known even by name, shew, that there has been something wrong in the system hitherto followed, with respect to the emigrants who have settled there, or some deficiency of information on the subject, either with the government, or the public, or with both? But while I state this so broadly, I beg not to be misunderstood. I am well aware of what was done by government last year, and although I give my mite of approbation to Mr Wilmot Waters' experiment from Ire land, under the superintendence of Mr Robinson, and though I am well informed that it has succeeded to all the benevolent anticipations of the patron and projector, I still hold the opinion, that it is not natural government should be the originator of any scheme of emigration, but only the aider of individual adventure. Let it assist, but not plan, protect, but not project; give all facilities, but be no farther partner in the speculation than the special duties of government war rant. I make this remark the more pointedly, as there is some reason to believe that government did, if it does not now, at one time intend to form a regular plan for conducting the annual swarms of emigrants into Upper Canada. The outlines of the project have been privately circulated, and, perhaps, before proceeding farther, I cannot do better than here furnish you with a copy of that paper. "Outline of a Plan of Emigration to Upper Canada. PLAN. "SUPPOSING it were deemed expedient for government to advance money to parishes upon the security of the poor-rates, for the express and sole purpose of facilitating emigration; the government undertaking all the details of the experiment; the money to be lent at four per cent, and to be repaid by annual instalments, or, in other words, by a terminable annuity, calculated at four per cent. Would it be worth while for the parishes to accept such a proposition, supposing that a sufficient period were allowed for the repayment of such terminable annuity? "For example:-A parish is desirous of sending off one hundred labourers, those labourers finding no adequate employment, are anxious to emigrate, feeling that their present existence is a burthen to the parish, and a discomfort to themselves. The government agrees to convey them to Upper Canada* for 3500., being at the rate of 351. per man, undertaking the whole arrangement, provided that the parish rates be charged with an annuity of 2251. per annum for twenty-five years; such annuity for such a period being equivalent to the repayment, by instalments, of the capital so advanced, with annual interest upon the same at four per cent. As the presumed present cost of maintenance of these hundred labourers, by the parish, is calculated at 1000l. per annum, or 10. per man, it will at once be perceived, that the measure proposed will lead to an immediate annual saving of 7751. per annum, or of very nearly four-fifths of the present expense. The same principle is applicable to women and children, at a diminished rate of annuity; it being estimated, that while the charges which must be incurred on account of each man cannot be safely stated at less than 351. the cost of the removal and maintenance of each woman will amount to about 25%., and of each child under fourteen years of age, to 147. (vide Appendix A.) "The details of the expense of removing the families of paupers from an English port to the place of location or settlement in Upper Canada, and of keeping them until they should be in a condition completely to provide for themselves, will be found in Appendix A. "The expense of removing them from the parish to the port must, of necessity, be without the range of an estimate. "This plan must be accompanied by an act of parliament, which should enact, that all persons taking advantage of this facility of emigration should give up for themselves and children, present and future, all claims upon parochial support. "The success of these proposed settlers in Upper Canada can be warranted upon grounds of perfect certainty, as the tract (vide Appendix B,) which was laid before the Agricultural Committee of 1822, will satisfactorily demonstrate to any person who will peruse it with attention. "It will at once be perceived, that this system of emigration may be equally applied to any other colony. Upper Canada has been selected, as being the one, in the opinion of the proposer of this measure, by far the most eligible, whether with reference to the economy of the public expense, or to the probable advantage to the emigrant, and consequently that colony in which the experiment may be the most advantageously tried." That tract was drawn up by Colonel Talbot, who has himself resided in the province of Upper Canada, from its original settlement under the auspices of Lieutenant Governor Simcoe, with very little interruption, to the present day; and whose authority cannot be questioned, he having been intrusted by the British government with the settlement of that populous and highly improving extent of territory along the banks of Lake Erie, now called the Talbot's Settlement;' and the concluding paragraph of the tract subjoined in Appendix B, will show the extent and character of the success which has attended that experi ment. "That a corresponding degree of success will attend the present one, if an opportunity be afforded for it, there can be no reasonable doubts entertained. It will only require judicious measures on the part of the government for the general arrangement of the transfer, and location of the emigrants; and as far as the principle of estimate can be applied to any public undertaking of this nature, a reference to Appendix A will demonstrate that the expense of the necessary measures will be covered by the money proposed to be advanced, and with every consideration for the comfort and interests of the emigrants, which is fairly