for his labour. The best woodmen are found to be the Irish. After a year or two of location in this or any other portion of North America, the native of Ireland is found to be a most valuable settler. Change of diet increases his physical powers; and change of scene and occupation transforms him into a totally different being from what he was whilst vegetating upon the soil of his birth. His bearing is more manly, and more worthy of his physical formation. He may cling to his Roman Catholicism, but he is no longer the bigoted slave of his religious priesthood. Parties who have visited British America report emphatically upon the change in the Celtic character. It cannot be conceived that the Scotsman is inferior to the Irishman in adaptation to the business of a backwoodsman. He is generally found, however, to betake himself at once, on arrival, to purely agricultural pursuits. The great fishing-stations of New Brunswick are located on the islands of Grand Manan, Campobello, and West Isles, in St John's harbour, and in Cumberland Bay. On these stations an aggregate of five hundred vessels are found fishing during the season; and there are reared in the pursuit some of the hardiest seamen to be found in the world. Upon the subject of the fisheries, the Commissioners' Report, from which we have already quoted, remarks: "The rivers, lakes, and sea-coast abound with fish. Along the bay of the Chaleur it is so abundant that the land smells of it. It is used as a manure; and while the olfactory senses of the traveller are offended by it on the land, he sees out at sea immense shoals darkening the surface of the water." A rapidly-increasing internal trade is carried on by means of the rivers St John, Peticodiac, Richibucto, Miramichi, and some lesser streams, which are navigable for a considerable distance from their respective harbours on the Bay of Fundy and the Gulf of St Lawrence. The St John, which is four hundred and fifty miles in length from its mouth, will accommodate ships of one hundred tons and large steamers for ninety miles, to Fredericton, the seat of government; and small steamers ply farther upward for sixty miles, to the thriving town of Woodstock. On all these rivers there is an abundant fall of water, the value of which is incalulable to the colonist. Every few miles along their banks small communities are being formed, availing themselves of this power for manufacturing and other purposes. First in order generally rises a sawmill, to aid the operations of the lumberman. A flour, or, as it is termed in the colonies, a grist mill, rises next in order; then a store-wooden in general-a few dwellings, and, when a small body of population has been drawn together, a church or chapel and a school-house. From the census of 1851, we find that there had been established in this way throughout the entire province, Establishments. Number. Hands employed. 261 366 125 255 11 242 Breweries, The difficulties and hardships of a settler's life, the fear of which deters so many from trying their fortune in our colonies, are very materially smoothed down by the rapid formation of these small communities in every eligible site, wherever the forest has fallen before the woodman's axe, and the soil been brought under cultivation. The formation of railway routes from St John's and Miramichi, by the aid of which the tide of emigration may flow direct to the province, must, within a very few years, render New Brunswick one of the most flourishing colonies belonging to the British crown. The province of Nova Scotia next claims our attention, by the rapidity of its recent growth in commerce and population, the latter of which is extensively Scottish, both in origin and in religion. In 1817 the population of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton amounted to 91,913. Its subsequent growth has been as follows:- The progress of the province, both in population and in wealth, has been materially aided by its chief port, Halifax, being adopted as a calling station for the Cunard line of mail steamers between this country and the United States; and this progress must be materially aided when the railwaycommunications projected from its Atlantic seaboard, to join those which are in progress from Lower Canada to the westward, are carried out. This must eventually be done, as the splendid harbours which Nova Scotia possesses point her out as destined to provide a route for a large portion of the traffic, both passenger and merchandise, between the Atlantic and the Far West. It is stated on reliable authority that, between Halifax and Cape Canso, there are twelve ports capable of receiving ships of the line, and fourteen others of sufficient depth for merchantmen. Unlike most other portions of British America, the province has not as yet developed a large amount of agricultural resources. Some of its high lands are rocky and sterile; but even these, when the surface is cleared away, are found to possess an undersoil of great fertility. The portion best adapted for cultivation is its north-eastern section, which is thus described : "Its most valuable