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1 2 3
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V)
^ .
f
ADDRESS
ON
S~0'
EMIGRATION AND COLONIZATION,
v>
DELIVERED
IN THE MECHANICS' INSTITUTE HALL.
BY THE HON. R. B. SULLIVAN.
.»,;- • ' ^ ,
t ' '•.
' J I)
•• •
TORONTQi;,
brown's printing ESTABLISHMBSTf!, 63, TONGB STRBl^T.
1847.
*
• •• » "
-3 2^ Sr'^a
I
h
•« 4
• t
4^
t
ADDRESS, &c.
The natural desire of every individual, is to make his condition
better than it is, be it what it may. Nations composed of individ-
uals, have the same motive principle, and however the advance*
ment of one class, may involve misery and privation to others, still,
improvement of the public status^ is the avowed object of every
ruler, and of every pretended or true patriot. The acquisition of
wealth is the most obvious, though not always the truest mode by
which this end can be accomplished ; and though wealth, strictly
speaking, is only a means of acquiring health, nmfort, luxury,
refinement and power, we find these each in turn absolutely
sacrificed for the purpose of what is called gain. In our time, and
with our race especially, the logic of the ledger surpasses all
philosophy, and he who would not be received as a visionary or
a hypocrite, must speak of the wealth and welfare of nations, and
of individuals, as synonimous terms.
Unbeliever, as I am, in the proposition, that millions of pounds
gained to the community by the degradation and misery of millions of
human beings, is a public good; I am not disposed to quarcel with
humanity as I find it. I am willing to admit that the amount of rent
of land is of more national importance than the food of thie people,
and the finding a market for the merchant more to be thought of
than the physical or moral condition of the thousands who are his
customers. If I invite your attention to any motives of philanthropy,,
humanity, or morality, it is because these may be indulged in as cheap
luxuries, and because they may be made subservient to the great end
of saving and acquiring money; and if 1 us& any suggestions
merely founded on the promotion of human happiness, in the
abstract, and separating the idea from the possessjon of money,
the separation shall only be naomentary. I look not for the assent
of any who would be the losers in pocket by the adoption of my
plans ; and I have but faint hopes of the aic^el any able to promote^
th^A^ t^^tsf circiuiMtaiices should pror^ tbeic expediency^ ittmi
T
4 ADDR£8S.
motives founded upon private and public economy, in the mo»l
restricted and sordid acceptation of these terms.
Emigration and settlement, in our neighbouring countr}, have
proceeded upon a grand scale ; one, of which the inhabitants of
Europe, and even ourselves in Canada, have scarcely any concep'
tion. I am not now alluding to the influx of Europeans into the
United States, but to the still more mighty movement of the inhabi-
tants of the Atlantic States into the Western territory. Never
yas a nation blessed with such means and opportunities of becom-
ing great, at little cost, as the American republic. England, before
the revolution, had not only commenced the colonization of North
America, but she had conquered it from others. The native tribes
were driven from their possessions, and reduced to a state of
feebleness, and this by means not belonging to the colonists them-
selves. In vain did the enterprising Frenchman explore the great
lakes, and establish his trading posts and forts deep within the inte-
rior ; in vain did he trace the father of rivers from his source to his
outlet ; in vain did the Dutchman and the Swede attempt to divide
the new formed empire ; the all grasping Englishman would
endure the presence of no race but his own. And when that race
become possessed of undisputed sway upon this Northern contin-
ent, and when after an unnecessary aind annattrral conflict, revolu-
tion and separation ensued; the colonists were left without an
enemy, with great and fertile, though unocc»pied regions, at their
disposal. Without the necessity of offence or defence, the great
consumers of life, wealth and energy in other nations ; with
institutions in their foundation British, which left absolute liberty
ior all good purposes to each individual, without the clashing
interests arising from long vested rights and art'ifici<»l distiiietion« of
class ; without the impedim«nt of general appropriation of terri-
tory amongst princely landlords, the Americans had no diiliculty
in the path of future progress ; and in the States of the North,
especially where negro slavery was expelled, there was amongst
the people, a reverence for law, ai>d a regard for order, derived
from their British ancestors ; a eontempt for dilficultyr and a sense
of self reliance for which they are not only distir>guished, but
which I am ashamed to say, seems to remain with them alone j
which asked no protection, sought no advice, depended upoa no
leadership, and acknowledged no master. With these qualifica-
tions, the people of the North seemed formed for the most glorious
of all victories ; for the foundation of a mighty empire, not laid
upon the ashes of wasted habitations or the blood and bones of
ordinary conquest, but springing into light and life, as the dark
lor^t was to fall before the axe of the emigrant ; as the waving
eoro-fields were to appear ; and a» tlxe smoke of the domestic
J
..
f
f
ADDRESS.
(P
t
hearth was to arise, a grateful incense at the altar of a beneficent
God.
With such a spirit, and with such a field, how could there
have been a failure. Onward the emigrant settlers of America
pursued the setting sun. The regions
" Where wild Oswego spreads her swamps around.
And thundering Niagara's deafening sound,"
became not the goals, but the starting places for the long race,
and a thousand miles beyond them, in the deep interior,
"The glittering towns, with wealth and splendour crown'd,
And fields, where summer spreads profusion round,
And lakes, whose vessels catch the busy gale."
the very picture which the enraptured poet drew of European
civilization, found its prototype in America, in regions to which
his knowledge did not extend, or his imagination bear him. And
all this was the result of individual courage, manly enterprise,
and self-directed industry.
Thus, in the few years in which the political economist and
the philosopher of Europe have, within the present century, been
enquiring into the means of preventing or providing for a surplus
population ; into the best mode of employing men whose labour
is not wanted ;. into the distresses of landlords and the reason,
why the poor will not starve in peace and quietness ; a popula-
tion of seven millions has occupied the western States, where
they live in all the enjoyments of present superabundance,
and still expanding enterprize. A chairman.of an Irish Par^^h
Union, or of a London Colonizatiou committee, may ask from
what famishing population were tho iudividuab supplied who
form those new communities ! Bl he T:ould find that they
fled, not from starvation, nor poverty^ uor workhouses, but from
a country, in his estimation, not yet half-peopled, simply because
they would not be servants. They chose to be their own landlords
rather than the tenants of others.. He may ask what committee
of Emigration directed the movement ?— where did the first emi-
grants find employment ? — what was the rate of wages ? — was not
the labour market over-supplied when all were labourers and
none were masters, was not the labour market under supplied,
when all were masters, and none would work for hire ? He would
very speedily find that not one of his questions had entered into
the calculations of the emigrant ; that he might as well have
asked how they lit their fires without hearth-money, or used
the light of heaven without a window tax ! If inquiries were
mAQO bv th^ arnlcrraiintr nrkniilafiz-wn 4'k ...U^t-U^- 4.U^ 1— — J
AOOASM'
k
Was good or bad, how they could get to it, how could they get
it, would it produce food in abundance, and did it offer the
promise of future prosperity by its facilities of communication,
or its capabilities of improvement? In search of territory where
these questions could be satisfactorily answered, the men of the
Eastern States abandoned their homes; and for this, toil, danger,
and difficulty were braved and overcome. Every Emigrant was
looking for land— land upon which he might live in plenty, and,
above all, in independence. From the rolling Prairies of
Louisiana, to the Lakes of Canada, every mode of transport was
put in requisition. There was the Emigrant, with his wife and
children packed in a waggon, trundling along where there was no
road formed by human hands, shouldering his axe or his rifle,
spending his days in toilsome travel, and his nights without
shelter ; — here the steamboats were crowded with thousands
seeking a western home, down the mighty rivers of the interior
floated the boats and arks of the settlers, all with one object-
ive possession of land. If they had money, they would buy
it cheaply, if not, they would buy it on some long credit, or
what was still more easy, they would squat upon it, and hold it
against the world. Strange to say, in all this, though there
was unity of motive, there was no combination of plan, no
direction of superior wisdom, no effort of government or legis-
lation, no master mind, and no legally constituted direction,
People moved by hundreds of thousands yearly, and so far were
they from seeking a country ready prepared for habitation, that
inost of them di* not pretend when they commenced their
journey, to know when or where it would end. They found
What they sought for, land which would produce food ; but it
not only gave them food, but wealth; and then followed the
learning and talent of the East. The colleges poured forth their
graduates, and the professions their members to join the mighty
stream of human life, — Europe furnished her mechanics, and last
of all, when canals had to be dug, and wages had to be paid,
Ireland gave them her labourers.
There can be no doubt but that all this system, if system it
could be called ; is grievously offensive to the ordinarily received
notions of political economy. No doubt but that many an
English Emigrant to the United States has felt, to his cost, the
eflfects of a state of circumstances which made the investment
of large capital in the improvement of land a ruinous undertak-
tn|r. All balance between the demand for labour and the supply
was destroyed ; men could not be found to work for wages in
agriculture which left sufiicient remuneration to the employer
. _ t _ • '« '■ _. __ •»_■«. -.■<_.'"'
OQ a iar^ scaie ; umaldrs uaci to pay extravagantly for nouBe"
f
--.*i-
ADDRESS.
no
I
I
hold aervantt*, the latter even as independent in language and
demeanor as the former,— tenants Cwhen the relation of landlord
and tenant had been established, in terms which subjected the
latter to rents not equal to half an English poor-rate,) refused to
pay their almost nominal stipend, and in the new States^, men
who were neither large landlords nor capitalists, and who
possessed little education, became legislators and statesmen.
Natural as well as conventional politeness was to a certain extent
cast aside. Men asked impertinent questions, and chewed tobacco
and spit upon carpets ; mobs, and strange to say, respectable
mcbs, sometimes usurped the sacred functions of law and justice,
but still the country prospered, society did not fall to pieces,
Bimply because there was room for the utmost energies of an
energetic people; and it was the interest of nobody to push over
the great public fabric, though often of itself it seemed totterine
to its fall. *
In the United Stales of America, the vast movement of popula-
tion from the Atlantic country to the Westward, might be supposed
by many, likely to occasion great injury to the country the
emigrants abandoned. But this was far irom being the true state
of the case. Probably had there been no such outlet for the
growmg population, the wages of labour would have become
lessened, the value of land in which the labour was to be expended
would have increased, property would have accumulated in the
hands of individuals, and, as population became dense, the advan-
tages attached to the possession of wealth would have become
greater. What D'lsraeli in one of his novels designates as the
*\f wo nations," namely, the nation of the poor, and the nation of the
rich, would have come into existence, and this in spite of all
declarations of equality, and of all determination to be republican.
