so often boasted of, is merely that of apathy, or melancholy : indifference, or regret. It acts upon generations imperceptibly, like a slow species of opium, and its abuse probably assists in the degeneration of mankind.

V.

DISCUSSIONS IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.

A memorable debate, West Indian, upon the mixed subjects of slaves, sugar, and protection, has just taken place in the House of Commons, long after we wrote the chapter to which this is intended to refer. Perhaps our observations, upon the subject of superficial legislative talk, have never obtained, and never could obtain, a more full illustration than is afforded by that debate. Honourable members rise up and quote statistics, and read tables, one after the other, upon the same subject, but in total contradiction of each other, with a business-like absurdity, that is absolutely at once ludicrous and provoking.

Well might Lord Palmerston sum up by calling the debate a "series of contradictions and curious inconsistencies." Sir E. Buxton, the mover of the question, quotes "statistics" to prove the decline of everything in the West Indian Colonies, and Mr. Wilson answers with "statistics" to prove that they are, on the contrary, flourishing. Then they all quote "statistics;" save one young member, who is patted on the back accordingly by Lord Palmerston; and so it goes on; till the question being sufficiently tugged at and twisted, inside and out, the fight of words ends, a division takes place, and Great Britain is left to " carry weight" against the world; until facts, sterner than mock statistics, present themselves in the shape of shame and ruin, to proclaim to the people, in few and simple words, some unparalleled disaster.

The Parliament has just entered upon its duties in a building of magnificent design, vast extent, and minute and elaborate ornament. What will be the circumstances attending the first deliberations of our legislative assembly in this palace of cumbrous art? We speak anxiously and seriously for upon these will depend the future stability, nay, existence, of the British empire, and without the spirit of wisdom descend quickly upon them, the splendour of this temple of legislation will be soon shown to be no more in accordance with the real state of the nation, than is the brilliant effect of a gin-palace suitable to the tattered mob that streams into its precincts to satisfy its unnatural cravings, or the door-step of a West-end club-house, discovered to be a genial bed for starvation, misery, and destitution.

VI.

ON LAND GRANTS.

"It cannot be too strongly urged, that the greatest existing drawback to the physical improvement of Canada is the lavish profusion with which extensive grants of waste lands have been made unconditionally to private individuals, and also to endowments. The waste lands in the surveyed parts are comprised under the titles of Crown and Clergy Reserves; lands set apart for educational purposes; and lands belonging to public companies and private individuals. Interposing, as vast tracts of these sections do, between settled districts, and presenting, for the most part, no immediate equivalent for the excessive price that is set upon them, they operate in a twofold sense as direct impediments to improvement-first, by deterring the class of persons most needed, from becoming purchasers; and, secondly, by retarding general progress. To increase the mischief, the residue of

ungranted waste lands, which remained at the disposal of the Crown, has been ceded to the control of the provincial legislature-the last dispensing power to which such a charge should have been entrusted, seeing that a large proportion of its members, being themselves extensive proprietors of waste lands, have an immediate private interest to oppose to the public benefit, in keeping up prices they are not justified in asking, whether as regards the present positive value of the lands in question, or the low and uniform price at which similar purchases may be effected in the United States. As a general principle, it may be taken for granted that no positive alienation of waste lands, in a country requiring progressive settlement, should be permitted, unless for the purpose of actual cultivation; while, further, no positive sale of those lands should take place without a proportion of the proceeds of such sale being appropriated to the promotion of immigration.

"It ill accords with the dignity of the British Government to make the sale of waste lands a source of mere pecuniary profit. Its sole object should be to procure the settlement of the country needing population, and so long as indemnity for the actual expenses incurred in the administration of the land department be obtained, no further pecuniary advantage should be sought.

"About eight years ago (1832) frequent complaints were made by agriculturists residing in the Gore district, of the great scarcity of labourers; and in order to remedy, in some degree, the inconvenience thereby occasioned, the executive Government directed the location of some indigent immigrant families on parts of the reserves. Lots of five acres each were

accordingly laid out, and huts erected at the expense of Government, the parties installed in them receiving an assurance that if the land were not required for the purposes for which it was originally set apart, and they conducted themselves with propriety, they would not be disturbed in their locations. Upwards of sixty families were at once thus provided for, who have not only done well for themselves, but

have been of the greatest service to the surrounding neighbourhood. It is obvious that this system possesses many great advantages. In the first place, it gives the labourer an immediate home, and enables him to find employment in his own lot in the intervals of his hired services being in requisition; while, on the other hand, it opens a market to those who stand in need of a labourer's assistance. Two years after the first experiment (in 1834), between fifty and sixty families of the same class, who arrived late in the season, and for whom immediate employment could not be obtained, were located on similar lots; but as there were no settlers who could afford to hire labourers, the parties in question were employed at the public expense in opening roads and clearing lands during the winter months.

"In 1840, it was found that these poor people had done well -all of them being in possession of cattle, and several of them having saved wherewithal to purchase land, which they are now engaged in improving. In fact, in both instances, the people have gone on steadily prospering, and have furnished a hardy, well-affected race of men for the defence of the province. In the whole country, in truth, from five to twentyfive families might thus be advantageously located, were means set apart for the purpose, as they easily might be, under a revised method of conducting the affairs of the whole land department, and a legitimate appropriation of its funds.

"In an interesting volume, published in 1834, entitled England and America,' in speaking of the baneful effects of Crown and Clergy Reserved Lands interposing between cultivated allotments, the Author says:-" As flour is an element of bread, so is waste land an element of colonization; but, as flour which has been turned into pie-crust will not make bread, so neither is waste land which has become private property an element of colonization. It is the disposal of waste land in a certain way which is the primary means of colonization; and when the land has been disposed of in another way, the power to dispose of it in the right way no longer exists. Land, to be an element of colonization, must

not only be waste, but it must be public property, liable to be converted into private property for the end in view. In the art of colonization, therefore, the first rule is of a negative kind: it is that the Governments, having the power of waste lands, and seeking to promote the removal of the people, should never throw away any of that power-should never dispose of waste land except for the object in view-except for the removal of the people, and for the greatest progress of colonization. This rule has never been strictly observed by any colonizing government: it had been grossly neglected by all such governments excepting only the United States, which, since they became entirely independent, have been more cautious than any other colonizing government ever was about the disposal of waste lands."-Preston, on Canada, 1840.

VII.

PRESENT SYSTEMS OF EMIGRATION.

The Morning Advertiser of March, and several other journals of that month, contain horrifying details of the system on which emigrant ships are sent floating away with their cargoes of expatriated misery. A vessel called the Indian was chartered by Irish Guardians. It appears that on this vessel property and life were endangered in the defence of female virtue from desperate assailants. One man, whose name is given (Hill), had his property destroyed in defending the virtue of his wife and daughters. Then come the remarks of the Adelaide Observer, stating that no less than ten emigrant ships arriving there were "floating brothels." The disgusting details given of proceedings on board of the Aden, will be alive in the memory of the public. The summary of all this may be thus given :-" Rotten provisions: brutal