Page:The Englishwoman in America (IA englishwomaninam00birdrich).pdf/333

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
Chap. XIV.
IMMIGRATION.
319

of nations, and her progress already bids fair to outstrip in rapidity that of her older and gigantic neighbour.

Labour is what she requires, and as if to meet that requirement, circumstances have directed the attention of emigrants towards her—the young, the enterprising, and the vigorous, are daily leaving the wasted shores of Scotland and Ireland for her fertile soil, where the laws of England shall still protect them, and her flag shall still wave over them. Large numbers of persons are now leaving the north-east of Scotland for Canada, and these are among the most valuable of the emigrants who seek her shores. They carry with them the high moral sense, the integrity, and the loyalty which characterise them at home; and in many cases more than this—the religious principle, and the "godliness which has promise of the life which now is, and of that which is to come."

Taken as a whole, the inhabitants of both provinces are attached to England and England's rule; they receive the news of our reverses with sorrow, and our victories create a burst of enthusiasm from the shores of the St. Lawrence to those of Lake Superior. As might be expected, the Anglo-French alliance is extremely popular: to show the sympathy of Canada, the Legislature made the munificent grant of 20,000l. to be divided between the Patriotic Funds of both nations, and every township and village has contributed to swell a further sum of 30,000l. to be applied to the same object. The imperial garrisons in Canada have recently been considerably diminished, and with perfect safety; the efforts of agitators to produce disaffection have signally failed; and it is stated by those best acquainted with the temper of the people, that