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 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF ILLINOIS 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
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 lUlB HISTORICAL SURVEY 

 
 
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 Hi
 
 REPORT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SELECT COMMITTEE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 LEGISLATHfE ASSEMBLY, 
 
 APPOINTED TO INQUIRE INTO THE CAUSES A>'D 
 IMPORTANCE OF 
 
 THE EAUGRATIOIV 
 
 WHICH TAKES PLACE ANNUALLY, 
 
 iFROn LOWER CANADA TO THE UNITED STATES.! 
 
 PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY. 
 
 PRINTED BY ROLLO CAMPBKLL. 
 1849.
 
 
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 REPORT. 
 
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 The Select Committee appointed to Inquire 
 into the Causes and Importance of the EIU- 
 lORATIOM -which takes place annually from 
 liOirer Canada to the United States; the Class, 
 and if possible^ the Number of Persons who 
 have Eniii^rated during the last five years; 
 the Fate of the Individuals and Families w^ho 
 have Emigrated; and the best means to pre- 
 vent that Emigration for the future— have 
 the honor to Report:— 
 
 Your Committee, while occupied in considering 
 the important Questions submitted to their examina- 
 tion by Your Honourable House, were disturbed and 
 retai'ded by the painful events of the tweaty-fifth of 
 April last ; and the mass of interesting evidence col- 
 lected by Your Committee, shared tiie fate of all the 
 other public documents contained in the Parliament 
 Buildings. 
 
 Your Committee have procured, however, thanks 
 to the good will of some of the parties to whom they 
 applied, other copies of their answers to the Questions 
 submitted to them by Your Committee; and al- 
 though they regret that it is not in their power to 
 submit to Your Honourable House and to the Coun- 
 try, all the information and all the suggestions which 
 had been originally transmitted to them ; Your Com- 
 mittee have, nevertheless, the satisfaction of present- 
 ing to Your Honcturable House, annexed to this Re- 
 port, a still sufficiently voluminous Appendix, worthy 
 of the most serious attention of the Government and 
 of the Legislature. 
 
 It is a painful task for Your Committee to have 
 to inform Your Honourable House, that the emigra- 
 tion of Her Majesty's Subjects in this Province, to 
 places out of Her Majest3''s dominions, is much more 
 considerable than was generally believed, and threat- 
 ens to become a real calamity for Lower Canada. 
 
 1 
 
 »
 
 i 
 
 It is tnie, that when a country is sufficiently peo- 
 pled, when the whole extent of its territory is in a 
 state of cultivation, when all its agricultural, indus- 
 trial, manufacturing, and commercial resources have 
 become exhausted in nourishing an overflowing po- 
 pulation, without any other means of existence left 
 than begging, it is true that, under such circumstances, 
 an emigration which has the effect of transforming 
 families, which were a burthen to the older community, 
 into founders of a new one, is a benefit to the coun- 
 try thus afflicted and to mankind in general. 
 
 But in a new country, a portion only of whose 
 territoiy is in a state of cultivation, whose population 
 is no where numerous enough to present the painful 
 spectacle of pauperism ; in a country which, instead of 
 having an excess of population to cast off, calls, on 
 the contrary, to its assistance the strength and capi- 
 tal of foreign emigration ; the double fact that this 
 foreign emigration leaves in it very few settlers, arid 
 that the inhabitants themselves emigrate in great 
 numbers to foreign countries, must arouse the atten- 
 tion of the Legislator, and lead him to inquire, whe- 
 ther all is right in the order of things which it 
 is his duty to direct and modify ? whether it is na- 
 ture herself which does not offer to the inhabitant 
 of the country, sufficient advantages to induce him 
 to remain ; or whether it is not rather society which 
 has neglected to turn to advantage the field which 
 nature has afforded ? 
 
 Allowing to the climate the destruction caused 
 by the wheat-fly, to the natural movement of the po- 
 pulation from the north to the south, and from the 
 east to the west, and to causes more or less acciden- 
 tal and uncontrollable, their probable share of influ- 
 ence ; Your Committee have still found subjects for 
 very serious reflection on the part of the Legislature 
 and the Executive Government in some of the other 
 causes of this emigration, which fall more particularly 
 within the sphere of action of one or the other of 
 these authorities. 
 
 It would, undoubtedly, be absurd to attempt to pre- 
 vent or even to discourage those inhabitants of the 
 country who can find more accessible, better culti- 
 vated, and cheaper lands elsewhere, from seeking out 
 of their coimtry for that which their country denies 
 them. Any ])ropopition of this nature mu-'t fail be-
 
 lore facts and the instinct of individual welfare, if it 
 be not accompanied by practical measures calculated 
 to make the advantages afforded by this country 
 balance and compensate those offered by others. But 
 Your Committee sincerely believe, that besides the 
 still very great check arising from the attachment of 
 the inhabitants of the country to its institutions, its 
 societies, its manners and customs, to their father- 
 land, in fine, it would be possible for the Legislator 
 to adopt efficient means of settlement, which should 
 be alike advantageous to the settler and to the Go- 
 vernment, whose duty it is, at all events, to ensure 
 for every part of this Province the best possible 
 chance in the race of rivalry, by which the different 
 countries of America are incited to advance in popu- 
 lation, in riches, and in material progress. 
 
 The public opinion expressed so strongly and 
 unanimously in favour of the settlement of the Town- 
 ships of Lower Canada, and the success which has 
 already crowned some of the enterprizes carried on 
 under the direction of associations formed by the 
 efforts of a few priests and zealous citizens, confirm 
 the opinion of Your Committee, that the evil, al- 
 though greatly advanced, is not incurable, if the re- 
 medy be applied without delay. 
 
 The first point to which Your Committee had to 
 direct their attention, was naturally that of ascertain- 
 ing the extent, course, and progress of the emigration. 
 The following are the most certain dates which Your 
 Committee could gather from the different evidence 
 submitted to them for examination: — 
 
 The emigration began principally after the insur- 
 rections of 1837 and 1838, and was then strictly con- 
 fined to the District of Montreal, and to such parts 
 of that District as had suffered the most from the de- 
 predations carried on at that period. The efforts at 
 settlement and the construction of Railroads which 
 were undertaken in the United States about that 
 period, attracted and retained a great number of 
 workmen who had been driven away by the Avant of 
 work and the terror of the times. Some farmers, 
 who having left their country for political reasons, 
 had reached the States of Michigan, Ohio, and Illi- 
 nois, which were then, and are still cultivated with 
 so much activity and success, struck with the fertility 
 of these lands, sent to their friends and relations
 
 whom tlicy luul left iu CauaJa, exaggerated Jesciip- 
 tions of the prosperity which awaited them there, 
 and spared no means to induce these friends to join 
 them. It was in the Counties of llouville and Hun- 
 tingdon, that in 1841 and the following years, the 
 first emigrations of any importance were remarked ; 
 and as a great many families in these Counties had 
 originally come from the Counties below Quebec, 
 and had relations there, it is also to the same causes 
 that the origin or perhaps the opportunity afforded 
 for the first emigrations, which at a later period took 
 place from that District, may be traced. 
 
 This emigration, of the agricultural population, has 
 been constantly on the increase, as well as that of 
 the working population of the City of Montreal, and 
 soon after, of the City of Quebec, where the want of 
 work consequent upon the falling off of the Lumber 
 Trade, has been sensibly felt during the last few years ; 
 while the disastrous fires of 1845 obliged a certain 
 number of families to emigrate immediately. 
 
 The emigration from the District of Three Rivers 
 has taken another course; it has depended rather 
 upon that which is going on from the Eastern Town- 
 ships by way of the Lower Canada frontier. These 
 emigrants generally go to the Townships, and thence 
 to the United States. 
 
 A fact worthy of record is, that a great number of 
 jxjrsons from the Counties of Yamaska and Nicolet 
 are hired every year to go and work in the brick 
 yards and other American manufactories; they go 
 and return every year — about one fourth remaining 
 behind in the States. 
 
 A considerable emigration is also going on from 
 the Townships to the United States, but it is more 
 than compensated by the constant emigration of far- 
 mers from the United States, the old Canadian set- 
 tlements, and of Emigrants from Europe. 
 
 Many Canadian farmei's, however, discouraged by 
 the want of roads, the vexations of tlic large land- 
 holders, and sometimes through their own fault and 
 want of perseverance, abandon the lands they have 
 begun to open, and go and hire themselves as la- 
 bourers to the American farmers. . On the other 
 hand, a good number of natives of tlie United States, 
 Ireland, and Scotland, who have succeeded in the 
 cultivation of their lands, sell them, (in many cases
 
 after tliey have exhausted the soil,) citlicr to a new 
 Canadian settler, or to some other emigrant from the 
 British Isles or the United Sttites, and with the pro- 
 duce of the sale they go and purchase otlicr hinds in 
 the west. The French Canadians, on the contrary, 
 when they succeed in their settlement, keep their 
 lands and remain. 
 
 A considerable emigration took place last year 
 from the City of Montreal and the Counties near the 
 Ottawa. This year, it threatens to continue and 
 even to increase. It is almost exclusively composed 
 of mechanics and workmen, and of the labourers 
 known as raftsmen. 
 
 Up to the last few years, the emigration from the 
 District of Quebec, was confined to the City and to 
 that part of the County of Dorchester which borders 
 on the frontier. These emigrants went to the United 
 States by way of St. Johns and Albany, or by the 
 Kennebec road. It is only for the last two years, 
 we may say, that farmers from the Counties of Belle- 
 chasse, LTslet, and even Kamouraska, have sold 
 their lands with the view to purchase others in the 
 Western States. They almost all go to Chicago ty 
 the canals and the lakes. 
 
 The first inhabitants who left these Counties for 
 the United States, had, it is said, family connections 
 with the settlers from the District of Montreal, who 
 had settled in the neighbourhood of Chicago, after 
 the troubles. It was on the return of some of them 
 from their expedition, that they and many others 
 decided on leaving ; and as will be seen by the Ap- 
 pendix, this emigration which sends out of the coun- 
 try considerable capital and a class of farmers both 
 respectable and in easy circumstances, threatens to 
 increase seriously; a great number of fathers of fami- 
 lies having already sold their property during the 
 last winter, with the intention of leaving in the course 
 of the summer. 
 
 It would be very diflBcult for Your Committee 
 to state, even approximately, the number of persons 
 who have emigrated to the United States, and the 
 amount of capital thus withdrawn from the Pro- 
 vince. As public attention has been only lately di- 
 rected to this subject. Your Committee thought it 
 merely necessary to question persons to whom they 
 applied for information, rcs[>ccting the statistics of
 
 8 
 
 the la;>t five yeai-ij only ; their answers are in general 
 very vague and unsatisfactory. 
 
 The answers of the Clergy of the Diocese of Mon- 
 treal, as analysed and transmitted to Your Commit- 
 tee by the Secretary of His Lordship the Bishop of 
 Montreal, show that one thousand families have emi- 
 grated from the Diocese of Montreal during the last 
 five years ; that about two-thirds belong to the work- 
 ing classes, and about one-third to the agricultural 
 class, and that nine-tenths are of French origin. 
 
 Allowing six persons to each family, this makes 
 an emigration of 6,000 individuals ; but the fact that 
 families only are mentioned, shows that the emigra- 
 tion of single individuals, and of young men from the 
 country who go to the United States to get work, 
 is not included in this estimate. The number of 
 these is very great in the Diocese of Montreal, and 
 must be greater than one-half of the above number. 
 Supposing 4,000 to have emigrated during the same 
 space of time, we have an emigration of 10,000 from 
 the Diocese of Montreal in five years; giving an 
 average of 2,000 per annum, whereof 900 in a thou- 
 sand are of French and 100 of British origin. 
 
 The analysis of the answers of the Clergy of the 
 Diocese of Quebec, transmitted by the Secretary of 
 the association for settlement of the Townships, es- 
 tablished at Quebec, gives the number of emigrants 
 in detail, for several parishes ; but gives no approxi- 
 mate number for the whole of the emigration from 
 that Diocese, which includes the Districts of Que- 
 bec, Three Rivers, Gaspe, and part of the District 
 of St. Francis. The parishes mentioned are 13 in 
 number, and the total emigration is 948. To these 
 must be added at least 205 persons, who, according 
 to the evidence of J. N. Brosse, Esquire, Advocate, 
 emigrated last year from the single parish of Cap St. 
 Ignace, in the County of 1 'Islet, and who are not in- 
 cluded in the statement above mentioned. Several 
 other parishes have been omitted, which Your Com- 
 mittee know to have also furnished their proportion 
 to the emigration from the country parts of the Dio- 
 cese of Quebec to the number of 2,500 individuals, 
 being equal to one-fourth of the emigration from the 
 Diocese of Montreal. The emigration of workmen 
 from Quebec during the same period, (that is of 
 those who have permanently settled in foreign coun-
 
 9 
 
 triea, for many return after having been absent for a 
 longer or shorter period,) must be estimated, at least, 
 at 1,500. This would give, for the Diocese of Que- 
 bec, an emigration of 4,000 persons for the last five 
 years ; this number added to that from the Diocese 
 of Montreal, would give a total of 14,000. 
 
 But Your Committee think this result far below 
 the truth. According to public rumour, an emigra- 
 tion of from 8,000 to 10,000 souls took place during 
 the last year only from the City of Montreal alone. 
 Although evidently greatly exaggerated, the very 
 supposition is sufficient to show how far the above 
 numbers are from being correct. 
 
 The Reverend Mr. Chiniquy, in his answers (see 
 Appendix) estimates the total of the emigration from 
 Lower Canada to the United States, during the last 
 five years at 70,000. Without adopting this esti- 
 mate, which gives a number five times greater than 
 that which can be inferred from the answers of the 
 Clergy ; Your Committee is struck with the force 
 which such evidence must have, coming, as it does, 
 from a priest, who, in the course of his noble and 
 successful missions, has had so many opportunities of 
 observing and appreciating the movements of the 
 people. Perhaps the mere moving about of the po- 
 pulation towards the back country, the emigration 
 from the old settlements to the new ones in the 
 Eastern Townships, the Ottawa, Saguenay, and Ri- 
 raouski, the voyages made by a great number of 
 workmen and labourers, and even of farmers, who 
 absent themselves temporarily only, may have led 
 Mr. Chiniquy into error, and may account for the 
 great difference between his evidence and that of the 
 other members of the Clergy on this point. Taking 
 every thing into consideration. Your Committee think 
 they do not exaggerate in stating that the whole 
 emigration of the last five years amounted to 20,000 
 individuals ; which gives an average of 4,000 per an- 
 num. Of this number, 2,000 may belong to the 
 District of Montreal, 1,000 to the Districts of Three 
 Rivers and St. Francis, and 1,000 to the Districts of 
 Quebec and Gasp^. One-third of this emigration 
 belongs to the class of workmen, and the remaining 
 two-thirds to the agricultural class. 
 
 This number of 20,000 souls is already very alarm- 
 ing, forming, as it does, (supposing the population of 
 
 2
 
 10 
 
 Lower Canada to consist of 800,000 souls,) one for- 
 tieth jMirt of the population. The rapid progress 
 which this inclination to emigrate has made, and the 
 preparations for a much more considerable emigra- 
 tion pointed out to Your Committee, lead them to 
 express their fear that the number of emigrants will 
 increase by at least one-half during the next five 
 years, thus forming for a period of ten years an emi- 
 gration of 50,0(X) souls, that is, one sixteenth part of 
 the population. 
 
 As we have already observed, these losses are not 
 compensated by the emigration from the- British 
 Isles, which only leaves a very insignificant propor- 
 tion of settlers ; and even the old settlers of British 
 origin leave Lower Canada, though in a smaller pro- 
 portion. 
 
 The remedies which ought to be applied to this 
 evil, would then be equally advantageous to the two 
 races of men who people this Province. 
 
 To find out the causes of the emigration, it must 
 be divided into several categories, and the particular 
 causes for the different localities, and the various 
 classes of emigrants must be distinguished and sepa- 
 rated from the general causes. We shall then see 
 what is the fate of each class of emigrants when they 
 reach a foreign country. It will be easy to discern 
 what are the causes which are beyond the control of 
 the Government, and what those are which the ac- 
 tion of the Legislative or Executive authorities can 
 remove, or at least considerably diminish. 
 
 The first Class of emigrants consists of the 
 workmen of the Cities of Quebec and Montreal. 
 This class is very numerous, and forms, according to 
 the answers of the Clergy, for the District of Mon- 
 treal, the two-thirds, and for Quebec more than one- 
 half of the emigration.* Cause of Emigration. — The 
 unsettled state of trade and industry in these two 
 Cities for several years past, — the want of manufac- 
 tories to employ the workmen formerly engaged in 
 the lumbering establishments, — the increase of wages 
 in the United States, and their decrease here, — the 
 
 * The emigration of workmen was given above, as being one-third 
 of the whole emigration, because the emigration of young men from 
 the country, in the District of Montreal, was not talcen into con- 
 sideration, and because the emigration from the Districts of Thre<> 
 Rivers and St. Francis must comprise but few worlcmen.
 
 11 
 
 want of pnblic works, which Lower Canada strongly 
 requires, and which would give employment. Their 
 lot in foreign parts. — They find employment on the 
 public works ; the canals and railroads in the United 
 States, the lumbering establishments of Maine, and 
 the manufactories of the State of Vermont. Their 
 wages are high enough, but their expenses are so 
 heavy that they seldom save money. A great many 
 return, but very few with money. Some, according 
 to the evidence adduced before Your Committee, 
 succeed, and settle in pretty good circumstances, 
 either as workmen in the cities, or as purchasers of 
 lands in the west, with the produce of their earnings. 
 Unfortunately, the greater number fall into a social 
 condition, inferior to that in which they were in Ca- 
 nada, and frequently perish in vice and misery. Al- 
 most all the Canadian families which one meets in 
 the States of Maine, Vermont, and New York, are 
 very poor. 
 
 Second ClaSvS. — Workmen who had settled in the 
 villages and country parts. Cause of Emigration. — 
 Our villages are generally small, — the farmers are 
 clever as mechanics, and do themselves almost every 
 thing they might require from a tradesman. The 
 workmen who establish themselves in the country 
 have little employment and lose courage, — the want 
 of manufactories and works, which might keep these 
 workmen employed. This class is not very numerous. 
 Their lot in foreign parts. — The same as that of the 
 preceding class^ with this difference, that, as they are 
 generally less skilful, they have less chance of suc- 
 cess. 
 
 Third Class. — Persons employed as labourers or 
 raftsmen on the Ottawa. Causes of Emigration. — 
 The falling off in the lumber trade, — want of em- 
 ployment for the reasons above stated. Their lot in 
 foreign pa? ts. — The most deplorable. They only find 
 employment as labourers or stokers on board of steam- 
 boats. Sometimes they find none at all, or will not 
 accept of any ; and they have recourse to unlawful 
 means of existence. They associate with the worst 
 class of the American population. Having already 
 contracted bad habits in their annual visits to By- 
 town, Montreal, and Quebec; their morals, which 
 had already suffered by debauchery, suffer more seri- 
 ously by the loss of every principle of honesty. A
 
 1€ 
 
 great many of them are considered in the United 
 States as the refuse of the population, and disgrace 
 the country of their birth. 
 
