18^. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) A 4^ /. f/. 11.25 yo ""^ HUB 2.0 ^ 1^ — A" 14. 11,6 1 Iluiugi ajjiuC Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTEk.N.Y. 14580 (7)6) 87il-45C: r^ b\^ ^ \s^ c\ ^ \ (meaning "CON- TINUED "), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Les images suivantes ont 6t6 reproduites avec le plus grand soin, compte tenu de ta condition et de la nettetd de l'exemplaire film6, et en conformity avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en papier est imprim^e sont film6s en commengant par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la dernidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par le second plat, selon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont f ilm4s en commenpant par la premidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la dernidre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboles suivants apparattra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole —^ signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbole V signifie "FIN". Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmis d des tauy de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul cliche, 11 est filmd d partir de Tangle supdrieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n^cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m^thode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 f SHORT SKETCH OF THK PROVINCE OF UPPER CANADA, I TOU THE INFORMATION OF THE LABOURING POOR ^THROUGHOUT ENGLAND. TO WHICH IS PREFIXED THOUGHTS ON COLONIZATION. ADDRESSED TO THE LABOURING POOR, THE CLERGY, SELECT VESTRIES, AND OVERSEERS OF THE POOR, AND OTHER PERSONS, INTEREs'^^D IN THE ADMI- NISTRATION OF PARISH RELIEF IN TH» DIFFERENT PARISHES IN ENGLAND. By henry JOHN BOULTON, Esq., ^ the Hon. Society of the Middle Temple, HIS majesty's SOLICITOR-GENERAL FOR THK PROVINCE OF UPPER CANADA, LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET. MDCCCXXVI. 4P^ x^*^^ &.,-^ .1 LONDON 1 PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES, Northuraberland-court. A^ERTISEMENT. i. My object, in publishing tfce following statis- tical sketch of Upper Canada, being to afford information to the lower classes, I have con- sidered it necessary, in order to ensure in any degree their confidence in the accuracy of the facts stated, that the name of the Author should je known, that he may be held re- sponsible for the correctness of his statements, otherwise I should not have obtruded my name upon the public, fearing censure more than anticipating applause. As my desire, however, has been solely the amelioration of the condition of a large body B 2 ¥•* 4 of my own suiFering countrymen, I trust I shall experience the charitable consideration of those in the higher classes of society, who may chance to read what I have said on the subject of colonization. ^ Mv« # t ^ Hin i mli i ijuuum i THOUGHTS ^w I wf + -^ ^f^' ON COLONIZATION. I Observing the state of pauperism which ex- ists in many parishes that I have visited since my return to England from Upper Canada, and reflecting upon the facifi^ of the im- provement of the poor in those parishes, if they knew how to improve and had the means of bettering their condition ; I have thought that I could not better employ a few hours, than in opening to their view a country to which I have emigrated with advantage, in order that they might avail themselves of the great benefits which I have seen accrue to the poorest colonists, by pursuing the plan r here proposed. My observations exclusively apply to the case of able-bodied labourers, for whose labour no real demand exists, and who are consequently thrown upon the parish. The love of one's country is certainly a virtue of the highest order, but the love of one's children and family is one of still greater value; and, therefore, I ask which is the more worthy an Englishman? to live with his family in the village in which he was born, dependent upon the necessarily parsimonious hand of a parish officer, or to emigrate to a healthy and flourishing Colony, under the same crown, where his usefulness will demand and ensure that respect which is due to his nature, and where he will command by his own exertions a much more plentiful supply of the necessaries of life. The poor-laws have a demoralizing influ- ence, and an able-bodied Englishman ought to be ashamed of taking advantage of them, if it be possible for him to maintain his own in- dependence by his labour ; but if no means of maintaining it exist, he is necessarily justified • 'i^^B ,. • tfrtfaft in preferring the degradation which such a resort imposes on him, to the alternative of absolute want. It is stated that paupers have often times brought tliemselves within the law for the purpose of obtaining the usual relief. But how great a sacrifice of self- respect, and of