Читать книгу History of New Brunswick - Fisher Peter - Страница 3

Situation. Extent. Boundaries. Face of the Country. Soil, Animals. Mineral and Vegetable Productions. Inhabitants, Religion, and Government

New-Brunswick is situated between the forty-fifth and forty-ninth degrees of North latitude, and between the sixty-fourth and sixty-eighth degrees of West longitude. It is nearly 200 miles in length, and 180 in breadth, containing about twenty-two thousand square miles of land and water. It is bounded on the North by the river St. Lawrence and Canada, on the West by the State of Maine, on the South and Southeast by the Bay of Fundy and Nova-Scotia, and on the East by the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Bay Verte. It is divided into eight Counties, viz. St. John, Westmorland, King's, Queen's, Charlotte, York, Sunbury, and Northumberland, which are again divided into Parishes, according to their extent, and will be described when I come to treat of the Counties separately.

This Province is watered with several fine rivers which lay open the inmost recesses of the country, and are of the utmost advantage to the inhabitants in transporting the products of the forests to the seaports, as their chief trade consists in lumber and other bulky articles. It likewise abounds in lakes, streams, springs, and rivulets, so that there are few places unprovided with good mill seats or water conveyance. It is diversified with beautiful acclivities, hills and mountains, some of which will be noticed in the course of this work.

The appearance of the country along the Bay of Fundy is forbidding, rugged and broken, and the soil indifferent. Advancing from the sea-board into the interior the face of the country becomes more level, being interspersed with gentle risings and vales, with large strips of fertile intervals along the rivers, which being annually overflowed produce excellent crops. In many places along the margin of the rivers, the banks are high and abrupt, and to a stranger the land appears poor and hard to cultivate; but after rising the banks, and advancing a short distance from the water, the land becomes level, and the soil rich; being covered with a thick black mould, produced by the putrefaction of the leaves of the numerous trees with which the country is covered. In other parts the land rises with a beautiful slope from the water, offering many fine situations for buildings and seats. The land in some parts being a second intervale, and in others a good upland with a strong soil.

Most of the rivers have numbers of fine Islands interspersed in their courses, which being chiefly formed by the washing of the currents, consist of rich alluvial soil, producing grain, roots and grass in the greatest luxuriance. These islands may be considered as the gardens of the country, which they enrich and beautify. The rapidity of the rivers, swoln by the melting of the snow in the spring, tears away the soil in some parts, and deposits it in others; by which means their courses are gradually altered; new Islands are formed, and alluvial soil accumulated in some parts of the rivers, while it is washed away in others; and this is more or less the case according to the looseness of the soil, and the bends of the river: so that a man may have a growing estate, or he may see his land diminishing from year to year without the power to remedy it.

As most of the settlements are as yet confined to the margin of rivers and streams, the country a little back is a continued forest, covered with a stately growth of trees, consisting of pines, firs, spruce, hemlock, maple, birch, beech, ash, elm, poplar, hornbeam, &c. In some parts of the country white and red oak are found, but in no great quantity; although men who have ranged the woods in search of pine, say there are large groves in the interior. The islands are generally covered with butternut, basswood, elm, maple, alder, &c. and in some places the same trees are found on them, as on the high land in their vicinity.

As the climate of a new country, abounding with lakes, rivers and streams, and covered with close woods, which exclude the sun, must be daily altering as the country becomes cleared and improved: I shall hereafter notice some of the changes that have taken place in the climate of this Province since it was settled by the Loyalists in 1783.

The domestic animals in this Province are much the same as those in the United States; many of the horses and oxen used in the lumber business, being annually furnished by the Americans. The breed of horses has been improved by stallions imported at different periods from England and other places. In Cumberland the inhabitants have paid considerable attention to the improvement of the breed of horned cattle; in consequence of which, and the extensive marshes in that country, their dairies are superior to any in the Province. The sheep and swine are of a good size and various breeds. As Agriculture has been much neglected in this Province on account of the great trade that is carried on in lumber, not much attention has been paid to improving the domestic animals, till of late, a Society has been formed, and cattle exhibitions instituted, which no doubt will soon make an alteration in that part of the rural economy of the Province.

The wild animals are not so numerous as formerly, and some species are nearly extinct. The Moose or Elk, which were found in great abundance when the loyalists first came to the province, were wantonly destroyed, being hunted for the skin, while their carcases were left in the woods, a few only being used for food, although their flesh is equal to the Ox, and would have supplied the destitute settlers with animal food for a long while, had there been any effectual means at that time to restrain the waste of the mercenary hunter. So great was the destruction of those valuable animals, that in a few years they totally disappeared. A few have lately been seen, and a law has been enacted for their preservation; but they can scarcely be reckoned among the present animals of the Province. The other wild animals are Bears, Foxes, Wolves, Caraboo, Sable, Loup-cervier, Peaconks, Racoon, Mink, Ground and Red Squirrels, Weasels, Muskrats, Wild Cats, Hares, &c. with that valuable animal the Beaver.

