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EMIGRATION Z.' ^ ^ <^ X PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED ; WITH DETAILED DIRECTIONS TO EMIGRANTS PROCEEDING TO BRITISH NORTH AMERICA, PARTICULARLY TO THE CANADAS; IN A LETTER TO THE RIGHT HON. R. WILMOT HORTON, M. P. BY A. C. BUCHANAN, ESQ. LONDON: HENRY COLBURN, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. 1828. U6'f^l^L T.ONDUN : PRINTED BV S. AN]> R. BENTLKV, JDORSET ^lUKtT. X'5'^^|?7% T PREFACE. In submitting the following pages to the Public, the Writer has simply to observe, that the principles which he has advanced, are the result of an anxious investigation founded on a prac- tical knowledge of the leading points connected with the important subject of Emigration, and which he trusts may prove instrumental in removing IV PREFACE. the mistaken prejudices and calculation of expense which exist on this great national question. In discharging this duty to his country, he can with confidence recommend a pe- rusal of his Letter to all persons who feel any interest in the future happiness and welfare of that class of suffering individuals, whose situation in life may likely point them out as fit objects for Emigration. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Introductory Observations List of the Select Committee on Emigration Extracts from an Essay on Colonies, by Citizen Talley- rand, translated from the French Extract from Wm. Penn, on the benefit of Plantations On the Policy of the sudden removal of a pauper's fa- mily from indigence to comfort and independence. Comparative State of the labourer employed at home and removed to the Colonies Practical Observations on a Voyage to Quebec in 1825, with 500 voluntary Emigrants . . . . Number of Emigrants which the writer has been in- terested in removing, and the extent of remittan- ces made by them to their relatives in the United Kingdom Emigrants sent by Mr. Buchanan, His Majesty's Consul, of New York, from that City to Canada in 1816andl817, expenses, condition, &c. Page 1 G 17 20 21 22 24 ^ vi CONTKNTS. i ni Observations on the Passenger Acts . . , Estimate of the transport of a p.iuper family from the United Kingdom to the Colonies , , , Extracts from the Emigration Reports, &c. . , Character and Loyalty of the Inhabitants of the North American Provinces « . , , Extent of the Emigration to North America since the Independence of the United States, and causes of the gi-eat Emigration to America, &c. &c. • Canada better suited for the farming Emigrant, than the United States , . , . . . Poor-rates ; cost of removing to Van Dieman's Land ; Females from the Asylums, &c. Evidence of history for similar experiments, &c. . . . , Emigration of Pensioners , .... Emigration Board ....... Resolution passed at Quebec 5th November last ; de- mand for labour at the Public Works in the Canadas Extract from the Report of the New Brunswick Emi- grant Society, &c. * Description of the productions most profitable to the Canadian farmer , Comparative advantages of the Provinces, &c. Description of the Pauper Emigrants ... Situations fittest for Settlement, &c. . . PACK, 27 99 31 3S 30 40 40 43 45 51 54 58 59 63 64. Applici 4 £mi| Suppos Sums r i and' N Practic ■ Ame I Fisheri Lighth Conclu NcL Mr. mitt( No. IV Scoti i No.V. ^ No. V] PACK, mthe • • 99 . 31 )f the . 3S cethe les of . 30 than . 40 and; Lstory . 40 . 43 . 45 ; de- nadas 51 £mi- 54 the . 58 59 . . 63 . 64. CON TE NIK. vii I'AUU Application of the Public Funda to the purposes of W Emigration . . . . , , , « 73 Supposed Extent of Emigration . . . .74 , Sums necessary to remove and locate Paupers, &c. m and Table of Financial Calculations, &c. ... 75 I Practical Hints for Emigrants proceeding to North m America . 84 1 Fisheries 94 Lighthouses, &c 102 Conclusion I04, APPENDIX. No. I. II, III. Letter from A. C. Buchanan and Mr. Felton to the Chairman of Emigration Com- mittee, &c 207 No. IV. Extract of a Letter respecting the intended Scotch Emigrants from Renfrew, &c. No. V. Documents respecting Passenger Acts . No. VL Petition from Dublin against the repeal of the Passenger Acts No. VII. Extracts from the Evidence on the State of Ireland taken before the Committee in 1825 No. VIIT. Extracts from Governor Murray's Report on the State of Canada in 1762 No. IX. The Canada Land Company 126 129 133 135 138 147 RK oflei cilit to Ret sess wh( my sell for EMIGRATION PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED. IN A LETTER TO THE RIGHT HON. R. WILMOT HORTON, MP. Sec. &c. &c. London, Ut March, 1828 Sir, It may perhaps appear presumptuous in me to offer any suggestions to your consideration, for fa- cilitating the removal of a redundant population to our Colonies, after the very able and laborious Report submitted to the House of Commons last session by the Emigration Committee ; during whose sitting I had the satisfaction of oflfenng my constant and humble assistance. I avail my- self of the opportunity to express my obligation for the very honourable and kind manner in which B 2 EMIGRATION that Committee recommend my name to the notice of Parliament and his Majesty's Government, as- suring you that throughout the whole transaction nothing guided my conduct but the most anxious p-^licitude for the common welfare of our valu- able Colonies and the Mother Country ; with the hope that my humble efforts might hereafter assist in strengthening the ties of affection, and the bond of union, between our Gracious Monarch's pos- sessions in North America, and the Parent State. And I would here also solicit permission to indulge my feelings, in acknowledging the great kindness and attention I received from you in all my com- munications with the Colonial Department, on Emigration, and other subjects ; and in adding my humble testimony to your indefatigable zeal and anxious wish to open some door to relieve the distress of the unoccupied labourer ; and I never witnessed such unceasing anxiety to arrive at some good conclusion than that manifested by you and the other honourable Members of the Com- mittee throughout the arduous enquiry. That Committee was composed of individuals of the highest rank for talent in the country, and though differing in opinion on many other state ques- tions, yet a universal feeling seemed to exist amongst its members as to the advantage that would accrue to the nation from a well-regu- PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED. the notice imeni, as- ransaction it anxious our valu- ; with the ifter assist i the bond rch's pos- ent State, to indulge : kindness 1 my com- ment, on idding my zeal and jlieve the d I never arrive at ed by you the Com- (T. That Is of the id though tate ques- to exist itage that well-regu- lated system of Emigration.* Great indeed has been the interest which this important question has excited throughout the country, more parti- cularly in Ireland; and many a poor struggling family has been gladdened with the hope that some assistance might be afforded to enable them to emigrate to our fertile American Colonies, where they could not only spend the residue of their days in peace, but, after their sufferings * List of the Select Committee on Emigration. Right Hon. 11. W. Horton, Chairman. Sir James Graham. Lord Castlereagh John Smith, Esq. Stuart VTortley, Esq. Lord Ashley. John Maxwell, Esq. Hon. E. G. Stanley. Hon. Keith Douglas. Col. Wood. Lord Brecknock. Frankland Lewis, Esq. Sir Henry Parnell. Charles Brownlow, Esq. Thomas Spring Rice, Esq. Lord Morpeth. J. E. Denison, Esq. Lord Oxmantown. Archibald Campbell, Esq. H. Labouchere, Esq. B Leslie Foster, Esq. L ^rd John Russell. Bingham Baring, Esq. Sir Thomas Dyke Acland. Right Hon. Robert Peel. R. Hart Davis, Esq. Lord F. L. Gower. Right Hon. Maurice Fitz- gerald. Leader Maberley, Esq. A. Baring, Esq. Lord Binning (Earl of Mel- ■ ross, ) Lord Valletort. Hon. p. Cust. Lord Sandon. Charles Wood, Esq. R. Phillips, Esq. Sir Hugh Innis. Walter Burrell, Esq. Hon. Jas. Abercrorabie. 2 4 EMIGRATION and privations, behold some certain prospect for the maintenance and comfort of their numerous offspring. I shall not attempt to go into that wide field of argument to which the question of population, and the means of its subsistence, or on the other hand, that of Emigration, might lead; nor is it my intention, in this letter, to present all the minute details of an Emigration estabhshment :— my prin- cipal aim being to draw towards this subject more profound meditations, and the knowledge of all those who are practically and locally acquainted Avith it. Nevertheless, I shall not deny myself the assistance that may be derived from a careful de- velopement of the simple principles upon which Emigration should be founded ; and I may glance at tht importance in which Emigration and Coloni- z-^tion were held in former ages, by the most en- lightened nations. It is umversalhj admitted, from the rapid strides that mendicity seems to be making even in the metropolis, that there are many labouring poor now existing in the United Kingdom on a very precarious and scanty support ; surely, if the re- moval of a portion of them to our fertile Ameiican and other Colonies can be effected without any ultimate outlay of the public money, the consi- deration is well worthy our most serious attention. an( PRACTICALLY CONSl DEIIED. spect for lumerous nde field )pulation, the other r is it my le minute -my prin- iject more ge of all cquainted nyself the areful de- ►on which lay glance nd Coloni- ; most en- the rapid ig even in labouring I on a very if the re- Ameiican thout anv the consi- i attention, and no doubt will find advocacy in the liberal and enlightened policy of His Majesty's Government. In modern times, colonies have been looked at principally in their relation to the trade and re- venue of the parent state. The views of the ancients seem to have been more enlarged. In all the enlightened states of antiquity, colonies were considered as useful in disburdening the parent state of its surplus population, providing for citizens who otherwise might disturb its tran- quillity, and establishing new nations, united to the parent state by the sympathies of common origin. In commercial and manufacturing states, from the inequality of fortunes, and the fluctuations in trade and in population, to which such states are liable, colonies would seem to have been peculiarly necessary. Accordingly, we find that in Carthage Emigration was systematically carried on by the state ; and it is to this cause that a great writer* of antiquity attributes the duration of that repvib- lic notwithstanding the vicious constitution of its government. From the earliest period of Roman history. Colo- nization was considered as a subject of high state policy ; and, — remarkable as that people wete for their great wisdom, — ir uo branch of their adminis- tration was that wisdom more apparent than in this. * Aristotle. lit 6 EMIGRATION They did not, like the Carthaginians, consider co- lonies merely as means for disposing of a surplus population, but they made this surplus popula- tion an instrument for the territorial aggrandize- ment of the state. To no one cause is the Roman greatness, probably, more to be attributed, than to the system of Colonization pursued by them. A work containing the details of that system is still a desideratum in Political Economy, and would throw much light upon the history of civilization. As a striking illustration of these remarks, I would here refer you to an extract from an " Essay on the Advantages to be derived from new Colo- nies, by Citizen Talleyrand, read at the National institute of France, the 15th Messidor, in the year 5." " After the crises of revolutions, there are men worn out and grown old under the impression of misfortune, whose minds must in some sort be made young again. There are some, who, no longer wishing to love their country, must be made sen- sible that fortunately it is impossible to hate it. " Without doubt, time and good laws will pro- duce happy changes; but there is need also of estabHshments contrived with wisdom; — for the power of laws is limited, and time destroys ahke both what is good and what is bad. " When I was in America, I was struck by ob- 3 nsider co- a surplus s popula- rgrandize- le Roman d, than to them. A jm is still ,nd would /ilization. emarks, I m " Essay new Colo- s National »r, in the 'e are men pression of rt be made no longer made sen- hate it. 5 will pro- ;d also of ; — for the troys alike ick by ob- PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED. 7 serving that, after a revolution very unlike indeid to our own, there remained such slight traces of ancient animosities, so little agitation, so little. in- c]uietude:— in short, that none of those symptoms were there to be found which every instant threaten the tranquillity of States newly bursting into free- dom. I did not fail soon to discover one of the chief causes of it. Without doubt this revolu- tion, Hke others, has left in the minds of men dis- positions to excite, or to receive, new troubles; but this need of agitation has been able to satisfy itself differently in a vast and new country,— where adventurous projects allure the mind ; where im- mense tracts of uncultivated lands give men a faci- lity of going to employ a fresh activity, far from the scene of their first dissensions, of placing their hopes in fresh speculations, of throwing themselves at once into the midst of a crowd of new schemes ; in short, of amusing themselves by change of place, and thus of extinguishing within their bo- soms the revolutionary passions. '* Happily, the soil .^'-^ch we inhabit does not present the same resources; but new Colonies, chosen and established with discernment, may offer us them ; and this motive for occupying ourselves about such, adds great force to those which al- ready solicit the attention of the public, on the subject of this kind of establishment. ir s EMIGHATIOK " The different causes which gave rise to the colonies, in whose origin history has instructed us, were not of more urgent influence; the greater part of them were much less pure. Thus, ambi- tion and the ardour of conquest carried the first colonies of the Phoenicians, and of the Egyptians, into Greece ; violence that of the Tyrians to Car- thage ; the misfortunes of war that of the fugi- tive Trojans to Italy ; commerce and the love of riches, those of the Carthaginians to the Isles of the Mediterranean, and upon the coasts of Spain and Africa ; necessity those of the Athenians into Asia Minor, the people becoming too numerous for their hmited and barren territory ; prudence that of the Lacedemonians to Tarentum, who by this means delivered themselves from some turbu- lent citizens; and urgent policy the numerous colonies of the Romans, who showed themselves doubly skilful in giving up to their colonists a portion of the conquered countries, both because they appeased the people, who incessantly de- manded a new division, and because they thus formed, of the discontented themselves, a sure guard in the countries which they had subdued. The ardour for plunder, and the fury of war, (much more than excess of population,) sent the colonies, or rather the irruptions, of the people of the North, into the Roman Empire ; and a roman^ to the cted us, greater s, ambi- the first yptians, I to Car- he fugi- i love of Isles of Df Spain ians into umerous prudence , who by le turbu- umerous emselves lonists a because ntly de- bey thus , a sure subdued. of war, I sent the people of a roman-i * PRACTICALLY tONSlDEKKD. J tic piety, greedy of conquest, those of tht; Eu- ropeans into Asia. " After the discovery of America, we saw the folly, the injustice, and the avaricious spirit of in- dividuals, who, thirsting after gold, threw them- selves upon the first countries to which their barks conveyed them. The more greedy they were, the more they separated themselves from others : they wished not to cultivate, but to lay waste. Those indeed were not true colonists. Some time afterwards, religious dissensions gave birth to more regular establishments: thus, the Puritans took refuge in the north of America; the English Catholics in Maryland ; the Quakers in Pennsyl- vania; whence Smith concludes it was not the wisdom, but rather the vices of the European Go- vernments, that peopled the New World. «« Other great emigrations are likewise owing to a gloomy policy, or to a policy falsely deno- minated religious. Thus, Spain rejected the Moors from her bosom ; France, the Protestants ; almost all Governments the Jews: and every- where the error which had dictated such deplo- rable counsels was recognized too late. They had discontented subjects, and they made enemies of them : these might have served their country, but were forced to injure it. " This long experience ought not to be lost to us. B 5 -is 10 EMIGRATION 111 The art of putting men into their proper places is, perhaps, the first in the science of Government ; but that of finding the proper place for the dis- contented is assuredly the most difficult ; and the presenting to their imagination distant objects, perspective views, on which their thoughts and their desires may fix themselves, is, I think, one of the solutions of this difficulty. " In the developement of the motives which determined the establishment of a great num- ber of the ancient colonies, we easily remark, that at the very time they were indispensable, they were voluntary; that they were presented by the Governments as an allurement, not as a punishment. We observe this idea especially to predominate in them ; viz. that bodies politic ought to reserve to themselves the means of pla- cing to advantage^ at a distance from their im- mediate seat, that superabundance of citizens who, from time to time, threaten their tranquillity. Further, this necersity was founded in a vicious origin ; it was , either an original Agrarian law, giving rise to threatening claims, which it became necessary to calm ; or too exclusive a constitution, which, being made for one class, caused a dread of too great an increase of population in the others. " It is by making ourselves masters of what was PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED. 11 }r places frnment ; the dis- and the objects, ^hts and link, one is which at num- reniark, pen sable, presented not as a jcially to ?s politic J of pla- their im- zens who, nquillity. a vicious rian law, it became istitution, I a dread lie others, what was most pure in the views of the ancients, and by guarding against the application which has been made of them by the majority of modern nations, that it will be proper, in my opinion, to occupy ourselves in the first days of peace with this kind of establishment, which, when well-conceived, and well-executed, may be the source of the most pre- cious advantages after so many agitations. " And how many Frenchmen ought to embrace this idea with joy ! How many of them are there for whom, were it but for a few moments, a new sky has become an absolute necessity ! Those who, bereft of their nearest connexions, have lost by the stroke of the assassin all which rendered their native soil dear to them ; those for whom it has become unfruitful; those who find in it nothing but regret, and those who find in it nothing but remorse ; the men who cannot resolve upon fixing their hope in that place where tbey have experienced their misfortunes ; and that mul- titude of former politicians, those inflexible cha- racters whom no reverse can bend, those ardent imaginations whom no reasoning can influence, those fascinated spirits whom no events can dis- enchant ; and those wht Iways find themselves too constrained in their own country; and the greedy and adventurous speculators ; and the men •« IS EMIGRATION i; '.■'11 who are born to have their names attached to dis- coveries, to the founding of cities, and to the for- mation of civilized societies ; he for whom France, as now constituted, is still too agitated, and he for whom it is too calm ; — those, in short, who cannot put up with equals, and those likewise, who cannot brook any state of dependence. " And let us not suppose, that so many different and opposite elements would not unite. Have we not seen of late years, since there have been politi- cal opinions in France, men of all parties embark together, and go to run the same risks upon the uninhabited banks of the Scioto ? Are we igno- rant of the empire which is exercised over the most irritable minds by time, by space, by a new coun- try, by habits to be begun, by obstacles to be over- come in common, by the desire of injuring giving place to the necessity of mutually assisting each other, by suffering, which softens the soul, by hope, which comforts it, by the pleasure of discoursing of a country which one has qiHtted, and even by that of complaining of it ? " No, it is not so easy as we think it, to hate for ever. This feeling often requires but a specious pretence for its extinction; it never resists so many causes conspiring to destroy it. ** Let us then hold it for certain, that these dis- cordances of opinion, as well as those of character, PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED. 13 1 to (]l^- the for- F ranee, d he for ) cannot cannot different Have we n politi- ; embark ipon the we igno- the most jw coun- be over- ? giving ing each by hope, coursing even hy hate for specious so many hese dis- haracter, form no obstacle to new colonies, and would all be lost in a community of interests, if we knew how to take advantage of the errors and prejudices which have hitherto opposed the num -rous at- tempts of this kind. I have need to buoy myself up against the dread of witnessing the renewal of disastrous attempts. I think we shall feel the ne- cessity of establishing them in places productive of what we stand in need of, and wanting what we possess ; for this is the first principle of union be- twixt a Mother Country and her Colonies. We shall occupy ourselves, without doubt, in the for- mation of vast establishments, in order that men and their schemes may there be at their ease ; and they should be varied too, in order that every one may find there the situation and the labour that suits him. We should especially/ take care not to allow a multitude of men to embark incon- siderately at once, before we have provided for the indispensable necessities of a first establish- ment, " Hitherto Governments have formed to them- selves a political rule not to send, for the foun- dation of their colonies, any but individuals with- out industry, without capital, and without morals. A principle the most opposite possible to this must be adopted ; for vice, ignorance, and misery, can found nothing, — they are calculated only to destroy. u .KMlGRATluN I * " Colonics have often been made use of as a means of punishment, and those whieh n.ight serve for this purpose have been imprudently confound- ed with those whose commercial relations ought to be the source of riches to the Mother Country We must carefully separate these two kinds of estabhshments; let them have nothing common m their origin, as they have nothing simdar m then- destination ; for the impression which results from a polluted origin, has effects which many genera- tions are scarcely sufficient to efface. " But what will be the bonds of connexion be- tween the new colonies and France ? History offers striking results to decide this question. The Greek colonies were independent ; they prospered in the highest degree. Those of ti .m. were al- ^vays governed; their progress was scaicely any thing, and their names are hardly known to us. The" solution rests upon the same point to this d^y, ^r. spite of the difference of time and inte- rlsil I am aware that it is difRcult to convince Governments, which know not how to quit their accustomed plans, that they will derive the benefit of their advances and protection, without having recourse to coercive laws ; but it is certain, that the interests of the two countries, well understood, is the true bond which should unite them; and this bond is very strong, when there is also a com- PIIACTICALLY CONSIDERED. 