compatible with his situation as a pauper in his own country; and which country, by the terms of the proposition, he himself must be desirous of leaving. "The financial part of this proposed measure is of the most simple nature; the issuing of terminable annuities to be purchased at the market price, according to their respective periods and the rate per cent. "The Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt may be authorised, for example, (if no more eligible mode can be suggested similar in effect, but more advantageous in principle,) under an act of parliament to be passed for this specific measure, to purchase these annuities from the parishes. The parishes, therefore, in theory at least, may be considered as receiving the money so advanced to them for an annuity, and then paying it over to government, in consideration of the removal of the paupers, on the terms and subject to the qualifications proposed. Thus, for example, the parish of A agrees to pay an annuity of 21. 5s. for twenty-five years, in consideration of receiving the sum of 351., which sum the parish immediately pays into the hands of the government, who undertake to remove B, a pauper, in the manner proposed. "It is proposed, for the simplification of this measure, that the annuity for which each parish is responsible should be made payable to the county treasurer, and recoverable in the same manner as the county rate consequently, the annuity due from all the parishes in each county would be paid in one collective sum by the county treasurer into the Exchequer. This plan, of course, would not be in any degree compulsory; the arrangement must be made between the parochial authorities and the paupers before the parish could be in a situation to avail itself of this assistance. That impediment once removed, nothing would oppose its immediate execution. The removal of the paupers to the port appointed for embarkation would necessarily be, as already observed, without the range of an estimate, and must be governed by local circumstances, occasioning a small addition to the expense. There would be this advantage in the measure, (if the doctrine of those be right, of which there can be do doubt, who contend that the administration of relief to the able-bodied poor was never contemplated by the statute of Elizabeth,) that it would be a justification of those who direct the application of the parochial rates, for withholding from individuals rejecting this boon all assistance that is not absolutely necessary. It has long been universally admitted, that this presumed claim of the able-bodied pauper upon parish relief, has been and is the principal obstacle to the restoration of the poor-laws to their original standard, inasmuch as the granting such relief has been the greatest abberration from their true character and spirit. "It will at once be evident that the machinery of this proposed measure would be equally applicable to Ireland and Scotland; provided any funds, local or otherwise, could be satisfactorily pledged to government for the payment of the proposed annuity. And if it should be considered desirable, with reference to the application of this measure to Ireland and Scotland, that the annuity shall be of longer duration, thereby diminishing "It is considered unnecessary to incumber the present statement with remarks upon the means of supplying any deficiency, or the manner of disposing of any surplus of the money calculated to aecomplish the object." its annual amount, such alteration could at once be effected. Thus, for example, if a district should wish to export one hundred labourers, the cost being 35007., if the duration of the annuity be extended for forty-two years, the annuity which that district would be called upon to pay would be 1734 8s. On this calculation for the different countries, each man would be permanently provided for by an annuity of 21. 5s. per annum for the term of twenty-five years in England, and 14 14s. 8d. for the term of forty-two years in Ireland and Scotland; each woman for 14. 12s. in England, and ll. 4s. 9d. in Ireland and Scotland; each child under fourteen years of age, for 17s. 11d. in England, and 13s. 104d. per annum in Ireland and Scotland; the two latter being governed by the same relative proportion." "It is not deemed necessary on this occasion to enlarge upon the permanent, as well as present advantages, which would be afforded to the agricultural interests by the adoption of this measure, which cannot be characterized as a temporary expedient, framed upon imperfect data, and at variance with the soundest principles of political economy. "It is considered as unquestionable, although this measure is not in the slightest degree compulsory, that the poor man who offers his strength and energy as a labourer, but who, finding no demand, or at least no adequate demand, for his services, is compelled to receive parish relief' for the preservation of his own existence and that of his family, will accept this opportunity of bettering his condition, by laying the foundation for future independence with eagerness and gratititude, when sufficient time has elapsed, and proper pains been taken to make him understand the true nature and character of the change that is proposed for him. "It is equally considered as certain, that parishes will anxiously accept this facility (as far as their own concurrence is required) of relieving themselves, at a slight annual expense, of any present and pressing redundancy of population; and also of securing for the future the effectual prevention, supplied by this measure, for any accumulation of labourers whose services they may be incapable of remunerating. "It is at once evident, that this system of emigration could be made immediately applicable to Ireland and Scotland, provided that money was raised