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Additional commenu:/ Pagination is as folloHs Commentaires supplementaires: L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a iti possible de se procurer. Les details de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-^ PPL-IED ir\/HGE Inc ij^^ 16:. East Moin Street ~.a Rocliester, New York 14609 USA "■iSS (716) 482 - 0300 - Phone ^S (716) 288-5989 - Fok L K C T U II E . DELIVEBKD BErOR£ ■ •♦ ■- TH;E MECHANICS^ INSTITUTE, OF HAMILTON, Oji Wednesday Eieiiin«^, November IT. 184 T, On the Connection between the Agricolture and Manufactures of Canada. ^ ■S, - ' ■J .->>%*->-■ ■■^^^^r^J'^t ^> JT-*^ BY THE HdN'OLE R. B. SULLIVAN. X-' \ H A M I L T O N rdoivd al Uuthven's HoA and Job Printing Office, JuHk-s Slitcl. 1 *5 4 «i LECTURE, DeUvered by the Hon. R. B. SolHyan before the MechanicB* Institute, on the 17th November, 1847. The Hon. Mr. Sullivan having been invited to open the Course of Lectures of the Mechanics' Institute of Hamil- ton, and the choice of the subject being left to himself, he accordingly visited this city on the 17th instant, and deli- vered m the presence of the members of the Institute, and of an ai^dience composed of many Ladies and Gentlemen of the city, the following Lecture. I 1La0ies and Gentlemen : The subject I have selected for your entertainment dh this occasion is "The connection between the Agriculture and Manufactures of Canada,"— one which needs no apo- logy for itself, though I trust many excuses for the man- ner and substance of my address will suggest themselves to you who know how I have been occupied since you naked me to give a Lecture, and who may suppose how difficult it is in the few hours which can be stolen from arduous professional duties, and in the midst of their at- tendant fatigues and anxieties to give a subject, foreign to one's ordinary pursuits sufficient consideration to make a Lecture upon it interesting or instructive. I feel much flattered by the request to come from Toronto to delirer the opening Lecture in this Institution, and the professi- I onal avocations which prevent me from being stranger m your city will, I hope, place me beyond th« reach of the criticism to which one who intruded himself upon your audience, and who had more opportunity for prepa- ration might be justly exposed. f From infancy to old age, every individual man is un- dergoing a process of change, which is constantly alter- »»Jg n^^desires, the objects of his pursuit, his powers of attamiiierit, and the vahie of what he acquires. The •♦somethmg still which prompts the eternal sigh," is still ( HAMILTON PUBLIC LIBRAE 4 Phcngca of platan?; „''Jll<'.^''/ ^M nnd each pVo/uceTT '"to periods, or epocf " and r ,1'^ '"/'''''' "«= life o^^a^^f'','' and for^r S/?f t f"""??'""' °'- ^^e P esS" "H' makes no such nrln, .• "• '"«'''aWe future H. S ' ««"« sity is cast u'nl^?" *'/>' """'"o and enermic 117. ^ '"' PO^«> r n>:rbe"s?e" 'Zn'iri^di::f« ',"« «^"«ri- -«- ^. Soietl'-l/iUTff'pl-^^^^^^^^^^^ '"V' ,X^ /.^'- -„,,„u„uy can with safctybe and in be a fi after I earth ; like th whiter farers, As I py as countr terest ns well aa »h 'ce; but that somp **^'^"^'"^' '^^ improve with the improving, to advance shapes to allure th#i' ■ ^^^ advancing, to keep pace with the foremost, or disregarded bv th ^^^'^ '"*° contempt and poverty, or what is worse into d are Jaid aside f"^*^^''y ^"** dependance, seems to be the fate of nations. Its of youth • thes ^ themselves, or left to themselves, they may remain at J anxieties of mar **' **"' ***®^ cannot so remain in the neighborhood of < success faihirp '"'^^J'*^"^ enterprise or higher activity. The introduction private skins nJl^^^ tradmg posts and counting houses led to the sub- e their effect u'doJ"^'**'®" ^^-^^^ m\g\\ty Indian empire. The North Ame- and each nrodiir "*^*" aborigmal races have faded away in the presence de the life of ninn ®^^^*^® emigrants from Europe. Mexico, rich and pow- conduct which an '^"^ ^**®" ^"^ discovered, fell before a few Spanish sol- other. The Drii *'*®"' *"^ ^^^ empire built up through their means is now nt of the presenf ^^P^^^y sinking into ruin, beneath the steps of a few ener- future. He whl* Set'C invaders. The history of the world contains but a the severe moni ^®"^* ^^ mstances of the same kind. Preeminence has ' fault, that thpv 1^' foUowed natural advantages, nor has subjection or *^y destruction been the consequence of their absence. On the great meaim ***® contrary, wealth has been the lure which drew the equal orsuroass ^P*^^ '^.P'*^ "P°" ^^^ wealthy, fertility and amenity of 'ty of which he *^"'"^*®' *"® ^^17 causes which induced the slavery of their ?etic, the neces- possessors. very causes wnicn inaucea the slavery Extended empire, and mighty armies, and ^e qualities A '*®^"®'"®"' ^"^ luxury, have crumbled to pieces before ute amonasi tC ®^®" barbarian activity. To stop in the course of ad- oy comparati%'fi vancement, to be satisfied with any position, however ?e his own fan "'g"' seems to be but the prelude to downfall; and as Jsy and earnest P'^^'^f ?*^e "*s hidden from us the limits of human inven- d in the course *'**"» f*^"' *nd enterprise, as man knows not the ulterior eglect and dis* 5^- u "/ *^® exercise of his own powers, while the providence has hidden from us the limits of human inven in the course' *'**"»/'^*" and enterprise, as mai " ?lect and Z: STk^Ti.-^^ k^ *^''''''' ^^^'^ "" ^— ' ^ "- s competitors ? • »'» debasement may be observed in every aspect, ' • '^ • and in every place, the law of progress upwards seems to be a fundamental ri ^ of his nature ; while he is aspirins idual is the ad Mias its differ- favored races rapid and per- traceable, but different from their objects, tinually chan= ith safety b© after higher destinies, he is fulfilling his mission upon earth j when he ceases his onward movement he perishes hke the traveller who lingers in the desert, whose bones whiten in the in, a terror and a warning to future way. lUrCfi Oft As there is no condition of the individual man so han. py as the one of improvement, so there is no state of 'a country so happy as the state of advancement. It scarce- u 9 |y matters what is li.enrosnnt ««%ence .^f"„' ""/''"'■elcss, solved fa? fc'"? "'"' <"«»»« ' »«« • »^ "^» and who ar** n^* ^"'^ure. ihose who for np "' '° ""' <=«'"'"•}' itself. o.hZ, !' °^,'' '^^''^ «»» o. "=^ "ioj are 0a. ^ ■,J^V^^^_.. • I is b " *^°'""'""'^>#pro<'-a^'e to that country, however imu-li they may have lation^^fT"^ '^etter^Iied to the resources of others. I have only to mention ,g . **'. "*^ s of Thf ^H* '""'A' ^" four hundred b^*^;' '""^' '"'•'"" """^r preie^,^'".''°"»« "'° ' a town i, n J '"'''"'"'sefHo a thoii«4nj " . ""mber of Gove out causing e;e„.,n^J"''y »" b" wnk n thl ?°*^''«»««' ?^«« his i,ori,„, 1, J? "" underwriter in /!, ^ *''*> with- in yei chaLdb',t"r:?''«'".''i«f- Whole "own,h'"''' '° ''«"' for "''"y ''ithoutZy Sl^"^ ^'"PP^" of the exDP«a™b?^^r- '^"^ •ieprivins tL f„ J !-° "^> ""at I am aw»,^ r^'* '""''«r, coars "«r. You wo*iA°'^ ^"'"^ i» the hand?o7 th ' r"' "••" of «8e, a years IZXijit''? r'''«<=''" "rprisedT" ^ " see how «..?„ "r "'? ""t^ed the course r,r ,1 A "' " fe* water fefrr" ""^ ""> ^"nt of a'^X^K?'* ">« 'o"" »" Pel cause for tl themi in th( brou^ spinn woulc or m woulc growi Andt a larg come placet accun tion n Indus 1 hant V'f'^"?*'© oi^vc trade, diffused us it is tlirougli the country ; but of J belonging toJe greater portion of the tinnber trade of Quebec, I can- emp/oys probablinot see any benefit, in proportion to the magnitude of J one.tw.entieth ar^he commerce. "^^^ '"^ ^^ommerce^ We now come to the product and exportation of Ben" "^* .'ts bene-Wheat and Flour, ahnost our only resource arising from J *i"^®^'oned onpur own labor and enterprize. The settlers in Upper S^' Ify with mypanada were the U. E. Loyalists, and soldiers of the opinion, it would Aw»erican revolutionary war ; they became simple agri- nat"^" ^"^^rtained Culturists, as did also the great body of the Immigrants enals of calcu-who followed them. The first importations were paid .-J ® 5^ say, that Tor, out of the expenditure of the Home Government. ' th ^^^® has At length an export trade in wheat arose which has hith- es t^^^^^ house jerto been going on, steadily increasing; but this and the ent number of Government expenditure did not nearly suffice to pay for Without making the importations. The country became involved in mort- in^th ^^^^ster gages, debts, and law suits, from which the money brought "the sea, with- m yearly by settlers helped to redeem it ; for many, very ada to look for .many years, the people of this country manuffictured no- 'P^ '"^y he pur- thing for themselves ; v up to this day articles of the portable timber, coarsest and most simple fabric, and in the most common »f fh e^ *^*' ^^ "'^®' ^^^ brought in ready-made in vast quantities. 