The Municipalities Of Which I Speak
Extend, I Believe, To All Canada - The Two Provinces Being Divided
Into Counties, And The Counties Subdivided Into Townships, To
Which, As A Matter Of Course, The Municipalities Are Attached.
From Quebec to Montreal there are two modes of travel.
There are
the steamers up the St. Lawrence, which, as all the world know, is,
or at any rate hitherto has been, the high-road of the Canadas; and
there is the Grand Trunk Railway. Passengers choosing the latter
go toward Portland as far as Richmond, and there join the main line
of the road, passing from Richmond on to Montreal. We learned
while at Quebec that it behooved us not to leave the colony till we
had seen the lake and mountains of Memphremagog; and, as we were
clearly neglecting our duty with regard to the Saguenay, we felt
bound to make such amends as lay in our power by deviating from our
way to the lake above named. In order to do this we were obliged
to choose the railway, and to go back beyond Richmond to the
station at Sherbrooke. Sherbrooke is a large village on the
confines of Canada, and, as it is on the railway, will no doubt
become a large town. It is very prettily situated on the meeting
of two rivers; it has three or four churches, and intends to
thrive. It possesses two newspapers, of the prosperity of which I
should be inclined to feel less assured. The annual subscription
to such a newspaper, published twice a week, is ten shillings. A
sale of a thousand copies is not considered bad. Such a sale would
produce 500 pounds a year; and this would, if entirely devoted to
that purpose, give a moderate income to a gentleman qualified to
conduct a newspaper. But the paper and printing must cost
something, and the capital invested should receive its proper
remuneration. And then - such at least is the general idea - the
getting together of news and the framing of intelligence is a
costly operation. I can only hope that all this is paid for by the
advertisements, for I must trust that the editors do not receive
less than the moderate sum above named. At Sherbrooke we are still
in Lower Canada. Indeed, as regards distance, we are when there
nearly as far removed from Upper Canada as at Quebec. But the race
of people here is very different. The French population had made
their way down into these townships before the English and American
war broke out, but had not done so in great numbers. The country
was then very unapproachable, being far to the south of the St.
Lawrence, and far also from-any great line of internal
communication toward the Atlantic. But, nevertheless, many
settlers made their way in here from the States - men who preferred
to live under British rule, and perhaps doubted the stability of
the new order of things. They or their children have remained here
since; and, as the whole country has been opened up by the railway,
many others have flocked in.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 48 of 277
Words from 24329 to 24849
of 143277