The Sun.
London, England, 1838-03-13 00:00:00

STATE OF LOWER CANADA.

We take from a recent number of Fraser's Magnzinc the fe
lowing graphic description of the condition of the Calledians :
In our Lower Canadian possessions) whcre nature smiles on
the exertions of every indivi-ittal who wilt explore her r'ches
—where man is only celled on to labour to procure luxu-
ries—where want is unknown ;—in that lend to which the
poor Irishman looks, as did the Israelites in the desert to the
land of promise, why have "factious phrases" become as links
of iron, to bind together the, people against their rulers, and
spread desolation where hitherto there has been peace?
What is the state of Lower Canada ? what is Its popula-
tion ? how has it been ruled ? what arc its grosances ? What
was the numh,er of inhabitants in 1831, when dissenslans had
become sesious!—About 511,900 souls. Were they house-
less ?'—The same year they had 85,437 houses, or about six
people to every house. Had many of them real property ?
We find that 57,891 occupied 3,991,793 ststute acres. Were
there many unfortunate band-to mouth labourers employ ell as
farm-servants, hanging about the families engaged In agricul-
ture-3 Of the latter were 50,824 ;of the feneer, 7,602. But,
probably, we shall find, in our returns, a set of idle) debauched
fellows, subsisting on alms, who were ripe for agitation, battle,
murder, riot, robbery, &c. &c. &c., food for powder and Papi-
neap. There were 1,282 persons subsisting on alms in the
whole province. No unions, no poor-laws; and yet an agri-
cultural population rise up in arms ! Possibly, this agricultu-
ral population did not get so much beef, or mutton, or pork, or
bread, or potatoes, as they would like ? In 1831, according
to the statistical returns, there were-389,706 cattle ; 543,343
sheep ; 295,137 hogs ; and that year there wete raised in bushels,
3,208,075 of wheat; 3,153,597 of oats; 6,139,221 of potatoes;
besides rye, barley, pease, India corn, and buck-wheat : there-
fore, famine did not stare them in the face that year, at least.
Perhaps they complained of want of clothing ? Yet such could
scarcely he the case, when the Government returns estimated
the number of domestic looms at 13,400, whose annual pro-
duce was assumed to be about 1,400,000 yards of coarse cloth,
981,000 coarse flannel ; and 1,366,726 linen. Peradventure it
was distress, after all, caused by sending the productions of the
country out of it, without any adequate return ; as is the case
in Ireland, notwithstanding what we learn from our statistical
returns of sheep and cattle, and hogs and potatoes. If these
articles of food are exported, as well as the floor (which, we
know, comes to Liverpool, and is bonded there and elsewhere)
and the natives do not eat there, where is the use of our as-
certaining to a bushel what quantity they amount to ? Ireland
grows abundance of wheat, which is turned into English
bread ; oats, that fatten English horses ; horned cattle, that
become English beef ; and hogs, that take the outward form
of English bacon. How is it with Lower Canada's exports
and imports relatively ? For if the exports exceed the imports,
et (poi bon is all they raise, if they do not consume as much?
Unfortunately for certain theories, we find the imports in 1828
amounted in value to 1,665,1441. ; the exports, to 965,026/.
So that the sum of 700,118/, worth of merchandise was all on
the credit side.
Then, unquestionably, it will be said, the Lower Canadians
must want education ; and, had they been sent to school, no-
tldng would tempt them to undertake such an unwarrantable
course as flying into open rebellion, resisting her Majesty',
forces, shooting down the red-coats, and getting themselves
hanged for their pains. Alas ! we are again at fault: for
there are no less than seventy-eight free schools, established
in different parishes throughout the Province, affording instruc-
tion to 3,578 children, at an annual expense to Government of
1,4951. Also, two grammar-schools : one at Quebec, the
other at Montreal, each receiving, 340/. a-year from the public
funds : besides 1,062 schools established under an Act of the
Provincial Legisleture, which, in the year 1832, instructed no
less than 48,387 scholars of both sexes : being about one-half
the number of persons in the Province between the ages of
five and fourteen years. And, in addition, several colleges, in
connexion with the Roman Catholic Church, are existing in
many parts of Lower Canada ; as well as a considerable
number of private schools, in which the higher branches of
education arc taught.
Well, then, if the Lower Canadians have abundance of
/and—as many houses as they can inhabit—plenty to eat—fuel
ad libitum, for the cutting—as much warm clothing as will
even set a Canadian winter at defiance—more goods coming
into than going out of their storehouses, and their tracts of
land starred with schools, which polish the minds, manners,
and morals of more than half the little boys and girls of the
province ; and as the majority of the Canadians (about five to
one) are the habitans, a gay, innocent, cheerful race, prover-
bially happy and sweet-tempered, how is it that they, of all
people on earth, should suddenly awake to a new existence,
defying earth and confident of heaven, seize their rifles—cry
their gathering words—rush into all the currents of a heady
fight—and bring upon their devoted heads all the vengeance
that outraged power can hurl at the participators in an armed
rebellion ? What is the word that, deep in the woods of Ca-
nada, " has raised mankind to kill?" Is it religion? The
Roman Catholics have their own Bishop of Quebec, whose
salary of 1,000/. a-year is paid out of the rents of certain pub-
lic property placed apart for that purpose; while, in every
part of the Province, there are abundance of places of public
worship for persons seceding from the Church of England;
and while in the seigneuries, where the great mass of the
people are Roman Catholic, religious opinions cause no dis-
sensions ; and in the townships, where there is found a large
number of Protestant Dissenters, or congregations in commu-
nion with the Church of Scotland, " persecution for the
Lord's sake" is never heard of. Is freedom the word of
strife ? Scarcely so, when every French Canadian is pro-
tested in purse and person by a fair administration of the law ;
ay, and by the same law, too, which was retained after the
country was conquered by the English ! Or is it vengeance?
For what? Still, there must be something amiss—there must
be a cause for the effect;
" Some watchword for the fight,
Must vindicate the wrong and warp the right."
Whatever that word is, the scarcely concealed intention, the
direct aim, the unquestionable end, is comprised in throwing
off allegiance to England —self-government—establishing
" la Nation Cannadienne."
[We should be much puzzled to account for the insurrection,
after reading this description, were it not for the three lines
which follow. The descendants of the immortal Wolfe have
always insulted Jean Baptiste, the son of Johnny Crapaud.
To govern men by honour is held cheap and effectual. In
Canada we have tried how we could most cheaply, and with the
least sacrifice of substantial power, provoke an insurrection.
We have given power to the Canadians aad have insulted them.]
Jean Baptiste, the " habitan," is the son of Johnny Crapaud,
the Frenchman whom the immortal Wolfe conquered Emmy-
nine years ago.—Fraser's Magazine.