'I the future set- Perhaps the Government expenditure was the first Th'^ o 'T, a few cause of disproportionate importation. Had it not been tne Ottawa, to for this, the first settlers must have manufactured for themselves, and been satisfied with what could be made in the country. The same demand and necessity which brought blacksmiths & shoe makers, would have brought spinners and weavers. Locks and hinges, and linen, would have been made as certainly as shoes for horses or men. The tradesmen employed in manufactures would have founded villages and towns, which would have grown with the growth of the agricultural community* And these towns would have furnished a home market for a large portion of the produce of the land, and have be- come as they did in the early times of English History, places in which the Capital of the country would have accumulated. However slow and difficult the accumula- tion might have been, we still should have the fruits of industry ready to be expended in new enterprize. Capi- y» or enterprize en in their own and the Joss of ►'e road over a ns for men and the woods, or ht, to the great ngofthemer- One glance at own you how »^ the lumber- y were reali- enefits of the 'Jgliborhood ; i even of the 10 . According ,o,h. ''' '" """"Ivamage ,if co tUe nmfi.. ?.L ""^ course of evrnt. „ .u *aso h5,«« 1^ '^eaeemed by em ffrafinn ,1"^*^^"'^, has been cdh ^»ve i of them arc land ownerrl7l.""f ''"""''T, venr «,,„, '^at | them for nothing, or atLl" . * '""'' ""as obtairiid 'hJ "O""' the law, apart from i«pr"o°v"St?"'" ^he S ^? the gl nas always been stPirfiNr • "' ^^ expenditure nhn*. u manu »hol,ey brouxrhMn k!\^^'/. ^"^reasin;. ; ^anrf tUll'^P?** ^*1 ean c want neigh self a( ticen Ha .Has 'always^ beehsTeS'^'^'^^^'^r elpend >^ohey brouX fn K ''^ increasing ; anH th -*"- "» TrlZZ ^-''«» ^'-nost every farM!: J.^" "yself well -ang.d,„ra.um,.Wcb;up„„Vai;;ir;f4^'-«w„ *b1 wouk 11 . J ^^^^ ^"fJ couiitrRte ; and \vb > every Tanner was in debt for more than ' ^ ^"Vantage ^ could pa} if his whole property were sold. I have g , iason to b'^iove the same state of things existed almost mpd u- ^^^® beei^ry where in Upper Canada. Tlie farmers owed the e D ^fi Provitic^tore Keepers ; the Store Keepers the Montreal Mer- iffl ^^'^ of e^porfa^ants ; the Montreal Merchants either belonged to or ,S and ; and JateJy ifere indebted to English houses. Gradually things came Th '"^'^^^^'^*'^ haV*^und ; land increased in value ; bad debts became good ; lit K ^^^ 'ea/fir^i^e worst portion of a merchant's assets, namely, the lands ^ have been s^ti^hich he had taken in payment of debts, became the best ^ns of carryihg t^j^rt of his property, worth his monied realizations ten '^^ryto the coiinrfryt*™®^ *o'^' Thus the country has become comparative- rseives. MVe hav^ '•*^^' ^^® farmers generally independent, and the mer- »s, English cajiiifijBantile affairs of the Province, and of those who dealt aring hand, but not*'^*'* *^ tolerably prosperous. But I am not afraid to say hsts had been here'^^' ^^'^ improving state has not been the product of the "Y and under thcl^P^"** ^"^ export trade, or of the profits of agricultural industry used and disposed as they have been. I think IS country by the^® have been able to meet an otherwise ruinously exten- •'e, has been cdh- "^^^^ import trade; not by its proper equivalent, the ex- amounts ofttibtie^ ported produce of the country, or the increased movea- ttlers ; soirietiiires ^'® property, or improvement upon the land, which when ^"s sums. J^ftny ^^^nanged for imported capital would show that our in- 'S from England ; ^"^^''^ ^^^ equalled our expenditure ; but on the contra- d flour are enor- '^» ^^ ^^® increasing population, and admitted by the ve- and yet this pi^- '3^ ^^^ P""'^® ^^ value of land in its original condition, "tations of ttiaiiii* '" . countries where there has not existed this con- stant importation of capital, there has arisen a necessity ^^ry, very inanv ^^^^ people should manufacture for themselves. In no ''as obtained by ^^'^"^^y ^^^ ^^ ^^^ tropics, that I know of, on the face of The value of *^® g'o'^®' ^^^^ there exist so great a backwardness of 'nditure upon it manufacturing industry, as in the British North Ameri- f^d the sums of ^^^ colonies, and these we know suffer under reproach of nvested prindi- ^^-^^ °^ enterprise and activity, as compared with the r — . " neighboring States, which it requires all our self love and self admiration to bear with patience, or to deny its jus- tice with any show of plausibility. Had there not been this continual importation of capi- •ai, ttuvt »-i-riicapw«uiiig nsi; iit iiiu vuiuu oi laiiu, money would probably have been more scarce than it has been, B farming popu. med from debt, and has, by the -an myself well ige Street was ^ouldnotifea- \y. 12 but there would have been a tiir less importation of fo- reign goods. We should have been forced to manufac- ture for ourselves, and a community of artizans would have grown up and increased with our farmmg popula- tion The people would have used and worn more rude and homely articles, but then there would have been man- ufacturing capital everywhere. There would have been a capability of adopting the mechanical improvements ot other countries ; and had a community ot business men, of mechanics, prospered amongst us, we should have had funds of our own, for new entcrprize and improvement. Without the importation of money, our progress would probably have been slow, but certain ; but add the two elements of prosperity together, and suppose that m ad- dition to the growth of capital invested in manufactures, and accumulated by means of manufacturing industry, we had also our present immense advantage ot a yearly ac- cession of wealth by the means of settlement and immi- gration of men possessed of money, then the state ot this country would have been indeed enviable, and its progress rapid beyond precedent. . Our want of this progress indicates inactivity, mis- spent industry, and extravagance. The country should have done better with its means than it has done ; and it must do better for the future, or it will fall irretrievably behind, in comparison with other nations, and especially in comparison with our neighbors. To illustrate this position, I ask what would you say to a young man, who by inheritance became possessed ot a numbe? of lots of land, or of one lot, which by good ior- tune, became the site of a village or town, and thus, with- out any exertion of his own, became yery valuable— sup- pose him to have sold from time to time, and lived upon the interest received ? You would have called him pru- dent, but idle and unenterprizing. He might have added his own industry, in some active line of life, to the income from his money. He might have used his capital m busi- ness, with great advantage over others who had no such aJH. He mioht. bv means of the capital usefully employ- ed^ hiiv"e been of advantage to himself and many olliers } 13 311 of to- manufac- 18 would ; popula- lore rude een man- lave been jments of less men, have had •ovement. ;ss would i the two bat in ad- ufactureSy dustry, we jrearly ac- and immi- ate of this ts progress ivity, mis- try should no ; and it retrievably . especially you say to sessed of a y good for- thus, witb- lable — sup- lived upon 3d him pru- have added 1 the income )ital in busi- had no such illy employ- any others j but all that is gained by the money of others expended in the purchase of his inheritance, k a life of idleness. All that his neighbors have gained is, that there is one indi- vidual taken from the industrious and productive class, to become a drone in the hive. But go a little further, and suppose him to live on the capital, on the purchase money from year to year, spending what he receives for lot after lot, of his inherited property. I ask you whe- ther any value attached to the remnant of that com- parative state of wealth he may be in, compared with his original condition, will redeem him from the combi- ned charges of idleness, improvidence, and extravagance. This latter picture represents this country of Upper Ca- nada. It inherited from Nature, and without incum- brance, lands very fertile and valuable. These have been yearly realizing prices, which should be accumulating capital ; the money which formed these prices has come from abroad. All that has been brought into the coun- try for the last fifty years, and which has been invested in land, by purchase from the government, or from indi- viduals, should have remained in the