction of roads and bridges and other local expenditures, which not only improve the means of communication, but mate- rially add to the value of property. It may be also remarked that

iere are no paupers in Canada, and distress is rarely or ever seen, save in the cities and large towns, arising too frequently from intemperance, or from sickness or other misfortunes to the poorer classes of emigrants.

It appears from the last Census Report of the United States, that the sum of $2,954,806 was expended in 1851 for the relief of pau- pers. The total expenditure on the poor in England and Ireland in 1848 amounted to $42,750,000; and even this, added to a large amount of private contributions, was insufficient to relieve their wants.

The expense of the organized benevolent institutions in France, in the same year, was 52,000,000 francs, and it is said that an average of 450,000 persons are relieved annually. A report of M. Duchatel, the Minister of Commerce, declares that 695,932 persons received alms at their own houses.

The Netherlands, with a population of 6,167,000, in the same year, contributed to the support of 1,214,055 persons, or about one-fifth of the entire population.

It would, therefore, appear that though Canada cannot boast of the extreme wealth of older nations, she is wholly free from the other extreme of pauperism and its painful and debasing concomi- tants, ignorance, want, disease, and crime.

64 PRIZE ESSAY

BANKS, <fcc.

The monetary system of Canada is carried on by means of incor- porated banks, and if proof were required of how wisely these have been conducted, and how healthy the mercantile interests of the colony are under them, the fact that for a period of nineteen years there has not been a single bank failure, sufficiently affords it. As a contrast to this, the American newspapers of last fall advertised a list of 367 banks which had recently suspended pay- ment, or whose notes were pronounced worthless. The late exten- sion of the bank charters in Canada shews that the requirements of the trade of the country are greatly increasing ; and without venturing further remarks upon a subject which requires so much more space than could be devoted to it here, a table is annexed, shewing the present and prospective capitals of the principal banks in the two Provinces :

Present Capital. Increase.

Montreal Bank £1,000,000 £500,000

Upper Canada Bank 500,000 500,000

City Bank 225,000 75,000

People's Bank 200,000 100,000

Quebec Bank 250,000 250,000

Bank of British North America 1,000,000

Commercial Bank 500,100 250,000

Or an increase of £1,675,000

All these banks have agencies in the principal towns of the Province, in England, Ireland and Scotland, and in many of the commercial cities of France, Germany, and Holland.

ON CANADA. 65

rDUCEMENTS TO EMIGRANTS —WAGES, PRICE OF LAND, &c.

The flow of emigration to Canada has been greatly impeded the want of sound and practical information upon the Colony in Great Britain. It is one of her nearest colonies, has a healthy id bracing climate, a soil producing the finest crops, and land so leap and easily attainable that every industrious person may, a short time, become a freeholder. The man of limited means can, in Canada, give his son an education second only to that of an English university. There is the most perfect freedom in reli- gious opinion; and there is not a neighbourhood without its church, chapel, and school. Taxation, too, is about eighty -five per cent, less than in Great Britain and Ireland.

To the industrial classes the points of greatest interest are the rates of wages, the price of provisions, and the cost of voyage. On these subjects recent Parliamentary papers, accompanied by Reports of the Emigration Agents, contain much valuable and reliable information. The number of emigrants who arrived at Quebec in the six months from May to November, 1854, was 36,699, and Mr. Buchanan, the Emigration Agent, reports in December, that mechanics of all descriptions, labourers and servants, were still in request. He adds : " the emigrants who " arrived during the last quarter all found immediate employ- " ment on landing, and a great scarcity of labour still exists " on the public works. All those who went to the west were " seldom more than a few hours unemployed after landing, " and I have received applications from almost every section " of the Province, complaining of the scarcity of female servants, " and of this class several thousands could be absorbed annually " in this Province."

The average rates of wages for Lower Canada have been 6s. per day for bakers, butchers, brickmakers, carpenters, cabinet makers,

66 PRIZE ESSAY

and most other trades ; stone cutters received 7s., and bricklayers and stone masons 7s. 6d. Agents from Upper Canada, and the Western States, guaranteed steady employment for unskilled labour at 6s. 3d., and bricklayers and stone masons from 10s. to 12s. 6d. a day; farm labourers from 10 to 18 dollars per month.

In Upper Canada the mechanics and labourers are generally lodged and boarded by their employers, and the table of a Cana- dian farmer is sumptuousness itself, compared with the scanty fare obtained by the labourers in the English agricultural districts.

At this time a large number of labourers and mechanics are required for the numerous railways now in course of construction in the country, and also for the lumber trade, — the Ottawa, and other districts, offering great advantages to the settler in respect to high wages and the cheapness of land, the poor man, in a very short time, being able to become a prosperous freeholder. The rate of wages given has, during the past year, in many instances, been more than doubled, owing to the great demand for labour. Female servants get from $4 to $6 per month. Land is as easily obtainable in Canada as in any other British colony : the Crown Lands may be purchased at from Is. to 4s. per acre in Lower Canada, and in Upper Canada from 4s. to 20s. per acre, the value being regulated by their situation. In the former the purchase money is payable in five, and in the latter in ten, years. The Government seldom sell less than 100 or more than 200 acres to an individual, and these are, by a regulation of the Crown Lands Department, for actual settlement. The town plots, however, especially those possessing the advantages of water power, are sold in small lots at from £10 to £15 per acre, and the purchaser is required to give security for the erection of such a saw and flour mill as will suffice for the wants of the community. There are Crown Land Agents in every county, from whom information and advice can be readily obtained.

ON CANADA. 67

Independently of public lands there are, it is supposed, above ,000,000 acres in the hands of private individuals, improved

id unimproved, and sold from 5s. and upwards per acre. Im- >roved farms, according to their intrinsic value and the outlay in louses, barns, stables, orchards, and fences upon them, are sold at

>m £2 to £20 per acre. Many private holders dispose of their lands at a credit of twenty years, the tenant paying yearly interest, with the power of completing his purchase at any time. There is still another mode adopted by the Government in Lower Canada, viz., that of allotting lands to individuals of twenty-one years of age and upwards, to the extent of fifty acres without pur- chase, on condition that they satisfy the commissioner, or his agent, that they can support themselves until a crop can be raised.

The British American Land Company sell their lands in Lower Canada at from 8s. to 12s. per acre, requiring interest only for the first four years, and then allowing four years for the payment of the principal : the emigrant thus gets 100 acres of land by an annual payment of from £3 to £4 10s.

The Canada Company possess large tracts of land in various parts of the Upper Province, but principally on the south-east shore of Lake Huron. The price of their lands varies from 2s. to £2 10s. per acre, increasing as the settler approaches the Huron tract. Those who cannot purchase may lease these lands for ten years, paying ordinary interest, with the right of converting their leases into freehold at any time. Besides the valuable Huron tract this Company possesses more than 300,000 acres of land in other counties.

The assessed value of land in Upper Canada is wholly depen- dent on the locality. In the wealthy Counties of York, Ontario and Peel it is £3 18s. 6d. sterling per acre. In Northumberland and Durham £3 3s. 5d. In Oxford and Norfolk £2 10s., and the average of all occupied land is £3 per acre, including culti- vated and uncultivated.

68 PRIZE ESSAY

There has been no assessment of Lower Canada, save in a few districts and for school purposes, but according to the best estimate it would be about £2 per acre for cultivated land.

It is, however, not to the laborer and mechanic alone that Canada presents so many advantages, but to young men of edu- cation and moderate means who now crowd the professions, and to married men of small fortunes and large families, with hardly the means of educating them well, and but a doubtful prospect of providing for their future. To these the country affords every inducement to emigrate, possessing as it does a magnificent soil and climate, institutions similar to their own, a people universally loyal, a high tone of intelligence, and ample provisions for educa- tion, and the maintenance and diffusion of religious knowledge. It is a matter of wonder why so many should struggle in poverty elsewhere with the certainty of comfort and even affluence held out to them in Canada.

The establishment of a direct line of steamers from Liverpool to Quebec and Montreal, — alluded to more fully in speaking of the St. Lawrence,— has been already beneficially felt in the increase of cabin passengers, and these are now conveyed in first-class screw steam vessels for 20 guineas, second-class for 13 guineas, and third-class for 7 guineas.

The rates of steerage passage in sailing vessels, during the season of 1854, were, from Liverpool, £4 to £5 sterling; from Cork, £3 15s. to £4 5s. ; from Limerick, Gal way, and London- derry, £3 5s. to £4 ; Dublin, £2 15s. to £3 10s., and Glasgow, £3 10s. to £4 10s.

ON CANADA. 69

EDUCATION AND MORAL PROGRESS.

Having shewn the rapid advance of Canada in population, in wealth, and in all the various arts which can minister to man's material enjoyments, it seems right to consider whether equal advances have been made in her moral condition and the general tone of society. She can boast then, with truth, that while wealth has been accumulated, and luxuries multiplied, she has faithfully discharged the higher duties imposed upon her, of promoting with unremitting care the progress of Religion and Education.

Of the social benefits to be derived by a nation, from the general spread of intelligence, Canada has been fully aware ; and there is not a child in the Province without the means of receiving instruction combined with moral training. In fact, the system of education now established in Canada far exceeds, in its compre- hensive details, anything of the kind in Great Britain.

