The Express.
London, England, 1848-10-25 00:00:00

is none whatever for pude ; that the causes then.
selves are, in a great nu mire, within control, if
wisely dealt with ; and that what is now wanted to
improve matters is thu determination of railway
rectors so to act, and the prompt and express announee.
mut to their constituents of this resolve, and of the
plane adopted for carrying it out. Such are
now the main essentials for the revival of cote
Mance in • business that still contains in
itself, unimpaired, elements of great pros.
parity. The waste and imprudence of late years
have indeed done something to reduce its standard--
it may be, permanently—but ample materials are
left for a very fair degree of success. And we musk
on every account, desire that this should be realised
to the fullest extent of which the system is capable.

THE following private letter from an intelligent
and loyal colonist, in the neighbourhood of Mimmichi
(New Brunswick) has been obligingly communicated
to us. The writer, we are assured, is a man the so.
briety of wi ate judgment may be relied upon. We
certainly do not see any cause in the " premonitory
symptoms" he recores for calling in question the pro.
priety of persevering in a free trade policy ; but we
entirely concur with him, that, with such a policy,
" England must relinquish the idea of pones/nog no.
lonies unless they are managed in a manner as widely
different as pos.ible front the existing system":
14111.011C111, OCT. 7.--• • A great change has come
over the spirit of our colony within the last 12 months. I
can safely lay it is now nearly ripe for annexation to the
United Stamm Tbs. may startle you, lot it is not less Wu
than ,strange. You will see no trace of this in our news-
papers, a wholesome fear of going too far still operating as
check upon them; but the question is -ally and hourly dim
cussed among all classes, is regularly debuted in the clubs,
and advocated by men of wealth and standing everywhere.
A variety of causes have combined to bring about this
state of feeling. In the first p`ace, the reduction of the duty
on Baltic timber, however advantageous to England, ha
completely destroyed our timber trade, and left us witheet
an export. The threatened abrogation of the navigation
laws closed most of our ship-yards, and effectually checked
that branch of industry. Free trade is, no doubt, a very
good thing for England ; but I. enjoy it England must re-
linquish the idea of possessing colonies maim they are
managed in a manner as widely different as pt risible from the
existing system. There can be no question that the Wed
Indies are utterly ruined, and in another year we shall be in
an equally bankrupt condition. The people here cannot
ovoid seeing and hearing that the people of the United States
are in a moat flourishing condition, that there is abundant
business of a profitable kind in all the American cities for all
who seek it, and that wages are at least double what are paid
or can possibly be afforded here. Is it strange, then, that
thousands, without waiting for events, should leave this
colony and proceed " further west" as the phrase goes ?
Since June lest about 5,000 person*, residents and natives,
have left St. John's for Boston, thence to scatter over than
Union. From all parts of the province they go also ; sod
trona present indicationsit is not too much to say that by the
end of the year 20,000 souls (oar-tenth of the whole popula-
tion of New Brunswick) will have left to seek employment
elsewhere, and not ts return. About 4,000 emigrants from
Ireland have landed during the present smart, and of them
there are not 400 now remaining, all the rest having "gone
west."
You will have noticed that Canada has sent two members
of council, Lafontaine and Sullivan, to Washington to nego-
tiate a commercial treaty. Mr. Woodward, the member for
St. John's in our assembly, was sent by the Reform Club of
St. John's to urge that New Brunswick be put en the same
footing as Canada. The Hon. William Young of Nora
Scotia has gone on a similar errand. The Hon. Mr. Coles, of
the executive council of Prince Edward's Island, has been sent
to Washington to offer to the vessels of the United Stat:sthe
privilege of landing on the island, and thence prosecuting the
fisheries of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, on payment of one
dollar per ton for each vessel so employed to the island
treasury. These are but first steps toward • connexion of 'more
intimate character, and clearly indicate the change of feeling,
The man who two years ago would have dared to propose what
Prince Edward's Island now offers would have been flayed
alive. If these colonies succeed in effecting a commercial
convention with the United Sides and throw open the fish-
eries to American citizens they will be absorbed in the union
much more quickly and readily than was Texas.
The apathy of the Colonial-office, the utter ignorance
which prevails there of the true condition of these colonise
and the real state of feeling, as also the total indifference of
government to everything which would conduce to benefit
British North America, disgust all sensible persons. Down-
ing-street is in Cimmerian darkness, and fancies that be-
cause all is quiet everythinr goes well, while these colonies
are silently but surely slipping away from England.