Star.
London, England, 1826-08-28 00:00:00

BLACKWOOD'S *EDINBURGH MAGAZINE,
No. CXVII. for SEPTEMBER, 1826.
Colmans t I. Hints for the Holidays. No. 3,-11. Wreck of the
Comet—ll I. Declaration of the Catholic Bishops, the Vicars Apos-
tolic, and their Coadjutors in Great Britain—lV. The Shipping
Interest—V. Cheltenham, 1826—V1. Bandana on Emigration—
VII. A Watery Grave—Vl 11. Sketches of English Character.
My Godmothers-4X. Miscellanea Cridcai &e. No. The
Carbonate; a Sicilian Story—XL The Rontish Priesthood, and
the ]dens in Ireland—lll. Atilreateres in the Spon&sg Line.
From 1141altale WaSch's Autoblopathy--XIII. Monthly List of
New Publications—•XlV. Births, Marriages, and Deaths.
Printid for William Biacknood, 17, Prittce's-street, Edinburgh;
and T. CadeU, Strand, London.

MINUTES OF EVIDENCE BEFORE SELECT
COMMITTEE ON EMIGRATION FROM THE
UNITED KINGDOM.

Lana, 200 die Mardi, 1826.
R. J. WILMOT HORTON, Escarrax,
ter 11111 mum.
HENRY JOHN BOULTON, Examined.
Yon are Solicitor General for Upper Canada?—l am.
Have you reason to believe that emigration has an-
swered completely, with the exception of a few persons
who have gone off to the States think decidedly so.
I have no doubt of it. I believe they are all perfectly
satisfied with their situation, with the exception of pro-
bably fifteen or twenty worthless people, who were al-
ways so; they were mostly young men, who had no
[particular ties to induce them to remain, and they ran
away shortly after they came to the settlement, particu-
larly when they found they were likely to be punished
for the disturbances they had been engaged in; but, with
those exceptions, I believe them to be perfectly satisfied
in all respects, and to be doing well.
Are you of opinion than an emigrant, from any part
of this country, and located, would be enabled to pay,
at the expiration of seven years, without prejudice to his
general possession, a quit-rent. of 41. per annum for his
land, taking that land to be 150 acres, of which 100
should be located, and the other 50 attached as a re-
serve ?—I think, without any doubt, he would.
Are you prepared to state in detail, in what manner
he would acquire property enough to make that pay-
ment, and how he would obtain the money for it ?—ln
the first place, if he is tolerably industrious (and I will
here say, that the Irish make equally good settlers after
a short time, and readily acquire the use of the axe), an
American will, in the course of a week, chop down tie
timber upon an acre of land. It is commonly consi-1
dered a week's work for an able bodied labourer to
chop the timber off in acre of land. I am nut prepared
to say bow long it would take him to burn it, it could
not take him that length of time ; but I may say gene-
rally, that an able bodied man can, without over work.
ing himself, clear, fence, and put into crop, ten aces of
land in the course of a twelvemonth. ....... •• I have
known many persons in Upper Canada who came there
without a farthing, who, in the course of fifteen or
twenty years have become men of considerable property,
and filling in that country the d'gnified situation that
the Gentlemen I address do here. I have known such
per

sons to become Members of the Colonial Legislature,
and people of considerable importAnce in the colony.
Magistrates, and forming a part of the aristocracy of
the country.
Can you conceive the possibility of a man of common industry,
having a hundred acres of ground after seven years, being unable
to pay a quit rent of 41. a year ?—I do not think such a tLing is
possible.
Is the country generally !webby /4—Generally speaking, I consi-
der it so; myself and my family have been there elm 1816, and we
have not found it unhealthy.
Are there banks in the country ?—There Is one in Upper Canada,
and. there are three banks in Lower Canada.
Do tberissue paper?—Yes.
How low do they Issue?-4s low as ss. or 4s. 6d. sterling.
Nothing lower than a dollar ?-o..Nodsing lower than a dollar.
Would one of the old settlers having a hundred and fifty acres
of led about him, find any difeculty in paying a quit rent of If. lea.
per annum T—Not the slightest.
Are there not considerable prejudices against renting land
Tel ; land does net let well, and the reason is very obvious, a man,
by sonnnan industry, can easily acquire a piece of land as his own.
Would not an annual payment of Si. lOs. upon a farm of 150
acres, be considered as a rent 3—lf it were a perpetual rent I think
it would be, but as it may be ecdeented at any time, I think it
otherwise.

