This extensive tract of country, and most important colony of England, may be described as a great belt of territory stretching from the centre of North America to the shores of Labrador, and from the waters which flow into the Northern Ocean to the parallel of Pennsylvania, in the United States. Its extent from east to west is computed at about 1400 miles, and from north to south at from 200 to 400 miles. Its precise geographical limits are between the parallels of 41, 71, and 50. N. Lat., and between the meridian of 57, 50, and 117. W. Long.

General Description.

Canada, lying diagonally along the frontier of the United States, from N.E. to S.W., and possessing an inland navigation along its entire border, in a series of lakes and rivers unrivalled for extent and grandeur, has, especially of late years, been making such rapid progress, that it promises soon to become, in conjunction with its sister British provinces, a power of first-class importance, commercially and politically. The entire surface of the present territory of Canada, exclusive of its great waters, has been estimated at 196,000,000 acres, or between two and three times the size of Great Britain and Ireland.

This country, formerly divided into two provinces known as Upper and Lower Canada, was in 1841 by an act of the imperial parliament constituted one province with one legislature. Although now united, however, for legislative and other purposes, the country will most probably continue to be viewed and spoken of under its formerly recognised divisions of Upper and Lower Canada.

Canada may be said to comprise one vast valley through which the great river St Lawrence takes its course, issuing from Lake Superior and flowing successively through Lakes Huron, Erie, and Ontario, until it falls into the ocean after a course of 2000 miles. This immense valley is on each side encompassed by different mountain ranges, sometimes nearly approaching the water, and at other times receding into the interior, and thus forming extensive plains, for the most part alluvial, and suitable for nearly every description of produce. The high table-land along the northern boundary of this valley separates the streams which take their rise within it and flow into its basin from those that take their rise in the almost unknown territory beyond, and which fall into Hudson's Bay. The high land along the southern boundary of the valley separates the streams which flow northwards into its basin, from those that have their course southwards towards the Atlantic and Mississippi.

Commencing at the northern shore of the St Lawrence, Northern towards the mouth of that river, where the width is 90 miles, shore of the we find one of the walls of this vast valley which constitutes St Law-Canada rising boldly in mountainous form, close to the river, and continuing thus to form its rugged bank for upwards

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1 Bouchette's British Dominions in North America, Lond. 1832; Report to the Senate of the United States, by Israel D. Andrews, United States Consul for Canada, &c. Washington, 1853. of 100 miles. One of the most remarkable of the heights of this northern bank is Cape Tourment, overhanging the very brink of the river, and somewhat preparing the voyager for the still bolder and more magnificent grandeur of Cape Diamond, the Gibraltar of America, which rises to a height of 400 feet, and is crowned by the citadel of Quebec.

The city of Quebec, here clinging around the rocky steeps of Cape Diamond, and overlooking one of the most magnificent harbours in the world, is situated on the northern bank of the St Lawrence, and about 400 miles from the mouth of that river. The view from the citadel presents on every side a country with features of peculiar and striking grandeur. Immediately opposite Quebec, the St Lawrence contracts to about half a mile in width, with bold rocky banks on either side. The northern or Cape Diamond side, being much the bolder of the two, commands a view of the wide stretch of table-land extending beyond the southern bank, the vast plains presenting for leagues upon leagues their dark masses of forest, with houses and cultivated fields interspersed, until the distant mountains of the states of Maine and Vermont bound the view. The northern shore presents a wilder and more rugged aspect. From the heights of Cape Diamond, the spectator surveys bold ranges of hills fringing the northern horizon, and forming the boundaries of almost unexplored territories beyond.

About 30 miles below Quebec is Cape Tourment, to which in our upward progress we had traced the rocky northern bank of the river. Here the ridge, taking a direction W.S.W., terminates on the river Ottawa, about 120 miles above its confluence with the St Lawrence, thus extending westward from Cape Tourment along the course of the St Lawrence about 300 miles. The tract of country lying between this ridge and the St Lawrence, which may be estimated at from 15 to 30 miles in breadth, is beautifully picturesque, well watered, level, and fertile. This portion of Canada, stretching along the northern shore of the river, from below Quebec upwards to Montreal, a distance of about 200 miles, and thence along the banks of the beautiful Ottawa may be considered, especially towards its upper and western extremity, one of the choicest parts of the country.

The territory lying beyond this ridge is intersected by another and higher range of mountains, which runs into the interior in a N.W. direction, at the distance of about 200 miles from the other, and forms the watershed between the tributary streams of the St Lawrence and those that fall into Hudson's Bay. This territory may be said to be only one great wilderness of forest, whose solitudes are as yet unexplored, and only occasionally tracked by wandering hunters.

Glancing at the south shore of the St Lawrence, a ridge commences nearly 100 miles below Quebec, which, passing upwards in a S.W. direction, opposite that city, at a distance of 30 miles from the river, crosses the boundary line between Canada and the United States, and finally slopes down to the river Hudson. Beyond this ridge, at about the distance of 50 miles, is another and a higher one, which commences at Cape Rozière, the bold headland at the mouth of the St Lawrence, and, running for about 400 miles in a direction nearly parallel with the river and with the other chain, terminates upon the eastern branch of the river Connecticut. This forms the dividing ridge between the tributary streams of the St Lawrence, and those which flow towards the Atlantic Ocean, and separates a portion of Canada from the territory of the United States.

The general character of the country along this south side of the river, from Cape Rozière upwards, to within about 100 miles of Quebec, where the lesser ridge commences, is somewhat rugged and mountainous; but there are many fertile parts near the river which are populous and well cultivated. On the south side of this main ridge, down to the shores of Gaspé and Chaleur Bay, the country is mountainous, but interspersed with level and fertile spots, some of which are under cultivation, especially along the coast, where the inhabitants are principally dependent on the fisheries. The country for 100 miles below Quebec, and extending to the river Chaudière, a few miles above that city, has much of the broken and hilly character which it has further down the river, but with extensive tracts of excellent land.

This portion, as well as for a distance of above 100 miles further down along the banks of the river, is a succession of settlements. Between Quebec and the lower ridge of mountain-land already mentioned, the country presents a fertile plain, broken by a few insulated hills covered with trees to their summits. It is well settled, and a considerable portion of the land cultivated.

The country above Quebec, along the south side of the Country St Lawrence, to the line 45° of N. Lat. (which is the above Quebec southern boundary of Lower Canada), may be characterized as one extensive and fertile plain, in parts agreeably broken and undulating. Much of it is covered with populous and prosperous settlements. As it lies contiguous to the United States, and embraces some of the principal points of communication between the two territories, it is at present, and bids fair to continue to be, the most flourishing portion of this lower division of Canada.

The city and island of Montreal, situated in Lower Canada, and immediately below the confluence of the river Island of Ottawa with the St Lawrence, may be said to form the chief connecting link between the lower and upper provinces. Being about 180 miles above Quebec, and Quebec being itself about 400 miles up the river, Montreal is thus situated nearly 600 miles in the interior of Canada.

"The banks of the St Lawrence are here presented stretched out into smiling plains of most luxuriant appearance, in midst of which, and forming a main feature, is the garden-island of Montreal—producing grain and fruit, especially some description of the latter, in perhaps greater perfection than in any other part of the country. The size of this island is 32 miles in length and about ten in breadth, upon which is situated the city, covering above one thousand acres—with its quaint mixture of English, American, and old French architecture, in its streets, shops, English, American, and Scotch churches, French cathedrals and spires, and ancient convents. Rising from, and forming a sheltering background to the city on the north, is 'The Mountain,' as it is called, thickly wooded to the summit—an elevation of between 500 and 600 feet, commanding a magnificent view of the picturesque and luxuriant country around, the expanse of the St Lawrence, and the bold mountain scenery in the distance. Along the substantially-built stone wharfs skirting the south of the town, and towards the broadest channel of the river, lie throngs of ships, barges, and steam-vessels, loading and unloading the natural products of the interior, and the manufactures and other merchandise of Britain. Montreal, situated about 600 miles up the St Lawrence, forms the head of navigation for the large class of ocean vessels, and is the main point at which the produce of the interior arrives, in steam-boats, screw-propellers, and barges, for reshipment on board of the Atlantic vessels."

Ocean vessels may now, however, by recent improvements of the internal navigation upwards through the great lakes, proceed with their cargoes many hundreds of miles further into the interior; thus opening up to Canada not only the We have now briefly to describe the leading features of Upper Canada. This division of the country, commencing about 80 miles up the St Lawrence from Montreal, upon the north side of the river, extends for about 100 miles further along this shore of the river to the city of Kingston, at the foot of Lake Ontario, and thence along the north shores of the great lakes Ontario, Erie, St Clair, Huron, and Superior, with their connecting rivers or straits, and stretching to the head waters of the streams which flow into Lake Superior. This great stretch of territory, with its almost unsurpassed extent of inland coast navigation, extends from 74° 30' to 117° W. Long.

The grand course of navigable waters directly inland through Canada, by the St Lawrence and great lakes, may be safely stated to exceed 2000 miles. The coast of the lakes alone has been estimated at upwards of 5000 miles. The shores of this great valley, through which these waters take their course, embrace a country which has been styled "the garden of North America." It has already in our own day presented an increase in population, and in agricultural and commercial wealth, so wonderfully rapid as to be unprecedented in history.

Upper Canada, thus so favourably situated—comprehending one side of the entire upper portion of the great valley of the St Lawrence—is bounded on the south by the territories of the United States, on the north by the Hudson's Bay territory, and on the east by Lower Canada, while to the west extends that vast tract of country within British dominion, but as yet in a comparatively primeval state, and most generally known hitherto as the north-west Indian territory.

That portion of Upper Canada which has been set apart and divided for settlement, extends from its extreme eastern point, where it leaves Lower Canada, 80 miles above Montreal, and reaches along the northern shore of the St Lawrence, and upwards along the lakes to the shores of Lake Huron—a direct course of about 700 miles. This breadth of settled country towards the north may be said to vary from 50 to 80 miles. Throughout the whole of this tract the soil is excellent, and is not surpassed by any other part of the American continent. It consists, generally speaking, of a fine dark loam, mixed with a vegetable mould, but it is in a great measure so varied as to present soils adapted to almost every species of produce.

From the commencement of Upper Canada to the head of the Bay of Quinte, on Lake Ontario, the land is spread out into an almost uniform level of great beauty, which rises only a few feet from the banks of the St Lawrence. It is in every direction well watered by numerous streams, which are generally navigable for boats and canoes, and at the same time present the most desirable situations for the erection of machinery.

Farther into the interior, along the course of the great stream of the Ottawa, which flows into the St Lawrence a short distance above Montreal, and between the Ottawa and Lake Ontario, the face of the country—which we have noticed as being spread out into a plain so attractive—is, in parts, here diversified by ridges and bold heights, and also by numerous streams and inland lakes. The Rideau canal, a work constructed by the imperial government for military purposes, passing through this part of the interior, from the town of Bytown, on the Ottawa, 120 miles above Montreal, through the country to Kingston—a distance of 135 miles—is almost one continued chain of natural lakes and streams. The chief link of these waters is Rideau lake, 24 miles in length, forming the summit level of the Lake On- canal, and being 280 feet above the level of the Ottawario river, and 150 feet above Lake Ontario. Lake Ontario, which receives the waters of the upper lakes from the Niagara river, and discharges them into the St Lawrence, nearly 800 miles from the mouth of that river, may be said to be the first link in our upward progress of the chain of great lakes which so distinguish Canada, and confer upon the country unsurpassed means of internal communication. The height of this lake above the sea is 232 feet. It is 180 miles in length, 50 miles in breadth, and 470 miles in circumference. While the shores of this lake present the most populous and prosperous parts of Canada, the lake itself is believed to be the safest of the three lower lakes for the purposes of navigation. It possesses several excellent harbours; and from its great depth of 500 feet, compared with the two lakes above it, it is not so easily moved by storms as Lake Erie, while it is quite exempt from the shallows, or flats, as they are called, of Lake St Clair.

There are several pretty large islands scattered over the lower extremity of Lake Ontario, one of which, Amberst island, is about 10 miles in length and 6 in breadth. One of the most fertile and beautiful portions of this lake is the magnificent inlet of the Bay of Quinte, commencing near the city of Kingston, at the foot of the lake, and forming a spacious indentation of about 70 miles to the mouths of the rivers Trent and Moira. The shores of this bay are more diversified and pleasing in their features than those of the great lake itself; whose Indian name, "Ontario," signifies the Beautiful. Lake Ontario is never frozen over, and throughout winter steam-boats frequently run across the upper part of the lake from Toronto to Niagara when the weather is fine.

All along the north shore of Lake Ontario, a distance of 180 miles, one extensive fertile plain presents itself, now and then agreeably sloping to the very edge of the lake, and bearing evidences of successful cultivation and progress. Several thriving towns are growing up rapidly along the shores of Ontario, the chief of which are Kingston at the foot of the lake, Toronto 35 miles from the head, and Hamilton at the extreme head. Toronto, which is very finely situated, spreading over a wide and gently rising plateau, and in a protected part of the lake shore, is the largest city of Upper Canada. The generally level stretch of well-cultivated plain which forms this northern shore of Lake Ontario is only partially broken by an inconsiderable ridge which runs through it, and which, coursing around the head of the lake, and crossing into the United States at the Falls of Niagara, forms the commencement of the extensive and fertile table-land which stretches westward from Lake Ontario, and, situated between Lakes Erie and Huron, forms the great western peninsula of Upper Canada.

The eastern boundary of this peninsula, thus situated between these three great lakes, is the neck of land of 36 miles between the shores of Lake Ontario, at Toronto, and Lake Simcoe, which communicates by means of the River Severn with the Georgian Bay on Lake Huron.

The settled parts of this great peninsula embrace about one-half of the settled parts of Upper Canada; and it is estimated to have at present a cultivated surface equal to about a fourth part of the cultivated surface of Scotland. This settled and partially occupied portion of the peninsula contains upwards of 9,000,000 acres. The entire district has been styled "the Garden of Upper Canada."

"I am delighted to have seen this part of the country," said the late Lord Sydenham, in recording his impressions to a

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1 Prize Essay on the Canals of Canada, by Thomas C. Keefer, C.E. Toronto, 1850. 2 Canadian Gazetteer. By William H. Smith. Toronto, 1850. friend, after having visited this district in the course of a tour which he performed in the capacity of governor-general of Canada, in the autumn of 1840—"I am delighted to have seen this part of the country; I mean the great district, nearly as large as Ireland, placed between the three lakes—Erie, Ontario, and Huron. You can conceive nothing finer! The most magnificent soil in the world—four feet of vegetable mould—a climate certainly the best in North America—the greater part of it admirably watered. In a word, there is land enough and capabilities enough for some millions of people, and in one of the finest provinces in the world."

Hamilton, situated at the extreme head of Lake Ontario, between 500 and 600 miles above Quebec, and nearly 1000 miles into the interior of Canada from the mouth of the St Lawrence, is the chief port of this valuable country westward. Its situation is commodious and picturesque, being at the head of a fine bay, locked in by a strip of land from the main lake, with the exception of a navigable passage for steam and sailing vessels. Immediately behind the town rise the agreeably wooded heights which form the commencement of the great and fertile table-land stretching westward.

The view from this elevation, called Burlington Heights, is one of the finest in Western Canada. The expanse of the waters of Ontario, surrounded by its wooded shores, speckled with towns and farm-settlements, spread themselves in panoramic view under the eye of the spectator; while stretching into the interior, northward, is the mass of primeval forest, almost in every direction broken by cultivated openings, with farms and rising villages. Clustering around the level shores of the bay beneath, and along the slopes, and in the wooded nooks of the picturesque eminence, are the many elegant residences and rows of wide streets of the young and prosperous city of Hamilton.

Following the chain of waters westward, the traveller approaches the Niagara river, 33 miles long, connecting Lakes Ontario and Erie. The town of Niagara is situated near the mouth of the river; and the small village of Queenston at the foot of the table-land which stretches westward, is about four miles further up. Queenston is about nine miles from the celebrated falls, and about 20 miles from Lake Erie. The scenery along both the United States and Canada sides of this beautiful river or strait, not to speak of its one stupendous feature, presents much both of grandeur and picturesque beauty.

Yet all is subsidiary to that one mass of falling waters, suggesting the idea of the great bed of the broad river having given way beneath their weight, and seeming to batter in vain upon the more solid rocks beneath to which they descend. The troubled and broken sheet of river assuming in its descent one mass of raging foam, and pouring down with incessant roar, whitening the entire stretch of precipice from bank to bank—presents a scene of unequalled grandeur and sublimity. Yet amid its features of stupendous magnificence, the interest of Niagara is heightened by noting others of calm and softest beauty. In all its turmoil may be noted the soft bow of the varied coloured iris resting in the sun beams, amid the light ascending spray, and that spray falling again, sprinkling the green fresh foliage which clings around the overhanging rocky cliffs. And not less striking to the observer of the great scene are the ever-playful eddies of the waters far beneath, laying the edges of the pebbled shore. There all is roar and turmoil—here close by, soft and playful repose.

This great fall, which has been celebrated by all travelers as one of the greatest wonders of nature, is occasioned by the configuration of the country, which is one vast plain, extending from the Ohio and Lake Erie westward beyond the Mississippi, and eastward to the Alleghany mountains. This plain, after passing Lake Erie to the north, rapidly descends 340 feet to another plain, in the level of which lies Lake Ontario; and it is from the higher level of Lake Erie that the river Niagara is precipitated with such tremendous violence into the plain below. The rock over which the Niagara falls is in the form of an irregular semicircle about three-quarters of a mile in extent. The river is here divided into two by Goat Island, the lower extremity of which is perpendicular, and in a line with the rock over which the water is precipitated. The cataract on the Canada side is called the Horse-Shoe, from its peculiar form, or the Great Fall; and the other, towards the south shore of the river, the American Fall.

Sir Charles Lyell, in his journal of a tour in North America in 1841-2, presents a very interesting and detailed account of these celebrated falls; and his very valuable geological observations are enhanced by excellent coloured illustrations.

"It has long been a favourite subject of discussion," observes Sir Charles Lyell, "whether the falls were once Lyell situated seven miles north, further down the river, at the Rece village of Queenston. Here the descent from the platform, Falls, in a depression of which Lake Erie is situated, to the lower level of 330 feet of Lake Ontario, is sudden and abrupt.

"The strata throughout this whole region," continues Sir Charles, "are nearly horizontal, but they have a gentle dip to the south of 25 feet in a mile. This inclination is sufficient to cause the different groups of rock to crop out one from beneath the other, or to come up to the surface in parallel zones, which may be traced for a great distance east and west through the state of New York and Canada. They all consist of different members of the Silurian series, the uppermost or newest being those nearest to Lake Erie. The Niagara is bounded by low banks, where it issues from Lake Erie, and varies in width from one to three miles. It here resembles a prolongation of the tranquil lake, being interspersed with low wooded islands. This lake-like scenery continues for about 15 miles, during which the fall of the river scarcely exceeds as many feet, but on reaching the rapids it descends over a bed of limestone about 80 feet in less than a mile, and is then thrown down about 150 perpendicularly at the falls. The largest of these, called the Horse Shoe Fall, is 1800 feet, or more than a third of a mile broad, the island in the middle somewhat less in width, and the American Fall about 600 feet wide. The deep narrow chasm below the great cataract is from 200 to 400 yards wide, and 300 feet deep; and here in seven miles the river descends 100 feet, at the end of which it emerges from the gorge into the open and flat country, so nearly on a level with Lake Ontario, that there is only a fall of about four feet in the seven additional miles which intervene between Queenston and the lake. The great ravine is winding, and makes a turn nearly at right angles to itself at the whirlpool where the Niagara sweeps round a large circular basin. At some points the boundary cliffs are undermined on one side by the impetuous stream, but there is usually a talus at the base of the precipice supporting a very ornamental fringe of trees.

It has long been a popular belief, from a more cursory inspection of the district, that the Niagara once flowed in a shallow valley across the whole platform from the present site of the falls to the Queenston heights, where it was supposed the cataract was first situated, and that the river has been slowly eating its way backwards through the rocks for a distance of seven miles. According to this hypothesis the falls must have had originally nearly twice their present height, and must have been always diminishing in grandeur from age to age, as they will continue to do in future, so long as the retrograde movement is prolonged. It becomes, therefore, a matter of no small interest and curiosity to inquire at what rate the work of excavation is now going on, and thus to obtain a measure for calculating how many thousands of years or centuries have been required to hollow out the chasm already excavated.

It is an ascertained fact, that the falls do not remain absolutely stationary at the same point of space, and that they have... shifted their position slightly during the last half century. Every observer will also be convinced that the small portion of the great ravine which has been eroded within the memory of man is so precisely identical in character with the whole gorge for seven miles below, that the river supplies an adequate cause for executing the task assigned to it, provided we grant sufficient time for its completion.

