The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-16 00:00:00

The English Press and the Defence of

Canada,

In the Legislative Council of Canada, on the 24th
ult., the Hon. Mr. Currie spoke as follows on the
address :

Hon. Mr. CURRIE said the hon, gentleman who
had just sat down had been unfortunate in the lan-
guage he had made use of with reference to the
militia of this province. He (Mr. Currie) was not
one of those who would stand tamely by, when
either the peers of England or the press of England
attacked the legislature or the people of this coun-
try for not evincing that proper interest in militia
affairs which they conceive ought to be evinced.
For what were the facts? With a population of
less than three millions, we had at the present mo-
ment in Canada a volunteer force of 25,000 men,
uniformed, well drilled, and supplied with every
material for active service, while in Great Britain
and Ireland, where the press had undertaken to
lecture us for our apathy, with a population of
thirty millions, the whole of their volunteer force,
on April 1, 2862, amounted to 162,000 men—
whereas the 'number, if the same in proportion to
population as the number in Canada, ought to have
exceeded 300,000 men. While in 1862 the people
of Canada were taxed upwards of half a million for
' the support of their volunteer force, all that was
paid from the public exchequer for the support of
1 the volunteer force in England in that year was only
42,000 dols. As a Canadian he felt proud of these
facts, and thought the legislature might afford
to speak out manfully and boldly in its own
justification. (Hear, hear.) He did not say he
was satisfied with what had been dcns, and would
say that we ought to do more, but he thought that
instead of being upbraided for our apathy, we
should receive credit for what had already been
accomplished. It was no small matter for a young
country like Canada, in the course of a year or two
to raise and equip 25,000 soldiers; yet he was sure
that if needed the number could be doubled. The
volunteer movement had shown that the people pre-
ferred that mode of organisation to the old militia
system, and the Government were therefore fully
justified in the course they had pursued.
Hon. Mr. CAMPBELL begged to allude briefly to
the remarks of the hon. gentleman (Mr. Currie), on
the temper of the British legislature and press to-
wards Canada in respect of the provision made for
defence. He was quite aware that in the part of
the province from which the hon. member himself
came great progress had been made in the organisa-
tion of volunteers, which was due very much to the
personal exertions of the hon. gentleman himself,
but it pained him to hear the hon. member speak as
he had done of the parliament and press of the
mother country. For his part he held that they
bad shown no disposition to treat Canada otherwise
than in a fair and proper spirit. The feeling in
England, to which the hon. member had alluded,
was exhibited at a time when the exertions Canada
was making for defence were unknown, and he was
sure the British people were only anxious that all
should be amply protected in case war should break
out. There had been nothing selfish in their
feelings, for they had nothing to gain in the
matter. All they desired was our perfect safety ;
and as they were exerting themselves for us at
great cost, they thought, and correctly, that they
had a right to speak. But so far as the language
used in the British Parliament was concerned, he
had been urtable to discover that it failed in conside-
ration towards this country. Tnen, referring to the
comparison drawn by the hon. member between the
volunteer movement in England and Canada, he had
forgotten that the people of England kept a large.
standing army and a powerful and costly navy'
that they built and maintained fortifications over
half of the world, and had to find men and money
for all these purposes. He would repeat that,
highly as he admired the spirit exhibited by the
volunteers, he could not feel that the country would
be safe in relying exclusively upon such defence.
We should do all that can be done, and endeavour
to cherish kindly thoughts towards the mother
country.

Hon. Mr. 3.,100RE said ho thought Mr. Carrie
was fully justified in speaking as he had done of the
tone of many articles in the English press.

Hon. Mr: CURRIE said no one thought more of
the British army end navy than he did, but at the
same time he did not feel it necessary to allow the
country to be misrepresented and belittled. He
would be the last man to say aught that would tend
to dissever the ties with the mother country;
but when he found the leader of a large political
party in the province saying, at a great demon-
station, that a large proportion of the people of both
sections were disloyal, he felt that it was no great
wonder that the statesmen and press of England
should speak and write as they did about us. When
statements such as that he referred to crossed the
Atlantic, it was not surprising that the press and
people of England should be in some measure
deceived by such misrepresentations. If ever there
was a time in the history of our country when we
ought to be united, it was the present time, and it
was much to be regretted that one political party
should bring against another such reckless and base-
less charges of disloyalty. (Hear, hear.) If ever
our whule people were thoroughly, and truly loyal,
they were so now, and the recollection of the spirit
evinced by the whole people at the time of the
Trent difficulty, and of the way in which the British
troops had been received on their arrival in this
province, ought to have prevented the hon. gentle-
man from bringing so unworthy and unfounded a
charge against his political opponents. (Cheers.)