■ The nature of capital and property is to accumulate. Those who
nave no capital or property of their own, must work for wages;
and these wages are exactly what the employer is forced, not
what he ought to give, or what the comforts or even necessities of
the labourer require. A nation may in the commercial sense of
the term be very prosperous, though but one man in ten thousand is
a landed proprietor, or but one in ten thousand a capitalist. Money
may be saved to a nation as effectually by curtailing the food and
clothing of the many, as by limiting the luxuries of the few, and
to save and gather money through the privations of others is a
more agreeable occupation than accomplishing the same object by
stinting ourselves. Abundance of population and concentration
of property, while it places the poor in a state of dependence
upon the rich, has a strong tendency to make the nation richer,
lor it e»abi«i one class to save and accumulate by the privations
8
i\DDRE88.
I
of another. From prosperity of this kind, arising from this
cut oil. hy the Western emigration. 'J'here ia no country in which
here has been more speculJiion in the way of buying aVd sell «^
Jand than jn the Northern States ol America, b^r leMmen "^
iTot eYist" oTtt'^.r^ ^^'"^ "«^ P^^*^^''^^^''« ^vhere slavery d?d
not exist, ior with the Western territory in. the rear to which men
could emigrate and with the enterpnsing spir' of The people
which Jed them to seek individual independence bv remo?aT it
was not possible to create in sufficient nuSrs the cTasses o
^riii!.!?; 'r'ic'e " T'' ^--^'^^ -'hout whom itndtnnot be
very high in price, or the possession of landed estate accomnanied.
with the enormous advantages which it brings in Europe ^
But were it not for another cawse. the United States of \merica
berwouM ?,?/ '"^* comfortable the individual inhabitan s mS
be) would not iiv our day have assumed their present imDosini?
aspec of national greatnes.,. The drain upon tre popuKn of
the Atlantic region caused by emigialion has produced and con-
Zurer^ orant""f' "''''''' ^^^ ^«^«-. a^nd w^'rkmen and
iabourers of al kinds were supplied from Europe. These
o th^'" 'Tf^'^^»« descendants form a considemble proportion
of the inhabitants of the Atlantic Slates; they kep up and
increased the population and added to the n'ational streLth^; aSd
thus, by a combination of the most simple and direct caufes vou
ha^ve^accounted for, the present condition of the United Stat'e' of
hahi?^.^h!t w'"'!^'"®"-^"'.^^'^" ^•''^^ ^"d contented in their
habits ; had Western emigration depended upon imported enter-
prise and energy, the Great West would have stHl remained a
wilderness, and the Atlantic States would have presented soL '
cated in some degree to the strangers who came amongst them
maTkiml Tth'pvT «"^P''!'"5>^^"^''^'«" '" ^'^^ coifdition o
Se ofhe ' Th ^h .K^'^'r '° ^"^^^'^ ^"^ ^'^^ «f ^he Atlantic or
the other. Though the climates may be similar, the productions
It' r^r''""' '^' J^"«"«g« '^' ^^a^«' ^nd thl la vs not
materially different, this diflerence of condition is as greatlnrnv
that the American Union contains twenty millions of inhabitants
uJ""^ -^r^'" '^ contained one-fourth of that number and
probably will be still as great, when a hundred milTon. Tnhabit
hi f ?i!^^"*5 continent, and until the waves of the Pacific fS
vfu be no nt:r' °^ ^^'^^ ''^'' ^^^^^ '^^' ^^^^ comes ?here
Will 06 no nearer annrnarh haixvaar, tu^ -^i».:..- i-.- ' . ..
^. — „-..z tsic sciouvc t;uiiuiuons 01 ifle
AD0RK9S.
^ I «
* I*-
European and American population ; and if it were desirable, it \n
not to be brought about by such feeble means, an the speculationa
of politicians or political economists as to what is besti or what
ought to be.
The transatlantic emigration, so necessary to the United
States, you will observe required little of enterprise on the part
of the emigrants. They learned in their own country that at
the end of a short voyage they might o^+ain high, very high
wages. Arrived at the end of the voyage, they either remained
in or near the Atlantic cities ; or in pursuit of still higher wages,
they were slowly led to the westward, where, by means of
English money, the great public works were undertaken, and
were accomplished principally by foreign labor. Once trans-
ported to the westward, some became proprietors of land, many
congregate about the new cities and towns of the interior, and
many, far too many, compose the tribes of itinerant diggers and
delvers, who wander from one public work to another ; who
travel a thousand miles for an advance in daily pay ; who cover
the sides of canals with their graves, and who continue com-
paratively poor because they are improvident, unambitious, and
contented.
The American emigration to the westward had a reactive
efTect upon the greatness and prosperity of the east, which far
surpassed the wildest speculations of that most speculative
people. At first the eastern country was drained of its inhabit-
ants, its money, its provisions, to supply the moving masses.
At first the emigration was only feltby its demands upon those
who were stationary, but in a few years the returning tide of
wealth began to pour towards the sea. The rivers were crowded,
the canals were choked, the wharves were piled, and the ware-
houses groaned with the produce of the interior. Ships for its
transport crowded the Atlantic ports, to bear the superabundance
to other lands ; and towns which had languished for a preceding
century, with a limited population and small resources, suddenly
changed from being the market places of a State or District,
into the great commercial capitals of a vast continent, equalling
and surpassing the famous cities of Europe ; cities which were
great and renowned, long before their new^ rivals were known
as the trading posts of the humble plantations in America; and
opening to the old world, by the same process of reaction, pro-
fitable commerce, great and important in its present condition,
and almost unbounded in its promises for the future.
I ascribe to the enterprising spirit of emigration much, if not
the greater portion, of this amazing progress. Many are lond
10
ADDRESS.
I
i'
Of attributing it to republican institutions. Thev are riirhf in
SoS historTrfTi™''''"''''" of England, throughou' her
200,000 men to prepare the foundation of «3f P^f^ u °™®'®y
was done, though 80,000 periS in the tni «?. pt"'?^' l^
that of 'tie few vet IIT ''^'^' ^^"^ ^^^ "^^ «^^^7« e^^al
with frPP iLJff ;• ^ ^^^^ oppression, and great public evils.
^vor, tecauseof^h« '-'''•''' Perpetuated; flike them, mo «:
6f ^lf-ffo^r«ln^^^^^^^^^ ^^^''''*'°" ^^ ^^"'^^ter which a portion
mt goTernment bestows upon « whole peoplej bm lvalue
#
•'ii..il.iJiiu«gMiiiwil.i.,
%TiiiHliniHiiiBi
ADDRESS.
11
i
them for what they really bestow. I wish to see them in the
form of permanency and strength, with capacity for national
exertion. I think them more secure, more permanent more
readily adapted to all changes of circumstances, in the form
of a limited monarchy than a republic ; and I think, more-
over, that the United States of America owe more of the
blessings they enjoy to what they have retained of British
law and of the British Constitution, than they do to any
thing new they have imported into it in the formation of
their new system. Therefore I repeat, that I cannot admit
their progress as a nation, to be owing to any such importation
It was founded on their possession, *in peace and security of a
large unpeopled country, in their own individual enterprise,
which made them disperse and occupy land as far, and as fast
as they could, and in the inducements which this state of things
held out to Europeans individually less self-reliant and less
energetic than themselves, to come and take the se. jndary place
of non-proprietors of land, which the Americans were not dis-
posed to occupy. Speaking in general, these are, I think, the
sources of Northern American prosperity. With them the same
course might be run at any time, without other aid. Without
any one of them, neither the freedom of the North, nor the slavd^y
ot the bouth, nor British capital, nor public improvements, nor wise
legislation, war nor peace, nor commerce, would have advanced
them to the condition of a first-rate power, the main part of their
progress being within the recollection of men now alive.
How narrow were the views, and trifling the objects with which
this great continent was first colonized, Canada was valuable
for Its trade with Indians, for the furs of its wild beasts. I hope
it contams, even now, more Christian inhabitants than all the
Indians and wild beasts put together. New Amsterdam was a
tradmg post of the Dutch, I believe, founded for the purpose of
dividing the fur trade with the French in these northern regions.
It was, upon the English conquest of the territory, destined as
an appanage for the Duke of York, afterwards James the
Second. Maryland was granted as an estate to the Earl of
??;; T!\- *'^'"'^ was valued for its tobacco plantations.
1 he plantations were considered in England, places where it was
desirable to have large proprietors and cheap labour ; hence
convicts were transported thither; hence men, women and
children were kidnapped and deluded into servitude in th^ Colo-
nies ; and hence the dark and damning spot on American fame,
the rock upon which the best hopes of that republic may yet be
wrecked, foul, accursed slavery. The relation of planter and
laoourer, Droonetor and tf>nnnt rxf *»,« ««... -:^i- -_j .i_
- s i - 7 --.- iji'u Tcijr n;;a aiiU iiiU VerV
ii
1
12
\
ADDRESS.
denied them uUhe^rfn Thel^own Zd / '^'.T '""^"y'
the Pilgrim Fathers of 1^^^^^^, j u ^''°"' ""^^^ ">™,
continued, tL rever-fail n/son^o ^^"^1^^ ^""""^^' ^"^ has
Of a noble race, aTrLXcuf fZ, /h' ^^^ ""^«nq"erable mind
finess and great national prosperity withonf.L'fr^^P"
exagseralior-a„d b 1 k?e" ee^^^ he v^T"'' ''"°''^' "'' ^'"' '"''«
juslihed, or attempted to be justified simnlv on tha' f l"''^'
ness of labour, and ereat nrnfi? tn T^Y ?^ ?^" °^ *^^«^P-
Still hdd ill darker chains h! ? ^^f ^' condnon. and his mind
H »
saaas
mSwwI
'AO£&£B8.
13
civilized world, is endured by a proud people ; for this, the anger
of the Almighty is braved by men who jwetend to be Christian.
