The British Dominions in North America
Or A Topographical and Statistical Description of the Provinces of Lower and Upper Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, The Islands of Newfoundland, Prince Edward, and Cape Breton including considerations on Land-Granting and Emigration to which are annexed, statistical tables and tables of distances, &c. by Joseph Bouchette, Esq., Surveyor General of Lower Canada, Lieut. Colonel C.M., Vice President of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, and Corresponding Member of the Society of Arts, London in two volumes (1832)

Preface

Antecedently to the year 1759, the dominion of North America was divided almost exclusively between the Kings of England and France; the former possessing the immense Atlantic seaboard of the continent, the latter the territories along the borders of the gigantic “ Fleuve du Canada” or River St. Lawrence. But the conquest, gallantly achieved by Wolfe on the memorable plains of Abr’am, near Quebec, left, subsequently to that event, but a slender footing to the French crown in America, whilst it at once extended the empire of Great Britain from the Atlantic Ocean to the shores of the Pacific, and rendered it almost co-extensive with the whole northern division of the New World. England continued in the undisputed possession of these her immense dominions for a period of nearly sixteen years, when those revolutionary discontents broke out in the old colonies, which ended in the declaration of their independence, and the acknowledgment of the American confederation as a free and independent state, by the treaty of Paris, 3rd of September, ,1783.

Whether the reduction of Canada accelerated the separation of the original British North American Plantations, by removing the check which the relative geographical position of the surround, ing French possessions was calculated to produce upon the colonists, it is difficult to say; but it is, perhaps, less problematical whether England would this day have had to boast of her valuable transatlantic dominions, had not the victory of the British hero, who fell in the consummation of the conquest of Canada, preceded the birth of the United States of America, as one of the independent nations of the world. Certain it is, however, that the severe consequences of the loss of the British plantations were greatly mitigated by Wolfe's victory and the accession of the French colonies to the British empire, to which, not only from their intrinsic worth, but because of the political power and the commercial advantages incidental to the possession of them, they have since become important appendages.

In the war waged by the colonies against the mother country, the people of Canada, although so recently become British subjects, resisted with fidelity every attempt that was made to seduce them from their new allegiance, and with bravery repulsed every endeavour to subdue them. Such devotedness was highly appreciated ; and England, at the termination of the revolutionary war, directed her attention towards giving increased consequence to her remaining possessions, with the design of drawing from them some of the supplies she had been accustomed to receive from the countries recently dismembered from the empire. It was some time, however, before the efforts of the mother country were attended with any degree of success, and a new order of things established, by which the languor that marked the growth of the colonies, as French plantations, gradually gave place to a system of more vigour

in the agricultural improvement of the country, and a more active developement of its commercial resources. Yet, if the numerous ordinances of the King of France, for the encouragement of agriculture and the regulation of commerce, which are still extant, can be admitted as evidence of the interest with which the colony was then viewed, no solicitude appears to have been wanting on the part of the French government towards promoting the welfare of Canada. The slow advancements may fairly be ascribed to the destructive wars of the aborigines, to the difficulties and embarrassments of incipient colonization, and the remote situation of the country (at that time no inconsiderable obstacle), rather than to any neglect or mis-government of her distant dominions on the part of France.

If the British dominions in North America be viewed merely in relation to their vast superficies, which exceeds 4,000,000 of geographical square miles, their importance will become apparent, more especially when the manifold advantages of their geographical position are properly estimated. Glancing at the map, we see British sovereignty on the shores of the Atlantic, commanding the mouth of the most splendid river on the globe; and, sweeping across the whole continent of America, it is found again on the coasts of the Pacific Ocean, thus embracing an immense section of the New World in the northern hemisphere, reaching at some points as far south as 41° of north latitude, and stretching northward thence to the polar regions. But the importance of these possessions should be estimated less by their territorial extent than by the resources they offer, their capabilities of improvement, the great increase of which their commerce is susceptible, and the extensive field they present for emigration.

The British North American provinces occupy but a comparatively small portion of the aggregate superficies of the whole of the British dominions in the western hemisphere; yet they cover about 500,000 geographical square miles, and contain a population which in round numbers amounts to nearly a million and a half of souls (strictly 1,375,000), and this population, taking the average ratio of increase of all the colonies, doubles itself every sixteen or eighteen years. The colonies viewed in their true light are essentially agricultural, and it is in this point of view that they ought properly to be considered as primarily important to the mother country. Whatever may now be the extent and value of their timber trade, or the weight so deservedly attached to that flourishing branch of the colonial commerce, the agricultural produce of their soil, and the products of their fisheries, must eventually yield the chief part of the exports of the country. That it would be sound policy to check, directly, the progress of an extensive branch of a staple trade, may indeed be doubtful; but measures, calculated gradually to divert commercial capital into other channels besides those of the timber trade, must, on the contrary, have a beneficial tendency, especially if that diversion take place in favour of some other colonial staple of more permanency, such as the commerce of hemp, flax, wheat, &c. Staples are either temporary or permanent, and although, from the vastness of Canadian forests, timber may be considered an almost exhaustless fund of the colonial export trade, nevertheless, it, to a certain degree, belongs to the first class of staples, from its necessarily becoming more scarce, as the settlements of the country spread abroad, and the forests recede.

