The Dominion and Local Governments are now doing much to open up
the resources of Canada by the Intercolonial and projected Pacific
Railways and other Public Works, which, in time, will make a vast
tract of land available for cultivation, and furnish homes for
multitudes of the starving populations of Europe.
And again, the Government of the flourishing Province of Ontario - of
which the Hon. J. Sandfield Macdonald is premier - has done wonders
during the last four years by means of its Immigration policy, which
has been most successfully carried out by the Hon. John Carling, the
Commissioner, and greatly tended to the development of the country.
By this policy liberal provision is made for free grants of land to
actual settlers, for general education, and for the encouragement of
the industrial Arts and Agriculture; by the construction of public
roads and the improvement of the internal navigable waters of the
province; and by the assistance now given to an economical system of
railways connecting these interior waters with the leading railroads
and ports on the frontier; and not only are free grants of land given
in the districts extending from the eastern to the western extremity
of the Province, but one of the best of the new townships has been
selected in which the Government is now making roads, and upon each
lot is clearing five acres and erecting thereon a small house, which
will be granted to heads of families, who, by six annual instalments,
will be required to pay back to the Government the cost of these
improvements - not exceeding $200, or 40 pounds sterling - when a free
patent (or deed) of the land will be given, without any charge
whatever, under a protective Homestead Act. This wise and liberal
policy would have astonished the Colonial Legislature of 1832, but
will, no doubt, speedily give to the Province a noble and progressive
back country, and add much to its strength and prosperity.
Our busy factories and foundries - our copper, silver, and plumbago
mines - our salt and petroleum - the increasing exports of native
produce - speak volumes for the prosperity of the Dominion and for the
government of those who are at the head of affairs. It only requires
the loyal co-operation of an intelligent and enlightened people to
render this beautiful and free country the greatest and the happiest
upon the face of the earth.
When we contrast forest life in Canada forty years ago with the
present state of the country, my book will not be without interest
and significance. We may truly say, old things have passed away,
all things have become new.
What an advance in the arts and sciences and in the literature of
the country has been made during the last few years. Canada can
boast of many good and even distinguished authors, and the love of
books and booklore is daily increasing.
Institues and literary associations for the encouragement of
learning are now to be found in all the cities and large towns in
the Dominion. We are no longer dependent upon the States for the
reproduction of the works of celebrated authors; our own publishers,
both in Toronto and Montreal, are furnishing our handsome bookstores
with volumes that rival, in cheapness and typographical excellence,
the best issues from the large printing establishments in America.
We have no lack of native talent or books, or of intelligent readers
to appreciate them.
Our print shops are full of the well-educated designs of native
artists. And the grand scenery of our lakes and forests, transferred
to canvas, adorns the homes of our wealthy citizens.
We must not omit in this slight sketch to refer to the number of fine
public buildings which meet us at every turn, most of which have been
designed and executed by native architects. Montreal can point to her
Victoria Bridge, and challenge the world to produce its equal. This
prodigy of mechanical skill should be a sufficient inducement to
strangers from other lands to visit our shores, and though designed
by the son of the immortal George Stephenson, it was Canadian hands
that helped him to execute his great project - to raise that glorious
monument to his fame, which we hope, will outlast a thousand years.
Our new Houses of Parliment, our churches, banks, public halls,
asylums for the insane, the blind, and the deaf and dumb are
buildings which must attract the attention of every intelligent
traveller; and when we consider the few brief years that have
elapsed since the Upper Province was reclaimed from the wilderness,
our progress in mechanical arts, and all the comforts which pertain
to modern civilization, is unprecedented in the history of older
nations.
If the Canadian people will honestly unite in carrying out measures
proposed by the Government for the good of the country, irrespective
of self-interest and party prejudices, they must, before the close
of the present century, become a great and prosperous nationality.
May the blessing of God rest upon Canada and the Canadian people!
Susanna Moodie
Belleville, 1871
APPENDIX C
JEANIE BURNS
[This chapter was originally intended by Mrs. Moodie for inclusion
in the first edition of Roughing it in the Bush but was instead
published in the periodical Bentley's Miscellany, in August 1852.
It was later revised and included in the book Life in the Clearings
versus the Bush by the same author.]
"Ah, human hearts are strangely cast,
Time softens grief and pain;
Like reeds that shiver in the blast,
They bend to rise again.
"But she in silence bowed her head,
To none her sorrow would impart;
Earth's faithful arms enclose the dead,
And hide for aye her broken heart!"
Our man James came to me to request the loan of one of the horses,
to attend a funeral.
