CHAPTER XXVIII.

_Journey from Detroit to New York—Western Lakes which form the River

St Lawrence—Cleveland—Erie Canal—Cold Weather—Canal Packets—Sabbath

School Children at Rochester—Black Children—Slavery in the United

States—Agricultural Notices—Washington Hotel—Transition

from Rudeness to Refinement—Travelling—Cheap Land—State

Election—Inhabitants Consulted in Political Matters—Arrival at

Liverpool._

After spending five days in Upper Canada, it became necessary to wend my

way to New York. The weather for weeks past had been tempestuous. The

trips of the steam-boats on the lakes had been interrupted, and the

ferry-boat at Detroit had, on more than one occasion, ceased to ply from

the violence of the wind. Had there been a stage through Upper Canada,

from Sandwich to Niagara, I would have preferred travelling to New York

by land, but dreading the state of the roads, and length of journey in

passing round the west end of Lake Erie, I decided in going from Detroit

to Buffalo by steam. Vessels were still leaving Detroit for the Western

Lakes, notwithstanding the advanced period of the season, and I saw the

Michigan steamer sail for Green Bay, with troops on board.

Lake Superior is the most Westerly and largest of the lakes which divide

Upper Canada from the United States, and the accumulated waters of which

form the river St Lawrence. Its length is about 360 miles, and its

average breadth 109 miles. The outlet of the lake is the river St Marie,

through which the waters flow, and are not navigable for sailing vessels

from the strength of current.

Lake Michigan is stated to be 300 miles long, and 50 wide, branching off

from the east end of Lake Superior, and their united waters pass into

Lake Huron. On the west side of Lake Michigan, is situated the village

of Green Bay and Chicago, to which steam-vessels ply occasionally from

Detroit.

Lake Huron is 218 miles long, by 180 broad, and has several large

branches running into Michigan and Canada. Michilimackinac, or Mackinaw,

is an island on which there is a village of the same name, at the

entrance of the lake, and Goderich is on the east shore.

The waters of the three-mentioned lakes flow through the river St Clair,

and form a lake of the same name, which is about ninety miles in

circumference.

From Lake St Clair issues the river Detroit, which falls into Lake Erie,

having the villages of Detroit, Sandwich, and Amherstburgh, on its

banks. Lake Erie is stated at 290 miles long, and about 50 broad, and

from the many thriving villages on its margins, has a most extensive and

increasing trade. Its waters are much shallower than those of any of the

other lakes, and more easily agitated, which renders the navigation

dangerous in boisterous weather. From Lake Erie, flows the Niagara, in

the channel of which are the celebrated falls of the same name, and

empties itself into Lake Ontario, which is 171 miles in length, and 40

wide. The depth of water is said to be very great. On issuing from Lake

Ontario, the waters assume the title of the river St Lawrence.

I sailed from Detroit on the morning of the 25th October, with moderate

wind, which increased towards noon, and the vessel anchored under the

lee of an island in Lake Erie during the night. Next day we put into

Cleveland for an hour or two, and reached Buffalo towards the close of

the third day.

Cleveland is in the state of Ohio, on the banks of Lake Erie, and at the

mouth of the Ohio and Erie canal, which connects the waters of the lake

with the river Ohio. It is a place of considerable trade, and rising

with rapidity.

On reaching the Eagle hotel at Buffalo, I found three or four gentlemen

who were known to me, and whose conversation on European matters I

greatly enjoyed after my western tour. Next day, after breakfast, I took

a canal-boat for Schenectady.

In passing down the canal, on the banks of the Niagara, several new

houses were erecting on the Canada side, and as they were of large size,

I considered the circumstance evidence of improvement.

The Erie canal connects the waters of the river Hudson with that of Lake

Erie. It commences at Albany, and terminates at Buffalo, the length

being 363 miles. Besides the main cut, there are lateral branches

intersecting the country in all directions. One branch communicates with

Lake Ontario at the village of Oswego, and I believe another branch is

in progress to communicate with one of the tributary streams of the

river Ohio. The height of Lake Erie above the Hudson is 568 feet, and

the lockage of the canal 688 feet. The breadth of the canal is forty

feet at the top, twenty-eight at the bottom, and the depth of water four

feet.

The Erie canal was formed by the State of New York, the operations

commencing in 1817, and ending in 1825. The revenues of the canal are so

ample, that the rates of charge were greatly reduced in 1833, and it is

expected the whole debt will be discharged in 1838; after which, the

charges will be diminished, so as the sum collected may be just

sufficient to keep the works in repair. The canal is therefore like a

public highway, from which no revenue will be exacted from the

inhabitants, and is an instance of the advantages they enjoy from the

wisdom with which public matters are conducted.

The traffic on the canal is already so extensive, that the barges are

sometimes detained a long time in passing the locks. In all probability

it will be quite unable to convey the traffic in two years hence,

although a double set of locks were to be constructed throughout the

whole length of the canal. The enterprise of the inhabitants of this

State is adequate to any emergency, and relief to the crowded canal will

be found in a railway. There is already a railway from Albany to

Schenectady, and in 1833 a railway was contracted for to proceed from

the latter place to Utica, all of which are situated on the banks of the

canal. A railway may therefore be said to be already formed on the banks

of the canal one-third of its length; and there is little doubt of its

being speedily extended all the way to Buffalo, and ultimately along

Lake Erie into Illinois. However advantageous canals may have hitherto

been found in the United States, such a conveyance is incompatible with

the order of things that is arising. The population is advancing so

rapidly towards the west, that the intercourse between the Eastern and

Western States must enormously encrease, while canals are shut by ice

for nearly five months in the year. In this view railways, which afford

communication during the whole season, will be had recourse to, and are

admirably adapted to the country and climate. There is abundance of iron

and coal in the United States, and the substitution of railways for

canals will be aided by the rapidity of conveyance, the application of

steam power, and unobstruction from frost.

While passing down the canal, the temperature of the atmosphere became

cold; on the third morning, snow covered the ground to the depth of

three inches, which did not entirely melt by the influence of the sun;

and although the canal was not frozen, in consequence of its waters

being kept in motion by the incessant traffic, the pools on the banks

were covered with ice several inches thick. On reaching Albany, I

learned Fahrenheit’s thermometer had stood twelve degrees below the

freezing point on the 29th October, and at New York ten degrees.

The canal packets were crowded with passengers all the way from Buffalo

to Schenectady, who made themselves agreeable to each other, and time

passed as pleasantly as the nature of things would admit. Two of the

gentlemen on board seemed to be clergymen, with whom I conversed a great

deal, and was invited to spend some days with one of them. Few things in

America seem more extraordinary than the sleeping accommodation of the

packets. The seats on which the passengers sit during day, around the

sides of the vessel, open out by means of hinges, and having the outer

extremities supported by small ropes from the roof, form beds. A second

tier of beds is formed by frames hooking to the sides of the vessel, and

supported from the roof by ropes. The sleeping place for the ladies is

separated from the gentlemen’s by a curtain, and the two rows of beds

around the sides of the packet have a close resemblance to shelves in a

British shop. The passengers are sent on the roof of the packet while

the cabin is altering from sitting to sleeping-trim, which does not

occupy more than ten minutes, and the passengers, suspended in rows when

in bed, look like strings of onions in a green-grocer’s shop. The eating

department was tolerably well managed.

There was a changing of packets three times in the length of the canal,

and a delay of twelve hours at Rochester; during which I stopt at the

Eagle hotel. When standing at the door of the hotel, after breakfast, my

attention was attracted to a number of children walking in pairs along

the pavement, attended by a few grown-up people, and on enquiry I

learned they were proceeding to church, to the anniversary meeting of

the Sabbath schools. After many hundreds of both sexes had passed,

attended by their teachers, I observed four black children forming the

rear of a school division; and being anxious to see so interesting a

sight as the assembled children, I followed the little blackamoors.

Knowing the prejudice which white people have to the coloured race in

almost every part of the world, I was disappointed at seeing the four

black children separate from the others, and instead of entering the

church they were conducted round the corner of a street into a building

within a court. I still followed the blacks, but seeing none of the

people entering the place where they were, I walked to and fro on the

outside. At the end of two minutes, about twenty black children came out

of the building, attended by five or six white men, and walked into the

church amongst the rest of the children. I occupied a place in the

gallery, and listened to a very commonplace address to the children, and

the meeting separated without religious exercises of any kind.

The want of religious exercise appeared to me to arise from a desire of

preventing any feeling of jealousy amongst sects regarding minute

differences in forms of worship and creeds of faith; and if such was the

case, the inhabitants of other countries would do well to imitate this

conciliatory proceeding. I did not observe, after getting into church,

if the black children were kept separate from the white; but the fact of

this hitherto despised race attending Sabbath schools with white

children, and being taught by white people, in the town of Rochester,

was placed beyond doubt, and gave rise to pleasing anticipations for the

improvement of their condition.

Slavery excites much interest in America, as well as in Britain, and is

so repugnant to my feelings, that before setting out on my Transatlantic

tour, I determined not to penetrate into the slave-holding states.

During my short excursion into Missouri, extending to about fifty miles,

and stay at St Charles, St Louis, and Louisville, occupying four days, I

had little opportunity of judging of the effects of slavery on the white

population, or of the state of the slaves themselves. I must, however,

say, no instance of cruelty or harshness towards the black population

came under my notice, and all of them appeared to be well clothed and

fed. Slavery, as existing in the United States, seems not to be well

understood in Britain; and I regret it is not in my power to communicate

more information on the subject.

The United States were originally English colonies, and they inherited

slavery from the mother country. This foul stain on their character may

in fairness be attributed to Britain, and accounted one of the curses

with which her misguided rulers have afflicted mankind. In 1703, the

colony of Massachusetts endeavoured to restrain the introduction of

slaves, by the imposition of a tax, and to prevent it altogether in

1767. The colony of Virginia, in 1772, petitioned the Parliament of

Great Britain on the subject, without obtaining redress, and other

colonies remonstrated at different times. In 1780, the state of

Pennsylvania, while engaged in struggling for independence, passed an

act for gradually emancipating the slaves; and since that time, eight

out of the thirteen original colonies have abolished slavery.

The United States are composed of twenty-four distinct countries, each

having a different republican form of government, and the power of

managing its own affairs—the general government legislating only in

matters connected with defence, commerce, and taxation. At the time of

the United States rising into existence, slavery engaged the attention

of the legislature, but the evil had already spread thickly over the

Southern States, and the feelings and habits of the white population in

this part of the territory being strongly in its favour, a separation

and weakening of the Union would have resulted from then pressing the

subject. It is a disputed point whether the general government can

interfere with slavery—the Northern and Southern States taking different

views. A law was passed prohibiting slavery in the district north of the

river Ohio, and east of the Mississippi, before the territory was

organized into states; but since that time, the state of Missouri, with

all the evils of slavery, has been admitted into the bosom of the Union,

which seems to determine the noninterference of the general government

in the slave question.

Slavery is felt and acknowledged to be an appalling evil throughout the

Union, and the most intelligent inhabitants of the Northern States are

also aware of its sinfulness. Here the prejudice against the sooty race

is becoming less strong; and in one instance, at least, they have been

invested with the rights of freemen. In the state of New York, men of

colour exercise suffrage when twenty-one years of age, and the census of

1825 showed 298 of them qualified to vote.[4] This act of wisdom and

liberality on the part of the legislature, cannot fail of producing a

good effect throughout the Union, and in all probability led to the

teaching of the little children at Rochester already mentioned. I hail

these advances of the coloured population with unmingled pleasure, as

sure indications of improvement in the people of both complexions.

