Quebec, embrace a great extent of coast; but the settlements do not
extend far into the interior. The possession of a portion, too,
amounting to 6,400,000 acres, is still under discussion with the United
States. This division consists of the counties of Beance, Belle-chasse,
Dorchester, Kamouraska, L’Islet, Lotbinière, Megantie, and Rimouski,
which contain a population of 87,700. The aspect of the territory, as
compared with the western, is decidedly bold and hilly, though not
mountainous, as on the opposite shore. The land generally stretches in
irregular ridges, which, at from ten to twenty miles inland, swell into
a broad table land, that slopes down to the river St. John. Between
these ridges, however, intervene valleys, and even extensive plains,
many of which, from the encouragement afforded by the markets of the
capital, have been brought into very tolerable cultivation. The
territory is watered by numerous rivers, full and rapid, though, from
being closely hemmed in by high land on the south, they have not so long
a course as those farther west. The principal are the Chaudière, Du Sud,
St. Anne, Ouelle, Green River, Rimouski, Great Mitis, and Matane. In
ascending the St. Lawrence, the views along the valleys marked out by
these streams and the heights by which they are bounded, are singularly
grand and picturesque.
[Illustration: _Orford Mountain._
(Eastern Townships.)]
The tract watered by the Chaudière, the largest of these rivers, and
comprising the county of Beance, is hilly and broken, the soil light,
and in some places stony, yet on the whole fertile, and the vicinity of
the capital has led to its careful cultivation. It derives very great
advantages also from the Kennebeck road, leading from Quebec to Boston,
and completed in 1830, by which its agricultural produce is conveyed to
a good market, and large supplies of live stock transported. The fall on
the Chaudière forms one of the most picturesque objects in America. If
it does not equal the grandeur of Niagara and Montmorency, it possesses
features more interesting than either. The river is here narrowed to the
breadth of between 300 and 400 feet, and the height does not exceed 130.
It descends, too, not in one continuous sheet, but is broken by
projecting rocks into three channels, which, however, unite before
reaching the basin below. Nothing, therefore, is on the same great scale
as in its two rivals; yet it surpasses both in the magnificent forests
by which it is overhung, whose dark foliage, varied and contrasted by
the white foam of the cataracts, produces the most striking effects.
These are heightened by the deep and hollow sound of the waters, and the
clouds of spray, which, when illumined by the sun, exhibit the most
brilliant variety of prismatic colours. A succession of rapids for some
space upwards displays a continuation of the same bold and beautiful
scenery.
[Illustration: _Lake Memphremagog._
(near Georgeville.)]
[Illustration: _Outlet of Lake Memphremagog._]
CHAP. IV.
SUGGESTIONS ON EMIGRATION.
* * * * *
The Edinburgh Cabinet Library, in a most valuable paper on emigration,
makes the following remarks and statements, which, being drawn up after
evidently most careful observation and research, are better worthy than
anything we could write, of being recorded in a chapter on this subject.
“Britain can conveniently spare every season not less than 50,000 or
60,000 of her inhabitants, retaining a sufficient number for every
useful purpose, and with much advantage to those who remain behind. The
adventurers, too, will form on the other side of the Atlantic a great
and flourishing people, imbued with the laws, letters, manners, and all
the acquirements which have raised their native country high among
nations. A portion even of our superfluous capital, which sometimes
seeks employment in distant and even chimerical objects, might be very
advantageously invested in the culture and improvement of those valuable
colonies.
“Admitting, however, the national benefits of emigration, it remains a
very important question, what are the individuals or classes to whom it
affords advantages sufficient to compensate for leaving their native
land; and what course they ought to follow in order to realize these
benefits. This is a point on which the reader may reasonably expect us
to throw some additional light; and we can in truth assert, that we have
considered it as anxiously as if all our own prospects had been involved
in its solution. To arrive at any fixed conclusion, however, has been by
no means easy. The materials are ample, but they are furnished by
individuals usually more or less prepossessed on one side, and in many
instances incapable of expressing their ideas with precision, or even of
forming any distinct or decided opinion on so perplexed a subject. We
have endeavoured, however, by carefully collating opposite statements,
by fixing upon ascertained facts and points in which all parties agree,
to draw up for the intending emigrant a reasonable view of what he may
expect to meet with in the settlements beyond the Atlantic.
