The Sun.
London, England, 1849-06-15 00:00:00

The Bill ..inse'.m..equntlx
hie):

lIOUSI2 UP, Gil tLI4'UIVS, June 14;
STATE OF CANADA.
Mr. GLADS I'ONE then tore tor the purpose of calls
te attention to the state of Cenads. He thought the
prsent time off 'riled a good epportunity fur doing so.
s i.e had piece:; en the peper simply an intimation that
he would call the attention of the Reuse to an Act
passe d by the Canstoien Legislature, in reference to giv-
ing indemnity fur certain losses sustained during the
rebellion in that country, and as calling attention to that
Act might be construed into an implication of censure
on his part in respect to it, it might be asked why he
had not pre posed a distinct aid tspecific motion on the sub-
jeet. He considered, however, that in adopting that
course, he might have still further excited those preju-
dices which existed on the subject, and he thought it
better simply to call the attention of the House to it.
He did not think teat any men in the House was such
a :lave to party feeling that he should think that
Parliament erhould be divided in their opinion on so
important a question as that of colonial legislations
because what affects one country must consider-
ably affect the other. He considered that if a -
further step were to be taken on this question to
bring it to an is:sue, that it should be so taken as not to
cause any prejudice against any party without due in'
vestigution, and to avoid as much as possible any
divieion in so important a question. He hoped the,
many miscellaneous questions that had already engaged
the attention of the House were not such as to exhaust
their patience, because the present was a question that
effected the principles of government and social order.
He did not meats to allude to Lord Elgin but as briefly
as possible; nor should he in that brief allusion attempt
to give any judgment on that Noble Lord's conduct, not
tram his admiration of that Nobleman's distinguished
talent, not because of his personal feelings towards Idol,
but because he has all the responsibility on himself;
and had been called upon to do more than he could
do, when so far apart from the advisers of the Crown.
He might be wrong, but yet he should say that he drew'
the inference from the words of the Under-Secretary
for the Foreign Department, who stated that it was
not right to interfere in any legislative measure that,
was progressing in the Canadian Legislature uutsil
it had reached its completion.—(Hear, hear.) He Wag
of opinion that the Governor-General should not have
his character involved until he had sent home to knout
whether the measure proposed would be agreed to or not
by her .Majesty's Government; .but such to- the knows
ledge of that House and the country was not known, for
the) had not heard of any dispatches being received
from Canada. lie considered, from all that he knew,
that on the whole the office of the Governor-General
could not be discharged adequately and independently*
as he was obliged on most occasions to attend to the
counsel of Government, and when that counsel could not
be immediately obtained he was liable to being charged
with neglect or carelessness of duty. He thought that
those matters to which he alluded should be left in the
hands of the limperiOl Legislature, and that a distinction
should be drawn between matters that should be sub-
jected to the local legislature and those belOnging to the
Imperial, and that the local legislature should know how fat
they should and could act on their own authority. He
did not mean to say how fat. the Canadian Government
should act on questions of such vital 'influence as that to
which he was then alluding; nor did he mean to allude
to the Montreal riots, nor did he think that it was the
duty of that House to interfere with their local legisla:
Lure in the case of private Acts, no matter whether just
or unjust, as such only appertained to themselves, se-
cording to the laws of their constitution, which he con'
sidered to be not-only a necessary but a sound maxi,e3n.
He recollected that the Noble Lord (Lord J. Busse"
when Secretary of State, in a letter to Lord Sydenhstet
Oct. 14, 1839, stated that it was not safe in certain
cases, to delegate authority to any efficer when the ill;
fluence of the Crown or the safety of the people might b,
involved. There arose three questions on this subieeh;
first an Act of Indewitification to all connected with, the
of 1837 and 1838, and that Act related to tne''-a
who bore arms against her Majesty's forces at'that time=
the second question was, foreseeing such to be the case*
.were.they to be indemnified in a local or imperial legit'
lature ? • And the third question is, 'if such
.126,ehe 0501
it such a propositionweseneteeppleted_ byean Act
Parliament, whether it was consistent or at varlance
itt
with the honour of the Crown that those rebels shoo,o
• besind --emnified ?--(Hear, hear.) With .respect to
two first he believed]there
,ConleVbe tin:doubts- and wl7,
respect to the last he believed that it wits- well WI.
that no Act of Purlianzient wetild.,berjusi indeeengo
• idg those' rebels of' LoWer‘Cantedain,lB3 arid 1838. ro
.considered that nothing.Wasinore just than-the seleaistlot
proposed in February; 1-845;Thr indenenifying'the P:3le7re
subjects of Canada, tis -had been'fre-q4enfly done before
when the churches, which had been in the possession
et
the rehela, bad been necessarily razed, and also in
' land in the time of the rebellion, when the Roman ere
'belie chapels had been destroyed to prevent the reytle
in that country from taking possession of thew. .11,059
present losses alluded to had been equally just as tube.
to which he had ac:verted, he would not offer the sligeot
est opposition, but in this case he knew of nothing
.tu_eo
was just or equitable. The Right HOn. Gentleman a,q,
read the proviso, excluding persons who had been guula
of the act of rebellion from right to compensation,
proceeded to argue upon it, to the effect that if the COSl_,
victions had not been legally brought about so, the pru„
viso, the convicted would say, must be regarded as aid
ceptional. Now, if- that were so, they might depee
upon it that the question would bo raised by the 96 pet
sons out of the 108 who were convicted, and of w 13""
• ight pleaded guilty, and were sentenced to transportei
tion. In a petition which had been presented to tit
House, in 1839, from an individual in Canada, the P's
titioner took occasion to protest against and denounce Poo
illegal, the tribunal of courts-martial, and there ff...
no doubt that if that were so, and they had highs
ti3Po
therity that it was so, then it would be said that_iid,
convictions under those courts-martial were not site_
and that if there was an exception to the convictl_u_S:
went tOe':f
' there was an exception to the proviso, which
elude them. from compensation. There was a Case
g° j,
' 400 persons who claimed compensation for their god,
eto
lost in an unsuccessful action with her Majesty'?