Slavery exists by the cupidity of the white population; and in most

cases it will terminate only by their moral enlightenment. However slow

the progress of abolition may be in the United States, it cannot stand

still. Justice, humanity, and religion are already enlisted on the side

of the slave; and before the lapse of many years, his manacles will

assuredly be loosened throughout the whole territory.

Footnote 4:

Description of United States; published at New York, 1831.

The world does not perhaps afford a more striking instance of human

frailty, than the existence of slavery in the Southern States of the

Union, where the white population, after having avowedly established

governments in opposition to tyranny, and on the principle that all men

are equal, continue to exercise the most inhuman oppression towards

their coloured fellow-creatures, who are treated like the brute

creation. This anomaly illustrates how much man is the creature of

circumstances; and that with all his boasted powers of intellect, he is

unable to conquer the habits and prejudices of his youth, even when his

conduct is at variance with reason, and the principles of the religion

he professes to follow. Whether the slave-owner, who has been instructed

amidst slavery, and whose moral perception has been blunted by

education, be answerable for all the enormities which result from the

system, may be left for casuists to determine; but those who have been

more fortunately situated may well commiserate his fate, and judge

charitably of his errors.

However instrumental, under Providence, the people of Britain may have

been in obtaining freedom for the West Indian slave, they would do well

to reflect on the slow progress the question made amongst themselves,

and that many of their own countrymen connected with the colonies were

opposed to the measure of relief. If, having lived apart from slavery,

and its demoralizing effects, they claim merit for their exertions in

behalf of the slave, let them not withhold what is due to the

inhabitants of the States, who, while living amidst slaves, set an

example of emancipation which has not yet been carried to the same

extent in any British possession.

Some recent British travellers in America, in pandering to the depraved

taste of a portion of their countrymen, will not allow merit to the

states who have emancipated their slaves, on the ground that they did so

only when slave labour ceased to be profitable, and that the step

involved no sacrifice, as the able-bodied slaves were sold to the

inhabitants of other states—the aged and infirm being alone set free.

This is a most uncharitable judgment. I have not the means of

ascertaining the number of slaves that were emancipated, but contend

that other motives than selfishness must pervade some of the inhabitants

of New York state, where the coloured population are invested with

suffrages, and taught at Sabbath schools with white children. It is

true, however, the negro race is the subject of deep-rooted prejudice,

and the slave of opinion; but in what portion of the globe, inhabited by

white people, is not this the case?

There are many pretended philanthropists in Britain, who feel keenly for

the sufferings of the coloured people in distant countries, and do not

sympathize with the unfortunate beings of their own complexion at home,

who proclaim to the world the sinfulness of slavery, and yet strain

every nerve to retain the unjust fetters of their own countrymen, and

who lament the negro being an object of prejudice in the United States,

while they regard most of the white people around them with the same

feeling. In America, the inhabitants of the Southern States talk of the

tyranny of Europe and the degraded population of Ireland, while the

sound of the lash, and the moanings of their own suffering slaves, ring

in their ears; and in Britain, the cruelty of the American slaveholder,

and the injuries of his oppressed slave, are descanted on by people who

actively engage in withholding just rights from the lower orders of

their own countrymen, and remain insensible to their base condition.

Such is the shortsightedness and inconsistency of man over the world. At

a distance, he sees oppression in others, and sympathizes with its

victim, while insensible to his own tyranny and its effects at home.

Almost all the evils which afflict humanity, originate from the passions

of man. Slavery in the United States, and the degradation of the Irish

peasantry, sprung from the same source—the aristocratic feeling of the

people of England.

On the packet reaching Shenectady, a stage-coach was on the banks of the

canal waiting our arrival, into which I stepped, and soon afterwards

found myself in Albany. My first proceeding was to obtain a new hat, and

after dinner I waited on Mr Buel.

From some paragraphs I had read in newspapers while in Ohio, I learned

an agricultural exhibition was to have taken place about this time at

Albany, at which I was anxious to be present. It had, however, been held

two days before my arrival, and I learned from Mr Buel it had not

altogether come up to his expectation. A certain time must elapse before

the public acquire a taste for such things, and I have no doubt Albany

will, in this respect, set an example to other places in the States. I

had carried from Britain a few copies of the Agricultural Exhibition at

Stirling, by Messrs Drummonds, which I left with some of my friends in

the United States, and doubt not they will find them useful.

From Buffalo to Albany, by way of the canal, there is a good deal of

fine land, and much of the foliage having dropt from the trees, afforded

an opportunity of seeing the country. Indian corn was frequently seen on

the ground, though in some instances the ears had been plucked from the

standing stalks, and I was particularly struck with the puny appearance

of the crops, compared with those of Illinois. Pumpkins seemed to have

been frequently grown amongst Indian corn, and farmers generally engaged

in carrying them home. This vegetable is given to oxen and cows. In most

instances the wheat crop was above ground. Before reaching Utica, I

observed a drain forming, at no great distance from the canal, which was

the only attempt of the kind I saw executing on the American territory.

On the morning after my arrival at Albany, I set out for New York, and

the day being particularly fine, I enjoyed the sail down the river. The

trees presented a diversity of appearance, some being without a leaf,

and others in all the freshness of spring. The blue rocks were seen

behind the fading foliage, a bright sun added to the brilliancy of the

autumnal tints, and rendered the scenery more beautiful than I thought

it when seen before in the early part of June.

On reaching New York, about eight in the evening, I bent my steps

towards the Washington hotel in Broadway, and found my trunks and keys

were in the possession of the landlord, Mr Ward. After having seen some

of the most celebrated hotels in the States, such as the Tremont at

Boston, and Mr Head’s at Philadelphia, none of them pleased me so much

as the Washington hotel. No individual could be more civil,

accommodating, and attentive, than Mr Ward, and all the arrangements of

the house seemed to me extremely judicious. The tables were at all times

served with the best of fare; the hours were kept with punctuality, and

the waiters numerous and active. I cannot speak of the accommodation for

people who have private parlours. Ladies never appear at the public

table of the Washington hotel, although many of them have private rooms

in it. The traveller who dislikes the Washington hotel is more likely to

find the cause of his dissatisfaction in himself than in the

establishment.

As soon as I ascertained my trunks were in possession of Mr Ward, I

proceeded to call on Captain Smith of the Napoleon, who was to sail in a

few days for Liverpool, and from whom I secured a berth. I was still in

my travelling garb, my tattered garments being concealed by “Mrs

Trollope.” Captain Smith, in the warmth of his greeting, hurried me into

his parlour before I had time to explain my situation; and never shall I

forget my feelings on again finding myself seated on a luxurious sofa in

a fashionable room. Since leaving Montreal on the 18th August, I had not

seen a sofa, or a chair with a stuffed bottom, except one at York, nor a

window-curtain, or carpet. The walls of the rooms did not support a

painting or print of any description, and in all domestic arrangements

there was a total absence of the elegances of life. I had become so much

habituated to the state of things around me, that for the remainder of

my days I would have been satisfied with bare walls and wooden-bottomed

chairs, and regarded the gewgaws of refined society with contempt. It is

not likely the impressions of my Backwood tour will be altogether

effaced while the pulse of life beats true. I confess, however, the

facility with which I adopted the refinements of New York, and the

enjoyment they afforded, seemed to arise from something else than mere

novelty. The venison at the table of the Washington hotel, served on

plates with a flaming spirit-lamp underneath, appeared more palatable

than the coagulating fried pork of Canada, and my head seemed higher

than it had been for ten weeks before, from being surrounded with a

collar of velvet instead of rags. Man may often learn humility from his

own inconsistency and folly. I felt ashamed of my weakness.

Soon after my arrival at New York, I retired to bed. Next morning my

trunks were ransacked, and I was mortified at finding I had outgrown my

wearing apparel. Travelling may at all times be regarded as conducive to

health, by affording mental and bodily exercise, apart from worldly

cares, and more especially under the circumstances I was situated,

having had choice of time, route, and distance, without incumbrance of

any kind.

For weeks together I seldom entered a house which was not the scene of

human suffering. Associating with disease and pestilence, I conversed at

the bedside of the fever patient, and rubbed the muscles of the victim

of cholera. I had been exposed to the effects of solar heat, night-damp,

rain, cold, hunger, and fatigue. Few people perhaps ever enjoyed so

large a measure of health as fell to my lot during my wanderings in the

western parts of inhabited America, and at no period of life did I

possess so much mental and bodily vigour. While I gratefully acknowledge

my health and strength to have emanated from divine agency, I may state

my habits were strictly temperate, having denied myself every liquid but

water and tea. The trammels of society prevented me trying the effects

of absolute temperance at an earlier period. They exceeded my

expectations, and from experience, I recommend temperance to all who

wish to enjoy life.

On the second day after my arrival at New York, I attended a sale of

land by auction, which I had observed advertised. An estate fifty miles

from Albany, sold at about 7s. 6d. sterling per acre. Another, situated

in St Lawrence county, state of New York, consisting of 25,000 acres,

was knocked down, in one lot, at 1s. 1½d. sterling per acre.

On the same day, there was an election of members of Senate for the

state. The legislature of the state of New York consists of a Senate and

Assembly. The Senate contains thirty-two members, who are elected for

four years, and vacate their seats by rotation, one-fourth yearly. The

right of suffrage belongs to every white male citizen, who has attained

21 years of age, and who has resided six months in the state, and paid

taxes. Men of colour are allowed to vote if they are 21 years of age,

and have been citizens of the state three years, and possess a clear

freehold of $250.

On getting into the street after breakfast, I did not see any thing

indicating an election, the people seemed going about in their ordinary

way. There was not a crowd, or idler of any kind on the outside of the

ballot-rooms, and on entering one of them, I found nine or ten people

inside. There were two printed ballot tickets, containing a different

list of candidates, and which were supplied by individuals near the

door. The voters, on entering the room, were offered tickets, which they

handed to people on the opposite side of a counter, appointed to receive

them, and who dropt them into a box. The voter was asked his name and

place of residence, and immediately retired. The business excited little

interest, the voters almost never reading any part of the ticket handed

them, and the secretaries seldom referring to the lists for the identity

of the voter. I also entered a ballot-room in the suburbs. Here a good

many vehicles were standing around the door, and the interior, which

seemed the bar-room of a hotel, was filled with men who had evidently

been drinking spirits. Printed tickets were also here received and

delivered, as already described. Individuals may prepare tickets for

themselves.

Independent of the election of members of Senate, there was a ballot for

reducing the duty on salt, which the following circular, copied from a

newspaper of the day, will explain. “_To the Public._ After a most

thorough examination of the subject, and a full conviction of the

injustice and partial operation of the existing tax on salt of domestic

manufacture, the Legislature of this State, at their three last

sessions, successively passed resolutions for an amendment of the

Constitution, by which they would be enabled to reduce that tax or duty

from twelve-and-a-half to six cents per bushel. Those resolutions are

now submitted to the people for their approval, and are dependent for

ultimate success on the votes that may be given in their favour at the

approaching annual election.

“The words of the amendment are, ‘That the duties on the manufacture of

salt, as established by the act of the fifteenth of April, one thousand

eight hundred and seventeen, and by the section of the seventh article

of the Constitution of the State, may at any time hereafter be reduced,

by act of the Legislature of this State, but shall not, while the same

is appropriated and pledged by said section, be reduced below the sum of

six cents upon each and every bushel, and the said duties shall remain

inviolably appropriated and applied as is provided by the said tenth

section; and that so much of said tenth section of the seventh article

of the constitution of this state, as is inconsistent with this

amendment, be destroyed.’

