THE ANGLO-AMERICAN MAGAZINE. Vol. I. TORONTO: SEPTEMBER, 1852.-No. 3. THE CITIES OF CANADA. HAMILTON. |position, and the nature of the surrounding country. It is placed at the western extremity of Ontario, and is the natural termination of the lake navigation, although its advantage in this respect is confined to the summer period en Ir in the progress and prosperity of those cities of which we have already attempted the delineation, we were able to discover some peculiar local features, striking in themselves and suffi-tirely, and even this has only been effectively ciently indicative of the influence they exercis- secured by the completion of the Burlington ed on the destiny of those places, we shall Bay canal. During the winter season the have less difficulty in recognizing them in this Bay is usually frozen over, which precludes the youngest member of the family. Few places access of vessels to the port of the city; this is can be found, we would rather say no place an obstacle, which, however, may be in a great can be found, to illustrate so completely the measure obviated by an extension of the railmode of growth of this colony as the city of road to an accessible point on the coast in the Hamilton. It has sprung up within a very immediate neighborhood. The immense exbrief space of time, and has, from fortuitous tent of territory lying to the westward and local advantages, become as substantial in ap- southward of the city, and to which it forms pearance, as either of its compeers on the lake. the culminating point of traffic, is now only The abundance of excellent stone in its neigh-being completely opened up, and a consideraborhood, of a colour and composition more near-ble portion of it is in the process of settling. ly approaching those with which the eye is familiar in the old world affords the material and gives the appearance of a British Town to it. There is also in the extent and arrangement of the large wholesale mercantile establishments, an air of solid wealth and enterprize, for which we are utterly unprepared, when told that we are about to visit a place literally little more than twenty years old. If we seek for the reasons of this rapid increase in this place, we shall find them in its geographical VOL. 714 The establishment of the plank and macadamized roads and more recently of the Great Western Railroad, has given a direction to the intercourse and will finally secure a trade which nothing else could have accomplished The value of the imports of the city may be stated in round numbers to be £450,000.. We have not at hand any means of stating what the value of the exports really are, but a proximate idea may be formed from the fact that 1,260,000 bushels of grain and 7,000,000 feet of lumber passed through the canal during tell of a more matured condition of things.— the last year. The population in the year 1840 was 3342, in 1850, 10,248, and the last census taken this year gives nearly 15,000. The annual value of assessed property is about £70,000! Such are the wonderful results of a system of colonization unexampled in the history of the world. The site of Hamilton is very good, but it has the disadvantage of lying at the foot of that mountain range which borders the lake from Queenston. On these heights and beyond them are some of the most fertile lands in the Province, with a surface of a pleasing character. The view which we give of the city is taken from the mountain immediately to the westward, and affords a very pleasing prospect of the surrounding country, the waters of Bay and Lake and the opposite coast in the distance, The absence of prominent buildings on which the eye may rest, is a remarkable feature in the picture; there being only one spire visible and that not possessing any very striking architectural feature. The only other spire to be seen in the city is immediately under the point from whence the sketch has been taken and does not therefore come into view. On the left is seen Dundurn castle, the residence of Sir Allan Napier MacNab. The streets are well and regularly laid out, the principal one leading to the shipping place, forming one of the most striking objects in the picture. The society of Hamilton is purely a mercantile one, and a considerable portion of its wealthiest members are from the "land o' cakes." The descendents of the loyalists who came over to Canada in large numbers, at the declaration of independence by the United States, compose a large proportion of the inhabitants of the surrounding country, but in the city itself recent immigrants preponderate. There is always a violent demonstration of loyalty upon every admissable occasion, and this neighbour hood has always been considered as the stronghold of this feeling. Long may they continue steadfast in it. Few persons visiting this city for the first time can realize the fact that he is walking > through the streets of a town built within so brief a period. The appearance of wealth and luxury displayed in the shops and private buildings, the bustle and activity of the people, the whole business air of the place, seems to The business going on, however, and the evident improvement in the character of the structures in progress, or recently completed, stamp at once the transition state of the place, and the mind becomes lost in