-(Laughter.) /Sow the question which he wished who
raise here was, whether, in the case of those partieseta
lost their guns in the rebellion, or in the case otatioo
other parties who had been engaged in it, comPer3s ear'
was to be given. With regard to property lost bY.irthe
ties engaged in the rebellion, it had been Said ',soot
' House of Assembly by Mr. Baldwin, that it was "'twit
the intention of the Government or the Legisiatere woo
such parties should be compensated. But there
great difference of opinion on the subject, and grew,
.ben
biguity in the Act. The Right Hon. Gentleman(); the
referred to the opinions of Mr. Jones, a Meinhetwee of
Legislative Council, on the subject, and to the aro io to
Lord Elgin, the Lieutenant-Governor, to a mertt°r_ test
him on the subject, which conveyed the intimation,
it was not his Excellency's intention, in giving his
e to o
ep
Lion to the Bill, to imply that persons who had takeno3.
arms against her Majesty's Government should be e,eot
pensated. Now he (Mr. Gladstone) was of opinionft'bio
the fact of a man taking up arms against the laws hips Government was of itself of a character to exclude use
from the benefit of the laws. He thought that the 100.
of Assembly, in the exceptions they had taken in re re.
lion to those who were guilty of participation in thebeo
hellion, was justified, although there were some who as
0
that the act e.f mere implication ought not to operate
to
an exclusion to compensation. He might refer the
of the,,or A,.0.41
to an amendment submitted by Mr. Wilson,
vincial Assembly, the words of which were "or
person who 'has been implicated in, the rebellionso_s: to
be excepted." But that amendment, be was 7-cliffi-
say, was unfortunately lost. . It was said that it wa'ee
cult to distinguish between those who were engaged
the rebellion ;and. those. who were not. Now w" those
the course pursued be Ireltibd in- relation to _lO
who claimed • compensation for their alleged
the rebellion in • that' country'? It was an, riworcl
putable fact that every'person 'who then put ,°r -n,th
claims to'compenSation for' losses, was put t0.13,e so
in the matter; and the person,
.he Might say, v,-,, of
put himself forward, brought upon himself the es
inquiry and strict scrutiny into his conduct. Buti.-:0a
now said, that en " Amnesty " bad been granted,
es-
that under that amnesty there were no rebels lee the
nada; and it was further said, that the sense (:.. the
people of Canada was understood to be in favour
toc,
Act for giving compensation. Now, he respecoiacr
ranch as any man could, the sense of the peer" tbot
nada; but he might say that if it even ao happened.
Canada °Pt.
d
it were true that the sense of the people of ye,
been distinctly expressed in favour of this measure*sal to
he could not see that that. ought to lead to a refusal
inquire into a question like this—a question in,7o;
tinperial considerations. With respect to the address
had been presented to Lord Elgin, it was a "where
able fact, that those addresses had scarcely any eft of
been agreed to at pahlie meetings; and the Me°3 ssiog,
the House which he now had the honour of addre_tios
were very well aware how petitions were &Diler, not
of up in this country. Now, petitions which
be to the emanations of public meetings, were to !om
under such circumstances, as the sense only of the P: are.
whose signatures are appended to them. It Ryas (four
markable fact that there was not a single addressed to
excepted) of the forty pages of addresses PreserjeetiaP
Lord Elgin, that had been agreed to in public 1"
ethigo
Now, one of the four addresses voted at public Ine
had only 24 signatures appended to it. Were thei,te
tie would ask, to look at the Government as advoct, s gee
this matter? or rather, were they not to expect frloete
Government a frank statement of the whole of theoeltY
et the case? He was informed on indisputable auto 0.
that the petitions against the Bill were far more ere
merous than those in favour of it; and those laic" eyed
against the Bill emanated from public meetings, 0111.. red
by the constituted authorities. He therefore deep
to the assertion that the sense of the people 01 CPo3ioion
was in favour of the Bill. A difference of epes;
prevailed as to the feelings of the two prov.;bije
out he did not hesitate to say that, wee
the majority of the inhabitants of Lower Canada ,
y
said to be in favour of the addresses, the great h°d Tbs
the people of Upper Canada was against the es'
Right Hon. Gentleman said that the statesmanlikereioto
titles of Lord Metcalfe were only equal- to' the 13e
toeces
which marked his general conduct under Circure'ded to
of the most teeing description. He then proceeded of
observe on Mr. Daly's two _letters :of the 2'looo
February and of December in respect to theilioo id
which occurred to parties during the late rebe'ot in
Canada. He contended that the last letter Was „,
was
accordance with the former; but, at' all eventsebh or-
clear that the Crown was not at all affected.; by. the the
rangements that had been come to in respect t 0 t
parties engaged in the re hellion in Lower Catnidastieper
it was said that the Acts of the Legislatuite iifi.tre;son
Canada glutted to persons actual) convicted 0 'see ee"
compel:setters for losses sustained by them during r.'o,jett
hellion'. But he denied that this was a fair construartioo
of the Acts in question. It was true that certain Pool
who had given
.up their houses to facilitate
operations had been compensated; but