NORTH AMERICAN COLONIES.

THE principal of the North American Colonies are the two Canadas and Nova Scotia. Rating only the land which is capable of cultivation,. - these provinces contain a territory which is equal in extent to that of the United States, and more than double that of either France or -- Great Britain. These countries are favourably situated for carry- ing on an extensive commerce, from the great facilities they pos- sess of maritime and internal water-carriage. The climate is tem- • -' perate and healthy, the soil is fertile, and good load is cheap and. plentiful. What is of equal importance to a manufiscturing country-. - like Great Britain, they have no considerable manufactures of their own ; not can they have for a long series of years; unless they be driven tor force them. - Yet our connexion with countries like these, and rapidIr rising as they 'are in wealth and population, is kept up at an annual loss-' to Great Britain of upwards of two millions. Not for any purpose of. commercial advantage ; for a. very liberal estimate is made for our.' trading gains, and deducted ;-not for any warlike object ; for they are of no earthly utility as military positions ; and in ease of a war, they- - would be a source of weakness, of distraction, and perhaps of disgrace a• -not for the benefit of the Colonists themselves ; for they are smartiro- under fiscal exactions from which they would gladly be relieved by tire - sacrifice of any monopolies they possess, even were they much more.- - valuable ; and they are besides weary of tasking the labours of law- makers and Ministers legislating for them at a distance of four thousand ' miles, and its happy ignorance of their wants, their wishes, and their - condition. For whose benefit, then, is this expenditure maintained? We answer, for that of the Aristocracy ;_ which' lias found its richest though not its most extensive sources of patronage in the Colonies- At home, the power of public opinion, and the control or rather the - check of Parliament, set some bounds to its rapacity : in the Colonies, these were removed,•and oligarchic profusion has run riot. The following very full and detailed information on the two Canaries, • is not merely derived from the documents already alluded to, but is- drawn from a variety of sources' some of them altogether inaccessible-. to the people of this country. For the power of presenting it, we are - indebted to a gentleman who has been for many years an active an& - highly popular member of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada,. and who is at present delegated to this country on public business. We mention this to show, that the statements are made upon no insufficient authority ; nor with the view of attaching any- weight to them beyond - what they are entitled to upon their own merits, for our correspondent. wishes it to be expressly understood that he is speaking only as ant • .

e' It is proper," he remarks, " that I should preface this communication By observing, that neither by the large and populous county of which I am thee representative (York), nor on behalf of lime for whose interest and in charge of whose petitions I was deputed to England, am I authorized or required tca. promulgate the opinions it contains: they are my own private sentiments-- -

the views of one man, and to be judged by the facts by which they are accom- panied." It will be seen that this communication divides itself into two heads.

'The first comprises a very elaborate calculation of the annual pi oat and loss to Great Britain from the possession of the Northern Colonies. The second preNnts an account of the expenses of the Civil Govern- ment of the Canadas, so far as they are known to the public or to the Canadian Legislature. As a minute exposition of a branch of expen- diture which is altogether unknown, we need make no apology for the length to which it has extended. Almost every detail involves some principle, or unfolds some abuse. The notes with which the accounts are interspersed, convey some information which could only be given by a person practically acquainted with the facts he is describing ; whilst the certainty, that if something be not shortly done by the Eng- lish Parliament, something will be done at the first convenient oppor- tunity by the Canadian people, gives an interest to this branch of the subject that a mere exposition of fiscal jobs or commercial monopolies would not of itself possess.

ZSTIMATE OF THE ANNUAL EXPENDITURE BY GREAT BRITAIN ARISING OUT OF THE POSSESSION AND COMMERCIAL MONOPOLY OF THE COLONIES OF NORTH AMERICA.

The charge for defraying the Ecclesiastical Establishment of British North America, paid out of the Treasury of Great Britain, in 1830, inclusive of a variety of incidental charges which do not appear in the Estimates, was £24,500 The charge for defraying the expenses of the Indian department in Canada, in that year, exceeded 20,400 The average annual expenditures on Naval and Military Defences, during the last twelve years of peace, paid by Great Britain, Mclusive of the War- canals, Forts, Episcopal Churches, Sm. as far as I have been able to ascertain the amount after a careful examination of Parliamentary records and other authentic documents, in the Library of the House of Commons and in the • Colonies, exceeds considerably *335,000 he annual average of the payments or allowances to persons in the Colonies, paid out of the Treasury of England, as a compensation, in part, for losses sustained by them during the law war with the United States, is upv. ards of 6,750 The disbursements of the Commissaries in Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Bermuda, Newfoundland, S:c in 1830, for the Pay of the Troops, Staff-pay, Retired Allowances, half-pay, Widows' Pensions, Military Post- ages, &c. (exclusive of the sum paid to Bishops, Rectors, &c. out of the military chest), was

