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JOSEPH HOWE PROVINCIAL SECRETARY OF NOVA SCOTIA, ON THE IMPORTANCE AND VALUE TO GREAT BRITAIN OF HER NORTH AMERICAN COLONIES ; Delivered at Southampton, on the Wth of January, 1851. LONDON: TRELAWNEY SAUNDERS, 6, CHARING CROSS. 185L THE BUITISH NORTH AMERICAN COLONIES. A PUBLIC Meeting of the inhabitants of Southampton was held at the Town Hall on Tuesday evening, January 14, 1851, con- vened by the Mayor, Richard Andrews, Esq., in pursuance of the following requisition, which had received the signatures of the most influential tradesmen and merchants of the town : — (( We, the undersigned inhabitants of the borougli of Southampton, are deeply impressed with the importance of promoting an enlarged system of emigration, and that emigration should be dir*>^ted to British Colonies, thereby extending the trade and commerce of the mother country, and fostering a British spirit and the progress of civilisation in vast tracts of territory, possessing great natural advan- tages comparatively unkjiown to this country. " We are impressed also with the knowledge that this port possesses very peculiar advantages as a favourable point for national emigration, and that these advantages should be brought more prominently before our own country, and the various colonies and nations of the world. " We have observed with pleasure the account of the interesting interview you have had with the Hon. Mr. Howe, and trust that you may be able to induce his presence at Southampton, in order to a notice of its peculiar advantages as a port, and to enable the in- habitants of this tovm and county to hear from his lips, at full, the great measures of public benefit designed by his Government (Nova Scotia) in reference to these and similar subjects. " We, therefore, request the favour of your convening a meeting of the inhabitants of this borough, to take inio consideration the im- portant matters referred to, at an early day next week." Shortly after 7 o'clock the Mayor took the chair, supported by the Hon. Mr. Howe, Major Carmichael-Smyth, Mr. Sheriff' Payne ; Aldermen Laishley, Tucker, Bienvenu, Williams, and J. Lankaster ; Councillors Harman, Stebbing, Davis, Degee, Douglas, J. Clark, C. Lock, Ellyett, Brinton, and Mayoss ; Mr. Senior BailifF White ; Captain Peacock, Captain May, and Captain Keelc ; the Rev. II. Taylor, Dr. Harding, J. S. Eldridge, Esq., J. Iselin, Esq., E. Coxwell, Esq., H. Clark, Esq., M.D., J. Wiblin, Esq., T. Falwey, Esq., J. Sharp, Jun., Esq., — Bassett, Esq., G. Pocock, Esq., Messrs. E. Mayes, W. Lankester, &c. &c. The hall was crowded throughout the evening, and the greatest interest was manifested in the proceedings until the late hour of 11 o'clock, at which hour the meeting closed. The Town Clerk read the requisition, and also letters which had been received from B. M. W^ilcox, Esq., M.P., John Rodney Croskey, Esq., (United States Consul,) and T. Powell, Esq., (Collector of Customs,) severally regretting that unavoidable causes prevented their attendance. The Mayor said that they were called together that evening to consider as important a question as had ever occupied their attention — to memorialise the Government to give all the en- couragement in their power to free emigration. It had been mentioned to him by several persons that the port of Southampton stood in a most prominent position, but the people had not exerted themselves as they ought to have done. He (the Mayor) had waited, with others of the Corporation, on the Hon. Mr. Howe ; and he was pleased to find that that gentleman had pre- viously named Southampton as one of two ports in England most qualified for an emigration port. (Applause.) In consequence of their interview with Mr. Howe that meeting was got up ; and now they would hear from his lips an explanation of his views regarding increased emigration, and the advantages likely to accrue to the working classes of this country. That gentleman would show them the advantages of emigration to one of our own colonies, at a comparatively small distance, and little comparative danger to the emigrant ships employed. They must all have regretted to have seen the large number of lives lost in emigra- tion, and that greater facilities should be provided there could be no question. Mr. Howe would show the advantages of the port of Halifax, which was one of the finest harbours in the world, and the facilities which Southampton possessed for emigrants departing to that place. If the hon. gentleman's plan should be realised, they would be able to reach Halifax in ten days. He would at onc'j call upon the Hon. Mr. Howe to address the meeting. Mr. Howe. — Mr. Mayor and Gentlemen, — You may imagine the various and conflicting feelings by which I am embarrassed, in rising to address this intelligent and prosperous community, and through them the twenty-eight millions of people who inhabit these British islands — the centre of modern civilization — the honored home of my fathers. Be assured that I deeply feel the responsi- bility which your kindness, and my public position, have tempted me to assume. The memory of those great orators, with whose highest flights of eloquence, from childhood, you have been familiar — whose voices, like distant thunder, still linger in the ears of the present generation, weighs upon me no less, than the immediate presence of those polished and skilful speakers that you are daily accustomed to hear. Would, for your sakes, that I could as easily invoke the spirit of the dead, as I do, in all sincerity and humility, crave the indulgence of the living. The magnitude of the interests which I desire to present to your notice, involving, as I believe they do, to some extent, the relief of these islands from the burthen of poverty and