 Fourth Class. — Young men belonging to good 
 farmers' families. Causes of Emigration. — Difficulties 
 which their parents experience in procuring lands for 
 their childi'en to settle on. The high rate at which 
 the Crown lands have been kept until now. The re- 
 fusal of certain Seigniors to concede the lands of their 
 Seigniories at reasonable prices. The exactions of 
 landed proprietors who impose even heavier condi- 
 tions than the Seigniors. (See Appendix.) The 
 want of roads and means of communication. The 
 want of instruction, and the credibility resulting 
 therefrom, on the part of many young men who will 
 at all hazards roam about the world. The contagion 
 of example. The indifference and want of fore- 
 thought of certain parents who, even when they can 
 do it with facility, do not try to procure new lands 
 for their children, but distribute their farm to them 
 piece-meal. Their lot in foreign parts. — These young 
 men sometimes return with money ; several acquire 
 knowledge and industry ; a great number settle in 
 the United States and live respectably. The majo- 
 rity, however, are in an inferior position, especially 
 when compared with the independent and honourable 
 position they might occupy in their own country as 
 heads of families, and belonging to that respectable 
 and hitherto happy class of pi'oprietors called habi- 
 tants. They almost all hire themselves in the manu- 
 factories, or as farmers' men with the American hus- 
 band-men. A great many of them, unfortunately, 
 share the same fate as those of the preceding class. 
 
 Fifth Class. — Poor families settled in the Seig- 
 niories. Causes of Emigration. — These families are 
 forced, through debt, to emigrate, after having sold 
 their lands and moveables, or seen them sold by the 
 officers of the law. The bad crops in consequence of 
 the wheat-fly, and the backward state of agriculture, 
 and sometimes of intemperance on the part of the 
 head of the family, — indulgences disproportionate to 
 the means of the farmer, and which makes him run 
 into debt with the storekeeper of the place, often 
 greedy and unscrupulous, — the distance from the 
 market, want of means of communication, absence of 
 ■^team navicration which, by brincring the farmer
 
 13 
 
 nearer to the market, would enable him to turn his 
 laboui'3 to account, and encourage him to improve 
 his system of agriculture, — the high rate of rents im- 
 posed by some Seigniors in their new concessions, 
 and which bear heavily on the tenants (censitaire) ; 
 these various causes, and in many cases all these 
 causes together, bring these families into distress, and 
 thus force them to emigrate. Their lot in foreign 
 parts. — They work on the lands of farmers of the 
 United States, sometimes in the manufactories, and 
 frequently at heavy, hard, and badly paid labour. 
 When they can I'ealize enough money by the sale of 
 their pi'operty, to go to the Western States and pur- 
 chase lands, they sometimes happen to succeed. 
 But their prosperity is due to lessons of misfortune, 
 to the greater energy which they shew in economis- 
 ing more sti'ictly than they would do in their own 
 country, to the improvements which they introduce 
 in their system of agriculture, after the manner of 
 their neighbours; and many have acknowledged, 
 (see Appendix), that if they had made the same efforts 
 and followed the same line of conduct when they were 
 in Canada, they would have succeeded equally well. 
 Sixth Class. — Settlers in the new Township set- 
 tlements. Causes of Emigration. — Want of means of 
 communication, or when such do exist, the bad state 
 of repair and keeping up of the roads, the insuffi- 
 ciency of the road laws. The insurmountable diffi- 
 culties resulting therefrom. " The settler can neither 
 bring his produce to market nor procure the things 
 necessary for cultivating his land. He must carry 
 every thing on his shoulders, across the swamps and 
 waste lands belonging to the Crown, or to large 
 neighbouring proprietors. He is isolated and unpro- 
 tected. If he has taken lands from one of these large 
 proprietors, the rate of rents, the dues and reserva- 
 tions which are even higher than those of the Seig- 
 niories, force him to sell. Discouraged in every way, 
 and little disposed withal, from his character and ha- 
 bits, to toil alone in the desert, he abandons after a 
 while a settlement which, with more encouragement 
 on the one hand and more perseverance on the other, 
 might have become more productive," (see Appendix.) 
 Their lot in foreign parts. — Nearly the same as that 
 of the preceding class.
 
 14 
 
 Seventh Clas9. — Faimers in eaay circumstancea 
 who sell their hinds and leave for the West. Causes 
 of Emigration. — Bad crops in Lower Canada for seve- 
 ral years past; want of instruction and knowledge, 
 especially in ihe art of agriculture. Want of means 
 of communication and centres of population, and in 
 fact of protection for the agricultural interest, which 
 has either no market or a very bad one. Active and 
 interested proselytism carried on by the emigrants 
 already settled in the West, who wish to create 
 another fatherland, by attracting their relations, 
 friends, and fellow-countrymen. Exaggerated re- 
 ports of the welfare enjoyed in these far countries. 
 The uneasiness and restlessness of the agricultural 
 population, resulting from the instability of the new 
 municipal institutions. The speeches of wiseacres 
 and extinguishei's (eteignoirs) against every thing in 
 the shape of progress, founded on the horror of taxa- 
 tion. Their fate in foreign parts. — They generally 
 prosper; but it is not long enough since the greater 
 number of them have settled in those parts to enable 
 us to ascertain whether the change will turn out ad- 
 vantageous to them in the end. It is probable that, 
 with the same efforts and the same changes in their 
 mode of cultivation, their condition would have 
 equally improved in their own country. From what 
 is stated by several persons who have travelled in the 
 West, a great number of Canadians fall victims to 
 endemical diseases (ague and other fevei*s) which in- 
 fest those localities, or before they become accustomed 
 to the climate, contract infirmities which last during 
 the remainder of their lives. 
 
 This class of emigrants has only become numerous 
 during the last two or three years ; it threatens to in- 
 crease rapidly. This would indeed be a subject of 
 regret for the Province, for those who compose this 
 class, constitute, according to the happy expression 
 of the Reverend Mr. Ferland, (see his answers,) " the 
 " sinews and riches of a country." 
 
 Eighth Class. — Young men of education belong- 
 ing to respectable but poor families. Causes of Emi- 
 gration. — No variety in the career open to young 
 men — no army or navy which might afford to some 
 of them a mode of life in conformity with their 
 taste and inclinations, — the crowded state of the libe- 
 ral professions, resulting from the deplorable facility
 
 15 
 
 with which parties arc admitted who are unfit to 
 exercise them, — the unjust preference which has un- 
 til now been given to young men of one origin over 
 those of another, and frequently to persons born out 
 of the colony over persons born in it, in the various 
 public departments, — the precarious state of com- 
 merce and trade, which prevents young men from 
 entering either of these branches, — social prejudices, 
 which fortunately are beginning to disappear, and 
 which place those who follow these callings in a po- 
 sition beneath that which they ought to occupy, — 
 up to the last few years the want of pi'actical instruc- 
 tion in our colleges and educational establishments, 
 which have improved, and which every day improve 
 in this respect, — the difficulty which young Cana- 
 dians find in obtaining situations in commercial 
 houses, as almost all these establishments send for 
 their clerks from Scotland or England. Their lot in 
 foreign parts. — A good number of young Canadians 
 have succeeded in the United States both in trade 
 and in the liberal professions. Some have entered 
 the American army, and have behaved in such a man- 
 ner as not to disgrace the blood of their ancestors. 
 A great number of these young men, however, de- 
 prived of the salutary effect always exercised by the 
 surveillance of their parents, and the respect for the 
 opinion of their fellow-citizens, abandon themselves, 
 especially in New Orleans, to excesses which ruin 
 both their health and fortunes. Many of them perish 
 on their arrival there, victims of the climate and 
 yellow fever. 
 
 This class of emigrants is not, as yet, very nume- 
 rous. They generally direct their course to New 
 York or New Orleans. 
 
 MEANS WHICH OUGHT TO BE ADOPTED TO REMEDY 
 
 THIS EVIL. 
 
 There is no one who will not, after reading the 
 preceding remarks, agree that this emigration, as re- 
 spects all classes of emigrants, is in general prejudi- 
 cial both to the prosperity of the Province and the 
 welfare of the emigrants themselves. 
 
 Every one has been alarmed at the extent of the 
 evil and the features it threatens to assume ; and 
 every one, -a{ the same time, has thought of a remedy
 
 for each of the causes we have just enumerated, that 
 is for such as are not accidental or beyond our control. 
 
 These remedies may be divided into such as arc 
 direct and such as are indirect. Some of the first 
 are easy, would occasion little expense, and are ur- 
 gently required. A very little done in time is suf- 
 ficient, when at a later period the same means would 
 be of no avail. Other remedies are expensive and 
 difficult, considering the state of our finances, and 
 are dependant upon the undertaking of great public 
 works or upon special legislation. The indirect 
 means are more or less dependant upon general legis- 
 lation, political economy, and the system of adminis- 
 tration. There is also another class of means which 
 depend on the impression which can be made on 
 public opinion, and these play not the least import- 
 ant part in the work of colonization. 
 
 A remedy of the first class, both easy and direct, 
 has already been adopted by the Government. This 
 is the reduction of the price of Crown lands in cer- 
 tain parts of Lower Canada, and easier terms of pay- 
 ment granted to the new settlers. — The free grant of 
 fifty acres of land to each settler who gives sufficient 
 proof of morality and good intentions, is undoubtedly 
 a great advantage which has already been productive 
 of good results. — The rate of one shilling per acre 
 for the Saguenay lands, is moderate, and Your Com- 
 mittee tmst that the Government will not increase 
 it in that locality, considering the great difficulties 
 which the settlers encounter there. It is not for 
 Your Committee to dictate to the Government the 
 price at which the Crown lands should be sold ; but 
 Your Committee must observe, that it is a false eco- 
 nomy, and a miscalculated speculation, to grant them 
 in any locality on conditions which have only the 
 effect of discouraging the settlers. The country has 
 a great deal more to lose by the emigi-ation of its in- 
 habitants, and the carrying away of its capital to 
 foreign parts, than it has to gain by the sale of a few 
 arpents of land at the highest rates. Besides, it is 
 not so much the reduction of prices as the facility in 
 the terras of payment, which will encourage the Ca- 
 nadian farmer to decide upon encountering the hard- 
 ships of settling on wild lands. lie seldom has suf- 
 ficient money to pay the price of the land on pur- 
 chasing it. The settlement of the seigniories only
 
 ^7 
 
 succeeded so well at first, because the seignior re- 
 quired no money in advance from the tenant, but 
 was content with light annual dues, which were al- 
 most always payable in produce. The more the con- 
 ditions of the sale of the Crown lands approach this 
 system, the more favomble they will be to settlement 
 and thereby profitable to the Province. 
 
 Four lai^ tracts, which may be said to be situate 
 at the four cornei-s of Lower Canada, are now ready 
 for settlement. The Eastern Townships, that extent 
 of fertile land, where the climate is milder than on 
 the borders of the river, extending between the fron- 
 tier and the Seigniories in the Districts of Montreal, 
 St. Francis, and partly in the Districts of Three 
 Rivers and Quebec. The Rimouski territory, which 
 comprises the uncultivated part of the vast and fertile 
 county of the same name, and to which may be 
 added a large extent of land in the rear of the Coun- 
 ties of Kamouraska and LTslet. The Saguenay ter- 
 ritory, which comprises the cultivable portion of that 
 river, the Peninsula of Chicoutimi and all the space 
 comprised between the Laurentides Mountains, the 
 Saguenay and Lake St. Jean. The excellent crops 
 gathered last year and the preceding year, by the 
 new settlers, justify what has been said of the 
 fertility of this territory and its climate, which is not 
 colder, nor even as cold as that of the north shore of 
 the St. Lawrence, in the District of Quebec ; and 
 lastly, the Ottawa territoiy, as large and fertile as 
 any of the preceding, and where settlement has al- 
 ready made great progress. 
 
 These three last portions of the country have al- 
 ready attracted the attention of the Government 
 which has erected them into separate Districts (as the 
 Eastern Townships were long since by the Legisla- 
 ture of Lower Canada), and has taken the necessary 
 steps to establish judicial centres in them, thereby 
 providing one of the means which Your Committee 
 would have suggested. 
 
 But Your Committee, in accordance with all the 
 evidence which forms the Appendix of this Report, 
 must remark to Your Honourable House, that in vain 
 would the Crown Lands be offered at low rates, or 
 even gratuitously, in vain would the greatest sacri- 
 fices be made by individuals or associations to encour- 
 age the sur[)lus population of the Seigniories to settle 
 
 3
 
 18 
 
 on these lands, while the want of roads and means of 
 communication, and the bad state of the existing 
 roads, remain an unsurmountable obstacle to all pro- 
 gress. 
 
 Your Committee believe then that the most press- 
 ing remedy is to make roads to communicate with 
 the territories above mentioned, and to establish a 
 communication between the different parts of these 
 territories. Your Committee are aware of the finan- 
 cial difficulties of the Province, and also that they 
 bave no power to recommend any vote of money to 
 Your Honourable House ; but they must direct the 
 attention of Your Honourable House and of the Go- 
 vernment, to the advantages which would result from 
 the opening of the means of communication herein- 
 afler mentioned: — 1st. County of Dorchester. — There 
 is a considerable emigration from this county, which 
 is owing, principally, as it is every where else, to the 
 want of roads and the bad state of the existing roads ; 
 even the great route leading to the United States, 
 called the Kennebec road, which must be considered 
 as one of the main channels of communication in the 
 Province, is greatly in need of improvement, and is 
 interrupted in several places, by the want of bridges. 
 
 Your Committee are informed, moreover, of the 
 bad state of the road in the Seigniory of Joliet, lead- 
 ing to the Township of Frampton ; from the foot of 
 the hills known as the Mimeau hills {cotes de Mint' 
 eau,) to the road called Ste. Marguerite, and thence 
 to the Church at Frampton, and which is in need of 
 repairs and improvement. The same remark may be 
 applied to the roads along the Etchemin River, on 
 the south-west side in the Township of Frampton, 
 and to the road from the boundary line of Ste. Ma- 
 rie, between the second and third ranges of Framp- 
 ton, to the River Etchemin. The improvement of 
 these roads and the re-building of the bridge on the 
 River Etchemin, which would not cost, in all, more 
 than £1,500, would contribute powerfully towards 
 the settlement of the Crown Lands in that direction. 
 
 2dly. County of Bellechasse : 
 
 The back settlements situate in this county, espe- 
 cially in the parishes of St. Gervais and St. Lazare, 
 are already tolerably densely populated. A road from 
 this last parish, through the wild lands in Buckland, 
 would lead with very little difficulty to the flat lands
 
 19 
 
 of the valley of the River St. Jean ; this route being 
 too much out of the way for the population of the 
 lower part of the county, the inhabitants of that 
 section intend penetrating into the interior by an- 
 other road, for the laying out of which steps have al- 
 ready been taken by the Crown Land Office, to wit, 
 in the rear of the township of Armagh, across the 
 section of " la fourche du Pin.'' These roads would 
 be equally useful. 
 
 3dly. County of rislet : 
 
 There is in this county, about four leagues from 
 the river, a very fine tract of uncultivated laud ; a 
 road starting from the division line between the 
 Parish of St. Jean, Port-Joli, and the augmentation 
 of the Township of Ashford, near Lake Trois Sau- 
 mons, and running easterly as far as the division line 
 between the Township of Ashford and its augmenta- 
 tion, and continuing thence along this line, would 
 open out this tract of laud for settlement. 
 
 4thly. County of Kamouraska : 
 
 The continuation of the road called " the Govern- 
 ment Road," at the back of the Township of Ix- 
 worth, ae prayed for by the inhabitants of this coun- 
 ty, in their Petitions, would contribute much towards 
 the settlement of the Crown Lands in this direction. 
 
 5thly. County of Rimoueki : 
 
 A magnificent valley^ probably one of the most 
 fertile and best watered parts of the country, extends 
 along the rear of the existing settlements of the 
 county of Rimouski, and towards it a considerable 
 emigration flows every year. Four Townships are 
 already being settled, and the active pioneers who 
 wish to take this direction, require only the means 
 of reaching the said valley; these Townships are 
 the Townships of Whitworth, Viger, Macp^s, and 
 Neigett ; routes leading from the roads now open to 
 the rear, or at least as far as the second range of these 
 new settlements, would greatly facilitate the popu- 
 lation taking that direction. 
 
 Two roads of much greater and more general im- 
 portance have already occupied the attention of the 
 Legislature of the country ; one is the road which is 
 to lead from Metis to Matane, along the river, pass- 
 ing through important lumbering and agricultural 
 establishments in progress ; the House of Assembly 
 voted a sufficient sum, about two years ago, and the
 
 20 
 
 road was traced, bnt nothing else lias yet been done. 
 The other means of communication is intended to 
 place the Province of New Brunswick in direct com- 
 munication with the St. Lawrence, by a road lead- 
 ing from Lake Temiscouata to some point near to 
 the line separating the Parishes of I'lsle-Verte and 
 Trois-Pistoles ; the Executive Council ordered this 
 road to be constructed in the course of last summer ; 
 but it seems that nothing must be done this year. 
 This road would be so much the more important, as 
 it would be the commencement of a most important 
 line of communication, the construction of which 
 now occupies the attention of capitalists of the Pro- 
 vince of New Brunswick. 
 
 These two last great improvements are objects 
 of the greatest anxiety on the part of the inhabitants 
 of this fine county, and of the neighbouring counties 
 who partly send a portion of their surplus population 
 there ; and the legislature of the country having re- 
 cognized the great importance of both these under- 
 takings. Your Committee cannot too strongly re- 
 commend their being completed. All these improve- 
 ments have been successively prayed for by Petitions 
 to the three branches of the Legislature, several 
 whereof containing important documents have been 
 referred to Your Committee. 
 
 The opening of these roads would cost an insigni- 
 ficant sum compared with the immense public works 
 of the Province, and would have the effect of stop- 
 ping the emigration which is only just commencing 
 in the counties on the south side of the St. Law- 
 rence, below Quebec ; indeed it is the only measure 
 which can prevent the immediate increase of this 
 emigration. The certainty that it is intended to do 
 something for them, and the little money which might 
 be provisionally expended for this object, would keep 
 in these counties a great number of farmers and la- 
 bourers who intend mostly to emigrate. So urgent 
 is the necessity of these improvements, that Your 
 Committee hope that the Government will give them 
 its most serious attention at an early period during 
 the recess. 
 
 As Mr. Bosse judiciously observes in his evidence, 
 the sale of Crown Lands, which would be made in 
 the neighborhood as fast as the work should progress, 
 would soon make up the money expended. It would
 
 21 
 
 not even l>t necessai'y to lay out niucli money, as 
 most of the workmen employed would not wish for 
 anything better than to become settlers themselves, 
 nor the settlers for anything better than to be em- 
 ployed as workmen, and both Avould willingly give 
 the whole or part of their labcHir as an instalment on 
 the price of the lands conceded to them. This has 
 already been offered by the inhabitants of several 
 localities. — (See the evidence of Messrs. Bosse and 
 Letellier. ) 
 
 Your Committee believe, that the settlement of the 
 Saguenay territory, already so happily commenced 
 by the settlers from the parishes on the north of the 
 Kiver St. Lawrence, in the Counties of Saguenay, 
 Montmorency and Quebec, will also powerfully con- 
 tribute towards preventing the emigration from the 
 south shore to foreign parts ; especially as a great 
 number of young men from the Counties of I'lslet 
 and Kamouraska intend settling at the Saguenay, 
 and have already taken steps for that purpose. 
 
 Your Committee recommend particularly to the 
 favourable attention of the Government and the 
 Legislature, the projected road from Chicoutimi, 
 across the whole peninsula as far as Lake St^ Jean, 
 and that already in part open by the enterprising 
 and industrious inhabitants of St. Agn^s and the 
 neighbouring parishes, from Chicoutimi to Ste. Agnes, 
 and thence in the rear of the mountains of Les Eboule- 
 mens as far as St. Urbain. 
 
 Your Committee must also call the attention of 
 Your Honourable House, to the suggestion made by 
 all the gentlemen who have answered the questions 
 submitted by Your Committee, to extend for a cou- 
 ple of years more, the privilege granted by persons 
 settling in the Townships of the Saguenay, before 
 the 1st of May, 1850, of paying only one shilling per 
 acre for the Crown Lands. 
 