shape of capital, but all this, and the whole exports of the Province, and the whole expenditure of the British Government, and all the monies borrowed, and all the debts due by our merchants, have gone to pay for our imports— for imports of articles ot daily use, dissipated and gone as the year of their im- portation passed away. Now this is what I think you will call national improvidence and extravagance. And are we saved from these charges, because a town lot which fifty years ago was not worth a dollar, may be now saleable at a thousand ; or because land in a favor- able situation is worth ten times what it would sell for twenty years ago ? We are not— because that land re- presents none of our industry j it is not the fruit of our labor ; it is the same that nature made it ; and when its price comes to be realized ; and if so far from being ready for investment in the business of the Province, it shall become but a drop in the exhausting stream of for- eign trade— this is extravagance, and a species of extra- vagance which may well account, not for our poor condi- 14 tion, because the country and its inhabitants are not poor, but for our truly helpless state as regards money, when it is required for any enterprize, and for our strangely backward condition, notwithstanding aliiiost unequalled advantages. This is exactly what might be expected from our course of conduct as a community — before we can have money- ed capital in the country, we must have the classes of men in whose hands money, in the nature of things, will accumulate in large and disposable quantity. The far- mers are not one of those classes. A passage which I met in the Westminster Review, for April last, will illus- trate this position. " The Agriculturists," says the Re- view, " whether it be their fault, or not, do not make colossal fortunes like the men of Manchester and Glas- gow — the Bakewells, Webbs, Elmans, and doubtless many others may be quoted as exceptions — but we ven- ture to say, that south of the Tweed, and excluding parts of Lincolnshire, N orfolk, and a few other favored regions, farmers, as a body, do not gain more than a comfortable livelihood, that they are just able thereby to establish their children in a rank of life, corresponding to their own, and that more than this is not practically attained. Compare the fortunes amassed even in our generation, in some branches of manufacturing industry, with the modest result of twenty- five or thirty years of care and frugality in the Agricultural line." Now if this be true speaking of England, and I have no doubt it is true, not only re- gardinjr England, but all other countries, how much more applicable is it to Canada, where so little has been done in the way of Agricultural improvement, in comparison with what remains to do. If our farmers, not being men of capital originally, with great care and industry and frugality, arc enabled to clear, fence, and cultivate the lands ; to erect comfortable houses, barns, and stables ; to accumulate stock ; to purchase the necessary agricul- tural implements ; to educate their children, and to place their increasing families, as they grow up. in their own condition of independent owners of the toil they culti- vate, we justly call them successful. We do not look 15 are not poor, loney, livhen ur strangely »t unequalled m our course have money- lie classes of r things, will f. The far- age which I ast, will illus- says the Re* lo not make ter and Glaa- nd doubtless -but we ven- cluding parts ored regions, I comfortable establish their heir own, and d. Compare ion, in some 1 the modest and frugality true speaking not only re- w much more as been done \ comparison lot being men industry and cultivate the and stables ; ssary agricul- , and to place in their ovvn oil they culti- i do not look an^pngst them for money when a road has to be macad- amized or planked ; when a canal has to be dug ; a Rail- toad to be constructed ; when a steamboat is to be built, or a manufactory to be erected. If they should be asked to subscribe, the prudent amongst them shake their heads and refuse. Those who are ashamed of the want of en- terprise exhibited in the country, or anxious for scme- tl^ing in the shape of improvement, oflcr a promissory note, to be discounted at a bank, and probably afterwards to be recovered by execution against their lands and ten- ewpnts. Others will attend public meetings, and sign petitions to the legislature ; and insist upon their repre- sentatives asking for public aid from an exhausted trea- sury, and an overstrained public credit ; but the farmers themselves have no money to spare for such things. We see their whole capabilities exercised in the District Council, where they are freely and fairly represented. We find them acknowledging that the roads are bad, and bridges broken, but mark how they shrink from the in- creased taxation, the produce of which would be expend- .ed directly for their own comfort and convenience. If they had money to spare, would they, do you think, con- sent to pay hiavy tolls into the public treasury, rather than make their improvements themselves ? W^ould they, wJien roads are profitable and return (as they in fact do) more than interest on money expended, even managed expensively, as they must be, through the oflicers o1' a central government. Would the farmers; the owners of the whole soil of a district; the payers of the tolls— , yfm\A they gladly give up the privilege of making im-. pr^vements with their own money, expended by themn selves, and for the profit of their own districts ? Would u^ u^ **^'® '^ ^^^y ^^^ *^® money ? But the money U»ey have not, or rather they have more than enough to do with what does fall into their hands. As a farming community they may be verv prosperous and improving Without surplus money ; without more than is wanting for their own private agricultural operations. Farmers have the advantage over others, that the result of their maustry are, m the long run, certain. They cannot 16 make large fortunes, but their fortunes, such as they are, are certain. They undergo none of the racking anxieties, and terrible vicissitudes of trade, uncertainties which al- ways attend the possession and management of moneyed capital ; which make the Whiltington of yesterday, who owned only a cat, the princely and purse-proud mer- chant of to-day, and to-morrow the heart-broken and commisserated bankrupt. In compensation for this, far- mers do not become the possessors of moneyed capital in quantity. But this money in quantity, is the life-blood of enterprise and improvement. The smallest rill of wa- ter will serve for irrigation ; a pond will do for the water- ing of cattle, but as a motive power water must accumu- late in larger streams ; it must be dammed back, and gathered together; unless the localities exist in which it will thus flow, and in which it may be thus collected — in vain do the clouds pour out their floods, and the living springs open their fountains — there can be no water mills. The locality so circumstanced must depend for their grinding upon their more fortunate neighbors, where the rills unite. And so, unless you have in your country the. classes of men in whose hands money will accumulate, the nature of whose occupation make them the natural reservoirs and conductors of money, as the motive pow- er of enterprise, you must, as a country, be, and continue helpless, dependent, and inferior. And it is not the country, in the abstract sense merely, which suffers, for as the farmer, though he does not share the tolls of the miller, is still the greatest loser by the want of a mill — so the agricultural population, though they may not directly share the profits of moneyed capital, yet still they are the greatest sufferers, from any state of things which pre- vents its life-giving presence. In Canada, as I before observed, there is scarcely any productive industry, but agriculture. This ought to pay for our imports, and leave a surplus. But we have besides, yearly imported capital, brought in both by the British government and by settlers. All this flows away in the course of our trade. Then let us ask ourselves io that trade profitable to the country ? Does money accumulate ■n.\ 17 ;h as they are, king anxieties, (ties which al- it of moneyed esterday, who se-proud mer- rt-broken and n for this, far- 3yed capital in the life-blood lest rill of wa- fer the water- must accumu- ed back, and ist in which it collected — in md the living 10 water mills, end for their )rs, where the ur country the. 11 accumulate, m the natural 3 motive pow- , and continue it is not the ch suffers, for tie tolls of the t of a mill — so ly not directly ill they are the gs which pre- i scarcely any ! ought to pay i have besides, l)y the British s away in the rselves is that ey accumulate here by its means ? Does that trade, as money is want- ing, give It forth again in quantity, so as to make the coun- try powerful and advancing ? In other words, are we backward or forward in the race, and if the former, where- in lies our fault or our misfortune ? Questions like tlicse are always answered best by an appeal to facts ; but it is necessary sometimes to sepa- rate the facts which form the aggregate of statistical ta- bles, and by looking at such of the details as pass under our own eyes, to procure the certain conviction of truth which arises from the evidence of our own senses " Seeing is believing," the proverb says ; and for men like ourse ves, who do not pretend to learning, or theoretical knowledge, it is a homely, satisfactory, and mechanical way of arriving at the truth. Let us ascertain, then, that our sight IS good ; that we believe what we see ; and act, as if we do really beheve. A mere balanced account, which would show, that im- ports exceeded exports, would in itself prove nothing of value. The excess of imports may be in articles which would in themselves add to the capital of the country.— A miller who lays out more in a year in the purchase of machinery and wheat than the amount of that year's sales m flour, IS not therefore carrying on a losing business, for the expenditure of this year in machinery, is expected to be returned to him in future years with profit. So far as • our excess of imports can be proved to be turned into fix- I ed capital— for example— if the goods imported are used, and so far as they are used in the improvement of the country, or in the hire of labor for th it improvement ; or in the erection of Towns, or houses, or mills ; or in the . clearing of land ; or in short, in any things that are re- f productive— then so far as this is the case, we are all the better, even though we should be getting in debt ; and if we can pay for the importation by the price of our lands, or bv the money brought into the country by settlers, so much the better for us. So far as I am able to judge we are not in this position ; if the excess of importations . over exportatjons had been for the last twenty years in- vesteu in productive property, the balance of trade would IS at length have begun to change in our favor; but of this I see no sign. Still the same course is being pursued ; we borrow and we bring in money, and we raise wheat for exportation ; and still all is scarcely sufficient to pay for our imports. But it is not of mere balance of trade that I am com- plaining. Mercantile affairs and balances may be going on well or ill, without affecting my argument in theleast. What I find fault with, is a state of things which leaves this country without moneyed capital of its own. This is produced by our not having manufacturing enterprise, and capital here. Our manufacturing towns are ih Great Britain, and the United States ; whither the profits 6f our industry flow, without our having the benefit of capi- tal in the country ; creating, reproducing more ck'pital', as it should be under a bettfi^ system. To make my meaning plain and familiar ; let us speak, as I before hinted, of things as we see them. Many mer- chants, to our own knowledge, have many thousands of pounds employed in the import trade of this town. Let us take any one, and suppose him to bring in and sell fifty thousand pounds worth of manufactured goods, made ih Great Britain or the United States. What are the bene- fits conferred by his business on the country? He has paid certain duties towards the support of the Govern- ment ; but this is, after all, but an indirect mode in which the consumers of the goods have paid taxes, which they are no better able to pay, because the goods have beeh imported ; and therefore the payment goes for nothihg. He has paid freight and forwarding charges through the province ; so far he has helped, by enabling the forward- ers and ship-owners on the lakes, to realize profits, and he has contributed to the support of public works — so far he has contributed to the reproductive wealth of tho country. He has built warehouses ; so far, again he has done good. He employs half a dozen clerks — some of whom probably save money from their wages — these hve at boarding-houses, and enable the keepers to realize pro- fits — again good is done. Perhaps, however; he hfts im- ported his goods through the United States, whien his IS) or; but of this >eing pursued ; tve raise wheat Lifficicnt to pay hat I am com- I may be going 3nt in the least. 3 which leaves its own. This ing enterprise; ns are ih Great the profits 6( benefit of capii- more ckpitah, * ; let us speak, 1. Many mer- y thousands of lis town. Let in and sell fifty ;oods, made ih it are the bene- itry? He has 'f the Govern- mode in which es, which they ods have been es for nothihg. es through the ig the forward* ze profits, and ! works — so far wealth of th6 ir, again he has erks — some 6f ges — these live ] to realize pro- ver; he has im- ates, when hift contributions to the forwurdur^, sliipowiiera uud public wois must be deducted. This extensive business has Jtdded by six or seven coiisuiiicrs to the market of the far- mers in the peigliborhood. lie makes a fortune hnnself, which is remitted to London, or Liverpool, or Glasgow, and he speaks of iiinisclf as a man interested in Canada, as he may well do ; thoiigli our present question is not as to his interest in Canada, but as to the interest of Canada in him. It is manifest that with tlio few and small exceptions I have mentioned, the whole profits of his trade,— I am not now speaking of the cost of the goods, which must have had their cost let them be produced where they may — but the whole profits of his trade have gone, not to be again seen here in the way of reproduction. What has he exported in return for the goods imported, and disposed of? Probiibly one half the amount in wheat and flour and pork, the farmer's only exportable articles— for the rest, the merchant has transmitted the money co- ming into the country from the sources I mentioned before. Contrast this with the effect produced in the Town and Country, by the manufacturer of fifty thousand pounds worth of shoes and boots, leather, castings, black- . smith work, machinery, such as we make ; in building, stone, brick, and carpenters' work ; ship-building, or such other trades as we have. How many men are benefitted by the production ? How many are growing daily richer by the transactions to which it gives rise ? How many families are fed, and clothed, and educated ? How many are added to the population of the town ? How much is added to the reproductive wealth of the country ? The importing merchant makes a small percentage ; it is gone to swell some overgrown capital far away. The artizan makes money in greater proportions ; he extends his trade, he builds him a house, he buys town lots, all he accumulates is for the place he lives in ; his gains and those of the persons in his employment, reproduce money t at every turn. If his trade were but extensive^ he would : become the possessor of large capital ; that capital would — — B -"••jr.vjr vui dtivi tuYcaicu wiiji iiiu tfuiiie aciiviiy t1 'it so iriUi which its accumulation coinnuMiccd ; thus would a toWtt population and nmnufncturinjr capital bo created ; and wo should have the class wc want, ready to forward tho entcrpris*> of the I'rovince, and lo enable us to keep pace with our nt r^^hhors. What would this town population do for the farmer f Why, it would furnish him with a nmricet for his cattle, his sheep, his hogs, hay, oats, poultry, butter, cheese, eggs, potatoes, vegetables, milk, and other articles not now exijortable ; and which, without a town population, would bo worthless in his hands. A farm in the neigh- borhood of a large town is worth twenty times as much as at a distance from it ; though both be equally conve- nient for exportation, and for the simple reason tuat every thing which the farmer can raise has ;i(i immediate moneyed value. How little of this invaluable home mar- . ket then, is produced by the importing merchant and his clerks ? How much is or could be produced by the pre- sence of manufacturing capital in full activity / A very slight consideration of these questions will show how far the farmer is interested in mechanical arts being followed in his neighborhood, and how inevitably his profits must be reduced, and Ids business languish, in a country which imports nineteen parts out of twenty of the manufactured articles consumed. When I was first called to the bar, not thinking that 1 had sufficient talents or confidence to ^ope with the diffi- culties of a town practice, I went to reside in one of the most retired and quiet neighborhoods in the Province, m the vicinity of Long Point, and just at the same time Messrs. Capron and VanXorman established a small foundry near Vittoria. Bog ore, as it is called, lay upon the land, and there it might have been to this hour, for any thing that the Long Point farmers knew or cared. Yet thero never were a peonic jiio.o puzzle<' for the means to buy a sugar or a potat '« ! ' ' ^ ' r a pot lu boil their po- tatoes. The long store account, with interest and costs, and sheriflf's poundage, and costs of writ, and costs of travelling and all other incidental expenses, were well un- dersloodi The people were the kindest and most hospi^ y 21 ; tiiuH would a al be created ; ndy to forward ible us to keep 'or the farmer f t for his cattle, butter, cbcesc, or articles not wn j)0[)ulation, n ill the neiph times '.