The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-11-20 00:00:00

CANADA.

In the eastern hemisphere states are the growth of centu-
ries ; in the western hemisphere they spring into existence
with a rapidity which keeps pace with the growth of indivi-
dual man. A thousand years after the Saxo4 conquest we
find England just beginning to emerge from barbarism and to
become powerful. It was only in the age of Columbus and
Vespucius that the Spanish kingdoms, after eight centu-
ries of internal strife, coalesced into a mighty monarchy. It
was not till the reign of William and Mary in Britain that
Prussia was elevated to the dignity of a kingdom, and num-
bered among the great powers of the earth. In America,
however, the case is othewise. Here populous states suddenly
appear in regions which a little while before were overshadowed
by the forest and ruled by the Indian. On the shores of the
Pacific, California, which is now a powerful republic, was, less
than 20 years ago, a lonely wilderness, and, at the opening of
the 19th century, hardly one of those opulent and prosperous
commonwealths existed that adorn in our days the banks of
the Mississippi and her tributaries. Nor is it alone in that
part of the American continent which is under the dominion
of the' United States' government that communities spring
up and prosper with a rapidity utterly unknown in Europe.
Even in that portion of our western world which is still in
colonial dependency there may be found instances of progress
in material wealth and well-being which almost rival anything
in that line that democratic America can exhaytibeoiftti.tmhteCoawfnhatohdla:
pviehn ttei
sstehreepopulation. natural pow e it Without
must rnen
remainto
will serve as an example of what they have been doing for the
last quarter of a century beyond the St. Lawrence and the
tillte
lakes. Canada East, or French Canada, has been long settled,
been comparatively recent. As it is from the enterprise of the
have
au: thee a
almost
settlementost altogether f Csappnwir.auoedguargper, NsouVse,
proceed
dsutsd,h
tapoollrr
prosperity
msißipuraittkiirts hthceagnraodwat, hasgrowth
o f
entiree'vr colony. The first and great essential to the improve
,eshtoe:
athtet
lmanendtaonfd
ad
eecvvopeeurlrnoo
unpro-
ductive and valueless, no matter what may be its fertility and
capabilities. Accordingly, we find that immigration and in-
crease of population preceded and produced, in the case of the
Canadas, that improvement and prosperity which have so
much surprised economists and statiscians. In 1829, Western
Canada was sparely and thinly populated. Its whole popula-
tion,
at that period, numbered only 196,000. In 1854, how-
ever, the number of its inhabitants was widely different—it
then amounted to 1,327,600—a very tolerable increase in the
short space of 25 years. But if the population of Western
Canada increased greatly in the above-named period, the real
and personal estate of its people still more increased. In 1829,
the total assessable property of that province was estimated
at only £2,500,000, whereas, in 1854, it amounted to no less a
sum than £50,000,000, exclusive of the value of public lands,
public timber, and minerals. Nothing, however, tends more
to illustrate the rapid growth of this province than the dif-
ference between its exports of wheat in 1838 and hr 1852. In
1838 the quantity of wheat exported from Canada West
amounted to only 296,620 bushels ; in 1852 the quantity ex-
ported from the same province reached the comparatively
enormous amount of 5,496,718 bushels, being an increase of
more than eighteenfold in the brief period of 14 years. We
shall now proceed to illustrate the commercial and industrial
progress of the two provinces of universal Canada, by con-
trasting the amount of their imports and exports in 1834 and
in 1853. The amount of a nation's exports and imports is an
excellent criterion by which to judge of the extent of its busi-
ness, and the greatness of its wealth. Let us gauge the pros-
perity and well-being of Canada by this test ;in 1834-the sum
total of her exports and imports amounted to but £2,082,567 ;
in 1853 they reached the sum of £13,945,684, which was
nearly seven times their amount in the former period. The
commerce and wealth of Canada must have consequently in-
creased nearly sevenfold, according to our criterion, in the
short term of 19 years ! From all these facts it is evident
that our brethren beyond the lakes and St. Lawrence have not
been slumbering and idling in these latter days ; and that in
population, agriculture, commerce, and opulence, the growth of
Canada has been unprecedentally rapid and vigorous for a
colony and province. In her prosperity and welfare Ameri-
cans must, of necessity, take a peculiar interest, knowing as
they do, that the more rapidly Canada progresses in opulence
and power the sooner will she break the bon which binds her
in dependence to the mother country, and come with her
wealth and her strength to seek admittance into the American
Union.—New York Times.