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years, the great works now in course of formation are completed. It must be obvious to the most careless observer that the progress of this new people in commerce, in wealth, and in numbers, is only just commencing. The vast resources of the soil which they occupy cannot be said to have been as yet developed to more than the merest fraction of their real extent, whilst the natural advantages of its position, climate, &c., have been very partially made use of, and indeed are scarcely comprehended. Of one of the most valuable portions of the territory of Canada-the valley of the Ottawa-a very small area only has been explored; yet it is ascertained that this territory, possessed of fertility equal to the valley of the Mississippi, is capable, when cleared and brought under cultivation, of supporting a population treble in number of that which is now spread over the whole of the different provinces. Such population, too, from their position, must become directly tributary to Great Britain as consumers of her manufactured products, whilst they can supply her markets with products of the forest and of agriculture to an almost unlimited extent, and afford vastly increased employment for her shipping and her seamen. We have not, moreover, to depend for the peopling of this or any other portion of British America upon emigration from the parent country. Germany is sending forth the most energetic and industrious of her population to the new soils of the West. In the seven years from 1846 to 1852, according to a report of a Hamburg society, 725,132 persons emigrated, either direct from Continental ports or through British ports; and of this number, all except a mere fraction proceeded across the Atlantic, and the bulk of them went to the United States' ports. We know, however, that, although taking this route, the ulterior resort of a considerable portion of this population is the western portion of Upper Canada, bordering upon the great lakes, as, from the rise which has taken place in the price of land in the United States, the prospects of a settler there are no longer so encouraging as in British America. For example, by an order

from the Crown Lands Department, dated "Quebec, 6th August 1852," the price of land east of the county of Ontario, within Upper Canada, was fixed at four shillings per acre; in the county of Ottawa at three shillings; and in some districts as low as one shilling per acre, payable by instalments. There is timber upon such new lands which will generally cover the expense of clearing it. There is no opportunity for investment upon terms like these in the United States. The German exodus, as it may with truth be called, has increased since 1852; and during the past few months the streets and quays of our ports of emigration have been thronged with these strangers. The following extract from a Liverpool paper will furnish an idea of the rapid rate at which the movement towards the New World is progressing:

"The total number of emigrant ships which have left Liverpool during the past month (May) for all foreign ports, has been fifty-seven, of an aggregate tonnage of 64,425 tons, and having on board a total number of 27,128 passengers, of whom 5270 were English, 1611 Scotch,

13,722 Irish; 6287 natives of other coun

tries, chiefly Germans; and 238 firstcabin passengers. Of these, thirty-six ships were for the United States, with 18,405 emigrants on board, composed principally of Irish and Germans, there being upwards of 10,000 of the former

and 4000 of the latter. The exodus of the Germans, indeed, seems to increase in intensity with every month, the lodging-houses devoted to them during their brief sojourn in Liverpool being continually crowded."

In fact, the only bar to a still further amount of emigration, both from this country and from Europe, is the want of means of conveyance at a reasonable rate, the passage-money at present charged being from 50 to 60 per cent higher than it was two or three years ago.

Another influence which must tend to promote the growth both of British America and the United States is the additional use of steam as a propelling power for ships. We have now crossing the Atlantic six different lines of steamers to these countries; viz., the Cunard mail-boats, touching every alternate week at Halifax, Nova

Scotia; the Collins' line of American mail steamers; a line of screw vessels to Portland and Quebec; a line from Havre and Southampton to New York; a line of screw steamers from Liverpool to New York; and a line of screw steamers from Liverpool to Philadelphia. The settler in our colonies is thus placed in constant communication with the mother country and with Europe; and what is important, as bearing upon the future progress of emigration, means are afforded him, which are both expeditious and easily available, for the remittance home of his savings, for the purpose of enabling his friends or kinsmen to join him in his new country. The extent to which emigration, from Ireland especially, is paid for by remittances from the United States and British America is surprising, and at the same time most gratifying, as illustrative of the existence of a kindly trait in the Celtic and Anglo-Saxon character.

A most important consideration with respect to the future of British America, is the position which she occupies towards what may be regarded as the great Transatlantic power. Regarded commercially, British America occupies a position which renders her of infinite advantage to the commerce and greatness of the mother country. Her territory extending along the frontier of the United States from north-east to south-west, from Maine to Michigan - a distance of from fourteen to fifteen hundred miles -effectually checks the adoption by American statesmen of a prohibitory policy, or high tariff duties, against British productions. The enforcement of such a policy would be utterly impracticable, even if the attempt could be seriously entertained for a moment. No system of customs could effectually guard a frontier so extended, and especially one composed of lakes and navigable rivers common to the shipping and commerce of two countries, having different systems of taxation. The United States, however, are yearly becoming less dependent of a customs revenue to meet the expenditure of their government. Their public debt is rapidly diminishing in amount; their manufactures and produce require less protection, as machi

nery and science are increasingly applied to promote their development; and the time is probably not far distant when the interests of British America and the United States will become commercially identical.

