180 



Present State of Canada. 



For the Monthly Magazine. 

 PRESENT STATE of CANADA. ( Trans- 

 lated f mm tlie Annates Afari times.) 

 CANADA was ctided to England in 

 1763. In 1791, it was divided by 

 its new masters, into Upper and Lower 

 Canada. Quebee, formerly the capital 

 of the wliole colony, is at present the 

 capital of Lower Cauaila ; and Montreal, 

 placed in the bosnm of a delightful isle, 

 formed by the river St. Lawrence, to 

 the south-west of (Quebec, is become the 

 seat of government in Upper Canada. 



The country lying between Montreal 

 and Qiiehec, is a vast anil fertile plain, 

 watered by the river St. Lawrence. — 

 Tliis river derives its source from se- 

 veral lakes, to which may be given the 

 name of seas. Its waters are also 

 swelled by a number of rivers, wliich 

 may be compared, for magnitude, with 

 the largest rivers of Europe. All tliese 

 rivers, as well as St. Lawrence, have a 

 second bed, destined to receive the ex- 

 cess of their wafers, when they are 

 overflowed. Child of interior seas, and 

 fHieeu of gigantic rivers, St. Lawrence 

 bears vessels of eight hundred tons to 

 places six hundred leagues from her en- 

 trance. The widtli of this noble stream 

 varies from one to more than twenty 

 leagues. 



The climate of Canada resembles 

 that of the north of Germany. The 

 winters of Quebec are like those of 

 Scandinavia. As in Sweden, the ice 

 disappears with extreme rapidity about 

 the end of April or beginning of May. 

 It is then, that vegetation, having 

 awakened from its long sleep, the hus- 

 bandman begins to sow his land. The 

 princip.i! product of Lower Canada, is 

 that of wheat. It is sown in great 

 abundance, to provide a surplus not- 

 withstanding the dangers with which 

 the harvest is here continually threat- 

 ene '. Hence, when the harvest docs 

 u jt fail, large exportations of this grain 

 are made fiom tliis country. The other 

 vegetable productions of Canada, are 

 generally all those of Europe in the 

 same latiiiule. 



The Jesuit Lafiiteau, discovered in 

 the forests of this region, the ginseng, 

 a medicinal plant, which the Chinese 

 buy at a great price. Some frauds, 

 commitfe.l by rapacity in the prepara- 

 tion of this precious merchandize, en- 

 tirely deprived tlie colony of the mar- 

 ket for this rich branch of commerce. 



But the principal commerce of Ca- 

 nada iias always been the traile in furs 

 and skins. Two Scotchmen formed 

 two comnanios (which have since been 



[March I 



united under the name of the North- 

 westCompany) and thus gave an organ- 

 ization and impulse to this trade which 

 it had never known before. There is 

 also another company, called <Ae South- 

 west, or the Mickiliniakiriak, which 

 last is the name of an Indian village, 

 in which their factory is established. 

 Thefactory of the North-west Company 

 is established at Montreal, and the ele- 

 gant houses and buildings v Inch have 

 been erected there by the agents of the 

 conii);iny, have greatly contributed to 

 cmljellisli that city. 



('ana:!a furnishes every kind of tim- 

 ber necessary for building of vessels ; 

 and tlie number of sailors employed in 

 the diliiculf luivigation of the waters of 

 these countries is an advantage which 

 could not fiiil to be duly api)reciafed by 

 a people jealous of the sovereignty of 

 the seas. 



The population of the French esta- 

 blishments of Canada was estimated in 

 17fi.'^, at eiohty thousand souls; and in 

 1811, the population of Lower Canada 

 alone was reckoned at four hundred 

 thousand: that of Upper Canada was 

 taken at the same period, at eighty 

 thousand. It is estimated, that seven- 

 eighths of Lower Canada are of French 

 extraction. The ancestors of these 

 Canadians traversed the ocean, and 

 bathed the new world with b!ood, to in- 

 crease the power and the splendour of 

 their mother country. The descendants 

 of these brave men are vassals of the 

 proud Albion ; but the sentiments of 

 their forefat'iers dwell still in their 

 innermost soul, and are often mani- 

 fested with a vigour worthy of their 

 origin. >Ve read, in a recent number 

 of the Aurora, a French journal printed 

 at Montreal, that the governor having 

 proposed to the legisl.ative assembly of 

 the higher Canada the suppression of 

 the place of the translator charged to 

 render into French the public acts of 

 authority, a member instantly rose, 

 and said: "assuredly his Excellency 

 in making this proposition has thought 

 that we are sutficiently Anglified for 

 this debasement." 



The taste for dissipation andfrivolous 

 pleasures, with which the French are 

 so much reproached, remains in the 

 colony, particularly at Quebec. It is to 

 be legretted, that a taste for the arts 

 and sciences has not also diffused itself 

 in these provinces. Ignoi'auce prevails 

 in such a degree, that many dejjuties of 

 the provincial assemblies canneitherreiid 

 nor write ; and the Mercury of Quebec, 

 an English Jovirnal, some years since 

 adivsed 