“At a meeting, called for the purpose of considering and deciding upon

such measures as might be deemed most proper for the occasion, the

undersigned were appointed as a committee to correspond with their

fellow-citizens in the different parts of the States and to take such

steps to secure a favourable result in regard to the proposed amendment,

as in their opinion circumstances should require. They, accordingly, ask

permission to state some of the many important considerations which have

a bearing on the question, and which, they trust, will satisfy every

person, as they have the Legislature, of the propriety and obvious

necessity of the intended alteration.

“The present duty, or more properly excise, is excessively

disproportioned to the value of the salt at the works, varying from 100

to 200 per cent, and obliging the purchaser, when he sells at retail to

the consumer, to charge an advance of profit on _this_ as well as on the

net cost. And the consequence is, that a bushel of salt, at the present

time worth about twelve and a half cents at the works, must have the

duty of twelve and a half cents and the profit of the dealer added, and

altogether make the cost to the distant consumer, (independent of bills

and transportation,) from twelve to fifteen shillings per barrel,

one-half of which, and sometimes three-fourths, arising from the duty

exclusively, will be in a ratio corresponding with any reduction that

may be made in the duty. Now, the reduction anticipated by the amendment

will make a saving to the consumer of six to ten cents on the bushel, or

30 to 50 cents on the barrel, and to the state at large, exclusive of

the extra price for foreign salt, an aggregate of $200,000 per annum;

and farther, both the manufacturer and the dealer will be relieved in

part, from an onerous and troublesome exaction.

“As a source of revenue, the following brief _exposé_ will exhibit the

glaring impolicy and sinister effect of the duty. Suppose that the

quantity manufactured this year is 2,000,000 bushels.

“The duty at 12½ cents would be $250,000

————————

“Less—interest on the amount expended for the pumps, with

their necessary repairs and engineer’s salary, over and

above the sum received for pumping, say 5,000

“Superintendents’, commissioners’, inspectors’ fees, and the

office, with other charges, 10,000

————————

15,000

————————

“Balance to be paid into canal fund, $235,000

========

“Suppose, again, that 1,500,000 bushels are annually consumed

within this state, the duty would be $187,500

“The dealer’s profit (to cover losses, &c.) will be 25 per

cent, 46,875

————————

“Amount paid on _domestic salt_ by the consumers within the

state, 234,375

“The consumers of _foreign salt_ within the state owing to

this duty, are compelled annually to pay an extra price for

that article, in the above proportion, and on 1,000,000

bushels, of 56 lb. each (the lowest quantity at which it can

be estimated) is 156,250

————————

$390,625

“Thus the $234,375 paid into the canal fund, costs the people, and they

are principally the farmers and the labouring classes, $390,625, or, in

other words, they pay directly and indirectly more than two dollars for

every _one_ dollar that that fund receives from the duty—a fund, too,

that does not need it, as may be seen by the report of Mr Stilwell to

the Assembly in 1833, No. 268. If, instead of an insidious impost, the

sum received into that fund were even paid by a _direct tax_, the cost

to the consumers would not be one-fourth the amount that is now drawn

from them.

“It can be satisfactorily shown, should the object in view be attained,

that the immediate extension of the markets to vast districts of

country, in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, the Canadas, and

some of the Eastern States, which have hitherto drawn their supplies

from other sources, and the consequent enlargement of the manufacture,

upon which about one-half of the duty would continue to be paid, with a

great and certain increase of canal tolls, will preserve the canal fund

undiminished, and probably exceed at once the sum that would be obtained

by a continuance of the duty at its present high rate.

“The salt-springs, judging from the consumption of brine for the last

two years, each of which require from ninety to one hundred millions of

gallons, and produced about 2,000,000 bushels of salt, without any

perceptible diminution, appear as inexhaustible as the Onondaga lake

itself. And we may, of course, confidently assume, as the state

possesses unlimited control, that there can be no monopoly, and that an

increase in the quantity made will establish a steady supply at the

lowest prices, and be a security against any sudden and extravagant

rise, which would otherwise certainly happen in the event of a war, or

interruption of our intercourse with other nations.

“The subscribers would present herewith other statements and

calculations, but for their great length, and a desire to avoid

prolixity, which have appeared upon this question in the several reports

to the Legislature, especially that of Mr Throop, made to the senate in

1831, No 56, and which most fully sustain these representations. The

committee rely on the aid of the people at large for the accomplishment

of the object in view; and in order that you may be prepared to

cooperate with them, send a quantity of ballots, to the distribution of

which at the polls, to be held in November next, they solicit your

attention.

“The following is the form of the ballot which the law prescribes for

those in favour of the proposed amendment. ‘For authorizing the

Legislature to reduce the duties on salt.’”

I rode with a gentleman in his gig to a ballot-room in the suburbs of

New York, and saw him vote for continuing the duties on salt. An immense

majority, however, of the inhabitants were in favour of reducing the

duties.

To the people of Britain it may appear somewhat strange, that the

inhabitants of a country should be consulted on a political question,

its supporters and opponents being ascertained by ballot, and the

circumstance of universal suffrage and annual parliaments prevailing in

the state of New York, will heighten the feeling. The followers of

aristocracy may denounce the proceeding, and proclaim the people

incapable of judging political matters, which are alone comprehensible

to nobility. But whatever peculiarities may exist in Britain, experience

in America has demonstrated that the powers of human intellect do not,

in any degree, depend on hereditary title, texture of garment, or weight

of purse; and that all matters connected with the domestic policy of a

state, may be made comprehensible, and intrusted to its inhabitants. The

intricacy of legislation has long been a favourite theme with the _few_

who rule the _many_. But whatever may be the state of enlightenment

regarding legislation, the people of every civilized country must be as

competent to understand it as their rulers are, both parties having the

same common sense, and against the dictates of which law-making should

not even be attempted. Whatever is clearly understood by men in power,

may be made manifest to the people, and safely left to their decision;

and when such men wish to adopt measures without seeing their way, the

people ought also to be consulted, both with a view of obtaining

instruction and lessening the responsibility and odium of failure. These

remarks are borne out by the proceedings of the state of New York

regarding the salt question.

Nobility and mobility, or by whatever names the aristocracy and people

can be distinguished, may each have their advocates; but the propriety

of placing political power in either, must be decided by the effects

produced. In measures connected with public interest, the state of New

York is not surpassed, and perhaps not equalled, by any district on

earth, and all of them originated from, and exist by, the power and

consent of the people. How different is the state of things in Britain,

where the people have hitherto had almost no voice in political matters.

If the legislation of Britain was to be regulated by collecting the

opinions of the people by ballot, many important changes would soon take

place. There is, however, much difference between the people of America

and those of Britain. In the latter, a considerable portion of the

population has been so debased by the effects of aristocracy, that they

are ill qualified for discharging political duties. This is not,

however, a just reason for withholding rights from any portion of the

community entitled to them; and should excess arise amongst the people

in obtaining or exercising their rights, the aristocracy who have

neglected and degraded them, may be considered its real authors.

Before leaving New York, it became necessary to change my American money

into that of England, which was easily effected. The chief currency of

the United States is paper, and consists of one dollar bills and

upwards. The currency passing at par in one state, is often at a

discount in the adjoining one; and as the value of almost the whole

paper currency is published weekly in the newspapers, little loss need

arise. Travellers often complain of loss sustained on paper money in

passing from one part of the country to another. I supplied myself with

large dollar bills of the United States Bank, which passes current

throughout the Union, and on changing which, the hotel keepers and

coach-office keepers asked me the direction I meant to travel, and gave

me silver coin, or such provincial bills as they knew would pass at par.

Throughout my whole tour, I did not lose a cent by depreciated paper

currency.

Notwithstanding the coldness of the weather in the end of October,

November commenced most favourably, being calm, with bright sunshine.

The ladies thronged the streets of New York in summer attire; and in

some cases fires were dispensed with. In several little excursions made

in the vicinity of the town, I remarked the graceful weeping willow

still in fresh and full leaf on the 7th November, although the

thermometer a week before had stood at ten degrees below the freezing

point; and a branch of considerable length which I pulled and brought to

Scotland, still retains the leaves.

I left New York in the Napoleon on the 8th November. The vessel was

towed by a steamer until reaching the Narrows; the day was delightful,

and looked and felt like what has often been described as Indian summer.

On the second day of the voyage the wind blew strong, and sometimes

afterwards tempestuously. The passengers were most agreeable people, but

sea-sickness prevented my enjoying their company; and we arrived at

Liverpool in sixteen days from the time of leaving New York.

A VIEW

OF THE

CANADAS AND UNITED STATES,

AS

ADAPTED FOR AGRICULTURAL EMIGRATION.

TO

CHARLES HAGART SHIRREFF,

THE

FOLLOWING VIEW OF THE CANADAS AND UNITED STATES

IS INSCRIBED

BY

HIS BROTHER,

THE AUTHOR.

CHAPTER I.

_System of Nature Reproductive and Progressive, when aided by Man—Soil

is a Workshop—Nature and Man manufacturing Produce—East Lothian

Agriculture—Corn Laws—Leases—Competition for Land—Situation of

Tenants—Situation of Hinds—Prospects of the People connected with

Land._

From whatever sources arise the materials which compose and sustain

organized bodies, no symptoms of decline can be discovered in them.

Nature seems to be a system of continued reproduction, and, when aided

by man, of progressive increase.

The quantity of matter which has been organized since the beginning of

time must be immense. But whether the world is viewed in whole or in

portions, nature has no appearance of decay, but seems a manufactory

producing new fabrics, which are again reduced to their elements, in

endless succession. Generation succeeds generation, and year after year

furnishes sustenance. In the operations of nature there is no loss of

materials—and when they are aided by human industry, she generously

rewards man with an increase of her returns, and continues to reproduce

the increase. The bounties of nature seem inexhaustible, and, in some

measure, proportioned to man’s industry.

The system of nature, such as I have ventured to describe, may be

illustrated by the details of the farm. Pastures which have continued

under the influence of nature, annually yield herbage without decrease.

When they are stocked with sheep, man is rewarded with the increase of

the animals, and the herbage is reproduced as before. If the pasturage

is improved by draining and top-dressing, there will be an increase in

the returns from sheep, and the improvement in the pasturage continues

from year to year. When an improvement in the sheep is effected, there

will be an additional return from them, which, by continued attention,

becomes permanent.

When pasturage is superseded by grains and roots, their increased

returns above pasturage is the reward of cultivation; and drainage,

manures, and labours greatly increase the returns. In such a system of

farming man acts a prominent part with nature, and skilful industry is

required to continue the increase. Without skill and industry the

returns from cultivation yearly diminish, and ultimately fall short of

those from pasturage or undisturbed nature. In this case it is not

nature but man which fails to do his part, and the decrease may be

considered a just retribution.

A reflecting mind will discover much evidence of nature’s economy

throughout the universe—and the farm supplies familiar illustrations.

Cows and sheep by consuming grass, yield butcher meat, milk, butter,

cheese, and leather. These varied fabrics emanate from the same source,

and when reduced to their elements, may again enter into the composition

of grass. The straw of grain crops and other vegetable matter, after

being eaten by or trampled under the feet of animals, decomposes and

enters into wheat, barley, and turnip, or any other plant. In this

manner the vegetable and animal kingdoms assist each other, and so

perfect is the economy of nature, that none of her materials are lost in

the intercourse.