The domestic Fowls are Turkies, Geese, Ducks, Hens, and other Poultry; and among the wild are, Partridges, Geese, Ducks, Pigeons, Owls, Crows, and Swans; with a variety of small Birds, which have nothing peculiar to render a particular description of them necessary. There are but few reptiles in the Province, and those are harmless.

Most of the rivers are well stored with Salmon, Shad, Bass, Suckers, and Herrings, with abundance of small Fish, such as Trout, Perch, Chub, Smelt, Eels, &c. Cusks are taken in the winter, and Sturgeon are taken in some parts, but not often.

The Bays and Harbors are well supplied with Cod, Pollock, Haddock, &c. Mackerel are taken in different places at the entrance of the Bay of Fundy, and along the coasts.

But little can be said about the mineral or fossil productions of a country which is yet in its infancy, and where the industry of the inhabitants can be more profitably employed on the surface of the earth than in ransacking its bowels. Minerals cannot be procured and manufactured without money. To work mines effectually, many things are requisite that cannot be expected in a new country. Such as capitalists who can risk money on experiments, and wait a long time for returns: for all property employed in the first working of mines is uncertain. The next thing is abundance of cheap labour – then a demand for the articles produced; next to produce it of such a quality, and at such a price as to make it find a market: with many other considerations sufficient to deter men who feeling themselves straitened in pecuniary resources, see the necessity of employing what little they possess in the way that will give a sure and quick return; and to such persons, the surface of the country covered with pines, holds out a more inviting prospect than the concealed riches of the earth. From the appearance of the country, there is reason to believe it is rich in minerals, and that the mountains contain ores of different metals in abundance; but as no attempts of consequence have been made to procure specimens or assay them, it cannot be expected that any particular account of them could be given in this short work. It is probable the time is not far distant when men of intelligence will turn their attention to investigate scientifically the different natural productions of the Province. Coals are found in abundance at the Grand Lake, and specimens have been discovered in several other places, so as to leave no doubt of the Province being well stored with that useful article. Limestone of a good quality is found in different parts of the Province; particularly at the narrows, near the mouth of the river St. John, where there is not only sufficient for the use of the country; but to supply Europe and America for ages, should they need it. Gypsum is also found up the Bay, near Cumberland, and Manganese at Quaco.

This Province abounds in different kinds of excellent Stone for building, and other purposes. Grindstones are manufactured in abundance for home use and exportation. Veins of Marble, of different species, have been discovered, some of which have been partially explored, and small quantities manufactured.

The vegetable productions are, Wheat, Rye, Oats, Barley, Maize, Beans, Peas, Buckwheat and Flax, with a variety of Roots, Grasses, and Hortulan Plants.

The fruits are Apples, Plums, Cherries, Currants, Gooseberries, Cranberries, Blue and Black Berries, Raspberries, Strawberries, and small Grapes, with a number of small wild fruits. Butter Nuts, a large oily nut, Beech Nuts, and Hazel Nuts are found in different parts of the country in abundance, and in many places serve for fattening hogs; particularly the Beech Nut, which after the severe frosts in the fall nearly cover the ground.

There are no disorders peculiar to the climate. The air throughout most part of the year is very pure and the inhabitants in general enjoy a good share of health. Whether the observations that have been made of the Americans sooner decaying than Europeans will apply to the inhabitants of New-Brunswick cannot yet be ascertained; as the Province has not been long enough settled; but there is good reason to believe that with temperance and care the human frame will exist as long in vigor in the latter as in Europe. – Another remark as a proof of the former has been made which is that the human mind sooner arrives to maturity in America than in Europe; but this if true may be more owing to accidental than physical causes.

Their earlier marriages likewise proves nothing as they arise from the peculiar circumstances of the different countries.

The inhabitants of New-Brunswick may be classed as follows according to priority of settlement.

1st. The Aborigines or Indians.

2d. Acadians, being the descendants of the French who were allowed to remain in Nova-Scotia after it was ceded to the British. They were called the French neutrals – their descendants are at present settled in different parts of the Province and are considerably numerous and will be noticed with the Indians hereafter.

The old Inhabitants, were those families who were settled in the Province before the conclusion of the American revolution, as already noticed. They were so called by the disbanded troops and refugees who came to the country in 1783, and the appellation is still applied to their descendants. Some of those were settled at Maugerville where they had made considerable improvements before the loyalists came to the country. A few of the old stock are still living, having attained to a great age. Their descendants are however numerous, and by intermarriages with the new comers, spread over every part of the Province.