crime, the integrity of this empire, and the permanence of the connexion between the North American Provinces and England, oppresses the mind even more than the intellectual character of my audience. I wish those interests were less im- posing — that the danger of neglecting them was less imminent, or that my ability to deal with them was proportioned to the magnitude of the theme. When I last visited Southampton, I little thought that I should ever return to it again, and certainly never dreamed that I should 6 14 have the honor and the privilege to address, within its ancient walls, and with the evidences of its modern enterprise all around me, such an audience as is assembled here. I was then a wandering colonist, surveying, eleven years ago, Europe for a first time. Attracted to Southampton by the beauty of its scenery, and by its old associations, when I entered your spacious estuary, and saw, on the one side, the fine old ruin of Netley Abbey, and on the other the New Forest, famed in ancient story, I felt I was approach- ing a place abounding in interest, and honored by its associations. And when I put my foot on the spot, trodden, in days of yore, by the warriors who embarked for the glorious fields of Agincourt and Crescy, and on which Canute sat when he reproved his fawn- ing courtiers, I felt my British blood warming in my veins, and knew that I was indeed standing on classic ground. But, Sir, on that occasion I did not see those evidences of com- mercial prosperity which I was anxious to observe. In visiting to-day your splendid docks, your warehouses, yc ^r ocean steamers, your railways, and rising manufactories, which have been created by untiring energy and honorable enterprise within a few years, my pride in your historical associations was quickened and en- livened by the proofs of modern enterprise which distinguish this great seaport. (Applause.) The object of my visit to England is to draw closer the ties between the North American Provinces and the Mother Country. To reproduce England on the other side of the Atlantic — to make the children, in institutions, feelings, and civilisation, as much like the parent as possible, has been the labour of my past life ; and now I wish to encourage the parent to promote her own interests by caring for the welfare and strengthening the hands of her children, — to show to the people of England that, across the Atlantic, they possess provinces of inestimable value. (Applause.) The interest which Southampton has in a clear appreciation of their importance no man can deny. Already her advantages are obvious and patent ; but they may be largely extended by North American connexions. You have the British Channel flowing by you like a mighty river, with the great continental markets on its opjjosite shore, the trade of the Baltic on your left, and of the Mediterranean on your right. You have your East and West India steam lines ; the Isle of Wight is your natural hreakwater ; a lovely country surrounds you ; and the royal city of Winchester, and the imperial city of London, are at your very doors. Add to these advantages, permanent and profitable connexions with the vast territory and rapidly expanding communities of British America, and the prosperity and importance of Southampton will be greatly enhanced. (Hear, hear.) I found existing in this country, when I was here before, and I still observe it on every hand, I will not say a criminal, but certainly a very lamentable ignorance of the state of the British Provinces on the continent of America. An erroneous opinion prevails, that at the American Revolution all that was valuable on that continent was severed from British dominion ; that but a few insignificant and almost worthless provinces remain. This is a great, and, if not corrected in time, may ultimately prove a fatal mistake. Glance at the map above you. Sir, and you will perceive tliat one-half of the whole American continent still owns allegiance to Great Britain — is still subject to the sceptre of Queen Victoria. (Hear, hear,) That vast extent of country, is, however, but little known in England. Intelligent men ask me, every day, where it is ? — of what it consists ? — what are its boundaries ? Gentle- men perfectly familiar with Canada, know comparatively nothing of the maritime provinces, which here (though as distinct as Germany, France, Belgium, and Holland are from Russia) are yet confounded with Canada. Merchants who trade with New- foundland know as little of Canada; Nova Scotia is a sort of terra incognita, of which one rarely hears, and many Canadians know nothing of the boundless and beautiful tract of country which lies between their province and the Pacific. Although the United States have extended their boundaries by the conquest of the Mexican Provinces, Great Britain still owns one-half the continent of North America. This territory, with tl 8 It ■■ its adjacent Irilands, is 4,000,000 of scjuarc miles in extent. All Europe, including the British Islands, measures but 3,708,000 ; so that, throwing away 202,000 square miles for rivers and lakes of larger extent than are found in this hemisphere, you have in North America, for the inexhaustible sustenance of British subjects, a country as large as Europe. (Hear, hear.) This country resembles Europe in all its principal features ; it is full of the same natural advantages, and as capable of improvement as Europe was in her early days. Taking the round number of square miles, and reducing them to acres, and we have above 1)0 acres for every man, woman, and child in tlie British Islands. Now, supj)ose that they throw off two millions of their population, and I shall shew you presently that there are that number to spare, we shall have a square mile of land for every inhabitant ; or 4,480 acres for