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Maps, platas, charts, ate, may ba fllmad at diffarant reduction ratloa. Thosa too larga to ba entirely Included In one exposure are filmed beginning In the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, aa many frames aa required. The following diagrams illustfata the method: Les cartas, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atra fiimAa A das taux da reduction diff Grants. Lorsque Ie document eat trop grand pour Atra raproduit en un seul cllchA, II est fllmA A partir da Tangle supArleur gauche, do gauche A droite. et de haut an bas, an pranant la nombra d'Images nAcessaira. Les diagrammas suivants lllustrent la mAthoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 A PLAN VOR TUB SYSTEMATIC COLONIZATION ue CANADA, AND ALL OTHER BRITISH COLONIES. BY AN OFFICER OF RANK, NEARLY TWENTY YEARS RESIDENT IN CANADA. ' By tlicir works je shall know them." LONDON: HATCHARD AND SON, PICCADILLY; J. BRADLEY, 78, GREAT TITCIIFIELD STREET. 1850. Price Half -a- Croivn . London: Printed by J. Bradley, 78. Great TitcUfleld Street. PREFACE. TiiK following- suggestions are offered for the systemuiic colo- nization of Canau.x. Long residence in the country has fami- liarized the Author with its wants and capabilities. Capital, which has so abundantly flowed into the neighbouring- States of the Union, is alone necessary to convert its gloomy forests into smiling gardens, the produce of which would maintain in comfort myriads of paupers, now starving in workhouses in England. The great objects are, to render our wastes accessible, and to plant the poor in the colony in such a manner that their settle- ments may be self-supporting, i'he construction of cheap Rail- ways appears to be the means by which these most desirable objects will be attained; nof Railways as understood in England, but such as in American phraseology mean less the perfection than the establishment of communication, of which a notice will be seen in The Times o( Nov. H.th, 1849. The Scriptures point out to us that the earth is to be re- plenished and inhabited. Why then do we neglect to obey this injunction, when the poor are in distress, and our colonies want inhabitants ? The invention of the mariner's compass has en- abled us to traverse the ocean ; steam engines and railways carry our population cheaply and smoothly to the ends of the earth ; and the lightning speed of electricity enables us to communicate with them. By neglecting the signs of the times, if we fail to avail ourselve? of the advantages which Providence has placed within our reach for alleviating the distress of the poor, and ad- vancing the interests of our race in every part of the British do- minions, we shall act very unwisely. The First Part of the following work exhibits the inferiority of the general state of the Canadas, compared to the improved and prosperous condition of the American States, setting forth the cause, which has long since been exposed by Mr,f,Jameson and Lord Durham's Report. The Second Part shows how the error may be rectified, and the industrious poor of England effectually provided for as emigrants ; how the debt incurred for the carrying out emigrants, and sub- sisting them a year, may be repaid, leaving ample food in the iB" IV fl {produce of half an acre of potatoes, and 55 bushels of wheat, &c. for each man for the second year ; how the Government may construct 1000 miles of cheap railway every year by their em- ployment ; how the wealth of the colony may be increased by the sale of the waste lands, and their occupation by a hardy, loyal, and industrious race, to the reciprocal advantage of the British nation, as well as the colonies, in the increase of the com- merce and resources of the two countries. The plan proposed for the location of the poor in our colonies requires no further support, in England, than the concurrence of the parishes. The success of the Americans, in quickly peopling their wildernesses and selling them, as fast as they find money to traverse them by cheap railways, would warrant the anticipation of a like result in the British colony. The.money required might be lent, under a Government guarantee, to pay five per cent, for the loan. The Government would risk a comparatively small sum by such a guarantee. The moneys advanced might be re- paid by the profits continually increasing from the railways, the amount of which must be calculated by the profits on the Ame- rican lines, which are far greater, indeed often double the profits upon similar undertakings in England. A small capital only would be required to commence ; the first year's interest might be paid, if necessary, by the State, or out of poor's rates. Should more than five per cent, be realized, of which there can be no doubt, the overplus, after paying oif the capital borrowed , should be applied to lessen the price of the lands to the poor emigrant ; as this application of the receipts would place him in comfort and happiness, without distressing him iu paying for his ten-acre grant. The Third and concluding Part gives reason to doubt the be- nefit a liberal constitution is likely to afford to a very poor and ignorant community, who, from their want of the requisite know- ledge to qualify them to be members of a Legislature, to make laws for the general welfare, are not yet fitted for so responsible a trust ; and consequently that both the Upper and Lower Pro- vinces would be better governed by Governors and Councils, as stated in the Conclusion, with only the Law Courts and District Councils to support them, till the Colony were richer, and every 30,000 men who came would give a new Member of Parliament in support of the home Government, in opposition to annexation or independence. A PLAN FOR THE SYSTEMATIC COLONIZATION OF CANADA, CHAPTER I. Western Canada — Mildness of the Climate — Rich Agri- cultural Country — Existing and proposed Means of Communication — American Enterprise — A Contrast — Detroit — Sandwich — Effect of the Construction of the Detroit and Kalamazoo Railway — Canadian Jobs — The St. Lawrence Canal — Cost of Wooden Rail- ways in Canada — Promts of American Railways — Town Sites — Quantity of Land required for each Settler— 'Emigrants from Brighton — Railways would pay the cost of Construction — Towns — Value of Town Lots — Facilities of Construction of Raihiays — Exist- ing Trctffic on Lake Erie — American Enterprise — British Apathy — A Remedy. There is an ample field for the establishment of the poor in many parts of Western Canada, which, from having a much milder climate, should be colo- nized befoi:e the Eastern districts. To the north of the town of Kingston, extending along the whole course of the Attawa river, on each side of it, are 14 or 15 millions of acres, possessing the best soil, while the river itself is full of the finest salmon, to supply abundant food. To the north of the town of Toronto, and of Bal- som. Sturgeon, Masquenonge, Mud, and Rice Lakes, all these beautiful waters uniting in the course of the Ottonabee river, and nearly extending from that town to Cobourg, on Lake Ontario, are many thousand acres, possessing a very fine climate and soil. But the B most eligible lands are still more to the westward, consisting of those extensive territories situated to the north of the town of Woodstock (Oxford in the maps), which extend from that town nearly to Owen's Sound, on Lake Huron, containing about six millions of acres of the finest land in Canada, mostly unoccu- pied, extending above one hundred miles to the north, and about the same distance westwards from the town of New Market to Albert Town. Divided into allot- ments of ten acres to each man, two reserved for wood for winter fuel, and the remainder cultivated by spade huBbandry, they would be sufficient for the location of 600,000 of the able-bodied poor, in happiness and contentment. It is the more necessary to place a colony of Pro- testants here, as Canada has so lately received near a hundred thousand Irishmen, many of whom are Pa- pists, and disaffected. If there were commotions, these men might probably rise, and be encouraged by America. It would therefore be well to establish the Irish colonies to the north of Lake Huron, where, as it appears from the report of Sir George Simpson, there are not less than 40 millions of acres of the finest agricultural country in the world. Protestant colonies in the south, consisting of sober-minded Eng- lishmen, trained to industry and order, their lands held under a deed of tenure to defend the colony against every foe, would afford an effectual guarantee of order, frustrate the designs of foreigners, and pre- vent any serious outbreak or danger. . . = >^ In the accompanying map will be seen extensive tracts to the north and south of the 44th degree of latitude in the western districts. Here there is little besides vast forests of pine, hemlock, elm and beech, the two former of which are much wanted by the Americans, and would return by their sale many mil- lions of pounds sterling to the colony, but which, without roads to transport timber south of the town of Woodstock to Lake Erie, remain useless to the province. These rich wildernesses, when occupied as settle- ments, cleared and cultivated, being advantageously surrounded by Lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron, and St. Clair, would insure prosperity to any industrious body of emigrants who might be placed there. The central plains will be rendered still more eligible for the proposed occupation, by the improve- ments about to be adopted, and in progress, for which charters from the Canadian Parliament have been obtained. A railway is commenced from Niagara to Hamilton, to pass westwards from thence through the populous towns of Ancaster, Brentford, Wood- stock, London, Chatham, and Sandwich, to cross the St. Clair river to the town of Detroit, in the American States. This line will traverse the Canadian penin- sula by a much shorter route than that which exists by Lake Erie, and will bring a great influx of emi- grants through the province, to proceed to the west- ward by the American railways, which are to be continued from Detroit to St. Joseph, and to the Bay of St. Francisco, or to Oregon on the Pacific Ocean. The fertile lands of all W^estern America will be ren- dered accessible by such a line, and occupied. Al- ready a thousand persons daily arrive at the town of Bu£^lo, to proceed westward by Lake Erie, who for the most part will travel the shorter route, it is be- lieved, by the Canadian railway, when completed, crossing the St. Lawrence at the Niagara Bridge, now erected. Then the Godrich and Toronto Hailway, nearly parallel to the above, will proceed directly b2 / south and west of these proposed settlements, bringing down the produce of the Canada Company's lands, and the expected extensive traffic from the silver and copper mines of Lake Superior. A new canal is now forming on the eastern extremity of Lake Superior, by eleven chartered Companies, who will prosecute the fisheries there, and transport the slate, marble, Ac, from Godrich to Toronto. The progress of this last railway is now temporarily suspended. It ap- pear?, to me that a better line than this might yet be adopted, viz., from Godrich to Woodstock, which would only be half the length of the other, and more direct from Boston and Europe. By this line the long course of the St. Lawrence would be avoided. The third Hne of railway from the town of Wood- stock, proceeding south to Lake Erie, has been sur- veyed, and a Charter, obtained from the Provincial Parliament, has been approved by Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen. This line will develop the com- merce of all the interior midland districts north and south of it, and supply the American States with pine and oak timber. Such a source of traffic is nowhere else to be obtained in such abundance in the province ; it will restore the balance of trade between the Co- lony and the States, which is of the more importance, as nearly all commodities from the American States entering this part of Canada are now paid for in specie ; the Colony is thus drained of the precious metals, to the great inconvenience and distress of the inhabitants. But with the facility of the transport of the pine and oak to the States by the railway, the precious metals would return, the Canadian lands would be more quickly and certainly cleared, and the wildernt ses rendered accessible to settlers. This southern route from Woodstock to Lake Erie ids ;he is only 40 miles in a direct line. The two ports to be constructed on the Canadian side — at Big Creek and Port Burwill, at a cost of j620,000. each — would still more extend the commerce beyond what has been stated, by opening communications with Buffalo and the Erie Canal. By Cleveland, on the southern shore of Lake Erie, and the Ohio Canal, New Orleans, Mexico, the West Indies and Souih America would all be brought into direct connexion with the above new ports. The Company's steam-boats would daily trade to Buffalo and Cleveland, and be also in com- munication with the many other frontier harbours and cities, through whose canals and railways direct routes to all the southern American States would be open, and the whole interior produce of this western country will ultimately find its way to the south and to England in this direction. And if settlements are established northwards, it will be necessary to con- tinue the line of railway from the town to Owen's Sound, to enable settlers to clear and establish them- selves on the contiguous lands. By these means the northern tracts of wilderness will hereafter be brought into direct comnmnication with the most populous and thriving parts of the western districts, by the quickest conveyances and the shortest routes. It is satisfactory to know that in all such works, whether of plank or railway, which companies or communities may be desirous to construct, that the lines of road, together with the timber to form them, aie always to be obtained without cost ; and this will hold good in every British colony. The expense of the construction of such roads is reduced to the price of the actual work to be performed, which, for a common or cheap railway, will not exceed £1,100. a mile altogether to a company or contractor, and of course mTich less to men who would work for their food onIy« or ^628. a mile^ but who are afterwards compensated by cleared lands, houses, and crops, to establish them comfortably for life, and their children's children, on the immediate line of road itself. V It is astonishing that cheap railways have not long since been considered essential for the development of the resources of our Colonies. Free communica- tion ^nd good roads necessarily allure capitalists and respectable persons to emigrate, and it is capital which is wanted to find employment for the poorer classes of settlers, by whom, in the course of time, the country will be cleared of its interminable forests, and peopled with an industrious and enterprising race. To exemplify this effect more fully, and the neces- sity of affording work (or some other provision to be set forth in this Treatise) to all poor persons sent abroad, whether from England or Ireland, it is im- portant to consider how the Americans colonize and people their western wastes by the construction of cheap railways. As soon as the railway is con- stricted, the spare lands adjoining are immediately sold, and the railways themselves, in less than 12 years after their completion, will repay the cost of their construction, and pay dividends of from 12 to 15 per cent, on the original outlay. Having heard of the system of the Americans, and being desirous to ascertain its value, I visited the neighbouring state of Michigan, which had been so lately iti ova possession, and some other parts subse- quently of the American States, in order to ascertain from my own personal observation i- : what manner the ^oor are distributed there, ^lu what are the causes of their becoming rapidly prosperous under the care of the Government. This result is attained by finding them work, either on the canals or railways continually in progress, and with the saving from their wages the poor then purchase their locations on the spot. When I proceeded to Michigan, and observed the whole people in a most prosperous condition which- ever way I turned, I could not fail to be struck by the great contrast of the two countries, which were only divided by a river of little more than half a mile in breadth. On the American side, were loaded wharfs, innumerable large steam boats and ships dis- charging or taking in freight and passengers, and all the people as busy and bustling as in a crowded Lon- don wharf. Detroit, which was rebuilt since 1812^ is a town with brick houses substantially built, of four or five stories high, with wide streets, elegant shops, splendid public buildings, churches, hotels, and beau- tifiil country villas, reaching far into the interior, with the land in high order, and gardens well stocked ; every one seemed to be well employed, and not a beggar to be seen, or any one shabbily dressed. Re- turning to the river bank, to look at the wretched town (if it could be called such) of Sandwich, the abode of poverty, misery and beggary, with not even a schooner to grace the shore, having only here and there a poor dilapidated house, without trade or bustle, or even the movement of a human being, my spirit sunk v/ithin me, and I thought my heart would break. I never felt, as an Englishman, so humiliated or dis- tressed, and I resolved, if it was not in my power to improve our condition, I would at least make the subject of our inferiority better known^ and try to change it. After remaining at a comfortable hotel in the town. visiting the several termini of the railways, examining the environs, and admiring the mechanical skill em- ployed in supplying with water the town, which is on an elevated terrace above the river, I requested to be introduced to R. S. Porter, Esq., the head manager of the Detroit and Kalamazoo Railway. Mr. Porter, finding that my object was to obtain information on everything connected with the American railway system, kindly offered me satisfactory data to guide me in the construction of our own projected railway from Woodstock to Lake Erie, with every other intel- ligence necessary for me to possess respecting the employment of the poor, and the construction of the work. He stated that the British acted unwisely when they gave up the state of Michigan, and all that extensive country westward from the Mississippi river, from the 42nd degree north, without knowing or suspecting its value. Its prairies are numerous and well watered ; it abounds with the finest coal, which is not to be ob- tained in Canada. The Americans did not, till long after, appreciate the boon ; they had not at that time commenced their system of railways. Extensive tracts of wilderness, which could only be approached by such railroads, were then of no value, as a great part of Canada now remains. But being an enterprising people, poor, and anxious to improve their condition, it was not very long before some shrewd guesses were made, that the construction of cheap railways through the several districts desirable as settlements would at once cause the sale of iheir waste lands, and also afford employment, by their construction, for the poor. That from the wages of their labour the road makers would save enough to become purchasers of land, and that they would establish themselves on or near the •\ line of road. That the traffic which would be created by an influx of people for the purpose of buying set- tlements, on speculation, or for location, with the carriage of goods and agricultural produce, would return a sufficient profit to warrant the borrowing of the money to construct them. These funds were in many cases obtained from England. In Michigan the first line of railway was made to Ann Arbour, a town about forty miles from Detroit, and it skirted the banks of the Huron river. The experiment fully answered every anticipated expectation, by enabling the Government to effect the immediate sale of the public lands, and returning a high rate of interest for the investment. This railroad