speculation as to the limit of this increase and the ultimate extent and importance which may be anticipated. There certainly seems to be no circumstance likely to arrest its prosperity, and despite the rivalry which appears to be growing up between Hamilton and Toronto, it is not probable that their interests will ever be antagonistic. As the stream of population spreads out more widely over the face of the land, so will the element of their mutual growth multiply and become more distinct. They are far enough apart, to be each the centre of a district more extensive than the largest county in England, and which will, in the course of a very few years, at the same rate of influx, become quite as, if not far more, populous. It were well that this spirit, therefore, should animate them in a laudable manner. There is sufficient room for improvement in many departments of social life, and in the several appliances so essential to the improvement and well-being of communities. To the establishment of Public Institutions designed to foster and promote the intelligence and mental superiority of the growing generation by the encouragement of literary and scientific pursuits, the acquisition of a taste for the fine arts, music, and the other sources of intellectual and wholesome recreation. These are channels in which their energy may be exerted, their laudable ambition gratified, to the good of their inhabitants and their own honor. It is not alone the worth of property, the largest trading fleet, the wealthiest merchants, the fastest boats, or the greatest number of railroads, which combine to elevate the character of a city. The traveller looks for something more; the historian desires to record the evidence of a more lasting, a more enviable civilized condition, not that we would be construed to imply, that there are no signs of this higher state of things in these cities or particularly in Hamilton-but we only reiterate our opinion expressed with reference to the other cities already described, that these form too inconsiderable a portion of their constitution. We look in vain for almost the germ of a Public Library, a musuem, even a theatre. We may be told that they will be formed in time, that the places are too young yet! The reply to this is simple and evident. In places less wealthy they exist, surely nothing else is wanting for their establishment, EMIGRATION TO NORTH AMERICA, CONSIDERED IN REFERENCE TO THE UNITED STATES. As we promised in our last number, we have now to speak of Emigration to Canada. The subject is one of no small importance, and any assistance that can be rendered in placing its merits in a true light, must be of service, as well to our Canadian as our European readers. A dry topic, some deep readers of the "Miss Matilda School" may consider this much belaboured question, of the settlement of our adopted land; but in all sincerity, we can assure them, that they might be much less profitably employed, than in studying the rise, progress, and prospects of a country, which, under the bounty of Providence, has afforded the means of procuring food and raiment to so many of us, who, but for such a land, might have been most uncomfortably put to it, to procure either of these very necessary blessings. We shall not, in this paper at all events, bore the reader with columns of figures or tables of statistics those most useful, but somewhat sleepy aids to Knowledge: but the fact's we adduce, are based upon no short experience, and our conconclusions will, we venture to say, be found to be only consistent with what may be seen without reference to books-consistent with the state of our Province as it is, and the wondrous strides which it daily makes, in the march of improve ment. 195 class of people whom it is most judicious to advise to immigrate, or the steps which it would be most prudent for the bewildered importations to take, when they arrive here. Many people at home, notwithstanding the enormous advances which have been made, still read and speak of Canada,as Goldsmith did, when he described the contest between England and France, for the pre-eminence in North America, as a quarrel about a few furs. Others again, look upon British America as remarkable only for the Fisheries on the Coasts; while those who really talk of the “interior," perhaps ponder wisely, on the propriety of remitting a few young relations, to honor with their presence, the backwoods of Kingston, Toronto or Hamilton ! cite instances within our own knowledge, where And we could great surprise and no small delight has been evinced, on the part of intelligent British farmers and manufacturers, at hearing a person who had spent a dozen years in Canada, speak English through the mouth, (not through the nose) just like one of themselves. It is perfectly true, that this lack of information-we like mild terms-respecting the most valuable of our Colonies, is not so universal as it was some years ago, but it still exists in all its darkness, in by far the greater number of the European towns, and in most of the rural Districts. Among reading and commercial men in some of the sea-port Towns, tolerably correct information is by degrees being disseminated, and in some parts of the interior the letters from friends in America are of some litle service, in modifying