'Fraud, smuggling, and perjury, are practised with success, and without reserve, and thus cupidity prevails among them to an astonishing degree. An eminent divine of Boston, thus justly characterized his countrymen from the pulpit, on putting away the easily besetting sin.' 'There have existed at all times,' said he, not only personal and peculiar, but also national sins. For instance, among the ancients the Asiatics were accused of effeminacy, the Carthaginians of perfidy; so among the moderns, the French are said to be volatile and frivolous; the Spaniards proud and cruel; the English haughty, and evincing too great contempt for strangers; and we, my brethren, of being greedy of gain, and not over scrupulous how we obtain it."

"It has often been remarked that the Americans, as a nation, exhibit at once the dissipation of youth, the selfishness of maturer years, and the feebleness of old age. They are moreover ostentatious and conceited in the very highest degree, regarding all other men with contempt and disdain. They view us in particular, as slaves and degraded vassals, degenerated not only in virtue and genius, but also in physical strength. The greatest artists of the modern world are Americans; the strongest men of the modern world are Americans; the only freemen in the modern world are Americans. Created to command the Western hemisphère, and to spread terror over the other, their ambition has already planned not only the subjugation of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, but also of every island on the Eastern shores of their extended Continent; and their imaginations, heated with this ideal triumph, already stretch across the ocean, and behold their star-bespangled flags waving in the mouth of the Thames, their fleets blockading Portsmouth, and their cruizers sweeping our trade from every sea under the heavens. Both federalists and democrats coincide in the full persuasion of the declining state of the British naval power, and of the brilliant destinies now awaiting their own; and they are at no pains to conceal that they entertain the most confident expectation that they will be able to annihilate both our navy and our commerce, at no distant period They describe Great Britain as 'a magnificent but sinking vessel; and it gives us pain to add, that, in respect to deep rooted envy and the purpose of ultimately bringing us down, the federalists are more to be dreaded than the blustering democrats who hurried us into the late war. The former objected to a declaration of hostilities with this country, not because they had any attachment to us, or any respect for the cause of liberty in which we were then engaged in Europe, but solely because they were not yet prepared to meet us, to advantage, either by land or by water. The federalists, besides, are well known to constitute what is called, in America, the naval party; the men who strain every nerve to render their fleets efficient and formidable; and their councils, we may remark, are just so much the more to be feared and watched, that they prosecute them without noise, and direct them steadily to one great object. The other party have a

manifest leaning to France in all their schemes of policy; the class again, of whom we are now speaking, dislike the French as much as they dislike us, but in all their plans for maritime superiority their projects must necessarily bear a reference to the humiliation of our navy, whether warlike or commercial. Connected with this great consummation, we may allude, in passing, to the recent efforts which have been made at the Court of Naples to obtain a footing in the Mediterranean. The point which the American negociator seems to have been instructed to insist upon, was a naval station in the territory of the Neapolitans, either on the Continent itself, or in one of their islands, with liberty to refit their ships of war, to land ammunition, and, in short, to render it the head-quarters of their European marine. Fortunately, on this occasion, the eyes of our ministers have been opened to their designs; and we trust that our influence with the government of Naples is sufficiently powerful to disappoint these ambitious Republicans.