15 c of as a iirht serve confound- s ought to Country. I kinds of common in lar in their jsults from ny genera- inexion be- story offers ion. The J prospered ne were al- caicely any lown to us. jint to this e and inte- to convince ) quit their J the benefit lout having certain, that understood, them; and also a com- mon origin ; it is even preserved when the force of arms has deranged the connexion. This may be easily perceived in Louisiana, which remains French, aUhough it has been under the dominion of the S])aniards for more than thirty years ; and in Canada, although in the power of the English for the same length of time : the colonists of these two countries were Frenchmen, they are so still, and an obvious bias inclines them always towards us. It is then from a previous knowledge of reci- procal interests, strengthened by the powerful tie of a common origin, that the establishment ought to be formed, and on the strength of this interest is it that we must reckon for the advantages to be drawn therefrom. At a great distance every other relation becomes in time illusory, or it is more ex- pensive than productive. Hence there should be no domination, no monopoly ; always the force which protects, never that which oppresses ; jus- tice, kind offices, these are the true calculations for states, as well as for individuals ; these are the sources of reciprocal prosperity. In short, experi- ence and reason unite in rejection of those pusilla- nimous doctrines which suppose a loss wherever there has been made a gain. The true principles of commerce are the opposite of these prejudices ; they promise to all people mutual advantages, and they invite them to enrich themselves altogether M i S i ■. J 16 EMIGRATION by the exchange of their p.-oductions, by liberal and amicable communications, and by the useful arts of peace. "I have barely pointed oiit some positions; there are others which I could also enumerate; but here especially to announce too much of what one means to do, is the way not to do it all. Be- sides, it belongs to the men who have travelled the most, and to the best purpose ; to those who have carried into their researches an enlightened and unwearied love of their country ; it is to our Bou- gainville, who had the glory to discover what it has been still glorious for the illustrious navigators of England to trace after him; it is to Fleuneu, who has so perfectly observed all that he has seen, and so well elucidated by his learned criticism the observations of others : it belongs to such men to tell the Government, when they are interrogated by it what are the places where a new country, a salubrious climate, a fruitful soil, and the relations pointed out by nature, invite our industry, and promise us rich advantages,-for that day at least when we shall have the good sense to carry there our knowledge and our labour only. " From all that has been here advanced, it follows, that every consideration urges us to ac- cupy ourselves with new colonies : the example of the most wise people, who have made them one of the greatest means of their tranquillity ; the ne- PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED. IT ly liberal le useful positions ; umerate ; h of what all. Be- velled the who have ened and our Bou- er what it navigators Fleurieu, i has seen, ticism the ich men to rogated by country, a le relations ustry, and lay at least carry there Ivanced, it 3 us to ac- example of them one of ty ; the ne- cessity of preparing for the replacing of our pre- sent colonies, in order that we may not be found behindhand with events ; the convenience of pla- cing the cultivation of our colonial products nearer to their true cultivators ; the necessity of forming with the colonies the most natural relations, more easy, no doubt, in new than in old establishments ; the advantage of not allowing ourselves to be out- done by a rival nation, for whom every one of our oversights, every instance of our delay in this respect, is a conquest ; the opinion of enlightened men, who have bestowed their attention and their researches upon this object : in short, the pleasure of being able to attach to these enterprises so many restless men who have need of projects, so many unfortunate men who have need of hope." William Penn, in his '* Benefit of Plantations or Colonies;' after adverting to the various aeras of Emiffration recorded in history, says :— '« I deny the vulgar opinion against plantations, that they weaken England ; they have manifestly enriched, and so strengthened her, which I briefly evidence thus : those that go into a foreign plantation, their industry there is worth more than if tkey stayed at home. Again: they are not lost to England, since England furnishes them with much clothes, household stuff, tools, and the like necessaries, and that in greater quantities than here their condition could have needed, or they could have 18 EMIGRATION i:m u bought, being there well to pass that were but low here, if not poor, and now masters of families too, when here they had none, and could hardly keep themselves ; and very often it happens that some of them, after their industry and success have made them wealthy, return and empty their riches into England, one in this capacity being able to buy out twenty of what he was when he went out." It is only within the last few years that emi- gration has been considered in Great Britain as a national measure. On a subject of so much importance, Iiowever, it is most desirable that every possible light should be thrown ; in fact, emigration may be illustrated by the image of a large family with moderate means. Let them re- main at home together, and their strength and im- portance is very confined ; but disperse them over a wide field, and see how their strength and ca- pability of assisting each other is augmented. I know numerous instances of struggling families sending some of their sons abroad, who, had they remained at home, would have produced little more than sufficient to add to the common stock the amount of their own support; but in a few years, in our fertile American Colonies, not only establish themselves, but impart assistance and comfort to others. I'llACTICALLY CON3IDEEED. 19 e but low nilies too, rdly keep :hat some sess have leir riches \g able to I he went that emi- Britain as so much rable that ; in fact, nage of a t them re- th and im- them over :h and ca- nented. I g families ►, had they uced little imon stock it in a few IS, not only stance and As various opinions have been submitted as to the sum necessary to establish a pauper family in the Canadas, I feel myself warranted in stat- ing that, under the presumption of repayment, futl justice may be done both to the Country and the Emigrant, by limiting the disbursement much within that hitherto assumed ; and I had the ho- nour of giving it as my opinion before the Emi- gration Committee, that 60/. would be a satisfac- tory outlay for the removal of a family consist- ing of a man, his wife, and three children, from the United Kingdom to British North America, providing them with necessary implements^ log- house, and ^fifteen months provisions. It is ne- cessary to observe, that this refers to a conve- nient situation; but from more careful inves- tigation, as I do not think the expense of su- perintendence, surveying the land, &c. should be charged the Emigrant,* as he will have to pur- chase his farm,— and further, as he must be pro- vided with items formerly included,--and by the removal of expensive clauses in the Passenger Acts,— I am satisfied that about 45/. will be suffi- cient.-f * It is to be observed, that I am not warranted in tliis suggestion by the report of the Committee ;— I give it as my own opinion. f Vide pages 29 and 78. t.li so KMIGllATIOJJ !*■ We must particularly bear in mind the descrip- tion of people to whom this operation should be extended, viz.— Poor destitute labourers, whose habits of living at home border on misery in the extreme ; and as it is intended that the Emigrant shall, when able, make a return of the sum ex- pended, the most rigid economy in the operation is imperiously required. 1 do not admit the policy of taking a half-starved Irish pauper from his miserable hovel, and in the space of a few months, not only making him the proprietor of one hundred acres of land, but surrounding him with domestic comiorts he never before witnessed. It is almost too much for per- sons in a more improved state of society to endure, and Pat and his wife Bridget will be amazed, and think that we must have some pull in it. I would let them feel and work their way, and their ulti- mate success will be more certain. Let the Emi- grant have enough to eat, with a log-hut for shelter, his axe in his hand, and his fuel at his elbow ; but let his food be of the most economi- cal kind, such as oatmeal, potatoes, fish, Indian meal, and a little flesh-meat. The Irish pea- santry do not know how to use flour with econo- my ; and I Hribute, in a great degree, the pre- valence of the fever and ague among the late Government Emigrants, to their being confined to 'IrtS PRACTICALLY CONSIDKRED. 21 J duscrlp- hould be rs, whose ry in the Emigrant sum ex- operation If-starved , and in iking him land, but 3 he never h for per- to endure, lazed, and I would their ulti- t the Emi- )g-hut for •uel at his t economi- ish, Indian Irish pea- nih. econo- ?, the pre- g the late confined to flour and salt-pork, of aliments to which they were unaccustomed. In discussing the subject of Emigration, there are some persons who seem to think that the labouring pauper may be employed to equal advantage at home, in draining bogs, or other public works that might be undertaken, and with no greater outlay of capital than is proposed by the Report of the Emigration Committee. But let any person who is at all capable of judging, reflect for a moment on the difference to the pau- pers themselves. So long as public works are going on, and money is expended at home, the labourer employed will find work and food ; but at the expiration of seven years will you find him and his wretched family raised in the scale of civi- lization and comfort ? No, on the contrary, he would, in all probabili y, be found just as he was before, inhabiting the same miserable hovel, and with his physical strength naturally impaired by seven years' hard toil merely for a scanty support. But visit the pauper Emigrant (and family) re- moved to our North American Colonies, with the assistance of the proposed loan, in his new abode after seven years, and how will you find him ? He will not only have made considerable advances towards repaying the outlay on his set- tlement, but you will find him the proprietor of one il $1 I li iilli 33 EMIGRATION hundred or eighty acres of good land; twenty or twenty.five acres of which will be cleared and under culture, with a good log-house, barn, cows, oxen, &c, and the certain prospect of independence in view for his family. Is not this a cheering pro- spect for the poor half-starved labourer ? No person, unless he has lived in the Colonies, can imagine the change that generally takes place, even as to the industrious habits of those who were indolent at home. We cannot draw any inference or calculation from the Emigration Plans of 1823 and 1825; a very great portion of the expenses of which was incurred in the transport, and other disbursements, over which the superintendent had no control. The transport of a family from Cork to Quebec cost, in 1825, under the Transport Board, about 38/. though it could have been accomplished better for the health of the Emigrant for nearly one-third that amount ; but although it was an experiment to the Peasantry of the South of Ireland to emigrate to the North American Colonies, and although a smaller outlay might have done, yet the difficulty was greater than would now be felt, inasmuch as the people have tasted the sweets of Emigration ; besides, from the increased facilities in the Colonies by population and opening of roads, a vast outlay would be avoided. In 1825, I went out myself ■^v i rRACTICALLY CONSIDKUED. S8 twenty or ind under ►ws, oxen, ndence in Ting pro- rer ? No onies, can ies place, those who calculation d 1825; a which was ursements, )ntrol. to Quebec ard, about shed better y one-third )eriment to to emigrate although a e difficulty lasmuch as Imigration ; he Colonies vast outlay out myself from liOndonderry to Quebec, in a ship of seven hundred and five tons register, with five hundred Emigrants ; and the total expense of each family, of five persons, up to their arrival at Quebec, was under 14/. ; since which time, the rate of passage has considerably fallen, from the depression of shipping, and the repeal of the late Passenger Act : still I am decidedly of opinion, that legislative protec- *^tion, to a certain extent, is imperiously required, as the many melancholy evidences of recent pri- !*vations, suffered by voluntary Emigrants, suffi- ciently corroborate. When I arrived at Quebec, my advice to the Emigrants was such as I have invariably given — to proceed to the interior, and not loiter at the port of landing ; and as they all seemed anxious to follow my opinion, I engaged a passage 'for them in the ** Lady Sherbrook" steam-boat, at about a dollar per head, young and old. In the same boat, about three hundred Government Emi- grants were also going up : the appearance of each of the two parties was striking. — The Govern- ment Emigrants were generally better clad, but ^not so strong and healthy-looking as the Free ^Emigrants, who had been fed upon food to which they were less accustomed. I will here mention, that the passengers who ac- companied me were very healthy on the voyage ; 24 EMiGHATION i% only one adult died (of old age) and a few infants, although we had the small-pox on board ; and 1 attribute tlieir healthy state entirely to the diet, which was chiefly potatoes, stir-about made of oatmeal, sowings or flummery made from the sift- ings of oatmeal, butter, eggs, and for some few a little bacon. In about fifteen or sixteen voyages to North America, which I have taken, with about 6000 Emigrants, I do not think that in the whole num- ber more than six adults died, and in every case within my observation they landed in better con- dition than when they went on board, and their food was invariably such as I have already stated. In addition to the Emigrants I have accom- panied on my frequent voyages to North America, I have been interested in the removal from Ire- land of from 12,000 to 15,000 more,— many of whom, after paying their passage, were not pos- sessed of a dollar ; and I cannot bring to my re- collection a single instance in which they have not prospered to a great degree, as is fully con- firmed by the extent of the remittances made annually by the Emigrants to Ireland, which amount, I should think, to the considerable sum of from 60,000/. to 70,000/. and which would be greatly increased if the Emigrants enjoyed more facility in making their remittances ; as you PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED. S5 will frequently see, in the streets of Quebec and other ports, poor fellows who have proceeded a distance of 4 or 600 miles to find a captain of a ship, or some other person, to make the bearer of their gatherings to their relations in the United Kingdom, to assist them in coming out to join them. In fact, I have myself been the medium of conveying many thousands of pounds from North America, remitted by Emigrants ;* and my bro- ther, His Majesty's Consul at New York, sends home considerable sums annually, for persons in various parts of Canada and the United States. My brother sent from that city to Upper Ca- nada, upwards of 3000 British subjects, who pos- sessed some trifling means of their own, and had them settled in the township of Cavan. Their prosperity, I am happy to say, is well known in the Province, and at this time that township has a larger surplus produce to send to market, than many- others of the older townships ; and their gratitude and unshaken loyalty to their King and Mother Country is enthusiastic, and is observable in all their actions. Their prosperity you will find fully corroborated by the following evidence of Dr. ^rihan. Archdeacon of Upper Canada, given be- fore the Emigration Committee.—" Vide Report * Vide Emigration Report of 1826. Question, 1873, 1874. fte EMIGRATION '4' i! of 1826, Page 167, Question 1731 to 1735," viz.— Q. — *'' Do you know of the case of Emigrants who were removed from New York, and settled in the Cavan District ? A. — They came by the way of New York ; they were sent up by the Bri- tish Consul, who has sent up a great number of his countrymen, who have settled in the township of Cavan. They began their settlement, I think, in 1817 and 1818, and are all doing well ; they have a great deal of surplus produce in that township. Q. — " Do you know the state in which they came ? — j4. Yes ; they came in the usual way of Emigrants : they applied to Government, and got lots of 100 acres in Cavan, paying a small fee of about 51. or 61. Q. — " What was their condition in point of fact ? — A. I happened to be building a house when they came ; a great number of them were employ- ed in the brick-yard ; they had no other money, that T could see, but what they earned. When the American Canal was making, those were the people who chiefly went to the canal to work during the summer, and came back with their earnings, till they got a yoke of oxen. Whenever an Emigrant is able to purchase a yoke of oxen, he will not work out again ; he considers his fortune made, and employs himself more advantageously on his farm. J .i.j,!l PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED. 27 Q'— " You were understood to state, tliat there was more surplus produced there, than in any other township ?—A. No, I meant to say, tliere was more than in many of the older townships." The total expense incurred in the removal of these persons from New York to Upper Canada, was about 30s. per head; and I am not aware that they received any farther assistance, beyond a grant of land, subject to the usual fee there esta- blished, of about 8/.. which is nearly equivalent to the s»im that I propose to charge the Emigrants with hereafter for land. As frequent allusions have been made in the Public Journals, pourtraying, in melancholy terms, the privations suffered by Emigrants who arrived at Halifax and New Brunswick last summer, and who unadvisedly went thither, I cannot avoid ex- pressing my regret that the practical suggestions relative to the late Passenger's Act had not the de- sired effect. At the same time, in justice to your- self, who have taken such a deep interest in the cause of Emigration, I ought to state that its total repeal met your decided opposition. Had the Act which you had prepared in substitution of the late Act in question, passed, it would have given every reasonable facility to the Emigrants, at the same time extending to them a salutary and indispensa- ble legislative protection. It is to be hoped that c 2 9» EMIORATIOW m :Si , '.v; the late melancholy lesson will open the eyes of persons intending to emigrate, and that they will not rush headlong by thousands to countries tliat, in their present limited state of agriculture and demand for labour, only afford a comparatively small field for employment compared to the great and cxhaustless outlets in the Canadas, — or until some regulated system is undertaken by Govern- ment, and nurseries formed to receive tliem. I beg leave to refer to the following Letters in the Appendix, for my opinion of the lately repeal- ed Passenger's Act ; viz., my Letter of the 9t!i of March, 1824, addressed to the Chamber of Commerce, Dublin, and written at the request of one of its leading Members ; also my corres- pondence with M. S. Hill, Esq. Collector of Lon- donderry, together with queries submitted by him to the principal merchants of that city.* It is to be hoped that in the present Session of Parliament a Passenger's Act may be passed, limiting the number to be taken on board ship, with other salutary, simple, and practical clauses. Roomy vessels may carry, with safety, to any part of North America, not south of Cape Henry, (which is in latitude 36 N.) at the rate of two adults to every three tons register, or averaging, young and old, one person to each ton, and to * Petition of the Chamber of Commerce, Dublin, to / '3 i'' . ; §k}^ th - TT--^-- -r T _.-J_ o__ (3 nuUiju ux juurus; ucc. PHACTICALLY CONSIDERED. 29 Southern countries one adult to two tons ; and at the current freight now to North America, and which may he considered as a fair data, as even, should the home freight advance, it will not operate mucli on ships going out in ballast. A family, consisting of a man, his wife, and three children, will reciuire five tons of the ship, at I85. per ton, which is, , . £ 4 10 Water-cask, . . 18 Birthing, &c. . , . 15 Fuel, 4 £6 7 Or say five tons, at 26s. per ton, total expense is . Provisions for fifty days for a family of an Irish or Scotch Emigrant, of man, wife, and three children : three pounds daily of bread and oatmeal, at 2« ■; 1 ri / .M ■?