tlement may be devised-whatever may be the parties promoting them-New Zealand never can become, either by situation or room, a satisfactory and available home for British subjects.

The Cape, on the other hand, has arrived at the full extent of its capability; and change now can only be expected in gradual, or rapid retrogression, from that state of ambiguous prosperity, which has prompted a spirit in the inhabitants, that seems earnest of increased abuse, dissension, and decay. The Cape, as a valuable colony, independent of its opportune site as a maritime station, was, in its very origin, a lie. It never was, and never can be, a flourishing colony.

were duly received and

The Globe lately published the following extract from the Natal Witness of the 7th December, 1849 :-" The arrival of the emigrants to this country, and at their appointed plots, was marked by utter disappointment, and determination not to remain. They were each to receive twenty acres of land. They housed free of expense on landing, till the surveyor called them together, to see the land allotted to them; but which, in truth, did not correspond at all with the London agents' sunny picture of Natal- Its wooded kloofs,' 'meandering streams,' and verdant valleys.' We find the conclusion arrived at by the party thus described in one of their letters-" Many of us who have friends and relatives waiting our favourable report, will be stayed in their purpose. Two of our people have already left for the Cape; several others state their intention of following their example; some return home. One family goes to the Mauritius; and others say they will embrace the first opportunity of getting to America. One of our company, who purchased one thousand three

hundred acres, acting as pioneer to several of his friends, has written to them to prevent their coming to Natal, and incur further loss and disappointment."

So much for the rival Colonies of Canada!

In 1817 the New York legislature exhibited the utmost hesitation and doubt on the subject of the Erie and Ontario Canals; their confidence in these admirable projects being shaken by persons, who pursued the projectors with the most unrelenting persecution; until the enterprize was frequently on the point of being abandoned altogether in disgust or despair. However, some faint confidence was gradually inspired; and some sanguine enthusiasts had the temerity to predict that, in ten years after the construction of these canals, they might annually produce even so much as 150,000 dollars. At this prediction scepticism sneered and the general public doubted. But what was the result? Why this-the profit realized by the enterprize, very much within the given time, instead of 150,000 dollars, exceeded ten millions of dollars! Meantime, General Morris, in his memorial to the Legislature, and in the prospectus of the undertaking, which he submitted to the public, preparatory to its cominencement, had been mad enough to assert than in less than twenty years time, 250,000 tons of merchandize might even, by this means, be annually conveyed to tide water; for which he was, in no slight degree, ridiculed. Mark, in 1836, no less than 697,347 tons were transported to tide water by that channel; and the total amount of tonnage, ascending, and descending, within the predicted period, instead of 250,000 tons, did actually exceed ONE MILLION THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND tons!

X

CHAPTER XII.

WAYS AND MEANS.

WE have somewhat diverged from the direct purpose we had in view in the preceding chapter, viz., to show the advantages of immediate return which our favourite colony would have over all others. But we trust we have shown hitherto, throughout this work, facts illustrative of the fact that the capabilities of soil and climate of Canada are pre-eminent above the rest, for the purposes of emigration. By such an immediate return, as would be made in point of harvest, after one season had elapsed, necessary to clear the land, it is evident that the great organized body, we have passed in review before the reader, of pioneers and guards, free labourers, paupers and convicts, would in a very short period maintain itself, and so relieve the Government of England from a vast responsibility of support and aid, and quickly proceed to return the expense of the original outfit. We have shown the fallacy of minor schemes in the shape of colonization, as well as demonstrated that we differ from all of them in one grand fact, viz., that they are without return to the Mother Country; whilst our undertaking promises salvation to all. In a few years, what a superfluous harvest of grain, all our own, may be shipped here in return for the produce of the parent state! This would be indeed a triumph of Free Trade. It would be on the

:

principle of internal commerce, always to be preferred to external in proportion as the former possesses a much greater power of increase to the prosperity of a country than the latter. For we would have England and Canada one country.

There is now one most important point to be considered, upon which, however, we shall at present touch but lightly; as it is capable of being considered in a variety of ways. Moreover, it is our intention in a very short time to publish a supplementary work to this, containing much more detail than our pages can afford space for in one volume. The question we are about to approach is one of Ways and Means. How is the capital to be supplied for this gigantic undertaking?

It may appear unnecessary to ask such a question in a country possessed of such private wealth and public enterprize as this. It may seem almost absurd to do so, when we consider Russian loans, Greek loans, Spanish loans, and Irish loans, all lent and offered to Government and by Government, and thus borrowed and spent with the recklessness of a generous prodigal in the hands of the Jews.

This comes under the head of the excusable case mentioned in an after part of this work, where a nation may borrow; since it is to preserve Canada, a part of our British possessions. But when, at the same time, it is to redeem England by an almost immediate return, we think, even should private speculation refuse its aid (which we hardly anticipate, even although it generally requires rather a bubble than a reality to cause the money to be forthcoming from John Bull), that the Government would be justified in contracting a loan for £14,000,000. This is the sum, which we have calculated

would be necessary to commence, carry through, and complete this work, from the expense of the present printing of this little work of the mind, to the opening, -amid the salvoes of a thousand cannon at once reverberating amid the passes of the Rocky Mountains, and booming over the mighty expanse of the western lakes and prairies—of the Grand Junction Railway Line of the Atlantic and Pacific. This, too, is supposing that no state economy is to assist in paving the way to a regeneration of the British Empire: that no other great plans of salvation are to be adopted. It is supposing that the scheme were to be started to-day or to-morrow, without preparation, consideration, or the great purgation of the state antecedent to a new course of life and existence. With the plans we propose, however, no additional, or even momentary, weight need be added to the incumbrances of the country. We ought indeed, to be chary of borrowing even a present million. We would not, for this great work, if it be not necessary, incur the liability even of such a sum as would be equal to a six months' war-tax. There are many ways of carrying our plans into effect otherwise.

In the first place, a great company might be chartered : to be assisted by Government in return for the employment and maintenance of convicts and paupers. Imagine the day when we shall see our model prisons turned into additional barracks for an increased army to defend our native isle and the honour of the British flag. Conceive the workhouses becoming open almshouses for the aged and sick poor. Yes, it is these, which every good Government of a healthy country is bound to maintain. A great and flourishing nation never grudges the support of an army. It glories in reviews and pageants.