It will thus be seen that previous to 1846 the colonial policy of the British government, although vacillating and contradictory, encouraged the sea-trade of Canada by affording a market for her productions, and discouraged exports inland to the United States. Likewise, by imperial control over the colonial tariff, the mother country established differential duties against importations inland, thus throwing the supply of Western Canada into the ports of Montreal and Quebec and the contraband dealers on the western frontier. Nearly the whole revenue from customs being collected in Lower Canada, although an equal and even greater consumption was claimed for the upper province, a controversy respecting the division of this revenue became annually more and more severe, with the increased population and demands of Canada West, and was the subject of frequent appeal to, and of adjustment by, the mother country. The insurrection of the French population, and consequent suspension of the constitution of Lower Canada, was taken advantage of to bring about a legislative union of the two provinces, which accordingly took place in 1841, and put an end to the dispute about the division of the revenue. Perhaps the remembrance of this altercation had some influence upon the subsequent action of the Canadian legislature upon the subject of differential duties. The imperial government formally abandoned all control over the Canadian tariff in 1847, and, in their next session, the colonial legislature abolished the differential and prohibitory duties on imports inland; thus placing the mother country in the same relative position as foreigners. The commercial interest of the lower province yielded to this policy from sympathy with the freetrade movements in England; while it is probable that the western province supported the measure as a means of emancipation from the monopoly of their imports by Montreal and Quebec. The repeal (by the abolition of the British Corn Laws) of all privileges in favor of Canadian breadstuffs in the British markets, the hostile tariff of the United States, and the trammelled condition of the St. Lawrence navigation, (yet unfreed from the restrictions of the British Navigation Laws,) fell heavily upon the Canadians. The scanty supply of vessels in the St Lawrence, (hitherto a "close borough," for British shipping only,) and the abundant supply of outward freights afforded by the timber coves of Quebec, had so enhanced all other freight outward, that nothing but the premium offered by the British Corn Laws made the route through the St. Lawrence more favorable than by New York, even with the burden of the United States tariff. When, therefore, this premium was withdrawn, and the English market was no longer the most profitable, the exports of Canada West (the surplus-producing section of the province) turned toward New York. The proximity of this city to the wheat-exporting districts of Canada, and the facilities of exporting and importing in bond, by New York canal and other internal artificial avenues, produced such a diversion of Canadian exports of flour and wheat that the quantity so sent to New York in 1850 exceeded, largely, that exported by sea through the St. Lawrence. The following statement will show the relative export of Canadian flour and wheat inland and by sea: Flour and wheat exported from Canada in 1850 and 1851. The following statement shows the amount of Canadian flour and wheat imported, the amount bonded for exportation, and the amount entered for consumption at each port of entry: Total imported 1851. Total bonded 1851. Total duty paid 1851. It will be seen that there is a decrease in the importation from Canada in 1851, and an increase in her exports by sea, which do not, with respect to wheat at least, counterbalance the deficiency of inland exports. As the Canadian wheat crop of 1851 exceeded that of any former year, the presumption is that the low prices which ruled during last year retained much of the surplus in the province. The fact, however, that, of the flour exported from Canada, the number of barrels which were sent to the United States in 1850 exceeded the total exports by sea in that year, and that in 1851 this was reversed, is very significant, considering that the Canadians are now trading upon equal terms with the United States in the markets of the mother country and those of other foreign States. To elucidate this, I must refer to the INTERCOLONIAL TRADE. The export of flour from Canada, by sea, to the British North Amer ican colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland, since 1844, has been as follows: The amount exported to these colonies, in bond, through New York and Boston, in 1851, was making the total export to these colonies 246,039 barrels—an increase of over twelve-fold in eight years. The substitution of Canadian for American flour in the consumption of the "lower colonies" has been brought about by the opening of the ship-canals on the St. Lawrence, aided by a reciprocity arrangement between these colonies and Canada; and because the exclusion of the latter from the American domestic market has forced Canadian flour through the St. Lawrence, to compete in the foreign markets of the United States. The articles of wheat and flour have been taken, for the sake of convenience, to illustrate the export-trade of Canada, its direction and distribution. The remarks above, however, apply to all other provisions of which she produces a surplus. In the import-trade, sugar, one of the leading articles of consumption, may be taken to illustrate a change as favorable to Canada as that in the export of flour. In 1849 the value of sugars imported from the United States was double that from