the British islands, measures but three million seven hundred and eight thousand; so that, throwing away two hundred and ninety-two thousand square miles for rivers and lakes of larger extent than are found in this hemisphere, you have in North America, for the inexhaustible sustenance of British subjects, a country as large as Europe. This country resembles Europe in all its principal features; it is full of the same natural advantages, and as capable of improvement as Europe was in her early days. Taking the round number of square miles, and reducing them to acres, and we have above ninety acres for every man, woman and child in the British islands. Now, suppose that they throw off two millions of their population, and I shall show you presently that there are that number to spare, we shall have a square mile of land for every inhabitant, or four thousand four hundred and eighty acres for every head of a family that British America would then contain. Is not this a country to which, in the present condition of England, the attention of her statesmen and of her people should be turned? But it is often said the climate of North America is rigorous and severe. Do me the favor to glance at the eastern hemisphere, including Europe, Asia, and Africa, and, separating the northern countries from the south, the vigorous parallels from the warm and enervating, tell me in which reside, at this moment, the domestic virtues, the pith of mankind, the seats of commerce, the centres of intelligence, the arts of peace, the discipline of war, the political power and dominion? Assuredly in the northern half. And yet it was not always so. The southern and eastern portions, blessed with fertility, and containing the cradle of our race, filled up first, and ruled for a time the territories at the north. But as civilization and population advanced northwards, the bracing climate did its work, as it will ever do; and in physical endurance, and intellectual energy, the north asserted the superiority, which to this hour it maintains.

Glance again at the map, and you will perceive that England still owns half the continent of North America; and taking the example of Europe to guide us, I believe, the best half. Not the best for slavery, for, thank God, we have not a slave or a Fugitive Slave Law in our Northern Provinces. Not the best for raising cotton or tobacco, but the best for raising men and women; the most congenial to the constitution of the northern European; the most provocative of steady industry; and all things else being equal, the most impregnable and secure.

The climate of North America, though colder than that of England, is dryer when it is cold. I rarely wear an overcoat, except when it rains: an old chief justice died recently in Nova Scotia at one hundred and three years of age, who never wore one in his life. Sick regiments,

invalided to our garrison, recover their health and vigor immediately; and yellow fever patients coming home from the West Indies walk about in a few days. Look at the countenances and robust appearance of the inhabitants, and you will see the vigor and energy that the climate of North America imparts.

I have said that, all things being equal, the two divisions of the continent would be similarly improved; but, sir, they are not, and never have been, equal. The first British emigration all went to the southern half. Whither went the "Mayflower," that sailed with the Pilgrims from this port? To the heart of the New England States. Whither went Penn's and Baltimore's emigration? To Pennsylvania and Maryland. The northern portion, for one hundred and fifty years, being occupied by French hunters, traders, and Indians. The British did not begin to settle in Nova Scotia till 1749, nor in Canada till 1763. Prior to the former period Massachusetts numbered one hundred and sixty thousand inhabitants; Connecticut, one hundred thousand; Philadelphia had her eighteen thousand before an Englishman had built a house in Haliifax; and Maine had her two thousand four hundred and eighty-five enrolled militiamen, long before a Briton had settled in the Province of New Brunswick. All the other States were proportionably advanced before Englishmen turned their attention to the Northern Provinces at all. The permanent occupation of Halifax, and the loyalist emigration from the older States, gave them the first impetus. But, you will perceive, that, in the race of improvement, the old thirteen States had a long start; they had three millions of Britons and their descendants, a flourishing commerce, and much wealth to begin with, at the Revolution. But a few hundreds occupied the Provinces, to which I wish to call your attention, at the commencement of the war; but a few thousands at its close.

Now, Mr. Chairman, you will perceive, that had both these portions of the American continent enjoyed the same advantages down to the present hour, the southern half must have improved, and increased its numbers, much faster than the northern. But the advantages were not equal. The excitement and the necessities of the war of independence inspired the people at the South with enterprise and self-confidence, and non-intercourse with Great Britain stimulated domestic manufactures. Besides, they had free trade with each other, and, so far as they chose to have, or could obtain it by their own diplomacy, with all the world. The Northern Provinces had separate governments - half-paternal despotisms, which repressed instead of stimulating enterprise. They had often hostile tariffs, and, down to the advent of Mr. Huskisson, and

even to the period when the navigation laws were repealed, were cramped in their commercial operations by the restrictive policy of England..

In other respects, the South had the advantage. From the moment that their independence was recognized, the confederated States enjoyed the absolute control over their internal affairs. Fancy what this did for them, for more than half a century that the northern Provinces were governed by politicians voted in and out of office by the fluctuations of opinion in England, or by officers sent out, and by the permanent irresponsible cliques that these almost invariably gathered round them. Down to the year 1839, when Lord John Russell's celebrated dispatch was promulgated in the Colonies, and the struggle was scarcely over till 1848, when that dispatch was acted on and enforced by the present government, the Colonies were carrying on perpetual contests with Governors and Secretaries of State, to win that which Englishmen have enjoyed since the Revolution of 1688, the privilege of managing their own affairs. To that contest I devoted twenty years of my life, and I thank God it is now over. England has given us that self-government which she has herself enjoyed for a century and a half, and I trust we shall make a good use of it.

