The Sun.
London, England, 1839-02-16 00:00:00

Position to keep back any part of those despatches,
e nich the Noble Duke thought ought to be produced,
or e /deli Sir Francis Head thought ought to be brought
forward for his justification, or which he might coredsdctr to
bear on his conduct, which had been animadverted upon in
the report made,by the Noble Earl behind him. Certainly,
there was no wish to keep back anything that could
be required by that officer for his own justifi-
cation. With respect to the dispatches of Sir
Jelin Colborne respecting the establishment of rectories
in Upper Canada they were very voluminous, but there was
no objection to produce them.
The Duke of WELLING T 0 N said that he believed the
only wish was to have increased knowledge upon the state
of Upper Canada. With respect to Sir F: Head, he be-
lieved that that officer considered he had reason to believe
from what passed on the subject, that the Noble Viscount
had in his hands the means of his justification. Certainly
when he (the Noble Duke) saw the correspondence between
the Noble Viscount opposite and Sir F. Head he thought
it would not be very necessary to move for the production
of those papers ; but from what he saw in the Noble Earl's
report subsequently, lie did feel that some justifica-
tion ought to take place. He thought be had
seen a note from Sir Francis Head stating that
notwithstanding what had passed between him and the
Noble Viscount, he did intend to publish the whole, and
upon the whole, he (the Noble Duke) thought the whole
of the dispatches should be produced. He had no objec-
tion, however, to let the terms of his motion, stand 't copies
or extracts," if the Noble Viscount shorad think that better:
The Earl of ABERDEEN thought it was quite impos-
sible to legislate for the affairs of Canada until these papers
were laid or the table, whether any allusion had been made
in them to Sir Francis Head '-.,t• not. The Report of the
Noble Earl certainly justif
ed Sir F. Head perhaps in
requiting their producti,,o_(Hear)—but that might be
safely left to Sir Ffa • Head to do for himself.
B - lout unless the He-
a ;wanselsptepare d to take the Report of
the Neble E
that sub; .4-1 ass its sole ground of legislation upon
„act, it was quite clear that Sir Francis Head,'s
itches—he filling the situation in Upper Canada, and so
accessfully carrying on the Government there ; that his re-
port and his views of the policy to be pursued with respect
to that province must be of sufficient importance to be laid be-
t fore that House. He therefore thought it very convenient
that these despatches should be before their Lordships. The
Noble Earl had felt it his duty in his report to make
Ir 'certain allusions to Sir Francis Head, in his official
, enpacity—the Noble Earl was the best judge of that
himself, but it was for her Majesty's Government to
l consider whether these parts of the report should have
beet published and laid upon the table of the House. In
iconsequence, however, of the most unprecedented and
unjustifiable example, of allowing the Noble Earl to make
Ia printed report, her Majesty's Government were
prevented from dealing with it as it was their duty to their
Sovereign to do before presenting it to that House. The
1 Noble Earl took the publication of the Report so much
as a matter of course that before her Majesty's Speech
was read at the table he asked when it would
be laid before the House, as if it was a matter of course that
t it should be produced. He (the Earl of Aberdeen) denied
1 that an:, portion of that report should be published
as a matter of course, at least until the Govern-
ment had had an opportunity of forming a decision
On the subject. He thought it a most unfortunate prece-
dent that the Government should have consented to receive
a printed report. If persons employed in official capaci-
ties supposed that their reports or despatches were their
I own property, or that they had a right to publish a
j single syllable of them without her Majesty's permission,
they were much mistaken. They belonged to the Crown
and the Crown only, and it was for her Majesty's Ministers,
' on their own responsibility, to produce such and no more
of these reports as they thought proper.--(Hear, hear.)
The Earl of DURHAM agreed entirely with the doc-
trine laid down by the Noble Earl, and he cer-
tainly never did desire to consider any despatches
or reports furnished by him in his offieial capa-
city to her Majesty's Government as his own property.
i Let how stood the case with regard to that particular
I ratter. That report was delivered by him, and received
' by her Majesty's Ministers; and after a certain time he
understood that they were to be produced on the first day
of the meeting of Parliament. So much was he impressed
with that conviction, that he actually had, at the time
he asked the question, a printed copy in his hand,
arid he was aware that many thousands, or at least
several hundreds, of- copies had been prepared for
circulation, after having been laid on the table of
the House. It appeared that afterwards, in consequence
of some deliberation on the part of her Majesty's Minis-
ters the presentation of that report was postponed, and it
was on that account he had put the question as to when
the report was to be produced. He certainly thought he
had some right to consider when he had received her Ma-
jesty's Secretary of State's announcement that the report had
been laid before her Majesty, and that she had been gra-
b !lowly pleased to express her approbation of the manner
I in which it had been prepared, and of the comprehensive
I views taken of the various questions referred to—he had
1 some reason to consider that the report had arrived
at such a stage as that it was -competent to him
to consider that his duty had terminated. Her Majesty's
Minister having received it and laid it before the Queen,
and communicated her gracious approbation of the part he
had taken in preparing it, he felt he had a right to consider
that that was an official report, which would be laid be-
fore Parliament, and that his duty would be at an end.
That letter he bad received on his return home, and it was
i riot till Friday that he made complaint of the publication,
raving in the mean time only contributed about half a
dozen copies of the Report among his immediate
friends. So much for his own conduct, and if the House
Iwould permit him, he would now say a few words with re-
gard to the motion of the Noble Duke. If any Noble
Lord had only taken the trouble to read the Report, he
would have seen that there was no intention whatever on
' his ( Lord Durham's) part, to make any charge
; against Sir Francis Head, indeed from the obser-
ivatioas of that Gallant Officer himself, it was clear that
I lie founded the necessity for justifying himself, not upon
any statement in the Report, but upon marginal annota-
I tinny, which were hardly to be considered as a ground,
i either of justification or charge. It' any charge was
i to be looked for, it must be looked for in the body
of the Report itself. He (Lord Durham) disclaimed
any notion whatever of making any charge against Sir
1
I Francis Head—he had only stated facts that were preva-
lent, arid well known in the whole province. With
respect to the danger that would arise from the publi-
cation, he (Lord Durham) was at a loss to know upon
what ground any danger could be apprehended—where
could it arise ? Surely it could not be supposed that ex-
pressions of misgovernment in the colonies here would
create danger ?—no danger could arise from the
publication of a truth which was known to every person
in the colony. They were facts of which their Lordships
were ignorant, but which were well known in the colo-
nies, and printed in the hundreds and thousands of
newspepers that circulated there and in the United States.
All .the facts he had detailed to their Lordships
could only in his mind be dangerous if they were sup-
Pressed in this country, because the colonies were perfectly
aware of them. The real danger was, in keeping the
People of this country in ignorance of that which was
known to every man, woman, and child in the colonies.
• No danger could result from the publication of the truth,
z ryhoeusvhtaoklee truth, and nothing but the truth. My object,
continued the Noble Earl, was to lay before your
ie rdships the truth, that you might judge on a
-Tate or things in which the connexion between the
ki_a.nadas and the Mother Country is put in jeopardy. My
i,9,pist was to perpetuate that connexion, and render it
.101 able. And I conceive that I never in my humble
Position was enabled to perform a greater service to my
criuittry than inlaying before the House a statement which, if it
does nothing more, will . compel your Lordships to direct your
attention to the subject. My Lords, before I sit down, I
bee', thyaotuwhwaitlelver impression you may have as to my con-
duct,
not suffer any time to elapse, before
merely
as
t,,
the
ebject into your consideration. It is not
outrages, and
fewnhoiwel2
, A have taken place, lmt ts othfeourreßberiltliisohn
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