„ . , J ii 111.! I 1: in| m ment are, no doubt, in possession of satisfactory information. It is not my intention to offer any observations on the obvious advantages that the Mother Coun- try and her manufactures must experience by the extension of an industrious and loyal population in our American Colonies ; and, in a political point of view, the augmenting our barrier in that quarter needs no comment, as on all those points his Majesty's Government will perceive the expe- diency. I wish to confine myself, in my present remarks, to what I consider I have some practical knowledge of, without going into any theoretical discussion. *** The House will not fail to observe, that if Emigration could be carried on as a national system, the Colonies would increase rapidly in wealth, and have the means furnished them of taking upon themselves the various expenses, military as well as civil, now incurred for them by the Mother Country : and this without any addition to their burdens, but, on the contrary, accompanied with an increase of wealth more than proportionate to the expense which they would have to take upon themselves. "With a rapidly increasing and thriving popula- • Extract from Emigration Report. rr I PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED. 33 tion, and under a liberal system of colonial policy, the North American Colonies cannot fail to attain, at a comparatively early period, the means of relieving the Mother Country from the annual ex- pense incurred in their maintenance ; whilst by the general establishment of our Colonial relations upon the principle of reciprocity of benefits arising from commercial intercourse and the operation of common interests, the question will be solved, of the advantages which a parent state is capable of deriving from a well-organized colonial system. The population being thereby materially increased in our Colonies, a perpetually increasing demand would exist for the manufactures of the Mother Country; and this not in the slightest degree arising from the relation between Colonies and a Mother Country, but on the mutual interests of the two countries ; as it would be more to the in- terest of the British Colonies to purchase manu- factures from the Mother Country, than to be- come manufacturers themselves. On the other hand, it would be more to the interest of the Mo- ther Country to employ her capital in the fabri- cation of manufactures so wanted, than to employ it in the cultivation of her own waste lands of in- ferior fertility." I am convinced we possess the means, in an ample degree, not only of doing much good, and c 3 u EMIGRATION Iff m alleviating much distress at home, (the rapid in- crease of which, in this country, cannot be dis- guised,) but of augmenting the strength of our truly loyal Colonies to such a degree, that, in- stead of their wanting assistance from the Parent State in any future war with their Republican neighbours, whicli God avert ! they will be ena- bled to extend their vigorous and youthful arm to the assistance of their parental benefactors. I can confidently affirm, that in no part of His Ma- jesty's dominions can there be found a more truly loyal population, nor one more devoted to a lasting union with the Mother Country, or more disposed to share in all its burthens and anxieties, for up- holding the glory of the British Crown and Con- stitution, than the inhabitants of our valuable North American Provinces ; and I feel a pleasure in being enabled more particularly to record the zealous attachment of the inhabitants of Lower Canada, among whom I aave lived: — a more frugal, hardy, brave, and polite people, are not to be found anywhere ; and now that the mutual interests of both countries are so well understood, I do not apprehend the most distant chance of their ever feeling the least desire to coalesce with their Ame- rican neighbours. We must not suffer ourselves to be led away, in viewing the unhappy differences : I PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED. 35 that at present exist between the Executive Go- vernment of Lower Canada and the Provincial Parliament, as founded on any feeling of alienation from the Mother Country ; the subject of contro- versy is local, and, I have no doubt, will soon ex- haust itself. Its continuance must be extremely unpleasant to the head of the Government of our North American Colonies, and it is the more to be regretted, as there is no man who feels a greater anxiety for the prosperity of the country, or the good of the people, or who is more beloved for public or private virtues. These unhappy dift'er- ences should be terminated, but the just rights of the Crown must not be compromised. Should His Majesty's Government decide on a systematic plan of Emigration, no doubt their views will extend to the Cape of Good Hope and New South Wales, where a considerable number of labourers would find immediate employment; but as I am not practically acquainted witli those parts, I must omit offering any remarks respecting them. In speaking of our American Colonies and the United States, I am guided by twenty years' knowledge of both ; and I doubt if there be any person in the United Kingdom who has had more direct intercourse with Emigrants from Ire- land to North America than myself. 36 EMIGRATION There is scarcely a por ):> i the American Continent, north of the Rivci jronooko, together with the West India Islands, both British and Foreign, with which I am not familiarly ac- quainted. Emigration to our American Colonies, as well as to the United States, is now very extensive. I compute, that since the Independence of the United States of America, not less than one mil- lion and a-half of persons have emigrated from the United Kingdom to the North American Continent : — of which 250,000 have gone from England, 250,000 from Scotland, and one million, at least, from Ireland — five-sixths being from the Province of Ulster, a circumstance chiefly attri- butable to the comparative degree of comfort the peasants of viie North of Ireland enjoy over the other, not so fortunate, portion of that king- dom. Since 1815, — the year in which Emigration be- gan to find its way towards our own provinces, — the total number of Emigrants from the United Kingdom has been 350,000, of which 300,000 went from Ireland. From the port of London- derry alone, which is the chief outlet from the counties of Tyrone, Fermanagh, Donegal, and Derry, 88,000 went, say 30,000 to the British Colonies, 8,000 to the United States, and 17 in- PllACTICALLY CONSIDERED. 87 dividuals to the Cape of Good Hope.'"' Last year, the total Emigration from the United Kingdom amounted to 40,000,f of which 23,000 went to the British Provinces of North America; and out of that number 16,862 arrived at the port of Quebec. New York and Philadelphia have for nearly half a century been the principal ports of the United otates to which Emigrants from the Uni- ted Kingdom have generally proceeded. The great trade and rapid increase of those cities have caused a corresponding demand for labour, and their facility of communication with all other parts of the Union, have tended much to attract the new settlers. Last summer, vast numbers of Emi- grants who arrived at New York from Halifax atid St. John's, New Brunswick, found that their prospects were not so good, on their arrival in the United States, as their golden dreams had pictured, and they importuned His Majesty's Consul at New * The Custom House returns may vary from this state- ment, from the irregularity in which they were rendered during the frequent suspension of the Passenger's Act ; but it is hoped, that in future correct returns of Emigrants may be kept, which will prove very useful in watching the progress of Emigration. + This includes near 3500 to Brazil from Ireland, and about 13,000 to the United States from the United King- dom generally. 38 EMIGRATION r^ ' I [illi m York, to grant them some assistance to proceed to our Colonies again ; but this he was not author- ized to do. At that period, about 800 Emigrants were sent from New York by my nephew, who is Agent in that city for the Canada Land Company, to settle on their lands in Upper Canada ; and such was the disappointment experienced by many Emigrants who arrived at New York last summer, that many of them have since returned to Liver- pool and Belfast. Any person giving the subject a moment's con- sideration must admit, that if we had arrangements made to furnish correct information in various parts of the Colonies and United Kingdom, that free Emigration, to the extent of 40,000, (or 50,000, with prospect of rapid increase) would find its way an- nually to our American Colonies, without any ex- pense to the country, and at the same time enhan- cing the value of the Crown Lands, by the intro- duction of such population, and also by opening a new field for the manufactures of the Mother Country. To Ireland the United States is more indebted for a large share of its population than to any other country. Emigration thither has been very great, ever since the Revolution, particularly from the province of Ulster ; and many of the natives of the Sister Islard rank high among the citizens of 111 ! t i .11, hi PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED. 89 the great Western Republic for wealth and talent, and still feel an affectionate sympathy towards the country of their birth. In all the principal towns, and at all public works, the operative labourers are Irish. When travelling through the western part of the State of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, &c., I may venture to say that you will find nearly one half the population Irish, or their descendants. In Pitsburgh you will almost fancy yourself in the province of Ulster; and Baltimore owes its rapid rise to the sons of Hibernia. These circum- stances have hitherto drawn, and will continue to draw, a considerable portion of Emigrants to the United States. I am, however, happy to say, that the tide of Emigration has begun to flow in another channel; and if the measure is followed up by salutary arrangements, under the fostering care of Government, at no distant period our valuable North American Provinces will be found what the Western States are now,— abounding with an in- dustrious population, and augmenting the physical resources of this great empire, as the latter now do those of the Union. As far as my observations have gone, I must say, most decidedly, that a labouring farmer may settle himself, with more advantage to his family, in the Canadas, than the United States. The state of society is not so profligate, nor their ha- J4 40 EMIGRATION bits so extravagant ; added to which, their supe- rior markets for the outlet of their produce by a participation of the Home Trade and that of the West Indies, with the total exemption from all taxation, and, I may say, all duties, — give to the Colonial farmer the whole produce of his labour. The Poor-rates in England will be sufficient to relieve the parishes of their labouring paupers. A man and his wife, and three children, can be removed from Great Britain to Canada, and there maintained, if necessaty, for fifteen months, and furnished with farming implements, &c. for a sum not exceeding 50/., whereas the maintain- ing the same family at home would cost the parish an actual outlay, in one year, as stated in evidence before the Emigration Committee, 1827, by W. Burrell, Esq. M. P. for Sussex, (p. 138,) 25/. 8s. Some few parshes have already tried the experiment of sending their paupers to the United States. The expense of the passage costs about 20/. each family, and they also received, on embarking, from 8/. to 10/. in money. Last summer, captains of ships that took out these paupers encountered much difficulty and ex- pense ; and the American authorities are de- termined to set their faces against the intro- duction of such Emigrants. I have no doubt, K ' PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED. 41 that if a well-regulated system were adopted, the parishes would most willingly incur even a greater expense, from the satisfaction they would feel in the superintendence of Government. The Poor Law system may also be made avail- able for the voluntary removal of females who may have strayed from the paths of virtue, and are now maintained in the different asylums through- out the kingdom at a considerable expense, to Van Dieman's Land and New South Wales, where they would be employed in virtuous pursuits, and, from the excess of male population there, soon become the heads of families. The cost of removing a female adult, in a satis- factory way, from London to Van Dieman's Land, would not exceed 20/. ; whereas, from a statement I lately saw in one of the London public journals, the cost of maintaining a female for one year in the London Penitentiary, is little short of 30/. History furnishes us with similar experiments m colonization in former periods, wherein their success is fully established. In speaking of the situation of Canada in the year 1669, Smith's History of that country, (in page 55, vol. I.) m- forms us as follows, viz. " As the disproportion between the number of the men and women was very great, the Govern- 48 .'I EMIGRATION * !• fP }*?■ K V ', ^' r 1 hi 1 % ¥ mi 1 ment of France sent out several hundred women to the country. The character of these females is stated* as by no means of the fairest, though by thtir subsequent conduct they lived luithout re- proach. On their arrival in the colony, an adver- tisement was published to let the people of the country know that a large number of women had arrived, and that such as had the means of sup- porting a wife should have their choice. The collection consisted of tall, short, fair, brown, fat, and lean. The notification had been made but a few days, when so great was the demand, that in less than fifteen days the whole of the females were disposed of. As soon as the marriage cere- mony had taken place, the Governor-general dis- tributed oxen, cows, hogs, fowls, salted-beef, and some money, to the married people." In Ireland, and partly in Scotland, the Poor Law system is not in operation ; therefore the re- moval of actual paupers must be undertaken at the expen?- of the landowner, whose property may be benefited., or from some other contribution not now recognized for pauper purposes, such as county-rates or assessments. But I am disposed to think, that the flow of Emigrants from Ireland and Scotland will be so great, that when once a * Baron Le Ilowton, vol. i. page 11. PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED. 43 well-regulated system is established,* little more will be required than the machinery, with some pai.ial assistance: and when located in new dis- tricts, more extended relief. Emigrants proceeding to the Colonies under the fostering guidance of Government will possess many advantages ; and there is little doubt but country storekeepers and dealers will be found to assist the settlers with moderate credit. Considerable relief might be extended to many pensioners, who would be happy to avail them- selves of emigrating to British North America. It is not going too far to say, that in a year or two 5000 out-pensioners, heads of families, making equal to 25,000 persons, would avail themselves of mortgaging their pay for one, two, or three years, for such advances as might be thought necessary : this class of persons generally would be found valuable settlers, and, from their former ♦ Mr Robinson, chief superintendent of Emigration to Upper Canada, in his Evidence before the Committee of 1827, (Report, p. 355.) states, in reply to the following question (3665WSuppose the Government for five or six years more to aiford facilities for eight or ten thousand persons to locate themselves in the American Colonies, would not that give a facility to a voluntary Emigration to the same extent?-^. More than double the extent. I am convinced, that for every 1000 persons you locate, you would get 2000 voluntary Emigrants to join them. 44 EMIGRATION military habits, make excellent materials for the Provincial Militia. On reference to the extract in the Appendix, (from p. 477 to p. 509, of the Emigration Report itself,) it will be found, that out of 627 petitions addressed to the Colonial Department, the majo- rity were from pensioners wishing assistance to emi- grate, and nearly all of them with large families. The country will find equal relief in the removal of that class of small cotters or farmers that bur- then Ireland and prove such a clog to improvement, and whose situation generally, from their havino' large families, can, even with the greatest exer- tions, procure them little more than a scanty means of subsistence ; but by the sale of the few unex- pired years of the lease of their freehold farm of one or two acres, they would be enabled to scrape up enough to pay their way across the Atlantic. By assisting this class witli a partial loan in the Colonies, there is a more certain chance of re- payment; and their habits not being so vitiated, nor their spirits broken, their abstraction would make room for the actual pauper-labourer coming into the market. It is indispensable, if we expect any good to result to the country from extensive Emigration, that a systematic plan s.. iuld be laid down, under the control of Government, (with provincial agents in various parts of the ■m 'mV PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED. 45 United Kingdom, and a head superintendent in each province,) by which Emigration may be di- rected with Colonial settling agents, as may from time to time be deemed necessary, and a general emigrant and land officer in Quebec. This plan would be attended with very trifling expense, as I am prepared to show, compared with the great national benefit which it must ultimately produce ; and I may here notice the recommendation of my practical suggestions, by the late Emigration Com- mittee, as follows :* BOARD OF EMIGRATION. " With respect to the information of a Board of Emigration in London having agents in Ire- land, Great Britain, and the Colonies, acting un- der its directions, your Committee are prepared, under any circumstances, to e:.- 3ss their entire conviction of the expediency of forming such a Board, although its duties may be limited or extended, according to the decision that may ul- timately be taken on the subject of Emigration. •* Upon this subject, your Committee would refer the House, and His Majesty's Government, to a Letter inserted after question 4277 in the Evidence, and addressed by Mr. Buchanan to the Chairman of the Committee: this Letter furnishes * Vide Appendix, pages 101 to 104. 46 EMIGRATION much valuable information, as well as important practical suggestions. " Your Committee are decidedly of opinion, that it would be impossible to accomplish that unifor- mity of operation which would be so necessary in a system of Emigration on an extended scale, unless by the establishment of agents, duly qualified, and whose duty it would be to act under the orders of the Emigration Board, and the local Govern- ments." I do not consider that assistance to the extent hitherto proposed is required in our American Colonies, unless we were to select extreme districts, and attempt to colonize new countries, where no facilities or advantages could be expected from the proximity of markets or old settlements ; but, as I contend, we have already abundant favourable si- tuations to absorb such Emigration as may go on for many years. It is to such parts, with the assist- ance necessary to a labouring Emigrant to enable him to take root, that I would beg to direct your attention. Great inconvenience is felt by Emigrants arriv- ing in the Colonies, for want of facilities in either obtaining grants of land, or in its purchase, and of necessary information to guide them in se- lecting the proper place for settling. You will find, that in all the principal towns in the Western States of America, land offices, and other neces- PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED. 47 sary guidances, are to be met with, the want of which in our Colonies is the inevitable cause of numerous valuable Emigrants straggling from them, who would otherwise, from feeling, wish to live under the British Government. I am glad the people of Canada are roused to the importance that would be obtained by some systematic arrangements to enable Emigrants to settle in the country,* as will appear from the fol- lowing resolutions entered into at a Public Meet- ing held at Quebec, on the 5th November, 1827. Mr. Valliers de St. Real in the chair. The following resolutions were moved by Mr. Blanchet, and unanimously passed. '* That in all countries, but more especially those newly settled, the increase of agricultural population is the only real and solid basis for the augmentation of wealth and power ; and conse- quently whatever tends to encourage a loyal and industrious population to extend the settlements into the forests which surround us, must eventu- ally increase our political security, and thereby afford additional motives for the increase of in- dustry and improvement ; while on the other hand, all such circumstances as have the effect of de- laying, retarding, or obstructing such new settle- * At present there is no arrangement whatever for the locating of Emigrants in Lower Canada, the want of \rhich is universally admitted. 48 EMIGRATION ments, are in the most eminent degree injuri- ous to the vital interests of the province, and subversive of the beneficent intentions of the Sovereign we have the happiness to be govern- ed by. " That exploring the unsettled parts of the country, opening roads, erecting bridges, and es- tablishing villages, in such places as are most favourably situated for agricultural purposes, either on the waste lands now held by indivi- duals, or in such other portions of the Provmce as his Majesty's Government might see fit to open for settlement, would, if undertaken at the public expense, by affording labour on the spot to the poor, but industrious settlers, be the most efiica- cious means of extending and increasing the agri- cultural population ; while the capital so benefi- cially employed would eventually, and at no distant period, be wholly repaid by the increased revenues which the augmentation of population thereby obtained must necessarily occasion, and even, perhaps, more directly by the settlers them- selves, if the establishment of small quit-rents should be deemed advisable by Government. " That the establishment of societies in the several districts of this province, for the purpose of aiding and promoting the beneficial views of his Majesty's Government, in exploring the waste PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED. lands, selecting proper situations, and obtaining grants for new settlers, promoting and assisting their exertions in obtaining the means of opening new roads, clearing their farms, and obtaining labour near their locations, as a means of subsist- ance while their lands are unproductive, would, in the opinion of this meeting, be highly advanta- geous to the general interest of the country, by affording the means of rapidly increasing and ex- tending the native population, and by retaining in the province many valuable settlers among the mass of Emigration that daily passes by the lower districts, from a deficiency in means to enable them to settle therein. " That a Committee be appointed for the pur- ymse of inquiring into the expediency, practability, and means of establishing a society in the district of Quebec, for promoting the settlement of the waste lands, and that Messrs Blanchet, Stuart, Villieres, Henderson, Laqueux, Laforcc, and Niel- sen, do form the said Committee, with autho- rity to add any number of new members they may see fit, and that said Committee shall report to a future meeting." I trust that His Majesty's Government will not lose a moment in giving the subject its se- rious consideration ; and there is no doubt that the Colonial legislatures will cheerfully co-operate ^ EMIGRATION i f!^ h ->',; ■ 1 p. l^ . ». , 1^ r , ^ V i;i < f ■ - •" . 'i' . ?■«!'? j, i' i- '.i "«1 1 1 •1 , (1 It ( f in such laudable arrangements as the I-^perial Par- liament may decide upon. It is to be hoped that the future distribution of the Colonial Crown Lands may augment the mutual interest of the Mother Country and her Colonies, and I trust ere long to see an impartial and vigorous Board of Es- cheats in operation, so that the conditions on which all large grants of land have been made, and on which no improvements have taken place, may be rigidly enforced. If His Majesty's Government once decides upon a systematic sale of land, in iHiison with regulated Emigration, in a few years a considerable fund would accrue adequate to all the exigences that may arise for the location of pauper Emigrants, and leaving a surplus for the general service of the state. The proceeds of public lands in the States of Ohio, Illinois, and other Western parts of the United States, are very considerable, and form uiportant items in the revenue of that country. (Vs I have already stated that the appropriation and sale of Crown Lands will be the most pro- ductive by being joined with a regulated system of Emigration, it will be advisable for the Colonial Land Commissioners in each province to which Emigration may be directed, to get surveyed, in convenient situations, and as contiguous as possible to old settlements, tracts of 500,000 acres as nur- . ii PllACTICALLY CONSIDERED. 