The Press. — London, England, 1858-04-03 00:00:00

316 grant arrives at his new home. There is no tedious voyage of several months, as in the case of a journey to our Australian pos sessions. Ana what is of more importance, on landing, the emigrant finds himself still surrounded by kindred associations to those which he has left behind. There is no sub version of all his accustomed modes of life and thought ; he is not for ever making pain ful contrasts, and sighing for what he has lost. He gladly recognises the prevalence of old English habits and old English feelings in the country of his adoption, and he rejoices to find that it is the earnest wish of all true Canadians to draw more closely together the bonds of friendship and sympathy between themselves and the " old country." These particulars, which have been drawn from a pamphlet published by authority of the Board of Agriculture at Toronto, will enable our readers better to understand the extracts which we subjoin from the Report of Mr. BUCHANAN, chief agent for the superintendence of emigration to Canada. Tbis report, dated December 31st, 1857, has just been laid on the table of the House of Commons by Lord STANLEY, among other Papers relative to Emi gration to the North American Colonies. In reference to the classes of emigrants most needed in Canada, Mr. BUCHANAN says:— Labourers, and more especially agriculturists, have been in general demand throughout the spring and summer ; and in many parts of the province the supply was so far from meeting the demand that the farmers were subjected to much inconvenience, and even loss, from want of hands. Females were universally inquired for, and all such readily found employment at fair wages. But during both the past season, and that of 1856, we have received a large number of skilled mechanics, such as machinists, locomo tive builders, tool makers, and others practising the higher branches of mechanics, who have found it difficult to obtain employment. The demand for this description of labour is at all times limited, and new comers are at great disadvantage in finding places for themselves. But the classes to whom this country offers the least encouragement are those who have no business or calling. Persons who have been brought up as merchants, bankers, or lawyers' clerks, unaccustomed to labour, or persons whose sedentary employment has affected their constitu tion and strength, or who have been confined to a single branch of a manufacture until they are incapacitated from taking other labour. No persons of these descriptions ought to be induced to emigrate, unless some previous preparation has been made for them, or unless they come out to friends who are in a position to provide for them until suitable employment can be found. Having mentioned the classes of emigrants for whom there is no• place in Canada, Mr. BUCHANAN goes on to say : Farm labourers are the most generally sought for, and fair wages are always open for their acceptance. But no man who possesses health and strength, with a determina tion to take up such offers of employment as may be made to him, can fail to earn a good livelihood; nor, if he exer cises his intelligence, within a short period greatly to im prove his condition and that of his family. Lands are open for purchase or occupation on tams that bring them within easy reach, and the labouring man who is saving cannot be long in any employment without laying up suffi cient store to enable him to become a settler and proprietor of a lot of land which in a few years may be made a valu able farm. As was to have been expected, the com mercial difficulties of last year acted as a check upon both public and private enter prise in Canada, and the field of employment was necessarily contracted. The suspension of several large public works threw a number of unskilled labourers out of occupation ; and during the winter there was considerable distress among the newly-arrived emigrants in the larger towns. But this state cf things was only the temporary result of an extraor dinary financial crisis : By the spring (adds Mr. Buchanan) I anticipate that business will have resumed its usual course, and that the country generally will have been restored to its progressive condition : so that, even if none of our extensive public works should be immediately re-entered upon, there will be a general activity among the farmers and aettlers,whose ample stores will enable them to undertake further im provement of their lands by means of the labour now to be had on terms within their reach. Wages will be lower than for some years back : mechanics and artizans, unless in a few branches of work, will still find a strong compe tition for employment ; and unskilled labour must be dis tributed throughout the provinces, in order to be provided or; agriculturists, however, and all who can assist efficiently in the farm work of the country, with plough, hoe, or axe, will not fail to meet employment at fair wages. Such are the prospects offered to emigrants to Canada during the present year. In re fetence to New Brunswick, another important North American colony, the emigration officer, Mr. M. H. PERLEY, writes, under date of Jan. IS, 1558: hik. THE PRESS, APRIL 3, 1858. Owing to the demand for labour during the put season on the two lines of railway now in the course of construc tion in this province, there has been a large immigration into it from the United State 3 and the neighbouring colonies. lam advised that the construction of these two lines of railway will be vigorously prosecuted during the coming season, and that, in addition to the workmen now employed, from 1,200 to 1,600 ableboditd men (unskilled labourers) will find employment on the railway works for the next two years, at one dollar, equal to 4s. 2d., per day. A number of mechanics of the description usually needed on railways will also be required in proportion to the un skilled labour, and these mechanics will be sure of employ ment, for two seasons, at fair wages. A considerable number of farm servants, both male and female, will readily find employment throughout the province at goad wages. Female servants are much needed both in town and country. Surely hero is a solution for our domestic difficulties—a remedy for the " great social evil," as well as a field where honest industry cannot fail to meet its reward. We commend these extracts to the attention of philanthro• piste, as well as to the careful perusal of the working classes. THE ABSURDITY OF REVIVING THE PROTECTIONIST CONTROVERSY. " Is it not very absurd, at this time of day, " to be reviving the question of Protection ?" We should think so. We cannot form an idea of anything more absurd. But who has been guilty of such an act of folly ? Certainly not THE PRESS. We cannot call to mind, or by searching dis cover, anything we have said, or suggested, having any kind of tendency to recommend a return to Protection. On the contrary, we willingly admit, that after going through an arduous struggle, the farmers of England have become " acclimatized," and can hold their own