The Sun.
London, England, 1838-11-22 00:00:00

TIIRSUN, LONnON, TITURSDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 18

THE EARL OF DURHAM AND THE
CANADAS.

neither be for your advantage or mine that I should remain
here. My post is where your interests are really decided
upon. In Parliament I can defend your rights, declare
your wants and wishes, and expose the impolicy and cruelty
of proceedings which, whilst they are too liable to the im-
putation of having originated in personal animosity and
party feeling, are also fraught with imminent danger to the
welfare of these important colonies, and the permanence of
their connection with the British empire.

Extracts from Addresses presented to Lord Durham, and
from his Lordship's answers, since the date of the an-

nouncement of his determination to return to England.

EXTRACT FROM THE ADDRESS OF THE PROVINCIAL DE-
PUTATION OF NOVA SCOTIA, NEW BRUNSWICK, AND
PRINCE EDWARD'S ISLAND.
In a review of the short period of the Government under
your Lordship's personal direction, we behold your Lord-
ship, with that feeling so congenial to Englishmen, which
turns with repugnance from the shedding of blood on the
scaffold, blending mercy with justice ; while returning
tranquillity had already rewarded an Administration con-
ducted without the sacrifice of one human life ; and we
were aware that improved laws and institutions were in pre-
paration, which, under a Government firm, mild, and impar-
tial, gave to the future the reasonable prospect of restored
confidence and renovated prosperity.
For the provinces with which we are more personally
connected, we saw in the warm interest, the enlightened
and comprehensive views, and extensive powers of your
Lordship, the dawning of vigour and improvement
hitherto unknown. With your Lordship's departure
those anticipations will, we fear, fade away ; but, although
it should he our lot to see these provinces continue feeble
and nerveless compared with the condition at which their
natural advantages intitle them to aim, yet shall we ever
remember with gratitude the Statesman who, exalted in the
first rank, and treading on the highest eminences of poli.
tical life in our common country, hesitated not at the call
of his Sovereign with disinterested zeal to undertake an
office of unparalleled difficulty, and has given to these
distant territories the benefit of his enlarged experience
and vigorous conceptions. Your Lordship's comprehensive
mind has opened to our view the animating prospect of
great public improvements advancing our common wel-
fare, and which will ever associate your Lordship's name
with the highest prosperity of the Colonies.

EXTRACT FROM ADDRESSES OF THE INHABITANTS OF

KINGSTON, UPPER CANADA.

We cannot but regard your Excellency's departure at
this eventful crisis, as productive of disastrous conse-
quences to our prosperity, and the more so, as it destroys
the hopes which we, in common with our loyal fellow-colo-
nists in this hemisphere, had cherished of your Excellency's
administration, as we confidently anticipated that the po-
licy which your Excellency intended to pursue would be
eminently calculated to heal all animosities, restore peace
and confidence in our land, strengthen and perpetuate our
connection with the parent state, consolidate and promote
our commercial and agricultural interests, call into action
our vast natural resources and advantages, and by the intro-
duction of the superabundant capital and redundant popu-
lation of the mother country, render British America British
in fact as well as in name.
Without expressing any opinion as to the motives which
may have actuated your Excellency's opponents and her '
Majesty's Ministers, we take pleasure in assuring your
Excellency that the ordinances which appear to have been
the indirect cause of your Excellency's resignation can
never be regarded as the edicts of oppression or tyranny,
but must ever be viewed by the loyal inhabitants of these
provinces as far too favourable to traitors in time of civil
disord, and much more lenient than the criminals could
have expected.

EXTRACT FROM ANSWER.
I assumed the Government of the North American
provinces with the predetermination to provide for the
future welfare and prosperity of them all, never doubting
that such a provision would be the best, nay, the only real
security for their permanent connection with the British
Crown. In communications which have taken place be-
tween us, and from which I have derived equal pleasure
and information, you have been fully apprised of my views
and intentions. These you have appreciated and recog-
nised in a manner for which I can never be sufficiently
grateful. I have, indeed, had a difficult and laborious
duty to perform. The result of my endeavours, however,
is one of which I need not be ashamed. In the short
space of little more than three months, I have seen
tranquillity restored, and confidence reviving. have
caused substantial justice to be administered, tempered by
mercy. I have carefully examined, with a view to Tefor-
mation, all the institutions of the province more im-
mediately committed to my charge ; and I was on the
point of promulgating such laws as would. have afforded
protection to all those gieat British interests which had
been too long neglected. I had also, as you well know,
devoted the most careful attention to all subjects which
could affect the general interest of all the colonies, and had
brought nearly to maturity the plan which I intended to
submit, in the first instance to the consideration of the
provinces, and eventually of the Cabinet and the Imperial
Parliament. In this, I trust, useful course, I have been
suddenly arrested by the interference of a branch of the
British Legislature ; in which the responsible advisers of
the Crown have deemed it their duty to acquiesce. Under
these circumstances, I have but one step to take—to re-
sign that authority, the exercise of which has thus been
so weakened as to render it totally inadequate to the grave
emergy which alone called for its existence.

EXTRACT FROM ADDRESS OF THE INHABITANTS OF
TORONTO.