By judicious management the fertility of a farm may be maintained, or

its productions reproduced year after year; the produce usually disposed

of being the reward of cultivation. If such produce was to be consumed

on the farm, its fertility would be augmented, and the reproductive and

progressive increase of nature, when assisted by man, exemplified. But

the progression in fertility is checked by excessive luxuriance, which

diminishes the returns. Thus lavish and niggardly cultivation are both

punished, and illustrative of the maxim, to use the things of this life

without abusing them.

Man seems to have been endowed with rational powers for supplying

himself with the means of subsistence, which he accomplishes chiefly

through the vegetable and animal kingdoms. Vegetables directly minister

to his wants in various ways, and indirectly through domestic animals,

which are altogether dependent on them. The farm illustrates the direct

supply in the production of wheat, potatoes, and flax, the indirect

supply, in butcher meat and wool. In farm economy, vegetables and

animals may be viewed as manufacturing machines, assisting man and each

other, and the united results of which are necessary to the formation of

certain fabrics, such as milk. From this source man is supplied with

many of the luxuries as well as the necessaries of life. The results of

the mulberry-tree, silk-worm, and cochineal insect, are united in some

of the lustrous clothing of the fair sex.

The materials entering into organized life may be varied, and partly

unknown to man. The most important elements of them, however, are to be

found in air and water, and may, therefore, be said to pervade the

universe. Should a difference of opinion exist regarding them, it is

encouraging for the farmer to know that they abound every where within

the sphere of his operations.

The localities for manufacturing sustenance are almost as varied as the

machinery or plants. The sea, air, and exterior of every organized body

are stations, but the surface of the earth or soil is the chief. The

localities may be considered workshops, differing in merit, without

generally contributing materials towards the manufactures. Sustenance

manufactured in the sea and on the surface of the earth, equally sustain

human life, and contain the same elements.

Soil is not often regarded simply as a workshop, although no other view

of it accords with the operations of nature and of man. It does not in

any case appear to contribute materially to the formation of plants, and

is only useful to them by affording support to their roots, and holding

their sustenance, being a receptacle of air, water, decomposing

organized bodies, and mineral substances. Soil may be rendered fertile

or unfertile by imparting or withdrawing whatever promotes vegetation.

In the preparation of human sustenance, then, soil is a workshop; air,

moisture, light, heat, and decomposing organized bodies, raw materials;

plants and animals, machinery; certain minerals and labours, oil for the

machinery. In manufacturing produce, nature supplies air, light, heat,

and moisture; man furnishes organized bodies, machinery, and oil, which

may generally all be obtained by capital. The parts performed by nature

and man vary according to the fabric produced. In the case of pasturage,

nature contributes the greatest share; in cultivation the capital skill

and industry of man is conspicuous. The neglected farm, incapable of

producing turnip with a visible bulb, yields a full crop with a

judicious application of labour and manure. The united exertions of

nature and man ensure success. She accomplishes much when unaided by

man, but he cannot obtain any thing without the assistance of nature.

When she withholds heat or moisture, the manufacture is suspended, and

she possesses the power of arresting or altogether destroying the

machinery. Farmers combine nature’s agency under the term climate, and

they are familiar with the general effects of heat, frost, drought, and

moisture. If given quantities of manure and labour were bestowed on

equal portions of soil, similar in quality, situated in Scotland, on a

level with the ocean, and the top of a mountain, the difference of

produce would be the effect of climate.

Man has been doomed to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow.

Experience confirms that the industry of an individual, closely applied

to the cultivation of the soil in the temperate climes of the world, is

more than adequate to supply sustenance to himself. It is a beautiful

feature in farming, that agricultural improvements furnish additional

food, increase almost every comfort, and ameliorate climate. The

goodness of God to man is thus manifested, in providing him with the

means of subsistence, and a reward according to his industry.

A person who intends emigrating ought to consider well what his

prospects are likely to be in the country of his birth, and in the

district to which he is to move, and be guided by a balance of their

advantages and disadvantages. You have chosen the profession of farmer,

and I shall, in connexion with America, direct your attention to a few

particulars affecting East Lothian agriculture, the district in which

you reside, and its state is perhaps not widely different from the

agriculture of other parts of Britain.

The results of nature, capital, and labour, forming farm produce, it

becomes desirable to ascertain the proportions which they contribute. It

is impossible, perhaps, to fix on them with accuracy in any particular

case, and their combinations are variable. Endeavour, however, to obtain

a clear comprehension of the separate parts they perform in the

manufacture of human sustenance. They deeply affect the question of

emigration from Britain, the choice of locality elsewhere, and the

employment of capital and cultivation generally. Farm economy is

altogether depending on them, and the success or failure of operations

intimately connected with their combinations.

The soil of East Lothian is owned in large masses by landholders, who

seldom contribute much towards farming except building accommodation.

The properties being secured to them and their heirs by laws of entail,

their own imprudence cannot deprive them of the land, and not possessing

the power of disposing of it, they have little inducement to improve it.

Being, many of them, unacquainted with agriculture, they are incapable

of managing their properties, which are, consequently, placed under the

charge of agents, who are generally lawyers, residing in towns, without

knowledge of farming. Landholders too often only interest themselves in

land as shelter for game, and agents as the source of rent; the

interests of both parties being temporary, they pursue their hobby,

regardless of ultimate consequences, and occasionally without sympathy

for their fellow-creatures residing on the soil. There is sometimes a

person under the agent, called Factor, who, from being the medium of

communicating with the tenantry, possesses much influence, which is

generally used, for good or evil, to please his employer.

Land is generally occupied on a lease, which endures nineteen years; and

it is by the skill and capital of tenant-farmers that the soil is

cultivated, and that almost all agricultural improvements have been

introduced. The farmers employ yearly servants called hinds, a highly

deserving class of operatives.

As the population and wealth of Britain increase, there is employment

for a proportionate number of individuals in most professions—such, for

example, as bakers and shoemakers. It is otherwise with farmers, because

the soil has long been entirely occupied, and it does not expand with an

increase of population. Indeed an opposite rule seems to apply to this

profession, skill and capital enabling an individual to manage a greater

extent of land. These circumstances, joined to the natural desire

mankind have to till the soil, have created much competition for renting

land.

The corn-laws have been denominated a bread-tax, but they ought to be

named rent laws, as their practical effect has been to raise the rent of

land without benefiting any one engaged in agriculture, except a few

farmers during an existing lease. They are a tax on the community for

the benefit of landholders, so admirably devised, that it is levied

without expense, farmers acting as gratis collectors, and paying the

proceeds in the name of rent. Corn-laws have long given a fictitious

value to farm produce, and created delusive hopes in farmers which led

to their own ruin. At present they are injurious to the agricultural

labourer and farmer, because while they continue and are subject to

change, rational data for renting land and investing capital in its

cultivation cannot exist, and their abrogation will sooner or later be

effected by public opinion.

The present defective leases of farms continuing fixed for nineteen

years, are injurious, by giving rise to an improving mode of agriculture

at the commencement, a stationary mode in the middle, and a

deteriorating system at the termination of the lease. Thus, the

fertility of a farm fluctuates, instead of progressing unchecked till

the end of time. A nineteen years’ lease is often hurtful to a farmer,

by binding him to a bad bargain for such a length of time, and involving

his heirs in the difficulty which, in case of a young family, is a more

serious step than binding himself. Leases have also tended to lessen the

landlord’s interest in his property, and estrange him from the tenantry.

So much is this the case, that at the present time many landlords are

altogether unacquainted with their tenantry, and a good feeling does not

always exist between them. Were land occupied on proper terms, with a

proper lease, the case would be different. The landlord would then have

a direct interest in the cultivation of his property, in the management

of his tenant, and in the welfare of every being residing on the soil. A

worthless character, or bad farmer, would be got rid of, and the farm of

a tyrannical or illiberal landlord soon abandoned. In short it would be

in the option of the parties to separate at short periods, which would

prevent jarring, and a community of interests would ensure the

progressive productiveness of the farm. The idea of a copartnership of

every individual engaged in cultivating the soil, would, in some

measure, be realized, and good feeling maintained amongst them. In some

parts of England where annual leases prevail, I have witnessed as good

farming as I ever saw in Scotland, and perfect harmony existed between

landlords and tenants, and the latter seemed to enjoy more of the

comforts and luxuries of life than Scottish farmers. However

advantageous leases may have proved in former times, when the tenantry

were bowed down by oppression and poverty, their effects, of late years,

when competition for renting land has been so great, and the value of

farm produce retrograding, have been injurious to the tenantry and the

advancement of agriculture. The terms of lease seem only calculated for

progressive prices of farm produce, and have proved ruinous during

declining ones. It would be easy to remedy the defects of the present

lease, but, under existing circumstances, visionary to expect their

removal.

On the termination of a lease the farm is generally advertised to be let

by receiving written offers on a mentioned day. The landlord and his

agent knowing little about its value, a tenant is accepted after every

attempt has been made to obtain rent above the written offers, by

operating on the feelings and local attachments of the former tenant,

which seldom fail to ripen during a lease. From all parts of the country

candidates of different descriptions appear. Men of sanguine

temperament, without calculation, unacquainted with the peculiarities of

the district, and looking forward to the prices of produce returning to

what they were upwards of twenty years ago. Adventurers, trusting to get

a reduction of rent after obtaining possession, and reckless of the

consequence of the step they have taken, having perhaps little capital

to lose, and content to live, year after year, dependents on the

property, and with arrears of rent accumulating. People merely wishing a

place of residence, and not calculating on profit from the farm, having

the means of living from other sources.

Such is the state of East Lothian farmers, that during the last twenty

years perhaps three-fourths of them have not fulfilled their original

contracts, and the funds that have been lost in cultivating the soil is

incalculable. I have known a tenant rent a farm with a capital of seven

thousand pounds sterling, consisting of about 400 acres, and remove from

it before the expiry of his lease, with only five hundred pounds in his

pocket, and in arrears of rent to his landlord the sum of three thousand

pounds. Mr ——, of our acquaintance, on a farm under 100 acres, incurred

twelve hundred pounds of arrears, and got off by paying only two hundred

of them. With such competitors, a young man who must live by his

profession, can hardly wish to be successful. The obtaining of a lease

at the present time may often be considered little better than the first

chance of being ruined, and many tenants, after leading anxious lives,

and exposed to the insults of rent exactors, may think themselves

fortunate if they escape with a remnant of their fortunes.

The feeling that landholders, agents, and factors sometimes evince

towards the tenantry is so hostile, that a small portion of the farmers

originally connected with East Lothian obtain leases of late years, the

new tenants generally coming from other countries. So much is this the

case, that I have sometimes regarded such tenants as a proscribed race,

and thought that the sooner most of them put their house in order for

removal the better for themselves. It is of no consequence how

respectable the old tenant may be in private life, or high in his

profession. A promise of rent, although not likely to be fulfilled, is a

never-failing recommendation to a stranger, when joined to subserviency,

without which it is very difficult to obtain a farm on any terms. If a

tenant has opinions, they must agree with those of agents or factors on

the estate, or warfare ensues; and if he is an individual of talent or

independent feeling, he is hunted with more zeal as a dangerous person,

and every species of annoyance and persecution is hurled against him. A

tenant of great enterprise, who had obtained a conventional reduction of

rent some years ago, in consequence of a _fall_ in prices, was lately

called before an agent and questioned about his management. The tenant

maintained his innovation on the common system to be an improvement, but

was told by the agent that if it was found he had injured the land,

damages must be paid, and if, as was alleged, a discovery had been made,

it was fair the landholder should participate in the discovery, and no

reduction of rent would be made in future, although prices had _fallen_

thirty per cent since the conventional reduction was granted. About

fifteen years ago, eleven tenants resided on a certain estate, and since

then the effects of ten of them have been sequestrated and sold at the

instance of the landholder, and in all probability the remaining tenant

will remove elsewhere in a few months. On a division of another estate,

the tenants have all been twice changed in twelve years, and one of the

farms in the same time has had four tenants, three of whom became

bankrupts. With such examples before their eyes, tenants eagerly seek

after farms at rents which cannot be realized from its disposable

produce. Their case soon becomes hopeless, but, being bound for nineteen

years, they are generally held until their funds are exhausted, when

they are sacrificed, according to the partial laws of the country, to

make room for a new victim. The original tenants of East Lothian have

been accounted fine gentlemen—extravagant fellows, devouring so much of

the produce of the soil that they scarcely leave any of it for the

landholder—an allegation which is unfounded, and which has hitherto

served as a pretext for harshness. It has been suggested that the

managers of great estates are fond of power and adulation, and cannot

brook the idea of farmers approaching themselves in the refinements of

life; hence the harsh treatment of the tenantry and the success of

subserviency.