was soon after con- tinued 106 miles westward, to the town of Kala- mazoo, from whence it proceeds to St. Joseph, a con- siderable harbour on Lake Michigan. Along this second continuation, and many miles north and south of it, and on the Kalamazoo river, the sur- rounding lands were all soon disposed of. The origi- nal price of these lands was 5s. 6d. sterling an acre, about 6s. 3d. currency. The arrival of a vast influx of richer people doubled their value. Many people who had been original purchasers of lands made large fortunes. The whole country is now in a flourishing state. Had this country remained a British possession, it would have continued like most of the interior lands of Canada, without inhabitants, roads, or cultivation. The Americans justly calculated that the peopling of an extensive tract of country can only be effected by creating facilities for the transport of the people, their crops and commerce, such as are afforded by the road adopted in Michigan. The few lands that were sold, and for many years owned by individuals, remained as if without masters, in hopeless barrenness, until the 10 I adoption of this system. The country, although ca- pable of holding a large population, was occupied by bears and wolves only. Here and there a little opening was made by the most industrious and enter- prising, but they were miserably poor and disheartened. I could not help remarking that Mr. Porter, in his description of the few settlers in his country before the era of railways, forcibly reminded me of what Canada now remains. By following the American system, prosperity would surely await British industry, at least equal to that obtained in America, where the men are compelled to pay ready money for their lands ; while in their establishment on the Canadian side they would only work for them, and pay at their leisure. Ought we to neglect so noble a country, watered by fine rivers, with mill sites at every quarter of a mile, surrounded by navigable lakes, and such outlets for the cheap transport of produce as the St. Lawrence river, the Erie, Welland, Ohio, and Rideau canals? Can we doubt that, if it be neglected, having the pros- perity of America before its eyes, and judging the cause, that this colony, overflowing with disaffected Irish, now arriving by tens of thousands, will be lost to the mother country ? Shall we allow the disaffected to urge that, by an almost imperceptible exchange of masters, customs, and laws, an unexampled prosperity would imme- diately ensue ? And it will be urged with truth, if we neglect to adopt those means of advancing the inte- rests of our colonists which have elsewhere been found so beneficial. British capital has been extensively applied to the purposes of peopling the country, and the settlement of the waste lands, in many other parts of America ; the projects for so doing have been carried out by the great enterprise of the American State 11 Governments, who are alive to every emergency, and who are now by experience thoroughly con- vinced, that it is only by the construction of cheap railways that their before barren wastes always find ready purchasers. But on the Canadian side the opinion is, from very selfishness, which will always defeat itself, the reverse of this ; and much of the money obtained from the sale of the public lands is too often expended with little benefit to the people in general. The great expenditure on the St. Lawrence canal, which is only of use for the transport of heavy goods to the towns of Montreal and Kingston, and of small benefit to Western Canada, is a proof of this. Fifty thousand pounds have been tardily expended in a plank road from London to Hamilton. If the money for the canal, amounting to nearly one million and a half sterling, had been judi- ciously laid out in the construction of cheap railways, the whole country would have exhibited a very different appearance to what it now presents, and prospered in a far greater degree than it has hitherto. As the Rideau canal, long since made, which cost a like amoimt, was quite sufficient to transport all the present or future trade of the colony for a hundred years to come, what need was there of two routes? for unless the whole country were opened out by other improvements, how i,cin any increased trade be expected to occupy the two canals, when one has long done all the work required ? It is the more extraordinary that such a sum should have been expended on a second canal, when so much more benefit would have resulted from the construction of railways. Roads were the only thing necessary, to give general satisfaction; and when the Government was fully aware that a general dissatis&ction prevailed, it was the more necessary to 12 please, on the largest scale. To convince any one how useless the St. Lawrence canal is, it is only neces- sary to state that the Welland canal, although of late somewhat enlarged, has in general locks of only one hundred feet long, and the depth of water is only seven feet ; while the locks in the other are two hundred feet, and the depth of water fourteen feet ; so that ships passing the latter cannot pass the Welland canal, nor in consequence enter Lake Erie. It was constructed to avoid the rapids, when steam boats had for some time passed and repassed them with ease and safety. In a word, this expensive work is found to be of no use to the upper province, and is constructed on the American side of the river, who in time of war can destroy it, or stop any vessel's advance, unless expensive fortifications are then erected to protect it. But what is the cause of the present growing dis- content so generally prevailing ? I leave out of the question the Indemnity Bill, which is passed for a deep-laid purpose. In 1812 tb" greatest loyalty was exhibited in both provinces. Is not this discontent greatly caused by the people observing the rapid improvements and prosperity of the Americans — their railways and canals in all directions — their towns springing up in a few years, becoming popu- lous, rich, and daily increasing — their country cleared, and well cultivated, and all the people happy and contented, while Canada remains to all appearance unchanged since then, with its woods uncleared, roads impassable, towns few and far between, and inhabit- ants poor and miserable ? Free trade has reduced it to a state of absolute barter ; agricultural produce is re- duced to less than half the price it formerly bore. By the kindness of Mr. Porter, who obligingly gave the Rev. William Bettridge and myself tickets from Detroit to Kalamazoo, we were gratified by more par- ticularly examining the whole features of this Michi- gan railway. The bridges, viaducts, and culverts are made of upright* logs, two feet thick, which can be squared at ten shillings a hundred feet, and do not cost more than from one to two hundred dollars. In these works beauty is quite a secondary consideration ; utiUty and saving of expense are the order of the day. Such railways are constructed for little more than the expense of a common Macadamized road. This was a lesson which will prove of service in the construction of our own projected works, from Woodstock to the Lake Erie. We were fully con- vinced of the importance of the adoption of the rail- road system in all parts of Canada, which, with cheap railways and bridges, might be easily improved and benefited . We were astonished at the different aspect of the two countries, and could not but see that nothing prevented us from being equally pros- perous and happy but the want of energy in our Government, which neglects to follow so good an example, though it might be done at so trifling a risk and outlay. When we travelled along this rail- way in October, 1846, it was paying from three to four hundred pounds a day ; but in winter there is much less traffic, as Lake Erie is frozen ; but it was stated, that in ten years after it had been in operation, the work had paid off the whole amount of the cost of its construction, and was paying fiill 15 per cent, interest, clear profit. These gratifying results have induced the State to recommend the construction of four other railways in this new country, which are rapidly fulfilling the anticipations formed respecting them. The interior of the country is peopled, the wastes are being sold, the poor are employed, and the community is becoming civilized. Such is the energy universally displayed, that innumerable other railways are in progress, or completed, in every surrounding American state. Canada, poor and disconsolate, looks on, poverty stricken, and hopeless, with folded hands, consoling herself as best she may on the hollow boast, that the sun never sets on the British dominions! Millions of acres are unoccupied or uncultivated in this, England's nearest and finest colony ; yet it is there that she sends her poor to starve, no work being found to sustain them ! Men cannot till the land without capital, nor live on the bark of trees. Valua- ble minerals remain unworked, and fisheries remain unproductive from want of roads. In one small sec- tion of this great country (ten times the size of Eng- land), south of Woodstock alone, timber, to the value of full 40 millions of pounds sterling, remains useless, uncut, and unprofitable. Markets for this timber are at hand. A cheap railway would bring all this wealth to eniich the country in a very few years; and pro- mote a prosperity far beyond any yet enjoyed. By following out the principle, Canada, Australasia, New Zealand,^or any other colony in which it was adopted, would at once become an appendage of no doubtful value to Voe British crown, an opening to increase her commerce, and an outlet for her poor and surplus population. Occupation being provided for emigrants on their arrival, they would be a blessing to the land they adopted. ,^^ The American scheme, for rendering these local operations conducive to the public prosperity, and repaying the cost of the construction of their railway, wherever practicable, is to appropriate every tenth mile upon its course as a site for a town, and 9 station. This square mile is divided into several building lots 15 to the acre^ to insure its speedy increase. The first lots, here and there, are given away, or sold at a low price, on condition that the purchaser builds a two- story frame house ; the second lots fetch a much higher price ; the other four or five lots to each acre sell at prices three, five, or ten times greater than the lots first sold. All moneys arising from the sales are appropriated to the public benefit. Would it not be advantageous to follow their ex- ample in this respect wherever numerous emigrants may be congregated together on a* continued line of many miles ? for without a town at seven or ten miles, for stations, where churches, school-houses, and ta- verns will be required, the surrounding neighbour- hood could not so well prosper. The experience of all civilized countries proves that the closer men are placed together, within rea- sonable limits, the more they will be capable of as- sisting each other. Eight or ten acres, given or sold to each man, would be amply sufiicient for him. A number of poor people, in 1 833, who had emigrated from Brighton, landed without any capital ; when they disembarked at Toronto, the then Lieutenant- Governor, Sir John Colborne, sent them to occupy the rear town building-lots of Woodstock, giving each man five acres, and a small log hut, costing £5. each. Here they were left to starve, which would un- doubtedly have happened, had it not been that the town took a sudden start of increase, from the enter- prise of individuals who kept them employed. They had no time or inclination to cultivate their respective allotments, and were still more deterred from an idea that if they did so at that time, their allotments, with the improvements upon them, might be claimed by purchase for the town ; and therefore each lot was 16 left as it was received, except a very small part culti- vated as a garden. But one man, a gardener, laboured early and late after others had employed him, cut down the trees, and sowed various crops ; the conse- quence was, he soon became rich and independent, while the others continued to live from hand to mouth, as poor as they came. He is now possessed of as many cows as to be capable of supplying a great part of the town with milk, and his land is not yet wanted for the town, although he has been now 14 years in possession. Some of the other men, from this example, are equally exerting themselves, but this they could not have done unless they had previously received wages for work from others. If, therefore, a man gets ten acres in the colony, (two acres of which must be kept for the supply of winter fuel, till coals are cheaply to be obtained,) and he be subsisted for a year, and shewn a proper method how to clear and till his grant, sow the crops, and build a comfortable house, he may do well, and particularly so if his ope- rations are conducted upon a regular plan, carefully superintended, A railway would give him ready access to markets where he might dispose of his crops, and buy what he might wish. Under a regular system of this kind, industrious colonists could not but succeed in obtaining a subsistence for themselves and their families, and a very small portion of their crops would be sufficient to pay off any debt incurred for their subsistence, clothing, voyage, and the grant of land, if sold to them at a dollar an acre, which in general it is not worth. From this example, and what has occurred in the State of Michigan, it appears to me conclusive that cheap railways, in the most eligible parts of our colo- nies, if populous, would defray the expense of their / 17 construction in a short period, und be profitable ever after to their original promoters. The building lots in every town, placed at seven or ten miles from each other, would soon greatly increase in value, and their sale would pay the extra expenses to be incurred in building churches, school-houses, &c., and endowing them as free establishments ;* the incumbents at first necessarily receiving but small stipends, but which in 1 or 16 years after would be considerable, and amply sufficient. The poor would be comfortably located in the populous settlements established on the course of the railway. Our Canadian Committee at Woodstock, in era- ploying the poor on a similar work and railway, pro- pose to follow this system, placing the towns at every seven miles distance, so that every colonist will have his church within the distance of three miles. (See Prospectus of the Woodstock and Lake Erie Railway, which may be had at the Company* s Office in the City.) What is to prevent the advance of capital in one country more than in the other, if the railways on the Canadian side can be proved to be likely to pay equally well ? They can be constructed at a much cheaper rate, from the way-leave and timber being * Town lots in Woodstock were sold at £20. an acre in the year 1834, but now they are, in eligible places, at £Z. lOs. a foot, or ^200. for the sixth of an acre, and no doubt will be eventually much higher. The lots only pay six per cent, for the price demanded, and those who purchase such lots let half the house they build for a sum equal to the interest of the money spent in buying the lot and building the house, so that the owner gets his half of the premises free of expense, and in 10 or 15 years he may sell his lot and house at doable the price he gave. When the Great Western Canadian Railway is completed, passing through the town, and that of the Woodstock line joins it, the full value of the lots will be developed, and no doubt be greatly increased in price, as the town will be ne- cessarily much increased also. c ".■■" 18 always obtained without any cost. The Americans themselves would give a helping hand in taking shares, as they have lately done in the Niagara Bridge and the Canadian Great Western Railway, which they are as anxious to sec in operation as we arc, being fully aware that these works promote the welfare of both countries. t The Americans possess on Lake Erie above 80 steam boats, and 300 ships, brigs, and schooners, all fully employed, and realising great profits : their fisheries are most productive. Salmon trout, white fish, and sturgeon, are sent to all parts of the world. Their towns are mostly built with brick and stone. Trade and population are greatly increasing. The lands, as fast as access to them is afforded by railways, are being sold, cleared, enclosed and cultivated. The golden age of America seems to have arrived. Plenty and happiness are universal, and all these greit results have arisen from causes that have been in operation within the present generation only. The reverse of this picture is exhibited on the British shore of Lake Erie. There is only one steam boat, and a very few schooners. The country is un- cleared and uncultivated. No manufactures of any sort have been set on foot. Iron, lead, and minerals abound, but they are unheeded. It is melancholy that a British settlement should be so neglected. Not a single railway is being formed except by the enterprise of private individuals. Well may the Western Canadians be disheartened, and grumble, when they find they are now to be taxed for a rebel- lion indemnity of the lower province, with which they had no more to do than New Brunswick, and which their loyalty and devotion secured from annexation to America. The confirmation of the bill at home is the :> v;ay to make this good feeling evaporate ; and for this very purpose has it been passed. But is it a matter of indifference, that so noble a country as Canada proverbially is, and more particularly Western Canada, should be oppressed and neglected under the influence of an alien faction hostile to Biitish influence? Can we do otherwise than entertain serious apprehen- sions of the consequences, when the country is over- run by an importation of Irish paupers and O'Connell repealers, arriving in crowds, discontented and uncared for, to seek work and food where no sufficient means of employment and feeding them are to be found ? Shall we wait the arrival of another outbreak, in order that we may have the pleasure of paying another five millions to suppress it ; when perhaps men will look on, and applaud the strongest side, as the only means of escaping from a cruel civil war and bloodshed ? How much better will it be, instead of hazarding the loss of the Cauadas, to divert the minds of the Colonists from their present ill will towards each other, to a more worthy object — the improvement of their coun- try ? A sum less than the cost of suppressing the late outbreak would supply the colony with railways in all directions. Its barren wastes and interminable forests would be brought into cultivation ; the lands greatly increased in value : and the crops easily taken to a market The expenditure necessary to effect these desirable objects, instead of being wholly lost and thrown away, would return a very large profit. O that the hearts of the inhabitants of both provinces might be gladdened by an assurance of their prosperity and happiness being thus realized! No fears need then be entertained of another revolt, or annexation to America. I pray that my voice as a Christian may yet be heard. Let it not be supposed to be inconve- c2 20 nient, or too expensive, for the British Government to undertake works like the Arneric*»'"s, or even in any way to promote the improvement of the colony : as the ground is at present of little or no value, let the Government give, from imperial resources, but one mile of the land on one side of every railway to be constructed, together with the whole profits of the work itself, and a promise that settlements should immediately after occupy both sides of them for ten miles ; let tne ministry give their cordial support of all such works; let influentid persons come forward to confirm the public confidence in their utility ; and there is no doubt but^that private com- panies would soon be found to undertake the con- struction of all the most eligible lines. By the en- couragement of emigration, on a systematic plan, the interior resources of the country would be developed, and the country would be prepared for the reception of the poor. The behef, that at last something was proposed to be done, to improve the condition of the Canadas, would at once rouse the Canadians, from their present growing despondency, to sanguine and hopeful exertions, and revive a spirit of genuine loyalty towards the mother country. The active exertion of influential people is the only thing necessary to insure funds to take out the able- bodied poor to our colonies, and to place them in a position to provide permanently for themselves. The rapid increase of the disposable funds of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, which in 1836 had decreased from nine to seven thousand pounds a-ycar, is an instance of what may hp done. A great aug- mentation of the stock was efFectec" by the clergy holding public meetings, eloquently proclaiming the religious destitution of the colonies. 