But the amount would be sufficient to create that
prejudice, if it were not that k is not perpetual ?—if it
were a perpetual rent, I think people would dislike it,
but as it is I think they would not; they would like it
much better if it were put in ether words, not at all
altering the substance of the thing. If it were called
interest of money, reckoned at four per cent, they paying
commonly six per cent. I think they would regard it as
a very advantageous mode.
Have you ever known an instance of the relations of
emigrants coming out to them ?—lt is very common for
them to save a little money for that purpose. I have
known emigrants save 101. or 121. and remit it home
to their friends, in the hope of their coming out to
join them.
Of the settlers that have gone out since the peace,
have any great number left you, and gone over to the
United States? I think a great many of them go to
the United States ; and the reason, I think, is this, that
in the United States they find more readily immediate
employment, at ready money wages; the United States
being so much more populous, and there being there a
number of large towns, they naturally reort to the
place whet e they can get the quickest return in money
for their labour, to answer their immediate wants, and
particularly as the Ameticans are oaten looking out for
them as they go up the river Sr. Lawrence, when we
take no means to retain them ; and many go them from
a possibly groundless ptedlection for their Guvern-
men• : but I have known many instances of their corn•
ing back again, when they have been there tWoar three
years, and bare
-spent what little money they might have

Are you a Canadian by bitch ?—I am.
Are you of opinion that a very general impression
exists in Upper Canada, that an access of population
would be of the greatest advantage to the province ?
There is no que,tion about the opinion of the advantage
which it must derive from an accession of population, it
is almost the only thing it requires. The land is excellent
and the climate admirable; it only wants people.
Colonel John Ready examined.---You are ;Lieutenant Governor
of Prince Edward's Island Nw.l aril.
Wha is the state of the settlements wads by Lord Selkirk I--
Rope of then. are very liouriebins.
Can you supply the Committee erWasy details upon that sub-
Jett 7—ilk great proportion of Lord Pdlerk's tenants are Low pro-
prietors.
RICHARD JOHN UNIACKE, Examined.
Do you mean to convey an opinion, that persons in-
tro.lnced into Nova Scotia at their own expense, can be
provided for there without any further expense neces-
sarily being incurred?-1 have no doubt but what the
province of Nova Scotia would absorb every year at
least from 1,200 to 1,500 emigrants, taking them as
they run, young and• old, and provide ample subsis-
tence for them, so that they should not be in want of
any kind of necessary, when they were landed on shore.
A statement of a transaction that took place in the last
year and the year before, may give perhaps some insight
with respect to the island of Cape Breton I Sir James
Kempf made an allotment of land there, he appointed
a Land Committee to allot the land to the settlers; u
soon as it was known in Scotland that there was an
allotment of land made in the island of Cape Breton, a
number of poor people in the North of Scotland,where
the Custom-house regulations are not so strictly en-
forced, found the way to embark in three or four
vessels; and there have, in the years 1824 and 1825,
upon a moderate calculation, at least SOO settlers come
from the North,of Scotland, whose passage did not cost
them mote than fifty shillings or three pounds; for
those people provide for themselves; all that the master
of the vessel looks to, is to see that they have a pound of
oatmeal for every day he calculates the passage to Inn,
,irniniour to five weeks ; and every man brings a
pound of oatmeal for every day, and half that quantity
for a child, with perhaps about half a pint of molasses,
a little butter, and a few eggs; and he provides them
with water in the passage, Viey paying about thirty to
thirty-five shillings. Those settlers came oat thereupon
their own expense; there was not a mouthful of prowl-
sions or any thing given to them by Government; they
'settled themselves upon the land that Sir James KeLpt
allotted to them, and 1 doubt whether there is in Scot.
land so happy a set of people as those. They have got
their log huts erected. The custom of settlers there is,
that they cut down the trees that are just round, and
put up a log hut, and the bark of those trees makes the
covering ; so that, in point of fact, he is under covet
and housed in a few hours.

As compared with England or Ireland, do you con-
sider that there is any great disadvantage and uncer-
tainty of climate in Nova Scotia? The reverse; we can
utile Indian corn in Nova Scotia, which you cannot
raise in England; our summer is hotter.
Is not your winter colder?—Our winter is not so
cold as in England; the frost is harder, but it is not
hard frost that makes cold; I have been an agricul-
turist now for thirty-five or thirty.* years, and I
began to show what was practicable in that country, by
g mg into the roughest part of it, and there making a
seitlearrnt ; I cut the first trees down upon the place I
had immediately in occupation from the original forest;
I have cultivated it, and shown the people that what
they called bad land is capable of improvement ; I
cleared from the original forest upwards of IMO acres
of land. that I have now settled down under grass, and
originally under grain.
Are you not of opinion that if the policy of this coun-
try were to encourage emigration to those provinces,
and to give due developement to their natural resources

by the introduction of capital, the increase of the pros.
peaty of those Colonies, in a short period of time, would
be sufficient to pay ten times the amount of expense of
their present civil governments? I consider that British
America is nearly equal in population, and nearly equal
in shipping and in trade, to what the United States was
at the commencement of the Revolution in 1774; and
I am satisfied that the British provinces in America will
very soon pay the expense not only of their civil esta-
' blishment, but of their military establishment, and that
they will become a very important market for the con-
sumption of the commodities of Great Britain. Every
man in any part of British America will at least consume
three pounds worth of something that he does not pos-
sess himself, and therefore every man that is added to
that country will increase the market for the productions
of England.