NORTH AMERICAN COLONIES.

each slave, is to be apportioned among the slave-holders according to an estimated value of their slaves.

NORTH AMERICAN COLONIES. The only remaining possessions of Great Britain which, in this rapid survey, we have not visited, are her North American colonies, extending from latitude 45° north, indefinitely towards the north pole, and from longitude 50° west from London across the northern portion of the American continent about 80°, or a quarter of the circle of the globe, until they meet a Russian settlement on the northern border of the Pacific. The following are the principal divisions, and their number of inhabitants according to the latest enumerations.

The

The colonies have each a local legislature chosen by the people, and a governor and council appointed by the crown. governor of the Canadas has a general superintendence over

all the colonies, and is styled governor general. Local laws are subject to the approbation of the respective colonial govern

NORTH AMERICAN COLONIES.

ors and councils, and ultimately to the parliament of Great Britain. The judges of the higher courts are appointed and removed by the crown.*

Upper Canada, extending westerly and northerly from the Ottoway river nearly opposite Montreal, indefinitely, has much fertile vacant territory, to which the British government invites settlers by grants of land on liberal terms. Its principal towns are Kingston and York; the latter on the western border of lake Ontario, is the seat of government. Halifax, the principal town of Nova Scotia, is an important naval station. Quebec, the capital of Lower Canada, and of all the colonies contains 24,000 inhabitants, is strongly fortified by nature and art, and garrisoned by a considerable force. A magnificent bay spreads itself before the city, accessible to vessels of the largest class, secure and sufficiently capacious for a large fleet. Montreal, at the head of sloop navigation on the St. Lawrence, is the principal place of business, and the depot for the merchandize destined for the upper country and its returns. The inhabitants of Lower Canada being principally of French origin, are Roman Catholics. A large portion of those of Upper Canada, are Protestant dissenters of various denominations. Those of the other colonies are almost entirely Protestants.

The Canadas have within a late period, attracted much attention in the United States, in consequence of several revolutionary symptoms having appeared there. The attempts however, hitherto made, have been unsuccessful, and do not seem to have met with the general approbation of the inhabit

ants.

Much sympathy is felt for the "patriots" as they designate themselves, by many of the citizens of the United States living near the Canada line, some of whom have evinced so much inclination to interfere, that the United States government were obliged to send troops to preserve neutrality on our borders.

The chief complaint on the part of the dissatisfied Canadians is, that the British government has too much power in the provinces, the governor and council being appointed by the crown, and the assembly only elected by the people; the government thus holding a preponderating influence, which enables them to thwart the wishes of the people as expressed through the popular branch. This dissatisfaction is chiefly confined to Lower Canada.

The contiguity of these colonies to the United States have given rise to several interesting questions, showing how difficult it is for adjoining independent communities to avoid collision. One of the earliest subjects of dispute grew out of the Newfoundland fisheries. By the treaty of 1783, the United States

*In July, 1840, an act was passed by the British Parliament, by which the two provinces of Upper and Lower Canada were united under one gov.

ernment.

TREATY BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND GREAT BRITAIN.

with much difficulty secured to themselves the right of taking fish on the coast of Newfoundland, and drying them on its uninhabited shores. In negotiating the treaty which terminated the war of 1812, the British claimed that the declaration of war abrogated all rights dependent on former treaties. The treaty passed over the subject in silence. The Americans renewed their fishing business after the war in their usual manner. They were interrupted and their vessels seized by British ships of war. The matter was afterwards settled by compromise. Another subject is the American claim to the free navigation of the river St. Lawrence. The refusal of the British government led to the opening of the Erie and Champlain canals and other internal improvements, by which the productions of the west reach the markets of the east, and the return merchandize reaches the west, on much better terms than they could through the channel of the St. Lawrence, with all the facilities which the British government could give it. The United States have therefore ceased to press the subject. Disputes have also arisen relative to the boundary of the remote north-west, and the occupancy of a position on the Pacific, serving little other purpose than to show the tenacity with which Great Britain maintains her claims to any portion of territory within her reach, however remote or unimportant it may be.

By refusing to the United States the free navigation of the St. Lawrence, and thereby hastening the opening of the Erie canal, Great Britain not only lost a profitable commerce from the southern border of the lakes, but exposed her whole trade from the north-west to be directed to New York. To counteract this effect, the Welland canal, connecting the waters of lake Erie with those of Ontario by a sloop navigation has been formed. This enterprize was commenced in 1824, and the canal opened for navigation in 1829. It is an undertaking of a private company, with a capital stock of $888,000, divided into 16,000 shares. The Rideau canal, a work adapted to sloop navigation, commences at Kingston near the outlet of lake Ontario, and extends to the Ottoway river, near Montreal, a distance of upwards of one hundred miles. A sloop navigation is now opened from that city to the western extremity of the upper lakes, a distance of nearly a thousand miles.

