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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 4*!'^ »V BRITAIN REDEEMED AND CANADA PRESERVED. m -* 1 ,;4 [f >J ->/ -"■ -• .•■ BRITAIN REDEEMED AND CANADA PRESERVED. ■J •:«. BY F. A. WILSON, K.L.H., G.S. AND ALFRED B. RICHARDS, Esq., riARBISTEn-AT-I,A V, OF I.I NO (U.N 's IVV IN TWO PARTS. LONDON: LONGMAN. BROWN, GREEN. AND LONGMANS. PATERNOSTER. ROW. 1850. LONDON: PRINTED BY RICHARD KINDER, GRIS£N AimOUa COURT, OLD llAILEY. I Va ' i TO THE QUEEN, PKINCE, AND PEOPLE i OP GREAT BRITAIN AND HER COLONIES m)i% imoxk IS HUMBLY DEDICATED BV THE AUTHORS. " The mirth of the hiiid is <^oiw. -{/■s(iia/t, xxiv.) i " H(! thiit sdlcth, h't him |,c i,s la, that llfoth away ; aiidhf thai biiyeth, as one that will k)si' ; ho that occiipietli mcirhaiKlize, as he that hath no profit by it ; and he that buildcth, as lie that sliall not dwell therein ; he that sowetli, as if he should not reap ; so also he that plaiiteth a vineyard, as he that shall not gather the grapes; and, therefore, they that labour, laliour in vain."— (7iW/'a«, xvi. 41—45.) " And will begin to make iiupiisition of them, what thoy be, that have hurt unjustly?" — (A'avZ/v/.v, vi. 1!).) '•Now the Lord said unto Abrain, ' (Jet thee out of thy eountry, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land whieh I will show thee' " " And the land was not able to bear them, for their substanee was great, and they could not dwell together." "And Abrain said unto Lot, 'If thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if thou depart to the right hand, then 1 will go to the left.' "—{Geii., chap. xii. and xiii.) — tTTi'Aruoe Tov Mai'£ (iaaiXeoi' o-troStjoji; laxypijv avii Tt)v Au8/i,v Trnaav yevtaOm' * * * 1-^^} „ Si 6t/K dvUvai TO (v-a/coj', oAA' fVi fiuWov hi \^aii,i(jOui, mnio St} tov /Stia^Am ai»Twi', bvo uni^mt; SitXnvru Ai/Cwi' ttuvtoiv, K:\if (tiimai, Tt]v fdv tiT\ not>ij,Tt) St tw\ tE,oS(oiK Tik' x^<'P*lgard to the social and political state of America, in relation to her form of government and genei'al insti- tutions, the authors are inclined, in charity to a young country, to say as little as possible, except as far as the interests of Great Britain are concerned. But, in the accounts, which have just reached us, of the unparalleled invasion of Cuba, they read the strongest proof of the weakness of her administration, the hriyamlago of her people and the changes of destiny which aAvait her. Great and powerful she must be, whatever may occur. But she ift approaching the fire of her \. -^ation, and her torture will be in proportion to the strength of her vitality. But with regard to ourselves, does not the disincli- nation of Great Britain for war argue conscious weak- i 4 * «. ''Il^ f"\ XIV I'RKFACK. 1 ness ? Does not that weakness encourage the insolence of her foes? Has not the Papal authority, last and least, just perpetrated, out of compliment to the French, an insult to the British name and authority? Does not France desire war ? Is she not biding her time ? Will not that be her climax ? When, since the days of Cressy and Poictiers, has England been alarmed at the prospect of war ? The authors are advocates for peace, as much as any votary of Exeter Hall, yet with more dignified views and motives ; but let it be the peace which results from conscious power, which weakness can never secure to one that has been strong, or promise to those that falter. We are now reaping the benefits of the fact being generally known, that we are not in a condition to go to war. If a small state offends us, she appeals at once to a great one, and, for the first time, England is con- strained to hesitate and prevaricate, to apologise and disavow. But, ere long, it will be found that our parti- cular line of cleverness does not lie in shuffling diplo- macy, and that we shall be worsted by antagonists beneath contempt in a struggle that avoids, because it dreads, a blow ! Turn to another picture. The distress of England is not irremediable. Her strength is not departed. The one only requires a rallying point, and the other, wise and salutary measures and precautions. It is to be hoped that M. Ledru Rollin, who has just published a work, entitled " The Decline of Great Britain," has somewhat overshot his mark, if he has brought her to a % '« 4 i m PllEFACK. XV i " Fall." In the spirit of EnglishuiL'ii, tlu- authors havo also attacked abuses. They have held the torch of truth to the melancholy features of decay ; but they bring her a restorative cordial. TLey have exposed the canker- worm; but provide an antiseptic. They condemn ancient policy ; but afford a new scope for legislation. They decry, above all, expediency in its narrow and sordid sense ; but they demonstrate what is expedient for the recovery and increased splendour of the nation. Above all, in their Work the v are constitutional and loyal. They cherish the institutions of society, as developed in classes, from the people, whom they would see contented, to a dignified aristocracy. Their changes are not those of vulgar reform ; but of prudent and honourable necessity. They consider it is time tha^ the morbid craving for an impossible equality should cease, that it has grown stale and unprofitable, and has sufficiently proved itself destructive of the common interests of mankind and nations. They confess that at least one of them has emerged from the shadow of the Republican tree, as he has beheld its leaves fall blasted, and that he now stands erect in the light of a liberty, which is surrounded by more genial protectors than ig- norance connected with venality and the train of vices mingled with a mob. Their arguments on this head should come with a double force ; since they advocate the interests of a class to which they do not belong. The aristocracy of Eng- land numbers many fooHsh traitors in its ranks, who wish for a blind and false popularity of the school of Philip XVI I'RKVAfK. K«^alite. 'i'lioso, however, do not possess sufficient vice, or virtue, to strij) themselves of their titles, and assume the violent modesty of the bare "Citizen." They woukl be -lews without circumcision, and Turks without a tur- ban. But a liberal Marquis deals with theories, not prac- tice, and is prouder in detail than any noble of the old school ; whilst he would coldly sacrifice the interests of his order on the altar of vicious sentiment for the pur- pose of mean display and shallow popularity. Let not the authors be stigmatized as worshippers of birth and aristocracy. T^hey wish merely to preserve a constitution, which combines in itself the merits of all classes ; whilst they sluidder at the horrors which have been perpetrated in France, in the prostituted name of liberty. Should England be permitted by the repre- sentatives of these classes to decline to her ruin, without a struggle to return to what she has been, or to attain to what she may be, not a word has been written, of which they are conscious, in the present Work, which would preclude either of them from advocating other abstract notions of the existence of a different form of government than a monarchical, or indeed any state of human existence, but a "Socialist" community. They are conscious, in some degree, of resisting the " movement" spirit of the age. But it is the movement of the earthquake which precedes desolation which they would prevent ; not the circling panorama of improve- ment bringing new sunshine to the human race. It is the doctrines of levellers they attack ; not the wise and enlightened notions of practical j)hilosophy. If it is urged 1^ I'HKl'ACi;. XVll cut vice, I assume !y would ut a tiir- lot prac- tlie old crests of the pur- ippers of eservc a its of all ich have name of le repre- , without to attain itten, of k, which ig other form of state of ting the Lovement lich they improve- B. It is vise and is urged I 5 i '' that by their iii-^uiin'iit.s in I'livoui' ot class, s, tluy woiiKI oppose an oljstiicic to the mnrcli of mind and inti'llrct, and that they are unfavourahle to the trinniph of educa- tion, wliose parallels and lines of investment have been sileutly drawn around the castles of baronial [)ride aiul feudal ignorance, they deny the assumption, and retoil upon the champions of pretended Ut)crality by impeach- ing Ihciii of selfishness and shallow ..rtifice, subversive of true morality, virtue, intelligence, and honour. Such men would deprive the nation of dignity and the people of their great incentives to and)ition and excellence. For experience teaches that ranks and distinctions, which are attainal)le and yet difficult, open but select, and sulli- ciently stationary to ])e worth while achieving, draw men upwards from the mire by a species of magnetism, which most powerfully aifects what is good in our nature. On the other hand, a state of society which recompe\ises merit or ambition too rapidly, and which docs not bestow rewards sufficiently varied, distuiguished and lasting, or does not present sufficient landmarks of ])ul)lic esti- mation in the shape of permanent family distinctions, will be found chiefly to be the nurse of superficiality and mother of contempt. When a die is cast, the mould must sometimes be broken in order to confer true value on the medal. However, the privileges of education and talent need no defence. The aristocracy of talent exists under all governments. It rises supreme even amid ages of other- wise utter darkness. It is supremely recognized, as rea- dily as for its own sake if onqht to he recognized , in this b M tr. ■ will I'llKFACK. ii'l !t ! L'oiiiitrv, with all litT iiiicieiit pridt' of birth, her haughty institutions, and cold cxchisivcuicss. (icniiis most t'iv([U(Mitly rL'scud)lcs thu suiouhloriug tire, wliic'li rc{[uircs the wind of storm and tempests to kindle it into tiamc. It shhies best through adversity, and is Anttcan in its renovation, deriving strength from the earth, to whieh it is often beaten and struck down by birtli or ignorance. Nay, it is its doom often to wrestle with tlie Angel of Want, ere it may receive good, and profit by tlie blessing of its heritage from the hand of Heaven. Neither Republics nor Oligarchies are essentially destructive of philosophy, talent, or genius, l^ut, to leave argument, the authors were born Englishmen, and live inider a virtuous monarchy and a constitution, which in its workiu"- has lono: outshone all the social inventions of mankind. Therefore, whilst a i)ossibility exists, they would cliu"' to the institutions of the countrv, and it is with these view^s and feelings that the following pages arc written. They have uttered this defence, lest the abstract doctrines of either of them should be mistaken. One may worshi}) a Cromwell ; but it is wdien a Cronnvell is needed. Yet Cromwell did not destroy the constitution oj England ; but found its liberties destroyed and its functions impeded. He was no more a democrat than Napoleon ; no more a Republican than Cajsar. With regard to the aristocratical privileges of this country, there are many things wdiich might admit of a judicious reform, wdiich would tend at once to the I id i I ■| M I'i'j'.i U.1';. XIX ■I (liginty and puritv of ilir aristocriitical order. Tluse ivtbi'ins niiglit Ix' coimcctcd witli a Conrr uv Honour, instituted for the [)ur[)os(' of keeping a neeessary check upon the abuses of titled extravagance and Hecnsc. A |)eer ouglit not to ])e able to avoid the Insolvent Court, or a niend)ei' of parliament be permitted to evade arrest. The former disgraces his rank bv a dishonourable ])o- verty, and the latter loses his litness to legislate by the loss of his respectability and stake in the country. These :;re hints merely thrown out to show that, in ou^' desire to preserve intact the existing institutions of Eng- land, the peculiar privileges of rank are not blindly advo- cated. In former times icf/re-s dc cachci were not unfre- (|uently resorted to on the part of tlu French throne to conceal or chastise such disreputable conduct as might be likely to throw discredit upon the nobility. This was probably the best us(^ ever made of this monstrous privdege of tyranny. It will be observed throughout this Work, that it is attempted to confer a benefit upon all classes (.f society. The authors propose a great Emigration, co iducted on a principle of a valuable return of profit to this nation ; and they ai'c anxious, on the other hand, to prepare a country in such a manner, that it sliai! be able with fitness to receive those that go forth. They consider that the interests of the Upper, Middle and Louver Classes are alike involved. They offer a remedy for all. They wish to preserve the aristocracy from degradation, the middle classes from penury, and the lower from starva- tion ; and are desirous of standing in the gap, in oppo- b 2 i\ *' n iii^. w I'ln.r.u K. sitioii lo tlio provniliiig rnut ol' tlic iigc, to di'teiid (Jrciit. Hritiiiii IV( III tlu.' siiicidiil IVi'H/v ol' her cliildi'L'ii. III Jidvociitiiig any givjit, new plan or idea, tlioro an» various ck'nu'iits in the composition of man aritish RefornHHl Parliament, it is trne that many aente observers will point to the mis- government of Ireland. " What '" they will exclaim, "when at our ov.n door wc sufifj that unh;i])py provinci; of our empire to be distracted and convulsed, and sj)rinkle(l with the blood shed by anarchy and prowling famine, without oiu' simi)le measiiri> based upon solid principles to reliev(> her, do you [)ropose to legislate for I 'I <.-. -* XXIV nu'.i'Aci:. li ii another country, at ii distjuicc too, ulicjuly lull of national ])rejudiccs, divided into classes and torn by dissension ?" " Then," the reply is, " England must acknowledge her future, as well as her past inca})acity. You bid us cease to hope, and wovdd deprive us of the means of amend- ment and the promise of reform." No ! The writers of the [U'csent AVork trust for better things. The pride and curiosity of Great Hritain are both aroused — pride to re-instate herself in the opinion of the world, and curiosity to know why such follies hiive existed. There is a better spirit ali'cady awakened. The only point is that it may be more prudently and more extensively directed. With regard to the possibility of an important, material part of the design, which will be found developed through- out the whole Work, viz., the construction of a railroad from Halifax to Vancouver's Island, which, from its mag- nitude, may possibly startle the timid and confound the inexperienced, on the very threshold of consideration, it may be observed that it by no means exceeds the general boldness of the em in the conception of great plans. At the same tinie the opinion of Lord Durham — to whom so frequent and grateful a reference is made, and whose re- port on the condition of the Canadas may still be fresh in the memories of many — is the most favourable that can be conceived on every point of importance. For instance, "In North America," he says, "the expense and difti- culty of making a railroad bears by no means the ex- cessive proportion to those of a conmion road that it docs in Europe." Again : "It appears to be a general opinion that the severe snows and frosts of that continent \cry slightly impede and do not prevent the travelling :| i I i > ! r Ai PHKFACK. X\V iM ?" 1 icr ll '^t ise ■i* 1 M d- M of 1 m to "t? oil railroads." " The I'tica Railroad, in the northern part of tlic State of New York, is nscd ihrovyhout the winter." "The passage from Ireland to Quebec wonld 1)0 a matter of ten or twelve days, and Halifax would 1)0 the great i)ort by which a large portion of the trade, and all the conveyance of passengers to t.iO whole of British North America, would be carried on." JUit even Lord Durham, with all his distinguished talent, his extensive information, and his full appreciation of the value of the ])rovinces about which he wrote so well and justly, did not, it may be apprehended, even dream of the mighty events that are fast crowding them- selves into the annals of the ])resent age, dependent as they arc for their first vitaUty upon England, and for their continuance upon Canada. That the auspices which await the reahzation of these projects may be great, good, and propitious, is the fervent prayer of the authors! in the meantime they beg leave to conclude a Preface already extending beyond its designed limits, by the quo- tation of the following translatioii from the pages of Herodotus, which t'oy deem equally interesting and apposite. Particular attention is tecjuested to the style of remedies long devised to put a stop to the miseries of famine by the Ministers of Lijdia :* — " The people of Lydia have pretty nearly the same customs as the Hellenes, excepting, of course, that the latter do not prostitute their females. They are the first nation we know of that introduced and circulated gold and silver coin, and were the first venders bv retail. According to the statement of the Lydians themselves, * llevod. Clin., rhap. Dl. Y- \ ^■W : ^ XXVI FKEFACK. h 1' all the games, likewise now in vogue among themselves and the Hellenes, were inventions of their own. The epoch of this discovery is said to have been coincident with that of their colonization of Tyrrhenia. They give the following account of these matters : — Under the reign of Atys, son of Manes, a great famine pervaded the whole of Lydia. For a long time the Lydians bore patiently with this scourge ; but, no cessation taking place, they sought for remedies to the evil. Various persons devised various expedients : at that time, ac- cordingly, the different kinds of games were discovered: dice, round-bones, ball, and all except drafts, the in- vention of which the Lydians do not claim to them- selves. The followhig was also invented as an expedient against the dearth — to play the whole of one day in order not to feel the hankering after food ; on the next to eat, and refrain from play. In this manner they })assed eighteen years ; at the end of which the evil, far from relaxing, had acquired greater virulence. Accordingly, their king divided the whole Lydian nation into two ])or- tions, and then drew lots Avhich should remain and which forsake their country. Of the party allotted to remain he appointed himself king. At the head of the emigrants he put his own son, whose name was Tyrrhenus. Those whom fortune had doomed to abandon their country went down to Smyrna, built ships, and, stoAving on board all their useful articles of furniture, sailed away in search of land and food. At last, after coasting many states, they reached the Ombrici, where they erected for them- selves towns, and dwell to this day. They have, how- ever, altered their name from Ijydians to that of the * Hi' 'lliii eniselves 11. The )incidciit 'hey give ider the adcd the ins bore I taking Various imc, ac- covcred : the iii- thcni- ipcdicnt in order ; to eat, passed ■ar from L-dingly, wo ])or- d which reniaiii iiu;raiits Those coinitry n board i search states, r thcin- V, how- of the I ruEiAC'i:. xxvn I I king's son wlio headed the expedition ; according to wiiich tiiey have given tlieinsclvcs the name of Tyrrhenians." Let the pubHc make the appUcation of this venerable story, and drawing a parallel between the nusery and remedial measures of Great l^ritain and those of tlie ancient Ljidians, declare whether or not they can dis- cover anything in it to rebuke the enlightenment of modern legislative sages.*' xVLLllED n. RICHARDS. J me 10///, 1S50. * We have just glanced through M. J.edru lioUiu's volume, " The Di'cliue of F,7i(jlau(L'" It is ehielly of iiupoi'lauee as tending to inflame French sniiinosity, if unhappily that is susceptible of further intlamma- tion. 'nw/acts contained in it are about equal in general eorrcelness to the notions entertained of English manners by the novelist Paul th: Kock ; whilst its spiril is one of ])rivate malignity mingled with national hatred. Mistakes which are ludicrous in iMigland are, how- ever, mischievous in France. We have, indeed, received an exl/e here, who is cajjable of stinging the bosom of the country upon whose shores he lias been ilung forth. The spasmodic contortions of the st\le of this book, and its malevolent jerking sentences, remind one of the irritated grimaces of a monkey seated upon a hand-organ. But, melan- choly as are the aberrations from fact which deform its pages, it is still more uu'laneholy to think that there exists much truth in J/. lioUlns strictures on the general misery and distress of Great Britain, and that he might have found quite enough to till a volume in the abuses \\hieh disfigure our social and political condition, without being lost in the delusions of hatred, or falling a victim to his national ignorance of England, rendering himself, as he has thereby done, only liable to incur the frown of just indignation, or the shrug of inq)atient contempt. We believe emphatically that tiie part of J/. l.ciIrK RuUiunwovk which refers to the wars of ('England is about as imaginative as one of the fxtraordinaiT abominations of his compatriot F.injriii- Suv. 4- 'I <,■- i I: I' ^! I, . " l' Int Cii ! 1' ! i ' ' ■ I ' Cll. CONTENTS. PAiiT r. Iiitroductiou ....... CiiAi'. I. — Coloniziitioii . . , . . 11. — Emigration ..... HT. — Acclimatization .... IV.— United States .... V. — Canadian Junction oi" the Two Oceans VI. — Line of Railway .... Vll. — English Distress, and Canada to the Rescue VII. — -Ultimate Disposal of Convicts . IX. — Convict Guarii .... X. — Civil Feucibles .... XI. — System of Labour .... Xlt. — Ways and Means .... PART 11. 1 2.3 41 oU 77 103 125 177 219 232 238 269 30G (f ^ (I I- II u I. f I I 1 Chap. I. — Assistant ]\Ieans II. — Voluntary Sacrifice of the Church III. — Assistant Means and Debt IV. — General Prospects of England . V. — Incorporation of Canada . 323 339 372 398 448 't I i^ !.■ . .! i '■ 1 I |.|fi XXX CONTENTS. GENKllAL AITENDIX. I. — Schemes oC Reform and Incomes of tlie Clergy . l[. — Slate of Society in Colonics Adverse to the Principle of a Dominant Church fll. — The Canterbury Settlement IV. — Canadian Duties upon Ardent Spirits and Tol)ac( V. — Discussions in the House of Commons VI.^ — On Land Grants ..... VII. — Present Systems of Emigration VIII. — ^Migration of Upper and Middle Classes . IX. — Capital and Free Ijaboin* X. — China, Corea, and Japan XL— The Great Exhibition of 1851 XJI. — "Whitney's Railway Plans and Chinese Colonization PAOB 501 503 504 508 509 510 513 514 518 533 552 554 I V IP l\'< t ■: 1 , .11 I'' : 9 ii FAOe 501 503 504 508 509 510 513 514 518 533 552 554 PART I. INTRODUCTION.— EMIGRATION AND COLONIZATION.— DESIGNS OF THE UNITED STATES.— RAILWAY JUNC- TION BETWEEN THE ATLANTIC AND PACIEIC— DIS- POSAL OF PAUPERS AND CONVICTS.— PRACTICAL DETAILS, &c. iV ■ II »•■" .1 I. • r ■'■'.V r-- V I' 'i ■! - 'I 11 « ■*» INTRODUCTION. The following work is intended to display a grand yet sini])le remedy for the Distress of Great Britain : a subjeet occiij)ying tlic public mind in a just proportion to the great and sad necessity of its present existence. We are suffering from debt, over-population, and the paui)erisni of a great portion of the connnunity. The coui^try is involved like an individual merchant. By a great exertion — a triumphant dash into a new channel of commerce — by a discovery, a patent, or a miracle, it may meet its liabilities ; otherwise, it must pass through the Insolvent Court of a Revolution, and issue forth a broken-down hack, or a fresh and vigorous enterpriser, to begin the Avorld anew .• it must emerge a third-rate and degraded nation, or in a healthy second childhood of elastic strength. Which ? But this is not our question, and therefore we will not attempt to answer it. Our object is to prove a means to escape the dilemma. The debt of the country is the result of years of false legislation : it is a vast tumour, or excrescence, of unhealthy orighi. All the small appli- cations of expediency cannot do more than keep it Avithin the bounds of tight and painful bandages, or B S: &:■ I ill 3'' 11 :;f M, til M 1 1 in *4 INTIlODrCTION. clastic rollers, \>'hciicvcr you ntteinpt to slacken one part, another protrudes : you cannot l)encfit one portion of the conninniity, without causinji; another to suffer, l^'ree- trade, which might be the natural glory of the most in(histrious, inventive and ca])able people in the world, becomes, under ])resent circumstauces, a curse, to ruin the veoiuen of ]^hi (1< ny, h is the atlve'i'tisiiig system of politics, and is 111 >t iiijiiri* istothf ir(n)(l sense of tlie nation. Tliese are the men th.. attrm- the mind from tirst causes and general effects : tliey u tlie([Uaek (U)ctors in the coi, .lercial and agricultural l'*ir oftheuorld, diverting the; nmltitude from the rational pursuit and ac(niirement of the objects which lead them then; — with this special difference, chat, from nuich talking on the one point Avhieh interests them, amid the hubbub around, tliey arc led to believe m themselves, and be the dupes of their own nostnnns. But Avc are digressing froni our subject. Let us come to the pau])(>rism and over-population which we have spoken of, and consider, as we said before, the grand remedy, which nature and art at once prescribe for the evil, without addressing ourselves to the causes of that evil — a task as vain as diliicult. For great as arc the examples of the world's history, and instructive as the past is to the present, Avlien seen through the lens which wisdom borrows from experience, still there is no greater fallacy, than to turn back a century in the age of a nation in order to frame the prospectus of half a century to come; to unweave the web of the years lately added and placed back in the great tapestry chamber of Time, to furnish faded and tangled threads for the future. No : lessons are gathered by a co/f_p d'wi/ from the past ; but the history of progress is in its own development. As the carpet rolls open, the pattern continually changes. You can only have gathered combinations of colour by looking back, which may lead to individually happy speculations on the innnediate change to follow. For instance : there is a parallel to be drawn between the fiiyag oXj3oc — the pleurisy of diseased wealth in this B 2 INTIIODI'CTION. ^ III! i 1.1 countrv, and that of the later days of lioiiR*. Probably, the decay of every ; tiie anti- podes with ti race sprung from convicts and [)rostitutes, from pensioners and needlewomen ; or by any of the hnmches of the " get-rid-of-them-at-any-|)ric(!" system. All thisoidy weakens cm* resources, adds to our expeiuli- ture, increases our ditliculties, and is cruelly luijust to those sent forth. Kmigration is now on a par with the workhouse; save that, in one instance, the, wi:etched of the laiulare invited hy a successful lie, and, in the other, waved off by a vain menace. Necessity, with her iron grappling-hooks, im])els to both — " Clavos trabiilcs et cuiicos maiiu Gcstaiis ai'iia." We maintain that the very evil is not remedied. Such is the ex})ansive })ower of population in this country, that, as we go on, the vacancies are tilled uj), more than filled up, each year. It nnist then Ix; a wholesale system even to uid)urden us. But what if this repays a noble tribute to British ])rosperity, if it more than saves, strengthens, fortities, and places it on a [)innacle above the jealousy of surroundhig nations? \\ hat, if it gives a new date, a fresh start, an epoch of renewed germination, strikes fresh roots to rear the tottering oak again ? Then, it is worth consideration ; and to this arc (lie following })agcs dedicated. We will now proceed to open the whole intention of the work, J; If» INTIIOUICTION. • I Hi' ■\ already more than suggested by the title ; — to show the feasibility of a line of railway across the Canadas, joining the Atlantic and Pacific oceans; — the necessity of this to retain the most important of our colonies, and to keep pace Avith the vast designs of the United States ; — f/ic possihUUij of a pofcd and unreserved incorporallon of Canada with Great Britain, tinder the same taws, yovern- ment,2^riviJe(jes, and with a fair amount of representation, as an imjmrtant integral 2^art of this h'inf/doni ; thus to preserve her gtoriousty, as, with a tess cramped and fatal polie?/, we might have stiU jjreserved the fealty and affec- tion of the United States; — the enormous benefits to be derived from the employment of convict labour; the innncnse individual advantages to emigrants ; the absorp- tion of pauperism and its alchemical translation to com- fort, prosperity, and wealth ; the relief here, the blessing there ; and, finally, the opening of reciprocal commerce with North East China and with Japan by speedy and direct means, and by the unlimited sway of the Chinese seas : thus to extend the broad belt of England in the temperate zone round the world. All this is to be done : for we have the means before us ; the time is now arrived ; the necessity is urgent. Are we to be blocked out from the commerce of the globe, with worn out India, which we shall not maintain, on our hands ; our colonies gone ; our insolvency increasing with our cramped population, our debt, and the rivalry of Euro})e ? Such fatal results can alone be avoided, if men, taking a lesson from our wonderful achievements in science, so little anticij)ated but a short time ago, will not shrink from a design, in mere contemplation of its greatness, its boldness, and the suddenness of its conception. K'^ i INTRODUCTION. The legislature of every civilized country, as will Ije found stated in another part of this work, owe to it to provide every individual with such renunieration for his labour as to enable him to live with comfort : without this, he were better in a barbarous community : without this, he has a right to savage inuiiunities ; and game laws,* forest laws ; ay, even inclosures of land, are a crying injustice. ]^ut the legislators of Great Britain have a higher duty to perform, and owe a far greater responsibility. They are bound to maintain her first in the class of nations, from wdiich position she is fast diverging, with steps visible and invisible. This is the i < II * It is one, of tlic signs of the times, that hmJowners are giving up tlic privilege of rearing and destroying game, as a sop to Cerberus. But as matters are going on, whetlier game laws be preserved or not, as the luxury of agrieultuial ease, it appears to us that the land under the present system will revert to its ancient use, the nurture of objects of the chase. Such will be the cycle of events : — barbarism, progression, civilization, high pressure, decay, insolvency, reu'ogicssion — a marsh. It is u bad sign when the land cannot adbrd to protect partridges. All the old characteristics of England arc fast fading awav : this would be well if we saw the improvement ; but, in the pale mechanic, who?e little knowledge is a " dark lanthorn to lead his own feet astray" and to light up the misery which surrounds him, one is but reminded of the fruit of ashes gathered bv starvation from the boasted tree of know- ledge. There is a great deal which should go hand in hand with penny publications and farthing education, or the result is but an improved power of unhappiness. General immorality and vice are spreading; there is a fusion of bad. If startling crime be diminished by gas-light in the streets, the police force, and electro-telegraphs, yet honour, virtue and faith are becoming unknown qualities in this land, only surviving in books of imagination, plays, operas, and romances. Never was wealth so worshipped. Let " King Hudson " produce a balance sheet of £200,000 in his favour now, and leave us to swallow the outcry of a nation, and re-deek the abandoned trull of honesty from the ready-made linen warehouse of humbug, hypocrisy and de- ception. 1 V M lip (U j: l-ii b INTllODUCTION. charter placed in their hands by the generations that have preceded. AV hen we hear of the bare idea of the cession of colonies, hard earned and kept, to rapacions rivals treading on onr heels — when wc at times witness the voice of Emjland silent and unattended to in the councils of the world * — wc tremble for her safe guidance, and, in fear, behold her descending to a fonrth-rate nation, trodden down beneath the weii(ht of centuries of envv and hatred, accumulated under her success and triumphs. AVe have lately seen in a leading journal of this country, the probable loss of the Canadas s})oken of without sorrow or amaze ; only the manner in which they shall overthrow allegiance being thought worthy of consideration. They are to * Our present attitude witli Greece has let! to a variety of remarks upon the conduct of England in lier foreign relations ; and wc caiuiot help coming to the conclusion that wc have of late lost character, and a])pcare(l rather as a bully than a hero. Our interference has been for a long time proverbial. We rush into all the squabbles of the world, dictate, menace, promise, exact, even come to blows, and then suddenly start aside, put our hands into onr pockets, and wonder what it is all about. We arc constitutional, anarchical, serious, indift'ercnt, by no rule but our own. AVe set up a liberal government here, uphold a tyrant there. We are enthusiastic in our interest about a dispute in Lilliput about which is the right end of an egg, but suffer the great to oppress the small under our very eyes, and the most monstrous and fantastic oppression to take place without an attempt to prevent or vindicate. We come in like the clown to make everv body friends, and finish by causing a mvh'e, from which we abscond. AVe are con- sistent only in inconsistency. We possess the hatred of all, by the very fear which we must still inspire, to prevent worse cllccts than mere hostilitv in sentiment. Imagine Kn<>land down. Who would not kick her ? In the time of Cromwell, how different the feeling ! Th*.n the bare name was the pledge. An Englishman needed no safe-eonduct. Respect and admiration followed his steps. Since those days, how much have wc gained and lost ! We are now growing into a weak giant, whose power is more and more impaired— a mouldering Colossus. » * '•i 1 INTHODUCTION, 9 tliat 1,(. — "yielded with dignity." England can yield nothing with dignity; the mere hnagining of such cessions is the proclamation of her Aveakness. But is such hlindness, such utter midnight of vision, possible ? AVhy ! relax hut one instant our grasp of the West Indies, for example, and at a SA\oop thcyAvill be eagerly devoured by u more enter})rising and worldly uation. Or yield the Canadas — Yield the Canadas? — Cede Ireland ! Cede Scot- land ! aiul our improvidence could not be more fatal — oiu" dismendjerment not more com})lete. We repeat, wc can atlbrd to gi\( up nothing in this manner. From India, or rather tl north of it, we nnist call in our scattered troops en," long, and content ourselves with the Peninsula, which will secure our ocean dominion. India is exhausted; her people are not traders; there is no reci})rocity from India ; she is in great measure a vast dead tract. China is our centre of attraction ; it is so to Russia ; it is so to America : but wc alone have yet the game of the world in our hands. Shall we tamely, l)lindly yield it — whilst we experimentalize at home to the ruin of our farmers, bv reciui'ino; to abstract principles for which we arc not, in our present ])osition, litted, and thereby alone benefit continental nations and the United States ? Behold, wc are supplying foreign nations with gold, which by furnishing them with capital will enable them to out-sell our manufacturers through cheapness of labour, and thus present them with the means of improvement, stolen and purchased from ourselves ; whilst we tear our own bowels, and set classes at discord, whose example and conduct are necessary to check the progress of folly, socialism, and ochlocracy. W^c arc deluded by a tem- porary a})parent success in these measures, arising only V: I. X V -'■■■■. i 10 INTRODUCTION. •'1 i;i m If ;i; ti" ! 1 from the fact that England has been at peace, while the whole continent was torn by dissension ; and that America has not yet had time to develop her resources and reinstate her credit, shaken l)y an early and yonthful insolvency. All are, in spite even of this, i)rofiting by onr needless folly. In half a dozen years, where is the generous, good-natured, open-countenanced', figurative personification our fathers invented, and called -lohn Bull? His purse disai)peared — his watch filched — his hands tied — his cai)acity for labour exhausted — his patent means of redemption stolen from his grasp. What is his present condition ? His commerce and agriculture, twin sisters of British growth aud pride, strangling each other hi their death-bed, not their cradle ; the law of the country an Augean stable ; the most numerous ])ublic edifices, poor-law bastilles and prisons ; a third navy of convict ships ; our grandest schemes, defunct and still-born railways, from any- where to nowhere, and general piddling expatriation ! — Whilst the merchant can no longer struggle hand in hand with honesty, and, we lament to say, tluit trickery is becoming synonymous with trade: whilst the deteriorated qualities of our export goods are gradually getting us into contempt amid foreign nations, and an English gun, knife, or watch, is pronounced to be emphatically Bruuima(jcm all over the world.* W^e can imagine a Tartar or a Chippewa, in some remote region, saying at once with a guttural intonation of disgust, on view- ing some article of barter — " I'gh, English ! my bro- * The commencement of this end is ah-catly visible. We sliall liave occasion afterwards esjiccially to refer to the preference shown by llussia to the United States, over I'^nglish industry and talent. m INTUODrCTfON. 11 M tlicr, it is not good." This is not overdrawn : it is tlio resnlt of competition at home and abroad, under the i)rcssurc of national debt and consequent taxation, over pojinlation, and greedy misery. This is the present picture, in no part more than slightly, if at all, ex- aggerated. AVhilst we ruin a farmer, and dig a pitfall for the landowner, but double the income of a German baroness ; — whilst we paralyse a British village, a " sweet Auburn of the vale," but jwur a golden shower into the dusky lap of some Spanish Algesiras ; whilst our possessions slip from our open hand, and a vacant smile illuminates the stolid features of idiotic insolvency — we call for a pause ; wc beg for a moment's consideration, AVe ask, if there be a remedy ; and for a patient inquiry into the nature of that remedy, if it exists. Let us here provide against an error of apprehension, which may arise as to our mcauing, when we talk of an over-population of 5,000,000. Abstractedly, avc do not even admit, far less assert, any such thing. AVe consider Great Britain ca})a])le of niiiintaining a still greater popu- lation. Her uncultivated lands, her waste of provision arising from the excess of luxury, the food which perishes unsold, and the state of the kitchens of the rich, the very provender lavished on horses and dogs, — all this would suffice to provide for millions. Add to this, free-trade with our own possessions, and we might support as many people as could find room on the land to build coverings for their heads. But this is supposing a free circulation, a fair market, the absence of taxes upon necessaries, and in %ct everything as it is not now. The first thing that would strike a visitant from another globe would be, in this country, the con- J. n 'I i^ ^ i\ 1 helmsman should steer undismayed amid shoals, ^ without heeding the nuu'nuu's, or suggestions, of the curious and the timid. Such is not the case; and yet in([uiry only ends in subterfuge, or an answer is evaded by a speech. The groat colonial enunciations in Parliament lately have been those of lamentation for evils past and present — mere funeral orations upon neglected advantages, accom- panied by a list of l)ctty amendments, amongst which our most im])ortant, most necessary and valuable colony of the Cauadas is next to omitted. No trifling measure will do there. Lose her, and you lose the world. By a gene- rous and extended policy you can alone retain her. Of th(^ natural gifts of Canada we shall speak hcrc- f after ; as well as of her resources, her increasing popula- tion, and her just claim upon us. It is at once cowardly c ,{■• ' \ ■?• M Uf. h m f! ! ni 18 r.NTIU) DUCT ION ■Ml to (Icsort lior and to tynmiii/c over her. She is everything to us now. Onr safety, our f^lory, (h'pend upon her. Are \V(! to yiehl the fairest geiu of our (-olonial (ha(K'iu amid the bhnchiess of petty (Uscord and p;u'ti/an fury, and in fi'aininj^ |)ahry seiienies of dwarlish Icf^islation ? Arc our senses to l)e stupitled by s|)eeeliifying? Are \\c to l)e mesnieri'/ed int(j a[)iitliy by a folly too grievous to tliink of? People of Englfuub awako ! Vou possess every- thing. Von aet as if you had nothing. Vou are too sen- sitive to assert vour own r'j'hts. Vou are too nice to eni|)loy your strength ; and, with tiie cant of abstract universal [)hilan(hr()j)y,y()U yield up your dearest ])rivileges to your enemies. Again, we say, Pcop/c. of Enylfdid, airakc! Do not vield an inch of m'oinul : do not cede a point. If you have been tyrannical formerly, at least shoAv consistency in the character, or you will sink into contempt. Preserve the Canadas, as the means of salva- tion. Nurture your other colonies as best you cjui. Of what comparative conse(|uence is Australia to England ? The convict child cannot, it is true, as yet expect to walk without leading-stnngp. If it does, it may perish. lint what is that to us ? AVe mean, look- ing at the situation of that great continent, its produc- tions as far as they are known to us, and its history past and probable, we could afford, saving the prestige, to let Australia shift for herself. Her conquest was discovery. Her dominion, like that of Canada and the Cape, was not sealed by British blood. Regiments and armies have not perished there. She is not a sentinel and a bulwark between us and a rival power. We have no fleets on her inland lakes : she is not the high road to the traffic of China. Under any circumstances, she will remain an outlet for voluntary expatriation. But with regard to 1'' ^^ INTUCDVCTION'. !) Canada, to yield lu r were an act of siiicidt; — m» act to hnmd tlu; (lovernmciit of Circat Urilaiii with tlic stami) of iniiiioi'tal iiulu'cility. \ay, cviii to contemplate it, is to be traitor to good sense, the nation, and tiie coinitry. I say the conntry, as the l)roa(h'r term ; lb'- the nation is that which exists now; hnt onr posterity is iieir, as well as ourselves, of that for which onr ancestry fotight. It will l)c the act of u •gambler or an idiot to cut off this great entail ; and, if folly eve>' lose its boundary in crime, this would be criuu! against I'lO nation. Therefore let those into whose hands is the great trust con tided look to this emergency, and provide against the crisis that approaches ra])idly ; not by a continiui- tion of cramped and narrow i)olicy, unfair exactions, favouritism, and the conduct which has hitherto but served to alienate our absent children, but by broad, and wise, and fair measures. Give the (Janadas our privileges. INlake their birth-right ours, (jiive them honours and titles and j)laces, and make it a glory to l)c a British Canadian. Conciliate, instead of disgusting, her people; and whilst wc do this, let us remember, that it is oiu* own preservation to do so, our own salvation to be just. Let us consider the immense advantages that will accrue to us in detail, Avhilst we arrive at a great final point. Let it be seen that wc shall tiansfuse new blood into onr shrinkhig veins, that we shall regenerate the condition of those whose position here is worse than that for which it is the duty of legislation to provide. Let us forget the past, but look steadily to the future. Let the dead bury taeir dead, but let the living feed their living. The time has now arrived for Britain to stand or fall. Overgrown and overburdened, she must either sink into c 2 !'■ w iir- i::- ,i' I 'I, 1'^ 1 > f 20 INTROnUCTION. the lap of Fate witli the supine nod of apoplectic apathy, or dozing imbecility, aAvaking thence to degradation and ruin ; or on the other hand, she must seize a noble occa- sion for renovated activity, and lay claim to the renewed supremacy of the world. The time has now arrived : the nations are looking at us with wonder and expec- tation. Shall a constitution, which Europe could not destroy, perish by its own hands, whilst there is a means to save — perish, through the folly of prejudice, the exuberance of cant, the iudifference or incapacity of rulers, or that singular epideuiic of bUudness, for which the next geuerati(m shall mourn, but ui vain attcm})t to account ? Leave off, for awhile, your African slave-coast blockades, your universal art-ex})ositions, your exportatious of j\Iag- dalens, and even your drainage of sewers ; however neces- sary this latter may be to ward off Heaven's emigration agent, lurid Cliolera, and his lean clerk Famine. Cease to let the little weazened mechanic dance down the honest rotundity of the starvhig agriculturist, and declare that the salvation of all things consists in converting the labourer's smock-frock into the operative's blouse. These are measures, some pretty in themselves, and others mere progeny of hund)ug, that will not buckler Britannia from ruin, or save more than her little finger from the prick of a needle. This is the thind)le-rig of politics : but let your project be vast and comprehensive. Make your railway across Northern America; employ your convicts and paupers ; bring China here, and annex Canada Avith an additional blazonry to the Arms of the United Kingdom, a blade of corn, or a pine leaf entwined with the rose, shanu'ock and thistle ; and then you nuiy turn your attention to financial reforms, domestic j)()licy, is : ,1 i 'J I INTRODUCTION 21 and tlic stpiabhles of tlio Greek, or Tfalian ; and lot flu; inamifactiuvr and the agriculturist run" an innocent tilt Avitli eacli other in a fiehl of broad-cloth, or clover, if they i)lease, and provide for the anuisenient, not pander to the injury, of the nation. A. B. 11. Tomplc, March 25tli, 1850. »• ■I- ' I- i ilkl m f CHAPTER 1. ■ I- ' ; COLONIZ/VTION. ■A The real wealtli of a nation does not consist in the richness and diversity of its natural products, the tempe- rature of its climate, or the advantages of its geographical position ; but in the numerical strength of its population, the aptitude of its people for labour, and the facilities afforded for the exercise of their genius and industry. Without this, the richest regions of the earth are but as barren deserts, where man, called into bfdng merely to find existence an incmnbrance, lives, like the inferior animals, only to tax Nature with the incessant exigencies of his necessities and wants, without ingenuity or means in himself, or faculty exerted under direction, to contri- bute to her prolific tendencies, recruit her exhaustions, or hicrease the sum of his human happiness, by the prac- tice of those arts conceived to multiply the objects of his comfort and enjoyment. Such care, however, is the mission of civilized man : to him Nature, through all her reigns, is fertile of pleasure and resource : the very (ele- ments he subjects to his use ; and, from the vilest and rudest objects of creation, he extracts means and appli- ances, either necessary to the actual maintenance of his being, or contiibutive to the luxury of the senses. Before him deserts disa])[)ear, and nature beneath his hand puts on a new lace ; for everything on earth, being turned (o ^f-v u I!' ; .k I llilfi:; 1- COLONIZATION. his purpose;, assumes particukii- value, and ])ccomcs mat- ter of pi'()})oi'ty ; till agi'icultuiv, couuuerce, uuuuifactures, chemistry, aud every art and science couuected with them, ])erpetually exerted iu universal attemjits to nnd- ti()ly fresh conceptions of invention or ini])rovement, {^xhanst at last the most fanciful ingenuity of man ; till, hy ceaseless competition and over-production, every field of industry, genius, and enterprise, becomes glutted and impeded. Such a critical condition is invariably attemled "with superabundant })opulation, ami the con- sequent result of progressive pros[)erity, so inviting to life and favom-ablc; to existence, renders at last the original blesshig of accunudating numbers perplexing to Governments .and a burtluai to the soil. In the infancy of States, every fresh birth, by adding a new mend)er destined to contribute to the work of growing prosperity, however humble he may be in the s})here of his imlividual utihty, is naturally ri'gardcd as a W(>l('()me accessory to the productive; body or defensive force; but the time arrives at hist when the consumma- tion of institutions, and j)lenitude of welfare, renders even hibonr — that real wealth of connnunities — super- abundant to the wants ; and everv new life becomes a cliarge burthensome to establislied resource, which, despite of vx^^yy means that pul)lic government or private entei'prize can devise, nuist, after the revolution of ages, inevitablv become liable to limitation and ultimate ob- struction. In the uneiviii/.'d condition of savau'i^ life, the denizen of the Avild linds his allotted provision dis- tributed for his use over the ftice of nature : the moun- tain and the valley, the forest and the plain, are a connnon estate, where the fruit and root, in the impartial bounty of Providenci*, are the |)roperty of all who have •\\\ I COLONIZATION. 25 a iiiiiid to gather. Evciy tree is at the service of his tonlalla^vk : every spot tree to his selection for the site of liis wigwam : his arrow is the cliarter of his chace, and the waters are his hirder by right of ingenuity. The cliild of nature has to toil at the bidding of no master : his time juul movements arc independent of the will and caprice of others : he has to doff his cap to no conventional superiority ; nor has he to vindicate his right to respect on the strength of adventitious privileges and fanciful assumptions, lie has not to blush for the obscurity of his birth, the meanness of his attire, and poverty of his home ; since all his fellow-men round, and above him, are alike subject to the same destinies. It is true that these advantages, provided in the pri- ma!val plan of nature, are accompanied by many distasteful conditions, when compared by civihzed man wdtli the su})posed superiorities of happiness and acconunodation he is born to enjoy, 1^'irst, the savage is benighted in the darkness of l)rute ignorance, and degraded in the indulgence of barbarous pro})ensities : he is exposed to the misery of imperfect shelter from the season's vicissi- tudes, and is destitute of a thousand comforts and con- veniences indispensable to the inhabitants of cities. He is un})rovided by governmental economy agahist the failure of nature's aUments, and is exposed to the scalphig-knife of hostile tribes or to the fury of beasts of prey ; while his thousand and one little interests are imdefended by any system of law^ He possesses nothing which can be called property : or, did he boast of such a possession, its tenure could oidy be temporary and insecure, lie has not the benefit of science : he does not enjoy the luxury of arts ; whilst he is ignorant of the pleasures of gentle intercourse with civilized fellows. Are all tliese advan- ■ h- '■^, I r; ! !^ 1' '" ':t ! ■ ]iU [I lf:i:i 2(3 COLONIZATION. tagcs ill rea/i/j/ enjoyed by the bulk of society in a liigli state of civiliziitioii, to indemnify the coinmon chiss for tlie privation of their free and equal rights to the bountiful provision which should l)e theirs, according to the original scheme of nature? No : for, after the arrival of society at a certain degree of civilized perfection, man, as a mere man, un})ossessed of the conventional dignity of birth, property, and scholastic knowledge, deteriorates in imi)ortaiice and value to a state far beneath the unre- claimed savage. He has to crouch in the mortitied sense of hopeless dejiendence and privation, under the endless arrogations and assumptions of hereditary opulence and privileged luxury, and to confound his misery and insigni- ficance among the abject millions, who toil in the irksome exercise of routinary labour, with horny hand and sweat- ing brow, for the scanty, precarious, and disputed morsel necessarv to the bai'e existence of life. He has to con- form, for no very apparent advantage to himself — but for the bcnetit and i)leasure of others — to all the artificial forms, relations and oljligations, usages, proprieties, prejudices, wants, and dependencies, proper to civilized institutions : to fetter his will and action, restrain his tastes, divert his incUnations, and subdue them to obe- dience under the authority of absolute laws, which oppose his natural bias at every turn. Gradually shut out from nature, and condemned, as it were, to a hvhig death ; hedged and walled off from every acre by the voice of exclusive proprietorship universally exclainung — " This is mine, and that is mine" — he is doomed to languish in the cribbed alley, or the dark mews, penned in the cabin or workshop, boxed in the attic or stifled in the cellar, with countless multitudes of fellow miserablcs. For voluntary submission to such a fate, at the expense COLONIZATION. 27 of the iiiitural freedom and equal rights, designed by Providence as man's inherent portion, surely tliis com- pensation at is least due — asmrcd labour — and its legiti- mate reward, bread. This, every civilized government is fairly and imperatively bound, as a primary and condi- tional obligation, to provide ; and this, every man, as the price of his renunciation of original independence, and for the respectful obedience he observes to the obli- gations and laws imposed u})on him by society, is justi- fied in dc))i< 'ding. How willingly would the multitude, strn;. . ing t Mpport existenc- i 1 1 lie desperate conflict for bread which now prevails in our cities, relieve authority from all care of providing for their necessities, were they but free to rejjudiate the artificial state, and seek shelter in the cavern, and food in the field ; to hunt the forest, and purvey from the waters ! But caverns are the pro- perty of landlords : fields arc monopolized by right of farm : tlu; forests are guarded by armed kec})ers ; nor nmst the hungry pretend to fish the waters ; for these also arc the ap})iu'tenance of happier men. Nay — the starving citizen must not even " wander for lack of food" — for that is a condition of vagabondage ; and, although that is the natural and primary state of man, to which, in destitution, he instinctively reverts, it is constituted a crime against civilized society. Thus when man is pr )seribed from the free face of nature, to pro- secute, perforce, the sordid arts of the city, for the sole means of supporting the burthen of life, ought not these acts to be subjected to such wise economy and direction that laboiu" should be found as ready to the want of every candidate, resigned to live only by its exercise, as is the produce of the wikl to the children of nature, which, in the interest of a civi- ,.., t ■\. Ii«i; '.1 i' I >■ ir^ir ii i !li I ' 28 COLONIZATION. li/od couuniinitv, the ])iilk of iiilmi have iihaiulonccl for the WMgcs of artilicial industry ? Thos(3 wages, llien, tlic coiimuiuity fairly owes; and tluy arc natu- rally and justly claimable by all who tendei- the eiiniva- lent of labour. To shut up men in cities, and confine their restricted footsteps to the prisoned thoroughfares — condenmcd to work, or to die ; while yet })ermitting the ])ricc of labour to fluctuate betwixt abuse and dearth — just as the private convenience and caprice of speculation, or the exigencies of season and accidental circumstance may suggest the disposal of human hands and necessi- ties — is assurhig the chance on the side of sutt'ering and destrucliou ; and those who claim honour in the govern- ment of States in which millions of able-bodied indus- trials struggle against idleness and constant famine, are deceivers of society and subverters of God's law — God, that bountiful God, who never intended that millions should accuse His providence, and regard life as a curse ; nor that they shoidd find e\'ery natural a})- petite unsatisfied, and death a welcome release from the pain of obtruding their superfluous and contemned existence upon a happier order of society. Hiis, we re[)eat, is not the law of God, nor should it be the law of man; and when the evil, precipitated at length by a long succession of causes, assiunes the extreme gravity of a dark and threatening climax, we will not sufi'er the arbiters of our social destinies to im[)ute the blame to accident, to fate, or to the improvidence of society itself ; for the cause originates in governmental vice, and has been ])crpetuated by blindness or indiff'erence, engendered in the pursuit of self-aggrandizement ; by the absorbing interests of party intrigue and foreign policy, and by the fatal sacrifice and neglect of the moral and political state of 1 I COLONIZATION. 20 ap- i-om lined we law )y a xvity the to self ; has ered )hig the e of the peoj)le, their interests and growing wants. Thns the eorroding niisehief has become, perhaps, incnrable ; and now, that it rajjidly creeps to the very core of the great social body, our rulers, in perplexity and alarm, are com- jielled to calculate its ]m)gi'ess, and di'tiue the malady, which in tenderness for t lie memory of their ])redecess(irs, and in self-justitication, they would call — '* Ocer-jjopn- OvEii-POiTLATroN ! With our colonial de])endencies, compri'lieiiding a third of the habitable globe ; with alien subjects gathered to the Jh'itish sceptre amounting to five tunes the number of British born ; onr mer- chants at the head of universal commerce : with the snpreiuiicy of the seas, with our armies in every clinuite ; and, yet, with only a native population of 27,()()(),()0(), we are suitbcating niidcr a plethora of human life !^'' Without lookiug back to causes, otherwise than to take note that the present condition of the ]h'itish com- mnnity is a consccpience cons])icuous in the history of all great nations in their maturity, ever since the crea- tion — for time and misgovernment will gradually impress the same fatal mark n})on all commonwealths — let us here only deal with effects. Since the inhabitants have * There is some diflerenco of opinion between the nutliors of this work on the subject of the eapiibility of Great Britain to maintain a far greater population, under very ditVcrent eireumstances. In one thing they both agree, viz., as to its present superabunchmcc. There is great general ditlcrence of opinion as to what miglit be done, with pro- per cultivation and a fn^c circulation of money. Bishop Watson states the number at 30,000,000; Dr. Hall, at 90,000,000; the Earl of Laudenhde, at 180,000,000 ; and the historian Alison, at 120,000,000. The late ])ishop of Llandatl" was of a similiar opinion as to the undeve- loped resources of Great Britain, irlicrc m nidiiy tliniisi'flux. In this sense, (ireat Britain is not only over-peopled at this actnal period of time ; bnt, considering the rapid increase of life in the last thirty years, and the swarms of infant ])opulation that flood the str(;ets of onr cities, towns, villages, and liamlets, the evil threatens enornions and steady aggra- vation. Viewing with this the similar condition of the Continent, the fictitious prosperity of our country on one hand, and its rra/ difficulties on the other, a decrease of even the inade([uate means we possess, which we appreliend no reform of system, no political ingenuity, no financial sul)terfuge, will now have time to remedy and replenish — unless by some signal and decisive measure adopted in prudent contempt of all petty and gradual schemes of specidative amelioration, and Utopian experiments — let us hope that energetic rulers Avill be found to meet the emergency with bold promptitude at once ; who, in the impossibility to create sufficient means to relieve the nudtitude, will not hesitate to dispose of the said multitude in a manner to make our restricted means suffice. Till then, embarrassment and obstruc- tion must increase the struggle for elbow-room; accumu- lating difficulty upon difficulty, sacrifice upon sacrifice, concussion upon concussion, until " confusion become worse confounded," and nothing of all the present be worth the rescue. Now, this ominous state of things is most distinctly discerned and precisely estimated by the lower classes of this country ; while, animated at the prospect, the ene- mies of order, though hitherto miraculously repressed, continue to foment trouble and discontent, by inoculating i t rC)I,UM/,ATI()N, 31 tlio ninssos witli tho wildest tlii'ories of comniunisni niul aimrchy. 'Vvnc, ihv. middle classes, or rather the inter- mediate order between these and the substrata of the social mass, have hitherto most happily acted in defenco of projK'rty and law ; and the calm trantpiillity which has consecjuently reigned throughout these territories, (hu'iug this last ccntful year, when every other country of Europe was torn by convulsiouary excess, has been a glorious demonstration of most assuring effect. Rut was the middle class for jdl that untainted with the epidemic of discontent, and docs it conthnie still to desire to preserve and maintain the present condition of things? By no ineans,f()r its wisdom and moderation, dunng the late throe of our })olitic{d state, resulted ju'incipally from ex})erience, g.'iincd at the expense of France, and from its being justly filarmcd too at the dangers menacing private interests, which every proprietor had to a})preliend through the principles announced by the revolutionary agitators. But the crisis weathered, aiul private property assured, what is the state of opinion with these middle classes who ranged themselves so opportunely on the side of government and order ? They are Avrithiug still under the shock of ruined ])rojects of speculative railroads, profusely nimierous and superfluously imagined : discomfited and interdicted too by the paralysis of continent[d trade, they arc aghast at the continual spread of bankruptcy, and the accompany- ing disease of credit and confidence. Comparing notes, and assuming their true sentiments, we now contemplate them gradually shifting their bias to make common cause with the humbler orders, inclined to join with them in combined agitation for the most subversive reforms — rash schemes of financial experiments — reductions of revenue — the disarmament of the country — revolutions -. I 4 32 roLOMZATlON. .r !m' ]l^ ill trndo — that even these were p;i'anted — and what may ministers nol he driven to concede in th;'se times? Kvw (/( •/////// t/s \\in\U\ only he pi\'ferr(>(l with increasing clamour and untired pertinacitv, onlvto he ii'alonslv I'esisted at Ih'st, and lusi- tatintfly accorded at last, for the puhlic malady is heyond the power of cncit ordinary legislative panacea; and the general uneasiness being ceitain to continue, despite of po- Htical enipyricism, it threatens ere long to hurry the conn- try onto the most (les[Hrat(! ami irretrievahle changes. In tohen of whicli, r(>view the jn'ogress of innoviition and leform, since Lord John Kussell, in his ministerial autho- rity, so emphatically jmx'laimed some eighteen yeai's ago the decisive f/rn'/ of finality. ^^ hy, the mania forchangc! has only increased with each ministerial surrender till absolntely wearied with novel enactments passed, pass- ing, or projected, we have scarcely interest enough left to inquire where it is to stop ; while! the only correct answer which might he given to snch query is this : — " It will stop, and stop only, when peo])le are reconciled to existence hy suilicient room, and proper encourage- ment for cntei'pri/e and labour. " But, in adverting to enterprize and labour we will not confine the qnestion to those oidy in connection with the sinq)le Avorking-nicn, bnt l(;t us include members of every grade and class, all less or more suffering from the vice and errors of a system consuming under i?an- grene, -without a remedy for the evil. In corrobora- tion, behold, first, to what a lamentable extent the lordly hereditaments of our noblest fannlies are mortgaged and 1 I \ •fn r()l,(JNIZ.\TI()N. 3d 3. 1 ( v i'ml);irrn.ss('(l, cnj^Jigcd iit pKlx-iiiii liaiuls ; wliilc tlio iiiaiulcii.'iuco of aristocratic ])rivil('}X('s and distinctions is fast (Icvolvinjj; into ii lite and dcatli stiiig^li', and tin* inferior jnonilxns of tlii! patrician l)ody ai'c seiz- injj; tliu hint to merge, and confonnd themselves with the mass, by ready association in mercantile specnhitions and pnr.snits : tlins, not only promoting the levelling idea by a volnntary renoimcement of distinction, bnt by ex- poshig their fortnnes in this manner to tlu; vicissitndes of chance. Thus many of them arc precipitating their descent, and rendering their future retrieval of family honours pi'oblematical, hideed. In contrast with th.se portentous signs of aristocratic decline, ve behold cott ni lords, iron magnates, and railroad kings, treading on the heels of the patrician e/ife, and pushing them from \lieir stools^ on the strength of opulence, ofteu as lalse as their p' jsoual right by virtue of worth, sim[)licity, and moderatlii-, to dispute the superiority of noble blood. Sucl: v\n\, in t\io prirc}iu exultation of accpured wealth, think they cau, aud *7/o///r/, supersede the dignifying prestige associated with historic names.* Mcanthne the followers of the learned professions and the fine arts arc multi])lied to excess, and either self- exalted far above their proper and iidierent level in society, or debased far below it : — men who shoidd be unassum- ing indeed, unless warranted by patent talent in the vindi- cation of their clahns tohirli gentility. These continually subject themselves, by mutual rivalry in ostentatious pretension and display, to the cruel necessity of outward show on the one side, and of the secret struggle against * Tlie effect of the decline of the aristocratical interest on the House of Commons, and upon the constitution and prosperity of England, will be treated of in the latter part of this work. D •I # li^ 34 COLONIZATION. 9il h y crushing cnibaiTassiucnt and bitter privation on the other. Thus tliev swarm our cities and towns to their connnon detriment and obstruction, subsisting as if by- miracle, and very many of tliem dyuig — alas ! — in utter insolvencv, bctraviu";, in the sudden destitution of their bereft families, that the lives of the deceased, when not opeidy convicted of beggary, were at best but a long struggle of specious im])ostur(\ The merchant, rebutted at every point, when; his predecessors in connnerce gathered proverbial prosperity, has long had to contend against the active increase of continental and colonial com- petition ; till, more especially of late, shaken, and involved by the political convulsions and subversions of so many foreign states, he shriidvs from those bold strokes of com- mercial enterpri/e that heretofore characterised the British trader — timidly ])idtering, and finessing in affliirs, in a manner which is fast committing our mercantile repute, and fain to hug his damaged capital in times so perilous, Avhile daubing the varnish of sinudated prosperity over his real state of secret anxiety and tribulation. Meantime the manufacturer, constantly checked and suspended by over- glutted markets, is obliged to watch for seasonable occa- sions, whose advent only aggravates the; general calamity, by comuumicathig false sliinidi to trade, always followed by periodical languor, and the starvation of thousands out of work. Our petty traders, or shopkeepers, are habitually passing, as a matter of course, through the insolvent and bankruptcy courts, precipitated thither by practices of artifice and ex})ediency Avliich their fathers would have regarded as infamy. ]^]ven farming threatens to becv)me a department of gaud)llng, and the green face of England will shortly resendjle the green cloths, round which blaf^klcgs and victims congregate for games i COLONIZATION. 85 I ii of hazard, with tlie certainty of ruin to all who liavc tlie temerity to risk a stake upon it. I'lie artisan and agri- ouUural labourer walk hand in hand with starvation and mendicity, irritated to sentiments of vindictive discontent in every comity and city, from the desolate and evicted cottiers of South Uist, to the squalid ])ea- santry of Wilts and Dorsetshire, from the famished weavers of Scotland's far north, to the perishing multi- tude of Spitaltields, clubbing themselves hi formidable bodies in com])iiied ramitications all over the country, for the object of meditated mischief and insurrection, as soon as time and op])ortiuiity |)resent the expected signal. The workhouses, multiplied over the land, arc crowded with tenants degraded from every walk of life ; while the prisons not only rival them in the multitudes they immure, but even the walls of the gaol are eomted by a throng of our otherwise honest poor, as enviable asylums from the worse hardships of out-door misery. Servile employments and i)etty oiHces, which the well- born and educated vvould have scorned a little wlhle ai2fO as stations derogatory from their class and capacity, are sought with avidity by eager candidates of genteel grade, too happy to obtain them. True is it, however, despite of all this festering wretchedness, this colossal misery and suftering, that the fairest paint and varnish still deck the reeking sepulchre. The mansions of the great still shine with their wonted festivities, the gayest equipages of the whole world jiarade our streets. Money floAVs to and fro in its usual cvuTent at tl.-e Bank ; the customary crowds, with all the external show of seeming ])rosperity, still bustle iqion 'Change ; shop- windows are brilliantly bedizened ; and true is it also, that all ihe workmen do not .sfarvr and slumber. ■ \ 4 r.* D 2 i >l' nr; COT.ONIZATTON. Rnt still, maiigrc this outward sliou, there is rottenness within ; and the ])nlk of society is disguiscnl in a mock Carnival held during the secret necessity of a real Lent ; while the man of spirit and enterprize, who would force a passage through the anxious and jealous throng, is checked and repelled at every move ; and from the innumerable schemes and experiments afloat, lj(>gotten in distress or desperation, the most feasible and legiti- mate projects are scouted as presumptuous quackery, or sneered at as visionary rashness. So that genius and dulness, industry and idleness, arc all confounded in the hopeless scramble, levelled by general necessity and distress into a forced equalitv, which has suggested those principles of Communism that now^ so widely mystify the human mind. jMany, of course, who are themselves exempt from the weight of the general pressure will deem the pic- ture just exhibited a gross exaggeration ; and from the cushion of their own comparative ease will point to innu- merable proofs of England's unparalleled prosperity at this very time being. They, perhaps, can adduce the refreshing example of a wide circle of friends aflrtuent as themselves, and advert to the general appearance of the connnunity in every district as obvious testimony of public case and contentment. But let it be observed that no people either individually or collectively are wont to proclaim their distresses; still less in a commer- cial and ostentatious community are persons apt to ])ar[idc appearances detrimental to their credit. The dccUnc of nations is never innnediately manifest in its indiscriminate effect upon private fortunes.* Venice, in * It is, in iusolvcuoios ami bankruptcies, lloganl tlio last fifty years ofEnj^laud's history. Look at the last four years of merchants' failures, I I { COLONIZATION. 37 tlic ns he of to 'he its in I J! her prostration, lias still her wealthy citizens and gay (lisi)lays. Fallen Home still vindicates her inii)()rtance and pretended prosperity, hi spite of rottenness and rnin. k?pain, fidlen from her glorions position to become a third- rate nation, still vaunts power, credit and resources she does not possess. So the human victim, stricken with consumption, still boasts of health and strength, till the last moment of doomed existence. But to such as would deny the truth of our snnnnary sketch of J']ngland's misery, we })ropost; this chalU^nge — Let us indisci'i- minately stoj) any hundred men in any of our public thoroughfares, and [)re\ ail upon them to make frank con- fession of their real condition, and we will engage our life that eighty at least of the ninnber will have a tale of secret sufl'erinii; to unfold, and crviu": wrongs to denounce — harassed by tribulation in the i)rescnt, and painfully perplexed for the future. Consult the advertising colunms of our munerous public journals — contemplate our Police and County Courts — interrogate the parish olliccrs — examine the prisons for debt, and public hos[)itals. Survey the union workhouses. Cast your eyes on the " looped and ragged wretchedness," that besets the streets and highways, entreating us for bread. Have not tile recent investigation into the causes of the still linger- ing cholera, instituted throughout the country, exj)osed the most appalling pictures of human wretchedness, \ isited ujxjii thousands crowded in the living sinks existent in all our cities, where British poverty cowers in the most tlic winter of IS 17, wlioii nioucy was tiiilit, as it is called iu one phase of the monetary sci'-saw — exceeding all tiiat (.'xpcriencc teaches has ever taken place in a ^iro.yx-rou.i ixndjluuris/tii/i/ country in the history of tlie world. Tn the year lSi9, it is stated that (.50,UOl»,UO0 was the sum in mercantile failures. ■i; >!•; 3b COLONIZATION. t ' : < liideous squalor and degradation — nmltitudes being re- garded as overriumiiig verniiii, whose extinction would be a blessing to society? Is not Ireland one entire (jiolgotlia, strewed with the carcases of her famished children ? Are the Scotch peasantry not beginning to emulate their Irish neighbours in petition to the United Empire for relief; while, driven from their country like the black cattle of their mountains, they arc depaj'ting in droves of thousands to seek subsistence, or a grave, in lands beyond the farthest seas?''"' Let us glance for awhile at i\\e paifpcr condition of Great Britain. In IS 44, we re- lieved, in England and Wales, 1,477,501, or a propor- tion of 9^- per cent, of the popidation : a large number of these were ])ermancnt paupers ; but it is concluded that about half a million more received casual relief; so that the nuudjcr of persons relieved in England and AValcs in the course of the i)arochial year 1844 may be taken at about two millions, or nearly one-eighth part of the actual population. Ijy the latest Parliamentary re- turn, it appeais that at Lady-day, 1^47, there were 1,471,133 relieved in England and Wales. At Lady- day, 18 1'^, there were 1,020,201. Out of this last numl)er, there were upwards of 50,000 able-bodied men !f With respect to Ireland, jMr. Bright, on the 5th of 'Inly, 1849, in a speech at r\Ianchester, stated, as a fact derived from strict investigation, that 237,000 of the Irish popu- 1^1 * lliuul tlie late sjicccli of the Earl of Mouiitcablicl, to sec the sufler- iiiGjs of Eiii'ujrafioii, as it is rceonnneuded by a timid .and iialtering polif'V) to case the nation at the price of these poor souls. Also, some Inte articles in the MoniiiKj yhhrrtiscr and other journals 7;^^w//y/. ■f 57,000. This is from the rarlianicutary Report, and, wc believe, underrated. "We may say in round numbers, 3,000,000 receive relief in Great Britain annually. The poor-rates arc about i8, 000, 000 per annum. I liir^ COLONIZATION. 'M) i\ i latioii arc; in tlic union worklioiisos ; and 7;V\0()0 are receiving not casually, but ])ei'niiniciitly, moderate as- sistance, in the shape of out-door relief. Tiie expench- turc of 585 Unions in J'lnghmd and Wales, in 1^>1.'3-11-, was nearly t5, 000, ()()(). Let us now regard the state of the metropolis of l:]ngland. Those excellent pid)lications, the Ci/j/ of London Missioti Ma()annQ and the liaf/f/cd School Mfujazini', from well-ascertained facts, have com- puted that, in London, 1:2,000 children are trained in crime; 3,000 persons arc receivers of stolen goods; 4,000 are annually committed for crimes ; 10,000 arc addicted to gambling ; 20,000 to l^egging ; 30,000 live by theft and fraud; 23,000 are found helplessly drunk in the streets; 150,000 are habitual gin-drinkers; and 150,000 live in systematic prostitution and profligacy.* What a differ- ence between these statements and the returns of the year 1730, little more than a century ago, before the word jjcufjirr was used, when the imuates of the workhouse were called the " Family." The lirst workhouse, {d'tei- three years, oidy contained sixty-two inmates. With regard to the crime of Great l^ritain, in spite of this pro- vision, in 1S4S, the number of oitences amomited in England and Wales, to 30,3 10 ; Ireland, 3S,522 ; and Scotland, 4,909. For the Metropolitan Police, hi Lon- don alone, the sum expended uas, £371,929; for the City Police, £40,453. hi fine, England, having out- grown her resources, preserves lu>r supremacy only by iictilious means — subject to occasional panics, she has only to sustain some signally severe reverse to behold j#i:^: per I * In ScoUantl, in 18 1"), tlio poor's rate was 1185,000. It is now, since the operation of tVoe-trade, £500,000. In Glasgow, in 181(), the poor's rate was £30,000, now £x'00,000. hi 1846, there were relieved 7,4 nO persons; in 1819, 50,000. 1(1 COLONIZATION. . .1 tlic entire of licr fiilsc scaffolding hurled prostrate to the groniid. With so nuirvcllous an augmentation of popu- lation since tlie peace, we have necessarily to apprehend the same progressive fecundity, attended with shnilar disproportion of resource ; consequences proccedhig in inverse ratio, whieli, in a very few years, nmst render all government impossil)le. WhuC then is the remedy? Why one wliich nature, connnon sense, and the perpetual examples, illustrated in the histories of all people, signifi- enntly and emphatically proclaim ; and that is dhuhnd'wu of nuiiihers, not by the partial dissemination and dis- persion of fugitive individuals here and there, but by a grand uncompromising system of Emigration — Whole- sale Emiguation. J: t ' CHAPTER II. I EMIGllATION. -■'I Alt- gregarious beings, consorting together hy intnitivo impulse, maintain tliat propensity only as long as they arc not ineonnnoded in f'^edoin of action, and facility of })as- ture, by supernumerary increase ; but no sooner arc they impeded in these respects, than, mysteriously actuated by a principle of conservative instinct, they segregate for the object of easier subsistence and freer convenience, just as spontaneously us when they originally combined in family. The grazing kind, dividing their herd, seek separate feeding grounds. The carnivorous order almost immediately acknowledge that law, by dispersing for the purpose of unobstructed provision, as soon as their matured strength and increased wants demand free scope for chacc ; while many of the rodcntia class conform to the decree by actually devouring each other. Bh'ds, warned by the seasons, scatter their Hocks ; and the bee — that interesting exemplar of social economy, so faithfully attached and laboriously devoted to the common good of the hive — no sooner finds his habitation over-peopled, and the public pabulum rendered thereby inadequate, than, forming one of a distinct swarm, he summarily abandons, in a body, or swarm, the home of his birth and past instinctive affection, to found an asylum elsewhere. Hven so, human communities, ecpially admonished i 'd ''■•-.' I r 42 EMIGRATION. f by Nature, arc similarly disposed to disperse, under like cireiniistinices, to those loealities Avliere the more liberal distribution of earthly good aUures with promise of ]iap})ier existence ; l)iit th(>y rarely volunteer to fultil this imi)ulse by solitary expedition, or in feeble sections : for man, endowed with understanding to cal- culate the advantages of numerical strength, both for the ])urpose of defence, and of i)rocuring provision for his manifold wants — best attained by the cond)ined support of industrial co-operation — must always feel it his neces- sary interest to engage as many companions as he can possibly eidist in his migrations And thus, in the early stages of society, we find families swollen into tribes, and tribes into nations, wandering the earth in search of fortune ; till, at a more advanced condition of the social state, they settle in cities, and multiply into empires, only to arrive, in the process of time, to the necessity of again breaking up, to resume their peregrinations, in order to relieve themselves from the gi'adiuil accumu- lation of difficulty and distress incurred through redun- dancy of number and mutual obstruction. Thus, history teems with records of entire nations abandoning the soil of their ancestors to establish domi- nion elsewhere. For, learning by experience how little a nation is relieved by the imperceptible diminution of num- bers, when once its population swarms beyond its means, we find people everywhere, in the history of man, flying from the local misery of over-growth to migrate in masses. That this occasional necessity, visited upon society, is an eternal d(!cree, involved in the grand scheme of creation, is established by reference to the earliest books of holy writ, in w'hich we find the ])atriarchs commanded to remove with their families from the lands lllg i KM K^ RATION. 43 of tlicir nativity in quest of new establislnncnts in distant countries; until, at last, we l)el\ol(l the whole nation, composed of CJod's chosen people, imder divine inspiration. His pillar for their (juide, and Moses for their (ieneral, penetrating through deserts, to occn])y the land of their inheritance. Even so, the archives of the profane nations, nay, of a// nations, up to remotest anti- quity, commemorate similar transits of entire connuuni- ties, only to remove once more at later periods, leaving the very sites of their original sojourn scarcely more than conjectural through the faint traces of distant tradition. The new nationality of these becoming, in time, once more obliterated by overwhelnung invasions of colonizing adventurers, are forced, under necessity for room, to abandon in turn the soil of their birth in search of a new home. Nay — Nature herself, by the alternate vicis- situdes to which in her productive attributes she is so mysteriously s\d)jected, seems by her own law to impel mankind to periodical expatriations ; since those coun- tries which formerly must have teemed with all the necessaries of life, when peoi)led by powerful nations, are now, in so many instances, wild barren wastes, even destitute of the barest produce available for human sus- tenance, and this in defiance of all renewed culture ; while \eget{d)le provision profusely abounds in sponta- neous growth, wherever modern empires now tlom'ish. For, as if it were ordained that only a certain number of living inhabitants should be allotted at any one time to the earth, bcnond which it is inq)ossible to nudti})ly the s])ecics, "\ve find that, as fast as population increases in one region it decreases in another ; and, therefore, society thus ordered, and restricted, is destined in per- petual nuitation to make the round of the world, sue- > {i| ft l^ ns, tluit liritisli America rose so rapidly into importance and |)()WtT. It was l)y expeditions of great military stren';th, covering an accompanying mass of civil coh)nists r// .sz/J/c, that we have seen the l-'rench nation in onr davs cstahiish and consolidate a fjeneral and snhstantial power in Algei'ia, in less than seven years time, lint inditl'erent to these and otlier mnnerons cxaniphs, and in despite of ouv natnral disj)osition, above all otln'r people, to emigrate, (jlovernment has never etl'ectnaily promoted British interests in this respect, by converting this nationally inherent j)ropcnsity to some far more transcendent ])nrpo.Ke than generally marks the direction and ol)ject of onr colonial settle- ments. It lias never directed, as shonld have been the case, the streani to snch eligible and a|)proxiniatc ])arts of the globe as wonld be best calcnlated by innne- diatc and incorporate connection with onrselves, to snji- port Ih'itish strength and influence, by rendering every citizen detaching himself from our native soil to inhabit there, still preserved to his government and race, while made contributory to the ])est welfare of the mother- country ; but, on the contrary, alas, we are still doomed to behold public and private speculators on the errant predilections of our English nature dissipating our comitrymcn Uj)on colonies remote and far between, commonly selected in temporary expediency and haste, as mere maritime or commercial stations ; often only to KMKJRATION. 17 promote sonic (l('('y any mana«j;cment udiatever, to become of very material importance ; sonu; whose ntility is not only etpiivocal, bnt ascertained to l)e highly prejndicial, both as to expense and the [U'rpetnal misunderstandinji^s and dis- cussions to which they expose us ; and all of them, at tlie tirst shock of serious injury visited on the parent state, most prol)id)ly to fall away from us like scattered leaves from the autunuial tree. Nay, wors(' than all, J'lngland has even been made a prolitie and ri'ady nursery for foreign nations in formidable and professed rivalry with ourselves ; and, for one nation, in particular, from which in future we have most to fear, we seem ])rou(l and delighted to })ropagatc subjects, pouring them forth in luuulreds of thousands, to increase its force and augment oiu* own danger.* But reverting to our proper colonics, and the luisub- stantial tenure by which tlu-y are preserved, in our possession, let us take a sununary survey of the real condition and value of their principal nund)er. And bcgimiing Avith the British Indias — the most important of them all — behold, in signiticant token of the unreality i . 1 1 'i vi * \Vc not only do this, but b}' a noj^lcct and folly almost incon- ceivable, we supply the navy of the United States with British sailors, by which, in case of a war, wc should indubitably suffer, without even the credit of being victims to our own mistake. 1:1 48 KMIGRATION, ]l Ifci' of our dominion over tlicni, throngli the vicarious agency of a Mercantile Association, tlie wliole extent ot" their slio\\y and ini))osiiig tenitories i)resents not one single spot truly ca})(d)le of becoming a natural and rccon- cileablc home to a pure and undeterioratcd race of British blood. Nowhere are they suited to the habits and laboiu' of the l:]uropean agriculturist, who nuist ever continue unadapted to their climate, unbroken to their seasons, and uninured to their soil and tillage. Their commercial products, whether natural or faljricated, considered in })roporti()n to the space and population of these vast territories, can scju'cely be deemed fair com- pensation for the precious blood and healthy energies so lavishly expended to maintain our disturbed and })reca- rious conquest, to which these words of the poet might well apply : — " Never ending, still beginning, Fighting btill, and still destroying." Yor, although we have gloriously mowed down mil- lions of the troublesome and refractory natives, who persevere in disputing the conscionn/jlc right of a small body of foreign traders to a})proi)riatc their hundred thrones, their various armies, revenues, citic?, and sea- ports, still we cling to om* brilliant and costly triumph, although it is probable wc shall never be able to imi)rove the mercantile resources of these countries. First, be- cause it is a proved impossibility to rouse the slavish and inert nature of their native race to reciprocate our ingenuity and industry ; next, because of the dietary, restrictions, and sumptuary laws imposed upon them, under their svstem of castes : and because of the uni- versal poverty of the mass, the simplicity of their tastes / KM Ui RATION 49 and habits, wliilc plentitiiUy siipi)lie(l at tlie same time, by till! soil they inha])it, with all the food and raiment to which tluiy are constrained to confine their appetites and use — a combination of canses which mnst for ever op})ose insnrinountable bars to the importation of l^ntish produce and mannfacturcs. In fine, we have practised upon the Indians to the very extent of their utmost resource ; and, except the laurels we have yet to glean by the massacre of rebels, or resistance to rival invasion, we nuist calculate u})on no increase of gain ; indess as a set-ofi' to the necessity of maintaining such prodigious armaments for the peace of India, andyoo^/ of trade, we must indulge in consoling anticii)ations of some more satisfactory increase of indenmity through the augmenta- tion of profit expressible from Indian resource, by the completion of the |)rojected railroad from Calcutta to Delhi, and the grand canal betwixt the Ganges and Jumna — magnificent undertakings, that reflect more Jionour on the Euro})can masters of India than the defeat of ten thousand rajahs. It is by means like these we wish to see England triumph over nations, and provoke the blessing of competition. Still the obstacles we have enumerated must ever con- tinue insurmountable, with no prospect of improvement through the permanent establishment of British settlers in India; since the masters of that country are a mere alien and military force, figuring on the soil but as t. actuating body, destined to return each, and all, in suv.;ession to the mother country, their nund)ers gi .dually to be re- placed in proportion as they retire to their native home, by fresh adventurers pursuing the same system of tem- porary residence, and to be followed in given time by a retreat w turn to the land of their birth. B r > I 50 KM Hi RATION. C Mountimo, the coiiijinny of traders 'vvlio monopolize India, restricting tlioniselves to mere ol)jects of im- mediate connnercial pi'oHt, exert no effectual measures to consolidate onr national power in that comitry, by pursuing a grand civiHzing system ■with the natives, thereby assimilating them to our usages and habits. Poor, benighted, degraded, and idolatrous, the Company fcmnd them ; and such they -will leave them, whenever the phenomenon of that singular govcrmnent and ])ower shall ex])ire — bursting, perha])s, like an air-bubble, by the siulden loss of a battle or two — leaving the memory of our Indian Kin])ire as one of the most extraordinary marvels hi all the records of past history. Be it renuu'ked, liowever, that as long as the Com])any timidly ficted with small inunbers and feeble nieans, its ju'ogress was slow, and the field everywhere disputed. But no sooner were the sides of their and)ition jU'ieked by partial suc- cess, to engage greater sacrifices, and undertake their operations en f/raudc, than nearly the whole of Irulia, with a rai)idity e(jual to the strength of the organized method em])loyed, fell beneath British sway. The experiment, however, of great means to achieve great ends was not repeated by these conquering mer- chants, beyond the sphere of their ex])loits in India ; but with singular indifference to the interests of all Europe, and p]ngland in ])articular, and blind even to advantages for themselves, paramoimt to all they have acquired in llin- dostan, these merchants have again and again let slip tlie o{)portunity which two centuries of hifluence in China gave them there, solidly to establish British power, and with it to insinuate Euro])can civilization into that empire ; and, by cultivating closer intercoru'se with its Government and internal inhabitants, to reiuler the wants w% KMTnRAT[0\. 51 > lit ts Is and fancies of flic 300,000,000 inlia1)itants, of wliicli tliis vast nation is said to be composed, snhscrvicnt to the purpose of onr trade and nianufactnics, wliicli sliould tlnis lifivc l)ei'n imported largely into the very lieart and extremities of the Chinese territories : wliile, by tlic connnnnication of European liglit, tliey miglit long ago have dissipated tlie darkness of C'hinese ignorance, and van(|uislied those barbarous and injurious ])rejudiccs which can only be eiiected with great encsrgies and ample means : for example, by the residence of a British ambas- sadorial representative at I'ekin, snj)ported by ])o\verfid consular authority a})i)ointed luuler its auspices and autho- rity in every jnincipal city and sea-port ; together with the conc(xled liberty of free ingress and egress through- out the M'hole extent of this ])opulous but secluded empire. At present, all we have seciu'cd, after the most abject degradation, long submitted to imder Chinese inso- lence and caprice, by the timid, temporizing, mean and seltish conduct of the monopolizing Com])any — imd after the conseciuent necessity we were forced iukUt at last to vindicate the lumom* of Great Britain, compro- mised by the mercenary complaisance of our traders in tea, anxious only to profit vi finy price by the restiicted conunercc to which they are ;^(> jealously and contemptu- ously admitted — yes, ai'ter t! i n(;ccssity, we say, of vin- dicating our honour by a naval and military invasion, all we have gained is the 'iinbiguous T^^ edom of entry into three additional Chinese ports ! together with the continu- ance of our uneasy and precarious possession upon suffer- ance of a factory at Canton, that city, so obnoxious to the health of Huropeans by the unwholesomeness of its sur- rounding rice-swamps, a.nd the tropical ardour of its climate! We have also to add to these (piestionable ■j-m 1 1. 52 EMICiRATION. \ l I 1 If indenmitics, for so much expense and bloodshed sacri- ficed in tlic said coercive expedition, tliat precious acces- sion to tlie number of our Hritisli colonics, Uong-Konj — an insignificant speck in the Cliinese Sea — refuse of the Celestial em])ire — so insalubrious by the bad qnality of its water, its humidity, and heat, and the insnpportable miisance of its vermin, and so notorions for the evil repute of the Chinese adventurers who resort to this contemptible and nnhealthy settlement. The approval of our recent senri-accidcntal accession of an estahlishment in Borneo, nnder the mysterious and sanguinary auspices of Rajah Brooke, is indeed a contrast to our cession of the cnvia'i le Island of Java, so ignorantly and improvidcntly relinquished at the treaty of tlic last general peace.* iVlthough liorneo nmpiestion- ably is ca])able of affording incalculable advantages to this country under certain circumstances, which may occur in future, it certainly presents at this time no other benefit than the convenience of a station for our cruisers in the Indian and Chhiese seas. The hot tem- l)erature of its climate, however mitigated by the fresh breezes of the surrounding ocean ; the swampy lands which so perniciously abound upon its coast ; together with the alleged ])redatory fierceness and fickle faith of the natives, nmst still render it as nmch adverse to European settlement, as ever it has been heretofore : uidess, indeed, under circumstances to be suggested in a succeeding chapter. Meantime, except the discovery of coal recently made, it is said, among its natural products, it exhibits 4 * Ceded, in utter i<>noraiirc, at the treaty of Vienna. Holland con- siders Java worth all her colonies together. Both as a commercial and military station it is invaluable i but wc prefer Siena Leone or Hong-Kong. \ K.MICllATUJN. 53 I no new Ibaturc of attraction, even as a naval station or rendezvous, since it was last al)ancloned by Euro})ean colonists. Tliis, at least, is certain, it never can become a congenial home for British settlers. The continent of New Holland, to which forced atten- tion has so long been attracted, though more favourable than Jiorneo by its recession from the Line, and the magnitude of its extent as a receptacle for our su[>er- fluous population, still opposes innnmeral)le objections fatal to the foundation of a second England th(n'e. The first is its remote distance, whicli consumes four months of sailing navigation to attain, and which ren- ders the voyage next to impracticable by steam for all trading purposes, owing to the great amomit of stowage re(piired for fuel. Indeed, when the time necessary for the lading and unlading of cargo, and other })ort business, is compnted, the transit to that colony will be found to include an average period of half a year. Another objec- tion is, that nearly one-half the extent of this vast colony is totally unada])ted to European temperament and habits by its situation : while the sterile and im])rac- ticable nature of much of its interior, the absence of navi- gable rivers, and that worst of all impediments, not only bad water, but its liability to long droughts, — all these are prominent objections ; besides which no productions peculiar to this continent promise to maintain it as a promhieiit and independent point of maritime attraction. The necessarily open and imguarded state of its innnense coast must long continue to render it a mere nominal possession of this country : while the divergency of its site from ti;o present line of Indian and Chinese com- merce, and its distance from the American coast, places New Holland in a world apart, all but solely pi-otit- it ./.ft \ ! 5 1. K?,ll(iUATI()N. IB' II ■Ik fi able to itself, and that only by what English indnstry and capital can make it, throngh sacrifices and exertions that might most assnredly be employed with greater and more innnediate benefit nenrer home. Meantime the cost of so long a voyage, and the expense which it demands for e(nii])ment, together with the innncnsc distance of New Holland from English snpplies and liome inter- conrse, offer obstrnctions nearly amonntiiig to absolute re[)nlsion of general emigration to that remote region ; where land in the proximity of towns, the position in which it possesses the greatest advantages, is almost as dear as estates of equal magnitude in some districts of England : while allotments in the interior rigorously condenni the lu{;kless settler to lonely hardsliij) and seclusion ; with the sole cheer in all of the pros})cct of some ndc^piatc return in the second or third genei-ation. Neither has the mother-country to congratulate herself in the antici])ation of any great good from the establishment of a powerful State in thiit (juartcr; for, from the character of the settlers, and many ominous signs already manifested, there is every reason to infer that the example of the United States will not be lost upon the colonists of Australasia. Naturally turbulent in s[)irit, nourished in ultra notions of freedom, imlmed with hereditary resent- nient against the country which banislied them thither; weakened in their original ties by distance, which nuist ever render their dependence upon us irksouic, inconvc- nieut and precarious, with a character peculiarly acute, and pred'u ctio •" essentially conunercial, they, as a trading peoi)le, nidst necessarily become, in their ])eculiar posi- tion, m»a! and more enterprizing and aml)itious. Every (hiy they advance in numbers and pros[)erity, till, fast multiplied into inilhons, we may calculate upon li.MKJUATlON. .).) l)i'liol(Uiig tlicni soon assort tlicir iiulcpciuUnicc, and not only competing with us in sncccsslul rivalry in tlio connncrce of Asia, but aii'ording harbour to onr European adversaries, and supi)orted in every insolence and aggression by the encouragement and connivance of their cousins of the United States. The same objections exist with respect to New Zealand and Van Diemen's Land, and the time will indubitably arrive, uhen common interest and position will closely unite these islands in cond)ined and exclusive government, Avirh a force and resources, ott'ensive and defensive. Even at present, we behold the British emigrants, Avhen once settled in these islands, lost to us for ever ; for the labours of the soil promise long to be dedicated to the home consumption of their fellow-settlers alone ; while, as they gradually introduce manufactories, we shall shortly sec every branch of oin* Ih'itish handywork successfully enm- lated in the cities of Australasia, and from thence finding its way to the Chinese and Indian markets, in traffic for Asiatic produce, transported in Australasian shii)ping to every })ort of Juu'ope, from the j\lediterranean to the Baltic. The actual state of New Zealand is not, however, very (enticing to the reflecting emigrant ; since the inha- bitants are now raishig, at great sacrifice, a small loan for public emergencies ; but in spite of all their pre- tended prosperity, find it diificidt, if not mpo6-sidle, to accomplish it. It may be observed that Van Diemen's Land is fast involving itself hi debt ; w hilc so thhi is the flow of population to these latter colonies, in spite of all the flourish of contrary accounts, that the one, after affected resistance, is disposed to accept convict labour, and the other has already admitted it. Our next vaunted outlet for the excess of British .• it 'i-f 50 i;mi(jkatio\, ■^ - -1 ; 9 population is the Capu of (lood 1I()]K'. But licrc, ngaiu, (list.'UKT, nature, climate, and seasons, interpose irreme- diable objections. First, tlic southern extreme of Africa affords nothing, wliieli the same (piarter of the glolx^does not produce in richer (piality and (|uantity at a shorter length of sail on the very same coast, The periodical commotions and irruptions of some one or otlun- of the black nations that surround this settlement nmst ever expose it to interminable insecurity and alarm ; while the unequal (piahty of the huid interdicts all ho])e of our ever being able to condeuse the popuLation of this colony into a compact state l)est fitted for co-operatiou and defence — {I difficulty which is sure earnest of total failure in every attempt we might make to hicrease this colony to any material importance. The frecpient return, in disaj)point- ment and disgust, of emigrants from the Cape, .after the utter exhaustion of every (;nergy and uieans, presents on this subject the most emphatic comment.* After all our ofKcial efforts, and the alhu-ing persuasions of private speculation lavishly employed for years to attract settlers to this colony, its population, extending, as aforesaid, over a very wide space of land of most une([ua] diversity in quality, amounts only to 100,000. Already, in IS-l-l-, the expenses of our military establishment in that coun- try cost us more tlian fifty ])er cent, of our ex[)orts thither; Avhich in the same year, though uiiconmionly increased, amounted to a very small sum ; and yet, in despite of this inefficiency and shortcoming, we now behold the medley of naticms that compose the })()pu- lation of this settlement exciting themselves to a state * Tliis potty dependency cost, in I^^IS, £294-, 000, while our exporls in the same year were £50:^,577. The f>overnor alone has a yearly sahny equal to that of the rrcsident of the United Slates. EMICJRATION. bonloriiif^ on open violcnci' and insnrrection, ])ccanso \\v, contemplated tlie disposal of some of our less crhninal convicts, hy applyinj^; their labour to the improvement of these African possessions, and thus sought some indem- nity for the sjicritices made for the support of this dc- pendency, by relieving ourselves of the embarrassing (litlieulty occasioned by the over-thronged accunudation of prisoners gathered to our gaols. This rebellious dis- position, exhibited before on many lessyV.s7///V//>'A' occasions — the delieiency of revenue, small amount of trallickable produce, and the ruinous (jxpense to which we arc conti- nually exposed by our liability to invasion, whenever the black population of the iutv.'\or feels disposed by neces- sity, or inclination, to make .Mcursions — condemn this possession as altogether profitless and undesirable, except as a mere naval station. The West Indies, which formerly i)resented an attrac- tive tield and speedy grave to l^ritish adventurers, have long ceased to tempt enterprize in their present state of depression and bankruptcy; and if again they shoidd ever recover, their own emancipated negroes are best fitted, and are more than necessary, for all the purposes of cultivation ; while then* own ruined projH'ietors arc more than adequate for all the objects of West India couunercc. Now, after referring to these uiajor possessions, let us ask, where among our colonial appurtenances, from Labrador to Polynesia — from Heligoland to the lonians — from Gibraltar to Aden — from Vancouver's Laiul to Ceylon, and all their intermediate sprinklings of depen- dencies, continental and insular — are we possessed of one single portion of the globe fitted by climate, soil, and seasons, by convenient ))roximity, con:mercial ca[)a- bilities, and geographical facilities, to become, in the v«..j •H . .)S KM KIR n ION. '(-•■. f K •a irr('|)aral)l(j loss ol' tlu- Aiiurica!! y^U':cs, a country ('([iially adapted for the purposes of our popular extension, and to atibrd a compensation to tlie British emij^rant for tlie relin ■ :■ ■ it' ■^w i.. • s •■■ .m; :!' r fu:' Cr2 ACCLIMATTZATION, • . I. ■'■'t h II, IJ ' ■> immediate continent arc irrcconcilcablc to tlic soil of Britain. And vet, in nnreflecting opposition to all these signifi- cant signs, do we behold people of this conntry perse- vere in vain attempts to natnralizc themselves in distant lands of their adoption, altogether nnfitted for their Bri- tish hlood and spirit. Bnt, to find the congeniality of climate required, and the objects of natural production adapted to our habits and frame, "where should we look but round our own belt of latitude, where the soil is necessarily subjected in its whole ling of circumference to the same degree of solar influence ; and, therefore, disposed to yield the same products in system, character, and kind, under the same system and practice of culture and tillage? It is indeed evident that we should be better employed in our own proper section of the circle, within which it is our physical and moral interest to continue, instead of deserting the post as- signed to us by nature, to cower beneath her incle- mency at the poles, or pant beneath her intensity in the tropics. Thus British blood is seen to thrive most geni- ally in those continental countries which lie eastward on the same geographical parallel with ourselves; and from the Baltic to the north of France, from Denmark to Moscow, and further on round our native circle, an Englishman is habitually found as easily naturalized to the soil, as he is invariably seen to reconcile himself almost immediately to the predominant habits which there obtain ; and never does he appear more at home than when settled in Northern Germany, and countries in the same line of easting, where, inclined by tempera- ture and disposed by custom, he instinctively assimilates with the race, and generates offspring no way deterio- r.' ii of AfCLIMATTZATTON. Gl] r.atcd in body and spirit from tlic Anglo-Saxon blood of his inheritance. Wlio donbts that a British popnlation, m-ban or agricultural, wonld prosper better at IIand)nrgh or Berlin than at jMadrid or Naples ? And that even Stock- holm, or St. Petersburg, as a home, were, in reality, uiort! natural to British constitutions and natural tastes than a sultry and enervating sojourn in such cities as Paler nio, or Constantinople ? Nay, we doubt whether the natiu'al and unsophisticated Englishmen, unseduced by po(^try and prejudice, would not rather prefer the vigorous cli- mate of Courland and Lithuania, to the sunshiny glare of floral Tuscany. If, then, the regions lyhig within the same range of latitude with ourselves are found, upon experience, to be best adapted to our English nature, how irrational is the infatuation which carries so many of our roving popula- tion to make choice of climates so widely divergent from the temperate zone ! And, who among us, being once accustomed to life in Denmark, Prussia, or Poland, while forced at the same time to abandon England, would not prf fer a lasting home in those countries where the soil and its culture, the seasons and their temperatm^e, the connnerce and customs, bear such affinity to those of our own native home, rather than languish in alien dis-con- iiection with some more luxurious country of our choice in the south ; where both mind and body, in defiance of every eftbrt of our will, must ever refuse to matriculate ? But if it holds good that our British nature thrives best, in all its undeteriorated vigour, when attracted to the countries that lie level with us on the cast, why should not the same favourable effect attend us on the west ? It is because the prospect is enliven€d with the spectacle of powerful and prosperous nations, rich in civilized cities, n 4 ',- -■,4-. Y. ■ ■ \ ■ !('!. Lir;: ■1 "ir' m '!l: (54 ACCLIMATIZATTOX. in the one direction ; and tliut the disconragcnicnt of neglected settlements and howling wastes repel us from the other. But still the most eligible country of all this earth, for the purposes of British establishment, is Canada ; and, amidst all our colonial embarrassment of wealth, it has been, wo repeat, our common and most improvi- dent practice to undervalue or ignore the paramount ad- vantages offered to us by the possession of this true land of ])romise, fertile in prairies, and abounding in wood and w^ater, everywhere exhibiting capabilities and resources far beyond the attractions of Nature in these islands, when our Saxon ancestors were tempted to colonize them. Who has ever siu'veyed the cultivated lands of Canada, and visited her infant cities, without predicting that her future fate will be among the most prosperous and im- portant of nations ? Who ever visited Quebec and Mont- real, and, whilst they admired the singular oeauty of their busy streets and charming aspect of their surrounding gardens, did not reflect, in astonishment with the view, on the stupid and imprudent indifference entertained by England towards dependencies flourishing in such fast- increasing magnitude and affluence ? Who ever pene- trated to the Canadian back-woods, and contemplated a regular and judicious clearing, executed by some colonist of enterprise and judgment, without experiencing a senti- ment of admiration as they witnessed the singular agricul- tiu-al aptitude of the country, responding with such ready crops to the very first touch of human tillage ? What glorious lakes, what noble rivers, what luxuriance of natural vegetation, and equable uniformity of tempera- ture, regulating each season, distinguish the prepossess- ing aspect of Canada ! True, the climate is objectionably frigid in winter ; but so is all the north of Europe — I Af'Cl-IMATlZATION, 05 SO is Great Britain ; ami, from Octol)or till April, liow bleak and unattractive must l)e lier Majesty's hite retreat at lialmoral, where few, we think, would not covet possession of a smnmer residence in the same northerly region, whose princely nian^-ions, ma£>;niticeut ])arks, im- proved liusbandry, and model gardens, are gradually luanifesting what science and taste cau effect even close to the COth })arallel north. Yes : the winters of Canada are uncomfortably, perhaps intoiscli/, cold; but so would be those of some of the most favoured countries of Em-ojie, did thcv still continue in iill their uncultured vir";initv; their forests unclearOvl, their marshes undrained, and the whole unbroken surface unstimulated bv manure, and un- protected from sweeping winds by walls, dykes, or hedges -. this, too, in the absence of all winter provision, and those artificial means to vanquish the hard rigours of winter, so actively and variously cultivated in I'^uropcan countries, without which their territories would be \m in- habitable. Locate a Russian, or Swedish familv. duriiif? one single winter on some uncultivated English heath, in the absence of all civilized comforts : let him there be imperfectly lodged, indifferently provisioned, estranged by impassable roads and intervening Avastes from intercom- munication with other settlements, with his present dreari- ness unrelieved by any prospect of assured amelioration ; and then let us ask whether such experimental resident Avould not report an English Avinter rather long and sonic- 2vhnt intolerable ? A Canadian summer has also been represented as insuf- ferably hot ; but just so would an English July feel to one exposed to its scorching influence, without the protection of more shelter and shade than is afforded by such rude and incommodious " Shanties," as European emigrants ■• 'IV '•.'•iX'y.'. ,--•:< r,>V *'■"•■ ■ '■^^'-'I'U •7. . ; (K) ACCM.MATIZATIO.V. i^^ru'-' \ ' .'^ ■ il' '' 1 ■ ■ I ■; r ■ li ■ an; wont to occupy (luring tlicir first probation of forest life in C'annda. Our indifference for these remnants of our North American ])ossessions has its origin in impres- sions very old and erroneous ; arising from the con- t(!mpt wo affected to attach to them, when composing a dependency of b'rance — }n'etending to regard this colony as a mere "/;/-v a/^cr" of our antagonists in the absence of better accpiisitions, and thus habitually identifying it ■with Cape Breton, or confounding it with Labrador — a scorn more exultingly cherished in th(^ proud s\ipposi- tion of our superior advantage in possessing the milder countries beyond its southern frontier; ])recisely as a Devonshire proi)rietor might depreciate the lands of ]\Iid Lothian, and confound them with the snowy regions of Cairngorm. The splendour, too, of our \Yest Indian Colonies, so long the source of our richest mercantile connnodities, and our subsequent acquisitions in tlu; b'ast, blinded us to the less da/zling, but more substan- tial, advantages derivable from our possession of Canada. Nay, singular to say, the very loss of our Anglo-Ameri- can States, by the revolutionary war, seemed to heighten our indifference for Canada even to disgust, by the poor tigiu'e she seemed to make, Avhen compared wdth the more po})idous and more prosperous colonies wrested from us. Too exclusively engaged by our subsequent wars with France, to correct this injurious opinion in time, and diverted, since that period, by the extension of our triumphs in hidia, and our many badly-conceived and ill -combined projects of colonization elsewhere, Canada has been suffered to continue under disparagement. Neglected and misgoverned until now, when she might prove our surest salvation and promptest safety-valve, we find her resentinii: ovn* indifference, and almost dis- I Af ri.lMATIZATloN. (17 I posed and ready to deliver lierselt' from oui' ciireless hands, to swell the power of a rival we seem untirin case of ninety out of a lunuh'(ul) — the toil, the perplexity, and length of time consumed may easily be conceived! lie has next to extir|)at(! a portion of the clumps and roots, whose formidable and capacious Hbres, everywhere intersecting tlu; soil, oppose the spade and plough inch by inch ; and when at last the tedious and oj)erosc task is accomplished, the crop wrested from the maiden earth is useless bc^yond the labourer's own home consumption, for there arc no p\u'chasers in his vicinity ; or, when at length practicable roads are cut through the desert he inhabits, the only distant towns he can Jittain have their markets already glutted with the [)roduce of his competitors, Xay, very fre([uently, he is far remote from every Hour-mill, saw-mill, forge, and dispensary ; and consc(piently nnist feel condemned to the fate of the shipwrecked mariner, cast destitute on a desolate coast. These are hardships, which thousands are unable to sur- vive, but perish of hunger and misery, if they do not succeed in disposing for a scanty consideration of their half-cleared lands to some more fortunate adventurer ; thus to reconnnence their prodigicMis aiul ungrateful toil in some deeper solitude, or entirely to relinquish the t ACCf,IM.