There has been so strange and continued a system of misrule on the part of the mother-country with respect to these provinces, that I am not surprised at any thing which takes place; but it is certain that the emigration to the Canadas has been very much checked by the Government itself.
The price of land in the United States is fixed at a dollar and a quarter per acre; be it of the best quality, full of minerals, or with any other important advantages, the price is still the same. The set-up price in Canada is two dollars per acre. If no more is offered it is sold at that sum, but at no less. Now, whatever the Government may imagine, I can assure them that this difference in the price is considered very important by those who emigrate, and that thousands who would have settled in Canada, have, in consequence, repaired to the United States, much to our disadvantage; and this appears so contradictory, as the Government have very unwisely parted with enormous tracts of the best land, selling them to a Company at a price which, with facilities for payment, reduces the price paid per acre by this Company, to, I think, about one shilling and three-pence, and for which the Company now charge the same price as the Government; thus giving a bonus to speculators which they refuse to those who wish to become bona fide settlers. I never could comprehend the grounds upon which they were persuaded to so unwise an act as that. The lands were sold to the Company before the present Government were in power, but why the price of the land still in possession of the Crown should be raised higher than in the United States I cannot imagine. Sound policy would reduce it lower, for the increase of wealth in the province must ever consist in the increase of its population.
There are in Upper Canada several villages of free negroes, who have escaped from the United States, and should it be considered at any time advisable to remove any of the West Indian population, it would be very wise to give them land on the Upper Canada frontiers. The negroes thrive there uncommonly well, and have acquired habits of industry; and, as may be supposed, are most inveterate against the Americans, as was proved in the late disturbances, when they could hardly be controlled. They imagine (and very truly) that if the Americans were to obtain possession of Canada, that they would return to slavery, and it is certain that they are not only brave, but would die rather than be taken prisoners. This is a question worth consideration, as out of an idle and useless race in the West Indies may be formed, at very little expense, a most valuable frontier population to these provinces. I am happy to perceive that, in the Report of Lord Durham, the importance of these provinces to the mother country is fully acknowledged.
“These interests are indeed of great magnitude; and on the course which your Majesty and your Parliament may adopt, with respect to the North American colonies, will depend the future destinies, not only of the million and a half of your Majesty’s subjects who at present inhabit those provinces, but of that vast population which those ample and fertile territories are fit and destined hereafter to support. No portion of the American continent possesses greater natural resources for the maintenance of large and flourishing communities. An almost boundless range of the richest soil still remains unsettled, and may be rendered available for the purposes of agriculture. The wealth of inexhaustible forests of the best timber in America, and of extensive regions of the most valuable minerals, have as yet been scarcely touched. Along the whole line of sea-coast, around each island, and in every river, are to be found the greatest and richest fisheries in the world. The best fuel and the most abundant water-power are available for the coarser manufactures, for which an easy and certain market will be found. Trade with other continents is favoured by the possession of a large number of safe and spacious harbours; long, deep, and numerous rivers, and vast inland seas, supply the means of easy intercourse; and the structure of the country generally affords the utmost facility for every species of communication by land. Unbounded materials of agricultural, commercial and manufacturing industry are there; it depends upon the present decision of the Imperial Legislature to determine for whose benefit they are to be rendered available. The country which has founded and maintained these colonies at a vast expense of blood and treasure, may justly expect its compensation in turning their unappropriated resources to the account of its own redundant population: they are the rightful patrimony of the English people, the ample appanage which God and Nature have set aside in the New World for those whose lot has assigned them but insufficient portion in the Old. Under wise and free institutions, these great advantages may yet be secured to your Majesty’s subjects; and a connexion, secured by the link of kindred origin and mutual benefits, may continue to bind to the British Empire the ample territories of its North American provinces, and the large and flourishing population by which they will assuredly be filled.”
Note 1. The building of this Church was undertaken by the inhabitants of Peterborough and its vicinity, belonging to the church of England. In 1835 it was commenced, and, by great exertions, opened for Divine worship in December 1836, though not altogether finished. Nine hundred pounds was raised by voluntary contributions, not one farthing having been given by any public body to it. The gentlemen composing the building committee are responsible for the remainder due, being five hundred pounds. An advertisement for subscriptions to liquidate this debt has been for some weeks past inserted in a London newspaper.