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IN THE TEACK OF OUE 
 EMIGEANTS. 
 
 The New Dominion 
 
 AS A 
 
 Home for Englishmen. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED WITH HELIOTTPE MAPS. 
 
 By 
 ALEX. EIVINGTON. 
 
 
 
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 •• Westward the conrs^of Empire .taljes its way." — Bp. 
 
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 SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, LOW, & SEARLE, 
 
 CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET. 
 MoNTBBAt : DAWSON BROTHERS. Toronto : COPP, CLARK, k CO. 
 
 1872. 
 
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 OVl-BRltT AND KITINOTON, PBINTERB. 
 
 ST. John's rquarb, 
 
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 ^'l'- .\> r. 
 
 INTRODUCTION— GENERAL INFORMATION ON EMIGRATION 
 
 TO CANADA . . '. . i. ,<o xTiii. 
 
 BY WATER TO TORONTO 1_8 
 
 THE WESTERN PROVINCES OP CANADA . . . . 0—18 
 
 THE PROVINCE OP NEW BRUNSWICK 19—82 
 
 THE PROVINCE OP NOVA SCOTIA b3— 46 
 
 PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND 47—58 
 
 INDEX 61—64 
 
 ■ ''-'-'■■ -.'J ' 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 PAGB 
 
 Funnation of Emigration Clubs in England — Canadian Interest in Immigra- 
 tion — Migration and Home Colonization versus Emigration — Poor Law 
 Guardians and their system of Relief — The Ordinary of Newgate Prison 
 and Emigration — The " Toronto Globe " on Immigration — Pauper Emi- 
 gration — Little York Township in Prince Edward Island : Landlords and 
 Tenants — The "Acadian Recorder" on Colonial Politicians — Union of the 
 Colonies — The Great North-West — Canadian Pacific Railway — Grants of 
 Land and Free Passes — Manitoba — Red River and Saskatehewan Valley 
 — Red River Revolt — Remittances of Colonists home — Religion, the 
 Press, and Patent Laws — Our Home Policy — Loyalty of Canadians— 
 The Fenian Raid — Private Emigration Schemes — Our Royal Commis- 
 sioners — Emigration to the United States — The Germans and Iridh — The 
 "New York World" on Immigrants to the States — The United States' 
 Agents in England — Northern Pacific Railroad — Apathy of our Legis- 
 lators on the subject of Emigration — Commercial Advantage of Canada 
 to England — Vancouver Island — Trades Unions in the States and in 
 England — Colonial Conference — Description of Maps 
 
 r^ 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Quebec— Montreal — Notes by the Way — By Water to Toronto 
 
 if!- 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Western States of Canada — Toronto— Emigration Buildings — Hamilton 
 — ^Niagara — ^Northern Pacific Railroad — ^Free Grants in the Western 
 Townships — Clearing the Land 
 
 9 
 
 CHAPTER in. 
 
 The Province of New Brunswick — Quebec and New Brunswick Railway- 
 Fertility of Soil — The Intercolonial Railway — St. John — The Old Church- 
 yard — Fire — Boat-race on the Kennebecassis — 230 Men Wanted — London 
 Guardians of the Poor and Emigration — The St. John " Telegraph " on 
 Immigration — Masonic Festivity — An Emigrant's Letter 19 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Province of Nova Scotia — Sam Slick's Opinion of it Thirty Years Ago — 
 Does Nova Scotia Need Immigration P — Railways — Halifax — Gentlemen 
 of Means Wanted — ^Farms to Let — Coal-fields— Gold-fields — Acadia and 
 the Annapolis Valley — Herefordshire Labourers and Emigration — Mining 
 Districts — Immigration Conference at Ottawa — Miss Nightingale's Letter 
 
 33 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Prince Edward Island — Its History — Summerside and its Telegraph Office- 
 General Salubrity — ^The Islanders' Independence — ^The Washington Treaty 
 — Charlottetown — Visit to some Farms — How they do things in the 
 tight little Island — ^Prospects of Imraigr.tion — Mic-Mac Indians — The 
 Lt.-Govemor*s Speech — Religion and Education — Hospitality .... 
 
 47 
 
• ^ 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Emiobation Clubs in England— Ottawa Qovbknment anu Immiobation 
 —Home Colonization— Qu abdians of the Poob and Out-doob RBLigr 
 — Newgate Pbison and Emiobation— " Tobonto Globe" on Imuioba- 
 TioN— Aobicultubal Laboubbbs— Paupeb Emiobation— "The Gabden 
 OF Bbitish Amebica" — Colonial Politicians — Union of the Colonies 
 —The Gbkat Nobth-West— Canadian Pacific Railway— Washington 
 Tbbaty— Canadian Loyalty — Alabama Claims — Emigration Schemes- 
 Royal COMMISSIONEBS — EmIOBATION TO THE UNITED STATES — NoRTHEBN 
 
 Pacific Railboad— Immiobants at New Yobk — Vancguveb Island — 
 Tbadb Unions — Wages in Canada — Colonial Confehence at West- 
 minsteb Palacb Hotel — Maps. 
 
 In the winter of 1869-70, when there was a good deal of distress 
 in London, several Emigration Clubs were formed to send their 
 members to the colonies in the ensuing spring. In a weak moment 
 I was induced to join some of the Committees, and in one of the central 
 districts of London my office was daily crowded with men from all 
 parts of the town and the country who insisted upon waiting until 
 I would see them. I took a great deal of trouble and expended 
 much valuable time in directing them to the proper quarter, and I 
 was gradually being turned into nn Emigration agent. This state 
 of thingps went on more or less until the last ship of the season had 
 sailed. 
 
 During the next winter there was less want of work in London 
 and other parts of the country, and there were consequently fewer 
 applicants for assisted passages in the spring of 1871. 
 
 The difficulty of answering to my own satisfaction, if not to the 
 satisfaction of the numerous anxious inquirers, as to the truth of 
 the statements about this New Home for Englishmen, led me to 
 cross the Atlantic and see for myself the country I had assisted 
 others to adopt as their own, and the following pages are the result 
 of my visit in the summer and autumn of last year to Canada and 
 the United States. 
 
 It is not easy to decide from which point of view the subject 
 of Emigration should be considered : whether from an English or 
 
ii 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 from a Canadian. As any one who ventures to discuss this subjuot 
 is supposed to have a policy, or an interested motive, or to hold a 
 kind of philanthropic notion on the subject that does his heart but 
 not his head credit, it is better that the writer should avow that he 
 has a policy, and that his policy is simply, if not to control, to direct 
 the stream of Emigration, that is incessantly flowing from our shores, 
 to that part of our Empire which is most in need of colonists. 
 
 In this present year of grace it is scarcely necessary to say that 
 this need io beginning to be daily recognized by the New Domi- 
 nion of Canada in a most unmistakeable manner. The Governor- 
 General alludes to the desirability of Immigration in his speech to 
 the Houses of Parliament at Ottawa. The Government of Ottawa 
 have this month instructed their agent in London, Mr. Dixon, to 
 make advances by warrant to suitable emigrants at the rate of ten 
 dollars, or two English pounds sterling, for each adult. This will 
 bring the rate down to A-l. 5«. for each adult, ILL 2*. 6</. for children, 
 and 14«. %d. for infants, including provisions on board the 
 steamers : and ^150,000 have been voted towards Immigration. 
 The Provincial Legislatures are awakening at last and now vying 
 with each other for the best methods of attracting the new-comers : 
 sums of money arc voted for the express purpose of promoting 
 Immigration, and the Press has warmly taken up the subject in 
 every part of the Dominion. The magnificent arena of the West, 
 through Manitoba by the Red River, where the Government are 
 offering grants of 100 acres of prairie or meadow-land to emigrants ; 
 by the Saskatchewan, from Ottawa to the foot of the Rocky 
 Mountains, is bidding for labour and settlement ; members of our 
 House of Commons, who have never visited the colony, are begin- 
 ning feebly to draw attention to unknown region" and succeed 
 in talking the House to dinner; but proving to their far-away 
 constituents that they are alive to one of the questions of the 
 day. Erratic members of the Ottawa Parliament touch lightly 
 upon loyalty, hint at dismemberment, and attempt to arouse the 
 youth of the country into public life and action. Our newspapers 
 
INTHODUCTIOX. 
 
 tti 
 
 ut home come down with a 8le(lge>hammcr on the movement, and 
 attempt to crush it with subtle and selfish arguments : and dema- 
 gogues ut homo seize every public opportunity to expose the designs 
 of those who seek to encourage Emigration from our shores, when 
 millions of acres lie hero at home ready to be cultivated, if only the 
 landed proprietors would relinquish their rights, and our rulers 
 would condescend to direct the operation. 
 
 At a crowded meeting of unemployed workmen in London a few 
 weeks ago, where I was accidentally placed in the chair, after a 
 long discussion on the policy of Migration of labour to difieront 
 parts of England, the two following resolutions were almost unani- 
 mously carried : — 
 
 "1. That the meeting, while fully realizing the distress and 
 poverty consequent upon a large amount of unemployed labour in 
 London, is of opinion that to transfer such labour to ^mncashire 
 would have the effect of placing in the hands of employers the means 
 to lower wages, and to neutralize the efforts that are being made to 
 reduce the hours of labour, and therefore recommend an extended 
 system of Home Colonization as the only means by which pauperism 
 can be abolished. 
 
 "2. That this meeting resolves itself into a Committee, in- 
 viting the co-operation of all sympathizers, for the purpose of 
 considering and developing a plan to be submitted to the country 
 and to Parliament, for the creation of additional national wealth, by 
 the cultivation of the waste lands of the country by the unem- 
 ployed, and the consequent abolition of poverty and its attendant 
 evils." 
 
 It is needless to say that the Committee was not formed, and in 
 the very same room a week afterwards an Emigration Club was 
 started by working men, who paid the greater part of their passage- 
 money, and forty-eight of whom I saw off in the ship " Med way," 
 on the 23rd of April, full of hope and in good spirits. They at 
 least preferred to try their luck in a new country to digging up 
 Epping Forest, the Duke of Loamshire's broad acres or dismal 
 
IV 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 swamps, or the nigged sides of the Scottish hills. The thirty -seven 
 millions of uncultivated acres out of the seventy-seven had no 
 superior attractions for them. 
 
 The fact that these poor people, who have now landed on a not 
 inhospitable shore, paid their passage-money themselves, or by the 
 aid of their friends, goes far to confute the argument so often 
 brought against the policy of Emigration, that it is only another form 
 of the numerous charities that so overburden our country, and are too 
 often so much abused. It is surprising how some of our Guardians 
 of the Poor seem to cling to the idea of retainiiig around them, by 
 providing out of the ratepayers' pockets large and ever-increasing 
 workhouses, so many poor who learn to rely upon their rights as 
 in-door lodgers, when their places should be occupied by the sick and 
 aged only. Even this system of centralizing the latter is open to 
 grave objections; and the day cannot be far off when a new system 
 of out-door relief, based upon a thorough knowledge and investiga- 
 tion of every case, will be adopted in this great city, with, we have 
 every reason to hope, as much success as has been a'tained in some 
 continental towns where the experiment has been tried. 
 
 This is indeed one of the great i 'cstions of the day, far 
 above that of Emigration ; and yet I will venture to express my 
 opinion, that were this system in good working order, and our 
 School Boards successful in dispelling ignorance, which tends to 
 foster crime, a great impetus would be given to healthy Emigration, 
 which would raise wages naturally, instead of by the questionable 
 influence of Trade Unions, prevent undue combination of employers, 
 and benefit in a direct way both England anu her Colonies. 
 
 The Ordinary o." Newgate Prison, in his Annual Eeport this 
 year, ventures a remarkable statement on this very subject : " It 
 seemed to him that in this great metropolis, where the population 
 was constantly enormously increasing, workers must increase far 
 more rapidly than work, and that therefore it became a most im- 
 portant duty of society to afford facilities to all those who could 
 find no legitimate field in this country for their powders to proceed 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 elsewhere. The period from which the decrease in the number of 
 criminals dated was identical with that at which a great impulse 
 to Emigration was given. Thft decrease, he thought, was due to Emi- 
 gration, and not to the working of the Habitual Criminals* Act." 
 
 The Toronto Globe ^ in June, 1870, complained that a large num- 
 ber of the emigrants that arrived were of a bad class — such as would 
 not tend to develope the resources of the country, or the moral 
 improvement of its inhabitants. This is a blot 7n our system of 
 Emigration that requires to be carefully removed. The remedy can 
 come more easily from Toronto than from London. As the emigrants 
 are frequently sent out by certain clubs, the Canadian Government 
 agents should take care to let the managers of these clubs have full 
 information as to any abuse. The Government agents on this side 
 of the water should be made fully aware of each particular case ; it is 
 only by this means a check can be given to the deportatior. of unfit 
 pei-sons, who are either confirmed paupers, drunkards, or not able- 
 bodied. It is, however, seldom that the latter take the trouble, or 
 have the means to assist themselves across the Atlantic, and on* the 
 Managers of the Emigration Clubs must fall the blame that properly 
 attaches to such ill-advised proceedings. 
 
 In a letter to the Times, March 22, 1870, Mr. R. W, Phipps 
 says : " In my opinion, 20,000 agricultural labourers coming to 
 Canada, supposing them honest and industrious, could do as well or 
 better (than others he mentions). But to send here a description 
 of labour of which we have enough (as mechanics) is merely to 
 send it to the United States. The work of assisting Emigration is 
 a good one ; but ' c'est un gran^' art de bien /aire le bien' " This 
 piece of good advice might be well considered by our Emigration 
 Clubs. I do not here enter upon the question whether it is wiser 
 to send men to the United States or Canada. The former have 
 proved that they can well take care of themselves. But it did seem, 
 two years ago, a most serious question whether, in face of the apathy 
 existing in Canada on the subject, it were not wise to avail our- 
 wlves of every opening afforded for the emigrant, when, in one 
 
ii 
 
 I 
 
 VI 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 small club I knew of, 1200 peopla were enrolled on the books^ and 
 all clamorous to be partly assisted out, and only 300 to 400 eventually 
 could be sent to* Canada, for want of funds. Much misery was 
 created by numbers of the disappointed somewhat improvidently 
 selling off all their goods and chattels, awaiting their turn, and 
 some discredit unwarrantably thrown on the almost Herculean 
 and philanthropic, though only partially successful, endeavours 
 of the conductors of the club to satisfy all the applicants. 
 
 I have once or twice in the following papers, which appeared in 
 the St. James^ Magazine and United Empire Review during the past 
 five months, had occasion to point out that the Emigration Societies 
 and Clubs did not send out "paupers" to the colonies. A fact, 
 however, connected with this subject may be stated, that calls for 
 some recognition. Some years ago a district in Prince Edward 
 Island, called Little York, was entirely settled by paupers sent out 
 from England, and curious to state, it soon became a most thriving 
 township, and continues to be so to this day. 
 
 The progress of this Island, which well deserves the name by which 
 it is known, "the garden of British America," has been sadly 
 delayed by irritating questions that have grown from trifles into 
 serious grievances. They date back more than a century to a Quixotic 
 scheme for settling the island by reviving the tenures of the 
 Feudal ages. On the map the island was divided into a score of 
 townships, each being granted to a courtier, or at least some 
 favourite of the Government. Each seignory was to have its Lord 
 Paramount, its castles and retainers. But the Lords Paramount 
 never ventured away from England, their only vassals for years 
 were Indians and wild beasts, and their castles were, and still are, 
 nothing more than castles in the air. 
 
 The terms of settlement were never fulfilled, quit rents were 
 unpaid, and the whole story proved vl fiasco. One theory only 
 remained, the original grants. Emigrants arrived in time and 
 became tenants on most favourable terms, and frequently on 
 long leases. But tenancies are unsuited to the New World, 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Vll 
 
 where even a pauper may hope to own his own farm in fee at some 
 future day, and politicians preached escheat of grants, and declaimed 
 against the degradation of having a landlord, until an idea became 
 something more than an imaginary source of calamity. Rents 
 xvefe unpaid, and property was depreciated. At length a commission 
 was appointed in 1861 to settle the question, and though their 
 decision was a blundering one, it paved the way for the sale of 
 most of the estates, and for the ultimate solution of the questions 
 that have so long retarded the progress of that Island. 
 
 A writer in the " Acadian Recorder," published at Halifax, in 
 1862, made the following sensible remarks, so apposite to the 
 present state of affairs in the Island : — " We doubt whether scores 
 of Commissions, however ample their powers or their abilities, could 
 produce any quiet, in a political atmosphere, that, as long as we 
 can remember the island, has been perpetually agitated and dis- 
 turbed. We conceive the small sphere for Colonial politicians is 
 the cause not only of sham excitements that are got up, but of very 
 gross injustice that is often practised on classes and individuals. 
 There are few public questions of any magnitude, yet they must be 
 employed. They can find no honest occupation for their time, and 
 realize the old adage as to a valuable friend who is always conside- 
 rate enough to supply work ' for idle hands to do.' They have men 
 whose abilities would entitle them to take a high position in a more 
 extended arena. Messrs. Coles, Pope, Whelan, and others, need 
 not fear to measure swords with leading politicians in the neigh- 
 bouring Colonies. 
 
 " We propose a remedy which we are sure will have a beneficial 
 effect on the capabilities of the land, the land tenures, and all the 
 raw spots which have been so long prevented from healing, and that 
 is, the Union of the Colonies. Give these politicians a wider field, 
 and they will be all as useful as they are now dangerous to the 
 peace of society. The public opinion to which a politician can 
 then appeal will be that which is entertained by millions of people ; 
 and in being returned by his constituency, he will be able to have a 
 
▼itt 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 j 
 ! 1 
 
 voice in tlie affairs of a dependency extending from the Atlantic 
 to the Pacific, and equal to many Continental kingdoms, in all that 
 constitutes the elements of a great nation. There can be no doubt 
 that our colonial politicians, and especially those of Prince Edward 
 Island, are in the same unhappy predicament as the historical 
 Kilkenny cats, when they found there was no getting out of the 
 garret. Fight they must. There is a moral in this well-known 
 tragic incident that is especially applicable to the Island, as well as 
 other Colonial politicians. Had those unfortunate animals had a 
 wider range, they might never have met ; or at most might have 
 merely dislodged a few tiles, alarmed a few sleepers, and lost a little 
 fur. Their misguided energies, instead of being perverted for their 
 mutual destruction, might have been rather devoted to the increase 
 and the happiness of their species, and they themselves might have 
 been spared to be the respected and happy fathers of families. 
 
 " We shall make no apology for offering these ex refabellas as a 
 warning to our friends in Prince Edward Island. Pray let them 
 get out of the garret in time, or abide the consequences. Let them 
 give up citing the sayings and doings of their great great grand- 
 fathers; let them breathe a little fresh air, and find themselves 
 bounded by a wider horizon Instead of living altogether in the 
 squabbles of the past, they will be able to prepare for, and assist in 
 creating, a great future for a great nation, with the feeling of pride 
 in their hearts that — 
 
 • No pent up Utica contracts our powers, 
 For half the boundless continent is ours.' " 
 
 But leaving the island to fight its own battles, and look after its 
 own interests, let us go farther West, and draw attention to what 
 might be the future of this great Empire — for a glance at the 
 map at the beginning of these pages will show the compara- 
 tive extent of the Dominion and of the United States. It is 
 through this large area that the Canadians have resolved to build a 
 railway, the true Pioneer of Civilization, and it is this line, at 
 present known by the name of the Canadian Pacific Railway^ which 
 
INTIIODUCTION. 
 
 IZ 
 
 they justly say is the most direct from Europe to Asia. It will 
 thread its way over the Rocky Mountains, at a much lower level 
 than its rival the Northern Pacific, and will not be so subject to a 
 blockade by a snow-drift as the Central Pacific to San Francisco. 
 
 The grants along its course will sooner or later be taken up ; and 
 spreading North and South, if the Government is alive to Hs 
 best interests, will be a net-work of colonization-roads properly 
 looked after, and on whose flanks the lumbermen will^ we trust, be 
 in future more restricted in their dealings with the wood of the 
 new colonists, a matter that has caused so much trouble in newly 
 opened districts. 
 