\ri/,ATlnN I luibits and ])ursiiits ol" civili/cd lilr t(» ciuuliitr the ivd siivugc! of tlic wild. Such is ( aiiiidii, towards its interior, inu'iu'oura.ircd 1)y (jovi'rnniciit, and al)andon('d to tlic iinpovt'rislu'd nicaiis of [)rivat(' eiitcrprizc. I^it oiici' supported l>y tlic Crowu — assisted with capital, fortilied aud relieved hy c'O-ope ration, and their proeee(hn .*.' ,: ■■ t ' ■/ vr ■ ?■• '■■■ji |f":i' 74 ACCLIMATIZATION, tered coast. In confiniuitioii of wliicli the Aniericaii papers, corroborated by private letters of Jainiaiy 1849, stated that then — " Emigrants wcyg pouring in from every port of the Pacific to California — from Mexico, Peru, the Sandwich Islands, Oregon, from British India, Chhia, and the whole of that region — all furnishing emigrants for California." " In less than a year (they j)redicted), there will probably l)c a population of from 100,000 to 200,000 settlers." And the Thues, of the 16th August, 1849, reported as follows : — " llong-Kong has been swxpt of supplies for California. A number of wooden houses have been there constructed for the new American settlement. An active trade with that island and California w^as confidently anticipated, and the native craft of llong-Kong were engaged in the transit commerce of California." Now, in this remarkable movement, simultaneously stirring the wdiole globe, is there not matter suggestive of stupendous benefit to this country? For with a continental territory of such vast extent as our Canadas, lying so invitingly l)etween us and the new commercial arena opening in the Pacific, together with so many of our intervening dependencies scattered over the southern seas, are we to remain passive spectators of this grand drama of maritime intercourse, wdiich is assembling all nations upon the Pacific waters, without availing our- selves of our paramount faculty and means of converting the impulse to our principal advantage ? Let the reader, with this general movement in view, just contemplate the map, and see if v/e are not stupidly obtuse in not securing the incalculable benefits which the opportunity now offers to Great Britain ; and judge, if it were not i ACCLIMATIZAIMON, 75 suicidal criuiiiuility, should wc hcsitato any longer to profit by this Califurnian mania, to assume the immediate lead and direction of the South Sea movement ; thereby to attract those congregating interests to a British centre ? For with so vast and undivided a tract of the north- west coast of America under our sway, stretchiug from the pole to the very confines of the spot thus suddenly endowed with such magnetic influence, what excuse have Avc for refusing this indirect appeal to our obvious power ? True, our portion of the north-western territories is, for all we know, destitute of the inviting attraction of actual gold; but our genius, our industry, and universal in- fluence, can soon enrich them with an ecpiivalent. Nature presents us with the means, in the happy [)osition of Vancouver's Land : the Canadian lakes open a half-way access to this promising ])oint, through the heart of our own possessions ; and from the Avestcrn point of Lake Superior, modern invention })resents prompt and familiar means ; were we only to bridge the interme- diate space between these halfway waters and our north- west harbour. At the bare thought of so rapid and direct a cliannel betwixt Europe and Asia, what pictures of certain prosperity and grandeur, enterprize and acti- vity, crowd upon the mind,* with the prospect of a wil- * We cannot help here being reminded of some lines of Tennyson, a poet we do not generally much admire, which we will quote without fear of injuring the matter-of-fact of our prose; as being apposite to our su' iect. " For, I dipp'd into the futiu'c, far as hur eye could see, Saw the vision of the world and all the wonder that would be ; Saw the heavens filled with commerce, argosies of magic sails ; Pilots of the purple twilight, dropping down with costly bales ; Till the war-drum throbb'd no longer and the battle Hags were furl'd hi the Parliament of man, the federation of the worUl." J, ^ ti: '■^:i; i>^r.\.- i. . ..; 'Mm .4.y. 70 ACCLIMATIZATION. derness peopled — a remote ocean converted to an imme- diate and familiar high-road — and regions teeming with countless myriads, liitherto only reached by tedious circumnavigation of the globe, brought to intimate con- nection, as it were, at our very door — pictures we cannot contemplate without exclaiming — England arouse ! Mi- nisters awake ' ;^ ,ii: |) ime- with lious con- mot Mi- CHAPTER TV. UNITED STATES. The imposing spectacle of the United States, in all the busy stir of her amazing procuress and growing grandeur, reflects at once the greatest glory and shame upon this country ; glory, because it is the work of our own hands, and shame, because we so blindly forfeited an appanage of such transcendent value and importance. Had we demeaned ourselves with the tenderness and affection towards this child of our creation, which an infancy of such vigour and promise demanded, we should now be the most powerful and magnificent nation upon earth ; whilst we should have been protected by an overwhelm- ing force against the imminent dangers and ruinous expenditure, incurred so soon after the forfeiture of this superb colony, from the envious and vindictive hostility of imperial France. But Providence, in salutary wisdom, decreed that England should err and America revolt, in order, perhaps, to check the triumph of our pride and preserve the independence of the world. Erom the moment of her separation, the States Union has steadily augmented in a strength and importance, without example in the history of nations ; till we behold the children of those broken soldiers and dispirited secta- rians, those bankrupt citizens and ejected peasants, expa- triated from our shores, rivalling us in power, defying us on :m :.£ m *V1 ,.,■,'•■(•- 'Ji, 78 rNITI'l) STATRS. 1^;. «*-, -.ff- 1 4 !,, land, and boarding us at sea, with an ainums singularly invctci'atc, and Ircqucntly provocative of warm resent- ment, in ominous e.'U'uest of desperate collision at no very distant date. That antagonism, which is qualified in us by competition with so m;uiy nations, America concentrates (entirely against England : she hates us with a hate Avhich quondaDi fricnids and angry kinsmen can only feel. The spirit of animosity to all that is English is even fostered in the very cradle, throughout the whole of these implacable States ; and the bare name of our country is seldom pronounced, from New England to Florida, without some accompanying expression of invective and contempt. Imbued Avitli the Saxon cnterprize, and bred to the same pursuits, maritime and commercial, with ourselves, their jealousy is constantly opposed to our proximity, or contending wdtli ns in bitter competition in some arena abroad, where they have too often, for the generation of better blood, to brook the mortification of our ascendancy, and yield to our success. Were this feeling liable to subside, its bitterness would still be constantly resuscitated by the shoals of exasperated malcontents, rejected insolvents, and criminal runagates, we are constantly vomiting upon their shores. With this spirit of enmity, groAving with their growth and strength- ening w ith their strength, what have we not to apprehend from their matured energies, if they still increase in the same numerical proportion wdiich marks their progress in later years ? We shall behold them, ere long, possessed of competent })ower to indulge the hju'shcst dictates of their jealous hate. With them, there is no high-minded and chi- valrous Court to treat witli our Crown, and defer to the intermediary counsels and opinions of allied princes ; no generous and enlightened aristocracy to temper and i UNITED STATKS. 79 restrain the brute impulse of popular passion. With tlieui, (lovcrnnieut is the people, and the people are the enemies of our name, opposed, as repuhlieans, to our institutions ; and, as successful rebels, inveterate in their hostility to our power.* To judge of their spcicdy future, by the recent past, let us only review the progress of these States shice their independence in 17S3. First, they aggrandized their power by the accpiisition of the extensive territory of Louisiana ; while conthiuing to advance with such accelerated ])ros])erity and strength, that, with an eye to Canada, they fearlessly vohuitcered a second war in defiance of our numerous fleets, then in the full flush of universal triumph. Next, they menaced Quebec itself with invasion, and disputed with the most persevering intrepidity the mastery of the Lakes. Then, having thus tested their strength at home, they proved their faculty of vindicating their power against any w^lio woidd dare to transgress against them, by i)arading their prowess in the Mediterranean. Soon after tlw^y threat- ened to coerce Spain, and hectored her into the cession of the Floridas. By a system of insidious manoeuvres and bold adventiu'e, they next absorbed the Texas ; till, fortified by the consciousness of might, they did not hesitate once more to defy our resentment by openly tampering with Canadian sedition ; and, arrogantly re- pelling our claims to the common right of navigating the Columbia, and contesting every inch of our present boundary line, they seemed disposed to expel us to the * This is, abstractedly, too severe ; whilst true, with reference to the opposing interests of the two nations. They do hate ns from a sense of present and past inferiority ; but it remains to be seen, and therefore the ([uestion at present is not ripe for judgment, to what degree of perfec- tion a government, ah initio repul)lican, may arrive. — Ed. ;<^^', I -• n 1. fc;l;l| ■r ■.•il .i: -m-', 80 CMTKI) STATES. ;"*■ V ■ M i; :'^i hyperborean wastes of tlie extreme north ; and tliis with their customary meiiaees against the inde])enthMice of Canada — a querulous au(hicity, which, it is apinvhended, has imposed upon us a hasting cause of regret for the too easy acquiescence to their nominal possession of the un- tenanted regions of the trackless Missouri, extorted from our love of peace, or rather inability to go to war. They next ])reparcd for the subjngatiou of Mexico, betraying, by m hundred tongues in Congress, and the insolent cohnnns of a thousand newspapers, their desire that no other flag, save the starred and striped ensign of the States Union, should fly throughout the North American continent, from Cohunbia to the Pole. Mean- time, vying with us in agriculture, connnerce, and manu- factures, maritime adventures, and general science — nay, approaching us in the adaptation of many of the grandest inventions of the age* — they strove to forestal us in the * The preference shown by llussiii to American engineering and science, over EngUsh, is highly significant." There is a singuhir ap- proximation of feeling in those two governments so widely dissimilar from each other. America is not jm/ons of Russia. There is no broken domestic tie there. Europe lies between, and a coalition of these two powers may, at some no very distant date, grind both bankrupt England, and revolutionary France, Their interests will only clash in the far future ; when the civilized world may become either Muscovite or Ame- rican. The Emperor Napoleon spoke of the former, as likely enough ; * The railroad betwfcr? St. Petersburg and IMoscow is chiefly con- structed by Ameriear engineers. The Emperor Nicholas expressed himself lately much discontented with British engineering with refer- ence particularly to the bridge built over the Wolga. With regard to the future proceeilings of llussia, who doubts that she intends, ere long, to make a dash at Constantinople? It is a continual subject of conversation ani'd Russian officers and artillerymen ; and in the exercises at their military colleges, a prize is often awarded for the best sketch of " La prine de Con hI cod') no pic T 1 I MTi:i» -r \'i r,s. b\ best markets, and roiiipc'e with our mci'caiitilc navy on the fartlu'st seas; alimented all this time hy a (.'oiitiiuial iiifiiix ot'emigranls tVom eviTv couiitiy in Kui'()j)e, and par- ticularly favoured in this respect hy the revolutions and discontents which have driven millions to tlw InitedSlates. Thus they have not only witnessed tlie territories of their eastern coast glutted with fresh accessions of i'Ju'opean settlers, hut even their interior tilling with a vast spread- ing population. Cities upon cities are seen rising in the very heart of those vast lands and farthest limits, all wonderfullv facilitated and maintained, in beneficial con- nection, by tin; longest and most numei'ous railroads in the world, by the multiplication and general ap])liance of scieiititic discoveiies and improvements, the universal practice of transport by steam, and every other imagin- able means of facile intercommunication, till, enabled at last to divert the tide of immigration, so long and con- stantly confined to their eastern sea-board, or to the settlements founded on the western skirts of these, they have arrived at a period when they arc able to dispense with all fresh accessions of po])ulatijn on the Atlantic, in order to direct their views to the settlcmeiiis : cwly acquired on the Pacific. These settlements have long been coveted in obvious necessity by the Government of the United States, as an indispensable object to be attained for the completion and consolidation of American power, by ^'M^ "'P^'^ but America was then not sufficiently developed to strike liis prophetic vision, as she would do now. Railroads are the veins of her new strength, as they are likely to be the arteries, by which we bleed, like a foolish suicide at the blind command of necessity. They are the wires, by which wc would secure rottenness ; for which a more lingering decay were provided under the old system of non-contact. All this is only meant, should the grand scheme, we propose, attended by other wise and patriotic measures, not be adopted. G ,■■;■■■ vl. -.1 . S'> CMTKI) STATKS. u ^ crcctiiip:, oil tlu' opposite iiiiirti;iii of tliis pnrtiiilly inlia- l)it('(l coiitiiit'iit, !i new train of Sliites iiiid scu-bonrd riti(;s, as coiniiiodioiisly sitiuitcd for direct luid t'xpedi- lioiis trade witli Asia, the Soiitli Sen Islands, and Noi'tli-west (islieries, as tlie loiipf line of original States stand conveniently (lis|)osed for the traliic of l<]nropc. Skilled l)y the oldest and boldest practice of railroad transit and stc^ani navigation, it was not ditlicult to cal- culate that their greatest wonders were yet to be pcr- foi'ined by the annihilation of distance, l)ringing Asia and l''in()])e to meet in direct line. The acnte people of America were iKjt slow to ])erceivc that snch a land- jnnction of the two vast oceans would ncc(>ssarily con- stitute their intermediate territories the grand viaduct lietween the two elder conthients, earnest for a traiKe that would attract the major bulk of the world's wealth to stream in a constant flood of reciprocated activity over snch an {ms[)icious tract. To effect then this stni)en- dons object, it became imperative that the long-meditated invasion of Mexico should be (/e facto accomplished, ])reliniinary to their acquisition of the coast settlements they anxiously coveted. Dissimulating their real intent, even when their plan was m.atured, they marched to the coiujuest of a city, the possession of which they regju'detl secretly as a mere means to an end, pregnant with consequences far more vital and important than the simple seizure of the iMexican capital, which, though soon subjected to their discretion, they I'eserved, like the apple in the monkey's jaw, " first mouthed, to be last swallowed ;" and, with a moderation beginning now to be well imderstood, they magnanimously compounded with the vancpiished for that central portion of the North Pacific coast so convenient for the commerce of that sea, I T VNITMl) STATUS. H3 I i imd so iM(lispcnsal)ly necessary as an (mtlct for tlio produce of tli(3 fast spreading: coniiminities of liOuisiana and Mis- souri, and Ix'ttcr situated tlmn Acapulca for the re- newal of the Asiutic connnerco whieli once rendered the latter eity so renowned in coinuiereial history. For tlie (/uhfornian jjorts, besich's l)eing paralh'l with tlie peopled tei'ritories of the T'nited States, are less e\])osed to agn'ression thiui those })lace(l upon the narrow necl\ compressed by the iMexican Gulf and Pacific, and c^x- ])osed at any time to interruption from the hostility of Columbia. No sooner, then, was tlie accession of the Californian prize accom])lislu!d, than some feigned inducement of })()werful effect became indispensabhj to enlist recruits for tliis new colony, and divert the current of inflowing settU;rs from their nsual destination to tlie eastern shore ; but, as the newly- acquired country was all but unknown and next to deserted, the ancient fables of its auriferous fecundity admirably sufficed for the purpose ;* and the most exaggerated statements were consccpiently disseminated throughout the world, at the instigation of the United States' Government, by which the cupidity of the credulous of every country was stimulated to adven- ture in the golden delusion. So potent and effective has been the exciting dose administered by the crafty niystifiers, that, in spite of the amlnguous and conflicting i^'V'. * It is impossible, as yet, to speak with certainty upon the existence or non-existence of {^old in such quantities. The last accounts are, perhaps, more deserving of credit. There arc many reasons why the currency of the world should not hitherto be cflceted. The gold, in whatever quantities it is found, is still only circulated amongst its original finders, and the speculative plunderers who have hurried to the spot. No doubt there arc exaggerations, both accidental and deli- berate. (i 2 V7 84 IJNI'IKI) STATl'.S. I. :1J accounts on tlic sul)icct of lorhincs tolx; anmsscd in that country, so pcrplcxin*"; by llic counter-statements of ruin and disaster atlendant upon Californian speculation, and all ns creditably autiienlieatc'd as tlu' nuraculous jjjold- tindinj,% lliat the world still continues to flood ('aiifoi'uia with its advent lu'i'i's — attendeil by this certain result at best, that the disapponili-d must still make the best of theii- voya;^^' at a distance so remote from their homes, ami any other nei^hboiu'iuii; settlement sncciunb to ne- cessity, and so resi_u;n to swell the nund)er of American population inti'uded to increase and flourish on the Pa- cific, to the discomlitur(! and total futme eclipse of the English co-partnei's of the shore. Klated by tlie entire success Avhich has so far attended the colossal scheme associated with the formation of this colony, and the proven incapacity of Mexico to resist, whenever it will become expedient for the Tnion to swallow her, the Americans have oidy to «i-et rid of our flag in Canada to realize their dearest ambition of cond)ining in their single and undivided possession tluMvliolc of the North American continent, from the Gulf of l)ari<'n to the Frozen Seas. In this favourite design, what tortuous machinations and insidious intrigues have they not evni)loyed ever since the declaration of their inde- pendence, principally to nndermhie our power in Canada, and seduce its inhabitants into insubordination and revolt ; till now, scorning the decent disguise of any farther mask, we find them audaciously engaged in obvions league and traffic with all the discontented and revolutionary portion of our Canadian colonists ; exciting them through the agency of active missionaries to emu- late their rebelhon, renounce allegiance to England, and deliver themselves over, by a grand insurrectionary act i « UN IT i; I) STATKS. 85 a, of wlioU'siilc transfer, to tlu.' I'liitt'd States — this moral invasion, and coniincst of onr subjects and territories, to be called " jtnnc.vafloir — u threatened measure of such exorl)il;int damafje to this coimtry, that the aecpiisition of no other colony could coiupensale for it, — which, if carried into fatal tscctition, would not only sink us, on the \ery instimt, in the estimation of llurope, hut woidd be tile si'nial of univeipial revolt with everv other ih'itish dependency . while America, frc<'d from all further ol)stael(! and com[)etition in the wide extent of her con- tinental dominion, would, in her immediate power to Avield a whole world, earnestlv direct her exclusive attention and incri'asiui' means to construct arma- nients and fleets to (lis[)ute with us our supremacy of the sea, ami the farther exercise of our mercantile ascendancy in Asia. Ay, this, wilh the approval of all Europe, slie would attempt single-hamled, even were she not gladly aided and supported hy the cond)ined ])Ower of so many nations, which our unparalleled pros- ])erity and trium])hs have so long ecli[)se(l and humi- liated. Nay, so im})atieut are the Vnited States to com[)lete this grand woi'k of their secret conception, that they scarcely permit themselves to bide their time, and Mait in expectant inaction the calculated course of Canadian treason. ihit while the plot of perfidy and rebellion j)rogresses in U[)pcr Canada, we have just beheld the unscrupulous and audacious subjects of the I'nited Stat(>s piratically arming for a partisan invasio;; T Cuba, in contempt of the reigning peace and the laws oi nations, deterred only from so lawh ss a deed by the actual presence; of a British fleet in the West Indies. Chatini; meantime, under the irri- tating restraint thus op])osed to the eager work of their Vt ^> ■'i 80 UNITED STATES. ::!' :.&^ m r 1; i ambition, flu; United States contiimo to betray the che- rished secret of their ulterior object by a thousand signi- ficant indices, and impatiently let slip to the world by incessant publications emanating from the rulers of the Union themselves. In August last, the American papers {umounced as follows : — " Tlie United States' Commissioner of the General Land Office has made his report with regard to that part of the United States territory not yet formed into States. He shows that in surface it will make forty-six such States as Pennsylvania ; each containing 28,000,000 of acres. Should such division ever take place, thirty-five of these would be Free States, according to the proposed Missouri compromise line, which marks the parallel of 30 1 degrees of latitude as the limits, north of which no slavery shall exist. Or, should Oregon, California, and ^iiw Mexico, separate themselves, leaving the llocky ]\Iountains as the division between the Pacific and At- lantic States, the Atlantic Union would contain fifty- seven and the Pacific Union nineteen separate States : each of the latter being of the same size as Pennsylvania, and four times as large as the kingdom of Holland." Do not such schemes portend most formidable conse- ([uenccs to England in the future ? Do not such specu- lations, under the circumstances of American implication in the causes of Canadian perturbations, speak voliunes ? And would not the separation of the States into two great divisions — still offensively and defensively com- bined, as is thus suggested — render the necessity of the northern division ac(|uiring indenniity on the side of Canada, almost imperative, if it would maintahi its strength, dignity, and importance ? And is it not self- evident, in the face of all this parade of ambitious I '^' ^0)1 UNITED STATES. S7 ■-I aspiration, tliat, unless some timely clicck be interposed between the intent and the fruition, posterity will have to curse the memory of those British statesmen ^vh() lived when the American horizon tirst assumed the portentous sign of the gathering storm, and yet devised no early remedy to protect our children from *^ie peril ? The external views and glowing hopes, entertained on the strength of their Californian accjuisition, will be better illustrated by extracts from their own most accredited prints ; and will fully bear out the object we impute to their policy, wliicli is to supersede us in the advantage of position, and steal a march upon us in the conunerce of the Southern and Chinese seas, in a direct line of con- nection with the continent of Europe, by the halfwiiy medium of American land. A New York })aper of July, 1849, in alludi'ig to Cahfornian affairs, says : — " New York, and her sister cities, will be the centre of all the consequent j)rosperity attendant on the new settle- ment. Ship-building will increase in value ; steaud)oats will be wanted in incalculable (piautity ; and the rail- roads projected across the istlunus in various phices in Mexico and Central America will be pushed to comple- tion. We Should not be surprised to see an active attempt made, under the auspices of the Federal Govern- ment, to construct a voad through the south pass, from St. Louis, and other parts of the Mississippi, to San Francisco." Another, of a later date, observes that — " The United States' scheme of railway from A^era Cruz to Acjipulca has been introduced into Congress. It is proposed to prefer the Tuantepee route to that of Panama : they arc workhig a public road across the Tuantepee ; removing the obstructions of the river Coatzacostes, and the liar- '.'I ■ ■*^:" ;■.*.■ . ■.•(*■' 8S UNITED STATES. •5 ■.?!,: •Is If })oiii' of the north of San Dionisio. It is calciihitcd that in the middle of April, 1850, the whole Avill be completed for passengers and merchandize." A Boston paper re- marks : — " The finding of these golden mines of Cali- fornia is more important than any previons event of the last three hmidred years. Within five years, there will be a railroad from the Atlantic Ocean across the American continent, throngh the Gold region, to the Bay of San Francisco. I'hc people of San Francisco will ill en coiumimicate, hy teh'fjraph, in a few minutes; and the mails will be taken on one side in fourteen days to Canton, and to London in nine days; so that in- telliyence may Ije conveyed from one end to the other in the short period of twenty-three days. This will be witnessed in fire years'' Another American journal observes tis folloAvs : — " The Galloway steamers, now establishing, will reduce the passage from the British shores to Halifax to six days' run. The new passage under immediate contemplation, if not already begun, from the Atlantic to the Pacitic, by the istlunus of Panama, will Kiuit the land transit to twelve hours. TIk; Atlantic terminus is to be cstablislied at Navy Bay. This entcrprizo, it is contem})latc(!, will be completed in eii>*ht years. Navv Bav has been SL-Iectcd to avoid the unhealthiness of Chagres. A city is to be built on the north-east of the bay," &c. &c. (Src. Now, as if these projected cuttings and transit lines run in competition with each other betwixt ocean and ocean, across the face of America, were not enough, we find an extract from the New Y^ork correspondent of our Times of August 23, 1S49, to the foUowhig effect ; and to which ive most especially call attention : — " The Chamber of Commerce of this city (New York), fn I'MTED STATES, 89 i -^n have been for some weeks, through their committee, engaged in the investigation of the rehxtive merits of various projects, formed in different parts of the country, for constructing a railroad connnunication })et\veen the Atlantic and the Pacific. The result of their investiga- tion is published this morning, and is decidedly in favour of the plan brought forward l)y jNIr. Whitney, regarding which I gave a very full account in my lett(>r to the Tii//r6' of July 17. At a meeting of the Chamber, yes- terday, the following resolutions were adopted, which evidence the a})proval of this body of the proposed plan in its conception and details : — Whereas, the construc- tion of a railroad, to connect the Atlantic with the Pacific hi a direct line across the continent, has become of vital importance ; and whereas, the plan of Mr. "\V hit- nev, of New York, for the construction of such a com- munication in its leading features, as well as the favour it has met with from a large portion of the peo])le, dis- embarrasses the undertaking from sectional and consti- tutional objections, whi(;h have so often impeded in- ternal iiui)rovements, therefore, it is Resoiaed that avc highly a])prove the great features of Mr. A\'hitney's plan for the construction of a railroad from the Michigan to the Pacific ; and that we earnijstly reconnnend its imme- diate adoption by Congress. Resolved, that a copy of these resolutions be transmitted to the Ihiited States' seuiitors and mend)ers of Congress, from this district," &c. In ])roof that this gigantic and portentous scheme was no ephemeral fantasy invented in the north, and so near our Canadian lines, merely to keep pace with the reported i)roj(^cts of similar undertakings hi the south, the preceding was followed up by mi article in our Times, of September '21, IS 49, as follows : — ^ t; 'mt^ ■■ '''';.'-'" 90 UNITED STATES. ,1 !.I if. j|_ Pq. I' ( ■ i ii 'I J 1/ . ;l ) L ^ I " The Eiiglisli public are aware that a project lias been put forward by a i\Ir. Whitney, of New York, for a rail- way to the Pacific, the length of which would be 3,G30 miles ; but, perhaps, neither the i)racticability of the work, nor the extent to which it has found favour in America, has been sufficiently a])j)reciated. iMr. Whitney ])ro- poses that the route should commence at Lake Micliigan, at which point there is already steam comnnniication to New York, and that it should thence proceed to Cali- fornia. For the construction he asks no capital ; but simply that Congress should grant thirty miles of hnid, on each side of th(; line, at 1 per cent, per acre, which land is at the present, for most part, Avorth nothing, and coidd only be brought into value by the opening of the road. Possessed of this grant, the projector would rc- (juire sutficient to be sold to complete a section of ten miles : and as the land, at the conmiencement of the route, would be in settled districts, and therefore, unlike the rest, would fetch immediately a good ])rice, he would not only have no difficulty in finishing this section, but would have considerable su})})lie3 of property on each side of it for future contingencies. The construction of the first ten miles being completed, by the sale and set- tlement of the land through which it would run, the next ten miles, instead of starting from an unimproved and unpeopled s])ot, would then pass through a district rendered valuable by the population which had advanced towards it ; and in this way, bit by bit, the work would be steadily completed. For eight hundred miles the country through which the road would have to traverse would be of the best description of settlement, more than five hundred miles being Avithout tind)er ; and, so tar from the sup})0sed grant of thirty nnles on each side being UNITED STATES. 01 likely to interfere unfavourably with the revenue from the public land, there can be little doubt the tide; of settlers it would attract would ultimately enhance the value of the surrounding ungranted districts to a degree far l)eyond what they would have produced but for the existence of the railroad. For seven years — that is to say, ever since the seiilement of the Orer/on — the projector has laboured at the scheme ap})arently Avith increasing confidence in its feasibility, although with little encou- ragement, until the discoveries of California frroiff/ht the putjiic to his side. But there are still more diflicidties to overcome in the sha})c of local jealousies ; several States of the Union being ready to oppose the general plan, in order to support any other route that would run rhrouf/h their own lands. The select committee in Congress, however, to whom it was referred, have declared it to be as simple as it is vast, and that they see no insurmountable dilii- culties in the way of its successful accomj)lishment. It has also received the ap})roval of nineteen different States, in most of which the desirableness of the scheme has been universally urged. Mr. Wliitney calculates that the whole line might be comjjleted in lifteen years ; and there arc some who believe that, if it were to succeed, America must become the axle upon which the ivhole world would revolve. It would, it is remarked, place New York within twenty-five days, and London within thirty- seven days, of China, and oi)en the immense \\ ild(;rness of American waste lands, with its very fine soil, to the overgrown po})ulations of Europe, and Asia. One fea- tm*e of the plan is, that in (/ranting the now valueless lands the Government are to run no risk of granting thein hi vain. It is proposed that two hundred miles of the road should be surveyed, and ten miles of it brought .4'. ■<; A' ■h.' ... ,,.f; :!■ ,T. ■:■ »' ■ ■ ■. T:, ' '/■;>.? ::^;^^ '. /■:.A'4'. .■.»■ 92 UNITED STATES. ' ' - ( ,1 . /. V into working order, before a single acre of the land shall be sold to reimburse the outlay ; and, even then, only the half of the thirty miles, on the sides of the com- pleted section, are to l)c given up — the other half, as Avell as the })ortion of the line that has been constructed, being rcfnined by the Government as seciu'ity for the completion of the renuiinder. A bill, enabling him to commence the road, will be brought forward the next session of Congress, and its success or rejection Avill form one of the most interesting (juestions of the present times. Thus far the novelty and vastness of the ])lan have con- stitut(>d the only grounds for scepticism ; but, with the history of Fulton and Dewitt Clhiton before us, it hardly seems probable that an objection of this kind could long prove a bar to Amcricjui enterprizc." Amidst the nudtitudc of such reports, so long and widely circulating through the United States, one thing seemed indubitable — namely, that tlie scheme of a rail- road betwixt both oceans woidd be immediately carried ijito execution ■somcirhcre, if not at different points ; transit across the continent being but of indirect advan- tage to such States as would be placed by their north or south situation remote from the line selected. Now, while everything tended, and still /c/uk, to confirm opinion that the grand project will yet be practised where it can- not but most vitally affect us — namely, in the vicinity of our Canadian colonies — we are suddenly surprised by the astounding intelligence that the States have not onlyout- manccvred us in diplomatic cunning, by contracting a clandestine treaty with the Government of Nicaragua, to the effect of constructing a passage by form of canal, v/a the San Juan river and Lakes Nicar?ij.^i..i and Leon, but, in secret treaty with the republic of Honduras, have > UNITED STATKS. 98 I actuaJIi/ taken possession of tlic island of Tigrc, in tlic Bay of Fonscca : and this at tlic vnri/ tunc negotiations were pending l)etwccn onr representative at (Juatimala and the Nicaragnan Government, to secnre the advantage of such a ronte for tlie benefit of Great Britain, whose inflnence has been for so long a time cireumvented and sapped by the superior politieal astuteness and intriguing finesse of the United States' ministers. it now ap- pears that, amidst the various re})orts of some sueh pas- sage being in contemplation by the American Govern- ment, oiQ" English Ministers were not altuf/el/icr dis[)osed to remain as mere passive spectators ; but conceived the idea of also midertaking sncli a scheme ; and, in their un- decided hesitation in the choice of a point of traject, seem to have accorded a vague kind of preference for this line of canal, without rcfiectin2; that such a route would be- come almost nugatory for the general puri)osc of Asiatic interconnnunicatiim — first, from the protracted length of voyage up the American coast, Avhich the shores of the Mos(piito demand ; the unwholesome heats and deadly influence of that pestiferous climate, and the continual exposure of both banks of such a canal to invasion either from north, south, or both — necessitating us at all times to maintain such garrisons as could not but encumber us with enormous expense, and render ue perpetually liable to jealous ( larrels on the part of the Americans, who would, most probably, finish at last, from a sentiment of mutual interest and self-defence, by johiing to eject us from obtruding a foreign thoroughfare through the centre of their continent so little to their own comparative profit and importance — and, secondly, from the constant opportunity which the situation would aftbrd for the in- terference of I'jn'opean ])owers, supported by the Ame- .> . J I, ';l:^vi(- ...tir : ..P^;- f- >l^ '1 I)]. LNITKl) STATKS. I'icaiis, mid tlu^ proven iiii})racticnbility of cstciblisliiiif^ |)r()tL'ction iiiidcr Hritisli anus on this fatal sliorc, so sadly memorable in the history of l^ritisli emigration, with its l)rcvalent fevers and ini])ractical)le " blue fiddly W'liile wc were condensing these facts on the resnlts of onr diplomatic passages with the United States, on the subject of the Nicaraguan (piestion, we were edified by the following notice in the TuncB of the 1th December, 1S49:— " Wc have a copy of the last despatch, addressed l)y Mr. Chatfield, as the representative of Great Britain, to the Government of Nicaragua, on the Mos(piito([ucstion. It is dated Guatimala, 5th Sepeniber; and after referring to the Aveak but offcnaive style of declaration resorted to by Nicaragua, Mr. Chatfield proceeds once more to recapitu- late the various points on which the Mosquito claim is founded, in hopes of inducing the Nicaraguan Government to deal with them logically in any future connnnnication that may take place, instead of confining themselves to vio- lent assumptions against England, based upon a total dis- regard of all acknowledged fjicts. It has been attempted (he observes) to deny the national and actual indepen- dence which the Mosquitos have always enjoyed in their territory, the existence of their kings or hereditary princes, and their constant connection wdth England during more than two centuries; and that the course Nicaragua has taken has closed the door from the begin- ning to every rational discussion which, on various occa- sions, I (Mr. Chatfield) have endeavoured to bring about." Significant and emphatic earnest this of what we had to expect in the tenure of a route through tl^e heart of this comitry ! But while we w^ere waiting tor the result of iMr. Chatfield'.-- })aticnt appeal to the honest h(/ic of I ; I 1^ • ■ 'fi'f ■ . i • rMTED STATES. 05 y ll his Niraragiinn oppoiUMits, we wcn^ siiddi'uly iniprcsscd with 51 feeling l)f!twi\t tragedy and comedy, to learn, npon the back of this intelHgence, the following stroke of smart practice, boldly ])erpetrated ; the United States, and chronich'd in tlie 'rhucH, as follows : — • " Advices from Nicaragna comnnmicate the intelli- gence of the ratification, by both lionses of the Legisla- tnre, of the contracts witli Mr. White, representative of the Ship Canal Comj)any, and of the treaty of alliance, friendship and cominerec, navif/aliun and riiOTECTioN, concluded with Mr. Scpiier, the Minister from Wasli- ington. The Government had also negotiated a treaty, ceding to the United States the island of Tigre, in the (julf of Fonseca, which was immediately taken posses- sion of by an Anierican scpiadron. The following is jMr. S(juier's official circidar : — ■ " * Legation of the United States in Central America, Leon de Nicaragna, Sept. 28th, 1849. " ' Sir, — 1 have the honour to inform you that the island of Tigre, in the Gulf of Fonseca, has been ceded to the United States of America, by the Republic of Honduras, for the time pending constitutional action upon an existing convention between the two Republics ; and, accordingly, speedy possession will be taken of the same on behalf of the United States. The existing ])ort, and other regulations of the island, will be contiimed till otherwise ordered,' " ]5ut the concluding paragraph is the " most unkindest cut of all" — the jin bouquet of the " Squicr Circular" — which must have conveyed no ordinary emotion to our West Lidia fleet, so close in the vicinity of this summary achievement : — " I have the hononr to add (says Mr. Squic^r's Cir- >■'■... ■> «, ■ ( T N 'i 'iV ■■■,.<:' ■•'■.•: V^'. »G INITED KTATF'.S. i€' I f cular) tliiit the Uiiit,i!(l States lias aciinlrcd iit/i'i'csls In f/n' we.sft'i'// >s/f///f/s (ukI votiNf)^ cf l/o/idin'(t>< wli'ich \rill nol penni/ iis lo look irllli iM)iFrr,in:N('K niioii ani/ inra.si/rc.s ifhich s/iall (iJJ'ccl Ihr picscnl order o/' /// / ////.v /// ///r// f/uar- tcr. " I am, Sir, cVt'., &c., " E. (jli;(>R(iE SduiEii." For tliosL' (lull of undci'staiidiiig, the Ibllowiug, from the iVcin York llCndd, referrinir to the cession of Tigre island, will serve as a light : — " This hay (Fonseca) is the natural outlet for the ])ro- posed ship canal, via the San fhian river and the hikes of Nicaragua and Leon. 'J^igrc; island is oulij imporlanl as coiiuiiaiidiii(^i\\Q bay. The treaty is wfaronrahh piece of evidence in support of the o[)iuion that (jleneral Tayloi* will not surrender one lola of the ground which he has taken in the Nicaragua controversy witli (jreat Britain. Whatever may be the disposition of Ivlr. Clayton to a compromise, it is not probable that General Taylor will consent to any arrangement which would invalidate the treaty with Nicaragua, and the rights of the parties in it to the protection of the Covernnient. It is jjrobable, however, that the dis})ute will be submitted to the Senate for its advice, although we do not apprehend it will ad- vise an acknowledgment of the claims of Mr. Chattielcl." Another American pa])er, dated New York, 21st ]3e- ceniber, exultingly expatiates upon the same theme tlms : — " The most interesting news, in connection with the foreign pohcy of this country, is from Nicaragua. The dates from Leon are the 18th and 19th October, with the intelligence that the contract for the ship canal has been unanimously ratifiecl by both Houses of the Legis- lature, and has become a law ; so, also, has become the '■•Jrt rNITF,r> RT\i ft*. 97 treaty of alliauro, friou'shij), ruHnHorro, u it/ation, and PROTi'XTiox. The Xic'iiriii^iiiins ^ ovcrjo^ d at t' iin- expected consoqncnco they have ac(|iiii'C(l , ;iiid ' Ui- nister of Foreign Aliairs, Mr. SaHnas, in ad(h' ^- : the Chand)er, chiinicd tlii. the i(h'ntity of |)riuri[)lc 'I in- terests between tliat eountry and the United States of North America uikxI oik- day unite fhcin in the most inti- mate l)on(ls of fr.'itcrnity and nuitnal advantage. Mr. Sqnicr lias sncceeded iji obtaining from the HepnbUc of TJonduras, one of the confecU'rates of Niearagna, the ces- sion of the famons island of Tigre, in the (inU' of Fon-- seca — an object of cni)i(lity to more than one Fnropean power. This movement was somewhat preei[)itated by the rumonr that two English men-of-war were about to take possession of it. The island of Tigre not only com- mands the gulf, but the whole coast ; and, if the Nica- ragua project shonld be carried out, this island will be invaluable to the Americans." If any further evidence be rerpiired of the troublesome and perilous interference to Avhieh we should indubitably be exposed, by persevering in such speculative excursions beyond our natural and colonial limits, as we seem inclined to attempt in the projection of a canal across the territories of a foreign power, let us now refer to the ominous signal pronounced by the official organ of a still more formidable power than the United States, provoked, by the circumstances, to declare its opinion upon this delicate subject. With this intent we quote the French Journal des Debats, of the 4th December, 1849, which expresses itself thus : — " This railway across the Isthmus of Panama will only fulfil its destination, and be what it ought, in proportion as it remains a neuiral passage, to which all nations are IT ' / ] I •. 1 '• 1 , "■/, „' ■■ h . t ■,'.\- '\^- OS UNITED STATES. h.:S^ I! 'U i^il i ndniittcd, witliout distinction, on tlie same footing. Even t/tia would l)(! insiillificnt : cf/srs of loar must be y'o/vwvv/, and promdfd for. Tlie neutrality of tlie istlnnus railroad is iiidl'SpoHsafj/c to tiu; (/cncml interests of eoninierce. No one maritime power luitst be allowed to take rossES- siON of it, in order to work its own exclusive advantage to the detriment of all the rest. A diplomatic convention for this ])urpose would be very opportune. The Com- pany — of which it would be the evith^nt interest — ought to be the first to solicit such a guarantee ; and there is reason to believe that it would not be indisposed to such an arrangement ; for it cfui only be at its own request that the Ignited States Government has intervened with the Government of New Granada. A treaty of this kind, in wliich the contracting i)arties with New Granada, and the United States, would be not only France and l!]ngland, but also Bm.va, whose possessions are washed on the west, as well as the cast, by the Pacific Ocean, would at PRESENT encounter no obstacle. But such obstacle may he encountered at a lakr })eriod; and we must hope, therefore, that the parties interested will tnrn their atten- tion to the subject without delay." This pithy inuendo is sufficient testimony of the hard price and thorny consequences to which the parties must be snbjectcd who would appropriate the right of such canal ; and, were it in process of formation to-morrow, we should hear of other powers, besides France and Russia, preferring claims of equal privilege to the navi- gation of this proposed passage, until we should see all Europe pretending to the benefit in case of success, without subscribing a shilling to the expense, or making themselves liable, on the other hand, to the risk of failure. Should the free right to such a passage be t I,: 'i^^ %■■ rSlTKI) STATES. 00 iicconk'd to all " without distiiictioM," tiu^ niuritimo in- terests of Kii^iiind could not l)ut bo seriously [)rejiidiced and danuiged, indrcd, hy the facility it would allbrd nil other nations to compete" with us in sea-carria{j;e to Asia V)y transit so materially shortened, and at a cost so inli- iiitely reduced. We shoidd lind the ports and hanks of this canal passage, besides, a scene of interminable jealousy and contention ; in which, as the most j)rosperous and for- midable, we shouhl necessarily be the most envied and op- posed — constantly vexed and thwarted by mercantile and political cabals and intrigues, protected by local force equal to our own ; and our voice drowned in tlu; coud)ined decisi(jns of conspiring nations. Again, the promiscuous crowds of Kuropean fleets, which the freedom of this abridged route would let in upon the coast of China, would most probably deteriorate in a signal degree the influence and superiority W(; at present maintain in that quarter, by having our rivals as familiarly hal)ituated to the Chinese shores, as our own shipping; and, in process of a little time, perhaps, we might see our jMiropcau antago- nists more gladly received by the Chinese authorities than oiu'selves, from their nmtual feeling of envy and revenge. Shoidd the neutrality of the j)assage, on the other hand, be guaranteed to all nations, in case of war, what difficulties would so singular an anomaly not entail upon our naval service, and into what perplexity would it not plunge our national policy and mercantile relations by having a terri- tory in the very face of our West Indies, and between us and our Australian colonies, and Asiatic possessions and connexions, converted into a privileged and protected rendezvous and marine refuge for our enemies ? Besides, the long stretch of unnecessary southing to be accom- plished betwixt this country and the Caribbean Sea, be- H 2 .^•■^>:: 100 UNITED STATES. ^f!^ •• •>■■ ■i fore tliis passage to the Pacific can be attained, and the peril of capture to which our mercantile fleets must be exposed in case of war with America, by the necessity of so long a line of coasting on an enemy's shore ; the pro- tracted navigation under tropical heat which a voyage so directed would rccjuirc ; the increased extent of longi- tudinal distance, even to a moiety, as we approach the line, and the very ])artial curtailment of time gained by this still circuitous route to North Eastern Asia, must more tlian counterbalance, by positive objections, the ex- aggerated advantage's anticipated in the pass of Panama. Tn tine, a British station upon the isthmus, for the purpose of effcctuig the traverse, will be found untenable, from the combination of a thousand causes ; and the small distance thereby to l^e saved would scarcely make this contested and ])recarious traject worth the sacrifices such an experiment would demand. To abandon the exclusive right in it to the United States, and. their allied custo- dians of the ground, would yet assist them but to a very imperfect advantage ; since not a plank can float on either margin of the isthmus but upon our sufferance ; so tliat not a bale or package could be transported from sea to sea by this projected canal — presenting as it would both mouths at our discretion — without our sanction ; while the very field of enterprize to which it would lead is equally subjected to our ascendant power. The truth is, more danger is to be apprehended for the interests of Great Britain, from the railroad projected by Mr. AVhitney, than from the distant canal to be run through the " blue f elds' of the Mosquito shore, where disease and death must claim to become the presiding genii of its waters. Did the smallest doubt cling to the f "'\ f : ■ / ■ '. i .1 UNITED STATES. 101 mind as to the feasibility of the Whitney project, gigantic; as it appears, the reasoned and deliberate opinion of persons of the most capable and approved jiidgnient, representing nineteen different States, and who must be not only conversant with all the obstacles and dilli- culties to be encountered, but likewise faniiliiu' with the means of vanquishing them, prove, without further reference, that the design is not only practicable, but assured. For let us onlv once more consider the letter of the Ihncs New York correspondent, on the subject of the proposed route from the- Michigan to the Califor- nian coast, and judge whether England has not just cause for alarm at the prospect of its conq)letion. What English, or, if you please, Euro})ean country, is to be placed by this proposed line " within thirty-seven days of China;" whilst the immense "wilderness and fine soil of America," is opened to the "over-grown populations of Europe and Asia.'' ]\lark you — " the population of Asia," nay, " Europe and Asia" — at the combined instance of so many of our disinterested friends — may even prefer to traffic and transact, meet and amalgamate, through the medium of this direct track, without troubling London or Liverpool at all on the subject of their interests and concerns ! This at least is certain in the progress of such a vo'dd—thc inevitable loss of Canada, who, in her present disturbed, isolated, and neglected state, could never resist the temptation of such a source of i)rosperity offered to her embrace ; nor even anticipate it, without becoming of necessity the very first to press forward for a participation of the wealth flowing at her door, deterred in vain from this just impulse of proper self-interest by the continued paw-pawing of our temporizing policy, the shuffling assurances of amelio- ■.\'--"^ '■»■:■ .V . ■:. '^ • :': •y ^» ■':M •1 102 UNITED STATES. ration and redress, and the tardy concession at last, perhaps, Avhen too late, of the desiderated bit of road so long projected, in urgent necessity for the benefit of the colony, betwixt Halifax and Quebec ; the injurious and disgraceful want of which, for military and com- mercial pui*poses, is everywhere so severely felt by all connected with this dependency, except at our Colonial Office ; where, unless some prompt and effective measures be adopted for the speedy redemption of this departing possession, the Ministry must soon be relieved from all further uneasiness and care for this lost, disordered and languishing remnant of British empire in North America. At present, time and circumstances have so combined, that the readiest and most effectual means of renovation and relief for Great Britain and Canada are identical. These means the United States are teaching us by prac- tice, but the conception has occupied the English mind long before the suggestive annexation of California to the States Union ; or the project embraced by Mr. Whitney, of New York, was published to the world. This can be substantiated by a thousand authentic testimonies. At present, be it our task to explain the means in as perspi- cuous and satisfactory a manner as possible, in a com- prehensive, yet brief summary, for which purpose we must again revert to Canada. h i r;!i -j* • CHAPTER V. CANADIAN JUNCTION OF THE TWO OCEANS. A'.'. ^l-;' '.••'''''' As the overture to the present chapter, we crave permis- sion to proyx . one single question to the reader. If the granti raUroad scheme of Mr. Whitney, of New York, be sanctioned by tlie approval of nineteen diftcrent States, supported by the deliberate examination and favourable report of a formal Conunittee of Congress, as a project obviously practicable and supremely advantageous for the United States of America, why, let us ask, should not such a project be equally applicable to the Canadas, so innnediately approximate in position, and so similarly characterized in all their natural features and attributes of Climate and country with the connected lands over which it is proposed to project this approved railroad ? Ts^ay, if the Whitney scheme is fraught with such pro- digious benefit to the American community as its ap- provers so warmly and confidently anticipate, surely such an enterprize, conducted between both oceans, within the limits of our own British ferriforie.s, were far more certain and eftective in result, paramount as we are on both seas — discretionary lords of the Pacific islands — colonizers of Australia, New Zealand, and Van Diemen's Lrmd — masters of Ceylon, Penang, Borneo, and Hong- Kong — dictators to China, and conquerors of Hindostan '? VV' ^■•^■>- 104 CANADIAN JUNCTION OF THE TWO OCEANS. .".■».'; Oil one side — iLe principal cniTicrs of Europe and chief occupants of the coast colonics of Africa on the other — masters of the principal North American and West Indian islands between ; with a terra firma footing in Guiana, and possessed of the finest position of the whole AVest American shore, conspicuous, at an eye-glance, in the site of Van- couver's Land, lying iis it does in direct parallel with Britain and our Canadian capitals, abutting so invitingly upon Asia; and with the convenient harbours of New- Georgia and the commodious roadsteads of Nootka Sound protected under its cover. A\'itli such points of prominent advantage — with our interests and relations everywhere rooted and ramified — the scheme of a direct western communication with Asia decidedly lies within our espe- cial province, since ours is the largest stake ; and the greatest advantages obtainable from its execution must be derived by Great Britain, whose present critical circum- stances, moreover, ini[)eratively demand some such means of effective relief to the stagnation of exhausted enterprize, and the suffocating re})letion of native population, which is gradually gathering, winter after winter, by aggia- vated distress, like an impending avalanche ready to overwlielm us. If, moreover, the ^^'hitlley line, after the necessary survey and the mature consideration of so many prac- tical and responsible persons, is pronounced to be a feasible undertaking, in despite of distance and natural impediments, why should we hesitate to emulate the example in settlements of our own, to which the same surveyor's reports might generally npjily, merely on the gratuitous supposition of greater difficulties and obstruc- tions, somehow, or somewhere, existent in the way of such an enterprize by us? Jt was even so that our '( CANADIAN JUNCTION Ol' THE TWO OCEANS. 105 /I own railroads at home, our Caledonian Canal, our Thames Tunnel, the Menai Tube, the Electric Telegraph, the Plymouth l^reakwater, the Eddystonc Lighthouse, imd all the other numerous monuments of our national enter- prize — accunndated to our glory and profit over the land — were each and all of them successively doubted and o])posed till perscveringly prosecuted in the face of resistance to triumjdiant com])letion. What, after all, were such an undertakuig conducted by British genius, with British ca})ital, and British industry, across the bosom of Canada ; ^vhilc the Americans of the States are pushing their railroads through every region and district of their territories ; and even sluggish Austria, and semi-barbaric Russia, are training them across their deserts ? What were such a work to the ordinarv jichieve- ments of such nien as the Czar Peter, Napoleon, or even the late Ali Pasha, with his sthited means and limited po})ulati()n ? A\'liat were such an imdertaking, great as it may seem, com[)ared with the monuments of human ])ower existing amid a ])eople we affect to despise, and towards whom the very railroad here pro[)osed would immediately lead ? — we mean the public works of China — such as her Imperial Canal, that employed thirh/ thou- sand men fori y-ihrec years? AVhat were it to her cele- brated frontier wall, o;^(? thoitsand five hundred miXcs long, twenty-five feet high, ticenty-four feet broad, with towers at the distance of every hundred yards, conducted over lof '^ mountains : across the deepest vales : over wide rivers by means of arches, and in many parts doubled, and even trebled, to command important passes ? — A structure esti- mated to contain material more than sufticient to erect all the houses of England and Scotland, or to build a wall twelve feet high, and four thick, entirely round the globe >»•■■ ,1 1' •<: ':! ■■'•- J .K-B:'^y 10() CANADIAN JUNCTION OF THE TWO OCEANS. >t ny%. ■^KVl ': i iit the cfjuator ! AMiat were a railroad tlirougli Canada to the Pacific compared to the haboiirs still visible in the remains of the military walls bestowed liy the Romans upon their coloiiy of Great Britain ? And yet, how much more important in purpose and result would be the railway in question ? The truth is, that grand works depend more upon grand men than upon grand means ; and the genius of those appointed to direct the energies of nations ought to possess capacity and po\ver to embrace vast objects, in defiance of difficulty and impediment, leavhig the timid, selfish and superficial spirits of the narrow-minded to be frightened at the bare thought of the mental exertion nnd sacrifice of personal convenience and ease which they s50st. AVe assert that to a daring mind, fit to deal with the destinies of Great Britain, there is nothing speculative in our design, which in proportion as it is viewed grows necessary on the sight. Indeed, ve arc indulging in no scheme after all ; except the desire, if possible, to keep pace with the intentions, policy, and operations of the Americans. The length of line i)roposcd by Mr. Whitney, to run from the Michigan by a southern divergency to San Francisco, comprehends a distance of 2,030 miles ; while a direct route from the north-west point of Lake Supe- rior, to the ports covered by Vancouver's Land, would be only 1,600 miles in distance; and what is that compared to the number of miles covered by the numerous rail- roads intersecting each other in England ? What is that to the amount of territory laid under rails in America — no less than 6,42] miles of railway being in actual ope- ration, within the limits of the United States at the commencement of the present year? And, as to the -J i CANADIAN JUNCTION OF THE TWO OCEANS. 107 V- --•' le '/ expense, what were that, in comparison to the exorbitant rate of raih'oads constructed in this country ? The cost of our railways — owing to the parliamentary charges, the heavy stamp and law expenses, the excessive engi- neering and surveyhig disbursements, the exorbitant prices demanded for lands, and the compulsory obligation of keeping open every old road and footpath — has necessa- rily involved enormous outlay ; and this consideration, coupled with that of the recent failures, which have plunged us into so much financial difficulty and con- sternation, should naturally disgust us at the bare thought of undertaking sixteen hundred miles of railway in a colony, whatever might be the promised advantages, if such an cntcrprize demanded an expenditure anything equal to the rate of such works in England. But we stand unique in the exorbitancy of the cost attendant upon railroad operations : for example, the Blackwall railway cost £326,670 per mile ; the Greenwich, £204,733 ; the London and Birmingham, £53,780 ; the Great Western, £55,330; the South Western, £27,750; Liverpool and Manchester, £49,820 ; Manchester and Leeds, £59,800; and the London and Brighton, £64,370 ; while, in strong contrast to these, the Forfar, the Aylesbury-juncaon, and Hayle railways, only cost £9,130, £8,710, and £6,940 per mile. Eleven lines in France have only cost from £20,000 to £25,000 per mile. In Austria, railroads have cost from £15,000 to £20,000; and in Belgium from £6,000 to £8,000. But those in the United States — considerably under the sum at which the estimates of railroads in Canada are to be computed — amount only in their whole cost, including plant, to the average cost of 30,000 dollars, or £6,000, per mile ; and the Canadian railroads of Detroit and the ' n'r,'''-' .V'. '•''k ': ■ ■'♦■ 108 CANADIAN JUNCTIUN OT THE TWU OCEANS. Kalamazoo, which may well serve as a criterion of the moderate expense of such works in tlic latter country, arc only £1,500 vurrvucij per mild — none of the enormous expenses and sacrifices incurred in England being rc([uired in the open and yet unpeopled lands of America. Thus, instead of the stupemlous consequences which, in the event of a grand railroad transit betwixt both oceans over the Canadian territories would revo- lutionize the whole social system of the globe — roll- ing, as we should, the wealth of the world along its train — if it should only yield a retiu'n equal to the profit of a railroad in England, were not that a sufficient inducement ? And what, we repeat, were the outlay, according to the American rate of cost incidental to such works, compared with the emolumentary proceeds de- rivable from such an undertaking ? Why, more public money is expended in the idle cavilUng and legislative paltering of the timorous and short-sighted persons who are accustomed, in their mistaken places in Parliament, to oppose, in the inqjcrtinencc of their pretended j)ru- dencc and affected wisdom, all such projects of grandeur and nerve as are here submitted, than the heaviest ex- penses which their accomplishment would incur. For it is a cheap and easy mode to establish a character for caution by the paraded love of public economy, resting on the safe grounds of scepticism — a sentiment which spares the unbeliever the trouble of inquiry, and enables the man of contemptible parts to hide the narrowness of his conceptions in the lying show of superior discretion. This is a practice constantly exerted by pseudo sages con- nected w^ith public affairs, to the retrogression of improve- ment, and the serious obstruction of the public good, which is constantly postponed to the mischievous display of these m ■ m C'ANADTAN JUNCTION OF THE TWO OCEANS. 09 it tor ng LCll n- ch oflicious (lamnitiers by profession, who arc habitually permitted to slip away into silence, and out of sight, when success crowns the measures they o[)pose, inst<'ad of being dragged to account and made to smart for the public ini"''y they occasion. The busy, drivelling, and wanton nnpedimcnts so detrimentally ofi'ercd by these universal antagonists to all innovations, however salutary, was admirably illustrated by Sir F. Head, when he stated that " £1 0,000, ()()() Mere expended in parliamentary inqui- ries, and parliamentary contests, in 1845, 1840, and 1847 ; and that that money wou'd, at the rate of £20,000 per mile, have constructed a national railway of /?^•(? hundred miles in length, say, from London to Alx.'rdeen." And consequently, at £3,000 per mile, the probable mean cost of railway constructions in Canada, the s\mi so fatuitously dissipated by these sages in Parliament, woidd have suf- ficed to defray the expense of a railroad double the length proposed from Lake Superior to the Pacific, or more than sufficient to accomplish the whole line of route from Nova Scotia to the ports of the gulf of Georgia. Be it here, however, distinctly understood, that the pro- ject about to be submitted does not of necessity demand that Government should directly interpose with capital and means ; but we insist that, with the sanction of its authority alone, private enterprize could not but be instantly stimulated to accomplish the whole and entire undertaking. With the partial co-operation of Govern- ment in the beneficial and facile manner about to be propounded, the plan would be accelerated to successful consummation so effectually, cheaply, and soon, as to be unequalled in the example of public works in this country. Many i)hysical objections, at present not accu- rately foreseen, may, however, exist in a country so little -■.^■^M\ .' » ,,,.v. • '■»'. V^;-' {■■■ -V. M,',/)? ':■ ■yy S::. V'>^:.'v.-:i-..;;. in 1 ' 1 ^ 1 i: 110 CANADIAN JUNCTION OF THE TWO OCEANS. known and explored as tlic back scttlcnionts of Canada. Waters to ])o bridged, morasses to be drained, eminences to be tnnnelled, woods to he felled, and monntains to be traversed: still the noblest monuments of public utility, human genius and labour ever conceived and executed, have been generally conspieuoi.s, at the same time, for the extraordinary obstacles opposed to their accomplishment. On this subject a popular and most eloquent writer observes that — ** When we turn our attention to the particnlar locali- ties which the most distinguished nations of the world have occupied, we arc astonished as much at the natural difficulties which they overcame as at the advantages they enjoyed. The Egy])tians were the most celebrated of all the nations of remote anti([uity ; and yet they located themselves on a si)ot of groimd which was nothing more nor less than a huge morass : with incredible labour and skill they drained this morass, and intersected it with canals, dykes, and stupendous buildings, which even excite the admiration of modern mechanical onmipotence. They conquered a kingdom from the sea, and with exhaustless toil set bounds to the swelling flood, and made a smiling garden in the bottom of a river and a huge lake. The Babylonians did the same thing : they also chose, with singular eccentricity of taste, a huge morass, an immense level bog, on which they built a tower, and walls, that have never since been surpassed, or paralleled, and this in defiance of nature : they did all this without a single stone wherewith to erect their buildings : they made stones for themselves by burning the clay with which the bog supplied them. This bog they drained, and cultivated, and converted it into a fruitful field ; and they became, in this most disad- i CANADIAN JUNCTION OF THK TWO OCKANS. Ill ige lid eir iig lOg a Ld- \ vaiitagcoiis spot, the most powerful pe()[)le in the world — the indet'atig!il)l(! cultivators of the arts and sciences — models of industry, famous for their wisdom, exhaustless wealth, aiul jjolitical resources for hundreds of years. Syria at one time was the garden of the world ; its hills were covered with vineyards, whose clusters of grapes wer(5 so ponderous that branches alone could not suj)j)ort them. Corniields were waving in rich abundinicc; in every valhiy, and cattle were supplied with luxuriant pasture. This was also the work of labour. Now, these same hills are mere lumps of dried earth, without even a blade of grass upon them ; and the valleys are covered with prickly pears, a sort of cactus or huge thistle, that a man with an axe is incapable of even cutting his way through a little field of them in a day. These a few starving cattle eat ; and so scanty is the supply of milk, even in the modern Jerusalem, that the rich l^uropeans when they visit it are often obliged to take their tea and coffee without it. This is the land which was once flowing with milk and honey by means of the lal)our of man. Look at llon)c : it stands in the midst of a natural desert : nothing can be more desolate looking than the view of the Campagna di Eoma, or country which extends from the walls in the south-east direction. Stantling on the top of Monte Aventino, the Porta San Paulo, or Porta Latina, you look on a wilderness, in many respects resembling that on which was reared the great Capitol of the Babylonian empire ; and, yet, on this unfavourable spot arose the most powerful city of the western world — the political and ecclesiastical capital of Christendom. Venice, one of the most re- markable cities in modern times, has all been built upon the waters ; and the genius and perseverance which ■-■■it I 112 CANADIAN .UNCTION f»r Till: TWO GCIiANS. "I •■ rrcctcd so s"mj>uliii' ii moiiuinciil cf liiminu nrf wrro Ion*:; ruwiirded hy an accmuiiliitioii of woiltli niul jjowcr that took th(! lead in (lie h ,. ^ ?4.- bitaiits of these northern extremes of Europe? Tell the people of Drontlieini, Stockholm, and Christian- stadt, that tlicy arc to be pitied for the hardship of their fate, in being doomed to Ihiger out life in so severe a climate; and })ointing to their well-clothed backs and ruddy faces, their well-stored winter maga- zines and sunnner harvests, their abundant markets and thriving cattle, they will ask you in what theii' inferiority to England in real comfort and liai)i)iness consists. AVhat an enviable paradise would not a pros- perous Norwegian homestead appear in the eyes of millions inhabiting more favoured clhnates ! — In fine, the countries are necessarily few that can boast a temperature always in the golden mean ; for those that escape the intensity of cold hi their Avinter, are sub- ject, on the other hand, to summers of intolerable heat ; and even under the azure skies of central Italy, there are in reality fewer days favourable to out-door plea- sure or labour than in England, or even that sorely belied country of Upper Canada, the severity of wliose winters has been so extravagantly exaggerated. We have been in both ; and, were we compelled to choose, would rather prefer to labour in the open air of Canada than expose our constitution to inevitable destruction by daily field-work under the vaunted skies of Italy. AVc passed the year of 1845 in Home, and at Tivoli in its immediate vicinity ; and in the latter sojourn found the winds of winter, when impelled from the north- east, come chilled by the mountain-snows over which they swept, so bitterly shrewd and searchhig, that, although Uicir keenness had to contend with consider- able solar vigom', and the mercury of the thermometer rcmahu'd unprccipitated to so low an index as it inva- CAN AIMAX JUNCTION OF THE TWO OCEANS. li: riably marks at tlio same season iiortli of the Baltic, still never in Sweden, llnssia, or Norway, were >ve ever, to the best of our niemoiy, more inconvenienced by cold than we occasionally were in this country of favoiu'itc resort; insomuch as to be driven from our Tivolcsc residence to town quarters in Rome, where we were still compelled to burn fires even till the last days of April; the raw mists and vapours in the evening and early morning being indescribably cheerless and oppressive, and the country frequently visited by rainy torrents that fell like melted snow ; while the occasional overflowing of the Anio and Tiber flooded the surrounding Cam- pagna, spreading gloom and desolation as far as eye could reach, arresting all traffic, and engendering dejec- tion and disease. In sudden contrast with this dampness and frigidity, marked by the muffling cloaks and woollen knitting universally assumed in winter by the inhabitants, was the heat of sunnner, which from j\Iay till September was so insupportable, that, in common with the natives, we were habitually compelled to exclude the light of day, and confine ourselves to artificial twilight, while resorting to every imaginable means to cool our apartments by constant aspersions, and forced currents of air ; wdiile the peasants, to escape the heat, were generally fain to confine their labours of the field to hours before sunrise ; leaving the face of the country for the remainder of the day without any visible sign of human life. The artizans, on the other hand, engaged in the heavier callings, and sucli as require the aid of fire, choose to perform their work in the night. During these summer months the odour of the rank herbage was overcoming : every pool and ditch breathed miasmata ; and the smallest object of foul matter and cast offal filled the air with pestilential particles. And I 2 ^•1: ■M ' ■: t:--\ ' >.. no CANADIAN JUNCTION OF THE TWO OCEANS. -!:•'■ I / A.- I; & :■ i(:ii > yet tin's is one of tlie clioice gardens of the world, where people of pleasure, from every other nation of l^]viropo, resort for the enjoyment of its approved nature and most genial atmosphere ! The very same objection might apply to Spain and Portugal, or any other of the most [^tractive countries of our Southern Continent ; not even excepting INIont- pellier itself in Midsunmicr, nor the boasted island of Madeira, the temperature of which we have found to be insupportable during the mei'idian heat, and south- easterly winds of the summer months. Neither have the United States, with all the preference commonly accorded by emigrants, to vaunt exemption from the general objections attachable to every climate, and so unjustly imputed to Canada in particular. On consult- ing a common geographical summary, casually at hand u hile we write, we find the following accounts : — First, Province or Maine — " Thoudi in summer the heat is intense, and in winter the cold is extremelij severe, yet the climate is in general considered salubrious." New Hampshire — " The summer is short and veri/ hot, while the winter, on the contrary, is long and severe." Penn- sylvania — " Is in winter exeessiveli/ cold, and the summer heats would be intolerable but for frequent cooling breezes." Maryland — "Is mild in the northern parts ; but, towards the south, there are long tracks of low marshy land, fatal to health." Virginia — " Cli- mate is vai'ious, but on the whole is not very salubrious. In sunmier the heat is excessive, and the sudden transi- tions from burning heat to intense cold, which sometimes take place in twenty-four hours, arc extremely injurious to the human constitution : in autumn heavy rains fall which occasion all the train of diseases incident to a J r ■ I CANADIAN JUNCTION 01" TlIK TWO OCKANS. 117 moist climate." The Carolinas — " Resemble Virg-i- iiia ; and, in the low marshy country along the coast, bilious diseases and fcccrs of various kinds arc prevalent.^' Georgia — " The climate is generally considered unfa- vourable to health from the luunerous swamps : the sum- mers are excessivel;^ hot," &c. &c. It is certain that the prejiuliced and inconsiderate have cruelly maligned the climate of Canada. But what says report of the country of Californiii ? — that choice and select land of popular preference and resort — so superior to its Canadian neighbourhood, and which is about to become the centre of die gnind maritime operations con- templated by the United States, and to which om* slighted settlements upon Nootka Soimd are in danger of being permanently postponed? On this subject let us repro- duce the report of the Times corresi)ondent, published in that pa])er Wednesday, Octoljer 3, 1S49 : — " There is a great deal of indisjiosition at present j)re- vailing here (San Francisco), arising from the effects of the variableness of the climate, which is the most dis- agreeable upon earth. 'Jlie mornings are generally foggy ; the forenoons frequently hot ; and the nights bitterly cold even now, the height of summer. Dysen- tery and pulmonary coui})laints arc connnon here, and persons from the interior, which is veri/ hot, are ])articu- larly subject to those diseases, owing to the very sensible change of the clhnatc." So much for the new settlement, in preference to which such crowds of British emigrants eschew our ve(/lecfed and rejected possessions of western Canada ! In further testimony of the preposterous and injurious infatuation manifest in this misdirected impulsion, coui- municated to our migratory countrymen, let us l)c per- ■J .' ■ t I 118 CANADIAN JUNCTION OF THE TWO OCEANS. '4 J; - .;,:||f . , mittcd to quote another Calitbriiiaii correspondence from the cohunns of the Times of Friday, 30th November, 1849:— " This country can never afford a fiekl for the agri- culturist. Its cHmatc is so dry and i)arching that it not only absorbs all moisture in the soil, but dries up every fount or s})ring that might serve the purpose of irrigation. It yields no crops — not even of sickly grass, except along the margin of the Sacramento, or the San Joaquin. In the vales frequented by the miners, there is not suffi- cient herbage to mahitain their animals. The only product of the soil is timber — oak and pine trees wondrous to behold, piercing the clouds, such is their altitude As to chmate, the days are very warm ; the evenings and mornings cool ; and the nights co/d. No dews or rain just now. The rainy season commences in December, continuing with agreeable in- termissions, till about the bc(/innh)(/ of March ; but suffi- ciently heavy to put a stop, for the time, to all road and most river conuuunication ; so that the miners arc obliged to lay up their whiter stores before that season sets in. .... . Many emigrants are endeavouring to retrace their steps for the winter to Fort Seramie. Some have crossed the Oregon frontier' — [to seek refuge in Canada ? !] — " some diverged to the JMormon settlement ; and others again were erecting winter quarters in Bear River." And yet this is the land to which the United States' Government has contrived to allure, in so short a s}){ice, a reported population of 150,000. Sublime mystifica- tion ! But the golden delusion is soon destined to be dispelled. More yet of these misettted settlers will cros>i the Oregon to make permanent sojourn, or else we are in- 1 CANADIAN JUNCTION OF THE TWO OCEANS. 119 I (Iced tlio victims of a dream ; for fully arc we convinced that Canada, notwitlistanding the superior quaUtics ascril)ed to the settlements south of her frontier, will most ])rol)al)ly be found, on experience, to surpass bcjth in health and fertility the choicest lands of American pos- session ; just as England practically eclipses in salubrity and produce the fairest countries of Europe. True — a warm climate is decidedly most favomvable and conve- nient, for the comfort and ease of new settlers in a strange country, who have to rough it in the connnence- inent, and wait u])on time and season for the fruits of their industry and labour. During such period of pro- bation, a genial sun is certainly both economical and pleasant : and the imagination of persons inclined to emigrate loves to luxuriate in pictures of tropical warmth and exuberance ; delighted to figure spontaneous crops of indigo, and sugar, rice, cotton, and tobacco, all flom'ishing under the sheltering shade of mangroves, bread-trees, plantains, bananas, and citron groves, and themselves imsubjectcd to the hardships of winter necessi- ties and arrangements, but always forgetting their un- skilled ignorance of the harvests they would gather ; and overlooking the fact that the absence of hibernal severities in a country must be purchased by e([uivalent, or rather extra, sufterhig under the ardours of their scorching sum- mers ; and that the idea of tropical Edens should yet be inseparably associated with yellow fevers and bodily attenuation : calentures and diseased livers : hurricanes, earthquakes, and rainy seasons, far more irksome and injurious than the severest visitation of frosts and snows. In fine, the miraculous rapidity of vegetation in the sum- mers of Canada liberally conq)ensatc for the tedium of winter, and richly provide for its exigencies , and there ': ' "if ' \ ■>: 120 CANADIAN JUNCTION OF THE TWO OCEANS. the winters, l)oth for in-door occupation and ])lcasurc, the sports of the iiehl, and tratKc hy sledge, is not the; least agreeable portion of the year, heing, like the same season in the countries of our own northern Europe, the period for enjoyment and repose ; and, peradventure, from the many particular labours it promotes, not the least pro- fitable division of the annual circle. The question now to be considered is the means of furnishhig a popidation sufficiently numerous, promj)t, and effective, innnediately to compete with the surprising progress making by our American rivals on the Pacific, in their new settlement of California ; and this, we con- sider, constitutes the most facile part of the important undertaking — tens of thousands of our fellow-countrymen, of every description and station, age and sex, behig disposed and ready to depart from a country become un- tenable by the multiplication of nundicrs. The princi})al impediments to more general expatriation have consisted hitherto in the difficulty of deciding upon the most elegible and select quarter to which the smplus portion of our population should, in their collective interest and connexion, direct their views in common ; so that, in relinquishing the country of their birth, they might still hold to the ties which bind them in mutual relation- shi}) and support with the conmmnity of their nation luul race. The scientific and professional, the commer- cial and mechanical, have little inducement to abandon the native scene of their studies and pursuits, to lose themselves in foreign countries destitute of cities, in which alone they can pursue their occupations and call- ings ; or Avhere such cities as newly exist are already overthronged with practitioners in the same (k'partments, who have already preceded them in niigratory settle- CANADIAN JUNCTION OF TTIE TWO OCEANS. 121 nioiit ; and where the capital ref[iiire(l for successful csta- bUshmeut agauist competitors ah'eady located sliouhl, if possessed, spare theui tlie necessity of migrating at all : for what i)rofessional person or mercantile principal can pretend, without considerable capital, to found establish- ments in any of our colonial cities, as they arc now com- posed, and long ago choked up by our hicessant overflow ? And with talents thus exposed to waste in our colonial cities, as much as they are obstructed at home, what hav(! h "yers and doctors, divines and schoolmasters, . ists, •rchants,manufa I w, .rs, and even small artificers, to do away from cities, and sequestered in un[)eopl{>d wastes, being, for the most part, strangers to the use of spade or plough, and luuible to distinguish the upshoots of oats from those of barley; the potato plant from the turnip-top ? But only let us open facilities to these, by promoting their views in the proper sphere of their voca- tions ; and, in shifting them from the scene of their native home, have care still to maintain them incorporate as a body of connected Englishmen, necessary to, and de- pendent upon, each other: still identified with their mother country : subject still to its government and laws : unse- vercd and unestranged from close family intercourse and individual interests, in fine, just such as Englishmen are, and feel, when they merely transfer their business and domicile from one home city to another — and nuiltitudes, now reluctant to disengage their hnmediate views and ambitions from our native soil, would be the first cheer- fully to volunteer departure. Instead of detachhig isolated individuals and dissevered families to people deserts, and originate cities : objects which it would require centuries to accom[)hsh, centuries of hardshi}) and irregularity : we propose a general .: 4 ».'*• ■ .'H 122 CANADIAN .TUNC'TION OF THE TWO OCEANS. hi i>' Exodus ; the abstraction of a nation from forth the aggregate of our dense body of British jjopulation struggling for room — an organized migratory eonnnu- iiity, perfect and entire as a working whole, composed of co-o])erating forces and mobile cities, preserving authority and order under the unaltered maintenance of every established institution proper to oiu* own (jovern- ment and country — intact in the ancient and enlightened classification of grades and fortunes as they subsist in the high state of our civilized system — a little England in movement, pushed as an advance post of the mother country, but still as intunately knit u]) with, and con- nected as parcel and portion of, the British body, as if this abstract community were still a component })art of the home mass. Start not, reader, at what may appear im- practicable in such a proposition, but only vouchsafe us patience and dispassionate attention, and we confidently engage to convince you, by the feasible and simple plan we have now to develop, that we arc no dreamers. The scheme is vast, and connected with combinations of cor- respondent magnitude ; but still the means are not only w^ithin compass and at hand, but are accompanied with the conmiendation of moderate sacrifice and cost, if really there Avould be any, and all bearing the patent stamp of successful precedent in ever^ detail . That emio'ration on a small and "'radual scale affords but imperceptible and dubious relief to the over-peopled em- barrassments of this coimtry, is now an evident and well- attested fact — a fact sid)stantiated by the annual migra- tion of between one and tn:o hundred tkomand of oiu* fellow-citizens from these slioies, without any visible sign of ameliorated condition, or sensible decrease of our peopled repletion — new generations, which in nudtiplied ■^.i^ CANADIAN .UNCTION OK TIIK TWO OCKANS. l^ii number still keep pressing into every space relincpiislie'l by prior ()ccu[)[ints, as fast as their i)lace is vacated, tlierel)y rendc^ring each year, ^vitli all the rednctions, or rather shiftings, of taxation which can be devised : the abolitions of conunercial restrictions : the softening of legislative rigonrs, and all the contrivances and snb- terfuges of financial fancy and dexterity, still more obstrncted and i)erplexing than was its predecessor, which witnessed the last periodical batch of exiles de- part the land. Let the colonial jonrnals, and their coni- niissioned advertisers in this country, allure as they will with s])urious puffs — let the Emigration Societies, and their recruiting crimps, tout each for their own ap})ointed s(!ttlement, and offer premiums, bounties, and free pas- sages — let the charitable and benevolent coax obtrusive misery from the country — it is all in vain to case the burthen until the desired, and now necessitated movement be general, sinudtaneous, systematic, and concentrated. Let Lord John Russell head the list for promoting emi- gration among the needlewomen of the metropolis — let Lord Ashley encourage juvenile offenders and penitent sinners to make voluntary colonial excursions at the expense of the community — let Lord Lincoln ship Spi- talfields weavers, and the Societies for the suppression of vice compassionately remedy the disproportion of the two sexes in Australia, by expediting cargoes oi fitfcd- out magdalens. Let all these shoot forth here and tliere, loads of live rubbish from the English manu- facturing towns : glean partial emigration in the fields : kidnap Avith an occasional capture an entire village now in L'cland, then in Scotland : disperse oiu* ])eoplc (o the four points of the whid, to perish in tempo- rary sheds on this foreign landing-place, or bivouack a . (. 124 CANADIAN JUNCTION OF THE TWO OCKANS. in tlic streets of tliat otlior distant ])ort. Let tlicni licrd in tiocks in savage deserts, languisli in tropi- cal swamps, compete with convicts in remote public works, or run wild in solitary continenient within the gloomy de})ths oi' trackless forests — let sorrow and despair, fevers and privation, ])rovide speedy rest in colonial graves for these banished outcasts — jnid transport-shi})s continue still to Hoat in riot, to wreck, f(juiider, or burn ; but yet in spite of all this and more, the swarm-plague, without unanimous system at home, and single purpose abroad, nmst still renuiin, hi sj)itc of famine and cholera, to menace the country with millions ready to devour each other; and torture the remedial ingenuity of legislators and philanthropists, to rescue society from increasing trouble and just terror. That emigration is at present the best and o?i/j/ cure for the population-tumour is obvious. It is our only present remedy. The means here proposed is emigration in masses, preserved in union and condjination, by mutual dependence upon each other ui the different pursuits and callings of their component members, exerted towards a common purpose and end, Avliich should embrace the undivided attention and interest of all ; and this means, w^e maintain, may be easily carried out by our posses- sion of the Canadas ; and the proposed railway junction of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. I CIIAPTKU VI. LINE OF llAILWAY. ALTiioufiii, to imticipatc tlic objections of prejudice, Ave lijive seemed partially to acknowledge the charge wliieh ascribes inclemency to the climate of the Canadas, still the reader must not, for that, imagine that their actual temperature requires that they should be glossed over Avith apologetic subterfuge, for avc maintain that the llp])cr provinces are not only the most favourable of all the earth for British constitutions, but that they actually vie in beauty and sahOn'ity, in the general tenor of their seasons, Avith the happiest regions of the globe. In the rapid vigour of their spring, they are relieved from the dreary desolation of such protracted conflicts of Avind and rain as those Avhose critical struggles, in face of our early vegetation, arc Avont to irajn'ess such ap- prehensive solicitude in this country. The Canadian sunuuers are luxurious — their autumns joyous — and both so equably tempered in their progress that their transitions seem imperceptible ; and their Avinters, ho- nest in their dealing, carry their rigour Avith a steady and fixed constancy, true to the established calculations laid doAvn for the same returning months, Aveeks, and days, proper to the season — never betraying the inha- bitants to the superfluous incum])rance of extra garments out of time, nor into the premature removal of Avinter Avraps by the treachery of false relaxation. The same I •>() mm: or K \ii,\\ \Y. provision lurcssiiry .Multilist I he lii'st hinsfs of winter siif- ficcs, witli rare necessity of iiltenitioii, until inie(|niv()cal cliinij^t! is proclaimed hy tli(; decided advent of sprinj^. Not only do the ])r(Mlucts of Natin'o in this country siu'pass in (|uantity luid (|uaiity those spontaneously natural to all countrii>s in tlu; same latitudes, but the soil here resi)()ndsto the industrious appeals of man with a readiness and |)r<)fusi()n almost un[)arallele(l elsewhere; fre(|ueut instances existing of lauds continuing produc- tive of most abuudaut harvests through a long succes- sion of ycju's, without the smallest application of manure of any description whatever, or the soil being suffered to lie at rest, during the shortest intervening period, in a fallow state ; and yet yielding, notwithstanding, from seventy-five to eighty bushels per jicre. It is acknow- ledged as a general rule in Canada, that ten (piarters of wheat are annually i)roduced for every inhabitant of this prolific soil — a fact indisputably authenticated on the authority of official returns. Where does Nature exhibit her fair proportions in greater variety of the sublime and beautiful : from the majestic grandeur of the lofty mountain and giant forest, down to the charming tranquillity and verdant undida- tions of our loveliest English scenery ? Where is there such profuse diversity of wood and water ? — where more luxuriant meadow lands and flowery valleys? Here ancient forests shelter stags, elks, bears, and other noblest beasts of chace ; and prairies of the richest lierbage, expanded over thousands of miles, nourish innumerable herds of roving cattle ; while the domestic annuals of the civilized districts, thriving in the healthiest state, attain the finest grow'th. Thirds of every species, from the majestic eagle to the minute humming l)ir(l, i w are LINK (H UAIhWAV. 127 jil)oim(l ill these rej^ioiis ; jiud ''y^i^r 4 ;h 1 40 I, INK (H HAII.WAY. I ■: ri 1' ■1 I... lastly, ns it will ('ommcncc nt lliilit'iix, tlu; port ncnrcst to (ii'ciit Hi'itnin, it will lorin tiu' ii\vi\t tr.mk-linc towards wliicli the niiincroiis local rul^ now inado, aiul ill |)rogi'('Ss tliroii^liout the Caiiadas, • ili converge." It has been rccoiniucndcd hy //////i aiilhor'itjj, '^ t/inl f/ic railH f/ir()Hf//i()H( !/n' line s/ioi/hl he iiindc of tmod, after the manner if thme note in n.sc in llie Unifeit Slates, where theij are fonnd to fje adinirafili/ adapted for the purpose, at a eost of less than one-third of those in hhu/land, while it will thus (tjj'ord cmploj/nient to a (/reat nnniher of hands, i.AHorii heinr/ the principal e.rpense attached to its constrnction." Thus, the ol)jections which would formerly have been provoked by the first allusion to this, the most questionable portion of the route, are for ever extinguished ; and the grand line, as a specula- tion /// prospect//, considerably abridged, since whether the whole be ever accomplished or not, this section of its length is irrevocably assured ; and thus, upwards of the first 400 miles of the undertaking are in a manner disposed of. Wc have now to direct attention to the second and third divisions of the undertaking — that is, from the capital of Lower Canada westw\ard to Lake Tamiscaming, called the " Quebec division ;" extending thence to Lake St. Anne, called the '' Lake division." Erom Quebec to the west end of Lake Superior, at the expense of some inconvenient diversion, perhaps, and consequent delay, we have inland navigation on the grandest scale to the extent of eight hundred miles westward ; by which the innncdiate necessity of a parallel route by railway may be superseded for a time at least, — thus curtailing the distance to the amount in all, including the Halifax rail- way, or the St. Lawrence navigation, of from 1,200 to LINE OF HAILWAY 1 II the the nay the ail- D to 1, 11)0 miles, ihjt lest tlu* coinpKjtioii of the whole line of niilway at once he preicrred, we will conliniie the task of expositors, and conduct the reader forward throngli the proposed sections of the second and third divisions — that is, from ()n(;l)ec to 'ramiscaminjj;, inid from 'lamis- caminjjf to Lake St. Anne, which comprise each a dis- tance of too miles. This is ft tract of country which, to the disgrace of Kngland and Canada, remains a Icrra uwoynUd till this v(!ry hour, no proper survey, or even regular exploration, having been ever instituted in a country of so much mystery and interest. Nor have we any other infornuition on the subject of these neglected territories than the vague accoimts extracted from the unwilling testimony of its Indian inha])itants occasiojially visiting our more civilized settlements ; or very imi)erfect notions gleaned from the loose reports of adventurous voycujcurH or stray hunters, who have been generally too nmch engrossed in the active and earnest nature of their personal pur- suits to detach their thoughts to general or minute con- siderations of the country, even did their judgment ca})acitate them to offer respectable opinions. The map, however, exhibits this region as a magnifi- cent belt of land stretching between prodigious inland seas, abounding with lakes and rivers in almost countless ninnbers, which pour their respective waters north and south into the mighty basins, where vigilant Conunercc, all expectant and prepared, bids fair to turn them all to profitable account in the impending concourse of traffic about to extend over the whole surface of the Hudson's Bay country and flu; Canadian lakes. Here and there the English names of lonely and se(|uestcred log-forts, hunting stations of the Bay Com- 142 LINK or RAILWAY. r^ pany, thinly intors])ersc{l among the mi pronounceable names of Indian appliance to locality, too significantly show " that (jain steps in where science fears to tread ;" and thai certain shrewd parties, awake while the nation slumbers, take cunning advantage of our ignorance and neglect, to swallow a whole region for their own privates picking — nay, they almost obliterate it from the map, and damn it to all the purposes of civilized popidation, agriculture, and connnerce, in order to maintain it as a snug preserve — " en cache'' as Canadian hunters would call it — for traffic with the wild man, m fire-water against peltries ! But if "we arc to judge of these countries by the products of nature, starting into gradual visibility up to their very frontiers, east, south, and west, Avhat wealth have we not yet to anticipate from the disco- veries of the botanist, the mineralogist, and the trader? Among other imperfect attempts to take cognizance of these abandoned portions of our British possessions, an exploring expedition was directed to penetrate into the Nepissing country by Sir John Colborne, some ten years ago or more. The parties were conducted by an officer of the navy, a captain of engineers named Baddiley, a surveyor, and their suite. They started from Lake Simcoe, and penetrated to the south-east banks of the Nepissing Lake ; having traversed more than two degrees of latitude, through countries the greatest part of which had until tlien remained untrodden by European foot. Their plan was thence to diverge from their northern course of direction in excursive circuits east and west, till a large portion of the Chippewa hunting grounds in these districts were surveyed ; and the elements of a more perfect map were laid downi, of the immediate lands bear- ing wes^ of the Ottawa. But owing to defective and LINE OF RAILWAY. 143 injndicioiis arrmigciiicnts, ncf^lect of preliminary plans of connnunications, and means of supply, the party, after extreme sufferings from privation and fatigue, were compelled to return, with accounts sadly coloured by their discomfiture. They had principally calculated upon supporting themselves by the produce of the chace ; but, as they receded from the banks of the great lakes, they found a gradual diminution of game, till starvation and winter compelled them to return, with this fact peejnng out of their report, that they had met with excellent land, despite the desolating memories always associated with fatigue and hungei'. Since then, however, settlements have been gradually creeping in upon this central preserve ; Avhile vast de- posits of iron have been discovered on its leading river, the Ottawa, which no doubt will be traced, u])on investiga- tion, to be distributed in connexion with others stretch- ing westward to its source. Some of the richest copper in the world has l)ecn long found abundant upon the shores of Lake Superior, the deposits of which most ])robably extend likewise far into the centre : much of this is argentiferous, and companies arc said to be now working it ; whilst tlie finest forest trees of all Canada are found in such inexhaustible cpiantity on the banks of the same lake, by which, together with the minerals both discovered and supposed to exist, these districts have gained the name of the " Den Tk of America." Here oak of the finest (piality is omid, which, although not so durable perhaps as *hat of liritish growth is still admirably adapted for ship-building, usually measuring from fifty feet in length upwards by two feet six inches ; — prodigious poplars, immense and gracefid weeping elms, walnut-trees of gigantic dimen- i • 144 LINE OF RAILWAY sions, beautiful birch, aud wild cherry, large enough to compose the bulkiest objects of household furniture ; hiccory, hazel, irouwood, uiagniticent fir and pines, so stupendous that they lift their heads, as it w^re, among the cloiuls, with trunks so vast tliat they retpiire fathoms of line to span them. Yet all these are so numerous and uncared for, that predatory gangs of roving lumberers level them at discretion ; aud float them down the lakes and rivers, collected into those vast rafts that so much astonish European spectators, when they first visit the banks of the St. Lawrence. These superb timbers may be considered as the mere outskirt samples of the internal treasiu'es nursing by nature for European use ; and which now await the English axe in the tract which con- stitutes the second and third divisions of our proposed railroad line. The abandonment and neglect of this portion of our North American territory has seemingly arisen from no well-founded reason created by the aspect of the country, or doubt of its resources, but because of its distance from both oceans ; together with the extensive navigation of the Grand Lakes, whose obvious advant[iges have naturally attracted settlers to prefer location u[)on their banks or in their immediate vicinity. Guided by our knowledge of these facts, we are fully warranted in stating that this very terra incogidta might yet [U'ove the richest portion of the w^hole line between Halifax and the Pacific. Or allowing that the part of the railroad which should run through these second and third divisions should be postponed, till the proceeds arising from the traffic of the eastern and wx'stern portions of the works should su])i)ly means for com- pleting its centre ; or granting that speed might Ix; year, one ! and lul '(Is m\ iii- I TJNE OF RATT,WAY. 1 IT) disregarded at tliis point, iiiul tlnis llio idea of coiinoctinp; both extremities of tlie line, by a eent^al junction in tlie heart of the countries which He behind the nortli l)anhs of the Superior, were to he abandoned altopjetluT, — wliat are, indeed, tlic faciUties whicli the ^'rand hikes su])stitntc for such rehnqnishnient ? 4^herc is now, tlu'ough tlie medium of the Welland Canal, a continuous navigation, carried over river and lake, throui2;h a distance of more than eight hundred miles ; and very little now ren\ains to be completed of the connecting intermediate distance to open an entire and unobstructed ])assagc for general shipping from our ]3ritish capital to the highest jiouit of Lake Superior, embracing an inland voyage on fn-sli water of upwards of two thousand miles. As it is, the Ontario has long been covered with magniticcnit Ih'itisli steamers; while the Huron, which has too long exhibited something like an American monopoly of its navigation, is beginning to a(hnit the influx of Ib'itish competition ; and our own steam connnuuication gradually ineiensing upon its bosom, should iiuluce conlidcnt hoj)e (hat wv shall ere long see a preponderating amount of Ih'itisli prows rippling the broad expanse of the Superior. A lively writer, referring to the connnercial advantag'.'s afforded by these lakes, recen^!\' informed us tint llu^ Topogra])hical Board of Washi ";;ton, so long ago as 1843, estimated the value of ci.uiuiercial capital alloal upon the four laivcs, at no le-^s than sixteen millions two hundred thousand pounds 'riiat the retnrns made ol" American juul foreimi vessels at Chiixa^'o. from tlu^ 1st of April till the 1st of November, in the same year, showed that there arrived one Inmdred and lifty- one steamers, eighty propellers, ten brigs, one lumdred and forty-two schooners, with suudler crnl't — total, one 14G LINE OF RAILWAY. tlioiisand and sixty-eight lake-going vessels, and a like number of departiu'es ; not including such small craft as are engaged in the carrying of wood, staves, ashes, &c. ; and yet such was the glut of wheat, at the same time, that at the latter date three hundred thousand bushels remained unshipped ! He informs us that it is not at all uncommon to see three-masted vessels on Lake Ontario ; and that one alone, in November preceding the date of his publication, conveyed fifteen thousand barrels of flour to Kingston, while another w^as even then about to try the experiment of sailing from Toronto to the West Indies and back. lie further ob- serves that the American topographical engineers, as well as our own civil engineers and savans, having accurately measured the heights and levels of the lakes, concur in favouring an idea, which certainly seems by no means visionary — namely, that the produce of Spanish America and the AVest Indies may ultimately be conveyed from the Mexican Gulf into the heart of the United States, and our Canadas, by means of the Mississii)pi, and the rivers which connect it with the Great Lakes ; and that a vessel loading at Cuba might thus perform an inland circuit of many thousand miles, and rctui'U to its ^V^est Indian port by way of Quebec. From the Gidf of Mexico to the lowest summit of the ridge, which sepa- rates the bason of the Mississi])pi from that of the St. Lawrence, or Great Lakes, the rise does not exceed six hundred feet ; and the gradation of the land has an average of not more than six inches to the mile, in an almost continuous inclined plane of six thousand miles — a circumstance which American shrewdness has been vigilantly careful not to overlook ; for, profiting by this favourable disposition of nature, it has long ago improved LINE OF RAILWAY. 147 upon the liint to establish a c;:rreiit connexion l)ct\vcen the Mississip[)i and the Grand Lakes, by wiiich trade and prosperity are rapidly disseminating through the back settlements of the United States. Yet, Avith all this inspiring spectacle before our eyes, we have not only delayed to prosecute the advantages which the oxam))le otters to the Canadian provinces and ourselves, but have actually been dreaming of delivering up this magniticent ground of conuuercial promise to the exclusive cultivation of our American competitors ! But whether or not, in the correction of our niistake, we ciu'ich the land with the fresh means of intersocial com- munication, and mercantile transport through the addi- tional medium of a railroad, travershig these territories in the very direction in which those lakes extend in length, still, relinquishing the greater success which might attend the direct working of such land carriage by rail, what a glorious accessary would not this water ])assage prove ; and how widely would not the op])ortune position of these waters assist to distribute the contluent wealth of 1 lie line over the whole face of the North American continent: their mutual and correspondent trafHc })rotectL(l, and promoted b} Quebec as an entrepot at one extreme, and Fort William, on Lake Superior, at the other ? We now conic to the fourth, or " Central Division " of the line, viz. — that from St. Anne's Lake, near Lake Superior, to Fort Garry, on the Red River, where the lake navigation and the railroad traffic would meet at the head of liake Superior ; and rest and policy ; since the Lakes and the St. Lawrence would still nfford a great acceku'atiou of trans|)ort between the Atlantic and Paciiic, by the steam navigation at present on them ; albeit annually subject to a period of frozen paralysis; which, nevertheless, would still maintain the ports of Fundy Jiay, and the New Georgia Gulf, in singular activity even during winter, as receptacles of merchandise, and stores, deposited for transmission across the continent at the first break of spring. But if, on the other hand, this, and the Atlantic Division (No. 1), were completed to Quebec, the cir- cuitous passage of the St. Lawrence would, as a matter of course, be avoiilod, and winter hhidrances reduced to mere partial impediments. At all events, by whatever line, or in whatever order and direction, such railway would be constructed, at once in its entirety, or by piece- meal, the water route would still be continued to the head of Lake Su.i)crior durhig, and even a/lcr, the com- ])letion of the hitervemig line between that terminus and the Atlantic ; and this, in the first instance, of necessity for the conveyance of labourers, provision, and material. We nuist, therefore, regard this locality as prc-enunent in unportance, from its becoming the master- key of ih(' Pa'-'tic communication by land. Let u , tluni, examine the character of the country and clht'jite, as they exist between Lake St. Anne and Port Gavry. Sir George Simpson, in his overland travels m 1841, thus writes: — ''The country, during J-INE OF RAILWAY. 1 ID its Lcr- oiir inarch, passed tlirough ibivsts of elm, oak, \um\ birch, &c. ; and many a spot reminded us of the rich and (|uiet scenery of England. The paths of numerous portages were spangled with violets and roses, and many wild flowers ; while the currant and gooseberry, the rasjjberry and plum, the cherry, and even the vine, were abundant. All this boimty of nature was imbued, as it were, with life, by the cheerful notes of a variety of birds, and bv the restless flutter of butterflies of the highest hues. One cannot pass through this fair valley withoi.t feeling it is destined to become, sooner or later, the civilized habitation of men, with their bleating flocks and lowing herds, tlicir schools and their clun'ches, with their full garners, and their social hearths." As ho advances fiu'ther he says — and we particularly invite the reader's attention to his testimony — " 'J'h(3 country to Eort Garry is practical)le for wheels as far as Fort Edmonton, about 000 miles further west ; the vicinity of the latter Eort being rich in muicral productions. A seam of coal can be traced for a consider.'d)le distance on both sides the river, which though it requires a stronger draught than ordinary chinuieys is literally well adapted to the forge." Another Avell-in formed writer, no later than last vear, says it may be true that but a small portion of our North American territory may be flt for colonization, or indeed for anything but the chase ; but it may be;, f///fi is /rue, that that portion, small as it may be called, is a country sufficiently large and fertile to support all the population of (ireat Britain, and afl her dependencies. Many efforts have been nuuh^ to cry down the settlement of the lied Tviver ; and freijuent assertions made of the impossibility of founding a settlement ii; so remote and I,-' ■\l 150 LINE OF IIATIAVAY lii- I (lesolat(3 u countiy ; yot cxpLTiciicu lias shown that [hv.w is nut u jnore liivouiahlc situation on the face of the earth, for the employment of agricultural industry than the locjility of the \iiid River. As far as the produce of the soil is Cv>nccrned, the settlers revel in abundance. Besides the neighbourhood of Fort Garry, which ex- perience has shown to be productive in the extreme, there is the whole country, several hundred miles in extent, from the Ued River to the frontiers of Canada, along the line of rivers and lakes whicli connect Lake Winnipeg with Lake Superior. It is needless (says he) to make long references to authors to support this assertion — that this is a magnificent country for colo- nization. As ah'cady observed, Sir George Simpson s})e<'iks in the strongest language of the l)eauty of the country, the fertility of the soil, and of the rich and varied produce of the earth in its wild and uncultivated luxuriance; and Mr. Ballantync dwells, Avith correspondent laudation, on the same theme, and many, who have passed along that route, are ready to give similar evidence. As these descriptions apply, however, only to the appearance of the country in summer, and tlie winter of these districts having been represented as intolerable, to set that matter definitively at rest, we beg to subjoin a brief sunmiary of Mr. Thomas Simpson's narrative of a journey performed by him in 1830-39, from Fort Garry, to Athabasca, a distance of one thousand tw^o hundred and seventy-seven miles further north than the settlc- jnent in rpicstion. This course was attended with con- siderable westing through the countries lying between the Winnipeg and Rocky Mountains ; and as lie chose, with his ex})erienced knowledge of the climate, the very depth of winter for his journey, w ithout thereby exciting, LINE OF RAILWAY. 151 it would seem, any expression of surprise lunong the peo})le of Fort Garry, we must necessarily suppose the winter climate of those regions to be not so adverse to travelling, as prejudices, created by the exaggeration of interested parties, have generally led us to suppose. It is natural for men contending Avith diiliculties to magnify their gravity ; first, because they pay in ])crson, and none arc so enamoured of discomfort as to nuike light of their exposure to its hardships. Next, it is natural and common that wc should seek to enlist admiration for our trium})hs of fortitude, and pity for our suf- ferings under inconvenience. Listen to any one who has just made a winter cxcui''ion in an open boat; or passed a rainy night on the top or a coach, even u})on our roads and waters of England ; and the vivid miseries which are invariablv narrated in such details, should teach lis how reservedly our sympathy for the hardships endured by travellers through Canada in winter should be conceded ! Mr. Thomas Simpson started upon this formidable journey on the first day of Beconbcr — a month few Englishmen are disposed to leave their homes for northern excursions. IJe had to traverse, as afore- said, a distance of one thousand two hundred and seventy-seven miles in a wilderness, without roads ; uncleared, undrained ; and destitute of inns, post-horses, or covered shelter — " His bed the earth, his roof the cope of heaven." Be it remarked, also, that this great journey was not merely the performance of one single person ])cculiarly adapted for feats of extraor- dinary endurance and fatigue ; but that he was accom- panied by a numerous train, who had to transport along witli them, over flood and field : through bush and through briar : over mountain and swamp, wheeled carriages, :Vvif. ibZ LINK OF RAILWAY. E'l bouts : ba«^^iigc, iiniis, provision;?. cVg. ; tlusir liiuclships ull(!viiitcd l)y no i)ri;[)ar((l halts or fixed stations; and their also discovered a practicable outlet for their cattle and grain, through the tine level [)hiius that lead to the iMississi|)pi and the St. Peter ; where there is promise of sulticient market among the Americans. Domestic manufactures, too, which ought ever to precede exportation, have at last made so'ue progress in the shape of coarse cloths, stutFs, shawls, linen, sacking, tanned leather, &c., all which tend to diminish the annual orders from England, and to render the people inde])endeut." '*■ I ■1 ( IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // {./ k A 1.0 I.I '"IM IIIIM ■^ 1^ 1 2.2 ^ ii£ IIIIIM 1.8 1.25 1.4 1.6 = .4 6" - ► <^ /2 ^;. 