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tion of a hundred acres of cleared land, who would shrink from the previous labour of cutting down, the trees, and of grubbing out the roots. At the conclusion of the revolutionary war accordingly, when government granted certain tracts of land to particular regiments, the ground being divided among the men in an uncleared state, was abandoned by the majority of them, or sold for a trifle; and it was only a few of the more industrious who cleared and cultivated their own portions, or purchased those of the others; on which, however, they had the satisfaction to leave their descendants in the condition of opulent farmers, and to see them spring up around them as the chief support of provincial independence. We may give an instance too, with which we are supplied in this little volume, of the rapid progress in the clearing of land, which is made by a body of men working in concert. The colony of Berbice was cleared and settled full three quarters of a mile into the interior, for near sixty miles extending along the sea coast, and the shores of the rivers Berbice and Corantain, in the comparatively short space of seven years. There the labour was performed by negroes, while that performed by whites, in a temperate climate, would be as three to one in favour of the latter; besides the clearance in this instance required that, around every lot of a thousand acres, a dike or fosse, nine feet wide and six feet deep, should be dug for the purpose of draining. How much then might be accomplished by a body of one thousand men, labouring in unison; and with the certainty of a speedy recompence before their eyes! We agree with the author in thinking, that more land would be cleared by such a corps in one year, than by the same number of individuals, unorganized and uncontroled, in the space of twelve years. In short, if government should ever deem it expedient to give land in America to the discharged military, there can be no doubt that it should be cleared by the men before they are disombodied; for, by this means, the ground will, in the first place, be actually cleared, and secondly, there is every chance that it will be also occupied by

those who clear it.

"A double advantage would be gained by the country, were this plan adopted; the old soldier would be richly provided for at a very sinall expense, and our colonies would be furnished with an efficient population, who would not only be instrumental in defending the frontiers by their own personal bravery; but would also instruct the young in the use of arms. It would also prove an inducement to the people of this country to enter into the regular army, were they to see before them not only a limit to their service in active war, but also the means of providing for the wants of age, and the comfort of their surviving families. Had it not been for this powerful stimulus, the United States it is said, could not have raised an army at all; and in this particular it would be wisdom in us to learn from an enemy, whose

motions we have to watch, and whose policy we have to coun

teract.

"When writing on the defence of our American provinces, it naturally occurs to mention the great importance of having a powerful fleet on the lakes. Our failures in the last war, both on the ocean and in the inland seas, arose chiefly from the inadequacy of our means, generally considered, to encounter the enemy's force, and more especially from the small number of seamen, either able or ordinary, on board our ships. It appears from a general order, issued by the commander in chief, Sir G. Prevost, that in the whole of our squadron, on Lake Erie, there were not more than fifty sailors; the crews consisting, for the most part, of militiamen, peasantry, and raw recruits, total strangers of course, to naval tactics, and to every point of seamanship. A great mistake was, no doubt, committed in 1783, by those who adjusted the boundaries between British and Independent America, in giving to the latter so very extensive a line of coast, and the strongest positions on almost all the lakes; more particularly, as a straight line drawn from the point at which the commissioners begun, on the river St. Lawrence, to that where they ended, on the Mississipi, would have shut out the Americans from these waters altogether. To give to that people the great advantages which they now possess, it was necessary to turn off, at a right angle, from the natural direction of the boundary line, the evil of which aberration, it should seem, consists not only in opening up to our enemies the means of creating a naval power, but moreover in interposing a tongue of land, so as actually to intercept, in certain circumstances, all communication with two districts of the upper province. This error not having been corrected by the treaty of Ghent, we shall be put to the expense of maintaining a large naval armament to protect the Canadian frontiers, exposed as they must be to incessant inroads, whensoever war shall be renewed in that quarter of the world.

"If Britain lose Canada," says our traveller, "the loss of the West Indies must inevitably follow; and the ruin of her navy will succeed. But if she well people, and thereby strengthen Canada, the West Indies will also increase in population; and wealth will reanimate the drooping commerce of the realm in general. And with proper restrictions on the American fisheries, the provinces may yet bear up for a short time, without feeling the direful effects of the treaty of Ghent. However, if America should think proper again to declare war, the British nation is faithfully exhorted not to conduct another contest on the principles by which the last was regulated; and not again to make peace until she can coerce the enemy into an abandonment of the whole line from St. Regis in the river St. Lawrence, to the Lake of the woods, including also Lake Michigan and the Michigan territory, and insisting on the Americans retiring from: the waters of the rivers and lakes, a few miles into the interior. All that portion, too, of the district of Maine, extending from the Grand Lake in New-Brunswick, in a straight line, to the river Chandiere in Lower Canada, ought also to be secured: or, if thought more advisable, a straight

line may be drawn from the confluence of the rivers Piscatagnis and Penobscot in Maine, to the same river Chandiere, and down the Penobscot to Castine, continuing it out at sea to the Isle Haute. This would include an important coast, well stored with islands and harbours."