21 .) I With really much more urgent iiecessity for exer- tion, such men might again go forth and make known the fearful destitution of the poor, both at home and in the Canadeis. They are strong to aid in all good works. They would justly earn the gratitude of the poor by drawing attention to their untoward condition and distress; and they might excite a general sympathy to aid the charitable cause. Money might easily be raised to take out large numbers of the poor, and provide for them in oiu: colonies. And this money would not be wasted. Not only might large portions of it be repaid, and applied to taking out fresh emi- grants, but the donors would feel the benefits arising from its expenditure by a large decrease in the poor rates. Let the Church step forward ; let her remem- ber her mission to succour the poor. The Govern- ment will doubtless give its countenance to the good work. The poor of Great Britain are now sinking under accumulated evils. Public opinion points to our colonies as a refuge for them. •■«,; S , '■h'-'f'i^: ■ ■ :V,ii^ :.v!i / %% ^'^ f.->U 'yVii ^].'!\ ^ CHAPTER 11/ ■'■■■* Co»t of taking out Emigrants — Number necessary to he sent out— American system of establishing Emigrants — Proposed Plans qf operation — Arrival of Emigrants — Settlement — Discipline — Canadian Wood-choppers — Clearance qf Land — Fencing — Cultivation — 'Cost qf n subsistence — Crops at the end qf^rst year — Hut and , , Furniture — Outfit — Commissariat DepSis — Divinans , qf Railway Ldbourers^^Estimated Cost of Deportedion ' and Maintenance qf 250,000 Persons — Plan for R 'pay- ment — Impulse to Trade — Advantages of Railways to GovernrAcnt — Estimate for Construction from Poor- Rates — Plan for Repayment — Comparative 4dvan' tages of settling Paupers, or maintaining them in England — Reserved Lots — Clergy, Schools, Churches -^Details of Working Parties — Wood-cutting — Log- houses — Railway-work — Rapidity qf Conttruction — Level character of the Country — Present value qf Wastes — Price qf Building Sites in Towns — Buying Land — Some proposed Lines of Railway — Happy Results qf their construction. Two hundred thousand men, besides fifty thousand women and children, can be yearly taken to Canada for three pounds twelve shillings a-head. The poor have hitherto been taken for two pounds each person, but were starved. It does not appear to me that any permanent good van be effected in establishing the poor in our colonies, or sensibly reducing their number in England, unless at least the above number of men and women be yearly taken out. The American system in Michigan to establish emigrants, as has been explained, is first to construct cheap railways at an expense of about £1500. a mile, which includes the way-leave, wood, and labour only. If American cheap railways have been proved to be lucrative, and beneficial in peopling the country, similar works ought to be considered equally impor- tant in Canada, or our other Colonies, as atibrding employment for the poor, and opening out settlements for them where they can be permanently established. And where their utility for these purposes is acknow- ledged, it becomes imperative that their adoption be encouraged by every means. These railways should traverse the most f3rtile parts of the province ; and be extended only according to the number of poor sent out, in pursuance of an approved design, of single or double track, and sub- stantially constructed, as may be previously stipulated by the Government superintendents. These preliminaries being settled^ and the method of proceeding in any given work being well arranged, it may be necessary to ascertain where these lines of communication should proceed to be of the greatest advantage, so thai one line of road should lead into another, and be also subservient to the '^anals, navi- gable rivers, and lakes on their border. A general system of railways should be accurately laid down, with distinct plans of operations for each several \\ie, before any one of them is commenced. As the country is in a great measure uninhabited, and covered with forests, the wood and way-leave would be given free of expense. With the required encouragement of the State, the passing of an Act of Parliament to give the desired facilities for the construction of the contemplated public works, the mother country might begin to collect her able-bodied poor, and to hire commodi- : 1 ous vessels to transport them to their several appointed stations, where they would be employed, both on the railways and in the clearing of their lands. On the arrival of each settler at his destination it will be explained to him that ten acres are to be his allotted grant, eight acres for cultivation and two for fuel. One mile square will be reserved for a town on every seventh mile of the railway, if a company shall be found to contract for its construction. At every third mile, on each side of the work, a square mile on each side of the railway, with a frontage of one mile abutting on each side of it, with nine miles behind it, will be left for the purchase of emigrant capitalists, independently of ten miles behind each town for a like purpose. Were some arrangement of this kind not adopted the poor would occupy the whole space of the railway. It must be an established rule throughout all these associations, or bodies of men to be located, that every man must be expected to labour for the term of one year, before he can be entitled to a grant often acres of land ; that he must be orderly and obedient, civil and obliging ; and observe rules and regulations. Discipline must be established, without which it would be impossible to govern large bodies of men. Here let me state what a Canadian can do, in chopping down trees, before I go on to show how the newly arrived emigrant must set to work. One of these choppers, accustomed to such work (and any man in health can become expert in a fortnight's practice), will in a week cut down the sixty or se '^nty large trees, and innumerable smaller ones, that usually grow upon the space of an acre of well wooded ground ; besides which he will lop off the branches, and divide the larger trees into lengths of twelve or fourteen feet^ according as their thickness may require, and pile the brush and small trees separately, to be ready for burning. Several men together can thus, in the course of a week, cut down and clear away the timber on as many acres as there are men. In another week a man will make the fences, cutting and splitting the straight timber fit for it, of elm, fir, or beech, fourteen feet long, and adjusting the split pieces, of i*" / or five inches thick, in rows, where the line of fence is to be made. Three hundred of such split pieces can be made in a day. He will pile them with the corner rails round the intended field, ready to be put up when the brush and trees are burnt. Then with oxen, and hooks and chains, he will draw the waste timber together, the lesser to the larger, placing the pieces in heaps four or five feet over each other com- pactly, bum them, together with the piled brush, scatter the ashes, sow the wheat broadcast on the ground as it remains,* and lastly put up the fences seven feet high ; and thus in one fortnight he may complete the acre. So that in three months he would prepare six acres of wheat, potatoes or Indian corn, to be ready, when ripe; to be cut down and harvested. In all labours of clearing ground, burning timber^ fencing, &c., it must be well understood that the men would act in divisions of eight ; the other two men of each section being employed on the railway. It is evident that a man placed alone to clear the ground would be working under great disadvantages, from the weight of the logs to be moved. In piling them one over the other, he would endanger his life; as not having sufficient strength to sup^iort a log, till on the * ^fter cutting down a forest it is impossible to use the plough for three or four years, till the lateral roots of the trees have become rotten. 26 pile, h would roll down upon him and break hid legs, or crush him to death : but with several men piling the logs, the work is easy. In chopping, if a man does not understand the work, it is ten to one but he chops down the first tree on his comrade, and kills him on the spot, or cuts it down on himself; or being ignorant how to bring down a lodged tree, brings it down in a direction where he does not expect it to fall. The first chop often disables a new man in frosty weather, the hatchet glides off from the bark of the tree, lodging in his limb, or knee. Some initiation in the art, therefore, is required before men can be employed in this work, or the cutting down the giants of the forest may be attended with fearful accidents. In every part of Canada, except perhaps in the great towns, a man can be sufficiently, but coarsely fed, upon three-pence a day. One pound of pork, or beef, at two pence, and a pound of good white bread or biscuit a penny, is sufficient for a man's bare sub- sistence. ' At the end of the year, each man will possess seven and a half acres of wheat, producing 30, or on the best ground 40 bushels to the acre, and 40 bushels of pota- toes from another half acre. Retaining one third of his first year's crop of wheat, of 75 bushels, for food, and all the potatoes for himself and stock, he would be able to sell 150 bushels at Ss. a bushel, which the emigrant commissariat would purchase to feed other workmen who would arrive in successive squads. The sum received for this produce, J622. lOs., would buy him a cow at ^3. lOs. ; three sheep at J6l. 10s. ; two half-grown lean pigs at ^1. 10s. ; twenty ducks and fowls at ^1. 10s. He would still have money for an extra axe, inch augur, jack plane, large and 27 small hand saw, some chisels, gimlets, hammer, and rasp, for £2, and retain ^13. over, ^8. of which, or 53 bushels of wheat, he, or the commissariat, would repay to the parishes sending him out to the colony. He would still have £5, left from the above sum, besides the wheat and potatoes stated above. After the emigrant had housed his crop, and entered into his log hut, during the first winter he would smooth down the inside of his rooms hatchet in hand, purchase four thousand shingles, at a cost of 15s. if he did not make them himself, one thousand feet of inch plank, and an equal quantity of two>inch plank, and a quantity of nails, large and small. When he obtains the ab-^ve materials — the greater part of which men united together may often procure for their own cutting without cost — he might con- struct his tables, chairs, and stools, as these are easily made: he would then shingle his house, and fix the flooring of his cottage and bam. Twenty bushels of the wheat crop will be required, from each man's 75 bushels, for seed, leaving 55 bushels for the succeeding year, forty of which he may sell to the commissariat, leaving him 15 bushels for food. This is more than two persons could consume. Six bushels of potatoes, required for seed, will leave him 34 bushels, quite sufficient for himself, stock, and pigs. The pigs generally forage among the beech mast, in the woods, till within a week of being kiUed The outfit proper lor each emigrant, before leaving England, would be a decent but coarse suit of clothes, viz., a strong frieze coat and canvass jacket, two pair of strong duck trousers, one pair of flannel drawers, and two flannel shirts for winter clothing ; two small blankets, two pair of strong shoes, a strong cloth cap, with a square leather front to it, and broad flaps to 1* 28 tuck up or let down, to cover the ears and neck : a brown linen scull cap ; a canteen, to hold three pints of water; a pint tin mug; two strong canvass haversacks, to contain a week's provisions and bread ; and leather straps to fold the above things within the blankets, and fasten them securely on the shoulders. All these articles bought by contract, according to an approved pattern, will not cost more than £2. a head, sold wholesale. Before the men arrive at their appointed destination, either in Canada or elsewhere, it would be necessary to establish commissariat depdts of provisions, pork, biscuit, tea, and sugar ; hospital tents, medicines ; wagons, oxen, harness, boilers, kettles, and every thing necessary to be supplied to the divisions of rail- way workers, or agriculturists. The men, being separated into divisions, would proceed in regular order to clear the country, and con- struct the railways previously surveyed by the super- intending engineers. Each division, consisting of men, women and children, will be kept separate. They will advance by regular movements like an army. Each division of forty men would be commanded by a captain or foreman. The working tools necessary for the construction of the railway — the spade, axe, and pick axe, would be supplied by the railway com- pany or the Government. The following is an estimate of the expenses of 200,000 men, and 50,000 women and children, from their embarkation in England till the end of the first year. Of these 50,000 men would be employed npon the railways, and 150,000 in like manner appointed to work in the clearances ; but never more than 5,000 men, with their proportion of women, would be dis- embarked at one time or one place. 29 Estimate of the Expentet for Otte Year's Clothing, Foodt and Passage to Canada, Clothing, at £2. a head, for 200.000 men. and 50,000 women ^500,000 Price of Passage, at ^3. 128. a head, for 260,000 men and women 900,000 1.400,000 The price of Food for 250.000 men and women, at 6d. a day (this is double the expense at which they could, ' on a great emergency, be subsisted), for one year. . . . 2.031,250 3.431.250 But the 50,000 men working on the Railway will make during the year 1,000 miles of Railway of the value * of £\ ,500,000., of which two thirds or dBl.OOO.OOO. will be paid for by the Company or Projectors, and credited to the men 1,000,000 This sum, less than Is. a day for each man's work, deducted from the above outlay, leaves 2,43 1 ,250 The price of 2^ bushels of wheat seed, for the sowing of 7^ acres for each man, at 38. a bushel, or £2. ISs. 3d. a man. for 200,000 men 565,000 Price of seed for 100,000 acres of potatoes, at 12 bushels the acre, 6d. a bushel, or 3s. a man for 200,000 men. . 30,000 The price of an iron covered pot for each man, at 5s. each, with a round iron girdle, for making or baking cakes, to avoid the necessity of baking bread, 2s. 6d.. " ' '■■' both together amounting to 7s. 6d 75,000 ; 363,101,250 CREDITOR. Each man will give 53 bushels to the Commissariat out of his first crop of wheat, to be credited to him at 3s. a bushel, say £8 1.600.000 Then if each man gave up 50 bushels of wheat out of his second year's crop, as the new ground can always stand two crops of this seed in succession, these 50 bushels will make £7 . 1 Os. a man. at 38. a bushel, or . . 1 ,500,000 - Vj ; > 363,100,000 30 The whole deht would be paid off in the second year, except <£ 1,250., which one half>bushel of wheat a man would more than pay off; so that 51 bushels a man would leave a credit of j£ 1,500. Thus, after the parishes had advanced the expense of 250,000 men and women's clothing, and passage to Canada, for which ^3. 12s. a head would be ample to take them to the most western part, and giving them all abundance of food, at the expiration of one year 1,000 miles of railway will have been constructed, and the 1 50,000 men appointed to prepare the clear- ances will have reclaimed, sown, and fenced 1,600,000 acres, and comfortably established themselves, with each a commodious log house, small bam, and stock to subsist themselves ; and at the expiration of two years they will have absolutely paid off all their debts, leaving a credit of ^1,500. to their benefit. It will not have passed unobserved, that in the above estimate, if the first 250,000 men, women, and children can be so established in Canada in a year, and their debt paid off every second year ; that it will be equally easy to transport the same number of men and women, and locate them, every succeeding year, and pay the debt off in the same manner. It should be remembered that these settlements would occupy little more than two and a half miles on each side of the railway, leaving plenty of room for settlers to be located behind, to the tenth or even twentieth mile. It will be apparent also, that while the parishes, having sent to Canada the first million of men and women, would find the money expended for that charitable purpose returned to them every second year in succession ; the poor rates would be greatly dimi- nished, the parishes being relieved from the expense of the future maintenance of the paupers sent out. P I Ti ii^pw Independently of this saving to the parishes, aa these men would necessarily cultivate their allotted eight acres in the best manner from self-interest, with spade husbandry ; their produce, by its transport to England, and goods obtained in exchange, would give a spur to the carrying trade between England and the Canadas. The colonies would be strengthened by the establishment of a body of industrious, honest, and hardy men, who being always loyal, and devoted to the mother country from the very nature of the tenure of their grants, would defend the colony for their own sakes, without requiring the assistance of any large body of troops ; while the many railways would enable the Government to concentrate its forces on any point which might be attacked, with resistless force from all sides, and to discomfit or destroy any enemy, foreign or domestic. The exten- sion of cultivation would greatly improve the climate, by clearing the lands of its interminable forests ; and it would be a glory to the English nation and Church so to establish the Protestant religion and British ascendancy on the firmest foundation. According to the first estimate, it will be observed, that a Company would pay for every 1,000 miles of railway, to the 200,000 men who should land to occupy its sides, for their labour in constructing the line, the sum of .£1,000,000. The Company would also be required to pay for the commissariat, the engineers, surveyors, doctors, hospital tents, and every other extra expense ; to build mills and superintend every other part of the works. To cover these expenses one mile of ground, on one side of the whole of the rail- ways, will be possessed and disposed of at the Company's pleasure. The extra expenses may pro- bably cost .£250. per mile in addition, making the 32 aggregate cost of one thousand miles i£ 1,250,000., independently of the locomotives, carriages, wagons, and iron top to the rails, which would probably amount to J^600,000. more. The Company would receive the whole profits of the railways and lands for a term of 99 years, or for ever, as might be ar- ranged. In the estimate of the railway to be con- structed from the poor rates, the extra expenses will be advanced by the parishes, their advances being paid off as before suggested. Or the whole amount of the sums required for the construction of the rail- way, passage, and food of the men and women, may be advanced by the Government, or under a govern- ment guarantee of five per cent, for all the sums so expended ; these expenses will then be as follow : — Clothing for 200,000 men and 50,000 women, at £2. a head ^6500,000 Price of passage for the above number of men and women, at £3. 