The next and most numerous class of inhabitants are the descendants of the Loyalists who came to the Province at the conclusion of the American revolution, and whose sufferings I have already slightly noticed. – These are the descendants of those genuine patriots who sacrificed their property and comfort in the United States for their attachment to that Government under which they drew their first breath; and came to this Province (at that period a wilderness) to transmit those blessings to their posterity. For although many of them belonged to the army and were sent here to be disbanded, they had formerly been comfortably settled in the States; and when it came to the trying point whether they should forsake their homes or abandon their King, the former was preferred without hesitation, although many of them had young families and the choice was made at the risk of life, and also with the change of habit from the peaceful yeoman to the bustle of a camp. – As however the choice was made with promptness so it was persevered in with constancy.

The other inhabitants are emigrants from different parts of Europe. In some parts they have obtained allotments of land and are settled a number of families together, in other places again they are intermixed with the other settlers and by intermarriages, &c. are assimilating as one people: proving themselves in many instances, good subjects, and valuable members of society.

The last class that I shall notice are the people of Colour, or Negroes. – These are found in considerable numbers in different parts of the Province. In some parts a number of families are settled together as farmers; but they do not make good settlers, being of a volatile disposition, much addicted to dissipation; they are impatient of labour, and in general fitter for performing menial offices about houses as domestics, than the more important, but laborious duties of farmers. – In their persons, the inhabitants of New-Brunswick are well made, tall and athletic. There are but few of those born in the country, but what have attained to a larger growth than their parents.

The genius of these people differ greatly from Europeans – the human mind in new countries left to itself exerts its full energy; hence in America where man has in most cases to look to himself for the supply of his wants, his mind expands, and possesses resources within itself unknown to the inhabitants of old settled countries, or populous cities. In New-Brunswick, a man with his axe and a few other simple tools, provides himself with a house and most of his implements of husbandry, – and while a European would consider himself as an outcast, he feels perfectly at home in the depth of the forest. In new countries likewise the mind acquires those ideas of self-importance and independence so peculier to Americans. For the man who spends the greater part of his time alone in the forest, as free as the beasts that range it without controul, his wants but simple and those supplied from day to day by his own exertions, acquires totally different habits of acting and thinking, from the great mass of the people in crowded cities, who finding themselves pressed on all sides, and depending on others from day to day for precarious support, are confirmed in habits of dependence.

Hence the inhabitants of this Province are men who possess much native freedom in their manners. This, from their veneration to their King makes them faithful subjects and good citizens, not blindly passive, but from affection adhering to that Government under which they drew their first breath and under which they have been reared.

In noticing the state of religion in this Province, it may not be amiss to observe that the old inhabitants who came originally from New-England, where the genius of their church government was republican, were generally Calvinistic in their modes and doctrine; while the loyalists and others who came to the country in 1783, were generally Churchmen, Quakers, or Methodists. The Emigrants who have come since that period include all the above denominations.

The Church of England is in a flourishing state in this Province; there are nineteen Clergymen belonging to the establishment who are under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Nova-Scotia. Many of them have handsome churches with numerous congregations. Two of them are employed as Itinerants for the vacant districts of the Province, and several of the others serve two or more Parishes – An Ecclesiastical Commissary has the superintendence of the whole.

The Catholics have a few Chapels and appear to be on the increase. Their congregations are chiefly composed of Emigrant Irish, French, and Indians. – There are six Clergymen in the Province, some of whom are settled and others are employed as Missionaries among the scattered French and Indians.

There are but two Ministers of the Kirk of Scotland in the Province; they have handsome churches in Saint John and St. Andrews. There are however a number of Seceders from the Presbyterian form of Church Government, but all holding the doctrines of Calvin; several of them have commodious places of worship, and respectable congregations.

There are no places of worship belonging to the Quakers in this Province. There are however, a few of these primitive worshippers scattered through the country, who joining sincerity and honesty with plainness, are excellent members of society.

The Methodists are a numerous and respectable body of people. There are four Wesleyan Missionaries in this Province, with a number of Methodist Preachers, who although not immediately in connection with the Missionaries, adhere strictly to the old Methodist discipline and doctrine; and usually attend the Conferences, which are held once a year, either in Nova-Scotia or New-Brunswick; where the Missionaries for the two Provinces and the adjacent Islands assemble to arrange the different stations of their Preachers and regulate the affairs temporal and spiritual of that body. At these conferences young Preachers are admitted on trial, and probationers who have laboured four years in the Ministry to the satisfaction of the Conference, are taken into full connection.

