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

ing winds that a new conflict should disturb the relations of
amity which are equally beneficial to both. Moreover, such a
War
invariably appeals to the vilest passions of a nation—to its
worst national vanities, and tends, for a time, to put a stop to
all improvements ; and many who fear the march of improve-
Melt will, 1_ doubt not, gladly seize upon such an opportunity
as the pres;ent with the hope of occupying by war the national
mind. ar,d turning it away from the consideration of Reform,
and tb'as delaying, for a time, the progress of all Reform. I
31r.e9.cely trust that the people of this country are enlightened
:lie ugh to forbid such a war, to disregard the prejudices in
'll'sour of extended dominion, and count as little the loss of a
'Useless portion of their territories, when those territories can
only be maintained by the infliction of such enormous
%vas. Should, however, a war take place I must declare
that I should more deplore success on the part of this
runtry than defeat ; and though as an English citizen
could uot but lament the disasters of my countrymen,
81111 it would be to me a matter of less poignant regret
than a success which would offer to the world the discs-
tlroUs and disgraceful tpectscle of a free and mighty na-
tion succeeding by force of arms in putting down and tyran-
nising over a free though feebler community struggling in
defence of its just rights. May such a calamity be averted.
.;_May such a reproach never fail upon this country ; but if, un-
happily a war does ensue, may speedy victory crown the
efforts of the Canadians, and may the curses and execra-
tions of the indignant people of this empire alight upon the
heads of those Ministers, who, by their misgovernment, ig-
norance, and imprudence, involve us in the calamities of civil
discord, and expend our national resources in an unholy
struggi, aominst liberty. And then—
Several Lion. Members rose to order, aid
111 r. C. LCSHINGTON appealed to the Chair whether
until language as the Hon. Baronet had used was proper for
the House to heir?
Mr. HUME--The Hon. Baronet has liberty of speech,
and when he thinks proper to express his sentiments upon
this or any other question in fitting language, I maintain that
no man should dare to interrupt him.--( Hear.)
Sir WILLIAM MOL E S 0 RTH having intimated that
120 had concluded,

Sir G. GREY proceeded to address the House. After the
statement made by his Noble Friend near him as to the
Course which Government had deemed as the proper one to
be adopted, in order to obtain the deliberate judgment of the
House, and as to the measures which they felt it their duty
to lay before it for their consideration, ho certainly did not
intend to enter at length into the various topics and state-
ments which had been brought forward by the Honourable
Member who had spoken, and which, he thought, might
have been much Letter postponed until the information
promised to be laid on the table to-morrow had been con-
sidered. This course he the more regretted had not been
followed on finding that in almost all the speeches the
House had heaid there had been a gross misrepresentation
of facts, and of the state of things in the Canadian pro-
vinces.—( Hear, hear.) From those speeches it would ap-
Pear that there was a contest actually going on between the
British Government on the one hand, and the united people
of those provinces on the other.—( Hear, 'hear, from Mr.
Hume and other Honourable Members.) The Honourable
Member for Kilkenny cheered him, as much as to intimate
that such was his opinion, but in the face of the House and
of the country he positively and solemnly denied that such
was the fact.—( Chet rs. ) The Hon. Members who had spoken
seemed very carefully' to have examined the Canadian papers
for resolutions passed at public meetings by those of the inha-
bitants of those provinces who were in opposition to the Bri-
tish Government ; but had they been equally careful in .no-
tieing the numerous meetings which had been held in different
parts of the provinces, at which some of the most influential
of the Canadians had recorded, in the strongest and most un-
mistakable manner, their sense of the value of the British
Constitution, their decided attachment to the British Consti-
tution, and their firm determination to uphold by all means in
their power the connection existing between the two coun-
tries.—( Hear, hear.) Were not these Hon. Members aware
that there was in Canada at the present moment a powerful,
influential, and numerous minority, who, deprecating the
steps taken by the French party, and fearing that unless they
were resisted the property they bad purchased on the faith of
the British connection continuing would be deteriorated in
value, had most energetically rallied round the Government,
and acting as well fur the interests of the British as of the
French party, expressed their firm determination to stand
by the present Constitution ? It was stated that the entire
of Canada was at present in a state of commotion ; but that
also was far from the fact. It was unfortunately true that
a portion of Lower Canada was in a state of disturbance,
nab, that, if not in actual insurrection, it was bordering upon
it, and that a conflict had taken place between the disaffected
and her Majesty's troops. But this state of things by no
Means extended itself over the surface of the provinces, for in
a great portion of it not only was the law vindicated, but the
Government authorities in those portions of the provinces
Were able to offer the Government the best assurances that
Et'',l7 attempt to spread disaffection in them would signally fail.
The Hon. Baronet who last spoke had charged the Govern-
ment authorities at Montreal with showing favour to a lawless
mob, merely because they happened to be of their opinions—
but how stood the fact? Why that on the occasion alluded
'to the British soldiers were called out to protect, and actually
did against the mob, the property of M. Papineau.—( Hear,
hear.) The conduct of the Canadian authorities, as well as
the instructions sent out to them from the British Govern-
ment, he maintained was dictated by an anxious desire to
draw together and unite in a bond of affection opposite
opinions and clashing sentiments, and though they had not yet
succeeded they did not despair, and yet hoped to see all
classes in the provinces rally round the British Constitution.
