The Sun.
London, England, 1865-04-21 00:00:00

CANADA.

QUEBEC, APRIL 7.
The Ministerial delegation proceed to England,
via Boston, on Wednesday, in order to consult with
the Imperial Government on the questions of Con-
federation and the colonial defences.
By desire of the Government the Finance depart-
ment has refunded to the St. Albans' banks the
money voted for that purpose.
The three battalions, consisting of 2,000 men, now
on frontier service, are shortly to be relieved by a
new levy of volunteers. Although but 12 compa-
nies are demanded for Upper Canada, fully 60 com-
panies have offered their services.
We have had a very exciting week in Montreal
consequent upon the discharge of the St. Albans'
raiders by Judge Smith.
Rumours were circulated that a plot had been
discovered en the part of the Canadian Executive,
whereby the prisoners would be again tried for acts
presumed to come under the Ashburton Treaty. A
popular outbreak was dreaded ; and were it not for
the very explicit statements made by the prosecution
on Wednesday morning in the Court of Queen's

Bench, there is little doubt but that the raiders
would not have been suffered to quit Montreal with-
out an effort being made to effect their release from
custody. It is now clear that the United States
Government have abandoned all the charges for
extradition pending against Lieut. Young and his
companions, and that no foul-play will be attempted.
They are removed to Toronto under fresh warrants,
where they will duly take their trial for conspiring
to violate our neutrality laws.
Judge Smith's legal acumen and knowledge of
international law has been fully and complimen-
tarily acknowledged by some journals, but ques-
tioned and condemned by others. Newspapers not
in the interest of the Canadian Government are
loud in extolling a judgment free from passion and
prejudice, illustrating the high principles of law.
The country is in a very unsettled state. People's
minds are more or less perturbed, and no effort is
seemingly made to conceal or to curb unquiet fore-
bodings. What is the intention of England, and
what are the purposes of our American neighbours ?
are questions in everybody's mouth. There is plenty
of loyalty in the province, and enough of disaffec-
tion to give a melancholy tinge to the illative history
of the next few months. People know that some
change is needed ; but what is the exact com-
plexion of that change few dare undertake
positively to pronounce. There is an undis-
guised feeling, however, that a' change of re-
lation must ensue ere long between this and
the mother country. Perhaps this change will
assume the nature of independence.; or perhaps it
will merge into a close and abiding relationship
with the United States. The apparent termination
of the war in the South—now that Richmond is
taken—fills so.ne men's minds with the gravest
fears, dreading a speedy incursion of Northern
troops into Canada. Others, again, regard such a
step as prepoSterous, believing that they can gain
over Canada by far milder measures. One thing
is certain, that a dark cloud alights over Canadian
affairs, which a few months will see dispeised, and
that Canada is about to enter upon a new stage of
her destiny, as soon as the present crisis through
which she is travelling is passed.
Grant's steam saw mill at Prescott, C.W., was
consumed by fire on the 3d inst. The loss is est
mated at $5OOO. Th 9 building was uninsured

Mr. Daoust, member of the Provincial Parlia
ment, has been found guilty of forgery, but recom•
mended to mercy.

A great flood occurred in Montreal on Monday,
which rose within a few inches of that which inun-
dated the city on the 15th April, 1861. Griffing-
town suffered most severely, a district entirely in-
habited by the labouring classes. During the night
the city was in total darkness, owing to the gas
pipes being filled with water, and thus preventing
the supply pipes from being replenished. Great
suffering has ensued. The Corporation has sub-
scribed $6OO for the relief of the poor in the locality.
The Government of Nova Scotia lately intro-
duced into both houses of the Legislature the an-
nexed resolutions : ..

" Whereas, under existing circumstances, an im-
mediate union of the British provinces has become
impracticable, and whereas a legislative union of
the maritime provinces is desirable whether the
larger union be accomplished or not : resolved that,
in the opinion of this house, the negotiations for the
union of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince
Edward Island should be resumed in accordance
with the resolutions passed at the last session."

IMPORTANT LIFEBOAT SERVI C E—WHITBY, APRIL
19.—About one o'clock this morning, in a dense
fog, during a strong wind from the N.N.W., and a heavy
sea, the screw steamer Ocean Queen, of and from Newcastle
to Antwerp, with a general cargo, got on the high part of
Whitby Rocks, and immediately afterwards filled with
water. Her signals of distress having been observed, the
Lucy lifeboat, of the National Institution, forthwith put
off, and brought ashore the captain's wife and a boy, and
the crew of thirteen men. The schooner is likely to become
a total wreck. The crew speak in the highest terms of the
behaviour of the lifeboat on the occasion in question. She
was the generous gift to this institution of the late A. W.
Jaffray, Esq., of St. Mildred's-court, who gave also to the
society the cost of the St. Andrew's and the Thurso life-
boats.

( THE JARDIN DES PLANTES.--The permanent
commission of inspection appointed by the Minister
of Public Instruction to examine into the state of the
7arious museums of the Jardin des Plantes has just pre-
sented its report. From this document it appears that the
sum required to defray the expenses of the establishment
during the year 1864 was 582,380 fr., viz., salaries, 308,380 fr.;
travelling expenses, 25,000 fr. ; stock, 249,000 fr. Regard-
ing the collections, the commission complains of the great
want of space, which has forced the administration to ex-
hibit many specimens in highly inconvenient places. Thus,
on the ground floor, large naammalia are placed side by side
with the collection of 200 phytes; on the first storey, the
collection of crustacea is situated between that of reptiles
and that of monkeys ; after which comes tho rest of the
collection of zoophytes and a portion of that of mollusks ;
then, while the whole collection of birds is on the upper
story, that of their nests is on the first, &c. Numerous
portions of collections are stowed away in the laboratories
for want of space ; the galleries of comparative anatomy
are so full that they cannot receive the skeletons of the
large mammalia that may happen to die in the Menagerie,
and the collection of fossilbones, instead of being connected
with these galleries, is quite at the other end of the garden in
the Museum of Mineralogy. Touching the Menagerie, the
commission finds that many of the animals kept there are
not so well provided for as they ought, in so far as re-
gards their stabling or Sheds. It considers the maintenance
of five elephants in the establishment as a uselese expense,
which however for the present is unavoidable. Two of
these creatures were presented to the Emperor some time
ago by the King of Siam, and two others by the Viceroy of
Egypt. The Administration is endeavouring to effect an
exchange of some of them with some foreign Menagerie.
The hot houses are also insufficient for the 974 plants
possessed by the Administration ; the nurseries are well
provided, comprizing4,393 trees, 2,534 grafts, 712 tubercles,
2,835 perennials. The botanical section moreover pos-
nisei 61416 bags of seeds. j