Canada -- Description and travel; Canada -- History -- To 1763 (New France); Indians of North America -- Canada
"In 1791, Upper Canada had attained to such importance, that when Mr.
Pitt determined to bestow a constitution on the colony, he formed this
part into a separate government, giving to it the name of Upper, and to
the early-settled districts that of Lower Canada. The former was not
supposed, after all, to contain at that time above 10,000 inhabitants.
General Simcoe, however, in 1794, founded the town of York,[222] which
was fixed on as the seat of government, and made the most strenuous
efforts to encourage colonists to settle in the neighborhood. They came
in considerable numbers, though chiefly from the United States. It was
not till 1803 that, through the exertions of Colonel Talbot, emigration
from Britain was commenced on any large scale. The result of these
measures was, that in 1811 the country was found to contain about 9623
persons paying taxes.
"Lower Canada is comprised within the parallels of 45° and 52° north
latitude, and the meridians of 59·50° to 80·6° west of Greenwich; the
entire province, as far as its boundaries will admit of estimation,
contains about a quarter of a million square miles, or 160,000,000 of
acres. Upper Canada is comprised within the parallels of 41° to 49°
north, and the meridians of 74° to 117° west of Greenwich, embracing an
area of about 100,000 square miles, or 64,000,000 acres. The following
are the words of the order in council by which Canada was in 1791
divided into two provinces. "To commence at a stone boundary on the
north bank of the Lake St. Francis, at the cove west of Point au Baudet,
in the limit between the township of Lancaster and the seigniory of New
Longueuil, running along the said limit in the direction of N. 34 W. to
the westernmost angle of the said seigniory of New Longueuil; then along
the N.W. boundary of the seigniory of Vaudreuil, running N. 25 E. until
it strikes the Ottawa River; to ascend the said river into the Lake
Temiscaming, and from the head of the said lake by a line drawn due N.
until it strikes the boundary of Hudson's Bay, including all the
territory to the westward and southward of the said line to the utmost
extent of the country commonly called or known by the name of Canada."
The want of clearness in the above delineation, added to the
imperfections of the map on which it was drawn, particularly as regarded
the westwardly angle of the seigniory of New Longueuil, and the S.W.
angle of Vaudreuil, which are represented as coincident, when, according
to Colonel Bouchette, they are nine miles distant from each other, has
naturally caused disputes as to the boundaries between Upper and Lower
Canada."--Montgomery Martin's _Hist. of Canada_, p. 62; Murray's _British
America_, vol. i., p. 287.
[Footnote 222: It has now assumed the Indian name of Toronto.]
No. XXI.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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