formed resident has calculated that, when the
province contained the above number of inhabitants, the consumption of
alcoholic liquors, chiefly whiskey, was, excluding children under
fifteen years of age, five gallons a year for every inhabitant;
whilst, in 1843, in England and Wales, where the most accurate returns
of the Excise prove the fact, it is only 0.69 of a gallon; in
Scotland, 2.16; in Ireland, 0.64; and the total consumed by each
individual, not excluding those under fifteen, is only 0.82 per annum
for the three kingdoms. If the children under fifteen in Canada are to
be included, still the consumption of spirit is awful, being 2-3/4
gallons for each; but it must be much higher, since the Excise is not
regulated as at home.

That such excessive drinking prevails in Canada may be attributed
partly to the cheapness of a vile mixture, called Canadian whiskey,
and partly to climate, with a thermometer ranging to 120 deg., and with
such rapid alternations. In Canada, also, man really conquers the
earth by the sweat of his brow; for there is no harder labour than the
preparation of timber, and the subduing of a primeval forest in a
country of lakes and swamps.

I have an instance of the effect of excessive drinking daily before my
door, in the person of a man of respectable family and of excellent
talents, who, after habitually indulging himself with at last the
moderate quantum of _sixty_ glasses of spirits and water a day, now
roams the streets a confirmed idiot, but, strange to say, never
touches the cause of his malady. Are, therefore, not idiocy, madness,
and perhaps two-thirds of the dreadful calamities to which human
nature is subject here, owing to whiskey? I have seen an Irish
labourer on the works take off at a draught a tumbler of raw whiskey,
made from Indian corn or oats, to refresh himself; this would kill
most men unaccustomed to it; but a corroded stomach it only
stimulates.

Canada is a fine place for drunkards; it is their paradise--"Get drunk
for a penny; clean straw for nothing" there. Think, my dear reader, of
whiskey at tenpence a gallon--cheaper than water from the New River in
London. Father Matthew, your principles are much wanted on this side
of Great Britain.

Then, smoking to excess is another source of immense evil in the
Backwoods. A man accustomed only to a cigar gets at last accustomed to
the lowest and vilest of tobacco. I used to laugh at some of my
friends in Seymour, when I