OUR NORTH AMERICAN COLONIES.
Canada.—The relations between Great Britain and the United States were so unsatisfactory at the beginning of this year that considerable uneasiness existed in Canada lest war should break out, and that colony become the chief theatre of contest. A militia bill passed the Canadian legislature, which was calculated to give confidence to the imperial government, and which placed the colony in an armed attitude towards her great neighbour.
The free-trade measures proposed to the British parliament caused even more disquietude than the differences with the United States. The Canadian producers were very jealous of these states as a competitor in supplying the English market, the legislature passed strong resolutions expressive of their alarm, and addressed the crown, representing that free trade in corn between the neighbouring states and the mother country would be productive of the heaviest injuries to the colony. This address was one of the most sturdy pronouncements of protectionist opinion which the discussions of the day brought forth. The Canadians were happily disappointed. The imperial legislature was not checked in the enactment of its free-trade measures by this memorial; good was done to Canada in spite of herself; the legislators of the parent country understood the interests of Canada better than her own provincial parliament did, and the great prosperity of that country may be said to have begun with free trade. The year was one of alarm and discontent in both the upper and lower provinces. A dreadful fire in Quebec, which nearly destroyed the city, added to the other causes of disquietude.
Nova Scotia.—This colony also suffered some commercial depression, and endured apprehension of a war upon the North American continent. The fisheries were comparatively unproductive, and the potato crop failed. Happily the corn crops prospered, relieving considerably the pressure upon the resources of the people. A militia bill, occasioned by the apparently hostile policy of the United States government, provided for the defence of the province. Certain differences arose between the legislature and the crown, in connection with the crown revenues and the civil list, but the year closed upon the colony in peace, and with a fair measure of prosperity.
Newfoundland.—The affairs of this colony were characterised by nothing remarkable during the year, in a political point of view, but a great social calamity attracted the attention of the American colonies and of the mother-country. A conflagration broke out at St. John’s, which laid nearly the whole city in ashes. The fire happened on the 9th of June, and as the houses of the town were mostly built of wood, it soon spread beyond the power of any efforts which the population could command to restrain it. The Custom-house, Roman Catholic Church, Protestant Episcopal Cathedral, Court-house, jail, ordnance store, all the newspaper and printing-offices, the banks, the Hall of Legislature, post-office, and police-office, were all burnt clown, together with two whole streets, each more than a mile long, leaving 12,000 persons without a habitation. The shipping, near the wharves also caught fire, and some of the vessels were destroyed. The loss of property exceeded a million sterling.