"It is not enough, however, that we set ourselves to counteract their projects in this quarter of the globe: we must also look sharp after them at home. We must adopt every legal measure to encourage the trade, and consequently, the population of our North American provinces, so as at once to increase our strength, where we are most vulnerable, and to create a market for our manufactures, where it will be most easy and most advantageous to do it. During the late war the people of the United States carried on a very extensive intercourse, not only with the West India islands, but also with our colonies in other seas, supplying then with produce, which, it appears, might be raised in the greatest abundance in Canada and Nova Scotia; and, at the present moment, we believe, a considerable proportion of the fish and lumber required by the planter in the sugar islands, is exported from the waters of Independent America. With respect to the former article, it is generally known that the British have a large establishment at Newfoundland, and that several thousand persons are annually employed in fishing, curing, and warehousing; but the Americans, having received permission to fish on the same banks, and without being hampered with the restrictions imposed upon our own countrymen, have contrived to outsell them in the West India market, where cheapness, rather than goodness of quality, allures the purchaser. The British fisher must dry and cure his fish ashore, submit them to the inspection of persons appointed for the purpose, and divide them into three sorts or descriptions according to the respective markets for which they are by these judges considered fit: the American on the contrary, loses no time in culling or drying his goods; he salts as fast as he catches, on board his ship, throws the gut into the sea, at the manifest hazard of ruining the fishing altogether, as the cod desert such places as are contaminated with offal; and sails for the islands

where he supplies the negro-owners with a half putrid article at a very low price. In consequence of this state of things, the Newfoundland trade has been most materially injured by the Americans; so much so, indeed, that of 456,221 cwt. of fish, which were imported into the several West India islands in three years ending with 1807, our countrymen furnished no more than 97,486, whilst their rivals, owing to the exemptions already stated, succeeded in furnishing 358,735 cwt. We admit that monopolies, in most cases, are bad, and to be avoided indeed in every instance where nothing but the interests of trade alone are consulted; still, as to the matter in hand, it is very clear that one of two things ought to be instantly done; either our people should be relieved from all restrictions in the mode of curing and sorting their fish, or all those who are allowed the privilege of fishing along with them, should be bound by the same regulations In fact, it has now become an object of sufficient importance with us to inquire whether the supply of fish to the West Indies and other British colonies, should not be wholly furnished from British capital and industry, or whether we are still to put into the hands of our most inveterate enemy, the means of increasing that very species of warlike force, by which they hope the most speedily and effectually to work our ruin. It is stated by the author now before us, and, we believe, upon the very best grounds, that if the Americans are indebted to their more regular commerce and large vessels for able seamen, they derive the ordinary, which constitute the more numerous classes, from this very trade; and the numerous privateers which infested the ocean in the late war, drew from thence the main body of strength-men of proper habits, who could endure almost any privation or encounter any danger. It is matter of regret, therefore, that in the late treaty concluded at Ghent no mention is made of the fisheries; and it strikes us, from something which occurred at the time, that the Americans are still to be permitted to fish in our waters, but not to land for the purposes of salting and warehousing; that is, they are to be allowed to do all that they would have done at any rate, and prohibited from doing that which, in scarcely any circumstances, would they have any inclination to perform. It is certainly desirable, at all times, that the people of the United States should be excluded from a branch of industry and commerce, so eminently calculated to support a nursery of seamen; but more particularly ought this measure to be effected, amid the present embarrasments of the trading part of the community, and whilst so many of the labouring class are unprovided with employment. If this country, observes our author, perceives the propriety of retaining her natural advantages and employing her resources, she must not merely exclude the Americans from the banks of Newfoundland, but also, by every possible means, encourage emigration; for without an increase of the inhabitants, the provinces can never carry the

fishing to an extent sufficiently great to ensure that permanent utility to the nation which it is so capable of producing.