There is a prevalent idea that small farms occupied by hard working men

afford more rent than possessions of larger size, and on some estates

small farms are forming. The effects of a division of labour, skill, and

capital must be nearly the same in farming as in most other

manufactories, and a very short trial of tenants without capital,

however they may live, will prove this position by the altered fertility

of the soil, which is illustrated by the state of Irish agriculture. In

Ireland farm produce is the result of nature and imperfect labour; but

in East Lothian the results of capital, skill, and improved labour enter

into the combination; and in the latter the produce of land is much

greater than in the former. But the landholders of Ireland are perhaps

more wealthy than those of East Lothian, compared with the people of the

respective countries. A crowded and agricultural population will pay

rent in proportion to its degradation, or, at least, afford in such a

ratio influence and rank to landholders. This rule is not, however,

applicable to Britain, where commerce and manufactures flourish, whose

profits of stock and wages of labour ultimately affect those of

agriculture, and the selfish attempts at degrading the farmers of East

Lothian will recoil on their authors. For a time tenants without capital

can pay high rents, by extracting from the soil the means of fertility

imparted to it by others; but the deteriorated condition of the farm is

ultimately a loss to the landholder and the community.

The capital which is required to put the operations of an East Lothian

farm in full motion, the tenant maintaining himself and reaping a crop

without the aid of credit, may be stated at seven pounds sterling, or

nearly thirty-five dollars per imperial acre. The rent which is

stipulated to be paid, and the capital expended in fertilizing the soil,

renders the step which he takes a serious speculation. If a bad crop or

two occurs at the commencement of the lease, the tenant will be unable

to pay the rent, and he is then deprived of the lease, or allowed to

continue a dependent on the estate. Being bound for nineteen years, he

has not the option of removing from the farm, and is very seldom

permitted to do so while a tangible farthing of his funds remain. At all

times he leads an anxious life without bodily toil, and is seldom

remunerated for his exertions and risk of capital. Industry and

enterprise may enable him to struggle to the end of his lease. Should he

die and leave a wife and young family, the unexpired years of the lease

would in all probability ruin them, his funds being liable for the rent,

and they would be incapable of managing the farm without incurring great

loss. Two thousand pounds may be stated as an ordinary capital to

commence farming with; and it is hopeless for a person without

considerable funds to think of farming at all.

The hinds, or farm-servants of East Lothian, are, perhaps, the steadiest

and most praiseworthy race of men in the world, and indifferently

rewarded for the important part which they act in farm economy, living

on poor fare, and in bad cottages. Up to the present time, the best

feeling has existed between them and the tenantry; and there are

thousands of instances of men having died of old age in the service of

their first employers, without an abatement of income having been made

during sickness or infirmity. But a change is taking place in their

condition, by the pressure on the tenantry weakening attachments, and

forbidding an indulgence of generosity towards their faithful and

proficient operatives. Mutual confidence and assistance, in the

different classes engaged in farming, forms the strength of the East

Lothian system of agriculture, and the true source of happiness of all

interested in it. Kindness and attention, on the part of landholders

towards the tenantry, commonly radiates to farm-servants, from them to

the animals under their charge, and the happiness of all is thereby

promoted. On the other hand, harshness and neglect shown by landholders

to the tenantry, descends to servants and animals, and general

uneasiness is the result. Some of the recently introduced tenantry bring

all their operatives from other districts, and have commenced the

_Bothie_ system, which is highly demoralizing in its effects on the men

who are subjected to it, although it is somewhat cheaper than the

customary mode of treating the ploughmen. The prospect of this class

bettering their condition is hopeless, and there is reason to apprehend

their comforts will be curtailed.

The rural population of East Lothian appears to be undergoing an unhappy

change. The management of landed property is almost entirely intrusted

to agents, who, like the middlemen of Ireland, have no permanent

interest in the soil, nor sympathy with its cultivators; and, like that

country, East Lothian now suffers from the effects of absenteeism, so

far as the interests and feelings of the rural inhabitants are

concerned. The landholders and tenantry are unknown to each other, and

dislike may sometimes be traced in both parties. The tie of farmer and

ploughman is waxing weak, and instead of the quietness of conduct which

now pervades all classes, a very few years may develope the troubles of

Ireland, and the south of England.

It has already been stated, that nature contributes much towards the

manufacture of farm produce; but the fruits of her exertion do not

benefit the tenant nor operative. The landholders receive as rent all

that results from nature, and also a considerable portion flowing from

the tenant’s capital and the operative’s labour. The tax which the

corn-laws impose on the unagricultural portion of the population, for

the benefit of landholders, is collected free of expense by the

tenantry. The ragged and half-starved peasant of Ireland labours

amongst, and begs from, the people of Britain, and, on reaching home,

gives his earnings to the owner of the soil, that he may be permitted to

exist only on the potato he himself cultivates. The East Lothian tenant

of the present day is often not more happily situated, gradually paying

the landholder the earnings of early life, or inherited wealth, for the

privilege of occupying the soil, and returning its produce. It is

fortunate landholders do not possess the power of preventing the

population removing to other countries, and there growing produce for

themselves.

There seems but little in the present constitution and state of

agricultural relations to brighten futurity. An abrogation of the

corn-laws would ensure an extended application of capital to the soil,

and create employment for operatives. Annulling the law of entail would

produce landholders interested in agriculture and the people who follow

it. But however beneficial might be the effects of such measures, the

evil of a limited surface with a numerous population would remain. The

landholder would perhaps be reduced to the necessity of superintending

the cultivation of a part of his own soil, and generally interest

himself in his estate. The situation of tenants and operatives would

only be improved for a short while, as they would soon compete with each

other as before. Neither of them are at present adequately remunerated

for their exertions. To expect much improvement in their condition while

population is so numerous, seems hopeless; and individuals will require

to exert themselves to maintain their present position.

I have treated generally of East Lothian agriculture, and the classes

immediately connected with it, without noticing examples of wisdom and

generosity on the part of landholders, or of folly and worthlessness

amongst tenants and operatives. My object has been to bring the unsound

parts of the system under notice, in order that an estimate of future

prospects might be formed. But all classes may be regarded as the

victims of circumstances which have not perhaps been of their own

creating, and they are more deserving of sympathy than censure. While

what appeared to me to be the true state of things has been freely

described, I disclaim feelings of bitterness or reproach towards man or

things.

CHAPTER II.

_Persons engaged in American Agriculture—American and

British Agriculture—Application of Capital and Labour to

Cultivation—Rent—Price of Land—Proportions of Nature—Capital and

Labour in the Production of Farm Produce, and their distribution in

Britain and America—Capital required to stock a Farm in both

Countries—Unhealthiness of America—Climate—State of

Society—Situation of young Men without Capital—Choosing America or

Britain._

In North America, extensive landholders are not common in any of the

districts which I visited; and where they do exist, a great part of

their possessions are unproductive. The soil is chiefly cultivated by

its owners, who, in sundry respects, resemble the tenants of Scotland;

and they often perform a great portion of the manual labour of the farm.

In many parts of the country, which has been long settled, the farmers

are opulent, participating in all the conveniences of life; and, without

passing their time in absolute idleness, hire a good deal of labour. In

the more recently settled parts, farmers have few of the elegancies and

conveniences of life, with an ample share of its necessaries. They do

not labour hard after the first three or four years of settlement, and

seem to live without much care. Land does not invest its owner with any

privilege or status in society.

Renters of land, or tenants, are common in many parts, and in all

respects rank as landholders. The terms of rent are variable. Near

towns, and in thickly-peopled districts, a small rent is paid in money,

and a lease of several years taken. In remote situations, land is

commonly let on shares from year to year. If the owner of the soil

furnishes seed and labouring animals, he gets two-thirds of the produce,

when on the field, and removed from the earth. If the tenant supplies

animals and seed, the landowner gets one-third. But terms may vary

according to situation, soil, and crop.

Farm-hired men, or by whatever other name they may be distinguished, are

to be had in all old settled districts, and also in many of the new

ones. In most cases their reward is ample, and their treatment good,

living on the same kind of fare and often associating with their

employers. A great deal of farm labour is performed by piece-work.

The agriculture of a country is affected by local circumstances, and

farming in Britain and in the remote parts of America may be considered

the extremes of the art. In the one country the farmer aims to assist,

and in the other to rob nature. When the results of capital and labour

are low, compared with the hire of them, they are sparingly applied to

the cultivation of the soil, in which case nature is oppressed and

neglected, if I may be allowed to use such terms; and when they are

high, compared with their hire, she is aided and caressed. Both systems

are proper in the respective countries; and, by assuming a fixed result

for nature, they admit of arithmetical demonstration. Along the eastern

shores of America, manures and a considerable portion of hired labour

are applied to the cultivation of the soil; but in remote districts

manures are not used, and the smallest indispensable quantity of labour

bestowed. In the eastern parts, the results of capital and labour enter

into the productions of the soil; in remote districts the aid of capital

can scarcely be said to have been called into action, and in both

situations nature is the chief agent.

The circumstances affecting the application of capital and labour to the

cultivation of the soil in Britain and America are as opposite as their

systems of farming. In Britain, with her limited surface and dense

population, nature’s contribution towards the production of farm produce

is given to the landholder as rent, and the rural inhabitants living

near the starvation point, the price of provisions regulates in a great

measure the hire of labour. Accordingly, the wages of agricultural

labour in the different parts of the country are proportionate to the

value of their produce; being lowest in the remote and inclement

situations, and highest in the most favoured districts. In America, the

extent of soil and thin population has not distorted effects, and

nature’s portion of farm produce is not absorbed by rent. The results of

capital and labour being represented in quantities of produce, and their

hire paid in money, it follows, that the cash-value of the former must

generally exceed the latter, and that an additional application of

capital and labour to cultivation is a consequence of produce being high

priced compared with their hire. Accordingly, in all parts of the

country where produce is high, labour is low, and where produce is low,

labour is high.

In Britain, the hire of agricultural labour has been affected, and in

all probability will continue to be regulated, by the wages of the

unagricultural part of the population. Without manufactures and

commerce, the condition of her rural inhabitants would have approached

the present state of the Irish people. In America, the returns of the

agriculturist appear to regulate the wages of other classes. When they

are high, other classes are attracted to farming; when low, farmers

change their profession;—Americans generally being able to exercise two

or three professions.