Is this productive of profit? Yes. the land-holders of the
South are incomparably richer than those of the North, take them
man for man. No comparison can be made between the produce of
a hundred acres of a coffee or cotton plantation worked by slaves,
and the moderate income derived from a Northern farm. Tt is
also fprofitable in a national point of view. Vast trade, im-
mense exports, the influx of large monied wealth are the fruits
of this cheap labour, in the shape of slavery. It is so profitable,
that no efforts of the free States, and no threats of disunion on
the part of their inhabitants will cause its relinquisfiment. On the
contrary, for the salke of extending slavery, or in other words,
finding a market for the labour ot the slaves, the United States
have perpetrated in the seizure of Texas, one of the most scanda-
lous of public robberies ; and the present Mexican war, is but an
unholy crusade, for the propagation and extension of slavery.
Regions, sufficient to sustain the whole population of the United
States, have thus been taken possession of, to provide employment
for a labouring population, in wretched, but profitable captivity.
All this is wicked and infamous, but in it I wish you to see Amer-
ican simplicity, and directness of plan and purpose, worth all the
complex speculations of political economists, and all the wisdom
of cockney colonization committees. The Southern and Northern
systems may be summed up in a few words. Cheap labour
cannot co-exist with vacant territory and freedom. Biit, say the
planters and intending planters, we prefer large incomes and cheap
labour, at all events; therefore, we dispense with freedom, and
defend slavery, with our lives, our fortunes and our sacred
honour. The Northern American begins his argument in the same
mode. Che^p labour Cannot co-exist with vacant land and freedom,
but I prefer freedom, and therefore will dispense with cheap labour,
and its concomitant advantages of high rents, large estates, and
rich proprietors.
I leave it to political economists to say which are the most weal-
thy ; ten thousand slave-holders and slaves, or ten thousand freemen
of New York or New England. I leave it to the politician to say
which IS preferable ; the plantation system which leaves the State
so h''ii>iess, that it has to lean for protection against its own people,
upon a hated confederation with abolitionists, and liable to be
covered with blood and devastation upon the first tap of a hostile
drum which calls the negroes to arms; or, the small proprietors
plan of the North which holds together in strength, peace, and
prosperity, a large community, wh^e political institutions are in
•I :H
14
ADDRESS.
lM..^?JL,k T-, "Su""y ''"« remained without explosion I
^ to show the relatiorbetZn propmy LL kL" VheFT"!!
to iSe'^SffSsi-roor "^ri" p?pt"» ?-'y-
show I«s nnn n„. I?- j "'""•"""• , ^ he oflicral returns ol 1846.
of the e 'ranv ,re I'.'h '™''' ^'^^^}y' ""^ '"l^^e of labour
ui iues>e, many are mechanics, who, for thp - u
you hnd a large proportion have crossed the ocean in auest of Lmi .*
,^fT?^;p„^2=rz"iiu-K^^^^
Td SirtrsS'. W ^'"r^ '^^l' "•' 'i'ies. inhabm^g'low
f^wards hhhir L?^i\f '"? thousands of miles backwards and
ana wliiskey, and hith and.mprovidence. do iheir work of d«ilh'
•VLV
AD011B86.
15
lent of itu
ilosion. I
n the good
at present
'here land
be cheap
part of a
abundant
f what is
1 yearly,
i of 1846,
»f labour;
•ery high
interior;
)Ioyment.
the new
) artizan
ation, to
•y of the
liy from
e rate of
foreign,
o arrive,
of land ;
do not
he iatter
believe,
e taken,
ho com-
1 States,
lability^
ght into
d-own-
ibitious
est, but
ng low
IS, and
heavy,
>f them
*ds and
Some
i in the
I, f ever
deAth.
■-*
■vc>
and the graves of Irishmen track in thick succession, the course
of American enterprize. The native American turns aside from
the stye in which we recognize the cabin of our native hills: he
shuddering, says, this is misery ! but no ; misery, true misery, is
more Irish still, she does not wander from her own green Island ;
there she has mounted the shamrock for her emblem, and deigns
not to visit other lands; but still it is a kind of spurious misery,,
sufficient to demoralize, to brutalize, to destroy. Once introduced,
into this mode of life, the mass of them so continue. You may have
thousands of them in Canada, by means of an advertisement; you,
may have the same men anywhere North of the slave stales, (where
they are excluded by cheap labour) by a newspaper paragraph.
They have no hope, no ambition, no home ; they virill foIJow you
to the world's end for sixteen dollars a month, and a quart of whiskey
each day; they will vi'oik from four o'clock in the morning, till
seven in the evening, and they will spend all they earn ; but they
will not understand the American ambition to own land, to become,
one's own master.
I cannot say that there are no agricultural labourers for
hire in the Northern United States, or that there are no Irish-
men so employed ; but it is nevertheless true that they are not
employed generally, or to anything like the extent you find them
in Europe. In most parts of Europe, and more particularly in
England, and still more so in Ireland, the owner of the soil is
above labour ; in America the owners labour for themselves,
and the man who has a family of boys soon becomes rich, if they
stay with him. The farmers are rich enough to import labourers
from Germany or Ireland, and they may with advantage employ
them more than they do, but they do not seem to wish for them.
The labourers form the lower order of population in cities and
towns ; they labour on public works, they attend upon mechanics
employed in building ; but, for some reason or other, as servants
in agriculture they are not much employed, nor is there a desire
onthep.i of the people of the United States, that they should
come in great numbers for that purpose.
The yearly influx of emigrants is felt in the United States to
produce one inconvenience which awakens alarm, and provokes
jealousy on the part oi the native Americans. Pursuing their
own peculiar political system, for which the genius of the
people is fitted, they extended the elective franchise until
all barriers in the way of universal suffrage have been broken
down, and the accumulating numbers of foreign citizens have
become,, numerically, a very formidable portion of the city and
Kfl
L J'
16
ABDRES0;
debouchures Of the great West, or lyinff on the irr^at Vm^ r.f
communication, are growinff w th a ranilfv JtLf\ a^ ^^
partiel oL™,^. .1 hrowing u. weight into tl>e scale of
erection, of rhrrr„if„!,«{ balanced, is able to influence the
Can dn of a Pir» r ^'""''' Sr """ "^ '^e President to the
^^^^'^:^7tR^^' k ™ir;'r: s
Sri! SnF'r '^^^^^^^^^^^
skiliedyanypofiatai ^^' '"°''' ""''' '" '"='' =« "«'^
^^^TS^^^Jt^ifprr^^^^^
nave not, within my memory, been sensibly redured Tha
great West opens his ^T^'fo l^^fa trnf,/!""'' ""^ «^
st![tef;:i;'tubled'S?,SdS tr^r 't ">« ^»"«''
nent reduction of waaS^ but i? ^T^uM Z/ '"'"''""' "^ P^™*"
^"r~f1he tf ^ *^^> P-- SSK^
ltS??5«--^'^
becaus^thev wouT^ J '^ ""'^ <''"^" '^O"" •>° "'O™ "»
.0 often tbrea«««4 „„„w i„«,yjf ''X''.,*J''='' ^l^Jeen
I
^ ^
«
■*•»«■*«»,
ADDRESS.
t1
i lines of
iapropor-
cluded in
d govern
d. The
ters has
scale of
mce the
It to the
(nee and
leans to
for it is
bold the
ervants,
ey have
nee not
body so
nth the
so little
1 fronj
States
. The
idually
10 iiave
up in
lud the
LTnited
)erma'-
porary
of the
sities ;•
would
ve on
r the
wards
borne
tpula-
eased
been
tglish
rk or
g'il Sm
^
workman has no vot6 and no mode of making his discontent felt
in action. The English labourers, are ten to one as compared
with their employers, and yet are powerless. In America they
are perhaps not one to one, but they match equally as citizens,
and exercise equal power over the legislature and politics of the
country.
The United States will probably receive and provide for all the
foreign population which, from the operation of ordinary
causes, may there seek a refuge : they will gladly receive all who
are in circumstances to pay their way and obtain land, but there
is nothing more certain, than that any effort on the part of the
Government of England, to pour into the United States for the
relief of the United Kingdom, any portion of the redundant
population, suflrciently numerous to produce sensible relief at
home, would be met by stern resistance on this side of the Atlantic.
It may be for the interest o4 the American States to lower the
wages of the workman, but the Americans would say No ! work-
men on the contrary are citizens of these States, and it is for their
interest that wages should be high— an argument more easily put
than answered, in a country where one class does not legislate for
another.
Now, the ordinary emigration from the United Kingdom is utterly
msufiicient for the relief of its swarming and pent-up population,
and notwithstanding that the whole might be placed in the United
States, with advantage to the Mother Country, yet an increased
number cannot be directly sent there, though wages are hJgh, and
labourers are not, as compared with Europe, plentiful. Human
beings are not like water which will find a level ; and very slight
causes will often suffice to produce conditions amongst them,
which baffle all the inquiries of the th-eorist. We have very often,
in speculating on human affairs, to take things as we find them,
and to judge of things not as the}' ought to be, but as they are.
I have a few more observations to offer before coming nearer
home, and that is with regard to the reasons why poor emigrants
from the United Kingdom do not become land owners in the United
States, in which condition they could be provided for in any
««mbers.
In the first place, the emigrants are very poor. Then the way
!f> the Westward is long. The land Districts are becoming very
distant from the coast, though not too distant for the American
who does not mete with our measure ; and moreover, the American
Government who has no national duty to fulfil towards the
stranger, sells the land, and does not profess to give it. The
nriCe is flmnll r thp rPVPnuA Horiv-a<1 in tka tlrwammi^nt ^t «Ua
w
b2
iU ^R£\j ^-TV T ^/I ZllXt^^HA V3? *M^
J8
ADOR£8«.
right according lo Jaw, or to «a?.»?^ .' , '" 8*'" " P««nipli«n
to shool the purcharwho bid^over hii* 1! TT "i* '"»'' »«<1
take poMessiSn. The eZmn Is from rJL'^ "'';" *" '<"»«» '^'
Kingdom who proceed in fe^rch oH^^I ""^'.^ ''»"■ "•' Unilwl
money as well'^as the Smbit on L ki ' *" """'' "'"' l-^^e '»»
American Government ^f Z le ,'h.T JIT"!""- 1*'>' '"«
"trangers, though perhans i^i wn.F/r, I ''*,. '?'"'" *<" '"'"'iiiK ="'' are
t more difficult. The WMtin K ^'.f '^^ «'« '» "a^ing
important purposes to ihe^^? • "* "lerelore closed lor all
wo\ld hold^hEl've?y^^ve„TeS"•f,':P';lf "''"■■ ^'■^ '=""'"
neither get to them nor purchai Teml^ ' ' '""8'^"«« ^uW
|ret?oVmftirf\r;rsZrabT„r.^"''-''; ^•^'-> -'"-y
Stales of America may be conswS cin^,r'"''f 'Tv ""' foiled
has lo be looked lo atkll, it mmt h, ,„.?T ''■ ^"^ 'L ""*' "^out^
-couniries placed in c' cumsTances verv*^?k 'IJ''?"''?'" '=»l<"'«''
and iia urally capable of as hfgh a des^iinv 'I'^f """"'" ^""^'•
tively Uckv/ard and laneuishiiiff «l»„ ^' P'^y.afe compara-
the population, from wh^en e tt/'fid^be «m"?'^ ^''''"''
Men will not T&rS owrctSe?,'' ^^-^g^-"™!'