every head of a family that British America would then contain. Is not this a country to which, in the present condition of England, the attention of her statesmen and of her people should be turned? But it is often said the climate of North America is rigorous and severe. Do me the favour to glance at the Eastern Hemisphere, including Europe, Asia, ivnd Africa, and separating the northern countries from the south, the vigorous parallels from the warm and enervating, tell me in which reside at this moment, the domestic virtues, the pith of mankind, the seats of commerce, the centres of intelligence, the arts of peace, the discij)line of war, the political power and dominion ? Assuredly in the northern half. iVnd yet it was not always so. The southern and eastern portions, blessed with fertility, and containing the cradle of om* race, filled up first, and ruled for a time the territories at the north. But as civilisation and popula- tion advanced northwards, the bracing climate did its work, as it will ever do; and in physical endurance, and intellectual energy, the l jrth asserted the superiority, which, to this hour, it maintains. Glance again at the map, and you will perceive that England still owns half tlie continent of North America ; and taking the 3 9 always : example of Europe to guide us, I believe, the best half. Not the best for slavery, for, thank God, we have not got a Slave nor a Fugitive Slave Law in our northern provinces (Loud cheers.) Not the best for raising cotton or tobacco ; but the best for raising men and women ; the most congenial to the constitution of the northern European ; the most })rovoeative of steady Industry ; and all things else being equal, the most im[)regnable and secure. The climate of North America, though colder than that of England, is dryer when It is cold. I rarely wear an overcoat, except when it rains : an old Chief-Justice died rc';ently in Nova Scotia at 103 years of age, who never wore one in his life. Sick regiments, invalided to our garrison, recover their health and a igour immediately ; and yellow fever patients coming home from the West Indies walk about in a few days. Look at the countenances and robust appearance of the inhabitants, and you will see the vigour and energy that the climate of North America Imparts. I have said that, all things being equal, the two divisions of the continent would be similarly improved ; but. Sir, they are not, and never have been, equal, 'i'he first British emigration all went to the southern half. Whither went the " Mayflower," that sailed with the Pilgrims from this port ? To the heart of the New England states. AVhither went Penn's and Paltlmore's emigra- tion ? To Pennsylvania and Maryland. The northern portion, for 150 years, being occui)icd by French hunters, traders, and Indians. The British did not begin to settle in Nova Scotia till 1749, nor in Canada till 17G3. Prior to the former period Massachusetts numbered 1()0,000 inhabitants ; Connecticut, 100,000; Philadelphia had her 18,000 inhabitants before an Englishman had built a house in Halifax ; and Maine had her 2,485 enrolled militiamen, long before a Briton had settled in the })rovlnce of New Brunswick. All the other states were pro- portlonably advanced before Englishmen turned their attention to the northern provinces at all. The permanent occupation of Halifax, and the loyalist emigration from the older states, gave them the first impetus. But, you will perceive, that, in the race c 10 < ' 1> I? ; '« I of improvement, the old thirteen states had a long start ; they had three millions of Britons and their descendants, a flourishing commerce, and much wealili, to brgiu with, at the Revolution. But a few hundreds occupied the provinces to which I wish to call your attention at the commencement of the war, but a few thousands at its close. Now, Mr. Chairman, you will perceive, that had both these portions of the American continent enjoyed the same advantages down to the present hour, the southern half must have improved, and increased its numbers, much faster than the northern. But the advantages were not equal. The excitement and the neces- sities of the war of independence inspired the people at the south with enterprise and self-confidence, and non-intercourse with Great Britain stimulated domestic manufactures. Besides, they had free trade with each other, and, so far as they chose to have, or could obtain it by their own diplomacy, with all the world. The northern provinces had separate governments — half-paternal despotisms, which repressed instead of stimulating enterprise. They had often hostile tariffs, and, down to the advent of Mr. lluskisson, and even to the period when the Navigation Laws were repealed, were cramped in their commercial operations by the restrictive policy of England. ^ In other respects the south had the advantage. From the moment that their independence was recognised the confederated states enjoyed the absolute control over their internal affairs. Fancy what this did for them, for more than half a century that the northern provinces: were governed by politicians voted in and out of office by the fluctuations of o})inion in England, or by officers sent out, and by the permanent irresponsible cli(pKs that these almost invariably gathered round them. Down to the year 1839, when Lord John Russell's celebrated despatch was promulgated in the colonics, — and the struggle was scarcely over till j •' "48, when that despatch was acted on and enforced by the i)rcser>t Government, — the colonies were carrying on perj)etual contests with Governors and Secretaries of State, to win that which Englishmen have 11 enjoyed since the Revolution of 1688 — the privilege of manag- ing their own affairs. (Hear.) To that contest I devoted twenty years of my