In the emigrations planned by Lord Selkirk, other views were, however, mingled with the original and simple purpose of these expeditions. In place of assisting the Highlanders in their own natural and rational plan of joining their friends already settled on the other side of the Atlantic, his purpose, as he himself states, was to detach them from those na tural ties; to counteract the motives which induced them to follow their friends and relations ; and to collect them into a new settlement, under the do minion of the mother country. After pointing out the strong inducements which the emigrants have to collect in particular spots, to which the presence of their friends and connections impart the attraction almost of another home, be observes, that, to over come these motives, it is indispensable that " some strong inducement should beheld out to the first party, who will settle in the situation offered to them. To detached individuals," he continues, "it would be difficult to offer advantages sufficient to counter balance the pleasure of being settled among friends, as well as the assistance they might expect from re lations. But a considerable body of people, con nected by the ties of blood and friendship, may have less aversion to try a new situation." Lord Selkirk objects to emigration, where the adventurers are al lowed to follow their own notions, and settle in de tached bodies in different parts of the American ter ritory, because it scatters the national resources, which he proposes to keep together, by inducing the emigrants to settle in the British colonies, " where" he observes, "they would be of national utility," and where all the peculiarities of their language and manners might be preserved. He seems also to ima gine, that, if the Highlanders were settled on the Canadian frontier, they would form an admirable outpost to guard the colony from the intrusion of American settlers, and from the worse plague of American principles, of which he entertains a great dread, and against which he considers the inveterate loyalty of the Highlanders as an admirable barrier. In pursuance of those views, a colony of Highland ers was induced, by Lord Selkirk, to settle in Prince Edward's Island, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where an establishment was formed, and where, in the course of about two years, a supply of subsistence was produced equal to the wants of the settlers. Another colony was afterwards conducted to the western parts of Upper Canada. Of the progress of this colony, different and contradictory accounts have been circulated. Thus far, we believe, however, is certain, that Lord Selkirk's projects gave rise from the first to a deep-rooted jealousy on the part of the North-mest Canadian Fur and that, after various acts of hostility and sanguinary outrage, the settlement was attacked by a body of their servants, who barbarously put to the sword the greater part of the settlers, and nearly extirpated the colony. From this calamity it is said to have revived, and, from the accession of new settlers, its inhabitants are reported to amount to abbut 500.
To the plans of emigration, set on foot by Lord Selkirk, there is this strong and general objection, that they propose to accomplish objects, in which the emigrant has not the most remote interest, and for which all the comfort, as well as the solid advan tages which he would derive from the intercourse of his relations and friends, are uselessly sacrificed. The sole purpose for which he quits his country, is to procure a settlement in another on the most easy and advantageous terms ; this is his only ma five for embarking in so hazardous an enterprise; and whatever is unconnected with his ultimate pro sperity and happiness, is entirely foreign to the main object of his voyage. To settle among friends and rektions, whose comfort and assistance is material to the emigrant, or in a country which has the be nefit of a free and enlightened government, where he is sure of protection, and where, as much as possible, he may have all the helps of civilisation to facilitate his progress, is wise and rational; and there is something unnatural, as well as revolting, in the notion of extinguishing all those social feelings, which bind the emigrant to his friends and relations, and which revive, even on a foreign shore, the image of his native land. According to Lord Selkirk's
plan, the emigrant is deprived of all those cone)• Wiens ; and he is tempted to try a new situation, for the vague and chimerical purpose " of concen.
.trating, for the befefit of the mother country, re sources which would be otherwise scattered ; or for the still more chimerical purpose of guarding the Canadian frontier from the inroad of American principles. These are political objects in which the emigrant has not the most remote interest. For merly, the emigrants from the Highlands had almost the whole continent of North America open to their choice. They could settle among their countrymen and relations, amid the blessings of civilization and of regular government. According to Lord Selkirk's plan, they are thrown upon precisely the very worst portion of the American continent—withdrawn from the more genial climes of the South—exposed to the long rigours of a Canadian winter, and separated from their friends. The first body of emigrants, who accompanied Lord Selkirk, were settled on an island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in a desolate spot, thirty miles from any habitation, in " circum stances scarcely more favourable," as he himself observes, " than if the island had been complete desert." His second colony was established on the continent, far to the westward of any settlement, and wholly without the precincts of civilization or regular government. It was accordingly either altogether, or nearly crushed by violence; and this fatal- catastrophe is a suitable commentary on the original impolicy of choosing the desert for a set tlement, and of relinquishing the protection of go vernment, with all the other advantages of a more improved state of society. The happiness and com fort of the colonists, which is the fundamental prin ciple of all colonization, was made subservient, in those plans, to other objects, in the highest degree absurd and chimerical ; other interests were allowed to mingle with that great and radical interest; and useless hazards were incurred,—hazards which were avoided so long as the emigrants were allowed to follow the sure and unerring instincts of their own individual prudence.
The emigrations to America, which were formerly confined to the Highlands of Scotland, or to some parts of Ireland, have of late years become general throughout the kingdom. The cause has been, as 'usual, a want of subsistence, originating in the want of employment for the classes. The wars and devastations which had prevailed in Europe for about twenty-five years prior to the last unprecedented acrimony of the hostilities waged by the different belligerents against each other's trade,— the interruption, in consequence of their commer cial intercourse, and a complication of other causes of mischief, into which it is foreign to our present purpose to inquire, though they were long borne up against by the enterprise and industry of individuals, appear to have at length terminated in a complete and general relaxation of all the great springs of the mercantile community. In these circumstances, numbers emigrated to America with various success, artisans and labourers, as well as substantial farmers. Among others Mr Birkbeck, an English farmer, hay. ing sold his effects, embarked with his family for Ame rica, and purchased a large track of uncultivated terri tory en the Wabash, a branch of the Ohio. Having formed an establishment is this remote and sequester.