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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 % \i\ /T-^^-^'v^ /^ uU^^'^'//^ Jl N THR EMIGRANT'S GUIDE TO UPPER CANADA; on, SKETCHES OP TRB ^xtuxiX nutate of tDat Vrobint^^ COLLECTED FROM A RESTDENCE THEREIN DURTNO THE YEARS 1817, 1818, 1819. ^ INTERSPERSED WITH REFLECTIONS. BY C. STUART, Esq. ItETIRED CARi AIN OK THE HONORABLE THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S SERVICE, AND ONE OF HIS MAJESTY'S JUSTICES OF THE PEACE FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF UPPER CANADA. DelibenUe, Decidtf and Dart t PUBLISHED BY LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN, PATERNO VTER'ROW, 1820. ^ <• •*>" -,"^t A' . < BARNABD \KD FARI.EV, Skinner Strtet, LonaOi ■'■ *.' CONTENTS. Definition of provincial Terms Introductory Observations - - - - ix - - - 1 SECT. I. Gen&ral Topographical Sketch of Upper Canada, together with the Emigrant's Route through it, by the River St. Lavvitiice and the Lukes - - 7 SECT. II. Shades of Climate in Upper Canada, as well in relation to Health as to Vegetable Productions 29 SECT. III. Sketch of Settlements already made, and of Dis- tricts novr open and opening for Settlement - ^ a2 >■ ^-., I s V f 1 ^! CONTENTS. SECT. IV. PAO> €lener.il Terms on which Settlers are received by the Government, and the usual Extent to which they are provided for -------- 62 SECT. V. Particular Difficultiee of first Settlement, and local Facilities for oveTcoming them - - - 56 SECT. VI. Prospective Success amply warrants those who aie on the Spot in encountering at once the \rhole Struggle of the Esertion, instead of pur- suing the palliative Means which some adopt 66 SECT. VII. Earnest Warning to Emigrants from Europe - 75 SECT. VIII. Remarks on the Government, on the Laws, and on their Execution -^-....-84 PAor £6 66 75 i CONTENTS. % SECT. IX. Religion— Churchea — Clergy 10() SECT. X. .State of Society -Sdiools 120 SECT. XI. ' Towns — Hirers —Roads ------- 142 I SECT. XII. Methods to conduce to the Preservation of Health, and general Aids afforded by the me- dicinal Herbs of the Country for that Purpose 164 SECT. xin. General Difficulties in effecting a favorable Set- tlement, and prospective Advantages if effected 169 SECT. XIV. Measures essential to the Security and Advance- ment of the Province -------186 A 3 liSft'*' ^r ▼i CONTKNTflv SECT. XV. r/MK Comparative Advantages between Upper Ca- nada and the United States of America - - 24>4 SECT. XVI. General Remarks, Indians ----_----.. 237 Prevailing Features of the Scenery - - - 278 Wild Animals — Quadrupeds ----- 294 Birds— Fish 295 Insects, Reptiles, or Serpents . - - - . 298 Trees and Medicinal Herbs - 301 Minerals— Mineral Waters 305 Domestic Animals — Wild Hay — Rushes - - 307 Provincial Currency ---«----3il SECT. XVII. Observations addressed tQ Emigrants of Capital 316 SECT. XVIII. Addreeeto the Wealthy and Benevoleat Part •f the Community in England - - - - -321 ■4 CONTENTS. ▼II SECT. XIX. FMB General Observations on the Subject of the best Season for proceeding to Upper Canada, and for finding your Way in the Woods, &c. - 327 SECT. XX. Concluding Address 33\ M ^itCtm m miMHi'^f^ % ^ il •I j ?! 'It- 9j % '!" '(?.«».'i ;£_^^--" >< ■*»; ■»*fe-. DKllNITFON or PROVINCIAL TERMS, Reserve, Reserves, or Reserved, Tliese ttjiins denote the proportions retained hy government, to support eventuallv the ^jrcle- siastical establishment, and the public pnrponei of the crown. They are in equal portions, and are called " Crown and Clc.-y Utscives." ^ TuiV.'lsfi'.O. This is a piece of lanri :^f -norrtain extent; but from seven to trv* .v^ -,, .re miles may be said to compiiic r .erf a compass. It is divided into concesaiv... nd lots. -fm- -■•ss**- I DEFINITION OF \, Lucate, Location^ Located. Tliese terms denote the settlement of an in- dividual, of a lot, of a concession, or of a tovvn- flbip, &c. ri I i A Lot. The quantity of land generally given to indi- vidual settlers : from one hundred to two hun- dred acres. A Concession. Parallel with the front of the township, but at an uncertain distance behind it (generally speak- ing a mile and a quarter, or a mile and a half), a second line is marked. This line is the rear of the front or the first concession (except, as is sometimes the case, where the front and first concessions differ) ; space for a road is then left, and a third line, parallel with the two former, becomes the front of the second concession; '•?^;- PROVINCIAl TEUMS. XI an in- to vvn- to indi' o hun- , but at SI a half), he rear pt, as is md first len left, former, :ession ; X ihiis, tlie whole depth is divided into concessions, with space for a road between every two. These concessions are divided into lots, by taking a certain breadth on the front line of the township, for the front of each line of lois (com- monly from five to ten acres, with a road be- tween every five lots), and running this same breadth, perpendicularly, through every conces- sion, from front to rear of the township. See Plate. Deeded, Deeded Land, or Lands. These terms signify lands, possessed, on au- thority of former grants, by persons not residing on them. They are left by their proprietors to improve ia value by the labour of others around them ; a fund of private and seltish gratulation, but a public disgrace and nuisance. ■■■■''*'*«^jcr--' "M « WM [J ^^ ^.'"" " I! ft if / i a]. 4 'm il ! M l i ^lii ii n t» :>„-j-.— -J, THE EMIGRANT'S GUIDE, Pace. 37 43 61 103 11& Line. 1 19 19 4 13 ERRATA. for Clearanus, read clearances. jor port, read post. for the, read their. jor genera, read general. jor free, read true. blessed by ux^ww. * the wisdom of the mother country, with a peculiarly free and unburthened consti- tution, remains, amidst the wild expanse of its native forests, in great measure un- known. Its enterprising neighbours (the people of the United States), of larger growth and more extended connexionfi[, have drawn to their own flourishing ter« ritories, the vast tide oi population, which I I ¥- 1 ^^^— ■ ^"' "M^ .--•^•r^.-*''^ :,Z-f^^^^ TBB EMIGRANT'S GUIDE, Sfc. Sfc. INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. The province of Upper Canada, sub- ordinate to the British government, and blessed by Divine Providence, through the wisdom of the mother country, with a peculiarly free and unburthened con^sti- tution, remains, amidst the wild expanse of its native forests, in great measure un- known. Its enterprising neighbours (the people of the United Slates), of larger growth and more extended connexions^, have drawn to their own flourishing ter- ritories, the vast tide oi population, which THE EMIGRANT S GUIDE i;'^ •/ ! if i. I has been rolling for the Kist fifty years, with accinnulating- sweep from Europe. The wintry climate of the eastern narts of Lower Canada, first encountered after traversing" the boisterous waves of the Atlantic, has stretched a shade of gloom over the whole : the inattention of the parent state, involved as she has been in concerns of far more interesting import- ance; and her own remoteness from the ocean, that great medium of intercourse, by which the most distant nations are in a manner approximated, have conspired to veil from the public mind, a soil and a climate, scarcely surpassed by any upon earth. Upper Canada is situated between the 41* 40' and 47 degrees of north latitude, and between the 73 and 83 degrees of west longitude from Greenwich. In this large extent, much variety of climate and of soil, naturally exists. The north-west- ern parts indeed, are almost totally un- known; and the getieral idea, indicated I is \ ^k, . ■'*-'e-^.^^-'H^-:xi- "Hr^i TO UPPER CANADA. 8 years, irope. parts I after .f the Tloom )f the een in nport- n the ourse, are in spired and a upon len the itude, es of 1 this e and -west- y un- cated by the term of Upper Canada (and that to which my remarks are almost exclu- sively pointed), comprises only that por- tion, the bounds of which are, north and south, the rivers Ottawas and St. Law- rence; east, the adjoining limit of Lower Canada ; and west, an indefinite line, stretching E. by N. from the eastern ex- tremity of Lake Huron, to the nearest point (in that direction) of the Ottawas River. Here it is especially, that nature reposes, under the rough shelter of her forests, prepared to yield to industry and skill, all that necessity, convenience, or elegance, could demand. The Author, who is warmly attached to his country ; whose interests are in- volved in the prosperity of her colonies -, who, in the British isles, hath seen indus- try pining for labour, and the most diffu- sive system of charity in the world, ex- hausted, without being able to afford more than a temporary and mournfully inade- quate relief; and in Upper Canada, the b2 4 THE SMIGRANX S GUIDL riches of nature covered with barretinesN, and abandoned to desolation, for want of that witling ami of industry and skill — who deplores the nuiFerings, which some- tinies half avert, even the loyal heart, from its covntry ; and who has witnessed a regfion, promising to the harassed energies of that heart, the fairest field of hope and of exertion, while the sacred flame of pa- triotism may glow, unclouded by foreign manners and by foreign domination, offers the following lines to his countrymen, and to all, in every country, to whom they may attain; whose circumstances may render emigration desirable to them, and at the same time enable them to un- dertake it; and who may be willing to become British subjects, under the mild- est and wisesft form of that admirable constitution. , . He pledges himself for the general truth of what he shall state as facts., and he prefixes his name and designation, that he may be open to correction or to ^^ " '■■> 1, : .;»J^iih^'jjit^-^^:'.. — :^ri.^^i:«^-'-^ TO UPPER CANADA. Eint of kill— some- ,from sed a ergies »e and of pa- oreign , offers ymen, whom tances them, to un- ng to mild- lirable eneral and ation, or to reference, should any such be offered. He says the general truth» for much of what he advances must, of course, be on the report of others ; and of such parts, he can only be pesponsH^le for the proba- ble correctness. - He would premise, tliat the settlement of a new country is always a work of toil; that it necessarily subjecs to many pri- vations; that, to be enconntered with success, it demands, together with a cer- tain compass of means, prudence and energy, combined with a contented and persevering spirit; and that the advan- tages which it offers, great as they are, at the same time that they may be easily forfeited by a want of those qualities, are niore eventual than immediate. The first settlers may, almost always, be said to toil for others more than for themselves ; except, indeed, where a peculiar disin- terestedness and activity of mind, appro- priates to itself a rich and sweet reward in those very exertions, which to general minds would yield but drudgery. I' ifl i t m 6 THE EMIGRAM S GUIDE The Author also submits (in order to avoid frequent repetitions) that he wishes it to be recollected, that where he states, not facts, but opinions, they are but the opinions of an individual : offered, with moderate information, he believes honest- ly, fairly, disinterestedly, and in utter re- jection of every party feeling : but still only the opinions of an individual ; and ivhile he demonstrates, by asserting them, that he deliberately believes them to be correct, he is particularly solicitous, if not 80, that they may be neutralized, and an opportunity afforded him of reconsi- dering, and, if requisite, of correcting them. C. Stuart. Amherstburgh, "Western District, Upper Canada. TO UPPER CANADA. der to wishes stales, ut the , with lonest- ter re- lit still ; and them, to be if not t and consi- jcting 'anada. 1 SECT. I. tjeneral Topographical Sketch of Upper Canada, together with the Emigrant's Route through- it, by the River St, Lawrence and the Lakea, Upper Canada is bounded to tlie southward by an immense, but irregular line of water. Of this, those inland seas, Lake Superior and Lake Huron, slumber on shores little known, and it is believed, little susceptible of improvement. Ad- vancing to the eastward and southward, it extends itself from Lake Huron, in a southwardly direction, by the River St. Clair, the small Lake St. Clair, and the Detroit River, into Lake Erie, its most southern boundary. From the eastern extremity of Lake Erie, it tends north- wardly by the Niagara River to Lake Ontario ; and from the eastern extremity of Lake Ontario, by the vast sweep of the i.iiwia.,,;^^ .--_.".<-; % TUB XMienANT S GUIDE i\ River St. Lawrence In a fiorth-castwardly progress to the; Lower Province, through which that river pursues its way to the sea. At the distance of about 660 miks from its mouth, between Cape Chd.t and Cape Monts Pelet», ascending the St. Lawrence, is the eastern limit of Upper Canada, in the county of Glengary. This boundary is situated on Lake St. Francis, a shallow lake, in the course of the St. Lawrence, about thirty miles long. Its communication by water is interrupted, both above and below, by rapids ; that w by passages in the river, where shallow rocky slopes in the bed, cause a violent rushing and agitation of the stream, and where boats only can be ased, — in de- scending with little labour; but in ascend- ing, with severe and perplexing toil. The eastern boundary is about mid-way in the course of these rapids, which be- gin a little below the village of Prescot, in the county of Grenville, and end at the 1 i i :^^ii\. .^'iA-'*~- TO UPPER CANADA. 9 city of Montnal, in Lower Canada* Above Prescot, the nt^vigation is open for vessels of a moderate size, to the imme- diate vicinity of the g**«^at cataract of Niagara, a distance of about 250 miles. The navigation up the St. liawrenct is good for about 210 miles, that is to Green Island. Thence to Quebec, aboat 120 niijes further, it is more intricate, th(>u«rh, with pilots, tolerably safe. A re* gular establishment of these exists, and it consists of ezperieuced men; their lowtst station is " Father Point," below Green Island ; but their regulation needs improvement. They are not sufficiently controlled to keep a good look out below the dangers. When a great many vessels are expected up, they crowd down the river, leaving the vessels under dispatch from Quebec sometimes at a loss. Or, ^hen Quebec is crowded, and few more expected from sea, they linger about the port, while the lower parts of the river remain destitute. The substitution in B 5 f TTTT^SSC^ I f f^ t. f 10 THE emigrant's GUIDE this particular of such a plan as that used at Liverpool, would readily correct the evil, and it greatly needs correc- tion. From Quebec (the capital of Lower Canada) various conveniences of travel- ling exist, as far as Montreal, about 180 miles higher up the St. Lawrence. Ves- sels of considerable burthen sometimes navigate it ; a line of steam-boats, start- ing almost e\ 3ry day, affords every con- venience, (with *^legant accommodations for cabin passengers) together with pecu- liar expedition ; and a course of stages, offering the jolting choice to those who prefer travelling by land. Above Montreal, in the course of a distance of 120 miles, to Picscot, the greatest interruption exists. The rapids before mentioned, at irregular intervals, and with various degrees of violence, preclude the ascent of the river to all but boats ; and here of consequence arises an increased difficulty -and expence. ^ '! Ljja^- "tM.wn^ty, ..ilimnnl TO UPPER CANADA. 11 There is indeed a line of stages ; but this can accommodate, even in a very incommodious manner, only u few ; and the road is interrupted with ferries, one of which is about eighteen miles long, extending through the greater part of Lake St. Francis. The principal of these rapids are as follows, viz. The La Chine rapid, near Montreal, whiih is generally or universally avoided by a land carriage of nine miles to La Chine (pronounced La Sheen.) , i The Cascades, the Split Rock, and a little above them the Cedars Tbetweea thirty and forty miles from Montreal) where the boats are unloaded, and their burthens conveyed on carts to the village of the Cedars (a distance of about six miies) just above the rapid of the same name. The boats are tracked up this distance with great toil, and then again laden for their voyage. The Coteau or Coteau de Lac, at the i k 1 :i t I M 12 THB emigrant's GUIDE lower end of Lake St. Francis, near a small military post and fort of the same name, and where by a short canal, the chief violence of the rapid is avoided. About two miles above the fort, is the long stage ferry before mentioned. The long saut or long rapid, not far above the village of Cornwal, in the county of Stormont, extending with un- equal force eight or nine miles. And the Gallooz, the least considerable, a few miles below Prescot. From Prescot again, the navigation becomes commodious. One steam-boat constantly plying from May till Novem- ber, goes to and fro between Prescot and the head of the bay of Quinte, stopping at Kingston on her way. Another tra- verses as constantly, and during the same period, between Kingston and Queenston, stopping on her way at York, the capital of the provmce. Kingston is situated at the head of the St. Lawrence, where it issues from the north-eastern extremity of ^v\ Y. ' ■^1 TO UPPER CANADA. 13 Lake Ontario. York is situated on a small bay, about 180 miles westward of Kings- ton, along the northern she re of the same lake : and Queenston, south of York, on the Niagara river, about seven miles below the great cataract of that name. The distance across the lake, from York to Queenston, is about 40 miles, passing by Niagara, or Port George at the mouth of the Niagara river, seven or eight miles below Queenston. Besides these*, there is an American steam-boat, affording also an opportunity every ten days from Prescot to Lewistcn, which is on the American side of the Niagara river, nearly opposite to Qneenston. There are further, small schooners and sloops, of occasional, but very uncertain convenience. From Uueen^*on the passage becomes more uncertain and more expensive : for this a double reason may be assigned. — 1st. The interruption of water communi- cation by the great cataract just above it: ,ii. -ti«e:&'s;!iivS 14 THE emigrant's GUIDE (ISvi;, ^i: i I vil ■\, and 2dly. The scantiness of the interior population. Of these, the last is decreasing^, and the other, which may he said to be dependant on it, will no doubt, as population advances, be obviated by canals. From Queenston there is a land carriage of nine or ten miles to Chippewa, a vil- lage situated on a creek of the same name about two miles above the cataract. Here ure boats to convey lumber and baggage up to Fort Erie, a small military post at the head of the Niagara river, where it issues from Lake Erie ; and 18 miles above Chippewa. At Fort Erie, and in its neighbourhood, thj accommodations for travellers are scanty, and the means of further progress very precarious. Lake Erie extends in a direction W.S.W. about 250 miles, and communi- cates by an uninterrupted river navigation of 100 miles from its western extremity, >^ TO UPPER CANADA. 15 in a northern course, with Lake Huron. This river navigation, between Lakes Huron and Erie, has various names. Issuing from Lake Huron, in a southern course, it is called the River St. Clair, until it reaches the small lake of the same name ; through that lake it pursues its way for about thirty miles; then again contracting, it assumes the name of the Detroit river, and falls into Lake Erie, about 2 1 miles below the American city of Detroit. About three miles from the mouth of the Detroit river, where it issues into Lake Erie, is the village and military post of Maiden or Amherstburgh, and about 16 miles higher up the river, the small town of S'lndwich. From Fort Erie * above-mentioned (at * Care should be taken to distinguish this from another place, called Erie, or Presqu'isle, on the American side, higher up; that is to say, further to the westward. If l! ■' 11, ■ , II' i} i li \ "^V 16 THB emigrant's GUIDE the head of the Niagara river) there is (except during the winter months, from Deceml>er to March) a constant inter- course by vessels, though their times of proceeding are very uncertain; and these afford the only means of transport on the British side, as the rond along the north- ern sliore of Lake Erie, is, in great mea- sure, impassable for carriages, nor are any such to be obtained there. Along this shore, however, are two intermediate dep6ts: one at Long Point or Vittoria and their vicinity, about 60 or 70 miles west- ward of Fort Erie ; and the other at Port Talbot, about 70 or 80 miles further. Both these places are approached casu- ally only by small vessels or by hired boats. A more favorable means of conveyance exists on the American side. About 1} mile below Fort Erie, is a feiry across the river. On the British side it is called the ferry, or Waterloo; on the American, Black Rock. From about half a mile ..-**-.*'^ >v TO UPPER CANADA. 17 1 J helow this, a fine steam vessel, with ex- cellent accommodations^ traverses Lake Erie to Detroit, and returns every ten days at latest ; and, if required, she lands her passengers near Amherstburgh, or Sandwich. The expence of this progress may be stated as follows : From England to Quebec, according to the port of departure, and to the terms made on the spot, which are very various. Liverpool, I believe, is; the best place. The remainder I shall state for cabin passengers, as the rates of these are less liable to fluctuate ; noticing, that steerage passengers have to provide themselves with every thing, and with this addition, may generally obtain their passage for about one-third of the cabin price. In- deed a very liberal spirit is frequently dis- played to them by the steam-boats, espe- cially where there is any thing of a party. ) i 18 THE EMIGRANT S GUIDE ' 1 ' 'tn 111 i' ' i' Miles 180 9 BY STEAM-BOATS. . Time. From Quebec to Montreal 3 2 or 3 BY LAND. From Montreal to La Chine Stage .... 5 A cart ... 12 BY BOATS. Ill iFrom La Chine to Prescot. Price according to the terms made on the spot. The hire of a whole boat of from two tn three tons burthen, completely equipped for the passage, is about £20: say an in- dividual place too Eight days provisions from Montreal to Prescot, say 10 (This is supposing the provisions to be carried with you, and used in the boat); and this is inde- '-' pendent of lodging, (un- less you choose to lodge in the boat, wbich would I or less o! 6 or 8, or 10. 300 5 17 6 I say 11 i . TO UPPER CANADA. 19 Mitci 300 Time. 60 180 27 or 28 250 £ t. A. Brought over 5 27 be extremely uncomfort- able); and of the trans- port of baggage. BY STEAM-BOAT. From Prescot to Kingston 10 Kingston to York, or to Niagara and Qneenston 3 BY STAGE. From Queenston to Water- loo, or the ferry, or to Fort Erie 12 6 (Independently of provi- sions and lodging, &c.) Ferry to Black Rock ..... 2 BY STEAM-BOAT. From Black Rock to near Amherstburgh,Sandwicb, or to Detroit 4 5 (The above distance is to Amherslburgh.) Ferry to Amlierstburghi or Sandwich 2 Days. 11 2 or 3 817 Total 14 19 I say 18 This is rather an approximation than an exact estimate. The variety of con- ki. ,!!i1 (■ 20 THK emigrant's GUIDE veyanct's, and the fluctuation of terms resulting' from that variety, and from other circumstances, together with the inconsistencies of the provincial cur- rency, render it difficult to he perfectly exact. But from the above, an approxi- mate idea of the expence may be formed. The steam-boats and stages will generally carry, besides your person, at the above rates, without question, say one cwt. The transport of all baggage beyond that quantity must be added to the estimate. Lodging and meals at the inns on the road, may be generally said to be about two shillings sterling each, or perhaps, a little more ; and if, therefore, you were to cater and sleep on shore during the above passage, at the public houses, and take two meals a day, there would be an addi- tional expence of about, from Montreal to Prescot, --£180 From Queenston to Waterloo, 6 £1 14 ■ifp TO UFPKR C ANADA. til f teriii!* id from itb the 1 cur- srfectly pproxi- brmed. nerally above e cwt. id that imate. m the about laps, a ere to above take addi- 8 6 4 Besides the days of detention on the road, which from the changes of convey- ances and their discordant periotU of ar- rival and departure, would probably in- crease the time, by, say, one-third ; that is, six additional days on shore at six shil- lings per day ----- j£l 16 Last addition --«.. 1140 First e^imate 14 19 9 Days 24. Total J18 9 Besides additional luggage. In the most penurious style, this jour- ney might be accomplished, perhaps at one-third of the above expence ; but, it would be at the risk of health, without great care and skill in providing against exposure to hunger, and to those incle- mencies of the weather, which must be expected to be encountered in so long a jaunt. The boats on the Riv.er St. Lawrence 22 THE EMIGRANT S GUIDE m l( < I III } '' are of two descriptions. The smaller are called batteaux (pronounced baltoes), arc from two to four tons burthen ; have commonly three rowers and a pilot (with ft fragment of sail to use when occasion offers), and their crews are French Cana- dians. Large depositories of these are kept at La Chine by various managers, and they may be there obtained at all times with inconsiderable delay. I had occasion once to freight one from the firm of Grant and Co. and was most satisfacto- rily served. The larger are called Durham boats. They are generally manned by Ameri- cans ; are more commodious than the bat- teaux ; are better found ; and when the wind favors, are more expeditious; but they cannot always be so much depended on as the others. Both are abundantly safe under the Divine mercy. A person named Tucker, who is a native of the State of Nfiw York, and who has an establishment of the Durhams, may be TO U1»PI:R CANADA. i23 , safely recoiiimeiuied where that descrip- tion is prt'fcrred. Bonts (of the batteaux description) may sometimes be obtained at Chippewa and at Fort Erie, for traversing Lake Krie; and when the emigrant does not wish to go to the extremity of the lake, and they can be obtained, they are sometimes the most convenient. Their fare depends upon the terms made at the time. It should be known, however, that the northern shore of Lake Erie is, in the greatest part of its extent, abrupt and high ; that a strong wind from the south- ward, heaves the body of the water northwardly, and surmounting the narrow tind casual beach, dashes its encroaching waves against the cliffs. On these occa- sions, no landing-place remains ; and per- sons, therefore, navigating boats in such a situation, require boldness and caut'on, experience and skill. Beyond Detroit (an American city. :T' ''^■^: ■V^fe- *^, /-J*^* *^- - •1 ."X •."i-mrrr-- I: i1 f: , 1 ll 1 '^1 ■ • f|! i '1 r .: ., "j(i *j'} * i i t ,1 y 1) :!' 1 1 It 1 : »('• ■;. '/ \ §' \ r } ' wHn '%«« ■tflvU^e ftjBii V^VfN' W^i i^ '%-,- 24 THE EMIGRANT S GUIDE about IS miles above Arnherstborgh, on tlie opposite side of the Detroit river) the means of passage or conveyance are very precarioas ; but as the tide of emi- g'rationi flows to the extensive purchases of remarkably fertile lands lately made on the iRivers St. Clair and Thames, this dis- advantage will diminish until it cease. On the immediate banks of the Thames, there is already a flourishing settlement, and the climate and soil around, promise every thing to the persevering hand of industry. Such is the great central line of com- munication. Its inflections are, The Bay of Quint^ or Canty, between which and Kingston; a small independent navigation already exists. The small bay of York. The bay near Burlington, at the wes- tern end of Lake Ontario; a large ex- posed road, without any shelter from eastern storms. I ■n I "*^^ TO UPPER CANADA. 25 € wes- 3fe ex- ' from I gK on river) ice are )f emi- lases of ide on his dis- cease. hames, ement, iromise and of f com- jtween ,^ endent And the bay of Long Point, on the north side of Lake Erie ; also without any shelter from the eastward. One universal remark may be extended to the rivers of the province, which are out of the great line above denoted, that they are all interrupted with rapids or with ca- taracts, generally at no great distance from their mouths. They still afiord, in* deed, vast advantages for internal inter- course ; yet thos^e advantages are in a very important degree lowered beneath the standard, which would naturally be imputed to them. Nor is this evil com- pensated by the presence of any of that bold and commanding scenery, the idea of which is concurrent with that of rapids and cataracts. The imagination is chilled by the surrounding tameness. The evil remains alone. An evil blended, as above-stated, with important advs:ntages; and those advantages cast the reproach of ingratitude upon the sentiment which in their presence can dwell upon that evil. c .V::i^-^^"*v r*^-— ■'^.;-'-', ' > I. s m \ ^ ill. ■ \ . 1 V \ I ■ \\ ;•! 26 THE EMIGRANT S i^UIDE The general course of the Ottawas, which forms a sheltered communication between Lake Huron and Montreal, is through a wild and reputedly sterile country, and is little frequented except by the north-west canoes. In reviewing this head, we may ob- serve, that from the sea upwards, there are three great courses of internal naviga- tion. ' 1st. That betw*;en the sea and Mont- real, a distance f .i>out 500 miles. 2d. That between Prescot and Queens- ton, which includes the expanse uf Lake Ontario, aboiH 250 miles, and 3d. That between Chippewa, or Fort Erie, and the Falls of St. Mary, at the north-western extremity of Lake Huron, including the whole extent of Lakes Erie and Huron, about 600. ' < Besides the navigatiO! f Lake Supe- rior, above the falls of St. Mary, which I have not yet mentioned, as, except to the Hudson^s Bay and North-West traders, — "^--.^ria?- ■^^»^i^,iai**.i--,.^.^_^ TO UPPER CANADA. 27 it is without the present range of Cana- dian intercourse : . v And two prominent interruptions, 1st. That of the rapids between Mont- real and Prescot, 120 miles, and j; 2d. That of the great cataract of Nia- gara, between Queenston and Chippe- wa, nine miles. Of these, it will be re- collected, that the latter only is an abso- solute interruption — as, although the whole ascent of the rapids is difficult, yet it is only for a short distance that the boats are compelled to unlade. RECAPITULATION. Time. From To Conveyance. Day*. £ Fare, f. d. Quebec Montreal Steam-boat 2 or 3 3 Montreal La Chine Stage 1 or lass 5 La Chine Prescot Boats 8, &c. I Prescot Kingston Steam-boat I I 'ingston c York Niagara ditto miles. 