life, and I thank God it is now over. England has given us that self-government which she has herself enjoyed for a century and a half, and I trust we shall make a good use of it. (Hear, hear.) But I have not enumerated all the sources of disparity. The National Government of the United States early saw the value and importance of emigration. It bought up Indian lands, en- larged acknowledged boundaries by pertinacious and successful diplomacy, surveyed its territory, and prepared for colonization. The States, or public companies or speculators within them, bor- rowed millions from England (a good many of which they have forgotten to pay) ; (laughter and cheers ;) opened roads ; laid off and advertised lots in every part of Europe, and invited emigra- tion. Congress framed constitutions suited to the new settlements, invested them with modified solf-govemraent from the moment that the most simple materials for organization v/ere accumulated ; and formed them into new states, with representation in the national councils, whenever they numbered 40,000 inhabitants. Ohio, for instance, wliich is one of the colonies thus planted, did not exist in 1783. It now contains a million and a half of people, and has its 19 members in Congress. British America contains two millions, and has not a single representative in your National Council. But pass that over. While all this was going on what did England do to people and to promote the prosperity of her northern pro- vinces ? Almost nothing. She was too much occupied with foreign wars and di])lomacy — o^'^en descending from her high estate to subsidize foreign princes, whose petty dominions, if flung into a Canadian lake, would scarcely raise the tide, (r.aughter and cheers.) AVhat did we do in the northern provinces to fill up this territory ? We did the best we could. We married as early, and increasv.d the population as fast, as we could. But, jesting apart, what could we do? Down to 1815 we were engrossed by vi II' 1 .^ 12 the wars of England, our commerce being cramped by the in- security of our coasts and harbours. Down to 1848 we were engaged in wars with successive Governors and Secretaries of State, for the right to manage our internal affairs. These are now over, and we, on our side of the water, have got command, to some extent at least, of our own resources and of our time. We have now the means and the leisure to devote to the great questions of colonization, emigration, and internal improvement, — to examine our external relations with the rest of the empire and with the world at large, — to consult with you on the imperfect state of those relations, and upon the best appropriation that can be made of your surplus labour and of our surplus land, for our mutual advantage, that the poor may be fed, the waste places filled up, and this great empire strengthened and -preserved. Having shown you why the contrast is so striking between the United States and the North American Provinces, let me now show you what the latter have accomplished, even under all the disadvantages which they have had to encounter. The five that occupy that portion of territory which has been politically organised, are : — Canada, which lies the farthest back, and is the most extensive and populous of the whole ; New Brunswick, which joins to Canada ; Nova Scotia, next to that ; Prince Edward's Island, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence ; and the Island of Newfoundland. With all their disadvantages, let me now show the audience what these colonies have done and what they are worth. Th.^ five provinces number about two millions of inhabitants. Their average imports and exports, from 1842 to 1846, have been as follows : — Imports. Exports, Canada £2,174,332 £1,819,695 Nova Scotia .... 984,225 767,596 New Brunswick . . . 794,785 651,668 Newfoundland .... 783,870 885,251 Prince Edward's Island . 110,783 63,867 Shewing a Total of . £4,847,995 £4, 1 88,077 13 Now, a total amount of imports of near five millions, and over four millions of exports, does not show a bad industrial con- dition in such a short time, and under such disadvantages. (Hear, hear). I have noticed the common mistake which people make in Europe who confound the Maritime Provinces and Canada together, as though there was no distinction. Canada is a noble colony, full of resources, but its harbours are closed with frost in winter, while those of Nova Scotia and of most of the maritime pro- vinces are open all the year round. For general commerce you will perceive, then, that our advantages are very superior — that our people are destined much more extensively than their brethren in the rear, to "go down to the sea in ships," to be the carriers and factors of those who occupy the extensive regions further west. These maritime colonies, in point of territory, include 86,000 square miles, an area half as large again as the kingdoms of England and Scotland, and nearly as large as Holland, Greece, Belgium, Portugal, and Switzerland, all put together. They are rich in mines and surrounded by the best fisheries in the world. Taking all the provinces, and summing up the number of registered vessels they now possess, not including vessels merely built for the English market, I find that Canada owned, in 1840, 604 ; New Brunswick, 730 ; Newfoundland, 937 ; and Prince Edward's Island, 265 ; being a total of 2,530 vessels, measuring 252,892 tons. Nova Scotia, my own province, the peculiar character and resources of which are but little under- stood in England, possesssed in 1840, 2,583 vessels ; or, 47 more than all the other four provinces put together, and measuring 141,093 tons. Nova Scotia, in many respects, greatly resembles England. It is nearly an island, being joined to the jjrovince of New Brunswick by a narrow