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TO WHOM ARE WE TO BELONG T The present crisis, in commercial afTairs, is one of general interest to the whole British Empire, and more or less to the whole family of nations. The giant trade of the first po^ver in ihe world is in the transition state, and is advancing by hasty strides to absolute Free Trade. But to no portion of the universe is this vast commercial movement so important as the British North American Provinces. The remarks which apply to one of these Provinces will apply in part or in whole to all. I have therefore spoken of the Colonies collectively, though, I shall ccnhne iriy illustrations to Canada exclusively, as my desire is to appeal to the interests and feelings of Canadians. Canada, labouring under the disadvantageous circumstancfs of position and climate, shut out from the seaboard, communicating with the Ocean by a long and dangerous river navigation, and suffering from a winter, whose severity can only be compared to that of Russia, is perhaps of all countriesm the world, certainly of all parts of the BritishEmpire, the one which needs the greatest weight of protection to its commercial and agricultural interests. But to found a claim to this protection, it is necessary to demonstrate — 1st. That Canada will be enabled to repay that protection, 2nd. That the refusal on the part of the Imperial Government to protect the interests of Canada will be attended with injury to England. For the first proposition it is but necessary to glance at the geographical extent and natural capabilitiep of Canada, in order to give an affirmative answer. Passing over the great tract of arable land, ofthe highest natural fertility, lying between Lake Erie, L^ike Ontario. Lake Huron, and the western bank ofthe Ottawa, forming an area of eighteen mi'.lions of acres, capable of producing wheat — passing over the enormous and fertile wiidernesa to the north and north-west of Lake Huron — passing over large and arable tracts in still more northern latitudes, which may one day form the homes of a hardy and enterprising population ol as yet unborn millions, and confining our attention solely to Lower Canada. We find upwards of six millions of acres in the Eastern Town- ehips, capable of producing wheat of the finest quality. We find millions of acres of wheat-land on the eastern bank of the Ottawa, and a soil admitting of cultivation to the very head of Lake Temiscarning. We find six millions of acres, reported to be fertile and adapted to the growth of corn, in the level and well watered valley of Ihe Sagucnay. The western banks of that river have bet-n favourably reported in regard to agricultural capa- cities, while tlie vast and unexplored tract to the north- ward of tlie St. Law:vnce ami lying between the Ottawa & Saguency estimated throughout their entire length, from mouth to mouth and fnun source to source, i,;3, it'has been well ascertained, capable of supplying every necessary of life up to the 49th parallel of latitude. Thus it is geographically deuu)nstr;ited that the least productive or eastern portion of Unittnl Canada, is capable of supplying ■a sufikiency of wheat for the support of fifty milhons of souls ! ! It has been said that the climalc is of such rig.iur as to afford but a bare sustenance to the cultivators of the soil, and consequently prevent the production of any surplus supply, (a) But this statement is nullified by the fact that a considerable quantity of gooil wheat was annually exported from Diioiir, an.! to give artificial advantages to the Canadian, which shall counterbalance the natural advantages posse?Fed by the American farmer. If such advantages he withheld from the Canadian farmer, if the settler in the Hritish Provinces has to contsnd ngainst a rigorous climate, a compaiatively Bterilesoil, and disadvantageous po.si'ion, and is compelled to contrast his scarcely recompensed t(»il, wiih the greater ease and abundance of the farmer of Ohio, with the light labour, the fruitful soil, and genial climate, enjoyed by the inhabitants of the VVesiern States; iho Colonies will cease to be the depot for British emigrants, and the whole tide of Trans-Jtlai>tic travel will be sunk in «fu ^''"'^^"' ^"^ productive valley oC the Mississippi. What «vill be the consequences? England will love thousands of her subjects annually to an alien and nval country, whereas the same men settled within her own territories would form a salutary drain upon her redundant population, would extend hcv power and mfluence, consmnc her manufactures, and from tiic moKi wretched and useless, form the most lKip|)y and valuable portion of her popula-ion. Emigrants settled in the States are indeed lost to England, lost to her corjimene, lost to her manufactures, lost to her govermiicnt. Naturalized foreigners, are too often the rancorous enemies of their native country. The danger of