But I have not enumerated all the sources of disparity. The National Government of the United States early saw the value and importance of emigration. It bought up Indian lands, enlarged acknowledged boundaries by pertinacious and successful diplomacy, surveyed its territory, and prepared for colonization. The States, or public companies or speculators in them, borrowed millions from England (a good many of which they have forgotten to pay), opened roads, laid off and advertised lots in every part of Europe, and invited emigration. Congress framed Constitutions suited to the new settlements, investing them with modified self-government from the moment that the most simple materials for organization were accumulated; and formed them into new States, with representation in the National Councils, whenever they numbered forty thousand inhabitants. Ohio, for instance, which is one of the colonies thus planted, did not exist in 1783. It now contains a million and a half of people, and has its nineteen members in Congress. British America contains two millions, and has not a single representative in your National Council.

But pass that over. While all this was going on, what did England do to people and to promote the prosperity of her Northern Provinces? Almost nothing. She was too much occupied with foreign wars and diplomacy; often descending from her high estate to subsidize foreign princes, whose petty dominions, if flung into a Canadian lake, would

scarcely raise the tide. What did we do in the Northern Provinces to fill up this territory? We did the best we could. We married as early, and increased the population as fast as we could. But, jesting apart, what could we do? Down to 1815 we were engrossed by the wars of England; our commerce being cramped by the insecurity of our coasts and harbors. Down to 1848, we were engaged in wars with successive Governers and Secretaries of State, for the right to manage our internal affairs. These are now over, and we, on our side of the water, have got command, to some extent at least, of our own resources and of our time. We have now the means and the leisure to devote to the great questions of colonization, emigration, and internal improvement; to examine our external relations with the rest of the empire and with the world at large; to consult with you on the imperfect state of those relations, and upon the best appropriation that can be made of your surplus labor, and of our surplus land, for our mutual advantage, that the poor may be fed, the waste places filled up, and this great empire strengthened and preserved.

Having shown you why the contrast is so striking between the United States and the North American Provinces, let me now show you what the latter have accomplished, even under all the disadvantages which they have had to encounter.

The five that occupy that portion of territory which has been politically organized, are: Canada, which lies the farthest back, and is the most extensive and populous of the whole; New Brunswick, which joins to Canada; Nova Scotia, next to that; Prince Edward Island, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence; and the Island of Newfoundland. With all their disadvantages, let me now show the audience what these colonies have done and what they are worth. The five provinces number about two millions of inhabitants. Their annual average imports and exports, from 1842 to 1846, have been as follows:

Now, a total amount of imports of near five millions, and over four millions of exports, does not show a bad industrial condition in such a short time, and under such disadvantages.

I have noticed the common mistake which people make in Europe, who confound the Maritime Provinces and Canada together, as though there was no distinction. Canada is a noble Colony, full of resources, but its harbors are closed with frost in winter, while those of Nova Scotia and of most of the Maritime Provinces are open all the year round. For general commerce, you will perceive, then, that our advantages are very superior; that our people are destined much more extensively than their brethren in the rear, to "go down to the sea in ships," to be the carriers and factors of those who occupy the extensive regions further west. These maritime Colonies, in point of territory, include eighty-six thousand square miles, an area half as large again as the kingdoms of England and Scotland, and nearly as large as Holland, Greece, Belgium, Portugal, and Switzerland, all put together. They are rich in mines, and surrounded by the best fisheries in the world. Taking all the Provinces, and summing up the number of registered vessels they now possess, not including vessels merely built for the English market, I find that Canada owned, in 1846, six hundred and four; New Brunswick, seven hundred and thirty; Newfoundland, nine hundred and thirty-seven; and Prince Edward Island, two hundred and sixtyfive; being a total of two thousand, five hundred and thirty-six vessels, measuring two hundred and fifty-two thousand eight hundred and ninetytwo tons. Nova Scotia, my own Province, the peculiar character and resources of which are but little understood in England, — possessed in 1846, two thousand five hundred and eighty-three vessels; or, fortyseven more than all the other four Provinces put together, and measuring one hundred and forty-one thousand and ninety-three tons. Nova Scotia, in many respects, greatly resembles England. It is nearly an island, being joined to the Province of New Brunswick by a narrow isthmus. Of coal, it has endless fields; it has iron in rich abundance; inexhaustible fisheries surround its shores; and its noble harbors are open all the year round. Its population is made up of English, Irish, and Scotchmen; or rather, of a native race, combining the blood and the characteristics of the three kingdoms, with a few Germans and French, who make agreeable varieties.

With this brief description, I trust, sir, that you will perceive that we have wrestled manfully with the disadvantages I have described; are not unworthy of our lineage; nor have been heedless of the resources of the countries we occupy. Five thousand vessels floating on the ocean, under your flag, is our contribution in a single century to the mercantile marine of the empire. This does not include boats engaged in the shore fisheries. Of this fleet, little Nova Scotia owns one-half, or more