in a dungeon to be given over to his master, and that Mr. Gallego was thrust out of a public steam-boat, a public stage coach, and a public tavern, whilst travelling on the public service, and as an accredited agent of the Government of Jamaica. But to come to a more perfect comparison of numbers. In the western half of Canada, there are upwards of half a million of white inhabitants-there are less than 20,000 coloured. The number that escape from United States' slavery, and arrive safely in this province, does not amount to 2,000 yearly; whilst the Emigration from the United Kingdom, during the past year of 1842, amounted to 50,000 souls. You will further remember, that it is only in the Niagara district, in the vicinity of St. Catherine's, and in this western section of the province, where your numbers abound, that such fearful extent of prejudice exists; and, therefore, when these facts are considered, in conjunction with the abundant and ample testimony furnished by the Anti-Slavery Society in England, as to the wonderful improvement to be witnessed in the West India islands by persons of similar colour, it is only just that you should be in full possession of these facts, in order that you may best judge for yourselves which is most to your advantage,-your continued residence in Canada, or your voluntary removal to the West Indies. The island of Trinidad, of which I am commissioned to speak, is large, fertile, healthy, and, to a great extent, uncultivated. The Government offer to you nothing more than your passage thither, and employment on your arrival. You will not be debarred from any political privileges, nor your children excluded from the public schools. The public domain is given to no one; industry and idleness are not placed on the same level. The industrious man can soon, by his own efforts, obtain means to purchase and possess it; the idler deserves to go without. It is my intention to accompany those of you who resolve to go to Trinidad, if the lateness of the season and the defective ordinance of Trinidad does not oppose an obstacle. Should it do so, however-and after my correspondence with the merchants of Quebec I fear it may-I purpose visiting that island, in order to report to you on my return, by the period

when the navigation of the St. Lawrence will permit those of you who desire to remove to it, the opportunities which its soil and agricultural occupation offer for your consideration. One of your friends, William Angustus,-whom you will remember, and whom I can never forget, as he was one of the deputation who presented me with the valuable token I received from your body,-wrote to his friends here that he had succeeded beyond all expectation in Trinidad, and that it is his firm opinion that its rich savannahs and profitable employment hold out extraordinary inducements to those of you he has left behind. With all the advantages of this section of Canada, its richer soil, and its softer clime, you have to labour seven months for your maintenance during the remaining five, closed against you by the climate; whilst in the West Indies there is no impediment on the score of climate to your constant, uninterrupted, and profitable occupation. After all that I have said to you, it is for yourselves to determine whether you remain or remove; but I should alike fail in my duty to you, to my own conscience, and to the Government that has honoured me by constituting me its agent, did I not further tell you that it is after all on yourselves only that your success depends.

"ALMIGHTY GOD has declared, by a decree as immutable as himself, that by the sweat of his brow man must earn his bread;' and do not suppose that without the exercise of that industry, even in your removal to a country more adapted to your constitutions, possessing more fertile soil, and genial climate, you can either secure his blessing, your own advancement, the respect of your fellow-subjects, or the furtherance of that holy and righteous cause-the emancipation of your fellow-creatures, millions of whom are still held in cruel bondage in the adjacent republic of the United States."

The favourable opportunity, afforded by the disposition of vast numbers of these people, who met me at this convention, and who were most desirous of proceeding to Trinidad, was

* William Augustus, in his letter, has stated that an industrious black labourer can save more in one year in the West Indies, than he could by any possibility in Canada in seven.

then lost by the inefficiency of the ordinance of that Colony to furnish the sufficient amount required to bring them through the chain of lakes to Quebec; and this year, the obstacle to their removal is in the Home Government, which considers their removal of "doubtful advantage."

This official ambiguity, which, in saying nothing, intimates a great deal, is in entire variance with the opinion of the whole white population of Canada-in direct contradiction to the testimony adduced of the prosperity of the coloured population in the West Indies, at the two great conventions held in the City of London-and is viewed by the West India proprietors as an act of hostility to their interests. The coloured population, both of the British provinces and the United States, are not reluctant to quit those countries for the West Indies; they are well aware that the slavery which did exist in the British Colonies was far different from that now existing in the United States; that instances of purchased manumission were very frequent; that by the restriction on the sale of them from one island to another, they were domiciled and settled; and that the transition from slavery to freedom, by the wisdom of the previous preparation and wise precaution, became so natural and imperceptible, that the blessed boon was unstained by tumult, violence, or excess, indeed was celebrated by grateful thanksgiving, and prayer, and praise. The lateness of the season, and the inefficiency of the provision for their removal, compelled me to postpone my operations until the present season, when they were altogether stayed by the determination of the Colonial department not to place on the estimates for Trinidad the allowance for an agent in British North America.