an emigration exclusivi ly to the States, is evident. Not merely are the emigrants wholly cut off from the empire, not mere'y do sulijects become aliens, and fiiends turn into enemies, but while political, commercial, and manufacturing power is added to the grasping and ambitious Union, by an influx of natural born objects of England, who might be retained within the dominions of the mother countrv, as her most faithful supporters and siuvst customers,' the emigrant population finding prosperity and plenty apparently alone m a Kepubhcan coumry, finding independence and ease totiem unknown under a Monarchical flag, seemintrly only atlamable on the soil of Democracy, will naturatlv form and propagate the conclusion, that such blessings flovvr not from the favourable situation, but the poliiical institutions of Ameiica ; a train of reasoning most dangerous to European establishments, and which, eventually, by the flux and reflux of the tide of emigration y Uic dostniciion ofihe limoer trade ! ! What tempts ihe drst settler in the Ion st, the pioneer of the wilderness lo buili ii shnty nnd clear a few acres from the buih 1 The prospect of a market for timber. What has brought nnagriculiiin' popiiiaiiori to the banks of the Oilawal The opfpatiods of the limber trade. It is tiolioo much to ass.^rl that the en;ire ngrirultural emigration to British Am.'rira has been caus.-d by the market iifforded to the expor;atiini of timhr. It is not too much to affirm that but fori h» timber traJe with the exception ofthe sums ex- pended 1)/ th- Hu IsonV Bay an J North West Coaipanies, Bri ish cnpltal would nevei have bean invested in Ca- nada ;a:idco!iseq-.?ntiy thil agri,i.lture would have been left to the nativ* population alone. Wliat progress it v.otild have tnoiio, may b.' easily surmised.. But the timber t.a le is of an imnctance lo '^lanada far ex'-eeding the (apiril embarked in it. Bvfore agri- culture can be followed the land must be cleared, thus the tiiiib-r trade gives a market to the produce ofthe for.-st, and to the first property ofthe settler. It creates a trade where otherwise there would be none ; affords rtneans for exportJDg and procuring a return from that which otherwise would be valueless, and uy its opera- tions creates a:i opening for agriculture. The timber trade gives employment toa great number of men who ire em|)l(.yed in the felling and floating out of timber, thereby encouraging a great emigration, and gving a mode of life as wood-culters and raftsmen to those who do not possess the nieani of becoming farniers. The wood- cutter is the Pioneer of the wilderness, and the business ofthe lumberer may be regarded as the harbinger of seti'ement, agriculture, and civilisation. Oh ! but the lumberers are a very dissolute people ! So are the English colliers — hut is that any reason to close the coal pits? Nevertheless wood cutt.ng is not less necessary to Canada than the supply of coal is to England. So much for this weighty argument on morality which has been so gratuitously u^ed in the English Parliament. Now for what the timber trade really u, any exportation of corn ■.:.■.' .4)- 9 the growth of the Colonies must depend upon tli«» timber trade ; iis prosperity giving an impetus to settleiuent and a consequent bonus to p-oduction ; thus the trade o\ the Province, consisting only in ilie produce of the forest and the farm may be regarded as a douM.e trade , not as two distinct branches of traffc, but as two parts of a whole, harmoniously acting and reacting upon each other. To make this more manifest — had innovation been confined to the corn trade, the protection on the timber trade would have amounted to an indirect protection on corn, as it is impossible to extend the operations proper for supplying that trade without also extending agricultural settlement. On the other hand, had Canada received tue boon of an exclusive monopoly of the supply of timber as compen- sation f'jr the removal of t>»e protection on corn, the protecting duties on corij might have been readliy abandoned. But no, both trades are to be prostrated— Canada is to be deprived of her exports \ where then is she {; find her markets? It may be replied, the British Provinces can obtain internal raarke' sufilcient fortheir produce, and we may be referred to their marine and mineral wealth. This answer is readly met. — Free Trade i*ill prevent the developement of the mining capabilities of the Colonies. For instance, die stovea manufactured at Three Rivers, from Canadian iron, and by Ca.iadian workmen, are better than those imported from Scotland ; but. the Scotch article is cheaper and consequently drives the Canadian stoves out ■" th« market. The country is we'l adapted to the manufacture of every description of hardware, there is abundance both of coal and wood, and labour cheaper ihnn in the adjacent Slates ; but how is it possible to work upon mines (o a