"The same remarks are applicable in their full import to the lumber trade; by which is meant the shipping of planks, staves, and timber of various sorts, for the use of the planters. Bryan Edwards estimates the annual demand of a West India plantation, of six hundred acres, in staves and heading for casks alone, at 1501. In the year 1791, it was estimated that in Jamaica, there were 796 sugar estates; these at the rate of 1507. per annum, would give the Americans 119,4007. annually in this branch of trade from one island alone. Add to this then, the consumption of the other colonies, the constant increase of cleared estates, the new settlements of Berbice and Demerara, and it will clearly appear that the supplies requisite for these and other descriptions of timber must be immensely great, especially when it is recollected that the buildings in the towns and plantations are chiefly constructed of wood. According to our author, the annual demand for timber, previous to the restrictions, was 117,740 loads; of which the Americans furnished 113,600, while our provinces had the opportunity of supplying only about 3496 loads; but in 1810, when the restrictions on American commerce were in force, the exports from Quebec alone amounted to 160,932 loads; proving, we think, in the strongest manner, the ability of our provinces to meet a very extensive demand in this article, and clearly exhibiting the immense disadvantages which these colonies must labour under, when deprived by undue competition, of this important branch of trade. The author aduces many facts to show that the Americans have made the most of this article of commerce, converting it, in many instances, into a lucrative manufacture, by sawing and preparing the timber, before exportation, to answer nearly all the purposes to which it can be applied in the West Indies; and hence have arisen, says he, in the stony, sterile regions of New Hampshire, flourishing settlements and a numerous population. At Da Moriscotti, he saw upon one stream, in the short space of a quarter of a mile, no fewer than eight saw-milis employed in this trade.

Now, we imagine, there would be no great difficulty in securing the whole of this gainful traffic to our own provinces. There is abundance of the raw material, so to speak, and nothing seems wanting but a few hands and a little capital, of which, at this moment, there is an overflow in Great Britain seeking an advantageous employment. It may indeed be stated, as an objection to every measure of restriction and monopoly, that, as the Americans can supply lumber on lower terms than the people of Canada or New Brunswick, it would be unjust to compel the West Indian planter to forego this advantage, and to purchase in a dearer market. In answer to this, however, it may be sufficient to observe, that the principles of a free trade are not yet recognized in any part of the world; that every nation endeavours to encou

rage its domestic manufactures; and that, if any imaginable circumstances can justify the adoption of a restrictive system, it must be those very circumstances in which we stand with relation to America. The primary object in our translatic policy must be to raise and support a power of sufficient magnitude to keep the Americans in check on their own shores; to embrace every opportunity of rearing sailors, and of increasing the tonnage of our colonists; and, with these views, to deprive the former of every branch of manufacture and of sea-faring industry, which can possibly be occupied by ourselves. In prosecuting such measures too, we should only follow the example which the American government has recently set, for with the avowed intention of promoting their internal manufactures, they have since the peace nearly doubled the import duties upon all goods made in Great Britain.

We have always held it unwise, generally speaking, to legislate on the subject of provisions, for as prices are regulated by the supply, and the supply by the bounty of Heaven, rather than by the foresight of men, no laws can have a permanent efficacy, as to the steadiness of the money-value of corn, in any given number of years. In the case, however, of our American colonies, every possible encouragement should be afforded them, to raise corn for the supply of the West India islands; and thereby to enable them to seize that important article of manufacture and commerce, which has proved so advantageous to the farmer and ship-owner of the United States. The author is decidedly of opinion, and he brings forward a great number of facts in support of it, that our provinces are naturally more fertile and better fitted for the purposes of agriculture than the middle or southern states of the Union; and if the flour which is made in Canada be inferior to that of Baltimore, it is not because the wheat is coarser, but because the millers, at the latter place, arc more expert and careful than in the former, or even than in any part of England. Were the provinces, however, certain of a constant market, though only to the West Indies, they would soon adopt the improvements of their southern neighbours in their mode of manufacture, and produce, instead of the present deteriorated article, flour of very superior quality; an event which would prove an effectual check, not only in open rivalship, but in illicit importation from the states into the Canadas themselves. In 1802, Canada alone exported 100,000 bushels of wheat, 38,000 barrels of flour, and 32,000 casks of biscuits; but in 1810, during the non-intercourse Act, the exports from the same province were 170,000 bushels of wheat, 12,519 barrels of flour, 16,467 quintals of biscuit, 18,928 bushels of pease, 866 bushels of oats, 98 bushels of Indian corn: and if this district, under every disadvantage, could export to such an amount, of what extension is the trade of the whole provinces not susceptible, were culture properly encouraged by legislative protection.