But, it may be asked,-What would be the result of a hostile collision between two nations, thus intimately connected, and adjoining each other? We have heard a great quantity of blustering talk about annexation by the United States of the British possessions in America. But this talk has come almost entirely from sources not American - from the organs of

Irish patriots (?) thirsting for an opportunity of converting England's difficulty" into "Ireland's opportunity," for revenge and bloodshed. The really valuable and estimable portion of the United States people scout the thought of a quarrel, to be decided by arms, between the British and the inhabitants of North America and the great Republic. Nothing could be so wicked, so damaging to the best interests of both parties, and of the entire human race, as such a fratricidal quarrel. British America, however, is not so powerless as may be imagined to resist aggression from the United States, and she is not at all likely to invite annexation. In the first place, her position is one of great natural strength to resist such aggression. An American writer says of it:

"Among the prominent features of Canada, her military position is worthy of notice. She is the most northern power upon this continent; and in configuration upon the globe she presents a triangular form, the apex of which forms the extreme southing, and penetrates the United States frontier; while the base is remote, and rests upon the icy regions of

the north.

Flanked by the inhospitable the almost inaccessible territories of the coast of Labrador upon the east, and by Hudson's Bay territory on the west, she can only be attacked'in front;' when, retiring into more than Scythian fastnesses on the Ottawa and Saguenay, and keeping up communication with the strong fortress of Quebec, she can maintain strong and powerful resistance against foreign hostile invaders."

In the second place, the population of Upper Canada, where the chief source of danger from a hostile colli

sion between the two countries would arise, is devotedly loyal, and antirepublican in its instincts and institutions. Intimate as is the connection, and great as has been the dependence of Upper Canada upon the United States ports, as affording markets, and means of transportation for their produce to Europe, its population is fully aware of the importance of maintaining their connection with Great Britain, of securing the aid of its abundant capital, and of preserving their existing friendly commercial relations. They possess a large mercantile marine, the natural employment for which is to British ports. Above all, an additionally strong bond of allegiance will be cemented between British America and the mother country when the former has created a route of her own through her own territory, and from her own ports, to England and Europe. Moreover, there is the difficulty caused by the institution of slavery in the United States to be got over before any amalgamation with the British provinces can be seriously mooted. Wild and thoughtless politicians overlook this important obstacle, yet it is glaringly observable by all who do not close their eyes to passing events and the tendency of public opinion. The United States legislature has, for the last twelve months, been a scene of almost hostile personal conflict amongst its members, caused by a proposal to organise the territory of Nebraska, adjoining Mexico

and Texas, by which it was feared that the existing balance of power between the northern, or free, and the southern, or slave States, might be disturbed. Any proposal to annex British America, not one of whose provinces would tolerate slavery, could only be the signal of disruption between the northern and the southern States.

There is, however, in addition to other hindrances to the alienation of British America, by force or otherwise, from its present connection with the mother country, the strong ties of consanguinity, of a common religion and laws, and a yearly decreasing absence of any strong motive for separation. Our North American brethren see their present position, and their future career of greatness, and appreciate the power of their mother country to aid them in that career. That it will be a successful one we cannot doubt; and those amongst us who may live for twenty years to come, may be privileged to see British America, not merely, as she is called at present, "the brightest gem in the diadem" of her Sovereign, but the most prosperous portion of an empire which, though lying in different zones, composed of different races, and divided by oceans, improved science, and truly paternal legislation, will have cemented together into one harmonious and compact confederacy, the greatest and the most powerful which the world has ever beheld.

VOL. LXXVI.-NO. CCCCLXV.

B

LETTER TO EUSEBIUS.

RIDDLES.

You remember, my dear Eusebius, that as I was leaving you the other day, now happily a hale man again, and with no trace of weakness left by the accident of last year, I told you that I had received one or two letters from my old friend, Oliver Meanwell, consulting me upon some rather delicate family matters.

There were family differences amongst his nearest relatives, which, as an old man, loving peace, and wishing well to them all, he was very desirous to compose. With some of these his relations I am not unacquainted; others he described to me, but with such softenings of some outlines of character, as left me to guess that they were in reality very angular.

He proposed a gathering, and meant, if I approved, to have open house on the occasion; he wished me to be present, as he complimented me on having some tact, that I might be able to prevent things going wrong. I hesitated thought it over again and again-had on my lips Dryden's line

""Tis dangerous to disturb a hornet's nest."

