The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-28 00:00:00

British century ago. It was not,
Canada and the Confederation of rebellion a quarter of a
America, however, received until recently with much favour
by any considerable portion of the people of the
colonies. The idea was proclaimed to be good, but
impracticable, or, at all events, premature. Pert
haps, had it not been for the American Civil War,
and the eventualities that may grow out of it, the
notion might still have slumbered in the minds of a
few Canadian statesmen or journalists, or been
mooted only to meet with the opposition of a large
majority, inclined to believe that the ultimate and
preferable destiny of Canada was peaceable incor-
poration with the United States. But no such ma-
; jority and no such minority now exist. Whether
the Federal Union shall be restored, or the States
shall resolve themselves into their original elements,
the determination not only of the Canadians, but of
the people of the maritime provinces is to maintain
their connection with the mother country. If at-
tacked by t)ie Federal Government they will defend
themselves to the last extremity, trusting that in
the day of peril Great Britain will not be so untrue
to her old renown, her unsullied honour, and her
high position among the nations of the earth, or so
insensible to her own security, as to abandon
the faithful colonies that are willing to offer the
blood of their eons in support of their own and
of British rights, and to make their fields and
cities tne brttle ground on which to decide not
alone the liberty of the colonists, but the future
status of Great Britain in the councils of the world.
It is principally as a means of defence against the
Yankees" that the project of a Confederation has
suddenly acquired popularity in British America,
and that a task which six years age seemed all but
hopeless bids fair to be executed with as little diffi-
culty as attended the federation of the thirteen
American colonies after the acknowledgment of
their independence by Great Britain had left them
free to shape their own destiny.
A Convention of delegates to consider the subject
in all its bearings, to hear objections, to be informed
of difficulties, to suggest compromises, and to work
the inchoate system into a consistent whole, meets
in this city on Monday next, the 10th inst. New-
foundland, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia,
New Brunswick, and the two Canadian provinces
will be represented on the occasion. It is understood
from the informal proceedings and the interchange
of ideas between the leading men of the maritime
colonies and those of Upper and Lower Canada
that took place three weeks ago at Charlottetown
that there are in reality no difficulties in the matter
that threaten to be insurmountable, that all the colo-
nies are desirous of union if their local Legislatures
be preserved for local purposes, and that all desire
that the new nation to be thus formed shall stretch
from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains, and in.
chide the Crown colony likely to be established on
the Red River and the Saskatchewan on the land of
the Hudson's Bay Company; that the Confederation
shall be known by one distinct name, and that it
shall,if the Imperial Government raise no objection,
be erected into a viceroyalty under the British
Crown. The greatest difficulty yet started proceeds
from the jealousy of the Anglo-Canadians in Lower
Canada, who, in the necessary separation of the
Canadas into two States, fear that they will be out-
voted in all matters of local self-government by the
French Canadians. It has been suggested that the
Canadas should be divided into three States to
remedy this evil, thus placing the French Canadians
entirely apart to manage their own affairs as their
priesthood may direct. But, as this arrangement
would meet with violent opposition on the part of
the French, and perhaps produce new complica-
tions, the subject will be left for mature delibera-
tion, possibly for the decision of the Home Govern.
ment. It is not anticipated, grave as the matter is,
that the feelings engendered by it on either side in
the Lower Province will be sufficiently envenomed
.to prevent or retard the establishment of the Coe.
federacy.
Mindful of the awkwardness of the title, "The
United States of America," which. is a description
rather than a name, and a description, moreover,
which has temporarily, if not permanently, ceased
to be accurate, it is proposed that the new nation
shall be called either " Acadia" or " Canada." The
latter suggestion meets with most favour. If
adopted, it would be necessary to find other names
for Upper and Lower Canada, which in that case
might not improperly be designated—the one " On-
tario" and the other "St. L a wrence," leaving to the
other States of the Confederacy the names by which
they are now known. The advantages of the Union,
in addition to those of defence against the world,
wcuid include free trade between the several pro-
vinces and a lower tariff on British manufactures
than that which is now imposed in Canada.
It seems to be the hope of all the provinces
that a Prince of the Blood 11)3-al of England
will be deputed to rule over them as hereditary
Viceroy. If they cannot be gratified in this re-
spect they are willing to pay a first-class me.n a
salary of £20,009 or £25,000 per annum, if he will
spend it freely—maintain a proper state and hospi-
tality—and govern them constitutionally and Jibe.
rally, subject alike to the action of their own Par-
liament and the suzerainty of the British Crown.
They believe they hare within themselves all the
elements that will form in due time one of the
greatest nations of the earth, and that their union
under the protecting, but scarcely felt, influence of
the mother country will be the means of leading
to their shores a large portion of the groat stream
of immigration that now flows into the United
States. They believe that they will be able to offer
to the emigrant a liberty more secure than can be
enjoyed in Federal America for many years after
peace ehall have been restored, accompanied by
no such taxation as must oppress the Americans, if
they do not avoid the evil by the repudiation of the
debt. They also believe that they have within
themselecs such resources as need only men and
time to make them a great naval as well as military
Power, end enable them to hold their own against
any enemy that may attack their independence or
insult their flag. Their population at the present
day exceeds that of the 13 colonies when they
formed themselves into the United States, and in
the course of a quarter of a century will probably
amout to 10,000,000. Their climate, if severe, is
more congenial and less debilitating to men of the
European race than the warmer climate of the
more Southern portions of the North American con.
Uncut, and even of the middle regions of Penney!.
vania and Ohio. The project of their Confederation
commends itself se highly to the common sense and
sympathy of mankind that even the bitterest ma.
ligners of Great Britain in the American press
forget their hatred of England to wish it God
speed. It is not likely that either the Imperial
Government_or the British people will wish it
otherwise.

