The Sun.
London, England, 1865-02-03 00:00:00

Opening of the Canadian Parliament,

tShPeEGECovjt
GOVERNOR-GENERAL'S
Governor-
General General of Canada proceeded in state to the Cham-
ber of the Legislative Council in the Parliament
Building, Quebec, and opened the third session of
the eight Parliament of the Province of Canada
with the following speech
" Honourable Gentlemen of the Legislative Coun-
cil—Gentlemen of the Legislative Assembly,—ln
calling you together to resume the performance of
your constitutional duties, I desire to express my
thankfulness to a beneficent Providence that I am
enabled to congratulate you on the general prospe-
rity and contentment of the people of this province,
and the continuance to us of the inestimable bless-

ings of peace.
" Outrages have been committed on the conunerce
and territory of the United States of America by
persons who, after the perpetration of these acts,
have sought refuge on Canadian soil.
" In order to prevent the organisation of any such
enterprises within this province, and also to enable
me to discharge in an effective manner my duties
towards a neighbouring power on terms of friendship
with her Majesty, I have seen fit to organise a sys-
tem of detective police on the frontier line of the
United States, and with the same design I have
called out for permanent duty a portion of the volun-
teer force of the province.

" Similar considerations have suggested the pro-
priety of arming the executive government with
stronger powers than it now possesses for dealing
with persons who, while availing themselves of the
right of asylum which has always been allowed on
British soil to political refugees from all foreign
countries, may be unmindful of the implied obliga-
tions which, by their residence amongst us, they
contract to obey our laws and to respect the de-
clared policy of our Sovereign.
" A bill framed for this purpose will be laid be-
fore you, and I ask for it your early consideration.
" I am happy to be able to inform you of the
zeal and alacrity displayed by the members of the
volunteer force when called upon to turn out for
active service.

"Their conduct shows that the present population
of Canada has not degenerated from the manly vir-
tues which characterise the race from which it de-
rives its origin, and that it may be relied on under
all circumstances, to respond to the call of duty,
either for the maintenance of internal order, or to
repel foreign aggression.

" The commissioners appointed under the provi-
sions of the second chapter of the Consolidated
Statutes of Lower Canada to frame a civil code,
and also a code of civilprocedure in Lower Canada,
have completed the former part of their duty ; the
results of their labours shall be laid before you, and
I am informed that the code of civil procedure is in
a very advanced state.
" The completion of the codification of the civil
law, in both French and English, cannot fail to be
of great benefit to the inhabitants of Lower Canada
by enabling the people of all origins to read, in
their own languages, the civil law under which they
live, and which hitherto has only been accessible in
a language which is not the mother tongue of a por-
tion of the people whose civil rights are regulated
by it.

" Gentlemen of the Legislative Assembly,—The
expenditure rendered necessary by calling out the
volunteers for active service, and which was unfore-
seen when the estimates for the current year were
agreed to, will necessitate a supplementary vote for
that service.

" I have desired that an estimate for this purpose
shall be laid before you.
" I am happy to be in a position to inform you
that the financial legislation of the last session has
been attended with beneficial results.

" The revenue has largely increased, and there
leas been a contemporaneous extension of the trade

of the province.
" I have directed the estimates for the-next finan-
cial -3,ietia- -Thict yint--ttnd
.yotr will find
.that they have been framed with a clue attention to
economy combined with efficiency.
" Honourable Gentlemen and Gentlemen,—At
the close of the last session of Parliament I informed
you that it was my intention, in conjunction with
my ministers, to prepare and submit to you a mea-
sure for the solution of the constitutional problem
the discussion of which has for some years agitated

this province.
" A careful consideration of the general position
of British North America induced the conviction
that the circumstances of the times afforded the
opportunity not merely for the settlement of a ques-
tion of provincial politics, but also for the simul-
taneous creation of a new nationality.
" Preliminary negotiations were opened by me
with the Lieutenant-Governors of the other Pro-
vinces of British North America, and the result
was that a meeting was held at Quebec, in the
montii. of October last, composed of delegates from
those colonies, representing all shades of political
party in their several communities, nominated by the
Lieutenant Governors of their respective Provinces,
who assembled here with the sanction of the Crown,
and at my invitation, to confer with the members of
the Canadian Ministry on the possibility of effecting
a union of all the Provinces of British North America.

"This conference, after lengthened deliberations,
arrived at the conclusion that a Federal union of
these Provinces was feasible and desirable, and the
result of its labours is a plan of constitution for the
proposed union embodied in a series of resolutions,
which, with other papers relating to the subject, I
hove directed to be laid before you.

" The general design of a union, and the particu-
lar plan by which it is proposed to carry that inten-
tion into effect, have both received the cordial ap-
probation of the Imperial Government.
" An Imperial Act of Parliament will be neces-
sary in order to give effect to the contemplated union
of the colonies, and I have been officially informed by
the Secretary of State her Majesty's Ministers will
be prepared to introduce a bill for that
purpose into
the Imperial Parliament so soon as they shall haveth
been notified that the proposal has received
e
sanction of the Legislatures representing
the several
provinces affected by it.
" In commending to your attention this subject,
the importance of which to Y°urseigveesra I woulda
and to your
descendants it is impossible to e
claim for it your calm, earnest, andx exaggerate,
impartial con-

of which it is constituted
elierdelements of
sideration.
strytatew,hiccohinbthineiynginh
withinb inhabit hitasllareabe
wachollnset;
" With the public men of British North America,
it now rests to decide whether the vast tract of coun-
try
strength
ysienovt:erita:
shall remain in
isolated condition,
national greatness, providing for the security
component parts, and contributing
and stability of the empire, or
aid, and provinces
their present fragmentary and
comparatively powerless for
inca-
pable of undertaking their
proper share of imperial
responsibility.

" In the discussion of an issue of such moment I
fervently pray that your mind my be guided to con-
clusions which will redound to the honour of our
sovereign, to the welfare of her subjects, and to your
own reputation as patriots and statesmen."

CHRISTIAN'S MISTAKE. By the author of " John
Halifax, Gentleman."—" Miss Mulock is one of the few
writers who never disappoint their readers. She takes a
high place among those of our novelists who are the most
honoured and esteemed, whose ideal is finest, whose
standard is highest, and whose cultivated taste has found
expression in works which form an integral portion of our
literature. ' Christian's Mistake' is a beautiful story, in
every respect worthy of its author's well established and
deserved reputation. It is one of those stories which are
exceedingly affecting and effective by reason of their
purity, truth, pathos, and directness. It is executed in
the author's happiest and most graceful style.' =MO
Post.