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Lorsque Ie document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul ciichA, ii est fiimA A partir de Tangle supArleur gauche, de gauche A drolte, et de haut en bas. en prenant Ie nombre d'imeges nAcessalre. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent Ie mAthode. 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 6 e ENGLi' £dit A EfeGEO. 2 0% \ TfWh HOCHELAGA:/ S / ENGLAND IN THE NEW WORLD, BY ,t GEORGE .WARBURTON. \ Edited by eliot waeburton, AUTHOR OP " THE CRESCENT AND THE CROSS," *' REGINALD HASTINGS," ETC. ETC. JiCtl) lEtiition, Eeijiseti, 1854* LONDON: GEO. IIOUTLEDGE & CO., FAREINGHON STREET. ^EW YORK : 18, BEEKMAN STREET. 1854. 9 PRErACE BY THE EDITOR. Civilization in its process has ever followed the direction of li{?ht; it arose far Eastward; gradually it shone over Greece, then Home; it culminates over Western Europe; and even now, its morning light is upon America, while the world it first enlightened is sinking into darkness. There seems to have been always an instinct in the minds of imaginative men, that far away in the West there existed a great Continent ; a New World, ready to receive the over* flow of the burden of humanity that pressed upon the Old. "Atlantis" long ago expressed a consciousness of such a want, and a belief that it would be supplied. Strange to say, this prophetic feeling was responded to by the inhabitants of those unknown regions: among the wild and stern Mic- Macs of the North, and the refined and gentle Yncas of the South, a presentiment of their coming fate was felt. They believed that a powerful race of men were to come '* from tho rising sun," to conquer their nations and possess their lands. The theories of old Greece and Koman Spain became legends ; legends became tradition ; tradition became faith, and Columbus assumed his mission: in him the old ** Westering" instinct amounted to an inspiration; he burst his way through the Known to the Unknown ; ho revealed to us a world abounding in capabilities, deficient only in manldnd. Then the necessity of the Old World found relief; Europe rushed forth to colonize — each nation according to its cha- racter — leaving for ever the stamp of that character impressed upon its colony. Spaniards, led to the New World by the lust of gold, soon sacrificed their America to slavery. English- i I'' ■ ' I IV EDITOK'S rREFACTl, men led thither by the love of liberty, consecrated their new soil to Freedom. England in the new would was England still ; striving", earnest, honest, and successful. A mistake in policy changed Englishmen into Yankees, but British blood, and, for the most part, British principles, remained. These we bequeathed to our revolted colony : retiring Northward, we were content to rest our Western Empire on the banks of the St. La^vrencc, in the modern Canada, — the ancient Hociielaga. It is not only where our banners wave, where our laws protect, where oui' national faith assures, that we arc to look for "England in the New World." In the minds of our brethren in the United States, in their institutions, in their actions, in their motives— there — everywhere that our language is spoken — we can trace our own. • And such is the object of this work : its Author speaks of Canada with almost affection — of the United States with cordiality — but his chief interest throughout, is the relation that these countries bear to his own ; the inHuence that the itter exercises upon them. Let not the reader suppose, however, that this volume contains mere political essays ; the Author has rightly judged that the picture of a people is best given by sketches of daily life, of the humour, the poetry, and the passions that charac- terize them. It is not the province of an Editor to criticise, as it is not his privilege to praise, but he may be generously excused for saying a few words in behalf of an adopted work, that has had none of the advantages of paternal care. 'The Author is far away, in the lands of which these volumes treat ; but every page will tell that his heart is still at home. The name of England, her prosperity, and, above all, her character for honour and righteous dealing, are dear to the lonely traveller as his own. Here, in the calm shelter of our English homes, this lover-like feeling may seem dor- mant ; there is nothing to strike the fire from the ilint : but, in other lands, among the jealous strictures of rival nations, IS it In Ic EDITOR S PREFACE. y the feeling is ever predominant : let the Author bo forgiven if ho has indulged it too far. His nationality has at least never betrayed him into an ungenerous remark upon Ame- ricans ; he acknowledges their virtues, ho rejoices in their prosperity, he confesses their power ; but he fearlessly laughs at their foibles, and denounces their crimes. One word more, and the Editor leaves Hochelaga to bo judged on its own merits. This work — whatever else it may bo — 18 work : it contains no hastily- written, crude impres- sions, but the deeply-tested convictions of an earnestly- inquiring mind. The first few chapters may not seem to prove this ; but in books, as in conversations, our national habit of reserve seems to exercise its inlluence : on first in- troduction to the reader, a light and general tone will often be found in English writings, that only deepens into earnest- ness and confidence as the work advances: we create, or hope to create, sympathies, and on these we lean more con- fidently as we trust that they increase. The Editor would fain be permitted one word of apology for the office he has undertaken. He is far from presuming on the. kind reception he has himself gratefully experienced from the public, by supposing that his name woidd be a recommendation to this volume. But it seemed essential that an anonymous work, so full of assertions and state- ments, should have some name, however humble, to be re- sponsible for their tone and truth. That responsibility the Editor undertook for his friend with confidence, even before he had perused his pages ; he now maintains it with pride. E. W. f ; I . 5 i tfi ' CONTENTS. CHAP. I. THE VOYAGE ^ II. NEWFOUNDLAND— THE ST. LAWRENCE ... 8 III. QUEBEC — HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CANADA . . 18 IV. QUEBEC— AUTUMN ^' V. QUEBEC — WINTER ^^ VI. MOOSE-HUNTING ^^ VII. THE CONVENT— THE MADHOUSE 72 VIII. FIRE ^^ IX. MONTREAL ^^ X. KINGSTON— LAKE ONTARIO ^5 XI. TORONTO— NIAGARA ^^^ XII. GEOGRAPHY OP CANADA— RESOURCES— TRADE . HO XIII. EELIGION— EDUCATION— THE PRESS .... 119 XIV. MANNERS— POLITICS— DEFENCES 129 XV. BUFFALO— SARATOGA ^^'^ XVI. ALBANY— WEST-POINT— NEW YORK .... 151 XVII. PHILADELPHIA— BALTIMORE .164 XVIII. BALTIMORE— WASHINGTON 172 XIX. BOSTON ^^^ XX. BOSTON — LOWELL — PLYMOUTH FESTIVAL — WINTER JOURNEY TO CANADA ..... 1^^ i Viii CONTEXTS. riiAP. TAr.B XXI. THE FAR VVEST-ORECON 206 XXII. RELIGION— EDUCATION— MANNEUS 212 XXIII. DEMOCRACY 224 XXIV. PROSPECTS OF AMERICA 233 XXV. GENERAL REMARKS 241 XXVI. TERRITORY OF THE UNITED STATES— MEXICO— THE INDIANS 250 XXVII. NOVA SCOTIA— NEW BRUNSWICK —THE ISLAND!:} — Hudson's ray 257 XXVIII. conclusion 270 IB r 2 4 3 1 lo HOCHELAGA; OR, ENGLAND IN THE NEW WORLD. CHAPTER I. T U E V y A G E. About the middle of July 1814, I found myself suddenly oblif^ed to embark from Chatham, for Canada, on board aii imcomfortable ship, a very unwilling passenger. In a middle- aged man, of quiet bachelor habits, such a voyage, to a strange country, at a few hours' notice, was a most disagree- able necessity. I soon, however, made up my mind and my packages, and, before the afternoon was much advanced, started from London. It was dark when I arrived at Chatham, and went on board ; there was a whistling wind and a drizzling rain ; tlie decks, between the heaps of luggage and merchandize, were wet, dirty, and slippery ; and reflected dismally the light of the consumptive-looking lamps, carried about by the condemned spirits of this floating purgatory. There was evidentljr a great number of passengers on board, of all sorts of conditions of men and women. Perched on a pile of bag- gage, were a number of soldiers, going out to jom their re- giments in Canada, with their wives, hard-favoured, and insufficiently clad ; despite, however, tbe coarse and travel- worn dress and rude appearance of the poor women, I saw in th(fni during the vovago many traits of ^ood and tender feeling ; the most anxious care of their little ones, whom they were rearing so fondly to their doom of poverty and toil ; their kindness to each other, and the sharing of their scanty covering and scantier meals : the wretched can feel for the wretched, the poor are rich in the heart to give. My cabin had lately been repaired, and looked very miser- able ; the seams of the deck were lilled with new pitch, wliich B 1 ( n i 2 irociTEiAaA; ok, stuck pertinaciously to my boots. Tlio den had evidently j ust been washed, and was still damp cnoupfh to charm a hydro- pathist ; the port-hole window was open to air it. Throats, bribes, and entreaties, in course of time i)rocured me the ne- C(^ssary portions of my luggage ; soon after, half undressed, and wholly wretched, I crept into my berth : here, being too wise to remain awake under such very unpleasant cir- cumstances, I adopted the alternative in a very few minutes. The crowing of an early-rising cock awoke mo next morn- ing. From that time there was no hope of sleep ; it seemed the signal to let Bedlam loose : cverv conceivable descrip- tion of clatter followed ; scouring decks, lugging boxes, rattling chains, sailors swearing, and soldiers quarrelling. It was scarcely dawn when L lool^ed out of my little win- dow ; through the grey twilight the shadowy forms of steeples and houses by degrees became distinct and solid. The sun, not to take ut* bv surprise with liis pleasant visit, reddened up the gilt weathercock of the churcli spire, then reiieeted himself back cln^erfuUy from the windows, and at length, with lavish hand, spread bright young morning o-s'er the country around. In a little time, a soft breeze carried away the early mist in the direction we had to travel. The main cabin was in the same dam]) uncomfortable state as our sleeping apartments ; in the corners, boxes and baskets containing our sea stock were hea])t'd up in such height and breadth as to nuike the strait between them and the table so narrow that there was barel>^ room for me to squeeze my poitly person througli. An irregular sort of breakfast Avas on the table ; round it were seated the greater number of tlie cabin passengers ; all, evidently, between the mouthfuls of toast and butter, examining each other witli great attention, and setting down in their minds the result of tlieir scrutiny, in prejudices for and against their neigh- bours. There was a taD, thin, good-looking clergyman, who, liaving been ordained in England, was going to enter on his duties in Canada ; and a very shrewd-faced Irish attorney, for Newfoundland, where we were to touch on the way : this part of the cargo w/is, however, neutralized by an honest, open-hearted merchant and his good-humoured wife, from the same country, and with the same destination. Two gen- tlemen for Quebec; for Montreal, a Jew, whose face was like the reflection of a handsome countenance in a convex mirror ; a thoughtful-looking, well-bred captain; a rattling, mischievous youth, liis lieutenant ; a quiet, handsome young ensign ; and a tScotch doctor, belonging to the detachment of soldiers ; theso, with a middle-aged widow and her only child, a sickly boy of ten or twelve years of age, both in ENGL;VND IIS' THE NEW WOKLT). Jst 10- ]s, IC- d, |r- deopest mourning-, formed tlic remainder of the party. Tlio story of this family was a sad one. The lady was a Canadian who" had married, a civil oflicer in her own country : after some years, he was unfortunately' promoted to a valuable appointment in China ; set out immediately for the place of his new employment, and, on his arrival, wrote for his Avifc and child. They sailed, full of Jiope and happiness, thinking: nothiu}? of their voyag-e halt' round the world, for the sake of the fond and anxious one who awaited them at its end. jN'carly nh: months passed before their arrival. The march of the deadly pestilence was not so slow : tliey found but a new- made gra re where they had expected a happy^ home ; so the widow an d orphan turned wearily to seek ag-ain the land of their birth, thousands of miles away. I'his pale boy A\'as all in all to her. Hers was a love of faith and hope ; she never doubted that in fulness of time he would i?rowto be gi'cat and i^ood, and i)iiy her back the debt of tenderness and care. 8he was the only person who did not see that the shadow of death was u])on him. 1 speedilj' became aeqiuiinted with every body on board. Perhaps it Avas owinu* to my sleek and comfoitable appear- ance that tb.ey concduded 1 was the fittest ]xrson to under- take the catcn'er's department for the cabin; it turned out that 1 had one qualitieation for the duty in Avhicli all the rest were deheient — that of being weak enough to imder- take it. Evory one knows the weight of oblo([uy that falls upon the mail in office, when there is no fat on the sirloin, or the legs of 1 ;he fowl have the favour and consistency of guitar strings. It i s impossible to divest people of the idea that, by Bomc inexpli( .able ingenuity, and for some inscrutable object of his own, he b.as purposely caused these imperfections. My prinw minister was a black cook ; my kingdom, ani- mal and veg. jtable ; my subjects, three or four gaunt sheep in the launc) i, and, under the forecastle, a couple of pigs, whose appea ranee and habits of living justiiied our Israel- itish friend's anxiety that there shouhl be more solidity than usual in the side dish ;s when a chine of pork was at the head of the 1 iible. On the poo p were several rows of coops, a sort of charitable institution f( ir superannuated geese and ducks ; and, in the list of sea stock furnished by the eminent outfitter at the west-end, w. is tlie item, six dozen chickens. These were representod by a grave assemblage of patriarchal cocks and venerable he tis ; among the former I speedily recognised, by his voice, th< ) bird wliose morning note, like lire to a train, had set goin; i the din so fatal to my slumbers. I promptly ordered his e xecution ; he, however, amply revenged himself on those wh( » tried to eat him the next any. B 2 \ IIOCHELAGA; OH, I While I was thus entering: on my official duties, the crew were not neglectful of their part of the business. The sails were shaken out, the anchor weighed, and the voyage com- menced by running foul of a merchant ship moored a little ahead of us. On this occasion I made a philological observ- ation, which subsequent experience has ohly tended to strengthen — that the language used by sailors, under difficulties, is more remarkable for terseness and ^'igour than for elegance or propriety. "With a fair and gentle breeze we floated lazily down the river; our principle objects of interest being the splendid ships of war, now lying dismasted and harmless, but ready, when the Lords of the Admiralty play their Frankenstein and breathe on them the breath of life, for any mission of destruction. We pass Sheerness, roll in the Downs, enter tlie Channel, think and say every thing that people usually think and say on leaving England, and go to bed. The description of one day in the voyage suits for all. At seven o'clock breakfast opened the proceedin gs ; at eight, a very small trumpeter sounded for the soldie rs* parade ; a couple of hour's vigorous walking on the d<3ck preceded luncheon ; then, as twelve approached, we all assembled on the poop, while the master took his obscrvationu ; then, great coats and cloaks turned the coops into sofas, and reading and sunshine kept us quiet till three, when dinne].' — the hour of my trial, and the delight of grumblers — interrupted our literary pursuits. AVe established a community of books; and, before the voyage was half over, Robins on Crusoe and Paul and Virginia were as much thumbed as if they had been fashionable novels in a country circulatii ig library. The next re-imion was of a select few on the forecastle, with cigars and pipes ; a chat with the sailors , and a sharp look-out for porpoise, whale, or strange ship, or any other monster of the deep. In the latter character, ( )ur friend, the noisy lieutenant, used always to appear at thi; } period of the day. He had a strong nautical inclination, and indulged it by arraying himself in a suit of sailor's garments , which would have been invaluable to Mr. T. P. Cooke : a re( L flannel shirt, trowscrs and jacket of blue pilot cloth, an oi Iskin hat,with a clay pipe stuck in the band: nor was a c iasp knife tied round his waist with a lanyard, forgotten, t( » complete his costume. Some of the others played at shuffle board, fenced, wrestled, or exercised themselves laboriously on gymnastic poles. It is soon time for tea, the widow doing the honours ; after that, the hot water and lemons, with littlle bright glass bottles, and a snappish argument between the Irish attorney and the and the < of coiirtc Bomet deck, an and sailc of the'tc an Engl full of f I There and a si Canada some lit arms an of all ot sing for chat bes voices. failed t stern, V Later with dii moraliz of that One 1 freshen next m risen a for a v( us, bio and tli( the sai that si I At a" been al threatt foeussi slowly foamet seems hesital some () man, i ship r tlu! sh: th(3 ca rt)pes, he is fi The ENGLAND IN THE NEW WORLD. and the Montreal Jew ; a quiet talk with the ch'ri^yman and the captain, a rubber of whist, a chess-board, and words of courtesy and kindness to the widow. Sometimes, when the evening" was very line, we went on deck, and listened to wonder'*'il narratives of the soldiers and sailors, and quaint ditties with overg-rown choruses. One of the topmen had a splendid voice ; he was the beau ideal of an Enarhsh seaman — active, good-tempered, handsome, and full of fun — a fa^•ourite with all. There was anionq; the passengers a family of three brothers and a sister, from the north of Ireland, about to settle in Canada ; they Avere hardy, serious, respectable people, having: some little capital in money and goods, and their own strong arms and honest hearts, to depend upon; the class of people of all others the most useful in a eolouy. They, too, used to sing for us at times; they knew but one kind of music, and chat best suited to their powerful, but harsh and untrained voices. ]\lany a cunning stage arrangement might have failed to give the deep effect which lay in their solemn, stern, Presbyterian hymns. Later in the evening there came another pipe, seasoned with discussion on what passed for events in the day, a little moralizing, and always a rigid examination of the conduct of that ctnistant offender, the weather ; and then we slept. One ni^-ht, when we were ofl* the coast of Ireland, the wind fresheneci up, and the clouds thickened ominously. The next morning dawned upon a gale of wind ; the sea had risen a good deal, and the shi]) rolled sufficiently to account f(jr a very small party at breakfast. The storm was against us, blowing with increasing violence that day and night, and the next day. iS^early all the passengers were sick, and the sailors were doing their work in a quiet, steady way, that showed they were in earnest. At about five in the afternoon, the clouds seemed to have been all blown up together into one dense mass of dark and threatening gloom, and, as if for miles around the wind had focussed to one spot, it burst upon the ship. The masts bent slowly down as she rose upon the Avave, and the spray foamed up among the spars. They inust shorten sail; it seems madness to ascend the straining ropes, but no one hesitates ; there is a moment's lull in the trough of the sea: some of the sailors are up already; our favourite, the top- man, is first, busy with the reef of the maintopsail. The sliip rises on the swell, and the storm roars again through th(! shrouds ; tlie sheets snap like thread ; light as a cloud the canvas flies to leeward; tlie top man is entangled in its roi)es, borne away upon the wind ; the mist closes over him — he is seen no more. The tempest soon afterwards subsided, without further HOCHELAGA; OE, i '■ t li ( I: r mischief. When tlie weather cleared, we found onrselves close to the headland we had seen two days hefore ; we had hce]i travelling- backwards and I'orAvards, ten miles an honr, ever since. At the climax of the jralc the noise had been so great, that many of those in their berths below thong-lit Ave were assnredlv lost. This conviction had very diltcrent eflects npon Jiflerent individuals : some pulled the bed- clothes over their heads, jind lay in shivering" inactivity; others were so dreadfully ill, tliat death itself scarcely ap- peared a chang-e for the worse. ISot so our nautically inclined lieutenant; he could no loiiircr renuun in doubt ; so, deter- mined to Ivuow the wuist, lie emerged I'rom the hatchway in full i)irate costume, as he had lain down at the be.uinning" of the storm. h?praA\liu,!:'- on the deck, ho looked out upon the sea : just at this moment a ,ui;.rantic g-reen wave, with a crest of foam, stood right over tlu^ shi]) ; Avitli a shout of terror, and an exuressioii of face in which fri<;ht had overcome t-tar- vation ana sea-sickuess, he ruished across the deck, g'i'as])ing' at the stanchion under the pooi) as the first support he could lay hold of, and twininj;- his arms and legs round it with a force no persuasions could i lux ; there he remained for two hours, a rig-ure of fun never to be forgotten. The shi]) was soon put to rights, not having sustained any serious iujury, and we went our way. A whale was always an object of suflicient interest to collect us upon deck, and unmask a battery of telescopes. Oui* nearest view of one was under circumstances as advan- tageous to us as disagreeable to himself. The; ship was going through the water abotit Ibur knots an hour when the mon- ster overtook us : as we were travelling in the same direction, there was amj)le opportunity for observing the state of his ulfairs. He was attacked by three threshers, (formidable- looking fellows, alxmt eight feet long,) and had evidently much the worst of it, though he th)urished his tail tremen- dously, flogging his track into a bloody foam. His enemies Avere most systematic in their attack; each in his turn threw himself out of the Avater, and fi'll Avith full weight on the Avhale's head; thus, Avhile it Avas above the surface, keeping up a continual hammering thereon. It is said, but I am not pledged to the fact, that a sword-lish is always in league Avith these pursuers, ])oking the Avliale underneath Avith his «word, when sinking to avoid his allies ; so that the ])oor victim is mucli in the situation of a ruemlxi' of the Church of England of tlie ])resent day — as he swims in the sea of controversy, a blow from the Evangelical pulpit strikes him doAvn, and a thi-ust from the "Tracts lor the Times " drives him u]) again ; the only diit'erence is, that amongst hia as- sailants there is no bond of unity. it is said that, in a cliasc of this kind, the quarry never ^y ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOELD. vcs uid ur, [ KO we ent ocl- ty; ip- tied to escapes : the fish in question were far too busy to attend to us ; they soon left us behind, and may, for all I know, bo worrying each other still with true polemic pertinacity. That night Avas unusuallv mild and clear ; and the young clergyman and I remainea on deck long after the others had gone below ; our talk was grave, but choerfid. There is something in the view of the material heavens at such a time, which always elevates the tone of feeling, and speaks to the heart of its highest hopes, sending you to rest with holy, happy thoughts : so it was with us. A few minutes before we parted, the bright full moon passed from behind a cloud, and straightway, from us to the far-off horizon, spread a track of pure and tremulous light over the calm sea. " This is not for us alone," said my companion ; " every waking wanderer over the great deep sees this path of glory too. Ho for each earnest heart upraised to heaven, a light from (iod liimsclf beams upon the narrow way across the waste of life." T'he wind seemed to blow for ever from the west: the only variety in our voyage was from one tack to the other. But we liad a good ship, she was well handled, and her master never tiirew away a chance ; so, in spite of all difficulties, we found ourselves witiiin a short distance of land twenty-four days after sailing. It is almost unnecessary to add that there was a fog, and that so thick that wo coidd scarcely see the bowsprit. An observation had, however, been taken at mid-day, and, having great confidence in the knowledge of our exact position, we kept boldly on, till we distinctly heard breakers in front of us ; by the time sail was shortened, we could hear this sound on either side. "We were evidently in an indentation of the coast, quite near enough to the rocks to be unpleasant. Guns were fired for a pilot, and to give notice of our approach, and a rejjort from the shor« returned a ready answer. At the same time the fog began to rise, first showing the long line of surf on three sides of us, then the abrupt and rugged cliffs. At length, the great curtain folded itself up for another occasion, and the scene upon the stage was, Newfoundland. The mind must be eiiher above or below the usual motive infiuenees of humanity, which does not feel a deep and stirring interest in the first view of the New World : though it be but a, dim, faint shadow of what Plato's informant, or Trinee ]\[adoe, or Columbus, experienced, when the sight of these vast lands, and simple, yet mysterious people, rewarded their almost superhuman vontiu'e. "The splendour and the havoc of the East" are said to fill tlie mind of tlie beholder with sad and solemn meditation on the glories and wonders of countiies, whoso degradation ff 8 nocnEiAOA; on, H i' of to-day seems but the deeper from the relics of their former greatness : the cities and temples, of an ext'^^nt and magnificence ever since unrivalled, crumbled into shapeless ruin, leaving scarce a trace of what they were ; the sunny hills and pleasant valleys, once exuberant with luxurious plenty, now withered into deserts ; the land where the wise men dwelt, and mighty captains governed, ruled over by craven, sensual slaves ; the birthplace of an Eternal Hope, now but the grave of a departed glory. Over this page in the great chronicle of the world, is written the memory of the Past. Then comes our Europe, with its populous towns, excellent gas-lamps, highly-efficient police, comfortable churches, with good stoves and ventilation ; with its express trains, and well-regulated post-office, improved steam-boats, electric telegraphs, and electric agriculture, liberal education, and respectable governments. In all these we feel, and hear, and see, the reality of the Present. ;Now, we turn to the West. Over its boundless tracts of rich and virgin soil is spreading a branch of the most vigorous among tlie European families, bearing with them every mean^and a])pliancc which the accumulated ingenuity of ages can supply, and working them with quenchless energy. »Steamers thrust themselves up unknown rivers; and io ! with the rapidity of a scenic change, the primeval forest yields to the bustling settlement. In the tangled wilderness, where they can scarcely struggle through, the surveyors trace out the lines of cities, which, to-morrow, are to play the part of the Babylon of yesterdajr, and the London of to-day. They grow great, rich, and intelligent, not with the slow and steady step of older nations, but with a hurried stride ; sometimes, perhaps, wandering a little from the straight path, but, guided by their destiny, still hastening on. Imagination runs mad in picturing what they have yet to be. In their imacted history we read, plain as the hand- writing at Belshazzar's least, the promise of the Future. wall! defej oftl ])oii dani safel Ii in CHAPTER II. XEWFOUNDLAXT)— TJriO ST. LAWllENCE. So excellent was the land-fall we had made, that, when the fog cleared away, we found the bowsprit of the vessel pointing directly into the harbour of St. J ohn's. The entrance i« about two hundred and hfty yards 'svide, and very difficult oi access in bad weather, or with unfavourable winds : it is ti ENGLAND IN THE NEW -WOULD . 9 walled in by rugged cliffs and barren- looking hilL^. Tho defences are respectable, but not formidable, works: — one of them faces you as you approach, with watchful cannon ])ointing up the harbour. There is no bar or shoal, but some dangerous rocks embarrass the entrance ; within, there is safe and commodious anchorage for any amount of shinping. In trying to describe St. John's, there is some dilhculty in applying to it an adjective sufficiently distinctive and appropriate. We find other cities coupled with epithets, which at once give their predominant characteristic : — London the richest, Paris the gayest, St. Petersburg the coldest. In one respect the chief town of Newfoundland has, I believe, no rival : wo may, therefore, call it the '•fishiest" of modern capitals. Hound a great part of the har])our are sheds, acres in extent, roofed with cod split in half, laid on like slates, drying in tlie sun, or rather tne air, for there is not much of the former to depend upon. Those ships, bearing nearly every flag in the world, are laden with cod ; those stout weatherly boats crowding up to the wharves, have just now returned from fishing for cod ; those few scant fields of cultivation, with lean crops coaxed out of the barren soil, are manured with cod ; those trim, snug- looking wooden houses, their handsome furniture, the piano, and the musical skill of the young lady who plays it, the satin gown of the mother, the gold chain of the father, are all paid for in cod; the breezes from the shore, soft and warm on this bright August day, arc rich, not with the odours of a thousand flowers, but of a thousand cod. Earth, S(,'a, and air, are alike pervaded with this wonderful tish. There is only one place which appears to be kept sacred from its intrusion, and, strange to say, that is the dinner table ; an observation made on its absence from that appa- rently appropriate position, excited as much astonishment, as if I had made a remark to a Northumberland squire that he had not a head-dish of Newcastle coals. The town is irregular and dirty, built chiefly of wood ; tlie dampness of the climate rendering stone unsuitable. Tlie heavy rains plough the streets into ^yater-courses. I'liousands of lean dogs stalk about, quarrelling with each other for the oflal of fish, which lies plentifully scattered in all direction : this is their recreation ; their business is to draw go-carts. There are also great numbers of cats, which, on account of the hostile relations existing between them and their canine neighbours, generally reside on the tops of the houses. A large fish-oil factory in the centre of the town, fills it with most obnoxious odours. There are many neat and comfortable houses in the vicinity, where the air, though a little foggy, is fresh and 10 HOCHELAGA ; OR, healthful. There are two Church of England churches, one Wesleyan, and one lloman Catholic chapel. A large lloman Catholic cathedral is also hein.i? built. The Churches of England and of liomo have each Bishops of Newfound- land. The population of the island is upwards of one hundred thousand ; one half are Roman Catholics, principally of Irish descent, or emigrants ; the remainder of English race, and various creeds. The trade of St. John's is very considerable, and is rapidly increasing ; it exports iish and oil, and receives in return nearly all the luxuries and necessaries of life. They get direct from Portugal, in exchange for their dried tish, port wine ; with due deference to our English wine mer- chants, the best I have ever met. The seal fisheries employ, in the North Seas, numbers of active and experienced sailors from this port ; their life is one of almost incredible hardship and danger, and subjects them to great alternations of abundance and distress. Snow usually falls in the beginning of December, and continues to the end of April ; but there are frequent thaws in the mean time. Through the winter there is a constant succession of storms, the lakes and many of the bays and rivers are frozen over, and all internal communication is by sleighs. The colony is under the authority of a governor, who is assisted by a Legislative and Executive council of nine members. There is also a House of Representatives, elected by almost universal sulirage, consisting of fifteen delegates, not always selected for ^ery high qualities. Indeed, some people are illiberal enough to imagine that the affairs of the country would not materially suiter if honourable meinbers for such important constituencies as those of (iuiddy Viddy Cove, or Starvation Creek, were to direct their attention to cod-fishing instead of legislation. The most thriving settlements besides the capital, arc Carbonear, Harboiu* Grace, and Petit Harbour, aU to^vns on the sea coast. If St. John's be the fishiest, it is also one of the friendliest places in the world ; no cold, formal, letter- of- introduction dinners, but hearty, cordial, and agreeable hospitality. The society is, of course, very limited in extent, consisting of the c^ jrgy, the civil and military officers, and the principal merchants. Some of the latter have attained to considerable afUuence, and arc men whose kindness, intellijj''ence, and practical views, render them agreeable and instructive associates. Among the younger members of their families, accomplishments and the graces of life receive due attention, ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOELD 11 not a few of them have had European education. The re- unions of St. John's possess so much charm, that many- officers of tlie army and navy who have participated in them, have also carried away living vouchers for their at- tractions. We could scarce liave left NcAvfoundland without havinir seen a specimen of the codfisliing. One of our acquaintances kindly oifered to drive us for the purpose to Portugal Cove, a distance of ten miles. The captain, the ensign, and my- self, with our friend driving, formed the party. The coii- veyance was a light, spider-like, double-seated carriage, drawn by a wiry, strong, brown horse ; he had a splendid shoulder and arm, a ewe neck, a cunning back look, like a hare, and an uneasy tail ; just the sort of animal which instantly suggests running reins and kicking straps. Jle started at a fair trotting pace ; but our driver, by twisting tlie reins round each hand, and by setting his feet against the dash-board, showed that he expected work. All went on very smoothly, however, till we got within a couple of miles of our iourney's end, when, unfortunately, the conver- sation turned upon American trotters. " This horse is one," said oiu' friend, *'he can do the mile in two minutes and fifty seconds." '• Indeed," said 1. iS^ow, "indeed," must have been pro- nounced in some very expressive numner, and conveyed the extraordinary delusion that I wished to see it done, for our friend instantly made some sort of freemason sign, and away went the diabolical brute, up and down hill, in a sort of shambling, shuffling pace, at a rate which nearly took the breath out of my body. As soon as I could speak, I begged to assure his owner that I had not the least doubt of his poAvers, and implored of him to pull up. By the time I was informed that it was quite impossible, the animal stopped of his own accord at the inn at Portugal Cove. This establishment is a small wooden building, prettily situated on the banks of a turbident little stream, which gets up a waterfall in view of the windows. It is a favourite spot for passing tlic iirst part of the honeymoon ; and is, per- haps, judiciously chosen, for there is nothing whatevi^r of luxury, convenience, or amusement, to divert the thoughts of the happy cou]>l(i from each other. A straggling village of log houses lies along the_ shore, with a boat pier of the same material ; a fleet of iishing- boats lay moored to it. We embarked in one, a rough, clumsy concern : and, Avitli a wild unshaven fellow to guide us, put to sea. The bay is about the size of that of Tenby ; a large flat island, with steep sides, protects the opening, looking as if it had been snapped off the main-laud, and t t « 12 nOCHELAGA ; OR, !l floated out to where it now stands ; like all tlio rest of the soa-board, it is covered Avitli scrubby, stunted forest. At the eastern end of the island is a very curious rock, standing about two hundred yards clear of it, and of about the same heig-ht, looking, in the distance, like one of the round towers of Ireland. Oui* boatman, speaking in a Cork brogue, slightly overlaid with a Yankee twang, said that, " ^o one, barring the birds, had ever got to the top of it." The Captain gravely observed that, " unless the inducements to get there were very much increased, probably none ever would." We soon arrived at our lishery> and cast our lines of strong cord, with a heavy leaden sink, and three or four hooks baited with slices of lisli. In a minute or two there was a chorus of "I've got him;" ard, as we pulled, the prizes plunged, dived, and twisted, tilling the dark green water with pale, distorted ghosts of sea monsters, which, as they neared the surface and became exhausted, condensed into the sober realities of resigned and imresisting codiish. Our myrmidon immediately put an end to their sufferings, by striking them on the liead Avith a short bludgeon he called " the priest." He then cut off a piece of the tail of one of them, to furnish fresh bait. liy thus encouraging their can- nibal propensities, we soon caught so many that we were lieartilj^ tu'ed of the sport. To give ns :m idea of the innu- merable multitudes of fish, the boatman cast a line, with a heavy Aveight at the end, and half a dozen hooks attached, full length into the watrr, till it had nearly reached the bottom, and then jerked it along, pulling it towards him ; it seldom came up Avithout a victim Avrithing on one of the barbs. Fully contented with this specimen of the truly national sport of KcAvibundland, I reluctantly trusted my- self to the mercy of the high trotting horse again, and he soon Avhirled us home. The road Avas not without beauty, but of a sad and deso- late character, Avhich the fcAV miserable patches of cultivation and tlie Avr(>tehcd log huts by the rOad side, did not tend to enliA^en. Windsor Lake, or, " TAventy-mile pond," as the people prefer calling it, is a large i)icturesque sheet of Avater, Avith some pretty, lonely-looking islands ; but its shores arc shapeless hills, and its forests stunted brushAvood. From the top of the last eminence before descending to St. John's, the view is very striking. The finely-situated town spreads along the shore, the massive government-house in the foreground, relieved by cheerful ornamental villas round it, the roadstead filled Avith shjj)ping and small boats, the bold, barren coast beyond, softening down, to the right, into green fields and gardens ; while opposite, on the left, grim-looking Signal hill, Avith the union jack floating over the fog on the covercl fish,' along Iricnd] a rede Thel appeal AvhichI brave Malo ii circun triani round, with Tw( for SO] ing ri men, and c not A\ them Th these Hum (iuec good "Coi Fi had year him and harl A ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOIILD. 13 top, protects the entrance of tlie harbour. And far away, tilling Tip the biicki^ruund of the picture, with its hard, dark line against the summer's sky, lies calm, deep, and treacherous — the great Atlantic. In the spring of the year 1497, a small squadron of ships sailed from Bristol, in search of a passage to India by the north-west. Two men of Venetian origin, John Cabot and his son Sebastian, a youth of twenty years of age, undertook their giddance. After a toilsome voyage of many weeks, they entered a region of vast banks, fogs, and mists, but continued on with unshaken hardihood. About three o'clock on the morning of the 24th of June, they reached a land hitherto unnoted in any map or record ; sterile, and uncul- tivated, abounding in great white bears and elks. The dis- coverers called tliis country by a name signifying 'rich in fish,' from the numbers which swarmed in the rivers and along the sea coast. The inhabitants were wild and un- friendly, clothed M'ith the skins of beasts, and painted with a reddish clay. The Cabots returned to England that year, and it does not appear that any further notice was taken of this country, which the English called Newfoundland, till 1534 ; when the brave Jacques Cartier, with only sixty men, sailed from St. Male in two small vessels, under the i rench Hag, and nearly circumnavigated the island. He found it to be a great triangle, of irregidar shape, and about nine hundred miles round, with deep indentures and numerous harbours, but with a soil everywhere unfruitful. Two Englishmen, named Elliott and Thorn, traded there for some years under the protection of Henry VIII., obtain- ing rich furs from the natives. At length these unhappy men, with a body of their dependents, made a settlement, and determined to remain there the winter. They knew not what they had to meet ; their provisions failed, none of them siu'vived, and tradition says they ate each other. ^ The most remarkable among the adventui'ers who visited these bleak shores, for many years afterwards, was Sir Humphry Gilbert. He took possession in the name of (iueen Elizabetli, but Avas lost on his return to England : his good brave words in the storm, however, are left us still, ' ' Courage, friends ! we are as near He9,venhere as on the land. ' ' From the beginning of the seventeenth century the Erench had a settlement at Placentia, on the south coast. In the year 1622, George Calvert landed from England, having with him seeds, grain, and cattle. His settlers were successful, and some of their descendants founded, in a commodious harbour, the capital, St. John's. At the treaty of Utrecht, Louis XIV. of France gave up '9 ri-- 14 nOCHELAGA; OR, his claim to the island, wliich prohably ho (lid not'caro much about, as his subjects retaiued the ripfht of tishins*. It has ever since remaiued an Kn^^ish colony, and is at present garrisoned by tlireo companies of infantry. The barren soil and ungenial climate doty the skill and industry of the hus- bandman : wheat does not grow, the scanty crops of barley and oats rarely ripen ; I'rom sheltered places noar the towns a moderate supply of potatoes and garden vegetables is forced from thc^ unwilling earth. There are a few cattle, the grasses being plentiful and nutritious. All else, for the use of man, comes from over sea. During the summer, some of the lakes and bays are rich in short-lived beauty. Few have pene- trated into the interior, fi)]* anv distance ; the hills, as you advance, rise into mountains, the shrul)s into trees: there is an idea that tlie centre of the island is a grejit valley, lilled with numerous lakes and impassable morasses ; none of the rivers are navigable far up the country, and there seems but little to tempt the exi)lor(n'. The natives met witli in the first discovery were Esqui- maux ; tieree men of stahvart frame and intractable dispo- sition, ilw'iY complexion was a dark red, they were bold himters and fishers, and of great courage in battle. From tlu^ first, they and the white men were deadly foes. The Mic-Mac Indians of In ova Scotia, and these red men, carried on a war of extermination against eacli other for centuries ; each landing, with destructive swoop, on tlie other's coast, scal])ing tlie men and carrying the women into slavery. The Esquimaux warriors were more frequently victorious, till, in an evil hour, they provoked the wTath of the pale-faces : the rifie and bayonet soon broke tlieir spirit ; aoandonirig the coasts and tlie huntiug-grounds of their fathers, they fied into the dreary forests of the interior ; sometimes, in the long winter nights, they ere-pt out from their wild fastnesses, and visited some lonely hamlet with a terrible vengeance. The settlers, in return, hunted them down like wolves, and, in the course of years, their life of misery reduced their numbers, and weakened their frames so much, that they never ventiu:ed to appear ; it was known that some few still lingered, but they ^vere almost forgotten. 'The w^intor of 1830 was unusually severe in this country, nnd prolonged beyond jthose of former years. Towards its close, a settler was hewing down trees at some distance from one of the remote villages, when two gaunt figures crept out from the neighbouring "bush:" with sad cries and imploring gestures, they tried to express their prayer for help ; the white man, terrified by their uncoutn and haggard looks, seized his gun, which unhappily lay at hand, and shot the foremost ; the other tossed his lean arms wildly into th( he rusl been se how di the lasl The sudden liirewe their b from tl are on For charac lands, firs. jUrd acres alone T^lillio overhf One of An Tliis bv th( Wash destn the re arour and t ENGLAND IN THE NEW WORLD. Iff icli I has |ont (soil lus- into tho air — the wo'^ds ranff with his despairing shrieks as he ruslicd away. Since then, none of the fallen race have been seen. Tlio emaciated frame of the dead man showed how dire had be( n tlieir necessity. There is no doul)t that the last of the lledmen perished in that bitter winter. The blue I'eter summoned us on board ; the wind had suddenly become favourable, leaving" but little time for farewells ; but ours were not the less warm and prratciul ibr their beiuff hurriedly si)oken. Hats and handkerchiefs waved from the shore — an answering cheer from the ship — and wo are on our way ag-ain. For tlio hrst day we kept within sight of land; the character of the coast was everywhere tho same— bluff liead- lands, deep bays, and monotonous hills covered with dwarf iirs. On tlie fourth mornin.i? we passed close under the JUrd islands; strange, hermit rocks, not more than a few acres in extent, \vithout a shred of vegetation, standing alone in the unfathomable waters, far out of sight of land. Millions of white sea fowl circle round them, screaming overhead, or diving and splashing in the water below. ()nc day more and we skirt the dangerous, desolate shores of Anticosti, ricli in wrecks, accursed in human suffering. This hideous wilderness has been the grave of hundreds ; ])y the slowest and ghastliest of deaths they died — starvation. Abashed ashore from maimed and sinking ships — saved to destruction— they drag their chilled and battered limbs up the rough rocks ; for a moment, warm with hope, they look around, with eager, straining eyes, for aid and shelter — and there are none; the failing sight darkens on hill and forest, forest and hill, and black despair. Hours and days waste out tho lamp of life, until at length the withered skeletons have only strength to die. These terrible and frequent disasters have at length caused steps to be taken to prevent their recurrence; there are now stations on the island, with stores of clothing and provisions, which have already preserved many lives. At Sable island, off JN^ova Scotia, the same system is adopted; here arc also a con- siderable number of wild horses on the sandy hills, dwindled descendants of somo shipwrecked ancestors: — in cases of emergency these stock the larder. It was quite a relief when we found ourselves clear of this dismal nciglibourhood, as with fair -wind and crowding sail we entered the waters of the St. Lawrence. From the Point of Gaspe to the Labrador coast, is one hundred and twenty miles ; and, through this ample channel, half the fresh water of the v/orld has its outlet to the sea, spreading back its blue winding path for more than two thousand f S ! 16 nOCHELAGA; OR, ■ t miles, through still reach, foaming rapid, ocean lake, and mighty cataract, to the ti'ackless desert of the west. We are near the left bank ; there is no trace of man's hand ; such as God made it, there it is. Erom the pebbly- shore to the craggy mountain top — east and west countless miles — away to the frozen north, where everlasting winter chains the sap of life — one dark forest, lone and silent from all past time. For two days more there was nothing to attract the atten- tion but the shoals of white porpoises : we were welcomed by several ; they rolled and frolicked round the ship, rushing along very fast, stopping to look at us, passing and repassing for half-an-hour at a time, then going off to pay their com- pliments to some other strangers. The pilot came quietly on board diu'ing the night, and seemed as much at home the next day as if he had been one of the crew. By degrees the great river narrowed to twenty miles, and v/e could see the shore on both sides, with the row of white specks of houses all along the water's edge, which at length seemed to close into a continuous street. Every here and there was a church, with clusters of dwellings round it, and little^ silver streams, wandering through narrow strips of clearing, behind them. VVe got near the shore once ; there was but little wind : we fancied it bore us the smell of new- mown hay, and the widow thought she heard church-bells ; but the ripple of the water, gentle as it was, treated the tender voice too roughly, and it could not reach us. Several ships were in sight ; some travelling our road, wayworn and weary ; others standing boldly out to meet the waves and storms we had just passed through, liows of little many- coloured flags ran up to their mizen peaks, fluttered out what they had to say, and came down again when they had got their answer. The nights were very cold ; but, had they been far more so, we must have lingered on deck to see the Northern Lights. They had it all to themselves, not a cloud to stop their running wild over the sky. Starting from l)ohind the mountains, they raced up through the blue flelds of heaven, and vanished : again they reappeared, where we least ex- pected them ; spreading over all space one moment, shrink- ing into a quivering streak the next, quicker than the tardy eye could trace. There is a dark shade for many miles below where the Saguenay i)ours its gloomy flood into the pure waters of the St. Lawrence. Two degrees to the westward lies a circular slieet of water called Lake St. John, forty miles wide, fed by numerous small rivers. Here is the birth-place of the great Its coul countrf few wtl ^vith -II nicrce eluirelj is twcl elitfs hundi'l apart. that ol can g'j scattej ply tl pinC" Off Thes sun s the :^ sweei there Isle. It that cheei up tc mou] eued natn the war* sinl^ den^ cUs1 Toi tw< au< ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOKLD. 17 and lan's Ibbly Itless Inter from lino, sing- |om- Jtly tho great tributary ; its separate existence ends at Tadousao. Its course lies from west to east, halt'- way through a rich country, with a comparatively mild climate, where only a few wandering' Indians Imnt and iish, exchanging- their furs Avith Eng-lish traders at Chicoutimi : here this rude com- merce has grouped, tog-ether a number of houses, round a church built by the Jesuits two ci nturies ago. Great Bay is twelve miles lower down ; thence to the river's mouth the (ilitfs rise straight out of the water, sometimes to hfteen liundred feet in height, in some places two or three miles apart. There is a great depth between, far greater than that of the St. Lawrence at the confluence, and lai'ge ships can go up so far. About three thousand white people are scattered about these districts ; they have saw-mills, and ply their laborious industry in the bush, felling the tall pine-trees. Off' the entrance to the gloomy Saguenay, lies Eed Island. The shore is rocky and perilous ; as we passed, the morning sun shone brightly upon it and the still waters ; but when the Is^ovembcr mists hang round, and the north-east wind sweeps up the river, many a brave ship ends her voyage there. To the south-east is seen a gentler sister — the Green Isle. It would be wearisome to tell of all the woody solitudes that deck the bosom of tho St. Lawrence, or of the white, cheerful settlements along its banks, some of them growing up to towns as we advance, their background swelling into mountains. It is a scene of wonderful beauty, often height* ened by one of the strangest, loveliest freaks of lavish nature. The mirage lifts up little rocky tufted islands, into the air, and ships, with their taper masts turned down- wards, glide past them ; the tops of high and distant hills sink down to the water's edge, and long streets of trim, denuu'e-looking houses, rest their foundations in the sky. We arc now at Grosse Isle ; the pilot points out the nuarantine station, the church, the hospital, and, in the fiistance, the fair and fertile island of Orleans. Bold Cape Tourment is at length past; it has Avoaried oiu* sight for two days, like a long straight road. It grows very dark, and the evening air is keen ; we must go below. About midnight I awoke. There was the splash, and heavy rattling sound of the falling anchor ; the ship swung slowly round with the tide, and was bJll ; wo had reached Ut'EJ»HC. I lookt'd out of the window of my cabin ; we lay in deep shade, under a high headland whic^h shut out half the sky. There were still a few scattered lights, far and wido f in !. 18 HOCHEIAGA; OK, in ■ I ■ i over the steep shore, and among the numerous shipping around iis. Our voyage was rather a tedious one ; without doubt you thinli so too. CHAPTER III. QUEBEC— HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CA?^ADA. Take mountain and plain, sinuous river and hroad ti'an* quil waters, stately ship and tiny boat, gentle hill and shady valley, bold headland and rich fruitful fields, frowning battlement and cheerful villa, glittering dome and rural spire, liowery garden and sombre forest — group them all into the choicest picture of ideal beauty^ your fancy can create, arch it over with a cloudless sky, light it up with a radiant sun, and, lest the sheen should be too dazzling, hang a veil of lightest haze over all, to Soften the lines and perfect the repose — you will then have seen Uuebec on this Septem- ber morning. The river St. C!liarles, winding through low rich grounds, empties itself into a wide basin, closed in, to the north- east by the island of Orleans. In the angle it makes with the St. Lawrence is a lofty promontory ; there stands the city, walled and bastioned round. On an undulating slope, rising gradually from the margin of the smaller stream to the foot of the battlements, lie the suburbs of St. Ivoch and St. Valier ; St. John's spreads up the shoulder of the height, along the land face of the defences ; St. Louis is the con- tinuation ; thence, to the river St. La-svrencc, is open ground. On the highest point of the promontory, and the most ad- vanced into the stream, is (^ape Diamond, the strongest citadel in the New World. On the river side, a hundred yards of perpendicular rock forbid the foot of man ; another face is fenced off from the town by a massive fortification and broad glacis ; the third side of tlic grim triangle looks out upon tne plains of Abraham, in a line of armed ram- parts. The lower town is built upon a narrow strip of land, saved from tlie water, under the lofty cliffs of the promon- tory, stretching from the suburb of St. Roch to where the citadel overhangs. Ikisy wharves, with numerous ships alongside, extend all round the town and for three miles up the great river. From (hiebec to the opposite shore is but three quarters of a mile, but tlie basin just below is five times as wide, and large and deep (^nough to hold the English Navy. Through as ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOKLD. 19 ^ tlio strait tlio tides How with j^rcat rapidity, risinj^ and falling twenty feet, as the ilood or ebb of the sea dams up or draws away the waters of the stream. ^ There are many and dangerous currents ; very few ever rise again who sink for a moment in their treacherous embrace ; even strong swimmers have gone down like lead. The pretty village of Point Levy, with its churches and neat dwellings, ornaments the opposite side of the river ; it, too, has a share of wharves, rafts, and shipping, duaint ferry-boats, with paddle-wheels worked by four fat horses pulling and puffing round on the deck, cross every few minutes. Dirty, impudent looking little steamers run out from hidden nooks m the shore, lay hold of huge ships twenty times as big as themselves, and walk away with them as an ant carries a grain of wheat. When people came on board, they told us the English news ; they had got two or three posts since we left. There was the staff officer to give the soldiers their orders, the emigrant agent, some people of business come to look after their con- signments, and a few to greet their friends, our fellow- travellers. jNo one coming to meet me, I went ashore on my own account ; landed at the bustling, dirty market-place, climbed up into a calecli — a very queer-looking affair on two high wheels, with a shaft-frame like a gig, the body swing- ing on broad leather straps, fastened on to rude springs before and behind — the driver perched himself on a narrow seat where the dashboard shoidd have been, shouted, 3Iarche ! marche! and the stout little horse started at a rapid pace. The way was up a narrow winding street, twisting up the steep end, of the promontory, with short cuts for foot pas- sengers from bend to bend ; we enter the fortilied town through Prescott Gate, tiu'n sharply to the left, and I am set down at a large hotel, having in front an open space, called the Place d'Armes. Now, while we rest after the long and weary voyage, lend me patience while I tell the old tale of how, and by whom, this fair city came to be built ; and why the flag of dear Old l^ngland lioats upon its citadel. The first Europcnin who ever visited these lands was Jaques Cartier. Jn the month of May, 1535, the year after his circumnavigation of Newfoundland, he again sailed from St. Malo with three small ships. He and his followers were blessed by the bisho]) in the cathedral, received the holy sacrament, and bade farewell to their friends, as if for ever. The little squadron was for a long time dispersed, but met again witli great joy on the 20th of July. Having visited Newfoundland, .they kept it to the north, and sailed into a large gulf, full of islands ; they passed on the north side of c 2 C *i4 (' V J 20 HOCHEIAGA; OE, Anticosti, and, sometimes landing' by the way, came at length to the mouth of the Saguenay* By means of two Indians, taken in the former voyaiire, at the Bay of Chaleiir, they con- versed with the inliabitants, and overcame their terror. These simple people then received them with song's of joy, and dances, giving them freely of all the provisions they had. The adventurers soon gathered that there was a town some days' sail higher up ; this, and the river, and the countries round about, the natives called Hochelaga; thither they bent their way. The kind-hearted Indians tried, by en- treaties and innocent stratagems, to detain their dangerous guests. During the voyage up the streani they passed shores of great beauty : the climate was genial, the weather warmer than that oi' France, and everywhere they met with unsus- picious friendship. They found Hochelaga a fortiticd town among rich corn-tields, on an island under the shade of a mountain which they called Mount lloyal ; time has changed it to Montreal. The old name, like the old people, is well- nigh forgotten. The inliabitants had stores of corn and hsh laid up with great care, also tobacco, which Europeans saw here for the tirst time. The natives were courteous and friendly in their manners, some of them of noble beauty ; they bowed to a Great Spirit, and knew of a future state. Their king wore a crown, which he transferred to Jacques Cartier ; but, when they brought their sick and infirm, trusting to his supernatural power to IkuiI, the Christian soldier only blessed them Avith the cross, and prayed that Heaven might give them health. The adventurers returned to France next year, carrying off one of the kings with them, to the great grief of his subjects; he became contented with his lot, but soon after died. This was the tirst wrong the doomed race suflered from the wliite men. Four years afterwards, the 8ieiir de Jloberval, graced with many high-sounding titles, and aided by Jacques Cartier, landed at the mouth of the f^^t. ('harles River ; the inhabitants, mindful of former injury, met the strangers with war instead of ueace. 8even miles above (Quebec is Cap Rouge ; there, three liundred years ago, the French built their lirst stronghold, to guard themselves from just vengeance ; they named it Charlesboiirg Royal. Their leader, tortured by the dissensions of liis followers, soon led them back to France ; in 1549, he, with his brave brother, sailed to seek the visionary Cathay, and were heard of no more;. At the end of the sixteenth century, when the gloom of this failure had passed away, Chauvin and I'outgrave o]>ened a fur trade at Tadousac, witliout much success. Next fol- lowed the Calvinist Ho Monts, with a little ileet of four sail j rth ins, )n- |or. id. me lies hy m- us ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOELD. 21 his inordinate priyileo^es and the religious dissensions of his followers caused his ruin. The worthy Champlain, his suc- cessor, founded the city of Uuebec, in 1608, and cultivated the rich valley of the St. Charles ; with some of his followers he penetrated to the great lakes of the west, and returned in safety from among their fierce and savage nations. To this vast territory of Caxada, he gave the name of New France. For many years the settlers met with great difficulties from the climate and the Indians, but adventurers poured in from the old world, and wars and tire-water thinned their foes. Some powerful tribes sought their alliance, serving them to the end with faith and courage. Montreal, Niagara, and other towns were founded, and Quebec was strengthened into the Gibraltar of the West. The quarrels of the mother countries involved these colo- nists in constant diiliculties with their English neighbours of the south, and their Indian allies added unheard-of horrors to their wars. After many alternate successes, a British army of great force, imder the command of General Amherst, invaded Canada in 17^39. Tieonderoga fell into his ])ower, and Niagara Avas won by the division of General Johnson, after a gallant battle. Those triumphs were how- ever of but little moment, for all knew that on Q,uebec the fate of Canada depended, aiid the failure of General Hill, half a century before, had given a lesson of the diihculties of the attack. A large fleet, commanded by Admiral 8aun- d(;rs, carrying an army of seven thousand men, reached the Ishiud of Orleans in the end of June. For a few years, and for a great purpose, England was given one of those men Avhose names liglit up the page of history; he was humble and gentle as a child, graceful in person and manners ; raised by transcendant merit in early manhood, he had done high service at Minden and Louis- bourg : tlic purpose was accomplished, and the gift resumed at (Quebec, when he was about thirty-two years old. This was Wolfe; to him the expedition was intrusted. He took possession of the Island of Orleans, and occupied Point Levy with a detachment. His prospects were not encouraging: tliq great stronghold frowned down on him from an almost inaccessible position, bristling with guns, defended by ]\[ontcalm, with a superior force of a gallant army, and inliabited by a hostile population. Above the city steep banks rendered landing almost impossible ; be- low, the country, for eight miles, was embarrassed by two rivers, many redoubts, and the watchful Indians. A part of the lleet lay above tlie town, the remainder in the Nortli Cliannel, between the Island of Orleans and Montmoronci ; ffl 22 hocheiaga; on, it ' W i in i each ebb-tide floated down fire-ships, but the sailors towed thorn ashore, and they proved harmless. ^ The plan which first suggested itself was, to attack by the side of Montmorenci, but this the brave Montcalm was pre- pared to meet. On the 31st of Jidy, a division of grenadiers landed below the falls ; some of the boats grounded on a shoal, and caused great confusion, so that arrangements, excellent in themselves, were in their result disastrous. The grenadiers, with an indiscreet ardour, advanced against the entrenchments, unformed and unsupported ; a steady and valiant defence drove them back ; a storm threatening, and the loss being already heavy, the general re-embarked the troops with quiet regularity. The soldiers drooped under their reverse, but there was always one cheerful face — that of their leader ; nevertheless, inward care and labour wasted his weak frame: he wrote to England sadly and despondingly, for the future was very dark; but he acood on an inspiration. His generals were brave men, and sug- gested daring plans ; he seized the boldest counsel, risked the great venture, and won. On the night of the 12th of September the fleet approached the shore below the town, as if to force a landing. T,he troops embarked at one in the morning, and ascended the river for three leagues, when they got into boats, and floated noiselessly down the stream passing the sentries unobserved. Where they landed, a steej) narrow path wound up the side of the clin forming the river's bank; it was defended bravely against them, but in vain. When the sun rose, the army stood upon the plains of Abraham. Montcalm found he was worsted as a general, but it was still left to him to fight as a soldier : his order of battle was promptly and skilfully made — the regular troops were; his left, resting on the bank above the river ; the gallant Cana- dian Seigneurs with their Provincials, supjjorted by two regiments, formed his right: beyond these, menacing the English left, were clouds of French and Indian skirmishers. General Townshend met these witli four regiments ; tlie Louisbourg Grenadiers formed the front of battle, to the right, resting on the elift'; and there also was Wolfe, exhort- ing them to be steady, and to reserve their discharge. The French attacked ; at forty paces they staggered uiuler the fire, but repaid it well ; at lengtli they slowly gave ground. As they fell back, the bayonet and claymore of the lligli- landers broke their ranks, and drove them witli great car- nage into the town. At the first, Wolfe liad been woundcnl in the wrist, another shot struck liiui in the body, but he dissembled his II ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOULD 23 sn rinf? duty was tnrou„ii ^^^^1 ^^^tli done. Again When they rai 3tind clear Stem wa| -aso . ;un. ^ },lXfIorao.y of two lUus- ;Srst discouraging ^lespatch, anci .p ^ Throughout all and the reason why that ma„ tnmo slisM reserve as. to titles »« f^ ii^,,ty »ud the S-e?om-r^^^ „,,,,,, the^n,lisl.^e^y These concessions tausca f^^rther to thewest, wheic tney -n?ee"l^m tKe^^ted ^'eneh se^n^^^^ S fouudoT Upper Oauada. ]^^l'«tmber elective the vT-.ii -Hio ('Lective iiuun*. c*x„.y ~ .- T.ower rro\iuv;u i^x. iuce petitioned Nt: ■m, 24 hochelaoa; or, II f i i « ' ^^1 •i "I ii to bo freed from the mischievous pressure of the French civil lawj In 1831, great eoncossiens were made to the French party ; the composition of the k>g'isiative council was altered in their favour ; the control of all i'unds pro- ceeding- from duties in tlie colony was yielded to the House of Assembly, and power was given them to alter the laws of the tenure of property. England, having granted so mucli in a generous spirit of conciliation, was met by demands of further concessions ; such as to make the Upper House elective, the executive council directly responsible to the people, and to amend the agreements made by the government with the Canada Land Company. These were at once refused, and the assembly stopped the supplies. While affairs were thus at a dead lock, •'.iolcnt dema- gogues, generally men of some education and very little responsibility, tried, by every means in their power, to excite the minds of the simple French Canadians. They were unfortunately but too successful, and in sonie districts the people rose in revolt. There were not wanting nu^ii in the English House of Commons, who rcgoiced in the insur- rection, and expressed ardent wishes for its success. The government determined at once to strike at the root of the evil, by an effort to seize the leaders of the sedition, who were supposed to be assembled at St. Denis and St. Charles, on tlie llichelicu river, which ilov/s into the St. LaT\Tence from the south. On the night of November 22, 1837, a detachment from Sorel, of about four hundred and lifty men, marched upon St. Denis, and arrived at its destination at ten in the morning. The night had been one of extraordinai^ severity, the roads were pioug'hed up by the heavy rains, and the i'atigue of a twelve hours' march, under such diiliculties, had exhausted and harassed the troops. The insurgents, to the number of fifteen hundred, were posted behind a barricade, in a fortified house anu some buildings on the flank. Their leader was Wolfred Nelson, wlio had at least the merit of being a brave rebel, and who has since represented tlic Richelieu district in the provincial parliament, having experienced the clemency of the imperial government. A sharp fire opened upoi#the troops when they appeared, and the c;flbrts against the entrenched position fiiiled, the resistance being very determined. The ammunition of tlio assailants was soon exhausted, and they were ol)liged to yield the victory ; tlie roads hud become impassable, a gun Avas abandoned in the retreat, and. sixteen men were killed and wounded. ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOELD. 25 This first and last gleam of simshine on rebellion, was darkened by as ruthless and cowardly an assassination as ever stained a cause. An officer of the 32nd regiment, Lieutenant Weir, had been sent with despatches to this detacliment ; on his way, ho fell into the hands of the rebels at St. Denis. They sent him, as a prisoner, to St. Charles, under the eharg'c of Francois Jalbert, formerly a captain of militia, and other men. The former, I belie\ e, is still alive to bear the curse of his foul crime. They tied their victim's hands behind his back with cords, placed him in a cart, and went on their journey. The roads were so bad that the horse soon stopped ; Jalbert told their prisoner to get out of the conveyance and walk ; as lie could not move his hands, and his limbs were chilled and stiff, ho had some difficulty in reaching the ground, and then leaned against the cart to support himself, at the same time remon- strating, and insisting on having his arms unbound. Jalbert, irritated at this, rushed at him from behind, and stabbed him in the back with a sword. He fell, and the weai^on remained hrmly fixed, from the strength of the blow. The miu'dcrer, holding the hilt still in his hand, stamped with his heavy heel on the prostrate body, till he had dragged out the blade : ^vrithing with pain, tied down, and helpless, tlie poor young man crept under the cart wheels for pro- tection ; but the human tigers, one with the sword, another witli an axe, struck at him as he lay, mangling him at every blow. Tliorc was no hope of escape ; but, by a sort of instinct, he struggled up and made an effort to limp away ; pursued, he turned and tried feebly with his foot to parry the assassin's sword. The other was behind him, and swung the heavy axe down on his bare head ; he felt the coming blow, bent to avoid it, and threw up his bound hands to avert the fall : the blunt steel tore off his lingers and beat in his skull. The murderers then threw the body into the llichelieu river, and •covered it with stones ; some brother officers, guided by the villagers, found it there, but could scarcely recognise, in the battered corpse, the gay and gallant young officer they had so lately seen. Who can be surprised that some of the exasperated soldiery took a fierce revenge ? On the same night the troops marched on St. Denis, Lieutenant- Colonel Wetherall left Cliambly, with five hun- dred men and two guns, for St. Charles. The intention was that these two attacks sliould have been simultaneous, but the bridges were destroyed, the weather was very severe, and the roads were difficult, so that the detachment did not arrive till noon of the 2oth. The rebels were numerous, strongly posted in held- works, and animated by the news of Ii'; < i Ii •. \ 26 HOCHELAGAJ OK, the success at St. Denis. Tlio g-allant Colonel Wetlierall, as soon as he had formed his troops, led them to the assault. After a sturdy delence, the position was carried, and the village burnt. The insurg-ents suffered a heavy loss : the troops had twenty-one killed and wounded. This disaster was fatal to the hopes of the rebels on the Richelieu; and, soon after, they all dispersed. A man named Brown had been their leader ; he showed liimself a dastard tlirough tlie brief strug-.sfle ; and, at the first symptom of reverse, deserted Ids deluded followers, and fled to the United States. All the leaders, except Nelson, added dis- graceful cowardice to tlieir treason. He was taken, having stood by his people to the last. There is a rich and beautiful district, called " The County of the Two Mountains," thirty miles up the Ottawa river, west of Montreal. The highest of the hills from which it derives its name is called Calvary, held sacred by the Canadians and the remnants of two great Indian nations, the Moliawks and Algonquins, living at its base. A large lake lies in its shade, terminated by the rapids of St. Anne ; here, in the old time, tlio voyageurs used to bid farewell to the haunts of men, in the church of tlieir tutelary saint, and receive the blessing on their journeys. We have iill heard their beautiful boat-song in our English homes; its tones are very sweet on their own bright waters. Moore's words are of this spot, in tlie line — " We'll sing at St. Anuc't} our parting liyinn." At the time of our story, this lovely country was deformed by the evil passions of men ; it was the centre of the revolt, the scene of its worst excesses. A numerous body of the dis- affected had assembled here, led by a man named Girod, a clever demagogue, who had received a good education, but was devoid of courage or principle. On the morning of the L'ith l)t>cember. Sir John Colborne, the commander of the forces in C-anada, with about thirteen hundred men, advanced fiom Montreal towards this district, along the h^ft l)aiil' '»+' the Ottawa. On the opposite side was the fortified village of St. Eustache ; on the 14th the army crossed the river and invested it. The greater number of the insurgents, terrified at the approach of danger, fled in the night : among these was Girod ; he was overtaken, and put the seal upon his shame by suicide. A brave, misguidi'd enthusiast, named Chenier, with about four hundred men, threw themselves into the church and tiie adjoining buildings, and defended themselves with courage and constancy ; but their cover >vas beaten down, and finally fii'ed, by the artil- SU(| of, wl ENGL.VNI> IN THE T^EW WOELD. 27 , tWr leader and many f theu. numDor .voro Bl.n. to ro-sunco _was exvcot^^^^^^ ^,^, ., ,,,,,o„ ' L^^S'^fS those had been the ^^^-^a but tlic leaders wUowe^^^^^ ,osistanee ^v■as exveettd. ^ ^,,,,1, treason ! ^ depntaUon 1^^""!^ totherSanee. M''^^t^^ S to V^Z'"' ,vas no turtnei 1 ^^ . • . j^ Olienc, T,l^NI> T^ THE J^T.Vf .VOBLD. 2» ritan ,tion. iceii- [imed lews- v^ord ; place town, )ntiou p was •ovcnt raiicis •icnds, lc Avas )s, and ed his , there . The anft-er ; of the J to the I. The II, piib- nd free mg the I orders Durin;^ 1 which ;ovcrnor nade an the loss he mail, number :i-hbour's ents, the party of ern; the 't resist - intly de- 1 away." ely alter- ce roused In fho meantime, ine y^ j;"" ,vhere. bv the stor^ ui ni^^ much injury .a »^«^> ^ ^^^ December, the ^t^^^^^^ island, tinnn -iftorwards, a sumcitnt lu cannonaae iroiu siou of by tbe authouti^s. a ; i? * 30 hochelaga; or, f sympathizers, on Kingston and Amherstbiirg-li, bnt were at once defeated by the militia. Another party havin£>' as- sembled at Point Pelee Island, in Lake Erie, the artillery and troops marched twenty miles over the ice to attack them, takinj^ up a position which oblif^ed them either to light or surrender. There was a sharp resistance, many of the soldiers were shot down in their close ranks, from behind the wooded coverts ; alter some time they extended their files, to avoid the concentrated fire, and charged with the bayonet ; the island Avas then carried, and most of the de- fenders captnred or slain. In all these forays, excepting the first outbreak at Toronto, nearly all the marauders were citizens of the United States, and their conduct throughout was unredeemed by a single act of humanity, generosity, or courage. The Washington government, with good faith, tried to restrain these outrages, but its feeble executive was unequal to the task. _ Every night, houses were sacked and burned on the Canadian side. Amongst othei" depredations, a pillar raised to the memory of the brave Sir Isaac Brock, slain at the head of an Englisn force in the last American war, was blown up with gun- powder, and much injured, by a man of the namt; of Lett, who was afterwards imprisoned for robbery in the United States. On the 30th of May following, a party of sympathizers plundered and burned a Canadian steamer, the Sir Ilobert reel, while lying at Wells Island, belonging to the United States, in the Iviver St. Lawrence. The leader was a man named Johnson, of great cunning and skill ; he managed to carry on his system of piracy and destruction for a consider- able time, without interruption. For twenty-five miles below Kingston, the "Thousand Islands" adorn the river; they are nearly two thousand in number, rocky, wooded, without inhabitants, and varying in size from ten miles long to mere rocky tufts. In this watery labyrinth, where the thick forests overshadow the river, these marauders lurked ; they were provided with boats of wonderful swiftness, their expe- ditions were secret and sudden, and pursuit was vain. In the month of September, several French-Canadians were tried by the usual forms of law, for the murder of a volunteer named Chartrand, which had been perpetrated with cold-blooded atrocity. The jury were exclusively countrymen of the accusecf, all others had been objected to in the challenge. Tlie crime was scarcely denied, and was proved, by ihv clearest evidence to every one but those witli whom it lay to decide ; they gave the verdict, "not guilty," and were in consequence entertained at i)ublic dinners and applauded for their patriotism, by the disaifocted partj^. The common trial by jury was thus found to be quite unsiiited to EXGLAIfl) IN THE NEW WORLD. 31 the emcr?;Gncy, and tlic disposal of the prisoners became a source of great embarrassment to the government. On tlie arrival of the high-minded, bnt injudicious Earl of Durham, (who had been sent out as plenipotentiary at the time of these difiieulties>) the question was solved by a general gaol delivery, with some very few exceptions of those whose crimes were pre- eminently heinous. A proclamation was also issued, allowing those who had fled out of the country to return unmolested to their homes. Lord Durham's mission produced a statement of the condi- tion of the country, and the sources of its difficulties. The spirit of the document is as follows : — "The root of the evil in Lower Canada is in the difference of races, arraying the I)eople in enduring and bitter hostility against each other. Tlie distinction in language, education, and religion, is not softened down by social intercourse, they seldom meet in society, each have '.heir own banks and hotels. They inherit in an exaggerated degree the peculiarities of their origin, and the English take but little pains to conceal their con- tempt and intolerance for the customs and manners of their neighbours. Every political difference may be traced to the same source — the contest of the races. "A peculiarity in the formation of French-Canadian so- ciety is also a fruitful cause of mischief ; from the means afforded by public foundations for attaining the higher branches of education, the professions arc greatly overstocked. Two or three hundred young men, nearly all of humble birth, arc annually turned out from the public schools ; averse to sinking back to the lowly occupations of their parents, a few ])ecome priests, the remainder lawyers and surgeons. With these every village swarms. Thus the best-educated people are generally connected by ties of blood, and intimacy with the most ignorant hahitmis. In social intercourse the abler mind gains an influence over the mass, and thus the de- magogue here becomes more powerful than in any other country. " The general inclination to jobbing, results in a perfect scramble in the House of Assembly for each to get as much as he can for his constituents and himself ; this is carried to suciv an extent, that a great proportion of the schoolmasters appointed could neither read nor write. The judicial system a])pears to have been feeble and imperfect : except in the large towns, there was no public officer to whom any order could be dii-ected." In the middle of October, the state of Canada again became gloomy ; numbers of the French population bound tliems(!lves, by secret oaths and signs, into a dangerous or- ganization ; the terriiied loyalists crowded into the towns, ' \ •I i d2 IIOCHELAGA; OE, or fled tlic country; tlie thirst of blood and rapine was rc-awakened on the American frontier, and the militia of English origin, dissatislied with the pardon of the rebels who had inflicted such injuries on them and been arrested by their prowess, showed much disinclination again to come forward in so unpromising a cause. A portion of the French inhnbitants were again in arms on the 8rd of November; their plan being to rise in Montreal, and destroy the troops while they were at church and unarmed. By this time the government had devolved upon the gallant Sir Jolin Colborne, whose Avise ])recautions and admirable arrangements defeated their intentions. At Bcauharnois the rebels attacked the house of Mr. EUice, lately secretary to the governor, and carried him of; treating the ladies, however, with consideration and courtesy. On the same day a body of armed men concealed themselves near the Indian \dllage of Caughnawauga : this news arrived while the warriors of the tribe were at cliurch ; they sallied out with the arms they could collect at the moment, and fell upon the rebels. These, surprised, scarcely resisted, and were tied with their own sashes and garters by the victors, who carried them in boats to Montreal gaol. The Indian chief told the general that, if necessary, he Avould bring him the scalp of every habitan in the neighbourhood in twenty- four hours. These Indians are the remnant of the once powerful and ferocious tribes of the Six Nations; they are now domesti- cated, and cultivate the land. The chiefs are himiane men, and enforce strict order ; none of their ]irisoners were injured. About four thousand insurgents collected at Napierville, under the comuiaiid of Doctor Kobert Neh n and two others, who had all b(^en included in the late amnesty. Some troops were marelicd on this point, but thc^y found that the greater number of the insurgents had disappeared, and were beyond pursuit. Some of thein Imd b(^en detacjied to open a com- munication with the United States : these were met by a party of loyal volunteers, who bravely defeated them, drove them across the frontier', took several prisoners, a field-piece, and three hundred stand of arms. The victors then threw themselves into the church at Odell Town, awaited the ap- proach of Dr. Nelson and the rebels who had lied froi^ Napierville, and repulsed them with the loss of more than a liundrec^ men. Mr. EUice, and several other loyalist prisoners, were carried by the rebels to C'hateauguay, and Avell treated; finally they were released, and the road ])ointed out to them by which to reach La Prairie. In this rising there was but little violence, and no cruelty, in the conduct of the Canq- ENGLAND IN THE NEW TVOELD. 