While the adjoining states are covered with a network of thriving railways, Canada possesses but three lines, which, together, scarcely exceed fifty miles in length, and the stock in two of which is held at a depreciation of from 50 to 80 per cent--a fatal symptom of the torpor overspreading the land."--_Times_, Oct. 31. In what graphic terms are the inevitable results of free trade and a restricted currency here portrayed by the sufferers under their effects! Colonial protection withdrawn; home industry swamped by foreign; canals unused! banks alarmed; capital dissipated; rivers and harbours untenanted; property unsaleable! One would have thought they were transcribing from this magazine some of the numerous passages in which we have predicted its effects. And let England recollect, Canada now employs 1,100,000 of the tonnage of Great Britain. Let it be struck off, and added to the other side, and the British tonnage, employed in carrying on our trade, will, in a few years, be _made less than the foreign_.[31] [31] [I.]British tonnage. Foreign. British tonnage to British North American colonies, 1846, 1,076,162 To United States of America, 205,123 435,399 Total tonnage in British trade to all countries, 4,294,733 1,806,282 Deduct Canadian tonnage, 1,076,162 --------- British tonnage after losing Canada, 3,228,571 Foreign tonnage after gaining Canada, 1,076,162 --------- 2,882,444 --PORTER'S _Parliamentary Tables_, 1846, p. 52. The repeal of the Navigation Laws in 1847 gave such an impulse to foreign shipping, that, in the first year after the loss of Canada, the foreign shipping employed in our trade would exceed the British, even supposing we only lost _two-thirds_ of Canadian trade by its independence. One would have thought, from the present state of Canada, that our colonial secretary had followed the advice of Franklin in his "Rules for making a _great Empire a small one_." "If you are told of _discontents_ in your colonies, never believe that they are general, or that you have given occasion for them; therefore, _do not think of applying any remedy or of changing any offensive measure_. Redress no grievance, lest they should be encouraged to demand the redress of some other grievance. Yield no redress that is just and reasonable, lest they should make another demand that is unreasonable. _Take all your informations of the state of your colonies from your governors_ and officers in enmity with them....