The manner in which this great question of elementary edu- cation has been dealt with is worthy of attention, not only from the results produced in the Colony, but from its general interest. The gradation of the school system has been found superior to the establishments in England and Scotland, the Normal and Model Schools having been found of the greatest value. Speaking of the spirit and unanimity of the people of Upper Canada upon chis subject, the Reverend Dr. Ryerson, the Chief Superinten- dent of Schools in Upper Canada, on the occasion of laying the first stone of the Normal and Model Schools, said :

" There are four circumstances which encourage the most san- " guine anticipation in regard to our educational future : The first " is the avowed and entire absence of all party spirit in the school " affairs of our country, from the Provincial Legislature down to " the smallest Municipality. The second is the precedence which " our Legislature has taken of all others on the western side of

70 PRIZE ESSAY

" the Atlantic, in providing for Normal School instruction, and in " aiding teachers to avail themselves of its advantages. The *' third is, that the people of Upper Canada have voluntarily ** taxed themselves for the salaries of teachers, in a larger sum " in proportion to their numbers, and have kept open their schools " on an average, more months than the neighboring citizens of 44 the great State of New York. The fourth is that the essential " requisites of suitable and excellent text books have been intro- " duced into our schools, and adopted almost by general accla- " mation ; and that the facilities for furnishing all our schools with " the necessary books, maps, and apparatus, will soon be in advance " of those of any other country."

In 1842 the number of Common Schools in Upper Canada was 1721, attended by 65,978 pupils, and in 1853 the number had increased to 3127 schools and 194,736 pupils. There are now, in the Upper Province, in addition to the above, 8 Colleges, 79 County Grammar Schools, 174 Private and 3 Normal and Model Schools, forming a total of educational establishments in operation in Upper Canada of 3391, and of students and pupils 203,986.

A careful comparison of the school system of Upper Canada with that of the adjacent States of the American Union, both in regard to the number of schools, the scholars attending them, and the amount paid for their support, shows that the colony has un- questionably the advantage. Ohio, with a population largely exceeding that of Western Canada, and with double the number of schools, had less than two-thirds of the pupils attending them in 1850, and paid £11,706 less for their support. Illinois, with a population one-fourth greater, had, in 1848, 271 schools less; and, in 1850, she had but one-third of the pupils, with 742 fewer schools. In the State of New York, too, it is found that the sum expended on education is three and one-fourth times less than that spent on education in Upper Canada, taking population into account.

ON CANADA. 71

i These facts serve to show the rapid progress that has been made Western Canada in providing institutions for the education of the people. The common school system of that Province, which has so largely contributed to these results, cuts up every inhabited township into small divisions somewhat resembling the squares on a chess board. These divisions are designated " school sections," and average an area of five square miles, each having its elective corporation of trustees for its management, with a library of standard literature for the general use of the school and the inhabitants.

The school houses are generally well supplied with maps, standard school books, geological specimens, philosophical appar- atus, and other necessary educational appliances. In some sec- tions the schools are free ; that is, they are open to all children between the ages of five and sixteen, without charge. But in the greater proportion, a tuition fee of a quarter of a dollar, or a shilling sterling, a month, is charged ; and this is the highest amount allowed to be imposed by law.

In these schools, — rarely not more than a mile and a-half from the most remote of the settlers in the district, — the children receive a sound and useful English education, quite adequate to all the ordinary avocations of life. In some sections, however, where the school fees already mentioned are paid, the higher branches are taught, and masters of considerable attainments are employed.

A large proportion of the teachers of the common schools in Upper Canada are trained at the Normal Schools in Toronto, and the funds for the payment of their salaries are derived from the following sources : — First, a sum is appropriated by the Legisla- ture from the general revenue, and this is exactly proportioned to a sum the county — which is an aggregation of school districts — may raise for the same purpose, — the Legislature thus measuring

72 PRIZE ESSAY

its liberality by the educational spirit of the people themselves. The residue is made up of the quarter dollar tuition fees already alluded to, and of any additional sum the inhabitants in each section, at their annual school meetings, may determine upon, or require.

In most of the schools in Upper Canada the Bible is read as a school book. The Irish National Series are the books universally used ; and no religious instruction of a denominational character is permitted. Permission is granted to Roman Catholics by the Legislature to have separate schools, — a privilege which has been rarely exercised in rural districts, though not unfrequently in cities and towns.

Under the existing laws the child of the poorest labourer, who distinguishes himself as a successful competitor for a free scholar- ship in a common school, has the advantage of attending one of the county grammar schools. Here again he has open to him another free scholarship in the highest educational institutions of the country, if his merits entitle him to that distinction. Thus an educational ladder has been erected by the Legislature, by which the child of the humblest inhabitant may ascend to the highest point of scholastic eminence, and with, at the same time, the children of the wealthy and the most respectable in his neighbourhood as his competitors.

As an evidence of the great desire that prevails in Upper Canada generally to educate the masses, I may mention, that the people have voluntarily taxed themselves, in a single year, upwards of ten thousand pounds for school libraries, — a fact as creditable to their intelligence as it is a substantial proof that they are turning their great prosperity to a humane and generous account. The amount given by the Government for educational purposes in Upper Canada in 1853 was £55,512, and in Lower Canada £45,823, making a total of £101,335. The whole amount available

ON CANADA. 73

for school purposes in Upper Canada, in that year, was £199,674, and in Lower Canada £68,896, the aggregate sum raised in the Upper Province being no less than £130,039, the whole amount raised for educational purposes being an increase on any preceding year of £23,598.

In Lower Canada there are 1556 school houses, 2352 schools in operation, and 108,284 pupils, the whole Province possessing 5479 schools, attended by 303,020 students and pupils.

The Universities and Colleges in Upper Canada are conducted on the English principle, and the chairs of the various departments are filled by Professors selected from Cambridge, Oxford, Trinity College Dublin, and the Continent.

The Seminaries of Quebec and Montreal are richly endowed, and the grants to the former consist of more than a thousand square miles of land, together with property in the city of immense value : those of Montreal alone exceed ten thousand pounds a-year, and the estates of the Jesuits, though greatly reduced, still produce a very large revenue.

In the Province of Lower Canada there are numerous amply endowed Nunneries, affording instruction to the young female po- pulation ; and it is worthy of remark that the pupils are of every creed and nation, are received without any distinction or partiality, and wholly exempted from attending religious duties hostile to their faith.

The Census of Great Britain gives the number of scholars attend- ing public and private day schools, (including those attending schools of which no return was obtainable, but assumed, on an average, as in those making returns,) at 2,144,377, or a proportion to the population of about one in eight and a-half. The Census of Canada gives one in six and four-fifths.

F*

74 PRIZE ESSAY

KELIGION.

The most important subject that can suggest itself, in consid- ering the state of a Christian nation, is its religion, and the influ- ence it exercises on the people. On this foundation, as on a rock, is ever built the permanent advancement of a country, — its reputation and its happiness. And Canada may well thank those noble hearts, who, pioneers in the wilderness, and struggling with all its difficulties and dangers, maintained, with courage and devotion, the faith and habits of their fathers.

All denominations and sects in Canada are marked by earnest- ness and zeal in their religious duties. Clergymen often travel dis- tances, and over roads which would utterly appal the residents of cities and towns in England, to do duty, frequently two and three times a day ; whilst the settlers in the more remote and poor districts may be seen, winter or summer, wet or dry, walking ten and fifteen miles to the place of worship. This is not unfrequently a barn, a school house, or the largest room in the dwelling of a farmer. The traveller through the back woods of Canada often recognises the clergyman, not by the habiliments common to his calling, but by the weather-beaten and mud-bespattered look of one who travels far over the rough ways of the earth, to visit and to bring consolation to the poor and the lowly. The most sublime sermon the writer ever heard in his life he heard in the little Church in the Village of Caledonia, on the Grand River, in Western Canada, when the clergyman was dripping with rain, and bespattered with mud, and when he had thirty miles to travel, and two services more to perform, that day. And the same may be said of the religious teachers of every creed in the country. All denomina- tions being equally protected by the law, none having privileges over others, there is happily a kindly and tolerant feeling subsist- ing between them. As, indeed, there could be no more effectual

ON CANADA. 75

ly of destroying its influence with the people generally, than for any denomination to exhibit a spirit of turbulence or intolerance, discretion and Christian charity alike dictate moderation and kindly feeling on the part of all.

Of the various religious denominations the recent Census affords the most accurate information, but it must be remarked that the ordinary laws of increase, which obtain in other countries, are, especially in Canada West, wholly inapplicable. The tide of emigration from other countries naturally exercises a material influence on both the origins and religions of the population. The table below, giving the numbers of the various creeds, shows the following result : — Of the whole population,

One-half are " Roman Catholics," and of these the greater part are French Canadians, the remainder being for the most part Irish or their descendants. One-seventh are " Church of England."

One-eighth are " Methodists," and of these the Wesleyans form one-fifteenth of the population.

One-tenth are "Presbyterians," one-twenty-fourth being of the Scotch Church.

One-thirty-seventh are " Baptists."

The next are " Protestants," not classified, numbering 12,208 " Lutherans ," " 12,107

and " Congregationalists," " 11,674 •

The Church of England possesses 344 places of worship. The Church of Rome "466 "

The Methodists " 455 "

The Presbyterians "245 "

The Baptists '* 136 '•«•••

The Congregationalists " 63 "

Besides the creeds classed in the Census of Canada, there were many others unclassed, but with distinguishing names. The total number of places of worship in Upper Canada was 1747, and in Lower Canada 660, in the year 1851,

76

PRIZE ESSAY

TABLE OF RELIGIONS IN CANADA.