there for the purpose by local assessment, or that a specific tax was pledged for money lent for that purpose by the government. "Although the periods of twenty-five and forty-two years have been taken for the duration of the annuities in England and Scotland respectively, of course the only effect of curtailing the period will be, to increase the quantum of the annuity; but as the object was to relieve present distress, it was considered that the longer periods would be the most desirable. "It has not been considered necessary in the outline' to enter into many details, which, however, have been duly considered, and are all prepared for exposition. It is proposed that one hundred acres should be allotted to each father of a family, and perhaps smaller proportions to single men; that certain restrictions should be imposed with respect both to cultivation and alienation; that after the termination of a definitive period, perhaps five years, the proprietor should pay a certain annual quit-rent of very small amount, out of which should, in the first instance, be defrayed the expense of the patent, which would not exceed 2. upon a grant of one hundred acres: the remaining quit-rent might be appropriated to the purpose of local improvements, such as roads, &c.; and a provision be added for an optional redemption of the quit-rent on the payment of a moderate sum. "Although the agricultural population will be more immediately benefited by this measure, yet in the case of a redundancy of manufacturing population, it will be found perfectly applicable; for it must be remembered that the casual emigration to Upper Canada, which as far as it is gone has succeeded so well, has been principally supplied by the manufacturing population, which class, upon general reasoning, must be deemed the least suited for the experiment. "Although it may be argued, that there can be no actual redundancy of population as long as the waste lands in the mother country remain uncultivated, yet no person conversant with such subjects can contend that such redundancy does not now, virtually at least, exist; in other words, that there are not many strong labouring men, for whose servises there is no adequate demand, and who cannot be employed upon any productive labour that will pay the expenses of production; "These fractional divisions might, for convenience, be reduced to even money." and as in all civilized countries, population must be dependent upon property, it is absurd to theorize upon erroneous ' data,' which do not admit that unquestionable proposition. And if any person should feel alarm, that under the operation of such a measure too great a proportion of the agricultural population might be abstracted, they may be assu red that at this moment many economical processes in husbandry which would save human labour, and much agricultural machinery which is kept in abeyance, would be immediately applied, to the manifest improvement of the condition of the agriculturalist and of the wealth of the country, provided that a danger no longer existed which now exists with full preventive force, viz. that of throwing out of employ a still greater number of the agricultural population. "It is scarcely necessary to observe, that this measure can be suspended or limited at any time: but in point of fact it has that suspensive power within itself; for whenever there should exist at home an adequate demand for the services of able-bodied men out of employ, whether from the increase of productive industry, or from the demands of war, or from any other cause, there would be no longer a temptation to emigrate. "It is also observed, that with such a system in regular and effective operation, no inconvenience could ever again result to this country from a temporary stimulus being given at any time to the population which could not permanently be sustained. To use the metaphor so commonly employed, it would be a safetyvalve by which the inconvenient excess of population could always be carried off imperceptibly; and it must not be forgotten, in a comprehensive view of such a system, that the pauper, for whose labour no remuneration can be afforded at home, will be transmuted by this process into an independent proprietor, and at no distant period will become a consumer of the manufactured articles of his native country. Nor, on the other hand, can any calculable period be assigned for the termination of such a system, until all the colonies of the British empire are saturated, and millions added to those who speak the English language, and carry with them the liberty and the laws and the sympathies of their native country. "Such a system would direct the tide of emigration towards parts of the Bri tish empire, which must be considered as integral, though separated by geographical position. The defence of these colo nial possessions would be more easily supplied within themselves, and their increasing prosperity would not only relieve the mother country from pecuniary demands that are now indispensable, but that prosperity in its re-action would augment the wealth and the resources of the mother country itself. "These observations are, therefore, respectfully pressed upon the attention of those who have the means to give effect to this measure, which is not one of compulsion in any part of its arrangement, but which is considered to be founded upon sound and incontrovertible principles, and to combine the advantages of some alleviation of present evils with the permanent benefit of the empire at large." Now, sir, without at all questioning the merits and the spirit of this plan of emigration, it is sufficient for my present purpose to observe, that it is not applicable to the circumstances either of Ireland or of the Highlands of Scotland, where the miseries of an overflowing population are deepest