"The opportunity, we apprehend, has gone by for making these desirable arrangements as to the boundaries, and there is unquestionably some rational ground for regret, that among the British commissioners at Ghent, there was not one intimately acquainted with the topography of the country concerning whose destinies they were appointed to deliberate. Much disappointment is accordingly felt in the provinces, and the best informed people there hesitate not to assert that their interests have either not been understood or miserably neglected, in framing the late treaty. We do not hold ourselves competent to judge on such matters; but we can feel no hesitation in concurring with the sensible and patriotic writer who has suggested these remarks, in the opinion, that there is no people on earth who will so readily as the Americans, take advantage of an oversight, and that, in short, Great Britain never had an enemy more to be dreaded.

"We give the author thanks for the pains which he has taken to rouse the attention of the public to this most important subject. He has stated facts strongly and fearlessly, and evidently too with the feelings of a man who loves his country. Perhaps he does not perceive, as clearly as he ought, the difficulties which are to be surmounted in the creation of a new system; and seems occasionally to forget, that it is the duty of governments rather to guide than excite every impulse on the part of the people. We concede to him, at the same time, that emigration at present would be a national blessing, and that of all parts in the world, Canada is the colony to which it ought to be directed."

A fellow snatched a diamond ear-ring from a lady; but it slipping through his fingers, and falling into her lap, he lost his booty. The doubt was, whether it was a taking from her person. How frivolous! was there not plainly an assault, and an intention to rob? But there are many of the like quirks and frivolities in our law.

Ships, in most languages, are females, and they speak of them as such; is it not then absurd to give them the names of men, as Atlas, Ajax, Royal George, &c.? and will it not occasion often strange solecisms in the language of mariners?

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Our Bibles mostly preserve the different cases of the plural English pronoun ye and you; and our grammarians also attend to this. Why then will not people conform to rule, and write grammatically, and use ye for the nominative case?

81

POETRY.-FOR THE PORT FOLIO.

ADIEU TO THE MUSE.

Written after reading Milton's Penseroso.

HENCE, now the poet's life forlorn,
Of Vanity and Fancy born,
'Tis but a wild, delusive joy,

And shall no more my peace annoy.
Find out, oh muse, some garret high,
Where sits the bard with haggard eye.
There Poverty his bosom wrings,
And the starv'd cricket nightly sings.
By dying coals I see him sit,

With naught to warm but sparks of wit.
See him, with hunger how perplex'd,
Or how with sonnets he is vex'd.
I hear the girl, by landlord sent
To dun him for his quarter's rent:
But though he gives a muse's note,
It will not stop her cursed throat.

No, no, sweet muse, I quit the train;
No more I'll sing the tuneful strain.
Without a sigh I quit the hill,
The painted mead, the babbling rill:
The rustling trees, the nodding grove,
Where oft in rhyme I wrote of love.
No more I dream of maidens fair,
With azure eyes and auburn hair;
Of youthful nymphs, whose sad disdain,
Has waken'd all my bosom's pain,

(Though all the pain was in my pen;
But tell not this, sweet muse, again.)
No more I'll watch the midnight oil,
Biting my nails in rhyming toil;
Calling on every muse and grace
But for an hour to take my place,

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And write some soft and tender sonnet

On lady's eye-brow or her bonnet;

Nor call on Love to cast his dart,

And wound some fair one's throbbing heart,

Who so afflicts this breast of mine,

That I can neither sleep nor dine.

So pretty muse, pray take your flight; Away you go this very night.

Though we have pass'd bright hours together, And this is cursed chilly weather,

Yet tramp you must before I waver,

Seduced again by your palaver.

But come, thou judge, sedate and sage,
Come, and unfold thy learned page.
Oh! how shall I thy name invoke?
Chief justice, or my master Coke!
Whose ancient visage is so rough
To me it seems quite in a huff.
Thy wig and gown tell what thou art,
And terrors strike within my heart.
Thy firm fix'd eye and scowling frown,
Are quite enough to knock one down:
I do confess I've been a truant,
But prythee take a milder view on't.
Think, judge, how many a Caroline,
A Susan, Sall, and Emmeline,
Trip by the door, and with a look,
Entice us from thy crabbed book;
Which is the very sort of writing,
That Job did wish his foe inditing;
For all the plagues which he did bear,
With thy perusal can't compare:-
I mean, to youths of ardent heart,
By thy commands compell'd to part
With all the sports of opening age,
The turf, the dance, the mimic stage:

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