XXXVII. CHAP. Covert hostility which their Government had sanctioned in regard to the Spanish colonies of South America, and recently introduced, with such ruinous consequences, into the European dominions of old Spain. 1838. 110. change in tions of British North America. These decisive successes on the part of the British GovGreat ernment closed both the gulf of rebellion in the two the institu- Canadas, and the dangerous hostility on the American frontier. It was followed, however, by consequences the very reverse of what had been expected by both parties in that unhappy contest. The Loyalists anticipated the entire subjection of the colonies to British rule, now that their opponents had been so completely defeated. The habitans and their revolutionary leaders dreaded the establishment of a military government by the victors, which should abrogate their liberties, and extinguish both their nationality and peculiar laws. The result was entirely different from what either party had prognosticated. Lord Durham's report and recommendations were carried into full effect by his successors, though he himself fell a victim to the timidity of Government and the virulence of faction at home. In that valuable document he had signalised, as next to the division of races which embittered everything in Lower Canada, the existence of a family compact," which had caused all the patronage and benefits of Government to flow in a peculiar and restricted channel in the upper province. In his report he strongly urged the adoption of a more liberal and catholic policy, which should take away the latter ground of complaint, and the union of the two provinces in one legislature, which might ultimately remove the asperity of the former. Both suggestions were adopted and carried into effect by his successor, Lord Sydenham. After a considerable delay, but not longer than was required to mature the details of so great an innovation, the new constitution was proclaimed in Canada, a united legislature established, with a local government really, not merely in name, subjected to public control. The conse Feb. 10, 1841. 1 Mart. ii. Lord Sy 393, 394; denham's Life, 210. XXXVII. quences of this change have been strange and unexpected, CHAP. but on the whole eminently beneficial both to the colonies and the mother country. 66 1838. 111. this upon govern The first effect was a change which the Loyalists were far from expecting, and which gave them, it must be con- Effect of fessed, a most reasonable ground of complaint. When the local the two provinces were united in one house, it was found, Canadian contrary to what had been generally anticipated, that the ment. Liberals and French party had a majority in the Assembly. The consequence of course was, that the rule of the "family compact" in the upper province came to an end, and that the ministry were taken from the party which had the majority in the legislature. Though this was entirely in accordance with the principles of representative government, yet it excited at first the most violent heats and animosities in the British party. They complained that Papineau and the leaders of the insurrection had been elevated to power, and enjoyed all the sweets of government, while they, who had imperilled their lives and fortunes to maintain the British supremacy and connection, were excluded from all share in the administration of the country they had saved. There can be no question that there was both reason and justice in these complaints; and after the violent collision which had taken place, and the glorious spirit they had evinced, they were peculiarly natural in Colonel M'Nab and the Conservative leaders. Nevertheless it does not appear that any other course could have been pursued by a government subject to the real control of a popular assembly; and if experience, the true test of wisdom in a course of government, is referred to, the result seems to establish in the most triumphant manner the wisdom of the course which has been pursued. The rebellion, as might have been expected, threw a grievous damp for a season over the fortunes of Canada; the imports from England, and emigrants from that country, exhibited a striking falling-off in the years 1838 1838. 112. Vast Canada CHAP. and 1839. But from the time when the government XXXVII. appeared to be firmly established, and the legislature of the two provinces was united in one Assembly, with a ministry subject to effective public control, the Canadas growth of took a start, not only beyond anything recorded in their since 1841. history, but perhaps unexampled, in the absence of gold or silver mines, in the history of the world. During the ten years from 1841 to 1851, the free population of the United States increased 37 per cent, the slave 27 per cent; and this certainly was a sufficiently large increase for a country numbering, at the commencement of the period, nearly seventeen millions of inhabitants. But it was trifling in comparison of the growth of the two Canadas during