The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-11-19
THE UNHAPPY DOMINION


DURING the year ending June 3O 1869, as
shown in another article in to-days ISSUE
2O,91S emigrants from Canada landed in the
United States, to become permanent resi-
dents of this country. This was almost one
third the number furnished by Ireland, the
inexhaustible fountain of immigration. In the
latter country the population is so dense, and
the condition of the lower classes so wretched,
that almost every man, woman, and child
who can command the means emigrates to
the United States. But Canada is essentially
a new country, only narrow strip of which
is as yet peopled by Europeans and their de-
scendants. Thousands upon thousands of
acres of unoccupied land are included in the
Dominion, which the rulers of that country
would have the world believe present tho
most inviting field for settlement on the
American continent Yet not only does the
tide of foreign immigration shun the shores
of the Dominion, but from the very heart of
the settled portion springs another stream of
immigration to the United States which has
already assumed gigantic proportions, and is
steadily increasing from year to year.
This circumstance goes to show that people
who are on the move and lookout for per-
manent home regard Canada as very poor
country to immigrate to, and very good
country to emigrate from. And whenever we
take up Canadian paper or Canadian tele-
gram, we are led to believe that the people
who are on the move are about right. In the
first place, the Dominion is neither one thing
nor the other, neither sovereign within itself
nor acknowledging the entire supremacy of the
mother country. 1t occupies position some
what analogous to that of the Viceroyalty of
Egypt, although there is an essential differ
ence in the position of the two countries,
Egypt being desirous of securing nominal
as well as practical independence, against
which course Turkey interposes decided
objection, while Great Britain is anxious to
! shake off Canada in name as well as in fact,
and Canada processes to be too loyal to listen
to the proposition. From this state of affairs
springs a degree of uncertainty which de-
presses almost every interest in the Dominion,
and tends to maintain that spirit of discon-
tent on the part of the people which results
in the large emigration to the United
States already noted. In addition
to the general tribulations of the
unhappy Dominion, several of the provinces
have been afflicted with chronic discomfort
ever since they we're forced by the British
Parliament into what they are pleased to re-
gard as an unholy unnatural, and disad-
vantageous alliance with the other provinces;
and to consummate the wretchedness of the
people and crown the perplexities of their
rulers, the Red River country is in open re-
volt, repudiating the man who has been sent
to rule over them, and defying the whole
power of the Dominion, which he threat
ems to call to his aid. But in the
particular province of Ontario there
prevails an even more distressing
state of affairs than elsewhere. The leader
of the opposition in the local Parliament has
become the champion of distant Nova Scotia,
by presenting series of resolutions begging
the Imperial Government to release the latter
province from her distasteful alliance; while
Sir John A. Macdonald. the Premier, has
been on grand drunk ever since his Royal
Highness Prince Arthur first stepped foot
upon Dominion soil. Putting it altogether,
Canada is certainly in very bad way, and it
is doubtful if anything short of annexation to
the United States will suffice to prevent its
speedy depopulation. s.a
IAIMIGRA TION STATISTICS.
THE official report OF the immigration of the yeai
ending June SO 1862 has just been published anC