 Your Committee have mentioned these improve- 
 ments which should be made in the District of Que- 
 bec, in the first place, not with a view to prejudice 
 in any way the suggestions which follow and which 
 have reference to other sections of the Province, but 
 solely because as the emigration has only just com- 
 menced in the Counties above-mentioned, it is easier 
 to stop or prevent it there than in localities where it 
 has been going on for a long period. The construe-
 
 ^2 
 
 tion at little cost, if not of all, at least of a part of tho 
 means of connnunication suggested, would be of tho 
 greatest advantage, provided it were undertaken at 
 once. 
 
 In order to conclude at once this important part of 
 the subject. Your Committee think it their duty at 
 the same time to call to the recollection of Your 
 Honourable House what has already often been ob- 
 served, the necessity of connecting the Saguenay 
 Territory and the South shore of the St. Lawrence 
 below Quebec, with the remainder of the Province, 
 by means of steam navigation. Without this, the 
 isolated position of both these portions of the country 
 will always prevent their making that progress which 
 they are by nature capable of. Although this isola- 
 tion is not so sensibly felt on the South shore, steam 
 navigation from Quebec to one or several points on 
 the North shore, will not for some time yet remu- 
 nerate those who undertake it, unless the steam ves- 
 sels touch during their trips at some points on the 
 South shore. From the remark just made, it will 
 appear that the construction of wharves and jetties, 
 so as to form safe Harbours at different points of the 
 South shore, will be as useful to the inhabitants of 
 the North shore as the work done in their own lo- 
 calities. 
 
 This subject has already attracted the attention of 
 the Government ; explorations were made two years 
 ago by the officers of the Board of Works, and Your 
 Committee, without recommending in particular any 
 of the localities explored, will content themselves with 
 remarking, that it is of the greatest necessity that 
 wharves should be constructed at least at one point 
 on the North shore, and at three or four points on 
 the South shore. 
 
 It is not only as regards the colonization of the 
 new settlements that these improvements are called 
 for, but also for the prosperity of the old settlements. 
 Besides, they are intimately connected with the com- 
 mercial prosperity of the whole Province, and parti- 
 cularly of Upper Canada, inasmuch as they would 
 contribute much towards the improvement of the 
 navigation of the lower part of the River St. Law- 
 rence. The want of harbours of refuge is in great 
 part the cause of the numerous shipwrecks which 
 each autumn arc so afflicting to humanity, cause such
 
 23 
 
 heavy losses to commerce, and tend to increase to so 
 great an extent the rate of marine assurance, and 
 consequently of freight, and prevent the Canals along 
 the upper part of the River St. Lawrence and the 
 Lakes from being as productive as they might be. 
 These numerous shipwrecks prevent the route of the 
 St. Lawrence from attracting the Western trade, the 
 object for which this Province has made so many 
 sacrifices. 
 
 Your Committee regret that it is out of the power 
 of the Committee appointed by Your Honourable 
 House to enquire into the best means oT removing 
 the obstacles in the navigation of the Gulf and River 
 St. Lawrence below Quebec, to make their Report, 
 in consequence of the destruction of the evidence, 
 maps, and plans produced before them, as they would 
 not have failed to furnish to Your Honourable House 
 valuable information and useful suggestions on this 
 subject, to which Your Committee can only allude. 
 
 The Ottawa territory, so important by its Lumber 
 trade, is not the less so by its Crown Lands : a tract 
 of cultivable lands, in a state of progressive clearance, 
 equal in extent to that of any other part of the 
 country, awaits the care and labour of the husband- 
 man, who, in furnishing the necessities of life to the 
 workmen employed in the lumber trade, finds an 
 advantageous and ready market for the sale of his 
 produce. 
 
 Your Committee have learned with satisfaction, 
 that the reduction of the price of the Crown Lands 
 to three shillings an acre in this fertile region has 
 greatly facilitated the establishment of settlers, and 
 that the right of pre-emption granted to persons al- 
 ready settled on the Crown Lands, and the long 
 terms of payment which have been granted them, 
 have had the most advantageous results. Your 
 Committee can only recommend that this system be 
 extended and continued. 
 
 Your Committee take this opportunity to observe, 
 that the praiseworthy efforts of the Reverend Peres 
 Oblats in this part of the country, for sometime past, 
 have greatly contributed to improve the moral and 
 social condition of a great number of young men 
 employed in getting out timber, and in making and 
 conducting rafts on the Ottawa. Many of them 
 snatched from their habits of debauchery and intern-
 
 24 
 
 pcrance, which hiive been so fatal to this class, with 
 what they have saved from their wages (which are 
 generally high enough to allow them to economize 
 when their conduct is regular,) have bought lands 
 which they cultivate with success, and they generally 
 become excellent settlers. 
 
 In order to prevent the emigration from this part 
 of the country, and to cause the surplus population 
 of the northern part of the District of Montreal, 
 whose natui-al patrimony it is, to settle there, it is 
 necessary to open new means of communication there, 
 as in the localities already mentioned. 
 
 A road has already been commenced in the direc- 
 tion of the Grand Calumet. By so improving it as to 
 render it practicable at all seasons of the year, and 
 continuing it through Petite Nation, the Townships 
 of Lochaber, Buckingham, Templeton, Hull, Eardly, 
 Onslow, Bristol, Litchfield, as far as Gmnd Calumet, 
 and thence to the lies aux Allumettes, through the 
 Townships of Mansfield, Hudderfield, Chichester, and 
 Wathara, more than two hundred miles in extent of 
 the finest lands in the country will be opened to cul- 
 tivation. 
 
 The Eastern Townships attracted particularly the 
 attention of the Government during the recess pre- 
 ceding the present Session, with a view to their co- 
 lonization. Several new settlements have been made 
 there under the direction of a special agency, and im- 
 portant means of communication have been opened. 
 In addition to what has already been undertaken in 
 this direction. Your Committee are informed that the 
 improvement of several roads, and the opening of 
 several new routes, are indispensable to the work of 
 colonization. 
 
 The cause of the emigration to the United States 
 from the southern part of the District of Three 
 Rivers, for instance, is the want of direct communi- 
 cation between these parishes and the ungranted 
 Townships. The Board of Public Works has recom- 
 mended the opening of a road from the Parish of 
 Gentilly to the Township of Blandfoid, and has es- 
 timated the cost at £1800. This undertaking, which 
 Your Committee considered to be one of the most 
 pressing, would offer to the young men of Gentilly 
 and the neighbouring parishes an opportunity ibr 
 settling at a very short distance from their parents
 
 25 
 
 and frieuda. Settlements which can thus be made 
 close to others, seem to Your Committee to demand 
 a more immediate attention, because they are more 
 practicable, require less sacrifice, and have more 
 elements of success than those made at a greater 
 distance. 
 
 A road leaving Druramondville on the River St 
 Francis, passing by Grantham and the Gore of Up- 
 ton, where it would meet the St. Lawrence and At- 
 lantic Railroad, and continued through the Townships 
 of Milton and Granby, would cross the great post 
 road of the Eastern Townships. This road, which is 
 partly made, would have the effect of opening an easy 
 communication between the River St. Francis and 
 Yamaska, and would open to agricultural industry 
 one of the most fertile plains in the country. 
 
 Your Committee having thus stated the most ur- 
 gent and at the same time most easy means, must 
 pass to those of the second class, which are also 
 direct means, but connected with considerable enter- 
 prises or particular projects of legislation. 
 
 Several of the improvements to which Your Com- 
 mittee have just drawn the attention of Your Honour- 
 able House, are either begun or already suggested in 
 reports of the Board of Works. Another means of 
 communication, the possibility of which has been 
 disputed, must now be mentioned by Your Com- 
 mittee. The inhabitants of the County of Quebec, 
 by their petition referred to Your Committee, have 
 prayed for the opening of a road from Quebec to 
 Lake St. Jean, or from some point in the Counties 
 of Quebec, Montmorency, or Portneuf, to Lake St. 
 Jean or to any point in the new settlements of the 
 Saguenay, so as to afford a direct communication, by 
 land, between Quebec and these settlements. 
 
 Your Committee regret that they have been unable 
 to obtain the necessary information on this important 
 part of the subject referred to them; but they are of 
 opinion that however great the difficulties which may 
 appear to be in the way of this project, it is of the 
 greatest public importance that it should be carried 
 into effect as soon as its practicability shall have been 
 ascertained. 
 
 Your Committee are persuaded that Your Honour- 
 able House, taking into consideration all the advan-
 
 20 
 
 lages to be derived by the young and interesting 
 settlements on the Safruenav from their bcinj? brought 
 into direct communication with the City of Quebec, 
 and thereby with all the rest of the Province, will be 
 ready to vote the necessary funds when the state of 
 the public finances and sufficient explorations allow 
 the Executive Government to recommend this project 
 to the favourable consideration of the Legislature. 
 
 There is another great national enterprise which 
 Your Committee cannot pass over in silence, and 
 which more than anything else will prevent the tide 
 of emigration of Canadians to foreign parts, and will 
 attract and retain in this Province the emigrants from 
 the British Isles, by furnishing employment to thou- 
 sands of workmen, by drawing considerable capital 
 into the Province, by developing all the resources of 
 the country, and enabling it to participate in those 
 of the two neighbouring colonies of New Brunswick 
 and Nova Scotia. The measures adopted by two 
 branches of the Legislature, during the present Ses- 
 sion, to facilitate the execution of the noble project 
 of a Railroad from Quebec to Halifax, and the in- 
 terest which the Government of this Province, to- 
 gether with that of our sister colonies, take in this 
 measure, lead Your Committee to hope that the well 
 understood interests of the Mother Country and its 
 colonies will not be compromised by the indefinite 
 postponement of an enterprise calculated to draw 
 more closely and render more lasting the ties which 
 bind them to each other. 
 
 One of the obstacles to the progress of new settle- 
 ments, and which is most strongly insisted upon in 
 the evidence forming the Appendix to this Report, is 
 the bad state of the roads, for the construction of 
 which the Government has already inciu-red so much 
 expense, an expense indeed which will frequently 
 have to be renewed, and will become a real burthen 
 on the public chest if no other means be adopted to 
 remedy this evil. 
 
 The Road Laws, which have become insuflficient 
 even for the old settlements, as well on account of 
 the change that has taken place in the habits and cus- 
 toms of the people, as on account of the complication 
 of these laws with the new municipal institutions 
 which work with difficulty, and have been and for
 
 '■27 
 
 several years to come will be still subject to be greatly 
 modified, — these Road Laws are still more difficult 
 to enforce, and in fact remain a dead letter in the new 
 settlements, where there is no sufficient oi'gauization, 
 — and where the work which would fall on one settler 
 alone could never be performed by him without 
 takins all his time and exhausting all his resources. 
 It has been suggested to Your Committee by several 
 of the persons questioned, to recommend the levying 
 of tolls on the great lines of communication made 
 and hereafter to be made by the Government, as being 
 the only means to provide for their repair. Your 
 Committee think this suggestion worthy of the con- 
 sideration of Your Honourable House. 
 
 The answers of the members of the Catholic 
 Clergy in particular, hold up to public indignation, in 
 very strong terms, the conduct of a great number of 
 proprietors of waste lands, whose vast domains re- 
 main an unsurmountable barrier between the old and 
 new settlements. These proprietors either remain 
 unknown, or when they make themselves known re- 
 fuse to concede, or concede only on very hard condi- 
 tions, very frequently too hard to be performed. 
 These conditions are detailed in the Appendix to this 
 Report ; and one may become convinced that they 
 yield in nothing to the obligations formerly imposed 
 by the hardest and most rapacious feudal systems ; 
 the expressions are different, it is true ; but the facts 
 are about the same. Besides, it is not only in this 
 respect that these extensive proprietors are to blame ; 
 they refuse, almost in every case, to contribute to- 
 wards opening roads on their lands, or towards keep- 
 ing them up, or repairing them, when they have been 
 once made at great expense. After having thrown 
 every possible obstacle in the way of the clearing 
 of the neighbouring lands, they quietly enjoy all 
 the advantages resulting from their improvement, 
 and sell their property when they think its value 
 sufficiently increased by the labour of their neigh- 
 bours. 
 
 Your Committee arc well aware that this is a very 
 difficult subject to enter upon as a legislative question. 
 The right of proi)crty is certainly sacred and invio- 
 late : but the soil only belongs to man on condition 
 that he shall work and cultivate it ; and possession
 
 28 
 
 carries with it the obligation to make use of what one 
 possesses in sucli a manner as not to injure others. 
 Property should have its duties and obligations as 
 well as its rights. It gives to the proprietor the 
 rights of a citizen under the constitution by which 
 we are governed ; it imposes on him the obligation 
 to contribute to the support of the State. 
 
 If the example of the Government, Avhich is now 
 gelling the public lands at such low rates ; if the ef- 
 forts of good citizens for the improvement of the 
 condition of their fellow-subjects and the prosperity 
 of their country ; if the voice of public opinion which 
 has been raised from one end of the Province to the 
 other ; if, in fine, their own well-understood interests 
 do not lead these great proprietors to change their 
 system, the Legislature must have the power, and 
 will, it is to be hoped, have the courage to remedy so 
 great an evil. 
 
 It is urgently necessary to provide for the sale of 
 such lands for the payment of local and municipal 
 taxes, and for repairing and keeping up the roads in 
 cases in which the proprietor is absent or unknown. 
 The delay of five years, now granted by law, is much 
 too great. 
 
 The greater part of the Patents granting these 
 lands — those principally which granted them gratuit- 
 ously for services more or less certain — must contain 
 conditions under which, if they have not been ful- 
 filled, or if they are not fulfilled within a certain 
 time, the lands should be subject to forfeiture. It is 
 the duty of the Government to see that the conditions 
 imposed are fulfilled : and if there are not sufficient 
 means to establish the facts or to pronounce the judg- 
 ments required, a measure ought to be shortly intro- 
 duced to supply such defects in our system of admin- 
 istration. 
 
 The abuses of which certain Seigniors are guilty, 
 are also strongly adverted to in the Appendix. — 
 Public attention has of late been frequently drawn to 
 this subject, and Your Committee think it merely 
 their duty to point out these abuses as one of the 
 causes which contribute most powerfully towards 
 emigration ; feeling certain, as they do, that the re- 
 form, if not the abolition of the feudal tenure, will 
 shortly occupy Your Honorable House.
 
 29 
 
 Among the moaus of the third chiss, pubUc instruc- 
 tion and the improvement of agriculture must occupy 
 the first place. The latter of these objects will al- 
 ways be difficult to attain, so long as the first has not 
 been completely successful. There is nothing then 
 so deplorable as the obstacles which ai*e thrown from 
 every side in the way of the education law, obstacles 
 which it is always endeavoured to disguise, and to 
 attribute to errors or defects in the law, or to some 
 defect in the observance of the formalities prescribed, 
 on the part of those whose duty it is to carry it into 
 execution. No law, however perfect, can work with- 
 out the co-operation of the people, and especially 
 without a strict determination on the part of the au- 
 thorities to enforce it. Those who, through any 
 motive, create obstacles in the way of the operation 
 of so necessary a law, are very guilty towards their 
 country, and retard, as much as it is in their power 
 to do so, its advancement and prosperity. Ignorance 
 is the heaviest tax which can weigh upon a people ; 
 and the only possible cause of inferiority in the age 
 in which we live. 
 
 The stationary position of agriculture, and the 
 little energy shown by the farmers in some of the 
 parishes, has been pointed out as one of the causes of 
 their poverty and of their emigration. The Province 
 has encouraged the establishment of Agricultural 
 Societies for each District and each County, the 
 principal object of which is to excite emulation by 
 premiums and annual shows. Great efforts have 
 also been made by the Lower Canadian Agricultural 
 Society towards publishing an Agricultural Journal. 
 These means have succeeded to a certain extent, but 
 have not had that effect which model farms established 
 in the different localities would have. The agricul- 
 tural prizes are generally won by those Avho are least 
 in want of encouragement; and, until instruction 
 shall have made more progress, agricultural journals 
 will have but very few readers. Practical demonstra- 
 tion, examples laid before the farmers, are the only 
 thing which will cause them to make rapid progress. 
 In those localities where persons in easy circum- 
 stances and well informed have made improvements 
 on their lands, they have already been imitated 
 by their neighbours, as far as their means would 
 permit.
 
 30 
 
 It is more easy to persuade our farmers to niukc 
 alterations in what is called the routine than is 
 generally thought, provided one takes the trouble, 
 and adds example to instruction. A reasonable mis- 
 trust prevents them from making experiments which, 
 with their means, might be ruinous if they were not 
 crowned with success ; but they are not, as generally 
 represented, enemies to every species of improve- 
 ment. A proof of this is found in the promptness 
 with Avhich they adopt, when they settle in the 
 Eastern Townships and United States, the system 
 of cultivation followed by the American settlers. 
 
 Persons established in the country parts, and who 
 are rich or in easy circumstances, particularly the 
 Curds, can then do much for the improvement of 
 agriculture. Your Committee think it right here to 
 render a well deserved testimony to the memory of 
 a zealous and generous priest who, in the various 
 parishes in which he performed the duties of his 
 ministry, considerably increased by his efforts the 
 welfare of his parishioners, both in an agricultural 
 and in every other point of view : besides Your Com- 
 mittee learn with pleasure, that the example of the 
 late Rev. Mr. Dufresne has been followed by a great 
 number of his colleagues. 
 
 Your Committee think it also their duty to men- 
 tion here, with gratitude, -the interest which His 
 Excellency the Governor General, since his arrival in 
 this country, has taken in the different Agricultural 
 Societies, by the liberal and active patronage w'hich 
 he has given them, as well as to all other philanthropic 
 societies, encouraging them himself by his presence 
 and by his speeches. 
 
 The zeal lately shewed by every friend of agricul- 
 ture in this noble cause, will lead the Government, 
 Your Committee hope, to take up this important 
 subject more than ever, and to adopt the necessary 
 measures for the establishment of model farms. 
 
 Among the flumerous suggestions made to Your 
 Committee for procuring employment to the super- 
 abundant population. Your Committee have remarked 
 those which have reference to the establishment of 
 manufactures, and to the protection which should be 
 granted to products of local industry. Without en- 
 tering upon a discussion of the principles of political
 
 31 
 
 economy connected with this quebtion, Your Com- 
 mittee remark with pleasure that important modifi- 
 cations to this end have been made and accepted in 
 the draft of the Tariff presented to Your Honorable 
 House at another period of the Session, and which 
 has now become law. Your Committee cannot, no 
 more than Your Honorable House, be blind to the 
 fact that Lower Canada, by its geographical position, 
 its wants, its natural advantages, is destined, as well 
 as the Northern States of the American Union, to 
 become a great manufacturing country ; and all that 
 can tend to encourage the establishment of local ma- 
 nufactures, provided at the same time too narrow 
 limits be not pi-escribed to our commercial relations, 
 will have the effect, not only of retaining in this 
 country the labour and capital which are leaving 
 it, but also that of attracting those of foreign coun- 
 tries. 
 
 The want of local manufactures, the fact that few 
 public works are at present undertaken in Lower 
 Canada, have been several times pointed out by 
 Your Committee, in the course of this Report, as one 
 of the most active causes of emigration, especially of 
 the working classes. 
 
 Were some, if not all, the projects above mentioned 
 to be realized, especially the speedy completion of 
 the roads already begun, whether granted by the 
 Legislature or recommended by the Board of Public 
 Works, and mentioned in the first class of means 
 which have been suggested, the effect would, in the 
 opinion of Your Committee, be prompt and decisive, 
 at least for many localities. 
 