“The individuals who usually migrate into that new region may be divided
into two classes,—those belonging to the labouring order, and those who
seek to support themselves in the middling rank of society. The former
go in the view of obtaining each a spot which he can cultivate with his
own hands, subsisting chiefly on its produce: the latter hope, by the
application of skill and capital, and by engaging the aid of others, to
carry on operations on a larger scale, and to draw from their property a
portion of the conveniences and even elegancies of life. The former
comprise the more extensive, and indeed the more important branch of the
subject; but as the latter will lead us to view it under a greater
variety of lights, we shall most conveniently direct our first attention
to it.
“No one, who has made any observation on the present state of this
country, can have failed to observe the extreme difficulty which the
middling classes find to support their place in society, and
particularly to enable their sons to succeed them in stations of
well-remunerated employment. The reduced scale of the army and navy, and
the rigid economy now introduced into all the departments of the
government, have withdrawn many former sources of income. Manufactures
and trade, even when prosperous, can be carried on with advantage only
on a large scale, with low profits upon an extensive capital. Hence
there remain only the learned professions, with the officers and clerks
employed by banks, insurance companies, and similar establishments; and
in these pursuits, the increase of population and the number thrown out
from other occupations cause an eager competition. This is increased by
the general diffusion of information among the inferior classes, many of
whom, by merit and address, compete successfully for these higher
appointments,—a state of things which may be, on the whole,
advantageous, as securing for national purposes a greater degree of
talent; but it obviously increases the pressure on the middling ranks
already severely felt.
[Illustration: _A Settler’s hut on the frontier._]
“Among the numerous young men, however, thus languishing for want of
employment, there are probably not a few who possess or could command a
small capital of from 500_l._ to 1000_l._ and who have the degree of
judgment and industry requisite to superintend the labours of
agriculture. It becomes then an interesting question, whether Canada
affords the means of attaining that independence, and earning those
conveniences, which their native country denies to them. On this
subject, and every thing connected with it, a great variety of opinions
prevails; but on comparing all together, we shall state grounds for
concluding that, with a due degree of skill and perseverance, the
emigrant in this rank will find the means, not indeed of rising to
wealth, but of placing himself in a comfortable and independent
situation.
“The cultivator in Canada stands in very different circumstances from
either the proprietor or farmer in Britain. He obtains an estate in full
and perpetual property for a smaller sum than the annual rent which he
would here be obliged to give for it. After paying this price, however,
he must expend at least three times as much in clearing and bringing it
into a state of cultivation. Even then it will not yield him rent; it
will be merely a farm for him to cultivate, with the very important
advantage indeed of its being wholly his own, and no landlord to pay.
The taxes also are extremely light, when compared to those which press
on the English farmer. But in return for these benefits, he must give to
his servants considerably higher wages, and will even have no small
trouble in procuring them on any terms. What is worse, he obtains for
his produce much lower prices, and even these with difficulty, because
the supply of grain and provisions in a region so wholly agricultural
must more and more exceed the demand within the country itself. These
commodities, indeed, will always find a market among the dense
population of Britain, to which they are now admitted on payment of easy
duties; and in point of fact, the price must be finally ruled by what
they will sell for here. After paying the expense of transportation
across the Atlantic, added to that of conveying them from the place of
production to the ports of Montreal or Quebec, there is little prospect
that the finest wheat of Upper Canada will permanently bring in this
country more than 50_s._ per quarter. Deducting the duty,
5_s._—freight, _10s._—carriage from even a favourable situation in the
interior, 8_s._—we have only 27_s._; or about 3_s._ 4_d._ per bushel
left to the cultivator.