the prevalent erroneous impresssions. But withal, a knowledge of facts is far from general, even in the best informed circles, and in nearly all the descriptions of Canada which it has Notwithstanding the "learning of the "been our fortune to look into, too little pains have age," and with all our love for the deeper lore of the been taken, to distinguish between the various olden time, we are not insensible to the intellec- descriptions of Emigrants, for which the different tual advancement manifested in this year of grace parts of the country are suited. -there can be no manner of doubt, in the mind The fact is, there is scarcely any one description of any sane man, who has spent twenty, or even of industrious persons, desirous of seeking new ten, years in Canada, that the subject of Emigra- homes, to whom Canada does not offer abundant tion to this quarter of the Queen's dominions, is inducements for Emigration. And yet, it is equalmost grievously misunderstood. Nay, we may ly true, that any emigrant, whatever his calling, even go further, as they say in the law Cours or whichever description of capital-money or after a case has been amply discussed, and as the spectator would suppose, completely disposed of -and aver, that in most parts of Great Britain, as well as on the Continent, there exists the most astonishing degree of ignorance, as to the state and capabilities of these Colonies; and that in the Colonies themselves even, the clearest possible views are not always manifested, respecting the labour-he may desire to invest in the country, may be effectually ruined, within an unpleasantly short period of his arrival, simply in consequence of his having chosen a locality or an employment, for which he has been manifestly unfit. questions, consists in confounding together all The popular European blunder, on Colonial parts of any country, known by one general name, The sweet souls will hardly believe that all such things can be had abroad at trifling advances, merely for the money, (a commodity which may be very usefully imported to any amount); and that we have our "ruinous sacrifices," as some of our purchasing readers know to their cost, even in Canada. They may possibly have heard of the pleasures and dangers of that Canadian amusement, sleighing-we could tell them, but the Anglo abhors scandal as it does politics,—of the perils of Provincial shopping. 46 · It is no answer to this view, as to the necessity for further information, respecting the Provinces, that the ignorance is to a great extent mutual. We have known an intelligent American,"— that it seems is the term they now prefer-deny our own British origin, for, quoth Jonathan, “I swan yeow must be an American, cause you speak English, right straight along, just as I do, and Britishers can't do that, they call a jug a joog, and one gentleman when he seed me streaking off from him, says, he says says he, Wher't be gwain ? Now that ain't English." And very recently we have heard of a learned American lady, who, in speaking of England, stated as a very remarkable fact, that the Royal family were prayed for in the churches, and most learnedly did the deeply Western blue remark, upon the number of times Her Majesty's name was mentioned in the course of the service. The authoress had forgotton, it must be supposed, that in the States, the President of the Republic is loyalty remembered in the devotions of the congregations, precisely as our Gracious Majesty is in all parts of the Empire. and applying the same views and opinions to the whole. Thus, in speaking of Canada, English people refer only to backwoods, farms and forests, forgetting, apparently, that within the Province, there are to be found, just as at home, numerous descriptions of country, various conditions of society, and all kinds of employment; and that at the same time, the adventurer, before he makes up his mind to pitch his tent, may, if he thinks proper to take the trouble, see the land of promise in all its aspects, from "the boundless contiguity of shade" which he may enjoy (mosquitoes permitting) in the back townships, to the well tilled farms in the older counties, some of which vie with the boasted acres of the Genesee valley. This mistake, of neglecting to look upon a Province as comprising sections of country, varying, not so much in their natural advantages, as in their various stages of improvement, is common enough, and even general, among those who profess to understand us thoroughly. The oldfashioned ignorance is still prevalent among the majority, and still displays itself in the same kind of blunders which amused us twenty years since. We then saw farmers bringing broad wheeled waggons to America, paying handsomely for the freight of such unstowable lumber, and finding no use for them when they arrived, being in some degree consoled however, on discovering, that for much less money than the old article cost at home, and probably for less than the price of the carriage of it, a much better and more useful and more sensible farmer's waggon could be purchased in the new settlements of Canada. Similar blunders are still made: among the outfits of gentlemen adventurers in search of wealth in the Colonies, harrow teeth, useless hatchets, carpenters' tools and logging chains, probably still find a place.And