33 1 2 3 York j Queen- > ston ^ 40^ ditto 1 1 Queen- ston Fort Erie Stage I 12 6 Fort Erie Amherst - Steam-boat 2 or 3 4 5 or Black burgh Rock Additional , by delays n the road •• Total . . • . 6 3 10 24 or 2^ 23 12 6 Dist. Milet. 180 9 111 60 180 40 28 2oO • 1 if 858 c 2 ..ji,„. :..:■:./,. \l\ 28 THE EMIGRA.NT S GUIDE It will here be observed, that the addi- tional distance from York to Niagara, of thirty»tbree ; or to Queenston, of forty miles is added ; rnd that, in stating this separate distance, a new charge accompa- nies it. The reason is, that the distance from Kingston to York, and from King- ston to Niagara and Queenston, being nearly the same, the fare is the same for all those three places, where a passage is taken throughout. But when a passage from York, only to Niagara or Queens- ton is taken, a separate charge of course arises ; and the route of the steam-boat being by York to Niagara, &c. the dis- tance between those two places must be added. "f c ^- ■ ' ii tvC „, — ^..,^.uj^^ ^-^^^ jmn'^^^^J^ ^ , . .* .._^.iiJ*y^»V-'-i«t»w«ri-^'-^''^ mw^mt TO l/PPER CANADA. 29 SECT. II. Shades of Climate, as well in relation to Health as to Vegetable Productions, The general character of the climate of Upper Canada may be designated as i^arm and good. But these two charac- teristics vary under particular circum- stances, and exist in proportions some- what unequal. From the eastern boundary of the pro- vince io Kingston, and between the St. Lawrence and Ottawas rivers, its pro- portion of warmth is least ; from King- ston to the head (or north-western border) of Lake Ontario, and southward of the line of small lakes and rivers, which inter- sect the country between Lake Ontario and the Ottawas, the proportion of warmth is somewhat greater. From the head of Ontario to Port Talbot on Lake . i Sl^^^J 1.1 he r ao THE EMIGRANT S CUIDK i: ^i E^v R,.. f (4 kii Erie, including: the Niagara district, the warmth increases; and its greatest degree is from Port Talbot to the Detroit and St. Clair rivers. The western extremity, as it has permanently a greater proportion of heat, so may it, perhaps, in very hot and dry seasons, be a shade less healthy than the other parts of the pro- vince. Such seemed to be the case in the summer of 1819, when a degree and a continuance of warmth was experienced, greater than had been known for the pre- ceding twenty years : and when, amidst the universal sickliness which prevailed in both provinces, that of the western dis- trict of the Upper Province, seemed somewhat to preponderate. The fact that increased sickliness arises in very hot and dry seasons, may seem here to demand explanation ; for it is the action of heat upon moisture which de- praves the air. This was the exact case in the instance in question. The countFy is intersected with marshy u i^rmmmm I9>i-«UP ^m^ TO UPPER CANADA. 31 spaces, which flourish in the moisture dripping from the woods around them. Where these are more considerable, they generally have vents into the approximate lakes ; and while the water is abundant, these vents being kept open, preserve the circulation, and carry off the superfluity. But their mouths are subject to the gene- ral liability of all rivers to bars. When the season is particularly hot and dry, these bars, under the circumstances, then favourable to them, are formed. The is- sue of the water is impeded or stopped. The fluid extends itself in a shallow sur- face, over the neighbouring flats. The interior dampness also, diminished by the season, and hemmed in in consequence by every little inequality of the surrounding surface, stagnates in its own hollows. The natural eflect of heat upon thinly and widely difl*used stagnant moisture, is of course experienced ; and that eflect is in a measure proportionate to the degree and duration of that heat, and to the ex- 99 THE emigrant's Gl71t>E ; i tent of that moisture. Perhaps it would be impossible, more strongly to character- ize the general salubrity of the climate, than by recording the fact, that in a sea- son, wherein arose such an extraordinary concurrence of unhealthy influences, as those which took place in the summer of 1819, and when a similar parallel of la- titude in the United States, was visited with that dreadful disease, which is com- monly called the yellow fever, Upper Ca- nada, including its western district, ex- perienced only a fever of a mild and to- tally non-infectious type, tedious indeed and perplexing, but generally speaking, very far from dangerous. With respect to general vegetation, the climate of the western districts has a de- cided superiority. Wheat indeed^ toge- ther with the rest of the British grains and vegetables, cannot be finer than they are on the shores of Ontario. But for the cultivation of Indian corn, tobacco, and fruit, the north-western shores of Lake 1^ h I CPU ^Z^^^»«« TO UPPER CANADA. 33 Erie, the banks of the Detroit river, and those of the Thames, of the St. Clair, and of Big'Bear creek, excel every other part, and offer peculiar advanta^ U ifeS.-.__. .::,iK5i! ) h i •i.-^- -^w --U.- 34 THE EMIGRANT S GtTlDK r l|^'' I U\ 5i^j^_; though in a greatly inferior degree, and should therefore be burnt and removed as quickly as possible after it is felled ; espe- cially near the spot appropriated for dwelling. In mentionins: above the banks of the River St. Clair, as part of the warmest division of Upper Canada, their northern extremity was not intended to be includ- ed. The colder climate of Lake Huron is felt at the distance of ten or twelve miles from its shores ; and the upper part of the St. Clair therefore, within that distance, partakes of a lower degree of tempera- ture, and of the advantages and defects incident to it : a minor productiveness of the articles above-mentioned as a defect ; and a lesser liability to suffer from the casual occurrence of an extremely hot summer, as an advantage. The whole province produces abun- dantly, when cultivated, every kind of British grain, and pulse or vetches; to- 1 ,f— %)*.to V ,<»»".•., ,<,-„,»^- ,?'\St^J ^ TO UPPER CANADA. 35 getiier with all the common fruits and veg^etables of Britain, besides others which Britain has not so commonly. The maize or Indian corn is raised in every part of it; but abundantly and securely, only in the western districts. In other parts it is apt to be blighted before it comes to maturity, by the early autum- nal frosts. Of course, this disaster may occur in the western districts also, if the corn be planted too late; but then, it is the fault of the planting, and not of the climate. Tobacco is also produced in every part of the province ; but the western district is probaJbly the only part where it could be advantageously cultivated to commer- cial extent ; and there it need have hardly any limit but the means and other views of the cultivator. It has been tried on a small scale near Amherst burgh, and has been judged equal in manufacture to any obtained from the United States, i ' I ^^^sSf. -**-"* ^im'ff^ sww.ti^;;; •^, I - — — Ol ^^r THE emigrant's GUIDE ¥: \[s I ? All the British fruit8, 8cc. are congenial to the province; but the garden goose- berry doeN not appear to thrive in the western district ; although the goose- berry, in a wild state, is universally indi- genous. The melon, in its various species, and the vine, may be every where reared with a facility unknown in England. The wild vine, the fruit of i^hich is small, harsh, and unpalatable, abounds through- out the forests. • The various speries of plums appear to tuffer, to the wei rd, from too luxuri- ous a growth. But the peach and the vine there seem to have found their congenial climate, and whenever cultivated, Buurish abundantly with little care. A superior kind of pears needs introduction. Their cherries also, though aliandant where cultivated, are nor; select. Currants thrive aidmirably. Wild strawberries and blackberries are fv. :*>^' ;i^Mrf .■)•<*■ ^» f TO UPPER CANADA, 37 common in Clearanus ; but the real rasp- berry is rare. A few other berries are found ; some plentifully. But the nuts are the pride of the woods. Where you meet the apple, or the plum, in the forests, it is a diminutive, harsh, repulsive fruit. The nuts, on the contrary, seem perfectly at home. They tower, of various kinds, amidst the lofty heads of the trees, and scatter around their trea- sures, the natural granaries of the squir- rel, the hog, and the bear. They are, The walnut, or black walnut, as it is called, of a peculiar and rather disa- greeable flavor. The white walnut, or butter-nut, and the hickory nut, which much resemble each other, and both of which are ex- cellent. The chesnut, equal to that in England. The filbert, of a good quality. The beechnut, and some others of an inferior description, a store for quadru- peds. » (, .■*tF^,rrr .fi % 38 THE emigrant's IUIDE I rU None of these, I believe, are peculiar to any part of the province ; hut it is in the western peninsula that they princi- pally abound. "■< i if I f. • * r: . . ->:.*' J, (, m. ■»*»- — ^"r: — -'-*■** fr-Ui^»^a-v #*!-.„ ,;,^ ''^Sii*^-' . ■ im iii—— M^Mt^ tsm;'mm^m TO UPPER CANADA. 39 SECT. III. Sketch of Settlements already made, and of DiS' trkts now open and opening for Settlement, The settlements already made, divide themselves into two heads, viz. Those which have long existed, or at least for a lonj^er time ; and those which have been recently formed. A similar division will occur in consi- dering those which are now open or open- ing" for settlement ; and those which, in every probability, will shortly be opened. Thus, the settler mjiy be enabled to judge more distinctly of the particular circumstances which might affect his choice. Places long settled are, of course, generally speaking, more improved ; but the degree of th's improvement is supe- rior, in proportion os ihey are to the eastward. The immediate conveniences are greater; foreign articles are more I ■ 'h-a ' .**L ^■^ A' II ■ ■ w ■ WW m^ir-si hfi 40 THE EMIGRANT S GUIDE IM. nbunclant and more cheap, and land only is higher. But, on the other hand, for moderate means, there is generally, in such places, less scope for enterprise, and the prospect of eventual benefit, to such means, is comparatively less. It may be observed, that the lands now open and opening for settlement, probably offer superior advantages to any which not long hence may be attainable. The occupation of the fronts on the rivers and lakes, already far advanced, will then be completed ; and although a vast extent of land, equal perhaps in quality to any in the world, will remain, yet it will be subject to the disadvantage of being re- moved from the immediate contact of water communication. . , To begin from the eastward, in which course the tide of emigration necessarily flows, we may comprise, generally, under the first division, that is, of settlements long made, The northern skirts of the St. Law- i/-^ i-^^^/-'-*J" „«•-'■ -■-"»' ff-'^'^t^* :V«P--' _>«.«.>• ."rk. - ■**f,-r- .^. TO VV1*ER CANADA. 41 reiice, from Cornwal to Kingston, includ- ing both of those places : fronn Kingston, by the high road, to York, inchisive : from York, round the head of Lake Ontario, by the Niagara river, to Fort Erie ; and returning to the road round the head of Lake Ontario, from Dundas, on that road, to Port Talbot. Then, omitting the large intervening space, introduce what is called the new settlement, on the northern shore of the western extremity of Lake Erie ; Amherstburgh, or Maiden, which borders upon the new settlement; Sandwich and its vicinity ; the settlements on the Thames ; and the small settlement of Beldoon, lately belonging to Lord Sel- f* kirk who first established it. The west- ern high road also, by Dundas Street, from York to Amherstburgh, where it extends beyond the above-mentioned set- tlements on the Thames, which form a part of it, may be comprised in this divi- sion. The second divisi^ (that is, of settle- •=^ i. r m »^«r -^ ••♦^ / 42 THE emigrant's GUIDE il I i- i/;- i i m ji i merits recently formed) is of narrower compass; is less continuous, and is more devious in its track. Its first point may be held to be Perth, (or the Depot (Depo), as it is familiarly called in the neighbourhood) on the river Radeau. This is of a peculiar charac- ter, and has peculiar advantages and dis- advantages. Struck by events of the last war, with the risks incident to the navigation of the head of the St. Lawrence, in case of contest with the United States, it became an anxious object with the government, to provide for the public service another route, more sheltered from those risks : and the result of the research, produced by this desire, was the choice of Perth, as an original port, for the prosecution of the work. At the distance of about forty miles from Brockville, the nearest and most favorable frontier to it, and far out of the route of common observation, this place fi k PW*w*iri«»i*'"tlP*"<*,. TO UPPER CANADA. 48 would probably have slumbered unknown, beneath the retired wildness of its native Forests for another half century, had not this circumstance called it forth ; and its remoteness, even when thus produced, re- quired for it a fostering hand to support what had been founded. The assistance of government was liberally advanced 5 a fine soil, with a salubrious climate, cor- roborated the eft'ort ; the unusual impulse produced a corresponding eflfect ; and Perth, though commenced but the other day (that is, about foui* years ago), al- ready assumes the appearance of a flou- rishing colony. The extension of the set- tlement is continuing, both towards King- ston and the Ottawas; and the spirit which planned and supports it, sees this great object of public utility, apparently approaching to a favorable conclusion. The more recent settlement of Rich- mond on the Ottawas (in furtherance of the route by Perth), is, I believe, of a somewhat similar character. Ir^^^ ^IM 44 THE EMIGRANT S GTTIDE I 1 t l<'.^ I i» IS vi.. Westward from Perth, somewhat in- clining to the southward, at the distance perhaps of 130 miles (by the road it is a greater distance) lies the Rice Lake. This is the south-eastern extremity of a small chain of lakes, extending from the eastern end of Lake Huron, and commu- nicating with the bay of Quinte by the river Trent. South of it, have lately been formed, and settled as far as local disad- vantages would permit, the townships of Cavan and Connaught. These are prin- cipally peopled by L*ish. The next point, passing over the inter- vening space, is the neighbourhood of York. Here, great numbers, within the last two or three years, have been settled; and this section may be extended inde- finitely, along the line of communication, by Yonge Street and Lake Simcoe, to Penetangushene Bay, at the eastern ex- tremity of Lake Huron. After this we have a long interval. Port Talbot on the northern shores of u m TO UPPER CANADA. 45 Lake Erie forms a new department. Its proprietor, Col. Talbot, superintends the settlement of a new road, called Talbot Street, extending from the eastern vici- nity of Port Talbot, nearly one hundred miles west. And north of Dundas Street, the London Township, stretchings north- wardly from the forks of the Thames, has been recently appropriated, under the same superintendance. Under the second head, the lands now open for settlement are, The remainder of the Radeau or Perth settlement, and the Richmond settlement, in the line of communication between Kingston and the Ottawas, The remainders of Cavan and Con- naught, near the Rice Lake, The remainders of Townships near York, and of settlements on the line of communication between York and Lake Huron, And the remainder of the lands under the superintendance of Col. Talbot, North ; *% i 46 THE emigrant\s c;uide 1^ \ii i of Lake Erie, and in the township of London. i i * Those which in every probability are now opening, or will soon be opened, are more extensive. ' ' They are, in the line between Kingston and the Ottawas, by Perth and Rich- mond, such parts as shall be deemed most suitable for completing* that line, and are not deeded or reserved : In the lines between Lake Huron and York by Yonge Street, and between Lake Huron and the Bay of Quints by the small lakes an;.] W , fV^w*./. ' TO UPPER CANADA. 47 Townships on the River Thames, formed out of lands lately purchased frdm the Indians : ■"'* i ' '^ ' i ;;'>.• Townships on Big Bear Creek, he- tween the Thames and the St. Clair, similarly furmed: < r / ' Townships similarly formed, on the eastern banks of the River St. Clair : And probably, a small township (ex- pected to be puichased from the Indians) near Amherstburgh. ' These several anticipated settlements, comprise millions of acres of some of the finest lands, in one of the finest climates in the world. - . ^ i .. And here I shall offer some conjectures on the comparative advantages and dis- advantages of the above divisions. They are my own conjectures, and would, no doubt, be controverted by many. The event only can fully determine their cha- racter. •■•''■'■• -■■■-" ■*• f ■' '^-' • ;/,/.-< These opinions are as folloVv, viz. That in a general comparison of cli- Mi M H ~ ♦' tV' V^**!-* l''>r''*Hi^yt.j 48 THE emigrant's GUIDE In >l •^\\ ;* mate nnd soil, with respect to salubrity, the banks of the St. Lawrence from Montreal to Kingston, and the whole of the northern shores of Lake On- tario, together with the opposite district of Niagara, and the high lands about Ancaster, are to be preferred. Here, in my opinion, exists the happiest medium of heat and cold, for health ; and vegeta- tion, generally speaking, is abundantly luxuriant. Here also, are the most fa- vourable situations for commerce; and here, the most agreeable scenery. On the other hand, with a climate also salubrious, though probably less so, the western districts appear to me to have a decided superiority in vegetable produc- tions. They yield in equal abundance every thing which is afforded by other parts of the province ; they produce some things with greater luxuriance and cer- tainty ; and for some (tobacco, for in- stance, as an article of commerce) they alone are suitable. The labour and ex- ,«A; ftV :?&ears to me to fail. There is less necessity for labour, and a greater proportion of heat. Emi- grants indeed, at first, will here, as else- where, always have an excess of labour. But that excess, temporary though it be, is rather prejudicial than useful ; and the permanent influence, which would exist when this was past, and which would form an abiding feature of the country. 1ii iiilii«>. TO UPPER CANADA. 51 would, in my opinion, be, a minor degree of that constitutional, indefatigable, and steady vigour, which marks the happiest classes of the human race. I mean the happiest with respect to habitual energy of body and of mind ; not, in regard of those enjoyments, which constitute the general idea of happiness, and to which, the westward promises to be most fa- vourable. D ^ ,' ,=-2&i n. w te 53 THE EMIGRANT S GUIDE it I SECT. IV. Gentrtti Terms on which Settlers are received by ' the Government ; rmd the usual Extent to which '; they are provided for* Emigrants are received as subjects, and are required, before they receive lands, to take the oath of allegiance. They should not expect pecuniary as- sistance of any kind 5 neither provisions nor utensils. The magnitude of the na- tional debt, and of the public burthens, forbid their being fuinished with any. With themselves rest all the cares and expenceof arrivins^ at their several places of destination, and of there providing for themselves. The government can only supply them with land. The usual quantity lately given has been, one hundred acres to each man arrived at the age of twenty-one, or up- I 'L 1% ■''^■•**—- — -«., ; ^'J.^i^AVj,-^ L - p — 7— -| [ J^lp ^ l f ■ TO UPPER CANADA. 5d wards. The choice of the several parts of the province open for location, is com- monly allowed, if the means of the indi- vidual enable him to proceed at his own ex pence. But when he has chosen his township, the particular lot which he is to have, is not always optional. In order to concentrate population, and to preserve impartiality, it is often found requisite to proceed by lots, and the person then remains located, on that which he draws. These terms, however, have not been universal ; particularly on Talbot Street, where 200 acres were given, and a free choice allowed. I am not aware whether the same advantages will be continued, on the new parallel street, about to be formed, under the same superintendance. Superior means of cultivation, dis- played to the satisfaction of the council at York, entitle to the expectation of larger grants, in proportion to those means, and within the provincial limit of 1200 acres^to any one individual. \ i 64 THE emigrant's GUIDE I A condition attends every grant. It is, that a certain portion of the land shall be cleared and cultivated, and a small log house of certain dimensions built, within a certain time. This portion is, five acres in the hun- dred ; and the dimensions of the house (I believe^ are, eighteen feet by sixteen ; to be completed within two years; and in default thereof, the whole to be for- feited. The final right to the land, is not given, till these duties, which are called the settling duties, are fulfilled ; and certain fees (amounting to between five and six pounds for 100 acres, but more in proportion for la/ger quantities) are paid upon receiving the final title or deed or grant from government. The casually impending forfeiture above-mentioned is never exacted, ex- cept in cases of extreme remissness, or of total abandonment. It is at once apparent, that the above set- tling duties, are a benefit and not a griev- ^"n^ 1 \ TO UPPER CANADA. 55 ance; and were all men, who seek new lands, inclined to become real set- tlers on those lands, no necessity could exist for such a clause. But this is, un- fortunately, not the case j and here, as in many otht r particulars, the arm of public authority must interfere to watch over and secure the interests, as well of the individual as of the public. At the same time, the wisdom of government is displaced in retaining the duty on so small a compass. Were the settlers always unincumbered ; or had they means independently to provide for themselves, few of those actually set- tling, would, in any probability, confine themselves to so small an improvement. Bui this is by no means the case. They are frequently obliged to sp^nd great part of their time in working for others, in order to obtain the means of subsistence, implements of husbandry, cattle, house- hold utensils, &c. ; and hence, they fiijd the completion, even of these moderate duties, sufficiently arduous. r h -J II umnm 56 THE emigrant's GUIDE SECT. V. { ,! 1 i W Particular Difficulties of first Settlement : and local Facilities for overcoming them. These are the concomitants of the cir- cumstances to be encountered, actings upon the nature of such a being" as man. In one view, " a stranger in a foreign ciime'* shotiid anticipate nothing beyond the fullest compass of hie own means. He is unknown — and what may he not be ? Suspicion looks upon him, and spontaneously interprets evil — Caution keeps him at a distance — Benevolence lias been often deceived, and fears to trust the warmth of her heart, that longs to receive him. Pride, and intolerance, and malice, take offerice even at his efforts to Aerve and to please ; and slander spreads her willing wings, fraught with their fa- brications. The stranger must be strong, or he may often tremble ; and often wil mm^m mmm .JUil.U. TO UPPER CANADA. 57 he have to turn from human gall, to the sweetness of Calvary, there to find a spirit that can understand, and there a hope that can cheer him. In another view, want begets sympathy: and we almost universally find, that hos- pitality is concomitant with privation. Place a people at their ease; surround them with security and with comfort, and let them possess within themselves all that they chiefly desire ; and whatever social or domestic affections or habits may adorn their little circles, the stranger will find a cold heart and an averted eye amongst them. But, let them be themselves strug- gling for independence or for comfort; place around them the like battle which he is encountering; and make exertion and suffering as essential to them as they are to him, and he will be hailed, in a measure as a brother ; and mutual want will be to them a bond of union, and of reciprocal comfort pnd advantage. The difficulties to be first encountered D 5 "— .y^'<^i -■ TO UPPER CANADA. 59 They are universally in a state of nkt- ture ; and the almost universal nature of the lands in these provinces, is, to be covered with a tLick and stately growth of forest trees, beneath which flourishes a perplexing covert of underwood. This covert is the abode of numerous tribes of herbs, the qualities of which appear to be most highly interesting (particularly in the western districts), though yet but very imperfectly known. Grass is rare, and is of an inferior kind, appearing only in the less shaded intervals. Small na- tur-*l meadows (or half marshes) of very luxuriant, but very insipid hay, occasion- ally intervene, and where they are not too swampy, offer to the settler a highly use- ful supply of winter fodder for his cattle during the first years, before he can supply himself with meadows. But where ex- tensive and swampy, they are unfavor- able to health, and should by all means be avoided. These forests consist of various kinds rr i '1 , j.^ i VjU'v- it k 60 THE emigrant's GUIDE of wood ; and the description of wood denotes, to a certain degree, the quality of the land. The oaks and chesnut, generally grow on dry ground ; the latter more especially on ridges. The black oak and chesnut grow on a sandy and poor soil ; as do the various species of the pine, including the hem- lock. White and red oak, blended with other woods, bespeak a strong and lasting soil. Beech and white oak lands seem most favorable for wheat. The maples and black walnut, particu- larly the latter, where it grows in large clusters, point out the richest soils ; gene- rally low and somewhat damp in a state of nature, but only requiring clearance to become abundantly dry. Amongst the underwood, the prickly ash and spice- wood, promise the best. The growth of most of these may be destroyed by what is called girdling them ; '*^liiJSJi_! ■^^■I il TO UPPER CANADA. 01 that is, by making a double incision all round, quite through the bark, nad remov- ing the rim of bark thus cut. The beech, and, I believe, the maples, are exceptions. This method, however, even where the trees yield to it^, is not generally advis- able ; as the decaying branches and trees are apt at times to fall unexpectedly, and many mournful bereavements have been the consequence. Necessity only should ever sanction it. The oaks, but more particularly the black oak and chesnut, where not much mixed with other wood, have generally the thinnest growth, and may, conse- quently, be most easily cleared away ; but the land on which they thus grow is the least productive. The various spe- cies of pine also grow thinly ; but the roots are so indestructible, that the pre- paration of pine land for culture, is, I believe, the most difficult of all. In a general view, the largest, tailed, t-i 02 THE EMIGRANT S GUIDE N' and thickest wood, denotes the most fer- tile soils. ' ' In every rase, however, the settler has to fifo lo the forest, and select for himself, from its damp and gloomy shades, the immediate scene of his exertions. With toil, and subject to privation ; that is, with but poor shelter, and poor diet, and destitute of almost everv convenience, he must open fur himself \\ {dace of shelter, and, under mercv, of future comfort and independence. He must first clear away the underwood ; he must cut down the hick and lofty trees ; he must deprive them, after they are fallen, of their branches ; of these, he must separate the more massy from the smaller parts ; he must pile together in compact heaps whatever he can lift; he must divide the formidable trunks into moderate lengths (generally of twelve or fourteen feet) ; he must toilfully burn those heaps after they are sufiiciently dry for that purpose ; . t- **»i&4jL.., ■•——■«*■ -* v TO UPPER CANADA. 0^ lie must get hauled together, by the help 01 his neighbours and of cattle, the innssy logs which remain ; he must have them heaped and burn them. Then may he begin to look forward to a reward. A harrow amply prepares the ground, thus recently cleared, for an abundant harvest : and all that remains is, to sow, to harrow again, and to fence it, by split- ting for that purpose the wood which he has reserved at hand : by getting the wood thus split (into rails as they are called) hauled to the circumference of his field; and by laying it up in the manner, and according to the rules of the country. To clear a spot and build a cabin, and to clear, prepare, and cultivate, a few acres in this manner, must obviously be, in the first place, a discouraging and an oppressive toil. It daunts many a heart ; and it is accompanied with some aggra- vating, and with some alleviatmg cir- cumstances. The place where all this toil must be ^K5^ 64 TH£ emigrant's GUIDE f I: encountered is, generally, distant from every market ; from every place where provisions of any kind may be procured ; and the roads around, if any such exist, arc next to impassable. The difficulty of procuring even the most indispensable articles of food, is extreme, the rate is generally high, and the loss of time and of labour great. Truly a man must go to it with a soul prepared to suffer and to persevere. These are the aggravating circum- stances, and they ought to be known without disguise. The alleviations are, that the original settlers, at least where I have been to the westward, (and I S'hould hope elsewhere) are extremely hospitable and kind. They are as willing to yield as to receive as- sistance ; and an indu$<»triotts, sober, and good-tempered stranger, may, under mercy, depend upon the most friendly furtherance from them, in his efforts after independence. This disposition in his ..y - • - - V .1;.- . TO UP1*ER CANADA. 65 nei^hbourH affords the new-comer a vast facility, and is often the means of crown- ings with success, efforts that were other- wise useless. Mechanics, particularly carpenters, blacksmiths, and shoemakers, may ge- nerally be sure of obtaining employment, with high wages. » 1 » . 1 •■^1: ■. 1 I ' .' • I '■\ .^ M TO UPPER CANADA. 