The nation will not believe in the v»l^f •, ''" ™P''o''ement.
The inheritance of the chTdre" of the EmniL ' V"" '"'"^ions.
^Si^'tlolSe^^ ef 1 t^Z^ tl'/SeXi -^
preach. ^vhatVcl^r^n^j'^rplelVh^^^^^^^ -
o«f.fr;^?„rpt'if^f^^^^^^^^^^^ toe .enera,
Ignited States, as well becau^Tt i^ .k!^"'"""'"'™ '"the
attended settlement upon land as also £! ' ^'"f '"'=™'» ha,
settlement in ihese terrUories rJiustt ?nfl "'*'/u°'T''««<'n and
of society and of emigraSanTsettlemfnf "'fK ''?''?e condition
"0 much BO, that all Blans S^orii» .i" ""e United States,
Without reference to the neiehSn^ "" f ''•'"'"' '=°™°««d
«d Childish. DiS.e„ces r&oT,Z7ieTaSi«^^y»
jLPf^E.$».
19
reemption
Jaw, arnd
comes W
he VdM
iiave tbe
But the
[>tiiing to
do so ;
•» and are
) making
il for all
^le lands
>ts could
I'ith any
B Uniied
resource
colonies
ti Slates,
^mpara-
because
ant the
remains
r large
viduals
assable
stupid
fement.
'ement.
ssions.
te, and
things
ling to
eneral
in the
3s has
n and
dition
tatesy
octed
e idle
produced, may be good or bad. It may be for good or for evil
that a country should have large landholders and small tenants :
that wages should be low, or that property should draw to itself
the sweat of the poor man's brow, and reward his utmost labor
with a bare subsistence. Australia may for a short time be colon-
ized on these principles, because it has no neighbours, and the
Government is everything, and the power of the lower class of
the people, nothing. An Emigrant who lands in Australia, may
be told that it is better for him to labor for low wages than to
own land; and the capitalist may feel that it is only in such a
country, that capital can be largely expended on wild land, with
advantage. The distance of the country from England prevents
the trial of the experiment on a largo scale, and they have not
in that colony to estimate the force, necessary to keep nine-tenths
of a population, the servants of the remainder, in the very sight
of vacant lands, which would make all independent. But to
make systems in England for the regulation of the condition of
settlers in this continent, even here in Canada, — to say that labor
shall be cheap, or land dear, is more than folly.. Such- a course
may keep these colonies a desert, but it cannot produce the end
aimed at, namely, the transference of the frame and form of
English society to America.
What is the present condition of the United Kingdom?
Successful in war, successful in conquest ;• successful in trade
and manufactures ; and with agriculture carried to the highest
point of scientific improvement England stands pre-eminent,
the mistress of wealth which cannot be counted, and of strength
which has only to be put forth to prove itself irresistible. Every
part of the earth has sent its tribute to gratify her desire of
accumulation, or to pamper her princely luxury. But one
terrible evil has followed in the train of all this triumphal
progress ; great inequality of condition. Without the tyranny
of individual rulers ; without fault which I am able to trace in
political institutions ; the ordinary labors and energies of man
have become so cheap, as scarcely to provide for him, means of
existence. The landlord has become the owner of his estate by
the investment of money ; he is repaid by pressing on his
tenant, and the tenant lives by the privations of the labourer.
The capit t invests a vast sum in a manufactory, he contends
successfully with the industry and enterprize of the world, but
he can only do it by pressing upon the working artizan, who
lives on the verge of distress, and without hope of personal
advancement. The middle class, who join property, fixed or
personal, with labor, find the property absorbed into the larger
x^apitaiB Or tiiC iafgef cstatos. Tenants become labourers,
m
ADDEE88.
contemplationof a future whir hn^''^'^''^'^" ^'^"n^« from the
no wisdom provide forTspeaknorof^r""'^ '^"^ ^^'^^ and
for I know it not, and I amfearful of • ' """""i'^'^" °^ Scotland;
1 think, be bette; than thTt of Fn^^^^^ ^j'''"? ^^^"^«- It cannot
m prospect. My own countrv ,. "^^^"^' ^'^her in the present or
I require, for myVrrenrarg^mem:'"' "^"^ ''' the iSustralio.'
The same causes have been at wort ^T'? ^'/ "« connexion,
and besides these, her lands hi J h'" ^•"f^n^ as in England'
estates; and when Td prLcely Proort? ^'^^-^^^ ^"^« Pr^^ely
choose to reside it, a pZince / VrT TlV "^^^^''^ times,
«o,l,-perhaps this i*C reason whv 1 • ^'^'^ ^''''^'^y '^
ufacturing country. ProbabinnThJ ^^ IT "^^ ''^^^^^^ a man-
(a country which manufSS t hl^J^^^^^ °^^^^^^^
scarcely possibie for her to enterintnl ^^- ^^ ^°'^^)» it wag
|f she had done so, she m.^.f V f ^."^P^^'tion. At all events!
herself from her ? val and th^^^J'^f" ^^^^ «he gained fb^r
would have been hastened She f s'nor, '' ?"^^^"^ ^^-^f
^ade of England, and the time is LTV^'T*^ ^" ^^« ^^'eign
was prevented from doin^so bv A.t nf' p''v ""^ ^^^» «^e
gentry have been improfidenf ^»n^ ""^ Parliament. Her
!dle, and this has hSed Ji^^^^^vilT^^^^ P^«»d and
18 sufficient fof the condit inn^ ♦ evil day. But, one cause
reduced, as regards her pSor' ^^Th« '^^'') '^' ^^' b"en
habitants of Ireland are Senendlnt ^"^^^ "^^^« ^^ the in-
tenancies,. and the numbers o^f?h! T" ^"^^^^ or small
of Sf "T^ «^ P-fiS^^^^^^^ .i^ave increred
ot fertihty in the soil of Ireland thafl^:,- ^^ '^ "^^ any want
Ireland produces more tharenouA ?/'' ^''''"'^ ^"^ P«^^^^^
habitants, and exports pro?isfons SLflJ''''"''^^^' ^^'^^^ in-
During the whole course of risveirfF I ^" ,«^^'»ary seasons,
observed Irish provisions nnotpd L f ^^"?^"^ ^^n^ine,- 1 have
and I am told that mirhons nf 1 V*^^ 'J" ^^^ I^ondon market
exported thither. Thlevuls tbatTTK'^ ^^^^^ and oaSwere
of Ij^land dependant upon Ta^bou s'^'o^"? ''^ V^^ '''^^"^'^^^^^
the provisions taken fromthp«nll o / required to produce all
numbers, beyond ^nyul't'^.^f^^l^^^^^
one-half the number of its Drp«pn; • T^^^^^ of Ireland, with
-pr.^ system of Engl/l K"4t:il^"iS, ^^.^^^ ^
At)t)ftE«ft<
ai
^ ntiafises ;
claesea —
'T increae-
from the
ivert, and
Scotland,
ft cannot,
resent or
ustrationi
history ].
nnexion,
3ngfland;
princely
n times,
rtility of
3 a man-
England
it was
events,
ined for
herself
foreign
len she
Her
lid and
cause
been
he in-
small
reased
^ want
»verty.
er in-
asons.
[ have
arket,
were
itants
ce all
?s8ive
with
1 the
oiOQs.
of more value than it does at present, and the exports Would be
twenty times as much. We can export irom Upper Canada with
ease a million barrels of flour in a year ; and of the coarser pro-
visions we could in this country produce proportionate quantities,
if we had a market. We can, moreover, provide for a new
population of fifty or sixty thousand yearly, and still have
abundance. This is the work of the agricultural portion of a
community of half a miliion. But in Ireland labour is in
superabundance ; it is expended uneconomically, and miserably
rewarded. Were the population less by one-half, the rental of
Ireland probably would not be so great as at present, while her
surplus produce would be vastly greater, and wages would be
higher, and the poor would be ftd,
It is not the rich who sufter by the oVer-population of Ireland*
They have calls upon their charity ; and part of what they
would, under a better state of things, have to pay in wages,
and which they would pay, because they could not avoid it, they
now give in charity, or in obedience to poor laws. It is not,
however, they who suffer. It is the poor man who suffers by
the presence of his fellow. It is his brother and his comrade
who reduce his wages to the beggar's pittance. The Irishman
says he cannot part from his friends, he cannot leave his
country. Oh ! let him leave them, for it is his presence which
oppresses them ; let him leave them, for he is the unconscious
enemy of those whom he would die to serve or to save.
I remember Ireland when she was said to be prosperous. It
was towards the close of the war of the French Revolution.
Tens of thousands of my countrymen were going forth to fight
England's battles ; and every booming cannon which pealed
forth the news of England's glory, was the signal of bereave-
ment to a thousand families. Yet was the land prosperous.
War, which to other nations brought poverty, and famine, and
devastation, brought wealth to Ireland. It brought wealth to
the tenant and the labourer, for agriculture was extended, waste
land was brought into cultivation, and there was no excess of
disposable labour. The poor fed well, (at least as in Ireland
they call well,) though provisions were very dear. I remember
afterwards, when war called not for its victims, and when there
was abundance in the land ; but the condition of the tenant and
the labourer was reduced ; plenty was no plenty to them. They
were too many, and if food was cheap, they were chea])er still.
