The Sun.
London, England, 1837-12-23 00:00:00

they were at the commencement of a Parliament; and
therefore could not feel any assurance that many Members
would be found disposed to oppose the Court. But, whe-
ther the House or the Government did or did not pursue the
course which he recommended, he anticipated that the period
ould shortly arrive when the consequences of the breaking
out of the war should become manifest, and when the oppo-
sition of Government to liberal principles should be more dis-
tinctly marked, the great majority of the people would de-
clare themselves in favour of the cause which now met with
SO few supporters in that House. \Vhen the people expe-
rienced all the evils of war, when they found their comforts
diminished, when they found all improvement stopped, when
they found all attempts at national education at an end, their
eyes would be opened, and they would raise their voices against
a policy productive of so much mischief.
Mr. YOUNG observed that it was a melancholy aad hu-
miliating spectacle to see an Hon. Member of that House rise
in his place for the purpose of dwelling on and exaggerating
(though certainly not intentionally) the disasters which
threatened his country, pointing out the parts in which it was
most vulnerable, and showing how a colonial population, in a
sate of revolt, might triumph over the law. The Honourable
Gentleman reminded him of the advice given to the Irish
people—

" Then put your trust. in Gm!, my boys,
But keep your powder dry;"
for he suggested the mode of warfare which would have the
most deadly effect on her Majesty's troops. He (Mr. Young)
should not have expected this from any Honourable Member,
still less from a person holding the rank in society of the
Honourable Baronet the Member for Leeds. The whole of
the Honou, able Baronet's statement was pervaded by falla_
cies. Such, however, was too much thepractice of that small
knot of politicians at the head of whom (now that the late
Member for Bath was no longer in that House) the Honour-
able Baronet had placed himself, who professed to monopo-
lise all information respecting the condition of Canada. There
were many Members of that House, however, who were fully
as well informed on that question. While the Honourable
Baronet endeavoured to throw the House into a state of de-
spondency on the subject, he ( Mr. Young) proceeding on
sound and solid in'ormatioo, would present to the House a ye, y
different picture. The effect of the Honourable Baronet's ad-
dress to the House would be to stimulate the discontented in
Canada to effort. The Honourable Baronet had said that the

desertion from her Majesty's troops was enormous. He (Mr.
Young) could tell the Honourable Baronet that there had been
much less desertion since the existence of the present dis-
turbances than before. The Honourable Baronet also spoke
of Lower Canada as if all the people were averse to British
rule and British connection. Now, that was far from being
the fact. The inhabitants of Lowcr Canada were composed
of one quarter belonging to the British party, and three
quarters belonging to r the French party. The British portion
were all but universally in favour of British connection and
lititish rule ; and the French party were not so generally
averse to that connection and rule as the Hon. Baronet ap-
peared to believe. In fact, they were a peaceable, quiet,
orderly set of persons ; and, in the main, were much attached
to British rule and connection. The priests, who had great
influence over them, were of similar sentiments ; and when
the Hon. Baronet talked of the causes of the present distur-
bances, let him not look so far off as Canada itself. In esti-
mating those causes, he (Mr. Young) could not leave out of
his consideration the inflammatory harangues made, not only
to the population of Lower Canada, but much nearer home--
as, within those walls—a course of conduct which, he re-
gretted to observe, was not abandoned, although the standard
of insurrection had been raised in the colony. As to the
increased value of Canada to this country in the event of a
separation, he was prepared to disprove the suppositons of
the Hon. Member for Bridport. The three advantages which
this country at present enjoyed from the connection with Ca-
nada were, first, that it afforded an outlet for our manufac-
tures; secondly, that it employed British shipping; thirdly,
that it afforded facilities for emigration. He would advert to
the second branch, with which he was the most acquainted.
la the first place, however, he begged to remark that he did
not think the question should be placed on the narrow ground
of how much benefit or how much loss would result from the
separation of Canada from Great Britain. National justice
and national honour were the considerations which it was
more imperative to attend to. But as to the advantages
which British shipping would derive from the separation, the
lion. Baronet perfectly in error when he said that the
advantages which British shipping had derived from the
separation from the United States was a parallel case,
exemplifying the advantages which British shipping would
derive from a separation from Canada. Did the Ho-
nourable Gentleman know that almost all the existing
carrying trade between Great Britain and the United
States was in American bottoms? That was the fact; and
therefore there was no ground for the inference which the
Hon. Gentlemen attempted to draw. He (Mr. Young) re-
peated that national justice and national honour were the con-
siderations which ought to be kept especially in view. He
was astonished at the sarcastic allusions which had been made
by the Hon. Member for Westminster to the rich meadows
which had been granted and set apart for the Land Company,
as affording rich prizes to those engaged in the present con-
test. If the Legislature, granting these lands, had induced
the proprietors to invest capital in cultivation, were not theie
proprietors entitled to protection ? Had the numerous per-
sons who had been induced to emigrate to C!nada no right
to be protected? Were we to give up the possession of poli-
tical power in Canada into the hands of those who would exer-
cise the most writhing tyranny on all those who were friendly
to British connection and British rule? For these reasons