The waters, after cutting through strata of limestone about 50 feet thick in the rapids, descend perpendicularly at the falls over another mass of limestone about 90 feet thick, beneath which lie soft shales of equal thickness, continually undermined by the action of the spray driven violently by gusts of wind against the base of the precipice. In consequence of this disintegration, portions of the incumbent rock are left unsupported and tumble down from time to time, so that the cataract is made to proceed southwards. The sudden descent of huge rocky fragments of the undermined limestone at the Horse-Shoe Fall in 1828, and another at the American Fall in 1818, are said to have shaken the adjacent country like an earthquake. According to the statement of our guide in 1841, Samuel Hooker, an indentation of about 40 feet has been produced in the middle of the ledge of limestone at the lesser fall since the year 1813, so that it has begun to assume the shape of a crescent; while within the same period, the Horse-Shoe Fall has been altered so as less to deserve its name. Goat Island has lost several acres in area in the last four years, and I have no doubt that this waste neither is, nor has been, a mere temporary accident, since I found that the same phenomenon was in operation in various other waterfalls, which I visited with Mr Hall, in the State of New York. Some of these intersect the same rocks as the Niagara—for example the Genesee at Rochester; others are eating their way through newer formations, as Allan's Creek, below Le Roy, and the Genesee at its upper falls at Portage. Mr Bakewell calculated that in the forty years preceding 1830, the Niagara had been going back at the rate of about a yard annually, but I conceive that one foot per year would be a much more probable conjecture, in which case 35,000 years would have been required for the retreat of the falls from the escarpment of Queenston to their present site, if we could assume that the retrograde movement had been uniform throughout. This, however, could not have been the case, as at every step in the process of excavation the height of the precipices, the hardness of the materials at its base, and the quantity of fallen matter to be removed, must have varied. At some points it may have receded much faster than at present, at others much slower, and it would be scarcely possible to decide whether its average progress has been more or less rapid than now.

Unfortunately our historical evidence of the former condition of the cataract is meagre and scanty in the extreme. Sixty years ago the whole district between Lakes Erie and Ontario was a wilderness in which the Indian hunter chased the bear and the buffalo.

In regard to the future retrocession of the falls, Sir Charles Lyell observes, that when they have travelled back two miles, the massive limestone now at the top of the falls will then be at their base; and its great hardness may thus perhaps effectually stop the excavating process, if it should not have been previously arrested by the descent of large masses of the same rock from the cliff above. It will also appear that the falls will continually diminish in height, and should they ever reach Lake Erie, they will intersect entirely different strata from those over which they are now thrown.

The first impressions of Sir Charles Lyell, like those of many others, were not what he expected, but closer intercourse, as most usually is the case, in time rewarded him by the great scene revealing itself in its true grandeur. "We first came in sight of the Falls of Niagara when they were about three miles distant. The sun was shining full upon them—no building in view—nothing but the green wood, the falling waters, and the white foam. At that moment they appeared to me more beautiful than I had expected, and less grand; but after several days, when I had enjoyed a nearer view of the two cataracts, had listened to their thundering sound, and gazed on them for hours from above and below, and had watched the river foaming over the rapids, then plunging headlong into the dark pool, and when I had explored the delightful island which divides the falls, where the solitude of the ancient forest is still unbroken, I at last learned by degrees to comprehend the wonders of the scene, and to feel its full magnificence."

The falls are most frequently viewed from a jutting shelf of the rock, called Table Rock, on the British side, which is on a level with the edge of the cataract; but the grandeur of the spectacle is still more striking on the same side, below the falls, at the bottom, the descent to which is partly down the less steep part of the bank, and partly by a spiral ladder, from the bottom of which a kind of path leads, among rocks and under the precipitous banks, to the crescent or great Horse-Shoe Fall. "Here," says Mr Macgregor, in his work on British America, "we have the grand outlet of these great lakes, which contain nearly half of all the fresh waters on our globe, thundering over a terrific precipice, having for a short distance a smooth green surface, but quickly raging in impetuous, broken, foaming, grandeur, as it hurls into the vast unfathomable abyss below." The precipice over which the cataract rolls projects about fifty feet beyond its base, and hence the waters descend in the form of a crescent, within which it is customary for travellers to enter thirty or forty yards. Mr Weld, who visited Niagara in 1796, was among the first travellers who ventured under the cataract, and to within six yards of the sheet of water which rushes into the gulf below. Captain Hall also took his station under the cataract; and both travellers experienced the greatest inconvenience, and even some risk; from the violent tempest and whirlwind which always rages at the bottom of the cataract, arising from the air carried down by the cascade, and forced under the water, rising up again in tremendous gusts, and driving upward incessant deluges of the spray.

The appearance of Niagara, and the surrounding country, has been very greatly changed by the progress of cultivation. There are several excellent hotels near the falls, the windows of which command a view of the cataract. At the village of Manchester, on the United States side, mills, forges, trip-hammers, &c., are erected close to the rapids, which turn the wheels of the mills and forges; and thus some portion of the scenery has exchanged its original character of wildness and grandeur for the softer aspect of civilized life.

Having now parted from Niagara, we pass to the shores of Lake Erie. The obstruction to navigation caused by the Falls of Niagara is obviated by the Welland canal, which cuts through the neck of land situated along the course of the Niagara river, and thus unites Lakes Ontario and Erie for the purposes of navigation. Lake Erie, which is situated 565 feet above the sea, and 333 feet above the level of Lake Ontario, is about 265 miles in length, from 30 to 60 miles in breadth, and between 600 and 700 miles in circumference. Its mean depth is 120 feet, being the shallowest of all the great lakes, and most easily frozen. Its waters are also, on account of its shallowness, more readily agitated by storms, causing its navigation to be therefore more dan-

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1 Travels in North America, by Charles Lyell, Esq., F.R.S., Lond., 1845, vol. i. chap. ii. p. 30-35. 2 Travels in North America, vol. i. chap. ii. p. 27. 3 For a more particular description of this fall, the reader is referred to Chateaubriand's Recollections of America, p. 184; Volney's View of the Climate and Soil of America, &c., chap. vi.; Weld's Travels, vol. ii. p. 123-9; Heriot's Travel; Howison's Sketches of Upper Canada, Letter vii. p. 91; Captain Hall's Travels in North America, vol. i. chap. vi.; Sir Charles Lyell's Travels, vol. i. chap. xi.; Views of Canada and the Colonies, 2d Edit. chap. iii. The shores of this lake present features very similar to those of Lake Ontario; the banks of Lake Erie being generally bolder and more elevated, and composed chiefly of clay and sand. The more fertile parts are at some distance from the banks, throughout the extensive plain of table-land beyond. There are several good natural harbours along the shore, formed chiefly by the mouths of deep creeks or streams, and protected from the action of storms and current of the lake by strong projecting piers. Among the harbours of Lake Erie may be mentioned Port Colborne, situated at the entrance to the Welland canal, at the foot of Lake Erie, and a little above the commencement of the Niagara river. A little further up is the harbour of Port Maitland, at the mouth of the Grand river. This is a very fine and capacious stream, navigable for small vessels a considerable distance, and possessing much fertile land and pleasing scenery along its banks. The shore of the lake for some way above the mouth of the Grand river presents many delightful and fertile settlements. Among the harbours further up the lake are Ports Dover, Burwell, and Stanley. Port Stanley is perhaps the most flourishing of these harbours, being the port of one of the most populous and enterprising districts of this part of Canada, and situated near the centre of the great fertile peninsula.

The banks of Lake Erie are here high, and of a sandy character; but off the immediate bank, and extending all the way through the extensive tract of country, to the town of Goderich, on Lake Huron, a distance of 85 miles, the soil is of the best quality, being for the most part timbered with beech, maple, black and white walnut, oak, ash, cherry, and other trees, indicating the first qualities of soil. The whole tract is greatly undulating in its appearance, and is everywhere well watered.

The upper part of Lake Erie is distinguished by many beautiful islands, the largest of which is Pelee, on which there is a lighthouse, and several farms. The shores along the upper part of the lake, especially towards the mouth of the Detroit river, have a smiling and luxuriant aspect. Trees of the finest growth rise from the shore, and the wild vine may be seen twining and clustering among the branches of the lesser trees and tall shrubs along the sloping banks. The shore is here covered with fine white sand.

In our further progress up this country, we pass the Detroit river, thence into Lake St Clair, then the River St Clair, which last opens into the broad expanse of Lake Huron. From the head of Lake Erie to the foot of Lake Huron, is a distance of between 80 and 90 miles, through a country of unsurpassed fertility and luxuriance, and possessing many delightful features. The Detroit river, about 27 miles in length, is interspersed with many islands, several of which, near its entrance into Lake Erie, are beautifully wooded. The towns of Amherstburgh and Sandwich, and the small village of Windsor, are situated along the Canada side of this river. Opposite Windsor, towards the upper part of the river, and where the banks narrow to about three-quarters of a mile, is the American city of Detroit, in the state of Michigan.

Lake St Clair, which forms the connecting link, by means of the St Clair and Detroit rivers, between Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Erie, is the smallest of all the lakes, and exceedingly shallow for the larger class of vessels passing through it. It is from 20 to 30 miles in length, and about the same in breadth. Its average depth is about 20 feet, but the principal channel used by vessels passing through it is much shallower, especially in dry seasons, when the mud of its flats is stirred to the surface not unfrequently by large vessels. The chief stream which it receives from the Canadian shore is the River Thames, which is navigable for lake vessels 22 miles from its mouth, and the banks of which are exceedingly fertile, and mostly well settled. Much of the land bordering on the lake is low and marshy. In the upper part of the lake are several islands, the principal of which is Walpole island, about 10 miles long, and from 3 to 4 miles wide. This island is inhabited by a stray portion of the remnant of Indians still existing in small and decreasing numbers in Canada.

We are now at the entrance to the River St Clair, in length about 30 miles. There are several thriving settlements along the fertile and beautiful banks of this river. Towards the lower part, amid a cluster of wooded islands, the banks, with somewhat of a flat appearance, are covered with luxuriant timber. Farther up the land rises, with finely sloping banks and cultivated farms. Near the head of the river, and pleasantly situated, is the flourishing town of Sarnia.

The River St Clair now opens to the wide expanse of Lake Huron, of about 1000 miles in circumference.

This vast sheet of inland sea is the second in point of size of the great lakes, yielding only in this respect to Lake Superior. The surface of Lake Huron is about 80 feet above the level of Lake Erie, and 595 feet above the level of the Atlantic. The length may be estimated at 250 miles, and its breadth 160 miles, inclusive of the Georgian bay, a large wing of the lake, extending along the north-eastern shore for a distance of about 100 miles. The mean depth of Lake Huron is 900 feet, and its greatest depth 1000 feet near the west shore.

This lake is said to contain the almost incredible number of 32,000 islands, principally along the northern shore and at the north-western end, varying in size from mere rocky reefs and pinnacles to large and cultivable islands. The Great Manitoulin, the longest of the islands, is upwards of 75 miles in length, and varies in width from 3 to 23 miles. The waters of the lake are remarkably pure, clear, and cold; in these respects resembling the great upper Lake Superior. The surface of Lake Huron is about 32 feet lower than that of Lake Superior, and it is very nearly as deep as that lake. The nature of the banks of Lake Huron vary very much. In parts they are low and sandy, in others formed of clay; they rise to a height of about 120 feet, while again the shore of this inland sea presents a bold, rocky, iron-bound coast, having great depth of water to the base. Numerous streams descend on all sides into the lakes; and among its rivers may be mentioned the Maitland, Severn, and River Francais. The lake, which is rather subject to storms, is deficient in good natural harbours, the principal of which, along the eastern coast, are Goderich, at the mouth of the Maitland, Saugeen, and Penetanguishene; and on the western shore the best places of shelter in heavy weather are Thunda bay and Saginaw bay.

Lake Huron possesses the advantage of being remarkably centrically situated with respect to the other great lakes. With Lake Erie, as we have seen, it is connected by the straits or rivers St Clair and Detroit, and the small lake St Clair. Lake Ontario, the lower of the lakes, is even open to it from the point at Towy by the river Severn, Lake Simcoe, and Holland river, short postages. Lake Simcoe, thus situated between Lake Huron and Ontario, is a very beautiful lake about 30 miles in length and 20 in breadth. The neck of land south of Lake Simcoe from Holland river leading to Toronto is, it will be remembered, about 36 miles; and again, north of Lake Simcoe, from the narrows of this lake to Lake Huron, the postage is only about 14 miles. The new railway now cutting through this neck of the peninsula westward, situated between the lakes Erie, Ontario, and Huron, will greatly facilitate the growing intercourse between the shores of Ontario, as well as all the country lower down along the banks of the St Lawrence, and also great part of the United States, with the regions of the great upper lakes, Huron and Superior. This direct course will no doubt be much preferred to the circuitous route through Lakes Erie and St Clair, and the connecting rivers.

Lake Huron, besides, communicates with the Ottawa, and thence with the St Lawrence above Montreal, by means of French river, Lake Nipissing and the river Mattawa into the Ottawa. This is the route adopted generally by the north-west traders in proceeding to the remote parts of the country, and it is also the one by which Europeans first penetrated the West. The distance from Montreal by this route to Lake Huron is fully more than one-half shorter than that by the St Lawrence. From Montreal to the Georgian bay, the distance is estimated at 400 miles, while by the St Lawrence the distance is upwards of 1000 miles. Again, Lake Huron communicates with the great upper Lake Superior by means of the river St Mary about 40 miles in length. Lastly, we have this centrically situated lake communicating by Michilimackinac with Lake Michigan, and thence by the Illinois river and canal with the Mississippi and Gulf of Mexico.

The shores of Lake Huron have of late revealed important mineral treasures. The Bruce copper mines promise to be of great value. These mines are situated upon the northern shore of the lake under the Cloche mountains, a bold range of hills extending about 40 miles along the coast.

Along the south-eastern shores of the lake, extending beyond the town and harbour of Goderich, on the River Maitland, are many highly prosperous settlements. The lands in this direction, and through the large and fine district inland, are believed to be the most fertile in Canada. The country is everywhere well watered, and enjoys much delightful scenery, both along the elevated banks of the lake, and the beautiful rivers which diversify it. The town of Goderich, on the River Maitland, is very agreeably situated, and possesses an excellent harbour. The high banks of the Maitland are exceedingly picturesque.

We now approach the uppermost of these vast collections of waters, not inappropriately named inland seas. The river or strait of St Mary, connecting Lake Huron with Lake Superior, is between 30 and 40 miles in length. The character of the scenery, on entering St Mary's Channel, is the most delightful that can be imagined. The channel throughout, with the exception of several small lakes, seems to be almost packed with islands; and while perplexing the navigator by its intricacy, it is every now and then revealing new and striking beauties of wooded heights and steep banks clothed with verdure, and spots of flat, fertile meadows, and, at times, bare, rocky, fantastic crags. The sides of the ridges of table-lands that skirt the country, around the borders of Lake Superior, appear in the distance clothed with one mass of lively green.

The foot of the Falls, or more properly speaking Rapids of St Mary, approach within about 18 miles of Lake Superior. The region in this direction seems much less fertile; the trees along the shores of the broad strait appearing to be chiefly of the pine species, and the soil in many parts light and sandy, while the lands close upon the banks lie for the most part low and flat. We now, however, approach the chief seat of the great copper district of America, and in exchange for valuable metals, the country can here afford to present some considerable portion of indifferent soil. The copper mines of Canada, along the shores of Lakes Huron and Superior, are perhaps entitled to rank among the most valuable resources of this great country.

As we approach the great queen lake or inland sea, upwards of 400 miles in length and 130 m breadth, dark blue masses of hills rise up, somewhat reminding the voyager of the approaches to the St Lawrence in the forms of the headlands of Cape Rozière and others, yet being neither so high nor so bold as these. The main entrance to the lake is marked by two such rocky headlands, one upon either shore several miles apart. From the heights of the one on the other shore, named Gros Cap, composed of the rock of the old red sandstone, the sides of which are partially covered with junipers, blue bells, wild briars, and other vegetation, reminding one of the Scottish hills, we overlook a scene of the most imposing and still grandeur possible to be imagined. The dim distance into the lake is bounded by vast islands, and along both shores bold uneven banks uprise, apparently covered with dark dense foliage, and stretch themselves in irregular course, as far as the eye can reach, along the wide expanse of water that scarcely as yet presents any speck of navigation. The shores of Lake Superior, which are even now imperfectly explored, already prove to be abundant in mineral resources. Many of the enterprising inhabitants of Canada, having formed themselves into associations, are now engaged in mining the seemingly inexhaustible treasures of virgin copper which are found along the shores of this lake as well as Lake Huron. This source of wealth to the colony is likely to prove of considerable importance.

Lake Superior, which is the largest sheet of fresh water on the face of the globe, is the most remarkable of the great American lakes, not only from its magnitude, but also from the picturesque scenery of its borders, and the interest and value attaching to its geological features. "As a mining region," continues Dr Jackson, who, as United States geologist, was intrusted by his government to survey the territory, "it is one of the most important to this country, and is rich in veins of metallic copper and silver, as well as in the ores of those metals. At the present moment it may be regarded as the most valuable mining district in North America, with the exception only of the gold deposits of California."

The whole coast of Lake Superior, we are informed by Dr Jackson, is rock-bound. Mountain masses of considerable elevation in some places rear themselves from the immediate shore, while steep precipices and frightful crags oppose themselves to the surges of the mighty lake, and threaten the unfortunate mariner who may be caught in a storm upon a lee shore with almost inevitable destruction. The northern or Canadian shore of the lake is the most precipitous, and consequently most dangerous to the navigator. Good harbours for vessels of moderate capacity are comparatively few, but there are abundance of coves or boat-harbours formed by the countless indentations of the rocky coast. In remarkable contrast to Lake Huron, which is thickly studded with islands, there are very few islands in Lake Superior.

Agriculture may be truly said to have not yet commenced to tame the great and comparatively unexplored wilderness around the shores of Lake Superior. The forests of stunted spruce and fir-trees along the immediate coast of the lake are said to afford a very inadequate idea of the agricultural resources of the shores of the great queen lake. The cold air from the lake, says Dr Jackson, affects only the vegetation near its shores, while further inland the temperature more resembles that of the settled parts of Canada. The native forest trees, and also the flowering plants, as well as the agricultural produce where clearings have been made, are believed to afford very satisfactory evidence on this

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1 Despatch from the Earl of Elgin, Governor-General, &c., Quebec, August 16, 1853. 2 Geology, Mineralogy, and Topography of the lands around Lake Superior, by Charles T. Jackson, M.D., late United States Geologist, &c. Appended to I. D. Andrews' Report on Colonial and Lake Trade, p. 232. point. The forests are filled with excellent timber for building purposes; the white and yellow pines, particularly, being of large dimensions. "The tributary rivers of Lake Superior are numerous," says Mr I. D. Andrews, in his very interesting report to the United States senate, "and, bringing down a large volume of water, afford superabundant water-power for manufactories, the most extensive in the world, though from their precipitous descents and numerous falls and chutes, they can never be rendered navigable for more than a few miles above their mouths except for canoes."

The importance to Canada of the varied resources of the shores of the great lake, as well as its very valuable fisheries, cannot yet be fully appreciated. The mines, with their inexhaustible riches of silver and copper, were only discovered so lately as 1844; and although geological surveys have been made both by the United States and Canadian governments, yet much remains to be ascertained respecting this region. The formation of a ship canal, which is now in progress on the United States side, to obviate the Falls or Rapids of St Mary, and thus connect Superior for navigable purposes with the other great lakes, is undoubtedly a work of great importance and necessity. The uninterrupted navigation between the great queen lake and the rest of the vast chain of inland waters thus acquired, will not only materially assist the important mining associations recently formed, but will also rapidly develop this part of Canada, so rich in promise to the commercial interests of the country. The commerce of the vast region bordering on Lake Superior will thus be opened up, and to the already unrivalled inland navigation of about 1500 miles from tide-water at Quebec, will be added a further direct length of at least 500 miles, and a coast navigation around the shores of Superior of not less than 2000 miles.

Climate and Seasons of Canada.

The severity of winter in Canada is very commonly much exaggerated in England. The thermometer in the dry, clear, bracing atmosphere of this colony is, to a certain extent, a rather imperfect guide to the inquirer accustomed to its ranges in the raw damp atmosphere of our own islands. Throughout the greater part of the winter season in Canada, the cold in the open air is by no means unpleasant.

During a comparatively few days only the degree of cold is uncomfortable. Persons who have resided in Canada not unfrequently observe that they have experienced more disagreeable sensations from the raw easterly winds of spring or autumn, while travelling in this country, than they have in the depth of winter in Canada, though travelling in an open sleigh. This fact of open sleighs being used throughout the whole winter, is one of the best proofs of the enjoyable nature of the climate. With good horses, and a well-beaten snow-path on the principal roads of the country, the exercise of sleigh-driving is most exhilarating. The horses with their tinkling bells on their necks, seem to participate as they bound along, in the enjoyment of the pure bracing atmosphere. Warm clothing and good heavy furs are all that are requisite to ensure complete comfort in an open sleigh, in the depth of winter in Canada.

The four coldest months of the year in Canada are November, December, January, and February. November usually heralds the first approach of winter in Canada. In November the average quantity of snow at Toronto was very little over 2 inches. The average quantity of rain was a little over 3½ inches. The average quantity of rain at Greenwich was not quite 3¼ inches. The mean temperature at Toronto in November was 35°50'; at Montreal, 32°36'; and at Greenwich, 44°37'. The mean highest temperature at Toronto was 56°26'; at Montreal, 59°25'; and at Greenwich, 59°59'. The mean lowest at Toronto was 12°21'; at Montreal, 7°75'; and at Greenwich, 26°50'. The colder nights and mornings in Canada, compared with England, have now set in, while the mean highest temperatures in both countries, so far as Upper Canada is concerned, differ only by about three degrees of the thermometer; and with regard to Lower Canada, the mean temperature at Montreal in November was almost precisely the same as in England in that month to a fraction of a degree. Another series of observations extending to eight years in Canada and four in England gave the mean highest temperature in November, in Upper Canada and England, at precisely the same. And with regard to Lower Canada, the mean highest temperature at Montreal in November was the same as in England during that month to a fraction of a degree.

