It has also been our lot, not unfrequently, to detect some respectable gentleman, whom railroads and steam-boats have failed to seduce further from the sound of Bow-bells than Birmingham or Margate; or some kindred spirit, who has never emigrated to a greater distance from his paternal acres, labouring under a vague impression that people go about in Canada with bows and arrows, as they do with walkingsticks in Europe, and exercise a divided dominion over the country with red Indians, bears, and tiger-cats. That this want of information reigns in full vigour only amongst the unlearned and untravelled, we freely admit; but it is surprising how many are included in that category; and, to a greater or less extent, the ignorance and prejudices we refer to, prevail with every one who has not crossed the Atlantic and visited the far-west. We therefore deem it not unprofitable to state, that "swamps" are undoubtedly to be found in the neighbourhood of Oswego just as "fens" are in Lincolnshire, though the flourishing town on the Oswego Canal, numbers many thousand inhabitants and is rapidly "progressing." Undoubtedly, too, even the awful noise of the Lord Mayor's coach passing over Cheapside on the 9th of November, is naught to the "Spirit of the Waters" speaking from the mighty Niagara. can it be denied that bears and rattle-snakes exist in some parts of the country; the former affording excellent sport, with just enough of danger to give interest to the pursuit ; while the latter are not unfrequently exhibited —“ immensis orbibus Angues!"-twining round some juggler in as many harmless folds, as a plaster-cast of the Laocoon exhibits in Somerset House, to the secure and admiring citizen of London. Nor Let it not, however, be supposed that we mean to describe Canada as possessing all the advantages of a highly cultivated state of society. The comforts and most of the luxuries of life are to be obtained in its cities*—but here the comparison timated at 37.18 inches, while that in North Western Europe amounts to about 31-2 inches, the number of rainy days in the latter is much greater than in the former. In comparing the two systems of climates, we find at New York the summer of Rome and the winter of Copenhagen; at Quebec the summer of Paris and the winter of St. Petersburgh. *Quebec is situated in a promontory that stretches on the north-west side of the St. Lawrence, 345 feet above the level of the river, into a basin formed by the junction of the rivers St. Charles and St. Lawrence. The upper town is built on this promontory, and within the fortifications, which are nearly three miles in circumference. The lower town is situated between the foot of the promontory and the river. The ends. In a new country, possessing boundless tracts of land, yet covered with a primeval forest, in many places not even intersected by roads, and with natural resources not brought into action, the useful pursuits of life will necessarily supersede those, by which the genius, the manners and the customs of a people are, in the lapse of years, wrought into bold relief. Even in the United States of America, where commercial enterprize and activity have called into existence so much general prosperity, those moral and physical attributes which, in their full development constitute a national character, have not yet ripened into maturity, and the Americans have failed to make advances in science, in literature and the Arts, in a ratio corresponding with their accumulated and increasing wealth. In painting they have undoubtedly produced clever artists, but they have displayed no original genius—there is suburbs of St. Louis, St. John and St. Roche, extend beyond the fortifications on the opposite side of the upper town, and are densely inhabited, chiefly by FrenchCanadians and the labouring classes. The population is about 30,000, but in the summer months it is much increased by emigration from Europe, and the number of "lumber-men" who bring timber from the upper parts of the province for exportation. In the upper town are the Governor's residence, the barracks for the troops (generally two or three regiments), Protestant and Roman Catholic churches, convents, public offices, the houses of the officers of government, and of the principal merchants. The lower town is devoted to business. Here are the Banks of Quebec, a branch of the Montreal Bank, the Custom House and the Exchange. The wharfs are very extensive, and in the space of one year 800 ships of every size have arrived with goods and emigrants, and taken their departure with the produce of the country. Large steamers run to Montreal, and those which have been lately built equal in elegance and power any used in the world for internal navigation. Two of them arrive and take their departure every day. The banks of the river St. Lawrence for about 90 miles above Quebec are bold and precipitous. The river then widens, and is known by the name of Lake St. Peter, and from thence to Montreal the shores are lower. The scenery throughout is picturesque and beautiful, and both sides of the river are covered with villages, whose churches are seldom out of sight. These villages are inhabited almost exclusively by French-Canadians; and the population is in some places as dense as in the most thickly-peopled agricultural districts of Europe. Montreal is 180 miles above, or to the south-west of Quebec, and is built on an island of the same name, 32 miles in length and ten broad. The two principal streets are Notre Dame and St. Paul. The former runs the whole length of the town, and from the Quebec to the Recollet Suburbs forms a continued street 1344 yards in length and 30 broad. Montreal contains numerous churches, chapels and public buildings. The principal are the IIôtel Dieu, the Convent of Notre Dame, the Montreal General Hospital, the Hôpital des Sœurs-Grises, the Recollet Convent, the Convent of Grey-Sisters, the Seminary of St. Sulpice, the New College, the English and Scotch churches, and the Government-House. The new Roman Catholic Cathedral, on the Place d'Armes, ranks amongst the first buildings in North America. The corner stone was laid on the 3rd of September 1824. It is built of granite, which is found in abundance in the mountain from which the city takes its name, and it contains seats for a congregation of 10,000 persons.-The Canadas as they are.—Bouchette's British Dominions in America. no" American School." In sculpture they are unknown, we believe, even as copyists. Their infant literature, with a few exceptions, is more English than American; and, although many of their public speakers are shrewd lawyers, or keen and intelligent political debaters, not one has put forward any just claim to the higher attributes of oratory. The United States of America have not yet, in fact, passed into the adult age of nations. Their people, from the force of circumstances, rather than by the operation of their institutions, are utilitarians in the more contracted meaning of the word; and this will be the case until the rough and angular points of their social position are rounded by time, and the general diffusion of refinement shall call for those mental enjoyments which are sought for and produced in the later years of national existence. Deeply and broadly, in the mean time, have the AngloSaxon race laid the foundations of freedom and civilization in the North American continent. Useful though common education is more generally diffused than in Europe. Christianity has taken deep root. The principles of self-government in local and in general affairs have trained men in the exercise of their public duties—have taught them the value of social order, and given security to person and to property.