 An undertaking frequently mentioned by the press 
 and the Legislature, and alluded to in the answers 
 annexed to this Report, would be the construction of 
 Docks and Basins in the River St. Charles at Quebec, 
 and the improvement of the Harbor of Quebec. 
 If the Province wishes to derive any advantage 
 from its immense Canals, and to profit by the new 
 commercial liberties which the Home Government 
 seems disposed to grant it in repealing the Naviga- 
 tion Laws, it will become necessary to improve the 
 navigation of the St. Lawrence below Quebec, and 
 the Port of Quebec. In case vessels of all nations 
 should be admitted to this port, there is not the
 
 3^i 
 
 alighUirit doubt tliat this undertaking, far from being 
 burthcnsome to the Province will, on the contrary, 
 be most profitable. 
 
 With reference to the emigration of young men 
 of education, Your Committee, in pointing out its 
 causes, think they have sufficiently pointed out ita 
 remedy, which is entirely in the hands of the Go- 
 vernment. 
 
 Your Committee conclude their Report by the 
 fourth class of means suggested ; those which depend 
 upon the impression to be made on public opinion. 
 If this impression were not already created, the in- 
 formation contained in this lieport and the Ap- 
 pendix would be sufficient t(» do so. 
 
 Fortunately the Catholic Clergy of Lower Canada 
 have taken in their hands the work of colonization, 
 and will persevere in it. While the Reverend Mr. 
 Chiniquy was commencing his praiseworthy missions 
 in favor of temperance, the Reverend Messrs. O'Reilly 
 and Bedard were giving an impulse to the settlement 
 of the Canadians on the public lands. 
 
 The formation of associations among zealous citizens 
 is a certain means of success ; and your Committee 
 cannot too highly praise a society composed of per- 
 sons of means, but who having no taste nor time to 
 clear their lands themselves, advance a capital to the 
 poor but industrious man, who returns it in work on 
 the land of another member of the society. Several 
 heads of families, in easy circumstances, have entered 
 into similar associations, and have thereby procured 
 to their children the means of having lands already 
 cleared, without any great trouble, and aflfordcd 
 assistance, at the same time, to their poorer fellow- 
 countrymen. 
 
 The spirit of association is all powerful at the 
 present day ; and when once public opinion is 
 directed in the right course, it triumphs over every 
 obstacle. 
 
 Your Committee are persuaded that Your Honor- 
 able House, in adopting as speedily as possible the 
 most urgent of the above suggestions, and in giving 
 to all their serious consideration, will lend Your as- 
 sistance to the spontaneous efforts of a great number 
 of priests and citizens to obtain the success of a cause 
 which must carry with it the consent and good wishes
 
 33 
 
 of every friend to the country, without distinction of 
 religion, origin, or political opinion ; this subject 
 being fortunately one which interests the welfare of 
 every one in such a manner that all parties can meet 
 as upon neutral ground, and lay aside the enmity and 
 discord which threaten to be the cause of so much 
 evil to our fine country. 
 
 The whole, nevertheless, humbly submitted, 
 
 (Signed,) PIERRE J. O. CHAUVEAU, 
 
 Chairman. 
 « J. C. TACHE. 
 
 « C. F. FOURNIER, 
 
 «< R. CHRISTIE. 
 
 PIERRE DAVIGNON. 
 
 <« T. FORTIER. 
 
 « F. LEMIEUX. 
 
 (Signed,) J. P. Leprohon, 
 
 Clerk to Committee. 
 
 Legislative Assembly. 
 29th May, 1849.
 
 $5 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 The analysis of the letters of the Missionaries, 
 Cures, and Vicaires in the Diocese of Montreal, gives 
 the following information relative to the questions 
 submitted by your Committee : — 
 
 \st Question. — Can you furnish any data as to the 
 importance of the emigration which takes place from 
 Lower Canada to foreign parts ? 
 
 Answer. — It is difficult to obtain any certain data 
 from which one may judge of the number of persons 
 who emigrate to foreign parts ; but there is reason to 
 believe that it is very considerable. 
 
 2Hd Question. — To what country do these emi- 
 grants direct their course ? 
 
 Answer. — The greater part of the emigration is in 
 the direction of the United States, principally to- 
 wards Chicago, St. Louis,, and the neighbwirhood ; 
 a great number also go in the direction of Illinois 
 and Wisconsin. 
 
 3rc? Question. — To what class do these emigrants 
 belong, and what is the comparative number of 
 agriculturalists ? 
 
 Answer. — The greater number of emigrants be- 
 long to the working class ; about one-third belong to 
 the agricultural class. 
 
 4th Question. — If you cannot, or have not furnish- 
 ed any details as to the total number of emigrants, 
 be so kind as to furnish the details of your locality ? 
 
 Answer. — It would appear that more than one 
 thousand families have emigrated during the last four 
 or five years, 
 
 5th Question. — What proportion of this emigration 
 is of French origin, and what proportion is of British 
 origin ?
 
 30 
 
 Ansiver. — It may be eaul that nine-tenths of the 
 emigrants are of French origin, which forms tlie 
 majority in Lower Canada. 
 
 6th Question. — Can you give a proximate and com- 
 parative statement of the emigration during the last 
 five years, whether for the country in general or 
 your locality in particular ? 
 
 Answered by the answer to the fourth question. 
 
 7th Question. — Have you travelled in the countries 
 towards which this emigration directs its course, and 
 in what state have you found the emigrants ? 
 
 Answer. — Several of those who have given the 
 answers here analysed, have travelled in the United 
 States. They have met Canadians in many of the 
 States. They found some on board tjje steamboats 
 in the prairies, the mills, and manufactories ; but 
 always, or almost always, in inferior situations. 
 
 8th Question. — What is the state of the morals, 
 health, and prosperity of the Canadians who emi- 
 grate to foreign parts, and what is their employment 
 and means of subsistence ? 
 
 Answer. — It may be said that more than three- 
 fourths of the Canadians who are in the United 
 States belong to the working class, earning their 
 daily bread, employed in the mills, manufactories, 
 &c., most of them as simple labourers. All those 
 who travel in the United States generally see the 
 Canadians in a state of degradation really humiliating 
 for our country. Some, it is true, gather from our 
 neighbours better and more extensive notions on ag- 
 riculture, commerce, and the branch of industry to 
 which they have applied themselves ; but all, or al- 
 most all, live in a state of demoralization which it is 
 difficult to imagine, and which leads one to hope that 
 effective measures will be adopted without delay to 
 prevent so great an evil. 
 
 9th Question. — Can you specify the causes of this 
 emigration, and are they the same in every locality ? 
 
 Answer. — These causes are numerous, especially 
 those resulting from the various situations in life, the 
 vicissitudes of trade, the failure of the crops during 
 the last years, private misfortunes ; besides which, 
 our political troubles began to point out the road to 
 the first emigrants. Ist. The great decrease in the 
 lumber trade, caused by want of protection on the part 
 of the Home Government. This has ruined a great
 
 37 
 « 
 
 many Contractors, and overthrown considerable estab- 
 lishments which were kept up by this branch of trade. 
 2ndly. The want of employment on the part of a 
 great number of young men whom this trade kept 
 busy, and who, finding no employment from which 
 they can derive the same advantages, seek their for- 
 tune elsewhere. 3rdly. The luxury which is spread- 
 ing most deplorably in our country parts, where ar- 
 ticles of foreign manufacture have been poured in 
 with a profusion unheard of in this country, and 
 which are for the most part useless to us ; and espe- 
 cially a quantity of stuffs which our habitans could 
 very well do without, as formerly, and content them- 
 selves with objects of domestic manufacture. The 
 tendency to purchase objects of luxury on credit, en- 
 couraged by the fearful number of those who carry 
 on trade in our country parts on a small scale, 
 and who, encouraged as they are by the laws which 
 protect thera to the prejudice of society, and espe- 
 cially by the " Small Causes Act," force upon the 
 people, by every means, the sale of their wares, and 
 throw into debt the poor farmers and mechanics of 
 our country parts : — the latter, not being able to pay 
 their debts, are sued and ruined : — they lose courage, 
 and go to foreign parts to seek their fortune. 4thly. 
 The backward state of agricultural science ; the little 
 improvement made by most of our Agricultural So- 
 cieties, who, instead of directing their efforts and 
 employing the means of encouragement at their dis- 
 posal towards improvements of the first necessity, 
 copy in their organization and their manner of acting 
 that which is done in very different countries from 
 ours, and where agriculture has reached a high state 
 of perfection, and even the luxury which from na- 
 tural causes we can never attain. Improvements in 
 our agricultural system would considerably increase 
 the produce of our soil, require an increase of work, 
 and consequently of employment for the young men, 
 who, finding means of subsistence near the paternal 
 roof, would give up the idea of leaving their country. 
 For there is no other people more attached to their 
 family and their country than the French Canadians. 
 They never like to lose sight of the steeple of their 
 parish ; and numerous causes must have been required 
 to oblige so many Canadians to leave their country. 
 5thly. The very few domestic manufactures which
 
 38 
 
 9 
 
 we have, even tor wants of tlie first necessity, espe- 
 cially those which we might establish by means of 
 our numerous and excellent water-powers, and which 
 might be kept up by the substances which the country 
 furnishes in abundance — such as wood, iron, &c. 
 This is due, it is very true, in the first place to the 
 want of spirit of enterprise and association among our 
 population, but which might also be attributed to the 
 abuse of pi'ivilege ; an abuse which destroys all in- 
 dustry, and which the Government ought to remedy. 
 How many of our Seigniors of Fiefs have refused, 
 and still refuse every day to encourage the establish- 
 ment of profitable works and useful manufactures for 
 the country, in order to retain exclusively, without 
 profit to themselves or the public, the numerous 
 water-powers owned by them, and for which they 
 are offered reasonable prices. 
 
 \Oth Question. — Has it not been represented to 
 the inhabitants of the country, that a better fate 
 awaits them in foreign parts ? 
 
 Answer. — The inhabitants of the country parts 
 have certainly been induced to emigrate in the hopes 
 of a more favorable destiny in foreign parts, which, 
 from deceitful reports, they were led to entertain ; 
 but this illusion has a little disappeared in several 
 localities. A certain number who have returned, 
 others who have written to their families, have made 
 known the real state of things, which is far from be- 
 ing as favorable as others would make us believe. 
 
 Wtk Question. — Are you aware of the means for 
 preventing this emigration ? 
 
 Anstoer. — The means of remedying the emigration 
 consist in adopting every step calculated to destroy 
 its causes, some of which are pointed out in the 
 answer to the ninth question, with this addition, that 
 the Canadians might be employed more than they 
 are at present on the public works, where one gene- 
 rally finds only strangers, from the first employe 
 to the last workman. 
 
 I2th Question. — To what localities might the 
 excess of the population of certain parishes be 
 directed ? 
 
 Answer. — The most perfect settlements are those 
 which are the nearest to the place from which the 
 settlers are obtained. The Canadians, as it has been 
 remarked in the answer to the ninth question, do not
 
 39 
 
 like to go far from the place of their birth. It would, 
 therefore, be much better to commence the new 
 settlements in the townships nearest to the populous 
 parishes ; and, for the same reason, on all the 
 neighbouring points of the parishes formed in the 
 seigniories. 
 
 I3th Question. — How many persons in your locality 
 have expressed a wish to settle on new lands ? 
 
 Answer. — It is very difficult to answer this ques- 
 tion with exactness ; but what is very certain is, that 
 if there were lands to be granted, of easy excess, 
 and on conditions both liberal and proportioned to 
 the means of our population, a good number of 
 fathers of families, still young, or of sons of families, 
 would be found in each parish of this District, ready 
 to settle on them. Has not a celebrated writer said, 
 that wherever there were lands of easy access, there 
 were always men, women, and children ready to 
 cultivate them. 
 
 14^^ Question. — By what means could the Govern- 
 ment interfere, in order to put a stop to this emi- 
 gration, and support the settlement of the waste 
 lands ? 
 
 Answer. — The means which the Government 
 might adopt to prevent this emigration are partly 
 shewn in the answer to the ninth question : thus, let 
 a premium be granted as an encouragement to the 
 merchants of the country who will be the first to own 
 vessels with which our produce may be brought to 
 the most advantageous market, now that England 
 has deprived us of the protective duties. It will be 
 the means of enlivening our lumber trade, and of 
 encreasing the exportation of our ashes, our fish, and 
 our animal oils, &c. We would besides gain thereby, 
 by turning to our profit the costs of exportation and 
 importation, besides commencing a small Canadian 
 navy where a great number of our young men would 
 find employment. Let the laws be repealed which en- 
 courage the small trade of the country parts to the 
 disadvantage of society, a trade both ruinous and 
 demoralizing for the farmers and mechanics. Let 
 agriculture be encouraged by giving to the societies a 
 management more proportionate and more appro- 
 priate to the present and immediate wants of the 
 country, by establishing model farms, changing and 
 improving our grain and seeds, the race of our ani-
 
 40 
 
 maid, and the agricultural utensils and instruments. 
 Let the importation of all these objects be facilitated, 
 by taking off the taxes which raise their price too 
 high for the poor husbandman. Let the domestic 
 manufactures mentioned in the answer to the 9th 
 question, be encouraged. Let the Legislature abolish 
 the system of exclusive privilege which prevents 
 their development. The public good, the circum- 
 stances in which we are placed, the urgency of our 
 situation, render it a necessary duty. 
 
 It is said that a wise Government should never in- 
 terfere directly with trade and industry ; it would 
 often have the effect of destroying them ; but it 
 ought strongly to help them by encouraging them 
 indirectly, and giving them that impulse which they 
 never would have without its support. Sometimes a 
 Government has only to remove a few obstacles 
 which impede the movements and the spontaneous 
 efforts of the agricultural, industrial, and commercial 
 classes, and these will soon do what is left. 
 
 Above all, and in the first place, what every one 
 agrees upon, ought to have been pointed out ; that is, 
 Education. Nothing ought to be spared for this ob- 
 ject, which has become at the present day more than 
 ever indispensable. Every means ought to be used 
 to endeavour to destroy the unfortunate impressions 
 which have been made by men full of ambition and 
 pride, dangerous enemies to their countrymen, among 
 the ignorant class which they have made use of; some 
 with a view to make money, and others to obtain a 
 shameful popularity. 
 
 As to the latter part of the question, the answer 
 would call for details which it would be presumptuous 
 to point out to an Administration which has adready 
 done so much for the settlement of the new lands. 
 It may perhaps be observed, however, that the 
 greatest obstacles in the way are the Crown and 
 Clergy Reserves. By keeping together families ac- 
 quainted with each other, the settlements at a dis- 
 tance from inhabited places would be greatly facilitated, 
 as the Canadians are fond of society, and like to as- 
 sist one another in their work. 
 
 Let the new settlements be encouraged by giving 
 a premium to the most industrious settler, whose 
 clearings are the best made, and who has derived the 
 most advantage from them. Might not this premium
 
 41 
 
 consist in a discharge for the whole, or for a portion 
 of the sum remaining due and owing by the indus- 
 trious settler as the price of his land. 
 
 I5tk Question. — "What principal means of com- 
 munication would you recommend to be opened for 
 this object, and if you recommend any, what would 
 be the probable cost ? 
 
 Answer, — It is not easy to answer this question. 
 It might be observed, however, that it becomes more 
 and more urgent to have public and easy means of com- 
 munication in the northern part of the District of Mont- 
 real, in which there is no other communication than that 
 expensive and difficult one of the Ottawa River ; and 
 the inhabitants of which are at so great a distance 
 from the market, that they cannot dispose of their 
 produce with advantage. It might be remarked here, 
 that one of the greatest obstacles to the establishment 
 of means of communication, proceeds from the fact 
 that between the old and new settlements there are 
 great extents of unoccupied lands, the proprietors of 
 which ai-e for the most part unknown or absent, and 
 consequently cannot furnish their share of work on 
 the roads. The Government ought then to interfere 
 to have these intermediate lots occupied, in order 
 that the roads may be opened and maintained. 
 
 16th Question. — Do you think the present Road- 
 laws well calculated or sufficient for the settlement of 
 the Townships, and if not, can you suggest any im- 
 provement in them ? 
 
 Answer. — From what is known of these laws, they 
 might be thought sufficient; it might perhaps be 
 observed, that in the Townships and new settlements 
 a more concentrated and expeditious power is re- 
 quired. This might be the subject of by-laws under 
 a good municipal administration, more appropriate 
 to our ideas and wants than that which exists at the 
 present day. 
 
 |> 
 
 The summary of the answers of the Missionaries, 
 Cur4s, and Vicaires in the Diocese of Quebec, in 
 answer to the circular of the Archbishop, gives the 
 following information relative to the pieceding ques- 
 tions transmitted by your Committee : 
 
 6
 
 42 
 
 To the \st and 2nd. — From information obtained 
 from the travellers whom they have met, it appears 
 that an immense number of families proceed every 
 year to the American Union, especially to the States 
 of New York, Vermont, Maine, and Illinois. 
 
 To the 3rd. — The emigrants all belong to the 
 agricultural class. 
 
 To the 4th and 6th.— 
 
 Parishes. 
 
 From Lotbinidre 
 
 St. Casiroir 
 
 St. Jean Port Joly 
 
 St. Joseph 
 
 St. Marie, Beauce 
 
 St. Gregoire 
 
 Kingsey 
 
 Baie du Febvre 
 
 St. Elzear 
 
 St. Roch des Aulnets. ... 
 
 St. Genevieve, Batiscan. 
 St. Henry de Lauzon. ... 
 
 St. Anne Lapocatidre. 
 
 Persons. 
 
 40 
 
 6 
 
 25 
 
 130 last year 
 
 12 in each year. 
 
 300 during the last 
 
 five years 
 
 8 
 50 during the last 
 
 five years 
 
 15 
 
 Families. 
 
 12 to 15 
 A great number. 
 8 
 15 
 
 A few. 
 
 Almost all of French origin. 
 
 To the 7th and 8th. — The emigrants in these parts 
 of the American Union, are in a most alarming state 
 of immorality and poverty ; almost all employed in 
 the most vile occupations, and in the last state of 
 degradation. 
 
 To the 9th and lOth. — The cause which induces 
 the greater number to emigrate, is the desire of gain, 
 the idea of making a fortune under a government 
 which has been represented to them as affording more 
 protection : for otners, the cause of emigration is at- 
 tributed to the tyranny of large landholders against 
 whom all cry out, and also to the too high price at 
 which the Crown Lands are granted. 
 
 N. B. — The Reverend M. Marquis, Vicaire of 
 St. Gregoire, makes the following observations : — 
 " Several reasons may be given for the emigration to 
 foreign parts; the two principal ones are poverty 
 and the difficulty of settling in the Townships. The 
 poverty of our people is caused by the bad harvests
 
 43 
 
 and the want of work. It would be superfluous to 
 speak here of the bad harvests, it is a chapter which 
 €very one is acquainted with, if not in its origin, at 
 least in its consequences. The want of work is caused 
 by the depression of the lumber trade, and the intro- 
 duction of threshing machines. A great number of 
 1 persons employed every year in the lumber yards 
 lave been left without work, and consequently, with- 
 out means of subsistence. For about seven or eight 
 years, threshing-mills have been brought through 
 our country parts, from barn to bam, and by means 
 of which the work of two or three months is done in 
 four or five days; a number of poor people, who 
 earned their livelihood by this work, are now out of 
 employment, and starving. Tired of leading a 
 miserable life here, without any hopes of ever having 
 a better fortune, our country people were obliged to 
 abandon the soil which gave them birth, to seek else- 
 where an existence which it refused them. They 
 went, therefore, to the Townships, with the intention 
 of settling there ; but the difficulties they met with 
 obliged them to continue on to the neighbouring 
 States. The principal obstacles to the settlement of 
 the Canadians in the Townships, are : 1st The want, 
 or bad state of the roads. 2nd. The too high price 
 of lands. 3rd. The oppression of large landholders. 
 4th. The absence of persons of education among the 
 settlers. 
 