51 ial Par- )cd that Crown of the rust ere i of Es- n which and on may be srnment and, in vv years te to all ition of for the )tates of of the d form country, priation ost pro- '^stem of [Colonial ) which 3yed, in possible as nur- ?^ries in 100 or 80 acre lots ; lots of 200 to 500 acres should be interspersed among the settlements for a more respectable class of Immigrants. This arrange- ment will be found more necessary in Lower Ca- nada, as in the U})per Province Emigration has taken complete root, nnd the successful experiment, under the superintendence of Mr. Robinson, in 1823 and 1825, (the result of which is so credit- able to him who suggested it,) has had the effect of opening the eyes of the peasantry of the South of Ireland, (from whence the people were selected) to the advantages of Emigration, and the operations of the Canada Land Company. This, together with the fact, that any great extent of unoccupied land, in the possession of the Crown, could not be found in one situation without going to very remote dis- tricts, renders it less necessary to direct our atten- tion at present to the Upper Province. Indeed, at no period could His Majesty's Go- vernment have a better opportunity to conmicnce a systematic plan of Emigration, by the introduc- tion of a number of settlers into the provinces, than the present, when so many public works are going on in every part, and labour is in such uni- versal demand in the Canadaa. The Bidean Ca- nal, uniting the Ottowa River with Lake Ontario at Kingston, affords employment for several thou- sand persons. The Welland Canal from Bur- D 2 5S KMIGllATION i i 1 1 r' pi 1 :' f !**■ \* i'<^ V i< / ^ ji i «l if ' B- J| ■ 1'' W ' f J 1 , ' ♦^ *>. » i~ *« \ t^ 4;'.< 1 ■ 1 ■ j;;i ^■' •-. ■■ '! ^t ■ 1 r HI lington Bay, head of Lake Ontario, to Lake Erie, also gives vast employment; and the numerous impn^vements of the Canada Land Company have given considerable impulse to enterprise in the Upper Province, and tended much to enhance the value of property. The progress already manifest in the new town of Guelph, laid out last summer by Mr. Gait, the superintendent to the Canada Land Company, affords strong evidence of its ul- timate prosperity and importance, and will thereby continue to give vast employment to mechanics and labourers. In and about Montreal, various public works are in operation, and the fortress of Quebec employs many labourers ; in short, in the Canadas in general, the mechanic and labourer is much wanted. Great advantages might accrue to the provinces by the opening of a military road from Halifax to Quebec, and also by the cutting a canal from Cumberland Basin, at the head of the Bay of Fundy, to Bay Verte, in the Gulph of St. Law- rence, — a distance of from eighteen to twenty miles, through a level country, — provided it were accompanied by the introduction of a body of Emigrants, to occupy the very thinly-peopled districts through which it is to pass; — and the expense of said public road should also establish the Emigrants. The PRACTICALLY CONSIDEKED. M r the extension of steam-navigation from the lower ports in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to Que- bec, thereby affording a quick and reciprocal in- tercourse, must be so obvious, that it ii unneces- sary to enter into any particulars to elucidate the same. A passage from Halifax to Quebec may be performed, during seven months in the year (say from the middle of April to the end of No- vember), in five or six days, including necessary stoppages at Prince Edward's Island, Miramichi, Gaspe, &c. &c. The advantages also of steam- navigation in these parts would be much enhanced, from the procuring, on moderate terms, a supply of coal from the inexhaustible mines in the Island of Cape Breton, in passing through the Gut of Canso. In the present state of agriculture* in New Brunswick, farming is not so much carried on, or so profitably attended to, as in the Canadas ; and hitherto the inhabitants have been chiefly oc- cupied in lumbering, which engenders any thing but a sound, healthy, and frugal state of society. The timber-trade (I am decidedly of opinion) " ge- nerally, as far as it concerns the provinces, would be much more advantageously substituted by agri- culture." And in the event of a national system * I do not consider the security for repayment so good in New Brunswick, in its present state of agriculture, as in the Canadas ; besides, the temptation to lumbering en- hances the risk of improvement on the Emigrant's farm. ir 54 EMIGRATION If,. If m of Emigration being adopted on the basis of re- ])aymcnt, the prosecution of lumbering compared to agriculture, would by no means afford so " good a guarantee."* In confirmation of these remarks, I would l)eg to refer you to extracts from the ** Annual Report of A. Wedderburne, Esq. Secretary to the St. John's (New Brunswick) Agricultural and Emigrant Society," dated 5th October, 1827. " The general activity now displaying itself in the various departments of * Agricultural Econo- my,' throughout the province, affords tlie most j»atisfactory evident that a spirit of improvement is spreading amongst our husbandmen, and that they have now become sensible, through choice or necessity, that their true and most durable in- terests are identified with the cultivation of the land whereon they live ; whilst the effects arising fro(n it yield an additional testimony of the wis- (lorn of that policy which declares the welfare and prosperity of a country to be founded upon its own internal resources, developed through the labour of its inhabitants, and the culture of its Roil. " 1 am happy to state, that the districts locatetl under the superintendence of the Society continue to advance prosperously, through the labour;? of * Vide my Letters in Appendix, page 126. i ' PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED. 6a 1 a contented and industrious peasantry ; and as those persons who formerly drew lands, but neg- lected them, now find, that to retain possession, sometliing must be done upon them, they are re- pairing to their lots as permanent settlers ; and it is to be expected that, ere long, the whole line of road from the Hammond River to Hopewell will bo inhabited, and which, when completed, will prove highly advantageous to St. John county, as well as to all the Eastern country in that di- rection. Of the Eastern range of this district, the following is a brief account. It contains 299 sou's having 3 horses, 82 cows, 3 bulls, 29 young cattle, 16 sheep, 52 pigs, 2^ houses, 12 barns, 215 acres of land cleared, (of which 54 are in grain, 41 in potatoes, and 143 in pasture.) " The Western range contains 103 souls, 2 horsGS, 29 cows, 2 bulls, 20 oxen, 17 young cattle, 21 sheep, 38 pigs, 23 houses, 21 barns, 2 mills, 355 acres of land cleared, (170 grain and potatoes, 185 pasture.) The Central division con- sists of 106 souls, or 30 families, having now 18 houses, and 30 to 40 acres of land cleared.* To this * These Emigrants have been nearly five years in the province, and had little or nothii g co begin with— the total value (tf their gross propv^vt- , in October 1827, « as computed at 35001. or about 35l. a 1 iiniiy. 5G EMKJllATION ll .»! I i part of the settlement I beg to call your atten- tion, it having been formed under i)eculiar circum- stances. " It will be remembered, that early in the season, some vessels arrived liere, the Emigrants on board of which were in a very destitute condition, suf. fering alike from disease and poverty, and arriving in such numbers, until the city was overflowed with misery, to which the usual relief was of little avail ; a number of those unfortunate people being desirous and able to go into the woods, His Ex- cellency, the Lieutenant-governor, with his cha- racteristic humanity, directed that location might be made of those arriving in this state. " With this indulgence, therefore, of His Ex- cellency, aided by the most liberal donation from His Majesty's revenue, thirty families, consisting of J 06 souls, were put on board a vessel for Shcpody, furnished with provisions, hoes, and axes, with an agent to direct their operations, and distribute the allowance of provisions to each. The relief thus extended, it is satisfactory to say, has been pro- ductive of the desired consequence; the dispi- rited and disappointed man, finding a restinfr. place, where his labours were to yield liim and his family a future home, has, with contentment, induscriously commenced his wurk, and proved a useful settler. Some of those sent up found la- PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED. 57 *'our in Shepody, and others proving of very bad character, tlicir supplies of provisions were stopped, and tlicy have, I understand, left the province. Eleven families in all have left the settlement. *' The condition of the Emigrants arriving during the present season, has been of a very des- titute character ; and it is much to be feared, that the unrestrained manner in which they are now taken on board ship, without amy military regu- lation being made for their comfort or cleanliness, materially increases the misery we so frequently witness here. It was the desire of your reporter to lay before the Society a plan for the employ- ment of such characters on their arrival here, or (luring convalescence from sicknes ; but the detail of such a suggestion embraces so many important points, that he has forborne offering it until more fully considered and matured, in doing which he is now sedulously engaged. " A donation of seeds was made during the sea- son to the Negro* Settlement at Loch Lomond, but it is to be regretted that they continue (o make the worst return for the kindness extended towards them. During my last visit to this spot I found only thirty-four residents out of one hun- * These are. I understand, nart of the neeroes cautured during the iate American war. D 3 1 1 ^ c" 1 11 1 *: '! 1 i I ) 1/^ 11 a- 58 EMIGRATION died and twelve, to whom lots were to be leased ; forty -four w^re non-residents, and the remainder dead and missing.'* For the ill trod uction of the growth of staple com- modities in demand in the Mother Country, such a# hemp and flax, many parts of the provinces are well adapted, particularly Lower Canada : and its preparation for market would profita- bly employ the youth of both sexes during the Jong winter : — it would form a valuable item of ex- ]iort in exchange for our manufactures, thereby di- verting attention from the introduction of local ma- nufactures.— The making potash, too, so much in demand in the United Kingdom, might be greatly ( xtended.* Lumbering, to the extent of making jjpe and puncheoti stares^ boards and deals, for the iVest India and Home Market , and saw-hgs for fiippij/ing the Colonial Mills, is advantageous to the farmer, and should be fostered by the Govern- meut, for this he can tnanage with his oionfimi/y; but the squaring of logs of timber, hauHng and rafting it, requires a number of persons who are obli,';(.d to live in Shanty s,f in which a great portion of their time is taken up in drinking and * Vitle Governor Murray's Report on the State of tlie I'lovince of Quebec in 1762, Appendix, p. 113. t A Shanty is a temporary hut and grog-shop in the Forest, made c^ logs or the branches of trees formed like a tent covered with bark or grass, and is the head- PRACTICALLY CONSIDKRKD. 59 leased ; mainder ^le com- ry, such rovinces 'anada ; profita- ing the n of ex- reby di-- )cal ma- rl II ch in greatly making for the ogsfor leoiis to jover/i- f(imi/y; ng and 'ho are 1 great ng and 2 of the in the fnrniPfl Other excesses, productive of habits very unfitting a frugal farmer. Emiijration has of late taken considerable root in New Brunswick, chiefly on the St. John's ri- ver; but the proximity of St. John's and Hali- fax to the United States, and the facilities Emi- grants find, aided by the numerous gypsum* craft that navigate the Bay of Fundy, mnke the ex- pense of removal trifling. If, on the contrary, a quarters of a gang of Lumberers^ perhaps from twenty to thirty, and their only bed is a bear-skin and a pair of blan- kets ; their food is salt pork, peas, and flour, and a liberal quantity of rum. The principal or head of these lunkboring parties is a sort of itinerant Yankee. * Gypsum craft are schooners or sloops, of from sixty to one hundred tons burthen, built very strong for taking the ground, and are chiefly employed for carrying plaistcr of Paris, or gypsum, from the inexhaustible mines of Nova Scotia, to Passaniaquody and East Port, the nearest Ame- rican ports, and which are the great rendezvous for coast- ers, from eveiy part of the United States. They carry away great quantities for agricultrral purposes, particu- larly to the States of New York and Jersey, it being indispensable to the farmer for manuring liis land. Hence arise tho^e facilities for enrgrants getting to the Stat.'s. The principal gypsum mines are situated near VViudsur, about forty-five miles N.W. of Halifax, at the head of the Basin of Minis, Bay of Fundy. Windsor is about ninety miles from St. John, New Brunswick, and one hundred and thirty from Passaniaquody. The tide rises in ^Vindsor Ri- ver feet ; in Cumberland Basin, the N.E. head of the Bay of Fundy, 60 feet; and at St. John's, New Brunswick, 40 feet. Sr" f 60 EMIGRATION rp Pll few nurseries of Emigrants, under the fostering pro- tection of Government, are introduced into New Brunswick, no doubt agriculture will begin to flourish, and the disposition that now exists in those free Emigrants to straggle into the United States in search of employment will be removed. When first I visited New Brunswick, in 1816, scarcely a native of Ireland was to be found in the province ; and in the city of St. John's there was not, I believe, ten householders from that coun- try,— and now they constitute nearly one half of its inhabitants. In fact, the increase of trade and the general improvement of that province must be admitted to have arisen from the numerous settlers that emigrated thither, who must have added much to the wealth of the province, by precluding the Americans going in : the latter were formerly employed in the lumber trade, and generally returned to their own country and spent their earnings, thereby draining the province of much of its specie. I well recollect the apathy of many of the old inhabitants on the first influx of poor Irish; nor did I escape their reproaches, as they supposed that many were induced to emigrate thither, through my influence and recommendation. I certainly feel gratified in reflecting that I have frequently given my advice to persons intending to pmiorjifp — _ 1 - - ^ -_ — Q — .^ PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED. 61 from Ireland, to bend their course to our own Co- lonies instead of the United States, formerly the chief outlet from the United Kingdom ; and I am happy to state that my exertions, aided by those of other branches of my family, have not been unsuc- cessful. Indeed I do not consider it presumptuous in me to state, that I was the first who introduced any number of settlers from Ireland into our North American provinces ; and farther, that the fact of the removal of upwards of 2000 British subjects from New York to Upper Canada in 1816 and 1817, by my brother, His Majesty's Consul, produced a more decided effect in turning the stream of Emigration to the Canadas (particularly from Ire- land) than any subsequent measure ; and I am sure there are many in the Colonies who would confirm this remark. On a close intimacy with the Canadas, I found them better adapted for the labouring farmer than any other part of British North America, and I have of late years given my advice in their favour. There is no part of North America possessing a healthier climate, or soil yielding more products suitable to the culture and habits of the Irish and Scotch peasants, than His Majesty's province of Lower Canada.* * Peter Robinson, Esq. says in his evidence before the Emi- -rvnfinn rnmmitfPP nf 1 R27. Ren. p. 35i. O, 3682.— Will m EMIGRATION ■t In the Canadas farming is carried on with sveater success than in the United States, and the farming peasantry in the latter country are not by any means so comfortably situated in any re- spect as those of the Canadas, particularly the lower province. On the entire line of the St. Lawr^^nce, Nicolet, Ottawa, and St. Francis, rivers, &c. See. ; Le Bay, Upper and Lower Yaniaska, Berthier, Chamblay, Richelieu, &c. and in every other direction about Montreal,— and even in many of the new town- biiips,— the inhabitants live comfortably, exhibiting in their dwellings symptoms of great neatness and prosperity. Strangers going up the noble river St. Lawrence are struck with the beauty and neatness of the villages on its banks, which have the appearance of one complete street, from one hundred and twenty miles below Quebec, until you reach Montreal, 180 miles above. I would now beg to give, under three heads, the following, viz. — 1st. Where shall the emigrants be taken from .^ 2d. To what places shall they be located ? you describe generally what districts you would now recom- mend for the location of any emigrations that might be undertaken by Government from this country .^— I think that Lower Canada now presents the best situation— say above Montreal, on the Ottawa river, and below Quebec; the expense would be less, tht emigrant would ]>e nearer a market, and the climate is good. I PRACTICALLY CONSIDEllED. 63 3d. Shall any, and what, aid be granted out of the public funds of the parent state ? First. As it is universally admitted that emigra- tion is more applicable to the Irish than any other natives of the United Kingdom, it becomes indis- pensably necessary to turn their attention to the Colonies, in order to prevent their pouring into England and Scotland in such frightful numbers (which is the case at present) as, if not obviated, must ere long reduce the labouring classes of Great Britain to one common mass of misery. * " No person above the age of fifty years should be accepted as a Government emigrant, except under very especial circumstances; each head of a family should be in a sound state of health ,f of good character, desirous of emigrating, and in want of that effective demand for his labour by which he can obtain the means of independent subsistence. Above all, he should be a person, in consequence of whose removal no diminution of production would take place, although by such removal the expense of his maintenance would he * Extract from Emigration Ueport, pcOge 83. f In common justice to the Colonies, it Mould not be reasonable to expect, that the Mother Countrj' should \y.mr \n upon them the whole pauper population of the United Kingdom without making some arrangements for their future support ;— indeed, the Colonies, in self-defence, would be justified in making such local arrangements as would prevent it. m 1 «'' !•/; T- *.■'■ *: ,/. 1 ' |. » ' T ' » : 1 ■A it* U J 6«» EMIGRATION saved to the community. The class of people that I would propose to emigrate from Ireland, — are destitute labourers, ejected tenants, and poor cot- ters, who are now found a clog to the consolidating of farms and improvement of estates, and whose better condition at home can never be contem- plated. Unmarried females, to a certain extent, for domestic stations, are now in universal request in the Colonies from the excess of male popu- lation, who, no doubt, would soon become the heads of families, and enjoy that state of com- fort which their prospects at home would very rarely afford them ; and wliose abstraction would form a; check to improvident marriages, and which would be in itself a salutary check to the increase of a miserable population. At present there is no outlet for this class of poor females. — 2ndly. From England, parish paupers and their famiUes ; (and, to a limited extent, females from the asylums, to the colonies of Van Dieman's Land and New South Wales, as already stated ) — 2dly. From Scotland, poor Highlanders and other struggling labourers with large families. Secondly. — The first is the branch of country extending from the head of the bay of Fund, from the boundary of Nova Scotia on towards Miramichi, and up that river towards the St. John's or Madawaska in New Brunswick, compris- PEACTICALLY CONSIDERED. 65 ing altogether about 2,000,000 of acres ; and this I would put under one settling agency.— Sndly. The district of Chaleur towards Metis, including Gaspe, about one million of acres : one agency. — Sdly. The tract of country lying in the rear of the Seigniories, or south side of the St. Lawrence, from Metis towards the River Chanderie, opposite Quebec, according to the British boundary line about five millions of acres,— of which one-half is in dispivte : one agency.— 4thly. The Saguenay country, including that about Lake St. John, and from thence towards the St. Maurice River, in rear of the Seigniories, on the north side of the River St. Lawrence, ten million of acres: one agency.— 5thly. The country from the River St. Maurice, including the north side of the Ottawa River and parts adjacent, three millions of acres: one agency.— 6th. Upper Canada; one agent: and perhaps a seventh agency for Nova Scotia, including the Island of Cape Breton, in which about live hundred thousand acres may be found. The first of these tracts embraces a continuance of situations adapted for Emigrants. The great ^-oad proposed to run from Nova Scotia to Quebec would pass right through it: it abounds with numerous navigable streams, and its soil is generally considered good for agricul- ture, although hitherto it has not been impror-d, h m GO EMIGRATION M U in consequence of the attention of the settlers having been turned to lumbering, &c. From the thin state of our population, and want of settle- ments in that country, I fear it would be found necessary, in order to insure success, to assist the pauper settler with provisions for the first fourteen or sixteen months. 2ndly. The country about Chaleur and Gaspe has of late years grown much into notice, and is rapidly increasing in population. I would say, that a moderate number of Emigrants misrht establish themselves in these districts with less assistance. 