inferior in education to their neighbors in New England, but superior to the people of the southern and western States. Onefourth of their present number emigrated from the United Kingdom as adults, and were of a class which the spread of intelligence, now I trust rapidly progressing at home, had not at that time reached. Many of the British Canadians, too, were born in settlements then remote and thinly populated, though now perhaps thriving and crowded; and their early life was a constant toil and struggle for subsistence, leaving little leisure for education. The rising generation starts under brighter auspices.

The press in Canada is generally superior in respectability, if not in talent, to that of the United States. It cannot indeed be pronounced free from personalities, or from the wide license of party warfare, for I regret to say that of these some very discreditable instances have occurred, but they are exceptions; and the general rule is honesty and propriety. Quebec and Montreal have each eight or ten newspapers; about half of them, and not the better half, are in the French language; Kingston has five, and Toronto seven; and all the towns of any importance in Upper Canada have at least one each. Nearly every shade of political opinion is advocated in these publications, but since the rebellion none of them openly profess republican views, or encourage a more intimate union with the United States; during the present difficulties with that people, even the extreme radical prints have put forward many articles, warning the Americans that they are not to expect sympathy or co-operation from any party in Canada—that whatever disputes may be carried on about provincial affairs among themselves, they do not desire any foreign interference. William Lyon Mackenzie, the former leader of the Toronto sedition, has since published a book on the subject of that and subsequent events, from which it appears that his American sympathies have undergone wonderful diminu

tion.

Canada has as yet contributed very little or nothing to general literature, but the youth of the country and the abundant necessary occupations of the people, readily account for this deficiency. Montreal, Quebec, and Toronto, can boast of very respectable libraries, scientific and literary institutions, and debating socie

ties; the latter perhaps more important as an innocent and amusing pursuit, than from any great present or practical utility. There is also a French Canadian Scientific and Literary Institution at Quebec, lately founded, and promising well for the future.

I say it with pleasure, that, within the last few years, the tone of the press, the prospects of literature, the means of instruction, and the desire of applying them, have received a great and salutary impulse of improvement throughout this magnificent province.

CHAPTER XIV.

Manners-Politics-Defence.

IN Upper Canada the better class of people have generally the same manners and customs as those who are engaged in similar pursuits and occupations in England. So large a proportion are retired officers of the army and navy, government officials, and men brought up in the old country, who have settled and become landholders, that they give the tone to the remainder, and between them and their republican neighbors there is generally a marked difference in dress and manner. Among the lower classes, this distinction is by no means so evident; unfortunately, no small number of those dwelling on the borders readily adopt the ideas and manners of the Americans; indeed, many of them are refugees from the States. Those in the interior, however, retain in a great degree the characteristics of the country, whence they or their fathers have emigrated.

With the exception of the Richelieu district, the peasantry of Lower Canada, both of English and French origin, are more pleasing, civil, and attractive in their demeanor, than those of the Upper Province, The people of St. John's, and other places from the Richelieu River west to the St. Lawrence, are singularly unprepossessing; they have all the grossness and insolence of the worst class of the Americans, without their energy and spirit; besides, they are generally very much disaffected to the British Crown. They are a mixed race of British, French, and Americans, and this union is by no means happy in its results. To the traveller coming into Canada from the United States by that route, these people appear in the most unfavorable contrast with their neighbors; their farms badly cultivated, their houses poor and dirty, and the race of men mean-looking and discontented.

While at St. John's, I made many efforts to find out the causes of their stagnation and ill feeling, but it was vain. They acknowledged that they had no taxes, that land was cheap, that Montreal was an excellent market for their produce, that no laws pressed upon them peculiarly or vexatiously. One man, indeed, said that, not being able to elect their Governor was a very great grievance, and on that account they could not consider themselves a free people. I suggested to him that this grievance, great as it was, need not have prevented him from mending his fence, through which, while we were speaking, half a dozen cattle had entered his field, and were performing Polkas on his young wheat. The fact is, that these turbulent mixed breeds are an indolent and worthless set of people, willing to attribute their unprosperous condition to English laws, rather than to their own demerits.

At one time the misuse of ardent spirits was very general in Upper Canada, with all its melancholy and disastrous consequences; it cannot be said that the evil is cured, but it is, certainly, much mitigated, and the consumption, proportionately to the population, has been diminishing for some years past. At one time, settlements were given to a number of disbanded soldiers, with a small commuted allowance for their pensions; this scheme proved eminently unsuccessful: when so many of these veterans were in the same neighborhood, their old idle, and, in some cases, dissipated habits, were not likely to be at once abandoned, and the dram-shop became the only prosperous place; their farms were carelessly and unskilfully cleared and tilled, their little capital soon wasted; and, in a very short time, the great majority of them had sold out their land for next to nothing, and were wandering about as beggars, thoroughly demoralized and discontented.

Old soldiers have generally been found to make very indifferent settlers, particularly when congregated; but there are many pleasing exceptions of worthy, loyal, and prosperous men.

The manner of servants to their masters, and of the lower classes generally to their superiors, is much the same as in England; tradespeople, too, hold a like relative position. Your bootmaker does not consider that it adds to his importance or real in

dependence to sit down in your room with his hat on, and whistle and spit while he takes your measure, as his republican brethren in the United States would probably do. I made a small purchase from a man in a shop at Baltimore, who was smoking a cigar, chewing tobacco, and eating a peach at the same time; with so many pleasing and interesting occupations, he, of course, had not much leisure to spare for civilities to his customer.

With the exception of a few of the lowest class, the Canadians are quite free from those very disagreeable habits which are so unpleasantly general among the Americans. Chewing tobacco is not the fashion, and they reserve their saliva for other purposes than those of a projectile nature. Their manners, customs, and dress, are those of England, not of America; and in this there is a bond of union and sympathy, of which all astute politicians acknowledge the strength and value.

We may divide the political opinions of the people of Canada, as now represented in their Provincial Parliament, into four principal sections; first the Upper Canada Conservatives, who had been formerly altogether dominant in their own province, and went by the name of the Family Compact. Secondly, the Upper Canada Reformers, under the old system virtually excluded from office. Thirdly, the French Canadians, the principals in the late troubles, strongly opposed to the union, which has weakened their power. Fourthly, the Lower Canadian English, now become more influential in the United Parliament. It would be difficult to point out any one of these parties free from the love of place and patronage, or from a factious spirit; the anxiety for government employments is very great, and considerable sacrifices of prejudices are sometimes made to obtain or keep them. The struggle for place is even keener than at home, and, in proportion to the smallness of the object, and of the field in which it is to be won, there is less of dignity in the pursuit.

The Legislature consists of two houses, the Legislative Council, and the Legislative Assembly. The members of the first are appointed for life by the Crown, but have themselves the power of resigning; they are chosen from among those of the inhabitants of the county the most conspicuous for character, intelligence, and wealth, and are now by no means limited to any par