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PREFACE
No one can give an adequate view of the general life of a
colonist, unless he has been one himself. Unless he has experienced all the
various gradations of colonial existence, from that of the pioneer in the
backwoods and the inhabitant of a shanty, up to the epoch of his career,
when he becomes the owner, by his own exertions, of a comfortable house and
well-cleared farm, affording him the comforts and many of the luxuries of
civilization, he is hardly competent to write on such a subject. I have
myself passed through all these grades. I have had the honour of filling
many colonial appointments, such as Commissioner of the Court of Requests,
and Justice of the Peace. My commission in her Majesty’s Militia, and my
connection with the Canada Company, have also afforded me some opportunities
of acquiring additional information. I was in the Company’s service during
the early settlement of Guelph and also of Goderich, in the Huron tract. I
am, therefore, as intimately acquainted with those flourishing settlements
as with the townships in my own county of Peterborough.
Upon my return to my native country in August, on a visit to
my venerable mother, I was advised by my family to give my colonial
experience to the world in a plain, practical manner. I followed the
flattering suggestions of relatives so distinguished for literary
attainments, and so dear to my affections, and “Twenty-seven Years in Canada
West; or, The Experience of an Early Settler" is the result of my compliance
with their wishes.
The subject of colonization is, indeed, one of vital
importance, and demands much consideration, for it is the wholesome channel
through which the superfluous population of England and Ireland passes, from
a state of poverty to one of comfort. It is true that the independence of
the Canadian settler must be the fruit of his own labour, for none but the
industrious can hope to obtain that reward. In fact, idle and indolent
persons will not change their natures by going out to Canada. Poverty and
discontent will be the lot of the sluggard in the Bush, as it was in his
native land—nay, deeper poverty, for “ he cannot work, to beg he is
ashamed,” and if he be surrounded by a family, those nearest and dearest to
him will share in his disappointment and regret.
But let the steady, the industrious, the cheerful man go
forth in hope, and turn his talents to account in a new country, whose
resources are not confined to tillage alone—where the engineer, the
land-surveyor, the navigator, the accountant, the lawyer, the medical
practitioner, the manufacturer, will each find a suitable field for the
exercise of his talents ; where, too, the services of the clergyman are much
required, and the pastoral character is valued and appreciated a$ it ought
to be.
To the artizan, the hand-loom weaver, and the peasant, Canada
is indeed a true land of Goshen. In fact, the stream of migration cannot
flow too freely in that direction. However numerous the emigrants may be,
employment can be obtained for all.
That the industrial classes do become the richest men cannot
be denied, because their artificial wants are fewer, and their labours
greater than those of the higher ranks. However, the man of education and
refinement will always keep the balance steady, and will hold offices in the
Colony and responsible situations which his richer but less learned
neighbour can never fill with ease or propriety.
The Canadian settler possesses vast social advantages over
other colonists. lie has no convict neighbours—no cruel savages, now, to
contend with—no war—no arid soil wherewith to contend. The land is,
generally speaking, of a rich quality, and the colonist has fire-wood for
the labour of cutting, fish for the catching, game for the pleasant exercise
of hunting and shooting in Nature’s own preserves, without the expense of a
licence, or the annoyance of being warned off by a surly gamekeeper.
The climate of Canada West is healthier and really pleasanter
than that of England or Ireland. The cold is bracing, and easily mitigated
by good fires and warm clothing; but it is not so really chilling as the
damp atmosphere of the mother-country. Those who have not visited the
Canadas are apt to endow the Upper Province with the severe climate of the
Lower one, whereas that of Western Canada is neither so extremely hot nor so
cold as many districts of the United States.
Emigration to Canada is no longer attended with the
difficulties and disadvantages experienced by the early settlers, of which
such lamentable, and perhaps exaggerated accounts have frequently issued
from the press. The civilizing efforts of the Canada Company have covered
much of the wild forest-land with smiling corn-fields and populous villages.
Indeed, the liberal manner in which the Company have offered their lands on
sale or lease, have greatly conduced to the prosperity of the Western
Province.
If the facts and suggestions contained in the following pages
should prove useful and beneficial to the emigrant, by smoothing his rough
path to comfort and independence, my object will be attained, and my first
literary effort will not have been made in vain.
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