he ( Mr. Young) thought the Honourable Member for
Ashburton perfectly justified in the indignation which he
had expressed on the subject. As to the causes of existing
events, they might be a fitting matter for consideration at
a future period. But when the house was in a flame,
that was not a time to suspend exertions for its extinction
for the purpose of inquiring into the cause of the conflagra-
tion. The Honourable Member for Bridport might indulge
in his philosophical harangues, but he would not eradicate the
conviction of the advantages of our colonial possessions from
the minds either of the House or of the country so easily
as he and his little band seemed to think. He be-

lieved that there was no justifiable foundation whatever for
the endeavour now made to subvert the British authority in
Canada.—( Hear, hear.) He believed that :he attempt had
tlo sympathy, no support in the feelings or wishes of the
great mass of the Canadian people—(Hear, hear)—and he
was satisfied that if the contingency were to arise which had
been suggested by the Hon. Member for Bridport (Mr. War-
burton)—if they the Members of the House of Commons were
about to return to their constituents. it would be found that
the great majority of the people of Great Britain would re-
spond to the sentiments expressed by the Noble Lord (Lord
J. Russell) when he said that he conceived it to be the duty
of the Government to do everything in its power to maintain
the British authority in Canada. He believed that the
people of Great Britain would rather reject the men, who,
like the Hon. Member for NVestminister wished to lay the
honour and justice of this country prostrate at the feet of a
few unprincipled and selfish agitators than they would those
who declared that they would maintain the authority of Great
Britain in Canada inviolate, even though it should unhappily,
for a time at least, be necessary to employ the strong hand to
attain that end.—( Hear.) It was well known that he (Mr.
Young) had attached himself to no party in that House; but
until order and obedience to the laws were restored in Canada
he should feel bound to give his humble support to the Govern.
merit in any step they might deem necessary to secure the au-
thority of Great Britain in that province.—( Hear.)
Mr. GROTE, in the few observations which he should

make upon the present crisis, did not intend to expose himself
to anything like a charge of using expressions of triumph and
exultation—expressions which had been most improperly end
most unjustly applied by the Hon. Member who spoke last,
and by seceral other speakers on the other side of the House,
to the Hon. Gentlemen who sat behind him (Mr. Grote).
His own feelings upon the subject was ono of deep sadness
and concern.—(Hear, hear, hear.) If, indeed, there
were in his bosom one lurking feeling of triumph, it

'rested solely upon the recollection that he was one of the very
areal minority who offered their most strenuous opposition to
the fatal resolutions of the last Session, and which had given
birth to all the present disasters in Canada. —( Hear.) He
would not leave the responsibility of those resolutions upon his
conscience, taking them in connection with all the consequences
to which they were destined to give birth, for anything that
c)uld be offered him.—( Hear.) There was no part of his
public conduct to which he looked back with such unqualified
gratification, as to that in which he, united with a few others,
bed carried his opposition to the utmost verge that the forms
of the House would allow, to prevent, if possible, the passing
of anything so unjust as thosu resolutions to which all the pre-
sent calamities of Canada were attributable. Every prediction
which the opponents of the resolutions ventured to hazard
had since been verified, and more than verified, in the way
of calamitous consequences.—( Hear, hear.) However disa-
greeable it might be to the Honourable Gentleman opposite

