The Sun.
London, England, 1838-01-30 00:00:00

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stood mire irr the exercise of their constii titienal right!.
and tbi House wss intei fering pith them for doing their
duty, whilst the Legislative Council, which was to blame,
was completely passed over.—( Hear, hear.) The
House of Assembly had acted strictly according to
the constitutional compact, and he (Mr. H.) must call
this an unjust and tyrannical Bill, such as ought
not to have been introduced by the Noble Lord, or to
have received the sanction of this House. He (Mr.
Hume) had not heard a single argument bearing
on these points, assigned as a reason for violating
the Constitution of Lower Canada. It was a most dange-
rous precedent, and prepared the way for any despot who
alight ascend the Throne to act towards this country in the
same manner, if he had the opportunity of so doing. He
submitted that the people had a right to good Government
and quoted the remarks of Vattel on the subject of Go-
vernment. Had the Canadians had good Goveinment ?
Th. Reports of the Commissioners affirmed the contrary.
Was it then to he wondered at that they had taken the
course complained of? When their grievances were placed
before this House, instead of applying measures of concilia-
tion, resolutions were passed to violate their constitutional
rights. Government were takinga course whichwould alienate
the affections of the people of Canada for ever, instead of
coining forward manfully to redress their grievances. The
House was about to destroy the power of the House cf
Assembly, rather than alter a body never consonant to
that which was promised. The Legislative Council con-
sisted of aliens ; the Noble Lord himself admitted that it
was not properly composed. Did the Noble Lord think
putting down people by physical force was likely to increase
the affection of our colonists ? The Honourable Member
for Coventry had said that the evils in Canada had
been produced by inflammatory speeches. He (Mr.
Hume) denied the accuracy of that statement. He
denied that those who for years past had raised a warning
voice against the tyrannical and despotic conduct of the
Government were in iny way to blame for the recent.
evils in Canada. The Gentlemen opposite were the real
cause of the mischief, because, whilst he and some few
others had defended the interests of the colony in that
House, they and the whole of their party had made vio-
bent speeches, calling Papineau a malicious and mis-
chievous demagogue. It was this that excited the Cana-
dians, and drove them to revolt. Let the Government
repeal the fatal resolutions of last year, and the necessity
of adopting any measure of an arbitrary and despotic cha-
racter would at once be avoided. He considered that the
first act of the Government ought to be to remove Lord
Glenek than whom a more incompetent Minister never
existed b;
every dispatch, every proceeding, showed the im-
becility, the vacillation, the weakness, the total want of
management that existed on the part of that Noble Lord.
Instead of sending out Lord Durham as an arbitrary dic-
tator to act under the orders of Lord Glenelg, he (Mr.
Hume) thought that Lord Durham ought to take Lord
Glenelg's place in the Cabinet. It would be far better to
try what Lord Durham's rigorous intellect could do as Co-
lonial Minister—it would be far better to try the effect
of his liberal policy than to press this Bill of pains and pe-
nalties, which would only be adding to the long catalogue
of injury and oppression under which the Canadas already
laboured. With these feelings upon the subject, he should
move as an amendment that the Bill be read a third time
that day six months.
Mr. WARBURTON seconded the amendment.
Sir ROBERT INGLIS would not enter into the gene-
ral question of the proceedings adopted by her Majesty's
Ministers, either before the rebellion in Canada had broken
out, or since. He rose for the simple purpose of urging
her Majesty's Ministers to recollect that if, at this moment,
that rebellion were suppressed, their great difficulty from
that moment would begin.—(Hear, hear.) They had to
deal with a people divided in religion, divided in blood, and
divided in all the pursuits of civil life. A great mistake
was made, as he conceived, when at the first annexation of
Canada to the Crown of England so much prominence was
given to the religion of the conquered people ; and, above
all, so little attention was paid to the religious wants of
those who agreed with the principles of the Protestant
establishment of this country. The attention of the Hous
was called to this subject a iv eek ago by the Hon: Member for
Droitwich ; and he was desirous to urge again upon her Maje
ty's Ministers, not the expediency, but the absolute necessity •
of bestowing their attention upon that subject, when now th .
whole question of the Constitution of Canada was open fo ,
consideration. Regarding, as he did, the mistake committe
in 1763, in 1769, 1774, and above all, in 1791, as the on
great and fundamental error of our policy towards Canada,
arising from a very imperfect view of the obligations of a
parent state towards its subjects when separated totally
from it, he trusted that the-opportunity would not now be
lost, of endeavouring to remedy that evil, by supplying
those religious advantages to the British Canadians which
he thought the subjects of this country ought to carry with
them wherever they, with the permission of the mother
country, might be settled. With regard to the Bill now
about to be read a third time, he gave it his entire support.
