Pictures of Canadian Life: A Record of Actual ExperiencesRitchie, J. Ewing (James Ewing)
History
Pictures of Canadian Life: A Record of Actual Experiences
Ritchie, J. Ewing (James Ewing)
Canada -- Description and travel; Canada -- Emigration and immigration
It is cruel to get such young men out of England. They are worse off
here than they would be at home. It is curious to note, in connection
with emigration, the evident desire of the educated mechanic to keep his
rivals out. ‘By all means bid them stop at home,’ he cries, ‘or wages
will be lower in the colonies.’ Already I have been interviewed by a
working-class official here, and that is his cry. And I give it for what
it may be worth, merely remarking that such illustrations as he gave in
support of his views turned out to be the merest moonshine.
[Picture: Junction of the River Ottawa and St. Lawrence, Montreal]
Now let me speak of Montreal, which I entered with pleasure, and leave
with regret. It is the chief city of Canada, and is built on the
northern bank of the St. Lawrence, where the muddy Ottawa, after a course
of 600 miles, debouches into it. You arrive by a grand railway bridge,
which is one of the wonders of this part of the world. The population is
nearly 200,000, of which two-thirds are French or Irish, and Roman
Catholic. It abounds with every sign of prosperity, and, as a city,
would be a credit to the old country. The river front is lined with
steamers loading for England. The principal thoroughfares contain lofty
buildings, and shops as spacious as any of our best, whilst its hotels
altogether throw ours into the shade; and then, in the suburbs the
merchants live in palaces, whilst handsome churches attest the wealth, if
not the piety, of all classes of the population. I fear Mammon worship
is the prevailing form of idolatry, yet I cannot shut my eyes to the fact
that the early settlement of the place was the result of religious
enthusiasm, and that it was an attempt to found in America a veritable
kingdom of God as understood by the Roman Catholics; but all that is
past, and the chief topics of interest are the prices of pork, or the
state of the market as regards butter and cheese. Let me remind you that
such is the goodness of the cheese of Canada, all made in factories, that
nearly as much cheese finds its way into the English market from Montreal
as from New York.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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