 On this line, as on other lines of railway, the Government will 
 issue free passes, and letters of recommendation. If it were to put 
 a higher tax on the whisky made in these parts, it -.vould be a politic 
 move. The removal of the " capitation tax " on emigrants lately 
 resolved upon is a step in the right direction, and if the Govern- 
 ment will seriously turn its attention to the developement of the 
 immense resources that lie west of the thriving province of Ontario, 
 and give ample information to us who depend upon private enter- 
 prise for our guidance, what is our cause and what should be 
 theirs will be greatly advanced. Manitoba, Muskoka, the Red 
 River, the Saskatchewan, the shores of Lake Nipissing and Lake 
 Winnipeg, must soon command their attention. Immense as these 
 tracts of territory are, even the fact of the presence of a Governor, 
 located in a central spot, though perhaps with only a semblance of 
 power, will be of inestimable service to the cause of the Dominion. 
 A letter written from the shores of Lake Winnipeg lies before 
 me, full of hope for the future, from a man whose name is 
 too well known for me to take the liberty of mentioning it here ; 
 and I have just parted from the author of " The Great Lone 
 Land," who has gone to revisit the scenes so vividly described in 
 his pages that now form part of the History of the New Dominion. 
 1 would refer my readers to this most interesting book for the story 
 of the rebellion in the Red River Country, the murder of Scott, 
 
INTRODUCTION'. 
 
 the usurpation of power by Riel, the march of General Wolseley to 
 Fort Garry, and the thrilling narrative of Captain Butler's own 
 experiences in a country that is most assuredly destined to be a 
 source of strength to the Dominion, and of wealth to the Central 
 and Maritime Provinces. The Appendix to the work gives most 
 valuable information as to the possibility and probability of success- 
 ful colonization in the country that has been for so long under the 
 control of the Hudson's Bay Company, whose isolated stations have 
 hitherto been the only neuclei of civilization. Of the cause of the 
 revolt in the B^d River Country, of the behaviour of the half-castes, 
 of the influence of the French element, of the attitude of the 
 United States — in short, of the politics of this particular country 
 — I shall be silent, as foreign to my subject. 
 
 The question of future advantage to Great Britain that accrues 
 from every settler in America is one that is not easy of solution. 
 Statistics have shown that every adult does bring a balance of 
 custom in favour of the home country, and the amount of remit- 
 tances in money that has been sent home by settlers in Canada as 
 stated from official sources, exclusive of private sources, was not far 
 short of a million in the year 1870. This proves that more than 
 a fair living can be earned in a country wlicce climate is decried, 
 and whose resources are undoubtedly not yet *ully developed. Valu- 
 able information on these subjects may be gathered from the late 
 Mr. Marshall's very able book on " The Canadian Dominion." 
 
 The subjects of education and freedom of religion are so well known 
 here that it will be needless for us to draw the attention of my 
 reader to them ; we might, however, take a useful lesson from our 
 Transatlantic brethren in the matter of the former. The vitality 
 of the Press is great; though it is not on a level with that of 
 the United States, and far behind the old country in stability and 
 genuine worth. The present Patent Laws are behind the age, and 
 must sooner or later be altered to enable the Canadians to compete 
 with other countries : at present an inventor who wishes to work 
 a patent must have lived a year in the Dominion before he is 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 A 
 
 Iseley to 
 it's own 
 L to be a 
 
 Central 
 res most 
 
 success- 
 nder the 
 >ns have 
 e of the 
 If-castesj 
 B of the 
 
 country 
 
 b accrues 
 
 solution. 
 
 ilance of 
 
 )f remit" 
 
 anada as 
 
 s not far 
 
 ore than 
 
 decried, 
 
 , Valu- 
 
 the late 
 
 if 
 
 11 known 
 
 n of my 
 
 from our 
 
 vitality 
 
 that of 
 
 ility and 
 
 age, and 
 
 compete 
 
 to work 
 
 tre he is 
 
 
 entitled to do so. A strong representative Central (lovcrnment 
 will soon set such matters right. 
 
 Whilst the ratification of the Washington Treaty is still in 
 abeyance it may not be out of place to review our home policy 
 towards this portion of our United Empire, as it must nearly 
 concern the subject of Emigration in all its different phases. 
 
 The loyalty of the Canadians has hitherto been unwavering. A 
 trenchant pamphlet, " The Dream of the United Era: -e Loyalists 
 of 1776," has lately shown how the blunders of ou» statesmen 
 have not been able to shake the faith that our Colonists had 
 in the old country. The story of the United Empire Loyalists 
 may not be as well known on this side of the water as it 
 probably should be — but we do earnestly hope that another 
 series of blunders may not give occasion to any future Loyalist 
 to make us blush anew. The wanton Fenian raid into Canada 
 called out the patriotism of the Canadians in a remarkable 
 degree, but only to be damped by the extraordinary conduct of ''ur 
 Government, in thanking the United States Government for exert- 
 ing themselves to put down the incursion after it was all ocer. 
 Such puerile tactics most naturally wound the susceptibilities of men 
 who had to bear the brunt of this unrestrained insult to their terri- 
 tory from a neighbouring and friendly nation. Loudly too did men 
 complain in my hearing of the cold water thrown on their loyalty 
 by the highest in the land. Whether their complaints were just or 
 founded on fact, I had no means of judging — but from what I know 
 of their new Ruler, they will be perhaps happier in this respect 
 than they fancy they have been of late. It is assuredly a farce for 
 us to send out a ruler to a country if it is to be told day by day by 
 our politicians and our Press that it is at liberty to set up in business 
 as a nation for itself, as soon as it chooses to declare its indepen- 
 dence. It will not be blinded by our offer of guaranteeing a few 
 millions for its great railway, on consideration of its accepting a 
 Treaty that militates against its own dearest interests. Let us 
 hope rather that Great Britain may still see its interest is to have 
 
 B 
 
til 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 m 
 
 If 
 
 some claim to the proud title she bears, and that a United Empire 
 is rather a source of strength than weakness, even though we may, 
 by a policy of dismemberment, get rid of some of our responsibilities, 
 that may have at times weighed heavily upon us. 
 
 It is not surprising that in the pardonable ignorance existing in 
 England as regards the different parties who are unceasingly con- 
 tending for power in the United States, many of us should feel 
 indignant at the farce that is being played with respect to the 
 Alabama controversy and the Indirect Claims. 
 
 When the Fenian raid was concocting, the Irish element had 
 much to do with this disgraceful story. Now, when the star- 
 spangled banner is fluttering anew and the eagle sci-eeching its 
 shrillest, the excitement is being worked up by another element 
 and by another influence. 
 
 I have just received a letter from an American gentleman, a part 
 of which I quote, and which will be of interest, as it refers to a new 
 feature in American politics : — 
 
 " Are they never going to be done with that horrid Alabama 
 business ? It is so apparent that on our side it is only the political 
 dodge of one of the most rascally parties that ever got the upper 
 hand in the United States, that I should almost be glad in case of 
 war to see the English in Washington long enough to hang thirty 
 or forty of these Germans and their supporters ; for in reality it is 
 just this element that is at the bottom of the whole thing. A row 
 with England has been their cry ever since they succeeded in 
 subjugating us, which is about what they have done, absurd as the 
 word sounds.'' 
 
 After the election is over and the country is quieted down again, 
 we may hope that the policy of the Government will be directed to 
 developing its commercial interests, and cultivating a more lasting 
 and friendly rivalry with its 'noffensive neighbour. 
 
 At the present time there are indications of various plans of 
 Emigration being hatched by private individuals, by Companies, 
 and others interested in Railways, Mining operations, and Coloniza- 
 
INTIIODUCTION. 
 
 XUl 
 
 tion schemes, which call for some serious attention. To prevent 
 f'utir.o misundei standings, consequent misery, and discredit being 
 brought on Emigration, some more extensive and influential machi- 
 nery seems to be requ" -ed, which should be constructed by the heads 
 of the Dominion and Home Governments. It is true, we have the 
 honour to possess two Royal Commissioners of Emigration, and a 
 regularly constituted Board, with first and second-class clerks, &c., 
 who issue an Annual Report, though it cannot be said that much 
 life is ohown in the arrangement. We seem to require trust- 
 worthy and representative officials in our Colonial Office, who 
 shall be Colonists ; men of some position in the world, free from 
 party politics, and with a certain power to guide and control all 
 Emigration schemes that emanate from the brains of enthusiasts, 
 philanthropists, and schemers. The gain would be to the Colonists, 
 and they should consequently bear the greater part of the expense 
 that would be incurred by the appointment of such officials. 
 
 Those who take an interest in Emigration will not fail to have 
 observed the facility with which men are attracted to the United 
 States. ITieir agents are fully alive to the great advantages of 
 securing Colonists, and they leave no stone unturned to represent 
 the different States in as attractive a guise as possible : even their 
 maps are contrived so as to show off the States bordering on Canada 
 as superior in every degree to those in the Dominion, s - : ' v 
 
 It is not my intention to allude to the various States of the 
 Republic as fields for Emigpration. The people of the United 
 States can well take care of themselves. They have great centres 
 of attraction for different nationalities. Tlie Germans concentrate 
 themselves about Cincinnati and Philadelphia, and in the country 
 parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Western Virginia. Their German 
 papers are superior to many in their own country. The Irish land 
 at New York, and filter into Boston and Baltimore, and wherever 
 they can find a living. As fast as the pioneers leave for the 
 Western States the new arrivals fill up their places, and a constant 
 stream of colonisation is kepi up. The Americans arc more en^ 
 
 B 2 
 
XIV 
 
 inthoduction. 
 
 terprising than the Canadians in many ways; in the matter of 
 Emigration they are especially so. An article in the New York 
 World, after describing the embarkation of 512 souls on board 
 the steamer ''Med way/' in the London docks, in April, 1871, con- 
 cludes with the following remarks :— 
 
 " Among the best communities settled in our new States and 
 Territories are the English Immigrants. They are generally honest, 
 industrious, and most of them are intelligent. Kansas is especially 
 favoured with this class. There are settlements and villages made 
 up wholly of English people. None are more flourishing in that 
 State than these places .This fact has induced the Governor of that 
 State to depute several reliable Englishmen to go to England to 
 explain to the industrious classes of that country the vast resources 
 and advantages of Kansas, and induce Emigration, and to that end 
 large numbers are coming and preparing to come. Who can tell 
 the results of this peaceful movement on the future of the American 
 continent? The English Immigrant who settles in the United 
 States, reaping the superior advantage of soil and liberal laws to 
 those who locate in Canada, will soon educate their old London 
 neighbours across the line to believe that the American continent 
 should be under one Government, and that that should be a Govern- 
 ment like ours — of the people, for the people, and by the people. 
 Let English Emigration be encouraged.'' 
 
 As a proof of the energy of our cousins in their desire to force their 
 
 schemes into notoriety, they have started a monthly paper in London 
 
 called Land and EmigraUon, No. 9 of which has just appeared, the 
 
 sole purpose of which appears to be to attract Emigrants to the 
 
 States through which the Northern Pacific Railroad is to run. 
 
 , The Government having given the company 50,000,000 of acres, 
 
 \ they have erected " Receiving Houses" for Immigrants at Duluth, 
 
 \ Brainerd, and Muskoday, where farm-houses and timber for building 
 
 \and fencing purposes are for sale. There is a " Manager for Great 
 
 ^ritain," resident in London, and twenty-two agents in the 
 
 agricultural districts of England, besides two in Scotland, one in 
 
 i 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XV 
 
 Ireland, and one in the Channel Islands. The States of Min- 
 nesota, Montana, Idaho, and Wisconsin, and the country between 
 Red and Missouri Rivers, are fully described in the publication. 
 Recent journeys by rail to the most westerly point now opened 
 (Moorhead) are detailed, and the soil, climate, stock-raisings, 
 fruit, vegetables, coal, grain, and scenery are amply discussed for 
 the information of settlers. 
 
 Now all this kind of advertisement should bo thoroughly con- 
 sidered by the Dominion Government, if it wishes to make the 
 Canadian Pacific Railroad prosperous and attractive. People in 
 England know as yet but little about this new national scheme, 
 and only hear of it when accidentally alluded to in the debates in 
 the Houses of Parliament. If certain Members who spasmodically 
 introduce the subject of our colonies to a half-unwilling audience 
 would propound some policy, and insist upon the two Oovemmonts 
 recognising the importance of keeping the nation au fait in the 
 working of a project we are asked to guarantee by \ loan of public 
 money, they would better help a cause in this than any other way, 
 especially as they cannot be expected themselves to have mastered 
 the details of a subject which are difficult of explanation except by 
 persons who are resident on the spot. 
 
 It may be worth while mentioning that the arrangements for the 
 reception and disposal of Immigrants at New York are a credit to 
 the country. The fact that in 1871 228,962 persons were received 
 there from Europe speaks volumes ; of these 113,112 were from the 
 TTnited Kingdom (62,500 of them were Irish), 84,298 from Ger- 
 many, 19,595 Scandinavians, and 2009 Hollanders. 
 
 As regards Vancouver Island, the Archdeacon of Vancouver sends 
 an interesting Report home through the Bishop of British Columbia, 
 to one of our Societies in February last, saying he is ministering in 
 a tract of country which contains about 450 square miles, in the 
 Eastern part of Vancouver, about 35 miles from Victoria, the 
 capital. There are, he says, throughout the district, at intervals of 
 several miles, small scattered settlements of Europeans and Cana- 
 
XVI 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 dians, and in addition many Indian villajtes — tho Indian population 
 is reckoned nt about 1000, and is chiefly ministered to by Mr. Lomas, 
 the Catochist. The white settlers in the district are reckoned at 
 about 400, but to reach them it has been necessary to hold services 
 at nix Mission stations. At the central station, where a parsonage 
 has been erected, there is a small room built of logs, about twenty- 
 six feet by eighteen feet, fitted up in the plainest and simplest style, 
 which serves as a church; in this the services are constant and 
 regular, at the other stations they are held at stated intervals, more 
 or less frequent. » 
 
 At one of the outlying stations, three miles distant, there is a small 
 building on the edge of a luke, where services are held, but this is 
 in a very dilapidated condition, and no longer conveniently situated 
 as regards the settlers. About a quarter of a mile distant from the 
 church, and close to the principal Indian village (the Quamichan 
 tribe), the Bishop erected, in 1867, a schoolroom with catechist's 
 house attached. Here the instruction of the Indians is carried on, 
 and here they meet together every Sunday for worship, which is con- 
 ducted ill their own language by Mr. Lomas, the catechist. 
 
 The Archdeacon asks for a grant towards the erection of a church 
 for the Indians. They have during t!ie last year expressed a great 
 desire to have a church, and thoy dislike meeting for the worship of 
 God in a building to which they are constantly resorting for all 
 kinds of instruction; for obtaining medicines, for explaining and 
 expatiating on their mutual quarrels, and grievances and misunder- 
 standings, and seeking therein the assistance and arbitration of Mr. 
 Lomas. " The erection of a church is rendered the more necessary/' 
 the Archdeacon says, " by the fact of the natives connected with 
 the Roman Catholic mission in the valley having a small stone 
 church, and these natives are not slow in reproaching the other 
 Christians with having no House of God of their own, but only a 
 school-room." 
 
 . The Archdeacon is very anxious to replace the dilapidated 
 church, mentioned as being inconveniently situated on the edge (>f a 
 
iNTnonrcTfov. 
 
 xvn 
 
 lake, by one ratlior lurjfer nnd more conveiiiontly situnleJ. The 
 settlera will willingly give time and labour, and a small g^raut 
 would lead to the erection of Buch a building: as is required, which 
 would enable the Archdeacon still to reach a portion of his district 
 in which he has hitherto administered mi a ]og cabin, which, now 
 occupied by a family, is no lonj^er available. 
 
 About twelve miles from the central station, there is an Euro- 
 pean settlement consistinf^ almost entirely of members of the 
 Church of England. Here a small church is needed : at present 
 the services are held in a private house. A site has been offered, 
 and a small grant, added to what the settlers would contribute, 
 would suffice. 
 
 It is a stock argument with Englishmen, when our relations 
 with Canada are liscussed, that the colony is of little or no use 
 in a commercial point of view. How such a fallacy ever obtained so 
 general credence is a marvel, when the fact, proved by statistics, is 
 that Canada is a very large consumer of English manufactures, and 
 that also the trade with England is rapidly increasing, while the trade 
 with the United States is, on the other hand, slightly diminishing. 
 
 In some of the States which are the most flourishing. Trade 
 Unions are being formed, and their influence is being felt in the 
 same way aa in the older countries. An instructive paper on these 
 and on the introduction of Chinese labour appear 3d in 8cribner*s 
 Monthly last July. The recent forced rise in wages and diminu- 
 tion of the hours of labour in England will eventually work against 
 the policy of our present Government, which is to keep a super- 
 abundance of labour in the market for the purpose of enabling the 
 moneyed interest to obtain their cent, per cent. Eight hours' work, 
 eight hours' play, eight hours' sleep, eight shillings a day, is a very 
 pretty theory, which may not stand the test of the next ten years* 
 trial. At this rate prices must rise, and the public ^vill suffer 
 accordingly. On the other hand, a man will contrive to make his 
 hat and boots last nine instead of six months, so the evil will in 
 time perhaps cure itself. 
 

 XVlll 
 
 iNTHOlJUCTIOy. 
 
 ?' 
 
 H t^ 
 
 I have siviJ little about the price of wages in Canada, as they 
 vary nuuth in dilierent districts, and so many books have been 
 written on the sulyoct. Any Emigrant can obtain this informa- 
 tion from Mr. Dixon, 11, Adam Street, Adelphi, on inquiry. It 
 is to the far-West of Canada that I dcbire to draw the attention of 
 Emigrants. The Provinces I have described in the following 
 pages are perhaps the least known on this side of the Atlantic, and 
 though it is for them to move in the matter, if they want more 
 labour, I trust that the attention I have drawn to them may prove 
 of servi'je in attempting to describe the vast field for energy and 
 enterprise that exists in the New Dominion of Canada. 
 
 The Report of the Proceedings of the Conference held at the West- 
 minster Palace Hotel, in July, 1871, contains much valuable in- 
 formation on the subjects of "Impenal Federalism," "Emigration," 
 and the "Management and Administration of our Colonial Office." 
 Mr. Edward Jenkins' stirring address cannot be read without 
 exciting a deep interest in the future of England and bar Colonies. 
 When our Government is apathetic on these questions, and the duties 
 of our Colonial Office are delegated to irresponsible clerks, it is high 
 time for the Colonies to make themselves heard in no measured 
 language ; and if their present Governments are not alive to the 
 occasion it will not lie long before the younger portions of the com- 
 munity take the lead out of their hands, and assert their right to be 
 considered, not as children or vassals, but as an integral portion of 
 the United Empire of G^eat Britain. 
 
 The Maps appended to fe little work will speak for themselves. 
 The lines of Electric Cable, lirhich Mr. Cyrus Field proposes, show 
 the world girdled by means of telegraphy. The course of the 
 Northern Pacific Railway is clearly defined; the townships of 
 the Province of Ontario ; the proposed Quebec and New Brunswick 
 Railway ; the Intercolonial and the European and North American 
 Railway; and the Coal-fields of Europe and America, will be of 
 interest to the readers of these pages. 
 
 62, St. John's Square, E.C., May, 1372. 
 
la, as they 
 lave been 
 i inforrna- 
 luiry. It 
 tention of 
 following 
 antic, and 
 irant more 
 nay prove 
 lergy and 
 
 the West- 
 uable in- 
 igration/' 
 A Office." 
 without 
 Colonies. 
 )he duties 
 it is high 
 measured 
 re to the 
 the com- 
 a^ht to be 
 (ortion of 
 
 jmselves. 
 ses, show 
 e of the 
 ships of 
 runswick 
 Lmerican 
 ill be of 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 
li "- 
 
 I'i 
 
 

 ; 
 
^ HW^^i 
 
IN THE TRACK OF OUR EMIGRANTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Notes by the Wat — The Gut of Canso — Quebec — Point Levis— 
 MoNTBEAL— Kingston — By Watee to Toronto. 
 
 Many who read the title of these pages will probably take but a 
 cursory glance over them, because they persuade themselves that 
 they take no interest in a subject that must prove dry, or full of 
 statistics which cannot amuse them. This may be in a measure 
 true; but my aim will be, in dealing with a question that 
 is daily thrusting itself into prominence, to convince my readers 
 of th<j advantage that may accrue to themselves, and to many 
 of their fellow-creatures, by considering dispassionately the subject 
 and object of Emigration, as a benefit both to t}ie Old and the New 
 World. 
 
 One cannot be surprised that much ignorance exists in England 
 about America; it is quite necessary to visit this as well as any 
 other part of the globe, in order to form any just idea of the 
 manners, customs, and habits of its people. Crude and biassed 
 opinions are formed by those who read, extravagant opinions are 
 formed by those who do not even read, but only hear, of Trans- 
 atlantic affairs. This is still less to be wondered at, when a sojourn 
 in the various provinces of the New World has a tendency to 
 confuse your mind with ideas directly antagonistic to all European 
 institutions, in which latter it is generally too exclusively versed. 
 
 Speaking the native language is one great advantage an 
 
» 
 
 IN TIIK TRACK OP OUIl KMUJRANTS. 
 
 Englishman experiences in travelling through North America. Ah 
 vno mnguine is a great fact that smooths many a difficulty, many 
 a prejudice; it is needless to say that out of forty-two millions 
 who populate North America I do not take into consideration the 
 comparatively small numher of French who inhabit the province of 
 Quebec, or the Germans who settle in New York and other 
 American towns. 
 
 I venture to say that it would puzzle many to ask them the 
 whereabouts of Prince Edward's Island, and what is its form of 
 Government ; where Cape Breton is situated ; what do they know 
 about Nova Scotia or incw Brunswick ; what are the names of the 
 provinces of Canada, or even of the United States. All this is a 
 f'Crra incognita to the alumni of our public schools, as much as 
 are the provinces of Malabar or Mysore, the island of Barbadoes, or 
 the Antilles. 
 