'cr-l •c^i j!&. I op. Hiotographic Sciences Corporation m. Li>^ s i\ A^' \ .^^ ^ /> 6^ <^ ^^i ''i.*- 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ijf %> 4 S^. \ iV <> k> t 154 LINE OF RAILWAY. •i 'r.< i> ' ti, n . J' ' . t ^i si" i 1 '^ 1 ) i ''■.. 1 ^'1 . I I Further on he informs us, that although the buffaloes arc no longer captured in droves in the immediate prairies round Fort Garry, yet they still afford ample provision, and in winter are hunted in the adjacent plains, where they are shot down in hundreds at a race ; while at the posts which immediately approximate the same settlement, the wild buffalo continue in such mul- titudes, that at Carlton, he says, " the buffaloes were so numerous that he there found Mr. Small removing his haystacks to the Fort to save them from being entii'ely devoured by their countless herds." He further observes that there were in this vicinity two camps of Assiniboine Indians, each having its buffalo pound, into which they daily drove forty or fifty of these animals -. while he learned that in other places these pounds were formed of piled-up heaps of their carcases — a circumstance by which, he further remarks, " it may be easily supposed the stores of Carlton were groaning with meat, and that there the very dogs were fed on beef-steaks." But returning to the subject of his journey northward, we wdll accompany him in the following summary. On the Jst of Becemher he took leave of Fort Garry, north lat. 50°, west long. 97", in order to proceed to Athabasca, distant, as before stated, 1,277 miles; setting out on horseback at first, accompanied with carts and baggage, together with a gay carriole, and three sledges, although he afterwards preferred " to perform his journey on foot." After winding through a country, agreeably \aried with woods and plains, he reached Manitoba house, where he found the soil and climate equal to those of Red River, yielding, with excellent returns, barley, wheat, and potatoes, and the lake productive of very line whitefish. On the 12th, having reached the portage LINE OF RAILWAY. 155 La Prairie, a slip of land which separates the Manitoba from the lesser \Vinnii)eg Lake, he found the shores of this water tolerably well clothed with elm, poplar, ash, birch, and pine trees. There was still so little snow on the ground — (12th of December Ij — that, though his tiny vehicles needed a track no more than eighteen inches wide, the sharp twigs and fallen timber damaged his carriole. The weather was so/l and overcast. And here the industry of man (he says) may, in some future ages, convert this wilderness into a habitable land, as the climate is good, and barley, potatoes, and other vegetable produce, have been raised at several points along Swan River. On the 30th December he reached Carlton, situated on the south side of the Saskatchewan River, lat. 52° 40' 36" N., where he found the ground in cultivation, and the chief factor, Mr. Praden ; justly proud of the sleek hides of the cattle and horses in his stable. On the 4th of January, having left Carlton, he entered an open country, consisting of low, round, grassy hills, interspersed with clumps of poplar, and occasionally with pines. On the Gth January, the wea- ther continuing mild, he entered the boundary of the pine forest, in lat. 53° 30' N., where, after passing through thick woods, he reached Otter Lake ; and there, finding a fine camping place, he halted, as was usual with him, after sunset. Next morning, the 7th of January, he followed a hilly tract, which divides the waters of the Saskatchewan and Churchill rivers, about the middle of which he fell upon a streamlet winding through a valley with elevated woody sides, which the mild weather had caused to overflow in many places, to his great inconvenience. Next morning, the 8th January, he crossed six lakelets, separated from each other by w it:. ■ ■ ; i' ; -i^': •v^ di ii li ?; -li '■■■& ..' . 1? 1^ ^■-| ■ ^ t® • ^ t ■ J. t 1 ■■' [ - 1 •: . * > 1 ; * ■' •tt • • U ' n . ■, n ";!v 156 LINE OF RAILWAY. very close woods : in passing through which, the extreme darkness rendered it necessary to advance in a stooping posture, having constantly to guard his eyes from the low hanging branches. He then followed the hilly ^ract, &c. &c. On the 23rd January he reached Metliy Lake, where he encamped amongst trees of great size, having there ascertained the latitude to be 5G° 28' N. He quitted, he says, these s?iffy/ quarters at 3 a.m. of the 24th, avoiding to pass through a hilly, woody country, direct to Athabasca, preferring (he says) the deep and pic- turesque valley of the clear water river ; advancing, as usual, till sunset, arranging this time because the prepa- ration of the encampment (lie observes) takes more time and laboiu' ; and is never so well done after nightfall. One of the pines here, he says, under the shelter of which he took up his night's lodgings, measured three yards in girth, at five feet from the ground." On the 1st of February, it being t/ie day he had fixed on leaving Red River for his arrival at Chipewyan,* he was on the move at 2 A.M. The morning w^as windy but not cold) and at 3 P.M. amved at his destination, where he was warmly welcomed by Chief Factors Smith and Hease. Thus, he says, happily terminated a winter journey of one thousand two hundred and seventy-seven statute miles, namely, From Fort Garry to Pelly 394 miles Fort Pelly to Carlton .... 276 Carlton to Isle ^ la Crosse . . , 236 Isle ^ la Crosse to Fort Chipcwyan 371 1,277 * He could not have anticipated, cither from his own knowledge, or upon in(|uiry, that he should meet with any obstaclos either from weather or nature of the route. Nor did Le, of course, encounter any of material couscqueuce. LINE OF RAILWAY. 157 The itinerary, from which the foregoing abridged summary is extracted, was not, let it be particularly remarked, written w^ith the intention of reconciling us to the lets and hindrances of this wild and northerly region, stretching so far back from the line we contem- plate ; but rather with the evident view of cr( ating our interest by the hardships he had to overcome, which, of course, are emphatically enumerated ; although the faci- lity of his passage, and the solacing incidents of his journey, which escape in his narration, present indis- putable facts, superior to all recapitulations of difficulty and inconvenience ; and wdiich substantijilly prove that man may walk or ride with as much ease and pleasure in these quarters as in England itself; that the aspect of nature there is not more repulsive than it is in our own open country in the winter season ; and, in testimony of its resources, we beg to add, once more, upon his authority, that the men who accompanied him so far, and even further north, received daily rations, served out to each, of from eight to ten, and to some individuals twelve, pounds of venison ; or, wdien they could be got, four or five whitetish, weighing from fifteen to twenty pounds ! This quantity of solid food (he says), immode- rate as it may appear, does not exceed the average standard of the country. The reader will perceive, on examining, on the map, the situation of Fort Garry, to which we now return from the north, that there is an amphitheatric indentation of land, hemmed on both flanks by the great Winnipeg and Manipotaba Lakes, which all but encircle it in the rear ; while the Assiniboine in its course to the Red River covers it with a sweeping curve in front, all render- ing the spot, or oasis we might call it, a positive and '^■•-1: ■i:^^ 'W . I, 158 LINK 01' RAILWAY. I ; '■?■. ■ ■•,.■1 well-protcctcd island, were it not for a ferra frma open- ing tlirough a posterior outlet, afforded by a narrow- necked passage into another detached recess, similarly environed l)y waters of oceanic magnificence. Only contemplate this situation with due attention, and asso- ciate immediately with it the passage of a railroad, such as is proposed ; and, connected with the latter, a pros- pective chain of settlements and stations, which this route could not but incontinently call into existence in its progress from east to west, and vice versd. Then glance at the southern countries in front of this position — pro- vinces of a rival State, gradually filling with a population which ere long will extend from the north-west territory and Missouri country to New Albion and California. Returning again to the peculiar site in question, see its eastern band. Lake AVinnipeg, extending a train of minor sheets of water to close approximation to Lr\e Superior, affording thereby the most facile means of an artificial junction; while sending forth noble floods in communication with Hudson's Bay on the north and north-east ; and equally liberal on the west ; receiving the navigable river Sascatchewan, which previously dis- tributes its waters through hundreds of miles of prairie lands, up to the very base of the Rocky Mountains. Still unexhausted by these prodigious discharges, behold this mighty reservoir receiving the tributary streams of the south, even as far as the Mississippi, and eventually destined to convey the traffic of three thousand miles to the lap of Florida. In fine, combined with these com- municating and protecting waters, which immediately embrace this sanctum, and the lakes on its south-east front where British war-ships float — consider the moun- tain chain to the west — and say if human imagination it ■•'',? - ):■■.:■,- j: LINE OV RAILWAY. 159 last lin- ton could possibly conceive a spot more happily adapted, by so many singular and concurrent advantages, for the foundation of a capital to the State which such a rail- road would immediately create in these virgin territo- ries : — a spot so centrally disposed for commerce by land and water, and so admirably fortified by Nature's hand ? If the similarity of form and position, conspicuous in the quahties and configuration of the Bay of Eundy on the Atlantic, and New Georgia Gulf on the Pacific, in an almost straight line to each other, as if created as pendents for the express purpose, excite surprise, a coincidence not less extraordinary and striking will be found on reference to the country mapped under the correspondent longitude east, and in the same parallel of latitude north with Lake Winnipeg — namely, 51°, 100', E. There in recent deserts, exactly the antipodes of Lake Winnipeg — ^just as if there was a comnmnication directly down through both beds — is situated Lake Baikal; and upon its bank the interesting and flourishing city of Irkutsk, the metropolis of the eastern Government of Asiatic Russia, which is rapidly increasing in im- portance and population — a city presenting an aspect of the very highest European civilization — its precincts adorned with many noble public edifices ; and within its walls the site of an archbishopric : its prosperity and growth being promoted by the Government of St. Peters- burgh, in order to reclaim the mlds of Tartary ; and extend commercial influence and relations to China, of which Irkutsk, in the contrary line of direction from the route here proposed, forms the grand intermediate Government and mart between the Celestial and Auto- cratic Empires — a colonial capital which is attracting • . ..! i1 ■ > ■■; ■ ■ .7' ■ . I' •■'!. \- :• «', ■•*v ;>^"; at ' , r IV ..■ iW% v' '1 FV'f:'- 4 - r.i 100 LINK OF IIAII.WAY. Chinese settlers by tliousaiids ; and wliich is j^radnally extending a train of nuirnl d('i)cndencics to and l)ey()iid the very boundary of Cliina itself. England, accept the omen — and upon Lake AVinnipeg build a city opposite to Irkutsk ; and do not permit Russia silently to outstrip us in enterprize ; and, with so many colonies scattered over the furthest rpiarters of the globe, resign to Russia the more honourable and rational task of improving the resources natural to our own com- mon belt of latitude. Be, as you ought to be, the first to introduce the Chinese partners of our ])lanet into the habits of international intimacy and relation with the Govern- ments and people of Europe. Although unfavoured by the facility of passage by water, and unpossessed yet of the means of great railroad transport, Russia has not allowed either climate or distance to oppose a bar to the interests she is deliberately crowning by the encou- ragement of Irkutsk ; for, precious as population is to her European ascendancy, she has still been most sedu- lous in her endeavours to detach active and intelligent settlers to this capital of her furthest Asiatic dominions. Let us, then, with so many superior means, emulate her example, and prosecute to the West the same object she is pursuing to the East ; and rival her in a city which, in the opposite latitude and longitude, will, like Irkutsk, civilize a wilderness, and vie in attracting the commerce of China — a city which could not but become, under impending circumstances, the real capital of the whole North American Continent. We have now to examine the fifth or the " Prairie Division" — that is, the portion of the route extending westward from Fort Gaiiy to the "Elbow" of the Saskatchewan River; and, from that point, we may . '. t i ■ LINE Ul' RAILWAY. 1)1 nig the lay include the sixth, or the " Mountiiiii Division," in oui account of that vast territory — a land which, as regards the first and the greater part of the second, all accounts concur in representing as a continuous plain, occasionally diversified by gentle undulations, free and unobstructed through all its wide compass, excejit where agreeably studded with picturcs(|ue groves and i)lcasant waters ; while the face of this vast level, everywhere favoiu'able to the action of wheel carriage (which is universally eni- liloyed to traverse it), is admirably adapted to all the purposes of drainage. With the exce})tion of Belgium, perhaps, uo other country in the world displays so eligible a surface for laying down a line of rail ; and, although w^e shoidd naturally infer that some swampy land may lie in the immediate proximity of the moiuitain base, yet the many flowing waters, and more especially the Askow and BuU's-pound rivers, which })our away from the hilly range, would necessarily imply so vast an amount of natural drainage as should authorize us to expect a much drier surface than its exposiu*e to the aqueous discharges from the heights would otherwise lead us to anticipate in ground so situate; and which must render it superior, at least in this respect, to the country exposed to the same descent furt'i yr north, as described in the itinerary of Mr. Thomas Sii ipscni : and which, nevertheless, seems to have afforded suthcient solidity of footing to interpose no obstruction to the facility of his winter march. The considerable stretch southward, besides, of this portion of the prairies, from the remote districts described by this traveller, in exposing it, as a natural consequence, to a stronger influence of the sun, would likewise wvarrant the inference of its having a readier tendency to drought .'■MV '-\ V. -. . .if". 10; LINK or llAILWAV. ' f>v •■J-': 1- Ui ■' .1;'- ii n in snnitiier; and, in tho winter season, to possess a niikler atnios])h{'ric condition than tliat tar rearward descri))ed in Mr. Simpson's hil)ernal bivonacs : while the navigal)lc capacity of the great river Saskatchewan, rolling in correspondent direction with onr line in pro- ject, wonld seem to beckon with inviting promise of extraordinary aid in this department of the enterprize ; and the plentiful supj)ly of constructive material, as the natural product of the lower mountain acclivities, would be certain also to secure ample means of overcoming whatever impediment any soft ground might present in the vicinity. From Lake Superior to the Mountains, then, we imperatively assert that Nature, by all her means of earth, air, and water, has marked this tract of land, as one which the presiding genius of human pros- perity has expressly till now reserved for the predestined scene of the greatest traffic which the world, with all its commercial records, has ever yet known ; and that this vast plahi will one day become the general rendezvous of all the trading nations upon earth. To resume our account of the " Prairie Division," from Fort Garry to the elbow of the Saskatchewan, and from thence westward, we must again point out, in the words of former explorers : reiterated very lately by an intelhgent author and traveller : that this vast country is a broad belt stretching in a north westerly direction to the Rocky Mountains. "It is a country of varied fea- tures : immense plains, hills, lakes, and woods, are chequered over its surface, abounding with every animal and fish which contribute to the support of man in his savage state ; and which, therefore, render the advance- ment of civilized man into the wilderness a matter com- paratively neither of difficulty nor of expense." Here LINE 0\- K.MLUAY. \{\:\ )ve then is a country, above 50(),()(M) square miles in extent, a great part of which is favourable for settlement and agriculture, and nearly the whole of which is so well supplied with game as to enable the first advancement of colonies to be readily effected. The Saskatchewan river, winding through these ])rairies, is navigable for boats and canoes, almost from its soiu'ce in the Rocky Moun- tains, through a course of 1,400 miles to the mouth, where it discharges itself into Lake Winnij)eg. There is, it appears, but o/ie rapid throughout the whole course, and that could readily be overcome. In the Rocky Mountains, the sources of the Saskatchewan on the one side, and of the Columbia on the other, are so close together, that Sir George Simpson could fill his kettle for breakfast out of both at the same time : he says they are not fifteen feet apart. *' It cannot then (says our author) but be obvious to all that there is a vast object to be gained by opening up the interior of the American Continent, and securing as soon as possible an overland communication with the Pacific Ocean." We have now to consider the Sixth Division of the project, which includes the " Mountain" section, extend- ing from the " elbow" of the Saskatchewan to the west of the Rocky Mountains. The description of this divi- sion corresponds exactly with that already set forth in our progress westward from Fort Garry, until we arrive at the Rocky Mountains ; and it is therefore necessary for us only to confine ourselves to this sujjposed barrier. The " Mountain District," of course, constitutes the principal bugbear in the whole train of anticipated diffi- culties, which may probably awe the feeble-minded back from the prosecution, even in idea, of so formidable a project as ours ; and we are not prepared by any positive M 2 •.;■■!■.. ; ' '.'' '-r;'-''. ■ .'.'i •' 1 ''<■ ■'■>,*.■ 104 LINK ()!• HAILWAV. ■■i I t '» ■■';* ' .!>' ,1 ! data, collrctcd iVoni pinticiiliir minutes niadi; diirinu; a rofjiulMr siirvoy, to dissi|)!itc tlic doiihls uliicli tli(> uiicii- tcrpi'iziiij^ and faint-lujartcd may (Mitcrtaiii of the possi- bility of vaii(|uislung this impediment in onr otlierwiso imimpiMled course. 'J'hesc; mountaiiis, liowever, tin'ough- ont tlu'ir extended cliain, iuive l)een ))en(!tmted at various jmints, even under tlie most adverse circumstances, by adventurous explorers, accompanied with uunicrous trains and ])agga<^e ; whose successful passage, in absence of experienced guides or known tracks — whilst destitute of all the ordinary means of comfort, provision, and accom- modation, i)rocurable and ex])ected by the poorest wan- derers hi civilized and peojjled countries — prove not only the facile practicability of these passes, were they but ])roperly imi)roved by the customary means applied to travelled roads ; but the very trium})li of these efforts, ever and anon published by these explorers, would be no less arduous WTre they exerted to drag after them a dependent party, encumbered with beasts and baggage, through an unpeoi)led wild, even were it but moderately level, and blessed with perpetual summer. Yet, wo repeat, that the very fact of their uniform success belies their accounts of the terrible and insurmountal)le diffi- culties these explorers of deserts would seem alone to Jiave fortitude and vigour to overcome. But, surely, that which travellers frequently accomplish on the bare lines of the Rocky jNIountains, deprived of shelter and supplies, would necessarily be feats of comparative ease to wayfarers duly accommodated with ivell-frequented roads, established conveyance, and roadside entertainment ; and even admitting that these lines of hills should present the greatest difficulties with which modern science has yet had to contend, why should they constitute the ''\\ .f" LINK Ol' U All, WAV. k;.-) (^rniul ()l)stiU'k' niul iiitcnlictorv Ijouiidaiy wlicic ciiiii- iiccriiig skill aiul ciiti'r[)i*izc must hang tluir luads and StO]) ? Th(! passes of tlu>se nionntains I'urtluT soutli, wliicli excited so much wondci* and admiration a few years ago (Is 18) in favour of the American explorer, C/aptain Viv- inont, is now pcjrformed in daily journies l)y hundreds of ordinary adventurers — men, women, and children, 0// Ihc h'aiiijj — who traverse the " Uocky Chain" with perfect ease on their way to the western sicU.' — now the fjimons huul of California ! A similar concourse, even should a railroad not be projected across our section of the hilly land, will, no doubt, ere long ])e seen threading the mountain passes within onr boundary, and subjected to no more diiliculties or obstructions than are op|)ose(l to the excursions of otlicr travellers more to the south. Now, a simple incident, accidentally related by Captain Fremont, withont that traveller dreaming of the infer.- cncc to be deduced from his statement, tells not tmly in a very depreciatory degree against the magnitude of his own mountain exploits, but actually dispels at a breath all that phantasmagoria of imaginary su|)erhuman endu- rance and false terror which the fanciful inflations of ordinary travellers have insinuated into the general mind in association with those mountain passes. The interesting and truly intelligent writer to whom we have just referred informs us, in the history of his journey through the southern pass, that being on the Co- lumbia River in 1844, November 15 — {n/ark the da/c) — " About noon, two barges of the express //-o/;/ Montreal arrived at the upper })ortage landing, which for lai-ge boats is on the right bank of the river. They Mere a fine looking crew^ and among them I remarked (he says) . IV :<-■ 166 LINE OF RAILWAY. " 1-5 ' V > . ' i i t ■ ';-■' • i '» h 'I' ■J »1^^.;9 li ^\ i .. a fresh-looking woman and her daughter, emigrants from Canada : tlicy had arrived at noon, and in the evening they expected to reacli Vancouver. These bateaux carry the express of the Hudson's Bay Company to the highest navigable point of the north fork of the Cohunbia, whence it is carried by an overland party to Lake Win- nipeg, at which place the mail is kept up between these very remote points. It w^as satisfactory (he says) to see the order and speed with which these experienced boat- men effected the portage, and passed the boats over the cascades. The Canadian emigrants were much chagrined at the change of the climate, and informed him that only a few miles above — viz., the Rocky Mountain heights — * they had left a country of bright blue sky and a shining sun.' " The reader will observe that the two .w'omen descend- insr from the northern pass, and who traversed it at a season w^lien our own mountains of Wales or Derbyshire would be deemed too severely trying for the constitution of females so exposed, were so far from exhibiting signs of hardship and fatigue, that their fresh looks attracted the attention of the traveller ; while the crew were so little affected by their passage through these rocky regions, that their spirit and alacrity were admired even by the active and intrepid Fremont himself. The superior mild- ness of the mountain summits, too, in the month of November, which these women lamented to have left, implies no great speed in £lie approach of winter in these altitudes, however rigorously it may reign during the period of its sojourn ; and the additional testimony borne by Captain Fremont of the verdure proper to even these lofty lands should speak as strongly in favour of their habitable ten ability as their bright blue skies, and LINE Ol" RAILWAY. 1()7 sunshine, in the month of November. The extract, be- sides, which we have next to submit presents, at the same time, a descrii)tivc iUustration of our seventh or Pacific Division : — " I can only say in general and comparative terms — (remarks Captain Fremont, in speaking of the Oregon) — that in that branch of agriculture which implies the cultivation of grains, and staple crops, it would be inferior to the Atlantic States, though many parts are superior for wheat ; while, in the rearing of flocks and herds, it would claim a high place. Its grazing capa- bilities are great, and even in the indigenous grass are the elements of individual and natural wealth to be found. In fact, the valuable grasses begin within a hundred and fifty miles of the Missouri frontier, and extend to the Pacific Ocean west of the Rocky ^foun- tains. It is the short curly grass on which the buffalo delight to feed — (whence its name of ' buffido ') — and which is still good when dry and apparently dead. West of those mountains it is of large growth in clus- ters, and hence called ' bunch grass ;' and which has a second, or 'fair growth. Plains and mountains both exhibit them, and I have seen good pasturage at an elevation of ten thousand feet. In this spontaneous product the trading or travelling caravans can find sub- sistence for their animals; and in military operations any number of cavalry may be moved, and any number of cattle may be driven ; and thus men and horses be supported on long expeditions, and this even in Avinter in slieit( yed situations." Having thus conducted our readers over the sixth division of the line, including the " Mountain" section, in corroboration of the statements of Captain Fremont, 0.:" ;•).■■ )>■• ' hf- 1G8 LINE OF RAILWAY. i it?- '!%■ ,: 'i;- we have now to add that Sir George Simpson made a diverging journey of nearly 2,000 miles in forty-seven days from the Ked River, via Fort Edmonton, to Fort Colville, in 1841. He crossed the Rocky Mountains at the confluence of the Saskatchewan and Columbia, near Fort Kotanie, at an elevation of 8,000 feet above the sea, with mountains rising about /la/f that altitude around. Why Sir George ascended to the height of 8,000 feet, when he could have passed at half that altitude, or even at a third of it, may be accounted for on other grounds than any that we at present knoAv ; but we infinitely regret that instead of astonishing us at the feat, with the customary ambi- tion of wonder-striking travellers he did not rather prefer to spare the devious footsteps of succeeding pilgrhns in the wild, by searching out some less arduous pass among the loAvcr ridges he noticed beneath- the level of his ascent : for, notwithstanding the soaring ambition com- mon, it would seem, to mountain explorers here, as well as in every other region where clambering offers a claim to admiration ; and that the peaks of this stupendous chain frequently attain the very loftiest altitudes; yet their average heights, stretching within our boundary until they gradually diminish to comparative insigni- ficance in the north, do not exceed three or four thou- sand feet ; from which, in our calculations of a passage over their acclivities, we have to subtract the height of at least 500 feet at which the elevation of the prairies above the sea of Red River is computed ; but which plains continue to rise in ascertained but imperceptible ascent westward, till their tabular surface is tei'minated by the northern boundary we now contemplate, distant 809 miles ; thereby naturally giving grounds for further subtraction. But average loftiness does not necessarily ^ LINE OF IlAlIiWAY. IG9 imply the total absence of alternate depressions, gaps, and ravines in mountain ranges : and often the most towering eminences are so separated from correspondent summits, as to admit of the most facile means of winding round their lower bases, or middle girths. That such passes do not intervene in our Une of these mountains, on the south-east, is still left to be determined by express and minute survey. We have now fairly arrived at our seventh, or Pacific Division — The Terra FelLv of our series, where Nature, atoning for whatever sternness she may occasionally dis- play on the east of her towering sublimities among these hills, opens her lap with the veriest liberal profu- sion to the seasons, and smiles in one of the most delectable atmospheres of her whole earthly reign. Here, exempt from the magnetic currents to which has been ascribed the supernatural cold of her transmontanc parallels, in her eastern vicinity, the air resumes the same tone and temperature which the correlative lati- tudes exhibit in the Old World ; and the fig, orange, lemon, melon, vine, and many other fruits proper to the tropics, are well-known to be the indigenous growth of the southern soil of this favoured shore. The central forests of the continent, we have just hastily described, in our rapid smnmary, are indubitably rich in arboreous produce ; but, opultrnt as they may be in costly timber, what are they to the vegetable glories of the cific shore ? This land is a golden terminus, indeed, to the wastes and wilds which intervene betwixt us and the western verge of our American possessions, and would pay a most grateful indemnity for the rougher reception which climate opposes to travellers on the Atlantic L'xtremity of our line. But not to crowd testimony upon ]■'■;:■■■ 'i '.If' •■/ 'i'\ ■ '[V i is 1- \ 'W ''?■ ■ ^( 1 ' t" -f^^Slammtm 170 LINE OF RAILWAY. i B' ^f: )f . 1 1\ '■■ !:;■? .; the mind of the reader, we will, in this chapter, coiifim; our illustrations upon this head, to the evidence of Mr. Nicolay, borne by the descriptions given in his travels through that country : — " This land (says that gentleman) offers even now exports of hides, cattle, wool and tallow, as well as salted meats, beef, pork, wheat, barley, Indian -corn, apples, and timber. Of these much are sent to the Sandwich Islands, some to California; and hides and wool have been sent to England. The woods of the Oregon present another fertile source of national and commercial wealth. The growth of timber of all sorts, in the neighbourhood of the new harbour of the De Fuca Strait, adds much to their value as a naval and commer- cial station. Coal is found hi the whole western district, but principally shows itself, above the surface, on the north part of Vancouver's Island. To these sources of national and commercial wealth must be added the minerals — iron, lead, tin, &c. The mountains and sea coast produce granite, slate, sandstone; and in the interior oolites : limestone is plentiful ; and to the north most easily worked, and very rich in colour." Another respectable authority observes that the country termed " New Caledonia," between the Rocky Moun- tains and Cascade Mountains, near the coast of the Pacific, is well-watered, undulating in bold swells, with occasional plains and copses, and an abundance of forest trees, of which the cedar, fir, and hemlock, grow to a prodigious size. Captain Gordon, of the steam sloop Cormorant, writing on the 7th October, 1846, reports that coals in abundance, and of the best quality, can be wrought at 4s. a ton ! Lieutenants Warre and Vavasour, the latter of the Royal Engineers, state that the speci- LlNli OF RAILWAY. 171 mens of lead found in the mountains on the coast are apparently very fine. The fisheries (of salmon and stur- geon) arc inexhaustible, and game of all descriptions abound. The timber (these gentlemen add) is extremely luxuriant, and increases in value as you reach a more northern latitude — that in 50° to 54" being considered the best. Pine, spruce, red and white oak, ash, cedar, arbutus, poplar, maple, willow, and yew, grow^ in this section of the country north of the Columbia river — the cedar and pine particularly becoming ol an innnense size. On the lands near the head of Puget's Sound, they cultivate wheat, potatoes, &c. ; but the magnificent ranges of rich prairie country, between the shores of the Sound and the Cascade Mountains to the east, are chiefly used as pasturage for immense herds of cattle and sheep. Lieutenant Vavasour, writing on the 1st March, 1846, says that " there is plenty of timber of every description on Vancouver's Island ; as also limestone, which can easily be transported to all other places in the territory, where it may hereafter be deemed necessary to form permanent works." It is now only necessary to add, on the same respectable authorities already named, that around Fort Victoria, opposite Port Langlcy, excellent buildhigs and stores are erected, the lands are inclosed and cropped, and the place stocked with cattle ; and finally, that the country is fine, the clhnate salubrious, and all the necessaries of life abundant. In short, with regard to this extreme division of the pro- jected railway, we have clearly to state, on these and other authorities, too numerous to recapitulate, that the atmo- sphere and capabilities are not surpassed, nay, not even equalled, by those of any other point along the whole Pacific, whether considered in a militarv view, connected •s,. -r'" -i'-^it :•: K ' "g-ia /^*; ■•>■ ■ ''*' ., I '4 r *^^ till m 172 LINE OF RAILWAY. with Vancouver's Island, lying as it does in so convenient and commodious a basin, j)rotecting and protected; or conunercially, when we behold that basin, so inviting to trade, coming in direct course from north-eastern Asia ; and capable of sheltering in its waters the fleets of the whole world — earnest of the speedy rise of a port upon this shore that will not only extinguish at once, and for ever, the transient prosperity and renown of San Francisco, but in future may out-rival even the universal mart and immortal fame of ancient Tyre and Sidon. While reviewing what we have written with regard to the Rocky Mountains, our attention has been called to the public announcement of a project, presented, accepted, and now actually preparing for execution, bv the lloyal Sarde, Victor Enunanuel, with the full and entire sanction of the Piedmontcse Parliament : the grandeur and magnitude of which undertaking eclipses all that England with her immense resources, extra population, and boasted energies, has ever yet atten^pted in the shape of public works : an example before Avhich the scheme of a railway across the American prairies, and a passage over the Rocky Mountains, shrinks into a feat of ordinary conception. With the mere handful of population the little monarchy of Piedmont can com- mand, its late reverses and limited revenues, the enter- prize assumes a complexion of stupendous hardihood and magnificence, still more dazzling in proportion to the difficulty and sacrifice. Do not then, in fair justice to our British genius, after the challenge offered by so grand an example, slirink abashed from the task of con- quering the barrier chain which divides our American possessions ; and separates England from direct com- nuuiication with the Pacific. For should the little ' 'I LINK or RAIT.WAV. 173 Government of Piedmont really vanquish the Alps, and bore a passage through their sides, merely to aug- ment the land trafHc of Italy, what were the Rochy Mountains, but insignificant hillocks — to Avhich the Alps are, on this occasion, as " Ossa to a wart :" an obsolete wall through which a break would instantly be rewarded, not with the partial traffic of a region, but the conflui;nt commerce of the world entire. Post- poning further comments on this head, permit us to present the following extract for the consideration of the incredulous deniers of a practicable passage through the Rocky Mountains : — " To complete the direct line of railroad conmiunica- tion between Boulogne and Venice and Ancona, and consequently between London and the Adriatic, one only obstacle lies in the way. The chain of Mont •Cenis, and JNTont Genevre, running nearly north-east, and south-west, would cross such a line, and present with their elevation of 11,000 feet an insurmountable bar to any direct and continuous railway. " From London, as far as Chambery, by the Lyons railroad, all is smooth enough ; nay, that rail can, and will, and, indeed, is now about to push further, ascend- ing to Mont Meilland, and St. Maurienne (names well- known to old post-travellers, who directed their steps along the valley of the Arc towards Lanslebourg), and, by an ulterior effort, it will yet reach higher, as far as Modane, at the foot of the northern crest of the Graian, and Cottian Alps. But once there, all further progress is arrested ; and no train can hope to reach the Italian side to Susa and Turin; and thence to the eastern coasts of the peninsula, unless a subterranean wayfare be pierced through the snow-capped barrier. ■V,. ' . . ■'- ' . ' »■ t, i^i-:fn^f 1 ■ •:•>•■..■■ •■ ■^4-- '.".*'. '■«;■ -Sm MHH 171 MNT, OF RAILWAY. «. » V. -^it ;i .•hi. Hi ,.'* • • "i ■ ■ ■' : ! i »:l. « " What a luagniHccnt problem is here presented to the inventive genius of tlie age ! What splendid results to be attained by its successful solution I Such a problem has been actually imder consideration of the Sardinian Government, since August, 1845. Its solu- tion is no longer a matter of doubt. The possibility of boring through the heart of IVIont Gen^vrc, and of linking Chanibery with Susa, north and south of that range, is a demonstrated truth. The Great Tunnel of the Alps is about to become a reality, under the auspices of Victor Emmanuel, and the Piedmontese Par- liament. *• The author of this gigantic scheme is the Chevalier Henry Maus, Honorary Inspector of the Ge/iie Civil ; the same who devised and executed the great works of the liiege Railroad. After five years" of incessant study of this question, and many practical experiments and calculations, including the invention of new machineiy for boring the mountain, this officer made his final reports to Government on the 8th of February, 1849. "A conmiission was thereupon named on the 13th of July, 1849, consisting of several distinguished civil engineers, and artillery officers, senators, members of the Government, and a professor of Geology, to examine and give their opinion on the natare and feasibility of Chevalier Maus' project. That commission, on the 1st of November last, being then under the presidency of the Minister of Public Works, the Chevalier Paleocapa, decided unanimously and entirely in favour of the pro- ject. Their report, together with the Chevalier Maus', has recently been printed for private distribution, by order of the Sardinian Government, illustrated with maps, and plans, and all the various calculations, not I 1 LINE OF RAILWAY I / .) vuly of expense, but of the mechanical ditHciilties also which this great and striking project presents. " An a})plicati()n for a jiart of the funds retpiired to begin the Great Tunnel will be made to the Chambers forthwith ; and the work, which it is expected will occupy five years, will cost 14,000, (M)U francs ; while the entire railroad of the Alps, connecting the tunnel with the Chambeiy Railway on the one side, and with Susa on the other side (in length together 3G,5G5 metres, or 20J English miles), wid cost 21,000,000 francs, forming a total ('vpense of 35,000,000 francs. The Great Tunnel itself Mill measure 12,290 metres, or nearly seven English miles in length : its greatest height will be 19 feet, and its width 25, admitting, of course, of a double line of rail. Its northern entrance is to be at Modane; and the south(M'n entrance at Bardonneche, on the River IMardovine. This latter entrance being the highest point of the intended line of rail, will be 4,092 feet above the level of the sea ; and yet 2,400 feet below the highest culminating point of the great road, or pass over Moun^- Cenis. It is intended to divide the connecting lines (a rail leading to either entrance of the tunnel into eight inclined planes, of about 5,000 metres, or two and a half English miles each, worked, like those of Liege, by endless cables, and stationary engines ; but in the present case moved by water power, derived from the torrents. " The remarkable part of the project, however, is the newly devised machinery, and motive power, by which the Chevalier Mans proposes to bore the Great Tminel. It is as ingenious as it is new : presenting some extraor- dinary facts in mechanics, which could hardly have been anticipated ; but the truth of which has been tested, and verified by practical essays, made with working models of i: f. : hi ■'-'.,»•. ■»;'■> 170 lASK OF IIAII.WAV. Ir< ' ?t .Ji . "'■:%.: 'U mr^ tlic imturul siy-o, before tlio Government connnission already mentioned; l)nt these, in the consideration of the innnense n^snlts, social, connnercial, and political, that may be expected to flow from snch a gigantic nndertaking, with which the Thames Tnnncl, and the Britannia Ihidgc, become secondary o})jects, may soon form the subject of another article." — 'Times, April 15th, 1850. i CHAPTER VII. ENGLISH DISTUESS, AND CANADA TO THE llESCUE. We have sliown in a former chapter, on the most unquos- tionable aiithoritics — namely, the parliamentary retnrns and other authenticated reports — the inunbers of over- whelming multitudes of our countrymen who are in receipt of parish relief; and we shall have occasion in a futiu-c chapter more particularly to alhule to this chiss of our population. There is at the same time another class fully as numerous, uninscribed on the pauper list, who linger under even worse destitution than our paupers, swelling the squalid mass, aud equally depen- dent upon charity for support — miserable beings, who, in the hand-to-mouth precariousness of Imp-hazard labour, barely sufficient to sustain animal life, prolong a wretched existence, between life and death, till their doom is sealed in the last stage of unmitigated suffering. With the less miserable million, however, provided w^itli work, but who must yet labour at it against time, like sinking mariners at the pump, or with the countless nuiltitudes wasting in secret penury, we have rot now to deal, since the sufferings of these victims are but the immediate effects of the over-crowd; to whom regular occupa- tion and bread would necessarily accrue the instant we could rid ourselves of the pressure of a superfluous N •, i ' utT^'^tteanansm 178 r,N(M,ls|| JJISTHESS, AM) body vvliosc dcstilutioii is not only coiMpUtc, l)iit ren- dered conMriU(;(l iuid irrenu'diiil)l(! by fixed habits of d(!i)(>ndeiK'e, till, liiirdened in their (h'gnuhition and wretchedness, they have resip;ne(l themselves without scrnple, as wilhoiit other liope, to the merey of |)nl)Iic charity. 'I'hes(! annnally cost tlic conntry six millions in ])arish rates; bnt, takin«>- all, Avithont distinction of characters and classes, dependent tln'onghont the realm upon pnblic and [)rivate charities for means of existence, tlic gross expense of their support is calculated to amount to nothing less than forty millions ! Like a cancer, the eating disease has spread till its virulent excess gallops on to the last extrenuty of final ravage ; and if the disorder has become insnpportable at present, where will it be anon ? Is it a disorder which time of itself can eradicate, and is the remedy likely to prove more efficacious by delay ? No, no ; every year imparts to the infected body of England some more for- midable symptom of mortidity, engendered of the parent evil, paf/perism ; till the complication ccpials in fatal ma- lignity the original mischief itself. Each day some fresh feature of our social disorder is exposed to light, filling us with consternation and perplexity. Now the voice of distress echoes from the extreme of the British islands, where the hardy mountaineers, after intense suffering under long-stifled misery, are torn from their hearths in thousands, like the natives of North Uist, to perish on the hill-side, or scatter themselves in forced exile to the four winds. Now the note is pealed by Lanark, pinched with hungry wretchedness ; or the cry comes from Lan- cashire, from Gloucester, Sussex, Norfolk, Cambridge, Hants, Notts, Berks, till the chorus is swelled to its full volume of distress by the deep groans of Dorset, where the <:anaI)A to tiik hi.scik. 170 wiijjjcs of tli(! Ial)()iir('riii'c Hv(i shillings n-wock, and wlicro coiiimitfals for crime have rccoiitly iiicrkiisc'd, from thrco himdrid, lo one thoiisaiul thrco Imiulrrd ! Tlicii coino the nppalliii}^' pictiuis of [iondoa s\ rctchcdiicss, chroiiicU'd in our |)id)lic i)ri its, till (lie roldost heart waxes sick; and Charity hesitates, in utter despair, at the increasing appeals nrgj'd in hehalf of oppressed industry : starving nndtitudes, dependents of the hour: Spitallield martyrs : ragged children ; and destitute needlewomen, perishing like dogs in the scpialid recesses of our bloated metro- polis. Next conic Parliamentary n^ports presented by Ire- land, niustrativcof a state of i)nblic misery, damning the repute of modern civilization ; which must stamp the political character of J-^nglaml in tlie nineteenth century with eternal oblocpiy. First, Mr. Goodbody, clerk of the Montmellick Tnion, ofiieially states that the labouring classes of his district " have nothing but ])atched old clothes, and the females arc (juite ragged ; and that such a thing as a good cloak was not to be seen with them." Mr. Johnson, clerk of Oldcastlc Union, declares, " the clothing of the peasantry is wretched beyond description. There has been a progressive and visible change for the worse in the clothes of this class during the last two years. I am not aware (he writes) of a single instance in this locality of an able-bodied man having an entire suit of clothes." Colonel Jackson states, " tha* n Ennis, the people have not clothing by day or by night ;" and Cap- tain Kennedy, from Kilrush. observes, " a great part of the people are all but naked." Major M'Kie, of Galvvay, reports as follows : — " In this Union none can fail to observe the wretched state of the poor as regards their want of clothing; many have scarce ^, rag to cover them." N 2 *J»rsitm 180 ENGLISH DISTRESS, AND K ■ 'f- t' 1 <> * Captain Spark, from Scariff, remarks, " Tlicy are at pre- sent all in rags, tliey and their wives and cliiidren ; their better clothes have been made away with to obtain food and necessaries." Captain O'Neill, of Glenties, in Do- negal, states that " the w^ant of warm clothing is very much felt by the poor peasantry in this Union. It is painful to see the wretchedness and misery of some of them, wandering about the country without being half clad, and the rags they have to cover them are in such a tattered and filthy state, that the poor creatures cannot receive either heat or comfort from them." Captain Handley wTites from Swinford as follows : — " It is painful to behold groups of those unfortmiate people shivering under disgusting rags, with difficulty kept together, and barely affording a partial covering. I am convinced that many are obliged to absent themselves from divine ser- vice from want of clothing." Major Halliday, from Gra- nard, says of the poorer classes, " the term ' dotldng would be, in fact, a misnomer for the rags that are too generally their covering." Mr. Hamilton, of the Eris district, in IMayo, writes as follows : — " In reference to the clothing of the peasantry in this district, I regret to inform the Commissioners that the condition of the poorer classes is really deplorable. In many instances the males are driven to assume the garb of females, when poverty drives them from the screen of their wretched cabins to seek support. They are frequently to be ob- served with no other covering except the remnant of some tattered bed-clothing merely hung on their shoul- ders ; two or three persons being covered wdtli wdiat was once a blanket. The clothing of the children of the most distressed portion of the peasantry has become extinct." Such is the state of her British Majesty's beloved sub- CANADA TO THE IIKSCUE. 181 xl jects of the United Kingdom, under tlie most enli(/hfcned Government upon tlie earth ! Wliy, the most wretched tribes of Tor aese, or Esquimaux, would shudder to ex- change their comparative condition of sybarite hixii^^ for the utter destitution of these more wretched British. But what remedial alternative have we w^ithin ourselves for the mitigation of such unqualified misery ? Would a reduction of taxation alone at once and completely do it ? No : for these miserable beings, whom we have described, contri- bute but little ; and the reducti(m of the i)rice of necessaries would avail nothing with those to whom the smallest cohi, indispensable to their purchase, is unattainable. AVould augment(3d taxation suffice ? No : for it would only increase the number of destitute. Would increased trade effect the purpose ? No : for every market is already glutted with our produce. Would the reclamation of Avaste lands, and the formation of " /ahourcrs homes'' so strenuously advocated by a class of political ])rojectors, acconij)lish the desired end ? Most assuredly not : for how could we support the hungry millions until these waste lands were converted into fruitful territories? How root out the vice engendered in poverty and despair, to substitute the order necessary for the accomplishment of such purpose ? And when all were done, what would ])rcvent the spread of population from still outrunning the means of provi- sion, seeing that our numbers must continue to increase in proportion to our resources ? On this subject a great politico-economical authority observes (^lalthus on " Population"), " In a country like Brabant, or Holland, where territory is the principal want, and not manure, such an arid district as the Camphie is described to be, may, perhaps, be cultivated with advantage ; but in countries possessed of a large M; "' u ■M^ 182 ENGLISH DISTRESS, AND if ^ •i. ;n . • ;, v territory, and with a considerable quantity of land of a middling quality, the attempt to cnltivate such a spot woidd be palpable misdirection, and waste of both indi- vidual and national resources. The French have already found their error in bringing nnder cultivation too great a (piantity of poor land : they are now sensible they have emj)loyed in this way a portion of labour and dressing which would have produced a permanently better effect if it had been applied to the further improvement of better land. Even in China, which is so fully cidti- vated, barren heaths have been noticed in some districts; which prove that, distressed as the people appear for subsistence, it does not answer for them to employ any of their manure on such spots. These remarks will still be further confirmed, if we recollect that, in the cultiva- tion of a large surface of bad land, there must necessarily be a very great waste of seed corn. We should not, therefore, be too ready to make any inference against the internal economy of a country from the appearance of uncultivated heaths without other evidence ; but the fact is, there is no country that ever reached, or probably ever ivill reach, its highest possible acme of produce. It appears always as if the Avant of industry, or the ill direction of that industry, was the actual limit to a further increase of produce and population, and not the absolute refusal of nature to yield any more. But a man who is locked iq) in a room may be fairly said to be con- fined by the walls of it, though he may never touch them ; and with regard to population, it is never the question whether a country Avill produce any more, but whether it will be made to produce a sufficiency to keep pace with the unchecked increase of the people. In China the question is, not whether a certain addi- CANADA :•() Till'. RKSl'UE. 183 tionul (piantity of rice might be raised by improved culture, but whether such a couditiou coukl be expected duriug the next twenty-five years as would be suthcient to support an additional three hundred milUcns of people. And in this country, it is not the ([uestion, whether, by cultivating all our commons, we could raise considerably more corn than at present ; but whether we could raise sufficient for a population of twenty millions in the next twenty-five years, and forty millions in the next fifty years. The allowing the produce of the earth to be absolutely unlimited scarcely removes the weight of a hair from the argument, which depends upon tlie dif- ferently increasing ratios of population and food ; and all that the most enlightened governments and the most persevering and best guided efforts of industry can do, is to make the necessary checks to population operate more equally, and in a direction to produce the least evil; but, to remove them, is a task absolutely hopeless." Provision for our poor then, by any Utopian schemes of home colonization, is mere unsubstantial dreaming — neither will the pauper-menagerie system, applied to millions, suffice nuich longer. To capture the persons of the helpless wretclies found guilty of destitution — break up their family hearths : dissever husband from wife, parent from child, only to incarcerate them in dreary buildings, whose ominous walls blast the smiles of our English landscape, is a preposterous atrocity : a restoration of penal torture, worse than the infliction of the most tyrannic violences of barbaric times ; for it exquisitely refines upon cj'uelty, by protracting suffering on — on through a purgatory of wasted existence in hope- less degradation, privation, and despair, 'i'he heartless conception of such a system was surely inspired by the :l ■5' -^.v'"^: :," .t 184 ENGLISH DISTRESS, AND m- ;^:.r; Bill.'.' "ill- ■ . ^! t evil genius of England in earnest of her destruction under the fatal influence of that Avorst poison, dissension and discontent ; for the unions {disunions, were more ap- propriate) have long been creating an odious gap of separation between the rich and poor, dividing the community into two antagonist classes — tyrants and victims. Each incarcerated pauper carries with him the sympathy of his fellows', burning with inextinguish- able hatred and antipathy against the legislative jailors who deprive him of liberty, because deprived of bread ; while the contributors of compulsory benevolence, upon Avliose taxed bounty the captured pauper is compelled to sul)sist, ■ proudly resent their liability, and recriminate upon the insolent ingratitude of their privileged pen- sioners ; and yet, alas, while the soil of England is thus converted into a vast field of covert feud between those \\\\o eat and those who hunger, whole empires of fertile land appertain to our dominion, and there the rain falleth " where no man is," " on the wilderness wherein there is no man," " to satisfy the desolate and waste ground, and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth." And yet no effectual aid has ever been tendered by a cruel legislature to convey our suffering masses, who are yearning for the smallest modicum of supporting earth, to those lands which yearn, on the other side, for the industrious hand of man. Yet, to dispose of these unfortunate people has furnished successive Governments with favourite matter of specula- tive invention, as well as rumination to the utilitarian cogitators of social economy, till every possible diversity of scheme, applicable to their employment at home, has fairly been exhausted ; while equal numbers of crochetty projects for their distribution abroad, have scarcely left f CA^'ADA TO THE RESCUE. 185 one single spot of the wliole distant cartli unconnected with some plan for their provision and settlement. Cruel exertions of fancy ! — to Avhose speculative wanton- ness thousands upon thousands of these miserables have writhed under humiliating experiments in view of our own community ; or have fallen victims iu despondent- exile, and despairing death, without a stone to mark their foreign graves. No consideration is ever bestowed on their confirmed constitution and h{d)its : their indi- vidual pursuits, and the consecpieut confinement of their faculties, which necessarily discpialify them for any other directiou of their mental or bodily ability than that to which they have uniformly been accustomed; and thus we have seen the natives of our coasts, accustomed to the invigorating breezes and busy traffic of the sea- shore, despatched to conduct oxen in the i>archcd and silent back settlements of the Cape : thorough-bred cockneys to herd sheep in the interior of New Ilollaiul : Highland drovers to cultivate plantations in the Tropics : Yorkshire jockics to padcUe in the waters of the Pacific : Cornish miners to foot the ice of Hudson's Bay; and the pallid workman of our cotton manufactories, looms, and shop-boards, to pick in the di(j(/im of California ! — the fisherman and ploughman to engage in household service here — the decayed grocer and discomfited hair- dresser to prosecute the labour of agriculture there ; till it is everywhere customary in our colonies to find, in the example of every poor settler we encounter, some regu- larly acquired trade or calling reversed ; and thereby a whole lifetime misapplied and cast away, lor the transported pauper, true to the proverb, " must not pretend to be a chooser." He arrives in a foreign settlement, and asks for work ; his employer offers him ...A ,.:V.- '■'.■. ■ \ .f _ ■>■ . t'- \\ "^m A J.' tin .^■'■? ■■ ;'.?'■<•? ttf-- '•.■4 ISO ENGLISH DISTRESS, AND tliat only which alone suits his own convenience ; this the perplexed candidate musf accept, and fails : th(; master resents, the slave despairs, becomes a vagabond, starves, and dies. Yet what of all that — if onr own parishes are only rid of him, while, with the ocean between, he cannot, should he survive, return to narrate his tale? Thus, in spite of the oblivion which generally wraps the fate of our expatriated paupers, a gloomy shadow somehow still hangs upon their footsteps, conveyhig an indefinite re- pugnance of their migratory example to the minds of their caged commates left in the parish bastilles behind tliem. Abortive therefore, in a great measure, are the daily toutings of the emigrfition speculators, and their active crimps, Avith all their plausible assurances of speedy indcj)endei'cc to be gained by adventurers of the pauper class who have the courage to renounce their native homes, and their claim to the benefit of parish support. In the competition of kidnappers, you hear, at every step, the advantage of each dependency trum- peted in rival boasting as superior to all others : — " Climate pre-eminently congenial " — " lands surpassing in fertility," and " employment of every description ready at the demand of the first candidate ;" all authen- ticated by private letters, very ingeniously imagined, to bait the columns of our public prints, and backed by the authority of very worshipful boards of very enter})rising and adventurous companies. In the midst of all this, loose reports still drop in through the media of dis- appointed dupes, sufficient to create just suspicion and incertitude among the reflecting portion of the '^nlFciing poor, determining them, " rather to bear the ills they have, than fly to others that they know not of." They CANADA TO THE RESCUK. 1S7 have learned that labour is nothing anywhere unless it is permanently assured ; and that the faeility of Hndhig nuisters is of small benefit miless such masters be liberal and kind; and this necessary condition behig recog- nised at home must, they know, everywhere equally apply. Havhig found their chance, in this respect, too fre- quently a blank in England, they judge the stake to be no less dubious in the lottery of fate presented to adven- turers in our colonies, where there is no parish-loaf — (bitter albeit the taste) — to fall back upon when the bread is too hard which the task-master barters for their sweat. They know, if wages are alluringly high at any time in our foreign settlements, they only continue so until the rumour attracts a throng of rival labour, when wages rapidly descend in proportion : they know, also, that the cost of provisions and necessaries is everywhere commensurate with the price of labour; that in every spot inhabited by a civilized community, however young the settlement, some ca])ital is requisite to keep pace with one's neighbours, and enable them to benefit by purchase or sale, in the common market ; and that precarious labour and poverty must necessarily be easier of endur- ance at home than when far away from the inherited rights of British birth. T cy have heard of the transient prosperity and discomfited dispersion of the most pro- mising colonial establishments : that earthly paradises are nowhere more frequently visible than in England : fortune nowhere more prodigal of lucky chance, if man here chooses only to dance attendance upon her caprice in defiance of suffering. They know that gold is not a substitute for mud and dust in the cities of our distant possessions ; but that sorrow and destitution there often ,■1 ••^y .'. ' ■ Vi !* . ■ '^}' -u. ■:yi r-^'^: 188 ENGLISH DISTRESS, AND H • h. :t-.;:>: I ■ i|r-t ■< '■ if:'" .1:-^ 1 '^^^ walk tlu' Htrcots as plentifully as they crawl over the length and breadth of their native ishmd. They know that the young and strong, the enured hushnndnian, or follower of some few hidispensahlc trades, are alone really acceptable ; and that all others destitute of inde- pendent means, may only be regarded as superfluous and intruding nuisances. They have heard of the grave- yards of Pietou, the s/wch of Quebec, the street-bivouacs in Yankee ports, the s(]utilid slave-markets of Australia, the a la fresco probations at New Zealand, the covered slavery of the Cape, the monopolies, miequal struggle, and e(piivocal provision conmion to them all ! But only once remove tiie doubt — prove that labour really and truly is wanted — their protection assured, and bread a certain f I/, and you will (piickly see our high roads swarming with colunuis of our British poor, far beyond the partial tides of self-banished exiles we have ever yet witnessed, all hurrying to embark in happy exultation to escape yonder mansions of woe — our revolting unions, and dark private lazar-houses of out-door pauperism, starvation, and vice. If we repudiate the continental system of convict la- bour, except in our dockyards, which have more of the supply than they really require — certainly more than honest competition approves — we find that our hulks are gorged, and every county receptacle, provided for the forced abode of criminal offenders, choking with these living damned, who pine in the obstructed energies of lusty manhood, under the tedium of irksome longevity and uncorrected turpitude. In vain these penal pande- moniums are multiplied, their precincts enlarged, fresh cells added, and new wings r:ttached, until these prison- houses have swollen into miniature towns, encircled by CANADA TO TIIF, nKSCUK. ISO gloomy walls, repulsive of tlic sun, and mortifying to the eye ; for still the cry is for their increase, and with it demands for fresh millions of money (five only ^or the moment! !), all to be followed, when expended, ])y rtixewed appeals suggested by the number of convictions steadily augmenting on the sessional records of our criminal courts ; while the metropolis alone presents a spectacle of sinister buildings of enormous magnitude, whose prisoned inmates might compose of themselves a for- midable army, or considerable town. To save the public from the intolerable weight of this growing charge, justice has frequently to apply the minimum of punishment to offences, which, under other circumstances, should demand severer infliction, perhaps to ensure permanent repression ; and thus culprits are brought agai'^ and again to the ])ar of our tribunals, who, for their own salvation and the public good, should have been, from the first, effectually extruded from the community. To disembarrass ourselves from the pesti- lential and alarming blotches which these dens of thral- dom stamp on the bosom of the country, wc thought to bestow them upon the infant cities of our fairest colonies; and huge prison-houses, crowded with the penned criminals of affectionate England, were erected on their shores, as if for a distinctive mark of their con- nexion with their mother-country. There, familiar with the lash and chain, and strictly secluded from all com- nuinication, save their own contaminating intercourse with each other, our malefactors were wont to lie imtil, after a time, they were separately })ermitted to exercise partial labour abroad; in the practice of which, t^esc sweepings of British gaols were established in unabashed infamy within the precincts of the colonial to\A ns upon i'- -f •'f ! 'I m 190 KNfiLISll DISTKKSS, AM) wliicli their presence was indicted, and wliieli Avorc ren- dered (lonl)ly odions by indirect identitieation with their opprobrium. In process of time snch criminals obtained their freedom, either by ])remature connnutation of ])enalty, or after the f(dl expiration of their sentence ; when generally adopting, for obvious reasons, the land of their inmishment for tluur future home, they soon uatuially engrafted their vices, as they had reflected their shame, upon the society with whom they became thus incorporated. At leugth, however, the free settlers of these vexed colonies gradually gathered power to resist the coutinued enforcement of so revolting and demoralising an association : demurred to the arbitrary will of our Government; and compelled us suddenly to arrest the disorder and inifiuity we w^ere constjuitly pouring upon the choicest spots of the globe; just as if there were no desert lands beyond the pale of health- ful society, wdiere we might banish such multiplying bands of rejected felons — no sw^imps in ]]ritisli Guiana — no bitter wilds on Hudson's Bay — no shores on the Negro coast better adapted for then* abode, — that we should force them thus upon the innocent victims of public service, and those private adventurers in honour- able enterprize, who are so niunerously compelled to court premature graves in these inhospitable climates. Being thus compelled to return to the original neces- sity of maintaining our convicts at home, we very soon found the spectacle of spreading prison-holds and the enormous expense they involve, an insupportable annoy- ance and obstruction; and thought we might resume the convenient project of conveying them to our possessions beyond seas, only to find the abhorred ex- portation everywhere rejected, with a contagious spirit CANADA TO Tlir, IIKSCUK l!)l of contimiacy niul dcfianrc, portentous of > :1\ work for our Ministers in the future; (Joverinuenl ol tlies. indocile colonies. As ii specimen of tins feeling wo give tlie following significant extract fi i one of their jour- nals : — " What is to l)c done witli British culprits? England will not keep them — the Cape will not accept them — Mauritius declines them — South Australia rc[)udiates them — Port Philip si)urns them — Sydney objects to them — New Zeahmd detests them. Are there any in Van Diemcn's Land would accept them on any terms ? Let such individual speak out. Ihit where are the prisoners of the empire to ])c sent? Swan Kiver is the only colony that has solicited the impure gift; but their destination is doubtful, since the government of this island, contrary to the desire of the })ul)lic, begged as a boon that four thousand of these convicts should be sent annually to this island, two-thirds of wdiose population already consist of the same class. It is difHcult to destroy a colony instinct with life, but it is possible ; and, if this had been the avowed design of our rulers, they could not have selected a more effectual means to accomplish their purpose than that which they have adopted. They have defiled the land with an inunda- tion of reeking criminality, sufficient to corruj)t and destroy every vestige of virtue and civilization. ' At present our criminal committals annually amount, we repeat, to thirty thousand ; of which, fortunately, many escape conviction on the just grounds of incontest- able imiocence : yet more eschew^ condemnation through the mere chance of defective evidence and unwillingness of persons to prosecute. But how many, branded with notorious guilt, escape public accusation altogether? ,'.V.c 192 EXOMSII DISTIIKSS, AM) Wl mi if;- li -I I Tow many more only Iji-cnllu! in temporary respite from the im])en(lin^ ijjjnomiiiy of c()n(lip;n seclusion ? 'Hie [)re- sent criminal condition of the country costs annually little less than four hundred thousand pounds ; and to form some estimate of the aggrepjate damage perp(?trated iipv ii the conmumity 1)y criminal offenders in general, wc will cite a partial example of some of our smallest offenders : — " It appears fn^m returns recently pid)lishcd, that there is an average of five hundred boys imprisoned in the comity of ^Middlesex alon(i ; who, nnder the age of six- teen, annually cost the country more than twenty-two poiuids per hejul, whether in prison or out of it : for these juvenile deprechitors live u[)on the public whether in custody or at Large ; the only difference being that when in prison their cost can be more assuredly ascer- tained; while, when they are at large, the amount of their depredations can only be conjccturally calculated. It is, however, well known by the magistracy that these young criminals continue their fatal career until the hghter sentences of the Court have ceased to have effect, and they ultimately are transported. In addition, there- fore, to the cost of their maintenance in prison, and the unknown amount of the [jroperty which they steal when out of it, must be added the expense of their prosecution, which at the Central Criminal Court amovmts to the sum of forty -five pounds, six shillings ; and at the Quar- ter Sessions to one pounds, five shillings, and sixpence ; and the still more serious charge for their support to the county during their imprisonment. From another return, published three years ago, it appears that, as regarded five hundred juvenile offenders, w lo were tried at the Sessions House of Clerkenwell, tne total value of the CANADA TO THE RESCUr! \9^ ion ion, the uar- iicc; tlie urn, •ded the the property stolen by them was one hundred nnd fiffy-nip;ht pounds, seven sliillinjTs, and ninepence ; and the costs of tlie proscoution/o/^y hundred and fori i/-Jii'i' pounds, to'vpn- torn fi/N7/in/;fi, and f/irrrpmro ; and the cost of their maintenance in prison, after conviction, was nine hundred and .St. it' -four jxinnds, twelve shi/flnr/s, and fieepencc !*' l']a^H r, on the other liand, to (hscn«»;ai^e ourselves from the costly relics of our military tastes and necessities : the live lumber of former wars, we have tried the expe- riment, after the example of several continental states, to deliver oin* exchecpier from the alimentary claims of " our veterans of famous service;," by tratfiekinp^ with them in commutation of their pensions, so as to enable them, on the strength of a little purse, to establish homes in our distant possessions ; where the remnant of their vigour might still be available to the gratuitous service of the country by cultivating the soil, whik; presenting the semblance of a protective force ; but the imperfect system observed in these experiments, the relinquishment of all stipulated claim to their devotion, and the unre- served abandonment of all organised co-operation of their force, have ever defeated the principal ol)ject of their esta- blishment in commiuiities. The system, we believe, has been tried at the Cape ; but, in cousofjuence of the re- nouncement of all right to the sjx^cial service of the mili- tary settlers; and from the want of organization connecting them in any form of co-operative establishnumt, their mili- tary character has been rendered altogether nugatory. The same improvident consequence is witnessed in Australia and in New Zealand, where many of our retired military men have fixed their homes, without any arrangcimeut be- ing made by colonial authority to hold them in professional requisition. The only effectual attempt we have ever made o ''V 19 i ENGLISH DISTRESS, AM) .■^' I- ■ ) 1 J CANADA TO THE RESCUE. 11)-) To hold out to them the hope of settlement in tlie JMiglish colonics of Canada, would be the only means of renderinj>' less dangerous the temptations oftercd by the United States. It is with this view that Governor Sinicoe very wisely formed the project of dismissing every soldier who should find an able substitute in his room, and to give him one hundred acres of land." But the judicious project of the shrewd and benevolent Governor Simcoe was uever fully carried out, which was, to form these into standing corps of local militia — and this scheme followed up in a consistent system may be said to have perished with him, although upwards of one thousand discharged soldiers wore settled alone in the township of Perth, as early as 1817; but who, being left abandoned and uncarcd for, unregulated and unoffi- cered, gradually fell victims to idleness and inebriety. Lord Seaton afterwards, it would seem, endeavoured to resuscitate the scheme ; but from the same negligent cause there was so much improvident disorder amongst the imprudent recipients of the commutation bribe pressed upon these discharged soldiers, that very soon the dispensioned w^arriors were seen reduced to pub- lic mendicity in the towns of British America, com- pelling the Government, in penitent regret for their ungenerous deahng, to restore a portion of their scanty stipend, and provide them with an asylum in the back woods of the lakes ; where, in the undisciplined dis- order of an uncontrolled state, neither civil nor mili- tary, they died off in rapid succession, leaving the ruins of the log village, charitably erected for their acconuno- dation, a still existent monument of their ill-regulated society. More judiciously ordered than these, because settled with o 2 .\ ' i ' 1.; . *■ ■'■>'.■<', •;: r- .*■•■ , : 4'- 41: .,'• 19G KMiLlSH DISTRESS, AND ■l^\ proper grants of land, while more methodically connected under the immediate supervision of officers, (compounders, like themselves, for small capitals realised by commu- tation of pay,) another soldier's home was tried by veterans, who, in good understanding and intelligence with Government, have been numerously located in close brotherhood and accordant loyalty on the banks of Lake Siincoe. The rapid prosperity and co-active zeal of these military colonists — amounting with their families to more than (3,000 — soon satisfactorily proved, and still continue to demonstrate, how effectively such a system of civil-military settlements might be carried into general practice on a larger scale — a scheme by which, without sacrifice, or rather by a reduction of public expense, an available and ready force might always be permanently con- gregated at certain desirable points, or key-posts w^ithin our American colonies, superseding, thereby, the necessity of any considerable amount of regular force for the pro- tection of the territorv. We should thus rescue at the same time, from the enervating and destructive vices of our Eng- lish cities, many a poor soldier, whose retirement is em- bittered by the irregularities and intemperance to which he is perpetually tempted, at the expense of his comfort, and reputation, and to the perversion of the national bounty. For the pecuHarly happy adaptation of men, on the other hand, who have been habituated to the order and discipline of shipboard existence, to the purposes of settlement in community on land, we might refer in proof to innumerable instances, attended with the highest prosperity, in every part of the world ; but the successful examples conspicuously exhibited in the satis- factory condition of our coast-guard stations, so thickly planted along the whole of the circumference of our Bri- CANADA TO THE RESCUE. 197 md of in the the tis- tish shores, should fii! v suffice for our conviction. How frequently, in the most solitary and unpromising spots on the whole coast : exposed to the roughest visitings of the ocean gale, and surroinided on every side by the barren desolation of ungrateful lands that have been utterly abandoned in definitive hopelessness by the baffled husbandmen, do we behold these maritime can- tonments smiling with look of most inviting comfort, with their thriving plots and vernal paddocks, in spite of Natvu'c's sterile stiibborimess ; while the most exemplary order and kind fellowship prevail among the hardy inmates of these sequcskrcd stations ! Surely, if situa- tions so repulsive as these can be converted to such comfortable homes by these seamen on shor(\ such a country as Canada could afford a thousand superior enjoyments and resources to such a class, so ready as is that land to respond to the simplest culture, and whore there are so many unrivalled lakes and navigable rivers to attract and engage nautical tastes and pursuits. Now, connected with our conception of a Canadian railroad from Halifax to the Pacific is a salutary project of correspondent magnitude — a scheme nothing less than to draft from England, with the immediate prospect of renumerative return, the major part of this combined mass of pensioners, paupers, and prisoners ; the enormity of whose demands on the public purse excite such a general sentiment of embarrassment and depression. Yes ; we propose to " relieve England from the major part of the combined mass of her pensioners, paupers, and prisoners " — and this sentence we repeat, in order to impress it more emphatically upon the reader's atten- tion ; while commending him to repress every sentiment and expression of surprise and incredulity, till a cool and "^^^'ft^'J' i ■■■*( y. ■- ; 4K. 11)8 ENGMSIl DIST: "s,S, AND i; (liscriiiiiiuiting examination of the ways and means which our plan involves shall confer a just Avarrant to entertain the objections of scepticism — scepticism, that bar to progress, and tomb of the noblest improvements — the wisdom of fools, and convenient subterfuge of the obstructive and the inert ! We have already submitted that the grand route of the w^orld which we have traced in prospective leads over a granary sufficient to supply all Europe if it Avere needed, with plentiful provision for ages to come — a common resource, disposed by original design, in the con- servative bounty of nature, between the two most popu- lous portions of the planet, and which only wants hands to produce universal abundance, while the neglect of its provision is contempt of providence and crime against the human race. We have already suggested that all the various requisite material necessary for the construction of this highway round the world is literally provided in the store-houses of the earth throughout the whole track of this suggestive route, whose course is so significantly defined by the finger of Nature herself. Coal, iron, lead, copper, timber, stone, lime, and brick-clay, are there deposited in convenient profusion along the banks of navigable and connected waters, extending their prof- fered aid in the very direction of this invited route : all this material unclaimed yet of any man, but gratuitously presenting itself to the discretion of the first occupants of the land. What is chiefly wanted there is, labour — the means of transporting it to the field of operation : and the provision necessary to the support of that labour when employed at the scene of its exercise. The first, as already observed, we possess in such superabundance at home as to be a curse. The second is largely offered by the improved and increased current intercourse now CANADA TO THE RESCUE. 190 established between our shores and North America. For we have a free water-passage opened to an extent of two thousand miles, from the Atlantic to the very centre of the proposed line ; with thriving settlements, furnishing every resource, advanced onc-thinl of the w^ay ; and our access especially open and facile by the nature of the coast and river communications on the Pacific ; in which direction British colonies, opportunely situated, offer the refreshment of half-way rest to those who would enter the field upon the w^estern side. As to the third, the labouring hosts we have to dispose of are already saddled on the nation for support ! We have them now, and that with the prospect of being subject to the bur- then for life — a burthen unbalanced by any equivalent in labour. But without waiting in this place to demonstrate how the expense of maintaining so many of our labouring poor would instantly be reduced to less than one-half by their removal to Canada, nor dwelling on the immediate prospect which then- mission thither would secure, not only of a full indemnity for all their cost, but of the utter extinction of the pauper dependence of one class and the amelioration and reform of the other — converted as their activity would be to an object of such vast national profit and utility — we will proceed at once to a summary detail of organization, insisting, in the face of every opposition, upon the eligibility of our entire scheme of emigration as superior to every other submitted as a panacea for the evil of our overgroAvth. We main- tain, then, the project to be both practicable and facile ; and, if we can only prove it such, we must hope its execution cannot but be imperatively and incontinently embraced. -A ■ ..'-».' •"t^ 200 ENGLISH DISTRESS, AND W''-. (t ■ ■ First, then, we boldly contemplate the employment of ticenty thousand Convicts, to break the ground and rough hew the line. If we deal in (jrand numbers, it is because grand objects demand grand means : it is because the greater the labour applied, the quicker the completion of the enterju'ize — the quicker the completion, the quicker the remuneration — the quicker the remuneration, the quicker the relief of British suffering and distress ; which are too deep-seated and colossal to admit of petty modes and temporising expedients. Wg repeat, then, that we propose a draft of 20,000 convicts : first, because they are required ; and secondly, because much more than that amount can be s})ared — because all that remain in durance at home nuist s ill continue to compel the maintenance of expensive establishments ; because we can transport seve?i convicts to Canada at a less cost than we can ship one culprit to the southern hemisphere (where, notwith- standing the sacrifice, we are still too glad to expedite our malefactors) ; and because we might support oui transports in North America at one-third less than the expense of their maintenance in England. It may be objected, however, that a great number who figure in the list of the condemned must necessarily be inefficient for whatever labour requires the exercise of any considerable physical strength ; but isolated, as such a body would needs be, in deserts remote from inhabited districts, much work of a light nature would be held in equal requisition with the heaviest bodily exertion ; such as cooking, cleaning, washing, carrying, herding, driving, and other less arduous employments, which yet are all indispensably necessary. There is little fear, that for some years at least, the number of these convict labourers would cease to be' constantly CANADA TO THE KKSiCUE. 201 ly IS of ly recruited from the mother-country ; but Ave expect, on the contrary, that their amount woukl be materially augmented by a change of practice with our judges, who, in very mercy, would in such a case frequently jiAvard the maxi- mum of punishment for offences now conunonly visited with brief, and therefore ineffectual, imprisonment : and this lenity, so often abused, they would probably depart from. It might indeed, not unfre(iuently, be left optional with the culprit to choose the scene of his correction ; and doubtless many would gladly volunteer to perform their expiation by a ten days' voyage to America, there to labour in comparative fret.'dom and open air, rather than undergo the unnatural and irksome infliction of solitary continement within the gloomy walls of a home-prison, llow^ many of our petty culprits, de- based although they be, would rather prefer assured labour in the woods and prairies, to the misery of their abject haunts, and the dangerom piu:suit of crime to which they are often absolutely driven by sheer desti- tution and loss of character — a conjecture emphatically corroborated by the fact of a meeting of London thieves, self-convened for the object of consulting means for their extrication from temptation and vice published not long ago by Lord Ashley. The smdl expense and short duration of transit to Canada would most likely render deportation to that country for a term but of two years — nay, of only one year, perhaps — a practice of expedient public relief and profit in cases of minor crimes, and thus our streets would be swept clean of prowling vagrancy and petty larceny. " Halt !" — the eager to cavil will exclaim, in the exulting supposition of our blind forgetfulness of a fact upon which we have recently commented — namely, the general determination simultaneously exhi- .ii >..'-v •. ;■ .S. ■ )•. m'X 0()0 ENGLISH DISTRESS, AND ■■I r i ii-^'- l)ito(l l)y almost all our colonies of henceforth inter- dicting their shores to our self-accommodating intro- duction of Ijanished criminals — a sentiment more readily to be apprehended from Canada, the proudest and most jealous of them all ; and whose pure character has never yet been disgraced by the stigma of such a visitation. But to this objection of the caviller vvc would call " Halt " in turn ; for wc arc not mad enough to proi)ose the per- manent introduction of convict impurity into the towns and flourishing settlements of civilised Canada, but only tem- porarily for the express object of its speedy enrichment and advantage. They would only have to contemplate the con- veyance of labour into the remote wilds of their w^estern territories, and that by sacred covenant for only a limited period ; and for a specific purpose : the which being once attained, the evil but convenient instruments of so desir- able an end would be withdrawn, to a man, from the sphere of their beneficial labour ; to expiate the rest of their sentence in some fitter region for a seat of punishment than the enviable and precious line of settlement, which would instantly spring into peopled prosperity through the effects of their preparatory labours. Their errand would be a mere journey through the land ; having only to move over a narrow tract of wilderness : clear it: throw it open to the coast, and depart ; without exposing in their tasked progress the exemplary community of the country, at any point of their route, to the pollution of their re- pugnant contact — a necessity we have fully foreseen, and provided for, as will be perceived as we proceed. We adhere, therefore, to our scheme of employing 20,000 convicts ; and these we would separate into seven grand divisions of corps of about 2,800 each, to be numbered, and named after the seven sections of the line of railroad CANADA TO THE RESCUE. 203 re- !eii, 00 nd ed, oad wUich \V(3 liiive proposed, detincd, and designated in a former elinpter ; sueli distinctive denomination to be con- ferred in reference to the resjiective localities to which the labours of each cor})orate division would be directed. Thus, the first division of this ' ->uy would be called the "Atlantic Division ;" the second division of the body, the " Quebec Division ;" the third division of the body, the " Lake Division ;" the fourth division of the body, the " Central Division ;" the fifth division of the body, the " Prairie Division ;" the sixth division of the body, the " IMountaiii Division ;" and the seventh division of the body, the " Pacific Division." We further propose that each of these divisions of corps should be regulated in their whole system, social economy, and public work, by a board of general direction established in the centre of each section of the line of road. And each of these divisions of cori)s to be again subdivided into bodies of men, each, to be under a superintendent constantly attached, and moving with the main body of such subdivided working corps, which should be distinguished from the grand division to which it would belong, by some peculiar marks, and number of its own; such for instance as "Force Labourers," No. 1,2,3, of such or such division. Again to every hundred convicts a vice-inspector, accustomed to direct the exercise of convict labour, might be judiciously appointed, and subordinate to him, a due complement of active warders, habituated to enforce prison regulations and discipline, as they now obtain in our best conducted gaols. In addition to such officers we would propose that convicts of ap- proved deportment under their sentence might be pro- moted to minor authority over their comrades in misfortune; such occasional advancement to be accompanied with some small advantages and immunities ; and the authority of .."i: n 204 ENGLISH UlSTKESS, ANU i ' . !'; ' ■ 1^^ ■■ ,5 ''■;'■■ f. >'■ the aspirant marked by some trivial distinctive badge, thereby to excite hm(Udjle emulation among the convict body ; which would secure a more vigilant watch, and a closer knowledge of the ])rivatc sentiments and pro- ceedings of the whole body. These subdivisions of the main bodies into working forces would be lial)le again, by the accident of circumstance and nature of the country, to be fre(juently se])arated into smaller detach- ments, and these again into still less fractions, gangs, and parties, for which [)roper precautions would have to be devised by experienced })ractiti()ners in such details. With due regard to the characters of the sidjjects, and the degree of guilt connected Avith their otl'enccs, we propose that these corjjs niohilci^, or sul)divided bodies, termed " Force Labourers," should be assorted and com- posed in a manner to ensure that the least culpable, Pijd best conducted only, might be ap])ointed to such portion of the force as would approximate nearest to peopled settlements and towns ; whilst the more formidable under sterner government might be consigned to the midland woods and prairies, and the most flagitious and incor- rigible of them all to the ruder labours of thcWest Prairies and Rocky Mountains. We propose that these transports be habited in garments suited by their quality and texture to their work in such a climate and country ; that they should be rendered conspicuous by their fashion and party- colours; and that each article of dress should be inscribed with the names and numbers of the particular division to which the Avearer belonged, as is customarily observed almost everywhere with convict gangs appointed to out- door labour. In addition to close-cropt heads, which, in case of evasion, they might conceal with caps, or disguise with false hair, these malefactors, according to the pre- CWADA TO Tin; RESCUE. 205 to use )rc- cniition of some countries towards convicts, might bo subject to have their eye-l)ro\vs shaved ; by which a runagate coidd not ))ut be liable, for a considerable time, to certain detection at first sight under any disguise. Due care should also be taken to remove from them all access to weapons of offence ; and equal precaution observed in daily visiting their ])er.sons and places of rest, to see that none were secretly provided with such objects ; while, in addition to the strictest watch upon all their movements, attention should be had frequently to chjuige their appointed places of labour, in order to break up all secret combinations and confiden- tial com])anionships. Meautime the better to secure them, and defend the line of works from external aggression, a chain of log forts, properly garrisoned, would have to be constructed, to serve for seats of authority and as magazines, and guard'^.d depots, for the better preservation of all muni- tions, stores, and supplies ; and where, under protection of thoir guarded strength, stations and towns might be founded in proportion as the works of the line pro- gressed. Congregating in the vicinity of such fortified places, volimtary and independent colonists would soon be seen to establish themselves in fast spreading commu- nities, opposing by such rapid settlements, at intervals of distance between the working forces, a most effectual check to contumacy or escape ; intercepting, as they con- veniently might, all communication between the divi- sions and subdivisions of these surrounded prisoners. As an indispensable precaution, strong holds or enclosed barracks, constructed with the gigantic logs of the coun- try, might be temporarily run up in various approved positions, surrounded by wet ditches, so easily formed in ■'.■J-.r '4-'. 200 K.N(JI,IS|| nrsTUKSS, VNI) l.-'i' (Jmiacla, tlie vholc well jxilisjulot'd and vigihiutly gunrdcd at every point ; siicli l)iiildin'i;s to serve as liea(l-(|nart('rs, and winter-shelter tor tlie diHereiit I)()(lies coinposinti; tiiese convict divisions. Or temporary houses of deten- tion might l)c constructed on the islands of the lakes and rivers which so thickly intervene throughout the whole line of country from east to west; or if not, pontiues i»'ight be easily constructed, and moored upon these waters, from whence it would be dillieult for the subtlest to escape. Within these, or attached to them, we pro- pose that worksho[)s, wood-yards and forges should be erected, to engage the industry of these convicts during winter, in the f{d)ricatiou of various Morks, and objects of wood and metal proper to the construction of the rail- road ; so that these prisoned la])ourers would be ready with a vast accumulation of material necessary to its construction at the very first invitation of spring. Thus they would improve the hours in defiance of the winder's interdictions ; while, more effectually to promote such work, it might, perhaps, be advisable to place them at that season under the direction of proper artificers, com- manded to instruct them in all the handicraft their labours would require. In summer, these convicts might be quartered, when under the necessity of breaking up, into detachments in log-huts or portable cabins, always pitched with a view to as much security as situation and circumstances might possibly allow. Their diligence, utility, social method, and safe custody, being thus secured, the next care devolving upon authority would be to institute such rules and regulations as would tend to infuse as much comfort and satisfaction as might comport with govern- mental prudence and strict discipline on the one hand. CANADA TO rm; HKscn:. ;>()7 lod, tare wch ich jrn- Ind, and the nalurc of tliu comnnmity, and the iiidivichial rlianictcrs of the; suhjccts on tliu other. Wccdiiifj; tlie incoi'rigihio from the contrite : the inipnieticahK." of lii'art from liim of penetrabK; conscienee, wluit a snpeiior t'"I(l for moral conversion woiiUl tliis sober and sedate state of manly iahonr in prinia'val forests and nnvitiated plains, present to the pliiliinthropie puriliers of soids, over the indnrated condition of prison vice in our jails ; where guilt in resentment retaliates by detiance tosiunuc! : burns hi sullen silence with hnpatience to renew olh'uee ; or, beneath the mask of hypocritical repentance, sneers in contemptuous mockery at the spiritual entluisiasm of the zealot who would preach perver^^ion into virtue ; the patient's heart experiencing secret pride in resisting the forcible system by which so manycrochetty experimentalists upon guilt Avould project sinners into heaven, through the means of tread-mills and bibles, periodical whippings and tracts, oakum-picking, stone-breaking, bone-grinding, fast- ing and prayer, in opposition to others who would cajole them into being good by plenary indulgence; or induce re- pentance by the kill-or-cure application oiemmi hi the stu- pifying form of solitary confinement. The word of God in the desert might have a happier effect upon culprits, how- ever rough, than the sickly mixture of Gospel syrups, and moral mixtures so variously compounded to captivate the spirit of our imprisoned malefactors at home. While judiciously furnished with corrective instruction under sound spiritual direction, these associated outcasts might be invited to subscribe, amongst themselves, to certain bye-rules and regulations, best calculated to promote their individual and collective comfort and advantage. They might be encouraged by an occasional commutation of sentence, when merited by exemplary performance of .*•■." t. ■>,'■ jlJ I 208 ENGLTSII DTSTRKSS, AND '■. '( til' duty ; and certain mitigations of penalty, or entire par- don, under conditions, might be held out as a prize attainable at the completion of certain stages of the railroad Avorks. A current report of their individual private conduct might be kept and published, which being periodically read before an assembly of administrators ; l)ortions of the time of servitude might be publicly struck off from the sentence of the most deserving ; or former commutations cancelled, or certain privations imposed upon the offending ; the observance of such form to be adopted in order to guard against partiality and favoritism. We would further propose that a certain small amount of pay miglit be allotted to every convict ; the major part of which (say two-thirds) should be retained in the hands of authority, there to accumulate till the expiration of each sentence. Thus a small fund in behalf of the prisoners at the period of their liberation would be formed ; when, should they be inclined to accept the boon, they might be pre- sented with conditional grants of land in the remote parts of the far north-west Hudson's Bay territory; care being there taken to separate them by assured distance from any habi- tations similarly bestowed upon other liberated convicts; or places of final retreat might be appointed for them in sepa- rate parties, among some of the unfrequented islands in the Pacific ; or in another quarter we shall presently have to designate. To those whose crime is of minor gravity, and whose conduct is deserving of lenity, a certain degree of liberty might be conceded, on security being given by their friends, under penalty, that the privilege would not be abused by any attempt to escape. Convicts who have undeviatingly maintained exemplary conduct, during a certain given period of probation, might be selected into m^ ( ANADA TO Tin: RKSCUK. 201) •P^ or )a- in ive jty, Iree I by lot ive a jto companies apart ; and, if married, tlicir families might, under certain restrictions, be permitted to join tlicni and accompany tlieni to their final settlement — snch allevia- tions and indnlgences being reconnnended with a view to reconcile the prisoners to their fate, and render them averse to lose the benefit of their continnance. But in cases of flagrant or freqnent miscondnct, or any detected endeavour to escape, we snbmit tliat the convicts should be liable to the severest punishment, snch we repeat as privations of indulgences for a time, the suspension of commutations, the forfeiture of accuumlation of pay, and transportation to the vrorst divisions and heaviest works. Tn addition to the regular guard that should be set directly over them, the composition of which Ave will presently describe, we propose that a body of Canadian woodmen, familiar with the country, should serve as mounted [)atrol along the line of works ; and that the Indian tribes in the vicinity, many of whom already arc retained by Government, should be encouraged to scour the country in search of convict deserters, rcceivhig a certain reward for every fugitive they might apprehend and deliver up to the authorities of each division : these Indians behig taught to recognise the persons of runagate convicts by their party-coloured livery, cropped heads, or shaven eye-brows. These precautions would secure the safe custody of the convicts, while they would nudtiply the perils they woidd encounter in any attempt at escape. We have, at the same tunc, to take into account the innuense dis- tance to be traversed through uninhabited wilds before the imprudent fugitive could reach the nearest civilized settlement beyond our Canadian border, and the doubt- ful reception he would there have to anticipate. For, F ■-^\' I'; r i it f? 210 ENGLISH DISTRESS, AND liowcvcr willing to tamper with our mariners and sol- diers, however lavish of enticements to seduce British emigrants from their settlements within the Canadian boundary, the people of the United States would hardly afford a willing welcome to visitors destitute of means and branded with ignominy. To these considerations may be added the utter want of provisions on the road, and the deprivation of fire-arms, iDO indispensable for pro- curing subsistence in the wilds ; with the rigour of Na- ture during the winter months, the close work and Avatch during the summer season, and the singular faculty of pursuit upon the trail possessed by the Canadian forester as well as the native Indian — all combining, we repeat, to render every attempt to escape next to impossible. Stretching from the west and north-west point of Lake Superior, the lakes and rivers would necessarily present impassable barriers to a solitary fugitive : flight from the west, again, would necessitate a journey through hundreds of miles where the rifle and scalping-knife of the wandering red-man would imperil life at every step : the Rocky Mountains, on the other hand, Avould prove insurmountable to the lonely and unprovided deserter : towards the east he would only run into the lion's mouth ; and on the north, he would have to encounter all the appalling desolation of deserts, without food, without shelter, and without an outlet. On reviewing the present chapter, we cannot but feel that some misgiving may still cling to the mind of the reader at the vague manner in which we may appear to leave him with regard to the final disposal of this body of convict force, when theu' labour on these grand Canadian works shall have terminated ; and that he may, with this uncertainty, incline to think that worse conse- li,:- CANADA TO THE RESCUE. 211 'k' quenccs than the expense and embarrassment arising from their present accumulation in our jails at home may be apprehended by their being again thrown upon the British community, cither in partial numbers or entire amoimt, suddenly and at once; and that our scheme just glanced at, of dispersing those discharged criminals in the deep north-west settlements of the Hudson's Bay territory, would neither subject them to sufficient siir- veillance hi their emancipated condition, nor provide against their discretionary and therefore certain return to this country. But to dissipatr uneasiness on this head, we beg to remind the reader that man once cri- minal is not always criminal, but that crime is frequently but an accident in the career of life ; and that punish- ment, change, and time, are naturally prone to awaken rL^ ction and with it very often correction and repent- ai ' The proud character and condition of Virginia at i,lii^ day, among the Federal States of the American Union ; and the reformed, or rather roforming, morality and rapidly acquired importance of the late penal settle- ment of Australia, should prove that there is still too much value in men, however fallen, to cast them irre- vocably forth in utter hopelessness of all social redemp- tion. The following testimony of Mr. Hall of Sydney, in his official correspondence with Sir George Grey, on the subject of " Transportation and Convict Discipline," ministerially referred to in Parliament, is a refreshing illustration in point : — " Looking to the late census of the population of the colony, (he says,) it will be found creditable to the colonists formerly transported hither (but long since free), and still more creditable to the immigrants with Avhom they form one social community. By no other nation p 2 ^ ■ h ■:1. ': I-' ■, /'• . f^ :l ' " ■;: ) ' ' 1 i j. ■ J W'' Uu 4' 212 EXfUilSII DISTRESS, AND was ever so plulaiitliropic a result consummated : it is worthy of tlie nation who paid a fine of twenty millions sterling for the liberation of her distant slaves. With respect to our general society in New South Wales, (he continues,) I myself knew a great number of men who came to the colony in bondage, who are now members of religious congregations, and distinguished for their regular and devout attention to the rites and ordinances of their church or chapels, Episcopal, Dissenting, and Roman Catholic ; and I know a still greater nund)er of heads of fiimilies, fathers and even grandfathers, who though not distinguislied by any particular profession of religion, are as good mendjcrs of society as the same rank or class, and of the same habits as to religion as the immigrants, and a great deal better than many of them. I would remark, too, (he says,) that my observa- tion leads to the belief that the lower class of ex-bond parents are fully more anxious in educating their children than the lower class of inunigrants, and that the maraud- ing troops of youthful vagrants who perambulate the bush of Sydney, in most equivocal occupations, will be found to contain a greater number of boys, the offspring of inunigrants, than of ex-bond parents." Why then should we not calculate that wholesome penitence, and the air of Canada, would prove equally beneficial in reclaiming the culprit, if we are to judge by analogy, as we will presently deduce ? We have lately been accustomed to hear, from the mouth of authority, that the increase of crime, for which the present time stands so badly pre-eminent, must be attributed to the augmentation of public distress ; and, with singular forgetfulness of Governmental responsi- bility, a British minister has in felicitously but just now CANADA TO THE RESCUE. 213 acknowledged in Parliament, " that among the causes of pressure, which arose out of the famine in Ireland, there sprung up a very great difficulty from the large number of persons sentenced to transportation." While another minister, in the same place, maintained that " Owing to the operation of the Act of last Session, which took away and abolished trans})ortatioii for cases of petty larceny ; and partly owing to the increased com- forts of the people, the number of offences in populous jnirts of the country had very much decreased." Thus, both authorities unite in imi)uting the augmen- tation, and diminution of the criminal list, to causes sub- ject to legislative control — causes whose evil effects minis- terial wisdom and forethought might have averted on one hand — causes whose ameliorated consequences on the other were avowedly produced by the exercise of this very forethought and wisdom. What then is the natural deduction ? Why this — simply this : that transportable offences arc frccpiently identical with misfortune, not necessarily originating in voluntary vice, but begotten of necessity created by public pressure. And were this admitted, ought not our })ity and connniseration, in liberal feeling and fair justice, to temper the seve- rity exercised against these victims of the times? — many of whom would be still cherished amongst us, had our legislators only considered the prevention of distress as the first imperative condition im})ose(l upon all who have courage to assume the weighty rr'spon^ibi- lities of governing a people. For the projierly-perfornuul duties of legislators are, by their own admission, calcu- lated to influence even the human soul by the promotion of public comfort productive of virtue, or by the en- gendering of those calamities through wickedness or '■'z^ :^ 214 ENGLISH DISTRESS, AND fy incapacity, whicli are, on the other liand, capable oi' prccii)itating millions into living ignominy and eternal perdition ! The glory of immortal Rome sprung from an origin as opprobrious, it is said, as the young nation about to inherit the dignity of constitutional distinction on the shores of Botany Bay. The shackles and handcuffs of their early progenitors have long been forgotten in the prosperity and worth of the brave and enterprising race who now people the once penal settlements of Old Bri- tish America ; and the antipathy to criminal association in the improved morality of other colonies, indebted for much of their best population to the vengeance visited on the outragers of British law, seem to give similar earnest of speedy assertion of equal virtue and honour in rivalry with the noblest nations extant. " As the thing which has been, is that which shall be, and that which has been done is that which shall be done ;" and thus it would not be unreasonable to suppose that, even out of the nmltitudes now breathing in British jails, a fresh nation might arise, just as anxious in a few years to obliterate the guilt of their origin and demand recog- nition, in turn of their just claim to equality and respect with the parent State, which is now visiting its sternest retribution upon their delinquencies. Western Canada ought not, must not, of course, become the cradle of a nation branded with infamy. It must not, in its infancy of promise, be even contami- nated by the presence of these malefactors longer than the contribution of their labour would be necessary, as already set forth, for the construction of the grand work we have described. But let it be always understood, we do not propose to convey the most criminal of our CANADA TO THE RESCUE. 215 30, li- 111 las rk r ofFonders to this new territory, big with fresh national hope. Still, if the concurrent sanction of the Provincial Governments of the combined Canadas interested in the arrangement were first voluntarily obtained, we would not desist from the continuation of convict labour ; since, after the first object of the culprit mission was accom- plished, we should seek to retain forced labour for a time, in order to cut common roads, construct bridges, drain lands, form emby'^^ lents, erect wharves, and assist in dockyards : } fine, ' such convict ' i^ as should be deemed necessary to advance the prosperity of the new colony. Nor do we believe that the occasional settlement of reformed offenders here and there, even in those coun- tries or their vicinity, as we have already casually pro- posed, would deserve opposition from any defender of Canadian purity, or even from the jealous and offended power and authority of the Hudson's Bay Company, tenacious of its exclusive monopoly of so precious a charter, by which it would fain continue to assert the injurious and oppressive right of perpetuating a wilderness at the expense of the British nation and the entire civil- ized world. We at once admit, in selecting any portion of these vast regions, that some separate and distinct territory must be chosen for the ultimate settlement in general of this expatriated community, when its pro- bationary and penitential labours on Canadian ground shall have concluded. But the final assemblage of con- victs in a land of their own should be prepared by gradual training under the judicious instruction of dili- gent missionaries, expressly delegated to accomplish their moral regeneration, and whose pastoral ministry all the circumstances of position, time, and place, could not but : v;,' .'.; . e ■ t^- > 'i:' 4 ; 1' -i- . ■/ •> 210 ENCiMSII DISTRESS, AND most singularly second. For what diversion from re- fiection, what temptation to evil, could possibly militate in the desert against the influence of Christian admoni- tion, directed with judgment and friendly kindness, to inspire consolation and recover the outcast culprit to the comfortable sentiment of self-esteem? There, engaged in healthful labour, too considerately imposed to warrant the indulgence of resentment or despair, the convicts would be discriminatcly classed and assorted, and their better natures conciliated by means of reasonable and aj)propriatc recreation ; Avhile all this time they would be kept throughout un(l(U' equable disci})linc, with the certainty of prompt and inevitable punishment propor- tioned to each offence, with all the danger and difHeulty of escape made manifest to their senses and under- standing. Above all, their hearts would be kept con- stantly cheered with the hope of reward, and a final settlement in a new home, in near connexion with their native land, to which, however, return should be ren- dered undesirable by the well unpressed assurance that, whether as freed men or imemaneipated runagates, the vigilance of authority in this country would be exerted towards detection, with a sleepless rigour hi- therto miexampled in our exercise of justice ; and that residence here would be rendered insupportably irk- some by publicity, and police precautions, stringently maintained, to protect society from exposure to any criminal relapse committed by returned convicts. In case of capture after escape from banishment, the of-< fenders should be made liable to imprisonment for life, or sentened to irredeemable transi)ortation, under aug- mented severity. To mve eftect to this we would further CANADA TO THE HKSCUE. 