LA JEUNESSE PARISIENNE!— Ce que c'est quo la
jeunesse ! the old gentlemen cry, sitting in the
strait-laced, severe cafe, under the Pettus Royal, whence
Camille Desmoulins issued to address the angry mob, and
inaugurate the Revolution. Jcunesse, it must be confessed,
has gone a little mad in Paris. Jeunesse reads Dumas the
Younger and Figaro, and the "Yellow Dwarf," and is
pleased to glance at the free-and-easy morals pictorially
developed in the Journal Amusant. A very serious gen-
tleman of the old school, who has passed his life doing solid
work, a well-informed high-minded but not brilliant man,
who loves the classics of his country, and has made some
sacrifices in an endeavour to spread the knowledge of them
among his countrymen, said to me a few days ago, " It is
frightful to contemplate, this Jeunesse of ours : smoking at
the cafés ; supping at the Maison Doree ; driving about the
Bois de Boulogne; chaffing, and snapping jewelled fingers
at every honourable relation of life ; ignorant as a chigimnier
—with Shame, in an Indian shawl, on its arm. I look at
the noisy, gaudy crowds, laughing along the asphaltum,
and wonder what the next generation will be. 'What can
it be ?"

NEW PICTURES AT THE LOUVRE.—It appears,
from the last report of the Superintendent of the
Beaux Arts, that the number of paintings in the galleries
of the Louvre, the Luxembourg, and Versailles, which in
1849 amounted to 10,000, has been increased by 80 pictures
of various schools, some of them of great value. Among
these additions are a Holy Family, by Perugin, considered
as the chef d'oeuvre of that master ; and a portrait of Baron
Vicq, by Rubens These two pictures were bought at the
sale of the gallery of the King of the Netherlands. The
price paid for the former was 53,302 f. ; and for the latter,
15,9341. In 1852, the Conception, by Murillo, was bought
at the sale of the pictures of Marshal Soult for 613,3,,0f.,
and placed in the Museum of the Louvre; also a marine
subject of Vandervelde, for 11,5501. In 1854 four now
pictures were bought for the Louvre, one of which, pre-
sented by the Emperor, is a Murillo (the Virgin sur-
mounted by Glory). In 1858 eighteen pictures were added,
including five works of Murillo, Zurbaran, and Herrera le
Vieux, which cost 300;000f. Two paintings of Rubens
were bought in 1859, and nine in 1861, including a Hob-
hema (a Windmill), bought for 52,500 f. Last year there
were five pictures added, including a Velasquez —a full.
length portrait of Philippe IV., which cost 23,000 f. The
Chapter of Notre Dame also last year presented to the
Louvre forty-one pictures of the French school. Among
these is the Magnificat, which Jouvenet, having become
paralysed, painted with the left hand in the year 1716.—
Tails Correspondent of the Building New s.
SALE OF THE LATE SIR TATTON SYKES'S STUD.--
The sale of thoroughbred blood stock, the property of the
late Sir Tatton S;kes, Bart., was brought to a close on
Saturday evening at Sledmere, Yorkshire, the Messrs.
Tattersall having during the three days, Thursday, Fri-
day, and Saturday, disposed of the whole 313 lots, in the
presence of a vast number of noblemen, gentlemen,
farmers, and breeders, from all parts of the world, there
being representatives present from France, Russia, Austria,
Prussia, Hungary, Italy, China, Australia, Scc. The first
days' sale on Thursday realised 9,803 guineas, Friday 6,454
guineas, and Saturday 7,914 guineas. Thetotal of the three
days sale amounted to 24,171 guineas, Which was deemed
remarkably good sum, although Fandango, who cost the
late Sir Tatton 3,000, was sold to go into Hungary for 500 ;
and Colsterdale, who cost 1,000, was sold to Mr, J, Osborne
for 300,