osed upon the people of the
another country may be too onerous, at the same time that no advantages
at all commensurate are derived from the colony. When such is the case,
the tax is not fair; and the colony for whose benefit that tax has been
imposed, is looked upon with ill-will. This is the precise situation of
the Canadas, and this is the cause why there is so strong an outcry
against our retaining possession of these provinces.

The bonus of forty-five shillings on a load of timber, which is given to
the Canadas by our present duties, is much too great; and has pressed
too heavily on the people of the mother country. It has, in fact,
created a monopoly; and when it is considered how important and
necessary an article timber is in this country,--how this enormous bonus
on Canadian timber affects the shipping, house-building, and
agricultural interests--it is no wonder that people wish to get rid of
the Canadas and the tax at one and the same time. It is also injurious
to us in our commercial relations with the northern countries, who
refuse our manufactures because we have laid so heavy a duty upon their
produce. This tax for the benefit of the Canadian produce was put on
during the war, without any intention that it should remain permanent:
and I think I shall be able satisfactorily to establish, that, not only
is it unjust towards our own people, but that, instead of benefiting, it
will be, now that the Canadas are fast increasing in population, an
injury to the Canadas themselves.

Up to the present period, timber has been the only article of export
from Canada: we certainly have had the advantage of a large carrying
trade, and the employment of many thousand tons of shipping; but, with
this exception, the timber trade has been injurious, not only to the
mother country, but to the colony itself, as it has prevented her real
prosperity, which must ever depend upon the culture of the land and the
increase of population. The first point to which the attention of a
colony should be directed, is its own support, the competence and supply
of all the necessaries of life to its inhabitants; it is not until after
this object has been obtained, that it must direct its attention to the
gain which may accrue from any surplus produce. In what way has the
timber trade benefited the Canadas? Has it thrown any wealth into the
provinces? most certainly not; the timber has been cut down, either by
those Canadians who woul