 A few months' visit to a country, it must be admitted, is scarcely 
 sufficient to enable one to lay down the law as regards institutions 
 that have taken strong root in the ground, and one can only state 
 first impressions with a degree of reserve, knowing that experience 
 in after years frequently necessitates a modification with regard to 
 various details. Among the things that strike you most are the 
 non-existence of antiquities, not only in buildingps but in sights, 
 collections of pictures, and objects connected with the fine arts ; the 
 mode of travel, the different religious denominations, the absence 
 of pauperism, the sober habits and the charitable institutions, the 
 literature, and the politics. But as my visit was made with a 
 special purpose, to learn for myself facts concerning the past, 
 present, and future of Emigration, in order that I might be able to 
 guide or advise on a subject I had taken an active interest in at 
 home, with a better knowledge than I had hitherto possessed, I 
 shall endeavour in the following pages to confine my remarks to 
 the end I had in view. 
 
 I will not now enter on a disquisition as to whether Emigration 
 is or is not wanted by our people at home. The existence of several 
 
BY WATllll TO TOKONTO. 
 
 clubs in Engpland for the express purpose of promoting Emigration ; 
 the records from year to year of the numbers of disappointed 
 members who failed to obtain the requisite lAeans for taking them- 
 selves or their families to America; an intimate and long acquaintance 
 with intending emigrants, their w;:ge8 and prospects in this country; 
 the working of our poor laws, and the ever-increasing population of 
 our towns, are sufficient answera to those who hold the opinion that 
 emigration is not a desirable policy to foster in the minds of our 
 people. I would rather leave those who think thus to deal in their 
 own way with the evils that arise from an overcrowded country, 
 where new fields of enterprise are not attainable, and where wages 
 do not often rise. They will have to consider the best antidote for 
 strikes, trade-unions, short hours, necessarily the result of free 
 trade, want of reciprocity, and the march of civilization, which 
 have brought with them the telegraph, the railway, the steamer^ 
 and a higher degree of education. 
 
 It is futile to talk of lands remaining yet uncultivated in this 
 country, in the possession of wealthy owners — an argument sus- 
 tained on the platform by a few demagogues, who have never 
 ascertained the facts as to the utility of these lands, and the true 
 reason why the experiment has failed where it has been made. It is 
 useless to bandy words with those who maintain that hands and 
 hearts are not wanted in our Colonies or in the States of America. 
 It is still more wearisome to have to combat the notion, that by 
 sending men out of this country we are gradually weakening 
 England ; or, as it is more ingeniously put, exporting our paupers 
 to a land that will not thank us for the gift. The great and broad 
 fact still remains, that many thousands of honest hard-working 
 people are willing to seek their fortunes in a new land, and that 
 new lands to an incredible extent are waiting for their coming, 
 sufficient to employ profitably, not thousands, but thousands of 
 thousands of new comers, who have hands and hearts to enter upon 
 the venture. 
 
 In a future chapter I shall endeavour to show reasons why my 
 
 ■•i 
 
TN THE TRACK OF OUR KMIORANTS. 
 
 convictions on this subject are so strongly established. Descrip- 
 tions of visits to the flourishing province of Nova Scotia ; through 
 the Acadia immortalized by Longfellow in his "Evangeline;" 
 to the rich and teeming valleys, rivers, and lakes of New 
 Brunswick; to the almost forgotten and antiquated Island of 
 Prince Edward, with its colony of Mic-Mac Indians on Lennox 
 Island; to the French settlements in Quebec; to the thriving 
 and thrifty province of Ontario ; to the busy States of our cousins; 
 these will afford some little entertainment to my readers, I may 
 hope, while noting by the way the special features that should 
 induce immigrants to select their different abodes according to their 
 means and inclinations. 
 
 My first impressions of Canada, as the Provinces may now all 
 be denominated, were chiefly from the deck of a steamer. On 
 leaving Halifax we skirted the shores of Nova Scotia, and threaded 
 our way through the Gut of Canso. On either side the wigwams 
 of the Indians and their small canoes were the evidences of the 
 link between the past and the present age. Fishing villages cropped 
 up every three or four miles, with a goodly number of vessels 
 clustered round them, and now and then a coasting steamer, quite 
 a busy object after a long sea voyage, where sportive porpoises and 
 
 '■♦V 
 
 erratic sea-gulls were the only excitements of thefday. The Gut of 
 Canso separates Nova Scotia from Cape Breton, and in the nar- 
 rowest part, on the two banks, was painted on large white boards, 
 " Caution — the Atlantic cable crosses here," or words to that effect 
 — a warning to ships not to anchor thereabouts. The land all the 
 way here, and on the banks of the St. Lawrence river for many 
 miles, is very sparsely populated, being rugg^ed and sterile. The 
 few inhabitants make their living by cultivating a small plot of 
 ground and doing a little fishing. At Riviere de Loup the Inter- 
 colonial Railway has its terminus ; but it is not until the pretty falls 
 of Montmorenci are approached that any sign of vigorous existence 
 shows itself. The lower regions of the Province of Quebec are 
 settled by French immigrants, who haye long been in possession of 
 
.'» 
 
 BY WATER TO TORONTO. Q 
 
 the land ; and though a certain number of their countrymen join 
 them every year, it is the least progressive of all the Provinces of 
 Canada. 
 
 Quebec, situated to great advantage, appears quite an anomaly 
 in this hemisphere ; it does not seem to have advanced in the lust 
 twenty years more than the dullest and most antiquated provincial 
 town in France itself. It has allowed the stream of life to flow by 
 without having attracted to itself any of the modern ideas of 
 civilization which daily find a home in the more western States. 
 One great hindrance to its amalgamation with English ideas is the 
 questionable policy of the Government in fostering the practice of 
 printing side by side all its edicts in the French and English 
 languages. Had this idea been steadily thwarted many years ago 
 the Province would not have been so behindhand in material pros- 
 perity, and so committed to an internal policy that is indirectly 
 antagonistic to all modem notions of progress. 
 
 Those who are intimate with the old towns of Normandy before 
 railways invaded their sacred precincts will be much interested in 
 visiting Point Levis, on the southern side of the river St. Lawrence, 
 opposite Quebec. The colony is exclusively French j and the type 
 of face, the picturesque, neat, and clean dress; the rooms of the 
 small houses all furnished with neatly-painted altars, with gaudy 
 little images of tho Virgin Mary, surrounded by flowers and 
 trinkets, carry one back to the old world more than any place I 
 visited in my tour. My friend who accompanied me in my ramble, 
 and who wore a college hat, was the subject of much pleasant 
 humour as we strolled down the street. Old and young, men, 
 women, and children, came forth to grin, point, and stare at the 
 unusual sight; and it is needless to say my young friend was 
 highly gratified with the curiosity exhibited by the whole village at 
 his appearance. 
 
 At Montreal we were at once made aware, on every side, of life in 
 all its aspects. The crowded hotels, the thronged streets, the new 
 and handsome buildi» gs, the busy quays, the ships and steamers of 
 
 1 <i 
 
IN TIIK TIIA( K OP OUH EMIORANTS. 
 
 all nutionB which stiuWed the river, seemed a cheerful relief to the 
 old gables, crooked streets, dirty semi-eivilized appearance of 
 Quebec. Montreal is a highly flourishing city, as its street cars, 
 innumerable churches of every conceivable denomination, handsome 
 villas of prosperous merchants, gay vehicles, ambitious hotels, 
 large b.inks, and its uneven pavements, crowded with well-dressed 
 peo[)le from north, south, east, and west, amply testify. The 
 emigration agent has evidently little here to occupy his attention ; 
 repeated calls ut his office always resulted in ascertaining that he 
 had just gone out for ten minutes, and I gave up in despair the 
 pleasure of making his acquaintance. It is not here that the emi- 
 grant makes any stay : from Quebec, where the steamer or ship 
 lands him, he is transferred by rail to Toronto, the first real resting- 
 place on his journey to his new home ; and there were no evident 
 signs of any large amount of labour being required in this the real 
 metropolis of Canada. To the towns farther west, and the agri- 
 cultural districts surrounding them, the stream is naturally directed ; 
 and the Canadian Government practically only recognizes his 
 presence when he is housed in the large and commodious sheds 
 lately erected by it outside Toronto. 
 
 Nevertheless, supposing an emigrant halts at Montreal, he is by 
 no means left to his own devices to find for a time a place where to lay 
 his head. There exist in Canada some most praiseworthy institutions, 
 known by the names of the Society of St. George, of St. Andrew, 
 and of St. Patrick. A man is taken in here, as was the sick man by 
 the good Samaritan, until he can go on his way rejoicing. The 
 Society of St. George, under the able direction of Mr. Pell, is the 
 one that flourishes in Montreal^ and has housed several hundred 
 persons in one year. These are means for helping the emigrant on 
 his way. 
 
 Pursuing or '•journey westward we took the steamer from Lachine, 
 and encountered a storm on the lake, that obliged us to run for the 
 shore, and fasten the vessel to a tree for the night under a light- 
 house in South Bay. This was the storm that desolated the islands 
 
BY WATKR TO TORONTO. 
 
 of St. Thomas and St. Kitts lust Aii^st. At the old city of 
 Kingston we first saw what a Canadian town was like, with its wid0 
 rouds, wooden houses and pavements, trees lining most of the 
 streets, the names over the shops, a mixture of English, German, 
 and French : a dull, quiet, but evidently thriving place, of some 
 15,000 inhabitants, and with a good harbour. It has been a 
 hundred years in the hands of the English, was before that a 
 hundred years in possession of the French, who took it from the 
 Indians, who had named it Cataracqui. Many trades seemed 
 short of hands, especially the builders and masons, but the boot- 
 makers appeared to flourish in abundance, though there is scarcely 
 much field for emigration here. I have forgotten to mention the 
 two flourishing towns of Prescott, on the Canadian side, and 
 Ogdensburgh, on the American side of the St. Lawrence, which 
 we merely called at. The huge grain elevators will attract the 
 admiration of those who have never before seen these ugly but 
 useful contrivances, so common in American watering places ; we 
 can only wonder that similar appliances have not found their way 
 over to the western hemisphere. 
 
 At Cobourg there is nothing to demand attention. The little 
 town of Port Hope, about fifty miles from Toronto, is pushing 
 itself into notoriety, not from its picturesque situation, but because 
 it has a firm belief that it will some day be a formidable rival, from 
 its increasing enterprise, and new railway, to the large city of 
 Toronto, of which I hope to speak in my next article. 
 
 One word as to the mode of travelling in this part of the world. 
 A return ticket from Montreal to Niagara costs only sixty shillings. 
 The steamers have well-appointed cabins, all as it were on deck ; 
 between these cabins is the saloon, where, surrounded by easy chairs 
 and sofas, is a pianoforte, whioh appears to be the property of 
 every one who can play a tune on one finger, up to any hour of the 
 night. A bell is rung for meals, when a general scramble takes 
 place for seats ; a regular battle ensues for five minutes, for what- 
 ever is nearest, the dishes are well cleared, and the iiassengcife 
 
8 
 
 IN TUB TRACK OP OUR RMI0RANT8. 
 
 riso contented nnd possibly satiutcd. In America every one 
 looks out for himself; nobody ever troubles himself to look after 
 you. This is a k>'ion one soon learns after a few days' sojourn in 
 the country. 
 
 The " Thousand Islands," as they are called, thouj^h they number 
 1800, did not excite the admiration they perhaps ought to have 
 done. The samely nature of the vegetation for forty miles, with 
 nothing but wild-fowl to relieve the monotony, with here and 
 there a small light-house, may have proved interesting to the 
 Canadian Insurgents, and have had a local history, but the glowing 
 nc«^ounts we have heard of them were somewhat dissipated, even 
 under the influences of a brilliant sky, and water as smooth as glass. 
 
 '-^1_: 
 
THE WESTERN PROVINCES OF CANADA, 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Tub Wrstebn pBoviwcBg or Canada— Toronto— Emigration Buildings 
 —Hamilton — Niagara— Northkun Pacific Railroad— Free Urants 
 IN TUB Wkstbrn TowNsnips- Clbaring THi Land. 
 
 It is some consolation to learn from \\\e newspapers that the new 
 Government of Ontario are expected to introduce " a vigorous 
 immigration policy." It certainly was most disheartening to 
 listen to the grumblings of every class of people against poor Old 
 England— and more especially against our present Government. 
 Hereafter I shall have more to say on this subject ; I will merely 
 say now that I found most of those with whom I conversed like bears 
 with sore heads : they had inherited " the grievance " for which an 
 Englishman is so notorious, and which he loves to hug to the grim 
 death. 
 
 Toronto, the most thriving and pretentious town next to Montreal, 
 hod evidently got a building mania on. Immense warehouses, 
 reckless of plate glass, of all styles of architecture, were being 
 reared in close proximity to modest dwellings and humble dry-goods 
 stores, in the street that leads up to the Queen's hotel, and wary 
 heads predicted a panic from over-speculation no long time hence. 
 The city, stretching for miles along the lake, looks thoroughly 
 alive and thriving. Its quays are thronged with travellers going to 
 and coming from every direction, and the steamers are a sight to 
 behold on their arrival or departure. The grain that chokes up 
 every available spot supplies the Provinces, the United States, and 
 Europe. The Province of Ontario alone produces nearly thirty 
 million bushels of wheat a year : add to this the barley, the Indian 
 corn, peas, oats, potatoes, hay, maple sugar, and the immense 
 amount of lumber that find a mart here, you can understand that 
 
 c 
 
10 
 
 IN THE TRACK OP OUil EMIGRANTS. 
 
 I 
 
 the inhabitants have well learned the lesson of making hay while 
 the sun shines. 
 
 We visited some of the public institutions of Toronto, two of 
 which, the University and the Osgoode Hall, deserve especial 
 notice. The latter is a very fine building, standing in its own 
 grounds, and includes within its walls all the Law Courts. Two 
 books, with our Queen's writing in the beginning, are much prized ; 
 for it is an indisputable fact that the Canadians are a most loyal 
 people, and, perhaps, the people of Ontario are the most loyal, as well 
 as most enlightened of all the Provinces I visited. It is true that 
 no two persons hold the same opinions as to the Washington 
 T'/eaty, a very sore point with the sea-board Provinces ; the Con- 
 federation scheme, a great fact accomplished under great difficulties; 
 the future of Canada, as regards union with the United States, or 
 Independence altogether as a Kepublic, or with Prince Arthur as a 
 King or President. Every body had their say, and seemed to enjoy 
 the discussion of imagined grievances against England, or new 
 projects of policy to be carried out by the young Dominion, in 
 which Ontario would inevitably play the chief part. All this 
 showed an existence of a healthy spirit, for were they not situated 
 between the teeming fields of Manitoba, Muskoka — not to speak of 
 the great un worked tracts of British Columbia — and the eastern 
 Provinces of the sea-board, with a mighty lake, the river St. Law- 
 rence, and numerous railroads, Toronto being the centre from which 
 all commerce east and west diverged ? Were not their farms the 
 most successful, and did not the prosperous towns of Hamilton, 
 London, Paris, and Ottawa pour their energy and wealth through 
 Toronto ? 
 
 It was here that I first learned from every one with whom I con- 
 versed the prospects a man had who was willing to work. I do not 
 mean that I gathered this from official sources, for I may as well 
 say at once that I undertook my tour chiefly to observe what was 
 going on around me, and to hear every body's opinion on the subject 
 who would enter upon it; and I never found a single man who 
 
THE WESTEKN PROVINCES OF CANADA. 
 
 II 
 
 refused to do so. My friend, Mr. J. Standish Haly, the Hon. 
 Secretary to the British and Colonial Emigration Society, was to 
 follow in my steps, and I left to him the task of seeing those high 
 in office, and attending the Immigration Conference at Ottawa, 
 which was to take place in September. His Report is well worth 
 reading. One day in August, under the superintendence of Mr. 
 John Donaldson, I visited the Government Emigration build- 
 ings, lately erected at considerable cost, and was by him shown 
 the admirable arrangement for the reception and keep of emigrants , 
 arriving from Montreal, until they were drafted off to the different 
 districts where labour was required. Nothing seemed to be desired 
 in the way of cooking, sleeping, and washing : rough, but ready, 
 certainly, as was fitting in an institution meant for purely tempo- 
 rary purposes. Fifteen hundred emigrants had passed through a 
 day or two before I was there, and all had found employment. Mr. 
 Donaldson told me that the c!ip»oilities,age, and former life of every 
 man, woman, and child, were known to him before arrival at the 
 Sheds, as they are called ; and this knowledge enabled him to dis- 
 pose of each with comparative ease. I have heard of one or two 
 complaints as to strictness ; and my friend, Mr. Catlin, of the Cow- 
 cross Mission, who visited Toronto in 1870, had also some com- 
 plaints sent to him by some of the emigrants he sent out. I am, 
 however, not disposed to put much faith in these few cases that are 
 reported, considering the great amount of tact and management 
 required in disposing of so many people of varied temperaments, 
 and after hearing from Mr. Donaldson the difficulties he has to con- 
 tend with, and the firmness required in cases where discontent and 
 ill-timed independence are bometimes exhibited. « ' 
 
 I went with Mr. Donaldson to visit the Hon. John Carling, Minis- 
 ter of Public Works and Agriculture, and Immigration Minister 
 for Ontario, and was courteously received by him. We had a long 
 discussion as to the pro&pi?cts pf .jpragfantg.in Canada— Ontario, 
 of course, in particular; and it \Vas^ evident ij^at th?- Government of 
 the Province'.fSfily appreciated Ihe great impor^aii96» of attracting 
 
 • • 
 
 c 2 
 
 ,, ., ) 
 
 • : • 
 
 * • 
 i • • 
 
 1. 1 
 
 nVi 
 
n 
 
 IN THK TRACK OF OUR EMIGRANTS. 
 
 immigfration to their portion of the Dominion. I am bound to 
 admit that Mr. Carling was not an exception in this respect; 
 for wherever I went, whether in Nova Scotia, Now Brunswick, 
 Prince Edward's Island, or the United States, every one who had 
 the subject at heart, and they were by no means few, admitted that 
 labour was at a great premium, and many of my friends were 
 willing to take some 150, some 100, and some 50 men, if I would 
 send them out next spring. During my three months' tour I was 
 bewildered by the openings for labour that thvuf»t '^mselves 
 before me : it is only on careful consideration that I shall be 
 enabled to place before my readers such openings as I consider 
 available. 
 
 At Hamilton we were saluted, on alightmg from the train, by the 
 familiar strains of our National Anthem. Then came " Yankee- 
 doodle," and hearty cheers ; flags and banners, drums and trumpets, 
 gorgeous uniforms, and a great crowd showed that something 
 extraordinary was going en. "We found that the firemen of 
 Oswego, on the other side of the Lake Ontario, in the territory of 
 the United States, were paying a visit to the firemen of Ham;; too, 
 and hence the excitement. Of Hamilton itself there is noti i > ; 
 much to say; it is exactly like Kingston, or Toronto, in its generic' 
 features ; a large and thriving town, capable of absorbing many 
 masons, bricklayers, shipwrights, and bootmakers. One old man, 
 who had been thirty years in Canada, and owned several acres of 
 ground, told me there was room for any amount of men that we could 
 send : he had begun on nothing, was now a prosperous man, ^nd his 
 only grievance was the way Old England was " sinking the hhip," 
 and that the Canadians would rise up as a man and assert their 
 independence, if Gladstone desei*ted them, or gave the Yankees any 
 more advantages over them. He was a railway official, and amused 
 me with his ideas of emigration, during the six hours I had one 
 day to spend at the statioii, ^f-^ijle *1^o ;kff ins from Paris to London 
 were smashing,, dp, 'Qi mere* lij-opiferly « fep^king, telescoping one 
 another. FuU^ari's palace-cars, 'yvRiCh are the v^ry idea of luxury, 
 
 
 
 'At" 
 
 « ' »• 
 
 D 
 
TUB WESTERN PROVINCES OF CANADA. 
 
 13 
 
 lexcitcd the ire of one of the men : " They were for the aristocrats 
 I — what are we coming to next ? " 
 
 Accidents are not thought much of here. Four or five of the 
 imaimed travelled with us next day — broken arms, plastered faces, 
 land shattered nerves were the evidences of recklessness, for which 
 jlittle or no redress was forthcoming. 
 
 A visit to Niagara is a reward for a long journey to the West. 
 I Nothing that has been sung in its praises has given any overdrawn 
 description of the sublime grandeur of the mass of water that 
 sweeps over the rocks, the clouds of spray that float across the 
 valley, the vvonderful placidness of the water beJow : the graceful 
 suspension-bridge, the whole scene from the Canadian side, set in 
 rich foliage, entrancing the senses, enchanting the eye, and boothing 
 the ear with ever-sounding music, amply rewards one by night or 
 by day — under a brilliant moon, or a bright sun that throws a 
 I rainbow over the fairy picture — for travelling to the far West, and 
 seeking a few days' quiet enjoyment amidst one of the greatest 
 wonders of nature. 
 