217 })ro|)oso tliat a stricter system of i^itrccillancc should, in fact, be observed l)y tlic ])olice authorities of this country towards all returned transports, who should l)c con- strahicd, under penalty, to confine themselves for a period to some allotted district where they should be compelled to appear at short intervals ])cfore the authorities, in order to render an account of their means, ])rospects, and conduct. This rigour should only I c relaxed in gradujd process of time, and when warranted by the confirmed good behaviour of the liberated deliiKpients : a regulation we would reconnueud after the example of the police practice exerted in France. In spite of all idle clap-tra[)s about the liberty of the subject and the freedom due to absolved criminals, the interest of the conununity could not but snnetion these precautionary measures, Avhen eni})loye(l against guilty subjects whose enormities have givi'ii too cm[)hatic proof of their disposition to outrage the laws : for, in spite of all our liberality and ])ity, we must observe, that subjection to punishment and degrachition is not ahcai/s earnest of reform. A standing reward besides for the apprehension of runaway convicts, and severe penalties imposed upon all who should knowingly harbour them, would render the desire of return hither a notion hardly to be entertained in the minds of the convicts ; while, if we could still retain these erring fellow-subjects near lis in detached connexion, as it were, with their native home, by making their good conduct a title to encou- ragement, and freely permitting their friends and rela- tives, separated only by short distance, to connnimicate with, and join them if inclined, we should, no doubt, find these ejected members from our community as m 21b ENOLISII DlSTllESS. easily reconciled to their appointed settlement, as are the free emigrants we are constantly sending out to colonies which they do not always find agreeable to their real natm'al tastes, though yet obliged to content themselves, as these convicts would do, with the sojourn where their destiny has cast them. |: 'M CIIAPTKR VlJl. ULTIMATE DISPOSAL OF CONVICTS. It is now incumbent upon us to indicate the land we consider most eligible for the site of such a convict set- tlement, and we boldly propose the nearest desert, a shore we tenaciously engross only, it would seem, to neglect and abandon — we mean the blank coast be- hind the all-but-rejectcd island of Anticosti, which stretches from opposite Newfoundland, upon Labrador, southward to the river Manicongon : a tract which, pro- phetic of our purpose, is known by the denomination of the " King's Domain ;" and which, according to the ancient ordonnance of the original sovereignty which claimed it, composed a portion of what was once termed the " United Farms of France." With the usual mystery so long studiously observed to repel impertinent curiosity from prying into the nature and capabilities of this land, wc know nothing whatever of it but the embouchures of its magnificent rivers, and the vague and contradictory reports of the hunters and fisher- men, in the private pursuance and individual interest of whose calling the land continues to be thimble-rigged from the British nation. There are morasses on its sea-coast, its custodians inform us : but where are there not Mm V> ULTIMATK DISPOSAL Ul CONVICTS. -J: 1 inarshes in similar sitiiiitious, iiiuk'r tlie sanu- latitiidc, in countries uncultivati'd and iiiKlraincd? What in the same condition would be llic aspect of Ireland, iiniue- diately o|)[)ositc tlic northeinmost ))art of tlie al)an(lone(l country we spi-ak ol"? And amitl ilie elevations imme- diately bi'hind these morasses, and in the plains and vfilh'ys further beyond, what is the real (piality of the soil — its vegetable productions and its minerals? — inter- sected with such noble waters, ])arallel with ourselves and Trance, so near us, too, at the same time — arc wc to consider this country, indeed, altogether impracticable? The sup])osition is a contradiction of nature; and we do not hesitate to maintain that it Avill be found, upon correci. exa'.r.ination, that this })ortion of the earth will vhidicate its title to natural productions in fair rivalry with any other in the same pai'allel. There, properly located, iii)on a land confined between the Atlantic on the one side, and Hudson's Hay on the other — repelled by Labrador on the north, and se])arated by wide wastes and broad rivers from the ])eople(l por- tions of Lower Canada, the convict settlers in these parts could possess but small oi)])ortunity for escape ; and even could evasion be sometimes successfully eftected, the attempt could only lead to sure rc-ca])ture, if the watch- ful system of police Avere observed which we have pro- visionally rcconnnended. With such abundant material for ship-building as abounds upon and around this coast, why not erect dockyards upon this portion of our ])os- sessions for Government purposes ? Were a strong body from our public arsenals despatched to a station on the southwest neck of the (iulf of St. Lawrence, attended with a due number of convict labourers subservient to their general need in matters of heavy work, and su[)- ■I' ILTIMAiK KISI'OSAI, (t|' (ONNKTS. 3d to P- ])\\vi\, MS \hv\ would hv, with tlic liiK st tindxTs, iron, copper, (JC'c, (Voiii tlir St. Lawiviicc, nnd tlu'coimlry iiiouiid tlicm, imd witli provision of every kind so nuicli chciipcr tlicrc than in this conntry, wonhl not sncli i\ station, so favom'c'd, l)c of incstimahli' ini|)()rtann' to this conntry? I'\)r the means of connnnnieation is so faeih' now Ix^tween sncli a station andonr pnhhc otHces,that it rench'rs visits of inspection as easily to l)o accoinplished in the present (hiy as were tlie posting jonrnies between the Admiralty and IMymonth some forty years aLjo. W hile it wonid In; a savin*; of million.-; in a rninons (le[)artment of onr pnhlie cxpcnditiu'e, and [)r()(hiee, at least, better shi[)s than onr maritime rivals of the I nited State^ . we shonld lu; peopling, at the same time, a const whose attitnde woidd very soon awe and restrain them within l>onnds Let ns snpjiose, that all the elements necessary *"■ constitntc a regnlated commnnity, and every ])rin ary accessary rerpiired for its comfort and accon'uu .lation, were prepared for these convicts previons tc their re- moval to a home in the " King's Domain." Then, let iir imagine that their after-labonrs, when transferred from the pnblic works in Canada to a permanent abode in this territory, were exerted, to render this settlement habitable, why should we (lou])t that the same induce- ments which have determined so many females to confer their society upon the reformed felonry of Aus- tralia would not also actuate the w,vi -^ and relatives of these forced exiles to seek their homes upon this shore, which they could so cheaply reach by a few days' passage ? Thus they would not have to brave, as thousands in their position have done, the hardships and perils of a long and expensive voyap;c to the Antipodes for a similar object, where distance renders any prospect of re- I 222 Ul.TlMATE DISPOSAL OF CONVICTS. I: li: l: s'.i ^ ■ M turn all but hopeless. Moreover, the experience we have gained in the government of convict settlements, (luring the period our attention has been practically directed to the subject in Australia, and the many unex- pected and important results which have accrued there, would be of singular advantage in the foundation and treat- ment of a new colony of this description nearer home, where we could so easily relieve garrisons and so speedily and cheaply supply necessary provision. In such a colony, works and manufactures, intended to operate in conjoint interest with this country, could be easily and econo- mically introduced by people of enterprizc, who, in pursuit of profit, would care as little for the presence of convicts, as similar pursuers of fortune do for the character of the population of Australia among Avhom they have fixed their abode. On the contrary, the rcsom'ces which we cannot but think ai*e yet to be discovered on this virgin shore, in the shape of every wood and metal indigenous to the coast of the more northern countries of our European continent, would all pledge promise of attracting a numerous and prompt accession of free settlers, stimulated by the incalculable advantage which the cheap command of convict labour so near England and the United States could not but signally realize. Soon starting from the lifeless silence of sequestered loneliness, which for so many ages has marked this desert strand, we should soon see it dotted with a close succession of settlements, and cities rising in active relation with our native ports, till the whole desolate blank was filled, which this most approximate portion of our North American possessions presents upon the map. to be intensely cold ; ~4., i ^i ULTIMATE DISPOSAL OF CONVICTS. 223 ap. (1; but is it more so than Norway or Sweden ? Is it more intolerable, in reality, than even Scotland — the Shetlands for example — where so worthy a portion of her Majesty's subjects are perfectly content with their location, al- though lying so much nearer the Pole ? We have un- questionable authority for maintaining that the thermo- meter is not always to be relied upon as a just criterion of the temperature conveniently su])portable by the hum 11 frame. There is no necessity, however, for establishing convicts in an earthly paradise, when so many of our honourable fellow-subjects are fain to set up their abode in climates far more injurious to the constitution than the territories of New Britain. We have settlements on the shores of Africa and South America innneasurably more noxious than the latter misrepresented countries ; where, if the luxuries we are apt to associate with warmer climates be wanting, yet none have pretended to assert that health, strength, and longevity, are affected by the atmospheric rigour. From those whose sentimentality would reproach us for prescribing any other climate for a place of punishment inferior to Bermuda, the Cape, Madeira, perhaps Lisbon or Montpellier, let us ask, who arc the British subjects inhabiting the immediate stations around Hudson's Bay ? Who forced them thither? What compels them to remain ? Are not the choicest sailors of Great Britain annually exposed in whaling expeditions to severer skies than those which surround the St. Lawrence gulf? Who arc those that expose their lives to explorations in the frozen seas ? Who occupies Heligoland ? And of those who would object to the spot we suggest, in tender feel- ing for the constitution and comfort of criminids and *, :\ 221 ULTIMATK DISPOSAL OV CONVICTS. 4 ^t ^;« W< i?;V offenders, avc further ask, Mow is it witli the inhauitaiits of Droll tlieim, among wlioiii so many J'liighsh rejoice to pass merry winters ? Tol)olsk, less favourably situated than the mouth of the St. Lawrence, was once a convict settlement, ai)palling by the reputation of its excessive whiter severities : it is now the voluntary sojourn of many of the gayest members of the jMuscovite court — a city which boasts of beautiful sunmier gardens, and is possessed of an Italian Theatre. 13esides, Europeans seem no longer enamoured of nature exposed to soku' excess : we lifwc had our fill of the Tro})ics ; and if we cannot always, indeed, continue in our migrations to remain in the precise zone of })crfect temperature, \\c ^.jay as well begin now to diverge a ////ie to the iiortli rather tlian the south of it, there to cultivate resources against the adverse qualities of cold, as much as we have struggled in opposition to heat in the hot regions which have wearied us South and East. As the United States derive such extraordinary ad- vantages from the general invitation she offers to all comers from all countries, let us imitate her successful cxamjile ; and, in self-defence, not content ourselves by only encouraging our own superfluous numbers to establish settlements in our unpeopled territories, but let invitations to our colonies be earnestly circidated through the populous and disturbed countries of northern Germany, where hard necessity and discontent, arisuig from over-population as with ourselves, dispose the jieople to seek any change for the better. But particu- larly among the objects of their Danish and Swedish majesties we might beneficially recruit for colonists, to join with us in populating this portion of our American possessions, which bears so strong an analogy ULTIMATE DISPOSAL OF CONVICTS. 225 linr the to their own countries and climates. The Prussian Go- vernment, especially, might be found just now inclined to favour migratory drafts from the surplus population, which is at present causing it so much uneasiness ; and, if recruiting were exerted in the northern circles of the Prussian States, a most apt and a])propriate population might be found for a settlement in the quarter wc pro- pose, in conjunction with such free settlers from amongst ourselves as might prefer establishments on the coast in (jiiestion, instead of jmrsuing the current wc would direct into the interior. Among all the subjects of the Ame- rican Union, there are none more industrious, or more estimable, than the German emigrants, who compose so large a portion of its population, and who are daily adding to its force by immigrations in numerous detach- ments. Yes : why, we repeat, should we not strive also to attract a share of this auspicious tide to our own ])rofit ? And, instead of an abandoned coast and desert waste which we continue to hold, or rather to loitJihold, at the mouth of the St. Lawrence, why not augment our power and prosperity by attracting settlers to it from the continent, if we must continue too dainty to select it for ourselves ? The prosperity and worth of the French Canadians, who have peopled the adjacent country, should, of itself, attest the advantage that England might speedily derive from a mixture of foreign colonists, whenever she proceeds to the actual occupancy of the neglected land wc are now reconnnending to attention. Foreigners, being accustomed to behold the employment of convict labour in their own cities at home, would feel less revolted at the practice applied to such a settlement as we })ropose, than many colonists from this country ; while the proverbial honesty and orderly disposition of u •y 22G ULTIMATE DISPOSAL OF CONVICTS. ■■^- Fi *: such a people as the Germans would operate with most salutary influence on the minds of our English transports. Feeling, besides, no national soreness at the spectacle of English degradation, these aliens would gladly avail themselves of the benefit which a colony, so assisted, would at first offer, without permitting their pride to wince under fear of any identification with the culprit population around them ; with whom, by character, lan- guage, and habits, they could never become associated or familiar. Directed to the same objects of agriculture and commerce which engaged them at home — for the climate and productions of this tract are, of course, similar to those of northern Europe — and assured of an English market and the aid of gratuitous labour, we shoidd soon behold, if once the trial were made, thousands from Germany and the countries north of the Baltic, where they have been accustomed to the severest rigours of climate. As soon as the nucleus of such a colony were formed, and partial prosperity crowned the combined efforts of the first settlers, all })rejudice would disappear that might attach to its foundation, and we should think of it as we do now of free emigration to Australia ; and not even the most credulous, or timid, would fear the horrors of a climate, which has, undoubtedly, been so much traduced. Travelling is now so general, that a familiarity with St. Petersburgh, Revel, Riga, Mittau, Dantzic, Hamburgh, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Gotten- burgh, Christiana, and Bergen , has cured us of all terrors of a climate which, despite of whatever peculiar qualities and mode of air and soil which may be proper to it, is still under the same solar influence as the British Isles, and cannot therefore exhibit the excessive dispa- rity of climate we have been led to believe in, any more ULTIMATE DISPOSAL OF CONVICTS. 7 than the shores of Nova Scotia, vvhicli, until very lately, were considered all but uninhabitable. Certain it is, that we should still, for a time, have to provide for the maintenance of our convicts in this settle- ment of the " King's Domain ;" but what of that, since we must maintain them somewhere ? — and surely it were better to contribute to their support out of the country, than to retain them in lingering misery Avithin the crowded precincts of British gaols ! Nor should it be lost sight of, that the convicts deported to this proposed settlement would not have to be obtruded upon any peo- ple in prior possession, who might be unwilling to receive them ; unless, indeed, the sprinkling of inhabitants that occupy the Rupert River, or East Main, should object, in the interest of the fur-kings, to interlopers of any descrip- tion, who shoidd " come betwixt the wind and their nobility ;" and this, without reflecting that connexion with the coast, by direct passage to sea-ports on the Atlantic, is necessary to the life and being of their settle- ments in the interior, and that they might as well be in the moon as cribbed up by intervening deserts in the limbo of this British Siberia, where unoffending exiles must depend upon the slender provision of the chase, or starve. It should be borne in mind that, in our contemplation of such a colony, we regard it as a mere consequence dependent on the grander project we have in view; and that we have proposed that the convicts, to be thus finally settled, should be prepared by a preliminary dwelling in Western Canada, and subjection there to a kind of apprenticeship in all the labours they Mould have to perform at the ultimate home of their destination, while trained at the same time by moral correction for the new life awaiting them. Q 2 228 ULTIMATE DISPOSAL OF CONVICTS. ■I w ^* Tims, wc slioiikl sec British Canada extending upon all sides, supported on her north as well as upon her west ; while this new colony, in connexion with all the rest of our combined power upon the American continent, would become a Ncfo Britain indeed, brought by steam into almost immediate contact ; and thus, before long, after the example of our other colonies, wc should behold a new people, perha])s, composed of the very sediment and lees of our British rabble, and the very sweepings of our gaols, assuming, in recovered character, an honourable and imposing attitude at our very door, claiming our respect in virtue of desert, and demanding also, in their turn, to be received into the constitutional circle of the Bi'itish family on a footing of freedom and equality. Or, let us ask those who, while arrogating possession, maintain the coast to be far inferior, indeed, to other clim.'itcs of this country, is it not for that veri/ reason all the better adapted for a place of punishment 5 serving, as it would, by the terror of its inclemencies, to deter our comfort-loving British from the perpe- tration of crime ? With the hardships of such a desti- nation in view, we no longer should behold justice defeated by the frequent examples of culprits committing offences for the express and avowed purpose of incurring transportation ; nor should we any longer hear of insolent malefactors braving our tribunals Avith the ironical pro- mise of bringing home monkeys on their return as pre- sents to their judges ! For the prospect of winter quarters near Labrador might neither offer any ground for attrac- tion, nor any subject for joking. We have been further induced to reconnnend this northerly dependence for a place of penalty and purga- tion, by the veiy remarkable and salutary influence which h>. ¥■ It; UI/riMATK DISPOSAL OF CONVICTS. 0() ers would lie ; so that the three years in rpiestion would aftbrd the recruit the benefit of gradual innrement to the climate, and the opportunity of acquiring ample and useful knowledge of the district in which he would be ultimately settled. We j)ropose, from the nature of the country, and for the peculiar duties to which they would be destined, that such corps shovdd be armed, clothed, and drilled accord- ing to the rifle system ; and that a company of each should be momiLcd on the light horses of the country, for the better conveyance of orders along the line, and to faci- litate the pursuit of fugitives. With this end)odhneiit in view, it will be lietter understood ^hy we pro})osc to designate these cori)s " Pioneer Rifle Guards." We likewise suggest that the officer aj)pohitcd to com- n)and those forces be selected in preference from among such candidates on the half-p;i * list as might l)e inclined to commute their claims on Government, in considera- tion of grants of cleared land bestowed in quantities proportioned to their rank : their three years' service, at the same time, to be paid pending its duration, at the usual rate of full-pay : the same rule to be observed towards the composition and provision of officers non-cominiiisioued 'v 234 CONVICT (iUAUn. •5; m " 7 ;■•:■ For the indisponsnblc inculcation of (lisci|)]' 10 by cxnniplc, wc proj)osc that, witli cacli tive paupLr • rruita, a pensioned soldier sliouhl he incorporated, iii rnis otiered to the hitter ; or, in case lie shoidd choose to connnute with Government for his ])cnsion, that an adetpiati! allotment of extra-cleared land should be granted in satisfactory indemnity. W'c propose further that the whole force should possess the general option of claiming an extra extension of land, each in proportion to his rank, u])on condition of hold- ing by military tenure — that is, subscribing to the liability of l)eing called out, as a local militia force, whenever cases of emergency should demand their service. We propose that the officers, commissioned and non- commissioned, be permitted, if married, to carry at once their wives and families along with them ; and that the same favour might at first be accorded to a certain number of the most approved privates of each corps ; until the privilege could be gradually extended to others, in proportion as accommodation could be conveniently provided, and the good conduct of the soldiers would deserve such indulgence. Tlie duty of these troops would be to secure the prisons, escort the labourers, and guard the line of works. In order to place these corps, which would thus be composed of future landholders, upon the most respect- able footing, we propose that every prudent and judi- cious indulgence should be accorded consistent with their duties; the heaviest punishment for military of- fences to be siunmary dismissal from the force and compul- sory return to their English settlements ; or, for graver crimes, condemnation to forced labour with the convicts. ■■i r.'; til rONVKT fSUARD. 235 At the expiration of tlioir term of service and conse(iuent instalment on the land allotted to them, we ])ro|)ose that (jiovernment shonld issne to each disehar^ed recruit, tickets entitling him to six months' full rations; and on second a])plication to six months' half rations, together with certain necessaries and implements, shoidd such \)c rc(|uired ; the value of the whole of these articles and pro- visions so advanced to be refunded by instalments under penalty of forfeiture of land in proportion to the debt thus contracted with Government ; or with, or in lieu of, such provision and necessaries advanced, one year of their parish connnutation money might be transferred to them from the Exchecpicr, to serve their need upon taking possession of their land ; but to be paid by instal- ments to prevent improvident dissipation of the sum, or the temptation to retm'n to this country. In addition to a proper complement of engineer- officers, fully competent and instructed in the whole general and particular plan of the works, we propose that a certain number of artificers might be attached to each corps, for the advantage of the men and instruction of the convicts. Between each division, and moving constantly in parallel with them, we propose the employment of an irregular body of Canadian woodmen and Indians as aforesaid, to scour the country and arrest all fugitives — civil, military, or convict — found wandering beyond a certain distance from the line of works mthout a pass. The object in selecting recruits for this force from the number of able-bodied paupers, dependent upon our parishes, is first, to spare expense, which a general enfist- ment for this service would otherwise necessitate ; and secondly, because, although such corps, if entiiely composed • ii . H i^' 23G CONVICT GUARD. H .■ ■i ■ {• n ■V'r m i I of pensioned veterans enrolled nnder prospect of future settlement in comnmtation of pay, niiglit in tlie beginning bo preferable in point of economy and superior efficiency ; yet, as such pensioners would necessarily be in advanced life, they would soon cease to be eligible for the duties required, and thereby demand, ere long perhaps, the recruiting of a fresh force ; while younger men, though less experienced in military practice from their being trained in so nnwarlikc a school, would contiiuie, of course, longer available as an effective militia. But lest, indeed, the employment of a regular force be considered more conducive to the end we propose, than the raw description of troops which, for the sake of economy, we thus recommend, we suggest that those men be invited in preference to enlist, who have been last discharged by the reduction of "Our army; and who must now, being cast loose upon the world without resource, and spoiled for every other occupation, become chargeable to the public in some form more expensive and objectionable than their military employ — a con- sequence the economists but little calculate. And more particularly we would recommend enlistment from the distressed body disbanded from our Rifle force, as better adapted for all the purposes in view ; and this we would urge before these active and exemplary troops be dispersed beyond the power of again assembling them in all the freshness of theii* recent ^.syjyvY de corps and excellent discipline. In proof how abundantly the nation could supply a military force of this description, and how opportimely the measure would lighten the pressure in a quarter especially grievous, the reader will best judge when we remind him that the full-pay retirement of sub- < CONVICT C.UARD. 237 alterns alone costs tlic country tlic annual sum of £50,000 ; the half-pay list, £ 100,000 ; and om- out- ])cnsionc(l privates, in this year of 1850, no less an amount than £1,233,711. How many of the officers and soldiers, thus hanging a dead-weight on the pidjlic purse, and so oppressively felt, while still so inadecpiately provided for, arc yet capable of all the duties such service in Canada woidd recpiire ? And how many would be but too happy to exchange then* hard-earned })rivilege to a grudged and miserable piUance, for a comfortable and i)crmanent settlement, promising more than suiH- cient for all their wants, and offering, at the same time, a field for the employment of their time, and, together with it, means and o])portunity, with the assistance of their families, of even attaining the highest state of pros- perity? Or, should there be too many candidates for enlistment from this body — which we confidently antici- pate — or a great many disinclined to resume military duties regimentally incori)orated, those, with a little l)reliminary instruction, might be beneficially distributed throughout the different divisions along the line in the capacity of sa})pers, and would contribute not a little to promote order and regularity by their example of customary obedience. ^1 CHAPTER X. CIVIL FENCIBLES. NuiiEROUs and biirtliensomc as is the convict mass, from which our project would rchcvc the State, the class we are now engaged upon, viz., that of paupers, is still more oppressive, and far more perplexing, by their enor- mous amount and idle dependence upon the public and private vosources of this country : of their distressing weight we propose, also, on a much larger scale, to rid the country, while helping them, at the same time, to their redemption, and the dignity of a self-supporting existence, by combining them as a principal portion of the working body we would direct, by a grand system of organized laboiu', to the construction, peopling, and culture of the continuous and narrow belt of settle- ments, along whose centre the railroad should run from Nova Scotia to the Pacific. In accordance with this plan, and seeing that we had about 00,000 ahk-hoJiod paupers in 1848 to provide for, we proceed to propose that a body of 00,000 labourers, or even a greater nundier, be drafted by volun- tary enrolment from among the suffering poor of our most distressed counties; those dependent upon their parishes for subsistence to compound, after the example recommended for the pauper volunteers, in the preceding chapter. Or other candidates, who only verge on this CIVIL FENCIBLES. 231) (Icsolfitc state of pauperism, and do not intrude their strup;- gling necessities on the })ublic, might come well certiiied as to character and habits : the whole to be of approved health and strength. The term of engagement imposed upon all those parties ought, of course, to be limited, after the example of the Pioneer Kifle (juards, to three years : the whole to be e([ui})ped, clothed, and supported at the current rate of ex})ense allowed for soldiers' habiliments and mahitenance. J'lach of these volunteers, when ac- cepted, would be re([uired to subscribe a formal engage- ment, liberally framed in spirit, but struigent in ))r()- visions, by which they would bind themselves to perform the general and particular duties assigned to them on the line of works, so ordered as to render their allotted task one of moderate exertion. They would be rcqiured to subscribe, at the same time, to certain rules and by- laws conceived for their better regulation and comfort in conuuunity. While Government should engage, on the other side, to provide them, at the expiration of their fixed term of labour, with grants of land of not more than five acres ])er lot, if awarded along the railroad line of settlements, since the object of such ]n*ovision would not be to enrich these industrial classes, but only to secure them a competence hi connexicii wiii' the necessity of labour, of which there has always hf.n a desolating dearth in Canada. This (learth has been owin/r to the universal enjoyment of exclusive rt/oprictarv riglits, created hi the inconsiderate sacrifice of land by prodigal donations, too long practised by our Ihntish Government at the expense of that country ; and which has been pro- ductive of the ])rincipal evils of which Canada has had substantially to complain. It is now for us further to propose, that when these indigent persons are thus regularly and conditionally 240 CIVIL FENCIBLES. u -J ■ ■■'I < enrolled, portions of the Poor-law Union honscs, or other api)rf)|)riiite ])uil(lings, should he thrown open, and con- verted into emigrant depot harracks, for the purpose of forthwith forming detachments of these volunteers into regimental bodies, destined to labour throughout the whole of the Canadian line in co-operative connexion. This could only be effectually accomplished by subjecting them to such a preparatory system of general and par- ticidar disci})line, and nuitual dependence, as would tend at once to correct all irregular habits, and secure the most steady obedience and unanimity, by rendering it difficult, or next to inn^)ossible, for the idle, the unstable, the besotted, and the refractory, to damage and derange the systematic order and economy prescribed for the conduct of the public works. In further explanation of the motives which have determined ns to reconnnend these various details of the organization we desire to introduce into our forms of railroad colonization, we boldly and unecpdvocally maintain that the curse of all young colonies is the custom of factious and ])re- sumptuous license, commonly assumed by the immi- grant settlers, as if in sudden indenmity for the restraint under which they have been compelled to yield obedience to the laws and regulations of society hi the maturer States of their original sojourn. For many, with a chang(5 of country, likewise change all the forms and institutions of their early training, and revenge the obscurity and insignificance which marked their con- dition at home, by courting importance and notoriety in a captious and refractory opposition abroad to every principle of such a government, as would repress their arrogance, antl confine them to their appropriate and natural level. Others, irreconcilable to any country, but instinctively (b'awn back to that which in necessity or M <■•! CIVIL FRNCIBLES. en a caprice they liave originally a1)aiu]oiiod, labour only to return ; and in the selfish, and sometimes unscrupulous, pursuits exerted to this effect, are utterly indirterent to tlie interests of the country and people, among whom they grub for fortunes. Others, cutertahiing a qualified love of their native country, which they themselves never before suspected, exaggerate the real or siq^posed supe- riorities of the land they have left ])ehind, and wreak their discontent by odious coin[)arisons at the expense of the tenderest feelings of self-respect auvl amor pnlria^, cherished by the natives among whom they have; sought an asylum. A fourth class, liberated from the observa- tion of all whose opinions once kept them in check, abuse their accpiircd freedom to plunge into every vicious excess, encouraged in the glad consciousness of biding altogether uncared for by the strangers who are spec- tators of their degradation. A fifth class seem to lose, with a change of country, all their former identity of character and conduct ; and, gradually renouncing (ivery orderly and industrious pursuit and generous juiibition, sink into a v(!getating state, too imgatory to be con- spicuously bad, and too insipid to be good for any- thing, if they escape being tempted into the poaciher- like })ursuits of idle recreation and loose companionshi[) which rxistitute the daily life of a colonial vagabond. To the want of unity and orderly subordinaticui amid persons of this ill-regulated character, obtrudhig their worthlessness upon uew settlements, we are indebted for the slowness of progress we condemn in many of them, and often for the entire failure of others. 'I'lie ])redomi- nauce of such melancholy exunn)les is nowhere more mis- chievously conspicuous, perbaps, than in Canada. There the refractory demagogue ejected from England, at vari- R 242 CIML FENr IDLES. m .1 nnce witli liis mother country nnd a })ljiguc to tlic na- tive inliabitants, snarls and bites in the inveterate and uncontrolled venom of democratic rage. Tliere, peddling dealers in every dirty and nefarious traffic, disgracing the lionoiu'able character of their English country, disgust the generous nature of the old French settler, whose seignorial notions and manners of the ancien regime, redo- lent of Id vicUlc France, is shocked to find the land of his fathers infected by the worst style of uneducated ignorance fi'oni a coiuitry to which, in truth, he was never too partial. Here, vulgar asserters of Jilnglish ]n'e-emi- nencc render our character and name detestable by their impertinent ass\unptions of superiority and exclusiveness, at the expense of " r/iabitaiif," or " J'd/i Bap/Lsfe," the souhriqueis which they deridingly ap[)ly to the ori<.nnal settlers of the soil — a i)rovokcd sentiment which is repaid ^vith interest : scorn for scorn, and hate for hat(\ Here, tiic idle and infatuated victiuis to a ])assion for field sports desert the pursuit of all respectable em})loym('nt, to tramp the woods in hunger and in rags, more desti- tute of every personal comfort and appliance than is the English gipsy, who encamps upon oiu' heaths and com- mons. Here British drunkenness, revelling in riot and disorder, rolls in the gutter, diverted from labour, and its recompense in prosperity, by the temptations of whiskey at eleven-pence per gallon — a price w^iich has rendered inebriation so universal that the consumption of ardent spirits in C.'uiada has been computed at no less than five gallons annually for cvory i: habitant — an excess which will be best estimated, wiien we inform *1ie readca*, that in our own coinitry, so pro. rrbially odious for intemperance, the consumption of spirituous liquors is only calculated at 069 of a gallon for each person in England ; '"'TO for Ireland ; CIVIL rr.Ncinrj'.s. 213 id ts l1; and for douce and doinuro Scotland, 2*10 : total, for the United Kingdom, 1(15 for each individual annually. To maintain, on the contrary, the migratory legions we would direct to Canada, intact and in orderly and indus- trious liabits, is with us a ])aramount consideration. Therefore — before landing them in a country infected with so much contagious discontent and sedition, so nuich bush vagrancy and swinish drunkenness, prevalent be- cause so cheap, and where seductions to desert are so actively insinuated by covert agents of a rival State — we advocate the expediency of regulating the emigrant body we would enrol, by preparatory trahiing under such a system of enforced obedience to wholesome government, as should best promise to ensure the dur exertion and good conduct of every member of the expedition. It is to secure them from disaffection, deter them from excess, and prevent them from desertion, that we propos(^ these pau])er labourers should also assume a military form of constitution, and submit to be enregimented, oihcercd, uniformly clad, and even partially drilled ; without such form and observance, however, being allowed materially to affect their civil character, or interfer(3 with the proper freedom of their general ])rivate habits, the innocent use of their leisure time, and their customary manner of performing their work. From those who would demur to this part of our ])roposition, we would ask, if they ever heard of the milittuy colony called " Compagnics des Cantonistes," established with so nmch success in southern Russia by the late em])eror ? If they ever saw the civil and military duties efficiently coml)ined in the " Garde Nationale " of France, or the "Burger Guards" of Germany ? If that will not suffice to prove the recon- cilable duties of such a force, then let us point to our r2 &teA '^*W»iJ«fifc ..^_.,. 244 CIVIL PENCIBLKS. . ■ t own Yeomanry^ so exemplary for peaceable and indus- trious lives in theii* civil capacity, and so earnest and effective in their military character, when occasionally summoned for service midor arms. Or, should a stronger instance be required, wc arc enabled to point to one which should dispose of every objection at once, in reference to the satisfactory working of our plan in connexion with the very flower and Qlite of our British artizans — we allude to the workmen employed in our dockyards, rcgi- mentally incorporated, and composing a choice force of ten thousand men, who do not find their military duties detrimental to their civil pursuits, or obstructive of their recreative indulgence or domestic comfort. Fully satisfied ourselves of the efficiency of such a l)lan, sui)i)ortcd by the example of so many approved precedents, w^e proposn that this band, com])osed of 00,000 pauper labourers, and others equally indigent, be divided into six divisions, to be denominated '* Civil Feucibles," and to be generally distinguished by their locations. These should again be subdi- vided into smaller corps appointed to separate sections of the divisions already named, with the exception of the Mountain Division, upon which this portion of the labouring force should not be employed. These sec- tional corps or regiments would be numbered, and named after the immediate locality upon which they should be stationed : as, 1st, Corps or legion, Atlantic Division ; 2nd, Corps or legion, Quebec Division, &c. ; 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, &c.. Corps of the Lake Division ; 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, &c., Corps, Central Division, and so forth. We moreover propose that these enrolled bodies, composed of 10,000 men each, should be in- structed in the first elements of military exercise and CIVIL l'KNCinLE8. 245 iimna3uvrcs ; l)ut in a somcvvliat smaller dogrce, l)o it observed, than is comiiion to similar bodies of civilians, which compose our yeomanry or dockyard corps, our train-band volunteers, or the continental civil military bands we have mentioned, or even the militia of the United States, or those already actually enrolled in Canada. We also propose that these corps be officered in the same manner as regiments of the regular army ; the officers to be men of ai)proved character, education, and talent, selected from every respectable profession in society; the preference to be given to old jicnsioncd officers, willing to commute for Ian > : whilst non- conunissioned oHicers might be comj)osed of persons liolding various grades in so'nety, care being taken to prefer those who, from their })cculiar callings, would be likely to benefit an infant colony by their respective trades, acquirements, and professions. We i)ro})()se tliat the salaries of the superior class should be only at the rate of army half-pay, proper to mililaiy officers who hold the same regimental rank ; but that the rations and allowances be precisely the same as those usually enjoyed by officers in the army. It would be desirable that the services of the officers should, if possi])le, be procured without pay, adequate recomi)ense in land being mode to each acx'ording to his rank ; and, as a fiu'ther inducement, considerable reduc- tion should be made in the jjrice of lands which they might desire to purchase, and that certain privileges, imnnmities, and exemptions, connected therewith, should be awarded in consideration of service, when such officers should, en tlie completion of their term, engage in the civil pursuits which an increase of poi)ulation would soon originate in those settlement.^. The colonel - director of aach of those civil regiments ought to be •M 246 civil, KKNCTBLEH, i-- ^• s (not capital) ought to be punished by degnidation to force- labour, in ilivisions apart from that of their orig'nal appointment. We ])roposc that the privates, forming such corps of pauper-labourers, denomlnahd " Civil i^eneibles," should be furnished with p. eisely the same (juantities and quality of rati^ i- as are issued to the soldiers of the regular army ; and that, to render them efficient for the sen'ice in view, they slioidd be comfortably a!id appro- priately clothed with garments adapted to their labours, the climate, and the seasons ; light in sununer, but warm in winter, and all, in fashion and colour, of a sufficiently becoming description; over which, when occasion required, they would wear their militaiy accoutrements. To this end we would recommend the clean, comely, and com- modious blue linen-blouse conunon to the peasantry in ]]elgium, with very loose canvass trousers for the warm months ;* and, during the latter part of the year, frocks of tliat homespun-grey which is generally worn by the * Jldc illustration. t :;f e: s a If 1 is s a p% <^ /w/ ^> IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I fjm ■2-5 1^ lia IIIIIM 1.25 iiiiim iA III 1.6 Photographic Sciences Corporation h A S° M?^ y. f/i fA # ■1>^ .\ N> % v o^ 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. 14580 (716) 872-4503 mm .r '.t \- r . ■ ■/ CIVIL FENCIBLES. 247 Canadian labourers during winter ; together with tlie other articles of dress which arc prevalent in Canada during the cold season, as being most appropriate and cheap. After undergoing a sunnnary training in sections in England, for which purpose various places in different localities should be appointed, we propose that the transports should be conveyed for embarkation to certain general depots on the coast ; there to be incorporated in their full efficiency as regimental corps, each under their respective officers ; and there also, in contemplation of their ultimate collective and separate utility, the members of these bodies ought to be classed as follows. First, having allotted 10,000 men to each regimental corps of the diff'erent grand divisions of this general " Civil Fencible Force," we propose lO range the married and unmarried in separate classes, permitting a certain number of the former to be accompanied by th(>ir wives and families ; the rest of their married conu'ades to be equally entitled to the company of their wives and children as soon after their arrival at their destination as proper homes can be prepared for their recejition ; and that the unmarried portion of the force shall be allowed, after time and preparation, to receive a father, a mother, or even a sister into their homes. All these followers ought to be conveyed to Canada without charge to themselves, and a proper cpiota of rations allowed for their maintenance during a given time ; the expense of which should be refunded by instalments deducted from the wages of the Civil Fencible, commencing with his third year ; or might become payable, by small annual sums, out of the proceeds of the land granted to him. We likewise propose to divide the general body of volunteers into lesser companies ; and these, again, k rX •^^^■•.:' t; •. : v; ^M' 248 civil, FENCIBLES. ft i '^ into two distinct classes — namely, agriculturists and artizans ; the first to comprise a body of about 500 men, who should be furnished with all the necessary imple- ments of husbandry ; the second composed of the same number, to be likewise supplied with proper instruments and tools requisite for the exercise of their respective trades ; such implements to be given to the men at their respective places of destination. Immediately over the agricultural class, we propose that such ofRccrs should be appointed as might be judged best qualified by their education and past pursuits, ik direct or indirect con- nexion with agriculture, to appoint and conduct the labours of the field; and over the artisan class, such as might be deemed most conversant with tlie nature and best ai>plication of their respective arts and callings. Each corps to be constituted from its various elements in the following proportions : — :n n. ■ T Husbandmen .500 Carpenters loo Joiners . , 60 Smiths (and Farriers) 40 Bricklayers 40 Masons 40 Painters and Glaziers 20 Wheelwrights 20 Harness-makers and Saddlers 20 Bakers 15 Butchers 15 Gardeners 20 Tinmen and Braziers 10 Tailors 20 Shoemakers 40 General labourers 40 Each subordinate company to consist of 1,000 men. The number of women and children permitted to embark with thorn in l.f limited to niiout six hundred. CIVIL TENCIBLES. 249 To each of these companies, wlicn located, we propose (hat a grist-mill, a saw-mill, a forge, and medical dis- pensary, with all their proper accessaries, l)e attached : that eacli corps should be furnished Avith two chaplains, one surgeon, and one assistant surgeon, two school- masters, and two assistants : that the head- (quarters of each corps should be distinguished by a chapel, a hos])ital, a library, and public reading-room. Above all, comfortable and spacious workshops and sheds would be necessary : also wood-yards, fit for the prosecution of the various trades that might })e followed within doors, during the time when the winter severity might inter- rupt labour in the open air, For the successful working of a similar system of organization and discipline, conceived for the regulation of combined popular labour, let us refer to the metliod observed luider French direction, with the working bands engaged to repair the injuries of war sustained in Rome during the last memorable siege of that city : an organization of ln])our which had for its second object an immediate provision for the starving poor, thro\vn out of work by the reign of anarchy which so long suspended the course of general labour at Rome, lor the repairs w^liich were thus, in charitable expediency, assigned to the Roman populace, which were termed *' Works of Benevolence," organized gangs were con- stituted as follows : — the labourers were divided into bodies or companies of 500 men each, headed Ijy one director, attended by five assistants ; while each com- pany was officered by twenty-five sergeants and fifty corporals, under whose guidance and inspection the most perfect unanimity and persevering industry was observed, until the restoration of the ruined edifices and battered ( ;• '\' *■'•< ■ ::-;'5.'C>' 250 CIVir. FENCIBLES. >-i ■ii walls was acconiplislied with a rapidity so effective that in an incrcdi})ly short space of time the city scarcely exhibited a vestige of its recent bombardment. The form pursued in this mode of labour afforded Govern- ment full time and c])portunity to relieve itself from the embarrassment of turbulent throngs of unemployed workmen, wandering, for lack of labour, about the streets ; and who, by this arrangement, have long passed, by gradual distribution, into the various channels of their usual and particular avocations. Napoleon, universal Genius of organization, for some extraordinary purpose never to this day satisfactorily ex- plained — (but shrewdly suspected to have been with reference to the prosecution of an experimental system, conceived in the contemplated invasion of India with an overwhelming force at some future period) — caused each soldier of the Portuguese legion he retained in garrison in the south of Trance to be taught some such handicraft or trade as was more immediately in demand for the common convenience of society. This military body was thus trained to combine the productive skill of the artizan with the martial efficiency of the soldier, until the whole presented the semblance of an armed and moving city, ready to sit down anywhere upon their march, in perfect and complete citizenship, independent of every supply, save the raw material of necessaries. In faint imitation of these, we propose that the incorpo- rated labourers, collected in the manner described for embarkation at certain depots on the coast, shall be at o'lce publicly trained for the proposed expedition ; so that we may thus have the opportunity to correct every irregularity and abuse in administration, method, and arrangement, at the very commencement of the forma- civil, TENCIBLES. 251 Illa- tion of the body, and thereby assure ourselves, before- hand, of the smooth and liarnionious working of its whole social machinery. We shall Hius likewise save ourselves from the mortification so frequently exi)eri- eneed by the failure of colonizing schemes, princii)ally occasioned by mal-administration, defective systems and improvident neglect ; and particularly guard the emigrant from the prevalent habits of intemperance, sedition, and disorder in Canada, to which we have already alluded. Th(.' men, besides being thus rendered generally comfort- able before their departure, would be assured a certainty of success ; wliilet he guar.iiitees which would thus be presented, and the facilities thus afforded, could not but soon swell the amount of volunteer forces far beyond the greatest niunbers wc should probably recpiire. J^'or their conveyance, as many Government vessels as might be conveniently spared should be eomndssioned for a service so benefieial to the country. As an indispensable measure, preliminary to all these arrangements, we take it for granted that a well-conducted and accurate survey, connected with the grand line of railroad, should first be made from its extremes to its centre ; and that the officers entrusted with the j)erformance of this duty should comprehend in their reports, not only every topographical feature, such as the aspect of the countries near the immediate route, the qualities of soil, apparent capabilities and actual pro- duce, but all engineering difficulties. The survey should be connected with an extensive reference to the districts lying to a considerable distance on either side the hue ; along which the surveyors should, at the same time, mark the best sites for stations, townships, block-houses, and termini. ■'/hf^ •% ' . ■ 'i * 9 1 .* y . . • ■' 1 '''^y'^< <4 ■ I : \4h 252 CIVIL FENCIBLES. -.;l In pursuance of this o])jcct, the officers miglit engage, in the first instance, tlie assistance of a body of guides from among the trappers and hunters accustomed to traverse these countries ; and as soon as the land should be marked, and the lines of road clearly traced, a stronger body, competent to the purpose, might be recruited from the same hardy and intelligent class in Canada, to take j)ossession of the line and occupy opening stations ; con- veying with them the necessary stores and provisions to certain ])oints of the line, where preparatory depots and niMgazines should be established previous to the arrival of the expedition. These hunters and native woodmen should, as speedily as circumstances would allow, be joined by select detachments picked from the most active and cnter})rising of the body of emigrant labourers. At the cities and towns nearest the stations to which these advanced detachments should be appointed, competent authorities should deliver to their charge, such vehicles, cattle, and machinery, as miglit be recpiired along the Une ; to be retained at the various api>ointed stations, where the detachments should be posted ; the first to serve as purveyors, guides, drivers, and navigators ; the second, Ijeing refreshed l)y rest, and duly instructed hi the various localities, to assist the successive bodies of the expedition as they arrive. Preparatory to each suc- cessive arrival, the whole of these advanced labourers should be occupied in the erection of temporary log- barracks, constructed at the different stations distributed through each division of four hundred miles, ranging east and west from a centre, and twelve and a half miles apart from each other, as pourtrayed on a scale of the projected railroad, to which we shall presently more fully advert. These preliminaries being thus arranged, the different sr . *i;f ■J-c CIVIL FKNCIIUJ'.S. ^ ill] divisions of " Force LadoNrers, or Convicts," should be consigned to tiic armed custody of the " Pioneer Rifle Guards." These guards and prisoners ought to be divided into two separate divisions for embarka- tion : the one for entry into Canada by the Atlantic : the other, by the circmnnavigation necessary for entry by the Pacific ports of New Georgia ; but, as the hit- ter voyage would require several months for its [)er- formance, the corps appointed to this separate transit shoidd be despatched on the earliest occasion, so as to reach the I)e Puca Straits sinmltancously with the ar- rival of the other division of Pioneer Rifle Guards and convict prisoners at Halifax. These latter shoidd be retained in depot till the given time allotted for this cir- cuitous passage should expire, when they also should proceed to the eastern parts of the line. A small de- tachment, however, might, with permission of the pro- vincial government, be instantly dis])atelied to tem])orary stations in hulks, or prison -barracks, at Halifax, there to l)e in readiness to serve and assist at certain separate and distinct landing-places, in delivering the transports as they should arrive ; and to expedite and stow the various objects of material and stores, shipped thither for the us(j and accommodation of the settlers, and labourers of the Atlantic Division, No. 1. Anothe. ;»arty of the same force, for similar purposes, might be dispatched to Que- bec, permission of the authorities being first obtained, to iidiabit river hulks or guarded barracks on shore, to be ready to assist in the disembarkation of the expedition on both banks, east and west. Here, for the sake of perspicuity, it is necessary to remind the reader that, in our sixth chapter, we dis- tinguished our projected line of railroad, from Halifax .1 v\ ^'\ I .' I ;-; 't.-v:',: lU 254 (MviL rKNfrnT.Ks. ■i Ik k *<■ ->!' 1:1 :. :■ to tlic fioorgian (jiilf, into seven grand divisions, calli'd, '"V\w. Atlantic Division," No. 1; "Quebec Division," No. 2; "Lake Division," No. 3; "Central Division," No. 4 ; " Prairie Division," No. 5 ; " Mountain Divi- sion," No. G ; " Pacific Division," No. 7 ; and that tlie collective body of oj)eratives, intended to prosecute tlic; works in connected labour, slioidd likewise be divided into seven ])orti()ns ; to Ije designated after the par- ticular names and nund)ers applied to the line of road upon which they should be engaged. We have now further to suggest that each of these divisions of railway track, extending over an average distance of 400 miles, be again subdivided into tAvo gi'and sections, to be distinguished by the relative po- sition they should both hold as to their connnon centre, such as section East, or section West, of such and such a Division : the extreme station of each of these grand sections of the seven divisions to be called its terminus East, or termhius AVest, according to its direction from the centre : each of these sections would thus, conse- (|uently, mark a distance of 200 miles, from its terminus to the central post or head-cjuarters of tlie division ; and as all these grand sections would be uniform in the dis- tribution of the several stations or posts into Avhich they should be divided, and each distant, as nearly as pos- sible, twelve and a half miles from each other, a de- scription of one scheme of a section must necessarily comprehend a description of the whole. The subdivision of each of the grand divisions Avould be marked by thirty- two stations, including the two distinct sections, each comprising sixteen of these stations. We next propose to distinguish all these stations alphabetically, and according to their bearing from the ^i loiis Ithe CIVIL ri:N( iMi.rs. o -J -, 1^ i) >} centre : hogging, iit tlic unmv time, tliat tlu; render, in order to nnderstand us more clearly, will refer to tlie scale which marks this arrangement, as depicted on onr map ; and that he will hegin his investigation with the object inscribed " Central I'ost," or " Head (inarters :" then travel to the first small house or minor station to his right, which, by the conventional nia})-rnles of geo- graphers, sup[)oses the cast ; and which object hi; will find marked A. station, E. — {E. for blast.) Next, he will find a church, marked, B. station, E. : then another small house, or nnnor, marked C. station, E. : a tower marked Log Fort, No. 2, E. ; then a minor D. station, E. : the next a church, E. station, E. : then a luhior, E. station, E. ; and immediately after these are buildings with a flag, marked Mid-term. E. lie w^ill come next to another minor, marked G. station, E. : then to a church, II. station, E. : next, to another tower, marked, Log Fort, No. 1, E. ; then to a minor, marked J. station, E. ; next a church, marked K. station, E. : then a minor, L. station, E. ; and lastly to a dome with a flag, marked term, for terminus ]i If the reader will then return by an inverse ])roccss, from terminus E., to the middle object of the division, composed, as aforesaid, of two grand sections, called Eastern and Western, he will find all the distances marked in connexion with each o])ject we have just enumerated ; and having thus run a glance back again over the same line to the centre, or " Head Quarters," he will find the same order of objects, and distances, observed on the left range of figiu'es, with the diflfcrence of the initial W. (for West), inscribed upon each, until he arrive at the final terminus, marked fenn. W., w^hich completes the whole series of stations allotted to one division, or the 7th portion of the whole line. m '. 1.1 -y. ^' • ^^■i'v:' 250 CIVIL ITNCMILRS. r 1 • I. Ill this ])laco, liowoviT, it would sccin iiulisj)cnsnl)l(; for us to observe, tliiit it is of tlu; most iinpcrativo consc- ((ucnce, tlmt every stiition, or s(;ttlenieiit in ti new country, 1)0 estiiblislied on the immediate l)anks of some river or lake ; for the sake of water, tloataj^e, irrigation, and navigation when attainable ; and that the necessity of selecting such sites, together with accidents of imprac- ticable land in some s|)ots, may compel occasional devia- tions from the rule of ])recise and exact distance to 1)0 observed between each post or station ; although at the same tunc we insist that no consideration should induce any very considera])lc departure fi'om the distances our |)lan would prescribe. Tlu; necessity of infringement on this rule, however, is likely to })rovc less fre(|uent in Canada than in any other land in the w^orld ; and an exannnation of tlie map will satisfy the reader how studi- ously our plan has been adapted so as to benefit by the favourable disposition of nature, witii respect to the distri- bution of her lakes and rivers, in the direction of our pro- jected line. Su])erstition might almost suppose this w^as intended for the pur|)ose of favouring some such scheme of passage across the face of the whole territory. Corresponduig with the distinctions we recommend in the disposition of space, we propose that each o{)erativc body engaged in the public labours of the separate divisions of the line be divided into four distinct de- tachments or corps, marked each by a different letter selected from the first four characters of the al})habet ; these corps to be distributed as follows, upon each of the two grand sections composing a division : — Corps A. and B. always at section E. — Corps E. and D. always at section W. All these to work in the following direction — Corps A. at term. E. westward, towards a junction with corps B. at lii civil, FF.NflUM'.S. i>57 in ive ato de- ter let ; tlic B. W. at at iiiid-tenn. K. Corps H. to work enstwiird to meet it. Corps ('. to work westward, towards a junction witli Corps I*], at niid-terin. \V. ; and (Jorps K. at term. W. to work westward to meet it. For easier eineidiition, we refer to the marpjinal tij^urea on tlie mii]), in whieli tlie simple order of this system of labour will be found intel- ligibly defined. Assuming our easy plan to be clearly understood up to this j)oint, we next propose that the Atlantic Division of the emigrant body, composed of its ecpial complement of four Corps, A. H, ('. and I)., with their (piota of Force Labourers, uuder charge of tlu' Pioneer Kiflc Guards attached, should be divided into two parts, Corps A. and B., to ])e landed at Ilalifa.K, there to take possession of the eastern section of No. 1 Divi- sion ; where Corp A. should leave a party instantly to break ground in ])rogress westward, and the rest ])ass with Corp B. forthwith into the interior : taking posts at the various stations appointed on their way, till their number be disposed t)f, according to the amount allotted to each section. JMcantime, Corps C. and D. being conveyed, via the St. Lawrence, to Quebec, should break ground at that city, and proceed to occupy the different ])Osts upon the line, till the western section of No. 1 Division, being also duly manned, the advance bodies on both sections sliovdd meet at their " Central Post," or " Head Quarters," the whole proceeding forthwith to operate East and West, according to the plan sub- mitted. Meantime, the labouring force appointed to No. 2, or Quebec Division, being conveyed to the latter city by the St. LawTcncc, should land two of its corps, A. and B., on its Avest bank ; and, after establishing their eastern s ^A\ ■~i^ „*1 ■1^ 1- f-i ■ :^' • . 1* t "I. 258 CTVII. FENCIBLES. terminus there, in connexion with Quebec, proceed in the same order to their different stations westward, in the same order observed by the Atlantic Division ad- vancing in the same direction from Hahfax. Without any halt, Cori)s C. and D. of this Quebec Division (No. 2) should pursue their route by the Ottawa, to their western terminus, appointed upon Lake Tamis- caming ; whence, after leaving the number destined for that post, the rest should retin'n eastward, manning the different stations on their march, till their advance formed a junction with that of Corps A. and B. of their division, at their ** Head Quarters," or " Central Post." The whole to direct their labours cast and west as already by the rule laid down. Next, the Lake Division (No. 3), being also shipped direct to the St. Lawrence, should attach their Corps A. and B. by the Ottawa, to Lake Tamiscaming, there to establish their eastern terminus in conjunction with the western terminus of the Quebec (No. 2) Division ; and then advance westward with the usual order and observance to their central post ; while the other Corps of their division, C. and D., should proceed by Lake Superior to their western terminus at Lake St. Anne ; where, after posting their western terminus, they should march eastward along then' line, manning all the stations, till their junction, at their central post, with the Corps A. and B. of their division : advancing to meet them from Lake Tamiscaming. ]\Iean while, the two Corps A. and B. of the Central Division (No. 4) should be directly despatched by Lake Superior ro Lake St. Anne, there to join the eastern terminus w^ith the western terminus of Lake Division (No. 3) : while Corps C. and D. of the same division riVir, FENCIBLES. 259 should land at or nuar Fort William ; and part march northward in order to strike the line of their division in the centre, and meet the advance of Corps A. and B. from Lake St. Anne ; while the residue of Corps C. and D. should make for the left section of the division, till they should reach Fort Garry, where they woidd form their western terminus ; and the wdiolc being connected, work their division according to the general scheme. Meantime, No. 5, the Prairie Division, proceeding by the St. Lawrence and the Lakes, should land all its Corps, A. B. C. and D., at Fort William, and march collectively forward, by the ordinary route in present use, till they should attain their eastern terminus at Fort Garry, there to form a junction with the western terminus of the Central, or No. 4, Division ; and whence, in conformity with the rule generally observed by all the rest, the Prairie Division would advance to its western terminus at the base of the Rocky IMoimtains. The body composing the 6th Division should, as already premised, be exclusively composed of Force Labourers and their Guards ; the convicts assembled for this duty to be chosen from among the gravest offenders condemned to forced lidoour on these public works. These convicts, divided into two moieties of their force, should one part accompany the Pacific Division No. 7, by Cape Horn, and the Georgian Gidf, wdience they should be iunnediately marched to the heights tlusy would have to occupy, at different stations. The other half of this convict force, marched with the 5th or Prairie Division of Civil Fencibles, should enter the mountains at their eastern base, and there be posted at various stations in connexion ; till they should be enabled to form a junction with the section of their s 2 t ■■■■■'■: «• ■ ( 1 •■- ' ♦ 200 CIVIL FENCnn.RS. ;^^'. i:V' ■'^• i ,1: division, that sliould meet tlicm from tlie western side, as aforesaid. Corresponding with these, the 7th, or Pacific Division, establishing its western terminus on the Georgian shore, would advance, in the usual order, occupying all the sta- tions on its way, till it reached the western base of the Rocky Mountains, which would be its eastern terminus ; and where instant measures should be taken, in conjunc- tion with the Prairie Division, aided by the exertions of the Force Labourers located in the mountains, to open a facile and active connexion between the divisions of the line on both sides of the mountains, in order that the passage by Cape Horn, for all the ordinary purposes of conununication and supplies, might be superseded as early as possible. AVc have now to propose that, as soon as the different bodies composing the force destined to commence the railroad labours in earnest, should arrive at their ap- pointed posts, which should be partially prepared for their reception by the Canadian precursors we have already recommended for this preparatory task, they should instantly bestir themselves to complete their ac- conunodation, and run up log habitations, in number pro- portioned to the importance of each station, and con- structed after a plan best calculated for immediate pur- poses ; and yet sufliciently strong and secure to assure adequate shelter during the first winter. Supposing all this to be effected, we have next to urge that no time should be lost in erecting grist and saw-mills, forges, wood-yards, workshops, magazhies, and store-houses ; while the artizans and tradesmen, bound to contribute the aid of their particular crafts and callings to the completion and comfort of these settle- I t •: it I CIVIL I'ENCIBIiKS. •2G1 mciits, should be instantly suminoiiL'il to porfomi the viirious duties connected with their res})ective arts in the public behalf. At the same time, the hus- bandman should lose no time in clearing and culti- vating the land in right line, east and west, inune- diately bordering the railroad track ; so that as nuich of the soil might be dressed and cropped towards their future self-maintenance as might be possible at tirst starting. As these various l)odies of " Civil Tencibles" (otherwise the pauper labourers), and " Pioneer Rifle Guards," with the "Force Labourers" (otherwise con- victs), under their charge, could only arrive upon the scene of action at various periods after the month of April, and the out-door labour being only practicable till the month of November, it might for that cause be unreasonable to ex})ect that any progress during the first season could be made, under the circumstances of a new settlement in a new country, in the actual construction of a railroad line. The attention of the expedition slioidd, therefore, be chiefly, if not exclusively, confined to preparations for future operations and winter cpiarters -. sucli as the completion of surveys, marking out town- ships, erection of habitations, storing and warehousing, plantation of vegetable gardens, and the indispensable construction and strengthening of military and convict barracks, wdnter provision and housing for cattle, and the collection of all the material necessary to supply em- ployment i tr in-door labour during tk '^inter months — such as machinery, timber, iron, an.., in fine, all the recpusites which these necessary and indispensable manufactures demand. Every occupation, however, which might be advantageously and conveniently exer- cised abroad ought to be promoted and provided for ; ' •. <■ 4 ^ ¥• '■ n: '.' I m I 2G2 CIVIL FENCIBLES. It' ■'X Ir: !:■: n: . -in- ■V,' -..r. wliile it shotild be so ordered and directed that the whole community, thus prcpnratorily colk^cted along the line, should be ready at every point to take the field with every means and appliance at the very first signal of the ensuing spring. From the first period of their arrival at their appointed divisions, until the expiration of their tlu*ee years' en- gagement, the members of the Civil Tcncible body should be subject to muster, rank and file, under their proper officers, and in arms, at their respective posts, during a brief space of time every Saturday afternoon, for the purpose of inspection and a slight drill. All other labour ought to be suspended for that purpose; and none to be exempt from the performance of this weekly duty, except such as might assign and certify a satisfac- tory reason. In addition to this brief weekly muster, the whole force should be marched oiut monthly all along a separate section of the line for the purpose of general inspection and report; upon which occasion rewards should be publicly bestowed on the deserving, and censure passed upon those whose conduct should merit rebuke ; so that constant attention to the neces- sity and advantage of preserving good morals and demeanour might become general among the force. In addition to these military observances, we propose that the officers placed over these labourers be em- powered to make domiciliary visits of inspection, from time to time, among the people under them, thereby to ascertain that notlung should be wanting to their com- fort and convenience ; and that no irregular or unseemly domestic habits would be allowed prejudicial to the per- sons and families of individuals, or calculated to propa- gate bad example among settlers generally. 5» ''( nVIL FEXCTBLES. 263 the We, moreover, propose that a register of the general and partieiilav eonduct of the settlers should be kept at every seetion for ])eriodical inspection at Head Qnarters, in which strict care should be taken that no re])ort should be inserted, but with due authority, after delil)erate consideration, and to which the signatures of responsible parties should be appended ; and this in order to distin- guish the meritorious, with a title to preference when o})portunities for promotion should occur — such as eligi- bility to small offices or private trusts, preference in choice of land, &c. AVe likcAvise propose that i)rizes should be instituted, and periodically awarded, to such as would clear the greatest quantity of land in a given time, produce the largest crops, exhibit the neatest cottages and gardens, and so forth. In contrast with such a regulation, we propose that fines and privations be imposed upon all those, Avho, in a contrary spirit, persevere in wilful contempt of all these duties. We also most earnestly suggest that the use of all intoxi- cating liquors, in immoderate quantities, shoidd not only be strictly prohibited, but severely punished ; and that all brawling, gambling, and vagabond hfd)its, should be repressed with the most uncompromising rigour. To this effect, considerable latitude should be accorded to authority, and its officers be em})owered to watch and regulate the conduct of the people under them in every manner likely to check vice, and produce the greatest amount of good ; a su])ervis-'ion not likely to be abused by persons destined so soon to set themselves down in fellow-citizenship with the very people over whom they would have to exert such duty. Ikit while we would confide this faculty to official hands, we at the same time propose that every facility of appeal, un- - ' .1 t ■}..":: bill ■; ?■'. '■;r if i ■■11 I Ii^ 204 CIVIL FENCIKLES. U ' der certainty of prompt and impartial redress, should be fully afforded to every man against Avliom the smallest abuse of authority shoidd be wantonly exercised. Still, the peculiar com])ositioii of this pauper body being duly considered, and the corrupting effects of the degrading condition from which they would have just emerged : together with the habits of reckless idleness so conunon with numy of them, and the bias of turbulent defiance of authority so customary with these parish helots in the insolent and sometimes necessitated vindication of their wretched privileges, judicious treatment and a tight hand would certahdy be required to siip[)ress the time-im- planted evil of years, land prepare them, by A^holesome probation, to habits of submission, industry, and sobriety, for a fresh start in life in a new order of societv. Thus the conscious debasement, which begets feelings of reckless disregard in the pauper state, would be ex- changed at once for the proud sentiment impressed by a consciousness of the dignity and independence of free- hold possession. As multitudes of free settlers Avould, no doubt, incon- tinently hasten to profit by these clearings and the in- numerable advantages presented to the agriculturist and mechanic, even at their very first stage of progress, every possible precaution should be taken, by wholesome regulations and liberal management, to encourage their increase and ensure their protection and comfort. For the attainment of this object, especial care should be taken to provide approved and efficient means of innocent and sober recreation for all classes, particularly in the winter season, thereby to prevent the discontent engendered by firfiui, which so often disgusts emigrants with the coiu'se of life in new settlements, and provokes intemperance. CIVIL I'ENClliLES. •2(yo If heartburnings, cabals and disputes, wliicli drive; so many settlers from Canada to tlie United States. Before closing a chapter so circumstantially descriptive of the divisional arrangements projected for the emi- grants emj)loyed, it will be necessary to revert once more to the subject of the Rocky Mountain division, and the doubtfulness which some people of morbid sen- sibility may entertain as to the practicability and hu- manity of maintaining a convict force hi these high regions during the season of whiter, For if our pro- ject afforded no other giounds, we feel that upon //lis point the ultra-sensitive " friends of misfortune " are most likely to make a stand against the " barbarous cruelty " of transferring the condemned of our gaols to such cold and lofty (piaiters. The " eventful and ter- rible," which arc wont to season the accounts of all travellers as iiidis[)ensable matter of effect when they come to their adventures amid this mountain chain, embolden philanthropists to condemn our mountain di- vision, for one half the year at least ; and this, without one thought of the snowy peaks of Mount St. Bernard ; or the inhabitants perched upon the mountains of Norway and Sweden. Whilst there is a railroad from St. Peters- burgh to Moscow, now hastening to completion, intended to occupy thousands in active intercourse and gay travel at the very season the climate proved so fatal to the French victims of Napoleon's glory ; and a similar rail- road cnterprize in project even at Archangel — although reflection, in reference to these, should suffice to van- (juish the prejudice which we are naturally prone to entertain in relation to all countries the temperature of whose atmosphere, by therinometric comparison, seems less clement than our own. For, as we arc liable to ex- !■ !. :,v-!l ••■'\ t 200 CIVIL FEXCinLES. 'n k ■V' pcricncc inconvenicnco during any extra descent of the mercury in our own British climate, we are proue, by hasty induction, to infer that a fall of the mercury to a j)oint which would render the atnios])here intolerable to us, must necessarily, when depressed even to a very much inferior index in other regions, prove very injurious. However, the degree of cold which men may easily sus- tain in the absence of ^'imiidity, however incomprehen- sible to us, is a fact perfectly well known to travellers in the arctic regions, who, when clothed in furs, scarcely feel the frigidity of the atmosphere at all, even when a severity of cold causes the mercury to fall to a point we can scarcely picture to our imaginations. But it is the humidity of weather which is so fatal to the human con- stitution by its non-conductive properties : and this it is which renders us so much more susceptible than they are of so much less a degree of cold. Now, the winters of the Rocky Mountain district, over which the line of om' proposed route must run, are dry in proportion as they are gelid ; and, though a permanent sojourn in this district might be thought impossil)le, still we know that, even inhospitable as it is, there are yet scattered tribes of aborigines tenacious of the soil, and well known for their activity and longevity, as well as health and physical proportions. The same variations of our physical perceptions of climate, when exposed to a degree of cold marked by the thermometer at many degrees lower than ever occurs in our latitude, has been exemplified by European travel- lers at Pekin, and in the adjacent country of Japan, and other countries on the same parallel, where the ther- mometer often sinks far below zero. Thus, when the waters of China and Japan arc frozen four or five feet i';^ ( iviL ii:\(iiJLi;s. '2(\7 thick, tho Kiiropcan stranger cannot detect the excess of frigidity until it is betrayed ])y the scale of the thcr* nionieter. Of course, this atniosplieric extreme is no- where altogether unattended with physical discomfit arc, particularly when i)ro})cr precautions are not tiiken, or in the case of strangers from a milder climate ; and it is also true that the traveller, consulting merely the ther- mometer, and suffering in an unusual degree under its stringency, is a})i to exaggerate the pain of his sensa- tions, and wonder that his blood can circulate with its wonted vivacity; and straipjhtway liis journal, for the edification of European readers, becomes duly com- memorative of his bodily trials and constitutional hardi- hood under an intensity of temperature that froze his drinking-cup. We maintain by experience, founded on a considerable range of observation, that the earth is subject, nowhere on this side the arctic circle, to any regular degree of cold, at whatever season, wdiich the British constitution cannot sustain, when provided with proper shelter and appliances. With warm lodgings, sustauiing diet, com- fortable clothing, and stimulating exercise, i. body of stout Englishmen in the Rocky Mountains co dd surely weather the winter as well as the travellers by the Simplon, or the excavators of Mont Cenis. That forced labour amongst the Rocky jMountains would not be so gratifying to our criminals as to work out their time in England, wc will not pretend to dispute ; but yet we must insist that the sturdy culprits w^ould be better there than in our dismal model-prison oiihUdtcs at home ; nor could they be more appropriately disposed of to sub- due their devil, and awake contrition, unless justice if 1 1 . '. r t ■& would suhstitiitc \\h'. lialtor, fast pnssinjj; out of fashion, for tilt' iMi|)rov('UK:nt and hcm'tit of society. In extin nation of sucli severity, however, we propose that none but tlie most flagrant and incorrigible of- fenders !)(' consigned to these nionntaui hibours ; and tliat this doom bi^ further mitigated by as much remis- sion of liardsiiip as can be prudently conceded. In con- sideration of any extraordinary pain of endurance to which such malefactors would be thus subjected, we propose that they should be consoled with occasional conunntations whenever they had the good sense to per- severe in deserving them. A more legitimate sym- pathy, however, might be entertained in behalf of the guards, and prison functionaries selected to accompany these malefactors in their bleak confine ; bnt these could be reconciled by extra allowances and gratuities : a donble portion of land at the end of their term in any other division they miglit prefer; or they might be rewarded with permanent employment on the railroad ; while their duty might be relieved by alternate exchange of service every three months, or even less, with parties doing duty in the vallies. Or apart, or the whole of these guards, prison functionaries, and force labourers, might be altogether superseded by Canadians, hardened to the cUmate of the Hudson's Bay settlements ; or by Indian natives and half-breeds properly trained and officered for the service. ciiapti<:r XI. SYSTEM or LABOUR. .t . ■■: {( V^VV a ight Before wc resume our details connected with the regu- lation and working of the line, it is necessary to recur for a moment to Jic exact course it will take, in order that the reader may accompany us through the map, and appreciate the advantage we have taken of the waters that present themselves in our way, and to divide our sections and allocate our stations. First, then, the line of road being proposed at, or about, latitude 40", and there being no (piestion at ])re- sent of possessory right inde])cndent of the British Crown, Avhich (in a parcntheticjd whisper, let us re- mark) has never had, and never can have, the discre- tionary power to will away to individuals, or compa- nies, territories appertaining to the nation entire, which has won them with its blood, and maintahis them by a continual exertion of power and activity. No consti- tutional or monarchical authority can will away to any country, corporation or individual, native or foreign, that which the nation has conquered, or discovered. The power that makes charters can unmake them ; and when such are inicpiitously and injuriously granted, the revo- cation is a necessary duty of justice. ITow should we •-.' ■'t' ■; :k.>.v. ■r,5') 270 SYSTF.M OF LAHoni. P- Vi ■ x 'I; act, if licr Mdjesty contV'rrcd, by cImrtiTcd ii«j;]its, tlu; ('h)inncl Islands upon the; Corporation of Merchant Tf'lors, to hav(! and to liold for ever ? Wiiat should we say if tlie said Merchant Tailors should then object, if liritish subjects should pretend to a free footin*^ in those islands? What should wo say if the jMerchant Tailors, u[)on the strength of a charter nnisty from age, and cpiestionable in its origin — the after-dinner gift of capricious and un- scrupulous levity in a prince, whose character and nets rendered odious all that arose from th(!m — were coolly to dispatch a member of their Corporation to Paris, there, with open effrontery and in the teeth of proprietary right inherent in the people of these realms, to traffic and haggle for the sale of Alderncy or Sark, as portions of their chartered possessions which they themselves did not choose to retain ? Yet such things are — ay ! and of such things we may have a word to say anon— not of gronps of petty islets ambi-dcxteronsly juggled from the public into the private pockets of tailors ; Imt of regions of imperial magnitude, wrested from the nation l)y a scratch of the pen ; wdiilc yet the nation is forced to watch over and protect the privileged, exclusive, and misused ap- panage of a copartnery of peltmongers. Meantime, Sir George Simpson, we are told, is at pre- sent at New York, pushing a market for the sale of a portion of what is still facetiously termed the " British American Territories ;" and this in exchange for the dollars of our excellent friends and supplanters on the Pacific, to whom a generous knot of princely chapmen presented gratis, for all we yet know of their secret inducements, the rich plains of the Missouri, the country of Astoria, and the noble Columbia River. We should not be astonished, SVSTKM Ol" I.AHOl U. 271 after this, soim; day to bcliold these; ('m|)rrors in private life, whose crown is their assurance, and tiieir sceptre an und)relta. present in<^ in their cHsposal of continents, our friends of France with tlu; Red River |)rairies. The Russian Autoc rat niij^lit tind an acceptahh^ har«^ain in the sale of \ew Cahdonia. But ON route ! Tlie uieasiin^d distance by Mercator's projection from Liverpool to Halifax is 2,4U0 miles, and as the crow flics the distance; is no more from Halifax to the Georgian (Inlf. Allowing for inecpialities of sur- face and divergencies, the direct brejulth of the American conthicnt, ])etween the two ports mentioned, has been estimated at various amounts between 2,700 miles, to 3,000 miles ; and a special survey is now the only means of determining the actual distaucc. In the face of these contradictions (for no two maps agree), we are constrained to compute the distance just as the direct sea surfticc navigated ])y steam between England and the United States is measured — that is, by Mcrcator's projection corrected by refer- ences to the best globes. We thus confidently arc led to believe that the distance from Halifax to the Georgian Gulf is no more than 2,490 miles; yet we have put it dow^n at 2,800 miles, upon the semi-official autliority of Mr. Twiss. We are warranted, however, in our acceptance of the shorter distance, by the shnple criterion, that •.'J :M I .V • I- '", long. miles. Halifax irom Liverpool is in . 45 00 2,480 Vnncouver'.5 Land « 46 120 2,480 -an admeasurement which singularly favours our equal . •.,■,;• •1 -ry ■zrz SYSTKM OF LABOUK. apportionment of the line of space into divisions of 400 miles each, to which wc have already alluded : — Miles. 1. From Halifax to Quebec . • . . . 400 2. From Quebec to the head of Lake Tamiscaming, or the Abbitibbe 400 3. From Tamiscaming to Lake St. Anne . . . 400 4. From Lake St. Anne to Fort (jurry, near the Red lliver settlement ....... 400 5. From Fort Garry, to the fork of the Saskatchewan, lat. 51 400 fi. From Saskatchewan Fork across the Ilocky Mountains, allowing for considerable deviation from the straight line, should it be deemed necessary . . . 400 7. From the Ilocky Mountains to the Georgian Gulf . 400 Total .... 2,800 Conducting our reader back to the commencement of our railroad track, and beginning ■with No. 1, "Atlan- tic Division," and starting westward from Halifax, he will find a series of waters intervening betwixt that city and Quebec. These waters are admirably disposed throughout to assist the scheme of a railway traversing this district ; since they appear to occur in such an order and position as exactly to furnish excellent sites for stations. But, if they should in some degree, or even considerably, vary from their appearance as set down in the map, it need cause us no alarm. It is certain that several considerable lakes and streams will be found scarcely noticed at all, which will present capabilities even greater than those hitherto afforded by survey. hct us now proceed to an enumeration of the different waters and rivers as they now most favourably present themselves for our design. Between Halifax and Quebec, SVsTKM or 1-AIU)IK. 273 Miles. 400 400 400 400 400 400 400 , wc have tlio niuucroiis hciullaiids of the Hay of Fundv, and tlio streams that flow into the rivers Chalcur and St. Jolni, uhich intersect the entire district. The waters that fi onr onr arrangement betwixt Quebec and Lake Tamiscaming, arc the 13atiscond)e, St. JVIau.ice, Kempt Ljikc, Livrc Lake, CJrand Lake and House, and Tamis- caminp;. The waters bv which we can benefit between Lakes 'L\nniscamin2; and St. Anne, arc tlie head of Mont- real River, Kinoogooniissec Lake, Maniton Wick Lake, or Montagume, Pike River Lake, orWliite River, Black River, Rabbit Lake and Pic River, and, histly, St. Anne's. Tliose l)etwecn Lake St. Anne and Fort Garry, starting from Xipigon Town on Lake St. Anne, are — Little Crow Lake, Swan Lake, and Sturgeon Lake ; Lake Sal, Large Lake (lower part), Rat Portage on Winnipeg River, and the Red River at Port (ilarry. Ik'tween Fort Garry and the Rocky jMoimtaius, we find the lower extremity of Manitoba Lake, Oak River, Rapid River, Bird's Tail Fort on the Assiniboinc, tlie head of Quapellc or Calling River, the Elbow on the Saskatchewan ; and extending from the Saskatchewan westward, wc pass by Chesterlield House to the fork of the Askow with the Sask River and iVIorcoowan's River. The waters between the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Strand are so nu- merous and well known, that we need only say, the line would j)ass by Plat Bow Lake, Upper Arrow Lake, Oakanagan Lake and River, to Fort Langley. Supposing all these lakes and rivers to have been correctly delineated by the mappists, we would now confidently ask — should they indeed prove navigable, as wc are assured the most of them are, aud some of them admirably so — if, on the whole face of the earth, a more favoural)lc course for a railroad line could T v„ ... ' M, ': :.i •■V; ' '■) ; 274 SYSTEM OF LABOUR. 'J possibly exist? On this subject we can only invite tiie reader to contemplate the niaj). The line should run without the smallest deviation, except such as the nature of the country would inter- pose, in a straight-forward course from Quebec to its final terminus on the Georgian (julf ; for, we must by no means suffer our complacence for the cities situated in the deep bight of Tpper Canada to retard, for their provincial convenience, the direct traffic line of the whole world. Besides, the railroad which has just been com- menced from Quebec to ^Melbourne, and Avhich Avill run into the Montreal and Portland line, would supersede the necessity of making the southern sw^eep in question, by furnishing a branch line to the main trunk ; wdiile the cities of Upper Canada, being already so supremely favoured by the commerce of the canalsj the lakes, and the St. Lawrence, could have no right to expect this additional acquisition, at the expense of speed and general interest. Resuming our scheme of works, we submit that the system to be observed in the social economy and direc- tion of labour, through the Avhole uniform and connected line, is intended, at the same time, to be perfect and entire in each division of itself; just as if it were independent and alone, although working in conjunc- tion, and active communication with the consecutive train of divisions at both extremes — the governmental and executive method, arrangements, and population, being exactly the same in one as in all. We will adhere to the plan of selecting a division out of the seven — say, No. 4, or " Central Division," as a specimen of all. As each division w^ould work in intimate relation and support Avith the whole range of works simultaneously SYSTEM OV LABOUR. X'/O icral bcutive nieiital llation, laclhere —say, lof all. Iin and leoiislv proceeding east and west of its limits, so every sub- division and section of these shoidd be conducted, botli administratively and opcratively, in faithful conformity to the general principle of the whole : thereby to pre- serve a pervading s})irit of unanimity and intelligence through every department of the work, and enable autho- rity to govern the entire line with as much ease as it might regidate jnid direct any separate and particidar section. In unison with the arrangements already submitted in our observations on the " Convict Force," a chief inspec- tor of division, with a due complement of assistant engineers, might be appohited to each division, whose ordinary residence should be at the central station : thereby constituting that post the head -quarters of the division : his office to be assisted by the counsels and executive co-operation of the colonels-commanders at- tached to his division, \\ ho should periodically visit him, at short intervals, from the stations they should occupy east and west of his central quarters : carrying with them their reports, and bearing back with them his instructions. The line should be served throughout with a well-ap- pointed commissariat, and properly organized train of waggon-drivers and mounted couriers : to keep up con- stant supplies and comnmnication w4th every portion of the division, from the centre to the two termini. Let us now digress to the general line for a moment, to propose that an inspector-general-in-chief should be appointed, in supreme authority over all these, whose head-(piarters should be in the centre of the entire line ; and whose duties should be aided by a board of scientific persons promoted to office near him, whose councils should })e occasionally assisted by the periodical visits of T 2 ■■ -:' i 1 . .'■.! ...+ - m 276 SYSTEM OF LABOUR. ! » f 1 . ' ;'■.■■■ M hfr . the various other chief inspectors of division, from each of the seven departments of the Une, with whom means of communication by land and water shoukl be imme- diately instituted. Every river and lake, of which there are so many intervening in the proposed course of the line, might be made available, to its full extent, by a liberal supply of serviceable boats for the transport of men and material, until the road should be completed. AVe have already premised that each of the divisions should comprehend an average length of 100 miles ; and should commence its noviciate with a comi)lemcnt of 0,800 men (including guards and superintendents), and 1,333 women — not too many, we ])resume, even as a primary instalment, when we consider the multiplicity of works and immensity of space which they would have to cover. Having detailed in our last chapter the projected distribution of these forces through the different sections of a division, we will now enter into some more parti- cular minutiae connected with their allocation and direc- tion. Supposing the various forces to arrive on their allotted groimds, when favoured by summer and the natural dryness of the climate, so as best to encounter the dis- comfort of imperfect shelter until adequate habitations could be constructed — the convict body of " Force La- bom'crs," under charge of the " Pioneer Rifle Guards," should always be detached in advance of the march of ** Civil Eencibles," and " Free Labourers," furnished with a requisite su})ply of tents and camp equipage. After clearing the way, and removing impediments, the former ought to dress the selected gi-ound for temporary encamp- ment, and there pitching tents, and constructing other shelter, as commodiously as haste might permit, they each [leans inme- there f the by a )rt of tctl. isions ; and nt of , and as a ;ity of ive to jected ctions parti- direc- lotted atural le dis- ations e La- ards," rch of d with After brmer camp- other , tliey ■ ■.i. I \ I ' ^' -t. b'.-. I'LATK n. ^^WMWB!WWS^(**Ww«W^^ 'rraiis\crbi' Section of tlic l^arrnrks aiul Convict I'risoii .?.>• m TiMiijior.d') Jiarrack:^ (l'<'y^' 27 i). Barracks and Convict Prison (page 279). AAA A — Wooden enclosure walls, with outer and inner ditches, B B B B— Soldiers' Barracks. II E— Soldiers' Galleries. V F — Convicts' Sleeping a[)artments. J) — Outer working gallery. (r — inner working gallery. SYSTKM OF LABOUR. 277 f fi- * ] should again prosecute tlieir own inarch in advance, leaving a guard behind them to receive the rear march hitocamp, and forward tents, baggage, and other material, neces- sary for the construction of encampments further on : they themselves being furnished with light tents and vehicles for their own acconnnodation. Meantime, as soon as each body should be posted at its appointed station, and recovered from the fatigues of the journey, its members should innnediately i)rocecd to fell timber, if growing on the spot ; or to collect it, if the location should be bfU'e of wood, from the l)oats and rafts floated to them by the rivers ; upon the banks of which, for this and other purposes, every station should, if i)ossi- ble, be situated. Thus governed by a given plan directed by competent overseers, all hands should be apphed to the completion of tlieir temporary villages or towns. The buildings, at first, ought to ]je only composed generally of double cabins of two compartments each, formed of rough logs, and '' c/iud'ecV according to the custom of constructing such temporary dwellings in America. This term means stopping the interstices between log and log of the walls, or partitions, with mortar, clay, hair, moss, and other fibrous mixtures in use. These dwellings should be ranged in opposite rows, so close to each other on one side as to admit of a common roof to them all, which should be so abru})lly sloped as to admit little or no snow to lodge : a construction by which the tenants of such cabins would have, as it were, a covered alley between them, under which they could work in bad weather; while they could have an open space or street in front for general use ; with small plots for kitchen gardens to each cabin, in the centre, composed of narrow stripes, for which proper seeds should be furnished to the settlers. ■In ■ '•■•V 1 ■i?-^;- 278 SYSTKiM OF I.ABOUH. i Among the primary erections, which would thus occupy tlio forests and ])rairies along the Hue, we propose, that, in addition to the prison buildings, permanently con- structed within the four " Log Forts " of each division, and to which allusion has already been made, slab- timber barracks, strongly stockaded, should be erected, at every principal and secondary station, for the occasional quarters of convicts in case of need. Or should this not be required in the works proceeding in the vichiity of such stations, or after the services of the " Force Labourers " should be definitively dismissed, tlicn we suggest that such buildings be arranged for the reception of " Free Labourers," at their first arrival at these stations along the hue, or converted into store-houses or premises for general in-door labour duruig winter ; and that their sites, being judiciously selected in point of natural strength, should be slightly fortilicd, so as to constitute a chain of external defence and internal security along the whole extent of the line. With reference to such buildings, as should be espe- cially appropriated to convicts, particularly when col- lected into barracks during the winter months, Ave think they should be constructed with parallel galleries and covered avenues, or yards, convenient for the prosecu- tion of the lightest or heaviest labour. They might be secured by a rampart, parapet, and external ditch ; whilst within the external defences around these should be constituted the soldiers' barracks. These being composed of guarded Avards, running in parallel lines with the prison building they should enclose, would allow no means of escape to the convicts ''stained within their compass ; and even if the latter did succeed in passing, they would have, moreover, to scale the ■ ^^i' SYSTEM OF J.ABOUH. 1279 ramparts, and evade tlie sentries posted ujwn them. W'u refer to the rongh })hm of these proposed erections ap- pended to our Avork, in tlic ho])e that tlieir simple form of structure will obviate all the objcc*' is which have been so constantly taken to the inconvenient and expen- sive buildings the Government originally erected for the same purpose at Sidney and other ])enal colonies, which have been proved not only insecure, but subjects of enormous scandal. As the agricultural labourers, and others em})loyed in the formation of the railroad and the line of cultivation along its borders, woidd necessarily be subject to frecpient divisions east and west of the station constituting the head-quarters of each particular section, and there would consequently be a liability to removal, and necessity of temporary sojourn in spots unfavourable and incon- veu' lit for female residence, the dwelling of the women might provisionally be fixed, durhig these \\orking ex- cursions of their husbands, at the station governing the district to wdiich such workmen should be api)ointed. But as their number and unprotected state during such absence of their husbands might be productive of irre- gularity and discomfort in their conduct and arrange- ments, it may be suggested that among the very first labours instituted at each station, a plot of ground should be selected and marked olf, upon which should be erected close rows of double cottages, to serve as habitations for the women during such periods as their husbands might thus be engaged at too great a distance to partake of their society. These buildings, constructed apart, should be surrounded by a separate enclosure, and between each row of small tenements within that boundary the intervening spare, or alley, should, after ■ '-^ :■< h- ■ •;■ ".i* 280 SVSTK.M UJ- LABOI.R. I r i the plan already submitted tor tlie general con- struction of primary dwellings at each settlement, be covered by a common roof from the weather, so that the female inmates might be enabled at all times to ])ur.sue such various domestic avocations as com- monly re(juire air and space, such as washing, drying, and so forth. Such a gallery as this would likewise serve for I'xercise during winter and as a play-ground for their children. These sepiU'ate habitations, so walled off from the rest of the community, should be under the superintendence of select matrons, under whose direction the women should be em[)loyed in works useful and necessary to the corj)s of which their husbands should be me]id)ers, such as knitting, mending, shirtmaking, stuffing mattrasses, and the fabrication of winter clothing. These buildings might aptly be denominated " Retreats." Of course the inmates of such retired dwellings should not be subject to any irksome and undue restraint ; but allowed to circulate abroad and engage in the ser- vice of others; if, with their husbands' sanction, they should feel inclined to accept offers to that effect : the above arrangement being only intended to place them under such i)roper supervision as would compel them to conform to such wholesome regulations and orderly habits, as would be most conducive to the preservation of pro- priety and decorum. As soon, however, and as often as their husbands should be appointed to some permanent place of labour, with time allowed for the preparation of adequate ac- commodation, the Avomen might be instantly conveyed from the " Retreats " to the society of their husbands : all due care being taken for their proper provision and PLATE IV. :-.:'.'i..._. . '///'/'''■ -v'-V/ '\,;/( {^'' 'W 'li ''{\ ^ioiirn,] I'lau and Elevation of a Blook-buikling, dmui-ig fwolv houses, with the inner woridng galleries (page J>s()).° ':-^> i^. m i# f w. HI' ' ri P. p 'J. SYSTEM OF LABOUK. !81 H w comfort : their vacated places in tlic " Retreats " to be allotted to such other woiueii, shiiilarly situated, as should succeed them at the station. The nund)er of domiciles composing such " Retreats," would, of course, be only proportionate to the popidation allotted to each station ; but jis the labourers professing necessary and distinct trades, incorporateil with each corps, would have their respective calhngs pressed into constant and immediate application to the works and wants in urgent requisition withhi the i)recincts of these infant towns, the handicraft members attached to the diHei-ent cor})s would necessarily be retained at the hcad-(piarters of each section, which conseciuently Avould enable them, at once, to establish permanent homes therein with their families ; and thus the nund)er for whom such separate habitations might be required would be necessarily reduced. Considering, also, that many of the labourers would be unmarried, while the wives of others might, percluuice, engage in private service with free settlers at the stations, whilst many of the women would [)robably be of an age recpiiring no such precautions as those we would provide for the safeguard of their characters ; the amount of habitations composing these " Retreats" need not be of any very considerable number : however, the better to assist the reader's comprehension on the subject of this plan of female retreats, we beg to refer to the subjoined sketch, Supposhig that these various corps of emigrants should arrive in Canada in the month of April, after allowing two months for the performance of their march to the various divisions and sections of their destination, and for their recovery from the first fatigue of their journey, we conceive that their public out-door laboiu's might connnencc in June, and continue as long as they i •I /. T ■ >i ;v>r.i^ ■^ .:■'■. n 282 SYSTKM Ol' LABOUR. could possibly brave the months of October and No- vember. We must recall to mind, that the number of free labourers, composing each corps of " Civil Fencibles," would amount to 4,800 men, including husbandmen, handicraftsmen, superintendents, and guards, incorpo- rated with them; while the "Force Labourers," or convicts, apf/ointed to assist in each division, would amount, as before specified, to 2,000 ; in all, G,800 effectives on each division of 400 miles. These, with the further aid of as many farm labourers as might occa- sionally be si)ared from the work of tillage, could erect log huts, and other buildhigs assigned to the different statious, in number pro})ortioned to its class and popu- lation. Now, one thousand men, in addition to the due performance of the labour necessary for their support, viz., to clear five acres of land, and throw up sufficient habitations in the course of the spring and sununer season, are proved to be capable, by calculations founded upon Canadian practice, of also constructing log-hut accom- modation for 10,000 persons. Rough and simple as these temporary fabrics con- structed for new settlers generally are, still with more tune and pains bestowed by such an expedition, as we have depicted, upon buildings erected under scientific direction and approved plans, they would amount to a very considerable number of extra habitations, beyond the actual number required by the forces first introduced into the occupancy of each sectional station of a division ; so that ample shelter would be provided, in the very first season, for the supplementary increase of fresh arrivals in the next. Supposing, likewise, by the cud of autunui, Ihat all the various implements, maciiinery, and materials for SYSTEM OF LABOUR. 283 winter work, ^ liich these " Force Labourers," or con- victs, would have to perform — in jjreparation for the actual execution of the railroad itself, intended to conniience the ensuing spring — should all have been conveyed by this time to the four log forts, No. 1, E. ; No. 2, E. : and to No. 1, W. ; and No. 2, W. ; then the convicts, on each division, should be divided into separate bodies of about 60 each, to be distributed over 32 sections, into which the 400 miles are divided; and marched under their respective guards to their spcciiic quarters; and there be securely housed m the order already submitted during the winter season With similar provision against these winter months, we })ropose that the artizans, attached to each corps of " Civil Eencibles," being likewise supplied with mate- rial and proper buildings for the prosecution of their separate and various callings, should devote themselves to in-door industry, until restored to the open labours of spring • while the agricidtural body in each division, having cleared their five acres of land each, according as we before observed to the average computed for each in- dividual during a season in Canada, should likewise retire for the winter to the head -quarters of their respective sections : there to rejoin their wives in the log-huts pre- pared for them, according to the general plan. The hus- bandmen, like the artizans and force-labourers, should be })rovided, under proper histruction, w^ith necessary implements and materials for the execution of useful labours connected with the public works, during the season of agricultural suspension. But, as soon as spring would permit, the wdiole of them, throughout the seven divisions, might resume their general avocations abroad ; and their numbers being materiallv aup;niented bv fresh ; > < >1 x ■ Sffl •' ' • • • ■ 1 ti Irl- . 1' ■1 ■ 284 SYS..;M OF f,AB()Ul{. arrivals from ]"lni>-lnn(l, they iiiiglit, witli tlie cxce])tion of a certain inuiihcr still retained for tillage, at once })ro- cecd to direct their combined labonr to the immediate formation of the railrojid itself. In the prosecution of this plan, \vc propose that they should observe the method already cursorily suggested, Avhieh we will more circiun- stautially develop as follows : — First, the " Force La- bourers," or convicts, being released from their habita- tions in the log-forts a})pointcd for their winter quarters, should be divided into separate detachments, always under an adequate proportion of " Rifle Guards," and according to the force required at the i)osts assigned to their smnmer labours. Then, supposing, for example, that operations should connnence at terminus E., it is evident that by marching a detachment thither, so as to work in shnultaneous dispatch with similar detachments at Log Fort, No. 1, E., both parties would work their way cast and west to their common centre, at station K. E. ; while the labourers located at the latter post, as well as those posted between station L. E. and station J. E., would progress in the same order : the " Fenciblc Labourers," having the convicts always in advance, as " Pioneers," clearing the ground before them, in uni- form and combined system all along the line of each division and section, from extreme to centre, and from centre to extremes. Thus the whole Avould advance with, and upon, each other at the same general rate, in distance, time, and order, till the final accomplishment of each sectional labour. But as great difhculties could not but necessarily supervene at some portions of the line of works more than at others, the exact distribution of la- bourers, in conformity with our presented rule of appoint- ment and arrangement, could not always be observed ; SYSTEM OF I.AIWUU. r. nt'vei' sulicring it tu lie fallow, and that tlie crop was abiiiulaiit to the last ; and, with respect to tlie pasture and hay (he (observes), they arc to be had ad libitum ; as nature ^ives them in the open plains. Less marvellous than these, but no less t'avom*able, Mr. Preston, an intelligent writer and Government official, informs us, " Tliat about eight years ago fre([uent com- plaints were nuule by agricidturists residing in tluj vicinity of cc^rtain towns in the Gore district, of the scarcity of labourers, arising from the universal property in landed possession, to such an amount as to render the iidiabitants generally too independent to engage for hire. To remedy which the executive Government directed the location of some indigent inunigrant families on parts of the Governmental reserves situated near the towns in question, composed of lots of only five acres ; thereby to attach them to the ground by partial provision too moderate to permit them to reject Avages for labour offered by others. These little lots were accordingly laid out, and huts erected thereon at the expense of Government ; the parties histalled upon them, receiving assurance that if the land were not required for the pur- poses for which it was originally set apart, and that these poor cottiers conducted themselves with propriety, they should not be distributed in their locations. Whereupon upwards of sixty families were thus provided for, who so rapidly prospered that others of the same class shortly afterwards joined them, all of whom, with only this small temporary accommodation, not only possessed cattle in a very short period of time, but actually purchased land, which they are now engaged in improving." Ts not this an example, which comes direct to our sup- port, and proves the benefit derivable both by the com- SVSTK.M Ol' I.AnOUH. 201 y sup- com- iiMiiiity and iiidividiinls by sniidl allotments, in u oMintry whoso nntnnd t'l'cundity is so cruelly rctanli'd Ijy dc^arth of labour? Conducted on tlie snnio system is a village at the head of Owen's Sound, containing thirty-six houses. (lovern- nicnt gives five acres five, on condition of actual settle- ment, and that one-third ])e cleared and cro])])e(l in four years, when a deed is o})taine(l. Another fifty are granted on paying eight shillings per acre within three years, nine shillings within six years, and ten shillings per acre within nine years. The soil is good, tlie climate healthy, and s(!ttlers prosperous and contented. Mr. (jourlay, a ))ractical and scieiititic agriculturist of un(piestional)le authority, avers that the average ])ro(luce of wheat per acre in C'anada is twenty-one bushels for one of seed to the acre, viz., hceu/// hro//r — wdiile the average produce of J'^ngland does not exceed eighteen bushels ])er acre for three bushels of seed, giving only -sv',/' for oh/'. In Canada the husbandrv in general is very Imd : in England it is altogether the reverse ; for the natural superiority of Canada in point of soil over LiUgland rises to the greatest excess, when we consider that from one end of the province to the other there are scarcely two acres of sterile ground to be seen side by side ; while England has its mountains, its moors, its downs, and barren sands. Another writer assures us, on the other hand, " th.at maize, or Indian corn, flourishes more wholesomely and better than that of southern growth. The potato is the best in the universe ; the vegetable productions of the Old World grow in garden luxuriance, superior to their original Em'opean state ; tobacco thrives excellently in the western districts ; and where (he asks) are there such wheat harvests, and hay of such rpiantity and quality?" ' u 2 r.. 1 If »." .' f' 1 • ; t ...I' M ! ■■ .!, ^■i^^' 0().) IV U rm SVSTKM Ol l.AUOtK. Such is tlie coLintrv to uiiicli \vc would convcv tliu paupers of this ill-(listril)iit('(l land, which pri'sents not one loot of possession for their un(lisj)nted oeeupaney, till they are finally shovelled under its monopolised surface. Here, tiiey have to pay for the advantal potations imd miserable brotlis ; and occasionally it has happened tliey have been compelled to support life l)y recourse to hedge fruits and wild herbs, to rejected offal and the garbage of tin; sea-st;*and — nay, to dispute with dogs the [)utrescent and repngnant bones carted lo tlu; mills where poverty consunnnrtes its de- gradation. Let ns compare with these the condition of the savages of the Canadian deserts, who, governed by no minister professing science for tlieir improvement and support, still contrive, in the absence of labour, landlords, and institutions, to maintain their being, without taxing the ingemiity of [)olitical economists, or the enforced charity of feHow men ; and sec what the wilderness pro- vides ! First — to present the contrast — let us again re- view our Ih'itish destitute. Reader, you have seen, })erha})s, our pauper fellow citizens, cowering and dejected, devouring the stinted dole of the workhouse, and Avondered at the vitality of the hiunan machine, which could maintain its functions upon the strength of such meagre aliment. You have seen, perhaps, the children of the hasliUcn supplying the deficiency of aliment by swilling application to the SYSTI'.M 1)1 l.