themselves over the snow, from place to place, in the most agreeable
manner, and with a degree of swiftness that appears almost incredible;
for with the same horse it is possible to go eighty miles in a day, so
light is the draft of one of these carriages, and so favourable is the
snow to the feet of the horse. The Canadian cariole or sledge is
calculated to hold two persons and a driver; it is usually drawn by one
horse; if two horses are made use of, they are put one before the other,
as the track in the roads will not admit of their going abreast. The
shape of the carriage is varied according to fancy, and it is a matter
of emulation amongst the gentlemen, who shall have the handsomest one.
There are two distinct kinds, however, of carioles, the open and the
covered. The former is commonly somewhat like the body of a capriole,
put upon two iron runners or slides, similar in shape to the irons of a
pair of skates; the latter consists of the body of a chariot put on
runners in the same manner, and covered entirely over with furs, which
are found by experience to keep out the cold much better than any other
covering whatsoever. Covered carioles are not much liked, except for the
purpose of going to a party in the evening; for the great pleasure of
carioling consists in seeing and being seen, and the ladies always go
out in most superb dresses of furs. The carioles glide over the snow
with great smoothness, and so little noise do they make in sliding
along, that it is necessary to have a number of bells attached to the
harness, or a person continually sounding a horn to guard against
accidents. The rapidity of the motion, with the sound of these bells and
horns, appears to be very conducive to cheerfulness, for you seldom see
a dull face in a cariole. The Canadians always take advantage of the
winter season to visit their friends who live at a distance, as
travelling is then so very expeditious; and this is another circumstance
which contributes, probably not a little, to render the winter so
extremely agreeable in their eyes.
Though the cold is so very intense in Canada, yet the inhabitants never
suffer from it, constant experience having taught them how to guard
against it effectually.
[Sidenote: DOMESTIC ANIMALS.]
In the first place, by means of stoves they keep their habitations as
warm and comfortable as can be desired. In large houses they generally
have four or five stoves placed in the hall, and in the apartments on
the ground floor, from whence flues pass in different directions through
the upper rooms. Besides these stoves, they likewise frequently have
open fires in the lower apartments; it is more, however, on account of
the cheerful appearance they give to the room, than for the sake of the
warmth they communicate, as by the stoves the rooms can be heated to any
degree. Lest any cold blasts should penetrate from without, they have
also double doors, and if the house stands exposed, even double windows,
about six inches apart. The windows are made to open lengthwise in the
middle, on hinges, like folding doors, and where they meet they lock
together in a deep groove; windows of this description, when closed, are
found to keep out the cold air much better than the common sashes, and
in warm weather they are more agreeable than any other sort, as they
admit more air when opened. Nor do the inhabitants suffer from cold when
they go abroad; for they never stir out without first wrapping
themselves up in furs from head to foot. Their caps entirely cover the
ears, the back of the neck, and the greatest part of the face, leaving
nothing exposed except the eyes and nose; and their large and thick
cloaks effectually secure the body; besides which they wear fur gloves,
muffs, and shoes. It is surprising to see how well the Canadian horses
support the cold; after standing for hours together in the open air at a
time when spirits will freeze, they set off as alertly as if it were
summer. The French Canadians make no scruple to leave their horses
standing at the door of a house, without any covering, in the coldest
weather, while they are themselves taking their pleasure. None of the
other domestic animals are as indifferent to the cold as the horses.
During winter all the domestic animals, not excepting the poultry, are
lodged together in one large stable, that they may keep each other warm;
but in order to avoid the expence of feeding many through the winter, as
soon as the frost sets in they generally kill cattle and poultry
sufficient to last them till the return of spring. The carcases are
buried in the ground, and covered with a heap of snow, and as they are
wanted they are dug up; vegetables are laid up in the same manner, and
they continue very good throughout the whole winter. The markets in the
towns are always supplied best at this season, and provisions are then
also the cheapest; for the farmers having nothing else to engage them,
and having a quantity of meat on hand, that is never injured from being
sent to market, flock to the towns in their carioles in great numbers,
and always well supplied.
The winter generally continues till the latter end of April, and
sometimes even till May, when a thaw comes on very suddenly. The snow
soon disappears; but it is a long time before the immense bodies of ice
in the rivers are dissolved. The scene which presents itself on the St.
Lawrence at this season is most tremendous. The ice first begins to
crack from side to side, with a report as loud as that of a cannon.