 The town of Niagara, on the American side, reminds you of a 
 French or German watering-place. It is lively enough in the 
 evening, when the crowds of well-dressed ladies, the brilliant gas- 
 lamps from the large hotels, and the strains of music that float 
 from every window, the loungers in the streets, and the g^ay 
 bazaars, almost make you fancy you are at Eaux Bonnes or Baden- 
 Baden. In the daytime the streets are almost empty. In quiet 
 nooks, sheltered alcoves, on little islands or rustic bridges, groups 
 may be seen admiring the beautiful scenery, amid the roar of the 
 rapids and cataracts around, and the cool, white, cloud of foam that 
 drifts lazily towards the east, refreshing the yegetation for miles 
 around, and imparting a delicious feeling of enjoyment as you bask 
 under the hot sun that lights up the gaily painted church-spires 
 and -ihingled roofs of the houses on the edge of the abyss— a fairy- 
 like scene — ^half Swiss, half Italian in its features. ., i 
 
 Two miles eastward, on the Canadian side of the river, is the 
 
14 
 
 IN THE TRACK OF OUB BMIQRANTS. 
 
 flouriehing village of Clifton ; and an hour or two's ride by rail the 
 other way brings you to Buffalo— a populous American town on 
 Lake Erie, at the other end of which lake is Detroit, about 
 half-way to the celebrated Queen of the West — Chicago, on Lake 
 Michigan, six hundred miles farther west — so soon after this to 
 become a pvey to the flames ! 
 
 Whil t)t Niagara I met many Americans from every part of the 
 United tj * — Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, Colorado, as 
 far south as \ irg^nia and Texas — all had their meiits for farming, 
 mining, and settling fully explained by the different representatives 
 of each State. Pamphlets, admirably got up, explained the 
 especial advantage of each new railway; land-grants, and gold- 
 bonds were unhesitatingly recommended as safe and profitable 
 investments, and numerous labourers wanted for each undertaking. 
 Introductions to every body worth knowing, and to all the Govern- 
 ment, railway, and private immigration agents, were offered in case 
 I should " run down " — only a few days' journey to St. Louis, 
 with a pleasant voyage on the Mississippi — and see how they did 
 things down South. ^ - v / • 
 
 There is l.utle doubt but that the Northern Pacific Railway, 
 being now constructed, does open many advantages to the emigrant. 
 It is to connect Chicago with the Pacific Ocean, passing through 
 territories rich in grain, lumber, coal, the various ores, and cattle, 
 and connecting the Red River valleys to the north and Iowa to the 
 south with the fertile States of Manitoba, Dakota. Idaho, Oregon, 
 and Washington (on the Pacific Ocean), just south of British 
 Columbia, with its population of about 60,000. Nearly a sixth- 
 part of the line, from Duluth, on Lake Superior, towards the Pacific 
 Ocean, is now open. Another line, calkd the Canadian Pacific, is 
 projected by Fort Garry, through British Columbia, farther north 
 to Vancouver's Island on the Pacific ; the only one now open across 
 the continent being the Union Pacific, from Chicago to San Francisco, 
 through Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and California. 
 
 A word as to the Free Grants in the western townships of North 
 
 ^■.£: 
 
THE WESTERN PROVIIMCES OF CANADA. 
 
 m 
 
 America^ and the wages received by the emigrfints settled there. 
 Many of the Wiltshire agricultural labourers are making their 6*. a 
 day, and sometimes receive, with board and lodging, as much as 
 4/. 1 7s. per month. Many of the farmers have to do all the work them- 
 selves. Land is sold at 3«. per acre, or at 4a. 2,d, for credit. Some 
 of the free grants of 100 acres near the great roads necessitate the 
 occupier building a log-hut, and clearing a certain amount of his 
 land within a stated time ; and though three or four members of a 
 family may possess a hundred acres apiece, one large building is 
 considered sufficient for them to erect. . As the new railroads ar^ 
 pushed month by month farther west, to connect the eastern pro- 
 vinces with the Pacific ocean, plots of land on each side of the 
 lines are granted to the railways, and power is given to them to sell 
 or give every alternate plot to a settler. By this plan the interests 
 of the railway are fed : crops may, in some districts, like Manitoba 
 and Minnesota, be raised in a few month" ; and as the products 
 are carried to the east, the requirements of growing civilization 
 are brought back by the cars to the homes of the settlers. The 
 climate here is so healthy that the death-rate is lower than 
 in any other part of the globe, and the difficulty of spending 
 the profits reaped in useless luxuries or intoxicating drinks is a great 
 benefit to every one. There is a large amount of rye whisky 
 made, and of course consumed, in some parts of Canada; but it 
 is rare to see such a thing as mendicity or ragged people, too 
 often the effects of intemperance : the very climate itself, so fresh 
 and life-giving, supplies the place of strong drink, which is, per- 
 haps, more pardonably indulged in, in the more damp and depressing 
 localities of England and Holland. Public-houses, the curse of 
 our own country, have no existence in many districts in America, 
 in some States the sale of intoxicating liquors being forbidden. 
 Pauperism and theft are scarcely known there — income-tax is 
 not yet dreamt of — and if some of our able-bodied paupers, 
 pampered by our mischievous system of out-door relief, were depo- 
 sited in this part of the Dominion, England would save theii* 
 
m 
 
 IN THE TRACK OF OUR EMIOllANTS. 
 
 keep of seven or eight pounds a year — and each one would be 
 a consumer of our own goods to nearly eleven or twelve pounds 
 annually — ^thereby benefiting both countries. We do not aspire 
 to deposit paupers there; in the first place, they would not 
 go ; in the second place, they would grumble much and work little ; 
 in the third place, many of those who live in oui towns could never 
 stand the cold winter ; in the foui-th place, the rules of the British 
 and Colonial Emigration Society do not allow recognized paupers to 
 be on their books : and it is mout desirable that all in Canada who 
 are interested in introducing emigrants, should understand that our 
 clubs in England do not send out paupers in the sense generally 
 understood. Those verging between pauperism and scant work, 
 with families, and strong arms and willing hearts, are those whom 
 we are endeavouring to assist across the water ; this I have had to 
 urge strongly on many who look shy on the movement, from the 
 moment I stepped on board one of the Allan line of steamers, till 
 I landed at Liverpool again from one of the Cunard boats. 
 
 One of the strongest arguments used by Canadians against help- 
 ing out emigrants to the country by any material aid was, that half 
 those who came crossed the frontier restless and dissatisfied, and 
 allured by the immense field of employment that lay open to them 
 farther south. I could only answer that the evil must be looked 
 steadily in the face, and that half a loaf was better than no bread. 
 The fact was rlso lost sight of, that very many of those who did 
 cross retraced their steps when they found that the dollar was not 
 so valuable in the States, and that taxes were much higher. Many 
 more arguments were employed to show both sides of the question, 
 especially by working men who dreaded competition, which they 
 were not slow to comprehend meant reduction of wages when labour 
 was at a lower premium. Most of them, however, agreed that, if 
 the men were managed well, and sent to any other district but their 
 own, there was plenty for them to do. They seldom threw such 
 cold water on the scheme as is done by so many people of influence 
 and position in England, who too often attempt to deal with theories 
 
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 .'■--. » ' ■•'•,'.'j*". ?'■ -•■■■■■ .'■■ i'^i »^"** 
 
 JOHN CARLING. 
 
 • 1 V 
 
 
THE WESTERN PllOVINCES OP CANADA. 
 
 Iw 
 
 rather than with factH. I do not mean to discredit the efforts 
 of such as seek to direct unemployed labour to the localities in 
 lilnjjfland where work is to be obtained ; and they would be also the 
 last persons to impute to such as ourselves any motive in encourag- 
 ing^ emigration which tends to depopulate any district which is 
 not proved to be over-crowded. 
 
 Let us, however, suppose that all difficulties on this side of the 
 water being overcome, the emigrant is deposited in a place that at 
 first looks a hopeless wilderness of large and small timber. He na- 
 turally seeks the aid of his neighbours, whoever they may be ; and, 
 this being seldom refused, a place large enough for him to build a 
 shanty on is soon cleared. The small brushwood is first got rid of, 
 and then the chopping business has to be seriously gone through, 
 and the stumps of the larger trees burnt, which yield a certain 
 amount of potash. All this work can go on through the snow in 
 winter ; the land is next sown with potatoes or clover for cattle, and 
 a yield is obtained in about three months. He will also have to make 
 his fences, and sow his wheat. The second year he obtains a crop ; 
 and in the mean time he can sell his potash, which will produce 
 nine or ten shillings per acre. In return for his neighbours' help 
 he will have to render them assistance at different periods, and 
 in due time his land will be brought into a decent state of culti- 
 vation. ' 
 
 All this is hard work, and can only be undertaken by men with 
 robust constitutions ; but there are so many other fields open for the 
 settler besides clearing land, that few need be deterred from making 
 their venture by the undoubted difficulties of a back-woodsman. 
 Carpenters, masons, bricklayers, shoemakers, navvies, shipwrights, 
 tailors, will all find openings in the towns and villages that dot the 
 rich province of Ontario ; and any one who is able to turn his hand 
 to an odd job for a short time will not fail to find out where perma- 
 nent employment may be obtained. At one large railway station 
 I applied to an official for a porter to carry ray luggage from the 
 train to the cab : but I was met with a smile and a shrug, and 
 
 •tjj 
 
18 
 
 IN THE TRACK OP OUR EMIGRANTS. 
 
 curtly told that they did not indnlgpo in such luxuries in this country. 
 I asked the reason, and was informed that a porter would want two 
 dollars a-day ; " that's all very well in your country, whore you 
 have such lots of idle men that they are glad to take eighteen shil- 
 lings a week, but we couldn't afford to pay porters and run cars at 
 cheap fares too/' So I did as others did, and my wife and I dragged 
 our boxes two or three hundred yards to the door, where a stalwart 
 cabman condescendingly lifted them on to his vehicle, and bullied 
 us into paying him double his fare. It is va victis all over in these 
 parts, and I went back and helped some less energetic travellers to 
 haul their impedimenta to the cab-stand. 
 
 But my little troubles were amusing compared ' the real 
 battle of life that a settler has to fight. The Divme command, 
 ** Go forth, replenish the earth and subdue it," was ever present 
 as we passed, day by day, in out-of-the-way parts, the acres that 
 were in course of Ijeing cleared ; and more and more appeared the 
 sinfulness of those whom I have heard publicly condemn emigration 
 by the ugly word transportation. Ignorance may be bliss to them, but 
 knowledge is power, and never was the saying more thoroughly 
 brought to the test, and not found wanting, than on the great Con- 
 tinent of America. 
 
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 A A T 
 
 V 
 
 O. V 
 
 K 
 
 N 
 
THE PROVINCE OF NEW BRUNSWICK. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Peovince of New Bbunswick — Quebec akd New Bbukswick 
 Railway— -Fertility of Soil— The Intebcolonial Railway— Ash- 
 BUBTON Tbeaty — San Juan Dispute— St. John— The old Chubch- 
 
 YABD— PiBB — BoAT-RaCE ON THE KeNNBBECASSIS — 230 MeN WaNTED— 
 
 London Guabdians of the Poob and Emigbation — The St. John 
 "Telbgeaph" on Immigbation — Masonic Festivity — An Emiobant's 
 Letteb. 
 
 The attention of Englishmen is very seldom called to the quiet, 
 respectable^ well-to-do Province of New Brunswick. Two or three 
 months ago the papers devoted a short space of their crowded columns 
 to the description of the opening of the European and North Ame- 
 rican Railway, between the State of Maine, in the United States, and 
 New Brunswick, by President Grunt and Lord Lisgar. This line 
 of railway runs i w from the sea-port town, St. John, without a 
 break, to Quebec, and Montreal and Portln id Boston and New 
 York. To travellers like ourselves, who had to go to and from the 
 different northern Provinces, this line will prove an inestimable 
 benefit, as the steamers from St. John to 'ortland or Boston are 
 very crowded, and often experience very rough weather. On one 
 voyage the vessel, whose cabins were all built above the level of the 
 deck, presented such a broad surface to the wind, that it took us 
 exactly an hour to turn round in the ^ bour of Portland : in fact 
 the wind was blowing so high that the captain resolved to stop in 
 the harbour all night : but seeing the steamer to Boston venturing 
 out at full speed he could not bear the idea of being left behind, 
 and we were soon committed to the tender mercies of the Atlantic 
 Ocean. There happen to be many natural harbours of refuge all 
 along the coast of Maine and New Brunswick, so we ran no very 
 great risk, except from fog, which haunts this coast as far north as 
 Newfoundland. Now that one can travel from St. John to New 
 York in Pullman's palace and sleeping cars, this hitherto crowded 
 
 W: 
 ■j^ ■ 
 
 i 
 
 i^ 
 
m* 
 
 20 
 
 IN THE TRACK OP OUR EMIGRANTS. 
 
 rJijV' 
 
 ■^ 
 ^i 
 
 
 and uncomfortable route can be avoided by those who prefer the 
 land and can afford the extra expense. 
 
 It is computed that about 800 people travel each week by water 
 from Boston to St. John and Halifax. The railway hopes to absorb 
 this, and an increased amount of, traffic, and accomplish the distance 
 in half the time, viz. from fifteen to eighteen hours. The Maine 
 Company has a lease for 999 years of the line through New Bruns- 
 wick to St. John, and branches diverge to the towns of Woodstock, 
 St Stephen, and Fredericton : it is also empowered to acquire tliC 
 line, just completed, to Halifax, and so, with the grants of laud 
 along the St. John River, and through the Aroostook valley, which 
 stretches towards the Megantic and the thriving town of Sher- 
 brooke, this railway presents a new and desirable field for settlers 
 along its line. v 
 
 The chief town of New Brunswick is Fredericton, a quiet, pic- 
 turesquely situated place on the St. John River, about forty miles 
 from St. John. A new railway is projected from here to Riviere 
 du Loup on the St. Lawrence River, where a line along the coast is 
 open to Point Levis opposite Quebec. The promoters of this route 
 are most sanguine as to its success, as it skirts the fertile valley 
 of St. Johu; tapping on its way north the large traffic of the 
 Aroostook valley, passing near the towns of Woodstock, Houlton, 
 and villages of Edmunston and Grand Falls, or Colebrooke j deve- 
 loping the lumber trade, and. what is more important, being a means 
 of transporting the immense amount of flour, over half a million of 
 barrels in the year (that now finds its way by New York or Portland), 
 to the maritime provinces, through British territory — and at a 
 quicker and cheaper rate : and it will also enable the merchants of 
 Montreal and Quebec to export and import their goods long before 
 the navigation of the St. Lawrence is open in spring. 
 
 The Government has granted 2,500,000 acres of land to the 
 company : these are fertile and well watered, and the annual yield 
 of timber is now 70,000,000 of superficial feet. The climate also is 
 healthy, and '^he settlers or workmen who are to be engaged on the 
 
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 i 
 

 !f 
 
 !;- 
 
.■wa.-o.nri.ttbAAll'^ 
 
 AIAP SHBWINO 
 
 AND IT^CONIJEOTION WITH THE RAILWAYS OF CANADA. 
 
I 
 
 
 
 it 
 
 H 
 
13 
 
THE PROVINCE OP NEW DRUNSWICK. 
 
 21 
 
 lino will have grants of land securocl to them in proportion to the 
 length of their services : the long winter is compensated for by its 
 action upon the soil^ which decreases the amount of work requisite 
 to bring it into a fit state of cultivation. 
 
 The fertility of the soil of New Brunswick is marvellous. The 
 average produce of bushels of wheat per acre, ten years ago, in 
 Canada West are said to be 13 ; in New York 14 ; in Ohio 16 in 
 New Brunswick 20. Of barley per acre. New York 16; Canada 
 West 18 ; Ohio 24 ; and New Brunswick 29. Of potatoes, Ohio 69 ; 
 Canada West 84 ; New York 90, and New Brunswick 226. Of 
 turnips, New York 88 ; New Brunswick 456 ; and so on with oats, 
 buckwheat, rye, and Indian corn. 
 
 Tlie land along the river St. John is nearly all taken up, but the 
 river Tobique and its tributaries, full of trout, salmon, white-fish, 
 and chub, and surrounded by valuable settling land, where game 
 abounds, including partridge, red deer, grouse, moose, and cariboo, 
 is available for the settler, who will not be long before he finds his 
 way to the iron and other valuable ores under his feet. 
 
 Another railway, called the Intercolonial, is being made along the 
 New Brunswick coast, in continuation of the one from Halifax to 
 Shediac, now open to the latter place. The wisdom of making 
 this line I must say I failed to see, notwithstanding the arguments 
 laid before me by one of the Dominion Ministers, who wj»s living 
 on the coast, and no doubt used his influence to secure so desirable 
 a means of locomotion from the Bay of Miramichi to Quebec and 
 Halifax. 
 
 It may be wondered why this costly line was built along the 
 shores of the St. Lawrence instead of through the fertile valley of 
 the St. John. The cause of this opens up one of those unpleasant 
 episodes in British American history that makes us doubt whether 
 our Statesmen have been knaves or fools— it would almost seem as 
 if they must have been a little of both. When the United States 
 were separated from Canada and Nova Scotia, or the old province 
 of Acadia, the boundary line that fixed the limits of Acadia was 
 
 ^i I 
 
 ! V 
 
 vl 
 
22 
 
 IN THE TTIACK OF OUR EMIGRANTS. 
 
 I 
 
 selected as the starting-point. This was at the hcad-watcra of the 
 Southern St. Croix River, and extended westwaixl. But in course 
 of time the original map was lost, or, as it proved, quietly hidden 
 away, and Webster claimed that there was only one St. Croix, that 
 which was many miles to the northward of the true St. Croix. 
 Lord Ashburton acquiesced, and a wedge of Bntish territory was 
 given away, which nearly separated Canada from the Maritime 
 Provinces. • . • fi 
 
 Since that discreditable transaction the original plan has been 
 found, and the treaty has proved to have been a swindle I 
 
 But the Government had at the time a lithographed map at 
 Woolwich dated 1776, which has been recently discovered by a 
 Colonist, in which the two St. Croix Rivers are distinctly marked, 
 and the boundary line between Maine and Nova Scotia (which once 
 included New Brunswick) is indicated by a line drawn westward 
 from the Southern St. Croix. It seems almost incredible that for 
 years this map, a copy of which must have existed in a score or more 
 of Government offices and public libraries, should have remained 
 unnoticed. It is manifest that the Commissioneia in 17 S3 simply 
 adopted the map of 1776, and recognized the then existing 
 boundaries of Nova Scotia and Maine. 
 
 This combination of palpable fraud and still more palpable 
 stupidity recently led to a most serious consequence — the necessity 
 for building hundreds of miles of an unprofitable railway. If the 
 British Government guaranteed the interest on the large sum 
 necessary, it did not do any thing more than it was in honour 
 bound to do, to repair the disastrous results of its bungling 
 diplomacy. 
 
 Since the Treaty about the San Juan dispute, settling the 
 boundary between the United States and the Dominion of Can&da 
 was signed by the Commissionei's last Spring and referred for 
 arbitration to the Emperor of Germany, a map has been found in 
 the Government Office in Biitish Columbia proving that the original 
 boundary line was marked far south of the line the Dominion 
 
THE PnOVlNCE OP NEW duitnswick. 
 
 23 
 
 claimed. Wo are curious to see if history will repeat itself in thvs 
 ti'ansaction. 
 
 The distance from St. John to Quebec by the Fredericton 
 route is 435 miles ; by the Intercolonial 673 miles ; and by the 
 European and North American 606 miles. This says much in favour 
 of the first in point of time alone. I may mention a fourth proposed 
 route, to Montreal by Sherbrooke, through the State of Maine. 
 
 As I have remarked before, the short winter is not so great a 
 drawback as is often represented : the snow is twice as dry and light 
 as that In England, the winter beginning about the end of Novem- 
 ber and onding in April, when the sun is very powerful, and plough- 
 ing and sowing are commenced. In June the apple trees are in full 
 blossom.; in July hay-making begins; in August potatoes are 
 brought to market ; in September all cereals are ready for the sickle, 
 and the usually fine autumn succeeds till the November rains and 
 December frosts set in. These frosts penetrate deep into the ground, 
 separating the particles from each other, so that the thaw greatly 
 facilitates the ploughing in April. 
 
 After having described the general features of the Province I 
 will take my readers on a visit to the Commercial Capital, St. John. 
 It contains about 40,000 inhabitants^ chiefly engaged in the ship- 
 ping business. It has a magnificent harbour, open all the winter, 
 on account of the high tides that prevail in the Bay of Fundy. 
 This bay is noted for its fogs — though it is almost an insult to 
 allude to this disagreeable fact to the inhabitants of the place. 
 They have one consolation, that the city of Halifax is visited with 
 a similar affliction, and this goes a great way to reconcile them to 
 their proverbial gloom. It is true the sun does shine here, and 
 brighter than we experience it in England ; and they are not so 
 driven in a corner for a retort as was the Scotchman, when he 
 was asked if it always rained in Scotland, and laconically answered, 
 " Noa, it sometimes snaws." 
 
