The Sun.
London, England, 1865-02-21 00:00:00

_
-1. z do, ‘, •
i
-----,, zi4; ...., , .--, 't ilk 44 4+
04 j# .....vo. 6„ - 411.1"0,
4, 4milieua .14.6.m1p 4" J14,34'.
....-0:0-.4.,;:vc-,..., 7.,-...

LONDON, TUESDAY, FEB. 21, 1865.

The di •
scus.sion which took place last night in the
House of Lords respecting the defences of Canada
will be read with the
deepest interest. The import-
ance of the matter is so grave, the uneasiness which
is felt at the conduct of the Federal States is so
wide-spread and well-founded, fu udeodi: that so far from
demurring at the proposed
outlay of the public
money, the principal feeling expressed by their
Lordships were regret that it had ladnot taken place
earlier, and surprise that it was not thought ad_
visable to make a larger and more immediate
expen-
diture. This will probably be the view taken of
the discussion by the public generally, and the
question why, when the danger is certainly not
only possible but probable, only one quarter of the
sum proposed to be raised should be expended
during the current year will be echoed outside the
House of Peers. The debate of last evening was,
of course, a debate and nothing more, since the
vote has not yet been even proposed in the Com-
mons, but it arose from Lord LYVEDEN'S endea-
vouring to elicit some information from the Ministry
specting Colonel JERVOIS'S recent report on the