33 (lians. Dr. Robert Nelyon's address to the people declared for independence, a republican government, the confiscation of the crown and church lands and the possessions of the Canada Company, the abolition of seignorial rights, and of imprisonment for debt. In Upper Canada, live hundred American sympathizers landed at Prescott, on the St. Lawrence, with several pieces of cannon, on the evening of the 12th. Soon after, a party of En:^lish troops and militia attacked them, driving them into two strong houses and a stone windmill, where they defended themselves with great tenacity. They finally sur- rendered, however, and Avere carried prisoners to Kingston, to he tried by court-martial. Another body landed near Sandwich, in the western part of Upper Canada : they burned the Thames steam-boat, the barracks, and two militia-men witliin ; shot some inoffen- sive people, and murdered Dr. Hume, a military surgeon. He had mistaken them for some of the provincial militia, and fallen into their hands unarm.ed; his body was thrown aside, hacked and mangled by axes and knives. Colonel Prince, on hearing of these atrocities, assembled a few militia-men, when the dastard assassins, making but little resistance, lied : their exasperated pursuers overtook, and slew many of them. A public meeting was held at New York, for the purpose of promoting the invasion of Canada ; Dr. Wolfred Nelson and many other refugees attending it. At the same time, tlie inhabitants of Ogdensburgh, an American town nearly opposite to Prescott, assembled; and, through the com- manding officer of the United States' army in that district, begged that consideration might be shown for the misguided men who, under false representations, had been beguiled into the invasion of a friendly country. Six of the Prescott brigands, and three of the assassins of Dr. Hume, were executed. The leader of the former was the first tried, and hanged ; his name was Yon Schultz, a Pole by birth, and merely a military adventurer. He had fought with skill and courage, and died bravely and without complaint, except of the false representations which had caused his ruin, by inducing him to join the godless cause. Doing all that lay m his power to repair his error, he left his little property, about eight hundred, pounds, half to the Ro- man Catholic College at Kingston, and the remainder to the widows and orphann of tlie I'uglish soldiers and militia who liad fallen in tlie combat where he was taken. Several people were also executed in consequence of tho attack on Toronto. Tho most remarkable of these was a man named Louut, a native ol the United States, but settled 34 irOCHELAGA; OE, tl d in Canada; lie liad been a blaeksmitli, and had acquired considerable property, and influence among his neighbours. Ho became a member of the Provincial Parliament, where ho formed intimacies with the most dangerous of the political agitators, and his more ardent nature soon led him to out- strip them all in the violence of sedition. His trial excited very great interest : doubt there was none, and the solemn sentence was pronounced. His daughter, a girl of no common attTactions, had forced her way through the crowd, close to the judges' l)ench. With fixed eye, and bloodless cheeks, she lieard the fatal words which blighted earthly hope ; for a time they were but ;m empty voice, no meaning reached her stimned senses. Slowly, and with an increasing distinctness, the terrible reality stamped itself upon her soul. 8he was carried to her home, thence to her long home. Her father prayed earnestly, and acknowledged the justice of his punishment when on the scaffold. In the last moment, he wondered that his child had not come to bid him farewell ; when he complained, he did not know that they were to meet so soon. Very great leniency was shown by the English government ; fifty or sixty persons were transported ; but all the pcliticcl offenders have since been parcloned. Occasionally there were instances of great apparent harshness. Where such numbers were implicated, over such an extent of country, at a great distance from the fountain head, with several changes of Governors, such ca&os could not be altogether avoided ; unfortunately, those really most guilty were not always the men made to ex])iate their offences. The loyal Canadians, who had suffered much during the insurrection, were discontented and indignant at this tendency to clemency; particularly with regard to the sympathizers, whom they looked upon as assassins and robbers. Thus ended the Canadian rebellion ; tlie handiwork of a few political knaves and desperate adventurers, acting on the passions and ignorance of a portion of a virtuous and peaceful people. Whatever may have been their wrongs, real or imaginary, such an -attempt at redress was but a spirit to prosecute their iirst success l)y an atrocious assassination— unsupported, discountenanced by th(; mass of the intelligent and wealthy, even of their own race— opposed ])y the iirn-e warlike and energetic in- habitants of th(! Upper l'ro\i nee— they threw themselves madly into tlie held against the greatest of (>arthly powers ; their only allies, the robber refuse of a neighbouring popu- lation. EIs^GLAND m THE NEW WORLD. 35 As a political movement, it was an egTe^^ions error ; as a military effort, it Avas below contempt : not that one would •vvisli for a moment to depreciate the merits of the brave and iudicious leaders, and the gallant troops, throug-h whose instrumentality it was suppressed ; nor to speak with less pride and pleasure of those loyal men, who, from the Chief Justice of a province to the hardy woodsman — from the descendant of the earliest settler to the emigrant but just landed from his English home or Irish country village — -had all, with ready heart and hand, fought for the cro^vn and laws of our matchless country. The republican journals of Franco took up the cause of the rebels with liery zeal. Undeterred by profound ignorance of the circumstances of the case, they spoke of "their brethren in blood and principle, the six hundred thousand oppressed French in Canada, who had risen en masse against British tyranny, the motive and soul of which is inveterate hatred of all that is French." On the 7th of September, the Governor of Canada, Mr. Poulett Thompson, afterwards Lord Sydenham, communi- cated to the Parliament of the Upper Province a proposition from the English (xovernment to unite the provinces : both to be represented equally in the new Legislature ; to agree to a sufficient civil list ; and the charge of the principal part of the debt of Upper Canada to fall on the United Province. This was agreed to, both in the Legislative Council and the House of Assembly. In the month of March following, after the union, a general election took place, which v^as favourable to the Government in its results. Lord Sydenham addressed the House, in a sound and conciliatory speech, which was wtII received, though in the ensuing dc bate the difficult question of •' Responsible Government" was much dwelt upon. He did not live to see the effects of his measures. In September he had a fall from his horse, and soon after died m great torture ; continuing, however, to fidlil his duties with un- flinching fortitude to the end. His last wish was, that his grave might be on the banks of the St. Lawrence. Sir Charles Bagot was the next Governor. Ho, to a cer- tain extent, succeeded in the fusion of parties, admitting some representatives of each section into his ministry. He was shortly compelled, by ill health, to take measures for his return to England, but, in the month of May, 1843, ex- pired at Kingston, Canada. In January, 1848, Sir Charles Metcalfe, now Lord Metcalfe, had succeeded him. This distinguished officer was, fur many years, in the service of Wni East India Company. In 1839 he was appointed Governor of Jamaica, where he had very great difncidties to contend with, but oycrcamo them D 2 kf, t. .' i S6 hochelaga; oe, all ; gainings the admiration, love, and respect of the in- habitants, and the fullest approbation of the authorities at home. On the 28th of September, Sir Charles Metcalfe opened the third session of the United Legislature, in a speech ex- pressing the greatest anxiety for improvements in the colony, and for a more efficient system of immigration. He announced the act of the Imperial Government, admitting Canada corn to England at a nominal duty, and recom- mended various local arrangements for consideration. An animated debate took place on the subject of the future seat of government, which was at length fixed at Mon- treal. Not long afterwards, the ministry insisted on a pledge that they should be consulted on all appointments by the Governor ; this was at once denied, as limiting the preroga- tive of the Crown, and implying a want of confidence. The ministry, with one exception, then resigned office ; and were supported in this step by a majority of the House of Assem- bly, who voted an address to the Governor, expressing their regret at what had occurred ; but, at the same time, dis- claiming any wish to exact a stipulation from the head of the Government. The session was then abruptly brought to a conclusion, and the authorities at home expressed full approbation of the acts of the provincial Governor. In the autumn of 1844, the House of Assembly was dissolved on these questions. The result of the general election was the return of a good working majority in support of the worthy Governor and the views of the English Government. During the anxious time of his collision with tiie late ministry, the general election, and the meeting of the Parliament, Sir Charles Metcalfe laboured under intense bodily suftering, but with gallant constancy still continued in Ihe discharge of his office. His successful zeal and wisdom were rewarded by a peerage, which, while conferring honour upon him, reflects it also not a little on the order to which he now belongs. Unfortunately for Canada, continued ill health rendered his further stay in the country impossible ; in the end of the year 1845 he returned to England, with the respect and personal regard of all those over whom he had ruled. Lord Metcalfe was received in England with the consider- ation his high character deserved, but the hand of death was upon him, and he knew it. In his reply to one of the addresses that welcomed his return, he wrote : " The grave stands open to receive me." In another month it had closed over him. Earl Cathcart, the commander of the forces, then suc- ceeded to the government. The Earl of Elgin followed ; ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOELD. 37 under his able and judicious rule, political dissensions have almost become extinct, and the colony has attained unex- ampled prosperity. CHAPTER lY. QUEBEC— AUTUMN. Business, and makinof arrangements for my sojourn for the winter, occupied a short time after my arrival. At our hrst leisure, the captain and I started for a day of sight- seeinp: within the limits of the town, despite the almost tro- pical heat of the weather. Without entering? into particulars about the public build- ing's, I may say, that the impression on our minds was, that they were exceedingly uj^ly. They are dispersed all over the town, as if ashamed of being seen in each other's com- pany. There are live gates of the city, in the fortifications ; from each of these, streets run towards the centre of the town, playing at cross purposes in a most ingenious manner, forming bends and angles in every conceivable variety of inconvenience. The streets are all narrow; the shops not generally showy, though much improved of late ; the nouses irregular. St. John's Street is the principal thoroughfare; it is paved with large blocks of wooci. There are several pleasant walks ; one all round the ram- parts; a platform, with a magniiicent view, overlooking the river, and an esplanade to the land side. Wherever you can get your head high enough to look over the walls, you see around you a country of almost unequalled beauty. The portion of the city within the defences is called the Upper ToAvn, and contains the dwellings of the wealthier people, and the shops frequented by them. The great majority of this class are of English origin. The private houses arc built more with a view to comfort and convenience than ex- ternal beauty, and few of them are of any pretension. The Lower Town consists princii)ally of banks, merchants' offices, stores and timber yards, with an amazing number of small liotels and inns. The suburbs were then nearly all built of wood, but have churches, hospitals, and convents of more lasting material. The great mass of the i)eople in these districts are French- Canadians. The total population of the city is little short ot fifty thousand, being an increase of fifteen tliousand in fifteen years. Tliore are large Church of England and lloman (!iitliolio cathedrals, and four churches of each of these persuasions ; also two i'resbyterian and two Wesleyan. There is a tolera- iBK I 5 38 nOCHELAGA; OR, ble museum, and two ^ood public libraries. The hotels are nothing? to boast of; they are eontlueted on the American system, like boardin.n'-hoiises : the sleeping"- rooms are bare and uncomfortable ; the fui'uiture of mine consisted chiedy of my portmanteau. Besides tLv)se of the citadel, there are three barracks, and guards and sentries in all directions. After nightiall you are met at every part of the ramparts with '* Who g-oes there ? " which, however, you answer or not, as you feel dis- posed. The town was not then lig'hted, with the exception of a few dim oil lamps in St. John's Street, for which reason, perhaps it is, that the city police seem to prefer that beat ; and, as they are gregariously disposed, you may always calculate on finding a sufficient number of them there to apprehend the man who has knocked you down in some dark and distant part of the town, if you can only persuade him to wait till you fetch them. Most of the streets have wooden trottoirs, very pleasant to the feet; those of St. John's are crowded like a fair for two or three hours in the afternoon, with people shopping, and showing themselves. Womankind of all ranks dress here very much as in England. The hahitans, or French farmers, usually wear a coarse, grey, home-made, cloth suit, with coloured sashes tied round their waists, and often red and blue caps of thick worsted-worlc. You are never asked for alms; there is apparently, no poverty ; man is dear, and bread cheap, ^o one who is able and willing to work need want, and the convents and chari- table institutions are very active in their benevolence to the sick and infirm. In everything in this (|uaint old town there is a curious mixture of English and French. You see over a corner house, " i\\\ de Sac Street; " on a sign-board, " Ignace Bougainville, chemist and druggist." In the shops, with English money, you ])ay a Frcnehuian for English goods; the piano at the evening party of Mrs. Wliat's-her- name, makes Dutch concert with the music of Madame Chose's soiree^ in the next house. Sad to say, the two races do not blend : tlicy are like oil and water ; the English the oil, being the riciicr, and at the to[). The upper classes sometimes intermarry with those of different origin; the lower very rarely. The greater energy of the Anglo-Saxon race, tells in everything. They are gradually getting possession of the largest shops in the town, and the; best farms in the country; nearly all the trade is in tbeir hands ; their numbers, assisted by immigration, increase more rapidly. The distinguishing characlLristic of tlie Englishman is discontent; of the French, content ; tlie former always struggling to gain the ENGLAND IN THE NEW WORLD. 39 class above liim, tlie latter often subsidini? into tliat below. The time is not very remote when, by the constant action of these laws, the masses of the weaker family will bo hut the hewers of wood and drawers of water for the stronger. These French-Canadians have many virtues besides this fatal one of content ; they are honest, sober, hardy, kind to each other, courteous in their manners, and relij^ious to super- stition. They served with loyalty and valour in the last American war ; the most brilliant achievement of the time was by a body of thei,r militia at Chateauguay, numbering only three hundred men, under the gallant de Salaberry. General Hamnton, with nearly twenty times their force, and a strong artillery, attacked them soon after he crossed the frontier, in his invasion of Lower Canada. He was repeatedly, and hnally, repulsed ; the defensive position was so well chosen and handled, that the assailants became confused in the woods, and hred upon each other. In the end, leaving a good many prisoners in the hands of the victors as memorials of their visit, they hastily evacuated the country. Efforts are now being made to extend education in Lower Canada ; but there is great objection to it among the hahitcms, and indifference on the subject among theii* superiors. The people are wonderfully simple and credulous : a few years ago, at a country town, an exhibition of the identical ser- pent which tempted Eve, raised no small contribution towards building a church ; thus rather turning the tables on the mischievous reptile. Many of their expressions savour strongly of the maritime pursuits of their ancestors, the early settlers ; such as " embarquer" used as *' to get into a conveyance ;" " baliser" a road, is to marlv its direction through the snow with the tops of fur trees ; while the pronunciation, even of the educated, is peculiar, as, for example, " bonswere" for " bon soir." A party of Canadian ladies were the other day ad- juring a painting in one of the churches ; a traveller from tlio United States, who was going about sight; seeing, was locjking at it at the same time, and intruded himself some- what abruptly on their conversation : after a few preliminary remarks, he observed *' That the Canadians do not speak the pure language, like the French." "Alas, no," retorted one of the ladies, "we speak it much as the Americans do English." Hince Canada became a portion of the English empire, many of the laws relating to property have been found harassing and unsuitable, and have been changed by the representatives of the people. The action of those on bank- ruptcy ia dUteront from that in England : by settlements on 40 hocitelaga; oh, another person, the property is secured from the effects of a failure, and this sometimes falls very injuri9iisly and unjustly on the creditor. When a merchant starts in business he can settle ten thousand pounds on liis mfe, though at the time he may not possess half the money ; a year after, he fails, when his debts and credits may be very large. The settle- ment on his wife stands as the hrst claim, which probably the credits tan meet, but no assets remain for the real debts ; —so that the advantages of the failure are like Sir Boyle Roche's reciprocity— all on one side. In spite of the occa- sional occurrenct- of instances of this sort, the mercantile community of Uuebeu, as a body, hold a deservedly high position. Tlicic was a gT-eat panv a few years ago, when the altera- tion in the duties on Jialtic timber took place, but time has shown that the trade of the St. Lawrence, in that most important branch, is not in the least injured by it ; indeed, on the contrary, that it has since largely increased : as fast as the trees can be cut down and shipped, our wonderful little Island buys them all up. They now send us large quantities of tiour and corn, and will be able to send us more, as the trade to England gives them the encouragement of high prices. The article they are most in want of in Canada, at present, is man— even the pauper ; when they get that raw material, they soon manufacture it into " comfortable goods." As our production of this commodity is so rapidly increasing, we fihould take pains to supply their markets better. Poor wanderers ! we would not speak lightly of their mournful lot — they find the struggle f(3r theii' coarse food too fierce at home : farewell friends — farewell the land they still love, though it only gave them the cruel gift of life ! Trust me, the emigrant ship and the Canadian forest are not beds of roses. But once settled, with patient industry, they can always, in the end, work out prosperity. ^ The citadel is the object of greatest interest in Quebec. The approach is up a steep hill forming the glacis. Threatened by guns in all directions, you must pass by a winding road through a detached fortification, and arrive at the gate lead- ing into the body of the place. The front is a high revetement of cut stone, with several embrasures for cannon, and numerous loopholes for musketry from the bomb-proof bar- racks within. There are certain ineffectual forms of jealousy as to admission kept up ; my companion's uniform procured us immediate entrance. To the unprofessional eye this place appears impregnable, and is, no doubt, of great strength, in spite of one or two weak poiuts, which the captain pointed out to mo in confidence. It may, however, be considered ENGLAND IN THE NEW WCELD. 41 perfectljr safe from any besieging force likely to be brought against it from the American continent, for many years to come. On the last day of the year 1775, the American general Montgomery was slain, and most of his followers shared his fate or were taken, in an attack on this stronghold : it was defended by general Carleton, the loyal inhabitants, and the crews of some English merchant ships ; with about one hun- dred regular troops and invalids. In the year 1838, Theller, Dodge, and three other State prisoners, from the Canadian rebellion, made their escape on a snowy night from this citadel, while in charge of a battalion of the guards : to the infinite chagrin of the officers, the two hrst got clear away from the town, the others were retaken, one with his leg broken by a fall from the walls. A shoii; time after this day's expedition, I was highly pleased at iinding on my table an invitation to a niilitary ball, which was to take place at the barracks: this oftered the wished-for opportunity of judging if the living beauties of (Quebec were as worthy of admiration as the inanimate. From those of the former whom I had already seen walking about, I was inclined to decide very favourably ; but there is no such place for forming an opinion on these matters as a ball-room. Having discovered that ten o'clock was the proper hour to go, I presented myself punctually at that time at the door of the barracks, and, with a crowd of other guests, walked up stairs. The rooms were ornamented with Hags, and stars of swords, bayonets and ramrods, arranged about the walls in a very martial manner ; but the passages had an air of rural simplicity, being carpeted with green baize and overhung with boughs of trees: little side rooms also were turned into bowers, sofas supplying the places of rustic seats, and wax lights of sunshine. ^ Though the passages did not appear to lead anywhere in particular, they seemed to be very much frequented by some of the couples, after the dances ; and the bowers were never unoccupied. At one end of the ball-room vas the regimental band, whence the lungs of some dozen or so of strong-built soldiers, assisted by the noisiest possible musical contrivances, thun- dered forth the quadrilles and waltzes. It was a very gay sight : about eighty dancers were going through a quadrille as I entered tlie room ; the greater number of the gentlemen were in their handsome uniforms of red, blue, and green ; good looking, witli the light hair, fresh complexion, and free and honest bearing of Englisliraen; some were mere boys, having just joined from school, with very new coats and very stiff collars and manners. Then there were the Canadian ! r 42 ttoctielaga; oe, gentlemen, with tlicir white neckch)ths and hlaek clothes, generally smaller and darker than their English fellow- suhjects, and mneh more at hora(^ in the dance. On a range of sofas at one end of the room sat the mammas and ehaperons, attended by the elderly gentlemen ; here also were the young ladies who were not dancing, but they were very few. 1 obtained a place in this group of lookers-on, and found myself seated next an elderly young hidy of rather an angular east of mind and body ; as she did not dance much, she had ample o])portunity to give me the names and " historiettes " of the company. She was one of those whose tastes had taken a literary turn^ and slie had read nearly all Byron's poems, with Shakspeare from beginning to end. On the strength of this, she lamented to me the intellectual inferiority of many of her fair fellow-citizens ; telling me in confidence that they did not read much, that before their education was finished, they began receiving visitors and going into society. She wondered how sensible men could find pleasure in the conversation of silly girls, who talk of nothing but their amusements. Ill-natured thing ! As she spoke, a quadrille broke up, and the dancers passed us by, two and two, on their way to the favourite passage and the bowers. The gentlemen seemed to find great pleasure in the conver- sation, whatever it was about ; and no wonder, with such bright black eyes to help it out. The young ladies were nearly all clad in white muslin, very simply, but very tastefully ; I do not think I ever before saw so many so becomingly di*essed, in proportion to their number ; the fashions were much the same as in Eng- land, perhaps a little older in date. They were generally very attractive, but it would have been difficult to single out any one with much higher claims to beauty than her companions. Most of them had dark eyes and haii*, and complexions tinted with the burning summer sun; their figures were light and graceful, their manners peculiarly winning. There is one thing in which the Canadian ladies certainly excel, that is, dancing ; I never saw one dance badly, and some of them are the best waltzers and polkistes I have ever seen in a ball-room. I see my friend the Captain coming ; on his right arm rests a little white glove with a little hand in it ; and a pair of large, merry blue eyes, shaded by long fair ringlets, are looking up into his grave face. He is so busy talking and listening, that he does not see me. Happy Captain, I msh I were young again ! " What a pretty girl that is with the fair ringlets," said I to my sour friend. *' Some people think so," answered she ; '' for my part, I think that silly smile IS very tiresome." ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOULD. 43 There is a waltz ! noarljr every one joins. At what a pace they p;o ' It makes me f*'iddy to look at them. The brass instruments in that terril)le band scream louder than ever. The loom is tilled with tlyin^' clouds of white muslin — with scarlet and ft'old flashing: through. Surely they must be g•ro^^nJ^ tirvid now ; some of the youn"' g'entlemen with the stift* collars arc becoming? nearly as red in the face as in the coat. Some breathless couples vanish among" tlie bystanders ; others sink exhausted on the seats round the room. Now, there is a clearer stage, and we can distinguish the dancers better. Tlun'e go the Captain and she of the fair ringlets ! Her tiny feet spin roimd so fast that they can hardly bo seen ; she seems not a feather weight upon them. There is ' a limit to the power of human beings. That storm of wind instruments cannot last much longer. Hush ! there is a calm. The whirlpool instantly subsides, and the stream glides away to the rural passage. I was soon walked off from this gay scene to make a fourth at a rubber of whist, whence I was released to escort one of the chaperons to supper. While I was performing the necessary duties of attendance, the lady told me that there was to be a pic-nic on the morrow to the Chaudiere : — "Beautiful waterfall, largo party, steamer sails from the wharf at eleven o'clock, happy to see you there." (At this moment, in came the Captain and fair ringlets) :™" Dear child, don't dance too much to-night— hot rooms — pic-nic in the morning. ^ly daughter, Sir." I am very glad she is going, I will certainly go too, thought I. Whatever the Chaudiere may be, it will look the better for having those bright blue eyes sparkling beside it. About two o'clock the ball-room began to empty; gentle- men with their pea jackets on sauntered about the foot of the staircase ; every now and then, two or three figures, with extraordinary head-dresses and long cloaks, would emerge from the ladies' waiting-room, take the arms of the pea jackets, and walk away with them. ^ There is the Captain, I know his walk. Who is that leaning on his arm ? The face is quite covered up in the snug bonnet, but as they pass out under the lamp into the street to join their party, I can see that two or three long fair ringlets have strayed out over the cape of the cloak. ^ At eleven o'clock the next day I joined the party, of some five and-twenty people, on the wharf ; soon after, we were taken up by a quaint little steamer, and going merrily with the tide up the great river. About seven miles fi'om the town we landed on the south bank. A crowd of country carts were waiting for us ; we momited, two in each, and il ! ■I 44 hochelaga; oe, placed some plethoric-looking baskets in an extra one. Tliese conveyances were very simple : unencumbered with springs, or any other unnecessary luxury, the seat, slung with ropes acr jss the centre, held the passengers ; the driver, a little Canadian boy, sat on the shaft, to guide the stout little pony. It was a b'^autiful September day ; a fresh breeze blew from the river, rustling cheerfully among the varied leaves of the tj'ees by the road side, and chasing the light clouds rapidly over our heads, while the landscape lay in alternate light and shade. The road was a vcrv rough one ; every here and there crossing little streams by bridges made of loose planivs or logs oi timber, over which the active little ponies trotted witliout a false step. The country was rich, but carelessly cultivated for two miles, and then we entered tlie busli ; we continued through it about the same distance, when we arrived at the halting place. The younger people of the expedition had managed to get the fastest ponies, and were far ahead of us ; the lady who had asked me was my tra . elling companion, and o i' united weight ke^t us last in the race. We found them all waiting patiently lor our arrival, and the partnerships seemed much the same as at the ball the night before. It was the custom of the country : lucky captain that it should be so ! All now, old and young, scrambled down a steep and narrow path through the Avood, making its echoes ring again with merry noise and laughter. At length the party, with fi few exceptions, re-assembled at the foot of the Chaudiere Falls. The height of tliese is little more than a hundred feet, and at this time of the year th(>re is but little water in the river ; but it is a singularly beautiful scene : the rocks over- hang auvl project, so that the misty stream plunges turbu- lently about among them, falling in a zig-zag course, half shrouded in spray, to the caldron below, which is shut in bv steep cliff's and banks. The waters foam and wliirl about in an extraordinary manner near the fall, but grow still and dark again as tlity ai)proach the gorge between tlie hills, when they pass through to tlie Jevel country. By this gap opens a distant view of the fields and forest of the rich banks of tlie St. Lawrence. Overhead, and wherever the grim rocks offer a resting-]dace, firs, pines, and cedars <^l'-ster down to the very edge of the stream, as well as on the little rugged islands between the divisions of the shallow river above the falls; while bright green mosses and lichen, witli crecpw-s banging over the rough sides of the clifls in fantastic tlrapery, comi)leto the i)i(;ture. When wu had for some time gazed on the fair scene, wo and the mos yielded up tl of bottles wi cooled under There was J usually arisi glasses and o coming do\\T] and a lean d( are to be en After dinner falls were ex discursive ra undertake, s rested sheltc shadows of t time to must before they before. AVe recros friend's houi land, where lights, liddl all tired; tb danced the when we we Such was envy the m huaiour^ an( companions, The ladie for which 1 trustingnes irreproacha them much drive, ride, with no chi respect am read genei ;5:ung int( so that th there is ah necessary possess an perhaps, q profound. In this I arrive at i DNGIAND IN THE NEW WORLD. 46 and tlie mosquitoes began to dine : the plethoric baskets yielded up their stores ; a white deal box produced a dozen of bottles with long* necks and leaded corks, which were cooled under a shady rock in the waters of the Chaudiere. There was a great deal of innocent mirth, and the fun usually arising from such things as scarcity of drinking glasses and of knives and forks ; a servant tumbling while coming down the steep path, and breaking half the plates ; and a lean dog darting off with a fine fowl ; accidents which are to be expected in pic-nics in all parts of the world. After dinner, groups wandered about in all directions ; the falls were examined in every possible point of view. These discursive rambles were far too difficult for the chaperons to undertake, so they, wisely, did not attempt it, and quietly rested sheltered under the shade of the rocks, till the long shadows of the pine trees on the deep pool told them it was time to muster their charge and return. It was some time before they were collected, and settled in the carts as before. We recrossed the St. Lawrence in row-boats, walked to a friend's house in a beautiful little nook under a high head- land, where everything was prepared for the party — tea, lights, fiddlers, and an empty room. No one' appeared at all tired ; those who had \yalked the farthest in the woods danced the longest, and it Avas some time after midnight when we were rattling along the moonlit road to (Quebec. Such was a day's amusement in Canada; and I do not envy the man who could not be infected with the good- hufliour and innocent mirth of such kind and friendly companions, nor moved by the beouty of such scenery. The ladies of Canada possess, in a great degree, that charm for which those of Ireland are so justly famed — the great trustingness and simplicity of manner, joined with an irreproachable purity. The custom of the country allows them much greater freedom than their English sisters ; they drive, ride, or walk with their partner of the night before, with no chaperon or guard but their own never -failing self- respect and innocence. They certainly are not so deeply read generally as some of oui* fair dames ; they enter very J :ung into life, and live constantly in society afterwards, so that they have not uiuch time for literary pursuits: there is also diifieulty in obtaining books, and the instructors necessary for any very extensive acquirements. But they possess an indescribable charm of manner, rendering them, perhaps, quite as attractive as if their studies had been more profound. In this climate of extreme heat and cold, they very early arrive at their full beauty ; but it is less lasting thaii in our i i / 1 1 1 1 : in 46 nOCHELAGA; OK, moist aiid temperate islands ; when • thirty summers' suns and winters' frosts have fallen upon the cheek, the soft, smooth freshness of youth is no longer there. Tho officers of the' army show themselves very rjensiblc to the attractions of the daughters of Canada ; great nupibers marry in this country ; no less than four of one regiment have beeu made happy at Quebec mthin a year. The fair conquerors thus exercise a gentle retaliation on the descendants of those who overcame their forefathers. Nearly all the Enp:lisli merchants also have married in this country ; and, from what I perceive, many of those who still remain bachelors arc very likely soon to follow their examples. From the limited numbers of the society, few of the little flirtations escape the vigilant eye of the public, and as fair an allowance of gossip goes on at Uuebec as at any place of its size in the British dominions ; but it is seldom or never mischievous or ill-meant, and, lyhile observing "svith wonderful penetration all the little partialities, it treats them with the leniency their innocence deserves. Lake Beauport, fifteen miles from Uuebec, is spoken of as a scene of considerable beauty ; the angling is sufficiently good to offer a fui'ther inducement for a visit, and to a stranger, its being actually in the bush makes it irresistible. One fine September morning, the Captain, the young Ensign, and I, started for its shores t the latter, in virtue of his youth, riding a high trotting horso, while we were driven by a little weazened Canadian, in a caleche. The first five or six miles of the way was an excellent turnpike road, then gradu- ally growing narrower, and the ruts wider. There were neat rows of houses on either side, mth here and there a church, and wooden crosses erected in conspicuous places, hung round, by the simple and religious Canadians, with rags, bands of straw, and other humble ofterings. After some distance the farms became ]nore scattered, and the intervening masses of bush more frequent and of greater size. For the last few miles there Avas merely a track through the forest, where the trees had been cut down, leaving a space wide enough to drive through. We at length reached a large clearing; beyond it lay the lake, surrounded by undulating hills of rather a poor outline, clothed with the forest down to the water's edge, and, indeed, beyond it, for the quiet waves crept in among the bared and blackened roots of the lower trees, refiecting the distorted limbs upon their bosom. It is almost impossible to convey an idea of the gorgeous colours adorning the foliage of a Canadian autumn. The sombre nine, the glossy beech, the russet oak, the graceful ash> the lofty elm, each of their different hue ; but far beyond EXGIAND I2f THE NEW WOELD. 47 fi all in beauty, the maple brightens up the dark mass with its broad leaf of richest crimson. For three weeks it remains in this lovely stag-e of decay : after the hectic flush, it dies and falls. This tree is the emblem of the nationality of Canada ; as is the rose of England, the shamrock of Ireland, and the thistle of Scotland. The Ensign had galloped on to the farm-house where we were to stop ; we found him resting on a rude sofa, com- plaining of a slight indisposition, and determined to remain indoors, as the heat of the sun was very great, and he felt weak and fatigued. We unwillingly left him behind, em- barked in a crazy little boat, and pidled to a promising- looking bay, Avith a pebbly beach, on the opposite shore. The gentle morning breeze had ceased, the midday sun blazed fiercely down on the smooth dead water, not a leaf stirred in the many-coloured woods ; there was no bird or buzzing insect in the air, no living thing upon the land, and, what was worst of all, there were no trout in the lake ; at least, we could not catch anj^ though we tempted them with all the daintiest morsels that our dy-books could supply. Our arms ached from casting the lines, our eyes, from the daz- zling glare of the reflected light off the waters, and our ears, from the deep silence. So we put by our rods, skirting lazily along under the shade of the tall trees, till we were opposite our landing-place, and then struck boldly across the lake, and reached the farm-house. Our companion was not better; he felt chill and weak. We wrapped him up as well as we could, placed him in the caleche, and returned to Q,uebec. The next morning he was worse, feverish, and h ' > spirits much depressed ; he ceased to talk, poor boy ! of the sleigh he was to have in the winter, the moose-hunting, and the gaieties he and his companions looked forward to with so much pleasure — his conversation was of home. That night he was bled ; the day after he was no better, his ideas wandered a little, and his head was shaved ; the fever was very high, but no one was alarmed about liim, he was so strong and robust. I went again in the evening to HOC him, but he did not quite know me. It was necessary to keep him quiet; as he seemed inclined to sleep, we left him alone. In the next room live or six of his brother officers were assembled round the open window; I joined them, and we sat talking for some time on various subjects, the conver- sation gradually taking a more serious tone as tlie night advanced. Near midnight wc were startled by the door suddenly opening; the sick man came in, and walked close up to us. Ih had just risen from his bed ; his eyes were wild and wan- f >i \ '] ■ ' 48 nocHELAaA; OE, clering, Lis flushed face and bare head g-ave him a frig-htful appearance. *' I am very ill," he said, "none of you think so, but I know I am dying." As we carried him back to his room every vein throbbed, the fever raged through him. All the medical advice the to"WTi afforded was summoned, and he was watched with anxious care all night. They fancied he slept to^yards morning : he seemed much better ; it was said the crisis had passed; he was weak, but quite tranquil. They thought he was out of danger, and his friends left nim for a little space, some to rest, others to pursue the amuse- ments of the day. At three o'clock that afternoon, a military band was play- ing a lively overture on the esplanade close by ; well-tilled carriages were ranged on the road outside; two or three riding parties of ladies and gentlemen cantered about ; gay groups wandered to and fro on the fresh green turf; merry, laughing faces looked out of the windows of the houses on the animated scene ; the metal roofs and spires glittered in the bright, warm sunshine. At three o'clock that afternoon, on a small, iron-framed bed, in a dark, bare, barrack-room, thousands of miles away from his kindred, with a hospital nurse by his pillow, the young Ensign died. * * i)f * All the rides and drives about Queboo are very beautiful ; of the six or seven different roads, it is hard to say which is the best to choose, as we found one evening when arranging a large riding party for the following day ; but at length we flxed on that to lake Culvaire. At two o'clock on a fresh afternoon in October, some Ave or six ladies and as many attendant squires assembled on the esplanade, variously mounted, from the English thorough-bred to the Canadian pony; we passed out by St. Louis Gate at a merry trot, a shglit shower having laid the dust and softened the air ; we crossed the bleak plains of Abraham, now a race-course, and continued for four or live miles through woods and small parks, with neat and comfortable country-houses ; scarcely checking bit till we readied the top of the steep hill at Cap Ivouge, where the road winds down the front of the bold headland to the low country beyond, on the banks of the St. Lawrence. As we descended, the glimT)8ca of the great river, caught every now and then through the close and still brilliant toliage ol the woods, were enclianting. Several large ships. liivcr lilled up the background of the landscape. EXGLAXD m THE NEW WOP.LT). 49 The younger people of the party paid but little attention to this scene, but a great deal to each otlior. "When at the bottom of the hill, away they went again as fast as before ; and, the road here becoming narrow, no more than two could ride abreast ; as the pace began to tell, the cavalcade was soon half a mile in length. Our wav lay through country liamlets, winding up and down small hills, and crossing over rickety wooded" bridges. Hero and there above the little streams, stood a quaint old mill, which in former times the Seigneur was bound to build for the use of the hahitcuis on his estate. The people appeared very simple and ignorant ; the farms wretchedly managed ; thc^ cattle poor ; and the instruments of husbandry tin; same as the rude forefathers of the hamlet used a hun- dred years ago. In ever J" village there is a well, furnished with very pri- mitive means for drawing water: a post is fixed in the ground close by, and on its top a cross bar moves on a pivot ; from the light end of this bar hangs the bucket, by a long rod, the other end being hea^^r enough to outweigh and raise the bucket_ when filled with water by forcing it down into tlio well with the long rod. The dress of the hahitans, in the country parts, is very homely ; they^ always wear the red or blue worsted cap ; their complexion is nearly as dark as that of the Indians, but they are a smaller and loss active race. A;s we passed along, thoy turned out in crowds to stare stupidly at the unusual sight ; the lazy cattle moved farther away from the road ; iierc(i little dogs ran from the cottages, and, secure behind the' high wooden fences, barked at us furiously; trotting ])iick contentedly when they saw us clear, as if thej' had done thoir duty. Our way soon became only a path through the "bush;" A\e could see but a few yards before and behind: above, the sky; on either side the wall of firs, pines, and cedars, with some foAv flowers and creepers which hiul outlived their com- panions of the summer. The sound of our horses' feet on the liard turf rang through tlie glades, disturbing notliing but the echoes. There is no place more still and lonely than the American forest. The^ woods were cleared away where we opened on Lake (Jalvaire — a narrow sheet of water about a inile and a half long, Avith populous and cultivated siiores; every luvre and tlu're a spur of the dark forest which the axe has still spared str(!tches down to the water's ecl<>'e, through some rough raviue, witli littlo streams winding throu,p;h ii.s shades. Some neat cottiiges, with well stored farm-yards, stand on the sloping hills. Herds of cattle grazed quietly on the rich E i ! i I I- 50 nocnELAGA; oe, f^rass by the margin of the lake, or stood in the shallow waters, cooling their limbs under the bright sun. A couple of little canoes, with two women in one, and a man in the other, lay on the calm lake under the shadow of a rocky knoll covered with lirs and cedars, the occupants leisurely employed in setting fishing lines. They were at the far side from us, and soft and faint over the smooth surface of the water, came their song, — *'La Claire Fontaine," tlie national air of the Canadian French. All our party pulled up for a brief space to enjoy this beautiful scene in silence; but soon again the reins were slackened, and on, on, over the grass green lane by the edge of the lake, winding round the little ba^'s and promontories, over the rude bridges, on, on they dashed, full of glee, laughing and chattering, some far ahead of the others, till they had doubled the end of the lake, and came cantering along towards home on the opposite shore. When we had encircled the lake, we plunged again into the forest. ^ I stopped for a minute to take another look at the lovely pic- ture : beautiful lights and shades lay on the soft landscape ; and now, scarcely audible in the distance, the song of *' La Claire Fontaine," came still from the little ' canoes. The gentle scene fixed itself on my mind, and remains stored up in the treasury of pleasant memories, liut I must not loiter ; my liorse's head is turned away, and we do our ut- most to overtake the party. During the few closing weeks of the autumn I joined several txcursions to other places in the neighbourhood of Quebec, [all well worthy of the visit at any time ; but, with kind and agreeable companions, beautiful weather, and the brilliant colours of the " fall" on the woods, they were seen to the greatest advantage. One of these excursions was to Lalce Charles, away among the mountains fifteen miles from the town, nnd the largest and most picturesque lake in the neighbourhood. There is a hamlet of log houses on the banks, with a small farm; all around is "bush." It was very calm when we embarked upon this lake ; we paddled to the far end, and up a little river through the woods. The waters were very clear and deep : we could see the hard sand and coloured pebbles, many feet beneath, and the black, gnarled roots of the trees projecting from the banks. Our conveyance wiis prepared by fastening together two canoes cut out of solid trees, placed side by side, by planks laid over the gunwales; these little boats, when single, are very dan- gerous with unpriictised passengers, but are impossible to upset when thus united. When we were returning, the breeze freshened ; the wave, splashed up between the two canoes, soon nearly Ulling tliem ,4 ENGL AND IN THE NEW WORLD. 51 with water, and thoroughly wettinj? us. To lighten them, half' the party landed, and walked back to the farm-house through the bush. It is difficult to form an idea of the fatigue of this walking in summer ; for two or three feet in depth the ground is covered with a network of broken branches and underwood, and. every few yards, the huge trunk of some fallen patriarch of the forest, so much decayed that it crumbles under foot, and overgrown with fungus and creepers, in some parts almost mixed up with the rich mould aud luxuriant vegetation of the j^rouna. It took us an hour to get through a mile of this, and many shreds of the ladies' drcsse fwere left hanging on the bushes. We dined at a little inn at the Indian village of Lorette ; on our return saw the j^retty falls; the young savages sliooting with bows and arrows ; the squaws working their embroiderv; and the hunters' trophies of the chase. The indefatigable young people managed to find two fiddlers, and danced till twelve o'clock, whilst an awful storm of light- ning and rain kept us imprisoned. After midnight the sky cleared, and a bright moon lighted us hone over the stream- ing roads. There is pretty good shooting in the autumn, about tlie neighbourhood of Uuebec : snipe, woodcocks, partridge, and hares ; but it is usually necessary to go a long distance for the purpose, and success is at all times uncertain. In some low swampy grounds north-east of the town, twenty miles olf, at Chateau liicher, snipe are occasionally found in great abundance. The numerous lakes and ^ rivers round about afford very good trout-fishing, but the hsh are generally small. Salmon are plentiful in the Jacques Cartier River, twenty-five miles to the westward, and in wonderful abundance at the Saguenay. The mosquitoes are a great drawback to the sport in this country — indeed, almost a prohibition : in June and July they torment dreadfully in country quarters, but seldom ventiu'e to invade the towns. There are few other noxious insects or animals of any kind within the bounds of Canadian civilization. The Loupcervier is sometimes dan- gerous when suffering from hunger ; but is never seen except in the more distant settlements, where this animal and the wolves sometimes devour a stray sheep. The black bear is occasionally met with in the neighbourhood. A young gen- tleman from (Quebec, fishing in the Jacques Cartier, saw one the other day ; he was so terrilied that he ran away, and did not consider himself safe till within the town walls ; while the bear, quite as much alarmed, ran off in the other di- rection. The moose deer is sometimes dangerous in simimer ; not E a I It?'"".' -^ 62 irocnEL^VGA; or, h nnfronuontly tlicy have beon known to attack men, when their liaimts have hecn intruded upon. ^ An officer of en- gineers, cniTai^ed in dr:nviu,^" a boundary lino some distance south of (iuebee, told mo that a lari^e moose attacked one of his workmrii who was euttiuft' down timber on the line. The man rail for shelter to where two trees stood tog-ether, leavinc;- him just room to pass between;^ the moose charged at him liercely, strikinj:;' its long" powerful antlers ag-ainst the trees, as he jumped back; he wounded the assailant slifi^htly with liis axe, but this only made the animal more furious, liaein^- round to the other side, the moose charg-ed at him again, and so on for two hours, till the w^oodman, exhausted by fatigue, was nearly ready to yield up his life ; but the moose too, was exhausted. The brute, however, collected all his remaining energies for a despera^'e r^i.sk at his foe: the woodm' had barely strength to step aside 3'et this orco, when, to his inex- nressibie joy, ho saw tbo moose, from the force of the blow, fastened by i]\o, antlers to the tree : seizing the moment, he sprang from Ins place oi' safety, and, with a blow of his axe, ham-strung his enemy; the huge animal fell helpless on tlu; ground, another gash of tiio W(:!a])oa laid open his throat, and he was dead. T^.ie conqueror, x/rought up to a pitch of savage fury by tlie protracted combat, threw himself on the carcass, fastened his lips to the wound, and dranlc tlie spouting blood. Tic fell into such a state of nervousness after this ailair, that it became necessary to seiul liiin to a hospital, wdiere he lay for many months in a pitiable state. CHAPTEIl y. QUEBEC — W'lXTEll. The first few da3\s of the falling snow are very amusing to a stranger ; the extraordinary costumes — the novelty of the sleighs, of every A'ariety cf shape and pattern, many of them being also very handsome, ornamented with rich f rs, rnd drawn by line horses with (^howy harness, set cif bj- higli hoops, with silver bells on the saddles, and rosettes of ribbon or glass, and streamers of coloured horse-hair on the bridles ; while the gay jingling of the bells, and the nice crisp sound of the runners of the sleigh, through the new snon% have a very cheerful eilect. Ladies' dress doe", not imdergo in winter fo great a trans- formation as that of men ; all wear muil's and boas, certainly, but the bonnets ai^d pelisses are much like those Avorn in England. Men always wear fur cap,^, often \\ith large tiaps ENGLAND IN THE NEW WORLD. 53 do^vll over their cheeks, enormous pea-jackets or blanket- coats, fur gauntlets, and jack-boots with india-rubber shoes over them, or inoccasins of moose-skin, or thick cloth boots, with high leggings. In the very cold Aveather, they often wear coats of buffalo, or other skins, and move about like some great wild animal, with nothing to be seen of the human form but a blue nose and a pair cf red eyes. Altliough the temperature is usually kept very high %vith- in doors, by means of stove heat, people n(^ver seem to suffer ])y sudden transition to the extreme cold of tlie ojien air. 1 have often seen young ladies, when the thermometer Vv'as below zero, leave a hot room, where they had but just ceased waltzing, and walk quietly home, with, very little additional clothing ; the great dryness of the air preserves tlicm from danger. In the very low temperatures, a razor ijiaj?" be exposed all night to the air without contracting a stain of rust. Colds are much less frequent in winter than in summer. The winter markets at (iuebec are very curious ; every- thing is frozen. Large pigs, with the peculiarly bare ap- jicarance vrhich that animal presents when singed, stand in their natural position on their rigid limbs, or upright in corners, killed, perhaps, months before. Frozen masses of beef, sheep, deer, fowls, cod, haddock, and eels, long and stiff like walking sticks, abound in the stalls. The liirmers luive a great advanta.ge in this country, in being able to fatten their stock duiing the abundance of the summer ; mid, by killing them at the first cold weather, keeping them frozen, to be disposed of c.t their jdeasure during the winter. Milk is kept in the same manner, and sold by the pound, looking like liimps of white ice. The hnbitdjts always travel over the ice of tlie rivers in ]ireferenc(! to the usual roads, as it is, of course, levd, and tliey avoid turnpilies or bridge tolls in entering the town. They sometimes venture on before the ice is sufficiently strong, and after it has beeom(^ unsafe, Avhen it breaks, and they and their horses are precipitated into the water ; the sleigh floats, the horse struggles and plunges, but can never i'''gain the tirm ice by his ow'n efforts. The only plan, in this emergency, is to draw the reins tightly round his neck, till lie is nearly choked, when he floats quietly on the surface; he can then easily be dragged to a i)lace of surer footing, and allowx'd to bi'eathe again. The poor animals have great sagacity in judging of the fitness of the ice to bear them : they will trot fearlessly through a pool of water on its surface, out in the centre of the river, during a partial thaw, knowing that underneath it there is solid bearing ; :,.rffff^ ik^ (4 54 HOCIIELAGA; OB, • but, in spring-, they sometimes show great reluctance to venture upon ice apparently strong, which their instinct tells tliem is brittle and unsafe. In the general break-up of the winter, in March, the snow roads become very disagreeable, and even dangerous ; ^ the hard cnist formed over deep drifts by the tracks of sleighs and the severe frost, becomes weakened by the thaw and hollowed underneath, so that the horse's feet often break through, and the animal sinks up to his shoulder, and pro- bably falls, while the crust may still be strong enough to injure him. Sleighs continue to be used; but, where the snow was not originally deep, the ground becomes bare in many places, and the runners grate over it with a most un- pleasant sound and with great weight of draught. During the winter, large quantities of ice and snow accu- mulate on the roofs of the houses : in the thaw this falls off, with a rushing sound and great violence, sometimes causing very serious damage ; indeed, no year passes without loss of life or limb from it. Close by the walls is the safest place to walk at this time, as the avalanche shoots out from the sloping roof by the force of the fall. There are regulations to oblige householders to keep away these accumulations, but this wholesome law is not sufficiently enforced. I had seen the Falls of Montmorenci in the summer, and admired them ver^" much, but was glad to seize an opportu- nity, whicli afforded itself in the shape of a party of some twenty people, of visiting them in Avinter also. We assem- bled at the house of one of the ladies, at twelve o'clock. There was a ver^" gay muster of cariolos ; some tandems, with showy robes and ornamental harness ; handsome family conveyances ; snug little sleighs, very low and narrow, for two people ; and a neat turn-out witli a pair of high- actioned horses abreast, and a smart little tiger standing on a step behind. My lot lay in one of the family conveyances, with a worthy elderly gentleman, who gave me a minute accoimt of the state of muniei])al polities, and other interesting matters. "\Ve jogged iL'isurely along with a sedate old horse, and were passed by all the party before we reached our journey's end, nine miles from the town. They looked very hapi)y and comfortable as they went by us, particu- larly tie Captain, in his long low* sleigh with the high- actioned horses ; lor, by his side, muiiled up in the warm, snug robes, sat a lady, with an horn he was so busily talking that he nearly upset us. It was one of those days peculiar to these climates, bright as midsummer, but very cold ; the air pure and exhilarating. ENGLAND IN THE NEV»' WOULD. 00 like laughing gas ; everything seemed full of glee ; the horses bounded Avitli pleasure, as they bore their light burthens over the elean, hard snow. But I wander from my friends in the long low sleigh. Half-a-do;:en bright reflections of the sun were dancing in the little lady's meiTy blue eyes ; her soft fresh cheek was flushed >vith the rapid motion through the keen air ; her little chin sunk in a boa of rich dark fur, the smiling red lips and white teeth just sho^ying above it ; her arms were cosily lodged in a muff, resting on the bear- skin robe of the sleigh ; and a small bonnet of purple velvet sat coquettishly on her head, only half hiding the long fair ringlets which clustered beneath it. We went by the river road, as it is called, over the ice ; the northern side of the St. Lawrence, and the channel between the island ^ of ()rleans and the left bank, being always frozen oyer in winter. 13y this bridge, the traffic from the fertile island and the Montmorenci district finds its way to duebec. The ice is of great thickness and strength ; shells, from mortars of the largest size, have been thro^vn on it from a thousand yards' distance, and produced scarcely any impression. Sometimes, the snow which has fallen on the ice, tliawSj lejmng large pools of Avater; this surface freezes again, and becomes the road for travelling. Such had been the case the day we were there ; but a thaw had afterwards weakened the upper surface : our respectable old horse broke tlu'ough, and floundered in the stream. Kot understanding the state of tl e case, I made up my mind that we were going through lo the river, and jumped out of the sleigh into the water ; when the old horse and I, to our agreeable surprise, found the under ice interfering between us and the St. Lawrence. About an hour's drive took ns to the Falls of Montmo- renci : they are in the centre of a large semi-circular bay, hemmed in by lofty cliffs ; the waters descend oyer a per- pendicular rock two hundred and fifty feet high, in an un- broken stream, into a shallow basin below. At this time of the year the bay is frozen r>ver and covered wth deep snow ; the cliffs on all parts, but especially near the cataract, were hung over and adorned with magnificent giant icicles, sparkling in the sunshine, and reflecting all the prismatic colours. The waters foam and dash over as in summer; but on every rock where there was a resting-place half concealed by the spray, were huge lumps of ice in fantastic shapes, or soft fleecy folds of untainted snow. Near the foot of the fall a small rock stands in the river ; the spray collects and freezes on this in winter, accumulating dailj, till it fre- :a i '. \ i K* ^ \ > 1 r,' 5G nOCHELAGA; OE, a\ qucntly reaches the height of eighty or a hundred foot iu n cone of solid ice ; on one side is tlie foaniino: hasin of the fall ; on the other, the hard-frozen bay stretches out to the river. One of the great amusements for visitors is, to climb up to the top of this cone, and slide down again on a tobogin. They descend at an astonishing pace, keeping their course by steering with light touches of theii* hands ; the unskilful get ridiculous tumbles in attempting this feat : numbers of little Canadian boys are always in attendance, and generally accompany tlie stranger in his descent. A short distance to the right is another heap of ice, on a smaller scale, called the ladies' cone. The fair sliders seat themselves on the front of the tobogin, with their feet resting ^ against the turned-up part of it : the gentlemen who guide them sit behind, and away they go, like lightning, not imfrenuently upsetting, and rolling down to tli(' bottoni. The little boys in attendance carry the tobogin up again, the ladies and their cavaliers re-ascend on foot, and continue the amuse- ment sometimes for hours together. The party were in high glee, determined to enjoy them- selves ; they tobogined, slid, and trudged about merrily in the deep dry snow. The servants spread out the buffalo robes, carpet fashion, on the snow, and arranged the plates of sandwiches, wdth glasses, and bottles, on one of tl\e carioles, for a side-board. When the young people had had enough of their amusements, they re-assembled, seated themselves on the buffalo robes, and the champagne and sandwdches w^nt round. Though the thermometer was below zero, we did not feel the slightest unpleasant effect of cold ; there was no wind, and we were very_ warmlj- clad ; I have often felt more chilly in an English drawing-room. It is true that the ladies carried their sandwich or their glass of wdne to their pretty lips in long fur gauntlets, through half-a-dozen folds of a boa, but their eyes sj)arkled the brighter, and their laugh sounded tlie merrier, in the cold brisk air, while their dresses sparkltd with icicles, and the little fur boots were white wdth snow. There was a great deal of noise and merriment, wdth some singing, and much uneasiness on the part of the elders lest we should be too late for a large dinner party to which wx' were engaged for that even- ing; so we broke up our lively encampment, and dro^•e home. Over the snowy plain of the river, the bold headland of Quebec stood out magniticently. The metal spires and domes of the town shone in the red light of the setting sun; the sharp, distinct lines of the lortitications on the summit, wi through he land. The houi arc the sara the wealth cuisine an( extent of 1 the presen( their appea joined by a "ofticers, the much culti The French are often even of th( whist. Sm introduced, The youi shoeing exc fatigue, an accustomed A man's sn than a foot oval shape, thin piece o: strips of m( door, but softest snow covered witl by the poir material, le; of w^alking. accustomed lifts you al walking. T smaller tha with tassels to tit very si of stained Indian squ[ The part down hill, 1 over the t( Ma ^race than their light smooth siir: EXGLAXD IN THE NEW WORLD. 57 summit, with the flag- of dear Old Eng-land over all : and, through her wide domiuiou, that flag waves over no lovelier land. The hour of dinner, and the arran.cements of the table, are the same as in England. Some of the ofHcial people and the wealthy mcreliants, entertain very handsomely; the ci/isinc and wines are good, and the markets supply a fair extent of luxuries. Formal dinners are seldom graced by the presence of the younger ladies ; they generally defer their appearance till tea-time, in the drawing-room ; where, joined by a few of the danciim- gentlemen and some young oftieers, they get up a (luadrille or a waltz; music is not much cultivated, except as an assistant to the dancing. The French Canadians are very fond of cards ; round games are often introduced at their evening parties, and some even of the younger ladies can play a capital rubber of whist. Small ])lays, as in England, are also frequently introduced, to vary the amusements. The young people often lorm large parties for snow- shoeing excursions ; they walk eight or ten miles without fatigue, and the awkwardness and tumbles of those not accustomed to the exercise are a constant source of mirth. A man's snow shoe is about a yard long, by a little more than a foot wide in the centre ; to the front, rather of an oval shape, behind, narrowing to a point. The frame is a thin piece of ash, bent into this shape, and strung with light strips of moose-skin, in the manner of a racquet or battle- door, but of so close a net, that when pressed upon the softest snow it sinks but little into the surface. The foot is covered with a slipper or moccasin of moose leather, attached by the point to the snow shoe with straps of the same material, leaving the heel free to rise or fall Avith the motion of walking. The exercise is fatiguing to those who are not accustomed to it, but the elastic spring of the snow slioe lifts you along at a more rapid pace than the usual one of walking. The ladies' snow slioes are made much lighter and smaller than those for men, and usually gaily ornamented with tassels of coloured worsted. Their moccasins are made to lit very smartly, and are decked with elaborate embroidery of stained moose-hair and beads, the handiwork of the Indian squaws. The party takes a straight line across country, up and down hill, through bush and brake, stepping, without effort, over the l^ops of tall fences scarcely seen above the deep drifts. Many of the ladies walk with great ease and more ^raoe than would be thought possible with sucli appendages, their light weight scarcely making an impression on the smooth surface of the snow ; they slide gallantly do^vn the ♦ I 11 68 lIOCilELAGA ; Oil, m steop bills, and run nimbly up tluan aj^^ain, often faster than their unpractised cavaliers can follow them. iSome years ap^o, three Enirlish ladies, with their husbands, officers of the garrison, walked off into the " bush" on snow shoes, made a caban in the snow, encamped, passed two nights in complete Indian style, and were highly delighted with their excursion. A worthy, matter-of-fact old gentle- man, who lived near the place where they encamijed, was greatly distressed afterwards to hear of the hardships they had gone through, and hastened to tell them that, had he known that they were there, he could have given them all beds in his house. AVhen the ice "takes" on the St. Lawrence, opposite to Quebec, forming a bridge across, there^ is always a grand jubilee; thousands of people are seen sleighing, sliding, and skating about in all directions. This bridge forms about once in live years, generally two years in succesdon, not ne- cessarily in the severest winters, but if at low or high tide the weather be very calm and the frost intense for that brief period, it takes across in glare ice, and usually remains solid till the beginning of May. Ice-boats come into play on these occasions : the boats are fixed on a triangular frame, with runners, like those of skates, at each corner ; they are pro- pelled by sails, sometimes at the rate of twenty miles an hour; thejr can sail very close on a wind, and tack with great facilitj'' ; a pole, Avith a spike at the end, being made to act as a rudder. The canoe -men employed during the winter at the ferry, use their utmost endeavours to break up the ice when there is an appearance of its forming a bridge, as by it they are deprived of their occupation. In common winters, the river is i'uU of huge fields of floating ice in the main channel, carried rapidly backwards and forwards with the ebb and flow of the tide ; sometimes these are hundreds of acres in extent, and strong enough to support a viity, crashing against each ether, as they move, with a roar like thunder. Cross- ing the river at this time appears very perilous, but is rarely or never attended with danger ; the passenger, -wrapped up in butfalo robes, lies down in one end of a long canoe, formed of a solid piece of timber, worked with broad paddles by five or six men ; they push boldly out into the stream, twisting and turning through the labyrinth of ioo till they reaoli a piece too large to eircunmavigate ; they run against this, jump out on it, and start along, hauling the canoe after tlumi over the fioating bridge ; when it is passed, the canoe is launelied again, and so on till tlu^y reach the opposite shore. The^, are occasionally carried a long distance up or ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOELD. 59 T( f down the river witli the tide, when the ice-fields arc very uumeroua, and are two or three hours in crossing:. From the great dryness of the climate, very little inconve- nience is felt from, any degree of cold when unaceomijanied with wind ; but this — which, however, very rareljr happens— is almost intolerable. One Sunday during the winter, when the thermometer was at thirty degrees below zero, and a hig-h wind blomng at the same time, the effect, in many respects, was not unlike that of intense heat ; the sky was very red about the setting sun, and deep blue elsewhere ; the earth and river were covered with a thin haze, and the tin roofs and spires, and the new snow, shone with almost unna- tm'al brightness : dogs went mad from the cold and want of water, metal exposed to the air blistered the hand as if it had come out of a lire : no one went out of doors but from neces- sity, and those who did, hurried along with their fur-gloved hands over their faces, as if to guard against an atmosphere infected with the plague ; for, as the icy wind touched the skin it scorched it like a blaze. Jhit such a day as this oc- curs only once in many years. Within a mile of Quebec I have known the thermometer down to thirty-eight degrees beloAY zero, but there was no motion in the air, and the effect was quickening and (sxhilarating. A small lire, which consumed a couple of houses, took place on one of these extrem.oly cold nights ; the struggle between the two powers was very curious, the flames raged with fury in the still air, but did not melt the hard thick snow on the roof of the house, till it fell into the burning ruins. The water froze in the engines ; some hot water was then obtained to set them going again, and, as the stream hissed off the fiery rafters, the particles fell frozen into the llames below ; there was snow three feet deep outside the walls, w^hile within, everything was burning. For about three weeks after Christmas, immense numbers of little lish, about four inches in length, called *' tommycods," conie up the tSt. Lawrence and St. Charles ; for the purpose of catching these, long, narrow holes are cut in the ice, with comfortable wooden houses, well warmed by stoves, erected over them. _ Many merry parties are formed, to spend the evening fishing in these places ; benches are arranged on either side of the hole, with, planks to kee]) the feet off the ice ; a dozen or so of ladies and gentlemen occupy these seats, each with a short line, hook, and bait, lowered through the aper- ture below into the dark river. The poor little tommycods, attracted by the lights and air, assemble in myriads under- neath, i)ounce eagerly on the bait, announce their presence by a very faint tug, and are transferred immediately to the i'i 1 ll.l.|lv I 60 HOCIIELAGA; OE, 5 fashionable assemblj^ above. Two or three Canadian boys attend to convey them from the hook to the basket, and to arrange invitations for more of them by putting on bait. As the fishing proceeds, sandwiches and hot negus are handed about, and songs and chat assist to pass the time away. Presently, plates of the dainty little tisli, fried as soon as caught, are passed round as the reward of the piscatorial labours. The young people of the party vary the amusemer •", hy walking about in the bright moonlight, sliding over the patches of glare ice, and visiting otlier friends in neighbour - mgcabans; for, while the toyiimycod season lasts, there is (piite a village of these little lisliing-houses on the river St. Charles. On New- Year's day it is the custom for gentlemen to visit every one of their acquaintances, wliether slightly or inti- mately known. It is very common too for strangers, at that time, to call with some friend, v.'ho introduces them ; and many people wlio have been on cool terms during the year, meet oJi this occasion and become reconciled. The ladies of the house sit in state to receive tlie calls, and do the lionours of the cake and li(|ueurs on the side table ; tlie visits arc, of course, very short, — merely a shake of the hand, and com- pliments of the season, for some people have to pay, perhaps, a hundred in the day; but it is a friendly custom, and not unproductive of good feeling and kindness. CHAPTER YI. MOOSE HITNTIXG. At the end of February, the Captain and I started on i^ nioose-lumting expedition. "We had arranged that four In- dians should meet us at vSt. Anne's, about sixty mik's from Quebec, to the north-west, on the extreme verge of the in- habited districts. Jacques, the chief of the liuiiters, Avas to join us at Lo]'ett(>, and guide us in oiu' route. We travelled in a low cariole, drawn by a couple of stout horses, tandem : a smaller sleigh with one horse and con- taining our guns and camp stores, folloAved us. AYrappc^d u]) in our blanket-(!oats and buifalo skins, we felt but little inconvenience from the wind, which cam(? sweeping up the road, bearing clouds of idvH and drift. Dav dawned as we passi'd out through the silent suburb of lit. A'alier ; the streets looked lon(dy and desolate, no one was yet stirring, and the sncnv during the night had obliterated all traces of the day beibre. As far as Lorette we had a broad, well- hardened track, but occasionally much encumbered with ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOELD. 61 drifts ; an hour carried us there, and Jacques was in waiting to receive us. He immediately asked for something? to drink, which we unwisely j^rantcd, for he soon g-rew very trouble- some and loquacious, taking: his place rather unsteadily in the lu,i?o:aj?e slcij^'h ; whenever we stopped he demanded more liquor, but was refused ; he bej^trcd that some of his wag-es for the expedition mi«?ht be advanced ; he assured us that ho was a riian of honour, and insinuatet! that we were by no nieuus of a convivial temperament. In a short time ho manas'cd, in .spite of us, to become intoxicated to such a (lep:ree that we threatened to leave him behind ; but he had just sense enouij^h left to lie down in the sleigh and yleep the greater part of the journey. Once these wretched creatures taste " firewater, " they have no restraint over themselves, and would g-ive anything they possess, or risk their lives, for more. The country we passed throug-h for some distance on either side of the road was cleared, but beyond that lay everywhere " the bush." We crossed many streams half frozen over, ■where the waters rushed along- through narrow channels in the ice, and tumbled over large transparent blocks accumu- lated at the bends. The Avhitc snow over the undulating ground, and the black lines of the hills and forests, gave the clfoct of an etching to the beautiful scene. In summer, when decked in natiu'o's varied colouring, this is a lovely laud. The snow began to fall hef',vily a iid fast, and the roads became narrow and deep ; every here and there we met sleighs laden with wood or corn, driven by habitans ; when there is not room on the track to pass, they pull their horses to the very edge on their side ; the sleigh sinlcs down into the soft snow, which is five feet deep ; by hanging on with all their might, they keep it from upsetting ; ^ then our driver forces his horses past — the sleigJis come in contact —ours, the lighter of the two, is pushed off the truck ; the horses slip into the soft snovr, plunge out a^'ain, and, Avith loud ".sf/c/v'.s" and *' marcha doncs" from the driver, and struggling and balanciiig on our part, \vc pass bJ^ Some- times, however, the collision ends by both conveyances and their contents being upset and plunged into the snow, whero we, wrapped up in our rob(^s, and (H)nvulsed with laughter, remain quite as inactive as the sacks of corn in the opposing sleigh. /Vi)out nightfall we arrivc^d at a miserabh^ hamlet, some ton miles from our journey's cmd, and st()])pod at tlie Cicorgo Inn (a log hut) for souu* little time, to rest our tired hoi'scs. This establishment contained only a bar and a sleeping-room for the family. The proprietor was a J oudoncr, and spoke ;:i| r ! I 62 nOCHELAGA; OK, 4 as if lie had known better days. Ho told us that he was living comfortably, and was quite contented ; that he had not been beyond the township for j^ears, but occasionally got a Q,uebec paper, which gave him news of the great world. As he showed us from the window, the clearing of a few hundred acres, with some dozen wretched log houses upon it, the rapid progress of his adopted residence seemed to be a great source of pride to him. " For," said he, "when I came to this place thirteen years ago, it was quite in its infancy." Darkness added very much to the difficulties of the journey ; but we were on an excursion for amusement, and wisely made even our troubles minister to the purjjose. We descended by a narrow winding road, to the ice bridge over the river St. Anne ; on one side was a high cliff covered with bare firs and huge icicles, and the top of which we could not see ; below was much the same, where we could not see the bottom. AVlien we were on the steepest part, the wheeler found the weight pressing on him Irom behind, inconvenient, so he sat down and proceeded in a slide. The leader, alarmed at this novelty, plunged forward into the darkness, and disappeared over the cliif at one side of a huge pine tree, while we, the sleigh, and the wheeler, tmsted up into an apparently inextricable mass of con- fusion, remained on the other; the traces and reins still connecting us with the invisible leader, as we judged by violent jerks at the cariole, simultaneously with the crashing of branches in front. This time we laughed less, and did more, than on the other occasions. As soon as we crept from under the capsized vehicle, we tried to iish out the leader^ from the darkness into wliicli he had fallen. Both the drivers, and Jacques, who by this time had slept himself sober, came to our assistance, and, after a good deal of hauling and whipping, and the use of some very strong language by the Canadian drivers, we succeeded in getting the animal on the solid road agian. He liad fallen across the strong branches of a pine tree, and for several minutes remained in this perilous situation, partly supported by the traces, and kicking furiously all the time ; he was too much exhausted by this to be put to again, so we drove him on in front, and liad to heli) him out of snow-drifts half-a-dozen times in the course of the remainder of our journey. ^ At length the otlier horses also gave in ; it was as dark as nitch, and we had already travelled so far that we began to have a vague idea we had lost our way, in which our guide, the lj!df-s()ber(!d Indian, seemed to participate. He, how- ever, set to hallooing lustily; and, to our great joy we saw, in about a minute afterwards, a light in a iiouse only a few yards off, wl destination i Very cold and made a went up to n I had founc great terror- the Indians out. Monsieur we were to ] able, and v There was two beds in kept it at c the house, a live Indians men poisons tobacco, the in an earth fumes of ^1 were smoki tempting tc biscuits out in the sea oj our buffalo The dogs the soft fur We kicked it was of n Their perse 1, made a n When th< lights i)ut possession ( house clocli repaired, a: ears, the di kept mo pri my wolf -lil believe, ho tilled with Indian tiel< a most sold At earlie appeared c kettles and oiu' break!'} ,i ENGLAND IN" TIEE NEW "WOULD. 63 yards off, which Jacques announced to bo the place of our destination for the night. Very cold and tired, I impatiently got out of the sleigh, and made a rush towards the beacon, but at the iirst step went up to my neck in the snow ; the weary leader, thinking I had found the right road, plunged in after me~to my great terror — and in this predicament we both remained till the Indians from the house came with lights, and hauled us out. Monsieur Boivin was the proprietor of the house where we were to pass the night. Its appearance was not favour- able, and we found it did not improve on acquaintance. There was only one room, about thirty feet square, with two beds in the far corner, and in the middle a stove which kept it at oven heat. Our party consisted of the lady of the house, and three daughters, four men of the family, the live Indians, half-a-dozen dogs, and ourselves. While the men poisoned the confined air each with a pipe of filthy tobacco, the women cooked some brovvn unsightly mixture in an earthen pan on the stove, from whence arose stiHing fumes of garlic. While a number of men such as these were smoking, the floor was naturalljr not in a state very tempting to lie down upon, but, having got some tea and biscuits out of our stores, we discovered two small islands in the sea of abominable expectorations ; on these we spread our buffalo robes, and settled ourselves for the night. The dogs judiciously followed our example ; and, finding the soft fur a very pleasant bed, lay down along with us. We kicked and drove them oft' as long as we were able, but it was of no use, they were back again the next minute. Their perseverance prevailed, and a huge wolf-like brute and 1, made a niglit of it. When the men were snoring on the filthy floor, and the Ughts i)ut out, the ladies under cover of the darkness, took possession of the beds. I had for my pillow the foot of the liouse clock, which, unfortunately for me, had been lately repaired, and ticked with the rudest health. This at my ears, the dreadful smells, and the baking heat of the stove, kept me pretty well awake all night, and I fear I disturbed my wolf -like bed-fellow very mueli by my uneasiness. I believe, however, I had a sort of dream of the room being tilled with house-clocks smoking and spitting, and a huge Indian ticking at my head. As for the Captain, he slept in a most soldierlike manner. At earliest dawn the house was all astir ; the ladies re- appeared on the stage, the Indians were packing our camp kettles and provisions on their tobogins, and we were eating our breakfast. I may as well observe that the tobogin is a #'*^ '"kik I ; 64 ITOCTTELAGA ; OK, I V light sleigh, made of pliuik scarcely thicker than the bark of a tree, and bent up in front lilvo a prow ; this, ^Yith. a mode- rate burthen, is dragged by the Indians over the snow by a rope to the shoulder, with but little effort. I'hese tasks were soon accomplished ; and, accompanied by the live horrible Indians and the pack of miserable dogs, avo started. These Indians are a remnant of the Huron tribe, settled at Lorette, where they have a church, liouses, and farms. They live, during the •^vdnter, by hunting, and such excur- sions as our own, for which they charge exorbitantly ; in th(^ summer they labour a little in their fields, make snow shoes and moccassins, and embroider with beads. They are not of ous, and liithy. They are even losing their skill in the chase — the only advantage they possess. Ikit little darker than the (Canadians in complexion, their hair is much coarser, and they have a savage and sensual ex]:>ression peealiar to themselves. Their dress is the blanket coat and coloured sash, blanket leggings, moccasins of moose-skin, and a red or blue woollen cap. They take no otlier clothing with thorn into the bush in the coldest weather. With their snow-shoes loosely tied on, and their tobogin dragged from over the shoulder, they can get over a long journey without fatigue. Our blankets, buft'alo robes, and other necessaries, made up rather a heavy burthen ; they were left with three of tlio Indians, to be drawn ^ leisurely after us, while we, with the others, went ahead in our snow ,shoes. We were very lightly clad for the journey; the exercise keeps the traveUer qnite warm enough in any weather. It was a glorious morning ! The sun shone out brightly as in midsummer, but clear and cold. Over the op-'^n space of tb(; little settlement where we had passed the night, the new white snow lay like silver sand, glittering radiantly; from the wind of tlie day before, it was in tiny waves, like the sea shore when the ripplin-g" waters of the ebb-tide have left it dry. T'lie morning Avas i^erfectly still, the snow of yesterday lay thick and lieavy on the hrs and pines, unstirred by tlio sliditest motion of the wind, and there was not a cloud in the sky. Though one of tlie extremely cold days, there was nothing painful in the sensation; the air was thin and pure as on a mountain to}) : everything was bright an(l cheerful: tlie fresh snow, crisped by the severe frost, sup - ])orte(l th(> snow shoe on its very surface, while we felt light and vigonms, and ('apal)le of unusual exertion. There wa:; no truck, but tlie Indians steered for a huge old pine tree at the end of the clearing, on the verge of the forest ; here all sign few minutes abodes of jl guide. From then We strod( level ground hill. The I place, made Drought us close by; w the woods, b it was brid^ only here ai was there ai At noon "v^ over an unc near which ; progress hac and rose ov tripped occ£ struggle up In makm their snow s chamber, al throwing tl They next leaning aga branches wc which is he portion. A the centre large fresh 1 which was 1 the inside •> ends of the the party I5 coucn on t] clothes. When th went to the cleared a pi axe cut a hi The admissi trout an api of them pc basket, whe reappeared, ENGLAND IN THU NEW WORLD. 