isthmus. Of coal, it has endless fields ; it has iron in rich abundance ; inexhaustable fisheries surround its shores ; and its noble harbours are open all the year round. Its population is made up of English, Irish, and Scotch- men ; or, rather, of a native race, combining the blood and the 14 J. 1''-' 1 1 ;; hi'. ll characteristics of the three kingdoms, with a few Germans and French, who make agreeable varieties. With this brief description, I trust, Sir, that you will perceive that we have wrestled manfully with the disadvantages I have described ; are not unworthy of our lineage, nor have been heedless of the resources of the countries we occupy. Five thousand vessels floating on the ocean, under your flag, is our contribution in a single century to the mercantile marine of the empire. This does not include boats engaged in the shore fisheries. Of this fleet, little Nova Scotia owns one-half, or more vessels in number than all Ireland, though the tonnage is not quite so great. To enable you more nearly to appreciate the value and resources of these northern provinces, let me fui'nish a very striking contrast : I take the eastern colonies, or Mauritius and Ceylon ; the Afi'ican colonies, including the Ca])e ; the Australian colonies, including New Zealand ; and the West India colonies, including the Bahamas and Guiana ; and putting all their tonnage together, they have but 2,128 vessels, measuring 98,183 tons. You see, therefore, that the five North American provinces own more than double the number of vessels which belong to all the other colonies of England, Nova Scotia alone having nearly twice the amount of their aggregate tonnage. But some may ask, "What interest have the people of England in those statistics ? AVhy should they trouble themselves about the extent or the resources of the countries you describe ? I-^et me now show you, Mr. Chairmm, how deep and all-pervading an interest the people of these islands have in this enquiry. Tlie late Charles BuUer (whose loss North America deeply mourns, for he was her steady and enlightened advocate — whose aid I regret 1 have not now, for he was my personal friend) declared, in the llouiie of Connnons, a short time before he died, that in Ireland, on an average, 2,000,000 })eople wore unemployed for 30 weeks in the year. To what extent fever and famine have diniiuibhed that number since, I do not know ; but I take the fact a^ it then ituod, and fear that too near an approximation to k 15 that statement might be hazarded, even now. In Ireland, in the year 1848, (to say nothing of the £10,000,000 voted by Parlia- ment, of the provisions sent in fi'om foreign countries, or of the voluntary aid extended to that unhappy country,) there was raised within her own boundaries, no less a sum than £1,216,679, and expended in poor-rates ; or an average of is. 10<^Z. on £13,000,000. Nearly a million and a half of persons were relieved, to the extent of 16s. 8d. per head. In Scotland, £544,000 was raised and expended ; the number of persons relieved 227,647 ; and the amount paid averaged £2. 7s. 9(Z. each — enough to have shipped every poor Scotchman out, in a well-appointed steamer, to Nova Scotia ; there to become a blessing to the colony, a customer, not a burthen, to the mother country. In England — which, if this plague-spot were removed, would be as near perfection as can be attained by any civilized community — the enormous amount of £6,110,765 was raised and expended in 1848, being Is. Gd, on £67,000,000. 1,876,541 persons were relieved, or about one in every eleven of the whole population in this garden of the world I The i:verage cost of each person relieved, was £3. 5s. lOd. — more than enough to have shipped every man to our own northern colonies, and made proprietors and freeholders of them for life. I tuiTi to the workhouses, and find that in 1849 they con- tained : — In England. — Boys . . 30,158. Fit for service . 4,570 . . . 3,690 8,264 Girls , . -Boys . . Girls 26,165. Ditto 56,323 u Ireluiul.- . 62,514 . 66,285 128,799 Making n total of 185,122, without including Seolkind, from which 1 have no return. p 16 Then, again, look at, the number of committals for offences in the three kingdoms in the year 1848, viz. : — In England 30,000 Ireland 38,552 Scotland 4,900 Making a total number of . . . 73,771 Of this number G,298 were transported, and 37,373 were ira])risoned. I refer to these painful facts, not because I believe you are woi*se than the people on our side of the Atlantic, but because I believe a vast number of poor wretched creatures break the laws in these islands because they have not the wherewithal to live (hear) ; they are absolutely driven by ^^overty to the com - mission of crime. Many of these are imprisoned, and expatriated from their ccmntry, who, in my conscience, I believe to be as innocent, in the sight of God, as any man in this assembly. (Hear, hear.) You maintained in Ireland, in 1849, a con- stabulary force of 12,829, and 340 horses, at a cost of £562,506 ; and in England and Wales, including the London police, nearly an equal number at a nearly ecpial cost. In this service you expended a gross total of £l,14i*,0o(V, thus maintaining as many con- stables in these two small islands as doubled the whole standing army of the United States of America. (Hear, hear.) And is this necessary because the people of these islands arc worse than their brethren of the New World ? By no means : but Government is coni])clled to maintain this force in consequence of the immense ])ressin-e upon the means of subsistence in this country, and which ])rcssure would be relieved, till you migh*- reduce your constabulary one-half, by promoting sound and wholesome emigration. Then, again, I might refer to the cost of pri.sons. I find that the prison at York cost £1,200 per head for each ])risoner they have to maintain in it — enough, as the Insi>ector rcjiorts, " to build for each a separate mansion, coach- house, anil stable." If you multiply by twelve (the number !