The origin and progress of rent seem to admit of easy solution. In the

western prairies of America, where cheap and good cleared land is almost

as abundant as air, rent is unknown, except in the neighbourhood of

towns. In the eastern districts, where good cleared land is of limited

extent, compared with the inhabitants, rent is paid. Thus, population is

the origin of rent, which is the value of produce above what it hath

cost in raising and carrying to market. At first, it consists of a small

portion of the produce furnished by nature; with an increase of

population the whole is absorbed, and ultimately also, parts of the

results of capital and labour. Rent is also affected by the condition as

well as by the number of the people; and, under a parity of

circumstances, will be found to augment in the ratio of the number and

misery of the agricultural inhabitants.

Until land yields rent, it is not worth purchase-money, and in

proportion to a rise of rent its price will increase. Lands, therefore,

sell at a considerable sum on the eastern side of America, and diminish

in price to the westward, unless enhanced by localities of situation. As

population increases in the west, and labour falls, land will rise in

value, cheap land and cheap labour being incompatible with each other.

But the investment of capital in the purchase and cultivation of land

depends also on the profits of stock, or rate of interest in the

country, the tangibility of the investment, and many other things.

From the high price of produce, and comparatively cheap labour and

manure in the eastern parts, capital, judiciously employed in

cultivation, yields an ample return. But the low produce and high labour

in the west renders it unprofitable to employ much capital in

cultivation at present in that situation. From the great advantages

which the western districts possess over the eastern ones in cheapness

and fertility of soil, and consequent reward of labour, population will

flow into them, and render a rise in the value of land more probable

there than in the eastern parts.

Having frequently alluded to the results of nature, capital, and labour,

in the production of farm produce and their distribution, I shall

endeavour to illustrate the subject hypothetically, for the purpose of

assisting in forming an opinion of their general bearings. The results

of capital and labour employed in cultivation cannot always be

separated, and perhaps they ought to be classed together. The assumed

data does not include capital invested in the purchase of land, and I do

not wish the accuracy of the statement to be relied on, although I think

it approaches to correctness.

In East Lothian produce, let nature be represented by 3

Capital, 1

Labour, 3

—

Total, 7

Nature’s share being given as rent, and also part of the results of

capital and labour, the landholder perhaps gets a portion, expressed by

3½, leaving 3½ for the tenant, labourers, and all other expenses of

cultivation. But the expenses of cultivation and rent must be paid under

all circumstances, and frequently nothing remains for the tenant. This

is particularly obvious in unproductive seasons when the diminished crop

may be represented by 4, leaving the tenant, after discharging taxes and

some other things, without a farthing to pay rent. I myself have been so

situated, and human means cannot prevent such visitations. Hence the

speculative nature of farming, and the results which have flowed from

it.

In American produce, let nature be represented by 3

Capital, 0¼

Labour, 1¼

——

Total, 4½

In the eastern parts where rent is paid, the landholder’s portion may be

1, leaving 3½ for the tenant and expenses of cultivation. In remote

districts where capital is scarcely employed, the whole produce falls to

be divided between the landholder and labourers, and the landholder

enjoys it without division, when the labour is performed by his own

hands. Although the divisible portion appears the same in both

countries, the labour and capital employed in cultivation is perhaps

five times greater in Britain than in western America. On a given

surface the produce is greater in Britain, but in America the produce is

greater in proportion to the labour employed in cultivation.

In East Lothian the farmer gives the fruits of nature and part of the

results of capital and labour to the landholder as rent. In western

America the farmer shares nature’s bounty with the labourer, or enjoys

it himself by labouring with his own hands. In East Lothian the farmer

of the present time is in some degree the servant of the landholder. In

western America the farmer has nature for his servant, or at least

enjoys her labours. With such an assistant what industrious man can be

poor?

In the event of death or old age, nature still continues her services to

the American farmer, by furnishing grass and other commodities. A widow

or young family, almost under any circumstances, could milk cows and

plant potatoes. Bountiful nature would provide grass for the animals and

mature the potatoes, on the produce of which the family might live. In

East Lothian a widow or young family, after being ruined, would be

turned adrift on the world.

In the eastern parts of America land may be purchased and stocked for

nearly the sum an East Lothian farmer expends in stocking and improving

a farm, namely L.7 per acre. But if the land has great local advantages,

the price will be considerably higher. In the western parts of the

United States, prairie land of the best quality, without the least

obstacle to cultivation, and to any extent, may be had. For the sum of

three hundred pounds sterling a farm of 200 acres could be bought and

stocked in the prairies of western America. In East Lothian farming is a

hazardous calling; in America there is no risk attending it. In East

Lothian L.2000 is required to stock a farm; in the Western States L.300

will purchase and stock one nearly of equal size. In East Lothian a

farmer has mental annoyance with bodily ease; in America he has mental

ease with personal labour. In East Lothian a young farmer commences his

career in affluence, and at middle age finds himself in poverty; in

America he begins with toil, and is in easy circumstances by middle age.

But however favourable American farming may appear when simply viewing

the quantity of produce, the country has many disadvantages deserving of

consideration, and one of the most important is its unhealthiness. The

whole of North America is liable to ague and fevers of various kinds,

and the chief difference of situation in these respects seems to be

owing to cultivation. The more cultivation is extended, the healthier

the climate becomes, but occasionally ague and fever prevails in all

situations. I found fever and ague at Hyde Park, on the banks of the

Hudson, at Niagara, Whitby, and Chatham, in Upper Canada. The

inhabitants on the prairies of Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and

Missouri, were suffering much from fever when I was amongst them. Almost

every person you meet with in America tells you of the healthiness of

his situation, and the unhealthiness of other parts of the country. The

cause of fever and ague in America does not appear connected with

marshes or stagnant waters, as the inhabitants residing on the dry open

prairie of 100 miles in extent are not exempt from its attacks, but is

thought to arise from the miasms of decaying vegetation; and the rich

bottoms, covered with rank vegetation, on the banks of rivers are the

most unhealthy situations. While journeying over the prairies of

Illinois after nightfall in autumn, when vegetation was decaying, the

smell of fermenting grasses was unpleasantly strong, and reminded me of

the odour of a sweating hay-stack in Scotland. In almost every part of

the world where the earth’s surface is uncultivated and well clothed

with vegetation, fever and ague prevails, and is found to abate as

cultivation is introduced. Thus bountiful nature at once rewards the

enterprising farmer with her fruits and a more salubrious atmosphere.

What incentives to industry!

The climate of North America is remarkable for variations of

temperature, and most situations seem alike in this respect. But the

duration of winter increases, and length of summer decreases, with the

latitude of the situation. The region of North America is not so

congenial to human life as Britain, but far more so than the East and

West Indies and many other parts of the world. In such a vast continent

cultivation is alone wanting to render it healthy.

The state of society in America is very different from what it is in

Britain, there being less refinement and fewer of the elegancies of life

enjoyed. I am satisfied, however, from experience, that much of what is

known by, and appreciated as, the comforts of life, arises from fashion

and force of habit, and that a few weeks’ residence will reconcile a

reasonable person to the change. Throughout the greater part of the

country, fashion has not established her empire, and there is little

vieing amongst the inhabitants. The handsome bound volumes which adorn

the drawingrooms of Britain, are not more instructive or amusing in

consequence of their showy exterior; and the meagre furnishings of

American log-houses, in the remote districts, meet the wishes of the

inhabitants, and are found as useful as the most gaudy. Plain furniture

is not despised where fine is never met with. In taverns, luxuries and

refinements are common, and wealth may obtain them almost any where. Of

the state of domestic society I am not qualified to speak from personal

observation, farther than that the manners and customs of the people

differ from those of Britain. In the eastern parts the distinctions of

classes in society and elegancies of life approximate those of Britain,

and both gradually diminish on proceeding to the westward. But in any

part of America, where an emigrant may settle himself, he must lay his

account with a change in the social intercourse of life. Some people

are, however, incapable of altering their manners and customs, and such

characters may live without society.

In the eastern parts of America the luxuries and conveniences of life

are cheaper, and the necessaries dearer, than in remote districts. The

east should therefore be the abode of the wealthy, refined, and

luxurious; the west, of the persons who value the necessaries of life,

and such as are not of fastidious habits. But in no part of the country

will the fastidious find themselves happy.

The want of good assistants, servants, or helps, is ranked amongst

American privations. In the east assistance can at all times be had,

which is not the case in the west; but in most situations high wages and

good treatment will obtain assistance. Female servants are very scarce,

and said not to be good. To the wealthy and refined, who have resided in

Britain, this state of things at first appears insupportable. They soon,

however, learn to assist themselves in many things, and find their

happiness increased by doing so.

The difficulty of obtaining servants arises from the ease with which

individuals obtain a livelihood, every industrious and sober character

having the means of purchasing a good estate in the west with the

accumulated savings of three years’ service. However much certain

classes may feel and regret the want of servants, the extraordinary

reward which they receive ought in fairness to be accounted the

country’s greatest blessing. In no other part of the world is industry,

sobriety, and worth, so richly rewarded.

The influence which wealth has attained in Britain merits the

consideration of all young men without capital. Personal exertion is

often considered degrading, and visited with the contumely of former

associates. To lose rank in society must be particularly galling to

young men of spirit, and few in the middle walks of life can keep their

place without capital. This is one of the many inconveniences attending

a refined state of society, and is more likely to increase than diminish

in Britain. In the remote parts of America wealth is not idolized. The

industrious youth may there follow any occupation without being looked

down upon or sustain loss of rank, and may rationally anticipate raising

himself. The plain style of buildings and household furnishings of such

places are favourable to young people, and in almost every particular

their situation may be said to be the reverse of what it is in Britain.

A young man without capital and of good character, is almost sure to

gain but cannot lose rank by emigrating to America, and will rarely

maintain his rank by remaining in Britain.

In judging then of the step of becoming an American agriculturist, all

may lay their account to undergo considerable privations at first

settlement, and lead a different life from the farmers of East Lothian.

The bountiful reward which industry receives soon enables good men to

purchase land; and it is therefore often the unsteady and idle which

hire themselves to farmers. On this account, it will be necessary to

work personally, by way of example and active superintendence. Right

thinking people consider it no disgrace to labour in any part of the

world, and it is thought quite disreputable to be idle in America. East

Lothian farmers often toil mentally without remuneration; and the

assurance that, while in America, all the fruits of a person’s own

labour, assisted by generous nature, accrues to himself, will nerve his

arm and sweeten his toil. The division of labour so beautifully effected

in some of the operations of East Lothian agriculture, and which I may

be permitted to call professional luxuries, cannot be practised at

present in America. The wooden dwelling-house and barns will at first

perhaps appear revolting, and may induce some people to think, that,

with the same privations and sacrifices, they would have been enabled to

have lived in East Lothian. Such is not, however, the case; because the

pressure on farmers arises from a competition of numbers, which would be

increased by lowering the standard of living; and the only result of

such policy would be to raise the rent of land, and degrade all engaged

in farming. Let no one, however, from my representations of American

farming, entertain too sanguine hopes of success. Farming, in most parts

of the world, ranks low in the scale of professional remuneration; and

without virtue, persevering industry, and sobriety of character, people

will not likely either become wealthy or happy. In nine cases out of

ten, a man’s success in life depends on his own exertions. America

presents a fertile and extensive field, and whoever does not reap an

abundant harvest, will, in all probability, find the cause of failure in

his own character. I cannot hold out an immediate or ultimate prospect

of great wealth, as the low price of produce and high labour renders

this improbable. Every person may, however, obtain all the necessaries

and most of the true comforts of life in the fullest abundance,

unharassed by the cares of the present, or apprehensions of the future.