12s. a head 900,000 The price of food for the above number of men and women, at 6d. a day each, for one year 2,031,250 je3,43 1.250 And with the seed wheat, seed potatoes, iron covered pot and girdle to each man, of £565,000x ie30,000x 75,000=:je670,000., making 364,101.250 There will be no credit for the 1,000 miles of Railway of £l ,000,000., but the portions of rotid as completed, and the tolls, may be sold to Companier by the Provin- cial Government, and the price credited to the men. . The whole debt would be paid off the second year, with 90 bushels of wheat, leaving ^198,750. over. As each man obtains 225 bushels of wheat out of his 7^ acres of ground, besides his half acre of po- tatoes, he will possess 135 bushels at the end of the second year; and even if the crops were only 25 bushels an acre, they will be sufficient. Therefore, if a > m '"■WW^^ '^mmmmmi'^ 'w:^w^^f'^"'"' ['yw'^^ 'i ;i?,':-^ •■■.. ■ if. V"V' ^ n-d^i ^mM. J X: M >IPj. .m: ■'■''■W? '■'^f^i (§0i V .■ ■' -"'.■" '■ •'■■'■'^ ■ ..-■i-jj. •, --■■>■.. ::»iv^-^;:.- ;/'^M v':fflp| V '■r'^.^> . -^'^^i^^--' ■ ;.:-•••?'<; ■ ■ ;^'»' ',••''-■■, . • "''r^VPA •^vij ■. vV-;-^:i'a'- t' ?" ,% * y m sasf^ I't-^l .='\ ; /*''■■'> j^'Oi E:?i^Hr' ^^^ mp, •M^&^ <^X^ r-j»fA< m^ 1^ '- --ji-»3tjia» ■•■ 'V ■-■ vi; .• J/vSi }n ■'i^ ■ 1^ o H H o .s o o i' «■ i % ' % I ». 6- (^ i "1 ft i 1 0{: t r « *^ J c. E 1 1 1 1 ! 1 1 1 1 ^ 1 1 1 1 ' I iH 1 1 J ' 1 r ■ 1 1 1 1 1 L_ I 1 1 1 1 1 1 ! 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C/3 >S s "^ «« ^ :i ^ ■^ ?t- sr ^ » f ?3 9 r+ ^ 2 *^ B . o 1 H o H ^ en 1 > s: CD ps ■3 t1 §- ^ Cfl r (T > §- z: w^» • s OQ P p* , & P- Company should not be found willing to construct the railway, — or if parishes cannot be induced to ad- vance the funds to transport paupers to a happy and permanent deliverance from penury, (which I can hardly believe, considering how soon the debt would be wholly liquidated, and the parishes relieved from an oppressive burden, of which they so much com- plain,) the Government would be then called upon to advance money. Their advances would be paid off every sec<^nd year, as before shewn, with the ex- ception of £628, a mile for the railway constructed, which is ^100. a mile for the top iron or plant, ,£28. a mile for the cost of permanently preserving the wood from decay, and .£200. a »^ \ile for the locomotives, carriages, wagons, &c. &c., necessary for the trans- port of the passengers and goods. I am assured each road would pay 12 per cent, the first year it was in operation. If railways have paid 12 per cent, for .£1,500. a mile, independently of the cost of locomotives, carriages, and wagons, in Michigan, the Canadian railway, costing only ^628. a mile, including the locomotives, ought to pay double 12 per cent, at least, considering the less amount of outlay on the Canadian side ; so that for the small sum of ^15. a head, to be chiefly repaid every second year, together with the construc- tion of valuable railways, a certain and cheap pro- vision for any number of poor will have been pro- vided, even to the amount of ten millions. Paupers might be permanently provided for at a cost for each person not exceeding the expense of one year's main- tenance of each child at Tooting; with this wide difference of the two systems — the former poor would be established permanently on ten acres of land each, with every comfort, and certain prospect of prosperity 34 for themselves ; education for their children ; a Pro- testant free church, provided for the worship of God in spirit and in truth ; — while in the latter case the poor children were, it is reported, huddled together and neglected, and the outlay had to be continued for many years, without any future provision for repay- ment of the debt. \y >■" .>nr^i'>.- Towns will be laid out at every seventh mile, where a square mile of 640 acres will be appropriated for that purpose. A square mile on the railway at every third mile, between the towns, on both sides of the railway, and many square miles behind, will be reserved for emigrants of a better class, who will be induced, by the abundance of labour and good roads, to settle and remain there. The sale of the town lots and the reserved districts will produce large sums, out of which provision may be made for the payment of clergymen and schoolmasters. Many such men now find a great difficulty to obtain a living of any sort, but stationed in these ever-increasing towns, they would be there a blessing to the community. And if we may judge how rapidly the towns have risen on all the railways in America, with three or four churches to each town, in the space of ten or twelve years, it is but reasonable to expect an equal increase, and equal prosperity, on the Canadian side. Bearing all the foregoing circumstances in view, I shall now proceed to the practical part of the work in hand, and more fiilly prove my propositions in detail. It should be a general rule, after the men are divided, to send the workmen who are to form the railway as pioneers, in advance of the agricultural la- bourers. The railway workers can proceed at double the speed of the men appointed for the clearing of the forest agricultural settlements. Subsequent divisions ] t 35 would proceed to their destination by the then made railway, and by it regularly receive their provisions, or any other required necessaries, with greater facility than those men who had first arrived. ..., No more than 5,000 men, with their proportion of women, should ever be landed at any part of a colony together. From these, a quarter of their number, or 1,250 men, should then be appointed to work for one year on the railway. They should be retained exclu- sively for this particular work. The remainder of the men, amounting to 3,750, might be divided into four sections, of 937-2, to clear and cultivate the land on both sides of the railway, and to erect a sufficient number of log houses on the side roads, to afford shelter for the workmen. When the first four branch roads, of 21 feet in breadth, at a mile apart, debouching into the railway, were in progress, separate lots of eight men with their wives and children, if any, would be placed upon allotted portions of 100 acres of land ; being the stipulated allowance for ten men, so that each lot of eight men would prepare, fence, and cultivate, not only their own lands, but also those of two railway workers. The agriculturists would have to clear and fence, sow and plant, not only the eight acres for themselves, but the eight acres of each railway worker. The railway workers, or pioneers, would continue working on the railway till the end of their year's work, when on re- turning home they would find their log houses built, and their land cleared, fenced, and sown with wheat and potatoes. (See the annexed plan of the working.) I shall now nnter into a more minute detail of all the particulars of a first settlement of the above num- ber of men and women. Let me suppose 5,000 men with their wives and children, landed from a fleet of ships, in Canada, ready d2 ' 36 to clear ground for settlements, and to open out the country by cheap railways as proposed. The railway, side roads, and proposed settlements, having been previously accurately surveyed, and the commissariat supplied with provisions, 1 ,250 men would at once be set to work to clear a road through the wood of 114 feet in breadth, which they would clear and burn, in order to prepaie the ground for the railway. Half the newly arrived men would be found on examination to be weavers, tailors, shoemakers, ser- vants, porters, boatmen, and handicrafts men of various sorts, wh*^ never had an axe in their hands before. To set them at once to work would be use- less. To the strongest limbed and healthiest men would be given a hatchet of 4 J pounds weight with a handle to it. These axes are quite different to English hatchets, and are calculated to do twice the work. To others would be supplied axes of 4 pounds weight ; and to the weakest, axes of 3 J and 3 pounds weight. In this distribution the former habits of life of the men would be considered. Spades, shovels and pick axes, would be delivered out from time to time as might be required. The next consideration would be to show all these men the nature of the work to be performed. For this purpose experienced choppers would instruct each individual on what side a tree should be chopped down ; making every nian in turn come close to the tree to be felled ; showing him that it should be cut down in general, on that side only on which it leans ; or if it be straight, to that side where there are the most branches. A cut is made, in depth something more than half the breadth of the tree, on the side to which it would naturally fall. After this first cut another is made on the reverse side, exactly oppo- 37 site to the first. When the tree is nearly cut through, it naturally falls to the side intended, and the man chop- ing it is in no danger. But there are trees so straight and even in growth, that unless very much chopped through on one side, it is sometimes problematical on which side they will fall, and the danger is, that if a tree falls where it is not expected to fall, the chopper may be killed upon the spot unless he is active in getting out of the way. He would also leai n how to fell a tree against which another previously felled has lodged, without danger to himself or his neighbours. After this lesson has been thoroughly learnt, each man would practice under the eye of his instructor. They would next learn how a fallen tree is divided into lengths. The branches are chopped off, and piled as brush. The chopper stands on the trunk with his feet sepa- rated, about two feft asunder, and dividing it half through first on one side, he then turns himself round, and chops it quite through on the other, till the trunk is divided into lengths, capable of being drawn by oxen to heaps, where the logs are afterwards burnt. Towards the evening of each day, the men might be employed in the construction of log houses from the cut pieces of the smaller trees. Eight or ten of such houses, of 1 8 or 20 feet in length, and about the same breadth, covered with the bark of the plane or elm tree, would be sufficient for the reception of 100 men, till others were afterwards made. And the women, 25 in number for each 100 men, would have three such temporary log houses built for them and their children. In case of continued wet weather, slight shanties can be made in a couple of hours, by the trees of the thickness of an arm, being cut 9 feet long, stuck into the ground, with brush intertwined on the sides and overhead, sloping a little, and a 38 few fir branches on the roof; this covering would shelter both men and women till better accommo- dation could be obtained. A workman, as has been already stated, without being an experienced one, permitted to take double the time of what an expert Canadian chopper can perform, would only be capable of clearing an acre of ground in a fortnight, which the other would cut down and divide it in a week. On each line of rail- way men would proceed forwards, cutting down trees. Immediately behind the choppers, others would follow, dividing the trees already prostrated by the first men into lengths of 12 or 14 feet, first severing the branches. Other men would lift these cut logs off the site of the intended railway, and pile them and the branches separately by the side of the railway, with the aid of six or eight yoke of oxen, and would adjust the log piles for burning when so collected together. Others would be employed on the railway itself, with pick axes, spades, and shovels, given out to the men for this work, to level the line, digging out and removing the roots on the road. Other men behind them would square the timbers left for the foundation sleepers, making them one foot six inches broad, eight inches deep, and twenty feet long. Others would cut the ties, six feet long, and six inches by four in thickness, notching them with a saw or hatchet at exactly three feet from a centre, that they may be placed across the sleepers, and rest upon them at every three feet distance. The sills, of six inches by six, and twenty feet long, may be laid within the cut recesses of the ties, and securely rest upon them. Saw pits, with upright and cross logs, might also be made on the line of the intended railway. A second and a third squadron might be sent forward with provisions, oxen. :J9 and every other requisite in advance of the otliers, on the line of railway. The men employed on the side roads leading into the railway, in clearing, fencing, and sowing the lands for their own location, would commence opera- tions, half on one side of the railway, and half on the other. They would be divided into four equal divi- sions of 937 men each, to work on as many separate roads, all running at right angles to the railway. At every third mile they would leave one square mile for richer settlers. If a Company took the contract for its construction, the roads at every mile would still be made ; but one mile immediately abutting on the railway, for its whole length, would be left for the Company. The men on that side could only make their settlements behind this mile, which would com- mence one mile distant from the railway. Twelve hundred and fifty men may construct 36 miles of railway every three months. But admit it to be only 25 miles in this time (if there are many deep cuttings, perhaps they would not advance more than this), 50,000 such men, working in all parts of the province, may make during the year full 1,000 miles of cheap but substantial railway, or 4,000 miles in four years. This extension of the scheme will lead to the establishment on the sides of the railways of 1,000,000 of the poor of England, within the distance of three miles from the sides of the railway, reckoning 200,000 women, and 800,000 men, so that about 7,000,000 poor can be located on the banks of these railways, within twenty miles of their border, allowing space for richer emigrants to settle intermediately. The advantages to be derived from encouraging railways can only be properly estimated from what has been their effect, not in England, already full of 40 inhabitants, but in America. There, universally, co- lonization follows on the lines of the railways. Waste lands which, had these lines not been constructed, would probably have remained for ever barren wastes, teem with population and happiness. Prosperity follows, as the natural development of the resources of the country opened up by means of the establish- ment of free communication. With such improve- ments, the cultivation of the sciences, trade, agricul- ture, commerce, and mechanics would advance in harmony together. The new colonists, encouraged by their own industry, and justly proud of their inde- pendence, the fruit of it, would raise the character of the Canadian people. The low price of food, which would not be above one third of the price of it in the parent state, and the fine climate rendering the neces- saries of life easily attainable, would ensure compe- tency to every industrious person. Canada, now so low and disheartened, would proudly take her place among the nations, and would be a security and in- crease of strength to the British nation. We might then exclaim, with Isaiah, " Thou hast increased the nation, O Lord, thou hast increased the nation ; thou art glorified ; thou hast removed it far into all the ends of the earth." (Chap. xxvi. verse 15.) *^ The facility and cheapness of the construction of railways in Canada can hardly be credited in England, when it is not taken into consideration that the way- leave and timber can always be obtained free of ex- pense. The possessor of lands is ever too glad to grant every such demand, knowing that a road through his property increases its value. The land is in general quite level ; the sleepers can be squared at 10s. a hundred feet, and all the other timbers con- tracted for at an equally cheap rate. In fact to square 41 the necessary timber costs barely .€160. a mile ; the progress of their construction will necessarily be rapid, and I do not see why the Canadas, which abound with fine iron, should not smelt their own at as cheap a rate as it can be obtained for in England. The railways might ultimately be extended to all the western territories on the Lakes Huron and Superior. It is but reasonable to conclude that if settlements were placed upon them also, the towns would be occupied, and respectable emigrants would flock to buy the lands rendered accessible. The car- riage of the emigrants, their families, and baggage, with the transport of the crops of the numerous poorer set- tlers, and the produce, goods, and merchandise required for the many increasing towns and inhabitants, would raise the profits of the Canadian lines higher than those of the Detroit and St. Joseph .ne. The trade in connexion with the settlement creating a large market for goods from England, would increase her exports and imports ; the gratitude and loyalty of the emigrant population would decrease the expense of defending the colony ; their removal from their pa- rishes would diminish the poor rates ; and the exten- sive tracts brought under cultivation would ever be a resource to her indigent population. By such enterprise this Colony alone, if we had not another, might be a sure refuge to the distressed ; succeeding generations might continue to advance into the interior of the country, and reclaim it. As cultivation progresses, the climate improves. The draining of wet or swampy lands (which indeed often only continue so from the woods excluding the sun,) would soon render them dry and healthy, even in the worst places, happily but a very few. Clearing the woods near the lakes, whose edges are frozen in n 42 winter, would lessen the severity of the winters, and piobabi/ remove the obstructious to navigation. Canada, from its general flatness, is perhaps more appropriate than any other country for the extension of communication by means of railways. Some lines may necessarily pasb through tracts owned, and in a state of cultivation, so that there may not always be public lands to bestow on the emigrants who are working on the railways. In such cases the occupied grounds would be left by the men who were ap- pointed to clear their land for settlements, and other unoccupied lands near the line of railway would be given them. Landholders, possessing large tracts un- occupied, should be compelled to sell these useless wastes to the State, at a valuation. If they were al- lowed to reserve to themselves a. square mile, here and there, on the line of the railway, this too would be probably of more value than the whole tract pre- viously to the making of the line. But it may yet, by some persons, be considered a hardship for a man who may possess a large tract of land in one place, to be compelled to sell it, or exchange it, when by the contemplated improvements, by holdi^ig it a few years longer it would become of much more value. Of course, no rights of property would be interfered with, unless such interference was absolutely neces- sary for the public benefit ; if it were so, private con- venience must ^ive way. But in fact, if a man's possessions are situated 20 or 30 miles in the interior, where there are neither roads, cultivation, nor inha- bitants, it is cleur they are of little or no value to the proprietor, more especially if he can neither approach nor cultivate them, nor induce any individual to hire them for such a purpose. With such owneisS of land, a square mile of G40 acres, given to him on the side 48 of a railway, would be of more value than the whole of his land before such railways were in contempla- tion ; and if he were allowed a fair price, to be fixed by a jury, for his land, he would in reality have nothing to complain of. Many of these interior grants have been formerly given away to parties by Governors, who often rewarded their favorites in this manner. Or if a large landholder received an equal number of acres, to the full amount of those he formerly owned, at 20 miles distance from the in- tended line of the contemplated improvements, the exchange would still be advantageous., as it is con- clusive that his holding such lands without any rail- way being carried forwards, the chances were that they might never be occupied or sold (except nomi- nally) for hundreds of years ; whereas by these ex- changed lands being within 20 miles of any of the proposed lines, they would be more valuable, and be sooner sold or let than if no such improvements had taken place. It is notorious, v^hen such tracts are now nold at Sherififs* sales, for taxes, or even by private contract, they are always disposed of for almost a nominal price. I know of 25 square miles of such interior lands bought by the Hon. Col. B. for less than twopence the acre ; and other cases are continually occurring, where soldiers and U. E. Loy- alists have each sold their grants for a bottle of rum. One leading man I am acquainted with bought several thousand acres in this manner, which are of no use to him whatever while the country remains a wilderness. If such a man obtain a fair selling price for such wastes, he cannot complain at being compelled to sell a barren wild for a valuable equiva- lent. For these reasons it would be imperative that an act be passed, to compel all such extensive land- z' 44 holders to dispob3 of their property at a fair valuation, to be fixed by a jury if necessary. The amount might be paid in money, or by another grant at a small distance from the line of improvement, or a square mile or two on the railway. The necessary wants of an increasing population will draw the industrious and enterprising to the new settlements. Towns will quickly arise to be foci of trade and speculation. Enormous prices are obtained in Canada for eligible building sites, as i?8,000. an acre in Montreal, Quebec, and Toronto ; ^2,000. in King- ston, Hamilton, and London; and above ,£1,000. in Woodstock and many other recently formed towns. The purchaser buys his lot, in general, on condition of paying six per cent, rent upon the price, till it is convenient for him to discharge the principal.