\l»(»IU. '2m ilCO. lords, 'cllow inted ity of ctioiis liave plying to the piiiiip, pn)(lucti\(.' {)[' tliiit alKloiiiiiKil iullatioi; wliicli iiitiki s tliciii rcsciiihlc tlic hideous iiiid dctoniird iiiiiigcs ol' discnsi.'d I'mify. Vou may Uiwv seen llu; (•I'iiigent and C'lnaciiite [jctitioiicrs t'(>r tin- [)arisli loaf luiiigi:;g in aUjuct groups round tlic overseer's door : tin- eager starveling crawling from reiiiot(! districrs to the henevok'nt soup disj)ensary : th<' niiserahle street wanderer dcvonring tlic l)roken victual (lung to his necessity on the pri'ate door step, where he treads with timid apprehension of oll'ence : tlu; housek'ss patrollers of the streets arrested by the h'isliing of the midnight rain, shivering in sullen desti- tution beniath the shelter of the dreary ])ortaI. ^'ou have lu.'ard, perlKi[)s, the cry tor bread from starving children, at the cold HreU'ss hearth, answered by the despairing groans of the hel[)less parents; and yon may have noted the beings, perhaps as pitiable, with care- Avorn look and faded attire, who resort with sauntering listlessness to the benches of om* ])ublic ])arks — uncon- scions of all aronnd them — lost in the pre-occupsition of perplexed and bewildered nnisings njjon all the des- perate alternatives which fancy can suggest against imperative want ! You may, perhaps, have perused the sickening ])ages (jf the Poor Mans (inardlau, and started, Avith a mixture of doubt and horror, from the view of its gloomy illustrations. If so, you are somewhat ac- quainted with ' model lodging-houses' for the poor, and ' city beds ' for the destitute.* You know, perhaps, * We quote the following passage from the work alluded to : — " I learnt that uo food of • iiy description is allowed to stay their appetites at night time, and a rug was given, as far as the number of rugs in the workhouse would admit, to the poor fellows to cover themselves with. There being neither heih nor bt^ddt'uih, those who lay down did so on the ground, and I was attracted to a group of seven young men and lads who were lying together, covered with two rugs only, among them. Iking already aware of the indelicate regu- lations generally in exisionrr in casual wards of workhouses, 1 said to \ \ : r ■m ''::% 294 SYSTliM or LABOUR. wliat civilization has in store for tluMiiajority of the mul- titude destined to toil on British ground. If not, let us select a bill of fare : not recurring to the cxam])le of Kilrush, for a list of regimen : nor to the crowded unions of Dorsetshire ; but nuiking choice of the jjoorhouse practice of Islington, one of the most thriving parishes of the metropolis : — Sundays — G oz. boiled beef (clods and stickings) and potatoes. Mondays — The pot-li(Hioi' of the above, Tuesdays — fi oz. mutton and rice. Wednesdays — The pot-liquor of the above. Thursdays — Boiled beef (hard as a stiek) and potatoes. Fridays — The ])ot-liquor again ! Saturdays — 1 lb. of suet pudding. Butter or cheese (choice) . . 1 oz. a-day. Bread 4 oz. a-day. ]*)eer (at 3c/. a gallon) ... 2 i)ints a-day. No tea or sugar allowed. In the mornings — " skilly ! " Sixpence a-day, more than covering the expense of maintenance of each pauper, the average number in ihc home b(nng about 400 — men, women, and children inclusive. them, ' Now my friends, T have come into this place for your benetit, to see if I cannot succeed in having introduced such alterations as it may be advisable to adopt. AVill you led oU'ended if 1 pull down the rugs which arc covering your' 'No, sir,' was the reply, 'do what- ever you deem proper.' 1 jjulled down the rngs, and there, as T sus- pected, beheld the seven permits hjiixj in a complete state of nmJili/, and fio vhn^rli/ Inutilh'd tof/ether, for the sake of obtaining the mutual warmth of each other's 1)0(lies, that they could not hnr,e occupied a space of more til an five feet in Ktdlh. It was inipossii)li; not to feel a deep sense of dis<>-ust at witnessing so iuderent and so humiliating a sit>ht ! How- ever, I calmly interrogaled tlicsu as to the reason of their sleeping naked, 'Because.' said one, ' ve are enabled easihj to wipe off the vermin ichicli ice gel on our bodies from these rni/s ; and if we sle})t with our clothes on, \\ ■ should not be able to get rid of them so easilg.' The porter who heard tliis ((uietly observed to me, ' 'Ihey bring them in themselves sometiuu^s.' The coolness with which he made this remark, and his inset\sibility to the disgraceful charge of the rugs being so frightfully filthy, made me experience a sense of loathing, mixed up with feelings of indignation, mortification, and despair." SYSTEM Ol" l.AliULIl. :^\)o In common justice, liowever, to tliesc iiusciablc com- binations, we are bound to mention the splendid nnmiti- cencc of Clerkenwell, St. James's, Ilanover-square, and other wealthy districts, which actually allow tea and sugar, and a diurnal allowance of two pints of s/z/a/i ale, which may bring up the improved existence of these luxu- rious paupers to tenpencc a-day upon the average. Con- sider what 1 ()<-/. a-day procures in this country ! For managing the affairs of either one or the other of these death-in-life abodes of true born Britons, we find that a clerk alone receives in one Union £1,700 ; and in another £800 a-year ; and that in one of them they have, at least, sixty-two (juardians or trustees, and a pro- portionate number of rclirrin^-ojficprs, to supply the ne- cessities of about 150 poor men, 100 poor women, and 200 destitute children ; but which, in the shape of poor- rate, and under the pretence of su])porting the poor, amounts in one of the Unions to no less than £80,000 a-year ! — the salary of the clerk alone being equal to the maintenance of about 200 paupers! Is not the picture revolting ? England ! — England ! With the assertion of the bitter fact, infpiiry is chal- lenged ; for we are prepared by living evidence to make good the brand. Turn now from our English wietches and the stinted stipend they enjoy, to the desert and its child ; and as we have just seen wdiat Canada can afford in vegetable produce, let us now, also, compute its resources in animal food ; Ijut, without pausing to consider the piscatory fecundity of the Canadian waters, or the countless herds that w'ander wild over its plains and forests, slar.ghtered in wantonness or for their mere hides — their carcasses abandoned to infect the air or gorge the wolf or vultm'e — :(| . .» \ . . . .. < ■^::^- '.1 ;i '. V. !• J 290 SYSTEM or LABOIK. I !■ I ■, .1* ii we will extract another brief siiinniary, illustrative of Indian life, from the travels of j\Ir. Thomas Simpson : — " No people so soon get tired (he says) of any parti- cular diet as Indians ; and the longings for change, even amidst the best cheer, are often truly ridiculous. The flexibility of their stomachs is no less surprising. At one time they will gorge themselves with food, and are then prepared to go without any for several days if necessary. Enter their tents : sit there, if you can, for a whole day, and not for an instant will you find their fire unoccu- pied by persons of all ages cooking. Allien not hunting, or travelling, they are in fact always eating. Now it is a little roast, a partridge, or rabbit, perhaps ; now a tit- bit, broiled imder the ashes ; anon a portly kettle, well filled with venison, swiugs over the fire ; then comes a choice dish of curdled blood, followed by the sinews and marrow-bones of deer's legs, singed on the embers ; and so the grand business of life goes unceasingly round, interrupted only by sleep. Though capable of resisting with fortitude intense cold, they arc seen, even when the WTather is mild and pleasant, hoaphig on fuel in the house ; and actually sitting crosscd-legged on the hearth, where a white man would speedily be roasted." What a contrast with English paupers, pining in the cold and hungry desolation which civilization has provided for them ! " Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'cr you are, That bide the pelting of the ' parish scorn,' How would your houseless heads, and unfed sides; Your loop'd and raggetl wretchedness, ' content ye' At picUu'e such as this ?" And now, to substantiate beyond all possible means of controversion, the unequalled capabilities of this mag- nificent portion of the British empire, let us once more recur to Gourlay, who caused the accompanying tables to SYSTF.M OV LAIJOUK. 297 of ])e officially returned and formally attested -. the vouchers being, moreover, borne out by names and particulars so circumstantial and identical as can admit of no doubt upon the subject of his public testimony. Taile showhif/ ilie Progress of Improvement in Twenty-four Months, at Perth, Johnstone District, near liideau.* UPPER CANADA. Names of Settlers. Total 24 Montlis' Average l)y 2 l"1 Men, accompanied by 15 )> Wives and 74 Children J I -5 '— a. ^ ! ►— ' '^ Peter Maepherson and Son James Maclarcn James Taylor John Simpson . James Miller .... Hugh Maekay . . . AVilliam Spalding . . "William lluthcrfbrd. . John Hay .... Archibald Morrison . Thomas Maclean . . John Haliday . . . Alexander Maef'arlane . James Macdonald . John Ferguson . . . John Flood .... William jMacGillivray . John Brash .... Ann Holderness . . John iMiller .... William Old .... Francis Allan . . . Thomas Ciiddie . . . 19 16 14 14 19 I 16 ' 11 ' 13 IX 7 9 18 17 10 8 12 10 H H 10 10 14 12 16 13 10 9 8 7 7 5 10 8 12 9 9 8 ' 10 8 1 13 10 ' 7 7 9 8 2514 2 2 SI ■I-' V ■ ■ '< :\ :: * Gourlay, vol. i. \). 526. 21)8 SYSTEM OF LABOUU. The foregoing tables are jjositive ; and, witli the vari- ous other testimony we have invoked, should surely prove triumphantly to all, the happy fitness of Canada, above every oilier country, to form a home of refuge for the British poor. Such testimony as this might surely overcome any prejudice that exists with regard to a grand emigration to this inviting land, if but accom- panied by encouragement from our parish authorities. Take note that the movement already exists in desultory examples ; but alas ! too insignificantly conceived and incompetently directed, to effect any material good either here or in Canada. From time to time we meet with notices, like the following, in our public journals : — " yipril 1, 1850. — A vessel is announced to sail in a few days with emigrants to IMontreal and Quebec. This vessel takes out two hundred paujiers from Cheltenham Union ; the guardians paying their jiassage, under the new regulation, which these authorities are permitted to make. This is quite a new feature in the history of the port of Gloucester." " Jjml 11. — This day a large party of emigrants, consisting of one hundred and twenty-eight persons, proceeded, by special train, from the Nine Elms' station of the London South-Western Railway, to Southampton. This party was joined by other parties at Woking, Ba- singstoke, and Andov(!r, bringing additions from various places : from (iodahiiing, AVallingford, Farringdon, An- dover, &e. These emigrants were of the agricultural class, sent out by their respective parishes. They were generally stout countrymen, and of a class to make good back-woodsmen, in the countries to which they were bound — viz., Canada and the Western States. The Soutli-Western Railway Company, we understand, con- SYSTEM Of LABOLK. '<:yy good were The vcy such emigrants, in bodies, at five sliiUiiigs a liead." In competition witli Canada as a colonial settlement — Canada, fertile, promising, honest Canada, — it has been the custom for years to eidogize the paramount advan- tages of other dependencies, of Mhich it may well be said, that " distance lends enchantment to the view" — perhaps the only enchantment about them, if we are to credit the little side-whispers which occasionally reach the pu])lic ear, in woeful contradiction of the felicitous pictures their interested advocates are wont to publish for the attraction and capture of settlers. These rival Edens are Australia, A an Diemen's Land, ISew Zealand, the Cape, and Port Natal. Of the first, Mr. Denison has just informed us, in a speech delivered in the House of Com- mons, that " New S(^uth Wales is so destitute of water, and so sterile, that it nuist be considered a pm'ely pas- toral district. It is, in fact, one great shee])-waik, without any internal water •connnunications, and with but little chance of internal improvement. Formerly the land there was five shillings the acre, until the Colonial- oflice raised it to twenty shillings ; but the House might judge what was the real value, when he told them it required six or seven acres to feed one sheep !" So much for the jjhjsiqne ; now for the morale. — Sir W. jMolesvvorth : "He would only for a moment (he said) direct the attention of the House to the conse- quences of transportation, as evinced in the amounts of crime existing in New Soutli Wales, and described in the Report of the Committee on Transportation. That report was unanimously adopted — it had gone out to all the colonies ; and it told them in plain terms what were the consequences of the system. It was signed by ^:i' V\: I .h I 300 SYSTKM 01' I,ABOU|{. "I;.- ■■*■.'■ Lord John l^usscU, Sir (Jcorgc Grey, Lord Ilowick, Mr, ITawcs, Sir U. IVc;!, Mr. C. Bullcr, and Lord l'U)riiigton. Tliat report stated that it was difficult to form an adecpiate idea of the extent of the evil ; that, in proportion to the pojndation, the nundjer of persons in New South Wales convicted of highway robbery, exceeded the total num- ber of convicts for all offences in England : the murders and attempts at nuu'dcr were as conunon as petty larceny in England ; and that forgery, sheep-stealing, nm\ the like, were out of all jn'oportion to tlu; number of similar crimes committed in I'.ngland." A private letter, in the public journals, dated North Adelaide, Sept. 23rd, 1819, says: — "Not one in ten houses in the city of Adelaide, Thiburton, Ilindmarsh, Albertown, or Port Adelaide, has got a staircase ; the majority being cottages of two or three rooms, built of stone of a ragged, irregular shape : in fact, even in the principal buddings, and in the Governor's house, there is scarcely a bit of hewn stone. The houses are covered in with wood, in consequence of the rarity of slate. Water is very scarce — one shilling and sixpence the cask is charged for it. The houses, small as they are, fetch ':ight shillings to twelve shillings a-week. Some shops in Adelaide let for twenty-five shillings a-week, and even £3. IGs. per week. There are more persons here than can get work ; such as bricklayers, plasterers, masons, carpenters, painters and glaziers, whitesmiths, blacksmiths, cabinet - makers, tailors, butchers, and bakers. Unless people connected with these trades make up their minds to get into the bush or mines, or like anything they can get to do, they have little chance of success. There wants more capital and less emi- grants." bVSTliM OF LAU()LI{. 301 vered slate. ! cask fetch shops and IS here erers, miths, and trades nes, or chance s emi- Upon \'an Diemen's Land, on the other hand, a stignui has been affixed, which not only disqnalitios it as an ap}n'o- priate sojonrn for honest indnstry, even were it recom- mendable by distance, soil, and climate; bnt hangs snch an odium upon the settlement as will, and ought, to avert all tendency to select it for a refuge. Without waiting to discuss the objections which attach to the natural condition of that out-of-the-way colony, we will at once specify tlu; now irremediable evil which fatally interdicts it as a pro- per destinat^^ either for respectable capitalists, or honest poven \'jV. Grey recently "' .nued the House of Lords, that " the whole number of male convicts in Van Diemen's Land alone, after the close of the year LS40, did not exceed 7,942 ; whereas, hi the five years from that time to the close of 1845, the number of male con- victs trans])orted there was not less than 17,037. The arrival of this large number of convicts not only broke down all the arrangements, which had been made for the safe custody and superintendence of the convicts in the island ; but it also so glutted the labour-market, that the easy means by which convicts, on being free, ob- tained s\d3sistence for themselves by honest labour, were entirely lost. The convicts, who had gone into the country for work, Avere obliged to return to the hiring depots of llobart Toavu and elsewhere; because they were unal)le to procure labour from private individuals. This led to a state of things, which was al)solutely frightful. The demoralization, which took place in the gangs, was shocking to contemplate ; and the whole colony was thrown into confusion and disorder, owing to the large number of convicts who had no em})loyiuent." The long-fluctuating opinions pervading the public. ' .■;:••< ■•■■-I .1. A i: .' i 302 SYSTEM OF LAliUUK. m I' on the subject of New Zealand, have ceased to be equi- vocal, through the decisive disposal of the (juestion by recent accounts, and the munerous rc-eniigration from this antipodean nook, to the new American states on the Pacific, are suilieient indices of its unsubstantial cha- racter and nntitiu'ss as a select spot for Englishmen to set up their j)enates. Life here is, indeed, a sequestra- tion from the; interests of the general universe — a cul de sac to individual ambition ; where man seems to escape from the surface of the earth, as through a trai)-door, to a planet aj)art. It is an oiihUctle on the far ocean, whose obscurity Commerce and European intercourse must long, or for ever, refrain from troubling. Scheme after scheme of social improvement has signally failed, de- spite the struggle of the buried-living there, and their interested confederates in this country, to gloss over the truth, and put a good face on the matter. Although no longer exposed to be eaten by cannibals, they are by no means free from perih Evil administration and bad sys- tems gnaw the heart of this colony. All the model settle- ments there have failed, and neither its geographical posi- tion, or natural capabilities, ensure its decisive triumph over repeated blight. The last migratory speculation, dressed up to delude settlers to this tomb of society, involves a story piquant enough to merit place among the " Canterbury Tales." It is called the " Canterbury Emigration Job," or the " New Zion of New Zealand." We will not enter into details upon the subject here ; but will merely solace our justifiable bile by exclaiming, what misjudgment — what infatuation — what perversity to inveigle the irreflective and unwary, from a proper direction of settlement, to lose themselves in an isolated S>YSTE.M or LABULH. SO'6 corner within a corner ! To expose this bubble, and show to wliat projects the soUd pros[)ects, whicli Canada liolds out, are sacrificed, we beg to cite the prospectus of tlic wortliy Association, who would send us upon a Can- terbury pilgrininge to the end of the world and back again : for an attcnipt at return would be as certain as the experimental visit to the orthodox home, prohibited to the needy and schismatic, which State-Church [jliilan- thropists would reserve as an exclusive retreat for such beloved parishioners, as should ciuTy with them a pro])er sense of the true religion and — money ; and be withal willing to continue faithful to this system of systems, by whicli pauperism will not be permitted to deface the model community ; and poverty be as rare as heresy ! The prospectus states, " that no block of land can be purchased in this choice Utopia of less than f//j/ acres ; that the sum to be paid is £150 per section of that amount, t3 per acre — but that the purchase of the sur- face will — (Oh, boundless liberality !) — include, in every case, coal and mineral — (ay, mandrakes and treasure- trove) — ??of reserved to the Crown, and lying underneath the section purchased." Think of the chance of a diamond mine ; or rich deposits of New Zealanders' heads — profitable commodities of curiosity ! We refer to the Appendix at the end of this volume for some remarks upon this pious job for the henejit of England and Englishmen, and the conscientious dealings of these betiefactors of a class, of which each member is expected to afford £500 to defray the expenses of his own emi- gration : not even to be laid out as he pleases ; but to build churches, and hire sheep-farms, and pay for com- mittees and management, postage-stamps, &c., wafers, godliness, and a Prospectus. Yet whatever plans of set- ^ i I ■ '■.•:. 30i SYSTEM OF LAUOLIl. yi ' ' tlemciit may ho devised — whaU'vor may be the parties promoting tliem — New /calaiul never can become, either l)V situation or room, a satistactorv and available home for British subjects. The Cape, on the other hand, has arrived at tlie full extent of its ca|)al)ility ; and eliange now cjuj oidy be expected in gradual, or rapid retrogression, from that state of and)iguous prospeiity, which has prompted a spirit in the inhabitants, that seems earnest of in- creased abuse, dissension, and decay. The Cape, as a valuable colony, inde})en(lent of its opportune site as a maritime station, was, in its very origin, a lie. It never was, and never can he, a fionrishing colony. The Globe lately published the following extract from the Natal WUnesn of the 7th December, 18 ID:—" The arrival of the emigrants to this country, and at their a})})ointed plots, was marked by utter disappointment, and determination not to remain. They were each to receive twenty acres of kind. They were duly received and housed free of expense on landing, till the surveyor called them together, to sec the land allotted to them ; but which, in truth, did not correspond at all with the London agents' sunny picture of Natal — ' Its wooded kloofs,' ' meandering streams,' and ' verdant valleys.' " We find the conclusion arrived at by the party thus described in one of their letters — " ^lany of us who have friends and relatives waiting our favourable report, will be stayed in their purpose. Two of our people have already left for the Ca})e ; several others state their inten- tion of following their example ; some return home. One family goes to the ^Mauritius ; and others say they will embrace the tirst o[)portunity of getting to America. One of our company, who piurhased one thousand three si. ST KM Ol I.AIHHIJ. 30.') Imiidri'd acres, actiiitj as pioneer to several of his friends, lias written to tliein to prevent tlieir coniin*^ to Natal, and incnr tnrtlier loss and disappointment." So mneh for tlie rival Colonies of (Canada ! In IS17 the New York legislatnre exhibited tin; ntniost hesitation and d(Md>t on the subject of the Mrie and On- tario Canals ; their conlidenee in these admirable projects being shaken by persons, who pnrsned the projectors with tlu! most uin'eh'iiting persecution ; until the enter- prize was frcfpiently on the point of being abandoned altogether in disgust or despair. However, son).' faint confidence was gradually inspired ; and some sanguine enthusiasts had the temerity to predict that, in ten years after the construction of these canals, they might annually produce even so nnich as 1 50, 000 dollars. At this prediction scepticism snecuvd and the general pnblic doubted. Bnt what was the resnlt? Why this — the profit realized by the eiilerprizc, very ninch within the given time, instead of 150,000 dollars, exceeded ten )iiil- Hons of dollars ' jVIeantime, General Morris, in his me- morial to the Legislature, and in the prosj)ectus of the nndertaking, which he snbmitted to the public, prepara- tory to its commencement, had been mad enongh to assert than in less than twenty years time, 250,000 tons of merchandize might even, by this means, ])e armnally conveyed to tide water ; for which he was, in no slight degree, ridiculed. Mark, in 1830, no less than 097,347 tons were transported to tide water by that channel ; and the total amount of tonnage, ascending, and de- scending, within the predicted period, instead of 250,000 tons, did actually p,wrr• X CIIAITKK XII WAYS AND MKAxNS. til-' H We have soniewliat diverged from the direct purpose we had in view in the preceding chapter, viz., to show the advantages of iiuniechate return wiiieh our favourite co- lony woukl have over all otliers. But we trust we /tave sLown hitherto, throughout this work, facts illustrative of the fact that the caj)al)ilities of soil and climate of Canada are pre-eminent above the rest, for the purposes of emi- gration. By such an inuuediate return, as would be made in ])oint of harvest, after one season had elapsed, necessary to clear the land, it is evident that the great organized body, we have ])assed in review before the reader, of pioneers and guards, free labourers, [)aupera and convicts, would in a very short period niaintdin itself, and so relieve the Government of England from a vast responsibility of support and aid, and quickly proceed to return the expense of the original outfit. We have shown the fallacy of minor schemes in the shape of colo- nization, as well as demonstrated that we differ from all of them in one grand fact, viz., that they are without re- turn to the ^lothcr Country ; whilst our undertaking promises salvation to all. In a few years, what a super- fluous harvest of grain, all our own, may be shipped here in return for the produce of the parent state ! This would be indeed a triumph of Free Trade. It would be on the WAYS AND MEANS. MO 7 ose we 3\v the ite co- e have ative of uunada Df cmi- ukl be ■liipscd, great pre the aiipors a vast ceed to have )f colo- oin all o\it re- rtaking super- ed here would on the principle of internal couiiierce, always to be preferred to external : in jjroportion us the former possesses a niueh greater [)ower of incr(!as(; to the prosperity of a country than the latter. l*or we wonld Imvc England and Canada ono country. There is now one most important point to be consi- dered, upon which, however, we shall at present touch but lightly ; as it is capable of })cing considered in a variety of ways. Moreover, it is onr intention in a very short time to publish a supplementary work to this, con- taining nuK'h more detail than our pages can afford space for in one volume. The (piest'on we are aliout to ap- proach is one of Ways and Means. IIov is the capital to be supplied for this gigantic un(l< rtakiMg? It may appear unnecessary to ask su:u a qut fion in a country possessed of such private wealth r.u [)nblic enterprize as this. It may seem almost absurd to do ^o, when we consider Uiissinn loans, Gr( ek loans, Spanish loans, and Irish loans, all lent and offered to Government and by Government, and thus borrowed and spent with the recklessness of a generous prodigal in the hands of the Jews. This comes under the head of the excusable case mentioned in an after part of this work, where a nation may borrow ; since it is to jneserve Canada, a part of our British possessions. Put when, at the same time, it is to redeem England by ji almost immediate return, we think, even should private speculation refuse its aid (which we hardly anticipate, even although it ge- nerally requires ratlic:' a bubble than a reality to cause the money to be forthcoming from John Bull), that the Government would be justified in contracting a loan for £14,000,000. This is the sum, which we have calculated X 2 -' \ -1 nos WAYS AND MEANS. » J j would 1)0 necessary to commence, carry throngh, and ronii)lctc this work, from tlic expense of tlie present )ftliis littl* pe! rk of tlu id, to the pr. prmtnii^ or tins iittJe work oi tiie nimci, to tne openmg, — amid tlie salvoes of a thousand cannon at once re- verberating amid the passes of the Rocky Mountains, and booming over the mighty cx])anse of the western lakes and prairies — of the Grand Junction Railway Line of the Atlantic and Pacific. This, too, is supposing that no state economy is to assist in paving the way to a re- generation of the Hritish Empire : that no other great plans of salvation arc to be adojited. It is supposing that the scheme were to be started to-day or to-morrow, without ])reparation, consideration, or the great purga- tion of the state antecedent to a new course of life and existence. With the plans Ave propose, however, no ad- ditional, or even momentary, weight need be added to the incumbrances of the country. We ought indeed, to be chary of borrowing even a present million. We would not, for this great work, if it be not necessary, incur the liability even of such a sum as would be equal to a six months' war-tax. There are many ways of carrying our plans into effect otherwise. In the first place, a great company might be chartered : to be ossislcd by (iovernment in return for the employ- ment and maintenance of convicts and paupers. Imagine the day when we shall see our model prisons turned into additional barracks for an increased army to defend our native isle and the honour of the British flag. Conceive the workhouses becoming open almshouses for the a^ed and sick poor. Yes, it is these, which every good Government of a healthy country is bound to maintain. A great and flourishing nation never g 'udges the sup- port of an army. II glories in reviews and pageants. It.. WAYS ANU MEAxNS. 309 I, and ►resent lening, ice re- is, and 1 lakes of the Imt no I a re- f great iposing lorrow, purga- ifu and no ad- Ided to [eed, to } would cur the a six ing our rtered : mploy- magine ed mto nd our onceive for the •y gootl lintahi. |\o sup- geants . There is no true Englishman, with a well-fed stomach and decently clothed back, who does not delight in Dover Castle and Woolwich Marshes, who does not love to follow the march of a regiment, or look at the still statelier march of a line-of-battle ship, with the })roud feeling and thought — " This is of me ; this is mine." It is only in a morbid state that we grund3le at a stand- ing army, or a scpiadron of observation. It is when we are not well, that we quarrel with victories. It is natural to chide even success in the })angs of starvation. To recur to the subject. We do not fear but that a very little consideration of our scheme, together with some wholesome agitation, and a modicum of talking, some- what more to the purpose than a debate on brick duties, will create a sufficient soul of enterprize within the ribs and coffers of capital to carry out our design. In a future part of the work, viz., the chapter on the Incor- poration of Canada, we shall show the advantages to be derived by every class in this country. We shall demon- strate that the pillars of the State, the aristocracy of England, will be deeply interested in the work : that it will open an universal market for worth, talent, and h'lrlh : that it will not sto}) at })rovision for the })oor and needy, but will extend its benefits to the indigent rich : that it will be not only for the humble and ])c'niii]css, but for the proud and poor : that, in iine, it will strengthen and revivify a/l — from the throne to the workhouse ! Can there be any doubt, then, that ca})ital will be supplied when the nation turns all its energies that way, or is it to be supj)0sed that the Jews will, on this occasion only, lock up their resources? Wa say that in one month a prospectus might be filled up — capital £15,000,000. if backed by the Government with II 1 f • 310 WAYS AND MEANS. 1. i > the assistance of ships, men, diplomacy, and a charter ; without taxing the nation's industry for one moment one additional shilling. However, as this may be called ima- ginative and theoretical, and lie under the stigma of being merely based upon supposition, let us propose, at any rate, one sound and practical plan — after which we will leave the subject of expense, as we said before, to further consideration. As, throughout this work, there has existed justly no scruple to avail oiu'selves of the plans and systems, inquiries and remarks of practical men upon the various subjects upon which we have written, we will upon this occasion not hesitate to quote the writer of a work, Avhich we have perused with singular satisfaction, " Hodson on the Extinction of Poor-rates without increased Taxation." By a reference to the plan this gentleman develops, we shall show how in the simplest manner the Government may lay the required means at the disposal of the country ; whilst, indeed, it is only just, fit, and proper that the Government should do so. Mr. Hodson speaks of " Home Labour Reserves ' and thence of " Colonial Homes." The scheme which applies to the first of these plans is sufficient for the second, which is our sole object. Therefore, in speakuig of the first, we refer only to the latter. " Homes !" There is something cheering in the very title. A "Colonial IlomeV No; rather a Home in that, which should no longer be a Colony, but a part, a glorious integral portion, of the empire of Great Britain itself. By the scheme of " Home Labour Reserves," it is intended to offer a plan for reclaiming all the waste lands in England. We see great objections to this. Tt is true that our objections are not abstract. They WAYS AND MliANS. 311 •r mrter ; jnt one d ima- [ being at any ive will Dre, to I, there of the ractical e have quote lingular or-rates he plan in the equired ed, it is ould do serves ' which for the leakhig he very ome in a part, Britain ," it is te lands They are merely to be applied to the present state of England, which demands that no time should be lost. Our farmers too are suffering mider the disheartening effects of Free- trade in corn. The waste lands of England would re- quire years of cultivation, and the spirit of the country is too broken to attempt them. Moreover, the natural productions of the country are not in that state of natural boundless profusion, which exists in Canada. We cannot blind ourselves to the fact, that, under existing circum- stances, it is sufficient to hope that cultivated lands here will not become waste, rather than to express a desire that waste lands may be cultivated. Let us now quote Mr. Hodson as to the means of getting money to do even this, and then apply his scheme singly to our pro- posed plan. " It appears," he says, " that we are paying in England alone upwards of six millions in poor-rates, and that, altogether, public and private charity costs the country thirty millions annually. The poor rates alone would pay good interest for a loan of fifty millions, at five per cent., and liquidate the debt in a few years ; which sum, if properly applied, would be more than suttieient to attain the object required. A sum of the same amount as that so freely granted for the extinction of our West Indian slavery, would be anq^ly sufficient to bring home colonization into efhcicnt operation, providing always that the land before mentioned as being fit for profitable cultivation be placed in the hands of the Commissioners ; but, for security's sake, suppose we calculate upon 50 per cent, more, or thirty millions, at 5 per cent. The annual charge on the poor-rates (if raised on their security) would be only £1,500,000 as interest. This loan of thirty millions could be liquidated in ten years after the I .: i •'. . V 312 WAYS AM) MEANS. period that might elapse befoi'e the ' Homes' would be in thorough working order, and pauperism extinct, whicli we will calculate might take five years, so that the full interest of the loan would have to be paid during the first five years only, after which, by appropriating £3,000,000 annually, of the otherwise unrequired poor- rates, as a sinking fund, the charge on th.m would gradually diminish, till, at the cud of the tenth year, there would be no longer any charge, or anything to be charged. Thus, it will be seen, that even going to the extreme, as to ihe sum of money that might be required, we shall not re(|uire so much for the regeneration of the physical condition of the poor, as is now squandered nwiiy so mischievously in its partial relief. " It is not necessary to lay down any particular rules for the guidance of the founders of the ' Homes,' further than by saying, that unless the land of the Home Colonies is worked on somewdiat the same principle as that pointed out for the Colonial Homes, the seeds of discord and division will be sown, and failure or embarrassment be the result. The mere animal wants of all must be sup- plied alike from the common store, and a share only of the ])rofit be applied to renumeration ; this is no theory of Connnunism, but simply a natural and wholesome restriction of abuse. Let the daily wants of each be sup})lied by a certain amount of rations ; but let each, by his labour in the ' Home,' add whatever amount of prospective improvement may be in his power. " It may safely be calculated, that of the eight mil- lion acres of good land lying waste in the kingdom, there would be at the least six of these millions so situated as to be available to the plough or spade — the remaining two might be loft for grazing purposes, &c. WAYS AND MEANS. :}13 " Now, supposing it requisite to keep ii reserve of 500,000 male labourers in this country, and that the aggregate number of individuals dependent upon them for support, amounted to 1,500,000, and that these would require support for about nine months in the year, we may safely assert that tliree million acres, includ- ing the land taken \ip by buildings, &c., would suj)port them and keep up the establishments they would be living in, leaving the remaining three million acres to be cultivated for profit and other contingencies." Instead of fifty, or even thirty millions, we ask for fif- teen, nay, we said fourteen. In five year? the whole mortgage might be transferred to a charge on the ])rofits of the railway, and the saving of the j)ooi- -ates w^ould thus be an entire and comi)lete saving to the taxation of England ! Let us now follow Mr. llodson to his " Colonial Homes," and see to what country he points, as the " Home" of Emigration. " The country to which so great a number could be conveniently emigrated, would have to be regulated chiefly ])y the expense of travel and the capability and adaptability of it to the reception of such an inroad of emigrants. Economy of transit would point at once to our North American Colonies, where also there exist all the elements so necessary to the successful carrying out of the scheme, namely, land of superior (piality and iu vast quantities, belonging to the Crown, or called Crown lands, capable of supporting many more than we could supply. Of these colonies I would, on the score of cli- mate and other natural atlvantagcs, give tlie ])aUn to Canada \\ est, and strongly recommend it as the best site for first operations. The great cost of transit places 1 r 314 WAVS AND MEANS. I#i most of our colonies in the soutliern lieiuisphere out of the question. I can, however, speak with more confi- dence of Upj)cr Canada, and its adaptabihty to the success of emigrants, from a ten years' residence there ; and as that country is quite capable of supplying waste land sufficient for present ])ur[:oses, there is no occasion to go further even to fare better. Land has been, and is being, continually granted to individuals and compa- nies, no matter how little they recpiire it, providing they have interest enough to obtain the car of those in authority. How nmch easier, then, coidd it not be obtained by the Commissioners appointed directly by those very authorities, when backed by the wants of the poor ! AVe may, therefore, presume that the easiest ])art of the business will be the obtaining full control over as much of the waste land of the colony as might be required. I will, therefore, imagine the Commissioners to have obtained the land, and to have determined on forming twenty labour * Homes,' or depots of 50,000 acres each. These, from being in a perfectly wilderness state, would have to be prepared by pioneers for the arrival of the first annual instalments of emigrants ; these pioneers should number about 1,000 to each 'Home,' and consist chiefly of able-bodied male adults, of good moral character, twenty only out of every hundred being females. The whole energies of these pioneers would be directed, under proper guidance and instruction, to the clearing of the land, and erecting the necessary buildings for the hous- ing themselves, and the reception of the next instalment of emigrants." The only difference is, that we do not confine ourselves to Canada proper, and that the grand concurrent scheme of a railroad is not conceived by i\Ir. Hodson. He is, :f WAYS AND MKANS. 315 however, admirably qualified to speak, as a patriotic and practical observer, lie knows the soil well, and what it can do. He shows what may be done by conibinjition : he tells us that the price of the exportation of a labourer there to live comfortably is less than the expenditure ne- cessary to provide for a convict for one year, and he proves that in five years the poor of this country might be made to sui)port themselves. This is something like a scheme of Emigration ; but what is it to our cond)ined and detailed plan, the value of our magnificent under- taking, the field of greatness we lay before the tutelary Divinity of England ; if jhe will but condescend to walk upon it ? We will conclude with a few more statements from this interesting and valuable work, which, from the excellence of its plans and the spirit in wiiich they are conceived and developed, we are delighted again in- directly to bring before the consideration of the public. " For Canada," he observes, " £20 a-head has been proved by actual experiment to be sufficient to pay cost of outfit, passage, support for one year, settle a family, and give them a cow besides." Let us now hear a little about some expenses that are incurred by Government : — 'I i " Towards furuisliing the new Houses of Parliament . £109,000 Salaries and expenses of ditto . . . . . 93,000 Repairs and alterations of palaces .... 115,000 Government prisons ...... 150,000 Prosecutions at assize ...... 700,000 For prison and convict service at home and in the colonies ........ 125,000 Total for secret service (foreign and other) . . 316,000 Besides the very moderate sum, for expenses of six public offices, of 234,000 >■ I tta^mmtuat r 310 WAYS AND MEANS. " This short hst will show that wc are prepared for, snid do not ol)jcct to, theaiiiiual vothig away oflmndreds of tlioiisands, without any adequate benetit being re- ceived. Wouhl it ai)pcar incongruous if, amongst the above, we met the following : — To tlic Commissioners for the Extinction of Panpcrism £100,000 Expenses of their olKcc ..... 30,000 Instead of To the Poor-law Commissioners Expenses, ditto Auditors of Unions Union Schoolmasters Medical relief Jtl30,000 . £107,000 35,000 13,000 35,000 15,000 £275,000 " These figures tell of wealth easily given away, and in sonic instances to be productive of the Avorst results."* U :|- * " In my calculations," he contiinics, " I have assumed, that each • Home' shall cost £100,000 a-year ; we should then require for the whole twenty the sum of £500,000 for their establishment, and £2,000,000 annually for liveyears afterwards, making in all £10,500,000, for which there would be no occasion to raise any loan or obtain any vote from Parliament, since but £2,000,000 would be wanted at a time, and for this we need only look to the all-sutlicient poor rates, which may be levied as at present, only so mueh of them as might be rc([uired by the Commissioners for the Extinction of Pauperism, should be ab- stracted. This, during the five years of its requirement, would, toge- ther with the interest of the £30,000,000 raised for the Home Colonies, saddle the rate with a charge of £3,500,000 a-year, which, incidental expenses and all included, I will put down at £i, 000,000, still leaving about £3,000,000 a-year to wind up the poor-law system with, which might surely be done within the five years specified as necessary for the entire doing away with pauperism Since the peace of 1815, we have spent in the /elief of the poor £230,000,000. It is evident, that, if only for the pm-posc of saving this unnecessary expenditure of If I WAVS AM) MKANS. 317 m1 for, lulrcds ng rc- ^st the 0,000 0,000 0,000 7,000 5,000 3,000 15,000 .5,000 liat each i for the cut, niul 500,000, btain iiiiy it a time, OS, which required hi be ab- Lihl, toge- Colonies, incitleutal ill leaving ith, which ry for the of 1815, s evident, inditure of Let lis reinrniber, tliat this is the scheme of a practical man for m()rtgap;iii• m I sc|)nratc voluincs mij^ht be written, l^r? v/e trtist mouf^li lias lu'cn written to set sj)eculati()n ul' tt hud to excite men of business to work at so great an imdeitaking. For the present we leave this part oftl>e subject: to recur to it, at a future piriod, with renewed energies, additional material, and, we trust, an accession of hope and confi- dence warnuited by pjd)lie feeling, a[)proval and action.* ♦ Coiiij)utiii{^ the ,()0() quarters of wheat — fully ecpud to the maintenance of 2, .50(1, ()(»() settlers, emigrants, or labourers ; for it is clearly ascertained that the jiroductr of one acre of ground in Canada (that is, twenty bushels), is more than sullicient for the support of the individual i)roducer. Seeing, then, that one man can clear five acres during the w inter months, in the lirst harvest he would grow as much as would support himself and lour others ; or adopting tlie data already laid down on such undeniable authorities, we find that the five acres thus cleared would [)roduce one hundred bushels ; and the occupier has, therefore, twenty bushels for his own use, and eighty bushels to dispose of. Adopting the rule, however, already granted or proposed by the Local Government on the line from Halifax to Quebec, of ten miles on each side of the road, as j)roposed also by Whitney in the United States, the number of acres would amount to upwards of 5,000,000 in a distance of 400 miles ; or, over a dis- tance of 2,800 miles, to upwards of 3.}, 000, 000 acres — worth, imme- diately being cleared, 20s. an acre, or £35,000,000 — being consider- ably more than half the yearly revenue of the United Kingdom ! This value of 205. an acre has been laid down by Lord John Russell. Whit- ney's plan, it may be observed, in its progressive stages, would occupy a period of more than twenty years in its accomplishment. Lord Durham, we believe, suggested in his report the ten-mile grant of land on either side of the road upon the line from Halifax to Quebec, wliich tlic Local Government has decided upon. \\\i::^ ) L'xcitc taking. recur [litionnl 1 conti- iction.* irate nitt; nsi.ooo. if tlic Hup cs, vliicli unt forre, n two, or iislicls nn islu'ls per wheat — i;raiits, or lie acre of lioient for : one man t he wouhl ■ adopting ) find that hels; and ind ein;lity ly granted Halifax to id also by amount to )ver a dis- itli, imme- ; consider- )m ! This icU. Whit- uld occupy int. Lord ant of land ;bco, which m VAWV II. CONDITION OV KNGLANir— ASSISTANT MRANS. — TIIK STATE, Til K (lirUCII.TIfK DEBT, AND THE I'KOIT.E.- INf OKI 'ORATION OF CANADA, Y CJIAPTKR 1, ASSISTANT MKAIXS. The statesman, wlio at tliu head of an enlightened Cabinet and a iirni l)and uf j)atiiotie men reju'csenting no party, hnt the one undivided Trutii, neither ot" defence nor attack, but of (hgnity insuperable to hypo- crisy, expediency, and selHshness, sliouhl determine, imdismayed, to steer tlie shattered vessel of the Static into a htu'bour of safe i'C[)ose, would deserve well of the present age and posterity, and would erect a majestic temple of Conscience to an ai)j)roving Deity. As the duty of indivi(hials is, undoubtedly, to provide for their own families, and those hi the circle immediately around them, before subscribing to charities and joining societies for the increase of JNIissionarics to far quarters of the globe, so it is the duty of men in the wider sphere of political action to look to the welfare of the country, which has given them birth, before imlulging in Utopian schemes of the world's regeneration and extendij their sym[)athies to foreign nations, in the pursuit of u. /crsal benevolence, })eace, commerce, reciprocity, or any other phase of circumstances suited to a world of angelic manufacturers. Therefore, do not let it be inuigined that we arc drawing the picture of jin enthusiastic bene- factor to mankind, in the s})irit of Carlylc, or in the language of a mystical magazuK, or (oxtlivlic (iuarti'Hy V i> \h\. 324 ASSISTANT MKANS. Review ; but tliat we are attempting; to jjjive the sketch of a practical Minister, wliose abilities, talents, ex})erienc'e, nay, whose whole identity unites to rescue his country from I'uin. Such an ideal uian, for we know not if the seeds of him exist, would he a more splendid euotist than Cicero, in proportion as his ta^k and his ditlitndties would he i;-reater. lor the j)ath of the former was open before him, and it recpiired but moral dai'ini;- and try. He would be no "heaven-born Minister " of fraudulent expediency, purchasing a momentary security at the expense of the ruin of posterity : no venal shifter : no stale {[uacksalver. The simplicity of Truth would in him ontshine the arts of Machiavel ; as the glories of Gabriel drove forth the false intruder Satan. Jle wonid not go down to i)osterity, as has been [)redicted of a late specious Minister, with the notoriety of a " Ha- zael" — omnibus proscriptus sfcculis ! No "dismal e the ilents, resciif n, tor iild he )ortion renter. J hull, ills to ised cis inst so at and ies the lumian ist, lie M'e hi in doom ihilo- nodern na])tly, shaekle ^vould sli the y. He udulent at the ter : no ould in ories of e would ed of a a "I la- dismal ASSISTANT MEANS. 3-2') universal hiss, the sound of ))ul)rK- scorn," would attend the secorid funeral o^ his memory ; after a deluded and hlinded ai^e had cons ii:;ned him, with fatal and ill-won honours, to a sepulchre, whose hest tomb- stone were tlie darkest midniij^ht of oblivion and the deepest silence of the ii;rave. If a Dictatorship could be created for a short sj)ace of time in Enii;land and a Cromwell found au;ain to do that which oui^ht to be done, to what pitch of greatness mi!j;ht not England hope to arrive ; with her resources, her industry, her power, her Heet, her army, and her dominion, east and west, north and south, over theworld ! Let it not be supposed for an instant, that we would utter a breath against the Royalty of England. Perhaps, in the history of the world, tl;erc never was a throne adorned with more endearin,.': virtues, than the British throne at present. It stands beau- tifully out in relief against surrounding darkness. This, in our opinion, has tended in no slight degree to check a disposition for change, and to soften the hearts of the overburdened. The domestic purity of our Queen, her desire, so often indulged, to be amidst her subjects, the amiable and moral chaiUv. ter of her Consort and their high-tone^ example to the Court and people, make the palace ;; picture on which we love to dwell. No ; all we iuean to convey is, that it requires, at this mom( ul, a giant lever, a single identity of greatness to relieve us — u man of power, in poirer — and we say ideally, " O, for a year of Cromwell "4o-act and then restore the reins again ! " Should a revolution occur, and brutality, begot of ignorance on famine, level all distinctions and cause the land to How with the blood of all alike, no more paintul jiicture 32t) ASSISTANT AlliANS. presents itself to our eyes, than the idea of such a family, as the Royal Family of England, insulted, or })rosci'ibed, or sealing with rude usage the disgrace and downfall of England. Unlike the unfortunate Louis and his family, they would have done nothing to merit it, but all in their power to endear them to the people. But Revolution, reserving her own chil- dren and guilty promoters for the last sweet morsel, preys on all alike, and virtue, worth and goodness are the fiist sacrifices on the tomb of social order. Of one thing we are certain, viz., that our Queen and Prince will be the first in the land, in time as well as in station, to set the example of the universal economy necessary to restore us to prosperity. We do not want a fresh system in theory, but abuses are so entwined with the excellent j)roportions of the constitution, that a firm and careful hand must take down each several prop and pillar, with the cun- ning of an excellent workman, lopping and cutting ofl' excrescences and rottenness, to remodel the whole again. To make our grand scheme of retaining Canada per- fect, and in order to carry out Major Smyth's great idea of making her the highway of the world's traffic, we must start with a clean balance-sheet and correct much at home. 'J'hough, by such a means as we have sought to develop, commerce might pour in upon us and we might derive great profits, we nmst be in a state to reciprocate the one and use the other. It does not suit a bankrupt to incur fresh liabilities. The start must be fair. Otherwise, we should become the reci- pients of nominal wealth and pcsiiaps only make the fortunes of those around us, to declare a still mightier insoh'cncy at a later date. Let us explain what we ASSISTANT MISANS. 3-27 11112; oft' mean. If our [)ro(liictive classes arc not uninciunhcrcd, they will reap no benefit from an increased market. If we do not correct our free trade by restrictions in pro- portion to, if not t::reater than those of other countries, we shall become but a highway for the productions of China and the East. Wealth will merely gild the in- solvent hands, through which it passes. If we incor- porate Canada, which grand subject is the staple of our work, wc can neither expect her to yield her neck to our national burden of debt and taxation, nor can wc ourselves be expected to give her our privileges and adopt her for our own, unless she should pay a just proportion of our encumbrances. What, then, re- mains ? Why, to lessen those encumbrances ; till tliey are triflim; for us and lii^ht for her. This, bv a concurrent scheme of legislation, should go hand in hand with our grand proposition for making England, instead of the United States, the pivot on which the civilized w^orld must turn. Otherwise our connexion, such as we propose it, with Canada, would be like the fellowship of the cracked earthenware with the brazen vessel — not leading; to the benefit of either. W^e must, then, reduce by no trifling measures our debt, our annual expenditure and consequently our taxes. Let us briefly see what presents itself to be done. In the chief suggestion we are about to make, let it be distinctly understood that necessity and good feel- ing are ahke oui guides, as well as true religion and charity, and that neither scepticism, nor hatred, nor a daring contempt for the pure and holy doctiines of Christianity, imiuences our hearts, or guides our peti. I'o those who may mistake us and fancy that we are 328 ASSISTANT MEANS, I urged by petty feelings to attack a system, or a class, we say " Our mission is beyond this ;" while, at the same time, we remind them, that charity is the prin- ciple on which their structure professes to be founded, and we demand that charity at their hands to interpret our motives, as well as to crown our views with success. We propose, then, a rigid and wholesale economy — not on the cheese-paring system which Mr. Hume (whose feeling, however, we admire) is in the habit of propounding — but a system which shall touch all but the poorer classes ; together with the sacrifice, we hope to say self-sacrifice, of the exhling Church of England, with all her schisms, difficulties, and dangers, that she may assist to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and rescue the country; and this to the ulti- mate, ay, and present, benejit of relujion — that we and the Church may live, and not die : that she may thus pre- vent nmcli crime and fraud, demoralization and misery on the part of her flock and charge, all tending to the general w^reck in wdiich she, herself, amid scenes of blood and violence, will become the first prey and victim. In addition to this scheme, there are certain "jobbed" estates of the Crown, which might accompany the ap- propriation of that property, which the Church has held so long for the nation, for the sacred purpose, which God approves and justice demands, the lightening of the bui'den o^ the i;cople. We also propose that taxes on necessaries — (for, do all we can, a surplusage of taxa- tion, by wluch we mean all taxation on production, must, for a time, remain) — be shifted by wholesa^< regula- tions upon extravagance and luxuries — upon eciuipages, amusements, clubs, operas, horses save those of draft % ASSISTANT MICANS. 329 and burden, used tor the j)urposes of production — upon all that, wliich would fill a pai^e to enmnerate, and which marks, in our streets and houses, the miseries of starvation and makes one end of that contrast in the condition of Great Britain, which shocks the Deity, nature and the stranger within our gates. Let com- missions of in(|uiry tax great fortunes, which encum- brances do not render nominal : above all, let alien Jews and gamblers in the funds pay for their licensed in- fiuence Kpon the credit of the country. Be the class necessary or not, it need fear no destruction. Avarice outlives all oppression and survives every disaster. For even King John and all his Barons put no stop to the usury, which they fleeced and tortured ; and the zccchins and hesanis, plundered by them to the benefit of ciiculation, soon found their way back to the hoards of Isaac of York and his brethren. We think that landed ])ro[)erty has enough to strug- gle against ; for though we destine Canada to be the second granary of England, we deem it best that her own bosom should supply her first nourishment and we should regret to see one acre of ground go out of its present cultivation, which we consider would be the first faint, actual, apparent ste[)s towards thi-eatening London with a desolation such as marks the site of ancient Nineveh Railway property, we think, might bear something, and the whole body of solicitors, whose incomes exceed a certain amount, mii;lit pay a heavy tax to the necessities of the nation.* * Our reason for tliis proposition will be found hereafter dialed. Tlic British nation having ah'eady i>aid off, in many instances, nu^re than the ori{>"inal sum borrowed, a modification of tlie oft, ii propn-cd sehenn" of equitable adjustment niiuht be adopted to assist om- sehemes. Hut ,-> f'^-*v"'; 330 ASSISTANT MKANr.. fi.. Let sucli thinus as these be done, and we will then rc-eonstruet a Chureh upon tlic purest (lo(;tnnes ot" Christianity and maintain her amid the blessings ot" the ])eo|)le. We '.vill then eliallenj:;e the world to a eom- |)etition of art in Hyde Park, or, if need be, on Salisbury Plain, without i)eing eonstrained to eheek a sigh when we reflect that it is all " vanity and vexation of spirit ;" that the tented field of industry itself is but " A fancy fair built o'er the graves 'ncath our feet ;" and that the stalled glories of English ])ersevei'ance and talent are only the expiring energies of the mettled horse of labour to attain the goal of — nothing ; whilst the pencil of a Holbein might draw the figures ol' Starvation and Destitution mingling in the crowd : with the workhouse, the i)rison and tlie convict-ship, looming in threatening significance behind. We, that cannot now sustain 30,000,000 with a pro- ductive i)Ower equal to 000,000,000 of people — what might not our i)osition be upon the face of the globe, if we chose to undo the cord of our own strangulation, at the price of a few^ knots wrought only by the fingers of evil ? We are not Utopian ; for tlint is not wild and fanciful which can be done and, being done, would save a l)eoi)le. The bitter folly is not to do it and to check with the sneer of superficiality and selfishness the dictates of philosophy, feeling and reason. Posterity will, no doubt, sift great facts of present petty motives, and she will sav to our memories — " O foolish aire ! * o without looking to abstract justice, we object at any time to the ruin nf chisses and the destruction even of a false system of credit. Otherwise, we do not think the nation owes the debt at all. f>"\ ASSISTANT MKANS. 3;m I then IR'S Ol" of tllC , coni- iisbury I when j)int ; ICC iiiul iicttlcd ires ol' crowd : jt-ship, 1 a pro- — wluil lobe, it" ilation, lingers fanciful save a clieck CSS tlie ostcrity notives, ill age ! llir vu'm ot" )lliorwisf, that invented steam and built i;iand temiini to rail- ways, why did you run blindlold to ruin ? O House of Connnons! deafened by your own voices; () Church! divided ai:;ainst thyself; O Ministers ! tliat, in your strui::gles for the reins, when the chariot of the State was run away with, forgot only tliat it was necessary to stop tiic horses ; O peojile ! that suffered all ; till your patience became frenzy and guilt lit the pile of ruin, which the torch of reason miuht have taught your eyes and foresight to avoid — answei*, from the records of ])ast history, if your folly was a sacritice demanded by Heaven ! No : we can repioach the Deity with nothing. He lu.s given us all and sends even accident to menc' the errors of our rulers. It is our own latuity alone, that will not grasp at redemption. It is a singular feature in the follv of the times, that whenever the subject of expenditure comes belbre the Pai'liament of the nation, an attemj)t is made to reduce the army and the navy. It is true, that we agree to a certain extent with a part of a dictum of the Times * " that war is bankru})tcy," as we do entirely with the remainder of it, viz., that " bankruptcy is revolution." War, indulged in to too great an extent, must impoverish a nation, especially when it does not make reprisals, or shine in framing treaties after conquest ; while the poverty of a populous country, i.e., the poverty of the many and prosperity of the few, must lead to violent results. But are we to hope for the regeneration of * Tlie Times, January, ISiO, (luotcd by a clever pamphlet on the slate of the nation, entitled, " ThcCurse licniovetl," from which we have taken some liints, althongh our views with regard to Church property weri' long sjincc developed and decided. k-i;' t' ! i^' ;i;v2 AS«ly'IAN"r Ml A\S . r ■*. ■I iimiikliul, bccaust' war is disastrous? Are vvc, after so iiKiii\ years of naval and military eoniljatsand victoiies, to lay aside our victorious arms and trust to the for- bearance of our foes — in the face of America, in the face of France and of Russia? Why, nliat sickly trash — what weak abandonment of our defences! What jjaltry savin*; — a few thousands of men thiowu out of cmpicnincnt upon society, to whom, whether om wars were well direcled or not, we owe so much. Surely, this is the meekest desperation and the mildest drab- colom'ed folly ; as if a Quaker should i^ive an opiate to his own watch- dos; and leave an o})en JJible near a bureau of plate, to convert a iiam; of exi)ected despera- d(/es fiom their })lans of piilaire. lleduce the army and sink the navy! — ay, and build more mills and adult Sunday-schools, that the poor artizan may have no holiday: then, p;ently recpiest France to disband some K ur bundled of her rcLiinients ; but first preach decorum to a wilderness of monkies, or expect a (V'W o! lister .s to refrain from blood, in accordance with the fast of the Ramadia, or the |)urifyini>; statutes of the Book of Moses. We rcijjret to say, tliat it would be the right policy of the Government at this iuoment to increase tlie army — of a selfish and wicked government, from in- ternal motives, to check, with a strong hand, if it can, the first throes of famine, misery and oj)prcssion ; — of a wise government, from external considerations, look- ing at our position abroad ; at the preparations of France, amid all lier troubles, which alone have kept her quiet, as far as we are concerned ; at the gigantic schemes of the United States and the silent monster growth of Russia. The introduction of steani-sliips ASSIMANl MK.VNM. aa.i 2, alter so vicloricH, tlie tor- ill the i'iwc ly trash — ;] What )\\n out of r our wars . Suivly, dest (hah- 1 oi)iate to jle near a (l tlespe ra- the army mills and 1 may have disband irst preach peel a den jc with the ites of the ight policy 1 crease the t, from in- cl, if it can, .'ssion ; — of tions, look- [\rations of have kept he gigantic nt monster iteam-ships renders it necessary to have fleets and armies ready. A week's delay is ruin. We do not, perhaps, appre- hend invasion, tliough we cannot see the imj)os>il)ility of it, were we un[)repared. We do not think that even Ifullah's chorus of " Rule iiritannia " would friichteii the enemy from our shores, as easily as the red cloaks of some old women are said to have done in fornu'i- days on the coast of Wales. Who can count upon French sympathies, aulipatiiies, or action? What, if this were reserved for the last tableau of the diama, which connnenced with the abdication of the " Napo- leon of Peace?" TIk bate us wiih an inveterate hatred. The expense ( ai attempt with their army and navy would not l)c great, since their army always exists, and their steam fleet is always ready.* The French have hitheito, to a certain extent, found a safety-valve for their wailike tendencies in Algciia. They have lately indulged in a campaign against Rome — an indecent interference in the sight of the civilized world, unprecedented in history, as it was an outrage uj)on consistency, good sense and the |)eace of Europe. France ! the irreligious, the democratic, the driver iorth of sovereignty for a trifling offence — France ! the innnodest step-daughter of the Roman Catholic Church, daughter of Revolutions, prostitute of every sanginnary change — she to reinstate the in- tolerance and bigotry of mediaeval cardinals and re-lead the personified dotage of Italian Papacy to its throne, at the head of revolutionary ba\ onets ! Sure, such a " fantastic trick," as this, was never " played before high Heaven ! " But what, if this France * The French are now most aetivcly tiiiployed in ship-huihiing. The accounts in our jouriials. of the vessels launched at lin^st, Toulon, 1 ■ ■* i t - S-J IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) /. / « ^ 1.0 I.I 11.25 1^ 1^ 12.0 2.5 2.2 1.8 i4_ mil 1.6 V <^ /i "% t> Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 \ iV ^ .V '^ o <^ » O ^ 7A 'V ^. V #? ^ ^. ^0 'W^. -i f/^ 334 ASSISTANT MRANS. u ■■■ should, l)y some stroke of policy, to turn internal discord and ruin to more welcome and conj2;enial ex- ternal strife, make a grand simultaneous attack upon lier old enemy, England ? Would not this be popu- lar ? Would not this re-furbish the somewhat worn- out name of Napoleon ? A sudden dash of this kind would not be an expensive war to them. At any rate to us it would be far more so. What, if the United States should grasp at Canada, or Canada throw herself upon the Punir protection of the United States ; whilst Russia, at the same time, stretched an iron mace, like a mailed and threatening Thor, over Constantinople ? Is this a time to disband troops and reduce the number of sailors ? No : we would rather, at this moment, see 30,000 men added to the British army and navy — two-thirds to the forhaer and a third to the latter. It is another army we must think of disbanding. What, then, do we propose ? — A present tax of 20 per cent, upon all incomes of the Church exceed- ing £300 a-year and less than £700, with an ascend- ing scale till it diminish in proportion those which count up to £30,000; and the appropriation, at the death of its present /io/cZer,of every incumbency, preferment, or emo- lument whatsoever, to form a sinking fund, or rather to go directly towards the payment of the national debt. A cession of tithes,* with the exception of lay impro- &c., toll this ; besides, the introduction of steam will do much to equalize the future combats. It will destroy the j^reslige of our superiority and the character of the British sailor, and display a new arena for naval conflict. * Wc do not thus directly remit the tithe to the land-owner ; but wo admit that he and the farmer would be the gainer. For taxes on 'm \A ASSISTANT MKANS. 335 nternal lial ex- t upon ! popu- t worn- of this m. At L, if the Canada ! United ched an or, over )ops and \ rather, British I a third think of tax of exceed- ascend- ch count 'ath of its ;,orcmo- rather to nal deht. y inipro- to equalize eriovity ami a for naval ownov ; l)al '\)v taxes on })riations, whicli arc become ahsohitc vested property, towards })ayinii; the interest of the deht. The yieldinj; of the Universities into the liands of lavmen, where something else shall he taught than rebellious bigotry, or renegade tendencies to the Church of Rome, in the very bosom of institutions pledged to Protestantism and where the established religion of the country, together with morality and the sublime nature of the attributes of the Supreme Being, shall be taught by comj)etent i)rofessors, as contra-distinguished from dogmatical assumption and verbal mysticism. In fine, an interregnum of the Church for the benefit of the poor, with the solemn admission on her part to the Deity, that she has not well performed her sacred offices : all her voided estate being placed in the hands of Government, till the prosperity of the na- tion allow a more chaste and glorious temple to be built up again.* And this, for the honour of human the land and the cost of agricultural production would, by such payment of a part of the interest of the national debt, be undoubtedly diminished ; and in this way, the thing would equalize itself, in the end benefitting all classes of society. * This is not the place to enter minutely into the exact mode of the change. However, we would not injure the existing clergy. Perhaps it would be better for Government to have the lives of the present incum- bents valued and cither buy up their life interests, or pay an annuity. If they remained in their duties, they would merit more than if they ceased to be Churchmen altogether and merely received an equivalent for the loss of their livings. What then should be done with the churches ? Let them remain in the hands of Government for the declared worship of a majority of the people, to be united with the State as before. The Liturgy, however, might, at this moment, receive some valuable altera- tions. It strikes us, that until the Church be re-iriodelled upon eco- nomical and Christian principles, the service might be performed by laymen of education and station, who should sign an adherence to the ■ m.^ :j.- ' I ■.■::M:v . i^: j^. )''. I. -a 33G ASSISTANT MEANS, : i J i ■4 nature, and tlie dignity and credit of Christianity and true religion, we would have voluntarily proceed ironi the voice of the majority of Churchmen them- selves. Though we would give all credit to llial which relinquishes and denies itself the things of this world, yet it is to a sacrifice, if need he, of such a nature as this, that the ministers of Christ's religion are sworn and pledged hy their very tenets, faith and doctrine, founded on the ministry o^ Christ and His apostles themselves. Mark, we destroy and cut adrift no class of men. We hut require a partial abandonment of the loaves and the fishes from the living. It is merely to yield back, at the termination of their lives, the sacred trust they have received from the hands of the nation, in the name of God, to the nation, for the sacred cause of humanity and patriotism. Ay, and to save themselves and their great trust from the impending wrath to come. We repeat, it is the salvation of Religion, as well as of England, we advo- cate in propounding this sacrifice. i main doctrines of the national religion, and receive a licence from the Government. Many of the existing clergy would continue, doubtless, to fulfil their ministry. But this should be matter of choice. Of education we are about to speak hereafter. An equitable adjust- ment of claims might be made according to present means, ser- vices, character and learning tlwoughout, by means of a lloyal com- mission. At any rate, in the new solieme of an Established Church, we hope that no clergyman wouhl have more, or less, than J6200 a-year, and no bishop more than £3,000. Men would then enter the Church more frequently from the natural bent of their character and from really pious motives. Curates would no longer be half-starved and be forced to appear as gentlemen on less than the pay of mechanics. Imagine the number of clergymen that would be maintained for the value of one sinecure in the gift of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Exactly seventy-live working ministers of Echgion ! ASSISTANT MEANS. 337 ity and )roccc(l 1 tlieiii- to lliut of this such a religion ith and and His and cut , partial from the [nination ved from ;l, to the itriotism. •ust from it is the we advo- ce from the doubtless, choice. 01' :ible adjiist- mcaiis, ser- lloyal coiu- Church, we 200 a-year, the Church 1 from really nd be forced i. Imagine the value of •y. Exactly To say that there is anything wild and visionary in such a scheme, is to assert that the very principles of Christianity are so, and to demonstrate that the whole existence of the Christian Protestant Church is a system of contrary fact founded upon an adverse fable.* We do not wish to enter upon a controversy about what texts of the Holy Gospel are to be taken in their literal meaning, and what are to be rendered according to the convenience of their interpreter. But w^e claim for ourselves the privilege of inscribing on our ban- ners the essence and spirit of all that Christ and His disciples said and taught, best rendered by the words, " Charity, Meekness, and Purity," and let Conscience wave them for man's guidance in the light of Heaven. Pointing to these, we say, " Up, ye that slumber, up, and be doing ! " whilst far beneath, worldly Wisdom is sternly whispering the necessity of her lesson. Let the Church humbly return her responsibility to its Divine Giver. She has shown herself in many ways, which we will not abstain from briefly enume- rating, unworthy of the trust. Abuses and indulgence are rife in her. Let her demand a fresh lease, a new * If the system be founded on a fable, the Church denies its own fable. If it be not a fable, but a truth, how (h-eadful the increased responsibility of their utter and profane contradiction ! In the annals of corporations and societies, there are many instances of a cnniplcte change of principles, so that you no longer trace their origin and first creation in their after-proceedings — whilst only the name remains to puzzle tlic writers of " Notes and Queries," even that becoming changed in its abstract meaning when applied in illustration of other things — following in its change the aberration of that to which it was originally the title. But what shall we say to that which still deties and quotes, preserves and contradicts; as if an army, whose first nucleus consisted strangely of Quakers, should persist in calling itself " Peace," whilst cngaocd in the sacking; of cities and the desolation of flic world ! \ '- !' \. .:.: .!• i ■•"■ I i ■■ i-H • » *0"6 z 338 ASSISTANT MEANS. t of ! \ mission, and remember, that, in so doing, she benefits the poor, that die in workhouses and the streets ; whilst her ministers too often eat the bread of idleness and waste at the expense of a nation. Let her remember, that she but anticipates a far more evil day and com- plete ruin, and will nobly assist to save the blood of thousands to be shed in the dreaded Apocalypse of Revohition and Famine. Alas ! if ye will not do it, thrn ye imist. Tn our next chapter we shall enter more fully upon this subject. ■ "i til i>: -: .I'k- > . fe"^ benefits ; whilst less and neniLer, id com- ilood of [ypse of 3t do it, ter more CHAPTER II. VOLUNTARY SACRIFICE OF THE CHURCH. The treatment of this subject is th:^ most difficult task we have proposed to ourselves.* In whatever way it is handled, it must give offence to a great many. The superstitious will join the worldly-minded to crush us with reproof, and silence us with hostility and slander. We wish to refrain from making an attack upon the Church. But how is it to be done ? Every text we (juote, every fact we bring to witness, will be found condemnatory, if not misapplied. Their application, however, we will leave in great measure to the sense of the nation. Conscious of the grave nature of our * Rear Admiral Sir Charles Na])ier lias just appeared iu the chnracter of a well-meaning but bold lleformer of abuses, which none can question. His motive has been patriotic and his pen determined as his sword, relying as he docs on the sacred nature of his cause. Is not the treatment of Sir Charles Napier a recent sacrifice upon the shrine of humbug and wanton abomination, which ought to disgust all l^juglaiul? His high-minded exposures of a corrupt system have only succeeded in laying up in ordinary one of England's most gallant seamen, viz., himself. His discrdlon, forsooth, is imiJUgncd ; but with a mischievous art, which loaves the insinuation o))en that his tactics aHoat are indiscreet, as well as his righteous assertions inconvenient to the respectable "owlery ;" against which the glories of England have to wage a more arduous conflict than they have to oppose against the cannon of her enemies. z 2 ■ H <.. . : fi ;P) ■ ) ■ ■ n-. ■_ -sn 340 VOLUNTARY SACUIFICE _ ( I', t'' J':.- '?.i- «mi. undcrt.'iking, bclbrc we begin to argue, we I'eel the necessity of citing the few following sentences from tlie moiitli of Christ himself, to give us courage to speak out, in opposition to a powerful hierarchy and a priest- ridden community, sentiments, in whose very truth lies their danger, as they are subjected to the cruel misinterpretation of malignity, to which interest alone supplies the venom of slander. In his various charges to His disciples, and con- (lein nation of riches and the pomps of pharisaical conduct and deportment, we find, amongst many others, the following passages : — " Distribute unto the poor, and seek treasures in Heaven." " In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.'' " I have com- passion on the multitude, because they have nothing to eat." " He that is not against us is on our part." " Go thy way : sell whatever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven, and come, take up the cross, and follow me." *' And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved, for he had great possessions." " And Jesus saith unto His disciples, ' How hardly shall they that have riches enter the kingdom of God.' " " Which devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayers, these shall receive the greater damnation." " Then He called His twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority, and He said unto them, ' Take nothing for your journey : neither staves, nor scrip, nor bread, nor money; neither have two coats a-piece.' " " Rather give alms of such things as yc have." " But woe unto you, Pharisees ! for ye tithe mint, and rue, and all manner of herbs, and pass over - ;\i i^l: el the 3in the speak priest- j truth e cruel X alone id con- irisaieal others, lures in hing for ve coin- nothing r part." give to Heaven, " And 3ved, for ith unto v^e riches widows' rs, these 'hen He |ve them n, 'Take scrip, nor -piece, c have." the mint, lass over OK THK em: lieu 341 judgment and the love of God." Woe unto ye, also, lawyers, for ye lade men with hurdens grievous to he home." " Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass, in your purses." '* And He commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey : no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse." " Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes." " Beware of covetousness, but seek the kingdom of God." " Give alms; provide yourselves a treasure in Heaven." " Take care that your hearts be not charged with sur- feiting and drunkenness and the cares of this life." Thus, by the very words preached from, every Sun- day, throughout the churches of the land, we judge them. Is not the fact of the Christian Protestant Church in the nineteenth century a lie, in the face of these ? Have words a meaning, and do sentences con- vey a sense to hearing ? We might now proceed to quote the fathers of the Primitive Church, who bear an equally severe testimony to her duty, and we leave to the sense of all, whom interest does not affect with a voluntary blindness of Ananias and Sapphira., to make the appli- cation true and identify the meaning. "M^i it is sufficient to observe, that, during the first age.- of the Church, she was voluntarily supported. The Council of Antioch expressly forbade the bishops to have a part to themselves of the goods of the Church, which were given them to distribute. The commencement ot tithing was in the corruption of the Primitive Church. The ancient canon enjoins them to be content with food and raiment alone. So much for self-condemnation. We doubt not that, amid her schisms and struggles, enough has been I '■.•■1 v-r ^ !'V ; I 1 : I ■ t . ■ '5 :h'2 VOrJJNTARY SACRIFICK 1 said lately, vvvn hy the modern seetarians of the Church herself, to illustrate our position ; hut \vc take, we trust, higher ground in leaving these to prey upon the eoinmon vitals, without exacting any due from the frankness of violence, or stealing one argument in the confusion of |)relatical controversy and the sway of the " Ahhot of Unreason." Let us not in this manner, at least, turn their own hands against them- selves. To us it is a spectacle too melancholy even to be edifying ; for we lose in the view of this childish rancour and this self-immolating intolerance, our sense of its furtherance of the plans and ideas we now herald to the public. When, however, we see this ancient inveteracy, this " vetus at que anliqua slmuUas" assuming the form of a new contest on an infinitesimal point of faith, we can scarcely shut our eyes to the fact, that if Christ himself should re-appear amid the money-changers in his English Protestant Temple to censure and reprove the conduct of the Established Church, the greater and wealthier part of that church would prosecute him for libel, challenge the purity of his motives, contra- dict his interpretation of his own mission, and call the Son of God himself an Infidel and an Atheist ! Let us leave these high grounds of censure for awhile, to revert briefly to them tow^ards the end of our chapter, after first regarding the worldly justice and reason of our plans. First, as to the probable fate of the Church, should it continue in the enjoyment of its present revenues and position ; and, secondly, as to the secular right of the Church to maintain* an oppo- * We do not h\ this mean an allusion to the present episcopal con OF "^(iii; en I uc ii 343 of the AC take, ;y upon le from merit in sway of in this A them- even to childish ice, our we now acy, this ! form of aith, we if Christ ingers in L reprove greater !cute him , contra- 1 call the 3r awhile, ' chapter, id reason te of the 3nt of its llv, as to an oppo- )iscopal coii- sition to the (Uctum of government and the demands of tlie nation. In the speecUly ai)pr()atliing general ruin, wiiich, on h)oking around us, we cannot help anti- cipating, should tlie same line of conduct he pursued much longer hy the seltish ignorance of party sciohsts, there can exist little douht that the Church will lall the first and greatest victim. If the country and her rulers have not sufficient moral force to achieve their own redemption, physical force will step in to assist them hy hloody and terrihle means. A war, with our land out of corn cultivation, and consequently a famine — nay, even the silent working of our present rash measures, will soon lead to a revolution of the belly. The text of Isaiah will not apply to the English people. It did not to the French,* even under a fourth, nay, in our opinion, a tenth part of the pres- sure which threatens us. " And, my hand hath flict about tlie regeneration of ba))tisni, and the defiance of a part of tin; Church to her Majesty's authority in Council ; but the spiritual right of the Church to keep its tithes and benefices wlien they arc recalled by the givers into their own possession. * The amount of tyranny to be borne by a people, when they are not represented by an assembly, in some shape, of their own, is inconceivable. But they cannot bear famine. The causes of famine do not produce revolutions ; for the majority of the people care little how they are governed. Give a nation food and comfort, and you may enslave it ; but no amount of freedom, actual or fanciful, will compensate for starvation. The French were frightfully and disgustingly tyrannized over; but the actual and immediate cause of their first llevolution, which was the parent of those which followed, was the " belly." By llevolution we do not mean lleform, or a change of dynasty ; but a social earthquake, when property, and consequently life, become entirely insecure ; and yet, at the very moment that we are writing, the Legis- lature is disputing wliether Ireland shall have a £12 or an £8 qualifi- cation : leaving the more important questions of the social condition and the distress of the sister country untouched. ■v I ■ 5 i't M ;:» :\4A VOLUNTARY SACRII'ICE i^ Ibund as a nest I Ik* riches ot" tlic people, aiul, as one ^atlieretli egu:s that are left, have I i^atliered all the earth, and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.'^ So iniii;ht, undouhtedly, those vvieked rulers have said who, from the time of William the Third, pledged the future labour of the nation, dishonestly and illegally to carry out their views, — as lon(j as the delusion lasted, and succeeding ayes chose to, and could, bear the irronyful burden. But, in the end, the vulture does return to the nest, from whence the eggs are stolen, in the shape of famine and misery, and then woe to the few that live on the pro- duction of the many ! It is thus that the Church will fall a victim as it did in France. What was the fate of priests there? They were chased, as if they had been noxious vermin and torn forth from 6very hole and corner to destruction. The gown and clerical tonsure were the signs for instant death. It was a reversed massacre of Saint Bartholomew from one end of the land to the other. Regard the popular feeling with re- ference to priests during the late disturbances at Rome, where priestly misrule had so long been established in a corrupt hot-bed of wickedness. The innocent suf- fered alike with the guilty and, whilst the w^ealthier purple-stockinged and red-hatted prelates escaped behind the intervening points of French, Spanish and Neapolitan bayonets from the fury of the move- ment party and its blind instrument the mob, several wretched monks and many of the humbler and, con- sequently, less guilty ministers of a creed, whose foun- dations are similar to our own, perished by a frightful death, torn to shreds Hke their robes, on the Ponte St. Angelo. But what has been the consequence in France ? 01" Tin: ciiiiicii. 'Mi) s one .11 the g, or »tecUy, ine of [)f the their eediiKj But, , from ne and e pro- ch will fate of (I beep )le and ;onsure ^versed of the nth re- Rome, hed in nt suf- ilthier scaped panish move- several d, con- e foun- rightful >nte St. ranee ? rn)!)al)ly, among all the nations of the earth, no priest- hood exercises better its functions amid tlu* sick and poor and is more pure and worthy in its conduct, tiian the present church in France. With moderate means, they seek, by piety and good works, to re-establish their fallen and degraded religion. At least this is the case of the maioritv. Never have we been more charmed in our lives by the observance of a true ministry of the gospel, than during our late residence in France. How dirterent the style and conduct of the Bishop of Marseilles, for instance, whose friend- ship we had the honour to enjoy, to the apparent mission and ministry of him of Exeter, or London. Accessible to all, ever visiting the sick, the janitressof his gate a sinn)le old woman, his time devoted to the wants, necessities and spiritual guidance of the people ! There, we recognized something like the apostle of a Saviour, whose glory was not vain-glory, whose lessons were simplicity and meekness, and whose divine mission of charity breathed the fragrance of humility around. But here we ask, is the word Bishop synonymous with cold-hearted and worldly arrogance ? or does it suggest a wider gift, a greater pow-er of beneficence to the poor ? Is it an amiable, or even a moral term ? Still our task is to advocate that this regeneration of the Church find not its baptismal font in the blood of any, save that Blood which it teaches was once shed as the great sacrifice of all. We would o'erleap the guilt of so terrible a'puri- fication and for this make our appeal to the members of the Christian Church, that they may anticipate the fierce demands and angry passions to which their own misconduct and the folly of the governments to which . " f. ■•^■"^ nr-TT-^rp-m ■.,»,■, .,,„-„r^^. ■ ■ -Jt 340 VOLUNTARY SACRIFICE ':>> li they have been wedded, subject them on the part of an indignant and suffering people. It is for tliis that we sav, let a voluntary sacrifice be made and let a corrupt church die a natural death, to revive under more virtuous auspices in more pros- perous and better days. An evil church has fallen upon evil times. Her existence robs the poor and insults the Deity. For awhile, let her perish. In war, churches are pillaged, shrines are melted down, sacrilege scarcely seems a crime. The trooper and his horse bivouac in the cathedral : the parsonage and glebe, or their equivalent, are devastated or demolished. But in a civil, or rather a social war, how much greater their ruin ! Such a dedication, on the part of the church in general to the cause of mercy, were as hallowed as the self-immolation of the Iiigh-souled individual clergyman, wdio should perish in attending the last moments of the dying on the field of battle, or in visiting with consolation and com- fort the pest-house, or the hospital. Let not optimists fancy that this country is beyond the age of physical force. Let them not imagine that the character of Englishmen is not capable of such deeds as have blackened the pages of French history. We are not so prone to change, so volatile, or even so bloodthirsty by nature. But, as the English character is more stern and uncompromising, more rugged and obstinate, than that of our neighbours, so will the struggle be more protracted and dreadful here, when it does come. An Englishman stands the test of pros- perity better than an inhabitant of any other nation. He feels that comfort ought to be his birthright, and that fantasy, folly, mischief, and change, do not tfS' OF THE CHURCIf. 347 )art of ficebe th, to pros- fallen or and h. In down, er and sonagc ted or al war, ion, on ause of of the perish on the id corn- beyond ine that of such history, even so liaracter ged and will the when it Df pros- nation, ^ht, and do not produce comfort. But we have yet to learn, that when the hour of patience and endurance is exhausted, when there is no health or hope of health left, when " the good time coming" is no longer whispered in his ear, by the most sanguine or impudent of his rulers, or misguiders, the Englishman will exhibit any more softness in his composition, than the Spaniard, the Frenchman, or the Hungarian, under the pressure of similar circumstances. He is already demoralized, and ruin soon hardens vice, till it assumes the terrific features of crime. Who shall set bounds to his rage, when he finds that his birthright is sold and all his privileges gone : when the giant moan of hunger shall arise over the land, like the muttering of a tempest ?* Have hundreds felt and written as we do, without reason ? Is all this fanciful ? Does the " mirth of the land" still exist ? Are we among a crowd of false prophets predicting woe in vain ? Is it a morbid phantasm that flits before us ? Are the people happy ? Are their prospects other than evil, terribly evil ? No ! All this is true. Our pages, like those of the many that have hitherto been strewed to the idle winds, as perhaps may be their fate, in reality resemble the leaves magnetically stirred, ere the thunder peal and the rain patter, as the livid scowl of the coming storm darkens the devoted valley at * The father of one of the writers of tliis work, a city merchant, farmer, and MP. in his day, as well as a political w riter and ])anii)hlctccr, a warner of Peel and an associate of Cobbett, told his son, that for thirty years lie had never laid his head upon his pillow without thinking of the fatal and dreadful consequences to be entailed, sooner or later, upon this country by its monetary system and the dead-weight of debt laid upon the neck of the people by a succession of mistaken, or trading politicians. I / * ■ ; < i.- M ^ 348 VOLUNTARY SACUIFICE '•^ V i > 'r .^1 1:' night. But the tempest may pass away and leave the land smiling, whose steeples still point unscathed hy lightning to heaven. Not so with us : when the plague of darkness shall have been suffered, by the cruelty and obstinacy of those whose duty it is to avert evil, to thicken in threatening terror over our devoted heads. Would this picture be considered much overdrawn, were it painted of Ireland ? And yet everything tends to reduce England to the condition of Ireland ; but with no resource beyond : with a population far more nu- merous, and one that will resist, before the frame of famine becomes so bloodless as to die on the roads and in ditches : the last throb of pulsation and the expiring breath to frame a curse being supplied by the nourish- ment of sea-weed and carrion; whilst the food and money of the people is shipped daily beneath their eyes from their devoted shore. Our circumstances will be different under a similar pressure. No sister country will vote us £8,000,000 of borrowed money and keep us down at the same time with friendly bayonets ; whilst opera- singers and ballet-dancers, enriched by her magnificent bounty and sometimes patronised by members of her Protestant hierarchy, embark each successive season laden with wealth wrought out of the taxed excess of a people's industry, to count their monstrous gains upon a foreign shore. But we shall fight and struggle, and break up the mighty stagnation from its muddy foundations and, amidst the general wreck, the hier- archy with all its institutions, perversions and con- comitants, will fall. This is the fate we would avert. So much for probable consequences, should the hearts of men still be hardened to postpone a necessary sacrifice. OF THE CHURCH. 349 Now, let us proceed to consider our right to de- mand that sacrifice upon minor grounds than those of the stern necessity, which destroys law, and is superior even to justice in the demonstration of the theory, or solution of the problem, that the few must yield to the many what the urgencies of the many demand. We hold, then, that the Church, in her temporal essence, is a mere Life Estate, or rather Tenancy at will of the people, and that the Government may, without injustice, possess itself of the Reversion, as Trustees for the Nation, whilst it may, also, under the pressure of necessity, levy fines upon abuses, enor- mities, monster endowments and even improprieties and schisms. We compare the revenues of the Church to the pay of the army, which it thus resembles in a sense beyond that of being called " militant," or an '^ army of martyrs ;^' such as it will be said we wish to make it. Now, it is not questioned, that, if we could do without it, the Government would be perfectly at liberty and would merit well of the country, were it to disband the standing army and fold its banners and shrine its silver kettledrums in our Cathedrals and banquet-halls, with the memory of those deeds of glory for which it has been distinguished. We assert, then, that since we cannot do with it, a similar power is vested in the Government to lay aside the pomps and ceremonies of the British Church d to cease to furnish the silver shrines, which cause us to purchase religion at too dear a rate for a sinking and encumbered nation. The spirit of the Gosi)el will not die for that, nor the memory of Christ and His disciples fade away from its dwelling-place in the hearts of men. The startHng infidelity which is one •^ .,,- ■vf ■ . ■.'.■■!' V'' !-. i.»-ifi'ii-fim 1 4 350 VOLUNTARY SACIUKICE ' ' .i r ■ If - i' ■ - * of the characteristics ot" this material age will perish for want of opposition. For how many weak, ay, and strong minds there are, that are unable to separate the idea of the Deity from the interpretation and con- duct of his ministers and are led to deny Christ ; be- cause the corruptions of the Church bewilder their understandings ! Without intolerance and abuse, we should not have a Proudhon.* Thus, God is con- demned often of His creatures, through the agency of man ; as if certain representatives pretended that they alone were sent by the Lord of a far country to some distant island, and should succeed in giving false ideas of that Lord to the colonists there, who should make answer, and say. — " By your deeds here, we are alone permitted to know This, your Ruler ; therefore, we will neither pay tribute to, nor acknowledge. Him, who, ye say, hath sent you. We pray you, therefore, begone ; for we have seen the error of your ways, and as the servant is, peradventure so shall be the master." Having stated our belief, that the property of the Church is held at will under the existing government of the nation, let us briefly urge our reasons and autho- rity for such belief, and then inquire, why a minority in j'eligious belief, who have fulfilled in no single parti- * Wc do not assert that Proudhoa is a result of immediate into- lerance. He is a curious monster, cast up from beneath the nnid of social ruin ; but his existence is the result of ages of bigotry and corruption. Ho has (in his essence) been engendered by a fungous growth beneath the corner-stone of religious despotism ; and as, when an old raoulderiug flag- stone is pulled up, flat noxious insects creep forth and wriggle their tails in the sun-light, so beings, like him, crawl forth on the breaking u[) of old edifices, and sting and run about for awhile ; till men have had time to consider how thev shall re-build amid the ruin. •'J .1^ OF TiiK cm UCII, 351 u'isli for ly, and ieparate nd con- st; be- er their )use, we is con- gency of hat they to some ng false should , we are herefore, ge, Him, herefore, rays, and master." ty of the /^ernment id autho- inority in le parti- diate into- tlie luuil of jigotvy and a fungous u(l as, when isccts creep e liim, crawl in about for 2-l)uiltl auikl cular their promised duties under their own dispensa- tion, have been permitted so long, to their own corruption and destruction, to prey upon the vitals of the nation ? What is their legal tenure of the property they claim, admitting, which we do not, that a religious establishment of any kind is abstractedly necessary for the existence of Christianity ? During the Reforma- tion,* the Government made a fresh disposal of the revenues of the Church, after providing for the life in- terests of the then present possessors, rherefore, if the Government at another period should choose to adopt for its spiritual aid the sect of the Muggletonians, it has a clear right to do so, by the very example of the Established Protestant Church itself. But we want it for the poor ; yet, if we know anything of Churchmen, they would rather yield it to Turks, than to any other sect approaching themselves : so bitter is the ani- mosity which a hair's breadth inspires. If a digression might be allowed, we should here observe how singular it is that the spirit of Papacy, driven away from its rock and stronghold at home, should now, wandering forth, find a refuge and a home in the heart of that country, which first shook her tenets to the foundation and raised the antagonistic principle of Protestantism to power and triumph. Singular, that these late con- verts — shall we call them so ? — equal in their modern bigotry the most violent spirit of the middle ages. They delight in ascetical usages, in the mysticism of emblems and the furor of a narrow faith. Theirs is the uncharitableness, the intolerance and casuistry, which form the worst compound of a religion that is * ride Ilallam, "Constit. Hist, of England," p. 78. ':'K -;r. r i . .1 1 ': 352 VOLUNTARY SACRIFICE : i ,-f- ''■V »Vi •"' «t' ^1'. ■ '-' ■ ' •^ 1 > • -i- r; '■•> l»:li ' " ;l '■. > ; t ' « , "r " •Kf •■f' :-S ',.1 ; >i ' i V*" ■'; • 4,' ■ '■ •'?■■ '■ ■■.'?-. perverted by worldliness, whilst yet aspiring to mystical refinement — a stone riddle, or sphinx, with eyeless orbits turned up to heaven, and feet of brass. Yet with these men, no means of conversion has been used, save the breath of the moral epidemic that has tainted the air of the groves and cloisters of academical learning ; Avhilst a mysterious surplice of vengeance has fallen over the shoulders of mild ecclesiastics, otherwise settled down quietly to their duties amid Lincolnshire fens or Wor- cestershire vallies : and nothing but an invisible flirt- ing of holy water in the faces of dull research, or upon the dial-indices of the most common-place minds that ever ventured to interpret the Bible to apple-visaged rustics, has operated to drive them into the bitterness of controversial dispute. They are only equalled by the party most indignant at their secession, and who, therefore, most nearly at bottom approach themselves ;* for w^e believe that all those most prominent in the schisms and renegade ca- prices, which are rife, would rather sit down to a supper of herbs with an Atheist, than hear grace to God pronounced over a Lord Mayor's feast by the lips of a brother, who should differ with them in a tittle of the doctrine of baptism, regeneration, the inherency of sin, or in any of those minute mustard-seeds of faith, or its pretence, which generate the roots of the enormous poison-tree of Tractarianism, or in any of those shades of diversity of opinion, which afford the origin of what the Times calls a " Shandean " fight over the schis- matic bone in the door- place of a minor booth in their Rag-fair of Intolerance. * Amongst whom now rages a subdivision of a schism. Truly, "a house divided against itself," &c. OF TFTR CHUUC'FI. 353 ■ It lystical s orbits h these ave the le air of whilst )ver the ;d down )r Wor- )le flirt- or upon ids that -visaged itterness ndignant learly at 3 that all 'gade ca- \vn to a grace to y the lips 1 tittle of erency of f faith, or liormous se shades n of what he scliis- h in their Truly,'" a Not that clergymen are generally careless of the merits of the meats over which they are called u])on to pronounce a blessing in the shape of grace ; but the cannibal fury of Ombos and Tentyra would scarcely suffice to exhibit, in their minds, a sufficient fervour of proselytism to the shadow over which they stumble. Yet the inhabitants of these two towns quarrelled, as is related by the memorable lines of Juvenal, about which or what things should compose their very gods themselves — should it be an onion, or an ibis, a croco- dile, a stone, or a monkey — " Crocodilou adorat Pars lia^c ; ilia pavet saturam serpent ibits i])in : Effigies sacri nitct aiirea corcopitlicei, Porrum ct coepe ncfas violarc " In our days, men no longer fight for the honour or existence of their respective gods, a motive recon- cileable to sense, if we pass over the absurdity of the selection ; but in place of this miserable heathenism, they do acknowledge a Sublime Being, and fight merely about how He shall be worshipped in the infinitesimal ceremonies and dogmas of provincial doctrine. In the midst of all this, human nature is equally weak, fanciful and vicious, as when Juvenal spoke out his awful cen- sures, Rabelais clothed his keen sarcasm in an excit- ing obscurity, or the controversialists Alexander and Arius splintered their pointed lances in the face of nations, and in defiance of an emperor ; to the total disregard of the well-being and existence of that Church, of which they were both erring and mis- chievous supporters. Finally, we must state our belief, that could such a 2 A 1 ' ;*« ■ ■ ' t ■,( ■ J t n . ■%■ $ ..( ■■{■ 354 VOLUNTARY SACUIFICK 4 . thing be fcincied, us tliat the whole world should godless reel and vibrate over the abyss of infidelity, and Crea- tion, by the voiee of man, deny its Maker, and spread a challenge over all the earth, like a carpet, tempting the Almighty to spurn his footstool and strike out Electricity from the deadened soul of matter — leaving impiety a blank on the record of Time, and ingrati- tude a floating and confused tradition in the memory of Angels, — if such a dread moment can be imagined by our fears, and such an act of punishment attri- buted to justice that is ever tempered by mercy, it would be occasioned by the hypocrisy, which has dared to tamper with the revelations of God to man, the falsehood and bigotry of priests, the monstrous perversions of rehgion and the cunning of the hnks woven by Pharisaical abomination, between the igno- rance and superstition of the masses and their own animosity and intolerance ; whilst the few are taught to rush into far worse perils than these ; — viz. the scornful impiety of hatred, or the spurious infidelity of desperation. But anger has spread its flight, where not even thought should dare to w^ander. Let us recur in a humbler strain to our subject. The Church is alw^ays liable to dissolution by the government, with a view to re-establish, or re-model it. This is in fact what occurred in the reign of Henry VIII., who, on the breaking up of the abbeys and reli- gious houses, appropriated to himself and his courtiers a considerable share of the plunder. Thus, into the hands of a wicked king and the greedy noblemen, who supported his views and iniquities, fell the half of that which we now claim for the poor, vvhich was then dedicated by him to the maintenance of the OK TUli t nunc H \'J,> )tUess Crca- ;pre{id ipting [e out invving iii;rati- lemory agined : attri- srcy, it 3h has o man, nstrous e linUs e igno- 3ir own taught viz. the leUty of where us recur by the [lodel it. Henry and reli- 30urtiers into the Dblemen, the half hich was ; of the i'.'fbrnied rehgion. But the Church is no corporation. It has no prescriptive term of duration. It is not inherited by descent. Nor do those who exercise the gift of presentation by which its offices are perpetuated, use their privilege, we fear, for tlie l)enefit of ReHgion, or the poor ; but rather for the same worldly purposes, which instigate the education of its members. To whom then ought its revenues to revert ? To the trusteeship of the existing government for the benefit of the nation. We can show that the ownership of Church Pro- perty has always been treated, as if it vested in the State. How else could Simony have been made ille- gal by Parliament ? Every act of Parliament, down to the present time, has been framed in such a man- ner as to show this plainly. The government has interfered with no other property in a similar manner. In addition to this we maintain that it has a right to determine ivhat the Church is. It has also prevented, by the statute of mortmain, the acquisition ot pro- perty to the purposes of church maintenance, and has as much reason to recall a conditional gift, as to prevent a free one. In every country in Europe, save one, where the Church is the State,* and even she, in her double identity and capacity, found it necessary to purge herself, the principle that the Church is created by, and is subordinate to, the constitution of the nation, has been recognized. If at any time a pretext for duration and ownership could have existed, * Even tlie revenues and property of Borne have been sold to pay the national debt, and for the exigencies of the State. The Cardinals, for a long time back, have been very poor in comparison to their fonnrr wealth. 2a2 ', t; I I i:]. m».,..-:<.»,iamm^mmm 'it 111'- , •I . ! •f i -«' ?■ r/tj ■ m -'if"-^ 350 VOIMNIAUY S ACKiriCi: it was on tlie part oi" tlu> Roman Catholic C'luirch. They were the iiidivifhials rohhed, if any, of an ill- gotten gain. Jint the Ketorination is the har or statnte of limitations to the rights of the Church ; at least even the llefortned Church will acknowledge this, ex- cept such of her members as have reverted to Papacy, in the douhlc fervour of twice- ventuied llenegadoes. Tliere is another consideration, which presents itself, irrespective of the arguments above. Charity towards the poor was the condition and understanding upon which tlie Christian Church ac([uired its earhcst en- joyment of prosperity. This can be proved with regard to Tithes in the strongest degree. If, then, Churchmen have utterly failed in the administration of duties, so morally imposed upon them, there exists a clear right to interpret against them in an equitable light. We re})cat, having shown that they have no Law, this fact should in Equity go far to drive them out of court. Let it be constantly remembered, that though we plead against, we only argue with, the Church. We ask for a voluntary concession of rights, which are proved to be absolute wrongs, at their hands, after showing them the justice and necessity of the case, and we expect that the bishops will present a memorial from all the good and most of the indifferent clergy, who cannot be so bad as to deny their Saviour and Tiuth, in the next Session of Parliament, praying for a dissolution of the Church for the good of their country, as the lives fall in. Some of them may go so far as to offer the benefices of the living. Be it for us, or rather the gratitude of the nation, to deprecate the fer- vour of martyrs in these modern primitive Christians. iirc'h. 11 ill- icit lit c least IS, ex- vpacy, (lofS. 1 itself, awards ; upon jst en- d with , then, ition of exists a juitable iave no e them lugh we We ich are s, after xse, and memorial clergy, our and mg for a country, 5o far as r us, or the fer- istians. OK rilK ( III K( II, 'a:>7 To tliosi,' who liold the (ioctriiu'S of Machiavel, or reason with Dimald Stewart, upon the lU'cessity of the Ciiiii'ch as a civil institution, merely to siijjport a government, and exercise a superstitious sway ovir the [)e()})le, without any consideration of its higher duties, its holy origin, and its emanation from the Deity, we reply, that such a national hyi)Ocrisy is, indeed, purchased at too dear a ])ricc. But we scorn to answer these holders ot" the " Double-doctrine," who deem, like the priests of Isis, or the Roman mythology of old, that the people must believe and tremble before the sway of their own religious Infi- delity. We have no argument with those, who go to church merely to set an example to their servants, and think, in the knowledge which dares to sit, secure in the philosophy of lightning rods, beneath the temple they profess to dedicate to the Divinity, that there is no union of silent blas[)hemy with an odious hypocrisy, which must draw down the wrath of Heaven. It is a melancholv thinu* to sav, or to believe, that this hypocrisy is valuable in a State oi- an individual ; even though it arrests open licence, and j)uts a check on depravity against the will itself. True, that, in this manner, false religion seems often beneficial, for she forces guilt to be demure, and men thus cloaked by her, hke mutes at a funeral, give the effect of decorum, and impart seriousness to the minds of others ; although they have beneath their ow n solemn robes the costume of masquerade devils, and merry-andrew^s. Though drunk with gin, or parched with the desire of the sanded tap-room, they have the power to look sober, and the corners of their mouths impeach the testimony '".'■V ■• 1- y.. ' '• ,i 358 VOLUM AUY SAC HI KICK IP.'i ' ' ■•'' ■ If '■.I it. X. N(' ^v- ?*• «'•?..,: oC tlu'ir iiosi's. 'I'liiis, the solciunity of a hurial is l)ix'siiv{'(l and tlu'v that meet them ^oini;, uneover their heads and think of dyini;, until the passinjj; hearse-plumes cease to tremhle. This, they say, is better than if the hody of a miser were eonveyefl in triuin[)li to the <;rave by his heirs ; or the corpse of a man, whether that of a siimer or a public; benefactor, carted ofi' with scolKui;, Above all, they advocate the " respectability " of the thing, and the magnificence of the outlay. Yes, it is true that this hypocrisy may, in an obli([ue maimer, preserve virtue and prevent crime, by causing, for instance, that two persons of an oppo- site sex shall not come to an understanding with each other, though the act be already conmiitted in their hearts ; or, that two murderers in a i)arty of three shall not say to each other, — " Come, let us shiy this one" — and so he escapes. It is this which may cause the ])roclamation of a general Fast to make a solemn impression on the superlicial mind of one that looks from a high place upon the roofs and slates of the houses, though greater than ordinary gluttony and feasting reign within : each man saying to his soul — " Let others fast, for I have a holiday seldom." It is this, which makes the Sunday air feel purer amid the ringing of church bells, though it is a day of love-in- idleness, when seduction, fornication, and drunkenness, are rife in the crowded city and her outlets. But is this the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ ? No ; nor a religion tit to live, or necessary to the guidance of States, or the well-being of man. Let us revert, for a brief period, to the subject of Tithes, which we propose gradually to sequestrate, and in(j[uire into their origin and purpose. We will not -m r m OF THE ClIUKCII 369 I rial is iu;ovi'r )assini;; say, is >ye(l ill r|)sc ol -lactor, ;ate the ;ence oi" may, in : crime, 1 oppo- th each in their :ee shall one"— use the solemn it looks of the )ny and his soul m." It imid the love-in- [ienness, But is ^o ; nor lance of ibject of rate, and will not derive them from an '* unrecorded revelation made to Adam" ; like a lenrned and imz;eni()us divine some years asz;o ;* hut sim[)ly refer to the institutions of the Jews, until the destruction of tlie Temple. The word tithef sii;;uities tenth ; therefore, the Clerfz;y oui;ht to form a uiith of the ])o|)ulati()n ; hut Aaron and his sons formed a tenth of a tenth. Therefore, the rest went lor the Levites, the pour, the straui^er, the widow, the orphan, and the Temple. Hut we are not aware that Christianity contains any authority for tithes. The first mention made of them, aceordini; to Jilackstone, is a general moral recom- mendation, A.D. 780. In the time of (jluthrun, this was made binding and afterwards ratified hy Athelstan. There is no question, but that at least a fourth part of this was destined for the i)oor. \t' the Church be a corporate body, with a rii^htof succession, and have the ownership of this property vested in them, what an arrear is due to the poor u})on the original conditions ! Why, the accumulation, at a very moderate rate of interest, would be enough to buy up from them all the revenues of the Church, at their own sale price. Blackstone, in alluding to the 15th Richard II., c. 6, says — "alms, for which, among other purposes, the payment of tithes was originally imposed." Cer- tainly, then, if we are to look at the origin of things, the poor rates, at least, should be paid by the tithe. The * Cove, " Essay on the Eevcuues of the Church of Liighiiid." f The extraordinary Bhick Book, page 9. enters fully into tliis sul)- ject. The spirit of this riglitly-named work is too violent for us; hut most of its facts are true and unanswerahle. Burton, in speaking of Tithes, says " the rejection of such a provision is certainly no point of Christian doctrine. JUit this impost (namely of a tenth part) could be reasonable only so far as it was expedient." I , ' * ■• i' . --^rrtx.A-.