In December, when winter has fairly commenced, the average quantity of snow at Toronto was 6 inches. The average quantity of rain was not quite 1¾ inches, and at Greenwich it was not quite 1 inch. The mean temperature at Toronto was 27°62'; at Montreal, 18°50'; and at Greenwich, 39°97'. The mean highest at Toronto was 45°71'; at Montreal, 42', and at Greenwich, 54°43'. The mean lowest at Toronto was 0°18'; at Montreal, 10°75', and at Greenwich, 24°94'.

The coldest month of the year in both countries, so far as the result of these observations go, which we have taken for our guidance—is the month of January. The mean temperature of this month at Toronto was 24°64', and at Greenwich it was 37°79'. The mean highest temperature at Toronto was 45°79', and at Greenwich, 52°83'. The mean lowest at Toronto was 5°12' and at Greenwich it was 20°97'. We have now for the first time the thermometer below zero at Toronto, to the extent of a little over five degrees. At Montreal the mean lowest temperature for January was 15°50', the mean temperature 18°58', and the mean highest 42°. The average quantity of snow at Toronto in January was slightly over 13 inches. The average quantity of rain was not quite 2½ inches; at Greenwich it was a little over 1¾ inch.

We now arrive at February, when the cold, according to our present data, has commenced to be less severe. Observations from another series of years might show the cold in February to be quite as great as in January, and perhaps more so, as it sometimes is in particular seasons. The winters in Canada, as in England, vary a good deal. Certain seasons are much more open and less severe than others. The months also differ at times in their general character. By the observations which we have now for our guidance, however, the difference in the mean lowest temperature between the two months of January and February is very slight. At Toronto, in February, the mean lowest temperature was 4°59'. At Montreal it was 13°50'. At Greenwich the mean lowest temperature was 17°70'. The mean temperature at Montreal was 13°32', at Toronto, 24°21', and at Greenwich, 37°06'. The mean highest temperature at Montreal was 40°25', at Toronto 45°32', and at Greenwich 53°70'. The average quantity of snow at Toronto in February was slightly over 21 inches. This month gives the greatest quantity of snow. The average quantity of rain in February was not quite 1 inch. At Greenwich it was slightly over 1¾ inch.

March now brings milder weather. The mean lowest temperature in this month at Montreal was 4°20', and at Toronto it was 4°74'. At Greenwich it was 23°79'. The mean temperature at Montreal was 28°96', and at Toronto 30°49'. At Greenwich the mean temperature was 42°20'. The mean highest temperature at Montreal was 57°40', at Toronto 54°14', and at Greenwich 61°84'. The average quantity of snow at Toronto was very little over 9 inches. The average quantity of rain was a little over 1 inch. At Greenwich the average quantity of rain in March was not quite 1 inch.

The depth of snow usually is from eighteen inches to two feet; the depth of frost in the ground from twelve to eighteen inches. The appearance of the snow is hailed with much pleasure, both as the means of enjoyment, and as affording facilities to the farmers for bringing their produce to market. The absence of good sleighing at any time during the winter season is universally considered a loss in limiting the means both of business and pleasure. The first snow, of any amount, very usually falls in Lower Canada about the beginning of December, and in Upper Canada about two or three weeks later. The months of January and February are the best for good steady sleighing. The season for this pastime lasts fully a month longer in Lower Canada than in the upper or western parts of the province. The more south-westerly parts of Upper Canada, such as along the shores of Lake Erie and the Detroit river, have the shortest winter of all, and least sleighing. The continuance of this amusement at any period of the season in Upper Canada is not much to be depended upon, on account of the rapid thaws which take place occasionally, causing the snow almost wholly to disappear in a day or two, under the influence of the warm south wind and the rays of the sun. The heaviest of these thaws in Upper Canada takes place, with periodical regularity, in the month of January, and is known as the January thaw. Sleighbing continues with much greater steadiness in Lower Canada, where complete thaws less frequently occur. Snow finally disappears in Lower Canada about the middle of April; and in Upper Canada, especially the more western parts, about a month earlier. Then, under the influence of the genial south wind, all traces of winter rapidly disappear.

Ploughing usually commences in Upper Canada about the middle of April. In the south-westerly parts of the country the period is a little earlier, and in the more easterly and northern districts, about a week or two later. Cattle are put out to graze from about the middle of April to the beginning of May. They are frequently at first turned into the woods, where they crop the tender growth, as the fields afford very little good pasture until after the 1st of May. The usual time for taking them into shelter, before winter commences, is about the middle of November. Harvest begins about the 1st of August.

The luxuriance of early summer in Canada is gorgeous. With the pure atmosphere, and fertile soil, the forests rapidly assume all the freshness and beauty of their summer green.

During the month of June and the latter part of May nature is seen under the most delightful aspect. The days are seldom disagreeably warm. The really hot days are in the month of July. The weather then towards noon, and not unfrequently during the night, is oppressively hot, and very exhausting; but this oppressive weather only continues a few days. The summers are somewhat hotter in Lower Canada than in Upper, just as the winters are longer and more severe in the lower or more northerly part of the province. The heats of summer, however, in Canada, have probably been as much exaggerated in England as the frosts and snows of winter.

The mean highest temperature at Montreal in May was 65°40', at Toronto 77°16', and at Greenwich 77°59'. We here observe how very closely the mean highest temperatures of England and Upper Canada in the month of May approach each other—a mere fraction of a degree of the thermometer of difference. The mean lowest at Montreal was 38°20', at Toronto 39°08', and at Greenwich 36°79'. The mean temperature at Montreal in May was 56°12', at Toronto 52°59', and at Greenwich 53°64'. The average quantity of rain at Toronto in May was not quite 2 inches. At Greenwich the quantity was a little over 1½ inches.

In June the highest temperature at Montreal was 92°50', at Toronto 83°80', and at Greenwich 84°04'. We have here the highest temperature for the month of June in Upper Canada very much the same as in England. The mean temperature approaches still more closely in the two countries. In Upper Canada, at Toronto, it was 60°87'; and in England, at Greenwich, it was 60°03'. Lower Canada has warmer weather. The highest temperature in Lower Canada, at Montreal, in June, was 66°79'. The average quantity of rain in June at Toronto was nearly 3½ inches. At Greenwich the quantity was a little over 2½ inches.

The mean temperature of the month of July at Montreal was 71°36'; and at Toronto the mean temperature of the month of July was 66°12'. The mean temperature of July at Greenwich was 61°43'. The mean highest temperature at Montreal in July, was 97°90'; at Toronto, 88°28'; and at Greenwich, 85°37'. The mean lowest temperature at Montreal for July, was 53°25'; at Toronto, 42°86'; and at Greenwich, 45°80'. The average quantity of rain for July at Toronto, was 3°03 inches. At Greenwich for July the average was 2°049. The quantity of rain which falls at Greenwich, it may be observed, is understood to be less than the average for all England.

The prevailing winds of Canada are the S.W., the N.E., Prevailing and N.W. The S.W., which sweeps down the valley of Winds, the St Lawrence, over the rivers and great lakes, for about two-thirds of the summer season, carries with it a portion of the warmth of the region of the Gulf of Mexico and valley of the Mississippi. The N.E. wind is damp and chilly. The N.W. wind, which is most frequent in winter, is dry, cold, and elastic. The most sudden changes of wind are to the N.W., followed by weather clear and cold for the season. Heavy thunder showers clear off most frequently with this wind. These showers frequently precede the hard frosts which introduce winter. The longest storms of rain, and deepest falls of snow are usually accompanied by easterly winds. The wind blows less frequently from the west and south, and still seldomer from due north.

The great lakes of Canada are not frozen over during winter. Lake Erie alone, which is very shallow, is said to have been frozen over only two or three times within the last forty years. Only the bays and shores of the lakes, for a considerable distance from land, are frozen; and the ice in such situations, and on the rivers, is so thick and strong, that heavy loaded sleighs pass over it with perfect safety. The steamboats on Lake Ontario, between Toronto and Niagara, not unfrequently continue running through the whole winter. The steamboats plying across and along the lower part of the lake, generally continue running till about Christmas. The navigation of the St Lawrence almost invariably opens from about the middle of April to the beginning of May; when the first steamboats arrive at Quebec from Montreal, a river voyage of 180 miles.

The short but very delightful period of Indian summer, which occurs usually about the end of October or beginning of November, is a chief peculiarity of the Canadian climate. The period of its duration is variable, being from a few days to two or three weeks. The atmosphere is most Canada, agreeably soft, accompanied with a peculiar and not unpleasant haziness, mellowing the rays of the sun; which has led to a popular belief that the Indians, far to the south, are then setting fire to their great prairies, and that Canada is getting a share of the distant smoke.

Soil and Productions.

The soil of Canada is generally loam in its varieties, with a substratum of gravel; and when in a state of nature the surface is usually covered with a vegetable mould of some depth, formed from the decayed timber and leaves of the forest.

The Reports of the Geological Survey of Canada, under Mr W. E. Logan, provincial geologist, present very strikingly the vast resources of the lands of Canada. Entire districts of many square miles in extent are found to be composed of alluvial deposits from 30 to 40 feet deep of soil, in places so rich as to bear good crops of wheat for successive years without manure. Others of nearly equal value are found resting on red sandstone, trap, serpentine, limestone, and other strata, most favourable for agriculture. There are also, as along some of the rivers, for miles in succession, soils too rich for wheat, others of a good sandy loam, suitable to and requiring the usual English rotations. In many parts of Canada, on the other hand, there exist considerable quantities of poor, thin, and stony soils. The Reports of the Geological Survey, in presenting an account of the geological distribution of the various strata, and their agricultural capabilities, will prove of great value to the emigrant landholder, and others less or more interested in the lands of Canada.

The soil and climate of Canada are such that the country produces a much greater variety of grains and fruits than is usually grown in Great Britain or Ireland. Besides wheat, barley, oats, rye, pease, turnips, potatoes, hemp, flax, hops, and the other ordinary agricultural products of England, which are all raised in abundance, Canada grows tobacco, rice, maize or Indian corn, and fruits of warmer climes than the British Islands. The full and steady heat of the summer matures with surprising rapidity the most valuable productions. "The severity of the winter," observes a very well-informed writer on the resources of the country, "are indeed unfavourable to growing, and increase the consumption of fuel; yet without the ice and the snow the now invaluable timber of our extensive forests would be comparatively worthless. And inasmuch as we do not find the fertility of the soil impaired by the frost, we are justified in assuming that our winters have the same invigorating effect upon the earth, for our peculiar productions, as that conferred by rest upon the human frame; and that when the mantle of snow is removed, the soil, like a giant refreshed by sleep, is enabled to send forth that rapid and luxuriant vegetation which renders a longer summer unnecessary."

Fruits.—The fruits of Canada embrace every description usually grown in England, besides others which are produced in that country only with great care and by artificial means. The finest melons are grown in abundance in the open ground in Canada; and in some seasons peaches are so plentiful in the south-western parts of the country, along the shores of Lake Erie and the Detroit river, that they have been sold for one shilling sterling per bushel. The vine is also cultivated in open gardens around parts of those favoured shores, and grapes of perfect size and excellent flavour are produced. Apples, pears, plums, cherries, raspberries, currants, and strawberries are all grown in every part of Canada in great perfection and abundance.

The shores of the Niagara and Detroit rivers are particularly famed for the excellence and abundance of their fruits. The island of Montreal, too, in Lower Canada, produces apples so highly esteemed for their choice and rich flavour as to be perhaps unsurpassed in any country. Wild fruits abound in great variety in the woods and elsewhere all over Canada. The wild vine (Vitis vulpina) is very frequently seen luxuriantly clustering and twining its tendrils around the trunks and over the branches of the forest trees, forming all sorts of fanciful bowers. Among the other wild fruits may be mentioned cherries, raspberries, strawberries, whortleberries and blueberries, black and red currants, gooseberries, juniper berries, plums and hazel-nuts. Cranberries of large size grow in marshes in certain parts of the country very plentifully; and are much used as a favourite preserve.

Almost all kinds of vegetables necessary or desirable for the table, and in greater variety than in England, grow luxuriously in Canada, and are cultivated with very little trouble. Cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli, pease, French spinach, onions, turnips, carrots, parsnips, radishes, lettuces, beans, beet, asparagus, celery, rhubarb, tomatoes, cucumbers, are all grown very successfully in Canada, and in great abundance. Indeed, the fruits and vegetables of Canada, in their abundance and excellence, are not only among its choicest luxuries, which nature in most liberal profusion places alike within the reach of poor and rich; but they are besides, no doubt, a very principal means of promoting the health, as well as adding to the comfort of the inhabitants during the hot summer months of the country.

Flowers.—Flowers grow in great variety, and in rich profusion, favoured by the soft genial atmosphere of a Canadian summer, and one of the most kindly soils. The woods in many places are literally carpeted with them. "Many of the cherished pets of our gardens and greenhouses are here flung carelessly from Nature's lavish hand among our woods and wilds," writes the accomplished authoress of the Backwoods of Canada. Amongst the variety of Canadian wild flowers, may be mentioned a few, such as the scarlet lobelia, blue lupin, purple gentian, cumbine, violets in great variety, honeysuckles, campanula, hare bell, Michaelmas daisy, pitcher plant, two-flowered balsam, rasp-leaved aster, calceolaria, lily of the valley, besides wild roses in profusion, with their sweet perfumes; and among the grass of the meadow land, and by the stream side, are to be found the well-known spearmint and peppermint. Besides these, there is the magnificent white water-lily, the queen of aquatic plants. The shallows of the lakes, and quiet nooks of rivers, present at times so gorgeous and beautiful a sight, as to be not inaptly compared to floating gardens.

Forests.—The forests of Canada abound in the finest and largest trees, adapted to almost every variety of purposes, useful or ornamental. Amongst the monarchs of these forests are the white and red pine, of which so large quantities are annually imported into Britain from the St Lawrence. Individual trees of the white pine are frequently found measuring 100 feet to the first branch, and occasionally trees reach 200 feet in height.

The pine timber cut for the Quebec market is usually in logs of about 20 inches square by 60 feet in length. Besides these, the growth of the Canadian forests, may be mentioned oak, elm, beech, ash, maple, birch, lime, sycamore, tamarack, cedar, walnut, and a variety of other

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1 Views of Canada, 2d Ed. chap. xxii. p. 338-341. 2 Reports of the Geological Survey of Canada, published by order of the Legislative Assembly. Notes on Public Subjects made during a Tour in the United States and Canada, by Hugh Seymour Tremellenhe. London, 1852. P. 194. 3 Price Essay; the Canals of Canada; their Prospects and Influence. Written for a Premium offered by his Excellency the Earl of Elgin, Governor General of British North America, by Thomas C. Keefer, C.E. Toronto, 1850. 4 Backwoods of Canada; being Letters from the Wife of an Emigrant Officer. New edition, London, 1846. Letter xiv. woods less generally known in England. The white oak of Canada, besides being cut into logs not greatly inferior in dimensions to those of white pine, serves also largely to supply staves for both the English and West Indian market. The tree called the sugar-maple is famous for the sap which it yields during early spring, from which excellent sugar is made in large quantities all over the country. Nearly 10,000,000 lbs., or upwards of 500 tons, of this maple-sugar were produced in Canada in 1852. Maple groves, as collections of these trees are called, are therefore considered very valuable upon a Canadian farm. Of the ornamental woods of Canada, the bird's-eye and curled maple, and also the black walnut, deserve prominent notice. The black walnut furnishes a very beautiful wood for cabinet work.

The importance of these immense forests both to Canada and England, and even to the northern parts of the United States, may be said to be only now beginning to be fully appreciated. In 1852, according to the official returns, the products of the Canadian forests exported from the country were valued at £1,350,000. In 1851 it was computed that no less than 200,000 tons of sawn timber had been exported from Canada for the supply of the United States market on the Hudson river. Of the various districts of Canada where the clearing or cutting down of the forests is being now carried on most extensively, the valley of the river Ottawa may be classed second to none. This particular branch of trade, known by the name of "lumbering," is in a great measure, as stated by the Earl of Elgin in his despatch of August 1853, carried on by persons of capital who employ large bodies of men at points far removed from markets, and who are therefore called upon to make considerable advances in providing food and necessaries, as well as in constructing slides and otherwise facilitating the passage of timber along the streams and rivers. "Many thousands of men," the Earl of Elgin goes on to observe, "are employed during the winter in these remote forests, preparing the timber which is transported during the summer in rafts, or, if sawn, in boats to Quebec when destined for England, and up the Richelieu river when intended for the United States." "It is a most interesting fact," continues his Lordship, "both in a moral and hygienic view, that for some years past intoxicating liquors have been rigorously excluded from almost all the shanties (as the dwellings of the lumbermen in these distant regions are styled); and that, notwithstanding the exposure of the men to cold during the winter, and wet in the spring, the result of the experiment has been entirely satisfactory." The prosecution of the lumbering trade has by many been considered hurtful to the interests of Canada. With regard to this interesting and important matter, Lord Elgin observes: "The bearing of the lumbering business on the settlement of the country is a point well worthy of notice. The farmer who undertakes to cultivate unreclaimed land in new countries generally 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 lumbermen. He finds, on the contrary, in the wants of the latter a steady 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. This circumstance, no doubt, powerfully contributes to promote the settlement of those districts, and attracts population to the sections of the country which, in the absence of any such inducement, would probably remain for long periods uninhabited."

"This important region of the Ottawa," Lord Elgin states in the same despatch quoted above, "is probably doing more at the present time than any other single section of the province to enable Canada to enter the markets of the world as a purchaser." The river Ottawa, though it be but a tributary of the St Lawrence, "is one of the longest of the rivers that run uninterruptedly from its source to the embouchure within the dominions of the Queen. It drains an area of about 80,000 square miles, and receives, at various points in its course, the waters of streams, some of which equal in magnitude the chief rivers of Great Britain." The country of the Ottawa, Lord Elgin further observes, besides its wealth in timber and water power, and tracts of fertile soil, is believed to be also rich in minerals.

Animals.

The two most noted and mischievous animals of the Canadian forest are the bear and the wolf. Both of these, however, are now almost exclusively confined to the more remote and unsettled parts of the country, where their depredations in the farm-yards bordering on the woods give them occasional notoriety. It is very seldom that either animal is seen, and the hunters in search of farm-yard depredators may have sometimes to pursue their search in vain for days together. In order to exterminate wolves, a premium is paid by government for the head of each animal presented to a local magistrate. The beaver is now seldom found within reach of white settlements. Foxes, silver-gray, red, and black raccoons, otters, fishcats, martins, minks, and muskrats still remain in diminished numbers. All of these are eagerly sought, chiefly by professional hunters, for the value of their furs, considerable quantities of which are yet exported from Canada. The official returns for 1851 show that furs and skins to the amount of £28,000 colonial currency were exported during that year. Of this amount the greater proportion, namely, to the value of about £20,000, went to the United States market.

Amongst the smaller animals of the woods, squirrels must not be omitted. The large black squirrels are shot in great numbers while scampering among the branches of the forest trees. The gray, the red, the ground, and chipmunk, and flying squirrel, are the other varieties.

The most valuable game in Canada are the elk and the stag. The fine specimens of these noble animals, which are still found in many parts of the country in considerable numbers, occasionally afford excellent sport. Wild turkeys of large size were, several years ago, comparatively plentiful in the western parts of Canada; and are still found there, but in diminished numbers. Among other animals known in Canada, besides several species of grouse, may be mentioned the wood-cock, snipe, plover, and a species of hare. Pigeons are killed by thousands during the spring and autumn.

Of ducks there are many varieties, and several of them very beautiful. These are found in large numbers in the marshy parts of lakes and rivers. Wild swans are occasionally seen, and wild geese pretty frequently in certain parts of the country. Domestic fowls are abundant.

For the purpose of preventing the utter destruction of game in Canada, where all are allowed to indulge alike in the sport of the gun, an act was lately passed by the provincial legislature, preventing the shooting or killing any wild swan, wild goose, wild duck, teal wildegoose, or snipe, between the 10th of May and the 15th of August.

The smaller kinds of birds are in many instances remarkable for beauty of plumage. In the list of these native and migratory, may be mentioned the jay, several species of woodpecker, the scarlet tanager, blue bird, the indigo bird, three species of blackbird, the American goldfinch.

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1 Despatch from the Earl of Elgin, Quebec, August 16, 1853. 2 Report of Commissioners of Public Works, Quebec, August, 1852. Canada, or flax bird, a robin, the meadow lark, several thrushes, a kingfisher, the swallow, and two or three very beautiful species of humming-birds. Several of these, although bearing the names of English birds, are specifically different from their namesakes in this country. The Canadian jay is about the size of the English bird, but the whole of the plumage is blue, and beautifully marked. The woodpeckers display gay plumage of scarlet, crimson, and green, and the largest of the species, known as the "cock of the woods," carries a tuft of scarlet feathers on his head. The Canadian robin is more than double the size of our little English favourite. As for the little humming-birds, nothing can exceed their rare beauty of plumage, tiny elegance of form, and rapid, graceful movements.