 St. John is all up and down hill. The chief street is slantin- 
 dicular, as a Yankee would say, and its minor streets follow suit. 
 
u 
 
 IN THE TWAf'K OF OUR KMlORANTfl. 
 
 t 
 
 S 
 
 
 From tho wntor it looks n hutoro^onoouR jiimblo of warohuuucs and 
 chimnoy-pots, and you cannot from any of its streets obtain a view 
 that g^ivos you any just idea of the extent and importance of its 
 commerce. It possesses no public buildings worth speaking of, from 
 an architectural or artistic point of view at least. Its churches are 
 mean, and its one public square half a wilderness. Until last year 
 its hotels, for such an important place, were but decent inns, and 
 thankful were we to find a large new American hotel just opened 
 when we arrived, which appeared to be the only civilized habitation 
 in the place. 
 
 But the St. John people do not care about ostentation : their 
 houses are comfortably enough furnished, their warehouses are fail 
 of valuable merchandise, and their chemists' shops would hold a 
 candle to many such in more pretentious places. They have also a 
 hearty welcome for the stranger, and apparently an innate desire to 
 let well alone. They would, above all, be inestimably happy, if only 
 their rival in Nova Scotia, Halifax by name, were to-morrow en- 
 gulfed fifty fathoms deep at the bottom of the broad Atlantic. I 
 hear my friends in the good old . town remonstrating with me : let 
 me soothe their outraged feelings by assuring them that the Hali- 
 gonians would be as delighted at a similar catastrophe happening 
 to the forty thousand people who eat, drink, and sleep in the anti- 
 quated town on the banks of the River St. John. 
 
 I was once walking with a fair friend, a native of St. John, in 
 the old churchyard in the middle of the town, and expressed my 
 extreme surprise at the want of public spirit or feeling that was 
 manifest in the place. Here, there, and everywhere the gmve- stones 
 of their, I will not say her, ancestors were scattered about in wild and 
 disgraceful confusion ; one was propped up against another for fear 
 of toppling over — a second was smashed into atoms by ruthless 
 hands, a third was griml} sticking up in the pathway like an 
 antique milestone, and others were mocking^ with their half-defaced 
 epigrams, the passers-by, with their eccentric attitudes, caused by 
 wanton negligence on the part of those whose duty it should have 
 
THB PUOVINCP. OP NKW Bm'NSWlCK. 
 
 25 
 
 been to protect them from insult. In vain my friend drew my at- 
 tention to the pretty cemetery a few miles out of the town ; to her 
 accustomed eye these things were as nothing — to me the sight was 
 hideous in its bare reality. Visions of that lovely resting-place of 
 the dead near Boston, Mount Auburn, rise up before me, and dispel 
 the gloom that the remembrance of that spot in St. John for a 
 moment cast over my mind. It was all very well to point to 
 handsome new villus dotting the surrounding hills, the fine bridge 
 over the river a few miles from the town, the newly-restored Roman 
 Catholic Cathedral, the pretty churoh in the valley with its 
 amateur choir, evidences of prosperity not to be overlocJced— but 
 only in a Protestant country, shall I say only in a colony, could 
 such a sight be seen as I have just described. 
 
 One of those dreaded occurrences that is often read of had hap- 
 pened between my first and my second visit to St. John. A fire had 
 swept away an acre of houses in the meantime, and a friend and I 
 gazed upon the ravages of the destroying element with feelings of 
 awe. Many fires I had witnessed on my journey through Canada — 
 sometimes at night at Montreal, or sometimes from the deck of a 
 steamer on the shores of a lake, but this one was the largest I had 
 encountered : it was still smoking when we went to inquire after a 
 friend who was staying in a hotol which had suffered much 
 damage. I had afterwards to witness the immense sensation 
 caused in ?^ew York by the awful fire at Chicago in the month 
 following. 
 
 I was in Canada when the great boat-race took place on the 
 beautiful Kennebecassis river, when Benforth met with his un- 
 timely fate during the contest. The demeanour of the St. John 
 people, after the truth became known, was, from what I could 
 gather on the spot just afterwards, most praiseworthy. I could 
 only regret that the second race, which took place at Halifax be- 
 tween the English, American, and Halifax crews, was embittered 
 by the exhibition of intense local feeling on the part of the Halifax 
 and St. John people; the different newspapers waging an interne- 
 
 i 
 
 i > 
 
 i' 
 
 t. 
 
"!T 
 
 I i 
 
 26 
 
 IN THE TRACK OP OUR EMIGRANTS. 
 
 cine Tvay against each other; the Haligonians accusing the Johnians 
 of cowardice ; the Johnians accusing the Haligonians of malevolent 
 treachery. From the first the St. John j'ew declared their light 
 boat was not suited to the rough water of the Halifax harbour; 
 but impartial observers held, and I think rightly, a decided opinion, 
 that having come across the bay of Fundy, they should have rowed 
 against all odds, having first entered their pretest. They, however, 
 thought fit to return to St. John before the race, and whatever 
 justice they i»ay have had on their side their judgment was 
 scarcely sound; It is true their boat was damaged by some malig- 
 nant persons before the race, yet even this fact would have told 
 vastly in their favour had they rt'iiained on the spot and braved all 
 results. 
 
 I was very much entertained one evening on board the steamer 
 by the conversation of an old and respected Member of Parliament 
 for the Province of New Brunswick. We had also on board two 
 men well known in the Dominion, Mr. Tilley and Dr. Tupper; but 
 my former friend gave me an insight into the feelings and views of 
 the people who lived in the interior of the Province. Most refresh- 
 ingly antiquated, but tinged with sound common sense from an 
 agricultural point of view, were the arguments of my companion 
 against the Confederation, against Immigration, and against innova- 
 tion in general. I imagined I had been brought up with Conser- 
 vative notions, but I felt that in presence of this gentleman, who 
 appeared to know well what he was talking about, I was becoming 
 a most Radical partisan ; and the hours we spent on the deck, undei 
 a brilliant moon, whilst the steamer splashed through the water, 
 leaving a phosphoric fan in its rear, were by no means badly spent 
 in imbibing new truths and old fallacies by turns. 
 
 In walking through the town of St. John I was struck by 
 some of the placards that met the eye at every turn. " ] 00 good 
 labouring men wanted for sewerage and water works. Apply at 
 the Leinster Street Pipe Yard.'' When I returned in about five 
 weeks to St. John I saw the same bill in the streets, and all the 
 
I 
 
 tHE PROVINCE OF NEW BRUNSM'ICK. 
 
 27 
 
 daily papers had still the same advertisement^ showing the demand 
 for lahour was not met by the supply. On taking up the Dailif 
 Telegraph, under the head of " Wanted," were "10 good coat- 
 makers, 6 vest-makers, 6 pant-makera; good wages and constant 
 employment will be given." Again, "Wanted, several young 
 active men to work on a gas-holder; the work will last four months 
 or more. Wages $2 and $2 25 cents. Sober men only may address. 
 Men who suit will have tLjir steamboat fares paid each way on 
 completion of the work." Next, "Wanted, 100 hands, principally 
 coat-makers ;" and " Wanted, 6 sewing-machine operators, and 2 
 practical machinists." 
 
 Here were 230 men advertised for, showing that there was work 
 for nearly every class in the tx)wn of St. John alone ; nor was this 
 an isolated case. Emigration to the Province of New Brunswick 
 from the European countries is not now so frequent as formerly ; 
 but one emigrant ship sailed thither in 1871, carrying 11 pas- 
 sengers, 10 English and 1 Irish ; but, notwithstanding this fact, 
 the population has increased 13 per cent, in 10 years. In 1861 it 
 was 252,000; in 1871 it was 285,777k Its rate of progress during 
 these years, compared with the Provinces of Cluebec, Ontario, Nova 
 Scotia, and the little Island of Prince Edward (which latter island 
 still refuses, with Newfoundland, to join the Dominion) is fourth. 
 Nova Scotia has had an increase of 17.21 per cent. ; Prince Edward's 
 Island, 16.28; Ontario, 16.9; New Brunswick, 13.38; Quebec, 
 7.18. Of course the increase in Ontario the last five or six years 
 has been much larger than in other parts; its population in 1861 
 was 1,620,842; and in 1871, 1,845,593. The population of Nova 
 Scotia in 1871 was 387,800. 
 
 When the English Government Emigration Commissioners 
 issued their last Report several new fields for industry were scarcely 
 enough open to warrant recommendation, and whilst intimating 
 the probable demand for labour on the Intercolonial Railway, they 
 very properly add the item, " persons with capital seeking invest- 
 ment." This useful kind of person was in request wherever I went. 
 
 D 2 
 
 S. ; 
 
 
mm 
 
 28 
 
 IN THK TRACK OF Om EMIGRANTS. 
 
 ^i% 
 
 Iff 
 
 Few, however, care to take the hint, though some enterprising 
 Americans have lately made a profitable venture in working some of 
 the coal fields in Cape Breton, hitherto so unaccountably neglected. 
 
 During the Crimean war a friend of mine was at St. John, and 
 witnessed the evil effects of injudicious emigration schemes. Our 
 guardians at home took the advantage of the expressed wish for 
 emigrants to send out a number of paupers to St. John, thinking 
 more of alleviating their own rates at home than the harm such a 
 system must entail upon the colonies. It so happened that the 
 cholera was then rife in the town, and every one was naturally 
 appalled at the havock it made in their own circle. One old 
 tottering man, just landed, was seen to rest his decrepit limbs on 
 the window-sill of a man's house, unable to creep any farther on his 
 way to find a resting-place. The owner of the house, apparently 
 with the kindest intention, stepped out and proffered his arm to 
 assist the man along ; in a minute afterwards he had deposited him 
 on liis neighbour's doorstep, and left him to his fate, expressing 
 his satisfaction that he would not now have to bury the un- 
 fortunate being who had lingered too near his house. 
 
 Now, I am thankful to say, such abuses are not allowed ; but it 
 cannot be wondered at that the grey heads of the Colonies look 
 with a jealous eye on any Emigration scheme, when they have had 
 to suffer from such selfish acts on the part of the home authorities 
 who allowed this abuse of their power. 
 
 It has been found, on the contrary, that the Guardians of our Poor 
 now-a-days have no inclination to assist even the willing and able- 
 bodied emigrant. In the spring of 1870, when there was much 
 distress in London, I acceded to the request of an Emigration Club 
 in London, whose members numbered over 1 000, to head a depu- 
 tation to the Guardians of the Union to request their assistance in 
 sending out some of the men. I accordingly headed a deputation 
 of 300 of the club, .s? ; ' ;ong and willing men — none of whom 
 were paupers in the strict sense of the word — and explained to the 
 guardians, assembled in full force, that they had power to grant 
 
THE PROVINCE OF NEW BRUNSWICK. 
 
 29 
 
 10^. a-head to any men they pleased to select. Our plea, ably 
 seconded by four of the men themselves, was considered at a special 
 meeting of the Board the next week, but the motion to assist was 
 lost by a majority of three. Taking a dispassionate view of the 
 case I am inclined to allow that th(j arguments of the majority were 
 in this case sound. The Union is a central one in London, and it 
 was fairly represented that if — say 100 men were assisted to 
 emigrate from the locality — 100 more would immediately step into 
 their shoes, their lodgings, and their wants the next week ; so that 
 unless all the Unions combined to pursue the same plan this par- 
 ticular Union would suffer. The only Board that had tried the 
 experiment was that of Poplar, and it had admitted that it had been 
 a success, as the poor-rates had been sensibly diminished. 
 
 So much for this side of the water. Now let us hear what the 
 St. John Telegraph has to say as to Immigration. In a leading 
 article, on September 29, 1871, it says, — 
 
 " The late Immigration Conference is fitted to show the advantage of working 
 from a common centre, and of being able to do so hy means of a Union of the 
 Provinces. The Union enables the Government to agree upon a common tariff, 
 otherwise practically unattainable. That tariff should he such as to foster our 
 industries, not by any efforts of the nature of protection-run-mad, hut by such a 
 wise adaptation of the tariff to the necessities and industries of the country, and 
 the expense of living, as might make this a cheap country to live in, and a desir- 
 able place to engage in manufactures. In undertaking great puhlic works, 
 Confederation enables British America to secure railroads and canals to an extent ', 
 that, out of Union, would be found impracticable, and these works are fitted to 1 
 exercise some influence on immigration, particularly if they are turned to proper 
 account. We have i*eason to hope that the building of the Intercolonial and 
 Canada Pacific railroads will add largely to our population before they are com- 
 pleted. At the Conference which has just terminated, the central Government 
 appeared in a very proper attitude. Though, by its agents and otherwise, 
 it has been promoting immigration generally, it now appears desirous of stimu- 
 lating the efforts, in that direction, of each Government, and of thus exciting a 
 salutary rivalry in immigi-ation between the Provinces, a rivalry into which, it 
 may be hoped, private individuals will heartily enter, forming local associations 
 and otherwise aiding the movement. The central Government will apparently 
 appropriate a sum of money to. each Province for this object, such pum to be 
 T -ated by some equitable system of distribution. It should have respect to 
 the public ungranted lands which a Province is prepared to offer to immigrants, 
 and to the otJier kindred circumstances, the load Governments arranging the 
 
 1 
 
 tv 
 
 i •■ 
 ]■', 
 
 \ '' 
 J ■ 
 
 i' ' 
 
 hi 
 
 
 
T 
 
 30 
 
 IN THE TIIACK OF OUR EMIGRANTS. 
 
 details of the measure and taking steps to give eifeot to it. This will include 
 the surveying of blocks of land, the opening up of roads, perhaps the building 
 of log houses in some ciisos, the enactment of suitable free grants and homestead 
 laws, and above all, the adoption of suitable measures to secure actual coloniza* 
 tion. An immigration policy of this kind ought to infuse new political life into 
 our people. We have engaged in other contests with success ; now let us take 
 up immigration. Let us discuss it on the platform, ventilate it through the 
 press, form local associations and otherwise co-operate with the Oovemment 
 In this, as in our educational efforts, the cloven foot of the obstructive will, no 
 doubt, often appear. Let us rally round the Government, if they show a dis- 
 position to take hold of the matter in earnest, and, on the other hand, hold them 
 to a stem responsibilit}' if they appear to trifle with a subject of such grand and 
 even increasing importance." - ■ 
 
 I had several conversations with an emigration agent from tlie 
 United States, who had just been appointed to St. John, to attract 
 any willing to go south, and learnt some valuable information re- 
 specting the new lines of railroad, and openings for settlers in 
 the western parts of the United States, Minnesota in particular. 
 He was one of many who had been accredited to the chief towns 
 of the Dominion, and his presence was regarded by the people of St. 
 John with no little suspicion. It was, however, one of the signs of 
 the times, and the St. John people had better look to it. 
 
 St. John can be gay at times if it likes. The first evening I 
 arrived there the elite were assembled in the spacious drawing-room 
 of the " Victoria Hotel," to listen to the strains of music, and to 
 hear speeches from various notabilities, in aid of one of the local cha- 
 rities. On the evening before I left a grand Masonic dinner was 
 given in the dining-room, under the presidency of Grand Master 
 Wedderburn, supported by Major Reed and General Warner of the 
 United States, and Consul, and the menage and dresses of the 
 brethren were both equal to the occasion. After the toast of " The 
 Fair Sisters of New Brunswick " had been given, and worthily 
 responded to by Brother Domville, I went to bed, not to sleep, but 
 to listen to the uproarious refrain of " He's a jolly good fellow," till 
 an advanced hour in the morning, no doubt to the intense amuse- 
 ment of the coloured waiters, and to the complete disturbance of our 
 night's rest. I could scarcely believe my eyes when I read next 
 
THE PROVINCE OF NEW BKUNSWICK. 
 
 81 
 
 morning in the paper that the toasts were drunk in cold ^ iter, espe- 
 cially as I saw various bottles of champagne at the side of some of 
 the fraternity. But perhaps they were never opened, or, like the 
 hock bottles at some of our dining-houses, contained only water, 
 which appeared to have such a marvellous effect on the lungs of the 
 members of the Grand Lodge of St. John, New Brunswick. 
 
 As I write, letters from Toronto, St. John, Montreal, Halifax, 
 and Prince Edward's Island arrive ; and one from my friend whom 
 I mentioned in my first article, as exciting amusement among 
 the French at Point Levis, opposite Quebec, arrives. Having gone 
 out to find some kind of employment he has come to an anchor in 
 the Province of Quebec. I will give his evidence : " Here I am, 
 have $500 for 44 weeks, and pay $2 50 per week for house, food, 
 and washing. I assist in two churches free, just because I like the 
 work. The people are very kind, and treat me well : it is a very 
 wild part, but a nice little church, with coloured windows. We are 
 just on the borders of the States." I trust he will excuse me 
 quoting the verses appended to his letter — but as from a voice of 
 one who is an emigrant himself, it may be of interest to those 
 whose lot it may sooner or later be to follow him : — 
 
 
 W 
 
 It' 
 
 I 
 
 I- 
 
 i;?! 
 r.-:' 
 
 I .•'• 
 
 Oft when the sun is sinking fast, 
 
 Far in the golden West, 
 My spirit flies to those at home. 
 
 It will not, cannot rest. 
 Then when the shadows deepen long, 
 
 And gently fades the light, 
 I hasten to the dear old home 
 
 To spend the long dark night. 
 
 Often I look across the waves 
 
 Which home from me divide. 
 And think of all the dear lov'd ones 
 
 Across the other side. 
 Ofttimes I stand and listen long 
 
 To what the wild winds say ; 
 I listen to them all the night, 
 
 And half the weary day. 
 
32 
 
 IN TlIK TRACK OF OIJK EMKillANTS. 
 
 Oh, luu(;hing waroH, while a8 }'ou roll, 
 
 As if in merry glee, 
 Lift up your voiwB, truly tell. 
 
 If lov'd ones Htill love me : 
 Tell me, if thoHC I've left behind 
 
 And ne'er again may see, 
 If e'er they think of hinj who roams 
 
 Acrons the rolling Hea. j . 
 
 The wild and foaming waves go on 
 
 And leave me all alone, 
 They will not, cannot, tell to me 
 
 About my distant home : 
 They only mock my bitter pain, 
 
 Laugh at my foolish prayer; 
 Pass on and leave me standing thus 
 
 Weighed down with heavy care. 
 
 Oh lov'd ones! oft I venture home, 
 
 And see you sitting there ; 
 Weep not though now from thee I roam, 
 
 But banish gnawing care. 
 Oh lov'd ones ! send me from my home 
 
 Your love across the sea, 
 That it may cheer the exile's heart 
 
 Wherever he may be. ; J , ^v 
 
 I will close my article with an expression of satisfaction at the 
 telegram from Toronto^ announcing that the Government of Ontario 
 have voted $80,000 for the purposes of emigration^ using the 
 English Societies as part of a system of agencies. 
 
THE PROVINCE OF NOVA SCOTIA. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Provinck ok Nova Scotia — Sam Slick's Opinion of it Thibtt 
 Yeabs Aoo — Dobs Nova Scotia need Immiobation P — Railways- 
 Halifax — Gentlemen of Means Wanted— Pabms to Let — Coal- 
 fields — Gold-fields — Acadia and the Annapolis Valley — Hebefobd- 
 
 8H1BE LaBOUBEBS AND EmIOBATION — MiNINO DiSTBICTS — ImMIOBATION 
 CONFEBENCE AT OTTAWA — MiSS NiOHTINOALE's LeTTEB- 
 
 "Depend on it Sir this Province is much behind the intelli- 
 gence of the age. But if it is behind us in that respect it is a long 
 chalk ahead of us in others. I never seed or heerd tell of a country 
 that had so many natural privileges as this. Why, there are twice 
 as many harbours and water powers here, as we have all the way 
 from East Port to New Orleens. They have all they can ax, and 
 more than they desarve. They have iron, coal, slate, grindstone, 
 lime, fire-stone, gypsum, freestone, and a list as long as an 
 auctioneer's catalogue. But they're either asleep, or stone blind to 
 them. Their shores are crowded with fish, and their lands covered 
 with wood. A government that lays as light on 'em as a down 
 counterpin, and no taxes. Then look at their dykes. The Lord 
 seems to have made 'em on purpose for such lazy folks. If you 
 were to tell the citizens of our country that these dykes had been 
 cropped for a hundred years without manure, they'd say, they 
 guessed you had seen Col. Crokett, the greatest hand at a flam in 
 our nation. You have heerd tell of a man who could not see 
 London for the houses ? I tell you, if we had this country, you 
 couldn't see the harbours for the shipping. There'd be a rush of 
 folks to it, as there is in one of our inns, to the dinner table, when 
 they sometimes get jammed together in the door-way, and a man 
 has to take a running leap over their heads, afore he can get in. A 
 little nigger boy in New York found a diamond worth two thousand 
 dollars : well, he sold it to a watchmaker for fifty cents ; the little 
 
 if: 
 
 i'K i. 
 
 ?-va: 
 
w 
 
 tl 
 
 ijt 
 
 34 
 
 IN THE TRACK OF OUR EMIORANTS. 
 
 critter didn't know better. Your people are just like the nigger 
 boy, — they don't know the value of their diamond." 
 