■'!!■ 17 oF jurors summoned on a jury) the number of criminals tried, you will see the enormous amount of time wasted in the punishment of crime. Then, there is the amount of property stolen by criminals — which no man can guage ; it still continues to increase with the progress of population and the advancement of crime. There is another consideration — the cost of life and property destroyed by agrarian outrages, superinduced by the artificial and pressing system under which you suffer in this country. And what is the remedy for all this ? I turn at once to the four millions of square miles of territory under the Queen's sceptre on the continent of North America, with its noble rivers, fertile soil, exhaustless fisheries, and valuable mines ; and I ask, will you allow three- fourths of this vast territory to continue a howling wilderness ? Many persons have an idea that large emigration may empty England. Empty England ? I'he idea is preposterous. No Englishman, Irishman, or Scotchman will live cut oi these islands that can live in them. (Hear, hear.) No man would voluntarily choose to leave this country, which is a garden from shore to shore, and exchange it for a comparative wilderness. Who would leave the land of their fathers, with all its historical associations, unless driven out by poverty, or stimulated by high enterprise ? But, we are sometimes told, there is only one enlightened mode of colonization, and that is being very extensively tried in our southern and eastern colonies. Of the AVakefield theory of colonization, I would speak with all respect ; of the combined efforts of public spirited individuals, seeking to give it a ftiir trial, I would be the last to disapprove. I do not wish to check the progress, in valuable colonies, of associated enterprize ; but having for more than a month closely examined all that they have done, and arc capable of doing, I turn from them to the North American field, satisfied that they must continue to furnish but liomffiopathic remedies for the internal maladies of England. In 22 years, from 1825 to 1846 inclusive, only 124,272 persons i> 18 \i went from these Ignited Kingdoms to the Austr, lian colonies and New Zealand. In the same period 710,410 went to the United States, to strengthen a foreign and rival power ; to entrench them- selves behind a hostile tariff, ranging from 15 to 100 per cent, over British mannfacturcs ; to become consumers of American manufactures instead, and of foreign productions, sea borne in American bottoms : they, and the countless generation that has already sprung from their loins, unconscious of regard for British interests, and of allegiance to the Crown of England. In 22 years, 124,272 settlers have gone to Australia and New Zealand ! About half the number on the Poor-rate of Scotland in 1848. Not a tenth part of the paupers relieved in Ireland ; or one in fourteen of those who were supported by England's heavily taxed industry, in that single year. Not more, I fear, than died of famine in a single county of Ireland, from 1846 to 1850; and less, by 60,000, than the number of the young people who were in the workhouses of England and Ireland in 1849. Valuable then as these eastern colonies may be, and respectable as may have been the efforts to improve them, it is obvious that as aids to the removal of pressure upon the resources of the United Kingdom, those who calculate largely upon them are sure to be deceived. The reasons are obvious. Australia and New Zealand are 14,000 miles from the shores of England ; the British provinces of North America are but 2,500. Every poor man who embarks for Australia must be maintained by somebody for 120 or 150 days, while he is rolling about in idleness on the sea. The ordinary passage to North America, in sailing vessels, is about 40 days. With steam we may hope soon to reach Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in 8 or 10 days, and Canada in 12. The expense of a passage to the east is £20, to the west it is £3. 10s. ; and with emigrant steam-vessels may be still further reduced. Then, mark the disproportionate prices of land. In Australia or New Zealand 100 acres of land cost £100 sterling ; in the Canterbury Settlement, £300. In Western Canada 100 acres of the best land in the empire can be bought for £40 ; in Lower Canada for 19 £20. In New Brunswick, where there are still 11,000,000 of ungranted acres in possession of the Government, for £12. lO*-. In Nova Scotia, where land is now, in many districts, as valuable as in any of the colonies, and from the increase of commerce, soon will be in all, we give 100 acres of Crown land to an emigrant for £10. But, we are told, that in the eastern colonies these high prices are not paid for land alone, out for civilization — for roads, schools, religious ordinances, and education, without which land is of no value. I know not whether we are very highly civilized in North America, but I will just explain the position of Nova Scotia, and let the audience judge for themselves. It is divided into seventeen counties, and every county has its sheriff, magis- trates, gaol, court-house, and two terms of the Supreme Court, in which the common and statute law of England is administered. The province is intersected with roads, and bridges span all the larger, and most of the smaller streams. Every county is divided into townships, and each township has its shire town ; and in those towns there are places of worship for the Episcopalian, the Methodist, the Baptist, the Presbyterian, the Catholic, the In- dependent, and for the various modifications