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     138 
     
    
   
   
    
     THE BRITISH AMERICAN. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Stu-18 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     From Bell's Weekly .Meucngar, Sept. 9. 
     
     OUR AMERICAN COLONIES. . 
     
    
   
   
    
     Since the celebrated work of Mr. Basil 
     
     Hall, and several others which accompani- 
     
     ed or followed it, the public seem to have 
     
     arrived at a correct estimation of the real 
     
     value, and ofthe vital importance, of our 
     
     North American Colonies. As every thing 
     
     which is daily passing around us cannot but 
     
     strongly convey to our minds the actual ne- 
     
     cessity of keeping open all the channels of 
     
     employment, it has now become perfectly 
     
     intelligible to all men, that the main ad- 
     
     vantage of Colonies is to contribute to the 
     
     demand and employment of home-labour. 
     
     By their exports, they necessarily employ 
     
     the capital and the shipping, the merchants 
     
     and the manufacturers, of the mother 
     
     country ; and, by their imports, they intro- 
     
     duce into our markets the materials of in- 
     
     dustry and employment. They uphold our 
     
     navigation, extend our commerce, and in- 
     
     vigorate:our manufactures. Being general- 
     
     ly branches from the parent stock. and re- 
     
     taining for successive generations the same 
     
     nature and tastes, they are not only the 
     
     largest and most liberal, but the longest and 
     
     surest customers to the original country, 
     
     and we are thus secure against those 
     
     spreading vicissitudes of prosperity, and 
     
     decline to which all branches of commerce, 
     
     depending upon a varying taste and fash- 
     
     ion, are so subject. 
     
    

    
     Of all our colonies; it appears, not only 
     
     by writers and travellers, but still more 
     
     strongly by our official returns, that none 
     
     “ 4s“ more valuable )than Canada, and that 
     
     none, at the present time, contributes more 
     
     largely to the real wealth of the British 
     
     empire. 
     
    

    
     This Province is in the agricultural stage 
     
     of its progress towards civilization ; thatis, 
     
     it is in that stage in which wages are so 
     
     high, and land is so plentiful, and affords so 
     
     large a return, as to render it impossible 
     
     for manufactures to compete with agricul- 
     
     ture, and thus to make it necessary for the 
     
     Canadians to confine themselves to the 
     
     growth of corn and timber, and to supply 
     
     themselves with manufactures from the 
     
     European market. Now the very habits of 
     
     that country, the consanguinity of the in- 
     
     habitants with those of England, and even 
     
     the natural similitude of the physical cir- 
     
     cumstances of the two countries, must lead 
     
     the Canadians, amongst all other European 
     
     markets, to prefer that of England. And, 
     
     secondly, it has always been thejust policy 
     
     of this cou_ntry,(and never deviated from in 
     
     a single instance, except partially by the 
     
    

    
     resent administration,*) to extend the 
     
    

    
     ighest favdur towards this branch of our 
     
     Colonial trade, and thus to put it upon that 
     
     footing under which it has hitherto contri- 
     
     buted so considerably to the advantage of 
     
     the two countries. 
     
    
   
   
    
     * The late attack upon the timber trade. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     Under these circumstances, our trade 
     
     with Canada is greater than with any other 
     
     colony or dependency of this empire, if we 
     
     except Jamaica and the \Vest Indies. It 
     
     appears indeed by the official returns, that 
     
     Canada employs more shipping than any 
     
     other colony, takes more of our manu— 
     
     factures, and supplies us more beneficially 
     
     with a larger stock of valuable raw pro- 
     
    

    
     uce. 
     
    

    
     At the present moment, Canada con- 
     
     tains between eight hundred thousand and 
     
     a million inhabitants, and as the tide of 
     
     emigration is now setting this way with a 
     
     strong current, this amount will probably 
     
     double itself within the next ten years. 
     
    

    
     According to the accounts lately receiv- 
     
     ed, the emigrants from Great Britain and 
     
     Ireland, for the last year, reckoning from 
     
     July l83l, to July 1832, have been forty- 
     
     one thousand eight hundred,-—which is an 
     
     excess ot'nearly five thousand beyond the 
     
     amount of the preceding year. Almost ev- 
     
     ery port in England has one or more ves- 
     
     sels daily proceeding to the Canadas, and 
     
     the accounts of those who have so recently 
     
     settled, are so favorable, and are so uni- 
     
     versally spread, that the surplus population 
     
     of England is daily and hourly flocking to 
     
     the bank of the St. Lawrence, and Quebec 
     
     will soon become to Canada, what New- 
     
     York is to the United States. 
     
    

    
     We have only to express our confident 
     
     h0pe, that our government will contribute 
     
     its restoring aid towards a state ofthings of 
     
     so much importance to both communities. 
     