Then they wished for food to be dear ; and a summer camje
UJ-l. 1 1-A J il_ - ?__ _^J »_ i ^ ^ a\. ^
drenched and unproductive earth, aod food became dear, and
m
pfe ^L'vt^ in the l.„d, and rich and
deficiency of provl'S h, ttTn* f ^."' f '"r ^^«^« ^'^^ "'
va ue of labour was gone and t^l ^^^ ^^^^"«^ ' ^"^ the
value to offer in rcturfrU^enanrP^^ "^^^'"Af of
of Ireland has been dovvnwaJd« H* ®"!^^ '^^" ^^'^ P'-^^^'^ss
been vastly improved r/Se has Hpp T''^'?^^ " "^'''«« ^aa
extent which a few years befor^l" ,1?® *'^' ^««PJ«> to an
chimerical to expect ami Sf ' ^ '^''"^^ ^'^^^ ^een considered
condition of ti Jfabolire Im'^K"' '" '^^"^^^^- ^"^ ^^ill the
times the Irish peas 7 lived Inf ."''''"? '"''''''' ^" ^'"^ best
the milk and the salt herrShZK^ ''"'^, P°«''^>^ 5 »>"t of late
and the potato itself aTS^I-^T/^^"" ^^«"^ the potato,
Its nutritive or pala tab le nnaHtief hT'^'- T' ^'*^ ^ ^^/^^d to
and cheapness. St 11 voar „ A ! ' ^"^ JV"' ^ ^^^^^ to quantity
of the Cd. Steam' C^hMtrtiat 1 ^^ '''' ^retclednesl
transport the produce of iXidomfr ''J' '"^^ ^^^^^n, to
and communications opened to all Darf« n'r \T^' ^''" ^"^P'-o^^*^^
lords were benefited, but the "-- ^ ''''""^''^- ^^"^-
numbers of his class were too ^re^aTrS T' "" ^''^''' The
and too cheap, and there was mo?e of i 'n'"' """' ''' "^""^^"^
your horses are too many, you Tel thfn,. ^-T '''^' ^''^"t^^- If
many, you kill them • if vnnr T ^ ' '^ ^^ur cattle are too
of them go out; if human' beinS' are T' "^'"^' l^" ''' ^^^
starvat on are thp Int Tlu "^'"^^ are too many, be^ffarv anr?
reflected back upon lerswhr"^^^'/'^^' ^"^ their ^Sy^^
the lowest depth^ Lt it is' mit" iT'"'' '' ^"^ ^"^ «^^P f-^
mfetd^L^Tth^^^^^^^^^^ causes of Ireland's
«coffather wretchedness! aid ILT^' "^?>^ ^^^^ ^^^^'tless
prayer for her redemption ; but sTillV;! ^""^ and benevolent .
appalling fact which bafflprl Iif T •^'''^ one startling and
banished\lIhopearisingf?oms?^^^ '"^ «hould\a?e
year was adding to the milL«^ ^,°'5''^'''^!'y"^^a«'*''es. Every
^"^sistence,and%he years com^n-)^^ 1"^'-'^ "^'" ^'^^^« for
occupation for the laCrer S r°"^^'^ "^''l ^^''""^ »o increased
was taunted for his rye brend f n J""^ "^^^ '''^^" ^^^ Frenchman "
English peasant has learned to fpii'"*^' '^'''^''' *^"t ^^^n the
hfe wi^thout roast beef o^ale fitnT^f^T^ ""^ ^« ^«d«re
hung dozing over the dangermis en. n.^"^^'^' i"^^"^ ^oij has
from protracted and unre lenHnr , /S^', ^'""^ ^"^ languishinff
filthy mine has eontaSw^^^^^ and the fark an!
like beasts of burden. YetThosfi wh!. ^" ^?^^^ ^"^ crawling
complain, they were hankfu for tL k '"fT^ ^^'^ '^^ ^ast tS
knew no h^ttL t! ^!f"«'"i tor the bi-ead thev earnfid s,r.A ♦v..,.
- - -- Planner the foki. peosaijt knew'aot S
WiL
ADDRESS.
23
comparative wretchedness of his let, he saw not the unwholesome
filth of the den he lived in, beggary which he saw all around
him ceased to be a degradation, and his lot was happy because
deeper wretchedness was in sight. It was not the peasant or
his taskmaster, or his patriot advocate, who saw most plainly
the extent of his sufferings ; it was the stranger, who visited the
country, and started in horror and wonder to find such thin^rs on
the earth. Formerly the fierce contention of party, the blood and
violence of a community politically disorganized, sent to us its
periodical tragedy ; of late the sufferings of the poor, and the
cry of the rich, what is to be done with the poor, and the plan
of the minister for the relief of the poor, and the party debate
which made political capital of the woes of the poor, are almost
all that we have heard from Ireland, until at length the failure of
a crop of one article of food has brought famine, — and the young
man faints as he holds out his hand to ask for a morsel of food,
and the children call in vain upon the father for food, until their
faint wailings are hushed.by merciful death, and the infant tugs
at the breast of the dead mother, and the rats gnaw the unburied
corpses. And is all this to be attributed to the visitation of Provi-
dence in the failure of the potato crop ? No ; but to over popu-
lation ! The failure of the potato has brought on more suddenly
the catastrophe which was inevitably approaching. The consump-
tive patient has caught a cold, his death is hastened by a week,
but his disease was inevitable death before. Strangers could see
the fate of Ireland more distinctly, than men to whom her misery
became familiar by daily observation.
What was the remedy ? What would have prevented this hideous
consummation of Ireland's wretchedness t The simple remedy
was Emigration, the remote cause of the evil was too contented
a mind, too tame an endurance of evil amongst the people, the
want of energy to avoid it, and the want ot a portion of that
noble restless spirit of the Eastern American. To him the
long, long journey had no toil, the untrodden forest no lone-
liness ; he but looked round hie paternal home and saw his
father's house getting crowded, the hundred acres too small ;
he but felt competition for an independent condition in life
touch him lightly, and straightway he is gone, not to drain
an acre of bog, or to extract a 1! ing from a mountain side,
but to reclaim a noble estate from the wilderness, to join in
founding a new State, to become independent by removing his
strength and capabilities to a place where human energies are
really valuable, xhe want of this spirit Is the real cause of the
miser J of Ireland.
u
I'!
It
iU>DRBSft.
the ocean, or becom*> iflniZw?^™ ^ ' ^^^y could not swim
wherewith to traveUnd ?n t^^ ""« " ^^^ ^^'^ ^^''»^»t n»«ney
whose interest it wL to eSate who Lh .1^^^'' ^'^^ ^^^^^^
their own stotewith thS ^f 1^ ^ ''^^"'f knowledge to compare
ofr^ery!:UoaJ?hTB™s''n7'''' ^f'?"g«'"»the middle class
small trading Irish toLfZd-.^™''" '" ''"'''»"'^' " "^
with what\nxi"7' Cfl^::h.S'''?r '•''" "^^^ '^o" ''^^
feeling them an incrrShri ?*'"' ^/""''"^ ''^'"'"e'.
mass V sode"y woufd TJn " !« *"^ ^1.''"""^ «■''"« th^
wedge, which wartrmaHhe r childrersii?/'' 'T'^'"=« '^^
o^TnTreStrrfntS'"^^^^^^^
of arms, to Zk atoandte thniir'''"'"''^ ''^ .""^ "'"*
diery surrounding the ,mh.n^? • ?'"«"■>? sabres of the sol-
vity'and dS^^Vt"t oc^^LneTS.^^"''" T^i" ""Pr-
offered for a farm, which m-Tl. ^T^ '^'S^' '«»'»
despairinff resistanceTo ?L ff IK '™*"' homeless ; some
a h^alf^m^pCdTb„°er ,«; S"? T ^ "'*''« *'«"«"'"«
descending course tosS ""Ih^^ """'?.. '"'^S"'- I" *"
the sinking tradesman ^h J ^ i V ' **"■* ""^^^ "»* »'■"«« when
wno are now independent freeholders « Wh-f ♦!;« ^■^'^»
w«.ted was An..ric«. .„,W,o„, they ^SouwT^l^e^ru'^.d*
71 V
ADDRESS.
dft
e on fire,
proaching
I not swim
ut money
Phink you
e not, at
e million
3 of emi-
s country,
compare
I Canada,
die class
id, or of
ber well
hich was
d of the
• one day
>u know
families,
lere the
iuce the
t. You
1 parcels
enantry
lopeless
not had
IS mur-
e clank
he sol-
) capti-
>r rent
; some
tenant
n this
8 when
?rated,
more
i^ation,
StSLtes
settle-
peopie
for what their own country contained. They should have sought
for better things abroad. For several years of the period I speak
of, namely, from 1816 downwards, land in this country was given
free, and at this moment land can be obtained on credit, at prices
which an industrious man can pay in a few years with his own
labour. Many have emigrated, many have come here, but
how few in comparison with the multitudes left behind, how few
in comparison with the multitudes which this country was capable
of receiving. And yet did it require more courage to cross the
Atlantic than to become an Irish labourer for hire, more exertion
to clear a farm than to work from morning till night, feeding on
potatoes at sixpence a-day, more endurance to sit by a blazing
wood fire, in a Canadian shanty, than to shiver over the stinted
hearth of an Irish cabin 1 — was the certain prospect of abundance
in the one case, less cheering than the inscription " hope not,"
which may well be placed over the door of each Irish peasant 1
This picture is Irish. I dare not indulge in any portraiture of
society in the Sister Island. If there be no destitution amongst
the agriculturists and artizans of England, if the accounts we
read of Parish Unions be fables, if there is not in truth an addi-
tion of 300,000 souls to the population of England each year,
if the condition of the English labourer be not worse than it was
twenty years ago, if the prospects of the English farmer be as
bright as they were twenty years since, if the Glasgow weavers
be a prosperous class as compared with Canadian landholders,, if
the Highland Hills afford abundance to the brave children of the
soil, then all I can say is, happy Island ! You want no extension
of territory, you can afford to conquer colonies, and to give them
for nothing to the needy Americans, that they may sell them,
that they may found Sovereign States upon your inheritance.