Possessing, indeed, a soil with properties of the highest fertility, and enjoying a climate extremely salubrious, although rigorous in winter, the British provinces in America are, without a doubt, the most flourishing and interesting section of the British Colonial Empire; and, if considered under a political aspect, probably the most important of her trans-marine possessions, since, independently of their intrinsic value to the parent state, they are intimately connected with the preservation of the West Indian plantations, and the control of the invaluable fisheries of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the banks of Newfoundland.

The trade of these provinces now employs annually upwards of 1,800 sail of British shipping, exceeding in aggregate burden 470,000 tons, and requiring more than 20,000 seamen : this tonnage is equal to about l-5th of the whole of the British shipping ; it is nine times greater than the amount of British tons employed in the trade with the United States of America, and about double that used in the West India trade1; and, comparing the ratio ofin^ crease from the year 1772 to the present time, we find that the whole increase on the aggregate of British shipping has been about 167 per cent.; the decrease of tonnage with the United States 21 per cent.; the increase with the West Indies 189 per cent.; and with the North American colonies 2,370 per cent. The value of the exports, from Great Britain to the British provinces, amounts to more than 2,000,000Z. sterling, which is an increase of about 455 per cent, upon the amount of the exports of 1774; whilst the increase in the value of exports to the United States did not exceed 245 per cent, during that period, and to the West Indies 300 per cent., demonstrating clearly the accelerated ratio in which the commercial prosperity of these provinces is advancing, their vast importance and incalculable resources.

It cannot be doubted that the liberal and enlightened commercial policy of the British government, has given renewed vigour to the commerce of Great Britain, nor can it be denied that the success of that policy much depended upon the wide range of her empire, the magnitude and variety of her colonies. To this increasing prosperity of England, an able statesman* happily alludes, when comparing the commerce of the United States with that of the United Kingdoms. “We had not supposed/’ says he, “ that a young, rising, and naturally commercial country, whose population and agriculture are growing with unequalled rapidity, could, under any policy, be outstripped in a race by a nation, whose navigation was presumed to have reached its maximum, and whose naval power was supposed to be at least stationary in its meridian, if it was not already in its decline. But Great Britain has granted Navigation. commercial liberty to her vast empire, at home and abroad, and has taken a new start in the race of nations; whilst we, on the other hand, professing to be free, have restricted our own citizens in their intercourse with all the world

To the importance of the colonies, in an agricultural and commercial point of view, has been superadded of later years, another consideration of no minor interest, which still further enhances their value to the parent state. The almost exhaustless field offered in the British North American provinces for fresh colonization, points them out as the goal of emigration from the United Kingdoms, and they have in consequence become the favourite resort of the redundant population of the mother country. Thousands of the sons of Britain are, therefore, seen every year leaving their native shores to venture their fortunes in a more remote section of his Majesty's dominions, bearing in their breasts this inspiring consolation, that, although removed from the land of home—the protecting aegis of a free, powerful, and happy constitution and government, is extended to the most distant as well as to the metropolitan regions of this vast empire. Indeed so generally and broadly has the tide of emigration flowed towards the Canadas, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, that a considerable portion of their population is composed of the natives of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and the interests of those provinces have become proportionately identified with those of the British isles.

These various considerations combined, have incited the author of these volumes to present to his Majesty’s government, both at home and abroad, and to the public of the empire, a Topographical and Statistical Description of the British Dominions in North America, together with Topographical Maps of Lower Canada, and a Geographical Map of the British Provinces in America. It is proper, however, to observe that he has far exceeded the plan which he originally contemplated; his design having, in the outset, been confined to the publication of a Topographical and Statistical Description of the Province of Lower Canada, with Maps. But having, in the prosecution of this design, discovered that, in the course of the long series of years during which he had been occupied in collecting materials for this work, he had amassed and methodized a body of valuable statistical and geographical information, relative to Upper Canada and the sister provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick; and, deeply impressed with the utility of a work which should embody every possible degree of information as to the British North American colonies collectively, he ventured, though not without sensations of the greatest diffidence, to push his project to a general consideration of the topography and statistics of the continental section of the British empire in the New World.

