ng here on the national honour of the
American nation; but it is a well-known fact, that many of the early
frontier settlers were persons who had evaded the payment of their just
debts or, perhaps, legal penalties for worse offences, by crossing the
lines, and forming settlements in Canada. Such persons are not a fair
specimen of American character. Individually, I have nothing to say
against the Americans, but rather the contrary, for I have found them
good and obliging neighbours.

I have heard it generally asserted, that the Yankees are the greatest
rogues under the sun. If _smartness_ in trading, or barter, be roguery,
they richly deserve the epithet; but I deny that their intentions are
one whit more dishonest than those of the persons with whom they trade.
That their natural shrewdness and general knowledge give them an
advantage, I am quite ready to admit; and perhaps they are not over-
scrupulous in exercising it to the discomfiture of their less-gifted
neighbours.

Unfortunately, Mr. G. purchased his land of a squatter, who had no
title himself, and consequently could give none to the purchaser, who,
after three or four years of hard labour upon it--when he had fondly
hoped he had surmounted the greatest difficulties--found that the
Government had issued a deed for the benefit of another person before
he came into possession, who could not be induced to give up his legal
rights to the unfortunate cultivator. He was so disheartened by this
occurrence, that he determined to sell all he had and leave the
country, which resolution he put into immediate execution.

He took a passage for himself and family in a ship, timber-laden, from
Quebec, bound for Liverpool. It was late in the fall: the vessel was
one of the last that sailed; consequently, they experienced very rough
weather, accompanied with snow and sleet. Mid-way across the Atlantic,
they encountered a dreadful storm, which left the ship a mere wreck on
the ocean. To add to their misfortunes, a plank had started, owing, it
was supposed, to the shifting of some part of the cargo during the
gale; and so quickly did the vessel fill that they only saved two
eight-pound pieces of salt pork and a few biscuits.

"I had," he said, "also in my pocket, a paper containing two or three
ounces of cream of tartar. Luckily, a cask of water, lashed on deck,
was providentially preserved, amidst the general destruction.

"Our ship's company consisted of the captain, mate