To entertain the idea of separation from Canada, he vva'squite
sure that no person could weigh the subject well without
seeing that that topic must, before long, be brought under
the mature consideration of every reflecting man in the
kingdom. When the resolutions of last year were under dis-
cuFsion, he ( Mr. Grote) said that there were two things, either
of which it was desirable (though certainly not equally desir-
able) to accomplish—either an amicable union, or at least an
amicable separation.—( Hear.) From the present posture of
affairs he very much feared that neither the one nor the other
of these alternatives would soon be within their reach. Not-
withstanding the urgency of the time, and the great changes
of circumstances which had since taken place, he regret-
ted to find the same tone adopted by the Government
and the Honourable Gentlemen who supported the views
of the Government, as that by which they seemed to be
inspired when the fatal resolutions were under discussion.
Ile regretted to find the same confidence expressed by the
Government and by so many Honourable Gentlemen on the
opposite side of the House, that it wanted only the expres-
sion of a strong opinion from a large majority in the British Parliament at once to put down all idea of resistance in the
minds of the people of Canada. Last year all the distur-
bances, all the disquiet of the province was attributed to a few
agitators who were talked of as insignificant and unworthy
of a serious regard ; and even now the same language was
held, although occurrence after occurrence took place to show
that such talk was nothing better than the grossest delusion.—
( Hear, hear.) It had been asserted by many Gentlemen in
the course of the debate that there was no analogy between
the present state of Canada and that of the provinces of the
United States in 1774. But he had not heard one single
argument to prove to him that there was any disparity what.
ever between the two cases. He contended not only that the
treatment of England towards Canada was analogous to that
of the treatment of England towards the United States, but
that the grievances of which the Canadians complained were
also in every respect exactly
.analogous to the grievances of which
' the United States complained.—( Hear, hear.) The prin.

Gut of the right of the British
That was
estates the
iin
cipal grievance arose, in fa.
Government to take the peC”lei money.
ettad of
I,t.liner:s
of the (lotted
complaintnnsudbsttiiae
,the resolu-
tions ground of the complaint
1771 ;it was also the tthief Lsubstan-
tially
their
of Canada at the present evin:ent.
r own roily:the
tions of last year the Canadian People'
tially deprived of all control over the.
own treasury. —( Hear, hear, hear.) He had lists'ned with
surprise to the Honourable Member foe Newark (M:. Glad-
stone) when he said, as he had done that evening, that it was
not a mere speculative grievance or grievanc:p of principie,. bet
a series of protracted oppressions which led the United State=
of America to shake off the yoke of Britain. That statement:
was entirely inaccurate. It was not necessary to read more
than the speech of Mr. Burke upon the subject, to be convinced
that the resistance of the Americans arose entirely- out of the
assumed right of the British Parliament to tax them without
consulting their own Legislature. In point of fact the British
Parliament did nut take any money—did not exercise the right
it claimed in that respect ; it was th.a mere claim of the right
tihich caused the bloody and protracted war in which the
Americans engaged, and in which they would rather
have died than submit to what they conceived to be the
injustice and tyranny of the mother ,country. He believed
that no greater practical grievance had been entailed
upon Canada, any more than upon the United States,
but the British Legislature unfortunately assumed over the
former, as it had done over the latter, a right of control, which,
however the Noble Lord the Member for Streud (Lord J.
Russell) might regard it, he was sure would have been consi-
dered by the Lord John Russell of former days, and by Al.
gernon Sydney, as equal to a sentence of slavery.—( Hear,
hear.) Although he admitted that in the present circum-
stances the question of union or separatioo between the
mother country and the colony was accompanier! with diffi-
culties peculiar to the time, yet he maintained that the
British Legislature must not fear or even delay to face the
evils of which it had itself been the cause.—(Hear.) After
matters had conic to such a pass as that in which they now stood
in Canada, how could the British Legislature hope to govern
the colony except by superiority of force—how could it ever
hope that its occupation of the country should be other
than ono of continual disturbance, revolting to the feelings
of those who bad to keep it, and absolutely intolerable to
those who had to submit to it.—( Hear, hear.) Surely the
material advantages, in point of wealth and commerce,
must be great indeed if they could be worth purchasing at
the cost of eternal coercion, and an unceasing struggle to put
down the feelings of the great mass of the Canadian people.
—( Hear, hear.) Whether the state of affairs in Canada was
as serious as had been represented or not, it was, at all
events, certain that a series of disturbances had taken place ;
and that the tendency of timings was such, as to render the
continuance of pacific government scarcely to be expected
under any circumstances ; even if the House were disposed,
wiich he did not think it was, to adopt a conciliatory course,
it was much to be feared that it would now fail of producing
that harpy effect which, if adopted at an earlier period, it
would have undoubtedly secured.—( Hear hear.) Although
sufficient information had not yet been received to enable

