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people. In the noble and admirable quality of military virtue, they have in their short history proved themselves not inferior to any nation in the world. None should be more ready to acknow. ledge their merit than Englishmen, from whose race they have sprung, and who have so often found them to be by sea and land "worthy of their steel."

May it seem fit to the Great Ruler of all counsels, that our future rivalry may be only in works of peace, in the increase of the happiness of our people! Even now, while a degree of mutual irritation and distrust exists, I earnestly breathe a wish, express a hope, ay-announce a faith-that the bright day which philanthropists have dreamt of, poets seen in the visions of fancy, and the inspired page of prophecy foretold, is not far distant; when the spread of enlightenment, civilisation, and above all, of Christianity, among the nations of the earth, will do away for ever with the stern and terrible necessity of the sword; when the dazzling light which fame now throws upon the names of those who direct victorious armies, may be looked upon but as a false meteor, their records known only as a memory of a by-gone and mistaken glory.

This Lake Ontario is five hundred miles round, the length measures three times the breadth, and its surface is two hundred and thirty-one feet above the level of the Atlantic. Throughout the whole extent the largest ships may sail, in many parts a line of a hundred fathoms has not reached the bottom; owing to this great depth it never freezes, except where the water is shallow along the shores. A great, and every year increasing trade, is carried on over its surface in steam and sailing vessels worthy of the ocean. The English possess now a marked superiority in the number of their shipping, their steam-boats are twice as numerous as those of their southern neighbors, their shore is also more populous, more solidly thriving, and better cultivated: ten years ago the reverse was the case.

Numerous streams pour in their tribute, both from the north and the south these and the waters of the lake abound in fish of excellent and varied flavor; the salmon and bass are the most highly prized, and are taken in great quantities. The fantastic mirage plays its freaks here too; in the summer weather, when

you are among the islands or near the shore, its illusions are as beautiful as they are strange. On the Canadian side, to the west of Kingston, is a most singular arm of the lake, called the Bay of Quintè; for eighty miles it intrudes its zigzag course through the land, nearly returning again to the main waters. In many places it is but a mile broad, but everywhere deep and safe. On its shores the forests are rapidly giving way to thriving settlements, some of them in situations of very great beauty.

By far the greater number of emigrants from the British islands settle in these lake districts, but the twenty or thirty thousand a year who arrive are at once absorbed, and make but little apparent difference in the extent occupied; the insatiable wilderness still cries for more. The rate of wages for the labor is very high-as is also the profit-of the farmer. The English markets are open to any quantity of their produce, the forges of Sheffield and the looms of Manchester supply payment, while twenty thousand of the best seamen in the world practise their calling and earn their living in bearing these interchanged goods over the Atlantic. Alas! for the five months of the year in which nature has fixed her irrevocable decree against this happy intercourse! Woe to those ships which venture to trust too long to the treacherous mildness of the autumn! In 1845, all the vessels but one that were detained to the 28th of November-thirteen in number-went aground in one stormy night of bitter frost, between Quebec and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. They remained jammed in among the ice, most of them crushed into wrecks, while the crews of several perished in awful tortures, in a vain effort to escape. Some of the survivors lost their limbs from being frost-bitten, others are cast on the lonely islands, and for many a day their fate must remain unknown. Let those hope for them who can :-high masses of ice float rapidly round their frozen prison with each changing tide, sometimes dashing against each other with a roar like thunder. These grim sentinels guard their wretched prisoners from all chance of human aid, till the warmth of summer, like a good angel, chases them away, and releases those iron men who may have survived the bitter trial.

CHAPTER XI.

Toronto-Niagara.

ABOUT midday we entered the harbor of Toronto: a natural mole of sand, some miles in extent, embraces its waters, and guards them from the turbulence of the great lake; this singular peninsula has some verdure, a few trees, and several houses, but is of a desolate and dreary character. The main land is quite different; there rich fields, neat villas, shrubberies, and plantations, carry your thoughts at once to merry England. As you approach the town, this impression becomes stronger; when landed, it is complete. The streets, the shops, the people, are English; their accent, and manners, and, best of all, their hearts are English too. This place is the nucleus of all that is loyal and true in Upper Canada; and, as the men of Londonderry look back with honest pride upon their fathers' gallant defence against a despot, so may those of Toronto rejoice in their successful resistance to the still darker tyranny of an unbridled rabble.

