Smith's Canadian gazetteer - ElectricCanadian.com

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Zealand; and yet such is the case. Much of the einifrration to the United
States, however, is caused by the writinj^s of Knf^lish authors. Every now and
then a traveller starts for the United States with a pocket fidi of money, travels
over them at that season of the year when the appi'aranee of the country is most
captivating, becomes enchanted with the beauty of its scenery, the length of tho
summer, the ease with which an existence may he obtained; and straightways
returns home and writes a book on the subject, painting everything cuulcur d^
rose. "One fool makes many ;" and many persons whose judgments are led astray
by the fascinating ilescriptions of tr;ivellers, emigrate there; and it is not till too
late, when the property they took with them has been all expended, and their
constitutions ruined, that they find out their mi>take; but unfortunately tliey
discover it too late, for they are left without tiie means of removing. Each
state in its turn has been an el ilonulo, a perfect paradise. Thirty years ago it
•was Ohio and Indiana, then Illinois, then Michigan and ^^issouri; within the
la^^t five or six years, VVisC' nsin and Iowa; and now the current is begiiming to
set in strongly towards Oregon and California.
Birkbeck's " Letters from Illinois," published about twenty-seven years ago,
induced many families of respectability to emigrate to the valley of the Wabash,
who have since bitterly cursed his folly and their own. Many of them took out
large sums of money, T^hich they invested in land, or deposited in United States'
banks; and many of them have of cour.se lost their all; and Hirkbeek's own
family are scattered to the four winds of heaven. Birkbeck himself, according
to his own account, used to keep his carriage in England. He took out with
hitn to Illinois ^.'iOt)!) or £6000; and one of his sons, previous to his death, was
actually earning a livelihood by working in a brick-field. Stewart again, some
years since, followed the exainjjle of Birkbeck, and wrote very flattering
accounts of the soutli-west, and with the same results; but he himself was not
simple enough to remain there.
In what respects will the advocates of emigration to the United States pretend
to say that any portion of that country is superior to Canada. Is it in the
climate A tree may 1ie judged of by its fruits, and very many of the native
Canadians, in point of robust appearance and complexion, mi' ht be taken for
English emigrants. Will any one ventui-e to make the same assertion respecting
a native of Ohio, Indiana, Ulinris, or Missouri And of what avail is it
that the climate will grow cotton and tobacco, if the settler neither has tlie
strength to cultivate them, nor a market in whicli to dispose of them, when
grown In the winter and spring of 184 1-2, pork (a staple article of the State,)
was selling in Illinois, at from a dollar to a dollar and a half per 100 lbs.; ai:d
at that price it was almost impossible to obtain cash for it; wheat at a ((iiarter
dollar, and Indian corn from five to ten cents per bushel; butter, fittc. n and
sixteen pounds for a dollar; fowls, half a dollar per dozen; and other finning
produce in proportion. At such prices farming could not be very protitabie.
A man certainly might live cheaply, and cram himself with bacon and Cora
bread till he brought ou hi: ions fever; but he could tmike iioiltiug of what lie
raised. And a farmer having a fat ox, has even been known after killing it, to
take from it the hide and tallow, and drag the carcase into the woods to be
devoured by the wolves; finding fnmi the snnill price the beef would fetch, that
it was more profitable to do so than to sell the whole .nnimal !
Is it from the nature of the government, that the ."States are so much more
desirable as a place of residence—where the only law is mob law, and the bowie
knife is the constant companion of the citizens, and is used even in the halls of
legislature themselves Or is New Zealand much to be preferred, where the
.settler >u taking his morning ramble, to acquire an appetite for his breakfi^t,
frequently receives a " settler" himself, and instead of returning to his moinifi''s
meal, is roasted for the breakfast of some native chief, and his interesting family.
Canada, on the contrary, ^utfers niider none of these disadvantages and annoyances.
The government and constitution of the country are English; the laws
ire English ; the climate is fine and healthy; the Indians ai-e tolerably civilized.