profit, and manufacture for the wants of the population, in the face of a Free Trade, with a country where labour is at the very minimum of remuneration ? Then the Fisheries. These indeed might afford a market for agricultural produce, and a splendid one, capable of being wrought cany extent, with capacities for supplying both continents of America, the West Indies, the Medi- terrinean, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and the entire continent of Europe. What are these Fisheries but the dishonored cuckoo's nest of the Colonies? What are they but a magnificient proofof English neglect and Colonial apathy' 10 Wrought bvAmerican seflmen for the benefit of American merchants ; they are the fishing ground of a neighbouring people, who do not possess fishing grounds of tneir own, Thesf fisheries are the nursery of the American seamen of both the naval and commercial marine, and the source of enormous profits to the Boston merchants. Bylhesi-nple operatic., of a naturalization act, these benefits to the Am ricans might be utterly destroyed; the profits wf t^e American transferred to the British morchimt; 150,000 ctiz.-ns of the New Eiglnnd Stales becotu'- British i^ubjects ! Th s tiie muket, which is •ffonlt'd by the fish ri s b-nefits the American to the exchision of the Car-a liaci farmer a xi th' American mamifictu vrti) I'le -xcUusifui oftieBriiisli manuf cturer. Thus Canada is d-^privel of the on y in- rna\ u:arkota she can obt^na; a Brti^h Colony i threatened with the lota! extincion o! the limb. i as well .-is the provision trade. This l)ring3 us t> the c<»nr-ideratloii of questions of vital importan e. It Canada \^ t'» lose her exports, she must neci's-! nily be d'l'rived of impor's, for no country can be an impo tr wliich has nothing to ex()ori. The fir^^t, thon<>h far fro ai th>' most importaiit question raised by th s sul)]ect ;?, how arc w»^ to pay the taxes] how i» Ihe rt^venue to h' suppled, if tho pr-^se.t resources are to be destntyeii ! The imswer is, by direct taxation. But shnul i direct taxes he imposedthey will be resisted'jOn th© I'ery attempt to t-ix the Sei^jniories, the habitans will rise en masse ; there 'irepaitsof the country inhabited by a British population, who will not be a whit lees refractory. If ilie Clergy Reserves have created so much heartburn- ing, it" locai t xes hav been so strenuously oppo8e<), whai will be the effect of a land tax ? (for there are but two direct taxes whi -h can be imposed upon Canada, a poll tax and a property tax). How is it possible to levy such taxes on the Eastern Townships, against the will of the inhabitants? how is it possible to wring them from the settlers of the Ottawa, or to obtain them from perhaps any part of Upper Canada ? The answer to these queries is plain ; the very attempt at imposing direct taxes will throw the country into an intermittent fever of continued insurrections, will make every loghouse a fort, every peasant a rebel, every squatter on assassin, every II settlement the theatre? a revolt,and the wliole Colony the scene of that most demoralising conflict, a g«m//a war. But there are other considerations even more vitally important than those of the revenue. What is to hecome of the trade ? Various are the answers to this enquiry. That the late alterations are but the opening of a flood- gate of Free Trade, which will dismember the Esnpire, Ijs the opinion of almost every Colonist. There are those therefore whj take the following ground, " set your house" in order, proside against the worst, deciile your political fa.e, leap the gulf whic h you cannot avoid, take the advantages (if you can find anjr) of Free Trade, as well as its evil, aim at obtaining the cariyingirad>^. The completion of the wishes of this parly were deferred by Mr. Glad^ton^-'s despatch, upon the subject of the petition of the Montreal Board of Trade. That dcspatih deceives no one; any man of penetr^ition can trace the same policy in th;sdespatch,as that which prompted Sir Robert Peel to refuse the reduction of the duty on ( orn when askeJ as a boon in favour of Australia, the policy of blinding the the Protectionists in regard to an inimded abolition cf duty. The party of politicians in ques ion count on total and unrestricted Free Trade, and on ihe opening of the St. Lawrence to the navigation of the world. In ex- pect, ng the firt;t, there can be but little doubt that they are right, and the second must follow as a ne('e.