wilderness – uninhabited and untrodden, except by the savage and wild animals; and scarcely had these firm friends of their country began to construct their cabins, when they were surprised by the rigors of an untried climate: their habitations being enveloped in snow before they were tenantable. The climate at that period (from what cause has not yet been satisfactorily ascertained) being far more severe than at present. They were frequently put to the greatest straits for food and clothing to preserve existence; a few roots were all that tender mothers could at times procure to allay the importunate calls of their children for food. – Sir Guy Carleton had ordered them provisions for the first year at the expense of Government; but as the country was not much cultivated at that time, food could scarcely be procured on any terms. Frequently had those settlers to go from fifty to one hundred miles with hand sleds or toboggans through wild woods or on the ice to procure a precarious supply for their famishing families. The privations and sufferings of some of those people almost exceed belief. The want of food and clothing in a wild, cold country, was not easily dispensed with or soon remedied. Frequently in the piercing cold of winter a part of the family had to remain up during the night to keep fire in their huts to prevent the other part from freezing. Some very destitute families made use of boards to supply the want of bedding: the father or some of the elder children remaining up by turns, and warming two suitable pieces of boards, which they applied alternately to the smaller children to keep them warm; with many similar expedients.
Some readers looking only at the present state of the country may smile at this account as wildly exaggerated, and may suppose that the skins of the moose and other wild animals would have been a far better substitute for bedding. But I have received the account of the above facts, with many other expedients which were at that time adopted by the settlers, from persons of undoubted veracity, and who had been eye witnesses of what they related. It is, however, needless to enlarge upon the hardships they endured, as most of the sufferers are now no more. Some indeed were discouraged and left the country; but most of those who remained had the pleasure of seeing the country improved and their families comfortably settled. Many of those Loyalists were in the prime of life when they came to this country; and most of them had young families. To establish these they wore out their lives in toil and poverty, and by their unremitting exertions subdued the wilderness, and covered the face of the country with habitations, villages, and towns.
I have not noticed these circumstances as if they were peculiar to the settlers of New-Brunswick; but to hold up to the descendants of those sufferers the hardships endured by their parents; and to place in a striking point of view, the many comforts they possess by the suffering, perseverance, and industry of their fathers. All new settlements formed at a great distance from the parent state, are exposed to difficulties, till the country becomes improved. Many of the Colonies in North America, when first settled, were more than once on the point of total extinction. The remnant of the inhabitants of some of them were even embarked to abandon the country altogether, when they were stopped by succour from home. The remembrance of the difficulties of the first settlers should make their descendants contented with their present advantages, and instead of wishing to change, to use their own exertions to improve the country, and duly to appreciate the many blessings and privileges they enjoy.
Under the judicious and paternal care of Governor Carleton, assisted by several of the leading characters, many of the difficulties of settling an infant and distant Country were lessened. The condition of the settlers was gradually ameliorated; agriculture was particularly attended to: The Governor himself set a pattern in which he was followed by several of the leading men in the different offices. A variety of grains and roots were cultivated with success, and considerable progress made in clearing the wilderness. Barren seasons were sometimes experienced, when the scarcity of food was partially remedied by the exertions of the Governor, assisted by several other public spirited gentlemen, who are now no more.
After having governed the Province for nearly twenty years – after having seen the country from a desolate wilderness rising to a state of importance among the surrounding Colonies – after having seen the settlers placed in a state of comparative comfort and independence – and after having in every respect endeared himself to them as their common father and benefactor – Governor Carleton, in 1803, removed to England, when the Government of the Province was administered by the following persons, under the style of Presidents, till his death, viz. – G. G. Ludlow, from his departure till February, 1808; Edward Winslow, Esquire, from that period till the 24th May following; when he was succeeded by Major-General Hunter, who held the Government, with the exception of two short intervals, (during which the Government devolved first on Lieutenant-Colonel Johnstone, and afterwards on Major-General Balfour,) till 1812, when he was succeeded by Major-General Smyth; he having gone to England in 1813, the Government was administered by Major-General Saumarez; but was resumed by General Smyth, in 1814, who having again left the Province, the Government devolved on Lieutenant-Colonel Hailes. On the death of Governor Carleton, Major-General George Stracey Smyth, was appointed to the Government by His Majesty's Commission, dated the 28th February, 1817. Governor Smyth died the 27th March, 1823, when the Government was assumed by Ward Chipman, Esquire, who administered the same till his death in the month of February following, when it devolved on John Murray Bliss, Esquire. In the mean time, Major-General Sir Howard Douglas, Baronet, had been appointed to the Government by His Majesty. He arrived in the Province in August, 1824, and immediately repaired to Fredericton, and assumed the Government on the 28th of the same month, and is at present (1825) Lieutenant-Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Province of New-Brunswick, and its Dependencies.
The lively interest which Sir Howard takes in whatever concerns the prosperity of the Province, may be best inferred from his own words in his address to the Legislative Body, and his speech at the formation of the Agricultural Society, which are inserted in full in the Appendix to this short work.
CHAPTER II.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
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