“Under these circumstances, it has become a prevailing opinion, and
maintained by many as an indisputable maxim, that a Canadian proprietor
cannot cultivate with advantage by means of hired servants, but must
himself perform the full task of a common labourer. Those only are
represented in the way of well-doing who have constantly in their hands
the axe or the plough, whose ladies are seen milking the cows, churning,
and performing the humblest menial offices. We must frankly say that, if
such be the necessary lot of a settler in Canada, we cannot but concur
with Captain Hall in thinking it unfit for the class now in
consideration. Can it be supposed that a young man, accustomed to
refined society, should renounce friends and country, and remove to a
remote land, not to improve his condition, but to reduce himself to the
level of a common labourer? How can he expect a fair partner, accustomed
perhaps to value somewhat too highly the immunities of a refined
society, to share with him so hard and humble a lot? We most readily
admit that the labouring classes have within their reach the best
blessings of life, and are often happier than those called their
superiors. Still the desire of exemption from bodily toil, and of
enjoying a portion of the conveniences and elegancies of life, is
natural, and has a salutary effect in stimulating to activity and
invention. The lively author of the “Backwoods,” a zealous advocate of
the working system, admits the hardship of a young gentleman, employed
to “chop down trees, to pile brush-heaps, split rails for fences,
dressed in a coarse over-garment of hempen cloth called a logging shirt,
and a Yankee straw hat flapped over his eyes.” We cannot help thinking
that this ingenious lady is somewhat too severe on those of her own sex
who, without her internal resources and powers of reflection, could not
accommodate themselves to the hard and dreary life consequent upon this
system. In short, we may observe, that if land in Canada will pay
nothing but the mere manual labour put upon it, it is fitted only for
the peasant settler, and can never afford an income for a person of
better rank. This opinion seems confirmed by the judgment of the learned
lady herself, when, after an experiment of three years, she concludes,
that for a gentleman a small income is almost indispensable,—a good one
desirable; this last a case not very likely to occur.
“Notwithstanding these weighty authorities, we do not hesitate to
assert, that in farming on such a scale as will remunerate a person in
the middling rank, his devoting himself to constant bodily labour is not
only unnecessary, but decidedly injurious. It is admitted, we suppose,
that, in our country, upon an extent of 150 to 200 acres, the tasks of
planning, arranging, inspecting, and finding a proper market for the
produce, afford very full occupation to a single individual. But in a
Canadian farm, all these occupations are much more arduous and
difficult. The business cannot be reduced into the same fixed routine; a
greater variety of produce, both in grain and live stock, must be
reared; servants, less steady, and oftener changed, require much
stricter superintendance; markets are not found without more difficulty,
and at a greater distance. To perform all these functions carefully and
well, on a property of this extent, must, we apprehend, keep the owner’s
hands very full. To attempt to combine with them the daily task of a
common labourer, seems to ensure their being executed in an imperfect
and slovenly manner, and consequently the whole concern greatly
mismanaged. The newly-arrived emigrant is indeed told that the other is
the approved mode, and that if he wishes to thrive in the country he
must follow its customs. The fundamental principles of rural economy,
however, cannot be changed by the interposition of the Atlantic. The
original settlers in Upper Canada were mostly of the less opulent class,
who could cultivate their lots only by the labour of their own hands. A
few of them, who, by extraordinary exertion, have risen to some degree
of wealth, retain still probably their primitive habits and maxims, and
represent their success as connected with the hard personal labours
which they then underwent. These are held forth as the models to be
followed by the young cultivator. But a general rule cannot be founded
on a few cases where peculiar activity and energy were displayed. With
an average allotment of these qualities, such as we are generally
entitled to expect, the union of the intellectual and directing with the
manual and operative department, can rarely succeed. We are convinced
that a person of competent judgment, devoting himself wholly to the
former, would raise on the same ground a considerably larger produce
than one who, exhausted by daily toil, should follow only in a rough way
the mechanical routine observed among his neighbours. He would thus
create a surplus applicable to his own profits; and we are convinced
that it is only by the exertions of such a class that any improvement
can be expected in the system of Canadian culture, which is admitted on
all hands to be at present exceedingly defective.
[Illustration: _Davis’ Clearing._
(Eastern Township.)]