every just and sound feeling, must be made before such a claim could be preferred ! In Upper Canada, the emigrant, if not so habituated to idleness as to neglect the advantages the country holds out to him, can in two or three years earn sufficient money to purchase fifty acres of freehold land. He then becomes a juror, an elector of his own representative in Parliament, whose vote is canvassed with as much care as that of the squire in the parish he left behind him ; and finds himself respected and looked up to, as one of the yeomanry of the country. He sees his family growing up around him, all looking forward with a full assurance of equal independence when they arrive at man's estate. This is no picture of my own fancy, i 8 it is what I have seen delineated a hundred times in real life. If paupers had no means of improving their condition, and were bound by misfortune to endure these ills, I trust I should be the last man, who would wantonly insult suffer- ing humanity ; but when people in this state will absurdly talk of the hardships attending emigration, and the violence which the thought does to their feelings, I must confess I can feel little compassion for such folly. I must, however, do the majority of those to whom I have spoken, the justice to say, that they have manifested a strong desire to go to Upper Canada, or anywhere else, were a ray of hope was held out to them of bettering either themselves or their families by the change, and have complained of the want of means to remove themselves to any of the colonies. And this brings me to say a word or two to the vestries, clergy, and overseers of the poor in the different parishes. " Increase and multiply and replenish the earth," says the great Author of the Uni- I lin 9 verse; but the crowded state of the popula- tion of this part of the Island, 1ms induced a state of society incompatible with this great command. ^ People in moderate circumstances are de- terred from marrying, for fear of bringing both themselves and their offspring to penury and want. And those of better fortunes are more solicitous to form a sort of matrimonial partnership, founded upon pecuniary equality, than an alliance cemented by mutual love and affection, which are the only sure guarantees of future felicit}'. Among the lower classes matrimony is dis- couraged by the more opulent, lest they should in the end be called upon to maintain their progeny. And though I am no enemy to " love in a cottage,^' yet I must confess, that love under a hedge is but a chilly dal- liance ; and therefore I cannot blame those who discourage marriage amongst persons who have no visible means of supporting their families. This state of society is not a matter of 10 astonishment, it is the natural consequence of the wealth and prosperity of the nation, com- bined with our insular situation. That it exists nhere can be no doubt, and that a re- medy for the jvils arising out of it is loudly called for, is equally obvious, and what that remedy must be, I consider equally apparent, namely, emigration. To replenish the earth is to emigrate from those portions of it where the inhabitants have already increased and multiplied, and, therefore, instead of enacting poor-laws, to support a supei-fluous popula- tion, which, in spite of all the miseries at- tendant upon the prospective pauperism of the offspring of indigent marriages, still con- tinues to increase, means should be adopt- ed to give vent to that part of our population which otherwise will become burthensome. This I consider to be not merely essential in a political point of view to the well-being and prosperity of the nation, but in a moral ^nd religious sense, to be the duty of those who have the management of the })oc)r con- fided to them ^^ ^-4 11 When Abram and Lot returned out of Egypt, and found, from the strifes among their herdsmen, that their flocks and herds were so great, that the land was not able to bear them, '* Abram said unto Let, let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen; for we be brethren. Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray J;hee, from me. And Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld all the Plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere Then Lot chose him all the Plain of Jordan ; and Lot journeyed east; and they separated them- selves one from the other,'*' And this practice has been adopted in all succeeding ages of the world to the present time, and by no nation more successfully, either in a political, moral, or religious sense, than our own. But though we have done much, I think we have not done any thing like enough. When a strife arose among the herdsmen of Abram and Lot, we do not find penal laws*^ 5'' n enacted, to repress and punish evils, aridng, as a natural consequence, from " the land not being able to bear them, that they might dwell