 This was Sam Slick's opinion of the Nova Seotians more than 
 thirty years ago. For many succeeding years few people on this side 
 of the water thought about, or heard much of the Province, until about 
 twelve years ago the announcement was made of gold mines having 
 been found; and just afterwards the visit of the Prince of Wales 
 drew some desultory attention to its general features, though 
 the colonists complained that the articles in the llmea were written 
 before the visit took place, and contained malicious representations 
 and abuse of the Province and its inhabitants. Their sensitiveness 
 being once aroused they fortunately had an additional incentive to 
 vindicate their enterprise, explain their resources, and exhibit their 
 patriotism, in the year 1861 when they were invited to send 
 specimens of the products of their country to the International 
 Exhibition in London in 1862. It is a matter of history how 
 they successfully made a creditable show of their minerals ; horti- 
 cultural and agricultural productions ; specimens of fish ; models of 
 ships, and Mr. Down's collection of game-birds. Cumberland 
 oysters and Digby herrings, Londonderry iron. Moose deer, 
 splendid Acadian apples, and Lunenburg flax figured side by side ; 
 whilst the only other country besides Italy that exhibited grapes 
 grown in the open air was Nova Scotia. The Horticultural Society 
 paid this Colony the compliment of prolonging the term of its 
 Show in order to bring its products to the public notice, and the 
 naughty Times this time showered special compliments on them in 
 highly flattering terms. 
 
 I have thus briefly sketched the advance made by this Province 
 since the clockmaker expressed his astonishment at the want of 
 spirit displayed by its inhabitants ; of its material prosperity I shall 
 have to speak presently. 
 
 The people of Nova Scotia never seemed to take kindly to the 
 idea of immigration. The historian of the Province, in his History 
 of Nova Scotia, wrote in 1827 — "We require all the unoccupied 
 
THB I'ROVINCE 01' NOVA SCOTIA. 
 
 35 
 
 rffer 
 
 land in Nova Scotia for the expansive growth of our own popula- 
 tion. It is now little short of 150,000, and if it should increase at 
 the rate exhibited during the last ten years, it will in half a 
 century amount to upwards of 500,000. Under these circumstances, 
 although there is yet ample room for immigrants, their introduc- 
 tion in any great numbers, if not to be regretted, is a matter of 
 perfect indifference.'' Now had the learned judge had an oppor- 
 tunity of expressing his opinion in 1871 he would undoubtedly 
 have qualified his statement. As Mr. T. F. Knight in his 
 prize essay on " Nova Scotia and its resources " published in 
 1862 puts it — "Does Nova Scotia need immigration? And the 
 question here is not, will it make her present inhabitants richer or 
 happier ? but rather, will it tend to urge her forward in a career 
 of industrial and commercial progress ? Will it tend to develop 
 those inexhaustible resources with which the God of Nature and 
 Providence has endowed her? — the healthiest climate under the 
 sun ; admirable facilities for education ; with the fullest toleration 
 of religious opinion ; with a generous soil, and a surface diversified 
 with the most varying forms of beauty — nevertheless failing to 
 fulfil her destiny." 
 
 Now, we are led to ask ourselves, in what way does Nova Scotia 
 fail to fulfil her destiny ? — and the question is not an easy one to 
 answer. Sam Slick would have replied, by not fully developing the 
 superior advantages she possesses, and by occuppng herself with 
 local politics to the exclusion of practical works of utility. You 
 must know the geography of the Province to appreciate its impor- 
 tance. Its proximity to Europe, its fine harbours, that of Halifax 
 being pre-eminent, its narrow escape from being an island, sug- 
 gesting to many who travel by land to the Province of New Bruns- 
 wick, or Prince Edward's Island, the cutting of a canal from the 
 Bay of Fundy to the Northumberland Strait, justified the clock- 
 maker, whilst strolling through Amherst, the chief town of the 
 county of Cumberland, in remarking that — 
 
 " These Cumberland folks have curious next-door neighbours : they are placed 
 
r 
 
 <« 
 
 TN THE TRACK OV OUB KMUIRANTS. 
 
 in their locatiun ri^ht atwixt fire and water ; tkey have New Brunswick politics 
 on one side, and Nova Scotia politics on t'other side of them, a>id Bay Fundy 
 and Bay Verte on t'other two sides ; they are actilly in hot water ; they are up 
 to their cruppers in politics, and great hands for talking of House of Assembly, 
 political Unions, and what not. Like all folks who wade so deep they can't 
 always tell the natur of the ford." " It beats cock*fightin', I tell you, to hear the 
 Bluenoses, when they get together, talk polities. They have got three or four 
 evil spirits, like the Irish Banshees, that they say cause all the mischief in the 
 Province : the Council, the Banks, the House of Assembly, and the Lawyers. If 
 a man places a higher valiation on himself than his neighbours do, and wants 
 to be a magistrate before he is fit to carry the inkhorn for one, and finds himself 
 safely delivered of a mibtake, he says it is all owing to the Council. The mem* 
 bers are cunnin' critters, too; tl know this feclin', and when they come home 
 from Assembly, and people ax i ' Where are all them 'ere fine things you 
 promised us P ' ' Why,' they say, ' we'd a had 'em all for you, but for that etamal 
 Council ; they nullified all we did.' The country will come to no good till them 
 chaps show their respect for it, by covering their bottoms with homespun. If 
 a man is so tarnation lazy he won't work, and in course has no money, why he 
 ■ays it's all owin* to the banks, they won't discount, there's no money, they've 
 ruined the Province. If there bean't a road made up to every citizen's door, 
 away back to the woods — who as like as not has squatted there — why he says 
 the House of Assembly have voted all the money to pay great men's f/alaries, 
 and there's nothin' left for poor settlers, and cross roads. Well, the lawyers 
 come in for their share of cake and ale, too ; if they don't catch it, it's a pity." 
 
 4 
 
 I have quoted so much from Sam Slick, and mi^ht quote much 
 more, had I space, did I not think his opinions were too well known 
 among us to recapitulate them, to show what was the state of the 
 Province some years ago, and to point out how the present genera- 
 tion have partially opened their eyes to the advantages they possess 
 over other Provinces of the New Confederation. The railway from 
 Halifax to Windsor and down the beautiful Annapolis Valley, 
 though not such a profitable investment to its shareholders as could 
 be desired, has greatly developed the resources of the Province; and 
 the last link in the line to Shediac, which will give direct communi- 
 cation by rail with New Brunswick and St. John, and will run 
 round the coast by Miramichi to Riviere du Loup, in an unbroken 
 line to Point Levi, opposite Quebec, called the Intercolonial Rail- 
 way, will be shortly opened as far as Shediac. The branch line 
 from Truro to Pictou on the Northumberland Strait enables the 
 
 JBI 
 
THE PnOVIXfE or NOVA fiCOTTA. 
 
 37 
 
 traveller to reach Charlottetown and Prince EUwarcru Island in 
 about twelve hours. 
 
 The chief towns of Nova Scotia arc Windsor, Truro, Antigonish 
 Pictou, Guysboro, Amherst, Cornwallis, Annapolis, Digby, Lunen- 
 burg, Liverpool, Shelbume and Yarmouth. The island of Capo 
 Breton, separated from the main land by the Gut of Canso, has 
 only three places worth mentioning, Port Hood, Arichat und 
 Sydney, its chief town. 
 
 Halifax, the capital of Nova Scotia, has in round numbers about 
 30,000 inhabitants : it is connected with the Bay of Cobequid by 
 a canal and the river Shubenacadie. The whole Province is dotte<' 
 with lakes, inlets and small rivers. Halifax harbour is one of the finest 
 in the world, and the town has a very picturesque appearance from 
 the water, though its importance is scarcely appreciated when you 
 land and wander through its streets. It is true its shops present a 
 more imposing appearance than do those of St. John, and there is 
 a much more civilized aspect about the place than in its rival oi 
 New Brunswick. The large citadel commands a splendid view over 
 the town and harbour, but when you search for its public buildings 
 you find the old and new provincial buildings, and but few more. 
 The great shipping trade, and the "Allan" and " In man" line of 
 steamers, bring much life and animation to its wharves, though its 
 only railway is about two miles from the town, a most inconvenient 
 arrangement which it is hoped will be ameliorated before long. 
 
 The presence of the British troops in Canadn up to the last year, 
 when our Government has seen fit to withdraw them from all other 
 parts of the Dominion, has been naturally a source of some little 
 profit and perhaps pride to the inhabitants of Halifax. They 
 were sore on the subject of the approaching departure of the troops 
 from Canada when I was there ; let us hope they are now getting 
 more used to the idea of self-reliance, and comfort themselves with 
 the assurance that some will always be left with them, as long at 
 least as Great Britain sees the importance of guarding so important 
 a military and naval station as Halifax. The many agreeable days 
 
 ■<t 
 
IN TIIK TKArK OP OVU KMI0RANT8. 
 
 ■pent in the Cituilel, through tho kindncMs of the officers quartered 
 there, cause me to look buck with pleasure on my sojourn in the 
 town, thoug^h the mention of this fact muHt not be construed by my 
 other friends as ignoring their daily courtesy, so fully appreciated 
 after their hospitable homes have been left far behind. 
 
 Having drawn attention to some of the general features of Nova 
 S<!otitt 1 will endeavour to point out what has Wn done in the 
 way of Immigration, what is now being done, and what is proposed 
 to be done by the Province itself. 
 
 I may safely say that Immigration as n policy has scarcely ever 
 been seriously considered by the different Governments of the 
 Province. Spasmodic efforts have been made to introduce the 
 subject, and men whose energy and education have been perhaps 
 in advance of the age have from time to time taken up the ques- 
 tion. The damping process however has generally l>een successful 
 in thwarting any outsiders in maturing their plans and ever getting 
 a fair hearing for them. The Fabian policy of delay, the masterly 
 policy of inaction, and the jealousy of rival political factions have 
 combined to shunt the question from year to year until philan- 
 thropists have given up their efforts in despair. 
 
 It is true that Nova Scotia could not hope to attract immigrants 
 in the same way that Ontario or Manitoba are doing, and will 
 continue to do. But yet, for emigrants who have a little money in 
 their pockets, for good farmers, manufacturers, fishermen, and 
 miners. Nova Scotia holds out inducements superior to any of the 
 other Provinces. The Provincial Secretary, the Hon. W. B. Vail, 
 who took much interest in the question of P^migration, told me that 
 employers were wanted as much as employed, and also that the 
 Ciovernment meant to collect information as to the farms that 
 were to be bought or sold, and the amount of labour there was 
 wanted in the diflPerent counties. Mr. Vail kindly gave me a short 
 pamphlet, published by the authority of the Lieutenant-Governor 
 and the Executive Council '' containing information of interest and 
 value to intending Emigrants.'' The description of the good 
 
TIIK PROVINCE OF NOVA SfOTIA. 
 
 80 
 
 things that the Province l>rin^ forth mukcs your month wntor. 
 It must be a very paraditie to those who live in it, nnd though we 
 learn that potatoes, beets, squash and tomatoes, and other neces- 
 saries are raised in large quantities; that sorghum, broom-corn 
 and tobacco have been successfully experimented with ; that Anti- 
 gonish county does a thriving business in butter and fat cattle 
 with Newfoundland ; that peaches and grapes are grown in the 
 open air, but only in the gardens of private gentlemen for their 
 own use; that farms in good cultivation, with houses and barns 
 can be purchased at from bUOl. to 1500/. sterling; we can well 
 understand the remark that " as a home for half-pay officers and 
 for gentlemen of means who wish to retire from business, no more 
 beautiful, healthy, or desirable location could be found in America/' 
 Pardon me, reader — I will pardon you, if you laugh even im- 
 moderately at the tempting picture. But I will confess that I have 
 picked out the ludicrous points in the " Description." " Gentle- 
 men of means " will not be induced to leave their country to settle 
 in a respectable well-to-do Colony, though as the pamphlet justly 
 says, many who " pass Nova Scotia and proceed to the United 
 States very often go farther and fare worse." As a sheep-raising 
 country " there is perhaps no better locality in America, notwith- 
 standing which there is not a single sheep-farm in the Province, 
 and perhaps not one regularly bred shepherd. Every farmer keeps 
 a few sheep; but the flocks are seldom taken care of." Again, 
 " there is a good opening in Nova Scotia for the establishment of 
 manufactures of woollen and cotton goods : the climate is well 
 adapted, and the facilities for obtaining the raw material &nd fur 
 converting it into marketable manufactured goods, are equal to 
 any in Europe." After all Sam Slick was right : there is much 
 left undone that might be done. The last recommendation is 
 practical ; namely a " formation in Great Britain of a Joint Stock 
 Nova Scotia Farming and Land Company, with a capital of 
 50,000/. sterling divided into 10,000 shares of 61. With this 
 capital a number of large farms, already in good cultivation, could 
 
 i 
 
 c; 
 
 * s 
 
 .!• 
 
 i 
 
40 
 
 IN THE TRACK OF 01' R EMIGRANTS. 
 
 be purchased in the best agricultural districts, v'lich could be sub- 
 divided into several hundreds of farms, of frci\< 10 to 100 acres 
 each, such as would be worth in England from 2000/. to 5000/., 
 and costing here, to the Company, 100/. to 250/. each, many of 
 them with good buildings already erected. The shareholders of 
 such a Company should come out themselves, or send out good 
 practical agricultu»-ists to occupy the land." 
 
 1 have now done my duty in laying the scheme before the capi- 
 talists of the Old World. If they fail to see the value of the hint 
 the fault will not be mine. 
 
 There is, however, one fact connected with Nova Scotia that must 
 be noticed : the presence of most valuable coal-fields, not to speak 
 of copper, iron, lead, tin and gold. The beds of coal have never 
 been thoroughly worked ; large fortunes are in store for those who 
 have the enterprise to supj.!y capital and work at the seams. Men 
 are beginning to open their eyes to this most important fact, and it 
 requires no prophet to predict that a very few years will see Nova 
 Scotia one of the most flourishing and wealthy of the Canadia.i 
 Provinces from this source alone. Many of my friends there are 
 already stirring in the matter ; some are even now here in London 
 busy working out the problem which for so many years seemed to 
 them but a dream of the far future. May they have the success 
 that they deserve. The Americans are at the present moment 
 debating the policy of reducing or abolishing the tax on coal, and, 
 unless the Free-traders who are in a majority are beaten by some 
 side-wind, the bill may be carried, which will give a new life to that 
 Province which is described as " sur})assing every country of the 
 same extent in the world in the variety and supply of natural 
 resources." 
 
 New Glasgow and Pictou are the two chief places which have 
 been made by the coal trade. The latter has a beautiful harbour, 
 and quite capable of being expanded into a large town in a short 
 space of time. Its harbour is closed in the winter months, but the 
 railway to Halifax is open ; the steamers plying on the St. Law- 
 
sub- 
 acres 
 )00/., 
 ny of 
 jrs of 
 
 good 
 
 capi- 
 i hint 
 
 must 
 speak 
 never 
 e who 
 
 Men 
 and it 
 
 Nova 
 ladiaa 
 re are 
 ondon 
 led to 
 lUccess 
 oment 
 I, and, 
 ^ some 
 to that 
 of the 
 latural 
 
 1 have 
 irbour, 
 a short 
 lut the 
 . Law- 
 
MA P 
 
 or THE 
 
 COAL FIELDS 
 
 - — OP 
 
 ErKOPE/AMBmCA. 
 
 C.« A CLAKNC, ttTH S 
 
 Eiiiiliinii 
 Srnt/tin,. 
 
 Ffatlii 
 Snarhri 
 
 •ifStiu 
 
 fp 
 
 -'—"^ 
 
K E F L- K B N C E . 
 
 Eiuihind ,(■ WnJf/i ' 
 
 I lidiiiid 
 
 I I'riiiui ,t IJtlriiiini 
 Softrhniri . I'rassiix 
 Hmterri 4 WtttitluiUa 
 
 ■ T.uHey 
 
 tf'Shml 
 
 10. Spain <i f\>ilua(il 
 II lasted H'ftf^ ViussM 
 U (intrat Russiti 
 1,1 . Sonthi Ml ... DunclT, 
 If Jlrit /i>s.,^' AnieruYt 
 
 / 5 United States 
 
 Ih Vaiirruver hd. 
 
 17 JJr,t7/l 
 
 IS Atrti-a 
 
 in-tenttcn of (I'd il<f/i<siis 
 
 •J'.LuflUte, 
 
 
 
THE PROVINCE OF NOVA SCOTIA. 
 
 41 
 
 rence and from Prince Edward's Island call here, and you have 
 plenty of time in the four or five hours you have to wait between 
 the arrival of the steamer and the departure of the train to Halifax, 
 to explore every nook and cranny of the curious and antiquated 
 town of Pictou. Possibly the Canadian Government may wake up 
 to the desirability of expediting the locomotion of travellers when 
 the " coming men " of trade have found their Eldorado in this 
 portion of the Dominion. 
 
 So much for coal : now for gold. We drove one day across the 
 harbour about eight miles inland, by the shores of some pretty lakes, 
 and past some Indian wigwams, to the Montague mine. There are 
 about 2000 Indians still left in the Province : their huts are primi- 
 tive enough, and their occupation consists in a little farming, hunt- 
 ing and selling their baskets : the Government issue to them 
 annually blankets and such like articles when required. Their 
 harmless existenoe is tolenied, but their race is gradually dying 
 out in fiace of the white man^s increase and enterprise. At Mon- 
 lag^ie w« siw the process of unearthing the gold and the machinery 
 for sepaoating the dross from the metal. Mr. Lawson the proprie- 
 tor strongly bewailed to me the backward state of the country and 
 expressed his decided opinion as to its capability of receiving a large 
 number of immigrants. 
 
 One of the obstacles to the inlrodactiou of labour into Mova 
 Scotia is the dislike of the country people to disturb the rate of 
 wages by any great influx of new hands. They send then- represen- 
 tatives to the House of Legislature pledged to keep things as they are. 
 This feeling is apparent in the capital, Halifax, where much build- 
 ing is going on, the old wooden houses being generally replaced by 
 brick or stone ; — the wages of the bricklayers and stone-masons are 
 very high, imd in proportion a very small amount of work is done 
 by tluan. This wat & general i^'omplaint from the employers where- 
 ever I went, and i of cour*o not peculiar to this Colony. 
 
 A proposition is now entertained of converting the small town 
 of Whitehaven on ilie northern coast into the seaboard terminus 
 
*x> 
 
 IN THE THACK OF Ol'U EMIGRANTS. 
 
 of the Intercolonial Railway, which appears to have been built for 
 military purposes, partly by the influence of the French of the Pro- 
 vince of Quebec, who have a powerful party in the Ottawa Govern- 
 ment. If the steamers from Europe were to run to this port a 
 day might be saved in the ocean transit, a veiy important con- 
 sideration for people on both sides of the Atlantic. 
 
 A most instructive book was published last year by Mr. Richard 
 Brown on the coal fields and coal trade of the Island of Cape Breton. 
 Any one who wishes for trustworthy information on this subject 
 cannot do better than peruse this little work, which clearly points 
 to many advantages which he prophesies will lead to the Island of 
 Cape Breton " becoming one of the most prosperous portions of the 
 new Dominion." It would perhaps have been in better taste if he 
 had not attempted to depreciate other properties within a stone's 
 throw of those he takes so much interest in. 
 
 Of the beauty and fertility of the country enough has been said 
 without describing each particular county. The Halifax people 
 have a delightful retreat on the shores of the Bedford Basin at 
 Bedford. Windsor is situated in a charming spot, and all down 
 the rich and flourishing valley of Annapolis prosperity is evident 
 on every side. At Kentville we stopped to see some friends and 
 tasted some of the celebrated apples alluded to above. I rode on 
 the engine thence to Aldershot, the only one which now burnt 
 wood in Nova Scotia ; and the amount of large logs the iron horse 
 required, about six every minute, showed that time and trouble 
 saved in burning coal was an economy that told well for the owners 
 of the coal mines. As we glided through the forests visions of the 
 moose deer and Cariboo passed through one^s mind : sjKjrt about here 
 was abundant,, and 1 wished that we had time to avail ourselves of 
 the numerous kind oflfbrs we received to spend a week or two in 
 penetrating the vvoodt-. At Aldershot a grand field day of the 
 militia was taking place. The thousands of sightseers, the white 
 bell tents dotting the plain — the red coats of the troops lining the 
 hills as they spread out in skirmishing order, remindetl one stnmgly 
 
THE PIIOVINCE OF NOVA SCOTIA. 
 
 4a 
 
 for 
 
 of the camps at Aldershot and Wimbledon at home. At Wolfville 
 our stay was short, just enough to enable us to appreciate the 
 picturesqueness of the surrounding scenery, and to bear witness 
 to its loveliness so often extolled on my outward voyage by 
 a fair resident who shall be nameless but not forgotten. We 
 journeyed on to Annapolis where we took the steamer down the 
 bay, and touched at the curious old town of Digby, so celebrated for 
 its herrings, known as Digby chickens, and which we could smell a 
 mile off. 
 
