History of New Brunswick

Richibucto.

81 Vessels – 17,285 Tons – 820 Men.

Shediac.

19 Vessels – 4,018 Tons – 208 Men.

Restigouche.

14 Vessels – 2,301 Tons – 121 Men.

Dorchester.

4 Vessels – 841 Tons – 37 Men.

N.B. To the value of exports may be added the following Ships and Vessels built and registered at this Port within the year 1824, by persons resident in this Province, either for proprietors in the United Kingdom, or sent there for sale, as remittances for British Merchandise, or for owners here, carrying on the Timber Trade.

Port of Saint Andrews

An account of the total number of Vessels, their Tonnage, number of Men, with the quantity and quality of their Cargoes, entered at the Port of St. Andrews in the year 1824, ending the 5th January, 1825.

156 Vessels – 29,687 Tons – 1,406 Men.

Port of Saint Andrews

Exports

175 Vessels – 33,493 Tons – 1,543 Men.

192 Plaster Paris Vessels – 13,040 Tons – 657 Men.

The Articles of Exports the Production of this Province and the Fisheries, are considered when shipped, worth the following values, viz.:

The whole value of the above Exports may be about £100,000.

From the foregoing statement it plainly appears that chief of the export trade of this Province consists of timber, which is its natural stock or capital; and as there are many articles taken in exchange from the mother country, which are indispensably necessary to the inhabitants of this Province; it points out the necessity of paying strict attention to its preservation. In this Country there is no article, or articles, that can in any degree furnish exports equal to the pine, which is manufactured in the simplest manner, and got to market with but little trouble. So simple is the process that most settlers who have the use of the axe can manufacture it; the woods furnishing a sort of simple manufactory for the inhabitants, from which, after attending to their farms, in the summer, they can draw returns during the winter for those supplies which are necessary for the comfort of their families. This being the case, the preservation of our forests becomes of prime importance to the prosperity of the Province.

The evils that must arise to the Province, by allowing the timber to be monopolized and hastily cut off are many. The timber standing in the Country, particularly on the Crown Lands, may be considered as so much capital or stock, to secure a permanent trade, and promote the solid improvement of the Country. Most of the lands in this Province where pine is found are intermixed with other timber, and although the precise spots on which the pine grows, are unfit for agriculture, without much labor; yet there are most always spots adjoining, where a settler may cultivate with success: so that in a lot of two or three hundred acres, there is generally enough for tillage, and a man settling on such land could always choose his spot for farming, and keep his timber to cut at his leisure. His pine so reserved would as long as it lasted serve him as a resource, from whence, after attending to his farming in the summer, he could draw returns during the winter, for such supplies as would be necessary for his family, and for improving his farm.

To make this more evident, we will suppose a man settling on a wilderness lot – like most settlers he has but little save his own labour – perhaps he has a small family – he commences with cutting down a small spot, and erecting a hut – say in the summer or fall, he then moves on his family, and looks round for sustenance till he can raise his first crop – in doing this his funds are exhausted, and he wants by his own labour to replenish them during the winter, and provide a few implements of husbandry, and nails, &c. for building a barn – now supposing his lot to be back from the river, and at a distance from old settlements where labour is wanted – what does he do? – why he resorts to his pine – to the simple manufactory before noticed, and makes a few tons, say twenty, thirty, forty, or fifty, according to his ability – carefully cutting the under brush and timber, so as to put his land where he is working in a fair train for clearing – this timber he probably gets hauled to the water on shares, if he is very poor and has no team; the returns for which the next spring, furnishes him with supplies, and enables him to continue on his land and prosecute his farming. If he cannot do without the return of his timber till spring, he applies to a merchant, who if the man is of good fame, advances him such articles as may be particularly necessary for his family. This enables him to find labour on his own lot, and stay with his family: whereas if he has no such resource, he must leave his home, and go to a distance from his family, seeking labour; and probably they may be so circumstanced as not to be left safely alone, and he has to take them with him, which breaks up his family and prevents him from settling.

If a number of families commence a settlement together, where the timber has not been destroyed, but where a fair proportion is still growing on the land, they exchange labour with each other, and by their joint exertions, manufacture and transport their own lumber to market. In this way they are enabled from year to year to prosecute their settlement and pay for their grants; the timber answering as a first crop fully grown, and a resource to make returns for necessaries. – By this method, as the pine disappears, houses and barns will rise in its place, and the country, instead of a barren waste, will exhibit flourishing settlements, peopled with a race who will know the value of their improvements; and feel their interest identified with the country: and whose attachment to the Government will increase with their growing possessions. Their children, raised on the soil, from the strong principles of early association, will feel that interest in the welfare of the country, that no transient advantage can produce; and grow up an ornament and strength to the Province. On the contrary, if the lumber is cut off by mere speculators, the land will be left in an impoverished state, much valuable timber will be wantonly destroyed, and the places from whence the timber is taken will be left an uncultivated waste; settlers will neither have the inclination or ability to occupy them. While the major part of the men employed in getting the lumber for the merchants, instead of making a comfortable provision for their families, will wear out the prime of their days without making any permanent establishment; and keep their families shifting about the country like vagrants. Their children, for the want of employment, and the direction of their fathers, brought up in idleness – their education and morals neglected, and bad habits acquired, will be the reverse of those before noticed: and many of them will become a vagrant race, unconcerned or uninterested in the welfare of the country, and in many instances a nuisance to it. While their parents, after they get unfit for the business, will be turned off in debt.