65 here all signs of human industry ended. "We stopped for a few minutes under its branches to look behind us on the abodes of men. "Now, we are in the *bush/" said our guide. From thence to the North Pole, lay the desert.^ We strode on for several hours under the pine-trees, on level ground, at length stopping to breathe at the foot of a hill. The Indians trampled down the snow for a resting- place, made a seat of sapins — the tops of fir-trees, and Drought us deliciously cold and pure water from a stream close by ; we heard its murmur distinctly in the silence of the woods, but could not see the little brook for some time ; it was bridged over with ice and snow five feet deep, and only here and there, where there was a miniature cascade, was there an opening. At noon we started again : three more hours of walking over an undulating country brought us to a small river, near which we determined to pass the night. Latterly our progress had been very fatiguing, the underwood was thick and rose over the five feet of snow ; being unpractised, wo tripped occasionally over the branches and tumbled; — the struggle up again was no easy matter. In making a caban for the night, the Indians took off their snow shoes and used them to shovel out in the snow a chamber, about twenty feet in length by twelve in width ; tlirowing the contents up so as to build a wall round it. They next cut some young fir-trees and arranged them leaning against each other as rafters, to form a roof ; cross branches were laid over these, and a ceiling of birch-bark, which is here like broad pieces of leather, completed this portion. An opening on one side was left for a door, and the centre of the roof, uncovered, was the chimney; two large fresh logs were laid across the middle of the caban, on which was lighted a pile of dry wood. The arrangement of the inside was a line of pillows, formed of snow, at both ends of the hut ; our feet were to be close to the fire, half the party lying on either side of it. Sapins made up a soft couch on the cold fioor, and bufialo-robes were our bed- clothes. When these luxurious arrangements were finished, we went to the river, carrying an axe, fishing-lines, and bait ; cleared a part oi the ice with our snow-shoes, and with tho axe cut a hole in it, about a foot square, down to the water. The admission of the fresh air evidently gave the unfortunate trout an appetite, lor, as fast as the line was put down, one of them pounced on the bait and found his way to our basket, where he was immediately frozen to death ; when he reappeared, to be cooked, he was as hard as if he had been I •! T'*' 66 HOCHELAGA; OK, r iiiii ri !iif; tjultccl and pr";kcd for six months. Yv^c soon got tired of this diversioL, and returned to our lodging". The Indians had cut lirewood for the night, and were husy x)iling it at the door; a large kettle, hung from the ^afters hy a rope made of green branches, and tilled with a fiavoury mess of pork, peas, and biscuit, was boiling over the lire; a smaller one sang merrily by its side, with a fragrant brew of tea. The caban was warm, and, with the robes spread out, looked very comfortable : loops of birch- bark in the clefts of two sticks stuck in the snow served as candlesticks ; our valuables, including the brandy bottle, were placed in. a leathern bag at the head of our sofa, and carefully locked ' v "We ate d lew o ihc ti'oi.o, and lasted the Indian's mess, but our main "' c p.' ?iu <■;!!• was on one of the cases of pre- served meats, of \v .ju "^ had laid in a stock for the expedition. We had boilci.:. x. carefully in water according to the directions, and one of the Indians opened it with an axe ; we were ravenously hungry, each armed with a plate for the attack, but, to our great disappointment, such odours issued from it that even the Indians threw it away in dis- gust. We richly deserved this, for attempting such luxury in the*' bush." The Indians all kr.it in prayer for some time, before going to sleep ; each producing his rosary, and repeating his devotions m a low, monotonous voice. The unfortunate dogs, to make tliem more sayagr against the moose, had not been allowed to eat anything ; nor to come near the tire, perhaps to make them hotter in the chase ; they all kept prowling about outside in the snow, occasionally putting their heads into the caban for a moment, with a longing look. When, during the Indians' devotions, they found so long a silence, they began stealthily to creep in, one by one, and seat themselves round the fire. One, unluckily, touched the heel of the apparently most devout among the Indians, who turned round, highly enraged, to eject the intruder ; lie had a short pipe in his teeth, while he showered a volley of rreneh oaths at the dog, and kicked him out; when +^'3 was accomplished he took a long pull at his pipe, and re- Binned his devotions. About midnight I awoke, fancying that some strong hand was grasping iny shoidders ;— it was the cold. The tiro blazed away brightly, so close to our feet that it singed our robes and blankets ; but, at our heads, diluted spirits froze, into a solid mass. Wo were very warmly clothed, and packed up for the night, but 1 never knew what cold was till then. As I lay awaksj I stared up at the sky through the open El^GLAFD IN THE NEW WOELD. C7 roof; the moon seemed larger and licr lip^lit purer tfian I had ever before seen ; lier pale solemn face looked down on the frozen earth, through tho profound stillness of the night, like a presence. The bright stars stood out boldly in the sky, throwing back their ]istre into the inlinite space be- yond, where man's feeble vision is lost in boundless depths. Ih rhead, the bare brarches of the forest trees wove their d jate tracery agcdnst the blue vault, softening but not in! • ■ jding the view of its glorious illumination. It is impos- sihJe to desci'lbe the magnilicencr of these winter nights in ( ! /lada. ^he cold was, indeed, mt3nso ; my hand, exposed for a moment in wrajoping the buifalo-robe closer round me, was seized uj in a vice, and chilled in a moment. I wrapped a blanket round my liead, and my breath froze on it into a solid lump of ice. The Hame of the lire burned blue in the frosty air ; and, though it was still very powerful, the snov/ not a foot away from it was crisp and hard. Soon alter daybreak wo were on our way again. This day's journey was through a rugged and mountai ji. country ; in many places the way was so steep that W3 iia to drag ourselves up the sharp hills by tiie brcnchc. an.' underwood. When we came to a descent, we sat '^ rii. on the snow-shoes, holding" them together behind, and sk. 'm^^ along with great velocity, often meeting some ob' 'ruction in the way and rolling over and over to the bottoi tuerc we lay buried in the snow, till, with ludicrous diihculty, we struggled out again. About once in an hour we stopped by some turbulent little stream, scarcely seen in the snow,^ to drink and rest lor a brief space. The Indians took it in turn to go in front and "make track," this being the most fatiguing province; they all steered with unerring accuracy, apparently by an instinct : through the sameness of the forest, tliey only, can trace the difficult route. After about eighteen miles' journey, we struck on another frozen river; the guide turned' down its bed about a hundred yards to the west, then threw his burden aside and told us we were at the place for stopping that night, and within two miles of tlie " llavage," or moose-yard, of which we we were in search. These animals sometimes remain in the same ravaffe for weeks together, till they have completely bared the trees of bark and young branches, and then they only move away far enough to obtain a fresh supply ; from this lazy life tliuy hecome, at this time of the year, very fat. Our caban was formed, and the evening passed ]uuch as the precedin'.v one, eut that the cold was not so severe. Xiaving worn oil' the i' 2 68 nOCLlELAGV; OR, in tw; jiovelty of the situation, wo composed ourselves quietly to read for some times and after that, slept very soundly. The morning was close and lowering-, and the snow began to fall thickly when we started for the ravage with four of the Indians and all the dogs ; the fresh-falling snow on our snow-shoes made the walking very heavy ; it was also shaken down upon us from the branches above, when we happened to touch them, and, soon melting, wetted us. The temper- ature being unusually high that day, in a short time the locks of our guns were the only things dry about us_. The excitement, however, kept us warm, for we saw occasionally tlie deep track of the moose in the snow, and the marks of their teeth on the bark and branches of the trees. These symptoms became more apparent as we approached the bottom of a high, steep hill ; the dogs were sent on ahead, and in a few minutes all gave tongue furiously, in every variety of currish yelp. By this time the snow had ceased falling, and we were able to see some distance in front. We pressed on rapidly over the broAv of the hill, in the direction of the dogs, and came upon the fresh track of several moose. In my eagerness to get forward, I stumbled repeatedly, tripped by the abominable snow-shoes, and had great difficulty in keeping up with the Indians, who, though also violently excited, went on quite at their ease. The dogs were at a standstill, and, as we emerged from a thick part of the wood, we saw them surrounding three large moose, barking viciously, but not daring to approach within reach of their hoofs or antlers.^ "When the deer saw us, they bolted away, plunging heavily through the deep snow, slowly and with great difficulty ; at every step sinking to the shoulder, the curs still at their heels as near as they coidd venture. They all broke in difi'erent directions; the captain pursued one, I another, and one of the Indians the tlurd : at tirst they beat us in speed ; for a few hundred yards mine kept stoutly on, but his track became wider and more iiTcgular, and large drops of blood on the pure fresh snow showed that the poor animal was wounded by the hard icy crust of the old fall. We were pressing down hill through very thick "bush" and could not see him, but his panting, and crashing through the underwood, were plainly heard. In several places the snow was deeply ploughed up, where he had fallen from exhaustion but again struggled gallantly out, and made another effort for life. On, on, the branches smash and rattle, but, just ahead of us, the panting is louder and closer, the track red with blood; the hungry dogs howl and yell almost under our feet. On, on, through the dee]} snow, among the rugged rocks and the tall pines we hasten, breathless and eager. Swinging round a EXGLIND m THE I^EW TV'OELD. 69 close thicket, we open in a swampy valley with a few pa- triarchal trees rising- from it, bare of branches to a hunclred foot in heiofht ; in the centre vStands the moose, facina: us; his failing" limbs refuse to carry him any farther throuf^h the choking" drifts : the dogs press upon him : wherever his proud head turns, they tiy away yellini? with terror, but with grinning teeth and hungry eyes rush at him from behind. He was a noble brute, standing at least seven feet high ; his large dark eye was fixed, I fancied almost imploringly, upon me as I approached. He made no further effort to escape or resist ; I hred, and the ball struck him in the chest. The wound roused him ; infuriated by the pain, he raised his huge^ bulk out of the snow, and plunged towards me. Had 1 tried to run away, the snow-shoes would have trip])ed me up, to a certainty, so I thought it wiser to stand still ; his strength was plainly failing, and I knew he could not reach me. Ifiicd the second barrel, he stopped, and stag- gered, stretched out his neck, the blood gushed in a stream from his mouth, his tongue protruded, then slowly, as if lying down to rest, he fell over into the snow. The dogs would not yet touch him, n^r would even the Indians ; they said that this was the most dangerous time — he might struggle yet ; so we watched cautiously till the large dark eye grew dim and glazed, and the sinewy limbs were stiffened out in death ; then we approached and stood over our fallen foe. When the excitement which had touched the savage chord of love of destruction, to be found in every nature, was over, I felt ashamed, guilty, self- condemned, like a murderer : the snow dehled with the red stain ; the meek eye, a few moments before bright with healthy life, now a mere filmy ball ; the vile dogs, that had not dared to touch him while alive, licked up the stream of blood, and fastened on his heels. J? was thoroughly disgusted with myself, and with the tame and cruel sport. The Indians knocked down a decayed tree, rubbed up some of tlie dry_ bark in their hands, applied a matcli to it, and in a few minutes made a splendid fire close hj the dead moose ; a small space was trampled down, the sapins laid as usual, for a seat, from whence I inspected the skinning and cutting up of the carcass; a part of the proceeding which occupied nearly two hours. The hide and the most valuable parts were packed on the tobogins, and the remnant of the noble brute was left for the wolves : we then returned to the caban. The Indians were very anxious that I should go in pursuit of the third moose,^ which I positively declined, partly because 1 was very tired, and i)artly because I would have gone twice the distance to ayoid such another murder. The &.-l«3i 70 nOCHELAGA ; OR, I'll!' Captain anivod in about an hour ; ho had also killed his Tiiooso, but aftor a much lonj^er chase, '.riio^ kidney and marrow were cooked for supper, and the remainder, ex(;ept Avliut the dof^'s j?ot, was buried in the snow; the craven brutes ate and fouglit till they could no longer growl, and then laid down torpidly outside to sleep. ihat niglit there was a^thaw; our snow roof melted, and the water continued dropping on us till we were thoroughly w^t and uncomtbrtable. In the place where we were en- camped there was a great number of birch and pino^ trees ; at this time of the year the former are covered witii loose bnrk, hanuing in shreds over trunk and branches: this is higlily intlannnable, burning with a bright red tiame,^ and a smell like camphor; the Indians, by rolling^ it up tightly, make torches, v/hich give a strong and lasting light. We determined on an illumination with these materials, to cele- brate the events of the day; and, when the niglit fell, dark as pitch, we seized torches, made the Indians do the same, iind started oil" in diflerent directions through the wood, tiring all the birch-trees at the stem, as we passed. I do not think I ever saw a more splendid si4^ht tlian our labours produced ; lif ty or siKij large trees, in a circle of a quarter of a mile, each with a blaze of red light running up fr(nn the trunk to the loftiest brandies, twisting through the gloomy tops of the lir-trees, and falling off in llakes, spinning round in the air, and lighting up the white snow beneath the dark arches of the forest, and the darker sky above. We wan- dered away still further and further, still spreading our glorious illumination, till the voices of the Indians sounded faint in the distance. The tires immediately about the caban had burned out, and were succeeded by a darkness more l)rofound than before, and we had no small diltieulty, and some anxiety, before we again reached it. In this lonely desert we destroyed, without remorse, dozens of magniticenb trees, each of which woidd have been the pride of an English park. We were two days' journey from the haunts of men ; for years, perhaps, no human foot may tread theso wilds again ; — for ages none seek them as a residence. Th( Indians ate enormously, indeed, till they were stupi- iied, and then smoked, prayed, and slept. That grinning villain, Jacques, intrigued zealously to get hold of the brandv-bottle, but we were too wise for him, so the wretch {^aicked a couple more marrow-bones, and became torpid: as the leader of the hunti/rs, he honoured us with his company at our side of the caban, the Captain and I taking it in turn to sleep next-him. There was a little wind during the ni^ht, and the smoke of the green wood which we were burning, became almofit intolerable; it caused our eyes to smart EKOLAND IN THE NEW WOniD. 71 SGVcroly, and there was no escape from it, for it "blew about in volumes till morning", and was far more disagreeable than the cold of tlio liryt (.'ncampnicnt. The mooso-nieat had traii^^portcd the iiidiaus to ihv l.iiid of di'!';ims, ami rendered them inditfereut to that (jr any other annoyance. Jacques was very anxious that we should proceed in search of more moose the f olio winj? day; but we had had quite enousfh of the sport and of his company, and determined to return. The basjf^age was repacked, the spoil du^ up and put on tobogins, and we ** made track" for (iucbec. About halfway on our first day's journey, the do;:;'s, now somewhat recovered from the effects of the last night's reple- tion, rushed up a hill near lis, barking; in rather a plethoric tone ; there was a rattling of branches, and the next moment some half-dozen Cariboo, or rein-deer, went by us at a gallop, about a hundred yards ahead. Shots from both our double barrels rang through the v/oods, and so did the crashing of the underwood, as the uninjured herd vanished in the bush. It was useless to think of pursuing them, for their light feet sank but little in the surface of the snow, hardened by frost after the thaw of the night before, and they went by us like the wind. This adventure shortened the road, and we put up at the same caban where we had slept the first night, lodgings being still vacant ; but we had some work in shovelling out the snow which had sinco fallen. Two or three chattering birds like magpies, callc* by the Indians " moose-birds," perched on the trees over us, and made frequent forays on the tobogin where the meat lay, but the dogs very properly drove them away. We fired at them repeatedly, but they hopped up as the bullet chopped off' the branch on which they were perched, and lighted on another, scieaming and chattering worse than ever'. Tho next morning we made a very early start, reached Monsieur Boivin's before noon, and got into our sleigh as soon as possible. The mouffle of the moose, which we carried with us, is es- teemed a great luxury in Canada, and very justly so ; it is the upper lip or nose of the animal, which grows to a great size, and is almost as rich as turtle ; many think that tho soup made "om it has a higher fiavour. The legs and feet were sent to ihe squaws to be ornamented with stained hair and beadwork, and preserved as trophies of the achievements of the pale warriors ; the rest of the animal is the perquisito of the Indians. The roads were much better on our return, but we ^vero astounded when we saw by daylight the place by the preci- pice, where we had been upset a few niglits before. It was dark long before we reached Uuebec. Our driver tcok the ■^w. '-"'^M ^■M ( ;. ' 1 ' I ■ 72 HOCKELAGA J OE, ■(irif ,^P wrong road of two, which parted in a fork, separa,ted hy a high, stiff wooden fence, with the top but just visible over the snow; before we had gone far we fortunately met a hahitan^ who told us of our mistake. The road was too nar- row to turn. Our driver first cried like a child, then suddenly taking courage, sacred furiously, and, seizing the leader by the head, turned him into tlio deep snow, towards the right road: a few seconds of plunging, kicking, and shouting — a crash of the fence — and wo were all landed on the other road ; the sleigh on its side, the horses on their backs, and the driver on his head. The confusion was soon corrected, and by ten at night we passed under the battle- ments, into the gates of Uuebec. It would be vain to attempt describing the happiness con- ferred by soap and water, razors and brushes,^ and a clean bed in a moderate temperature, after six days' deprivation of their good offices. The conclusion which we arrived at with regard to this expedition was, that the greatest pleasure derivable therefrom, consisted in having it over. The next time I renew my acquaintance with moose, the Zoological Gardens shall be my '* ravage," an omnibus bear me instead of snow-shoes, and my Club shaU be my eaban. The winter life in the " bush " is well worth seeing, as a new experience ; but as to the sport of moose-hunting— a day with "The Cheshire " is as superior to it, as were the Uncas and Chin- gachgook of the American novelist, to the drunlien and degenerate savages of Loretto. CHAPTER VII. THE CONVENT—THE MADHOUSE. ./ DuBTNG a winter visit to one of the Canadian towns, an opportunity offered of my seeing the ceremony of the taking the black veil, by two novices in a neighbouring convent. I was awakened long before daylight, and , in due time, tramp- ing through the deep snow on my way to the place. There had been a gale durmg the night, the low wooden houses by the roadside were nearly covered to the roofs in the heavy drifts ; at the corner of each street gusts of wind whirled round showers of sharp, keen poudre^ each morsel of which wounded the face like the sting of a venomous fiy, and chilled the very blood. The clouds were close and murky, and the dreariest hour of thu twenty-four, that just before the dawn, was made even more dismal by the cold glare of the new- fallen Liug the only perscui whose acfiuaintaneo tlie new-comer had sought, and atruck by the peciiliurity of hia manner vW 1 ki m ' 76 hochelaga; or, ri"'! i! m ;!l-:v' and conversation. A day or two afterwards he called at her house; she was at home, and alone. A couple of hours passed quickly away, and, when they bid g'ood evening", she was surprised to find it was so late. Alter that day tlu3 acquaintance progressed rapidly. He was about six or seven and twenty years of age, the only son of a northern squire, of considerable estate, but utterly ruined fortunes. His father had, however, always managed to conceal the state of affairs from him till a few months previously, when an accidental circumstance caused it to reach his ears. Without his father's knowledge, he at once exchanged from the regiment of Hussars in which ho then was, to an Infantry corps, met the most pressing claims with the few thousand pounds this sacrifice placed ut his disposal, and went home for a few days to take leave of his parents before joining his nev/ regiment in Canada. At first they were inconsolable at the idea of parting with him, even for this short time ; for all their loye, and pride, and hope, were centred in their son, and he, in return, was devotedly attached to them. Soon, however, they were persuaded of the wisdom of what he had done ; and, deeply gratified by this proof of his affection, with many an earnest blessing they bade him farewell. Of an ancient and honoured family, he bore the stamp of gentle birth on every limb and feature. His mind was strong, clear, and highly cultivated; his polished inanner only sufficiently cold and reserved to make its relaxation the more pleasing. In early life he had joined in the wild pursuits, and even faults, which indulgent custom tolerutts m the favoured classes; but still, through all, retained au almost feminine refinement and sensibility, and a generous unseliishness, sad to say, so seldom united Avith the hard but useful knowledge of the world. Thoiigh rather of a silent habit, when he spoke, his conversation was always interesting, often brilliant. Such was her new acquaintance. Poor child, in her short life she had never seen any oiU( like him before : she was pi'oud and happy that he noticed her; he was so much older than herself, so stately and thoughtful, and he spoke so beautifully. She was rather afraid of him at first, but that soon wore away ; she faneied that she was growing wiser and more like him; she knew she was growing nearer, nearer ; fear brightened into admi- rati(-;i, admiration warmed into love. Without a mother, or grown -r.p sister, or intimate friend to tell this to, she kept it all to herself, and it grew a stronger and greater tyrant eVL'r\f day, and she f, more submissive slave, ile now called. at tlic hojiSj ve)'y often, and whenever there was a country driviDi' party, ho washer companion; in the buU-rooni, or riding, or wc the custom oJ So passed s to return to ] the simple ( undisguised i he mistaken, mind was b influence ; — t enrich the g felt that he she was so ' he told her h affection for orable in^ w impede his their religio; father's^ will old man's tin fondest wish and to hear anxiety or re Then they to his pare] wishes for t using every most favoui reply. She the narrow c he welcomec notliing of t it was almos she fancied she tcould m merely as tl Weeks ha regiment is to-morrow. him : of joy answer toge laid on his ' lumdwritin^ an old man, house : they stop at the ( Ihe view the young i colouring, b ENGLAND IN THE NE^ WOELD. 77 riding, or walking, they were constantly together : it was the custom of the country — no one thought it strange. So passed away the winter : in summer the regiment was to return to England, but he had become much attached to the simple Canadian girl. Her contidence in him, her nndisguised preference, joined with a purity that could not ho mistaken, won upon him irresistibly. He saw that her mind was being strengthened and developed under his intluenee ; — that she did her utmost to improve herself and enrich the gift of a heart already freely, wholly given : he felt that he was^ essential to her happiness: he fancied she was so to his. They had no secrets from each other : he told her his prospects were ruined ; that his father's very affection for hira, he feared, would make him more inex- orable in^ withholding sanction from a step that might impede his worldly advancement: that the difference of thoir religion would add grotitly to the difficulty. His father's will had ever been his law : before it came to the old man's time to *' go hence and be no more seen," it was his fondest wish in life to be blessed with a father's blessing, and to hear that he had never caused him a moment's anxiety or regret. Then they sat down and consulted together, and he wrote to his parents, earnestly praying them to consent to his wishes for this union, appealing to their love for him, and using every argument and persuasion, to place it in the most favourable light. He doubted, and trembled for the reply. She doubted not. Poor child ! She knew that in the narrow circle about her, she and her little fortune would ho weloomed into any household ^ beyond that, she knew notliing of the world, its pride, its luxuries, its necessities : it was almost a pleasure to her to hear that he was poor, for slie fancied her pittance would set him at ease. In short she would not doubt, and waited for the answer to thel^^tter, merely as the confirmation of her happiness. Weeks have passed away ; the time of the departu. »f the regiment is close at hand, but the English post wu^ be in to-morrow. The delay has been a time ot eager anxiety to him : of joyful anticipation for her. They agree to >en the answer together. The post arrives. A heap of 1 ers are laid on his table. He snatclnss up one, for he ws the lumdwriting well ; it is a little imperfect, for the writer is an ohi man, but hard, firm, determinc'd.^ He hastens to her house : they do not s])eak, but go out into the garden, and sto]) at the end of tlie walk on the little terrace. The view over the broad rieli valley is beautiful to-day : the young summer luis painted earth in all her choicest colouring, but they do not observe it, they are lo/i.ing on 0>m 4© "s 78 hos^hliaga; oh, ilirttiiiit the letter; he pale, almost tremWing": she flushed with happy hope ; — her tiuy ting-ers break the seal. The summer evening- of her land has but little twilig'lit : the sun, like a globe of lire, seems to drop from out the sky behind the earth, and leaves a sudden darkness. So, as she read, set the sun of hopoj but the night that fell upon her soul hall never a morning-. * * * * * The Lunatic Asylum for Lower Canada has been lately established at Beaufort, live miles from (iuebec,^ Tlirce eminent medical men of tliis city have undertaken it, under charter from the provincial government, which makes an annual allowance for the support of the public patients. _ At present there aer eighty- two under their care. Tlie establish- ment consists of a large liouse, occupied by the able superin- tendent and his family, where, as a reward for good conduct, some of the convalescents are occasionally admitted. Be- hind this is a range of buildings forming two sides of a square, the remaining enclosure of the space being made with higli palings. These structures stand in a commanding sitiiJition, with a beautiful view of Uuebec, and the broad basin of the river. A farm of a hundred and sixty acres is attached to them. The system of this excellent institution is founded on kindness. No force or coercion of any kind is employed ; the patients are allo\T?'ed to mix freely, work, or pursue wliatever may be the bent of their inclinations. They dine together, at a well- supplied table. On one side of the dining-hall are the ap^irtments of the female patients, on the other those oi the males. Tliey each consist of a large, well- ventilated room, ^ scrupulously clean, with a number of sleeping-wards off it; over head is also a large sleeping- apartment. In the morning-room of the female patients were about thirty women, as neatly clad as their dreadful alllictiou would allow of; many of them of every variety of hideously distorted frame and face.^ Some sat sewing- quietly, with nothing uncommon in their appearance — at least as long as their eyes were fixed upon their work. Others crouched in corners, covering their haggard faces with their long bony finger?. Others moped about, grinning vacantly, and mut- tering unformed words ; the; unnatural shake of the htad, the hollow receding foreh(»ail, the high cheek-bones, and di- minutive lower jaw, betokening ho])eless idiotey. Others again, hurried eagerly about all day long, (seeking in every corner, with restless, anxious eyes, for some supposed lubt treasure. One tall, handsome girl, about twenty years of age, sat by i ■*■ -St. » f ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOULD. 79 tlie window, loolviiig- fixedly on the ground, noticing- notliinn: wliich passed around her. She was very neatly dressed, unci looked so quiet, that at first I thought she was one of the nurses. When I spoke to her she answered me in rather a sullen tone, but with perfect composure ; she did not even move her large black eyes as she spoke, but I could see that ' they were dull, like beads. I could not learn the histories of many of these patients ; thejr had been sent^ here from various parts of the country, without any description, and in some cases not even named. This girl's madness was desponding; she wa,-^ occasionally very dangerous when apparently convalescent, and had several times tried to destroy herself. One idiot woman stood all the time with her face turned to the wall, in a corner. Bhe was not dumb, but did not know how to sj^eak. It is not known to what country she belonged, her name, or whence she came. She was found a long time ago wandering wild in the woods, part of her feet bitten off by the frost. She shuns human beings with terror ; her inclination seems always to escape, and wander away again. A jabbering maniac became violent while we were there, jjcating her bald head, grinding her long black teeth, and chuckling with a horrible, hyena laugh. Her small, sunken eyes burned like coals. One of the nurses t >." her by the arm and carried her down stairs, to be plaL^.i by herself ; this is the greatest punishment inflicted. She instantly be- came subdued, cried, and begged to be allowed to remain above. I asked a sad-looking old woman, who sat rocking herself to and fro on a chair, how long she had been in this i^lace ? iShe told me she had forgotten, years and years ago. The stronger patients are often very kind to the cripjjled and weak, carrying them about for hours in the sunshine ; but the mad seem to have a great hatred and contempt for the idiots, and would often beat them, were they allowed. ^ Most of the men were out of doors at work, or picking oakum in the sheds. A fine-looking young fellow held my horse, sitting for more than an hour in the conveyance. He was considered one of the most trustworthy, ha\dug sense enough to know that he was mad ; but for the awful stare of his eyes, 1 should not have noticed any peculiarity in his appearance or manner. While 1 was pre])aring to leave, about a dozen other male patients returned from their hibour, accompanied by a keeper. As they passed, one of th(!in was pointed out for my observation: a (luiet, mild- looking man, about fifty years of age. Respectably con- nected, and formerly pi.'osperous in the world, he had become m ■ H\'. !««w; so noCHELAOAJ OEj i!lti1l!l tin insane, liad now for many years been in confinement, ani was remarkable for j^entleness and obedience. Some time ago, at an asylum at Montreal, while employed with another Eatient in cutting up wood, he seized an opportunity when is companion was stooping", and struck oft' the man^s head with an axe; afterwards he quietly resumed his work. jN'either before that time, nor ever since, has he been in the least violent ; the deed seemed to cause him neither joy nor sorrow. He was quite imconscious that he had done any- thing unusual. In summer, many of the patients are employed on the farm, or as b^iilders and carpenters: an ice-house for their use has just been finished hj one of them. Some of the con- valescents are allowed occasionally to visit their friends, and always return punctually at the time appointed. With very few exceptions, music appears to cause them great pleasure, soothing, rather than exciting them. They often dance, and are very fond of the amusement. In the spring, when the navigation opens, they crowd round the windows, and gaze with delight at the ships sailing up the magnificent river, particularly those patients who have come from the old country ; they seem to have a vague idea that these stately ships are brought here to bear them home. Some of them talk a great deal to each other, but seldom get, or seem to expect, answers to what they say. It pleases them much to speak to visitors, and they then make an eftbrt to tell what may be asked of them, but will not take these pains with their fellow-patients. It is not worth while; they \now that they are mad. CHAPTER YIII. PIKE. The 28th of May, 1845, will long bo remembered at Quebec. The day was scorching hot, with a high wind, and clouds ^ of dust rushing along the roads, in exposed places spinning round and round in little whirlwinds, almost choking those who were caught in their vortex. But this is the busy time of the year ; the streets and Fhops are crowded, the river covered with floating rafts of timber. Every hour, ships of the spring fleet round Point Lev>', and make their numbers, in coluured flags, to their joyful owners. Masons and carpenters are hard at work, building on the va ant spaces of the streets, or repairing the ruins from smab winter conflagrations. Over the rich valley of the St. Charles the husbandmen ply the spade and e;n^glan"d in ttte new ^voeld. 81 ploiig'li, and on the plains of Abraham a ro^^iniont of sokliors are skii'mishing" in loose and _piotiires(}ue array. Jwerything" around betokens life and activity. Suddtui and harsh anion^- these pleasant scenes, the bells of the churches of St. Koch ring- out the well-known alarm of fiiie. It was a quarter of an hour before noon when the first peal sounded. Shortly afterwards, from amon^ the thick clouds of dust- arose a thin column of white smoke, at the far end of the suburb of St. Valliere, under the steep cliif. At lirst but little attention was excited, it was so common an occurrence, and only a few hrcmen hastened to the spot, lliey found that a large tannery had taken lire. The fire had s]jread to some extent, and there was o-reat difficulty in procuring" water. Sparks, and now and then a ilame, began to shoot lip into the smoke, already thick and much increased. The locality is imfortunate, for all the buildings round arc of wood ; the population, too, chieliy of simple and unenergetic French-Canadians, is very dense. The sparks are borne away on the wind — but for this wind all would yet be well — and they rest on the dry shingle roofs ; however, numbers of poo]jle are at hand, perched on the tops of the houses, to protect them. For about an hour the progress is but small : a stout Englishman is seated on the tjuilding next to the tannery, and, thougli the wind blows the stifling smoke and the sparks into his face, he boldly keeps to his work, to save liis little j)roperty. lie spreads wet blankets upon the shingles, changing them in a minute or two when dry and scorched ; and wherever the lire rests for a sj)ace, he is ready with a vessel of water. But Avliilc this struggle is going on, a shout from the opposite side of the street proclaims that the lire has retiehed across, and the thickening smoke from above, shows that the houses on the clilf have also caught. At the same time, the blazing ruins of the tannery fall in with a heavy crash ; smoke and liame burst out through the windows of the next house, and soon after, through the roof itself. The poor fellow Avho had kept it down so long, still struggles hard against it, and it is not till the ladder which he had ascended takes fire that, maimed and blackened, he comes down, and stands staring in despair at the i)i'ogress of his ruin. But this is no time to dwell on individual misery, for the llames increase rapidly, the Avind still driving them liercely on : sometimes they spread along the shingle roofs, at others work their Avay throui^'h the; under stories of half-a-dozen houses unperceived, till, suddenly meeting with more com- liustible matter, they burst out above and at the windows. As the flames gain ground, they sucl: the wind doAvn the 1 i! I i 82 nOCHELAGA; OR, |ijtli!il narrow pfrcots in whirling' oddlcs. l']vory Iioro and thore tlio biirnini;' frame-work of a house tunil)l(S in, niul a {-■•howcr of tiery morsels rises in the air, then sweei)s along- Avitli l-:e ill!' Uiv.hlo dust and smoke, t;[>rcciding' the destruc- tion still i'urtlu r. A largo district is now in a hlazc ; there is no water ; iirc- ' en pines are useless; and hesides, the case is past their aid. A nambor of sc)ldiers with ropes and axes come rushing- do^vu the hill : they set stoutly to their work, and hack and tear down the houses nearest to the liames, thus making a g-ap in hope of sto]^ping the commnnieation. Ikit the fire is lifted np hy the ^\n\d, and leaps on into other streets, and fastens Jiereely on its prey. Fur a v. ay to leeward, the red l)lag'uc hursts nj) tliroiii^li the wooden roofs and the ])lanked roads ; overhead, underfoot, on every side, it seems to close round the soldiers, '.fliey fall hack I'roni place to place, hlaeli Avith smoke and dust, but still strug-gling-, almost against hope. The inhabitants become frantic with terror; some rusli into the flames on one side, in iiying* from them on the other ; many madly carry about articles of furniture; already on lire, sjnvading the mischief in places before untouched ; others sit down in the helplessness of despair, and weep like children. The sick and inlirm are carried off from the ■jar distant parts of the town ; carts and caleches tilled with fugitives, and tlie few precious things they have been able to snatch away, dash along the streets in all directions, forcing their way through the crowds. Sometimes, in the dense smoke and dust they drive against one another, break, 11] tsct ; and the Avretched people they convey liave to leave all behind them, and hasten away. Even strong men, who lingered too long, trying to save their little household goods, are suliocatcd by the smoke, and overtaken by the rianies. The government fuel-yard is a large space surrounded with wooden palings, where the suburb of Ht. Koch narrows between the river St. Charles and the walls of the upper town ; it is enclosed in three parts of a square of buildings, a lonu' street running under the walls at the farther side from the river, and piarallel to it. At this place the troops make a great elfort to stop the conflagration ; they hew down* the wooden palings, destroy several houses at the end of the row nnder the walls, and the tire-engines pump away gallantly. This is about three o'clock in the after- noon. _ Suddenly a hurricane arises; the blazing shingles are lifted into the air; planks and rafters, edged with Are, whirl over the ground, and the flames race along the street with ENGLAND nr THE NEW WORLD. 83 1 ii terrible rapidity. All run for their livv'^s; tlio Hre-enprincs arc with difiituilty draj^-i^ed away; some iu-Vjcd arc aban- doned in the Tli;;4it. Almost the only outlet now from the sulmrh is the g'ato throu.u,'h the walls into the up])er town. As the crowd eiushus throu^'h, the iiames close over every- thing behind them. In the mean time, from the showers of sparks and tho intense heat, the Artillery Barrack has taken tirein several parts of the shingle roofs and wooden palings. Although separated by a long glacis and high bastions from the l)urn- ing district, the grasson the- ramparts burns up like straw. There is plenty of assistance ; the roofs are drenched witli water, but still the Ih-e gains ground. A heavy shower of rain comes seasonably to aid ; the barracks are saved, and with them the upper town. The tire, however, rages more furiously than ever, outside the walls; spreading thence to the water, along the whole northern face, below the batteries and the magazine. This rumour runs through the crowd in a moment, and tills them with dismay. There are two liundred tons of powder in that magazine — should the tiro reach it, not one stone upon another, not a living soul will remain as a record of Quebec. The tire is close under the walls below the magazine — the smoke and tiames rise above them, and whirl round and round with the eddying wind. The bright tin roof iiashes back the lurid light on the soldiers who are toiling about it, piling up wet clay at the doors and windows, tearing down the wooden houses near, pulling up the platforms of the batteries and the planks of the coping, and throwing them over the walls into the fire below. Tho crisis passes, the magazine is safe. Now, for nearly a mile in length, and from the battlements to the river, is one mass of iiame ; the heat and sulfocating smell are almost intolerable ; the dense black smoke covers everything to leeward, pressing down the clouds upon tho hills many miles away, and drenchino^ them with unexpected rain. Vessels cut their cables, and tlrift, half on fire, down the river ; the streams and wells in the suburbs are baked up dry; churches, hospitals, ship-yards — each is but a red wave in the fiery sea. Though it is past eight o'clock in tho evening, there is more light than at noonday ; but it is a grim illumination, showing the broad St. Lawrence like a stream of blood, and fiushing the dark and lowering clouds above with an angry glow. The lower town has taken fire ! Here are the banks, the storehouses, the merchants' offices — all the most valuablo property in the city. One more effort is made to save it. The fiames have now reached the narrow neck between tho g2 t, <**^, IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 11.25 *ii 1^ |I2.2 w u^ il^ I 2.0 1.8 U IIIIII.6 6" I ^> O^ /J /: /;>^^ Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WIST MAIN STRUT WHSTIR.N.Y. MSaO (716)I73-4S03 '^V^ V <° <> 6^ 84 hocheiaga; oe, 111 ramparts and the water, and here there is a hope of stopping their progress. The General of the troops is on the spot ; he orders a house to be blown up. Powder has been kept ready at hand, and a charge is tried ; the building is torn to pieces by the explosion, but still the flames stalk on. Directions are given to try again, with a heavier charge. Now, four stout artillerymen carry a large barrel of gunpowder down to the place ; it is covered with wet blankets, and the top secured with clay, for the sparks fall thickly round ; then the bugles sound the retreat; the staring crowds and busy soldiers fall back from the neighbouring streets ; none are near the spot but the gunners and their officers; they place the charge in a niche on the lower story of a strong stone house, about the centre of the narrow neck of land ; the lire has already reached the building, and through the upper windows, smashing the glass, breaks out clear and strong. The ser- geant lights a short fusee in the barrel of gunpowder. The door of the house is burning, but the gunners escape through the window, and run over the blazing beams and torn-up streets, for shelter. For a few seconds all eyes are strained upon this spot, and the noises of the crowd sink to silence, Tnen the earth shudders, and, with a dull booming sound, up, up into the black sky shoots a spout of fire, and from above descends a shower of fiery beams, nuge stones, and fragments of the torn roof: — a moment more, and all sink into a dark gap ol smoking ruins. Tho plague is stayed ? the greater fire has eaten up the less ; ibr a few minutes the very -wind seems conquered by the shock. But in St. Koch's the tire raged still, as long as it found food to devour, and a slight change of wind during tho night threatened tho suburD ot St. Valliere, which had hitherto escaped with but little damage. The flames had not quite burned out till noon the following day. In th© government fuel-yard there was an immense heap of coal, which burned for several weeks and aflbrded warmth to some of the sliivering unfortunates who had neither home nor roof. The next was a dismal day in Quebec ; crowds of people wandering about for shelter, some with bundles on their backs, containing the little they had saved; others, lying under the waUs on beds, with half-burnt blankets wetted with the heavy rains, their few household goods strewed round them ; others, inquiring eagerly for some lost mother, wife, or child, wliom they were to see no more. Otiiers, severely burned or injured by faUinjf beams, seeking for aid and advice; and waggons heavily laden, drawn by weary horses, driven hither and thither to find some place of rest. ENGLAND IN THE NEW WORLD. 85 I met one wretched old man, his hand hadly burnt and hastily bound up, returninp: despairing-ly and exhausted iuto the town. His cow — all he possessed in the world — had strayed away in the confusion of the night before. Alter having sought her in vain all day long through the country round, he sat down on the ruins of his little shed and wept bitterly. He was an Irish emigrant, lately arrived, and had neither Avife nor child : they had died at home long since, and here he had no friend ; the lone old man was too weak to work, and had laid out the small sum remaining after liis voyage in buying the animal now lost, which had since been his support. But the wealthy and uninjured were not idle ; a public meeting was called and six thousand pounds subscribed on the spot; large stores and public buildings were thrown open for the houseless ; a quantity of clothing and blankets were given them; food was supplied by the commissariat; the medical men, with active benevolence, tended the woimded ; the civil and military officers and the poor soldiers gave all they could, in proportion to their means ; private charity was unbounded, whole families of wanderers were received into the houses of the rich, while the poor shared their shelter, as far as it went, with their now still poorer fellow- citizens. The insurance offices mot their engagements, though reduced to the verge of ruin. From the country round, and distant parts of Canada, assistance came freely in : one little rural parish sent a few shillings — all the money they had — together with cart-loads of firewood, corn, and home-made cloth, their only wealth. It was a woful thing to see the wretched suffi^rcr straying through the smoking ruins to find the black spot where his happy home had sheltered him a few hours before ; hoping that there, perhaps, he might again meet with some loved oae, separated from him in the confusion of that dreadful day. With horror he sees among the still smouldering ashes a blackened trunk, with scarcely enough of shape left to «how that once it bore God[s image. The air was hot and stifiing ; a thick cloud of smoke hung like a shroud over the ruins ; from among them rose a heavy, charncl smell, impossible to describe. Many half-consumed human bodies stul lay about, and the carcasses of great numbers of horses and cattle. A deep depression fell upon the people of Quebec : super- stitious fears took possession of them ; they fancied they baw sights and prodigies, and that this calamity was a judgment for some great unknown crime. The Koiuan Catholic priesthood did not try to abate these terrors. Vague prophetic rumours, the origin of wliich none could trace. ij'^: ■% 11 t 'f 86 HOCnEtAOA; OE, went about, that the remainder of the city would soon be destroyed; and, at length, the same da^ of the folio win?^ month was said to be the day of doom. The dismal aspect of the place, the universal despondency, and the extent of the loss and suifering, aftected not a few even of the strongest- minded. On the 28th of June, therefore, a great part of the popu- lation remained in trembling expectation of the fidlilment of these predictions. The day was warm and still, the night came on close and sombre. Kine o'clock passes without an alarm, ten also; people begin to take courage, but a slight breeze springs up, and the dust creeps along the silent streets. It is eleven. — There is no sound but that of the wind, which now whistles past the corners of the houses and among the chimneys, blowing from the north-east — the opposite direction to that whence it came on the 28th of May. Half-past eleven. — The greater part of the inhabitants are sleeping in peace ; even the most timid think the danger is now past. It is close on midnight ; some of them go to their windows to take a last look before retiring to rest. On the north-west part of the Upper Town stands tho church of St. Patrick ; the spire is very high, covered with bright tin; on the top is a large ball, surmounted by a cross, both of flittering metal. The night is very dark, and these are invisible in the gloom. A few minutes before midnight, a slight rod flickering light is seen, high in the air ; for a second or two it plays about in uncertain forms, then shines out distinctly through the darkness, a tiery cross up against the black sky. The ball, the spire are soon seen : whence is that lurid light reflected ? ^ A small flame creeps up the side of a wooden house outside the walls, in the suburp of St. John, just where the last conilagration ended. — Tho city is on tiee ! As the clock strikes twelve, from every tower and steeple in Quebec the bells ring out their panting* peal of alarm. With the suddenness of an explosion, the bright broad flame bursts out simultaneously through three or four roofs, and the wind, now risen to a storm, bears it away on its mission of destruc- tion. In a few minutes the streets are crowded, thousands rush out of the city gates, to stare at the devastation which no human power can avert. Fire !— Fire ! — Fire ! shouted by crowds wild witli terror — the quick, jerking cliurch-bells, the rattling of tlio engines over tlie streets — soon waken to this night of desolation tho peojde of Uuebec. Tlie gallant soldiers are again at work, vigorously, but in vain. The now furious gale sweeps over everything to leeward with its flery breath, bearing \vith it the black pall of amokc, followed by a stream of flume. The terrifled inhabitai seize the: can earrj suburbs < so close a hill, ever The ar' is placed by blowii muiiicati away as ^ apjiroach lire. Th barrel. light the hi 'fore th tho flame densely i gunner tl the smok at the fir suftbeate mean tii stand sti iim carries s seizes on lives up and flan roof is h At thi spreads up, som( lired bui cessive from the St. Loui had beci neglectii night, tl clamour under, l consume Tho s the ligli scai'ceiy Soon iug the ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOELD. 87 inliabitants make no attempt to stop the dostniction : thoy stizo their sick and lc(.^blo, and the lew things of value they can carry, and hasten np to the glacis of the citadel, and tlio subnrbs of St. Louis. But, in the mean time, the houses aro so close and the streets so narrow, that the hrc spreads up the hill, even across the wind ; here at least it may be stoi)])ed. The artillerymen are ready with their powder-barrels ; ono is placed in a large Avoodcn house at the cornra* of a street; by blowing" it up, a gap may be made, to cut otf the com- munication. The retreat is sounded, and the people cleared away as well as the confusion will admit ; the tiames ra])idly apjiroach the building ; some straw on the Hoor has taken lire. The gunners steadily tram]^)le it out round the powder- barrel. Then a strange delay arises — they can got no lire to li;^'ht tlie fusee ! For half a mile square, the biaze spreads before them, and they can get no hre ! They cannot approach til!! flame and live; the wind whirls the smoke and sparks tlensely on its skirts, and the heat is insufferable. Ono gunner throws his great-coat over his head and rushes through the smoke, thrusting the portlirc which he bears in his hand at the lire, to light it; but he fails, and staggers back half suftbcated, his coat and hair singed and scorched. In the mean time the house is in a blaze; the ofHcer and his men stand still by their danj^crous charge, waiting with steiidy discipline till their duty is done. At. length an eddy of wind -carries some burning shingles to their feet, the sergeant seizes one, the fusee is lighted, and now they run for their lives up the deserted street. Through the roar of the wind and flames comes the crash of the bursting walls, and the rouf is blown to pieces in the air. At this point the fire is conquered, but further down it spreads widely. More powder is brought, more houses blown up, some aselessly, for at the same time falling sparks havo fired buildings far behind them. At length, by twelve suc- cessive explosions, a line of gaps is made at some distanco from the fire : by this the communication with the suburb of St. Louis is cut off. In firing one of the charges, a man who had been repeatedly warned to stand clear, was killed from neglecting the caution. Every now^ and then through Iho night, the loud roar of these explosions rose above all the clamour. At ei§:ht o'clock in the morning the tire was got under, but not till it had exhausted itself to leeward, having coUHuined everything that it encountered. The sunrise that day liad a strange and dirunal cfTeot; the light over the distant hills appt^ared pale and liviil, scarcely seen indeed iu the blazo from the ruius of Uuebee. Soon after daybreak, a heavy rain began to fall, drench- ing the groups of uufvrtuuate3 who wcro lying on the gluoiii ' f f Iff 3i !! 83 IIOCIIELAGA ; OR, and ill the fields near the to-\vii, slicltcrlcss and exliaustcd. lyiany of these had been burnt out the month beibre, and had suice been Jiviiij? in the slieds and outhouses of the suburb of 8t. John, till the tire of last night deprived them of even that re:-ource. A few had still on the gay dresses they had worn in some social circle when the alarm began, now wet and torn, — ^tender women who perhaps had never known what hardship was before ; men accustomed to ease and comfort :^ the sun which set on their prosperity rose upon their ruin. Then was the open hand of charity held out : every re- maining house became a hospital ; clothes, food, and shelter, seemed almost common property. Once again, those who liad least suffered came forward "wdth a generosity only limited by tlic power to give. Provisions and clothes were again distributed by the authorities ; two hundred tents were pitched ; one of the barracks and several other public buildings were thrown open. Home of the insurance com- panies proved still able to meet their liabilities, others paid all they had and broke. The city of Montreal, with ready liberality, subscribed thirteen thousand pounds ; other places in the British provinces also gave tlieir aid. But the great hope of the sufierers was in that land where the tale of distress is never told in vain, and they were not disappointed —England did not forget her afflicted children in the New "World ; with splendid liberality she answered their appeal. By the desire of the Uueen, a collection was made in every parish church throughout the land. Private subscriptions were raised in various places ; the imperial parliament voted a sum for the same object ; large quantities of blankets and clothing were immediately sent out — altogether, in money upwards of one hundred thousand pounds, and at least thii'ty thousand pounds' worth of goods. There were naturally very strong suspicions that this second fire had been the work of an incendiary. As it occurred in the night on which it was foretold, and com- menced in one of the very last houses that escaped the first time, to windward of the extensive and inflammable suburb of St. John, there was every appearance of design. Inquiiy was diligently made, and all suspicious strangers were ex- amined, but at length it transpired that it had originated m tlic carelessness of a stupid maid-servant, who cast some ashes on a pit where a little straw and shavings of wood had been lately tlirown ; lire enough remained in the ashes to Ignite these. As tliey Avere under the wall of a wooden house, the fiames had taken such hold before the alarm was given, that it was impossible to get them under : the stupid ENGLAND IN TIIE NEW WOULD. 80 cause of the calamity was fast asleep, and the last person in the house to know the danger. A committee was immediately formed of the most influen- tial people of the city, representing" the different religious persuasions of the sufferers. Through the clergjr, relief in u?.oney, food, and clothes was distributed ; and, with a view to the proper disposal of the remainder of the great sums raised by subscription, by the Church of England, and else- where, the gentlemen of this committee with untiring zeal sought out and obtained the fullest information as to the extent and proportions of the losses. It was found that in these lires sixteen thousand people were burned out, nearly all of them belonging to the poorer classes; five hundred and sixty thousand poimds' worth of property were de- stroyed; and twenty-seven charred and mutilated corpses were found among the ruins : it is supposed, however, that many more lives were lost, for of strangers, or where a whole family was bui*nt, there was no record ; and in many places the strength of the ffames would have destroyed all trace of the human form. Uuebec soon took courage : before the end of the summer a considerable number oi houses were rebuilt, much better than those destroyed, and the streets were widened and im- proved ; hundreds of temporary wooden sheds have ^ also been erected, but by law they must be removed within eighteen months. There is no doubt that the great calamity, Avith its large amount of present suffering, will be an ulti- mate advantage to this beautiful city. « ■fM! 3 3 CHAPTER IX. MONTREAL. Farewell, Quebec ! The midsummer sun pours down its flood of golden light upon these scenes of beauty.^ As it falls on earth and water, a soft spray of luminous mist rises over the wide landscape. Above, the clear pure air dances and ([uivers in the glorious warmth ; the graceful lines of distant hills seem to undulate with a gently tremulous niotion. The broad river is charmed to rest, not even a dimple on its placid surface ; no breath of air stirs through the dark forests, the silken leaves hang motionless. The grateful fields, freed from their wintry chains, are clothed with rich crops, already blushing into ripeness. Man fills the calm air with sounds of prosperous activitjj ; axes and hammers echo from the dockyards, ropes creak in !i. 90 HOCHELAGA; OB, m^. the blocks as Ijalcs of merdiandiso are lifted to the crowded wharves. The buzz of many voices rises from the busy- markets; wheels rattle, and hurrj'inj? hoofs rinj? on the pavement ; the town is a great hive of tliriWn^ industry ; the hundreds of ships alongside, the bees which bear the honey of many a distant land to till its stores. This is the aay — this is the year, to see Q,u(}bec: a day of unsurpassed beauty — a vear of matchless prosperity. May the day of beauty have no evening-, the year of prosperity never a winter ! This midsummer's noon is not warmer than the hearts of her people— not more genial than their kind- ness, larewell, Uuebcc. The lone stranger, Avho came scarcely a year ago, leaves many a valued friend behind, carries with him many a grateful memory. And, when again by his English fireside, his thoughts will often wander back to happy hours passed among the snows of distant Canada. I have arranged to go by the Montreal steamer at five o'clock in the afternoon. The day soon passes away in parting visits ; they seem very hurried. There is not lialf time to hear or say all the kind things, or to dwell long enough on the hearty pressure of the hand, when you know that in the probability of the future, those voices will never sound in your car again, and that you are to feel the friendly grasp no more. It was very good of those people to come down to see me start, but I had been much better pleased had they staid away. The bell rings, they hasten oft" the deck on to the wharf; again a hurried "good-by;'' the paddle-wheels make a few strokes backwards to gain au opening, then turn ahead, bite deep into the water, and we glide rapidly on. As we pass the wharf, those friends wave their hands, I do so loo ; we are quite close, but somehow my eyes are a little dim, I can scarcely distinguish them as they run along the end of the quay, keeping pace with us up to the very edge. Our hands wave once again for the last time — I cannot see a bit now. "When my sight cleared we were out in the middle of the broad stream, the people on the shore but tiny specks in the distance. In describing one American river steamboat you describe aU. The greater part of the engines is above the level of the water; two large arms labour up and down over each side of the upper deck, while a funnel from near each paddle-box puli's out tlie smoke. ^J'hey are not fitted with masts for inland navigation; the sleeping and eating saloon is in the body of the boat; the ladies' cabin, the state-room, with the bar, ticket oflice, &c., are in a sort of upper story erected on the deck, their roof being the promenade. These vessels arc beautifully built, and go trirough the water with great rapi- ENGLAND m THE NE'W WOELD. n (lily; sixtoon and eighteen miles an hour is not uncommon; tlicy are abo comfortable and very well managed, and those between Uuebec and Montreal arc hardly surpassed hy any in America. We pass Wolfe's Cove, rich in undying memories; beyond it, green slopes, gentle woodlands, and neat country-houses, each recalling to recollection some pleasant ride or drive, or social evening ; on the left, the Chaudiere river, dwindled into a tiny stream under the summer's sun, its rustic bridge, and rocky, pine-fringed banks ; on the right Cape Kouge, the end of the bold table -land on which stands the great citadel of the west. Beyond it, stretches out for many miles a rich Hat tract, varied by held and forest ; and ever and anon the church and village, and in the far distance the bold range of hills which shelters these fair valleys from the ice-blast of the north. For one hundred miles up the great river, the scene is the same, monotonous if yon will, but monotonous in beauty ; the shores all along thickly dotted with the white cottages of the simple hahitans. A short distance above Cape llon^'c, we met a large raft of white pine, one of the strange sights of the St. Lawrence. It was about three acres of timber, bound together by clamps of wood into a solid stage ; on this were erected live or six wooden houses, the dwellin^^s of the raftsmen. The wind was in their favour, and tney had raised in front a great number of broad thin boards, with the Hat sides turned to the breeze, so as to form an immense sail. These Heating islands are guided by long oars ; they drop down with the stream till they^ meet the tide, then anchor when it turns, till the ebb again comes to their aid. ^ They have travelled for many hundred miles in the interior ; by the banks of the far distant branches of the Ottawa those pines were felled : in the depth of winter the remote forests ring with the wuodman's axe ; the trees are lopped of their branches, squared, and dragged by horses over the deep snow to the rivers, where, upon the ice, the rafts are formed. When the thaw in the spring opens np the mountain-streams, the stout lumberers eollect the remains of their winter stock, with their well-worn implements, and on these rafts boldly trust themselves to the swollen waters. They often encounter much danger and hardship ; not unfrequently the huge mass goes aground, and the fast sinking stream leaves the fruit of their winter's labours stranded and useless on the shingly beach. As the evening dropped upon us, the clouds thickened into a close arch of ominous darkness, while a narro^vrim of liglit round the horizon, threw all above and below into a deeper gloom. Soon, a twinkle of distant lightning, and a faint !-i m 92 OCHELAGA; OB, m mi rolling sound, nslierod in the stonn ; then the blank mass above split into a thousand fragments, each >vitli a liery edge ; the next moment the dazzled sight was lost in dark- ness, and the awful thunder crashed upon the ear, rever- berating again and again. Then jagged lines of liame dived through the dense clouds, lighting them for a moment with terrible brilliance, and leaving them gloomier than before. We saw the forked lightning strike a large wooden building stored with hay and straw on the bank somewhat ahead of us : immediately afterwards a broad sheet of iiame sprang up through the roof, and, before we had passed, only a heap of burning embers was left. ^ In a short time the tortured clouds melted into floods of rain. We pass St. Croix, St. Anne's, Three Elvers, Port St. Francis, and enter Lake St. Peter. These towns improve but little : their population is nearly all of the French race ; the houses are poor, the neighbouring farms but rudely tilled. The Canadian does not labour to advance himself, but to support life ; where he is born there he loves to live, and hopes to lay his bones. ' His children divide the land, and each must have part bordering the road or river, so you sec many farms half-a-mile in length but only a few yards wide. Here in autumn they reap their scanty crops; in winter dance and make merry round their stoves. With the same sort of dress that the first settlers wore, they crowd, each Sunday and saint's day, to the parish church. Few can read or write, or know anything of the world beyond their Ca- nada ; each generation is as simple and backward as the preceding. But, with their gentle, courteous manners, their few wants, their blind, trusting, superstitious faith, their lovely country, their sweet old songs, sung by their fathers centuries ago, on the banks of the sunny Loire, — I doubt if the earth contains a happier people than the innocent hahitans of Canada. Lake St. Peter is but an expansion of the river ; the waters are shallow and the shores flat and monotonous ; after twenty- five miles it contracts again and flows betAveen several wooded islands. We leave Sorel, at the mouth of the Richelieu river, to the left : this town is made, by English hands, more i)ro- sperous than its neighbours. On the same side, thirty miles higher ui), is Yarennes, a place of much beauty ; a hundred years ago people crowded to its mineral springs ; now, it is but a lonely spot. A tine old church, with two lofty spires, stands in the centre of the village ; in the background, far away to the south-east, is the holy mountain of Houville ; on its summit, the Pilgrim's Cross is seen for many a mile. Above Montreal, the Ottawa joins the St. Lawrence ; both streams seem bewildered among the numerous and beautiful ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOIILD. 93 islands, and, hurryinf? pa t in stronjr rapids, only find full rest in the broad deep river, fifteen miles Ibelow. At ei^ht o'clock in the morning" we were beside the wliarf at Montreal : it is of great extent — reaching nearly a mile up the river, and very solid, built of handsome cut stone. It is broad and convenient for purposes of commerce ; vessels of five hundred tons can discharge their cargoes there. Im- mediately above the town, the rapids of Lachine forbid further navigation, except by canals. The city extends along the river nearly two miles, the depth being about one- half the length. The public buildings are calculated for what the place is to be — at present being, perhaps, too large and numerous in proportion, though fifty thousand inhabit- ants dwell around them (1846). The neighbouring quarries furnish abundant materials for the architect, and the new shops and streets are very showy. The French Cathedral is the largest building in the New World : its proportions are faulty, but it is nevertheless a grand inass of masonry : ten thousand people can kneel at the same time in prayer within its walls. The town is well lighted, kept very clean and is full of bustle, life, and ajctivity, — handsome equipages, gay dresses, and military uniforms. Many rows of good houses, of cut stone, are springing up in the suburbs, and there is a look of solidity about everything, pleasing to the English eye. Some of the best parts of tne town are still deformed by a few old and mean buildings, but, as the leases fall in and improvements continue, they will soon disappear. Montreal is built on the south shore of an island thirty miles long, and about one-third of that breadth. All this district is very fertile ; the revenues belong to the seminary of the St. Sulpicians, one of the orders of the Church of Home, and are very ample. The Mont lioyal alone varies the level surface of this island. The Parliament House, the seat of government, the military head-quarters, and the public ofhces of Canada, are in this city (1846) ; the trade is very considerable; within the last few years it has rapidly in- creased, and is increasing still. The export of corn -to Eng- land opens a mine of wealth, while in return the wharves are crowded Avith our manufactures and the luxm'ies of other countries. The people are fully employed, and live in plenty ; but there axe occasionally disturbances among them, occasioned by the collisions of the English, Irish, and French races. The electionsare carried on with much excitement and bitterness of feeling, but usually end in the success of the conservative principle. Society also is much divided ; there is but little of that generally social feeling which characterizes Quebec. Tho entertaimaents have more display, but are M .1 ' \< 94 hochelaga; o», far less a^ecablc than those of tho sister city, and amonj? the difteront coteries of the iuhiibituiits there is not appa- rently much conliulity. In EniJ^luud, Moulrcul would ho considered a very hand- souie town, and in hustle and activity far sui'passes any one of its size there ; the wharves, hotels, shops, baths, are also much liner ; it possesses quite a metropolitan appearance, and no doubt it will, ere lon^, be the capital oi a gvoat country. Few towns in the world have progressed so rapidly in size, Ibeauty, convenience, and population, within the last few years, and at this present time its commerce is in a most prosperous condition. You see in it all the energy and en- terprise of an American city, with the solidity of an Euglisli one. The removal hither of the seat of government from Ciuebec and Kingston has, of course, given it a considerable impulse of ]prosperity at their expense ; but it is still more indebted to its excellent commercial position, and the energy of its inhabitants. 2\ow, from the bustle, prosperity, and contentions of Montreal, let us bear back our thoughts for a moment over the bridge of history to the time — but yesterday in the world's chronology — when the kings of the ancient people welcomed the Pale-faces to the shores of hochelaga. That day was their Hastings. They were smitten with deadlier weapons than Norman bow or lance — the plague of the wliite man's crimes ; their innocence was barer than the Saxon soldier's breast, their wounds far deeper, more hope- less of a cure. They were not subjugated nor driven out, but they withered up before the strangers. Beneath the grounds where they hunted, their bones lie ; their land is their "svido cemetery ; scarcely a mound, or stone, or a trace even of tradi- tion, now points out the spot where any of their millions sleep. Gentle, feeble, simple, — they were yet too proud to minglo "with a race whose superiority they^ felt ; they refused its civilization, but, alas ! copied its vices ; in these, at least, they felt themselves its equal. As the snow in spring, they melted away — stained, tainted, trampled down. My fancy is busy with the past. I have swept away those crowded wharves and lofty spires ; on their sites the rich corn-fields wave again ; the shady forest spreads over the distant slopes, the birch-bark roofs of the wigwams peep through the tall trees upon the mountain-side, the ligiit canoe skims over the broad river ; the wise Sachems of the tribes meet us on the shore with generous welcome; the graceful Indian maiden bends beneath her fragrant burden of fruits and flowers, to be laid at our feet. A cabman seizes me by each arm, " Tetu's or Rasco's, sir? take you up, luggage and all, for a shilling." In a moment ENGLAND lUf THE NEW WOEID. 95 my fn'^ccful Indian maiden was changred into an Irish. porter, and tlio burden of I'ruita and llowers to my \n)]U worn j)ort;.iantoiius, wliioli were presently laid at my (cut in the bar-room at Kasco'B Jlotol. CHAPTER X. KINQSTON.—LAKE ONTAATO. On this occasion my visit to Montreal was a very short one, but I have several times been there, both in winter and summer. There is but little in the neipflibouring country to tompt you to explore ; the ride round the mountain, indeed, gives some views of much beauty; particularly where you see the Ottawa pouring through its many channels into the northern branch of the St. Lawrence. Generally the country is Hat, and has but little character ; there are several islands about; that of St. Helen's is the most picturesque in the group, but unsightly barracks and rough held- works deform its gentle slopes. A clumsy stage-coach carried me to Lachine, nine miles from Montreal ; there it was put on board a steamer, borne through Lake St. Louis, and released again at the cascades, to carrjrus on sixteen miles further to Coteau du Lao. In a short time the great works, to bear large steamboats past all the rapids, will be complete :* the Lachine, Beauharnois, St. Lawrence, and Welland canals will be the connecting links of this immense chain of communication; from the gul])h of St. Lawrence to the furthest of the great lakes — one broad highway. We pass over Lake St. Francis, and through the St. Lawrence canal ; opposite to its entrance is the Indian village of St. Regis, close to which is the boundary line between Canada and the United States, where the forty-fifth parallel of latitude strikes the great river. The most remarkable of the rapids, whose interruption the industry of man is busied to avoid, is called the Cedars. The stream is here pent into several narrow channels among wooded islands, and tumbles fiercely along over its rocky bed. Steamers and other boats constantly venture down this peril- ous passage, but not unfrequently pay dearly for their teme- rity. At present they can only return up to the great lakes by the Ottawa river and the Rideau canal, from which they emerge at Kingston, on Lake Ontario ; but the works are going on rapidly, and by them this great round will be saved. In the year 1759, when General Amnerst entered Canada, his * They are all since completed. sm 96 HOCHELAGA; OE, :i!| ! ''^mit m i^*5# advanced guard, of about three hundred men, was embarked above the Cedars : the intention was to float down and take up a position on the opposite side of the river. Perhaps it was that those dangerous channels were then but little known, or that the pilot played them false — none remained to accuse; the next day the lifeless bodies of the British soldiers, clothed in the well-known red, floating past the town of Montreal, gave the first notice of invasion.^ There were many Americans in the steamer ; at this time of the year great numbers, particularly from the sultry south, crowd all the conveyances m Canada and the northern States, in search of the health which their own climate denies them. Amongst them was a taciturn, sallow, austere-looking, middle-aged man, whose place at dinner, luncheon, and breakfast, happened to be next to me ; he stared at mo a good deal, but spoke never a word. Except when at meals, he sat in a particular part of the vessel, smoking without in- termission, protected Ircm the sun by the enormously broad brim of a white beaver hat. At Ogdensburgh, the first place on the American side where the steamboat touches, wi all went ashore for a few seconds, to stretch our limbs ; my silmt friend heard me say that I had never before been in the States ; when he saw me fairly landed, he for a moment re- moved the cigar from his mouth and observed, *' I reckon, stranger, you have it to say now that you have been in a free country." We afterwards discovered that he was a planter from Alabama, and that, to the pleasures of his tour, he united the business of inquiring for runaway slaves. From Ogdensburgh, there is a daily American line oi steamers up through the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario to Lewiston, near Niagara. The inhabitants on both sides of the frontier are superior to any confined and illiberal feeling of nationality as to their preference for either this or the Canadian line ; in comfort, speed, safety, both are on a level — and a very good level too ; therefore, as either side abates a few pence in the fare, the human tide flows certainly to it. In most of the American steamers, here and elsewhere, the fare includes the expenses of the table for the passengers ; a bell or gong summons them to the ditt'erent meals. The table is usually covered with an infinity of very small dishes, con- taining a great variety of curious animal and vegetable mat- ter, in such proportions that a plate may bear the contents oi' tvyo or three dishes being emptied into it at once, with impu- nity. The broadest characteristic of the cookery is grease. It is quite unnecessary for me to add anything to the very numerous and far from flattering descriptions which ha^'o been given of the modes of eating these viands, as practised by many of our travelling brethren of the United States; ENGLAND IN THE NEW WORLD. 97 tlieir habit? arc different from ours ; to us they are disagree- able; but there is no use in dwelling on the subject. The people you meet in public conveyances in America are of every class ; perhaps your neighbour on either hand, whose extraordinary performances have excited your astonishment or disgust, may be a man who but two or three years before was a swineherd in Tipperary, or yesterday a woodsman in Kentucky ; and probably he has not found his new school of relinement sufficiently active in example and instruction to cure him immediately of his little eccentricities of manner. I must say that I have seen nearly as many disagreeable peculiarities at ordinaries on the continent of Europe, and mdeed in Paris itself, as those of my American fellow- travellers. A Frenchman perhaps excels in the power of enjoying a dinner, and in appreciation of the merits of the cuisine — a German in the quantity he can consume — an Englishman in his manner of eating it — and an American, certainly, is unrivalled in the railroad rapidity with which he ^oes through the work. There seems a general determi- nation in America to alter and improve upon English customs, the right side of the road is always kept in driving, whiclj can only be adopted for the sake of being different from th< mother country, as it is so much more difficult for the coach man to judge of the distance he can afford in passing : per- haps it is on the same principle that they reverse, as much as possible, the uses of the knifo and fork. Within a mile of the thriving town of Prescott is Wind- mill Point, on the Canadian side, the scene of the sharp combat which ended in the surrender of the unfortunate Von Schultz : it is a bare, bleak place, not enlivened by its associations with piracy and scaffolds. On both banks oi the river there are many towns and villages, most of them pro- sperous, all increasing. The general appearance of advance- ment and cultivation is superior on the American side ; within the last three years, however, the steady progress of the northern bank begins to bear better the comparison with the rather hectic prosperity of the southern. Now, we are among the mazes of the *' Thousand Islands," and pass so close to some of them that we can pull the leaves from the graceful bending boughs of the trees, as the merciless wheels of the steamer dash to atoms their beautiful reliections in the mirror of the calm blue water. The eye does not weary to see, but the hand aches, in ever writing the one word — beauty ; wherever you steer over this great river — beauty, beauty still. The impression is not pleasant on landing at Kingston : it is an uncomfortable-looking place, and the public build- ings are out of proportion to the size of the town ; some of H i y\^ ^ 1 98 HOCHELAGA; Oil, the streets are drearily wide, and rank grass grows on their sides. The inhabitants are about twelve thousand; their numbers still increase, but since the removal of the seat of government from the place, it has a deserted look; it is however of some importance in trade, being the port of the Eidcau canal, which, with the Ottawa, opens up so much of the back country, and is a means of communication with Montreal. In case of war, this line would be of great value, as, for a long distance, only one bank of the St. La^vrence is in our possession. The now useless government-house is about a mile from the town, on the shore of the lake : the town hall and market are very handsome, as is the custom- house. Penitentiary, jail, court-house, and bank, are all large but rather unsightly buildings. Mineral springs of great strength have lately been discovered, one a hundred and fifty feet from the surface ; a large bath-house is built beside them. Kingston possesses thirty or forty steamers ; during the summer they buzz about with wonderful activity. Fort Henry, on a hill to the eastern side of the entrance of the llideau canal, is a strong place, but rather too far from the town for efficient defence ; it throws, however, its pro- tection eflectually over a dockyard of some importance, which lies beneath it. A detachment of artillery and two regiments garrison the fort and town. The society of Kingston received ^ a fatal blow in the removal of the seat of government ; it also wants the mix- ture of irench-Canadian grace and liveliness which gives such a charm to that of the Lower Province. From the constant intercourse with the United States, the tone of manners of all classes savours not a little of these neigh- bours, and a slight nasal twang, and a " guess" or two, are by no means imcommon. Many retired officers of the army and navy have settled here and live in great comfort. The necessaries of life are very cheap, and the shooting and fish- ing in the neighbourhood oft'er many inducements. For those who love yachting, the great Ontario opens out like an ocean from their doors, with islands sufficiently numerous to supply a variety of excursions every day for years. I do not like these greit lakes ; the waters are blue, pure, and clear, but they look dead. There was a ^reat calm when I was there, and there are no tides; the stillness was oppressive ; the leaves of the trees in some parts of the beach dipped in the water beiow, motionless as the air above. The shores on this side are low and fiat ; the eye wearied as it ibllowed the long, even lines in the far per- spective, mii'gling \ 'Ah those of the surface of the lake ; on tlio other side tlic broad expanse lay like polished lead, ENGLAND IN THE NEW WORLD. 