3rdly. The country between the Seigniories, on the south side the St. Laurence and the boundaries of the United States, contains much good land tit for cultivation, and its proximity to old set- tlements, and easy access to Quebec market, ren- der it unnecessary to expend farther assistance than that proposed for Gaspe. It is requisite to bear in mind the unsettled state of the boundary line of this part of Canada with the State of Maine, which at present creates sucia a lively interest in the public mind. In fact, the neglect hitherto paid in settling the southern frontier, has laid the foun- dation for endless squabbles with American squat- ters, who have fcuiied thtaaaselves into possession. tf' PRACTICALLY COX?IDF,RED. 67 less R i I hope, however, that steps may ere long be taken to locate this fine country. The following resolutions, passed at a pubhc meeting held at Quebec on the 5th November, 18«7, will show the feeling that exists on the fore- going subjects. Mr. Vallieres de St. Real in the Chair. The resolutions were moved by Mr. Blanchet, and unanimously adopted : " That, from the information before this Meet- ing, as well as from that laid before the General Meetings lately held in the Counties of Hertford, Devon, and Cornwallis, it appears, that in viola- tion of the peace happily subsisting between Great Britain and the United States of America, and of the negociations now pending for the amicable adjustment of the boundary between Lower Ca- nada and the State of Maine, that State, or per- sons assuming authority in its behalf, have une- quivocally intimated designs of forcibly possessing themselves of a large tract of fertile and valuable territory, heretofore considered as a part of the Provinces of Lower Canada and New Brunswick, comprehending what may be designated as the Great Valley of the River St. John, to the extent of nearly fifteen hundred leagues in superficies, in the vicinity, and almost on the very margin of the River St. Lawrence below this city. u 68 EMIGRATlOy ,.l 1 . i'_ " That, from the information Itnif^ before this Meeting, it is represented that, in prosecution of the design alluded to in the last resolution of severing from his Majesty's dominions the Great Valley of the River St. John, in many parts where- of settlements, still existing and increasing, were made by Canadians, long previous to the existence of the United States as an independe'it power; surveys have been made, and townships or other subdivisions apportioned off, under the authority of a foreign state, whose subjects or citizens have commercial settlements thereon, which are silently, but progressively and rapidly proceeding towards the entire occupation of a part of the territory in question ; attempts have been made to interrupt the intercourse between Canada and New Bruns- wick, on the River St. John ; and threats used by foreigners to disturb his Majesty's subjects, or expel them from their possessions held under the Crown, and protected by the laws of Great Bri- tain. " That measures be forthwith adopted to inves- tigate the truth of the allegations detailed in the foregoing Resolutions, in order that, if after care- ful and dispassionate inquiry, such designs, at- tempts, and threats, or either of them, shall be found really to exist, means may be resorted to, the most efficacious in resisting, to the uttermost, ! PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED. 69 such encroachments as are equally and most dan- gerously aimed against the security of His Ma- jesty's dominions on this Continent, and as destruc- tive of the future welfare and prosperity, as sub- versive of the political existence of His Majesty's Province of Lower C; lada, as a portion of the British Empire. That it appears to this Meeting, that in order to avert so great a calamity as the occupation of tlie territory in question, by foreign- ers, must be productive of, to the British Provinces o-enerally, and to this Province in particular, an humble petition be prepared, and laid at the foot of the Throne, sup] ^icati ig our most gracious So- vereign, that His Majesty may be .leased to take such measures as in his wisdom may appear ex- pedient, Lo secure the undisputod enjoyment of the tenltory in question to His Majesty's most lo}al subjects ; and that petinons should also be presented to the Provincial Leg slature, at their approa hi ng Session, praying that they may be pleased to take the case into consideration, and adopt such • mea- sures thereon as the circumstances shall require. " That, to carry the resolves of this Meeting into effect, a Committee o^ seven persons be ap- pointed, of whom any three shall form a 'lorum, with power to correspond with the other Coiiif mittees already formed, or that may hereafter be formed in other parts of tiie Provi^^ce for the pur- ll^B 70 EMIGll\T10>f ">•*. i.l poses for which this Coniniittce has been ap- pointed, and, jointly with the said Committees, to take such steps as may be mutually agreed upon as most conducive to the fulfilment of the trust reposed in them; and that Messrs. Blanchet, Stu- art, Vallieres, Henderson, Laguex, Laforce, and Neilson, do form the said Conmiittee." As there is no part in this district wherein set- tlers would be located farther from the River St. Lawrence than from thirty to forty miles ; and as there are good roads leading thereto, the greater part of the way, through the old settled seigniories, —the expense of transport would be very little; the usual hire of a man and his horse and cart, in the country parts of Lower Canada, is from four to five shillings per day. 4thly. — These tracts comprise a vast ex- tent of land capable of cultivation, in a country better watered than any on the face of the globe. Protected as this country is by a range of mountains to the north-eastward, the climate is milder than at Quebec : melons grow there in the open air. This country seems to be a most important one, in a military point of view. The River Saguenay is navigable for a ship of the line of the largest size, for twenty-seven leagues. Its precipitous capes render it of easy defence against any mari- time force, however powerful. The fleet upon the • 1 PRACTICALLY CONSIDER ED. 71 Halifax station affords it a complete defence. Tlie great valley of Lake St. John could not be attack- ed by land : an enemy could not march over tlip momUains by which it is on every side surround- ed. The port of Tadoussac, at the mouth of the Saguenay, is open a fortnight or three weeks earlier than that of Quebec, and closes as much later. The dangers of the navigation of the River St. Lawrence are avoided : it commands as nuich as Quebec the sortie of the great lakes, and is in more immediate connexion with the Gulf, its fisheries, and the Provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. In the rear it commands the whole of the Hudson's Bay territory ; and such are the astonishing facilities of internal water com- munication afforded by the streams emptying them- selves into Lake St. John, that there is no portion of Lower or Upper Canada, to the successful de- fence or attack of which, the possession of that lake might not be conducive. From Lake St. John, a water communication with portages may be had through Lake Mistas- sinis and Rupert's River with James Bay. A like one may be had with the St. Lawrence through the Batiscar River, and another through the River St. Maurice, or the Black River.* * The preceding district being in a state of wiidernesa, the Emi^ant wiU require assistance to carry him through 72 EMIGRATION im 41 The fifth tract of country, stretching from the River St. Maurice and Lake Mastinongi towards the Ottawa River, is particularly well adapted for settlement ; and from its contiguity to that river and ihe city of Montreal, emigrants located there will possess many advantages, and will not require any great extent of assistance. 6thly. The only vacant tracts of land for set- tlement in Upper Canada, in the possession of the C .",;, are detached, and of small extent, "'i'bout going into very remote situations not yet c\^ Cs except in the vicinity of the Ottawa and Redaue rivers, which arc in every respect, admi- rably adapted for locating Emigrants, as a demand for labour of every description is so very consi- derable, that no great extent of assistance would be required. In Nova Scotia, also, very little land capable of cultivation is now in the possession of the Crown, but what is in small detached lots. In the Island of Cape Breton, 400,000 or 500,000 lil twelve or fourteen months. As the ship navigation extends as high up the Sagucnay as the Chicontimy River, (the source of which rises near that of the St. Maurice,) and as bateaux and small craft can proceed nearly to Lake St. John's, which lake is in every part navigable for large schooners, the expense of removing settlers thither would be very little. PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED. 73 acres are to be found fit for immediate and con- venient settlement. In the third place : — The subject of the ap- plication of the public funds to the purposes of Emigration, and the mode of effecting settlements practically and cheaply, is attended with some dif- ficulty; but upon this, no doubt, many erroneous calculations have been formed. The foundation of a successful regulation of this matter must be laid in rational economy. Not a farthing should be expended on the Emi- grant that can be spared. Whatever unnecessary indulgence is conferred upon the pauper, dimi- nishes the fund of charity or policy by so much, and leaves his brother pauper in hopeless distress in the United Kingdom, who might otherwise have been relieved ; but as it is intended that the sum to be advanced to the Emigrants in the Co- lonies shall be repaid by them within a certain period, and their capability of doing so being undoubted,* I think the country cannot hesitfite * Vide Evidence of Eleven Colonial Witnesses, ex- amined before the Committee of 1827, (See Report, Appendix, p. 521"), confirming the capability of repay- ment, viz. J. Sewell, Esq. Chief Jus- A. C. Buchanan, Esq. tice. J' Howe, Esq. P. Robinson, Esq. Superin- Charles Hayes, Esq. tendent. Captain Weatherly. E Captain 74 EMIGRATION r't to guarantee the loan that may be required, hav- ing the land, with its consequent improvements, as security. Two millions of acres will be required to settle twenty thousand families, allowing each family one hundred acres: — averaging at 2s. 6fl^.* per acre, would be 250,000/. thereby showing what a large sum might in a few years be created by a well-regulated system of emigration, acting in conjunction with the sale of Crown lands; and which would more than repay any probable ex- pense the nation might be called upon to guaran- tee. I therefore assume that, under a system so regulated, emigration to our Colonies may stand thus : — Free Emigrants 40,000 English parish paupers . ... 5,000 Insolvent cottiers and tenants, from Irish estates 10,000 Carried forward 65,000 4 Captain Mursliall. Mr. R. Mount, Rev. Dr. Strnhan. B. P. Bayues, Esq. W. B. Felton, Esq. • In the United Staten, the Government land is put up at auction at li dollar per acre, or 5s. 7^d. sterling; and the Canada Land Company, I understand, charge (the lowest rate) 58. and upwards. PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED. 75 Brought forward 55,000 Distressed manufacturers, from other cha- ritable funds 2.000 Pauper tenants from Scotch estates, &c. 2,000 Out-pensioners, by mortgaging their pen- sions for five years . . • • 5,000 Poor unmarried women, of good charac- ter, from Ireland, 8cc. . • . 1,000 Females from various asylums to Van Dieraan's Land, &c 300 Indented labourers to Cape of Good Hope and New South Wales . . 2,000 Total. . .67,300 Which, with an annual increase of 10 percent, would in five years exceed 100,000 persons per year, exclusive of other outlets to the United States, &c. and which I calculate at 10,000 persons annually. Under any circumstances, the removal of 100,000 persons annually to our Colonies would be as many as could ever be prudently absorbed, and the abstraction of which could not fail to give conside»'?ible relief to the United Kingdom. I propose to settle a pauper family for 46/. For paupers approved of by Government, the sum of 20/. (together with a spade, a camp-kettle, two E 2 76 EMIGRATION If- J pair of blankets, and a sickle-blade,) to be given to the agent at the port of embarkation ; 10/.* of which is proposed to cover the expense of trans- port from the United Kingdom ; the remaining 10/. to be expended after the arrival in the Colo- nies, under the direction of the Superintendent. The 20/, together with the articles already stated, to be given to the pauper as a free gift, and which would preclude him from obtaining a parish set- tlement hereafter. In addition, I propose that Government should advance as a loan to each of such pauper Emigrants as may require it, a sum not exceeding 25/. ; for the repayment of which, together with the purchase of the land, within certain periods, it will withhold as security the final delivery of the patent. The Pauper Emigrant to have ten years'* credit for the purchase of his farm, free of interest, and the loan of 25/. tu bu redeemed within ten years by instalments, conirtlencing the fifth year with in- terest, the balance remaining after the fifth year to be liable to an interest of 5 per cent, and the cost of the land to bear interest, free for ten years, and if any part thereof be redeemed within the ten years, an abutemtnt shall be made, not exceed- ing 5 per cent, upon the amount so paid. ♦ Vide Kstimate, page 29. PRACTICALLY CONSIDKRED. 77 To Free Emigrants, with satisfactory vouchers, the same loan of 25/. to be given on similar con- ditions as to Paupers, on their taking up a lot and building a log-house. The sum tha'^ might be expedient to be ad- vanced for the removal of indented labourers to the Cape of Good Hope and Van Dieman's Land, I shall not, at present, make any observation on, as I am not practically acquainted with those countries. The only assistance that would be required for the removal of poor females, would be simply their passage out,— say 2/., and 1/. to be advanced to each on her arrival in North America; as there is not the least doubt, that, previous in- forma*"-n as to their expected arrival being circu- lated througii the country, applicants would be found to engage them. The following items may illustrate the dis- bursement of 45/. upon the Pauper Emigrant : £. Received from Parish or lavidlord in money, in addition to a spade, a camp-kettle, two pair of blan- kets, and a sickle s. 20 Expended in transport ^^ Carried forward £10 m i ■ !• 1 f 78 EMIGRATION Brought forward . 10 Government Loan 85 £35 Expended thus : — £. s. d. For Log-House 4 Colonial Carriage 2 2 Axes (American) 12 2 Hoes . . 4 1 Auger and Iron- wedge .... 030 1 Iron Pot •. 050 Frying Pan 3 11 Seed, Grain, and Potatoes .... 1 10 Proportion of Whip-Saws, and Grind- stones 050 Medicines 10 Provisions : — 4| lb. Flower and Oatmeal, with Potatoes in lieu occasionally . 7d. ilb. Molasses 1| 1 lb. Pork 4 2 Herrings, or other Fish ... 2 Per day • ... 1 2^ For 420 days .....:.. 25 7 1 *i?35 * The items stated in the estimate are considered tlie ll-r s. d. 12 4 3 5 3 11 10 PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED. 79' The sum which a male prisoner, in the State of New York, at Auburn, and who is em- ployed in hard labour, costs for provision is six cents per day— about Q\d.y for which they get substantial food. The following scale may answer as a guide in forming the outline of the annual expenses that may be necessary for conducting a regulated system of Emigration, the whole to be made the super- intendence and responsibility of an executive de- partm.nt of the state, for the settling 100,000 persons in the British North American and other Colonies, which, it is presumed, may be the extent of an annual emigration, when a regulated system is established ; although lassume, as illustration, a loan of 500,000/. to settle 100,000 persons, I do not apprehend, but that the following sums, under the system here recommended, (to be raised by loan within five years,) would be found ample to facilitate, and actually settle half a million of per- sons, viz . :-For 1 828, 50,000/. ; fori 829, 350,000/. ; 1830,250,000/. ; 1831, 200,000/.; 1832, 150,000/. and after the fifth year, should emigration go on at the rate of (pauper and free) 100,000 persons annually, I am disposed to think that from the extent of what may be requu-ed, and it is presumed that gome of them would be dispensed with-the Emigrant to be merely charged in account what he might actually receive. t^ -l I ^1 t 80 EMIGRATION H t increased demand for labour, and the numerous nurseries that would be formed, no farther loan of any great extent would be required, as the pre- sumption is, that funds would then begin to come in from the proceeds of the operation. The loans to be raised by issuing bills, like Exchequer Bills, under the direction of the Board in London, in such sums as would from time to time be re- quired, but not to exceed the iotal annual sum sanctioned by Parliament; and I would recom- mend all disbursements in the Colonies, on ac- count of Emigration, to be drawn for by Bills of Exchange on the Board in London, at sixty days sight, which would afford sufficient tmie to make a favourable negociation of the Emi- gration Scrip to meet them. Many of the Emigrants, it is presumed, will not require the extent of loan which I propose— say 25/. ;— while perhaps in extraordinary cases it may be necessary to authorise the settling agents, un- der the sanction of the Colonial superintendent, to grant some additional assistance, to form a sepa- rate and contingent account, and to be charged to the land account, until repaid by the Emigrant. i PRACTICALLY CONSIDKREl). 81 ac- by ^KDTOa SIDE OF THE FOREGOISG STATEMENT. To amount of loan to 20,000 emigrant families, at 25/. per family .... To interest on ditto, for five years, at 4 per cent. Compound . . . • To expenses of superintendence in the Colonies,* Board in London, land offices, agents in the United Kmg- dom, &c. and other contingencies connected with the Emigration of 20,000 families, being the sum total that may be required under any cir- cumstances, to carry on a systematic Emigration, and, as the services of the officers will be required until the whole sum advanced the settlers is repaid, two years outlay may be assumed as a fair data, assuming likewise that Emigration is to continue for ten years at 10,000/. per annum 600,000 108,327 20,000 Carried forward £628,827 * Although 1 embrace here generally the full outlme of .nd of eveiV expense at home and abroad, yet ?Tl a ststem m!jt be adopted, whereby the Colonial G:vetment tS undertake the expenses of the neces- £ 5 L 82 EMIGRATION l« "■I Brought forward £628,327 To interest on ditto for two years . . I639 To expenses of surveying land, drafts, plans, &c. and extra contingencies of the Surveyor-General's department, opening roads, and other disburse- ments Ten years interest on ditto .... To stationary, &c. for the several de- partments connected herewith . . ].500 Two years interest on ditto .... j^^ 8000 3860 Creditor. By the proceeds of two millions o." acres to be sold to the ^0,000 Emigrant heads of families, at 2s. 6d. per acre . By amount received from Emigrants, in repayment of the loan of 500,000/. deducting for defaulters, incidentals, attending collection, and other draw- backs, at 2/. per family, 40,000/. . By premiums on bills drawn on Eng- .£'643,441 250,000 460,000 Carried forward .£^710,000 sary arrangements in each Colony, by giving some equi valent m land, and of course allowing them to appoint their" own onicers. PBACTiCALLY COK. 83 28,327 1632 8000 3860 L500 122 3,441 [),000 ►,000 ,000 equi. their r oiKTht forward 1^710,000 land from the Oolo^.es, for the sums advanced the Emigrants (600,000/.) at an average premium of 6 per cent, after deducting incidental e- nenses connected with the negotiation, /f said bills 80,000 Gain of exchange on payment of su- perintendants, agents, surveyors' ex- penses, &c. on 29,500/. 6 per cent. . 1770 ^^741 ,770 Debtor ^643,441 Creditor 741,770 Creditor balance .^98,329 The balance on this calculation will no doubt be found amply competent to cover any possible de- falcation or contingency to which the State may be liable. At the same time it must be admitted, that the advantage to be derived to the Emigrants and the Country, would be such as would justify a rational outlay of the National Funds ; although with proper management, I am firmly of opinion that a system of Emigration highly advantageous may be pursued not only without any ultimate ^. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) A 7 m mA 1.0 I.I br^BlS 12.5 ^ 1^ 12.2 1^ 112.0 us { 1.8 L25 illU 11.6 Photographic ^Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 84 EMIGRATION il ^^bI 1- Hiitr ^^^Hiitj' HJ outlay, but, producing, as I have stated, a surplus for the general disbursement of the Empire * The following practical hints may prove useful to Emigrants proceeding to North America. Persons intending to emigrate to North Ame- rica, wh(^ have no friends there before them, should consider well the place to which they ought to proceed. The rate of passage, exclusive of provisions, to the United States, is from 51 to 6/. per adult, and to any of our Colonies from 21. to 31. ; a child under seven years old pays one third, and over seven and under fourteen one half A voyage to New York from the United Kingdom, in the months of April, May, June, and October, (in which the shortest passages are generally made) is performed in from thirty to thirty-five days. To Quebec, in the month of April or May. from thirty to forty.five days. Halifax and St. John's, New Brunswick, from twenty-five to thirty-five days.l *The accounts of each year's emigration to our North American colonies should be made up to the 1st of December, and the whole transmitted to the Board in London, so as to arrive not later than the loth Februarv vlien abstracts detailing progress of settlements, number of persons located, e.iient of assistance rendered &c should be made out and laid before Parliament, not 'later than the 10th March, to enable them to decide on the out- lay for the ensuing year. PEACTICALLY CONSIDIiUED. 85 Persons proceeding to any part of the state of Pennsylvania, not immediately, or Lake Erie, should embark for Philadelphia; if to the back part of Virginia, or any part of Maryland, or Ken- tucki, take shipping for Baltimore ; if for Jersey or State of New York, embark for New York, from whence, in fact, you will find facilities to every part of the Continent. If you are destined to any part of the Canadas, (unless the district of Gaspe) take shipping for Quebec. If for the district of Gaspe or Chaleur, go direct, if you can meet with a conveyance ; if not, Miramichi, or Prince Ed- ward's Island, will be the most convenient ports to embark for. Steam-boats ply daily from Quebec to and from Montreal, which will be found the best route to any part of Upper Canada, and the Western States bordering on the Lakes or River St. Lawrence. If you have friends before you, and you are going to New Brunswick., take ship- ping for St. John"'s, St. Andrew's, or Miramichi, as your advices may direct. If you have no fixed place in view, or friends before you, if labour and farming be your object, and you have a family, bend your course to the Canadas ; for there you will find the widest field for your exertions, and the greatest demand for labour. In almost every part of the middle States of America, you are subject to fever and ague, as fe 86 EMIGRATION .St' also in some parts of Upper Canada. Lower Ca- nada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia are ex- empt in this respect. I would particularly recommend the months of April and May for going out, as you may then expect a favourable passage : on no account go in July or August, as, from the prevalence of south- west winds, you will have a tedious passage. Make your bargain for your passage with the owner of the ship, or some well known respectable broker, or ship master ; avoid, by all means, those crimps that are generally found about the docks and quays, near where ships are taking in passen- gers. Be sure that the ahip is going to the port you contract for, as much deception has been practised in this respect. It is important to select a well known captain, and a fast sailing ship, even at a higher rate. When you arrive at the port you sail for, pro- ceed immediately in the prosecution of your ob- jects, and do not loiter about, or suffer yourself to be advised by designing people, who too often give their opinon unsoHcited. If you want advice, and there is no official person at the port you may land at, go to some respectable person or Chief Magistrate, and he guided by his advice. Let your baggage be put up in as small a com- pass as possible : get a strong deal chest of conve- nient size ; let it be the shape of a sailor's box, PRACTICALLY CONSIDEKEU. 