The pleasures of society are not likely to be so much enjoyed in America

as in Britain; but, on the other hand, its mortifications are escaped.

In every part of the world, man ought to look to his family and himself,

and not to society, for true happiness. If abundance of the necessaries

of life do not ensure society in America, the want of abundance is

almost sure to lose society in Britain.

CHAPTER III.

_Lower Canada—Inhabitants—Climate—Soil—Mode of Selling

Land—Productions and Prices—Farming near Montreal—Climate affecting

Agriculture and Farmers._

Canada originally consisted of one country, and was divided into two

provinces, Upper and Lower Canada, in 1791. It was discovered by Jacques

Cartier, a Frenchman, in 1535, and continued under dominion of the

French until 1759, with exception of a year or two, when it was ceded to

the English.

The descendants of the French, after the conquest by the English, were

allowed to retain their laws and religion, which so attached them to the

British government, that their fidelity remained unshaken during the war

with the colonies to the south, which now form part of the United

States. In the late war between Great Britain and the United States the

population again continued faithful; and their antipathy to the

inhabitants of the States seems to be unconquerable.

About two-thirds of the inhabitants of Lower Canada are descendants of

the French, who speak the French language, and retain most of their old

manners and customs. The rest of the inhabitants consist of all nations,

and are chiefly descended from British subjects. The French Canadians

profess the Catholic religion; and lands held by Catholics pay one

twenty-sixth of the grain produce to the clergy. The exaction, however,

seldom extends beyond the wheat crop; and the people of all religions

represent the Catholic clergy of Lower Canada as the best disposed and

most inoffensive class of men in the province.

The French Canadians are chiefly engaged in agriculture, and are a most

unenterprising race of individuals, and lead the same kind of life which

their forefathers did upwards of two hundred years ago. They appear to

be poor, indolent, and a mirthful loving people. The commerce of the

province is carried on chiefly by British subjects. In politics, there

is a French and British party. At present the French interest is the

most numerous; it will, however, ultimately dwindle away.

The province of Lower Canada lies between forty-five and fifty-two

degrees of north latitude, and sixty-three and eighty-one of west

longitude, from Greenwich. The climate of America is very different from

places of the same latitude in Europe, the degrees of heat and cold

being much greater. Although lying considerably farther south than

England, Fahrenheit’s thermometer ranges between ninety and one hundred

degrees in summer. In winter, the thermometer occasionally indicates

thirty degrees below zero, and for six months the surface of the earth

is covered with snow. The St Lawrence, which divides the province, runs

in a north-easterly direction, and the climate becomes mild as the river

is ascended. In the western part of the province, spring commences a

month earlier than it does at Quebec, the capital of the district, and

the climate is in all respects superior for agriculture.

The climate of Lower Canada is perhaps as healthy as any in America,

which may be owing to the length of time the banks of the St Lawrence,

where the population chiefly reside, have been cultivated. In newly

settled districts, fever and ague, the scourge of America, is frequently

known.

The soil, which has been surveyed, is estimated by Bouchette at about

16,000,000 acres, and is said to be inferior sand in the eastern parts,

and to improve to the westward. This gradation of soil seems to be

pretty general in most parts of North America; but soils of the most

opposite character are to be found in all situations, and America is as

variable in texture and quality of surface as Britain.

The greater part of the cleared land is occupied by the descendants of

the French in narrow stripes, seldom exceeding 100 acres, and often

extending miles in length. The tenures are of French origin, and it is

difficult to get a good title to land, without it has been disposed of

at a sheriff’s sale. A considerable part of the land is held by English

tenure, and to such there is no difficulty in obtaining good

title-deeds.

A considerable extent of crown lands is still undisposed of, and they

are sold by public sale on the first day of every month, in every

township where an agent resides. The upset price of the lands varies

from 2s. 6d. to 10s. Halifax currency, by which all land in the Canadas

are sold. The following are the conditions of sale for 1834:—

“1st, The lands will be put up for sale in lots or parcels of from 100

(or a half surveyed lot) to 1200 acres (or six surveyed lots), as may

suit the convenience of parties disposed to bid for the same.

“2d, The lots will be offered at the upset price, as quoted above.

“3d, The lots are to be taken at the contents marked in the public

documents, without guarantee as to the actual quantity contained in

them.

“4th, The biddings to be made in currency upon the upset price per acre.

“5th, The lots will be sold to the highest bidder.

“6th, The purchase-money to be paid by four annual instalments, without

interest. The first instalment or deposit-money of twenty-five per cent

at the time of sale, and the second, third, and fourth instalments at

intervals of a year.

“7th, The instalments to be paid into the office of crown lands at

Quebec, or the treasurer or receiver of rents on his half-yearly tour

for the collection of rents.

“8th, If the instalments are not regularly paid, the deposit-money will

be forfeited, and the land again referred to sale.”

The chief productions of Lower Canada are wheat, barley, and oats, of

inferior quality, which may be partly owing to the climate and the

management which the soil is under. For nearly half a century, manure

has not been applied to the greater part of the cultivated land, which,

after being what is considered exhausted, is allowed to produce a

natural sward of grass, on which animals browse during one summer, and

it is again ploughed in autumn. Notwithstanding the natural goodness of

much of the soil, the crops are of the worst description; and when all

things are taken into consideration, it is surprising to find them so

good.

Much of the land in the neighbourhood of Montreal, unconnected with the

island of that name, is of excellent quality, and, if properly drained

and manured, might produce almost any description of crop.

The island of Montreal contains some good soil, of light texture, well

adapted for market gardening, a department of husbandry at present

highly remunerating. The French Canadians being unwilling to dispose of

their lands in the neighbourhood of the town of Montreal, and not likely

soon to change their present system of agriculture, the growing of

vegetables will, in all probability, long continue profitable, even

should high prices induce settlers up the St Lawrence to transmit

produce when the communication with Montreal becomes improved, as it

unquestionably will in progress of time.

Agriculture produce of all kinds fetches a high price in Lower Canada,

which does not seem to afford sufficient food for the inhabitants, and

more especially butcher meat. The following inland imports to Montreal

are taken from the Commercial List.

_Up to the 6th July_, 1832 . 1833.

————— —————

Pork from Upper Canada, 3978 1149

Lower Canada, 526 1860

United States, 6108 17805

————— —————

Total Barrels, 10612 20814

————— —————

Exports by sea from Canada, 1832. 1833.

————— —————

Pork to the West Indies, 2285 1694

to other places, 1177 2586

————— —————

Total barrels, 3462 4280

These lists, containing only the imports to Montreal and the exports of

the whole province, show a considerable balance against the country,

which would be greatly increased if the imports of the whole province

were included. It is probable other articles would also show an

unfavourable balance.

The difficulty of raising produce is unquestionably the cause of its

high price, which is not likely to be lowered by other means than

importing supplies. The French Canadians, having few wants and strong

local attachments, labour cheaply rather than remove to a distance,

which, joined to the influx of destitute emigrants from Britain and

Ireland, renders wages lower perhaps than in any other part of the

American continent. High prices and cheap labour are favourable to

investing capital in cultivation; and a skilful and prudent farmer

cannot fail of being successful in the immediate neighbourhood of

Montreal. Here he will feel the change from Britain less than in any

other part of America, with exception of climate, and even the length

and severity of winter are said to be agreeable. A considerable extent

of capital is required to purchase land in a good situation, which costs

from L.10 to L.20 per acre. Land is also occasionally to be had on

lease; and when a sufficient number of years, and proper terms are

obtained, an outlay of capital in improving the soil would be

profitable.

If soil is the workshop of the farmer, and animals and plants his

machinery, the climate of Lower Canada is an impediment, seriously

affecting plants, animals, and man, which cannot be removed. With six

months of winter, the machinery of the farm is suspended half the year.

Few plants can be properly matured, and crops, in all seasons, are

liable to be injured by frost. Animals require a large supply of dry

fodder, as succulent food cannot be provided, and the intense cold

reduces them in condition. Man is so long prevented by winter from

labouring the soil, and so hurried by the shortness of spring and

autumn, that he has not time to prepare it suitably for the reception of

crops. To these causes may be ascribed the leanness of animals, the high

price of produce, the poverty of the people, and the cheapness of

labour.

The climate is too cold for the cultivation of Indian corn, which only

occasionally comes to maturity in the most favoured spots. Autumnal sown

wheat is similarly situated, and the wheat of the country sown in spring

is of the most inferior quality. Fahrenheit’s thermometer having stood

twelve degrees below the freezing point at Albany, in the state of New

York, on the 29th October, 1833, the cold, in all probability, must have

been greater in Lower Canada, which is several degrees of latitude

farther north. Accordingly, a gentleman of my acquaintance, who settled

in the township of Leeds, stated in a letter, “that misery and famine

stared farmers in the face; frost having set in early, all their turnips

and potatoes had been destroyed, and, in some cases, also their grain

crops.” The condition of the animals is also evidence of the severity of

the climate. Sheep and oxen, as seen by me in the months of summer, were

mere skin and bone compared with those of Britain, which I attributed,

in a great measure, to the cold of winter; and sheep of the Leicester

breed, sent from East Lothian, sunk under its effects in the most

southerly part of the province.

However much the man of pleasure may extol the winter of Lower Canada

for the glorious sleighing it affords—and its boasted advantages seem to

be confined to this mode of travelling—the industrious farmer must

regard it as an evil, by suspending his operations, and injuring his

live-stock. Nature here assists him more sparingly than in warmer

latitudes, and he will not live comfortably on cleared land by his own

labour, except in the most southerly parts of the province. To clear

forest land in most parts by his own exertions, would not reward him for

five or six years afterwards, if land was to be had for nothing, and its

inferior produce cannot afford good wages to labourers. For the farmer

of capital, the neighbourhood of Montreal holds out many advantages. The

province is not, however, favourable to farmers who are in search of

food and clothing for themselves and families, and still less so for

labourers of any description. Both classes must, of necessity, be idle

during a considerable portion of the year, and they are not likely to

improve their condition by emigrating from Britain to Lower Canada.

CHAPTER IV.

_Upper Canada—Inhabitants—Climate—Soil—Mode of Selling Land, and

Prices—Bad Effects of Selling on Credit—Situation of Settlers

without Capital—Price of Land in Upper Canada and the Western United

States—Price of Land, and Mode of Settlement Injurious to the

Province—Suggestions for Improving the State of the Country._

Upper Canada became a separate province in 1791. It is bounded on the

east by Lower Canada, and on the south by the river St Lawrence, and the

chain of rivers and lakes to the west, the waters of which form the St

Lawrence. The boundaries in the north, and in the extreme west towards

the Pacific Ocean, are perhaps not accurately defined, and the surface

of the province cannot be estimated.

About the time of settling the mouth of the St Lawrence, the French

penetrated into Upper Canada, and planted a colony on the river Detroit,

where their descendants still reside. At the close of the war, in 1793,

when the colonies of North America became independent of Britain, many

inhabitants of the United States, who adhered to the government of the

mother-country, moved into Upper Canada, where they obtained grants of

land. At the same time many disbanded soldiers also received land. In

this way parts of the shores of lake Ontario, and lake Erie, and the

banks of the Niagara, Detroit, and Thames, were first settled. More

recently, many people of Dutch and German extraction have settled in the

provinces, as well as subjects of the United States; and there has been

a constant stream of emigration from Britain. The population, chiefly

found on the lakes and rivers, may amount to about 400,000, the greater

part being of British descent.