	Canada East,	Canada West.	Total.
	45402	223190	268592
	4047	71540	75587
	746866	167695	914561
	267	79096	93385
	29221	53512	82733
	57 99	109040	114839
	7	49636	49443
	3442	8666	12108
All other Methodists,	11936	40514	52449
	4498	45353	49846
	18	12089	12107
	3927	7747	11674
	163	7460	7623
	16	5726	5742
	10	4093	4103
	1369	663	2032
	10475	1733	12208
		2064	2064
Jews . »	848	103	451
		8230	8230
TTnirersalists, r	3450	2684	6144
	349	834	1183
	12	247	259
Oreed not known,	390	6744	7134
If o creed given	4521	35740	42261
All other creeds not classed,	13834	7805	21639
Total population in 1851,	890261	952004	1842265

ON CANADA. 77

INTERNAL COMMUNICATION.

THE ST. LAWRENCE. — ITS THOUSAND ISLANDS AND RAPIDS. — THEIR NAVIGA- TION.— THE MAGNITUDE OF THE CANALS AND LOCKS CONSTRUCTED TO AVOID THE RAPIDS ON THE PASSAGE UP.— THE "WELLAND CANAL AS THE COMPLETING LINK OF THE ENTIRE NAVIGATION OF THE ST. LAWRENCE. THIS RlVER CONSIDERED

AS THE GREAT OUTLET TO THE SEA FROM THE WEST AND NORTH-WEST. IlS

MAGNITUDE AND ADAPTATION TO THE COMMERCIAL WANTS OF THE VALLEYS AND

SLOPES IT WATERS. THE SAME CONTRASTED WITH THE ERIE CANAL, ITS RIVAL

FOR THE BUSINESS OF THE "WEST. — THE EfilE CANAL MADE LITTLE BY THJZ PROGRESS OF AMERICA, AND ITS FUTURE STILL GREATER INEFFICIENCY CON- SIDERED.— NEW ENTERPRISE OF THE CHICAGO MERCHANTS, AND OCEAN STEAM NAVIGATION TO QUEBEC. — ITS EFFECT UPON THE PASSENGER TRADE TO AMERICA. — THE ADVANTAGES OF TAKING THE QUEBEC ROUTE TO THE "WEST AND INTERIOR OF AMERICA. — THE TWO THOUSAND MILES OF INTERIOR NAVIGATION BY THE ST. LAWRENCE. — FEATURES OF INTEREST BY THE WAY. — RIVER PASSES THROUGH THE VERY GARDEN OF AMERICA. — CHEAPNESS AND CONVENIENCE TO EMIGRANTS OF TAKING IT. — THE DIFFICULTIES ATTENDING THE GULF NAVIGATION REMOVED. —

HOW LONG THE ST. LAWRENCE IS OPEN FOR NAVIGATION. — THE SAME CON- TRASTED WITH THE ERIE CANAL AND HUDSON RIVER,

To appreciate the magnitude of the canals and their locks on the St Lawrence, it is necessary to glance at the splendid river, of whose nearly two thousand miles of navigation they form the com- pleting links. Let me conduct the reader then to where the steamer, destined to " shoot the rapids," first winds in amongst the Thousand Islands. It is between Kingston and Brockville, and usually just after sun-rise. The scene here, of a bright morning — and mornings are seldom otherwise in Canada — is magnificent beyond description. You pass close by, near enough often to cast a pebble from the deck of the steamer upon them — cluster after cluster of beautiful little circular islands, whose trees, per- petually moistened by the river, have a most luxuriant and exquisitely tinted foliage, their branches over-hanging the water. Again you pass little winding passages and bays between the islands, the trees on their margins interlacing above them, and forming here and there natural bowers ; yet are the waters of these

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bays so deep that steamers of considerable size might pass under the interlacing trees. Then opens up before you a magnificent sheet of water, many miles wide, with a large island apparently in the distance dividing it into two great rivers. But as you approach this, you discover that it is but a group of small islands, the river being divided into many parts, and looking like silver threads thrown carelessly over a large green cloth. Your steamer enters one of these bright passages, and you begin at length to feel that in the multitude of ways there must be great danger ; for your half embowered and winding river comes to an abrupt termination four or five hundred yards in advance of you. But as you are approaching at headlong speed the threatening rocks in front, a channel suddenly opens upon your right: you are whirled into it like the wind ; and the next second a magnificent amphitheatre of lake opens out before you. This again is bound- ed, to all appearance, by a dark green bank, but at your approach the mass is moved as if in a Kaleidoscope, and lo a hundred beautiful little islands make their appearance ! And such, for seventy miles, and till you reach the rapids, is the seenejy which you glide through.

It is impossible, even for those whose habits and occupations naturally wean them from the pleasures derivable from such scenery, to avoid feelings akin to poetry while winding through the Thousand Islands. You feel, indeed, long after they have been passed, as if you had been awakened out of a blissful dream. Your memory brings up, again and again, the pictures of the clusters of islands rising out of the clear cool water. You think of the little bays and winding passages embowered in trees ; and, recurring to the din, and dust, and heat, and strife of the city you have left, or the city you are going to, you wish in your heart that you had seen more of nature and less of business. These may be but dreams— perhaps they are so,— but they are good and

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ley are useful dreams ; for they break in, for the moment, upon dull monotony of our all-absorbing selfishness ; they let in a few rays of light upon the poetry and purity of sentiment which seem likely to die of perpetual confinement in the dark prison house of modern avarice.

The smaller rapids, and the first you arrive at, are the Galops, Point Cardinal, and some others. The great rapids are the Long Sault, the Coteau, the Cedars, the Cascades, and the Lachine. The first of these is the most magnificent, the highest waves rising in the lost, or north channel. The last is the most dangerous, extensive, and difficult of navigation. The thrilling and sublime excitement of " shooting them " is greatly heightened by contrast. Before you reach them there is usually hardly a breath of air stirring : everything is calm and quiet, and your steamer glides as noiselessly and gently down the river as she would down an ordinary canal. But suddenly a scene of wild grandeur breaks upon you : waves are lashed into spray and into breakers of a thousand forms by the dark rocks they are dashed against in the headlong impetuosity of the river. Whirl- pools,— narrow passages beset with rocks, — a storm-lashed sea, — all mingle their sublime terrors in a single rapid. In an instant you are in the midst of them ! Now passing with lightning speed within a few yards of rocks, which, did your vessel but touch them, would reduce her to an utter wreck before the sound of the crash could die upon the air. Again, shooting forward like an arrow towards a rocky island, which your bark avoids by a turn almost as rapid as the movement of a bird. Then, from the crests of great waves rushing down precipices, she is flung upon the crests of others receding, and she trembles to her very keel from the shock, and the spray is thrown far in upon her decks. Now she enters a narrow channel, hemmed in by threatening rocks], •with white breakers leaping over them ; yet she dashes through

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them in her lightning way, and spurns the countless whirlpools beneath her. Forward is an absolute precipice of waters ; on every side of it breakers, like pyramids, are thrown high into the air. Where shall she go ? Ere the thought has come and gone, she mounts the wall of wave and foam like a bird, and glorious, sub- lime science, lands you a second afterwards upon the calm, unruf- fled bosom of a gentle river! Such is "shooting the rapids." But no words can convey a just idea of the thrilling excitement that is felt during the few moments you take in passing over them. It is one of the sublime experiences which can never be forgotten, though never adequately described.

It is in the highest degree creditable to the naval skill and care of the Canadians, that for the thirteen years the rapids have been navigated by steamers, there has not an accident of any conse- quence occurred, nor has a single life been lost. And the travel down the St. Lawrence, — largely made up, as might naturally be expected, of persons in search of health and pleasure, — has been very great. For several years past two daily lines of large and magnificent steamers, fitted up with saloons and state rooms abso- lutely rivalling the gorgeous trappings of the best hotels in the principal cities and towns in the States and in Canada, have been navigating them, the one owned by United States people, and the other by Canadians. One of the British or Royal Mail steamers leaves Prescott every morning in time to "shoot the rapids" during the day, and reach Montreal at six o'clock in the evening, making the entire distance of 125 miles in about nine hours. The American or United States steamer leaves Ogdensburgh, opposite Prescott, at the same hour, and both boats thus " shoot the rapids" in company. As the one leaves a rapid, the other usually enters \ it, and the passengers enjoy the double excitement and pleasure of literally leaping over them themselves, and seeing another steamer cresting their waves, and winding through their breakers and rocks.

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The contemplation of these canals, as works of enterprise and skill, naturally leads to their contemplation as works of utility and enlarged public value. If the people who now occupy the vast valley of the St. Lawrence, and the plains and slopes which are less conveniently situated to other great channels of communi- cation to the ocean, than to it, were to use it solely, would they be acting wisely and well ? Or if the tens of thousands from Europe, who annually seek this valley and these plains and slopes, with the, view of occupying them, were to follow up this chain of navigation, would they be doing the best they could for themselves ? These. enquiries are of singular interest, and I shall devote all the space to them that the limits of this essay, and the other important matters treated of, permit.