together," but we find that the great patriarch proposed the natural remedy for the natural disorder, viz., to remove the cause by a friendly separation ; and Lot chose him all the " plain of Jordan, and journeyed eastward." The same crisis has long ago arisen in England. The population is so great, " that the land is not able to bear them ;' ' and with a view to alleviate the consequent distress which has followed, I humbly but strenu- ously recommend the poor of this country to choose them the fertile valley of the St. Law- rence, which they will find " well watered everywhere.'' No man, I ipprehend, will venture to deny that nine-tenths of the crime which we see daily punished in this kingdom arises from the dehnquents having no visible means of obtaining an honest livelihood ; and therefore it is the duty of those, who have it in their • 13 ' power to aid, by their countenance and sup- port, by their influence as well as money, in removing those unfortunate people, who from their poverty are placed in temptation they cannot withstrnd, to a situation where they may have an opportunity of supporting them- selves and their families, without committing offences against God and their own con- sciences, or being a burthen instead of a bene- fit to the country they live in. Giving a distressed man pecuniary relief is unquestionably an act of charity, but giving him wholesome advice, and using one's in- terest to place him in a situation where he will no longer need such assistance, is a cha- rity of a higher order. The one is tempo- rary, the other permanent ; the one removes a present temptation to commit crime, the other places the object above it. What vestry, if they knew that by paying ten guineas for the passage of a labourer in the prime of life to any of the colonies, he would be saved from the commission of crimes that would bring him to an ignominious death. 14 would hesitate in affording that sum, or twice the amount? And, although they cannot foretel such a catastrophe as about to befall any man by name, yet they must daily ob- serve persons out of employment leading dis- solute Hves, and evidently marching in the high road to ruin; and it is their duty to arrest their progress in vice, if in their power, by putting them in the situation of earning an honest livelihood. This is charity, and charity of the highest order; a charity which I hope to see exer- cised by some of the leading men of this coun- try, both in and out of Parliament ; and I am proud to think, that upon most occasions there seems to be no lack of this inestimable quahty amongst my countrymen. We have public meetings and petitions to Parliament for the suppression of slavery, Bible Societies, and innumerable others for the amelioration of mankind ; and shall the people of England be at vast expense in send- ing missionaries to teach the savage to adore the great Author of his existence, and not 15 aid their fellow-christians, who are in need of such employment, to accompany them, to re- claim the forest, and teach its inhabitants the arts of civil life ? Is it not the duty of this great nation to extend to the uttermost parts of the earth, by all legitimate means not injurious to herself, the advantages of those civil and religious in- stitutions which have placed her on the pin- nacle of human greatness ? What a subject of proud contemplation for Englishmen is the continent of America ! The North speaking our language, adopting our manners and customs, and enjoying the full benefits of those principles of free govern- ment which they inherited from their parent state ; and the South introducing them, as far as the barbarous state to which Spain and the inquisition has reduced it will permit. Can there be a more striking proof of the im- portant consequence? attendant on English colonization ? Example is far beyond precept, and, there- fore, neither the liberal and tree principles of IG our government, nor the pure doctrines of our reformed religion, can be so effectually spread by the publications teeming from our press, as by the swarms of people bred in those principles annually issuing from this prolific hive. « Bring up the child in the way wherein he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." Wherever the eagles of an- cient Rome spread their victorious wings, they brought in their train her language and her laws; of which modern Europe bears ample testimony at this day. And when the greatness of the British Empire shaU, in the natural course of the rise and fall of nations, have passed away, will not the memory of England be cherished in the western hemi- sphere as the great parent of all their civil and religious institutions, whose language, arts, and sciences shall then have spread over that vast continent, " as the waters cover the sea. >> But, if we look at colonization only in a selfish point of view, and merely as a means 17 of improving the condition of those who re- main at home, and as a mode of reheving the wealthy from the burthen of providing for the poor, no other method, I feel satisfied, can be pointed out, which will so essentially attain both these objects. If Colonization Societies* were formed * While the above was in the press, I observed the following paragraphs in the Morning Post of the 14th of February and 6th of March : — " Two hundred and sixty colonists, chiefly Scotch families, sent out by the Columbian A^iculturist Association, arrived at Caraccas about the end of December." " The Countess of Morley, with two hundred and fifty agriculturists and settlers for Rio de la Plata, will shortly sail from Plymouth. This is the third ship the Rio de la Plata Agricultural Society have chartered to convey settlers. The settlement is about two hundred and fifty miles from Buenos Ayres." These emigrants with their capitals, by the same exertions used by British, instead of South Ame- rican Colonization Societies, might probably have been induced to remove to Upper Canada, a climate much more congenial to their constitutions ; thereby adding strength to that part of the empire, instead c 18 throughout the kingdom, and a proper im- pulse given to what, I am convinced from personal inquiry, is the natural inclination of the poor, viz., to remove to some of our healthy English colonies, I think the Poor- laws might be gradually repealed. The following outline of a bill for further- ing the object, I would suggest as proper to be brought into Parliament. And let it be observed, that the acceptance of the advantages held out by it is optional, and therefore such a law could do no harm. And ihe operation of it must necessarily be so gradual, that there will be no danger of any serious evil arising, before Parliament would have an opportunity of remedying it. HEADS OF THE PEOPOSED BILL. 1st. Repeal so much of the laws now in force for the rehef of the poor, as enable parish officers to grant relief to persons not of being- now for ever lost to the Parent State, and laying, Vrliaps, the foundation for many of their friends folio wins: them.— H. J. B. 'r ■«!» '^^ 19 1^ " •If I «s> afflicted with any permanent disability to la- bour. 2nd. Empower the select vestries to raise money upon the security of the poors'-rates, redeemable by annuity in a given number of years, (thirty, perhaps, would be a reasonable period,) and to apply this fund in aid of any parishioner representing himself as unable to procure work, and therefore desirous of emi- grating to some of the colonies to be named in the bill, provided that it shall not be com- pulsory on the vestry to afford this aid, un- less they are satisfied of the inability of the applicant to procure work in the parish at such a rate as will enable him to maintain his family, with an appeal to two justices, in case of refusal. 3rd. That upon the vestry being satisfied of the propriety of his application, they shall au- thorize the overseer of the poor to give him a ticket to an agent at some sea-port, to provide a passage, with necessary provisions and cloth- ing for the voyage. The North American colonies, I appre- C 2 * i ♦^0 [lend, are the best adapted for this purpose, as well for the colonist as for the parish, the voyage thither being less expensive than that to the Cape of Good Hope, or New South Wales, 8^c. 3d. When any person has received a ticket or this passage, and has gone on board, he should lose his settlement in the parish, and never after be entitled to relief there. 4th. Upon proof being made to the satis- faction of the justices of the quarter-sessions, in the county where the parish shall be situate, that no parish relief has been granted, by the parish applying, to any person other than those before excepted, for the space of two years last past, the chairman shall certify the same, and cause the certificate to be entered with the clerk of the peace, whereupon the poor laws shall be considered as repealed in that parish, but not to affect the loans raised on the poor-rates. 5th. When the poor-laws cease to exist in any given parish, let the vestry be empowered to raise by assessment, fiom time to time, i ^ ^ V Hi SI f what may be necessary for the support of a poor-house, where none shall be received ex- cept the persons before excepted, namely, those afflicted with any permanent disability to labour, whether from age or infirmity. 