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

land, ciirecting that all 'grants of land within the province
of Quebec, then comprising Upper and Lower Canada,
were to be made in fief and seignority ; and even the
grants to the refugee Loyalists, and officers and privates
of the Colonial corps, promised in 1786, were ordered to
be made on the same tenure. In no instance was it more
singularly exhibited than in the condition annexed
to the grants of land in Prince Edward's Island,
by which it was stipulated that the island was
to be settled by foreign Protestants,' as if they were to be
foreign in order to separate them from the people of New
England, and Protestants in order to keep them apart
from the Canadian and Acadian Catholics. It was part of
the same policy to separate the French of Canada from the
British emigrants, and to conciliate the former by the re-
tention of their language, laws, and religious institutions.
For this purpose, Canada was afterwards divided into two
provinces; the settled portion being allotted to the French,
and the unsettled being destined to become the scat of
British colonization. Thus, instead of availing itself of
the means which the extent and nature of the province af-
forded for the gradual introduction of such an English po-
pulation into its various parts as might have easily placed
the French i n a minority, the Government deliberately
constituted the French into a majority, and recognized and
strengthened their distinct national character. Had the
sounder policy of makirg the province English in its insti-
tutions been adopted from the first, and steadily persevered
in, the French would probably have been speedily out.
numbered, and the beneficial operation of the free institu-
tions of England would never have been impeded by the
animosities of origin:
Not only, however diet the. Government adopt the un-
wise course of dividing Canada, and forming in one of its
divisions n- French pornmunity,- speaking the French lan-
guage, and retaining French institutions, but it did not
even carry this consistently into effect; for at the same
time provision was made for encouraging the emigration
of English into the very province which was said to be as-
signed to the French. Even the French institutions were
not extended over the whole of Lower Canada. The civil
law of France, as a whole, and the legal provision for the
Catholic Clergy, were limited to the portion of the coun-
try then settled by the French, and comprised in the
seignories ; though some provisions was made for the form-
ation of new seignories, almost the whole of the then un-
settled portion of the province was formed into townships,
in which the law of England was partially established, and
the Protestant religion alone endowed. Thus, two popu •
- of hostile origin and different characters were
brought into juxtaposition under a common Government,
but under different institutions ; each was taught to che-
rish its own language, laws, and habits ; and each, at the
same time, as if it moved beyond its original limits, was
brought under different institutions, and associated with a
different people. The uninterprising character of the
French population, and, above all, its attachment to its
church, (for the enlargement of which, in proportion to the
increase or diffusion of the Catholic populatior, very in-
adequate provision was made), have produced the effect of
confining it within its ancient limits. But the English
were attracted into the seignories, and especially into the
cities, by the facilities of commerce afforded by the great
rivers. To have effectually given the policy of re-
taining French institutions and a French popu-
lation in Lower Canada a fair chance of success,
no other institutions should have been allowed, and no
other race should have received any encouragement to
settle the rein. The province should have been set apart
to be wholly French, if it was not to be rendered com-
pletely English. The attempt to encourage' English emi-
gration into a community, of which the French character
was still to be preserved, was an error which planted the
seeds of a contest of races in the very constitution of
the colony ; this was an error, I mean, even on the
assumption that it was possible to exclude the English race
from French Canada. But it was quite impossible to ex-
elude the English race from any part of the North Ame-
rican Continent. It will be acknowledged by every one
who has observed the progress of Anglo- Saxon coloniza-
tion in America, that stoner or later the English raco
was sure to predominate even numerically in Lower
Canada, as they predominate already, by their superior
knowledge, energy, enterprise, and wealth. The error,
therefore, to which the present contest must be attributed
is the vain endeavour to preserve a French Canadian
nationality in the midst of Anglo- American colonies and
states.
" That contest has arisen by degrees. The scanty num-
ber of the English who settled in Lower Canada during
the earlier period of our possession put out of the question
any ideas of rivalry between the races. Indeed, until the
popular principles of English institutions were brought ef-
fectually into operation, the paramount authority of the
Government left little room for dispute among any but the
few who contended for its favours. It was not until the
English had established a vast trade and accumulated con-
siderable wealth, until a great part of the landed property
of the province was vested in their hands, until a large
English population was found in the cities, had scattered
itself over large portions of the country, and had formed
considerable communities in the townships, and not until
the development of representative government had placed
substantial power in the bands of the people, that that peo-
ple divided itself into races, arrayed against each other in
intense and enduring animosity.
" The errors of the Government did not cease with that
to which I have attributed the origin of this animosity. The
defects of the colonial constitution necessarily brought the
Executive Government into collision with the people ; and
the disputes of the Government and the people called into
action the animosities of race ; nor has the policy of the Go-
vernment obviated the evils inherent in the constitution of
the colony, and the composition of society. It has done
nothing to repair its original error, by making the province
English. Occupied in a continual conflict with the assem-
bly, successive Governors and their Councils have over-
looked, in great measure, the real importance of the feud
of origin ; and the Imperial Government, far removed from
opportunities of personal observation of the peculiar state
of society, has shaped its policy so as to aggravate the
disorder. In some instances it has actually conceded the
mischievous pretensions of nationality, in order to evade po-
pular claims ; as in attempting to divide the Legislative
Council, and the patronage of Government, equally be-
tween the two races, in order to avoid the demands for an
elective Council and a responsible Executive ; sometimes
it has, for a while, pursued the opposite course. A policy
founded upon imperfect information, and conducted by con-
tinually changing hands, has exhibited to the colony a sys-
tem of vacillation which was in fact no system at all. The
alternate concessions to the contending races have only
irritated both, impaired the authority of Government, and,
by keeping alive the hopes of a French Canadian nation-
ality, counteracted the influence which might, ere this,
have brought the quarrel to its natural and necessary ter-
mination. It is impossible to determine precisely the re-
spective effects of the social and political causes. The
struggle between the Government and the Assembly has
aggravated the animosities of race, and the animosities
of race have rendered the political difference irrecon-
cileable. No remedy can be efficient that does not
operate upon both evils. At the root of the disor-
ders of Lower Canada lies the conflict of the two
races, which compose its population ; until this is settled,
no good Government is practicable; for whether the poli-
tical institutions be reformed or left unchanged, whether the
powers of the Government be entrusted to the majority or
the minority, we may rest assured that while the hostility
of the races continues, whichever of them is entrusted with
power will use it for partial purposes.