756)300 The annual loss to the United Kingdom, occasioned by the discriminating dirties on Timber, in consequence of which, timber at a greater distance and of unsuitable qualities is brought from the Northern Colonies, partly the growth of the United States and partly of Colonial origin, has been esti- mated by many competent judges at a million and n. half per annum. Sir IIENRY PARNELL, in his work on Finance, sets it down at a million sterling and I am prepared to prove his estimate of that tax, public charge, or expen- diture, too low) 1,000,000 It is impossible to obtain a distinct estimate of the annual expenditure of Great Britain for ships employed in conveying governors, generals, troops, naval and military stores. Sze., backwards and forwards; for boundary, emi- gration, canal, and other commissioners ; for secretaries, clerks, counsel, so- licitors, printers, and various other descriptions of unproductive functiona- Ties, employed in England, or professing to be employed on various Colo- nial business; for recruiting for the Colonies to keep up a military force in British North America, nearly equal to the whole regular army of the American Union (with a body of officers that costs four times as ninth as theirs); for the salaries of official persons employed in the Colonies and not paid out of the military chest ; for naval and military stores furnished from the United Kingdom or other places out of Bri I ish North America to the Colonies. but not taken into account by the Colonial Commissaries, because not paid for in America but in England. If I say that a million a year is far below the cost or British North America, to Great Britain, under these beads of expenditure. I think it probable that there are few who will incline to require proofs in greater detail than they are here given 1 000,000 Deduct Total estimated expenditure by Great Britain 3,142,650

The annual profits (on the trade. commerce, monopolies, taxes, and govern- ment of all the Northern Colonies) which are supposed to accrue to Great

Britain, as estimated below 1 007,851

£8,134,799 ZSTIMATE OF ANNUAL PROFITS ACCRUING TO GREAT BRITAIN FROM TILE SOVEREIGNTY AND COMMERCIAL MONOPOLY OF THE NORTH AMERICAN COLONIES.

7. The East India Company estimate the annual profit on their monopoly of the trade in tea, &c.. to the Northern Colonies, at only 15,000/. a year on the capital employed ; but as they do every thing upon a more costly scale than private traders would, I have no doubt but that of late years the monopoly

as realized annually to the Company, their servants, agents, and others, X mot residing in the Colonies 35,000

jAs the United States Congress have ordered the duties on tea im- ported from China to be wholly taken off after the 4th day of March mext, the British monopoly will cease to yield a large profit from that iday forward. The Colonists will buy their tea in the United States, as they used to do ; and the Customhouses, as in the old Colonies, in 1773-4, will be no bar to the contraband trade.] 5t. There was paid into the Military Chest at Quebec, in the year 1830, the sum of 2,8111.; and at Halifax, about 9001., on account of Customs' duties levied upon the Colonists without their consent, to be transmitted to Eng- land to the Receiver-General of the Customs, and incorporated with the re-

venue of Great Britain 3,711 a There was paid into the Military Chests at Halifax, and at Quebec, in 1830, by the Deputy Postmaster-General, as surplus revenue derived from thePost- Office Department inthe British Northern Colonies, in that year, the sum of-I- 8,140

)1I. Estimated average annual profit which may centre in Britain, from the ope-

28,000

Estimated amount of the Postage of Letters paid in Great Britain rations of the Canada Land Company, inclusive of the profits or extrava-

gance that may be found in the management 8,000 C. The tolls of public locks, sales of military lots, rent of Chaucliere Bridge, . and other items of revenue paid into the Military Chest, I assume to be • about 5,0001. As to profit on the Rideau, Welland, and other Canals, so far =the British Government are concerned. I conclude there will be no return

or years to come after defraying charges $ 5,000

*The Duke of WELLTNOTON'S Government intended to expend upwards of a million elf dollars in the erection of fortifications at Kingston, in Upper Canada. Indeed the Intimate exceeded that sum. The accession of the Whigs to power saved to the nation that million at least ; for its expenditure could have effected no useful purpose, and would hare served as a pretext for an annual outlay in payment of a regiment or two ski prevent the fortre.s from falling into other hands when built.

f The Deputy Postmaster-General receives the whole of the newspaper and printed postage of the Northern Colonies, over and above his salary. Of these fees, he no account; dud I believe he has no other authority for levying them than the t known to him. that his predecessors did so before him. Perhaps the sum thus re- deiced by him as fees, may amount to 6,000 dollars a year, which is the equivalent of the salary of the Postmaster-General of the United States. Mr. Ilniat obtained the passage of an address through the Commons last August, for full information on the alibied of the Post-Office system in the Colonies. I was Chairman of the Standing Committee of the House of Assembly of Upper Ca- w:Wain 1829. on the Post-Office, and as such, entered into a correspondence with the Postmaster-General at Quebec. On revenue matters he would say nothing, but on other matters lie afforded the information we required. The House of Assembly of Lower Canada, in their two last sessions, brought him before committees, but he pleaded Royal instructions to the contrary, when they inquired into the salaries and saanagement of the revenue.