6th. Also let the vestry have a discretion- ary power to aid occasional applicants to emi- grate to the colonies, if they see fit. The parishes would thus be enabled, as it were, to redeem their poor's-rates by one gross payment, in the same manner as individuals can redeem their land-tax, and the country would eventually be relieved from this into- lerable burden. Should some such plan as the one just suggested, be carried into effect, and a sufficient number emigrate to equalize the number of hands with the quantum of work, so that each person in the community can ob- tain a fair remuneration for his labour, the whole population of the country will regain its native vigour, and independence of character. The aged and infirm parent will be sustained in the decline of life by the child, the natural I 22 prop of decaying years, — the unfortunate or crippled brother or sister will be assisted by the more prosperous and healthy ; and the natural affections of the heart, no longer chilled by adversity, will resume their wonted influence over the mind, and sons and daughters, bro- thers and sisters will no longer endure the sight of their own blood languishing in a workhouse, while they are enjoying comfort at home. Giving money to the poor, and founding charitable institutions for their reception, when grown old and infirm, is adding to the evil, unless emigration keeps pace with the increase of population. Half the money laid out in promoting colo- nization, would reduce the population to a wholesome level with the want.; and demanas of each other, and the exuberant part, instead of constituting an excrescence, communicating disease throuorhout the system, would become a healthy hmy, m its turn, performing all those functions for which nature designed it. The young and the healthy being inde« 5^ », pendent, would be enabled to maintain tlieiv own infirm and aged relatives, and the m- mates of the almshouse would be gradually diminished. Emigration will not only be efFectual, but lasting in its benefits, because when the popu- lation of the country has found its proper level, and the advantages accruing to both parties, those who remove, and those who stay at home, have been felt, the labouring class will never again remain long enough without regular employment, to become so far reduced as'' to be incapable of avaiUng themselves of this resource. But if they should occasion- ally find themselves in such distress, the more wealthy having also seen the advan- tages of the system, would be more willing to lend their aid in furthering their inten- tion. Scotland presents a practical example of the truth of my hypothesis. If the population is too great now, what will it bo at the close of the present century, if it increases for the next as it has done for I 24 the last seventy years*? London has attained a magnitude vvhich is hardly credible to fo- ♦ In 1750, the popul.^«^ion of Eng-land and Wales was estimated, according to the Parliamentary i eturns, at 6,467,000. In 1820, that population had increased to 12,218,500. In 1749, which I take, because I have not been able to find any returns for 1750, and which I presume can- not be far different, the sum expended for the lelief of paupers amounted only to 689,971/., while in 1819, the amount expended for the like purpose, in time of profound peace also, be it remembered, had increased to the frightful sum of 7,329,594/. Upon a return to a state of peace, it will be seen, that the number of men discharged from the naval and military services, and from other concomitant esta- blishments, threw so vast a portion of hands out of employment, that crime instantly increased more than one-third. In 1815, the year in which the war terminated, the committals for orune were 7,818. In 1816, the first of general peace, the committals increased rapidly to 9,091. But in the following year, when it may be presumed *hese persons had expended whatever allow- ances had heen made them on their discharge, and when they were obliged to mingle in the general avocations of the rest of the community, and, of 25 •s reigners, and almost every town in the country is extending its limits in the same proportion. At what precise time, therefore, and by what course, increased, by their numbers, the labouring* classes, we find that commitments for crime had in- creased to 13,932, and this appalling catalogfue has shown no symptom of decline, but has occasionally advanced to upwards of 14,000. Neither has a state of peace in any degree tended to diminish the amount of poor's-rates or the numbers to be relieved. In 1812, a year in which extraordi- nary military exertions were made, and not without a corresponding" degree of glory to the British arms, our naval and military expenditure, exclusive of subsi- dies, amounted to no less than 49,740, 1 12?. In the same year, wheat, of which is composed the staff of life, was higher than it had ever been before, or has ever been since ; it rose that year to the enormous average price of 125s. 5d, per quarter, and in this year the sum expended for the relief of the poor was 6,636,105/, while in 1822, when the naval and military expenditure was reduced to 13,900,437/., and the price of wheat averaged 43.- LONUON : I'lMifed by W. Clowks, NorthHmberlaiifi-c<.iirt.