     Above all, let the Ministry bear in mind 
     
     that the relative prosperity ofthe two coun- 
     
     tries must depend upon the strict observ- 
     
     ance of the followingprinciples :—— 
     
    

    
     First, as Canada is now a full grown 
     
     Colony, and no longer a barren waste, 
     
     which is to be brought into cultivation by 
     
     the common sacrifice of the landlord and 
     
     tenant,-—-—the one giving seed and the other 
     
     labour, and each agreeing fora time to 
     
     loose both,—as Canada, we say, is no lon- 
     
     ger in this state, it is ajust principle of na- 
     
     tional and colonial policy, that she should 
     
     at last bear the expenses of her own local 
     
     government, that she should pay her own 
     
     militia. her own executive government, 
     
     her own judges, the officers other own 
     
     revenue, and defray the cost of her own 
     
     canals and public works. 
     
    

    
     The principle is here perfectly intelligi- 
     
     ble ; it is the common principle between 
     
     the landlord and tenant ofa farm about to 
     
     be brought into cultivation for the first 
     
     time. It is a speculation which for a time, 
     
     must be carried on at their joint expense, 
     
     andjoint sacrifice, as otherwise it could 
     
     not be done at all. The landlord not only 
     
     gives up his own rent, and the parsOn his 
     
     tithes, but agrees to carry so much manure 
     
     upon the land. The tenant agrees to loose 
     
     bis labour, and upon this joint sacrifice, as 
     
     a dead fund, the farm is at length brought 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     *K. 
     
     into heat and produce, so as to yield rent 
     
     to the landlord, and to afford a good “Vina 
     
     to the tenant Now it is plain that it woulfi 
     
     he a most unreasonable expectation on the 
     
     part ofthe tenant, that the contribution of 
     
     the landlord should be permanent instead of 
     
     temporary, and that he should go on pay_ 
     
     ing the whole seed and manure out ofhi, 
     
     own packet, after the just occasion had 
     
     ceased. In plain words, Canada is better 
     
     able to support herself than we are to sup. 
     
     port her ; and therefore we have ajust ex. 
     
     pectation that she will do so. -Let her no 
     
     longer be a burden on the English finances, 
     
    

    
     The second colonial principle is, that it 
     
     is our duty to give Canada all the privile. 
     
     ges and franchises ofa British constitution, 
     
     and to bestow upon her the benefits ofour 
     
     0Wn experience, and of the new light we 
     
     have acquired, in the progress ofour know- 
     
     ledge, of the true nature andjust rights of 
     
     government. Let us not encumber Cana- 
     
     da withafeudal aristocracy. This princi- 
     
     ple is too plain to require any further ex- 
     
     planation. 
     
    

    
     The third principle as respects Colonial 
     
     Government is, that it is our duty, as the 
     
     mother country, to give a fair preferance 
     
     to their trade and dealings ; and to all our 
     
     colonies, and to Canada in particular, to 
     
     give such privileges and advantages as are 
     
     not conceded to foreigners ; such as do not 
     
     interfere with the paramount importance 
     
     of our domestic interests, or conflict with 
     
     the principles of general trade and 0011) 
     
     merce. 
     
    

    
     THE REFOBMFRS NEW POLITICAL 
     
    

    
     CA'l‘iiCl-llb'M. . 
     
     Suited to the Times present, and Times to 
     
     come, and adopted to the meanest capacity- 
     
    

    
     Q. What is your name? 
     
    

    
     A. Reform Bill. 
     
    

    
     Q. Who gave you that name? 
     
    

    
     A. The Commoners and l’eersin my baptism. 
     
     wherein l was made the law of the land, the 
     
     child of the Commons, and the new Bill 01 
     
     Rights. 
     
    

    
     Q. What did the Commoners and Peers, then 
     
     for you ? 
     
    

    
     A. They promised three things in my name, 
     
     lst, 1 should disfranchise rotten boroughs—2d, 
     
     enfranchise such places grown to opulence.— 
     
     and 3d, that l invest the rights of suilrages in 
     
     £10 householders. 
     
    

    
     Q Dost thou think thou art bound to do as 
     
     they promised for thee? 
     
    

    
     A. Yes, and by the people’s help, I will.— 
     
     And 1 thank our King he called me to this 
     
     state, through Brougham our advoCatc, and 
     
     pray to continue to my life's end. 
     
    

    
     Q. RCllL‘LU'SC the articles ofyonr belief? 
     
    

    
     A. l believe in the patriotic Earl Grey. and 
     
     Russell and Bi‘Ougham, his colleagues: I be- 
     
     lieve in the detestable inconsistency of Wel- 
     
     lington, Peel, Lyndhurst, and the Bishops. 
     
     and look for the extermination of tyranny and 
     
     oppression. 
     
    

    
     Q. What dost thou chiefly learn in these nr- 
     
     ticles of'thy belief? 
     
    

    
     A. lst, 1 learn to believe in Earl Grey. “‘9 
     
     advocate of an ins-ulted nation—2d, the base 
     
     ingratitude of the Prince of VKaterloo—Sd. in