“In estimating, however, the plans and views of such a settler, several
circumstances must be taken into consideration, and, in particular, the
situation of his property. The Canadian districts are classed under two
heads. The first, called _The Bush_, comprehends those situated in the
depth of the forest, where towns and markets are distant, and reached
only by roads which are almost impassable. To compensate the obvious
disadvantages of this locality, settlers obtain a greater chance of good
land at a considerably lower rate; a party of neighbours or friends can
cluster together; and they have every prospect that sooner or later the
communications will be much improved, that villages will spring up in
their vicinity, and their estates be thereby raised in value. These
considerations may justly weigh with certain classes of emigrants, but
for those now under consideration they are far overbalanced by the
disadvantages. In such a position, there is much greater difficulty in
procuring hired labour, while its price must be higher, because the
workmen are not only fewer, but more generally aim at having land of
their own. Hence the expense of clearing ground in the several districts
has been stated as differing to the extent of 2_l._ an acre; and while
the cost of raising the produce has thus been augmented, its price or
money value is greatly diminished. Cash indeed is scarcely ever seen in
the remoter parts. It may at first view seem singular that there should
be abundance of commodities worth money, and yet not able to procure it;
but we may observe, that gold and silver will purchase any thing in
every quarter of the world, while the products of a landed estate are of
value only on the spot: the merchant, therefore, may give goods produced
in the same vicinity, but he cannot give money. Connected with this want
is the impossibility of procuring many of the elegancies and luxuries of
life, portions of which have, by the middling classes, come to be viewed
in the light of necessaries. Mr. Pickering mentions that tea, when sold
at Buffalo, cost 4_s._, at Port Talbot, 6_s._ per lb. Salt at the former
place was 9_s._, at the latter, 1_l._ 2_s._ 6_d._ a barrel. The settler
may have plenty of food and homespun cloth, but almost every other
commodity will be beyond his reach. These observations are not indeed to
be understood in their utmost rigour, for in every district a certain
amount of money, or at least of foreign articles, may be obtained in
exchange for the surplus produce. The merchant, however, in fixing the
value, makes a large deduction on account of the long and difficult
conveyance; besides, as he carries on trade on a small scale and without
competition, he exacts high profits, and has the farmer a good deal at
his mercy. Commercial transactions in all the country districts of
America are usually carried on by an individual named a storekeeper, who
keeps an assortment of all the commodities likely to be wanted, and
receives in return the produce of the cultivator. This mode of
proceeding still farther supersedes the necessity of employing cash as a
medium of exchange.
“Compared to the various disadvantages now stated, the gentleman
settler, who must take with him a certain amount of capital, ought not
to regard even a considerable difference in the price of the land,
because, as already observed, it forms the smallest part of the outlay
requisite for bringing it into a productive state. With regard to the
contingent expectation of a future rise in value, this can only take
place upon the low original price, and therefore can never be of any
very great amount. Besides, along with the general advance of the
country, the settled districts, and those in the vicinity of towns, will
acquire also an additional value. At all events, a rise in the land is
of little importance to him, if it ceases to be his,—an issue to which
a long course of heavy expenses and scanty produce is very likely to
lead.
“We have thought it the more necessary to dwell upon these
considerations, as they seem to have escaped a large proportion of the
opulent settlers recently attracted towards Canada. Under the influence
of vague and speculative hopes, they have made it their ambition to
plunge into the extreme west and the heart of the bush, and seem to have
imagined that the farther they placed themselves beyond every vestige of
culture and civilisation, the greater advantages did they secure. A
letter in 1834 states that almost all the emigrants of capital were
hastening to the London District, a territory perhaps the most decidedly
woodland of any in Canada. Settlers in these wilds encounter peculiar
and extreme hardships, being deprived of every accommodation to which
they had been accustomed; sometimes even in want of common necessaries,
and in danger of starvation. At different times, pork, flour, or tea are
wanting, when the weather cuts off all communication with the shore; and
the ox-waggon, in travelling thence with supplies, is often so shaken
that the contents are strangely mingled. Rice, sugar, currants, mustard,
are jumbled together; and the next pudding perhaps proves to be seasoned
with pepper, and even rappee. However, while their money lasts, they can
make their way, and clear a certain portion of land, which yields in
plenty the rude necessaries of life.