We now leave the land for the waters, to note some of the more remarkable of the finny tribe of the rivers and lakes. The sturgeon is caught in the Canadian waters, frequently weighing from 80 to 100 lbs.; and the lake or salmon trout varies usually in size from 10 to 40 lbs. Large quantities of the finest species of the lake trout family, known by the name of the siskiwit, prized chiefly on account of its fatness, are annually caught by the fishermen of Lake Superior. This fish weighs from 5 to 20 lbs. Very fine salmon are also abundant in the waters of the St Lawrence and the lakes. The smaller rivers and streams team with the speckled trout. Perhaps the chief favourites of the Canadian waters are the white fish and mackerel. The white fish is much esteemed for delicacy and richness of flavour. Among other varieties of fish we may mention pike, pickerel, bass, perch, and herrings. The fisheries of Canada are constantly growing in importance from year to year. Many thousands of barrels of salmon, white fish, and herrings are annually exported at present, chiefly to the United States. Mackerel were also largely caught in the Gulf of St Lawrence. The parliamentary returns show that Canada produced in 1851 not less than 96,900 barrels of fish of various sorts. This quantity is exclusive of the Gaspé and Bonaventure fisheries in the Gulf of St Lawrence and Bay of Chaleurs, the southern shores of which bay are situated in the province of New Brunswick, and the northern in Canada. The Acadian French settled around the Bay of Chaleurs, employ themselves chiefly in fishing. There is a species of whale caught in the Gulf of St Lawrence by Gaspé fishermen, known by the name of "humpback;" and which usually yield on an average three tons of oil each; some have been taken 70 feet long, which produced eight tons. In 1851 there were about 8500 gallons of oil exported from Canada, chiefly to England.

Population.

The first settlement made by Europeans in Canada, as is well known, was by the French navigator Jacques Cartier in 1535; and, up to the memorable year 1759, the country continued to be a province of France. During the whole of that period the European population in Canada was comparatively insignificant. In 1769, when the country was under the last of the French governors, and Quebec surrendered to the forces of General Wolfe, the population of the colony amounted to 65,000. Canada was then known simply as the Province of Quebec, and the population was chiefly confined to the part of the country now known as Lower Canada.

The change of allegiance from one sovereign to another was rendered as easy as possible to the inhabitants by the lenient measures of England. Their French laws were allowed to remain unaltered. They were secured in the undisturbed possession of their lands under their ancient tenures, and in the free exercise of their religion. All ecclesiastical property was respected, and every concession was made by the British government in favour of the peculiar customs and manners of its new subjects. The French power on the continent of North America having been thus transferred and consolidated in the hands of the English, the country soon began to give token of advancement. As a reward to the army which had taken part in the conquest of the country, the provincial government was empowered to grant portions of land, varying from 50 acres up to 5000 acres, to each officer and soldier. Many emigrants came from the United States to after this, settled along the banks of the St Lawrence. To these, considerable additions were made about the period of the United States' Declaration of Independence, as many of the defeated royalists settled in the British province of Canada at the close of the revolutionary struggle. A stimulus having now been given to English enterprise in the newly-acquired colony, the population in 1794 had risen to 113,000—being an increase since 1759, when the province was transferred to England, of 48,000.

For a period of many years after Canada had come into the possession of England, and Lower Canada, had begun to experience the stimulus of new enterprise and an increased population, the large portion of country westward, lying along the great lakes, now known as Upper Canada, and in its extent nearly double the size of England, was one vast forest. Only a few French immigrants had placed themselves near the foot of Lake Ontario, and on the shores of the Detroit river, previous to 1770. The only other inhabitants were the native Indians, to whom this forest with its occasional patch of plain by lake or river side, was one great hunting ground. Several years later, numbers of families who had resided in the new United States, and who, at the disruption with England, refused to transfer their allegiance to the independent government, came over into Canada, and settled on the borders of the lakes. These individuals, the pioneer settlers of Upper Canada, were, and have since been, termed United Empire Loyalists.

In 1791, when, by an act of the imperial parliament, the colony received a constitution, and was divided into the two provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, with separate legislatures, the amount of the white population in Upper Canada was estimated at less than 50,000. In 1811, twenty years later, it had only increased to about 77,000. Very shortly afterwards, and especially upon the conclusion of peace between Britain and the United States, in 1814, population rapidly increased in Upper Canada. In 1825, when the advantages of the colony to the home population began to attract attention, the colonists of Upper Canada had increased to 138,000. With an increasing emigration, the country now rapidly swelled the number of its inhabitants. In 1830 they amounted to 210,000; and, in 1834, the numbers exceeded 320,000: the increase within the nine years previous to 1834, namely, from 1825, having been not less than 162,000. The country during that period had indeed doubled its population. During the first five years of this period, from 1825 to 1830, the emigration to British America was proceeding very steadily at about 12,000 a-year. In 1830 this flow of emigration increased to 50,000; in 1831 it rose to 85,000, and in 1832 it reached over 60,000. From this period, during the political disturbances in Canada, the number of emigrants from Britain gradually declined. Since then, however, an increasing flow of prosperity visited the country. The official returns show that in 1847, the emigration to British America had exceeded 109,000. In 1842, the population of Upper Canada was 486,000; showing an increase since 1830 of 276,000—a period of twelve years, and including the season of political disturbances. The population, in short, within that period, had considerably more than doubled. The census of 1848 shows the amount of population of Upper Canada to have reached 723,000—an increase within the six years of over 237,000. The last census of 1852 shows the population of this rapidly growing portion of Canada to have reached very nearly 1,000,000—the precise official return being 932,004. Comparing this with the return of 1842, we arrive at the gratifying result that the population of Upper Canada has nearly doubled itself within these last ten years.

To convey as clearly as possible an idea of the remarkable progress of Upper Canada in respect of population, we here present the results from official documents in tabular form. We shall begin with the period when Upper Canada was erected into a separate province, namely—

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1 Views of Canada; North Canadian Gazetteer; Parliamentary Returns, &c. The increase of wealth too in Upper Canada, especially of late years, has not been less remarkable than this rapid increase of population. Previous to 1850, the cultivated land of Upper Canada was valued, for the purpose of local assessment, at 20s. currency, or about 16s. sterling per acre; and uncultivated land at 4s. currency, or about 3s. 3d. sterling per acre. The total amount of assessable property in Upper Canada, according to this estimated value, was—

| Year | Property | Increase | |------|----------|----------| | | £currency | | | In 1830 | 1,854,965 | | | 1835 | 3,407,618 | In 5 years, 1,552,653 | | 1840 | 4,608,843 | | | 1845 | 6,933,630 | |

These estimates of the value of cultivated and uncultivated land were, however, very considerably under the true value. The board of registration and statistics in Canada report, in 1849, the estimated value of cultivated land in Upper Canada to be 70s. 10d. currency per acre, and uncultivated land 29s. 2d. currency per acre. An act was therefore passed in 1850 requiring property to be assessed at real value. The Earl of Elgin, in his exceedingly interesting despatch dated Quebec, December, 1852, presents statements of the more just valuations of 1851 and 1852—which his lordship observes, though not strictly official, he believes to be tolerably correct.

The statements of the governor-general, published in the above mentioned despatch, have been proved to be very considerably within the actual official return. An official statement received from the government of Canada, dated within a month from the time of writing this article, gives the total value of assessable property in Upper Canada—

| Year | Property | Increase | |------|----------|----------| | | £currency | | | 1851 | 44,106,817 | | | 1852 | 45,863,383 | | | 1853 | 49,627,392 | |

The Earl of Elgin's moderate estimates of assessable property in Upper Canada for 1851 and 1852 were fully more than L.8,000,000 less each year than the above actual official returns. The farmers, in order to avoid local taxation, are understood to keep down their returns at the lowest possible point. The real value of assessable property in Upper Canada at present is believed to be not less than L.150,000,000.

Lower Canada, as is known, is inhabited chiefly by French Canadians, speaking their native language, retaining almost entirely their ancient laws, manners, and religion, following rude modes of agriculture, and generally averse to improvement. For these and other reasons, the country has not made the same degree of progress as Upper Canada. Although a much older settlement, the old French portion of the province was, by the census of 1852, somewhat behind Upper Canada in amount of population. Upper Canada in 1852, as we have noticed, possessed a population of 932,004, while the population of Lower Canada in the same year did not exceed 890,201. Of this amount of population in Lower Canada 669,628 were of French origin, and the remaining 220,733 were composed of emigrants from Great Britain and other countries, and of Canadians not of French origin. In Upper Canada only 26,417 of the entire population were of French origin, the remaining 925,587 being composed of emigrants from Great Britain and other countries, and of Canadians not of French origin.

Lower Canada, however, has enjoyed important advantages which have enabled it, in spite of its drawbacks in respect of population, and perhaps of climate, to keep pace with the upper division of the country. Being much nearer to the sea-board of the Gulf of St Lawrence, it has been enabled to land at less cost upon the large fertile tracts it possesses numbers of enterprising emigrants. Besides, it has hitherto monopolized the navigation of one ocean, while the ascent of the St Lawrence practically terminates at Montreal; and thus two large commercial cities have risen into importance, and the enterprise and wealth of extensive mercantile houses have sent abroad their influences more or less all over the country.

The largest increase of prosperity in Lower Canada has shown itself in the Eastern Township, where the lands have been held exempt by the English government from the feudal tenure, and in the cities of Quebec and Montreal, indebted for their support to the trade of the upper and surrounding country and to the commerce of England and the United States. In 1827 these cities had each a population of about 27,000, and by the census of 1852 Quebec shows a population of 42,052, and Montreal of 57,785. Besides these cities of Quebec and Montreal, there are a number of small towns and villages scattered over Lower Canada. The largest of these are, Three Rivers, Sorel, St Hyacinthe, St John's, and Sherbrooke. The population of Three Rivers in 1852 was nearly 5000, that of Sherbrooke 3000, and those of Sorel, St Hyacinthe, and St John's, somewhat over 3000.

The growth of the towns of Upper Canada has been very remarkable. Toronto, now a flourishing city upon the shores of Lake Ontario, contains by the census of 1852 a population of 30,775. Its population just now may be estimated at fully 40,000, and the value of its assessed property may be stated to be not far short of L.5,000,000. In 1817 Little York, as Toronto was then called, contained only 1200 inhabitants, and so lately as 1826 the number had only increased to 1677. In 1830 the population had increased to 2960, and in 1836 it had risen to 10,000. In 1842 the population of the town was 15,836, in 1845 19,706, in 1848 23,500, in 1852 the number had reached 30,775, and now, in 1854, we estimate its population at fully 40,000. It has thus, we perceive, quite doubled its population within twenty years.

Amongst the other principal towns of Upper Canada are Hamilton, Kingston, London, and Bytown. The first named of these, Hamilton, which is situated at the extreme head of Lake Ontario, on a very spacious and beautiful bay, had in 1852 a population of 14,112. Its present population (1854) may be estimated at nearly 20,000, and the amount of its assessable property at nearly L.3,000,000. Hamilton, which had recently been raised to the dignity of a city, enjoys many advantages, and, like Toronto, has grown rapidly. In 1844 it had only about 5000 inhabitants, so that since then it has nearly tripled its population. Kingston, the third city of Upper Canada as respects population, is situated at the extreme foot of Lake Ontario, and contained in 1852 11,383 inhabitants. London and Bytown had each in 1852 populations of over 7000, and both towns are growing rapidly. London is situated in the heart of one of the finest agricultural districts in Upper Canada, in the centre of the great peninsula situated between the lakes Ontario, Erie, and Huron, and on the main trunk line of railway passing through Canada from some distance below Quebec, and from the Atlantic sea-board at Portland, Maine, to the foot of Lake Huron. This town of London, with its population in 1852 of 7000, and now at least 10,000, had not a single house until 1827. Bytown, on the river Ottawa, is at present chiefly indebted for its importance perhaps to the extensive lumbering trade carried on along the shores of that great river. It is very agreeably situated upon a high bank of the river, about 120 miles above Montreal.

Besides those larger towns of Upper Canada, there are other prosperous and growing towns, such as Belleville, St Catherine's, Brantford, Cobourg, Dundas, Niagara, Brockville, Port Hope, Prescott, Galt, Peterboro', Woodstock, and Chatham. The two first-named of these, Belleville and St Catherine's, possessed each a population of over 4000. The one is situated on the bay of Quinté, an inlet of Lake Ontario; the other on the Welland canal, which connects the navigation of Lake Ontario and Erie, and thus obviates the interruption caused by the Falls of Niagara. The rest of the places named have each a population from 2000 and upwards to nearly 4000, and the whole of

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1 Statement showing the assessable value of property within the several counties and cities in Canada West, in 1851, 1852, and 1853. Inspector-General's Office, Quebec, March 23, 1854. 2 The assessed value of property in Toronto in 1853 was L.4,216,666.—Statement, Inspector-General's Office, Quebec, March 23, 1854. Canada. them are steadily growing with the rising interests of the country. They are all very favourably situated, commanding the resources of fertile and prosperous districts, and many of them are ports possessing either navigable rivers, or the more direct communication of the shores of the great lakes.

The area of Great Britain in statute acres is 57,624,977, while that of Canada is 135,188,425, Canada being thus not far from three times the size of Great Britain; and it is believed we are safe in estimating the proportion of cultivable land to be much larger in Canada than Britain. The proportion of land to each person in Canada at present is nearly 69 acres, while in Great Britain the proportion to each person is a fraction over two acres. During the last 50 years, in which time 10,000,000 of people have been added to the British population, the proportion of land to each person had decreased from five to two acres. The number of persons to a square mile in Canada is only eight, while in Great Britain the census of 1851 gave 233 persons to a square mile.

When we consider that the emigration from Great Britain and Ireland amounted in 1852 to 368,764, which is at the rate of 1000 persons a-day sailing from the United Kingdom, we can readily account for the wonderfully rapid growth of Canada, especially of late years. While our home population thus increases notwithstanding this large emigration, and the proportion of land to each person is thus continually diminishing, Canada will no doubt continue much more rapidly to increase, both in numbers and prosperity. America and Australia divide between them the great outflow of our population. The east and fertile lands of Canada will continue more strongly to invite the enterprising and industrious of all classes; and while its towns grow as they are now doing, adding to their material prosperity a larger increase of all the comforts and luxuries of home cities, continual inducements will be held out to gentlemen of moderate fortunes and large families, and also to young men of education who are now crowding the professions in England.

Situated so near to Europe, and offering so inexhaustible supplies of fertile and cheap land, with light taxes and a liberal government, we are prepared to find in Canada people from various countries. The subjacent analysis is from the tables of the census of Upper Canada of 1852.

| Population of Upper Canada, 1852 | 952,004 | |---------------------------------|---------| | Natives of— | | | England and Wales | 82,699 | | Scotland | 75,811 | | Ireland | 176,267 | | Canada, French origin | 26,417 | | Canada, not of French origin | 526,093 | | United States | 43,732 | | Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island | 3,785 | | New Brunswick | 2,634 | | Germany and Holland | 9,957 | | France and Belgium | 1,697 | | Jersey and other British Islands| 1,251 | | Various other countries | 2,251 | | | 952,004 |

The county of Upper Canada containing the largest number of Scotchmen is Middlesex. The total population of this county, situated in the heart of the great fertile peninsula between the lakes Erie, Ontario, and Huron, was in 1852, 952,004, of which number 47,662 were natives of Scotland, and 3,171 natives of England and Wales. The Scotch settlements in the county of Middlesex, particularly in the township of Westminster and around the town of London, have been remarkably prosperous.

Many of the persons composing these settlements emigrated to Canada in order to escape the almost certain privations which presented themselves in this country to the worst-paid classes of workmen, such as the hand-loom weavers of the past generation. These men, in most instances, are now in the enjoyment of a competent independence in their well-cleared farms, of which they are the proprietors. Their abundance is true, may be in a manner rude enough to more cultivated tastes, but they seem quite calculated to confer contentment and happiness upon a class of persons to whom industrious toil is an enjoyment, when it comes to them amply, even to overflowing, all the necessaries, and many of the comforts of life suited to their own simple and unambitious desires.

The success of Scotchmen in Canada is indeed particularly proverbial there; and it is not too much to say, that the decided majority of successful tradesmen in the towns of both Upper and Lower Canada, and of the most eminent merchants of the country, are either Scotchmen or descendants of Scotchmen.

The county of Upper Canada containing the largest number of persons from England and Wales is York, on the shores of Lake Ontario, in which the city of Toronto is situated. In this county of York, with its total population of 48,944, there were 7749 natives of England and Wales; 3111 natives of Scotland; 9241 natives of Ireland; 25,961 native Canadians not of French origin, and 11,300 natives of the United States. The city of Toronto, with its population of 30,775, included 4938 natives of England and Wales; 2169 natives of Scotland; 11,305 natives of Ireland; 9536 native Canadians not of French origin, and 1400 natives of the United States. These 3454 Americans residing in the county of York in Upper Canada, including the city of Toronto, next to their own shores of the United States, is a fact not to be overlooked, testifying as it does so significantly in favour of Canada.

The county of Upper Canada containing the largest number of Irishmen is the same county, York, which contains also the largest number of Englishmen—there being in that county, as already stated, above 9241 natives of Ireland. And the city of Toronto, as we have also observed, with its population of 30,775 in 1852, included 11,300 natives of Ireland.

"I am convinced," writes an Irish gentleman from Canada to a friend in Dublin, "that the immense amount of emigration that has taken place from Ireland during the last few years, my surprise is that the whole of its peasant population has not already come, either to this country or the United States. During the few weeks that have elapsed since I landed, I have travelled 1850 miles by rail and steamboat; and although I am told that I have not as yet visited by any means the best portion of Canada (Upper or Western Canada), I have seen quite enough to convince me of its inexhaustible resources, and the glorious field that it is for the Irish people. The moment the vessel arrives at Quebec (the port to which all emigrants for Canada should come), the men are immediately engaged, either for the railroads, or for the government projects, or working in camps of construction. The wages for labourers are four shillings (British) per day; they can be most comfortably boarded (with meat twice a day) for about one shilling, and allowing one shilling more for other expenses, it leaves two shillings per day of savings. Then again, on the Ottawa river, one of the great sources of the inexhaustible supply of Canadian timber, 'lumbermen' earn at least one dollar per day; and, as they advance in skill and experience, their wages rise to a dollar and a half and two dollars.

"In the immediate vicinity of this river and its tributaries, throughout their entire extent, is magnificent agricultural land. The farmers, four-fifths of whom are Irishmen, or sons of Irishmen, who came to this country as lumbermen and purchased farms with their savings, sell their produce without going to market as the master lumbermen purchase it to feed the men in their employ. I am assured that Irishmen make better lumbermen than the natives of any other country; for it appears that the good and abundant food they begin eating from the moment they arrive here expands, not only the muscular frame, but also the intellect; and no one who has not seen the contrast between the down-cast, ill-fed, and ragged Irish peasant in his own country, and the same man after even a few months' residence in these provinces, could believe in its completeness. A few days ago, the driver of a stage-coach, between two portions of the Ottawa, unnavigable for steam vessels, but which the government is now obviating, told me that he came to this district in 1841, with one dollar in his pocket; and I learned from a neighbour, with whom he had previously worked as a common labourer when he first came out, that he is now worth L1,100, and has a capital farm. On my expressing surprise that a man like him could have an average of savings of L80 a-year since he arrived, I was assured that so far from this being a solitary case, there was hardly an Irishman who is industrious and temperate (the latter is just as necessary as the former quality) that is not more or less in the same position. For myself, I can only say, that I have not seen an Irishman since my arrival who has not an air of comfort, cleanliness, and independence about him."

The number of coloured persons of African descent in Upper Canada, included in the abstract of the census, but not classed as such, was computed in 1852 to be about 8000. Since 1852 this description of the population has, it is believed, very largely increased; Canada offering so freely to these persecuted victims of slavery a safe and welcome refuge. These people are usually employed in the towns as waiters in hotels, as barbers, and in the performance of the most burdensome and menial descriptions of labour, such as cutting and preparing wood for fuel. Large numbers of them are employed upon the extensive railway works now going forward in Canada, and earn liberal wages. They have as labourers great powers of endurance; and when their dispositions have not been soured by ill usage, they are most generally civil and attached servants. There is also a small proportion of educated coloured persons in Canada, whose qualifications and general conduct have assisted much to remove the prejudices against their unfortunate race existing more or less all over America.

When we consider the native Indians of Canada, it may convey some idea of the thinning out of these children of the forest, to observe that it is only on comparatively rare occasions that the white settler meets with a straggling few, or single family or individual. There are various small settlements of them scattered in different parts of Canada, where, under the civilizing influences of missionaries and school teachers, they have adopted, with some exceptions, improved habits of life, subversive of their former wild and roving dispositions.

The principal Indian settlements in Canada are, Manitoulin island, near the northern shore of lake Huron; a small settlement near the head of the river St Clair; and one on Walpole island, at the foot of the same river; another on a reach of the banks of the river Thames, in the London district; also along the banks of the Grand river, in the Niagara district; in one or two localities along the shores of lake Ontario; also on the banks of the St Lawrence, between Kingston and Montreal; in the vicinity of Quebec; and towards the mouth of the St Lawrence, around a part of the shore of the gulf. These localities on which they are settled are comparatively limited in extent, and apart from the white settlements. The Indians of the present day are almost, without exception, civil and quiet in their manners, as well as generally improved in many of their habits. They are, nevertheless, greatly addicted to indolence and intoxication. The Indians in Upper Canada have been chiefly indebted to the body of Wesleyans and the Church of England for their missionaries; and those of Lower Canada are, perhaps without exception, brought up in the faith of the Roman Church, under the teachings of the French Canadian clergy.