99 are backed by the cloudless sky. During the last American war, in 1813, the whole of the English squadron of this lake was taken or destroyed by the Americans under Commodore Cliauncey. The balance of successes on the inland waters at that time was decidedly in their favour ; they had the great advantages of being near their resources, and having plenty of their best seamen disposable, from the Atlantic coast being sealed to their commerce and adventure ; at the same time, the attention of England was too much occapied with her enormous efforts and magnificent success in Europe to pay much attention to the comparatively unimportant struggle in the West. At the same time, I freely and willingly give to the Americans, my humble tribute of praise for the skill and gallantry of their officers and sailors ; of these any country might be proud, as for many high-minded and chivalrous acts, worthy of a great and free people. In the noble and admirable quality of military virtue, thej have in their short history proved themselves not inferior to any nation in the world. None should be more ready to acknowledge their merit than Englishmen, from whose race they have sprang, and who have so often found them to be by sea and land "worthy of their steel." May it seem fit to the Great Ruler of all counsels, that our future rivalry may only be in works of peace, in the increase of the happiness of our people ! Although at times a degree of mutual irritation and distrust exists between these great and free nations, I earnestly breathe a wish, exi)ress a hope, ay— announce a faith — that the bright day which philanthropists have dreamed of, poets seen in the visions of fancy, and the inspired page of prophecy foretold, is not far distant; when the spread of enlightenment, civilization, and above all of Christianity, among the nations of the earth, will do away for ever with the stern and terrible necessity of the sword : when the dazzling light which fame now throws upon the names of those who direct victorious armies, may 1be looked upon but as a false meteor, their records known only as a memory of a by-gone and mistaken glory. This Lake Ontario is five hundred miles round; the length measures three times the breadth, and its surface is two hundred and thirty-one feet above the level of the Atlantic. Throughout the whole extent the largest ships may sail ; in many parts a line of a hundred fathoms had not reached the bottom : owing to this great depth it never freezes, except where the water is sliallow along the shores. A great, and every year increasing trade, is carried on over its surface in steam and sailing vessels worthy of the ocean. n2 '■ t;! l;! ff? ■t i.t 100 hochelaga; oe, The English possess now a marked superiority in the number of their shipping ; their steam -boats are twice as numerous as those of their southern neighbours, their shore is also more populous, more solidly thriving, and better cul- tivated ; ten years ago the reverse was the case. Kumerous streams pour in their tribute, both from the north and the south : these and the waters of the lake abound in fish of excellent and varied flavour ; the salmon and bass are the most highly prized, and are taken in great quantities. The fantastic mirage plays its freaks here, too: in the summer wx^ather, when you are among the islands or near the shore, its illusions are as beautiful as strange. On the Canadian side, to the west of Kingstown, is a most singular arm of the lake, called the Bay of Quinte : for eighty miles it intrudes its zigzag course through the land, nearly returning again to the main waters. In many places it is but a mile broad, but everywhere deep and safe. On its shores the forests are rapidly giving way to thriving settlements, some of them in situations of very great beauty. By far the greater number of emigrants from the British islands settle m these lake districts, but the twenty or thirty thousand a year who arrive are at once absorbed, and make but little apparent diflerence in the extent occupied ; the insatiable wilderness still cries for more. The rate of wages for labour is very high — as is also the profit of the farmer. The English markets are open to any quantity of produce ; the forges of Sheffield and the looms of Manchester supply payment, while twenty thousand of the best seamen in the world practise their calling and earn their living in bearing these interchanged goods over the Atlantic. Alas ! for the five months of the year in which nature has fixed her irrevocable decree against this happy intercourse ! Woe to those ships which venture to trust too long to the treacherous mildness of the autumn ! In 1845, all the vessels but one that were detained to the 28th of November — thir- teen in number — went aground in one stormy night of bitter frost, between Quebec and the gulph of St. Lawrence. They remained jammi^d in among the ice, most of them crushed into wrecks, while the crews of several perished in awful tortures, in a vain effort to escape. Some of the survivors lost their limbs, from being frost-bitten, others were cast on tlio lonely islands, and for many a day their fate remained unknown. There was but little hope for them : — huge masses of ico floated rapidly round their frozen prison with each changing tide, sometimes dashing against each other with a roar like thunder. These grim sentinels guarded their "syretohed prisoners from all chance of human aid, till the ENGIAJTD IN THE NEW WOULD. 101 warmth of summer, like a good angel, chased them away, and released those iron men who survived the bitter trial. CHAPTER XI. TORONTO— NIAGARA. About midday we entered the harbour of Toronto : a natural mole of sand, some miles in extent, embraces its waters, and guards them from the turbulence of the great lake : this singular peninsula has some verdure, a few trees, and several houses, but is of a desolate and dreary character. The main land is quite different; there, rich fields, neat villas, shrubberies, and plantations, carry your thoughts at once to merry England. As you approach the town, this impression becomes stronger ; when landed, it is complete. The streets, the shops, the people, are English, their accent and manners, and, best of all, their hearts, are English too. This place is the nucleus of all that is loyal anof true in Upper Canada; and, as the men of Londonderry look back with honest pride upon their fathers' gallant defence against a despot, so may those of Toronto rejoice in their successful resistance to the still darker tyranny of an unbridled rabble. The city is admirably situated, and very prosperous; it was not incorporated till 1834, yet it now contains more than twenty thousand inhabitants, (1846,) their number having doubled itself in ten years. No town on the American continent has advanced more rapidly, and, perhaps, none so solidly. The houses are well-built and lasting, the public buildings convenient, but not overgrown ; commercial cha- racter and credit are high. Its prosperity is not the mush- room growth of staring tottering wooden cities, run up by designing swindlers of foreign gold, but the result of honest industry and healthy progress. The back country is very rich and valuable as an agricultural district, while the produce finds a ready sale for the English market. The enterprising inhabitants are planning various railroads (since executed) from the neighbouring towns, whose pro- sperity keeps pace, and is identified, with their own. They do not hold out mendacious promises or enormous and im- possible interest to the capitalist — but the people of Canada do not repudiate. In 1793, Governor Simcoe caused this harbour to be surveyed, and founded the town, then called Little York : two Indian families were at that time in quiet possession, and myriads of wildfowl crowded the waters of the bay. In 1813, the Americans burned it; after the peace it was P 'Si w4 15 1 : f 102 HOCHELAGA; OE, 111 rebuilt, nnd the name, •with good taste, changed to the old Indian word^ — Toronto — the place of meeting, or of council. In distant times, the tribes from the shores of the lake assembled there to make peace or war. A fort, of tolerable strength, but much out of repair, now protects the entrance of the harbour; there is but a small i)roportion of military force, but there are plenty of loyal citizens to man it, — men who have already done their duty, and are ready to do it again, should occasion arise to call forth their services. The great improvements in Toronto have been within the last few years : the streets are well paved and lighted with gas, and extensive water- works supply every part of the town. Here is the college of Upper Canada, a well-situated building, possessing extensive grounds, and bearing a high character for its system of instruction and discipline. The rules of this institution, and the disbursements of its con- siderable state endowments, were a constant subject of political discussion. The office of the Canada Land Company IS also in this town. This body is stiU looked upon with great jealousy and dislike by a considerable party in the province, perhaps not altogether without reason. Many lands, no doubt, remain unoccupied in consequence of this monopoly : even as far away as the banks of the Saguenay, people labour under, and complain bitterly of its pressure, and that fertile district is still only tilled by a few chance squatters, who, without any title, have taken up their resi- dence upon it. Toronto may boast of a tone of society above that of most provincial towns, either here or in Europe. Among the people of official rank, there are several who, by their acquirements, talent, and refinement, would be ornaments anywhere. In Canada, and in England, also, they are too well known to need any commendation ; their example and influence are proved most useful, by the enlightenment and good manners of the residents. The standard of character, the domestic arrangements and habits of the people, are .formed strictly on the model of the mother country; they look to her with reverence and affection ; well may she be proud of their loyalty, and encourage their love. There is an indescribable pleasure in finding four thousand miles away from our own dear land, a place like this, its healthy and vigorous child, — with every feature of the parent marked upon its face, every family trait developed m its character. We greet it as the nope of " England in the Kew World." May the day of severance be fiir distant ! But, perhaps, in the long future, when grown to sturdy and independent ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOELD. 103 manhood, it may become expedient tliat there slionhl he a separate household for the old and the young, and that witli a nearty blessing and a friendly farewell they sh<^uld part — let them then part — but in love. I am convinced that this fair Canada may grow great enough to be a balance of 3ower on the American continent, imdisturbed by rabble icense, uncursed by the withering crime of slavery, undis- lonoured by repudiation, unstained by a parent's blood. Just now, I was on the point of entering into a minute description of King Street and Parliament House, govern- ment offices and jail, baths and hotels, when it luckily llashed across my mind that, as I was not writing a guide- book, I had better let them alone. Having spared you that, pray excuse me for mentioning that labourers get five shillings a day, and the good things of this life for about half the prices of the English markets. Many of the roads in the neighbourhood are made of planks; the levels are very judiciously managed, and the draught on them is but little heavier than on a railroad ; you are spared the noise and rattling of the somewhat clumsy vehicles. Numerous steam-boats enliven the wharves, plying in all directions during the seasons of navigation. Like most of those in Canada and America, they are very good; one of them, the "Chief Justice Robinson," is quite a niodel of neatness and comfort; the deck is carpeted, furnished with sofas and arm-chairs, the sides hung round with paintings and orna- mented with well-occupied stands of gay llowers ; whilst she is as safe and speedy as the smokiest and dirtiest of her sisterhood. In this steamer I crossed the lake, and went seven miles up the Niagara river, to Q,ueensto^vn, thence to the Falls, eight miles, by a railway of very primitive construction ! it despises levels, has settled down into deep ruts, and is imconfined by fences on either side. Wo were perched on a quaint old coach, our locomotives three meek horses, and it certainly was not an express train. Our lateral movements on the rough track, rivalled those forward in quantity, and much exceeded them in rapidity. During the late war, this district was the scene of several very bloody and gallant actions between the English and Americans; they seem to have been highly satisiactory to both parties, for each claims the victory. They have con- tended for the laurels during the last thirty years with the same pertinacity with which they disputed the battle- ground, and with the same doubtful result. One thing, hoAv- ever, is certain — that the Americans failed in making any serious permanent impression on any part of the country. I 3 >1 ««ii ) ■.! i ' ■i 104 hochelaga; oe, Perhaps the mutual iniury was about ec^ual, their loss of Builalo being: balanced by that of Little \ ork on the side of the Eng-lish ; each had to mourn over the graves of many worthy and brave soldiers. Sir Isaac Brock was the most remarkable of these ; he commanded the British force at the battle of Queenstown, where, he fell : the Canadian Parlia- ment erected a pillar to his memory on the scene of his victory, which, as I have before mentioned, was blown up by one of the Sympathizers, at the time of their invasion of Canada. Uueenstown is but a poor place : being on the frontier, it has frequently suifered in the struggles between the two countries ; the inhabitants are now about five hundred in number. At the entrance ^ of the Niagara river, or, as it should be called, the continuation of the St. Lawrence, is Fort Niagara, now a place of considerable strength and importance, j there saw, for the first time, the flag of the Stars and Strirjcs, and the soldiers in their grey uniforms. On the Englisn side, Fort Massassagua guards the river ; behind it is the town of Niagara, with its docks and foundry, four churches, and two thousand people. At the western end of Lake Ontario is Burlington Bay, containing the towns of Dundas and Hamilton ; both of them are rapidly growing — the latter has a large population, and much com- mercial enterprise. The waters of the Niagara river are of a peculiarly beautiful colour, the blue is as clear and soft as that of a summer's sky. Up to Uueenstown the banks are low, and the country around flat ; thence to the Falls the flood lies between high, abrupt cliffs. On the Canada side, rich tracts of park- like scenery extend for many miles inland; a great portion is cleared, but there still remain many of the magnificent old forest trees, which once sheltered the people of the departed race. The surface of the country rises in steppes of good table-land, from but little above the level of the lake, to the undulating grounds which spread about the Falls, nearly three hundred feet higher. We stopped several times on the way from our landing at Queenstown ; the noise of the Falls was not perceptible imtil within two miles — while our clumsy rail-carriage was in motion, its rattle had a complete monopoly of our anxious ears. The night was very calm, but, as we were rather belo-^' on our approach, the noise seemed lost among the tall trees that surrounded the road. We arrived at the hotel, which was on the Canada side, but kept by an American, according to American customs. Fortunately, it was dark ; I was very glad not to have had the first view dimmed by twilight. A great many people were staying in the house, prmci dahs, a ver violin vocal spirit assist the fu By to me ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOELD. 105 HI principally Americans ; they walked about under the veran- dahs, and danced, till twelve at nig-ht. The musician was a very ^aily-dressed negro, who did good service on his violin, the instructions to the dancers being added in a vocal accompaniment: he entered so completely into the spirit of his office, that he sometimes pirouetted about, to assist precept by example. This valuable man also fultilled the functions of barber and head waiter to the hotel. By painting and by description, Niagara had been familiar to me for years, as no doubt it has been to every one else : so much has been said and written on the subject, that any attempt to throw new light upon it is hopeless. I, there- fore, mean, with simple egotism, to give the impressions it made upon myself. The sight was precisely what I expected — the sensations it caused, totally different. 1 did not start with an excla- mation of awe, neither did I only look upon it as " an everlasting fine 'water-privilege.'" I thougnt it a magni- ficent cataract, far grander than anything I had before seen, and more beautiful. I sat do\vn on the turf near Table Rock, whence there is the best view, with something approaching to disappointment on my mind, that, after all, it should be only a "magnificent cataract." But as I looked and listened, the eye and ear, as it were, matured into the power of fit perception ; then admiration and astonishment, and, at last, almost confusion, came upon me ; sight and sound seemed to have joined their strength and verged into a vague impression — vague, but of mighty force. A passing stranger addressed some question to me, which aroused me ; I found that, unconscious of the lapse of time, I had been for hours staring at the great wonder. I got up reluctantly, and proceeded to the nuisance of sight- seeing, but looked back every now and then as though fearing that I should lose the rest of the grand spectacle ; for I could not hut fancy that it was some strange and transient phenomenon, or a display got up by some enor- mous eftbrt for the moment. When night came, it seemed reckless waste to keep it going still, while its glorious beauty was hidden from mortal view. It was not till increasing distance freed me from its infiuence, and when thought returned, that I knew it had been going on yesterday, last year, for a century, for tens of centuries— back to that deep abyss of the past, on which sceptic science — presumptuous though feeble — has dared to shed a dim and sinister light, of only sufficient strength to show, that the depths must remain for ever — inscrutable as they are profound. h ti ' !• M ■i'-ma-.'-^ritflfia^tr;:: 106 HOCHELAOA; OE, [hi Now, the ncigliLourhood of this ^reat wonder is overrmi with every species of abominable fungus — the growth of rank bad taste : with equal luxuriance on the English and American sides, Chinese pagoda, menagerie, camera obscura, museum, watch-tower, wooden monument,^ tea-gardens, * old curiosity shop.' A boy handed me a slip of paper, on which were printed r,omQ stanzas of astounding magninceneo, signed *' Almira," much in the favourite style of the poet laureate to " Moses aud Son." I cannot refrain from giving a short quotation : ""Would ye fiiin steal a glance o'er life's dark sea, And gaze though trembling on eternity? Would ye looJc out, look doicn, where God hath set His mighty signet ? Come — come higher yet, To the Pagoda's utmost height ascend, And see earth, air, and sky in one alembic blend! " " The Pagoda is now open to visitors, and perfectly secure. * * * Admittance, 25 cents. * * * 1st April, 1S45." One of the disagreeable necessities of the tourist is to go nnder the Falls to Termination Rock. ^ Arrayed in a well- worn^ suit of oil-cloth, with hard dirty shoes, and no stockings, I was weak enough to submit to it. The left hand grasped firmly by a negro guide, I shuffled bide ways along a narrow shingly path cut out of the side of the cliif, the main sheet of water falling far clear of me ; the dense cloud of spray soon soaks into every pore, and obscures the sight, while the tremendous noise makes hearing equally impossible. Every now and then, I trod upon an eel, and he would twist his limber, slimy body, over my bare instep, perhaps into the shoe, where there was ample room, and escape through one of its holes. I then descended some rough, steep steps, went a little further and stood trium- phant, but very cold, upon Termination Ilock ; next I groped for a stone to carry back with me to the upper world, that it may descend to my admiring posterity — if I be ever blessed with any — as a memorial of tne wisdom and courage of their ancestor. There is* little danger in this particularly nasty and disagreeable performance ; ladies frequently go through it ; their dress for the purpose is of the same material, but rather rnore voluminous than ours. With all due deference to the fair adventurers, I do not think it an exploit at all suited to their sex ; there is nothing whatever to reward the trouble and nuisance of the visit, and little to boast of in having accomplished it. ENGLAND IN THE NEW WORLD. 107 I now went up the bank of the river above the Falls, to sec the Rapids ; they arc very line, but not so striking* as the Cedars. Next I was rowed in a boat as near as possible to the foot of the Falls, got rather wet, then crossed to the American side, cKmbed the vile Pagoda, went to Iris Island — in short, looked at Niagara from above, peered under, stared up, glanced sideways ; and, at Termination Rock, I had actually examined the back of it. This is all worse than useless, as well might you do the same with Raphael's " Transfiguration ;" as there is but one perfect view for a painting, there is but one for Niagara. See it from Table Kock, gaze thence upon it for hours— days if you like — and then go home. As for the Rapids, Cave of the "Winds, Burning Springs, &c., &c., you might as well enter into an examination of the gilt figures on the picture frame, as waste your time upon them. About three miles below is the "Whirlpool, a large, deep sweep, hollowed out of the cliff in a bend of the river. Sometimes there is a horrible interest connected with this place ; the bodies of people who have been lost over the Falls have floated round and round this dismal hole for days together; carried on the surface by the whirling eddies back to the main stream ; or sucked down, to emerge again in a few minutes and continue their ghastly journey. The rocks around are abrupt, the water unapproachable by boats; so they must remain till decomposed, or by some chance swell of the waters they vary their course a little, and get far enough into the main stream to be borne away by its force. About once in ten years, generally in January or the beginning of February, the ice ' takes' all across at the foot of the Falls, making a complete bridge from one shore to the other. A great frozen mass, of irregular shape, is formed on the edge next to the cataract, from masses of ice being forced under the surface and raising it up, and from the accumulation of frozen spray ; when this breaks up in the spring, the concussion of the several fragments, driven together by the force of the waters, rivals the noise of the Falls themselves. In a mild winter, the ice of Lake Erie sometimes breaks up, large pieces float over the Falls, they are smashed to atoms, and rise to the surface in immense quantities of a substance like wetted snow ; a severe night's irost binds this into a solid mass, and forms a large portion of the bridge. The rise and fall of the great body of the water are very slight at any season; but, as you watch the plunging stream, it seems to tumble down sometiiaes in gushes, as if IV fU ll I ' 108 HOCKELAGA; OB, t I an additional influence came into play every now and then. About the centre of the Horseshoe, or Canadian fall, there is a clear unbroken spout of water twenty feet in depth before its leap ; for seventy feet below, it continues deep, pure blue, thence to its gulf it is shrouded in a soft spray which waves like a plume in the wind, at times tinted with all the prismatic colours the sun can bestow : when the weather is very calm, this beautiful mist rises to a great height into the air, becoming liner by degrees, till no longer perceptible. The Falls on the American side of Iris island are a hundred and sixty- four feet high: the Canadian or Horseshoe, a hundred and hfty-eight ; but the latter are about twice the breadth, and discharge four times the body of water. A learned English professor, who has published a most valuable work on the Geology of America, states it to be his conviction, that the Falls recede about one foot in the year ; that probably they remained stationary for many ages at the \\ hirlpool, when a fresh start of some fifteen thousand years at the present rate of travelling, brought them to where they now are. Within forty years, since they have been more closely observed, there has been a considerable change in their shape; indeed slight variations constantly occur. It is also the opinion of the author I have quoted, that they have diminished considerably in height, probably a hundred feet, but that there is no reason to suppose them to have been formerly in one unbroken fall, as they now are. The first mention made of these Falls was ^ by Father Hennepin, a French missionary, in 1675. I will ^ive a part of his quaint and exaggerated description : " Betwixt the Lake Ontario and the Lake Erie, there is a vast and i)rodigious cadence of water, which falls down after a surprising and extraordinary manner, insomuch that the universe does not afford its parallel. This wonderful downfall is about six hundred feet high, and composed of two great cross streams and two falls of water, with an island sloping across the middle of it. The waters which fall from this horrible precipice do foam and boil after the most hideous manner imaginable, making an outrageous noise more terrible than that of thunder; for when the wind blows out of the south this dismal roaring may be heard more than fifteen leagues off; the Niagara river at the foot of the Falls is more than a quarter of a league broad." There is already a sad list of fearful accidents at this place, though for so short a time frequented by civilized man ; the last few years have been fertile in them ; perhaps ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOELD. 109 ;; r ■ ! the most horrible of all was one which happened in Maj", 1843. A Canadian of the village of Chippewa was engap:ed in dragging sand from the river three miles above the S'alls ; seated in his cart, he backed the horses into the water, ignorant of the depth ; it sank, but a box on which he sat, Heated, and was soon driven by a high wind off from the land into the strong but smooth current ; he, being unable to swim, clung to the box. A boat was on the shore, but by the mismanagement of the bystanders it was let loose into the stream, and floated past the unhappy man, empty and useless. There was no other for two miles lower down; beyond that, aid was impossible. The people on the beach, instead of hastening to get a boat ready in time below, ran along the shore talking to him of help, which their stupidity rendered of no avail ; he knew that he was doomed — " I'm lost ! I'm lost ! " sounded fainter and fainter as the distance widened. This dreadful protraction lasted nearly an hour, the stream being very slow : at first, he scarcely appears to move, but the strength increases, the waters become more troubled, he spins about in the eddies, still clinging with the energy of despair to his support. He passes close by an island, so close that the box touches and stops for one moment — biit the next, it twists slowly round and is sucked into the current again. The last hope was that a boat might be ready on the shore at Chippewa ; it was vain, there were none there but frail canoes all high up on the beach ; by the time one of them was launched, the boldest boatman dared not embark. For, but just above the Falls, they saw the devoted victim, whirled round and round in the foaming waves, with frantic gestures appealing for aid ; his frightful screams pierced still through the dull roar of the torrent — ** I'm lost ! I'm lost ! " He is now in the smooth flood of blue unbroken water, twenty feet in depth, the centre of the Canadian fall. Yet another moment, he has loosed his hold; his hands are clasped as if in prayer ; his voice is silent. Smoothly, but quicit as an arrow's flight, he glides over and is seen no more, nor any trace of him from that time. On Iris island is found one of the very few burying- grounds which are known to have belonged to the departed race ; a considerable number of skeletons have been dug up there, all placed in a standing or sitting posture. When this place, of such difficult and perilous access, was chosen by the sim- ple Indians, it must nave been from a strong wish that the precious ashes should remain undisturbed. None can now ever know how long they have slept the sleep which even the yoar of Niagara cannot awaken. I. , ! I ij i I- !■ i r, 1 i f it' If ; 110 nOCHELAGA ; OE, !'" ,,12! There was one splendid moonlight night during my stay. At eleven o'clock 1 went off to Table Rock, took up the favourite position, looked and wondered. There were no boring guides or chattering visitors to mar the effect : the light was not sufS.ciently strong to reveal the fungi of the place ; J was opposite to the Great Fall, saw it and nothing else ; unless occasionally, when my eyes followed the soft faint spray, " the everlasting incense of the waters," which rose up against the deep blue sky, undisturbed by the slightest breath of wind. Through its delicate gauze the bright stars twinlded with undimmed lustre, while the full moon shining down, tinted it with the tender beauties of the lunar rainbow. But, unsoftened by this fair colouring, unsoothed by the gentle silence of the autumn night, the great torrent roared, plunged, and dashed over its leap, in stillest calm as in wildest tempest, the same ever. The fresh springs of life and feelinf;: must be thoroughly dried up in the heart of the man who does not know a new sensation when he looks upon JS^iagara. I found, by looking at my watch, that in apparently a very short time it had got very late ; the spray and the damp grass had wetted me; the night air chilled me, "foolish old man that I am:" so, coughing, o-nd drawing my woollen comforter tighter round my throat, I turned towards the hotel, stopping many a time to look back. But little space for sleep was left me before the morning sun warmed into life the noise and bustle of the house. — My journey recom- menced that day. CIIAPTEIl XII. GEOGllArnY OF CANADA — ItESOUKCES— TEADE. m l!l! Canada extends from Gaspe, in the gulph of St. Lawrence, in the cast, to Sandwich, at the end of Lake Eric, in the west, a distance, as the crow Hies, of about eleven hundred miles. Throughout tliis whole length, the shores are washed, to the west by Lake Huron, to the south-east by Lakes Eric and Ontario, and by the St. LaAvrence, as the boundarjr, to the forty-iifth ])arallel of latitude; thence the great river Hows through the centre of the province to the sea. From tlio Indian village of St. llegis. where this parallel meets the St. Lawrence, it is the boundary for three degrees eastward, ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOELD. Ill to Hereford ; thence, the division between Canada and the United States is an irregular line in a north-easterly direc- tion, partly regulated by the summits of a range of heights, and partly merely arbitrary, to about forty-seven and a half degrees north latitude, and within thirty miles of the St. Lawrence ; from this point it turns in a very curved form till it meets the boundary line of New Brunswick, from which province Canada is separated, at the eastern ex- tremity, by the Bay of Chaleurs and the river Ilistigouchi. To the north, no boundaries have been traced between Canada and the Hudson's Bay territory, nor are any ever likely to be. ^ Many magnificent rivers flow into the St. Lawrence in its course : the principal are the Saguenay and the Ottawa from the north, and the llichelieu from the south. As yet but a small portion of this great country is even partially peopled ; the inhabitants are merely crowded along the banks of the great river, its tributaries, and the lakes. East of Montreal lies the widest part of the occupied lands, but nowhere do they reach the breadth of more than a hundred miles. Extensive though may be this splendid province of Canada, it is yet very different indeed Irom what it originally was. In the fourteenth year of the reign of George the Third, the boundaries of the province of Quebec — as it was then called, were defined by an act of the Imperial Parliament. By that act it included a great extent of what is now New England, and the whole of the country between the State of Pennsyl- vania, the Iliver Ohio and the Mississippi, north to the Hudson's Bay territory, where now a great portion of the rich and flourishing Western States add their strength to the neighbouring republic. By gradual encroachments on one hand and concessions on the other, by the misconstruction of treaties and diversions of boundaries, have these vast and valuable tracts of coimtry been separated from the British empire. Throughout all the extent of Canada, from east to west, nature and art have bestowed extraordinarj^ facilities of navigation. The shores of the waters and a large portion of the interior are fertile, in some places to an uncommon degree. All the land was originally covered with a magni- iiceut forest, but, acre by acre, a cousiderab^.^ extent of this has been cleared away, and replaced by towns, villages, and corn-fields. There arc no very high mountains, but it can boast of the largest lakes in the world, and of Niagara. The country seems deficient in coal and not very ])lentifully supplied with minerals ; but in its agricultural capabilities it IS not inferior to any part of the old or new Continent. y\ T I 112 HOCHELAGA; OE, mm ;^ From the north-eastern point, chilled by the winds of the Atlantic, ^ to the south-western, live degrees lower and approaching the centre of the Continent, there is considerable variety of climate. However, in all parts the winters are very severe, and the heat of summer but little inferior to that of the tropics. Nearly everything that grows in England flourishes nere also, and the country possesses various pro- ductions which nature has denied to us. The climate has in a slight degree changed since the tolerably extended cultiva- tion, but to this day Quebec must rank among the coldest and hottest places in the civilized world. In spring and autumn the variations of the temperature are great and sudden ; at noon you will fain hide from the heat of the sun, and at midnight the earth is bound up in frost. To people naturally healthy^ the climate will be foimd healthy too, but to the rheumatic, consumptive, and feeble, it is a severe trial. It is remarked that a great number of children die in infancy in this country, particularly among the French-Canadian population ; the weak in years seem injuriouslv affected, as well as the weak in constitution. With the exception of a very few bitterly cold days in winter, that season is far from being disagreeable ; the pure, dry, frosty air has at times a most exhilarating eft'ect, and the blue unclouded sky above relieves the eye from the almost painful monotony of the snowy earth. The long duration of tbis sleep of nature is, however, very wearisome ; after the third or fourth paonth the longing for green iields and leafy woods becomes intense and harassing, and the frozen plea- sures of the winter have lost all their novelty and zest. While the snow is melting away in spring, the weather is usually beautiful and very warm ; but the roads and iields are in an indescribably disagreeable state, and travelling is almost impossible. But, when the young summer fairly sets in, nothing can be more charming than tlie climate — bright and warm during the daj^ with the air still pure and clear as ever ; and the transition from bare broAvn fields and woods to verdure and rich green foliage is so rapid, that you can almost fancy you see its progress; while, at night, light frosts refresh the atmosphere, and brace the nerves relaxed by the delicious warmth of the day. To this succeed July and August, almost terrible in their intense heat ; the roads and rocks at mid-day so hot as to be painful to the touch, and the strength of the direct rays of the sun even greater than in the tropics ; but the night always brings a re-invigorating coolness, and tlic breezes of the moruinD; are as fresh and tempered as in our own favoured land. The autumn— or the "Fall," as ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOEID. 113 they love to call it here — rivals the spring in its healthy and moaerate warmth, and far excels it in the beauty of colour- ing: which it bestows. The population returns of Canada are not by any means ac- curate ; the number of emigrants each year, with the uncer- taintjr of their remaining in the province, adds to the difficulty of arriving at a correct estimate. I believe, from the inform* ation I have been able to obtain from the best sources, that about fourteen hundred thousand is the number of British subjects in this country ;* seven hundred and fifty thousand in the Lower, and six hundred and fifty thousand in the Upper Province. Of these, five hundred and fifty thousand are of French descent, the remainder of the Anglo-Celtic race, with about six thousand Indians. The population has hitherto doubled itself in about every twenty-five years. The annual average number of emigi*ants for the last fifteen years, has been twenty-five thousand, but it is supposed that a large portion of tnese have unadvisedly passed on to the United States; some have since returned to Canada, others soon went to rest in the pestilential western marshes, while others have been successful. But in Canada, with common regularity and industry, all are successful: the healthy climate keeps up their vigour for labour; land is cheaper, and not less fertile than that of the western states of the neighbouring republic ; there are no taxes ; the value of agricultural produce is greater in their markets than on the banks of the Mississipjji ; and there is no Lynch law. The late Lord Durham, in his celebrated Report, delighted to extol the prosperity of our republican neighbours, in con- trast to the state of our fellow- subjects. • A Select Committee of the Upper Canada House of Assembly drew up a counter- report to tnis, in which they indignantly, and with reason, deny the sweeping statements of the High Commissioner. I extract the following from the Commissioner's Report : — " Having first described the surpassing prosperity of the United States, for the purpose of contrasting it with the poverty and inferiority of these colonies, his Lordship pro- ceeds to state : — * On the side of both the Canadas, and also of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, a widely scattered popu- lation, i)oor, and apparently unenterprising, though hardy and industrious, separated from each other by tracts of intervening forests, without towns and markets, almost without roads, living in mean houses, deriving little more than a rude sub- sistence from ill- cultivated land, and seemingly incapable of ( "I i I !■ I I : i . \ I, ' ■ i ^! I i i ;* I IH: * Thepopulfttion is at present (1854) estimatea at about 2,000,000 114 hochelaga; oe, '\ ... improving their condition, present the most instructive con- trast to their enterprising and thriving neighbours on the American side.' Let the farmers of all political parties, residing in the districts fronting on the St. Lawrence, the owners of the extensive, beautiful, and well-cultivated lands on the Bay of Quinte, in the district of Newcastle, the Home, Gore, Niagara, London, and western districts, read this de- grading account, and ask themselves whether they would feel perfectly safe in submitting their future political fate, and that of their children, to the dogmas of a man who has so grossly misstated their chara^j^er and condition." To the emigrant from the British Islands, there is, perhaps, no place in the world offering a better settlement tnan the eastern townships of Lower Canada. There, in his log hut, with his wife and children around him to cheer his labour, he may speedily cut out his independence from the mag- nificent forests, and possess the fertile land : in less than twelve months of patient toil, enough is cleared for the pro- duction of sufficient potatoes and corn to place him beyond the reach of want, and set him in the road to competence. The first year is the difficulty,— often a disheartening and almost intolerable struggle. In Upper Canada, also, the prospects of the settlers are not less encouraging. The Canada Company published, a few years ago, a statement of the condition of the people at the settlement of Goderich ; the first commencement was in 1829 ; in 1840 six thousand people had established themselves there, and made improvements in the lands and acquired live stock to the amount of £242,287 ; nearly half of this was in the possession of families who had originally nothing, or, at most, some few of them had ten pounds to start with ; the remainder was accumulated by people who had been slightly better off in the world. Most of the first settlers have already paid out also the full extent of their purchase money, and are now freeholders of the land. With a sufficient capital and extent of land under culti- vation to make it worth while to devote his time to it, a man who understood it would at once be able to live in comfort, and make money on a farm. The French-Canadian gentleman, however, tliinks it beneath his dignity, and trusts everything to a subaltern : and the Englishman ge- nerally expmds so much of his capital in the purchase of the land and stockf that, for years afterwards, he is crippled in the means of working his resources. Horses and other cattle, though hardy and valuable in their way, are far inferior to the English breed, and not improved by a recent admixture of American blood. In ElJ-GLAlTi) IN THE NEW WOELD. 115 Lower Canada the maintenance of live stock during the longf winters is very expensive, and the animals are usually miserably poor ana thin; in short, but just kept from starving, till food becomes plentiful, in the spring. The importance of the trade of the St. Lawrence to Eng- land is not to be estimated solely by the value of the goods exchanged, though, even in that point of view, it is very considerable ; the productions of Canada sent to the British Islands require, from their nature, an immense bulk of ship- ping, and thus give employment to a great number of the very best sailors. The inhtbitants of this province consume a greater proportion of English goods than any peo|)le in the world, excepting those of Australia. The Canadian pur- chases nearly four times as much of the produce of British industry as the citizen of the United States ; in return, he obtains "highly remunerating prices in our markets for every- thing he can send us, and in any quantity. The tariff of the United States of course acts against the co- lonies, as well as against England ; but it is obvious that with the very inefficient preventive force they possess, it must be a dead letter along twelve hundred miles of a frontier, a large part of which is forest or navigable water. A great deal of contraband trade with the northern parts of America is carried on through Canada, but not to such an extent as might be expected from its being greatly profitable, and with very slight risk of loss. It would seem that here the smuggler created, for the " irrepressible energies of commerce," an outlet almost made necessary by the absurd and mischievous tariff. Demoralizing as such a trade must be, it seems almost inevitable. Peopile and capital are alone wanted in this country ; the springs of wealth are endless. 1 have mentioned elsewhere that a great panic was caused in the Canada timber trade, by the diminution of protection for colonial produce : for the first year from this alarm, there was a falling off in the quantity exported and also in its price ; the next, however, rallied considerably, and the export and price, now, are greatly more than when this first step towards free trade was taken. On the other hand, it is a very singular and almost unaccountable fact, that the quantity of corn and Hour sent to England while Canada possessed nearly a monopoly in that market, was considerably less than it had been in times when there was no peculiar privilege in its favour. At tlie time of the free trade enactment, opinion in Canada was very much divided on the subject ot the probable loss of their exclusive advantages in the En.if,lish com- market. The agricultural portion of the community were generally I 3 116 hochelaga; ob^ tn^ very much alaimed, fearing^ a great fall in prices at home, and a consequent depreciation in the value of their produce ; they talked of ruin — waste, untilled lands, and all sorts of dreary things. Again, some of the timher merchants, in breathless terror, cried out that the relaxation of duties on fo- reign timber must at once drive them to bankruptcy, altogether forgetting their increased prosperity under the earlier re- laxations. A considerable body of the mercantile men hailed this announcement of free trade with pleasure — for instance, the Board of Trade at Montreal, and triumphantly quoted the facts which the last few years had given, as conclusive in its favour. The present is, beyond all doubt, the time of Canada's greatest prosperity: from the highest to the lowest — mer- chant, farmer, tradesman, labourer — their hands are full of business, their profits and wages ample : there is scarcely a shadow for the discontented to make gloom of. The country- has only now begun to arrive at that degree of maturity, when trade takes its great start. "We should recollect that English Canada is more than a century younger than the trading districts of the United States ; it is unfair to compare their progress in commerce hitherto, for, till very recently, the conditions of this country were such as to render tne former merely anxious for, and busied in the support of life, the primitive pursuits of husbandry being the only occupa- tion of the people. As numbers increased and towns en- larged, wealth and intelligence were brought to bear, and the last five, ten, fifteen years, show a change in these provinces almost incredible. Within the longest of those periods, the population of Quebec and Montreal, the two principal trading towns, has nearly doubled; numbers of people have risen from very humble circumstances to affluence; handsome shops, with plate-glass windows, adorned with costly goods, replace the small and obscure stores; the roads, bridges, and canals, ships, railways, and steamers, have improved and multiplied in a most extraordinary manner. This is but the commence- ment ; the impulse is only now fairly at work ; a few years hence, the progress will be far greater ; the feeble time of infancy is past, the first difficulties over, and this vigorous people start, confident in their resources and energy, every sail tilled with thefavouring breezes of prosperity. Each year enhances, to a certain extent, the difficulty of the supply of timber ; by the banks of the streams and rivers within a moderate distance in all directions, the finer trees have already been cleared oft', and the * lumberers' are now obliged to drag the fruits of their labour for a long way ENGLAND IN THE NEW WORLD. 117 through the hush, or else to ascend hundreds of miles to the yet unspoiled forests of the interior. But though the diffi- culties increase, the demand and the number of people em- ployed increases too, and there is no danger of any failure in the supply for ages. Three times the former quantity of timber reaches England from the Baltic since the reduction of the duties ; this, which the Canadians at first imagined would be their ruin, has, on the contrary, much increased the demand for their produce. In house and ship-building, Baltic and American timber are both required for different ]Darts of the structure ; and, since the former has been so considerably cheapened, these opera- tions have increased so as to call for a greater quantity of the latter than was formerly used ; while the advantages to the builder and tenant in England are evident from the great diminution of cost. Canada is totally free from direct taxation, except of course for municipal purposes. The revenue for the year 1845 was £430,000 sterling ;* four-fifths of this is derived from customs, the remainder from excise licenses, proceeds of public works, and territorial and casual sources. A duty of five per cent, is levied on English goods entering the pro- vince, and from ten to fifteen per cent, on foreign ; on these latter also, generally, an imperial duty is imposed. Canada defrays all the expenses of her own civil govern- ment and judicial establishment. The naval and military forces, and cost of works for the defence of the country, are paid from .the imperial coffers ; from these sources and the private expenditure of the individuals employed, a sum of more than half a million sterling is annually poured into the colony. The flawing in of a continual stream of money to this amount, is of course a very important element of pro- sperity. Not only are the inhabitants protected without any cost, but this large sum helps to keep the balance of trade in their favour, and is circulated to enrich them. From the great number of opportunities of profitable in- vestment, and from capital not being as yet much accumu- lated, it commands a far higher rate of interest on the best security than can be obtained in England. The legal rate is six per cent., and this can be obtained Avith undoubted safety. Manufactures on a small scale have been tried and are still in progress in several parts of Canada : they are fairly remu- nerative ; but surely, in a young and thinly-peopled country, with such immense undeveloped agricultural resources, this is * Now more than trebled. ■> I I !:i i •I ,- ■, 1 I 118 HOCEELAGA; OE, mi an economical error. I have no doubt that it would advantage the colony infinitely were every tailor and shoemaker at the plough, and the necessary articles of their labour supplied from England. Canada has every natural capability for becoming what, without doubt, she will soon be, a great agri- cultural and commercial country ; but any attempt to en- courage manufactures there, till in a far maturer stage of advance, appears vain and preposterous. The French population have nitherto been little more than a dead weight on the activity of the lower portion of the mag- nificent valley of the St. Lawrence, and whatever has been done in commercial adventure, is due to the comparatively very small number of the Anglo-Saxon and Celtic races. In matters of general improvement, docks, bridges, &c., they have often to encounter even the opposition of their inert fellow-subjects. The closing of the ports of the River St. Lawrence, by ice for four or five months in the year is, of course, a great drawback from their mercantile advantages, but not so very great as may appear at first sight. During this time the channels of internal transport of goods are also frozen up, but the produce of the lumberers' winter labours is released in the spring ; the rich crops of Upper Canada can be readily shipped in the autumn; while the vessels which leave England early in the year carry out what is required for summer use, and those charged with the fruits of the harvest come back laden with goods for the ensuing winter. ENGLANP IN ISB JIEW WOBLD, U9 Mil CHAPTER XIII. KELiaiON— EDUCATION—THE PRESS. Among the subjects of general observation which suggest themselves in considering the state of any Christian country, the first is that of its religion. The influence which it exer- cises, even in a temporal point of view, are so important, that, though one were to acknowledge no higher interest than the political state and material prosperity, it forces it&elf upon the attention. Thirty years after the cession by France, Canada was foimed into a Diocese of the Churon of England; in 1839 this was divided into two Sees — the eastern, or the Diocese of Quebec, containing the whole of Lower Canada, is given to the care of the Bishop of Montreal ; the western, being aU Ujper Canada, to that of the Bishop of Toronto. These dis- tricts are of enormous size, each extending about six hundred miles in length, and the incomes attached to them are far fron sufficient for the expenses which such a charge and ranc entail.* Ihe incomes of many of the clergy are very small ; some hav* not more than a hundred pounds a year, and but few are allowed a glebe-house or other residence. But, though theii means are so slender, their duties are most severe and harassing : to convey an idea of their nature, I will give a short extract from the Bishop of Montreal's Visitation Jounal for the year 1843, printed for the "Society for the Propigation of the Gospel." *' Duties of the clergyman of the * Mission' of Mascouche — New Glasgow. Sunday morning, service throughout the year at Mascouche, except on the sacrament days at New Glasgow. Paisley and Kilkenny, four times a year each, (as also at Mascouche ;) Sunday afternoon, service at Terrebonne, six miles from Mascouche, and New Glasgow, twelve miles; when at the latter, their way is continued to Kilkenny, twelvd miles further, on Sunday night, in order to hold ser- vice Ihere (fortnightly) on Monday; two miles from the house to the Church, and eleven after service to sleep (it Paisley, in preparation for service there on Tuesday, and so back to Mascouche. Occasional visits from hence to the * There are now separate bishoprics of Quebec and Montreal. \ ft M 120 HOCHEIAaA; OE, m, Nord, forty miles off. A great portion of the road in summer is of the worst description. Parochial visiting cannot be sys- tematic in such a vast extent of scattered charge." In the thirty-first year of the reign of George the Third, one seventh ot all the waste lands was set apart for, as it was worded, the " Protestant Church; " and the Scottish Church and others have claimed a share, and receive it. A late Act of Parliament provides for the sale of these "Clergy lleserves" and the distribution of the funds. Hitherto the " Society for the Propagation of the Gospd." has been the chief sunport of the Church of England in Canada, as well as in tne other colonies. In the year 1M3, more than fifteen thousand pounds were given by this most valuable body to Canada alone. A Cnurch Society wis also established in Upper Canada, in 1841 ; the next year :ts income was eighteen hundred pounds ; and it has since in- creased to a considerable amount. As I stated elsewhere, the census has always been talen under great disadvantages, owing to the scattered dwelliigs of the population, and to a stupid idea among the loyer classes of French- Canadians, that it was made with a vi«w of taxation. It is also impossible to arrive correctly at the number of the members of each different sect, as the pecple employed are supposed, in their estimates, to have magniied their own at the expense of others. I have before me the attainable ; ;:atistics, such as they are, but they are so con- fused and contradictory that one can only hope for an ap- proximation to the reality. I believe that the proportion waich the members of the Church of England bear to the population of Canada is under one sixth of the whole. In the various political troubles which have arisen at difierent times in England and in her colonies, there was one quality in which the members of the Church svere always conspicuous — that of loyalty. Wherever the^ are found, they are, as it were, a garrison against sedition and rebellion ; every holy spire that rises among the dark pine woods of Canada, stands over a strong-hold for the British Crown ; and every minister who labours in his remote and ill-rewnrded calling, is a faithfiJ and zealous subject. But the state of the Church of England in Canada iS not without its bright side of happy promise ; there are jeople still alive and now not very old, who were confirmsd at Quebec by the Bishop of Nova Scotia ; the first, and at that time the onl> Colonial Bishop of the Established Clurch throughout the empire ; at the end of the eighteenth ceitury there were only six clergymen in all Canada. Withia the last few years, especially under the auspices of the present ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOELD. 121 able and excellent Bishops, the prospects of the Church have much improved ; the labours of the missionaries have been ceaseless, and they are rewarded with success in their sacred calling, though not by their own worldly advancement. Their Hves are hard, toilsome, and full of privation; often they live with their families in bare and humble dwellings, unable from their poverty to keep up the outward appear- ances that conduce to worldly consideration, and deprived of the comforts and enjoyments to which their place and education entitle them. Wherever one of these worthy men is established, he is a centre, and acts as a stimulus for improvement, as far as his narrow means allow. The Church, in the influence of its fixed and steadfast principles, is a happy barrier against the wild and turbulent enthusiasm of dissent ; in many instances, various sectarians have joined its fold, to save themselves from their own extravagances. The fantastic and mischievous absurdities of Millerism, have been widely spread in some portions of Canada; its apostles are chiefly men of little education or character, but many of their followers appear sincere and ardent believers. I shall again quote from the Bishop of MontreaFs Visitation journal. *' In the meetings of the Millerites, persons acted upon by the vehement proclamation of close approaching judgment, enforced by the expedients usual in such cases for goading the human mind, fall into what are technically called the struggles^ and roll on the floor of the meeting- house, striking out their limbs with an excess of violence ; all which is understood to be an act of devotion with regard to some unconverted individual, who is immediately sent for, if not present, that he may witness the process designed for his benefit. Females are thus prompted to exhibit them- selves, and I was credibly informed that, at Hatley, two young girls were thus in the struggles ; the objects oi their intercessions being two troopers quartered in the village. Revolting as such scenes may appear, yet, when mixed up with the awful realities of future judgment, they take a prodigious effect in the wilder and more sequestered part of a country, upon a large portion of the popular mind." Fully one naif of the population of Canada belong to the Church of Rome. The greater part of these are French- Canadians, the remainder Irish, or their descendants. For Lower Canada there are an Archbishop, one Bishop, two Bishop -Coadjutors, one hundred and seventy-five Churches, twenty Convents, and ten Colleges, or Seminaries. In Upper Canada there are two Bishops, and one Bishop-Coadjutor, and about seventy Churches. The Roman Catholic Church is very richly endowed in this country ; the Island of Mon- V ;• I (■I I i i J \ 122 nOCHELAGA; OE, treal, and many Seigneuries of great value, belong to it ; one, St. Paul's Bay, contains a rich deposit of iron ore, also very pure rock iron : this district is not less than eighteen miles in extent, and, doubtless, will be a source of great wealth in future years ; it contains, besides, valuable springs, strongly impregnated with sulphur and arsenic. Very large funds are also derived from those who enter the convents : the rich are esteemed worthy brides of the Church, but the poorer sisters perform the menial offices. The twenty-sixth part of the grain j^rown by the Koman Catholics is always given, by law, to their Church : lately, this portion of other produce has also been demanded with success, though the claim could not be enforced in a court of justice. When a parishioner changes his faith, this tithe need be no longer paid. The sums levied for Church services, masses for the living and the dead, baptisms and burials, are also very considerable. Not long since, a case occurred of the death of a Roman Catholic, whose sons had been brought up in the faith of their Protestant mother: anxious to pay every mark of respect to their father's memory, they applied to the priesthood for the usual prayers and ceremonies for a person of his condition, and the charge for the various services amounted to one hundred and twenty pounds. With but few exceptions, the Roman Catholic clergy are very respectable in their education and conduct : loyal to the British Crown in the rebellion, they generally opposed the movement as much as lay in their power ; and, although even their great influence was unable altogether to control the misguided people, they kept some disaft'ected portions of the country in peace. They look with e -^^eme dislike and apprehension on anything tending to bring them under the laws and institutions of the United States ; the position of their Irish brethren at Philadelphia and elsewhere, is a lesson not thrown away upon them. Besides, they are well aware that their immense possessions would speedily undergo some new American process, for which an appropriate and peculiar name would, no doubt, soon be furnished ; as have been the words "Repudiation," "Annexation," to other characteristic operations of that original people. The French- Canadian Roman Catholic priesthood are naturally very hostile to the increase and progress of the English Protestant population, as, added to their national and religious prejudices against them, any farms falling into their hands are freed from the tithe to the Church. In the neighbourhood of the towns, and, indeed, in all the good situations, this process is going on with, for them, a most alarming rapidity. The rebellion in Lower Canada ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOEID. 123 was, in a measure, againsu these settlers, and not against British rule ; the jealousy of the French- Canadian inhabitants had then arrived at its height, and broke out in that feeble and petulant sedition. The priesthood are by no means free from blame for encouraging this enmity of race, but they may be fairly acquitted of disloyalty to the govern- ment. Among the Roman Catholics in this country, all the lower classes, and the females of the upper, are very devout and attentive to their religious duties; but among the "well- educated men there is difiused not a little of the scoffing spirit of Young France. It must, however, be allowed, that tne people of all ranks stand very high in the scale of morality: indeed, it has now become almost a matter of history when the provincial gentlemen of the law last reaped aught from domestic misfortunes brought on by the neglect of its principles. The remnant of tne Indians who dwell within the bounds of Canada, profess the faith of Rome; and few are more attentive to the external observance of its duties than they. The squaws are gifted with very sweet voices, and the singing in their rude village churches is sometimes chaxming. Among the various sects of Protestant Dissenters, tho most numerous and important are the Scottish Church, and the Free Church of Scotland. They are determined in their distinction from the Church of England, but generally by no means bitter in their hostility to it. I hnd from the Visitation Journal of the excellent Bishop of Montreal, already quoted, that he was offered hospitality on his tour by some of their ministers. This body of clergy is supported by their share of the Clergy Reserves, and the voluntary contributions of their congregations. I shall not enter into any further notice of the varied, and, unfortunately, numerous shades of opinions and sects, which pride, ignorance^ fanaticism, and discontent, have spread among this portion of the Anglo-Saxon race. With regard to the sectarians of Canada, I regret to say that nearly ail are united in treating the Church of England as a common enemy; though here it is so innocent of the rich tempo- ralities, which at home are said to give virulence to their attacks. Before I leave the subject of religion in Canada, I would wish to observe, with sincere pleasure, on the visitation of the Bishop of Montreal, during the summer of 1844, to the Red River settlement. A most interesting account of this was published in London last year, from which I take the following statements, ' I 3 • I ■ t .1 : i. : I ■i. - , I y. ; ^' 124 HOCHELAGA; OE, Isii The Bishop of Montreal left Q,uehec in the middle of May, and performed his journey of two thousand miles, in ahout six weeks. From a little oeyond Montreal, the whole of the distance was travelled in open canoes, up through the rapid waters of the Ottawa, and by wild lakes and winding rivers into Lake Huron, thence along the northern shore, and by the Manitoulin Islands, once sacred to the Great Spirit of the ancient people, through the little settlement at Sault Sainte Marie into the deep and dreary Lake Superior ; thence up the Rainy River, over falls of wonderful height and beauty, through labyrinths of woody islands, and almost unknown lakes, till at length the journey's end was reached. They; encamped usually at night, but sometimes, when it was fair, "♦"he precious breeze was taken advantage of even through the darkness; large fires were li§:hted by the tent where they rested, but it was very cold at times ; and, during the day, the bright sun, and the mosquitoes and other venom- ous insects, were hard to bear. Numbers of wild but friendly Indians were met, of fine frame and stature, but very low in the scale of human pro- gress; they were willing to assist at the "Portages" and would labour all day long for a very trifle, particularly the squaws. Early on a Sabbath morning the Bishop reached the settlement, when he saw the same people in their Christian state. " Thus on the morning of the Lord's our blessed day, we saw them gathering already round their pastor, who was before his door; their children collecting in the same manner, with their books in their hands, all decently clothed from head to foot ; a repose and steadiness in their deportment ; at least the seeming indications of a high and controlling influence on their character and hearts; their humble dwelling, with the commencement of farms, and cattle grazing in the meadow ; the neat, modest par- sonage or mission-house, with its g-arden attached to it ; and the simple but decent church, with the school-house as its appendage, forming the leading objects in the picture, and carrying on the face of them the promise of a blessing." Tne congregation that day consisted of two hundred and fifty Indians, dressed partly in the European manner. The morning service is performed in English, but the lessons were translated into the Indian tongue by the interpreter, as was also the Bishop's sermon. About two thirds of the congregation are said to understand a simple address in English, and soon, probably, no other language will be required. The Bishop considers theae Indian'^ to be a thinking and intelligent people. The man acting as sexton had been a t:NGIAND IN THE NEW WOELD. 125 Jioted sorcerer or " Medicine " of the tribe. The stay of the Visitation at the Red River settlement was limited to about three weeks, by the necessity of starting in time to finish the arduous journey before the setting in of the winter. The number of persons confirmed was eight hundred and forty- six, and would have been considerably greater, but that a large portion of the people were at that time of the year hunting on the Prairies, or busied with distant traffic to Hudson's Bay. There were also two ordinations for the ministry. There are four Church of England churches in the settlement, two of stone and two of wood, also several well- attended schools, one, a private boarding, school of a superior order. besides the numerous and respectable officers of the Hud- son's Bay Company, there are scattered about the settlement several worthy retired factors or traders, some married to European, others to Indian wives; and, among some of the residents, there is far from a deficiency in comforts and habits of refinement. The whole population of the Red River settlement is upwards of five thousand : rather more than half of these are Roman Catholics, the remainder belong to the Chui-ch of England. Three-fourths of the inhabitants are natives, or half-breeds ; the rest, Canadians and people from the British islands, with a few foreigners. They possess in plenty, barns, stables, mills, horses, sheep, pigs, and black cattle ; the soil is wonderfully fruitful and easy of cultivation, but all produce is consumed on the spot ; there is no market for its sale. Notes printed on coloured paper are issued by the Company for circulation in the colony. The climate at the Red River much resembles that of Quebec, but is rather more severe in winter. Acts of violence by the Indians against any of the people of the Hudson's Bay Company are scarcely kno\yn; the general treatment which they receive at the forts is such as to secure their attachment and respect, and they draw largely on the charity of the Europeans m times of want. The many thousand Indians scattered over these vast regions afford a wide field for the efforts of Cliristian men, but, sad to say, the means arc at present lamentably insufficient. Mr. Leith, a resident factor of the Company, left some time ago a sum of ten thousand pounds, for the Propagation of the Gospel in this district, but it has, unfortunately, remained in hti^ation ever since. The Roman Catholic Church has two bishops and a very extensive mission in the western country, but the Church of the Empire is humble and poor. Ill the year 1820, Mr. West, a missionary, first preached the pure gospel on the banks of the Red River, \\ I r ' I \i \ I \ i i 126 Sochelaga; OS, At the time of the English conquest, there were in Canada several richly-endowed estahlishments for the purposes of education. The seminaries of Quebec and Montreal were appropriated more particularly to the instruction of eccle- siastics, and the order of the Jesuits was entrusted with the general teaching of the people. These rich endowments are since continued to the same objects, with the exception of the estates of the Jesuits, which have been assumed by the Crown. The grants to the seminary of Quebec are of great value, consisting of more than a thousand square miles of land, and some choice property in the city ; those of Montreal are worth ten thousand pounds a year, at a low estimate. The estates of the order of the Jesuits were also great ; a part of them have been disposed of by the Crown, but the more valuable portion still remains, and produces a handsome income. Several amply-endowed nunneries afford instruction to the female chilaren in the towns and villages of this pro- vince. After the confiscation of the estates of the Jesuits, up to the end of the last century, the means of education appear to have been very limited, insomuch that only a dozen or twenty people in a whole parish knew how to read : classics and the sciences were indeed taught at Montreal and Quebec, either gratuitously or at a nominal charge, but these benefits reached to very few. The English were allowed to avail themselves of this instruction ; they were received without any distinction or partiality, and exempted from attending the religious duties. A few years ago, the abuses and misman.; jfement of the public schools were very great, but at present they are working under a much improved system. It may be said that throughout the >vhole of Canada there are fair oppor- tunities of elementary education for every one, except in the very remote and thinly settled districts. In the Up- per Province these privileges are appreciated to a greater extent than in the Lower ; the hahitans are scarcely yet per- suaded of the necessity of being instructed; their better classes are rather indifferent on the subject ; and some people go so far as to assort that the Roman Catholic priesthood in the rural districts arc averse to the spread of enlightenment : they certainly need not feel alarm at the rapidity of its progress. As mentioned in the portion of Lord Durham's Report, to wldch 1 referred in another part of ttiis volume, the posses- sion of rather a superior education by a certain number of young men, perhaps very humbly born, is not attended with E^^GLAlfD m tttE JtEW WOELD. 127 happy or useful results. We find these people too proud or too idle to follow the lowly and toilsome occupations of their fathers ; they are not sufficiently gifted to attain success in their ill-chosen professions; and, driven by want, disappoint- ment, and discontent, into the ranks of sedition, they are willing to persuade themselves and others that they are de> irred from getting on by political causes, or indeed by any cause, except that of their own incapacity, they dream of indepenaence, la nation Canadienne, freedom from foreign rule, and all sorts of absurdities. In this bright and imaginative^uture, each young village surgeon or attor- ney fancies he is to play a conspicuous part, and by such innated ideas he tries to move the sluggish minds and sym- pathies of his ignorant relations. The most successful of these ambitious embryo Robespierres aid Dantons rises per- haps to be the editor of some obscure newspaper, the organ of their innocuous and contemptible sedition ; or the repre- sentative of some I'habitan" district, when the stipend attached to his seat in the provincial parliament saves him from penury and want. But these seminaries of education in Lower Canada pro- duce also some very worthy exceptions to the class of which I have just now spoken ; and there is a considerable proportion ot'French-Canaaian gentlemen, whose character and acquire- ments entitle them to all respect and consideration. The merchants of British birth or descent are naturally educated in very much the same way as their brethren at home, in a sound, practical, useful manner; any degree of classical proficiency is of course rare, but not altogether without instances ; some are good linguists, all are generally well informed. They acquire at an early age the manners of men of the world, as their business brings them in contact with a number of people of various countries and of all classes. During the long winters, when all are bent solely upon amusement, they have also an opportunity of cultiva- ting the habits and tastes of good society. Both the ladies and gentlemen in the large to^vn3 of Canada excel in manner ; from their earliest youth they mix in the {gaieties and amuse- ments of their native place, and this acquirement is attained, perhaps rather at a sacritice of others, more solid, but Ljss graceful and attractive. The young lady who might be sadly puzzled over a passage of Dante or Ariosto, and not very clear as to ^^ hether tSchiiier was a poet or a iiddler, would most probably do the honours of a house with all the perfection and self-possession of a finished matron. But let it not be supposed lor a moment that 1 make anything like a charge of ignorance against ■ \ ' ■ i M 128 ItOCHEtAGAj 0E> :mm t I these fair Canadians, who are really among the most attrac- tive of Eve's daughters— quite the contrary; they are all Well educated, to the extent which general society requires of them; beyond that, they have no object to gain, and any one of them who aspired, would be placed in an almost unen- viable isolation. Glreat numbers of the young ladies, Pro- testant as well as Roman Catholic, are educated at the convents ; the remainder, generally, at day-schools in the Srincipal towns. Home education is very rare, from the ifficmty and expense of procuring suitable governesses. This time of tuition usually ends at sixteen years of age, soon after which period they enter the world, and their career of conquest commences. At Quebec, Montreal, Toronto, and elsewhere, there are good classical and high schools, which afford fair opportu- nities of education for young gentlemen, at a very moderate expense ; happily, therefore, it is less the custom now than it was formerly, to send them for instruction to the United States, where they were not likely to imbibe strong feelings of affection and respect for the mother country and the British Crown. The lower classes of British birth and descent are, as r body, inferior in education to their neighbours in New Eng- land, but superior to the people of the southern and western States. One-fourth of their present number emigrated from the United Kingdom as adults, and were of a class which the spread of intelligence, now, I trust, rapidly progressing at home, had not at that time reached. Many of the British Canadians, too, were born in settlements then remote and thinly populated, though now perhaps thriving and crowded ; and their early life was a constant toil and struggle for sub- sistence, leaving little leisure for education. The rising generation starts under brighter auspices. The press in Canada is generally superior in respectability, if not in talent, to that of the United States. It cannot indeed be pronounced free from personalities, or from the wide license of party warfare, for 1 regret to say that of these some very discreditable instances have occurred ; but they are exceptions, the general rule is honesty and propriety. Quebec and Montreal have each eight or ten newspapers ; about half of them, and not the better half, are in the French language ; Kingston has five, and Toronto seven ; and all the towns of any importance in Upper Canada have at least one each. Nearly every shade of political opinion is advo- cated in these publications, but since the rebellion none of them openly profess republican views., or encourage a more intimate union with the United States: during the present mannt refug( 1'. IlI^GLANl) IK THE NEW WOELD. 129 (1846) difficulties with that people, even the extreme radical prints have put for\yard many articles, warning the Ameri- cans that they are not to expect sympathy or co-operation from any party in Canada — that whatever disputes may be carried on about provincial affairs amon^ themselves, they do not desire any foreim interference. William Lyon Mac- kenzie, the former leoder of the Toronto sedition, has since published a book on that and subsequent events, from which it appears that his American sympathies have undergone wonderful diminution. Canada has as yet contributed very little or nothing to gene- ral literature, but the youth of the country and the abundant necessary occupations of the people, readily account for this deficiency. Montreal,^ Quebec, and Toronto can boast of very respectable libraries, scientific and literary institutions, and debating societies ; the latter perhaps more important as affording an innocent and amusing pursuit, than from any great present practical utility. There is also a French- Canadian Scientific and Literary Institution at Quebec, lately founded, and promising well for the future. I say it witn pleasure, that, within the last few years, the tone of the press, the prospects of literature, the means of instruction, and the desire of applying them, have received a great and salutary impulse of improvement throughout this magnificent province. "!|. ^\ V 1 ; ' I CHAPTER XIY. MANNEES— POLITICS— DEFENCES. In Upper Canada, the better class of people have generally the same manners and customs as those who are engaged in similar pursuits and occupations in England. So large a proportion are retired officers of the army and navy, govern- ment officials, and men brought up in the old country, who have settled and become landholders, that they give the tone to the remainder, and between them and their republican neighbours there is generally a marked difference in dress and manner. Among the lower classes, this distinction is by no means so evident ; unfortunately, no small number of those dwelling on the borders readily adopt the ideas and manners of the Americans; indeed, many of them are refugees from the States. Those in the interior, however, t ?; ■ (■! it I »' 130 HOCHELAGA; OH, retain in a gvfiat degree, the characteristics of tlio country whonoe they or their fathers have emigrated. With the exception of the llichelieu district, the peasantry of Lower Canada, both of English and French origin, are more pleasing, civil, and attractive in their demeanour, than those of the Upper Province. The people of St. John's and other places, from the Eichelieu Kiver west to the St. Lawrence, are singularly unprepossessing; they have all the grossness and insolence of the worst class of the Americans, without their energy and spirit ; besides, they are generally very much disafi'ected to the British Crown. They are a mixed race of British, French, and Americans, and this union is by no means happy in its results. To the traveller coming into Canada from the United States by that route, these people appear in most unfavourable contrast with their neighbours ; their farms badly cultivated, their houses poor and dirty, and the race of men mean-looking and discontented. While at St. John's, I made many efforts to find out the causes of their stagnation and ill-feeling, but it was vain. They acknowledged that they had no taxes, that lo.nd ,was cheap, that Montreal was an excellent market for their produce, that no laws pressed upon them peculiarly or vexatiously. One man, indeed, said that, not being able to elect their Governor was a very great grievance, and, on that account, they could not consider themselves a free people. I suggested to him that this grievance, great as it was, need not have prevented him from mending his fence, through which, while we were speaking, half-a-dozen cattle had entered hie field, and were performing polkas on his young wheat. The fact is, that these turbu] mt mixed breeds are an indolent and worthless set of people, willing to attribute their unprosperous condition to English laws, rather than to their own demerits. At one time the misuse of ardent spirits, with all its melancholy and disastrous consequences, was very general in Upper Canada ; it cannot be said that the evil is cured, but it is, certainly, much mitigated, and the consumption, proportionately to the population, has been diminished for some years past. At one time, settlements were given to a number of disbanded soldiers, with a small commuted allowance for their pensions ; this scheme proved eminently unsuccessful : when so many of these veterans were in the same neighbourhood, their old idle, and, in some cases, dissipated habits, were not likely to be at once abandoned, and the dram-sliop became the only prosperous place ; their farms were carelessly and unskilfully cleared and tilled, ENGLAND IN THE NE-W WOKLD. 