(From the Times' Correspondent.)
QUEBEC, Oct. 5.
Though, as stated in my previous letter from this
city, the Canadians have little or no fear that the
Federal Government will have its hands free enough
for many a year to incur the risk of a war with
Great Britain to gratify the lust of dominion or
avenge imaginary injury, the attitude assumed, or
supposed to be assumed, by the Imperial Govern-
ment on the question of the military defence of the
colony has convinced leading wen of all parties that
there has been too much apathy on the subject, and
that the time has arrived for a better understand.
ing. After long cogitation they appear to have come
to the conclusion that Canada has not done enough,
and must do more if she would persuade the Go-
vernment and taxpayers of- Great Britain that she
values the connection sufficiently to fight for it, The
people also are awakening to the truth that if their
liberty is to be preserved under the shield of British
protection they must pay some portion cf the cost.
A proof of their willingness to
_defend themselves
against aggression is to be seen in the success which
has attended the Volunteer movement, Twenty
thousand of the young men of the two provinces
have already enrolled themselves in the various Yoe
lunteer corps which have been organised in all the
cities of the frontier, from Windsor in the extreme
West to Quebec in the East, and their numbers are
steadily increasing. It only needs the formation and
drill of a sufficient body of militia, drawn, not only
from the great cities, but from the towns and vile
lages of the agricultural districts, to place the de.
fence of Canada on such a footing as would effec•
tually warn the Americans of the peril:of poaching
on that manor. Leading Canadians insist that they
are able and willing to perfect their militia system,
SO as to call out 100,000 men, or even double or
treble that number if their conquest were attempted
by the United States. 'They assert, at the same
time, that the rejection of the Militia Bill intro.
ducedin May, 1862, by the Han. J. A. Macdonald,
Attorney-General for Upper Canada, was wholly
misunderstood in England, and brought upon the
colony much undeserved condemnation on the part
of the British press and people.
A short recapitulation of the intention and defeat
of that measure, of the working of the new Militia
Bill introduced and carried by the succeeding Ad.
ministration, and of the new and larger scheme by
which it is proposed to meet the requirements of
the Imperial Government will show what the
Canadians have done and prefigure what they are
likely to do in this important matter.
Mr John A. Macdonald's bill proposed to enrol
from 30,000 to 50,000 militia men, and to drill
them for one month annually during three or five
years. IV hatever may have been its merits or de-
merits as a scheme, it was brought forward at a
time when the budget of the colony showed a deficit
of nearly one-fifth between income and expenditure,
and the whole cost of the militia system, if it had
been adopted, would have been added to a deficit
already so large as to alarm the whole community.
" Possibly," says Mr R. J. Cartwright, representa.
tive of the city of Kirgeton in the Canadian Par-
liament-, in a recently published and very able pam-
phlet, " had a British Minister been obliged to come
down to the House of Commons with a statement
that there was an annual deficit of £14,000,000
sterling, for which it was necessary to provide by
laying on fresh taxes, and a further intimation that
would require about ten millions more for an en-
tirely new purpose, he, too, might have encountered
similar difficulties."
The measure introduced by the succeeding Mini-
stry under Mr Sandfield M'Donald is of little or no
value. It simply permits the Governor to call out
for drill during six days every year a portion of
the unmarried militiamen between the ages of 18
and 45, and establishes a couple of military schools,
to be attached to the British regiments serving in
Canada, in which militia officers, if they choose to
attend, may be trained for two months. This mew•
sure appears to have passed because its cost was so
trifling. It is wholly inadequate to serve any we-
fa! purpose.
As the financial situation has greatly improved
and the deficit has disappeared, Canada is no longer
in a position to plead poverty as an excuse for the
non-establishment of an effective system of defence.
Neither is she inclined to do so. All classes admit
that Mr Sandfield ..Donald's measure is of no ac-
count ; and as Air. John A. AI Danald and his col-
leaguqs are again in office, and well inclined to
grapple with the difficulties, of the subject, there is
a likelihood that a much larger measure than that
which frightened the Canadians in 1826 will be
brought forward at the next meeting of the Legis.
lature. Mr. Cartwright, in the pamphlet already
quoted from, thus lays down the leading proposi-
tions,wh lob he has already supported,and will again
support in Parliament, as adequate, in his opinion,
to meet the necessities of the situation both as re.
gerds Canada and Great Britain.

First—That,taking into consideration the peculiar
position of Canada, it is indispensable to have a die.,
tine understanding or treaty with the Imperial
Government, in which the contribution which
CAnada as a province of the Empire ought to make
towards her own defence shall be precisely defined.
Second—That the Volunteers shall not form a
part of this force, whatever it may amount to, but
shall be auxiliary to and in addition to the militia.

Third—That, as the number required will pro..
bably be too large to be called out simultaneously,
they shall be drilled in annual detachments of so
many thousat d a year, each detachment to serve
for six mouths in the open field.
Fourth—That the militia after six months' in -
atruetlon shall be thenceforward free from all fur.

thcr duty in time of peace, bat shall be liable for a
period of ten years in case of war, and that after
ten years they shall be formed into a reserve, not to
be called out cx-...ept in extreme emergency.
Mr. Cartwright is of opinion that if the Imperial
Government does not require Canada to contribute
more than from 50,000 to 100,000 men as her quota,
exclusive of the Volunteers, the militia to this ex.

teat may be so organised and adjustified as to be
maintained by the resources of Canada without
extraneous aid of any kind. If, however, a sudden
emergency should arise before the scheme could be
fairly carried out,—if war sere made upon Canada,
not because she was Canada, but because she was a
portion of the British empire, Canada would not be
able to train and drill so many men, on short notice,
without the assistance of a loan at 3 per cent.
(amount not stated) from the Imperial Government.
Mr Cartwright sums up curtly the existing relations
between Canada and the Imperial Government on
the question of defence. "If Canada," he says, "ie
to be held coute qui coute, in the event of war, the
Canadians will do their best and be willing and
vigorous allies. If Canada wilt not, or cannot be

Metropolitan Poor.

kept, and England wishes the Canadians to ask for

their independence, the Canadians ought to be in.

The encicsed directions were sent out yesterday
evening to the guardians of the Metropolitan
Unions and parishes with regard to the act 'provide
ing for the Metropolitan Houseless Poor, passed at
the close of the last session. The act has been re•
ceived with great favour by all the union and pa•
roclaial authorities; but they applied to the Poor
Law Board to issue a circular explaining the pro-
visions of the act :
Poor Law Board, Whitehall, S,W., Oct. 26.
Sir,—On the 4th of August last the Poor Law Board ad-
dressed to the guardians of the several unions and parishes
within the mstropol's a circular letter, directing attention
to the provisions of the Metropolitl:n Houselees Po.r Act,
1861, passed during the last session, and requesting to be
informed of the nature and extent of the arrangements
which the guardians 'proposed to make with the view of
securing the objects of the Legislature in pa:ming that ruin

formed of the fact without further delay that they
may act accordingly. If, on the other hand, Eng-
land will stand by Canada to the last on certain
conditions, it is time that those conditions should be

frankly and fully stated, All this is reasonable, and

it is utterly impossible to doubt the loyalty of the
people and their earnest desire to maintain the con-

nection under which they enjoy so much true liberty
at so little cost. It is to be regretted that upon the
militia question, or any other, there should arise a
raisunderstandit, which a little explicitness on the

part of the Imperial Government Nv- (Paid rEmove for
ever. If it be distinctly told the Canadians that
100,00 Lam are in the estimation of thußritish

Government necessary for their safety nod defence,
io addition to the military and naval aid which,
in the event of war, Great Britain will be prepared
to send them, Canada will riise the 100,000 men
With all possible
.culerity, or double the number
Al;ou1d eircnrnstnnces compel. Such, et least, is the
impression left upon my mind cc the result of my
conversations upon the subject with all classes of
t; ,^ rl7°P!r; frcrn the racrnbers of Government down-

sure.
The Board have recently received several communica-
tions requesting information on various points connected
with the act, and it appears desirable, therefore, that they
should state, for tho guidance of the guardians generally,
their views upon the claiet 'natters which hsve been
brought under their notice.
In the first pito; it is important to observe that the poor
persons included within the operation of the act are desti-
tante wayfarers, wanderers,and fousdfings, being the class
ef paupers provided for by the 11th and 12th Vic,;cap. 110,
see. 1., an,l thereby rendered chargeable upon the common
funtl of unions. As the present statute only refers to
paupers relieved during the night, the Baird thick that
there will seldom be much ditlimlty in deciding %hat
cases come withia its provisions. The objects to bo re.
Tiered will be houselcss persons, but the board think it right
to observe that they wort, advid by c.:,untel on, a question

BA the quesam of the important as it is,
Imes some of its prc-ent interest in the discussion of
larger rincstion of the Confederation of British
• - 15 not a tew en,„2 having been
sf-veral times bro:-41cd with more or less authority
n the interval which has eiapacd cinea the Papineau

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