The greatest number of the Indians in Canada are almost directly under the care of the government. There is a special government department devoted to their affairs, the chief superintendent of which is the governor-general's secretary. There are several assistant superintendents who watch over their particular interests, and they have also government missionaries and schoolmasters.

Besides the settlements alluded to around the occupied parts of Canada, there are the Indians mentioned in the report of Lord Elgin, in the great forests along the shores of Lake Superior, and other distant points, comparatively speaking, beyond the limits of civilization. These, though much tamed by civilizing influences, extending even to them in these remote parts yet engaged, in a great measure in their primitive pursuits of hunting and fishing. The Hudson's Bay Company afford employment to numbers in the collection of their furs. The stations of the Company, throughout the remote regions in which they are situated, distribute European goods in exchange for the produce of the hunt; and the Company's interests are exercised paternalistically, in some measure, over these far-scattered inhabitants of the forest.

The Indians residing in British America are much attached to the crown of England, and not unfrequently refer to their "Great Mother across the Great Waters," with feelings of proud gratification. Major Sprague, of the United States, is reported to have related the following anecdote upon the occasion of celebrating St George's day at New York in 1853. "Some years ago," said Major Sprague, "I was engaged in removing some Indians beyond the Mississippi, and one day when meaning to saw a party engaged, I turned round to my glass and found they were Indians. I sent out an Indian with the Stars and Stripes on a flag, and the leader of the Indians immediately displayed the Red Cross of St George! I wanted him to exchange flags, but the savage would not; for, said he,—I dwell near the Hudson Bay Company, and they gave me this flag, and they told me that it came from my Great Mother across the Great Waters, and would protect me and my wife and children, wherever we might go. I have found it to be so as the White Man said, and I will never part with it."

Many of the Indian women employ much of their time in fanciful bead-worked articles, such as mocassins, and various kinds of small bags, made from prepared deer skin and the pliant inner bark of trees, which they dispose of to the white inhabitants as Indian curiosities. The Indians also used small small ornamental baskets from the prepared bark. The small and very prettily situated Indian village of Lorette, in the neighbourhood of Quebec, and not many miles from the falls of Montmorency, is much noted for this description of Indian industry.

### Cultivated Land and Agricultural Products

The number of persons occupying lands in Canada, according to the census of 1852, was 194,309. Of whom there were holding—

| Acres | Number | |-------|--------| | 10 acres and under | 23,237 | | 10 to 20 | 4,590 | | 20 to 50 | 33,876 | | 50 to 100 | 85,812 | | 100 to 200 | 37,029 | | above 200 | 7,765 |

Total: 194,309

The number of occupiers of land in Upper Canada exceeds the number in Lower Canada by 5411. The greatest number of small holders of 10 acres and under, in Lower Canada, owing, no doubt, to the continual subdivision of lands going on among families, caused by the working of the French law of inheritance. The number of holders of above 200 acres is also larger in Lower Canada, which is accounted for by the existence of the large original grants under the old French titles, known as seignories. Almost quite the one-half of the farms of Upper Canada are of the medium-sized classification; there being of the 99,860 occupiers of land in Upper Canada, 48,027 holding from 50 to 100 acres.

The number of acres held by these 194,309 occupiers of land in Canada is 17,937,148; 9,829,283 acres of which are held in Upper Canada. The number of acres under cultivation in Canada in 1852 was 7,303,241, the greater proportion of this cultivated land being in the upper provinces. The increasing quantity of cultivated land in Upper Canada is another of the gratifying proofs of the substantial progress of the country; and this increase of the area of cultivation keeps full pace with the increase of population. In 1842 the population of Upper Canada, amounting to 486,055, possessed 1,927,816 acres of land under cultivation; and in 1852 the population, which had increased to 952,004, possessed an area under cultivation of 3,697,724 acres.

The proportion of occupied lands in Canada under cultivation, under crops, pasture, and used as gardens and orchards, and also in forest or wild state, were as follows:

| Under crops | 4,347,539 | | Pasture | 2,870,004 | | Gardens | 85,698 | | Cultivation | 7,303,241 | | Forest or Wild | 10,693,907 |

Total occupied land in Canada ... 17,937,148

The distribution of the land under crops, and the produce of these crops respectively, were—

| Under | Acres | Produce in Bushels | |-------|-------|-------------------| | Wheat | 1,209,228 | 15,768,720 | | Oats | 1,012,106 | 20,161,438 | | Pease | 357,301 | 4,055,584 | | Potatoes | 150,916 | 9,449,586 | | Buckwheat | 96,046 | 1,169,801 | | Maize | 93,240 | 2,096,800 | | Rye | 84,975 | 821,094 | | Barley | 72,843 | 1,294,501 | | Turnips | 21,032 | 4,014,851 | | Fallow and other crops | 1,249,854 | |

Total land under crops, 4,347,539

Total produce of above specified crops, 68,826,375

Besides these amounts of specified produce from those 4,347,539 acres of land under crops, the Canadian farmers possessed other crops, such as hay, clover, and grass seeds, carrots, mangelfurzitzel, beans, hops, flax, hemp, and tobacco. The quantity of tobacco produced in Canada in 1852, amounted to 1,253,128 lb.; of this, 764,476 lb. were the produce of Upper Canada; and the greater portion of which was grown along the shores of the upper part of Lake Erie, and of the river Detroit, where the soil and climate seem best adapted for this description of crop, and where the farmers in those parts have had the best opportunities of receiving the services of the coloured or run-away slave population of the United States, who have been The increased cultivation of wheat, especially in Upper Canada, is particularly gratifying; and, taken in connection with the rapid increase in the amount of cultivated land, and Wheat of the various descriptions of other produce, we are enabled thus the more readily to account for the present prosperous condition of the entire colony, and to look forward upon its important prospects with the greatest confidence. While the farmers of Upper Canada have been increasing in numbers, they have, at the same time, as proved by the results of the last census, been advancing in skill and intelligence. While the average produce of wheat in Lower Canada in 1852 was about 74th bushels per acre, the average produce in Upper Canada was about 15 bushels per acre—a remarkable contrast between the farmers of Upper Canada and those of the lower province, the majority of whom are still the same Norman French who settled on the banks of the St Lawrence above a hundred years ago, clinging still to their ancient traditional prejudices in their laws, customs, manners, and religion, with the increasing tenacity of an uneducated and unprogressive people.

This contrast in regard to the produce of wheat between the upper and lower province is nearly quite as complete and striking in almost every description of crops. Thus the average produce per acre of oats in Upper Canada is 263 bushels per acre, while in Lower Canada it is 15 bushels per acre. Barley in Upper Canada yields, on an average, 21 bushels per acre, while in Lower Canada 15 bushels is the average, being the same as oats. Pease on the average in Upper Canada yields 15 bushels, while in Lower Canada pease yields not quite 7½ bushels. Indian corn yields in Upper Canada 24 bushels, while in Lower Canada the same crop yields 17½ bushels. Turnips yield, on the average, in the upper province 212½ bushels per acre, while in the lower province this description of crop yields precisely, on the average, 95 bushels per acre. In the crop of potatoes alone do the provinces approach in their respective averages per acre. The produce per acre of potatoes in Upper Canada is 64 bushels; Lower Canada 60 bushels.

The average produce of wheat per acre has increased, in Upper Canada at least, since 1847. In 1847 the average produce of wheat in the upper province was 13 bushels, in 1849 13½ bushels, and in 1852 15 bushels. The quantity of wheat produced altogether in the whole of Canada has increased remarkably within the last ten years. Whilst the growth of wheat in the United States during the last ten years has increased about 48 per cent., the growth of wheat in Canada during the same period has increased an upward of 400 per cent. And Upper Canada is not much assisted by the lower province in this increased production of wheat; for whilst the produce of wheat for all Canada in 1852 amounted to 15,768,720 bushels, Lower Canada only contributed as its share of this amount 3,075,538 bushels; thus showing Upper Canada to have produced the large amount of 12,693,183 bushels of wheat. The total value of the crop of wheat in Canada for 1852 was L3,231,190; the value of that produced in Upper Canada alone being L2,535,121.

The particular localities of Upper Canada presenting the largest returns of wheat per acre, were the township of Equesting in the county of Halton, and that of Scarborough in the county of York; both townships near the head of Lake Ontario, Scarborough being situated a little east, and Equesting somewhat west of Toronto. The return for Equesting gave 26 bushels of wheat to the acre, and Scarborough 24 bushels. Comparing Canada with the United States as wheat-growing countries, it is found that the population of Canada, reaching at present to one-thirteenth part of the population of the United States, and the area of Canada being in square miles, exclusive of the territories, equal to one-sixth of that country, the growth of wheat in Canada now reaches very nearly to one-sixth of the growth of the whole United States and territories.

| Description | Value | |-------------------|-------| | Tobacco | 1,253,128 at 9s. 6d. | £13,326 | | Wool | 4,130,740 at 2s. 6d. | 413,073 | | Maple sugar | 9,772,159 at 9s. 6d. | 162,870 | | Hops | 224,322 at 1s. 6d. | 11,210 | | Flax and Hemp | 1,917,666 at 6s. 3½d. | 23,971 | | Hay | (tons) 1,647,435 at 40s. | 3,294,870 | | Clover and grass seeds | 61,381 at 10s. | 30,690 |

Total value of above seven productions, L3,968,612

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1 Bouchette's British Dominions in North America, vol. i., p. 470-78. 2 Report of the Secretary of the Navy, December 4, 1852, included in the Message from the President of the United States to the two Houses of Congress, December 6, 1852. 3 The above and all other statements in regard to these statistics of population and agriculture are founded on the authority of the First Report of the Secretary of the Board of Registration and Statistics of the Census of the Canada for 1851-2; printed by order of the Board, Quebec, 1853. Also, Returns by the Secretary of the Board of Registration and Statistics, accompanying the Earl of Elgin's despatch, dated Quebec December 22, 1852. The writer has also before him official statements received from the government of Canada, dated Quebec, March 25, 1854. Canada. Upper Canada produces 134 bushels of wheat to each individual of its population; and calculating one-half of that quantity to be sufficient for home consumption in the shape of food and seed, we have the result that Upper Canada is able already to dispose of about 6,000,000 bushels of its annual crop of wheat. Again, comparing Upper Canada with one of the best wheat-growing portions of the United States, it is found that it produces 6 bushels more wheat to each individual of the population than the state of Ohio. The total value of grain and other produce in Canada in 1852 was estimated by the official census report at L.10,059,421.

Live Stock. Canada possesses large numbers of live stock. The number of cattle, including oxen, milch cows, and calves, amounted in 1852 to 1,332,544. This number included 391,438 milk cows. The number of horses amounted to 439,377, and of sheep, 1,597,549. The increase of sheep and improvement in the weight of the fleece are gratifying proofs of the advancing prosperity of the country. The total value of live stock in 1852 was estimated at L.10,947,337.

The value of occupied land in Upper Canada, including the cultivated and uncultivated taken together, is set down in the official report on the census at 7s. 7½d. currency per acre, and in Lower Canada at 7s. 2½d. currency per acre. In Upper Canada farms partly cultivated and partly uncultivated may be purchased at prices ranging from L.3. 10s. to L.7. 10s. an acre. The value of cultivated land in Lower Canada may be said to range from 15s. to L.7. 10s. an acre. The government lands of Lower Canada may be purchased from 2s. to 4s. per acre, and those of Upper Canada at 8s. per acre. In both provinces there are lands which the colonial government will allot, without purchase, to the extent of 50 acres, to individuals of 21 years of age and upwards, who have not previously received a grant of land from government, on condition that they satisfy the commissioner or his agent that they can support themselves until a crop can be raised. The lands of the Canada Company in Upper Canada range from 12s. to 30s. per acre; and those of the British American Land Company in Lower Canada from 10s. to 15s. per acre. Both of these companies also dispose of their lands on leases for a limited term of years, the yearly payment amounting to merely interest at six per cent., and the value of the land. This arrangement is made with a view to the parties becoming purchasers of such lands. The Canada Company, as is known, was incorporated in 1825, and the British American Land Company in 1834; and both of these companies have contributed much to diffuse a better knowledge of the resources of Canada throughout this country.

The average value of agricultural products in Canada, as estimated in the official report on the census for 1852, was, for wheat 4s., barley 3s., peas 3s., Indian corn 2s. 6d., buckwheat 2s., and oats 1s. per bushel. Hay was valued at 40s. per ton, grass seed 10s. per bushel; hemp and flax 3s.; tobacco 6s.; hops 1s.; and wool 2s. per lb.; butter 7½d.; cheese 5½d.; and maple sugar 6½d. per lb.

Having given these details in relation to a country the interest in which has of late years largely increased in Britain, we close this part of the subject with an extract from an official report of the commissioners of emigration. The passage is from the despatch of the government emigration agent, A. C. Buchanan, Esq., stationed at Quebec, addressed to the commissioners, on the prospects of emigrants to Canada:—“The prospects and demands for labour are most satisfactory. The immense railway system undertaken by the provinces will greatly stimulate general prosperity, involving, as it will, the introduction and expenditure of a large amount of capital, which will secure steady and profitable employment for the labouring classes for several years to come; so that Canada never presented a more favourable opening for the reception of all classes of her Majesty’s subjects, or such others as seek a comfortable home. The demand for labour of every kind is on the increase. The wages paid for unskilled labour are 4s. sterling per day.” Mr Hawke, the emigration agent for Western Canada, speaks in similar terms:—“I have,” he says, “conversed with many intelligent persons on this subject, and their sense of opinion that unskilled, unskilled labourers will be able to command a dollar a day. Agricultural labourers must either get equal wages, or the farmers will not be able to retain them in their service. As the extensive railway works will not be completed for several years, and as such a large outlay of money will stimulate every other branch of business, I do not think it will be possible to overstock the labour market for many years to come; in fact, the prospects before us are of the most cheering description, for capitalists, merchants, mechanics, farm-servants, and common labourers, may safely calculate on finding in Canada an abundant demand for skill, capital, and labour, to a profitable, as well as to an almost unlimited, extent.”

Trade of Canada.

The trade of Canada at a period not very distant was confined chiefly to the exportation of furs, seal-oil, and timber, little exceeding L.100,000 annually. Prior to the year 1759, when the country, with its population of 65,000 inhabitants, was transferred from the government of France to that of England, the precise amount of its annual exports was L.115,415. The principal trade was furs, in pursuit of which the great forests were traversed by bands of resolute adventurers. A few ships were occasionally built. Agriculture was neglected, if not actually despised.

Upon the conquest of the country, however, by England, the cultivation of the soil attracted the attention of the settlers, and the germs of a trade sprung up which has now grown to be one of real magnitude and importance. In 1769 the exports in furs, oil, fish, &c., amounted to L.355,000, and the imports in British manufactured goods and West India produce, reached L.273,400. This trade employed 70 vessels; about 12 vessels were at this period engaged in the fisheries of the St Lawrence, and about 6 were sent to the West Indies.

In 1799 and the three following years we find a comparatively large exportation of grain taking place. In 1802, 1,010,000 bushels of wheat, 38,000 barrels of flour, and 32,000 cwt. of biscuit, were sent abroad. The number of vessels at this period engaged in the trade of the colony, was 211, the aggregate burden of which amounted to 36,000 tons. In 1809 the first steamboat appeared in the harbour of Quebec.

In 1809, 1810, and 1812, the trade of Canada, benefiting by increased duties levied upon Baltic timber imported into Britain, seems to have been comparatively active. In the first of these years 440 vessels, having an aggregate tonnage of 87,825 tons, arrived at Quebec. In 1810 as many as 635 vessels arrived in the St Lawrence, with an aggregate tonnage of 138,057 tons; and in the same year 26 vessels, having a tonnage of 5836 tons, were built in the province. In 1812, 532 vessels, with a tonnage of 116,687 tons, cleared at the port, 37 of which had been built at Quebec.

The war which commenced in 1812 between the United States and Britain severely checked the commerce of the St Lawrence, which was greatly dependent upon the Americans. And, notwithstanding that Britain slightly relieved the import duties on wheat in favour of Canada in 1814, we find that the trade of the colony from 1810 to 1820 remained almost stationary. The aggregate tonnage which arrived at Quebec in 1820 (a more prosperous year, if shipping be taken as the criterion, than any of the preceding ten), amounted only to 9697 tons over that of 1810. In 1810 26 vessels had been built in the colony, and only 7 were built in 1820.

According to the old system of colonial monopoly, the St Lawrence was rigidly closed against the entrance of foreign vessels, nor was any Canadian vessel allowed to enter a foreign port. The prosperity of the colony during this period of its infancy was believed not to have been materially checked by these restrictions, as the mother country at all times afforded an outlet for its surplus produce. After the United States had achieved their independence, their vessels were excluded from the ports of the British

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1 When not otherwise mentioned, all monies introduced in this article in connection with Canada are stated in provincial currency, which may be reduced to sterling by deducting a fifth. The sovereign is valued in Canada at 2½s. 4½d., currency. The exact rule to reduce this currency into sterling is to multiply by 60 and divide by 73. To convert sterling into currency add 1-5th to the sterling, and 1-12th to the 1-5th. colonies; and Canada, as a reward for its loyalty, received the exclusive privilege of supplying the West India islands with timber and provisions.

In this manner, as the trade of Canada had been confined and shackled for the supposed benefit of the mother country, so now was she to receive compensating privileges to the direct injury of the sister colonies of the West Indies. The United States ports were the natural resorts of the West Indies for timber and provisions, their distance from these being about one-half less than the ports of the St Lawrence. But the additional freight, which on such bulky articles constitutes a great proportion of the expense, was not only enhanced by this circuitous route, but the West Indies had to pay besides for transhipment upon such as were supplied by the United States to Canada for the West Indian market. The West India planters were thus laid under contribution for the support of the Canadian shippers and farmers.

These regulations were, however, so far relaxed in favour of the West Indies in 1822, that the wheat and lumber of the United States were allowed to be imported directly on payment of certain duties; but at the same time duties were imposed upon agricultural produce entering the British American colonies as well as the West Indies.

The immediate result of this measure, so far as it affected Canada, was that one-half of the export trade of the St Lawrence was at once destroyed. The simultaneous abundance of the English harvest, together with the restrictions then in force upon the importation of grain into Britain, even from her own colonies, forbade any exports thither, and thus seriously aggravated the depression of Canadian commerce, and afforded another illustration of the ruinous policy of bolstering up one class by privileges and exemptions, and shackling another by restrictions and duties.

In 1825 Britain admitted Canadian flour and wheat into her ports at a fixed duty of 5s. sterling per quarter. Meanwhile a fresh trouble had already arisen to try the vexed fortunes of Canada. Previous to 1822, American exports to a considerable extent, as we have observed, sought the route of the St Lawrence, as if they had been of Canadian origin, very materially, of course, to the benefit of the trade of the colony. The opening of the Erie and Champlain canals in the United States, however, in 1825, drew off into a different channel those American exports which had formerly sought the Atlantic by way of Quebec, and the trade of the St Lawrence was thus seriously injured.

In 1826, however, we find the prospects again brightening. The Americans were allowed, after four years of exclusion, to export timber and ashes for the British market into Canada free of duty. The duty upon Canadian flour for the West India market was also reduced.

The trade of the colony likewise profited by the disputes between Britain and the United States, which led to the interdiction of the American export trade to the West Indies, which was reduced from L500,000, in 1826, to less than L500 in 1830. While the results were such to the United States, we find the trade of the St Lawrence in 1830 not only fairly recovered from the effects of the imperial acts of 1822, but far surpassing its position at any former period. The arrivals at Quebec in 1830 were 967 vessels, having a tonnage of 238,153 tons.

In 1831 the trade of the colony was still further favoured by the action of the home government. The forest and agricultural products of the United States were admitted into Canada free of duty, and could be exported by the St Lawrence, as Canadian produce, to all countries except the United Kingdom. A differential duty was also at the same time imposed upon foreign timber entering the West Indian and South American possessions, greatly to the benefit of the colony, which also profited by the scarcity of food existing in Britain at this time. The arrivals at Quebec during this favoured and prosperous year, were 1016 vessels, with a tonnage of 261,218 tons, and the exports of flour and wheat by the St Lawrence were about 400,000 barrels, chiefly to Britain.

Between 1831 and 1836 we find a complete reversal of the order of trade between the colony and the mother country. The crops in England during that period being unusually abundant, and a scarcity of bread-stuffs existing in the United States, wheat was in 1833 shipped from Britain to Quebec. A supply also came from Archangel. These imports from Europe to the St Lawrence amounted in 1835 and 1836 to about 800,000 bushels.

The departure of the mother country from the protective policy in 1842 was viewed with alarm by the colonists, as fraught with disastrous consequences to their interests. Up to 1842 Baltic timber had paid an English import duty of 5s. per load, while Canadian timber entered England upon payment of 10s. per load. The duty on foreign timber was now reduced to 30s. and Canadian to 1s. per load; being a reduction of 25s. on Baltic and of only 9s. on Canadian timber. At the same time the free importation of United States flour into the colony was stopped, and the West Indies were allowed, on the payment of a duty of 2s. per barrel, to import their flour direct from the Americans.

These serious blows to the trade of the St Lawrence fell upon the colony at the period of a commercial crisis, and were therefore felt more severely. The number of vessels that entered the St Lawrence in 1842, from the sea, was 377 less than during the previous year.