THE TREATY BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND GREAT BRITAIN. The North Eastern Boundary question, or the question what was the true line of division between the north eastern portion of the United States and the British American provinces, has long been a subject of controversy between the two countries; this subject matter of contention has finally been adjusted by a treaty between Great Britain and the United States, by which the two governments mutually abandoning the

TREATY BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND GREAT BRITAIN.

lines heretofore respectively claimed, have adopted a new line between the two, as a compromise measure.

The treaty was signed by Lord Ashburton, special minister from Great Britain, and Daniel Webster, Secretary of State, on the 9th of August, 1842, and on the 20th of the same month was ratified by the U. S. Senate, by a vote of thirty-nine yeas to nine nays. The treaty provides that "all the water communications, and all the usual portages along the line from Lake Superior to the Lake of the Woods; and also Grand Portage, from the shore of Lake Superior to the Pigeon River, as now actually used, shall be free and open to the use of the citizens and subjects of both countries." The third article we copy entire: "In order to promote the interests and encourage the industry of all the inhabitants of the countries watered by the river St. John and its tributaries, whether living within the state of Maine or the province of New Brunswick, it is agreed that, where, by the provisions of the present treaty, the river St. John is declared to be the line of boundary, the navigation of said river shall be free and open to both parties, and shall in no way be obstructed by either; that all the produce of the forest, in logs, lumber, timber, boards, staves, or shingles, or of agriculture not being manufactured, grown on any of those parts of the state of Maine watered by the river St. John, or by its tributaries, of which fact reasonable evidence shall, if required, be produced, shall have free access into and through the said river and its said tributaries, having their source within the state of Maine, to and from the seaport at the mouth of the said river St. John, and to and round the falls of said river, either by boats, rafts, or other conveyance; that when within the province of New Brunswick, the said produce shall be dealt with as if it were the produce of said province; that in like manner the inhabitants of the territory of the upper St. John, determined by this treaty to belong to her Britannic majesty, shall have free access to and through the river for their produce, in those parts where the said river runs wholly through the state of Maine; provided always, that this agreement shall give no right to either party to interfere with any regulations not inconsistent with the terms of this treaty, which the governments respectively, of Maine or of New Brunswick, may make respecting the navigation of the said river, when both banks thereof shall belong to the same party." The United States government agrees to pay and satisfy the states of Maine and Massachusetts for all claims for expenses incurred by them in protecting the heretofore disputed territory, and making a survey of the same in 1838, and also agrees to pay these states the sum of three hundred thousand dollars in equal moieties, on account of their assent to the new line of boundary, and in consideration of equivalent received therefor from the British government.

CONCLUDING REMARKS.

It is also agreed by the treaty, "that the channels in the river St. Lawrence, on both sides of the Long Sault Islands, and of Barnhart Island; the channels in the river Detroit, on both sides of the island of Bois Blanc, and between that island and both the American and Canadian shores; and all the several channels and passages between the various islands lying near the junction of the river St. Clair, with the lake of that name, shall be equally free and open to the ships, vessels, and boats of both parties." This treaty is exclusively confined to the settlement of the North Eastern Boundary, with the exception that an agreement is entered into which provides that each government shall maintain in service on the coast of Africa a sufficient naval force of not less than eighty guns, to enforce separately the laws of the respective countries in relation to the suppression of the slave trade; and the parties to the treaty agree to unite in all becoming remonstrances with any power which sanctions the importation of African negroes; another agreement is also concluded, by which the two countries are to deliver up to justice on the proper official requisition, and on sufficient evidence of criminality, all persons found within the jurisdiction of either country, charged with murder, or assault with murderous intent, or piracy, arson, robbery, forgery, or the utterance of forged papers. As the boundary line claimed by the United States included territory within the state of Maine, and partly owned by Massachusetts, the general government could not relinquish any of it without the consent of those two states, and this treaty was not presented to the senate until after it was approved by commissioners, appointed and duly empowered by the respective legislatures of these states.

Various conjectures have been indulged as to the permanency of the British empire in its present form. Its speedy bankruptcy and dissolution was long ago predicted in consequence of its enormous national debt. The republican principles which appeared in France, in 1790, it was expected would spread over Europe, and in their progress overturn the British empire. Events have falsified these predictions. Great Britain has been able to bear the principal burden of a twenty years' war against the French, and to double her national debt without injuring her credit or disturbing her system of government. Although it is certain that her national debt can never be paid; and that many of the principles on which her government rests are unfounded; yet her duration for a long period on the present basis is confidently expected. There are some conservative principles which will probably give it permanency. The public creditors are, with few exceptions, British subjects, and in that view the national debt is one due from the whole to a part of the people, and the general mass of property is not thereby diminished.