The experiences of America in relation to public communica- tions prove, beyond perhaps the experiences of any other part of the world, the fact, that the speediest, cheapest, and most conve- nient routes from one great source of business to another will in the end be adopted. There is hardly a State in the American Union which does not furnish more or less examples of the short- sightedness of Legislatures in providing for the wants of the future. Railroads have been projected and made, time and again, to meet the wants of thousands. Before they were ten years in operation millions required railroad facilities. Local interests and local ignorance have almost everywhere caused roads to wind round to one out-of-the-way place, or to take an unnatural route to another. But the waves of population, directed by a higher sagacity, moved in the direction of the rich lands and the fertile country, and left the petty roads to be but a reproach to their concoctors, or a burthen upon the people. As a general rule, a really great work, something that American progress justified,— no matter how it might have been underrated in the begin- ning—has been certain to prevail in the end. Whilst what*

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rer could be cast in the shade by bolder enterprises, or aimed at loulding the interests and the business of millions to serve the avaricious designs of thousands, has been certain of exposure and equally certain of abandonment. As a curious consequence of this, men who have linked their reputations to great enterprises in America have not had to look to posterity to do them justice. Progress anticipated the verdict of truth. Great public necessities sprung up to vindicate their genius. Their fame became identified with the good and the happiness of their own generation.

Measuring the St. Lawrence, then, as a highway to the ocean, by the standard, that if it can be superseded by rapider, cheaper, or more convenient routes, it cannot be successful, if it does not fall into disuse, what are its future prospects 1

The first thing that strikes one, in contemplating it, is its adaptation, in point of immensity, to the vast regions it waters. Whilst the business necessities of the West, and those portions of America which are universally admitted to be, both by their relative position to other rivers and to it, its natural feeders, have literally shamed the enterprises thafe were intended to provide for them, its magnitude and its value are being but discovered by the contrast. The Erie Canal, highly valuable as a work, and successful beyond comparison, has been made little by progress. The St. Lawrence, on the contrary, only requires enormous use to test its greatness. It is impossible, indeed, to contemplate this river, in connection with the canal which was made to rival it, without being struck with the inadequacy of the one and the amplitude of the other.

The valleys and plains watered by the St. Lawrence, being largely in the United States, have chiefly contributed to the Erie Canal's business. Their fruits were literally wooed away from their natural channel to minister to its prosperity. The St. Lawrence, in so far as American policy, and great restrictions upon commerce,

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could affect it, has been sacrificed to the Erie Canal. Nature's outlet had navigation laws, which drove commerce away from it, to contend against. The Erie Canal had all these disadvantages to the river converted into so many advantages in its favor. Yet the laws of progress, which have swept away the obnoxious navi- gation restrictions, have, at the same time, established the failure of the Erie Canal. Not that it is un prosperous as an enterprise, nor that, as a local work, it is not unsurpassed as a speculation, but that, for the great purposes of its construction, namely, to convey to the ocean the fruits and productions of the West and North-west, it is emphatically a failure, — because progress has completely over-burthened it ; it is literally surfeited by its own prosperity. And it matters not to him, — an individual, in such a case, being the nation, — who has boards or flour to send eastward by it, whether they are stopped by reason of starvation, or because of a surfeit. The impediment to his business is the all-important question with him. And though the Erie Canal paid larger profits than any other work in the world, yet, in a national point of view, if it afforded not adequate facilities for business, or stopped it in its course, it might, by drawing to it what it could not do, be the means of wide-spread evil, instead of general good. And that this is, to a great extent, the present position of the Erie Canal, is universally admitted.

To obviate these difficulties, enterprise has again undertaken to swell its dimensions to meet the enormous demands of progress. But in view of the vast regions which are common alike to it and the St. Lawrence, and which are as yet but in the infancy of theii population and business, is it not probable; nay, is it not certaii judging by the past, that twenty years hence will find the Erie Canal again choked up with business; again made little by progress ? When the magnificent tracts of country embraced in Michigan, Wisconsin, the northern portions of Ohio and Indiana, Illinoip,

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Iowa, Minnesota, and the west and north-western portions of the State of New York, which now wholly or largely use the Erie Canal as a highway to the ocean, come to be settled up, and to have, instead of some five or six millions of inhabitants, at least eighteen or twenty, what mere canal, with its hundred locks, and its hundred other impediments, will be equal to their vast business necessities ? will be in keeping with their splendid progress ? will satisfy their craving for rapidity, magnitude and commercial con- venience ? Will not the Erie Canal then, enlarged though it be, be but another added to the numerous examples in America, of progress utterly distancing enterprise, and prosperity shaming the calculations even of talent ?

Whether the commercial mind of the United States has so far passed the rubicon of present practical results as to view the trade and commerce of the West and North-west in this light, I know not. But looking at the St. Lawrence in connection with the regions which I have named — and of which it is the admitted natural outlet to the ocean — it is impossible not to see that nature has apportioned its magnitude to the necessities of the vast terri- tories it waters, and which directly and naturally lead into it. Nature indeed would seem to have said, through the experiences of the last fifteen years, — " You have endeavoured to wean from my highway the fruits of its own valleys and plains. But their abundance has crushed beneath it every expedient of yours for its removal. You may learn from this what must be the result when these valleys and plains come to be fully occupied."

The problem, however, of the success of the St. Lawrence and Welland Canals, and, necessarily, of the enlarged use of the inland seas which they connect together, may be said to be now worked out. The Welland Canal — the connecting navigable link between Lakes Erie and Ontario — is, as its position indicates, perhaps the most advantageously situated canal in the world, and is rapidly

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becoming one of the most profitable. Through it the entire pro- ductions and minerals of the British possessions bordering on Lakes Superior, Huron and Erie, have to pass on their way to the ocean. Through it the produce, timber and minerals of the great West and North-west, already alluded to, which either cannot be con- veniently or profitably deposited upon the Erie Canal at Buffalo, must likewise pass, on their way to tide water either by the St. Lawrence, or by the Oswego Canal, or the Ogdensburgh Railroad to New York or Boston. The annual Report of the State Engineer of New York, transmitted to the Legislature of that State in February, 1854, speaking of this trade, says : " The tonnage from other states (Western,) shipped in 1852 at Oswego, amounted to 500,000 tons, the tolls on which are estimated to have been over half a million dollars." And, as a reason for this, the same Report shows that the cost of conveying a ton 'to New York by this route was nine cents, or about six pence currency less than by way of Buffalo, the advantage, of course, being attributable to the Welland Canal. But the rapidity and certainty of the movements of the propellers and steamers and other vessels engaged in this trade on the lakes was even of far greater consequence than the saving. Large cargoes, without transhipment or breaking bulk, were con- veyed some two hundred miles nearer to tide water by taking Oswego and Ogdensburgh than by way of Buffalo. And such has been the effect of this trade, that Oswego is chiefly indebted to it for its great commercial prosperity, and the Ogdensburgh and Boston Railroad was constructed mainly with a view to it. Thus, notwithstanding the operation of singularly restrictive and crippling navigation laws, and the universal desire of the peo- ple of the United States to foster their own enterprises, even at a disadvantage, the Welland Canal has grown into appreciation and use, and must eventually — as indeed is already partially the case '—have one continuous awning of sails from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario.

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Its success, since 1849, is thus indicated in the last Report of the Commissioner of the Board of Works of Canada :

»In 1849 the gross revenue from tolls amounted to £34,741 18 8

1850 do do 37,925 17 7

1851 do do 50,460 6 8

1852 do do 58,273 7 7

1853 do do 65,002 14 8£

If to this latter amount be added the sum of £1865 181, being the amount of the Hydraulic Rents, the gross revenue

from this Canal for the year 1853 would be £66,868 12 9|

But it is between the St. Lawrence River and Canals, from the Falls of Niagara to Montreal, and the Erie Canal, from Buffalo to Albany, that the chief competition in trade now exists, and must continue to arise. They run parallel. The business of the great West and North-west must take either the one route or the other, or both, to the ocean. What are their comparative advan- tages then ? And how, with a clear stage, and free navigation to the world, does the St. Lawrence measure lengths with its southern rival ?

Like the great lakes, the first thing that strikes one, in consid- ering the river, is its magnitude, and its adaptation to the burthens nature intends should reach the ocean from the West. And when a canal, no matter how capacious, with all its locks and its " dead locks " — for it often has many of both, — its towages, its tolls, its expenditure of labor in various ways, and its inevitable slowness, is placed in competition with a river, in which the highest speed by steam is attainable, the greatest possible room is enjoyed, the largest vessels may be used, and there is neither let, hindrance, nor delay in its entire navigation, the question of superiority would seem to be decided by the contrast. The more minutely, too, the relative facilities of both modes of communication are considered, the more palpable appear the advantages of the one over the other. For the canal, to meet its increase of business, requires an increase

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in the size of its locks ; and these, from the larger body of water required to fill them, and the weight and size of their gates, occasion delay, and the accumulation of boats at particular points, which, in turn, delay each other. So that the very augmentation of business becomes a drawback upon efficiency ; because time is not only lost, but capital is rendered unproductive during the stoppages. And when boats come to be counted by thousands, and their cargoes esti- mated by millions, this rises into a vast consideration. The river, on the contrary, as it increases its business, will acquire greater facilities for doing it more rapidly and cheaply. For the fastest class of vessels are sure to follow plenty to do, and improvements in the navigation of a river are but the natural offspring of its success. The results of several years' business on both these routes, — although the St. Lawrence has labored under the great disadvan- tage of being but partially employed, whilst the Erie Canal has had as much, or more than it could do, — entirely bear out these deductions.

For the last five years the average cost of conveying a ton of railroad iron from Albany to Buffalo was six dollars and thirty- two cents, or £l 11s. 7d. Canadian currency. For the purpose of contrast with Canada, the American ton is raised to the standard of the English, namely, to 2240 Ibs., and twenty per cent, is allowed as the difference between railroad iron and ordinary merchandise.

