The Prices Of These Papers
Vary From A Penny To Threepence Each, And A Workman Would As Soon Think Of
Depriving Himself Of His Breakfast As Of His Morning Journal.
It is stated
that thousands of the subscribers to the newspapers are so illiterate as
to depend upon their children for a knowledge of their contents.
At
present few people, comparatively speaking, are more than half educated.
The knowledge of this fact lowers the tone of the press, and circumscribes
both authors and speakers, as any allusions to history or general
literature would be very imperfectly, if at all, understood.
The merchants and lawyers of Canada have, if of British extraction,
generally received a sound and useful education, which, together with the
admirable way in which they keep pace with the politics and literature of
Europe, enables them to pass very creditably in any society. There are
very good book-stores in Canada, particularly at Toronto, where the best
English works are to be purchased for little more than half the price
which is paid for them at home, and these are largely read by the educated
Canadians, who frequently possess excellent libraries. Cheap American
novels, often of a very objectionable tendency, are largely circulated
among the lower classes; but to provide them with literature of a better
character, large libraries have been formed by local efforts, assisted by
government grants. Canada as yet possesses no literature of her own, and
the literary man is surrounded by difficulties. Independently of the heavy
task of addressing himself to uneducated minds, unable to appreciate depth
of thought and beauty of language, it is not likely that, where the
absorbing passion is the acquisition of wealth, much encouragement would
be given to the struggles of native talent.
Canada, young as she is, has made great progress in the mechanical arts,
and some of her machinery and productions make a very creditable show at
the Paris Exhibition; but it must be borne in mind that this is due to the
government, rather than to the enterprise of private exhibitors.
Taken altogether, there is perhaps no country in the world so prosperous
or so favoured as Canada, after giving full weight to the disadvantages
which she possesses, in a large Roman Catholic population, an unsettled
state of society, and a mixed and imperfectly educated people. It is the
freest land under the sun, acknowledging neither a despotic sovereign nor
a tyrant populace; life and property are alike secure - liberty has not yet
degenerated into lawlessness - the constitution combines the advantages of
the monarchical and republican forms of government - the Legislative
Assembly, to a great extent, represents the people - religious toleration
is enjoyed in the fullest degree - taxation and debt, which cripple the
energies and excite the disaffection of older communities, are unfelt - the
slave flying from bondage in the south knows no sense of liberty or
security till he finds both on the banks of the St. Lawrence, under the
shadow of the British flag. Free from the curse of slavery, Canada has
started untrammelled in the race of nations, and her progress already bids
fair to outstrip in rapidity that of her older and gigantic neighbour.
Labour is what she requires, and as if to meet that requirement,
circumstances have directed the attention of emigrants towards her - the
young, the enterprising, and the vigorous, are daily leaving the wasted
shores of Scotland and Ireland for her fertile soil, where the laws of
England shall still protect them, and her flag shall still wave over them.
Large numbers of persons are now leaving the north-east of Scotland for
Canada, and these are among the most valuable of the emigrants who seek
her shores. They carry with them the high moral sense, the integrity, and
the loyalty which characterise them at home; and in many cases more than
this - the religious principle, and the "godliness which has promise of the
life which now is, and of that which is to come."
Taken as a whole, the inhabitants of both provinces are attached to
England and England's rule; they receive the news of our reverses with
sorrow, and our victories create a burst of enthusiasm from the shores of
the St. Lawrence to those of Lake Superior. As might be expected, the
Anglo-French alliance is extremely popular: to show the sympathy of
Canada, the Legislature made the munificent grant of 20,000l. to be
divided between the Patriotic Funds of both nations, and every township
and village has contributed to swell a further sum of 30,000l. to be
applied to the same object. The imperial garrisons in Canada have recently
been considerably diminished, and with perfect safety; the efforts of
agitators to produce disaffection have signally failed; and it is stated
by those best acquainted with the temper of the people, that Canada will
not become a separate country, except by England's voluntary act.
At present every obstacle to her further development seems to be removed -
her constitution has been remodelled within the last few years on an
enlarged and liberal basis - her religious endowments have just been placed
on a permanent footing - all the points likely to cause a rupture with the
United States have been amicably settled - and important commercial
advantages have been obtained: the sun of prosperity shines upon her from
the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the distant shores of the Ottawa and the
Western Lakes. She requires only for the future the blessing of God, so
freely accorded to the nations which honour Him, to make her great and
powerful. The future of nations, as of individuals, is mercifully veiled
in mystery; we can trace the rise and progress of empires, but we know not
the time when they shall droop and decay - when the wealthy and populous
cities of the Present shall be numbered with the Nineveh and Babylon of
the Past. It may be that in future years our mighty nation shall go the
way of all that have been before it; but whether the wise decrees of
Providence doom it to flourish or decline, we can still look with
confident hope to this noble colony in the New World, believing that on
her enlightened and happy shores, under the influence of beneficent
institutions and of a scriptural faith, the Anglo-Saxon race may renew the
vigour of its youth, and realise in time to come the brightest hopes which
have ever been formed of England in the New World.
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