it may yet be news to some old country farmers, who occasionly think of immediate Emigration, in preference to further loss of time in waiting for impossible legislative assistance, that the agricultural implements most useful and economical for a Canadian farmer, are those which he will get manufactured by the mechanics of the "settlement" where he may happen to "locate."And there is still often as much difficulty as ever in persuading affectionate mammas, whose daughters are on the eve of removing with their youth-refuses to believe the indubitable fact, that a more ful and enterprising husbands to take charge of a bush farm and benefit a new country by practically disregarding all the predictions of Malthus, that it is utterly unecessary to pack a three year's supply of dimities, delaines,“ stuffs," and stays, pins, needles and linens, for all sorts and sizes of the genus homo, into the already overgrown outfit. Steam navigation and increased intercourse between the two Continents, with all their advantages, have not, as yet, sufficiently taught the people on each side of the Atlantic what those on the other side are doing. On the one hand, the Yankee appears desirous to show, that you cannot be an Englishman if you are as "intelligent" as himself; and again, the Englishman finds it hard to understand, as he endeavours to recall the long forgotton geography of his school days, that Canada is not one of the United States, and if you press him too hard on the subject, ten to one but he will stoutly deny, that the line 45 divides people who live under different flags, and chivalrous loyalty to the Crown of Britain is not owned by any people in the Empire than by the people of Canada. Impossible! you may say, but we have plenty of examples, and would tell them, but having satisfied you that information is necessary, we must now try to give it, without further preface-digression, call it, if you like but there it is, and it cannot be rubbed out, without injuring the effect of the plain hints which we have to offer. other. As autumn draws on, work appears to be less plentiful, but there is something "to the fore," and the adventurer can afford to see another part of the country, and to look out for a job of chop The popular idea of Canada is connected, almost exclusively, with the unreclaimed portion of it-ping, not being in too great a hurry, but taking the new lands of the far west. These, which are yearly becoming more and more filled with adventurous settlers, first claim attention. time to examine the land as he passes along, and to ask the prices. After the winter's work, at which he has earned from two to three pounds a On no subject, connected with Emigration, is month, the intending settler has perhaps made there such a diversity of opinion in the older up his mind where to purchase, and he selects a countries, as this, of the comparative advantages lot of land, and makes a small payment on acof settlement in the woods, or unimproved count of it. The 100 acres of heavy timber has country. Many families in Europe, have received, a stubborn look, and it requires a stretch of the not only very flattering accounts of the progress imagination to fancy it a farm, or likely to become of their friends, who have adventured to the one. But hope and energy have already sprung backwoods of Canada, but also many more sub-up within the hardy man, far beyond what he stantial and equally welcome souvenirs in the shape of remittances, from the prosperous exiles; while others tell you, that they have had several relations who emigrated to Canada, hoping to prosper, as land was so cheap, but sad to say, the country turned out to be a shocking place, an awful man-trap, and the poor fellows have all gone down hill, some having been ruined in purse, others in health, and all in their habits. The country alone is to blame, of course! A Canadian soon arrives at the true secret of these various accounts, none of which he finds have been intentionally overcoloured. The fault is not in the country, but in the choice made by parties, of employments, in which they are utterly useless. The people who must form the great majority of settlers in the newer parts of the country, are those brought up and thoroughly inured to hard work, whether with or without money. The larger number who have succeeded, have had barely money enough to carry them to their destination. For a man of this kind, the newly settled parts of Canada offer immense advantages. His progress may be sketched thus,—and we have in our mind, multidudes to whom the deseriptien would apply. He arrives in a comparatively old settled township, about the time of hay harvest, and at once obtains work at high wages, say from 5s. to 7. 6d. a day, and this lasts perhaps until the harvest is ended and the wheat sown. This supposes of course, that the emigrant is both industrious and quick at his work, and possessed of sufficient spirit and enterprise to learn readily the labour of the country. The slow coaches, who are afraid to handle a cradle scythe because they were not "brought up to it," must expect to remain in the back ground. There is no such difference between the mode of work in the two countries, but that an active man can master one as well as the would have believed, before he left his fatherland. |