07 obvious truth often seeks to be heard in vain. The Emigrant, before he starts for Canada, or for any foreign settlement, shouhl strenuously endeavour to obtain the best possible information, respecting the difficulties \Yhich he has to encounter. Human nature, a rebellious and ungrate- ful thing, generally depreciates present blessings and exaggerates future good. The most lovely flowers, even the ever- lasting flowers of Christian friendship and of Christian love, often lose their fra- grance when possessed ; and we are capa- ble of glooming amidst the enjoyment of blessings, the bare idea of which is full to us of unutterable sweetness. Thus, future scenes, viewed by us through the same perverse and darkened medium, present prospects of advantage or of joy, which we doatingly cherish, but which, while the prospect is mortal, shall never be realized. How truly, indeed, in the poet's words, ; 1 . I't ( cbantment to the view." We travel on- ward, and discover our delusion, but are deluded still. Instead of profiting' by tbe experience ; instead of resting with grate- ful hearts upon the blessings which we possess, and struggling, with contented and obedient energy, to overcome the difficulties and the disappointments which have encountered us, we are apt to shrink from them with depression and disgust 3 and with similar lunacy of expectation to that which has already deluded us, but from which we have drawn no improve- ment, we rush on to new views and to new enterprises, which, as certainly, shall again delude and betray the obstinate extravagance of our expectations. The autnor would most earnestly and afFectionatelv offer theie considerations to the serious judgment and conscience of every one, who, under feelings of dissa- tisfaction with his present condition, con- templates a change. Beware, he would exclaim, with what principle you pro- TO UPPER CANADA. (59 secute your views ; expect many difficul- ties and depressions, foreseen and unfore- seen ; commit your ways to the Lord ; be grateful and submissive to his common providence; look forward to toil and Jo exertion ; and be prepared for persever- ance, whatever obstacles you may en- counter, or you will still be disap- pointed and repine. But with all tJieso warnings, most seri- ous as they are, he contiuiies to be of opi- nion, that the prospective advanlages of settling in Upper Canada, amp!y war- rant those who are on the spot in en- countering at once, the whole stuggle of the exertion, instead of pursuing the pal- liative means which some adopt. By those who are on the spot, he means those who have already overcome all the difficulties and expences of the passage, and have arrived at York, (the capital of Upper Canada, between eight and nine hundred miles from the sea,) with their finances not yet exhausted. Between -^ -'iid 70 THE BMIGHANT^S GUIDE ( ■ V i r.(' M .1, i /( these and others at a distance, there is a most important difference. Though much remains, still the greatest part of their struggle is overcome. (Here I speak of persons in narrow circumstances ; the case is essentially different with those of more enlarged means.) The land, which under mercy is to form their future establish- ment, is, in a measure, within their reach. The risks and expences of a passage over the ocean ; the uncertainties and anxie- ties of recent arrival in a foreign country ; the perplexities of determining upon fu- ture plans ; the disheartening fact of be- ing ^still an unsettled and wandering stranger ; the trouble, the charge of pass- ing into the interior, and uU the delusions which may be encountered on the way, uro in gr(*at menMure past; and all that remains, is to obtain the chosen or allot- ted portion ; to proceed to it without de- lay ; and in the active and persevering use of all the means of Providence and of grace, to struggle through every toil 1 V I TO UPPER CANADA. 7J and every privation, for its redemption from the barren gloom of uncultivated' nature ! You are then among neigh- bours, whether you succeed or fail ; but under mercy, you cannot fail, if your health be preserved, and you are sober, industrious, and persevering. You are soon surrounded, as it were, with your own people ; and the danger, that most hideous danger, of finding yourself desti- tute upon arriving on a foreign shore, without means to return, and without met ns to prosecute your journey and your purposes, is no more ! The palliative means which some adopt, in preference to encountering at once the toils and the privations of set- tling in the above manner, in the forests, is the r «t or superintendance of lands not their own ; a rent, or superintcnd- anrn, obtainable on favorable terms in va- rious parts of the country already settled, where the same privations do not exist. ■J Ml ' •■■wqa ,._,—», v»— 72 TUB EMIGRANT S GUIDE i'. I!:,!'- ; ill ii/ f'( and where, while the immediate toil is less, present comfort is far greater, t People who prefer this plan, may, in al- most every part of the country^ procure the charge of farms in a state of cultiva- tion, with a log house and barn, pro- vided with implements of husbandry, and moderately stocked with cattle, on con- dition of yielding one-half of the produce of every kind to the proprietor. The evil is, that they are still labouring on the property of others ; and unless, in addi- tion to their own maintenance, they can lay by sufficient eventually to purchase,- they are securing no permanent provision for themselves or thi'ir families. ( The difference is, that wheieas those who at once encounter the effort, undergo immediately the severest privations, and the most harassing toils ; but, under Providence, have a certain prospect of eventual, and not very distant, independ- ance. ^ . » TO UPPER CANADA. 73 Those who seek for more present com- fort, and greater immediate convenience, are absolved from the excess of those pri- vations, and of those toils ; but remain, until death, the servants of others, and leave a similar state of dependance to their posterity. And where (were I to consult my feel- ings), where, should I say, is the just and vigorous mind, which, provided the com- parison be fairly drawn, would not prefer the former ? But I know there are minds whicli would not prefer it, although I believe the comparison to be drawn with simplest fairness. To such then, I would add, that Montreal, in my opi» nion, and its neighbourhood, probably offer the most favourable situations ; but I should regret what I believed to be their delusion ; I should excite minds of a different cast to the contest, while, without disguise, I endeavoured to lay open to them, the very desperate struggle which they would at first have to encoun- m i ^r?W^^^Sf^ - ..Hi^WPiM »,»■■"■; / . 74 THE emigrant's GUIDE ter ; and through the privations and suf- ferings, and hardships of a few short years, I should look forward, with grate- ful expectation, to the independence that, in my opinion, would be awaiting them. U' i :( 3 W 'ii' I 1 j mmm... .ti *# .■t;Jr^-?:rrrt!r ^ ^ AT ~. , TO UPPER CANADA. 76 SECT. VIL Earnest IVarning to Emigrants from Europe, The persons to whom I principally ad- dress myself under this head, are those of the poorer class, whose pressing necessi- ties urge them to leave their country ; but whose finances but ill comport with the delays and expences inseparable from emigration. Others of larger means, form a different class ; and the warnings addressed to the former, would genernHy as little apply to the latter, as the cau- tions addressed to a man with one hand, would to another, who was blessed with the use of both. The poor man, in com- mon language, may be said to be ruined, if his little resources fail him before he has obtained and reached his lot. The wealthier one suffers an inconvenience ; perhaps a serious inconvenience in the E 2 . H i i ^ 1 i w THE EMIGRANT S GUIDE I u ll H, I. if If I disappointments vvliich cross his way (and we are all apt to expect so blindly and so extravag^antly, that we arc ail ex- posed to disappointments). But he can still persevere, if he please, though per- haps on an inferior scale ; a selection is more within his reach ; or, he may turn away, and seek elsewhere, what may appear more concurrent with his pur- poses. When lately passing through Mont- real (in October, IHIO), an elderly man entered a shop where 1 stood, and asked the shopkeeper for some assistance for his family, which he declared to he large, and to be in a deplorable condition. I learnt that he was a recently arrived emigrant, and accompanied him to his lodgings. There I found his wife, a de- cent woman, of middle age, extended in a confined room, extremely reduced by a dangerous fever, and surrounded by seven poor little children, three of vhom were sick, and all of whom were —■4 il^Miiiiii T.f •^ t^ TO UPPER CANADA. 77 helpless. The man, whose serio\w and affectionate demeanour interested me, had failed in a small business in the 80uth of Ireland. His brother (and he Heems to have been a friend as well as a brother), himself in narrow circum- stances, still not so much reduced, offered his little store, fifty guineas, which he could contrive, on such a call, to spare, offered it to his distresHed relation, either to renew his struggle at home, or to seek for happier circumstances in an- other country. Emigration to Canada was the choice ; and the poor man, alter ex- hausting his little stock, had reached Montreal, just before the beginning of the long and rude winter of that place; to see his family pining in sickness and in want amongst st ;ers, while the indis- pensable attenc' iv:^ which they needed forbade him to enijaoe in work which would necessarily have separated him from them, and at the same time, sent VA i 'I <8>, '^."^^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // / . '/ ^ Hiotographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 A.^^ \ •^ <^ ^N- /\^6\ ^^j^^^ ^^^ ^ 0^ !^ i^v 78 THE EMIGRANT S GUIDE W' mi him, an often rejected beggar, to the cold and foreign hand of charity. Be it not supposed, from this anecdote, that the inhabitants of Montreal, are cold or uncharitable. No ! they are a set of British merchants, and have all the libe- rality which distinguishes that class. But where is the liberality which can pervade every corner of distress, and apply relief even with its every expansion, to the still more expanded cases of human suffering ? It exists not — it cannot exist. But the case of this poor emigrant and of his afflicted family, is an apposite one, and ought to be a most serious warning to every poor man who desires to leave his own for a foreign country. He will tell me, and I shall admit, while I mourn over the fact, that in Bri- tain, even with all that the most diffusive system of charity in the world can do, in a society, and under a government, one of the happiest existing, he and his wife TO UPPER CANADA. 70 and children may starve, or verge in chillest penury on starvation, although their arms are strong, and their heails ardent for labour ; and he may ask, what worse than this can be endured in a foreign country ? It is worse than this, I would say, to be destitute amongst strangers ; in a cli- mate, fine as it is, still not yet assimilated to your constitution : to see your wife, if you have one, deprived of the comforts of an established acquaintance, and she and your children, should you be taken away from them by sickness, destitute of all human counten^^nce or friends. True, there is a Power which watcheth over the fatherless and the widows, and which sayeth, " Commit thy destitute ones to me/' But His voice of love is addressed to the sorrows of the afflicted, to cheer the souls of His faithful and His contrite ones ; not to encourage the impatience of discontent, or the hasty efforts of incon- siderate enterprise. '•( h>. ..: .'»5 '] K 11 IwV^iW,^^ 82 THE EMIGRANT S GUIDE I) '/^' f. > :iv-.' H./'' other nations, and buries their palaces and their cottages in l)lood, in England the storm growls at a distance, and its fury is kept far away. But in Canada, this must not be ex« pected to be the case. That country stretches an extensive and very defence- less frontier, over-against a powerful and enterprising rival slate ; and in case of dissension, would very probably become the theatre of war. Then, instead of tlie distant report of battles and of slaughter, you would behold their terrors at your door ; and your heart would have to trem- ble for the safety of those beloved and defenceless ones, whom the emergencies of public duty had compelled you, even under such awful circumstances, to leave. Oh then especially, what refuge, what hope, what comfort would your fears for those beloved ones have, but in the Rock of Ages, propitiated by the blood of Cal- vary I ■'-i'S -■ jNC^ . '.*4xli:-'— .'tklii. —I,.*- 1- * - t--. i**^.--,.,.^. .11 J TO UPPER CANADA* 83 n 'I To shrink from clanger, or from toil and suffering, where duty calls, is to dis- honor tliat precious blood, as much as it is to rush blindly, and discontentedly, and rebelliously, upon them. a m v-r«^lLi VW'^fc"^* ■ ' -^ n^4:ttiim*''^' ""^ i r.f|.jl« i * i ni i iN i i ■**"»-<**^7pr'v b ■ . I il rjr — 84 THE emigrant's GUIDE SECT. VIII. RemorJcs on the Government, on the Laws, and on their Execution. I NEED not say that the province of Upper Canada is still in its infancy. Like a younger chihl, it has enjoyed, and still enjoys the protection, while it has conduced but little to the support of government — and that government has been to it, a wise and a benignant one. Amidst the revolutions of human affairs, whatever future relations may arise be- tween the mother country and this colony, Britain will ever have a large and affect- ing balance of gratitude due to her from it. Full of the magnanimity which is bene- ficent from choice, and inspired with that wisdom which would rather prevent than correct evil, Great Britain gave at an V .: ■■■. % -%■ , < .< ■►'5# : « -f T« 4» TO UPPER CANADA. 85 eariy period, a free q^overnment to the Canadns. She organized it on the happy plan of her own. A lieutenant-governor, the representative of his funjesty ; a legisla- tive council (emblematic of the house of peer) chosen by the lientenant-irovernor for life ; and a house of assembly, chosen every four years by the freeholders in their own districts: such as in England the house of commons ; with this advan- tage in favour of Canada, that it has in fact, a much more free and fair represen- tation of the people. Some are of opinion, that this gift by the British government of a free consti- tution to the Canadas, was premature! I do not think so. They say, the country afforded not uien of talents sufficiently cultivated to fill the important situation of members of the lower house, and that consequently, it could but imperfectly answer its purposes. That it might be- come, on the one hand, a clog in the machinery ; or, on the other, a blind » .^ B ■' M ^^-». ^■;-»- ■I.. 1 80 THE EMIGRANT S GUIDE and servile tot»l in the hands of gfovern- iiient. Allow those objections to be valid, and I shall still think thai the gift was a wise one. With Lower Canada I am little acquainted. Their interests, indeed, I know to be the s^mie ; and 1 know that an equally ard( ut spirit of lo;, ally pervades both. But still, 'here is a strikinj^ dif- ference between the bulk of ihe people of the two provinces, in some very important particulars, and this difteience may in- volve arguments and consequences of which I am not aware. But speaking- from what I do know, I would say, the people in Upper Canada are free. Emi- grants from our own islands, or descended froQi (heir neighbours of the northern and eastern provinces of xhe United States, a knowledge of their social duties and their social rights, was in a manner inherent in them. The imbecility of their infancy, only, could render them inattentive to that knowledge. Long protracted weak- ness and more immediately urgent cares. -^^fmcifS:"^ it^ ■iha&«;' -^f#*i^- .v-.v=?^..- .;:4 _:« » *v *- »ir-iV-Sfc »v-. ; .. -^-xi ■- . ■• l ;^^..i:^M»\, -■ -a. TO UPPER CANADA. 87 together with the mask so easily imposed for a time by iiuthority, might have leng-lhetied )Ut that inattention. But with each dav and eacdi emigrant, its du- ration would he drawing to a close. The time would come, and cofdd not he very far distant, whtn the unnecessary degra- dation, to which they had been subjected, wou'ld appear unveiled ; and reprobation, suspicion, and resistance, would usurp the places of gratitude, confidence, and obe- dience. The want ot* men of talents sufliciently cultivated (if such want hare really been) was daily decreasing; (be- sides, we need not be told, that cultivated powers, by no means secure from corrup- tion). The occasions when the liou^e of assembly, from such want, would h :. a clog to the machinery, or a blind tool in the hands of government, would be rrpidly diminishing; and a vigorous and enhght- ened people would be growing up, fraught from their infancy, with a know- ledge, now developed in them, of their >■ yM^. -#--- mmmm^-' 88 THE EMIGRANTS OUIDK i}\ duties and their rioflits. They would look n|) and hthohl, as they now behold, those rig"ht.s established and secured on the firmest and fairest basis, by the be- nignant wisdom of the mother state, which still nojuishes them. And what- ever disorder, or ambition, or in<*ratitude, may say, where can be the just and ge- nerous spirit, which beholds not that ob- ject with adtniration, nor cleaves with new zeal, and more lively devotion to that wisdom and that benignity ? I say not, that this colony shall not un- dergo the same revolution, to which every other preceding colony has sooner or later become subject. These revohitions seem as distinct and as fixed a part of Divine Providence, as the independance of children when^rrived at years of ma- turity : and it is a breach, not an evi- dence of duty ; it is weakness, not wisdom, which would attempt to conceal (what never can be efficiently concealed) from others or itself, this fact. ■jm iipj-JtH^'-y-^y- 4 .- •»- ♦"^■•i V. ;«,»,^.;^A ': TO UPPER CANADA. 80 Yet against that revolution, whenever, if ever, it arise, Great Britain appears to me, by this wise and beniirnant gift, to have provided more eft'ecliiall}', tlian would have been possible by any other means. She has thereby obviated some of the most prominent and alarming points of discordant contact ; and, in every sphere of life, it is in proportion to the removal of such points, that there exists a probability of concord. She has thereby thrown around he;, a radiance of magnanimity, which must ever beat with decisive effect, upon every just and ge- nerous bosom. In the fluctuations of years, she may cease to be magnanimous^ and Upper Canada may cease to be de- pendant and to be grateful. But me- mory will still hold sacred, excellence though it may be departed ; and grateful affection will mourn, with undviny- tender- ness, over a beneficence which so long nourished it in its helpless state. Some are of opinion, that as the supreme « I .1, [i 90 THE emigrant's GUIDE ^ I government freely gave this constitution to Canada, it may revoke it at its option. I do not think so. A wise and magnanimous gift, once given, is given for ever : base- ness and folly, only, could wish to resume it ; but baseness and folly have no right to undo the work of magnanimity and wis- dom. Great Britain has given Canada nothing but her rights -, she gave them nobly, and therefore deserves to be ad- mired and loved by those who enjoy the gift. But she has no right to withdraw what she has fully given, and what she had no right eventually to withhold. A British subject may now reside in Britain or in Canada, and rejoice with gratitude that he is an equal member of the noblest state on earth. But withdraw this right from Canada, and there he can no longer feel himself a Briton in those things in which consists the beauty of that title. He must then (unless branded with the effrontery which glories in its shame) blush and turn away from the free glance of his TO UPPER CANADA. 91 ueighboursy which of late he could meet with conscious (not presumptuous) supe- riority; or be silent after acknowledging his comparative degradation. SShall I be told, that in thus asserting the right of the Canadas, as British pro- vinces, to a free government, such as that so nobly given to them ; and in stating the inevitable independance of its parent state, to which every prosperous colony, in the common course of Providence, hath hitherto eventually attained, I am nur- turing disorder, or advocating rebellion ? The man who would say so, I reply, is as ignorant of human nature as he is of me. It needs no prophet to tell what every age has evidenced, and what the undeniable properties of the human character una- voidably produce. A free people, the nursling of a nation, the glory of which is its freedom, necessarily seeks a partici- pation in that glorious privilege ; not be- cause au individual points it out to them, but because such is the inseparable ten« i in V 92 THE emigrant's GUIDE iV : I ii»'' '. n.' « rvv-i » I ^^y dency of tlieir own natures : and that same cne' gy of character, which at first asserted its freedom, as inevitably, at a subsequent period, asserts its independ- ance. The extent of human subordina- tion is limited. In families (and therein dwelleth^ when not abused, the most ten- der and sacred bond of nature) the child gathers round him, as he advances in life, new duties, new connexions, new princi- ples; and as these are established, he is necessarily detached from the parent, and enters upon a different sphere. As much and as constantly, in the common course of Providence (and from the same com- mon properties of our nature), are the growth and consequent separation of colo- nies. After a certain progress, the nurs- ling has attained a new ran^e of responsi- bilities and wants, of interests and cares; new duties and new affections arise. The parent state, by a magnanimity, such as that of Great Britain, in these instances, may protract that period, by engaging on ^ TO UPPER CANADA. 93 its side the more lively and generous affec- tions ; or, if it do not protract, may esta- blish in the heart of that separation, a basis of admiring gratitude and love, a bond more noble and more lasting, than the most energetic exertion of power could ever produce, and free from the anxieties, and suspicions, and convulsions, incident to that exertion. But it needs no prophet to tell a people this — universal history teaches it. Everv man's own heart, j^ene- rally speaking, when placed in those cir- cumstances, and arrived at that stage, dictates it to him. Efforts to hoodwink, or to (juell, tend to awaken it. Oppress it, and you give it a mightier spring. Weakness or vice only wish to conceal their capacities from an enemy. Fond- ness, not love, averts the truth from its friends, or seeks to lull itself and them into a proud and hollow security. But strength and wisdom desire to be known as they are, on a basis which can support, not which is preparing to crumble be- n • ii I'' 1^ ' >. i I Um'n ^ >•♦>-'-- • r ' , ^, .v«>~ '^.. •<•-•'*■ -„.- • • *»(!*.••*■"-'—■ ='»-**.**Ai;^'. *' I^B^MtiWl l i T l I m i ? ^V * .* ■ I mw i . ^w i / ;( J-n «' l' i 94 THE EMIGRANT S GUIDE i r if- * > Ht\ I 'V neath them ; and the genuine voice ot* friendship is faithful and sincere, know- ing, that that only permanently flourishes, or ought to flourish, which hath justice and truth, not policy, for its basis. But this is not, because an individual says so ; but because such is the established course of the unsearchable providence ot God. Thus far had 1 written before I reached England. On my journey to the sea, from the upper province, I heard with alarm and affliction of the disorders at home, and my steps were hastened, and my heart throbbed for my country, and my arm (little as it was) longed to be raised in defence of her august authorities. But the term " radical'* had notyet reach- ed my ear ; and a happy veil was spread over my eyes. Terms are exceedingly apt to be abused, and very often, the crowd of miaginations conjured up by a single word, distorts the judgment, and smothers for the time all the nobler and gentler TO UPPER CANADA. 95 charities of the heart. This, I am per- suaded (amidst the flood of benevolence which is so delij^htfully evinced in other particulars), is lautentublv the case with the word in question. Where I hear it used, it is generally with a sneer of con- tempt and defiance ; and against whom ? Omittuig a very inferior number of pro- minent wretches (whose guilt cannot be too severely reprobated), against a multi- tude of poor, deluded, half-starved crea- tures, whose ignorance and whose neces- sities have huiried them into crime ! Ought not candor to raise her voice in palliation of their enormities, while the lawful powers of the state watch, and provide for the public safety ? Ought not the pang, with which pity beholds their extended distress, flush her cheek with tenderness, not sit upon her lip in mock- ing ? Ought not our tears to fall, not our looks uf pride arise, while we use a word, the signification of which involves a compass of guilt and of misery, encir- 11 I II'''. 1 h-^ h.^ Ill fir 1 \ 1. - ■* .. ^ -^...-^..K _ iv»r» -•*-"• '" — .**.»»is^-_J . ♦— .- .' ' IIIMi|ll»BIM .v' ■•^i-'ii-i'j; ^ta^tbigi^iwI^H^^I^iSltt^iHHflHjjjjkj mmk 96 THE EMIGRANT S GUIDE 1 •■ cling so many thousands of onr suffering fellow creaturt's ? Or, admit their guilt to be as portentous as any shadow of evidence hath hitherto attempled to assert it, \\ hat, shall a worm, a sinner, himself with uncertain feet standing- on the slip- pery precipice of time, while the huge abyss of eternity, replete to the rebel with horror, is tumbling beneath him ; shall he dare to taunt the sufferings, be- cause a deeper shade of social guilt in- vests them, of his fellow sinner, tottering like him on the same eventful precipice? Or, while in the bounteous providence of God, the broad shield of order and of safety is strengthened around him, shall he think, without a fellow feeling awaken- ing all iiis softer energies, of the brother worm, whose crimes, or w hose necessities, threaten to separate him from man, as they appear to have separated him from God ? Ob, when from the bosom of afQuence ■'■■-s. .%■ "" m » »""u TO UPPER CANADA. 87 and ease, which more than any difference in themselves, have sheltered their vo<^ taries from equal crime : When I bear the taunting* reproach conveyed by tbic unhappy term, and observe the cold un- thinking* carelessness of their unhappy fellow wanderers, with which it is ap- parently accompanied, my heart shudders to think that such is its nature, and sickens at finding so much of the same blended obduracy and presumption in itself. Then would it exclaim — - . ■ '•: : I'; •* When I think o' this warld's pelf, o : ; .» '* Aq' a' its little, worthless views o' self, / >>. " Aud how a brother's woe is by the warld forgot» ** May the shame fa' the gear and the blathrie o' it.'' 'i\ [i Or, assuming a higher strain, poorly as my own life exemplifies it, I would point to tlie love of the Gospel, and ask those taunters, how it consists with the charities due from one worm to another, or with the sympathies incumbent upon y,' OS THE EMIGRANT S GUIDE sinners for wliom, in a general sense, Christ equally died, to smile at, or re- proach, the crimes or sufferings of each other? ..•> ; ■ ,:,i. ..(:"»•. ■>;;' . But this is a digression. 1 must con- clude it. Perhaps in reviewing the sentiments, above, as dutifully as they are fearlessly expressed, that obnoxious term may be applied to me. If so, and it signify a factious or a repining or a lawless spirit, I can only smile at, and commiserate the mistake ; nor would it affect me with wonder ; for already have I experienced imputations equally false, equally absurd, and equally destitute of every trace of proof. But if it denote that frame of principle and of feeling, under which the present royal family hold the British sceptre (and ever on such grounds may they hold it) ; under which, Britain hath so long been the centre of political wis- dom and of political freedom to the world : if it denote that state o f mind. TO UPPER CANADA. 99 which reprobates despotism as much as anarchy ; and would rejoice equally to shed its blood, in defence of the constitu- tion and of the laws, whether attacked by a ferocious rabble, or by a horde, equally ferocious, of mercenary soldiers : if it bespeak that mind, which merges not the love of order and of subordination, in adulation and servility ; nor the love of freedom in licentiousness : if it imply, the devotion of the heart to justice and to law, not to power, and to the sacred call of duty (however reviled and falsi- fied) rather than to favour and applause, (and in its common application it seems susceptible of all these meanings) — then, I hail the term as a badge of the brightest honour, and blush only, that I so little merit it. . Two evils impend perpetually over society. The equally absivd and de- structive presumption in either party, that with it alone, dwell wisdom and upright- ness. Hence, we find rulers eager to re- V 2 » '• il m 100 THE EMIGRANT S GUIDE 1/ •, I J) m pre88 evil, but unconscious of the evils vt'hirb dwell in the very heart of their efforts : and subordinates, eager to restrain authority Mrithin its proper bounds, but blind to the destructive nature of the means which they adopt. It appears to me equally unhappy and portentous, when either of these classes of radical eri-or, obtains a settled ascendency. In their mutual counteraction, with somewhat of an equal force, the public safety appears to me essentially to consist ; and whether I beheld the ministry of this country, ab- solute in the suppression of every direct and decided, though lawful and duteous attempt at reformation ; or the rabble victorious in the career of such dema" gogues as Cobbett and Hunt, I should equally mourn the departure of the glory of my country. The name, the trap- pings, the form might remain ; but the spirit would be no more. To return. The lieutenant-governor of the Upper I y TO UPPER CANADA. 