87 broader at bottom than top, so that it will be more steady on board ship ; good strong linen or sack- ing-bags will be found very useful. Pack your oatmeal, or flour, in a strong barrel, or flax seed cask, (which you can purchase cheap in the spring of the year). I would advise, in addition to the usual wood hoops, two iron ones on each cask, with a strong lid and good hinge, and a padlock, &c. Baskets or sacks are better adapted for potatoes than casks. The following supply will be suflicient for a family of five persons for a voyage to North America, viz. — 48 stone of potatoes* (if in season, say not after 1st June) ; 2| cwt of oat- meal-t* or flour ; ^ cwt biscuits ; SOlbs butter in a keg ; 1 gallon of molasses ; SOlbs bacon ; 501bs fish, (herrings) in a small keg ; 1 gallon of spirits ; a little vinegar.— When you contract with tlie captain for your passage, do not forget to in- sure a suflicient supply of good water. An adult will require five pints per day — children in pro- portion. The foregoing will be found a sufficient supply for an emigrant family of five persons, for sixty or seventy days, and will cost about 5/, in Ire- * If potatoes are out of soason for keephig, increase the quantity of oatmeal. f If the Emigrant has any oatmeal to sjiare, it will sell for more than prime cost. tt .'•« r .11 88 EMIGRATION \m land or Scotland ;— in England 61. or 7/. ; if the Emigrant has the means, let him purchase be- sides lib of tea, and l^lb sugar, for his wife. The preceding statement contains the principal articles of food required, which maybe varied as the taste and circumstances of the Emigrant may best suit. In parting with your household furniture &c. reserve a pot, a tea-kettle, frying-pan, feather-bed, (the Irish peasantry generally possess a feather- bed), as much coarse linen as you can, and strong woollen stockings,— all these will be found very useful on board ship, and at your settlement, and are not difficult to carry. Take your spade and reaping-hook with you, and as many mechanical tools as you can, such as augurs, planes, b^^mmers, chisels, &c.— thread, pins, needles, and a strong pair of shoes for winter.--In summer, in Canada, very little clothing is required, for six months- only a coarse shirt and linen trowsers ; and you will get cheap moccassins (Indian shoes) ; you will also get cheap straw hats in the Canadas, which are better for summer than wool hats, and in win- ter you will require a fur or Scotch woollen cap. Take a little purgative medicine with you, and if you have young children a little suitable medicine for them. Keep yourselves clean on board ship, eat such food as you have been generally accus- tomed to, (but in moderation) keep no dirty clothes about your berths, or filth of any kind. Keep on PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED. 89 deck, and air your bedding daily when the weather will permit ; get up at five o'clock, and retire at eight ; take a mug of salt water occasionally in the morning. By attending to these observations, I will insure your landing in good health and better- looking than when you embarked. From the great disparity of male over female population in the Canadas, I would advise every young farmer, or labourer going out, (who can pay for the passage of two,) to take an active young wife with him. In Lower Canada, and New Brunswick, winter begins about the end of November, and the snow is seldom clear from the ground till the beginning of April. In Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward's Island, from their insulated situation the winters are milder than in New Brunswick or Lower Ca- nada, and in Upper Canada they are pretty similar to the back part of the State of New York. The risk of a bad harvest or hay time is rarely felt in Canada, and consequently farming is not attended with so much anxiety or labour, as in the United Kingdom. The winters are cold, but dry and bracing. I have seen men in the woods, in winter, felling trees with their coats off, and other- wise light clothed. The summers are extremely hot, particularly in July and August. The new settler must consult the seasons in all his undertakings, and leave nothing to chance, or !Bi 90 KM IG RATION \ i IM Ik. I to be done another day. The farmers of Lower Canada are worthy of remark in these respects. In conclusion, / beseech you, if you have any party feeling at home, if you wish to promote your own prosperity, or that of your family, wash your hands clean of it, ere you einbark. Such characters are looked upon with suspicion in the Colonies; and you could not possibly take with you a worse recommendation. Prkes of living, house-rent, labour, Sfc. in the principal towns of Canada, with the expense of travelling on the great hading routes. — In Quebec and Montreal, excellent board and lodging in the principal hotels and boarding-houses, 20s. to 305. per week. — Second-rate ditto from 155. to 205. per week. — Board and lodging for a mechanic or la- bourer, 75. to 95. Qd, per week, for which he will get tea or coffee, with meat for breakfast, a good dinner, and supper at night. Rate of wages, without food generally, in the Ca- nadas, — Ship-carpenters, joiners, &c. from 5s. to 75. 6£?. per day. — Bricklayersor stonemasons from 55. to 75. Qd. per day. — Labourers 25. Qd. to 45. per day. — Labourers in the country, 405. per month, and fed. — All handycraft tradesmen from 5s. to 7*. Qd. per day.—House-servants, men, from 265. to 365. per month, with food.— Females SOs. to 305. per month, with food. House-rent, in Quebec or Montreal. A first-rate PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED. 91 private dwelling-house from 100/. to 150/. per year, unfurnished.— Shops, according to situation, from 30/. to 100/.— Tradesmen's dwellings from 20/. to 80/.— Inferior class 10/. to 15/. -A farm of 100 acres, with 20 or 30 acres clear, and a tolerable dwelling, and office-houses, may be purchased in the Canadas for from 150/. to 300/., according to the situation. Passage from Quebec to Montreal, 180 miles, by steam-boats, one of which leaves each place daily, commencing the end of April, and ending the latter end of November. Cabin, including board. &c. which is very luxurious and abundant, from 20s. to 30s. Steerage, without board, from 6s. to 7s. 6d. Nearly a similar rate may be con- sidered an average data, in proportion to distance, in travelling by steam, in all the great lakes and rivers in North America. Time, in going from Quebec to Montreal, 30 hours. Ditto, in return, ing, 24 hours. From Montreal to York, Upper Canada, 2 to 3 days. If by Durham boats,* which are cheapest for Emigrants, the total expense * A Durham boat is long and narrow, and nearly flat in the bottom, with a shifting keel to lift up in shallow water. They generally cax-ry equal to 300 or 400 barrels of flour, and by them is conveyed all the produce from Lake On, tario, &c.; the time descending from Kingston to Mon- treal is from two to three days, and in returniug from eight to fourteen. n EMIGRATION* f to York, including provisions for family, about 8/. 15s. To Prescot or Ogdensburgh, including food, about 21. From York to Niagara, or Buffalow, one day. From Buffalow, or Niagara, there are numerous conveyances, either by steam- boats or sailing-vessels, to the Talbot Settlement and every where about Lake Erie, and cheap con- veyances to the States of Ohio, back parts of Pennsylvania, Illinois, Mitchigan, Missisippi, Ter- ritory, Kentucky, Tennissee, and the adjacent country. Steam-boats and coaches ply daily from Montreal towards New York ; also to Upper Canada, and up the Ottawa ; and, in fact, during the summer months conveyances in every di- rection from Montreal are to be found daily ; and when winter sets in, travelling is good and expe- ditious by sledging, or caryoling upon the snow or ice, which generally commences about Christmas, and continues till the end of March. Route for an Emigrant's family, wishing to pro- ceed from New York to settle in Upper Canada.—- From New York to Albany the expense will be, for 160 miles, 4s. 6d. per head. — Albany to Rochester, 13s. 6d. — Rochester to Youngstown, in Upper Canada, 4s. 6d. — Children under twelve years, half price. Infants, gratis. Baggage, when exceeding a moderate quantity, from New York to Upper Canada, 4s. 6c?. per cwt. PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED. 93 Distances.— New York to Albany by the Hud- son River, 160 miles.— Albany to Utica by the Canal, 109 miles.--Utica to Rochester by the Ca- nal, 160 miles.— Rochester to Niagara River, in Upper Canada, by steam-boat, 80 miles.— Total distance from New York to Niagara, 509 miles. Price of Provisions at Montreal and Quebec. — Beef (winter), ^Id. per lb.— -Ditto (summer), Q^d. to 4c?. per lb. — Mutton (winter), 2^d. per lb. — Ditto (summer), 5d. to 6d. per lb.— Veal (sum- mer), 6d. to 7d. per lb.— Ditto (winter), ^d. to 3d. -Butter, 6d. to 9d. per lb.— Flour, 20s. to Q6s. per 196 lb.— Hams, 5d. to Id. per lb.— Cheese, Sd. to 6d. per lb. The rates in the country parts are much lower than the above. Wheat in the Canadas, according to distance from port of export, Ss. to 5s. per bushel.— Oats, Is. M. to 2s. per bushel.— Potatoes, Is. to 2s. per bushel. — A good Goose or Turkey, Is. to Is. 6d. — A pair of barn-door Fowls, \^d. to Is. 2c?. Vegetables in every part remarkably good and cheap ; and also fish in great abundance. Apples, melons, grapes, and other fruit of all sorts found in England, &c. in great profusion. Liverpool and Newcastle coals at Quebec or Montreal, from 30s. to 35s. per chaldron, but wood is chiefly burnt. I 9i EMlOnATlOX V J Jamaica Rum, 4.9. to 5s. per gallon.— Cognac- Brandy, 6s. to 65. 6d. do. — Whiskey, 2s. 6d. to 2s. Hd. do. — Sugar, 6d. to Id. per lb. — Hyson Tea, 8s. 6J. to 5s. do. — Congou black, 2s. 6d. to 3s. Gd. do.— Boliea, 2s. — Madeira Wine, 24s. to 40s. per doz.— Port, 20s. to 24s. do.—Claret, 208. to 30s. do. — Champagne, 40s. to 60s. do. Porter and Ale are manufactured in every part of Canada ; and in Montreal in particular, very ex- tensive breweries are in full work, and produce Porter not inferior to that of London. FISHERIES. Frequent allusion was made, before the late Emigration Committee, to the advantage that might be derived from further encouragement in the prosecution of the valuable Fisheries on the coasts of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Gulf of St. Lawrence ; and it has been frequently remarked, that an increase of population in the maritime dis- tricts of those countries would materially tend to great national benefit. Now, Emigrants from the South of Ireland, (particularly from the counties of Cork, Waterford, and Kerry,) are well adapted, from their native habits, for that purpose. At present, the Americans are enat)led, from a combination of causes, not only to compete with, but actually to outstrip, us in fishing on the coast of PRACTICALLY CONSIDKUEO. 05 our own territory ; and it cannot be denied, that our lilnrality was extended too far in our com- mercial treaties with the United States and France upon tliese points. I do not see upon what grounds any foreign power should be permitted to fish in any of our close waters ; and in a geogra- phical point of view, as far as our territorial ju- risdiction extends, 1 am disposed to think we are entitled to exclusive sovereignty in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Straits of Bellisle, as much as in the Irish Channel, between the Isle of Man and the Irish or English coast; in fact, we should consider Cape Ray on the Newfoundland coast, and Capo North in Breton Island, the natural outlets of the River St. Lawrence on the south, and the Bellisle Straits on the north. All the American fishermen frequent these waters, and freely use the Islands of Magdellan, and the Esquimaux and Labrador shores, as well as numerous bays in the west and north-west of Newfoundland, to the manifest in- jury of the British fishermen ; and this will, I fear, be the case until we introduce additional popula- tion into Cape Breton, the coast of New Bruns- wick, and Lower Canada bordering on the Gulf ;— by which means a similar method (to that pursued by the Americans inhabiting the State of Main and Massachussetts, which are the principal residence of their fishermen) might be adopted, but with 96 EMIGRATION 1 tH Hii M BBIllx ^WH.ilg.. . ''WK m^M&' m BBJlr- M ^^■i;\ '8 ^^^H|£! |H| much greater advantag2 to us. At present, the bulk of the persons engaged in the North Ameri- can fisheries are migratory from the South of Ire- land and West of England — whole cargoes of fish- ermen going out every spring from Waterford, Pool, and other places. This must militate against the pi >fit of the adventurer, in addition to the ex- pense of freight, and many othtr contingencies, independent of engendering restless and dissolute habits. On the contrary, the following superior and economical system is pursued by the fishermen of the United States. Six or ten farmers join and build a sloop or schooner in the winier, of from 50 to 1 00 tons burthen, which they get ready for sea by the 1st of May; and, after tilling and cropping their farms, and each person supplying his quota of pro- vision, raised by themselves, and appointing the most experienced amongst them as their captain, they set sail for the banks of Newfoundland, Gulf of St. Lawrence, or Labrador Coast. They gene- rally make up a full cargo of fish in about six weeks, and perform the voyage altogether in three months ; and on their return find the harvest ripe, and all things ready to recommence their agricul- tural pursuits. Thus, in fact, do these hardy, frugal, and industrious Americans, not only reap PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED. 97 a profitable crop on shore, but carry on an equally lucrative traffic in fish from the ocean. It is well known, that to the Eastern States the American Govern nent looks for hardy seamen to man their navy, in the event of future war; and the want of such a class of persons would be mate- rially felt in the districts of our Colonies, in the event of an appeal to arms, to preserve the terri- tory under the dominion of the British Crown. The importance of the grant of the Islands of St. PeterV and Maquillan, on the south of New- foundland, and near the entrance of the Gulf of St. Lawrence has (it appears to me) not been duly considered. The French make them a depot for their manufactures, which are thus easily intro- duced into our Colonies, to the manifest injury of British interests. The fine harbours of Louisburgh, in Cape Bre- ton Island, Gaspe, and Bay Chaleur, present un- rivalled situiitions for carrying on fisheries upon those coasts ; and also, between Anticosto and the Labrador shore, the fine harbour of Mingin, and the Bay of Seven Islands, lie easy of access, and pos- sess great facilities for forming fishing settlements ; and asylums would be thereby afforded to the un- fortunate mariners, who are by necessity compelled to take shelter in those perilous seas (particularly, : • ii< fi 93 EMIGRATION on the approach of winter). The following ex- tract will show the lively interest taken by the people of the Colonies in this important branch of our national resources. From the Nova Scotian of the 5th Dec. 1827. The Fisheries.—" An intelligent correspondent at Pictou, who has been engaged during the last summer in the trade of the Magdalene Islands, solicits us to direct the attention of our readers to the disadvantages sustained by these Colonies, from the permission granted to the Americans, of fishing on ou.^ shores. The effects of this intru- sion, he arranges under several distinct heads; and we proceed this week, to communicate and illus- trate his remarks. « 1. It is obvious, he suggests, that this conces- sion on our parts affords to the Americans .n ex- tensive field of industry, to which they can prefer no claim, founded either in national right, or sanc- tioned by the law of nations. It has been asserted, that they employ in this trade upwards of 2000 vessels, and 20,000 men; but although we regard it as an exaggerated estimate, there can be no doubt that the number of vessels which sail an- nually from the States to the Labrador and New- foundland Fisheries, largely exceeds 1000. A long experience has ascertained that this species of employment rears the hardiest and most enter- PEACTICALLY CONSIDERED. 99 prising sailors ; and thus, by a false indulgence on our part, while the naval resources of America are multiplied, she is reared into a more dangerous, because a more powerful and energetic rival. No European power, since the battle of Trafal- gar, has exhibited the capability of competing with England in her naval pre-eminence. America unquestionably has. We do not believe, from the nature of her localities and population, that she ever will be able to attain the dominion of the seas ; but our statesmen ought to see, as clearly as the noon-day sun, the inexpediency of gifting to her subjects a branch of industry which neces- sarily tends to increase her maritime strength, and will render her friendship an object of more anx- ious solicitude, in any future struggle among the nations of the Old World. In a political point of view, every argument, both of national safety and national honour, urge upon the Cabinet of Eng- land the propriety of recalling this indulgence, provided it can be accomplished without violating the faith and integrity of treaties. " 2. When, however, we turn to the commer- cial eflPects of this concession, the folly of it is shadowed in bolder relief. It is a recognised prin- ciple in political economy, that supply and demand have a close and ivit mediate reaction upon each other. If this be correct, and we think none will F !2 'ft . A 100 EMIGIIATION have the hardihood to dispute it, it is obvious, that the enlarged and vigorous prosecution of the Fisheries upon our shores, is altogether dependent upon an increased and active demand for their pro- ducts abroad. Our fisheries themselves appear to be inexhaustible: — although upwards of two centu- ries have elapsed since the French first commenced to fish upon the shores of Nova-Scotia, Labrador, and Newfoundland, and millions of quintals have been derived from them, yet it is the general be- lief that they are still as prolific as in the earlier times; and that they seem to resemble the widow's cruise, which multiplied in its contents by every new abstraction. It is clear, therefore, that we could still prosecute them to an extent far out- runnr ; the present; and, in fact, that our exer- tions are now limited by the smallness of the foreign demand. We complain of the right con- ceded to America, because it curtails that demand below what it would otherwise be. It wrests from us, in the first place, the supply of the United States themselves ; no fish, with the exception of a few barrels of pickled salmon or mackarel, are ever exported to America, although it is in the recollection of our mercantile men, when dry fish, in large quantities, were annually and regularly shipped from Nova Scotia to Boston, to New York, or to the South. To Moose Island also, as was PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED. 101 lately stated by the editor of the * St. John's Cou- rier,' American vessels were once in the habit ot* resorting for the purpose of purchasing fish, but no such practice is now continued ; and both of these changes are assigned as the legitimate conse- quences of the liberal terms of the last treaty. Nor are the effects of this false generosity on the part of British negociations confined to the demand of America alone ; her fishermen do not only fully meet the domestic demand, but carry home a large surplus besides ; and these being exported to the Catholic Countries of Europe, to the foreign islands in the West Indies, and to the rising re- pubhcs in South America, enter into competition with the products of our fishing industry, curtail the demand, deteriorate the price, reduce the rate of the merchant's profit, and retard our career in the pursuit of national wealth." I would here particularly draw your attention to extracts from Governor Murray's Report to the Secretary of State, in 1762, on the actual state of the Province of Quebec, which bears so strongly on the importance to h. ;rStactual pauper labourer. To ihu ela. thea^ten'^. 'of the Emigration Boari mil no douM be ^""f^Xtle they will require not only assistance in emigrating, hat lole fl^nlpin the Colonies uM tkey are in a eomparat«e atntp to establish themselves. .e?',an'angements can easily be gone into with the ship- owners at very moderate terms, for the conveyance, &c. of emigrants out ; and the presumption is, that the second year a considerable saving would arise, inasmuch as the very same ship would be probably engaged, by which means she would avoid the expense of a second purchase of water casks, as the captain would bring them home each voyage. "From the statements hitherto before the Committee, they can form a pretty just idea of the probable expense of removing a family, and providing them for twelve or fifteen months, and which is particularly stated in my answer to your second printed query. Shipping could now be got at Liverpool at the rate of sixteen shillings per ton for Que- bec register. Government finding birthing, water, fuel, &c. which, on the average, would cost about eight shillings per ton. " I am of opinion that when the business is fairly under- stood, there will rarely be any necessity for the Govern- ment finding provisions on the voyage out to North Ame- nca ; for although the emigrant may not be possessed of means to obtain them, yet he will find no difficulty, by con^ tribution among his neighbours and relations, in procuring it ; and a quantity of oatmeal could accompany each ship, as a stand-by in case of accident. " From Fngland it is pre.sumed the parish will defray the expense of transport out, &c. ; but from Ireland and Scot- land I apprehend very much if any thing worth while can be depended on, and that Government will be obliged to find the passage out. "In all cases, on arrival in the Colonies, the emigrant to have his chi)ice, either to accept Government assistance ? \u APl'ENDlX. ^ ^Ir under the fixed conditions or not. A vast number of per- sons now in the Colonies would make great eflForts to assist their relations and get them out, if they were only sure of A free passage; and I would beg to recommend all such per- sons in the Colonies as can obtain a recommendation for industry and loyalty, and that he or they possessed reasonable prospects to assist their friends, if with them, to produce same to any of the respective agents in the Colonies, or for- ward same by post, if at any distance from a station, and depositing at the rate of from two to five dollars per adult, according to the distance the relation might have to go, after landing in the country, for the purpose of assisting him on, and which he or they would get on landing :— such person so applying in the Colonies, might be furnished with a ticket or order on nearest agent in the United Kingdom, transmitting a duplicate thereof to the Emigra- tion Board in London, and the person or persons so de- signii*ed in such order or ticket should be entitled to a free passage out. Provided their situation at home Mould bring them within the denomination of persons as success- ful candidates for the favour, this operation alone would bring out thousands that vould not cost the Government one penny for settlement in the country beyond the facili- ties that the machinery v^ould entail. " I do not apprehend that it will be found necessary to go into any great extent of assistance in the Colonies to sin- gle men or women, or artizans, as the greater portion of them Mill soon be a^sorbed, to any reasonable number—/ should say thousands. " Funds might be placed at the disposal of the resident agent at port of landing, to give partial assistance in pecu- liar cases, subject to control of the Governors of the respec- tive Colonies, when same case be obtained in time. ** Wherever public works are going on, emigrants sJu>uld be immediately directed after landing, to whatever extent the demand Mill justify; and out of their wages a portion should APPENDIX. 