The peculiar and unprecedented difficulties in which the
affairs of British North America were involved when your
Excellency assumed the Government ought to have secured
for the acts of your administration the most liberal construc-
tion, and should have obtained for them the cordial and
unwavering support of all those who are interested in the
peace and prosperity of these colonies, and the integrity of
the British Empire ; and we, therefore, have learned with
great concern, as well as with just grounds of apprehension,
the position which certain Noble Lords in the British House
of Peers have thought it necessary to assume in reference to
your Excellency's administration.
Deeply and immediately interested in those measures
which it is the object of your Excellency to mature, we find
ourselves imperatively called upon at this juncture to ex-
press publicly our confidence in your Excellency, and again
to tender to you the assurances of an active and cordial sup-
port in whatever measures you may devise or adopt having
for their object the benefit of all classes of the community ;
and we trust your Excellency, undeterred by opposition or
misrepresentation on the part of those who are unacquainted
with the true interests of the country, will proceed to the
accomplishment of those great objects of your mission—the
tranquillization of British North America, and the advance-
ment of her general prosperity.

EXTRACT FROM ANSWER.

It is at the same time a great consolation to me to reflect,
that notwithstanding my having been so abruptly arrested
by the proceedings in the House of Lords in the arduous
task of restoring peace and providing for your future pros-
perity, I have yet done much to justify your confidence and
gain your approbation. What was the state of the Canadas
when I assumed the government ? Rebellion bad been
but recently quelled, martial law had been proclaimed, and
the Habeas Corpus suspended. The gaols were filled with
prisoners, and distrust and appreliension pervaded the
minds of all classes. Along the whole line of fron-
tier, from Lake Champlain to Lake St. Clair, the
most active hostility against the British Government
prevailed, in which Canadian refugees and American bor-
derers equally participated. The communication be-
tween the two countries was in a great measure interrupted,
and at various points armed incursions took place, life and
property were recklessly destroyed, and the chances of pre-
serving peace between Great Britain and the United States
daily diminishing.

In three months what was the change ? Martial law
superseded—the Habeas Corpus restored—not a political
prisoner remained in confinement in the lower province ;
nor was there any symptom of the existence of any sedi-
tious or treasonable movements, until the arrival of the in-
telligence of the interference of the House of Lords.
The state of feelings in the United States, with reference
to the Canadian question, had righted itself. The soundest
tone pervaded the expression of public opinion, and I had
received from all pacts of the States assurances of confi-
dence in my Administration, and in my desire, as well as
my ability, to preserve those amicable relations between the
two countries which they, as well as myself', considered
necessary for the welfare of both.

EXTRACT FROM ADDRESS OF THE CITIZENS OF QUEBEC.

We deeply lament the premature discussion in the British
Parliament of the measures of your Excellency, and the
course there taken, tending as they have done to weaken
the moral influence of your Government, to encourage the
disaffected, and to create apprehensions in the minds of the
loyal.

We looked forward with anxiety to the period when we
should be put into possession of the result of your Excel-
lency's labours, which it was hoped would lead to the estab-
lishment of an efficient system of Government within the
colony, protecting the rights of all classes of her Majesty's
subjects therein.
We are convinced that nothing could more have con-
tributed to the advantageous settlement of this grave
matter than the determination which your Excellency has
been pleased to express that you would communicate to
the provinces for their consideration whatever plan your
Excellency may form for this purpose, before submitting it
to the Cabinet and to the Imperial Parliament, thus af-
fording to the inhabitants of these provinces an opportunity
of conveying to your Excellency, and to the supreme autho-
rity of the empire, a frank and loyal expression of their sen-
timents thereupon.
Convinced of your Excellency's eminent endowments,
and of your disposition to promote the great objects con-
fided to you, and apprehensive of the consequences likely
to arise from your now withdrawing from the government
of these provinces, we beg leave to express an earnest hope
that, notwithstanding these unlooked-for obstructions, your
Excellency may be induced to continue to exercise the
functions of your high office until you shall have accom-
plished the important end of your mission, for the attain-
ment of which your Excellency may rely on our zealous co-
operation.

EXTRACT FROM ANSWER.
I do not return to En land from an feelings of dis-
gust at the treatment Ig have personally experienced in
y
the house of Lords. If I could have been influenced by any
such motives, I must" have re-embarked in the very ship
which brought me out, for that system of Parliamentary
persecution to which I allude commenced from
the mo-
ment I left the shores of England.
I return for these reasons, and these alone—the pro-
ceedings in the House of Lords, acquiesced in by the Mi-
nistry, have deprived the Government of this province of
all moral power and consideration. They have reduced
it to a state of executive nullity, and rendered it depen-
dent on one branch of the Imperial Legislature for the
immediate sanction of each separate measure. In truth
and in effect, the Government here is now administered
by two or three peers from their places in Parliament. I
cannot, therefore, consistently with what is due to the in-
terests of this province and my own character, consent to
make myself responsible, for measures emanating from others,
and which in in) conscience I consider most injurious to
your present tranquillity and future welfare.
In this, novel and anomalous state of things, it would