In short, it will be the most direct way to prevent the settlement of the back lands, and to produce (what is the bane of all countries) a race of inhabitants who have no interest in the soil or welfare of the Province.

Statement of the expenses on one thousand tons of pine timber, manufactured on the Wabskahagan, a branch of the river Tobique: —

From the foregoing statement (admitting it to be near the truth) it appears that the expenses on one thousand tons of timber got on the river Tobique, amounts to £1116:10:0 – to which is to be added the expense and risk of taking it down to Saint John, a distance of about two hundred and fifty miles – the loss by casualties on a rapid river, where men and teams frequently break through the ice, and are swept away by the velocity of the current. When all the above expenses are deducted from the returns of the timber, it will leave but a little for those who carry on the business, and very often involves them in inextricable difficulties.

The preceding statement points out the necessity of adopting a more prudent system in conducting the timber business. Not to push the trade to such an extent – to retrench the expenses, by raising the heavy parts of the supplies near the timber districts; and to follow up the timber trade with the improvement of the country and cultivation of the soil.

Another great drawback to the prosperity of the Province is the great consumption of ardent liquors – partly occasioned by the present modes of conducting the timber business. The amount of spirituous liquors imported and consumed in the Province in 1824, at the least calculation was £120,000, exclusive of the County of Charlotte; and add to this amount the cost of the transport of the liquor to the interior and the enormous charges on the article in the distant parts of the Province, the cost to the consumer may be fairly reckoned at treble the amount, making in the whole the gross sum of £360,000 for ardent liquors alone, consumed by the inhabitants of the Province, being near twenty gallons on an average for every male over sixteen years of age.

The number of inhabitants in this Province, according to the census of last year, is seventy-four thousand one hundred and seventy-six – besides the large settlement of Madawaska and the parish of West Isles; and as it is probable the numbers in the different parishes are taken in some instances under the real amount, the whole population may be fairly rated in round numbers at eighty thousand. The subjoined statement will show the population of the different counties and parishes in 1824:

Population of the Province of New-Brunswick,

in the year 1824.

NUMBER OF INHABITANTS IN THE DIFFERENT COUNTIES.

The enrolled Militia amount to about twelve thousand. They are divided into twenty-three battalions; the battalions are composed of six, eight, or more companies, according to local circumstances. The companies consist of one captain, two subalterns, three sergeants, and sixty rank and file, except flank companies, which are allowed four sergeants. Where districts are in remote situations, and not sufficiently populous to form two companies, but exceed the number of sixty effective men, eighty are allowed to be enrolled in one company. They assemble by companies two days in a year for drill; and by battalions or divisions for muster and inspection, once or oftener, if the Commander-in-Chief thinks it necessary. An Inspecting Field Officer is appointed to inspect the battalions at their general muster. He visits the different corps successively, and reports to the Commander-in-Chief. He is paid a certain sum per annum, which is granted yearly by the Legislature. The Militia Law is continually undergoing alterations, and has not yet attained to that perfection, that such an important branch of our provincial constitution requires. The last year two Inspecting Officers were appointed to inspect the two great divisions of the Province.

There are abundant materials to form a good effective Militia in this Province. The youth are in general docile and orderly, and have a great aptitude to attain the requisite discipline; there are also a number of disbanded soldiers and other persons acquainted with discipline, scattered through the country; so that there are few districts, but where there are persons qualified to act as drills. The want of arms is indeed a great check to the military spirit, as nothing is more taking to boys when first put to drill, than to have arms; and although many requisites of discipline, such as marching, wheeling, &c. can be acquired full as well without them; yet nothing makes a young lad so alert as to have a musket put into his hands.

To get persons to excel in any thing, it is requisite first of all if possible to create an attachment and liking to it; and to get the youth fully engaged in acquiring martial discipline, it is a primary object to make it pleasing to them. If therefore the different corps were at their musters to be supplied with arms and a few rounds of cartridges, and taught to skirmish, it would act as the greatest stimulous to the youth, and would soon make an alteration for the better at the trainings; by making them a recreation and time of amusement: while it would make the Militia familiar with the use of arms – which is at present altogether lost sight of.