In 1843, Canada was allowed to import American wheat under a comparatively nominal duty, and to export it through the St Lawrence as native produce to the British market. This measure, which may be viewed as having been the first indirect blow at the English corn-laws, amounted to a virtual premium of about 6s. sterling per quarter upon American exports to Britain through the St Lawrence. The British ports were thus at once in a great measure thrown open to all the great wheat-growing countries of North America. Canadian exports were rapidly swelled in consequence; and in 1846 half a million of barrels, and as many bushels of wheat and flour, were shipped by the St Lawrence. The timber trade of the colony, which was also seriously threatened in 1842 by the large reduction of the duty on Baltic timber imported into England, witnessed likewise in 1845 and 1846, not merely a revival, but a very material increase. The number of vessels that entered the St Lawrence was 1699 during each of these years, having an aggregate burden of over 620,000 tons; this being far the largest amount of shipping that had ever in any previous years entered the St Lawrence.

This flush of prosperity to the trade of the colony was the result of the last in the series of those fitful changes which had characterized the commercial policy of the mother country in dealing with the colony.

In return, however, for the concessions which she made in favour of the timber and corn trade of the colony, England prevented the Canadians from employing any other than British vessels for exporting her produce from the St Lawrence. The result of such a restriction was, that a class of vessels making only two voyages in the year to Quebec or Montreal, and seeking no cargoes elsewhere, secured a monopoly at privileged rates, thus virtually imposing a tax both upon the exports and imports of the colony. Besides, Canada was not allowed to choose the best or cheapest market for the purchase of the tea, coffee, sugar, and manufactured articles she required. No foreign ship could enter the St Lawrence with a cargo, unless such ship were built

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1 The Canals of Canada, by T. C. Keefer, C.E., p. 24. 2 Ibid., p. 24. 3 Ibid., p. 27. and owned in England, and sailed by a master and three-fourths of a crew the subjects of the country, proof of all which was exacted. Again, no foreign ship could take a cargo from the St Lawrence, except under these and other restrictions still more stringent.

The abolition of the British corn-laws, repealing all privileges in favour of Canadian bread-stuffs in the British market, seemed at first sight to be a heavy blow to the interests of the colony. Much of the trade of the St Lawrence appeared to be placed in jeopardy, and at the same time the trade of the colony with the United States was in a great measure interdicted by a hostile tariff. The changed and more enlightened views, however, which now entered into imperial legislation, materially assisted the growing energies and intelligence of the colonists. The imperial government formally abandoned in 1847 all control over the customs of the colony, which immediately set itself to the task of regulating its own trade. One of the first measures of the colonial legislature was to abolish in a great degree the differential and prohibitory duties on colonial imports along the United States frontier; and the Americans upon the other side of the St Lawrence were by this measure placed, as regards matters of trade, upon an equal footing with England. The beneficial effects of this measure showed itself at once in increased commercial activity and prosperity over the whole of Canada.

On the 1st January 1850, England crowned her free trade measures by relieving the colonies from the very injurious effects of the British navigation-laws.

The value of the more enlightened views which thus entered into both imperial and colonial legislation have since been most satisfactorily tested in the growing wealth and prosperity which have attended the progress of the colony; the trade of which has never been more flourishing, its financial position more satisfactory, its general interests more hopeful, than at the present moment.

Exports.

The exports of Canadian produce and manufactures, shipped chiefly to Great Britain and the United States, amounted in 1853 to £5,945,757. The value of exports during 1852 was £3,826,901.

Showing an increase on the previous year of £2,118,856.

Comparing the exports of 1853 with those of 1848, we find that, during these six years, their value had more than doubled. Thus—

| Exports, 1853 | £5,945,757 | |--------------|------------| | Exports, 1848 | £3,826,901 |

Showing an actual increase of £2,118,856.

The staple exports of Canada are timber, ashes, and bread-stuffs, besides other agricultural and forest products. The principal of these articles is timber. The amount of white pine exported in 1851 was 433,435 tons, valued at £406,972; of this Britain received to the value of £384,370, and the United States to the value of £24,747. The supply of this single article of white pine has increased more than 50 per cent. during the last five years. Although the extinction of the duties which operated as a protection to Canadian timber in the British market has thus in a very marked manner been attended by an increased trade in white pine, yet the amount of red pine which leaves the country has greatly declined. In 1849, the export of red pine was 4,070,600 feet; it had fallen in 1853 to 2,315,160. The trade in pine deals has increased from 2,222,390 pieces in 1849, to 2,425,309 pieces in 1853.

The value of deals shipped in 1851 amounted to £2,293,369, nearly the whole of which was for the British market. The quantity of planks and boards exported the same year amounted to 120,175,596 superficial feet, valued at £209,138, nearly the whole of which was bought up for the United States market. The trade in Canadian forest products has increased in all from the value of £1,600,000 in 1852, to an amount in 1853 of probably not less than £2,250,000.

The duty upon Canadian sugar-timber now entering Britain is 1s. per load, and upon sawn timber, such as battens, deals, and planks, the duty is 2s. per load. The great competition for freights, too, by the entrance of foreign vessels now into the St Lawrence, affords further facilities for the increase of the timber trade of Canada. With regard to the exports of sawn timber to the United States, Canada is enabled to carry on this trade in the face of a hostile tariff of 20 per cent. ad valorem; and notwithstanding this, the trade continues largely on the increase.

The United States government has not as yet acquiesced in the growing desire manifested in both countries to have the trade with Canada placed upon terms of reciprocity. Meanwhile it affords facilities to Canada for exporting and importing in bond through the United States territory, to the great benefit of its own shipping, as well as of its inland carrying trade by canal or railway, and consequently to the diversion of a large amount of the trade by the St Lawrence. These facilities of exporting and importing in bond are no doubt beneficial to the general interests of Canada. The exporter and producer are both benefited, to the extent of the greater saving either by lessened rates of inland transit or ocean freight. Were there no advantages to be gained, the mode of thus exporting or importing in bond through the United States would not be resorted to. The quantity of wheat and flour exported by Canada in bond to the United States from the shores of Lakes Erie and Ontario, by way of the river Hudson and New York, exceeded in 1850 the quantity exported by sea through the St Lawrence.

Besides timber and bread-stuffs, Canada likewise largely exports pot and pearl ashes, classed under the head of products of the forest; this valuable staple of the colony being manufactured from the ashes of the burnt timber, collected chiefly in the process of clearing forest land preparatory to the labours of the husbandman. The value of ashes shipped from Canada in 1851 amounted to £216,361, the greater part of which were destined for Great Britain. Horses appear in the exports from Canada to the United States in 1851 to the value of £53,193. Furs and skins are also exported from Canada,—the largest amount being to the United States. Among other items of Canadian produce may be mentioned fresh, dried, and pickled fish; cows, oxen, sheep, butter, lard, pork, candles, wool, eggs, beans and peas, oats, hops, malt, flax and other seeds, iron, copper ore, and fine copper. Nearly the whole of these articles find a ready market in the United States. The chief exception is butter, of which exports to the value of £36,402 in 1851 were shipped to Britain. The trade in copper and copper ore which has sprung up within the last few years, since the discovery of the mines along the shores of lakes Huron and Superior, promises soon to become very valuable and important.

Not the least important of Canadian exports now only remain to be mentioned. The trade in colonial-built ships is now one of considerable magnitude in British America, and is carried on under great facilities by the colonies. These facilities may be stated to be, the cheapness of materials on the spot where such are produced, the reasonable rates of wages at the ports during winter, and the advantage at all times secured of outward freight to Britain, where these ships find a During the ten years previous to 1852 the number of ships annually built at Quebec had varied from 37 to 70, with an aggregate burden of from 13,785 tons up to 41,505 tons. There are about 25 ship-building establishments at Quebec, and 8 or 10 floating docks, capable of receiving largest-class vessels. The class of vessels built range from 500 to 1500 tons and upwards; and a resident "Lloyd's surveyor" has recently been established at Quebec to inspect and class ships. The average cost is stated by Mr Israel D. Andrews to be from L.5,10s. to L.7,10s. currency per ton, and complete for sea for L.8 to L.10 currency per ton.

The trade of Canada is chiefly carried on with Great Britain and the United States, the latter being now a rapidly growing market. Canada also exports to the sister North American colonies, to the West Indies, and to foreign countries.

**Imports**

The imports of Canada, to which we have now to direct attention, comprise the very varied catalogue of necessaries and luxuries in demand by a highly prosperous people. According to official returns—

| Year | Imports | |------|---------| | 1853 | L.7,995,539 | | 1852 | 5,071,623 |

Showing an increase on the previous year of L.2,923,916.

Upon making a comparison with the returns for 1848, we find the value of Canadian imports of 1853 more than triple the amount of 1848, which only represented a value of L.2,429,584. The actual increase during these six years was L.5,365,955.

One item alone has materially assisted this rapid increase. Railroad iron is now being very largely introduced through the St Lawrence, a great part of which is for the gigantic railway undertakings now in progress. The larger proportion, however, imported in 1853 was for the consumption of the United States; the St Lawrence being the most economical route for heavy goods, and for emigrants destined for her western territories.

The value of railway bars imported through the St Lawrence in 1853, for use in Canada, was L.205,846. Imported for use in the United States, L.220,333.

Total value L.435,179 representing not less than 39,810 tons railway bars, dead weight, imported in 90 British and 7 foreign vessels.

The appearance of foreign vessels in the St Lawrence is also a new and promising feature, and will prove of great benefit to Canada, as freights will thus be lessened by increased competition. Not fewer than 157 foreign vessels entered the port of Quebec during 1853; 53 of which were United States vessels, 88 Norwegian, 27 Prussian, 7 Portuguese, and 4 Swedish. The total number of arrivals at Quebec was—

| Vessels | Tonnage | Mts. | |--------|---------|-----| | 1853 | 1351 | 570,738 | 19,360 |

The greater number of these vessels cleared for Great Britain, chiefly with cargoes of timber, others cleared for Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, the United States, &c.

The class of manufactures most largely imported into Canada is cottons. In 1851 Canada purchased cottons to the value of L.976,366, of which L.741,292 were obtained from Britain, and L.234,689 from the United States. We here present a tabular view of some of the chief articles of import of 1851, distinguishing the proportions received from Great Britain and the United States.

**Manufactures and Goods paying 12½ per cent. Duty**

| Article | Great Britain | United States | |------------------|---------------|---------------| | Cottons | L.741,292 | L.234,689 | | Linen | 102,436 | 11,198 | | Silk | 156,901 | 35,602 | | Wool | 591,337 | 136,143 | | Iron and hardware| 316,902 | 144,746 | | Machinery | 1,715 | 40,276 | | Paper | 14,744 | 12,077 | | Leather, tanned | 11,823 | 35,522 |

**Goods paying 2½ per cent. Duty**

| Article | Great Britain | United States | |------------------|---------------|---------------| | Oil | L.25,040 | L.19,499 | | Glass | 12,387 | 9,873 | | Fur | 13,838 | 11,554 | | Articles not enumerated | 466,229 | 233,027 |

**Goods admitted Free**

| Article | Great Britain | United States | |------------------|---------------|---------------| | Books | L.13,230 | L.55,027 | | Wheat | 118 | 73,621 | | Settlers' goods | 4,146 | 32,149 | | Unenumerated | 3,591 | 6,183 |

**Goods paying Specific and ad valorem Duties**

| Article | Great Britain | United States | |------------------|---------------|---------------| | Tea | L.21,196 | L.237,490 | | Coffee | 1,096 | 28,943 | | Sugar, refined | 11,207 | 8,858 | | Do., other kinds | 23,307 | 60,637 | | Tobacco, unmanufactured | 239 | 14,933 | | Do., manufactured | 449 | 94,479 |

**Goods paying 30 per cent. Duty**

| Article | Great Britain | United States | |------------------|---------------|---------------| | Fruit, green | L. ... | L.6,371 | | Do., dried | 8,680 | 13,653 | | Spices | 6,129 | 5,690 |

Besides the value of these returns, in throwing some light Trade with upon the nature and extent of the demands of the colony for the United our manufactures and other goods, they afford some startling States. revelations of the extent to which our rivals of the United States supply the market. We find nearly one-fourth of the total demands of Canada for cotton manufactures are supplied from the manufactories of the United States.

The silks purchased by Canada from the United States are to a large extent the manufactures of France imported by the Americans, who also buy similar stuffs largely in the Indian market, besides bandanas and other handkerchiefs.

The description of goods clasped as iron and hardware with which the United States supply the Canadian market, embrace large quantities of edge tools. These the Americans produce of a very excellent kind, and most ingeniously adapted to the required uses of the particular article.

It only now remains to mention another class of Canadian imports from the United States, and of which that country has almost a monopoly. Teas, coffees, sugars, fruits, wines, and spirits, are in a great measure purchased by the United States themselves, directly from the countries producing these commodities, and sold by the American merchants to Canadian retailers. The United States command the Canadian market for tea and coffee, for this reason, that American vessels, or foreign vessels entitled by reciprocal treaties to be exempt from discriminating duties, are allowed to introduce such articles into the United States direct from the place of growth duty free. The duty on tea supplied to Canada is 1d. per lb., with a further impost of 12½ per cent. Coffee pays from 4s. 8d. to 14s. per cwt., and a further ad valorem duty of 12½ per cent. Sugars pay from 9s. to 14s. per cwt. and an ad valorem duty of 12½ per cent. The above goods, such as teas, sugars, &c., classed as "paying specific and ad valorem duties," imported into Canada during 1851, are those which perhaps show the most considerable balance in favour of the United States as compared with Britain. The native manufacturers of the United States, of almost every description, are, however, finding a rapidly increasing market in Canada. Those who have seen the reports of Messrs Whitworth and Wallis, the commissioners sent from England to the New York Industrial Exhibition, will be best able to form an opinion of the rivals British manufacturers have to meet in the people of the young republic.

Upper Canada, owing very much to its greater proximity to

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1 Report to the United States Senate, by I. D. Andrews, p. 421. 2 Returns from Inspector-General's Office, Customs Department, Quebec, March 24, 1854. the United States, is already an important customer of America. The city of Hamilton, at the head of Lake Ontario, with a population in 1851 of 14,112, imported during that year from the United States goods to the value of upwards of one million dollars. The city of Toronto purchased from the United States in the same year to the amount of $1,525,620. The value of similar imports at the port of St John, foot of Lake Champlain, Lower Canada, amounted to $1,774,596. Other inland towns of Canada deal on an equally large scale with the United States. The subjoined official returns, from the valuable report to the United States Senate by Mr I. D. Andrews, present at one view the rapidly increasing trade of Canada, and the extent of that trade with the United States, which is almost wholly conducted through the inland ports.

**Value of Imports into Inland Ports of Canada from all Parts**

| Port | 1848 | 1849 | 1850 | 1851 | |--------|------|------|------|------| | Toronto| $788,900 | $813,545 | $825,888 | $82,601,932 | | Hamilton| 941,380 | 1,123,024 | 1,683,132 | 2,198,300 | | St John| 1,106,692 | 1,213,640 | 1,477,784 | 1,948,460 | | Kingston| 399,788 | 384,044 | 499,040 | 1,025,492 |

**Value of Imports, 1851, into Inland Ports of Canada from United States**

| Port | Total Imports | Amount | |--------|---------------|--------| | | 1851 from all parts | United States | | Toronto| $2,601,932 | $1,525,629 | | Hamilton| 2,198,300 | 1,049,756 | | St John| 1,948,460 | 1,774,596 | | Kingston| 1,025,292 | 915,912 |

Mr Andrews gives the following statement of the total export and import trade between Canada and the United States in 1851.

**United States Imports from Canada, 1851**

- Paying duty: $1,624,462 - In bond: $1,593,324 - Free: $94,464

**Total:** $3,312,250

**United States Exports to Canada, 1851**

- Domestic: $5,495,873 - Foreign under bond, and Foreign not under bond: $3,440,363

**Showing a total amount of export and import trade between Canada and the United States:** $8,936,236

The exports from Canada to the United States consist chiefly of sawn and roughly prepared timber, classed as lumber and shingles; and of bread-stuffs, chiefly flour and wheat. Cattle and horses, ashes, wool, butter, and eggs, are also in the list of exports. The returns of the Canadian customs and those of the United States customs for 1851 differ in amount to a considerable extent. It is probable, however, the different periods of the year at which the respective returns are made up explain this discrepancy.

The United States returns of imports from Canada in 1851 represent the value as $3,312,250. The Canadian returns of exports to United States, 1851, represent the value as $4,329,084.

The amount of produce exported from Canada to the United States in bond for shipment at New York and Boston, amounted in 1851 to $1,546,534. This produce consisted chiefly of bread-stuffs, ashes, furs, and butter. The amount of Canadian wheat shipped at New York during the three years 1849, 1850, and 1851, was 1,473,704 bushels, valued at $1,040,914, of flour 633,722 barrels, valued at $2,357,124.

The great proportion of the lighter and more valuable articles of trade, such as dry goods and jewellery, which are introduced under bond into Canada through the United States, is received through Boston; and the heavier goods, such as railroad iron, chiefly through New York.

Imports in bond into Canada through New York, 1851, $548,142 Do. do. do. through Boston, 1851, $590,771

Total imports into Canada in bond through United States, 1851, $81,138,913

The large and increasing amount of shipping on the great American lakes affords peculiar facilities for carrying on a prosperous trade between the countries on their northern and southern shores. These lakes, which are estimated to drain an area of 335,015 square miles, presented little more than 50 years ago, namely, in 1800, scarcely a craft above the size of an Indian canoe. The first American schooner on Lake Erie was built in 1797. The first steamer was launched on Lake Ontario in 1816. The American licensed tonnage of these two lakes, Erie and Ontario, amounted in 1851 to 176,852 tons, a large and increasing proportion of which was steam.

The value of American commerce on the two lakes was estimated in 1851 as $239,712,520, which is nearly L48,000,000 sterling. The precise American traffic of all the lakes was estimated by Mr Andrews in 1851 thus:

| Steam vessels | Tons. | |---------------|-------| | Sailing vessels | 138,000 |

| Total tonnage | 212,000 | | Value of traffic | $326,000,000 |

being upwards of L65,000,000 sterling.

The total number of Canadian vessels, including those belonging to the ports of Quebec and Montreal, stood in 1849 thus:

| Steam vessels | 103 | | Sailing vessels | 620 | | Total vessels and tonnage | 723 |

The average capacity of the 167 American steam vessels on the lakes in 1851 was 437 tons; but the average of 25 of the largest fell little short of 1000 tons. The average of the 25 largest lake steamers in 1839 was not quite 500 tons.

With a summary in tabular form, we shall now close this important part of our subject, embracing the trade of Canada—

1. **Value of Canadian Imports, 1851, distinguishing Rates of Customs Duties, and Amount of Importations from respective Countries.**

| Great Britain | United States | British North America | West Indies | Various foreign countries | Total value | |---------------|---------------|-----------------------|------------|--------------------------|------------| | | L. | L. | L. | L. | L. | | Goods paying specific and ad valorem duties | 85,352 | 495,622 | 70,763 | 292 | 87,640 | 743,251 | | 30 per cent. duty | 15,263 | 26,460 | 974 | 290 | 5,153 | 48,151 | | 20 | 1,579 | 12,450 | - | 81 | 14,144 | | 12½ | 2,848,761 | 940,510 | 8,536 | 70 | 38,079,581,073 | | 2½ | 350,972 | 161,839 | 1,287 | 6 | 6,070 | 519,125 | | Free | 73,309 | 346,067 | 27,678 | 128 | 5,548 | 422,671 | | Grand total imp. | 3,012,033 | 2,091,441 | 109,242 | 3406 | 142,574,528,007 |

2. **Value of Canadian Exports, 1851, showing Amounts exported to respective Countries.**

To Great Britain | L.1,555,351 | To United States | 1,917,888 | To British North America | 259,380 | To West Indies | 987 | Other foreign countries | 41,926 | Total as above | L.2,824,630 | Add ships built at Quebec | 416,550 | Add also 20 per cent. on exports from inland ports to make up for presumed deficiency in returns | 211,471 | Total exports, 1851 | L.3,452,651 | of which L.2,183,825 were by seaports, and L.1,268,826 by inland ports.

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1 Report to the United States Senate, by I. D. Andrews, p. 430. 2 Ibid. p. 428. 3. Value of Canadian Exports and Imports annually, during four years ending 1853.

| Year | Exports | Imports | |------|---------|---------| | 1850 | 3,235,948 | 4,245,517 | | 1851 | 3,452,651 | 5,358,697 | | 1852 | 3,826,901 | 5,071,623 | | 1853 | 5,945,757 | 7,995,359 |

4. Arrivals and Tonnage at the Port of Quebec annually, during five years ending 1853.

| Year | Vessels | Tons | |------|---------|------| | 1849 | 1064 | 431,953 | | 1850 | 1078 | 436,379 | | 1851 | 1185 | 505,034 | | 1852 | 1055 | 454,102 | | 1853 | 1188 | 531,648 |

5. Foreign Vessels engaged in the Quebec Trade during 1851–53.

| Country | Ships | Tons | Ships | Tons | Ships | Tons | |-------------|-------|------|-------|------|-------|------| | Norway | 47 | 17,640 | 58 | 21,577 | 93 | 33,459 | | United States | 35 | 20,062 | 51 | 34,172 | 55 | 39,174 | | Prussia | 21 | 6,677 | 0 | ... | 26 | 9,146 | | Sweden | 8 | 989 | 3 | 976 | 1 | 1,016 | | Mecklenburg | 2 | 478 | 2 | 467 | 0 | ... | | Portugal | 0 | ... | 4 | 732 | 7 | 1,083 | | Bremen | 0 | ... | 1 | 131 | 0 | ... | | Hamburg | 0 | ... | 1 | 599 | 4 | 1,496 | | Russia | 8 | 3,668 | 32 | 10,314 | 1 | 451 | | Holland | 0 | ... | 0 | ... | 1 | 217 | | Spain | 0 | ... | 0 | ... | 1 | 145 | | Hanover | 1 | 212 | 0 | ... | 0 | ... | | **Total** | **177** | **56,726** | **152** | **68,774** | **192** | **86,190** |

It will be observed from the above table, that notwithstanding the withdrawal of 31 Russian vessels which traded to the St Lawrence in 1852, the number of foreign vessels in 1853 has upon the whole largely increased.

