years hence, the progress will be far greater; the feeble time of infancy is past, the first difficulties over, and this vigorous people start, confident in their resources and energy, every sail filled with the favoring breezes of prosperity. There is at present an immense prize to be contended for between Canada and the United States-the carrying trade for the produce of the west. On one side, the St. Lawrence and its splendid artificial communication, on the other, the Erie Canal and the Hudson River, offer their channels for its use. To the first nature has given a decided advantage; the screw-propelled steamboats, laden on the far shores of Lake Superior, can pass, with but slight delay from locks, to Montreal or Quebec, or indeed to Europe; while through the narrow passage of the Erie Canal, the frequent locks and the transhipment of the cargo must ever be a great embarrassment. By a bold and judicious reduction of the tolls on the Canadian waters, they will become the chief as they always were the natural-outlet for this trade; and its passage will speedily enrich their shores. Some short-sighted people urge that these tolls cannot be reduced, since they hardly pay as it is; but it is obvious that as long as this route is made the more costly of the two, the commerce will flow through the other channel. The system, therefore, should be to reduce the Canadian Canal expenses to an extent that would secure its being the cheaper line; then the vast quantity of traffic would remunerate at almost any price. The advantages of the St. Lawrence over the Erie Canal are amply sufficient to counterbalance the superior position of New York to Quebec or Montreal as a sea-port; although an exaggerated and fallacious idea of the perils of the river navigation of the latter adds much to the expense of insurance. Each year enhances the difficulty of the supply of timber, to a certain extent; by the banks of the streams and rivers within a moderate distance in all directions, the finer trees have already been cleared off, and the lumberers are now obliged to drag the fruits of their labor for a long way through the bush, or else to ascend hundreds of miles to the yet unspoiled forests of the interior. But though the difficulties increase, the demand and the number of people employed increases too, and there is no danger of any failure in the supply for ages. Three times the former quantity of timber from the Baltic in the reduction of the duties: this, which course for 1845 was n customs, blic works, per cent. is from ten to 50 generally of this in debt guar purpose of munications government y forces, and re paid from vate expendithan half a The flowing s of course a e the inhabit...helps to keep ants protected without any cost, but this large sun the balance of trade in their favor, and is circulated to enrich them. From the great number of opportunities of profitable investments, and from capital not being as yet much accumulated, it commands a far higher rate of interest on the best security than years hence, the progress will be far greater; the feeble time of infancy is past, the first difficulties over, and this vigorous people start, confident in their resources and energy, every sail filled with the favoring breezes of prosperity. There is at present an immense prize to be contended for between Canada and the United States-the carrying trade for the produce of the west. On one side, the St. Lawrence and its splendid artificial communication, on the other, the Erie Canal and the Hudson River, offer their channels for its use. To the first nature has given a decided advantage; the screw-propelled steamboats, laden on the far shores of Lake Superior, can pass, with but slight delay from locks, to Montreal or Quebec, or indeed to Europe; while through the narrow passage of the Erie Canal, the frequent locks and the transhipment of the cargo must ever be a great embarrassment. By a bold and judicious reduction of the tolls on the Canadian waters, they will become the chief as they always were the natural-outlet for this trade; and its passage will speedily enrich their shores. Some short-sighted people urge that these tolls cannot be reduced, since they hardly pay as it is; but it is obvious that as long as this route is made the more costly of the two, the commerce will flow through the other channel. The system, therefore, should be to reduce the Canadian Canal expenses to an extent that would secure its being the cheaper line; then the vast quantity of traffic would remunerate at almost any price. The advantages of the St. Lawrence over the Erie Canal are amply sufficient to counterbalance the superior position of New York to Quebec or Montreal as a sea-port; although an exaggerated and fallacious idea of the perils of the river navigation of the latter adds much to the expense of insurance. Each year enhances the difficulty of the supply of timber, to a certain extent; by the banks of the streams and rivers within a moderate distance in all directions, the finer trees have already been cleared off, and the lumberers are now obliged to drag the fruits of their labor for a long way through the bush, or else to ascend hundreds of miles to the yet unspoiled forests of the interior. But though the difficulties increase, the demand and the number of people employed increases too, and there is no danger of any failure in the supply for ages. Three times the former quantity of timber from the Baltic reaches England since the reduction of the duties: this, which the Canadians at first imagined would be their ruin, has on the contrary much increased the demand for their produce. In house and ship-building, Baltic and American timber are both required for different parts of the structure, and, since the former has been so considerably cheapened, these operations have increased so as to call for a far greater quantity of the latter than was formerly used; while the advantages to the builder and tenant in England are evident from the great diminution of the cost. Canada is totally free from direct taxation, except of course for municipal purposes. The revenue for the year 1845 was £430,000 sterling; four-fifths of this is derived from customs, the remainder from excise licenses, proceeds of public works, and territorial and casual sources. A duty of five per cent. is levied on English goods entering the province, and from ten to fifteen per cent. on foreign; on these latter there is also generally an imperial duty imposed. About £115,000 sterling of this income is devoted to the payment of the interest of the debt guaranteed by the British Government, contracted for the purpose of making the great works by which the internal communications have been improved. Canada defrays all the expenses of her own civil government and judicial establishment. The naval and military forces, and the cost of works for the defence of the country, are paid from the imperial coffers; from these sources and the private expenditure of the individuals employed, a sum of more than half a million sterling is annually poured into the colony. The flowing in of a continual stream of money to this amount, is of course a very important element of prosperity. Not only are the inhabitants protected without any cost, but this large sum helps to keep the balance of trade in their favor, and is circulated to enrich them. From the great number of opportunities of profitable investments, and from capital not being as yet much accumulated, it commands a far higher rate of interest on the best security than can be obtained in England. The legal rate is six per cent., and this can be obtained with undoubted safety. Manufactures on a small scale have been tried and are still in progress in several parts of Canada: they are fairly remunerative; but surely, in a young and thinly populated country, with such immense unemployed agricultural resources, such application of labor is an economical mistake. Last year England would have purchased any quantity of corn from this country at a high price, but a comparatively small supply was produced; I have no doubt that it would advantage the colony infinitely were every tailor and shoemaker at the plough, and the necessary articles of their labor supplied from England. Last year, in Lower Canada, there were returned more than three thousand manufactories, two-thirds of these were mills for grain and other purposes, the remainder potasheries, tanneries, breweries, ironworks, paper-works, and others. Canada has every natural capability for becoming what, without doubt, she will soon be, a great agricultural and commercial country; but any attempt to encourage manufactures there, till in a far maturer stage of advance, appears vain and preposterous. The post-office of Canada has not had any share in the great improvements recently introduced into that department in England; the old, exorbitant rates of charge are still retained, to the immense inconvenience of mercantile and social affairs, and, I really believe, to the great injury also of the revenue, for the system of sending letters by private hand is carried on almost openly and very extensively. A letter from a distant part of Upper Canada to Quebec costs twice as much as it does to London, the rates from England being uniform to all parts of this country; also newspapers, passing through the post-office in the colony, are each charged a halfpenny. The transmission and delivery of mails is far from being happily arranged, and is often attended with uncertainty and delay. A vigorous effort is, I understand, now making in the Provincial Parliament to remedy these very vexatious and harassing inconveniences. It must be acknowledged that hitherto there has not been quite so much energy and speculative adventure in Canada as in the United States. New and untried channels of trade are examined |