In the general framework of the maps of Lower Canada, which are upon a large and explanatory scale, the author was materially aided by his previous topographical exhibit of that province, published in 1815, under the exalted patronage of his late Majesty, then

Prince Regent of the kingdom; but the details are entirely new and compiled, with the greatest care, from numerous original surveys and documents of indubitable authenticity, that have enabled him to lay down every minutia of topography. In adverting to the period of his former publication, the author feels impelled, alike by a sense of duty and of gratitude, to record, as a very feeble tribute of his respect for the cherished memory of his late Royal Highness the Duke of Kent, the many and deep obligations under which he Ues to that much lamented prince and munificent patron, whose characteristic urbanity of manners so much endeared him to all who had the honour of being known to him.

The geographical map of the British provinces, and of a section of the adjacent states of the American union, accompanying the work, will, it is hoped, be found an interesting adjunct, from the scope of the country it embraces, as well as on account of the sources of information whence it was compiled. This map was constructed by the author’s eldest son, Joseph Bouchette, Esq., Deputy Surveyor-General of Lower Canada, and must, like the other maps, be left in a great measure to speak for itself. It is but justice to the compiler, however, to mention the extreme laboriousness with which, during three years, he attached himself to its construction, in the midst of active professional duties—the close investigation as to the correctness of documents that preceded their application, and the science with which he was capable of graphically applying the information these documents contained. To this gentleman the author is also indebted for his scientific aid in the compilation of several parts of the topographical maps; and it is a source of congratulation to him to have likewise to note the services of his third son, John Francis Bouchette, Lieutenant, 68th Light Infantry, whose able draftsmanship has so much contributed to the nicety of delineation, and to any degree of elegance the topographical maps of Lower Canada may be deemed to possess.

Having said thus much in regard to the graphical part of the work now presented to the public, it may not be inexpedient to say something of the following volumes, and to give some account of the plan and division of the subject-matter they embrace, and the sources whence the information is derived. Upon the latter point the author may perhaps be pardoned for indulging in a little self-gratulation, from the confidence he must necessarily have in the correctness of the materials he had to work upon (especially as respects the local and statistical circumstances of the Canadas), as well from his constant residence in the country, as from the facilities afforded by the department over which he has, for thirty years, had the honour to preside. The valuable documents and

official records of the surveyor-general’s office, which constituted the principal portion of the materials used in the composition of his former work, and the free use of which he was permitted by his Majesty’s colonial government, have been again consulted, together with such new matter, arising from surveys since 1815, as has been superadded to the topographical information already recorded. These documents, however, were chiefly useful in the graphical part of the work, and furnished the means of a correct delineation of the townships of the province. The feudal lands of Lower Canada, a large and important section of the colony, are, delineated and described from original plans and documents in the possession of the seigneurs of the province, and to which the author has had free access. To these valuable materials were added the results of three'official tours in 1820, 1824, and 1827, the last of which embraced the extremities of the settled parts of the country, and enabled him to enter minutely into an investigation of the statistics, and to collect important subject-matter for the topography of the province*. The replies of the gentlemen of the Roman catholic clergy to queries proposed to them on the state and resources of their respective parishes, and the explanatory answers of

* The following extract may not probably be deemed inadmissible, as a testimonial of the mode in which this branch of the author’s public duties was discharged

Castle of St. Lewis, Quebec, 8th July, 1828. Sir,

I have not failed to lay. before his excellency the governor-in-chief your letter of the 3d instant, transmitting the report of your proceedings, and the ..statistical returns prepared by you in consequence of his excellency’s instructions conveyed to you by my

C 2 the seigneurs, to circulars transmitted to them, relative to the settlements and statistics of their several seigneurial properties, have also proved of invaluable assistance in the completion of the statistical department of the book.

These sources of information have furnished the General Description of the province of Lower Canada as well as the Topographical Dictionary. There are many minute points connected with the topography of the country of perhaps less interest to the general reader, but of the first importance to those seeking for complete information as to the resources of the province, for the arrangement of which, as well as for the facility of reference, the alphabetical form affords distinguished advantages; and this has induced the author to adopt the somewhat unusual plan of a dictionary, but which he confidently presumes will be found to combine many and important advantages, no less in comprising under one view all the particulars that can be required on any one point, than as leaving the general description unencumbered by matter, which to some might seem tediously minute, whilst the body of the work presents a summary account of the province, its resources, letter of the 10th August last. And I am directed by his excellency to convey to you his approbation of the zeal and laborious diligence exhibited by you in collecting and condensing the multifarious, interesting, and useful information contained in the report and tables which you have now submitted.