The various movements that have taken place in connection with the trade between Canada and the United States, diverting a considerable portion of the trade of the colony from the St Lawrence, would prepare us for some marked effect in this direction, showing itself in the arrivals of vessels and tonnage at Quebec. Any such diversion of trade from this route of the St Lawrence seems not to have as yet caused any diminution, at least in the Quebec arrivals. And every vessel arriving there is believed to receive outward freight. The operation of the Canada Corn Act of 1843 gave a temporary impulse to the trade of Quebec, centres by far more frequently visited by the British markets to produce conveyed by the St Lawrence. At present the facilities afforded by the United States government for the transportation of Canadian exports and imports in bond through its territory, and the multiplication of railways connecting the bank of the St Lawrence with different points on the coast, have contributed largely, however, to divert trade from the usual seaports of the colony.

Emigration.

It may be laid down as a fundamental principle, that colonies are as much governed by the laws of demand and supply in regard to the amounts of the various descriptions of population required, as are individuals, companies, or communities in their ordinary transactions; and any departure from those laws inflicts injury as much in the one case as in the other. Grand schemes of emigration, conducted, as at present, in the absence of precise and detailed information with regard to our colonies, would most probably present similar disheartening results which grand schemes of other shipments would which had not been "ordered," or had been sent without full acquaintance with the particular necessities or demands of the country. The history of every colony affords ample illustration of the truth of these remarks.

The slight decrease upon previous years of the emigration of 1852 and 1853, both to the United States and to Canada, is owing, no doubt, to the improved condition of the working classes in Britain, and also in some measure to the larger flow of emigration to the Australian colonies. The emigration of 1853 to Canada is reported, by the chief agent for the superintendence of emigration stationed at Quebec, to have been of a satisfactory nature; the emigrants generally having afforded indications of the present improved condition of the home population. The present unsettled state of the continent of Europe will most probably direct a considerable flow of emigration to North America, and, as Canada is now becoming better known and appreciated, it will receive a share of these expected emigrants to swell its population.

The St Lawrence emigration embraces a large number destined for the western regions of the United States; while at the same time it is believed also a large number of the emigrants arriving at New York proceed to Canada. Of 7526 foreign emigrants referred to by Lord Elgin in his despatch of 22nd December 1852, as having arrived in Canada in that year, 5159 were Germans and 2197 Norwegians. The whole of the Norwegians, Mr Buchanan, the chief emigrant agent, states in his report, proceeded direct to Milwaukee, on Lake Michigan. Of the Germans about 2000 are estimated to have remained in Canada.

The parliamentary papers relative to the emigration of 1853 present the following statement of arrivals at Quebec for the years 1852 and 1853, distinguishing the number of emigrants from the respective countries, thus:

| Country | 1852 | 1853 | |-------------|------|------| | From England | 9,585 | 9,976 | | Ireland | 14,417 | 15,983 | | Scotland | 4,745 | 5,477 | | Germany | 2,400 | 5,159 | | Norway | 5,056 | 2,197 | | Lower ports of the Gulf of St Lawrence | 496 | 1,184 | | **Total** | **36,689** | **39,276** |

These "Lower Ports" which contributed to Canada in 1852 1184, and in 1853 496 emigrants were, it is believed, chiefly Scotch, or their descendants, from Cape Breton, Prince Edward's Island, and New Brunswick, who having disposed of their farms were removing to settle in Upper Canada.

The number of vessels engaged in the passenger trade to the St Lawrence in 1853 was 324, measuring 155,673 tons, and navigated by 5601 seamen. This shows a smaller number of vessels, but with a larger tonnage than during the previous year of 1852. Of this number, 47 were foreign vessels, 37 of which came from continental ports, and 10 from the United Kingdom. We here observe the gratifying fact of a further increase of foreign vessels to the St Lawrence during 1853, which shows the growing preference given to the St Lawrence for the conveyance of emigrants even for the western regions of the United States. Nearly the whole of the Norwegian emigrants of 1853 proceeded, as in 1852, direct to the Western States. A large number of the Germans of 1853, like those of 1852, settled in Upper Canada. Mr Buchanan estimates the number of emigrants who proceeded to the United States in 1853 at 11,504, the largest number of whom were Norwegians and Germans. Of the

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1 Papers relative to Emigration to the North American Colonies, presented to Parliament, April 1854. remaining 25,195; 19,000 are reported to have proceeded to Upper Canada; 1800 up the river Ottawa, the chief seat of the lumbering trade; and 4395 were absorbed into the populations of the Montreal and Quebec districts, and the eastern townships of Lower Canada, and employed on the railways and public works. In addition to the numbers who proceeded to Upper Canada by the St Lawrence, from 4500 to 5000 are believed to have entered the colony through the ports of Boston and New York, in addition to large numbers of labourers from the public works of the Western States, to be employed on the railways. The establishment of the Canada line of steamers had already beneficially felt, by a large increase of cabin passengers from Liverpool during the season of 1853.

The numbers of persons who appear to have received assistance to emigrate in 1853, were, according to the report from the emigration department at Quebec, 122 from England, 1600 from Ireland, 351 from Scotland, and 31 from the Continent. The assistance was contributed by parishes, poor-law unions, and private individuals. Of the 351 persons who had received assistance to emigrate from Scotland, 332 were highlanders from the Glenary estate in Inverness-shire, who were provided with free passages by their landlord. They are reported by the emigration agent to have been a fine body of settlers. The remaining 19 persons were from Colonsa, Argyleshire. Of the 1600 persons assisted from Ireland, 1464 were sent out by poor-law unions, and received L1665 sterling on landing at Quebec. It may be mentioned as somewhat remarkable in connection with this Irish emigration, that of the 1464 persons 1172 were females. This large proportion of females is accounted for by their having been sent out from the poor-law unions; coupled also, as Mr Buchanan observes, "with the pecuniary means afforded to females for joining their husbands, brothers, or male friends already established in the province." Mr Buchanan speaks very favourably of the orderly conduct and correct demeanour of those persons. They at once proceeded up the country; and the great majority who were in search of employment received such a few hours after landing at their destinations.

Many intelligent emigrants brought out with them a considerable amount of capital, and settled in Upper Canada. Importations of valuable stock had also taken place during 1853; a favourable indication, as Mr Buchanan remarks, of the wealth and progress of the country. Emigration is greatly assisted by the information and means transmitted by settlers in the colonies to their relations and friends in Britain. Very large sums are annually sent by settlers, to enable their friends to join them in the colony. The lowered rate of postage to Canada will tend much to increase the intercourse between the colony and parent country.

The following official return gives the number of emigrants who arrived at the ports of Quebec and New York respectively, during each of the five last years ending 1853.

| Years | Quebec | New York | |-------|--------|----------| | 1849 | 38,494 | 220,603 | | 1850 | 32,222 | 212,756 | | 1851 | 41,076 | 289,601 | | 1852 | 39,176 | 299,504 | | 1853 | 36,999 | 284,945 |

Total: 188,037

The returns of the annual emigration from Great Britain for the last ten years, presents the proportion of emigrants for British North America compared with those who have sailed for other countries.

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1 Colonization Circular. Issued by H. M. Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners, May 1854. 2 Statement, Inspector General's Office, Quebec, March 25, 1854. 3 Official communication, Government House, Quebec, March 25, 1854. The dimensions of the locks are from 150 to 200 feet in length, the width from 25 to 45 feet, and the depth on meter 9 feet. The amount of lockage is 346 feet, and the number of locks 27. This canal is also important as affording an unlimited supply of water-power to numbers of mills and factories on its banks. The St Lawrence canals, connecting Lake Ontario with the river St Lawrence at Montreal, extend in all to 404 miles, having 27 locks, and an amount of lockage of 2047 feet. The whole of these have the dimensions of their locks as large as those of the Welland Canal, and have all 9 feet of water in these locks. The Lachine canal, crossing through the island of Montreal, is 8 miles in length, and 10 feet deep. It is now in contemplation to construct another important canal, connecting Lake Champlain with the St Lawrence, and thus afford a more practicable route for the trade between the Hudson river and Canada and the western states.

The gigantic railway enterprises now in progress in Canada are intended to embrace a railway system traversing nearly the entire length of the province from east to west, with branch feeders running into the main trunk line, and carrying off traffic to the leading American cities and Atlantic sea-board.

Besides the government aid to this complete railway system through Canada, these undertakings are understood to receive substantial support from United States interests, the great western country, as well as the north-eastern states of the Union, being directly interested in the success of these Canadian lines; more expeditionary routes between the agricultural districts of the west and their connection with the sea will be opened by them. One of the most valuable features of these railways to Canada will be their affording the province increased facilities of trade during winter, and uninterfered communication with ocean traffic when inland navigation is closed.

The most important line of this comprehensive railway system is the Grand Trunk railway. The entire length of this line, when completed, will be 1112 miles. Its eastern terminus is at Trois Pistoles, in Lower Canada. Thence upwards it proceeds along the south shore of the St Lawrence, passing opposite to Quebec, and continuing thus westward, reaches Montreal. Before reaching Montreal, the line effects a junction at Richmond, in the Eastern Townships, with a line of railway to Portland, on the Atlantic, in the state of Maine. The part of the line between Montreal and Portland, a distance of 209 miles, is now open. The communication between Portland and Quebec will be opened in August 1854.

At Montreal, one of the most commodious structures of modern times will carry the railway across the river St Lawrence, which is here two miles in width. This gigantic undertaking is now in course of construction, under the superintendence of Mr Robert Stephenson, whose name is associated with the well-known Britannia tubular bridge. The Victoria tubular bridge of Canada, will, however, far surpass Mr Stephenson's earlier work. The total span of the arches will be 6168 feet, besides piers on either side, running into the river, each about half a mile long. The span of the centre arch is 360 feet. The number of arches is 25, and, with the exception of the centre one, each has a span of 242 feet. The tube, which is of iron, is 25 feet high and 18 feet wide. The other parts of the work, including the half mile of piers on either side, are wholly of stone masonry. The height from the water level of the river to the floor of the iron tube will be 60 feet. In order to impart some idea of the strength of this stupendous work, it may be mentioned that each buttress is calculated to resist the pressure of 70,000 tons of ice. The estimated cost of the Victoria tubular bridge is stated to be £1,400,000.

From Montreal the Grand Trunk Line follows the north bank of the St Lawrence, touching the towns of Cornwall, Prescott, and Brockville, to the city of Kingston on Lake Ontario. This distance from Montreal to Kingston is about 180 miles, about 120 of which, from Montreal to Prescott, will be opened in October 1855.

A branch line of 55 miles, connected with this part of the main trunk, will be opened probably during 1854, from Bytown to Prescott, opposite to the American port of Ogdensburg, where an important connection will be here formed with United States lines of railway. Another line of about 80 miles will also be constructed in connection with this section of the Grand Trunk from Montreal to Kingston. This is one from Bytown to Montreal, following the course of the Ottawa, and joining the Grand Trunk at Vandreuil, close to the Ottawa, and to the junction of that river with the St Lawrence.

The Grand Trunk Line, proceeding westward from Kingston, skirts the shores of Lake Ontario, passing the Bay of Quinte, through the towns of Belleville, Cobourg, and Port Hope to Toronto, the capital of Upper Canada. The length of this section of the line, from Kingston to Toronto, is about 200 miles; the length of the line from Montreal to Toronto being 380 miles.

A branch of this section of the Grand Trunk from Kingston to Toronto, extending to 30 miles from Coboerg to the town of Peterborough, on the river Oianabee, will be opened in October 1855. Another line is also contemplated from Belleville to Peterborough.

The second important line branching from this main section of the Grand Trunk, 46 miles of which are already open, is that from Toronto north-westward, crossing the Simcoe, and thence continuing to the great Georgian Bay on Lake Huron. From Toronto the Grand Trunk railway proceeds directly westward through the fertile peninsula of Upper Canada, passing the towns of Guelph and Stratford, and terminating at the flourishing town of Sarnia, at the head of the River St Clair and south-eastern extremity of Lake Huron. The entire length of the Grand Trunk line which is now being pushed towards completion, namely that from St Thomas, 40 miles below Quebec, to Guelph in Upper Canada, will be opened in September 1856. The remaining portions of the system will not be so actively proceeded with. The direct distance from Trois Pistoles to Sarnia is 850 miles.

At Toronto another important railway system commences, known as the Great Western. This railway commences from a joint station at Toronto in connection with the Grand Trunk railway, and skirts the head of Lake Ontario to Hamilton, a distance of 45 miles. It thence proceeds westward through the shire of the united parts of the great peninsula, situated between the lakes Ontario, Erie, and Huron, passing through Brantford, London, and Chatham, and terminates at Windsor, on the River Detroit, directly opposite to the American city of Detroit, in the state of Michigan. At this point an important connection takes place with United States railways.

The Great Western line, besides its terminus at Hamilton, diverges to the Falls of Niagara. The Great Western railway is now open from Windsor to Hamilton and Niagara Falls, a distance of 220 miles. That portion of it from Hamilton to Toronto, 45 miles in length, will be opened this year, 1854.

We have now (returning to Lower Canada) to mention the St Lawrence and Champlain railway, which connects the south bank of the St Lawrence, opposite Montreal, with the head of Lake Champlain at Rouse's Point, a distance of 45 miles. At Rouse's Point this railway connects with the system of railways to Albany, Boston, New York, and other parts of the United States. The Plattsburg railway commences at Canephawaga, on the south shore of the St Lawrence, opposite to Lachine, and runs to the town of Plattsburg on Lake Champlain, a distance of 28 miles. The Montreal and Lachine railway, a short line of 9 miles, connects the city of Montreal with the upper part of the island at the village of Lachine. This railway, as also a portion of the St Lawrence and Champlain line, have been in active operation for several years.

The average cost of the construction of railways in Canada will be about £1,500 per mile. The average fares are from 1d. to 1½d. per mile, according to distance of journey. The electric telegraphs in Canada convey messages at much more moderate charges than in England.

Banks and Currency.

There are eight banks in Canada, besides the Bank of British North America, which has its chief office in England, and spreads its branches all over British America. This bank, which was incorporated in 1840, has a capital of £1,000,000 sterling. Of the eight more strictly colonial banks, four are in Lower, and four in Upper Canada. The most important of these is the Bank of Montreal, incorporated with a capital of £750,000 currency. The three other banks in Lower Canada are the City Bank of Montreal, with a capital of £300,000; the Banque du Peuple in Montreal, with a capital of £150,000; and the Quebec Bank. The banks in Upper Canada are the Bank of Upper Canada, Toronto, incorporated 1821, with a capital of £500,000; the Commercial Bank of the Midland District, Kingston, incorporated 1832, with a capital of £500,000; the Gore Bank, Hamilton, incorporated with a capital of £100,000; and the Farmers' Joint Stock Banking Company, Toronto.

Almost all of these institutions have branches in various parts of the country, and issue notes, payable on demand, from one dollar upwards. The least denomination of the notes of the Bank of British North America is four-dollar notes, representing one pound colonial currency. The greater number of these institutions are now understood to be paying from 6 to 7 per cent. per annum upon their paid-up stock; and the stock of the most successful among them was selling, in April 1854, at from 16 to 25 per cent. premium. All accounts are kept in Canada in pounds, shillings, and pence, provincial currency. The present one pound of provincial currency is also worth 1½s. 4½d. sterling. The English sovereign is equal to 24½s. 4½d. currency; or, counting within a fraction of 1s. 3½d.; and the halfcrown about 3s. 1½d.

The control of the post-office of Canada was transferred from imperial to colonial authorities in 1851.

Previous to 1851, rates averaging 9½d. currency, or about 7½d. sterling, the half-ounce, varying according to distance, were charged on all letters passing through the Canadian post-office. After that date, a uniform rate of 3d., or about 2½d. sterling the half-crown, for any distance within the province, was substituted for the old rates. The returns of the Canadian post-office department show that, in the year ending April 1869, 4,301,375 miles were travelled by the mail—being an increase of 444,360 miles over the previous year, when the post-office was under the control of imperial authority. As many as 243 new post-offices were also added to the establishment during this first year of colonial control. The gross revenue of the first year of reduced rates amounted to £59,800.

General Government and Political Constitution.

The government of Canada is designed to resemble, as closely as possible, that of the mother country. A governor-general, appointed by the crown to represent sovereign interests—a ministry, termed the executive council, chosen by the governor, to act as his advisers, and to conduct chief business—two houses of legislature, one, the legislative council, nominated by the governor; the other, the legislative assembly, elected by the people.

Members of the house of assembly require to be possessed of freehold land of the value of £500. Electors in counties, by a law which takes effect in 1855, require to be possessed of or to occupy property of the assessed actual value of £50, or the yearly value of £5. Electors in towns to be possessed of or to occupy property of the yearly value of £7, 10s. Members of the house of assembly, during session, have an allowance for their services, and the body undergoes a new election every four years. The present number of members of the house of assembly is eighty-four. The act passed last session of the Canadian legislature increases the number of members of assembly after the present parliament, that is, in 1855, to 130. These are chiefly elected by counties, a small proportion being elected by incorporated towns and cities. The cities of Montreal and Quebec elect by the number of each three representatives, and Toronto two. Members of the legislative council are selected by the governor from among individuals of distinction and influence in the colony. The appointment is for life, and the individuals so appointed have the title of Honourable. The present number of members of the legislative council is forty. The members of the executive council or ministry require to possess seats in the house of assembly, and retain their offices so long as they have the confidence of this branch of the legislature.

The basis of the political constitution of Canada is the act of the imperial parliament, commonly known as the constitutional act, which was passed in 1791, during the ministry of Pitt. In dividing the old province of Quebec (which then embraced the whole of Canada) into the two distinct governments of Upper and Lower Canada, this act of 1791 endeavoured to make full provision for establishing and carrying on a certain form of representative government for each of the new provinces. The practical working of the government of Upper Canada has since then been further explained and modified, particularly since the re-union of the provinces by the imperial act of 1841. The result of this has been the interaction of a more harmonious action between the executive branch of the government and the representative assembly.

Bills passed by both houses have to receive the sovereign's assent previous to their becoming law, either at once, through the delegated authority of the governor, or within a limited period, when the sovereign's pleasure may be consulted on the particular measure.

Territorial Divisions and Municipal Government.

Lower Canada, chiefly for judicial purposes, is divided into five chief districts. These districts are subdivided by the new Parliamentary Representation Act into 88 counties, for legislative and municipal purposes. The counties are further subdivided into seignorialships, townships, and parishes. The seignorialships comprehend the original individual grants of land of the French government under the feudal system; and which were afterwards partitioned into parishes. The townships are divisions of counties made under the English government since 1796, in free and common socage.

Upper Canada was, until quite recently, divided into districts, and these were subdivided into counties and townships. The old territorial division of Upper Canada into districts has been abolished, and that of counties and unions of counties substituted, for judicial, municipal, and all other purposes. The size of a township is ten miles square, which territory again is subdivided into concessions and lots. A township is divided into eleven concessions or ranges, usually running east and west, with roads along the division lines; and each range or concession is further divided into twenty townships, containing two hundred acres.

Under the old division of Upper Canada into districts, the highest municipal bodies were the district councils. By the Colonial Act of 1849, abolishing the districts for judicial, municipal, and other purposes, the powers of these district municipalities were transferred to counties. Townships, cities, towns, and villages have also corporate powers for their respective local purposes.

The qualification necessary to be elected as a township councillor, is to be assessed on the roll for rateable real property, as proprietor or tenant, to the value of £100. All resident householders are qualified to vote as electors. The number of councillors elected in each township is five. The elections are annual.

The county municipalities are composed of the presiding councillors of the townships, villages, and towns in each county. The duties of the county council are similar to those of the township council, with the exception that they embrace a higher range in regard to affairs connected with a more enlarged jurisdiction—such as the county roads and bridges, erection and maintenance of county hall, court-house, gaol, house of correction, house of industry, and also the support of grammar-schools.

Law and Administration of Justice.

In Lower Canada the old French law, which was introduced into the country in 1663, during the reign of Louis XIV., is still, with some exceptions, the law of property. The laws enacted in France after that period extended only to the colony when emigrated there. At the time of the country being ceded to England, the laws, language, and customs of the French population in Lower Canada were guaranteed to them by treaty. The tenure of property in Lower Canada is therefore feudal, with the exception of that of lands in the townships. These lands have been laid out in townships in the district of St. Francis, and partially in other districts where new townships have been surveyed. These township lands are sold at fixed prices, and in order, in some measure, to remove the inconveniences of the feudal system in the seigniorages, and to render titles to property more secure, a system of registration has recently been established. The commercial law of Lower Canada is understood to be regulated partly according to the English custom of merchants, and partly by the old French code. The criminal laws of England were introduced into Canada by 14th Geo. III., cap. 83. No English laws passed since that period became laws of Canada, unless particularly so specified, or unless made laws of the colony by acts of the colonial legislature. This state of the criminal law extends both to Upper and Lower Canada.