[Illustration: _View from the house of R. Shirreff, Esq._
(Ottawa River.)]
But they have no means to recruit their exhausted purse, or secure any
supply of the comforts and elegancies to which they had been accustomed.
If, in anticipation of prosperity, they have incurred any extent of
pecuniary obligation, their situation becomes extremely embarrassing,
and may issue in the entire loss of their property.
“Important, however, as a marketable situation appears, it ought by no
means to be procured by any great sacrifice as to the quality of the
land; for, as Mr. Talbot justly states, it is vain for a cultivator to
be near a market, if he has little or nothing to carry to it. It has
been already mentioned, that after paying the original price, a much
larger sum, nearly equal in every case, must be expended in bringing the
land under cultivation. Thus there is little difference between the cost
of good and bad soil, while the former only, under existing
disadvantages, ever can remunerate the settler. It is a grievous thing,
as Mr. Shirreff observes, to incur heavy labour and expense in clearing
a spot, and then find it worth little. The settler, therefore, who
brings with him a certain amount of capital, practises a most wretched
economy when he hesitates to pay such an original price as will secure
both a good situation and good land. If a small sacrifice must be made,
it should rather be on the former. A larger produce will pay for a small
addition on the cost of transport, and time may remedy the one evil, but
will never make a bad sale good. Some sacrifice of this kind may often
be necessary; since, as Mr. Fergusson remarks, on the immediate banks of
lakes and rivers it is not unfrequently light and sandy, whence arises
the necessity of going somewhat into the interior in order to find the
more valuable description.
“In consequence of the views now stated, it becomes a highly important
question what are the market or _cash_ districts (as they are sometimes
called), in contradistinction to those in the _bush_. In regard to
Canada, the topographical details already given must throw important
lights on the subject; and to these some general observations shall now
be added. The shipping ports of Montreal or Quebec form the central
points, by proximity to which the advantages of all sites in either
province are to be estimated; and next to this is a location on
navigable waters having a ready communication with them. The banks of
the St. Lawrence between these two cities are occupied to a considerable
depth inland by the French seigniories. Land, however, in the vicinity
of Montreal may still be procured, having the advantages of a ready
market; but from this very circumstance it cannot be purchased under a
price varying from 10_l._ to 20_l._ an acre, a rate beyond the reach of
most emigrants. It may be rented indeed at 10_s._ or 12_s._ and Mr.
Shirreff is of opinion that farming may there be carried on with
advantage; but in a country where land may be obtained in full property
at so cheap a rate, the British settler is not likely to be content with
this dependent tenure. His object, therefore, must be sought somewhat
farther in the interior.
“The parts of the Eastern and Johnstown districts along the bank of the
St. Lawrence enjoy perhaps the best situation as regards proximity to
market of any in Upper Canada; and their advantage in this respect will
be further improved on the completion of the canal now in progress for
overcoming the obstructions in the navigation of that river. This tract,
however, labours under the very serious drawback of being decidedly
inferior in soil and climate to the more western territories. The former
deficiency, it is true, will appear from our topographical survey to be
by no means universal, the idea having been in some measure suggested by
the rugged aspect of the immediate banks. Matilda and other districts
appear to contain a considerable extent of fine land yet-unoccupied. The
climate operates chiefly to prevent the raising of wheat so fine as to
bear the cost of transportation to Europe; but this is of less moment
since live stock had begun to be considered the more profitable branch.
On the whole, therefore, we incline to think that settlers of capital,
in their eagerness to push westward and into the bush, have bestowed too
little attention on this portion of territory.
“The banks of the Ottawa on both sides as far up as Hull, and including
those of its tributary the Rideau, appear to possess similar advantages.
Some demand for produce is also made by the lumberers who pass to and
from the upper tracts on this river. The soil and climate seem to call
for nearly the same observations as have been made on the two preceding
districts.
[Illustration: _Timber Slide and Bridge on the Ottawa._]