The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-15 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—We learn from our American correspon-
dence of yesterday that, while Mr. Seward is paying
Canada a visit, the American press is urging it in
the most pressing language to put itself under she
protection of his paternal Government. The New
York papers supplement their threats to this
country of annexing Canada by force with the
most tempting invitations to Canada itself. The
unassisted speculation of our readers would proba-
bly be exercised in vain to discover what advan-
tages the United States can offer the Canadians
in exchange for the temperate freedom and material
prosperity they experience under the Govern-
ment of the Queen. But the New York World
certainly holds out a prospect which might tempt a
young and growing community. If the Canadians
obtain admission into the Federal Union, they are
told that they would be insured exemption for ever
from all the horrors of war ; they would be saved
" the enormous expense the mother country is try-
ing to impose upon them in the way of fortifica
tions ;'' they would have the boon of absolute free
trade with the Federal States; they would have
" the benefit of Yankee energy and capital to deve-
lope their resources ;" and lastly, " they would gain
a share in the destiny" of the great Yankee nation.
This language really sounds like the mere cry of an
ignorant rapacity. But as it seems from our Corres-
pondent's letter of yesterday that it actually repre-
sents the feelings of not a few well-informed Ame-
ricans, it may be worth while to draw some atten-
tion to it. The extraordinary part of the matter is
not so much that the Americans should display such
entire ignorance of the feeling of this country re-
spectingitsrelations with Canada, as that they should
be so hopelessly blind to the most patent facts of
their own condition. That a people in the agonies
of a bloody and exhausting war, and threatening
war every day to the most powerful and warlike
States of Europe, should hold it out as the principal
advantage of union with their country that it in-
sures exemption from war for ever, implies an
amount of audacity or fatuity which is quite incom-
prehensible. Such assertions would be ludicrous if
they were not fatally mischievous. It is this reck-
less disregard in their leading writers of the terrible
reality of their position which makes it possible for
the American people to be led away into the ruin-
ous madness which possesses them. All folly and
crime depends more or less upon ignorance, and
the most terrible feature in the condition and
prospects of the American Union is the pertina-
cious and shameless way in which their leading
press spreads every bad passion and fosters every
pleasant delusion. People get to believe lies if
they tell them and hear them told often enough,
and the writers and readers of the New Fork
World may have been really cajoled by Mr.
Seward's rhodomontade and the incessant asser-
tions of the New York press into a belief that the
Southern rebellion is a mere domestic quarrel, that
the South is not a belligerent, and that the North
therefore is not at war. But the Canadians, who are
separated from the draughting, the marching, the
garrisons, and the gunboats of the States, may look
on matters with a cooler eye. They will not fail to
see this simple fact—that while they are enjoying
perfect peace, and are able to afford a quiet and un-
disturbed holiday to Mr. Seward and his wearied
correspondents, the Foreign Ministers at Washing-
ton, the United States are engaged in a terrible war
As to the "horrors of war," they know that a rich
and prosperous Northern State was lately invaded
by an enemy whose generosity alone prevented him
from inflicting all the miseries of plunder and devas
tation. A. State immediately on the other side of the
St. Lawrence has just suffered from bloody riots in
a vain effort to avoid the hardship of a military
conscription, and in spite of this the people are
being draughted off to fill up the ranks of a more
than decimated army, or compelled to pay 300 dol-
lars to provide substitutes for slaughter. To invite
Canada to join the Union in order to escape the
horrors of war is much the same as to invite a man
to Newcastle to avoid burning coals. But this
egregious step would save the Canadians " the
vast expense the mother country is trying to im-
pose upon them in the way of fortifications." It
might save some of it, though, to judge by the ex-
tent of the Federal debt, the taxation of the Cana-
dians would probably become heavier than ever
it has been under our rule. But the most im-
portant part of fortifications is the men to man
them; and if the Canadians saved bricks and mor-
tar by annexation they would certainly have to
provide men instead, and would see some of
the strongest and bravest of their population sent
away to fight distant battles in a cause with which
they have no concern, either in its beginning, middle,
or end. The political advantages offered by the
World are equally problematical. Annexation
would give the Canadians " the boon of absolute
free trade with the States." As our correspon-
dent suggests, the influence of mutual interests
would probably enforce this concession sooner or
later, whether Canada were annexed or not. But it
is equally important for the Canadians to remember
that, if they were by this means to gain free trade
with the States, they would lose free trade with
Greatßritain and the rest of the world. As matters
stand at present, they can regulate the duties on their
owe commerce at their will; but if they became part
of the United States their trade would at once be
subject to a system of heavy protective duties
whether they liked it or no ; and they will scarcely
think the trade of the United States sufficiently
important to make that of every other country in
the world a matter of indifference. Annexation, too,
would, we are told, " give them the benefit of Yan-
kee energy and capital to develope their resources."