I left Canada in the month of November, with the intention of proceeding to Trinidad, having made an application to the Government of Canada for a pecuniary advance to enable me to do so, but on receiving a communication from Sir Charles Metcalfe, regretting there were no public funds at his disposal for that purpose, but most generously proffering his individual assistance, on personal grounds, which I did not feel warranted in accepting, I resolved to visit England, en route to Trinidad,

and left New York for that purpose, and arrived in this country at the close of the year.

The Emigration to Canada, at the close of 1843, amounted to 21,727; exhibiting, as contrasted with the preceding year, a decrease exceeding 100 per cent.

1844. In the early part of this year, that aggrandizing spirit which was so actively evinced by the American republic during those disturbances in Canada, which immediately preceded my mission to this country, and to which I shall have to advert in the sequel, was exhibited in reference to the Oregon Territory, or North Western Boundary of America. As a general extract upon this most important national subject, embodying as it does the views of the whole American people, I shall confine myself to the following speech of an eminent senator, delivered in the Congress of the United States on the 12th of March:

"Mr. Buchanan referred to the negociations that had already taken place between the two countries, the treaty by which the joint occupancy was agreed upon, and the renewal of this treaty in 1824. The question now is, Shall we now, by passing this resolution before the Senate, advise the President to annul this treaty?' If it is annulled, both parties will be restored to their original rights. The boundary of Mexico is limited to 42 degrees north; Russia 54 degrees 40 minutes north latitude; and the country in dispute lies between these two points. And to every part of this territory our title is a clear and conclusive title; and when the bill for forming a territorial government for Oregon comes up, I intend to present such a chain of evidence, as to our title to the whole of it, to this Senate, as cannot be gainsayed by any power on earth. The question is, ought we to give this notice to Great Britain,—that the joint occupancy of Oregon cease. I say, that if we are to make a treaty at all with that power, it is indispensable that we should give this notice. The statu in quo is too favourable to England for her to give up what she has got. She has had exclusive possession for twenty-five years. She has leased it

out to the Hudson Bay Company, and they boast that they have expelled the Americans from Oregon; and it is certain that they have murdered 400 or 500 Americans, either themselves, or through the agency of Indians employed by them. But why should England wish to divide this territory with us? She has full possession of the whole of it. And no doubt if we could go into the cabinet of Mr. Pakenham, we should find that his instructions are, Delay the question as long as you can ; delay it indefinitely if possible: we have the entire hunting and trapping over the whole of it; and if you can keep back the settlement for twenty years, so much the better. And my life for it, there will be no treaty at all if this resolution is laid on the table, as I have no doubt it will be. Let the motion to lay on the table prevail, and there will be no treaty at all, whatever may be the instructions of Mr. Pakenham. We owe it to ourselves to make this a serious matter, to show a determined front in this business; not to use threats, because threats will have no effect on that powerful nation. But when she sees that we are in earnest on this matter, then, and not till then, will she show a disposition to settle the matter. For it is not by conciliating her that we shall ever obtain justice. And if we do give Great Britain this notice, we shall then have a whole year to settle the matter in. But if, because a minister has arrived from England (not a special minister,) we arrest all our six years' proceedings on this subject, and lay this whole subject on the table, then a treaty will be impossible. And to arrest all our legislative action merely on this account, would be to show a miserably tame spirit, that would induce England to believe that she could obtain all that she desires. I hope this will not be done by an American Senate.

"If after we ground our arms merely on the arrival of an ordinary minister from England, why we deserve to lose the territory. But we are told that the giving this twelve months' notice might give offence to Great Britain. How can it give offence, when by so doing we shall only act in obedience to the provisions of the treaty; and if the British Government chooses to take offence when none is intended, in heaven's name let

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