6 PAPERS RELATIVE TO EMIGRATION TO CANADA. / / 6 settlers will bring hither their capital. It is confidently hoped that the society's exertions will affect a great increase of happiness to the persons intended to be primarily benefited, to be followed very soon by a proportionate advance in value of the possessions of those who, with a wise sell- interest, shall contribute liberally to the cause. It is unnecessary now to set forth the importance of colonization when judiciously di- rected. Its advantages are manifest, affording to the parent state a corrective to a redun- dant population, an extension of its commerce and a market for its manufactures ; to the man with capital, who finds in a country abounding with it a difficulty in securing a profit- able investment, it affords opportunities of a rapid increase, without the risks of speculation; while to the emigrant destitute of capital, or rather possessing only that best and safest of capitals, industry and health, it. has proved to thousands a blessed change from indigence to independence, and will so continue to all who do not ensure their disappointment by the unreasonableness of their expectations. Its advantages are equally obvious to the country which, by its vast resources and natural treasures, afford a field for the enterprize of the one class, and a reward for the industry of the other. The Association is cheered and supported by perceiving how rapidly this conviction has lately extended throughout England, Scotland and Ireland; where men, the highest in rank and in wealth, judging accurately from previous results, have benevolently united them- selves in societies to enable their poorer fellow subjects to participate in the benefits of colonization ; and it is mainly with a view to co- operate with those patriotic bodies, that the present Association has been formed; convinced as the members are, that however active in- dividual benevolence may be, its effects maybe greatly increased by combination and unity of purpose. If any sanction were wanting to persons entertaining doubts of the practical good and the national importance of the subject, it will be found in the elaborate Report of the House of Commons, and in the several resolutions and earnest addresses of our Pro- vincial Legislature. There never was a period in the history of the province, when the exertions of an associa- tion like the present could promise such happy results; great public works have been accomplished for the facilitating of social intercourse, and the transport of commodities, works which would be deemed great in any country npon earth; the Welland, the Rideau, and other artificial navigations, connecting our inland seas with each other and with the ocean; macadamized roads are intersecting the province in every direction; other extensive works of the same kind, together with railroads, are either in the course of construction or intended to be constructed; the statistics of the country, and the inexhaustible capabilities of the land are become thoroughly known ; and above all, the country is a t peace within and without, and men by common consent are uniting, by a laudable attention to private good, to swell the aggregate of public prosperity. The Executive Government too, is actively at work for the good of those under its protec- tion, especially in the forming of roads, and rendering some of the most fertile tracts in the country accessible for settlement. It is making preparations on a grand scale for those who choose to avail themselves of its paternal aid ; but great as is its power, and wise and benevolent as they may be who wield it, there is still a vast amount of good connected with the colonization of this country, which circumstances have rendered it impossible for the local Government to perform. It is precisely that deficiency which it is in the power of the Emigration Association to supply, if they be joined and sustained by the good sense and good feeling of the country; nay, even the self- interest of individuals will, if judiciously exercised, contribute to the common good. An evil attendant upon the colonization of Canada in times past, is industriously repre- sented as still existing in its aggravated forms, by those who would deter settlers from selecting this province as their home. It is urged, that nearly all the lands within the settled precincts of the province have passed into the hands of private individuals, and that the new emigrant must necessarily go far into the depths of the forest, remote from the peopled settlements, where, whatever may be the excellence of his land, he will be remote from markets, mills, or even roads, or the means of procuring labour or supplies during the first years of his residence. These difficulties have existed to a great and disheartening extent, sometimes so as to induce the settler to abandon his possessions. It is true, also, that a great proportion of the land, especially in the older surveyed townships, comprehending the choicest locations in the neighbourhood of roads and navigable waters, now belongs to private individuals, and it is this very fact that enables the Association to be of the most essential service. These tracts are at present unproductive to the owner, and if retained in their wild state, with the view to their owners obtaining higher prices, would interpose such a serious obstacle to the settlement of the country, as might well justify the Legislature in imposing a tax upon lands kept unimproved from so selfish and narrow a policy. The Association are happy in know- ing— for many of such proprietors are amongst its most zealous members— that such lands generally remain in their profitless fertility, only because the hand of man is wantino- to turn them into productive corn- fields and animated pastures ; and that if their fellow- countrymen were here to make use of them, they would be happy in giving to them portions equal to their utmost wants, without money and without price; yes, and every other aid which could tend to their future advantage, and this too without any affectation of generosity on the part of the members of the Association, for they are well aware that by the settlement and cultivation of a portion of their lands, the adjoining part will become better worth the purchasing by future emigrants, or by the settler himself when he shall have become prosperous. This )