* Cold then must be the heart, and narrow and selfish the mind, that can look with indifference on a country," in which, one of the greatest political experiments in the history of the world is now performing."-Hypercritical and fastidious the taste, that can record the Backwoodsman eating his fish with a knife instead of a silver fork, or helping himself unceremoniously to the wing of a chicken; and yet fail to draw a comparison between the security and freedom he enjoys, and is the means of extending to others, with the violence and barbarism that have distinguished the infancy of other states. "The national character is yet in a state of fermentation; it may have its frothiness and sediment, but its ingredients are sound and wholesome; *The abolition riots, the piratical incursions on the Canadian frontier, and the occasional infliction of "Lynch-law," seem to militate against this opinion; and, unless a moral or physical power be found to prevent the recurrence of such events, they will, undoubtedly, seriously affect the peace and security of American society. We believe that such a controling power will be found if the evil continue; while up to the present time, these disgraceful occurrences, though too frequent to be passed over in silence, cannot in justice be considered as more than exceptions to the general good order that prevails. it has given proofs of powerful and generous qualities; and the whole promises to settle down into something substantially excellent. But the causes which are operating to strengthen and ennoble it, and its daily indications of admirable properties, are all lost upon these purblind observers, who are only affected by the little asperities incident to its present situation. They are capable of judging only of the surface of things; of those matters which come in contact with their private interests and personal gratifications. They miss some of the snug conveniences and petty comforts which belong to an old, highly finished and over-populous state of society, where the ranks of useful labour are crowded, and many earn a painful and servile subsistence, by studying the very caprices and appctite of self-indulgence. These minor comforts, however, are all-important in the estimation of narrow minds, which either do not perceive or will not acknowledge that they are more than counterbalanced by great and generally diffused blessings."-Washington Irving's Sketch-Book. Such, in our opinion, is independent America; and, following in the same path, though with unequal steps, and marked by some unfavourable peculiarities, such is the state to which Canada is approximating. With these preliminary remarks, we shall proceed with the difficult task of tracing to their true source the unhappy events which have lately taken place in Canada. "How in"adequate and unsuccessful," says Lord Bacon,* "that human "knowledge is, which we have at present in use, may appear "from things commonly asserted. It is certain that the true "knowledge of things is the knowledge of causes." It is the absence of this "knowledge of causes" which has, in our opinion, contributed so much to perplex the discussions on Canada, and which has exercised so baneful an influence over the welfare of our Canadian provinces. It would at the same time be presumptuous in us to assume that we can supply knowledge so desirable, when Parliamentary Committees and learned and Salaried Commissioners have failed, it would seem, to do sot; yet shall we bring to the inquiry some local acquaintance with the country, and an earnest desire to direct the public mind to the right path. Mr. Roebuck, with the zeal of a partizan, exclaims: -"The officials of that country I am about to speak of;-a party, which, backed by the powers of the Colonial Office, have been the cause of all the dissensions and difficulties that have arisen‡." * Nov. Organum, vol. i. p. 150. If not, why is Lord Durham sent to make further inquiries, and why does not Parliament proceed at once to legislate? Speech at the Bar of the House of Commons, 22nd January, 1838. And again we find him stating at the Bar of the House of Lords : "It is the fashion, my Lords, to talk of the ignorance of the Canadian people; and assertions are recklessly hazarded, which greater knowledge of that people, and of their actual condition, and also of the true criterion of education, would altogether have prevented. "America, at this moment, is governed by habits of thought and feeling,-fostered, perpetuated and extended by that remarkable band of religious and political enthusiasts who originally settled New-England, and whose sons now swarm in every part of the great federal Union of the United States. The political creed of these men has in fact become the political creed of the whole Continent, and is entertained as well by the descendants of the French Colonists on the banks of the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi, as by the immediate heirs of those emigrants of English descent who took possession of the lands bordering on the Hudson and Connecticut *.” Inspired, it may be supposed, by the example of his friend, and in some degree sanctioned by his authority-redolent of the lamp which had thrown its kindly light over his inquiries -Mr. Leader deemed it consistent with History, which teaches by example, and not forbidden by good taste, to caricature the eloquence of Chatham, and to astound the House of Commons and the public, by declaring; "I rejoice that "the Canadians have resisted! Half a million of people, so "dead to all the feelings of liberty as voluntarily to submit to "be slaves, would have been fit instruments to make slaves of "the rest." Similar opinions were expressed during the debates on the Canadian question, by Mr. Hume, Mr. Warburton and Mr. Grote. Against the correctness of these opinions we beg leave to enter a most emphatic protest; and jejune and imperfect will any legislative measure be which assumes them to be sound, or deals with the administrative errors of the colonial government of Quebec, and the abuses of the colonial office in Downing Street, as the only difficulties to be overcome. We seek not, however, to defend or palliate the errors of the one, or the abuses of the other. With Mr. Roebuck, we indignantly condemn the petty tyranny which has so frequently galled a somewhat impatient but generous people. With him we denounce the corruption which, in defiance of their just *Speech at the Bar of the House of Lords. |