portion is upon the Bay of Fundy, where there are deep and extensive deposits of rich alluvial matter, thrown down by the action of the extraordinary tides of this extensive bay. These deposits have been reclaimed from the sea by means of dikes; and the 'diked marshes, as they are termed, are the richest and most prolific portion of British North America. Nothing can exceed their enduring fertility and fruitfulness, to which there seems no reasonable limit." These marshes are said to contain an area of upwards of 40,000 acres, valued at about 60 dollars per acre. The improved land was about 800,000 acres in 1851. Nova Scotia, however, although as yet behindhand in its agriculture, is rich in its fisheries, and in the possession of minerals. In 1851, the number of vessels employed in the fisheries was 812, with a burthen of 43,333 tons, manned by 3681 men. The number of boats engaged was 5161, manned by 6713 men. The total value of the products of the fish and oil was estimated as greatly exceeding a million of dollars. The coalmines of the province are situated at Pictou, on the Gulf of St Lawrence, in Cape Breton, and at the head of the Bay of Fundy. The main seam at Pictou is thirty-three feet in thickness, with twenty-four feet of good coal, of which thirteen feet are fit for exportation, and the remainder valuable for furnaces and forges. The principal exportation is to ports in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, with a small quantity to New York. The quality is bituminous; and the amount shipped to the United States alone was estimated, by the Hon. S. Cunard, the general agent for the mines, to have been, in 1850, 62,954 chaldrons of coarse, and 8518 chaldrons of slack. Cape Breton is also rich in minerals and in its fisheries. It contains a noble sea-water lakethe Bras d'Or-considered to have been formed by some volcanic eruption, upon which fisheries of every kind are carried on with great success. It has two entrances from the sea, one of which is twenty-three miles long, and the other twentyfive miles. The shores of these entrances, we are informed, "are settled by Scotch Highlanders and emigrants from the Hebrides, who prosecute the fisheries in boats with much success." In several of the large bays connected with the Bras d'Or, large timber ships from England receive their cargoes at a distance of forty to sixty miles from the sea. The coal deposits of Cape Breton extend over about 120 square miles, containing good working seams of bituminous coal of the best quality. Nova Scotia, including Cape Breton, has also made great progress in the number and extent of its manufacturing establishments. In 1851 it possessed 1153 saw-mills, employing 1786 hands; 398 grist-mills, employing 437 hands; 237 tanneries, employing 374 hands; 81 weaving and carding shops, employing 119 hands, and containing 11,096 looms, with other manufacturing establishments of a miscellaneous character. The increase of its imports and exports has been very striking during the past few years, the total having been, in 1849, 7,728,925 dollars; 8,637,495 dollars in 1850; and 9,069,950 in 1851. One of our most singular colonies, to a European, is the island colony of Newfoundland. Viewed from the sea, it has a wild and sterile appearance, covered with three different kinds of vegetation, the districts containing which are classed as "woods," marshes," and "barrens." The trees of Newfoundland consist principally of the pine, spruce, fir, larch (or Hackmatac), and birch. Some lighter woods are also found in the colony. The timber is generally of small growth. In the valley and the low lands are found open tracts or marshes. These are very fertile. The "barrens" occupy the summits of the high lands, and produce little beyond shrubs and herbs of various kinds. One of the most remarkable features of the country is the abundance of lakes or ponds, which cover its surface, and are to be found even upon its highest hills. The island contains no river, and scarcely any streams. Its area is estimated at 23,040,000 acres. The great staple of Newfoundland is its codfish, the pursuit of which is either undertaken in large vessels in the open sea, upon the Grand Bank of Newfoundland, or else in boats near the coast of the island. The Grand Bank is thus described in the report of Mr Andrews: "The Grand Bank is the most extensive submarine elevation yet discovered. It is about six hundred miles in length, and in some places five degrees, or two hun dred miles, in breadth. The soundings on it are from twenty-five to ninety-five fathoms. The bottom is generally covered with shell-fish. It is frequented by immense shoals of small fish, most of which serve as food for the cod. Where the bottom is principally of sand, and the depth of water about thirty fathoms, cod is found in greatest plenty; on a muddy bottom cod are not numerous. The best fishing-grounds on the Grand Bank are between latitudes 42° and 46° north." The deep-sea fishery is prosecuted on this bank in vessels of considerable size; but the shore fishery is carried on by the humbler portion of the