^-' much ecjually convc- )lc reason that s uu immediate able home mar- rcbnnt and his ccd by the pre- tivity f A very 11 show bow far ^ bein«^ followed bis profits must L country which ic manufactured t thinking that I )c with the diffi- e in one of the the Province, in the same time blishcd a small called, lay upon o this hour, for knew or cared. cv for the means ; lo boil their po- terest and costs, it, and costs of es, were well un- UUU itivsi iivropi- tablc ill the world- to cull at a furt: er' house nt any hour of the day, ana not to eat or d;-..! , was to be proud and I nnei;,diborly, iind if you \).U(\ four penco for a letter at the post oIKkm', you iui<;ht take .six pence of the money out in old Lonif I'omt whiskey, at the generous baniiS of the post-master, liul there was no money. V\ beat was worth three vork .sbilliujjs a bushel in triidr'. and in such trade ! — tea at ten sliilliiigs a pound, factory cotton three york HJiillings a yard, and other ibingM in p-oporlion. How the furmcrs ever paid their ac( ounts, or the store-keepers their bills, 1 did not remain long euougli to iearn. liut the fouiuliy was esliddisbed, and C.ipron and VanNorman bought horses and other articles in exebanire for hollow-ware and stoves, or when these were not im- mediately wanted, a (-redit on tlu; foundry, j)ayable in that cast iron currency. Then the farmers, when they wanted a raise, hauled ore to the foundry or they made; charcoal, or they sold a horse or two ; they tlieii liad not only their stoves and hollow-ware articles of pecuniary importance cheap and abundant, but they had a credit at the iron bank, which passed current. ()n(^ ot my first fees was an order on tlie furnace, with which I built a chimney, and I learned a lesson worth more than ten dol- lars worth of hollow-ware ; namely, the vast importance to the whole community of that single manufactu ing es- tablishment. I asked 1113 self what would be the dill'erence if Capron and VanNorman had been peddlers of ir(*ii pots instead of manufacturers; had the hollow-ware beeii made at the other side of Lake Erie ; and I could not btit see that the distinctions were these. — Possibly holloa ware might have been as cheap one way as the other, but then the profits of the price of the ore ^iiriched the land o\ ner, its carriage enriched the teamster, its smelting ga a value to charcoal, and when made into kettles, it ena -led the manufacturer to buy horses. The manufactu ors themselves became wealthy, the men they employed | ir- chased food from the Airmers and clothes from the store- keepers. They saved money and became land-owners. They had families and they made a village. Village lots bAi^art'krk ■«rr\»«|-li rrirfcrif*''^ A w-irl of li-\r»uiuiiiai ivxinis- ii^^s. •,'7 jrivate and pub- 1 I am proud to ; instance of the strial process in 1 working stone I tractor on pub- vards became a rtunate enough lot pack up and Roigborhood — created a good 3 bordering on rers on the Ot- I was informed we woollen fac- enty-five thou- fsons will make ! whole country >wn population nt ; how many m ; in the put- fabrication of neighborhood, mds. Had he iclined to buy- he competition liis gain would trade, to the in- lumber, or flour ight have look- /ould only have ould have only e — dry goods, Ben no scarcerj iful, though he n indifferent to , he might have ght have beta- colonial Minis- ter upon Canadian affairs, with all the advantage of je- ing an impartial and disinterested adviser. But he has bound up his fortunes in the prosperity of Canada ; and there is no one who wishes well to the country, but must be anxious at the same time for his welfare and success. If you ask me what interests me most in Hamilton, pla- cing aside for the moment >our railroad, which I wish was finished as well as commenced, (and I say this truly, without any disposition to doubt of your success,) — but if you ask me in my small way, what interests me most, — it is this, — that every time 1 have visited your town, I have discovered at the foundry in James Street, the es- tablishment, I believe, of Messrs. MacQuesten and Fish- er, dome great increase and improvement. Every time I come, I see more machinery at work, more buildings erected, more men employed, ! nd a greater appearance of industry. Whether Hamilton or Toronto imports the most goods for the supply of the interior, is a question that interests me little ; but I feel no such indifference on the question, whether the country is using more machi- nery, and whether that machinery can be manufactured by ourselves, by means of mechanics forming the popula- tion of our towns, and living and prospering amongst us. I look upon the success of that establishment, yet in its infancy, with interest, because it proves a problem in which the whole country is interested ; and its even now, the nucleus, around which capital earned, retained & re- productive in the country can gather. Small as the establishment is, in proportion to what such an one should be in a country like this, it will in the end have more substantial effect upon the prosperity of this town, and the neighboring farming population, than any five whole- sale stores in Hamilton. And yet probably it has its dif- ficulties ; and when the import trade can command the purses of money lenders, and monopolise discounts at the banks, it is not unlikely that this establishment is left to work its own way, unaided. Knowing nothing of the facts, I may speculate in this mode without offence ; what jL uivtrij IV oajf la, iimi III v/iuiaua mere is very niiie man- ufacturing enterprise, and very much unprofitable trade 38 ■H: IHi that is to say, unprofitable to tiic country ; and that, ge- nerally speaking, the latter is the trade assisted and prO' moted, and that the former is too often considered vision- ary and uncertain, and unworthy of credit and support, until struggling against difficulty, it rises by its innate strength above suspicion. I have a great regard for the town of Dundas, because more than any other place in Upper Canada, it appears to depend upon its factories ; its situation in the midst of a fertile and beautiful country ; its ever working stream, turning wheel after wheel, and keeping in movement fac- tory after factory j the neat cottages of the artizans, and the snug, comfortable, and unpretending appearance of the whole place, are highly interesting to the stranger. Its growing wealth and importance is of particular inter- est to the farming community. As capital, created by industry, gathers there, you will find the fabrication of article after article now imported from abroad introduced; you will find, that successful enterprise in manufactures, reproduces itself, more naturally than any other kind of enterprise. The horse power in a country brewery, in- duces the steam engine ; the steam engine requires, in its construction, the founder, the turner, the machine maker ; he brings the boiler maker ; and so on by degrees, until every article belonging to the trade is made upoti the spot. All this leads to the enquiry, in how many ways steam can be employed. The blacksmith who com- mences by shoeing horses, and tiring waggon wheels, finds that he can repair, and finally that he can make axes ; from this he proceeds to the manufacture of other tools. Those who use the tools find that the home-man- ufactured articles are better than the imported; they learn that some of the cheapness of the latter is owing to their want of goodness, and they discover that there is no worse economy than the use of inferior impleme*"** however cheap. The common carding machine, adds to itself the spinning jenny, and the power loom ; the place which begins as a manufactory for the immediate neigh- borhood, bccouies a place for exportation : a large town arises by degrees, peopled by ingenious, skilful mechan- ics, who are ever plotting how they can set their newly- 29 ry ; and that, gc- assisted and pro- onsidered vision- edit and support, ses by its innate Dundas, because mada, it appears on in the midst of working stream, in movement fac- the artizans, and ig appearance of to the stranger, f particular inter- ipital, created by tie fabrication of l)road introduced; in manufactures, ny other kind of itry brewery, in- line requires, in er, the machine so on by degrees, ide is made upon -y, in how many :ksmith who com- waggon wheels, hat he can make lufacture of other li the home-man- imported; they le latter is owing cover that there 'erior impleme"** machine, adds to loom ; the place mmediate neigh- m : a lai^e town i, skilful mcchan- I set their newly- gained capital at work, in the increase of the old, or the establishment of new works. Improvements adopted in other countries are sought after, and adopted ; strange mechanics come to examine and set up for themselves : thus the manufacturing city arises, and the farmers around find a market for all their produce ; they raise new ar- ticles ; hemp, because of the new rope walks, and the certain market ; flax, because of the linen factory ; land is turned to better account ; agricultural machinery is in- troduced ; more hands are employed in agriculture ; the country becomes thickly populated ; there are more tax payers, and less taxes upon each ; better roads, and lower tolls,because there are more persons to use& pay for them? civilization, wealth, refinement, and accumulated capital follow ; and we have a rich country, because it contains the two elements of riches, namely, a town and country population. As we are now situated, we are like a man who would make an eifervescing draught with the soda or the acid, without the other ingredient ; his drink may be as sour, or as salt as he likes, but it would never be soda water. I have often been asked, what is the cause of the pros- perity and increase of Toronto ? No doubt there are many reasons, but it is amongst the rest ascribed to the fertile back country, and the number of shops necessary to supply the large farming population in the rear, who Are very thriving and very industrious. But besides, and perhaps beyond this, an inhabitant of Hamilton may see a great diflference between the two towns, in the vastly greater number of working tradesmen in Toronto. Shoe- laakers, tailors, watchmakers, papermakers, silversmiths, blacksmiths, whitesmiths, coppers and tinsmiths, foun- dries, machine, engine and boiler makers, pail factories, brewers, bakers, distillers, millers, hatters, saddlers, har- Bessmakers, ropemakers, furriers, glovers, carriage build- ers, chair factories, cabinet makers, furniture makers for exportation, carvers, gilders, painters, book binders, en- gravers, architects, stone masons, bricklayers, carpenters, ^amnantawa ova malrorQ '^lltlprs Pnd rkth<^rS— — not lOrCTnt- ting my corn-broom maker. These are in great num- bers, and apparently very prosperous, for if you enquTe II. ill' Ik) into the ownership of any of the liundrcds of handsome houses and cotta^res yearly springinrr up, you find tJiem cf^^r^ .M^ '"f "'f "' ^^'-^^-^"^-H' whd \\L invest the r capital ; a 1 this Jias been going on for considerable time : the capital accumulated is shoeing itself to have remain^ ed, and it is not allowed to be idle. Some new cS- Vance is springing up every day ; some new steam engine puffs out its industrions hard breathing, to help the me- chanic m his labors. The market oSred l^the con. sumption of twenty-two thousand mouths, is enriching ^e neighboring, and the market gardeners, and thesf frortnwn"""'^'^ ^^^''\ ''^'"g^' ^^'''^h ^' ^ distance thus natural advantage and prosperity of town and ^^ J^' '8 brought about, in a manner and to an extent; which could not take place if the farmers merely sold wheat and pork, and the town were built up merely of shops, selling imported goods. ^ And yet, I do not calf the tradesmen of Toronto a very enterprising body of men, in the way of their trades. I trTLl ? '^"^ *^l"''' importing hats ; and shoema- kers selling foreign shoes; and tanners offering foreign leather as superior articles. The Spaniards of California export milhons of hides and they ,iay five dollars a pair for bad shoes, made of thoir own leather in the United btates and re-unported ; for this they are called lazy and extravagant barbarians— our case is only different in degree ; our artizans should aim at more than they do. Ihe English people were electrified the other day, by an irruption of a whole cargo of Cuckoo clocks, from Con- necticut, selling for nothing, as it almost seemed to them : but they soon discovered that they could make a cheape^ and better article themselves ; ahd so could we, whose country is inundated with Yankee clocks, even make clocks for ourselves-surely we have curled maple and back walnut m sufhcient abundance; wages are just as In? •" ^^""^•^ticut as they are here; ind the way is /i J'fP^"'^''^ travelling and transport is great ; and the duty considerable ; and th.. interLt of if «npv and profits of sale and resale ; all count npon a Yankee clock before it ,s brought in to tempt a faVmer's wife in -»» Is of handsome you find tiieni hus invest their siderable time ; o have remain- ne new contri- •V steam engine ) help the me- d by the con- J, is enriching ers, and these at a distance >r money; an J of town and i to an extent, •s merely sold up merely of Poronto a very leir trfides. I ; and shoema- fering foreign s of California dollars a pair in the United re called lazy ily different in than they do. ier day, by an ks, from Con- mied to them ; ake a cheaper Id we, whose s, even make Gd maple and 3s are just as id the way is ;)ort is great ; on a Yankee mer'g wife in 31 Toronto. Why then, should we not have the clockma- kers here ; why should not their savings add to our natu- ral wealth ; and why should wo pay thoustmds of pounds lor this article of ornament, or luxury, or use, if it be either, when we should have clocks of our own making, as we should have it, if we had the enterprise of Americans ? 1 ake up any advertisement from a newspaper, and read It ; ask yourselves, are we belonging to the same nation ; are our people the same as the all-enterprising, and all- successful monopolizers of Great Britain ? For example one nian advertises his stock in trade as " imported di-' rect from Sheffield, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and New York ;"-" English," « Banks," « Russia and Swedes Iron," "Cast Steel," "Blister, Spring, and German ditto," "Copper," "Canada Plates and Sheet Iron ;" "Bar Lead " "Sheet ditto," "anvils," "vices," "sledges and hammers;** "chains," " nails and spikes ;" "Joiners' and Carpenters' 1?^Jax ' ''"'^' ^^o«s-^ut, circular and Philadelphia Saws:" "Saddlery mountings, and Carriage Trimmings," "patent Axles, and patent Leather;" "spades," "shovets," "forks" "hoes, and ploughs;" "Cooking Stoves," " Parlor, Dun- dee, and Three Rivers ditto;" "Hollow Ware "" Tea Kettles," "Sauce Pans," "Stew Pans, and Gridirins,&c." Some of these articles may, without particular remark be imported any where ; but look at the majority of them and they give you the idea of some semi-barbarous and helpless country, inhabited by some simple and uninform- ed people, who, wanting ingenuity and enterprise to make and manufacture for themselves, must send abroad for the most necessary and common articles of consumption. Who would believe, that in many parts of Canada, we we have iron ore of the finest quality, without the trouble of subterraneous mining ? And when ,e knows that the superiority of the Russian, and Swedish, and German iron and steel, arises from the use of charcoal, which can- Zt ^nrf'""^"^"^'*^ ? England. Who, that reads that advertisement, would believe that this is a country five-sixths of which are covered with forest, the wdodTf wincn is or no value, except for the very purpose for which It IS NOT used ? Are these articles of'^Iiu^ssia and Swedes Iron given for nothing to the English merchant? 