 " In order to have an idea of the great misery ex- 
 perienced by the settlers on first settling, from the 
 want of roads, it is only necessary to remark, that 
 during eight months of the year they are obliged to 
 carry on their backs all the goods and provisions they 
 are in want of, through forests more or less dense, 
 and through savanes where they sink to the waist. 
 If they have a half cwt. of potash to take to the 
 merchant, a bushel of wheat to carry to the mill, 50 
 lbs. of sugar to take to market, it must be carried in 
 their arms. Now, for a young man worn out by 
 heavy and continual work, and by a long fast, it is a 
 task which exceeds the limits of the strength of 
 human nature. 
 
 ** It would be easy to give the names of numbers 
 of persons who have died in consequence of excessive 
 fatigue undergone in making such journeys.
 
 44 
 
 " What is the result ? It is, that the settler not 
 feeling strong enough to carry his produce to market, 
 takes it to the resident merchant to whom he sells it 
 for half price, and who in return gives him goods for 
 which he charges four times their value. 
 
 " In several localities, the government has opened 
 large roads which have not a little contributed to the 
 advancement of the settlements in the Townships ; 
 but since these roads have been made, they have 
 neither been kept up or repaired; they are in so 
 shocking a state that m the very middle of a Provin- 
 cial road, persons have been obliged to take out of 
 mud-holes, with poles, animals who had stuck in ; 
 this has not only happened once, but a hundred 
 times. The misfortune is, that the government, 
 after having opened the roads in the Townships did 
 not take effective steps to keep them in good order. 
 
 " As to the price of lands, it is exorbitant ; they are 
 sold at 10s. 15s. and even 20s. per acre. The settler, 
 it would seem, might at least hope to be free at this 
 price ; but no, this is not all. When, after having been 
 cheated by the false promises of the large landholder 
 he will have cleared 10 to 12 arpents of land, he will 
 be politely invited to come and pass a deed. The 
 proprietor begins by reserving to himself, the wood, 
 stone, mines, water-courses, besides the right of 
 passage, through the land sold, at all seasons of the 
 year ; he points out to the purchaser the mill where 
 he must carry his grain ; he leaves to the purchaser 
 all the public and party expenses ; and after all this 
 he gives him his land for 15s. or 20s. an acre. If 
 the settler does not feel courage enough to submit to 
 what is required of him, he has no alternative but to 
 pack up his things and take his household gods else- 
 where. He in fact does so ; but before attempting a 
 new settlement on land where he may reasonably 
 expect the same inconveniences, he will go and try a 
 little life in foreign parts. No person can find fault 
 with this. Some other proprietors absolutely refuse 
 to sell their lands ; they wait until the neighbouring 
 lands are settled, so as to exact a higher price for 
 theirs. 
 
 ** The absence of persons of education, especially 
 Missionaries, among the settlers, is another great 
 obstacle to the progress of colonization. The settlers 
 are generally uneducated ; they are little capable of
 
 45 
 
 struggling with the harpies who devour them ; no- 
 thing''is easier than to dupe them ; it is a necessary 
 consequence of their ignorance. If there is not in 
 the midst of them a disinterested person to protect 
 them, they will find it difficult to avoid the snares 
 laid for them on all sides by cupidity and personal 
 interest. 
 
 " The settlers have been persuaded, that among 
 the Americans a fortune can be made at little cost. 
 In eiFect, a sober and economical young man can,^ in 
 a short time, lay by a handsome sum. They receive 
 from $20 to $30 per month ; the misfortune is, that 
 they earn a great deal and spend a great deal. Plea- 
 sure, luxury, and debauchery, absorb, in a few weeks, 
 the fruit of a whole year's labour." 
 
 N. B. — Mr. Marquis has travelled through most 
 parts of the Union. 
 
 To the 9th and lOth. — The Missionary at King- 
 sey, answers as follows : — " This emigration has, I 
 think, two general causes affecting the whole Pro- 
 vince, and several local causes : 1st. general cause, 
 the difference between the pay in the United States 
 and in Canada. 2nd. The want of manufactories 
 and of employment for the working classes who have 
 no skill in agriculture ; this class is numerous, even 
 in the country parts ; and also the want of lands to 
 be opened in the Seigniories : as to my own neigh- 
 bourhood, the young people there are possessed with 
 a sort of madness to go to the upper country. It is 
 a real epidemic which seizes them. Many leave for 
 the sake of saying, they have travelled." Poverty is 
 also a great cause of the emigration of families, and 
 so is the want of employment in this locality. The 
 inhabitants here have often been told that a better 
 lot awaits them in foreign parts. 
 
 To the llth. — Mr. Marquis, agreeing in opinion 
 with most of the gentlemen, a recapitulation of whose 
 letters is here made, in answer to this last question : 
 says, that " in order to prevent emigration, the po- 
 sition of the settlers must be made supportable and 
 to attain this end: 1st. Roads must be opened 
 through the principal townships intended to be open- 
 ed for settlement : 2nd. The keeping up of these 
 roads must be provided for in an effective manner. 
 In my opinion, the most proper way would be to es- 
 tablish turnpikes on every one of the provincial routes.
 
 46 
 
 until the lands boiJeiiug on thelu arc occupied ; for 
 it is not reasonable to expect that the Government, 
 after making the roads, will also undertake to maintain 
 them : 3rdly. An end must be put to the tyranny 
 of large landholders, by obliging them to assist in 
 public works, by annulling the excessively burthen- 
 some contracts dictated by them, and by obliging 
 them to concede or sell their lands : 4thly. I will 
 add, that for the Catholic settlers, means should be 
 provided to establish Missionaries among them to en- 
 courage them and direct them in their labours. For 
 the Catholic settler, a Missionary is of the greatest 
 necessity, especially at the commencement of a set- 
 tlement ; he is the only man who can render them 
 great services gratuitously. The Government, if it 
 really wishes to see the system of colonization suc- 
 ceed, should assist the Missionary to establish himself 
 as soon as possible among the settlers, not in his 
 quality of Catholic priest, but as the leader of the 
 settlement. The sacrifice of a few dollars or of a 
 few arpents of land, would soon be compensated by 
 the rapid progress of this noble work of coloniz- 
 ation." 
 
 To the \^th and IZth. — Hundreds of families 
 would be disposed to settle on the new lands. As 
 to the inhabitants of the parishes below Quebec, they 
 would prefer the Saguenay, but the sale of Crown 
 lands at one shilling per acre, should be extended be- 
 yond the 1st of January, 1850. 
 
 The inhabitants of the parishes above Quebec, 
 would follow the direction of the Eastern Townships. 
 
 To the I5th. — See letters of Messrs. Marquis, B6- 
 <lard, Delage, and Griffith, which accompany this 
 recapitulation. 
 
 To the I6th. — Every one finds the Road-laws in- 
 fiufficient and faulty. 
 
 Answer of Messire J. B. A. Ferland, Director of 
 the College of Nicolct, to the questions transmitted 
 to him : — 
 
 " I cannot offer any remarks on the four first ques- 
 tions which relate to the country in general. The 
 observations I have to submit, have reference princi- 
 pally to the District of Three Rivers, and a part of 
 the District of St. Francis."
 
 4.7 
 
 To the 5th. — As the British race forms, according 
 to the census of 1844, only one-fourth of the popula- 
 tion of the District of Three Rivers, its movement is 
 scarcely perceptible. In this District, the emigra- 
 tion may be considered as almost entirely supplied 
 from the ranks of the French Canadian population. 
 
 To the 7th, 8th, 9th, and lOth. — Among the causes 
 of emigration, some are peculiar to certain classes of 
 emigrants, while others are common to all classes. 
 The general causes are: 1st. The state of poverty 
 in which the country is at present: 2ndly. The 
 difficulty of forming new agricultural settlements. 
 These two causes touch and depend on each other at 
 several points. It is acknowledged by all, that for 
 the last two or three years. Lower Canada has been 
 poorer than it has been for half a century. Money 
 has disappeared ; there is no credit ; landed property 
 is mortgaged ; bankruptcy is the order of the day ; 
 commerce is dead and agriculture threatens to share 
 the same fate. What is then left us? Manufac- 
 tures? They have been nipped in the bud. The 
 manufacturing of lumber from our forests ? This 
 has been the ruin of the country. I will state 
 what is left to us ; it is poverty ; it is regret at hav- 
 ing followed a wrong course ; it is perhaps the future 
 and hope. Our fathers could live in easy circum- 
 stances ; the seigniories aiforded them lands in abun- 
 dance ; the seigniorial dues were nominal ; in spite 
 of a bad system of agriculture, the virgin soil returned 
 a hundred-fold for the seed which had been confided 
 to it. Instead of wasting their strength and losing 
 their morals in the lumbering establishments, their 
 vigorous youth occupied themselves in the labours of 
 husbandry. Luxury was yet unknown, few objects 
 were imported from abroad ; the cloths and stuffs 
 made in the country were sufficient for the rural po- 
 pulation. Trade, it is true, was not in a brilliant 
 state, shin-plasters and the bankrupt law had not yet 
 come into existence. But there was money to be 
 seen ; objects of the first necessity were not scarce, 
 and cost little. The Canadians lived happy, strongly 
 attached to their country, and did not feel the wish 
 to emigrate to their neighbours the Americans. The 
 poor as well as the rich man had his share of sunshine, 
 and found means to feed, warm, and clothe himself; 
 this was the age of prejudices in which people thought
 
 48 
 
 it possible to be datialicd with what was strictly ne- 
 cessary. But we, more enlightened, have altered all 
 this. The present generation saw the brilliant era 
 of trade commence, it may now contemplate its end 
 and taste its sweets. 
 
 " The greater quantity of foreign merchandize 
 Canada imports, the richer it will become. Let us 
 create new wants ; the desire of satisfying them will 
 give an impulse to trade, and force us to produce 
 objects for exportation." Such were the dreams of 
 our Smiths and Says on a small scale. *' Trade for 
 ever! " was the cry of our economists ; " Trade for 
 ever ! " was repeated by Old England, whose im- 
 mense depots were filled to excess with waste mer- 
 chandize. Not being able to find a market for them 
 elsewhere, she took the opportunity of swamping 
 Canada with them. Commerce advanced with rapid 
 strides ; but it was a sickly and unnatural commerce. 
 At the same time, a luxury without bounds, and 
 ruinous habits were introduced among the higher 
 classes, and thence rapidly descended to the lowest 
 
 frades of society. In return for the shipments from 
 mgland, Canada could only offer her promise to pay 
 and a little wheat. The balance being constantly 
 against her, she was obliged to find money to preserve 
 her commercial credit. In order to obtain it, the trade 
 ran into debt with the banks, the professional man 
 increased his bills of costs, the Government employe 
 got his salary doubled, the husbandman pledged his 
 future crops and hypothecated his lands. On him, 
 as the only producer, fell the burthen of paying the 
 expenditure of all the other classes. 
 
 And now the picture darkens. Worn out by a 
 system of cultivation which is always taking some- 
 thing away without giving anything in return, the 
 old lands yield only miserable crops, hardly sufficient 
 to supply food for the labourer. It is almost im- 
 possible to open other lands in the seigniories, as the 
 new concessions are charged with rents and res^va- 
 tions too burthensome for the Censitaire. It is use- 
 less to think of the Townships : the minions of 
 power who have divided them among themselves 
 want gold for their title-deeds. Besides, they cannot 
 bear to see French Canadians settle on them. 
 
 In a time of dearth, how is the husbandman to 
 get rid of the debts he has contracted during years
 
 49 
 
 of abuudance ? For it must be remarked, that our 
 countrymen really plunged into debt when they had 
 the most magnificent harvests. 
 
 " * Well ! England wants lumber ; the vast forests 
 of Canada are before you ; make use of them and 
 you will pay your debts.' Speculators receive ad- 
 vances of money, and open lumbering establish- 
 ments, to which the most vigorous portion of the 
 agricultural population go and lose their taste for 
 husbandry. From Lake Temiscaming to Lake Saint 
 Jean all the tributaries of the St. Lawrence pour 
 into it their tribute in the shape of innumerable and 
 endless rafts of lumber. After some years, the 
 markets are glutted ; there is no demand for lumber ; 
 both speculators and lumber-makers fall together 
 into the abyss of bankniptcy." 
 
 This is an outline of the course we have pursued ; 
 a wild commerce, luxury, debt, bankruptcy, misery, 
 and emigration. It is high time to *' put the ship 
 about," and try another tack. In truth, it would be 
 diflBcult to recognize in us the children of those Ca- 
 nadians, of whom General Murray said, after the 
 Conquest ; " They are a prudent and frugal race of 
 men." 
 
 The second general cause of emigration is the dif- 
 ficulty of founding new agricultural settlements. 
 Here I will only refer to the Districts of Three 
 Rivers and St. Francis. Between the River St. 
 Lawrence and the United States frontier, the cul- 
 tivable lands may be divided into three belts, running 
 parallel to the River for the length probably of 20 
 to 25 leagues. 
 
 The nearest belt to the St. Lawrence includes the 
 seigniories, in which there are still lands to be had. 
 Under the French government the seigniors were in 
 a manner the agents of the Crown ; whose duty it 
 was to invite the settlers into their respective Dis- 
 tricts, and to concede lands to them at almost nomi- 
 nal rates. The right of having grist mills and the 
 lods et ventes formed the greater part of the seigniorial 
 revenues. Since then, things have greatly altered. 
 Assuming that they are the unconditional proprie- 
 tors of the land, the seigniors only concede at high 
 rates, and with numerous reservations. It naturally 
 follows from this change, that young men are afraid 
 to take the lands on these conditit)ne;, \v\icn th»^y $€e 
 
 7
 
 50 
 
 imiubers of old proprietors sinking under the weight 
 of seigniorial dues, selling their lands at low prices 
 in order to go and settle in foreign parts. 
 
 The 2d belt, which adjoins the seigniories, is 12 
 to 15 leagues in width. Divided among a small 
 number of large landholders, it has become the do- 
 main of monopoly. The labourer there is made use 
 of with admirable patience and intelligence ; and 
 when his last drop of sweat has been gathered, and 
 his last rag torn from him, he is sent back to the 
 seigniories, or driven towards the United States. He 
 is at liberty to go forth at the head of his family to 
 increase the crowd of French Canadian beggars. 
 
 Of the large landholders, some remain unknown 
 and keep themselves quiet until extensive clearings 
 have been made on their lands. They then shew 
 themselves ; and fortunate is the settler, if while the 
 fruit of his labours is taken from him, he is not forced 
 to pay heavy damages. Some make themselves but 
 too well known, by the length of their deeds of con- 
 cession. They sell, but they do so for a douceur of 
 15 to 20 shillings per acre. At this price, they con- 
 tent themselves with reserving all the lumber, quar- 
 ries, mines, mill-sites, roads leading thereto, &c. &c. 
 So that after straggling for a few years against the 
 forest, borne down by such conditions, the poor set- 
 ler is obliged to return his half-opened land. 
 
 Lastly, there are proprietors who will neither con- 
 cede, nor sell, nor work, nor furnish their contribu- 
 tion towards any improvement. They are waiting 
 till their unfortunate neighbours shall have become 
 impoverished, by opening roads, doing such works as 
 are required between neighbour and neighbour ; con- 
 structing bridges, erecting school houses, building a 
 chapel. Until then, their vast property will remain 
 a public nuisance. It is impossible to oblige them to 
 pay local taxes, to give air to their neighbour's clear- 
 ings, to assist in making party ditches, or to keep up 
 the roads ; for they have a thousand means to shelter 
 themselves from suits at law. And even when they 
 are condemned, the law only allows their lands to be 
 sold after five long years have elapsed. Altogether, 
 this region offers to the labouring man disappoint- 
 ment, dejection, misery, and as an end to all these 
 evils, emigration.
 
 51 
 
 The third belt extends from these places of deso- 
 lation to the frontier. It is this portion which has 
 been thrown open by the patriotism of our Ministers 
 to the superabundant population of the seigniories. 
 May they succeed in attracting and establishing our 
 fellow-countrymen there. Immense difficulties are 
 in the way of the accomplishment of the Ministerial 
 project. Between the old settlements and the Town- 
 ships the domain m( monopoly intervenes, and can 
 furnish no assistance to the hardy pioneer of civiliza- 
 tion. Being at a distance of 25 leagues from the St. 
 Lawrence, he will long have to submit to innumer- 
 able privations. If he wants a pickaxe, a cwt. of 
 flour, or a bundle of straw, he will have to go 15 to 
 20 leagues to procure them. Hence loss of time, fa- 
 tigue, exhaustion, and consequently dejection. Such 
 will be his situation, as long as the monopolists shall 
 not have improved the state of the land they keep 
 uncultivated and uninhabited ; and thus it happens 
 that out of a hundred young men who left for these 
 places last autumn, ninety have returned, disgusted 
 with the new settlements and meditating emigration. 
 
 Connected with the general causes of Canadian 
 emigration, there are particular causes which have an 
 immediate action upon each description of emigrants. 
 The emigrants may be divided into four classes, com- 
 posed as follows : — 
 
 1st Class, very numerous : families reduced to 
 poverty by hard times, laziness, drunkenness, or 
 thoughtlessness. They go to the Northern States 
 to beg, or perform the vilest offices. In certain towns 
 of Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, their 
 reputation is such, that no honest man would dare to 
 call himself a Canadian. Causes of the emigration 
 peculiar to this class: hunger, nakedness, and too 
 frequently thirst. 
 
 2nd Class, very numerous : young men who go to 
 earn money in the Northern States. Their intention 
 in leaving, is to return to Canada to purchase or open 
 new lands. Many finish by settling among our 
 neighbours. Some hire themselves to farmers, others 
 manufacture bricks, or are employed in the Lowell 
 and Manchester manufactories. Peculiar causes of 
 emigration ; scarcity of money in Canada and high 
 price of lands.
 
 52 
 
 3rd Class : yoking men who have received an edu- 
 cation. Finding all the liberal professions crowded 
 with numerous candidates, they emigrate . towards 
 Missouri and Louisiana, with the view of making 
 something by their talents and education. St. Louis 
 and New Orleans contain a great many individuals 
 of this class. They always succeed when sober and 
 industrious. Peculiar causes of emigration ; the 
 small number and insufficiency $£ the career open to 
 the educated youth of the country. 
 
 4th Class ; numerous and important, constituting 
 the sinews and riches of a country ; farmers in easy 
 circumstances, with large families. Many excellent 
 fathers not wishing to allow their children to seek 
 refuge in the towns, or to go and work in the manu- 
 factories of the United States, try and find lands for 
 them to settle on. It is useless to think of obtaining 
 them on easy conditions in Lower Canada. They 
 sell their property, and with the price of their lands, 
 they furnish their children with the means of opening 
 settlements in the midst of the fertile plains of Wis- 
 consin, Illinois, or Iowa. Peculiar cause of emigra- 
 tion ; difficulty of procuring lands in Lower Canada. 
 
 To the Mth and 14^A. — The causes of emigration 
 being known, it is easy to point out the proper reme- 
 dies for this evil which is gnawing the vitals of the 
 country. The wisdom of our legislators will discover 
 them ; may it also find physicians who have the will 
 and courage to apply them ! 
 
 JSTevertheless, it I were permitted to offer, upon 
 this important question, my humble advice to our 
 statesmen, I would say to them, after asking pardon 
 for taking the liberty : — " Gentlemen, you have been 
 called upon to replace the country in the road to 
 prosperity; your task is difficult. The Government 
 18 on the verge of bankruptcy ; trade is extinct ; the 
 impoverished and terrified population are flying to a 
 foreign land to ask for bread and for repose. Save 
 the country by restoring confidence in the future. 
 R^Histablish order in the public finances. The peo- 
 ple's money has been wasted ; be saving ; reduce the 
 exorbitant salaries ; place useless officers on the re- 
 tired list ; diminish the cost of legislation. Thirty 
 years ago, a law cost only forty pounds ; now, not a 
 single one can be obtained for less than £400, al- 
 though the new ones are not better than the old.
 