116 be withheld, to go towards liquidating the expense that may he incurred for their passage, and any other assistance. To such persons so employed on public works, land to be allot- ted at the usual terms, if in the vicinity, but no other as- sistance beyond the employment; and the settler in such cases to be obliged to build a house, and make other re- quired improvements, before he obtained his deed. « Each emigrant on arrival in the Colonies, and provided with vouchers entitling him to Government assistance, shall present himself to the agent, and declare his intention, and if he wishes to embrace the assistance of Government for his location, not to exceed in amount 50^. sterlmg, and having complied with the several conditions, he will then get a location-order to the superintendent at such settlement as he may go to. when he will be disposed of in the usual way, and placed on his lot agreeably to the number and conditions of his contract. « The various arrangements connected with the rations and supply of implements, &c. can he minutely gone into in P-oodtime; but I would by all means make such early arrangements on those points as should enable a proper supply of every thing needful to be transported to he diffe- rent depots, when such can be done with the S^^f'^J^^ lity and least expense, as every one acquainted with the Canadas must know that it is only at particular pemds of the year that arrangements of this kind, particularly when much transport and land-carriage is necessary, van be gone into, unless at a great sacrifice and waste of money. « From Mr. Robinson, who is now in communication with the Colonial Department, practical and useful information can be, and no doubt has been obtained on many matters connected with this subject, which his experience J wel calculated to render; and I am perfectly satisfied that many things, that now seem to be rather difficult, will vanish graduaUy as the subject becomes more known and is once set in operation. I I 116 APPENDIX. " I beg- to subjoin a sketch of plan in aid of any system of emig^ration, and a form of a way-card, showing the ex- pense of transport of a family from New York to Upper Canada, sent mo by my brother, his Majesty's Consul at New York, who^ although he has it not in his power per- sonally to offer his assistance in the very useful contem- plated work, yet watches with anxious solicitude the pro- gress of any measure that has for its object the improve- ment of our valuable Colonies, and the uniting them in an inseparable bond of union with the parent State. " U, Sir, this hasty sketch should be considered by you as throwing any light on the subject of Emigi-ation, I shall be glad of having made the contribution. And " I have the honour to be, Sir, " Your most obedient servant, /' A. C. BUCHANAN." " To the Right Hon. R. Wilmot Horton,* &c. &c. &c. " P.S. The Committee are already in possession of my views as to such situations as I would direct Emigration to, and no subsequent information induces me to vary my opinion. " A C. B." *' Sketch of a Plan in aid of any system which may be adopted to encourage Emigration from the United King- dom to his Majesty's Colonies in North America. By J- Buchanan, his Majesty's Consul at New York. '^ Actual Settlers in his Majesty's North American Colonies, desirous of bringing out their friends from the United Kingdom, to pay four dollars to any of the agents in the provinces, to be forwarded to the agent of the port in the province at which the emigrant is to arrive, through * Emigration Report, 1827. APPENDIX. 117 a bank or other public institution ; which sum, so deposited, shall be paid over to the jjerson for whom it was sidvanced, upon arrival at the port, as the means of aiding tlie party in proceeding to the place of destination. " 'l^he Certificate or King's Ticket (the form of whicli is sent herewith,) upon being forwarded to His Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonial Department (if ap- proved) is intended to be sent to the ])erson or persons de- signated therein, who, upon embarkation, kIiuU hand it over to the master or owner of any vessel proceeding to the port designated in the order, provided the Collector shall approve the vessel as fully supi)lied with fuel, water, ike. for the number of persons who are to i)roceed on the voy- age, but in all cases leaving it optional with the emigrant o proceed with such vessel (if so approved by the Collector as well found) as he may select. LhvI Observations. ♦' There have been above seventy-five thousand settled n Upper Canada within the short si)ace of fifteen years. It may be stated, that, one with another, they did not possess, on their arrival there, half a dollar a-hcad. " Those who advance one pound for bringing out a re- ation or neighbour, thereby prove their own industry and uccess ; while by such advance by residents in the Colonies, the aiding of persons intending to proceed to the United States will be so far guarded against, and all the clamour about starving for want of employment in the Colonies silenced. « The following Scale is offered as ample to effect the re- moval of more persons than all the timber- ships that trade to the Colonies can accommodate. If no unmarried man under twenty should receive a ticket, the removal of a fe- male would probably also be effected, and the fixing of the emigrant would then be more certain. V 118 APPENDIX. u The following sums to be granted ; For Adults . . . £4 O Under fourteen years . . 3 10 Under ten years . « 2 10 Under six years . . 19 " Ships well found, if freed from the unnecessary re- strictions required, will insure ample accommodations ; it being only necessary to guard against want of water, to provide fuel and cooking accommodations, as all emigrant* easily procure a sufficiency of food for their passage." 1-1 No. II. Estimates from Mr. Buchanan, delivered to the Committee 13th and 20th March, 1827. ADDRESSED TO THE RIGHT HON. R. WILMOT HORTON. Downing-street, 12th March, 1827. Dear Sir — I have examined Mr. A. C. Buchanan's esti- mate of the expense attending the conveyance and settle- ment of Emigrants, and I perfectly concur with him in opinion, that perfect justice can be done to them, as well as to the public, for a sum not exceeding 60/. per family. I give this opinion without imputing any improvidence to the conductor of the former benevolent operations of this character, a great part of the excess of expense in the former over the latter estimate, being attributable to the enhanced rate of freight, and other circumstances, over which Mr. Robinson had but partial or no control. Mr. Buchanan's suggestions and observations on matters connected with this subject in general, coincide with the impressions and information I have received, and I think merit particular attention. Very respectfully your's, W. B. FELTON. To R. Wilmot Horton, Esq. &c. &c. &c. 4 If 11- f' appi:nuix. no No. I. Estimate, under the proposed amended Passenger Act that the transport of two hundred adult emigrants, euuLl to three liundred and twenty persons, in a ship four hundred tons register, from the United Kingdom, until put on the location, not to exceed in distance fifty mile« from St. Lawrence, and below Montreal. Transport hire, including water, fuel, birthing, four hundred tons, at 26*. per ton Provisions for Irish emigrants^ and £. *. (i. 520 4lbs. potatoes l^lb. oatmeal ^Ib. pork Molasses Herrings d. 1 2 2 Of 6 per day, for fifty days average passage, 25s. each. Scotch emigrants, same expense, food a little varied. English emigrants Gjrf. or 7d. per day, in con- sequence of which, 10/. is added to the estimate for Irish and Scotch emigrants . Incidental for medicine . • • One pair blankets to each family, being sixty pair for the whole, computed to cost Till arrived at Quebec 260 2 18 800 Three hundred and twenty persons, divided into families of five persons each, would make 66| families ; so that the cost of a man, wife, and three children, until arrived at Quebec, will be about 12/.. ; expense of removing them fatty mUe8 and victuals, 1/., say 13/. ; but if taken to the Ottawa, » \20 AIPENDIX. Kingston, or York, it would cost about from 3/. or i/. ad- ditioHiU, each family. Transport exjjense of family until planted on their loca- tion, within fifty miles of St. Lawrence. Passage of five persons, as above Log house ..... One additional pair of blankets Farming implements . . . . Mechanical implements . . . Household and cooking furniture A cow at April fidlowing Seed, wheat, oats, [)otatoes Fifteen or sixteen months' provisions, taking into calculation milk from cow for six months . Proportion of expense of superintendance to fach family ..... Incidental for carriage, salt, &c. £. *. rf. 13 4 7 a 1 1 1 10 2 5 2 5 28 3 1 10 57 17 Equal to 11/. 11*. 6d. per head, when located and finally planted. N.B. In this calculation I take it for granted, that in the amount of any extended emigration the charter of ships will be thrown open to the different ports of the United Kingdom generally. Note of Editor, 1828.]— In referring tlie above estimate to that now assumed in pages 29 and 78, it will be seen that a cow is omitted ; also the charge of superintendance, and a more econo- • mical ration recommended, with other articles that the paupers »ust be in possession of. Consequently, the difference between 671. 17*. 6d. and 451. will be accounted for. I 'Si; is 7 C 10 .5 3 Ari'EMDIX. No. HI 121 TO THE RIGHT HON. U. WH.MOT HOIITON. 23, Downing-street, March 11, IH'2?. Sir— Acreeably to your directions on Saturday, I have now the honour herewith to submit to you an estimate of the probable expense of transporting five hundred and sixty-eight persons of similar ages to those taken out by Mr. Robinson in 1823, and locating them m Lower Canada providing them with ample means finally to estal,lish and plant themselves. I take the present rate of freights outward for shipping . but should freights in other respects advance, it will not affect the outward freight to North America, as so many vessels are going out in ballast, and the calculation as to ::visLris at the present price, which is not likely to vary much, or, at least, to that extent as -f;J Tf ^^^^ change my calculation. The particulars of the five hun- dredandLty-eight persons, similar to the emigra Uou o. 1823 are herewith marked No. UL, and a recapitulation, No il of the expense actually incurred in locating the Tame number by Mr. Uobinson ; and as the average of chUdren in that emigration was not in the usual proportion, I also beg to submit a sketch. No. I., of the probable ex- ens of\ansporting and locating a man -d wi e^ a^^^^^ three children, which - is the proportion generally alluded " t^Z^^^^^^^^ each family a stove ; but as thy would be so totally ignorant of such, and as they w 11 find noTnconvenience for want of fuel, I -u ^ W-- - additional pair of blankets, with some ^^^^^ A;-^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ shoes in preference. Besides, materials for making bucks til be IZ in every part of Canada, and fii-e-places will be readily constructed. 122 AI'PENDIX. May I bcf? farther permission to sup^jfeat, that even should tlie statements I have made he found difficult of carryinjj^ into effect for want of means, a very advan- tageous emij^ration might be carried on, of infinite benefit to Ireland and the Colonies, by giving partial assistance to families under judicious arrangement, and, in case of actual paui)erism, more extended relief. In the view I have taken of this very important subject, having devoted a great deal of my time and attention to it, I find myself borne out by persons well capable of judging (amonjr whom I might in- clude the exalted nobleman at the head of the Government of Canada, from his long residence in the country, and 'is unwearied zeal for its true interest,) that the plan proposed in last year's Report is on rather too expensive a scale, and might be put in operation with every necessary advantage to the settler, for far less than the sum stated in that Re- port; and 1 presume that many respectable persons, com- petent for the situation, might be got, who would gladlv co-operate in the undertaking, and look for their chief emolument by identifying themselves with the ultimate success of the emigrant. The calculations I have the honour to send you will generally apply to emigrants locating either in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Gaspee, or either of the Canadas. In point of distance and position, Halifax i% on an average, five or ten days shorter than other ports; but that will be met by being obliged to give a higher freight for the emigrants thither, as the ship would be obliged to seek another j)ort to procure her homeward cargo. If the emigi-ants proceed to the uj)per province of Canada, the additional expense will be about as follows; — Man, wife, and three children, Quebec to Montreal 18s. ; pro- visions, two days, 3s. ; from Montreal to any where up the Ottawa, to the extent of one hundred and fifty miles, or to Kingston on Lake Ontario, I should suppose that 4.5s. ?i family would fully cover the expense, transport and pro- AI'I'KNDIX. 123 vUion«-;-m ull, ('<'<» Q"el.ec, .11. 6s. for » f«.m y of five ,.er. r„!- anathU ,ul.led to the total expense to QueLee, would 2k the eost of each fumily to sh to York .n pper rrnad. bv way of Albany and Oswego, for, 1 th...k, r;ra'::rtta;.,rd:aL.withtheexpe..se„f sailV™n the U..ited Kingdom for North Amencabytle ist of April, and no,, leave after the Ist of June, as afte. rr v:t tSh:"..:c:s:y' arrangenLs might be "t;:..f .ti'halten said as to the most suitable place, for lo a't ng 1-B emigrants; Upper Ca,.ada as to season fo, '»'•'""»,.,. J f g„i, i,as many advantages ; but andun.versalfe.tl y 01 ^° ; ^^,.^„j „nj„yed by to which 1 consider the 1'""""'/ .„,;„„„ hitherto Lower Canada fully eq«.val..t Ai'J««™'fc ^ has taken ""-''n ^re „"em^ ^'thither 'may be very large ^-^ .^^'^:^;t,:; comMnedwith other strong ;ra ;:l";:'eo;side;aWepor^ of the settlers HtSlr-t—Tr district of Gaspee. and Jd of Senr Bay. and to unite a U„k of commmucatma G 2 1 ' 124 APPENDIX. i 11 by the head of St. John's River towards Kamouraska, is of such obvi( us importance to the Colonies generally (and the soil admitted good,) that I shall not make any farther re- mark on it, and I know that Lord Dalhousie is of opinion, that making extensive settlements on the south side of the Saint Lawrence, opposite Quebec, would be attended with many important advantages, not only as regards the indi- vidual prosperity of the emigrant, which can hardly be doubted from the proximity to the Quebec market, but politically an increase of population and British feeling and principle in the lower province is absolutely necessary, and which the continued embarrassment in every improve^ ment proposed by His Majesty's Government fully esta- blishes. It was. Sir, a favourite scheme of the late Sir G. Prevost, not to encourage settlement on the south side of the Saint Lawi-ence, or Eastern Townships, but that there should remain a barrier of wilderness against the Americans. For my part, I should be more disposed to depend on a grate- ful loyal population, and the introduction of fifty thousand good emigrants, in event of any future war with our ambi- tious Republican neighbours, than on their favourite bmh to fight in. In fact those very districts, except in a few instances, are fiUing with any tiling but a desirable population,— such as American squatters, whom it will be found, if longer neglect- ed, very difficult to dislodge. It is observed by somejthat the locating of emigrants in those situations, would cause great difficulty, for want of roads; and this must remain so, so long as population is withheld. Bad as the roads are, the Americans contrive to send their cattle and other provisimu through those very townshipc^ and on to the Quebec market. As to New Brunswick, 1 never understood that its soil was suited for the culture of wheat, and, hitherto, farming has not been much attended to, the chief employment being iiUhe tmiber trade; and at present, I believe, New Bruns- APPENDIX. 125 wick is obliged to procure the greater portion of its bread and flour from the States ; and, in the event of a large influx of inhabitants going in, it would drain the province of much of its specie, as they have nothing to barter with ihe Ame- ricans One or two hundred families might make advan- tageous settlements in Nova Scotia, and which would annuaUy increase. Those persons accustomed to fishing, 8uch as the sea-coast inhabitants of County Cork, would find good employ in the fisheries. I do not think that any quantity of good land is now in the possession of the Crown in that province. The same remark may generally apply to Prince Edward Island. The land is nearly all granted; but, I presume, the proprietors would gladly relinquish a moiety to the Crownfor the purpose of settlement. It has been already stated, that the river Saqueny holds out good inducements for forming a settlement, and which 1 have a strong anxiety to see efi'ected. I have the honour to remain, Sir, Your obedient servant, A. C. BUCHANAN. To R. Wilmot Horton, Esq. &c. &c. &c. No. IV. Extract of a Letter addressed to the Right Honourable R. W Horton, by Mr. Buchanan, when it was intimated to him that he was to superintend the then intended Scotch Emigration of Spring 1827. 23, Downing-Street, 9th May, 1827. Sir- In the event of twelve hundred families going out this year, it will require twelve ships carrying four hundred fons'to Convey them; those .an easily be had at moderate rates, without troubling the Transport Office. In fact, if 126 APPENDIX. H u; you want economy, these expensive establishments must be avoided ; and as you are to look to the emigrant for the repayment of the outlay, we shall be considered more as Trustees, and expected to manage these aifairs on the most economical plan possible. In the selection of the ships, it will be necessary to get fast-sailing vessels, and long and roomy between decks, for, the greater the space in length, the more births you can put up. I would suggest that the ships find birthing, which ought to be made trong; also, water and fuel. Government to find provisions, or not, as might be agreed on ; at all events, the captain of the ship to act as purser, and for his trouble, I would propose to allow him a per centage on the quantity consumed, — the rations to be fixed prior to sailing, and strictly attended to. I would also propose, that in each ship an additional supply of oatmeal, pork, herrings, &c., be put on board as stores for the settlement. So long as we can establish the emigrants any where below Montreal, and accessible with- out much land-carriage, the advantage of taking out a large supply of oatmeal and pork will be obvious. The meal to be put in strong casks of 2 cwt. each : this, I presume, will cost in Ireland or Glasgow, about 12s. 6d. or 15s. per cwt. ; and Irish Pork about 50s. or 55s. per barrel of 200 lbs, neat. This latter is at present an article of export to North America. I understand that what I had formerly learnt to be the case, has been confirmed, namely, that Nova Scotia would not form so desirable a place for sending the emigrants to, as originally contemplated ; and I much doubt. Sir, whether even Miramicha is capable of that facility to further the objects of forming a sound Agricultural settlement which you could wish. I have no doubt but a considerable quantity of good land is to be found up that river, and stretching towards the Ristigouche ; but the great objection in my mind is, that the attention of the emigrant would be di- rected from that solid road to agricultural prosperity and AFPENDIX; 127 inaependence, by being too much drawn to t.n.be"ng. ^^ the timber trade, that U so extensively «»"'^* «"''''^^* quarter, that experience has shown tljat where such ex.s^ travagance intervene, ending in any thmg but a sound com- fortaUe state of society. Indeed, it is admitted genera ly, "hchldecidedlyconcur.thatitwouldbeunquesuon. My better for Canada in particular, as its soil is more fit for agriculture than New Brunswiclc, if timbenng was al- togeirr done away with, and the views of the people were dlected to the oily true source of wealth and happi- ness Agriculture. Besides, by following timbenng, I fear Ich ff the « security for the repaymen could be Trended upon, -a--^ as their farms would be neg- lected, and the only improvement you would see "f'""™^ years, would be a miserable log hut, and perhaps h«dly Z thing in the shape of cleansing the grounds for even ridden Any body acquainted with New Brunswick ^aSutely St.Wor ^«r t^' ""Id " tU the same time, I do not say but, by care and ^t""' »^ » tion, those propensities may be overcome, and a prosperous «.ttlement formed on the Miram cha River. I would propose that every head of a family has, or pro- vide hS before embarkation, with a spade and metal ;torr;i;; you mustlooU - the Colonies Jor^^^^^^^ krp"»:"areXeon^^^wri^^^^^ r:rrS,butasseedf„rtheen^^^^^^^^^^^^ . n I 128 APPENDIX. and Glasgow, we may calculate on every co operation as to economy. I would suggest that a few hundred old miHtary tents, with some artificers' tools, saws, smith's bellows, ironmon- gery, &c., should accompany the emigrants,— all of which, no doubt, could be easily obtained from some of the depots of old stores, &c. ; and a supply of medicine necessary for forming a dispensary should be provided, and young doc- tors will be found who will gladly follow the settlement, and look to the individuals for their pay. One great bless- ing that will result to settlement in Lower Canada, is the healthiness of the climate, free from fever or ague. There are numerous minor matters that will require mature attention ; and I shall conclude, satisfied that in any arrangement with those poor weavers, who are likely to be the first objects of our sympathy, when matters are fully explained to them, they will gladly and gi-atefully unite in furthering the subject to its completion with every possible economy. I have the honour to be. Sir, Your's sincerely, (Signed) A. C. BUCHANAN. The Right Hon. R. Wilmot Horton. &c. &c. &c. I APPENDIX. V^ PASSENGER ACTS. No. V. Queries submitted by M. S. Hill, Esq. to the merchants of Londonderry, respecting an improved alteration m the Passenger Act. TO THK RIGHT HON. WILMOT HORTON. 