32 And does he sell tlieni for a small per centnge od nothing to us, that they can bear the expenses of double exporta- tion, shipment and re-shipment, freight, poit duties, ware* house charges, forwarding five hundred miles into the in* terior, besides a heavy import duty, and yet be so cheap as to command the market in the face of a native article which might be manufactured from the ore, lying on the surface of the ground ; smelted by means of the wood co* vering the country all around ; hammered by the power which dashes from fall to fall over the iron beds ? Is the manufacture of cast steel and blister steel such a mystery as not to be penetrated in our state of almost negro darkness and simplicity ? Must our spades, and shoTeli, and forks, and hoes, be made in Sheffield or in Pennsyl* ▼ania ? Must we send wood to England, and bring it out again at twenty times, nay, fifty ''imes its original cost in the shape of a spade handle, than which a better one could be made by a squaw in her wigwam ; or which a New Englander would make by the million, by a machine, with little more personal trouble than the calculation of the profits. We make our own axes, only because the English cannot make them ; and we import our aammera* and chisels, and adzes, and scythes, and sickles^— the very bad ones from Eng^?nd, and the good ones from the United States — and we pay freight, and duties, and pro- fits upon the importation ; apparently, because it requires less contrivance to buy than to construct. We walk on carpets and sleep under blankets, made in distant England, while our farmers sell their wool to American pedlars, to pay a heavy import duty on going into the United States, another heavy duty on being reimported here, manufac- tored into cloths and satinetts. The great Lord Chat* ham, in the fire of his patriotism for England, said ^ he would not have the plantations in America make a hob nail for themselves." — What a pattern for a plantation is this country of Canada, where this very figure of exa^e- rated hyperbole, is true to the letter ; as we import oar hob nails direct from Birmingham and Sheflield ! ! am told by political economists, that it is better to import, if we can import cheaper than we can manufac- ture. They say, that your population are profitably em- 33 lage OD nothing louble exporta- rt duties, ware* iJes into the in* et be so cheap 0. native article e, lying on the )f the wood CO* by the power 1 beds ? Is the Buch a mystery almost negro s, and shorelt, or in Pennsyl* , and bring it ts original cost h a better one n ; or which a , by a machine, calculati(Hi of ly because the t our iiammerc, 1 sickles'— the 1 ones from the ities, and pro- luse it requires We walk on stant England, can pedlars, to United States, lere, manufac- Lt Lord Chat- land, said ^ he I make a hob a plantation is [ure of exagge- we import oar !ield! it is better to can manufac- profitably em- ployed in raising wheat and pork, and you should not detach them from that profitable employment to set them to work at manufactures, which will not support them- selves ; and ho adds an assunjod fact, which is not true, as regards a large proportion of the articles imported, namely, that we can import them cheaper and better than we can make them. My assertion is proved to demonstration, v ith respect to any article of manufacture imported from the United States, and sold here in the face of Enjrlish importations, and of import duties. It is also proved, as regards every article manufactured in the United States, and exported from that country to foreign markets. It is just as true respecting a carpet, or a blanket, or an ox chain, or a chizel, as it is when we speak of a wooden pail, or an English spade handle, or a Yankee hay rake. Wages are higher in the United States than in Upper Canada, an^[are very much higher than in Lower Canada ; and there are not better, or more ingenious workmen in the world, in any of the arts cultivated in Eastern Canada, than the French Canadians. Our builders and stone cutters show no such work in Hamilton and Toronto as the French Canadians have executed in Montreal. The splendidly carved capitals, and other ornaments of the front and portico of the Bank of Montreal, were executed by a Canadian who could not read, or write, or make a calculation in figures ; and he did not spoil a block, or chip off the point of a delicate leaf in all that elaborate •tony foliage. At the foundry of St. iMaurice, near Three Rivers, generations of workmen have toiled for nearly half a century, at the wages of half a dollar a day, pay- able in stoves, which they were obliged to sell at half- price, to the great damage of the market of their verr calculating employers ! It is true, that the master of the works used the patterns of the year One ; and though his stoves would have been a very good purchase as pig iron, on account of their weight ; as stoves, they were under^ sold by lighter, and handsomer imported articles. Th» QStablishment had nvAn,- nprthlv a/iiron*n„o u..* ;* *-j. contrivance, and head, and enterprise. The iron was there, and the hand« were there, and the water-power was* M l! roaring in their ears, und they hud a country of three or lour leagues in breadth, with' deptii ad lihitum reserved for fuel ; and yet, I am not aware that they ever made a flat iron, or a half hundred weight, or a cannon ball. It was, when I saw it, the beau ideal of British Colonial manufacturing enterprise. Again, it is not true, that the establishment of manu- factures amongst us would detach our population from agricultural pursuits; since the first settlement of the Province, tens of thousands of citizens have passed thro' because they could find no oinployuient in their trades; and tens of thousands have been deterred from coming here from the same cause. The people who would be employed in manufactures are not here ; but a single let- ter would bring as many of them as you want. They are more easily procured than imported goods ; for they would require neither discount, nor duties, nor money j and so far from taking from the agricultural population, it is as manifest, as that one and one make two, that without them, and without the towns which they would inhabit, we never can have an agricultural population thickly settled, or really rich and flourishing. The English or French gentleman travels in America ; were he only to come to Canada, and were he to en- quire into its progress only, he would admire the fertility of the soil, the comfort of the farming population, in comparison with the peasantry of Europe ; he would be delighted to see cities like xMontreal, and Toronto, and Hamilton ; and he would be surprised that such places should have sprung up in so short a time. He would al- so admire the shops, so full of goods ; and congratulate himself upon the pleasing fact, that, unless among stran- gers and new-comers, there was no such thing as abject poverty. He would look at the surplus of the teeming land, as it found its way for shipment and exportation ; he would perhaps wonder a little at the bad cultivation of our farms, and say — " what a country it must be when men can prosper by such agriculture." He crosses the line into the United States, a country very like ours, but not so fertile ; he finds land four times the value it is with us — for one town of ours, he finds ten i^^ji. I i(ry of three or ibilum reserved By ever made a I cannon ball, ritish Colonial nent of manu- )puIation from lenient of the ve passed thro' 1 their trades ; from coming vho would be ut a single let- want. They )ods ; for they I, nor money ; ral population, ake two, that ch they would ral population ig-. Is in America ; i^ere he to en- re the fertility population, in ; he would be Toronto, and t such places He would al- l congratulate among stran- ing as abject if the teeming 1 exportation ; ad cultivation must be when :es, a country md four times 8, he finds ten I 35 m the Hiime dislance — he Imd seoii ourjjstre.iin:* brawhng through iIm' aolitary forest, idly cxpotulmg their giant en-* ergies like strong nuu .x pluy. In th(; neighboring coun- try, the deep nnnbling of the wheels, and the heavy fall of the hiunmer, and tiu! hum of u busy population are ad- ded to the nmsic of the waters. Iwory where he sees contrivi'iice, inijimuity, invention, new and strange un- dertakings. He M onders how a people, who have alrea- dy too much to do, should be forever seeking some new means of eniployiueiit. In Cuiudu, he has specula- ted on what a country mir Belgium, or I duties, or by liinery thither, igh the place s his goods to 3at ; this is not onizotion. dition, at one I transactions , copper mines are immedi- ! paying large mense profits. ? Not by the iTork ; but by nulated result of Home enterprize. How will they continue ? Why by means of their own profits; whei^e these profits are more than is necessary for the works, then a^rain is the surplus ready for future enterprise of another kind. Almost at the same time, we have, in Canada, disco- vered, on our side of Lake Superior and Lake Huron, im- mense mineral treasures of the same kind; is there any want of speculation and enterprise ?