 In this valley of Acadia, the garden of Canada, rendered classical 
 by Longfellow in his "Evangeline," the want of agricultural 
 labour is great : Captain F. Duncan in his lecture at the " Russell 
 Institution" on Canada in 1871 says "I found the want of 
 labour so great that in some cases farmers had to give up their 
 farms from inability to cultivate them. I asked what wages a 
 man would earn working on a farm, and was told five shillings 
 a-day and his board. And one farmer told me that even when 
 paying such wages as this he was compelled to be content with a 
 very short day's work indeed, as the labourer, if found fault with, 
 simply walked away, knowing that he would be picked up at once 
 on the next or any other farm. The United States never spare time 
 nor money to acquire increase of population ; their agents and 
 advertisements crowd our railway stations and wharves, while our 
 own provinces are left to blush unseen." 
 
 Now what I am going to state is a curious commentary on the 
 above quotation. A few weeks ago the Hon. Secretary to the 
 British and Colonial Emigration Society, accompanied by Lord 
 Edmoud Fitzmaurice, went down to Herefordshire to attend a 
 crowded Emigration meeting of agricultural labourers. Many of 
 the men were quite alive to tlie advantages offered them and 
 expressed their readiness to embark at once, if they could only 
 scrape together sufficient funds to enable them to take their 
 families. Nothing however resulted from the meeting as regards 
 material assistance being offered by any one, until the United 
 
 ii 2 
 
44 
 
 IN THE TEACK OF OUR EMIGRANTS. 
 
 States' agents who were alive and acting, eicpped in and are now 
 making arrangements to procure the valuable hands that should 
 have been secured for our own Colonies. 
 
 One more extract from Capt. Duncan's lecture which suggests 
 a very agreeable prospect for emigrants, which we only hope may 
 some day be realized. " In one mining district in the maritime 
 provinces, which I visited shortly after my arrival, I made 
 inquiries as to the prospects which would await a man there. 
 The mines are worked by a Company, which owns an immense 
 tract of the surrounding country, and the manager told me that if 
 any one would send out families to settle there, the Company had 
 10,000 acres of land which they would give to them for nothing, 
 besides full and constant work, at a remuneration three or four times 
 what they could earn at home. For the use of their workmen the 
 Company pays a resident doctor ; churches have been built ; a stage 
 coach runs daily through the district ; a loop of the Intercolonial 
 Railway will soon be finished, and will be within a very few miles ; 
 the land which would be given to the settlers is good ; there is 
 fuel in abundance ; and the scenery is beautiful. Now this place 
 is within ten days of England : for want of labour the mines 
 and workshops cannot be adequately worked j and yet that very 
 labour so much wanted and so well paid, is— for want of proper 
 arrangement — stalking about our streets, gaunt and tattered, a 
 prey at once to starvation and sedition." 
 
 Now if our Government here at home would have listened to the 
 sensible scheme of cheap fares across the Atlantic, which the mem- 
 ber for Finsbury, Mr. W. M. Torrens, attempted ineffectually to 
 get introduced into Parliament a short time ago, Capt. Duncan 
 would not have to make the remark that it is now " left to the 
 few whose hearts are too gentle to bear the sight of dying men, 
 and too manly to tolerate the idea of idle ones, to send by indi- 
 vidual exertions an occasional shipload, where a Government might 
 send a fleet." 
 
 As I write these words there sits by my side the Secretary of 
 
THE PROVINCE OF NOVA SCOTIA. 
 
 M 
 
 the " Nova Scotia Coal-owners' Association/' Mr. R. G. Haliburton, 
 the son of the late Judge Haliburton whom I have taken the 
 liberty to quote from so freely. Like his friend Captain Duncan 
 he looks forward with hope to the future of Nova Scotia^ and like 
 his countrymen is awaiting half impatiently the arrival of those 
 who are to elevate that fine Province somewhat more to the level 
 which Sam Slick foresaw could and would be its lot before the 
 world was a century older. 
 
 At the time I was at Halifax two members of the Provincial 
 Parliament, Messrs. Garvey and Flinn, were attending a conference 
 on Immigration at Ottawa. England was represented, not officially, 
 but by the delegates of what we may call private jahilanthropic 
 enterprise, Mr. J. Standish Haly, Hon. Secretary of the British 
 and Colonial Emigration Society, and the Rev. Horrocks Cocks, of 
 the National Emigration League. Encouragement was given them 
 by most of the members of the Dominion Government to hope for 
 some better scheme of systematic Immigration being arrived at ; 
 and the new Government of Ontario which has lately come into 
 power under the leadership of Mr. Blake promises "vigorous 
 efforts" in the right direction, and I am convinced from the 
 personal knowledge I have of one of that minister's relations, 
 that something active will be undertaken besides lamenting the 
 former deficiency of England in this respect, the well-worn, bugbear 
 throughout the whole Dominion. 
 
 In July 1871 Mr. Horrocks Cocks wrote to me before we both 
 started for America that he " had nearly 2000 cases needing help. 
 He had in addition some forty families — wives and children whose 
 husbands and fathera have been absolutely compelled to go in 
 advance to Canada to find work and to secure a home. If these 
 families are not assisted at once they must remain during the 
 winter in England in weariness and want." 
 
 I cannot conclude this article better than by quoting a portion of 
 Miss Florence Nightingale's pathetic letter to Mr. Cocks in April 
 1871 on this subject : — " To bring workers to their work, to quarry 
 
ii 
 
 4tt 
 
 IN THE TRACK OF OUR EMIORANTH. 
 
 the immeasurable resources and extent of this Empire, to enable those 
 who can and will work, but who cannot get work here for pcrha))S 
 more than three or four months in the year, as you yourself have 
 so ably stated, is almost the first duty of English people, is almost 
 a primary element in promoting British welfare. Selection of the 
 Emigrants is of course essential. But that is just what you do." 
 
 Since writing the above the " British Colonist " of May 4, pub- 
 lished at Halifax, states that " the dismal journey from the city to 
 the Richmond depot is to be abridged by bringing the terminus to 
 the lower end of the dockyard," and a million of dollars are to be 
 devoted to railway purposes in the city (see p. 37). 
 
PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. 
 
 CHAPTEll V. 
 
 PuiNCE Edwaud Island— It8 Histoky— Summkbsidk and its Trlkouapu 
 Office — Ornkral Salubbity — Tiii.; Islanders' Indepkndenck— The 
 Washington Tukaty— Ciiablottktown — Visit to some Farms— How 
 
 THEY do TIIINOS IN THE TIOIIT LITTLE IsLAND— PROSPECTS OK ImMIOBA* 
 
 TioN — Mic-Mac Indians— Lieut.-Govkrnob'h Speech — Gkn. Butleh 
 AND A Kkciphocity Treatv— IIklioion and Education — Hospitality. 
 
 Where is it? I never heard of it. One of the South Sou 
 Islands — or the Leeward Islands— off New Zealand — near Hud- 
 son's Ray. 
 
 These were the answers I received from many people, when I 
 told them I had been for a visit to this thriving" little colony in the 
 Gulf of St. Lawrence. I say colony, for it does not, and will not 
 at present, consent to form part of the Confederation of British 
 North America, called now the Dominion of Canada. " Let well 
 alone" say its politicians; shut out from the world by a girdle of 
 ice for half the year, they prefer to keep themselves to themselves, 
 and govern themselves in their own quiet way. Never was the 
 English language put to such a severe test for strong words than 
 when cei'tain restless busybodies mooted the idea of making a rail- 
 way throughout the entire island — about 135 miles in length. 
 Then did the Opposition, for they keep an Opposition here as in 
 the Provinces, vent its utmost fury on the heads of the luckless 
 men in office who had, through lying, chicanery, and jobbery, 
 secured the introduction of the iron monster that was to bring the 
 island and its people into a state of irretrievable bankruptcy ! The 
 papers are most refreshing, after the jaded and polite " leaders " of 
 our old fogey Tmes, Standard, or Bailif Telegraph at home. I 
 used to fancy the Hong Kong and Melbourne papers were a marvel 
 in the way of honest outspoken diatribe ; but after a perusal of the 
 huge pile of papers I brought away from every part of the Dominion 
 

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 IMAGE EVALUATION 
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 IN THE THACK OF OUR EMIGEANTS. 
 
 and of the United States that I visited, I readily give the palm to 
 the climate of the western hemisphere for having developed the 
 art of pointing a moral and adorning a tale with all the most 
 trenchant Anglo-Saxon vertiage that the respectable Dr. Johnson 
 scarcely dreamed of inserting into his Dictionary. One of the 
 Halifax papers, in the month of February just past, calls a quiet 
 respectable gentleman, with whom I was acquainted in Nova Scotia, 
 a " ruffian, mongrel, live eel, and conspirator.^' Would that I had 
 known it six months ago, for if there were the least shadow of 
 truth in the accusation I would have been more cautious in making 
 acquaintances. 
 
 However the islanders are not thin-skinned; they "ballyrag"— 
 I believe Dr. J ohnson is not responsible for this phrase — each other 
 day by day, and yet the oldest inhabitant appears happy under all 
 circumstances, it being an approved method of keeping up intel- 
 lectual circulation, and an effectual mode of preventing respectable 
 people from falling into an unhealthy moral sleep. 
 
 The island possesses a history. It was called St. John until 
 seventy-three years ago, when it was changed to Prince Edward, 
 in honour of the Duke of Kent, then Commander-in-Chief in 
 America. It has had a House of Assembly for a hundred years. 
 Whether Cabot discovered it 400 years ago is a moot point : many 
 * think the enterprisiug Frenchman ran against Cape Breton, and 
 named that island St. John, and those who are interested in the 
 point may consult the different accounts of M'Gregor, Bouchette, 
 Stewart, Hakluyt, HaKburton, Champlain, and Charlevoix. 
 
 The natives, whom by a curious mistake we named Indians, 
 might have been Iroquois, Mohawks, or Tsonnonthouans at the 
 time when La Nouvelle prance belonged to our neighbours across 
 St. George's Channel. They are called Mic-Macs now, and are 
 mostly shunted to a small island in Richmond Bay, about which 
 more anon. When Acadia was ceded to Great Britain, at the treaty 
 of Utrecht, several of the French settlers removed to Prince Edward 
 Island, making their living chiefly by fishing. Captain Macdonald, 
 
PRTNCE EDWARD ISLAND. 
 
 49 
 
 100 years ago, brought over 300 Highlanders as settlers, and the 
 Macdonalds, Scotts, Frasers, McLeods, McGregors, and Stewarts 
 are legion. Lord Selkirk added considerably to this element. 
 
 The population now amounts to about 100,000. The island is 
 divided into three counties. Queen's, King's, and Prince's. The 
 capital is Charlottetown, the other towns of any size being George- 
 town, Princetown, and Summerside. The latter has sprung up 
 within the last few years, a\idthe St. Lawrence Gulf steamers from 
 Quebec cross from Shediac to this place, on their way to Charlotte- 
 town and Pictou. 
 
 A story runs that a traveller, once visiting the island, asked an 
 Irishman why he lived in such an out-of-the-way spot, and he replied 
 that he had never yet been able to earn enough money to enable him 
 to get out of it. We presume the story is an old one, probably in- 
 vented by a Bluenose ; however, our first impressions of Summer- 
 side were by no means disappointing. "We had left St. John, New 
 Brunswick, early in the morning, taking the rail along the beau- 
 tiful Kennebecassis river, and through charming forest scenery, 
 much of which was fast being brought under the influence of the 
 axe, and giving way to cultivation, and dotted with neat villages. 
 We arrived at Shediac, the Indian, or Pointe du Ch^ne, the French 
 name of the terminus of the railway which now runs in one un- 
 broken line hence to New York, about two o'clock. The good 
 steamer ** St. Lawrence " took us swiftly across the Straits of 
 Northumberland, under a blue sky, that was a luxury after the two 
 or three dismal days of drizzle and fog that we had experienced at St. 
 John ; and one favourable feature of the island is its almost total ex- 
 emption from the murky vapour which hugs the neighbouring coasts. 
 
 No amount of inquiry could elicit any satisfactory information as 
 to the accommodation for the reception of foreigners at Charlotte- 
 town. Nobody recommended the hotels, and every one appeared 
 to patronize a different boarding-house. At Summerside I landed 
 and was transferred to the mail cart — a thing on two wheels, and 
 as we galloped over the jetties and up the streets, I learned a lesson 
 
■fF-p 
 
 50 
 
 IN THB TRACK OF OUR EMIGRANTS. 
 
 how to " hold on, " such as surpassed any Tyrolese mountain go-carfc 
 that I ever had the misfortune to ride in. At the telegraph office 
 no one was to be found, and on appealing to the owners of two or 
 three shops for assistance, they all agreed that he never was there 
 when wanted ; so writing my message to the landlady at Char- 
 lottetown, I wrapped it round a stone, and threw it into the room 
 through a glass door. I preferred to walk back, and then met the 
 telegraph official, whom I found very civil, and satisfactorily ex- 
 plained to me that he could not be in two places at once, and that 
 his duty was to be at the wharf when the steamer arrived. We 
 arrived at Charlottetown about ten o'clock, and were fortunate in 
 having secured a room in one of the best boarding-houses in the 
 town. When we saw the inns afterwards we were not surprised 
 that some Americans were seriously threatening to build a decent 
 hotel, as this island is becoming a favourite resort not only of the 
 residents of the towns in the States, but of those in Upper Canada, 
 who are driven by the summer heat to seek a cool retreat for a time. 
 A good hotel and the railway open to Summerside would bring an 
 influx into Charlottetown that will revolutionize the place. This 
 however is what the good people dread. At present they are happy 
 in their seclusion, without having a lot of foreigners poking their 
 noses into their domestic affairs. The general salubrity and freedom 
 from pestilential diseases, says the chronicler Plugh Murray, speaking 
 in 1838, " produce an extraordinary increase of population; women 
 are often grandmothers at forty, and mother and daughter are fre- 
 quently seen suckling their children at the same time." Now this 
 state of things would not last long if Charlottetown were to become 
 a fashionable watering-place. The townspeople would have to bum 
 a little more gas, make some decent and continuous foot-pavements, 
 fill up the ruts in their roads, make some sewers and drains ; all 
 this means money — ^money means taxation, and prices would 
 inevitably rise. Cui bono ? 
 
 But the islandei-s have somewhat overreached themselves lately. 
 They did not wait to see whether the Congress of the United States, 
 
T 
 
 PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. 
 
 51 
 
 th3 Parliaments of Great Britain and Canada would ratify the 
 Washington Treaty, and make the fishery clauses law ; but they, in 
 their undoubted right as an independent liegislature, allowed the 
 American fishermen, last season to exercise their calling in their 
 waters. The consequence is that the toll paid by the American 
 fishermen upon their catch has been levied at the American ports, 
 and is in the coffers of the United States' Treasury, and when the 
 Prince Edward islanders ask for a refunding of these duties, the 
 United States Government reply that no distinct treaty was made 
 with them, but with the Dominion for all the Colonial Fisheries ; 
 they cannot accede to the request of the islanders except by a 
 special vote, as a matter of honour or justice of Congress. So 
 much for the independence of the island ! 
 
 Charlottetown is built like most of the Canadian towns in blocks 
 with wide streets. In its middle stand the only two Urge public 
 structures, the Old and New Provincial Buildings. Their roofs 
 command a beautiful view of the surrounding country, with the 
 numerous inlets of the sea, the river Hillsborough, and the neat 
 residences of the well-to-do inhabitants dotting the undulating hills 
 that never rise very high, but are very prettily wooded with the 
 fir, beech, maple, and birch. 
 
 The Post-office is to be transferred to the New Building, by no 
 means too soon, as the appearance of the present one, more like a 
 pigstye than a post-office^is a disgrace to any chief town, of how- 
 ever small a country. 
 
 Before I say any thing about Immigration, it would perhaps be 
 well to describe the aspect of the country. It was perhaps for- 
 tunate we had come thus far, especially to visit some property 
 which had been bought by an ancestor many years ago, and was 
 once one of the most flourishing settlements on the island. The 
 lesson we learned after our visit was what the Americans would 
 call "a caution'' to absentee proprietors who trusted in agents. 
 The property was a large one once upon a time, but 'cute people 
 had, when I was an infant, managed to dispossess the proprietor and 
 
T 
 
 52 
 
 IN THE TRACK OF OUR EMIGRANTS. 
 
 his heirs of many a fair acre by a not wholly unheard-of plant. In 
 his dotage they married him to a farm -servant, got him a child, 
 and took the property into their own hands, or rather out of the 
 hands of the rightful owners, who were outwitted. It was a scandal 
 for the time being, and remembered with indignation by some of 
 the older residents. I shall never forget the lucid account of the 
 series of peculations on that miserable property that have taken 
 place ever since the poor old gentleman died, given me by a lady 
 of over ninety years of age, the aunt of my wife's grandfather, and 
 who has, since we returned to England, departed this life, in the full 
 enjoyment of all her faculties. But I need not weary my readers 
 with the details ; what we saw for ourselves I will describe shortly. 
 
 A friend who, as possessing property of his own in Ontario, had 
 taken an interest in our contemplated visit to the farms, volunteered 
 to accompany us. We accordingly hired an antiquated looking 
 vehicle— which indeed they all arc, with perhaps the exception of 
 the Governor's phaeton — with a hood, and two animals that looked 
 as if they had seen better days. However my friend undertook to 
 drive, and myself and wife got with difficulty into the hinder part. 
 The distance was eighteen miles, the scenery was pretty, with 
 glimpses of the river Hillsborough every now and then to our right ; 
 but the road was rough, and one of the ponies appeared to have 
 had enough of it beforo we got to the half-way house, ten miles 
 from Charlottetown. However, after passing through several miles 
 of land, some cultivated, some half cleared, some untouched, wo 
 arrived at seven o'clock at the chief farm, much to the astonish- 
 ment of the tenant, his wife, and family. He had been deluded 
 with the idea that the property had been sold, and it took some 
 time for him to realize that my wife was the lineal descendant of 
 one of the oldest and most distinguished and loyal families that 
 ever inhabited the island, and that no member of the family had 
 visited the island for five-and-thirty years : however our welcome 
 was warm. 
 
 The next day was occupied in going over the property. Alas T 
 
PRINCE EDV/ARD ISLAND. 
 
 53 
 
 Alas r 
 
 so different from my expectations — ruined by neglect, fraud, and 
 absenteeism. True, the corn-fields waved, and the hay-stacks 
 dotted the fields, but the fine trees and fair acres had disappeared. 
 On the opposite side of the river six large ships were being built, 
 evidence of past and present prosperity. Who had cut down the 
 acres of magnificent timber, whose stumps we tapped with our 
 sticks ? and where had disappeared the farms and land that we should 
 by rights have called our own ? The lesson we learned was no new 
 one : if you trust agents with unlimited powers to grant long 
 leases, who will wonder that they place their relatives and friends 
 as your tenants, and wink at the gradual and carefully managed 
 despoliation of your property ? "Who will wonder that men, taking 
 advantage of some dereliction of duty on the part of the agents, 
 procure the sale of your acres, and re-sell them, who can tell for 
 what consideration, to the too- willing tenant ? A man may now 
 have " Honourable " prefixed to his name, but where no " public 
 opinion " exists, and the absent are unprotected, he can afford to 
 act as he thinks fit, and defy, and, disregarding the moral aspect of 
 the case, shield himself, as he did to me, under his " legal rights." 
 So some of the best farms and land now smiling under cultivation 
 have passed away. Redress there is practically none, as a jury has 
 too often gi\en a verdict in favour of the occupier, out of sympathy 
 with him, and one of the largest proprietx)rs told me he had suffered 
 in the same way. The discoveries I made in the days following 
 were so distressing, that I was not sorry to turn my back on the 
 island and its traditions. So many combined to keep me in the 
 dark, notwithstanding I found out from one and another little bits 
 of information, which inculpated more or less so many people of 
 respectability, that when I had put my puzzle together I saw that 
 no practical good would ensue from a public exposure ; so I came to 
 the conclusion that it would be best to sell the whole property to one 
 of the tenants, as he could better vindicate the old law of meum and 
 tuum than those who were not on the spot. 
 ■ I was a little surprised to find the land so comparatively speaking 
 
54 
 
 IN THE TRACK OF OUR EMIGRANTS. 
 
 unproductive. Fifteen to twenty bushels of wheat to the aere 
 were the most that could be raised on this property ; on the other 
 hand, were the land the tenant's own he could afford to let it lie 
 at rest for a couple of years, or change the crop. The marsh-land 
 by the river was very rich, and the hay alone that stood on its 
 banks paid the rent of this particular farm ; this naturally could not 
 come to the knowledge of our agent, as he never once considered 
 it his duty to visit the property : if the rents were duly collected it 
 was considered enough. Possibly his predecessor took the same 
 view of the case, as several thousand pounds* worth of timber had 
 been cut in the last thirty years, and the proceeds gone into any 
 body's pocket but the landlord's. The surveyor's stakes for the 
 contemplated railway were planted right across the best farm : this 
 we learned for the first time on stumbling over them. 
 