--^^'illiiiiSiilii 1*1. # t* ' j; ■ .' , ,t^..' r ■ .''S ■ ,F 1; ■1 I. ■■*■■■■ 3G0 VOLUNTARY SACRIFICE revenues of the Church, in the shape of tithe, being a tenth part of the produce intended by God and nature for the present fifteen millions of English, are enormous, and must breed hatred in a suffering people. If the Church will not save herself, let the Government step in and save her from the consequences of this depre- dation. We might continue at great length the subject of cessation of tithes for the maintenance of the Church. We might enter more fully into both the legality and equity of the question. We will content ourselves with a very few more general and particular remarks, both as to Church property and tithes. In the first place, the Church has been called into being in her former, and consequent present shape, as a temporal impersonation of certain spiritual ideas, persuasions, and beliefs, by former legislative bodies of the State. It is an axiom, that what a legislative power has enacted as a law, the same power may annul or alter ; as well as a postulate of that axiom, that what a State has given and ratified, she may, at a future time, recall and abrogate. No law can be imposed, which a sovereign power cannot change, or dispose of. Therefore, with- out one word as to abuses, or necessity, the judgment of the existing Government, which is supposed to in- terpret the wishes of the majority of the people, may even do away with the Church altogether. But although the members of the whole Church taken collectively may be considered as a body politic, and are, therefore, subject to the policy of the day for their continuance ; yet we think that equity demands that the individual interests of present incumbents should, ill great measure, be protected. Thus, we conceive -r^ OF THE CHURCH. 36 1 eing a lature mous, If the it step depre- ject of liurcli. ty and rselves marks, 16 lirst in her mporal asions, ate. It inacted as well .te has all and i^ereign , with- Igment to in- !, may But taken ic, and Qr their Is that should, onceive that the life-estate, when once vested in a present pos- sessor, ought not, in equity, to be disturbed without due compensation. Nevertheless, in strict law, we conceive, as \\r have before remarked, that property in the hands ol the Church is held only at will. Buf again, if a misapplication of a thing, granted for certain purposes, is shown, we consider that even equity can afford no relief and that policy and forbearance alone suffer its enjoyment to continue. As to tithes, let us briefly revert to their history. On the institution of the Church, there were no tithes at all. They were commenced for purposes very different from those to which they are now applied, and were for a long time only gratuitous, being given at discretion of the owner of the land to any religious persons he might choose."*^ It was only in the time of King John that tithes were in any way legally con- nected with parishes, or rectories. t But what the law has done the law can undo, and therefore it is evident that a law may be passed re-appropriating Church tithes to any public service. The statute of Henry VIII. gave to the King, for carrying on war with foreign nations, lands and the property of charities which had been endowed for pious purposes by founders, but which, the priests having been expelled, were actu- ally reclaimed in vain by the heirs of the founders. * This may ^^ ascerttiincd from the following authorities : — 3 lust. Gil; Year Books, 7 Edw. 3, I, 7; -W Edw. 3, 5, 22; Lib. Ass., 26S, pi. 25 ; Se!d. Hist. c. 10, s. 2 ; kc, kc. f About the year 1200, by a Decretal Epistle of Pope luuoceut III. to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the i)eo})le were directed to pay them entirely to their own parish Churches. This was afterwards adopted into our Law. * ■ r< !• . ■■'-; 1.. : .:i-li r^' 1 ■'s i'-^ ';» :l 1 ' . '"■ '•* ' .'i'' %' : "'^; ir ' i i'-- K ■ . ' '^i 1 ' }v- [ ■' ■' ■»♦"■' ' f-: , • r : *':' ', wtl i ■ -i!;5/ 1 , -' -i| V tiU i -■ -A r ;;*^: * • ■.•• 362 VOLUNTAKY SACRlFICli For the argument was, that, having once been given for public purposes, viz., the furtherance of rehgion and charity, they could not revert but to the State, for such use as it should deem proper. In the face of all this, churchmen have, it is true, preached up a divine right to tithes ; but even this is asserted in a most vague manner by all those writers favourable to Church doctrines, who have any legal knowledge of the mai- ter ; for they know that it was impossible for the Church to lay claim to any tenth part, or tithe, which would have been a defined attack upon the property of the pubHc, and they have therefore always called their demand, in the name of Heaven, quota pars* By this quota pars can only be understood that, which is enough for the ministers of the Church to live on to to be demanded from householders for their mainte- nance, which might pass into a definite commutation by the laws of a government in lieu of the dismes, or tithes. Many learned authorities might be quoted and many divines from St. Paul to Thomas Aquinas, in support of the fact, that there is no divine right to tithes on the part of the Church ; but that certain payments were granted by law at various times, which have been since utterly perverted and abused, which the law that gave them can recall at will, and make what use of them it pleases. f * Doct. and Stud. Dial. 2, c. 55. f As it is certain that all tithes were of Ecclesiastical origin, it may be asked, why, in some instances, they arc no longer Church property. Why should individuals appropriate, what the State cannot touch, if, indeed, we are to believe that in this respect the Government is power- less. It was the abuse of Keligious or Monastic Corporations in appro- priating to themselves tlie profits of Churches, to which they had the right of Presentation, whicii gave rise to a Secular person being ordained OF THE CHURCH. 3tJ3 I given -eligioa ate, for e of all L divine a most Church 16 mal- for the I, which )roperty s called ( pars.*' t, which ve on to mainte- nutation ismes, or oted and Liinas, in right to t certain 2S, which id, which id make A statute was passed with reference to the clergy — 21 Henry VIII. — which contains these words, — *• For the maintenance of hospitality, the relief of poor people, and good opinion of the lay fee toward the spiritual persons." A comment on this statute hy Sir Simon Digge, says, — " I would wish every clergyman to re- member that the poor have a share of the tithe with him." Do they ? Have they ? The greatest principle of all upon which to act is this, that certain things were granted by various Acts of Parhamentfor various purposes, and that these purposes have ceased to be fulfilled. A new Act of Parliament can recall them, and no divine right can be adduced to interfere at the beck of men, who cannot even settle the foundation of their own doctrines, define their own power, or state their ow^n principles : w^hose facts are bishops, their speciosities acts of grace : w^hose doubts religion, and their religion a varied right of in- terpretation of the one divine Book, in which assuredly no authority whatever can be found for the wealth, intolerance, or pride of the Estabhshed Church of Eng- land. If it was granted by Magna Charta, " that the Church of England shall be free, and shall have all her rights entire and her liberties unhurt," it is not thereby defined what that Church is. Her rights are certainly not those of individuals ; but the legally directed claims I ■, n I. . !'■»»' igin, it may i\\ property, ot touch, if, nt is power- )ns in jippro- liey had the ing ordained as Vicar Perpetual, to inform the people and to keep hospitality there. St. 4, H. 4, c. 12. 1 Black. Comm. 384. Lord Mansfield in speaking of the system of curates said " It would be a strange argument to say, that persons of that description could possibly maintain the hospitality which the statute had in view, and which ought to be kept up." Surely, if possession is held by service, the non-performance of that service should alone work a forfeiture. ■v. i !:,:i: ■:i\i 'a:j ' ^ '^ f i ■■ ■ ■ !-**'■ - - ^r \-k n.' ''^m 5. i 3G4 VOLUNTARY SACUIFIC'E 'V- . ;. 1 '>. :y^^ i' 'C' tf/- • .*.- 'i\ of a spiritual essence. We are inclined to think with St. Paul, that charity should he the greatest essence of all. We have written at some length on the power of the law over that, which is called Church property, and on the influence of the sovereignty of opinions ex- pressed through the Government as to the existence of a Church ; but let it be remembered that all we ask for is a voluntary sacrifice and a dignified cession.* One subject still remains. It is the education at present vested in the bands of the clergy, in our uni- versities. To this we most decidedly object, and to support our objections must allude to the grossest misconduct and the worst efiects of it. We have purposely abstained from a general attack in detail upon the corruptions of the Church. We have only hinted, in most general terms, at their enormous wealth, and, in great measure, consequent faults and errors. Let the pages of such a work as the Black Book be dedicated to the damning proofs of these. But, as to the administration of the universi- ties, w^e cannot forego a word. There, the lawgiver is prepared, by the system of private debt and the utter recklessness in money matters encouraged and con- nived at, to tamper and sport with the prudence and honesty of a nation. There, insolvency is a jest on the * The whole of these arguments have been at various times set forth and adduced by various writers, at great lengtli, and witli great ability. One of the clearest and most powerful writers on this subject is Mr. William Kagle, in whose works many of our Aicts on this subject will be found, as well as many others of equal or greater importance ; whilst the whole doctrine of the power of the State to confiscate Church property on behalf of the public is most logically and legally set forth in his writings. OF TFIR CHURCIf, 305 k with nice ol' ;• of the y, and lis ex- istence we ask Dll ^ ition at )ur uni- and to grossest l1 attack h. We at their 1 sequent work as )roofs of jniversi- \"giver is le utter nd con- ence and st on the cs set forth reat ability, jcot is Mr. subject will nee ; whilst ate Church Iv set forth lips ; whilst a narrow expediency is tauglit to cramp the heart and conchict. There, " a want of prudence makes learning ridiculous ;" even if one carry away learning. There, faith is taught in words, to be used only for a purpose. There, the dead languages are the ill-taught slovens tiiat keep a back-shop in the Pan- I theon of fair-proportioned knowdedge, and, thence, men issue forth into the world to wrangle over a sur})lice, or to be fleeced by Israelitisli cunning ; because they do not know the common rules of life, or how to live. There, the Jesuit has a nook, and the concealed Romanist a dwelling. There, health is lost, evil habits are acquired never to be cast aside, and cant, conceit, arrogance, and dissipation, nurtured. It is " the march of youth against age, of inexperience against experience, of children against j)arents, of folly against wisdom, of consumers against producers : it is the advancement of political ignorance and retrogradation of the virtues." Whilst the man that lives to him- self there can only acquire the diploma of a book- worm, at the expense of all the useful and moral learn- ing that should deck his youthful path of ambition, domestic worth, or social independence. There, the vices of age are grafted on the recklessness of youth ; whilst, to crown the whole, the monster Extravagance, leading Debt and Ruin in her train, joins the Baccha- nalian rout of the Passions to surround the bier of Reason, and guide her thoughtless votary astray. Let us refer, for an exposition of college life, college studies, college habits, and their effects, to a little w^ork published some years since, entitled " Oxford Unmasked,''^ of the truths contained in which we * Published by Effingham Wilson, 18 IS. It went through several "■'ri' i ! 1 ■■■'ft:.-' i r. ■ I' 1 .. ■'■y. ! i'"i 1)1":. ■?*-'■ 366 VOLUNTARY SACRIFK E ■ifS,:. .' "i .* <-•■ ?. have as yet seen no refutation, and tlien exclaim, with the motto on its title i)age, •' lUuc tiunidi incedunt, lih)c publica prccmia poscuiit." {P(dingen,in Leon.) We cannot, in leaving this subject, forbear quoting the closing paragraph from the '* boiling lead of this philippic ;" whilst we would fain deprecate its severity ; if our convictions would allow us. The author con- cludes by a mock lamentation over the wTath he sup- poses himself to have drawn down upon his head, by revealing the secrets of the prison-house, and the fol- lowing is his climax. We, more fortunate, and, we hope, more persuasive, only deal w^ith remonstrance, and address ourselves to the best and not to the w^orst upholders of the church system. But hear a " Gra- duate." ** O, * ye Budge Doctors,' not of ' the Stoic fur,' but who hnow so well how to combine the Cynic for others wnth the Epicurean for yourselves, — ye sacerdotal trainers of youth, ye mysterious jiamens and flaminal mi/sts, ye Masters of Arts but Art-less Masters, and ye rubicund, portly recruitincj Serjeants of the Church militant, — spare us your just wrath and your holy indignation ; since w^e have thus dared to reveal the arcana sacra of your den of imposture, and, in remov- ing the prophet-veil, have discovered the grinning features of Mokanna. Spare us your hornet-stings ; although we have thus boldly attacked your nest. editions, we believe. It has a mock dedication to Sir Robert Peel, as the voluntary self-pledged reformer of abuses according to 'A^v. Tamworth Manifesto. ■i\ OK THE CHURCH, 367 n, with Leon.) quoting of this 3verity ; lor con- he sup- lead, by the tbl- and, we istrance, le worst Gra- (( fur,' but )r others icerdotal jiaminal ;ers, and ; Church Dur holy veal the n remov- grinning !t -stings ; )ur nest. lert Peel, as Tdtnwortli Alas ! already we feel the scorpion-pointed arrows of your wrath. l(o fim fini, i I KTTOov o apcii; xplti fi ittrvnog {yEsc/u/l. Prom. Vinct.) Spare us unfortunate, wiio would wage war, not with yourselves, but with your principles, your craft, your cunning, your intolerance, your hypocrisy, your fawn- ing spirits, your injustice, and your heartlessness ; and we promise, if we survive your indignation, in grati- tude to omit the last of the thousand and one in- stances of your baseness, which we have in store." Surely all this is not merited ; but if any of it be, it is an argument against education being in the hands of churchmen. Let, we say, the Church teach the Church alone, in her new and improved state of exist- ence, and teach her better. Above all, let care be taken to select for their piety and merits those who are to preach, and upon whose example the eyes of millions are to be fixed.* We have been led to dw^ll, at much greater length than we intended, on this most important topic, amid our proposed items of Redemption. The late misconduct of some of the most prominent membcT''^ of the Church tends in a hii h degree to give force at this moment to our appeal to its members on behalf of the nation. Let it not be supposed, that we allude to ♦be frequent reports in the newspapers, as to the * Tliis is certainly not the case now. Morality forms no necessary ground-work for a clergyman. This, probably, together with the idle- ness of their lives, accounts for their numerous escapnrlcx of the clergy, since newspapers report everything, before the public. \ I :;,'-:l' X |,i . --v ■ I ■ t a'. I t-.v. iii 3G8 VOLUNTARY SACRIFICE :!;. ■ !*•»! 1 .' ^ i 1 • ,'ff ;} ' ; ■ ■ i' ' i ■ .'^ : -i' '.■\ :, '2 i . / .-'.'?>■- ■ ■'•■:-H ' • 4- d f > ;-'*'^r' ■ ■ ''f'^-" !;■ M I ' '-.,■- ' ij/-. 1?"?; < |:. Ji t^ s ' 7. 1 '*■ ^f. .7-...-.- -V,. i ' < " "; -.• . ■ ■ ' f {'■ ' Ik \ \ ' ' r' ■ ' ' .•i" •..\i- .. ■^* '•■•,* i ' ''■ immorality of clerijymen, althoui^h these are stfirtline; ; but to what may he called j^^ro/Vmonw/ squabhles in hiujh quarters ; as, for exami)le, the present case of (jorham V. Exeter ef, Uinc, Exeter v. Canterhiuy, and so on. C/iacun pour soi is, at least, their war-cry, if not Dieu pour tous. When a blind neglect of self-interest pro- ceeds from exalted generosity, or devoted simplicity, it is an edifying spectacle to look on ; but, when bitter animosity destroys the mutual good of two that ought to be one, the i)icture is indeed painful. The authority, too, of the Government set at nought — a quarrel betwixt Church and State ! The really pious Minis- ters of our Established Church must stand apart from this in meek disgust and horror, and think, as we do, that, when such things conspire to their ruin, virtue may be better than necessity, even if they could not otherwise quite make up their minds to make a noble sacrifice of self, conspicuous, indeed, in the annals of religion. With such a high steam pressure from w^ithout, and such a fatal and disgraceful dis^union within, they feel they must go. " Let our deaths be- come us, at least," they cry, " if we have been unholy in our living." Even the more worthless part, if such exist, will say " If we have clambered into the fold by insidious means, let us make our exit at the door opened by the hands of a nation, with some appear- ance of dignity and decorum and carry off what we can, before the dish is knocked from our hands and the scramble becomes universal. What we save we shall secure ; whilst, at any rate, our lives wull be safe and our consciences, if we have any, lightened. We have now boldly dealt with a subject which the timid and cautious would approach with difficulty, or OF THE CHURCH, 3G!) •tline; ; n hii^li orluim so on. >t Vieu st pro- icitv, it 1 bitter t ought thority, quarrel Minis- l apart k, as we ir ruin, jy could make , in the pressure :lii^union ;aths be- 1 unholy , if such the fold the door appear- t we can, nds and save we II be safe ed. diich the iculty, or rather entirely avoid.* Pcrliaps ])rcdictions of this kind are as dangerous in their enunciation, as is the neg- lect of them by those for whose benefit they are uttered. We have fearlessly intruded upon holy ground , .)ut with bare feet and due reverence. If we have said too much in our zeal for that, which we feel to be right, good men will pardon us in their appreciation of our sincerity. For the censure of the blind and selfish, we care nothing. Surely a modified attack, not on true Christianity, but the corruption and perversion of an establishment which claims to represent it, will be par- doned in an age, when a leading review talks seriously of the " dignity of utter unbelief." Must we say, that we should have escaped censure better had we re-edited Paine's works, or professed open infidelity, as our rallying point, against Church tenets, rather than her property V Yet, for this by many we had been more easily forgiven. We have now considered, not the propriety of the destruction of Christianity, or the final destruction of the Established Protestant Anglican Church ; but the necessity of a change — that good, and not evil, may ensue. We have shown that there is one thing needful for her to do, enjoined by charity, piety, and justice, for her own ultimate salvation. We have painted the consequences of not doing it. Let the * Those who advocalc gi'cat and swcepiiif^' reforms la any abuses arc seldom thanked in a present age ; but, like martyrs and heroes, must seek their reward in the future, ^os ffv ixoiTorpi^wi'iov. "Give me tliat threadbare cloak," says Aristophanes, " that 1 may clothe this informer." We shall be lucky indeed if wc receive a cloak for our sins, even if it be threadbare, at the hands of those whom wc offend. But let us add, in the words of the same author, 'Outoi xa'Pi'^eToc, ortrj Vt rcf) Sjj/*(jD ^vvuixvvTov naXai. " Vov that you havc been for long conspiring against the people, you shall not on this account escape with impunity." 2 B ! iV ._ i 1 ■^] V 370 VOLUNTARY SACIUFICf; I ■.■■...' 'r J .Ml V*?' '.Iw?"- clergy be purijed of wealtli and they will cease to jireach their rehgion only to wronj; tlie name of its divine Founder. The following reproach uttered by Carlyle will then cease to sting ; because the exception he makes will become the rule of well doing. " Why," he says, " is it, that the only unvvorldliness to be found amongst them is to be found amongst those to whom poverty leaves no alternative? " Yes, it is the distressed and over- worked curates, with a few of the smaller and poorer parsons, who alone redeem the character of the Church. There is no '* eye of a needle " suffi- ciently small to express in a figurative sense the difficulties of a bishop to attain the Kingdom of Heaven ! Even as we write, the " system " draws to an end. The Romanist Bishop, as he counts with satisfaction the number of the " flower of the EngUsh clergy " who have lately " gone over to Rome," does not anticipate a general amalgamation under the Papal banners more fervently than we, in more melancholy mood, foresee complete ruin, if our voice be not listened to. The Roman Catholic religion was, at any rate, the general creed of France. Hence its resuscita- tion after the *' age of reason." With us there seems little hope that, should the Established Church die a violent death, she will ever rear her head amidst infidelity and schism again. Let her look to the end. na\ai(j)aTog S' Iv [dporoig 7£pwv Xoyog rirvKTai, fxeyav reXsaOivTa (jxvTog oAj3ov TBKvovcrOai /i»}8' imaioa Qv^okhv, Ik S' dyadag Tv\ag yevei |3Xaarroi'£M' aKoptarov o}Zvv. * * * Ol rilK CHURIU. .i/l »rcach divine I then nieikes e says, uongst loverty ed and er and cter of " sum- ise th(3 doni of mi end. Lsfaction clergy " oes not lc Papal ancboly be not s, at any esuscita- re seems urch die d amidst i to the iuv fioAy, ro O 4I» VlKUi >). f^Esc/ii//. Ay am.) Let us now revert to our other projects, which, when blended in a wise scheme of iegishition — together with a jjrudent and rigid economy pervading the whole machinery of the State, not shown by dis- banding our army, and yielding to the dictates of blind sentimentality our supremacy on the seas ; but by putting an end to jobbing and those ancient abuses which Time alone has made respectable — will go hand in hand with the development of our grand object in Canada, to make England again free, glorious, and happy : for a country is neither free when she is in debt, nor glorious when she is on the brink of tamely yielding her possessions, nor happy when her people are bowed down by taxes, and suffering from crime, over-population and poverty.* * We cannot forbear from adding to tliis chapter the following oft- qnoted sentence from the Statute of Articuli Clcri, " Nee debet dici tendere in privjudiciuni ecclesiastlcio libertatis, (juod pro liege et Eepub- lica necessariuni invenitur." "Nothing can be stated to tend towards the injury of Ecclesiastical Liberty, which is found to b. , ressary for (the welfare of) the King and the Republic." Lord Coke observes of this in 2 Inst. 62.5, that it is a sentence worthy of being written in characters of gold. I V ■ i. • j(->.' ' i •i b2 .■•■vf ••if CHAPTER [II ASSISTANT MEANS AND DEBT We arc indebted to a ])ain|)]ilct, viz., " A Lcttci" to the Manufacturers of Manchester, by a citizen of Edinburgh," entitled "The Curse Removed," for several of the suggestions, which will be briefly offered in this chapter. The above writer also strongly advocates the adoption of the proi)erty of the Established Church for national purposes. This idea we have long maintained ; but we derive several valuable observations from the rest of his proposals. At any rate, we find in this little work, facts, which, if they had otherwise presented themselves to our minds, are briefly collected and put in order for us. First, the manner of reducing the debt by an equitable arrange- ment. By an equitable arrangement we mean, that the nation is certainly under no obligation, moral or legal, nor is it expedient, to pay £100 for £60 or £70, the amounts originally borrowed, of which the interest has been regularly paid ; although it may choose, for the sake of the present holders, innocent of the deeds of our forefathers, and for its credit's sake, to acknow- ledge the debt, and to shrink from a total repudiation, which would be fatal and terrible in its consequences; although such a repudiation wndd be one of strict jus- tice, and based upon the rights of man, as between k ASSISTANT MKANS AND DKUT. ;i73 r. Li'ttci- ntizen ," for briefly rongly )f the Tliis several posals. lich, it' minds, •st, the TanLj;e- lat the legal, 70, the nterest )se, for edsof cknow- iliation, uences ; ict jus- )etween f:;cncrntion and i^cncration. For we hold it to be nn axiom tliat no Covernment can have a rii;ht to |)a\vn tlie future indusliy of a nation; nor has any the i)rivi- lege of anticipating (he yearly revenue at all ; except it be for the purpose of d fending the soil from the ag- gressions of other nations, or for an immediate self-evi- dent benefit, or return ; such as a great and important l)ublic work, or grand annexation. Therefore, there can be no excuse for any other than a defensive war-tax creating the nucleus of, or increasing, a national debt. However, we have to contend with an evil as we Hnd it, and, if possible, without a violent shock to the com- munity. It is for this reason that we would combine all means in our power to make up the sum without recurring to first principles of justice ; and thus, in the first place, we merely propose that a tax should be laid, estimated by the writer we have alluded to at 7i per cent, on the capital of the debt calculated with reference to value, according as it is at 3 per cent., 3^ per cent., or 5 per cent, interest, and also with regard to the price actually paid on the creation of the stock. This he states would \ei\vc the public debt at about £600,000,000. Surely this would not create such a shock as Sir Robert Peel's Bill, which lifted the value of the national currency, with one fell swoop of experiment, to hurl thousands into the abyss of ruin. If it be stigmatized by those concerned as a robbery, it is a nuich less fatal robbery than that which despoiled all the poor debtors in England of 50 per cent, by doubling the value of money, without reparation or warning.* But * Wc remciubcr to have scji it ably stated l)y some political writer, iu comparing the tiiiaucial tricks of Pitt ami Peel anil their f.tr. ■I : J •' ■'; si ' 't *• " , s ■).; n 1 :'. ■4 :'■' ^i' .■■5 .■ f ' s 374 ASSISTANT MEANS AND UEB'J . an exception might be made in fiwourofall very small holders of stock ; since a moral scheme of adjustment may be held proper in a case of which the worst features have been produced by an utter abnegation of both law and equity together. If the national debt has consequences, " that a robbery of debtors by a sudden alteration in tlie currency is so much worse than a robbery of creditors, by the far greater amount of misery wliich it entails." As Pitt made money cheaper, he increased the value of production, lie, thereby, although committing an injustice towards creditors, benelittcd the country generally. J3y his establishing country banks, which he did by sending eminent London bankers throughout the country, he circulated capital. Trade, manufactures and agriculture were rapidly improved, land advanced in fee simple value from .tlO the acre to £10 and £50, and the only mischief that occurred was that e/ifailcd i/pon jws/cr/f// through the debt. This was the cause of his being called "The lieaven-born Minister." But ]'eel, b^' doubling the value of money, which for twenty-two years had been settled, caused a distress and ruin in his own day that no language can describe. The poor and needy in the sliapc of debtors were ruined, and the national debt increased in value, to the loss of the nation : for the great mass of the public debt was borrowed in money depreciated to the amount of between 25 and 35 per cent. There is this difference between a monetary fraud of this nature practised on d(;btors or creditors, viz., that a robbery of debtors remains still open, whereas that of creditors is at once settled. In the one case the money is in the debtor's own control, and the Giovernment merely says "pay half." The affair is settled, and things soon Hud their level. Nay, a national robbery of creditors gives even a miii) to the industry of the indigent, as in Pitt's case. 15ut in a robbery of debtors, by tloubling their liabUities, the day of payment is nuide more and more distant and impossible. The debt always exists, credit is shaken, individuals are ruined, stagnation of commerce, agriculture, and trade must ensue upon the doubtful state of things, and the public debtor is charged witli a double encumbrance, though he never received any value for it. And this fatal measure took place when the public creditor should have been met on equal terms, and in defiance of reason, justice, prudence; nay, "the hand-writing on the wall " had not sufficed to prevent it. Well may our descendants question the motives ol' these men. But wc shall recur to this in our sunnnarv of the condition of England. ASSISTANT MEANS AND DEBT. 375 he been produced ))y a wicked and wanton proceeding, in which no law was observed, surely equity may interpose its relief. For the basis of equity is to do justice in those cases to which no strict written law can apply, and to exercise a species of virtuous casuistry in those extraordinary cases, which the involution of human affairs creates. It is the heart and feeling of legality, whilst law is the head alone. Therefore an adjustment of this kind must be a matter of feeling founded upon right, and yet checking right ; for, above all, we hate to think of the destruction of classes. Still classes, which have grown fungus-like upon abuses and follies must be curtailed and cut down for the benefit of others, who would not have suffered but for the political errors which originally gave birth to them. Let it be remembered that the present existing monetary class would leave the agriculturists nothing. Let it be re- membered that it is a dangerous part of the connnu- nity, that it is bent on making England a wholly trading community, that a wholly trading community can never be long or finally prosperous, and let us impress upon them the necessity also of giving up a part for the whole. The next thing which we wiil take into considera- tion are the revenues of the " Woods and Forests." Every one must remember the exposure of jobbing details, not long ago, which proved how wretched a use is made of these by the Government. Let, then, this property be sold, and, in the hands of private indixi- duals, it will soon become of real value to the pros- perity of the country. If some additional expense should be incurred hereafter in ship-building, in which we hope to see no decrease, for we say ever, be it re- ■" it ■': a:S, 'i^4 . • --"I- ' . r*^' ' ■ i' H S'V ib^ I't,, t i ^m M -^^v '■iA 37G ASSISTANT MEANS AND DEBT. •• - ..it. ■ : U- }\ i ■ m ( ■.i,k membercd, wltli tlic warniiii^ shade of" Darin:: in the Greek tragedy,* "Build ships! ships! ships!" this may very easily be saved by a decent eco- nomy and some attempt at management in our dock- yards. The Commissioners of Woods and Forests frequently do not get more than an eighth part of the return which should be made.f For example, let us look only at the managemeiii; of the New Forest. We do not think it necessary to specify the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall ; but we think these might be yielded. A sliding-scale tax on all large properties would realize an enormous sum. Then comes a tax upon railroads. Of this we are not quite certain. However, the object before us is to make an equal pressure throughout the United Kingdom. Is there not wealth in the country ? Certainly : it is proverbial still all over the world. Could we pay off this debt ? Assuredly : with ease. Private fortunes could do it, whose owners would scarcely be missed in worth, or number. But wise legislation can do it better still, than by any system of plunder and injustice. Must we perish through blind- * ^-Eschyl. Porsoc. f Since writing the above, Lord Duncan, in liis speech in the House on tlie Window-tax (April 9tli), made the following observations upon the management of the Woods and Forests : — " When he was told that economy had been carried as far as possible, ho recollected that tlic same thing was said two years ago, when he brought forward this mo- tion. Since that time it had been his good, or bad, fortune, to be chair- man of the Committee on the Woods and Forests. It appeared that in that department of the State the practice prevailed of deducting the expenses of the department, and paying the residue only, instead of the gross receipts, into the Exchec|U':'r. 1 [e stated fearlessly that two years ago, out ol' an income of £370,000, only .£00,000 found its way into the public Exchequer." ASSISTANT MEANS AND DEBT. 377 az 111 ips ! " eco- dock- aently return konly [lo not Lcaster ielded. realize Iroads. : object )ut the antrv ? world. 1 ease, would it wise tern of 1 bliiid- ic House ous upon told tliiii that tlic tills 1110- bc chair- ed that ill cting the fad of the two years wav into ness, througli avarice, through narrow-mindedness, through petty ambitioi through ignorance, superfi- ciality, and want of daring ? Must injustice bind the land as with a cord, and the groans of the people receive no interpretation from the mouth of Wisdom, till Necessity hurl Folly from the place she has usurped, and the cry of all will be — " It is come ! it is come !" Our taxes upon fashion and frivolity should be enormous. The inventions to supply luxury wnth novelty and excitement are become so numerous, that the absence of a few years induces one to inquire the use of things like a child. There is scarcely a notion , iioweyer fanciful, that is not pandered to by invention. This prodigality of science alone cannot teach us to prolong our own lives ; whilst it wonderfully forgets the comforts of those who minister to our necessities. The fine linen and curious hose of the rich are the product of almost skeleton hands. In proportion as the produce of the loom is delicate, the fragile attenuation of the artizan lends horror to the circumstances of its production, did the wearer only reflect upon them. Now and then some popular writer, whose needy circumstances have taught him familiarity with distress, gives a momentary shock to content, and ruffles with daring breath the swans- down of extravagance. But the majority read this as they would a tale of misery translated from tlie San- scrit, or Runic tongue. They do not see, hear, or feel it. The history of all the starvation in Ireland, painted graphically in a brilliant leading article of the Times, does not affect individuals so much, as the chance sight of one Irish beggar dying on their own doorstep would do, For people do not tiiink of abstract sorrows, . J .'■t,' :: l-l 378 ASSISTANT MEANS AND DEBT. ■ ' , I. • ¥i<^ i; Misery must be rami)ant and dreaded, to be attended to. It must parade the streets with a loaf transfixed upon a pike-head, and cry " Blood or bread ;" before its inward pangs become universally recognised or known. It must be from the trembling of charity that the dew-drops fall. By this, we mean to cast no general reflection upon human nature. That, indeed, were unav^ailing. We expect neither a moral, nor a physical millenium ; but that the world will continue to jog on the same, presenting upon her surface, it is true, many new features, but never changing the in- born attributes of man. Whilst there is nothing new under the sun, in the elements of materialism, there is nothing that is not new in composition and circum- stance. So it is with man. For awhile nations dete- riorate : the demoralization of a century, or an epoch may occur, as at present it is occurring ; but we are no nearer universal philanthropy, or self-government, than we were fifty years before, or after, the flood. Therefore, it is the circumstance of this age which destroys charity. This is done by the universal monied influence, and the struggle for existence which takes place. And here let us remark, that it often is not the fault of the rich and the aristocratical, that they do not reheve want. As we said before, they do not see it : it is their ignorance which refuses. We all remember the story of the Princess Charlotte, who said " Why should folks starve, when there is such good bread and cheese ?" We do not believe that the Queen of England is at present much more aw^are of the state of things in England. Starvation is to hei- an outward fable. If she knew it, she would set an example of economy and charity, till attention to the ASSISTANT MEANS AND DEBT. 379 tended iisiixed before ised or ity that )ast no indeed, , nor a ontinue ce, it is the in- ing new- there is circuni- QS dete- 1 epoch we are rnment, e flood. 3 which monied h takes not the they do I not see We all te, who is such that the aware of to hei' d set an m to the wants of the poor should become a fashion. But to feed the idle is to rob the good. It is not by eleemo- synary means that the evil must be stopped ; but by the application of relief to tirst and second causes. The first cause is the debt — the second, taxation. The debt is the father of the fatal monied influence ; the misery of the people, the daughter of the greedy iiag, Taxation. There is money enough in the country : her industry and resources still exist. But her wealth is like a false circulation of blood. Now it rushes to the extremities, as when 2;old flnds its wav out of the country. Then it flows violently to the heart, which may be represented by the Bank of England. Amidst all this the people labour, labour, labour. No fluc- tuation beneflts them. The resources of the country diminish slowly before foreign competition, unsaddled by the same cruel restrictions ; whilst seeming pros- perity has only hitherto drawn out a lingering exist- ence through miracles of invention, industry, and science. But it is time that all this should have an end ; and when it is time, then the time insists. The country is fatigued by the " sweating system." by which all her branches of labour are carried on. It is time to con- sider that fools and knaves shall no longer prostitute the blood and sinews of Englishmen for their own base purposes, which they weave up with the sickening cant of morbid philanthropy only to deceive and plunder their countrymen. Before the cry of sauve qui pent, there is yet hope to save.* All are not blinded : there are * We cnnnot forbear from quoting a line or two from a late ballad in " Blackwood's Magazine," which, in a bitter, facetious humour, re- veals tl:e folly of our measures and playfully (?) strips corruption of its ; ■ n t/ .'.■" ''wS 380 ASSISTANT MEANS AND DEBT. -I some that think it yet worth while to utter a warning voice. Our attention has been (h'awn very forcibly to a series of articles in the Morn'my Chronicle, entitled " Letters on Labour and the Poor." We arc wrong to assert, that Evil in her struggles to be known is uot already partially successful. It is the (jeneral recognition of the necessity of doing something, which avc earnestly and piously ad- vocate. Arc we to prevent, or to be cured, and in the cure veil to the iinglliig of clever rhymes. It is no subject for jesting ; but the deepest lessons may be often thus conveyed, since tlie heedless read them and reflect, before they have power to forget, whilst they avoid a sermon, or a horiily. What terrible revelations have not been made in " Punch" ! Tie labourer, the needlewoman, the skeleton tailors of tlic Hebrew Jew, vemorselessly overlooking them : true type of the capitalist grinding dov/n poverty-stricken Industry. All these points would have escaped popularity, had they been written in solemn volumes, thick as the *' Newgate Calendar." The piece is entitled " BntauCs Prosju'riti/,'' and is thus headed by a sneer in its misnomer : — " Wages must tumble, like leaves in a hurricane. Under this grand competition of work ; Britons shall toil for the Jeio and American, Chinaman, Bpaniard, Mulatto, and Titrl- — Each village Hannibal, Fierce as a Cannibal, Eyeing his neighbour like Bishop or Burke. .h. Banish all notions of British ascendancy. Let them be wip'd from our memory quite : Modern views have just an opposite tendency, As hath been clearly expoiuided by Bright. Let lis be sensible, Britain's defensible. Not by brute force, but by maxims of right." Blackwood, April, 1850, ASSISTANT MEANS AND DEBT. 3S1 raniing a series tiers on rt, that )artially ccessity isly ad- tlic cure ting ; but !(Iless read !y avoid .1 11 made ill lors of tlic : capitalist •ould have [lick as the , 1850. run the risk of loss of life or limb ? In the last letter up to this date, xxxiv., there is a history given of the state of /ace-xmxkiu^ in the town of Bedford. Let us hear a dirty, ragged being, whom the lady of a Rothschild must still acknowledge to be a woman, and not a piece of hideous machinery working in a foul atmosphere. This machine, — no, (thanks, gentle lady,) this looinan, for it utters articulate sounds of distress, and has chil- dren — you may see them there " unwashed," — speaks as follows : — "This lace that I'm at work at is lace-edging; it is what is called a ' rrench ground,' and there are three stitclies to a pin in it. I gets 2d. a-yard for it from the lace-buyers, and it takes me, if I stick close to it, six hours and a half to make a yard of it, and then J must loorh as hard as I can to get it done. My two eldest girls work at it somethnes, but there's three others that don't do nuich. I can't sit to it all the week round, as I have got other things to attend to. Years ago toe used to get double and treble what ice get now for making lace ; it has fallen down shockingly. This is the real British lace — ])illoAv lace — all made with the bobbins ; there's not a bit of machinery in the town ; no, and I wish there never was none nowhere else — that I do. Now I can't make more than six yards in the week, do all I can ; and that is a shilling — that's just what it is. If I can save it till it comes to a dozen yards, I should be able to get '2\d. a-yard, that is 2.^. 3^/. a dozen. They won't give us more than 'Id. a-yard for less than a dozen yards, because they've got to pay something to the lace-joiners, who join the pieces when they're less length than that. The lace is generally bought here at Bedford ; but then it's mostb' sent away to London or some other place. When Q : •.I '>'■■ 1 t''i W '.^ • t i 382 ASSISTANT MEANS AND DEBT. take half a dozen yards to the lacc-lmyers thf^y make you take so iniicli thread out of" your money. 1 should hav(; to take three ha'porth of thread ont of every shillhif]^, that's one slip ; and if I was to go to the draper's, or any other shop in the town besides the lacc-l)uyer, I could got eight slips of the very same thread for a penny as he charges mo three-lia'])ence for one ; so yon sec he takes a good profit out of the thread, besides what he gets out of the Ince. I've got five children." She has got five children ! The fecundity of poverty is extraordinary, " As if ill Death were propagation too," Can we not fancy, that the lace issuiuij; from her hands would be " sicklied o'er " with the dingy yellowness of age, before Time had mellowed it to the reclicrche fancy of the curious dowager? But this is not conijilaint : this is no drawling song from Manchester of " We've got no work to do," blended in the giant murmur of our groat Babylon : it is employment — honest labour ! The woman gets her bread, feeds ; though she does not wash her children. They arc not fat, and she has vague notions about machinery, and that it ought to be put on the fire- back. She cannot sift causes, or effects : — what does she know of taxation ? She does not know that she is con- tending against half Europe, backed by other machinery — against Europe, where living is cheap in comparison to what she can purchase. She does not comprehend that from every stitch she draws is to be deducted a monstrous per centage for the wars of Pitt, the mistakes of Peel, oui- debt and taxation, and liberality to other nations. She does not imagine that the grateful Greek owes her money, and that slic has a hand in a blockade, accursed ASSISTANT MKAXS ANI) DEBT. 3S3 nke you have to I, that's ly other fct eight irgcs ine )(1 profit he lace. poverty er hands wiiess of ^le fancv H plaint : ^'^c'vc got • of our r ! The not wash e notions tlic fire- does she 3 is con- achinery arison to end that lonstrons Peel, onr lis. She wes her accursed of a glorious navy, for the benefit of negroes sold by their own people to other nations.* In fact she is a stranger to the folly, selfishness, and philanthropy, which dry her bones for the benefit of cant, and the glory and comfort of aliens. (iJod help her • — we would not tell her, else she would mournfully buiicl her head in hopeless apathy, or rush frenzied, like a French amazon, to lead on the terrible mob of Revolution. Two-pence in six hours aiul a half ! Let her work in silence. Why should she feebly appeal through a j)rinte{l journal to her rulers ? They are deaf aiul will not hear. " Heboid," answers one, " I have money in the Stocks ;" and a second, "Regard my cotton mills;" and a third, "Do I not preach patience ?" and a fourth, " My salary is con- stant ;" and a fifth, " I have cheapened knowledge, and the people may read for a farthing, if they have light after worktime ;" and a sixth chalks up " Prosperity " on the iron shutter of a model prison flanked by gin-palaces, and says in a thousand very eloquent words and diversity of phrases, " My mission is not to prevent sin, but to punish it, and to send hunger abroad into wildernesses to perish, and to furnish the nation with 8,000,000 green spectacles, that the poor may eat shavings for grass and die contented." Lo, as he speaks, he smiles ; but, as he smiles, there comes a heavy cloud, and his face darkens, where he stands, till it is seen no longer. Why, then, should she appeal to them ? Let her wait a little longer, and the Avhole system shall fade away ; but first carry her aAvay with it, like one pale ghost amid many dissolving in the wreck of a nation, and thus shall the poor and the oppressed be avenged, though not righted. * It cost US £30,000 a-ycav to innbitnin captured negroes. v. ;' ' in ■i l-f- 11 384 ASSISTANT MEANS AND DKBT. Nfty ! lut every voice speak. Let every tongue be heard in unison. We are now the direetors of one small part of the chorus, whose burd( u is '*' Save I'lngland : save tlic country ! " Like the vast tide of workliouse life-in-death dc^picted ])y tlie poet Hood, let tlic mass stream fortli and strike upon the iron gong tliat liangs by the gate of " Desp.'iir," and the rulers nmst answer. Listen to another woman speaking faintly through the Chronicle, Mark, if the poor girls, in addition to their ten hours a-day, cannot get " something from the i)arisli to keep them from starving, they're not virtuous and goes in the streets." "Oh! the merry maids of Eng- land," whose chastity is registcr(>d at the workhouse at the weekly price of a shilling or eighteen pence, paid by the strained fibres of the industry of the nation ! 0, little children, with dirty faces, whom Christ would have suffered to come unto him, behold his representatives sit in purple, and fine linen, in the land, where ye perish ! Listen to the Chronicle. " I often look at the poor little children, and see how they makes 'cm sit shut up in their room for eight or ten hours a-day for their penny* or two pence — for they can't arnc more. I thinks often what a cruel thing it is for the poor little children. But then what are you to do with 'em? I argues — why, nothing. Where there's a parcel of girls, and no boys' money to help the poor people, they must be badly off ; how can they help it ? Some of 'em only arne 8s. a- week on the farms, some only 7s. My husband is a horse-keeper, and he has to go at four o'clock in the morning, and doesn't come home till seven at night, and he gets ds. Qd. a-week. Then he has to go to the horses on Sundays, and he gets losniiill i*.!;laml : k ho use c mass hangs swcr. ugh tht; uir ten u'ish to us aiul )f Eng- rkhoiiso pence, of the whom hold his \e land, I often f makes 1 hours ^y can't it is for A to do here's a he poor lelp it ? s, some has to 't come a-weck. he gets ASSISTANT MKANS AND DKIJT. :is; the extra Cu/. for tliat ; (lie 1)6'. is for the other six (hiys — that's l,y. Or/, a-day, and we pay '2n. a week for rent; so how could we do with tlirce girls at home, mdess they arned a trifle, if it's ever so small? There isn't nobody that works at the lace as hasn't got a husband to bring 'em home something as they can live upon what they arnes. The girls as isn't married, and works at the lace, are o6/i^c'ci all of 'em to /nice muictliiiiij from the parhh to h'ej) \'m from atarr'ni// — or else they re not virtuous, and (joen hi the .streets. It is now, you see, Sir, that lace has been so bad, is because a great many of the people are so low, that they arc obliged to make this lace to get a little bit of money (piick, like — that's where it is." Yes, that is where it is — one stitch between the p(>()pl(' and starvation, their energies and industry driven at full speed to the utmost, what remains beyond ? The people of Ireland were fed on potatoes. There was nothing beyond. Potatoes failed. Then Death reaped his ci ap, the people. There is nothing beyond the poor of England. All is stretched to the uttermost. Work can do no more. Shall we illustrate, once again, at a venture, our ob- servations on the luxurious article of lace? Let not prosperous ladies suppose that they do harm by wearing hice. Quite the contrary. They alone stand imme- diately between these wretches and utter starvation, by using the article. They are, perhaps, bound not to en- coiu'age French manufacture ; but they have nothing to do with the condition of England in any one of its phases. The causes are far removed beyond them. They may, however, assist in the removal of causes ; and even patching is not to be despised, when charity fur- nishes the material. 2 c '■': ■v:.i. ;jsn ASSISTANT MKANS AM) DEBT. I fear aiiotlur liicc-iiuikcr. Tliis woman l)i!gins by tclliiifif, that ilicrc is a kind of tni(;k-systt'in, wh'wh (h'stroys in j^rcat measure even her poor gains, l-'oi' example : she sells hire to a grocer, wlio forces her to take it out in goods. Then slie continues : " VVhen 1 was n little girl, about ten years old, I used to get my motln>r ten shillings a-week — nov/ I don't get ten ])ence. My little girl arnes sixpence a week at tlie hice-school, and I pay twopence-ha'|)einiy a-week f(>r her hice-schooling. She don't larne nothing else there hut to make lace. The girls as is about nine yeiu's ohl go there at daylight in the morning and come home about dark ; and they arncs sixpence a-week, but you pays twopcncc-lia'penny to the missus for larning of 'cm. My eldest girl has larnt her thread, and she's a regular lace-maker now, and goes to it regular, ])ut she only arncs sixpence, sonivjtimes ninepence, a-week. There's generally more girls in the school in summer than there is in the winter. The girls as is over nine go to the school in the winter at daylight ; they work till nuic or ten at night, and then come? home ; them girls is about twelve or fourteen year old In the summer they stops about as long ; there's none of them arnes more than a shilling or eighteeupenco a-wcek ; but they nuist Avork very hard, though, to arne cighteen- pencc. The missus of the school sets the little ones so many score pins to be done in the hour, and then when they're done she gives 'em some more. A very good hand cau make, at the edging I have been at work at, half a yard in a day ; not more than that, I'm sure they can't ; I know I can't, "and I reckon I'm a pretty good hand, for I've been at it all my life — that's more thari forty year now come March. A few years ago they might have sold this sort of lace for eightcenpence or ■i ./? ASSISTANT >rr.ANS AM) IH'hT ■\^7 US l)y uliicli . I'or her to II I Avas motluT :. -My )1, imd looling. :e Ini'c. iayliglit 1(1 they i' penny [IS larnt lul goes iivjtinies I in the lie, girls aylight ; ? home ; In the of them 3k ; but ighteen- ones so H'n when ry good work at, ure they tty good )rc than go they )ence or two sliilliiigs H-yard ; now yon can't get more tlian six- pence. I have ol'teiionly got tivepence. Wlien my first chiUl was Imrn 1 couhl do ix/ul (loot) a day — that was si\ in u week, and six fuf is two yards ; and I used to arne three or four shiUingsat it, although I had my child to attend to. Now you can't arne as much as that in a month, without a child at all. I've got three children as works at the lace, and wlien all my tinve lace-makers and myself are at work at it, we can't get so nmch as 1 couhl make hy myself when my tirst child was horn, and I had to attend to it." Caii any thing show tlu; ahject poverty of these poor dealers, far removed, however, in the social scale }d)ove the " machine-woman," more than this ex])osition of a petty truck-system? Wn nnist apolo- gize for dwelling so long upon lace;. In a work of tliis nature, where such facts multiply, indignation often leads an unhackneyed writer astray. \Vc are about to close this cha[)ter, in which we have endeavoured, by these illustrations of a single article of luxury, which apply with e([nal, if not greater force, to all, to shoAV the necessity of shifting not something, but every- thing, from producers to consumers. The three sickly " women," whose artless narratives we have adopted, can bear no more. They have no more blood or marrow in them. They have not time to wash their children's faces : they exist by an exercise of labour unparalleled in the re- cords of the world, by the permission of mere accident. A week's illness ! Then comes death, or the workhouse. The former a relief to themselves and the country, in whose hard bosom they arc born, but a reproach to her Government, which God cannot pass over. The latter an additional tax upon all poor creatures, like herself, left 2 c 2 k-.i '■•!: 888 ASSISTANT .MI:ANS AND DEBT. f *:; ; W bt'liincl on the lowest step of tlie swarming stair of tlic liridgc of Life in wcaltliy prosperous England. This, we repeat, is Labour — in comparison with the rest, fortunate labour. We have not taken our readers into Lancashire during a season of dearth. We have only strayed a moment in the happy counties of Herts, Beds, Hants, and Cambridge. We have not quoted the annals of the " SouTnAMPTON Union." We have not crossed the Irish Channel, to gaze upon the famine-hor- rors of the siege of Jerusalem, in an island meant to be happy, studding the ocean with beauty, under the domi- nion of Great Britain at a time of peace. We have taken an average in favour of the prosperity of England. Thence we turn to oiu* palace-consumers to ask for a portion of their superfluity, to a profuse Government to ask for strict economy in its conduct at home and in its foreign relations, and we appeal to the sense that is left amid us to make these things straight. We ask of Ministers not to palter and to insult us Avith legerdemain when we want measures. We beg of them to discontinue shuffling the cards without dealing, and saying to us, when we demand that a tax should be lightened, " It is not in this hand ; it is in the other." We insist that our privileges shall not be liberally showered on foreigners, and our birtlu'ight sold for a pretence. We are working harder than any other nation for a less reward. We are slaving, not for ourselves, but others. We ask. Why is it? We say to the Governments, " You grind the English nation with your taxes : but you strip it of protection. You add insult to injury, and heap misery on disgrace. You left us a shor! while ago with but one harvest be- tween us and starvation, and now you would rob us even ,31 i %'■ ASSISTANT MEANS AM) BVAVV. 8:SU of the til the eadcrs J have Herts, ed the ive not le-hor- t to be ! domi- i taken Thence rtion of isk for foreign imid ns ters not nen we liuffling hen we , in this ivileges md om* harder slaving, is it? English )tection. lisgracc. vest be- us even of the chance of that harvest, and leave us beggars to tlie good-will of Europe for bread. We have fought and bled and paid for colonics, and you arc about to give thcni up, now that they might serve us grandly and well. \\\i are patient, very patient ; for we have the lessou of Erance before our eyes, and are a good and sound peo})le; but, soon, we shall not lose by any change, and revenge wdl be one sweet droj) in the bitter cup you have made us mingle. This is our complaint : our endurance has still an inch to travel. But come, (piick, give us some anieuds ! let us see Hope approaching us with your permission, marshalled by a great, a very great. Economy, and a little, a very little. Wisdom ! " With reference to lace-manufacturing and the scanty details we have given, we think it necessary again to state that this is a most favomable picture of working " prosperity." Perhaps, therefore, we should leave a wrong impression upon the minds of many of our readers, did we not glance for a moment at the fearful revelations of " Satan's Khigdom," the factory district, whence daily arises the hot steam of death and pollution from the small bodies of aged children, and elfish age, to hang in heavy reek between " Britain's Prosperity " and the sun. liCt us glance at the pages of the " Church of England Quarterly Review." Alas ! they reprehend these things, but what Avill they do to })rcvent them ? They deprecate these horrors; they say "Shall these things be?" but they forget the necessity which goads the nation now, M'here avarice only formerly exercised her unbounded brutality. In what has consisted the real amendment of the Factory system, as far as it has been amended ? In the fact that nature interposed at length with " factory- rot;" that disease and death cried out " thus far shall yr ■j. :^J!!' 3U0 ASSISTANT MEANS AND DEBT. ,si' (| \ f^; go and no further." "The first efforts of millowncrs date from this epoch."* Let lis now connnemorate, in the hope that our work may endure and so embalm them for a space in the sweets of " Gehenna," the names of John Leech, a manufacturer of Stalybridge, and Mr. Buckley, the Mayor of Ashton.f These men, in the month of January, 1849, were the first opponents of the working of the Ten Hours' Bill, by introducing the " shift or relay " system. Imagine the crowds of bony little orphans' sprites around the death- bed of the cotton lord, waiting to marshal the soul exuded from the magisterial clay to a twenty-four hour cotton-mill elsewhere. For, if we can at all picture to ourselves the vulgar horrors of corporeal punishment in a future state of awful retribution, it is in a case like this that we arc tempted to do so. But these are individutils. Let us conceive the whole corporate body of millowners and masters as one entity, and we say tliat, to a great extent, necessity as well as individual avarice goad them on. To tamper with the clock, to sjjced the machinery, by which ten hours' labour exhausts doubly, to divide the men from the women, that they at any rate might not reap the benefit of the law, to discharge starving wretches with " black tickets " to wander about on the highways, barred even from these hells of labour, by which they alone coidd exist, and lastly to adopt the cruel " relay " system — these are all devilish expedients of particular master-sinners. But, in the grand opposition to improvement, in the legalized * Viz., tin; epocli of the " factory-rot," which became contagious, .'iikI aclually threatened 'Uiv, rich in the year 1815. t rule " Church of Knghiud Review," April—" The Cotton Fac- tories and Ten Hours' J3ill." J '• lit ASSISTANT MEANS AND DEBT. 391 setting aside of the Ton Hours' Bill for an informality, wc read a different story. A quarter of an hour more or less is a great per ccntage on a "factory " fortune. The " Church Quarterly Review " imagines that the question is one between " ^lammon and IMercy," and entirely at the discretion of the millowners. Such are the advantages of England, it says, over other lands, that foreign com- petition cannot injure them, though it may, through them, the operatives. We say that the advantages of England are more than nullified by our legislation, and that we are 'dying' now in the struggle to keep pace with the comparatively hapi)y and comfortable 0})eratives of France and America. W^e may drive the I^yonnese to work a little harder, and now and then to ' strike ;' but who that has been at Lyons, as we have, would ventiu'c to draw any parallel between our misery and theirs ? It is a Paradise to jManchester. Look at the features of the niei' ■'«:! the forms of the women. Go out on a holiday at i V' V-;. Visit their factories, and then compare them with ours. It is the difference in the price of living which sustains them. Foreign competition and the home struggle for profit arising from the social rottenness of our 'prosperity' impel the masters and owners as a body.* There are, of course, exceptions in point of • ■■■ \ * This evasion of the Ten Hours' Bill is a tolerable sneer at the boasted elHcacy of free trade. Give us only this latter, said the British slave- owners, and we will emancipate our negroes. How they would be re- joiced to lay on the lash, during the false momentary impulse given to trade by the introduction of foreign produce ! They would lower wages — since food, at the expense of the agriculturist, is cheaper — keep their human cattle on the stretch, and double their fortunes in a year. Jjut benefit the mechanic? No, not by a for'ui, if they can help it. O people of England, how easily are you gulled by the mere impudence of a shuffle, or a lie ! ^k :4- :V.)'2 ASSISTANT MKANS AND DKBT. }:! r ■J ' it '■-It stronger atrocity. AV^c read of " three pr Dinising females" iniirdered ])y excessive labour and hardships in John Chcetham's weaving-shed. It is mentioned just before that two women of the name of Ilobson (Marianne Ilobson was particularly strong) fell victims to over-toil. This year, in the month of January, Mr. Cheetham directed that his new mill at Stalybridge should run twelve hours — (" Churcli RevicAv," April). Shall we op- press our readers with an account of horrors so infernal, as scarcely to be believed ? Shall we state that a creature exists in thousands in the manufacturing districts, that can only Avork, sleep, drink, blas})heme, and (precociously) fornicate ? That it is ill-fed, beaten, unwashed (save when plunged into cold Avater, ' by command,' to restore its energies), its hair torn out by handfuls, with the scalp ; that it is emaciat(^d, wan, round-shouldered, and crook-kneed that its shape resembles the letter S, and that it crawls sometimes on all fours from house to house for aid, wlien kicked out Avith oaths for AA'cakness ; that it has been furnished 'young ' from London Avork- houses to country manufacturers by the score, Avith the agreement that one idiot shall be taken in Avitli the twenty ;* that its intellect is debased as its body is Aveak- ened ; that it Avorks, nay, feeds sometimes in sleep induced by fatigue ; that it is sAvathed and bandaged forth to daily torture ; that it has died of * rot,' and been buried at midnight ; that it is tortured, murdered, and unavenged — then prate of negro philanthropy and the pride of British birthright? What have been the cruelties of negro slavery to these fiendish atrocities ? These arc the blessings of England — results of Peel and Cobden — '' Road the speeches of llieharcl Oastler, Esq. ASSISTANT MEANS AND DEBT. ;i<)3 ^vhic•ll free trade is in no Inirry to mitigute. Tliis is the j)hiloso})hy of mannfactnrc, whose workings niiglit he painted by a Dante, an Eugene Snc, and a beastly-pnhli- cation-mongcr in extravagant combination. The First to lend a lurid hue of grandeur to the ghastly combination of the whole. Upon the shadowy entrance to this land of guilty horrors he might renew his famous inscription on the gates of hell — "Voi chc entratc lasciate ogni spcranzn." The Second should draw, with disgusting fidelity, each foul detail and harrowing circumstance ; and the Thiid unweave from tlie dull murnuu* of articulate sound, lieard around those evil dwellings, its threads of blas})hciMy and obscenity, to out-herod invention, and leave all works of imaginary depravation behind. No country has equalled this. The Spaniards, in Ame- rica, did not practise this on themselves, and call it the triumph of popular rights. The excesses of the French nobility, before the first revolution, were playful eccen- tricities in the sight of heaven to this. The serfdom of Russia * is in comparison an iron-bound happiness, that * The impudence of the selfish, cunning, insulting cant, which agitated against a loan to Russia, and paraded its nauseous sentimen- tality in favour of the serf and the ^loujik, whilst such slavery cxisls here, is only to be equalled by the conduct of some late Irish agitators, or the letter of a religious money-lender, who wants to take in a poor country parson, or village dissenter, and writes to him that he lends for Christ's sake, or because he is of his persuasion. What ! lefu'^c a business negotiation with the Czar, because there is oppression in Russia? AVhy, at this rate, the King of Dahomey should refuse to buy helmets for his corps of Aiii*i/-ons from England ! What ! not loud money to Nicholas, when thou thyself, O greedy Quackery, art " mowing the lean grass of a Golgotha," at home — "Sitting like grinning death to clutch the toll ' ;>i' vt i; ;**■ ' ^" 4J. -' ! ►' *•■' ■..1,' ( . I I . If m ir*( 391. ASSISTANT MEANS AND DEBT. looks erect to heaven, and may ling its shackles with resignation, or indifFerencc. All other cruelties and severities have been accidents of revenge, war, acknow- ledged despotism, penury, intolerance — but this business- like use of human flesh, this traffic in blood, bone, sinew, and the tenant soul, these slow -torturing shambles, in the centre of glittering magnificence, arc new upon earth, and known only in England. Each of these beings, la- bouring for others at home and abroad, whose every drop of hard-wrung sweat falls into the crucible of the Rothschild, the Goldsmidt, the Cobden, and the Baring, or furnishes with golden remuneration and easy clothing the lazier foreigner, in return for the spontaneous growth and production of his clime, — each of these, man, woman, and child, has inherited the glories of Alfred, Elizabeth, and Cromwell, pawned by his more immediate ancestry, for base or blind purposes, in one downward, increasing course to final ruin. Whilst every present successive law and measure tends not to redeem the pledge, but to lose it — nay, O force of familiar illustration ! to sell the ticket to Jew, Gentile, or foreigner, in order to mahc lite rick. ij I6'-, Tortur'cl from Poverty, Disease, and Crime ; And this with liberty upon thy lips, Eland words and specious vulgar eloquence, And large oaths with the tongue thrust in the cheek, And promises as if thou wert a God And no God held the forked bolt above — To glut thyself with hard-wrung copper coins Yerjuic'd with hot tears, thin and watery blood" — Why what epigram of Martial could enclose this man in four lines ? ay, or forty ? or sufficiently embalm his soul in the essence of keen words to transmit it like a swathed mummy of falsehood, in its brazen sarcophagus, under the Great Pyramid of Contempt, to the wonder of distant ages ? {' I a short this fun. W c fear (t havinif le nation it U'oiihl ecu sulll- rms, thi; state in arrive at Guonnous lit of the [)0 : all of nister cn- lyment of ,000,000 provided hI on the and what clitiire, by e and feel- :;k-broker, coonomy. for half •ould have Iturnt Woolwieh and Shecrness, nay, given up London itself to piMaj^c" (to whom? Senor Don Joseph Saniuda !). lie quotes a dun viol of the Dey of Algiers to found this upon! He says that money is all that is wanted for strength, and urges that safety lies in the purse without the blunderbuss. He would get rid of India, Ireland (!), and the colonies, and thinks that the lirook-grccn volunteers might repulse French, or Russian bayonets. However, allowing that Mr. Samuda is, in heart, though not in name, English, and that he is but a mis- taken diseiplc of Cobden aiul universal peace, and thus leaving what is bad in him to come to what is good, there is a great deal in much of his proposed economy. Under the several heads of " Miscellaneous Services," " Salaries and Expenses of Public Departments," including the various commissioners, boards, diplomatic and legal salaries, consular establishments, colonial expenditure, state buildings, the slave trade, the expenses of the Crown, sinecures, or good imitations of them, supernumeraries, &c., &.C., &c., what might not be cfleeted? Mr. Samuda, in his work, which is entitled " The Eudgct as it is and as it might bo," ventiu'es to hint at the abuses of church property ; but very shyly. I'erhaps he is of the Jewish persuasion, and abstains from delicacy. He also touches upon prisons and convicts. He speaks, with much sense, on the sid)ject o'l miploybiu the latter. He suggests, for example, a Breakwater. If, he says, the gross cost of such a work is .£150,000, it should be set down in the estimates atJ650,000; because convicts should be employed. He says, also, that the most hardened might be sent to the West Indian Islands to rc-jjlace slavery. We agree in all this, and cannot conceive what has led to the support of convicts, in many instances, without deriving any benefit from their labour. Jiut the plan we have recommended at once supplies the general panaci'a, the want of which Mr. Samuda deplores, and would repay the Government two-fold. The expenses of convicts were, it appears, in 1817, .€403,129. In 1818, £404,224, and in 1849, £514,405. 7s. Of/. Our plan goes even beyond convicts. It disposes of paupers. Were all these things brought to bear, England, within the next ten years, would be a Co- lossus striding over either hemisphere, whose stomach would be in- dustry, and whose head, intelligence — whilst, if they should not be, she will become, as we before deplored, " a weak giant" to be trampled on by the insolence of the world. :M: 'V' ; » CHAPTER IV. GENERAL PllOSPEGTS OF ENGLAND. i: }.•:. If wc could bring ourselves thoroughly to believe in tlie truth of the oft-quoted translation of a fragment of Euripides, ** Qaos dc.iix Vjidt pcnlcrc prUts deincnlaty wc should tlunk it peculiarly applicable to the ])resent and past circumstances of this nation. For surely she has trifled with her advantages in a manner that no spend- thrift heir of a large fortune, surrounded by gamblers, prostitutes, bullies and led friends, ever surpassed in his ra])id career of profligacy. The same virtues run to seed, amid vices that seem but full-blown virtues, have been discernible in her — profusion, generosity, a bold exterior and careless deportment, swaggering, braggadocio and sentiment. To recur to a comparison in our Intro- duction — as the stern Commissioner of the Insolvent Court is accustomed to call things by their real names, and hold the shivering needy gentleman up in the sun- light to scorn and contempt, stripped of the romance of wealth, to learn at once his own insignificance and folly, and to feel the cold iron grasp of necessity doubled in behind his ear — so wc are disposed to strip the covering from the extravagance and reckless absurdity of pi.st legislation, and let the nation sec its own position, its lost opportunities, its aear approach to the fatal wind-uj), its still golden opportunities and future balance-sheet fJENRRAL niOSTF/'TS OF FNOLAXD. :i09 ID. in tlio .{'lit of '/, wo nt and 5I1C has spcnd- lublcrs, I in his :o seed, ^c been exterior ;io and Iiitro- isolvcnt names, le sun- ancc of id folly, bled in lovering of pivst tion, its hid-np, ce-sheet under prudent giiidnnce. In our simile there is this imperfection. The iudivichuil is one, and therefore solely culpalile. He has not been betrayed by guardians ; but seduced by companions. The nati(ju is many, and has been ])lunged into dilHculties by its rulers. However, the stern lesson of uKiuiry is the same to both. There is the same monstrous hjad of Deht staring both in the face, wrongfully incurred. It is a (piestion with both of liabilities and assets, creditors and bailitts, foreclosure, e(pnty of redemption, and })romised amendment. The same schedule is re(juired, and each must look his position steadily in the face. We must regard jiast follies, not as tomb- stones, but milestones on the Road to Ruin, by which we may retrace and amend our steps. Wc must look at the causes of things, the grand causes, which, in contra-distinction to the trifling features of the day, absorbing all their attention next to their own pros})ects, legislators never seem inclined at all to consider. These are subjects, upon which neither the creatures, nor the lords of ex])ediency love to dwell, or touch : for, they shrink from inquiring into the results of their own blind policy, whilst, at the same time, they find it neces- sary to hoodwink the eyes of their victims, the many. The national debt, the currency, or appreciation of the standard of value, arc subjects by almost universal consent, or rather desire, banished from the consideration of the legislature, or the public; that is, in their general bear- ings. Doubtless they are unpleasant topics. What spend- thrift was ever pleased to dwell upon the schedule of his debts and the balance-sheet of his own insolvency? What victim to his own imprudence, or crime, ever loved to make calculations in black and white to illustrate his ii ' ' : ! •too OKSKRAI, I'UO.SPECTS OF ENGLAND. n m^ fcnrfiil position ? — to uiuki' liis past cxtnivngaucc and liis futinv snfl'crinj^ thu sul)JL'ct of conversation to liis family and (loincstic circle, to the wider s[)lierc of the society in which lie niov(!s ; or, histly, to become his own accuser to tlie j)ul)lic at large? \ay, lie would conceal it even from his own conscience, and with the rcicklessness of a gambler, or a drunkard, escape by fresh indiscretion that connmnu) with his own soul, Avhich nuist lead to a s('lf-cond( innation too terrible to face. No : it is tlu; dcKglit of an honest ami successful man to count over again and again his gains, to put down " I am worth so nuich," to reali/(> in figures his solvency and prospe- rity, to say ** this I have gained, these are my prospects." LookiufA at the above two ])ictures, it is easily to under- stand why the (piestions of the currency and the debt api)al and disgust. Even ridicule has supi)lied the place of reason, and the slang word " bore" is indiscriminately aj)plie{l to all those men who have sufficient sense to see the folly that has been committed, and sufficient honesty and patriotism to raise their voices against the nughty imposthumc of knavery and roguery, by which successive Governnicnts have betrayed the greatest trust ever placed in the hands of men, since history has had a name. But Avc shrink not from our task. AVe care not if we but echo in the gross the words of wiser men w ho have gone before. We shall not, it is true, enter into all the superficial quackery of reports and tables, of exports and imports, of bullion and tallows, of drains of gold, raw material, Bank restrictions and panics. These are but the indices of mismanagement, and the fluctuations of industry grappling with accident, mingled with the bewildering small-talk of political economists. These are the pressing exigencies and throes of a bad system ; GLNI'.UXI. I'Kossl'KCTs Oh L\- )S|)ects," ) iinder- the debt he place niinately ;e to see honesty mighty iccessive 2Y placed a name, ot if we ho have all the orts and old, raw are but itions of vith the ^hese are system ; together witli a serii's of bhindcrs and uproars conseciuenr upon circumstniiers of novil uatiu'c, and hourly contin- gencies. 'rii(>y frefjueutly show that the ciiariot-wheels have often sliavtHJ the brink of the gnivel-pit so near, as to send the stones rattling to \\ic bottom, or illustrate the UKMnorablc words of Lord Chancellor Oxenstiern, " Nn-scis mi Ji/i, (/f/ciiii parrd cinn f«ipiriil'ni rcf/ifur muti- ff//f<." A\'oul(l that our ministers for the last sixty years had more frequently exhibited the iiuxh^sty of the son of Comit Oxenstiern, who trembled at the liabilities of ignorance in oflice ; when the game j)layed is for the rival existence of nations, and the stake that is ventured the happiness and prosperity of a people ! The first thing we are drsirons of inquiring into is "What is that, and how was it incurred, which preys on the vitals of Hritish industry?" I'or what, do 'he needle-woman and tin,' lace-maker, the labourer, Hie mechanic, the weaver - all those, who sweat a-d toil with surpassing industry equalled by no nation ii tlie world — pay directly and indirectly in every article they pur- chase, with the miserable pittance they earn ; whilst the people of other coiuitries work less and earn more, and buy the necessaries of life cheaper? Why have the former few and dismal holidays ? WHiy is the country like an alternate vast mill of labour, or palace of idleness ; whilst thousands die without knowing the meaning of con- tent, or comfort, and hundreds live, v, ithout comprehend- ing the duties or necessities of existence, by which it is prescribed that every man shall be, or do, something? Why is the land to be an alternate Golgotha and bed of roses ? Why are we not so well otf as the idlest and flightiest of om* neighbours ? The Timefi, in one of its late brilliant essays upon o\ir social state, gives the following picture 2 T) i '1 ■\\\ I 102 GENEIIAF, I'ROSPECTS OF ENGLAND. I'.. .' of the features of a national lioliday. 13ut we are far from drawing the same moral conclusion as the Times. We do not know why the brand of care-worn industry and over-driven poverty should be visibly impressed upon the features of Englishmen. We cannot sec, why squalor and wretchedness, why "pallor and wrinkles and depression," which are fiot seen, for we can testify it, at Moscow, or Rome, or Palermo, or Paris, should be the sad cha- racteristics of the people here. The description in the TiMes- applies to the Easter Monday Fair, as seen at Greenwich .• — " It nnist, indeed, be confessed, as all Englishmen are in the habit of confessing, there was nothing very bright or very gay in the festivity. On the river, or on the railway — in Greenwich Park, in the numerous exhi- bitions that compete for the admiration and the shillings of the public — everywhere one might detect the sond)rc hues of a working-man's holyday. It was done in a business-like manner. Then, nowhere, it must be said, 18 the 'primoivcd curse more deeplij imprinted on the human countenance than in this metrojmlis. In old and yoimg, male and female, are the almost invariable pallor, and wrinkles, and depression, that arise from close habita- tions and vitiated atmosphere, sedentary employment, l)roken rest, noise and dust, want of sunshine and air. Among those who are born and bred under these un- favourable conditions there are but few smiling faces, and still fewer that possess any pretensions to beauty. As for other points to catch the eye, the want of either a national costume, or a national taste for dress, deprives an English crowd of all pretensions to the picturescjue. On the whole, then, even in our festivities, tve are care- tvorn, thoughtfut, and triste. A mixture of the aristo- GKNEHAL IMlUSFiUTS UF liNiiLAND. 403 are far Times. try and )on the lor and 'ssion," cow, or id cha- Eastcr nen are J briglit on the IS cxlii- iliillings sombre le in a 36 said, :> human young, or, and liabita- oyment, and air. ese un- ig faces, beauty. 3f either deprives ares({ue. re carc- aristo- cratical element niiglit, indeed, relieve this rather dull monotony; but the Ih'itish aristocracy in general has little to do anywhere with the holidays of the people, less than anywhere in the metropolis, and least of all at Easter." Do the people of England admit that the Times is correct in drawing a cheerful conclusion from what it saw ? " The eye of faith," it continues, " has many a sore trial before it can strij) the moral essence of its loath- some disguises, before it can recognize an angel in a pau- pe or the dawn of eternal glory in s(|ualor and disease." The article finishes with a semi-congratulation upon what it saw regarding the mor.'d essence of the mob, rather than its squalor, disease, or misery. " Happy is it for them, and ha pj)!/ for ns all, that they are content with so moderate a share in the public stock of enjoyment." Ay, it is well that they are content ; //' ihei/ arc Now let us fly to a great continental city. The sun shines, perhaps, not more l)riglitly than here, on Easter Monday; but the whole mob smiles, and the reflected ray warms and briditens the heart. Do thev deserve this as we do ? Have they our patience — do they labour one fourth as much as we do ? AVc, that minister to the wants of 600,000,000 of people, and cannot maintain 30,000,000 ! We, that work incessantly ; but cannot enjoy one gaunt holiday, save in drunkenness, sin, and ribaldry ! The article in the TimesYs, exfpiisite in its writing: amiable in its feeling. We believe the author may be a good, a reflective, and a conscientious man ; but we look on his picture with a diflerent eye. On the Tuesday of Easter week, alter reading the article from which we have quoted, we went also to see a national holiday. It is seven years since we did the like. But we trace a perceptible difl^erence wrought bv those seven years, and we read a stern lesson. A na- .M; fi' • 'I n 404 (JENEKAL I'ROSl'ECTS Ol ENUI.AND. tional holiday is a thing on whicli one may read the soul of the people. There were still some momentarily liapjjy forgetful creatures ; but beggars were thickly mingled with them : not sturdy, professional, fair-going beggars ; but attenuated wanderers and lean artizans out of employ. There were some well-fed soldiers ; but the vendors of trifles had but little demand for their gim-cracks, and the whole business was stale, flat, and unprofitable. AVe could not help thinking of many needlewomen and poor creatures of that class, whose yearly recreation this may have been ; since expatriated in " floating brothels" to the antipodes of Greenwich : of the convicts and the paupers, that had l)een drained from that crowd since wc were there before : of the trials and miseries of that vast mass of human suftering vainly struggling into a day's joyance, from the depression of misery and want. We saw nothing for self-congratulation : nmch for painful reflection. l?ut, above all, we saw a great sign hanging in the heavy air above those care-worn faces — a sign visible and invi- sible, that a great change is at hand, for good, or for evil, in the destinies of the nation. We are wrong to name the alternative of evil. A worse destiny cannot occur, than that the greater part of a nation should be miserable. A sixth-rate nation, nay, a nation of the smallest rate, may be happier — maintaining her little political existence on money she does not mean to repay to some foolish big ally, in saucy ingratitude, and depending for support on the balance of power in Europe and the jealousy of greater rival nations. An emancipated colony in the remotest part .»f the world, the majority of whose in- habitants derive their origin from an ancestry that has passed under the shadow of the gallows, may far exceed in social blessings the comforts of luigland. Nay, then, .-.np GENEllAL PROSPECTS OE ENGLAND. 405 le soul Imppy \ingled iggars ; mploy. dors of \s, and 3. AVe d poor lis may ' to the aupers, ve were st mass oyaiice, nothing n. Ihit, 'avy air d hivi- for evil, :o nan\(^ : occur, iserable, !st rate, xistence ! foolish support lousy of ' in the hose in- :hat has r exceed ly, then, a change with them would scarcely be for the worse. Still, an alteration for the great, as well as the good, is what we have a right to expect, and it is to that we would devote our most earnest energies. For the other, alas ! can consummate itself. We fear, however, that no minister will rise in his place, and say, " I will be just and great. This nation, from one end to the other, wants reformation. Her re- sources have been squandered, and her interests trifled with. Labour bears all the burden : it shall do so no longer. I Avill not for a pretence lop, or bend, little twigs any longer on the tree of Evil that overshadows the \v\\d. I will cut with an axe at the roots ; let, who will, fall from me." Is it within the bounds of hoj)e and possi- bility that such language may yet interpret the conduct it describes? Or does it not rather seem impossible to one who is not a blind supporter of the structure of all- powerful speciosity and pretence, that such a thing shoidd not speedily occur? Does it not seem miraculous that men in power should be content with the av»ful re- s})onsibility which daily brands, not crowns them ? The British character is said to be opposed to the state of things expressed by the word " humhufj!'' Yet where does the demon, who personifies that term, reign more grandly and universally than here? How easily we take things ! How few (piestions we ask ! How contented we are with the ex])lanations afforded! How suprrticially we regard everything, as long as men talk ! It is an age of mock reason — a saturnalia of absurdity ! Posterity w'ill be the audience of this age, and will regard with con- tempt the miserable paste-board contrivances and paltry machinery, which im})ose upon the nation the unparalleled insolence of these actors on a political stage ; without 400 GENERAL PROSPECTS OF ENGLAND. Ihl r novelty, witlioiit sense, withont reason, withont eloquence : striving, by volubility and tricks scarcely capable of imposing upon the intellect of children, to deceive misery and to amnse starvation ! " Here we are ! You cannot do without us ! Give us your money without complaint ! Are you not content ? Then we will inquire into each other's conduct, and exonerate ourselves. What ! admit you fools behind the scenes? No, no!" This Is the language ; and yet the gaping crowds still enter, and each, whilst he suffers, thinks that it is all right, and that it is the cond'dion of Eii(/lisliwen to starve in order to maintain a Farce. Surely, there is a moral darkness over the land ; like that which is said ])hysically to have overspread Egypt. ** And behold the Lord hardened the heart of Pharoah, and he would not let the ])eople go." Even thus the hearts of goveriunents are hardened, and they will not let us go. Honest and rational, ay, and even necessary plans Mre as difficult for blind selfishness to adopt, as were the ])ropositions of Moses on behalf of the children of Israel offensive to the hardened avarice and pride of the Egyptian monarch. But the day of Exodus came, and he and his captains perished in the Red Sea. There are other Bed seas, whose waves may await the tyrant host, that will not hear the entreatit 3 of the people here. Cheap food is admitted. The brick duty is taken off. But, as you cannot make bricks without straw, so you cannot purchase even a cheaper loaf; unless money is properly circulated. These arc among the blind pre- tences of those who assert themselves to be the champions of the people; the philanthropists : the cotton doctrinaires. But it is time that these men should be unmasked. Tt is time for a reaction. OENERAI- PROSPECTS OF ENGLAND. 407 [iicncr : iIjIc of misery cannot plaint ! to cacli admit Is tlU! d each, lat it >'.<} aintain id ; like Eprypt. liaroali, bus the n'\\\ not eccssary Jopt, as children pride of IS came, There ; tyrant >le here, ken off. , so you loney is nd pre- mipions rinaires. :ed. Tt Since the introduction of the Reform Bill — one of the pompons gifts proffered with so nnich ceremony to a grateful nation — parties have almost entirely changed places. The Radical of that day, startled at the gross imposition, which has been wrested from his hands by others, or perliaps really discovering that the abuses, he wished to ciu'b and destroy, are not rectified but in- creased by the means he once advocated, is now the champion of Protection ; whilst the Tory party is split up into two : those who arc shicere representatives of their order, but who are now in great measure reduced to reason and stripped of their old prejudices ; and those who basely succundj to the false pressure of the age, identifying themselves with the vulgar monied interest, the mill-ocracy and the cant of the niaclnnists and " phi- lanthropists." Thus, hi the persons of the best and most sensible men amongst lladicals and Tories, the two extremes meet to guard the institutions of the country : one representing an oppressed people, the other the peo- ple and themselves. The centre represents self alone. No measure, however fatal or ignorantly experimental : no concession, however paltry, is sufficient to exhibit the policy of the last denomination Place, fortune, or notoriety, is all they desire to gain or kee}), and in their whole leaven there is not one grain of patriotism — we had well nigh said virtue. The so-called Liberal interest has had its triumph and ended in smok"' and ashes. Cloaked and masked under the insidious garb of false liberality, money, the promoter of almost every evil upon earth, exercises a predominating influence over the councils of the nation. But, in reality, il enslaves, vitiates, and threatens more in one year, than a century of corrupt nobility. These required doubtless a check. 'I'hey required that the interests of the mass should be rci)re- ■I :• V . • 408 f;ENEKAL PIIOSPKCTS OF ENGLAND. Ill sented. But they have had more than that check : they have been poinmelled and chastised most unmer- cifully. They infringed upon the freedom and liberties of the people; but, as they had always a permanent stake in the country, at any rate their dehberative acts were guided by some wisdom : they upheld the glory of England ; and even if her glories were some- times cruel, they were not tinsel. Now, everything is one universal gamble. It is not the partial irruption oi parvenus to seize upon the places formerly occupied by the lord and the land -owner : it is the continual ap- pearance and disappearance, upon the scene, of men ivilhout c/uiracler. The nation daily loses caste and tlignity, as well as happiness. Heaven knows that we are no worshippers of birth, abstractedly, or immediately. We take a duke for what he is woith, and have ourselves splintered a liberal lance. We arc conscious of having attacked frequently and violently the abuses of rank. But we see a worse race springing up, and our views are modified to tliC extent of recognizing land and its re- presentatives, as necessary to the boasted original constitution of England ; whilst, on the other hand, we see a rotten class similating liberality and bene- volence, which rides on the neck of the nation, and spurns poverty with a golden hoof shod with iron. Such siiould be the device on our coins — the Capi- talist trampling upon Poverty. We believe, that the remnants of our uninvolved nobility would be glad to sacrifice much now to the necessity of the nation. Money is far more greedy and imperative than birth. The latter often patronizes merit : it can afford to do so ; but the former, never. The former chokes and strangles the higher attributes of the mind, and it is to UENKRAL PllOSPECTS OK ENGLAND. 409 this may be attributed the decay ot" the higher etfbrts of hterature, genius, and art. A Lorenzo de Medicis has existed in former ages : a Duke of Devonshire does in this ; but who ever associated a Rothschild, or a Baring, with literature, or the arts ? The walls of banks and counting-houses are generally bare, and when even a Peel displays connoisseurship, it is but in the l)eaten track of monied complacency, which covers the walls of dining rooms and galleries at a price i)er yard. That is to say, such a man buys pictures upon which former taste has placed, by consent, a maiketable value as mere commodities. Meanwhile, the genius of the land starves in garrets un. ded. Intrigue, syco- phancy, or chance, may, it is true, step in to the assistance of mediocrity, and there are a few^ instances when conmianding talent has found unaided admirers in the breasts of the public ; but the total result of our unbiassed survey teaches us a far different lesson. Let us, however, relinquish this subject, which scarcely comes within the sco])e of our work. We may, at any rate, allude to the morals and honesty of the nation. Where in the world is to be seen Pros- titution in such a shape as that in which it exists in England ? * In London, in our great towns, ay. * lloUand may he cited, rrostitution is rite in all iicavily taxed couutiies. But we deny tliat it is equal to that which exists here. France is a country, we hail almost said, by nature, demcnilized, Liu; English character is hajipily, in this respect, as yet, dill'erent IVom the French. In the latter nation illicit intercourse between the sexes is a science : it is, at once, legalized, and the subject ot' unholy develop- ment. Yet, even in France — especially if we leave out the (jrhrttc class, which is rather a natiouid and natural, than a forced result — the actual amount is not equal to that in England. In quality it is far worse : in rjuantity, much less. France, amid all her revolutionary ex- resses, is more wicked, but less unhappy. 410 GENERAL PROSPECTS OF ENGLAND. Ik 1 r-r even in our villau^es, to what a degree tliis melanclioly evil has arrived ! We speak not only of statistical excess, but of general looseness and depravity, amidst classes that were once models of decency and deco- rum. There is so much assum[)tion of affluence : so much pretence to easy circumstances : so much real rottenness and concealed insolvency, that people seem to fancy there is too much stability in marriage to allow of its responsibility being incurred amongst persons in what was formerly a respectable line ol' life. Then, again, the fluctuation of circuniLtanccs is such, in all trades and professions, t^>at thou- sands of women are plunged, at on , into want, with nothing but the streets between them and the workhouse. They become the Magdalens of necessity and starvation. Whilst the fusion of classes and the consetjuent necessary contact between persons in a dif- ferent station of life, throw down the social barriers of protection, and make others the victims of circum- stances and temptation. A shallow education, which ripens more easily in the minds of women, teaches them ideas beyond their sphere, and makes a happy union in their own class impossible ; whilst the ruin of small tradesmen, and even of great houses, con- tinually occurring, owing to the desperate system pursued in mercantile transactions, and the universal fine-drawn competition, crowds the market with frail images of the moral death in life, which forms so sad a feature in our mass of civilized evil. We assert, that there is no country in the world, scarcely a large town anywhere, where the proportion of sexual pro- fligacy is so great as throughout the more populous districts of England. Despite what we have just stated about our Gallic neighbours presenting a more ready I' ' GENERAL PROSTEC'TS OK ENGLAND. 411 icholy Listical amidst (leco- ce : so ;h real e seem age to iiongst line of stances thou- ) want, md the ^^cessity ind the n a dif- riers of tircum- which caches happy ruin of , con- systeni niversai ith frail Is so sad assert, a large lal pro- opulous t stated 3 ready personification of original sin, we cannot hut he sen- sihle that tlieir example is, in many instances, hut too faithfully followed. A thousand ahominations have crossed the channel, wafted hither hy an easy transit. The train of virtues, so l)eautifully descrihcd hy the Latin poet, still however lingers, and only lingers, with backward glances on the land it seems prei)are(l to abandon altogether. This, we assert, is caused by money, i. e. its fluctuations and uncertainties : the struggles of the productive classes : the too great wealth and luxury of the few : the too easy acquire- ment and sudden loss of fortunes: the ruin and dis- tress, against which foresight could not provide : the excessive supply of money, which is, at once, the index of national civihzed prosperity, and the stamped die of misery, and its want of circulation to the extremities. It is, indirectly, the result of debt and taxation, of luxury and pauperism, and of a system, whose influ- ence upon the majority of the community is unwhole- some and rotten. The mercenary genius of our tutelary Britannia offers for sale the honour of" her humbler daughters, and winks at the licensed aban- donment of those to whom vanity and folly have taught dishonour. Let us now^ turn to the articles of honour, honesty, and faith. The tenderness of reputation is a matter of past history. It is no longer a question of " What is a man?" but "What has he?" The amount of trickery practised in commercial relations is incredible. An honest man has no fair chance. He is elbowed out of every transaction. Thus we find that good men are generally unfortunate in business : that im- prudence consists in not being a rogue, and that knavery and deception must be partners in success v. M 412 liENEUAL IKOSI'liCTS OF KNOLAND. I and prosperity. Where is tlic old elmractcr of the British merchant, whose word was as Ljood as his l)()nd ? To steer clear of the ])unishinent of the law is indeed a desideratum with all ; hut we venture to say, that in the majority of eommereial houses, transactions contiiuially take place, which are neither strictly moral, nor legal, in order to enable them to keep pace with the times. Law, itself, is so doubtful a process, and its name has such a bad odour, that parties fre- f|uently sutler any injustice rather than recur to it. Its ])rocess is too old-fashioned and expensive, and its results too dubious. Peo[)le must be inceptively sharp on their own account, and cheat as well as be cheated, in oriler to float trir.ir.phantly on the pros- perous tide. A man fights too uj)-hill a fight in the recovery of a tiling : he nuist be sharp, and not let go. A generous man can scarcely exist in these latter day.-. He w^alks about in an universal plot to strip him. This is no moi'bid picture, but true of the rela- tions of life in this country. ^Vho would be bond for a friend ? Who would delivei' up the deed without the money, or the money without the deed, and hope to get off safe ? We do not say that rogues never existed till now, or that tiickery was not practised before the first comedy was ever written ; but this universal state of dupery, suspicion, im])osture, victimization — this brazen age of commerce — is i)eculiar to our present circumstances.* At the same time, there never was a H * Since writing the above we liave seen the following adniirnhle description in the Times, April 19th, which we think so illiisfrativo of our position that we cannot help quoting it : — " The glimpses wo get of the real condition of society iVoni the in- vestigations of bankruptcy and insolvency commissioners, jiolicc niagis- (JKNKUAL I'UOSI'KCTS OK KN(iLANI). A\:\ of the as Iiis law is to say, ic'tions jtrictly p pace rocess, es fVe- ■ to it. iiid its ptivcly I as be C Dl'OS- in the iul not e lattcM- :o strij) le rela- oncl ibr out the K)[)e to existed ore the ;al state n — this present r was a iuliiiirnhle II trail vf im tl\r in- cc niatrii>t all outward tokens mill syiiiliols ol rt'spcclahility. 'I'lic loiijf-lira'Icil solicitor, to wliom you run ill (liiliciilt limes, and who .sccnis so i«liar|i and so astute tliat in tin; course oCliis tliirty years' practice Ik; must liave turned tlie wi nknesfcs and viees of iiis fellow creatures to p;oo(l account, may liave, at tlic mo- ment you enter his sinirtmii, just executed a liclitious mortu-aLce, in order to <^v\ into ins possession the money of an inexperienced clieiii. The niild-lookint;', iicncvoleiil (iuaker, who sits opposite you in a railway train, whose very asjicet puts you in i^ood hi; ;ionr with human nature, wliosc lips drop virtue and whose eyng heau) witli genial liumanily, is ninna^cr of a .'^aviiiirs-ljank— the oracle and prop of a county town and of the couutr\ -.side. In his hand there is a book, which vou take to he the early history of Pennsylvania, or some work of a still nn^rc edifyinj; nature. It is no such thinii:. It is merely a iiiinialiire ledu'cr in which the man of rc.speetahility has entered the sums out of which he has swindled the eiislomcrs of '..is savings-hank. Hisemhark at the Loudon terminus, and attend a railway meting. Mark the hero ol' the place — calm, hloatcd, and self-satisfied. Lords and ladies, merchants, dandies, and niannfaetuvcrs, have grovelled at his feet; he, at least, must he se- cure in his integrity, or he would not venture to trample inulerfoot all symptoms of objection to his sovereign will. Although you cannot penetrate the niystcry, you assume that all must be right, and that midcr that dogged, arrogant di'ineanour there is a mind at work iltted for the solution of business problems, and at this moment engaged n. providing for the interest of the sliareholders on a system far beyond tlieir eonii)rehension. Again no sueb thing. The railway dictator is merely meditating upon the most ingenious metliod of falsifying ac- counts, of running up shares to an undiu; value, and making good his own escape. That is his only secii ; that the solution of this living enigma of monied respectability. ^\\c\\ is the condition of modern so- ciety ; and so dubious the character of the man who sits next you at a dinner table, in whose portly presence you have felt it politic to smother your own timid merriment, and postpone your modest view of passing affairs. There is no outward token of respectability which can be safely relied upon ; a front pew in the gallery at church, in which the tenant may stand up ostentatiously, when, according to the rubrics, he shoidd be seated — a wcll-polished sideboard and a calm butler — a long 414 GENERAL I'UOSI'KCTS Ul' ENGLAND. tomcd to sec a man a l)ei;u;ar one day and ridi!!!:; in liis carriage the next, that tlu; assumption ota !• • ;c r, ill ills >ii» lor- lOin he |)l)OSL'(l e iiiiu;lit So the person 1(1 pail', ip story n theii' ])y his it i'orci' of tlit'ir rloo : where, of course, we bore the brunt : we fought, like Ivanhoc, in armour borrowed from the Jews, but did not, like him, find ransom from the foe to pay it, or a tutelary divinity to restore the debt. What then ? We lavish money like water, or our blood, upon Holland, Russia, and Austria, and actually pay for the retm*n homeward of the allied armies. £400,000,000 is the tune now, good woman ! She does not hear, she fancies it is "all that niachlnerv," and thinks that the rich are very mean and cruel. On the contrary, we are very generous and kind. We excuse the debts of foreigners and fortify their towns. Nay, pay strangers for garrisoning thei. ; We say to Paris " Keep your paltry £5,000,000;" an.- to Austria "We are in no hurry for your £1 7,00 J, 000." Then we turn round, and lend money to build up trumpery constitutions, and are ready to send Quix- otic expeditions everywhere. Nay, we got a little out of China. That was a mean thing ; but extravagance, 2 F. 418 GKNERAL I'UOSPECTS OF ENGLAND. often, does the meanest actions. Then philanthropy and Wilbertbrce, with the cant vvliich looks through the reversed end of a telescope at misery and injus- tice at home, and with a solar microscope at unhap- piness abroad, stepped in, mopping the eyes like a sore-eyed undertaker at the door of a gin-palace, to ruin our West Indian trade, and compensate the owners — all, all, at the expense of the lace-maker : of the working industry of Great Britain. But that is not enough. She must do more. She must support a yearly fleet, to prevent other nations trafficking with the Princes of the interior of Africa for Negro liberty — regardless of results, regardless of expense, regard- less of the lives of the " rescued," of the lives of the rescuers, o^' all hut a false, blind principle — leaving the hideous array of human misery uncared for at home — leaving Ireland a blot on the map of the world, forget- ful of Staleybridge, of poor-Iiouse unions, cellar lodg- ing-houses, Destitution, Starvation, hollow-eyed and blue-lipped, in the streets — unmindful of the skeleton frame-w^ork of galvanized humanity, whose clattering round of castanets is heard, in frightful jubilee, mixed with the writhings of the monster, Machinery, amid the green fields, and sunny corn of England. Why, if we must be thus chivalric ; why, if it is the mission of England to stop the slavery of Africans, do we not boldly challenge the United States themselves ? There would be a devoted consistency at least in this ? Our conduct is far more polite and amiable. But it is all rank folly, cant, sham enthusiasm, wrong principles. A Greek loan ! We should as soon think of lend- ing money to a walking gentleman in a farce — we do not mean the player, but the character depicted : to J GENE UAL I'KOSl'ECT.S OF KNGLANU. 41 !i hropy rough injus- inhap- like a ace, to te the icr : o\' that is upport ig with liberty regard - of the ing the loiiie — forget- ir lodg- ed and ikeletoii attering , mixed y, amid Why, it" issioii of we not There Our ; it is all x'iples. of lend- — we do cted : lo i ■? the jingling faniiliarity of a racket-player in the Queen's Bench, or to a shabby stranire Jew. But these are the acts of our legislators, for which the patient labour of our lace-maker ])ays. Her dim eyes can scarcely follow the nimble movement of her fingers. But the latter would continue to make lace, if she we7-e galvanized after death, instead of in life. She cannot see well. The poor of Great Britain do not see well. It is fortunate for some that they do not. Those, who aj)proximate, in station, the luiers of a country, in some degree, a])e its conduct. It is na- tural to suppose, that a Government gives tone, at any rate, to its su])[)orter. Hence, individuals are found zealous in the cause of Poles and Hungarians. Hence, the rich gifts that await these unfortunate nun here, at the hands of private individuals, and puUlic charities ; although we have not dared to tight their (juarrels openly in the face of nations. We can only tight con- ventionally. The Caucasians may be swept from the face of the earth, h any of them should escape and arrive here, we might perhaps give a Caucasian Ball, or institute a Circassian Fancy Fair, tor the purposes ol" relieving them. The interference of .^igland to rescue a petty ])ower from suffering is far too aL .st ract a (piestion for us to enter upon ; but we cannot ltc]i» remarking, that an interference on behalf of Poland, before Poland had been destroyed, if not, a legitin.r.te expense to incur with borrowed money, had left a far more dignified and hallowed reminiscence than the detads oi' our African Coast blockade. So in the case of the Cau- casus. So, many think with regard to Hungary. But the English labourer and the Irish peasant are 2 V. 2 420 GENERAL FKOSPECTS OF ENGLAND. .;.' •r I i It i' not in a position to lend succour, aid, and money to any nation, under such circumstances. By means such as we have above recited, before we were led into a trifling digression, has the National Debt been acquired ; together with a monstrous yearly expenditure, such as generally accompanies the pro- ceedings of extravagance, when so deeply involved, as to become reckless. All the fallacies and sophisms of sciolists, or tricksters, cannot get over this. It is in vain to say, that any good can come till this be removed. What are our present prospects of its re- moval ? Why only these, that by an incredible amount of folly, weakness, and rapacity, tve are so fast knock- ing out the few remaining nails that hold us together in the way of Protective regulations ; — %ve are so determi- nately hurrying on ruin, and destroying the remnant of our Constitution, by crazy jobbing,- and blind expe- diency ; that the end, in some shape, is not far distant, and the threefold shape it approaches in, is Revolution, Famine, and Decay. It is nonsense to speak about amelioiation without sweeping measures. We remember, during our school days, to have read in Herodotus that during the great pressure of misery in Lydia, under the reign, we be- lieve, of Crcesus, a royal capitalist of those days, that the game of dice, or bones, was invented, called in the Greek ' AaTpayaXoi, in order to beguile starvation of some of its pangs. In this manner men were allowed to eat one day and play (upon tomb-stones?) the next, i. e., they ate and played on alternate days. The remedial measures which are now" mooted in the House of Com- mons equal this, if we take it as an earnest fact, in absurditv and insult. Thev are certainly less plausi- CiKNEKAl. rUOSriiCTS OF ENGLAND. -42 I *y to re we tional yearly ! pio- ed, as sms of is ill lis be its re- imount hnock- ther in etermi- uint of I ej'pe- iistitnlf ilidioii, |,vithoiit school le great we he- 's, that A in the of son\e d to eat xt, i. e., emedial of Com - fact, in plausi- ble and less eiigagiiii:;. liut, if we look at the schemes and measures which ])retend to <^o beneath the surface, we see nothing but mischief — glaring, threatening, palpable mischief — in every part of the acting |)olitical economy of the times. Contrary to all the received opinions of sound legislators and of philosophical writers : contrary to experience, theory, and past and present example at the hands of other nations, the men, in whose hands we are, viz. the present Govern- ment and the majority of the British House of Com- mons, are intent upon schemes, which seem to he the offs])ring either of the honesty of madmen, or of the dishonesty of men gifted with a very little sense. We scarcely know to which to refer it ; for certainly a gi'cat proportion of these fatal advocates have some- thing to lose. We believe, however, that in the highest quarters it is dcsperalion i/ieldiiKj to (wpc- dicucij ; an attempt of natural Protectionists to be falselij liberal in order to reconcile themselves to the a[)parent features of" the day : sta!n[)lng themselves thereby as an anomaly which cannot exist and must fall ; as in the instance t)f I'ope Pius IX. and Louis Philippe. Into this j)re(licament the late (jovei'nments of this country have, in a great degree, precipitated themselves. Rivalling eacli other in attempts to offer the greatest sacrifices to the outward pressure : out- selinig and out-ticketing each other in popularity : never, it is true, offering solid articles, hut only the made-up trifles which dazzle the uninitiate eve : thev have at length pushed each other into the slough of difficulty and despond, and the last in [)Ower will have the greatest fall, oblociuy and danger,* when the day of * It is. tiui'i til, it IVfl in;i\ liiuo \wc\\ hIim rvi 1(1 lia\*; Ititrnvpcl lli'^ 422 GENERAL PROSPECTS OF ENGLAND. reckoning arrives. Conduct such as this resembles an attempt of" obnoxious individuals to wear the cockades or badges of the people, to escape popular tumult ere the application of" a Shibboleth, which at once discovers and destroys them. We have hitherto laid everything at the door of the debt and taxation. But our present i)roceedings would be alone sufficient to reduce us to a fourth-rate nation ; even were we to commence with a clean slate and an economical expenditure, merely raising taxes sufficient to ])ay our annual cxi)enses. Free-trade without re- ciprocity : the abandonment of our navigation laws, which have been the basis of England's commercial prosperity since the time of Cromwell ; oiu* cold re- serve towards our colonies, and their probable loss : the rapid growth of the United States, rivalling us in everything with an elastic future before them : the jieglect of our agricultund interest : the unhealthy in- crease of manufactures, v.ithout proper measures to maintain them lit the high pressure degree : our future dependence upon foreign markets for grain : our in- credible folly in weakening instead of strengthening the army and navy, and the singular care which we take to destroy our nationality : together with, lastly, our blind initiation of all other countries into our secrets, improvements, and discoveries in art and science, — these alone are sufficient to ])lunge an Prothictivc, or Cun : •vati>'' uitercsi, in his desire for ephemeral distinc- tion, hy his niistakeg, or his incapacity, Bui no man can serve two mas- ters : nor in the poKtical world can >. party long exist with a double face; for measures uill be thrust u|)on it, which must soon serve as iii- diees. It will not be permitted to Peel, even if he is willing, to rec- tify in ;uiv denrro the vnischirl that he hn« done. GENERAL I'UOSl'ECTS OF ENGLAND. 423 island, not u^iiied witli a spontaneous fertility lar ex- ceeding the wants of its inhabitants, into desolation. A great country, whose revenues decrease, has been justly pronounced by some political writer as tar less enviable than the smallest country that is pro- gressive. Thus, we need not the weight of the national debt to press down the industrious classes, in order to hasten the fatal consunnnalion. As long as aliens do not hold British stock in a greater pro[)ortion than we do foreign, the debt is an inteinal affair, merely giving rjonsumcrs the advantage over producers. This is in itself fatal to a nation ; but we shall soon, as matters are unhaj)pily arranged, owe a nmch greater proportion to foreigners. At [iresent, we cannot say that our debt of £808,000,000 is entirely lost to the nation. It is only m wrong hands, producing those extremes of misery and splendour, upon which we have dwelt. It has not been sunk in the sea, nor has it paid tribute to a foreign country. It is only a tax upon internal industry and a curse upon labour. But soon all this will fatally alter. Protection and ma- chinery have enabled us hitherto to struggle on. One is more than yielded : the other is no longer our own. Our dilemma will work with a cube-root power of in- crease. It is melancholy to reflect upcn time and op})ortu- nities lost and money thrown away ; but, when we add to this, acts of suicidal folly and a cruel abandonment of sacred trusts and advantages, sorrow is lost in won- der, wonder clianges to indignation, and indignation, too full to speak, wrings its hands in silence, and as- sumes the gloomy attitude of despair. The Emperor Napoleon predicted ill ot England, 424 (iENliUAL PKOSl'KCTS OF ENULANU, I ; when she should sacrifice the interest of the land to manufactures.