Mr, y, G. Bourinot on Canada s Marine aud Fisheries, 5 



The population of Ontario or Upper Canada, in a ver}' few years from the 

 date of the Union, considerably exceeded that of the French Canadian pro- 

 vince, which had been given so long a start in the race of civilisation. The 

 provinces by the sea, then politically isolated from the country on the St. 

 Lawrence and lakes, also made steady advances during this era of peace, 

 especially in maritime enterprise. But, in tracing the commercial progress 

 of Canada, we cannot fail to remark that it really dates from the extension 

 of her political privileges and the removal of those restrictions which Eng- 

 land imposed on colonial trade and navigation during those times when 

 sound principles of political economy were hardly understood, and commer- 

 cial fallacies laj' to a great extent at the basis of all her commercial legis- 

 lation. The result of the statesmanlike policy that the mother country 

 within twenty or thirty years has adopted towards Canada in common with 

 other colonies, h:is not only tended to stimulate the energy and enterprise 

 of the Canadian people, but has actually benefitted the manufacturing and 

 mercantile community of Grer.': Britain, inasmuch as the provinces are now 

 consumers of British merchandise to a far greater extent than would have 

 been possible under the old system of monopolies and navigation laws. 

 Fifty years ago the whole population of British Xorth America was not 

 equal to a million of souls, whilst at the present time it is in excess of four 

 millions. The total trade at that time did not exceed the value of 

 $12,000,000, whereas it may be now estimated at fully $170,000,000. This 

 is the natural result of the peace and the political and commercial freedom 

 which we have now so long enjoyed under the protecting guidance of the 

 parent state. 



In her extensive range of sea and lake navigation, in her inexhaustible 

 fisheries, in her wide sweep of forests, and above all, in the ener^-^y and 

 endurance of her people, we see the elements which have enabled Canada 

 to reach a foremost position among maritime nations — equal, in fact, to 

 the country which gave birth to Cartier and Champlain. and far a head uf 

 the Spaniards and Dutch, so supreme on the ocean in the daj's when the 

 name of Canada was never heard of. So great is the change that has taktu 

 place since the century when many a stately Spanish galleon crossed the 

 <*cean from the Spanish main, and Trorap swept the seas with a broom 

 hoisted at his masthead. The Fisheries have naturally laid the foundations 

 of the maritime industry of the provinces. From the earliest times of 

 which we have any record, fishermen from the Basque and Norman coast 

 have flung their lines on the banks of Newfoundland, and carried home r'uU 

 fares l<»ng before a single English vessel ventured into the same seas to pro- 

 secute this lucrative branch of industry. But the French settlements on the 

 Lower St. Lawrence, aud on the shores of the gulf •■xxi<^ the peninsula of 

 Acadie, had but limited opportunities of following the fisheries ia the 

 warlike times which preceded the conquest of Canada. Louisbourg was 

 then the rendezvous of the French vessels which yearly resorted to these 

 fisheries; and it is recorded that in the year preceding the capture 

 of that stfongly-fjrtided town by the English fleet under Warren, 

 ijnd the fishermen of New England under the command ^)i Pepperrtll, 

 France had some 600 sail, macued by 20,000 sailors employed in our 