 I had some conversation with the present leader of the Govern- 
 ment as to the prospects of Immigration. He wa« quite ready to 
 listen to any proposition that was feasible, though apparently 
 doubtful as to its welcome reception on the part of his political 
 opponents. As I could not enter into the politics of the island — 
 Heaven help me if I did I — I could only urge that the idea should 
 be mooted and an agent appointed, if the Government had any 
 trustworthy plan to oflfer of procuring work for any particular class 
 of emigrants from England. A gentleman informed me that a 
 steamer was being built on the Clyde to run direct to Charlotte- 
 town this summer. Arrangements might be made with the owners 
 to carry emigrants at a price lower than the Allan line charged : 
 but it is very important to recollect, that the out-lying eastern pro- 
 vinces of British America, if they wish to attract colonists, must be 
 prepared to arrest the flow of emigrants to the far west by some 
 definite and special inducements. At present nothing will stop the 
 people from the idea that Toronto, Chicago, and Manitoba, are the 
 best places to find employment in ; and the first ship that has started 
 from the Victoria Dock last month, full of emigrants, and which I 
 have just seen off, goes to Quebec with men who will listen to stop- 
 
PRINCE EDWAllD ISLAND. 
 
 55 
 
 inng nowhere short of Toronto. Tlie letter that appeared in the 
 l^intea of the 8th of April, from Dr. Clay, the Emigration Com- 
 missioner from Canada, who says he spent hie boyhood in Prince 
 Edward Island, is the first man whom I have seen who even so 
 much as mentions Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, as fields for 
 colonization. 
 
 It assuredly will not be many years before our miners from Corn- 
 wall will seek a new field in Cape Breton and Nova Scotia ; our 
 navvies will be wanted to make the railways through Cape Breton, 
 under the Gut of Canso, to connect with the Intercolonial, which 
 will shorten the ocean passage by a good day ; from Miramichi 
 to Fredericton; from Fredericton to Riviere de Loup, and the 
 Megantic line through Sherbrooke to the West-Extension line. 
 
 The Governor of the Island, from whom I received much courtesy, 
 had lately returned from a visit to the small island of Lennox, where 
 the Mic-Mac Indians had been chiefly located by the efforts of some 
 philanthropic people, notably the kind-hearted and energetic Com- 
 missioner, Mr. Theophilus Stewart. Theii- farms and gardens and 
 schools were all in a flourishing condition, and the Aborigines Pro- 
 tection Society in London had formed a committee in London and 
 in Prince Edward Island, who have purchased this little island for 
 these poor Indians. An "enterprising" merchant of Charlottetown 
 was when I was there endeavouring to secure for himself and his 
 heirs the monopoly of the oyster fisheries, which would result in 
 depriving the Indians of one of their valuable sources of existence. 
 Let us hope that Lord Kimberley, who has been acquainted with 
 the subject, will effectually extend his protection to this distant 
 little colony of British subjects. 
 
 Lieut. -Governor Bobinson, in his speech delivered at the opening 
 of the Legislative Session of Prince Edward Island, on the 5th of 
 last March, says : " I have received from Dr. Dawson, Principal of 
 McGill Universitj'^, Montreal, and will communicate to you, a 
 Report on the geological structure and mineral resources of Prince 
 Edward Island, being the result of explorations conducted by him 
 
fte 
 
 IN THE TRACK OP OUR EMIORANTS, 
 
 last year, under the direction of my Government, in search of coal. 
 Dr. Dawson is of opinion that the probabilities are decidedly against 
 the discovery of a large bed of coal at such a depth as to enable it 
 to be immediately available ; but his remarks respecting the pro- 
 tection of the forests, the utilization of tlio large deposits of peat 
 existing in some parts of the Province, the manurial value of mussel 
 mud and other natural manures, and various kindred subjects, will 
 be found to be of the highest practical value and importance. 
 
 " I am happy to be able to congratulate you in that the harvest 
 of last year was an abundant one ; that the revenue, which amounted 
 to 118,000^., inclusive of railway duties to the extent of about 
 13,000/., was the largest ever collected in the colony; and that, 
 notwithstanding the partial derangement of trade which was caused 
 by the unexpectedly early closing of the navigation, the affairs of 
 the island, generally, were never in a more prosperous condition. 
 
 "Various highly important papers will be presented to you, 
 including my correspondence with the Secretary of State relative to 
 the Treaty of Washington, and the provisional admission of United 
 States' fishermen to the privilege of our inshore fisheries; the 
 Decimal Currency Act of last Session ; and ' the Tenants' Com- 
 pensation Act, 1871.' Her Majesty's Government earnestly hope 
 that the arrangements consequent on the Treaty of Washington 
 may result in the final settlement of a question which has in 
 various forms been the subject of controversy with the United 
 States for the better part of a century, and ultimately lead to the 
 establishment, on a secure and lasting basis, of commercial relations 
 beneficial alike to the people of these provinces and the United 
 States. 
 
 " Her Majesty's Government much regret that they have been 
 hitherto compelled to object to the measures which have been 
 passed by the Legislature of Prince Edward Island with a view to 
 the settlement of the difficult and long standing question of the 
 Tenants* Compensation Act; and they would rejoice if the sugges- 
 tions which the Secretary of State has now been so good as to make. 
 
PIUNCK KDWARU ISLAND. 
 
 67 
 
 and which will bo unbmittod to yow by my Advificru, nhould bo 
 acceptable to the Colonial Legislature, and Mhonld funiiRh the means 
 of passings nn Act which would ^ive reasonable HatiHfaction to the 
 claims of the tenants, without depriving the landlords uf their just 
 rights. 
 
 " A contract has been entered into for the con8tructir)n of the 
 railway contemplated by the Act of last Session, and the works are 
 progressing in a satisfactory manner, and as rapidly as the season 
 of the year will permit." 
 
 . It is not very long ago since General Butler and others were sgnt 
 on a mission by the Congress of the United States to the Island, 
 with the object of bringing about a Reciprocity Treaty between it 
 and the States. On their return they reported that Free Trade 
 between Prince Edward Island and the States would be "highly 
 advantageous to the United States, because its balance of trade 
 would, even if unequal, be in our favour!" General Butler stated 
 at Washington that the Island was almost wholly devoted to 
 Agriculture, and under a Reciprocity Treaty would afford a good 
 market for the manufactures of New England, while that section 
 would become a consumer of the products of the Island. He was 
 directed to draw up a Bill embodying his proposition, and submit it 
 to the Committee of Ways and Means. Thereupon down came our 
 Home Authorities on the Island, and notified that it hod no indepen- 
 dent treaty-making powers. 
 
 The numerous Scotchmen in the island account for the churches 
 and chapels of various denominations. There are Roman Catholics, 
 Presbyterians, Wesleyans, Baptists, and Church of England chapels 
 and churches side by side, the Wesleyans and Presbyterians beiiig 
 the most numerous. I saw little real poverty j and there are not 
 many Irish. The only row I saw was created by a family of Irish, 
 who were always in hot water. A woman was frantically drunk in 
 one of the streets, inveighing against her husband in true Irish 
 brogue ; the neighbours said it was six of one and half a dozen of 
 the other. The man smoked quietly, as if it were an evcry-day 
 
5S 
 
 IN THE TUACK OF (Mill KMKIRANTH. 
 
 occurrence : it reminded me of Ilerr OroHse^R soliloquy in Wilkie 
 Collins' " Poor Miss Finch," — " When Gott made the womans lie 
 was sorry afterwards for the poor mens, and Ho made tobacco to 
 comfort them." Education is compulsory here, as all over A.merica, 
 though the shop opposite our lodgings exhibited a curious want of 
 it, having an inscription to this effect in huge letters, " T. Malono, 
 licnc to sell spiritous licquors." : ' 
 
 A word as to the hospitality of the islanders. Nothing could 
 exceed their kindness to strangers. We were never allowed to bo 
 alone during our visit ; and though they have no sights to show, 
 they have kind hearts and open houses for travellers, whom they 
 delight to honour in good old British fashion. Our only regret was, 
 that we could not hope to return so much courtesy that was shown 
 to us during our stay in their old-fashioned but hospitable little 
 islnnd. 
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 For the benefit of my readers I will quote part of a letter I have 
 lately received from a friend who has been living in the Province of 
 Quebec on the borders of the United States : 
 
 " Dear Mr. Rivington, 
 
 " I cannot express my thanks to you for your kind letter, 
 &c. ... I have been among the people and made e\ ery kind 
 of inquiry about work, wages, &c., for men. 
 
 " Here in the valley of Champlain, every one with whoi i I have 
 been has been asking for help, i. e, men and boys to work. When 
 I told them I wished to know in order that I might send word to 
 you for the good of others, they all said that men could obtain 
 
 plenty of work if they will but come out. C. D of St. Thomas, 
 
 said ' We cannot obtain men to work our ground ; I am "nlling to 
 pay men who are honest, who want a home, who wish to settle 
 down to gain a good living, 76 to 100 cents per day. Most men 
 when they first come out cannot earn so much, but they Roon would, 
 and they never need to want; plenty are willing to he)p a man, if 
 he shows himself worthy of help.' 
 
 " I went over the farm-buildings, and saw the arrai gements for 
 the comfort of the sheep, horses, cows, &c., which are kept en 
 
POiiTWRIPT. 
 
 «? 
 
 through the winter. These pluces are kept so very clean and sweet 
 that to compare them to many of the homes I have seen in London 
 (when I went among the poor to visit them for their good) would 
 do them on injustice, for the homes of the London poor are not to 
 be compared to the cattle-houses here. I do not soy of every part 
 of Canada, for among the French population you will see misery and 
 want : dirt every where, while the first thing I see when 1 call upon 
 them is not a dog before the fire or at the door, but a pig. But 
 though we do not expect any thing from a pig but a grunt, yet 
 you will get a warm welcome from the French, let them be as poor 
 as they can. They are poor, but it is their own fault. Here every 
 one has enough, — not riches, but plenty, which thousands in London 
 cannot say. I have seen the poor in all circumstances, and in all 
 kinds of places, and therefore can judge. 
 
 " If a man has a home with work let him stay in England, as far 
 as his own int<Tcsts go, but for his children I think that this is 
 better. If a man has not work all the year round let him come 
 here. He can obtain eggs as many as he can eat, butter at 9d. per 
 lb., better than much of the Ostend butter that I have eaten while 
 in England and paid 2*. per lb. for: cheese, bread, fruit of all ! .uds 
 as cheap. The people buy meat, not by the half-pound, as many 
 htive to in our large towns in England, but by the quarter or half 
 bullock, They just hang it up, no one offers to touch it but the 
 owner : it freezes as you may be sure when the glass stands 20 or 
 '^0 or more degrees below zero. "^Vey cut what they want, bring 
 it in, and there is meat just as fres; ' as you can wish. Vegetables 
 are placed down in tubs with salt over them, are taken out when 
 wanted, as fresh as you can desire. For tea, or as they call it, sup- 
 per, we have bread, butter, honey, cheese, fruit, preserves, tarts, 
 brown cakes, cakes of Indian corn, wild berries, and biscuits. 
 
 " Clothes are expensive, but other things are not. 
 
 " Plenty of public schools and academies, where the children oan 
 be well educated. I have those under my care with whom I have 
 been through Todhunter's small Algebra, three books of Euclid; 
 also those reading Latin and Greek. They pay $4 for eleven 
 weeks, and study all those subjects which are required at Oxford 
 and Cambridge Local Examinations. I called on the 18th inst. 
 on my friends of the Manor House, and spent a long day with 
 them. They tell me that to get a mason, a carpencer, haniess- 
 maker, or men in any shape of any trade or of any capacity to 
 work is next W) an impossibility. We have say they ' plenty of 
 work ' for all you can send, plenty of room for all the people you 
 can spare out of dear old England for this 100 years : only let thqm 
 come as early as they can. ' * ' ' - \" 
 
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 60 
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 "J. H has culled to see me, and hv. says that, 'not only men 
 
 and boys, but women and girls can obt«,in plenty of places/ I 
 have been in many places since you left Canada, and have not seen 
 on J good, regular, tidy servant like we hav3 in England. They 
 cannot be obtained any where. I am a long way from the Eastern 
 
 Townships or the railways ; but Colonel S , and others, tell me 
 
 that there is plenty of work thei'e on the rail, and all other kinds of 
 work. Railways, in a great many parts, are on the move this 
 Spring. We are to have one here through the valley, towaid St. 
 John, and one of the Directors says, ' One great difficulty is the 
 price of ^"^our, and even then, where to get men to work.' 
 
 " I think you will see that there is plenty of work for those who 
 want it. 
 
 "The country is wild, very thinly peopled, — but that is all the 
 better for those wishing for a home. The people here where I am 
 are most loyal : some have fought for her Majc»ty, and would pgain 
 if required to do so. I have not suffered from the cold any thing like 
 as much as I did in England. 
 
 " Let it not be thought I have forgotten my home : far from it.. 
 I love Old England, and keep the memories of many places there 
 with a freshness that cannot be imagined : but I came out to work 
 for the future welfare of those who leave England, and as such I 
 love my work, and am willing to give up those things '. love, at 
 least for some years." 
 
 In a stirring address to the young men of Ottawa in February 
 last, the Hon. Joseph Howe makes the following remarks, which 
 are worth quoting here: — 
 
 " Nature has been very bountiful to Ottawa. Built upon a dry limestone forma- 
 tion tbe site is elevated and healthy. At the head ol' navigation on the river from 
 which it takes its name, the city commands free water commnuication with the St. 
 Lawrence ; and, by the aid of its canals, with the great lakes above, and with the gulf 
 below. The Bideau canal gives it easy access to the countr* through which uiat 
 work has been constracted, Wth Kingston and with Lake Ontario ; and the main 
 river, with its twenty tributaries, draining a country of vast extent, brings into 
 the city's bosom not only the boundless wealth of those great plantations which 
 God has given her as an inheritance, but the agricultunu proaucts, won irom t' 
 fertile soil, to which the tide of Immigration is being annually attracted as the 
 forest recedes before the axe of the lumberman. The Canada Central Railway 
 and the Ottawa Navigation Company give you easy access to this region for 160 
 miles, and the time is itipidly approaching when t!be whole country around Lake 
 Nipissing will be enlivened bv population, whose business must ebb and flow 
 through. this city, following the line of the great water communication which 
 nature has always provided, or of that national highway, which, before lonj^, 
 will connect the Atlantic with the Pacific." 
 
f 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Aborigines' Protection Society, 56. 
 
 Acadia, N. S., 4, 21, 43, 48. 
 
 Agricultural Labourers, y, 15, 40. 
 
 ** Alabama " Claims, xii. 
 
 Aldersiiot, N. S., 42. 
 
 Amherst, 35. 
 
 An American's view of the " Alabama " Claims, xii. 
 
 Annapolis, 36, 37, 42. 
 
 Aroostook Valley, 20. 
 
 Ashburton Treaty, 22. . 
 
 Bay of Fundy, 23, 26, 35, 36. 
 
 Be««ft>Td, 42. 
 
 British and Colonial Emigration Society, 45. 
 
 British Columbia, xvii, 10, 14. 
 
 Canadian argument against Immigration, v, 16, 17, 26. 
 
 Canadian Pacific Railway, viii, xv, 14, 60. 
 
 Cape Breton, Island of, 37, 42, 55. 
 
 Capitation Tax on Emigrants, ix. 
 
 Charlottetown, P. E. 1., 49, 51. 
 
 Cheap fares across the Atlantic^ 44. 
 
 Chinese Labour, xvii. 
 
 Clearing land in the Western Provinces, 17. 
 
 Clifton, 14. 
 
 Coal-fields in Nova Scotia, 40, 44. 
 
 „ Cape Breton, 28, 41, 5 >. 
 
 Coburg, 7. 
 
 Colonial Office, xiii, xviii. 
 Colonial Politicians, vii, 36, 47. 
 Cumberland County, 35. 
 
 Digby, 43. 
 
 Digby chickens, 34, 43. 
 
 Dnluth, 14. 
 
62 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Emigrant buildiogs at Toronto, II. 
 Emigrants in Now Brunswick, 27. 
 
 „ in Nova Scotia, 35, 38, 45. 
 Emigration Clubs in England, i, iii, v, 45. 
 
 ff Schemes, xii. 
 
 f, to Ontario, II, '45. 
 
 tf to Prince Edward Island, yi, 54. 
 
 „ to Quebec, 59. 
 
 „ to the United States, xiii, xiv, 43. 
 
 English Trade with Canada, xvii. 
 European and North American Railway, 19, 21. 
 
 Farming in Nova Scotia, 39. 
 
 Fenian Raid into. Canada, xi, xii. ; -, 
 
 Fertility of soil of New Brunswick, 21 . : .> 
 
 Fisheries Treaty, 51. . y 
 
 Fort Gany, X, 14. 
 
 Frederickton, 20, 23, 55. 
 
 Free Grants in the Western townships, 14 — 16, 
 
 Fruit in Nova Scotia, 34. . 
 
 Gold Mines in Nova Scotia, 40. 
 
 Guardians of the Poor in London and Emigration, iv, 
 
 Gut of Canso, 41, 37, 55. 
 
 Halifax, 35, 36, 40. 
 Hamilton, 12. 
 
 Hillsborough Eiver, 51, 52. 
 Home Colonization, iii. 
 Hudson's Bay Company, x. 
 
 Immigration Conference at Ottawa, II, 45. 
 Intercolonial Railway, 21, 23, 27, 36, 42, 55. 
 International Boat-race, 24. 
 
 Kansas, xiv. 
 
 Kennebecassis River, 25, 49. 
 
 Kentville, 42. 
 
 Kingston, 7, 60. 
 
 Labour Demand in Nova Scotia, 43. 
 
 „ in St. John, N. B., 26. 
 
 Lake Nipissing, ix, 60. 
 Lake Winnipeg, ix. 
 
 28. 
 
I 
 
 INDKX. 
 
 63 
 
 Lennox Island, P. E. I., 48, 55. 
 Little York, P. E. I., vi. 
 London, 10. 
 
 Maine, Province of, 19. ' / 
 
 Manitoba, ii, ix, 10, 15,38. 
 
 Masonic Festival at St. John, 30. 
 
 Mic-Mac Indians, 48, 55. H 
 
 Migration of Labour, iii. • 
 
 Militia of Nova Scotia, 42. 
 
 Minnesota, xv, 15, 30. 
 
 Miramicki, 21, 35, 55. r ^ 
 
 Montreal, 6, 23. V t 
 
 Muekoka, ix, 10. 
 
 National Emigration League, 45. 
 
 New Brunswick, 19 — 32, 55. 
 
 Newfoundland, 27, 39. ' 
 
 New Glasgow, 40, 
 
 New York and Immigrants, XV. 
 
 Niagara, 13. 
 
 Northern Pacific Railway, ix, xiv, 14. 
 
 Nova Scotia, 33 — ^16, 55. 
 
 Ogdensburgh, 7. 
 
 Ontario, Government and Immigration, 9, 11, 32, 45. 
 
 „ Lake of, 7. 
 
 „ Province of, ix, 9—12, 17, 32, 38. 
 Ottawa, ii, 10, 60. 
 
 „ Government and Immigration, ii. 
 
 Paris, 10. 
 
 Patent Laws in C&aada, x. 
 
 Pauper Emigration, v, vi, 16. 
 
 Peat in Prince Edward Island, 56. 
 
 Pictou, 36, 40, 'kl, 49. 
 
 Point Levis, 5, 20, 31. 
 
 Pointe du Chene, 49. 
 
 Population of New Brunswick, 26. 
 
 „ Nova Scotia, 26. 
 
 ff Ontario, 26. 
 
 ff Prince Edward Island, 26. 
 
64 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 M'. ■ i 
 
 Population cf Quebec, 26. ' ' ' ;• 
 
 Port Hope, 7. . , • 
 
 Portland, 19. 
 
 Prescott, 7. . 
 
 Press of New Brunswick on Immigration, 29. 
 
 Prince Edward Island, vi, viii, 27, 47—57. 
 
 Quebec, 5, 26, 31, 54. 
 
 Quebec and New Brunswick Railway, 20. 
 
 Reciprocity Treaty between United States and P. E. Islaitd, 57. 
 
 Red River, ii, ix, xv. 
 
 Riviere du Loup, 4, 20, 36, 55. 
 
 Royal Commissioners of Emigration, xiii. 
 
 St. Croix Rivers, 22. 
 St. John, N. B., 23—32. 
 Sam Slick on Nova Scotia, 33. 
 San Juan boundary, 22. 
 Saskatchewan, ii, ix. 
 Shediac, 36. 
 Sherbrooke, 20, 23. 
 Society of St. George, 6. 
 Summerside. P. E. I., 49, 50. 
 
 " The Great Lone Land," ix. 
 
 Thousand Islands, 8. .-. 
 
 Toronto, 9, 32, 54. 
 
 Trade Unions, iv, xvii. 
 
 Union of the Colonies, vii. 
 Union Pacific Railway, 14. 
 " United Empire Loyalists," xi. . 
 
 Vancouver Island, xv, 14. 
 Victoria, xv. ' 
 
 Wages in Canada, xviii, 15, 27, 31, 43, 59. 
 Washington Treaty, xi, 56. . ' / 
 
 Western Provinces of Canada, 9— 18. 
 Whitehaven, 41. , '1 
 
 Windsor, 37, 42. . - : 
 
 Windsor and Annapolis Railway, 36, 42. v 
 
 Woodstock, 20. 
 
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