TORONTO OF OLD. 529 



they are so stupid they don't see it. All the specie goes into the Banks. I am told that the 

 U. C. Bank had at one time £300,000 in England in Commissariat bills of Exchange : their notes 

 in circulation are a mUlion and a quarter of paper dollars, for all of which they draw interest 

 from the people, although not obliged to keep six cents in their money-till to redeem them. 

 All the troops were paid in the depreciated paper of these fraudulent bankrupt concerns, the 

 directors of which deserve the Penitentiary : the contracts of the commissariat are paid in the 

 same paper as a 10 per cent, shave : and the troops up at Brantford were also paid in Bank ! 

 notes which the Bank did not pretend to redeem ; and it would have offended Sir George 

 [Arthur], who has a share in such speculations (as he had when in VanDieman's Land), had 

 any one asked the dollars. Sir Allan McNab, who has risen from poverty to be president de 

 facto, solicitor, directors and company of the Gore Bank, ever since its creation, is said to be 

 ten-ibly embarrassed for want of money. He is not the alpha and omega of the Bank now. He 

 has quarrelled with his brother villains. The money paid to Canada from England to uphold 

 troops to coerce the people helps the Banks." In the same number of the Gazette published at 

 Eociester we have an extract from a production by Robert Gourlay himself, who in his old age 

 paid a final visit of inspection to Canada. In allusion to a portion of Gourlay's famous work 

 publshed in 1822, the extract is headed in McKenzie's Gazette "Robert Gourlay's 'Last 

 Sketdi' of Upper Canada." It is dated at Toronto, May 25th. Having just presented one 

 gloony view, we will venture to lower the reader's spirits a particle more, by giving another. 

 Let alowance be made for the morbid mental condition of the writer, the contrast offered by 

 the Qinada of to-day will afterwards proportionably exhilarate. " What did Upper Canada 

 gaiUj" Gourlayasks " by my banishment ; and what good is now to be seen in it? Cast an eye 

 over 'he length and breadth of the land " he cries, "from Maiden to Point Fortune, and from 

 the RUs to Lake Simcoe : then say if a single public work is creditable, or a single institution 

 as it ;hould be. The Rideau Canal !— what is it but a monument of England's folly and waste ; 

 whicl can never return a farthing of interest ; or, for a single day stay the conquest of the 

 provhce. The Welland Canal ! — Has it not been frcm beginning till now a mere struggle of 

 misey and mismanagement ; and from now onward, promising to become a putrid ditch. The 

 onlyrailway, of ten miles : with half completed ; and half which cannot be completed for want 

 of fmds ! The macadamised roads, all in mud ; only causing an increase of wear and tear. 

 The province deeply in debt; confidence uprooted; and banks beleaguered '—Schools and 

 Coleges, what are they ? — Few yet painted, though lectures on natural philosophy are now 

 abmdant. The Cobourg seminary outstaring aU that is sanctimonious : so airy and lank that 

 leaning cannot take root in it. A college at Sandwich built before the war, but now a pig stye ; 

 ant one at Toronto indicated only by an approach. The edifices of the Church !— how few 

 wffthy of the Divine presence — how many unfinished — how many fallen to decay. The Church 

 itelf, wholly militant : Episcopalians maintaining what can never be established ; Presbyterians 

 rore sour than ever, contending for rights where they have none whatever : Methodists so dis- 

 uiited that they cannot even join in a respectable groan ; and Catholic priests wandering about 

 ii poverty because their scattered and starving flocks yield not suflftcient wool for the shears, 

 toe institution only have I seen praiseworthy and progressing — The Penitentiary ; but that is 

 I concentrated essence, seeing the whole province is one : and which of you, resident land- 

 tiolders, having sense or regard for your family, would remain in it a day, could you sell your 

 property and be off?" 



Some popular Almanacs of a remarkable character also emanated from McKenzie's press. 

 Whilst in the United States he put forth the Caroline Almanac, a designation intended to keep 

 alive the memory of the cutting out of the Caroline steamer from Fort Schlosser in ISS?, and 

 her precipitation over the Falls of Niagara, an act sought to be held up as a great outrage on 

 the part of the Canadian authorities- In the Canadian Almanacs, published by him, intended 

 for circularion especially among the country population, the object kept in view was the same 

 as that so industriously aimed at by the Advocate itself, viz., the exposure of the shortcomings 

 and vices of the government of the day. At the same time a large amount of practically useful 

 matter and information was supplied. The earlier almanac was entitled " Poor Richard, or the 

 Yorkshire Almanac," and the compiler professed to be one " Patrick Swift, late of Belfast, in 

 the Kingdom of Ireland, Esq., P.R.I., Grand-nephew of the celebrated Doctor Jonathan Swift, 

 Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin, etc. etc. etc." This same personage was a contributor also of 