* The new towns to arise on the lines of railways would distribute more equally the useful trades all over the province, which are at present confined to a few places. All the cracked and useless things in England, New York and other places, called wasters, are expressly bought up by unscrupulous people, for disposal in the Canadian market, and are resold at the highest price. Respectable tradesmen, settled in country towns, dependent for the means of existence on the custom of their immediate neighbours, would not have the same temptation to risk the loss of their business, by selling defective wares, that a tradesman has in a great city who sells to emigrants he may never see again, and therefore cares less for his repu- tation than for the petty gain on r* single fraudulent transaction. lu ^ << • : . r>f , ^ -f^ ; . , Emigrants should be on their guard in buying land. An unsuspecting person sometimes purchases an estate, ' '' * This proves the prosperity of Canadian towns. 45 pays down the price and obtains ^he deeds ; a short time after he has got possession, having greatly im- proved the land, he receives a notice from a lawyer, that his estate is mortgaged to its full value, and the mortgagor requires immediate payment, or he will foreclose the mortgage, and seize the estate. The only way to prevent being so defrauded, is to stipulate that the price of the estate shall not be paid till all the debts are recalled through the Gazette for three months, which would render any claim invalid against the property, after such a notice. I now invite the reader to look at the map of this hitherto neglected and unprofitable, but splendid country of Canada. I shall now describe the most desirable lines of the cheap railway through both th? Upper and Lower Province, which open up the greatest extent of country for the location of the industrious emigrant, premising that two of the lines have little if any public lands immediately on their border, but which, if made in the economical manner recommended, would un- doubtedly pay to their supporter ery great profits, and be productive of such certain i benefits a> would warrant their continuance to greater distn ices into the interior of the country, where large tracts >f pub- lic lands would then be rendered accessible for loca- tion. Of such is the Woodstock and Lake Erii^ Railway, in Western Canada, a charter for which h.s been obtained. But even here, nearly all the land through which this railway passes can be bought for about ,£1. sterling an acre, and a great deal of it for much less. (See the Prospectus, to be obtained at the Compamfs Office.) The Canadian Great Western Railway would also be very profitable, if it were less expensively con- 4G sfructed ; although without any public lands near its' border, it is the shortest route from the American States to the far west, and 500 daily passengers, and much of their baggage, would proceed by it from Buffalo to Detroit ; but it is to be regretted that these works at present languish. It will be convenient to give the starting points of each railway, and the number of men to be em- ployed on each, stating the number of miles to be constructed on each line, and the probable amount of acres belonging to the Government which may be obtained for the location of the poor in its vicinity. Miles. 1 . Two thousand five hundred men might land at the town of Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and a like numher at Annapolis, in the Bay of Fundy. These men would work from the extremi- ties of this line to its centre. The numher of Government lands are ahout 1,000,000 acres; but this line, without any lands, would amply repay the promoters for its construction, being an important thoroughfare. The distance is 100 2. One thousand men might land at Vert Bay, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, to construct a ship canal across the neck of if \d from thence to Cumberland Bay, to the Bay of Fundy. There are several fine tracts of Ian'' to the north of this isthmus, and in the neighbourhood, sufficient to locate 10,000 men. The distance is 10 3. Five thousand men may be landed at St. Andrew's, in the west end of the Bay of Fundy, to proceed to Woodstock East, and from thence to Frederickton across the country. Large tracts of Government lands are here acant. The dis- tance from St. Andrew's 64 miles ; from Woodstock to Fre- derickton 48 ; both 112 4. Two thousand men may be landed at St. John's, in the Bay of Fundy, to proceed up the river to Frederickton ; this route would pay well, but there is little available land along the river for miles. The distance is 50 5. Three thousand men to proceed up the river to Frederick- ton ; from thence to the interior, or western forks of the "liri- !: Carried forward. ......... . 272 47 Brought forward michi river. Thirty thousand men may be located on or near this line, as vast tracts of Government lands are vacant. The distance is 6. Five thousand men will land on the banks of the Miri- michi river, and proceed to Campbell town, on the Reatigouche river. Thirty times this number of men may be located here, on vast tracts of Government lands now vacant ; the dis- tance is 7. Five thousand men to proceed from the town of Wood- stock east to the town of Quebec. Vast tracts of Government lands are here, which might locate fifty times this number of men in succession, every other year, and find ample room. The distance is 8. Five thousand men to land at Quebec, to meet the above line of workmen half way to Woodstock east, there being vast tracts of lands on this side also, sufficient to locate many times this number. 9. Five thousand men to proceed to the north side of the St. Lawrence river, to the station NW.W. Fifty times this number of men may be located here, md find ample room be- hind. The distance is 10. Five thousand men to Hnd at the mouth of the Saguenay river, debouching into the St. Lawrence, to proceed to the last station near the Lake of St. John. Fifty times this num- ber of men may be located here, on Government lands. The distance is 11. Five thousand men may lana at Malt Bay, on the St. Lawrence, and proceed to the station north westward. There are here vast tracts of Govbrnment lands, sufficient to locate fifty times this number of men. The distance is 12. Five thousand men may land opposite Joachim Island, on the St. Lawrence, and proceed to the station northwards, and from thence to the second and third stations. Here many millions of acres belonging to Government are vacant, giving ample room for fifty times this number of the above men to be located. The distance is 13. Five thousand men may land and proceed to the first stetion north of Quebec, (when the railway to this point is in operation,) and from thence advance eastward to the Saguenay river. Here also fifty times this number of men may be lo- cated on Government lands. The distance is Milct. 272 65 104 220 87 80 85 185 110 Carried forward 1 158 46 / Miles Brought forward 1 153 14. Five thousand men will proceed from the first station north of Quebec (when the railway to this point is completed), and from thence advance to the Attaway river, west to Bytoun. .-) / , Here one million of men might be located on Government lands. The distance is 175 15. Five thousand men will proceed from the second station north of Quebec to Litchfield, on the Attaway river, as soon , as the milway to take them there is open. Here a million of , v men may be located on vacant Government lands. The dis- tance is 1 90 Total. 1673 *16. Five thousand men may proceed from Quebec to Mon- treal, and a like number from Montreal to Quebec, to meet each other half-way; fifty times this number of men may be located here on Government lands but not immediately on the railway, but in its vicinity. The distance is 145 *17. Five thousand men will proceed from the third station, (when they can get there by the previously made railway) north west of Quebec, to Hastings on the north Attawa river, or Creuse river. Here are vast tracts of Government lands, sufficient to locate a million of men. The distance is 190 *18. Five thousand men will proceed from Hastings on the Attawa river westward, to Machedash. Vast tracts of land are here, sufficient to locate fifty times this number of men. The distance is 125 *19. Five thousand men will proceed from opposite Sorel, on the St. Laurence, to Lake Memichaque, or Lake of the Graves, northwards. Here fifty times this number of men may be located on Government lands. Tlie distance is .... 110 *20. Five thousand men will proceed from the river banks opposite Montreal, to the fourth station directly north of it. Here 50,000 men might be located on Government lands. The distance is 145 *21. Five thousand from north of Kingston, to proceed to = Trout Lake. Vast tracts of Government lands are vacant here, to locate half a million of men in succession. The distance is 120 *22. Five thousand men will proceed from Machedash, to Lake Sturgeon, 40 miles ; and from Bytoun to Cornwall on the St. Laurence, 60 miles. The included distance is 100 Carried forward 2508 49 Brought forward 2508 *23. And from CorDwall they would proceed to Vaudeville east. There are many tracts of land in idl these three lines, to locate ten times the above number of men. The distance is. . 45 *24. Five thousand men will proceed from Litchfield, on the Attawa river, to Lake Sturgeon. Here are tracts to locate ten times the number of men. The distance is 113 *25. Five thousand men will proceed from Byetown, to Sidney on the Trent river. Here are tracts of Government lands to locate ten times the number of men. The distance is 110 *26. One thousand men will proceed from Sidney to Rice Lake west. Ten times this number of men, might be located here on Government lands. The distance is 40 "'27 . One thousand men will proceed from Cobourgto Sidney ; the lands here are occupied. The distance is IS *28. Five thousand men from Cobourg on Lake Ontario, to Albert, on Lake Huron, will work, passing New Market. Here one million of men may be located on Government lands. The distance is 1 88 Be it observed, this route to Lake Huron, overland, is 270 miles shorter than if proceeding by water to Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair, from Cobourg to Albert. "'29. One thousand men will proceed from Sturgeon Lake, to Lake Simcoe ; there is little land here. The distance is. . 23 *S0. Five thousand men will proceed from Toronto to Penan- tanguesheen, on Lake Huron, passing Kempfelt Bay and New Market. There is no: much Government land here, but this railway will open out 40 or 50 million acres of land to the north of Lake Huron, reported by Sir George Simpson to be of the most fertile quality ; and here four millions of the Irish poor might be comfortably located, by making a railway the whole length of the Lake, and two or three crossings, leading 150 miles into the interior, would give ample room and employ- ment, with towns at every seven miles, and intermediate lands for richer settlers at every third mile between them, for all the Irish poor with ten acres each 77 "'S 1 . One thousand men will proceed from Toronto to Hamil- ton. There are not any public lands here, but this route will sufficiently remunerate without them. The distance is 42 *3%. One thousand men will proceed from the Bridge at Niagara to Hamilton ; there are no public lands, but this rail- Carried forward 3159 it: 50 Brought forward. ...... 3159 way will pay well, as 500 pasBengers will travel by it daily, to the far west. But it should be made a cheap railway, to realize tnt^ great profits, to make amends for being without public lands. The distance is 46 '*'33. Five thousand men will proceed from Hamilton to Sand> wich, through Ancaster, Brantford, Woodstock west, London, Chatham, and Sandwich. No public lands, but the ^ine will pay 25 per cent. The distance is 167 "'34. Four thousand men will proceed from Big Creek on ■ Lake Erie, and Port Burwell, to Woodstock west. No Govern- - ment lands are here, but the country is covered with pine and oak. There are 6 steam engines to cut it, and 147 saw mills besides ; with 27 flour mills, but few can take the produce of either, to the Americans, or to England ; but with this railway the profits would be immense, and the mills would employ 7,000 men. The distance from Woodstock to Big Creek is 40 ; and the cross road to Port Burwell 20 miles; both .... 60 *35. Four thousand men from Woodstock would proceed to Goderich, through the Canada Company's Lands, who would give many privileges, and this line would amply remunerate', ; • as there are ten Companies formed to work the rich copper \^. \ mines on Lake Superior, as well as a Company to work a silver mine there; the Lake Superior fisheries, and various other produce, would render this line very remunerating if the way be made a cheap one 62 "'Sd. Four thousand men will proceed from Woodstock west to Owen's Sound on Lake Huron. This line will open out five , or six million acres of the finest lands in the Western Province, and great tracts of red pine timber, all which would eventually bring great wealth into the country, now all shut out from want of railways and enterprize. The distance is 103 *37 . Two thousand men will proceed from London to Sarnia, 60 miles, and from London to Port Stanley, 40 miles, but there i -> . are no public lands. The distance of both is 103 *38. With including two hundred miles along Lake Huron, and one crossing above Penantanguesheen of 103 miles, leaving .^ several crossings to be subsequently made, both on Lake ^i%r, Huron and near Quebec, to be completed when the others ..i...~... are in operation. The distance of both is 300 *39. Lands to locate the Irish poor, crossings of 0, 0, 0; ... to be settled last 4,000 51 Those lines marked with an asterisk should be first begun, for until the snow, which is five feet deep to the east of Quebec, can be melted by improving the climate, by the cultivation of the Western territory, I regret to say, I do not see of what earthly use a railway can be in winter, in such a climate. In the Western country the snow remains but a very short time, and is seldom deeper than a few inches, which can be at any time easily displaced. In examining the accompanying map, it will not fail to be observed that several of the railway lines run through a splendid and well-watered country ; which without such leading lines of road, to carry the pro- duce out of it, and in return to introduce imports from abroad, might be left for centuries uninhabited and unproductive. Good roads, without being half so efficacious, could not cost much less than the cheap railways recommended. Lines of railway would quickly be peopled by colonists, attracted by the rapid means of communication to all parts of the Province. The great distances to be traversed, in a new country like Canada, by the old roads, winding along the banks of extensive lakes and the St. Law- rence, would long impede the progress of civilization. None but boors will ever be induced to proceed to the confines of such gloomy tracts, where neither comfort, society, nor happiness could be procured ; very few even of the inferior classes relish being so shut out of the world ; and the indigent in general would refuse to leave their homes, wretched as many of them are, unless they were assured of a great change for the better in their condition. But give them these cheap railways, where a man would be free at once to proceed to any destination, however distant, or for any purpose, the scene would be changed ; and he would retain the refinement, and enjoy all the luxuries of the mother country, without its care or expense ; and in an incredibly short time the most inhospitable E 2 52 i wastes, such as lately existed in Michigan till railways were constructed, would possess all the arts of life, as if by enchantment. To be assured of this, let any one visit the large towns and thriving villages in that country, which I visited in October, 1846, and impar- tially judge of the cause of this great and sudden prosperity. It has confessedly been created by rail- ways. The Abbe Raynal was most just in his conclu- sion, when he declared, that the civilization of a country was truly to be judged of by the state of its roads. To those cavilling persons, who seldom approve of any remedy which is not perfect, or who object to every endeavour where difficulty appears, I would observe that, in an experiment where there are few certain deductions for our guidance, and little expe- rience to insure a successful result on a large scale, — no sure road to lead to unerring wisdom, — where per- haps the welfare of thousands is at stake, — where want of employment or over-population forbid a too cautious policy at a critical conjuncture, — one cannot very much err in choosing a beaten course, which has led to good results. Experience has proved the success of the plan now advocated in the American States ; and why should not a similar system, but on a larger scale, be as beneficial and successful under better regulation on the Canadian side, while the same blood, energy, religion, and laws pervade both countries ? It is my firm conviction that, in the present bear- ing of England, and I might add of Europe, in these eventful times, there is no other alternative at the present moment than emigration to the unem- ployed poor. Let those who object to this course, from its supposed inefflcacy, — who are appalled by the apparent difficulty of finding sufficient funds to trans- 53 port emigrants on a grand scale, — discover some other means that shall fully employ them in remunerating labour, sustain and clothe them, insure their daily bread in plenty, and rear and educate their families. To send the poor to such colonies, without supplying them with the means of subsistence, is worse than useless, ar^d inflicting the grei-.test cruelty, as they can no more subsist there Ihan at home. Of the hundred thousand poor Irish lately sent to Canada, nearly the half have died of starvation and disease ! Is not this a disgrace to those who suffered them to go forth, uncared and unprovided for ? '" '*' ' * '*' ' Those who are sent abroad must be fed and cared for, till they can be permanently provided. Not only would this desirable end be attained by the means proposed, but the Canadian colonies, now considered so useless by many, and found so expensive