23, Downing-street, March 20, 1827. Sir,_I have the honour to present you with the ac- companying letters received this day by me from M. S. Hill, Esq. Collector of the port of Londonderry, with querie. submitted by him to the principal merchants of that city, with a view to an improved alteration in the present Pas- senger Act ; and 1 beg to state, I fully concur in the ob- servations made by Mr. Hill. I have the honour to be. Sir, Your most obedient Servant, A. C. BUCHANAN. To the Right Hon. R. Wilmot Horton, &c. &c. &c. TO A. C. BUCHANAN, ESQ. Derry, March 12, 1827. Mv Dear Sir,~In consequence of the inclemency of the weather, I did not receive your letter of the 3d instant ^t^rST^er, to afford you any in^matj^n i. „.y ^ower on a subject in respect to which I w^sh your Exertions may succeed, every exertion on my part ha been used. There is but one sentiment in Derry, as to the o 5 [■: ' i(i(B4ffW#SBWR™ 130 ArPENDIX. M 1^ necessity of amending the Passeng .o-' I am satisfied, under existing circumstances, that e . facility should be afforded to Emigration, with proper regard to the comfort and safety of those who avail themselves of it. Very sincerely yours, M. S. HILL. To A. C. Buchanan, Esq. w • Queries with a view to an improved alteration in the present Passenger Act. Query 1st.— Would it be advisable to do away with legis- lative interference in that respect altogether, or to pro- vide for the safety and comfort of passengers by regulations and restrictions properly modified and approved of ? Answer. — It would not be right to do away with legisla-, tive interference : it is absolutely necessary to provide for the comfort of passengers, and restrict the number. Query 2d. — What additional number of passengers might be taken in proportion to tonnage ; and should not the present regulation, with respect to children, still continue ? Answer.- -A vessel can accommodate, with everv conve- tiience and comfort, two passengers to every three tons of her register. Children to continue under the present existing law ; that is, two under fourteen years, or three under seven years of age, equal to one passenger. Query 3d. — What regulation would it be wise to adopt in respect to provisions; and would it be sufficient to make the master responsible that each passenger shall take on board a sufficient quantity of wholesome victualling for three months, still holding *he owners accountable under a penalty, to have that quantity on board in case of acci- dents } Answer. — The description of people now emigrating, are not in circumstances to lay in provisions for the voyage to ;the extent that the present law requires, nor are they in APPENDIX. 131 the habit of using such provisions: the master, owners, or consignee, should be bound, under a penalty, to see that a reasonable quantity of good wholesome victuals, of the best description that the passengers can procure or are m the habit of using, equal to three months consumption, be put on board ; and that the present law resoectmg water be complied with. j -r „„ Query 4th.-Can a doctor be dispensed with; and it so, how might his services be supplied? Answer.-A doctor is altogether unnecessary : m few cases ca. i.e render any service to passengers, being him- self sick during the greater part of the voyage. The mas- ters of passenger-ships better understand ^ow^o treat the passengers than the doctor, and are in the habit of ad- ministering medicine when necessary. Query 5th.-Is not the present regulation, which re- quires the precise description of passengers to be forwarded L licence, and to be therein inserted before the vessel can clear out, an impediment to the trade ; -•! -" the number which the vessel can carry ^""i/^-^^^^f.^^^ sufficient to state, without particularizing adults chUdren under fourteen, and children under seven Y^ars of age Answer.-Much inconvenience arises on the present mode of taking out a licence, having to forward the appli- cation for it at least six days prior to the clearing out of the .essel, when it is necessary to Btate the number of adu ts, the number under fourteen years of age, and the number aider seven years of age : after the licence is gran ed in rany cases, a number of those who have engaged hei v Ts^aVesre ract,and such as offer in their stead w.U no CZ-n "'^"^ wiU take from then,, and throw i,.t„ the '"'"-l^f .' "= ^™«- ricans, a considerable profit of their voya^--. '•'=«"^^^^ ing the Emigration from British An>encu to the United ^'" Ttherefore beg to call your attention and I'r''.'^ P"" sume to request you to represent to his Majesty s Govern- Ztl hardships and imperfections «f the ..rese,a Act, to cause such early modifications to be made "' «"^ the many poor families who may be preparing to emigrate, lut XUnnot accomplish the same -der the presen^ sy - tem. Should you wish it, 1 shall be most happy pei^oiuUly to attend, to answer any questions, and give any farther in- formation that might be thought useful. " I have the honour to be. Gentlemen, " Your most obedient servant, '■A.C.BUCHANAN." " To the Right Honourable and Honourable the Lords of His Majesty's Treasury. .. We the undersigned merchants and ship-owners of the port If Dutlin, engaged in trade to North America^ b^ leave to direct the attention of your Lordships to an An Zed in the last Session of Parliament, for the "gulat'on :fT-nger.vesselstotheBritishCob,nies;w^^^^^^^ maCs of the Irish emigrants , and there is so n>uc^. am- bSyi" the different clauses, that we are »ompeM ^o rruelt your Lordships wiU direct some practu^ person, acquXted with emig ation from Ireland, to draft a bill for 17 ! 138 APPENDIX. Rk ^ fl i-'l S i the consideration of Parliament this Session, and thus re- move the numerous complaints against the present Act :— " John Astle, John Martin and Son, G.W.andT.H. Sneyd, W. Curry and Son, James Gray, George M'Bride, " Isaac Todhunter, John Baker, Richard Purdy, Thomas Cleriston, A. Journcaux, Joseph Wilson, Son, and Co." Evidence of Mr. John Astle hefore the Committee, Sth March, 1825. Is there any necessity for any Act of Parliament to regu- late this trade ?— There is a necessity for some regulation, or else I should think the cupidity of the brokers would lead them to crowd the ships too much with the unfortu- nate emigrants. No. VIII. Extracts from Governor Murray's General Report on the ancient Government and actual State of the Province of Quebec in 1762. The Tenure of Lands here is of two sorts. The Fiefs or Seigneuries. — These lands are deemed noble : on the demise of the possessor, his eldest son inhe- rits one half, and shares with the other children in the remainder : if any of these die without posterity, the bro- thers share the portion of the deceased, exclusive of their sisters. The purchaser of these fiefs enters into all the privileges and immunities of the same, but pay^ fifth of the purchase-money to the Sovereign, who is Lord of the soil. By law, the Seigneur is restricted from selling any part of his land that is not cleared ; and is likewise obliged (reserving a sufficiency for his own private domain) to con- ■^^.m APPENDIX. 139 "" ThI tnltnceded by the Seigneur is the second sort „fr„'.re, and these a.e called terres en ™ " ' J^^^P;; pertyis entirely in the r>o^"^\;:^ ^^ ^^^X can never be raised upon them ; they can seu ii } ;Le, but the Pu— -^>^ed ^^m^::^^^^l the several parts are found ""^^l^^^f J^^^^ By law, no family, they are obliged to ^^^ »» ""^j ^^f :;;e„fthan one „an can build upon a p.ece of land of less exte arpent, half in front, upon a ^^t'' »« °^„'a tl blige was done with a view to promo — °;;^,i,,„4 J„ the inhabitants to spread ; edicts have Je™ p time to time, to reumte ^lf^\f'l^^%,,, last of not settled within a term of >-.J preserve , these was published in 1732. OBSERVATIONS. The Canadians are very ignorant, and *«— of ^^^ religion. Nothing can contribute so -* J^ ^^^'^.^^ S-^v::^:crnt:r:i::rXrationistobe ''rrrrasTar!::^-he former Gove^menMo^^^^^^^^^^ ^ o^ nf the clerffv French, especially the aignineu irTo^: nfti: farther importation of these HwouU rnecess!ry to encourage ^^e natives to engage nth^^^^^^^^^ -:r:israti;:btetrbrnT:::s-^ •SI i« 140 APPENDIX. I] 1 ffg difficulty will attend this, «as it is unendowed ; though here- after, means may be found out for making up this defici- ency. NATURE OF THE SOIL, AND ITS PRODUCE. With very slight cultivation, all sorts of grain are here easUy produced, and in gi-eat abundance : the inhabitants are inclinable enough to be lazy, and not much skilled m husbandry. The great dependence they have hitherto had on the gnn and fishing-rod made them neglect tillage, beyond the re- quisites of their own consumption, and the few purchases they needed ; the monopolies that were carried on here m every branch made them careless of acquiring beyond the present use; and their being often sent on distant parties and detachments to serve the particular purposes of speedy and avaricious men, without the least view to pubUc utility, were circumstances under which no country could thrive: as they will not be subject to such inconveniences under a British Government, they will of course apply more closely to the culture of their lands. The mines already discovered, and the mineral and sulphurous waters in many parts of this country, leave no room to doubt nature has been bountiful to it in this respect ; and that farther discoveries and improvements are likely to be made with regard to these, whenever it becomes more populous. Notwithstanding the waste of war, which they have more severely felt from their pre- tended friends, than from their declared foes, the country will abound, in three or four years, with aU kinds of pro- vision, sufficient to answer not only their home consump- tion, but even to export, if a market can be procured. OBSERVATIONS. They grow both hemp and flax in some parts of the country, and many of the lands are well cidtivated for !F APPENDIX. 141 these productions : it will be right to turn the thought of the people towards the cultivation of these articles, so essential to Great Britain, and for which she annually pays ^eat sums to foreigners. A few premiums properly disposed of, with some Germans and Russians skilled in raising and pre- paring the same, and encouraged for that purpose to be- Lie settlers here, may in a short time greatly improve this most useful branch of agriculture. This will be one means of employing the women and children, during the long winters, in ^^-^^^mg and pre- paring the flax and hemp for exportation; will divert them from manufacturing coarse things for their own use, as it will enable them to purchase those of a better sort, manu- factured in and exported from Great Britain. POPULATION. The present state of Population may be easily seen by the account of the number of people in this Government, taken about a twelvemonth ago. In 1759, the population of the whole province was counted at sixty thousand souls. There is great reason to believe this Colony has been noon the decrease in this respect, for near twenty years past. The wars which they have been almost constantly carrying on ; the strictness with which marriages within certain degrees of consanguinity were forbidden, except by dispensation; the obliging strangers inclined to engage in that state, previously to prove their not being married before ; and the prohibition of intermarriages between Pro- * The population of Lower Canada in 1825 was computed at 430,079 souls, but whick 1 consider nnderrated, as the ig- norant peasants, or halitants^ were really afraid to gu-e a return of the actual number of their families, fearing that the measure was prepaiato to a head-tax. The population now (1828) is fullv halt a million. 1 >. !i 142 APPENDIX. testants and Roman Catholics, were so many bars to the propagation of the species. These difficulties are now in a good measure removed ; the men are an active, strong, and healthy race, the women extremely prolific, and in all human probability the next twenty years will produce a vast increase of people. A most immense and extensive cod fishery can be es- tablished in the River and Gulf of St. Lawrence, and may in time prove an inexhaustible source of wealth and power to Great Britain. Settlements may be formed in the neigh- bourhood of the best fishing places, to which the indus- trious and intelligent in that branch may be invited and encouraged to repair. A rich tract of country on the South side of the Gulf, will, in consequence, be settled and improved ; and a port, or ports established, furnished with every material requisite to repair ships that have suf- fered by stress of weather or the difficulties attending navigation in such narrow seas,— a point much -anted, which will lessen the risk ., and considerably increa^ the profits of the commerce of this Colony. It is further to be observed, that the fish caught upon the coast, and in the bays, far exceed the bank cod, and fetch an advanced price in foreign markets : the fishermen being on the spot will commence fishing the very instant the season permits, and will continue to the very last of it ; whereby, at least, two months will be gained to the trade, which are just now a heavy expense to it, without pro- ducing the least profit. Next to the cod in importance is the whale fishery, which can be carried on to the greatest advantage in the River St. Lawrence with less risk and expense than in any other seas where these animals resort. Under this head, may be placed the seal and sea-cow fisheries, of which there is a prodigious abundance, and an immense quantity of oil and whalebone may be annually exported to Great Britain. There are several small rivers on the coast of Labrador, APPENDIX. 143 abounding with vast quantities of excellent salmon ; this, if followed with spirit and industry, might very soon become a considerable object to the British trade. Raising hemp and flax, for whicli the lands are in many places extremely proper, must be an object of the most eerious consideration ; and I must repeat here, how useful this must prove to the end of promoting agriculture, of em- ploying the women and children during the tedious winter months, and of procuring in a short time a vast exporta- tion of that useful commodity, for which the returns will be made in British manufactures. As the country everywhere abounds with oak, ash, wal- nut, birch, beech, maple, and other hard woods, which by experience are known to yield the most salts, the article of potash, so much demanded in our manufactories, maybe easily produced, and soon become an object of consequence. The essays for this pui-pose which have been made in our other Colonies, and have miscarried, ought not to discourage an attempt in this ; the high price of labour, the woods being in many parts remote from water-carriage, and the great encouragement for growing and exporting provisions to the West Indies, have been so many obstacles to the making potash in our Colonies ; whereas provisions here must be very cheap in a few years, the navigation being closed six months out of the twelve ; besides, the country being settled close to the river side, the conveyance of the commodity to the port where it is to be shipped will be both cheap and easy ; it will likewise be a means to employ the men all winter in the business of felling and drawing wood, which time they chiefly dedicate to idleness and smoking. CHAKACTKR OF THE PEOPLE. The Canadians may be reckoned under four different classes, 1. The gentry, they call nobility. 2. The Clergy. .•^ditkm^k>imimmmm»9^^. 144 APPENDIX. ■|: «f '!'i i ^ 3. The merchants or trading part. 4. The p-^isantry, or what are here styled habitants. 1. The Gentry. These are descended from military and civil officers who have settled in the country at different times, and were usually provided for in the Colony troops ; these consisted formerly of twenty-eight, afterwards thirty, and had been lately augmented to thirty-three companies. They are in general poor, except such as have had com- mands in distant posts, where they usually made a fortune in three or four years ; the Croix de St. Louis quite completed their happiness. They were extremely vain, and had an utter contempt for the trading part of the Colony, though they made no scruple to engage in it, pretty deeply too, whenever a con- venient opportunity served. They were great tyrants to their vassals, who seldom met with redress, let their griev- ances be ever so just. Tliis class will not r« lish the British Government, from which they neither can expect the same employment, nor the same douceurs they enjoyed under the French. 2. The Clergy. Most of the dignified among them are French, the rest Canadians; the former no doubt will have great difficulty to reconcile themselves to us, but must drop off by degrees ; few of the latter are very clever. However, if the ecclesiastical state was once composed entirely of na- tives, they would soon become easy and satisfied ; their in- fluence over the people was, and is still, very great ; but though we have been so short a time in the cuontry, a dif- ference is to be perceived. The people do not submit so tame- ly to the yoke, and under sanction of the capitulation, they every day take an opportunity to dispute the tythes with their cur^s. These were moved from their respective parishes at the bishop's pleasure, who thereby always kept them in awe. It may not be perhaps improper to adopt the same me- thod, in case Ilis Majesty should think right, for the sake of ArPKNUIX. 143 keeping them in proper sulO.ction, to nominate them Wm- ^olforbv those who act under hia authority. U ,s not improbable that the Jesuits, warned by the.r late disgraces inThe dominions of those potentates who seemeu Uisgraceh m ^m^rpliendintf the same or worse to favour them most, and «^PF^^^^^^ ^^.^ ,i,,,^ ,^ ♦vontmpnt from those they style neieiics, buy their lauds at an easy rate, and dispose o. the same "rSTS^f this Colony, under the French, were eitter dealers in gros or retailers, the f---"^. French, and the latter iu general natives of this country . !u of them are deeply concerned in «- letters o exchange^ many are already gone to solicit payment, and few of those X have any funlof consequence in France wiU remain^ 4. The fourth order is that of the Peasantry. Thes« »'« » .Vromr healthv race, plain in their dress, virtuous in their morZ and et perat;^ their living. They are, in gene- r extremely ignorant, for the former Government would '„ter suffer a /rinting-press '" ,*-7»Xi, rthfrn'^y or write, and all receive implicitly for truth the many eLnt Msehoods and atrocious lies industriously handed ■imonff them by those who are in power. , „ ,. , Thfy took particular pains to persuade them the Enghdi truth assert, that the troops have '» «<""''' tants in a harmony unexampled even »» •'"'^^ J ™^'. here in iustice to those under my command m *' "'/^"^f!" men; obsme to your Lordships, that in the winter which hle^a^rfoUowed the reduction of this country, when. H ■t4.t,ti^^!^ 146 APPKNBIX. •4 ii'om the calamities of war and a bad harvest, the inha- bitants of these lower parts were exposed to all the horrors of famine, the officers of eveiy rank, even the lowest, generously contributed towards alleviating the distresses of the unfortunate Canadians by a large subscription ; the British merchants and traders readily and cheerfully assisted in this good work ; even the poor soldiers threw ill their mite, and all gave a day's provision or a day's pay ill the month towards the fund ; by this means a quantity of provisions were purchased and distributed with great care and assiduity to a number of poor families, who, with- out this charitable support, must have inevitably perish- ed. Such an instance of uncommon generosity towards the conquered, did the highest honour to their conquerors, and convinced these poor deluded people how grossly they had been imposed upon. The daily instances of lenity, the im- partial justice which has been administered, so far beyond what they had formerly experienced, have so altered their opinion with regard to us, I may safely venture to affirm, for this most useful order of the state, that they have not the least design to emigrate from their present habitations into any other of the French Colonies. Their greatest dread is lest they should meet with the fate of the Arcadians, and be torn from this their native country. Convinced that this is not to be their case, and that the free exercise of their religion will be continued to them, if once Canada is irrevocably ceded by a peace, the people will soon become faithful and good subjects to his Ma- jesty; and the country they inhabit will, in a short time, prove a rich and most useful Colony to Great Britain. • Before this report is closed, it will not be improper to observe to your Lordships how impossible it is to ascertain exactly what part of North America the French styled Canada, no chart or map whatsoever having fallen into our bands, or public records of any kind whatever, to show what they understood by it. - APPENDIX. U7 However, it is to be hoped the limits, on this side at least, will need no canvassing, nor admit of any dispute. Should I be able to procure farther lights, either to those limits or the several other matters contained in this report, worthy of notice, you may be assured they shall be forth- with transmitted to your Lordshi))s ; happy if my labours can in any way conduce to his Majesty's service, or the good of my country. Quebec, June 5, 1762. No. IX. THE CANADA COMPANY. This Company, incorporatet! by Act of Parliament and Royal Charter, have now at their disposal all the surveyed lands reserved for the Crown in Upper Canada, consisting, 1st, Of detached lots of 200 acres each, situated in all the settled parts of the province. 2d, Of Blocks varying from 1200 to 10,000 acres, also similarly situated in other townships. 3rd, Of a Tract of a million of acres, lying between Lake Erie and Lake Huron. In this Tract no lands are reserved for the Clergy ; and the Company, by their contract with His Majesty's Government, have upwards of 45,000/. to ex- pend, on opening roads and making other public improve- ments within that particular Tract. The great object of the Company being to lay open their lands to actual settlers, no encouragement is intended to he given to speculators, whilst the utmost liberality will be shown to sober and industrious men with families, and the lands will be sold to them on terms such as they can- not elsewhere obtain. The scite of a Town, on an extensive scale, is marked out, on the banks of the grand River, or Ouse, in the :4 'i '/I .' 148 APPENDIX. I! i county of Halton, in tlie Gore district, and situations for several villaj^es have also been selected. In these places the Town Lots, of "a ijuarter of an acre each, will, for the encouragement of early settlers, be sold at the low price of twenty dollars, and the one half of the money arising therefrom will be appropriated to the erec- tion of a school, and residence for a schoolmaster. No person, however, will be admitted into any society of location, for a Town or Village, « ho cannot pn)duce satisfac- tory testimonials of good character ; as no society can pros- per where religion, morality and ind. ,try are not united. Persons desirous of more particular information, are re- quested to apply by letter (post paid,) to John Gait, Esq., York, Up}>er Canada, or to the Agent here, who will aiford every facility to families going forward from New York, and by whom an arrangement has been made for their conveyance, by the Erie Canal, at the very low rate of one cent per mile each. JAMES CLARKE BUCHANAN, Agext. New York, April 5, 1827. TJIE END. n !? . LONDON : PRINTED BV S. AND R. BENTLE\', DORSET STRKFT. itions for fan acre i, be sold ilf of the the erec- 3ociety of i satisfac- can pros- united, n, are re- lalt^ Esq., vill aiford Bw York, for their ite of one 'AN, Vgent. jir9ti4^«»«fV4TCKni^««« ■n-.»xi(X