-?sary tonsequence. To rem(.ve piotoctiimfrom Canadian ex- ports and close the ports of Canada against foreign ship- ping would be unjust and impossible. Ergland could not do, and grent as she is, aiid powerful as she is, Eng- land dare not do it. These persons then suppose our commerce will be with the Slates, they consider Sf pera- tion and annexation to the Union as nee* ssnry conse- quences which unquestiunably they would be, and regard Kngland as willing to surrernler 'the Colonies. If the Colonies are to receivi^ a Free Trade, theie can be no reason why England should burd n herself with th; ir military defence, nor in fact vv.'uld the British nation undergo expense to protect the muikct of a foreigner. These politicians expect th -t the unres!riell her all over the world. Then Avhat can she give the Union t Without exports there can be no imports, Canada cannot have a foreign market, then she muj^t find a home market. — Countries with a scanty population and an extended territory are not fitted for manufacturing. True, but they cannot have agriculture without consuming manu- factures, and if they cannot import they must produce them. What makes the adjoining portion of the neigh- bouring Republic more wealthy than Lower Canada ? The manufacturing industry of a portion of New England which by affording an immediate market, causes agri- culture to be followed where otherwise it would not be, and places that under tillage, which would otherwise be forest. The inference is evident — if Canadu be not supplied by an external trade, she must supply herself; she must have internal trade to remunerate agriculture— to encourage emigration and meet the wants of her popu- IS lation. Bill with Frea Trade and couriecli on vviclr England, or with any coinmerdrtl or manufacturing couniry, to manufacture for herself, to o!)taln an internal mai-ket and an internal trade, is impossible. No sooner would money be put into circ«latio:i by the com- mencement of a manufacture, than it would go into the pocket ol' the distant manufacturer ar»d ihe home pro- duced article would be driven out of the market. How- ever glorious Free Trade may be, a* an abstract theory, however beneficial to old and established communities, nothing is surer than that infant manufactories require daotection. To become self mauufacturing, protection must be obtained to encourage the establishment of manufactures. This protection could not be granted by the Erttish Empire neither would it be obtained by an- nexation to the American' Union. One of two things must occur to Canada by the operation of a Free Trade — either she remains a dependency, in which case a- portion of the coutitry returns to the primiv.l forest, the commercial community disappear, the trade of emgra- tion jBows to more favoured lands, commerce subsides to the export of a few furs from the North West and- probably a little copper from Lake Superior; in return for which comes an adequate supply of hardware, and the population becoming h race of mere cultivators of the soil, consume their own produce on their respective farms, build their own habitations, weave and wear tlie'r own wool, and their own linen,use their own leather, distil their own liquor, make their own soap and their own candles, grow, prepare and use their own tobacco, and transact their petty business by patriarchal barter v^ithout the help cf specie. Such a picture may be ascribed to levity or exaggeration, but nothing is a more serious mater of fact. On the other hand let us imagine Canada INDEPENDENT ! ! she manufactures for herself, heavy protective duties produce high prices, industry brings large profits and large wages, and consequently emigra- tion flows in and agriculture, (also under the artificial! stimulant o'' protective duties), receives encouragement. This is no pleasing picture, for it pre^enl8 to our view the St. Lawrence without a single sail upon its placid surface, it shows us Canada deprived of external trade and reduced to the condition of a back State of the 14 American Union, without the fertility of tlii ba,-k Statea of the Union But the only choice for the Colon st is ^he choice of the evils 1 have descibed. A quesiioa ia m>vv arising which ere lo g uiH agitate the C<,!onial BELONG f *^"^'''°" '" '^^ WHOM ARE WE TO lirnt^n^ remark ccmmonly applied to the entire Lov'er Provinces with the exception of the Eastern Townships. (b) The Act in question limited the operations of the French Law of Common Inheritance to Fa ms exceed in- a K'ven number of aces and excepted farrnTof a smalle? »i2fc from division by inheritance Timt. It/^ APPENDIX. It is not the inten.ion of the Author oifthis little pub- licaticn to question the pcUcy of Sir Robert Pee!, or the right of England to r gulate her commen e as she Ihinks proper, he merely offers his humble representation of the consequenres of the prteent coinmercial change.?, on (ho British American Colonies, esteeming it to be the duty of every inhabitant of i!tis Province to make the bearing of the question on Colonial interests fully understood in England, and avo ding assailing the imperial policr, point out the inevitable results of that policy so that both the mother country and the Colony looking respectively to their own particular, commer(ial,>ocial, and political interests may determine at what sacrifice they will avoi