to defend, would be rendered capable of supporting and protect- ing themselves. For a sum which would be repaid, with 12 per cent, interest, in less than ten years, cheap railways might be constructed. Why is the white man to be regarded with indifference ? Why should we refuse so poor a boon to our own pauper population, when twenty millions were expended to give freedom to one million of blacks, without a hope of its return ? If we are in earnest about the sup- pression of the slave trade, why do we not proclaim it to be piracy, and hang up the master, mate, and super- cargo of the vessel caught in the nefarious traffic, and pay the expenses of the crusade by levying heavy contributions on all the towns in Brazil and Cuba found pursuing the trade ? There need be no fear of war from such a pusillanimous race as the Brazilians or Spaniards ; and we should have availed ourselves of the only remedy to protect our own depressed 54 West India trade, which now in her last agony im- plores relief. The bee warns us that, when the hive is too full, it is imperative upon its inhabitants to seek new dwelling places. Their transplanted colonists are soon as in- dustrious and happy as before : regardless of the change of residence, they fly to new st-^res of flowers and herbs, fulflllmg their allotted destiny. But man places too little confidence in a superintending Provi- dence, that wills his success with far greater certainty than that of the inferior creation. If he but trusts to it, and is industrious, he is sure to prosper. The rulers of the hive proclaim in due time the signal to depart ; and when so warned, the obedient crowd are borne away in safety to new settlements, nothing doubting. Should not the rulers also of our State lead forth the people to new fields of exertion, when we also are crowded with a superabundant population ? Where is the difficulty in a community where Chris- tian charity is the professed maxim ? Shall we dis- semble, or afiect to believe, while we refuse to act upon that which we profess, — or have we " the form of godliness, and deny the power thereof"? We have yet a short time of trial : if we are found faithful, we may yet escape ; but woe to us, if we remain luke- warm, or heedless of the echoing discord around. ^ The richer colonists, who might be desirous of making provision for their families, might either pur- chase from the contracting Company, or obtain land from the Government. Two hundred acres, in this country, would be quite enough for any individual. This land could then be purchased from the Govern- ment for from ^50. currency and upwards, according to the situation and goodness of the soil ; £50, cur- rency being, with the ten per cent, premium on 55 English bills, and the difference of exchange, about £A0. sterling. The land would increase in value, in proportion to the increase of the population. At present it long remains of no value ; ten or twenty thousand acres are useless as a provision (as from want of roads there is no use in cultivating the soil), for the pro- duce, however abundant, cannot be taken to a market. But with railways, the whole fruits of the soil in every direction could be brought to market, or shipped to England. The establishment of saw and flour mills, on all the lines of railway, would amply repay their construction. In this manner all our colonies might be made be- neficial to the parent state, peopled by Englishmen, and united in one bond of religious harmony with each other, and a foundation established for the in- crease of colonial peace and prosperity. The question now remains to be solved, — will a Company be found to undertake il e contemplated works, to establish the poor, beginning with Canada 1 I have no hesitation in declaring, that if the necessary encouragement be gi^en, a company would be formed, and the money very soon be subscribed to carry them forwards. But proper surveys of the intended routes must be previ'^usly made, and power obtained to pre- vent speculators buying up the lands, to resell them at an increased price. The parishes should defray the expenses for the passage out and clothing of the poor, as stated, subsisting them one year, which would all be repaid by their crops the second year. And if there should be a difficulty in obtaining the money to proceed with the desired work, then the Government, feeling the necessity of some enlarged system to pro- vide for the unemployed, should advance the sums I mmmmm mmmmKmmm / ^^Q> required ; and that all who may have a good opinion of the railway lines may be induced to take shares, they should not only be secrxred from any loss, but declared entitled to whatever profits may accrue beyond five per cent. ; or the overplus of profit may be then tikeii by the Government, to liquidate the debt incurred by each emigrant for the price of his grant, at one dollar an acre. The land, though not worth so much at present, will be worth treble this amount after it is intersected by railways, as has been proved in Michigan. In the preceding statement I have given the highest price for constructing the Michigan railway, of ^1,500. a mile, which R. S. Porter, Esq. informed me could now be made for much less ; the Americans at first having to find the wood for the sleepers, ties, and sills. But on the Canadian side, all the timbers re- quired can be obtained for the cutting ; and although the works will be far greater on the British side, the profits must be higher, as the ways are wholly con- structed without any cost but what is repaid at the end of the year. The whole sum to construct the 4,000 miles of railway, with every appurtenance, would amount to ^£2,1 12,000., independently of the food of the men. Let any one calculate then the profits to accrue in the working of these desirable lines, and ask himself if they are not such as to war- rant their construction. I believe that it cannot be long before railways are adopted in all our Colonies. And the means by which this end will be attained, will enable us to say with Samuel, "He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and litteth ; p the beggar from the dunghill ; for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and he hath, set the world upon them.'* #: B! CONSTItU ...I ■* ^ -^"•^'-'■"iraiiMii RAILWAYS TO ai MAP OF THE eONSTRUCTEl^ TO ESTABLISH ^i r AP OFTHE i LSTABIISH THE AMLl-MOmil POOR in CANADA. s r F \z A WM E JTC £ 1 ') A 1 I' fsmaa^ Rpaii^fn* r , ii \s .* ««■■ ■♦■• ■» '-. *• *'* * ■"-'•-'•',' .^-:51t ,■ ^'<'^ '■if-!^f3&^ik.s.m^ii^i-'i- Hf'ffiV^'. ■ Hfcf .; i' 'j -•-^J-* ..wWl^t(JE«^^^j t» ^ 57 i .:. CHAPTER III. .1 i>. ^ The Constitution given to Canada qfter the Rebellion — Evils of Responsible Government protested against by both French and English — Lord Durham's Report — Deqf Ear to all Remonstrance — French and English spoken in Parliament, tending to perpetuate distinction of class — Members paid for attendance unfit for the duty, and liable to Bribery — Injustice of the Indemnity BiU — Taxes quadrupled — Viceroy and Lieutenant- Governors recommended, with Law Courts and Dis- trict Councils — Mr. Pitt and the Island of Grenada — ^ The Policy of adopting Cheap Railways and extensive ''' Emigration — Happy Results anticipated therefrom — Instances of the Farce of Responsible Government. No one that was not short sighted, but must have foreseen the unpleasant crisis coming upon Canada (which we have lately witnessed), from the very nature of the Constitution given to it immediately after the rebellion by the British Government ; and what has now happened could only be anticipated, — that by giving the French part of the population equal members of Parliament to the English, who are greater in numbers, consideiing that one third of the Lower Province are English, the former, extremely ignorant, and always led by a few ambitious lawyers, would be united to a man to oppose the English for any purpose ; while many of the latter, equally un- scrupulous and mercenary, would join that side which ■xni^tmm.-i^' ik^tmm « 58 offered the greatest bribe, no matter for what object. It was evident that this minority of French would soon gain the ascendancy, strange as it may now appear, when joined by only a few of such a distempered and hungry race, to place their countrymen under a most unnatural control ; who never can heartily amal- gamate with those they believe to be their implacable enemies, and who have proved they are so by rebellion to the mother country. The anomaly too, of the French Members in the Parliament House being permitted to speak in their own language (very few of whom are able to read and write), which cannot be understood by the English ; and these again, when they speak, not jeing compre- hended by the French, is an unfortunate eia in legis- lation, which could not fail to bear its bitter fruit in due season, which, while uniting the provinces, should have been foreseen, ere allowed to become the law of the land ; as at the best, such a state of things could only lead to disunion and anarchy, which were suffi- ciently conspicuous before the operation of these laws. But the English, or Upper Colony, vehemently pro- tested against such a union of the Provinces, well knowing, that if the French ever obtained a majority in the House, the former would be oppressed. And Lord Durham, in his report, declares that the two races of people never can be amalgamated. Was ever anything else to be expected, than discord and oppression ? After the rebellion of the Provinces, in which only the disaffected few were implicated in the Upper, joined by American sympathizers, who did great injury to the loyalists, an Indemnity Bill was passed to remunerate these, which was wholly paid hy the Upper Province, not one Frenchman being asked to m pay a farthing of it, although their disaffection brought on the whole of the troubles of the Upper Province, and who were the cause of all their losses. What right or justice, then, had the French to tax the Eng- lish, to pay for their damages, by their Indemnity Bill, who were not the cause of them, and used every exer- tion to prevent them ? As well might Yorkshire or London be taxed for their misconduct, as Upper Canada; or New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Cape Bre- ton, or Newfoundland. But this law to oppress the Upper Province has been passed for a deep laid purpose, in order to make the Upper Province as disaffected to the mother country as they themselves, which they well knew, if they could persuade the Governor to sanction such a law, would so gall the loyal people to be com- pelled to pay it (now free trade has reduced them to a state of barter, and it will sorely distress them) ; the French by such a proceeding expect to make the EngUsh as desirous as themselves for annexation to the American States. This is the real object of the tax, and John Bull has not wit enough to see through it. ' • > . . f The Author does not believe that either the English or French people are really fit to be intrusted with a Parliament, who for their attendance are required to be paid a daily stipend for performing a public duty, which they voluntarily undertook, or who can possibly be fit to give laws to a state r my if so poor that they cannot afford to gratuitously labour for the general weal, or can be properly educated as public function- aries to fulfil a deputed trust, without being feed for it, that country is too young and unprepared to receive such a boon. : v i; ,. ^ .^ -.v. In proof of this conclusion, see what confusion and direliction of principle this has created, where from 60 the paltry emolument of two dollars a-day being given to people miserably poor, many of the lowest grade of the English, without education or property, but blessed with a good stock of impudence (for the real gentle- man, or man of wealth, can seldom be induced to sit, or act, by the side of such illiterate people), any one can obtain a seat in such a representative House, if he but promise to be a tool in the hands of the un- principled and ignorant of any sectional part of the Province, who are in considerable number. While many go there expressly to live on a quarter of the Parliamentary grant, and hoard the other dollar and three quarters in order to keep them free for the ensuing part of the year, who would otherwise be compelled to work at some handicraft without such a godsend ; and in consequence of the greater number in this country being very poor, but who have nearly all votes, and who are often misled by radical news- papers to advocate what they call " Responsible Go- vernment," as the only means of escape from taxation ; these imposts are, notwithstanding this false hope, as regularly on the increase ; the reason of which these blind guides have not sense to detect, proceeds fi*om their own folly, in appointing such members, which common sense might surmise would be sure to aug- ment their public burdens, if they could enrich them- selves by it. It follows that notorious jobbing of all sorts is the order of the day, and too often puts into these representatives' pockets half of all the sums allowed for the public works, which are always com- pleted in the worst manner, and contracted for by them for half the price stipulated by the house, when given to a member to be completed. Such was the bridge at Paris, on the Grand river, which fell down soon after, and had to be more substantially rebuilt ; G1 with innumerable other jobs of the same nature, expressly obtained, by the assent of the House, to enrich such disinterested advocates (all honourable men of course), to the detriment of the public good. And this is all the benefit the Colony has obtained by the panacea that the too flattering cry ot " Responsible Government" was to afford, which acts without any responsibility, and insures impunity to the most cor- rupt and impudent. In proof how beneficial this selfish system has become, the taxes under Sir John Colborne were only one quarter what they are at present, when there was no responsible government dreamt of. The Author can only cry out, with many others, the Lord deliver us from " Responsible Govern- ment." Besides, responsible government makes a tool of the Governor for the worst purposes, wholly does away with the authority of the Parent State, and will certainly lead to the disruption of Canada from its rule at no distant peiiod. It was most unnatural also to allow two races of people, who are wholly distinct in feeling, taste, lan- guage, and inclination, to sit together in the same Parliament House, as it would be impossible, out of such a chaos, that any other but discordant commu- nications and strife would be perpetuated, to the disruption of all union in the good Government of the Province; nor could there be any sympathy of action for its welfare, there being no tie to bind the Lower Province to the allegiance of the Queen and British Government; which should not have been overlooked at the time of their criminality and pro- fessing repentance, after their submission to Sir John Colborne. What else but a neglect of such security could have been expected from men who were sent 62 to govern the colony at this time, openly declaring to those who had proved their loyalty by defending the Province, who exclaimed they would always unite to put down disaffection or rebellion to the Parent State, to be then coolly told, by one at the head of the Government, that such professions were disapproved, asserting "it is your loyalty we so much dislike." The consequence was, that many who were before loyal, took the hint, and became the reverse, more especially as they soon found that no public trust or emolument were ever likely to be offered but to thick- and-thin demagogues. The Author's firm conviction now is that Canada, till more enlightened, and generally better educated and richer, should only be ruled by Governors of ex- perience, and Boards of District Municipal Council (with the Law Courts of course), who v Id know what was required for such a country, to quickly improve it ; — to the immediate construction of good roads ; canals of equal dimensions and depth ; with similar locks on them all ; and steadily pursue this good, which the present District Municipal Boards are perfectly capable of. A Ruler of this sort might be stationed at Quebec, at Montreal, Kingston, Toronto, and Hamilton or Woodstock (which last place being surrounded by strong positions for defence, should be fortified in time, with permanent but cheap field fortifications) : and although these commanders would be with sepe- rate commands to give redress to those immediately round them, they should be all under a superior head or Viceroy, stationed at Montreal, to be referred to in any difficulty. By such simple means, and an inti- mation from the parent state that the colony should G3 be forthwith generally improved, as was so much re- quired by the people, this would do more to tran- quilize the country, than anything else. Such a Viceroy, with enlightened coadjutors, should be occupied in devising the most effectual means to intersect the country by cheap railways, which need not generally cost more than the estimates before stated; and this intention should be encouraged, and zealously promoted, by the Parent State ; to send out the distressed but able-bodied poor, to occupy the sides of these necessary thoroughfares ; to communi- cate with all parts of the province, to render the country habitable, giving every poor man ten acres under certain conditions, leaving room every third mile for richer settlers, who would act as magistrates ; and with land allowed for towns at every seventh mile, the building lots for which should be sold at a low price, and for the interest of the capital only, would ultimately enrich and benefit the state. The funds obtained thereby would be sufficient to build the required churches and school houses, and endow them, being then made free to the inhabitants, both for religion and education, with established worthy and religious pastors and masters ; and as they in- creased in population, adding libraries, gardens, &c. What a different appearance would Canada exhibit ten or fifteen years after such a system was in opera- tion ? with the whole country thickly populated, the climate yearly becoming more delightful, in the en- virons of such roads and cultivation ; when reciprocally exchanging its various productions with the home consumers ; the taxes reduced, as the burlesque of " Responsible Government" would be derided, and its advocates be compelled to work, instead of living on the public ; the land requiring no troops to protect 64 it ; every one being happy and contented ; would it not then be just to exclaim with Pope, — I"". • 7 ^ »• < ,\: " For rules of Government let fools contest, That which is best administered is best :" i»i where every one's happiness would be equally pro- moted, — when the lakes, rivers and canals would swarm with our shipping and crafts, while trade, agriculture, and commerce, thus encouraged, would make gigantic strides ; the poor who continually arrived, making new lines of communication, added to those already com- pleted, — the fisheries, properly encouraged, making this food so abundant on the lakes and rivers, then available, to be at every one's command, and to be obtained at a trifling cost, — the minerals explored, worked, and exchanged for English produce, to en- rich the industrious, — and the whole of this vast cour/ry capable of being quickly traversed in all di- rections by railways ; their construction being so methodically arranged, that the lines should make the shortest cuts, and the lands widely cultivated on each side of them ; after which the lakes, river St. Lawrence, and canals, would be capable of being navigated all the year round; so that the bulky articles would be cheaply transported by water, while the inhabitants and lighter goods would be sent by the railways. Then, both Provinces having no con- tention, nor desires unsatisfied, it is to be hoped might live in peace. The diminished taxes required, would pay the few who governed, instead of the hungry and unprincipled many, who are never satis- fied, who always fleece their supporters, and then deride them for their confidence. Such a system then, in the Author's