inhabitants, in boats, or vessels of a size corresponding with the means of those who use them. The shore fishery is the most productive, both of fish and oil. Herrings frequent the coasts in vast shoals, but are not regarded as worth taking, except for bait. The most profitable fishery is that for seals, which has been increasing during the past few years, and employs a considerable amount of tonnage. In 1851 there were engaged in the seal fishery throughout the island of Newfoundland 323 vessels, with an aggregate tonnage of 29,545 tons, manned by 11,377 men. The population, by the census of 1845, was 96,295 souls. On the 1st of January 1852, it was estimated at 125,000, of whom 30,000 were engaged directly in the fisheries. The produce of these, including oil, was estimated in 1851 at over £900,000 sterling. The coast of Labrador, north of Newfoundland, is also the resort of a large amount of tonnage and fishermen, chiefly from Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. The value of the quantity of seals and fish caught is variously estimated at from £600,000 to £800,000 sterling per annum. When we come to regard British America as a whole, there are some considerations with respect to its future which forcibly strike the mind. Throughout the various provinces there was in 1851 a population of close upon two millions five hundred souls, owing allegiance to the British crown, extensive consumers of British products, and employing a large amount of British capital and shipping, which promises an amazing increase, when, in the course of a few years, the great works now in course of formation are completed. It must be obvious to the most careless observer that the progress of this new people in commerce, in wealth, and in numbers, is only just commencing. The vast resources of the soil which they occupy cannot be said to have been as yet developed to more than the merest fraction of their real extent, whilst the natural advantages of its position, climate, &c., have been very partially made use of, and indeed are scarcely comprehended. Of one of the most valuable portions of the territory of Canada-the valley of the Ottawa-a very small area only has been explored; yet it is ascertained that this territory, possessed of fertility equal to the valley of the Mississippi, is capable, when cleared and brought under cultivation, of supporting a population treble in number of that which is now spread over the whole of the different provinces. Such population, too, from their position, must become directly tributary to Great Britain as consumers of her manufactured products, whilst they can supply her markets with products of the forest and of agriculture to an almost unlimited extent, and afford vastly increased employ ment for her shipping and her seamen. We have not, moreover, to depend for the peopling of this or any other portion of British America upon emigration from the parent country. Germany is sending forth the most energetic and industrious of her population to the new soils of the West. In the seven years from 1846 to 1852, according to a report of a Hamburg society, 725,132 persons emigrated, either direct from Continental ports or through British ports; and of this number, all except a mere fraction proceeded across the Atlantic, and the bulk of them went to the United States' ports. We know, however, that, although taking this route, the ulterior resort of a considerable portion of this population is the western portion of Upper Canada, bordering upon the great lakes, as, from the rise which has taken place in the price of land in the United States, the prospects of a settler there are no longer so encouraging as in British America. For example, by an order from the Crown Lands Department, dated "Quebec, 6th August 1852," the price of land east of the county of Ontario, within Upper Canada, was fixed at four shillings per acre; in the county of Ottawa at three shillings; and in some districts as low as one shilling per acre, payable by instalments. There is timber upon such new lands which will generally cover the expense of clearing it. There is no opportunity for investment upon terms like these in the United States. The German exodus, as it may with truth be called, has increased since 1852; and during the past few months the streets and quays of our ports of emigration have been thronged with these strangers. The following extract from a Liverpool paper will furnish an idea of the rapid rate at which the movement towards the New World is progressing : : "The total number of emigrant ships which have left Liverpool during the past month (May) for all foreign ports, has been fifty-seven, of an aggregate tonnage of 64,425 tons, and having on board a total number of 27,128 passengers, of whom 5270 were English, 1611 Scotch, 13,722 Irish; 6287 natives of other countries, chiefly Germans; and 238 firstcabin passengers. Of these, thirty-six ships were for the United States, with 18,405 emigrants on board, composed principally of Irish and Germans, there being upwards of 10,000 of the former and 4000 of the latter. The exodus