The writer is well aware that many arms formerly issued to the Militia have been destroyed, and that this might again happen; but surely some method might be adopted to prevent such abuses, and still to furnish the different corps with arms while at drill, by forming depots for lodging the arms, and appropriating some of the fines to keep them in order. In scattered districts, one, two or more companies arms might be kept together; and in towns Arsenals might be erected where two or three thousand stand might be deposited. Such buildings would not only be highly useful, but ornamental to the different places: and as there are but few serviceable arms in the Province at present, some steps should be taken to procure a sufficient number, and not to let the country remain in its present naked condition. It certainly appears like an anomaly in our preparations for defence, to expend time and money in improving our Militia, and not provide the means of arming and making them efficient if they should be wanted. If (as the preamble to the Militia Law states) "a well regulated Militia is essential to the security of this Province," it is equally necessary that the Province should possess the means of arming that Militia. If arms could not be procured from the Crown, it would be advisable to appropriate a part of the Provincial revenue for the purchase of a sufficient number to supply the Militia in case of emergency; which could be either sold to the Militiamen, or placed in the Arsenals, and issued occasionally to the different corps as the Government should think proper.

Should the Province ever be invaded, its defence will not wholly consist in defending fortified posts or in engagements with large bodies in open field, but by taking advantage of the natural fastnesses of the country, such as woods, deep hollows, hills, rivers, brooks, &c. with which the Province abounds.

This points out the necessity of having the Militia trained to sharpshooting and such exercises as will be beneficial in the hour of danger; and not merely taught a few parade movements, or how to receive a reviewing officer.

The Indians in New-Brunswick are fast declining, and although several attempts have been made to induce them to form permanent settlements and become planters, they still continue their migratory mode of life. The attempts that have been made to civilize them by educating their children have been equally unsuccessful. The Romish religion appears to be the most congenial to them, as well as to the French. This arises in a great measure from its outward pomp and external forms imposing on the uncultivated mind. They yield an implicit obedience to the Romish Missionaries, who instruct them in religion, regulate their marriages, and censure or approve their conduct, and so successful have been their endeavours, that but few depredations are committed by the Indians on property, although they are frequently reduced to the most extreme want. – The Baron La Houtan, who has enumerated forty-nine Nations of Indians in Canada, and Acadia, names the following Tribes as the original inhabitants of Nova-Scotia: – The Abenakie, Micmac, Canabus, Mahingans, Openangans, Soccokis, and Etechemins, from whom our present Indians are descended. As the customs, manners, and dress, of the Indians have been often described, I shall not therefore swell this article by repeating old stories. Besides the conical cap, the blanket, leggins, and moccasins, worn by all the tribes; the women among the New-Brunswick Indians frequently wear a round hat, a shawl, and short clothes, resembling the short gown and petticoat worn by the French and Dutch women. The Indian language is bold and figurative, abounding in hyperbolical expressions, and is said to be susceptible of much elegance. To give the reader some notion of the manner in which these people conduct their conferences with each other, and with Europeans, I shall subjoin an extract of a conference, or talk, held at Quebec, with the Governor General of Canada, during the last American War.

    Quebec, 17th March, 1814.

Thursday having been appointed for holding the Council, the Chiefs and Warriors assembled, and after shaking hands with His Excellency, as before, Newash accompanied by his Interpreter, again presented himself in the middle of the room, and pronounced the following Speech, or talk.

SPEECH OF NEWASH

"Father – Listen. – You will hear from me truth. It is the same as what the Chiefs and Warriors now here have to say.

"Father – Listen. – Open your ears to your children, to your red children that are in the west. They are all of one mind: although they are so far off and scattered on different lands, they hear what I am now saying.

"Father – Listen. – You have told us by the talk of your Warriors, twice Father, that we were to fight on the flanks and in the rear of your Warriors, but we have always gone in front Father; and that it is in this way we have lost so many of our young Warriors, our women and children.

"Father – Listen. – The Americans have said they would kill you first Father, and then destroy your red children; but when you sent us the hatchet we took hold of it Father and made use of it Father, as you know.

"Father – Listen. – Your red children want back their old boundary lines, that they may have the lands which belong to them, and this Father when the war began, you promised to get for them.

"Father – Listen. – Your red children have suffered a great deal, they are sad, indeed they are pitiful, they want your assistance Father. They want arms for their Warriors, and clothes for their women and children. You do not know the number of your red children Father. There are many who never yet received any arms or clothing. It is necessary at present, Father, to send more than you formerly did.

"Father – Listen. – At the beginning of the war you promised us when the Americans would put their hand forward you would draw yours back. Now Father we request when the Americans put their hand out, (as we hear they mean to do) knock it away Father, and the second time when they put out their hand, draw your sword. – If not Father, the Americans will laugh at us, and say our Great Father, who is beyond the Great Lake is a coward Father.

"Father – Listen. – The Americans are taking our lands from us every day, they have no hearts, Father, they have no pity for us. They want to drive us beyond the setting sun. But Father, we hope, although we are few, and are here as it were upon a little Island, our Great and Mighty Father, who lives beyond the Great Lake, will not forsake us in our distress, but will continue to remember his faithful red children.

"This is all I have to say. This is from our Chiefs and Warriors, this is all they have to say."