humble opinion, under tried men of character and morality, is the 65 only panacea to be olTered to the Colony, till well educated and substantial men were found who would be induced to attend the Parliament, without fee or reward ; and who even then should never be allowed to carry forward their own schemes, but only public servants be employed, who would be paid for the work under proper estimates. And the moment a Lieut-Governor, or even Viceroy, was generally com- plained of, found indolent, or incapable of his voca- tion, and not strictly impartial in his public duty, that moment should be his dismissal from the trust he held, and another be sent in his place. But if such a routine be objected to, and it would only be so from those who now hold the public functions of the Province, or those who wish to obtain them as their successors, and a few other selfish or ambitious persons, for the sake of peace and harmony by all means and at once separate the two people for ever, from contention, civil war, and blood shed ; where no one can calculate the end or injury time or hatred may produce, and give each Province its respective Parliament House, to pass their own laws inobtrusive of the general welfare : and this may in the end lead to a better feeling, for the benefit of both parties. As it is pretty well ascertained that fire and water can never unite, either on a large or small scale, and when attempted it is always the cause of explosion, which is found to blow up all the machinery, and the people who conduct it. : ;^ ; . j. ..;}/•=.» But continue the improvements of both countries, to make the people feel that the Parent State is most anxious that both Provinces should be equally pros- perous, and both be united as brethren, determined that they may arrive at the same goal as Christians ; this should be the main object, i p ^■ f-.H' / 66 The real contention would then be among all classes, that instead of arraigning the forms of govern- ment, they might seek the more to give rewards tu those who kept their grounds in the best order ; those who could find the easiest method to extract the stumps; produce the greatest crops; or who built the handsomest, cheapest, and most commo- dious cottages ^ bams ; who reared the best stc:!.. ; who were the most industrious, religious and moral ; whose children were the most carefully educated, and so looked after at the free schools that they would eventually become the most respectable members of society. For this object, property should be held one gene- ration among the apportioned poor, ere allowed to be disposed of, except under very particular circum- stances, or till this vrst and magnificent country could be explored or traversed, either by railways or canals, when only thei* this property might be suffered to change hands. The Irish might be sent with advantage to the north of lake Huron, which country Sir G. Simpson declares " to be the finest agricultural country in the world ;" which must be intersected by one long rail- way of about 300 miles, with three crossings, to the north west, of about 150 miles; giving about 20 millions of acres, when by the same process as before described, two million poor might occupy their allotted ten acres of land each, and cultivate them ; giving room for richer people between them ; supposing that one quarter being women, would join their husbands : and so all the poor in succession might be established, from whatever part of Britain they came, till the western e trcmity of lake Superior, and all that beautiful region which the above traveller ex- er s I plored, was fully settled ; or British steam boats and ships ply up those majestic streams he so feelingly describes, may ere long be occupied ; which with the commonest energy may be colonized, to give com- petency and happiness to tens of thousands, to snatch them from the poverty and wretchedness now so prevalent and overwhelming in this country, and dis- creditable to the State. • *> ^< '?av .* 3 li All this great good may at once be accomplished, by pursuing the American sysiam of constructing cheap railways, to open out the country wherever situated, and which roads will take the produce to certain markets, when settled by the poor men who make them ; to amply repay their cost, and the in- terest to accrue ; and if the ground be so\d to them at one dollar an acre, so that they may have the power of purchase, (for unless this cheap rate be adhered to, in our Canadian Colonies, no one will buy ground at a dearer rate, when for hundreds of years to come, the Americans will always possess a store and choice of lands at the public disposal for the above price) and v.herefore it will be in vain de- manding a higher rate on th j British side of the water, unless some encouraging inducement, or capability of making town building lots, for such increase of price shall be the cause ; or till after the whole of the American prairies and western waste lands are occupied ; and of course no one would purchase lands at a dear rate, when they can be obtained much cheaper, equally good. - :•■ We have eyes to see the great advantage of rail- ways in America, England and Europe, although in the latter states there were good roads ; but when they are to be so cheaply constructed as represented in this work, and their utility proven to be so capable f2 6$ i| I of supporting the poor P,t so little cost, we shall be wicked, and devoid of common sense, to neglect their formation in ell our Colonies, See the dire effects of this oversight and neglect in the benighted countries of Brazil, Mexico, and many other nations remaining so backward in everything ; with slavery, to counte- nance their neglect, and bigotry to perpetuate it. Why is the Cape of Good Hope so wretched in the interior ? AustraHa, New Zealand, Natal and Canada dissatisfied ? and the nearer African states, with Egypt, Greece and Turkey, so feverish and unhappy ? Simply because they neglect to improve the condition of the people ; their education in religious principle, morality and virtue; which can the sooner be se- cured, when you insure them greater comfort and happiness in the first instance ; a regeneration of right principle may the more readily be expected to follow, under a religious superintendence, and where there would be much less temptation to be corrupt. Let me now state an example, to guide our feet in the right path ; to insure union if it be followed. The Author happened to be in the Island of Grenada in 1795 and 1796, during the whole of the French re- volt ; and after the rebellion was quelled, in which glorious termination he had contributed in almost daily contests with the relentless brigands, at whose head he regrets to say were many of the French Creoles, who never gave us quarter till the whole of the first battalion of the regiment were extinct (those acting as marines with Lord Howe escaped the dread- ful service, and obtained promotion). Only four were left, out of this fine corps, to tell the melancholy tale ; and, he regrets to add, the 29th, and the other corps of which there were only detachments, shared a similar fate ; and had it not been for the great force 69 of Sir Ralph Abercrombie, who came to their rescue with 18,000 men, even the few that were left would have been exterminated, from the horrors of the war, climate, and most execrable food. But this seasonably averted the evil, with God's providence, to the few who survived, when the island was at length re- taken. Did the renowned Pitt allow the men who had rebelled permission to speak the French language in the Parliament? On the contrary, nothing but English was tolerated in its deliberations, or suffered to be written in any recorded deed. And those who declined to take the oath of allegiance (which has never been required in Canada) were to sell their property, or quit the Island within a year. And was this so burdensome, that a demur could be created on the subject ? when not one person was found to sell, and all took this terrible oath of allegiance, and all soon spoke English ? The d'ssatisfied French in the Island of Grenada were some of the richest men there ; these were in general tried and hanged after the rebellion. In Ca- nada ^.hey have all been forgiven. The consequence of the two systems is soon told • th^t since that eventful time in Grenada, now above 54 years, not a whisper has been heard, that the French could never amalga- mate with the English. Not so in Canada, where the prejudice of the two races is fostered by permitting the use of both languages in their public councils, which instead of diminishing their individuality, is daily becoming stronger, and the hatred that should have been quenched, is perpetuated. Mr. Pitt was aware that certain jealous feelings in human nature, particu- larly of country, require to be placed under restraint, and made subservient to a principle of order ; subject more especially to that nation which was to hold the P I ' 70 ascendancy. In this manner was the French spirit subdued; and are they not there the better for it, when it has led to mutual peace and perfect harmony to tiie two then discordant races, now wholly united and respecting each other ? Heire then is a principle that might be followed with advantage. , . ;^ • "Ui An old disabled officer, with a large family, and crippled by severe wounds, obtained a grant of land from the Crown and then Commander-in-Chief, in 1830, of 1200 acres, which was immediately complied with, and given him by Sir John Colborne, and the ground was deeded to that officer. After being sur- veyed, nine unlawful squatters were ordered off, upon their being paid the valuation of their clearances; two refused the arbitrator's (Mr. H. Castle's) offer, and then the Governor and Conncil ordered that unless these two arbitrated with him they should not receive any remuneration ; they still refused. In con- sequence the case was taken to the Court of King's Bench, for greater security, where thijse squatters, P — R — Y and C N, refused to appear, well know- ing they would he defeated. The award was given in favour of the old officer, against the squatters' claim of 3J acres, who originally possessed the land without any title whatever or payment for it, which 3i acres were all they ever claimed. The officer held quiet possession till 1840, and even let the 3 J acres to P — R — Y for a-year ; an admission that the land was not his. In 1840 C N sold his land and the share of the 3J acres to a Mr. A. B — t — ge ; kc again, to a Mr. Y — L — G, the latter of whom persuaded P — r — y to seize not only the 3J acres, but nine acres in addi- 71 tion, upon which last land there was an excellent mill site. These lands, being in the front town plot of the town, were then very valuable, and the mill site also, the whole of which was sold to a Mr. Finkle, who built a substantial mill upon it ; and then only the seizure by these unprincipled people was disco- vered by the old officer, as he lived at a distance. When he knew of the seizure he immediately referred the case to Mr. SuUivan, President of the Council, and who was the lawyer employed in the Court of King's Bench, who advised him to go before a Boun- dary Commissioners' Board for the district, then sitting, from whom he would certainly get redress ; the Surveyor-General sending down plans to prove the officer's right to the land, by the original Surveyor, Mr. Jones ; at which original survey all the lines, by order of the then Parliament in 1797, and still in force, were after that period to be parallel to each other throughout the Province, except on gores or small parcels of land ; and if these plans were adhered to, the dispute must have been settled in five minutes. But these Boundary Commissioners, of which there were three (two of them \/ere poor ignorant country farmers), were paid a ,£1. a-day, a nice bribe to spin out all such disputes ad infinitum ; and so it proved. The old disabled officer was a strict Conservative, while P — R — Y was a Yankee Radical, and strenuous responsible Government man; so was Mr. Deputy Surveyor, P. C l ; and then the Colony was cursed with responsible Government; and instead of the Board sitting five minutes, as was expected, they sat eleven days, from the 11th to the 23rd of December, 1840, making orders for every sort of survey but the right one, to add to the expenses, which were not to draw the line as by right it ought, from the 22nd lot I I / 72 of the first concession of East Oxford to a tree on the 3rd concession, when Jones's survey would have been proven, as sent by the Surveyor-General, Mr. Park. This 22nd lot had only then left it 11 chains bQ links, instead of 27 chains, from the purloining of the other lots first settled, which had been previously occupied, and lands fraudulently taken, not according to Jones'^s measurement, made through thick woods, which shorten the chain one link, but after the grounds were cleared, which elongates the chain one link, and so the last lots taken in every township are thereby much curtailed by such a permission, as was in this 22nd lot, which ought to be abolished. The old officer's grant was given from the 21st lot; so if the line had been drawn from the 22nd, he would have obtained 16 chains of P — r — y, the award being then made, and all the facts of the case produced to the Court. The Parliamentary authority of parallel lines of 1797, the eight concessions of East Oxford, in number 22, and the grant as given in 1 830, by the King and Commander-in-Chief to the complainant, while P — R — Y and Y — l — g occupied the 21st lot so called of the first concession, and held 16 chains of this 22nd lot according to Jones's survey, which ought to have been given to the officer, with the mill site, more especially as the Court of Queen's Bench, which is a higher court than the Boundary Commis- sionerc' Court, had already given it so. But the Boun- dary Commissioners drew a line from the west corner of the 2 \st lot to a tree on the third concession, instead of, as stated, from the 22nd lot, which was sworn to by several as the boundary of East Oxford, and by so doing they made an oblique line, contrary/ to Jones*s survey t cutting off 12 J acres and the valuable mill site from the officer, and then declared this falsehood to 73 be according to Jones's survey, making twenty-one lots, instead of twenty-two. A second time these Boundary Commissioners sat was in March 1841, when they continued the oblique line as aforesaid to the third concession, and cut off 80 more acres, and did not even condescend to inform the old officer what they had done. But he then (in 1840) memorialized the then Governor, Sir Charles Metcalf, stating his whole case of the grant being given by order of the home Government, and implor- ing his interference to do him justice, from its seizure being directly contrary to law, as the ground was cut off by an oblique line not made according to Jones*s survey, which was fully corroborated by the Surveyor- General, Mr. Park, who wrote in strong terms in the old officer's favour. The complainant, believing notice to be at hand, patiently waited nine months without an answer, and then a letter, the 9th month and one day, came (purporting to be the Governor and Council's de- cision, but which he firmly believes never went before him), stating that the Law Courts were open to him for redress, and that it was out of their power to give it. Now the Law Courts cannot (by the Boundary Commissioners* Act) be applied to after six months ; had the answer arrived within that period, the officer would have certainly obtained the same award from this Court as before, and redress ; but the answer being kept three months and one day beyond this time, no redress could be obtained, and such an answer was adding insult to injury, for they knew he could not then receive redress. Thus the mill site was taken from him, and the 12J acres, most unjustly, now worth c£ 14000, with the mill and town plot. Could it be possible that a Governor like Lord Metcalf could insult an old officer with such an answer ? Im- i' 74 possible ; and his name was not appended to the docu- ment sent : but the officer was a Tory, and this is a great crime in the eyes of all responsible Government men, who hate all Tories. / ^; In the second award, of March, 1841, the officer at once threw the case into Chancery ; and the Par- liament, finding those Boundary Commissioners had done very great injury, and caused great expense to the Province, altogether abolished such a Court. The officer, by that means, defeated the intention of the responsible Government men ; the expenses alto- gether of the costs of these two squatters being ^147., and the most valuable part of his grant, given by his King and Country for above 56 years' services, (being also disabled by wounds,) was unceremoniously taken from him by public servants, calling themselves re- sponsible Government men, who acknowledge the case to be contrary to law, and proven so by the Sur- veyor-General and Jones's plans, but who refuse to give that officer any redress or equivalent for his great loss, — the mill clearing £ 1000. a year, and the ground being valued at ,£1200. an acre, nov/ selling in eli- gible sites in the town at this price. What Tory would not covet to live under a responsible Govern- ment, when so treated ? Do not the 13oard of Com- missioners and Supreme Council deserve to be im- peached for injustice, and neglect of duty, and the Boundary Commissioners punished for perjury, as they were all sworn to do justice according to Jones's sur- vey, but went directly contrary to it ? Mr. Deputy Surveyor, P — r C 1, finding he could act with im- punity under a responsible Government, afterwards seized 300 feet of the old officer^s front of his town plot to the westward, dug it out 10 feet deep, and nearly 30 feet broad, and when remonstrated with by the said old 75 officer to desist, declared the ground was not his. He had contracted for the making of the Macadamized and plank road from London to Hamilton, through Woodstock, and this gravel was taken to make the said road, which totally spoiled the officer's front. On his writing again to the Surveyor-General for re- dress, he obtained an answer that he had written to Mr. Deputy Surveyor P r C 1 to desist taking the gravel ; but he still continued his depredations ; and when told that the Surveyor-General had de- clared the ground belonged to the old officer, he snapped his fingers at the informant, and told him he did not care the snap of a finger for the Surveyor- General, and he would take as much of the gravel as he wanted. This also was told to the Surveyor-Ge- neral, who wrote back to say he could not give any further redress ! so that Mr. Deputy Surveyor P - C 1 could act with impunity to oppress officers, and when they complained, under responsible Govern- ment, neither redress nor responsibility was given, but insult, by such a Government. Another old officer, Capt. R ds, was treated exactly in the same way, and who represented his case to the then Surveyor-General also, but he could not get any redress — and if public servants can so act, contrary to justice, and set aside the deliberate acts of the home Government, confirmed by a previous Lieutenant-Governor, is not such a Colony already independent of the British nation ? while Lord John Russell declares it shall be retained as a Colony ! These very acts shew that the Colony, under the farce of responsible Government, has already thrown off their allegiance to the Parent State, and the nation has not wit to see it. ' ' ' The third case is of an old admiral's son, J.V 1, 76 Esq., a strict Tory Conservative, and most honourable man, who was district umpire in the late election of Mr. Hinks and another Deputy Surveyor. Upon a show of all the votes at the election of the above, he conscientiously gave it against Mr. Hinks, who clearly had not obtained the greatest number of votes. For this conscientious duty, every place he then possessed, under responsible Government, was taken from him, and he was twice called up in winter to be interro- gated by this responsible Parliament, kept at Mon- treal some time, incurring great expenses, and not knowing what tyranny might happen next, was at last left to return home, as he could not possibly be ar- raigned, and not one farthing of his expenses were repaid him. He, as well as the old officer, might well cry out, the Lord deliver them from responsible Go- vernment, and all such deceptive devices, invented by knaves, believed by fools, and only supported by the wicked, and those who can be bribed. • sr. i. ^ Letter of Lewis Burwell, Esq, a Sworn Boundary Commissioner, (A True Copy.) This certifies that on or about the 23rd December, 1840, an award was made by Deputy Surveyor P — r C 1, J — n J n, and J — n B s. Esquires, the Board of Boundary Commissioners for the dis- trict of Brock, between an old officer, a claimant, and J. R. Y g and L— ^i P y, respondents, in a case of Boundary, between lots number 21 and 22, in the first concession of East Oxford; that a survey and examination of the premises were made on or about the 1 1th December previous to the date of the 77 award, and evidence taken before the said Commis- sioners ; that I was one of the surveyors engaged in the said survey, and an evidence at the trial ; and being also at that time a Boundary Commissioner for the district of Gore, my opinion in the matter was taken ; — that in giving my opinion from the evidence, I gave it in favour of the old officer's claim. At the same time two of the above Board of Commissioners, namely, Mr. J n and Mr. B s, stated to me, that their opinion on the subject was the same as my own, and that they should adhere to that opinion in making up their award. Afterwards the award was made against the said old officer's claim. My opinion then, as a Boundary Commissioner, and as an expe- rienced licensed surveyor, was, and still is, that the said award was made contrary to law and evidence. (Signed) LEWIS BURWELL, Deputy Provincial Surveyor. Brantford, Gore District, Upper Canada, 18th August. 