It Is Finely Situated On The West Bank Of The Hudson; Many Of Its Inhabitants Are Descended From The First Colonists, Especially The Adventurous And Persevering Dutch, Who, Like The Scotch, Cling With Tenacity To The Spot They Fix Upon, And Quickly Accumulate Property.

This city is continually growing in importance, from the vast number of small capitalists who flock there and settle; and it will eventually, no doubt, vie with New York itself in wealth and importance.

As I determined to make no stay here, but to proceed up the Erie Canal to Buffalo, I did not see much of this place, and must therefore omit any lengthened description of it. From what I did see, it appeared a densely-populated, well-built city, laid out with much regularity, and boasting of many substantial buildings, several of the edifices being constructed of white marble.

Having secured a passage on board a canal packet about to start, I at once embarked, and in a few hours after was running up the Erie Canal at the rate of six miles an hour, the boat being towed by four light horses of high mettle. The trappings of these animals were of a novel description, bells being appended to various parts of the harness, and streamers, or plumes of white hair and gaudy ribbons, floating in the air from the bridle of each. A postilion, in a suit of grey, with an otter-skin cap, rode on the rearmost or saddle horse, and his _nonchalance_ and perfect command of his team were surprising. This boat was some sixty yards in length, and constructed only for passengers and their luggage. The interior formed a long saloon in miniature, fitted up with lounges, and tastefully decorated; a promenade on the deck or top furnishing a good place for exercise. At night our saloon was converted into a general dormitory, a portion being partitioned off for the ladies, by ranges of shelves being suspended from the sides, on which were laid the mattresses, &c. Owing to the number of locks and stoppages at the miserable towns and villages on the canal banks, our passage to Buffalo took several days; and the country being flat and uninteresting, although divided into farms, which in general appeared to be in a state of tolerable cultivation, I was not a little relieved when we began to approach the city.

The formation of the Erie Canal was one of those grand internal improvements frequently to be met with in that country, and which have contributed to its general prosperity in no small degree. The projector of this vast undertaking, De Witt Clinton, is justly esteemed by American citizens, who regard him as a public benefactor, and his name ranks with the founders of their independence. The canal runs, for a considerable distance before it reaches Buffalo, parallel with the lake, but separated from it by a sort of artificial sea-wall. As we merged into the vicinity of this magnificent inland sea, the sun was shining brightly, and gave it the appearance of molten silver. As far as the eye could reach, a wide expanse of water presented itself, and the distant shores of Canada gave beauty to the scene. At Black-rock we could distinguish the sites of the British fortifications, from which in the last war red-hot cannon-balls were ejected, to the dismay of the terrified Americans, and the destruction of many of their houses.

Buffalo is a flourishing city on the border of Lake Erie, and about twenty miles south of the Falls of Niagara. It is within the boundary of the state of New York, and has of late years greatly increased in extent, wealth, and population. The old town, quite an inconsiderable place, on the site of which the present city has risen, phoenix-like, was burnt to the ground during the late war, by some British officers, who made a sortie from the Canada shores; which circumstance, having been handed down from father to son, still rankles in the bosoms of many of the older inhabitants, who do not fail to state their belief that retributive justice will eventually be administered by the entire subjugation of Canada. During my rather prolonged stay in Buffalo, I had frequent opportunities of discovering that the most rancorous feelings exist on the subject; and in proof of this it may be remembered by the reader that the Canadian insurgents were assisted at the late insurrection by supplies of stores from this city. These were conveyed to Navy Island by the steamer _Caroline_, which was subsequently seized, and sent over the Falls of Niagara by the British troops, a number of the crew being cruelly massacred.

From inquiries made of parties well informed on the subject, both in Canada and the United States, I am convinced that the public act of Sir John Colborne, before quitting the governorship of the province, in 1835, viz., the allotment or appropriation of 346,252 acres of the soil, as a clergy reserve, and the institution of the fifty-seven rectories, was the chief predisposing cause of the insurrection. By this Act a certain portion of land in every township was set apart for the maintenance of "a Protestant clergy," under which ambiguous term, the clergy of the Church of England have always claimed the sole enjoyment of the funds arising from the sale of such portions of land. This is looked upon by dissenters of all denominations as a direct infringement of the original intention of the Act, which they maintain was for the purpose of aiding the Protestant cause at large against the innovations of the Roman Catholic Church. Much ill-will and sectarian prejudice are the natural consequence; in fact, the Act is a perfect apple of discord throughout the Canadas, and has engendered more animosity and resentment than any one legislative act, sanctioned by the Home Government, since the acquisition (if so it can he called) of the country.

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