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a determination to avail itself fairly and justly 

 of the ample means it affords for amelioration, 

 the most important advantage to Lower Canada, 

 and consequently to the empire, would soon be 

 the result of its care ; but if left merely to the 

 strength of their own efforts, the period of ex- 

 tensive improvement must of necessity become 

 much more remote. 



There is however one subject on which the 

 British settlers in this district have a strong 

 claim to the interference of government in their 

 behalf, to rescue them from the vexatious de- 

 lays and arbitrary impositions they have been 

 forced to submit to for years, from the custom- 

 houses established on Lake Champlain by the 

 Americans. The navigation from Phillipsburg, 

 on the eastern side of Missisqui Bay, to St. 

 John's on the river Richelieu, by which nearly 

 all the produce of these townships is conveyed 

 to a market, for a considerable distance runs 

 within the American waters; as vessels of all 

 descriptions must proceed several miles down 

 the lake before they can double the point of Al- 

 burg to get into the river. In doing this they are 

 brought to by the United States revenue boats, 

 and often detained, under very frivolous pre- 

 tences or litigious objections, for a long period, 

 frequently to the injury of their cargoes, and 

 always detrimental to the proprietors. Against 



