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exhaustibly rich in copper ore, but, till quite lately, not the weight of a penny of it found its way to Canada.

I confidently hope, however, that brighter days are to come; the progress of the last few years has done wonders, and aroused the spirit of adventure; Montreal is beginning to display much speculative activity, and I do not despair of Quebec being even lighted with gas, and supplied with water otherwise than by cart and barrel, before any very great length of time has elapsed.

The fact is that the French population are a dead weight on the activity of this lower portion of the magnificent valley of the St. Lawrence, and whatever has been done in commercial adventure, is due to the comparatively very small number of the Anglo-Saxon and Celtic races. In matters of general improvement, docks, bridges, &c., they have often to encounter even the opposition of their inert fellow-subjects.

The closing of the ports of the River St. Lawrence by ice for four or five months in the year is, of course, a great drawback from their mercantile advantages, but not so very great as may appear at first sight. During this time the channels of internal transport of goods are also

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frozen up, but the produce of the lumberers' winter labours is released in the spring; the rich crops of Upper Canada can be readily shipped in the autumn; while the vessels which leave England early in the year carry out what is required for summer use, and those charged with the fruits of the harvest come back laden with goods for the ensuing winter.

To shew the rapid increase of the trade of this colony, I shall give the number of vessels which arrived at and cleared from the different sea-ports of the St. Lawrence during certain years.

Year.

1825.

1830.

1835.

Entered. Cleared out.

796 . . 883 vessels, averaging 350 tons. 964. € 1050

. 1297 . . 1307

1840. 1439.. 1522 1845 . . 1762 . . 1747

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In the last year upwards of twenty-three thousand seamen were employed, and thus kept in training in one of the best naval schools in the world.

CHAPTER XIII.

RELIGION-EDUCATION-THE PRESS.

AMONG the subjects of general observation which suggest themselves in considering the state of any Christian country, the first is that of its religion. The influences which it exercises, even in a temporal point of view, are so important, that, though one were to acknowledge no higher interest than the political state and material prosperity, it forces itself upon the attention.

Thirty years after the cession by France, Canada was formed into a Diocese of the Church of England; in 1839 this was divided into two Sees-the eastern, or the Diocese of Quebec, containing the whole of Lower Canada, is given to the care of the Bishop of Montreal; the western, being all Upper Canada, to that of the Bishop of Toronto. These districts are of enormous size, each extending about

six hundred miles in length, and the incomes attached to them are far from sufficient for the expenses which such a charge and rank entail.

In Canada East, or the diocese of Quebec, there are seventy-five clergymen of the Church of England; in that of Toronto, or Canada West, a hundred and ten. The incomes of many of these gentlemen are very small; some have not more than a hundred pounds a year, and but few are allowed a glebe-house or other residence. But, though their means are so slender, their duties are most severe and harassing: to convey an idea of their nature, I will give a short extract from the Bishop of Montreal's Visitation Journal for the year 1843, printed for the "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel."

"Duties of the clergyman of the 'Mission' of Mascouche-New Glasgow. Sunday morning, service throughout the year at Mascouche, except on the sacrament days at New Glasgow. Paisley and Kilkenny, four times a year each, (as also at Mascouche ;) Sunday afternoon, service at Terrebonne, six miles from Mascouche, and New Glasgow, twelve miles; when at the latter, their way is continued to Kilkenny, twelve miles further, on Sunday night, in order to hold service there (fortnightly) on Monday; two miles

from the house to the Church, and eleven after service to sleep at Paisley, in preparation for service there on Tuesday, and so back to Mascouche. Occasional visits from hence to the Nord, forty miles off. A great portion of the road in summer is of the worst description. Parochial visiting cannot be systematic in such a vast extent of scattered charge."

In the thirty-first year of the reign of George the Third, one seventh of all the waste lands was set apart for, as it was worded, the "Protestant Church;" and the Scottish Church and others have claimed a share, and receive it. A late Act of Parliament provides for the sale of these "Clergy Reserves" and the distribution of the funds; the Church of England is endeavouring to obtain the grant of its portion of the lands, for the sale at the present time would involve so great a sacrifice as to reduce their already very insufficient portion to a mere nothing. A committee of the Provincial Parliament has reported favourably on this, but as yet the question remains undecided.

Hitherto the "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel" has been the chief support of the Church of England in Canada, as well as in the other colonies. The annual income of this society

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