The northern shores of the great internal waters which find their outlet to the sea by means of the magnificent St. Lawrence, are for the most part equal to the southern shores of the same waters. The natural capabilitiesthe mineral wealth, for example of the English territory have been as yet but imperfectly inquired into. Our rulers have been at no pains to learn what could be accomplished in those vast regions, yet wild and without inhabitants; so that no plan for the future settlement could be formed, and has indeed never been thought of, except, I believe, in one instance, which will hereafter be related. Still, we know thus much. The land is fertile,―is capable of maintaining an enormous population, and fit to be the comfortable and happy home of many millions. It is nevertheless still, for the greater part, a howling wilderness. Since the year 1783, no new state or province has been formed. Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward's Island, lie north of the boundary. They existed in 1783. Since that year, the population has slowly increased; so slowly, indeed, that at this moment we have not two millions of people in the whole of the provinces which constitute what is called British North America.*

* I have lying before me an account of the population of all British North America in 1833. It is as follows:

Hudson's Bay is still a mere hunting ground; and no scheme of colonization in North America has ever yet been entertained by English statesmen, beyond the sending out a few thousand settlers, and placing them within a few miles of existing settlements. Canada has been divided and reunited, and for aught any one knows, may be again divided. For in our colonial legislation, "chance governs all." But no system exists which contemplates extension; no new communities or provinces have been created. The population, though thousands have gone out every year, has not increased at a rate much beyond what the natural rate of increase would have reached: and this strange, torpid, wretched condition of things exists actually in sight of another, which I will thus in a few words describe.

When the United States became independent, in 1783, the territories of Great Britain bounded them on the north; the Mississippi was their western boundary; and on the south, Florida hemmed them completely in. The Atlantic ran along their whole eastern frontier. Within this square, the whole of the United States' territories were then confined.* Their present boundaries are very different. Their northern, which is our southern boundary, runs now from the Atlantic, commencing at the south-eastern point of Nova Scotia, to the Pacific Ocean, where Cape Flattery forms the north-western point. The western boundary commences where the

* See the treaty of 1783, of peace with America, and that of 1763, of peace with France, for these boundaries. The free navigation of the Mississippi was, by the treaty of 1783, assured both to England and the United States for ever.

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northern ends on the Pacific, at cape Flattery, and runs down along the whole coast, till it reaches the extreme southern point of New California. Starting from this point, the southern boundary runs towards the east across the continent, dividing the United States from Mexico, until the line reaches the Gulf of Mexico; it then runs along the whole coast of that gulf eastward, till it reaches the south-eastern point of Florida. lastly, the eastern boundary, commencing where the southern ends, at the south-eastern point of Florida, runs northward along the whole Atlantic coast, till it reaches the south-eastern point of Nova Scotia, from which we originally started. Thus making, as before, a square, but one of dimensions enormously increased. These are the vast acquisitions of territory made by the United States since 1783. They are destined to extend still further.* These acquisitions have not been made, however, in order that they may be contemplated with an idle and complacent vanity by the citizens of the United States when looking at a map. All that an Englishman can do, when considering the possessions of his country in America, is to run his finger across the map, "This is ours.' and say, If asked to what end it is ours, he can only answer, "God knows! What may be done with it no one can tell; all that we do really

* Of the manner of this acquisition I am not called upon by my subject to say a word. My concern at present is with the result: which is, what I have above described. One great purpose of this my present work, is the explanation of a scheme which will, if adopted, prevent all further acquisition by the U.S. north of their present boundary.

know is, that nothing, or next to nothing, has been done with it." Such, however, is not the sort of account which an American can render of the conduct of American statesmen.

:

He would say "Look you, at our north-eastern frontier-behold our citizens have multiplied, and step by step have advanced till they have reached your boundary. The states of Vermont and Maine are there with their hardy and industrious population-a fine race of intelligent farmers, who have proved that the disadvantages of a cold climate and a soil by no means fertile, may yet be overcome by industry and courage :and that a powerful and a happy community may be formed under auspices far less favourable than those which attend the Canadas, more especially Upper Canada." Keeping his finger still in the northern boundary, he comes to the St. Lawrence, and running along that beautiful river, he shows you the whole shore from the point at which the boundary line first strikes the St. Lawrence, up to Lake Ontario, dotted with thriving towns and villages. Carrying his finger still onwards, still westward, he shows you the growing communities along the lakes Ontario, Erie, Michigan, Huron. He now spreads out his hand, and sweeping it down to the south, he says as it passes over the map, "this is the broad basin of the Mississippi, teeming now with life-the busy hum of civilized men-look you, here is Iowa, just made a state. Here is also Wisconsin, a yet younger state. Here is Ohio, now the fourth, if not indeed the third state of the Union; which, when Washington was a soldier in the English army, was a

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wilderness, and the scene of a defeat of an English force, by the French from Canada aided by a band of savages. Now I come to Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, &c., more states than I need now enumerate. Here, on the west of the Mississippi, is the State of Missouri-on land which did not belong to us, till years after we ceased to be your subjects. Now come Alabama, Tenessee, Louisiana, &c., and there away to the west is Texasand still away, away till you reach the great Pacific, you must stretch your eyes of the body, and the mind's eye, till you come to California, with its gold-bearing soil, and its quicksilver mines. "These," he might say, "these are our colonies."

Without allowing you time to pause and take breath, he says "When you drove us into rebellion we hardly amounted to three millions of souls-we now surpass seventeen millions. We were then thirteen states, we are now thirty.* We had then no settlement west of the Mississippi and no state west of the Alleghanies. We are now filling the valley of the great father of waters from his source to the sea-and our adventurous people are following the Missouri to its source, and planning routes across the Rocky Mountains-establishing settlements on the Columbia, where it reaches the Pacific and will soon fill the beautiful Californian peninsula with American citizens." He might then place the following table before you, saying, "before a

* At this moment I believe the number may be greater by two or three. Every day calls some new community into existence. What territories exist I am at this moment unable to say. Oregon is probably a state.