The principle of this gradual abolition of slavery, is similar to that of some of the American States. The number of slaves in the province is very small.

SKETCH XXXI.

PRICE OF LAND, AND ENCOURAGEMENT TO SETTLERS.

Lots granted to actual Settlers upon paying Office Fees and performing settling Duties-The Policy of encouraging Settlements-Labour the Standard of Value and Means of Wealth, and the Quantum of Labour proportioned to the Population-Example of New York-Lands there four times as valuable as similar Lands in this Province.

ACCORDING to a fundamental maxim of the English constitution, all public lands are vested in the crown; and the discretionary disposal of them, unless regulated by some act of parliament, assented to by the King, is a branch of the royal prerogative.

In the exercise of that discretion, his Majesty has heretofore thought proper to grant lots of 200 acres of the waste or wild lands of the crown in this province, to settlers, upon their payment of certain fees and charges, and performance of certain settling duties. The charges of surveying, and fees of office, amount to about 37 dollars on a lot; and the duties of settlement required, are the clear

R

ing of five acres of the land, the building of a house, and opening of the road across the front of the lot, which is a quarter of a mile, all to be performed within a limited time. Upon these easy conditions, the lieutenant-governor in council, in his Majesty's name, has granted patents of land. But an applicant for such a grant, whether an European or American, has always been required to satisfy his excellency and the Council, by certificates from known characters, or other testimonials, that he is a person likely to be a wholesome inhabitant, and intends actually to settle upon the lands.

Since the late war with the United States, great efforts have been made to introduce settlers from the British European dominions, in preference to emigrants from the States. On such terms lands are granted to settlers. The object evidently is not to supply the means of speculation, but to encourage actual settlements. The wisdom of this policy is obvious.

The best writers and reasoners on political economy, have laid down as an axiom, that labour is the standard of value; and that the wealth, the strength and importance of a nation, are in proportion to its quantum of productive labour; which, under a government whose laws permit voluntary employment and free competition in business, and protect individuals in the enjoyment of the fruits of their labour, will be proportionate to the number of labourers. Hence the importance of a numerous population in any country, and especially in one,

where the objects and materials of labour, particularly lands, are abundant, and consequently cheap.

The neighbouring state of New York furnishes a fair comparison and example. The northern and western districts of that state resemble the adjacent districts of Upper Canada, in respect to soil, climate, and markets, being separated only by the river and lakes, four or five hundred miles. The states have wisely encouraged emigration and settlement, and have accordingly received such accessions from the other States and Europe, in addition to their own multiplication, that their census now (1811) contains nearly a million of inhabitants, more than a third of whom have been added in the last ten years. Their wealth, and strength, and resources, and the value of their landed property, have progressed with their population. Land of similar quality and corresponding situations, although once very cheap there, now bears a price four times as high among them as among their neighbours in this province.

This comparative view illustrates the wise policy of encouraging the settlement of the province, by granting lots, on such liberal terms, to actual settlers of sober and industrious habits.

Other landholders have no reason to complain. Every additional labourer adds something to the general stock.

The lands already cultivated are far from being carried to a maturity of cultivation, while millions of acres of fertile soil, still remaining in their natuFal state, are waiting for the hand of the cultivator,

to render them productive, and thereby raise their value, and that of the surrounding mass, and thus increase the public welfare.

The prosperity of a nation or province is composed of the individual prosperity of its inhabitants; and prosperous individuals, according to a well known principle of human nature, are generally loyal subjects of the government by which their persons are protected, and their property is secured.

SKETCH XXXII.

STATE OF LEARNING.

No College in the Province-No Free SchoolsDistrict Schools-Causes of the former Neglect of Education-Little Reading-Few Books-Indications of a favourable Change-Multiplication of Books-Social Libraries-An increasing Taste for Reading-A Spirit of Improvement-Ambition for Academical Learning without going abroad for it.

THERE is no college in Upper Canada; but there are said to be several townships of land set apart for the purpose of endowing such an institution, when the population and circumstances of the province shall require it.

No provision is made by law for free schools. The inhabitants of the several townships are left

to a voluntary support of schools, according to their own discretion.

An act of the provincial legislature, in 1807, granted a hundred pounds a year to the teacher of one school, in each of the eight districts under the direction of trustees. In some districts the school thus provided for, is made a free school; but in other districts the salary is considered as a public encouragement to a teacher of literary eminence, in addition to the compensation received for the tuition of each scholar.

The act was at first limited to four years, within which period the limitation was repealed, so that it is now a perpetual law. From the extent of the districts, the location of the schools, and other considerations, the school act has proved not very satisfactory, and a repeal of it has been repeatedly attempted. Such dissatisfaction and attempts to procure a repeal, may have lessened the utility of these schools. Several of them, however, are flourishing and highly respectable.

Other seminaries for the education of youth, are supported by individual exertions, without public aid.

The first inhabitants, as was stated in the historical sketch, were generally poor, in consequence of the revolution. They had also to struggle with the labours and privations incident to new settlements. As their habitations were sparse, it was difficult for them to unite in sufficient numbers to form good schools; and they could neither afford much expence for instructors, nor allow their