Canadian defences. The members of the Govern-
ment defended themselves from any " official indis-
cretion in the publication of that reptort, but thhaeyd
found it a harder matter to prove h
been guilty of no indiscretion, in allowing so vast
a territory to remain in so defenceless a state during
the last four years of warfare. Now they have at
last determined on taking some active measures after
the long displayed hostility of the Federal States
has shown itself in official acts, but they are doing
it in a timorous half-hearted way which certainly
found no encouragement from the Peers. Lord
LYVEDEN, in opening the question, remarked that
the report of Colonel JERVOIS showed Canada to
be at the present moment utterly defenceless, and
he denounced the timid and cautious action of the
Government in supplying the Canadians with men
and money in such driblets that one-half would be
virtually profitless in time of danger. The Minis-
ters, in defending themselves, stated that it was pro-
posed that the Canadas should undertake the de-
fence of Montreal, and the Home Government the
fortification of Quebec ; that for the latter purpose
a sum of £200,000 would be asked, of which £50,000
would be expended during the present year. No
wonder that Lord ELLENBOBOUdH should pronounce
such an arrangement to be incredible. Why, in
the name of common sense, if fortifications are re-
quired not to provide for some visionary future
but to guard against a pressing and immediate dan-
ger, are the works to be undertaken in such a
dawdling fashion, that Quebec itself may have
changed hands two or three times before they are
completed? Lord ELLENBOROUGH very pertinently
advised the Government to consider what would
have been the position of one of the contending par-
ties of the great American struggle if they had
acted on the same principle. No sooner was the
danger seen than the whole country was at once
astir, Charleston, Wilmington, and Mobile were
fortified to such good purpose that they are still
held by the Confederates, but " if they had gone
on the supposition that there was plenty of time ; if
they had endeavoured to do the thing by driblets,
setting up a fort in one year and one in another,
they would have been long ago overwhelmed, and
every one of the places they wished to preserve
would have been lost." Lord DE GREY and RIPON'S
assertion that in the brief working season of Canada
it would be impossible to spend £200,000, does not
weigh much in favour of the Government. If a
proper spirit was infused into the work, and a suffi-
cient number of men employed, double that
amount could be profitably laid out in the de-
fence, not of Quebec alone, but of the St.
Lawrence. It sounds almost like satire, in the
presence of the hostile demonstrations of the
Federal States, to find our War Minister coolly
taking about asking Parliament year by year for a
vote of such amount as might seem expedient. If
revolutions, according to a famous aphorism, are not
made with rose-water, very certainly war is not
carried on in this Grandisonian fashion. One would
think from the tone of the Ministry that we might
expect America to give us six or twelve months'
notice of her intention to invade Canada, and that
she would defer any hostile measure until we were
fully equipped to resist them. As Lord 111ALMES-
BURY very justly observed, we have but too con-
vincing evidence that a passion of dominion prevails
among the Americans, and its existence ought not
to be disregarded. We may hope, indeed,
that when the war is concluded the Fede-
ral States will disband their great armies,
and sit down quietly to the task of internal reorga-
nisation, but that hope does not rest on sufficient
foundations to justify our present dilatory mode of
proceeding. Far from provoking the United States
to war, proper measures of defence would be the
most likely way to avert such an evil, and it is most
unjust to accuse those Englishmen of seeking to
irritate a friendly nation who are anxious to pre-
serve their own fellow-subjects from the miseries
suffered by the invaded Southern States. We are
glad to find Lord DERBY speaking in his usual
straightforward and patriotic tone, and especially
dwelling upon the importance of making adequate
naval preparations. At a time when the great
questions of peace and war depend not upon
the calm considerations of friendly Govern-
ments, but upon the excited passions of popular
assemblies, we make, said the noble earl,
a public avowal of the defenceless condition of some
of our most important possessions. The tie not
only of interest but of honour binds us to them, and
in eloquent terms Lord DERBY denounced the policy
which would permit these provinces to be separated
from us not by any will of their own, but by the
forcible invasion of a hostile country. " I say that
under these circumstances, to allow the colony to be
wrested from us without putting forth the whole
strength cf the empire, aided as we should be by
the colonists themselves, would be an endless dis-
grace and ignominy to which I hope this country
will never submit." These words will find an echo
in the heart of every Englishman, but the timid and
vacillating policy of Earl RUSSELL will never secure
his countryman's sympathids. The real explanation of
the slow and dilatory manner in which the defences of
Canada are to be carried on is to be found in the ab-
surd apprehension which our Ministers are under of
offending the Federal Government. Earl RUSSELL'S
speech, in which he endeavoured to prove that in
their position we should have felt and acted pre-
cisely the same, his rejoicing over the verbal abolition
of a slavery which has ceased to be a source of
profit, his sneer at the interest taken by this country
" in former days" in the freedom of the slave, all
tell the same story of timid subjection to the dicta-
tion of Federal statesmen. Well might Lord
MAL3IESBURY say that the events of the last three
weeks should have disabused any observer, since the
only pointofcontestbetweenthetwobel
onligerents
was plainly announced to be independence the
the
i imposed
one side, and undivided domi • mon on
be other.po
If our Ministers allow themselves to
s
upon by any specious pretexts of humanity or dis-
interestedness, not only they but their countrymen
will bitterly regret it. Lord RUSSELL'S persistent
attempt to make the worse appear the better cause,
to .call American insults signs of friendship, and
their arrogance moderation, reminds us of the
, definition in " Othello"

" It is hypocrisy against the devil ;"

and such attempts he may be very sure will impose
neither on his countrymen nor on the quick-witted
Yankees.

ly in the sess /
should have, thus ear
It is satisfactory to find that Mr.
trVodluLcLeiEdßas
Thine better Bill which proposes Reform htetermdisosttrinbeueitlioend
direction of the Poor Laws.
of union chargeability is a very desirable thing, and
it affords a reasonable hope that profession will be
put into practice, when we find remedial measures
brought forward at so early a date. It always takes
a long time, with one thing and another, with this
and that suggestion, before any particular plan can
be put into practice, or any proposed measure be-
come law, and hence the disastrous results that
follow upon the late discussion of a bill. Mr. VII,
LIERs explained the
reason to doubt thet
more than there is not ample proof to the effect that a
change is needful. rsportooßitislleffivecriyenceleyaralnyy,
and there seems no
that the Union
Fund flail in future have the charge of all the poor
Ile proposes