of religious opinion which divide the inhabitants of these isiands. Every county has from 50 to 100 public schools. (Hear, and cheers.) There is scarcely a house in Nova Scotia without a Bible in it, and hardly a native of the province who would not be ashamed to be unable to read it. (Hear, hear.) This is the " barbarous " state of the North American provinces, for Nova Scotia is but the type of them all. If what I have described be civilization, we shall be extremely glad to give all these blessings, this civilization, such as it is, to every Englishman, Irishman, or Scotchman, who chooses to come into the province, and 100 acres of land besides, for £10. But England's political, as well as her moral and industrial interests, demand that her North American possessions should be strengthened and improved. We hear a good deal occasionally 90 Mil)". about the baliince of power in Europt? ; and, one would supposf, by the excitement created by some i)altry continental intrigue, or petty princijjality in Germany or the Mediterranean, that the very existence of this great nation was often involved. The people of British America, in their simplicity, are sometimes apt to think that if half the trouble was taken about the territories which belong to us that is wasted on those which do not, our British brethren would be nearly as well employed. (Hear, hear.) I am no alarmist, but there appear to be many in England, and some of them holding high military and social positions, who regard England as defenceless, at this moment, from the assaults of any first-rate European power. Now, suppose that France or Kussia were to combine her military and naval forces with those of the United States to attack England, hopeful as I am of the destiny, and confident in the resources of these islands, I doubt not but they would, in the end, come gloriously through the struggle. But who can deny that the contest would be perilous for a time, and, under the most favourable circumstances, very expensive ? One American war added £120,000,000 to your debt : a few millions, profitably employed, but not wasted, in the northern provinces, will so strengthen them as to make another war a very remote contingency, and comparatively little burthensome or hazardous, if it ever comes. But, suppose the northern provinces neglected and ulti- mately lost ; imagine the territories of the Republic extended to Hudson's Bay, and that the spirit generated by two wars, and which a word, a single act, so readily revives, pervaded the continent. Strip England of every port on the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans — leave her without a ton of coal for her steamers, or a spar to repair a ship. Fancy the 5,000 vessels that we now own added to the enemy's fleet, and the 400,000 men that we could arm to-morrow added to her forces — the enemy's outposts and arsenals would then be advanced 500 miles nearer to England, and the West Indian colonies overpowered and lost, as a matter of course. Would not the balance of power in Europe be thus fearfully disturbed, because England had failed to maintain the 21 balance of power in America ? The picture, Mr. (Jluiirniun, is too j)ainful to be dwelt on, even for a moment ; and I gladly turn to the measures which 1 believe, by strengthening, and inspiring the northern provinces with grateful contidencc in the policy and maternal forethought of the United Kingdoms, will render the empire impregnable and secure. The measures which I propose are extremely simple, and in the (!nd will be found almost self-sustaining, relieving rather than adding to the burthens of the State. They include — Ocean steamers for the poor as well as the rich. The preparation of wild lands for settlement by the Colonial (jlovernments. The promotion of Public Works, of acknowledged national utility, by the interposition of Imperial credit, that the labour market may be extended, and the poor of Great Britain employed, as an aid to colonization. The bounties which you now pay to encourage your North American and West India mail steamers amoimt to £385,000. For this sum you maintain, on the ocean, 24 noble vessels, which in peace are a protection to commerce in the seas they traverse, and could in a moment be converted into formidable vessels of The postage on the letters they carry pays a large portion. war. if not the whole expense. To build and equip the same number of steam-ships for the navy would require an expenditure of £2,400,000 in the first instance, and the annual cost would not 1)0 less than the bounty now paid. It is clear that, by these contracts, the nation is stronger by the twenty-four ships, and yet saves the £2,400,000 it would cost to build them, even should no postage be received. Apply the same principle to the conveyance of emigrants that you do to the conveyance of letters. The same bounty which you now pay to one of these lines would at once add eight or ten more noble ships to the naval force of England. There might be some loss at first, but ultimately they would be self-sustaining, and the millions you now maintain in unions and workhouses would not only be enabled to maintain themselves, 22 l>ut woulil ultimately, l)y their increased traffic and intercourse, maintain for you an important addition to the naval force of the empire. [Mr. Howe illustrated the necessity for the employment of Emigration Steamers, by shewing the deplorable results of emigra- tion as it had been conducted to the North American provinces in sailing-vcsseb, particularly in years of famine or industrial de- rangement at home. He shewed, from the Official Returns, that in 1847, 17,44.5 British subjects died on the passage to Canada and New Brunswick alone — in quarantine, or in the hospitals ; that, from the infection spread through thirty