But if there be destitution and poverty even in England and
Scotland, if the increase of population overstock the labour
market, if the wealth of nations flowing into your country brings
no riches to the poor, if the condition of the great mass of society
have anything of a downward tendency, if fathers look with any
uneasiness upon the future prospects of their children, then how
much more applicable to you is my reproach ; for you have the
means of emigrating, you have the means of settling on land
with ease and comfort, you have the opportunity before you of
individual independence, and of founding a great transatlantic
community, of spreading the constitution, laws, and int ellig ence
of your country over new regions, and you want the
ambition, the enterprise of the Yanhee, whose lanjtf^ft^you^f lSb>
cule, and whose wandering propensities you Jecf tprxn'WV'^
o-wmM**".
ae
u
{■
AJ>J)BEss.
of -.^"uiTg'ateSn'rS^tlr ' '^''» '«'- f* -an.
more happy, in the present 1»L J "'' '• *" """^^ «'ho are sUll
wh« can do still better7and"h^L fi^^^''^ f" land ; to those
ttu^rP'°^''>'''''^'^the^ZVenT,' "r P"^'"°" on land
to all whose condition is not on! if """"""" Md popul ation •
oners all the inducements to Pm.Vrilf • ' . ^^ country of Canada
fertile soil, good and healthy clTS Tf ?t^"^ f^^'" eheap land
dear, so much the better for the I^k ^^ ^^^^"^ ^^ comparatS
atS/""^"^^u'^^ better for he se^^^^^^^^^ r/^ f'' "^'^^es'S
ten shnF ^' '^ ^°«^^' t^^« Ia„5 which vo^; .f^ ^^^^'^ ^^^« ^»ere
ten shillings or one pound an acre wn^,u T" "^^ P»^^^a«e for
pounds an acre in rent, and if^iV ^"^ ^® ^^'^h one or two
forty pounds an acre. How then "^^^ be th'rty o?
As the case now stands7thosP wT^'^k^^" ^""««^« ^a"d.owner^
labourers and they caH; fcj^^^^^^^ capital can employ
^capital in the price of l^L^slr^l^i^'' ^'^^^^^^
would pay in rent and poor mt^l ;. • J • ^^^^ ^"^7 "f what vou
acres of land, held inZZVl7f^'''''^^^'' OnehSUed
hundred acres of fee simple pSfv "u^ ^° P^^^table as one
pounds worth of land will vieKvp? ^ ^T^' ^"^ «ne hundred
pounds worth of land at homp ^7^'""^' ^^® P^^^t of a hundred
works a week for him elf^ha aln^^'^r^^ ^^^^^ «^an who
Wha , I ag^. be the nrnfil^T^^f .^'' ^^^^ulable Jin
with Its produce alone, an indu«/? ^"Itivating land, when
ment and cultivation ohhirtv or ?nT' "'^^ ""»' *>? the impTovel
the credit price and interest Lnn^^ f '^'' ^« ^ ^ew years nav
the market value of theTrni Xh^ -""^''"^ ^''''^ InTmlll
course of operation ? If sTcil'"^^^ ^^^^ ^^ was at first, in ?he
can produce, I ask theTntSn?'" ^^"^'"^ «f what Canada
Canadian wheat and flour in the ho^rn^""'^'?"' *" examine the
ft Tht i^cir^^^ l^a~
by remittances of mtef ^T the'^^^^^^ arVberefit^*
wa their relat ves in MnnT Poorest of our neonle fn
aSll^""f °^ ""»f»rt-e'''.;j ^ 't" V\''""^"/":e»
ausoJute truths, and if tmfh „ "®^^ry. These are simnl^
r«ma,n nder^ eea, why^ mt
they not flee while it is yet tim/i w? "^.,^^*"«« ? Why do
children move them, if the' arTl ^^ "^^^ "«^ ^^ve for thei?
Ir-h emigrant mysef, S a^d ^ ?"^"^«d themselves ? A„
^^NM--*-
ADDRE8B.
!B^
' the means
ho are still
; to those
•n on land
'Pul ation ;
f a hopeful
of Canada
heap land,
paratively
akes land
t^ere here
'chase for
e or two
thirty or
-owners?
I employ
i^estment
'^hat you
hundred
■ as one
hundred
hundred
lan who
le gain.
f when,
nprove-
^rs, pay
i make
in the
Canada
ne the
cimens
wanted,
nefited
[>le, to
them
simple
> men
fly do
their
An
only;
izens
-n, in
fenty
>■ *
thousand inhabitants, in the midst of a country prospering by
means of emigration, do you wonder that 1 should feel deeply
on this subject, or that I should love the land to which a kind
Providence has directed my footsteps 1
But 1 must return to my poor country, and speak of the class
whose poverty closes the outlet, and who are now in a state of
beggary and starvation. I need not detain you by quoting
instances or going into particulars. One appalling statement
is all I need make. It is said there are in Ireland at present, two
millions and a-half of human beings in a state of pauperism, or
in other words, that number, whose labour is not worth their
food. It is said that rents are not paid, that lands are not culti-
vated, that the country is covered with the inactivity as well as
the wailings of despair. I do not know how many were in a
state of beggary last year, or how many would remain in that
state should potatoes grow again in abundance. But there is no
doubt that a very considerable portion of them have been
destitute before, and that a larger proportion still will remain in
a state of pauperism hereafter, and, if not all in that state, there
is little hope that a much lesser number will be found whose
only food is the potate. Ireland in ordinary seasons producela
more food than would be sufficient for all her inhabitants, but it
is not produced by the industry of all, and the labour of all is not
a market equivalent for the food of all. This disproportion has
existed whenever the food of the peasant has been depreciated
in quality below that of the labouring class in other countries.
The disproportion is more apparent, when the whole class of
labourers cannot find employment which brings them sustenance,
and it comes to be fearfully exaggerated, when a large portion
of the community are dependent on what is called charity, Up to
a certain point, it is to the advantage of capitalists and land
holders, that labour should be cheap, that labourers should be
ill fed and ill clothed : but when their labour comes to be rejected
and valueless, the sustenance of the unemployed becomes the
care of the Government and legislature. Neither the usages of
barbarians, nor the dictates of civilized and Christian humanity,
permit death by starvation. Whatever may be the expence of
preventing it, multitudes cannot be permitted to perish while there
are means to feed them, whether they can give an equivalent or
not. But if the happiness and welfare of a people be the care
of a government, the stu». of those who do obtain employment
should also be considered. Wherever labour is so abundant as to
be rejected, the condition of those who are employed, mnstnece*-
•fiwin ThiK {« 1i]r«4v *€\ hA
U>X«Z 1
•■■'•t^mi mmmf ' ^ ■
3d
< I
ADDRESS.
yet the most distant promise "'"'^' "' *'""''' *« h«ve no(
Popula.ion%as^ "^Hgone i^inSn^"'?,'". ^"'"8 "" «^"
•elves looked certain flirg even?s^f;»H^'''''''\P'''P'« ">""•
politicians not been too maclfn^^n^ L ^ '? «" "" '^<'« < had
««t a glance Bp„„ ,be St h St b» *„ "" *"?' '"^ ?'««■«, to
PUlable,ll,atalaboi.riBKnoBB|atin„ JL " '"'"/»'*'** »« '""ii'-
Polatoes, if tteywe„Ton„cif "J!"' "'*"«'"'<' feed Bpon
before any great length of lime it aL-» ~"".-'° """»'»■'
not have remained Tiite laL in » ff f ", '" "' ""*' "-"i wotW
•bat emigration ^o»Id lave b^en 'o^?j° ff ™«' '"f »'*". and
■ture, as Indian conquest or Sranish vJ».f ^V'^'hyof expend-
only prevailed lo a trifling exCanThrk *"'/ f ""'S'*"''" *»»
happy improvement of the condi l^ „f VL **" '*" ™''" '» «i>e
relief m the Mother Counlrv Th2 .L. i""'^'^!"' ">«» *» '"y
8one by. A great nation^ Effort is reaufj"'' ^1^"''^ '»"«' *«»
nation were roused tn :<,ln. • ^ "^uifed, such a one as if tlie
national exist™" e BurTamlL ''■'''""* "" ''' liberties or T,s
frenchman or the Kuslr ! It * "•'"■^« enemy than the
earned on at the Public exnZse?,";;?^ e«>igrat.on_may be
to transport emigfam ^^rZJ^ 1",^^ ^^ «■/"■"' the experiment
f»PPly the labour marke, 3 cannt T""' ''■'"' "''y «^" <"er-
Pnited Slates or the Amer l»n .^? "•"' ^* ''""'«'' 'ither in Ihe
afford any relief. ^'"'^"'an colonies, m sufficient numbers to
sJuk aCr'to'ThndL't '"-''y ^'"«' '» » '«"" of Mr.
ex.rac.ed.hepassagtnrst1iSrSiro^r^^^^^ X hav^
discut"'ThrpS?p*r ^^fTo'nL""- "»"'?''*''"<'-"'» you ..
one amongst man^^ins oSr/v'"'""'''^^ emigra.fon as
pressure of their Bresent X,[o„ t? ^""J."""'''')''"'" ^m Ihe
led wi,h ,he utmost cau^on We LvVr^'fi ?«''•' '«''''«-'<'-
'f. by our recommendalior„.elrr. ■"."''' '"'gi'* ourselves
wunlryman, toleave Ireland ItihZ 1 '"^."^^ ^ "'"S^" Mlow-
'".prove hi, fortune by such a cLite ,^f % '■ ['*'"'y "'*' ^e would
'-^TitarJ^',
ADiii^l:^^.
^
of Ireland,
e have not
emigration
ig the eviJ.
t>pie them-
^ace ; had
present, to
as indis-
feed upon
starvation
urn would
>ffcer, and
'f expend -
ration has
^er in the
m in any
eiief has
as if the
!s or its
han the
'ould be
starving
Tom the
ation.
England
may be
eriment
ii o/er-
in the
bers to
af Mr.
^ have
yon to
on as
>m the
hand-
selves
jliow-
vould
given
have
i
fully satisfied nrtyseilf that muliitud^S of Iri^hmfe'n have foiind
prosperity in the United States, in British America, dnd in th6
Australian colonies, who never would have attained Comfort ©r
independence it they had remained at homfe. Nor do I perceive
any grounds for believing that such may not also be the lot of
future emigrants. It is manifest, however, that there are Certain
limits to the numb(;r of colonists who can be received in each
country. It frequently happens that great suffering is experi-
enced by emigrants in consequence of their being unable to reach
those districts in which their labour is required. If 30,000 labour-
ing families crowd into a country in which only 20,000 can be^
received without inconvenience, much misery must necessarily
ensue; whereas if only 15,000 families had emigrated to such
country, all might have been most advantageously provided with
the means of subsistence.