$ The Rideau will be more profitable than the Welland,

7. The real value of British and Irish produce and manufactures, exported from the United Kingdom to the Northern Colonies, for the year ending 5th January 1831, is as follows :—

To the Settlements of the Hudson's Bay Company To Newfoundland and the Coast of Labrador To Canada To New Brunswick To Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, and Prince Edward's Island £2,160,031 Omitting fractions, 2,160.000L,then, is the amount of the commodities exported

in 1830 from Great Britain awl Irelaud to the Northern Colonies. Bat there is also to be taken into account the imports into the Northern Colonies from the British West Indies, as the profits of that trade, if any there are, chiefly come into the possession-of absentee proprietors and other persons re- sident in the F pined Kimelour ; and also the imports front foreign ports, in British shipping, thr domestic consumption in the Northern Colonies or ad- joining states, exclusive of the tea trade already estimated. On a reference. to various documents, I incline to believe that 550,0001. sterling will be found not far from the true value, but say 600,000/. 2,760,0001. then, is the full value of the whole of the commodities (tea and the roundabout United States and British West Indian trade, via Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, exclusive) on which the United Kingdom has a profit from the trade of the Northern Colonies. Admit, for argument's sake, that one third of the whole exports is actual profit to England (although the inland taxes are in many

cases ff taken o, on goods sent abroad), and the returns under tins head will be 920,00CP Annual return estimated from British North America X 1,007,851

The natural increase of population in the Northern Colonies, and the annual. additions from emigration, may increase these profits within a few years, and the Whigs may be rather less expensive than the Tories were; but, on the other hand, the policy of the United States Government, in throwing open the trade in tea and many other commodities, to the citizens, duty free, or at far lower rates than before, will draw a large share of the Colonial trade in that direction, probably in so far as to counterbalance the increase from other sources.

From the above premises I infer, that in order to obtain a net annual profit of one million, derived from the sovereignty, trade, and commercial monopoly of the Northern Colonies in America, the Government of the United Kingdom expend each year, in time of peace, three millions sterling, and consequently lose two millions per annum ; which become a tax on the property and pro- ductive industry of the nation. Sir HENRY PA RNELL, in his excellent treatise on Financial Reform, affirms, that "with respect to Canada (including our other possessions on the Continent of North America), no case can he made out to show that we should not have every commercial advantage we are supposed now to have, if it were made an independent state. Neither our manufactures, foreign commerce, nor shipping would be injured by such a measure." I have not met with any statement in which it was attempted to demonstrate that Sir HENRY is in error.

As to the Timber Monopoly, there are those who say that the long voyages increase the number of men fit for the fighting Navy in time of war ; and that the trade is of primary importance to Canada. But an act of Parliament, obliging each timber ship bound for the Baltic to sail round the bland of Guernsey nineteen times, would make the voyage quite long enough, if that be an object ; and as for the importance of the timber trade to the Canadians, I can safely say, they would gladly exchange any advantages they derive from the discriminating duties, for free trade and a little more liberty to conduct their internal affairs for their own advantage. There are few persons employed in the getting out and rafting of tiniber who would not be just as beneficially and as morally employed in raising wheat and other agricultural productions; although the gradual abolition of the discriminating duties would still leave the trade for those kinds of timber which it is of advantage for the British buyer to purchase from Canada in the hands of the Colonists, and Colonial shipping.

The Governments of the Northern Colonies are imperfect and unsatisfactory; more so by far than the Governments of the Old Colonies were before the Revo- lution. They must either be amended to suit the governed,. or they will be thrown off at the first convenient opportunity. The Canadas can have no in- terest in forming a close connexion with the United States; neither is it the wish of the Colonists. Their trade is chiefly with Great Britain and the West Indies; they have few manufactures ; and to place them under the mono- poly of the American tariff, would be to remove one evil by imposing another. But the Canadas ought to have the management of their own affairs; it is the interest of Britain that they should be thus far independent. As a free people, it would be impossible for any party in the United States to obtain a majority in Congress to attempt to conquer them ; but as a colonial dependency, the case is very different indeed. "Sympathy for the oppressed" may produce- effects which the statesmen of Great 13ritain have not calculated upon.

Under a domestic government, landed property would speedily rise in the. Colonies. I have no doubt that in five years from the present time, such are the great national advantages possessed by the Colonists, that they would buy twice as much as they now purchase of the home and colonial manufactures of England, afford double the present profits to the nation, and all this without costing one shilling for government out of the three millions now paid. Even the United States, the-moment we ceased fighting with them, began buying of us again as fast as ever, because our goods were cheap and desirable, and the connexion natural.

£91,136 294,250 997.502 215,448 258,797 £1,837,133

The law makes no provision for ascertaining the real value of Foreign or Colonial commodities, when imported or when exported; but the official value of the foreign and colonial pro-

duce exported from the United Kingdom to the Northern Co- lonies in 1831, as given in the Parliamentary Paper 660, will serve nearly as well for this statement.

In 1830, there were exported from the United Kingdom, to the several Northern Colonies aliove-named, Foreign arid Colonial

merchandise of the official value at the Customhouse, of .... 303.798: