the departure of a numerous army of emigrants. But, even without going into a very lengthened investigation, it would not be difficult to show that the impetus given to trade by these very "pioneers of civilisation and of liberty," and by the demand which they aid in creating, in distant lands, for the manufactured commodities of the Old Country, very speedily restores the amount removed, even with the addition of a profit. There is, however, another source of return which is more apt to be overlooked, and that is, the pecuniary amounts sent home by previous emigrants, in their affectionate desire to aid the relatives and connexions they have left behind to leave the crowded fields of competition at home, and join them in the less occupied, though perchance ruder, scene to which they had withdrawn themselves. To the credit of the warm-hearted sons and daughters of Erin be it said, that this is an especial feature in the emigration from the Emerald Isle, nearly three-fourths of the whole expense of emigration from Ireland being defrayed by remittances made by previous emigrants. As to the amount actually remitted I find it authentically stated that the sum paid in the United States of America, in settlement of the passage money of persons going hence, with the amount remitted on the same account through mercantile firms in Liverpool and different parts of Ireland, (exclusive of that which passed through the house of Baring, Brothers, and Co., of which there was no return,) was in the year 1848 upwards of £460,000.

But the facts last mentioned are only subjects for consideration; They enter not into the general argument of whether it is expedient to adopt measures for the regulation of that tide of emigration which has for some years been so steadily increasing. With many others, I have arrived at the conclusion, that to do so were highly expedient and highly philanthropic. But while the Government and people of these lands, already abundantly supplied with inhabitants, are thus called upon to aid in the promotion of the comfortable translation of such of their fellow-countrymen as may wish expatriation, those of the lands to be supplied from that abundance have even a stronger call, and a deeper interest, in the matter-although this is a view of the question to which much attention has not yet been directed. If emigration, properly conducted, tends to the relief of a too thickly-peopled country, immigration properly conducted will tend to the advancement of a nation whose territory is too extensive for its population. In both cases there is the same necessity for the adoption of controlling measures. Emigration may weaken and impoverish when it should only relieve. Immigration may demoralise and debase, when it should only supply the means of subjugating the soil. If in either case evil is the issue, the fault lies not in encouraging the one or in promoting the other, but in the absence of proper measures of regulation or control. As natives of a land whence numbers of the community are annually removing themselves, it is with emigration that the

British public have to do; and few among them can fail to rejoice at the spirit which has lately manifested itself to adopt measures for the protection and safety of those whom difficulties at home, or any other causes, may induce to seek a new and distant home in Great Britain's numerous and noble colonies, or even

any

of

in other lands.

CHAPTER VIII.

"Lives there the man

Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned,
When home his footsteps he hath turned
From wandering on a foreign strand."

SCOTT.

LEAVE BOSTON AND HALIFAX-VOYAGE HOME-ICEBERGS-SHOAL OF WHALES-SEA-SERPENT AND OLD ENGLAND.

TRITE as is the above quotation, it accurately describes a feeling which more or less pervades every one of whose composition love of country forms a part. We may talk and write of being cosmopolites, and it is right and proper that we should often feel, and generally act, as if we were so. But there is an inner shrine for love of country and home; and strangely constituted must be the heart that can return to the shores of his native land without some feelings of pleasurable emotion. What may be the feelings of the man who has expatriated himself for nearly a lifetime, or even for a series of years, I cannot pretend to say; but this I can affirm, that it was with much satisfaction, excitement, and pleasant

sensation that, the pain of the farewell to my kind friends in Boston over, I found myself on the morning after going on board the steamship Caledonia, Captain Leitch, bounding onwards in the course for the white cliffs of Old England.

A sail of some forty hours brought us to Halifax, the capital of Nova Scotia, which I was agreeably surprised to find both a larger and a better built town than the descriptions of others had led me to expect. The most favourable view of Halifax is from the sea

-as it stands on the declivity of a hill of about two hundred and fifty feet high-the sides of which are thus seen covered with warehouses, dwelling-houses, and public buildings, rearing their heads in rows, one over the other, up to the summit. These buildings are interspersed and enlivened with the spires of the churches, and of some other erections; and, amongst the whole, a rotunda-looking Dutch church and the signal-posts on Citadel Hill stand conspicuous. To these elements add the different batteries-the variety in the style in which the houses are built, and of the colours with which they are painted; the rows of trees showing themselves in different parts of the town; the numerous ships moored opposite the dockyard, with the establishments and tall shears of the latter; the merchant vessels under sail, or at anchor, or moored alongside the wharves; the wooded and rocky scenery of the background, with the island and small town of Dartmouth on the opposite shore-and the reader will see at once that there is much in a view