For two years past, or since railroad iron has been largely imported by way of the St. Lawrence, the average cost of transport from Quebec to Toronto and Hamilton, — a greater distance than from New York to Buffalo, and requiring the passage of all the St. Lawrence Canals round the Rapids, — was twenty shillings, or four dollars ; from Quebec to Kingston and Cobourg it was seventeen shillings and six pence, or three dollars and fifty cents ; from the same port to Cleveland and Toledo, on Lake Erie, it was four

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liars and fifty cents, or twenty-two shillings and six pence ; and to Chicago and Milwaukie, it was six dollars and fifty cents, or thirty-two shillings and six pence currency.

A still greater difference appears in the cost of transporting produce downwards. The average cost, for five years past, of a barrel of flour from Buffalo to Albany was fifty-four cents, or two shillings and eight pence currency. The average cost from Toronto to Montreal, an analogous distance, was thirty-two cents, or one shilling and seven pence currency. The tolls alone on the Erie Canal reached within a few cents of the entire cost of trans- port by the St. Lawrence ; and had the business of the two routes been at all equal, there is no doubt these tolls would have even exceeded the St. Lawrence cost of transport.

But what is of greater consequence, especially to a people pro- verbially impatient of delay, and never even satisfied with success, unless it comes rapidly, is the time occupied in transporting the flour to tide water. By the St. Lawrence it was three and a-half days, and was conveyed in steamers and propellers carrying some 4000 barrels; whilst, on the Erie Canal, it was winding its way through the locks and levels some fourteen days, and in comparatively small quantities at that.

In view of these results it is not surprising that the Americans should have shewn so great a desire for the free navigation of the St. Lawrence. And as one of the early consequences of the res- trictive and withering navigation laws being swept away from the inland seas of America, I perceive that in the single article of Indian corn, the importations at Montreal last fall exceeded those of the entire previous year by 567,728 bushels, being 651,149 bushels in 1854 to 83,421 in 1853; and that in Buffalo the decrease was proportionate. In Chicago, too, an enterprise, the most comprehensive and important ever mooted in Western

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America, has been the result of the removal of the restrictions upon commerce ; I mean the projection of a line of steamers to run from that port, by the St. Lawrence, to London and Liverpool direct, or indeed to any other part of the world where there is a navigable sea. If this enterprise should turn out successful — and there is no reason why it should not, although first attempts are always liable to miscarriages — there is no computing what may be its effects upon the navigation of the river. Or if, which would be a more feasible enterprise still — because lake craft and lake sailors are never perfectly adapted to the sea, — a line of pro- pellers or steamers were built in Chicago, to run in connection with the present line of steamers to Quebec, or with any other line that might be established, a complete revolution would be effected in the trade and commerce of the West. Milwaukie, Cleveland and Toledo would follow the example of Chicago. They would, in fact, if this enterprise should succeed, be forced into the current that led to their own good fortune. Grain and pork would then be shipped in the very centre of Western America for the remotest parts of Europe ; and the goods and manufac- tures of their consumers could be laid down at the thresholds of their producers. Whilst the best class of emigrants, — always an invaluable cargo, — might be taken up by these steamers, almost at their own doors, and be conveyed to the very places they desired to settle in, in the West, — an advantage that would be of the highest importance to the emigrant, saving him from the incon- veniences, delays and impositions which now too often attend his journey westward.

What may be said in favor of the St. Lawrence, as an outlet from the great West, may, for all purposes of business and settlement, be urged for it as an inlet from the ocean. In its two thousand miles of navigation inwards it waters valleys and slopes, in which

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at least thirty millions of additional inhabitants might prosper and enjoy all the comforts of life. The lands in its entire valley are, for agricultural purposes, among the finest in the world. Cop- per mines, unequalled in extent, are upon its very banks. Timber, which cannot be exhausted in centuries, overshadows its waters, and those of the many rivers which lead into it. To the emigrant in search of a home I can fancy no route in America equal to it. It is a vast map of all he wants to see and to know, reduced to a reality. To the capitalist, the tourist, the pleasure-seeker, and the man of science, its magnitude and its grandeur invest it with singular attractions. There is not perhaps in the world two thou- sand miles of navigation which afford so many objects of interest to the poor man, or so many subjects of pleasurable contemplation to the good one, as the St. Lawrence and the Lakes from the Gulf to the City of Chicago.

Such advantages, however, are rarely or ever conferred by nature without their being coupled with what both taxes skill, and calls for the exercise of energy and judgment. It is so with the navi- gation of the St. Lawrence. In former years the employment of a wretched class of vessels — for anything was thought good enough to carry timber which could not sink — was attended with a more than ordinary amount of disasters. Pictures of difficult and dan- gerous navigation were found, in these cases, much more profitable than accurate descriptions of ill-constructed, ill-managed, and unseaworthy ships. The consequence was, that the underwriters and the navigation both suffered together. But of late years very fine vessels have been employed in this trade ; and skill in navigation, as in everything else, is made the companion of valuable property. The Montreal traders, therefore, — which are now but a fair aver- age of the ships employed — are among the most fortunate and successful vessels in the world, although they rarely or ever miss making two trips a season, and are the first ships out in the spring.

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The same enterprise, too, which projected and completed the splendid locks on the St. Lawrence has extended down into the gulf, and light houses here and there make it look like a sort of navi- gable street lit with lamps.

The Legislature, too, has made provision for tug boats upon a large scale, and for piers and harbours of refuge. These enter- prises and improvements, but more than all, good ships and skilful navigators, have had the effect of reducing the rates of insurance upon Quebec traders, during the average season of navigation, as low as upon ships from New York or Boston, and lower than those in the Mississippi trade.

There is but another matter to allude to before concluding the contrast between the two great northern outlets to the ocean, the Erie Canal and Hudson River, and the St. Lawrence ; that is, the time they are closed up by the ice. This may, however, be dismissed in few words. The Erie Canal is opened at Buffalo on the first of May. The St. Lawrence, for an average of twenty-five years, has been clear of ice on the twenty-ninth of April ; and the average arrival of the first ships from sea, for the same period, was the first of May. Of late years, especially since the repeal of the navigation laws has induced greater competition, ships have left in numbers larger or certainly quite as large in the middle of November as about the first ; and in some seasons they have left as late as the twentieth, and even up to, and after, the 1st of Decem- ber. But the Erie Canal, being a shallow and a small body of water, freezes much sooner than a great and rapid river, and it is wholly unavailable as a means of communication after a severe frost, which often occurs in the middle of November. In such an event, too, immense inconvenience and losses are suffered, through whole fleets of boats being frozen in on their way westward with merchandise, and usually an equal number on their way eastward with produce and lumber. So that, for all purposes of reliable and

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profitable commerce, the St. Lawrence has by no means a shorter, if it has not in fact a longer, season. And if the statistics of losses, on account of the vast property that is often locked up on the Erie Canal by the boats being frozen in, could be got at, they would exhibit an amount utterly astounding to those unacquainted with the business. Without vauntingly claiming an advantage for the St. Lawrence, it would certainly be doing nature's grandest outlet to the ocean an injustice, to admit that it suffered in the slightest degree by a comparison with the Erie Canal in the time it may be used.

From these observations the emigrant or the capitalist, on his way to the west, may form an idea as to his best route. From the circumstance of continuous water communication, the St. Law- rence has the advantage in cheapness, whilst the United States routes, being partly by rail, have the advantage in speed. By the St. Lawrence route the emigrant's baggage costs him nothing ; and the steamer or propeller, which he takes at Quebec or Montreal, often conveys him the entire distance to Chicago or other ports without removal. He thus avoids the expense, harrassments and privations incident to being cast forth with his children and his effects upon wharves and quays, and at railway stations, where exposure subjects his family to disease, and every removal of them and his effects is attended with cost, and not unfrequently with exactions and frauds. The fare by the New York and Boston routes to Chicago is fixed, to emigrants, at eleven dollars, or forty- four shillings sterling, with two dollars and fifty cents extra for every one hundred pounds weight of baggage. By Cincinnati it is ten dollars, or forty shillings sterling, with the same charge for baggage, where the emigrant travels by rail. By the St. Lawrence route it is eight dollars, or thirty-two shillings sterling ; and the charges are proportionate to intermediate ports, such as to Cleveland or Toledo, on Lake Erie in the States, or to Toronto or Hamilton in

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Canada. I subjoin, in a note,* the excellent instructions of Mr. Buchanan, the Emigrant Agent at Quebec, to the settler. They are at once reliable and valuable.

*FoR THE INFORMATION OF EMIGRANTS. — Passengers are particularly cautioned not to part with their Ship Ticket. There is nothing of more importance to- emigrants, on arrival at Quebec, than correct information on the leading points connected with their future pursuits. Many, especially single females, and unprotected persons in general, have suffered much from a want of caution, and from listening to the opinions of interested and designing characters who frequently offer their advice unsolicited. To guard emigrants from falling into such errors, they should, immediately on their arrival at Quebec, proceed to the OFFICE OF THE CHIEF AGENT FOR EMIGRANTS, where persons desirous of proceeding to any part of Canada will receive every information relative to the lands open for settlement, routes, distances, and expenses of conveyance ; where also laborers, artisans, or mechanics, will be furnished, on application, with the best directions in respect to employment, the places at which it is to be had, and the rates of wages.