 53 
 
 Reduce tliem to the former rates, and in one single 
 Session of the Legislature, you will have saved to the 
 country, more than £30,000. Place trade on a 
 sounder footing ; let the importations and exporta- 
 tions be again equally balanced. I was going to add, 
 proscribe luxury and intemperance. But no ; Messrs. 
 Mailloux and Chiniquy will undertake that duty. 
 At all events, lend them your assistance in their noble 
 and patriotic crusade. 
 
 But this is not the whole of your task. Provi- 
 dence has liberally distributed three sources of riches 
 to Canada ; men, earth, and water. I say nothing 
 of the air, because wind-mills are not destined to suc- 
 ceed in this country. Nor shall I mention fire, 
 which it is better to leave to the management of 
 blacksmiths and proprietors of steam-engines. 
 
 "Well, gentlemen, you have in your hands three 
 elements of prosperity ; let them be used for the com- 
 mon good, and you will have given the death-blow 
 to the disastrous emigration of late years, and merited 
 the blessing of your fellow-coimtrymen. 
 
 The inhabitant of a northern country is active and 
 well adapted for labour. In oiu: country, however, 
 thousands of hands remain unoccupied, or are obliged 
 to seek for labour abroad. Do you wish to employ 
 them ? The earth and water will furnish you the 
 means of turning these productive agents to account. 
 Protect the fisheries and the coasting trade in the 
 Gulf of St. Lawrence ; establish a school of naviga- 
 tion, and Canada will produce good seamen as she 
 formerly did. You will thus create a Provincial 
 navy. The rivers offer you motive power to an in- 
 calculable extent. Take possession of this power ; 
 employ it for manufactures, which you will encour- 
 age by allowing the importation duty free of the raw 
 material necessary to feed them, and by taxing ar- 
 ticles of foreign manufacture when they can be pro- 
 duced here with advantage. The water will thus 
 have furnished you the means of occupying use- 
 fully the one half of the hands now condemned to 
 idleness. 
 
 The earth will afford employment to the remainder. 
 Make use of your fine forests, but do so wisely ; do 
 not give them to speculators who nip in the bud the 
 fruit destined to feed your children.
 
 5i 
 
 Agriculture will not escape your care, for agricul- 
 ture is the food of the people. You will instruct and 
 enlighten the fanner by establishing model farms. 
 With all your books, you cannot make him alter his 
 old and ruinous practice, while he will understand and 
 imitate the proceedings he will have seen in actual 
 practice, and the success of which he will have seen. 
 
 It is also important to do away with the obstacles 
 which by an infamous monopoly prevent the progress 
 of agriculture, and to prove that you will not sacrifice 
 the future destinies of the country to satisfy the cu- 
 pidity of a few individuals. You have offered the 
 Crown Lands at prices to suit the feeblest purses ; 
 but the useless domains of the Seigniors and large 
 landholders ibrbid approach to these lands. Make 
 these men follow your example, and the forest will be 
 changed into fertile fields sufficient to feed a numer- 
 ous population. Common sense will convince them 
 that their individual interests will suffer, if, by exor- 
 bitant demands, they drive away settlers who offer to 
 give value to the land, provided they are permitted 
 to reside and bring up their families on it. If they 
 remain deaf to these prudent counsels, there are 
 means to bring them to reason. We ask not for laws 
 a la Proudhon ; on the contrary, we wish justice to 
 be rendered for and against all. 
 
 When the Crown gave up its territorial rights to 
 the Seigniors and large landholders in favor of agri- 
 culture, it surely imposed certain conditions. Let 
 the duty of seeing these conditions fulfilled fall not 
 upon the poor laborer, who would be laughed at by 
 the rich man, but upon the Government, the natural 
 protector of the feeble. If these guarantees have 
 not, through neglect, been stipulated in favor of the 
 settler, give him, at any rate, the means of obliging 
 the large landholder to open his lands and pay the 
 local taxes. When the possessor cannot be reached, 
 allow recourse against his land, not after five years, 
 but at the end of three months. A delay of five 
 years is a denial of justice ; for five years are the life or 
 death of a new settlement. 
 
 Besides, as these great reservations of waste lands 
 are a public nuisance, the Legislature evidently has 
 the right of imposing on them a tax, which would be 
 a slight indemnification for the damage caused by 
 them to the general interests of the country.
 
 55 
 
 If you apply these remedies widely and sagaciously, 
 as you can do, gentlemen, our fellow-countrymen will 
 willingly remain on the paternal soil while you make 
 the attempt; they can still bear a few years of 
 misery for the service of their country. But if you 
 are wanting in courage and skill at this decisive mo- 
 ment, in fifty years you will find no more French 
 Canadians, unless it be on the banks of the Missouri 
 and of the Mississippi. 
 
 Answers of Messire C. Marquis, Priest, Vicaire of 
 St. Gr6goire, to the preceding questions trans- 
 mitted to him, annexed to the Circular of the 
 Archbishop of Quebec : — 
 
 \st. Travellers say that Canadian families may be 
 found settled, in great numbers, in that part of the 
 States which borders on the frontier. 
 
 2nd. To all parts of the American Union, but 
 especially to those on the frontier. 
 
 ^rd. Those from our locality all belong to the agri- 
 cultural class. 
 
 Ath. Eight families left St. Gregoire last year to 
 go and settle in the States ; before that period young 
 men only had thought of leaving the place — about 
 130 to 140 are absent from the Parish in each year, 
 working with the Americans. The greater number 
 return after a few years' absence ; for if it be true 
 that the Canadian likes his Church steeple, it is 
 much more true of the Acadians. 
 
 5th. They are all French Canadians. 
 
 Qtli. The number of young men who left the 
 parish for the United States has been about the same 
 for each of the last five years ; but families caught 
 the emigration fever last year only. And if the pros- 
 pect offered by colonization does not promise any 
 real advantage, we must expect to see a great num- 
 ber leaving their native soil to seek elsewhere for a 
 subsistence which they cannot find here. 
 
 Ith. Yes ; I met some as far as Virginia. There 
 are people from St. Gregoire in the State of Missouri, 
 at the Rocky Mountains, and it may be said in all 
 the Northern States. I found them in a pitiable 
 state of inferiority. A fortnight since, a man re-
 
 56 
 
 turned to us who had left the parish twenty-eight 
 years ago. During that period he had " roamed over 
 Africa and America," {couruFrique et Mdrique,) as the 
 saying is, and has not saved a single sixpence for his 
 old age. This week we received news from another 
 man who had left the parish for twenty years ; he is 
 sick and reduced to the greatest misery, and lives on 
 public charity. These are two examples out of a 
 thousand. 
 
 ^th. Their principal means of subsistence is to 
 serve as labourers, either with private individuals or 
 in the manufactories ; some learn trades ; others have 
 managed, through their industry, to create a certain 
 income, and do honor to the name of Canadians. 
 Unfortunately they are very few ; the ignorance un- 
 der which they generally labour, will always be an 
 obstacle to their advancement. 
 
 The Canadians are generally sought for by the 
 Americans, for their intelligence, their activity, and 
 their natural frankness. When they do not remain 
 too long among the Americans, they retain sufficiently 
 the principles of honesty and virtue they have received 
 in their infancy. It is not so with those who reside 
 several years in those localities. When once they 
 have become acquainted with the English language, 
 a complete revolution takes place in their morals. 
 Not being able to occupy an honorable rank in so- 
 ciety, they frequent persons of the lowest class, and 
 contract the most vicious and degrading habits, such 
 as roguery, debauchery, and drunkenness. They are 
 employed in the hardest work, and soon waste their 
 strength and ruin their health. They agree in saying 
 that they would live well if they worked here as they 
 do among the Americans. 
 
 9th. Several reasons may be given for the emigra- 
 tion to foreign parts ; the two principal ones are poverty 
 and the difficulty of settling in the Townships. The 
 poverty of our people is caused by the bad harvests 
 and the want of work. It would be superfluous to 
 speak here of the bad harvests, it is a chapter which 
 every one is acquainted with, if not in its origin, at 
 least in its consequences. The want of work is caused 
 by the depression of the lumber trade, and the intro- 
 duction of threshing machines. A great number of 
 persons employed every year in the lumber yards 
 have been left without work, and consequently, with-
 
 57 
 
 out means of subsistence. For about seven or eight 
 years, threshing-mills have been brought through 
 our country parts, from barn to barn, and by means 
 of which the work of two or three months is done in 
 four or five days ; a number of poor people, who 
 earned their livelihood by this work, are now out of 
 employment, and starving. Tired of leading a 
 miserable life here, without any hopes of ever having 
 a better fortune, our country people were obliged to 
 abandon the soil which gave them birth, to seek else- 
 where an existence which it refused them. They 
 went, therefore, to the Townships, with the intention 
 of settling there ; but the difficulties they met with 
 obliged them to continue on to the neighbouring 
 States. The principal obstacles to the settlement of 
 the Canadians in the Townships, are : 1st The want, 
 or bad state of the roads. 2nd. The too high price 
 of lands. 3rd. The oppression of large landholders. 
 4th. The absence of persons of education among the 
 settlers. 
 
 In order to have an idea of the great misery ex- 
 perienced by the settlers on first settling, from the 
 want of roads, it is only necessary to remark, that 
 during eight months of the year they are obliged to 
 carry on their backs all the goods and provisions they 
 are in want of, through forests more or less dense, 
 and through savanes where they sink to the waist. 
 If they have a half cwt. of potash to take to the 
 merchant, a bushel of wheat to carry to the mill, 50 
 lbs. of sugar to take to market, it must be carried in 
 their arms. Now, for a young man worn out by 
 heavy and continual work, and by a long fast, it is a 
 task which exceeds the limits of the strength of 
 human nature. 
 
 It would be easy to give the names of numbers 
 of persons who have died in consequence of excessive 
 fatigue undergone in making such journeys. 
 
 What is the result? It is, that the settler not 
 feeling strong enough to carry his produce to market, 
 takes it to the resident merchant to whom he sells it 
 for half price, and who in return gives him goods for 
 which he charges four times their value. 
 
 In several localities, the Government has opened 
 large roads which have not a little contributed to the 
 advancement of the settlements in the Townships ; 
 but since these roads have been made, they have 
 
 8
 
 58 
 
 neither been kept up nor repaired ; tiiey ai'e in so 
 shocking a state that in the very middle of a Provin- 
 cial road, persons have been obliged to take out of 
 mud-holes, with poles, animals who had stuck in ; 
 this has not only happened once, but a hundred 
 times. The misfortune is, that the Government, 
 after having opened the roads in the Townships, did 
 not take effective steps to keep them in good order. 
 
 As to the price of lands, it is exorbitant ; they arc 
 sold at 10s., 15s. and even 20s. per acre. The settler, 
 It would seem, might at least hope to be free at this 
 price ; but no, this is not all. "When, after having been 
 cheated by the false promises of the large landholder 
 he wUl have cleared 10 to 12 arpcnts of land, he will 
 be politely invited to come and pass a deed. The 
 proprietor begins by reserving to himself, the wood, 
 stone, mines, water-courses, besides the right of 
 passage, through the land sold, at all seasons of the 
 year ; he points out to the purchaser the mill where 
 he must carry his grain ; he leaves to the purchaser all 
 the public expenses and those of vicinage ; and after all 
 this he gives him his land for 15s. or 20s. an acre. If 
 the settler does not feel courage enough to submit to 
 what is required of him, he has no alternative but to 
 pack up his things and take his household goods else- 
 where. He in fact does so ; but before attempting a 
 new settlement on land where he may reasonably 
 expect the same inconveniences, he will go and try a 
 little life in foreign parts. No person can find fault 
 with this. Some other proprietors absolutely refuse 
 to sell their lands ; they wait until the neighbouring 
 lands are settled, so as to exact a higher price for 
 theirs. 
 
 The absence of persons of education, especially 
 Missionaries, among the settlers, is another great 
 obstacle to the progress of colonization. The settlers 
 are generally uneducated ; they are little capable of 
 struggling with the harpies who devour them ; no- 
 thing is easier than to dupe them ; it is a necessary 
 consequence of their ignorance. If there is not in 
 the midst of them a disinterested person to protect 
 them, they will find it difficult to avoid the snares 
 laid for them on all sides by cupidity and personal 
 interest. 
 
 To the lOth. — Yes, the settlers have been persuad- 
 ed, that among the Americans a fortune can be made
 
 59 
 
 at little cost. In effect, a sober and economical young 
 man can, in a short time, lay by a handsome sum. 
 They receive from $20 to $30 per month ; the mis- 
 fortune is, that they earn a great deal and spend a 
 great deal. Pleasure, luxury, and debauchery, absorb, 
 in a few weeks, the fruit of a whole year's labour. 
 
 To the 1 \th. — In order to prevent emigration, the 
 position of the settlers must be made supportable ; and 
 to attain this end: 1st. Roads must be opened 
 through the pi'incipal townships intended to be open- 
 ed for settlement : 2ndly. The keeping up of these 
 roads must be provided for in an effective manner. 
 In my opinion, the most proper way would be to es- 
 tablish turnpikes on every one of the provincial routes, 
 until the lands bordering on them are occupied ; for 
 it is not reasonable to expect that the Government, 
 after making the roads, will also undertake to maintain 
 them : 3rdly. An end must be put to the tyranny 
 of large landholders, by obliging them to assist in 
 public works, by annulling the excessively burthen- 
 some contracts dictated by them, and by obliging 
 them to concede or sell their lands : 4thly. I will 
 add, that for the Catholic settlers, means should be 
 provided to establish Missionaries among them to en- 
 courage them and direct them in their labours. For 
 the Catholic settler, a Missionary is of the greatest 
 necessity, especially at the commencement of a set- 
 tlement ; he is the only man who can render them 
 great services gratuitously. The Government, if it 
 really wishes to see the system of colonization suc- 
 ceed, should assist the Missionary to establish himself 
 as soon as possible among the settlers, not in his 
 quality of Catholic priest, but as the leader of the 
 settlement. The sacrifice of a few dollars or of a 
 few arpents of land, would soon be compensated by 
 the rapid progress of this noble work of coloniza- 
 tion. 
 
 To the \2th. — For St. Gr^goire, Aston, Bulstrode, 
 and Wendover would unite all the requisite con- 
 ditions. 
 
 To the IZth. — 200 at least. It would be an advan- 
 tage to have an Agent at St. Gr^goire, or in the 
 vicinity. 
 
 To the \A:th. — Same answer as to the eleventh. 
 
 To the 15th. — A road starting from the south-west 
 angle of the Seigniory of Becancour, in the Parish 
 of St. Gregoire, crossing the Township of Aston,
 
 60 
 
 along the Godfrey grand-line to the River Nicolet, 
 or at least to the 1 2th range, thence turning towards 
 the north-east to cross Bulstrode, and to join the 
 Provincial route which crosses the 10th range of 
 Stanfold. This road would give a shorter outlet to 
 the inhabitants of the Bois Francs. It would cross 
 several tracts of excellent lands, in which a couple of 
 very good parishes might soon be formed. It would 
 certainly not cost more than the Provincial road 
 which crosses Somerset and Stanfold. 
 
 To the 16th. — The large landholders are in fact 
 exempt from all expenses of vicinage, and from all 
 expenses for public works ; and a great number of 
 them refuse to sell their lands on reasonable condi- 
 tions. The shortest as well as the most infallible 
 means of remedying the enormous existing abuses, is 
 to impose a tax of l^d. to 2d. on each acre of waste 
 land in the Townships. The proprietors of waste 
 lands should be obliged to enregister with the Clerk 
 of the Municipal Council, or the Government Agent 
 for the locality, their names and those of their agents, 
 their places of residence, and the numbers of the lots 
 of land held by them . The delay of five years granted 
 to large landholders, after the expiration of which 
 only, judgments rendered against them for the re- 
 covery of assessments, &c. &c., can be executed, 
 should be reduced to three months. The Courts 
 should be authorized to cause the timber to be sold, 
 and then the land itself, if the proprietor does not pay 
 the amount of his assessment for public works, or does 
 not contribute to expenses of vicinage. 
 
 To the \7th. — Not being acquainted with every- 
 thing concerning these road laws, I am unable to 
 make any more detailed suggestions on this subject. 
 The Township Missionaries will be able to satisfy 
 you more amply than I can. 
 
 St. Gr^goire, 21st March, 1849. 
 
 Answers of Messire P. J. Bedard, Priest, Missionary 
 at Kingsey, to the preceding questions trans- 
 mitted to him, annexed to the Circular of the 
 Archbishop of Quebec : — 
 To the 1st. — The data which I possess with refer- 
 ence to the importance of the emigration from Lower
 
 61 
 
 Canada, show that it is considerable, if we may be- 
 lieve the travellers who go to tlie United States via 
 Stanstead. The families who arrive there, especially 
 in the dead season of winter, are so numerous, that 
 they cannot find lodgings, and are obliged to crowd 
 together in the same houses, and often in out-build- 
 ings. 
 
 To the 2nd. — Tiie families generally go towards 
 the Manchester and Lowell manufactories. The 
 young men take different directions. 
 
 To the Srd. — For the greater part, to the laboring 
 class, with the exception of a great many sons of 
 good families, who leave parents in easy circum- 
 stances ; they leave half-cleared lands. The want of 
 energy on the part of the greater number, renders 
 them incapable of continuing their settlements ; all 
 they care for is, to earn their daily bread. This an- 
 swer admits of happy exceptions. 
 
 To the Ath. — I can only speak as to my locality. 
 The number of emigrants in each year, is great. 
 More than fifteen families leave every year ; most of 
 them return after one, two, three, or more years of 
 absence. As to the young men, I can venture to say, 
 that more than one-half emigrate, and scarcely two- 
 thirds of them return. 
 
 To the 5th. — Almost all are of French origin. I 
 do not know what is the emigration of the other 
 races. 
 
 To the 6th. — I cannot answer this. 
 
 To the 7 th. — No, never. 
 
 To the 8th. — I will speak from what I have heard 
 from persons who have resided in these localities, and 
 from what has fallen under my own observation. 
 
 The Canadians in foreign parts are mere mercen- 
 aries, in the factories, in the public works, or with 
 private individuals who pay them heavy wages which 
 they well earn. The incessant work wastes their 
 strength; they die young, or become prematurely 
 infirm. The greater part of those who return, are 
 ruined in health. Their heavy wages give them the 
 means of living high, and they genemlly do so. But 
 it may be said that every evening sees the end of 
 what they have earned during the day — they are in 
 fact poor. 
 
 Their morals suffer the most. The want of edu- 
 cation on the part of the greater number, places them
 
 62 
 
 in ii dcgniding inferiority, and makes them blush at 
 their nationality. They must needs ape their mas- 
 ters ; but like true apes, they can only imitate their 
 grimaces, they cannot imitate their character. They 
 adopt their faults without adopting their virtues, 
 while they lose all their own better qualities. They 
 affect their independence without having their public 
 spirit ; this renders them perfect egotists, and nothing 
 more. They have the elastic conscience of the 
 Yankee, without his generosity. They shake off 
 every religious restraint, and in this respect they 
 greatly surpass the liberties the Americans allow 
 themselves, or their indifference. 
 