Upper Canada differs from the lower province in climate, by having a

longer summer and a shorter winter; while the extremes of heat and cold,

as indicated by the thermometer, are nearly the same in both provinces.

The waters of the St Lawrence and lakes, forming the southern boundary

of the district, inclining north-east, the climate improves in ascending

the waters, till reaching Amherstburgh, in about 42 degrees of latitude.

The province, as far as it is accurately known, has not an eminence of

sufficient height to affect temperature, and the climate of the

different situations may be estimated according to their latitudes. In

the most southerly parts, near the head of lake Erie, the length of

winter varies from two to three months. Ploughing commences about the

first of April; and cattle and horses are allowed to roam in the woods

during winter,—a practice which marks the mildness of climate, and also,

perhaps, the laziness of the inhabitants.

The climate of Upper Canada is as healthy as the lower province,

although the inhabitants are more liable to sickness from the surface

not being so well cleared of forest. On my first entry to the country, I

thought to judge of the healthiness of situations by the countenances of

the inhabitants, and if all of them had been born in the country, this

might have been a just criterion. There is something in the climate of

America which seems to impart a sallow and seared complexion to the

people. It is, however, many years before some natives of Britain lose

their florid colour; and I have seen several people retaining their

complexion after having resided twenty years in the province, while

their children had the general hue of the country. Being unable to judge

whether the people had been born in the country, or were lately arrived

from Britain, I abandoned the idea of taking the appearance of the

inhabitants as an index to healthiness of situation. As I proceeded

westward, towards Chatham and Amherstburgh, the complexion of the people

became less florid, which I attributed to most of them being natives of

the country. I found people afflicted with ague in many places, after

having resided years in the district; and from information which I

received, deserving of credit, I was led to believe almost every

European has a seasoning, or an attack of the ague. The rapidity and

severity of the attack, however, depends in a great measure on the

situation of individuals being aggravated by fatigue, imperfect

clothing, bad food, and a damp house.[5]

Footnote 5:

The following extracts are from the correspondence of my brother

Charles, dated Detroit, 7th August, 1834:—

“Through how many exciting scenes have I passed since we parted! For

two months tossed upon a stormy sea, with a disagreeable captain, in a

crazy vessel!—seen the most sublime of nature’s works, a stormy sea,

and such a storm!—stood on deck when not a soul, from the captain to

the cabin-boy, expected to live ten minutes! I have experienced

delight consequent on deliverance; leaped with joy at the sight of

land; admired the fairy scenery of Long Island and the Hudson when the

orchards were in full blossom,—and it is a sight of indescribable

beauty! I have travelled up the North river, at the rate of fifteen

miles an hour, in the finest steam-boats in the world—shot along the

railroads—crawled on the canals—been shaken in stage-coaches—and

crossed lakes Erie and Ontario, which for magnitude deserve the names

of inland seas. I have walked since the 7th of June 210 miles in Upper

Canada, 200 in Ohio, 50 in Pennsylvania, 160 in Illinois, and 150 in

Indiana and Michigan; in all nearly 800 miles. Some say, the

thermometer stood from 95 to 101 degrees in the shade. Often were my

clothes as wet with perspiration as if I had waded a river; still I

never experienced that lazy, listless feeling I have done during warm

weather in Scotland. My appetite was always keen, and it still

continues so.”

After residing in Upper Canada, on a second visit, for the space of

about 20 days, he writes from Cleveland,—“Do not be astonished at

learning I have got the ague. I have had three shaking days,—my

appetite is entirely gone. One day I feel quite well, and the next as

helpless as a child; and, altogether, the ague is not a pleasant

companion. I shall endeavour to bear it patiently.”

From Cincinnati he writes,—“When I wrote about fourteen days ago, I

was suffering from fever and ague, and had made up my mind to have it

for a companion for some months; but it only stayed with me a week. By

medicine and care I succeeded in banishing it, and now feel quite

well. It was brought on by carelessness and a desire to travel

cheaply. I have no doubt it will have a good effect in making me more

careful in future.”

The surface of Upper Canada is remarkable for want of hills, but much of

it is considerably undulating; and where this formation prevailed, I

generally found the soil of inferior quality. The soil is variable in

all districts; much of it is very bad; and it may generally be termed of

medium quality. I could only judge of the soil by its natural

appearance, which would be improved by cultivation. In all parts of the

country, I found sandy soils the least productive; those composed of

clay and heavy loam bearing the best crops of every description.

Almost all the writers who have treated of the soil of Upper Canada have

represented the kinds of trees which grow on it an index of its quality;

but, after extensive observation, I was unable to trace the connexion

generally. From the number of mouldering trees with which the forest is

strewed, I was led to imagine, generation hath succeeded generation

since the beginning of time; and it is an admitted fact, that one

description of tree hath frequently been succeeded by a different

species over a considerable extent of surface. Under these

circumstances, the kinds of trees have often more connexion with

preceding events and species than the soil; and I regretted time did not

admit of my attempting to investigate the longevity of the trees, and

the kinds which succeed each other, or continue without change of

species. It is, however, quite certain, that the oak is found occupying

exclusively the best and the worst soils of the province, being that of

sand, clay, and loam. Were it necessary, I could point out tracts of

country in support of what I have advanced, and districts where a change

of species of tree takes place without any apparent difference of soil.

If the kind of tree is not a criterion of soil, neither is the size of

the trees, which often depends on the number of them on a given space.

The quality of soil can only be ascertained by examination with a spade

or some such instrument, and which ought also to embrace the subsoil. By

such a mode of proceeding a judge of land cannot be deceived. It is as

easy to learn to discriminate soils as trees, and both may be examined

with the same facility.

The whole surveyed land of Upper Canada is held by English tenure, with

exception, perhaps, of some patches on the banks of the Detroit,

occupied by people of French descent. There is a register in every

township, in which money mortgaged on land must be entered before it is

recoverable, and by consulting which every purchaser may ascertain if

good titles to an estate can be obtained.

The lands are in possession of the crown, the Canada Company, and

private individuals, and may be had at all times to a reasonable extent.

The crown lands are disposed of according to the following document:—

“GOVERNMENT LANDS.

“In conformity to instructions recently received from his Majesty’s

Secretary of State for the Colonies, the following arrangements for

disposing of the waste lands of the crown in Upper Canada, are made

known for the information of emigrants and others.

“Except in the case of U. E. Loyalists, and other persons entitled by

the existing regulations of the government to free grants, no person

can obtain any of the waste lands of the crown otherwise than by

purchasing at the public sales, made from time to time under the

direction of the commissioner of crown lands.

“These sales will be made on the first and third Tuesday of each

month, and will either be continued through the following day or not,

as circumstances may appear to the agent to require.

“They will be held at the following places:—

“At Bytown, for the district of Bathurst.

“At Belleville, for the midland district.

“At Peterborough, for the district of Newcastle.

“At York, for the home district.

“At Hamilton, for the district of Gore.

“At London, for the district of London.

“At Chatham, for the western district.

“Besides these general periodical sales, there may be occasional sales

by auction in other districts, of such town lots, or other lots of

land as may remain to be disposed of; and of these sales ample notice

will be given.

“The conditions of every sale by public auction will be as

follows:—One fourth of the purchase money to be paid down, and the

remainder in three equal annual instalments, with interest at six per

cent on each instalment, payable with the instalment.

“The lands will be put up at an upset price, of which notice will be

given at the time of sale, and in the previous advertisements which

will be published of the lands intended to be put up at each sale; and

in case no offer shall be made at the upset price, the land will be

reserved for future sale in a similar manner by auction.

“A patent for the lands will be issued free of charge upon the payment

in full of the purchase money and interest.

“The regular periodical sales will be held for the first time as

follows:—In Peterborough, York, and Hamilton, on the third Tuesday in

June next; and in Bytown, Belleville, London, and Chatham, on the

first Tuesday in July next; and they will continue to be held at all

those places on the first and third Tuesdays in each month, until

after the first Tuesday in November next; when such other arrangements

as may be made by the government will be announced.

“Information can be obtained respecting the lands to be disposed of in

the several districts, by applying to the following gentlemen, agents

for the commissioners of crown lands, viz.:

“In the Bathurst district, Mr John M‘Naughton, D.S. Bytown.

“In the eastern district, James Pringle, Esquire, Cornwall.

“In the Newcastle district, Alexander M^cDonell, Esquire,

Peterborough.

“In the London district, Roswell Mount, Esquire, Delaware.

“In the western district, Henry John Jones, Esquire, Chatham.

“The commissioner for crown lands, acting also as agent for the sale

of clergy reserves, requests it to be noticed, that such clergy

reserves as have not been hitherto occupied by authority, or leased by

the government, will be disposed of, by public auction only, either at

the periodical sales of crown lands or at occasional sales, to be duly

advertised; and that the terms of payment for clergy reserves will

continue to be as follows:—Ten per cent to be paid at the time of

sale, and the remainder in nine annual instalments of ten per cent

each, with interest on each instalment, to be paid with the instalment

“Such clergy reserves as have been leased, or occupied by the

authority of the government, must be applied for by letter to the

Commissioner of Crown Lands, and when disposed of, will be sold by

private sale on the same terms of payment as those disposed of by

public auction.

“All applications from emigrants, or respecting emigration, not

immediately connected with the sale of public lands, are to be

addressed to ANTHONY B. HAWKE, Esquire, at York, he being specially

appointed by the government to act in that department.

“PETER ROBINSON.

“_Commissioner of Crown Lands’ Office_,

“_York, 27th May, 1833._”

By an advertisement dated Taronto, (late York,) 10th April, 1834, the

upset price of lands in the Newcastle district is fixed at 10s., and the

land surrendered by the Six Nations at 15s. per acre. The same

advertisement announces clergy reserves, on condition of actual

settlement, ten per cent of the price paid at the time of sale, and the

remainder at nine annual instalments, with interest of six per cent on

each instalment.

East of Bear Creek—17s. 6d. and the remainder 10s. The township of

Chatham, 15s.; Madoc, 7s. 6d.; London, 15s. per acre, Halifax currency.

The mode of disposing of crown lands has been subject of frequent

complaint by newly arrived emigrants, and the whole system merits

censure. I met individuals who had travelled more than one hundred miles

from York to examine lands in the west, and returned again to York to

petition and make interest with the authorities to get certain lots put

up for sale. When they succeeded, they had to live in idleness for a

month until the day of sale arrived, and again travel to the place of

sale. Sometimes applications to have lands put up for sale are

frustrated, and rather than suffer delay and dance attendance on men of

influence, many people have passed into the United States, where a

person can go to the land-office of the district and fix on any lot

which pleases him. There cash is the only interest that can be employed,

and its non-payment the only delay to settlement.

Paying the purchase-money by instalments induces people without capital

to become purchasers, who, for the interest of themselves and the

community, ought to have assisted others in clearing and cultivating

land, until they had accumulated sufficient capital, by saving, to

purchase without credit. To the system of disposing of land by credit,

much of the wretchedness and poverty of the present Canadian landholders

may be justly attributed. The experience of the United States government

demonstrated this, and a law was passed to abolish credit on the price

of land. How difficult it seems to be for Britain to adopt legislation

to the existing age of the world!

The Canada Company possess immense tracts of country, and sell land on

terms similar to government, giving credit and drawbacks to induce

people to purchase. The price of the company’s land at Goderich is 7s.

6d. per acre, and equal to the price of crown lands in other parts.

Much land is held by absentee proprietors, or the members of the party

who sway the councils of the province. It is commonly in the hands of

agents empowered to sell. The prices are generally higher than crown

lands, and credit unlimited.