338 



CANADA. 



Canada. 7,54.1 Puncheons. 



21 7 Bblf ' 



227 Boxes noyau. 



10 Puncheons British brandy, 1089 gallons. 



10 Pieces brandy} Ig21 1Iong> 

 5 Do. Geneva J 



6 J 5 gi n , cheon8 } Mola 8 se3 59,346 gallons. 



57 rinds J 



342 Hhds. refined sugar 278,948 Ibs. . 

 2,178 Hhds. T 



461 Tierces ( Muscavada and clayed sugar- 

 3,371 Barrels f 3,573,580 Ibs. 

 29 Boxes J 



60 Casks leaf tobacco 60,926 Ibs, 



1 Do. manufactured 370 lbs 

 22 Lbs, snuff. 



15,972 Packs playing cards. 

 100,755 Minots salt. 

 11 Chests hyson "1 

 19 Do. black S-Teas. 



2 Do. bohea J 

 50 Bags pimento. 



10Bbls.7 



An -D r v^ocoa. 



40 Bags J 



Besides the trade, which 'Canada maintains with 

 Britain and her dependencies, a very considerable 

 traffic is carried on with the American states. The 

 legal channel of this trade is by St John's, on the 

 river of Champlain, where there is a custom-house 

 for its regulation ; and the imports by this course, 

 in 1806, amounted to 75,54:6 : 11 : 6, consisting 

 principally of teas, chocolate, coffee, tobacco, spi- 

 rits, butter, fish, pork ; leather, shoes, and boots ; 

 nankeens, stockings, mahogany, pot-ash, hogsheads, 

 and hops : but, by other channels, cottons, silks, 

 cambrics, and groceries, are annually smuggled into 

 the country, to the amount of 100,000. The ex- 

 ports, by this communication, are more correctly 

 known ; and amounted, during the same year, to 

 j66,586 : 8 : 2, consisting chiefly of hides, salt, fish, 

 and especially of furs. 



Ever since the year 1796, the Americans have 

 been permitted, under authority of the 3d article of 

 Mr Jay's treaty, to import into Canada, East India 

 goods, groceries, and several other commodities, 

 duty free ; and as, by a variety of advantages attend- 

 ing a neutral flag, they are able to transport East 

 India articles into America, and thence into Canada, 

 much cheaper than can be done by British merchants, 

 they have gained almost exclusive possession of this 

 branch of trade in the colony. The money sent out 

 of Canada to the United States in payment of their 

 goods, besides creating a greater scarcity of specie, 

 which lowers the rate of exchange, occasions an in- 

 crease of price upon every article of Canada pro- 

 duce, and thus enables the American to undersell the 

 Canadian merchant in Europe, as he does the Eu- 



ropean in Canada. * Besides restricting the Amen- Canada, 

 can trader from such privileges, there are many ob- v '"" \r~~ 

 vious reasons for securing to the British North A- 

 merican colonies the exclusive right of supplying the 

 West India islands with lumber, fish, bread, flour, 

 &c. for which they at present depend so entirely 

 upon the United States. 



The provinces of Canada, especially if encouraged 

 by bounties from the British government, as the 

 Americans are by theirs, could soon be enabled to 

 furnish the West Indies with sufficient quantities of 

 all these articles, so as to preclude them completely 

 from suffering any great inconvenience from Ameri- 

 can embargoes and non-intercourse acts. 



The articles of Canadian traffic comprehend almost 

 every necessary of life ; but the principal produc- 

 tions which it supplies for commercial purposes, are 

 grain, timber, fish, and furs. 



The only grain that is exported, is wheat, which 

 is of an excellent quality, and yields a greater pro- 

 portion of flour, than that which is brought from the 

 Baltic. That of Upper Canada is superior to what is 

 produced in the Lower province, and is usually ex- 

 ported in the form of flour ; as it is thus more easily 

 conveyed by the navigation on the lakes and rivers, 

 more secure against damage in the voyage, and more 

 beneficial to the country by the profits and wages of 

 labour arising from its preparation. It is even fre- 

 quently converted into biscuit, which is both of a 

 good quality, and cheaper than what is procured 

 from Britain ; and which is sent to supply the ship- 

 ping at Newfoundland and Halifax. The timber of 

 Canada is also a principal article of exportation, and 

 can be furnished for every purpose of the dock- yard, 

 house carpenter, and cabinet-maker. Its oak is next 

 to that of Great Britain in point of quality ; its 

 pines can furnish masts 120 feet in length ; its staves 

 are peculiarly excellent, and daily rising in demand } 

 its forests, in short, could easily render the mother 

 country independent of every other foreign supply 

 of timber. This branch of trade has greatly in- 

 creased of late years. It is said, that, in 1810, not 

 less than 600 vessels arrived in the St Lawrence for 

 this single article, and regulations have been made 

 by the British government, to favour the importation 

 of Canadian timber to a still greater extent. 



The fisheries of Canada have not been prosecuted to Fisheries, 

 the extent of which they are capable, and have received 

 very little encouragement from government. There 

 is a seal and porpoise fishing on the St Lawrence, 

 which produces a considerable quantity of skins and 

 oil ; and on the Labrador coast an establishment has 

 been formed, which sends chiefly to the West Indies 

 large cargoes of cod, mackarel, shad, herring, sal- 

 mon, and a fish about the" size of aalmon, called 

 bass. 



But the furtrade of Canada may be considered as Fur trade, 

 the chief peculiarity in its commerce ; and though 

 not so valuable a branch of traffic to the colony as 

 grain, or to the mother country as timber, is at least 

 next to either of these in importance, yielding a duty 



* We understand, however, that orders have recently been issued for prohibiting a traffic so injurious to the British mer- 

 chant, and which the threatening attitude of the United States at the present moment (Feb. 26, 1812) would render it in 

 Ihe highest degree impolitic to permit. 