 The morals of the family become also greatly af- 
 fected ; the children are independent of their parents, 
 who have no more the authority either to correct or 
 instruct them. The marriage bond has also taken 
 another form. AVhat is only the habitual manner of 
 the American, degenerates into vice with his Cana- 
 dian guest. The wife becomes less dependent upon 
 her husband, who only sees in her a necessary in- 
 strument in the family, of which, so to speak, he 
 disposes at his pleasure, instead of considering her as 
 another part of himself, as a minister, a second au- 
 thority after him ; she has no share in his projects 
 or his confidence ; he has all the indifference of the 
 Yankee for her, without taking the same care of her. 
 
 To the 9th. — This emigration has, I think, two 
 general causes affecting the whole Province, and 
 several local causes : 1st. general cause, the difference 
 between the pay in the United States and in Canada. 
 2nd. The want of manufactories and of employment 
 for the working classes who have no skill in agricul- 
 ture ; this class is numerous, even in the country 
 parts ; and also the want of lands to be opened in 
 the Seigniories, and the difficulty of reaching the 
 Townships which surround the Seigniories. 
 
 In my locality it is a mania for the young men to 
 go into the upper country. It is a sort of epidemic 
 which seizes them. Many leave, to say they have 
 travelled. Poverty is also one of the greatest causes 
 of emigration, especially of families, and the want of 
 employment in this locality. 
 
 To the I0th.—Ycs, and often. 
 
 To the llth. — The best means would be to favour 
 colonization to whatever point of the country it might
 
 63 
 
 direct itself, but I think the Eastern Townsliips 
 should be preferred. The great point is to know the 
 most effective way to encourage this colonization. 
 I o-ive ray private opinion, which is founded on the 
 little experience I have acquired. In my opinion, 
 Ist. Lands should be sold at cheap rates, and for an- 
 nual rents during a certain period ; 2dly. Manufac- 
 tures and trade should be encouraged in the new 
 settlements ; 3dly. A proper Road system should be 
 established; 4thly. Religion and education should 
 be provided for ; 5thly. The greedy covetousness of 
 large landholders, should be repressed. 
 
 I say, 1st. Give lands at cheap rates and at annual 
 rents. Four shillings per acre would not be an ex- 
 orbitant price if it were not demanded on purchasing, 
 but left a constitut as a rent, for at least twelve or 
 fifteen years, with easy terms of payment at the end 
 of that period. This price would be within the reach 
 of every one, and would greatly assist the opening of 
 lands by persons who have a little cash in hand ; a 
 laborious and industrious man might also live and 
 make both ends meet; 2dly. Encourage manufac- 
 tures, &c. ; mills of every sort, foundries, &c., are 
 absolutely required. Who is to establish them? 
 What means should be adopted to encourage them ? 
 I leave it to the public to decide. As to commerce, 
 this object is of the greatest importance. There 
 should be in each Township at least one store, fur- 
 nished with everything necessary for a new settlement, 
 such as food, clothing, working instruments, &c. &c. 
 With a manufacture of potash, to purchase from the 
 settlers the ashes and salts in exchange for the neces- 
 saries of life, which should be furnished to them at 
 the most moderate prices. By this means we should 
 prevent the schemes of speculators of every sort, 
 which are a real nuisance in a new settlement. One 
 potash manufactory would not be sufficient. I could 
 procure sufficient pearl-ash makers to meet any de- 
 mand which might be made to me for them. The 
 store should give a certain credit to the settler, in 
 order that he might pay in produce ; 3dly. Establish 
 a proper Road system. Government has already 
 disbursed at a dead loss considerable sums for the 
 opening of communications, which, for want of being 
 kept up, have become impracticable after a few years. 
 To remedy this evil toll gates would be required, the
 
 (34 
 
 revenue whereof would serve to keep up the lloads. 
 I speak of the long lloads through waste lands, such 
 as those which serve as a communication between 
 the Townships and the Seigniories. Those already 
 opened should be repaired ; others should be opened 
 at the request of the parties interested in the different 
 localities ; toll gates should be established, or, what 
 is still better, bridges should be erected on the large 
 rivei's instead of those inconvenient vessels, which 
 retard the traveller and cannot be used during one 
 fourth part of the year. It has been calculated that 
 £2,000 to £3,000 would be required to repair the 
 (Company's) Road from Port St. Francis and to 
 make the bridges, both of which together would yield 
 an annual revenue of not less than £400, taking the 
 rate which is paid to the scows. This case may 
 serve for the whole. 4thly. Provide for the support 
 of religion. It is to be regretted that it is not in the 
 power of the Legislature or of the Government to 
 grant the two hundred acres of land asked for in 
 each Township containing a Catholic population, for 
 the support of the missionary. And yet this might 
 have a happy result ; it would give a great impulse 
 to emigration towards the uninhabited to\'STiships if 
 the Government, conjointly with the ecclesiastical 
 authorities, could assure the people that they will be 
 accompanied there by the priest. The priest is ab- 
 solutely necessary to the prosperity of a new settle- 
 ment. He is the soul of every tiling ; persons of 
 education are scarce there ; and where every thing 
 has to be created in order to give an impulse to a 
 community, it requires a man of intellect, enjoying 
 public confidence, and self-sacrificing. The priest 
 unites all these qualities. In a new settlement it is 
 impossible for the people alone to maintain the priest ; 
 this should be provided for by the Government. As 
 to education, I shall not enter upon the merits of 
 this question ; it has already been decided. 5thly. 
 Put a stop to the greediness of the large landholders. 
 This has reference to Townships sold under Letters 
 Patent, or rather given away. For more than a year 
 a great deal has been said in the public papers touch- 
 ing the covetousness of the large landholders in the 
 Townships, and yet much remains to be said on this 
 subject. There are a great many hidden extor- 
 tions which it would be a pleasure to expose ; but our
 
 65 
 
 public men know enough to have the matter at heart. 
 It is a difficult point : let us hope that their know- 
 ledge and wisdom will not fail them. 
 
 To the I2tk. — I will mention the Townships of 
 Horton, Simson, Wendover, and Warwick, which 
 belong to private individuals for the most part un- 
 known, or who remain (purposely, I believe,) inac- 
 tive. I will also mention Walton, and the greater 
 part of the tract included in the agency of the East- 
 ern Townships. 
 
 To the ISth. — More than twenty families have 
 manifested that wish ; and I have heard it stated 
 that a great many young men who have gone to 
 foreign parts, intend to return and take lands. 
 
 The above are my ideas, touching the subject of 
 colonization, which the committee have under con- 
 sideration. It would be desirable to turn some at- 
 tention also to the Townships already settled, and 
 which are now a prey to the large landholders, and 
 to devise some remedy for the evil pointed out. 
 
 Answers of Messire Delage, Priest, CurS of the 
 Parish of I'lslet, to the preceding questions 
 transmitted to him, with the Circular of the 
 Archbishop of Quebec : — 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 Having only last week received, through your 
 Grace, the questions proposed by a Committee of the 
 House on the subject of Emigration, I avaU my- 
 self of my first leisure moment to answer them. I 
 regret that the numerous occupations of Lent do not 
 allow me to give to these questions all the attention 
 I might desire, nor to procure all the information I 
 might require, in order to satisfy the wishes of the 
 Committee. I will, therefore, confine myself to the 
 following answers and reflections : — 
 
 I am unable, for want of sufficient information, to 
 answer in a satisfactory manner to questions 1, 2, 3, 
 7 and 16. ' '^"""^ 
 
 To the Ath and 5th. — I answer, that to my know- 
 ledge only one family of French origin, and a young 
 man, also a French Canadian, emigrated to IHinpis 
 last autumn. ' " "^
 
 60 
 
 To the 6th. — During the last five ycara there had 
 been, properly speaking, no emigration of my pa- 
 rishioners to foreign parts. Only a few young men 
 went to the States to earn a little money, but they 
 soon returned. 
 
 To the 9th and lOth. — In my opinion, the princi- 
 pal cause of the emigration of our fellow-countrymen 
 to the United States, has been the difficulty of pro- 
 curing new lands, added to the unintenupted suc- 
 cession of bad harvests in the old settlements, and to 
 the hope of a milder climate, an easier cultivation, 
 and more abundant harvests in the country to which 
 they emigrate, and which, from certain reports, per- 
 haps a little exaggerated, they have been led to con- 
 sider in a very favorable light ; and if I had leisure, 
 I would point out especially the want of agricultural 
 instruction, which leaves the Canadian husbandman 
 to follow an old routine which has more than ex- 
 hausted the soil. I would also state the little en- 
 couragement as yet given to agriculture, to which, 
 in my opinion, the Legislature have not paid suffi- 
 cient attention. 
 
 To the llth and lAth. — The means which seems to 
 me would be most effective in preventing emigration, 
 would be to obtain lands from the Crown on the 
 most advantageous conditions possible, and especially 
 to procure easy means of communication ; and if it 
 were possible, a law should be passed, which, while 
 it should put an end to monopoly, would, at the same 
 time, favor the formation of societies for the purpose 
 of clearing the new lands. 
 
 To the I2th. — The Saguenay appears to me to be 
 the locality towards which the population of our pa- 
 rishes below, both on the south and on the north 
 side of the St. Lawrence, might be directed with the 
 greatest advantage ; in the first place, because there 
 is no locality behind these parishes in which it would 
 be possible to settle a popidation of any extent, and 
 it would be too expensive to procure means of com- 
 munication to a population scattered over a larger 
 extent of land ; and, in the second place, because it 
 is easy enough to go from our parishes to the Sague- 
 nay, the fertility of the lands on which, and the ad- 
 vantages of the climate there, are known to every 
 one. If the facility of transport were still more in- 
 creased by the construction of the wharves, which
 
 67 
 
 have been so long asked for by our population ; I 
 am convinced that before a few years had gone by, 
 the excess of the population of our parishes would 
 have gone to the Saguenay in a body. 
 
 To the l^th. — On the proposal which I had made 
 to my parishioners, to form with some other parishes, 
 a society for the purpose of settling lands on the 
 Saguenay, one hundred and forty persons imme- 
 diately presented themselves to go and settle there ; 
 but then we expected to get lands at Is. per acre. 
 When we learned that the Government intended to 
 sell them at 2s, per acre, after the 1st of January, 
 1850, the ardor of our settlers greatly cooled down, 
 notwithstanding the advantageous terms of credit of- 
 fered by the Government. I am even afraid that 
 nearly the one half of those who had put down their 
 names at first, will be prevented by this increase in 
 the price of lands, and that the greater part will turn 
 towards the United States, from which their atten- 
 tion had been for a moment withdra^vn by the hopes 
 I had given them. For although emigration has 
 hardly yet begun in my parish, it was strongly 
 mooted at the time I drew off the attention of my 
 parishioners by speaking to them of the Saguenay- 
 
 To the I5th. — The principal means of communi- 
 cation which I should recommend in order to 
 facilitate the settlemwit of the Saguenay lands, 
 would be, — a road from Chicoutimi, crossing the 
 whole of the Peninsula to Lake St. John; the im- 
 provement of the road made by the inhabitants of 
 the Saguenay from Chicoutimi to St. Agnes, and 
 thence in the rear of the Eboulements Mountains, 
 as far as St. Urbain ; the construction of wharves at 
 a certain distance from each other, along the south 
 shore of the River St. Lawrence, so as to establish a 
 more easy communication by means of the steamboats 
 which ply between Quebec and Chicoutimi ; this 
 would connect all our parishes with both these im- 
 portant posts. I can Bay nothing as to the probable 
 coat of these improvements. 
 
 Answers of J, N. Bosse, of the city of Quebec, Esq., 
 Advocate, to the preceding questions transmitted 
 to him by the clerk : — 
 To the 1st. — I think that the Counties of Belle- 
 
 chasse, L'Islet, Kamouraska, and the city of Quebec,
 
 68 
 
 aie the only parts of this District from which any 
 cnaigration worthy the attention of the Government, 
 has taken place. 
 
 To the 2nd. — The emigrants who leave the city of 
 Quebec, being almost all workmen, remain in the 
 first towns they come to in the United States, where 
 they can find employment ; those from the country, 
 being almost all farmers, seek fertile lands and gene- 
 rally go and settle in the State of Illinois, where the 
 lands appear to be cheap, and where there arc already 
 a number of Canadians. 
 
 To the 3i'd. — I refer to my second answer. 
 To the Ath. — It is impossible for me to state the 
 exact number of persons who left the city of Quebec 
 last year, to go and settle in the United States. I 
 think it considerable, however, for notwithstanding 
 the great number of habitants, who, from the failure 
 of the crops, have been induced, during the last three 
 years, to sell their lands and establish themselves in 
 the city, the number of electors has increased but 
 very little during the last four years. As to the 
 country, I know that the parish of Cap St. Ignace 
 alone, furnished 205 persons to the emigration which 
 takes place towards Illinois. 
 
 To the 5th. — All the emigrants whom I knew, 
 were of French origin. 
 
 To the 6th. — I am not aware that before 1847, 
 any habitants emigrated from this District to the 
 United States, at least in numbers of any importance. 
 To the 7th. — I have never travelled in the State 
 of Illinois, towards which almost all the emigrants 
 from the country parts have gone ; but from several 
 letters which I have read from Ctmadians who had 
 settled there, I think they are very well off; for all 
 agree in congratulating themselves in having left Ca- 
 nada, and they invite, in a very pressing manner, 
 their relations and friends to sell their property and 
 go and join them, giving them the most flattering 
 hopes respecting the country in which they are. 
 
 To the 8th. — I can add nothing to what I have 
 stated in my seventh answer. 
 
 To the 9th. — All the shipbuilders of Quebec 
 closed their ship-yards last spring, for the vessels 
 which they had sent to Europe had only fetched five 
 pounds per ton, so that the workmen employed in 
 the construction of 50 to 70 vessels, yearly, remained 
 without work.
 
 69 
 
 Few labourers liave been employed in loading the 
 vessels ; for this work, now that the sailors are kept 
 on board, is almost all performed by the crews. 
 
 The falling off in commercial business i)revented 
 the construction of the numerous buildings which 
 had been commenced since the two large fires of 
 Quebec. The exportation of limber was less last year 
 than in those preceding ; the workmen employed in 
 preparing it for shipment suffered greatly ; those of 
 this class who had no work, came and added to the 
 thousands of indigent persons who were already suf- 
 fering ; indeed a great number of them left Quebec 
 on the approach of winter to go to the United States. 
 Such are, I think, the causes of the emigration which 
 took place, last autumn, from Quebec. 
 
 As to the emigration fi'om the country parts, it is 
 caused by an evil of longer standing, but which I 
 think could be put a stop to. Every person who 
 knows this District must have been struck, while 
 going down from Quebec to Riviere du Loup, with 
 the subdivision of the lands. All the parishes in this 
 part of the country have been cleared for more than 
 eighty years ; the strip of woodland remaining in the 
 rear of the Seigniories has been taken by the pro- 
 prietors of lands in the first Concession, and is care- 
 fully kept by them for their own use. Some thou- 
 sands of young men have sought an outlet in the Gulf 
 fisheries, where they are employed during the summer, 
 and the remainder have settled in the first Conces- 
 sions, subdividing the old lands; hence the vast 
 number of emplacements bounding the two and three 
 first Concessions from the River, and the cutting up 
 of all the old lauds ; hence also the decrease of the 
 riches of the inhabitants of this side of the River, 
 •whose lands were generally four or six arpents in 
 front, while the present proprietors have generally 
 only one arpent in front, and sometimes less. In the 
 parishes of St. Jean Port Joli, I'lslet, and St. Roch 
 des Aulnets, formerly so wealthy, I do not think that 
 twenty habitants could be found who own a portion 
 of land of four arpents wide. 
 
 As long as the crops continued good, these small 
 farms were sufficient for the wants of their proprietors; 
 but for about ten years past the wheat crop has failed. 
 In no one of the parishes in this part of the country 
 has a sufficient crop been gathered to feed one half of
 
 ^ 
 
 H! ^^ 
 
 'kTifc. 
 
 X. 

 
 71 
 
 ::aii»e: ti^ 
 
 «c 
 
 m -.. 
 
 It
 
 7« 
 
 Aoswers of the Rev. Mr. C. Chiiiiquy to the above 
 questions : — 
 
 To the '2nd. — It flows towards the States bordering 
 Canada, but more particularly towards Chicago. 
 
 To the 3rd. — The emigrants are generally hus- 
 bandmen who are obliged to sell their lands to pay 
 their debts, and go and seek their fortune elsewhere. 
 
 To the 4th. — The information I have procured 
 during my missions in all the country parts of the 
 District of Montreal, and in a part of the District of 
 Quebec, lead me to believe that the number of emi- 
 grants to the United States, of French origin, is 
 rather above than under one hundred thousand. 
 
 To the 5th. — My observations have been confined 
 to the French Canadian population, but I am inclined 
 to believe that the proportion of the emigration of 
 persons of other origins, is much less. 
 
 To the 6th.— I do not think that less than 70,000 
 Canadians have emigrated during the last five years. 
 
 To the 7t/i. — I have gone by the American route 
 as far as Detroit. I met a great many Canadians 
 everj'where, and the greater portion appeared to me 
 ha the most deplorable state, as well as respects their 
 fortune as their morals. 
 
 To the Sth. — The Canadians in the United States 
 are generally employed in the lowest work in the 
 manufactories ; they either become carters, or la- 
 bourers- 
 
 To the 9th. — Its causes are various, but the moat 
 general and most deplorable is the error committed 
 by the Government in having ceded to a few jobbers 
 the lands which should have belonged to the people. 
 This emigrarion would certainly not have taken place 
 if the young men had been encom^aged sooner to go 
 to the Townships. The abominable acts of injustice 
 of certain Seigniors have had no small effect in 
 bringing on this emigration. I could point out 
 Seigniories in which the Seignior refuses to concede 
 lands at reasonable rates, and from which the young 
 men emigrate, maddened as they become by being 
 refused lands on which they might live so happily 
 near their families and in their own fatherland. 
 
 To the lOth. — The emigrants send thousands of 
 letters to their friends and relations in Canada, in 
 which the advantages of emigration arc greatly ex- 
 aggerated.
 
 73 
 
 To the Wth. — The means of preventing this emi- 
 gration are, to give the Crown Lands at the lowest 
 rates and on the easiest possible conditions. The 
 Seigniors should be deprived (on being indemnified) 
 of certain odious rights, which some at least abuse ; 
 manufactures should be encouraged, in order to give 
 employment to the poor. 
 
 To the \'2th. — This emigration should be directed 
 to the points nearest to the different localities. For 
 instance, at a short distance in the rear of the large 
 parishes of St. Esprit and St. Jacques de I'Achigan, 
 there are magnificent lands, on which a population of 
 several hundred thousand souls might live happily. 
 
 To the ISth. — An incredible number of persons in 
 different parishes in which I am labouring, state to 
 me every day their desire to settle on new lands. 
 
 To the I4:th. — Lands should be given on the easiest 
 conditions, and good roads opened every wherethrough 
 the forests to which it is desired to direct the settler. 
 
 To the 15th. — The missionaries at Kingsey and 
 Sherbrooke have, I suppose, answered these ques- 
 tions ; but I will add, that I should like to see two 
 new roads made behind Kawdon and St. Jacques de 
 I'Achigan, wliich should extend at least 4 or o leagues 
 beyond the furthest settlements. 
 
 To the I6th. — The Granby road is excellent; but 
 it ought to be continued. 
 
 Answers of L. Letelller, of the city of Quebec, Esq., 
 Notary, to tlie questions transmitted to him : — 
 
 To tJie \st^ 2nd, 3rd, Ath, 5th, and 6th. — I have no 
 precise data as to this emigration which increases 
 every year; it generally draws to the States of 
 Maine, Vermont, New York, Ohio, Illinois, Jklichi- 
 gan, and "Wisconsin, a great number of Canadians, 
 all of French origin, and belonging to the agricul- 
 tui-al and working classes. 
 
