The Sun.
London, England, 1838-02-02 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE Pty JOURNALS.

The intellio-ence from Canada, which will be found
attarlY detailed in another part of our paper, is of con-
siderable interest. The occupation. of Navy Island
by the Royalist troops, which we give from an ultra-
rtenublican paper, may be regarded, if confirmed, as
ilueisi,:e cf this contest. Should that last, indeed only,
stronghold of the rebels have been gained, there is
little ground for further apprehension. One circum-
stance, however. the details of whirl we have laid be-
f o.e. our readers as fully as we can collect them from
the partial pages of the American press, has produced
some uneasiness, by leading a large portion of that
lyres:;, and perhaps some small portion the British
puhlie, to fear that in crushing the rebellion in Canada
we may have compromised our relations with the
United States, It will he seen by reference to
our extracts from the New York Journal, that on the
of the ‘29th of December, a small steaVaer (time
Cilroline), said to have been attached by a rope to
the New York shore, and having on board some twenty
or thirty citizens of the United States, was boarded,
fired, and eventually allowed to drift Geer the Niagara
falls by four or five boats full of armed Canadians.
This unhappy occurrence had increased to a perfect
frenzy tine excitement already existing in the border
state:la The letters and the public journals teem with
menaces acrd denunciations. The Governor of the
State of Ne-v York (Marcy) had forwarded to the
President a " special mesaage, ' in which he strongly
reprobates this act. We are told of communi-
cations bet,veen Mr. Fox and the Secretary of
State carried on in the angriest spirit, and
finally a collision between ',be two Governments
is regarded as inevitable. Of all this, whatever
is not gross exaggeration is pure fiction. With
respect to the deplorable occurrence at the falls
of Niagara, we are in possession of but little
more information than is contained in the noisy
and foaming declamations which we borrow from
the American papers. Whether the act was or
was not strictly, justifiable it is not upon these data
very easy to say ; but assuming the statements to be
literally correct, we are very confident that the Go-
vernment of the United States (and we put all ques-
tion of prudence out of view) could never deem that
occurrence a sufficient ground of rupture with Eng-
land. We do not mean to go into the confused and
contradictory details which we have received of the de-
struction of this steam-boat, either to justify it or con-
demn it. It would not, we imagine, be very difficult
to prove that the act was perfectly warrantable under
the law of nations. The boat was the property of the
rebels, had been employ ed conveying munitions of,war
and armed citizens of the States to aid the revolted
subjects of this empire ; it had made three trips with
this unjustifiable object on the 29th, and was ready,
no doubt, to make as many more on the 30th ;
yet even under such circumstances as these the de-
struction of the steam-boat was not, we believe, sanc-
tioned, still less commanded, by any British authority.
The fact, however, let it have occurred under what
ever circumstances, is one to lead to explanation be-
tween the two Governments, instead of the commence-
ment of unnotified hostilities between the two countries.
Whenever that explanation may he asked, it will, we
should hope, be accompanied by a sufficient justifica-
tion of what, with the information now before us, we
are compelled to regard as a deliberate violation of
neutrality by the border States. "It is certain," says
Vette], " that if my neighbour affords a retreat to
my enemies when defeated, and too much weakened
to escape me, and allows them time to recover,
and watch a favourable opportunity of making a
second attack on my territories, this conduct, so
prejudicial to my safety and interests, would be
incompatible with neutrulity." It was not alone
that one of the States " afforded a retreat to the ene-
mies" of this country ; but under the very nose of their
own Government an expedition of its own citizens is
organized, equipped, sets out, seizes, and occupies a
portion of British territory, with objects avowedly hos-
tile to the British dominion. Who is it, then, who
bas the right to complain ? But the Government of
the State could not prevent this, it will be urged. It
cannot keep an army along the whole frontier ; it can-
not prevent its people from passing over with their
ever-ready rifles in bands of tens and twenties ; nor,
above all, can it subdue the warm sympathy which a
strimgle for Republican institutions is sure to excite.
Well, we admit the difficulty of all this. The British
people and the British Government are ready to make
every allowance for it. But if the strong arm of the
American executive, in a moment of profound peace,
is unable to restrain thia wild spirit amongst its own
citizens, in God's name how can the British autho-
rities in Canada be called upon or expec:ed in the very
heat of a rebellion to exercise a far greater influence
upon their subjects ? What had the British party
in Canada done to justify the hostilities of Any
part of the United States? If mere sympathy for a
political principle can justify the invasion of a friendly
territory, that invasion ought in turn to justify a far
more extensive retaliation than that which is complained
of. But we have certainly no wish to engage in this
species of recrimination, though amply provoked by the
tone cf a large portion of the American Press. In-
stead of defending such acts, it should be the duty of
the Press and the public of both countries to endeavour
to prevent their recurrence. Should Navy Island be in
the occupation of the Queen's troops, we are confident
no State of America :rill " afford a retreat to the ene-
mies" of this country to " allow them to recover and
watch a favourable opportunity of making a second
attack." The spirit already manifested by the
Government in its correspondence with Mr.
Fox convinces us that there exists the most
friendly disposition towards this country. The last
dispatches received from that gentleman are such as
inspire the fullest confidence in the intentions of the
American Government. We are sure they will en-
force obedience to their own Constitution, which wisely
ordains that " no State shall, without the consent of
Congress, enter into any agreement or compact with
another State or with a foreign power, or engage in
war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent dan-
ger as will not admit of delay." Now certainly the
American States have been in no danger of invasion
from Canada. The disposition of our Government has
been "sufficiently manifested in its friendly and success-
ful interference to settle time misunderstanding with
France. Nor hare we any reason to complain of the
manner in which our mediation has been hitherto re-
waided. The American people as well as the Ameri-
can Government are, we believe, too sensible of the
advantage they derived from our interference to risk
the good understanding which prevails between the
two countries in so unworthy and so hopeless a cause
as the Canada rebellion. We cannot conclude these
observations without protesting against some very in-
discreet reflections on Republicanism attributed to Sir
Francis head, in an abstract of his speech to the
House of Assembly of Upper Canada, which will be
found among our extracts. We would fain believe
that the abstract has not been accurately made ; for
though an Englishman may be proud of the monarchical
institutions of his own country, prudence ought to pre-
vent him from taunting his neighbours with the de-
fectiveness of theirs, and more especially when these
neighbours are Republicans, and peculiarly sensitive to
strictures on the advantages of Republican government.
This is not a time to add wantonly to the causes of
irritation.—Morning Chronicle.
By our Parliamentary report, it will be seen that
Mr. Roebuck, through Lord Brougham, presented a
petition last night, to be heard at the Bar of the
Ikuse of Lords, as agent for the Legislative Assem-
bly of Lower Canada. The petition will be consi-
dered to-night. It may be well, perhaps, for public
assemblies, which have nothing better to do, to flatter,
occasionally, the morbid vanity of Mr. Roebuck, by
)istening to his harangues in favour of rebellion in
Canada or elsewhere ; but we must protest against the
lcg lf in e siion of such
House of Lords
placing
assembly, or follwingitse the
, in this mattpeor,t x the bad e-
nn
ample of the House of Commons. The House of Lords
Inks, latterly, corrected the blunders of the Lower
Heause—not imitated them ; and we trust that the pro-
cess of imitation will not commenclf
Min a matter
uck
so
ittle deserving to be imitated. r. Roeb
hail come to sue for forgiveness to his clients,
x constituents, or paymasters, on condition of
atonement being made by them, in so far as
Atonement may be possible, there may exist rca-