Letters and Journals of James, Eighth Earl of Elgin

by Earl of James Bruce Elgin

It may not be altogether irrelevant to mention, as bearing on this subject, that the painful circumstances which attended the emigration of 1847 created for a time in this Province a certain prejudice against emigration generally. The poll tax on emigrants was increased, and the opinion widely disseminated that, however desirable the introduction of capitalists might be, an emigration of persons of the poorer classes was likely to prove a burden rather than a benefit. Commercial depression, and apprehensions as to the probable effect of the Free-trade policy of Great Britain on the prosperity of the Colonies, had an influence in the same direction. To counteract these tendencies which were calculated, as I thought, to be injurious in the long run both to the Mother-country and the Province, public attention was especially directed, in the Speech delivered from the Throne in 1849, to emigration by way of the St. Lawrence, as a branch of trade which it was most desirable to cultivate (irrespective altogether of its bearing on the settlement of the country) in consequence of the great excess of exports over imports by that route, and the consequent enhancement of freights outwards. These views obtained very general assent, and the measures which have been adopted since that period to render this route attractive to emigrants destined for the West (the effect of which is beginning now to be visible in the yearly increasing amount of emigration by way of Quebec from the continent of Europe), are calculated not only to promote the trade of the Province, but also to make settlers of a superior class acquainted with its advantages.[3]

[Sidenote: Ottawa Valley.]

This important region (the valley of the Ottawa) takes the name by which it is designated in popular parlance from the mighty stream which flows through it, and which, though it be but a tributary of the St. Lawrence, is one of the largest of the rivers that run uninterruptedly from the source to the discharge within the dominions of the Queen. It drains an area of about 80,000 square miles, and receives at various points in its course the waters of streams, some of which equal in magnitude the chief rivers of Great Britain. These streams open up to the enterprise of the lumberman the almost inexhaustible pine forests with which this region is clothed, and afford the means of transporting their produce to market. In improving these natural advantages considerable sums are expended by private individuals. £50,000 currency was voted by Parliament last session for the purpose of removing certain obstacles to the navigation of the Upper Ottawa, by the construction of a canal at a point which is now obstructed by rapids.

[Sidenote: Demand for labour.]

From the nature of the business, the lumbering trade falls necessarily in a great measure into the hands of persons of capital, who employ large bodies of men at points far removed from markets, and who are therefore called upon to make considerable advances in providing food and necessaries for their labourers, as well as in building slides and otherwise facilitating the passage of timber along the streams and rivers. Many thousands of men are employed during the winter in these remote forests, preparing the timber which is transported during the summer in rafts, or, if sawn, in boats, to Quebec when destined for England, and up the Richelieu River when intended for the United States. It is a most interesting fact, both in a moral and hygienic view, that for some years past intoxicating liquors have been rigorously excluded from almost all the chantiers, as the dwellings of the lumbermen in these distant regions are styled; and that, notwithstanding the exposure of the men to cold during the winter and wet in the spring, the result of the experiment has been entirely satisfactory.

The bearing of the lumbering business on the settlement of the country is a point well worthy of notice. The farmer who undertakes to cultivate unreclaimed land in new countries, generally finds that not only does every step of advance which he makes in the wilderness, by removing him from the centres of trade and civilisation, enhance the cost of all he has to purchase, but that, moreover, it diminishes the value of what he has to sell. It is not so, however, with the farmer who follows in the wake of the lumbermen. He finds, on the contrary, in the wants of the latter, a ready demand for all that he produces, at a price not only equal to that procurable in the ordinary marts, but increased by the cost of transport from them to the scene of the lumbering operations. This circumstance, no doubt, powerfully contributes to promote the settlement of those districts, and attracts population to sections of the country which, in the absence of any such inducement, would probably remain for long periods uninhabited.[4]

[Sidenote: Wild land.]

The large amount of wild land held by individuals and corporations, renders the disposal of the public domain a question of less urgency in this than in some other colonies. Opinion in the Province runs strongly in favour of facilitating its acquisition in small lots by actual settlers, and of putting all possible obstacles in the way of its falling into the hands of speculators. This opinion is founded no doubt in part on a jealousy of great landholders; but it is mainly, I apprehend, attributable to a sense of the inconvenience and damage which are experienced in young countries, when considerable tracts of land are kept out of the market in the midst of districts that are in course of settlement. To this feeling much of the hostility to the 'Clergy Reserves' was originally due. The upset price of Government wild land in Canada varies from 7_s_. 6_d_. currency to 1_s_. currency an acre, according to quality, and by the rules of the Crown Land Department now in force, it is conceded at these rates, except in special cases, in lots of not more than 200 acres, on condition of actual settlement, of erecting a dwelling-house, and clearing one-fourth of the lot before the patent can be obtained. The price is payable in some parts of the country in ten yearly instalments; in others in five; with interest in both cases from the date of sale.

I have little faith in the efficacy of such devices to compel actual settlement. They hinder the free circulation of capital, are easily evaded, and seem to be especially out of place where wild lands are subject to taxation for municipal purposes, as is the case in Upper Canada.[5]

[Sidenote: Seigniorial tenure.]