Page:Public School History of England and Canada (1892).djvu/249

 Canada, too, suffered by the farmers being taken away from their farms to serve in the militia, many of them never returning to their homes, and many others returning wounded and crippled. To the latter the Government gave small pensions for life; and the widows and orphans of the killed received small grants of money. The country was too peor to pay heavy pensions, or to recompense families for the loss of their bread-winners. During the war the British Government had spent large sums in the colony, and this for a time seemed to make it prosperous. But when the struggle was over, and the expenditure ceased, the effects of the cruel conflict began to be felt. For afew years there were hard times, and these were made worse by the failure of the wheat crop in Lower Canada. So great was this failure that the Governor, on his own authority, took the public money to help the farmers to buy seed, and the Lower Canadian Parliament, the next year, voted a still larger sum. But the colony soon recovered its prosperity, for the soil was fertile and the people were hardy and industrious. Efforts were made to bring in settlers by offering free passages across the ocean and one hundred acres of land to each man, besides giving him help the first year of his settlement on a farm. Very unwisely Americans were not allowed to become citizens of Canada, the Government fearing and disliking them. ‘This was one of the bad effects of the recent war. The years from 1815 to 1820 saw a great many people settle in Canada from Great Britain and Ireland. The county of Lanark was settled about this time by immigrants from Scotland, and the failure of the crops in Ireland brought in 1820 many Irish to Canada. There was a growth not only in population but also in trade, commerce, and manufactures. In the absence of good roads, grain and other products of Upper Canada had to be taken down to Montreal and Quebec by water. The rapids of the St. Lawrence prevented vessels from coming up, so large flat-bottomed or “Durham” boats floated down the river from Kingston to Montreal, laden with goods. These boats were then sold as it did not pay to bring them up the rapids. After a while, as the trade grew larger, canals were built between Kingston and Ottawa, and along the St. Lawrence below Prescott. These we know as the Rideau and Lachine Canals. Further west a more important work was begun in 1819. This was the building of a canal between Lakes Erie and