1883. 



The, Progress of the New Dominion. 



347 



ii'CO- 



RC'vetitoenth and eiglitoentli centu- 

 ries, a few thousand Frenchmen 

 Htruo'cled to malvc homes on the 

 banks of the St. Jjawrcnce, and suc- 

 ceeded in foundino; Quebec and 

 Montreal. "J'liese Frenchinon liad to 

 cncouTiter innumerable difliculties ; 

 all the j)rivations of a life in a new 

 country, the neoiect and iiKliller- 

 ence of their rulers, all the ip.'serics 

 arising from frc(iucnt wars with the 

 Indians and the Xew England colon- 

 ists. Their very system of govern- 

 ment was repressive of all indi- 

 vidual energy as well as concerted 

 public action. It was a ha[)py day 

 for tlie l"'rench Canadians when 

 they became subjects of a JJritish 

 jsovercign, and were allowed to par- 

 ticipate in all the advantages of a 

 liberal system of government. At 

 the time of the conquest of Canada, 

 the total population of the present 

 province of (Quebec did not exceed 

 70,000 souls. It was not until 

 the war of American Independence 

 that Canada received a large ac- 

 cession of inhabitants, historically 

 known as tlie United Empire Loy- 

 alists, probably some 40,000 per- 

 sons in all, who founded the pro- 

 vinces of New IJrunswick and 

 Upper Canada. During the first 

 decades of this century, the immi- 

 gration into the })rovinces was but 

 small, tliough suilicicnt, with the 

 natural increase, to bring the total 

 population by the year 1840, wjien 

 the union took place, up to prob- 

 ably 1,250,000 persons, of whom 

 some 900,000 were living in the 

 two Cana(his. The years tliat fol- 

 lowed tlic establishment of re- 

 sponsible government in British 

 North America were remarkable 

 for the rapid increase of population 

 and wealth throughout the prov- 

 inces, especially in Upper Canada, 

 with its mild climate, its fertile 

 territory, and its energetic, indus- 

 trious inhabitants. The Irisli fam- 

 ine, combined with a greater inter- 

 est in Europe in the development 



of Canada, brought into tlic country 

 a large number of immigrants dur- 

 ing the first ten years following tlie 

 utiion : so that by 1851, Upper 

 Caiuula alone had a population of 

 1,000,000 souls; Lower Canada, 

 900,000; and all liritish North 

 America, upwards of 2,500,000. 

 For the last thirty years the popu- 

 lation has not increased in the 

 same ratio as in the decade just 

 mentioned. Yet despite the many 

 advantages offered to immigrants 

 by thp United States, the united 

 provinces, now known as the Do- 

 minion of Canada, were able in 

 1881, when the last census was 

 taken, to show a total population 

 of nearly 4,500,000, of whom 

 about 2,000,000 live in Ontario, 

 and 1,500,000 in Quebec. In lYOO, 

 the total population of the United 

 States was estimated at about 

 4,000,000, and in 1880 at over 

 50,000,000, having increased twelve 

 and a half times in ninety years. 

 Now in IVOO all the provinces of 

 British North America had a popu- 

 lation of probably 250,000, who 

 had increased to 4,500,000 in 1881, 

 or eighteen times in less than a 

 century. This population would 

 undoubtedly have been very much 

 greater by this time, had the prov- 

 inces been able years ago to estab- 

 lish a lar^e nuinufacturino; indus- 

 try, or had they possessed the North- 

 west Territory, whose value as a 

 field for immigration has only very 

 recently been discovered. Further 

 on, we shall consider the splendid 

 opportunity that the North-west 

 Territory now offers to the Dom- 

 inion to compete with the United 

 States on something like fair terms 

 for the emigration from Europe ; 

 but as it is, the population of Can- 

 ada is greater than that of Norway, 

 and ecpial to that of Sweden — 

 neither of which countries has 

 resources capable of sustaining the 

 large population which Canada 

 must have ere long. 