131 itry itry are ban and St. aU the hey )WU. 5an«, the that ;rast ^heir king their little capital soon wasted ; and, in a very short time, the great majority of them had sold out their land for next to nothin.?, and were wandering about as beggars, thoroughly demoralized and discontented. Old soldiers have generally been found to make very indifterent settlers, particularly when congregated ; but there are many pleasing exceptions, of worthy, loyal, and prosperous men. The manner of servants to their masters, and of the lower classes generally to their superiors, is much the same as in England; tradespeople, too, hold a like relative position. Your bootmaker aoes not consider that it adds to nis imj)ortance or real independence to sit down in your room with his hat on, and whistle and spit while he takes your measure, as his republican brother in the United States would probably do. I once made a small purchase from a man in a shop at Baltimore, who was smoking a cigar, chewing tobacco, and eating a peach at the same time : with so many pleasing and interesting occupations, he, of course, had not much leisure to spare for civilities to his customer. With the exception of a few of the lowest class, the Canadians are quite free from those very disagreeable habits which are so unpleasantly general among the Ameri- cans. Chewing tobacco is not tne fashion, and they reserve their saliva for other purposes than those of a projectile nature. Their manners, customs, and dress, are those of England, not of America ; ^ and in this there is a bond of union and sympathy, of which all astute politicians acknow- ledge the strength and value. The Legislature consists of two houses, the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly. The members of the first are appointed for life by the Crown, but have them- selves the power of resigning ; they are chosen from among those of the inhabitants of the country the most conspicuous for character, intelligence, and wealth, and are now by no means limited to any particular part^. They are thirty- four in number at present ; their functions in the state cor- respond very nearly with those of the House of Lords in England, but the bishops are not included among the members. The Legislative Assembly is elected by the people. A free- hold of forty shillings yearly value, or the payment of ten pounds rent annually, is the qualification for voters, which, in point of fact, amounts almost to universal sufi^'rage, one out of six of the whole population having the power of voting : generally, however, but a small portiou exercise this privi- lege, and the registration is said to be very loose and imper- ii: 2 :■ t '■ I 1 i> ' ! 1 Wi :\ 't \\ 1 A I V 132 EOCHELAGA; OR, •v.! feet. The Les"islative Assembly is chosen for four years, hut is at any time liable to be dissolved bv the Governor's authority. The members receive fifteen shillings a day indemnity lor their time dev. icd to the public service, and a shilling- a mile for travelling expenses : a qualification of landed pro- l)erty to the value of five hundred pounds is necessary to enable them to obtain a seat in the House. The Executive Council, or ministry, perform all the duties of administration, under the Governor. In Lower Canada the numbers implicated in the troubles proved to be very small, compared to the masses of the popu- lation. The attention of the Home Government has been, since these events, much more actively engaged with this country; many real grievances have been removed, great sums advanced for public works, the Union effected ; and, though some still complain, it is acknoAvledged by all parties that there is a great improvement in the mode of distributing the provincial patronage. This last always has been — and always will be, a very tender point in Canada, and it is, certainly, but right that all offices in the colony, those of the Governor and his personal staft', of course, excepted, should be exclusively filled by the inhabitants of the province, and with as fair a portion as circumstances may admit of with regard to race. It would also be highly politic to strengthen the tie of affection between the mother country and the colony, by more frequently bestowing naval and military appointments among the people of the latter who may be properly qualified for them, as also the titles and honorary marks of royal favour, suitable to the merits and services which might be brought under notice. The gallant l)e iSalaberry was surely wortliy of such reward, and he by no means stood alone. There could also be found men who, from ifieir civil services, fortunes, and social position, have claim amply sufficient to justify the bestowal of the junior grades of hereditary rank. At this present time, there is not a i)eer resident in this country, and but two baronets. "With regard to the people, I believe there are none in the world so lightly taxed, or more free, to the fullest extent of rational liberty; the legislation with regard to the titles of land is peculiarly favourable to them ; when they settle as tenants on an estate they can at any time oblige the land- lord to sell them their holding, if they can produce the pur- chase money, and this, with common industry and prudence, they may very soon accumulate from the produce of their farms. Among the Americans, in discussing the subject of a war it is ity. lor ig- a pro- y to tive ion, ENGLA^t^D IN THE NEW WOULD. 133 with England, it is very usual to hear it asserted that, with twenty or thirty thousand militia, Canada could be overrua in a few weeks ; and this ignorant belief causes many to long for the opportunity of this easy but glorious conquest. They should be informed that any hopes founded on the state of things in the last war will prove fallacious. In 1812, Upper Canada was a thinly-peopled country and a wilderness, oc- cupied by a rude race of poor and ignorant labourers, who furnishecl but indifferent materiel for soldiers, and were without a class qualified to act as officers. 8ince then, numerous immigrants of a far better class have joined the original inhabitants, including a very large proportion of re- tired officers of the army and navy, who have received grants of land from the government. Within the last twenty years, several entire Scottish clans, under their chiefs — MacNabs, Glengarry s, and others, worthy of their warlike ancestors, have migrated hither. Hardy and faithful men from the stern hills of Ulster, and fiery but kind-hearted peasants from the South of Ireland, with sturdy, honest yeomen from Yorkshire and Cumberland, have fixed their homes in the Canadian forests : these immigrants, without losing their love and reverence for the Crown and laws of their native country, have become attached to their adopted land, where their stake is now fixed ; and they are ready to defend their properties and their government against any foreign inva- sion or domestic treason. When the war of 1812 commenced, there were in the whole of Canada only four regiments of regular infantry, and four companies of artillery, numbering altogether less than two thousand four hundred men. But history tells us how dis- astrous were the results to the invaders, even when opposed to so feeble a force ; the surrender of Greneral Hull with his whole army and the territory of Michigan — the defeat at Chrystler's farm — the rout and slaughter at Q,ueenstown, with the capture of half the assailants. But, in those days, the same false ideas of the facility of the conquest of Canada were held by the great mass of the Americans, as those which delude them at the present day. However, the necessity of great sacrifices and suffering soon brought on a more just and sober view of the question, as no doubt would be the case again. The British Government has been for the last quarter of a century at a great expense in improving its defences and military communications. Uuebec has been placed, as far as human skill is capable, beyond the chances of American war. Works of strength and importance have been erected on the island near Montreal, and others are now in preparation ; Jill. \\ 134 nOCHELAGA; OR, from the improvement of roads and steamboats, a large force could be collected to defend them at a verv short notice. Kin{?ston is secure in its martello towers and present forti- fications af^ainst anything but the systematic attack of a large regular army, supported by an overpowering naval force. Toronto would prove defensible against militia, and a serious obstacle even to trained troops. ^ Along the frontier of Lower Canada are several works which would also em- barrass the advance of an invading army. The nominal strength of the Canadian militia is the whole of tlie popuhition capable of bearing arms;^ one- fourth of these jnight be made active and effectual, without putting a stop to the various industrial pursuits of the country ; numbers of the retired officers would be able and willing to command them; several thousand non-com- missioned officers — arms, ammunition, clothing, and pay, can be readily supplied from England ; and the arsenals of Canada are already sufficiently supplied with artillery of all kinds, carriages, and equipment, for the commencement of a war. In the late war, the strength of the British power was employed in the Peninsula, the East and West Indies, Africa, and Sardinia. Her navy had to blockade nearly all the principal ports and rivers of Europe, she was compelled to keep fleets in the Mediterranean and Baltic seas, m the Pacific Ocean, and off the coast of India : at no period of her history had she such limited means to spare for a struggle on the American continent. England's means of defending Canada are amply sufficient for any emergency ; but the desire to exercise these means would probably last only so long as her protection was sought lor by the people of the country, and the connecting tie mutually advantageous. It would be neither policy nor interest to retain forcible possession of a discontented, muti- nous, and unprofitable province. But a wise and generous government Vvill prevent the possible occurrence of such a state of things ; judicious arrangement of commercial inter- course will secure some of the strongest feelin§:s of the human mind in favour of the connexion, and a liberal and enlightened policy, creating a spirit of uttachment to and confidence in British rule, will enlist also the noblest and warmest sympathies in the cause. When the railway from Halifax to Quebec is finished, with its extension to Toronto, and even Sandwich, on one side, and the extremity of the Golden Arm of Ca^e Breton on the other, I should rejoice to see all the British North American possessions, Newfoundland included, united under EXOLAND IN THE NEW WORLD. 135 lorce jtice. )rti- lof a [aval and itier cm- the one- :hout the and ■corn- pay. Lis of of all t of a a central colonial government, and rci)resented in a common legislature ; each, however, still retaining its own assemblies for local and particular purposes. It would have the effect of nationalizing " England in the New World," as distinct from America. Plans for mutual advantage and assistance between the provinces could be more readily and efficiently carried out ; the separate and French feeling of a considerable portion of the people would be weakened, if not in their own hearts, at least in its evil influences on the country ; the loyalty of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, the energy and activity of Upper Canada, would act on each other with reciprocal improvement ; then, additional confidence and self-respect would be felt by the inhabitants of what would have become a powerful and important State ; and the secondary c(5ndition of scattered colonies would emerge into '^he dignity of a united nation. With nearly three millions of people, a vast territory, admirable intercommunication, varied and inexhaustible resources, and the military support and protection of the mother country, this British America would not yield in importance to the gigantic but unwieldy and disjointed Republic itself. The principles of governnient in these united provinces should be, as much as possible, centrali- zation, in order to break or smooth down the differences of origin and local feeling; a perfectly free leo-islatiye assembly, with their own executive ; patronage fairly dis- tributed and scrupulously confined to the peoi)le of the country, a liberal but not extravagant distribution of honours for civil and other services and merits, the perfect independence of the judicial bench, and the legislative council beyond the popular control, but at the same time as little as possible under the influence of the prerogative. It would be difficult to decide whether Montreal or Quebec is better fitted for the future metropolis of such a country. Montreal stands in a richer district, has better and more general communications, a much more convenient river frontage, and, from the lev^)! nature of its site, allows of greater regularity in building, and an unlimited exten- sion ; it is also one-fifth more populous and undeniably the handsomer and more thriving city of the two. The ob- jections are, that it is not central, and, what is niuch more important, that it is unpleasantly near the frontier of the United States," and from the constant and easy communi- cation with them, more liable to the influences of their ideas and example ; besides, in case of collision between the two countries, it is the fii*st point of attack that presents itself, and. as a military position, is difficult of defence. The A irn i : I > ti' i I f ;|t i i I I i \ II 136 HOCi£ELA.GA; OE, occupation of the capital by a hostile force is at all times a *' heavy blow and great discouragement" to a people. Quebec would be nearer the centre of the great line of railroad and water communication ; its intercourse is much more intimate with England than with the United States ; and it is safe from even the apprehension of being overrun by an enemy's army; on the plains of Abraham, beyond the suburbs of St. Roch, and on the northern bank of the river St. Charles, is ample space for any rejjuisite extension: a tract of sand, dry at low water, stretching into the basin of the river St. Lawrence, might very easily be reclaimed to continue the Lower Town for a considerable extent as a river frontage, which would at the same time improve and deepen the channel of the St. Charles. Altogether, from the political and military advantages of the position, Uuebeo appears preferable. Many wise and worthy people may suspect a danger in thus strengthening into a nation these detached colonies, and quote with uneasiness the case of the States of America when they met in congress at Philadelphia. But their case was, in reality, widely different ; they had been suffering for years under certain wrongs and injuries inflicted by a despotic and feeble government; the rare and difficult communication between them and England weakened the ties of interest and identity, and increased their chances of success in opposition; the profligate administration of patronage, the careless and contemptuous system of colonial management, stirred up a resistance among them which there were neither energy nor resources to overcome. But now, each day brings England and her North-American children into closer and more familiar relation. EngUsh prices raise or depress their markets; the population of England supplies vigorous reinforcements to that of these provinces; her victories spread rejoicing and honest pride among her western people; — her difficulties fling their shadows even over the sunny banks of the St. Lawrence. There are two great tendencies constantly at work in these colonies — one cO make them British, the other, American. Some years ago the current favoured the latter ; now, it runs strongly for the former ; we should foster it, train it, honour it ; not by unnatural and unhealthy enact- ments in favour of some pet portion of their commerce, not by lavish expenditure on works of little importance and enormous difficulty — but we should foster it in justice — train it in justice — honour it in justice — *' do to them as we would be done by." The tendency towards America, is a rank and noisome of ich es; of to ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOELD. 137 weed ; it grows up in coarse luxuriance among the profligate and discontented, through the mongrel population of the Kichelieu and the borders of the eastern townships. In the villages of the Niagara district, where neglected advantages and dissolute morals have brought on premature decay — there it flourishes, there is its strength ; among such will it tind sympathy. But among the worthy, the educated, and the prosperous, lies the strength of the tendency to England. The more respectable of the ministers of religion, whatever its form or creed ; the wealthy and intelligent merchants, the influ- ential country gentlemen ; these form a strong connecting hnk. But, most of all, the honest emigrant draws close tbe bond between the fatherland and his adopted soil ; he, perhaps, has already half won the prize of competence in this new country, but still keeps treasured in the warmest place in his heart, the memory of his early home — of the village church hallowed for centuries by the prayers of the good and faithful of his people, and of that holy spot beside its walls where the grass grows green over his father's grave. CHAPTER XV. BUFFALO— SABATOGA. Buffalo causes a total reaction in the mind after Niagara : bran new, bustling, changing every day — going ahead with high-pressure force. It is one of the very best samples of Young Western America : full of foreigners — Irish, French, Germans ; principally the latter, but all Americanized, all galvanized with the same frantic energy. The population rush about on their different occupations, railway engines scream, and steamboats puff' on every side ; waggons rattle about in all directions, men swear, bargain, or invite you to their hotels, in the accents of half-a-dozen countries. The situation of the town is very good : at the head of the Niagara Kiver is the outlet of Lake Erie ; at the end of the great chain of the Western Lakes — the commerce of twelve hundred miles of these broad waters is centred in this point, and condensed in the narrow passage of the Erie canal and Hudson River, till, at New York, it pours out its wealth into the Atlantic. The site has a gentle dip to the south, towards the lake ; across it, lying nearly east and west, is the harbour, sepa- ' if!'' % ijj 138 hochelaga; or, rated by a peninsula from the waters of the lake. This aftbrds secure and ample shelter for the shipping, numerous though they be, which crowd in day and night. The town was born in the f jrst year of the nineteenth century. The English totally destroyed it in 1814, in retaliation for the burning of Little York, or Toronto, by the Americans. The motley and numerous population increases rapidly. There are many large public buildings erected by a very enterprising man — among the rest is a jail, where he at pre- sent resides: he forged for large sums of money, bought land, ran up streets and market-places, indulged m various speculations, prospered for a long time, arrived at great re- spectability, till at length he committed the heinous, unpar- donable crime of being found out ; he was immediately cast into prison, by a virtuously indignant, but highly benefited people. This speculative and unfortunate individual's name IS Rathbun. Lake Erie is but shallow; the length is two hunared and forty, th') breadth varies from forty to sixty miles, but there are many shoals and rocks, the causes of constant and dread- ful losses. In stormy weather, the seas are short and dan- gerous. The harbours are few and distant, and, during the winter, the navigation is much impeded by ice. The level is three hundred and thirty-four feet above Lake Ontario. Lake Huron is larger and deeper, Michigan still larger and deeper, Superior largest and deepest of all. In these waters, the Americans have a far greater quantity f shipping than the English. In the last war, on the 10th of September, 1813, this lake was the scene of one of their greatest triumj)hs ; Commodore Perry destroyed or took the whole of the British squadron under Captain Barclay. After that engagement, the command of the navigation was retained by them. The gallant Barclay was frightfully wounded on this occasion, losing an arm and a leg. When he returned to England in this mutilated state, ne did not venture to meet a young lady to whom he was engaged and tenderly attached, and sent a friend to inform her that she was free from her engagement. ' ' Tell him, ' ' said the English maiden. ** that, had he only enough body left to hold nis soul, I'll marry none but him." The first vessel that ever sailed on these Western seas was of sixty tons burden, built in the Niagara River, in January, 1679 : she was dragged up into Lake Erie, and started on her bold adventure, under the guidance of La Salle. In August they entered Lake Huron, through the St. Clair River, and here a violent storm assailed them. The stout hearts of La Salle and his sailors gave way to the terrors of these unknown ENGLAND IN THE NEW WORLD. 130 I This 3rous Itown The ir the The VPry pre- |ought irious [at re- Inpar- |y cast lefited name waters : they knelt to pray, and prepared for death, except the pilot, who, as our old friend Father Hennepin says, •' did nothing all that time hut curse and swear against La Salle for having brought him thither to make him perish in a nasty lake, and lose the glory he had acquired by his long and happy navigation of the ocean." They, however, escaped this danger, and passed into Lake Michigan, where, alter sailing forty leagues, they landed on an island at the mouth of Green Bay, whence La Salle sent back the shi;) to Niagara, laden with rich and valuable furs, procured by trade with the Indians of the coasts where they had touched in the voyage. The pilot and five men embarked in her, but they never reached the shore ; it is supposed that she foundered in Lake Huron. Such was the first and last voyage of the first ship that ever ploughed the waters of the West. To protect Buffalo, the Americans are building a strong fort at Blackrock, on the shores of the lake, near the entrance to the Niagara River. On the Canada side is Fort Erie, now in ruins. It was taken from the English, held for some time, abandoned and destroyed in 1814 ; as it does not cover any points of essential importance, it has never been restored. Near this place, on the river, is the village of Waterloo ; the name and situation are worthy of a more flourishing settle- ment. Returning, we travel by steamboat to Chippewa and, going down the Niagara River, pass, to the left, Grand Island, belonging to our republican neighbours ; a fine tract of land, bearing, in proof of its fertility, a splendid white oak : no timber on the whole continent is more valuable for the Atlantic dockyards. Next to this is Navy Island, in the English territory, of "sympathizing:" infamy, far inferior in size and richness of soil to its American sister. A Canadian farmer was settled there, and lived for many years in happy prosperity ; he and his family had but little communication with the shores across the dangerous waters, except on one day in the week, when the sound of the distant bell warned them to loose their little canoe, and hasten to the house of 3rayer. It is not known what has become of them since the )lood-stained sympatniz-rs swarmed into their quiet retreat, )ut the buildings are burnt down, and the improvements gone to waste. The poor farmer's crime was not to be for- given by these blasphemers of the name of liberty : in his youth ho had been taught — and he strove to teach his children the same — ** To fear God, and honour the King." Our primitive railway carried us again to Q,uoenstown : wo pass over the ferry to Lewiston, and are soon on board an American steamer bound for OswegOt in the United States, i '' ( " ' > ' ( = ' J i:! !; i i. \ if 140 hochelaga; oe, i' I'll OP the south shore of Lake Ontario. There were a ereat number of people in the steamer, all Americans, travelling for health or amusement. I talked to every one I could get to listen to me, and found them friendly, intelligent, and communicative, well read, over a very broad surface, parti- cularly of newspapers, but onljr a surface ; very favourably disposed to the English as individuals, but I fear not so as a nation, being rather giveu to generalize on our affairs ; on the state of the poor, from the Andover workhouse ; on the nobility, from the late Lord Hertford; on morality, from Doctor Lardner. These are the sort of data on such matters, kept for ever before their eyes by their press, echoed and re- echoed through the remotest parts of the Union, till even the best informed and most liberal-minded among them are, more or less, acted upon by their influence. Towards night there was some wind, and a heavy swell came on ; this put an end to my investigations in national character, for all my samples were soon too iil for further ex- amination. Among the passengers were a lady and gentle- man from Georgia, very pleasing people, whose acquaintance I had made at the Falls. I found that their route, as well as mine, lay to Saratoga. Knowing that I had never been in the United States, they made me promise that I would faith- fully and without reserve remark to them as we travelled everything which appeared to me strange, in language, feople, or customs : particularly with regard to themselves, gratified them as far as was in my power, and we found it a source of infinite amusement. Criticism was borne with perfect goodhumour : one only subject J instantly found to be unsafe : its slightest mention made the fire kindle in the southern's dark eye. It is the black spot on the brightness of his country's Future, to which foes point with hope, friends with despair ; the cancer eating into the giant frame, deforming its oeauty, wither- ing its strength — the awful curse of slavery, which they say they would give all but life to cut out and cast away. Between an Englishman and an American, or between American citizens of Free and Slave States, the subject can- not be quietly argued or reasoned upon — the very word rouses the angry passions like an insult. In one, the gene- rous blood flushes from cheek to brow as he denounces the unholy law — in tlie other, where many a high and noble feel- ing may also dwell, the heart is stung at the probing of the loathsome wound which his trite and flimsy sophistry strives in vain to liide. Nevertheless, 1 felt and feel it to be a duty, as it is an impulse, to give to this great crime the voice of condemnation— utterly, unconditionally, be it in public or Oswei reat lingr get and rti- bly as a ou the roiu ers, re- the are, iliratlND 11? THE KEW "WOELD. 141 in private, among friends or foes ; if the subject he touched upon, an Englishman should not hold his peace. Luckily for me, while carrying out these principles my Georgian friend became exceedingly sea- sick, and seemed to find the remainder of my arguments quite unanswerable. Highly excited by my success in silencing my opponent, I walked proudly on the deck for some time, but several long voyages having deprived me of all sympathy with the prin- cipal feeling of my fellow-passengers, I soon became tired of isolation, and went to slee^. Very early in the morning we landed at Oswego, then, after a short stay, embark- -d in a canal-boat for Syracuse. The names in this country are very amusing. Mrs. Mala- prop could not have furnished a funnier or more unconnected string than^ those of the towns east from Rochester ; for instance — Pittsford, Canandaiga, Shortsmills, Vienna, Pal- myra, Clyde, Lyons, Geneva, Waterloo, Seneca, Elmira, Oswego, Ithaca. The town of Oswego is situated partly on each side of the river from which it takes its name ; a large portion of it is built of wood, and it has that temporary look so general in American country-towns ; it seems, however, to answer very weJl as shelter for thousands of active, industrious people. There are places of worship here for no fewer than six dif- ferent persuasions. The United States government have built two large stone piers and a lighthouse ; that the ob- ject of this liberality may be understood, it should be observed that Fort Ontario, protecting the entrai e of the harbour on the eastern side, has been lately repaired and strengthened. They are quite right, lor this is one of the most important naval and military points on the northern frontier. This being an American town, it is unnecessary to add that steamers, stage-coaches, and canal boats are perpetually issuing forth and entering in :^n all sides. Our route was south, the conveyance was much the same sort of thing as in Ireland, the country on the banks cleared, but raw-looking and poorly cultivated; the houses and people had, however, the appearance of prosperity. I could not admire the scenery as miich as my wish to please my Georgian friends rendered desirable; for my unmanageable thoughts kept flying away to the canals which lie among the rich, verdant coombes of Somerset. In this free country, there are plank bridges across the water wherever any free citizen chooses to place them : to these small types of independence the traveller must meekly bow his head, or indeed his whole body, when he passes ! • ( ^ mI !i i 1 i ii -»■ I ' IW U r' 142 HOCHEIIGA; OUt |^ir,'i!w«'^>« under them ; this gives rise to a curious series of s^mnastics as you ^lidc along- ; particularly among the portly and not very active, but nighly respectable class, of which I am a member. I met here, and elsewhere in my travels, with a f^reat number of old acquaintances ; at least, people who were quite familiar to me from the description of their persons and habits given by different writers. Probably they are government officers, paid by the State to live perpetually iu public conveyances, for the purpose of blinding foreigners as to the real manners of the people, lest we Europeans, finding it too charming a country, should flock over m in- convenient crowds. These officers, however, unUke all others, are evidently not removed with each new President, and may therefore become dangerous in time, as forming the nucleus of a conservative body ; but I do not think the in- creasing strength of democracy is likely to lessen their numbers. To say truth, they do blind and thoroughly de- ceive you, if they be taken as specimens of the manners of the people, at least of those of the Northern States. There is no doubt there are a few habits exceedingly disagreeable to those who are unaccustomed to them, and that these are of unpleasantly general practice. The American sometimes exhibits rather too strong a regard for his personal con- venience and comfort : nevertheless, kindness, readiness to assist, and a wish to give information, are almost universal. I am convinced that a lady, no matter what her age and attractions might be, could journey through the whole ex- tent of the Uniun, not only without experiencing a single annoyance, but aided in every possible way with unobtrusive civility. Indeed, great numbers of Sophonisbas and Almi- ras do travel about, protected only by the chivalry of their countrymen and their own undoubted propriety. To them, the best seats, the best of everything, is always allotted. A friend of mine told me of a little affair at a New York theatre, the other night, illustrative of my assertion. A stiff-necked Englishman had engaged a front place, and of course the best corner ; when the curtain rose, he was duly seated, opera-glass in hand, to enjoy the performance. A lady and gentleman came into the box shortly afterwards ; the cavalier in escort, seein|? that the place where our friend sat was the best, called his attention, saying, ** The lady, sir," and motioned that the corner should be vacated. The possessor, partly because he aisliked the imperative mood, and partly because it bored him to be disturbed, refused. Some words ensued, which attracted the attention of the Sovereign People in the pit, who magisterially in(juired what was the matter. The Ameticau came to the front of the UXGL^ITT) m THE ITEW wouid. 143 box and said, "There is an Englishman here who will not give up his place to a lady." Immediately their majesties swarmed up by dozens over the barriers, seized the oftender, very j^ently though, and carried him to the entrance ; he kicked, cursed, and fought — all in vain ; he excited neither the pity nor the an§:er of his stern executioners ; th,.y placed liim carefully on his feet again at the steps, one man nand- in? him his hat, another his opera-glass, and a third the price he had paid for his ticket of admission ; then, they quietly shut the door upon him and returned to their places. The shade of the departed judge Ljrnch must nave rejoiced at such an angelic administration of his law ! The course of the canal lies through the country of Salina, close to Canandaiga Lake, where immense quantities of salt are made : four or live villages, each with six or seven hundred inhabitants, have grown up from this cause. Some of these salt springs are reserved by the State, but by far the greater portion are in the bands of individuals, who pay, instead of rent, a small duty, by the bushel, to the government. The tine salt is made by the evaporation of the brine by artificial heat ; the coarse, or solar salt, by the gradual eftect of the sun, and is a very pure muriate of soda : no less than three thousand millions of bushels of all kinds are made in the year. Long before the visits of the white men, the Indians had discovered these valuable springs, and used them as far as their narrow means allowed. The reedy, ugly Lake of Canandaiga, though in the middle of this district, is un- touched by briny liavour. Seven hours of this not very agreeable journey carried us to Syracuse, thirty-eight miles from Lake Ontario ; but there, a modern tyrant, the conductor of an omnibus, forced us off without br«athing-time, to the cars of the Utica rail- road. In this town several lines of roads, railways, and canals meet: even our hurried drive through it showed that the usual high-pressure progress was at work here also. ^ ^ ^ . Every one knows American railway cars by description ; they are certainly far from comfortable. This is a single line of track, the rate of travelling about sixteen miles an hour. A great part of the way lay through the forest, very grim and desolate ; poor trees crowded up together, choking each other's growth ; every here and there, where they had been burned, the tall, black, charred skeletons were dismal to behold. At each seven or eight miles of distance are thriving villages, built with the solidity and rapidity of the city of the pack of cards, and all named by Mrs. Malaprop ; —Home is situated in a vaUey, and looks as if it had been t ■ 1 ■ It I I'-' 144 EOCHELAGA; OE, i!%v. built in a clay. There are also one or two battle-fields, where kindred blood was shed during the revolutionary- war. Utica is a larg-e and flourishing to^vn, or city, as they love to call it. Through all these districts the stranger is astonished at the appearance of prosperity in every place and person ; he sees no bad or even small houses, no poor or idle people ; every place of business, transit, or amusement, is always full ; lecture-rooms, railway cars, theatres, hotels, banks, markets, crowded to bursting. There is something infectious in this fever of activity, and I soon found myself rushing in and out of railway depots and dining-rooms just as fast as any one else. The New York State Lunatic Asylum is here ; it looks large and commodious, but there my praise of the building ends. I do not think ii was at all a mistake to visit Trenton Falls, even so soon after having seen Niagara. The body of water, and the scenery around, are so different, that no ideas of comparison interfere with the enjoyment of their beauty ; a tedious journey of sixteen miles thither from Utica and back again, on a sultry summer's day, spoiled the effect much more. Th<^y are very beautiful, indeed more beautiful than anything I ever saw in the States ; the immediate neighbourhood is almost untouched by the culti- vation of man ; the deep gorge of the stream lies hidden in the woods, till you are upon its brink. For nearly two miles, the river leaps and races, races and leaps again, till it comes to rest in the plains below; in one place there are three divisions of the stream, tumbling into a deep chasm in a direct fall of nearly a hundred feet in height ; lofty, bare cliff's of limestone close it in. To get a proper view of this scene, you must nerve your heart for a far more perilous undertaking than the visit to Termination Rock. The only path is very narrow and shelving, close to the giddy waters, and overhung with gloomy rocks. There is an iron chain to hold on by, fastened into the cliff side ; few travellers can dispense with its assistance. In the neighbourhood of Utica, and on to the south-east, the country is fertile and well cultivated. The line of the Erie Canal, passing directly through this district, gives vitality to all the towns and villages on its banks, lying in the rich valley of the Mohawk. The great line of railroad is also of much benefit to them : by it, we turned our course to Schenectady, passing through some fine farm lands and settlements ; here and there factories for cloth, paper, any- thing — and everything. In a thinly-peopled tract like this, where man's labour is so costly, it seems madness to turn to manufactures ; but they do it, succeed, and become rich : At ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOELD. 145 ■fields, fionary T love Lger is place )Oor or jment, jhotels, Jething- Imyself LS just lunatic there nothing fails in this extraordinary country, except the strangers' old-fashioned notions of political economy ; these are not worth a straw here: wherever there is a "water- privilege," some sort of machinery is sure to be erected, and people come from the clouds to purchase the pro- ductions. But a few miles to the north of this busy district, lies a wilderness of great extent, called the county of Hamilton : some of it is as little known or explored as were the islands of the South Seas a hundred years ago ; it is out of the great lines of travel ; its land and timber are not supposed to bo of much value. The parts which are known abound with lakes and streams, richly stored with trout and other choice fish i while numbers of deer dwell undisturbed among its shades. The people^ of the neighbourhood can spend their time much more gainfully than with gun or angle, and the pleasure of the sport is unknown to them There are sulphui' springs at two places south of the line of railway — Sharon and Cooperstown ; both are described as very picturesque ; the waters are said, by the innkeepers, to cure all bodily ailments. At Schenectady we stopped for the night ; it is Syracuse and Utica over again. In 1690, on one of those nights of horror in the border "wars, the Indians swept it with a sudden ruin — leaving nothing for the morning light but ashes and the dead. In 1845, we found, a very good hotel there, and slept comfortably without any dreams of the Indians. I found in the morning, that I had indulged too much in sleep to be in time for the regular breakfast, but there was a side-table laid in the corner, where one or two stragglers from the town, and I, seated ourselves: one of the waiters having put on the table what was necessary for his and our use during the meal, sat down himself also, and entered into conversation with us. He spoke quite freely, but at the same time respectfully — his manner was highly proper. I talked to him a good deal ; on many points he seemed wonderfully well inibrmcd for a man in his situation ; some of his notions of England were,^ however, rather amusing. He understood that it Avas quite an usual thing for an English lord, when in a bad humour, to horsewhip his servants all round, particularly on a day when his gun had failed to kill a sufficient number of foxesi Perhaps you may think the ideas of the waiter at a country inn not worth being printed ; I think they are, in a land where his share of tlio government is as great as that of a doctor of laws, or a millionaire. My Georgian friends expressed much surprise when they heard the waiter had been my coi^pauion at breakfast ; but I •; il 146 hochelaga; oe, Si.', lf«># f iniiiv ■'«** I have seen similar cases in several instances: the horse- whipping- notion did not astonish them in the least. Our ideas of their perfect equality are just as much exaggerated as are theirs of our tvranny of class ; servants generally are called servants, and address their superiors as Sir and Ma'am ; porters, cab-drivers and all those classes of function- aries, the same. I think there is very little difference between their manners and those to which we are accustomed, and they are ciuite as civil and obliging. There is one character perfectly abominable in America ; you not unfrequently meet with an emigrant from the old country, who hates the land waich gave him birth : i^- -^Jly hunted out of it for crime, he detests the laws he has out- raged ; iTcm his former fears of their just punishment, he reviles them and his countryD:!en: if ever you meet with unprovoked rudeness or insult, if ever you observe a more than ordinary length of hair, nasal twang, and offensive speech and manner, the chano^s are ten to one that you have met with an outcast from the British Islands. About midday, we arrived at an immense hotel at Saratoga; my Georgian friend introduced me to the pro- prietor, who shook hands with me and hoped I might enjoy my visit ; in short, his reception was such as if he had in- vited me to pass some time with him, and he was in reality as kind and attentive as if I had been an invited guest. There were, I think, four hundred people stajang in the hotel ; all the rooms were full, but our host procured me a very nice lodging in a house close by, and I lived at the hotel table. My bedroom had folding-doors, opening into the sitting- room of the family. Unfortunately lor inc, there was within, a piano, and the young lady of the house was learning the '* Battle of Prague." The next morning, returning sooner than v/as expected after breakfast, I dis- turbed her in sweeping my beJ chamber ; rot to lose tine, she laid aside her brush, and ran over a .-'jw of the inost dilficult passages, till I left iiie room clear for her to resume her more homely occupation. I do not give this little sketcn with a sneer— far from it : I tell it with pleasure and admi- ration. Would to Heaven that some of our poor hous -hold drudges had such innocent pleasures ! I would rather hear one of them play the "Battle of Prague' than listen to Liszt for a week. I was very much amused and interested at Saratoga; there cannot be a better opportunity f'^T acquiring a general idea of the national character in a short time, than that which a stay there in the autumn offers. I was introduced to hundreds of people ; and, though the weather was so very hot, all shook hands, as part of the ceremony ; there 5»T I were Sot eras, I'e other in many of style of them an them wl men, wh appearai could re never ai for an E of our ct There icople "w ut ther obscure, together amusem the mea the first versatio on the ti ♦' Ma' an She ans' circamh In the by man; away at of them partner highly ] the unl your Bi ludy's V young < nothing mix mi but at I lUdiE nauseoi times c enormo other, t down e; occasio] afterwQ verpudi ENGLA.ND 117 THE NEW WORLD. 147 were Southerners and Northeners, Downeasters and West- eras, ITew- Yorkers and Bostonians, all different from each other in detail, and very different from Europeans. Though many of the ycunj? gentlemen adopted the newest Pari:>ian style of dress and wearing the hair, T could have sworn to them anywhere ; there was something? Transatlantic about them which could not be mistaken. Some few of the older men, who had travelled and seen the world, were, in their appearance and conversation, free from any peculiarity. I could readily have supposed them fellow-countrymen ; it is never an unwelcome thing to an American to be mistaken for an Englishman, no matter how much he may disapprove of our country and our institutions. There were several families of the higher classes of society, people who would be admired and sought after anywhere ; but there was of course a very large alloy of the ill-bred and obscure, who, perhaps, by some lucky turn of trade, had got together a sunicient number of dollars for their summer amusement, without ever before having had the leisure or the means to play gentility. Opposite to me, at dinner, on the first day, sat a party of this latter class, Avhose con- versation I enjoyed even as much as the verj'- good fare on the table. A gentleman addressed the lady next him^ "Ma'am, are you going to liosting (Boston) right off?" She answered, "No, sir, 1 reckon I'll make considerable of a circumlocution first," and in this style they continued. In the evening there was a " hop" as they called it, graced by many very pretty faces. A young English officer, waltzing away at a great pace with the possessor of one of the prettiest of them, was tripped up by a nail in the ffoor, and fell — his partner sharing his misfortune. The young lady's mother, highly indignant, rushed forward to pick her up, saying to the unhappy delinquent, " 1 tell you, sir, I'll have none of your Britisn tricks with my daughter." I su{)pose the old iudy's wrath was as easily soothed as roused, for I saw the young couple spinning away again in a few minutes, as if nothing had happened. The higher class of visitors did not mix much in these general amusements, seldom appearing but at meals, and sometimes not even then. Riding, driving, playing at bowls, and drinking the very nauseous, but, i believe, very valuable waters, were the pas- times of the day. Dinner was at half-past three, in an enormous room, or rather two rooms at right angles to each other, thrown into one ; upwards of live hundred people sat down each da.y, some of the ladies dressed splendidly for the occasion, as if for a ball ; they looked rather oddly 1 thought, afterwards, walking about in theso gay costumes under the verandahs, or in the large and well-kept gardens; but there l2 «J '». ' < fe i 148 nOClIELAGA; OR, ■n* 'i I' were mucli beauty and grace to carry it off ; the shape of the head and neck is universally very good, eyes brilliant, features regular ; the failing- is in the complexion and in tho outline of the iig-ure : many of them dressed again for tea, and, twice a week, on "the nights of a ball, they dressed again for that. After dinner, the gentlemen ^ounged about, or sat outside the bar-room reading the papers, some of them in the extra- ordinary attitudes wo have so often heard of, while they *' cigared it," " mint-juleped it," or *' sherry-coblered it," as their different tastes suggested. There were billiard-tables and shooting-galleries, where gentlemen with frightful beards and moustaches abounded. Nor is there any lack of opportunity for indulging tho taste for literary pursiiits; little boys are perpetually going about tempting you with six pennyworth of Scott, Bulwer, ])'Israeli, and indeed all popular authors, with coarse and clumsy translations of French works, from the filthy wit of KabelaiB, to the refined and insidious immoralities of George Sand. We were fortunate enough to be at Saratoga at the same time with a lady from New York, who sang brilliantly for the party assembled in the public room, and with as mucli good taste as good nature and self-possession. There appears to be a great, and, to^ our ideas, a very objectionable facility of making acquaintances in such a motley concour e. A good deal of rivalry exists between the people from liie dift'erent Atlantic cities. The pecidiar- ities of each are strongly marked, especially among the ladies; those of New York were the liveliest, the gayest dressers, and the best dancers ; those of Boston more reserved, but with greater powers of conversation ; they Avere, besides, more careluUy educated. The southern men were expensive in their style of living, of^i'-hand in their manner, but little nasal in their accent, gay and courteous — the northerns more moderate and tolerant, better informed and more sincere. Both are absurdly sensitive to the opinions of foreigners concerning their country; touched in every thought and feeling by the passion for traffic; jealous, boastful, and wanting in individual character and freedom of thought. This is my opinion of their dark side ; what I have said is enough to condemn me for ever in their eyes ; they cannot bear censure, or even conditional praise. Now I turn to the far pleasanter task of speaking of their virtues, virtues pos- sessed by no people in a greater degree. They are brave, friendly, and hospitable ; keen, intelligent, and energetic ; ge- nerous, patriotic, and lovers of liberty. Such are the people in whom we see "the Promise of the Future:" even their very faults arc necessary ingredients of character, for the ENGLAND IN TnE NEW WORLD. 149 ] of tlio illiant, ^ in the tor tea, 1 again outsido extra- 10 tliev It, as -tables 'iglitful ng the y S'oing Bulwer, Tse and y wit of " Geor,i,'e I at the dliantly as mucli a very such a between )eciiliar- ong tlie ) gayest eserved, besides, ipensivo ut little 'ns more sincere, reigners ?ht and fill, and :houg'ht. 3 said is i cannot •n to the ues pos- e brave, 2tic; ge- e people en their for the fulfilment of their great destiny; their virtues enable us to contemplate that destiny with less of dread. I have had the happiness of meeting with many Americans who enjoyed so large a share of the good qualities that they had no room for the evil ones ; men by every thought and action deserving of that proud title, ** beyond a monarch's gift yet within a peasant's reach" — the title of gentleman. It is a pleasure and a duty to express, as I do now^ my heart- felt gratitude to some amongst them, for their kindness and hospitalities. AYithin four miles of Saratoga is the village of Stillwater, memorable as the scene of General Burgoyne's disaster in 1777;^ a disaster of so much influence on the fate of the re- volutionary war, that it may be almost said to have been decisive. Who dare speculate on what would have been our position now, had that struggle ended difierently ? The man whose voice was inferior only to prophecy^, foretold ruin to liberty in the success of our policy at that time, and the free- dom of the human race in its defeat. By the light of Lord Chatham's wisdom, we may read the tale of disaster in that fatal war, with a resigned and tempered sorrow for the splendid heritage then rent away from us for ever. The army of the ill-fated Burgoyne was the best equipped and the most effective of any that had entered the field during tlie contest: high hopes were cherished of its success, but the insurmountable dilileiiloies of the country, the incle- ment weather, and the energy and skill of its opponents, were its ruin. Harassed by fatigue, and imperfectly supplied, its fate was hastened by two successive actions— the first a vic- tory, the second a stubborn resistance, but both equally mischievous in their results. After the second engagement, on the night of the 7th of October, Burgoyne silently abandoned his position. Em- barrassed by heavy rains and deep roads, as well as by the number of the wounded, they retreated for three davs. On the 10th they took their final stand above the Fishkill river. To retreat further was impossible. The Americans swarmed on every side in overwhelming numbers. Supplies failed ; water could be got only at the price of blood, for the river was guarded by the deadly rifle ; every part of the camp was exposed to the cannon of the enemy and to the marksman's aim ; there was no place of safety ; as long as daylight lasted they were shot down like deer. For six days the spirit of English chivalry would not bow; at length, hunger and toil, the deadly sickness and the hopeless struggle, could be no longer borne; on the 17tli of October, Burgoyne and all the survivors of his troops siu*reiidered as prisoners of war * i I li i! t s tf ; V Mi )> : 115 m I ) I i 150 HOCHEIAOAJ OH, H mi :•■. .a mjt 4 Ml J v \ 1 1 1 u to General Gates and the republican army. From that day America was a nation. I have often been surprised that they do not attach more importance to this event, and to the services of General Gates; but an American cannot bear that any one should share the laurels of his Washington. Wherever the sad story of Saratoga is told, the names of two high-bred women will not be forgotten. In courage and endurQTije they were an example to the bravest; in tender- ness and devotion they were themselves again. Nor will due praise be withheld from the general victors for their considerate kindness to Lady Harriet Ackland and the Baroness Eeidesel. Some time after the close of the war, Captain Ackland, the husbar":! of the former lady, who had been badly wounded at S^.iatoga and shared in the generous treatment she had re- ceived, on some public occasion in England heard a person speaking of the Americans in terms of hatred and contempt, and at last calling tliem "cowards." He indignantly re- buked the libeller of his gallant captors ; a duel ensued the next morning, and the noble and grateful soldier was carried home a corpse. The morning I left Saratoga was made remarkable to me by almost the only instance of rudeness, or indeed of the ab- sence of netive kindness, which I met with in America. As I was walking in front of the hotel, a button came off the strap on the instep of my shoe. Seeing a shoemaker's shop close by, I stepped in, and in very civil terms asked the man to sew it on for me ; he told me to sit down on a box and give him the shoe, which I did. He turned it round, looked at it, and then at me, and '* guessed I was a Britisher." I owned "the soft impeachment." He then put the shoe on the counter, and took no further notice of me. _ After about ten minutes, I meekly observed that as I was going bv the twelve o'clock cars, I should be much obliged if he could sew it on at once. He " guessed" that he had not time then, but that, if 1 called in a quarter of an hour, perhaps "he'd hx it." I hopped over for my shoe, and, curious to see how the affair would end, returned in about twenty minutes, ahd again urged my request. "Sit down and wait" was the stern reply. Another quarter of on hour passed, and, though my patience was not in the least exhausted, I was afraid of missing the train by indulging my curiosity as to his inten- tions, so I again alluded to my button, and to my time being limited. He then called to a person in an inner room, "Fix this button for that man on the box, if you have nothing else to do." A minute sufficed. 1 laid a dollar on the table, ENGLANB IN THE NEW WORLD. 151 I - asking: what I owed him, at the same time thankinj^ him as quietly for the job as if he had been all kindness. He threw me the change, deducting a shilling for the button, and as I left the shop said, ** Well, I guess you're late now." His guess was, however, a bad one, for I was iust in time. I confess my anger rose a little, a very little, but I drove it do\vn, and determined, above all, that I would not let the rude act of one unchristian churl give me, even for a mo- ment, a false impression of a great and generous people. AYith much regret I parted with my Georgian friends here. My next destination was Albany. I had to retrace my steps to Schenectady ; thence to Albany is sixteen miles, over a tract of sandy land, covered with stunted pines, and of rather a dreary character. The cultivation shows that human labour is there more valuable than land : there was no attempt at anything like neatness or ornament in the few farms. CHAPTER XYI. ALBANY — ^WEST-POINT — NEW YOEK. "When you arrive at the entrance of an American town by the rail-cars, the locomotive is removed, and instead, horses are harnessed thereto ; the railways are continued through the level streets to the depot, usually in some central place, and perhaps, on the way, you may be set down at the very door of your hotel. Albany is one of the oldest cities of the Union ; the choice of its situation proves the judgment of the men of those days to have been very good. The nanie was given in honour of James II., then Duke of York and Albany ; but it had pre- viously been called, at different times, after half-a-dozen Dutchmen, probably quite 'as worthy people as he whose baptism has been most permanent. This place is the capital of the state of ^^ew York, and is rich in very creditable public buildings ; the museums, lecture-rooms, academies, and other educational arrangements, are very good ; there are a handsome square and neat walks shaded by trees — the latter, an improvement which we do not sufficiently culti- vate in England. During the summer, it is said that, on an ayerag-r^ a thousand passengers pass through the place every day. The names of great numbers of the people are Dutch, but their character is become purely American. The hotels are very good, as indeed they now are all through the States ; that is, good of their kind, for I do not like their system of management. ^ ':>l 11 in (■ ! . ^ I:!! I I 152 sochelaga; oh, ^ilr About a mile off, from a heiglit over the Foxoslcill, there is a mag-niiicont view of the town, the beautiful Catskiil mountain, and part of the Hudson river. ^ At Albany I met with sonic very pleasing people, and with the unvarying American kindness and hospitality ; but I cannot go quite so far as an enthusiastic historian of the to^vn, who says, *' There are few cities of the same size anywhere which can exhibit a greater or more agreeable variety of society and manners. In Albany may be found talent and learning, accomplishment and beauty. The towns of Europe of the sam.e size and relative imjwrtance can in this respect bear no sort of comparison witli it." Though this sort of flourish, and the feelicgs which dictate it, are extremely ridiculous to strangers 1 believe them to be greatly effective among the Americans in fostering a love of country, and that they are thus a positive element of strength. If you persuade a man that he possesses any particular good quality, the chances are that he will acquire it. I met, in my travels, with several charming instances of this, their happy conviction of superiority in anything and everything. A young lady from a small town in Georgia told me that a friend of hers, a gentlemLU just returned from Europe, had not seen so much beauty in London and Paris put together, as in the city of Augusta, where sli^ lived. 8he looked thoroughly persuaded ot the truth of his state- ment, and exceedingly pretty at the same time. Their great admiration of all that belongs to themselves would appear more amiable if they did not so often illustrate it by unjust and absurd comparisons. A yery intelligent man, who showed me the Mint at Philadelphia, pointed to a machine for stamping coins, of which he seemed very proud ; ho was iiot content with telling me that it was a very tine machine, but must needs add that it was ** allowed to be the iinest in the Avorld." As I* had seen many quite as iine among the ^^button-makers at Birmingham, the statement lost some of'its effect upon me. I went down the Hudson in one of the splendid steamers wliich torture its waters day and night. We passed to the left, the hiJids of the Van Ilaensalaer and Livingstone's Pa- tents— as they are called— the Tipperary of America. These estates are held from original royal grants, by the descend- ants of the ffj.st possessois. They are of great extent, and, under a strong government, would be of immense value. The tenantry paid the very moderate rent charged on their farms pretty regiJarly, till some years ago, when they came to a determination to put a sto]) to sueli an old-fashioned and disagreeable custom; tl icy therefore "re])udiated" the rent, and tarred and feathered the men sent to collect it. ENGLANE IN THE NEW WOKLD. 153 The militia of the State was called out, but the men com- posing" it were like the spirits of the "vasty deep" and would not come. At length, the anti-renters murdered two of tlieir opponents; this turned the tide of public feeling- aj^ainst them, and more active steps were taken to put them down. The aftair has since ended in a compromise, the landlords havinj? been glad to get anything they could. I was rather disappointed with the much-extolled beauty of tlie Hudson river, except with Wcstpoint, where I stopped,^ and ^vith ^ its neighbournood : they are indeed worthy of great praise, but still far inferior to the St. Lawrence, at and below our beautiful (Quebec : I find myself already in- fected with the spirit of comparison. The military college of Westpoint stands on a high table-land, in a magnihcent situation ; there is a very good hotel near it. As the land belongs to the government, the license forbids the use of any fermented liquor in the house or neighbourhood, on account of the students. In summer, many people stay hero for the enjoyment of the scenery, and of the air, which is purity itself. The buildings belonging to the institution are, I presume, meant to show all the diflerent styles of architecture, ancient and modern, being varied in the most fantastic manner. The rooms where the cadets sleep are small and inconvenient, those for study are rather better. When I was there, the young men were encamped cm the common, with a guard mounted, and all the formalities of military life; several guns and mortars, of rather a primitive appearance, were placed in front of them. The uniform is a light grey, and rather unsightly. The number of cadets is two hundred and lifty, by Act of congress ; the age of admission from sixteen to twenty ; the length of time necessary to qualify for a commission, four years, during which period they receive sixty pounds a year. ^ Thirty-four officers and pro- fessors are attached to the institution. All officers of the army must pass through this ordeal, and a very severe one it is ; fully one-half fail. The course of study resembles much that^ at Woolwich in nature and quantity, but the system of discipline is widely different. At Woolwich everything is trusted to the honour of the cadet ; his punishment is an arrest by the word of liis officer ; no one watches that he keeps it. Often, for an entire week, lie is confined to his room for some boyish freak, looking at his companions playing at cricket or football outside, and longing to join tnem ; but he is sliut in by something far more eilectual than bolts or bars — by his honour ; whatever other rules he may violate, to break that is unknown. Again, when an irregularity is committed, and the oii'ender ■W i 'lit «T V, t 1 1 154 hochelaga; oe, cannot be identified, the officer asks for him on parade ; the culprit instantly falls out and says, " I did it," and is pun- ished accordinprly. To establish a system of this sort among boys from fourteen years of ag-e, upwards, is a very delicpte and difficult matter, but when accomplished, it is invaid- able ; the boy must be thoroughly corrupt who does not imbibe a spirit of truth and honesty under its influence. It teaches to love what is great and good, and hate all that is false, or mean, or cruel. At Westpoint, to establish a system like this would be almost impossible. An officer of the institution told me that sometimes boys arrived at the college utterly ignorant of everything, especially of the difference between right and wrong ; they hnd it more difficult to qualify many of their pupils in matters of honour and principle than in mathe- matics and fortification. The appointment of the cadets rests with the members of congress, each having one ; in spite of this, and of its being of such essential consequence to their army, there is every year the bitterest opposition to the vote for the expenses of the college. A great ground of jealousy is, that there is a decidedly aristocratical feeling among the officers of the army. I have had the pleasure of knowing many ; America may well be proud of them, they are highly educated and gentlemanly, upright and honour- able, zealous and efficient in their profession : with the greatest pleasure I bear witness that I have met with no exceptions. They are a most valuable class as citizens, and their high tone of feeling and good manners are not withoui an influence on society. They, at least, are clear of the eternal struggle for gain, and have leisure and taste for cultivating the graces of life. The enemies of America may rejoice when the institution of Westpoint is abandoned by the government. The senior class of the cadets are allowed to go on leave, each year, for three months ; but many on account of the distance of their homes, do not avail themselves of the pri- vilege. Till within the last few years, the dift'erent services were chosen by the senior cadeis who had the power, as fol- lows : — Engineers, topographical en gineers,artillery, infantry, cavalry. Now, I believe, the cavalry has become the favour- ite service, and is usually taken by the most successful stu- dents. The pay of the officers is rather more tlian in the English service, and they are besides rendered much more in- deiHjndent by the cheapness of living, and from not being liahle to mess expenses. The promotion is by seniority up to the rank of colonel, the other 8te])s are by selection. At the chapel at Westpoint, the Church of England service is always performed; all the cadets arc obliged to attend it, "whatever their religions fuitli. One of the officers kindly de; tlie is pun- among delicate invaia- oes not Hce. It that is ould be me that )raiit of fht and of their mathe- ets rests spite of to their to the ound of feeling" isure of n, they honour- ith the with no ins, and without r of the aste for ica may )ned by n leave, i; of the :he pri- serviees ', as fol- ifantry, favonr- i'ul stii- i in the nore in- ig- liable ) to the At the :vice is tend it, kindly ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOULD. 165 gave me a place in his pew the Sunday 1 was there ; the decorous conduct of the youn? congregation was highly praiseworthy. At present nearly all the officers of the army are members of the Church of England, or, as it is called in America, the Episcopalian Church. I cannot speak so favourably of the rank and file of the army ; one -third of them are Irish and Germans of the very lowest class. Although their term of enlistment is only for three or five years, thirty in a hundred desert annually. Their pay is about a shilling a day above the cost of their clothing and living. The uniform is not calculated to show them_ off to advantage; their performance under arms is very inferior ; at drill only I mean, for we know that they can light very well. Their barracks are generally much better than those of our troops. At first sight it appears strange that while the officers are so very good, the private soldiers should be so much the reverse ; but the evil of the short period of service, aggravated by the frequent desertions, and by their discontent at being worse off than their civilian fellow-citizens, tend to destroy the military spirit. They are not regarded in a very kindly or respectful light by the lower classes of the people. It seems an instinct of the Anglo- Saxon race to dislike regular soldiers, though they them- selves make such good ones ; perhaps it is I'rom military authority being associated, in their ideas, with despotic power. I heard dreadful accounts of the suffering and losses of the American troops during the Florida war. There is a neat monument at Westpoint, to the memory of the men of a small force destroyed by the Indians, after a most gallant defence. There is another to Kosciusko. The cost of war to the United States is enormous, the expenses of the commis- sariat incredible : it is calculated that each Florida Indian taken or slain cost, I think, ten thousand dollars, and many lives — but the latter were not reckoned so jealously. The total strength of the regular army, including officers, before the Mexican war, was under nine thousand men; their militia force is, .lowever, enormous, being, in fact, the whole population Ht to bear arms. A gifted English traveller, who lately published letters from America, quoting from a pamidilet by Judge Jay, states that the cost of this force is lifty millions of dollars a year ; that of the army twelve mil- lions ; making a total of thirteen millions of pounds sterling — more than the cost of the army and navy of England put together at that time. In estiinatink the expense of the militia to the country, the principal item is the loss of the labour of the population while drilling. General Scott, the commander-in-chief of the United States army, was staying at Westpoint Hotel at the time of 1 i -.' i 156 hochelaga; oe, ..i Ik n my visit ; he is a very fine-looking soldier, of dignified and pleasing manners. He was mnch distinguished for skill and valour in the sanguinary campaign of 1814, and is now the great living object of that strong love of successful military leaders so remarkable in his countrymen: he enjoys un- bounded and deserved popularity. I left Westpoint, and its enlightened and gentlemanly inhabitants, with reluctance. The Hudson, thence to New York, is still beautiful, but the best is passed. Many objects of interest were pointed out to me by the way ; that which most interested me, as being most characteristic of the country, was an immense work erected in the river, round a place where, years ago, Captain Kidd, the celebrated pirate, is said to have sunk his treasure-laden ship, in order to baffle his pursuers. I believe that tradition and dreams are the only grounds for fixing on this place. Thousands of dollars have been expended in the search ; that they have got hold of some wreck or other there is no doubt, but whether the right one or not remains to be proved. When the works are finished, the water is to be pumped out, and Captain Kidd's honest earnings are to reward the speculative adventurers. On the light bank, for twenty miles,— beginning about three miles above New York, — are the Palisades, a range of rocks faced with natural columns, varying from fifty to four hundred feet in height. In one place they rise perpendicu- larly from the water's edge ; their appearance reminded me of the clift's near the Giant's Causeway. The island on which New York now stands, was discovered by Heniy Hudson, an Englishman, sailing under the Dutch ilag, in 1609. The Indian tribes inhabiting it were called Manhattans (the People of the Whirlpool), for near at hand is HcUgate, where the waters rush and. eddy with great violence. In 1613, New Amsterdam was founded by the Dutch ; fifty years afterwards, the English wrested it from them, and called it New York ; for one year, 1673, the former possessors regained it, but yielded it again by treaty, and it was held by the English till the revolution ; at that period it contained only twenty-four thousand inhabitants. The Americans point with great complacency to its much larger rate of increase since their becoming free from English rule ; but it is an undoubted fact, that the rate of increase in the whole Union, since the separation, has been precisely tlio same as before. Nearly one-fourth of the population of New York are natives of the British Islands. There is but little doubt that, for many years to come, New York must be the capital of the United ►States. The Hudson lliver, tlie canals, and railroads open to it nearly as great an extent of country as the Mississipin docs to New Orleans; while the superior climate, the greater energy of the people. \ > ENGLAND IN THE NEW WORLD. 157 the excellence of the harbour, and the shorter voyage to Europe, cast the balance decidedly in its favour. Many far- seeing politicians tell you that Cincinnati or St. Louis, the great inland cities, must, even in the time of living man, be the seat of government. That Washington can long remain the capital, appears impossible ; the increase of the interior States, and the establishment of American population and commerce on the Pacific coast, every day more extended, will naturally throw the centre of political power upon the rivers of the West. This island of New York is long and narrow, the greatest breadth not more than two miles. On the west lies the Hudson, still and deep ; on the east an arm of the sea, called the East Iliver, and the Harlem, wh'«.h last joins the Hud- son twelve miles above the city, by the Spuyten Huyvil Creek. To the south is the Bay of New York, spacious and sheltered, with anchorage for the largest ships ; the end of the island washed by it is now covered with buildings. The city still spreads northward, and assists also, by its over- flowing prosperity, the rapid growth of large towns on the opposite sides of the waters; ferry-boats without number ply to them all day long. Perhaps there is no place in the world better situated for commerce than this city of New York : deeply-laden vessels, large enough to navigate the most distant seas, can dis- charge their cargoes, the handiwork of the thickly-peopled countries of the Old World, upon the very wharves, re- ceiving in return the productions of the exuberant soil of the New, the superabundance from the wants of its scanty population. In appearance, this is almost an European town ; foreign- ers, of every nation, swarm in the streets. The strano-er, as he walks along, is positively confused by the bustle and activity ; his eyes are bewildered with advertisements and signboards up to the fourth story of the houses, printed in all sorts of shapes and colours, to attract attention. The Broad- way is very long and very broad, the pavement bad and dirty, the buildings irregular ; the shops well stored, but to the European eye far from handsome ; the public convey- ances are showy, the private carriages, generally, quite the reverse. The heat in summer is very great : in the beginning of August the thermometer stood at 90° in the shade for several days, and once reached 100". At this season every one, who can afford the time and expense, leaves New York for a tour in the North, the springs, or some of the numerous watering- places along tlie coast. Newport is the most fashionable of these, having usurped the former position of Saratoga as tho ; ; :»: I ; , ... 1 158 HOCHELAGA; OR, ill ■ ' n, I most select and popular resort ; the sort of life led by tlie visitors is much the same at all of them. A large portion of the Americans live altogether at hotels and boarding-houses, always sitting in public rooms, where every one possessing the requisite number of dollars to pay for board may obtain admittance. It argues very well for them that they can at these places allow of such general acquaintance : the fact is that, in many of them, very objec- tionable people do intrude themselves, but under the strictest necessity of propriety : for, at the least suspicion of their conduct, or the slightest breach of decorum, they would be ignominiously ejected. This public life, led by so large a part of the people, leavens in no small degree the national character : the tone of feeling of each individual is formed by the masses, not by the narrow but more sacred inHuence of that of his household ; there is but little trick of manner or speech peculiar to a family ; you can trace notliing closer than the State they may belong to. There is so little, too, of mutual dependence between mem- bers of the same family, that I cannot but think the bonds of affection lose much of their strength. Each man works and struggles on his own account : if his brother fail it is no affair of his, or if a man rise to eminence, it does not at all follow that his relations share his elevation. I will not say that the Americans are deficient in the holy feeling of family love, but that certainly their institutions and habits of life tend to weaken it. By the system of boarding, a much greater degree of luxury is obtained at a small expense than could be enjoj^ed in a separate establishment at the lame cost. At New York, the hotels are very numerous, the tables well supplied, and the arrangements carried on with clock- Avork regularity. One of the hotels, the Astor House, is quite a curiosity from its great size, furnishing four hundred beds; it is a granite building, handsome and solid, in the best situation in the city, and frequented by people from all parts of Europe and from every State in the Union. A great number of buildings were burned down this summer, near the Battery. The destruction was hastened bv a tremen- dous explosion, the cause of which remains still unknown. The ashes were scarcely cold before these wonderful people were again erecting houses and stores, handsomer and better than those destroyed. There are annually twice the number of ffres in New York that take place in London ; the passing of a tire-engine causes no more excitement than that of an omnibus ; the brigades employed in this necessary duty are very numerous and well arranged, consisting of many of the H EJ^GLINI) m TnE NEW WOELD. 159 most respectable young men of the city, who are in conse- quence exempted from militia service. In Philadelphia they are so formidable a body that they can sometimes afford to set the city authorities at detiance, and have lately occa- sioned considerable disturbances. There are great numbers of militia and volunteer corps at New York ; their drill on certain days appointed for the purpose is an object of great admiration to the citizens. Amongst others is a regiment of Highlanders, splendidly dressed with kilt and red coat, the exact uniform of the 42nd. I thought Yankee -doodle sounded rather strangely on the bagpipes. The Americans have a great love for military displays; the visitors to Canada in the summer are more pleased at the parades and the bands of the English regi- ments than with anything else they see in their travels there. The public amusements are very fair : a French company of some merit were performing at the Park Theatre. Mblo's garden — though not, I believe, considered fashionable among the New York exclusives, is a prettily-arranged place, with a stage partly open to the air, where there is very tolerable acting. There are several other theatres, and a sort of peep- show and fire-work affair at the Castle, on the Battery. There are numerous public buildings, many of them of great size, and very costly, but generally badly situated, and without much beauty. The Hall of Justice is a most extra- ordinary masterpiece of ugliness ; it goes by the name of the Egyptian Tombs, and possesses about as much architec- tural grace as a pyramid. The Merchants' Exchange, to secure it from the tiery fate of its predecessor, is built of a very fine granite, no wood having been employed in the structure ; it is ornamented by eighteen magnificent pillars, thirty-eight feet in height, each a solid mass of granite. There are one hundred and sixty churches, the Presbyterian the most numerous, the Episcopalian the next. I heard a very eloquent and useful sermon in one of the latter ; the faults were excess of ornament, and a constant effort for effect ; the clergyman wore his hair in the fashion of young America, and a beard which gave him rather too much the appearance of a dragoon to be suitable to the pulpit. The congregation was very numerous and attentive ; but there was no public pew or place for the poor. The Americans have made several alterations in the words of our Liturgy, but the spirit is purely the same. Trinity Episcopalian Church, now nearly finished, is by far the handsomest building in New York ; it is in the very best style of mod.ern ecclesiastical architecture, or rather of the judicious revival of the old. The Episcopalian Chui'ch in this State is very rich, from former grants, now grown of great value; its . 