An act (12th Vict., cap. 38) passed in 1849 by the legislature of Canada, abolished the old courts of queen's bench in the judicial districts of Lower Canada; and the offices of two judges of districts; and established for Lower Canada a court called the Superior Court, consisting of a chief justice and nine puisne judges; four of these puisne judges to reside at Quebec, four at Montreal, one at Kingston, one at Ottawa, and one at Sherbrooke. This court has original civil jurisdiction throughout Lower Canada, except in admiralty cases, and cases expressly confided to the circuit courts. Appeals are allowed to it from the inferior courts.

The circuit courts have original civil jurisdiction to the extent of £50 currency, that is, about £40 sterling. In cases not exceeding £15 currency, or not relating to property titles, the proceedings are summary. Where the matter in dispute does not exceed £6, 5s., the case is decided according to equity. In cases exceeding £15, appeal is allowed to the superior court. The circuit courts have sittings each month at Quebec and Montreal, and at longer intervals in the lesser and more thinly-settled districts.

The court of appeals, which is also the court of queen's bench, by the late new act, has appellate civil jurisdiction, and also the jurisdiction of a court of error; and original jurisdiction in all criminal matters except admiralty cases. This court consists of a chief justice and three puisne judges. The court of error and appeal has two terms yearly, in each of the cities of Quebec and Montreal. Appeals are allowed in certain cases to the Queen in privy-council. The criminal court holds two terms yearly in each district, with the exception of Gaspé. The admiralty court has its sittings in Quebec.

Commissioners' courts are held monthly in the country parishes, for the summary trial of small causes, affording an easy and expeditious mode of recovering petty debts not exceeding £6, 5s. currency. The circuit judges are ex officio commissioners of these courts. These commissioners' courts only date from the passing of the Colonial Act, 7th Vict., cap. 19.

The advocates, barristers, attorneys, solicitors, and proctors-at-law, in Lower Canada, are incorporated under the name of the Bar of Lower Canada. Barristers may act as attorneys and solicitors at the same time in Canada. Pleadings may be written in French or English in Lower Canada, and both languages are spoken in the courts. Judges of the Superior Court are selected from barristers of ten years' standing, and judges of the circuit courts from barristers of five years' standing.

Such, at present, are the more prominent constituted arrangements for the administration of justice in Lower Canada. We have now only briefly to enumerate the arrangements for Upper Canada.

The new provincial act, passed in 1849, 12th Vict., cap. 63, established two superior courts of common law in Upper Canada. Canada. These are the court of queen's bench and the court of common pleas; and it also provides for a court of error and appeal. The court of queen's bench and common pleas are each presided over by a chief justice and two puisne judges. The court of error and appeal is composed of the judges of the courts of queen's bench, common pleas, and chancery. The court of chancery is presided over by a chancellor and two vice-chancellors. All the fees of these courts are paid into the consolidated fund, out of which stipends are paid to the clerks and other officials. The courts sit at Toronto. The circuits are held twice a year in each county, except in the county of York, in which Toronto is situated, where there are three a-year.

The county courts of Upper Canada have original jurisdiction in civil matters to the extent of L25 currency, in open account, and L50 in cases of notes or bills, with trial by jury. Appeals are allowed to the courts of queen's bench or common pleas. The division courts are held in different places in each county, by the county judge, for the summary disposal of cases not exceeding L10. A jury is allowed in certain cases, though seldom applied for. The probate court is in Toronto, and there are surrogates in each county. The heir and devisee court has its sittings in Toronto twice a-year, to determine claims to lands in Upper Canada, for which no crown patent has issued in favour of the property owner, being heirs, devisees, or assignees. The judges presiding are the judges of the court of queen's bench, the vice-chancellor, and other persons specially appointed. Then there are the quarter-sessions, the chairman of which is the county judge, who, with one or more justices, holds a court four times a-year for trials of petty offences by jury.

Education.

The principal features of the system of education in Canada have been derived from those of the states of New York and Massachusetts, assisted by the text-books of the National Board of Education in Ireland, and the normal school system of training teachers. The system is carried out with the aid of a grant of L41,095 annually, set apart by government, and divided between Upper and Lower Canada according to their respective populations. Every school municipality, however, before it can obtain its share of this fund, must raise an equal amount. In Upper Canada the sums greatly exceed the required minimum. The total amount available for educational purposes in Upper Canada in 1852 was L176,074.

At the head of the whole system is a council of public instruction and a chief superintendent of schools for each division of the province, both appointed by the crown. The councils have the entire management of the provincial and district schools.

"The system of public instruction in Upper Canada," observes Dr Ryerson, "is ingrained in all the municipal institutions of the country. The municipal council of each township divides such township into school sections of a suitable extent for one school in each, or for both a male and female school. The affairs of each school section are managed by three trustees, who hold their offices for three years, and one of whom is elected annually by the freeholders and householders of such section. The powers of trustees are ample to enable them to do all that the interests of a good school require—they are the legal representatives and guardians of their section in school matters. They determine whatever sum or sums are necessary for the furnishing, &c., of their school and the salaries of teachers, but account for its expenditure, annually, to their constituents, and report fully to the local superintendent by filling up blank forms of reports which are furnished to them by the chief superintendent of schools from year to year. The town or council imposes assessments for the erection of school-houses, or for any other school purpose desired by the inhabitants of school sections through their trustees. The inhabitants of each school section decide as to the manner in which they will support their school according to the estimates and engagements made by the trustees, whether by voluntary subscription, by rate-bills on parents sending children to the schools, or by rates on the property of all according to its assessed value, and opening the school to the children of all without exception. The latter mode is likely to supersede both the others; but its existence and operation, in connection with each school, depend upon the annual decision of the inhabitants of each school section at a public meeting called for that purpose.

The law also provides a system adapted to the circumstances of cities, towns, and incorporated villages. In each city and town there is one board of trustees for the management of all the schools in such city or town—two trustees elected for each ward, and holding office for two years—one retiring annually. In each incorporated village not divided into wards, there is a board of six trustees elected—two retiring from office and two elected, each year. These boards of trustees, thus constituted, appoint the local superintendent, and determine upon the number and kinds of schools, the employment of teachers, and all the expenses necessary for the schools in each such city, town, or incorporated village; and the municipal council is required in each case to raise the sum or sums estimated by the board of trustees for all their school purposes, and in the manner that they shall desire. There is also the same provision for the establishment of libraries in each city, town, and village, as exists in respect to their establishment in each township and county."

The principle of recognizing and combining in their official character all the clergy of the country, with their people, in the practical operation of the school system of Upper Canada, Dr Ryerson states, has been found to be eminently successful. Absolute parental supremacy is maintained by the people in the religious instruction of their children, providing for it according to circumstances, and under the auspices of the elected trustees-representatives of each school municipality. And with regard to the clergy, the same authority obtains, so that all classes have free access to each school, "no interference has been known in which the school has been deprived of the place of religious discord, but many instances, especially on occasions of quarterly public examinations, in which the school has witnessed the assemblage and friendly intercourse of various religious persuasions, and thus become the radiating centre of a spirit of Christian charity and potent co-operation in the primary work of a people's civilization and happiness."

The returns for 1852 showed that in Upper Canada there were in that year 30,109 common schools in operation, attended by 179,587 pupils, and that the total sum available for teachers' salaries, and for the erection and repair of school-houses, was L139,285; this sum exceeding by three-fourths most probably the amount of the parliamentary grant. Lord Elgin observed in his despatch of December 22, 1852, "where direct taxation is essentially distasteful, the levy of a local rate was made compulsory, and attended for a time with some difficulty. The people in this part of the province are, however, becoming generally reconciled to a tax from which they derive so palpable a benefit, and the common school system is making satisfactory progress among them likewise."

Table showing the State and Progress of Education in Upper Canada, from 1849 to 1852 inclusive.

| Subjects Compared | 1849 | 1850 | 1851 | 1852 | |------------------|------|------|------|------| | Population of Upper Canada | ... | 809,493 | 950,551 | 983,229 | | Population between the ages of 5 and 16 years | ... | 293,904 | 259,258 | 258,067 | | Colleges | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | | Normal and Model Schools | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | | Grammar Schools and Academies | 40 | 57 | 70 | 98 | | Common Schools | 2,671 | 3,059 | 3,001 | 3,010 | | Private Schools, as far as reported | 157 | 224 | 159 | 167 | | Total Educational Institutions | 3,077 | 3,249 | 3,240 | 3,283 | | Students attending Colleges | 733 | 684 | 632 | 751 | | Students and Pupils attending the Normal and Model Schools | 400 | 376 | 380 | 545 | | Pupils attending Grammar Schools and Academies | 1,120 | 2,070 | 2,550 | 2,594 | | Pupils attending Common Schools | 138,405 | 151,891 | 170,254 | 179,987 | | Pupils attending Private Schools | 3,648 | 4,663 | 3,948 | 5,133 | | Total Students and Pupils | 144,906 | 159,884 | 177,764 | 188,910 |

Amount available for Salaries of: - Common School Teachers | L. | L. | L. | L. | - Amount expended for Building, Rents, Repairs of School-houses | ... | 14,189 | 19,334 | 25,094 | - Amount received by Colleges, Academies, Grammar and Private Schools | ... | ... | 32,834 | 35,899 | - Total for Educational Purposes | 88,478 | 102,725 | 154,218 | 176,074 |

Common School Teachers | 3,200 | 3,476 | 3,277 | 3,288 | Total number of Libraries, as far as reported | 595 | 675 | 870 | 1,045 | Total number of volumes therein, as far as reported | 68,571 | 96,165 | 130,934 | 164,147 |

1 Proceedings at the ceremony of laying the foundation stone of the Normal and Model Schools and Education Offices for Upper Canada, July 2, 1851. With sketch of the system of Public Instruction. By the Chief Superintendent of Schools, Toronto 1851, pp. 7, 8. 2 Ibid. p. 7. 3 Appended to Canada, its Present Condition, &c., by William Hutton, Secretary to the Government Board of Statistics in Canada. London, 1854. The Normal and Model School for Upper Canada, the support of which is provided by appropriating a small portion of the common school fund, was established by the legislature in 1846, and has been very successful. The commodious building for this school, and for technical offices, the foundation stone of which was laid in 1841, is designed to accommodate 200 teachers in training, and 900 pupils in the model school. Rooms are also set apart for a school of art and design, in which it is proposed, by the aid of a legislative grant, to give a special course of instruction adapted to the interests and progress of the mechanical arts and manufactures.

There are no fewer than five universities in Canada, four in Upper Canada, and one in Lower Canada. There are also seven colleges, six of these in the upper, and one in the lower province. The universities are, the University of Toronto—Trinity College, Toronto—Queen's College, Kingston—Victoria College, Cobourg—and McGill College, Montreal. The colleges are, University College, Upper Canada College, Knox's College, St Michael College, Toronto, College of Repentance, Kingston College, College of Bytown, and Bishop's College, Lennoxville, Lower Canada. The charge for board and tuition at several of these higher educational institutions, where the system of education is similar to that of the English universities, is understood to vary from £30 to £50 per annum.

Religion.

The prevailing creed in Lower Canada is that of the Church of Rome, and in Upper Canada the largest denomination is that of the Church of England. The following tables from the census for 1851, present a classification of the chief religious bodies of Upper and Lower Canada.

1. Upper Canada.

| Church of England | 223,190 | |-------------------|---------| | Church of Scotland | 57,542 | | Free Presbyterian Church | 65,807 | | Other Presbyterians | 89,759 | | Wesleyan Methodists | 96,640 | | Episcopal Methodists | 43,884 | | Other Methodists | 67,132 | | Church of Rome | 167,695 | | Baptists | 45,353 | | Lutherans | 12,089 | | Congregationalists | 7,947 | | Quakers | 7,469 | | Other denominations and creeds not classified | 67,668 |

Total population | 952,004 |

2. Lower Canada.

| Church of England | 746,866 | |-------------------|-----------| | Church of Scotland | 45,402 | | Church of Scotland | 4,947 | | Free Presbyterian Church | 267 | | Other Presbyterians | 29,221 | | Wesleyan Methodists | 5,799 | | Other Methodists | 3,449 | | Baptists | 9,248 | | Congregationalists | 4,493 | | Other denominations and creeds not classified | 46,790 |

Total population | 890,261 |

The Church of England, presided over by the bishops of Quebec, Montreal, and Toronto, had in 1851 these three dioceses, and 242 clergymen. The Church of Rome had seven dioceses and 543 clergymen. The Presbyterian Church of Canada, in connection with the Church of Scotland, had in 1853, 70 ministers, and about 40 vacant charges. The Presbyterian Church of Canada, in connection with the Free Church of Scotland, had in 1853, 90 ministers, and also about 40 vacant charges. The United Presbyterian Church in Canada had 50 ministers, and about 15 vacant charges. The Wesleyan Methodists had 216 ministers, and 9 vacant charges. Other Methodists had 175 ministers, and a number of vacant charges. The Congregational denomination had 48 ministers and 10 vacant charges. The Baptist denomination had 186 ministers and 16 vacant charges. The clergy of all denominations in Canada amounted in 1851 to 1500, of which number 641 were in Lower, and 859 in Upper Canada.

In Lower Canada the Roman Catholic religion is secured in the immunities and privileges it possessed under the French government. The lands which then belonged to that church, and the twenty-sixth part of the grain raised on farms cultivated by Catholics, are secured to it by law. One-seventh part of all the lands in the townships of Lower Canada, as well as of Upper Canada, were secured to the end of the imperial parliament, which has been called the Constitutional Act of 1791, for the support of the Protestant clergy. This government, appropriation of lands known as the Clergy Reserves, has given rise to lengthened and embittered party discussions, both in the imperial and colonial legislatures. The imperial legislature have recently, however, by act 16th Vict., cap. 24, passed May 9, 1853, given over the question, to be settled by the colonists themselves. The colonial legislature has not yet dealt with the question, and at present the proceeds of these lands are distributed to the leading religious denominations in the colony, the Church of Rome in Lower Canada excepted. The following is a statement of the

Appropriation of the Clergy Reserve Funds in 1851.

1. Upper Canada.

| Church of England | L10,294 5 11 | |-------------------|-------------| | Church of Scotland | 5,847 16 7 | | United Synod of the Presbyterian Church | 404 18 4 | | Roman Catholic Church | 1,369 17 3 | | Wesleyan Methodists | 639 5 0 |

Total—Upper Canada | L18,716 3 1 |

2. Lower Canada.

| Church of England | L1,786 15 0 | |-------------------|-------------| | Church of Scotland | 893 7 3 |

Total—Lower Canada | L2,680 2 3 |

History.

If we except the ancient Scandinavian voyages, the discovery of the American continent may be ascribed to John and Sebastian Cabot, who, under the auspices of Henry VII., visited the coast of Labrador in June 1497, nearly four months before Columbus came in sight of the mainland. To Gaspar Cortereal, the next voyager in the course of the Cabots, is said to be due the discovery of the Gulf of St Lawrence. Other parts of the country were from time to time discovered by various expeditions, French and English; but not until 1535 were these attended by any material results of extended knowledge of the country. In that year Jacques Cartier, under the auspices of Francis I. of France, entering the St Lawrence, ascended the river to the spot where Montreal now stands, where there was then a circular Indian village surrounded by palisades, and situated amidst cultivated fields of Indian corn. In the year 1608 these and other discoveries were first turned to some practical account, when Champlain laid the foundation of the city of Quebec, and a French colony was established in the country. The settlement, however, continued to maintain a precarious existence; its administration being committed chiefly to trading companies, whose object was immediate gain, or to military governors who involved the colonists in perpetual feuds. For a century and a half the history of French colonization in the New World, occasionally relieved by the efforts and achievements of able and good men, is little else than a mere chronicle of bloody and harassing warfare with the native Indians, and latterly with the rival settlements of Great Britain. Some slight improvement, indeed, took place in the prospects of the colony in 1663, when Louis XIV., under the direction of his minister Colbert, erected Canada into a royal government with the laws and usages of France.

The treaty of Utrecht in 1713 gave a short peace to Canada, and enabled the governor, Marquis de Vaudreuil, to direct his attention to the improvement of the province, the trade and agriculture of which continued to prosper under his wise and vigilant administration. War again breaking out between Great Britain and France, the co- Canada. Ioniies were involved in hostilities. It had been the policy of France to hem in the English settlements in North America by a chain of forts extending from the Gulf of St Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico. The jealousy of the English being kindled by this and other circumstances, it was resolved, in the course of the war, which was begun in 1755, to send an overwhelming force to North America, for the purpose of expelling the French from that quarter of the world. The army under General Amherst having, however, made indifferent progress, an expedition against Quebec was despatched from England in 1759, the chief command of which was confided to Major-General Wolfe, who, landing above Quebec on the 13th September 1759, carried the heights of Abraham, and defeated the French under the Marquis of Montcalm, who, along with Wolfe himself, was killed in the action. Quebec submitted in a few days, and soon afterwards Montreal and the whole country, which was finally ceded to Great Britain by the peace of 1763. So much had the country suffered during the French sway, chiefly through the combined ravages of war and want, that in 1759 the population had only reached 65,000. The Catholic religion was confirmed in all its rights and privileges to the French settlers; and the French laws were retained. The original inhabitants, thus conciliated, became the faithful subjects of the new sovereign; and when all the other American colonies rebelled against the tyranny of the mother country, they submitted to the imposition of the stamp act, and even took up arms to defend the country against an inroad of the American forces in 1776 under Generals Montgomery and Arnold. In 1791 the colony received a constitution, and was divided into Upper and Lower Canada; and the first parliament was held in Upper Canada in 1796. While the country was advancing in a career of prosperity, the war of 1812 broke out between the United States and Great Britain, and the frontier of Canada again became the scene of military operations. In the summer of that year the American forces under General Hull entered Upper Canada, and were completely defeated, and the greater part made prisoners by General Sir Isaac Brock. Another body of American troops collecting on the Niagara frontier, passed over into Canada in November, and were routed with severe loss on the heights of Queenstown by General Brock, who was unfortunately slain in the action. The Americans renewed their attempts on the Niagara frontier with no better success than before. Early in 1813, however, they succeeded in taking possession of York and Niagara, and shortly afterwards the British were foiled in an attack on Sackett's harbour. In January 1813, the American general, Winchester, was made prisoner, with the whole of his troops. To counterbalance this success, the American commodore captured all the British vessels on Lake Erie; and General Proctor was defeated near Detroit. The British were consequently obliged to retire, and an American army advanced in three divisions towards Montreal. One of these divisions, amounting to 7000 troops, was defeated by the Canadian militia; and another division meeting no better fortune, the whole American army retreated within their own territory, and thus terminated the campaign of 1813. The campaign of 1814 was decidedly favourable to the Americans. They were repelled at first in attempting to invade Canada. But the capture of Fort Erie by General Brown was an important success; whilst Sir George Prevost, who attacked Plattsburg with a force of 11,000 men, was repulsed with great loss; and the British squadron fitted out on Lake Champlain was defeated by the American force under Commodore Macdonough. The British were making great exertions to recover their ascendancy both by sea and land, when the treaty of Ghent, signed in December 1814, happily terminated the war, in which the loyalty of the Canadians both of British and French extraction was nobly vindicated.

The subsequent history of Canada has been chequered by a course of dissensions between the provincial houses of assembly in Upper and Lower Canada and the respective executive governments, in which the home government also shared. The working of the system of provincial government, especially in the executive departments, had ceased to harmonize with public feeling, and acted in opposition to the expressed wishes of the popular branch of the legislature. Various abuses had crept into the administration, which were fostered by the high functionaries who held irresponsible offices, who guided the counsels of the successive governors more to their own advantage than to the interests of the province. The control and appropriation of the revenues and public offices were urgently demanded in Lower Canada, and were in part conceded; but many of the grievances remaining unredressed, disaffected leaders made use of them to goad the people to the brink of insurrection in 1836; the concessions of Lord Gosford and the home authorities being deemed insufficient. The disaffected of Lower Canada were joined by the malcontents of the upper province, and in the following year the whole of Canada broke out into open rebellion. On the 6th November 1837, the city of Montreal was disturbed by a body of 250 members of a secret association called Les Fils de la liberté. In various other parts of the country serious outrages were perpetrated. In the neighbourhood of Toronto, a large body of insurgents, who were organizing an attack upon the town, were routed and dispersed by a force of militia under Sir Francis Head. Their leader, after many adventures, escaped into the United States in female attire. The influence of the disaffected had in the meantime extended itself across the American frontier, and troops of "sympathizers" passed into Canada with the view of assisting the rebels. This outbreak, which continued throughout 1837 and 1838, elicited in a very decisive manner the loyalty of the great majority of the colonists; and as they were now in possession of the means to repel any assault, the numbers of the insurgents gradually melted away, and tranquillity was again restored. It was some time, however, before the rancour of party feeling was allayed, and the colony once more assumed an aspect of progress and prosperity.

The appointment of the Earl of Durham as governor-general and high commissioner in 1838, for the adjustment of the affairs of the colony—followed by that of Mr Poulett Thompson, afterwards Lord Sydenham, in 1839—the success and remarkable vigour of his government—and the prudent administrations of subsequent governors, aided by discreet and able counsels of colonial ministers in the home government, together with the late recognition of colonial control of internal affairs—have completely gained the confidence of the colonists, and insured the uninterrupted welfare of Canada.