y cannot be
surpassed; and I rather think, independently of its fine soil, which
enables it to grow every thing (for even tobacco grows well in Upper
Canada), that in mineral richness it is not to be exceeded. It abounds
in water-power, and has several splendid rivers. As soon as the roads
are made (for that is the present desideratum in the Upper Province), I
have no hesitation in asserting, that it will be, of all others, the
most favourable spot for emigration. It is a man's own fault if, with
common industry, he does not, in a few years, secure competence and the
happiness arising from independence, when it is accompanied by that
greatest of all blessings--health.

There has been so strange and continued a system of misrule on the part
of the mother-country with respect to these provinces, that I am not
surprised at any thing which takes place; but it is certain that the
emigration to the Canadas has been very much checked by the Government
itself.

The price of land in the United States is fixed at a dollar and a
quarter per acre; be it of the best quality, full of minerals, or with
any other important advantages, the price is still the same. The set-up
price in Canada is two dollars per acre. If no more is offered it is
sold at that sum, but at no less. Now, whatever the Government may
imagine, I can assure them that this difference in the price is
considered very important by those who emigrate, and that thousands who
would have settled in Canada, have, in consequence, repaired to the
United States, much to our disadvantage; and this appears so
contradictory, as the Government have very unwisely parted with enormous
tracts of the best land, selling them to a Company at a price which,
with facilities for payment, reduces the price paid per acre by this
Company, to, I think, about one shilling and three-pence, and for which
the Company now charge the same price as the Government; thus giving a
bonus to speculators which they refuse to those who wish to become _bona
fide_ settlers. I never could comprehend the grounds upon which they
were persuaded to so unwise an act as that. The lands were sold to the
Company before the present Government were in power, but why the price
of the land still in possession of the Crown should be raised higher
than in the United States I cannot imagine. Sound policy would reduce
it lower, for the increase of wealth in the province must ever consist
in the increase of its pop