without Protective statutes. Why then should we, who as Conseivatives dislike perpetual tampering with the laws, — why should we desire any kind of return to Protection ? But, in truth, we have been guilty of no such folly. On the 20th of March we said, " Do we suggest the expediency of a " return to the Protective system? Far " from it." And on tke 27th we added, "We " have again and again disclaimed any such " view, and our arguments do not so prepare " the way" But why, then, do we allude to " Free Trade" at all ? Why not let that unlucky phrase drop into silence and forgetfulness 9 It is scarcely good manners to allude to " swindling " in the bearing of a Director of the Bank ; or to discuss the morality of will-forging while certain noble lords are just behind your chair. Considerations of this kind, however valid, must sometimes be thrown aside. To speak plainly, we feel that there is a little knot of prigs among us—a set of con ceited, vain, pragmatical fellows whom it is among the first of duties to bring to their proper level. They are full of vain conceits, and evidently believe that their peculiar mis sion is to put an end to all former parties— Whigs, Tories, Pal merstonians, Russellites, and Derbyites—and to set up some new inde scribable set or clique of their own, who are to enlighten and rule over the world. This new party, or rather set of men—for wo do not believe that they ever will arrive at the dignity of a party—it is our purpose to withstand. We believe that they have not yet resolved on any definite creed or system; but they are not sparing of their contempt for all the old prin ciples of the Conservative party. To doubt. the wisdom of the Free-trade measures of 1846. for instance, they would deem preposterous folly. They take for granted that " Lord DERBY has moved too fast even to remember " the existence of a creed so outworn as Pro " tectionism." Now, this kind of arrogance might or must be tolerated, if it came from men whose pre dictions had been fulfilled, and whose doctrines had been established by experience. But it is not to be tolerated in the mouths of beaten men —in the mouths of men every one of whose pre dictions have been falsified, although they, for a short space, clutched hold of power by means of the grossest delusions Hence we began a warfare from which we do not mean to shrink, by bringing these people to the test on a question of plain, broad, historical fact, from - - which there is no escape. We say that they convulsed England, changed Ministries, sacri ficed irrecoverably the reputation of a Peel, and, far worse, deprived the country, for twelve years, of the services of a Stanley, on a pre tence which is now proved to be utterly hollow. We say, that these vain pretenders promised the people of England, in 1845, that they would cheapen food, increase trade, and diminish pauperism; whereas the experience of twelve years has now shown that they have done none of these wonderful things. And instead, therefore, of strutting about, as they do, with the constant cry, "We are the " people, and wisdom will die with us," their proper place is, at the bottom of the lowest form, among the most unlucky of blunderers and the most preposterous of ignoramuses. Let it be understood, then, that we have not revived, and do not mean to revive, " the Protectionist controversy." But our willing ness "to leave things as they are," and our free admission that nothing could be more absurd than to reopen the question of Pro tective Duties on Corn, shall not deprive us of our right to censure the wicked and senseless agitation of 1842-5, or to remind the oracles of the LEAGUE, that of all the good things which they promised us, not one has been realized in fact. Our chief object, as we plainly avow, is to press upon the defeated Leaguers and Free traders the expediency of acquiring a little self-knowledge. We would beg of them to be lieve, that they are where they are by no mis , take. Messrs. COBDEN and BRIGHT were ex- pelled from Parliament—Messrs GLADSTONE and GRAHAM wander about the House of Com mons, scarcely knowing where to sit—not as victims to the treachery of others, but self immolated. And yet all these people are more or less infected with the notion che• rished by the lunatic, who complained that he was shut up in prison, not because he was wrong, but merely because he was in a mi nority. Nay, they will scarcely admit that fact; they rather boast that they are in a great majority; but then, somehow or other, they cannot bring their guns to bear! The most conceited set of this whole party of self-sufficient men is that set which speaks through the Saturday Review. The calmness with which a few nameless " young gentlemen " from Cambridge " dismiss all the present party leaders—and tako for granted that, be fore long, all England will have to come, can in hand, to No. 39, Southampton-street for a Government—is only to be matched by Punch himself; hut then Punch counsels and pa tronizes Prime Ministers in jest, while the people in Southampton-street do it in sober earnest. The Whigs are thus warned of their, not impending, but already accomplished fate : The struggle of Whiggism to transmute itself into Libe ralism is like the attempt of an old mail•coachman to turn stoker. He fails because he was not bred to the trade, and does not understand it—because it is alien to hie nature, his habits, and his tastes. We think it fair to point out the true position of this defunct power; because, for want of corrprehending it, injustice seems to us to be done to individuals. The utter collapse of the party which it has been Lord John Russell's fate to lead is at least as mach his misfortune as his fault A man of more political saga city and more commanding abilities might have gilded the decline, but could not have stayed the setting, of the sun! So much for The Whigs. Of the other great Liberal or Whig leader, the late Premier, they thus speak : That Lord Palmerston—that the Bombastes Furioso of foreign liberalism should be the fugleman of such a treason to the cause of freedom and the reputation of England throughout Europe—will surprise those who have not learnt by experience that the noisiest braggarts are not the most courageous or consistent statesmen. No wonder that the long and humiliating defence which the " spirited Foreign Minister " delivered to the House of Commons just before the division on Tuesday night, was received by his own side in what our French friends would call a silence morne. The breach between Lord Palmerston and the Liberal party at home and abroad is final and incur rable. The fate has befallen the " spirited foreign policy ' which sooner or later overtakes all impostures—it has been found out.+ Well, then, surely if Lord JOHN RUSSNLL'S party is "in utter collapse "—if Lord PAL MERSTON " has been found out "—there would seem to be no help for it, but that Lord Dzaß! must be undisputed " master of the situation. But he, too, is either too weak or too treacherous for the pure patriots of the Saturday Revie4- ----- • N0v.17, 1865. + F0b.13, 1868.