101 province, is subordinate in etiquette and in emergence, to the governor-general, who resides in Quebec. But no interfer- ence exists in merely provincial con- cerns. He is chosen by his Majesty in council, and resides at York, the capital of the province. The legislative council, or upper hoa^e, is chosen for life ; its members being in- capable of dismissal without sufficient cause lawfully established. They have the title of honorable, and their number, I believe, is indefinite. The chief justice and the head chaplain for the time being, are members by virtue of their offices. The commons house of assembly, consisting of a prescribed number, is chosen every four years by the freeholders, in their own counties. It has the same constitutional powers as the House of Commons in England ; and is convened, prorogued, and dissolved similarly. Its members receive an allowance of two dol- ^ \ i V. \ ^ I I, i \ \ \ ">■ \> 102 THE EMIGRANT S Gl IDE lars pei' day, for every day they serve in at'tendarice upon llic house. York is, of course, the place of their meetin^^. Being a natural born suhject, or having taken the oath of allegiance, and resided a certain number of years in the province, together with the possession of a certain freehold property of a fixed moderate ex- tent, are the requisites for offering to be- come a representative. The laws are the laws of England, with a few provincial variations, and the method of administering them, nearly the same. At York (the capital), is the supreme court, consisting of a chief and two mi- nor judges. These three traverse the three circuits into which the province is divided, viz. the Eastern, the Home, and the Western, in rotation : holdin ^ I 114 THE emigrant's GUIDE of the province ; and they are g'oin^ on, I trust, to thrive in the power and spirit of the Lord. '^ * The Btiptist ministry is more confined, and far less energetic ; but in their nar- rower sphere, they appear to me more spiritual and more scriptural ; and the tone of character, produced under their preaching, is more interesting to me, and as far as I can judge, more sound. I can only lament the contracted circuit of their means and of their efforts. It has not come within my sphere to observe the course of the Presbyterian branch. But so happy is the influence of the Methodists and Baptists in my neiglv- bourhood (Western District, Upper Ca- nada), that many of the late emigrants from the north of England, have express- ed to me their surprise and their joy, at finding a people of God (few as indeed perhaps the genuine members are), and small societies established for His worship, so far away amongst the woods. * V I TO l/PPER CANADA. 116 A church-building spirit has been iu- creasing of late in the province, and has been greatly aided by the ministers of the establislitnent, as well as by the Society for propagating the Gospel, and by a fund raised some tinne ago, in this country, for that purpose, by the Honourable and Rev. C. Stuart. It betokens good, though it is not devoid of its dangers. Young men are also beginning to be educated at York for the established church, and some of the most forward have been lately ordain- ed. But the prospects of free religion, that is of Christianity, are still here, as elsewhere, wavering. There is all to hope and all to fear. h « , ,; >;. The author is commissioned to solicit subscriptions in Euglaiid for the comple- tion of a church of the establishment, now building (by subscription) at Am- herstburgh ; and for another of the same order, in the neighbouring township of Colchester. And he would be happy to be made the medium of assisting the Bap- 'J -ri f. «^ i 'N I > •j 110 THE emigrant's GU113E tiHtsaiul the Melhodists of Ainherstburgh nnd its iK'iy;lil)(mrhooil, in cuch erecting at that place a house of worship lor their respective con<>^re[j«tions. ' If it shouhl suit any to entrust him with subscriptions for these purposes, he is open to reference or inquiry, at No. 8, Curzon- sireet, May fair, London ; and he particu- larly requests, that the most explicit di- rections may accompany every aid, which may be entrusted to his care. Perhaps; it may be right to add, in this place, that the Baptist and Methodist churches above-mentioned, are branches from the United States of America ; and that a disloyal influence is sometimes im- puted to them. But my own observation persuades me that this is an error ; I be- lieve them to be servants of God, and that no subjects can exist more loyal than the general members of their congregations ; while, in the fact of their being labourers for our good from a foreign land, I can only see the greater cause towards them TO UPPER CANAT a. 117 for grateful affection. In witnessing the fruits of their preaching we ought to be inspired with confidence rather than with suspicion : and amidst the stormy throng of discordant and fiery principles, which are engendered by mutual ambition, into- lerance, and pride, we ought to hail with thankfulness and affection, this dawn of a happier spirit and of a happier day : glad, and grateful to acknowledge to the sole Author of all good, that to those who were our enemies, we owe some of the noblest and happiest offices of friendship. Let it not be here understood, that I wish to become the medium of procuring subscriptions in England, for the erection in Upjior Canada, of places of worship exclusively a[)propriated to the use of the Baptist and Methodist ministers from the United States. This v\ i' >. in, revolt- ing to my every emotio . f -v i ly feel and willingly acknowie».^ tin ifection- ate debt of gratitude, which, in my opi- nion, this province owes them; yet I < 1 • ^ i.,^ .j,4tfc..-*-*<~-"*'S|.«-^ -»—"■"•«**"•• ^'"- , i i (if i i 118 TH£ EMIGRANT S GUJDl^ experience with livelier impulse, the stricter and still more pleasing attachment, which binds me to my own people. But, while in the work of God, I cp.n admit no dif- ference of nations; in my national and domestic capacity, I should indeed be humbled, and mourn, we^^e Great Britain excluded from pre-eminent participation in every effort of excellence and in ever}' labour of love. A participation which distinguishes her, unspeakably more than all her wealth and all her glory. These are but evanescent ornaments, stained in their very meridian with many a blot. The other, a wreath of genuine loveline^tS, which 2\a\l adorn her rememl ranee for ever. ,. > • > , - . . ^ - . . • E,eligious toleration, that noblest marl» of political wisdom, flourishes and pro- mises still more to flourish in this province. The mists of presumption, of superstition, and of intolerance, which lemain, seem to be dissipating ; and it may be hoped, that after a few expiring struggles (for ■•«» j».-«r— --'••■*—> A- ^. .i^.iiJ^ j.- -w :^.L\' ■*^ TO UPPER CANADA. 119 falseiiood, pride, and intolerance, always struggle before they fly) the liberty of the Gospel, in allowing ever^ *T,an the undisturbed possession of his own con- science, on the infallible basis of the undoubted Word of God (in contra-dis- tinction to all huncian inferences and to all human presumptions) shall entirely prevail. .^ - V i 4r i!i^' Ji r!«. CI- i] i\ f V-- ■r,,, „ m " l ' > m0f f t I.'*' 10-n-mmt* ' ? ..» ) , 120 THE emigrant's GUIDE SECT. X. \ , I J i ^1 i/ ii A- .S^flfe 0/ Society, — Schools. f ■ / The state of society in Upper Canada, especially to a European, is not attractive. To the spiritual mind, it offers little spiri- tuality— -(but where, alas, shall we find more !) To the votaries of politeness and etiquette, little of that glare of studied polish, which is so often, so arrogantly, so blindly, and so ruinously set up in place of the great principle of christian love, of which it is so deplorable an imitator. The Canadian society has rather rough- nesj than simplicity of n"\nners ; and pcj:tr• '■1 X 1^2 THE EMIGRANT S GUIDE iV' I Ji . V} rii ■ * ( I industnous, frui^n], and benevolent. Their amusements of course, are unhappily like those of the world. Horse-racing, bet- ting shooting ; and where leisure abounds, idle conversation, bails, cards, and the theatre, &c. Yet I have observed with pleasure, a t;7mewhat more domestic tone amongst their women ; and it has amply compensated to me, for the absence of that greater degree of polish, which at once adorns and disgraces the general mass of our European ladies. But the pdssion for that polish, corroborated as it is by all the vanities, as cultivation deve- lopes them, of oar nature, is afloat. It is tending rapidly to displace the remaining and superior charms of that simplicity ; and threatens ere long, to render as irre- levant to Upper Canada, as it is to most olher places, that beautiful sentiment of €^oldStoith :— * •* More dear toine, tdti^iAtM&my h^att, *«H0jM»VHItive ehflTktt, ^tnaU theglosa of art.*' -K.*!^. «,>*«.' .\.... ■•+ » -iV--.i»--nH 'm«i »-3M*»-^'.3r-;Sk. , TO UPPlilR CANADA. 123 Alas, how little do those, whom, with biich peculiarly delightful delicacy of feeling, and with such sweetness of ex- pression, our christian poet, Cowper, de* clares " men were born to please," how little, even while they refine our rough- nesses and soothe our cares, do they re- member the injunction to them of Him who loved them infinitely above all mortal love, and in obedience to whose gracious dictates consist all their, and all our hap- piness. *< That women adorn themselves in ^' modest apparel, with shamefacedness " and sobriety. Not with broidered (or *' plaited) hair, or gold, or pearls, or eostly ** arrav." i. And again, " Whose adorning, let it not be that '< outward adorning of plaiting the hair, ** and wearing of gold and putting on of " apparel. << But let it be, the hidden man of the '' heart, in that which is not corruptible, G 2 i h', k . ^■■■* ', ffHO -. .= iflJ* ! 124 THE emigrant's GUIDE «* even the ornament of a meek and quiet « spirit, which, in the sight of God, is of <« great price/' The subject I know is a delicate one ; and its discussion, like every other unfa- shionable discussion, will of course be spumed. Its delicacy I respect ; its spurning, I despise or commiserate. But its delicacy, together with the lovely crowd of pure, and tender, and sacred feelings which surround it, call for its dis- cussion. A stranger, little cultivated and little known ; the scorn of those redundant re- finements which I deplore, I raise not my hopes to curb (though delightful in- deed were to me the hopes of curbing) the glaring inconsistencies of European female dress. An emigrant myself, una- dorned with any of those things which at- tract the admiration of the world, and de- preciated by much of that which draws down its contempt or aversion, I shrink with a mournful sense of my own defici- ■J ■«a«s»i» r-— - '-'- -*w,i '"1''"'*!*iw —-•* V*- »';-,•*•; ^s '■*'N».-^-" TO UPPER CANADA. 125 encies, from an effort so apparently be- yond my sphere. Let the presumptions of fashion and of supciior refinement pass me by. I am content to be covered with their contempt ; or if it affect me, it is with grief of heart for them. And oh ! when I think of the many noble and beauteous qualities, and of the capacities of excellence which dwell there, while my heart is alive to the indescribable at- tractions of that holy and ethereal tender- ness which is spontaneously called forth by female loveliness, well might that struggling heart be sad even to agony ! But to my future countrywomen, the fe- males of Upper Canada, I would turn^ undepressed by this acknowledged inferi- ority in accomplishments, which, at the same time that they substitute the ** gloss of art," for the " sweetness of nature,*' repel the simple efforts of unfashionable truth and of unadorned affection, and to them I would exclaim, " O ye, so graci- " ously formed to soften and to elevate, to ^i I i< Yi( r IM ^i1' 126 THK EMIGRANT S GUIDE n (( (< -Vyc Now, why do I wish to controvert this position ? If I mistake not myself, it is because it appears to me remarkably erroneous, especially as applied to such a creature as man; and because I think I see, in glaring characters around me, the GO ■'^ h\> ■ ^'4 'If U' .i.. -'.JiUk. 180 THB XMIGRANT*S GUIDE mournful proof of its pernicious tenden- ci^B. If, ai has been supposed, pride be my motive, I trust the Lord will not lenvc me unhumbled ; and I beseech those whom I contradict, to believe, that, how- ever decided my language may be, I de- sire to argue with them in love, for our mutual edification ; not for the base and pernicious purpose of setting up my opi- nions above theirs. ) " Now, in the same manner that we find the doctrine of expediency set up as the rule of politics*, because it undeniably is wisdom to adapt the measure to the emergency (forgetting that to do this, consistently with the position, infinite or perfect wisdom is necessary), so, we find that the above assertion is confidently acted upon, although hardly any thing Is more indefinable than the correct bound- ary of those non-essential things ; and at- y«->- * Se« Ptley's Moral I^hilosopby, and its antidotp^ eiiboroe*! Moral PbilMophy. f* IB^I TO UPPER CANADA. 131 tliougli, if habit and opinion did not blind to the deplorable errors produced, before all our eyes, by thut opinion, it could not (in my opinion) be tolerated for a moment, by thousands who are now its ardent advocates. Thus wc find the English gaping with the most idle astonishment, and often with the intolerant rudeness of that con- traction of mind which would compel compliance with all its own little ways : — We find them gaping, I say, at every thing which is out of their own routine, and ready to laugh a man to scorn, be- cause he has a different covering to his head, or a differently coloured coat, from anv* to which, in their own contracted range, they have been accustomed. Tp strangers, they often appear like a set of ill-mannered clowns, whose ideas had never risen above their own localities. But this argument resw, I sb^vU as^ sunie, chie6y on two things. First, hftbit .1 i> ii ii !32 T'^lB emigrant's GU113E or public opiiiion ; and, secondly, upon its own intrinsic value. Fivst, then, what respect do we owe to habit or public opinion ? What is habit or public opinion? That is, what is it, in relation to such beings as we are ? What it would be in relation to perfectly wise and holy beings, we may guess. But this has nothing to do with us. It will not he contended, I faippose, that we are perfectly wise and holy ; or, at least, those with whom I now argue, will be as willing to leave me out of the cluster, as I am to avow that that beauteous character relates not to me. : w It is the habit or public opinion of a mass of fallen creatures, who acknowledge themselves *' born in sin and the children of wrath ;*^ whose wisdom, God declares to be foolishness ; and whose natural minds are at enmity with him wh<> made and who alorie preserves them ! It is the I I II PMLmm^^- TO UPPER CANAPA. 133 habit of a multitud of i^inners, who neu- tralize or reiect the cross of Christ ! It may be nost truly said in a {General sense, that each individual of this multitude is equally a sinner, and therefore can claim no pre-eminence of judgment — Certainly ! But will this j)rove, that, because one man is a sinner, it is his duty to submit to the general opinions or habits of a mixed multitude of other sinners like himself? As certainly not, in my opinion, unless it can be proved, that we better support the duties of immortal and accountable be- ings, by delivering up ourselves blindfold to others, than by seeking to act in the sight of God for ourselves. I hope I need not here recal, that I sptak in relation only to matters of opi- nion, not of law. But it may be said that expediency or convenience require our submission to the habits around us. Now, what kind of an argument is this ? It is one, the foun- dation of which, are our selfish propensi- l> . • h m 134 THE emigrant's GUIDE I ' ties. In order to avoid the causeless suspicions, or the averted regards, or the vacant gaze, or the intolerant sneer of others, we must, in things, which by the very terms of the argument are non-es- sential, conform to their vvays. That is, we must seek to propitiate that part of their attention which is destitute of all real value, or to avoid that part of their aversion which is only a reproach to themselves, by a submission which nothing dictates but our own selfishness. Or, with our efforts to serve God, we must blend an effort to please the caprices of man. Or, " whatever we do in word, or in ** thought, or in deed," we must not seek to do all to the glory of God hut we must also pamper the intolerant and con» tracted prejudices of worms like ourselves, from motives of personal interest or con- venience. Oh, if my soul fail me not, first let me sink overwhelmed by the tor- rent of that intolerance! * Or, admit that it were true, that in n TO UPPER CANADA. 135 tilings neither virtnoiis nor vicious, it was our duty to submit to the habits around us, and what should we learn ? That the position was d(ploral)ly indefinite I What thinufs are those, which are neither virtu- ous nor vicious ? Cowper's „ale of the Mahomedan and the Hog might answer 1 They are every thing, which the self- willed ingenuity of man may please to defend or to sanction. Thus we find that ^* innocent amusements and modest de- " corations/' in the mouths of their various votaries, are of all orders, and comprise within their liber t I sphere, luxury and revelling, and levity an ; . : c 2. What is the intrinsic value of this position ? * . The position is, that in non-essentials, or in things neither virtuous nor vicious in themselves, it is our duty to follow the habits around us. But is not the base- ness and falsehood of this principle evi- dent on its very face ? Base, because it seeks blindly to subject us, in one depart- ment of our lives at least, to the passing caprices of others ; and false, because it sets up things, which it declares to be non- essential, as essential, or as matter of duty. This is not what fallen creatures need. We have already too many earthen pil- lows. We require to be sent to the word of God, which alone (amongst sensible things) to us, is infallible truth ; not to the incoherent, contradictory, and fluc- tuating caprices of sinners like ourselves. >■ If 'i\ A' i i 1 138 THB EMIGRANT S GUIDE \u We require to remember, that under God, we are awfully accountable for our own souls ; that there is but one Mediator ! and that if the holiness and merits of others cannot (as we know th"/ cannot) save us, how much less can the absurd and chaotic habits of fellow worms avail, to answer for as at the great and terrible day of the Lord ! Sotne, I know, of the excellent ones of the earth, ^Mow this presumption, because they think they may best glorify God and serve sinners, in that manner. I deny not the power of grace, which can work all miracles. But, in general, I can only mourn over it, as a trace which recals their mortality. It is, in ir.y opinion, di- rectly doing evil that good may come; or, in other words, it is fostering, as far as depends upon them, the very baseness which they wish to destroy, and nourish- ing the complacency of sinners in their own ways, for the purpose of leading them to depart from all those compla?^ TO UPPER CANADA. cencies; it is administering' fuel to the fire which th \ ,i::,v-'(.,.j '• ■.' f ' ? ■ ■ -, » • x jT \i( fi -^♦^-..^"■"iA" — — ■- >''*^^-^^/m*^ 112 THj: EMIGRANTS GUIDK I I SECT. XI. Towns. — Rivers, — Roadi* There are few towns or villages in Upper Canada, and those few are small. Kingston, the most considerable of them, being less extensive than the generality of thecommon county towns in Great Britain and Ireland. Agriculturists, such as areaU most universally the people of Upper Ca- nada, scatter themselves over their farms, not crowd together, as do the votaries of commerce. Still towns and commerce are essential parts of the prosperity of states ; and as the settlements in Canada are extended, and at the same time that they produce more abundant articles for export, shall demand the enlarged introduction of foreign conveniences, towns and com- merce must flourish. .3 -zr^ TO UP1*£A CANADA. 143 Kingston, situated in the township of Frontignac, at the head of the River St. Lawrence, where it issues from Lake On- tario, already feels this influence. With- in the last few years, it has increased ama- zingly, and promises to go on, rapidly improving. Placed in the great course of the water communication ; possessed of a harhour and dock-yard, with a com- manding point, which is fortified, and forms the strongest post at present in the province; while at the same time, it is the key of some suboidinate, but ex- tremely important lines of internal inter- course, it may be regarded as a dawning emporium, where wealth and grandeur shall hereafter stalk with a gait as proud and as lordly, as they now stalk in places, then perhaps shorn of their meteor mag- nificence. The blaze of an ignited particle which rushes across the nightly sky, is momen- tary. That of the comet, replete with all the portents of excited imagination, lasts >v 1,1 [I 5 'Jl .u t, . ^ ^.^ **l »,.... .,,^ _. ■'f->-.-.-»^.-» \ U4 TUi; KMIGUANT S OUIDL M a tnoment longnr, but is also quickly losl in the viewless immensity of space. The splendor of states, survives centuries per- haps; but what is the duration of cen- turieSy when measured with eternity, in comparison to the most momentary blaze of the meteor (extinguished nearly at the same instant that its radiance commences) when measured with the longest interval which human understanding can grasp ? It is less than the birth-dying light of that meteor. Alas ! that human glory should plume itself on so false a founda- tion ! a thousand times, alas ! that for such a foundation, it should reject the Rock of Ages, on which all the harmonies of eternal love, and all the dignity and sweetness of infinite majesty and truth, invite it to repose for ever. Oh Canada, where I expect to pass the remaining moments of my mortal con- flict ; oh that some voice of mine, might be blessed to rescue thee from the dream of folly and of guilt, along which (in ■> 1! TO UPPEll CANADA. 146 coniinon >vitli otherM) thy ruined nature would precipitate thy footsteps ; and to bring thee back to Him, in whom alone, thou canst have strength and peace ! Oh Kingston, looking forward to thy future edifices, oh that I could foresee '< holi- " ness to the Lord," written on their por- ticoes, and animnting the lives of their inhabitants, insUJul of the stride of lust, and pride, and airbition ; and the scowl of intolerance, and falsehood, and malice ; and of hearing amidst then? the baccha- nalian cries of luxury, and levi:y, and re- velling, ail shrouding their loathsomeness and their guilt, beneath the mask of ex- ternal refinements, and proclaiming aloud from house to house, ** peace where there *• is no peace ;" as when the evening was calm on Carraccas, and the hearts of her sons were joyous; and the earthquake was heaving to overwhelm the whole in one vast and sudden grave. — " Behold ** the hand of the Lord is not shortened ** that it cannot save," neither is " His ! • ■ . H \ liil V ' I) .,»*~i- ._j: 14(5 ' -^ t THE EMIGRANT'S GUIDE " ear heavy ihat it will not hear." Bi!t if He hear us and save us not, it is because our sins have separated us from him ; it is because we have chosen other Gods. Vet, He, who is a consuming fire to in- flexible rebellion (and what created heart shall be strong", when His terrors are let loose upon it, easy as it is to scoff, while 'tie restrains them), ever waiteth to be gracious, and desireth not the death of a sinner ! Oh Canada, that thou, separate from the herd of nations, that go on through time spurning" eternity, and forgetting the God in whom alone they live, and .move, and have their being : oh that thou wouldest now turn early, and call upon Him who calls upon thee in love! for He hath said, that those who seek Him early shall find Him ! Oh that instead of following the wide and beaten .path of perdition, thou wert blessed to follow from thy youth upwards His man- dates, and to walk before Him humbly, in ' M ^^ -., •iT^l TO U^PER eANADA. 147 holiness, His peculiar people zealous of good works. Then, in that propitiation which is offered for the sins of the world, then should a new glory, unknown to the nations, invest thee; and a strength, and a dignity, and a sweetness, and a peace be thine through grace, which the world, with all her pomps, and all her revelries, and all her boasts, can neither give nor take away ! Next in importance to Kingston is York, the capital of the province, situated in a small bay, on the northern side of Lake Ontario. It appears to me well chosen for the seat of government, having the only harbour, which the northern shore of the lake affords, after leaving the neighbvourhood of Kingston; being toler- ably centrical, a matter of very consider- able importance in so extensive a ter- ritory ; and commanding the route of communication overland with- the upper lakes. Its site on the frontier, exposes it in caje of war ; but it has a strong country, H 2 \yi I It Ir ii H .' : )/ 148 THE emigrant's GUIDE rapidly setiling, with a vigorous descrip- tion of people, behind it. ' Between Kingston and York, is Bel- ville, a new and thriving village, situated at the head of the Bay of Quinte. And between Belville and York, near Smithes Creek, is another village, called Ha- milton. Niagara, or Fort George, situated at the mouth of the Niagara river; Queen- «ton, at the head of the lower navigation of the same, about seven miles above Ni- agara, and an equal distance below the great cataract ; and Chippewa, about two miles above the great cataract, at the foot of the higher navigation, and on a small river or creek, from which it derives itsname^ are all flourishing little places; and, humanly speaking, must go on to flourish. The scenery about Queenston is particularly pleasing. Fort Erie (this must be distinguished from a place further up, on the American shore, called Erie> or Presqu'ile), situated n »*', •-■■v TO UPPER CANADA. 149 at the head of the Niagara river, where it issues from Lake Erie, is a very incon- siderable place, and has wretched accom- modations tor travellers. Waterloo, just beginning, about two miles lower down the river, promises better. But Fort Erie is so favourably situated for shipping, in comparison to any other place in its vicinity, that, I should think, it must eventually flourish. There is a large bay, but dangerously exposed to eastern winds, at Long Point, on the northern side of Lake Erie^ and a dawning village (with a post office) near it, called Vittoria. Amherstburgh, or Maiden, about three miles up the Detroit river (near the north-western extremity of Lake Erie) is the next appearance of a town. Its siiua- tion seems admirable, and it must most probably eventually become- the great emporium of tha inland commerce. It is the key of the navigation of the upper lakes, and has behind it an extensive i ^ 150 THU ehiorant's guide ? i and fertile country, to the productions of which, in almost every article of utility, convenience, and ornament, there need he no bounds but the skill and industry of its inhabitants. At present its scale is so small as to deserve no more than the name of the appearance of a village, and that even a very wretched appear- ance; for its progress has been impeded^ and is still checked by both natural and artificial causes, some of which are ab- solute, and some capable of being ob- viated ! The natural causes are, its great dis- tance from the sea (about IIQO miles) ; this is absolute of course, and can never be changed by human energy : — the in** tervention of the great cataract of Nia- gara, about 270 miles bek>w it ; an ob- stacle which may, and doubtlessly will be obviated by a canal or by canals : false and injurious im|H*essions, or total igno- rance of the character of the general soil and climate of the province : and (in TO UPPER CANADA. 151 every part, but particularly in proportion to its remoteness from the sea) the slow progress of population, arising, in a ipea- sure, from that i^i^orance and frona thps^ false impressions. Both th^se, mav of course be remedied. And the artii^cial causes are, Ijhe li- n^ited and disadvantageous ns^t^ure of its^ original settlement, tog^etb^r with that supineness^ yifhich ^as perpetuated the. evil. Upon the final aban^onifient of ip^etroii^^ tp the forces of the United Staljes, thi^ beneficence of government was of course turned towar<^s providing with a new establisbmenlj, ^hpse w^o chose tp aban- don their situations at Detroit, for the purpose of removing to tljieir own coun- try. Ifhe principle was beneficent, but not enlargfed. The site of a to^n was sketched, and lots were givep oi^t in Amh^rstburgh ; but on a military tenure, that is, liable, with all the property that should be erected on them, to be resumed. w r . 1- k %^m .lis" '■■ ,1' ■-s ;» 4 b: w rH 152 THE emigrant's GUIDE at any arbitrary moment of emergent ne- cessity, by the military authority upon the spot. The confidence, however, of subjects, under such a government ns ours, in the liberal wisdom of that go- vernment, has in a measure counteracted the unhappy influence which this defect was calculated to produce ; and in that confidence, property has been raised there, fearless of the arbitrary resumption, to which, in the strictness of law, it was exposed; but nothing but such a govern- ment as ours, could have warranted that confidence. It seems evidently not to have been misplaced. The late governor-general, the Duke of Richmond (a man of an un- assuming, enlarged, and liberal mind; active, public-spirited, and benevolent), whose sudden loss, the Canadas will long deplore, concurred readily, upon due in- quiry, with the advice of the lieutenant- governor of the province, in recommend- ing measures to the supreme authorities ^1 •» -"^ "m/f^- TO UPPER CANADA. 15J5 nt home (on whom those measures are dependant), for making* the property in Amherstbur^h freehold : and it is duti- fully, yet confidently hoped, that the ne- cessary sanction, will be early granted to thone public-spirited recommendations. ' Sandwich, another appearance of a village; about sixteen miles higher up the Detroit River than Amherstbu''gh, is the last of our towns inland; It is the county town, and has an ill-constructed jail and court house.' It has also a Roman Ca- tholic church ; and its confined popula- tion (like that of Amherstburgh, though in a somewhat greater proportion) is, in numbers, chiefly Roman Catholic. Returning from this western extremity of our dawning towns, I must notice Cornwal, on the River St. Lawrence, the most eastern village of Upper Canada. ' • Prescot, situated close by Fort Wel- lington, a few miles above the rapids of the River St. Lawrence, at the foot of the second course of inland navigation (see II o ■^ .'1 ^' -S - •!» ^ " ' »*< "-V- "V- m -^ mm Wm ■; i '\ 1 i^K 1 1 Iff .1 W'^ nl f f '/ Mi 1 i 1 154 THE emigrant's GUIDE Sect. I. page 26); a situation which, notwithstanding its present confined limits, must eventually raise it to superior im- portance. Brockville, a pretty village, about twelve miles above Prescot, the outlet of establishments forming behind it to the northward, between it and the Biver Ottawas. , . . .V, , -j-i t?.w;-u Perth, a newly formed place, situated about forty miles from Brockville, on the course of the establishments just men- tioned. (See description of this place, pages 42 and 43.) And two or three other dawning towns, of which I have not sufficient information to particularize them ; such as Dundas, Ancaster, &c. RIVERS. Besides the St. Lawrence (except the rivers which extend its communication westwardly between the lakes) there is but one river of any considerable magni- •»•■. >**«».' %<'" c^ ^ TO irPPER CANABA. 