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Show TRAVELS TIIROUGII LO~NER CANADA: them arc yet enabled to fell a fingle acre as an indemnification for thcfe expences; at lcail 11 title can be given with what is offered for falc, and it is not therefore to be fu ppofcd, that purchafcrs of fuch property will eafily be found. It is true, indeed, that the different proprit.:tarics of thcfc town (hips have bt:t:n :J.f1Ltrcd, on the part of government, that pa· tents {hall be granted to every one of them, ami they arc fully pcrfuaded that thefe will be made out iomt: time or other ; but they have in vam waited for them for three years, and they an; a1vioufly waiting for them {till *-. Different motive haye been ::dJ)6ned for this conduCt on the part of the Briti(h governmen t. In the firfl: place it 1u been allcdged, tlut the titles arc withbdJ, in or kr to preven t [peculation and land jobbing from rifing to the f.,mc hcigb t in Canada as they have done in the United Stat s. It is a notorious f:1Cl:, that in th U1 itcd Sta tes Llnd jobbing has led to a [cries of the mofl: ncfcu-ions pra(bcc , whereby numbers have already fufTcrcd, and by whi h ilill greater nnmbcrs mufl: {uffcr hereafter. By the machin:1tions o[ a few interdl:cd individL~ .ll , who have contrived by v.uious methods to get immcnft.: tr,u~}s t of waflc b nd into their poffi·ffion, fi.Cl.it!ous demands Iuvc bt.!cn created in the market for land, the price of it has confcqu ently been enhanced much beyond it intri nfic worth, and thc[e pedons have then t·1ken the op. ortunity of felling what th ey had on hand at an enormous profit. 1 he wealth that has been a cumulated by p.uticular p rfons in the United 'tJ. tes, in this manncr, is pr digious; JI d numberlcfs ot 1cr , wi tnefl""cs to their prof erity, 1 ave b~cn tempted to make purch,1 fes ,)f Llnd, in hopes of realizin0 fo r- -• I received a letter, tlated early in the y . r J 796, from a genllctnan in Canad a, \1 ho has t ak("n up one of th cfe 1011 nll1i s, whi h cn.Hains the following par~graph: " At pt cfcnt the mat" tcr r~main5 in ~n uf'fe ttkd !late, although cvct y "llcp has been t:tkcn on my part to acc cl c r~te '' the compl tion of the bufmck l\1 r. D-'s "pattllt, which wa< fent hom· as a modd, is not " yet returned. I t ccci vrd a lctt.:r late! y from " Mr. Secre tary R--, in which he informs me, !' ~hat Mr. G- is again returned to the fur- " wyor's oOice, and he :1fi"urcs me, th at in con" j unction with him, he will do cvc•y thing in " his powtr to c. - p ~ ditc my ol.>t :~in i ug a patent, "The gnvn nor, he; f.ty s, mc. tns that tht: l.llld bu" fi nd s ihould go forward." t There have been many inrtances it) tho United Statt's of ;t li ngle indivi-loal's holJi ng upwards of tht ce mi ll ions of acres at om: ti 111e, and fomc few indi \•iJuals have been known to hold even tw ice that quantity at once. L A N D- J 0 B n I N G. tu~~es in a fin~il~u way, hy {cLing out frnall p ortic nt; at an adv,mccll pncc. Tht~s 1t tS th.1t the nornin,ll valu~ of wail.c Jan.! ha.; been r ;ljt(.d fo fucden~y m the Unitt:d St.ttes; for large tract', which t..:n year b,:forl! were fc llm r; for a few fXncc J)er acre h ·1·,c "ol [ · l l r - , , ' l t .._ 111 JHJm >·-r c1s m~ Hance.,, lately , for dollars per acre, an :u n-mcn tation in pric w lith t~1e incre~J(; of population alone would by ~10 means ha vt: 0 caflotwd . l! ilatc. s, ltke article of mercl-n• ndiz , have pln-n1, 1)C rt ore t 11 cy· 1 1.1 vc eve r been lll1f rov~d,_ throU[;h the h:md of dozen of pc f k , who never P r-h .tps ~vG:re Wtthm five hundred miles of them, and the confumer or fclrmcr, 1~1 confcqucnce of the profits l.tid on by thcfe pcop c, to whom th ey l1avc lcv_'rally belonged, ha, had freCJU I.! ntly to pay a moll: exorl>i ta nt pri 0 for the little fpot which he has purcll..lfcd *· Sreculation and bnd j obbing carried to fu ch a pit h annot but oc ~cemed gr at evils in the community, and to prev nt thc,n from xtcnclin:,. mto Canada app~ars to b.._, an objeCt well worthy the attention of g _ Vtrnment; but 1t . feems unn cc HJ.ry to h :wc recourfc for tlut purpofcJ to the very exccpttonable meafnre of withh JJing a good titk to all hn~s granted by the crown, a meafLlre dif.1bling the J.md h lJcr from takmg the proper fleps to improve his dbte, which o-ive ric to Ji ftruil: and fufpicion, and materially impedes tbe growing ~roD)erjty of th e: country. . I~ appears to me, that land-jobbing could never arrive at fuch a height u~ Ca~a.da as to b.e productive of_ fimilar evils to th ofe already Dmmg up fr om It m the United States, or fHnil.:'tl- to thofe further ones with which the ountry is threatened, if no more land were g ranted by the crown, to any one individual, than a town01ip of ten thoufand acres; or {hould it be thought that grants of fuch an extent even opened too wide a fidd • [n the beginning of the year 1796, this traOic was at its highe!l pi tch, and at this time cn~ral Wafi1inn-ton, fo cminct tly di tlinguifheJ lor Ins prudence :tn<.l forefight, perceiving that land had riii ·n hl'yon cl its a~lua l valut, :tnd pt: rfuaclcd that it could not ri fe higher for lime y<"ars to comr, ad vcr ti fcd for f:tlc rvery acre of which he was pofleOed, except the farms of Mount Vernon. The event fl1cwed how accurate ltis judgment was. 1 n the clofe of the year, onr of the er..:nt land jobber ' dif.t ppointed in hi, (;;tlcu lations, was obi iged to ablconJ ; the laud trado was fltak cn to its very found :uion; bnnkruptcie ~ fj read like 11ildlirc from one great city to an? ther, and men tha had begun to puild palaces found them(dves lt kc;ly to h,tve no b<?tter hal.Ji. tation for a tim~; than the common gaol. Hh frJr |