Mr. Alderman THOMPSON said, this Bill had been
designated a despotic measure. It was so. He be-
lieved that in the history of Parliament its parallel
was not to be found. But was any precedent afforded
us of an •pccasion equal to the present ? He believed
that it was a measure of justice as well as of expediency.
He contended that the Canadians, having all the rights
and blessings which the British Constitution bestowed
upon them, had no just cause of complaint. Upon some
temporary matters differences might arise, but for the set-
tlement of those differences a ready manifestation had
always been shown by the mother country. He believe.]
that in the whole history of the colonies of this or of any
other country, not an instance could be found where so
much favour and generosity had been shown as has been
shown in the course of the legisiation of Great Britain in
regard to Canada. Their corn, their wood, and their ashes
were allowed to be imported here with almost a nominal
duty. Was that the case with any other colony? Cer-
taiiily not. Ile believed that by the present rebellion the
greatest infliction had been committed upon the people of
Canada that had ever befallen any set of men. British
capital, while tranquillity existed there, was flowing in
at an immense rate. Banks were established with
large capitals—great public works were carried on
with money belonging to individuals in this country—all
these advantages had been suspended ; but he hoped that
tranquillity would soon be restored, so that no great in-
terruption might be given to that disposition which existed
to Jesuitic and continue those advantages to the colony. At
the same time, while he made these observations, he begged
it to bo distinctly understood that he went a great way be-
yond many Hon. Members in blaming the policy of her
Majesty's Government with regard to their proceedings in
Lower Canada.—(Hear, hear.) He knew not whether
any inquiry would be instituted with regard to the conduct
of Government respecting Canada at the bar of the House ;
but sure he was that there was evidence sufficient in the
documents which had been laid before the House to justify
such an inquiry ; and independent of those public docu-
ments, he, of his own knowledge, knew that for a period of
more than two years representations had been made by the
merchants of London engaged in trade with Canada, al-
most weekly, but certainly monthly, to the Secretary for
the Colonies, of the state of alarm and dismay which ex-
isted in Canada in consequence of the tumultuous proceed-
ings of large bodies of armed men. But to these repre-
sentations no heed whatever was taken, and the present
crisis had unfortunately followed. The Hon. Gentleman
conclude:l by declaring that the measure before the House
had his entire concurrence.

Mr. GROTE desired to enter hia protest against the
th:rd reading of a measure of this severe description,
though he was well aware how unavailing such a protest
would be. The Hon. Baronet the Member for the Univer-
sity of Oxford had stated one thing which was most true, and
which deserved to be well laid to heart by every gentleman
who considered this subject. He had said when this re-
bellion should have been put down, that at that moment the
real and greatest difficulties of the Government would com-
saence. That was his opinion too, and it was because he
entertained that opinion, and strongly entertained it, that
he was the more strenuous in his opposition to the present
Bill ; and because also it was his opinion, that while the
Bill would remove none of the existing difficulties, it would
add very much to some, and those the most serious of them.
The alterations made in the Bill since the second reading
were not of a nature to make much alteration in his opi-
nion. The nature of these clauses was extremely aggra-
vated, when taken in conjunction with the speeches ut-
tered irt this House by those by whom they were sup-
ported. For the tenour of those speeches led him to foresee
only one consequence from the suspension of the Cana-
dian Constitution, which was this—that instead of that
genuine and faithful representation of the people, which was
now the most important element of the Canadian Consti-
tution (for we should not have that element restored to its
present state), we should have the representation of the
people cut down, abridged, and reduced to a name. It
would be a name and a shadow, instead of a substance and
reality. When he recollected, too, the suggestion of the
Hon. Baronet the Member for Caithness, in which he
dwelt upon the necessity of raising the qualification of the
electors of Lower Canada—coupling that with the declara-
tions made by certain influential Members on the 'Ministe-
rial side of the house, and more especially by the Right
honourable Gentleman the Member for Coventry and the
Bon. Member for Lincoln, insisting, as they did, upon the
gross ignorance and incepaeity of the Canadian peat,le—
he could not misinterpret those indications. He could not
draw any other inference, except that the present repre-
sentatior, of the people—large and faithful—will be ex-
changed foe one neither large nor faithful ; but will be made
the representation of a part of the people instead of a repre-
sentation of dee whole.—(Hear.) When it was said that the
Canadian Constitution had been found not to work asit was
intended so do, his reply was, that if that were the case the