Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

pectants of favour, who would at once be marked, were they to think for themselves. They would, I do believe, if stupified with political influence, find a true bill against a cow for eating her master's grass. The finding which authorized my last mock-trial, gives sufficient proof of this. The petty-jury were less to blame, as they had only the simple fact to attest; and it is probable that my wretched condition and incoherent discourse drew off attention, as well from the palpable misconstruction of the Judge, as from some gross impertinencies of the Attorney-general, who was not contented with explaining the law, and proving the fact, of my having refused to leave the province; but laboured to stir up prejudices against me, by examining a witness as to my conduct, and exclaiming against some passages in the above sketch. petition, as "infamous libels;" nay, he put it to the witness, to say if the words "all sink beneath the dignity of men---become vitiated and weak as soon as they are placed within the vortex of destruction," did not libel him, the Attorney-general. Vitiated and weak indeed!

OTTAWA DISTRICT.

THIS district, recently formed out of part of the Eastern District, had no communication by land with the other parts of the province, till 1816, when some Scotch emigrants were located in the upper part of Lancaster, and assisted in opening roads. At great hazard I crossed to it through the new settlements, the first week of June, 1818, on horseback, and spent a couple of days there.

The only settlements were in Hawkesbury and Longeuil; and I do not suppose the whole population could amount to more than 1,500; probably not so many. Much of the landed property being held by merchants in Montreal, &c., the farmers in Hawkesbury were so kept at arm's length by untaxed lots that they could do little in union for public good or their own relief. In Longeuil, a party of people from the United States were settled more compactly, and shewed signs of vigorous improvement. In passing northward from Lancaster, the Ottawa river presents itself in grand style; and the woods of the Lower Province rising from its opposite bank, upon hills, varying in their aspect, and some of them steep and lofty, produce an effect very agreeable to him who has long been accustomed to the greater tameness of Upper Canada. On an island in Ottawa river, opposite the higher part of Hawkesbury township, are erected saw mills of the best construction, and

upon a scale superior to any other in the province. They were first owned by Mr. Mears, of Hawkesbury; but are now the property of Mr. Hamilton, from Ireland; and the business seemed to be carried on by him with great spirit; about fourscore people being employed in the works on the island. Nothing can be better situated than these mills, either as it respects the command of water, as a moving power for machinery, or as a conductor of the log timber to the mills. The Ottawa river, a little way above the island, expands into a noble sheet of navigable water, extending as far as the eye can reach at and below the island, for eight or nine miles, it is rapid. In my sketch of the practicable water-courses, inserted upon the large map attached to this volume, I have introduced a canal for getting over this rapid, and the accomplishment of this upon a proper scale, is an object of high importance both for public good, and the benefit of those who possess lands to the west and north. The Ottawa, indeed, for nearly two hundred miles, could be made navigable for large steam boats, with little else than locks, were this, one of the most considerable rapids, got over; and into it flow the rivers Petite Nation, Rideau, Mississippi, and others, all capable of being navigated with an expenditure, quite moderate, considered in proportion to the vast commerce which the naturally fertile regions on their banks, well cultivated, would surely generate.

There is, at the extremity of that part of Ottawa river, called the lake of the Two Mountains, a

considerable current, but not such as to impede navigation; and when I left Canada, it was said that a small steam boat was established, to ply regularly from La Chine, near Montreal, to the lower part of Hawkesbury township. How glorious might be the day, and that day may be within twenty years from the present time, when, by the union of British capital and Canadian capability, steam boats of 500 tons burden, could take their departure from Quebec and Montreal, pass up the St. Lawrence or Ottawa into lakes Superior and Michigan; excite industry and honest ambition by the display of British manufactures, and return loaded with the produce of the distant and wide-spreading shores!

As I have no regular report from Ottawa district, and only one from that which lays alongside of it, I shall here introduce accounts of some seigniories and townships on the opposite side of Ottawa river, and otherwise on or near the boundary of Upper Canada, from Bouchette's Geographical Description of Lower Canada.

These seigniories and townships appear in my map, and an account of their soil, state of settlement, tenure, &c. may be of use to him who thinks of emigrating to the provinces. I shall make no invidious comparison between Upper and Lower Canada; but this may be said for the latter, that its proximity to market, considerably compensates for severity of climate; and all within the compass of my map may be occupied by

British emigrants, without any risk of their early habits unfitting them to contend with that severity. The fact is, that the winter cold of Canada greatly exceeds that of Britain, looking to the range of the thermometer*, yet it is much less painful to the feelings than that which proceeds from our moister atmosphere; and it is exceedingly healthy and invigorating. Indeed I would not wish to dictate as to the emigrant's choice of situation any where in the country between Montreal and Sandwich.

I ought, of course, to have had Mr. Bouchette's leave for extracting so largely as is done below but this at present being impossible, I shall trust to his pardon. My object is to make his country known; and the following specimens of his publication may attract readers to his work, but cannot injure its sale. His geographical descriptions of Lower Canada are no doubt correct, from his having had the best means of information, in his capacity of Surveyor General of that province. Should a second edition of his book appear, the NOTES ON Upper Canada should be revised.

The mercury in the thermometer has been known to fall to 30° below Zero, at Quebec. One day, while I was in Upper Canada, it fell to 15° below Zero, near Queenston.

N.B. In perusing the following extracts, the reader should be aware that the word mountain is used in the French sense, which makes a hill, of a few hundred feet high, a mountain. That near Montreal, which, according to Mr. Bouchette is 550 feet high, is the most conspicuous, and uniformly termed Montreal Mountain.

« ZurückWeiter »