The Honourable Member for Westminster would induce the
House to believe that sympathy and cordiality existed between
the French party in Lower Canada and the inhabitants of the
upper province, together with the inhabitants of the other pro-
vinces in British North America. If he was to understand
that Honourable Member, as disclaiming any feeling of dissa-
tisfaction at the supposed existence of such a' state of affairs,
he was happy in being able to assure him that the fact was
quite oth:rwise ; and the best proof to the contrary he could
adduce was to be found in the fact that in Upper Canada all
the British soldiery had been dispensed with by the authorities,
and placed at the disposition cf Sir John Colborne, who com-
manded in the lower province. It was also said that New
Brunswick participted in the revolt. From what source this
intelligence was derived, he could not say', hut lie was in a si-
tuation to assure the House that the latest intelligence received
from that quarter by the Government, mentioned that an una-
nimous vote had just been passed by the United Assembly of
the province, expressing in a very warm manner, their grati-
tude to the British Government for the conduct and policy
Pursued towards them and the colony generally. The Hon-
ourable Member for Kilkenny had brought forward some ge-
neral charges against the Government in regard to the appoint-
ments they had made to the office of Chief Governor of
Canada, all of whom he had designated as tyrants and
oppressors. To this general charge he gave a general and
unqualified denial. And this brought him to the observations
made on the appointment of Sir George Arthur, who, he must
85y, had been most unhandsomely treated. The Hon. Baro-
n who spoke last had alluded to the evidence given by this
tlernan before a Committee of which he had been a Mem-
ber, but he believed it was not competent for the Hon. Baro-
net to state that any opinion injurious to the character of that
officer had been either expressed by that Committee, or resul-
ted from his evidence before it. He (Sir G. Grey) had also
access to the documents to which the Hon. Baronet alluded,
and he must say that the impressions they left on his mind were
totally different from those expressed by the Hon. Baronet.
His decided impression was, that the colony of Van Diemen's
Land had decidedly flourished under the government of Col.
Arthur, and that that officer had preyed himself in every way
qualified for the office entrusted to him. The Honourable
Baronet had indeed been candid enough to admit a belief
that Colonel Arthur had only executed his instructions ;
but why, if so, not blame those instructions, instead of the
Irian who executed them ? But the best proof of the
excellent manner in which Colonel Arthur had discharged his
duty was to be found in the fact that only one charge had
been brought against him, and that he had most successfully
refuted all the allegations on which it was founded. An Ho-
nourable Member had alluded, in connection with Colonel
Arthur's character, to a -memorial from Honduras, a copy of
Which was about being moved for. If it was so it should be
Produced ; but in that case he should at the same time produce
two addresses presented, subsequently to the forwarding to
Government of that memorial, to Colonel Arthur, addresses of
Which any man might be proud.—( Hear, Hear.) It was
true, as had been stated, that the nature of the Government
to which Colonel Arthur had been just appointed, was different
from that he formerly held ; but of this he was persuaded, that
Colonel Arthur, implicitly fulfilling the instructions he should
receive from home, would as effectually discharge his duty
in his present as he had done in his late capacity.—( Heat' )
Before sitting down he begged to say, that up to the present
Moment the Government had no reason to believe that, as
alleged, many of the British troops had fallen in the late en-
counter. Indeed, as far as his information went, he did not
believe ono single man had fallen.—( Hear, hear.)
Mr. WARBURTON said that if the present position of
affairs in Canada was attributable to, the conduct or miscon-
duct of any particular party in Canada, he should have
thought it desirable to have waited for the papers proposed
to be laid on the table by the Noble Lord ; but considering
the existing posture of affairs in that province to be the natu-
ral consequence of an infant colony opening into manhood,
he did not see how the information the papers contained
eould assist their discussion. The conduct which had been
"opted by the British Government towards Canada he
Would not call criminal, but he would give it a name which
generally implied what was worse than a political crime_
he should call it a political blunder.—( Hear, hear, hear.)
,A 0 Honourable Member had attempted to show that the con-
uact of the British Government in Canada had not been op-
PrEssive. That might be considered oppressive by a people
°n the other side of the Atlantic which would not be con-
raler.ed oppressive in this country. The conduct of Marshal
Sachet
in the government of several provinces in Spain had
dt-cn greatly admired out of that country. He had intro-
Olced into those provinces the greatest improvements ; and
s administration of power was infinitely superior to that of
the
t, preceding authorities. Yet the resistance of the people of
"ose provinces to his measures was justifiable, for the changes
v'ere not in accordance with their wishes. We must not
Judge of the feelings and principles of the inhabitants of other
stountries by our own feelings and principles. How well was
i Said by Mr. Fox, with reference to the Canadians, in the
a
'that° en the Quebec Bill, 44 Make them feel that their insti-
attle
. ns may be advantageously compared with the republican
stitutitms of neighbouring States." Who would tell him
table Warburton), when during the last twelve years the
of the House bad been covered with petitions from the
tillariaodians complaining of their grit vances, when Committee
atiee'ornmittee had been appointed to take those gnev-
into consideration, and when the justice which this