10 



advantage to the state. With the increase o£ \ 

 agriculture, from whence flow the fundamental 

 riches of every state, commerce and all the 

 useful arts usually experience a relative ame- 

 lioration ; an enlarged population is invariably 

 the consequence ; and in the course of 39 

 years a capitation shews an increase to have 

 taken place from 90,000 to no less a number 

 than 335,000 souls, as the whole population of 

 the province of Lower Canada. This aggregate, 

 drawn from sources, and formed upon data 

 that cannot deviate much from the general 

 correctness of round numbers, will be viewed 

 with astonishment by every reflecting person ; 

 and must convey to the mind a powerful con- 

 viction of the importance of such a colony, 

 whose natural resources, as yet but partially 

 unfolded, have, in so short a space of time, 

 been the means of fostering so vast an increase. 

 Of this total number 275,000 may be called 

 native Canadians, descendants of the original 

 French settlers ; the remainder is composed of 

 a mixture of many nations, as English, Scotch, 

 Irish, Americans ; in fact, almost of every 

 nation. 



At the time this country fell under the 

 English government, the feudal system uni- 

 versally prevailed in the tenure of lands, and 

 which, as before mentioned, still continues 



