The classification of the imports and exports of Canada, for the - 21,406,712 13,179,342 39,851,991 40,792,960 53,802,319 56,328,380 59,048,987 48,486, 143 For the twelve preceding months, Toronto Globe, 1st July 1867. It is worthy of notice that the external trade of the United States, ten years In New Brunswick, the imports and exports in recent years. stand thus: The cause of the discrepancy between the sum of these figures, and the amount of exports given in the previous table, is that the value of the ships sold in England has never been included in the official export tables. In the province of Nova Scotia, the imports and exports for the four years ending 1866 were as follows: From the foregoing statistics, it will be seen that the total annual volume of the external trade may be summed up as annexed : Thus the whole external trade of the dominion of Canada, in one year, reached the large sum of $147,222,275, which, calculating the dollar at 4s. 2d., amounts to £31,898,159 sterling. SOCIAL CONDITION, &C. But, aside from the facts supplied by the foregoing statistical tables, there are many interesting and suggestive features in the progress of Canada to be noticed. Now that the Seignorial Tenure system has been finally abolished, every semblance of a landed aristocracy, even in the ancient province of Quebec, has ceased, and the Habitant farmer has become the owner, in the fullest sense, of the soil he cultivates. But he is still a most primitive being in many respects. Isolated by his language, his national prejudices, and his religion, he has remained in an almost stationary condition in the midst of universal progress; and the picture of him sketched by the pen of his witty countryman, De Rochefoucault, at the commencement of this century, would not be wholly inapplicable at the present day. The priest is still the dominant power with him, he willingly continues to pay him tithes and reverence, at one and the same time, and in every direction the huge church towers above all surrounding objects, giving evidence of the wealth and influence of the clerical order. The bulk of the Lower Canadians may still be regarded as a simple pastoral people, and whose slender progress is completely overshadowed by that of their Anglo-Saxon neighbours. Quebec, which may now be termed a French city, is actually retrograding in population and wealth, despite her favourable situation for trade, while Montreal, on the other hand, is rapidly expanding into a commercial capital of noble proportions and superb architectural embellishment. The original settlement of Ontario was effected under entirely different circumstances from that of the province of Quebec. No seignior has ever been acknowledged within its borders, and at the present moment there is no lord of the manor in the whole of its wide expanse, and no landlords unless on a very limited scale. The agricultural community, as a rule, own the soil in fee simple, and which is only liable to a small annual tax for municipal purposes, averaging about seven shillings per annum for every hundred pounds of actual real property owned, while in towns and cities taxes rate at from twice to four times that amount. The people are essentially self-governed. The county magistrate is usually an intelligent farmer, or a village shopkeeper. The municipal or township councillors, who impose the taxes and control county matters, are drawn from the same classes, and which likewise constitute the bulk of the grand jurors at the semi-annual courts of assize. Ability in the first place, and wealth in the second, are the only grounds of admitted superiority; and even these must be asserted with tact to be recognised in a community, where the lines of demarcation between classes are very faintly drawn. The most elevated in condition cannot afford to disregard a neighbour, however humble, and finds that an affable demeanour and courteous manners are indispensably necessary to a comfortable intercourse with the community in which he resides. Abundance of employment and well-paid labour, raises even the ordinary working man, if he is at all industrious, above the accidents. of want, and imparts to him a feeling of genuine independence. As a necessary consequence of this state of things, serious crime is very rare in the rural districts, and a few rustic constables suffice to preserve order, while assize courts are frequently held at county towns, representing an adjoining population of from fifty to eighty thousand souls, at which the criminal calendar does not contain half a dozen At the same time Canada has neither poor laws nor poor names. houses. But despite the social equality which prevails in Canada, and which permits of only a very slight distinction between the various classes of the community, its people are no lovers of extreme democracy, and are not by any means republican in principle. They level down to themselves, but no further. Scarcely a man can be found who will advocate the exercise of the elective franchise without a property or rental qualification; and almost the whole community, whatever may be their party designations, are essentially Conservative in their opinions and feelings, and opposed to violent organic changes of any description. The majority of the agricultural population of Ontario may be regarded as a body of small gentlemen farmers, who possess comfortable homes, eat and drink the fat of the land, dress well, and ride to church and market in handsome spring waggons and carriages; but who, at the same time, owing to the high value of labour, are obliged to aid in working their own estates. The progress of this class during the last twenty years, in acquiring all the solid comforts, and not a few even of the luxuries of life, has been very great. Agricultural labour-saving machines have materially lightened their toil, and enabled them to devote more time to the improvements of their farms and their houses. A vast amount, however, yet remains to be acccomplished in this direction, before the rude bush-farming of the old backwoods' generation is entirely abandoned for the more scientific and profitable systems, now becoming an absolute necessity in this country. But, if the progress of the Canadian farmer, in material prosperity, has been very great, the manufacturing development of the country has been still more rapid. Montreal has numerous manufactories of hardware, rubber goods, and many other staple articles, and the woollen mills of Ontario, which abound in every direction, make the finest class of tweeds, blankets, and other fabrics of a like description, admirably adapted to the home market, as well as for export. Hardware manufactures are also very numerous in that province, and produce excellent scythes, forks, spades, axles, carriage springs, locks, and a host of other articles in the same line, which a few years ago were almost entirely imported from the United States, and whither the very goods formerly purchased there are, in many instances, now exported. In addition to the manufactories already noticed, a large number of other descriptions have sprung into existence of late years, all over the western country, and which, as a rule, are unable to fill the orders which crowd upon them. Water power, which a short time since rushed boisterously to waste, in the sombre shade of the primeval forest, has been utilised in every direction, and the busy hum of machinery is now heard where once the dull roar of the cataract alone reverberated through the woodland. The figures we have supplied elsewhere, show that the commerce of Canada has fully kept pace with its industrial progress. Regular lines of weekly steamers now connect it with the great ports of Liverpool and Glasgow, and the sailing vessels of every great com |