— Not in the least— a dozen companies start into existence at once— the state requires not duties— the mines are procured at a nominal value, and we make great progress— in selling shares ! 1 he Americans have exported upwards of a million pounds weight of copper— they have ten millions of pounds weight in progress of smelting— and we, half a million of shares m the market, which no one will buy! And yet this is a province of, and should be attached as closely to England, as the shores of Lake Superior to New York. Here, we place mighty England— nicinufacturing England! wealthy England, mining England, a country which was exploring the bowels of the earth for minerals, for centu- ries before America was dreamt of— in the scale, against new, half-settled, half-colonized America, and she rises in the balance ! Would this be the case, had the copper ot the lakes been found in Cornwall ? Or had this Pro- vince been colonized i'— {hat is, had we capitalists and manufacturers, and manufacturing towns in Canada. '-' I have myself spoken to several of the tradesmen in loronto ; I have asked them to establish a company for the smelting and rolling of copper, even on the smallest scale; I represented to them, that there was already ^ot out, more than sufficient for their purposes, within three days' journey and voyage of their city ; I told them, or rather, they told me, of the hundred uses which they were daily making of the article of still-worms, brewers' vats, copper and brass-kettles for manunicturers of va- rious kinds, the bolts and sheeting required for the ship- bui ding at Quebec. They even showed me how our buildings might be roofed with copper instead of tin. and wiiuia the probable expense of tin ; I showed them how the city might be made a factory, and an export place for works m metal ; and how many thousand articles dearly f !tli|| ■! i:i 10 imported, might bo made cheaply by ourselves; — bat alas ! — we were not in England, nor in an English colony; but in one of Her Majesty's plantations in America. Our merchants, manufacturers, and manufacturing capital, was in distant England, and in the hands of persons who probably would look upon any one as a swindler, who would ask them to invest their money in mining and metals, in a British Province. I leave to those who understand the subject, abstract reasoning on the subject of protecting duties to Hoin«i industry. — I am neither prepared to do as they did once in England, — to vote for acts of Parliament to protect makers of buttons with the stems on, against the makers of button moulds; or to enact, that the dead shall be buri- ed in woollen, to protect the woollen manufactory; nei- ther am I disposed to establish, by means of protecting duties, unprofitable manufactures for which our produc- tions, or the state of our country render us unfit. I can- not on the other hand be brought to admit that temporary encouragement in the way of protecting duties may not wisely be aflforded to well chosen fabrics, which we are capable of making ourselves, but which we have delayed making until competition even at a distance, is more than we can easily overcome. Instead of theorizing general- ly upon true or false abstract propositions, my mental constitution, a narrow education, leads me to particula- rize before acting — I do not know what is good or bad for England, in the way of protection, or of free trade. But I do know that if the shoes and boots made by fifty tradesmen in Toronto, were supplanted in the market, by a like quantity of shoes, and boots made in the state pri- son at Auburn, Toronto would loose two hundred of Her citizens, who build houses ; pay taxes, make money, and keep it, and that the farmers would lose so much of a market for every kind of produce ; I should lose myself more fees than would pay for all the boots and shoes used in my family. House rent would be effected in proper- j tion to the diminution in the number of tenants ; town lots would fall in price in proportion to the number of pur' chasers ; there would be fifty men less, for the defence of the city in case she required it ; and the accumulatiiMi of m I lost to re but I fifty mucl kers, notb fiix-p< to ba Iti for th woulc perso wide I jiials, lectio |)rofiti |>rote< foreig ivant ( ind tl dition inorc y En I ha |>roper nics' Ii It saidj latter ►fmy< ict ar \y re< 'ill nol ifficie juestio >pte( >m an 'he firi then ►pyt 'a,^ ourselves ; — bat 2 English colony; 1 America. Our cturing capital, I of persons who a swindler, who r in mining and iiibject, abstract duties to Homo IS they did once iment to protect linst the makers sad shall be buri- nufactory, nei- ns of protecting lich our produc- us unfit. I can- t that temporary duties may not 3, which we are we have delayed ;e, is more than orizing general- )ns, my mental ne to particular is good or bad 3r of free trade. ts made by fifty *i 1 the market, by in the state pri- ' hundred of her ake money, and ie so much of a )uld lose myself and shoes used icted in propor- !* tenants; town 3 number of pur* r the defence of iccuniulatii;t: iy'''^^\ rr'' ^« to regret, evon^if w^/g^it ^I ^J^Z:^^:^. but reasoning s nctiy, it would be a question of deS- fifty per cent might be too much and five , Lr cent nnf Mo much to pay lor theprivelegc of having oLr own hoenm kers, if It were necessary to pay for it -M nil i u Ta not be disposed to weigh he rnSteMoo ^ric^T^Vv^'^ would be highly pro rctrve", tIdtl'hrcaS "ncl h^e fore gn trade, ,s protection ; our misfonune is not ,1?p tttli 1' ' ■"""' '"' °" »""". until wetave Tn ad' i^TJV ?.""g™"<"; «f 'al'orers, and shopkeepers' ifflcTentI: '"'•' "•'"' ^''^' '" ^'-l^hate ; Ide n^/addre^s ,fS!!^oTe:^y !:.:tClt;Te he?o» T pmpted m public, to draw distinctions between tl' ^^ the most narrow sense oftheter™ rLTeTlZ m to say, « growing spirit of inquiry in England, into HAMILTON PUBLIC LIBRARY 42 h' i !!).( the value of her transatlantic possessions. The Engliifa people are wise enough to know, that to be good custom- ers it is not necessary we should buy everything we use ; they must also see tliat if they wish to compete with the Americans in this market in many articles, it must be by manufacturing here, not in England ; they will see, that there are fortunes to be made in Canada, by manufactures, as well as comfort and independence by agriculture. When they arc convinced of this, we shall have villages, and towns,*^ and cities, maintained by real, beneficial, and legitimate commerce ; wlien this is the case, we shall im- port more in amount than we do now, because we shall be better able to aftbrd it. We shall learn that it is no more a wild or difficult, a complicated transaction, to keep ten thousand pounds together in a manufacturing establishment, than it is now, in the purchase often thou- sand pounds worth of flour here, to be sold five thousand miles away, and nine months hence, at a price dependant upon the seasons and harvests all over the world. As New York, and Connecticut, and Maine, and Pensylva- nia, and Wisconsin, are parts, and portions of an empire, sharing in the enterprize and capital, and industry of the whole ; the one colonizing the other, — so should we be a part, and portion of the British Empire ; not a Province, or a Pla7itation, merely, hut a Colony in the true sense of the word. This Province is no longer an infant country. It has] passed through one important stage of its history. Nou rished by protection, and ar exclusive market in England it contended against the constitutional disease ofwani of home manufactures ; or in other words, the absenc of those, who gained by manufacturing for us ; absenc^ of their money; their enterprise; their intelligence. Thoj decision of the question of free trade in corn in England has introduced us to another and different period. Th last year's experience is not encouraging ; a crisis hi probably to be met, how it will be met, is the questio We have no longer an exclusive, or certain, or higl market, for our only export. Then shall we, — or shall we not, remain without the onlj^ equivalent, — domestic manufactures, and town population HAMILTON PUBLIC The English e good custom- ything we use ; mpete with the 3, it must be by :y will see, that y manufactures, by agriculture. 1 have villages, beneficial, and se, we shall im- ecause we shall rn that it is no transaction, to manufacturing ase of ten thou- d five thousand price dependant the world. As , and Pensylva- ns of an empire, I industry of the > should we be a not a Province, he true sense o, ountry. It hasi history. Nou rket in England disease of wani ds, the absenc for us ; absenc itelligence. Thti orn in England nt period. Th( ig ; a crisis ha is the question certain, or hig 1 wishout the onl* town population]