Afterwards, as the waters become swollen by the melting of the snow, it
is broken into pieces, and hurried down the stream with prodigious
impetuosity; but its course is often interrupted by the islands and
shallow places in the river; one large piece is perhaps first stopped,
other pieces come drifting upon that, and at length prodigious heaps are
accumulated, in some places rising several yards above the level of the
water. Sometimes these mounds of ice are driven from the islands or
rocks, upon which they have accumulated, by the wind, and are floated
down to the sea in one entire body: if in going down they happen to
strike against any of the rocks along the shore, the crash is horrible:
at other times they remain in the same spot where they were first
formed, and continue to obstruct the navigation of the river for weeks
after every appearance of frost is banished on shore; so very widely
also do they frequently extend in particular parts of the river, and so
solid are they at the same time, that in crossing from shore to shore,
the people, instead of being at the trouble of going round them, make
directly for the ice, disembark upon it, drag their bateaux or canoes
across, and launch them again on the opposite side. As long as the ice
remains in the St. Lawrence, no ships attempt to pass up or down; for
one of these large bodies of ice is equally dangerous with a rock.
[Sidenote: THAW.]
The rapid progress of vegetation in Canada, as soon as the winter is
over, is most astonishing. Spring has scarcely appeared, when you find
it is summer. In a few days the fields are clothed with the richest
verdure, and the trees obtain their foliage. The various productions of
the garden come in after each other in quick succession, and the grain
sown in May affords a rich harvest by the latter end of July. This part
of the year, in which spring and summer are so happily blended together,
is delightful beyond description; nature then puts on her gayest attire;
at the same time the heat is never found oppressive; it is seldom that
the mercury in Fahrenheit’s thermometer then rises above 84°: in July
and August the weather becomes warmer, and a few days often intervene
when the heat is overcoming; during these months the mercury sometimes
rises to 96°. There is a great difference, however, in the weather at
this season in different years: during the whole of the time that I was
in the country, I never observed the thermometer higher than 88°; for
the greater part of the months of July and August it was not higher than
80°, and for many days together it did not rise beyond 65°, between
Quebec and Montreal.
The fall of the year is a most agreeable season in Canada, as well as
the summer.
It is observed, that there is in general a difference of about three
weeks in the length of the winter at Montreal and at Quebec, and of
course in the other seasons. When green peas, strawberries, &c. were
entirely gone at Montreal, we met with them in full season at Quebec.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+LETTER + XXVII.
_Inhabitants of Lower Canada.—Of the Tenures by which Lands are
held.—Not favourable to the Improvement of the Country.—Some
Observations thereon.—Advantages of settling in Canada and the United
States compared.—Why Emigrations to the latter Country are more
general.—Description of a journey to Stoneham Township near
Quebec—Description of the River St. Charles—Of Lake St. Charles—Of
Stoneham Township._
Quebec.
ABOUT five-sixths of the inhabitants of Lower Canada are of French
extraction, the bulk of whom are peasants, living upon the lands of the
seigniors. Amongst the English inhabitants devoted to agriculture, but
few, however, are to be found occupying land under seigniors, not
withstanding that several of the seigniories have fallen into the hands
of Englishmen; the great majority of them hold the lands which they
cultivate by virtue of certificates from the governor, and these people
for the most part reside in the western parts of the province, bordering
upon the upper parts of the river St. Lawrence.
The seigniors, both French and English, live in a plain simple style;
for although the seigniories in general are extensive, but few of them
afford a very large income to the proprietors.
The revenues of a seigniory arise from certain fines called lods and
vents, which are paid by the vassals on the alienation of property, as
when a farm, or any part of it, is divided by a vassal, during his
lifetime, amongst his sons, or when any other than the immediate issue
of a vassal succeeds to his estate, &c. &c. The revenues arise also from
certain fines paid on the granting of fresh lands to the vassals, and
from the profits of the mills of the seignior, to which the vassals are
bound to send all their corn to be ground.
This last obligation is sometimes extremely irksome to the vassal, when,
for instance, on a large seigniory there is not more than one mill; for
although it should be ten miles distant from his habitation, and he
could get his corn ground on better terms close to his own door, yet he
cannot send it to any other mill than that belonging to the seignior,
under a heavy penalty.
[Sidenote: SEIGNIORIES.]
The extent of seigniorial rights in Canada, particularly in what relates
to the levying of the lods and vents, seems to be by no means clearly
ascertained, so that where the seignior happens to be a man of a
rapacious disposition, the vassal is sometimes compelled to pay fines,
which, in strict justice perhaps, ought not to be demanded. In the first
provincial assembly that was called, this business was brought forward,
and the equity and policy was strongly urged by some of the English
members that possessed considerable abilities, of having proper bounds
fixed to the power of the seigniors, and of having all the fines and
services due from their vassals accurately ascertained, and made
generally known: but the French members, a great number of whom were
themselves seigniors, being strongly attached to old habits, and
thinking that it was conducive to their interest that their authority
should still continue undefined, opposed the measure with great warmth;
and nothing was done.