them to estimate the extent to which the flame of rebellion had
spread, they had still sufficient knowledge upon the subject,
to convince them that all the care and attention of the Go-
vernment would be required to meet the difficulty in which the
country and the colony were involved.—( Hear, hear.) He
should be pleased to find that the rebellion had not reached
the height which many gentleman seemed to anticipate, be-
cause it might give time to the Government to retrace, and
perhaps retrieve, its policy. —( Hear, hear.) In conclusion
he implored the House to allow the present disturbances
of Canada to serve as a warning for the future, and instead
of indulging at all times, when the rights and interests of
the colony were discussed, in a tone of triumph at the supe-
rior power of England, to allow a little space for concilia-
tion and justice, and to deal with the Canadians as they
would with men who, though freemen like themselves,
were still desirous of remaining, if they could so with ho-
nour, in connection with England as their mother country.
Sir IL H. INGLIS thought that the want of interest
taken in this matter was perfectly extraordinary, when its vast
importance was considered. It was plain, from the accounts
received, that the colony was at this momet at open war with
the mother country ; therefore, unless Ministers were prepared
to take the whole responsibility of meeting the exigency
of the case upon their own shoulders, they ought not to al.
low Parliament to separate for forty-eight hours, much less
for three weeks. He denied, in opposition to the statement
made by the Honourable Member for Westminster (Mr.
Leader), that either he or the party with whom he acted
were disposed to become, or had ever been, the advocates of
an unjust war, but tliy were the decided advocates for up-
holding the British authority in Canada.—( Hear.) The
Hon. Member for Brilport had talked of an amicable separa-
tion. Was this a time to entertain the notion of an amicable
separation ?—( Hear.) It was idle to talk in such a strain.
He ( Sir IL Inglis) hoped that the Canadians would soon be
reduced to that state of subjection in which he believed the
great mass of the population desired to find themselves.
The desire to uphold the British authority in Canada was
not confined to that portion only of the population which
was of British birth ; it extended in a very great degree to
those who were of French origin.—(llear, hear, hear.) The
Honourable Member for Bridport had dwelt much
upon the necessity of discussing this subject with calm-
ness and temper ; and yet in the course of his own
speech the Hon. Member had indulged in expressions which,
to say the least of them, were the very reverse of calm. He
( Sir IL Inglis) denied the existence of abstract rights in any
man or any body of men. He maintained that the only rights
which the Canadians wero entitled to urge were, the rights of
a pacific Constitution awarded to them by a conquering Power.
Beyond those rights, so conceded, any attempt to demand
me; e was, and ought to be, considered an act of insurrection.
Every rational man, too, would sec that the real independence
and liberty of the people of Canada were more likely to be sa-
crificed by the acts of the present rebels than by any Act
of the British Legislature. The Honourable Baronet con-
cluded by expressing a hope that the Government would not
adjourn the House tor more than the shortest possible period.
Captain PEC HELL lamented the tone and manner in
which that discussion had been carried on, and he must
especially express his dissent from the observations of the '
Honourable Baronet the Member for Leeds, relative to the
probability that Nova Scotia and New Brunswick would be
found making common cause with Canada, and to the de-
sertion which was likely to take place from the ranks of
the British army, in case of open hostilities. Nova Scotia
and New Brunswick were in precisely the same situation
now as was the province of Canada during the la'e war with
the United States. Canada might then have easily joined
those States, but had not so done; and the same reason
which restrained the Canadians then would actuate the in-
habitants of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick at the present
day : and with respect to desertions, they all knew what in-
decements were held out in the American war, and how
firmly all overtures had been resisted by the British soldiers.
He anticipated, therefore, none of the evils from these
sources which were dreaned by the Honourable Baronet ;
and he hoped that whatever might be the ultimate extremity
referred to in that discussion, Ministers would not agree to
the advice of the Hon. Baronet the Member for Oxford, and
would not consent to any proposition for a shorter adjourn-
ment ; he thought that such a shortening of the vacation
would be most unsatisfactory—( Hear, hear)—and he trusted
that the House and the country would rely on the good intent
and discretion of her Majesty's Ministers.
Mr. MACLEAN hoped the House would duly feel the
importance of the subject under discussion, and he was
of opinion that the Imperial Parliament ought, without loss
of time, to enter upon a full consideration of the situation
of the Canadas, and, if it were deemed necessary, to send to
those colonies the opinions of the House and of the coun-
try. The sooner the House entered upon the question, the
sooner they expressed that opinion, the better it would
he for the character of the House and for the interest of the

