Note 14 — LETTER XXXIII.

Notwithstanding that the government of the United States has thought it incumbent upon itself to remonstrate against our taking possession of this island, and thus to dispute every inch of ground respecting the right to which there could be the smallest doubt, yet the generality of the people of the States affect to talk of every such step as idle and unnecessary, inasmuch as they are fully persuaded, in their own minds, that all the British dominions in North America must, sooner or later, become a part of their empire. Thus Mr. Imlay, in his account of the north-western territory: “It is certain, that as the country has been more opened in America, and thereby the rays of the sun have acted more powerfully upon the earth, these benefits have tended greatly to soften the winter season; so that peopling Canada, for which we are much obliged to you, is a double advantage to us. First, it is settling and populating a country that must, sooner or later, from the natural order of things, become a part of our empire; and secondly, it is immediately meliorating the climate of the northern states,” &c.

The greatest empires that have ever appeared on the face of the globe have dissolved in the course of time, and no one acquainted with history will, I take it for granted, presume to say that the extended empire of Britain, all powerful as it is at present, is so much more closely knit together than any other empire ever was before it, that it can never fall asunder; Canada, I therefore suppose, may, with revolving years, be disjointed from the mother country, as well as her other colonies; but whenever that period shall arrive, which I trust is far distant, I am humbly of opinion that it will not form an additional knot in that extensive union of states which at present subsist on the continent of North America; indeed, were the British dominions in North America to be dissevered from the other members of the empire the ensuing year, I am still tempted to imagine that they would not become linked with the present federal American states, and for the following reasons:

First, because the constitution of the federal states, which is the bond that holds them together, is not calculated for such a large territory as that which the present states, together with such an addition, would constitute.

The constitution of the states is that of the people, who, through their respective representatives assembled together at some one place, must decide upon every measure that is to be taken for the public weal. This place, it is evident, ought in justice to be as central as possible to every state; the necessity, indeed, of having the place so situated has been manifested in the building of the new federal city. Were it not for this step, many of the most enlightened characters in the states have given it as their opinion, that the union could not have remained many years entire, for the states so far removed from the seat of the legislature, before the new city was founded, had complained grievously of the distance which their delegates had to travel to meet congress, and had begun to talk of the necessity of a separation of the states: and now, on the other hand, that a central spot has been fixed upon, those states to the northward, conveniently situated to Philadelphia, the present seat of the federal government, say that the new city will be so far removed from them, that the sending of delegates thither will be highly inconvenient to them, and so much so, as to call for a separation of the union on their part. In a former letter I stated the various opinions that were entertained by the people of the United States on this subject, and I endeavoured to shew that the seat of congress would be removed to the new federal city without endangering a partition of the states; but I am fully persuaded, that were Canada to become an independent state, and a place were to be fixed on central to all the states, supposing her to be one, that neither she, nor the state at the remote opposite end, would long continue, if they ever did submit, to send their delegates to a place so far removed, that it would require more than a fourth part of the year for them (the delegates) to travel, even with the utmost possible expedition, backward and forward, between the district which they represented and the seat of congress.

Secondly, I think the two Canadas will never become connected with the present states, because the people of these provinces, and those of the adjoining states, are not formed for a close intimacy with each other.

The bulk of the people of Upper Canada are refugees, who were driven from the states by the persecution of the republican party; and though the thirteen years which have passed over have nearly extinguished every spark of resentment against the Americans in the breasts of the people of England, yet this is by no means the case in Upper Canada; it is there common to hear, even from the children of the refugees, the most gross invectives poured out against the people of the states; and the people of the frontier states, in their turn, are as violent against the refugees and their posterity; and, indeed, whilst Canada forms a part of the British empire, I am inclined, from what I have seen and heard in travelling through the country, to think that this spirit will not die away. In Lower Canada the same acrimonious temper of mind is not observable amongst the people, excepting indeed in those few parts of the country where inhabited parts of the states approach closely to these of the province; but here appears to be a general disinclination amongst the inhabitants to have any political connection with the people of the states, and the French Canadians affect to hold them in the greatest contempt. Added to this, the prevalent language of the lower province, which has remained the same for almost forty years, notwithstanding the great pains that have been taken to change it, and which is therefore likely to remain so still, is another obstacle in the way of any close connection between the people of the lower province and those of the states. Even in conducting the affairs of the provincial legislative assembly, notwithstanding that most of the English inhabitants are well acquainted with the French language, yet a considerable degree of difficulty is experienced from the generality of the French delegates being totally ignorant of the English language, which, as I have already mentioned, they have an unconquerable aversion against learning.

Thirdly, I think the British dominions in North America will never be annexed to those of the states, because they are by nature formed for constituting a separate independent territory.

At present the boundary line between the British dominions and the States runs along the river St. Croix, thence along the high lands bordering upon New England till it meets the forty-fifth parallel of north latitude, and afterwards along the said parallel until it strikes the River St. Lawrence, or Cataragui, or Iroquois. Now the dominions south of the St. Lawrence are evidently not separated from the United States by any bold determinate boundary line; I therefore suppose that they may, in some manner, be connected with them; but the country to the northward, bounded on the north by Hudson’s Bay, on the east by the ocean, on the south and west by the St. Lawrence, and that vast chain of lakes which extends to the westward, is separated from the United States by one of the most remarkable boundary lines that is to be found on the face of the globe between any two countries on the same continent; and from being bounded in such a remarkable manner, and thus detached as it were by nature from the other parts of the continent, it appears to me that it is calculated for forming a distinct separate state, or distinct union of states, from the present American federal states; that is, supposing, with the revolutions of time, that this arm of the British empire should be some time or other lopped off. I confess it appears strange to me, that any person should suppose, after looking attentively over a map of North America, that the British dominions, so extensive and so unconnected with them, could ever become joined in a political union with the present federal states on the continent. There is more reason to imagine that the Floridas, and the Spanish possessions to the east of the Mississippi, will be united therewith; for as the rivers which flow through the Spanish dominions are the only channels whereby the people of some of the western states can convey the produce of their own country to the ocean with convenience, it is natural to suppose that the people of these states will be anxious to gain possession of these rivers, for which purpose they must possess themselves of the country through which they pass. But there are certain bounds, beyond which a representative government cannot extend, and the ocean on the east and south, the St. Lawrence and the lakes on the north, and the Mississippi on the west, certainly appear to set bounds to the jurisdiction of the government of the United States, if indeed it can extend even so far.