155 tude in Upper Canada. This, the Otta- wa^, 01- Grand river (the boundary of the province to the northward), though of national importance, yet is so completely out of the progress of general intercourse, and flows in a course so interrupted by rapids and by cataracts, through regions so little known, that I shall notice it no further than to say, that its course, be- tween the point in Richmond, where the new road from Kingston by Perth strikes its banks, promises, through that road, to become of more immediately general value; better settled : and, of conse- quence, better known. There are some other rivers, however, which, though of smaller course, are either more immediately useful, or are calculated eventually to become so. Such, of the first description, are the Grand river (not, of course, that above- mentioned), which runs into Lake Erie, not far from Longpoint ; and the progress of which in improvement, has been, and ,>' r- 'WV- -siS" rr^ ^m 150 TUB EMIGRANTS GUIDK s is still retarded, by its bein^ \ Indian reserve. , And the Thames, or Trench, which runs into the small Lake St. Clair, some miles al)Ove Sandwich ; and the shores of which form one of the most fertile portions of the province. Of the second description, are The Radeau, and its neig-hbouring streams, by which the communication between Kingston and the Ottawas, through Perth, is mtended to be co'.ii- pleted. . 1, , The Trent, tog'ether with the line of small lakes and their uniting streams, which promise an internal navigation by boats, between the eastern extremity of Lake Huron and the head of the bay of Quint6, Smith's Creek, which runs from the neighbourhood of the Rice lake into Lake Ontario. Several small rivers and creeks near York, and at the head of Lake Ontario^ ^1^ 'M TO UPPF.U CANADA. lo7 which rnn into that hike ; the principal of whidi nppcar to ine to be the River lloug -^ .^.- 160 THE EMIGRANTS GUIDE ■< S ^il' i'.'f i I i i arother, called Yonge Street, from York to Lake Sirneoe. An apparently awkward pecnliiiriy in nannng these new roads is, that they are oomraonly called streets. There arCj of course, other minor town and district ruads : these all afford a more ready means than natura ly exists, of com- munication, hut their accommodations for travellers are small. The conveyances, where there are any, (and such of any description are by no means universal), are generally poor ; the surface rough, the bridges wretched, and attendance at the inns as defective, as must necessarily be the case where there is too great a tone of general equality and familiarity, amidst a scattered, independ- ant, and uncultivated people. But greater kindness and fellow-feeling often exist here than are to be found in the more ac- complished receptacles of politer people. Mixed with their equality, there arc, in my opinion, generally speaking, a greater degree of spontaneous attention, and a •ly. ^ »"a- ir TO UPPER CANADA, 161 more disinterested desire to serve, than we meet amidst all the elegant accommo- dations of the British roads. Where the soul Jiath shrunken on itself, palsied by those accommodations, land travelling in Canada must be abhorrent ; just as I remember an accomplished brother officer in India, deploring*, in very elegant verse, the hardships of his fate, because, amidst the seclusion of a retired situation with his corps, he was bereft of his accustomed and idol amusements of balls and pbtys, and flattered and flattering female so- ciety. But when the mind is still un- broken by habits of indulgence, and the uncultured services of nature are capable (amidst all their unquestioned privations) of yielding a superior pleasure to that which can be derived from the servilities of reHnement, Canadian travelling is not always without its attractions. You are served by men who look upon ihemselves, in some measure, at least, as your equals, perhaps as your superiors : who know. I / fi ir "!.' •'.'] J' V i,: 162 THE emigrant's GUIDE from the state of the country, that they are aiding you as essentially by the sup- plies which they are producing, as you are thena by purchasing those supplies ; and who, in sonae parts, may be suddenly called away from their attendance upon you, by the more imperative wants of their families or their farms. There is, generally speaking, no giving of presents to servants ; and the consequence is, that where no glare of appearance, nor prodi^ gality of purse, command a slavish atten- tion, you are the more readily and the more kindly served, to the extent of the means, poor as they may be, on the spot. The general want of separate accom- modations, where, if you wish it, you may be alone, is, however, in my opinion, an exceeding annoyance, and renders travel- ling with ladies a matter sometimes of real distress. Alone, a man may pass through profaneness, levity, and noise (the general inhabitants every where of all public places), without noticing, if he HI" ■JP'JP i^l TO UPPER CANADA. 163 '. 'Ji cannot rectify them : he may compas- sionate, submit, and Le silent : but it is abhorrent to every tender, just, and deli- cate feelin'T, to see a woman exposed to such thing^^ vithout the >ower of rescuing her. In the great general lin^ of water communicati^fi^ ho^f^tiff t/iis serious evil is diminishing. As hr as the steam- boats go it is entirely ofjv/a^d ; and as the country improves, it will cease to exist iDore and more evory yeaf. ,iti '«i * H i\ 164 THE EMIGRANT S GUIDE 1 1 ^H it^K 1 SECT. XII. Methods to conduce to the Preservation of Health, and general Aids, afforded by the medicinal Herbs of the Country , for that Purpose, The first object to emigrants lately ar- rived, is to avoid every excess of every kind ; to be temperate in all things ; and to provide, as far as possible, against ex- posure to the inclemencies of tho weather, particularly of the night air. For this purpose, an ample supply, particularly of blankets, should be laid in at Quebec, or at Montreal ; and this pre- caution should b} no means be omitted, on account of the incumbrance of thnr car- riage. Of coiu'Me this advice applies especially to those, whose iiiKiiK'rs cio not enable them to command thr more ex- pensive means of shelter, wherever they hi i TO UPPER CANADA. 165 11 iS V go. Damp, and particularly remaining* \^itlioLit motion in damp clothes, should, at however great a trouble, be most sedu- lously avoided ; and the best attainable shelter, even to the utmost extent of the person's means, should be every where diligently sought; more especially be- tween the months of September and June. , Marshy and swampy situations should be particularly avoided, if possible; and where altogether unavoidable, the house should be built as remote from them, as consistent with any tolerable degree of convenience in other respects. The wood about the dwelling should be immediately and entirely cleared away : no branches or logs being left, as is very universally the case, to gather and preserve stagnant and putrifying moisture. The dwelling should be made as im- pei*vious as may be to the surrounding air, every crevice being well closed, and i u ' ft ; (i ^ i )i. 166 THE emigrant's GUIDE every thing should be kept clean and dry about it. Where clear, good spring or river water cannot be had, the water for drink- ing should always be boiled, and suffered to cool, before it is used. In damp situations, which are exposed to agues, I esteem a moderate use of li- quor to be healthful ; but it would be bet- ter never to use it, than to use it with the smallest degree of intemperance. Generally throughout the province, but in the western district particularly, it is pernicious to work exposed to the sun, during the hot season, in the heat of the day. The labourers should rise at a pro- portionately early hour, and rest from eleven till two. People just arrived from Great Britain, commonly feel a vigour which would t jnd to make them despise this caution ; but it is offered by one, who has collected it from a verv extensive ex- perience, and he trusts it may be UH^ful. TO UPPER CANADA. 167 « When we consider the pains of sickness ; the loss of time to which it subjects us ; and the expences which it calls upon us to incur, together with the more affecting reasons of the domestic afflictions to which it gives rise, we shall find, that the heedless and presumptuous energy, which exposes us unnecessarily to it, sel- dom, if ever, gains. Nor is it any proof of our wisdom in despising precautions of this kind, that disease doth not strike Us at once. For the most fatal foundations of disorder are often laid, long before their destructive effect appears, and while their ruin is maturing even under the brightest mask of health. The medicinal herbs of the country are numerous, particularly to the M'est- ward ; but no person of botanical and medical knowledge hath yet explored them. Many, however, are known and used by the people of the country ; and could the Indians be raised above that selfish and skulking temper, beneath ^. i t': / i % [.fi ^ .^ •'• •tor. ■• v*rr- 108 THE emigrant's GUIDE which, uncultivated man ever shrouds the discoveries of his opportunities or of his genius, many more of still greater im- portance, would, no doubt, be brought to light. Such as are best known, I purpose briefly to notice in the sixteenth section, under the head of trees and medicinal herbs. In proceeding into the interior, persons who do not travel by the public convey- ances, should be particularly careful in their inquiries, as they advance, respect- ing the possibilities before them, of pro- curing provisions ; and when requisite, should attentively lay in a sufficient stock in time. TO UPPER CANADA. 160 SECT. XIII. General Difficulties in effecting a favorable Set' tlement, and prospective Advantages, if effected. The difficulties in effecting a favor- able settlement, may be collected from the preceding sketches. But as it is a prin- cipal wish of the author, while he opens the rojid to Upper Canada, by diffusing the most simple and authentic informa- tion in his power respecting its real character (its advantages and disadvan- tages), to guard the poorer emigrant against those delusive expectations, which may precipitate him (as they have pre- cipitated thousands and are still precipi- tating many) into disappointments and distresses, from which there is often no subsequent return ; it is his object, under this head, to collect those difficulties into one view -, and to offer them, with most 1 ■f. * i' ■i^' -^^r ^^ ':f ^ ',;f "1 r l! M •^1 'S,' I, < tl {( 170 THE emigrant's OL IDE earnest and affectionate caution, to every person of confined means, who purposes to remove to America. He says to Ame- rica, for every caution offered on the sub- ject of Canada, is still more essential, in relation to other parts of that vast conti- nent ; and he believes, equally or more so, in respect to every other rei^ion of the world. The first difficulty is that of removin;^ from your native country. I'his is sel- dom appreciated at the time ; but is oftc n felt bitterly afterwards. It is a difficulty, to produce which, arise all those associa- tions of reason and affection, which bind us to our native place wherever it he; which when rt^moved from that place, throw around u remembrance a kind of sweet, but melancholy enchantment, and often unnerves at a distance the arm tJiat was strong, and the heart which at first forgot or despised them. Many has been the mind, firm as it was, and willing to struggle, which pining in secret under m •*■/ TO UPPER CANADA. 171 tlu'ir influence, hath found through them, prosperity shorn of its charms, or adver- sity a^i^ravated with thorns not its own. This indeed is a difficulty, from which many doubtless are free. But I would call upon every man, before he under- takes to leave the scenes of his former life, the ai)ode, perhaps, of his ancestors, the graves of those whom he hath loved, and still loves, the places where he hath smiled, and where he hath wept (now alike dear to him), and the companions of his past years, and his own people, and his own country ; I would call upon him seriously to examine his heart, and if possible, to ascertain, what is the strength which it possesses to control or to smother all these recollections, when placed at a distance, and amongst a new people, and in a new country, and surrounded by objects, not one of which comes to his bosom, en- deared with the bewitching recollections of earlier days ! Perhaps discontent and impatience i r^'^:. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) fe .. Photographic Sdences Corporation \ ^\^ :\ \ [V ^\»> .1 - ■l-.u:::r r:an >* nr . - , -:t . ^■iiAr.^ n ' / u 1; '-( 180 THE emigrant's GUIDE ships open at the time for location ; those townships are marked off into concessions and lots; and any marshes or brooks which they may contain, are imperfectly sketched on them. Here the information which is presented to you ends. If you wish for more, you must traverse the province yourself to obtain it : a course evidently far beyond the poor man^s means. Your selection must consequently be made more or less in the dark ; and after it is made, there are often much trouble, and expence, and loss of time to be incurred, before, amidst the surround- ing wilderness, perplexed as it is with errors and contradictions of former, and perhaps of present surveyors, you can find and fix upon your own true boundaries. After the new comer has struggled through these expences and perplexities, he has arrived, we will say, at his new estate. There he is the master, under Providence, of land sufiicient, when im* proved^ to make himself and his family iiw • W »ll h < .jrtK- TO UPPER CANADA. 18a by the increased privations and hardships which he endures, to a nmch superior risk of sickness, nnt'l (if incrcifnlly preserved), he attain at llie end of some years a relaxation ; and at Uni<^th begin to enjoy that independence, tlie reason- able prospect of which, under Providence, so long supported hiin. And I hesitate not to say, that in the common course of Providence, in return for the ;^loomy truths of the first part of this picture, he must obtain that inde- pendence, if frugal, industrious, good-tem- pered, and persevering ; 1 say good-tem- pered, because a good-tempered man is more readily employed and assisted by strangers, than is a person of an opposite description ; and, because, not being the bane of domestic happiness, as is the ill- tempered man, he enjoys many of the sweetest comforts and of the most valua- ble privileges (all conducing to his pre- servation in health both of body and of mind) of which the other equally deprives V ^jt..-L •^rf* m i 184 THE EMIGRANT S GUIDE himself and those, whom the most sacred duties and a0'ections bind him to foster, to cherish, and to protect. When these struggles shall have been successfully encountered ; and I again decidedly express it as my opinion, that in almost every case, they may, by and • with the means, and in the manner above denoted, be, under mercy, successfully encountered — thon, the advantages ap- pear. The man, who in Britain, was ap- parently doomed, with all his posterity, to toil and to dependance ; a labourer for others rather than for himself; looking forward from day to day for his subsist- ence, to the casualty of obtaining* an un- certain and a niggard employment ; finds himself here established a freeholder 5 on a small, it is true, but for his sphere, and for all his real wants, an abundantly sufficient estate. His family surrounds him on a ^and of their own. There he may repose his age, encompassed and supported by theii tenderness ; and there, il: -^-:-- •' ''J.-= TO UPPEll CANADA. 185 in their arms, he may lay himself in the sleep which unites time to eternity ; re- joicing and hymning thanks as he departs, that those whom he loves, are not (as he once was), dependant and wanderers ; but are blessed, through the Divine mer- cy upon his and their united exertions, with a home and a settled support ; where they may watch his narrow houscj and in their turns sleep beside him. ■i i (, :. . , .n i r; ifKv.:. The improvement of the military posture of the province; or, of its means of military defence. I do not consider myself here, war- TO UPPER CANA1>\. 180 md ranted to enter into a discussion of tlie question, relative to the lawfulness, in any case, of war. The papers which the peace societies have published on that subject, as far as I have seen them, com- mand my most affectionate admiration. They convince me of the futility, as well as of the directly anti-christian nature, of the general principles which they con- tradict ; and I have never seen a criticism, which, in my opinion, levelled in a more masterly manner its opponent, than theirs on the war-applauding dogmas of the learned and admired Lord Kaimes. I have looked into the Scriptures (I say looked into, rather than studied them ; for I am sensible that I have not given them the attention, in any degree, which they deserve), and I find the most lucid and undeniable condemnation of the whole spirit of contention ; and of all the wraths, and envyings, and jealousies, and of every sentiment of retaliation, of ma- lice, and of revenge, which corroborate it. ■ t 4 (f; jt- i >' .^ 190 THE EMIGRANT S GUIDE i ^i I find the pride of human glory stained, and infamy revealed behind the cloak of liirht, with which its heroes are invested. 1 see the tears of heaven falling over its triumphs; and the precious blood of Calvary pouring out in vain, to check the bowlings of darkness and of adulation, which frantically endeavour to grace them. My heart turns to the scenes, where the laurels of those triumphs have been gathered, and burns, powerless as is its indignation, at the remorseless stride of ruin, which hath careered there ; or sickens amidst the blood and anguish by which they are deformed. It shrinks from war, for it hears amidst its shouts^ its exultations of victory, or its stillness of death, oh, what piercing cries of name- less agony ! of J^gony, which but to fancy, might curdle the blood, that flowed not yet from a heart all marble ; a heart, not yet as hard as that of man to man ! Or, forgetful of its impotency, it bursts into fire, and expands with the half-madden- TO UPPER CANADA. 191 ing emotions of ungoverned rage and of inextinguishable defiance; evincing, amidst its anguished reprobation, a spirit of wrath "^ot totally unlike that which it execrates. But it returns, depressed and luournful, from these emotions, and finds itself the creature of a state, where all breathes war; where, within itself, it dis- covers lurking, its most deadly enemy ; where, in referring to the word of God (to the extent to which it hath hitherto car- ried that reference), it perceives many facts which support the lawfulness, of (at least) defensive war ; and where in look- ing around it upon the world, it finds at almost every turn, the impending or the present necessity, of caution and of re- sistance. In this dilemma — fearful that war, in every shape, may be wrong, yet while not conclusively satisfied in my own consci- ence that it is so, holding myself subor- dinate, in a degree, to the existing prin- ciples, on this subject, of the society of h '. f \\ .^.^s li)2 THE £x\1IGRANT'S GUIDE , / %1 ' b '51' _ if!': ! ' I which I am a very secluded member, 1 here wish to offer the views, which strike me, as promising to be most conducive to the safety of the province, where I expect to live and die. My views are solely of defensive war- fare. Offensive war, under almost every possible variety of circumstance, has my decided contempt and abhorrence. I say, under almost every possible variety ; for, in my opinion, the late great contest against the gigantic and horrible power of Bonaparte, was an exception, and, gene- rally speaking, fully warranted all the measures, of which I am aware, that were taken against him. For this purpose, it appears to me that the province needs a larger aid of British troops, and an improved organization of its militia : and here, I must confine my- self principally to the western peninsula, with which I am most acquainted. From Fort Erie (along the shores of that lake) to Amherstburgh ; and from c f I) ^■i ■^■^WP TO UPPER CANADA. ' 193 Amherstburghy by the road of the River Thames and by Dundas Street, to Dun- das, a nearly circular distance of almost 500 miles (of which more than half is an open frontier), there are not 100 regulars ; and the militia are in a state of almost utter disorganization. I know the difficul- ties of our beloved parent state, and I de- plore them from interested, as well a3 from grateful and affectionate motives. I speak here of the wants of Canada, not to convey or to imply reproach to others, but simply to concur in pointing out the real state of those very alarming wants, should, peradventure, any practicable means exist for supplying them. The militia, I doubt not, will partake of the beneficent attention of the present government, and be placed upon a hap- pier footing. They are officered, indeed; and the men themselves, I am persuaded, are capable of making as admirable, pa- triotic (not mercenary ) soldiers as any in the world. But, with all this, they are % nyl in ^*!-«^,-.*-«JO* ' * - la .;i/ t ! 104 THE EMIGRANT S GVIDK i / ^ U i\ ii I ■: r I \ \ * ♦ KM^- i at present almost utterly destitute of all order, and discipline, and mutual confi- dence; and are no more prepared for simultaneously defending their country, than if no such system as defence by militia had ever occurred, nor any im- provements ever been made in that sys- tem. The Americans of the United States, within the same extent, have two or three stations, comprising at least five or six hundred men : and in comparing the two principal opposing frontier posts, Am- herstbnrgh and Detroit, it is humiliating and alarming to a Briton, to observe the decided superiority in every particular (except, indeed, in the character of the troops), of the American establishment. I reour to India, where I was accustomed so long to mark the pre-eminence of Bri- tain's genius : and while I observe before me two emblems, the one as of the inert and decaying power of a native state, where its buildings are poor, or in ruins, I I % a' TO UPI^KR CANADA. 196 and its agents few ; the other as of the energetic and thriving progress of my country, surpassing all competition, and meeting, with commanding force, every emergency ; I start, and ask myself, with terror and affliction, ** Can the former of *' these appertain to my country ?— The " latter to her competitors ?'* The extensive and fertile peninsula to the westward of the upper province, is thus left almost entirely exposed ; and its scanty population (impeded in its pro- gress by its distance from the sea, &c.) loyal, and vigorous, and brave as they are, must, for some time, be held utterly inadequate to its defence ; yet, if properly organized, they would defend themselves^ I doubt not, with a vigour but little anti^ cipated ; and if conquered, would afford but fe^ trophies to their conquerors. It is humiliating and mournful, indeed, to speak of being conquered ; but it is not by being blind or inattentive to dang*er that we shall avert it. I speak of it that k2 h ^1^ I f i "■"B*"^ - ,^-- 11 11 106 THE EMIGRANTS GUIDE ►i/1 I •*. > 1 t^^ if possible (and nothing appears to nie more possible), it may be provided against; and that the youthful blood which hath glowed with British princi- ples and British affections, may hope, while it is shed, to establish the cause of its country, or, if it survive, be not chilled in its decline by foreign shackles. II. The most active, prudent, and li- beral encouragement to its popu- lation. In proposing the ideas which I here present, however earnestly, my purpose is merely to offer. The details of every measure require far more deliberation than its outlines, and are of a superior and very different order. I presume not to enter into the former ; for, to do so, would require an extent and an accuracy of in- formation which I have not had oppor- tunities to attain, and which I do not possess. The latter I seriously and re- spectfully propose, as more within my lii •••^r- t*^;»-M:' ce.-&«s -i^'— ''. '-^ttf. TO UPPER CANADA. 197 ed od sphere, and as always being capable of the requisite developement by the proper authorities, should they appear deserving of attention. I am satisfied that means might be found for this highly important purpose ; and I have sanguine hopes that such means will, ere long, be proposed and adopted. Meanwhile, a rapid and powerful in- crease to its population must be held peculiarly essential to Upper Canada. The reasons for this opinion are twofold : 1st. Those which result from the affec- tion which is borne, and the loyalty which is due to Britain ; and, 2dly, Those which arise from the importance of these pro- vinces to the parent state. ■■ The former of these appears to me as obvious, and as well attested, as it is pos- sible for any public sentiment to be. — Every authentic record of the late war corroborates, with few exceptions, the generous and devoted fidelity of the peo- ple ; and you need but live amongst them to observe how ardently they retain this h i'M ill,.. • » ',1 I. '}' f /■ t 198 THIl £I||iaXlAJ7T*S GUIDE principle. Nor could H be otherwicie.! Great Britain bath ever been to them a just, aud tender, and beneficent mother. Unable to protect themselves, they have been defended! Unable to provide for thsemselves, they bay^ been supplied! Without wisdom, or strength, or union, to frame tor themselves a government, they Lave been gifted \yi^b ^he happiest exist- ing ; aud wiilhput i;eisovu* I: \li H ,i- ■Pi ■p ^r 200 THE emigrant's GUIDE h^ */ from him ; reared amidst the habits, and accustomed to the principles of a more erratic life, he resides in his native place, or naturalizes himself in another, with equal readiness ; and, unlike the Euro- pean, he can at once become the attached and faithful subject of whatever foreign domination he may adopt. Hence, in the last war, the state-settlers in Upper Canada, were, in general, fully as loyal and as energetic as any other class of the people ; while some of the most notorious traitors were from amongst ourselves. Will it be said that that sentiment ex- ists in the corruptions of our common na- ture, the fruits of which are, amongst others, ingratitr.rle and rebellion ? That corruption, I reply, seldom acts without excitement, and never in wilful hostility to itself. ,ind what could Canada gain by in- gratitude and rebellion ? What, but de- fencelessness (oh wretched gain) against a rival neighbour, which threatens to en- gulph her ! What but the risk of chang- ing the government which now blesses 'H [f ii-' IIIRPHIRIJIIRI i^m^ r-fiSKry TO IJPPER CANADA. 201 ce, ith ro- ed < her, for one less excellent ! What but the oppressive burden of a civil and military establishment, of which she has now so small a share ! what but the weight of taxes, of which yci, she is totally ignorant ! No ! all her affections ; all her inte- rests, considered in connexion with those affections, bind her to Great Bri- tain. Her generous and her selfish principles equally corroborate the tie. I say her interests considered in con- nexion with her affections ; because, could we disconnect them; could we (what I am persuaded is impossible), at- tach her to the United States, as she is to her own land, then, there appears much reason for believing that her falling under the power of the States would acce- lerate her prosperity, for we eve»y where behold a mournful and portentous contrast between their progress and ours ! Oh, what shall awaken us from our torpor ? Do we dread the independence which doubtlessly will result when strength and K 5 U f -«-=*-%K,5 W T % T. •I [• ' >* ' 'I 202 THE emigrant's GUIDE prosperity in the common course of na- ture, shall have matured its principles ? Behold, our choice this day, is , To nourish our nursling, while we treat that selfish and slavish dread with the contempt which it deserves ; and to seek to qualify her for defending herself, whether in conjunction with us^ or without us ; and to take that ho?d upon her affec- tions which a disinterested ana active magnanimity alone can raise or support ; and still to hind her to our side by kind- ness ; and to gain from her judgment and from her gratitude, a more noble, and a more permanent union of interests, and of views, than ten thousand politicians could ever produce : — Or, when the flame of discord shall again revel in the mutual pride and into- lerance of Greaf Britain and the United States (and awful, and prayerfully to be deprecated as is the prospect, yet can we not shroud it from the anxious fore- bodings of our souls!) to behold her i^ w "-^, ■'^--^, "HwP ■np TO UPPER C4NADA. 203 scattered cottages, the abodes of fo^s! and her fields, the theatre of blood ! and her weakness exhausting the strength of her supine and distant friend; and her prosperity laid in ruins ; or, perhaps her sceptre torn from the hands, which de- clined (while it yet was time), adopting the beneficent measures (then amply within their reach) for warding off a ca- tastrophe, as agonizing to Canada, a^ it would be disgraceful to (xreat Bri- tain ! The interests of England, as well as her magnanimity, require the actiye continuation of her fostering care. I shall not take upon myself to point out the magnitude (which in detail I know not,, but) which is abundantly acl^nowledged, of the commercial advantages which the Canadas present to her. But, (startling, ^nd humiliating, and mournful 9,9 is t\^ prospect) I cannot blind myself, nor; would I wish my country to he blin^ tp the impending ruin, if that actiye a^d be withheld. Say you, that my selfish in- f'l m / ^i, V It i'j ,1 204 THE emigrant's guide terests (because I am a settler in Canada, and of consequence, my temporal concerns must flourish, or languisih, in proportion to the improvement or depression of that country) warp me to that idea, or ani- mate me to what you may call this de- clamation ? It may be so, I reply, though I am not aware of it. If it be, (beyond that fair and lawful degree, in which, as members of society, our private inte- rests are ever inseparably connected with the public good) it will prove my base- ness ; and well shall I merit all your scorn. But, oh, pass away from me.