The Sun.
London, England, 1839-05-10 00:00:00

10, 1t_,39.

British Government—" There are two modes by which a
Government may deal with a conquered territory. The
first course open to it is that of respecting the rights and
nationality of the actual occupants ; of recognizing the ex-
isting laws, and preserving established institutions; of
giving no encouragement to the influx of the conquering
people, and, without attempting any change in the elements
of the community, merely incorporating the province under
the general authority of the Central Government. The
second is that of treating the conquered territory as one
open to the conquerors, of encouraging their influx, of
regarding the conquered race as entirely subordinate, and
of endeavouring as speedily and as rapidly as possible to
assimilate the character and institutions of its new subjects
to those of the great body of its empire. In the case
of an old and long-settled country, in which the land is
appropriated, in which little room is left for colonization, and
in which the race of the actual occupants must con-
tinue to constitute the bulk of the future population of the
province, policy as well as humanity render the well-being
of the conquered people the first care of a just government,
and recommend the adoption of the first-mentioned system :
but in a new and unsettled country, a provident legislator
would regard as his first object the interests not only of
the few individuals who happen at the moment to inhabit
a portion of the soil, but those of that comparatively vast
population by which he may reasonably expect that it will
be filled ; he would form his plans with a view of attract-
ing and nourishing that future population, and he would
therefore establish those institutions which would be most
acceptable to the race by which he hoped to colonise the
country. The course which I have described as best suited
to an old and settled country, would have been impossible
in the American continent, unless the conquering State
meant to renounce the immediate use of the unsettled
lands of the province ; and in this case such a course
would have been additionally unadvisable, unless the
British Government were prepared to abandon to the
scanty population of French whom it found in Lower
Canada, not merely the possession of the vast extent of
rich soil which that province contains, but also the mouth
of the St. Lawrence, and all the facilities for trade which
the entrance of that great river commands.
" In the first regulations adopted by the British Govern-
ment for the settlement of the Canadas, in the Proclama-
tion of 1763, and the Commission of the Governor-in-
Chief of the Province of Quebec, in the offers by which
officers and soldiers of the British Army, and settlers from
the other Northern American Provinces, were tempted to
accept grants of land in the Canadas, we perceive very
clear indications of an intention of adopting the second and
the wiser of the two systems. Unfortunately, however,
the conquest of Canada was almost immediately followed
by the commencement of those discontents which ended
in the independence of the United Provinces. From
that period the colonial policy of this country ap-
pears to have undergone a complete change. To
prevent the further dismemberment of the empire
became the primary object with our statesmen ; and an
especial anxiety was exhibited to adopt every expe-
dient which appeared calculated to prevent the remaining
North American Colonies from following the example of
successful revolt. Unfortunately, the distinct national
character of the French inhabitants of Canada and their
ancient hostility to the people of New England, pre-
sented the easiest and most obvious line of demarca-
tion. To isolate the inhabitants of the British from
those of the revolted colonies, became the policy of the
Government ; and the nationality of the French Canadians
was therefore cultivated, as a means of a perpetual and
entire separation from their neighbours. I. A remarkable
proof of this is produced, in the form of a despatch by Earl
Bathurst, dated Ist July 1816.] It seems also to have
been considered the policy of the British Government to
govern its colonies by means of division, and to break them
down as much as possible into petty isolated communities,
incapable of combination, and possessing no suffizient
strength for individual resistance to the empire. Indica-
tions of such designs are to be found in many of the acts of
the British Government with respect to the North Ameri-
can Colonies. In 1775, instructions were sent from Eng.

It was not until some years after the commencEmp.nt of
the present century that the population of Lower Canada
began to understand the representative system which had
been extended to them, and that the Assembly evinced any
inclination to snake use of its powers. Immsdiatcly, how-
ever, upon its so doing, it found how limited those powers
were, and entered upon a struggle to obtain the authority
which analogy pointed out as inherent in a representative
assembly. Its freedom of speech immediately brought it
into collision with the Governor; and the practical work-
ing of the Assembly commenced by its principal leaders
being thrown into prison.
i In the course of time, how-
ever, the Government was induced, by its necessities, to
accept the Assembly's offer to raise an additional revenue
by fresh taxes ; and the Assembly thus acquired a certain
control over the levying- and appropriation of a portion of
the public revenue. From that time until the final aban-
donment in 1932 of every portion of the reserved revenue,
excepting the casual and territorial funds, an unceasing
.
contest was carried on, which the Assembly, making use
of every power which it gained for the purpose of gaining
more, acquired, step by step, an entire control over the
whole revenue of the country,
" I pass thus briefly over the events which have heretofore
been considered the principal features of the Canadian
controversy, because, as the contest has ended in the con-
cession of the financial demands of the Assembly, and the
admission by the Government of the impropriety of at-
tempting to withhold any portion of the public revenues
from its controul, that contest can now be regarded as of
no importance, except as accounting for the exasperation
and suspicion which survived it. Nor am I inclined to
think that the disputes which subsequently occurred are to
be attributed entirely to the operation of mere angry feel-
ings. A substantial cause of contest yet remained. The
Assembly, after it had obtained entire control over the
public revenues, still found itself deprived of all voice in
the choice or even designation of the persons in whose ad-
ministration of affairs it could feel confidence. All the
administrative power of Government remained entirely
free from its influence ; and though Mr. Papineau appears
by his own conduct to have deprived himself of that in-
fluence in the Government which he might have acquired,
I must attribute the refusal of a civil list to the determi-
nation of the Assembly not to givo up its only means of
subjecting the functionaries of Government to any respon-

the North American Colonies. It is not by weakening,
but strengthening the influence of the people on its Go-
vernment ; by confining within much narrower bounds
than those hitherto allotted to it, and not by extending,
the interference of the Imperial authorities in the de-

tails of Coloni.tl anirs, that I believe that harmony is

:o be restored where dissension has so lately prevailed ;

and a regularity and vigour hitherto unknown intro-
duced into the administration of these provinces. It
needs no clung° in the principles of Government, no
invention of a new constitutional theory, to supply the re.