We hope the Canadians have too much knowledge
of political economy to be influenced by this unfor-
tunately expressed offer. Yankee energy is not of
a particularly attractive sort, and capital will go to
Canada to develops its resources from England or
America indifferently if itsee a fair chance of a pro-
fitable investment. Moreover, even if the war were
to end to-morrow, all Yankee energy and capital
would be required for some time to meet the demands
which the war has created and to remedy its terrible
devastation. The capital of England is much more
likely to be at the service of the Canadians than that
of a country newly burdened with a heavy debt
and already possessing vast tracts of unreelaimed
wilderness. As to the value of a share in the des-
tiny of the great Yankee nation, we must leave the
Canadians to form their own estimate. The people
who once formed the United States have, no doubt,
an important destiny. It does not look very hope-
ful at present, enveloped in the glare and the gloom
of war, devastation, and debt. But we will only
ask the Canadians to consider that they would have
to give up some certain and present advantages for
the sake of this doubtful and distant destiny. At
present they are to all intents and purposes in pea '
session of perfect self-government. The appoint-
ment of a Governer General by the Crown is almost
the only restriction on their political freedom, and
his authority is as little check upon the free action
of their Legislature as the veto of the Queen is
upon the English Houses of Parliament. As a
member of the Federal Union, they would not have
half the independence they now enjoy ; and they
must remember, too, that as matters look at present,
the destiny which they are invited to share would
very probably involve a sacrifice even of this inde-
pendence to a military despotism. They enjoy,
moreover, at present the certainty of an equal and
impartial administration of the laws. 'They are
sure of personal liberty, of the freedom of the
press, and of complete security for property. In
contrast with all these advantages let them re
fleet on the presence of Mr. Vallandigham on
their soil as an exile for no other offence than that
of free speech, upon the state of siege in which
New York is held, and upon the reminiscences
of Fort Lafayette suggested by Mr. Seward's visit,
and they will be perfectly able to judge for them-
selves of the sort of exchange they would make.
We urge all these considerations on the attention
of the Canadians without any anxiety for their de-
cisien. Our hands are clean as far as they are con-
cerned. We have set them up as a nation, lent
them money for their public works, and supplied
them with troops and munitions of war; and if
they make their choice to stay with us, and will
but show a reasonable willingness to bear a fair
share of the necessary burden of defence, we shall
be heartily glad to keep them, sad quite ready to
help them to the best of our abilities. We only
stipulate that we cannot and ought not to do all the
fighting for them. If, however, with their eyes
open to the prospect, they prefer annexation to the
United States, we are equally ready to let them go.
We are quite sure they have no other alternative
but these two. They could no more exist as an in-
dependent nation by the side of the United States
than a iamb by the aide of a wolf. They have to
choose between union with us and annexation to
the Federal States; and by the choice they make
we shall abide. By way of bringing these consi-
derations to a point we beg to suggest for their par-
ticular consideration at the present moment the 101-
lowing question :---They have lately shown an ex-
cessive unwillingness to provide even a reasonable
force of militia to resist a possible invasion by the
United States. If they were annexed to the Union,
they would immediately have the conscription
forced on them by gunboats and artillery. Which
will they choose,—to fight freely and willingly for
the defence of their own homes, or to be dragged
at the cannon's mouth to feed an alien struggle in
the heart of a distant, foreign, and unhealthy
country ?
POST.—We learn that the Emperor Napoleon has
conferred the title of Duke upon the Count do Per-
signs-. a statesman to whom much of the success of
the Empire at home and abroad is undonbtc.ily
owing. We are only giving expression to English
public feeling on the suhiQct whtn we congratulate