«♦ Colonisation may be assisted by the State, either by merely
providing a passage for the emigrant to the place in which his
labour is required, or by locating him upon land in the colony to
which he is conveyed. The former mode of emigration is attended
with comparatively little expense, About £,5 per head is the
amount usually estimated as requisite for the conveyance of an
adult from Ireland to Upper Canada. Even if the whole of this
expense were to be defrayed by the counties of Ireland, it would,,
if considered as a mere pecuniary speculation, involve less cost
than the mairUainance of the same person in idleness or upon useless
works at home. But a limit to this description of emigration
would soon be reached. It is very doubtful whether 50,000
families could be received in America in a single year without much
social derangement. On the other hand, the second mode of
colonisation is so expensive that it could not be carried on upon
an extensive scale without the creation of a large amount of debt.
An experiment of this kind was made some years ago. A large
party of settlers from Ireland were conveyed to Canada and
located upon Crown lands under very favorable circumstances.
The expense of their location amounted to about £22 per head.
Now, if a capital calculated at the rate of £22 per head were
about to be invested by the Slate for the I;ish people, there are
few amongst us who would not prefer, that such capital should
be expended in providing employment at home rather than in
the Colonies. The relief afforded by the removal of 100,000 per-
sons from Ireland, at an expense exceeding £2,000,000, would
be scarcely preceptible— but the judicious expenditure of so large
a sum in Ireland might open channels of employment which
would permanently absorb a much larger number of the labour-
ing population."
c2
»-i*Vj^«-l#P*"
II'
ir IliJI
i'l I '
SO
-ADDREaS.
number are yearly SveTn T^^ • ^'''^"^^'"^"t- ^or that
derangement ^atZverr^ ft i is tn^ tL."l^"^ ^"^ «°^'^'
probably come to Amer/ca wifhonf ^''''^ ^^'® number wiJl
the voluntary emitatTon n7 nn ^"^ assistance, and perhaps
^^tates of the^'SarUnio/°wllTr" M^ '^ ^^ n^uch^slfe
any circumstances. It is no 7haf L "^''^'"^ ^^ '""^^'^^ under
ipvvered in the United States h J .!! °'1 '"'^"''^ ^^ permanently
the United Kingdorcoufdt'rnfsh'^^butTh^'/^H' "^^^^ ^^>^^
lower class of citizens wouMbf fin?" . ^Recondition of the
any large and sudden acres of no^?^n''^• '""''^ ^•^^"'■''e^' hy
pauper emigrants to the East tS\ ^u^^" ''^L^«»- The coming of
start off thole whom he emtl^^^ 1^^ '' '''^"" ^° effect wages,
to Wisconsin, or fowa oSi '^'^ '^^^P^^^ ^ith, Westward
wake ofthe^ettintsu^ hn,Tn."°'^ "^"^'^'^^^ ^erritorv i„ the
and remain high'l^hTle^atVriardTtoT"'.' '"y^'V'^-^ >^^^^^^^
Ihe emigrants, if in ^reat numbers Lnn ! ^?^- ^^^reover,
once or on the spot fhev land aTd n nr^ "°' ^'^'^ employment a
the expence and care of -.n „n . . ^^^T^ ^^"^^^ would not take
would Vherefore'reSs a y Go ern"mlt"o''"L'f- ^'^^ ^'^-•'''-
ordinary emigration, as LSore v^Zo^^ ''^'f ^^'"'^ ' -"^^
of Government. "^' ^^'" S^ on without the care
. the emigration would be M^dlvrcefv.^ 7^ '°'' "'™' ' ennanently
rants which
tion of the
sturbed, by
3 coming of
ffect wages,
Westward,
«f"y in the
1' I heir rate
Moreover,
loyment at
d not take
A.n^iericans
Ltion ; and
It the care
is^port the
f dare say
create no
. for the
lateJy for
'ary and
see what
rants.
[table to
5 reduce
r. Smith
anada if
wages,
iience of
t receive
ley will
indaries
50,000
out to,
^n hnrti*
on the Government for present subsistence till ihey can find
employers; when they do tind employers, it will beat a rate of
wages probably reduced to five or six dollars a month. Then
all the farm servants in Canada will find their wages reduced to
the same rate. Then all these will pack up and away into the
United States. Your new labourers will remain with you, just
until they have enough of money to enable them to go away.
Then you follow the same process next year, your next year's
emigration displaces your old one, at your expense, all the
savings of labour, all the expenditure of Government, all the
private charity, will thus be employed in finding a pop-
ulation for the United Slates, and the process must continue
until, by flooding that extensive continent with your labourers,
you reduce the price of labour there, and until that price reacts
upon this country.
This will never do. We have seen the same course of events
on a small scale, and often. It is true that we can receive into
Canada in its present improved condition, very many more labour-
ers than ever before were received, and we can retain them by
paying the same wages they would receive in the United States,
and, if any be dissatisfied, we can afloid to lose them. iJut all this
will be accomplished by ordinary emigration; it will not afford
the relief we wish to gain. 1 herefore let us leave the labour market
to itself, and not attempt by any Australian quackery to regulate
matters wholly beyond our control, and utterly independent of our
interference.
We must then find some mode by which the Mother Country
can be relieved of her population, in sufficient numbers to afford
relief without great inconvenience, and, if possible, with advantage
to ourselves.
I have shown you how the Americans emigrate, the simple
mode in which they provide for a population, which chooses to
consider itself in excess. They are able to do this on more
advantageous terms than we can do, for their poorest people
manage without assistance, to journey to the land on which they
mean to settle, and to pay a small price for it besides. The great
States of Michigan, Iowa, Missouri, are in the course of rapid
settlement in this manner; and in the State of Wisconsin, a
country lying considerably to the -North-west of this place, in one
land District, 700,000 acres were disposed of last year. The
American settlers would have peopled Canada at least one portion
of it, thickly, long ago, if they could have been permitted to do so.
Indeed, so far as I am able to judge, they have a strong inclination
to do uO without our perm ssiuii. Our couuiFymen have greater
*.,:„--,!lli^
t
1^1 •
! »■:
^
ADDRESS.
Ztr'''^^^^^^^^^ seders. ,l,a„ ,l„v have •
What 18 (he reason ? n
have notihe res.less aral,^™ "^"""'^y^en a,e ,„„ con.enied • ,hev
"I'lon ; but noveriv "',""' »' Americans, in heii<... !k ^
V^'^J land, ,l,a. 1 di ouL^Tl'?''"' ''?'" " •^'"" ' a. «^'
know what it will co.tf 1 5^ Newcastle District wf ?,
own land, for a X H^ ^""^^ ^ ^^"^% of emigrant; o^fh ^"
fettlers on the cSda t'v'sVnd'"'^' ^i^orcCnhe
^n^ with seventeen pounds ^2'^^^-^"^ ^^^''^ '^^e--
-c-^fteadtu Dear their expenses.
I
Ir
ADDRESS.
88
n thf y have ;
■nrg'ate, and
>€uin»ula on
United States
ented; they
I' their con-
rom home,
'i^ort hither,
would wiij.
across the
o maintain
P'lrchasinj^
^ thousand
»''iti Jands,
tJer as the
• JBeJieve
5 pocJfet—
try settled
?iven, the
e. What
Bttling on
crojjs are
ff. Peter
head, I
tingr the
t double
left for
lat one-
of Mr.
d to be
a very
settle-
5ve the
nore at
ccount
> now
^ans of
^e all
I their
of the
clear-
^nses.
I look over the returns, and 1 find the most succdasful amongf
them, who have acquired the most property, and paid best for
their land, began with no capital whatever. Ask those who
remain of the early settlers of Upper Canada, when the journey
hither was almost as diliicult as one to the Rocky Mountains
would be in our day. You do not find they had houses built for
them, or roads made for them ; no, their great struggle was
with the isolation in which they were ir-dividually placed. Ten
to one, but the first one you meet will tell you— -Sir, when my
father settled in our township there was not a road, or a mill, or
a neighbour within ten miles of us. Most of them went in
debt for the little supplies of provisions they wanted, and thought
It no hardship to pay the debt afterwards, from the produce of their
lands. Five dollars worth of flour, and a like value of pork or
other food, would be abundance for each individual, taking men,
women, and children, until crops would be gathered. Families of
five, becoming settlers, ought to consider themselves rich with
twenty potmds worth of provisions, tools, and seed. I believe
three-fourths of the settlers in the woods in this country, posses-
sed no such sum; and with assistance to that extent the new set-
tlers ought to succeed, and would succeed well.
Our fellow citizen, Mr. George Duggan, told me an anecdote of
a settler, an Irish emigrant, a few days ago. At the time the
township of Monaghan was being granted, he met with this man
who began his lamentations, and wished he was at home in the old
country, " Nonsense, man," said Mr. Duggan, "go to Capt, Fitz-
gibbon, and draw a lot of land in Monaghan." " And please your
honour, what will I do with a lot of land, I hav'nt what will buy me
a bit or a sup till I get a crop." " Never mind that," said his kind
adviser, " go upon the land, get a place to live in, if it is no better
than a fox hole ; work with some farmer for a bag of flour, take it
home on your shoulders ; when it is eaten up, come out again, and
work for as much more, and I'll warrant you, will get on with your
clearing." He was addressed by the same man some years after-
wards. "Arrah, Mr. Duggan, "do you remember the man you
sent to live in a fox hole, in Monaghan. God bless you, Sir, it
was the best advice I ever had in my life, I have got the deed of
my lot, and I have eighty head of cattle and sheep feeding on it."
This is very like the history of thousands and tens of thousands
of men who are now rich and independent, who will tell you they
have had hardship and difficulty; but yet who, in the whole course
of their struggles in Canada, never met with any privation half so
^..>^»«. »~ aU... ^f -_ T_:_u i_i :_ xi-ii 1 A. .1'-
givs-^ss ms.i, vi. an i.r:su lauuurcr in juii uiiipiuyiiicui, ur uiiy uiif-
comfort half so bad as a week's residence in an Irish cabin.
