The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-07 00:00:00

The Cana,

Troubles

There appears to be a good deal of vitality (says the New
York Times) just now in our neighbours north of the great
lakes, despite the torpidity generally ascribed to them dur-
ing the winter months. They seem, indeed, to be un-
usually lively, the advanced period of the season con-
sidered.
From their own accounts, as chronicled till within a
very recent period, there were many and satisfactory
reasons why they could afford to indulge in their usual
uninterrupted winter quietude. They claim to have just
gathered a harvest more abundant than any with which
Providence has favored them for several years past.
Further, they assert that the sectional differences which
formerly attained a growth threatening them with civil
war have been almost entirely assuaged. They claim,
too, that money is now more abundant than it has been
for ten or eleven years. And, finally, they try to make
the outside world believe that political parties, with their -
interminable feuds, have become things of the past, and
that the ultra-Conservative is at length reposing quietly
by the side of the hitherto untamable Radical. But which
is the lion and which the lamb neither party dares to say.
It seems to be enough to declare the existence of this
zoological curiosity.
But yet it would appear that Canadian affairs are not all
couleur de rose. On the contrary, there is more than ore
skeleton in the colonial cupboard, or, if only one, it takes
Protean shapes. Thereseems to be a sort of kaleidoscopic
property about it, and, turn it as you will, some new form
presents itself. The combinations, however, instead of
being beauitful and pleasant to the sense, have an opposite
character.
At the present moment Canadians are specially oppressed -
with the vision of an impending difficulty between this
country and England, in consequence of the refusal of the
latter to entertain our demand for compensation for losses
suffered by the career of the Alabama and kindred vessels.
The Canadians fully understand, at least—thanks to the
utterances of the English Parliament and the English
Press —what is comprehended in such a difficulty, carried
out to its last issue. It means simply that Canada Would be
the battle-field of the contending nations, and that, whatever
the ultimate result, that now flourishing province would be
devastated by the remorseless action of war, to a greater degree
than any of the late theatres of conflict in the struggle we con-
cluded in the spring. It is true that the eastern section of
the province might feel the calamities of war in a some-
what lesser degree, but the Upper Province (including
Montreal), where, speaking generally, all the population,
wealth, and enterprise are centred, could not fail to be ut-
terly desolated.
Our northern neighbors are, too, at this moment in a
direful state of alarm in consequence of an alleged dis-
affection in some of the British troops, and of the sym-
pathy of these supposed malcontents with disaffected men,
of the same stock, and nurtured in the same allegiance as
themselves. Regiments are, it is said, being massed in the
best places to meet any invaders ; the volunteers are to be
called out ; and all who profess themselves especially loyal
are enrolling to meet any emergency. The Canadian
Government assumes to be fully apprised of all intended
hostile movements. Time will show whether this is boast
or fact.
But as near afflictions engage more immediate attention
and excite more apprehension than distant ones, so the
great present trouble of the Canadian mind is the
threatened repeal of the Reciprocity Treaty. Nor is this
to be wondered at, for the advantages that treaty has con-
ferred on Canada can scarcely be exaggerated. The con-
vention will terminate, under notice, in March next, and
the colonists look to the ruinous consequences on the few
great staple interests of their country with apprehensions
which we cannot but believe are well founded.