provinces. He could not help remarking the discrepancy,
also, which existed between the arguments used by the
Honourable Member for Bridport, in the case of the Canadas,
and the arguments which he had held in that House in rela-
tion to other parts of the Brittih dominions. He said that it
did not signify to his argument (even were he to admit that
the language and conduct pursued by the leaders of the po-
pular party in that country might be rebellious, that it
might even be treasonable), that it signified nothing
whatever as to the value of his deductions, that there had

been overt acts of treason, or even open rebellion. Was Ca-
nada, or was it not, to be considered as an independent coun-
try ? Did not the Hon. Member see that, being a depen-
dent colony, if he were to push his argument to the extreme,
and were to follow it out, it might apply to any other colony
which might take the same course which Canada had pursued,
and would he then declare that the intention of the Legisla-
ture and of the Crown were to be frustrated, because they
were not in accordance with the views of a small majority in
the colony ? If the argument were brought nearer home, and
to a country separated only by the sea, as Canada was—if
they came nearer to oar own shores, would the Honour-
able Member declare that the inhabitants were justified in a
rebellion, because acts did not pass the Legislature in accord.
ance with the feelings and the opinions of the majority ? It
was clear that the Canadas formed part of the colonies belong-
ing to this country, though it had a Local Legislature ; and
at first they had conferred with the mother country as to the
course to be pursued. It was the intention of the colony to
submit its grievances to the Imperial Parliament ; Committee
after Committee had been appointed,
the opinion of the
Legislature had been unequivocally declared, and ought the
colony now to hesitate in the adoption of this decision ?
Surely it ought to be bound by the course which Parliament
had taken.—(Oh, oh.) The Hon. Member said " Oh, oh"
—(Laughter)—but did he mean to say that a majority ought
to make any objection after they had submitted their in-
terests to the consideration of Great Britain ? What ! be-
cause they were to submit to the opinions of the majo-
rity, were they to impeach the decision of the mother
country, given as it was after a full debate? Were they
to preach up the doctrine that when Parliament, by a large
and overwhelming majority, had sent out its resolutions, were
they to be met by the declaration of the Canadian Legisla-
ture mentioned by the Hon. Member for Leeds, conveyed
through the Speaker of that Assembly in the most insulting
tone which could have been adopted towards the mother
country, and in a tone than which none could have been
adopted better fitted to blow the flame of a civil war ?

. ____ ...._ ..., -. ... _.... _
The course was the more pernicious, promulgated as the
declar:ltion was by the S;)eaker, the head of that Assembly,
and the local organ of the legislature. When, again, Lord
Gosford, in the name of her Majesty, had published a
proclamation prohibiting Magistrates from attending il.
legal meetings, ts ere they not told that large assemblages
were held, at which language was used which might or
might not be treasonable, and that magistrates at-
tended those meetings when the proclamations were
torn down and treated with the greatest insult ? Were
they not told that meetings were held subsequent to