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

Canada and the Confederation of British
America.

(From the Times' Correspo;?clent.)
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 defenee of the
colony has convinced leading men of all parties that
there has been too much apathy on the subject, and
that the time has arrived for a better understand•
in g. 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 of 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 Vo-
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 effect•
tunny warn the Americans of the peril:of poaching
oa 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•
duced in May, 1862, by the Hon. 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. Ail 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•
tivc of the city of Kingston 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
hying 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 eges 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 bo trained for two months. This mea•
sure appears to have passed because its cost was so
trifling. It is wholly inadequate to serve any tree-
Sul 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. Ail classes admit
that Mr Sandfield M•Donala's measure is of no ac-
count ; and as Mr. John A. M'Donald and his col-
leoguqs are again in effiee, 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,which he has already snpported,and will agaic
support in Parliament, as adequate, in his opinion,
to meet the necessities of the situation both as re•
Bards Canada and Great Britain.

First—That,taking into consideration the peculiar
position of Canada, it is indispensable to have a dis,
ticct understanding or treaty with the Imperial
Government, in which tho 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 oat simultaneously,
they shall be drilled in annual detachments of so
many thousand a year, each detachment to serve
for six months in the open field.
Fourth—That the militia after six months' in•
struction shall be thenceforward free from all far-
ther duty in time of peace, bat shall be liable for a
period of ten years in case of war, and that after
tun years they shall be formed into a reserve, not to
be called out except in extreme emergency.
Mr. Cartwright is of opinion that it' 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.
tent may be so organised and adjastified as to be
meintained 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 vi ore 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.
MrCartwright sums up curtly the existing relations
between Canada and the Imperial Government on
the question of defence. "If Canada," he says, "is
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 will not, or cannot be
kept, and England wishes the Canadians to ask for
their independence, the Canadians ought to be in.
formed of the fact without further delay that they
may act accordingly. If, en 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
misunderstanding which a little explicitness on the
part of the Imperial Government would remove for
ever. If it be distinctly told the Canadians that
100,000 men are in the estimation of the British
Government necessary for their safety and defence,
in addition to the military and naval aid which,
in the event of war, Great Britain will be prepared
to send them, Canada will raise the 100,000 men
with all possible celerity, or double the number
should circumstances ccmpel. Such, at least, is the
impression left upon my mind as the result of my
conversations upon the subject with all classes of
the people, from the members of Government down-
wards.

Bat the question of the Militia, important as it is,
loses some of its present interest in the discussion of
the larger question of the Confederation of British
Americe. The project is not a new one, having been
several times broached with more or less authority
n the interval which has elspsed sine,: the Papineau