Emigrants should avoid as much as possible drinking the water of the River St. Lawrence, which has a strong tendency to produce bowel com- plaints in strangers. They should also be careful to avoid exposure to th« intense heat of the sun by day, and the dews and noxious vapours of night. And when in want of any advice or direction they should^ apply at once to the Government Emigration Agents who will give every information required gratis.

Emigrants are entitled by law to remain on board the ship 48 hours after arrival ; nor can they be deprived of any of their usual accomodations and berthing during that period, and the Master of the ship is bound to disembark them and their baggage free of expense, at the usual landing- place, and at reasonable hours, as may be seen by the following extract from the Provincial Passenger Act :

NOTICE TO CAPTAINS OF PASSENGER VESSELS. — " And whereas incon- venience and expense are occasioned by the practice of Masters of ships carrying passengers, anchoring at great distances from the usual landing- places in the Port of Quebec, and landing their passengers at unreasonable hours: Be it therefore enacted, That all Masters of ships having passen- gers on board shall be held and they are hereby required to land their passen- gers and their baggage free of expense to the ship passengers, at the usual public landing-places in the said Port of Quefie/5, and at reasonable hours, not earlier than six of the clock in the morning, and not later than FOUR OF THE CLOCK IN THE AFTERNOON, and such ships shall, for the purpose of landing their passengers and baggage, be anchored within the following limits in the said Port, to wit : The whole space of the River St Lawrence,

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The ocean line of steamers to Quebec, and to which the Canadian Government has behaved with a liberality worthy of the enterprise, is likely to produce a great change in the passenger trade to

from the mouth of the River St. Charles to a line drawn across the said River St. Lawrence, from the Flag-staff on the Citadel on Cape Diamond, at right angles to the course of the said river, under a penalty of ten pounds currency for any offence against the provisions of this section."

Any offence against this section will he rigidly enforced.

GOVERNMENT EMIGRATION OFFICERS. — At Montreal, Mr. A. Conlan, Sub- Agent ; at Toronto, Mr. A. B. Hawke, Chief Agent for Western Canada ; at Hamilton, Mr. Willen Frehauf, who will furnish emigrants, on applica- tion, with advice as to the routes, distances and rates of conveyance, also respecting the Crown and other lands for sale, and will direct emigrants in want of employment to where it may be procured.

A large number of laborers and mechanics are now required on the several railroads in course of construction in this Province:

Laborers 4s. 6d. to $1 ?_.__,.„_

Mechanics 7s. 6d. to $2 J Per aa*'

DOMESTIC SERVANTS.

Housemaids 15s. to 20s. ) ,,

Cooks 25s. toSOs. fPermonth'

Emigrants should remain about the towns as short a time as possible after arrival. By their proceeding at once into the agricultural districts, they will be certain of meeting with employment more suitable to their habits : those with families will also more easily procure the necessaries of life, and avoid the hardships and distress which are experienced by a large portion of the poor inhabitants in the large cities, during the winter season. The Chief Agent will consider such persons as may loiter about the ports of landing to have no further claims on the protection of Her Majesty's Agents, unless they have been detained by sickness or some other satisfactory cause.

WILD LANDS AND CLEARED FARMS. — Emigrants desirous of purchasing wild lands or homesteads, will be furnished at this Office with every infor- mation regarding the prices of lands in the different districts, the names of the Agents, as also other parties offering improved farms for sale, <fec., &c.

EASTERN TOWNSHIPS. — Emigrants proceeding to the EASTERN TOWNSHIPS, especially the populous and nourishing villages, Drummondville, Kingsey, Shipton, and Melbourne, and the county-town of Sherbrooke, will proceed by the regular steamer to Montreal, and thence by the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad from Longueuil to Sherbrooke, 103 miles. This district, for its healthfulness, cheapness of land, facility of access, and manufac- turing, agricultural and commercial capabilities, is particularly deserving of the notice of emigrants of every class ; and where there is a constant demand for mechanics and laborers of every description, especially farm- servants.

96 PRIZE ESSAT

America. Should a line of steamers or propellers be established to run in connection with them from the Western States, emigrants might purchase tickets in the very heart of Europe, which would take them two thousand miles into the interior of America, with but a single transhipment, and with no greater inconvenience than might attend their journey from their homes to the ports of

Mr. S. M. Taylor, the Agent of the British American Land Company, Montreal, will furnish intending settlers with full information, and to whom emigrants proceeding to this section of the Province are recommended to apply.

BYTQWN AND THE OTTAWA RIVER SETTLEMENTS : — To emigrants requiring employment, or seeking locations for settlement.

Owing to the diversion of the route of emigrants proceeding to the West from the Ottawa and Rideau Canal route to that of the St. Lawrence, but a few emigrants have proceeded during late years to that section of the country : consequently, laborers are now much wanted, and the rates of wages have consequently increased.

The lumber trade of the Ottawa annually requires from 25,000 to 30,000 men ; is now, owing to the increased demand for that great staple of the country, about to be much extended ; and as almost all those who transact this business are largely engaged in farming, a most favorable opportunity is now offered to emigrants to proceed to that section of the country : good, active men will get, the first year, from £2 to £3 per month, with their board ; and, after they have become acquainted with the work of the coun- try, and acquired the necessary skill, they will be competent to earn the highest wages, from £3 10s. to £4 per month, or from £35 to £40 per annum.

Crown lands, and those belonging to private individuals, can be obtained on more reasonable terms than in any other section of the Province ; and farmers receive the highest cash prices for all the surplus produce they may have to dispose of.

Route from Montreal to By town, by steamer, daily, 129 miles; By town to Aylmer, by land, 9 miles ; Aylmer to Sand Point, by steamer, 45 miles ; Sand Point to Castleford, by steamer, 8 miles ; Castleford to Portage-du- Fort, 9 miles ; Portage-du-Fort to Pembroke, by land and water, 33 miles.

ROUTES, DISTANCES, AND RATES OF PASSAGE.— From Quebec to Montreal, 180 miles, by steamers, every day at 5 o'clock, through in 14 hours.

Steerage. Cabin.

Stg. Cy. Stg. Cy.

By the Royal Mail Packets, 3s Od 3s 9d 14s 1 7s 6d

ByTait'sLine . 3s Od 3s 9d 10s 12s 6d

ON CANADA.

97

departure. To the better class of emigrants it would be a con- venience and advantage almost inestimable. The poor, who might be able to avail themselves of it, would be saved a thousand pri- vations and difficulties, arising from their not knowing what to do, or where to go when they are deposited on a wharf a thousand miles from their place of destination, and when they are either ignorant or deceived as to the cost of a journey to the West.

FROM MONTREAL TO WESTERN CANADA. — Daily, by the Royal Mail Line steamer, at 9 o'clock, A. M., or by railroad to Lachine, at 12 o'clock.

From Montreal to Cornwall	Distance. Miles 78	Deck Stg.	fare. Cy-	Cabin Stg.	fare. Cy.
5s 6s 8s 12s 14s 16* 24s 32s	6s 3d 7s 6d 10s Od 15s Od 17s 6d 20s Od 80s Od 40s Od	11s 14s 20s 28s 34s 36s 56s 80s	13s 9d 17s 6d 25s Od 35s Od 42s 6d 45s Od $14 $20
Prescott	. 127 )
	. 139 f
Kingston	189
Cobourg	292 )
Port Hope	298 ('
Bond Head	313 )
	317 i.
Whitby	337 )
	367 [•
Hamilton	410 )
Detroit	596
Chicago	874

Passengers by this line tranship at Kingston to the lake steamers, and at Toronto for Buffalo.

Daily by the American Line Steamer, at 1 o'clock, A. M.

From Montreal to	Miles. 138	Deck Stg.	fare. Cy.	Cabin Stg.	fare Cy.
6s Ss 12s 14s 16s 20s 26s 28s 28s	7s 6d 10s Od 15s Od 17s 6d 20s Od 25s Od 32s 6d 35s Od 35s Od	14s 20s 24s 26s 80s 34s 38s	17s 6d 25s Od 80s Od 32s 6d 37s 6d 42s 6d 47s 6d
	190
Sacket's Harbour	...... 242
	286
	. 349 )
	, . 436 f
Buffalo	467
Cleveland .	661
	721
Toledo and Munroe	975

Passengers by this line tranship at Ogdensburgh to the lake steamers for Oewego and Lewiston.

The passengers for both lines embark at the Canal Basin, Montreal. Steerage passage from Quebec to Hamilton, 23s 9d

" " " « Buffalo, 28s 9d

98

PRIZE ESSAY

RAILROADS. GREAT ENTERPRISE OF CANADA IN RELATION TO RAILROADS. — IMPORTANCE

OF THESE ROADS, NOT ONLY TO CANADA, BUT TO ALL AMERICA. THEIR

EXTENT, ROUTES AND MODE OF CONSTRUCTION, <fec.

The Canadian Government has adopted broad and comprehen- sive views in promoting railway communication ; and the extension of public aid to these enterprises has been, though liberally, wis dispensed. The advances have been limited to one-half the amoui actually expended on the works, and the whole stock and resources of the railways are pledged for the ultimate redemption of these advances, and for interest upon them in the meantime.

Of these undertakings the Grand Trunk Railway is the most extensive, and will, when completed, be one of the largest rail- ways in the world. In length it will extend 1112 miles, with a

FROM HAMILTON TO THE WESTERN STATES, BY THE GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD. — The new short route to the West.— Trains leave Hamilton daily for Detroit, connecting at that city -with the Michigan Central Railroad for Chicago.

