though they laid the foundation of new settlements and new provinces, bear no striking analogy to modern colonization. The Greeks, the Romans, the Carthaginians appear to have been, in ancient times, those who best understood the systematic establishment of colonies. Carthage is considered by Aristotle* to have derived her long stability and greatness from that cause, and Rome is probably no less indebted to the extent of her colonial possessions for the herculean power she attained over the destinies of the world. We have, therefore, the experience of ages past, and of nations the most puissant on the face of the earth, to show that colonies are an accession of strength, and not a diminution of power, to a parent state; and if, indeed, we had not the examples of Rome and Carthage before us, the advantages of colonies, properly regulated and governed, are of too ostensible and extensive a nature to need such foreign corroborative testimony.

Narrowing down our view of the subject to the consideration of the colonies of Great Britain in North America, it will not, we apprehend, be a task of much difficulty to establish their importance to the mother country, the advantage of the mother country to them, and consequently the mutual benefits conferred, upon both parts of the empire, by their union, under a liberal and enlightened system of colonial policy.

After all that has been said and written on this branch of the subject, few arguments of any weight can, probably, now be urged that will be novel; but we shall endeavour to place our canvass in such a light as may, we hope, serve to bring out more forcibly those points upon which the merits of our view principally rest. To this end we shall consider four points: viz. 1st, The territorial extent of the British dominions in North America, and its consequences; 2d, The trade of the North American colonies; 3d, Their shipping; 4th, Their political weight as appendages to the British crown.

their feudatory system. It is thus that history invariably records them as bearing forth from central Asia a restless unconquered spirit, a religion simple and martial as themselves, and institutions containing germs of liberty destined, in a future day, to ripen into principles decisive of the pre-eminence and happiness of Europe, thereby making a large amends to mankind for the calamities attendant on the overthrow of the Roman Empire."

* Politics, C. xii, lib. ii.

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1st. The magnitude of the North American dominions of Great Britain is nearly equal to the whole extent of the two Russias; it is almost double that of the totality of the European continent, and is more than twofold greater than the Persian empire under Darius, or the Roman empire, in the plenitude of its power. As will be seen by the following table, the dominion of the crown of England extends over an aggregate surface of about 4,000,000 of geographical square miles, or upwards of 4,700,000 square statute miles, of which superficies a little more than 3,400,000 square miles are land, and about 1,300,000 water, including, in the calculation, the arctic waters intervening between the remotest discoveries of Parry and the coasts of the continent, which waters, though they must eventually come under the denomination of an open sea (mare liberum), after the full establishment of the existence of a north-west passage, may probably be at present considered closed (mare clausum), Great Britain being, in fact, possessed of its shores as far as discoveries have gone. Be this as it may, however, we have comprised its surface, in the gross estimate, upon the grounds that we have just stated *.

If the mere magnitude of these immense possessions is of a nature to arrest attention, their geographical position is no less calculated to open our eyes to their importance. On the east they confine the broad basin of the Atlantic Ocean, on the west their coasts are lashed by the surges of the Pacific, on the north they stretch to the utmost bounds of the known polar regions, and on the south they are bounded by an almost immeasurable frontier, extending across the whole continent, and separating them from the territories of one vast and ambitious republic. Touching at some points, the very temperate latitudes of 42° and 41° north, an immense habitable section enjoys a climate, in every respect suitable to the cultivation of the earth, the maturity even of delicate fruits and flowers, and highly salubrious to the health of man. A soil

* Such a proposition, if deemed too comprehensive, is not, however, more extravagant than the claim, propounded by Russia, to the exclusive navigation of part of the Pacific Ocean lying between the north-west coast of America and the north-east and opposite coast of Asia. Vide Correspondence between the Chevalier de Politica, Russian Ambassador to the United States, and John Quincey Adams, Secretary of State. 1822.

equally adapted to the pursuits of agriculture, and possessing exhaustless stores of minerals and timber. The most splendid river on the globe throws open to them an internal navigation of 2,000 miles, whilst the numberless large tributaries to this chieftain stream open a thousand collateral avenues to the heart of the country, north and south, and offer to the trader and the agriculturist a convenient means of carrying their goods and their produce to the shipping, which is to convey them to British and foreign markets.