the same years, the population of which, chiefly in consequence of immigration from the British Islands, increased no less than 59 per cent, while the increase of the upper province was 104 per cent. In 1834, the exports to Canada were £1,018,000, her imports £1,063,000; while in 1854 her exports and imports, taken together, were £13,945,000, of which £4,622,000 was composed of imports from Great Britain. So rapid and sustained a growth, in so short a period, is perhaps unexampled in the history of the world. Emigrants to Canada in 1836, Not less re To all the world. -Prospects of Canada, 1854, pp. 66, 67. "No nation or community, with the solitary exception of Victoria, can boast of such extensive progress as Canada; but there is this important difference in the two colonies, that the sudden rise of the Australian colony was almost solely attributable to the rush which was made for the recently 465,357 1851, 952,004 XXXVII. 1838. markable has been the increase in the agricultural pro- CHAP. duce of the province, which, in Upper Canada, has quadrupled in ten years preceding 1851, while its shipping has doubled during the same period; and the consumption of British manufactures since 1852, when the gold discoveries came into play, is, on an average, £2, 6s. a-head for each inhabitant,* being more than double of discovered gold. In 1834, Canada imported goods to the amount of only £1,063,000, and exported in return produce and manufactures of her own soil to the amount of £1,018,000; but in 1854 the value of her exports and imports was not less than £13,945,000. If we analyse these figures, it will be found that the mother country supplied Canada with her manufactures to the amount of £4,622,000, the United States sent her £2,945,000, foreign countries £268,507, and the adjoining British North American colonies, £159,000. Every person in Canada consumed on an average the produce of foreign countries to the amount of £3, 14s. 10d., while in the adjoining States the average consumption reached only £2, 78. per head. The nature of the Canadian trade with foreign countries may be judged of by the following facts: The produce of the forests of the colony-the vast timber trade which was expectedwas of the value of £2,355,000; of vegetable food, principally corn and flour, £1,995,099; animal produce, £342,631 ; fish, £85,000; manufactures, £35,106; various agricultural products, £26,618; ships, £520,187. The total exports, if divided among the population, would give an average of £2, 15s. to each individual, or 8s. more than is the case in the United States. The entire value of the British exports of the United States was £23,461,000, or about £1 per head of the population; while the consumption of British goods by the Canadians was at the rate of £2, 6s. 7d. per head."-Canadian News, Aug. 24, 1856. The progress of this astonishing trade has been as follows during the last seven years : British imports to Canada in 1854, £2,475,643 1,842,265 or £1, 6s. per head. to United States, 1,874,211 23,246,301 or 13s. Shipping built at Quebec in 1843, 13,785 tons; 1851, 41,505 tons. -Lord ELGIN'S Despatch, 22d December 1852. CHAP. what it is in the United States, where it is only £1, 2s. XXXVII. 113. derful in crease. per head. 1838. Many causes have doubtless contributed to produce Reflections this astonishing increase of material prosperity and inon this won-habitants in Canada, during the period which has elapsed since the union of the provinces and the establishment of popular and responsible government in 1841; and it would be unreasonable to ascribe it entirely to any one of them. Among these, a prominent place must be assigned to the establishment of free trade in Great Britain in 1846; the immense emigration from these islands in the five years immediately preceding 1853, a large part of which went to Canada, and contributed essentially to the growth of the province; and the gold discoveries in California and Australia, which, since 1852, have added 50 per cent to the value of its produce,-exports and imports.* But giving full effect to the influence of these causes, which without doubt were the main-spring of Canadian prosperity, it seems, at the same time, not unreasonable to conclude that much also is to be ascribed to the establishment, in 1841, of a form of government essentially democratic, and therefore suited to the circumstances of the country, and calculated to soften down, and at length extinguish, its unhappy rivalry of races. There is much truth in the observation of Lord Elgin, whose liberal and enlightened administration has done so much to heal the divisions, and permit the expansion of the material resources of the province, that "in a society singularly democratic in its structure, where diversities of race supplied special elements of confusion, and where, consequently, it was most important that constituted * EMIGRANTS WHO ARRIVED AT QUEBEC, FROM 1847 TO 1854. Besides a large number who landed at New York, and found their way across |