The Baptists are the descendants of those followers of Mr. Whitfield, who formerly were very numerous under the denomination of New-Lights. About 25 or 30 years ago, a change in their forms and discipline took place among the leaders in Nova-Scotia, who adopted the mode of Baptizing only Adults, and the other tenets of the old Baptists whose name they also assumed. There are however a few of the New-Lights still scattered through the country, who carrying the levelling spirit into their religion, do not like order of any kind. They style themselves Baptists, Christians, &c. The Baptists on the contrary have a formula of faith comprised in seventeen articles, and are very strict in church government. They are a numerous class of people, and have several fine Chapels; they have however but few settled Ministers, not having as yet made sufficient provision to supply their members with a stated Ministry. They regulate their affairs by an annual association.

In general a desire for the christian Ministry is increasing in the Province. – Places of worship are erecting in most of the settlements, and such other provision for the support of the Gospel provided as the abilities of the settlers will admit.

The Government of New-Brunswick, like most of the British Colonies, is Royal and a miniature of the parent state. The other forms originally established in the Colonies and Plantations were charter and proprietory governments, which of late years have mostly given place to royal or monarchial governments, after the British model.

The Governor has a Council consisting of twelve Members, to assist him in the discharge of the executive duties of his station. These with the representatives from the different Counties constitute the Provincial Legislature.

The principal Courts established in the Province are the following. —

The Court of Chancery, which is a Prerogative Court, as well as a Court of Equity. The Lieutenant-Governor, or Commander-in-Chief is Chancellor, and the Justices of the Supreme Court Assignees.

The Court of Governor and Council, for hearing and determining Causes relating to Marriage and Divorce.

The Supreme Court of Judicature for the Province is held in Fredericton. It consists of the Chief Justice and three Assistant Judges. The Terms are the third Tuesday of February and May, and the second Tuesday of July and October. The Jurisdiction of this Court is very extensive, partaking of the power of the Courts of King's Bench, Exchequer, Common Pleas, and other Courts in England. All civil causes of importance and capital cases are determined in this Court. The present Chief Justice Saunders, who presides in this Court, the reader will observe, was a Member of the first Council in the Province. He has ever since been actively employed in the first stations in the country, which he has filled with the greatest ability and integrity. He is the only survivor capable of filling a public station among all those who bore a share in the public concerns of the Province on its first erection into a separate Government under Governor Carleton. The salary of the Chief Justice is £700 or £750 sterling. The other Justices have each £500 sterling per annum. The Justices, besides attending the Supreme Court at the Seat of Government, hold Circuit Courts in the different Counties.

The Inferior Court of Common Pleas consists of two, three, or more Justices, who preside occasionally. They are assisted by the Magistrates of the County. Here civil causes that do not involve property to a great amount are determined, as are also crimes and misdemeanors not affecting life. The Grand Inquest of the County attends this Court, when Bills of Indictment are found, which if involving matters above its Jurisdiction, are handed over to the Supreme Court for trial. Most of the Police of the Counties and Parishes is regulated by this Court, which is held half-yearly or quarterly in the several Counties, as the public business may require. Here the parish officers are appointed, parish and county taxes apportioned; the accounts from the different parishes audited; retailers and innkeepers licensed and regulated, &c. In short, this Court exercises in many respects the same powers in the several Counties, in regard to their internal police, as those that are exercised by the Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty of incorporated Cities.

Besides these Courts there is a summary mode of recovering debts under five pounds before a single Magistrate.

The Legislature of New-Brunswick, like most of the British Colonies, is a miniature of the British Parliament, consisting of the Lieutenant-Governor, the Council, and House of Representatives. The Governor represents the King. The Council form the upper House, in humble imitation of the House of Lords in England; and the Representatives from the different Counties forming the lower House, or House of Assembly. The number of Representatives for the several Counties is as follows: For the Counties of St. John, Westmorland, Charlotte, and York, four each; the Counties of King's, Queen's, Sunbury and Northumberland, two each; and two for the City of St. John, making in all twenty-six. This representation, the reader will observe, is very unequal. The County of Saint John, which includes the City, having two more members than the extensive County of York, which includes the Seat of Government; and the County of Sunbury, which is not as large as some parishes in the other counties, has as many members as the County of Northumberland, which comprises over one-third of the Province. It must indeed be admitted that Saint John and Sunbury are far better settled than Northumberland; but when we look at the great extent of the latter, the numerous settlements and great trade in that part of the Province, we must allow that the inhabitants of that part of the country have not an equal share of what may be considered the bulwark of liberty – namely, a fair representation. Six members at least, would not be out of proportion for that large County.

The Assembly sits in the winter at Fredericton: the sessions continue from six to seven weeks. Its chief business is in managing the provincial revenue, providing for schools, roads, &c. and making such laws as the state and trade of the Province may from time to time require. When laws are enacted that interfere with Acts of Parliament, they are transmitted to the King, with a suspending clause, and are not in force until they receive the royal approbation.