To Dundas	Distance. Miles. 6	EMIG TR; Stg.	RANT UN. Cy.	FIRST TR Stg.	CLASS UN. Cy.
Os 6d K 2s Od 3s Od 3s 6d 4s 9d 6s Od 7s Od 8s Od 16s Od	Os 7id 2s 6d 3s 9d 4s4£d 6s Od 7s 6d 8s 9d 10s Od 20s Od	Is Od 3s 8d 5s Od 7s Od 9s Od 14s Od 20s Od 44s Od	Is 3d 4s 6d 6s 3d Ss 9d 13s 8d 17s 6d « 25s Od 55s Od
	9
Paris	20
Woodstock. ..t	48
Ingersoll	. 47
	76
Eckford	96
Chatham	140
	... ) .
Detroit, Michigan	j- 186
Chicago, Illinois	465

Steamers leave Chicago daily for Milwaukie and all other ports on Lake Michigan.

Emigrants on arriving at Chicago, if proceeding further, will, on appli- cation to Mr. H. J. Spalding, Agent of the Michigan Central Railroad Company, receive correct advice and direction as to route.

Passengers for the western parts of the United States of New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana, must take the route via Buffalo.

ON CANADA.

99

uniform guage of five feet six inches. The entire capital of the Company is £9,500,000, and of this £8,084,600 were subscribed in London within the year 1 853. Its influence on the course of trade from the great West to the ocean will be great and lasting. It has already diverted a large portion of the trade which previously flowed through other channels in the United States, and its receipts, in the second year of its existence, were as great as those of the Great Western Railway of Massachusetts after it had been five years in operation, the cost of the two being nearly equal. It should be

OTTAWA RIVER AND RIDEAU CANAL. — From Montreal to Bytown and places on tlie Rideau Canal, by steam, every evening. By Robertson, Jones <fe Co.'s Line.

From Montreal to	JJista Mile 54 66 73 129 1^,1571 gl75 *100 0 199 g216 .'2226 05 258	nee. s.	Deck P Stg.	issengers. Cy.
2s 3s 3s 4s 6s	2s 6d 3s 9d 3s 9d 5s Od 7s 6d
Kemptville .
Merrickville
Smith's Falls
Oliver's Ferry -|
Jones' Falls
Kingston

Passengers proceeding to Perth, Lanark, or any of the adjoining settle- ments, should land at Oliver's Ferry, 7 miles from Perth.

Freight steamers leave Montreal daily for Kingston, Toronto, and Ham- ilton.

Passage to Kingston 4s. Stg. 5s. Cy.

Toronto and Hamilton 8s. " 10s. "

Throughout these passages, children under 12 years of age are charged half price, and those under 3 years are free.

Passengers by steamers from Quebec to Hamilton — Luggage free ; if by railroads, 100 Ibs. is allowed to each passenger, all over that quantity will be charged.

The Gold Sovereign is at present worth 24s. 4d. Cy. ; the English Shilling Is. 3d. ; and the English Crown-piece 6s. Id. §9ir" Through Tickets can be obtained on application to this office.

A. C. BUCHANAN, Chief Agent EMIGRATION DEPARTMENT,

Quebec, August, 1854.

100 PBIZE ESSAY

taken into account, too, that the American Railway, extending from Boston to Albany, embraces a district far in advance of the Canadian line in population.

Three hundred and ninety-two miles of this line are already opened : 292 miles from Portland to Montreal, and 100 miles from Quebec to Richmond. In the autumn of the present year the contractors are bound to complete 295 miles more, and in the following year 168 miles.

When finished this railway will present an uninterrupted line from Portland to Michigan, and the distance by this route is fifty miles less than from New York, has a uniform guage throughout, and will probably be much the cheapest route.

There is another projected railway now under contract, which may properly be called a continuation of the Grand Trunk Railway. It commences at the point where the latter terminates at Fort Huron, crosses the peninsula of Northern Michigan to Grand Haven on Lake Michigan, thence there is a steamer to Milwaukie, and thence a railway to Prairie du Chien. From Portland to this point the distance throughout is only 1200 miles ; and, with the magnificent water communication of the St. Lawrence and the great lakes, must attract through Canada a large portion of the immigration into the Western States.

Connected with this railway there is a work which, for boldness of design and difficulty of execution, is perhaps unequalled in the world, — the tubular bridge now in course of construction across the River St. Lawrence at Montreal. It is thrown across a navi- gable river two miles in width, at a spot where its course is inter- rupted by rapids, and where it is exposed every year to immense masses of ice, which are dashed against it by the impetuosity of the current. It will, when completed, be one of the wonders of the world, and is another added to the splendid conceptions of Mr. Robert Stevenson, the first Engineer of the age. The contract for this bridge is £1,400,000.

ON CANADA. 101

Next in importance to the Grand Trunk is the " Great Western " Railway of Canada. It runs from Windsor, on the Can- adian side of the Detroit River, opposite the city of that name, to Niagara Falls, where it is connected by a gigantic suspension bridge thrown across the Niagara River two miles below the falls, with the system of railways in the State of New York, which run from Lake Ontario to the " tide water" of the Hudson River. It, is, apart from its branch lines, about 250 miles in length, and has enjoyed a success scarcely paralleled in the railroad history of America. For the month of April, 1854, its receipts were £26,735. For the corresponding month in 1855 its receipts rose to £57,684, showing an increase of nearly 120 per cent. And whilst this immense increase was taking place in its traffic, large quantities of produce and merchandize were accumulating at both ends of it, its inability to convey them. Passing through the very garden of Upper Canada, and being the connecting link between the Great Michigan Central Railroad, and the New York Roads which ter- minate at the Niagara River, its success was never problematical ; and, now that the difficulties incident to getting into complete ope- ration an undertaking of such magnitude in a new country, are passed, its future prosperity must be even greater than its past. In connection with it is a railway from Hamilton to Toronto, to be opened early next year, connecting at the latter place, at a station common to the three, with the Grand Trunk line, and the " Onta- rio, Simcoe and Huron Railway." The latter traverses the country from Toronto north to the Georgian Bay, a distance of 96 miles.

There are other numerous feeders running north and south into the great arterial system that extends from east to west throughout the entire extent of the Province. Commencing from the east, there is the " Montreal and By town Railway," which, with the Ottawa River, will convey to European markets the produce of a basin 80,000 square miles in extent, abounding in forests of the

fr:

102 PRIZE ESSAY

finest timber, with rich land, and great mineral wealth. This is 130 miles in length, and a portion of it is already in operation.

Twenty-five miles west of Montreal the Grand Trunk Railway crosses the Ottawa River by a bridge second only to the Victoria Bridge in extent and grandeur ; and immediately to the west of this a line is contemplated from the City of Ottawa to Lake Huron.

One hundred and twelve miles west of Montreal the Prescott and Ottawa Railway, 50 miles in length, is now in operation.

Thirteen miles west of this the Brockville and Ottawa Railway falls into the Grand Trunk, 130 miles in length, and is now in course of construction.

One hundred and forty miles west of Brockville, at Cobourg — a very important town on Lake Ontario, — the " Cobourg and Peterborough Railway," now in operation, is developing the wealth of one of the finest districts in the Province.

Seven miles to the west of Cobourg the railway from " Port Hope" to " Lindsay," in length 36 miles, is now progressing, and will open a back country of great value.

The most westerly line in Canada, open for traffic, having a north and south direction, is the " Buffalo, Brantford, and Goderich Rail- way," connecting Buffalo and the State of New York with Lake Huron at Goderich by a line 160 miles in length. This road saves, as compared with the water route by Lake Erie and the Rivers Detroit and St. Clair, fully 400 miles. At Stratford, ninety miles west of Toronto, this railway crosses the Grand Trunk line, and at this point divides the traffic flowing from Lakes Huron and Supe- rior. Eighty miles of this line are already in operation, and forty miles more will be opened immediately.

A most picturesque and curiously constructed railway, called the " Erie and Ontario Railway," seventeen miles in length, runs along the River Niagara from Chippewa to the town of Niagara, descending some 300 feet in a distance of four or five miles.

ON CANADA.

103

From the city of London to Port Stanley, on Lake Erie, a rail- way is now in progress, and will be completed in the present year.

Of the "St. Lawrence and Champlain " and the "Montreal and New York," which have long been in operation, and of many other railways sanctioned by the Government, and which will shortly be constructed, it is impossible to give any detail. The amount already expended upon the several railways alluded to exceeds £11,000,000 sterling, or $54,000,000 ; and at the close of 1856 Canada will have 2000 miles of fully equipped railways, which will cost at least £18,000,000 sterling.

The railways of Canada are constructed on the most approved engineering principles, and they are pronounced by Sir Cusack Roney to be equal to any railways in Europe, and superior to any other on the American continent, their average cost being about £8000 sterling per mile. On all these lines the works are of the most solid and durable character, and the Chaudiere tubular bridge, nine miles from Quebec — the first of its kind erected on this side the Atlantic, — is described, by one of the first American engineers " to be of such excellence as to attract the attention of scientific men."

THE MUNICIPAL SYSTEM OF UPPER CANADA.

Western Canada feels justly proud of her municipal system. In no part of the world, perhaps, are there institutions, of a similar kind, so admirably adapted to the wants, the intelligence, nay, to the very genius of the people. They are in short the philosophy of their self-reliance reduced to simple by-laws. They are the people's common sense embodied in municipal regulations. They are a wise admission, too, that the property the people themselves create they should know how to manage ; that the country they

104 PRIZE ESSAY

have won from a wilderness, and which is marked with the noblest achievements of their industry and their fortitude, they will not recklessly run into debt, or foolishly involve in difficulties.