1 1 c I 160 nOCHELAGA; OK, fsi m % members are rapidly and steadily increasing here, as well as everywhere else in the Union. At the present time, the greater number of the wealthy and well-educated classes of the North are Unitarian. New York is, however, an excep- tion to this rule ; here it possesses only two churches. Out of the four hundred guests at the Astor House, I do not think that a dozen went to divine service anywhere. Except in New England, the young men of America do not seem to bo much cJf a churc^" -goinp oei pie. Tolerance among the mem- bers of til ^ Y^rin • siv J b irried, in moot instances, to the extent of ludifteii- CO . n very favourite boast is that "they all meet on th. hi >.5«l b\ 3is of Christianity." In the pro- vincial towns, in the list c;' hurches for the difierent sects, you not unfrequently tind thai of "Christians" among them. This is Universal without being Catholic. ^ The New York Theological Seminary is under the direc- tion of the Presbyterians, but open to all Christian denomi- nations. A valuable library is attached to this very liberal institution. In the Bay, opposi^^e to the battery, at the distance of half a mile, is Governor's Island, strongly fortified, and well situated for defence. Bedlow's and Ellis' Islands con- tribute to the means of resistance; they would render the attack of the city a formidable undertaking ; great loss would be sustained in overcoming the difficulties ; but steam power has changed the old axioms of naval science ; ^ for the modern school, Acre was the " Fiist Proposition ;" its ruins, the demonstration. Heaven forbid that those guns which crushed the maiden stronghold of the East under their lire, should ever be called upon to disturb the echoes in the har- bour of the great city of the West, unless in a salute of friendship ! There are several other islands less grim than these, said to be worth visiting, and adding much to the 15ay. Staten IsV^^d is a very favourite place for the pleasure-hunters of inlw York ; the little voyage thither and back gives, perhaps, the best opportunity of seeing the harbour and the city. The Croton Waterworks, on the north side, are the glory of the State. For more than forty miles the stream is carried through an immense artihcial conduit, passing over ravines, and through tunnels, into two great reservoirs near New York: it is a magnificent work, worthy of the wonderful energy of this wonderful people. The aqueduct over the Harlem lUver is a quarter of a mile in length, supported by eight arches, and built Avith great solidity, of handsome stone ; it runs a hundred and twenty feet over the river. No fewer than twenty other streams, some of them con- siderable in size, arc passed in its course. f!l ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOULD. 161 s well as ime, the Masses of a excep- es. Out Lot think Ixcept in em to ho tie mem- !S, to the ,t "they the pro- snt sects, ig them. le direc- clenomi- y liberal tance of iecl, and nds con- ader the ss would m power for the its ruins, IS which beir lire, the har- salute of 3, said to 'nlsl^^d of iNcW laps, the iy. The ry of the carried ravines, 3ar New onderful over the lorted by aiidsome le river, em con- Thore is much in the consideration of these j^reat works )..jinful to an Englishman: the headwork is furnished by aericans, the result is for th jir benefit, but the bone and hxiie^v come fror"- our islands. These proud and prosperous Rspublican^ disdain the labou jr's common toil; the// are r. v'^erso'^rs, master bricklayers, and carpenters, engineers, :i.id clerks of works ; but the mere drudg-es are our coimtry- men. The y/orh"' V condition of these last is vastly improved by emigration ; their wages here are twice as good as at home ; food much cheaper ; after three years they become naturalized, and enjoy the sweets of being solicited for their votes by the different candidates for election with as much earnestness as their wealthy employers. In a few years, with conimon prudence and industry, they can so ■. ^be means of -purehasing and stocking a farm, and look fo^ w 1 to an evening of life of ease and plenty. Their chi"^ >eii > not cry to them in vain for bread; abundance "vt Is in their households, the best education is open to Ule^^ and they have as good a chance of being President an any other person's children, if they can only hit oi. that happy medium between popularity and obscurity, wnich is necessary to please the majority without exciting their jealousy. It is very natural that this country should appear a Paradise to those who have left want and misery behind them ; they soon become thoroughly xVmericanized, and, sad to say, speak generally of the land of their birth with any- thing but affection. They readily allow themselves to be convinced that the hard condition of the poor at home, is the work of a tyrant aristocracy, t;nriched by their unre- warded toil, and imagine that a good catalogue of ^Tongs excuses their throwing off allegiance to their country ; by bitterness of speech they keep their resentment warm against it. At any time of international difliculty, wdien the odious subject of war is in every mouth, none are more fierce against England than this class of people. An Irish waiter at an hotel in Boston told my servant that there were enough British subjects in tlie States to defeat any force England could send out. This worthy at the same time used every inducement in his power to tempt the man to leave my service, telling him that it was a fine country, every one a gentleman. "As soon as I have done my day's work," said he, "I dress in my best clothes and walk about, or go into the smoking-room as well as any of them, with plenty of money in my pocket." In this class of people, where the higher sentiments are little felt, who can be sur- prised at such feelings towards a country where their situa- tion was so different ? i i i..' I ^ ^n ■' I': ■.,1 162 HOCHELAGA; OTl, mm vm^i^ ■ '*■•''* The American sliips, especially the ships of war, are fillcfl with our seaman, but always in subordinate situations. In their employments, both by sea and land, they act on a principle of which we used to be justly proud — ** a fair day'« wag-cs for a fair day's work." Their higher class of public officials, however, are exceptions to this rule ; their salaries are generally insufficient to be at all an equivalent to well- educated and gifted people, for the abandonment of other pursuits. An American, in arguing with an Englishman on the de- fects of tlie two countries, is sure to bring forward the con- dition of our millions, as an efiectual set-off against slavery, repudiation, and plunder of copyright. They will seldom take into consideration the density of population in England — in proportion to the power of producing food to the extent that an Agrarian law coidd never remedy ; nor the inhnite complications of interests in an old cuuutry, that cannot be disregarded in any measiu-e of amelioration. Censure, in however measured and friendly a tone, any of their national institutions, habits, or manners, when its truth is too obvious to be denied, this is their invariable apology : — " We are so young a country." I must do the tender babe the justice to say, that it can swallow any quantity or quality of praise without the least injury to its delicacy, or even diminution of its appetite. The plentiful employment and prosperous condition of the working classes in this country are not without exceptions. In the reaction from commercial prosperity which took place in 1837, numbers Avere thrown out of work, and in the winter of 1845-G, the damp cast on the movements of trade by the rumours of war, was fertile in inllLiences inimical to their interests. The value of houses and lands is also sub- ject to very great Huctuations from similar causes : no com- mercial barometer is more sensitive than that of New York ; a cloud gathering in any part of the political horizon in- stantly affects it. The police of New York has long been famed for its in- efficiency : a late altcation is not likely, I think, to add either to its usefulness or popularity. Its officers are dressed in plain clothes, and mingle with the people in the streets and all public places, without aiij distinguishing mark. 1 saw, the other day, a noisy sailor, struggling violently be- tween two of them, loudly proclaiming that they were com- mon laiidsharks, and that he could tell by their clothes they were no policemen. Tliis occurred near 1 "ive Points, a haunt of vice and misery, not yielding to the old St. Giiles's, or to the cite in Paris. Tliere are a great number of negroes in New Y'ork ; indeed this in an observation you make in every (.!'■ ENGLAND TS THE NEW WORLD. 163 American town; they arc all labouring under the same social ban, but one deo-i-ee bett(^r tluin slavery itself. Be- tween them and the Irish the most determined animosity exists, beins:: rivals for the hardest and simplest work that the community requires. The free neg-ro is always a con- servative ; whenever he is allowed a vote, he gives it to the Whig- candidate. The Irish are as invariably Democrats, and are so numerous and united a body, as materially to influence the elections. Jn some of the Western States, the native Americans hold them in equal fear and dislike. I met, in my travels, with a very amusing* character from Chicago, in Illinois, whose lixed idea was horror of them : " Dog-ins" wa.s the name by ^yhich he called them. He said that their d(,iight was in drinking and fighting, that they only agreed occasionally among themselves, that thej^ might quarrel the better with every one else ; that in some parts of the Western country, they would soon have things all their own way. But he could not deny that they were hard- working, honest fellows, always ready to lend each other a helping hand ; nor that their children made as good citizens as any others. The man of wdiom I speak w^as a capital sample of a certain class in the Xew States — active, energetic, boastful, vain, fiercely democratic, violent in his hatred of all Euro- pean powers, particularly England ; quaint beyond measure in conversation, and much given to ornament and illustra- tion. He left New Orleans, his native place, some years since, on account of an awkward affair, in which he and a bowie knife acted principal parts, and is now a dealer in bread stuffs at Chicago. He said that war Avould be the making of the Western States ; that they would " chaw up" Canada in no time, and humble the bloody-minded aristo- cracy of England; that France was only waiting for an opportunity to revenge Waterloo, and would assist them, or at least be neutral ; that they would say to her, as the Ken- tuckian said to Providence when he met the bear, " If you lend a hand to either, 1 say give it to the poor Kentuckian ; but if you don't, why only just look on, and you'll see an everlasting tine light." He let out afterwards that the main reason why he was so warlike against the Britishers, was that " they are such etarnal fools as not to buy my bread- stuffs, and they just starving outright."* These enlightened views were delivered on board a steam-boat, near the bar : his eloquence being assisted by numerous draughts of "gin sling," he soon became exceedingly confused in his ideas, and ended by vowing everlasting friendship to all creation. * This remark was, of course, previous to the repeal of the English Corn Lawi. M 2 i ' >! 164 HOCHEIAGA; OR, <■' fijtk- The roads and streets in some of the suburbs of New York are almost impassable in bad weather. A railroad runs from the heart of the city to Harlem ; horses beinj? used instead of steam, the prog-ress upon it is but slow. The visitor to New York at the end of summer, will not be able to form any idea of its society ; letters of introduction are delivered to empty houses ; in some instances, indeed, ho will iind the doors and windows bolted, not even a servant remaining behind. Fortunately for him, however, a portion of the inhabitants have only tied to villas a few miles up the Hudson, where the usual kindness and hospitality of America are sure to be found. CHAPTER XYII. PHILADELPHIA — BALTIMOEE. I cuossED to New Jersey city, and thence started by railway for Philadelphia. Part of this six hours' travel is throug-h the richest country I have 3^et seen in the United States. Pennsylvania is a highly important state, and has at times cast the balance between the northern and southern interests. In the election of President Polk, when the numbers ^\ere pretty equally balanced, her inliuence was decisive. The coal and iron resources of this district are now being* de- veloped to an immense extent, and are already a source of great wealth ; several contracts for Russia have been under- taken, by companies, on very profitable terms. - The financial condition of this community was very in- teresting to many people in England ; their moral cond.ition even more so ; for there is no doubt that want of inclination, more^han want of means, Avas the cause of their defalcation. The pi'ii.cipal opponents of the taxation imposed to meet the intereslfl of the debts, were the German portion of the popu- lation, who are sunk in the grossest ignorance, but are apparently numerous enough to influence the State Govern- ment. The stinging satire of a late eccentric and witty English divine had no small share in at length bringing about the tardy payments which have since been made. The people of the solvent states are very strong in denuncia- tion of their less honest neighbours, and bitterly complain of the injustice of the general charge of repudiation against the American people, made hj men unacquainted with the sub- ject.^ But, as long as they are part and parcel of the same empire, and share in its advantages, they must not expect to escape altogether from the odium which attaches to such immense collective roguery. Many of the buildings at Philadelphia are very handsome, ENGLAND IN THE NEW WORLD. 165 S particularly the banks ; their outside appearance is sterlin^ and solid.^ Thoro are no small or shabbv houses; gonoraDy they are imposinf^-looking and showy, the doors white and very clean, with j^lass or plated handles ; the bricks arc very bright red, the Venetian blinds very brii^ht s:rcen. The rows of trees in the streets have a pleasing effect, while a large portion of the town has that quiet, lonely air about it, Avhich marks some of the great squares of London ; not that Philadelphia is by any means an exception to the usual bustle and prosperity of American towns, but that there is more separation between the districts of business and those occupied by the dwellings of the Avealthy classes. The principal streets are called by the names oi' trees, and are contained in the old couplet — •' Chesnut, walnut, spruce, and pine, Market, larch, and peach, and vine." Those crossing these main channels of communication are known by numbers. I went to see an admirable painting by "West, shown in a room Avith very good light ; but a horrible little daub was hung on either side of it. The Post-Ollice, formerly the un- fortunate United States Bank, is very handsome ; but the Girard College, outside the town, is by far the handsomest building in I*iortli America. It is a square, each face the same, and bearing some resemblance to that of the Madeleine in Paris, but is built of pure and solid white marble, iu^dde and out, pillars and roof — marble white as snow. There are two other blocks of buildings of the same material on either side, of a heavy style, rather marring the effect. This college is built by the will of a French banker, who loft an immense fortune to build and endow it for the edu- cation of orphan children, and to 'provide for them after- wards in life : from what I hear, the building will have absorbed most ' the legacy. The testator insisted that the education shoulu be wholly secular ; indeed no one suspected of being a clergyman is allowed to enter the college at all. This " city of brotherly love" has been notorious for se- veral very serious disturbances — the burning of the Roman Catholic chapels, and' the houses of the Irish populati(jii, followed by retaliation, were attended with much loss of life. Again, tights between the Irish and the negroes, and lusrly the llames of war lighted by the hrc brigades. On the dinner-tables, as you travel southward, thern are many very original-looking dishes, wdth names as odd v.s their appearance. *'mush," ** squash," &c. ; many of these are not at all disagreeable. There are also quantities of fruit-— melons especially, but not of a very line tiayour. At ( ■ i (' i l\ 166 HOCHELAGA ; OH, I. •ii.'M <}v,m" '•"'^. 'r^ ! 'if, some places, as, for instance, near Charleston, these are in such incredible abundance that they infect tlic air as they ripen. Anion jj; the delicacies of the sea, the soft crab is in great rerjiicst ; he is much like ours in shape, but wears only a silken doublet instead of a coat of mail at a certain season, and consequently can be carved and eaten witliout the trouble of undressing*' him. Tlie hotels were as usual, full, many of the people being" resident in them. This place is not quite free from the gold-cliained and ringdeted American dandy ; but gvnerall.v there; is still a little, a very little, of the meek, sleek style of the Quaker ancestor, to be traced in the ap- pearance and manner of Jiis descendant of the ])resent day. 1 do not think, however, that 3'ou observe the broad brims and siFig-le collars of the demure brotherhood much more than in other towns. The prison, ])enitentiary, workhouse, and charitable in- stitutions may be brieily and satisfactorily described as well cMuducted and highly creditable to their founders and ad- ministrators. There is also a plain, unostentatious building* of dull-coloured brick, held in great respect by this new people ; it is tlie State House, where the independejiee of America was declared. They urg;e the traveller to visit this sacred and venerable place, dwelling* much on its antiquity. It is strang-e that anticiuities and military gdory should be the great passion of the Americans : some malicious spirit seems to liaA'e sug"gested to them these unattainable orna- ments, like the roc's egg' in the Arabian fable. The water- Avorks of Philadelphia are very line and advantageous to the town ; but in them, as in wealth and trade, she must yield the palm to New York. In this town, as well as in the others of America, there is certainly a very fair exterior of morality ; through their streets iiows not that noisy stream of glaring vice, which, in the well-regulated mind, cit the sanie time attracts attention and creates disgust. But, from this semblance, let not the Christian and the moralist deceiAc themselves with the hope that what does net meet the eye at the lirst inomcnt, does not exist. The haunts of proiiigacy are as dark and as numerous as in the crowded cities of the Old AV^jrld, arul the silent and clandestine advertisements of their localities as little to 1)0 misunderstood. !/\'ery year, some of the Southern States aflbrd an awful ratah)gue of eriuu^ violence, and blood. The ]M)pulatio]i, of a mixed race, thciv passions heated by a sultry climate, their coarser impulses fed by the exertion of unlimited i)ower OWY their slaves, I'cekless of tiieir own or others' lives, scare. ly educated, familiar with the bloodiest and most ferocious ducliing~tho voice of public opinion ia but fceblu ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOULD. 167 against^ the blackest Cain, provided he can adduce sume received wrong or insult in his defence. In a ball-room at Xew Orleans, in the winter of 1844-5, a young- man, while waltzing, trod on the foot of another. When the dance was oyer, he was asked, in a private room, if he had done this intentionally. ^ The reply was a disavowal of any intention to give offence in the former instance, but accom- panied by a hasty and angry remark upon being called to account. An altercation followed, and a blow was at length given, by the man who had sought the explanation. They separated — the striker went into the dressing-room before re-entering the ball-room, to cool his excitement and arri: age liis hair. The other went down stairs, put on an appearance of composure, and asked the cabmen at the dour if any of them could lend him a bowie knife, as he wanted to cut a piece off the sole of his shoe ; they either could not or would not furnish him with what he sought, so he Avent into a neighbouring street and purchased one at a cutler's shop, trying the sharpness of several of them on the counter before ho made his choice : he_ then went to the dres;:iing-room where his victim was still standing before tlie glass, and seized him unexpectedly from behind; before any one could interfere, he had given him three deadly wounds. This was, no doubt, a villanous murder, but in ail coun- tries individuals may be found capable of any atrocity; knowing tbis, the horror that such a crime creates is not accompanied by astonishment. JJut that a jury of twelve men could lind a verdict of " justihable homicide," and that the laws of any country should sanction such a verdict, is indeed startling to our ears._ A friend of mine saw the murder, assisted in apprehending the assassin, was a witness at the trial, heard the law of the case laid down, and the decision which followed — " an insult may be washed out in blood ! " And the people who made this law proless to hold the faith of *' Him of jNazareth ! " In other cases, where the sympathies of the people are against the accused, they sometimes cannot tolerate the forms of trial and the uncertainty of conviction. I only add one to thousands of previous Avell-known instances, when I give the following, from one of the American papers now befon; me, headed " Arkansas Triigedy." "A mulatto boy had nuirdered a mother and two ehil(h'en — at least, he was lodged in gaol under the aeeusaticm. The peo[)li3 of ilickory^ Bridge, on hearing all the facts, became furious ; the cry of ' Ikun the murderer ! ' aoon ran from one to another. They suddenly became calm, and resolute to tlieir purpose, iirmed themselves A\;ith gun and knit'c, and canve down to the town last Saturday,' deliberately broke open the gao^ door, put a 168 nOCHELAGA; OK, H rope round the murderer's necl^, and compelled him to run along-side their horses twenty-tive miles, to the scene of the murder. They then formed a court, went throug-h a trial, and found the prisoner guilty. He was to be burned ! The next day, Sunday, they chained him to a tree, and had the wood piled round him to roast him by degrees. They kindl(.'d the lire, but tlie cry soon rose to hang him ; he joined in tho cry. They did hang him, to the gate-post, covered with the bloody shirt in which he was supposed to have committed the awful deed." The tone assumed by the press with regard to these atrocities is a dreadful index to the sentiments of the masses, whose tastes and feelings it rcHeets and consiidts. The first instance I have (luotcd, tho murder at JS'ew Orleans, is gently chidden as " the over-hasty resentment of a deadly insult ; " the other, as a " generous but unlawful outburst of indig- nation in an excitable people." For many years, j^liiladeipliia was more a place for spending money than for maliiug it ; there were a great number of people possessing property independent of the Huctuations of trade, gifted with the leisure so necessary for the higher and more retining pursuits of lii'e, and forming, from community of tastes, a compact and exclusive body, with more of the features of an aristocracy than in any other citj^ in the Union. But even these people have not escaped from the levelling system of tho last few years, and are now, to all public appearance at least, stirred up into the mixture of the democratic caldron. Seven hours of railway and steamboat conveyance carried me to Baltimore. In entering "Maryland the day's journ(!y was rendered memorable to me, but it was by an occurrence very natural in the Southern States. At the last stopy)ing- place before arriving at the town, there was a sight which tilled me with a new and strange emotion — I saw a being which not oiu' among thousands of our English people has ever hcen. He walked, he spoke, he was tall and erect, with acti\e, ]iowerful limbs, and shape of fair i)roportions. He was made in God's own image — but — he was a sslavi; ! — Poorly, scarcely decently clad, he had carried to the station a load of j)eaches, which little negro boys sold in small baskets to the i)assengers. He stood beside them directing the sale, between Avhiles staring at us with a stupid gaze. He had the receding forehead, coarse nec^k, and tiiick lips, the symptoms, or eltects, of the merely animal instincts and intelligence. His complexion was very black — black as the cloud hanging ()^ cr the land of his captivity — black as the sin of its accursed law. The suburbs of Baltimore were dili'erent from those of any ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOEID. 169 American town I had joi seen; there were as wretched houses and as miserable-looking* a population as Manchester or Glasgow could show. This, as every one knows, is the first city you meet with, in travelling- southward, which is under the laws of slavery — that remarkable exception to the famous Declaration of Independence, that "all men are equal;" that exception being" recognized as a fundamental part of the Constitution of this free, enlightened, and Chris- tian Republic. The difference between the free and slave States is seen by the traveller when he passes the line of division, in the comparative prosperity of both town and country, as dis- tinctly as the colours mark them on the map ; in none more decisively than between Pennsylvania and Maryland. The former cut out the cancer, and immediately the wound healed, and the body became robust and vigorous ; the latter had several times nearly made up her mind to the operation, but courage failed, and the disease still continues working in deeper roots, while the patient sinks in decay. In Mary- land the climate does not even afford the unrighteous and narrow-minded excuses of expediency or interest, for the continuance of slavery. It is known and acknowledged, that free labour is there more prohtable; but then, the deadly rice-L\s^amps and sugar •mills of Louisiana are capital consvmers of their superfluous negro stock ; raising it pays tolerably well; they are unwilling to divert their capital into new and non-human channels. In the older northern slave States, tlie condition of the negroes, when they are employed as domestic servants and farm labourers to amiable and educated people, is often very comfortable; but the state of those who arc sold to the law- less villains of Mississippi and Texas is woful beyond belief. This subje-'t of slavery is one in which I take a deep interest, and I aui fain to dwell a little upon it, taking Maryland as my illustration ; lirst, because it is the State wherein are greatest the feeling for and probability of abo- lition ; secondly, because it is the only one of the soutliern States which I have visited, and of ^vhich I can speak from personal observation. The population of Maryland is four hundred and fifty thousand; of these, one hundred and fifty thousand are blacks, ninety thousand being slaves, the remainder free. Since tlie year 1790, the white ])opulation of the principal slave-holding counties lias diminished two-sevenths. _ In the gnniter number of these, the slaves at the present time are iuore numerous than the whites : there is a great extent of country, once tilled, now gone to waste • the land is held in farms of hirge size ; when it ceased to be abundantly pro- 170 nOCHELAGA; OE, -.;::ii: diictive, the clumsy and wasteful process _ of slave laboi:r could no longer be applied to it. Tobacco is the only pro- duction of this State that sconis to require slave labour ; but in Ohio even this can be raised by free labour to undersell the Maryland growers. The abolition of slavery tends to divide ])roperties into small farms ; this process would in a few years double the value of the crops, and consequently of the land. In the course of time the soil of each State subject to slave labour will be (luite exhausted by its pernicious influences ; manu- facturing, or improved agriculture must then be the resource. Moreover, the ])roduce of slave labour here can no longer bear competition with the result of that on the rich lands of the southern valley of the Mississippi. The effect of this slave agency is fatal to the energies of the white population: they become accustomed to consider labour as servile ; all pursuits in ^\dlich activity and industry are required, are monopolized by men from the nortliern States, who speedily enrich themselves in this undivided field. The southern States become poorer every day, whilo the northern are rapidly made rich. I do not mean to say that tlie present inhabitants of the south become poorer, but that the country does ; the vitality — the soil itself, is exported in the cotton, sugar, and rice, to the north ; and to Europe, where it is consumed. Payment is received in all the handi- work of man, especiall.y inthe machinery used for the very pur- pose of more speedily drawiug out — and of course exhausting — the natural wealth of the ground — their only capital. The barren hills of New England produce little more than the industry and indomitable energy of the people who till their soil : there, the more the land is worked, the more rich and grateful is the return. But tlie pestilential hot-beds of the south, luxuriant though may be tlie rank vegetation under the unnatural forcing of slave labour, must soon find a limit to their productive power. Then will the undrained morasses exhale their noisome breath ; and the deadly fever will finish the work, begun in crime, pursued to poverty and ruin. To do the intelligent planters justice, few or none of them pretend to be blind to the evils of slavery, as it regards their own material interests. But, as a part of the social system, as a degraded condition of a portion of tlieir fellow-country- uien, tb"y will defend it to the uttermost. I have heard it a^'gued by the hour, on those very rare occasions when the ■.faujtct ».'iin be argui 1. St. Paul is refc^rred to thus, " He has fxiY(M ].Tv 'cpts iVii' slavery, and thus recognised it as one of t]i<: vaiious forms of social organization, bearing with it its p'^jcnhar duties aiul obligations. Let us reverently acknow- ENGL.iND IN THE NEW AVORLT). 171 laboiir ily pro- ir; but idersell es into ble the In the labour manu- !source. longer ands of of this ilation : ile; all ed, are pcedily lih the ay that ut that )rted in :!]urope, bandi- try pur- austing" al. re than vho till n-e rich beds of etation on iind Irained y fever loverty •f them Is their lystem, untry- eard it len the lie has one of h it its jkuoW" ledge the overruling power of Providence, by whose disposi- tion an nnrigliteous traflic has been made the means of benefit to a benighted race. Througli the ordeal of servitude in the United States, the negro has passetl over the threshold of civilization into the portals of Christianity." This is indeed unanswerable, for contempt and disgust at its foul falscliood and hypocrisy deprive you of the power to speak. Heaven save the ^vretched negroes from the sort of Christianity into whoseportalsCiiey liave thus passed ! Tliey do not feel its beneiits in religious instruction, for teaching them to read their Bible is irunished as a felony : they do not feel it in the sacredness of their domestic ties, for these the public sale violates every day : they do not feel it in the Avholesome principle of morality, for they may be at any time the helpless victims of the grossest outrage. I can give but these few, from the long catalogue of evils iutlicted bj?" slavery, on the inter;.sts of both the oppressors and the oppressed. In I80I, tlie people of Maryland became so convinced of the injury done to their material prosperity by this institution,^ tliat tliey came to a sort of compromise between the emancipative and the slaveholding principles, as a lirst step of getting rid of the evil. Tliroiigh jealousy of the, perhaps injudicious, intm'ference of the northern aboli- tionists, this tendency to better things received a check. However, four thousand i)ounds were voted annually by the Legislature for twenty yeai's, to colonize with free negroes, going by their own consent, to a district on the western coast of Africa. As far as the means extended, this plan lias been carried on with prudence, energy, and success. Tlie colony, called Cape Palmas, begun with forty emigrants, now num- bers a po))ulation of seven hundred. It :' ^ of course organized as a republic ; Governor Russwurm,^ a negro, is ])la(H;d by the Board of Directors at the liead of it ; the other '(Hcials of the little State are elected by the people, or appoi. d by the Executive. There are houses of worship, courl f justice, schools, militia, officers of police ; roads have n opened into the interior, and a trade is carried on inthf ; rodiictions of tlie country. To prove, moreover, that they ful wish to imitate their Transatlantic motb ah'eady annexed a eonsidtrable and importan imitation, however, caniujt be said to be p* I'i. ct, for they obtained tli(>ir extensi(m_by honest ])urchas(,>, and not by astute and shameless spoliation of a weaker nei hbour. Tliis colony from l\larylan(l is ])erhaps tlio m ^st successful of any of the Amerie;in settlements on the African coast. An expeditiim sails from Baltimore every year for Cai)e Talmas; but as, in fourteen years, only seven hundred oi Jie colour(;d population of the State have been disposed of, the speedy ave a duti- , they have rritorv ; the 172 TIOCHELAGA; OR, *%i absorption of tlie one hundred and sixty thousand still remainin.q', is not very hopeful. It has long been apparent that, in case of emancipation, the difficulty of having fully one -third of the population of the State of an inferior caste, unprotected by the bonds of interest, cannot be avoided. Then let it be boldly met : in this land of equality, give theui tbe citizen's right to vote; then they will have at least the power to make terms with the dominant party; they will remain no longer excluded by law from anj'' appointments they may prove capable of tilling. Surelv these will be of the himiblest sort ; for the white man cannot dread their competition in any other. Already nearly half of the black population has become free, and the inconveniences have proved by no means so monstrous as the alarmists predicted, although the mixture of slaves and free blacks creates a complication of the dilliculty. Even in Jamaica, the dawn of better things is apparent ; for years, the American slaveholder had pointed with triumph to its embarrassments — although caused by an infinitely greater disproportion of free blacks to whites, than any of the States could present. To the interests of the south, the result of slavery is cer- tain ultimate decay ; the result of emancipation, at least an uncertain evil. If in the scale, against its advantages, bo placed every doctrine of Christianity, every honest impulse of the human heart, every principle of eternal justice, the balance is decisively cast in all minds but those of the dealers in all hum an flesh To vuLj English people who may look over these pages, the joining of my weak voice to the loud outcry from all the Christian world, for the freedom of their fellow-num, even though his hc'\ be dark, is of course not of tbe slightest use, as — thank God — it will not, through their startled ear, fall on a guilty conscience. But I know that the work of every Englishman who attempts a sketch of America, however feeble his powers or humble his pretensions, is read by some of the people whose country he describes. I have therefore given these remarks, that they may see that I am not an exception— that every son of our own free land agrees in the denunciation of this stain upon humanity, and in earnest prayer that it may soon bo blotted out for ever. m SI CHAPTiai XVIII. n A L r I n II i: — ^^' a s ii i n g x o n. Baltimoiie, during the war, had an immense trade, as long as the Americans remained neutral ; but when England md still ipation, lation of bonds of met: in to vote ; with the udcd b}' nablo of he white Already and the LIS as the and free Taniaica, -mericaii issmcnts ortion of 'esent. y is eer- ie ast an :ag'es, be impnlsc tice, the 3 dealers Lg-cs, the all the m, even test use, car, I'all )f every liowever by some herelbre not an IS in the earnest ado, ENGLA.ND I:N" THE NEW WOELD. 173 as ]ngiand was found to bo strng£rling agfainst enormous odds, that neutrality gave way ;^ the .opportunity to Avound her was too tempting. At this critieal moment, the virtuous and patriotic indignation against her inordinate pretensions suddenly beeame uncontrollable ; the wrongs borne pa- tiently, if not uncomplainingly, for years, Avere no longer to be endured, and the United States thrcAV their whole M'eight into the scale of the apparently -winning side. AVhen, however, the stubborn Avill of England Avas Avorkod out in Europe, and jier inveterate and terrible enemy sub- dued and in captivity, the Avarlike storm from the "West subsided into a peaceful zephjT, and the " inordinate pre- tensions" and the " Avrongs of many years" were left just as they were before. But this unfurling of the "stars and stripes" had a A'cry great effect upon Ikiltimore, though so little upon the inter- national questions : its trade all but ceased ; it passed into other channels, and even noAv requires all the matchless energy and enterprise of Americans to be regained. The Itoman Catholic Cathedral is a large and imposing building. Most of _ the old families of that faith, the de- scendants of the original settlers, liaA^e gone elsewhere, or merged in the population ; the present congregation is principally of Irish, and other foreigners, J he portion of the toAvn inhabited by the Avealthy classes has a more solid and lasting appearance than in the other Atlantic cities; the private houses are A'cry good, but the crop of grass in some of the streets giA''es them a dreary look. The Wash- ington Column is one of the best specimens of that kind of building I haA'o ever seen ; it is one hundred and sixtji' feet high, of excellent proportions throughout, the material a hne Avhite marble : a large statue stands on the summit : the situation is very Avell chosen ; even from the base of the pillar there is a commanding and magnilicdit A'iew. A few printed Avords on a board hung on the railing, entreat that this monument may not be spat upon or otherwise injured : in spite of this appeal for respect to the memorial of their greatest hero, it is defiled in a sickening manner. iS^ear the hotel Avhere I staid, is a monument to immor- talize those Avho fell during the defence of the town in the last Avar, in the attack Avhen General Ross of Bladensburg Avas killed. The scene of this skirmish lies a few miles from the city, on the banks of the Patapsco. On the morn- ing of this event, two boys, the elder not more than sixteen years of age, took muskets in their hands, and Avalked off towards the English advance, declaring their intention to " shoot some Britishers." They concealed themselves behind a hedge by the Avay-side for some time. Unfortunately, 174 HOCHELAGA; OR, \m0 •u m M General Eoss and his staff happened to pass by this road, and the younustcrs Imd tlio ch'verncss to disting-iiish him ; both lirod, and both shots took cfi'ect. The Americans speak of gT(-nt atrocities havinj^- been perpetrated by the I'^nglish sokliery in these expeditions; our aeeonnts, and tlie nnimpeaeliable evidence of distin- .ivuished otHcers there present, give these assertions a posi- tive denial. 1 liave no great opinion of the tenderness of an invading army, even consisting of our own country- men ; but, at the same time, judging from the degree of exaggeration in American d(.'Scriptions respecting which wo liave satisfactory testiniony, it is evident that they never lose an opportunity of holding _ up the British [irmy to execration; for instance, the stu])id and mischievous iinen- tion echoed and re-echoed by tlieir press, that tlie watcJi- Avord given by tlie Englisli general at tlie attack on lsv\\' Orleans was *' Beauty and Booty. "_ I place no belief wiial- ever in the unusual cruelties attributed to our countrymen at lialtimore. It is mucli to 1)0 lamented that the talenterl and erudite autlior of the magnificent ''History of the Frencli Revolution" should liave preferred American to l^higlish testimony, on the subject of the atrocious watch- word now referred to. I had the good fortune, tiirougli the kindness of one of the officers, to see the evolutions of a troop, or, as tJicy designate it, a company of horse-artillery, on thci drill- ground near Fort Mac Henry, a few miles from the city. It was said to be the best troop in the army, modelled in a great .ueasure on the English system. The mati'rud, the harness, and carriages, were decidedly inferior to their pro- fessed examples, and in some respects quite diil'erent, sucli as the use of the exploded system of the pole instead of shafts. Th(>ir brass guns were polished so bri'^htlj^ that they were painful to look at in the sunshine, and that to lay them correctly must be impossible; they would afford a dangerously conspicuous mark for the shot of opponc^nts. From their equipmi'ut, there were available ibr tlie working of the piece, only lour men, a number quite insuihcient, and they were neitlier active nor soldier-like : the uniform is much like that of the French artillery. The horses were good, but too light for this service. _ The drill was slower and more complicated than the J'^nglish. In cither a])])ear- anee or evolution it would be unjust to comiiare with them the horse-artillery i- batteries of Woolwicli. The oiliiicrs were very well in^ : nied, gentlemanly men, zealous and efficient in their pi (Session. I have said tliis generally, 1 believe, half-a-dozen times before, but 1 cannot repeat it too often. They have esiu eial difficulties to contend with iu ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOELD. 175 ;his road, lish liiui ; n^'_ been ('dilit)n.s ; )f (list in- IS a posi- orneHs of couiitr_y- [logTOC of \v\m-\\ we oy never tirpiy to IS iiuen- wateli- : on Isew iof wliat- Lntrynieii talented 7 of the niean to s Avateh- af one of as t]iey iici drill- city. _ It lied in a 'n'el, the heir pro- ?nt, sueh istead of itiy that at to lay aflbi'd a )ponents. woi'kint*' ient, and liform is SOS were .s slower a])])ear- itli them 3 oilieers ous and lerally, 1 ?at it too with in this service : by the time a soldier becomes competent for its nnmerons duties, ho gets his discharge, or he deserts ; they have no settled or general system equipments ; indeed all the}'- now have, may be said to bo experimental. In spite of these _ drawbacks, I should pronounce them, in my humble opinion, to be efficient, and lit for immediate service. The fort is well situated for commanding the entrance of the harbour, but its means of offence or defence are not very formidable._ AVhen I saw it, a number of workmen wxi-e employed in strengthening it, under a very skilful and . intelligent engineer officer. Several of the minor arrange- ments were ingenious, though somewhat unfinished ; with them, indeed, they had the merit of invention, but in Europe thej^ have long been used in a more perfect form. This invention of things long known elsewhere, is by no means conlined, in the United States, to the military equip- ments of Fort Mac Henry. 1 went to the museum, where there is a very fine and complete skeleton of the Mastodon, found, I think, near the Ohio. There was nothing else particularly worthy of at- tention; so I went upstairs to the top of the building, where there is a theatre ; a performance was going on quite as good as could be expected. A nian near me put his feet upon the rail of the seat before him and stretched himself out till his head was as low as was consistent with staring at the stage between his upraised legs. The sovereign people seemed to disapprove of this graceful position, and a cry of " Trollope, Trollope," had at length the effect of iniiuencing him to restore his head and heels to their usual relative altitudes. I have been told by very good authority that the satirical works of English writers have had a decidedly beneficial effect upon the habits and manners of the Ame- ricans ; within the last ten years, the improvement has been perceptible to the most careless observer. If this be true, the state of things formerly, in some of the public convey- ances, and the smaller inns, must have been such as to palliate any amount of sarcastic bitterness. Even now, I defy any one to exaggerate the horrors (jf cliewing and its odious consequences ; the shameless sellishness which seizes on a dish and appropriates the best part of the contents if the plate cannot contain the whole ; and the sullen silence at meal times. But it is only fair to say that the most eminent heroes of these performances belong to a class of people with \'Uich the traveller in England is not brought into contact at all : indeed I believe that there, such a class— in manners at least —has no existence ; I have never met with 176 HOCHELAGA; OR, m^> such, thoiig-li thrown, at different times, among men in great extremes of social position. The Trollope question bcin^ satisfactorily settled, I tore m3''self awa^^ from the pleasures of the stag-e, to read thd newspapers at the har of the hotel. This was a fortunatt step for me — an earnest observer of tlie peculiarities of human nature ; for there I saw collected, four more perfect specimens of the ruffian than I had ever hoped or feared to meet with in the course of my pilg-rimag-e. I should have thoug-ht their appearance the most villanous and ofieusivo thing' I had ever encountered, had I not heard them speak: their lang:uag-c outdid their looks — hlthy, blasphemous, ferocious, deepening in abomination as they drenched them- selves with liquor. The bar-keeper — who was addressed us " Doctor," to do him justice, seemed thoroug'hly disgusted with them, and relieved when they were gone. The custom of carrying the bowie knife is universal in these southern States ; even boys at school are not excep- tions, and, not unfreciuently, they have been known to use it for the settlement of their disputes. Education is far from being so general or_ so well_ conducted here as in New England, and is diminishing in many places as the popula- tion increases. The growth of ignorance is always followed by a corresponding strenthening of democratic feeling : in this statement I quote tlie^ speech in (Jongress of a Loco- Eoeo member, as reported in all the papers. This persun also boasted of having patriotically used his inlluence to discourage the schoolmaster in his uei.i'-hbourhood. I conclude, from one or two circumstances which fell under my own observation, that 15altimore is not remarkable for the security of property. I ^yas advised not to leave my hat in the hall one evening, while paying a Vvuy pleasant visit to an agreeable household ; the weather Avas t xtremely warm, all the doors and windows were open, and they seemed to think this possible opportunity of stealing my hat would certainly be taken advantage of. In the hotel, an excellent one by-the-by, there was a printed notice, earnestly request- ing guests to keep their doors bolted at night - as frequent robberies had occurred from the omission of th?s necessary precaution. Here, it is only necessary for the satety of your property ; further south, it is equally so lor the safetv of vour life. From the specimens I saw of the lower classes of the slave States, and the information which I obtained uboi:t them, I consider them to be, to a friglitful extent, rude, demo- ralized, and ferocious; some of the gentry appear only to the greater advantage by the force of the strong contrast iu ENGLAND IN THE NEW WORLD. 177 • 111 ftTcat fl, I tore read th(> ^ortunatf iritics of ■e perfect feared to uld have ofteusivf n speak: phemous, 3d them- ressed as lisg-iisted versal in ot exeop- . to use it far from ill New Q popida- fbllowed diuj?: ill .' a Lonu- s person uence to 'ell iindir kable for e my hat sant visit ily warm, ecmed to at would excellent ■ request- frequent necessary y of your /V of your the slave ir.t them, le, demo- r only to )ntrast in which they are placed with the masses of their coun- trymen. In travelling by railway in America, there is un excellent arranpfcment about bag-<^a' we could wish, the ])eople of the house very kind and oblis:ing', and comfortable rooms an hour or two afterwards. I found several of my Saratojra friends staj'ing here : we had all been travellinj? about in dift'erent directions, and had now arrived at the same point; some of them were bound for England by the next mail steam-packet, as were my companions and myself. AVe had however left ourselves ample time for sii^ht-seein^, sowing our letters of intro- duction, and reaping, as usual, an abundant crop of kindnes;, and attention. The hotel is divided into a family and bachelor establish- ment ; but, at meals, the lonely, nnblessed ones are allowed the privilege of joining the ladies, if they are acquainted vnth. any of them, or, indeed, if they feel inclined. There was a large drawing-rooni, with a piano, and a gay circle was always to be found in it. The bar and the smoking- room evidently offered much greater attractions to most of the gentlemen ; the expenditure of cigars and saliva in these localities was enormous. The reading-room was a very good one ; there were heaps of papers belonging to all parts of the States, from the *' Ikngor Whig" to the *'New Orlean;^ Picayune" and "Arkansas Democrat;" in a comer, from a pile in a frame, "The Times" hung out its broad and well- thumbed sheet. The wall was hung round with maps of the city, the States, and the United States, in which the blue of the American territory always thrusts itself up into the red of the English, to the farthest line of the difierent disputed points. At the top, each was ornamented by some appropriate national design, such as the American eagle carrj^ing tlie globe in its talons, with one claw stuck well into Texas, and another reaching nearly to Mexico. While the noble bird's feet are thus profitably employed, his beak is not idle, for there he holds a staff, from which the Hag of the " stars and stripes" Hoats over the prostrate world. ^ Boston, the social and commercial capital of New England, is, in trade and opulence, inferior only to New York, among the cities of North America. The harbour is excellent, but, beyond that, it possesses no great natural advantages ; the soil around is poor, and the country deficient in the mineral productions necessary for the uses of man. No navigable river opens the resources of distant districts ; on one side is on ENGLAND IN THE NEW WORLD. 189 e dinner appeared a snore when rs, there I, and we erytluii;>' ^ind and rwards. Iiiero: wo ons, and em were as were Diirselvcs )f^ intro- kindness stablish- i allowed quainted There ay circle inioking- > most of 1 in these k^ery gpood rts of tlie Orleans p, from a lud well- -ps of the e blue of the red disputed propriate yiug the ;xas, and )lo bird's idle, for stars and England, :, among Bnt, but, ges; the minernl avigable .e side is the ocean, on the other, the stern hills and ungcnial climate of New England. Ihit this unpromising territory was tixed on by a set of men, of a courage, hardihood, and energy, capable of overcoming any danger or difficulty that presented itself. ^ Their descendants have inherited these virtues, and by their exercise have changed this barren shore into a city oi' luxury and wealth. lioston was founded in 1630, about ten years after the landing of the pilgrim fathers. For half a century it made but little progress. When the colonies became independent it rapidly increased, like all the other Atlantic cities; for, from the Old World, especially from England, religious enthusiasts, adventurers, disafiectcd men, and admirers of republican institutions, flocked over in crowds to swell the population. Of late j'cars, lioston has been favoured by particular commercial enactmcnt^s and has progressed more rapidly than ever. Building is going on to a prodigious extent. I have visited it at dilferent intervals, and at each period the increase was plainly visible. The city stands upon a peninsula in Massachusets Bay, marked by three bold hills ; from north to south, three miles long, from east to west one third of that length, but of an indented and irrej^ular outline. As the number of the inhabitants so rapidly increased, this piece of land became too small for their accommodation, and they have spread themselves over the island and other parts near at nand, keeping up still their intimate connexion with the town on the Peninsula by bridges and ferries. Of the former there are six, of great length but no beauty ; the material of their structure is wood. Canal Bridge, leading to East Cambridge, is the largest, measuring nearly a thousand yards. In the old parts of the town, the streets are narrow and incon- venient; in the new, they are wide and regular, with massive and comfortable dwellings, built cliiefly of a bright red brick, and having doors and blinds of lively colours ; many have also windows of purple glass, giving them, altogether, a cheerful but fantastic appearance. Everything in Boston is scrupulously clean ; from the roof to the road not a speck or stain; no one is allowed to enjoy the selfish indulgence of smoking in the streets, and chewing is not nearly so popular here as in the south. The harbour is excellent, easy of access to friends, difficult to foes ; when within its shelter, there is ample space and safe anchorage for a great amount of shipping. Fort Independence, more formidable by nature than art, protects the narrow entrance of the channel, at a point-blank range. The wharves are extensive and solid; of late, great ranges of store-houses have been built close at hand, of commodious size and lasting I i 190 hochelaga; oe, isvm* '■'^ ;I5IIH*: J H» ^5 materials ; these districts are scenes of constant and active industry. On the island opposite, in the harhcur, is East Boston, only ten years old, but already in maturity; the English Mail Steam-packet Company have their dock and stores there, and a steam ferry-boat crosses between this offshoot and the main city every live minutes. ^ The State House of Massachusets stands on the highest point of the peninsula ; from the cupola on the dome at the top, you see the city and the surrounding country under you like a map, and get the best idea of its extent and position ; for, as long as you move about below from street to street, you are sadly puzzled among the numerous bridges and ferries. This dome is a copy of that of St. Paul's ; of this it is necessary to be in- formed, for the likeness is not very striking. You ^\dll probably also hear that the view from it is the finest on the earth ; this too it is essential that you should be made aware of hy the authority of your guide, for, without being told it might perhaps escape your observation that such was the case. But, in truth, it is a fine and interesting si^-ht whether it be the finest in the world or not. In an archi- tectural point of vie^y, the Custom House is the most remark- able edihce ; it is built of solid granite, rather heavy in its general effect. There are numerous churches for every variety of religious faith. One, called King's Chapel, was many years ago devoted by its founder to the Church of England : the will declared that divine service should always be performed according to the Rubric, under penalty of the endowment being forfeited. In course of time the majority of the parishioners became Unitarians, and adopted, the Jeffersonian principle that the dead should net have any inliuence over the living : there is, however, a law in Massa- chusets independent of the popular feeling, and the con- gregation could not seize the funds without submitting to the will. A sort of arrangement was therefore entered into, by which the iinglish Liturgy was still used, but carefully purged of anything alluding to the objectionable Trinitarian doctrines. 1 once attended the service there without being Tiwai'c of this extraordinary compromise, and without having heard the American Church of England Liturgy anywhere else, and I certainly was sadly puzzled to know what had happened to it in this instance. A very clever sermon was preached afterwards, commencing with a in'ofession of avoid- ing all doctrinal points, and of addressing the congregation on the broad basis of Christianity ; nevertheless the spirit of the preacher's faith breathed through every word he spoke. I understand that a great many worthy and amiable people joined in this arrangement for setting aside the dead man's will ENGLAND IN THE NEW WORLD. 191 id active Boston, English d stores offshoot louse of ainsula ; city and I get the oil move puzzled ome is a to be in- rou -^dll finest on be made ut being juch was ng sight m arciii- remark- vy in its r every 3el, was lurch of I always :y of the najority ited the ive any L Massa- he con- tting to :ed into, arefuUy nitarian it being , having lywliere lat had ion was f avoid- •egation spirit of I spoke. people :l mau's will by a side-wind ; indeed, I do not recollect having heard an^ one there speak of it with disapi)robation. The Uni- tarians are very numerous and inHuential at Boston, and the clergymen of the highest repute. The Faneuil Hall is an interesting place, it is called after its founder, who gave it to the citizens for public meetings. It is nearly a hundred feet square, and three stories high. In the centre story, which is the one more generally used, there is a desk ana a row of scats for the principal speakers. When I saw it, this room was being fitted up with branches into a sort of honeycomb of bowers, where stalls for an Abolition bazaar were to be placed the next day. Close by this building is the magnificent Faneuil Market, five hun- dred and thirty-six feet long, and fifty wide, much to be admired for the abundance and variety of good things to bo purchased under its walls, as well as for the style of its structure. ... In my visit to this place I was fortunate enough to have for my companion, a gentlenian of great worth, and of the highest estimation among his fellow- citizens : his head was grey, but his kindness of heart as warm and fresh as if he had been still in early youth : but lateljr returned from a visit to England, he had been confined by indisposition since his arrival : as he walked through the market, several of tlie keepers of stalls to whoni he was known came out, with evident pleasure, to meet him, shaking hands with him in the most cordial manner, and expressing their joy at seeing him again. In spite of this familiar and apparently equal greeting, the respect they bore him was evidently shown, and as little to be misunderstood as if they had only doffed their ca^s to him. "VVe had much conversation on this little scene afterwards, and he was gratified that a stranger had been witness to it, as in its way so characteristic of the manners of New England. One evening he was kind enough to take me to the meeting of a sort of club, held for the purposes of social intercourse, every second Friday, at the house of one of the members. About a dozen gentlemen were present on this occasion, all of them past the noon of life, except the host, who was a very distinguished lawyer, well known elsewhere as well as in Boston ; one of the others held a high judicial situation. Some were leading members of the press, others medical men of the best standing, others connected with the manufac- turing and commercial interests. Among the latter were two who had be^un life before the mast, and by their own abilities and merit arrived at great wealth : both in manners and conversation they were exceedingly pleasing. At about ten o'clock we sat down to supper at a round 1 1 \ t v\ \ r 192 H0CHELA6A; OE, *c pm>. table covered with all sorts of good cheer, and remained in very animated and interesting conversation till midnight, when the party broke up. It is highly gratifying to an Englishman to find that in America— and particularly at Boston— where his introduc- tions point him out as not undeserving of kindness, his country is at once a passport to the good offices of the people ; and the higher they ascend in the social scale, the more strongly this is marked. At the same time, they are exceed- ingly keen in their observation of manner and conversation : I have no doubt they could at once detect, and treat ac- cordingly, any one who might try to impose upon their saga- citv, by representing himself to belong to a class of society, in nis own country, to which he had no pretensions. The Common is a park of aboiit fifty acres, laid out "with gravel walks, and ornamented with fine trees ; many of the houses of the wealthiest inhabitants range along one side of it ; both in health and beauty, this space is a great advantage to the people of Boston. This city stands first in America for the number and excellence of its public schools, which include a Latin grammar-school, and a high school for ma- thematics and the more advanced branches of an English education. They are all sustained at the expense of the community. It is singular that, although the opportunities of education are so much better in the great towns, even for the lowest classes, the inhabitants are not usually so suc- cessful in the pursuits of life as those of the country. I know several instances of country lads who had commenced by sweeping out an office of business, and afterwards, by their skill and industry, had become among the richest in the state ; but this seldom happens with those "raised" in the cities. The Atheneeum contains one of the most valuable libraries in the States : between thirty and forty thousand volumes. Good i^rivate libraries are very rare ; if, indeed, they have any existence. I went, of course, to see the monument on Bunker's Hill, and, in spite of the warning of the thermometer, cUmbed to the top of it ; the view is very fine, but not so good as that from the dome of the State -House. I found several visitors at the top, looking out, two of a most singular class ; they were Texian frogs ; large, toad-like-looking reptiles, squat- ted on the hot stone of the battlement, staring down with their beautiful bright eves : they^ were covered with thick scales, and spotted with black, their feet like those of agnatic birds. Thev belonged to a man almost as extraordinary- looking as themselves, who told us that he had just arrived from Texas, jind vas going back thither immediately ; that ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOULD. 193 Lained in ddniglit, I that in ntroduc- ness, his 3 people ; the more 3 cxceed- ersation : treat ac- leir saga- f society, out with ny of the ae side of dvantage America Is, which )1 for ma- i English se of the artunities even for [y so suc- rntry. I mmenced t^ards, by iohest in lised" in libraries volumes, hey have er's HUl, imbed to d as that 1 visitors iss; they squat- )wn Avith ith thick >f aquatic )rdinary- t arrived }ly; that it was a delightful country, with no troublesome restrictions of laws. As soon as his strange pets had looked long enough on this scene sacred to liberty, he put them carefully in his bosom, for, he said *' they were very particular how they travelled." The column is two hundred and twenty feet high, and thirty feet square at the base ; the hill is merely a gentle inclination ; but, when defended with breastworks, it must have been a most formidable position. On the 17th of June, 1775, was fought the battle that has made it memorable, and Englishmen never showed more determined coiu'age than on that day. They ivere all Englishmen then, though ranged on adverse sides — for the Crown and the Colony. When Howe was at length successful at such tremendous cost, Le had good reason to say, with the old Cavalier, of the Puritan, army, — * * To give The rebel dogs their due, When tlie roaring shot Poured thick and hot, They were stalwart men and true.* It was a gallant fight, and the Americans may well be proud of it. Boston has made great and successful efforts to create the internal advantages of communication which nature has denied her. The Middlesex Canal, the oldest in the United States, joins to the Merrimack River, at Concord ; railroads branch out in all directions ; by them the Hudson, and the canals and railways of New York open the line of travel to the far west. Lines of packets run regularlv to all the prin- cipal sea-ports of the Atlantic. The shipping of Boston is second in quantity to that of Xew York only, and no incon- siderable part of the trade of other ports is carried on by it. The exports are very large — cotton and woollen manufac- tured goods to China and elsewhere ; tools and machines of all sorts for the southern States, and not least on the list, three or four million pairs of shoes every year. Whatever skill or industry can supply, is plentiful m ]S'e's\ England ; the surplus finds its way elsewhere, through the port of Bos- ton. There is just the same evidence here of activity and prosperity as at New York, but not the same bustle and fuss : everything is more orderly and steady. Even the dray- horses seem to partake of this character ; they are larger nnd fatter, more English-looking than any I have seen else- where. In hot weather, every horse, no matter what his » Sir Francis Doyle. * ) : \ I ■ 194 HOCHEIAGA; OE, station in life may be, is provided with a netting to keep off the flies ; and they all seem well fed and cared for. CHAPTER XX. BOSTON— LOWELL- -PIYMOTJTH FESTIYAL— WINTEE JOTJENEY TO CANADA. •% mm- \ ■M The beautiful cemetery of Mount Auburn is the sight best worth seeing in Boston and its neighbourhood. The grounds are extensive, containing a great variety of hill and dell, the miniature features of a picturesque country. It was laid out only in 1830, and many of the tombs are still unoccupied. I think the impression which the sight of this cemetery leaves on the mind is far more sad than that of Pere la Chaise, or any other place of interment I have ever seen. Its duties have scarcely begun, but, in a few years, many among the troubled thousands we have just left, will sleep in its shades ; their cold beds are ready for them, the ine;'Tiptions written for tliem, nothing is wanted but the date of their going to rest. As, in the course of time, the busy swarms of the neighbour- ing city multiply and spread over her space, so wiU the silent population of this dark rival swell and till its limits. The new and thinly-peopled cemetery seems more to intrude its offers of ghastly hospitality upon the living, than to guard the slumbers of its solemn household of the dead. Deep woods, of many and various trees, clothe the undu- lating surface ; at this autumn time of the year, the shades of their foliage are very rich and beautiful. No sounds dis- turb the echoes ; there are no birds, no noisy insects ; silence and the dead dweU there together. The tombs are, in general, very unsuited to this lonely place : showy, obtrusive in their pretensions, very white and very new ; the epitaphs speak to you more of earth than of heaven. There are no humble graves covered with the soft green turf ; here the grass is tall, and rank, and withered. The neighbourhood of Boston is very pretty; there arc many neat villas, some on a handsome scale. The roads are good, the fences well kept ; you can easily fancy yourself in England ; there is more of a rural appearance about it than any other place I have seen in America. It is quiet and tranquil looking-, neither are there everywhere the signs of money-making. An Englishman cannot fail to bo miioh pleased with lioston, its yicinity, audits inhabitants; it is liis own country over again, deliciont indeed in the eluirm of as;sociation with the virtues and glories of anti keep off JOXJENEY ight best ! grounds L dell, the 8 laid out upied. I leaves on 5e, or any ties have troubled es ; their ?itten for g to rest. )ighbour- the silent its. The itrude its to guard he undu- le shades mds dis- ; silence general, e in their speak to humble issistall, here arc oads are ursclf in t it than uiet and ) signs of 30 miioh its ; it is ['liiirm of but, on ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOELD. 195 I :» the other hand, free from the blight of poverty and the sor- rows of ill-rewarded toil. About two miles from the cemetery is the town of Cam- bridge, containing nearly nine thousand people. Twenty years after the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers, a college was founded here, which now exists, in great prosperity. Har- vard University is more richly endowed than any other in the Union ; it has a President and twenty-seven professors and instructors; from*'four to live hunared students are generally upon its rolls ; they arc younger than those at our colle^'cs ; in many respects it more resembles one of tlic lar^e pubhc schools. No particular religious tenets are inculcated ; the youths have the option of attending the doctrinal exer- cises or not, as they think lit. The Navy-Yard of the United States is at Charlcstown, about a mile from Boston ; it is of considerable extent, con- taining about sixty acres. There is a magniticent dry dock, of hewn granite, lit to receive vessels of the largest size ; also large wooden sheds for ship-building. 1 passed a very pleasant day at Nahant, with a most agree- able family, who had a nice and roomy cottage near the water's edge at this favourite batliiug-place. On my way there, I passed by the village of Lynn, containing six or seven hundi'cd people ; every one of these who is old enough and strong enough to carry an awl or a needle, is a shoe- maker ; they make millions of pairs of boots and shoes every year, which are afterwards sent olf and sold to tread the cotton-lields of the South, the prairies of the West, and the streets of the Atlantic cities. From this useful little nook, when the tide is out, part of the road lies along the sandy beach, and is as hard as granite. Nahant is a peninsula, bare, rocky, and uneven ; the shore, towards the Atlantic, is bold and precipitous, but there are sheltered places, with an inclining beach for bathing. The air is said to be very healthy, and much cooler than that of Boston. I can vouch for tne truth of the latter statement. In the evening we went to the hotel, where some very good tableaux vivans were got up by the visitors, the subjects all taken from Master Humphrey's Clock._ The author of that work, in spite of their soreness about his " Notes," is univer- sally admired by the Americans. There were about a hundred people staying in the house, leading much the same sort of life as at Saratoga ; but the company appeared to be less mixed in rank : nearly all of them were from Boston.^ Nahant is the place where the great Sea Serpent was in- cluded by the papers among the fashionable arrivals, for several successive seasons. This announcement, no doubt, 2 h i I M \ 196 hochelaga; oe, "% \ greatly increased the number of visitors, all hoping to witness so remarkable an arrival, and was proportionately useful to the hotel -keepers and the proprietors of houses in the neigli- bourhood. At present tlie accommodations are always speedily taken, usually at very high rates, so the huge lish has not lately found it necessary to appear upon the coast. I think Nahant aifords the most extraordinary instance of religious tolerance I have ever heard of. There is a small church, of the simplest structure, for the use of the inhabi- tants and visitors, in which the clergymen of dift'erent per- suasions who happen to be staying in the neighbourhood, perform service according to their own views, cither in turn, or as their leisure may allow. All the people, at least all those Avho would go to any other church, attend this; not knoAAing, perhaps, till they enter the door, whether their pastor maj^be a Roman Catholic or a Baptist. These unpre- judiced people are furnished with a very favourable oppor- tunity of judging of the merits of every different shade of Christianity, and modifying their views on the subject accordingly. The only thing my informant seemed to tlunk singular about it was, that it astonished me. There were few things in the United States that I had a greater wish to see than the factories of Lowell, and I accord- ingly took early steps to accomplish it. It is, by railroad, twenty- six miles from Boston, on the Merrimack lliver ; the site was chosen on account of the extensive available water- power which it possesses ; a canal sixty feet wide supplies the stream to the wheels of the mills. It extends to the length of a mile and a half from the head of some faUs higher up the river, called by the euphonious name of Pawtucket. In 1820, Lowell was a solitude, now it furnishes employment and competence to a numerous and thriving population. The average wages of men are_ ten shillings a week, of women seven, over and above their expenses of living. They are well fed, and have neat and airy dwellings. I was shown over some of them ; they were very clean, and a few had little book-eases, bird-cages, and boxes of llowers, with alto- gether a great air of comfort. Any flagrant case of immorality is punished with dismissal, when brought to the notice of the authorities ; both sexes are generally well conducted, considerinjj the temptations of so populous a town. It is, however, I grieve to say, insinuated, that their moral state is not so immaculate as many people fondly believe, nor does the increase of purity keep pace with the progress of the town. There are a great many schools, with wise regulations for the education of the ^)eople em- ployed, aad no fewer than lifteen places of worship, of dif- witness useful to ic ncigli- 3 always tiug-e lisli 3 coast, stance of LS a small c inhabi- L'cnt per- )ourhood, r in turn, least all this ; not her their se unpre- le oppor- shade of ) subject L to think it I had a 1 accord- railroad, ivcr; the >le water- supplies ds to the lis higher iwtucket. ployment ion. The women They are as shown few had ,vith alto- iismissal, sexes are ions of so Lsinuated, ny people pace with y schools, eople em- 3, of dif- ►f ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOELD. 197 ferent denominations. The place was named after Mr. Francis Lowell, of Boston, the great founder of the cotton manufactures in his country. There is little doubt that, without tariff protection, these works could not have prospered and increased as they have done. The duty has been nearly prohibitory to the produce of English looms, and thrown a great part of the home trade into the hands of the American manufacturers. Now, they have so much improved their arrangements, and are so hrmly established, that in China, and in other foreign markets, they can rival the English in the coarser kinds of cotton cloths ; for in them they can afford to put a better material, as they get it cheaper, and but very little labour is required. Their advantages are, that their choice of cotton is at hand, water-power cheaper, and poor-rates less. In England, on the other hand, wages are lower, capital demands less return, and machinery is bettor and cheaper. In the fabric of the liner sorts and in the printing of all, Lowell cannot compete mth Lancashire ; in the manufacture of woollen clotn it is far inferior to Yorkshire. But, in an infinitely higher point of view, Lowell stands unquestionably pre-eminent among manufacturing towns ; the interests and welfare of the people are attended to with the most enlightened liberality, and as yet, it is compara- tively free from that dark mass of crime and misery which defiles our lar^e communities. But it has had no stormy times, no working short hours, witli^ crammed warehouses and none coming to buy. I fear the evils wliich have hitherto been found inseparable from the system of great congrega- tions of people, are beginning to appear : the alteration of the tariff will bring on the day of trial. The establishment of any sort of manufacturing industry here, from shoes upwards, appears to me an error. The men so employed could get higher w^ages in the agricultural labours of the West, where they would be free from the dangers of contamination in crowded cities. The repeal of the English Corn Laws must render the cultivation of these grain- growing districts still more profitable ; while, by a removal of the American prohibitory duties, should such an enlight- ened measure be taken, all articles of clothing could be obtained at one-third less price than that now exacted and paid in food, to ]i]ngland. The factories are well^ built and ventilated ; from water- power being used, cleanliness has not got smoke to contend against. There were three hundred women in one which I visited, all young, and not more sad or unlicalthy-looking than the generality of Americans ; but I cannot say that I was so much struclc with their beauty and neatness of apparel as ( i 'li li r t i i I 198 HOCHELAOA; OE, \ ;irss#i' '■'*^* many of my predecessors have been. I saw, however, one very pretty girl, her hair smoothly braided, with a bow of blue ribbon placed coquettishly among- the folds ; her man- ner was A^'ry ])lcasing-, and lier conversation hig-lily intelli- g:ent. She looked so g-ay and happy that 1 am sure the dark brown hair, and the blue ribbon, and the still bluer eyes (fbi' whose glances 1 found the spinning*- jenny a most formidable and successful rival), had just made some conquest ; I mean besides myself ; for I certainly was one. I went to the ex- tent of purchasing' a periodical written by the factory girls, called the " Lowell Oli'ering-," for her sake, but my constancy failed me, and I could not read it. Should this ever happen to meet those bright blue eyes of hers, I wonder whether she will recollect a fat elderly gfcntleman admiring her through a pair of spectacles, and saying as many ag-rceable thin.gs as the quick ascent of a long* iiight of stairs had left him breath, to utter ! Boston is not, at present, much given to dramatic amuse- ments : in the winter there are two or three theatres : one, the " Howard Museum," is a large, rickety affair, which is constantly examined by the city authorities, to learn when it will probably tumble down. It was built as a place of worship for the ** Millerites." The proprietor of the ground — on the bold speculation of the world's lasting longer than, I think, tht vear 1843 — the limit thejr considered iixed, by their knowledge of the prophecies, let it to them for a short period, at a fair rent, on condition that, in case there should be a world at the end of the time agreed upon, the ;portion of its surface in question was, to|?ether witii the buildings to be erected upon it, to become his. To the great surprise of the Millerites, and to the great profit of this enterprising speculator, the unlooked-for contingency did occur, and he immediately converted the church into a theatre. The night I was there, '* Money" was the play upon the stage. Sir F. Blount was dressed in the newest style of New York fashion that the tailors' pictorial representations could sup]3ly. I must say that the audience seemed to ap- preciate higiily the heavy hits at English failings and climate, so numerous in this piece. There were no divisions of pit, gallery, and boxes ; every one had a chance of getting a good place : mine was a very bad one, so I did not stay long in any one's way. The audience was very orderly, tlie manifestation of applause or displeasure very slight. The mixture of people Avas curious enough ; the country clown in his fustian, sitting next to the gold-chained, long-haired dandy, looking much the better and honester fellow of the two, by the bye. The Americans are very fond of wit and humour, and no joke passes unobserved : m their own pecu- ENGLAND IN THE NEW WORLD. 199 ever, ono I bow of icr inan- \S' inte] li- the dark eyos (foi* I'midablo I mean > the ox- )ry girls, onstancy I' happen whether dng" her LgTceable 1 had left amiisc- "es : one, which is ,rn when place of e ground ?er than, ixed, by ' a short ?e should ) ;portion buildings . surprise erprising , and he apon the style of }ntations od to ap- ngs and divisions f getting not stay erly, the It. The ly clown g-haired w of the wit and vn pecu- liar way they abound in them, and there cannot bo a surer road to their favour than by their exercise. From their grave manners and exterior, this love of humour is not at all observable at iirst sight ; it is dovolopcd in so quiet a way, particularly if played off upon yourself. No people are better able to put any absurd peculiarity or groundless pretension in a more ludicrous light; and I believe any degree of wrath might be turned away, if you could only once get them to laugh. With them, even jokes must appeal more to their reason than their fancy, and be more or less connected with the train of their familiar ideas. Some years ago a New England newspaper gave the following, headed "Shocking dishonesty." "The inventor of the perpetual motion decamped last night, without eyei paying the man who turned the crank in the cellar." Every one has heard this before, but I bring it forward here as a sample of hu- mour purely American. The usual family dinner-hour at Boston is from three to four, and, unless for a very large party, this rule is not in- fringed ; the hours of evening reunions are also very early. Among people who are tolerably intimate, the greater part of the visiting is carried on in the evening. Dancing is not usual at small parties, and, indeed, where society is so very agreeable, it would be great waste of time. The ladies, particularly, struck me as being well informed, and much more efficient in conversation than — certainly the younger portion of, the men. Perhaps thejr do not altogether conceal their knowledge of this fact, and, in some measure, but very slightly indeed, take rather a tone of instruction, looking^ upon the initiative as their duty, as also the explanation of any difficulties which may arise. A very pretty young lady, one evening, quoted three or four words of a well-known Latin sentence while speaking to me, and, lest I should feel puzzled, kindly translated it before continuing her observa- tions. This must have been from habit, for as she had never seen or heard of me five minutes before, she could not have had time to discover any classical deficiencies on my part. There are many comfortable and almost handsome equi- pages to be seen in the streets of Boston ; crests and armorial bearings are not uncommon, but liveries are seldom used. The horses are very good, but the shape of the carriages is not sightly, and the work rather clumsy, reminding you more of France than of England. The business parts of the town are so filled with conveyances of every sort that you are often detained for minutes at a crossing. In cases of collision with a foot passenger, the laws are always against the driver; whether through his awkwardness or 'I! I i i ^ 200 HOCHELAGA; OE, ii not, he is sure to get the worst of it in the event of an acci- dent. The public conveyances are very j?ood, and under strict police regulations. For a short time in winter, sleig-hs are in general use, but they arc not usually got up with such taste and expense as in Canada. 8onie of the ladies of tlie wealthy classes arc seen in the very cold weather driving about in a covered conveyance, enclosed partly with glass ; it is a monstrously grotesque-looking aftair, and its name is worthy of the appearance ; it is called a "Boobyhut." In the coldest weatner it is unusual to see people wrapped up in furs as at Quebec or Montreal ; they brave out tne frost in common bonnets and hats, even when the thermometer is below zero. The harbour is occasionally frozen over; the mail steam-packet for England had, once, to be cut out, for a considerable distance. I was, on another occasion, for some time at Boston during the winter, and was present at the two hundred and twenty- sixth anniversary of the day when " A band of exiles moored their bark On the wild New England shore," the 21st of December 1G20. In December 1845, the 21st fell on a Sunday, so the celebration was appointed for the Mon- day after. The small town of Plymouth was the first place of settlement of the pilgrim fathers, and the scene ot the festival held to commemorate the event of their landing. A railroad had just been completed from it to Boston, by which thousands of people were conveyed on the appointed day. The morning was very cold, the thermometer some degrees below zero, the sun shining -with a dazzling but frigid brightness. The snow lay deep on the ground, trampled into a dry white sand by the crowds of people swarming in the roads. Plymouth is a dreary, irregular place, the build- ings chiefly of wood, the streets very wide, with large gaps between the blocks of houses, and two or three staring new white and green hotels, with summer verandahs round them, adorned by close rows of icicles, long and sharp, like some monster's teeth. I shouldered my carpet-bag and soon took possession of a room in one of them, engaged for me before- hand by a friend, where a warm stove consoled me for the absence of any other furniture. At twelve o'clock, the members of the Pilgrims' Society and many strangers, myself included, formed into a proces- sion, walking two and two, commencing at the railway station and proceeding to the x^rincipal place of worsliip, which belongs to the Unitarians. We passed by the *' Ply- mouth Hock," the Hrst stepping-place oi tlie pilgrims in the New World ; it has been carried into the principal street of ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOEID. 201 the town, where it is surroundod with an iron railing on which the names of the " Fathers" are enprraved. Opposite to this -was paraded a body of militia of about fifty or sixty men, in handsome uniforms ; these are called the " Standish guard," in honour of Miles Standish, the military leader of the first expedition; they appeared to bear the cold with imcommon fortitude. The chapel is a large square building, capable of accommo- dating about a thousand people ; on this occasion more than treble that number managed to squeeze in. The ladies, who had gone in before we arrived, filled up the pews around the walls, and not a few of this fail* portion of the congregation wept during the service. In the pulpit were two clergymen of most striking and venerable appearance, one a Unitarian, the other a Baptist. By the reading-desk Avere two others ; one also a Unitarian, a man more than fourscore years of age, very handsome and still vigorous, with long white hair falling down to his shoulders, and with an air, altogether, of a sort of patriar- chal dandyism. On either side of the pulpit stood a mai'shal of the ceremonies. ^ In spite of the difficulty of obtaining seats, or even admis- sion, perfect order, courtesy and respectful attention to the service prevailed ; the same good feeling afterwards per- vaded the dinner and all the other proceedings of the day ; and I was informed that there was no policeman or constable of any kind in the town at the time. The choir, accompanied by an organ, sang an ode written for the occasion, describing the landing of the pilgrims in hardship and poverty, and alluding to the no^v great empire of their descendants. The air was " God Save the Uueen." After tliis the Baptist minister read several portions of Scripture suited to the time, in a ek-ar, im];rorisive voice ; a prayer by his companion, the Unitarian, follovred, at first of much merit, but it became too lonij and fc-ll off into verbosity and repetition. Next, all joined in a hymn, beginning, " Plail, Pilgrim Fathers of our race !" to the air of the mag- nificent "Old Hundredth rsalm," tlie man of fourscore years giving out the words of each line before it was sung. A benediction from the minister who had given the prayer concluded the service. Then, one of the marshals, with a loud voice, proclaimed that we were to form in procession on leaving the church, in the precedence which he would give out ; that we were to nroeeed to the shore, pass over where the " Plymouth Ilock" liad been, and "heave a sigh on the spot." He first called out the presidents and vice-presidents, then the clergj^ next the invited guests, next the members of the ^N'cw^ York and i ; 5 I) I t i'. ''. \ 202 HOCTIELAGA; oe, other distant pilgrim associations, then those of astronomical, liistorical anci all sorts of societies, lastly the Boston and Plymouth pil.trrims ; the whole of those wno remained then rose and made their \\ay out •with much ^ood- humoured crushing'. The foremost ranks of the procession had reached the dinins'-rooni before more than half of their followers had "heaved their sig-h" and uncovered their heads, in passincf over the hallowed bed of the stone. The consequence was that some of the hungry pilg-riins in the rear finessed this altoj^ether, hurryinj? on at once by short cuts to the goal of their pilgrimapfe for that day — the dinner-table — leavinj^ those behind with increased appetite, and diminished chances of satisfying it. Covers were laid for six hundred people, in the railway station-house, on about twenty tables ranged in rows. On the lefc side of the entrance sat the President, in a chair which came over with the pilgrims in their ship, the Mav- Hower. His table was on a dais, and about a dozen of the heads of societies and the principal guests were seated near him. The tickets for this dinner are obtained by purchase ; but the names of the applicants are all examined by the committee before they are issued, so that the admission of objectionable people is guarded against. Beside each plate were put a few grains of dried Indian corn, to keep up the memory of the first gift of the friendly natives to the exiles in their distress. The dinner was well arranged and went off with order and regularity ; but the room, large as it was, was crowded to excess, and painfully warm. No wine was put on the table unless called for ; a great proportion of the company did not drink any, many being members of Tem- perance Societies. A band was in attendance to play some- thing suitable to each toast or sentiment given. At about four o'clock, the President rose, and spoke for some time with fluency and effect; his subject was the event that had caused their assembling that day. He sketched, in a very interesting manner, the landing of the pilgrims, the difficulties they met with, the persecutions they fled from, their gradual advancement, the present prosperity and power of their descendants. Frequently, during the overling, he had occasion to speak, and performed his office admirably, with inlluite tact and good-humour, readiness and wit. After each toast or sentiment, the President named the person to respond, who immediately rose and made his way to the dais, whence he delivered his speech. All being, of course, prepared beforehand, the eflect was that all said very much the same thing, beginning with — English persecution, continuing with — the landing in the howling^ Wilderness — ice-bound waters— pestilence — starva- ENGLAND IN THE NEW 'NVORLD. 