I should have ill deserved the praise of tact, which Meanwell bestowed upon me, had I gone direct, and in all haste, to his house. "A hasty birth," as the proverb saith, "bringeth forth blind whelps." It was evidently my business to gather a pack, not only gifted with eyes, but with music to encourage pursuers; for I thought it possible that we might have to hunt the fox-hearts of a few wily ones to earth. Indeed, I suspected that the differences which we had to adjust owed their origin to jealousy; and that these relatives wished to stand each better than the other in the regard of Meanwell, from whom they have expectations--the terrible word or thing, 66 expectations!"—the encourager of selfishness, and suppresser of honest heartiness. Perhaps this suspicion did an injury to worthier folk than I took them for; and I could learn nothing from Meanwell himself. His life had been a beautiful unbelief in the wickedness of any individuals whatever. He would step aside from suspicion as from a viper. He used to say that it was the trade of news

At length, concluding that our old paper-makers, and the sad duty of

friend would be as much disturbed by not doing this act of benevolence as he could be by any untoward end it might come to, I assented, only stipulating, as a matter of prudence, that the reconciliatory visit should be limited to three days. Why three days? Why not two or four? Surely tempers and human tongues, like neats' tongues, might be steeped in a precautionary pickle, which might keep them sweet and pleasant perhaps for a week. Three, however, is the magic number; and it would be well if, after the third, the house might say of itself, or the owner say for it

"Numero domus impare gaudet," and boast, with the importance of a nation's revolution, of its "three glorious days."

magistrates, to search out and publish all the evil in the world, and that nobody else, if they were wise, would entertain evil thoughts; and he was thankful that his condition was above the want of the trade of the one, and that the smallness of his ambition exempted him from the duty of the other. His maiden sister and housekeeper, Deborah, was of one mind with him, and they had both grown somewhat aged in habits of this amiable incredulity. Having, then, more than a week at my disposal before the day appointed for the reconciliatory visit, I thought I could not do better than spend a few days with our old friend, Dr Allright, the rector of Dowell.

I determined to consult him, and especially his sensible wife, as I knew them to be well acquainted with all

the parties. The humour of Allright is to conceal his sympathies, or rather any expression of them; for if his words are few, quaint, or affectedly harsh upon occasions, there is no lack of human sympathies in his actions. Perhaps he began long ago—for he has been some five-and-twenty years wedded-by thinking it needful to subdue a little the too romantic tendencies of his good wife, but has ill succeeded; for she knows him too well to put any faith in this his putting on, and has, in fact, seen through his purpose the whole time. So that, without in any degree tempering the warmth or activity of her pathetic movements, their little amiable combats have become but a pleasant domestic sport, which has somewhat sharpened both their wits, and has made her one of the liveliest, semisatiric, most cheerful, open-hearted, unrestrained companions in the world.

I could talk over this matter with none better; so I made my way to the rectory, and reached it just as night had driven out the last gleam of day, and the moon was high enough above the horizon to cast her subdued light across the shrubbery avenue as I entered, and to touch the shining laurel-leaves here and there with spangle, that made the depths around them intense, and the repose deeper, at which time silence is a sentiment. The noise of wheels was not heard in the drawing-room, so that I had entered it before the doctor and his wife were aware of my arrival.

They were sitting by the fire-the doctor in his easy-chair, with a handkerchief over his face, as if for an evening doze-the lady had been evidently reading, for a book was on a little table by the fireside. As I entered they both rose to greet me, for the doctor was not actually asleep; but what surprised me was, to see the goodwife smiling a welcome through her tears. I could not refrain from showing my surprise, for I was afraid some ill news had reached that peaceful home.

I was soon relieved by the doctor, who said, with a pleasant laugh, "Ah, you are welcome indeed; you are arrived just in time to lend a sympathy, which you know my hard nature cannot supply; and, indeed, Clara has

quite enough for us both; she has been reading Dickens's last, and as I heard sounds of an emotion which she was endeavouring to suppress, I pretended to be asleep that she might have the full enjoyment of the pathetics. You know, Clara, it was all out of kindness, and how you delighted thereby in your imaginary sorrows." The process of welcoming me, and the usual questionings over, we fell naturally into our quiet talk, and as naturally into a discussion of the book which had so touched the doctor's sensitive wife.

"Dickens," said the doctor, with a sly smile of pleasant domestic banter, "is a very expensive author." "Indeed!" said I; "I thought his serial works were considered remarkably cheap." "Very costly in their consequences," he replied; "as Clara said of Mrs Spendall's gown, the trimmings far exceeded the original material" "And the additional jewellery that was thought absolutely necessary," said the good-natured Clara. "I reckon," said the doctor, "that every work Dickens publishes, costs fifty pounds at least extra expenditure before it is finished. She sent off a five-pound note yesterday, miles away from this parish, in answer to some appeal to her humanity; and I know it was owing to reading a number of one of these serials. Dear me! It is time he should leave off writing, or we shall be ruined with his humanities. I wish he would publish the whole tale at once, then there would be but one call; now it is monthlyworse than railroad-calls. He must have a wonderful power-a fairycharm given at his birth. You will hardly believe what I am going to tell you: Clara, who, in a way of her own, bewitches people, positively got possession of the ear of the old, miserly, retired banker, A., and read to him one of Dickens's little Christmas tales, and so worked upon the old man's fears, shall I say, or feelings, that he wrote off a cheque for a hundred pounds to the Town Infirmary, and gave Clara twenty pounds to distribute in charity." "Not very much to your credit, doctor," replied Clara, "for you have been preaching to him for many a year, and what did you ever get from him?" "A palpable

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