Of the great aggregate superficies, as mentioned above, not more than 126,500 square miles appear to have been as yet surveyed, actually, or merely explored, and of this extent, about six millions and a half of acres (numero rotundo, about one-twelfth), are now under cultivation, in the whole of the colonies. This mere twelfth of the lands, hitherto explored, sustains a population of about 1,400,000 souls, and assuming that the lands thus explored (which are but a comparative fraction to the whole) should, alone, be settled in the same ratio, the population they are capable of supporting would exceed 16,000,000. How soon this large population will be computed in the western possessions of Britain, may fairly be collected from the extraordinary increase which has taken place within the last six years. In 1825 the North American colonies, and other parts of the continental dominions in America, contained about 900,000 inhabitants; they are now, from correct data, estimated at about 1,400,000, and thus appear to have increased in the ratio of 44 per cent. during the short term of six years; continuing to augment in the same proportion, the population would about double itself every 13 years. We may, then, compute, without subjecting ourselves to the charge of being visionary, that, in less than half a century, the number of inhabitants spread over the British possessions in America will not fall short of 16,000,000.

In considering the density of population with reference to three objects, one as regards the lands in cultivation,-another as relates to habitable territory,—and a third as refers to the gross surface of the British possessions in question,-we shall find that, as to the first point, the density stands in the proportion of 5 acres per person, or about 116 persons to the square mile; as to the second, that there are about two souls to the square

mile; and as to the third, that there are at least three miles and a half to each person. By habitable territory, we mean such parts of the country as lie to the south of latitude 48° north, and within the probable pale of eventual settlement in the lapse of half a century or thereabouts.

Vast as is the field we have just described, for the support of a very large population, possessed as it is of every requisite to render it desirable as a region for the abode of man, how important do not these colonies become as the theatre of British emigration? Contemplating them in that light, they present to the mind various points of deep interest. That there exists, in the mother country, a redundancy of labouring population, seems to be universally admitted, and hence it becomes desirable to throw off the superfluity, to prevent the evils of pauperism; yet this labour itself, which exceeds the demand at home, is a valuable commodity, and should still, if possible, be directed towards augmenting the national wealth, instead of its passing to a foreign land, to enrich a rival state, and probably add strength to the sinews of an enemy. The British colonies offer the means of, happily and advantageously, retaining this valuable commodity, within the precincts of the realm. The subjects of the metropolitan country, transplanted to the British soil in America, continue as closely as ever linked to the parent state, equally, if not far more useful to it in enhancing the national wealth, and become an additional rampart to repel any invasion of territory, co-operating, as they would do, with the stanch and loyal native inhabitants of those provinces, in the defence of their adopted country— a country that must be endeared to emigrants from the United Kingdom, if it were but for the analogy of its free institutions. The value of colonies, and the benefits arising to the mother country from the emigration of the unproductive or restless class of its inhabitants, are sketched in a work attributed to Mr. Burke:-"It may be reckoned one very great benefit of our possessions in that part of the world (meaning America), that besides the vast quantities of our fabrics which they consume, or seamen that they employ, and our revenues that they support, they are a vent to carry off such spirits, whom they keep occupied, greatly to the public benefit. Our dominions are so circumstanced, and afford such a variety, that all dispositions to business, of what kind

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soever, may have exercise without pressing upon one another. It is, besides, a great happiness, that unfortunate men, whom unavoidable accidents, the frowns of fortune, or the cruelty of creditors, would have rendered miserable to themselves and useless to the public, may find a sort of asylum, where, at least, they often succeed so well as to have reason to bless those accidents which drove them from their country, poor, deserted, and despised, to return to it in opulence and credit*." Such are the opinions and sentiments of a great statesman, upon this subject, and their wisdom and justness are corroborated every day by the circumstances of the British North American colonies. How these have benefited from emigration may be seen by the rapid increase of population shown in the following table.