Nearly all those parts of Canada which were inhabited when the country
was under French government, as well as the unoccupied lands granted to
individuals during the same period, are comprized under different
seigniories, and these, with all the usages and customs thereto formerly
pertaining, were confirmed to the proprietaries by the Quebec bill,
which began to be in force in May 1775; these lands, therefore, are held
by unquestionable titles. All the waste lands, however, of the crown,
that have been allotted since the conquest, have been granted simply by
certificates of occupation, or licences, from the governor, giving
permission to persons who applied for these lands to settle upon them,
no patents, conveying a clear possession of them, have ever been made
out; it is merely by courtesy that they are held; and if a governor
thought proper to reclaim them on the part of the crown, he has only to
say the word, and the titles of the occupiers sink into air. Thus it is,
that although several persons have expended large sums of money in
procuring, and afterwards improving townships[34], none of them are yet
enabled to sell a single acre as an indemnification for these expences;
at least no title can be given with what is offered for sale, and it is
not therefore to be supposed, that purchasers of such property will
easily be found. It is true, indeed, that the different proprietaries of
these townships have been assured, on the part of government, that
patents shall be granted to every one of them, and they are fully
persuaded that these will be made out some time or other; but they have
in vain waited for them for three years, and they are anxiously waiting
for them still[35].
Footnote 34:
Tracts of waste land, usually ten miles square.
Footnote 35:
I received a letter, dated early in the year 1796, from a gentleman in
Canada, who has taken up one of these townships, which contains the
following paragraph: “At present the matter remains in an unsettled
state, although every step has been taken on my part to accelerate the
completion of the business. Mr. D——’s patent, which was sent home as a
model, is not yet returned. I received a letter lately from Mr.
Secretary R——, in which he informs me, that Mr. G—— is again returned
to the surveyor’s office, and he assures me, that in conjunction with
him, he will do every thing in his power to expedite my obtaining a
patent. The governor, he says, means that the land business should go
forward.”
[Sidenote: SPECULATIONS.]
Different motives have been assigned for this conduct on the part of the
British government. In the first place it has been alledged, that the
titles are withheld, in order to prevent speculation and land-jobbing
from rising to the same height in Canada as they have done in the United
States.
It is a notorious fact, that in the United States land-jobbing has led
to a series of the most nefarious practices, whereby numbers have
already suffered, and by which still greater numbers must suffer
hereafter. By the machinations of a few interested individuals, who have
contrived by various methods to get immense tracts[36] of waste land
into their possession, fictitious demands have been created in the
market for land, the price of it has consequently been enhanced much
beyond its intrinsic worth, and these persons have then taken the
opportunity of selling what they had on hand at an enormous profit. The
wealth that has been accumulated by particular persons in the United
States, in this manner, is prodigious; and numberless others, witnesses
to their prosperity, have been tempted to make purchases of land, in
hopes of realizing fortunes in a similar way, by selling out small
portions at an advanced price. Thus it is that the nominal value of
waste land has been raised so suddenly in the United States; for large
tracts, which ten years before were selling for a few pence per acre,
have sold in numberless instances, lately, for dollars per acre, an
augmentation in price which the increase of population alone would by no
means have occasioned. Estates, like articles of merchandize, have
passed, before they have ever been improved, through the hands of dozens
of people, who never perhaps were within five hundred miles of them, and
the consumer or farmer, in consequence of the profits laid on by these
people, to whom they have severally belonged, has had frequently to pay
a most exorbitant price for the little spot which he has purchased[37].
Footnote 36:
There have been many instances in the United States of a single
individual’s holding upwards of three millions of acres at one time,
and some few individuals have been known to hold even twice that
quantity at once.
Footnote 37:
In the beginning of the year 1796, this traffic was at its highest
pitch, and at this time General Washington, so eminently distinguished
for his prudence and foresight, perceiving that land had risen beyond
its actual value, and persuaded that it could not rise higher for some
years to come, advertised for sale every acre of which he was
possessed, except the farms of Mount Vernon. The event shewed how
accurate his judgment was. In the close of the year, one of the great
land-jobbers, disappointed in his calculations, was obliged to
abscond; the land trade was shaken to its very foundation;
bankruptcies spread like wildfire from one great city to another, and
men that had begun to build palaces found themselves likely to have no
better habitation for a time than the common gaol.
[Sidenote: LAND-JOBBING.]
Speculation and land-jobbing carried to such a pitch cannot but be
deemed great evils in the community; and to prevent them from extending
into Canada appears to be an object well worthy the attention of
government; but it seems unnecessary to have recourse for that purpose
to the very exceptionable measure of withholding a good title to all
lands granted by the crown, a measure disabling the landholder from
taking the proper steps to improve his estate, which gives rise to
distrust and suspicion, and materially impedes the growing prosperity of
the country.