colonial towns and cities, there was too much reason to believe that the number must have swelled to 25,000. By quotations from American works he inferred that an equal number perished on their way to, or in the United States, in the same year ; making an aggregate of 50,000.] I am quite aware, said he, that Government were not to blame for this mortality ; that to have prevented emigration would have made the matter worse. I am quite aware that improved regula- tions have since been proposed and established, and that a famine year affords no fair criterion of the average mortality in ordinary seasons. But when we reflect that but 800 men were sunk in the Royal George ; that but 1 ,093 were slain at the battle of Waterloo ; that at Salamanca but one in 90 of those engaged was killed, and but one in 104 at Maida, we are impressed with the solemnity of the obligatioii to guard against such results in all time to ceme. The loss, by this single year's emigration, was equal to the aggregate population of three Irish cities, or of three of the smaller agricul- tural counties of Scotland. The Ocean Omnibus for the poor is the true remedy. In ordinary seasons it will make emigration a cheerful change from one part of the Queen's dominions to another ; in periods of distress, of derangement and plethora in the labour market, it will transport Her Majesty's subjects in health and security from where they are not wanted to where they are. i! V 23 [Mr. Howe also illustrated the evils ariaing froia fraud and mis- direction, and from collisions and shipwrecks at sea, and the heavy expenses consecpiently thrown upon the Provincial Govern- ments. One cargo of emigrants, wrecked upon the coast of Nova Scotia in 1848, cost Ita Government, to relieve the sick, bury tiie dead, and to transhiji the survivors, £1)31), or £5. 10s. per head. Another cargo of 127 Highlanders, shi])pod by a jjroprietor in South Uist, to clear his estate, cost him to export and misdirect, £3. 10.S-. per head. It cost the Government £4. 10s. to bury the dead, to cure the poor people who survived of small-pox, and tranship them to Prince Edward's Island and (^apc Breton. Ho also shewed the hostile colonial legislation which the inevitable sickness and casualties attendant U])on long voyages in sailing vessels, generated ; and explained liov/ these laws would be swept away, and how cheerfu'ly the Colonial Governments would lay off their lauds, and prepare for emigration, if the working classes could be sent out with certainty, in health, and landed at convenient ports ; where their friends, and pro^jrietors having land to dispose of, would be ready to receive them. Steamers could run along the southern coasts of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and land emigrants wherever they were wanted. They could run through the Gut of Carso, and supply tin; northern counties, including Prince Edward's Island. They would go up the St. Lawrence, and drop them from Gaspe to Quebec] But, Mr. Chairman, I am anxious to see these ocean steamers for the working classes, on another account. The omnibus in the Strand, — the parliamentary train, carries passengers both ways. So will it be with the poor man's steamer. Now, when an emigrant leaves home, he leaves it for ever. The Scotchman breathes his lament of " Lochaber no more." Green Erin goes down, as the ship recedes, like an emerald sunk in the sea ; for, except in their dreams, the children she throv/s off from her bosom rarely return to it again. Of thousands who annually leave merrie England, how few ever revisit their kindred, or see home again until death •24 1 ' ■' has robbed it of ovory charm. W^liy is this ? The leugtn and uncertainty of the voyage, the misery endured, tlie peril en- countered, the relations lost, the fraud, the misdirection, make the emigrant family, to the close of life, dread the sea. Then the cost, in a mail steamer, to and fro, would swallow the price of a farm. What are the political effects ? That the British Islands throw off, not only the lo'^ies, but the souls — the clustering affections and ever-springing recollections of home, with the hope to revisit it, which, if not realized, soothes to the end of life, and N'^ould, if the prospects were rational, be then bequeathed to the next generation. AVhenever gratified, the effects would be con- servation of British feelings, and a thousand links of love would be thus woven to bind the two countries together. Let us, then, have the Ocean Omnibus, not only to carry the working classes of Great Britain and Ireland to the virgin soil which invites them, but to bring them back — the fortunate, to relieve their kindred, and those of moderate means to revisit their home or the home of their fathers, to tread the scenes which history hallows, and compare, without a blush, the modern triumphs and civilization of England, even with those of th(^ proud Republic beyond the frontier. Such a squadron wmld be worth to North America and to England a dozen ships of war, and could be maintained ultimately for a fifth part of the expense. The Britons who crossed and re-crossed in them would not only maintain them with little or no cost to the nation in times of peace, but with light crews, help to defend them in case of war. The preparation of their lands for settlement, the repeal of all taxation upon emigrants, and the creation uf facilities for settlement and distribution, would be .|jontaneous results of Colonial legis-lation, costing the mother country nothing. Already works of great magnitude and importance have been designed, and are ripening to completion in Noith America. Some of these have already received the sanction and approval of tlu; British Government, as th(>y assnredly involve important national as well as colonial interests. We