^ — What am I, that I should arrest you ? Cast your eye over the history of man: contemplate the circumstances, so broad and so obvious before you in America ; and, however yon may censure or despise me, consider while it is not yet too late, what those measures are, which your own real interests, and your own true honor, and the happiness of a dawning state -which is dependant upon you, in fact re- quire! !iv ^^» TO UPPER CANADA. 20.5 Will you, through fear of an event which you cannot finally avoid, in which magnanimity and wisdom would rejoice, and which selfishness and folly only would deplore, will you give up one who loves you, and who, in that event also, if you prevent it not, would love you still — will you give her up to a rival at whom she shudders ? — or will you still be to her a fostering mother ? Will you cherish still the affectionate devotion which she bears to you, nor hold back the arni of your be- neficence, on which she hangs, because, eventually, you can expect in her only a friend, not a subject ? — or is the bond of gratitude and of friendship less dear to you than that of dependance ? — or would you rather be submitted to than loved ? . .-You may leave her; and in such case she may, not improbably, fall : but surely one of her regrets will be, that in her fall disgrace and evil to you were blended : and while her affections are thwarted, and her sympathies chilled, her secret mm 206 THE EMIGRANT S GUIDE V' ri; sigh will be, over the heart of love, once generous and powerful, which, when she was helpless, nurtured her, but which is now torn from her for ever. Or, unsunken by the abandonment, she shall grow with an energy of which you could not deprive her, and which you would not aid, till her own power arise around her (under that Almighty sway to which all things are subject in heaven, and on earth, and in hell) a tower, capa- ble of defying the boasts and the ambi- tions of her enemies. Then, if generous and grateful, still with tenderness would she remember thee ; then would the vigour of her youth arise, as a new bulwark, to shield thee from the face of thine ene- mies. >■ Of' But, alas ! ask thine own heart what hope there exists in such a nature as that of which it is a participator; what hope such a nature affords, of fruit so lovely, yet so foreign to all its tendencies. There is no such hope: individuals might, in- deed, produce those fruits; but nations *iH «>:»£- ^ ! TO UPPER CANADA. 207 never shall, until the kingdom of the Messiah is finally established ! — No ! On the tide of the world, Canada would then rise, another struggler after empire, but separate from thee ; and she would pre- sent, Jike every preceding state, a new chaos of selfishness, and pride, and cu- pidity, occasionally adorned, perhaps, with random gleams of beauty and of gran- deur, such as those, which in meteor splendor, shoot athwart thy brow I You have been generous, and Canada loves you : but no excellence can be sta- tionary : it must always be progressive. The performance of one act of duty or of kindness entails new duties and new kind- nesses. Such, oh Britain ! is the rela- tion in which Canada stands to you ! Your happiness and hers, your affections and hers, your principles and hers, your in- terests and hers, are the same : and it de- pends upon you chiefly, under Providence, to perpetuate the union, or to lay the foun- dation of its dissolution. Wisdom promises t \ \ • w ■i t fta 4;,'i? )" '■^iLr-r.*'-''* ti08 THE EMIGUANT S GUIDE ' lit. I the first ; policy portends tlie latter. Oh that your choice may be directed by wis- dom ! III. The throwing open to settlement, if possible by just and lawful means, of the deeded lands. Here I am aware that I am treading upon delicate ground, and I foresee the mass of proud and selfish feelings which are ready to spurn at me ! But let them rise ! I am ready to meet them, without acrimony and without apprehension. I profess my object to be the public good, as far as is consistent with private justice ; and most heartily do I desire that, in so far as my opinions have not a direct ten- dency to that end, they may be rendered nugatory. " ' ' The nature of these deeded lands, I have endeavoured fairly to elucidate in pages 177, 8, 9. Like rocks in the ocean, they glare in the forest, unproductive themselves, and a beacon of evil to those who approach them. A recent measure I l! I. TO UPPEtt CANADA. 2Q9 of the provincial government, a measure vvlucli had been previously quelled, though loudly demanded for years, has obviated part of the evil ; but much remains to be done. By that measure they are de- prived of the absurd and ruinous exemp- tion from equal assessment with the sur- rounding appropriated lands, with which prior authorities had disgraced them, and are now subject, in consequence, to their share of the public rates. Small recom- pense for the desolation which they still cherish ! ,, . , ■ i Here, some observations appear neces- sary. One of the most valuable properties in an individual, or in a government, is an unswerving fidelity to every serious en- gagement : and where any principle whatever is admitted as sanctioning a departure from that fidelity, so wide and so ruinous a gate is opened for the intro- duction of lawless and selfish measures, that, generally speaking, it is better to ad- ' ■ ^, ilO THE EMIGRANT S OUIDI^; y; t J , I; J ^i'p m I here blindly to that fidelity, than 1o Nunc- tion any departure from it. Yet, it is equally evident, that a boundary must exist to this conclusion. £very well organized state, must have a final resort for the correction of errors, and the in- troduction of improvements. Else vice and folly, once established, were perpe- tual ; anr»*' '« *.»i»fc^.fi '<> .ii» -_ ip ' »| W) |l iiMWI . 1 I'' * 216 THE EMIGRANT S GUIUS ;'/^S ':i Bli 1 ^HV ing in its own magnifioence and strength, scatter around it intoler«jnce and scorn. Their support to the cause of Christian- ity has been almost nothing, and is still trifling. Amidst a people, left by the aban- donment (to which they have been ex- posed) of the established church (for the small number of her ministers, and their con*"ncted circuits, whatever their indivi- dual . vity may be, have left them as nothing to the mass of the people) ; left, I say, by that abandonment, and excited, both by their circumstances and by their characters, to judge in matters of religion for themselves, those reserves are still ex- clusively appropriated to a single ritual : while, in the common course of things, before that ritual can be adequately dif- fused, other forms and other principles must, in every probability, be adopted ; and the ministry of the establishment, un- less they prove such men as, with some noble and extraordinary exceptions, no establishment hath ever yet produced, or '■■''<%.. _— sa^. ^rrr TO UPPER CANJkXHA.: ^T can, without a new era in human nature, ever produce, will be left to revel in their secular ifidependance, drawling over the sacred duties of their functions^ full of the littleness of their temporal import- ance, devouring' the fleece, not feeding the flook, and converting God's household into a lordly and a groveling herd of secu- lar men and of secular measures. Tiien again may darkness and intolerance flane upon every opinion which dares to dis- sent from their dogmas. The word of God may again be bowed down to the infaUihilily of human interpretations, 4Knd a new contest arise between spiritual bondage and spiritual freedom ! u> ^->n The experience of all ages seems fully to evince, that temporal authority and temporal wealth are, in general, decided^ unfavorable to spiritual mindedness ; and whatever church departs from tiae tendency, as its vital and governing ob- ject, to produce that mind, departs, in the same degree, from the spirit of Christ. I* ' I. , ' 1 1 / ( .• i ' ,11 218 THE emigrant's GUIDE ..M' That character, indeed, can neither be produced nor preserved by human means ; it will therefore languish, whatever exter- nals men may assume : but there is an evident and a wide distinction between things which corrupt, and those which are corrupted. The former are in them- selves evil, and to themselves a disgrace. The latter may in themselves be blame- less, but are disgraced extrinsically. In- vesting the priesthood with wealth and power, where the object was to make of the church a political engine, would be consistent with that purpose : but, under the light of Divine Revelation, it is like en- deavouring to amalgamate God and mam- mon. Thus we find, in a church so formed, that a person may be an excel- lent bishop, though he displays no more care for souls, than doth his coachman, or any other vassal of the wealth and pomp which engulph him ; while in the latter, that is, in a church of Christ, a bishop must be " blameless, vigilant, so- -■^•■■vui. ^ f O UPPER CANADA^ 310 i '* ber, modest, given to hospitality, apt to '* teach ; not given to wine, not greedy of *' filthy lucre, but patient, not covetous; ^* having a good report of them that are ** without," &c. &c. ; or, at least, the ruling influences of his church must have a direct and obvious tendency to make him so. . > But I have already, perhaps, said too much on this subject ; and shall here con- clude, with the earnest hope, that He, with whom aione is wisdom, and whose cause of love this is, shall perpetuate or annul this provision according to His gracious pleasure; and in every event, and under whatever form or forms, cause the holy and happy faith of Jesus to flou- rish. 3d, That these reserves present a tempting lure to the pride and cupidity of our neighbours, 1 am persuaded. It is not an idea originating with me, or un- contemplated by them. It opens an aw- ful prospect that I deplore. l2 f !, S'20 THE EMIGRANT S GUIDE fi (. I The southern and western parts of the tJmted States are represented to me as teetning with a lawless and predatory class of people. Their desires and their habits breathe war. May not the time arrive, when, under some public sanction, these hordes may be turned out, stimulated by the lure of the Canadian reserves ? The Americans of the United States are a civilized people, and no doubt would respect private property. But here, it might be said, are millions of acres of fertile land, in a climate superior to your own, the property of the public. Your children, your friends, need new esta- blishments. Go; your numbers are suf- "ftcient for the enterprise : conquer, and possess them. The consequent struggle, no doubt, would be awful ; and these hordes might, perhaps, be repelled : but the lure would remain ; and what will not man attempt, when his licentious passions are excited by prospects capable of inflaming them ! u ...Mcai^ »i^*" ■ ;hif v^ TO UPPER CANADA. 221 The improvement of the internal na- vigation. This I look upon as of exceeding im- portance, and am of opinion that it might be supplied by means similar to those to which I have alluded, but which I have not presumed to endeavour to develope, under the second of these heads. Desti- tute of the information which would war- rant any decided assertion on those mea- sures, I yet judge them so practicable^ that I have little doubt of the existing possibility of thereby accelerating the progress of the province by twenty years at least ; and I shall grieve, if the discus- sion which they appear to me to deserve, be not offered and granted to them. , VI. The immediate provision of a really pious and jealous clergy, of what- ever Protestant denomination or deiiomi nations. Under this head, I wish it to be dis- ■ w % 1 mi \ m V- ; ■^1 u ■I 222 JTHE emigrant's GUIDE !• u » .^ i' ; v4H ■'.i.^ tincily understood and remembered, that \;vhatever differences of rank or order may be, and are^ essential to the constitution of society in other respects, in this I con- template the great mass of the people as devoid, in the sight of God, of every dis- tinction; as presenting a multitude of souls, for each of which, in a general sense, Christ equally died ; that the pre- sumptions of one class, or of another, are equally out of the question ; and that the business is not, shall we defer to this or that, but shall we, setting aside all party distinctions and all selfish policies, and every interfering claim (whatever plausi- bility in other respects may grace them), shall we above all other interests hold most sacred, because God holds most sacred, the most universal redemption obtainable of all His creatures. ^ In this light, if any particular class say, '* Am I not distinguished, and have I not ♦ laboured, and do I not strive ?" I wish not, I reply, to deny your distinction, or ^'ii TO UPPER CANADA. 223 to depreciate your labours. Where I: have seen, I can admire and love them, as far as they have appeared to me consist- ent with the glory of God, and the rescue of sinners : but the question (to which we must perpetually recur), is, how far have your distinctions and your labours applied to the great mass of souls ? What is the proportion of the whole to which they have extended? Not the mere political inquiry, how far have you (as your ruling object) conduced to the elevation of a sect, or to the establishment of a particu- lar ritual ? • - ' ' < ' The denomination, in my opinion, is a matter of very little importance. The great requisites are genuine piety and zeal. -■ '■' ' ' f '■ " '- •' -' '- '■ ■ '^'^ I have said Protestant, because I am persuaded, that although some of tht^ most nobly pious and zealous characters have doubtlessly existed, and do exist,-^ amongst the Roman Catholics, yet it is only by an aberration from the essentially 7P A, f If .•> K '^24 THK IlMi6&ANT*S GUIDE •uperstjtious aud sJavisb principki of tbeir aectt Uiat they have been, or are so; wbereai;, Protestauta are ouly otherwise when th^j depart from theirs. Under the title of Protestants ia this Christian sense^ I uuist be understood to include those only who acknowledge, as the great groundworks of their faith, the divinity of Christ, the tri-une character of the Godhead, and the Holy Scriptures, as the only ultimate test of all religious and moral truth and kj^owledge. Others may call themselves Protestants and Chris- tians ; but they are Protestants only ic sense of their own^ as any man who asserts a dissenting opinion of any kind» may call himself, or be called a Protest- ant : and they are Christians in no sense at ally without shrouding all language with indistinction. They may be Deists, or Socinians, or Mabomedans^ or idola- ters, &c« &c«; and as such may evince, in a natural sen«e, many amiable and noble ^UAlities, Whatever they may be in the r t P TO UPPER CANADA 4 225 sight of God, amongst their fellow worms, they may bear away the palm (with, per- haps, few exceptions), of gentleness, and disinterestedness, and magnanimity : and while we view them in this relation only^ we may be ready to glo»y in the excel- lence which they display. But to the unspeakably more sacred, and noble, and beauteous title of Christian, even these can have no claim. Let them depart from it : it is beyond their sphere ; its spirit mourns over the defects of their loveli- ness. 1 am avvnre that a provision of the kind which I desire, requires a certain compass of means. But I know, for I have an existing, and a notorious fact before me, that even small means may go far, where there is not wanting a will to apply and to prosecute them. The comparison which I draw may be held to be invi- dious ; but it is not meant by me to be so. By birth, and by all the tender associa- tions of youth (to which my soul is alive) i [ > ■■i P^HI^Mipi ■«•" ^••« f.ll 226 THE emigrant's GtUDE a member of the established churchy and still her friend, as much as her compa- rative excellence (in its capacity of at- testing itself to my understanding) will allow me ; and, oh* what individual and particular excellence, not to be surpassed, doth my soul rejoice to acknowledge in her : yet, on subjects of this nature, as a human being, I claim, and as a Canadian British subject T assert, a right to judge freely for myself. I call upon that church, if she or her members condemn me, to meet me with th^ candour, without which her faith or my faith is but a deceitful name I call upon her to review with impartiality, as having a chief eye to the glory of God, and not to her. own glory in the review, the simple, and serious, and unaffected fact, which I am about to offer; and if she find that the palm of excellence (I mean the palm of excel- lence in serving others, not in gracing herself), hath been carried off from her by strangers, with means and opportuni- '. ''1 ■V MbO^M^i^ ^***^*^= ■/: ■^>sL^tfr ii- du^: "WP ..>.r TO UPPER CANADA. 227 ties of good far less tliun hers ; I call upon her to join with me in reti'.ming thanks to that infinitely great and glo- rious Power, who worketh with what In- .^truments be pleaseth, who bringeth to nothing the wisdom of the wise, and who, often omitting the great, and the learned, and the noble, reareth His own little flock with living streams from the wilderness- streams despised and unsought by loftier men, but jewels in the Redeemer's king- dom, liet her unite with me in humbling herself with gratitude, that still the work of our Lord and our Master hath been going on, even where we have slum- bered ; and in turning to prayer, that we also may henceforvvard be rendered more iiuitful. The American Methodist church of the United States ; a society without public funds ; without any public constituted authorities; the members of a state severed from us by the remainders of cii^il wraths, and by mutual intolerance. >;; ill \ -*., A., *^.""'"I.2J^" "■■-■'■ 228 THE EMIGKANTS GUIDE and emulation, and pride, hath been the chief (by no means the only) medium, under God (particularly to the westward) of fostering in our districts the spirit of the Gospel. There, under the labours of their missionary ministers, the Saviour bath been made known, with various suc« cess. Love has often assumed the place of hatred ; candour, of intolerance ; holi- ness, of profligacy ; and order, sobriety, aud peace, of confusion, and drunkenness, and brawls. Many false professors of course have arisen, and many selfish preachers perhaps appeared. But where is, or ever hath been the human agency in any thing excellent, which hath been or is devoid of false professors, and free from selfish authorities? Or, where is the wisdom, or where is the charity of reviling the undeniable promoters, amongst a scattered and much abandoned people, of the knowledge and the ways of C , because falsehood, and selftshness, »nd hypocrisy, have marred their efforts '■■-.irr TO UPPER CANADA. 229 of truth and love, and preserved for Satan the prey, which their souls longed, and their lives struggled to rescue ? I shall be called, perhaps, while I speak thus, a Methodist and a Yankee, two titles intended to convey opprobrium; but opprobrious to those only, who use them With that intention. I honor them both in their true meanings, and am happy to record my little testimony to their value. The former, I am persuaded, on the, to me, undeniable testimony of my own senses, have been, and are, amongst the most faithful and successful of all the labourers in God's vineyard. And the latter, meaning thereby (what are properly meant th oby) the inha- bitants of the north-eastern states of the United States of America, are, I am satisfied from information which I cannot doubt, in every thing which gives real dignity to the human character, one of the first people on earth. Nor shall I here wait to avert the senseless taunt ol i '»? !! >■ ■ -*#■ ■^ir 230 THE EMIGRANT S GUIDE hypocrisy, which by ignorance or envy, is ever flung at them ! , . Fallen man aims at excellence because it is lovely, and because he still retains some faint vestiges of his primeval dignity ; but he aims at it blindly, and he loves baseness because he is fallen. Delighting naturally in vi^hat is vile, he still would array himself with the appearances of what is beauteous; and hence we find, that in proportion as a thing is really ad- mirable and noble, there are the more imitators ; but alas, we hence also find, that as the difficulty is increased, so the success of imitation is diminished, and the herd have but a name to live, while they are dead. So are nations called Christian ; while, to scan them in the Gospel light ; to bring them to the test of their standard ; and to seek where, and where are the distinguishing traces which raise them above the world, and through Christ, are purifying them, a peculiar people zealous of good works, is but ^^ •^'a*^*" I TO UPPER CANADA. 231 refutation of their claims, and a stain in the heart of all their presumptions. I am not a Methodist or a Yankee, though I can rejoice in acknowledging and in admiring, what is really excellent in them. The former I am not, because, as already mentioned, I decidedly dissent from several of their principles ; and the latter I am not, because political ties bind me to another people, and beenuse in being a subject of those ties, my under- standing and my heart, are equally gra- tified. The iniDlerant, contracted, and boasting spirit^ which, without loving its own ; or * t least, without bearing towards its own, any of the genuine and insepa- rable fruits of love, such as tenderness, and gentleness, and sweetness, and pa- tience, and truth, — can, with equal hypo- crisy and impudence (an hypocrisy which betrays itself perhaps as much as it seeks to deceive others) endeavour to arrogate perfection before the world, to that, which it prJiCtically insults and wrongs, ;■? J i Sw*-' ./ "k; 1 232 THE EMIGRANTS GUIDE is equally loathsome and contemptible ; and it needs all the milk of Christian charity to rescue it from the execration which it deserves ; and those who meet and who contemplate it, require a double armour of Christian humility and for- bearance, to restrain the indignant vio- lence of their own natures, and to pre- serve them from being confounded by that violence, in the vortex of the base- ness which they detest. They require to be taught by a spirit above their own, that it is sin, not the sinner which de- mands hatred, and that still their hearts should be open in prayer and in compas- sioi] towards the latter, while the former only has their distinct and unqualified ab- horrence. . In my own country I find, as I else- where find, human nature, a spiritual waste. The rays of beauty and of light which adorn it, tremble amidst the sur- rounding darkness; and I mourn, that what I admire and love, so little values -Tr^i^^«i:-,^<^£■ mmm TO UPPEK CANADA. 233 and so little pursues tin own happiness. But let me took abroad over the world, and turn my eyes again to Britain, and dark as i» her atmosphere with ^polluted mercies and with privi^-^i^es abused, the contrast covers her with light, and those trembling rays start into beams of splen- dour. I still catch, with joy, the feebler beams of other countries, and adore the same Beneficence, which alone gives each to shine ; but the ties of nature are strengthened round my soul by the com* parison; and while it shudders at her follies and her crimes (which it is lore to display, not to cloak ; for while still blind to their existence, we cannot hope for their removal). Oh, how truly doth it adopt the s^weet poet's words, '* Britain, " with all thy faults, I love thee still." But if the American Methodist church be such as I have represented it ; poor in this world's goods, and destitute of this world's power ; and if it have, notwith- standing such disadvantages, made tho:«e Jl T ^ i rl',. m I] wr I 234 THE KMIGRAMT'S GUIDE « exertions, and those exertions are now bearing the fruits, which 1 have r^sserted, who shall tell me, that Britain, that mv own country, energetic and indefatigable as she rs, and having in her bosom a vast and wealthy hierarchy, and possessing in Canada peculiar privileges and peculiar advantages for every effort, whether of policy or of love, who will tell me, that she might not have done more ? Or, if she have not done more, who that loves her, will endeavour to cloak on her face the stain ? No ! love ; not with taunting, but with tenderness ; not to offend and irritate, but to correct and awaken ; not for the purpose of reproach, but of im- provementy will unite with the respectful- ness and the seriousness of duty, in reveaU ing the hideousness of that stain, and in labouring or in praying for its eftacement : and in urging, not the contentious strife of emulation, but the cordial Christian strife of love, for future usefulness to the glory of God, in diffusing the Gospel of I TO UPPER CANADA. 235 Christ, for the salvation of sinners. Then, in His vineyard, and on the great road which leads through time to eternity, casting aside all the petty distinctions of nations which have a different range, and the bickerings and strifes of human gall, which flourish only in a lower atmo- sphere ; then shall Christians unite, not- withstanding the separating limits of the Atlantic, and of the lakes, and of discor- dant appellations, in the glorious work of their Common Master, the Redeemer ; the heroes of salvation, not of destruction ; the soldiers of the spirit of Christ, not of the pride, and folly, and intolerance of man. I have prefaced these observations by saying, that the denomination of really pious and zealous clergy (provided they be Protestants), is, in my opinion, a matter of very inferior importance. ' On this subject, without wishing (as far as I can judge of myself in the sight of God) to detract from the scriptural 'Ml ^i wmm 2^0 THK EMIGRANT S GUIDE 't claims of the establLshed church, (with its political presumptions I here have nothing to do) to those who think there can be no preservation of Christianity without such an establishment, what can I say ? Such is their opinion, and I can believe it con* scientious ; and as a matter of conscience, I can respect it. But for myself, I have no such idea ; and I am persuaded, that while all suitable means, are undeniably a matter of duty (and desirable as a na- tional creed may be), still the work of God is not confined to any one particular class of those means, and is as indepen- dent of all those means, as He himself is. We need the preaching of the Gospel of Christ in Canada. We need humble, and zealous, and spiritual ministers. We need a heraldry that shall teach us we are sinners, and shall lead us to our res- cue ; not an accomplished set of men, (though when accomplishments interfere not with better things, we hold them highly desirable), elated, perhaps, with TO UPPER CANADA. 237 their acquirements ; and who, instead of devoting themselves to raise us to a hea- venly tone of thought, and of conversa- tion, and of manners, shall shew that they themselves are of our own standard ; and as proudly and as carelessly as ourselves shall walk on with us, in the broad road of nature, which leadeth (we know who sayeth so) to perdition. These, in my opinion, are our wants. Our souls thirst for their supp!}', tottering meanwhile upon the awiul brink of eternity. — Through whatever means it may please the Lord to furnish us, we shall have cause to glorify His holy name. But great were our reason for mourning, were we still left destitute, because the messengers, to sinners such as we are, of the wonders of redeeming love, cannot, perhaps, be immediately sent to us, arrayed with insignia, which, in individual instances, certainly consist with, but, in general, distinctly appear perfectly non-essential to. His spiritual worship. Or. if there be ' V \ (, I lit • . ■♦.■ ■\\ ♦.:•*. w^ 'mmm I I ^44 THE KMXOUANT*S GTJTDE ,'. *' wliich shoot atfawtrt the character of man ift his imcukirated native state. j fiudi has been the progress of the In- diims in (he Canadas. It is not that the British pkiovincialr government hath en- croached rxpoa or wronged them. This^ I am pet^suikledi not' only hath never been the case ; but oni the contrary, that, that* government hath always been to themf, in asocial and political sense, as far as was in its power, truly magnanimous and pa- rental. But it is^ that an adequate regard for their souls hath not been blended with tue temporal magnanimity towards them, of that government; that white men have taken advantage of their frailties and of their vices, to accomplish their own selfish purposes, rather than en* deavoured to cherish their virtues, and labonred with disinterested afi^ction for their improvement ; and that the nature of the Indian itself, is an almost insuper- able barrier to his improvemefit. T ^V VO VVPMSL CABIABA. 1M5 Our system towards them especially re- qutves alteration in these particulars. We require to remember more, that they, as we, are immortal souls, and that ^ ihem, tts for us (in a general sense) Christ died. Tliey demand irom us a missionary apirit ; a zeal for their eternal, as well as a care for their temporal welfare. An attention to 1|heir eda^ation and to their loteUectual improvement ; as well as to their merely animal supply with a few g^dy and a liew useful articles, which 4tre frequently dissipated by them, almost as soon as obtained. We require not x>nly to presecte them auilable reserves of land ) but, with the skiU of instructors, And the watchfulness of parents, and the tendernesfi of friends, to allure them to the improvement of those lands, and to lielp and guide them therein. V Asindividnals (that is iti our individual capacities) we require to regard them more as brethren ; to consider with com- f ) 1 I!' Hi, '■i ? b ^ ^^w n 24a TB£ emigrant's GVIDK passion and with kindness, their helpless- ness and their simplicity ; to be patient with their dulness; and in meeting their vices, to blend benevolence with decided reproval. We require to remember that for our conducts towards them, our own souls shall be awfully responsible at the bar of God ; and, that if, for any temporal purpose ; for any present gain ; for any worldly advantage or pleasure of our own, we ensnare their confidence, or foster their vices, or encoi^ge their follies; or, even fail to endeavour (ac- cording to our best knowledge and abi- lity) honestly and affectionately to con- duce to their edification and happiness, we are, to them, the base, and bold, and skulking pandars of perdition ; traitors to our own souls ; the agents of our own infamy, however fortune or the world may cringe to our success ; and the enemies of the cross of Christ. « ** ♦ The remaining remarks which I have M.