war may endure until the enemy be entirely subdued in Anierica, and so really disabled there as to cease to be dangerous to this kingdom in future times.' Europe was astonished with the measures that followed. A most formidable armament was

prepared in an incredibly small space of time; Louisbourg fell, Cape Breton was occupied; soon followed the battle of Abraham's Heights, the possession of Quebec and the Canadas; the power of England permanently established in America; and at the Treaty of Paris, in 1763, she was in undisputed possession of the whole region from Florida to the Pole. On the other hand, so proportionately reduced was not only the power of France, but of the Continent of Europe, as against the maritime balance of England, that Chatham himself, when contemplating the possibility of the union of the Bourbon dynasties against England, pointed to our ships, to our American possessions, and to the two millions of British by which they were inhabited, as a power equal to cope with and to overawe the union of the crowns of Spain and France.

"We now come to the measure of Pitt, in 1791. This is the annus mirabilis of England. Mr. Pitt had then upon his mind a war the most threatening in India, with the most powerful of the native sovereigns in connexion with France-war the most threatening in Europe, Russia and Austria combined, and the downfall of the Ottoman empire the consequence of their success-a war again re-threatening in America, as an effect of the state of Europe and France in all the incipient throes of a volcanic irruption. At the same period a Governor of India is under impeachment for his life, and commotions for internal change agitate England. It is under the excitement and the distractions of these various necessities, that the mind of Pitt was given to the framing of that Constitution of the Canadas by which the affections of the French Canadians were secured to England, and that stronghold given her over her possessions in America that kept tranquil and neutral the United States in the war that ensued, and in preserving its maritime resources for England, enabled her to employ them in Europe and in Asia, and to give to those regions her undivided strength and

her whole attention. But as in the events of men it is the human mind that is important, so in the events of states it is the genius of individuals that makes them of value, and that renders them memorable; and it is a link more remarkably attaching the destinies of Canada to the greatness of England, that it was in the debate on the Canada Bill that were brought first into direct collision the great spirits of that age,—Fox, Burke, and Pitt. Pitt's bill was made the subject of discussing the question of the French Revolution, and of adjusting parties for the struggle that was to follow. I look upon Pitt's bill of 1791 as one of the greatest monuments of his ability, and the greatest of the services that he rendered to his country. Had a bill of an opposite tendency been at the time introduced, as it was proposed by his antagonists, the Canadian population would have been disgusted, our power in America shaken, the United States probably again led into conflict, the French power would have obtained a footing in America, and in that arduous struggle, where every muscle was stretched to the extreme, and barely was life and success attained at the end, defeat must have been our portion had Canada been a weight in the opposing scale.

"Pitt's object was to place the French population between the St. Lawrence and the frontier of the United States, to allow them to spread in and entirely to occupy that region, where, by their military spirit and their local affections, they should be a barrier and a protection for England, so as to maintain her position in America without expense, so as to curtail and arrest the expansive tendencies of the United States. His object was not to make them British in name, but British in affection; and that was to be done by preserving, not destroying, their laws, religion, language, and customs. It is in the French spirit,' he said, ' of the Canadians that the strength of England in America depends.' Such, then, is the fortune you hold in the tenure of your North American Colonies; such the debt of gratitude you owe to the affections of your Canadian fellowsubjects. A fatal day will it be for England when she despises the one or chills the other.

"But if Canada were of no value; if Nova Scotia had no fortresses, harbours, or mines, Cape Breton no fisheries; if there were no westerly winds; if there were no trans-Atlantic or European enemy to be restrained; if there were no necessity to nurture force for our defence,-still would it be a bounden duty for the English nation to maintain the rights and independence of its own country, and while one Canadian remained attached to us, and claimed our protection, that man's head ought to come to the block who could speak of separation. You have heard this night that these men have been told that they ought to repudiate their allegiance to this country; and the man who has told them so is an Englishman, and he lives-he walks the public streets unendangered and undenounced, he enters your very senate, and sits there the counsellor of the nation he betrays: and he is not one, there are many such. And what may not be done with a nation where such men live, where such men are honoured? England was no longer England when she drove the children that had issued from her loins into revolt; and having driven them into revolt by her acts, the next thing is to justify sedition. To speak of the separation of the Colonies from the mother country, is to destroy allegiance on the one hand, and protection on the other; it is to justify mismanagement, and all misgovernment: and for these crimes the masks are taken of doctrine and of opinion-the colours are assumed of philanthropy and liberality.