felt. There are no local funds in those countries to be pledged in the manner proposed. It might, I dare say, FOR A TIME, work pretty well in England, but still I do not see that it would supply that desideratum in the system of government so requisite to preserve "the goodly structure of our ancient polity" from the consequences that must ensue from an overflowing population, in the event of any serious failure happening to the harvest. Indeed, I am averse to any direct interference of government with the subject, beyond what is necessary in the various aids and forms of protection; for the proper source of the means of emigration lies in the surplus capital of the country. I would even go so far as to say, that until this surplus is itself created, the necessity of encouraging emigration does not exist, because the means of employment are not exhausted so long as there is a profitable return for the investment of capital; and until the means of employment are exhausted, it cannot be said that there ought to be any encouragement given to emigration. But perhaps the most valid objection to the plan, as a practical measure of policy, is, that it does not appear to have been formed, at least as far as Canada is concerned, with a sufficient degree of consideration for certain pe 7 culiarities in the circumstances of that country. Both in Upper and Lower Canada, but especially in the former, there are certain portions of land reserved in all the settled parts of the provinces, at the disposal of the crown. These RESERVES have become a dead weight on the improvement of the country. They cause a dispersion of the population over a larger surface than would naturally take place; they entail a greater expense for roads than would otherwise be necessary; and they operate, in consequence of making wider distances between the farms and the mar kets, as a direct tax on agricultural industry. In a word, the American farmers not being burdened by the effects of this great evil in the system of Canadian location, possess decided advantages over the Canadian farmers; and their country is in consequence both better peopled and better cultivated, though the soil and climate are the same. As it never could have been intended that these reserved lands should be held in perpetuity by the crown, with a view to derive a revenue from them in the shape of rental, independent of the legislature, I would ask, why it is that they are suffered to remain as so many obstacles to the natural improvement of the country? Or rather, why it is that they are not brought to sale, and a fund created out of the proceeds, to assist in the business of emigration? -not directly, but by making such facilities of intercourse in the country as would induce private adventurers to embark their capital in clearing and settling these lands. For, be it remarked, these reserves are not situated in wild and unexplored parts, but are in and among the best peopled farms and townships; and if roads were opened through them to many districts which may still be described as inaccessible, a stimulus would be given to the improvement of the country, which it is not easy to conceive the result of. But in considering any plan which would have for its purpose the directing of the surplus capital of the mother-country into Canada, it may naturally be asked, what returns can that country make to recompense the capitalist? and pertinently enough remarked, that in the cultivation of tropical climates,-in sugar and coffee, and the other produce of the West In VOL. XV. dies-the returns are manifestly in articles which may be said to be of universal use, and which can only be supplied from the tropics; whereas the produce of the Canadas is similar to that of all Europe, and being chiefly agricultural, is restricted in the importation by the corn-bill,—that monument of the patriotism of the Wrongheads of England. This, however, is but a narrow, and at the same time, an erroneous view of the subject-and my answer to it is shortly this: "The produce of the Canadas is similar to that of the state of New York-it is not more restricted in its export than that of any part of the United States; and there does not exist at this time, on the whole face of the earth, any district more flourishing, more improving, more enterprizing, than the state of New York. The great canal, which beggars to insignificance all similar undertakings in the old world, and in point of extent is the largest line of continued labour in the world, after the wall of China, is of itself a sufficient proof and illustration of the fact."-If I were, therefore, required to state what inducement could be offered to capitalists to embark their funds in any such plan, with respect to the Canadas, as that to which I have alluded, I would reply-" You are not to count on great immediate profits to be obtained from the produce of the soil, but on the improved value which the land will derive from the capital expended in clearing and bringing it into cultivation. The profits, therefore, on your capital, will consist in the difference between the value of the land, in a state of nature, and in a state rendered habitable and arable, with a constant flowing in of emigrants from Europe, becoming purchasers of lots, or tenants at great rents.-Every step that the country takes in improvement, will increase the value of your investment in the soil-every shilling that you lay out on one acre of your own property, will augment the value of the contiguous acres-every shilling that your neighbour lays out in the improvement of his property, will raise the value of yours, and every emigrant that arrives, whether in quest of employment or of settlement, will increase, by increasing the demand, the value of the produce of the soil.”—It is too late now to talk of exports and 3 J. |