BRITISH NORTH AMERICA. 



123 



less interesting to us from the fact that it is evi- 

 dently a true index to the gentle character of 

 its gentle author than from its strongly but 

 kindly drawn portraitures of our literary celeb- 

 rities and the warm pictures of our American 

 homes. Her reception here was so genial that 

 she was, perhaps, betrayed into overlooking 

 many of the rougher features of society in this 

 country. Every American reader of " Homes 

 in the New World " can point out where she 

 has been too generous, but none can point out in 

 her narrative a single stroke of the caricaturist. 

 Miss Bremer also displayed, when in this coun- 

 try, a very clear appreciation of some of our 

 then existing national difficulties ; and some of 

 her observations on the condition of the coun- 

 try show her in the light of a closely observing 

 philosopher. Once, in describing South Caro- 

 lina her type of the whole South she writes : 

 " The splendor of her eye, the delicate crimson 

 of her cheek, the pomp which surrounds her, 

 cannot conceal the want of health and vigor, 

 the worm which devours her vitals. This weak, 

 luxurious beauty, is South Carolina." This in- 

 ternal weakness has since then been made ap- 

 parent even to the beauty who would not see. 

 Remarking on slavery and freedom, she also 

 utters a truth now being daily and hourly con- 

 firmed : " This, however, is clear, that there re- 

 quires a preparation for freedom, and that this 

 has been too long neglected." On her return 

 she spent some time in England, and published 

 in 1852, at Altona, some account of her visit, 

 under the title of "England in 1851." After 

 her return to Sweden, she continued to write 

 her novels of home life, publishing " Hertha " 

 in 1856, "Father and Daughter" in 1858. A 

 tour of some length in the South of Europe 

 was described in 1860, in "Two Years in Swit- 

 zerland and Italy," and after a subsequent 

 journey to the Holy Land, and return by 

 way of Turkey and Greece, was followed in 

 1863 by books on those countries, which were 

 her latest published works. 



BRIDGES. (See ENGINEERING.) 



BRITISH NORTH AMERICA (compre- 

 hending Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, 

 Newfoundland, and Prince Edward Island). 



His Excellency the Right Hon. Charles 

 Stanley Viscount Monck, Governor-General of 

 British North America, and Captain-General 

 and Governor-in-Chief of the Provinces of 

 Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the 

 Island of Prince Edward, etc., etc., etc. 



Denis Godley, Governor-General's Secretary ; 

 Lieut.-Col. Hon. Richard Monck, Coldstream 

 Guards, Military Secretary; Captain Pember- 

 ton, 60th Rifles, aide-de-camp ; Lieut.-Col. J. 

 G. Irvine, Provincial aide-de-camp ; Lieut.-Col. 

 Duchesnay, Lieut.-Col. H. Bernard, and Lieut.- 

 Col. F. W. Cumberland, Extra Provincial aides- 

 de-camp. 



The Canadian Cabinet. Hon. Messrs. A. J. Fergu- 

 son Blair, President of the Council ; SirN. F. Belleau, 

 Receiver-General and Premier ; John A. Macdonald, 

 Attorney-General for Upper Canada and Minister of 



Militia; George E. Cartier, Attorney-General for 

 Lower Canada ; Alexander T. Gait, Minister of Fi- 

 nance; William McDougall, Provincial Secretary; 

 Thomas D' Arcy McGee, Minister of Agriculture and 

 Emigration; A. Campbell, Commissioner of Crown 

 Lands; W. P. Howland, Postmaster-General ; J. C. 

 Chapais, Minister of Public Works ; James Cockburn, 

 Solicitor-General for Upper Canada; Hector E. Lan- 

 gevin, Solicitor-General for Lower Canada. 



Nova Scotia. His Excellency Lieutenant-General 

 Sir William Fenwick Williams of Kars, Baronet 

 K. C. B., Lieutenant-Gorernor. 



New Brunswick. His Excellency Hon. Arthur 

 Hamilton Gordon, C. M. G., Lieutenant-Governor. 



Newfoundland. His Excellency A. Mulgrave, Esq., 

 Governor t Commander-in-Chief, and Vice-Admiral. 



Prince Edward Island. His Excellency George 

 Dundas, Esq., Lieutenant-Governor. 



The Canadian Legislature assembled at Que- 

 bec on January 19, 1865. The Governor- 

 General in his speech from the throne al- 

 luded to the raids on territory of the United 

 States, and said : " In order to prevent the 

 organization of any such enterprises within 

 this Province, and also to enable me to dis- 

 charge in an effective manner my duties toward 

 a neighboring power on terms of friendship 

 with her Majesty, I have seen fit to organize a 

 system of detective Police on the frontier line 

 of the United States, and with the same design 

 I have called out for permanent duty a portion 

 of the Volunteer Force of the Province." 



Relative to the codification of the statutes 

 of Lower Canada, he said : " The Commission- 

 ers appointed under the provisions of the sec- 

 ond chapter of the Consolidated Statutes of 

 Lower Canada to frame a Civil Code, and also 

 a Code of Civil Procedure for Lower Canada, 

 have completed the former part of their duty; 

 the results of their labors shall be laid before 

 you, and I am informed that the Code of Civil 

 Procedure is in a very advanced state. The 

 completion of the Codification of the Civil 

 Law, in both French and English, cannot fail 

 to be of great benefit to the inhabitants of 

 Lower Canada, by enabling the people of all 

 origins to read,- in their own languages, the 

 Civil Law under which they live, and which 

 hitherto has only been accessible in a language 

 which is not the mother tongue of a portion 

 of the people whose civil rights are regulated 

 by it." 



' To the Assembly he stated that the revenue 

 had largely increased, and there had been a co- 

 temporaneous extension of the trade of the 

 Province. To both Houses he presented a view 

 of the state of the Confederation question. A 

 conference had assembled and arrived at the 

 conclusion " that a Federal union of the Prov- 

 inces was feasible and desirable. A plan for 

 the union was proposed (see Public Documents, 

 ANNUAL CYCLOPAEDIA, 1864), and had received 

 the cordial approbation of the Imperial Gov- 

 ernment. A bill will be introduced into the 

 Imperial Parliament to give it effect so soon as 

 the Ministers shall be notified that the proposal 

 has received the sanction of the Provincial 

 Legislatures." His view of the measure was 

 thus expressed: ""With the public men of 