It appears to me, that land-jobbing could never arrive at such a height
in Canada as to be productive of similar evils to those already sprung
up from it in the United States, or similar to those further ones with
which the country is threatened, if no more land were granted by the
crown, to any one individual, than a township of ten thousand acres; or
should it be thought that grants of such an extent even opened too wide
a field for speculation, certain restrictions might be laid upon the
grantee; he might be bound to improve his township by a clause in the
patent, invalidating the sale of more than a fourth or fifth of it
unless to actual settlers, until a certain number of people should be
resident thereon[38]. Such a clause would effectually prevent the evil;
for it is the granting of very extensive tracts of waste lands to
individuals, without binding them in any way to improve them, which
gives rise to speculation and land-jobbing.
Footnote 38:
The plan of binding every person that should take up a township to
improve it, by providing a certain number of settlers, has not wholly
escaped the notice of government; for in the licences of occupation,
by which each township is allotted, it is stipulated, that every
person shall provide forty settlers for his township; but as no given
time is mentioned for the procuring of these settlers, the stipulation
becomes nugatory.
By others it is imagined, that the withholding of clear titles to the
lands is a measure adopted merely for the purpose of preventing a
diminution of the inhabitants from taking place by emigration.
[Sidenote: EMIGRATION.]
Not only townships have been granted by certificates of occupation, but
also numberless small portions of land, from one hundred acres upwards,
particularly in Upper Canada, to royalists and others, who have at
different periods emigrated from the United States. These people have
all of them improved their several allotments. By withholding any better
title, therefore, than that of a certificate, they are completely tied
down to their farms, unless, indeed, they think proper to abandon them,
together with the fruits of many years labour, without receiving any
compensation whatsoever for so doing.
It is not probable, however, that these people, if they had a clear
title to their lands, would return back to the United States; the
royalists, who were driven out of the country by the ill treatment of
the other inhabitants, certainly would not; nor would the others, who
have voluntarily quitted the country, return, whilst self-interest,
which led them originally to come into Canada, operated in favour of
their remaining there. It was the prospect of getting land on
advantageous terms which induced them to emigrate; land is still a
cheaper article in Canada than in the United States; and as there is
much more waste land in the former, than in the latter country, in
proportion to the number of the inhabitants, it will probably continue
so for a length of time to come. In the United States, at present, it is
impossible to get land without paying for it; and in parts of the
country where the soil is rich, and where some settlements are already
made, a tract of land, sufficient for a moderate farm, is scarcely to be
procured under hundreds of dollars. In Canada, however, a man has only
to make application to government, and on his taking the oath of
allegiance, he immediately gets one hundred acres of excellent uncleared
land, in the neighbourhood of other settlements, gratis; and if able to
improve it directly, he can get even a larger quantity. But it is a fact
worthy of notice, which banishes every suspicion relative to a
diminution of the inhabitants taking place by emigrations into the
States, that great numbers of people from the States actually emigrate
into Canada annually, whilst none of the Canadians, who have it in their
power to dispose of their property, emigrate into the United States,
except, indeed, a very few of those who have resided in the towns.
[Sidenote: OBSERVATIONS.]
According to the opinion of others again, it is not for either of the
purposes already mentioned, that clear titles are withheld to the lands
granted by the crown, but for that of binding down to their good
behaviour the people of each province, more particularly the Americans
that have emigrated from the States lately, who are regarded by many
with an eye of suspicion, notwithstanding they have taken the oaths of
allegiance to the crown. It is very unfair, however, to imagine that
these people would be ready to revolt a second time from Great Britain,
if they were made still more independent than they are now, merely
because they did so on a former occasion, when their liberties and
rights as men and as subjects of the British empire were so shamefully
disregarded; on the contrary, were clear titles granted with the lands
bestowed by the crown on them, and the other subjects of the province,
instead of giving rise to disaffection, there is every reason to think
it would make them still more loyal, and more attached to the British
government, as no invidious distinction could then be drawn between the
condition of the landholders in the States and those in Canada. The
material rights and liberties of the people would then be full as
extensive in the one country as in the other; and as no positive
advantage could be gained by a revolt, it is not likely that Americans,
of all people in the world the most devoted to self-interest, would
expose their persons and properties in such an attempt.
If, however, the Americans from the States are people that would abuse
such favours from the crown, why were they admitted into the province at
all? The government might easily have kept them out, by refusing to them
any grants of lands; but at any rate, were it thought expedient to admit
them, and were such measures necessary to keep them in due subjection,
it seems hard that the same measures should be adopted in regard to the
inhabitants of the province, who stood firm to the British government,
even at the time when the people in every other part of the continent
revolted.