The first rural, or district municipalities, were established in Upper Canada in 1841. But prior to 1849 cities and towns were incorporated by special Acts of Parliament, at the instance of the municipalities interested. The powers granted to these latter corporations were by no means uniform, some having privileges not granted to others, and others again having powers which over- rode the very Legislature which created them. Jealousy and con- fusion was the natural result. No lawyer could give an opinion upon the rights of an individual in a single corporation, without following the original Act through the thousand sinuosities of Par- liamentary amendments ; and no capitalist at a distance could credit a city or town without a particular and definite acquaint- ance with its individual history.

The statute of 12 Vic., cap. 80, however, swept from the country all these incongruous and inconsistent corporations. And an Act, 12 Vic., cap. 81, provided by one general law, "for the erection of municipal corporations, and the establishment of regulations of police, in and for the several counties, cities, towns, townships and villages in Upper Canada."

The powers invested in these corporations are exercised through the medium of Councillors, Reeves, and Aldermen, who are the representatives of the people ; and the various municipalities are thus classed : 1st, Townships ; 2nd, Counties ; 3rd, Police Vil- lages ; 4th, Incorporated Villages ; 5th, Towns ; 6th, Cities. Each of these has some powers and privileges in common with the rest, but the cities have some peculiar to themselves, and so of the towns, villages, townships, and counties.

Townships having less than 500 freeholders and householders — these being all eligible to vote — are entitled to five Councillors.

ON CANADA.

105

These elect from among themselves their Chairman or presiding officer. He is called the Town Reeve. If the township have 500 or more freeholders and householders it is entitled to an additional Councillor, who is called the Deputy Reeve. If it has a 1000 or more it is entitled to another Town Reeve. The qualification of these officers is £100 interest in real property, and they must, be residents of the municipality.

Incorporated villages are regulated the same as townships, the number of their Councillors and Reeves being proportioned to their population, the Reeves representing them in the County Council to which they belong, the same as townships are repre- sented. Unincorporated or Police villages vote in the township to which they are attached.

The County Councils — the counties being an aggregation of townships, some having as high as eighteen, and others as low as four — are composed of the several Town Reeves and Deputy Reeves of townships. They are presided over by a Warden who they elect from among themselves.

The incorporated towns are, for purposes of convenience at elec- : tions, and a complete representation of their interests, divided into sections or wards. Three Councillors are chosen for each ward, and the Council is presided over by a Mayor, who is chosen by the Council from among its members. The qualification of Councillors is an annual income, from real estate in the municipality, of £20, or the payment of an annual rent of £40. The qualification of voters is £5 rent, or the receipt of £5 from real estate.

Cities are divided into wards the same as towns, each of which elects two Aldermen and two Councillors, and these elect their Mayor or presiding officer from among the Aldermen. Their qualification is, for Aldermen, an income of £40 from real estate, or the payment of £80 rent ; and for Councillors, the receipt of

106 PRIZE ESSAY

£20 rent, or the payment of £40. The qualification of voters is the payment of £7 10s. rent, or the receipt of a similar amount from real property.

The elections for all the municipalities are held annually ; and their powers are exercised by means of by-laws which are subject to the revision of ths Superior Courts of the Province ; and if found irregular, or otherwise defective, they may be quashed.

The great feature in the municipal system of Upper Canada is the power granted to the corporations to raise money for municipal purposes and improvements. The repayment of this is secured by a tax on the property of the municipality borrowing, the general government, under the Municipal Loan Fund Act, in some instances, guaranteeing the payment. But all by-laws for the creation of debts have to be first submitted to the people before they become valid ; and Government guarantees are only given after a full enquiry into the ability of the municipality to pay, and the wisdom and propriety of the loan itsel£

Each municipality is a corporation entitled to sue, and eligible to be sued. They exercise all the rights and priviliges of appoint- ing their officers; making public improvements, such as roads and bridges ; constructing buildings for their municipal purposes, and opening streets or roads for the general convenience or the general profit.

The county municipalities legislate municipially for the county, taxing each township in proportion to its assessment, for the gen- eral improvement of all. The townships have no powers beyond their limits, but are represented, as I have mentioned, in the County Councils by their Reeves and Deputy Reeves, these being proportioned to the population, and incidentally to the property of the township.

This system has worked most admirably in Upper Canada. It has even exceeded the brightest anticipations of its originators.

ON CANADA.

107

It has taught the people how to conduct their own affairs. It has furnished them indeed with a system which, were they unhappily subjected to an external agression sufficient to derange the gen- eral government, would enable them to protect themselves; to raise money ; to carry on their affairs ; and as soon as the storm was over, to settle down, without difficulty, in the quiet and vir- tuous occupations of peace. It has, too, developed their talents, and directed their minds to the noblest of all occupations, namely, the making their country prosperous, intelligent, and contented.

THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA, AND ITS FUTURE.

Canada being a colony of Great Britain, its Government is assimilated to that of the parent empire. Its Legislature is made up of two branches. One, the Legislative Council, containing forty four members, is intended to represent the House of Lords. The other, or House of Assembly, containing a hundred and thirty members, is strictly analagous to the House of Commons. The former is appointed by the Crown ; the latter is elected by the people, the franchise being nearly universal, an assessed interest of fifty pounds in lands, and a forty shilling freehold, being the real estate qualification of voters ; and a rent of seven pounds ten shillings in represented cities and towns, and five pounds in rural oonstituences, being the rental qualification. Canada has a Gov- ernor General, who is also Governor General of the other British North American Colonies. He is appointed by the British Min- istry, and represents the dignity and power of the Crown in the Colonies. He has an Executive Council, or Ministry, of ten, who are the heads of departments, and wh'o are directly responsible to the people for their public conduct, being, as in England, forced to retire from office when they fail to command a majority in Parlia-

108 PRIZE ESSAY

ment. The House of Assembly is elected for four years. Legis- lative Councillors are appointed for life. But, as in England, all money bills have to originate in the Legislative Assembly ; and all Governmental supplies have to be approved of, and voted, by it.

Under this system of Government the Colony has attained the prosperity and advancement indicated in the course of this Essay. But to really understand what good institutions, and the power of self-government, may do for a people, it is necessary to understand that people's character and training. The contrast between Can- ada and some of the dependencies of England, — the Ionian Islands for example, — is at once striking and instructive. For, with every extension of the privilege of self-government to Canada, England has diminished the trouble of governing it. The Ionian Islands, on the contrary, have requited liberality and a generous extension of privileges in a very different way. The difference, of course, is attributable to the people, and this may render interesting a few sentences on the reasons why the Canadians have made a good use of the privilege of governing themselves.

The people, I may say, of all North America — I mean the descen- dants of the British race, and emigrants from Britain — are, perhaps, of all others the best trained to understand and to enjoy the benefits of representative institutions. Their habits of self-reliance and the necessity for combination to effect the simple purposes of existence — to build the log hut far in the woods ; to " log" the first acres of ground cleared ; to throw a bridge over a stream, or to clear a road into the forest, — naturally lead them to respect skill, and to put themselves under the guidance of talent. The leading spirit of a 44 logging bee" and the genius who presides over the construction of a barn, what more natural than that they should be elected, at the annual meeting of the neighbourhood, to oversee the construc- tion of bridges, and to judge of, and inspect, the proper height of

ON CANADA.

109

fences? And this is the first legislation such a people have to do. The useful individual, too, in a settlement, who draws deeds and wills, and settles disputes without law, and gives good advice without cost, what more natural, also, than that he should be selected by the people he benefits by his education and his kind- ness, to make their laws, and to guard their interests ? The Cana- dian people, too, have no tenant rights, nor " trades unions " to secure higher wages, or to prevent too many hours work. Their necessities are their orators. Their ways and means of living, and taking the best care of what their labour brings them, are the principles by which they are governed. Their democracy begins at the right end ; for, instead of weaving theories to control the property of others, they think of but the best means of taking care of their own. Need it be wondered at, then, that a people so educated — and such has been the universal education of North America — should know how to govern themselves ; should grad- ually rise from the consideration of the affairs of a neighbourhood to those of a county and of a country ; that they should have suffi- cient conservatism to guard the fruits of their industry, and suffi- cient democracy to insist upon the right to do so. And such is a true picture of the Canadian people. Their municipal system is but a small remove from the leader of the " logging bee" being elected builder of the bridge, and their parliament is but a higher class in the same school of practical self-government. Their being given in fact the entire control of their own affairs was but removing expert seamen into a larger ship ; and Great Britain has but to consider, in dealing with her other colonies, that the ship is always adapted to the sailors. For, the understanding a people is of infinitely greater importance, in giving them a constitution, than the understanding ever so well abstract principles of government.

110

PRIZE ESSAY

Canada, in its present position to Great Britain, may be looked upon as a married son. He has a house of his own to care for. He has his own fortune to make. He has his own children to look after and to provide for. But these children cling around their grandfather Britain's knee. They hear his tales of his glory, and they are made manly. They drink in his lessons of wisdom, and they are made good. They are warmed with his and their own forefathers' patriotism, and they are prepared, as on a recent occasion, to lavish their treasures in his support, and to shed their hearts blood, if needs be, to maintain his freedom, and to bear aloft his honour!

Such a people, in a rich and magnificent country, cannot but have a great and a glorious destiny.

t

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