The Habitans Of The Lower Province, Though Moral And
Amiable, Are Not Ambitious, And Hold Their Ancient Customs With A Tenacity
Which Opposes Itself To Their Advancement.
The various changes in the
tariff made by the Imperial Government affected Lower Canada very
seriously.
On comparing the rate of increase in the population of the two
provinces in the same period of twelve years, we find that for Upper
Canada it was 130 per cent., for Lower Canada only 34 per cent. The
disparity between the population and the wealth of the two provinces is
annually on the increase.
The progress of Upper Canada is something perfectly astonishing, and bids
fair to rival, if not exceed, that of her gigantic neighbour. Her
communication between the Lake district and the Atlantic is practically
more economical, taking the whole of the year, and, as British emigration
has tended chiefly to the Upper Province, the population is of a more
homogeneous character than that of the States. The climate also is more
favourable than that of Lower Canada. These circumstances, combined with
the inherent energy of the Anglo-Saxon races which have principally
colonised it, account in great measure for the vast increase in the
material prosperity of the Upper Province as compared with the Lower.
In 1830 the population of Upper Canada was 210,437 souls; in 1842,
486,055; and in 1851 it had reached 952,004. Its population is now
supposed to exceed that of Lower Canada by 300,000 souls.
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