* What would he have said, if he had lived to sec us sacrifice our shipping interests ? Speaking to La Cases of national industry he classed it thus : — Agriculture, Manufactures, Foreign Trade. The latter two he said were made for the former, and not the former for the latter two. He said that the case of Holland was different, f hecause she had neither of the former, and that, therefore, heing only a com- mission agent, she should exercise an entire free trade. He called us a nation of shop-keepers, and compared us to the Carthaginians ; hecause he saw" a narrow- minded policy, which, absorhed i)rivately in the acquisi tion of money alone, as it was engaged i)ublicly in dishonestly squandering it, forgot entirely to legislate for the future, and sacrificed evervthin"; to a base ex- pediency. The opinion of great nien is not to be despised. It is more valuable than public opinion, and forms always a land-mark of the real sense of the age. It is as nuich more valuable than popular feeling, as the sense of Cromwell exceeded that of" the " Bare- bones" Parliament. Cromwell established our navigation laws, although the Act was called 12 Charles II. The memorable dicta of Adam Smith and Cobbett have sealed nearly two hundred years' experience of their efHcacy . But we nmst needs play with ruin, and experimentalise with assured good fortune and sound doctrine. We nmst needs be blinded by mercenary sophisms, and make England the * Fide Lord EbriDgton's Conversations. ■f Holland hiuI Venice are l)oth examples of the transitory grandeur of unpiorluctive count ries. P^ GliNliUAL I'UOSl'ECTS OF KNCJLANl). 425 id to e had ests ? ;sed it ^'ade. , and e case either , com- trade. ipared tirrow- L'quisi cly in L^islate ise ex- to be )n, and le age. ni &> as Bare- hough le dicta rly two e must assured eeds be and the grandeur test of their falsehood and lolly. Ikit we lose patience with the subject, and if; throughout this part of our work, we are accused of loo great a disposition to de- claim, we must humbly attribute it to our honest grief at the position of affairs, our regret to see the oppor- tunities of England lost, and our fear to see her sink unnecessarily, and, as it were, cruelly uiged by her own rulers, into a fourth-rate ration. Amidst the various writers of talent and eminence, who have considered thrse sui>jects, it appear*^ to us, that no one has succeeded in providing remedies sufli- ciently extensive, and, at the same time, sound, to meet the evil. It will, therefore, l\ deemed great presumption in us to stale, which \\'j nevertheless do, that we consider, on the whole, our [)lans far ex- ceed, in their innnediale capacity, the distress of Great Britain. We think, moreover, that by the incorpo- ration of Canada, and the traffic with the East brought West, which we have dwelt upon, that the British empire would assume and maintain a greatness it has never yet aimed at. This greatness will, otherwise, fall to the share of North America — for it is idle to speak of the United States apart : foreseeing, as we do, an em})ire, or emj)ires, denominated American, which will be eciuallv iirand, either in unitv or divi- sion. There have been many works published, which continue swimmingly up to the remedial plans, and are there lost in utter silence, or failure. A pamphlet, written lately by Mr. Newman, on the subject of the National Debt, is a brilliant instance of this. After deprecating the profligate conduct of statesmen, who have thus saddled posterity with a curse, and, after clearly showing', with considerable 42G (JENEUAL I'UUxl'ECTS Oh ENULANI). 'f . ability, tlint the public creditor receives 1ms ilividciKU " by induluicncc, as a matter of expediency, but not by law or rii;ht ;" since no minister and no I'arlia- ment coul(/ dispose of tliat upon wliicb tbey bad no claim : after lamentinu:; and l)laming, in tbe stronirest terms, tbat tbe industry of any aiic sbould be cbaru;ed witb tbe unri<;bte()usly uc(iuired debts ol aiiolber, Iionn does tbis writer projjose to meet tbe (bfliculty .' Wby, by saddling; one ireneration, tbat is, tbe tbirly years to come, witb £9,0(H),0{ a-year, in excess! lie tbinks sixty years to come too nmcb. To ' dictate to a third ^deration," be says, " is monstrous." We do not, we mnst admit, see where the monstrosity, with regard to a luturc age, begins or stojjs, C'ertainly, to correct ; i abuse by increasing it is a novelty, which the age to come would not admire : besides, it is im- })ossible The next thirty years can bear nothing more : but something less will be necessary. Another able writer (Bernard) speaks of discovering the origin of '■ moral evil !" The most sensible of all is certainly tht author of the " Curse Removed," to vvhich V have before alluded. He does attempt to pay ofi' tbe debt by sensible means. Many otherwise sober writers seem to exhibit a vague idea at the con- clusion of, or even sometimes tliroughout, their various works, of an indefinite change in the social system and the manner in which the world will, in future, be governed. We cannot see what this notion has to do with present embarrassments ; evni if it have a foundation in truth. In the present aspect of affairs, we must confess that we see such confusion, that a return to the dark ages, and ;i state of ignorance and barbarism, is more to be an- (•HXKIIAL I'llOSPKCTS OF ENGLAND. 427 vidfiuU l)iit not Farlia- had no [I'onirest diarized er, how ' Whv, years to > thinks itc to a We do Ly, with linly, to , which it is im- (j more : covering le of all ved," to Clll[)t to therwisc the con- t, their le social rid will, ^hat this ts ; evpii present see such 5, and a be an- ticipated than anyfiiing like this millcniuni in poli- tical economy, and the relations of life. Tiie con- tinent of America, north and south, was once before inhabited by a civili/id poj)ulation. Perhaps, at dis- tinct epochs, the Ucity prescribes a limit to the in- genuity of man. Human nature, per se, has ever been the same : nor have we advanced a sins^lc stej) in public or self 150 vernment. I'he !i;eneral opinions of the mass areas wroni; as ever, whilst single leaders are as fallible and corrupt, and every real, great and noble spirit, that has striven with anarchy and o])pression,* every innovator upon established custom, every dealer with first principles, based upon tnith and founded upon conscience, has fallen a sacrifif / avarice and ingrati- tude, misconception or doubt, sooner or later. The grand instincts of such men, as developed by circumstances, have been sub-divided into pettv and selfish motives by those utterly incapable of analyzing or ai)preciating them — their very necessity of rule, in order to guide, interpreted into the basest ambition, their small errors uni)ardoned, their great virtues forgotten. For no man can please the good and the bad, or the wise and the foolish. No man can represent two interests, or gratify twenty, and there are always suflicient persons, who live upon the very ruin of a country, to create a certain opposition and unpopularity, that may even * It is an interesting study to trace the truth of these remarks, in the iiistovy of the past. Caesar, a true patriot, wlio soupjht to relieve the people from the pressure of a monied Aristocracy, was stabbed by Brutus in the name of Liberty. He fell a victim to the monied interests of the usurious I'atriciaus; the reaction occasioned by this act causing the most fearful dynasty of autocratic power to arise that ever stained an Imperial throne. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I I ^ Ilia ■S us. 112.0 Li 1.8 1.25 1.4 1.6 ^ 6" - ► Va ^ //, ^> :> ^v^^ //a '^'"^'^i '/ Photographic Sciences Corporation 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 #1 ^ inons. From these circumstances, and its apparent great harmonies in comhining all the best parts of the three forms of government, it has not without reason gained the name of ' glorious ' and perfect. But a variety of circumstances have clogged its actions, and its very virtues have degenerated into errors. The principle of opposition in parties, in itself good as a check, as we remarked before, has operated not only to impede the passing and execution of necessary mea- sures, but to drive Ministers into follies and excesses. It is in the struggle to gain or keep the reins of Government, that democratical principles have been evolved, and measures subversive of the real rights of the country carried ; since money has been at once the great object and instrument of IVlinisters. ft was this that led Sir Robert Walpole to tax land i" preference to commerce and money,* and to develop a policy, which prematurely ripened the commercial interests of the country at the expense of the agricultural. f It maybe remarked that the monied interest has always been the most powerful and active. It has always had more funds at command, and has frequented cities : mixing with and commanding, though perhaps not exer- cising, intellect. Thus its encroachments upon land- owners and land-cultivators have been alwavs success- ful; as at present they are likely to be against our na- vigation, our army, and our navy. It has been fre- * Fide, on this subject, "Iku-nanl on tlie Constitution." f Walpole said facetiously that " landowners and farmers rescmhlo their own sheep, who are so tame they will let you shear them ami carry away all the wool they have on their backs without a murmur, whereas to tax a commercial or a monied man is like shearing- a hog — all orv and no wool at last." pparent s of the : reason But a ms, and s. The :)ocl as a lot only iry mca- 'xcesses, reins of ive been •ights of once the was this 'eference I policy, interests ral.f IS always ways had d cities : not exer- on land- success- ; our na- 3een fre- ii's resemble ir tliem ami a imirmur, ng a lioo— GENERAL I'llOSPFf'TS OF RNCil.AND. 433 (juently stated, that the lavish cxpenditnre in war which has chiefly caused the national debt was tiie feeling of the people, and the landowners in particular. We deny, even if the country were one blaze of bon- fires, after every victory gained at the expense of our real best interests and to the cost of posterity, that the nation is responsihle. It was a natural delusion, which ought to have been spared us by our rulers ; and as to the accusation against land, the whole of these things were done by the creatures of money. It was the feeling described by the poet Lucan, which did it. War is the result, not cf real prosperity, but of false credit — " Noil erat is populus, queiu pax tniufpiilla juvaret, Quein sua libortas iinmotis pasccrct annis — hide inc f'aciles, et rpiod suasissct egestas, Vile lie fas lliiic usiira vnrnx, nvidumque in tempore fceiius Et rouciissa ticics el luultis utile belluiu." The money-lenders formerly triumphed in war : the fund-holders now dread it. Money would selfishly and blindly disband the army and reduce the navy : entranced only by its own greedy speculations : seeking popularity for a pretence : staking England for a mo- mentary expediency, or a sudden return ; with the desperation of a gambler, or the sensual indulgence of a suicide, who would spend all ere he dies without a thought for those left behind, or one sacred feeling of obligation towards his country, his home, or fellow- creatures. Such is the influence of money upon this country, in her conduct and measures. Such is our deplorable 2 F 1 434 GENERAL PROSPECTS OF ENGLAND. §;"^ condition. There is yet time to amend : there is yet hope of salvation. Let us finally review our position and condition. It may he sunmied up thus. Primary cause of decline — Deht : taxation, and consequent pressure upon the lower classes, producing ij;eneral misery and an incapa- city to contend much longer against foreign nations. Secondary cause : the destruction of agriculturists and the i)roductiye classes, and a diseased development of commerce, which is far less necessar\' to make a nation happy and give stability to her prosperity, than agriculture. Tertiary : an impeded and improper cir- culation of money, arising from the above two causes, which creates the frightful contrast of luxury and miisery. A variety of what may be termed minor fea- %, y f tures may be added, which are the results of the others, and yet reproductive of all. As, for instance, a variety of gambling transactions is generated, which employ a number of unproductive persons in injuring the credit of the nation and creating panics and general demoralization ; whilst we are delivered into the hands of a Debating Society of, for the most part, venal, selfish and often ignorant men, who chiefly represent money alone, and who are all employed in hurrying the country on to the abyss of chaotic Revolution. This Debating Society is lastly under the influence, in great measure, of a set of men, many of them of transcendent talent, genius and merit, and abstractedly infinitely better fitted by Nature for distinction and govern- ment ; who do represent, in a high degree, the intel- ligence of the nation. These constitute the public Press ; than which no class possesses a greater fund of general information, or greater power of the pen to IJENKUAL 1'1U)SI>K( TS t)l' KNGl.ANU. 4a;"> correct social abuses, check crime and immorality, aiul inform with lij;ht the whole leaven of society. But, — from their limited interests and from the fact of their reprcsentini;' cajjital and money alone, and that in a small dei^ree, and from their being also in one sense unproductive, and from their ignorance of the prac- tical workings of agriculture, commerce and general Political Economy, except as regards the latter in minutiic and forms, and from the encouragement they receive from cities and towns and operative industry far more than agriculture, and from their being cut up into parties and forced to exhibit one- sided views for gain — the members of this class are most incapable of giving sound i)ractical advice to the legislation of England, in the broad view necessary. There are of course excej:)tions even to these ; but they are contradicted by others, and thus the best become but tlie brilliant advocates of one side, or the other, with every shade and diversity of opinion, distinguished far, it is true, above the petty publications, which double and treble the amount of cheap knowledge to be obtained by the poor. Still, on the whole, the influence is a false one — or rather, it exhibits amid all its emanatMos and coruscations of light, true or false, twinkling or resplendent, no grand beacon, whereby to guide the destinies of the nation. Nay, it dazzles, blinds and perverts, rather than assists, legislation. There is another body of men also, to whom it is worth while to advert, exercising a con- siderable, and far more fatal and occult sw ay, over the sense, feeling and guidance of the nation. These are the Sohcitors — unproductive helpers in the Augean Stable of the Law — who in a great measure nominate 2 F 2 • ' 43G (JENJiRAL I'ltOSPIiCTH OF EXCJLANl). ■^■.1 1^ V!:'^ the ini'iubcrs of tliu J)t batiiijz; Society and lire eoneenied too widely and deeply in the proi)erty of indivichials and the nation. These are almost entirely ofi'sprinu; of the deht and taxes. They have thrown out of the misery of the nation with an extraordinary fecundity. But, in a state of real prosperity, they would as (luickly resume their proper position. Fifty years a^o, the unprincipled attorney, tiie ' Glossop' of a village, or country town, was a character every one met with a few times in lite. One could trace then the career of such a man ; till he finished his days in a house equal in si)lendour, or superior to the neighhouring par- sonage : a green door and hrass knocker were the ultima Thule of his ambition. He was dreaded and hated by the small ; but not courted by the great. He was the petty scourge of society ; but not its genius. He did not entertain lords at his table, or buy up a manor. He did the dirty work of an election ; but did not choose, and carry the member triumphantly. He did not get up railways, or influence bills for the House of Conunons. In fact, his was not then a monster growth spreading its ramifications throughout the whole of society ; but a necessary working adjunct of the law, frequently noxious and mischievous in individual cases ; but not palsying the very heart of society by the continual infringements of a corrupt powder. To this subject, we shall, however, revert in a different work. It is certain that for the redemption of England is required also a " Code." We should like here to allude to a feature of the times worthy of remark, which is, however, too specu- lative a question to dwell upon. It is a thing not anticipated a century ago ; but which exercises a (iKMiUAL rilOSl'liC'TS OF liNtJLAND. 437 fonsi(lcral)lc sway upon the dt'stinics ot' EiiLiland. It is the i^mwth of a fourth class ot" society, most iin- [)ortant in numerical (juantity : a class iiiulescrihcd hy Shakespeare, or Aristophanes, hy Terence, Tacitus, or Moliere ; hut familiar to our stai^c, the glass of" real life, and minutely painted hv a Charles Dickens, and the scliool that imitates liim, without his kindliness orVit. Formerly, we had three classes in Enirland: the aristo- cracy, the middle-class, and the people. Now, we have a vast hody existing hetween, without connecting, the latter two: the result otcheai) and superticial education : comj)osed of" heings without character, or earnestness ; fond of change, licentious and dangerous. Let any one consider this deejjly, and he will see a wide-spreading social change. He will see a restless, turhid and shallow fermenting mob, ready for the seeds of Socialism and evil, wafted over from France. It is not the earnest folly of German transcendentalism. It is a still more vulgar incarnation than the hero of Eugene Sue ; with- out the talisman of the Arabian Nights, to imparadise vulgarity. It is a mixture of sensualism with imper- tinence : the march of vitiated intellect : the misery of a little knowledge, without soundness, or ballast ; which, working in a different material, blew^ the sanguinary soap-bubbles of the late confusion in France. It is not so volatile here ; but equally dangerous. It is un-English. Whilst in France it is the result of cha- racter permitted by circumstances ; with us it is a false condition arising from circumstances alone. We may be led, also, hereafter, to analyse the component parts of this Dead Sea, and show how^ health may be restored with care, and a new spirit engendered. We have already spoken of the rivalry fast growing ji 438 GE.VFUAI. I'llOHPKCTS OF KNGLAND. (• i> y \ ^a^ •■.* ' ■ ^^^H lA ■,■■■:■ wm ■^ ■ ••• . I'XJIp^B >' '■- iibroad of Britisli miu^himrv and manufactures. To the cruel development of that machinery, we owe our present existence up to this [mint as a great nation ; in spite of all that has weighed uj)on us. But, if we have hitherto enjoyed the advantage of a horse, other coun- tries arc now on horseback, and fast imi)roving in power and velocity. We have sufficiently alluded to the extraordinary fatality of our late measures. We have shown the fallacy of Free-trade, as applied to our present con- dition. We have shown ruin threatening class after class. We have pointed out the curse of general competition, when we alone are in shackles, and given our deliberate opinion and warning tiiat without re- strictive duties, even were reciprocity general, we shall soon but inn'tate the present fate of Ireland, which alone exists as a jaded hack — kept up in harness by being yoked to a sturdy horse and flogged by a remorseless driver. Ireland, i)roductive as she is, has been absorbed into England. England still extends over her the mockery of patronage, and keeps her from falling a i)rey to Europe. The interests of England will be absorbed by foreign countries. A war and a harvest wanting, and Famine will beset the land. A reduced army, after a few sanguinary struggles, will not destroy the people. When the mischief is real and deep-rooted, it is only in the restoration of order after anarchy, and not before it, that an army is efficacious. Witli regard to the Navigation Law^s, the beggarly sophisms of cheapness will fast invade with a band of aliens the sacred precincts of the Thames and Mersey ; whilst the English sailor has the choice of starving, or (JKNKUAL I'UOSl'ECTS OF ENliLAND. 439 foreign service. We not only destroy our au:rieulture and commerce, tlie two first desiderata of Napoleon ; but even our existence as conunerce agents and carriers. The Americans now enjoy trade with fitly of our colonies; which should have been ours alone. We have not been content with this. With ridiculous care and absurd philanthropy, we interfere with Hritish ship-owners and attack individupd interests: placing them absolutely under new and additional restrictions, to which the foreigners, whom we admit to all our privileges, are not subjected. In a word, wc enact for ourselves, as if our enemies enacted for us, and the world looks on smiling and wonders. The Americans, whose diplomacy and policy are admirable, will not yield a point. They are cautious and wary, and check some outrageous bursts from a southern state senator, not from feeling, but craft.* Lastly, an overwhelming and extraordinary fact presents itself to our minds. It is the threatening drain of EmiijraLlon, conducted on no principles of return, which is the chief feature of the present era of Great Britain. We do not allude * Vide the discussion in Congress upon tin; representations of our Ambassador Eulwer on tlie subject of coa&iing trade. We ask for the boon, after wc have yickled everytliing. ]\[r. Meredith was much blamed by tlie Americans for prematurely developing tlieir inten- tions as to their cotton trade. The American captains are in the habit of laughing at and deriding the masters of our British merchant ships, when they meet them here, or abroad. " What are you fools going to do next ?" they say. This is an absolute fact comnumieated to us, since we wrote this chapter. What, indeed, shall we give up next? The trade of the St. Lawrence, or the guardianship of the Cinq Ports ? We met the other day a fleet of small foreign craft entering the mouth of the Thames, and could not repress our indignation at the thought that very soon our mercantile navy will be; thoroughly undermined by these '.U 440 UliNEUAL PROSPECTS OF ENGLAND -:y, i to the miserable bands of utter pauperism, which the Government and Societies assist to disappear ; but to small capitalists and small traders, the bone and sinew of England, who chiefly resort to the United States. There, there is room enough and to spare. The ma- terial is only thereby furnished for their gigantic schemes. Who can tell where this may stop ? It is a false and cowardly remedy for the distress of England. Ministers, agitated by the difficulties of their position, recklessly wave on the crowd. Bishops and clergymen and sentimentalist Young Englandites meet and dis- cuss, and from a cloud of cant a " settlement " emerges. Young England ! What a world of meaning, or no meaning in the term ! England not renovated, not in a second spring of life, but imbecile, child-like, falling into the hands of her enemies. The Church patronises Emigration, too, because she is alarmed by the necessities of the poor. But this is only a sad and mean reparation. A hen-coop throw^n to the drowning wretch whom your own negligence has swamped ! The price of a pistol refunded by the successful gambler to the plucked pigeon! A soup-kitchen in the house of a lawyer for the ruined clients, upon whose property he lives ! frantic projects of benevolence. If at the moment we are blinded by the pretence of an increased demand for shippinijf, how soon will this be ended? For example, let it be supposed that we are the chief employers of carriages and sole wheelwrights. If wc give np our immunities and privileges of using carriages, the momen- tary demand for wheels may be greater ; but it is only until other nations have learnt to make wheels and established their manu- factories as well as their market. At this moment ship-builders of all countries are entering the arena armed with superior cheap- ness. ich tlic but to 1 sinew States, he nia- ;igantic ' It is uglaiid . osition, I'gymen nd dis- jinent " leaning, lovated, ild-like, Church med bv sad and •owning I! The ibler to house »roperty )liiKled by soon will e are the we give moraen- ntil other ;ir manu- p-builders or cheap- GENERAL PROSPECTS OK ENGLAND. 441 What a strange picture ! a mighty nation deserted by its people — the abandonment of a noble vessel sinking without aid ! A country bleeding at all pores ! A wounded whale exhausted by its own strength, preyed on by all kinds ! Such are the ideas presented to our mind by our present schemes of Emujration, with reference to the state of Great Britain. How different our plans ! In their development, how grand the return ! A country of infinite resource Anglicised ! Room and employment offered gratui- tously to our distressed millions ; but without losing one valuable member to the British community; whilst those whom distress has paralysed, or depraved, may be restored and amended. A scheme that outvies the growing magnificence of our rivals ! No " black rain- bow" of nnsnamed hope to beguile the wretched w^anderer from home : no broken tie : no loss of the proud distinction of birth : no renegade desertion ; but the feeling that while England is wisely aban- doned, she is lovingly cherished afar : her institutions preserved : her memory honoured : her present exist- ence reverenced and respected : amalgamated with a clime only distant by mileage, and brought near by science to our hearths and homesteads. Surely enough has been given away, and enough squandered. It is time for the nation to deal w'ith severe justice, and use her own resources for her own good. If the landowners of England are to suflfer, let it be for the benefit of England at large. Let her supplies be under her own command, and grown by her own people. If the old country is to be treated as worn out, let the new country be English. If, in time, the seat of the Government itself were transferred to Canada, and ';*. 442 GENERAL PROSPECTS OF ENGLAND. .'.I ■4^>t f ;■;.:■ '■ 1 1 j^i England herself became the appanage of her former glory, surely this would be a more becoming fate, than to sink beneath the insolence of a foe. It will then be the parent stricken with years, abdicating in favour of the child — not the degriided bankruptcy of com- mercial ruin, amid the sneers of triumphant rivals. Even this, there is no reason to apprehend. At least, such a fate may be so far distant, as to defy cal- culation, and present no subject for speculation. Eng- land has now one great stake. Let her play it wisely. By the exercise of that wise and moderate protection., which every great country adopts as the basis of her prosperity and which alone gives her the advantage over other nations, and is the per centage of her profits, she may dictate to the markets of the world, and with the vast productions of a new^ and inexhaustible coun- try — over which commerce with China and Japan will make its transit, enriching Canada on the high road to England — may yet be the unrivalled mistress of the world. She will thus curb the vast progressive policy of the United States, which will then probably divide, and make a second Europe. As the tempest is a condition of nature, war is a necessity of hu- manity. No real demonstration to the contrary has attended a fanciful speculation. Such, at least, is our opinion ; but the horrors of war will receive their greatest check in our acknowledged supremacy. These are no idle, fanciful theories. All this is not so difficult to accomplish, as the prosperity of one infant colony ; even though it may receive the baptism of bishops, and the blessings of high churchmen ; whilst the yeomen and able mechanics of England are drafted away, with a patent iron church, into a wilderness, -1Si.-v'- GENERAL PROSPECTS OF ENGLAND. 443 T former fate, than will then in favour of coni- nt rivals, end. At defy cal- on. Eng- it wisely, rotection.. sis of her itage over T profits, and with ible coun- nd Japan the high mistress rogressive probably 3 tempest y of hu- itrary has ist, is our eive their ipremacy. is not so )ne infant aptism of n ; whilst re drafted ilderncss, amid huzzas and waving of hats from active Sunday- school lordlings, and M.P. doctrinaires. With regard to the railroad, which we confess to be the main feature in the case, the whole amount of money required for it would not exceed the late, almost useless, loans to Ireland. We have shown that private enterprize alone might do it, under the fa- vour, sanction and encouragement of the Govern- ment. Emigration, which is now fast trickling from the countrv in streams that onlv weaken, would then ebb in one grand tide from our shores to bear back innumerable blessings. Paupers would then be pro- vided for, and convicts employed at any rate for a considerable period. Nay, we are convinced that by means of all these measures crime itself would become diminished, and the corrective applications of art, and science, and civilization, have full scope to work. It is worthy of remark, that at present, since crime is in- creased in spite of all the actual difficulties in its way, human nature must be deteriorated by suffering on the other hand from much greater temptations than for- merly. These temptations would, many of them, disap- pear, were labour provided by the Government for all hands : not in national ateliers, but by means of national ])rosperity. One great point might be carried, by the employment of convicts upoL ^ch a work : — viz. a graduated scale of punishment, according to the offence, with the hope of being restored, after all but the blackest crimes, to the bosom of society. As it is, malefactors are not sufficiently classified ; while their existence in a penal settlement, under present circumstances, unfits them, in various ways, entirely ■;';i'i 444 GENERAL l»R()Sl'ECTS OF KNGLAND. S' to return, at the expiration of their term of sufferin to the mother country. In the plan we propose, hardship, however severe, need not shut out hope. The worst may he separated from the least demoralized hy the whole length of tin- proposed line ; whilst indulgence may follow good con- duct with shy stej) and severe demeanour, and thus tlie youthful, the indiscreet, the passionate, and the too sorely tempted, may he reclaimed. Jn this country, Iiow^ much crime springs from destitution and igno- rance ! The wretched heings who commit it are punished on earth. It is necessary to do so in order to deter others. But, at a higher trihunal. Who shall be cited to answer the accusing shadows of those crimes, for whose perpetration Ignorance, Want, and Desperation were alone made responsible in the flesh ? Certainly those, whose criminal neglect was the cause of the miserable state of existence of these scape-goats of iniquity. Apart from this consideration, the whole system of punishments wants revision, and this would be a glorious opportunity for remodelling it. We have now, imperfectly, it is true, but earnestly and devotedly, depicted the evils that weigh Great Britain down, the doom that awaits her, and the re- medy that presents itself. The surplusage of this remedy over the miseries, great as they are, that exist, would suffice to build up a prosperity more last- ing and glorious, than has ever crowned a nation. Will it be adopted ? It is ours ! Shall w^e fling it aw ay ? Like a city of gold-worshipping idolaters, we neglect the voice of warning ; though it is heard at mid-day in the skies. The language of suffering traced on all things around, from the gloomy wall that belts in convicted UENEKAL I'ROSFKCTS Ol-' KNGLAND. 445 suftering, r severe, sicp'tirated til of the jood con- 1 thus the 1 the too country, Liid igno- it it are 3 in order »Vho shall of those ^aiit, and the flesh ? the cause ape-goats he whole lis would earnestly irh Great the re- e of this are, that more last- on. Will t aw ay ? ve neglect lid-day in all things convicted crime to the shattered hovel that hrceds it, is a sealed iiieroglyphic to our eyes. We are under the influence of a spell. We have lost the right use of names. We call deht, credit; and hhnd expediency, wisdom. But, perhaps, the very violence of mistake will rouse the nation to reason. We have of late observed a yawn of weariness, with a kind of faint lashing of the tail, which precedes awakening. There is yet hope. There is a vague ex])ression in the desire for the monster Industrial Exhibition.* Lii.v! the poor woman who dreams that it is "all that machinery" which causes her wxary condition, the nation deludes itself with a toy, and imagines that in it there is redemption. Does it fancy that industry wants spurring, or does it chuckle * What have foroin-ncrs siibscriljcd to this ? Yet thev wiil be the sohi <^-aiiK'rs. "They will exhibit at our expense, with a sun> sale afterwards, and a probabh-; future (Icinand for their goods." AVe are indeed iuelined to look upon this livLliibition, as a great mistake. It is, at any time, wrong for a country super-eminent in manufactures, to throw open the doors to strangers, tell all its secrets, and expose itself to even the chance of being excelled in any department. It is an assistance to our neighbours, which we exhibit nuich weakness in giving. We have nothhig to learn and have still something to lose. AVe de- nounce the fact of nn\j competition being thus ticketed with success, or fiiiliu'e, in its various branches ; but an hilernal one. A great Indus- trial Exhibition of articles of JU-itish manufacture alone would have been much more righteously conceived. As it is, the error is great. The London shop, tavern and lodging-house keepers will alone reap only a momentary benetit. Our illustrious Prince, with the best and purest njotives, has been persuaded to lend the higli sanction of his name to a nio^^t plausible and at the same time superficial affair. AVe attach anytjiing but blame to him; since a majority of men, whose duty it is to see and avert mischief, have {""iven a))pr itry to measures far more fatal than this, and of which, this is but an index and an exponent. This is neither a primary, nor a secondary cause of 1;:4' ' rvil ; but will be found, ere 1 S52, to have done no good to the interests uf (h'cat IJritaiu. ^Ml 446 GENERAL PROSPECTS OF ENGLAND. Ri I at the idea that we can yet show the foreigner a thing or two ? Before that exhibition, let us hope that some- thing different, something sounder, deeper, greater, will be thought of, and that thought will guide action to success, and success be the harbinger of salvation. We confess that we have dark forebodings, and a sad- der reliance on the continuation of misguidance, than any bright assurance of an altered destiny. We must confess ourselves to be prophets of evil ; yet we would not prophesy, save for hope's sake. Like the faithful depositaries of the power of Xerxes bent on the fatal expedition against Greece, we amuse ourselves with enumerating the countless glories of our wealth and resources ; but as we do so our hearts sink within us, and we cannot overcome fear. KaKO/navrtg ciyav oprroXoirt'iTai QvjJidg iawBiv. The age of heroisms has departed. It is an era of meanness. The only heroic act remaining is the con- struction of a tunnel, or a tubular bridge : not for any great purpose. Annex to the tubular bridge the idea of saving a country or honestly lessening her load of pauperism, and the act becomes Quixotic, or impossible. There is yet one heroism. It is when clergymen invoke their tenants to become their antipodes, and to depart vaguely out of sight, somewhere : never to return. This is certainly the reverse of the conduct of Pharaoh, and has a one-sided approximation to the agreement be- tween the two Patriarchs to journey East and West. The man, who would redeem England in this way, displays but the heroism of the ostrich, who buries his head in the sand to escape danger. We treat these ST H i I jr a thins; hat soiiie- , greater, ide action salvation, md a sad- ince, than We must we would of Xerxes we amuse glories of )ur hearts GENERAL PROSPECTS OF ENGLAND. 447 fiishionable advocates of emigration with scorn. They would diminish mouths at home, it is true, but not leave hands. It was formerly a saying that every man should plant two oak trees where he cut down one. The oak tree was thought symbolical of our great- ness, and necessary to our navy. But what shall we think of men who would lose Em/Ushmen to England ? Surely it was a farce for such men to fast for the cholera ! No ! our plan is to gain subjects, ay, and forests, lands and corn-fields, and to keep them ; as they ought to keep us. Our plan is to save and not to palter. The means we have developed will do all this. Instead of losing 250,000 British subjects yearly, we propose to add, at a stroke, 3,000,000. Our next and last chapter will be devoted to the Incorporation of Canada. an era of 5 the con- )t for any e the idea sr load of npossible. en invoke to depart urn. This iraoh, and 3ment be- i West, this way, ho buries reat these ■ ;"■ J i- > i 1 ■■'''. .* ■'■. ,'. •■■ ■■' 'M:'^\ i '. u CHAPTER V. INCORPORATION OF CANADA. It is stated by the historian Gibbon, that the policy ol" ancient Rome, with reference to her colonies, was such that " it was disputed which was the preferable condi- tion of those societies, which had issued from, or those which had been received into, the bosom of Rome."* Again he says, " In their manners and internal policy the colonies formed a perfect representation of their great parent ; and they were soon endeared to the natives by the ties of friendship and alliance. They effectually diffused a reverence for the Roman name, and a desire, which was seldom disappointed, of sharing indue time its honours and advantages." "Where- soever the Roman conquers, he inhabits," said Seneca. Certainly this admirable policy of ancient Rome is not that which the legislators of modern Britain have hitherto desired to adopt. It is a sure proof of the decadence of a nation, when she begins either volun- tarily, or sullenly, but without resistance, to relinquish her colonies. When the Romans withdrew their grasp * For the extent to wliicli this feeling arrived, we have the authority of Aldus Gelllus, Noctcs Attictc, xvi. 13, The Emperor Hadrian expressed his surprise that the eities of Utica, Gades, and Italica, wliieh ah'eady enjoyed the rights of municipia, sliould solicit the title of colonies. (Spanheim, 7> it-s/f Niiuiismatitni, Dissortat. xiii.) INCORTORATION OF CANADA. 440 policy of was such \e condi- , or those Rome."* lal poHcy 1 of their d to the e. They an name, )/ shariruj Where- 1 Seneca. me is not am have 3f of the er volim- elinquish leir grasp from ancient Britain, as well as from several otlier dis- tant possessions, it was because they were " rechiced to the necessity of defeiKhiiii; tlie centre of their em- pire from the barbarians."* We are not attacked by barbarians. The nmltitudes tliat press on us are in- ternal and self-i2;enerated. They are not tiie otl'spriuLj; of those outward and fortuitous circumstances, which a nation can no more repress than an eartlupiakcf They are the result of bad economy and false legis- hition, and might have constituted our bulwark, our strength, and our prosperity. In proposing to incorporate Canada with this country, there is a great temi)tation to show how far our own constitution is failing from a variety of causes. But in the general scheme of amendment, which a wise and great Minister may adopt and pursue, these very faults would be rectified. Thus in giving, we should receive strength ; as if a father and son, instead of cutting off an entail to plunge an estate into utter insolvency, by which one would not escape ruin, whilst the other inherited nothing, should wisely combl; c and frame such prudent measures for the future, as would render both hapjiy, distinguished, and fortunate. In another chapter we have touched upon the democratic, monied influence which has been silently sapping the founda- tions of our glorious constitution, since the revolution of 1688 (making equally rapid and fatal steps under the dominion of both Whig and Tory party Minis- ji le authority •or Hadrian and Italica, t the title of * De Loirae, Brit. Constit., book i. f We do not assert that Home necessarily fell a victim tf) outward pressure. She was internally rotten before her sides fell in ; but the parallel can only commence in these two cases to be drawn from the points of results. 2 G ■ • : ■' ■>' 4r)0 fNCORrOUATION OF CANADA. ters), and which now threatens absolutely to de- stroy all, in one crash of universal ruin. We care not lor the title of Alarmists. It matters not to us, if ])eo])le say " Oh ! we have heard this for the last thirty years. 'Tis an old echo of Hume, Cobhett, Attwood, cl hoc genus omne. Pamphlets have been written on this enougli to load a taxed cart, or, indeed, a waaigon."* They liave, indeed, and, being w^ritten, have but served to strew Downing-street with waste paper, that the iron car of Juggernaut might crush the hearts of the jioor beneath its wheels, with- out disturbing the rc])ose of Ministers. Meetings have been held : their echoes have died away in air. Even in Parliament, voices liave been heard in vain remon- strance; but young members have coughed them down, reporters have laid aside their pens, the press has not given them space in its columns, and some specious debater has outshone their dim and distant star of Truth with a present f series of brilliant coruscations II 'r * It wns truly sniil by on niionyinoiis jiarnpliletcor of his dny ; "Writers of every (lescri])tiou liave employed their pens on the subjoei of our Monetary System ; and many of the most enlightened individuals that ever lived have eonsiderod it as pregnant with ruin to our coni- mcicial interests, and threatening a revolution in all pecuniary transac- tions throughont the kingdom, and numerous plans have been sug- gested and reconinicnded to avert the impending mischief, or screen us from its ell'ccts. Bui J'cio of IJ/era have, 1 ht'llevc, ever wet idth much atteiUion on the part of His j\r .sh for one hundred thousand pounds more to be desired than one for five or ten, or, to be exact in our comparison, for eight hundred millions, allowing the present sum to be the ultimatum of the national responsibility ? This is the language of waiters in spunging-houscs and turnkeys in the (lueen's Bench I'rison, who look with reverence on the man that is in for thousands ; whilst they despise the debtor whose liabilities are small. ^ii: 454 INCORPORATION OK CANADA, ■«!.■;;■ '■I U prudence : the mere interpreters of party and organs of a faction regarding policy, not as it affects Great Britain, but as it is ruinous to Wiiig or Tory, Tory or Whig ! — and how often latterly have the very mouth- pieces of the subdivisions of these, or of the two great antagonistic principles now visible, viz., agriculture and trade, land, or money, amused us on the very brink and verge of ruin ! It is of late days the fashion to run after shadow in place of substance : to yield pro- tection, but grasp at universal peace : to give up a colony, but clothe a "Canterbury settlement" in Christian phraseology — thus, indeed, taking away the children's bread, but giving them a stone. To solve brord questions by petty detail is the philosophy and practice of the age. It is the custom on the one hand to sport with public calamity, and on the other to get up every sort of meeting to insult distress with the impotency of Lilliputian measures. A laugh in the House of Commons follows an earnest appeal on behalf of paupers ; whilst embryo philanthropists and old experienced rogues and traders in sentiment flourish their cambric pocket handkerchiefs at the distresses of needlewomen ! The drama of political life is turned into a bur- lesque, but the results are still as serious. Such are the feverish symptoms which herald the '* Decline of Great Britain :"* such is the moral confusion which exists. We do not intend to enter into the question of the * A FrencJintnn lins written ca work bearing tliis title. "Would that his wioh alone were father to the thought ! Would he had no reason for a title which we cannot, in spite of ourselves, disconnect from the insolence of hatred ; whilst at the same time it bears a double sting in truth and meaning ! ^•:-' INCORPORATION OF CANADA. 455 organs s Great Tory or mouth- vo great 'iculture ry brink shion to eld pro- ve up a ent" in iway the To solve phy and »ne hand lY to get ivith the h in the ipeal on Dists and entimeiit i at the 3 a bur- Such are echne of m which )n of the Would that d no reason ct from the ble sting in Incorporation of Canada, otherwise than generally, in the present work. In a work devoted to tiiis subject alone, we should endeavour to consider the whole de- elopment of the matter in all its bearings. We should not exactly frame a new consignation, since tbat is not our object ; although we might i)ass in review somewhat particularly the new model governments proposed for some of our other colonies — taking into consideration both their working apart from us to their own exclusive benefit, and the probable beneficial effects of them to this country, generally so carefully lost sight of by our own legislators. With j-egard to the Australians, we may here remark, that we think dis- tance alone a strong argument in their favour for sell- government ; whilst (Ml our part it is a poweiful advo- cate for letting them do as they please. Let us, how- ever, leave to the members of the Bi'itish Parliament to discover in debate, whether or not the colonists' desires are attended to in this important matter, or that mere party interests are fostered at home. Let them provide local legislatures and representative insti- tutions, ready made, or to order. Let the wit and zeal of all the busy-bodies of the House of Commons exert themselves to make baby constitutions: little models struck off with a die, at short or long notice. Let New Zealand be provided with an Upper House ; whilst Ca- nada is not considered sufhciently aristocratical to pro- vide one. We w^ill confine ourselves to our plan: the amalgamation of Canada with Great Britain. We are aware of scores of cut-and-dried objections and many real ones, which will arise out of the matter ; but the consideration is so great, the idea so just, and the benefits so obvious, that we feel that all objections i,: J' ^'i , i ■ ! •1,1 Ml ■ ( . ; I , ,;! 1. ■' m ■'■■![ 456 INCORPORATION OF CANADA. i will be merged in so great an undertaking. It is, as we have just observed, one of the small fatal political sciences of the age to answer general questions by particular denials or assertions. Thus, were you to complain of the general decrease of shipping interests, you would be told, "Nay, there are three more ships building at Sunderland and six less at Rotterdam." If you speak of the depressed price of wheat, a news- paper quotes forced, false, or particular returns, which really do not touch upon the question — a single trans- action is given from which to make a general deduction, and the game between figure and fact, by which their combination is taught admirably to delude the public, seems to be the peculiar and excellent province of a Dutch financier employed at a public salary in putting out of order the vital clock-work of the State.* There is, however, one fact, which we must mention here. The folly of forcing upon countries so young, feeble, and undeveloped, as Australia and New Zea- land, the Cape, or New South Wales, all the institu- tions of the old country to be carried out by them- selves — whilst Canada, with her population and her real aristocracy, her merit and her need, is still kept down, and shackled by her colonial bondage of jobbing, distant governorship, jealousy, restrictions, and Crown and Church lands — goes hand in hand with our criminal ease, or neglect in giving up waste lands, which are the appanage of the people of England : a traitorous infringement upon our birthright and pos- session. We will not suffer ourselves again to allude to the monstrous effrontery by which the Hudson's Bay Company have sold, under their charter, real or * rif/e Appendix. " ])isciissions in the House of Commons." ' 11 INCORPORATION OF CANADA. 457 , as we )olitical ons by you to terests, re ships ;rdam." a news- , which e trans- luction, ch their I pubhc, /ince of ilary in ; State.* jnention young, iw Zea- institu- y them- and her is still idage of ;rictions, and with te lands, ^land : a ind pos- ;o allude Hudson's real or mons." pretended, the property of the Crown held by them. If such a power exists in such a charter, no then existing Government had the right to grant it. But all this benevolent anxiety for our younger colonies is cant and sentimentality : not reason. It is all in accordance with the sophisms of the ruinous free-traders. The first country to deal with is un- doubtedly Canada, and to tliis let us address ourselves — not to create a Constitution, but to incorporate : ren- dering both her state and our own more fit to meet and embrace, by wise and |)ractical measures of ame- lioration, improvement, and reform. We shall confine ourselves, at present, to four questions. First, What will Canada gain by this in- corporation ? Secondly, What will she lose if it be not done ? Thirdly and fourthly. What would Eng- land gain, or lose, upon similar alternatives ? We shall, in resolving these questions, offer a few observa- tions on the fitness of Canada to represent herself in the Imperial Parliament of Great Britain through her own elected representatives, and show that it will be, at once, grateful and politic on her part to meet us half way in effecting this consummation. We shall, probably, advert a little to her just grounds of complaint against us, and the miserable inefficiency of our plans : in spite of all of which — together with our cruel neglect, or choking interference, and the great and overshadowing rivalry of the neighbouring United States, with the internal discomfiture of single- handed emigrants, and the annoyance and interference created by Church and Crown reserves — Canada, by her own natural strength and resources, has grown into a populous and even flourishing country. I .' ■^■^■m •^•'1 M? .'(■ i'l 458 INCORPORATION 01" CANADA. 11 V. There are three diiFerent fates that await Canada. One is to be annexed to the United States : the other to become an independent country ; and the third to be incorporated with Great Britain. She neither can, nor will, remain as she is. It is, at once, against rea- son and historical precedent. If she does, it is an in- justice to her inhabitants and name. For there is not either soul, vigour, or unity, in a country so governed. Her annexation to America would be as degrading as conquest. The rivalry of close neiglibourhood, the jealousy and prejudices of years, would have to be overcome. A desperate struggle would first take place. It would be unjust to England. It would disgust the French Canadians. "There is no people in the world, so little likely as that of the United States, to sympathize with the real feelings of the French Canadians." — (Lord Durham's Report, p. 95.) The English Canadians possess the strongest feel- ing of loyalty towards England: " the predominant feel- ing of all the English population of North American -colonies is devoted attachment to England." — {Ibid.) Lord Durham, however, goes on to say, that he does not, by any means, assert that no impolicy, on the part of the British Government, may produce a change of loyalty and sentiments. Were Canada annexed to the United States, she would lose all nationality. She would be merged under the dominion of a nation of tyrants. She would be thrown back a century in the civilization of the w^orld. The United States would, themselves, present the picture of a vast incongruous country, liable to differences, sub-divisions, and in- ternal wars, whicli must arise in a republic compre- hending people and climates so widely different in 1 N CO 15 1'O RATION 01' tAXAOA. 4r)9 Ciuiuda. [le other third to her can, list rea- ls an in- re is not overned. ading as ood, the ^e to be irst take [t would people i United ;s of the t, p. 95.) ^est feel- nant feel- \merican '—{Ibid.) t he does 1 the part change of mexed to lity. She nation of irv in the 3S would, congruous , and in- : compre- flferent in race, character, and interests. Jkit we tliinU that no true Canadian, French or English, Upper or Lower, loyal or disloyal, can desire this ; except in the bitter- ness of rebellion, occasioned by the most cruel im- policy on the pait of the mother country. This could nev^er be the first motive of Canadians. It might be their unavoidable fate, should they, in a struggle against England, call in the assistance of tlie United States, or allow an intervention, or })rematurely com- mence an independent government. To what en- croachments and insults would they not be liiible in the latter case ! To what restrictions in trade: to what exemplilication of the story of the " Wolf and Lamb," in the fable ! No : this were a worse fate than to remain a neglected colony, or despised ai)panage. But we are prepared to value and to honour our daughter. Such briefly is the destiny which Canada nuist expect, either from annexation to the United States, or the st(^p pre- paratory to it, namely, the assertion of her independ- ence. Now : as to her incorporation with Great Britain, let us consider what she would gain in su- perior advantages, as well as in avoidance of disasters. The sympathies of the Canadians with Great Britain would prevent any shock. They would pass to a more exalted state by a natural conclusion. They would give and receive honour. In their ti'ade with the world, the protection of Great Britain would be assured them ; whilst they would never be sub- ject to a blockade, and, in fact, would at once rise to be a great people. Their grain, timber, and various productions, would make their unrestricted trade with Great Britain one of mutual profit ; while the efforts of British capital would be directed to - 1 \ •»i 400 INCORPORATION OF CANADA. &) ,. ■ tlic I'ormation of great works ; amongst which, tlie construction of tlie Atlantic and Pacific Railway would be i)roudly pre-eminent. This would give vitality to the country : it would arrive, in a quarter of a century, to that which other countries have taken centuries to attain. In process of time, the whole of our British possessions in North America would become Canadian. The name of Canada would re- main — just as the name of Scotland, Ireland, or Wales. What Welshman, Irishman, or Scotchman, is not as proud of his name, as the inhabitant of Paris or Middlesex is of his birth-place? Are they not separate, though combined ? Is not each coun- try equally proud ? Has not emulation bravely fired them in the common defence or attack ? Why shall not Canada be added to the glorious triad ? — we say triad, for Wales is but a somewhat wider distinction than the counties of York, or Kent. We think that there is scarcely a Canadian who will not respond to this desire, on our part, when frankly, fully, and com- pletely expressed. We conceive that Canada has a right to expect this. Her population is, we believe, now equal to that of Scotland at the Union. She is far more important to us, we say it without offence, save in actual position as a natural integral part of this empire, than Scotland either is or was. What advantages would at once be possessed by the Canadians, were our project of the Railroad realized ! How soon would mighty ports arise at either terminus of Halifax and Vancouver's Island ! What an increase to her lake-fleets ! What development of her productioi.;:; ! The finest natural country in the world, she would hasten to a con- .' 1 INCORPORATION OF CANADA, 4GI i ' lich, the Iailway jld give I quarter ive taken le whole ca would vould re- eland, or otchman, bitant of Are they ich coun- Lvely fired kVhy shall ' — we say listinction :hink that espond to and com- :pect this. :o that of 3ortant to 1 position Scotland once be jct of the hty ports incouver's s! What st natural to a con- summation in i)oint of artificial excellence, speedily rival the United States, and, joined by the firmest links of commercial sisterhood to the Old Country, to which she is bound bv tradition and the ties of parentage and right, she would unite with her in asserting the greatest em])ire in tlie world. Such are the subjects of consideration, which we thus briefly throw out to Canadians. Let us now" revert to Yavj:- land, who is, after all, in the position to make or mai* this destiny. We have scarcely, as yet, done more than al- lude to our projects in the East. At this moment, we possess an eastern over-land high-road to our possessions in India. We have, also, an eastern sea- route, touching at various dependencies, which ac- knowledge our sway, till we arrive at our settle- ment of Hong-Kong. But how uncertain is the fate of the first mode of transit, depending upon peace with Europe for its enjoyment, and how long and dangerous, and difficult a voyage is the second ! Then comes the Nicaraguan treaty ; and the probable completion of the Panama canal, which, we assert, will be at the mercy of the United States, and w^hich cannot, in case of disturbance, be otherwise than a weak point of the country most dependent on it for commerce. t was to our interest that this canal should not be constructed. Unfortunately, we appear to have aiiived at a time, when we find it inconvenient to assert our interest. It appears, that towards the feeble independence of Central America — the stalking- horse of the designs of the United States — we have ceded everything, or anything. Let us quote from the synopsis of the Nicaragua Treaty, as given in the journals : — ■: i I I: ' ; ;■ a 4(J2 INCOUI'OIIATION or CANADA, t: " It will be remcMiibercd by all wbo know anytbin;^ of tbe liistory of Engllsii policy in Central America, tbat i^reat concessions from tbat Government were necessary to tlic formation of sucli a treaty as tills. " Her possessory ri^bts over different portions of tbat large, and, in many respects, valuable territory (as it furnisbes cliolce woods, as mabogany and otber kinds, as well as otber productions), extend back more tban a century. All of tbcse rigbts, wutb tbe exception of ber little ancient colony of tbe Belisc, wbicb is about 800 miles distant from tbe proposed canal, sbe lias surrendered." But tbe United States have been tbe great moving party in all tbis. Tbeirs is tbe great advantage. Tbey would secure tbe first of the trade with China ; whilst California is their bank. They contemplate railways of stupendous length, to accomplish the most daring objects. They encroach and cavil, and cavil and encroach. They laugh at our policy, openly and secretly. They would steal away our trade, but deny reciprocity— insult our ambassador, or flag ; but be fantastically ticklish themselves. All this, we lend ourselves to, ims])aringly ; whilst our only obstiricy is towaixl our own colonies, whom we have so much and so often offended, and our only manifested anxiety about unsubstantial trifles wdiicli embroil us, as much w^tli other nations, as if we coi^tested real points upon just grounds. There is a deplorable ignorance about our relations with the western world. This is of .lO new date. Tbe whole Oregon question, by the adjustment of which, though contrary to our interests, we just managed to INCOKl'ORATION OF CANADA, 4G:\ anythins^" /Vmericii, cut were rcaty as rtions of territory ml othei' !nd back with the c Belise, proposed t moving d vantage. h China ; itemplate the most and cavil penly tvnd but deny ; but be we lend obstir"«.cy so mucli 3d anxiety as much )ints upon r relations ate. The of which, anaged to save our distance, and to leave a sutKcient southing to carry out our JIailway junction, was a disgraceful instance of follv and ignorance on the part of Eni^land's stewards. Let us digress a nioh it to record the following illustrative piece of history to prove this, and to show our neglect of our interests ni North America and especially of the grounds westward as far as the Rocky iAIountains and thence to the Pacific. In a Memorial from the jNTerchants of Lower and Upper Canada to Sir (icorge Prevost, dated from Montreal, October 14, 1812, with regard to the Eastern provinces, it is stated — " Posterity will hardly believe, although history must attest the melancholy and mortifying truth, that in acceding to the indepen- dence of the then thirteen Colonies, as States, their territory was not merely allowed them, but an extent of country, then a portion of the province of Quebec, nearly of equal magnitude to the thirteen States, v/as ceded, notwithstanding not a foot of the country so ceded was at the time occupied by an American in arms — nor could have been, had the w^ar continued ; and this cession is the more remarkable, as New York and Rhode Island, being then in possession of the British army, the surrender of these valuable posts and places required a large equivalent in territory elsewhere, instead of giving, as it were, a premium for getting rid of them. Yet such was the ignorance, negligence, or something worse, of the then Minister of Great Britain, and those he employed, in regard to the geographical position and the local importance of the territory ceded, that, when the merchants of London, interested in the Canada trade, waited upon Mr. Oswald, the negociator, to represent the impolitic ■■•i «! 404 IN CO HI 'OH AT I ON OF CAN ADA. ■■.;.> ' ',■ ,i.:\ :,■; 's'^'i §:'■ and improvident cession, and to discover some means for averting the destrnctivc consequences of such conduct, in respect to the security of Canada and of British trade and influence with the Indians, he hte- rally hurst into tears — admitted his complete igno- rance of such posts heing in our possession, or even in existence, and of the country given away heing an ohject worthy of notice in any respect !" Is not the ignorance manifested now on similar points equal to ihat of Lord Bathurst, to whom the above anecdote refers ? To recur, however, to the main question, which was our connexion with China and the East, by the Red Sea, by the Cape of Good Hope, ?\nd by the intended Canal. We prefer a more certain and rapid transit than all these. We beg for a little prospective policy on the part of Great Britain : something, in fact, beyond an explanation or a blunder ; and in order to carry out this policy and effect this transit, we uphold the necessity of the Inc )rporation of Canada. If we should succeed in carrying out the Railway, we anticipate all these designs of the United States. We leave her and France and the rest of the world to battle for the passage of the Canal ; whilst, in case of war by land or at sea, we possess another key to the East, a second entrance, still more grand and secure. We shall thus arrive first at the emporium of China, and shall thus derive the full benefits to which our present position with that country entitles us. We shall be independent of Europe, unfatigued of ne- cessity by the length and uncertainty of the great Indian voyage, arrive at India both ways, be within a month of Canton, and be enabled to trade without the le means of sucli a and of he lite- 3te iirno- r even in being an 1 similar horn the diich was the Red intended id transit ve pohcy in faet, I order to ^e uphold Railway, d States, world to in case of ey to the d secure, jf China, hich our us. We i of ne- he great within a thout the INCORFOUATION O CA NAUA 4g:) chance of dispute in one great irc!e rot id iho 'vorld. Jiut without the Incorporation of Canada tliisc;< t be done. We want the full co-operation of the Ca adians to carry out the w^ k, their permission to ad- it the proposed means for its completion and the certamty ol their identity with our interests, present and future, to guarantee our moiety in the benefits to he obtained, when the thing is fully completed. It would be mani- festly unsafe, if practicable, to entrust Canada, as a colony, with such a high road. Iksides, we should not be sufficiently guarded in the case of war with the United States. Again, should the population of England continue to outnumber her means of maintenance, Canada will supply her, and supplies so received must be safe and assured. If all these considerations be deemed fanciful, we can only repeat that the patent is in our hands, and the wonder will be hereafter that we have lost an oppor- tunity, which were it, at present, offered to a country less besotted by its rulers, and one degree more single- minded in its purpose, less confused in the multipli- city of its abortions, and more free from bewilderment, sophistry, and an epidemic blindness of policy, would be at once seized and acted upon with avidity and triumph : either for improvement, or redemption : salvation, or a gain. Can we imagine the united States foregoing this privilege ? No : then why should we ? There, it is true that private enterprize could scarcely accom- plish such a design ; but Congress would at once vote supplies for the national benefit. It is frequently observable in private life, that great objects cost no more time or trouble than small. At any rate, this is true, where the intellect and powder 2 H n « 4f;r, INCOUI'OIIATION or ( ANADA. 1: have any pioportionatc ratio to tlie greatness ol the design. More tlian this is true : tor great minds have frequently more dilHeulty in the exeeution ol" small plans, than is the ease with narrow and eonfined under- standings. A eountry like (Jreat IJritain, in a similar manner, is more likely to fail in her negotiations with sueh a state as Greece, or on any ([uestion of paltry indcmnitv, than in carrvin':; out a vast coimncrcial scheme, or political cnter[)rize. We do not fear, that the energies of Englishmen will fail and he found wanting; when hrought to hear upon some great object. We believe that our plan of incorporation is far easier, as matter of succeos, than to bestow a bene- ficial constitution u))on an infant country ; and that the construction of a railway from Halifax to Vancouver's Island will be found much less difficult than the Canal diplomacy of the American Isthmus. Make the object grand, the gain certain, and the result magnificent, and the genius of Great ]3i'itain will yet rise triumi)hant over every difficulty. It is our present task to show that to us the object is, indeed, sacred and essential. But we think this has been sufficiently demonstrated throughout this work. Over such a subject, we think even the political divisions of the State should be re- conciled. Let us now briefly turn to our position with China, and our projects alluded to before in Core a and Japan. A very few words will be found necessary on this point, in order to hint at future strokes of policy and dominion in that hemisphere. It will be observed, that throughout we regard the formation of thi projected line of railroad with its consequences, and he incorporation of Canada, as I i of tlu' ids liiive ol" small (1 undcr- II similar ons with of i)altry iniiu-'icial lot tear, bn ibuiul lie great oration is ,v a bcne- d that the 11 CO Liver's the Canal he object icent, and iuniphant ( to show essential. onstratcd we think uld be re- th China, id Japan. this point, olicy and 'egard the 1 with its anada, as INCOUIOUATION OF CANAHA. ACu necessary adjunct!* to each other. The latter we con- sider necessary to carry out the lornier, and the former as adding greatly to the benefits to be derived by either Great liritain or her colony, by a design leading to such a perfect iilentification of interests. We are, therefore, not quitting our subject for one instant in showing the ailvantages of a nnich more immediate connexion with the East, and the prospects that develop them- selves there. liy a reference to a circular map, for which wc were indebted to an ol)liging hint from Major Carmichael Smyth, whose meritorious exertions have been alludet. to in our Preface, as having (irst brought the subject of this railway before the public, it will be seen that such a direct tiansit to and from the empire of Ciiina, and all that important part of the Eastern world, is as one side of a somewhat e(|uilateral triangle to two, or even less. This ajiplies even to the projected route by Panama — " open to all nations and influenced by none."* If we next consider our present position with China, and what it nnght be, we shall see, that by a settle- ment on the south-east part of China, or Corea, or in the almost unknown and wealthy islands of Japan, we might establish a military and commercial terminus of Bl'itish and Canadian tratHc, with little trouble and splendid success. The Japanese, from their civiliza- * Even if tlio passage of the canal irere f^uarantccd during war, surely the United States, Ijelonging to that f[uartcr of tlie globe, and liaving possessions on both sides of North America, would have a great connnand over our mercantile fleets and vessels, both before their entrance and after their exit. What convoys could safely attend, or await them? On the other hand, both at Vancouver's Island and Halifax, wc should have a harbour aiul a fleet ready to protect British interest?. 2 n 2 1 1 408 INCORPORATION OF CANADA. tion, activity, and reputation for business, have been rightly termed the Enghsh of the East. But it may be urged, what right have we there ? To which we answer, that we were not scrupulous in obtaining a position in Borneo. When great objects of commerce and civilization are to be attained, we are never at a loss fur an excuse. Since Europe became the seat of the arts, the West has always encroached upon the East. In another age of the world's history, the East, doubtless, amalgamated with and peopled the West. It is the law of necessity. We have always fol- lowed it. The jealousy of other nations, who envy our superior arts of colonization, alone condemns it. What right had we in Borneo, the French in Algeria, the Spaniards in South America, any more than the Moors in Spain, or the Phoenicians anciently in Ire- land ? We are not going to conquer and devastate. Hong-Kong and Sierra Leone were not more patented to us by the hand of Nature than Corea and Japan. If we do not encroach on China, Russia will not fail to do so. What have we already done there but quarrel, fight, and conquer? — whilst we have sincjularhj abstained from justifying to man our enormities, if they be such in the sight of Heaven, by securing sufficient advantages to stamp wrong with the die of success, and make expe- diency happy — thus dazzling both the world and our- selves with the means, rather than the end. This may be sophistry ; but it is thus that the great family of nations act, and have acted, since the world began. Civilization and war have ever gone hand in hand like twins, and Minerva is not inaptly depicted to have sprung armed from the head of Jove. Missionaries and gunpowder, armed steamers and religious instruction, INCOUPOUATrON OF CANADA. 4G9 ve been it may hich we lining a mmerce ver at a 3 seat of d upon ory, the pled the vays fol- ho envy smns it. Algeria, than the y in Ire- 3vastate. patented I Japan, ot fail to quarrel, ibstained e such in ituges to ke expe- md our- .'his may unily of 1 began, land like to have aries and truction, percussion-caps and the Gospel, have extended our influence together. Thus it is, and has been, and will be, till the end of the world. We are conscious of so- phistry ; but the principle is not ours in theory, but practice ; like the reverse of Christian charity amid the prim sinners of the world, to whom a sermon from Chimborazo could not do sufficient justice. However, in proposing an occupation of a part of Corea, or a Japanese Island, we think that by a proper and effec- tive scheme of military emigration it might be at once peacefully effected. We should then instantly assume a commanding attitude towards China, and do no more harm than we do now by our miserable policy, opium smuggling and annihilation of pirates. The China Sea would be ours : our chain of communication would be perfect round the world : the commerce of China at our beck. Is this a scheme to be despised ? Our vast territory of New Holland in its turn would communicate with us and China, by a distance incre- dibly diminished. Finally, Great Britain would thus in every way reap all those advantages, which she ought to secure from her vast possessions, her activity and industry, which otherwise are in a fair way of being nullified. It would give wings to her burden, consoli- date her empire, and make her the mistress of the world. What is cant and philanthropy to this ? If a nation is disposed to be philanthropical, power is her first element. It is necessary to have, in order to give. If the British nation be now the one, whose qualities most adorn the inhabited globe, if she be the herald of civihzation and the harbinger of freedom, it is not by a weak abandonment of her privileges that she will con- tinue to make others good or great ; nor, by yielding . • 11 ';i;- -JUi'-'IM 470 INCOlirORATION OF CANADA. herself to tlie mercy of foreigners and the ingratitude of other countries. With regard to the intrinsic value of Canada, as a mine of productive wealth, enough has been said about that. Let us merely observe that, if the present navi- gation laws are to be carried out, Canada is our only chance to rival the world in cheap and abundant ma- terial and labour for sliip-building. Her lakes, her forests, her harbours, can alone keep Britannia afloat. If corn must now be imported free into this country to satisfy the artizan by a vain idea that he lives more cheaply ; whilst other direct, and the fearful array of indirect, taxation, grind him down below the serf in comfort, Canada must be our only Goshen in times of war and scarcity. But these are narrow considerations to those we so urgently offer. Let us conclude these remarks, by quoting a paragraph from the celebrated colonial speech of Charles Bullcr, which is much to the purpose, both as illustrating our views of free- trade, and our views of the value and use of colonial possessions : — " 1 say, then, that in the present day the restrictive policy of other nations must enter into our considera- tion as an element, and no unimportant element, of commercial policy ; and though I advise you to set the example of free-trade to others, and extend your intercourse with them to the very utmost, still at the same time take care to be continually creating and en- larging those markets \Vhicli are under the control of no legislation but your own. Show the world that, if the game of restriction is to be played, no country can play it with such effect and such impunity as Great Britain, which, from the outlying [)ortions of her INCOUl'ORATION OF CANADA. 471 atitucle a, as a 1 about it navi- ir only rit ma- es, her I afloat, intry to 3 more irray of serf in imes of 3rations le these lebrated inch to of free- colonial strictive nsidera- nent, of I to set nd your I at the and en- introl of that, if itry can s Great of her mighty empire, can command the riches of every zone and ever" soil and every sea that the earth contains ; and can draw, with unstinted measure, the means of every luxury, and the material of every manufacture, that the combined extent of other realms can supply." " The commerce of the world is narrowed now not only by our own legislation, but by that of other powers." This is free-trade language, which we can under- stand. To employ our superior means and exhibit all our power : to demand reciprocity ; but always to keep the guidance in our hands : to manage to have the exchangr-s just in our favour : to keep the bank at the great tabi^ of industry, round which all countries venture : this should be the task, as it is within the scope, of English industry and entcrprize. Amongst the most prominent advantages to be de- rived from such a scheme of colonization, as our Railway and Incorporation will not only pcrinit, but demand, is the fact, that the opening will extend to all classes in England. In an earlier part of the work, wc have shown, that a comparative poverty is found amongst all degrees. We have shown that the labourer, the me- chanic, the artizan, tiie man of letters, the shopkeeper, the landed proprietor, the members of learned i)rofes- sions, the sons of peers, nay even peers themselves,* and dukes, — all these form in England a social mass, which ruin and insolvency and degradation pervade. * A few days since, apavagTapli appeared in the piil)lic journal.-', con- cerning- the title of ]{osconnnon, now vested in a [jrivate soldier, and lately in a prisoner for debt, which tolerably illustrates our observations. Can the public forget the recent downfall of the ])rosperity of the House of Buckingham, whose name tickets tin? gifis of princes in the windows of curiosity-shops and Jew pawnI)rokcrs? 'I'here arc other instances, which we refrain I'roni quoting. If i ! ■ / 472 INCORPORATION OF CANADA. 1^ ■■ ' ■ ^ '■ J 4 ,-, \ , I t^^^lM^^SL:, ■ ) By such ..leans, alone, as we iiave tleveloj)ecl, an outlet is assured to all. The sons of noble families will have an opportunity of carrying out their talents, their patents of nobility, and their interests, to assist in forming an aristocratical class in Canada. A great scheme of emigration is not only, at present, necessary to this class in England ; but also no great scheme can succeed without all classes form the component parts of the voluntarily expatriated body. Both intelli- gence, education, res})ectability, and birth, are wanting. Let us again quote Mr. BuUer, on general emigration, and then aslv, if all his remarks do not derive a ten- fold force, when applied to the present instance. " If," says that gentleman, " you wish colonies to be rendered useful to all classes in the mother country — if you wish them to be prosperous, to reflect back the civilization, and habits and feelings of their pa- rent stock, and to be and long to remain integral parts of your empire — care should be taken that society should be carried out in something of the form in which it is seen at home — that it should contain some, at least, of all the elements that go to make it up here, and that it should continue under those influences, ivhich are found effectual for keeping us together in harmony.'^ What more, let us pause to ask, can we do, than give Canada our laws and institutions to effect this ? What more can we propose to carry out these views of ge- neral emigration, than this scheme, which will de- mand the presence of all classes, and will offer remu- neration and a field for exertion to all ? Mr. Buller continues, ** On such principles, alone, have the foun- dations of successful colonies been laid. Neither Phoenician, nor Greek, nor Roman, nor Spaniard, no, INCORPORATION OF CANADA. 473 >j)e(1, an families • talents, to assist A great lecessarv leme can nt parts I intelli- wanting. ligration, ^e a ten- instance, ics to be country ect back their pa- ;ral parts society form in lin some, up here, ',es, ivhich armonyy ban give b? What s of ge- will de- tr remu- BuUer he foun- Neitber liard, no, nor our own great forefathers, when they laid the foundations of an European society on tiie Continent, and in the islands of the Western World, ever dreamed of colonizing with one class of society by itself, and that the most helpless for shifting by itself. " The government of Spain sent its dignified clergy out with some of its first colonists. The noblest families in Spain sent their younger sons to settle in Hispaniola, and Mexico, and Peru. Raleigh (|uitted a brilliant Court, and the highest sphere of political am- bition, in order to lay the foundation of the colony of Virginia ; Lord Baltimore and the best Catholic fa- milies founded Maryland ; Penn was a courtier before he became a colonist ; a set of noble proprietors established Carolina, and entrusted the framing of its constitution to John Locke ; the highest hereditary rank, in this country, below the peerage, was esta- blished in connexion with the settlement of Nova Scotia, &c., &c." Now, upon all this, we want to found a most per- suasive argument, that thousands of the non-j)ro- ductive class in this country, of birth, lineage, and descent, who are in danger of being pushed from tlieir seats by the monied influence, should turn their at- tention to this vast scheme for extending the real empire of Great Britain. We want education to go out. We do not either want to transplant paup ^s alone, — a mass of beggary crammed within the crazy ribs of emigrant ships to starve on their arrival, if not sunk on their passage — nor do we wish to send out sturdy capitalists of £500, to Australia, to get rid of the " bone and sinew" of the land. We desire to found , i ■i I 474 INCORPORATION OK CANADA. ,• >: an aristocracy — partly from already existing stock in Canada, and partly from those who choose to go hence, and enclose deer-parks in America. We wish to see in Canada, society develop itself, fitted to take place with the princes, peers, and commons of Eng- land, and stand with them around the throne of Bri- tain's state. This leads us to a more immediate con- sideration of the necessary steps towards forming houses representing the interests of our North Ame- rican possessions, which shall send peers and commons here. To commence, we are aware, that there will he many objections made on the part of some members of our haughty Upper House. Still we do not anticipate so much difficulty in this respect. It will be ridiculous and unjust to object to Canadian Peers. Not only will they be supplied by some of the oldest families in Europe amongst the French Canadians, but, as we have before stated, noble or v orthy families may be induced to go out there. A regal Court will prove as attractive at Quebec, as at Dublin. Canadian hunting and fishing may be an inducement, as well as Canadian scenery, to procure the residence of others. The dis- tance from Canada to London, measured by time, is not now greater than 100 years ago it was from London to Edinburgh ; and till the invention of steam, it might easily have been impossible, with a contrary wind, to ar- rive at Dublin in a fortnight. Why should not princely mansions adorn choice situations upon the noble lakes of Canada ? In short, give Canada thorough civili- zation, and sufficient population, dignify her as a na- tion, and identify her with England, and you havj an heir-loom of greatness, of energy, and every attractive •' l";'-'-' >- INCORPORATION OF CANADA. 475 ;ock ill to go le wish to take )f Eng- of J3ri- ite con- forming 1 Ame- )mmons will be nbers of iticipate diculous lot only families t, as we may be ^rove as hunting anadian The dis- c, is not 3ndon to it might id, to ar- princely Die lakes ;h civili- as a na- havj an ittractive <|iialification, that will last for centuries to come. With regard to the French Canadians, and tbe expe- diency of creating dignities amongst them, in order that their interests may be properly represented with- out shocking the pride of English Peers, we can only say that, if pure blood be wanting and simple and dig- nified manners, they will most probably be found there more readily than in many mixed aristocratical salons in Paris or London. We refer to the following account, and to the reports of travellers, for the truth of what Wfc oay. As far back as the year 1598, Henry IV. of France appointed the Marquis ce la Roche his lieute- nant-general in Canada, with power to partition disco- vered lands into seigniories and fields to be held under feudal tenure. InlG27the celebrated Cardinal Richelieu took an active interest in this colonization, for tlie pur- pose of converting the Indians, extending the fur trade, (Old discoveruKj a route to the Pacific Ocean aud to China through the great rivers and. Jakes of New France. Something better than the " Canterbury Settlement ;" even in those days! In the year 1603, the King of France, being dissatisfied with the proceedings of those engaged in the matter, who were probably jobbing and misgoverning at a distance from home, and instigated by some persons of judgment, who pointed out the resources of Canada : her mines of St. Maurice, her oaks and pines on the borders of the St. Lawrence, and the capabilities of the country in general, erected Canada into a Royal Government. An expedition proceeded to Quebec with 400 regular troops and 100 families of distinction. Under Colbert there was a fresh importation. The disbanded troops of the Carignan Regiment and other troops settled there. i 476 INCORrOUATION OF CANADA. i-v ;• ;} whose officers became the principal seigneurs of the colony, holding their lands under feudal tenure, which still exists.* Observe, that all the officers of the French army of that day were noblemen ! From this stock, in uninterrupted succession, have descended the present families of French Canadians. Surely, without offence to a reformed Parliament and a House of Peers, to which intellect and birth and money have alike contributed, such men as these might be honoured and gratified and won to British loyalty and faith by earldoms, baronetcies, seats in the House of Commons, and even a dukedom or two, when merit joined with ancestry to recommend them. There is no necessary vulgarity amid primeval forests and on the borders of mighty lakes. If Pitt made peers for assisting his pecuniary dilemmas, and played into their hands with ribbons and information as to the stocks — slipped out, of course, accidentally after dinner, whilst the guest made a hasty excuse and escaped from the double green baize door in order to give directions to buy up the bills intended to be funded by Government on the morrow — surely the nation may with dignity employ honours and rewards, where merit is due, to consolidate her means of salvation and pay off, not incur, liabilities and add fresh incumbrances. As the prodigal, who deals with a Jew, slaps " little Moses " on the back, shakes hands, and drinks with him, and is for the moment morally circumcised into a Hebrew * After tbe Conquest, the Quebec Act of 1774 restored the French hiws and Lnnguage. It directed that all future grants should be niade in fief and seignory, as prior to the Conquest. In 178G grants were made to the refugee loyalists Irom the rebellious Union. These grants were made chiefly in Upper Canada. rs of the re, which ,e French ion, have anadians. rneiit and nd money might be yalty and House of len merit There is :s and on peers for into their stocks — er, whilst from the ections to vernment h dignity in due, to y off, not As the ; Moses" him, and a Hebrew d the rreucli )uld be niiule ) grants wimc These grants JN'COUI'OUATION OK CANADA, 477 fraternity, so formerly the Ministers of the school of Pitt dealt with the bankers and monied men of their day, rewarding them w ith the honours and familiarity at their disposal, in recjuital for the ready means of in- volving for a momentary object the future estate of the nation. Wo will not be so invidious as to j)articu- larize any such transaction as that to Avhich we have alluded. Let us turn to a more pleasurable topic : the admission of worth and talent to the highest honours of the State. This we acknowledge to be a feature of the age which we admire, and it is chiefly to be attri- buted to the influence of the huv, which, however expensively and unjustly administered it may be, still has this virtue and merit, that it seasons the House of Peers with the piquancy which brain can alone supply, and urges talent to exertion with the prospect of the highest distinction and fame. Rut the study and practice of the law, as it is developed in the unhealthy state of this country, can never produce great legis- lators. The mind is too much narrowed, if not warped, and, accustomed as it is to single duel, can never lead armies and divisions. The brilliant talents of Lord Brougham, so useful to a nation in detail, are no more an exception to this than the stupid ignorance of Lord Eldon, or the narrow-minded and mischievous ab- surdity, we bad well nigh said brutality, of Coke.* * We refer to Lord CauipkdVs "Lives of ( lie Chief Jti^lkcsr " He," Lord Coke, says the Tiu/es, in a critique upon lliis work, " had a sub- lime contempt for science and literature of every kind. Upon tlie title-page of ' /lis coj)>/,' of the Novum Organum presented to him by the author, he wrote — • ' It deserves not to be made in schooles, But to be freighted in the Ship of Fools.' Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, according to him, were raf/ranfs, deserv- ! 'Hlr ' 1 '5' * . 478 INCORI'OIIATIOX OF CANADA. iff: However, it is certain, that talent, trade, money, policy, or even a genius lor i)arty and intrigue, com- bined with fluency ol'si)eech, have each severally raised men to the Peerage of Great Jiritain. This being the case, we cannot see, whv such a distinction should be relused to Canada, either in the person of her original families, or those who are disposed, upon the prospects held out and developed by our scheme, to go out there nowand become English Canadians. Nay, we doubt not, but that many ready-made lords, baronets, and honour- ables, would at once embark their names and fortunes upon this sea of entcrprize, were the Railroad once laid down, and had the Bill for /lie Incorporation of Canndtt irit/t Great Britain once received the Royal signature. It is certain that our scheme of Canadian fusion will not introduce men into the British House of Conmions so objectionable, as many that have had seats there, since the reformed ParJ-ament. The title of M.P. has been used as a street advertisement to shawls and stockin2:s. It lias illustrated the " sellinir- off" })rinciple. It has been chairman to railways, and not added honour, or honesty, to the wildest speculation. It has become no more, virtually, respectable, than a hatchment, or a butler. We think, however, of add- hig to, not diminishing, the solid attributes, which ought to distinguish 'members of the British House of Commons, which has been latterly, in some instances, as much debased, as was the Temple of the Jews in the dawn of the Christian era. ingof the stocks ; poetry was foolishness; law, politics, and money-mak- iu(j, the soul occupations of a masculine and vigorous mind." But, " for a profound knowledge of the common law of England," says his biographer, " he stands unrivalled." 3, money, ;uc, com- [\lly raised being the should be cr original prospects ) out there doubt not, id honour- d fortunes I road once ooratlon of the Royal f Canadian tish House t have had The title isement to (( selhng- wavs, and peculation. )le, than a er, of add- tes, which 1 House of instances, le Jews in ul money-mnk- mmd." But, uul," says his IXCOUI'OUATION OF CANADA 470 We can easily imagine, that uiany men distasteful to the liritish House of Connnons were introduced by the union with Ireland. The peculiar i)osition of their country made the feelings of the early Irish Afembers irritable. Their manners were more vehement and warm : their fluency extraordinary : their assuii^i)tion not small : their modesty not great. They had a ten- dency to "go out" as much as to divide, and were pos- sessed of a "damnable iteration" about the wrongs of Ireland. All this has not even yet ([uite vanished from their leaven ; but we can point out nuich talent and most admirable (jualitics amongst the Irish memi)ei'S of the House. The Scotch have iriven a leaven oi finance and prudence in detail : the Irish infuse life and spirit into that vast stagnation of words, and their oratory, at its lowest appreciable value, is fre<|uently usel'ul to keep the Speaker of the Commons awake. The inti'oduc- tion of Canadians into the House will hurt no feelings, or prejudices. They will arrive there with dignity and decorum. They will represent a vast stake and a mighty country — a wilderness of resource and a pre- sent waste of treasure, which will become invalual)le. Away, then, in this age of liberality, with j)ctty dis- tinctions and paltry jealousies. Away with the parvenu jealousy of the man who would object to a Canadian Baronet ; whilst his own device, supplied only from one generation, should be " Three spinning jennies rampant, cotton ' or,' " Away, too, with the blind pride of patrician stupidity, which reminds one of Dickens' Tavern-keeper during the Lord George Gordon riots, who, when he saw his 480 l>J(ORI>()f{ATION OF CANADA own chair, liis village saiictuin, invaded by one of the nioh, and his oracnhu* voice despissed amid the pillaj^c, hfcanie imbecile, and was carried to the grave tliat day twelvemonth. We jjroposc, be it remendjcred, to repair the constitution and l)uekler the aristocracy. Wc acknowledge the necessity of classes, and confess democracy to have been a dream of our boyhood.* * Tt must be strongly homo in mind, Uiat wc separate entirely, in om- vi(!\v of tlic events which i»ave passed lately in Knrope, the struggles of Vrccdoni in enslaved countries and dependencies from the vagaries of " false lievolution." Wc sympathi/e Ijotli witii Italy and Hungary. We admire Kossuth and AIa//.ini ; but regard with horror men like La Flotte, jMigene Sue, I;Ouis Hlane, and tl"j votaries f)f the Ued Hepublic. We know what pa|)al Italy is and was ; while romance has thrown a veil of interest around the patriotism of Hungary. ]5ut we loathe the nrere ferment of mud, and bclicvi! that an essential vulgarity pervades abstract Democracy, which only displays itself in hatred of all that is above it and in the most greedy avarice and egotism. We believe that twenty- live francs per diem has a womlerful cllect upoi the French Chami)er of Deputies in tranquillizing their ideas of change. Wc look upon the 'ate Hevolution in France as the most nimcccisary act that ever dis- turbed a nation. Ft was an earthquake at half price in the minor theatre of rebellion, and was the cheapest investment ever made in social confusion. We deem indeed — " Their boasted flag a blood-stained rag : Their Liberty a jest!" It is remarkable, that amongst all this parade of French republicanism, it has committed acts, which the tyranny of Knssia would not have dared to sanction, at the expense of the real liberties of Europe. Is it not then necessary to disconnect these two principles ; as unlike, as our generally received notions of William Tell and Jack Cade ? At the same time we think that the constitutional liberties of a country should rally all her best and noblest sons around her ; wc consider with Burke, " that he feels no ennobling principles in his own lieart, who wishes to level all the artificial institutes, which have been adopted for giving INCOHI'OUATION OK CANADA. 48 nc ol llic ic pillage, 3 that clay bered, to istocracy. id confess )ovhood.* iilircly, in our tlic sti'ugjj;lt'n he viiyarics of lul Hungary. : men like La |{c(l UcpuMic. throw n n vtil at he the mere vades abstract uit is above it ! that twcnty- h Chamber of ook upon the hat ever dis- n the minor ever made in cpublicanism, juld not have urope. Is il unlike, as our At the same 3untry should with Burke, t, who wishes ted for giving The passinj; events of l-'urope have all tended to stren!j;tlien oni later conviction, liiit, whilst \vc are not carried away by lJl()|)ian theories u{ eoinmunisin, \vc are also independent jI the narrow |)ii'jndices ol rank. Merit and talent should conmiand respect, anil utility be judged worthy of" supporters." Iiirth, com- bined with these, is resistless, and, without them, is a mere transmission of moral scrotula. 1)111 we are in- clined, at the present moment, to give a high meed of ])raise to a great portion ol the aristocracy ol Iv'xiand We see men, who have every excuse to be indolent, active and industrious. 'I'he very mistakes made by some of them are meritorious. They endeavour to interest themselves in the wellaic of tlieir country and marikind, and the speeches in the House of Lords are to our mind, of late, superior in the higher ((ualities of talent and soundness to those delivered in the House of Couimons. Therefore, from this class, generally, we expect the approval of our designs, as well as their aid and assistance. We think, then, that three classes might furnish a Canadian Aristocracy and Parliament, to represent the interests of Canada in the Imperial Farliuinent of the " Saxon Empire" of Great Britain. These are, the original English families, the original French families, and the most distinguished amongst the body of emi- grants, who will leave this country for Canada, upon her incorporation. With regard to the two former classes of English and French, one of the great curses of Canada has hitherto been their hostility to each other. body to opinion and permanence to future esteem." The last revo- lution in France has exercised a do\d)le a";encv towards the destruction of civil rights and freedom. ;: 1 4S2 INCORPORATION OF CANADA. • ■'■.t I -J ■t This has hitherto in every shape been fostered by our mode of internal government ; whilst neither educa- tional nor any other schemes have in any way tended to dispel it. We refer again to Lord Durham's invalu- able report for the truth of this. Were such measures to be adopted, as reason would dictate, in the amalga- mation of a small corner of a colony with a great coun- try, all French nationalities would vanish, leaving only the dignified virtues of simplicity behind, as the Dutch peculiarities have passed away from New York, or the foreign distinctive characteristics from Louisiana. The United States were composed of different races ; but an American nationality was soon adopted, when the " highest prizes of federal ambition" were offered alike to all. This is the sense of the arguments used by Lord Durham in proposing a General Legislative Union for our North American Provinces, upon the principle that unity of interest is strength. We go a step or two further, it is true ; but the same facts, arguments and deductions hold good for both. We are disposed to diverge, for one moment, to men- tion an opinion of the above nobleman and his able co- adjutors. He says, that the state of our colonial society is adverse to the principle of a dominant Church. This goes hand in hand with our ideas of Church reform. W^e do not think that the Canadians would object to our idea of an Established Church, founded upon the doctrines of primitive Christianity, which is indeed, in the original acceptation of the term, Catholic; but we think, that the interregnum in the reign of Church influence, occasioned by carrying out our designs in this respect, would at once simplify and make easier our ii;eneral scheme. We cannot forbear from reserv- 1 by our r educa- y tended s invalu- measures ainalga- 3at coun- v'm^ only he Dutch rk, or the ana. The ices ; but when the ered aUke 1 used by legislative upon the We go a ime facts, li. t, to men- is able co- kial society rch. This h reform, object to upon the indeed, in c; but we 3f Church designs in ake easier )m reserv- r I- INCOIIPOUATION or CANADA. 483 ing for quotation in our Appendix, the whole of this passage from Lord Durham's Report. One thing is certain, viz. : that in any case, justice and common sense alike demand that Clergy reserves should be done away with. No censure that we can pass can sufficiently stigmatize the folly of this pro- ceeding, which marks the ground upon which emigrants must settle with the black squares of despondency, and makes the whole country one vast chess-board, upon which Folly plays her dull and endless game with Stagnation.* We are now about to submit our ideas on the ques- tion, which will naturally arise, as to how this incor- poration is to be carried into efiect. It will be asked, what amount of representation is intended to be ac- corded to our North American Colonies, and in what shape ? Are the Canadians — or, rather, we should say, the Canadian States, including all our possessions in North America, from Prince Edward's Island and Newfoundland, to the unapportioned wilderness of the Hudson's Bay Company — to be gifted with a separate * For facts upon the Crown and Clergy reserves, vide Gourhy, j)assim. See also the Appendix to " Report on the Atlairs of Lower Canada," wliere it is stated, " that the practice of making Crown and Clergy reserves, and thus withholding from settlement two-sevenths of everv township, imposed upon the proprietor of the remaining land so much additional expense for which he could never expect any return." Iload- niaking, and consequently a market, became impossible, and the reserves were " carefully disposed in such a marnier as to separate most com- pletely the actual settlers, and thus to obstruct in the greatest possible degree the progress of settlement." This docs not now apply to those Crown reserves, which were virtually abandoned when the system of sale took place. But it does still with reference to the Clergy. We refer also to " Three Years' Residence in Canada," by J. R. Preston, I8i0, for the subject of Land Grants : a few pages of which we shall hereafter, probably, subjoin. I t V:' 484 INCOlll'ORATION Ul" CANADA, !/. W, ■'': w. Logisliitivc l)0{ly of their o\vn, to enact laws — merely leaving the executive in the hands of the British Crown, or ar;.' they to have a local rarliament, and an elective ini[)erial representation in England, or are they merely to send ]Mend)ers to the British House of Commons and Chamber of Peers? We intend to reason on behalf of the latter })ro|)osition alone ; since it is (jnly by that mcjuis, that wc can conceive a perfect and um'cserved incorporation can take place. But in the legal and exe- cutive administration we would anticipate the reforms that are graduidly forcing themselves u})on us here ; and framing a code of laws and a system of administration of justice with the most subtle nicety, admitting of simple design, we would set an exani})le to ourselves, and herald the ])erfection of our own improvement. Were Canada to have a sejjarate and distinct Parlia- ment, she nuist continue a distinct State. With regard to the policy of England towards the world, and the world towards England, she would be, at once, useless and dangerous. If she possessed a legislative body to approve measures to be urged by elected representatives in the imperial houses, or by deputies, the system would be too slow and cumbrous, and liable to continual errors, misa])prehensions, and mistake. She nuist thereby either })ossess an undue, or not sufficient, weight ; nor would such an arrangement tend to sulfi- ciently Anglicise the North American States — a con- summation which cannot be too devoutly desired. It is true, that, in the commencement, a sutticient body could not be created to obtain a fair amount of rejire- sentation for Canada. Perhaps it would not be deshous, at first, to do so. The process of grafting is slow, and the young branch must first bear fruit, before removing ) — luoroly ;li Crown, 1 elective ;y merely mons and belialf oi" ' bv that mrcserved I and exe- e refoinis lerc ; and stration of of simple Awes, and ict Farlia- ith regard , and the ce, useless Q body to Bscntativcs tern would continual ?lie must sufficient, id to suifl- s — a con- csired. It jient body ; of re])re- e desirous, slow, and ; removing INCOUPOllATIO.X (U' CANADA. 4S5 the su])i)ort(:rs ; but a scale of representation would easily suit itself to the increase of ])opulalion and import- ance, whicli would result. Wc have already adverted to distance as by no means so striking a feature, since the introduction of steam. The great and almost only evil to be anticipated would be absenteeism ; and, against that, it is our intention to provide. Great difficulties must be met by great restrictions. AVc do not wish, certainly, to copy the restrictive policy of Russia, in this respect, with regard to foreign travel ; but we think a scheme of fines and taxation might be made to answer. Wo should enforce a residence of six menths in the year upon all Canadian peers, and other titular dignitari(;s, except for such as should be actually sitting in the British House of Repre- sentatives, and such as should be exempted by a special proviso, granted by Government for a special purpose. AVe think it a great pity, that some such condi- tion was not imposed upon Irish landlords, which, in a few years, would have obviated the necessity of its own existence, having taught the superior advantages of residence by custom, and the preference of habit. It is imi)ossible to take any other than a broad view of the question of Canadian legislation at present. Wa arc not prepared for attack upon single and minute [)oints, and nuist deprecate their infliction as injurious to a scheme, which has this advantage over the mea- sures, which, of late, generally find favour as the subject of Parliamentary and newspaper argument — tliat it has in view the solid interests of Great Ih'itain. A\'e ])ro- pose, then, that a ])eerage be at once established in North America, and that this be done bv dividino- (he country into departments as much as })ossiblc mapped H p: 480 INCORPORATION OF CANADA. ? ■i M i ■ J* out according to their S( veral amounts of Anglo-Saxon population. Thus, a department might exist a thou- sand miles across, which should have but one repre- sentative. In process of time a census of its population might entitle it to two, then three, and so on ; and thus the country would rapidly ac(piirc a fair proportion of representation. It may, however, be lu'ged, that the miglity popu- lation of such a territory Mould, in time, out-vie and exceed the representatives of Great Britain. To this we reply, that it is suflicient to legislate for centuries, not cycles of time, and we think that we, at any rate, who do presume to think at all of posterity, in opposition to the style of the age, may escape the charge of expediency. Let us imagine, in the first instance, that twenty -four peers were created. Of these, let half be elected by their own body to sit in the British Upper House. In three or five years, we would add twelve more to the main body, and, in case of a vacancy by extinction, the Crown might instantly fill up the gap. Thus, in three or five years eighteen would sit in the Imperial House of Lords, and in six or ten years the number might still be increased. We propose that those who have inte- rested themselves in Canadian affairs, and who should express a willingness to settle in that country, might have large grants of land annexed to their patents of nobility ; and, especially, late governor-generals, whose governments have been popular, might be tempted with still higher honours to settle in this land of promise. Above all, it would be an excellent opportunity for re- Avarding any particular instances of loyalty during the late rebellion. We confess that, however startling it may be, we can see nothing impossible, or even difficult, Ifh' INCORPORATIUN Ol' CANADA. t^' flo-Siixoii a thou- le rcpre- opulation and thus ortion of ty popu- t-vic and tliis wo Liries, not , who do on to the pcdiency. cnty-four lectcd by )use. In [•e to the ction, the , in three House of night still lavc intc- lio should y, might latcnts of Is, whose pted with promise. ty for re- aring the Lirtling it 1 difficult, in this. At any rate, it is the only plan which can, for any length of time, retain Canada. Earl Glrey thinks* that a legislative union would have preserved to us the fealty of the United States. AV^e do not think so, per- manently ; but we conceive that an incorporation founded upon a legislative union would have done so, as it may now preserve Canada, f * Vide Speech in the House of Lords, May 31. f We cannot forbear quoting the following passage from Lord Durham's lleport, with regard to a legislative union of the Canadas : — " No large community of free and intelligent men will long feel eontented with a political system which places them, because it places their country, in a position of inferiority to their neighbours. The colonist of Great Britain is linked, it is true, to a mighty empire, and tlie glories of its history, the visible signs of its present power" ( ? 1 S50), " and the civili- zation of its people, arc calculated to raise and gratify hi? national pride. But he feels also that his link to that empire is one of remote dependence ; he catches Init passing and inadequate glimpses of its power and prosperity ; he knows that in its government he and his country have no voice. "While his neighbour on the other side of the frontier assumes importance from the notion that his vote exercises some influence on the councils, and that he himself has some share in the onward progress of a mighty nation, the colonist feels the tleadening influence of the narrow and subordinate community to which he belongs. In his own, and in the surrounding colonies, he finds petty objects occupying petty, stationary, and divided societies ; and it is only when the chances of an uncertain and tardy communication bring intelligence of what has passed a month before on the other side of the Atlantic that he is reminded of the enq)ire with which he is connected. JUit the influence of the United Slates surrounds iiiin on every si INCOIII'OIIATION OF CANADA w M"" ffi-'H^ once connected witli the first great enterprizc and object, viz. i\w Jl/antic and Pacific Jniiclion Line. In tliis way, we conceive that wc l)ridge over a grejit little dilHcnlty, tliat is, a great diiHculty made up of a variety of points, some small and others great. For it is impossible to con- ceive that such matters as roads, canals, public buildhigs, railways, bridges, dC'c, can meet with a proper and fit and ready attention at the hands of men who may be igno- rant of the local iitfairs of the country they arc intended to benefit, at a distance from the scene of operations, or inmiersed in other matters \ such as the policy of Europe; and internal aftairs, whether relating to matters of vital moment, or the delivery of letters by post on Sunday. With regard to the Church, wc have already ex- pressed our o})inion sufficiently upon that i)oint. To force any ('hurch establishment upon this young coimtry, split up as it is into all creeds and opinions on this point, woidd be as illiberal, as fatal. Let the voluntary system prevail, till the sense of the nation declare its prei)onder- ance of faith; and, in the name of true Religion, let us do no violence to the name of Christ by forcing the bitter ecclesiastical pill down the throats of those who are willing to emancipate themselves from the thraldom of zeal, the violence of schism, and the mercenary dogma of custom, and who would otherwise possess the glorious privilege of re-attaining the primitive simplicity of early Christianity hi the pure air of an unsophisticated country. The oi)inion before referred to, which will be found quoted hi our Appendix, will bear us out most strongly in this respect. With regard to the Laws and Listitutions of this new branch of the Ih'itish Empire, we consider it a glorious opportunity for framing a Code, which shall include the best attrii)utes of both French and English 1(1 object, tliis way, ililliciiUy, )f points, lie to con- juildhigs, id fit and be igno- iuteiidcd iitions, or f Europe s of vital mday. •eady ex- aiiit. To r country, his point, ry system reponder- Ict us do the bitter \vho arc L'akloni of ry dogma c glorious y of early I country, lid quoted ^"ly in this tuti(»ns of isider it a lieh sliall d English INCOUl'OHATION OF canaha. 11)3 law. Tliis will Ih.< at once pleasing to tlie l''reneli and Knglisli Canadians. Tlie (piestion of Trial ])y .lury we leave for consideration. We should like to .S(,'e the working of a circuit of twelve Judges, with a power of a])peal to a Court of Cassation from four, that is two- thirds, in any l)ut minor cases, conibimd with the present (irand Jury system. Thus the system of Petty Juries, which in oiu' opinion is a next io useless forii) appended to the decision of a sinde Ju(lfi;e, wonld be done awav with. W(> shoidd also like to see an examiualion of prisoners allowed, under the control of the Court; for which plan wt; have always had a ])reference and u longing. It is not likely that we .should wish to force upon a young country our monster growth of ])ractice, formed on contending precedents ♦ernied C'h;mcery, nor to overwhelm her with all the subtle science, which after so many years has contrived to construct a labyiinth for justice, where wc lur e merely the satisfaction of knowing that she may be hidden, after wc have so entangled the clue that we can never entirely get at, or tind her. Under these circumstances we think Canada will stand pos- sessed of peculiar privileges : for she will have the benefit of mature experience ; shice all the h^gal wisdom of a great country will be brought to bear upon the framing of her institutions — thus avoiding the slow growth of ac- cidental erroi', and the mistakes which time, change, and custom, have warped from original intention. It will doubtless be urged, who would confer upon a lazy, talkative British Parliament the petty administration of a distant country ? But wc must not forget that Canadian interests will be defended, and Canadian benefits sought, by her ow-n active, partial representation. 401. INL'OIU'URATIO.N <)l' CANAUA. ■ '! I ^5 Nor do wr npproliond niiytliinj]? like the flagitious Mun- dci'ing and sl(jcj)iii('ss of a ('oloiiial bureau^ lost in total want of a[)[)r('ciati()n and information, and receiving a thankless salary for injuring the interests of all parties. We think, on the other hand, that Canadian legislation and policy will become the grateful cynosure of the next era of the British Imperial Parliament. The Executive (jovernmcnt of the Canadian States would, of course, remain vested in the Crown of I'^ngland. We hate the name of Lord- Lieutenant, and, indeed, of Covernor-Cieneral, cxce])t as ap])lied to an infant Colony, or such military dependencies as those of Malta and (lil)- raltar. Even in the Island of Guernsey — where there exists on a siuidl social scale nnich of the 1^'rench Cana- dian feeling, resulting from a difference of laws and institutions irreconcilable to British sway, mixed with the strongest abstract loyalty and pride, iuid with the independence of islanders — even in this small comnni- iiity, we have seen much to disgust ns with the name ol' Cjiovernor. It is, we confess, a foolish pn^judicc ; which results from the continual bad policy of England in this resj)ect, who has rarely chosen her Covernors with reference to their fitness for their peculiar and most difficult ofKce, or the humour and characteristics of the people amongst whom they are sent ; or otherwise than with the blind conventionality of custom, or a job. We are anxious as much as possible, which wc have shown by our objection to a local Parliament, to avoid even an apparent distinction of Government. But we consider that a Court is necessary in a country so situ- ated, if it be only to give tone to society and to create an apex of rank and respectability. Circumstances have done ;= m "^■i INCOIU'OK.VTlON Ol CANADA. 