of the Germans, indeed, seems to increase in intensity with every month, the lodging-houses devoted to them during their brief sojourn in Liverpool being continually crowded." In fact, the only bar to a still further amount of emigration, both from this country and from Europe, is the want of means of conveyance at a reasonable rate, the passage-money at present charged being from 50 to 60 per cent higher than it was two or three years ago. Another influence which must tend to promote the growth both of British America and the United States is the additional use of steam as a propelling power for ships. We have now crossing the Atlantic six different lines of steamers to these countries; viz., the Cunard mail-boats, touching every alternate week at Halifax, Nova Scotia; the Collins' line of American mail steamers; a line of screw vessels to Portland and Quebec; a line from Havre and Southampton to New York; a line of screw steamers from Liverpool to New York; and a line of screw steamers from Liverpool to Philadelphia. The settler in our colonies is thus placed in constant communication with the mother country and with Europe; and what is important, as bearing upon the future progress of emigration, means are afforded him, which are both expeditious and easily available, for the remittance home of his savings, for the purpose of enabling his friends or kinsmen to join him in his new country. The extent to which emigration, from Ireland especially, is paid for by remittances from the United States and British America is surprising, and at the same time most gratifying, as illustrative of the existence of a kindly trait in the Celtic and Anglo-Saxon character. A most important consideration with respect to the future of British America, is the position which she occupies towards what may be regarded as the great Transatlantic power. Regarded commercially, British America occupies a position which renders her of infinite advantage to the commerce and greatness of the mother country. Her territory extending along the frontier of the United States from north-east to south-west, from Maine to Michigan - a distance of from fourteen to fifteen hundred miles -effectually checks the adoption by American statesmen of a prohibitory policy, or high tariff duties, against British productions. The enforcement of such a policy would be utterly impracticable, even if the attempt could be seriously entertained for a moment. No system of customs could effectually guard a frontier so extended, and especially one composed of lakes and navigable rivers common to the shipping and commerce of two countries, having different systems of taxation. The United States, however, are yearly becoming less dependent of a customs revenue to meet the ex penditure of their government. Their public debt is rapidly diminishing in amount; their manufactures and produce require less protection, as machi nery and science are increasingly applied to promote their development; and the time is probably not far distant when the interests of British America and the United States will become commercially identical. But, it may be asked,-What would be the result of a hostile collision between two nations, thus intimately connected, and adjoining each other? We have heard a great quantity of blustering talk about annexation by the United States of the British possessions in America. But this talk has come almost entirely from sources not American from the organs of Irish patriots (?) thirsting for an opportunity of converting "England's difficulty" into "Ireland's opportunity," for revenge and bloodshed. The really valuable and estimable portion of the United States people scout the thought of a quarrel, to be decided by arms, between the British and the inhabitants of North America and the great Republic. Nothing could be so wicked, so damaging to the best interests of both parties, and of the entire human race, as such a fratricidal quarrel. British America, however, is not so powerless as may be imagined to resist aggression from the United States, and she is not at all likely to invite annexation. In the first place, her position is one of great natural strength to resist such aggression. An American writer says of it: 66 Among the prominent features of Canada, her military position is worthy of notice. She is the most northern power upon this continent; and in configuration upon the globe she presents a triangular form, the apex of which forms the extreme southing, and penetrates the United States frontier; while the base is remote, and rests upon the icy regions of the north. Flanked by the inhospitable coast of Labrador upon the east, and by the almost inaccessible territories of the Hudson's Bay territory on the west, she can only be attacked in front;' when, retiring into more than Scythian fastnesses on the Ottawa and Saguenay, and keeping up communication with the strong fortress of Quebec, she can maintain strong and powerful resistance against foreign hostile invaders." In the second place, the population of Upper Canada, where the chief source of danger from a hostile colli |