^*"K-„#w^3,„,^ta*'«^
II
S4
ADDRESS.
ca„|nou:i/fi":tr",rou'rrVf:r',''* "•""'«'" ">s«the'. you
^e housing their families -h!; J. ",'''"* "'^"^^ «l">uld b^
three or four »cres of land .' th.„ , '"' "''"?<''"« »".?''' ^''"''"' Chisholm,
character, and genuine sordS o?, '"'/'•"'.'' »"'' ''onesty of
of Garrafraxa,a place withc^ i '"''"''• At the Town4in
over a detestable road Tndh^'-*'^ ^^ inhabitants, afterTeninl
house, we fell "pon a large and ifanl'" '°"F ^■'""»" ^««i^g a
dred acres, with herds of c„?m„ handsome clearing of one hun-
clustered in the «haTe n„de? the^?°?/ '".""^ P'^tures, "step
fields, and apples reddening i„ ,1, ? T*""' ''ipsning in the
and a better barn and sS " .^ orchard-a good log house
the house was a respectable ^nnl" "" "''''.'' "^ »" this.^ u"l
daughters. Their Ce wis h'"^' '"«"' hi^ wife and grown-up
and we fared well. TW h»H L "J' ''""'fortable, and abunLT
the gWs was readi„^'':{hers snTnnln"" "'," ^''?'™^' ^n-^ "no "^f
I asked no questions hitt„„ ■ *P'?n'nft churn ng or knitting
history of tie seS on theToXfhr f™»''-"W giv^^^^^^
w.thouL^|,hSrr™?.Y^"1J trth"™" "-"-ny years
fim settler in these parts aSl w^ 't* "•™«''' "''« «»« the
white man between ™m alid LaL H ''' "fi^"' ""«"« was »o
a-weT'^h: t^v^"^ -rht^tme^hr • - if.^T:'^^
childrei hi„„fj?l, ^*'y.POor." "He must h«v/f 'v .T«? t"*
- ••"'=.. = ■• res, there was „„ .^ ;i^Z^"
^-mSmwim
ADDRB8S«
85
)^ether, you
ior wages ;
ts should be
nd clearing
3me wheat,
the farm to
urs, go out
s or a cow;
>le for life,
settlers, I
loes it cost
an acre of
•etty set of
1 be of any
• yourself,
Lt up your
I the pigs,
nd Settle-
^hisholm,
onesty of
Pownship
Jr getting
seeing a
one hun-
'8, sheep
ig in the
g house
Inside
rown-up
Jundant,
d one of
nitting.
3 me the
J. My
3U your
^ years
vas the
vas BO
it have
r&s the
•uu hii
ttiainy
miles of him." " He could not have employed labourers ?"
" No, all this was the w k of his own bauds." " Then," again
I said, " I do envy you your countrymen ! This in Scotch
prudence, Scotch energy, Scotch courage." " Well," said he,
" it may be all just as Scotch as you like to make it, but after
all the man is an Irishman."
I could fill a book, not to say a lecture, with such anecdotes,
but each one of you could do the same. They could be told of
Englishmen, Scotchmen and Irishmen, from North and South ;
of men with large families, and men alone ; of men who began
with a little, and men who began with nothing. And, Father
of Mercy, is it for such men that poor-houses are built ' and is
it for such that a half a meal of potatoes is a bounty ? Are such
men to hold out their hands to beg ? Are they to see their wives
and little ones starving, while the lands of their country, their
inheritance, lies vacant and unpeopled 1 Can three thousand
miles of sea, and a three weeks' voyage, make all this difference?
But let us return to our subject. I have got my settlers here,
and I have got land for them, and I only want the means of
maintaining them a year in Canada, instead of maintaining
them for several years in Ireland. How shall this be done 1
Why, simply by advancing the money, and charging it on the
land. Those who require but little, to be charged with little*;
those who require to be aided to the full extent of a year's pro-
vision, to be charged with it ; their deeds to be withheld until
the money is repaid, with interest. The advance, including all
expenses, need not, I am sure, be more than at the rate of £4 a
head, or £20 for each family of five.
Can they repay the money ? Most certainly they can. Not
in the first, second, or third year ; but after that they can begin
to pay. If any abandon the land, let the advance be a charge
upon the land ; in the midst of settlement it will be worth far
more than the sum advanced: there will be plenty of men willing
to purchase. The settler may turn labourer ; or he may
go to the United States, if he chooses ; others will take hia
place,, who will buy the land, and the fund will certainly be
secured, for the charge upon the land will be its price. It will
no longer be open for free grant, it will become the possessioa
of some successful settler, or of some man of the country*
Then suppose the passage money to Toronto, or to the land^
paid by the Irish land-holIe and busy
rticle an old
as ccuk to
home-made
have cheap
ig, and the
of all bonds,
I of laborers
lome. You
' is quite as
it is what
larket for.
ecome of uii
know well
i
^at Canadians, and emigrants who can afford to buy landy
would disdain the grant of fifty acres ; they would not accept or
live upon so small a quantity: and then the incubus which
presses on the value of land, in the shape of vacant Government
territory, would be removed. Land would rapidly rise, inbtead of
falling in value.
I shall be told, — You must provide roads for these people. But
all the roads necessary in the Owen's Sound tract are already
prbvided. New settlers have very little use for roads. Furnish
them with their first provisions, and you do not want to hear of
them or see them for several years. They have nothing to export,
and what they import can be taken in on any roads. Nothing
can be so wasteful and extravagant as the attempt to make good
toads through the forest ; trees may be cut down and a few
causeways and bridges built; these the settlers can do by theii'own
labour, under proper regulations. Time Will rot out the stiiftips,
6un and air will dry up the allowances, and then is the time to
make good roads. It is thin settlement and scattered inhabitants
which make roads so bad and difficultk Give me a tolerably thickly
settled population who have real use for roads, and I Will furnish
you with mail coach roads', macadamized i-oads) plank roads, nay
even railroads, from Gaspe to the Rocky Mountain*. You may
proceed by making the roads first, and ,it is not a bad plan when
there is plenty of money, but the way I have se"6n succeed best,
is, to find the people first, and let the roads come after.
Well then, in the next place I shall be told to provide Chui'ch€!8
and Schools for the new comers*. For the Churches, I should
like to see land given liberally ; and I should trust to the people
from whom the Emigrants come, not to leave them without
clergymen, priests, and ministers. Zealous men they must be,
who have their vocation at heart, and who will not turn from a
settler's fare. For their support, in the first instance, and for
the erection of the first homely places of worship, I should trust
to the contributions of the godly and charitable in the country
from whence the settlers came, — the future should be left to the
Emigrants themselves.
Schools I should leave to be provided for by the Legislature
■of the country. At first it would be absurd to think of them,
but in the course of three or four years the new Emigrants,
with the same public aid, extended to the rest of the country,
will be able to provide them for themselves.
I have hitherto snoken of this concourse of neonle. as if ther^
were among them, no men of property sufficient to build mills,
^set up shops, and settle on linds ; but all I, can say on this
■■»,,.».-,.»!*'•
38
•«M>iXKjEaB.
!l 'f
III
^fii^ect isj that if nuch
Wa, for such a 80tUem^J'1^''^i. ** ""' *°™' '^ ^W be tfc.
«ent per cent. But XSlTr^ '"" "■"'"" ''" » shor^tSf
Do w« not inow thIt^^j2™"/"*y»°y«>ingonthi8rbfeS{
have a„, hi .einh:^^„'rZra''7''li ^«'^^^-
fwUuhL^"^?"'"^ will be maiet? ','^?,l'^'|t''eyhav«
malL *"??""" »f the erection nf»' / """'' Govemraent
*f*ye,"iese matters alone Tof.i! V, " "'e bus ness,4 maw
that they fajl into the hands of tt™ '*^^ ""« »'' *e mil -e^f
them choose proper site? of T„'^ who will use them,ll»;
monopolized by sCe chan^ "*' ^ ""« they mav^Jii
Provii; trading entrpt" ^noKht''/. *"'' ' *'"^ Sada c^,
~le«,.if they Lin^rnof wiS tr""'"'"'"'- "^ 'S'
SHf-- p'^SS' ---'^-^ir
Would By town be with fh^ u^ ? ^^^^ peninsula i Wh'l
then would our art^^anrbec^^f ,?"' '^'""^^ ^' «"«d with s W-
r^'-'".Coro'^i"nS^^^
ieii'vTsS^ *i' o*^er!ate:.°"J'"^'^'' "y -character for
tead you yet farther. Justirke?h»""P'"?''-''« I have .o
*at will not do ; take the rn„n nf m T^ "^ Canada-but no
*e westwaM of hatglorLuTlLl/""^ •^'»«"««. «»f the back
't incalcul-
luctive and
hese men*
^^'ill really
Hamilton,
i? What
iHed with*
mrgy portr
they had
f laJces be
ith shops J-
sstabiish-
we may
bye and
not uke
acter fbr
have to
-but n©,.
I look to'
• I say
5r those
J to the
lay it is
HQunt a
of the-
Monkm
fel' you little of the country, and what they do say, willdeceitie
and mislead you, I tell you what I have heard directly from'
your townsman, Mr. Angus Bethune, and indirectly from Mr.-
Ermatinger, very lately from that country^
A little to the westward of lake Superior is lake Winnipeg,-
and into lake Winnipeg runs the Saskatchawan river. It-
takes its rise in* the Rocky Mountains, and the lake Winnipeg
discharges its waters towards and into Hudson's Bay.
This river runs from west to east fifteen hundred miles without
an obstruction ; it is navigable for boats carrying ten or twelve'
tons, it runs through a country diversified with prairie, rich grass,
clumps of forest, and in one of the branches of the river are coal
beds, out of which coals can be obtained by any one with a spade"
ki his hand or without, and the plains are covered by the wild
buffalo of America.
I am told that you may drive a waggon from' one end to the'
other of this country of the Saskatchawan, and I am told, more-
over, that it is superior in soil and equal in climate to any part
of Canada, and that it produces wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, in
short, all the crops of temperate climates in abundance.
North of the boundary line, and still keeping within a climate'
equal to that of Montreal on the North, and to this place in the
South, you have a breadth of perhaps six hundred miles, by a
length of eighteen hundred. North of this again you have a
country and climate equal to that of the powerful States in the'
North of Europe.-
Here is a country worth all Canada told twenty times over^
It was still more valuable until 1826, when irt one of these
accursed Yankee negotiations, two degrees of latitude, from the
head of Lake Superior to the Rocky Mountains, were given up
to our moderate neighbours. The lost territory takes in the
great bend of the Missouri, and by the way of the Mississippi
and its tributary waters the whole territory is nearly as acceasi--
ble from the ocean, as the place you sit in.
Now the Russian empire contains near seventy millions of
inhabitants. With Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and part
of the Austrian empire, it occupies the position in Europe which"
Canada and the North Western territory of England exhibits iir
America. Both seem made alike, for the scenes of great deeds
and of great events.
The American North is the territory of an empire, oref-'
crowded at home with thirty millions of inhabitants, a portion df
X tA2.c?u ;