4!).') is l)lini- iii total •cci'iviiifi; |)iirtic8. •^islation the next n States Kuf^land. iidccd, of t Colony, iind (iil)- !Yc there ch Cana- laws and xcd with with the coninni- nanie of c ; wiiich id in this ors with nd most rs of the kvisc than we have to avoid Bnt we y so sitn- create an lave done nnieli to preclude this in Ireland. Tlie \'iee-Hej^al Conrt at Dnhlin will in all |)rol)id)ility soon he no more. Hut, in the nnfortnnate eireninstanees of Ireland, tlierci'xists no precedent, and from them can bo {gathered no opinion. The enrse of a dominant Protestant Chnreh, which has kept Ireland violently Koman Catholic, in spite of every- thing which wonld otlu'rwisc; have tended to the con- trary : Absenteeism, and the bad spirit enjj;endered by a nnnd)cr of lesser canses, resnlting in the drain of her resources, without return ; together with thi' total de- struction of enterprize and lu^r struggles for nationality withont steadiness of character and purpose, render Fre- land a })ieture of external mismanag<'ment and internal error, from which no h.althy (huluction for another coun- try can, we thank Heaven, be dvawn. But for Ireland wo hope to see better d'vys ; a?^d the first r lief we trust will be removing from her neck the "uel heel of An- glican Church ministry."* AVe are of opinion then tha' the highest re{;rcsentative of the British Crown, next to ihe actual Sovereign, slionld hold a Yice-Regal Court in Canada; and we do not con- sider it as by any means fanciful to venture to suggest, that a Regal Title should exis^ We merely snggest this * Lot niiy one wlio has vLsitccl rrchuul draw a coutva.st bctwooii tlu; IVotestaiit and lioman Catholic clcryy in tin; pcrfoniianci; of their duties, in charity, in mixing with the people and ministering to their wants, and the rcsnlt will he immeasurably in i'avour of tiie latter. What cruelty ! then, what foil, I nhat narrow-minded, ponnds-shillings-and- poncc bigotry ! Is it pc-.'.ie that this continues to exist, and that the Englislunan can venture to blame the quick and sensitive people of Ireland for anythint'; short of general anarchy and rebellion, hatred, uncharitableness, or want of gratitude for the dole of charity exercised in place of freedom and liberty of conscieace nnridden by the hag of priestly taxation ? I 490 INCOHI'OUATION OF CANADA. oipasmnl, and leave it for consideration in liigli (juart(Ts. It might liowcver l)c vested in the Prince Consort, and, in his default, in the heir-aj)[)arent to the English throne. The former would, at this moment, possess a singular felicity. We have a Queen, whose dis[)osition to visit all parts of her dominions, and whose predilections for the sea so befitting her Island throne, and the glories of her naval scei)trc, might in this respect l)e attended with the most gratifying consequence. A\'e are given to understand that she is about to visit Gibralttu", and pos- sibly may extend her regal course to her possessions in the Mediterranean. ^Miy not transmit to history the story of a voyage; re})lete with nobler charms and higher interests ? Why not, in the centre of a fleet of imposing grandeur, better thus employed than in alarming the paltry Greek, or coasting round Sardinia, cross the At- lantic Ocean with the daring of her queen-like character, and be welcomed on the shores of the western world by two millions of loyal subjects and a tlevoted people ? Why not gaze on the imparalleled magnificence of Cana- dian scenery, as she has loved to inhale the fresh bieezes of Scotland, and visit mountain, cave and glen in the remoter parts of her Ih'itish dominions ? AMiy not glide over the noble lakes of Canada, and be received with the acclamations of thousands on the martial heights of Quebec? This would be a stroke of policy worth record- ing : a voyage to be related in future ages : a heroic and Elizabethan deed ! Such a visit would of itself alone strengthen our hold on the alFections of the Canadian people. It would ensure years of obedience and loyalty, it would bring them home in mind to England. It would awaken their recollection of their origin, and give body .*.. i (juartcrs. OUT, and, h tlu'oiie. singular n to visit :;tions for glories of icUhI with given to and pos- issions in story the nd higher imposing nung g the s the At- character, world l)y people ? ; of Cana- h breezes n in the not glide 1 with the leights of th rccord- leroic and self alone Canadian id loyalty. , It would give body INCORPORATION Ol' (ANADA. •197 and reality to their connexion witli the luotlicr country. But, with regard to our plan and [)rojects, it would be of niiracidous etfect ; for it would turn the attention of England to North America, and thus exercise a reciprocal benciicial influence. Let us hope that such an effect may be produced, founded upon the event we have po»n"trayed with [)atriotic enthusiasm, and that our plans may meet the a[)probati()n of practical and ])hilosophical legislators : let us trust to see CaiKida l?rought home to Kngland, and the spirit and body of England kindly fused into the future national existcMice of Canada : let us see the Raihvay Line adopted, our scheme of Incorporation carri( d out ; together with the reform of abuses, the death of cruel and overpower- ing taxation, and a j)atient economy here : let us behold the Church rebuked and chastened : the debt decreased, and the army and navy strengthened, and we shall not live to watch with vain regret the ruin and distress of the country which has given us birth: to mourn over our decayed glories : to weep at foreign insolence, and curse in vain that arid policy, that dishonest carelessness, that shallow ignorance, that mean system of artifice, expe- diency, and infinitesimal smallness of legislation, which is fast hurrying and may continue to hurry us to the fatal abyss of ruined nations and of extinct and departed glory. Wo shall not live to see our Colonies lost to us, and the world bitterly dictating to the unarmed countrymen of ('obdcn : we shall not behold the appanage of those young princes, who, wc hope, will grow up with endi'ar- ing links to bind the jjcople of this and other lands in a domestic and national union, lost to them; as tiic kingdom of France has been lost to the progeny of a late dethroned khig. VVc shall live to see them inherit a Roman sway 2 K •i, ■ 1'- - r .,' * V 408 INCORPORATION OF CANADA. and be tlic young pillars of a mighty future dynasty bearing the name and nationality, as well as being heir to the character and fame, of Britons and Great Britain. Let our proposed wreath be then entwined, and the Incorporation or Canada lay the splendid foundation of the Redemption of Great Britain ! .'■fV i m '■■!}■ ■I dynasty ing heir 3RTTAIN. and the Lindation r u I l^ t V ; f GENERAL APPENDIX. .2 R 2 m t' • V, GENERAL APPENDIX. SCHEMES OF REFORM AND INCOMES OF THE CLERGY. It is one of the most difficult tasks to ascertain the pro- perty of the clergy of the Established Church of England. When we find that the ecclesiastical revenues amount to about £7,000,000 per annum alone, independent of lay pro- perty, and that the clergy hold, almost exclusively, the pro- fessorships, fellowships, tutorships, and masterships, of the Universities, and the public schools — their revenues and patronage may truly be considered to exceed those of any other corporate establishment on the face of the earth. Ad- mitting that the yearly sum of ^67,000,000 is the undoubted property of the Church, and leaving all other items of pa- tronage without calculation, let us see how that vast sum might be more appropriately, not to say more religiously, distributed. Being the Church of the rich, we are desirous to keep it rich and independent ; and instead of £7,000,000 of money exacted in the name of " tithe," let the Establish- ment be placed on a reasonable and popular foundation — something approaching to the following : — 2 Archbishops, at £5,000 per annum, each, £10,000 24 Bishops, at £2,000 .... 48,000 16,000 Priests, at £200 .... 3,200,000 £^3,258,000 .0: AIM'KNDIX. As it is cU'iir that the (Mmrcli, liaviiif^ placed itscli' midcr tlie uiiij^ of the StatCj (li'pciuls solely upon fiscal ^ovcniinciit, we proi)osc that the State should secure the above sum at the least to the Establishment : to be diminished or iii- creascd, as the efliciency of the llet'ormed Church may prove itself greater, or smalUir. We have given this ilea in most general terms. We do not know the precise nmnber of the clergy any more than their precise revenues, -which probably amount directly to €]0,0()(),0()(), and indirectly to much more. But we thiidc that their ministry should be apjjortioned to districts ii re- spect to popuhition. In a thinly populated country, it is true that distance may be also a consideration ; but this would be an exception. We are not prepared to state how many clergymen are necessary to fulfil the duties of the Established Church ; but we think that a computation might be made so that one clergyman should generally sutlice for 800 persons. Giving 1,000 ])ersons to one pastor, and as- suming that there are 10,000,000 of the l^stablished Church, which there are not, we should recpiire 10,000 clergymen, whose salaries, at ^.200 per anninn, would be iJ2,000,000. Every man would thus be obliged to fulfil his ministry. We see no necessity for the distinctions of rector, vicar, or curate j but uould have all ministers, or priests, alike ; w ith the exception of the bishops. We do not meddle with doc- trines or forms; but merely reform greedy abuses. A great and simple Church would thus be created. Whilst we think it wrong in })rinciple, we do not attem[)t at present to inter- fere with the fact of bishops sitting in the House of Lords ; although it is a secular infringement upon their sacred oflice, better done away with. Ili r under srnmciit, siuu at I or ill- ay prove Wo (1(» :)ro tliaii recti V to m vc think ts i'l rc- ;ry, it is but tliis itate how js of the on might iiiricc ibr , and as- [ Church, ergyn-en, 0,000. ministry, vicar, or kc ; Avith witli doc- A great we think ; to inter- )t' Lords ; •ed oflice, AIM'KNDIX. 5():j , ,1 ■•I 11. STATE 01" SOCIETY ADVERSE TO THE I'RINCIPLE OF A DOMINANT eilURCII. f. The follovmuf is the opinion loith reijard to Church cstuf/lish- ment in Canada, contained in the Report of Her Majesty's Hhjh Continissioiier, 1839. I am bound, indeed, to state that there is a degree of feel- ing, and an unanimity of opinion, on the ([uestion of ecclesi- astical cstablit..nients over the northern part of tlie continent of America, which it will be prudent not to overlook in the settlement of this cpiestion. The superiority of what is called the "voluntary principk;" is a (piestion on which I may al- most say that there is no diHercncc of opinion in the I'nited States ; and it cannot be denied that on this, as on other points, the tone of thought prevalent in the Union has exerted a very considerable inliuencc over the neighbouring pro- \inces. Similar circumstances, too, have had the eft'ect of accustoming the people of both countries to regard this (pies- tion in a very different light from that in which it appears in the Old World ; and the nature of the question is, indeed, entirely different in old and new countries. The apparent right which time and custom give to the maintenance of an ancient and respected institution cannot exist in a recently- settled countrv, in which everything is new ; and in the esta- blishment of a dominant Church there is a creation of exclu- sive privileges in favour of one out of many religicnis denomi- nations, and that composing a small minority, at the expense, not merely of the majority, but of many i.s large minorities. The Church, too, for wiiich alone it is proposed that the State should ju'ovide, is a Church which, being that of the wealthy, can best i)rovide for itself, and has the fewest poor to supply with gratuitous religious instruction. Another conbideration, r>o I. AIMM'NDIX. which distinguishes the ^roiiiids on which such :i ([ucstioii must be decided in ohl and new countries, is, tlisit the state of society in the hitter is not susceptible of such an organiza- tion as is necessary for the eflicicncy of any Church csta- bUshiuent of which I know, more especially of one so consti- tuted as the Established Church of England ; for the essence of the establishment is its parocliial clergy. The services of a parochial clergy are almost inapplicable to a colony, where a constantly varying population is widely scattered over tlu^ country. Any clergy there must be rather missionary than parochial. Til. THK CANTERHURY SETTLIOMKNT. I'.* The Canterbury Settlement folk state through their chair- man, Lord Ijyttelton, that the district in trust for them is considerably more than two millions of acres, and that tliev have placed on it a value of jfe3 an acre. Of this only one- sixth goes to the New Zealand Conipany, and one-sixth to de- fray expenses (uiulcr whose control ? wc ask). One-third is to be expended on the actual emigration (that is, the price of Jtl, which is the largest ever demanded by the Government in Australia, is really to be devoted to the purposes of emigrants out of the whole £3.) The priviiegcd purchaser is, however, wc arc assured, to be allowed to take out labourers. The re- maining third, not a tenth, is to form a Church ! Excellent young lord ! why not go yourself beforehand into the wil- derness to prepare the way ? Pious jobbists ! with what modesty have you not formed your plans ! But what ad- vantage is this to be to England ? So many bees arc to be enticed, or deluded, by the vociferations and tiu-kcttle clangour of a body of cant- mongers, we mean pious cnthu- AIM'ENDIX. 50.') (question ;lic state )rganizH- 'ch csta- o consti- Q essence I'viccs ot" IV, wlicre over tlii> siry than cir ehair- tliem is that they d\\\y onc- vth to dc- ;hird is to ice of iil, imeiit in jinigraiits however, Tlie rc- Exccllcnt I the wil- ith Avhat vvliat ad- :es arc to tin-kettle IS cnthu- siasts, into scsttlinj; in an antipodean husli, there to support so nianv drones. " This is to be a ('hurch-of-Enj'land colonv." What a parody we could annex npon the House that Jack Built ! It is lau{:;hable, but painful, to hear the list of hoonft lavished by pious generosity upon [jurchascrs. "The first purchasers," says Lord Lyttelton, " that is, purchasers in the present year," (this ought to produce a rush to the Canter- bury niiart,) "shall be entitled to the right of pasturage," (mark, in New Zealand,) " at the rate of IG.v. 8(/. for 100 acres of land per annum, over five times as much as they have purchased." "And now," continues the pious young nobleman, " we propose to give, also, an option of pur- chasing any part of that land ; if it suits the purchaser to do so. That is looked upon as a considerable boon and advantafje." O pious impudence of assertion ! Then he goes on to privileges with regard to port-towns, or rather sites of port-towns ; but the wind-up, the climax, the cor- ner-stone of magnanimity, is what ? A Bishop ! ! yes, a Bishop ! j£ 1,000 a year is what Lord Lyttelton states that we ourselves, that is, he, or the settlement, or both, have named for the endowment of a Bishopric; but he .idmits that a Bishop can be done for less, say j^COO a year — a low figure for the wilderness. Let us leave Lord Lyt- telton here. He deserves well of his country. Nature de- signed a Stiyyins ; but the mould was not rough-cast, and she turned out in this instance a Peer. The mental attri- butes of some men render them pious and well-meaning ministers of humbug, and we do not think that this religious scion of modern nobility sees far beyond the window of a vestry. However, we do not think ill of him. His mother, we are told, built a church some years ago, without going to New Zealand, out of the proceeds of a bazaar. Probably if his hccid were examined, there would be discovered a promi- nence denominating veneration for bishops. However, wc have bishops here, and pei'hai)s some small capitalists would rather go to New Zealand in the hope of leaving the type behind with Lord Lyttelton. Let us turn now to a ♦ ion \pi»i-,Nr)ix. Mr. Sidn cv llr thinks timt the ('iinti'i'luivv Scttlrniciit is ;4 too exclusive, suul, wIkmi ho stated so, was hissed. lie says .t50() is ueeessiiry for eaeh man (k^siroiis of availing himself of this /joon. He thinks that .IJIO or toi) ou{;ht to sullice for I'^nii^iation. We tliink so too. lie says, " If you want to have the best bone and sinew and stuff, wliieh this country possesses, transpUmted, you must not adoi)t tlie oxchisivc svstom." Do we want the best boue, sinew and stuir of tlic country to be transphuitcd to New Zeahmd ? Do mo want to l)lecd Kn}j;hind of all that is left of j^ood in her? What are you doiuf;, fatal, foolish philan- thro[)ist3, if such you are, uith your bishops, your church, and your .L3 per acre 8})eculation ? We ^viil not impute evil to your motives. We feel assured that lords and bishops, and tlio^ic that invite lhen» to [)Ut down their nauu's, have no piiv.ite interest in any sj)eeulation, and, iiuleed, would uot condesceiul to business, or wc mit^lit, in- deed, snsp(!ct those who iin' concerned in so worthy a design, of dishonouraMe motives: consideriuj;, as wc do, the somewhat curious terms of the- uiulertakiui';. However, this cannot be; and, therefore, discarding the notion of u job altogelher, \\t; merely regard the C'anterbury kSet- ilement as a plan injurious to England, anil productive of no good in itself, which, like other quackeries, will [)r physical improvcnujut of Canada is the lavish [)rofusii)n with whicdi extensive; grants of waste lands base b(;cn made uncoudiiionally to privr.^^e individuals, and also to endowments. The waste lands in the surveyed parts are comprised under the titles of Crown and Clergy Reserves; lan(-s set apart for educational pui'poses ; and lauds belong- ing to public companies and private individuals. Inter- posing, as vast tracts of these sections do, between settled districts, and presenting, for the most part, no immediate equivalent for the excessive price that is set upon them, they operate in a twofold sense as direct impediments to improve- ment — first, by deterring the class of persons most needed, from becoming purchasers ; and, secondly, by retarding general progress To in(;reasc the mischief, the residue of lutios ill :i niimte and stances at- sscmblv ill ioiisly and 'c stability, t the spirit lour of this [10 more in han is tlie id niol) that l1 cravings, rcred to ho est existnig lada is the ivastc hinds kidiials, and ^eycd parts \' Reserves : ids belong- als. Inter- ecjn settled immediate them, thcv to improve- ost needed, r retarding ) residue of AI'l'KNDIX. 511 nngranted waste lands, wliich remained at Ihe disposal of tlu* Crown, lias been ced(;d to the control of the provincial Icgis- hitnre — the last dispensing power to which such a charge should have been entrusted, seeing that a large proportion of its members, being tliemsclves extensive proprietors of waste lands, have an immediate private interest to oppose to the public benefit, in keeping up prices they are not justified in asking, whether as regards the present positive value of the lands in question, or the low and uniform price at which similar purchases may be effected in the United States. As a general principle, it may l)e taken for granted that no positive alienation of waste lands, in a country requiring progressive settlement, should ])e permitted, unless for the l)uri)0se of actual cultivation ; whilcj further, no positive sale of those lands should take place without a proportion of the proceeds of ^uch sale benig appropriated to the promotion of immigration. " It ill accords with the di-nity of the British rrovernment to make the sale of waste lands a source of mere pecuniary jtrolit. ]1^ sole object -^liould he to prociu'e the settlement of the country needing population, and so long as indemnity for the actual expenses incurred in the administration of the land (te))artment i^e obtained, no further ])ecuniary advan- tage should be sought. "About eight year.s ago (1\i(l huts erected vi the expense of Government, the pa)'ti..s installed ;i them receiving an as- surance that if the land were not required for the purposes for which it was originally set apart, and they conducted themselves with propriety, they would not be disturbed in their locations. Upwards of sixty families were at once thus provided for, who have i,ot only done well for themselves, but 'I \l Ari'KNDIX. Iijivc 1)0cn oi' tlic groatcst service to the surrounding ueigh- honrliood. It is obvious that this system possesses lusmy great advantages. In the first place, it gives the hiboiu'cr an immediate home, and enables him to lind employment in his own lot in the intervrds of his hired services being in requisi- tion ; while, on the other hand, it opens a market to those who stand in need of a hd)ourcr's assistance. Two years after the first experiment (in 1831), between fifty and sixty families of the same class, who arrived late in the season, and for whom immediate employment could not be obtained, were located on similar lots ; but as there were no settlers who could aflbrd to hire labourers, the parties in ([uestion were employed at the public expense in opening roads and clearing lands during the winter months. " In 1840, it was found that these poor people had done well — all of them being in posscsrsion of cattle, and several of them having saved wherewithal to purchase land, which they are now engaged in improving. In fact, in both instances, the people have gone on steadily prospering, and have furnished a hardy, well-aflccted race of men for the defence of the pro- vince. Ill the whole country, in truth, from five to twenty- five families might thus be advantageously located, were means set apart for the purpose, as they easily might be, under a re- vised method of conducting the affairs of the whole land department, and a legitimate appropriation of its funds. " In an interesting volume, published in 183 1-, entitled ' England and America,' in speaking of the baneful ell'ects of Crown and Clergy Reserved Lands interposing between cultivated allotments, the Author says : — " As flour is an ele- ment of bread, so is waste land an clement of colonization ; but, as flour which has been turned into pie-crust will not make bread, so neither is waste land which has become pri- vate property an element of colonization. It is the disposal of waste land in a certain way which is the primary means of colonization ; and when the land has been disposed of in another way, the power to dispose of it in the right way no longer exists. Land, to be an clement of colonization, must APPENDIX. 5ia ig neigh- scs many boTircr an cnt in his n rcquisi- t to those ears after ind sixty }at^on, and obtained, no settlers I question roads and done well al of them h they arc anccs, the furnished jf the pro- to tvventy- rere means inder a rc- diole hind luuls. l, eiitith.Ml iful eliects g between! r is an cle- lonization ; st will not Dcomc pri- be disposal lary means losed of in ^ht way no ition, must not only be waste, l)nt it must be public property, liable to be converted into private property fur the end in view. In the art of colonizatioti, therefore, tlie first rule is of a negative kind : it is that the Governments, having the power of waste lands, and seeking- to promote the removal of the people, should lu'.ver throw away any of that power — sliould never dispose of waste land except for the object in view — except for the removal of the peo})le, and for the greatest [)rogress of colonization. This rule has nevei- been strictly observed by any colonizing government : it had been gro.ssly neglected by all such governments excepting only the United States, which, since they became entirely indepcMulent, have been more cautious than any other colonizing government ever was about the disposal of waste lands." — Preston, on Canada, 18 to. VII. I'llESKNT SYSTEMS OF EMIGRATION. The Morning Advertiser of March, and several other jour- nals of that month, ouii'.aiu horrifying det lils of the system on which emigrant sii^jii are sent floating away with their cargoes of expatiialcd uiiscry, A vessel called the Indian was chartered by Jiish Guardians. It appears that on this vessel property and life were endangered in the defence of female virtue fiou desneratc assailants. One man, whose name is given (Ilill), had his property destroyed in defending the virtue of his wife and daughters. Tiien come the re- marks of the Adelaide Observer, stating that no less than ten emigrant ships arri\ ing there were " floating brothels." The disgusting details given of proceedings on board of the Aden^ will be alive in the memory of thu public. The summary of all this may be thus given : — " llotteu provisions : brutal 2 L '' ' 11 AI'I'KNIUV. snr«?coiis : servile drudgery: disease: eorporal })unislinient : violation : prostitution : and no small elianec of, or share in, shipwreek." So mueli for the j/idd/i/it/ schemes of emigration. The Irish girls alluded to above are described in a hite debate in the House of Connnons as models of virtue, inno- cence, and propriety, in comparison to the mature matrons from the Paphian bowers of jNTarylebone and Whitechapel. Being so, they arc shipped ott'^ hke heifers from Rotterdam, to be drafted into the most depraved spots on the face of the globe; in the centre of a hemisphere of convicts. This, in- d(.'e(l, is tossing the workhouse sampler to the dogs, to be disfigured and torn in the mud of corruption. Imagine the horrors of sitteiniated needlewomen, who in all their misery have preserved the delicacy of womanhood, when they find themselves floating out of sight of land unprotected, in the company of monsters, or, Avhen being arrived, they jire doomed to take their /hance in a wilderness of ruftians, out of sight of a sea wherein to drown themselves. However, it is but a jol), carelessly conducted, to get rid of surplus females, and is a sort o^ free trade in jNIagdalens, conducted without return or reciprocity, on the principles of modern philanthropy. VIII. MKJRATION OK IPFEll AND MIUDLK CLASSES. We had intended to devote a chapter of this work parti- cularly to the migration of the upper and middle classes of society ; without v.hich not only no system of emigration can be carried out on a large scale, advantrigeously to the infant colony, but no return can be anticipated to the mother country. More than this, without such a plan, the absolute evil cannot be got rid of, as we have already illustrated by showing the universality of the distress and confusion per- vading all classes of society here — ^the educated and the un- M'1'KNI)I\. 5115 islniUMit : si Hire in, njrnitioii. in a late ue, iuuo- matrous itccliapel. u I'd am, to CO of the This, m- n;s, to be agiiio the •ir misery thej find d, in the they are Hians, out jwcvcr, it if sm'plus conducted f modern ;s. oy\ parti- classcs of ration can the infant c mother absolute jtratcd by iisiou per- id the un- educated: the nominally rich and the- poor: tiic pri>fessi(»nal man and the artisan : the jrovcrness and tlie needlewoman the peasant and the man of genius : the pauper and the peer. Army and navy are alike filled n\) ; a\ hilst the I'anks of me- dicine and divinity admit no neuj)hytes, and the courts of law no novices. The authority of history proves ineontestablv the necessitr of the Exodus of a perfect cemnumity, in order to found a distant empire with any chance of success, except that re- sulting from mere accident. It is only thus that we may hope to plant a flourishing coloi.y fai from home, which shall preserve the ancient institutions of the country, whence it emerged. In this peculiar instance, the whole internal and sur- rounding circumstances of Canada niake it doubly imperative that such should be the case, and that, if we wish to preserve her, or to allow her to preserve herself and found a mitiou- alitv of lier own, it is necessary to encourage and necessitate the emigration of all classes hence — the highest, as well as the lowest : the most important as well as the smallest ; the representatives of educatioM :,iid rank ; as well as the scum and refuse, or mere elements of poverty, which we are in the habit of ti ansplauting and pouring from our shores. Rank, on the other hand, stripped of its privileges, and the divinity which hedges it, must fall into contempt at home. Repiddieanism and Socialism will rear their hydra heads, and the cruel Upas tree of moral growth spread its baneful influ- ence over all tljat is left of good, and pious, and just, whole- some and select in the land. Therefore, the decay of rank must also be stopped in this country, and its superfluous members provided for. All nmst be prepared to go forth alike, and it is for this that we wish to prepare the chosen laud, by moral and governmental cultivation, for the recep- tion of those who shall comuumicitc the elements of the British constitution at once to the country we purpose to incorporate and preserve for our own. As a preface to all this, we intended to write a kind of defence for the aristo- cracy of the realm. We iutended to draw a picture of the 2 L 2 51 G ATPENDIX. "t ■J evils which oppress and desoliite I'^rance, and of the ineonsis- teneics, l)nitaHties, and iMTors which shock us in America. We had determined to write in helialf of a class, which we imagine to have received sullicicnt chastisement, and to show that it is no longer for the Ijcnefit of Enj^land to rehukc it further. But, impressed witli the idea of om' liaving already transgressed our limits, we reserve tliis for a future essay, and will not hurden the present work with our ideas of the necessity of the continuance of that third class in England, which has hitherto preserved the balance of power between education and ignorance, and wealth and j)0verty ; and proved itself the bulwark of that original constitution which has shone forth so many ages as the most ])erfect conception ever embodied by man. In thus labouring under the apparent Quixotism of defend- ing that which was so lately the most powerful body of men in the world; but which is now I'ajiidly withering under the influence of the monied class, combiiu^d witli the misery of the many, and which is fast declining, together with all old English forms, prejudices, customs, and nationality, before the shallow knowledge of the day, and the eating cancer of discontent and folly — in thus contending for the importance and value of the landed aristocracy of England — we know that we run the gauntlet of misconception, and even deri- sion. -But we glory in being the heralds of a neces- sary reaction and the interpreters of our own deep-felt convictions ; and feeling that our motives are conscientious and pure, brave abkc the antagonism of dissent, the violence and raving of democracy, the coldness and apathy of those with whom for the moment we side, and finally the sneers of a eonsic] vablc portion of our fellow countrymen, who neither thinking the one thing or the other, are inclined, without even testing the soundness or reality of their own doctrines, or holding any doctrines at all, to be carried on the popular flood, or vulgjir tide of opinion, and are merely content to deride those who express themselves on such a subject warmly. The purblind sight of such men as these enables them to AI'PKNDIX. r)i7 iicorsis- Uncric.'i. ,'lucli we to show 3l)ukc it ; iilreacly SUV, mul , of the l)ct\veen ■ty ; !Ui(l )ii wliidi uccptioii f tlcfend- ■f of niCMi lulcr the misery of h silfoia before cancer of iportancc we know vcn deri- a neccs- (lecp-fclt scientious 3 violence of tliose sneers of 10 neither 1, without jtrines, or liar flood, to deride mly. s them to grope about equally in darkness and illiuninatiou, and to them the light of one age is as good as the light of an- other. If thev have been nurtured in falsehood, a startling enunciation of truth appals thcni ; whilst they embrace a paradox, if it comes sanctioned by the worship of the era in which they live; if surrounding habit sanction their thought they follow to the very slaughter-house of revolu- tion, with the sagacity of a flock of sheep ; but the blind resolution of martyrs. We claim the merit of more ori- ginal thinking, and since we deem that the Constitution of England presents the only palladium of true freedom in the world, amid a thousand abuses and errors, which choke its pillars and foundations with excrescences and dilapidations, and since we feel assured that the aristocratical institutions of England are necessary to preserve that Constitution, we are prepared to defend the aristocracy of rank as well as the aristocracy of talent. Let not our sentiments be misjudged. We arc indillerent as to the abstract principle of birth. That we regard as a fiction, frccpicntly charming, like other tl.ings that appeal to the imagination ; but still a fiction : though one necessary to human social existence. Thus, ue only realize birth in the creation and preservation of classes, ranks, and orders of society, and thence we defend it. Thence it is that we would preserve it from conimunisui, revolution^, democracy, and violence; and in order to accomi)lish our task, would first furnish it with the means to escajje the degradation of po- verty, the contempt of familiarity, and all the numerous train of evils which, in the shape of anarchy, licence, vul- garity, and socialism, threaten at once with both internal pressure and outward example to ruin .and degrade it. In order to do this, a new field must be o[)eu('d, and a new term of existence thereby granted to the higiier classes of liritish subjects, as well as anew provision made for the lower, and the finger of observation points at once wit'i hope and warning to the boundless resources^ the magnificent ti-rritoiy, and the pure and uncorrupted air of lueui'poruted Canada and our possessions in North America! I f l^ \i'im;mh\ IX. CAPITAL AM) FREE LABOUR. ■ To induce; persons of respectable station, l)ut mediocre means, to settle in Canada, (iovernment might accord land to eligible parties on very moderate terms — so much down, and the residue by instalments ])ayal)lc at a reasonable time; but under condition that the land, so acquired, should be brought into satisfactory cultivation within a certain spcciiied period, under penalty of forfeiture and ejectment. Also, in jiroportion to every assistant labourer, which such proprietor might choose to engage from this country, five acres of land should be accorded gratis, or at a very reduced price, in addition to the land ])urchascd by the principal; but under condition that such followers should be properly njaintained, and that each included in such proviso should be retained, or a substitute found in his stead, till the expiration of a given term. Every facility should be provided for the conveyance of all descriptions of furniture, and eft'ects, at the lowest remunerative prices, to the settlements selected by such free emigrants among the railroad line of divisions before s])ecilied. And likewise every means in approved practice for the promotion of general emigration should be encouraged to induce establisliments in Canada, and to this end we suggest that joint-stock companies be formed among the people, as at present there are some already ope- rating here. As an encouraging testimony of what even the humblest classes might effect for their own provision in colonial settlement, if but properly directed, let us refer to the late well meant but abortive land-plan, of radical concep- tion, by which the sum of iJl 12,000 was actually raised by voluntary subscription among the veriest indigent. Let us, moreover, point the reader's attention to the joint-stock fund subscribed by the distressed Staff'ordshire potters to enable associate members, appointed by ballot, to emigrate to the Al'I'tNDIX. r)iu Citv of Milwiinkcc, in Wisconsin, United States. " AVhiit city mediocre Old land eh down, l)lc time ; houlcl be specified liich such iitrv, five J reduced )riucipal ; properly io should till the provided ul efVects, s selected divisions approved )n should a, and to e formed cady opc- hat even ivision iu s refer to il coiicep- raised by Let us, tock fund to enable e to the , j> ad is tins.'' our reader may nuiuire, with surprise itli at tl ic noveltv ^ #• of a name which, from the impromptu existence of the i>l:u'(3 to which it appii'.js, has never yet, i)erliaps, readied his Unow- ledjifc ; and wc take pleasure in informinj;- him that tliis Mil- waukee is the capital of a floiirishinj^ settlement, the ori^'inal, and we believe princi[)al creation of these self-e\iled potters; and their rapid j)rosi)erity and increase in this foreijxn com- munity reflects the f^reatest discredit \\\\(n\ the patriotism and prudence of t'.ie British (Jovernment, which permits so many of En};land's liardy and industrious sons to abandon our connexion for naturalization in a ri\al connti'y; and lliat too iu a settlement upon the very frontier of our own Auu'rican lauds, superior in evevy respect to Wisconsin ; w bile yet we leave those very possess! ms uncultivated and unpeoi)led. The fact constitutes a [.olitical monstrosity. The following Uc]iort connected with this new-born esta- blishment ()♦' our poor potters, with which we have just been favoured, will prove more than a volume of argument, the feasibility of our projected line of settlements in the same direction ; and the promptitude, almost miraculous, with which opulence and industry could be introduced into the deserts of Western Canada: ''In May 1831, ^Nlr. Solomon Juman was the onlv white settler within the limits of what is now the city of Milwaukee. The following table of census returns, taken since that period, exhibits the rate of increase in the population. 1838,700; 1810, 1,700; 1812, 2,700; 181G, June 1, i),()55 ; 1817, December 15, 11,0G1 ; August, 1819, estimated 18,000, Equally rapid has been the augmentation in the exports of ^roduce, &e. It was in 1815 when tlu* first shipments of wheaL and flour to any extent was made from Milwaukee. The following table shows how this business increases : — 1815, 95,500 bushels of wheat, 7,500 barrels of flour. 181(3, 213,118 bushels of wheat, 15,750 barrels of flour. 1817, 598,011 bushels of uheat, 31,810 barrels of flour. In 1818, 012, 171 bushels of wheat, and iu 1819, 1,1 18,807 bushels of wheat. Manufactures of the City of Milwunkee iliwiuj the last 520 Al'PLNDIX. Year. — Dvsrripi'iDa of lln- /Irtirles manvfnctitrcd. — WoolUni Goods, various kinds, dol. 4(),()()(). ICd'^'C tools, dol. 30,<)()0. Fouuderii's, various kinds of inachinciy, dol. 11)5,000. Car- riaji^es and waggons, iKd. llOj.'iOO. Sash, blinds and doors, dol. 40,700. Leather, dol. 20,000. Wooden ware and wood- turnings, dol. 87,056. Lumbe'- dol. 20,000. Cabinet ware, dol. 127,700. Boots and shoes, i! d. 75,250. Tin, sheet-iron and copper ware, dol. 111,000. SacUllcs and harness, dol. 44,000. Soa}) and candles, dol. '^7,000. Burr mill stones, del. 36,000. Jjoilcrs (steam), dol. 20,250. Sails and rigging, dol. 17,000. Ploughs, dol. ' 500. Clothing, dol. 4,500. Potashes, &c., dol. 15,000. Lumber planed and matched by machine, dol. 24,000. Paper, dol. 40,000. Copper and iron smitlnng, dol. 27,000. Earthenware, dol. 7,500. Brass machinery and turnings, dol. 10,000. Tobacco and cigars, dol. 15,500. Malt liquors, 71,000. Bread and crackers, dol. 27,000. Gun and lock smithing, dol. 9,500. Bookbinding, dol. 8,000. Cooper's ware, dol. 8,500. Brick (10,000,000), dol. 40,000. Shingles, dol. 25,000. Miscel- laneous, — such as jewellers, gilders, weavers, pump makers, tool manufacturers, &e., dol. 107,000. Fanning mills and thrasJiing machines, dol. 25,700.— Total dol. 1,714, 200. In addition to the above, there arc five Hour mills, pro- pel led by w ater power, an.d one by steam : each one ca- pable of tuning out 80 to 100 barrels of flour per day; and consuming in all 7,000 bushels of wheat daily. 1M?011TS. Tons of Merchandise 16,012 •Barrels of suet . 35,000 Barrels of bulk furniture 17,000 Coal, water lime and plaster Fruit (dried and green) Lumber, lath, shingle bolts, shingles, and timber ...... Miscellaneous dol. 3,202,400 00 43,750 00 . 140,000 00 18,000 00 11,500 00 375,000 00 35,000 00 Total dols. 3,828,050 00 und. — AVoolh'ii uls, (lol. 30,900. 195,000. Car- lids and doors, waif and wood- Cabinet ware, Tin, shcct-irou d harness, dol. Jurv mill stones, nils and ri^'ginj;, ng, dol. 4,500. d and matched 0,000. Copper are, dol. 7,500. . Tobacco and ). Bread and ling, dol. 9,500. 1. 8,500. Brick 15,000. Miscel- pump makers, iniug mills and 1,7U, 200. liour mills, pro- each one ca- iir per day ; and 3,202,400 00 43,750 00 140,000 00 18,000 00 11,500 00 375,000 00 35,000 00 3,828,050 00 APPENDIX. .); KXl'OUTS. lUishcls wlicat 1,118,807 . dol. 1,01.4,012 79 Barrels flour . 201,912 915,088 50 Ditto pork and bed' 53,000 00 Tons lead and .shot , 810 53,000 no Hides 10,281 23,138 00 Sundry manufacturet i articles dols. 28,390 00 2,093,409 35 There are 39 sail of vessels owned in, and sailing om )t, port, of which the total tonnage is 5,542. (3ur sf kIi iu steamboats an- nrf>peUers of 3,000 tons. Making a totul tonnage owned 'ic port 8,542. Sixteen sail of vessels arc engaged exclnsivuly in tho lumber trade; and the remainder in freighthig produce and merchandize. Arrivals during tlic season of 1848 : — Steamboats 198. Propellers 248. Barks and brigs 119. Schooners 511. — Total 1,370. Here left to their own lice and unaided exertion, with the small — very small cajiital, which they alone could command : the whole having its principal origin iu scanty subscrii)tion — wo behold a colony of British ]ioor — now opuUiit Ameri- cans — setting an example to Great Britain and its govern- ment, by the foundation of a relieving colony, in the direc- tion we should pursue. The sudden erealiuii of this miracu- lous city of jMilwankee, aand the prodigious rai)idity of its trade and prosperity, which we have been at pains to present to our reader's attention in the foregoing tables, prove in detail, how our towns and stations would rise to even speedier affluence, so powerfully stimulated as they would be by their situation on so grand a railroad; with the ])ro- tection and resource of Great Britain to encourage and promote them at every step. This example, we conceive, forms the most triumphant proof of the excellence of our scheme against every objection prejudice and doubt can oppose, which we could possibly submit to the public ; and we will conclude our argument hei'(^ by observing, that surely British euterprize and industry coidd ell'ect, with more satis- ^^ t> IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 !ri I.I JO '" 13 6 It i^ IL25 IIP 1.4 li 1.8 1.6 V] ..^ / Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ,\ iV ^ :\ \ <> \,^ r^ <;^ tfi C/.x r 522 APPENDIX. ■" 'i, I ■ faction and zeal, greater miracles for Great IJritain in Canada, than they consent to accomplish for America, upon its frontier. A principal obstacle, amounting to interdiction, to the departure of many poor people for the colonies, consists in the difficulty of hasty conversion of property and efl'ecta into money without incurring ruinous sacrifice and loss. To obviate which, we propose that capital be raised, and societies formed all over the country for purchase of all the usual de- scription of property of which persons, inclined to emigrate, have commonly to dispose. This might be valued upon estimate by three competent, and sworn, appraisers employed in this manner : one, named by the seller : a second by the society purchasing; and the third, appointed by Govern- ment. Further proposing that only one-lialf the purchase- money be immediately paid to the seller in this country, and the other half at six months, or upon the arrival of the seller at the place of his destination in Canada; or that land, equal to the value of such property so appraised and sold, be secured to the seller on his arrival at his place of settlement, according as such arrangement might be agreeable. Vessels, known in the trade under the name of lumber ships, and used for the transport of timber, might be em- ployed at very reasonable charges, to carry out such goods and effects, as poor emigrants might prefer to convey to the place of their destination; and preliminary arrangements might accordingly be made throughout the whole line of communication for the safe and expeditious transmission of all such property. Or should the employment even of such vessels as we have designated entail too much expense, we do not hesitate to suggest that Government shipping, for a service of such public utility and advantage, be commissioned for this duty, instead of being condemned, as so many of them now are, to lie idle at much useless expense. In fine, let every judicious expedient and exertion be adopted to determine and facilitate a general movement of classes in the direction of Canada. ;i AIM'LNDIX. in Canada, upon its on^ to tlic consists in md effects 1 loss. To fid societies ic usual de- o emigrate, dued upon s employed ond by the )y Govern- 3 purcliase- Duntry, and ival of the a ; or that jraised and ,t his place might be of lumber gilt be em- such goods invey to the rangeraents lole line of ismission of ven of such expense, we pping, for a mmissioned so mauv of exertion be lovement of We now come to the Free-labonrers required for the actual and direct execution of the railroad works. And, first, sup- posing habitations to be already prepared for them, we sug- gest that these should be hirea in numbers equal to the object in view, at a fair rate of wages ; proportioned to the price of necessaries in Canada ; and by an engagement bind- ing them for the season usually allotted to out door occu- pation in North America, deducting the value of rations with which they might be supplied at a just valuation. A passage, the very lowest price, might be provided for them, and they should be at liberty to return by the same cheap conveyance to this country at the end of the season, and re-embark for Canada at the ensuing spring, or to remain in the latter country in prospect of re- engagement for the following sea- son. Or they might be encouraged to accept work at the forges, or wood-yards, established at the various sections of each Division of the line of works, should their labour there be required ; otherwise to engage in the service of such pri- vate settlers as might feel disposed to take them upon hire. Or land, at a very cheap rate, might be allotted to such of them as might possess sufficient money to acquire the purchase. That no dearth of hands would need be ap- prehended, even should the labour require far greater numbers than we contemplate, is indisputably assured by parliamentary authority ; since in addition to some millions of labourers in every department of handicraft, unem- ploy^ed, and misery-stricken, let us just mention that there are " 600,000 railway labourers in different parts of the coun- try at this actual moment, for whose comfort and means of sub- sistence no provision is made ; and 600,000 hand-loom iveavers are dispersed likewise over England, in such a state of distress that the only iiope of improving their condition, is, that they should betake themselves to other avocations wherever prac- ticable." (Slaney, in Parliament.) To ensure due diligence and exemplary conduct in this class they might be bound, by written articles, strictly to comply, for the time being, to some similar rules and regulations as those imposed upon the body denominated ff' , Fi ■i." ■m 524 APPENDIX. ■■^:■■■ Civil Fencibles, of wliom we have spoken in the body of the work. Their wives and cliildrcn, wlio would be permit- ted to accompany them, should at first be limited in num- ber, and the minority only allowed to follow them after their arrival at the various destinations; so that accommodations for their families might thus be satisfactorily prepared by the men. In the meantime, arrangements should be made under conditional stipulation, that a due proportion of the wages of the married men, whose families would remain in England, should be made payable to their wives in this country, on the system of merchant seamen's pay notes. In addition to the provision preparatorily created by the hus- bandry imposed upon the first quota of pauper settlers, the abundance of the Canadian markets should further be in- creased by the supplementary supplies poured in from all parts of the coast and the United States : the back settle- ments of which would be encouraged to contribute produce to our wants for which at present they have no vent ; aud an ad- ditional stimulus, for the same object, might be communicated to the whole commercial and agricultural industry of Canada, whose capacity, already so prolific, would thus necessarily be superinduced to multiply resource beyond all precedent; while we cannot but calculate that the Pacific would also become a channel of supply ; and that the fisheries of the coast, the lakes, and the rivers, as also those of Newfoundhiud aud Hudson's Bay, the g.ime-frequented forest, and cattlc-tccming prairies, our West Indian colonies, and the banks of the ]\Iis- sissippi, Australasia, aud even China itself, would all be ren- dered accessory to the means of cheap and plentiful provision. In the progress of our task our minds have been necessarily directed to various works bearing in some particulars upon the subject under our pen ; but of whose previous existence we had not the remotest suspicion, till we thus found ourselves deeply engaged. Among those who have preceded us with their light, we will again cite the example of Gourlay : a man of singular acumen, in spite of his irregularity and dilfuseiiess ; and whose testimony being generally recommended by force of figures, is entitled to the indisputability of mathematical demonstration. Being in his time as ardently interested in the subject of APPENDIX 525 lie body of be permit- id in num- . after their Qniodatious repared by i be made :ion of the uld remain ives in this pay notes, by the hus- 5cttlers, tlie ther be iu" in from all back settle- produce to aud an ad- nmunicated of Canada, cessarily be precedent ; Avould also of the coast, ndhmd aud ;tle-tecming of the ]\ris- all be ren- d provision. . necessarily 3ulars upon IS existence tid ourselves IS with their : a man of diffuseness ; led by force lathematical ; subject of those mnfjjiificont canals which connect the grand Caniulian lakes with the St. Lawrence, as we are now in the project of a railroad across the same country, he proposed to supply the labour they required from England, in the persons of settlers regulated in certain details after a plan bearing some analogy to one part of our own. We give an extract from him on the subject as follows, begging the reader to bear in mind the immense did'crence in the price of transport and provision, which has occurred in favour of the present time, since the period which the writer contemplated, viz., some thirty years ago. This diilerence in cost of provision in the gross through- out Canada may be estimated at one-half, and transport thither now at two-thirds less : — " I have taken," he says, "the present value of the settled part of Upper Canada to be six million pounds. Suppose the navigation for vessels of 200 tons could be opened from Montreal to Lake Ontario in the course of five years from the present time, and during the same period there were an influx of 20,000 souls annually into the provhice, pray may we not fairly calculate that £6,000,000 of the territory thus settled, would, by the end of that period, be fully worrh three times as much ; and that an expenditure of £2,000,000 might very easily be repaid out of the taxation of the province before the end of the year ? Let us exhibit a jotting of how things might go on ; 5,000 able-bodied men could be transported from Britain at the rate of £10 each, and could be at work on the canal by the 1st of June, 1820 Transport of 10,000 women and children supposed to accompany the men . . . £50,000 Pay of 5,000 men at work from 1st June till 1st Dec. 1820— six months . . . 100,000 Ditto, till 1st April 1821— six months . 30,000 Ditto, till Dec. 1821— eight months . . 130,000 Transport of 5,000 men, with 10,000 women and children, 1821 . . . . 130,000 Pay of these second year's men from 1st June till 1st Dec. 1821 Interest and Contingencies 100,000 40,000 £600,000 If 520 APPENDIX. At this period dischargo ilic first year's men, who refund their transport, and have in j)Ocket eiOpcrman .... £100,000 Total expenditur-i up to 1st Dec. 1821 . 500,000 Pav of second yearns men from Dec. 1st till 1st April 1822 .... 30,000 Ditto till 1st Dec. 1822— eight months . 130,000 Transport of third year's men with women and children . . • . . 100,000 Pay of these men from 1st June till 1st Dec. 1822— six months . . . 100,000 Interest and Contingencies . . 40,000 €900,000 Deduct refunded by second year's men now Hifj- charged .... 100,000 Total expenditure up to 1st Dec. 1822 . £800,000 ,1 " By personal inquiries," he says in a note, " made at the ports of Glasgow, Leith, and Aberdeen, spring 1820, I found .£7 was the common charge for a man ; but on contract, and after a grand system of emigration was set on foot, the charge would be greatly lowered." Two pounds might now suffice. '' It will serve no purpose," he adds, " to go further with such a sketch. My meaning is really clear; and the practica- bility is obvious. I suppose the men to contract at home only for the labour of two seasons ; and they are above represented as entirely quit of the work at the end of the second season. One half, however, may be supposed to return, and make engagements for labour the third or even fourth summer ; so as to give any acquired acceleration to the business. To employ the hands during the four months of the first winter would require a little management; but with this, jobs suf- ficient coidd be found while so great an undertaking was on foot. It will be observed that there are never more than 5,000 men to be thus provided for; and being fit by the commencement of the second winter, with a sufficiency of £100,000 500,000 30,000 130,000 100,000 100,000 40,000 €900,000 100,000 £800,000 aade at the 20, I found ntract, and I foot, the might now irthcr with ic practica- home only :'eprcsented 3nd season. and make 1 summer; dness. To first winter s, jobs suf- ing was on more than fit by the ifficiency of APPENDIX. 527 cash for their present wants, they might citlier spread them- selves over the country in the service of others, or make a beginning in clearing land for themselves. By this time, not only reconciled to the novelty of their situation, but pretty well informed as to the various modes of management, and taut^ht to handle the axe, they would be free of all that gloom and a^.■kwardness which is so heart-breaking to old country people, when they have to go directly into the woods after their arrival in this country." We have already quoted the pamphlet of a writer in M'hom we take especial interest from the tone of good feeling, candour, and modesty, which pervades his little production. This is jNIr. Ilodson, alre;iuy referred to in the chapter on Ways and ]Means, in the body of the Work. He has been for ten years, he informs us, a settler in far west Canada, and, fresh in Jill his experience of the country, has proposed what we would call Labour Homes : — viz. Depots of 50,000 acres each for pauper emigrants from this country ; too cre- dulously believing, we fear, that by mere husbandry alone, Avithout the support of any other correspondent pursuit, such settlements might be rendered altogether self-supporting. But although sceptical on the subject of that Utopian fea- ture of his scheme, the principle itself bears too much affinity to the practical conceptions of Gourlay, and comes too strongly recommended by personal experience for us abso- lutely to deny its entire possibility. But that the project in principle, modified in method and provision, would work with triumphant success, if adapted as a partial auxiliary in con- nexion with our own, we are ready to contest against one and against all. These examples should prove how general has been the attention, directed like our own to various means of relieving England by settlements in Canada ; while it is not a little commendatory of our scheme to find persons so practically experienced in the nature and resources of Canada, uniting in opinion that immigration, to effect grand purposes there, should only be conducted upon some methodic system of organized discipline. Hitherto Government has habitually disposed of Canadian %} ■ 528 AIM'KNDIX. li.i land witli the most bivisli prodigality upoji persons possessed of very slender claims, indeed, to pnblie bininty ; but oftcner upon others who actually had none whatever; and this in a manner to provoke the displeasure of Canada, and obstruct the extension of settlement. Wc would propose, therefore, that in the event of such a scheme as ours being prosecuted in clTect, that a Board under no less auspices than those of our (Queen's most Gracious Majesty herself, and composed of commissioners of the very highest character, be appointed to receive and to inquire into all petitions presented by can- didates for Her INIajesty's favour, whose chums for grants of lands in Canada might be deemed worthy of Her Majesty's consideration. In this the dignity of rank, as well as of public service, should he acknowledged fully and fairly ; for why should not the distressed noble be considered worthy of succour and protection as well as the distressed citizen ; par- ticularly when the re-adjustment of the social balance so long impaired might thus be happily effected, at no other expense than the distribution of waste lands, which have hitherto been indiscriminately bestowed with reckless profusion upon the proteges of temporary officials ? Not that we would ad- vocate full liberty and sanction to alienate national property, without judicious measures, or restrictions. As all the land along the line of route would necessarily require to be peopled ; while much of it, at the same time, might be of little profit to the proprietor, we propose, in order to avoid partiality and discontent, that the site of each grant be " determined by lots drawn among the candidate labourers ; and that he, to whom bad land might thus de- volve, should obtain an extension of grant, with permission to receive an assistant from England, supported by public rations ; while the holder should be provided with regular and assured work on the railroad, until the said land should be rendered sufficiently productive ; when both holder and as- sistant might be permitted either to retain their holding, with an additional allotment in provision for such assistant, or both might be at liberty to dispose of the original grants in exchange for fresh allotments elsewhere. At present, by the improvident and remiss policy existing AI'PKNDIX. b'2[) 9 possessed but oftcuer d this in a id obstruct I, therefore, prosecuted lu those of 1 composed c appointed ted bv can- >r grants of r Majesty's well as of fairlv; for id worthy of itizen; par- mce so long :her expense ive hitherto )fusiou upon 10, would ad- lal property, necessarily same time, propose, in site of each le candidate ht thus de- permission ;d by public L regular and id should be Ider and as- leir holding, Lch assistant, iginal grants )licy existing in the absence of sonic such svstciii of colonization, thousands and tens of thousands of British continue to abandon their country'ti flag, to people the United States, and swell the ranks of inl»al)itants in u country against whose power without fresh precautions, we shall presently find it rliflicult to stand. In repudiating their country, these emigrants do not alone deprive us of their services, but also subtract Ijy this act of licensed desertion, considerable j)ortious oC the comiuon trea- sure ; it being calculated that within the last (ive years the deserters from this country to America liave cairied with them to the United States a capital of no less than i^25,00(),()00, — an estimate borne out by the fact that among the eiiiigranls comjjrising the poor passengei's alone, on board the Ocean Monarch, amounting to .'550 i)ersous, the collective fimds carried with them were ascertained to be upwards of .110,000. Let it be observed that 200,000, carrying with them only .€10 each (and each emigrant is generally provided with very much more), would lose .t2,000,000 to this country. Upwards of two millions of British subjects, at the present rate of departure, will have abandoned us for the American republic, before England is but a few months older. Not the aged, the halt, and the blind ; but the very flower of our industry and strength. The standing army of the United States in 1845 was as follows : — Regulars, comprising staft' officers mkI all ranks 7,670 Militiamen ....... 1,385,645 Field Officers 13,813 Company Oflicers ..... 44,938 Now, although the vast extent of territory over which this force extends, the irregular character of its main strength, and the immense deserts which lie between its si)here of muster and our frontier; together with the difficulty of collecting and marching an army so composed, and the next to impossibility of keeping civil military in the field away from their families and pursuits, are considerations not to be despised, especially when taken in connexion with the fact that Canada can on her part show a superior militia of 2 M f 130 AIM'KNDIX. 1^^^ inOjOOO as a front; still we think there is nineh reason tn dread onr active, dcsperati;, and encroaeiiin^ nei;:;hbonrs, who look on the whoh; continent of America as belonginj; to them 1)V viijilit. ft The (lush of ^Mexican conquest, and the forniidable increase of Fi(Mich and (Jernian military with which American force is daily auuinentcd, have nrohablv communicated a dillcrent spirit of conddenee and darini; to what America has hitherto displiiyed in her contests with us) wliilc the seditious dissension of so)ne of our Canadian subjects, on the other hand, may have deteriorated, in a \ci'y serious deurec, that ardent i)atriotism an'd attached i'eeling she has uniforndv manifested towards us in the hour of danger. This view alone should necessitate the expediency of auj^meutiupj our strength, by fui extensive introduction of ]5ritish-born into these menaced and exposed territoi'ies ; Avhile yet peace and opportunity afford unin- terru[)ted occasion. For even if Canada should resist the annexation mania, until the event of an ]']uropcan war, no sooner Avill such a misfortune occupy our hands, than as sure as Lord John llusscll is at the head of the British Govern- ment, with power to ])r()vidc against the fatal consequences, England, unable to detach snllicient force for the defence of Canada, will lose her for ever. llow different might it be if our supertiuous members, mustered in organized force, were only posted in oi)portune possession of the groiuid, encouraged and directed by classes, who compose the customary leaders of our armies, and ^hose example would continue to foster ami preserve the spirit of loyalty and devotion to the British crown. In the meantime, what exercise of extraordinary patronage woidd accrue to Government by this extension of power in Canada, in the creation of tribunals, magistracies, clerical appoint- ments, offices and commands ; while the simple service of a British railroad across Canada would, of itself, provide for thousands of respectable persons, of all classes, who now endanger our public peace in dissatisfaction engendered by inoccupation and want. To form some conception of the numbers, for which the creation of such a resource would provide, we beg to present afpi:ndix. r)8I I reason to bours, who M^' to tlicni )lc increase jrican force a dillcrcnt as liitliorto s dissension 1, may Inive patriotism towards ns icssitate tlie I extensive md exposed llbrd nnin- l resist tlic can war, no han as snro ish Govcrn- nsccpicnccs, ! defence of ? members, I opportnno 1 bv classes, uMiiies, and reserve the n. In the )nage wonld in Canada, cal appoint- service of a provide for i, who now endered by r which the g to present oiu' readers with the followiiij^ extract of a parliamentary r(!tnrn, showinj^ tlu* nnmlier and cU'scription of persons employed in onr home railways on the JiOth of Jnne 1811). " The total nnnd)er employed on railways, opon and nnopen, was ir)!),7H %. On oi)en lines there were o.ljOOS persona employed ; and on railways not ojjcn to trallie, there were 10.'J,8ir>, of which nundxr S.'5,('/r):i were laboin-crs. On the open lilies there were ITjO secretaries and managers; ?il trea- snrers; 107 engineers; .311 snperintendents; 120 storekeepers; 131 acconntants and cashiers; 4!)() inspectors and time- keepers; 1,.'J00 station masters; lO.'J dranghtsmen; 4,021 clerks; 701) foremen; 1,8139 engine-drivers; 1,871 assistant engine-(h"ivers and iir(;men; 1,().'51 gnai'ds and bi'caksmen ; 1,510 switchmen; 1,.'5G1 gate-keepers; 1,008 [xdicemen or watchmen; 8, .'238 ])()rtei's and messengers; 5,508 plate- layers; 10,80!) artificers ; 11,0,28 labourers; and lit iniscel- laneons employments; making a total of 55,0G8. The total length of railways open on the 30th of Jnne, was 5,117 miles \^'\ chains. Lenuth of railwav in the course of eonstrnction, 1,504 miles 20 eliains ; and 5,1.32 miles neither ojjcn, nor in course of construction of the 30th of June. The result shows that, on the 30th of Jnne, the length of railways anthorized to be used for the conveyance of passengers, was 5,132 miles and 33.^ chains ; and the number of persons era- ployed was 159,784." What is the length of om* proposed railroad to this ? With an opportunity of providing for such a multitude as is included in the foregoing list, and ten times their number immediately connected in labour with them — all exercising their activities for the enrichment of this coun- try ; while agriculture and the arts would flourish in their footsteps ; whilst prosperous millions would reap hap- piness and independence in exchange for the mortifications and misery they are doomed to endure in their native home — with such an opportunitj'', we say, did she re.ject it ! England would deserve the most exemplary punishment of nations. Yes, she would merit a condign destiny not less cruel than the fate of Spain, her predecessor in imiversal ascendancy, who, rejecting her proper interests, and in- o ,, ■m. 53;> Ai'n,Ni)i\. sc!isible of her iiitcrujil ileray, iiiis«5ovcnieil lu;r people ill the lulxc sliow of extcnml spk-ndoiir, and tiinutd a deaf ear to their coiuphiijits. JUit she soon saw them, in the midst of patrician arrojijanee and pomp, emuhited by the pri(h' aiul hixnry of the niichlh; ch'isses, siidc unch-r the intoh;rant insoh'nee and hi;xotry of a bk)ated chnrch : saw tliemeompromisc'dand infected byeoinmereialspecidationsand nionojmlies : saw them defied and beaten byyonnger powers; until the whoh; nation, beinj,' first gradually enervated by corrui)tiou and plnnged in general ruin, aggravated by civil war upon civil war, was stripped of all her magnificent colonies and stupendous fleets ; while her model army dwindled to a military force scarce strong enough to garrison her frontiers: her aristocracy snidv into the dust; and her credit, her glory, and her existence, as a leading nation, departed, probably not to return for centuries aud ages, if ever ! X. CHIXA, COKLA AND JAPAN. Having submitted our views on Canada, as sunnnarily as strict justice to tlu' subject would admit, w itliout dwelling upon details which we intend to elaborate in another publication, more replete with i):u'ticulars, and more deliberately nuiturcd, let us invite our reader to accom])auy us across the Pacific, to those countries innnediately connected with the grand scheme of cosmopolitan intercourse and traffic to which our project of a railroad, from sea to sea over the breadth of Canada, is but an introduction and partial feature — a means to an end. We will not arrest attention in our progress to the insular nations scattered, like stars, over the Pacific oceans, that wait but the signal of such a railroad to be introduced into civilized exist- ence, as populous, opulent, and frequented as the islands of the Mediterranean. We shall not now stop to ask for what object has France of late manifested so strong a predilection for the Marquesas, AHI'ENUIX, - .1 11 L'd u (It'ut* n, ill tho [I by the nu\vY the iirch : saw utiunsiiud [iY powers ; n'VJited l)y ed by civil laj^iiiticeiit (kIc'I army to garrison ;; and her ng nation, iid ages, if inniarily as ;llinf? upon piibbcation, matured, e Pacific, to nd scheme r project of nada, is but 1 end. We ular nations ait biit the ihzcd exist- lands of the s France of Marquesas, or wlicthcr it is iilonc tor the sake of /irison iiccdinmodation she is foniiiiit^ a penal colony at Noukiiliivit , nor shall uc com- ment on the sinu-iilar attachment latclv cvhibitcd bv tin* same nation towarils tlu people of the Sandwich Islands; nor the spleen and n-scntment she exerted when tin- uni;ratet'nl objects of her courtship crossed her lovt; and tleclined her embraces. Neither shall we intjuire, why so nnniy steamers of the first class have lately been purchased by the United States, and despatched to stations on the l*acillc ; nor, if it be true that they have actually connnenced to rini a line of steam packets from a port in that ocean to one in China, stopping at tin; Sandwich Islands; where every necessary convenieru'c has been secured, as the American joiu'uals hav(! very coolly announced, for the edilica- tion of British readers. We need only revert to the fact that, while we possess oidy a hundred and forty whaliu}^ vessels upon these seas, our American friends navif^ate these waters with no less than seven hundred ships of the larjivst tonnage, engaj^ed in the same j)vu'suit, whose trafKc in oil is likely to become of great importance in Chinese connnerce. Waiving all these, and nuuiy other ])r()minent considerations involving questions of critical interest to this country, we will at once address ourselves to our relations with Asia, maintaining in the outset the fact not only that our connnerce in the Chinese seas remains i)artial, fluctuating, and precarious, and our relations with th( Govcrnnu'ut of Pckin, andjiguous, and unsatisfactory hi the extreme ; but that in spite of our late in- vasion of the Celestial Emjiire, our entry into Nankin, and threatened march upon the Chinese capital itself, we have had, since our victorioiis floiirish, to revenge the murder of our subjects at Canton, and to repeat our coercion of that post, where our cruisers are compelled to keep constant watch and ward over the turbulent and insolent city. We have to repress by awe the connnission of new outrages against the lives and property of the British residents, maintained under perpetual threats from the Chinese community, whose pleasure it is to practise every exjicdient to harass and obstruct our fact(jry; while refusing us the hospitality of their walls, and haughtily i^ I' n 534 APPENDIX. m^' retaining us in contemptuous exclusion at their gates, as if we were indeed the Barbarian shives, they affect to consider us. Nay more — and we bhish for Enghuid while we write — they, in audacious disregard of their recent castigation, and with scorn of all European j)ower, dared, in the very face of our fleets, and that too with the; authority of Chinese Ministers, to make an inroad into a peaceful city, occupied by our ancient and de- voted allies, and in o])en noonday seized the person of its Christian Governor, the re])rcsentalive and noble soldier of our friend, the Queen of Portugal ! Despatching him in the public streets, they deliberately severed the head from the nnu'dered coi-jise, and bore the bloody trophy to their Mandarin master. In conjunction with another Christian power we were constrained to land a force for the protection of the insulted city against the horrors of assault and massacre impending over the heads of our European brethren. The Chinese plainly showed by this foul and bloody retaliation upon the weak, how merci- lessly they would treat the British authority and people, if they dared. How often since our triumphant war have we read appalling accounts of our navy being attacked, ])illaged, and butchered l)y licensed ])irates, screened, harboured, and encou- raged along the whole Chinese coast; while tiu> daring freebooter at their head has ever found, it is said, the highest favour and distinction from the Government at Canton, which still continues to mock our iiulignati(m. Had such a monstrous deed been j)t'rpe- tratcd in Europe, every nation would have joined to intlict the most sunnnary vengeance ! But the act being eonmiitted by a distant, semi-civilized race, impunity must attend their offences, till excess sle;ll render the meanness of oiu* complaisance once more impossible. Where are the advantages promised by the privi- lege of our entry into the ports of Slianliai, Ningpo, and Amoy ? Are they not rendered inigatory by the jealousy and reserve perpetually exhibited by the inhabitants, instigatc^d by the secret manoeuvres of their treacherous Government ? ^Yiih the exception of the inadequate indenniity, wrung by instalments from their inveterate hate, nothing remains to us in solid testi- mony of all our victories, save the wretched acrpiisition of the APPENDIX. 535 ■s, as if we msider us, — they, in with scorn our fleets, 5, to make nt and de- i5on of its lier of our the public nuu'dered in master. ;onstrained ity against the heads showed by ow merci- [)lc, if they 3 we read laged, and md encou- freebooter favour and 1 continues jcen perpe- ) uiHiet the 1 fitted by a ir offences, ) once more J the privi- md Amoy ? nd reserve ed by the With, the instalments solid testi- ion of the ])altry settlement of J long- Kong — a contemptible speck, insa- lubrious in the extreme, poisoned with bud water, subject to unwholesome damps, and the most capricious excesses of heat and cold, infested with noxious insects, ami frerpiented only by the most nefarious refuse of the Chinese people; and this in exchange for those ])ossessions we captured from them at the point of the sword, and which, if retained, had rewarded us with lasting profit, and kc\>t them in awe by the perpetuated exhibition of our power. Surrenders more disgraceful to our diplomacy than even the improvident and disgraceful cession of Java ! Yet, what better had we to ex])ect from the ultra- chivalrous exercise of so nmch forbearance towards an arrogant and barbaric people, who never exhibit moderation in victory, nor expect to meet it at the hand of a triumphant enemy ; but, on the contrary, regard all the lenity dis])layed towards them, as undoubted evidence of weakness, and, in our case, of our being the dupes of their superior intelligi'uce and cunning ? It would, however, be erroneous were we to impute this sj)irit to thevoluutary disposition of the Chinese ])eople themselves, who, like the hihabitants of every other despotic country, are influenced in their conduct towards foreigners by the political [)ractiee of their Goverinnent. The pi-ople themselves, witli tlu; shrewdniiss which belongs to their character, might soon be taught the manifold advantages they would derive bv the cultivation of more O 4,' t. perfect relations with w^i, but for the jealoi.s apprehensions of their Tartar usurpers, \\\\o are fearful lest free intercourse with strangers should enlighten the peoi)le on the sul^jeet t)f their passive folly. Our forbearance is therefore tantamount to con- nivance hi the proceedings of these tyrannic despots, and all we have gained for yielding our commanding position in the ('hine?fc seas has been the resum})tion of our traffic in tea, and some other less important commodities, beyond which the self-interest of the India Company is not disposed to negotiate. What does it signify to traders, with their hands full of Uindostan, and their views in China confined to mere peddling on its coast, and that not always legitimate, that the genius and industry of its three hundred and fiftv millions, their tastes, wants, and necessities, ,: 111 p , 530 APPENDIX. f slioukl reniaiii a dead letter in re;i:ar(l to the coiiimon interest of Europe in general, and their own (;ountry in ])artieidar ? What do they earc; for the aptitude for eomnierce of this mighty nation, the mysterious interest attached to its internal resources, its vegetable and mineral wealth, or the three hundred and fifty millions of mouths and backs our granaries might feed and our manufactories clothe, in exchange for products ])robably running to waste and neglected, in these vast regions of China ? What is it to the Coni])any that so attractive a portion of our earth should yet remain to us a land of mystery : the fabulous and misconceived Cathay of Fra Pavdo ? What is the unnatural and inhuman policy to them, which shuts up so many millions in anti-social exclusion from the rest of the human race, refusing all communication and that general interchange of necessaries and luxuries, by whicli the earth and the industry of man become the common property and provision of the whole, how- ever distant and apart land and ocean may have cast the inha- bitants of the globe ? What is it to the members of the East India Company, each only anxious for the accunudation of his own private fortune, that China and ourselves possess a kncnv- ledge of science and secrets of art — each in their own degrees — which would prove equally beneficial to both were they mutually communicated and cultivated ? What is it to them that there are fifteen first-class capitals of provinces in China Proper, crowded with an industrious population universally engaged in the pro- secution of internal commerce, most apt of understanding, and who vet know as little of us, as we do of Timbuctoo ? What is it to the Company that the Chinese alphabet continues a mys- tery to European scholars, or that the collected wisdom of ages of civilization should still remain a blank to these fellow in- habitants of our earth? Above all, what does the overgrown Com- pany care if the knowledge of the Supreme Deity and the pure doctrines of morality based upon the existence of the One God, remain for ever unknown to these benighted heathens ? What, indeed, we say is all this to the traders of Leadenhall, so that they are fumished with a sufficient supply of tea — an object of AI'l'KNDIX. :)37 ntercst of ? AVhat ty nation, iirccs, its and fifty i\ and onr y runninf? ' Wluit is onr earth idous and nnnatural y millions ', refusing lecessaries y' of man lole, how- tlie inha- • the East ion of his is a know- degrees — mutually there are crowded n the pro- iding, and What is cs a mys- isdom of fellow in- own Com- 1 the pure One God, ? What, 11, so that object of far greater importance to them than tiie interests of two mighty nations in a l)n)a(l and ostensihle jxiint of view. JJut a criminal and stupid indifi'ercmcc to all these eomi)rc- hcnsive considerations is not confined to our connexion with the Chinese continent. It is equally api)lieal)Ic to our rela- tions with the adjacent islaiuls, which together with the whole coast are abandoned to an ecpiivocal and desultory system of trade. By these nutans the population and capa- bilities of these vast regions continue excluded from the circle of our commercial enteri)rize — ^just as our ancient merchants, in untaught ignorance, jjassed the coasts of Italy and Spain to traffic in preference with Venice and the Levant — nay, absolutely neglected, till a very late period, the commerce of the Baltic, and even overlooked the resources of our own shores. The cause of the woeful neglect of the advantages we might happily cultivate w ith the interior of these countries, may be ascribed in some measiwo at least to the long space of time consumed in the perilous Cape-route voyage to China, before the introduction of modern improvements in navigation, And particularly the application of steam to that science. The great di^ance itself exacted the necessity of touching at in- termediate points, with the penalty, peculiarly trying to northern constitutions, of traversing the scorching line four times to complete each voyage. This rendered the mere approach to the nearest locality of China a feat of too arduous and formidable a character to render further progress along the northern coast of the empire an addition at all to be desired ; exposed at the same time, as such attempts M'ere, to be repelled along the whole line of shore. It would appear, after i aking Canton, as if any furtl • coasting northward became a fresh voyage : the more ul essary by the esta- blishment of an emporium at the latter city; notwithstanding the intemperate excess of its tropical heats, all but insupport- able to Europeans, the contagious cft'ccts of its proverbial filth, and the inveterate intolerance of its inhabitants : all con- spiring to render that port the most obnoxious and inconve- nient in the world. The inhospitable character of the people I! ' ;t r ■i' » ■ i I' \ i 1 i. 'i 1. 538 APIVENUIX. is of course ascribable to the jealous rigour of the Court of Pekin, auxious to keep strangers aloof from the capital, and far removed from the thriving sphere of the central provinces. Such restrictions have tended to leave our mer- cantile navigators almost in total ignorance of the northern Coast of China, which, although now probably somewhat relaxed, still exclude us from generally frequenting it. To make some amends for our equivocal footing in China, by no means improved by the paltry acquisition of Ilong- Kong, and to preclude other Europeans from taking iirmer ground in these seas, we have recently stepped into posses- sion of Borneo; that hot bed of piracy, which had been abandoned as initenable by Europeans, and which is a sorry substitute, indeed, for some permanent hold in China itself, and pitiful when considered in contrast with the Dutch establishment in Batavia, and the jewel in that lap of China still held by broken Spain — the Philippines. Why ! while we cfijole ourselves with the farce of our 1 long- Kong accession, and the precarious permission to hang on in sutrcrancc at the outer gate of Canton, even Russia holds a more favourable position at Petropanlouski and the Kuriles, were she but enabled by easy home communication to render tl>cse pos- sessions fuUv available : and even as it is she isshrev.div sus- pected, from certain iwrtentous movements of recent date, of no disinclination to stretch her power much further south, as soon as she can actuallv venture to steal such a march with impunity. If, in the face of these examples, the wretched condiliun of British occupation in China draws doMU odium and riili- cule upon the policy of our country, what are ue to say of the unprecedented insult, oftered to civilization and all Europe, in the barbarous exclusiveness maintained by the Government of the Japanese empire, Mhicli shuts up thirty millions of inhabitants from all intercourse with the rest of the human family, prohibiting them from contributing any share of produce to the general stock and resource, or to profit by the industry and supplies which other people might afford to their need ? Thus thcv are uttcrlv useless to the I ^5-..V Al'lMvNDlX. 539 Court of 3 capita!, e central our mer- northcru somewhat it. in China, of Ilong- ng firmer to posses - had been is a sorry lina itself, lie Dutch I of Cliiua ! while we accession, ncc at the favourable ! she but tl>cse pos- cwillv sus- nt (late, of icr south, ii march coucUliou and riili- to say of u and all cd bv the up thirty he rest of luting any :e, or to )plo might CSS to the rest of the universe, and blotting, as they do, by their seltish reserve, their islands as effectively from the map, as if they were obliterated by Hood or earthquake, we dare not even approach their inhoojiitable shores, even for shelter from tempests, or for the pressing piu'poses of wuod and water. Were such an oft'ensive postnre assumed by one civilized European power towards another, and her ports should be shut, not only against all foreign commerce, but even individual access to her territory denied upon any pretext whatever, justice, honour, and expediency, would render it imperative upon every nation, so scorned and rejected, to resent it, as the most unpardonable injury which the govern- ment of one people could inflict upon another. Tiiere can be no doubt that England would be the very first to avenge such conduct, were it pursued at her expense by any one of the whole circle of European powers; and yet we passively submit to be repelled by Japan, and never approach Ikm* coast, but under fear of some audacious aflront. The contri- bution we meanly consented to pay during so many ycais to Algcrine pirates was an honourable transaction compared with the disgraceful indillcreuce we exhibit towards Japan! In the same manner as we have acquitted the Chinese, we exonerate the popidation of Japan from all blame in this matter, which is attributable alone to tlie repulsive [)olicy of their rulers, who, like the Tartar usurpers of China, have fos- tered the prejudices of the people against foreigners, from a selfish and jealous fear, lest the introduction of European in- telligence should sidjvert a system so fiivourable to their despotism. The only pretext we can discover for such hostility towards strangers, is an ancient tradition and an ali'ected ap- prehension of danger to the empire since the introduction of a body of Jesuit ]Missionaries, accused of a project of sul)- jecting those islands to their own exclusive authority, about three hundred years ago ; and who, upon this absurd chaige, were, to the outrage of all nations, to the detriment of Christianity, and the shame of civilized Europe, mon- strously massacred under the infliction of every terrible variety of torture. 540 Al'lM'.NIUX. Had the lives of these men been spiired, ragaiiisni over- come, and Christianity ineuleated, it is prohabk^ that we shouhl have seen the civih/ation of Enrope pervading tlie coUectivc extent of all the nations of north eastern Asia. Instead of this, the hatred and hostility which tlien prevailed against the Christian name has been fostered to this day by the Governments of these regions, both insular and conti- nental. It is high time, however, for the general good of all man- kind, that this relentless triumph of unjustifiable animosity should cease. The (iovernraent of Japan must be con- strained to atone at last, though late, for the crime of this wholesale butchery, by throwing open lier resources to the general reciprocity of the other nations of the world who are entitled to the interchange of hospitable civilities, and mercantile commodities. In this unnatural condition of society, nations are mere prisons, each people a sequestered drove, penned up at the discretion of their lords, the produce of each separate climate restricted to local eonsiunption, and the world no longer common, but cast up into exclusive sections; as much as if the inhabitants of our little globe were placed in different spheres. Europe requires room and a fresh arena for her industry and produce. Japan must contribute to both, and furnish her quota of supply to the universal demand. But this seclusion of a large and populous country is not confined to Japan ; for Corea, her nearest continental neighbour, emula- tive of the example of these islands, and instigated by China, all but prohibits our intercourse, to the defect of the vital interests which should attract us to a country so favourable to our European constitution and habits. Corea is peopled by a spirited and industrious race ; and, like Japan, is teeming with produce in great mercantile request, and enriched, it is said, by the existence of thirty-three cities of the first rank, fifty-eight of the second, and seventy of the third, and, although the sovereign is a vassal, and tributary to the Emperor of China, yet he is so far independent, that, with European support, he might easily connect himself with any other power, without necessarily incurring the celestial ven- AI'I'KNDIX. 51 I nsni over- 3 that we ading tlie torn Asia. 1 prevjiilccl lis (lay by [\nd conti- f all niau- animosity t be con- me of this sources to the world ! civilities, iiuHtioii of eqnestercd lie produce iption, and I exclusive ittle globe !r industry nd furnish But this .'onlincd to ur, emula- bv China, f tlie vital t^ourable to peopled by is teeming iched, it is first rankj bird, and, ry to the that, with f with anv estial ven- {^cance or directly (binia^ing l)y ^uch separation, the territorial intej^rity of China Proi)er. With these few i)rcliniinary hints, let us imagine a railway completed across our Canadian territories to \'ancouver's Land ; and a concurrent commerce directly streaming over the Pacific to the Chinese seas. On nearing the Asiatic continent, what do we behold V A stupendous am- phitheatre of magnilicent islands und couiinental nations, opening a vast crescent for the reception of the conmiercial influx to pour from our north-we^t ehaunel, which by the abridged course of passage is destined to render these countries of Asia, heretofore so remote, as easily attained as some distant i)aits of Europe. At present, with the plan of the Atlantic and Pacific Kail- way in view, let us cast our eyes on the Chinese coast and survey on both sides, north and south, how, stretchinii- forth to receive us, the land projecting like the horns of a half-moon towards the American route, seems by nature and good for- tune expressly arranged to favour the project of this new line o^ communication with Great liritain, who is d(!stined, by this very means, it would appear, to be, henceforth, more than ever paramount and supreme in the Chinese sea. First : even with the present footing of England at Can- ton, and her position at I long-Kong, contemplate Borneo, in advance of the Sunda group, which now serves as the advance post of our force in that archipelago, supported by Hindostan and Ceylon on one side, and flanked on the other by Australia and New Zealand, rendering us thereby masters of all the straits which form the passages of the Indian Occfin and the Chinese sea, through our whole island barrier, which in future may become our impenetrable line of defence against the combined fleets of the world, in the new position it behoves us to assume in the Chinese regions. Thus en- veloped, as it were, by the combined power we have here accumulated, and the galaxy of islands either in our actual possession, or at our discretionary disposal, the whole com- merce of the vast islands of Japan, and southern China, might, if we choose, be only exercised in future, under the 542 Al'l'LNDlX, : 1 ' ' ' 'M '■■' ■:* I 1: ..' ■■ ':■ ; 1' slmdow of our indirect, but still virtual sway and authority. But then let tis usk, what have we in the north as a counter- poise, to render our possession of the whole (>hinese coast, perfect and complete ? Till now, the nunuM'ous island straits have served as secure approaches to entcrprizo in the Chinese shore. J5ut on the outskirts we are stopped by the cowardly and repulsive jealousy and policy of the Chinese, to which we have hitherto suecunibcd. It is to remedy this, and enforce a chani^c of policy in the south, that wo require a new fulcrum to act upon Chinese power in the north, with far more purchase than we can ob- tain from our imperfect location in the direction of Canton. A reference once more to the map, will sugn-ost to the least reflective that the main force r(^quired would be best fcmnd in Japan and Corea ; where, if C()-oi)erative interests with our own could only be once eshiblished, the power, inflneuce, and resources of the whole Chinese race, to the utmost limits of their territories, with all the master kevs to maritime position, necessary to be taken in connexion with the pro- posed passag-e throu.uh Canada, would render the whole of these countries as much subservient to the gi'aud oljjeet we have in view, as if we actually held as predominant a sway over them as that which we exercise over the territories of Ilindostan. A deliberate inspection of the position cannot but obtain the most imhesitathig assent to the fact, that Japan and Corea constitute the true master kev of the Chinese coast, so neces- sarv to be established in communication with the direct trajcet through Canada. Once fortified with the aid and support of those two countries, the whole face of this mighty empire, with all her cities and markets, must, of necessity, and by rapid steps, become free and open to us, pos- sessed as we should then be of combined power on one hand to enforce free access and respect ; while moderation, under such proofs of permanent force, could not but win for us every friendly concession from the gratitude or the fear of the Chinese people. Strengthened by connexion with Japan and Corea, what general and prodigious consequences might we not expect. Al'I'KNDlX. OHJ uthoritv. couuter- se coast, nd straits ! Chinese cowardly Nvliicli we cv ill the 1 Cliinese :; can ob- ■ Canton. the least ?.st found 'psts with influence, lost limits maritime the pro- le of these c have in 5vcr them indostan. )btain the ind Core.a so neces- he direct e aid and of this must, of to us, pos- one hand ion, under in for us le fear of rea, what ot expect, throuoji tlie instant chnni^e which conhl not hut inevitablv he {'(rcctcd throM;;:hout the whuh' of iMiropean Asia ? Re- presented at Pekin, with a due title to respect and the faculty to enforce it, tlu; prejudices of a;j:es would melt away before the light of European knowledge and example, and the revolution in habits and manners which would inevitably ensue amonf; tlu; throiifjied millions, which compose idl the Chinese range of nations, wonld stimulate our arts and manufactures beyond all conception, and rcg(Mjeratc the whole state of the Western world, riitil the present time Chiiui has always pretended, and with success, to the chief advantage of our intercourse with her. We ha\e ad'ected her silks, and worn her cottons, crapes, and naidvcens. We have consumed her ric(!, and te.i, and other ijroduce; for Avhich we have principally paid in specie. She, on the other hand, only coudeseends to receive a small portion of our produce, and even that with extraordinary reserve : obstinately rejecting all the rest of our natural or manufactured products with the greatest disdain. Hut what would be the amelio- rated condition of h^ugland, if the three hun(lrc;d and fifty millions of Chinese })eo[)le were taught to imj)rove their resources bv bartering their commodities? If thev were taught to adopt our broad cloths, oar prints, our hosiery, our fancy articles, hardware, cutlery, jc. 1 .-ry, fire-arms, curriery, clock-works; our machinery, steam engines, im[de- ments of tillage, and so forth, — what would not be our gain ! On the other hand, under the example and direction of British residents at every port, and in her inmost cities, teaching the api)lication of our discoveries in chemistry, mechanics, husbandry, navigation, and the fine arts ; the celestial empire would learn to consume at the same time, much of our native growth and colonial produce, the whole being intro- duced into general consumption by internal trade throughout the empire ; just as Chinese goods penetrate into the re- motest markets of England. To prove that all this is practicable, even with people the most fanatically attached to ancient national prejudices, customs, and habits, let us look at modern Turkey, Algeria, and Egypt, ttt'l 541 Al'PliVUIX. last )ncr«;iiij^ into all the lorms. tastes, and uccossitics of iuiro- peaii life. Such a revolution in Eastern Asia, wo repeat, which would hriuj; so many millions of months and backs to purchase supply from our stores, would he the snhation of Enghind and rej^encration of all l'juroi)e. The first step to this is the dirc.'ct line of eommuuicalion ah'cady ur{j:;ed ; and next, the close alliancr service and settle- ment in Canada; l)ut with the dilfercnee, chat they should be more strictly and systematically oi'i^^ani/ed in battalions, with regular soldiers ineor[)orated with them, in [)roportion of ouo to every fifth man. 'I he whole of this force might be com- manded bv regular ollieers, and this civil militarv force; disci- plined to a point equal in enieicncv to our late local militia, or the best national guards of the Continent. Tiiese would have a difierent part to perform from those e»)niposing, as aforesaid, the Civil Feneible Corps expedited to Canada. For the invaders of Corea and Japan would have to occupy towns after the example of the Chinese cities, in which we find a Tartar and a Chinese (quarter in each : not even excepting Pekin itself : a custom which would wonderfullv facilitate the location of our British Colonists among the inhabitants of these countries, pacifically disposed, as they are, and .'iceus- tomed to the most devoted obedience; while in the event of community with us, they would especially be secured against rebellion by the erection of a protecting citadel, and wall of division in every English quar r: by a vigilant police, and an alert regular garrison, supported by the (jardc nutiunale system of the English settlers. A naval force would, of course, be appointed upon the coast, and guard-shii)S at every post, for which purpose we liave a numerous and most melan- choly accumulation of war flotilla ingloriously rotting in ordinary, and totally unfit, it is said, for efl'cctivc ser\icc, ~l N fi 54S APPENDIX. il ,1 which, in these seas, might yet be fully adapted and made adequate for all the duty required. The Chinese fiishioti of distinct nationality, above alluded to, in the captured cities, we find existing in some of the first Capitols in Europe. For instance, we find the Christian quarter in Constantinople: the Jews quarter in Rome: the Irish quarters in London ; and the Chinese city in Batavia. By this we should find the choicest districts of Japanese and Corean town instantly Anglicised ; and all busily astir with the occupations and callings pursued by our settlers for their own mutual and general convenience and accommodation ; so that inde[)endent of their foreign fellow-townsmen, that is to say, the original natives, they would be enabled to suffice independently for themselves. Thus, the European tailor, shoemaker, hatter, butcher, baker, carpenter, smith, in fine, every other necessary trade, professionals and shopkeepers, would all be called into immediate requisition, without im- pediment to the callings and pursuits of the industrious na- tives, wo)king, as they do, differently from us, both in the material and fasliion of articles, to suit the ancient and con- fined taste of their own fellow-countrymen. The only inconvenience to which we would thus subject them would be the usurpation of room. But this is a neces- sity contingent on the occupation of every conquered city. We are even subject to it ourselves, when any extraordinary occasion attracts an influx of strangers into our own towns, but the intrusion is always welcomed by the inhabitants, M'ho, if thus inconvenienced, are invariably more than com- pensated by increase of gain ; and similar consequences would indisputably follow the same cause, were we to quarter our- selves upon the cities of Corea and Japan. But, moreover, when was the usurpation of room any impediment to the vanquishers of cities ? Is it not the necessary and expected consequence of their capture ? Do the Trench hesitate to usurp room in the cities of Algeria ? There is the strong plea of necessity in our plan, and the fact that the Americans will only anticipate us, if we hesitate. Merc lust of conquest is indeed a crime ; although it is fre- and made ,6 alluded Qe of the Christian oirie : the 1 Batavia. luiese and fistir with 5 for their nodation ; ;n, that is to suffice ;an tailor, 1, in fine, ipkeepers, thout ini- trious ua- »th in the and con- ns subject s a neces- 3red city, aordinary vn towns, liahitants, han com- ces would irter our- moreover, nt to the L expected esitate to , and the 3 hesitate. it is fre- !. APPENDIX. 519 quently termed glorious, when it suits a nation or a con- queror to do so. As to the American spirit, only regard the present invasion of Cuba, to see what may be expected t ence. The high state of civilization we have . ttaincd, unfits the mass of British citizens for the hardships of the wilderness. Merchants, professional persons, and the followers of the innu- merable delicate crafts, calhngs, and pursuits proper to cities — which constitute the major throng of the dangerous and distressed mnltitude struggling against misery throughout these realms— are totally nnadapted to the task of culti- vating deserts and clearing forests ; and for the sake of our consistency be it observed that when we recommend emi- gration from England to the back settlements of Canada, it is because we would provide the people thus sent forth with an accompanying object of immediate support and future prosperity in the construction of a grand railway comnni- nication across the continent of America. For this means \yould at once abridge the hardships of the desert and mul- tiply towns and cities, for those who are accustomed to their habits, as fast as cultivated fields could be called into exist- ence by the labour of those with whom tillage is the jn-oper pursuit. It is, at present, cities, that the mass of British emigrants require for places of foreign settlement. It is the number of cities in the United States wliicli attract so many colonists thithei' ; and it is owing to the '>'cncral want of them in our own colonies, that emigration still meets a certain unwillingness in England ; in spite of all the stimulus applied. The next grounds for opposing our project of a settlement in Corea and Japan will be found in the specious plea of morality and justice : — " What ! seize upon a country without any other provocation to war save motives of expedienev and unconscientiously despoil a people to arrogate supreme government over their cities?" But does not the unexpiated crime against nations committed by Japan, in the massacre of European Christians already cited — which tragic cnormitv I 550 APPENDIX. M 1 V I % i was followed by the continued disruption of all friendly con- nexion with us, directly and indirectly, as if in defiance of our wrath and to seal their act of extermination with the per- petuated stamp of insolence — demand no act of reprisal ? Does not the repulse always waiting us on the coast of Corca, nnd the outrageous vexations to which we are in- variably exposed when we court her commerce, present a constant casus belli ? Or, if the conquerors of India are, indeed, so scrupulously fastidious in their choice of a plen, only let some vessel simulating distress, or evincing signs of friendly curiosity, approach these shores, and the fierce hostility with which we should be instantly repelled, and not only insulted, but perhaps severely damaged, would soon furnish the provocation, for which rigorous equity woidd imperatively demand satisfaction. But even if the incorrigible animosity of Canton, and the late piracies and assassinations, did not fully authorise us already to secure orn* lives and property in those seas, by the most summary means in our power, no treaties of peace and alliance existing, past, or present, betwixt us and Japan or Corea, could give them any just right to accuse us of perfid}'. Neither could the inimical conduct so inflexibly maintained towards us, entitle them to impeach us of wanton aggrcssvion, or ingratitude. On the contrary, they have chal- lenged our resentment through uniform insult and repulsion aggravated by the duration of their inveterate hatred. Both these countries being detached, and independent of the Chinese empire, the latter could assert no effectual pretext to interfere, even if the memory of her own recent punisiiment had left her the spirit to dare ; and thus the Japanese could only accuse themselves of the obstinacy of their inhospitable policy. To the mere paraders of cant and sentimentality, who crowd Exeter Hall, wc have only to cite the most respect- able example of all antiquity — accomplished at the express command of God, by the people of his choice. We mean the children of Israel, in their invasion of the promised land. Of Japan it has been universally reported by all who have APPKXDIX. 551 idly cou- fiance of the per- reprisal ? coast of I are in- resent a idia are, f a ple:i, f signs of lie fierce lied, and )uld soon ty would ton, and aiitlioriise lose seas, rcaties of t us and accuse us inflexibly jf wanton liave cluil- repulsion d. Both it of the )rctext to nisliment cse could lospitable lentalitv, t respect- c express mean the land, who have written on the subject of that island, that its soil is so prolific of gold, that a government prohibition stringently restricts the digging of more than a certain annual quan- tity, in order to prevent that precious nctal from becoming too common. Now, considering that this country lies under the same parallel of latitude with the opposite coast of Cali- fornia, the truth of such rumour becomes not at all impro- bable, supported, as it is, by the corroborative fact that gold is also one of the staple commodities of Corea. If then this auriferous abundance be trvdy existent in Japan, behold at least, at the first blush, a means of helping us to remune- ration, which, at the same time, would cost the Japanese but little sacrifice ; whilst we should possess a bank to rival that of the I'uitcd States, in their late acquisition of the wondrous gold mines of AVestern America. We arc aware that there are many " strainers at gnats and swalloMcrs of camels," who will be horrified at what we have now written ; a sort of people who blockade the slave coast at the expense of England, but who like cheap sugar. We dare say that these persons are all in some way connected with India. What do they think of the conquest of Scinde, or Aflghan, considering our first claims to set foot in India? But we do not propose that an English force should wantonly invade these countries in the mere quest of vain triumphs : to clap their provinces and cities under contribu- tion; and draft the population into battalions destined to extend the w ork of conquest and aggression, as is customary with our continental armies in war, but oidy propose the persuasion of gentle force in the absence of any other means of overcoming prejudice and antipathy, and this di- rectly to promote mutTial concord, common interest, and universal good, the whole principally through the medium of cultivated commerce, in which the whole world would par- ticipate. Of what account would be the inconveniences we might at first create by our sudden intrusion, compared to the flood of wealth and prosperity, which would immediately follow our APPENDIX. settlement in these countries, wliieli would be no longer con- fined to an insulated and unvisited recess of the universe, ignorant of a thousand necessaries and luxuries common to other people ; and thus confined to their own resources, and consequently encumbered with innumerable objects of produce which would gladden other regions; and attract imported comforts and utilities in exchange ? We should see their har- bours suddenly thronged with shipping from every quarter of the globe ; their quays covered with merchandize to which they have hitherto been strangers ; and the roads down to their ports groaning under the weight of goods for embarkation, consigned otherwise to perish in the interior undemanded. We should gradually behold the whole face of their fields changed to most singular improvement and beauty under new methods of European husbandr}'^, and the application of novel implements to that efi'eet. Society would be seen everywhere conspicuously amelior.ated beneath the influence of more perfect education, increasing knowledge, the inappreciable blessings of free and enlightened institutions : and the worship of the only true God ! ?! XI. THE GRFAT EXHIBITION OF 1851. 1 1. ' ' ". m m Since certain strictures have been made as to this exhi- bition, throughout the Work, which may appear a little illi- beral, considering that the executive of the whole affair is understood to be under the direction of Prince Albert, to whom we are anxious to show all possible respect, it may be well to observe, that there appears to be a strong public mis- conception, as to the origin and manufacture of this high sounding, philanthropical undertaking. We refer to the pages of the Mechanics' Magazine, March 2, for an account It iigcr con- universe, )nimon to iirces, and Df produce imported their har- y quarter landize to the roads goods for le interior I'liole face ment and ', and the letv would neath the dedge, the stitutions : this exhi- little illi- affair is LBERT, to it may be iblic mis- this high r to the I account aim'j;nui.\. 553 of the whole transaction, which iippoars thence to have been got up by five i)crsons in tlic name of the Society of Arts, rather than with their sanction and co-operation, and to have been somewluit prematurely smuggled upon Prince Albert. However, we leave all this, to quote what certainly appears worthy of remark, upon the tendency of the exhibition itself. " If the cosmopolitanism now in vogue Mere allowed its full swing, it w(mld amount to this: that if there is any branch of maimfacture — cutlery or hosiery, for example — which any other people; can jjroduce better than we, it will be sound policy in us to bring out the fact as clearly, and distinctly, and publicly as possible, in order that our goods may no longer enjoy that reputation in the nnirkets of the world which thev have hitherto undcservcdlv done ! But w here is the minister who would undertake to maintain such a propo- sition as that before a British House of Commons — in the face of the representfitives of Birmingham, and Sheffield, and Nottingham, and Leicester ? " Englishnuni are but too prone to think that they have nothing to fear from competition — that as they have beaten the world in arms, so also they can beat it in the aits of peace ; and well this foible has been played upon by the missionaries whom Prince Albert has sent round the countrv to dis- seminate his Quixotic notions of universal brotherhood. ' You 're not afraid, are you, of being beaten ? ' The idea of objecting from fear to the throwing of the competition open to all nations has everywhere settled the question with our stout-hearted and simple-minded workmen. Much or little, however, something they must suffer from it ; they cannot expect to win all the prizes, or even a majority of them ; and they must of necessity lose in reputation by all that are awarded to others. Your sentimental cosmopolist, wlio cares no more for the Englishman in such a struggle than for a Hottentot or Hindoo, may view such a result with com- placency ; but every man who is not above loving his country before all countries, must see with deep regret his countrymen entangled by a spurious philanthropy in so losing a game. 2 o I 'il St': 554 ATl'ENUlX. "We hear much of the tendency of the measure to con- ciliate foreign nations. No doubt, foreign nations must feel vastly obliiicd to us, in the first instance, for jeopardizing the interests of our own artizans in order to befriend theirs; but how long beyond the exhibition may their gratitude be ex- pected to last ? If the English obtain the majority of the prizes (as it is to be hoped they Mill) — if the general result be only to establish more firmly than ever the superiority of the English in manufacturing sUill, the natural and inevitable effect must be, to fill the breasts of the foreign competitors with feelings of mortification, enmity and bitterness. If, on the contrary, the majority of prizes should be awarded to foreigners (which God forbid !), such an event will plant a thorn in the side of manufacturing England, which it will take ages to eradicate." Xll. It ;;:,; m Whitney's uailwav plans and ( hinesk civilizatiox. The opinion of the United States, as exhibited in their jour- nals, exultingly proclaims that Whitney's plan "would lay open the immense wilderness of America and render its waste lands and fine soil available to the overgrown population of Europe and Asia." California, it must be noticed, has already attracted thousands of Chinese, who display great capabilities for civiHzed intercourse with Europeans. It is also worthy of remark, that the Chinese have shown a great readiness to colonize in Java, Singapore, and Borneo. Despatches from the latter island inform us, " that Chinese merchants are moving in a body from Brune to Labuan." There are also reports of their introduction into New Zealand. Lastly, a speech of Mr. Denison in the House, states '^ that it was found easy to import Chinese into I. it.-.. APPENDIX. ;)!);) 'e to con- raust feel dizing the heirs ; but iide be ex- ity of the eral result )criority of inevitable ompetitora ss. If, on Lwarded to ill plant a ich it will Aust niliit, who answcivtl very wfll as airricuhuni liib( Hirers, at a (5ATI0X. their jour- Id lay open vaste lands of Europe y attracted or civilized mark, that 46 in Java, ter island body from itroduction on in the linese into cost of ten i)<)iiiuls cacli, and witli annual wau'cs of six pounds." There is a most powerful ar;.i'unu'nt, wliieli we hav hith(;rto omitted to mention in our pliuis for possessinjj;; ourselves of a part of tlu; Chinese Kmj)ii'e. It is tliis. The l)oun(lh*ss fer- tility of our North Amerieau possessions^ if pn)p«'rly used, might constitute them the granary of the worUl. The Chinese, more than ourselves, are suffering from the horrors of super- abundant po])ulation. In a season of scarcity thousands die there of utter inanition ; whilst even at the best of times, the lower clashes suffer from privation, and devour the offal of the streets, which a well-fed dog in a prosperous country would spurn. If, then, wv. should exercise some little injustice in possessing ourselves of their territory, which, luider the circum- stances, we do not admit, surely we might amply recompense them by opening up for their aid and sup])ort the vast resources which, not only North Anu;rica, but Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Polynesia, afford. As to the benefits that we might derive from Chinese civilization, it is certain that, in their internal struggles against their own population, they have dis- covered and practised many simple things which all our en- li