1847. <€ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 1.1 UilM |2.5 Ui I2ii |22 2.0 us I inii 1 '-2^ II '-^ Ri^ < 6" ► % VQ ^r w Hiotographic Sciences Ckjrporation 23 WIST MAIN SUikl WeBSTfR,N.Y. 14580 (716) •73-4S03 ^■S" ^t^. 'f.^ c^ 7» CONVICTS, COLONISTS AND COLONIES. BY AN iiMERICAN. Some time since The Timet newspaper exclaimed, " What then are we to do with our convicts, since the Colonies may all reiiise to receive them?" ' •• ' A. Remove the cause of crime — ^want of profitable work and food — and there will be fewer subjects to transport; more especially when criminals are found guilty, they are at once sent out of the country nev&r to return. in the manner below stated ; as in most cases of crime, it is caused by the hopelessness of obtaining a living, which compels the wretched to commit it, to avoid starvation : that any condition is preferable to this misery, imprison or transport them as ycu may. - •'•< ''^'«" Q. How will you then remove the cause of this poverty and consequent crime, which is so fearfully increasing? A. By vigorously promoting emigration on a large scale, among which body of emigrants, there would only be one convict to every 200 subjects, in each vessel taking them abroad; and till it sailed, this convict would be strictly gtiarded. Sending any great number of emigrants to distant colonies would be impossible, ftom the greater expense ; herein is the value of Canada, possessing hundreds of millions of acres of the finest lands ; as however numerous your population, or increasing crime, there is sufficient room for twenty generations of poor in that noble country. Q. But how will you feed the poor, or convicts sent out, in Canada, without cutting down the forests, sowing the land, taking a year for the crops to ripen, costing many millions, if only 200,000 or 300,000 unoc- cupied able-bodied men and women are sent out ? — during which time these emigrants would inevitably starve, more so than in the mother country, or even in Ireland, as there are no poor rates in Canada. A. This is true : but you are obliged to feed the able-bodied poor at home, if they cannot get work, for years ; receive them into workhouses ; take them into hospitals when sick; imprison and keep them when criminal; and when convicted, transport them; costing yearly many millions, without any hope of a return of the expense ; viz. spending more money uselessly, than would permanently establish one million men and women in our Canadian waste lands, every four years. Q. Which is the most economical or humane, thus to save their lives (for 1,000,000 men and women died, in 1847, in Ireland alone, spending eight or ten millions for no permanent purpose, but only to mitigs(te the suffering), or foreseeing great approaching calamity, timely convert them into honest yeomen in your Colonies, to be a credit to the state, prevent temptation, and save their lives; or unfeelingly permit them still to remain as they are, in a degraded condition, with life a burden, no hope for its improvement, without a home and without a friend ; to be wanderers and "III iWflKMf ^r 80 vagabonds, sinking helpless into iniquity : and no arm to &ave or render* ing them an acquisition to the Parent State ? A. I have been led to these reflections by a MS. work I have lately seen on the amelioration of the poor, where the expenses of each emigrant's food, voyage and clothing for a year in Canada, and giving him ten acres there, at a dollar an acre (but which would not require to be paid for ten years after), would cost less than the price expended in keeping the Tooting pauper children for the same time ; with this difference, that the debt would be repaid with five per cent, interest, and that the ground so given to each man would be cleared, fenced, and i>own with wheat and potatoes (keeping two acres of wood for fuel) by his labour; and 1,000 miles of cheap railway, having iron rails, and wood metalized, made in this time by the emigrants sent out; that by this employment, 1,000,000 men and women, with a quarter only of the latter and their families, would be taken theie and permanently established ; wltich might be continued ad infinitum, till many thousand miles of railway were so constructed. That the whole debt incurred to take 200,000 or even 300,000 there yearly, would be paid off every second year, by the sale of their crops of wheat, and sufficient food left for this second year's maintenance, when they would be a blessing to the country and a glory to themselves; having a comfortable house, sufflcient implements of husbandry, a cow, three sheep, two pigs and 24 ducks and fowls, while the 25 convicts, now held as good men and true, to every 5,000 emigrants, male and female, distributed as stated (one in each ship), and under observation on shore, would make, when so taken abroad, and held bound on their good behaviour to the responsibility of a chosen comrade, as good and industrious settlers, under a strictly superintending system, as the others. Q. Demonstrate this. A. In the first place, let the Government decide upon peopling your Colonies on a large scale ; and it must be shortly done, or the prophecy of Goldsmith will be too soon fulfilled. " And thus the land, adorned for pleasure all, In barren splendour feebly waits its fall." Duerted Village. Let it also guarantee five per cent, to the Savings' Banks, for the money which may be required from them, and paying this interest out of the poor rates for the 200,000 or 300,000 poor yearly taken off their hands ard sent abroad, their parishes being known. And really the funds of these Savings' Banks, it appears, are not in over safe keeping, when so much loss has been incurred in Ireland, and now at the Roch- dale, St. Helen's, Scarborough and Aylesbury Banks ; and when others are strictly examined, there may possibly be more losses, while at best they only receive two or three per cent, for their deposits, without these funds doing any good to the poor in general, compared to what the sum of £25,000,000, said to be deposited, might do in all your Colonies : and double benefit to Canada, from its proximity to £ngland. The half only of this sum would be required, unless a larger scale of emigration were adopted, than stated ; and the debt in either case, being re-imbursed 81 every second year, would restore the funds to the origintil amount in the Savings' Hunks : and the reduction of the poor rates, in proportion to the number of poor located abroad. In this manner the tliriftyness of the poor, would most honoraUy contribute to their own, and distressed fellow creatures' happy and permanent establishment : who placed on these rich lands in Canada, properly cultivated by the sides of the cheap railways, which can be there constructed for £1200. or £1300. a mile, (single line calculated to pay from 12 to 15 per cent., and to increase in proAt as the lands and towns were occupied, which is proven from the Detroit and St. Joseph line of railway in Michigan, clearing 12 per cent, yrom the bfginningf and 15 per cent, in 1847, then 14 years made, and going through a wiiderness), the lands on the sides of which now supply vast numbers of English and Irish poor with employment and food, where 39 daily increasingtowns have lately sprung up, and send their superabundant grain to England and Ireland. What is to prevent similarly constructed works to pay in like manner in all your Colonies ; to people the barren wastes, to enrich and civilize the country much more in ten yearst, than centuries would accomplish in any other way, without such rapid conducting thoroughfares ? In conse- quence of this extraordinary impetus given by such works, to implant civilization, there are now five railways through this lately discarded wilderness, which you disdained to hold, but recklessly gave up to the Americans, as not worth your notice; the above towns are all built hand- somely with brick, three or four stories high, having substantial couit houses, colleges, barracks, beautiful gentlemen's seats aad cottages, to the great credit, perseverance, and taste of the Americans^ and proclaiming a golden age, with cheap living, where every one is comfortable and happy ; of the proof of which no beggars are ever seen : all which can only be envied in Canada, but hopeless of ever being imitated, while this strange lethargy to your welfare continues ! And which system of fostering two states, is the most beneficial to tlie two countries, tor they both are supreme in their internal government, only one hangs on America, the other on England ? And why cannot the latter establish the able-bodied poor on such internal lines, and so greatly improve a country-, as well as the poor Americans ; who in most cases have absolutely borrowed the money from England to do such wonders, and to create a blush to her, who is con- tinually boasting that the sun never sets in her dominions ! Would it not be more creditable to her greatness, could she point to all her Colonies, and exclaim, •* See how they flourish ! what a resource they possess for our superabundant population, whose trade with us would not only supply our wants, but increase our shipping and commerce by the exchange a hundred fold." Q. Inform us how you will transport convicts to Canada or the Cape, without either of these Colones disapproving it. '~. A. It is not necessary that in the scheme of emigration proposed, to people these foreign lands, that vessels conveying them should anchor near towns, or populous places, as it is evident in such vicinity there would not be any spare lands to locate emigrants, when they would be all G * 82 I most probably cultivated. The parts then to be occupied and made sub' servient to the use of the new settlers, would be previously shewn on maps, which every vessel going out, eiiher to the Cape or to Canada> New Zealand or elsewhere, would be familiar with, and their destination be well known and, of which the emigrant would make choice before he )eft England, where the ground had been surveyed, and the debouchement of the railway, and its course, for the general progress of the improvement of the province well defined ; here only a given number would land, with implements for work, and everything required of provisions, &c., tO' proceed to estabNsh the stipulated number of poor; and neither the eolonists could easily eome to them, nor could the emigrants leave their appointed place; and consequently those who have been long settled in^ the country cannot know that any convicts were among those who land, for as they wiU be received on board as emigrants going abroad,yree^ pardoned, on their good behaviour,, to receive the same favour as the others in land and food, they v/ilt be no longer convicts, and any one would be liable to be prosecuted who accused another of being so, as only the agent or overseers intrusted with such a charge would know who were originally condemned, and who were not; and whoever, after such information, was dissatis'aed at the Government arrangements, to improve and people the Colonies in the manner proposed, would be so few, and devoid of sense, they might justly be unheeded and despised, as it would not be true that there were any convicts. And how do the Americans receive your most abanboned characters without any inquiry who they are, — whether they are convicted of any offence, — fbrgers, swindlers, thieves, or even murderers, who are often obliged to fly this country, and who make good citizens there ? It was only since the year 1838 that this country or Canada has been permitted to send searchers to detect such peoplie in America ; before which time they were extremely particular to protect them from seizure. And I have no doubt, if the Americans were asked to take the whole of the able-bodied poor off the hands of the English, and the 25 convicts, with or without forgive- ness, for every 5000 men and women so sent, to be provided for as stated, to be placed on 10 or even 20 acres of land in the far west, which they are anxious to colonize and occupy, provided the English would con- struct for them the railways they require there, the men agreeing to pay a dollar an acre for each man's occupation of ten acres, the other ten being given, they would at once accede to the request, for the great benefit these lilies would confer on the country, and for the peopling of their extraor- dinary wilds, most of which are fertile prairies, and so easily cultivated, which produce could at once be sent to England when ready. Let, then, the Cape Colonists beware how they may object to the arrange- ments which the mother country may make to free herself from the distressed unemployed, whose poverty impels to crime, who cannot be reformed so easily in this country as in the colonies, as they are led into great privation and consequent temptation here, firom the competitiorv of workmen and an overstocked market, whereas in Canada, or in any other of your colonies, if they were sent there, and properly provided IW"WWB"«H» 83 and fostered, a^, stated, this temptation from want of work and food would no longer be unendurable, for every comfort which a poor man might covet would be always at his door, and he would be most vicious and unruly who still remained unreformed. If when abroad he still continued to err, punishment would as surely await him in America or Canada, as in England, and the penitentiary con- j finement for years would be far more severe than the common task of { improving his ten acres, or if industrious, of purchasing many hundred more, whose value would yearly increase in a land to be so (greatly im- proved, and every article of food so cheapo being indeed a land of pro- mise, to be coveted for a poor man, as his family, being well educated from the process to be adopted, would go forth to occupy the far west for ever, always accompanied by cheap but permanent railways, to take him j! safely and expeditiously to any destination. Among every 5000 men and women, wherever landed, there would be supplied to them 24 stand of rifles, and as many pikes, and cutlases and pistols, so that an armed watch would be established day and night, within a quarter of a mile of the north, south, and centres of each di- vision, to prevent desertion of the ci-divant convicts. The provisions would be landed, or supplied by the colony, or from America; each man to receive IJlb. of salt pork, and as much biscuit, &c., and such would always proceed with the main body. In these thick forests the convicts could not escape, or proceed even one mile in such deep wilds, and with- out a compass a man would be inevitably lost, or devoured by wolves unless armed, and certainly starve'! ; and if ever he return to England, he should be sent to Norfolk Island for life, in Botany Bay, where indeed all the most incorrigible felons would necessarily be sent, as these can never be reformed, or become industrious citizens, in Canada or anywhere else. But as some law would be necessary for the protection of the orderly, that law which is the most immediate and summary, without disabling the culprit, has been found by experience to be the best, and what is un- attainable elsewhere, discovered to suppress the smaller crimes ; this is now done in California. But hanging is now always inflicted on the " most incorrigible, which is signif^^^ant of Lynch law. W ith the emigrants no great crime need be anticipated, as there would be little temptation where all were poor, and alike supplied with daily food, and simply mar- tial law would be that in use, with immediate application, (as school-boys are punished, called cobbing), which I heard once kept a British regiment in Scotland in perfect order in 1 809 ; no other punishment was required, and the men dreaded this infliction, from its hurting their pride and self- love, as they were the objects of excessive laughter to their comrades, more than the lashing of the cat-o-nine-tails, which only created sym- pathy, and depressed the spirit of the culprit, while the cobbing absolutely cured ; and in these wildernesses this strapping would be twice repeated, if the crime were a second time detected, viz., morning and evening; and three times applied on his again being found guilty, and so on to increase, the highest penalty being two dozen, (and less if awarded); so that on his repeating an offence, a man would And he was warring against him- 84 •telHo continue unruly; tliis would be to incur double or treble punish- ment, and lie would And it the best policy to be guililesb and respected, seeing prosperity assured to hi.n in a year, — he would be unwise to mar his own hxppiness. And no man would be allowed to sell or mortgtw^e his property without tpec'ud kave ; if deserting and caught, after he had possession, he would forfeit his grant, and be again sent forth for another year, to undergo his previous labour in chopping nnd clearing, to be a warning to him not to desert a second time. In this manner many successive generations of the unemployed able- bodied poor may be established in Canada alone, aud among them a few of the better sort of delinquents, to proceed to new stations, even at the Cape, Imt d'utuntfrom thote already occupied, where neither tiie present colonists could come, nor would the others be permitted to proceed to them without passports, and never criminaU of any kind, not having any business from their own homes ; this would subject them to forfeiture of grant, — so that no objection could possibly be made to such arrangements as set forth, for the welfare of new colonists ; nor could they interfere >n any manner with the older settlers' welfare, except to increase their strength in number and prosperity. More especially when they reflected on the difficulty of eligibly establishing the starving foor at home, they ought not to circumscribe the hope to win one in an already too unfeeling world for the indigent, which may call down the judgment of an offended Deity on themselves, leaving them to perish in their own iniquity. With the poor in your colonies amply provided for, as stated, — with railways formed to take them and their crops to any market, (for without quick and cheap conveyance the end would be defeated,) — with reciprocal commerce encouraged, England might exult. Her shipping, now lan- guishing, would increase; her colonies be contented and happy; and her commerce would be quadrupled in less than 20 years. !:■, . ■ r.oml. 11 . Printed t)y J. BrwUey, 78, Great Titchficld Slici f. v „ .^_^^ ,;^