< TO UPPER CANADA. 247 to offer, on the subject of this interesting and unhappy people, seem more ap- propriate to another head (see 16th Ssc- tion, Indianij). « .^is't, Vi'-Av-'^.'f 'rii^f" vi ' ■>)-.. /»'V''"'''-*"i'' -Xii-yM':'^^-'- ^ hi •it' , t i? ^v )' f' "S'M : ,i , * ...k .;,»0 v.-i-* V / ; .- « 1 ■■ 1 '' ' ■ l,i ^' > ■» « -■•■■" > ;*';'.,•> ,1.*' — ,.j-< 'V.lu.i ,(l(>it i. V.' • ' ? ■'■■4 v' ;". ^. ''.JS 'ini. ■^''■j;|f I .;♦ ifi'- ) nfh Lu^ /V? /.«. i*r.«:-T;; •u. '1 •0' 'IJ ti 4 » ': 8«CT. XV, CVm/yorahrf Advaniaget between Upper Canada and the United State* of America, On this subject (as well as on that of Ca- nadian agriculture in general , on which I do not attempt to treat), I must refer those who wish for more detailed informa- tion, to the recent work of Mr. C. F. Grece, of Montreal, lately published by J. Hard- ing, of St. JamesVstreet. But as a sketch, I may offer the annexed notices. Those advantages appear to xjae to come under the three following heads^ viz, : 1st. Soil and climate. 2d. Facilities of establishment: and, 3d. Immediate and prospective ad- vantages. .;t I. Soil and climate. , ., - These two articles somewhat differ, and m m "^TTT TO imPCA CAVADA. t40 X must tbenefore treat them separately j bpt a f«w ob|servatioD« precede. As I here addr«as myself priacipally to the poorer class, the eastern states, alonj^ the shqres of the AtHotic» must be con- sidered out f»f the i^ueation. Possessed in some particulars (like the Eiuiopean king- doms), of a redundant population, they require rather to «end put eolonies than to receive emigrants. The knd itself is of an inferior descnptioo, and the rates oi it are high. There are few openings for the employment of 8lrang:eir$ ; apd though there ei^ists much genetal beoevoUnce, yet ther« is no generad tKavrant lor a dis- tressed emigrant to expept any thing but ^aocumnla^iqn of misery in gei^g thither. When I arrived in !(iiF^rpool la^e last No- vepfiber (1919), fipi^ Qana4i», I>yas in- forgied that i^pwards pfl^ emigrants had rettiroed but a If vv d^ys before from New York. ■ • .= '•••• '■• ^ ' -'^' The soil is generally better in the cen- tral and ^^ii ¥ 250 THE emigrant's GUIDE of the Atlantic. In soine places, parti- cularly along the banks of the Ohio and Mississippi, and other rivers in their course, it is at times destructively fertile. Aided by a brilliant sun, it sends up its plants with a luxuriance that destroys them ; and the farmer mourns, amidst the tower- ing and reclining herbage, the ruin of his hopes. But, generally speaking, it may be said, that both in Upper Canada and in the United States, as you advance to the westward, the adventurer needs fear no disappointment n the article of soil. Millions of acres of land, not to be sur- passed, long to receive and to cherish the band of industry. >»ri?^.i :; .-;>•» But soil is not the only thing to be con- sidered; climate is of still greater im- portance ; and often do we find the luxu- riance of nature shedding her flowers over sickness and death. Such is natural beauty ! How it blooms ! But, oh ! what a worm is at its heart J " * " ^ Thefe are several particularities of cit- s'' r-^1 TO UPPER CANADA. 251 mate in the vast regie to which my pre- sent lines relate ; but it is no part of my present purpose to attempt to detail them. The broad, general characteristic is, that in proportion as you remove to the west- ward, the warmth increases; and in Western Canada assumes a decidedly more salubrious character than it either has on the sea shores of the same latitude in the United States, or on the opposite shores of Lake Erie and the Detroit river, which there separate their limits from ours. No competent research seems to have been made into the causes of this fact, nor does my information warrant my attempt- ing to elucidate them ; but it supplies a decided cause of preference to Canada : this preference extends itself further. If we look to the southward and west- ward, along the course of the great rivers just mentioned, we find life pining be- neath the products of a teeming earth and a burning sky. The European, espe- cially the Briton, cpming from the almost I { > .. 4' "^^P-5H IK It [i^ '.•1 1 I p^petiMal f:oQli)^9 qf bis own rainy liea- ven^, languWlie^ bct>ei|th the overpoweriog |l;ei)(i^^r^tui;e ; ^^ wjlh the degraded tone of feeliog acQ^nd jl^im, seeks for his ad- vaQCcm^ut from th^ sveat of slavery (w^ipb fijl^ in lawful mevoori^l against bim); or, ^ti\\ vigorous in uiind, ^hile }}}s li>9dy }^ ^rpmbling beneath exertions jUeypnd h^s ppwers, he soon ceic^ies from a ^ocMy th^t i^oighti his scruples (on which ftftg^s fiftil^) tP ^corn. Th^ p^rMcular shad^es of the Upper C^Kia^imi (Bliin^t£» I have t^lready at- ,t(&ppt^d to illi^^trat^ ii^ Section II. ; and ,jj^f J sh^U m\y iwlrf, in r^l^tion to the .i;pQpl^du^^ Ff>|i()arKs of the above para- gr^, thfit i^ Pfiimcl«» th^e is no Hia- very (( ^(e^p pf course in it^i commpp ffep^). Ti^rf • ftp generally (oh., why is \i i^t Aipivef§^ly !) elsewhere, the pow^r qf opir ^i|nt^y is graced hy stril^ing frp9i : |l^l^ shyf his fetters ap sopp as h§ tpUjches ti.:t U« iFftcibti^Si 9f «»tAblishinpnt. YO VVJPKI^ CAVADA' i{5ia Tli^se »re two-fold. J at. The facility of g9ttiQ^ to t(be pluce : and, 2dly, That of obtaining a settlement there. ' • Both of these are decidedly in favour ot Caii^a. 1. To get to the western lands of the states which are now settling, there are two routes open, viz. overland front any seaport of the United States ; and for this purpose Baltimore, 1 suppose, would he one of the best ; or, to take the route through Canada (as laid down in Sec- tiop I.), up the St. Lawrence and the li^kes to Buffalo, or to Presqu'ile (also called JSrie), on I^ke Erie, and thence pvprland to the place desired. Of these two, the latter would, in every case, oe the most commodious and the least ex- pensive : hut then, the difference thai re- ipaiqs iu^ that at the mpment ths^t in Ca- jpaid^t you have arrived at the end of your journey, pr at furthest, have only a short additional passage by water ; if proceed- ing to the western st$ites, you have to \ ^" M 9RW>*"ii^^ li W l;.M' 254 THE EMIGRANT S GUIDE Start on a new journey, more perplexing and more expensive, perhaps, than the whole which you have passed. ' ' -* * 2. In the newly settling* states, the land, which is public property, is sold at a moderate rate, and liberal terms of pay- ment are given* ... K-w,. In Canada (as already mentioned), the land is granted in freehold, without any price, and costs nothing but the fees ; and the proportion which the lowest price paid for land in the United States bears to the fees paid in Canada, is about four to one. That is, the charge for land i« the United States, when obtained at the most favor- able price, is four times s ; great as in anada. . , In order to facilitate this great object, ihat is, the obtaining of land without dif- ficulty by new settlers, the present lieute- tenant-governor, Sir P. Maitland, whose active and beneficent attention is cheer- fully devoted to every pursuit of publvc benefit, has constituted land-boards in I :i ^.,»^-,^„_.^^.^. ,^.. TO UPPER CANADA. 255 every district ; and these have authority, immediately to give, to any settler, of whom they approve, one hundred acres of unappropriated land. ' ' ' 3d. Immediate and prospective advan- tages. . • , ■ These, generally speaking, are the ad- vantages of remaining, under a peculiarly happy branch of itt. government, united to our own country ; and without entering into the mutual revilings or self-boastings of parties ; and without wishing to cloak our general follies and our general crimes; and without attempting or de- siring to depreciate the fair claims of other people, enough remains, I conceive, in the British national character, to fill this reflection with sweetness, to mil- lions. ' ' The p' -icular advantages, in compa- rison with the United States, are, in the first plac : TO UPPER CANABA. 267 9 ,t i >{J r. \ I SECT. XVI. General Remarks, INDIANS. Here I proceed to complete the sketch of tlvis interesting ai^d unhappy people. Within our more immediate boandni- ri^s, that is^ bet\veen Lake Hui;oJi and the sea, the rer^nants of th^em ave aqi^t* tered in small decaying jtritM^s^ ^t distimt intervals, unconnected, and of no pujblic importance. But I sl^^ll confiiie myis^.f to i;ny proper lipiiU of Upper Cs^p^d^^ At St. Regis, where the Canadian and ^^oKerican boundaries ii^eet on the south- eri^i scores of the St. Lawrence (or rather of J-(ake St. Francis), there is a tribe and village of them^ named from the place \ I, r, ^^1 y i W I.I.' f l|:' •) 1 ^^^■^B 'si ■!m; 1 1 ' ' r ^'5 1. I^i*^ 258 THE emigrant's GUIDE of iheir abode. They are orderly, 1 be- lieve, and somewhat industrious; bless- ings which they owe, under Providence, to the zeal of the Roman Catholic Church ; and I am happy here to record a fact in favor of that Church, the general cha- racter of which I deplore. While Pro- testants have slumbered ; while the wealthy and powerful church of our own establishment hath been inert ; while mis- sionaries, reared and supported by British piety and by British generosity, have la- boured and died in other countries, the poor Indians of North America, a cast of savage people, the most interesting, per- hopH, in the world, have been left in the darkness and gall of our common nature ; or abandoned to the efforts of a sect, from ed. bt^causc we are w hon wr ';r jpai persuaded they hav. II 262 THE EMIGRANT S GUIDE and in diffusing the more unsullied glorie* of the Redeemer's name. The next tribes of which 1 have heard, dwell near the head of the Bay of Quint6 ; on the Rice Lake, between that bay and Lake Huron ; and in the neighbourhood (at different distances) of York. These, according to my in- formation, are weak, and are little re- moved from their native state. On the grand river, which falls into Lake Erie, is one of their most extensive and most valuable reserves*, the abode of a band of 31ohawks, who have a village and fields, and with whom, some of our ministers (of the establishment) have ca- sually laboured. The beneficent atten-* lion of the present lieutenant-governor has been turned towards them ; and there is a prospect, that in this instance, the stigma, which almost universally attaches itself to our conduct, of having evinced an utter carelessness of their souls, will be early and effectually removed. 3 TO UPPEIt CANADA. 2G;3 J On the lliver Thames are other tribes; the Delawares and Moravians. The latter are in a somewhat similar state to that of the Mohawks above noticed, ex- cept that they owe the instruction which they have received, and are receiving, to the Christiansof the Ukiited States. Near Aniherstburgh is a small tribe of Hurons, similarly settled, though without a village ; and indebted for their im- provements to the Roman Catholics. There are a few other small scattered parties, nearly in their native states, at* distant intervals, along the shores of Lake Erie; and along the banks of Big Bear Creek, and of the River St. Clair. Such, in Upper Canada, is the settled Indian population. They depart imperfectly from their native habits. Their total number is small. With some exceptions, they de- rive but little benefit from the liberal re- serves of the best lands, which the paren- tal wisdom of the government has secured •til l'>. 1 1'^ n I y m m .y •>'>^'*^■IJfi^f^•^^,>*,0„^^^i,^0Jfy^,^rim^ naaMW-fitXiiiiii ilfm ■^■■%^.^ .M#>*-" .^ i^ y-^ 1 1 »! \ . . ,1 )\ ,'i 264 THE emigrant's GUIPK for thein. If they cultivate at all, it in in a most contracted and slovenly man- ner. The erratic pursuits of hunting and fishing are more congenial to them. They cannot perhaps be surpassed in occasional energy ; but perhaps no people sinks be- low them in habitual and persevering ex- ertion. A state of excitement or of tor- por seems essential to them. With every means of independance and of wealth, as the fruit of moderate industry, they are frequently wretchedly poor ; and present the spectacle of the only body of beggars to be found in the province. After the little stock of Indian corn which they rear is exhausted, and when they fail in their desultory efforts to supply themselves with fish and game, they wander about from house to hou^e, offering fol* sale baskets or mats of their own manufacture, or any other trifle they may possess ; and, if possible (and alas ! it is too possible) generally convert what they thus obtain, into means of ebriety. When they meet I tft'.f, 'i *,# .^'^ I ^^ TO UPPER CANADA*. m5 ) it you on the road, if they are alone, it is distressing to observe the skulking* kind of civility, with which they commonly pass you : and on such occasion^, you vainly look for the traits in them, either of sal- vage or of cultivated freedom. It seems as if they were conscious jf the degrada- tion, which they at once loathe and cherish, and that their spirits had bent beneath it ; bent — not to improve, but to grovel ; not to break, but to be prepared as it were for a tenfold recoil, when- ever any appropriate excitement shall be offered to them. In their natural state, the most fero- cious cruelty is equally congenial to them with the »"ost attentive kindness. Mur- der is but their play ; yet (as amon f*?* the Arabs), let a stranger come to v i wigwams in distress, and throw hii. -if upon theii kindness, and he is at once with friends. The best acconunodations of every kind are his, and he is carefully H'^ il m ^ -V ..-^ ^■■^^^^ir^' 4 .~rn>A*-".^«t^^iAv^aM)Miw«MMMHi >.jr>1i»iwi » i^^r- IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 1.25 Ui |28 |2.5 ■^ Uii 12.2 i -- IIIM 1.8 U IIIIII.6 m m WA vQ /: "m <^ m A '/ PhotDgraphic Sciences Corporation ^ \ V \\ Lv 6^ n W^ST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 87r-4503 'Air ^c" o t/j o^ ^ l/l 2(>6 THE EMIGRANT*S GUIDE conducted and guarded on his way, nor abandoned till in a path of safety. Whether more settled or more roving', they very universally rear in a desultory manner, amidst the woods, a race of small horses (something like the Glacis Arabs in the East Indies) with which they often unconnectedly stroll about the country. Nor are their manners, not- withstanding this melancholy sketch of them, devoid of interesting particulars. They^ are still hardy. In war they are delicate and chaste, far beyond the whites; a peculiarity in their character, which, from whatever cause it arises, demands as peculiar a tribute of affectionate admira- tion. Towards each other, they display the most spontaneous and kindly spirit of equity. When they receive a bit of bread or meat, or a little flour, or milk, &c., it is carefully and attentively divided into pro- portionate shares before it is attempted to be used ; and if they have come to you >■>• TO UPPER CANADA. 267 alone, as they frequently do on such oc- casions, and left their companion or their companions at a distance, they carefully preserve what they receive for the same affectionate and equitable distribution. But still they are a degraded race, and seem rapidly sinking to extinction. In the course of another half century, no genuine trace of them probably will re- main in our borders ; nor is it desirable for their own happiness, or for that of others, that they should continue in their distinct character. But it is deeply and ever to be de- plored, that our conduct towards them has not been as wise as it was well meant ; as christian as it has been liberal : that the noble and pleasing qualities which they inherit, had not been developed by a well-directed and by a well-supported culture; and that the crimes which de- form them, had not been better controlled, as well by an energetic though disin- terested authority, as by more universal N 2 1 t I II ^1 ! 4 '^""'■'•^'^'^.Mr^u J •' ^r y \\ v.>. ^ 9^ THIS FMIGRANT S GUIDE examples amongst ourselves of temper- aiice, industry, and gentleness. It is still I90st anxiously to be desired, that such may become our future conduct towards theno; and thus, a remnant survive to bless, instead of cursing the day, when Huropeans arrived to settle amongst tftienx. Amidst this broad and mournful shade, under which they verge to that bourn of nations, beyond which, a decaying name alone, remains for a season, there are no doubt many individual examples of greater and happier industry j and I hail them, wherever they appear, with grateful satisfaction. Some minds also, of that class, which, from thousands of thousands, " peep out once an age/* have adorned their annals, with as bright and genuine, though not with so applauded or so fashionable a lustre, as the reputed glories of the more vaunted heroes of Europe and of Asia. My situation has been too perplexed, and my means too aK v ■■■I auii ■-•—"■. ^B TO UPPER CANADA. 2G9 contined, to enable me here to record them in detail. But who has not heard of Logman, the generous, the noble friend at one time of the British ; and when his heart was distracted, by privation (through the hands of a monster who disgraced their name) of all that was most dear to him, their implacable and deadly foe : a soul, wherein shone, unextinguished but by death (and by death, I trust, only ex- tinguished to us for a season) as brave probably, and as true a spirit of natural magnanimity (alas ! the canker which is at the root even of the brightest flowers of nature) as ever adorned an unregene- rate bosom! - , ' • Who that has travelled in Upper Ca- nada has not heard of the noble Tecumseh (I speak not in Christian, but in common terms) ? The British Indian hero of the last war ; a spirit congenial to that of oqr own Brock. A soul formed for command, enterprising, enlarged, and free ! faithfiil, and fraught with a flame of its own ; a \\ . A. ^ h ?V/ \ 270 THE EMIGHANT*S GUIDE mind, which, while it accompanied the British troops, and devoted all its re- sources to their immediate interests, thought it little to say, that were he as successful as he wished, he would never rest till the forests were restored to their native tribes, and every white man was expelled from America. Think of this man ns a patriot (and a patriot he was in the noblest natural sense of the term) ;' view him as rising to the controul of his own little tribe, by the sole vigour of his own talents; regard him as surrounded by ferocious and independant barbarians, who, through all their generations, had never acknowledged a bond such as that to which he contemplated subject! i g thfem ; and remember that he is yet but a young chieftain in the hands of one of the most powerful and enterprising people upon earth ; hedged in by neighbours of equal enterprise, and to all appearance rapidly rising to equal power ; and unless the ap- parent inadequacy of his means throw *— "*'*<1*MIM v: ,#■^1 TO UPPER CANADA. 271 over the whole an air of absurdity, where, amidst the great conceptions of chieftains of more celebrated nations; where will you find one more expanded, more pa- triotic, more noble, in every natural sense, than this ? Tecumseh died for us in one of the last battles of the last war, on the banks of the Thames, in the Western district of Upper Canada, after displaying the united qualities of an officer and a soldier in an eminent degree ; and deserves from the admirers of military glory, a brighter monument, than those equal heroes of more enlightened nations, who have no just excuse for remaining ignorant, or for being heedless, of the enormity and base- ness, of that worse than lunatic prin- ciple. One of his brethren in arms, distin- guished in the last war like him, but in a less tt-minent degree, still lives near Am- hersthurgh, the war-chief of the small tribe of Hurons, on the Huron Reserve, M M I ^^^tT^remm^Oft^'A**'- •■—.•■-■■"• - -nd candidly declaring to me his princi[>les, and marked the gentle sedateness of his whole demeanour, 1 felt, amidst the glow of admiration with which I was filled towards the agents in Al- mighty hands of such eflPects upon such a mind ; I felt, I say, a more lively and a raoi'e serious and tender regret, that so N 6 i >j ■'.', \ ■'K i . * ..''11 .H 'i 'ili 1^ m m M; Mi4«l~ ..-^i ^s» M»* ""^ \i ( t74 THE EMIGRANT S GUIDE Ui^ much darkness should shroud, and so much guilt and folly disgprace the profes- sion, under which he seems to me to have been reared up, a true child of the Lord. Shame to Protestants also struck upon my ioul (Christian Protestants as we callour-' selves) that we had so disgracefully neg- lected this same labour of love ! If I wrong ye, ye Roman Catholics, in aught that I have said above, forgive me ! I mean not to wrong you — I rejoice to honor you, when you approve yourselves to my conscience in the sight of God, and ?it the bar of his holy word, as worthy, under Him, of honor ! Where I con- demn you, it is with unfeigned regret ; where I presume to censure you, it is with a sincere desire for your edification. I mourn over you as my elder brethren, who have departed from the simple truth as it is in Jesus ; and niy fervent prayer ever is, that ye may be brought back to the paths of life; to the courts of the Re- deemer ; to the worship of the one true ~ji m « il ^ lwW^ W! » ii> U i -^...i-j^B**?^" TO UPPER CANADA. 275 God ; to the unadulterated fruits of the spirit, from all your wanderings, and all your superstitions, and all your priest- crafts, and all your idolatries. Censure me, if you please, in return : mournful and without number will you find causes for censure ! Yet not, in return ; for that would but disgrace your profession of the name of Christians. But censure me, wherever, in the light of the Holy Scrip- tures (unadulterated by human arrogance, or by human gall, or by human folly), ye may find reason to do so ; and when ye censure me, censure me in love, as I think I do ye ; mourning and praying for the struggling soul which ye may judge astray. Then, if not abandoned by my God, I shall bless you. The larger and more independent tribes, comprising, on a vague calculation, many thousand souls, retain more of their native character, as cursorily sketched in page 240 ; and are removed in scattered parties, far to the west, quite beyood the NT t-1 I. t i T t76 THE IsJMIORANT S GUIDH b,OMM<]ane(i of our population. A greut pV^portion of them, I believe, reside in t^ti Afuerican United States* territories ; h\\\ \\ie\v affections seem still to be with m^i, The cai^^es of this are natural, but appear not worthy of detail. They seU ^|om or never appear amongst us, but to receive their annual presents of clothing, arms, ammunition, and household uten- sils. For this purpose, we have two de- p6ts, Amherstburgb, near the mouth of the Detroit river, and (if I am not mis- informed), Penetangushene, or its neigh- 1;)ourhood, near the eastern extremity of L^ke Huron. , . . Attlie accustomed season they arrive at tk^se places iu their canocs, with their streamers and their music (something re- sembling thq solo beating of the East In- ^estern extremity of the Island of Orleans, the bason, and city, and fortifi- cations of Quebec, with the chffs that com- press the flood on either side, and bring* il to an humblt^r ieature of the surrounding scenery, open with unusual magnificence before you ; and, together with the cata- ract of Montmorency on your right, and the blue heights which shut in the horizon beyond it, conspire to form a landscape of beauty seldom equalled. Immediately beyond Quebec, this sub- limity (a sublimity which still, indeed, wants more stupendous heights to com- plete it) again ceases. You pass up be- tween shores, adorned on both sides with a continuous range of cottages and vil- lagers, where giitter the spires of Roman Catholic superstition. Amtdst them are '1 1 1- I 'I, ■^^F T^- \1, 280 THE emigrant's GUIDE various prospects of inferior beauty, but none of a commanding- nature; and if you have learnt the country, and allow your fancy to carry you beyond their shallow frontier, you shrink from the ex- panded desolation of the native forests, which stretches behind them. At Montreal, you meet a scene of less grand, but of more interesting* beauty. The original structure of the city, indeed, is dull and disagreeable ; but its late buildings are in a superior style, and its vicinity is uncommonly pleasing. The hill, at the distance, perhaps, of a mile and a half, or two miles, to the north- ward, from its woody covert of small trees, amidst which are the most delight- ful walks fx>r retirement or for exercise, subsides gradually in successive ledges to- wards the city, and throws the eye, which stretches from its varying surface through the pleasing indistinctness of its over- hanging foliage, in a wide and interesting range over the busy scene below, over the ■££». \i TO UPPER CANADA. 281 majestic sweep of the St. La^yl'ence be- yond it, adorned with shady ishxnds, i\nd over the expanse of the opposite shore, presenting in front a shallow line of build- ings and of cultivation, and in the dis- tance scattered mountains. Its progress has been greatly accelerated within the last few years, and an eventual prospect seems before it of unusual magnificence. In reviewing the da^s which I spent there in retirement a few years ago, as an unknown stranger, and desiring not to be known, a peculiar emotion is on my heart. Many are the places which are endeared to me by melancholy or by pleasing re- collections ; but over Montreal, a memo- rial of struggle and of anxiety, of peace and hope, of truth, and holiness, and love, of obedience and of conflict, of tears and of joy, throws an influence more dear and sacred to my soul, than it ever before had experienced. And, oh ! with what awak- ened tenderness could it adopt the Per- sian poet's words : f ■ V: ii ..L 282 THE EMIGRANT S GUIDE " Joy to Sliiraz aud her incomparable borders. " May Heaven preserve her from decay." Oh, Montreal ! thy hill, with all its shades, Green, silent, peaceful, modest, serious, lone. Wanders iLusive, trembling o'er my soul. May heavenly influences still reign bright around thee ! May those who seek thy coverts, pleasures And, As pure as mine, and bring forth fruits more sweet, More plenteous ! May the traitor's step be e'er From thee turned adverse ! May the false, ,,.,,^,,. The giddy, and the cruel, And no place en thee ! But round thee ever smile the love of Jesus, Whispering peace to him who seeks thee glooming. And to him whose heart, beneath thy shade is joyous. Adoring gratitude, and purity, and love. .<• * Above Montreal, there is a fati^^iiin^ sameness. Seemingly bonndl. ss wood and water stretch a vast level over the country, and deprive it of almost all the charms, which with such search less (but, alas ! generally with such pioiitloss) de- TO UPPER CANADA. 283 light, imagination culls from picturesque scenery. Yet, this sameness is not universal, nor is it always of an ecjually uninteresting* character. Shortly after the broad head of the St. Lawrence leaves Lake Ontario, its sur- face is broken by a multitude of islands, and there assumes the name of *' Lake of *< the Thousand Isles.'* These islands are of various sizes, and are universally covered with wood ; the smaller, rocky, barren, shrouded with moss, and bearing only a stunted growth ; detached rocks occur occasionally, and help to diversify the scene. The whole presented to me a striking emblem of desolation : with few exceptions, all was still, all was cheerless, as the boat glided rapidly between them ! No voice was heard — no trace of life was seen. Death — not the destruction, but the pre- vention of existence — seemed to be spread along the rocks upon the matted moss. Iff i I ,f 284 THE emigrant's guide v; If My heart, thougk it delights in the wild- ness of nature, shrunk from the scene. Such, without Christ (but not so still) is the searchless course of nature, marred as it is so wondrously permitted to be, by the rebellion of man. Was not I (us in myself) one of those barren and gloomy rocks ! The tide, which swept by me, Time, hastening to the bosom from which it rose, but carrying with it, no hope, no record of me. The sterile moss of the rocks, the palsying im- penitence of my heart, resting in its own unmoving desolation ! The tempests which sometimes swept across, heaping it perhaps in new fragments, more cheerless or more hideous than ever, the blind and raging passions of my soul ; and if not still so, what is it that hath caused a dawn of life, or a ray of hope, or a gleam of joy to gladden that dark and sullen rock? What is it, that in any degree, hath taken away from it its impenitence and its re- ^,„*se.., 1 h TO UPPER CANADA. 285 belliousness ! Oh, dared I hope, that it indeed were so with me, to Thee, oh glorious Saviour, to Thee my soul would rise and sir^^, 1 .] " Jesus found me wlien a stranger, *' Wandering from the fold of God, " And to save my soul from danger, " Interposed his precious blood." And to Thee, if it be Thy will, my soul shall rise. On Thy spirit it shall wait. It shall lie at the foot of Thy cross, and pointing to Thy precious blood, still cry, " Oh God, for this, be merciful to me, a " sinner !" The ridge, which in crossing the Nia- gara river, forms the great cataract of that name, adorns the scenery in its vari- ous ramifications, as it wmds round the western extremity of Lake Ontario, wilh great and very pleasing diversity of sur- face. The neighbourhood of Dundas may be called hilly ; Ancaster and 3 ■ifc \'l If 1^ 11 i ^l..i . 'I I 286 THE EMIGRANT S GUIDE Queenston are both beautiful situations : and as the country opens, other detached ridges appear, which beautify the land- scape. But the great general charac- teristic is decidedly a level ; and any thing of the size of a mountain is sought in vain. The cataract of Niagara is known to be the most striking object in the pro- vince. It is situated on the course of the Niagara river, about twenty-one miles from Lake Erie, and about fifteen from Lake Ontario. Where this river falls into Lake On- tario, the country is level ; but at the dis- tance of between seven and eight miles, the ridge of Queenston, two or three hun- dred feet high, crosses its course, and, as before mentioned, diversifies and embel- lishes the scenery. It rises steeply, im- mediately l)eyond the town ; but after you have gained its summit, another vast level with few inequalities, stretches be- fore you, and you look in vain for the ■MM TO UPPER CANADA. 