203 'onomieal, oston aiul ined then lumourcd d reached followers heads, in isequenco ? finessed 3 the goal —leaving: minished e railway ows. On 1 a chair the May- m of the a,ted near lurchase ; d by the lission of ich plate p up the ho exiles md went IS it was, ivine was OB. of the of Tem- ly some- poke for was the ly. Ho ig of the secutions present quently, ^rformed humour, ent, the lediately ^ered his he efiect mg with ig in the -starva- tion—so on to foreign tyranny— successful resistance— chain- less cag-les— stars and stripes— glorious ind'jpendence ;— then, unheard-of urop-ress— wondtTlul industry— stronghold of Christianity—chosen people- rcfu^^c (d' liberty ;— again, insults of haughty Albion— blazes of triumph— the (iuoen of the Seas deposed for ever— Columbia's banner of victory floating over everything and everybody —fire and smoke- thunder and lightning— mighty republic — boundless empire : —when they came to the "innumcrablo millions" tliey Avere to be a few years hence, they generally sat down greatly exhausted. One gentleman gave us all this in verse also, very cleverly and neatlj'- done. One of the speakers, on rising, was greeted with long- continued applause : he spoke with considerable eloquence and much energy of action, but occasionally approached very closely to the sublime's dangerous neighbour. One ex- pression ho made use of, I confess, rather startled me ; in re- ferring to the Plymouth rock, he said : *' Tliis spot, sacred as llunnvmede, sacred as Bunker's Hill, aj", sacred as I^azareth itself. ' At the close of the evening, the President proposed ' The Strangers,* with some friendly and neatly-expressed allusions to England, calling on JVIr. Everett — lately the American Minister in London, to respond. Hearty cheers and expressions of regard hailed him as he rose. Ho was sulfering much from indisposition at the time, and gracefully claimed indulgence on that ground ; however, he spoke at some length, and the impression he left on my mind was that of unqualilied admiration. His manner and delivery were perfectly gentlemanlike and singularly pleasing, his stj^le classic and finished, without a taint of pedantry, animated, eloquent, and totally free from effort, wliilo good taste and kindly feeling were in every sentence he uttered. In the latter part of his speech, he announced a strong con- viction that, " Though the relations of America and England seem at this present moment in difficulty, they will ulti- mately be arranged to the honour and satisfaction of both countries, which, of all the nations of the earth, are the most capable of mutual good in peace, and mutual injuiy in war." The whole assembly, to a man, cheered heartily this promise of peace. Would that all the people of the Union were of the same class of intelligence and worth, as the hospitable and courteous assembly at the Plymouth festival ! At about eight o'clock, the train for Boston was in readiness, and in a few minutes the room was empty, the whole proceedings having concluded without an angry word or the slightest breach of good order. An hour afterwards, some five hundred people assembled in the Pilgrim's Hall i ' r! 204 HOCHELAaA; OR, for the ball, some few from Boston, but far the greater number from the neighbouring towns; there were many very pretty faces, and, thoug-h evidently by no means an exclusive affair, there were wonderfully few to be criticized or quizzed. The dresses of the ladies were quiet and in ^000. taste, leaning rather to the French style ; the hair was generally v/orn much off the face, plain in front, at the back of the head either in ringlets or voluminous folds. Their figures, thougli not so niuch to be admired as their faces, had much elasticity and freedom of movement ; very few being afllicted with those dreadl'iil laced-up enemies to natural symmetry, which sacritice so much grace as well as health among our fair countrywomen. Many wore dresses made in a very peculiar manner, appearing as if a long garment of equal width all the way down were put over their heads, and gathered close round their throats and waists, witli ranning strings ; then, a pair of tight sleeves, getting wide at the wrist, like the mouth of a blunderbuss, made the costume complete. The dances were a sort of ^ quadrille bewitched, called Cotillon ; occasionally, a waltz in which very few joined; an intricate performance named a Spanish dance, of v/hicli I protest that Spain is perfectly innocent ; and a countrj'' dance with the latest American improvements and complications. The room was well-lighted and prettily ornamented, hung round with portraits of grim old Puritans frowning down on the revels. The music was very fair, and the performers were highly amusing ; they stretclied themselves out on their benches in a most indenendent manner ; of the double bass there was nothing visible but a pair of boots, and the head of his huge violoncello, over the side of the orchestra. The leader gave out all the different movements of the dance, timing and attuning his voice with the music as he spoke, or rather sungj "hands across," "ladies* chain," "turn your partner," and so on. The musicians gave us the pleasure of their company in the supper-room after- wards. There >v^ere some gentlemanly-looking men in the room, free from any peculiarity of dress or manner; but also some striking contrasts, with Byronic neckcloths of rain- bow colours, every sort of liirsutc abomination on their^ faces, besides ringlets, and flat greasy locks on the back of the head, Avaisteoats of dazzling magniiieence, coats witli collars scarcely visible and skirts of enormous size, pan- taloons with enormous plaits round the hips, and ample width down to the foot, wlieve they suddenly contracted into a sort of gaiter, leaving visible only the square end of a boot of vast breadth and wonderful acutencss of angle, and m B: th of ENGLlNt) IN THE NEW WORLD. 205 le greater cro many means an criticized et and in 3 hair was it, at tlio 311S folds. i as their 'nt; very meniies to as well as ro dresses if a long- put over roats and it sleeves, nderbuss, id, called sined; an v/hich I itrj^dance ^cations, ted, hmiff ' down on erformers out on 10 double and the >rchestra. s of the sic as he chain," i gave us m after- le room, but also of rain- Dii their back of its with ze, pan- 1 ample ted into nd of a gle, and in short, altogether the very worst style of Young America. By-the-bye,!N^ewYork is much more fertile than this place in those bearded cavaliers, ** dealers in bread stufi's;" and "importers of dry goods," with moustaches to make colonels of hussars die with envy. Let it be remembered, however, in the sketch which I have just attempted, that this Plymouth ball was quite a country atfair, with an admixture of various classes of people. Tne same courtesy and good order that had characterized the dinner, was carried on through the evening. The greatest respect and attention were paid to the ladies present; as soon as each dance was over, they returned to their seats and chaperons, so that their bearded beaux appeared to have but little opportunity of adding the charms of conversation to the impression which their engaging appearance must have made on their fair partners. At three o'clock, the festival w^as over; nt four, I was in the car of the railway for Boston, at seven, in the train for Concord, and at eleven in a stage sleigh, from thence to Bur- lington. This conveyance is a long narrow coach mtli two cross benches, one at each side of the door, having a broad leathern strap as a support for the back, thus giving four seats, on which eight "people sat, two and two. What becomes of all the passengers' legs I am not prepared to say ; indeed mine were so cold and benumbed that I cannot to this moment tell what happened to them. Stufling oneself into ;his himian pie is a great difliculty, but that labour fades into insignificance when compared with the achievement of getting out again. Buftlilo robes are crammed in to till up the interstices, and over all appear eight faces, blue with cold, thoughtful and silent, evidently impressed with the profound importance of something or other. Two pair of hleigh runners supported this coach and its jolly load ; those ill front on a moveable pivot, like the fore axle of a carriage. Four very good horses, necklaccd with merry, jingling bells, (nirried us along. All this time, the thermometer had been sinking, till, at length, it reached twenty-one degrees below zero, almost a phenomenon of cold for that part of the country, causing really great bodily suftering to us poor traveUers. At eleven that night wc sto])pcd at a wretched inn, at a place called lloyalton, and received our sentence to start at four in the morning. As avo entered, some half-scowling rufhans were smoking and chewing, with their usual accompaniments, round the stove in the public room ; the walls and lloor stained, and the house reeking with iilthy fumes ; when the puit'ss of rank tobacco ceased for a moment ! i - I h 1 r, I ' % I M ^ ' 208 HOCHELAaA ; OE, K, fr new- ■■"\ it was only that their mouths might emit language of gross- ness and discourtesy still more nauseous. The supper was well suited to the company ; without heing over-fastidious, the appetite may well fail when your next neighbour — one of the chewers — after having used his knife as a spoon, stretches across you to cut the butter with it, or to take salt from the salt-cellar. ^ At most of these country inns, the knives are of a peculiar form, made round and wide at the end, mth the edges blunted, to save the lips, and I may almost add, the throat, from the dangerous wounds which the swallo\ving process would otherwise inHict. The sister instrument is usually a two-pronged iron fork, used to assist in piling the provisions on the knife, to prepare the mouthful. In the bed-room, where, by-the-byo, tlioy for some time insisted on putting my servant in the second bed which it contained — the water m the jug was frozen. After mucli difficulty I lighted some wood in a small stove, which blazed and roared but gave no heat. I prayed for a little hot ^vater. "No, it is too late." I begged to be awakened in the morn- ing in time for the stage, "I guess you had better look to that yourself." — I had, in the course of my Hie slept in a bivouac, among the tierce Chapolgorries of Biscay — in a mountain hut among the wild Celts of Connemara— in the "bush" of Canada, with the Indians — but from the white savages of Royalton I had something still to learn of bar- barous manners. The next night we reached the neat toAvn of Burlington, the next, St. John's, Lower Canada, of which but little favourable can be said, and by noon the third day * arrived at Montreal, having crossed the St. Lawrence on the ice, three miles below the town. CHAPTER XXI. THE FAK WEST — GEEGOX. In one of my Transatlantic voyages on board a steamer, I met with a very singular man, a German by birth, who was on his return from Europe to America. He was about thirty years of age, of a rather small but active and wiry frame, his features very handsome, of a chiselled and distinct outline; his bright black eye never met yoiu's, but watched as you looked away, with ])enetrating keenness; the expression of his mouth Avas wild and somewhat sensual, with two peri'eet rows of large teeth, Avhite as i\ ory ; his hair was black, worn long behind ; complexion fresh and ruddy, but swarthed over ENGLAND m THE NEW WOELD. 207 of gross - )per was Lstidious, our — one a spoon, take salt inns, the de at the d I may- is which he sister used to jpare the •me time which it ;cr mucli ih blazed 3t ^vater. le morii- :' look to lept in a ly— in a L — in the lie white 1 of bar- eat town of which lird day * 50 on the >amer, 1" who Avas Lit thirty 'ame. Ins outline ; d as you ession of ) i^erfoct ^k, worn iied oyer by sun and wind. He was never still, but kept perpetually moving to and fro, even when seated, with the restlessness of a savage animal, always glancing round and behind as though he expected, but did not fear, some hidden foe. His voice was soft and rather pleasing, very low, but as if sup- pressed with effort. This strange being had been educated in a German univer- sity, and was very well informed; the several European languages were equally familiar to him ; he spoke them all well, but none perfectly, not even German ; in several Indian tongues lie was more at home. While still young he had left his country; struggling out from among the down- trampled masses of the north of Europe, he went to seek liberty in America. But even there, the restraints of law were too severe ; so he went away for the Far West, where his passion for freedom might hnd full vent, under no lord but the Lord on high. Hunting and trapping for some months on the upper branches of the Missouri, he acquired money and influence enough to collect a few Indians and mules, and drive a dangerous but prolitable trade with the savage tribes round about. In course of time, his commerce prospered sufficiently to enable him to assemble twenty-four men — hunters, Canadian voyageurs, and Indians, well armed with rifles, with many mules and waggons laden with the handiwork of the older States. He started with his company, in the beginning of April, for the llocky Mountains, from Independence — the last western town, originally settled by the Mormons, four miles from the Missouri River. They travelled from twelve to fifteen miles a-day through the "Bush" and over the Prairies, and were soon beyond the lands of friendly or even neutral tribes, among the dangerous haunts of the treacherous and warlike Blackfeet. By day and night the party was ever on the watch ; though they rarely saw them, they knew that enemies were all arouna. The moment there was any appa- rent carelessness or iiregularity in their march, they Avere attacked, with horrible whoop and yell; if there was sufficient time, they ranged their waggons round, and used them as rests for their rifles, and for protection from the bullets and arrows of the Indians. Once, they were suddenly surrounded by a more than usually numerous and determined body, all well mounted ; there was no time to form their accustomed defence ; so each man fell on his face; the buwie kuifej stuck in the grouiid,_ gave him in its handle a rest for his aim, and the liunter of the Prairie seldom shoots in vain; wiu-n \w. had flred, he turned on his back to reload, thus always exposing the ymallc^;t possible surface to the unskilful eye of the Blackfoot i "\ i I ^ I- •■« n ii08 HOCItELAGA; OK, ^"■:\ tarn V if' marksman. Many of the assailants were slain, and the sur- vivors attacked openly no more. These travellers carried no tents, sought no shelter : wrapped in their blankets, they braved the wind, dew and rain ; their rifles gave them abundance of buffalo, deer, and mountain sheep ; and they sometimes had the luxury of -wild potatoes, roots and nuts. ^ They did not burthen themselves "by taking with them spirits, salt, flour, food, or luxury of any kind; for their horses there were rich and plentiful grasses. Sometimes, but that very rarely happened, they ate their beasts of burthen, when the chase had been for a long period unsuccessful } fuel was not always to be had, and then they were fain to devour their meat raw. There was one great salt prairie, where some white men of the party, straggling in pursuit of game, lost their way, fainted and died of thirst. Occasionally all these adventurers had lack of water, but when they got five hundred miles on, and into the Ilocky Mountains, they found abundance, with many mineral springs, some of them of rare virtues, and a few salt lakes. The peaks of this grim range are here ten thousand feet high, always white with snow; but the company, keep- ing in the gorges and the valleys, felt no great cold at any time. They steered their com^se through the wilderness by the compass. Besides the Blackfeet, thej'" had tierce but seldom unpro- voked enemies, in the huge grizzly bears. Some of the hunters were dainty in their food and liked the flesh of this monster, and they wore verj'' vain of his spoils, the rich fur and the terrible claws : ho can run very fast and may ])c struck by many a bullet before he drops and yields : he knows no fear, and never declines the combat when offered ; if ho once get within reach to grasp, the hunter must perish : but, somehow, these white men, weak in body, strong in mind, in the end crush alike the stalwart and active Indian, and the fierce, grizzly bear. For five hundred miles more, their way lay through these Ilocky Mountains ; for six hundred beyond them, they still steered for the north-west, till they struck on the upper forks of the Columbian River. Here they met with more friendly natives, and some of a race mixed with French- Canadian blood, besides a few lonely huntcTs and trap|)crs. Here, and furthcT on, they traded, and got great quantities of rich and valuable furs, in exchange for their blankets, knives, guns, and other products of civilization. J^ow, a great part of these vast lands on either side of the river are poor, wild, and desolate, and oft'er no home to the hardy settler. This inhospitable and distant country is ENGLAND IN THE NEW -WOKLD. 209 I the sur- shelter : dew and deer, and y of mid lemselves luxury of plentiful , they ate :or a long* and then was one He party, nted and had lack and into ith many a few salt thousand ny, keep- dd at any .erness by m unpro- ae of the sli of this e rich fur d may he he knows red; if ho fish: but, in mind, dian, and ug-h these they still :he upper vith more L French - trappers. Quantities blankets, lide of the inie to the ountry is called Oregon— Grod grant the name may not be written in blood ! California, to the south of these reg-ions, has a soil of exu- berant fertility ; the climate is genial, rich woods cover it, lakes and rivers suited to the uses of man intersect it ; San Francisco has a noble harbour : but the people are vile and degraded down to man's lowest level. They live chiefly on a large species of grasshopper, found in the valleys in incre- dible numbers ; they roast them and break them between stones into a mixture, with Indian corn. They are nominally under the Mexican government; but at that distance, its sway is merely a shadow. An adventurous German, called Captain Suter, raised an army of Ave hundred Indians, drilled them with words of command in his own language, equipped them, besieged the Mexican governor in his capital of Monterey, and drove him out with shame. American emigrants are crowding in every day, they are aheady nearly strong enough to seek annexation to the Giant Republic, ana to drive out the feeble Mexicans.* The adventurer prospered much in his traffic, the next few years* gain enabled him to increase his party of traders to the north-west to sixty or seventy men, with three or four hundred mides ; while he, with a smaller body, crossed the Rocky Mountains to the south-west from Independence, and journeyed nearly a thousand miles, entering the province of Santa Fd, and bartering his goods, with great advantage, for the gold and silver of the rich Mexican mines. In this district, the people are a mixed race of Spaniards and Mexicans, lost and degraded, free in name, but in reality slaves to the twenty or thirty landholders who possess the whole country, and tied down by the bonds of debt, mortgaging their labour for months together for some such miserable necessity as a blanket or a knife. They are cowardly, servile, and treacherous, retaining the vices of their European and the weakness of their Mexican ancestors. Not one in a hundred of the inhabitants is of pure Spanish blood, and even these are redeemed from contempt only by a certain degree of ferocious courage above that ot the rest of their countrymen. The vast central region of North America, between Canada and Oregon on the north, and the United States and Mexico on the south, is inhabited, or rather haunted, by four great Indian nations, the Blackfeet, Crows, Apaches and Comanches. The lirst are the most dangerous, the last the most powerful and warlike; all are and ever have been alike in their * Such was Cnlifornift in 1844 ! r. \ r: ! 1 f * ! ? ! j 210 hocheiaga; oe, ma? H hatred to tlie pale faces. It is impossible to arrive at a fair estimate of their numbers ; but it is known that they are decreasing very fast : their war against civilization is con- stant, its result of defeat is constant too. As surely as day disi)els night, as eternity swallows up time, the steel of the white man sweeps them away. Among the followers of the G erman was a French- Canadian, who had been several times over the Rocky Mountains : he was of daring courage, capable of enduring great hardship, and one of his most valuahle hunters. This man wandered one day from the encampment into the neighbouring town of Casa Colorada, in Santa ¥e, where there are about two thousand inhabitants ; being at the time unarmed, he was insulted and beaten by the people, and could make no resistance. When he escaped from their hands he hastened to his tent, seized a rifle and ammunition, and retiu'ned to the town, to the dwelling of his principal assailant. The Mexican saw him coming, and bolted his doors. The Canadian ran round the house, flring in at the windows, vowiriS, A few days afterwards, paragraphs appear in some obf='^ure country papers, at Bangor in the north, Chicago ki the west, and Savannah in the south. "We understand that a large and influential body, in one of our principal cities, have declared favourably upon the lately proposed arrangement of the Oregon difficulties, on the prin- ciple of mutual concession, &c., &c. We are usually inclined to regard with distrust the views of our wealthy neighbours of the great mercantile communities, but we cannot deny that this mode of settling the question, presents advantages which are at least worthy of consideration, but we would recommend caution to the numerous citizens who appear to have taken it up so warmly and decidedly." Next day, at Portland, Buffalo, and other places, with slight variations, you read as follows — "We see that our Bangor contemporary yields a sort of reluctant approbation to the Oregon arrangement^ lately proposed by some of the most distinguished men of the Union, and received so favourably by our fellow-citizens. For our part, we have always expressed our preference for an advantageous \ad. honourable peace to an expensive and doubtful war; wo shall however let him speak in his own words." Hero follows the hrst paragraph. A short time afterwards, some leading iournals at Boston, New York, and New Orleans put forth this sort of article : " We find with much pleasure that the fair and advantageous adjustm it of the claims of America and England upon the Oregon territory, which has lately been so extensivelv dis- cussed in private among our fellow- citizens, has found loud and able (idvocates in the press, of various shades of opinion, in distant parts of the Union. The nublic mind Svjcms gene- rally to regard it so favourably, that it will no doubt be taken into serio^^3 consideration by those entrusted with the care of our interests. It is needless to multiply evidences of this state of feeling, for it cannot have eluded general obser- vation; but wo give the remarks of some of our distant mi. Yd ENGLAND IN THE NETV WOELT). 221 s power is iting: effort, s, which is i body, for i illustrate ry anxious 3,g'on ques- Lud one to , t(3 g-rant iliat she in 3ncc to tile )hs appear the north, th. ''We one of our the lately 1 the prin- [y inclined leig'hhours iinot deny dvantages we would appear to ices, with that our probation me of the ceived so we have R"eoug! '.nd war; wo Hero it Boston, f article : mtageous upon the ivelv dis- >uncl loud 'opinion, nis gene- doubt be with the deuces of al obser- .' distant contemporaries, the organs of the different parties in their immediate districts." Here follow portions of the former paragraphs. By this ingenious arrangement and combination, the majesty of public opinion is thrown into the scale of the reader's doubts, though perhaps he may be one of the first persons, except the original contrivers, and the editors in their interest, who ever thought of, or argued in their minds the question ixi that shape. The very eminent men in America are never directly con- nected with the press ; its combats are too close and disabling to be entered upon without loss of dignity; but they fre- quently avail themselves of it as a means of giving their opinions upon any particular crisis, and supply it with care- fully-amended copies of their speeches, that is, Avhat they should have said, not what they did sajr. The general class and tone of the American newspapers is very much that of the unstamped publications of London. Some of those pub- lished in the Atlantic cities are, however,, of tlie highest respectability, and conducted with great talent. All are very cheap, the expensive system of correspondents, and the fii'st-rate writers employed by the London papers are, of course, out of the question here. A French paper is published at New York, and conducted with considerable ability ; its views are moderate, its circulation very great ; and it is said to be worth a large yearly sum of money. "Manners are of more importance than laws; upon them, in a great measure, the laws depend ; the laws touch us here and there, now and then ; manners are what vex or soothe, corrupt or purify, exalt or debase, barbarize or reiine, by a constant, steady, uniform, insensible operation, like that oi the air we breathe. They give their whole form and colour to our lives ; according to their quality they aid morals; they sustain or they totally destroy them." The eloquent historian of the French Revolution has dis- missed the subiect of American manners in a single paragraph: "The manners of the Americans are the man- ners of Great Britain — minus the Aristocracy, the land- holders, tlie army, and the Established Church." ^ Tins would, I think, have been more correct, if he had said the influences of those bodies. In England, when a nmn rises to the upper ranks of the community, he usually adapts himself by degrees, in the progress of his prosperity, to the habits and tastes of the class he aspires to join. Those who have been born in it furnish him with examples ; when ho is ad- mitted into their society, his pursuits, interests, and manners become, to a considerable extent, identified with theirs. In Amerioa, th© prosperous man finds no fixed class to look up \ i ! , i 222 hochelaga; OB, I"^j[ ^ m tmx- ''^ r to for example, no established standard of elegance and refinement to guide him, no society of men of leisure to mix with, none who have been able to devote their time to the sole cultivation of the graces of life. The polish of his man- ners must be, therefore, due to some innate virtue of his own, not to the tuition of others. I have met with people in America, as well bred and graceful in their manners as men need be; but they are the exceptions; the tendency is to force manners, as well as everything else, into mediocrity. From the want of hig-h standards of refinement, not only the higher, but the various downward steps in the social scale, suffer a certain inconvenience ; becoming of course less, as the condition of the person requires more exertion for the mere support of life than for its ornaments. Hence it is that the manners of all classes of Americans, except the very lowest, are decidedly inferior to those of the corresponding classes wherever an aristocracy exists. An American may be well educated, have travelled a great deal, be of the kindest disposition, possess imperturbable good-humour, but he has very rarely natural tact, or that admirable schooling in society which supplies its place. His real goodness of heart will prompt him to avoid bringing to the notice of a stranger any object or subject which might be disagreeable or painful ; but the ]Drobability is, that it will be done in such a way as to make it more unavoidably remarkable. For instance, a friend in giving me hints as to what was best worth seeing in the Capitol at Washington, said, "There are some very interesting paintings — Oh ! I beg pardon, I mean that there is a splendid view from the top of the building." I knew perfectly well that those paintings, which his good- nature rebukea him for having incautiously mentioned, represented the surrender of Burgoyne and other similar scenes — in reality about as lieartrending to me as a sketch of the battle of Hexham would be. To this day, I admire my friend's kind intentions more than his tact in carrying them out. American society is exclusive even to a greater extent than that of other countries, but it is so by cliques, not by classes. A certain body will reject candidates for admission to its number, not because they are deficient in cliaracter, polite- ness, education, or wealtli, but merely because those who already belong to it, hold a certain sort of irresponsible power, which is strengthened by being capriciously exercised. Since in public life their institutions forbid the existence of a privileged class, the natural longing of the human heart for some vain position of superiority, finds vent in private coteries. Tlie few titles they can attain are sought after with avidity, and retained with fond pertinacity; the ENGLAND IN THE NEW WORLD. 223 gance and iure to mix time to the )f his man- of his own, 1 people in lers as men leney is to aiediocrity. LOt only the ocial scale, rse less, as :ion for the je it is that it the very responding )rican may be of the umour, hut 3 schooling goodness of notice of a isagreeable one in such ::able. For it was best 'There are on, I mean building." his good- mentioned, ler similar a sketch of xdmire my :ying them xtent than by classes, sion to its ter, polite- those who responsible ' exercised, xistence of man heart in private ught after ,ci ^y ; the number of honourables, and of men of high military rank, provoke the observation and the smiles of every traveller in this country. On one occasion, in a steamer, a number of passengers signed their names to a certain document ; several of these titles were on the list. I found out subsequently that the principal " Honourable " was the editor of an obscure newspaper; the leading *' General," a tamer of wild beasts. These titles, however, do not convey to the Americana the same ideas which they do to us ; they are connected in our minds— though there may be exceptions— with certain high and respected social conditions, and they are, therefore, pass- words for consideration : from them, on the contrary, they obtain no consideration, and are, probably, connected in their minds with the editing of small newspapers and the taming of wild beasts. The only real^ eminence among Americans is the posses- sion of wealth ; it is at the same time the criterion and the reward, of success, ,in the great struggle in which all are engaged. In conversations with foreigners, the Americans impose upon themselves the difficult task of defending and apologiz- ing for every weak point of their ]ieople, country, or climate. They fancy that they have convinced themselves of their superiority over every one in the world, and are very uncom- fortable if they cannot persuade otliers into the same difficult faith. As, in spite of their utmost eloquence, they sometimes fail in this, they then remain uncomfortable ; their vanity is wounded ; they have not the pride of an acknowledged posi- tion to fall back upon, and perhaps _ are haunted by some faint doubts as to the justice of their pretensions. These subjects are sure to be more or less disagreeable, and yet they are almost invariably introduced. As a nation, their ideas may be compared to those of an individual, who is suddenly raised to a rank above that in which he was born. A r/ell-known peculiarity of the Americans is their curi- osity. This is naturalljr more observable among the lower classes. They do not hesitate to ask you the most impertinent questions, without in the least intending to give offence by doing so. They cannot bear that anything- should be kept secret from them, reserve and aristocratic exclusiveness being, in their minds, associated together. They have no objection to tell you all their own affairs, and consider that you should be ready to barter by telling them all yours. I think, however, that the descriptions of this peculiarity have been exaggerated ; I never found it carried to any very dis- agreeable extent, for they rcadilj^ see if it be annoying, and are too good-natured to continue it. f ' i ! \ ! ■■■ : I t. ,. " \ \ \ \ I ! 224 HOCHELAGA; OE, .¥■#■ V m CHAPTER XXIII. DEMOCRACY. We have already seen that the government of America is now a pure Democracy, without chock or stay ; it is free from alt agitation for increase of power to the many, for they possess all. In the formation of their government they had no difficulties to contend with, no conflicting principles to embarrass them, no small but powerful class enjoying vested rights, ready to defend them to the utmost and to revenge their loss, no memory of oppression to wipQ out with retribution, no individual or corporation willing or able to make an effort for power. They had no existing depository^ wherein to place the supreme rule ; they declined creating one, and kept it to themselves in each different State, as well as in the Federal Government, no matter what were the varieties of jace or social circumstances. At first sight, it would appear probable that the people would select the most able and virtuous men from among those whose views suited their own, to be their organs of administration; as, of course, they are anxious for tlie prosperity of the State to which they belong. But the practical effect of their system is, that such men are nearly excluded from any share in public life. The mass of the electors are not sufficiently enlightened to make a good choice; and it cannot be expected that the majority of individuals among the working classes should be able to discover and discriminate the powers of a statesman. They are, therefore, very liable to choose a person without these qualiiications, but possessing the art of making them believe that he has them, and of assimilating himself to their tastes. Again, many men are jealous of the advantages of office, and do not like to add them to the already enviable distinction of merit ; this superiority would be obnoxious to a powerful, though unacknowledged, feeling of the human heart. Wealth is often a stumbling-block in a candidate's way: people are not exactly angry with him for being rich, but there is a sense of irritation in their not being so too; neither is he, they think, one of themselves. Men enjoying the qualifications held necessary for public office in other countries, most likely withdraw from the arena altogether in this, finding that their merits are actual drawbacks to their chance of success. In ordinary times, it is not, perhaps, essential to have eminent talent and virtue at the head of afi'airs; for their direction is held and controlled by the ■ iwym-^nrntt-ri. ENGLAND IN THE NEW WORLD. 225 America is ; it is free many, for government conflicting arerful class the utmost on to_ wipQ 1 ^villing or ) place tlie L kept it to the Federal 5 of jace or the people rom among ir organs of )us for the ^. But the are nearly mass of the ake a^ good tnajority of be able to nan. They thout these hem believe df to their Lvantages of ,dy enviable obnoxious t' the human [date's way: tig- rich, but dng so too; en enjoying Lco in other dtogether in icks to their ot, perhaps, the head of )llcd by the people: m times of peril, when the people must, for a season, trust this guidance to individuals, they have usually the good sense to choose better; if their choice does not answer, they change, but in the mean time, much mischief may have been done. In the Southern and Western States, where education is imperfect, religion and moralitjr but weak, society but imperfectly organized—the selections of their representa- tives are sometimes peculiarly unhappy. In the North and East, where the better influences are most favourable in nearly every great and good man in public life, and its decisions are very frequently contrary to those of the House of Representatives, the direct delegates of the people. Both Houses have usually the same political end m view; but the Senate is more judicious and virtuous in the means of attaining it. The most able and philosophic writer who has of late years examined the government of America, is inclined to extend still further this system of double election, as the only safeguard against the dangers of democracy. T'his is, indubitablv, true, but it is prescribing to the patient a remedy which nothing will tempt him to accept; he is unconscious of any malady, and will not give up a dearly- cherished privilege, to effect what he thinks an unnecessary cure. As matters now stand, one great inconvenience of the pure democracy is that laws constantly change ; a taste for variety is one of its strongest characteristics. They make an eftbrt and pass a law ; they soon And that it has not all the good eftects they calculated upon, disappointment follows, next, they wish to try something else. So that law ceases to be a rock whereon a lighthouse may be built to warn man from danger, and becomes a shifting" sand, where no beacon can be moored that will stand a gust of popular excite- ment. The austere "Washington, the amiable Hamilton, and the ruthless Jefterson, uU acknowledged the evils of pure de- mocracy : the most sanguine could only hold them as less than those of other forms of government. To the mass, the ignorant and poor, its advantages are, at best, doubtful ; to the wise and rich it must be for ever odious. In this community there is no one to lead : their public ofiiet-r, from the President downwards, has neither intrinsic influence nor honour: he is still the Tennessee attttrney charged but to plead upon the briefs which they may supply ; I I I I .i l\ : ( u 226 HOCHELAGA; OE, he is not the representative of their power, but its instru- ment : in his political action, in his household, in his manner, he is but their creature ; if the puppet cease to play according- as they pull the string, they throw it aside. All men entrusted with i)ower are paid — the legislative bodies, the magistracy ; it is part of the great scheme to render their dependence Lysoiute. The lower grades of the public service are amply remunerated ; the higher are denied competence ; for the sympathies of the power regulating all salaries are with the clerk, the office porter, and the common seaman. The governor and the judge are but necessary nuisances, and the elevation of their position above the law- makers, must be as much as possible depressed. In every despotism, whether of the one or of the million, the plan of making all official influence a means of support or gain is adopted; it tends to secure subserviency; the will of the ruling power works directly upon its object, without being refracted by passing into action through an independent mind. Moreover, the provision enables any minion of its Sleasures to accept place, no matter what his previous con- ition may have been. Seeking distinction through wealth is, in America, the only independent means : there honest trade is far a cleaner road to it than that of political life ; even vending " wooden nutmegs" is less demoralizing than pandering to evil pas- sions. Men, therefore, seldom come into public who have even the moderate degree of intellect and character that promises success in the pursuit of wealth : those who have them, not oltenflU official situations. Through these creatures whom they have chosen, the majority exercise a despotic power, unheard of elsewhere ; they cnoose juries, they post up private irregularities not coming under public law, they hunt out with their million heads, and punish, every olfence against their sovereignty. Owing to there being no permanent element in this go-'-srn- ment, there is not endency to any fixed line of policy ; every- thing enacted is, as it were, done by isolated efforts of legis- lation, to meet some immediate emergency, without regard for the engagements of the past, or the interest of the future, liepudiation is, to Englishmen, perhaps, a strong and fa- miliar illustration of this. The tendency is, also, to ;put new men constantly in the direction of affairs ; the experience of those displaced is thrown aside as useless. In these general renmrks which 1 hazard upon the government, I mean the government generally, both in the separate States and in the i'ederal Union. It is not generally known in England that taxation in Amerit'ii ia very considerable ; its pressure, as may easily be ENGIAND IN THE NEW WOULD. 227 vious con- siirmised, falls on the rich. The poor, who rei^iilate the assessment of these imposts, being- the majority, and having- little or no property of their own, deal very freely with that of the rich ; and the expenditure of this taxation is often heneiicial to them by employment in public works and offices. In aristocratic governments, where the poor have no voice in the matter, they pay a portion of the expenses of the State ; in democratic, where the rich are equally helpless, tliey pay all. This evil is less monstrous in America than it would be anywhere else ; because nearly every one pos- sesses some property, and there is g-reat diihculty "in attack- ing any description of it by taxation, without more or less touchinj? that which interests the majority. The general result, however, is, that this is one of the most expensive governments in the world, in proportion to its obligations and establishments; its redeeming point is, that a larger proportion of the sums i)aid, goes to the education and ad- vantage of the poor. It is impossible to arrive at an exact estimate of what the expenses of government are in pro- portion to property and population. Taxes are paid to the Federal Government in customs duties ; to the States, counties, and townships by direct impost : what they all amount to no one knows ; there arc no statistics to be ob- tained on the subject. Personal services also are rendered in drilling for the militia, and keeping roads and bridges in repair. The disposal of state funds is placed, by the masses of the poor, in the hands of individuals from among themselves. These officers are more liable to the suspicion of corruption than if they were rich ; this tends to destroy confidence in them, and it re-acts injuriously upon the people, if they take it for granted that the man whom they have chosen and invested "with power is dishonest. _ They look more mildly upon the dishonesty of less conspicuous individuals, and perhaps they have a secret desire to seek power themselves, that they may in their turn gain by the corruption of which they suspect others. Even when a thoroughly honest man gets into offic*., he is assailed with accusations or suspicions ; these suggest villany to him ; and, at the same time, by injuring his self-respect, weaken his power of resisting the temptation. The chances are that they make him, in the end, what they begin by unjustly suspecting him to he. The celebrated Declaration of Independence commences with the monstrous fallacy that *' all men are equal;" this is the real Constitution of Amcsrica: Presidents, Senators, Representatives, are but officers of its administration, tole- rably well adapted for the purpose. The edilice is fair enough, tlie foundation is false and rotten. The framers of the Con- stitution showed but the ingenuity of the madman ; they Q 2 i ^:i } '. 228 nocHELAGA; on, reasoned and acted rightly, on a wrong principle. The chain of support is good in itself, but the one great link that should bind it to the rock of eternal truth is wanting. I recollect, when a child, beinj? told a story of a certain Irishman. He and several other men were walking* by a canal ; one of the party dropped his hat, and it rolled do^\n into the water. The banks being very steep it was arranged that they should all join hands, the man at the top of the slo])o holding on by a post, the man at the bottom picking up the hat. The Irishman happened to be the uppermost. When the man below stretched out over the water to reach the hat, the others supportiiig him, their united weight proved fatiguing to our Hibernian. "I'm tired, boys," said he, "just hould on a bit while I rest ;" at the same time, letting go his hold of the man next him, the Avholo string tumbled into the water. This strikes me as a homely illustration of the value of a chain of reasoning when the first link is dehcient. If God h^d bestowed equal virtue and talent upon all, 1 readily admit that the views of the great majority of tliis mass of virtue and talent would be all but certainly correct, and that therefore it is wise they should govern If, however, God in his inscrutable wisdom has permitted that in many human hearts should lurk the dark forms of envy, hatred, corruption, and sin — that the light of genius and wisdom should shine but in the few — if the millions who struggle in daily toil or traffic are unlikely to imbibe the lofty sentiments which may counteract the innate evil of the former, or have not the leisure and desire to supply by education a substitute for, or properly direct the latter — the principle is wrong, and dangerous as it is false. Some men, in the defence of pure democracy, are content to take lower ground: they set aside the question of the majority governing aright, and assert its expediency. It is certain that all men are anxious for their own interest, and will use power, if committed to them, for the purpose of forwarding it. "Give the majority power, and their own interest will be advanced ; better theirs than that of the minority." They consider this the realization of Bentham's view of the true object of government,—" The greatest happiness to the greatest number." But it is very doubtful that the majority will be able to find out the best mode of forwarding their own interests : in their efforts to do this, they may very probably injure themselves, and still more probably oppress the minority, whose interests will not only be disregarded, but treated with actual hostility. Selfishness is one of the least lovely and yet the most uni- versal trait in the character of man ; in the individual, its offensiYe ayowal and action is restrained to a certain extent ENGLAND IX THE NEW ^0^11). 229 pie. The t link that anting:. I a certain king by a )lled clow n s arranged f the sloi)e ing up the 3t. When 3h the hat, Kt proved said he, aie, letting Lg tumbled ition of the s defieient. upon all, 1 'ity of this ily correct, t', however, t in many ^y, hatred, id wisdom struggle in sentiments er, or have substitute ivrong, and re content ion of the ncy. It is terest, and purpose of their own hat of the Bentham's e greatest y doubtful !st mode of to do this, still more 11 not only most uni" Lvidual, its ;ain extent by the usages of society, and the opinion of others. In this government, millions act upon it alone, unrestrained by shame or blame ; the secrecy of tlie ballot-box secures them from responsibility, even if they were not kept in counte- nance by overwhelming numbers. This selfish despotism, no matter how dark may be its tyranny, has not even the restraint which conscience imposes on the absolute monarch. This aggregate has neither reason nor pity to be appealed to ; the oppressed may plead their cause or bog for mercy, but it is in vain; the hideous Juggernaut, Avithout ear or heart, pursues its course and crushes them under its wheels. It is an awful thing to entrust unlimited power to any man, even though he appear, humanly speaking, perfect in virtue and wisdom, letting aside that you thereby sur- render freedom, the best of earthly blessings, even he may have his moments of weakness or wickedness. The man after God's own heart gave way — the wisest of the sons of men sank into sin ; from these human fa' lings of the Kuler the subject may be a bitter sufferer. But there are still, in this case, the feelings and fears of the human heart to appeal to, and work upo^i. It is intinitely more awful to entrust unlimited power to a mere majority of the peoi)le : then there is no safeguard — no appeal : the tyranny of its execu- tive is not restrained by the law, for it also makes the law — not by public opinion, for it wields that power too — not by o]jen force, for it is itself the greatest force — not by the fear ot secret vengeance, for the dagger or the cup of poison can- not hurt its millions. In absolute monarchies the tendency is to employ men who are more admirable for talent and dexterity in carrying out the views of their master, than for boldness and origi- nality of thought and action. This is natural ; the sovereign power Avould suffer in its self-love and its inHuence, were any subject, by the force of his mind, to obtain a great in- lluence over the minds of others : it woidd be a sort of trea- son on his part to appropriate to himself a share of that which is claimed entirely by the despot. ^ In such countries therefore the symptoms of boldness and originality, probably, are pimished ; the punishment even of death j lay be in- ilicted on the presumijtuous offender. In the absolute democracy, the man who dares to be inde- pendent is still more rarely seen ; he excites the jealousy of millions instead of the jealousy of one. They may not always take his life — as tlioy did that of the editor of an unpopular newspaper at Baltimore in 1812— but they hunt him down, they slay him socially ; his career is ended ; they blight his friendshijps, blast his hopes of honourable success. In the oppression of the absolute monarch, the man of inde- i "i 5 > 230 HOCHELAGA; OR, 5endcnt mind may tcol at least the pride of martyrdom ; hv. cnows that the liearts of millions beat in sympathy with lim ; he is for a time the hero of a g-rand drama ; the ])ower which cruylies him is wielded by a splendid enemy. He wlio suiters by the tyranny of tlie more numerous of two mobs, is trampled on by the cantini^, narrow-minded hypocrite, by the proHiii-.'ite oracle of the pothouse, and the ig-norant swinc- lierd of the backwoods. One is torn by a lion, the other is g-nawed to death by vermin. One day at dinner, at >Saratoga, I met a man of very pre- possessing? appearance, with a good-natured and cheerful expression of countenance, and a neat and unpretendinij: style of dress ; his manners and conversation bespoke him a gentleman. Pardon my nationality — 1 thought he was an Englishman. When we left the dining-room we walked up and down for a little time under the verandah ; in the course of conversation I asked him if he had been long in the country. He evidently was not offended by the question, and answered that he Avas an American, but had been a good deal in Europe. I was curious to know what he would say about the institutions of his country to a stranger ; as ho was evidently a man of education and refined tastes. "When we entered on the subject, he looked carefully about him, to see if he could be overheard, and then gave his opinion. "With hatred sincere as it was bitter did he denounce them ; he confessed that he could not enjoy social liberty ; that ho dared not express his thoughts on such subjects to even his intimate friends, not because they really differed from him, but because they did not venture to agree ; that he, and those who like him possessed certain advantages in life, were ridden over by the meanest, lowest, most ignorant of their fellow-citizens. An hour afterwards, he was the centre of a circle of smoking and expectorating republicans, joining in a sort of chorus of self-gratulation on their monopoly of liberty and their glorious institutions. This man, an indi- vidual, represented a class containing thousands. In an absolute monarchy, but very few can be courtiers, or be corrupted by the arts of gaining favour; in the pure democracy, millions must play the same humiliating part, or even a more wretched one. In the first, a man is not forced into it ; finding himself fitted for it, he puts himself forward as a pander to the disposer of favours. In the latter, he must play the courtier for mere tolerance sake, and he must kiss the hand of the ignorant and the base ; the evil there- fore, instead of being confined to the hundreds of the court, is spread through the millions of the people. The tendency of any absolute power is to debase both its ministers and its victims ; in a pure democracy the whole ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOELD. 231 pcoi)le are included under these heads; the majority are the ministers, the minority the victims. In every state, township, and county, there exists a sepa- rate machinery by which this rule of the majority is worked ; that is to say, in each township there is a machinery to exercise the will of the majority in that township. We will take one example of this, to shew the intinite abuses it aUows of. TheVan Keensalaer family were acknowledged by the laws of the country to have certain rights over lands in a township of New York ; the elected authorities of this township repre- sented the will of the majority, who found these rights incon- venient, and refused to enforce them. The State government was applied to ; it called out the militiaof the neighbourhood to subdue the refractory ; they were themselves the offenders, and of course would not come ; so the decrees of the law were mere waste paper, till — as I said in a former place — lives were lost ; then passions were aroused, and citizens of other townships made war upon the separate governments of those who had shed the blood, and compelled them to submit; but for that accident, the corrupt will of the local majority in those townships would have been executed, in spite of the law made by the general majority of the Union. The eternal principles of virtue and equity cannot be viob.ted with impunity by an aggregate ul millions of indi- viduals, anymore than by a single man; to one as to the other, sooner or later, retribution must come. No one doubts that the unrestrained indulgence of our evil passions leads us certainly to ruin, as life leads to the grave. ^ In the southern portion of this commimity, over the far horizon of the future rises a dark and ominous cloud ; Hashes of forked lightning, though yet dim in the distance of time, are seen by the far- sighted eye ; the rolling of the thunder, though now faint and almost inaudible, strikes its note of terror upon the watchful ear, and grows ever nearer as time passes on. Already in some districts the moral is almost complete ; the unbridled sway of human passion has produced its unvarying result of tyrannical injustice : this has two developments, and though, apparently, their origin should be widely differ- ent, it is one and the same : they seem to be the very extreme of contradiction, yet they are twins of an accursed mother, there they dwell side by side in hideous brotherhood— the wildest licence, and the darkest slavery. It appears to me that there are two conditions of society in which a pure democracy could exist, without danger— either where all men are in a state of natural simplicity, or where all are thoroughly enlightened and virtuous. It is needless to say that these are conditions which the framers of constitutions will never find ; but I hold that democracy ! i! ^ h ; ' i 'J i li ! 11 ^ I 232 HOCHELA^A ; Oil, # will I)c more dangerous in proportion as the conditions of society "where it is applied recede from either of these two extremes. The conditions of the old countries of Europe are the mean between them, coiitaiaing, from the infinite com- plications of class and interest, many men enli^^htened without beirig" virtuous, others virtuous without being en- lightened, and tliese masses -i^ceking but little beyond what their bodilj^ wants require. France, at the end of the last century , will serve for au illustration. We must all see that hitherto, in the northern i^art of the United States, demo- cracy has not been so injurious in practice as it is in theory ; therefore the conditions of this part of the Union should approach one of the extremes w- hich I have mentioned as the points of safety. Which of them ? ^ I unhesitatingly answ^er the first ; although at the same time 1 allow that they are one of the most enlightened nations of the world. The con- dition to which thejy owe their safety is simplicity.^ They for the most part consist of one class, nearly equal in mental quaiitications: their pursuit is a common one; wealth is to tliem what the means of subsistence are to i^an in his primi- tive state — the only object. Boundless territory, and inexhaustible resources, place this wealth within the reach of all. When the savage has exhausted the game or fruits of one spot, he pasf?ts on to another ; when the American finds t]\e means ef acquiring wealth cease to be plentiful in the East, he wanders aw^ay to seize on the unappropriated liches of the West; he know^s he can attain his object there, so he will not remain l)ehind to struggle for it with his fellow-man. Over them, no strong, cold, disinterested, un- approachable pow cr is required to keep contending claims JTom clashing ; their field is so wide that they do not come in contact. The American, on his continent, is situated much as the primitive n: an in his world ; he has no great rival power hovering on the border of his domains, threaten- ing him with injury if he be not on his guard, so that he has no occasion to trust a portion of his liberty and strength to any power in exchange for his protection. ^ Among savages, if one oft'ends, a neighbour iniiicts a punishment; perhaps justly, perhaps not, but it raises no commotion in the com- niiuiity. The Americans do the same ; the neighbours punish the offender; sometimes by the forms of law, some- times not, but the State is not disturbed by it. The fact is, that this sort of democracy is but a state of nature ; and, as long as the conditions of the people of the northern States are unity of class, simplicity of interest, and freedom from external difticulties, tiiere will be no great disruption of society. The conditions of the southern States arc widely and dan- ENGLAND IN THE NEW WORLD. 233 iditions of these two liirope arc nite com- lis-htened icing en- ond Avhat f the hist 1 see that 3s, demo- n theory ; )n should led as the ly answer they are The con- They for n mental altli is to lis primi- ory, and the reach ; or fruits American entiful in ropriated ect there, with his isted, un- ig claims not come situated no great hreaten- it he has 'cngth to savages, perhaps he com- ighbours iv, some- state of ^e of the 'est, and 10 great nd dan- gerously different. There arc two classes, separated from each other by a stronger barrier than ever European tyranny placed between lord and serf, senarated so hopelessly that all agree amalgamation is impossible. Their interests are wide as the poles asunder ; by the deprivation from one class of everything that makes life a blessing, the means of enjoy- ment are supplied to i^vj other. The terror of external danger hangs over them; for it requires but little for the foe to cast the fire itito their camp, and light the funeral piles from their own inflammable materials. For such a system of government, this condition of society is therefore as bad as, or worse than, that of the old countries of Europe, and 1 am convinced that for them it will prove to be the very worst that the enmity of a Machiavel could have suggested. CHAPTER XXIV. rnosrECTS of America. There are at this present moment the germs of three distinct nations in the United States, differing more widely from each other in feelings and in interest, than did England and the colonies at the time of the revolution. First, there is the sober North — moral, enlightened, industrious, prudent, peaceful, and commercial, where society has taken an established form; the climate is severe, the niggard soil only rewards the careful husbandman, the industry of her people is the source of her wealth ; the weaver's loom and the mechanic's skill are her mines of gold ; her traders find their way over the desert, her ships over the ocean ; wherever a mart is to be found, there will they be. Her sons are brave in war, adventurous in peace ; in the revolution they bore the brunt of the fight; since then, the greatness of America in peace is due to them. They are at all times the bone and sinew of the Union, but peace is their most con- genial condition ; in it, their great commerce is prosperous and safe ; in war it is threatened, if not destroyed. Next comes the turbulent West, with a fertility unexampled elsewhere, a climate which stimulates life and shortens its duration ; all animal and vegetable productions shoot up, ripen, and wither in a breath, but still they spread over the land with wonderful rapidity. From, the European kingdoms and from the Atlantic cities of America, thousands of restless and adventurous men pour like a flood over these rich l)lains, and exuberant crops repay the clumsiest cultivation ; when the productive earth grows dull under tliis wasteful • u Hi . \ ' u ;! J : J f f i 234 irOCHELAaA ; Oli, 'llf vsm'^' husbandry, the tide rolls s+ill further away, the Indian and the wild forest animals yielding to its strength ; a few years changes the wilderness to a populous state, its centre to a city. The greater part of the population of these countries are roving, energetic men, who merely till the lands as a means of wealth, not as a settlement where their hones are to be laid and where their children are to dwell after them. They have no stability or combination ; they come from all parts of the compass, a great, strong, surging sea, each wave an isolated being. All the uneasy spiiits who crowd thither from other lands, in a few years either ^nk under the noisome vapours from the rich alluvial soil, or enjo^r plenty from its produce ; each man acts for himself and wishes to govern for himself. The social conditions of all are nearly equal ; there is but little chance of any of those dangerous organizations of society, which European states now, and the Atlantic states soon, may present. For a century to eomc, there will be ample room for all to grow rich on the spoils of the West. This western country, I consider, will be the last strong- hold of democracy in America. By this I pre-suppose that everywhere this form of government must be ultimately abandoned, that it is merely tolerable now — a temporary expedient for an infant state, merely an affair of time. 1 shall state my grounds for this supposition presently. The conditions of the West are most fitted for these institutions, and these conditions are not likely to be altered for many years. Population has increased so much of late years in that direction, that already the West holds the balance between the North and the South ; in half a century it will OA^er- balance both together. Far away, by the shores of Lake Superior — where, but a little time ago, none but the lonely trapper ever reached, are now cities ; tens of thousands of men dig into rich mines or reap abundant crops, and in their steamers plough up the deep, pure waters, hitherto undis- turbed by man's approach. On remote branches of the *' Father of llivers," which have yet scarcely a name, populous settlements are spreading over the banks. The rapidity of the growth of population and power in this region has no parallel in the world s history. These people are confident in tlieir strength ; they live in a perpetual invasion ; their great ^ impulse is expansion. They are reckless of life, and but little accustomecl to the restraints of law; vigour and courage are their capital; their country is not a home, but a mere means of becoming aflluent. The individual desires, from day to day, to pass idian and few years ;ntre to a ntries are s a means are to be )m. They I all parts . wave an ^d thither mder the ojr plenty wishes to TO nearly lang^erous now, and ^ntury to ch on the st strong'- »pose that iltimately emporary ■ time. I tly. The ^titutions, for many 's in that e between ivill over- i of Lake the lonely •usands of id in their 'to undis- es of the a name, iks. The his region Ley live in xpansion. ed to the • capital; becoming y, to pass ENGLAND IN THE NEW -WGIILD. 235 on to other and richer lands, in hopes of a yet more abundant return lor his labour ; the a-o-re-ate of "individuals desire the rich woods ot Canada, the temperate sliores of Oreo-on. and the fertile soil of Mexico. They long to conquer tTiem Avith the sword as they have conquered tlie Prairies with tlie plough ; aggression is their instinct, invasion their natural state. ^ This Western division appears to me by far the most important ()± the three, the one in which the' mysterious a]ul peculiar destiny of the Kew World is to be in the fullest degree developed. The South is the third of those divisions. It contains a popuiat/i on divided between the Anglo-Saxon and Negro races, the hrst rather the more numerous at present ; but, taking a series of years, the latter has increased more rapidly than the former. It is well known that the whites hold tlie blacks m slavery, a bondage often gently enforced and willingly borne, but sometimes productive of the most dia- . bolical cruelties that the mind of man has ever conceived. Altogether, the effect of these conditions is, that the ruling race despise and yet fear their servants, and use every ingenuity to deprive them of strength, as a class, by with- holding education, and legislating to prevent the possibility of their combining together. The great mass of these slaves are dark and degraded beings, but in one respect they still keep up to the level of humanity— they burn to be free. It is known that, by their own arms, the attempt would be iiopeless, for tliey are far inferior to the whites in mind and body. Most people think that nature has condemned them to this inferiority ; others, that it is only a transient con- dition, caused by this state of slavery. Some local outbreaks have indeed occurred, where the tyranny of the master was greater than the patience of the slave ; they were for the moment successful — long enough to show how terrible is vengeance for the pent-up wrongs of years : but they soon sank under the irresistible power which they had provoked, and their awful fate holds out a warning to otliers. Their liberation is not to be effected by any eilbrt of their own. Their _ masters are united, bound together by this bond of iniquity ; not only their wealth is supposed to depend upon their upholding slavery, but their very lives. Were these degraded beings to be suddenly freed, and the sense of fear removed, no laws could restrain them ; the wrongs of generations would be brought to an account ; a *' servile war" would ensue, aggravated in horrors by the difference of race ; no peace, or truce, or compromise, could end it ; one or the other must perish or be subdued. The negro cannot subduo the white man, therefore he must be again a slave, '■ t ' I M 1 5 l| : ( i • it I 236 HOCHELAGA ; OE, \ or be freed by death from earthly bondage. So say those who defend the maintenance of this system in the Sonth. The ruling class in this part of America are proud and ciuiek-tempercd men : disdaining labour, free and generous in expense, slow to acknowledge authority, contemptuous towards inferiors, jealous of the interference of others, they carry their despotic republicanism further than the other divisions. They are in themselves essentially an aristocracy, a privileged class. On several occasions these iiery spirits have objected to the inliuencu of other (States of the Union. For instance, South Carolina almost went to war with the Federal Government rather than submit to an obnoxious commercial regulation. A member in this same State said in the House of Kepresentatives at Washington, ** If wc catch an abolitionist in South Caiolina we'll hang him without judge or jury." But, indeed, even their laws enable them to indict a very severe punishment on such an otfender. To retain the institution of slavery in the laws of the country, is the great object of this division ; for this object it is necessary they should hold the preponderating indueneo in the government of the countr5\ This they have generally accomplished, having supplied by far the greater number of Presidents of the Cnion ; they have carried their point of annexing Texas as a slave-holding State ; hj forming an alliance with the West, they have succeeded in electing Presidents favourable to the free trade so necessary to their interests. This alliance is however but temporary; it has no solid foundation ; the West loves not slavery, neither does the North. The voice of abolition, at first heard only in whispers, now speaks boldly out ; its advocates are weary of being the by -word of Christian nations for this crime ; their repre- sentatives are already numerous; a few years hence they will be the most numerous ; as i'reedom spreads with civili- zation to the West, the die will be cast, and slavery bo abolished by the Great Council of the Nation. lUit this will not be tamely borne ; the Southerns will risk their lives and i)roperties in a struggle, rather than surrender what they consider to be their protectitm. Then, who can tell the horrors that may ensue ! tlie blacks, urged by external I)romptings to rise for liberty, the furious courage and energy of the whites trampling them down, the assistance of the free States to the opin-essed, will drive the oppressors to desperation : their qiuck perception will tell them that their loose republican organization cannot conduct a defence against such odds ; and the lirst popular military leader who has the glory of a success, will become dictator. This, I if ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOULD. 237 ^ those who th. proud and d g-cneroiis Ltemptuous thers, tlicj' the other ristocracy, iery spirits the Union, r with the obnoxious Stfite said fi, '• If we han^ liini their Laws on such an -ws of the this object induencc generally ?r number dr point of Drming- an n electinsc ry to their Lry ; it has either does whispers, ■ bein.sj: the leir repre- encc tliey 'itli civili- davery bo liut this their lives ider what [) can tell y external nd energy ice of the lessors to that tlieir a defence ry leader r. This, I firmly believe, will be the end of the pure democracy ; many of us will live to see an absolute monarch reign over the Slave States of North America. In the North, the conditions of the people are approaching to those of Europe. The mere productions of the earth have ceased to be tlieir dependence ; their trading or manu- facturing towns have grown into cities, their population is becoming divided into the rich and the poor; the upper classes are becoming more enlightened anci prosperous, the poor more ignorant and discontented. Increased civilization l3rings on its weal and woe, its powers and its necessities ; as these proceed, it will be soon evident that the present State-of-nature Government is no longer suitable ; the masses will become turbulent, property will be assailed by those who want ; and the wealthy and tlieir dependents will be ranged in its defence. Perhaps foreign wars may add to these difficulties, and to the temptations to ** hero worship," always so strong in the human mind, but especially so in America. The result will probably be a monarchy, supported by a wealthy and x)owcrful commercial and military aristo- cracy — and a certain seioaration from the West. As these three divisions increase in population and in wealth, the diverging lines of their interests will become more widely separated, doubtless so widely separated that the time is not far distant when they will even incur the monstrous evil of breaking up the Union, and providing each as much against the other as against foreign nations. The general political tendency of the present time is to increase the powers and isolation of the different States; even the smallest grant of public money for works of defence or improvement is watched with jealous care by the districts not benefiting by it ; the balance of power is also a constant subject of anxiety ; the admission of Texas was, on this prin- ciple, energetically opposed by many in the North. It is very plain that, in half a century, these divisions -will each be strong enough to stand alone. The North, by that time, will have a larger population and commerce than Imgland has now, and it is more than probable that it will also be willing to stand alone. There are tAvo ties which at present act in keeping up the Union— the necessity of mutual support and patriotism. The first will cease with their increasing strength; in the second I have no great con- fidence, even at this present moment it is but an interested patriotism, and will cease with the interests which cause it. They have no inheritance of glory handed down to theni through centuries ; with them is wanting the common tie of afiection which binds the heart to the land where lie the ashes of the honoui'ed ancestral dead— their mutual relations ( 1 I i 238 HOCHELAaA; OE, \ are those of foiinclling"s to one another ; their love of country that of the Nabob for the pagoda tree. The want of pride in the Americans is made np for by the most astounding" conceit ; tlu^y perpetually declare to each other their wisdom, virtue— in sliort, perfection ; and will not allow even a share of this merit to other nations. Tliey persuade themselves that they are, as I liave frequently- heard them say, " a chosen people." But this shallow con- ceit is very easily wounded, and will probably be a great cause of ultiuiate dissension, for if one portion — still of chuso thinking themselves perfection — disagree permanently on any great x)rineiple with another portion, who equally think themselves ])erfection, tlie chances are that they will hnd very great difficulty in convincing each other, or in compro- mising the matter under discussion. Neither the fiery and intelligent Southern, nor the sedate and sensible Northern, is likely to give way. I consider that the separation of this great country will inevitably take xdace, and that it is absolutely necessary for the peace and freedom of the world that it should. In half a century, if they remain united, they will be beyond doubt the most i)owert'ul nation of the earth. In the aggressive policy, certain in a great republic, will lie the danger of their strength. The extraordinary rapidity of events in America startles the observer; ten years here correspond to a hundred in older coiuitries, with respect to the chano-es which take place. Thirty years have altered the proportions of the House of llepresentatiyes in a most remarkable degree, the share of each state being dependent on its population. Ohio sends ten times as many members as Ilhodo Island, but to the Senate each sends two ; every yt^ar the disparity grows greater. When the interests or the passions of diiferent States come into collisi(m in the House of Ilepresentatives, one party will enormously preponderate over the other, while, i:i the Senate, they may still be equal. I think it most pro- bable that the hrst step to a dissolution of the Union will be a dili'erence between the Senate and the House of Ilepresen- tativ.^s on some important point: a dead lock of the business of the Government must ensue, and in proportion to the interest of the matter in dispute, will be the determination of both parties not to yield. Even in the ease of any one State feeling itself aggrieved, the eonseouences would be most disastrous to all ; in 1832 this very nearly occurred. As it was before mentioned, South Carolina protestcul against the Tariif, and actually armed to defenfl her nulliii cation. The Federal Government made a Bort of compromise, and that particular case of danger passed )f country for by tlio 'c to each. and will ns. They Toquently illoAv oon- »e a great I of eite of the e existed, people of aft'ection ir Pilgrim people, in : in their to remind a foreign started at circle of that con- England ; ;hem, and events in by them ; le. , facilities ispitality, iger, full y may be ;ard with hey never staid and soothed, , touch of happy humour, more easily, perhaps, than among any other people ; they can even l)ear a hit at their own weaknesses, if the keenness of the wit redeem the severity of the criticism. They are liberal in their entertainments, and, indeed, some- times disagreeably liberal in paying little joint expenses incuiTcd in sight-seeing, at theatres, &c. The people of New England retain a good deal of the austere and solemn habits of their ancestors, even in their gaieties ; they keep very early hours, the waltz and polka find but little favour in their eyes ; the theatre is not so much frequented as elsewhere. Scientihc lectm'es are a far more poi)ular attraction. From time to time there arises an abso- lute enthusiasm for these contrivances for uniting learning and amusement : ladies frequently went to two or three the same night, and a constant supply of fresh lecturers was indispensable for the fair listeners. The people of this grave city are not an exception to the general American character in their love of excitement; but it is here more quietly developed than in the South and West : ' ' powerful preachers," mesmeric and phrenological lecturers, are its ministers. Charitable and religious societies are very numerous, and liberally supported by all the ditt'erent sects ; they are to them a common bond of union. The govermnent of these bodies is to the people an object of ambition, supplying another sort of I'eward in public life to those who, perhaps, have been unsuccessful in seeking inliuence in the State. The collective strength of these societies is so great, that, if they were all brought to bear upon one point for any particular object, the chances are that they would bo .'-.ocessful. A union of this sort has already been proposed ; to effect by their joint efforts, the election of a rehgious government, without distinction of creed, but simply that its members should be well known to be pious men. By this means they hoped to throw all the inliuence of the ruling power into the scale of religion. The total annual income of these societies, raised solely by voluntary contributions, is little short of two millions sterling. Some of them are very useful, and admi- rably managed. Wherever arrangement and conduct of altairs are necessary, the Americans appear to excel all other people; everything is done in the manner to which their business habits accustom them. The Temperance Society has grown to an enormous size, reckoning nearly a million and a half of members, and is, in the mam, productive ot great good; the Americans are not prone to get drunk, but they are very prone to drink ; drams are swallowed by halt the passengers of a stage-coach at each stopping-place; ^^'- bars of the hotels derive great profit from the skill shoTV »3 the wn in. 244 nocnELAGA; on, mixing all sorts of tcmptiug* draughts for winter and summer, in spite of the temperance movement. Tnouffh these associations generally tend to the improve- ment of morals and manners, and are always intendea to do so, they sometimes rather overstep the bounds of prudence, and interfere a little too much ^vith private life. Occasionally, although they are formed for purposes most laudable in themselves, in their execution they are more likely to cause evil to the members, than good to the objects of their solici- tude. Ladies frequently take a prominent part in these affairs, and are consequently brougnt in contact with people into the details of whose character it is unsuitable for them to inquire. I cannot but think that an intimate acquaintance with the habits and causes of vice, must have a demoralizing effect on all but the strongest minds. The enthusiastic desire to extend the utility of their society, sometimes urges them into scenes which cannot be witnessed without injury. Again, these associations strengthen the tyranny of public opinion. At their meetings, any offender against the parti- cular code of morality which they may have set up, is liable to be named and condemned. The practice is, no doubt, a powerful assistant in checking the appearance of a vice, but I doubt if it cause the real conversion of a culprit. They will 'never of themselves be tlie cause of any great moral reform ; indeed they often substitute the fear of public opinion for the fear of God. Political associations are also very general in America ; they are almost the only weapon remaining for the weaker party to use in combat against the majority. When a minority feels itself strongly oppressed on any particular point, it often unites in a convention, or Caucus, as they call it, receiving delegates from those who share its discontents in other places; they make rules for self-government, draw up declarations, and, in short, establish, as it were, a separate and hostile community. In the political war which ensues, they issue their orders to their followers, and organize them- selves in opposition. Sometimes they are so formidable and energetic, that this voluntary association, unsupported by the powers of the State, unrecognised by the Constitution, actually dictates terms to the majority. In the United States this unlimited power of association is less objectionable than it would be under any other form of government ; as it can only be used as a check to a tyrant majority. The necessity of association shows them at once to be the weaker party, for the government of the country is only the association of the stronger: the only weapons they can use are arguments, and, if these can in the end prevail, they may probably be well founded. ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOIltD. 