 As I have only been residing at Quebec for a 
 short time, I do not know the extent of the emigra- 
 tion wliich takes place from that city. The only de- 
 tails I can furnish, I have obtained from a long resi- 
 dence in the County of Kamouraska, and the fre- 
 quent intercourse I have had with the adjoining 
 Counties. 
 
 10
 
 During the last five years, the emigration from 
 these localities has increased to an extent which can 
 only be ascertained from inquiries to be made on the 
 spot. At the present moment, whole families are 
 preparing to leave for the central States of the Union, 
 Ohio, Indiana, Illinois ; during the last year, this 
 emigration has considerably increased. 
 
 To the 7th and Sth. — I have been to the United 
 States several times, and I have seen French Cana- 
 dians there in every degree of the social scale, from 
 the lowest to the most respectable, and from the 
 poorest to the most lucrative employment. 
 
 In general, Canadians who were servants in Ca- 
 nada, do not alter their position on reaching the 
 United States, where their services are very much 
 sought for and handsomely paid. 
 
 Workmen easily find employment there, in the 
 workshops, the manufactories, or the public works, 
 and always at high wages. 
 
 As to their moral character, it remains unchanged 
 in the United States ; and such of our Canadians as 
 are immoral or debauched there, were as bad when 
 they left Canada for the United States. It is after 
 having been at school in the lumber shanties above 
 Bytown, among persons of a debauched character, 
 who work six months in the shanties of Upper Ca- 
 nada, and spend the other half year in drunkenness 
 and other excesses, that they go to the United States 
 where their small number, when looked upon with 
 the microscopic eye of prejudice, causes an unfavor- 
 able judgment to be pronounced against our Cana- 
 dian emigrants generally, in which the Americans 
 do not coincide. 
 
 9. — The causes of emigration are nearly the same 
 in every locality. With the agricultural class they 
 proceed from the great length and severity of our 
 winter ; from the bad crops and the impossibility of 
 an easy transport of products from the country to 
 the towns, or to the villages ; and with the working 
 class, they must be attributed to the want of work. 
 
 10. — No other persons that I am aware of, except 
 those who now reside In foreign parts, have represented 
 to our habitants that a more favorable destiny awaits 
 them there. 
 
 11. — I think that the means of remedying this evil 
 would be: 1st, to give to the agricultural class a
 
 75 
 
 knowledge of agriculture, by opening model schools 
 (model farms) in each locality, which would convince 
 them that our soil is rich and fertile, but that we 
 neglect and wear it out by a bad system of cultiva- 
 tion; 2dly, to open easy means of communication 
 from the Townships to the country parts, and from 
 the country parts to the cities, to which produce 
 could be brought at a cheap rate ; 3dly, to facilitate 
 the emigration of our fellow-countrymen to the 
 Townships on each side of the river, and more par- 
 ticularly towards the waste lands on the south of the 
 St. Lawrence, by the clearing of which a better 
 temperature would be secured to us by destroying 
 the barriers which retain the warm winds which blow 
 from the south and lose themselves in the forests. 
 
 One important point is, to facilitate the means of 
 communicating by good roads to these waste lands of 
 the Crown. As to the working class, the principal 
 cause of their emigration is, that no public works 
 have been undertaken for a very long time in the 
 District of Quebec. Finding no work, they have 
 gone in the direction of Upper Canada, and being 
 employed there for want of equally competent work- 
 men of another origin, they have proceeded on to- 
 wards the United States to seek for bread, for work, 
 and perhaps for liberty. 
 
 The opening of the Quebec and Halifax Railway, 
 the construction of wharves and landing places on 
 the shores of our fine River, a regular line of Stean>- 
 boats plying to and from all the intermediate ports 
 between Montreal, Quebec, and ihe lower part of the 
 River, and a school of Navigation, would be the 
 means of arresting this evil which is daily increasing, 
 and which drives far from their native soil children 
 who only ask to possess it, and who might so easily 
 be retained if something like justice were rendered to 
 this part of Canada. 
 
 12. — I am of opinion that the emigration of our 
 surplus population to the Townships, ought to be 
 encouraged and directed as follows, that is to say : 
 the population on the South shore of the River to- 
 wards the waste lands on that side known as the ' 
 '* Valley of River St. John," and the population of' 
 the North shore towards the North, on the banks of 
 Lake St. Jean and its vicinity.
 
 7tJ 
 
 13. — Hundreds of persons in each parish arc de- 
 sirous of settling elsewhere, and will direct their steps 
 towards these lands if they are encouraged by the 
 Government. 
 
 14. — In order to favour the settlement of these 
 waste lands and to prevent emigration to foreign 
 parts, the Government ought immediately to under- 
 take the opening of roads leading from the River to- 
 wards the interior, and towards the localities above 
 mentioned, on each side of the River, and to com- 
 mence without delay, some public works on both 
 shores. This would revive a little hope among all 
 classes. 
 
 15. — I am not aware of what the cost of these 
 works would be, but I am persuaded that a great 
 number of persons who wish to settle in these Town- 
 ships would work on these roads, on condition that 
 their pay should be deducted wholly or in part from 
 the price of the lands which they would like to be- 
 come proprietors of. 
 
 16. — The present Road Law is insufficient for our 
 country parts, and a fortiori for these new settlements, 
 for which an office analogous to that of the late Grand 
 Voyer, to be held by a man of integrity and know- 
 ledge, would be preferable. 
 
 To this I would add, that it is in the interest of all 
 that the divisions of these lands should be correctly 
 made, in order that each lot may be shown in a plan 
 by a corresponding number. This will always en- 
 sure the advantage of avoiding the difficulties arising 
 in the allotment of work or of taxes in road matters, 
 and >yill, moreover, be always of the greatest advan- 
 tage in the enregistering of hypothecs. 
 
 Answers of O. Martineau, of Ste. Anne de la Po- 
 catiere. Esquire, N. P., to the above ques- 
 tions : — 
 
 The subject on which I am called upon for my 
 humble opinion being one of the highest national in- 
 terest, I will merely remark, that I have so far given 
 very little attention to this question. I will, there- 
 fore, cite principally the reasons alleged by the 
 greater number of the farmers of these localities who 
 emigrate to foreign parts.
 
 77 
 
 I have the honor to state, tlierefore : 
 
 let. — That the present crisis in money matters, anti 
 consequently the unfortunate state of commerce in 
 this Colony, have obliged the importers in the towns 
 to call upon their debtors, the country store-keepers, 
 who, in order to meet their engagements, have on 
 their part obliged their debtors, who belong almost 
 exclusively to the agricultural class, to pay their 
 debts without delay. This being the case, many of 
 the latter have sold their lands, and not being able 
 to settle with advantage in these localities, have emi- 
 grated to New Brunswick and the United States, 
 where, as they are told by the Canadians who have 
 already settled there, a happy and more favorable 
 lot awaits them. 
 
 2dly. — That such Canadians, of the agricultural 
 class, as were not suffeiing from this state of things, 
 and have emigrated to the United States, have only 
 done so in order to better their condition in life. 
 
 3(ily. — That the Government, in order to prevent 
 this emigration, and to favor the settlement of its 
 waste lands, ought to accede to the demands for 
 grants of money to facilitate the means of communi- 
 cation on the Crown Lands in the rear of our Seig- 
 niories. For in vain would the Government grant 
 these lands on easy terms, if it do not make these 
 grants of money ; as the emigrants finding it impossi- 
 ble to reach these lands, will always take another di- 
 rection. 
 
 I will take the liberty of remarking here, that for 
 nearly eight years, the inhabitants of St. Anne la 
 Pocati^re have applied at each Session of the Pro- 
 vincial Parliament for the trifling grant of £600 
 currency, to continue in the rear portion of the 
 Township of Ixworth, and with a view to its settle- 
 ment, the road known as the Government route ; 
 and that the Government has not yet taken any ac- 
 tion in the matter. 
 
 4thly. — That the Townships of Ixworth and Ash- 
 ford, according to a recent exploration, contain 
 very advantageous arable lands throughout the whole 
 of their depth, as far as the American territory. 
 
 5thly. — That the inhabitants of almost all the pa- 
 rishes composing the large and populous County of 
 Kamouraska, have expressed at several public meet- 
 ings, a desire to settle in both these Townships ;
 
 78 
 
 and an easy rncans of communication would be af- 
 forded by this Government route, if'it were continued 
 as above mentioned. 
 
 6thly. — That the Government ought, moreover, 
 to grant the Crown Lands at one shilling per acre, 
 on the terms of payment already established, to 
 every settler who should belong to an Association 
 for the settlement of the Townships. 
 
 And on this principle, it is my humble opuiion, 
 from the knowledge I have of the disposition of the 
 inhabitants of this County and of certain parishes of 
 the County of 1' Islet, that the Government will suc- 
 ceed in putting a stop to this Canadian emigration, 
 which has been very considerable during the last 
 five years, in these localities, and has withdrawn im- 
 mense capital from us. 
 
 Answers of B. Maurault, of Gentilly, Esquire, to 
 the above questions : — 
 
 The principal cause of the emigration of young 
 Canadians from their native country which is poor, 
 to another which is richer and which is represented 
 to them as much richer than it really is, is owing, it 
 cannot be denied, to the fact, that the paternal estate 
 could not be divided and subdivided without impo- 
 verishing the father and threatening his children with 
 the same fate, to avoid which, the latter go to a 
 foreign country to seek their fortune. People used 
 to say a few years ago, that it was only adventurers 
 who left the paternal roof for Upper Canada and the 
 United States ; and this was true, for the population 
 being small, the soil produced a great deal, and 
 moreover, hunting and fishing could be had in abun- 
 dance, so that the children of the soil were under no 
 necessity of emigrating. But now, the cause above 
 mentioned is not that which leads to emigration. I 
 can see nothing but poverty which forces us to seek 
 elsewhere suflBcient wages to live upon, and make a 
 little money to settle with. 
 
 During the last five years, not less than five hun- 
 dred souls left Gentilly for the Saguenay, the Town- 
 ships, the United States, and Upper Canada. Out 
 of this number, more than one-fifth and a half went 
 to the United States and Upper Canada, all sons of
 
 79 
 
 farmers or farmers themselves, or tradesmen, the lat- 
 ter forming about one-fourth of the emigration to the 
 United States and Upper Canada, and tne remaining 
 three-fourths being with very few exceptions, far- 
 mers. St. Pierre les B<5cquets and Bccancour can 
 shew as large an emigration to the localities I have 
 just mentioned. 
 
 How do our countrymen live in the United States 
 and Upper Canada, and what is the state of their 
 morals ? Those who return, and 1 have conversed 
 with many, say that money is more plentiful there 
 than here, and that one lives better there. And if 
 you ask them whether they have brought anything 
 with them and if they intend returning, they answer, 
 that everything is so expensive there that they like 
 to remain here just as well, and others that they even 
 prefer doing so. After several years' absence, they 
 return, therefore, just as they had left, and some of 
 them much poorer ; and after having become old, and 
 wasted their strength in the service of strangers, they 
 return to commence clearing the lands in our Town- 
 ships. If their morals have not become worse, they 
 have certainly not improved. 
 
 Now, the means of arresting this tide of emigra- 
 tion of the Canadians to foreign parts, would be to 
 procure for them the privilege of settling on the 
 waste lands of Canada. Many of our inhabitants 
 express a wish to go and settle in the new Town- 
 ships of Ham, Winslow, Walton, &c., which the 
 Government has been kind enough to give up to the 
 yonng Canadians ; several families have already gone 
 there. But one of the greatest obstacles to the set- 
 tlement of the Townships, is certainly the want of 
 roads to get there. The road leading from Gentilly 
 to Blandford, a distance of six leagues, and the only 
 means of communication with the Townships of 
 Somerset, Blandford, Stanfold, Arthabaska, and the 
 new Townships I have just mentioned, would require 
 speedy improvement ; for before two years are past, 
 it will be impossible to use it. This road is really 
 dangerous, especially in the autumn and spring. I 
 have gone over it myself very frequently, and have 
 more than once nearly broken my neck and lost ray 
 horse in it. Only lately, the horse which carried 
 the mail was taken out half dead from a bad spot on 
 this r(»ad. Seventeen or eighteen hundred pounds
 
 80 
 
 woultl, I think, be about sutticient for its impvove- 
 luent. 
 
 Gentilly, 20th May, 1849. 
 
 Answers of J. Joutras, Esquire, and others, of 
 Becancour, to the above questions, which were 
 transmitted to them : — 
 To the Gentlemen of the Committee appointed to 
 
 enquire into the causes of Emigration, &c. &c 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 Before answering for the second time the questions 
 proposed to us a few weeks ago, we have to submit 
 to you a few remarks respecting the notice issued 
 from the Crown Lands Office on the 2d March last. 
 
 It has caused great discouragement. It imposes 
 on the settlers a condition which it is morally impos- 
 sible to fulfil. They are required to clear in four 
 years one-tenth of the land acquired. Thus, in Mad- 
 dington, in which the lots are of 100 acres each, and 
 the soil what is called savanne, the poor settler, with- 
 out any capital, must clear in four years ten acres of 
 land on which the trees touch each other — land re- 
 quiring long and costly drains, and which it is im- 
 possible to cultivate before all the stumps are ex- 
 tracted. And is it not a known fact, that land after 
 the trees are cut down and burnt, cannot be cleared 
 of its stumps in less than four years ? It is then 
 supposed that the poor settler will cut down and 
 burn all the wood on his 100 acres during the first 
 year. We defy any practical agriculturist to state 
 that it is possible for the generality of settlers to ful- 
 fil this condition. 
 
 Another source of annoyance is the interest of the 
 purchase money which is required. If it were pos- 
 sible to abandon this interest, and diminish the num- 
 ber of acres which must be cleared, our hopes would 
 be very great. If it be otherwise, it is much to be 
 feared that the emigration to the United States will 
 again follow its sad course in the Spriag. 
 
 Rest assured, gentlemen, that no question excites 
 more interest in the country parts than that which 
 occupies your attention. 
 
 We cannot close these remarks, gentlemen of the 
 Committee, without mentioning to you the patriot-
 
 f 
 
 81 
 
 ism aud generosity by which Mr. Arcand is guided 
 in the performance of his duty. It is only just to 
 declare, that he greatly contributes to the rapid set- 
 tlement of the Eastern Townships. Of this we have 
 many proofs, and we wish to bear testimony to the 
 fact. 
 
 Answers to questions. 
 
 To the UY.— Yes. 
 
 To the 2nd. — Vermont, New Hampshire, Massa- 
 chusetts, New York, and other States of the Ameri- 
 can Union. 
 
 To the Srd. — All to the agricultural class. 
 
 To the^th. — The average is from 40 to 50 in each 
 year. 
 
 To the 5th. — All French Canadians. 
 
 To the Gth. — See answer to fourth question. 
 
 To the 7th. — In a pitiable state of inferiority. 
 
 To the 8th. — The Canadian has scarcely trod upon 
 the soil of the Union before he casts off all laws, 
 both human and divine. He learns with ease the 
 tricks of the Americans ; drunkenness and debauchery 
 frequently complete his demoralization. He is sought 
 for by the Yankees for his intelligence, his activity, 
 and his natural frankness. He earns large wages. 
 Some return with money, many with nothing. Few 
 learn trades ; much fewer still occupy positions of 
 any respectability. 
 
 To the 9th. — The high wages paid to daily labor- 
 ers in the United States. The want of roads in the 
 Townships ; the high price of lands ; the insufficiency 
 of the Road Laws, and the want of a missionary. 
 
 To the lOth. — We do not know. 
 
 To the llth. — See answer to 16th question. 
 
 To the I2tk. — The superabundant population of 
 B^cancour and the neighbouring parishes would take 
 the direction of Maddington, Wendover, and War- 
 wich, if the road which crossed the Township of 
 Bulstrode were improved. 
 
 To the 13th. — By removing the obstacles pointed 
 out in the 9th answer. 
 
 To the 14th.— Move than 200 settlers. 
 
 To the 15th. — Improve the Maddington road as 
 far as its junction with that prayed for by the inhabi- 
 tants of Aston and Bulstrode. This road is already 
 drained. 
 
 11
 
 82 
 
 To tlie I6fh. — As the principal efficient means to 
 be adopted for the settlement of the Townships and 
 for preventing emigration, we would suggest, 1st. 
 That at least 200 acres of land should be granted for 
 the use of each missionary in the Townships ; 2dly. 
 The privileges of the Crown, the Clergy, and the 
 large landholders should be abolished ; 3dly. Certain, 
 prompt, and cheap, and, in one word, practicable, 
 means should be furnished to small proprietors to 
 force the large landholders to assist in making the 
 roads, and in all other expenses of settlement ; 4thly. 
 The price of lands in the Townships should be fixed 
 at 2s. per acre ; 5thly. All waste lands should be 
 taxed at Id. per acre, the proceeds to be applied to 
 public works ; 6thly. A local resident agent either 
 at St. Gr^goire or Becancour to facilitate arrange- 
 ments and render them easy to our habitants ; for it 
 is well known that when they have to go far to trans- 
 act business, this is a sufficient obstacle to discourage 
 them. 
 
 Answers of the Rev. M. Griffiths, of the Parish of 
 Valcartier, to the questions transmitted to him 
 with the Circular of the Archbishop of Quebec : 
 
 I have nothing to state until I come to the 11th 
 question, and ray answer to that question is, that the 
 Government should make grants of land. 
 
 To the 12M. — In the parish of St. Gabriel de 
 Valcartier, about six miles from the Church, on the 
 north side of the River Jacques Cartier. There are 
 some good lands in this direction, immediately ad- 
 joining the limits of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Con- 
 cessions of the above parish, and bounded on the west 
 by the lands of Mr. Duchesnay, Seigneur of St. Ca- 
 therine. 
 
 To the \Zth. — The majority of this parish, par- 
 ticularly such as have large families without any 
 other means to provide for them, have expressed that 
 wish. 
 
 To the \^th. — The Government could, in ray 
 opinion, greatly check the emigration which is going 
 on from this locality, by permitting poor and indus- 
 trious subjects to settle on these lands in the rear ;
 
 83 
 
 and I really think that it would be a humane and 
 charitable act on its part. 
 
 To the I5th. — The erection of a bridge on the 
 River Jacques Cartier, close to the Church of St. 
 Gabriel ; the opening of new roads ; the repairing of 
 those which have been opened for several years, but 
 which are in a very bad condition ; for the poor in- 
 habitants are not able, or rather, have not the means 
 to make them passable for carts, &c. Probable cost : 
 I think that £600, if well managed, with some man- 
 ual aid on the part of the settlers, would be of great 
 benefit to this locality — it would enable them to be- 
 come good and loyal subjects. 
 
 Suggestion of my own. — What money might be due 
 or in hand for the use of the Valcartier schools, 
 might be employed, if the Government or Board of 
 Education were willing, as an aid towards building 
 the bridge. This would, in my opinion, be of more 
 service to the settlers and their children, than em- 
 ploying it in any other manner; for, to my own 
 knowledge, there has been nothing but trouble and 
 discord as to the 'manner in which it ought to be di- 
 vided.
 
 ERRATA 
 Which occur in this pamphlet 
 
 Page 5, line 29, for dates, read data. 
 " a, " 35, for Bro3se, read Bossi. 
 
 14, 
 
 " 19, for fate, read lot. 
 
 30, 
 
 " 30, for by, read and. 
 
 44, 
 
 " 13, for who, read which. 
 
 44. 
 
 " 30, for and party expenses, read expense* 
 
 
 and thote of vicinage. 
 
 58, 
 
 " 4, for who, read which. 
 
 58, 
 
 " 25, for goods, read godi. 
 
 ROLLO CAMPBELL, PRINTER.
 
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