Look at her vast resources - her fine healthy climate - her fruitful
soil - the inexhaustible wealth of her pine forests - the untold
treasures hidden in her unexplored mines. What other country
possesses such an internal navigation for transporting its products
from distant Manitoba to the sea, and from thence to every port in
the world!
If an excellent Government, defended by wise laws, a loyal people,
and a free Church, can make people happy and proud of their country,
surely we have every reason to rejoice in our new Dominion.
When we first came to the country it was a mere struggle for bread to
the many, while all the offices of emolument and power were held by a
favoured few. The country was rent to pieces by political factions,
and a fierce hostility existed between the native born Canadians - the
first pioneers of the forest - and the British emigrants, who looked
upon each other as mutual enemies, who were seeking to appropriate
the larger share of the new country.
Those who had settled down in the woods were happily unconscious
that these quarrels threatened to destroy the peace of the colony.
The insurrection of 1837 came upon them like a thunder clap; they
could hardly believe such an incredible tale. Intensely loyal, the
emigrant officers rose to a man to defend the British flag and
chastise the rebels and their rash leader.
In their zeal to uphold British authority, they made no excuse for
the wrongs that the dominant party had heaped upon a clever and
high-spirited man. To them he was a traitor, and, as such, a public
enemy. Yet the blow struck by that injured man, weak as it was,
without money, arms, or the necessary munitions of war, and defeated
and broken in its first effort, gave freedom to Canada, and laid
the foundation of the excellent constitution that we now enjoy. It
drew the attention of the Home Government to the many abuses then
practised in the colony, and made them aware of its vast importance
in a political point of view, and ultimately led to all our great
national improvements.
The settlement of the long-vexed clergy reserves question, and the
establishment of common schools was a great boon to the colony. The
opening up of new townships, the making of roads, the establishments
of municipal councils in all the old districts, leaving to the
citizens the free choice of their own members in the council for
the management of their affairs, followed in rapid succession.
These changes of course took some years to accomplish, and led to
others equally important. The Provincial Exhibitions have done much
to improve the agricultural interests, and have led to better and
more productive methods of cultivation than were formerly practiced
in the Province. The farmer gradually became a wealthy and
intelligent landowner, proud of his improved flocks and herds, of
his fine horses and handsome homestead. He was able to send his sons
to college and his daughters to boarding school, and not uncommonly
became an honourable member of the Legislative Council.
While the sons of poor gentlemen have generally lost caste and sunk
into useless sots, the children of these honest tillers of the soil
have steadily risen to the highest class, and have given to Canada
some of her best and wisest legislators.
Men who rest satisfied with the mere accident of birth for their
claims to distinction, without energy and industry to maintain
their position in society, are sadly at discount in a country which
amply rewards the worker, but leaves the indolent loafer to die in
indigence and obscurity.
Honest poverty is encouraged, not despised, in Canada. Few of her
prosperous men have risen from obscurity to affluence without going
through the mill, and therefore have a fellow-feeling for those who
are struggling to gain the first rung on the ladder.
Men are allowed in this country a freedom enjoyed by few of the more
polished countries in Europe - freedom in religion, politics, and
speech; freedom to select their own friends and to visit with whom
they please without consulting the Mrs. Grundys of society - and they
can lead a more independent social life than in the mother country,
because less restricted by the conventional prejudices that govern
older communities.
Few people who have lived many years in Canada and return to England
to spend the remainder of their days, accomplish the fact. They
almost invariably come back, and why? They feel more independent and
happier here; they have no idea what a blessed country it is to live
in until they go back and realize the want of social freedom. I have
heard this from so many educated people, persons of taste and
refinement, that I cannot doubt the truth of their statements.
Forty years has accomplished as great a change in the habits and
tastes of the Canadian people as it has in the architecture of their
fine cities and the appearance of the country. A young Canadian
gentleman is as well educated as any of his compeers across the
big water, and contrasts very favourably with them. Social and
unaffected, he puts on no airs of offensive superiority, but meets a
stranger with the courtesy and frankness best calculated to shorten
the distance between them and to make his guest feel perfectly at
home.
Few countries possess a more beautiful female population. The women
are elegant in their tastes, graceful in their manners, and naturally
kind and affectionate in their dispositions. Good housekeepers,
sociable neighbours, and lively and active in speech and movement,
they are capital companions and make excellent wives and mothers. Of
course there must be exceptions to every rule; but cases of divorce,
or desertion of their homes, are so rare an occurrence that it speaks
volumes for their domestic worth.
