The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1857-11-26
coLoBRp POPULATION OF CANADA.

and not harmful to them.
eoLoRED POPULATION OF CANADA.
| The Ne,o York Tribune has sent q commits
sioner to Canada, to inquire into the condition OF
the exiled negroes. So far as his reports have
been published, they represent the tugitives
from oppression to be generally in comfortable
condition. He says:
"The large and thriving city of Toronto con-
| tains more numerous co!ored population than
any other town of Canada. Out of its $4,000
inhabitants, from 1000 to 1900 are estimated
to be colored. Though the great ma ority be-
| long to the class of unskilled laborers, among
them are to be found followers of great num-
Der and variety of occupations. One of them,
a man of wealth, lives upon his means, attend
| Ing to his own property, and occasionally dis
counting a note, when he is satisfied with the
rate per cent. and the soundness' of the endors-
ers. One is a regularly educated physician !;
three are studying law, one medicine; two, at
least, are master builders, taking contracts, and
employing a number of journeymen, both white
and black; four are grocers, and the store Of
one of them-the only one we visited-was in
a good part Of the town, handsome, neat, we'll
stocked, and evidently doing thriving bust
ness, the customers being mostly whites; one
keeps a large livery stable, one Of the best in
town, and is employed to take the mails to and
from the post Office to the railroad dep1t, steam.
boats, &c. several within the precincts of the
| city, are occupied in farming and gardening !;
| others are bricklayers, carpenters, shosmakers,
: plasterers, blscksmiths, and carriers. Many find
employment IN saving and chopping the wood,
which is the general fuel and the BARRIERS and
waters in hotels and private families are almost
exclusively cOlored men,"
| One colored man is reported as worth
| 100000, another $4,000, third $4,000 I;
eighteen are each worth between $4,000 and
| $4,000. The commissioner visited London, in
Canada, and says:
"Of London, which in population of II 900
or $1,000, contains from 500 to 600 colored
people, we have little to say. The condition of
the blacks there resembles that of their fellows
in Hamilton and Toronto. Pauperism and
| beggary are almost unknown among them, woI k
is abundant, and labor fairly rewarded. The
head Of the police department thought that pet
ty crime particularly larceny, was more frequent
among the blacks than among the inhabitants
at large, though in both places they thought it
was less 80 thanAmong the low Irish. In Lon
| don, this, however, was merely an opinion, as
| IN the statistical statements of the police de-
| partment the offences committed by the blacks
were not separately recorded. At London, a
neat and wellfurDished drug store is kept by a
black man, who twenty.three years ago escaped
| from Slavery in Kentucky"
And Of Chatham:
"Of this busy town, about cne-third of the
population are colored people, aud they appear
to contribute their full quota towards its indus
| try. Among them are one gunsmith, four cab
inet-nakers working on their own account and
employing others, six master carpenters a
number of plasterers, three printers, two watch
makers, two shipcarpenters, two millers, four
! blacksmiths, one upholsterer, one saddler, six
master shoemakers, sx grocers, and a cigar
! maker. Unskilled workmen find abundant en-
| ployment in the various mills, in agricultural
labor, and in cutting, saving, and splitting the
wood which is used for fuel. Common labor
ers obtain from a dollar to twelve shillings @
| day. The houses inhabited by the better class
! of colored people are two story frame buildings,
| painted white, for the most part surrounded by
wellkept gardens, and quite equal in appear.
ance to those belonging to the same class Of
white residents. In one which we entered, the
furniture was handsome, and new piano oc-
! cupjed one corner of the parlor; the master Of
| the house, colored man, (acting by the way
as land agent and represented to me as a
man of rare intelligence, was absent. The
| poorer blacks live commonly in small detached
cabins, sometimes built Of unhewn logs, con.
sisting ordinarily of one room. The furniture
was commonly one or two bedstesds, with bed
ding, chest or two, chairs, tables, and cook.
ing utensils, sometimes a looking glass, clock,
or bureau. In the garden-spot about the cabin
were grown corn, beans, pumpkins, squashes,
potatoes, &c. their gardens, indeed, were quite
as Aourishing and we'll tended as those of their
white neighbors. In every instance that came
under my observation, the inmates seemed com.
Portable, well fed, and contented."
Yet these are the people unfit to take care of
themselves according to Pro-Slavery writers
We may be satisfied that the slave who has the
sagacity and energy to escape from servitude
to Canada and Freedom, will be able to earn a
fair livelihood upon his arrival, despite the in
hospitable climate.