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

11flc'

Canadian defences. The members o!,
othineoiGalovern
m indis-
cretion ent d e ended
n thethemselves
pnblioationfrofonithaantyreport, but they
found it a harder matter to prove that they had
been guilty of no indiscretion, in allowing sovast
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 ELLENBOROUGH 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
pressing and immediate dan-
but to guard against a
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 MALMES-
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. 41 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 of 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 sympathies. 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
MALMESBURY say that theevaenntysobofsetrhveer,lassint
since
ehrtheee
weeks should have disabused
only point of contest between the two belligerents
was plainly announced to be independence on the
one side, and undivided dominion on the other.
If our Ministers allow themselves to be u • nposed
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.

findthe
in s
esthatsession,
o n
It is satisfactory to
Reform in the most needed
Bill which proposes rn. t r Vo
di U.' el' el Ed
R as
should have, thus early
direction of the Poor Laws. The better distribution
desirable thing, and
of union chargeability is a very
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. VIL-
LIERS explained the purport of the Bill very clearly,
and there seems no reason to doubt its efficiency any
more than there is not ample proof to the effect that a
change is needful. He proposes that the Union
Fund Ahall in future have the charge of all the poor

within the Union ; also to repeal the clause that
provid .es for the retention of the parochial system,
and transfer the removal from overseers to guar-
dians. In future removals will be from union to
union, and not from parish to parish. This will be
a great relief in many instances. It is supposed
that by this means much confusion will be avoided,
as the guardians in general are more competent to
judge of such matters than the overseers, and also
exhthit more discretion in avoiding expense and
disputations. Another advantage will be found in
the fact that by this arrangement there will be a
stop put to the pernicious practice of send-
ing the poor from parish to parish by
underhand means, such as destroying cottage
accommodation, &c. Mr. VILLIERS has shown that
in many agricultural districts, while the population
increases, the houses decrease to a great extent. It
is to be hoped that this measure will be allowed to
pass, notwithstanding the many objections that may
be raised against it, for it is an instalment at any
rate, and an earnest of better things in the future.
There is something so systematically wrong in
the whole working and mechanism of our poor
laws that any change must be for the better ; and
the attention of the Legislature can be directed to
no more important or influential branch of domestic
policy, concerning as this does the welfare of so
many, and being as it is so inseparably bound up
with the vital interests of the community.

The year 1865 has opened gloomily enough, and
will long be remembered in many a home as the
period of woe and affliction. The severe state of
the weather at such a season of the year is very un-
usual ; and it is curious to notice how universal the
storms have been. All through Europe the incle-
mency has prevailed, and the successive accounts
that reach us from the different countries only serve
to confirm the unfavourable impression already pre-
vailing regarding the aspect of. things. The descrip-
tions given of the various accidents that have
occurred over the country are more akin to the
records of old times, and the traditions of a former
generation, than to the sober and monotonous details
of the travellers of our present time. Last Sunday
a party of miners in the North Riding found a man
in the snow, who was nearly exhausted, having been
exposed to the storm for two nights and without
food for 48 hours. It is interesting to observe that
he would have been kept in his dreary abode, had
it not been for the sagacity of a dog belonging to
one of the party, who refused to leave his master,
and directed attention to the spot where the poor
fellow was lying. The extreme severity of the
storm may be appreciated by the fact that, at St.
Fillans, three hundred sheep are confined in a den,
which cannot be reached owing to the deep drifts of
snow, and thus the poor animals will perish unless
an abatement takes place in the weather. The
distress occasioned by such an intensity of cold is
very great, and serious apprehensions are entertained
as to the result that will be produced by so much
destruction of property and suspension of labour. The
sheep farmers in particular have been great sufferers.
A sad account is given of the untimely end of a
young gentleman who made frequent excursions in
Cumberland, and went about exploring. He met
with several stoppages, but very imprudently per-
sisted in his efforts, and thus came to a danger he
could not surmount. He lost his footing on the
slippery platform of the mountain, and evidently
rolled down with great force. In this case also the
services of a dog were employed to find the body, it
not being practicable to descend with safety at the
spot where the tracks of his footsteps ceased. Only
a portion of the plaid of the unfortunate traveller
was found protruding, so entirely had the snow
covered his lifeless remains. The severe snowstorm
in the North has blocked up the Highland line be-
tween Inverness and Perth. The mails were sent
by the Great North line to Aberdeen, but this was
also believed to be snowed up. Although these de-
tails are more striking than events that can be
found to occur in cities, or in the vicinities of large
towns, it is to be questioned if many tales equally
sad in narration and deplorable in consequences,
may not be gleaned by those who seek to acquaint
themselves with the short but simple annals of the
poor who throng our highways, and starve in our
courts and alleys. What the half-clothed, barely
fed, and fireless portion of the community have to
endure at this bitter season, it is almost incalculable
to estimate, and very difficult to realise. Surely,
then, this must be a period when unusual liberality
is called for, and when the cold calculating dogmas
of expediency and economy should not be suffered
to prevail. It is, and ought to be, a fearful consi-
deration for those who are dwelling in homes of
luxury, to contemplate the havoc that grim disease
and ghastly death are making upon their fellow-
creatures, in many a dreary spot and wretched habi-
tation. A vigorous effort should be made to rescue
these miserable beings, as much as possible, from
the consequences of the severe weather ; and if all
our exertions cannot avail to do enough, there will
be the satisfaction remaining to those who are bene-
ficent, that they have done what they could. The
general liberality of our community is proverbial ;
but the especial claims of this unusually bitter season
call for extra exertion ; and the inhabitants of a
country, so distinguished for skill and enterprise,
can find no better means for employing their talents
than in rendering them conducive to the alleviation
of distress,