287 frowning rocks and the towering pre- cipices, with which imagination had per- haps arrayed the enormous rush of the expected cataract. It seems an universally received opi- nion on the best grounds, that the flood originally fell over the ridge at Queen* ston ; but that in the dilapidations of centuries, the rocks have crumbled into their separate masses, beneath the rush- ing force of the ceaseless torrent ; and the consequence has been, the gradual recession of the cataract, to its present site. Where the river leaves Lake Erie, its banks are low ; but as it pursues its sink- ing course towards Ontario, its flood sub- sides gradually beneath them, until it reaches the summit of the falls, where the banks, which are green, wooded and slop- ing, may be between one and two hun- dred feet high. The falls are estimated at about loO feet; and with this addi- tional depression, the course of the river I il. k :f ^^y^j^..,;,^,— ^j, U ' t< » i r%i ■\i \t; 4 288 THE EMIGRANT'S GUIDE 111 1,5 f y continues, until emcrg^ing^ from its almost liiddcu way, through the heijrhts at Queenston, it passes in a less rapid (though still in a rapid) progress to the lake below. The banks, though greatly inferior, continue high. Immediately north of the falls, and on a level with the river before it tumbles over the precipice, is a ledge of project- ing rock, partly bare, and partly adorned with bushes and wild flowers, A portion of this, nearly above the abyss into which the river plunges, is called, the table rock, and hence, in my opinion, is the finest view of the cataract. As you stand there, the wild flood of the stream is seen bounding from the rapids above. It rushes onward foaming ; but as it approaches the ledge, it seems to hesitate; with a yet quick, but a steadier and deeper stream, it advances ; soon it hangs on the verge ; and then, with a wild, majestic, impetuous stillness, displaying a greenish tinge in its curve, m.*fmitr ^ ^0^ i *%m'^R>^ TO UPPER CANADA. 260 it rolls over the ridge, and is presently lost in the ever tossing, and swelling, and varying gulph of vacillating vapour below, which no human eye can penetrate, and which, rendering the prospect downward interniinable, adds to the scene, the un- defined and peculiar beauty of awakened, but unsatisfied imagination. Beyond this rolling gulph, half concealed at times by the aspiring mist, is a small, woody island ; and beyond this island, the other part of the cataract, lofty and foaming, but greatly inferior in grandeur to that already mentioned. The sunken level of the abyss beneath, after escaping from the impenetrable mist of the cataract, is seen hurrying downwards in seemingly slow, still eddies, till it disappears be- tween its high banks of rugged pre- cipices. From the level of the table rock, at the distance perhaps of half a mile below it, is a steep descent to the inferior level of the sunken surface of the river; and e t' I ■IP 990 THJD EMIGRANT 9 OriDE upon reaching the bottom of this, you find a narrow path of broken slaty stone, which winds along the baste of the over-hanging rock to the right, and conducts you to the foot of the fall. As you advance, a more disturbed, but less grand view, pre« sents itself. The foaming cataract falls over the ridge in front, and is lost in the fame heaps of ever varying vapour; but its still and solemn effect is lost. The mist appears tortured and confuted, and the descending river assumes a hurried and more broken appearance. All is disorder; the noise is great, but not grand ; a kind of anarchy roars around you, and deafens and distracts, without elevating. I walked to the edge of the thick drifting spray, where the rocks are covered with coiling eels, and was almost instantly drenched, while the rushing and eddying air threatened to arrest respira- tion. It is however asserted, that in par- ticular states of the wind, a short passage is open» beneath the ledge above you, L- i^ TO UPPER CANADA. 291 over which the river with its thundering conrste, is plunging. In damp weather, when the mist aris- ing from the fulls, remains condensed, it towers in a winding and lofty column, darker at times, and at times of a lighter shade, tjian the surrounding atmosphere. The rapids, for a utile above the cataract, send up irregular and wide, but low co- lunuis, which cast a wild obscurity over tile scene beyond them, and a hazy shade tiien spreads amidst the vapours, and all seems tending to darkness and tempest. . In an intermediate state, when the ascending fo-im is still condensed, but the sky clear, the finest effect is seen. From the table rock, the great volume of the river is then beheld rolling down silently, but quickly, with the superfluous floods of the western lakes. It reaches the rapids about a mile above the precipice, and ia immediately broken into a disturbed and raging torrent arrayed in spray. Almost at the same time it approaches the pre- o2 f "» -^ ^92 THE EMIGRANT S GUIDK tn I cipice. There it seems to collect itself, as if preparincr for the fearful plunge to which it is hastening. It assumes a deep, and silent, and solemn character^ while its rapidity increases : it attains the verge, hangs over the rock, and rolls down al- most att! esame moment; while its wild, and still, and solemn sweep, is lost amidst the swelling foam that surges for ever beneath it; and, on such occasions, towers aloft in the air, a heacon to distant eyes of its existence. New torrents fall over in ceaseless succession, and as ceaselessly are lost, in the perpetually varying and tumultuously rolling vapour of its con- vulsed abyss. It need not be added, that frequent rainbows are displayed on the floating vapour. The distance at which the roar of the cataract is heard, depends, of course, upon the direction of the wind and the state of the atmosphere. It varies from half a mile to thirty miles. The scenery around, it will be ob- l:i/ i I'. • Aa,,*^;*'—' •>i«*lfti/>-"i'~-, "''•■ —^f.r*!"^ »,-. 0>i rf a ^ -j ^^". ■BiP^^i TO UPPER CANADA. 293 '9 e served, is tame ; but a wilder sympathy, perhaps, compensates for it" tameness. The cataract seems lonely : it draws the heart nearer to it. The mouth of the Detroit river, ob- served from the Huron Reserve, near Amherstburgh, interrupted by woody islands, and lost in the expanse of the lake below, presents an interesting prospect; and other instances, of a similar descrip* tion, might be mentioned. But the abso- lute want of mountains, with their cliffs^ their glens, and their gushing streams, diffuses a general character, in this re- spect, of insipidity ; and the imagination languishes, and the heart is quelled (I me^n, of course, only as relates to sce- nery), except when the thunder is rolling, and the lightning darts through the sky, and, in the words of one of our Highland songs, ** The gloomy night is gathering '* fast, and the wild and inconstant blast ** i>s roaring loudly." V I wm T"if" 294 THE EMIGRANT S GUIDK / WILD ANIMAIiS. Quadrupeds, — The wildernesses of North Anierica are highly blessed in beings totally free from ferocious animals ; I mean as relates to mankind. The black bear is timorous and inoffensive, if not disturbed. The wolf is wild and skulk- ing, and is terrible only to the smaller animals. The fox and the racoon (pos- sessed of about the same powers as a fox), seek for still smaller prey than the wolf. '* The spotted deer traverses the woods singly, or in herds, but is seldom seen^ except by the Indian hunters. The hare is not abundant. The beaver is very rare; not so the vestiges of its art, which frequently cross your course (if you travel much) in the forests. ^ • ■ ' ' ^ The other wild quadrupeds, such as the mush, or musk rat (which is abun- dantly destroyed for the sake of its skin), and the various squirrels, ^c. are little known to me, and, perhaps, are little L^' tuiiiA:^ tj^^l,:,^£.*J^\. TO trp^fin €ANAI>A. 296 worth mentioning in a hasty sketch of this kind. BIRDS — FISH. The most characteristic bird of North America, is the wild pigeon : its shape i« particularly graceful ; its plumage always pleasing, and sometimes remarkably beau- tiful ; its habits are completely erratic. In almost boundless flocks, it traverses the province in its seasons, and ad- ministers, in its passage, to the life which feeds on its destruction. A noise, to me peculiarly pleasing, is formed by its pnoi- gress through the air. The partridge, a bird partaking of the habits of the pheasant, is common in the woods; and ducks and teal, of various descriptions, abound at times .\ ^n th« waters. Flocks of wild geese are also sometimes found. On the larger lakes there are gulls. The wild turkey, or bustard, visits in flocks the western peniosula> but not so f> i\ 206 THE emigrant's ovide -I frequently, or in such numbers, as for- merly. A kind of bird, called the black-bird, is one of the greatest enemies of the far- mer. It appears casually during the sum- mer ; but as soon as the grain begins to ripen, its numbers are immense. It ranges in great flocks over the fields, and still increasing as the harvest advances, threatens the produce with destruction. They always do some mischief; but where they are watched, and attentively driven away upon their first approach each morning, they seldom return during the remainder of that day. The American robin, called so on ac- count of the concur of its breast, is dissi- milar in every other respect from that of Britain. It is about the size of a thrush, and is destructive to small fruit. Snipes and ravens are pretty frequent. The wandering jay adorns the woods with its chequered blue phunage ; and the solitary hammer of the woodpecker is 'U ■^IFF ^m VPHPiP^I w, TO UPPER CANADA. 20? often the only sound of life which disturbs their desolate silence. The mourning dove is sometimes, but not frequently, heard. Fhh, — The lakes abound with fish, particularly as you pass beyond Lake Erie to the northward and westward. Salmon (of an excellent description) is found as high up as the cataract of Nia- gara, but that is a barrier, of course, which they cannot surmount. They abound more on the north than on the south side of Lake Ontario. * ; In the Detroit river, and at the westera extremity of Lake Erie, there are exten-* sive fisheries (I mean extensive compa- ratively with the state of the country), of a fish called the white fish. It is some- what larger than the mackerel, is taken in November, and affords an excellent winter stock. . . , ► ., n: 5 . ^^; The sturgeon abounds in its season, and when well cured, is, in my opinion, ex- tremely palatable; but it is principally used by the Indians, i -m >\ft?5 p^^>'4*! -r Q.I 7; fi ♦ -»> A. ♦ '■^ •*^*v«^**»^-.."t*-^ '»' :.^^.-'-, 5^98 THE emigrant's GUIDE J li i There are several other kinds, very plentiful in their seasons, and very good ; such as a species of herring ^as it is call- ed), white and black bass, &c. 8tc. When I say that these things are plentiful, I mean that they are so naturally : of course it depends (under Providence) upon the numbers and enterprise, &c. of the emigrants themselves, whether they shall be so to them. ^ . ^ A large fish, called the mnskinunj^ (the orthography of this word is not de- termined), not frequently taken, is esteem- ed one of the finest in the lakes. ,11' in /INSECTS, REPTILES, OR SERPENTS. The insects,during the summer months, are the greatest natural nuisance in the country. After a hard day's toil, the wearied labourer often seeks for rest in Yain. The mosquitoe wanders round him with its perpetual alarum of attack ; and by assaulting him at every unguarded moment^ invests that alarum with almost "■^,\».-,,-^~u- . TO UPPteR CANA1>A. im I perpetual anxiety. Smoke is in great measure an effectual guard, when pro* perly employed. Rut you must be almost suffocated with it, in order to render it ef* ficient. Nor are the poor dumb crea- tures less molested. In the midst of their enjoyment of the fresh herbage of the opening summer, a tribe of flies sud- denly attacks them ; and from that time, until the coolness of autumn commences, tribe succeeding tribe, these relentless ani- mals continue their attacks from early morning, until the close of eve, and de- prive the poor creatures, in great measure, both of food and rest. At such seasons, you will see the wretches crowded to some open space under the shelter (if there be any such) of some solitary tree (for all these tormenting insects cluster princi* pally in the shade), heedless of the sweet and luxuriant herbage of the surrounding or adjacent woods ; and seemingly seek- ing nothing but peace. The intervals of coolness which occasionally intervene, ar« f» ■—•.,--..«,»,. 3, ^., ^^■ .*!~--^ ' .<««»!W*<-«t(Ba,.,».-gift..- 800 THE emigrant's GUIDE a temporary relief; as the ephemeral ex* istence of these tormentors, or at least their activity, seems to be made entirely dependant upon a hot and humid atmo- sphere. 5 Snakes of various kinds are not un fre- quent, but they produce little or no incon- venience. The rattle-snake, which is pretty numerous in some marshy places to the south-west, is not near so large or so venomous as that of the United States, and seldom or never causes any anxiety. It rarely appears ; it warns of its proxi- mity by its rattle, which makes a rustling' sound ; and its venom, in general, is easily cured. Sweet oil, for this purpose, is very powerful ; as it is against the venom of the adder and viper in Eng- land; and the external effect of the poison of these three serpents is the same : it produces swelling ; whereas, the volatile alkali, which is so valuable an antidote in the £ast Indies, where the symptoms are convulsive pain» with* 3 n 4' TO UPPER CANADA. 301 out swelling, seems of no avail against the rattle-snake. A kind of large black spider is poisonous in an inferior degree, and is more apt to be troublesome than the snakes. But on these subjects, all gene- ral apprehension is more fanciful than well founded. TREES AND MEDICINAL HERBS. The trees (as in great measure before- mentioned), are, the black, red, and white oak; of which, the first is very useless, and the last, one of the most valuable tim* hers in the country. , . » The black and white walnut, the first exceedingly valuable, the second, also called the butternut. Two or three kinds of maple, from the most common of which, the sugar is made. Several kinds of fir or pine. The red and white cedar, a swampy growth. These are the best for pickets or posts y but, white oak, with its end hard- 302 THE emigrant's GUIDE i< < ened, and slightly charred with fire, makes an excellent substitute. The hickory, the beech, the birch, the chestnut, the wild poplar, the wild cherry- tree, the ash. These are all large. The smaller trees of the forest are. The sassafras, the dogwood, the prickly ash, the spicewood, the ironwood, &c. Sec, with various bushes. The garden trees are, the poplar, the locust, and the weeping willow. The bushes; the sweet brier (seemingly indi- genous, and far superior to that oJ' Bri- tain) ; the lilac, the rose, the various currants, the gooseberry, and the rasp- berry : Creepers or vines ; the grape vine, the hop, &c. ; ' •" v^iv;?** f ' r^t* c Orchard trees : the apple, the pear, the peach, the plum, and the cherry. Medicinal Herbs, S^c, — The tea of the wild horehonnd, or boneset (as it is com- monly called), a common herb in low cleared situations, makes, in moderate '"^Mh'-f, ••■-^»T4^ .*. jr TO UPPER CANADA. 303 quantity, an active emetic ; and is some- times a powerful remedy in agues. • • The root of an herb, called the alum root, or crow's foot, or bear's foot (one of the earliest wild flowers of the spring), boiled to a strong tea, and drank some- what plentifully, is strongly astringent, and when skilfully employed in dysente- ries, is highly useful. The running sarsaparilla, for purifying the blood and for general debility. The ginseng, for colic and pains in the sto- mach. The white cohash, for rheuma- tism. The seneca snake root, with pep- permint and horehound, for producing perspiration, allaying colds, pains, fevers, &c. The bitter-sweet for purifying the blood, and relieving heaviness. The maidenhair, cooling. The gentian root, infused in liquor, for rheumatism. The roots of the thimble-berry, together with those of the tall blackberry, and o^' the seneca snake root, made into a strong tea, r •^^VrfS.- X^. , ..-— «"-'-«»<^cn..^^ J,-. .-.'— «™*« ----^. 304 TUB EMIGRANTS GUIDK for the canker-rash, or sore throat, or sore mouth. The blood-root, for agues, 8cc. 8cc. are much used and greatly recom- mended ; but their application to the particular case ought, if poKsible, to be leaiDt on the spot. > . The red-topped sorrel, the colt*s-tail, the marsh mallows, and the catenup, are useful as poultices, to allay inflammation and swellings. ...../ wuri i^i'i The root of the rock-fern (a pretty plant) that grows pn high, dry lands, pounded and steeped in water, is asserte V * Sand, plentifully mixed with finely pul- verized iron, is found abundantly on the shores of liake Erie, neer Anriherstburgh *, but it has >ot been traced to any appear- ance of a mine. Bog iron ore is strcu^ly denoted in many places, by the little streams which trickle through the banks from marshes Other appearances of nninerals have been discovered ; but they have not been (to my knowledge) investigated. There f*re many appearances of mineral waters, but they have been little ex- plored. The most remarkable, of which I have heard, are a sulphur spring under the high bank, about a mile above the great cataract of Niagara ; and a spring (thvi quality of which I have not had well defined), near Long Point> north of Lrke Erie ; the virtues of which have been found wonderfully efficacious in some cases of debility. -•' ''" ' ' * There is a spring of ^laphtha (or earthy oil) on the western banks of the Thames, I mm f :v •?« TO UPPER CANADA. 307 and small salt springs are found in several places. There is reported to be a large salt spring on the Rive** Credit, near York, which it is expected will supply a manu- facture of salt. 1 DOMESTIC ANIxMALS. — WILD HAY. — RUSHES. Domestic animals, — These are of the same kind, but generally inferior to those of Britain. .; ^^ . ; The cows are smaller, and do not give so much milk. The sheep are smaller, a.Tl yield less wool. The horses pretend not to an equal appearance, but are ex- tremely serviceable. The ox (an impor- tation generally from the United States) come*^* nearest to the English size, and is often found of a fine appearance. Swine are small. Poultry partake of the general charactet of inferiority. '^ - This inferiority may be differently ac- 308 THE EMIGRANT S GUIDE h ■ counted for. In my opinion, it is not the consequence of a defect in the country itself; but has arisen from various un- favorable and in great measure unavoid- able circumstances. Experience ascertains the remarkable dependance, in which the growth of an animal exists, upon outward things. Feed it well and take care of it from its youth upwards, and it attains a wonderful superiority in size, to that of another animal of the same kind, and to which nature has been equally favorable, but which has been left destitute of the sam^*^ plentiful provision and of sufficient care. The circumstances of the settlers in Canada, have prevented their applying the fruits of this experience (even where they have been aware of those fruits) to the improvement of their caUle. Going to a wilderness, the subsistence of their fa- milies, has of course necessarily been their primary care ; and it was many years before this could be so much satis- ^'XH^IB^F- TO UPPER CANADA. 309 the try in- lid. fled, as to allow them leisure for the for- mation of meadows, and the erection of adequate buildings. Under these circum- stances, the cattle have of course been depressed. / Tormented in summer by the inf»ects, and half famished in winter by poor or scanty provender, and by cold, no opportunity has been afforded them for developing their capacities ; and all that we can positively say, is, that under such exceeding disadvantages, they must have degenerated. We know this fron^ the ascertained nature of the thing itself; as well as from the existing evidence of instances, where they have been reared under more favorable circumstances; and we may indulge a confident (not a pre- SLmptuous) hope, th^t future years shall behold the domestic animals of Upper Canada equal to any in the world. It is greatly to be desired, for their own advantage, for the public good, and on account of that tenderness which we owe to the poor dumb creatures (that 1. •1 .^ ■m'- :s:s^; (i PI 510 THE emigrant's GUIDE are the means of conducing so highly to our comforts), that every settler should, at as early a period as possible (consis- tently with higher cares), form meadows and erect places of shelter for this pur- pose. . Wild hay, — This is the product of various kinds of wild grass, which grow en the natural meadows or marshes of the couii. Some, of course, are pre- ferable to others; the most esteemed seem to be, what is called '* the spear « grass," and that which is most abundantly intermixed with the wild pea-vine. The earlier they are cut and cured, when full grown, the better ; and it is thought a great advantage, when ricking them, to scatter, at intervals, layers of salt. These wild meadows or marshes afford excellent pasture in the spring, before the flies ap- pear ; and in the autumn after the cold has quelled them. .« Rushes. — A kind of rush (full of joints) grows occasionally in the woods, and TO UPPER CANADA. 311 to where it is sufficiently abundant, forms an admirable winter provender for horned cattle, but it is dangerous for horses. It is an evergreen, or rather, is perpetually renewed, and flourishes equally in winter as in summer. Horses delight in it, but it exposes them to a constant danger of sudden death. • PROVINCIAL CURRENCY. The provincial currency is of two kinds, which may be called, the legal and the practical. , The legal is of pounds, dollars, shil- lings, and pence. 12 pence = 1 shilling 5 shillings = 1 dollar 20 shillings or 4 dollars == 1 pound. And the practical currency is that of the state of New York ; having the same names, but different values. 12 pence or 121 cent^ = 1 shilling 8 shillings = 1 dollar 20 shillings or 2| dollars == 1 pound. \'t'-^-~m^ TO UPPER CANADA. i\26 late fertility with productiveness ? Why may they not transplant the depressed and shivering" fellow-creature who is prey- ing upon the vitals of his country, to a scene where his energies may he refresh- ed ; and where (in the agony which sub- verts the patience of nature, instead of execrating himself, perhaps, and all around him), he shall be encompassed with objects which shall fill anew his poor, distracted, wearied soul with hope, and call forth his prayers for those who have been the means of retrieving him from woe, anii infamy, and death ? I speak not this 'n relation to Canada alone. New Hol'and, &c. &c. seem to offer, with similar advantages, a similar resource ; and the object here is, to relieve, as far as may be possible, the misery of our own people, not to defer to the calls of this or that particular province. I dwell promi- nently on Upper Canada in this place, mere- ly because I am best acquainted with it. It appears to me completely within the ■ ■ — ■' ■—*«*,'<«-. iJ^«V.v 326 THE EMIGRANT S GUIDE r. sphere of moderate intelligence and of moderate carefulness, to plant colonies in Upper Canada, on such a plan, as shall, in the common conrse of Providence, ascertain the redemption of the principal advanced for their equijxiient and esta- hlishmeni, within ten years; and with ample security, in the mean-time, on the land. The measures for this purpose might, were there a demand (in my opi- nion), he easily developed. Of course the sanction of government would be neces- sary : but of this I see not the smallest reason to doubt, provided such enter- prises be undertaken in a duteous and loyal manner; the only manner, certainly, in which they ought to he undertaken or encouraged. Our fields long to nourish, and our hearts to welcome, the distressed poor of our country, whose sufferings, however fruitlessly, we mourn. But far, far be from us the seeds of aoarchy and sedition ! ■,Jti..ffV ■••'.(•*»*(->,;^'^ **-*" '■.♦•^■^,/>»w*^ , TO UPPER CANADA. 32 7 of SECT. XIX. General Observations on the Subject of the best Sea- son for proceeding t" Tipper Canada^ and for finding your Way in the Woods, ^c. Sfc, The general prevalence of westerly winds on the Atlantic, renders the passage to America at all times precarious ; but it is generally admitted, that those winds in- termit usually most in the months of March and April ; and hence a passage in thoi^e months seems most desirable. A person leaving Liverpool in March, may expect, under the Divine bless- ing, to reach ftuebec early in May, or as soon as the breaking up of the ice leaves the river open. This occurs com- monly by the beginning of May. He may be at York by the end of May, and, according to circumstances, be settled on his land in the course of June, or, at latest, - .^sK- ,,„,.*^A^.*.*«*».vJ-#«i«ia^|jj^gfe^r!i»'««««i'S^^ 328 THE EMiaRANT\S GUIDE I' • IH u by the end of Aug-iist. In either of tijese cases he will have time enough before winter to house himself, Slc, and to pre- pare a spot for autumn wheat, which, in newly cleared land, may be sown until the end of October. Any time in the course of March, April, or May, will do to leave Eng- land : but I would recommend no person of confined means to start for America after that period. Coming later he would be exposed to many additional liabilities to suffering. Where it is impossible to start so early as I have mentioned, it would be better, in my opinion, to strive to weather out another vear at home. The Indians have a wonderful sagacity in finding their way through the woods; and although in its full extent it appears beyond European research, yet some facts which are useful have become known. The branches (of some trees particularly), have decided inflections ; but these ap- pear to me too vague to be mentioned TO UPPER CANADA. 329 beneficially without personal observation, which must be made by the individual himself on the spec. The weather in general is exceedingly more clear in Canada than in England, and of course the sun is proportionably unclouded. Its direction, therefore, should always be observed when you go into the woods ; and if yoM remain long in them, allowances should be made for its pro- gress fvom east, by the south, to west. Cattle cau always find their way home, either by night or day. If riding, you are overtaken by darkness, keep the reins loose on your horse's neck, and he will carry you to some shelter; but in this case, you must take care, that you are not brushed off by the branches. The moss which abounds in all the woods, and which generally grows highest and thickest on the northern sides of trees (especially of large trees) is, in a measure, (from that circumstance) an universal and an excellent compass. 330 THE EMIGRANT S GUIDE It may be proper to add, with respect to the navigation of the River St. Law- rence (by which alone Canada has a cominunicatioa with the sea) that it is generally obstructed by ice, from the beginning of December (or earlier) till the beginning of May. During this period, of course, commerce languishes, as there can be no foreign trade. In* surance is enhanced on the river after the beginning of November ; and before the close of that month, ceases altogether. The navigation of the lakes ceases also, nearly for the bame period. TO UPPER CANADA. tidl SECT. XX. Concluding Address, Amidst the vast diversities of human opinion, which (had better motives been wanting) ought to have produced a mu- tual tolerance of the opinions of each other, that tolerance is still little known; with all the wrathful censoriousness of circum- scribed beings, we are ever apt to rush into the consciences of those who differ from us, especially where prepossession and the multitude are on our side, and to judge and to condemn with a latitude and a severity, at which christian love shudders. This spirit 1 wish to deprecate. In the opinions which I have advanced, as they are altogether my own, I desire to be judged by myself. I have probably appeared to reverence the Scriptures; 332 THE EMIGRANT S CiUIDK 'I and if 1 deceive not myself, I most truly and entirely do so. But let not those who iWiYvv jtvom tue, impute what they may l)elieve to bo my errors, to the Scriptures. In so far as I bo wron^^, I am the responsible person. The error is my own alone — had the Holy Scriptures influenced me more, I should have been corrected. Tiie freedom which I use, and which I claim, is an inherent part of my character, not superinduced, i know that I am responsible, and 1 de- sire to continue responsible for it. But I at the same time assert an absolute in- dependance of the whole mass of opinions which float upon the world ; and I par- ticularly desire, that wherever the spirit of the world, or a higher spirit may condemn me, it will condemn me, myself^ and not any external basis on which I may appear to act. I have been desirous to offer these re- marks, because I know how blindly, and contractedly, and erroneously we are all TO UPPER CANADA. 538 liable lo jiuljje ; because I know, bow bastily and how arroganlly we are prone to condemn every unusual and unfaslnon- able sentinunt ; and how readily we ex- tend our condemnation to thin<(s, which have no share whatsoever in that which wo reprobate. 1 know that the Holy Scrip- tures have been often scandalized by the imaginary, as well as by the real faults, of their votaries; and this it is, which, in so far as it relates to nie, I most anxiously wish to avoid. For myself, I stand pre- pared, if need be, for the censure of the whole world : a very little thing* it is to me, to be judged of man's judgment. I desire, in all things, to be judged as 1 know I shall be judged of One, infinitely above him. But as I look upon every thino- that is dear and sacred on earth, together with the all-glorious hopes of eternity, to be intimately connected with the preservation in unsullied estimation of the Word of God, I shudder at the idea ¥. 834 THE emigrant's GUIDE of possibly havings my real or imputed faults imposed by human blindness or censoriousness upon that Holy Word. I ck(im the whole and every part of the condemnation for myself; and let it be remembered, that whereinsoever i shall have erred, or raay err, it has been or will be, by departing from that Holy Word only, that I have done or fhall do so. — " Let God be true, but every man « a liar." THE END, TO UPPER CANADA. «35 s .1 a _ . _ a m o I a> — "" • a I—— '" __ o - GB *«M — o , to U pco>1 W u. — PBoy o S o . . o a' o fl. o , u. 01 .te. a ■ o cn ■ » ' . u e o •u d o u ! -a- pKoy O V . u. c o •y- d -O . »^ - '/) . V _« . S •.2- o a: •s o c o I O o Pi d o •M m n «> U d o u ^ o (4 t3 o u d o u .H u i i o o o