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It having devolved upon me to propose as a toast "The cause of Emigration," I did so in the following terms :

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My Lords and Gentlemen, 1 return you my warmest thanks for requesting me to propose a toast connected with the cause of Emigration, which is now attracting general attention, and to which I have always been devotedly attached. On my first visit to those fertile and extensive regions on the American continent, over which the British flag holds sway, I found all the elements of wealth and happiness in full operation, from the annual influx of thousands of our fellow-countrymen, whose industrious exertions were sure to be followed there by complete success. The first serious defection in the Emigration to

Canada occurred in 1835, the year following the letter of Mr. Hume, so severely and justly condemned by my friend Sir Allan Macnab; so serious was the injury inflicted on the province by that production, that the decrease in one season amounted to 15,000 persons. Scarcely had the province recovered from this shock than it was doomed to a still severer blow. The fatal effects of 1837 reduced Emigration the following year to less than 3,000, a fearful contrast with that of 1832, which was nearly 52,000. In 1839, at the instigation of many friends in Canada, I resolved to cross the Atlantic, and use my exertions to restore the fertilizing stream of Emigration, then diverted to all other channels, to that country, where it was so sure to reward the efforts of the industrious and prudent settler. On my arrival in this country, I found the most erroneous impressions generally prevailing relative to Canada. In all those particulars, in which it should stand at least as well in the estimation of the British public as the United States-geographical position, soil, climate, &c., it was unjustly decried and depreciated—and in other respects, in which it stands immeasurably superior, government, laws, institutions, probity, natural resources, gradual and satisfactory development, the most erroneous opinions prevailed. The consequences were, a disinclination on the part of Emigrants to proceed to Canada, a distrust on the part of capitalists to invest their means, and an effort, on the part of some political economists, from their peculiar opinions, to render the government of the Colonies so difficult and expensive as to induce the parent State to fling them off. These were the difficulties with which Canada had to contend; and great credit is due to the noble Chairman, and to this Society, for their unwearied and persevering efforts to disseminate more correct opinions, promote Emigration, restore confidence, and forward the general interests of our Colonial Empire. It must be most satisfactory to this meeting to hear that a steady annual increase to the population of our North American Colonies has taken place since 1838, the num→ .bers arriving at Canada alone, last year, being nearly 29,000. Although there is still a party to be met with who would sacri

fice the Colonies to their own theories, and who never rejoice more than when giving circulation to reports injurious to our North American possessions, by the institution of unfair comparisons, by their declarations that thousands leave Canada for the States, forgetting always to inform the people of the thousands who leave the States for Canada; notwithstanding this disposition, and these drawbacks, the peace, prosperity, and advance of Canada, during the last year, has been, and will be, the best antidote to these pernicious efforts. I remember when the most active means were employed to impress on the minds of the people that there was no land left for settlement. This was followed by a statement that it was far dearer than in the States; and when the public domain was freely given to the industrious settler, on certain conditions, then, forsooth, the best mode to settle a country was to put a high price on its lands. Happily, both for Canada and Great Britain, there is not only public domain for settlement, but public works to afford abundance of profitable employment: and the energy, activity, improvement, enterprise, and hope, everywhere to be witnessed in Canada at this time, is a presage and an earnest that its future career will be unchecked by the pestiferous theories of political economists, or the circulation of unjust and unfounded statements. No document from the Colonial Office ever diffused more joy amongst a people, than the despatch of Lord John Russell to the late Governor-General, containing, amongst other interesting pledges, In any measures that may be adopted, it must be taken for granted that Her Majesty persists in the determination to maintain at all hazards her royal authority in Canada. Neither the honour of Her Majesty's Crown, nor the support due to her loyal subjects in British North America, nor the provident care of the interests of the empire at large, would permit any deviation from this fixed principle of British policy.' What more encouraging incentive, what greater inducement to the patriotic capitalists than this, freely to invest their means in possessions thus strongly guaranteed? We have no alternative; we have only. to consider the means of binding Canada more firmly to this