245 summer, mprove- led to do rudtiiut', sionally, dablc ill to cause ir soliei- in these h. people for them aiiitanc(j lora ic desire ?es them of public he parti- is liable doubt, a vice, but t. They at moral iG opinion America ; le weaker When a )articular they call scontents mt, draw L separate b. ensues, ize them- Lable and >orted by stitution, ;ed States xble than as it can necessity party, for on of the g-uments, )bably be In aristocratic countries, where the less powerful party is often far the more niimerous, it is obvious that the or^^ani- zation of the masses into, as it were, a separate f^ovcrnment is fraught with £?reat peril. Even under the British ^govern- ment, we have seen Kcpeal Associations and Chartist Societies, whose languag-e and actions clearly show their dangerous objects. These men profess that they are not sufficiently represented in the lef,nslation— that their interests are disregarded; so, to give their complaints weight, they create a nation of their own within the nation, with a view of carrying on negotiations with the weight of an indepen- dent State. But 1 believe that, altogether, the good of this power of association much preponderates over the evil, and that both with us and in America, it is a most valuable safe- guard for our liberties : it becomes formidable only when there is some real grievance to complain of, and then, witliin the limits of the law, it cannot be too strongly urged. From the constant habit of carrying on public business, Americans are astonishingly apt in organizing meetings. The day before landing at Boston, in one of the English mail steam-packets, while we were at luncheon in the saloon, one of the passengers stood up, and proposed that the party should form itself into a meeting, and tliat the Honourable Mr. So-and-So should take the chair : another seconded this motion, upon which Mr. So-and-So accepted the office, and requested our attention to the affairs about to be brought forward. In live minutes from the lirst words spoken, it wa.4 proposed and carried: — "That a piece of plate should be presented to the captain of the ship, in token of oui* high sense of his attention, and merits as a seaman ;" also, *' That the Honourable Mr. What's-his-name be requested at dinner this day to deliver to the captain an addi-ess, mtli the pro- mise of the plate," which was to be got when we landed. The honourable gentleman did deliver an address and speech of a highly complimentary nature, such, indeed, as might have been appropriately delivered to Nelson, if he had survived Trafalgar. "VVe were all making most painful eftbrts to restrain our laughter the whole time, and the captain, who was a very good, plain kind of man, was quite bewildered when his American panegyrist concluded with : — " This tri- fling token of the deep and lasting esteem and regard which we entertain for you as the accomplished sailor, and the finished gentleman." Luckily, the loud applause with which the conclusion of a speech is usually hailed, drowned the uncontrollable bursts of l: ughter at the orator's expense. I have said elsewhere that the great majority of public men are lawyers. This results from their being a class which deyotcs itself to the improvement and strengthening of the n 24G HOCHEIiaA; OE, mind, as a means of attainin^? wealth and distinction, so that they are usually qiiaMed to take the lead among their felloT7- citizens. Their hahits of speaking' in public are also highly favourable to success, giving them an immense ad- vantage over an unpractised opponent. Lawyers wishing to bring themselves forward, can be found to advocate any extremes of opinion ; but generally tuey act as, perhaps, tlie most conservative body in the country, and even very dan- gerous measures are, in some degree, deprived of their pernicious ellects by passing through their hands. As tlio law is their x^i'off ssion and study, they are usually anxious to make it as much as possible I'espectcd, and to encourage order, which is so indispensable to the law's supremacy. They have also generally better manners and a higher range of thought than the other classes, and this to no small extent iniluences their political character. Appearing be+bre their fellow- citizens as a class clothed with the authority of arbitrating among them, possessing a difficult and necessary science, to them unknown, these ad- vantages render the lawyer accustomed to lead and tlio people to follow. Thougli it cannot be supposed that law- yers have all a common interest, except that of supporting their profession, they have certainly a similarity in their habits and tone of mind, tending to unite their views and objects, probably raising both above those of the people, and imbuing the lawyer witli hatred and contempt lor the blind and turbulent passions of the mob. The profession of tlu^ law in America has many rewards for the successful; but there must always be a certain portion of candidates who fail ; from these ranks are usually recruited the advocates of extreme democratic mea.- iires, while from tlie prosperous and suceessfid, the cause of stability and order draws its ablest supporters. The lawyer belongs not naturally to th(> masses of the people ; he wiU therefore probably attack the enormous power and privik^ges which the masses possess. The Americans are not una\yare of the inlluence wielded by this particular class ; but it is not feared by them, as its members can only apparently arrive at jiower by the people's choice, and are consequentlj'^ interested in tluir service ; be- sides, they ai'e indispensable, and tlieir presence is perhajjs, in a great measiP'e, only toha'ated by necessity. I'he Supreme Court of tlie United States is the only ])ower '^lompleleiy independent of the popular will; and, though all acknowledge its value and respect its iniluonce, there is a ^reat secret jealousy of its being beyond their reach, and it is to be feared that it will ultimately fall, as other safeguards of rational liberty luive already fallen. It luis the very iin])ortant power of declaring the acts of the Legislature ENGLAND IN THE NEW "WOELD. 247 iction, so long tlioir ! are also lense atl- 3 wishing- oeate any haps, tlie vcvy dan- of their As the y anxious neonrao'o ipremaey. ler ran^c all extent 3s clothed ssessing a these ad- and the that law- upporting- ^ in their views and 3ople, and ■the blind don of tlu) ssful; but dates who advocates n'ospei'oiis draws it'i illy to tlu' Lttack the )ssess. le wielded m, as its e people's vice ; be- i peiduqjs, dy ])ower hough all there is a L'h, and it ifeguards tlie very >gislature unconstitutional, and protecting from their action any one who appeals to it. But it possesses no means of enforcing obedience co these decrees ; the Legislative power which it may oppose, is armed also with the Executive authority; and it is not to be doubted that if the Supreme Court were ever to oppose itself firmly to any popidar pressure, it would at once be swept away. At first, nearly all the judges in the different States were either appointed by the Executive or elected for life ; but the tendency has ever been to bring them more and more imder the will of the majority; ancl now in many States, they are subject to frequent re-election, and, I believe in all, liable to be removed at the pleasure of the Legislature, being thus altogether deprived of the most necessary qualitication for the Lt discharge of their judicial duties— tnat of inde- pendence. The system of the defence of the country by a militia force is very important as a political institution, though a source both of waste and weakness : the enormous cost mentioned in another place proves its extravagance, and its inefficiency also has been frequently demonstrated. For instance, when Washington was taken by four thousand British troops, there were a hundred thousand militia combatants on paper, within a few days' march ; and, in the case of the Anti- renters in the State of New York, the local force was worse than useless. The unfortunate American general, Hull, in his defence before the court-martial by which he was tried after his failure and surrender in Canada, attributed his misfortunes altogether to the inefficiency of the troops he commanded, stating that discipline and subordination were out of the question, the officers being elected by the soldiers, and more obeying than obeyed. Tliey are, however, highly useful in defending their own neighbourhood, when well posted and commanded, as they were at ]S\'W Orleans ; but, for mana3uvres in the field, or retaliatory invasion of a hostile country, they are not to be depended upon. There is no doubt that, after a time, they would make as good soldiers as any in the world, but it must always be a matter of the greatest difficulty to keep together men who have the interests of their farms, or their business, probably going to ruin in their absence. The feeling of enthusiasm may carry them through a sudden eltbrt with gallantry and success, but, for a continuous struggle, they are less valuable than one-fourth of the number of regular troops. In a political point of view, however, the establishment is of great importance and value ; it inspires the people with a sense of patriotic duty, they feel a self-dependence as tliey muster on parade ; they know that to them is confided the 248 HOCHEIAGA; OE, \ sacred trust of defending? their country, tlieir liearths, and their families ; each individual feels that he is a part of the bulwarks of his nation, liy the constant habit of electing* their officers, they may perhaps render the soldier inefficient, but the citizen sbecomes more practised in his duties ; their drill brings them together for friendly intercourse, and for a season takes them from the worship of mammon. But the great thing is that the country and laws, which they assemble as soldiers to defend, become precious in their sight. Their militia at present outnumbers the host of Xerxes, but this need not be at all alarming to foreign powers ; no Leonidas will ever be required to stem their invading march, and any open field will serve for a Thermopyla). A standing army may appear to the Americans very inconvenient, and injurious to the cause of freedom ; but, in the first great war they undertake, its necessity will become evident. In the last collision between England and America, the colony of Canada, with four British regiments, was, for two years, all they had to overcome ; and in this they miserably failed ; not from any want of zeal or courage, but simply from igno- rance and inexperience. However it may be the fashion to sneer at the soldier's trade, it cannot be so very readily learned, and Heaven defend me from being protected by amateurs in time of difficulty ! When the day of trial comes, there are defeats and disasters in store for the American militia, as great as were suftered by those who followed Generals Hull and Hampton in the last war. The style of oratory in America is very peculiar; the speaker, to do him justice, generally aims at the very high- est order, no matter what the occasion maybe. In every case, whether presenting a snuft-box, or making a motion in the Senate, he will try to give importance to the subject by the splendour of the language. The sun, moon, and stars ; oceans, deserts, hurricanes, are all introduced as necessary illustrations, to convey to the in- dividual who receives the snuff-box, the feelings of the givers; verv likely the "Cliosen People," "Mighty Itc- public," ana "boundless Empire," are also called into re- quisition. V speech usually concludes with a toast, if the meeting be a convivial one, or on more solemn occasions, a sentiment, in which great matters are condensed into a few words. In the House of Representatives, this manner of fine speaking is sometimes carried to the most absurd extent. Another habit — that of speaking too long, has been lately put a stop to ; it had arrived at so great a pitch that the evil becamo intolerable ; an hour is now the limit, and when ex- ENGLAND IN THE NEW WORID. 249 irths, and art of the electing- nefficient, ies; tlieir e, and for on. Bnt liich they in their f Xerxes, )wers; no ig" march, standing- dent, and ^reat war . In tlio colony of years, all y failed; :om igno- ashion to y readily tected by ial comes, /American followed liar; the Bry high- In every tnotion in iibject by lanes, arc :o the in- s of the I'hty Ite- into re- st, if the sasions, a ito a few • of fine I extent, jn lately' i the evil vhcu ey- cccded there is always a remonstrance. This arrangement was very readily adopted ; as only one could speak at a time, all the rest were obliged to remain as listeners ; each indi- vidual supposed that all his neighbour's speeches were of preposterous length, since by them he was kept so long from enlightening the assembly. ^ In the Senate this ride has not been found necessary, for it is not customary to turn it into a scho )1 for practising elocution ; the fact is, that the Federal Legislation nas but little to do, and time can generally be afforded for tiiese flourishes ; particularly as very little at- tention is paid to them, and_ they are merely given for the beneht of distant constituencies. Terhaps it is from the features of their country — the great rivers, the broad prairies, the huge forests — that they im- bilbe the habit of always describing in the superlative de- gree. In public speaking you rarely hear tnem make a grammatical error; some of their words are pronounced differently from our habits of pronunciation, but you seldom hear an American word iised on these occasions ; whatever their weaknesses may be in private conversation, in the way of " guessing" and *' expecting," you will hear neither one nor' the other in public. Lest any of these orations should be lost to the w^orld, it is u'feual for the speakers to send their speeches, before they have been spoken, to the editor of the paper in which they wish them to appear ; so that sometimes the voice has not ceased to echo, before the imblic v>ut of doors are furnished with what has been said. *' Fine writing" is also a great weakness of theirs ; if left to themselves, and uncorrupted by foreign taste, for which they have a great respect, they would prefer probably some tremendous " war article" in an obscure country paper, to the chaste and elegant simplicity of Washington Irving' s works. As I said before, comparatively few men write books in America; the lighter food of daily news is more suited to the national ai)petite. The number of English publications, and the rapidity with which they are brought out, are extraordinary ; they are generally printed with bad type, on wretched paper, and sold at a very low price ; all this time the poor English author, however he may be flattered by the publication of his work in another country, derives not the slightest benefit from it. Many of the best A\ orks by Americans have been published in London, as the property of the copyright is there much more valuable than m the United States. This seizing on the labour of the author's brain, and appropriating it as they do, appears to me highly reprehensible, and many of their wisest and best people desire a law of international copyright, on the prin- ciplo of getting literatiu'C honestly, instead of cheaply, ua 250 nOCHELAGA; OK, by the present plan. All acknowledge tlic existence of an injustice, but, as it is a prolitable one, few wish to do away with it. § CHAPTER XXVI. TERRITOEY OP THE UNITED STATES— MEXICO— THE INDIANS. Tke territory of the United States presents more natural advantages than any other rep:ion of the earth. Its vast extent afr< rds every variety of soil and climate, from tlio burning sun of the Tropics to the ice-blasts of the North. An enormous length of sea-coast, with convenient harbours, invites the commerce of Europe ; the Mississippi and the great lakes open the resources of the far distant interior ; every variety of minerals for industrial purposes abounds in inexhaustible quantities; the hnest timber in the world stands ready] for the woodman's labour; numerous springs, of every variety of quality, and every medicinal virtue, are found on its surface. On the Pacific shore, the proximity to the rich countries of the Old World is an earnest of future Avealth ; while, through the valleys of the liocky Mountains, Nature has left an easy communication from the Atlantic States to the AVestern side. In the still untenanted wilder- ness of the interior, countless herds of bultalo, deer, and other animals of the chase, tempt the hunter to explore, and send him back enriched with their spoil. It is usual in description to divide this vast territory into three regions. Tlie lirst lies between the Atlantic and tho AUeghary Mountains; the second between this tract and the Rocky Mountains; the third extends to the Pacilic Ocean. The Atlantic States are less favoured by a fertile soil than the interior, but the indomitable energy of the liritish wlio settled them, has caused large and prosperous cities to rise on the inhospitable coast, and made it the abode of a nu- merous and wealthy population. Up to the close of the cijvhteenth century, but few settlers had crossed the Allo- ghanies ; it was known that there lay a boundless extent of fertile wilderness, ready to be made the dwelling of man, but the then scanty population of the coast had abundant occu- ])ati(m and means of wealth near them; and it was not till their increase dimiinshed the facility of 1/ecoming prosperous tliat tlu; great tide of emigration, now producing such astonishing results, be^-an to How. AVith wonderful rapidity the settlers, from hundreds be- came thousands, from thousands, millions ; still the human stream continues to pour on, year by year, over the mountains )nee of an do away ENGLA-XB m THE NEW WOELD. 251 INDIANS. [•e natural Its vast from the lie North. harbours, )i and the : interior ; ibounds in the world us springs, virtue, are oximity to ; of future y^ountaius, le Atlantic ted wilder - deer, and xplore, and I'ritory into Ltic and the ; tract and the Pacilic le soil than hitish wlio ities to rise le of a nu- loso of the d the Alle- ys extent of [)f man, but idant oceu- Nvas not till prosperous iieinp' sueli mdrcds he- thc hunuui i mountains to the land of plenty, and still each new-comer finds its riches inexhaustible. As the ilood of civilization receives these constant accessions, it spreads widely over the land • the first comers sell their cleared fields to those who follow, and then push forward for fresh conquest over the wilderness Every year the frontier of cultivation advances, on an aver- age, seventeen miles along its whole length ; still but little is covered, tor its surface is thirteen hundi-ed thousand square miles. The great Mississippi, " the father of rivers," drains the whole of this valley, for two thousand five hundred miles ; numbers of navigable rivers fiow through the rich plains on either side to pay it tribute. On the banks the vegetation is luxuriant beyond parallel : the soil is the ac- cumulated riches of the growth and decay of thousands of years, formed on the alluvial deposits of the stream. But nature has fixed the penalty of disease on those who reap these riches ; in the exuberant but swampy plains of the North-west the pale face and emaciated figure of the settler show how the slow fever and the withering ague have been at work ; and, in the fertile savannah of the South, pes- tilence and death are borne on every breeze. As the peopling of these districts proceeds, a great improvement may be worked out by the draining of the soil, the felling of the forest, the training of the exuberant fertility, which now only raises its immense vegetation to die, and poison the air in its decay. _ In this vast valley of the Mississippi, lies the future dwelling of a greater people than the world has yet seen. The lands lying near tlie slopes of the mountains are broken and barren ; the deposits of alluvial soil are less abundant ; here and there the rough granite rock peeps through; and, as 3''ou ascend, huge stones and sand cover the surface, lieyond the llocky Mountains, extending to the Pacific, lie- Oregon and California. The northern portion of the Atlantic States ofters appa- rently but few natural attractions. The coast is bleak and dangerous ; dreary sand-banks and rough rocks form its barrier ; the country is but little adorned by picturesque undulations ; sombre forests of the dark pine and the knotted oiik cover its slopes. JUit tliis soil, though not of great fertility, has been found capable of producing all the neces- saries of life, when aided by the industry of man. The difii- culties to be overcome continue strength and energy to the inhabitants ; healthy toil has (iiriched them ; luxury and indolence find no place on this stern shore. On the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, the extreme south of this country, the sea is clear and trancjuil ; imder its calm Abaters the eye can trace an abundant vegetation ; corals enrich these inaccessible fields of ocean, and beautiful if 252 HOCHELAGA; OE, fish wander tliroug'li tlie forests of their depths. On the shore, flowering shrubs and trees of lovely foliage droop their leaves and dip their buds into the sea; fruits of luscious and elsewhere unknown flavour hang in boundless profusion ; blossoms and birds, each of wonderful brilliancy and variety of colour, lend their tints to the scene ; gaudy flies by day, and bright glow-worms by night, add to its beauty ; and every production of the earth grows with unpa- ralleled richness. But this lovely land, so teeming with life, is for the Euro- pean a charnel-house ; the deadly fever is inhaled witli the odour of the scented gale ; and few have been able to with- stand the enervating influence of this delicious but deceitful climate. Even the iron Anglo-Saxon race has yielded the noble duties of labour to slaves, and has lost, together with the habits of industry, many of its characteristic virtues. To the west of this southern portion of the United States lies a country which has long^ been neglected, a prey to anarchy and oppression. It is inhabited by a mixed race of Europeans, Indians, and IS^egrocs — a wretched, slavish popu- lation, combining the vices of all, unredeemed by the virtues of any. Originally held by a simple and contented people, it became one of the rich prizes of the early Spanish con- querors. The mind does not know whether most to admire the wonderful courage of these invaders, or to denounce their villanous cruelties to the conquered. For many years, tho avaricious, the i)rofligate, and the desperate, poured in by thousands from Old Spain upon this devoted land, seized tlio produce of the country, drove the wretched inhabitants to labour in the mines, destroyed their cities and their chiefs, and left their country nothing but its name of Mexico. At the present time, nine millions of people, descendants of the oppressor and the oppressed, _ with some mixture of Africans, who have been at one time in bondage but are now fr'^o, inhabit this splendid country, a country ten times the extent of the British Islands. The Kocky Mountains run through Mexico from north to south, and are in some places upwards of Ave thousand yards in height, with summits covered by perpetual snows. The mines of gold and silver among these rugged hills are wonder- fully productive, and at a moderate height from the level of tlie sea. There are great varieties of climate and soil in this country ; immense steppes of rich land rise in some places from tlie shores of the Pacific or the tropical coasts of the (liilf of Mexico, to the cool and salubrious gorges of the rocky heights. A great portion of the land is of such extraordinary fertility that the grain returns crops ten times greater in proportion than in England. The degraded inhabitants receive these ENGLAND IN THE NEW WORLD. 253 s. On the iage droop fruits of boundless brilliaucy ne; gaudy add to its vith unpa- ' the Euro- 1 witli tlio le to with- -t deceitful ieldod the ether with drtues. itcd States a prey to sed race of vish popu- the virtues ;ed people, anish con- p to admire ounce their years, the )ured in by , SLized tlie abitants to leir chiefs, iXTCO. escendants mixture of ut are now 1 times the m north to sand yards LOWS. The re wonder- :he level of soil in this )laces from heCjiulf of ky heif^'bts. ry fertility proportion eive these alms of Nature ; no effort is required to obtain food ; the delicious climate renders but little clothing necessary. With the habit and need of exertion, ceases the power, and but energy enough remains, for every now and then a bloody and objectless revolution. It is well known that, not long since, these Mexicans seized the opportunity of Spain's prostration to throw off her yoke and set up a republic. They had none of the necessary qualities for the success of such a system, and miserable op- pression and anarchy have been the results. They have already proved themselves incapable of self-government and self-defence. The authority of the law, during the time of Spanish supremacy, was at least in a measure respected; justice was something more than a name, and the miserable country wus not harassed every year by the bloody rise of rome new tyrant. Already many of the downtrampled people sigh again for the comparative blessing of European rule, and for some protection from the grasping ambition of their neighbours of the United States. The attempts at republican governments made by the descendants of the Peninsular races, have all proved failures ; insurrections, revolutions, and wars have multiplied, till the European politician has almost ceased to bewilder himself with their details, and the general reader hears the mention of some contemptible little republic for perhaps the first time when it becomes the scene of a tragecty of unusual horror. Brazil offers a much more grateful subject of contemplation; there, under the guardianship of aristocratical institutions, society exhibits far greater stability and regularity ; industry prospers, trade flourishes : the harbour of Rio Janeiro ranks among the first in the world for the quantity of its shipping a^d the value of its cargoes. At the same time, the splendid country at the north of the River Plate is devastated by the wars of two miserable little States whose existence was scarcely known in Europe, till a handful of English and French sailors battered down one of the strongholds of the greater tyrant of the two. The regeneration of Mexico may appear a hopeless task, but at any rate her state cannot be worse than it is at pre- sent, and even a military despotism might work good. It is, however, absolutely necessary for the h'uropean Powers to preserve her from falling peacemeal into the hands of the Americans : tliey have marked lier for their prey, but they must bo disappointed; if successful in this, no one could imagine that they would then cease from fui'ther aggression. The treatment of the Indian race in America, by tlie Europeans, has generally been contemptuous and cruel : the Spaniards were apparently the most unmerciful to them, 254 iiochelaca; or, wait but the inhabitants of the United otates have been the most faithless. 8ince the Union has become a nation, many treaties have been made with the Indians, but none respected ; year after year, some j^reat extent of territory is taken from them, and a paltry bribe given, instead, to the ignorant and corrupted chief. The people of the gentle and generous Pocahontas have perished trom the land, and the magnani- mous Mohicans arc only remembered through the pages of a romance. The Indians who hover round tho magnificent country of their fathers, now the "land of tbe stranger," are few and scattered, weak and helpless, but the inextinguish- able pride of their race upholds their i^'urit ; ' he. know tliat to resist the Euro, an is vain, b^^t the\ 1 \«'; i hi i still, hate him, and shun his civilization, althou{r]i the manufactures and arms of the white men have bee m TiCLC. ary to them. The animals of the chase recede constantly into > interior, they become fewer and more difficult of access ; the only resource of the Indian is thus failing. When the English settlers first landed in America, some of the tribes received them with kindness, others with a fierce hostility, but the fate of all was ultimately the same ; as the mysterious prophecies of their old men declared, " a destruc- tion came from the rising sun." Wherevpj the axe of the settler rings in the forest, the wild animals leave for far distant haunts, and the Indian must follow them. When the Americans have thus driven away the only supply of food, thej[ call the Red Men to a meeting, and explain that this land is no longer useful for the chase, that the pale-faces will soon take it, at any rate, while farther away to the West there are boundless tracts ready to receive tbe Indians. At the same time are spread before them arms, clothing, and tinsel baubles, beads, and mirrors, to tempt them to the form of a sale|; above all, the blinding and deadly fire-water decides the bargain. To obtain this poison, they will sacrifice lands and life itself. In this manner hundi^eds of thousands of acres have been purchased for a few thousand dollars; each sale accompanied by a treaty promising them protec- tion in their remaining rights : but in a few years the process is renewed, and so on, tiU none may remain. ^ It seems to be ascertained that the Indian race cannot increase, or even exist, in contact with tho Anglo- Saxon. Their ultimate fate must be, to wander oft', a wretched rem- nant, to the dreary regions of the Hudson's Ikiy territory, till misery ends in death. J5ut a very short time in the world's history will have cleared the buft'alo and the deev from the soutli and central districts of America., by the spread of cultivation ; their only refuge will be the I^orth, ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOELD. 255 and there ^^411 be found the last of the aboriginal men and beasts of the New World. more the _ .. higher among them, ad by the distant s] >rey of tho Great Western Lakes the .pandering Indian holds sacred the honour of nn Enjlii^hman, as does the Egyptian in the streets of Cairo to tl; : day.* Axany eftbrts have bc.tn made to civilize and say;^ 'his doomed people; all have proved vain, for eivilizaticd cannot proceerl without labour, and that they hate, and regar-l ap u degradation. There have been numberless instances of Indians being tolerably edu- cated and accustomed to civilized life, but almost invariably they have returned to the freedom and hardships of the forest as soon as opportunit> offered. There are indeed settlements of the Cherokees and other tribes, which have exhibited some appearance of success and prosperity: but, every now and then, a sweep of disease thins their numbers, and, besides, their race mingles with European blood, till they too melt away. The great feature of the Indian character is pride. He considers war and the • chase as the only occupation worthy of a man. Now, they have comparatively but scanty grounds whereon to hunt, and they are too weak for war, but still the pride remains indomitable — fatal. Even in the rare cases where they do make the effort to tiU the soil and enter upon a life of civilization, the sense of inferiority to the white man in these arts drives them to despair. Their unskil- ful hands and simple ignorance soon leave them in the very lowest grade of social condition. Most of the necessaries of life must be purchased from the white man ; the scanty crops soon cease to supply the means ; they become miserably poor, having contracted the wants of civilization without the power of satisfying them ; their pride revolts at being thus bowed down before the strange race ; and they either return to the^*'^life of savage freedom and hardship, or the fire-water renders them insensible to their misery and degradation. The lands which even their imperfect toil has in some measure made valuable, are sold to supply present wants, and they go forth lost and outcast to the wilderness. The few who struggle on against all these difficulties are looked upon but as troublesome aliens in the land ; the white population surges round them on every side ; year after year, the Indians decrease in number ; portions of their land pass * The Crescent and the Cross, p. io, vol. i. 256 nOCILELAGA; OK, from tlieir hands, till, at length, no trace remains to show where they once dwelt. In all these invasions and aggressions, the States have sup- ported the white men, sometimes under the form of admitting the Indians to equality and receiving them as citizens, when of course they are instantly lost in the superiority of the European race. Many Americans do not scruple to acknowledge in conversation that tlie final object of their system with regard to the Indians is their complete extirpation. The hard laws indeed allow them an alternative of wandering farther away to the West, into unknown tracts, or perishing miserably where they now are. The central government has, however, tried several times humanely to interfere for their protection, but its feeble efforts proved useless where the interests of the separate States were concerned. An attempt was made to secure them a retreat in the distant territory of Arkansas, but already the spread of white population has reached these wilds, and extends to the confines of Mexico ; while the poor Indian emigrant from the East had to struggle even there with the fierce native tribes, who still retained the energy and courage of their savage state. When he obtained a footing, he had no encouragement to till the land, for he knew that even this was but a temporary residence. Several times before, the American nation had given them solemn guarantees in treaties, that they should never be disturbed in the possession of the lands then theirs ; but the turbulent and lawless settlers forced in everywhere among them and around them, till they could no longer remain. Jiut now the tragedy is nearly over ; few and feeble, weary and hopeless, up the far distant branches of the Arkansas they are hemmed in by the advancing tide of civilization on one side, by the jealous and hostile tribes of the interior on the other: and they now rapidly seek their only refuge, whither the white man must soon foUow, not to oppress them more, but to render an account of his misdeeds — the refuge of the grave. ^ • M. de Tocqueville quotes the following beautiful passage from the petition of the Cherokee Indians to Congress : — " By the will of our Father in Heaven, the Governor of the whole world, the red man of America has become small, and the white man great and renowned. When the ances- tors of the people of these United States came to the shores of America, they found the red man strong ; though ho was ignorant and savage, yet he received them kindly, and gave them dry land to rest their weary feet. They met in peace, and shook hands in token of friendship. Whatever the white man wanted and asked of the Indian, the latter . willingly gave. At that time the Indian was the lord and ENGLAIs^D IN THE NEW WOLLT). 257 IS to show have sup- admittiiip: IS, when of European wledge in ith regard hard laws ther away miserably , however, protection, •ests of the le to secure xnsas, but hed these le the poor even there the energy )btained a nd, for he e. riven them . never be 's ; but the lere among er remain, ble, weary 3 Arkansas lization on interior on dy refuge, to oppress deeds — the ul passage ress : — overnor of ome small, the ances- the shores gh ho was , and gave ; in peace, Ltever the the latter lord and the white man the suppliant ; but now the scene has changed. The strength of the red man has become weakness. As liis ntighbours increased in numbers, his power became less and less, and now, of the many and powerful tribes who once covered these United States, only a fpw are to be seen— a few whom a sweeping pestilence has left. The Northern tribes who were once so numerous and powerful, arc now nearly extinct. Thus it has happened to the red men of America; shall we, who are the remnant, share the same fate? "The land on which we stand we have received as an heritage from our fathers, who possessed it from time im- memorial, as a gift from our common Father in Heaven; they bequeathed it to us, as their children, and we have sacredly kept it as containing the remains of our beloved men. This right of inheritance we have never ceded and never forfeited." In Mexico and South America, where the Peninsular races once exercised such enormous barbarities upon the Indians, they have ultimately amalgamated witli them, and the condi- tion of the nation has been somewhat raised in the scale of civilization. This result was rather irom causes of inferiority in this European branch, than from any merit on their part ; their place above the Indian was not too high for them to mix and be confounded together. But the Anglo-Saxons, haughty, repulsive, contemptuous, will brook no equality — those with whom they mix must become slaves, or die. The negro lives in chains — the Indian dies in freedom. NOVA SCOTIA- CHAPTER XXVII. -NEW BErNSWICK— THE ISLANDS- HUDSON'S BAY. The last sight I visited at Boston, was the steam-packet which was to carry me to England, for the purpose of securing- a berth ; being one of the latest applicants I got but an in- different one. She wns a splendid vessel ; even to a lands- man's eye, it was evident she would not disappoint those who had built her for strength and speed. Some dozen of the passengers were known to me, enough to form a very pleasant party, and many among the remainder were infinite sources of fun. There were Haiubur,-^' Jews, Spaniards Iroin the Ilavannah, Northerns and Southerns, West -rns, Eiiglisli, Canadians, and a few who had no country in particular. One man was going to England on a sijeculation of selling Indian corn to the Poor-law Unions ; auotherwas the owner s 258 nocnELAGA ; on, of a large importation of Yankee clocks, and was of course christened "Sam Slick;" another was going to examine the last improvements in cotton- spinning ; and a family of four brothers and a sister were going to sing in England. AVhen the gun was hred, as we started on our voyage, this family sang, with much feeling and eftect, the *' Farewell to New England." Their music was a great source of enjoyment to us on the voyage. Some of the Yankee songs were excellent, rich in native wit and the inimitable "Down East" twan«^ They were children of a farmer in Massachusetts, had made home money by singing in their own country, and were on their way to try theii* chance abroad. The sister was a pretty and very interesting girl, not more than sixteen years of age. I have not heard of them since they reached Eng- land, but we all felt quite an interest in their success. I hope their voyage to Europe may not have proved too bold a speculation. There was also an "Abolitionist Lecturer," onboard, a man of colour, who had been a slave to his own father, and made his escape from the most cruel treatment. He had not received any education till after getting free, which was not very long ago, but appeared to be intelligent and well in- formed at this time. He was bound for England, to collect funds by his lectures, for advancing the cause of Abolition in the United States. The lloman Catholic Bishoxi of Oregon a,nd several Belgian priests were also among the passengers. We had a fair passage of thirty- six hours to Halifax. This is one of the finest harbours in the world, affording sufficient anchorage and shelter for twicewthe number of ships in the British Navy. The entrance, when not obscured l)y fog, is so safe that the largest- sized ships need no other guide into it than their charts. There arc several small islands in the channel, not interfering with its navigation, but assist- ing its defence. In winter, the ice very rarely closes its shelter, and on that account it is the great naval depot for our North American possessions. Three formidable forts protect the entrance. There are many splendid harbours on this coast, far more numerous than those of the United States, but as yet the scanty and indigent population have turned them to but little account. The town of Halifax is on a small peninsula, standing on a slope, which rises from the water's edge to the citadel ; this strong hold crowns the summit, and is now able to with- stand any force likely to be brought against it. At hrst it was built by contract, and so badly, that most of it fell down; but afterwards it was fully repaired and strength- ENGLAND IN THE NEW WORLD. 2.59 ened. A detachment of artillery and three regiments of the line are allotted to its defence. The streets of the town are wide and convenient, crossing each other at right angles ; its extent is nearly two miles in length hy half a mile in hreadth. The wharfs are well suited for the purposes of commerce, and furnished with roomy warehouses, but, to say truth, the place has anything but a prosperous appearance, and but little trade or business is carried on. The houses are principally built of wood, and poor-looking, but some of tlie private dwellings are handsome and comfortable, and the ' Provincial building' is one of the hnest in North America. There are also several other creditable public cdihces, and the dockyard is on a large scale, but I understand that at present it is not well supplied or in good repair. When the French first settled in this country, they caUed it ' Acadic.' They lived amicably with the Mic-Mac Indians, the principal of the aboriginal tribes, and taught them the vices, if not the uses, of civilization. They converted them indeed nominally to Christianity, and turned this to account afterwards by telling them that the English, with whom they were at war, were the people who had crucitied the " Saviour." These Indians were fierce and warlike, of taU stature and great activity, but these advantages availed them little ; the poison of the fire-water, and the white man's wars, wasted them away. Now, perhaps, there are about two thousand left : tlie poor remnant is humanely treated, and, in some instances, has made progress in civili- zation; but far the greater number still roam the forests in the chase, and dissipate their spoil in drunkenness and debauchery. There are still a number of the French in Acadie, de- scendants of those who remained in the country after the English conquest; but bjr far the larger portion of the population at present is of the British race. The name of Nova Scotia was given to this province alter its becoming an apanage of the English Crown. The southern portion of the country is rocky and poor, the northern shore far more ferrie: the climate, though severe in winter aad foggy at ai. times on the coast, is favourable for the health oi man and for vegetation. The peach and the grape ripen in the ope i air, and the labours of agriculture are now vigorously plied, and gratefully repaid. The mineral riches of this colony are very great ; good coal is found in inexhaustible quantities ; the fisheries are also mines of wealth. These resources have been as yet but little developed; now, the increasing population and the greater attention paid in England to their interests is S 2 260 HOCHELAGA; OE, '4 . \ beginning to operate. The area of the province is about fifteen thonsanu. square miles. The form of colonial government is much the same as in Canada. The people have always proved thomsolvos loyul and faithful subjects of the British crown, particularly at the time of the Canadian troubles. A few words about the otlier British North American possessions may not be out of jjlace before we leave these shores. JN^EW BiiUNSW^iCK lies between Canada and the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the north and east, the State of Maine to the west, and the Bay of Fundy, o])ening' into the Atlantic, to the south, and contains nearly thirty thousnnd square miles of extent. The surface of the country is much like that of Canathi, except that a few ])rairies vary the monotony of the dark woods. There are many noble rivers, well li'tted for navigation ; the timber v.'hicli is floated down by them to the sea, is as fine as in any part of the New World. Tlie principal river, the Miramichi, pours its riches and its watt^rs into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. On its banks, in 1825, at the beginning of October, tbe woods, long parched up with the druu.;iit of an intensely hot summer, took tire. For some time the progress of the flames v/as slow, but on the 7th of the month there arose a dreadful tempest of thimder, liglit- ning, and wind, which carried on the destruction with frightful rapidity ; for a hundred miles along the north bank of the river, every tree and house was destroyed ; N ewcastle and Douglastown, two thriving villages, numbers of vessels, and more than +ive^ hundred people were burnt that day, and those who survived lost all their means of subsistence in th(^ ruin of their dwellings and farms. Their fellow- subjects of England and America sent them forty thousand pounds to relieve their distress. The tracts of country near the Miramichi are very rich ; tlie interior, to the nortli-west, is but little known. Along the navigalile waters, the districts then bui'nt are now re-settled antl more prosperous than ever. The villages have been replaced by handsome towns, and a large number of vessels sail each year from them to the English shores, laden with noble timber. There are numerous lakes and streams in the central parts of tliis province, with a great extent of rich land, as yet unsubdued oy the labour of man. On tho seaboard tlrere are various deep and safe bays, stored vatli vast ([uantities offish. St. John's, th'> largest town of the province, is well situ- ated, and has some fine public buildings ; it is advancing rapidly in wealth and population; tlie harbour is very good, and the noble river of St. John, nx. hundred miles in length, flows by the walls, aixd is navigaDlo up to Ergdcrickton, the ENGLAND IN THE NEW AVOHLD. 261 is about same as in 3h'es loj'al icularly at American eave these Gulf of St. ino to tlio Atlantic, to _uare miles ike tliat of onotony of well iitteil n by tliem orld. TJie I its waters 82o, at the p witli the For some the 7th of ider, lio-ht- ction with north bank ^iewcastle 1 of vessels, ' that day, subsistence eir fellow- 7 thousand mtry near .ort]i-west, le districts Tous than me toAvns, n them to There are ts of tliis insubdued re various fish. well situ- idvaneiii,i>" i^eryg'ood, in lengtli, 3ktou, the capital, ninety miles distant, through a beautiful and in many parts fertile country. Frederiokton is built chiefly of wood, with the exception of the public buildings; the popuhation is prosperous and increasing. There are ' several other improving towns in different parts of the province. Here also mineral productions are in considerable quantity, coal and iron are abundant, and some copper has been found ; there are also numerous mineral springs of great value ; but all these natural advan- tages are as yet turned to but little accoimt. The climate is much the same as that of Nova Scotia, but less foggy. The men of New lirunswick are tall and stalwart, hardy v/oodsmen and bold lisliers, loyal and faithfid to the mother country. Their Colonial Government is like that of the otlier North Ameiican provinces, and like them their Tarlia- ment has its violent internal political struggles. Within twenty years, the_ revenue has trebled; the roads and other internal communications, and the education of the people, are now attracting due attention and receiving great improve- ment. This province formed a part of Nova Scotia till the year 1785, when Colonel Carleton was appointed its Governor as a separate administration. _ To his exemplary ride its pro- gress in civilization is chieHy due ; for twenty years he devoted himself to its interests. The original settlers were nearljr all men who had adhered to the royal cause in the rebellion of the United States, and to whom lands were given in this country: their high and loyal spirit has not weakened in their descendants. The mosc anxious period of tlie history of this province was when the boundary between it and the American State of Miiine was in disi)iitc ; its inhabitants more than once came in contact with their republican neighbours while cutting timber on the disputed territory. At length the difficult (luestion was cet at rest l)y_ the mission of Lord Ashburton, and the great struggle of principles between the two countries deferrcH.1 to some other occasion. There was a furious excitement in the Northern States of America at this period (1842), and a strong tide ran again^;t any concession to England; but the very politic step of sending out a rienipotentiary of high rank, anil connected in America, flattered the angry passions tu rest. The best terms consistent with peace were then no doubt uuide for England, but it has not unjustly been called a "capitulation:" it was a yielding of strongly-grounded rights to the threat of war. It is well known that Lord Ashburton's s(>ttlement was at first indignantly rejected by the Eastern States of America. Lot their ablest iruin, per- haps the ablest stiiteamuu America has ever produced, Mr. ti/ 'f" .liit 262 nOCHELAGA; OE, Webster, whose head was clear from passion, and keen in the interests of his country, saw at a glance that a most advantageous oft'er had been made, and devoted his best powers to cause its acceptance. His difficulties were very- great ; the men he had to deal with were the epitomes of the frantic and greedy mob, and for a considerable time he found them impracticable. Fortunately, however, during this delay, an old map of North America, formerly the property of Benjamin Franklin, was found: on this was marked the boundary settled in 1783, the close of the revolutionary war, with observations in his own handwriting. This gave the exact division claimed by the English ever since. Armed with this im- portant document, he again addressed his refractory country- men, showing them the map, telling them that its contents would probablv very soon transpire, and then they would bo obliged to yield, in justice, the whole territory in disimte ; but, if they concluded the treaty on Lord Ashburton's olfcr, they would make a most advantageous bargain. This re- monstrance was instantly successful ; the arrangement was agreed upon, and they had the gratification of knoAving that, though the full extent of their claims was not allowed, they had at least been able to get more than their due, and to circumvent England in the transaction. Altliough Mr. Webster displayed such consummate sldll in this atf'air, and in a manner so congenial to the Yankee heart — strange to say, it has been among the sovereign mil- lions a great element of unpopularity for him ; however, hu is consoled by the estimation of his valuable services by the wealthy and enlightened of his fellow- citizens, who are very grateful to him, and show their gratitude in a manner more solid than mere pojiularity. He gave his country a most advantageous peace instead of a devastating war. After leaving Halifax, we pass the island of Oaimo Biieton. At present, with several other smaller islands, it forms part of the government of Nova Scotia, from which it is divided by a narrow arm of the sea. Its surface is about two millions of acres. Sebastian Cabot discovered it in 1497, but it re- mained unnoticed till the beginning of the cigliteenth cen- tury, when a few French hshermen began to irequent its shores in summer, and in winter the fur-traders from Nova Scotia opened a small commerce with the Indians. In 1720, Louis XiV. of France colonized the island and (greeted strong' Ibrtitications at Louisburg, on the south-east coast: tlio hsheries had become important, and these harl)ours were a great security to the; trade of the Canadian settlements. The Indians were friendly to the French, and assisted them iu their wars with the English of Nova Scotia. ENGLAI^D m THE NEAV WORLD. 263 id keen in lat a most [d bis best were Tory |)mes of the ^c he found •Id map of Franklin, settled in jservations |ct division ih tbis im- y country- ts contents y would bo in dispute ; ton's ollbr, Tbis ro- rement was i knowiiifj' ot allowed, ir due, and imate sldll tbe Yankee ereign niil- lowever, ho ices by the bo arc very anner more try a most 'E BllETOX. forms j);irt : is divided vo millions , but it ro- eentli con- sequent its from iS^ovii . In 1720, pted strolls;' .'.oast : the urs were a cuts. Tlio 'd them in In 1745, an expedition of the always brave, and then loyal, colonists of New England, numbering: four thousand men, under Grencral William Pepperall, besieged and took this stronghold ot Louisburg m a very gallant manner; ten years afterwards, however, it was restored to the French by treaty. Again, in 1758, Admiral Boscawen and General Amherst retook it after some sharp hghting, and inflicted a severe injury on the French navy. On this occasion General Wolfe commanded a division, and sho^ .d himself worthy of being chosen for the glories of Quebec. Soon after the cap- ture, the fortifications were razed, and have never since been rebuilt. This island attracted but little attention till after the sepa- ration of the colonies from England, when some of the expa- triated loyalists settled there. In this century, many hardy Scottish Highlanders have increased the population. The shape of Cape Breton is very singular ; the outer lines are nearly thosp of a triangle, but indented with many harbours and numerous inlets. A great arm of the sea, entering op ■ posite to Newfoundland, nearly divides it into two equal parts, and almost joins the narrow passage between this island and Nova Scotia. The neck of land separating these waters is not a mile broad, and will no doubt be cut through at no distant day, for the whole of this sea lake is navigable by large vessels, and this slight ^ obstruction cannot long be allowed to check the free transit. Creeks and inlets from these central waters open up almost every nook in the island to the free access of shipping. There are also large fresh-water lakes, one, Lake Marguerite, twelve milos in diameter. Louisburg has an admirable harbour, but the entrance is narrow; its shores are now nearly; desolate, and Hocks of sheep graze peacefully over the ruins of the stronghold so hardly won ; to this day may be seen, under the pure waters, the wrecks of the large French ships sunk in the struggle ._ Where the warlike and prosperous town once stood, are half a dozen huts, giving shelter to a few fishermen of French descent. The North and AVest districts_ nrti the most fertile and thickly peopled, but their seaboard is bleak and danger- ous. The various rocks and islands of the coasts of Cape Breton have hccn the cause of frequent and horrible disasters ; their full extent can never be ascertained, but it is known that, within thirty years, more than a hundred thousand tons of sliipping, and two tliousand human bodies, have strewn, this stormy shoro, from Sable Island to the Gulf of St. i^awrenco. Any one who has skirted these wild coasts in the dark and c}ully winter nights, while the stroiig soutli- east wind rolls the waves of the great Atlantic against their rough barrier, cannot forget their terrors. 264 nOCHELAGA; OE, In the nortli-castern part of the island is a district of rich coal-beds, a himdred-and-twenty square miles in extent; there is also a coal country in the west, but this last is not much known. In a small river Hewing through an explored tract, the water is highly charged with gas ; Avomen often make a small hole in the bank, lill it up with stones, and apply a light; ablaze immediately springs up; the water p'^on boils, and is available for their use in washing and other hv. usehold purposes ; the fire would last for weeks, or months, if not extinguished. This phenomenon has only been ob- served since the opening of a large mine, from which the outburst of water Howed into the river. The island pro- duces a vast quantity of valuable gypsum, of which the people of the United States purchase ship-loads every year. Kature has also supplied abundant salt-springs, and there is coal close at hand to complete their usefulness for the inex- haustible lisheries of the coast. Copper, iron and lead are found in variety and plenty. The soil, except on the banks of the lakes and rivers, is light and poor, but a great extent of it is capable of cultivation ; the climate resembles that of Nova Scotia. Ilemains of animals of a great size have been found in the earth ; when the country was first settled moose and cariboo-deer were very numerous, but they have shared the fate of the Indians, and are now as rare as they ; at this day, only about three hundred of the Mic-Macs remain there. The population is still scanty ; they export provisions to Newfoundland, and hsh, tiniber, coal, and gypsum to other countriL,o ; their little trade increases rapidly. Sydney, the capital of the island, is near tlie entrance of the " liras d'Or," or great central arm of the sea, built on a small pro- montory, and has a goo(f harbour. The people of Capo Ereton are a simple, honest, and virtuous race, well affected to Great Britain, but not so far advanced in social progress as their western neighbours. Schools are now spreading over the country, and as wealthy and adventurous people become better acquainted with the great resources of the island, the general prosperity increases. PiiiNCE Edwaed s Island lies in a great bay in the QuK of St. Lawrence, formed by the northern outline of the three districts I have last spoken of. It is a hundred and forty miles in length, and tl'i cv-four in breadth in the widest part. Northumberland SLi'iJ (,, 'n, soi^ ') places only nine miles wide, separates it from Ne\. I > runs wick and Nova Scotia. Tlie area of the island ^'s about two thousand sq tare miles. The features of this mhilIiv aro fofrcT thau ohosci of its neiglibours; tliere are no n) run(:iin'>'. but gentle and fertile undulations, clothed, to the m;^:''s edge, with v'Juable woods ENGLAND IN THE NEW WORLD. 265 ct of rieli extent ; ast is not explored leii often >nes, and he water md other months, been ob- hich the and pro- hich the ery year, d there is the inex- . lead are he banks at extent )s that of Lave been ed moose ^e shared they ; at 5S remain visions to 1 to other iney, the e "Bras tnall pro- of Capo 1 affected progress preading" IS people !S of the the Gulf the three ,nd forty lo wddest ino miles a Scotia, re miles. '8(5 of its id fertile >le woods and rich verdure. The north shore is very beautiful ; many cheerful villages and green clearings, with small lakes, shady harbours, and numerous streams, diversify its scenery. In the coui'se of a^es, the vast flood of the Itiver St. Law- rence has worked indentations into every part of the coast : there is not a spot of this district more than seven or eight miles distant from some arm of the sea ; many of these att'ord shelter to large ships, driven by stress of weather und(3r its crescent-shaped shore, while all are deep enough for the small vessels used in the coasting trade. On the south-east of the island stands Charlotte-town, the capital, at the coniiuence of three rivers, at the end of Hills- borough Bay. This is an excellent and well-defended har- bour : the town is, as yet, but small ; it contains the public buildings of the island. The neighbourhood yields only to Quebec in beauty among the scenes of British North America. Its shores are soft, and partly cleared ; the rivers wind gracefully through forests of varied foliage ; life is given to the picture by the cheerful town ; grandeur and variety by the blue and lofty mountains of Nova Scotia in the distance. This island was also discovered by Sebastian Cabot in 1497. The French first used it as a fishing station, and began to colonize it about the beginning of the eighteenth century. These settlers took part vigorously against the English in their endless wars in those countries. When the conquerors of Louisburg took possession of this island of St. John, as it was then called, they found a number of their countrymen's scalps in the French Governor's house. At the end of the last century some Scottish emigrants found their way hither, and most of the present inhabitants are their descendants. The late Duke of Kent, when Governor of Nova Scotia, paid great attention to this island ; since his time it has improved very much, and its name, in honour of him, was changed to Prhice Edward's Island. The land is admirably adapted for pastoral and agri- cultural purposes, but is denied the mineral wealth ot tlie neighbouring districts : ten times the number of people now scattered over its surface would find abundant room and support. There are about eighty schools, and a proportion- ate number of churches.* A Governor is appointed by tlie English erown, and the internal government it? the same as in the sister colonies. Two or three newspapers are pub- lished in the island, and it is not without its mustard-pot storms of politics. The fisheries of these shores are ot great value, but little advantage is taken of this resource. Many * 1840. 266 HOCnELAGA ; OK, •!..? zM \ ships are built on the island, and sold to the neighbouring colonies, but year by year its increasing trade requires a greater number for its own uses. Prince Edward's Island is more favoured in climate than any other part of North America: it has neither the extremes of heat and cold of Canada, nor the fogs of Nova Scotia and Cape J3reton ; fevers and consumption are almost unknown ; the air is dry and bracing ; the sickly and Aveak, under its salubrious influence, soon become healthy and robust : and the age of live score years is often reached in vigour of mind and body. This happy country furnishes plenty, but not wealth : the people are nospitable, moral, and contented. There is in this Western World yet another region, of vast size, belonging to the British crown: it extends from tlie Labrador Coast to the Pacihc, four thousand miles from east to west, and from Canada to the North Pole.^ In its untrodden solitudes, and among the eternal snows of its mountains, lie the mysterious sources of those vast rivers which intersect the plains of the Northern Continent. This dreary tract is called the Hudson's 15a ^: Tekritohy. A ridge of mountains runs some degrees to the north of, and parallel to the 8t. Lawrence lliver, as far as the sources of the Ottawa; there it bends away to the north-west, tilL above Lake Superior, it again inclines to the south, sending out a branch to the un- known regions of the north-west. About three thousand miles from the eastern shores of the continent, these branches meet the great line of the Kocky Mountains, running from north to soutli. Numbers of large rivers flow from these ranges, some to the Cfulf of Mexico, others into the Pacific ; some into the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence, others into Hudsoi 's Bay and th(5 frozen oceans of th" North. These moimtains are nearly live hundred miles in breadth ; to tlie east lies a marshy country where coal abounds ; next to this arc immense plains or prairies; and, still further east, a desert of rocks and sand, lakes and. rivers, stretches away to an unknown distiice. On the north, this dreary, trackless waste extends to the frozen seas. On the south-west of the "Barren Land" are the Grc^t Bear and Slave Lakes, nearly as large as Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. The southern shores are rich and level, the waters dotted with islands, which are covered with dark woods, and well stocked with Indian deer. The Lake Athabasca, lying north-west of these, is of great liuigth but very narrow ; the hardy adventurers w^ho \vd\c readied its distant sliores, describe them to be of great beauty ; two other extensive sheets of fresh water communi- cate with it. In this neighbourhood, and between it and the great hikes of tlie St. Lawrence, are many fertile plains, ht for the habitations of millions of civilized men. ENGLAND IN THE NEW WOELD. flibouriug: equires a 's Island of A^orth d cold of n; fevers Iryand influence, Ave score iy. Tliis lie people n, of vast from the i'oni east mtrodden atains, li(3 intersect ly tract is nountains to the Hfc. wa; there iiperior, it to the lui- thousand 3 branches aing" from rom those e Pacitic; thers into h. These bh; to tlie !xt to this er east, a s away to trackless ■est of the , nearly as ern shores syhich are lian deer. s of great ivho Jiave of great }ommuni- t and the plains, lit 267 Again, Lake Winnipeg fills up a portion of the remaining space towards the source of the 8t. La^vrence ; its length is tAVo-hundred and forty miles ; the breadth varies from ten to fifty. A portion of its waters flows into Lake Superior, through the Lake of the Woods ; the greater part, however, falls to the north-west, by large rivers, but little known, leading to Hudson's Bay. In all these vast lakes the northern shores are rocky, abrupt and barren, the southern, rich and level, as though the alluvial deposits of some great flood, flowing from the north-west to the south-east for many ages, had poured their riches upon them. The rivers which flow through this region are but little explored, and but imperlect knowledge is yet obtained of their size and capabilities ; several of those falling into Hud- son's Bay, however, have been traced for more than two thousand miles, but their extreme sources man has not yet reached. In^ speaking of the Pacific coast of the Hudson's Bay Territory, we shall pass over that already described under the head of Oregon. The districts further north are called New Georgia, facing Vancouver's Island, or Nootka, the more familiar name. Here some mountains rise to a great height, white with eternal snows ; but the plains and valleys are fertile, and dotted with rich woods. Clear brooks wander among these undulations, and an exuberant vegetation shows the wealth of the soil, and the mildness of the climate ; all the trees of Europe flourish here, and grow to an enormous size. AVinter spares the western coasts of the American con- tinent ; the soft breezes of the Pacific temper its severity. For three hundred more miles of seaboard to the north, tlie country is called New Hanover ; its general characteristics are like those of the district last described, but rather more severe. New Cornwall extends thence to the Ilussian pos- sessions : the climate and the productions show the approach to the Pole, but near the sea, the forests are still luxuriant. Many hot springs are here observed among the rocky hills. The numerous islands along the coast are covered with lofty pines, and have a comparatively mild climate up to tlie Htraits which separate the Old World from the New. Many mountainous islands, of rare and beautiful rock, form almost a connecting chain between the two promontories of Kam- schatka and Alasca ; some of these spout up volcanic fires, otluTs are bound in perpetual ice. From Behring's Straits along to the north-east are nume- rous other large and dreary islands, some nearly of the ex- tent of Ireland, but the snow, and rank, poor grasses are their only covering : beyond them is the bound of human enterprise. 268 nOCHELAGA; OR, Jt^.ij M 'M>: 41- 'A _ Tlie nortliern slioro of Hudson's Bay is the land of desola- tion ; lofty mountains of sliattercd rock, covered with ico which the sun has never conquered ; valleys where the deep drifts of snow have hidden their slopes since the Hood. In a few favoured spots, during the briei and fiery summer, some stunted pines and coarse moss show that Nature is not dead, but sleeping-. Lakes, SAvamps, and eternal solitudes cover the interior. On the south-western shore are many symp- toms of recent volcanic action : there are great seams of coal, iron, and copper. On the south shore, potatoes and other vegetables have been produced, and corn woidd, probably, succeed, but has not yet been tried. Further in the interior, the productions are those of a milder climate than tliat of Lower Canada. On the coast of the bay the winter is awful in its severity, and for six months all nature is imprisoned in ico and snow: at some of the settlements of the fur- traders, the thermometer in January is often down to lifty degrees below zero,_ the rivers and lakes arc frozen to the bottom ; and even in the rooms inhabited by the traders, spirits have been known to freeze into a solid mass. Wlien the withering north wind blows, it is almost beyond the power of man t^ bear. The particles of ice borne on its frozen breath, are aiiven like poisoned arrows into the flesh, and cover it with sores. ^ Notwithstanding theii' warm fur clothing and careful liabits, the Europeans are often frost- bitten in these awful winters : the wretched natives fre- quently perish, llocks are rent by the grasp of the frost, and, with a crash like the roar of artillery, burst into frag- ments, and are scattered to a great J i stance round. Often, for many days, the sun is hidden by dense masses of vapour, rising froai tlie sea, and condensed by ihe cold on the coasts. In the severest times, false suns and moons throw their chill and ghastly glare over the white waste ; and, from the in- accessible regions of the Pole, livid Haslies illumine tlie dark skies with a sinister and mysterious light. For the three months of summer a more than tropical lieat opens this dreary wilderness to the fearless sailors of England, but squalls and currents of terrible violence are to be braved in reaching it. Borne by tho tides and winds, huge icebergs glide among these perilous seas, sometimes crushing the largest ships like nut-shells ; in one month of one year, April, 1825, twenty-Hvo vessels were lost in Mel- ville Bay. Three distinct native races are condemned to inh l)it tliis dismal country. All are on very friendly terms ^ ah the servants of the Hudson's Bay Company. They are t pert in the chase, and gifted with wonderful endurance ; their manners are mild and kind, and they are faithful when any ENGLAND IN THE NEW WORLD. 269 trust is reposed in them ; but when the accursed firo-watcr is within their reach, no tig-er is more fierce and ])lood- thirsty. Very little can be said in favour of their moral character, and they, too, are rapidly diminishing in number. The race sinks lower in the scale of humanity .ts they spread towards the north and east : there they hunt Avith the boAV and arrow, and fish with nets made of thongs from the skins of beasts ; many eat their food raw, others seethe it in birch bark vessels, tilled with water heated by hot stones. They are filthy and disgusting in their habits ; their horses and other domesticated brutes eat animal food ; grass and herb- nge, even in the summer, being very scanty. These Indians leave their dead to the carrion birds and to the wild beasts of the hills. When old age comes on, and they are helpless, their fate is to lie down and perish ; neither child nor friend will minister to their wants. In nearly all qualities of mind and body, they are a mean and wretched people. The Esquimaux dwell further to the north, and from time immemorial have warred against these Indians, Avho are stronger, and treat them with great barbarity : these are a feeble and timorous race, inhabiting chielly the islands and peninsulas, where they think themselves more safe from their dangerous neighbours. Of late years the English have made peace between them ; but the Esquimaux do not yet dare to venture near the trading factories. In the summer a sloop visits theii' coast and receives their furs, in exchange for European goods. They are of a low and imsightly figure ; their weapons clumsy and inefficient, but much ingenuity is displayed in some of their attempts at ornament. In winter they wander from lake to rivei-, cut- ting holes in the ice, catching fish and eating it raw : their huts are low and wretched, covered with the skins of deer. Various tribes of these Esquimaux are scattered through this vast northern region, and along the shores of the Polar sea. The moose, rein-deer, the buffalo, the bear, and many other animals, are here to be found, with nearly every bird which we have in England. AVhales and seals frequent the neighbouring waters in great numbers, with salmon, cape- Jines, and many other dainty fish : in winter tliey seek some milder climate, and leave the wretched inhabitants to the risk of starvation. Stores are laid in against these times ot' famine, and some of the coarse herbage assists in the support of life. The first Europ^v ^ w i^. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 = ii£ lU 12.2 I.I I -^ ilia \M ¥^ II '-6 v^ o 7 / PhotDgraphic Sciences Corporation 33 WIST MAIN STRUT WEBSTH.N.Y. 14SS0 (716) 872-4503 \ iV <^ SJ :\ \ J^ >J^ ^V^ "-^ ;\ t.?** . c^ 272 HOCnELAOA ; OR, i use of this population, and the soft pastoral undulations of Prince Edward's Island yield them plentifully, sheep and cattle. The coal-ioines of Nova Scotia afford it a similar prospect, and railways will develop the various resources of its mineral and agricultural wealth. The inexhaustible supplies of lish from its waters, will be borne into the interior to add to its luxury and wealth; and thence, grain and manufactures to the fishers and traders of the coast. Steamers will pry into every nook and bay along the shores, and from their vivifying touch prosperous towns spring- up on each accessible pomt. As the forest falls before the axe, and the labour oi man drains the morasses and tills the wastes of the interior, the heavens will reflect the softened face of the earth, the frosts of winter relax their iron hold, and the gloomy curtains of the mist rise for ever from off tho rocky shore. These are no vague speculations, no mere probabilities, they are as certain as any human prospect can be. The experience of two hundred years in Britisli colonization not varying as much as the crops of different seasons, the general progress is reduced to an absolute certainty. In a particular ratio the populations have increased, from the first men who trod these western shores to the millions of to-day. The general proportion of increase in these lower provinces since any census has been obtained, is that of doubling in twenty- five years ; bv this rate — ^to which there is scarcely an excep- tion on the American Continent — ^in a hundred years they will contain more than six millions of souls. It is therefore of vast moment now to the Christian, the philanthropist, and the politician, to guard the infancy of such a people, to watch with paternal care the development of national character, to foster feelings of affection and respect for their mother country, to observe with untiring eye the progress of religion and education. There is no doubt or anxiety with respect to tho progress to be made by these provinces in material prosperity; as certainly as years roll on they will become rich and populous. But on the events of the present day their moral progress must mainly depend. England is never backwarcl in tho cause of Christianity and enlightenment, but sometimes per- haps injudicious in her exertions. The noble courage and uncomplaining devotion of many of her sons among the dark and hopeless millions of the heatlien, must ever be a source of pride, and a high example ; but, had half these sacrifices been made in tho wilds of North America, to retain tlio dis- tant settlers in tlio faith and habits of their fathers, the result would have been infinitely more important. I am rcjoicgd to my that lately much has been done, and ENGLAND IN THE NEW -WORLD. 273 that much more is doing ; that the *' Spirit of the Age" now inttuencing the brightest minds and warmest hearts in Church and State — no matter by what nickname it may be called — purifies the blood which throbs in the heart of hnp;- land's empire, and already the vigorous and healthy current reaches the most distant and the most humble portion of her wide dominions. The Church of England is at present that of only one- fourth of the population of these provinces, but by far the most enlightened and wealthy portion of the community belong to it. Of late years, the class of men obtaining orders is very much improved, and their supply better adapted to the necessities of the congregations. The Bishop of Nova Scotia, who resides at Halifax, exercises ecclesiastical juris- diction over them all except New Brunswick, which has one of its own. The Scottish Communion has the greatest num- ber of members ; the Roman Catholics are about the seventh part of the population. A voyage across the Atlantic in the autumn, on board a steamer, does not afford much variety of incident. Our prospect of pleasant society was spoiled by the effect of the sea, calm though it was, upon the nealth of some of our fel- low-passengers. The first week was intensely dull ; a little concert on the deck, and a rubber of whist, our only resources ; there were indeed a few books, but of course they were not those we wanted, and besides, in no place is one so idle as on board a packet-ship. There is always some little interrup- tion, some slight rut in the smooth road of monotony, to dis- turb the attention, and to prevent you from sitting down quietly to read. One morning, earlier than the usual time of rising, the steward awakened us with the news that icebergs were close ut hand. This was charming intelligence, for so late in the season they are but rarely met with ; we were all soon on deck, and for a worthy object. One was a grand fellow, with two great domes, each as large as that of St. Paul's ; the lower part was like frosted silver. "Where the heat of the sun had melted the surface, and it had frozen again, in its gradual decay it had assumed all sorts of angular and fan- tastic shapes, reflecting from its green, transparent mass thousands of ])rismatic colours; while, below, the gentle swell dallied mth its cliff-like sides. The action of the waves had worn away a great portion of the base over the water, into decT) nooks and caves, destroying the balance of the mass ; while we were passing, the crisis of this tedious pro- ijcss chanced to arrive ; the huge white rock tottered for a T 274 HOCnELAOA; oil, t'iw^V^ ( 1 moment, then fell into the calm sea, with a sound like the roar of a thousand cannon ; the spray rose to a gi'eat heij^ht into the air, and large waves rolled round, spreading their wide circles over the ocean, each ring diminishing till, at length, they sank to rest. When the spray had fallen again, the glittering domes had vanished, and a long, low island of rough snow and ice lay on the surface of the water. There is something impressive and dismal in the fate of these cold and lonely wanderers of the deep. They break loose, by some great etfort of nature, from the shores and rivers of the unknown regions of the north, where, for cen- turies perhaps, they have Deen accumulating, and commence their dreary voyage, which has no end but in annihilation. For years they may wander in the Polar Sea, till some strong gale or current bears them past its iron limits ; then, by the predominance of winds and waters to the south, they float past the desolate coasts of Newfoundland. Already the sum- mer sun makes sad havoc inUJieir strength, melting their lofty heights ; but each night's frost binds up what is left, and still on, on, glides the ^reat mass, slowly, solemnly. You cannot perceive that it stirs, the greatest storni does not rock it, the keenest eye cannot discover a motion, but, moment by moment, day by day, it passes to the south, where it wastes away and vanishes at last. In June and July they are most numerous in these seas, and there is often much danger from their neighbourhood in the dark moonless nights ; but the thermometer, if consulted, will always indicate their approach; it fell eight degrees when we neared the iceberg which I have now described, and the cold was sensibly felt. As the vessel became hg^hter, from the consumption of the coal, her speed increased, till we gained nearly three hundred miles a day. In an incredibly short time we had a view of the blue mountains of Ireland. There are few people in these days of general travel who have not enjoyed at some period of their lives the rapture of the first sight of the British Isles, after a long absence from their beloved shores ; in that distant view the picture is filled up with happy memories and joyful anticipations. As you approach nearer and the hills and valleys are distinguislied, with their dark groves and rich verdure, the ruined tower, the humble cottage, the peaceful village, and the tall spire ** pointing up to Heaven," the days of absence seem but a moment, and the recollection of parting grief yields to the joyful hope of the approaching meeting. It was unuouuced to us that the next morning we should be at Liverpool. On tlio concluding day of the voyage it is usual to prolong the dinner hour beyond the ordinary time ; EXGLAXD IN TnE NEW WOULD. 275 11(1 liketho reat height ading their ing till, at lUen again, w island of tr. the fate of rhey hreak shores and re, for cen- commenco inihilation. ome strong len, hy the they float y the siim- iting[ their rliat is left, , solemnly. cm does not otion, but, ►uth, where these seas, •ourhood in '. consulted, ht de^ees described, >tion of the 36 hundred [ a view of people in d at some ?ht of the ed shores ; ith happy ach nearer their dark e humble minting up nent, and ^ul hope of we should yago it is ury time ; a quantity of wine is put upon the tabic, and the gifted in song and eloquonco edify the company l)y the exercise^ of their powers. The sea, by this time, has lost its horrorB to even the most tender susceptibilities ; every one is in high good-humour and excitement at the prospc(5!t of a speedy release from their confinement, and it is generally made tho occasion of great rejoicing. Very flattering things are said of the qualities of tne ship and the skill and virtues of the captain, and of the vast advantages of such speedy com- munication between the two greatest nations in the world — which is always a highly popular observation. Then the captain "is quite at a loss for words to express the deep sense he entertains of the honour conferred on himself and his ship by the gentleman who has just now so eloquently spoken." As soon as these agreeable subjects are exhausted, the passengers find it agreeable to walk on the deck a little and cool their heads, heated with champagne and eloquence. At this unfortunate time, on the occasion I speak of, the negro Abolition preaclier made his appearance on the (juarter- deck and commenced a lecture on the evils of slavery, and the stain fixed by it on the character of the United States, using no measured terms of condemnation of that " free and enlightened" community. A large circle of liis supporters gathered round him to hear his speech, those who differed from him also listened with great patience for sonie time, when, I must say, he became very abusive to Americans in general, trusting to being countenanced by a majority of tho audience. A Now Orleans man, the master of a ship in tho China trade, and who had been, during the greater part of the voyage, and was more particularly on this occasion, very much intoxicated, poked nimself into the circle, walked up to the speaker with his hands in his pockets, and a " quid " of tobacco m his mouth, looked at him steadily for a minute, and then said, ** I guess you're a liar." The negro replied with sometliing equally complimentary, and a lend alter- cation ensued between them. Two of the gentlemen in the circle stood forth at the same time to restore order, both beginning very mildly, but unfortunately suggesting diflerent means of accomplishing the desired object. After a few words had passed between them, they became a little heated, matters (juickly grew worse, and in two minutes they were applying terms to each other quite as unequivocal as those used by the Chinaman and Negro. Mutual friends interfered, who immediately got up quarrels on their own account; and, in a shorter time than I have taken to describe it, the whole party — who had but half an hour before been drinking mutual good healths, and making all sorts of complimentary speeches, were scattered into a T 2 276 hocuelaga; ok, dozen stormy groups on the deck. In the centre of each, stood two or three enraged disputants with their fists almost in each other's faces ; while threats and curses were poured forth in all directions — "I'm an Englishman, I wont stand this." "I'm* an American, I wont stand that!" — the English siding with the Negro, the Americans with the Chinaman. In the mean time, tliis demon of discord had vanished, and we saw or heard no more of him or his lectures. For at least an hour tlie dire tumult lasted ; luckily, the better class of the passengers of both countries, and the military officers on board, kept clear of the squabble, and finally their good offices lulled the tempest, and separated the contending parties. All the rest of the night was, however, passed in explana- tions and excitement. One very sliort man, of an immense rotundity of person, kept vehemently "guessing" that, if it had not been for some untimely interference of two of his friends, he would certainly have knocked down a broad- shouldered, good-humoured Englishman, about six feet high, who was standing by Avith his hands in his pockets, chuckling with the most unfeigned delight. We entered the Mersey early the next morning, an