Twenty-Seven Years in Canada West

Twenty-Seven Years in Canada
West

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Title: Twenty-Seven Years in Canada West The Experience of an Early
Settler (Volume I)
Author: Samuel Strickland
Release Date: March 3, 2005 [EBook #15245]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK
TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS IN CANADA WEST ***

Produced by E.D. (Tedd) Brien

TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS
IN
CANADA WEST;
THE EXPERIENCE OF AN EARLY SETTLER.
BY MAJOR STRICKLAND, C.M.
EDITED BY AGNES STRICKLAND, Author of "The Queens of
England,", etc.
And when those toils rewarding, Broad lands at length they'll claim,

They'll call the new possession, By some familiar name.
Agnes Strickland. -- Historic Scenes.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET.
Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty. 1853. =================
LONDON: Printed by Samuel Bentley & Co. Bangor House, Shoe
Lane. =================

PREFACE.
No one can give an adequate view of the general life of a colonist,
unless he has been one himself. Unless he has experienced all the
various gradations of colonial existence, from that of the pioneer in the
backwoods and the inhabitant of a shanty, up to the epoch of his career,
when he becomes the owner, by his own exertions, of a comfortable
house and well-cleared farm, affording him the comforts and many of
the luxuries of civilization, he is hardly competent to write on such a
subject. I have myself passed through all these grades. I have had the
honour of filling many colonial appointments, such as Commissioner of
the Court of Requests, and Justice of the Peace. My commission in her
Majesty's Militia, and my connection with the Canada Company, have
also afforded me some opportunities of acquiring additional
information. I was in the Company's service during the early settlement
of Guelph and also of Goderich, in the Huron tract. I am, therefore, as
intimately acquainted with those flourishing settlements as with the
townships in my own county of Peterborough.
Upon my return to my native country in August, on a visit to my
venerable mother, I was advised by my family to give my colonial
experience to the world in a plain, practical manner. I followed the
flattering suggestions of relatives so distinguished for literary
attainments, and so dear to my affections, and "Twenty-seven Years in
Canada West; or, The Experience of an Early Settler," is the result of
my compliance with their wishes.
The subject of colonization is, indeed, one of vital importance, and
demands much consideration, for it is the wholesome channel through
which the superfluous population of England and Ireland passes, from a
state of poverty to one of comfort. It is true that the independence of the

Canadian settler must be the fruit of his own labour, for none but the
industrious can hope to obtain that reward. In fact, idle and indolent
persons will not change their natures by going out to Canada. Poverty
and discontent will be the lot of the sluggard in the Bush, as it was in
his native land--nay, deeper poverty, for "he cannot work, to beg he is
ashamed," and if he be surrounded by a family, those nearest and
dearest to him will share in his disappointment and regret.
But let the steady, the industrious, the cheerful man go forth in hope,
and turn his talents to account in a new country, whose resources are
not confined to tillage alone--where the engineer, the land-surveyor, the
navigator, the accountant, the lawyer, the medical practitioner, the
manufacturer, will each find a suitable field for the exercise of his
talents; where, too, the services of the clergyman are much required,
and the pastoral character is valued and appreciated as it ought to be.
To the artizan, the hand-loom weaver, and the peasant, Canada is
indeed a true land of Goshen. In fact, the stream of migration cannot
flow too freely in that direction. However numerous the emigrants may
be, employment can be obtained for all.
That the industrial classes do become the richest men cannot be denied,
because their artificial wants are fewer, and their labours greater than
those of the higher ranks. However, the man of education and
refinement will always keep the balance steady, and will hold offices in
the Colony and responsible situations which his richer but less learned
neighbour can never fill with ease or propriety.
The Canadian settler possesses vast social advantages over other
colonists. He has no convict neighbours--no cruel savages, now, to
contend with--no war--no arid soil wherewith to