The city is admirably situated, and very prosperous; it was not incorporated till 1834, yet now it contains more than twenty thousand inhabitants, their number having doubled itself in ten years. No town on the American continent has advanced more rapidly, and, perhaps, none so solidly. The houses are well built and lasting, the public buildings convenient, but not overgrown; commercial character and credit are high. Its prosperity is not the mushroom growth of staring, tottering, wooden cities, run up by designing swindlers of foreign gold, but the result of honest industry and healthy progress. The back country is very rich and valuable as an agricultural district, while the produce finds a ready sale for the English market. The enterprising inhabitants are planning various railroads from the neighboring towns, whose prosperity keeps pace, and is identified with,

heir own. They do not hold out mendacious promises of enormous and impossible interest to the capitalist-but the people of Canada do not repudiate.

In 1793, Governor Simcoe caused this harbor to be surveyed, and founded the town, then called Little York: two Indian families were at that time in quiet possession, and myriads of wild fowl crowded the waters of the bay. In 1813, the Americans burned it; after the peace it was rebuilt, and the name with good taste changed to the old Indian word-Toronto-the place of meeting, or of council. In distant times the tribes from the shores of the lake assembled there to make peace or war. A fort of tolerable strength, but much out of repair, now protects the entrance of the harbor; there is but a small proportion of military force, but there are plenty of loyal citizens to man it,—men who have already done their duty, and are ready to do it again, should occasion arise to call forth their services.

The great improvements in Toronto have been within the last few years: the streets are well paved, and lighted with gas, and extensive water-works supply every part of the town. Here is the college of Upper Canada, a well-situated building, possessing extensive grounds, and bearing a high character for its system of instruction and discipline: in very many respects it is similar to the English universities, particularly in being exclusively devoted to the benefit of those who are members of the Church of England. The rules of this institution, and the disbursements of its considerable state endowments, are a constant subject of political discussion. The office of the Canada Land Company is also in this town. This body is still looked upon with great jealousy and dislike by a considerable party in the province, perhaps not altogether without reason. Many lands, no doubt, remain unoccupied in consequence of this monopoly : even as far away as the banks of the Jaquenay, people labor under, and complain bitterly of its pressure, and that fertile district is still only tilled by a few chance squatters, who, without any title, have taken up their residence upon it.

Toronto may boast of a tone of society above that of most provincial towns, either here or in Europe. Among the people of official rank, there are several who, by their acquirements, talent,

and refinement, would be ornaments anywhere. In Canada, and in England also, they are too well known to need any commendation; their example and influence are proved most useful, by the enlightenment and good manners of the residents. The standard of character, the domestic arrangements, and habits of the people, are formed strictly on the model of the mother country; they look to her with reverence and affection; well may she be proud of their loyalty, and encourage their love.

There is an indescribable pleasure in finding, four thousand miles away from our own dear land, a place like this, the healthy and vigorous child,-with every feature of its parent marked upon its face, every family trait developed in its character. We greet it as the hope of " England in the New World."

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May the day of severance be far distant! But, perhaps, in the long future, when grown to sturdy and independent manhood, it may become expedient that there should be a separate household for the old and the young, and that with a hearty blessing and a friendly farewell they should part-let them then part--but in love. I am convinced that this fair Canada may grow great enough to be a balance of power on the American continent, undisturbed by rabble license, uncursed by the withering crime of slavery, undishonored by repudiation, unstained by a parent's blood.

Just now I was on the point of entering into a minute description of King Street and Parliament House, government offices and jail, baths and hotels, when it luckily flashed across my mind that, as I was not writing a guide-book, I had better let them alone. Having spared you that, pray excuse me for mentioning that laborers get five shillings a day, and the good things of this life for about half the prices of the English markets. Many of the roads in the neighborhood are made of planks; the levels are very judiciously managed, and the draught on them is but little heavier than on a railroad; you are spared the noise and rattling of the somewhat clumsy vehicles. Numerous steam-boats enliven the wharves, flying in all directions during the season of navigation. They, like most of those in Canada and America, are very good; one of them, the "Chief Justice Robinson," is quite a model of neatness and comfort; the deck is carpeted, fur

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