March 1883. 



Tlic Progress of the Xeiu Dominion, 



^t which 

 It is the 

 opio, who 

 sacrifices, 

 energies 

 of their 

 cet with 

 roin the 

 at once 

 a reward 

 empire, 

 for solv- 

 estiny of 

 1 for her 

 ft to the 

 ssing the 

 of view 

 eld. Im- 

 h certain 

 I wont to 

 )ry sense ; 

 iiy bo al- 

 ley which 

 icnce and 

 f Europe, 

 notes the 

 attachinsr 

 "Possession 

 lat policy 

 ^ approval 

 iglishinen 



oncluding 

 rily but a 

 ding fea- 

 i .political 



Ml has re- 

 liii,y;uii!!licd 

 said: "He 

 no doubt 

 t)li(late the 

 !• the cou- 

 Slh. Tlie 

 3sts which 

 1 of those 

 oils which 

 hey could 

 iiiirds the 

 ith by all 

 npire was 

 or furtlicr 

 e vitality 



developtnetit of the most important 

 dependency of the empire. It is a 

 couiitr)' uf whoso progress every 

 Englisliman .diould be proud. \Vc 

 have seen that it is a country 

 vvliich is rapidly g. lining national 

 strength ; but it is also ;i country 

 rich in luitural beauty. Where 

 will wo see a river which can rival 

 the St. Lawrence at once for extent 

 and grandeur — a river ever and 

 anon expanding into great lakes, 

 and broken into j)ictures(|ue forms 

 by impetuous rajiids and cataracts?- 

 Where will we find such forests of 

 tall ])ine as still darken the hills 

 of the Laurentian range — these 

 ancient liills which have existed 

 amid all the earth's changes since 

 times primeval? ' Where in Europe 

 will wo sec lakes that may compare 

 with the great inland waters which 

 bathe the shores of the province of 

 Ontario, with its tlourisliing towns 

 and prosperous farms ? The coun- 

 tries watered by these Western 

 seas may have none of the rich 

 historic memoiics that cling to the 

 shores of the Mediterranean; but 

 still Ontario, tame and uneventful 

 as her history may be, will be al- 

 ways associated with the record of 

 human endeavour and human liap- 

 pitiess. Or whore will we find a 

 country offering to all the world 

 so vast a territory of rich prairie- 

 lands, pur[)le with wild flowers anil 

 grasses, soon to give way to golden 

 grain, to feed millions of people 

 now struggling in the overcrowded 

 Old World? Or where will we see 

 such deep blue skies as canopy the 

 vast region which Canadians call 

 tlicir own ? So invigorating and 

 bracing is the Canadian winter, 

 that those who have once breathed 

 its air can never find liealth or 

 comfort amid the enervating influ- 

 ences of southern climates. The 

 people who live in Canada are 

 deeply attached to their own land. 

 Indeed it is a trait of tlie people 



l)orn uiuler northern skies that 

 they can never find cDutent else- 

 where, but that their hearts, like 

 the leaves of the little compass- 

 flower found on the slopes of the 

 (.>/ark Hills, ever turn towards tlie 

 north. Canada is a north-land, not 

 of perpetual glaciers ; not of gloomy, 

 solitary fjords; not of bleak, bar- 

 ren hills, where men slave and toil 

 with little I'ewards : but it is a 

 north-land whose bays teem with 

 fish, \\lios(,' hills are covered with 

 the rinest timber, whose soil is [)ro- 

 ductive for a territory extending 

 over ;U)()U miles. What the people 

 of this country have already 

 achieved, their present wealth 

 abundantly shows when <'ompared 

 with that of countries which have 

 played no insignificant i)art in the 

 world's history. A century ago 

 the greater part of Canada was but 

 a remote and unex[)lore<l wilder- 

 ness, and now we find seven pro- 

 vinces — one of them, Ontario, large 

 enough for an em[)ire — teeming 

 with population, and pr sperous 

 in all the great iMHicerns of life, 

 in good government, the means of 

 subsistence, and social happiness. 

 The tide of population is overflow- 

 ing the bouiularies of the old pro- 

 vinces, and pressing further aiul 

 further towards the west. No 

 rivers, or mountains, or seas resist 

 the progress of industry and enter- 

 prise. Ere long, from Halifax on 

 the Atlantic to Victoria on the 

 Pacific, for thousands of miles 

 ..westward from the kei«4i-t*- where. 

 I'^^nTicl TTcbstcr stot»d ntaiiy years 

 ago,-, wc will find people from all 

 the northern countries of Europe 

 cultivating smiling fields, rearing • 

 towns and villages, and cherishing 

 the blessings of those free institu- 

 tions, under whose wise and foster- 

 ing influence Canada has already -•, 

 attained so large a measure of 

 happiness and prosperity. 



! 



V. 



^ 