the lower colonies. In 1851 the value from the United States was $258,848, and from the colonies $269,300. In 1849 nearly one-half of the sugar was imported, inland, from and through the United States-the proportion being 5,152,000 pounds, out of the total importation of 11,613,000 pounds. In 1850 the importation rose to 15,736,000 pounds, of which the United States furnished 5,522,000 pounds, or a little more than one-third. In 1851 the number of pounds imported was 20,175,046, of which 5,640,000 pounds were from the United States, and 5,SS0,000 pounds from the lower colonies. The imports of sugar into Canada in 1851 were: From British colonies... $269,300 258,848 226,316 171,140 925,604 With respect to the route of importation, the inland import in 1849, as we have seen, nearly equalled that by sea; but in 1851 the value of sugars imported by sea was $712,408, against $278,468 by inland routes. Canadian vessels load at the lake ports with breadstuffs and provisions, which they carry, without transhipment, to Halifax or St. John, Newfoundland, exchanging there for a return cargo of sugars, molasses, fish, and oils. This trade is of course confined to British vessels; and as fish and other products of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and the flour, provisions, &c., of Canada, are exchanged dutyfree, a direct free-trade between the maritime and agricultural districts of British North America is now in full operation, from which Newfoundland only is excluded-the necessities of that government forbidding her from taking off the duty on Canada flour. Her fish and oil are therefore treated as foreign in the Canadian ports. The subjoined statement shows the progressive imports into Canada of sugars from the British North American colonies: 1849 1850.. 1851... £28,716 $114,864 It appears from the foregoing that the commerce of Canada is at present in a state of transition. No certain predictions can now be offered to show how far her efforts at commercial independence will be successful, or what influence she may be enabled to exert over the general commerce of the western lakes and adjoining districts. A short review of her position and resources will be the best mode of presenting this question. THE COMMERCIAL PORTS OF CANADA. Quebec. In latitude 46° 48' north, longitude 71° 12' west. Population in 1851, 42,052. Quebec is the most ancient, as well as the most important, port of Canada, and embraces the outports of Gaspé, New Carlisle, the Magdalen islands, and several in the river below Quebec. The province of Canada extends eastward to the straits of Belle-Isle, embracing the island of St. Paul, (between Newfoundland and Cape Breton,) the Magdalen islands, the Bird rocks, and Anticosti. In the Magdalens a sub-collector is stationed, who reported some $226,000 worth of exports in 1848; but no return of imports is taken, and no duties, apparently, are levied. The other islands are occupied only for light houses and relief stations. The harbor of Quebec is not unlike that of New York-the island of Orleans serving as a barrier from a northeast sea, and, like Long Island, affording two channels of approach. A frontage of about fifteen miles on both sides of the river not only affords the necessary wharves, but coves of sufficient magnitude to float some thirty to forty millions of cubic feet of timber, about eighty millions of superficial feet of deals, besides staves, lathwood, &c. A fresh water tide, rising eighteen feet at "springs," offers no impediment to the shipment of timber, the great business of the port, the vessels so engaged being anchored in the stream, (which affords good holding-ground,) where their cargoes are floated to them at every tide. The tide extends ninety miles above Quebec, and the water does not become perfectly salt until an equal distance is reached below; thus there is a fresh-water tide of one hundred and eighty miles beyond the salt water, and sea navigation to Montreal, ninety miles farther, or two hundred and seventy miles from salt water. The river navigation may be said to terminate about one hundred and fifty miles below Quebec, (where pilots are first taken,) but the combined gulf and river navigation extends upwards of seven hundred miles before we reach the Atlantic, with which it has no less than three connexions. The most northern of these-the straits of Belle-Isle-is in navigable order about five months, and affords a passage to Liverpool more than two hundred miles shorter than the route by Cape Race, making the distance from Quebec more than four hundred miles shorter than from New York. By using this passage the navigable route between the foot of Lake Ontario and any port in Britain is as short as that from New York harbor to the same port. The middle channel, by which the Atlantic is reached, is about fifty miles wide, and contains St. Paul's island, which, with its two lighthouses, affords an excellent point of departure. By this channel Quebec is brought nearer to any port in Europe, Africa, or the Indian ocean, than New York. The southern passage is known by the name of the Gut of Causo, and is invaluable to the fishing, coasting, and West India trade. The gulf of and river St. Lawrence have been most elaborately surveyed by the accurate and accomplished Captain Bayfield, Royal navy, an inspection of whose charts is indispensable to a correct appreciation of the commercial qualities of this navigation. The exclusive monopoly by British ships of this route hitherto, the buoyant character of the cargo-timber, the ignorance of the masters, and excesses of the men, have been more fruitful causes of disaster than the natural contingencies of the route. Heretofore, in many instances, old and un |