*********

I have the honour to be, &c.

(Signed) A. W. Cochrane, Secretary.

To Joseph Bouchette, Esq.

Surveyor-General.

and all that general information desirable to the more cursory class of readers.

The description of the province of Upper Canada is derived from the substance of notes and memoranda made in that country during the late war, and from the knowledge obtained of it during an anterior service of six years, as an officer of the provincial Navy upon the lakes. To the information arising from these sources considerable additions have been made from documents that may be relied upon, both published and manuscript. The latter are chiefly of an official character, the former are to be found in Gourlay’s Statistics of Upper Canada, the reports of commissioners of roads and canals, public statistical returns, &c.

The extensive field operations performed by the author on the frontier of New Brunswick in 1817, as his Majesty’s surveyorgeneral, under the 4th and 5th articles of the Treaty of Ghent, and several excursions into the colony connected therewith, supplied the bulk of the materials for the account of that province, though some obligations must be acknowledged to the author of a pamphlet, descriptive of the province, and published there, as well as to the intelligent sketches of Mr. M‘Gregor. The statistical branch of the description is principally derived from the public returns and statistical statements, framed under the direction of his Majesty’s government, and subsequently published. The statistics of Nova Scotia are partly taken from the same source, and also from Halliburton’s history of that province, from which, in the historical sketch and general description of that country, considerable aid has been derived. The notes made by the author upon the soil, surface, and climate of the province in 1816, and memoranda collected anteriorly to that period, while at Halifax on military service, have further enabled the author, from a personal knowledge of that part of our colonial dominions, to enter more satisfactorily upon its description. He has also great pleasure in acknowledging the valuable information he has obtained, on the subject of the settlements both of New Brunswick and of Nova Scotia, from the printed report of Colonel Cockburn to his Majesty’s government, which contains documents of great interest and high authority, relative to the lands, settlements, and resources of those provinces.

The Island of Newfoundland is the only part of the colonized British possessions in America of which the author has it not in his power to give any personal account, and he therefore is thrown upon public records and official papers for the means of describing the local, agricultural, and statistical state of that insular section of the British North American Dominions, so important when viewed in conjunction with the extensive fisheries of the Great Banks and of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In the description of the Island of Prince Edward or St. John, he derived considerable information from the official plan, with abundant notes and remarks, of his relation and predecessor, the late Major Holland, recorded in his office, as well as from several private documents and plans acquired when in the island, at which time he had an opportunity of visiting the most interesting parts of it, and of recording notes descriptive of its geography and topography.

Such are the sources of information, and such the means and the materials which have furnished the subject-matter of the following volumes, and however the author may feel conscious of the imperfect manner in which the task has been executed, he cannot repress the hope, that the defects of the performance will stand excused by the utility of the matter and the motive which involved him in so arduous an undertaking. The prospect of literary fame, so powerful an incentive to many writers, yet so often illusory, even when founded upon great erudition and classical attainments, has had no share in bringing the author before the tribunal of public opinion. His sole object is to be useful, by communicating to the world the substance of long and variously accumulated information, relative to the British trans-atlantic dominions, which he would have conceived it a dereliction of duty and of patriotism to withhold from the press; feeling as he does an additional incentive and encouragement from that liberal and enlightened system of colonial policy that has conspicuously distinguished the British cabinet, and struck an impulse from the very centre of national prosperity to its remotest branches.

He has to lament, however, that the scope of his abilities, even when aided by the pen of another of his sons, Robert S. M. Bouchette, Esq., a member of the Canadian bar, whose able assistance in the composition of the general work, he feels it alike a duty and a pleasure candidly and cordially to acknowledge, should have been insufficient to enable him to send forth the work clothed with all those advantages of arrangement, style, and illustration which might be expected from those whose time and talents have been devoted to literary pursuits. Forty years of his life have been passed in the service of his Majesty’s government, in the naval, military, and civil departments, the duties of which, though affording him opportunities of collecting abundant materials for a work of this nature, have yet allowed him but little leisure for cultivating those graces of composition by which a writer most readily recommends himself to the reader’s favourable opinion. Abandoning then all hopes which might be founded on such advantages, he relies on his honest though humble zeal to lay open, as far as his capabilities permitted, the vast, natural, and improvable resources of a flourishing section of the British empire; and should his feeble endeavours have the good fortune to obtain approbation, for the design if not for the execution, his highest ambition will be attained, and his dearest wishes amply gratified.

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