The Sun.
London, England, 1849-03-24 00:00:00

# tr Armin

LONDON, SATURDAY, MARCH 24, 1849.

Canada is unhappily affording the mother country
serious cause for disquietude. The attitude recently
assumed by her Colonial Government is at once dis-
loyal to the SOVEREIGN, insulting to her Parliament,
and calculated to provoke endless agitation through-
out that portion of her North American dominions.
Although it was declared last evening by the Home
Secretary, in the absence of the Honourable Repre-
sentative of Kinsale, that no official communications
have yet been received from the Governor, Lord
ELGIN, in reference to the late proceedings of the
Administration at Montreal, those occurrences are
already so notorious as to require no remarks on our
part by way of apology for their consideration.
Seeing that the transatlantic journals have contained
copious reports not only of the decisions but
also of the discussions of the Legislative Assembly ;
seeing that those discussions are fraught with dis-
loyalty to her MAJESTY, and with discourtesy to her
MAJESTY'S advisers ; seeing that those decisions
hive excited extraordinary indignation amongst the
worthier inhabitants of the province, insomuch that U
public meeting of nearly four thousand individuals
protested against the conduct of the Canadian Cabinet,
and that consequently the effigy of one of the most
obnoxious representatives was burnt. and decapitated
in the streets of Montreal—there is surely no reason
for preserving an ineffectual silence upon the question
at issue, simply because Earl GREY has not received
a bundle of corroborative documents from Quebec.

-- -
Notwithstanding the importance of these disturb-
anoes among the Canadians, there are, doubtless, many
still ignorant of their real origin and of their pernicious
character. It will not, consequently, be superfluous
if, for their information, we briefly and simply relate
the nature of the anxieties felt by England respecting
the position of affairs in her North American posses-
sions. To abbreviate our explanation to the compass
of a single sentence, we may observe that
the excitement in Canada arises from a pro-
ject of the Ministry—a project confirmed by
the Legislative Assembly—to compensate rebels as
well as loyalists for any losses incurred during the
period of the rebellion. The outrageous injustice, as
well as the injurious influence of such a
scheme, require no exposition they are un-
fortunately too glaringly visible in them-
selves. Besides which it is impossible not to
perceive that the effect of this atrocious act of indis-
criminate indemnity will be, if carried into operation,
a flagrant insult to the Supreme Government of the
British Empire, a monstrous and practical incitement
to insurrection, and an expression of disloyalty to
,our Gracious MONARCH so bold and indecorous, as,
if allowed to pass unpunished and even unteprobated,
must act most prejudicially upon the whole
working
of our colonial policy.
It is pretended by the promoters of this schetne of
compensation that a measure of a similae.chitracter
was at One time projected by Lord METCALFE himself.
As it would be far from difficult to disprove the as-
sertion by showing that that statesman restrict-id his
intentions solely to the ihdemnification of the sup-

porters of the cause of the Sovereign;-tlie assumed
justification goes for nothing. In the same way it
requires no very large amount of logical sagacity to•
dissipate the paradoxes advanced by the Solicitor-
General (Mr. Ilnicx.s) by way of argument in
favour of the Ministerial proceedings. For example,
'it is clearly absurd to reason that because the
claimants are few in: number, that therefore the
validity of their claims should be examined less scru-
pulously; the inferential conjunction being in this
instance as exquisitely irrelevant as the " gunpowder
running out of the heels" of the gentleman's boots in
that immortal rhapsody which is familiar to every
schoolboy.
As the matter is beginning to assume a rather serious
aspect, in reference to the relationship of the Govern-
ment of Canada towards ourselves, it will not be un-
advisable to transcribe verbatim the most important
resolutions and amendments which were successively
rejected or accepted by the Assembly.
__ _ . .

First, as to the fifth and most important clause in
the original resolution introduced by Mr. LAroN-
TA INE, it decided—" That in order to redeem the
pledge given to the sufferers of such losses, it is ne-
cessary and just that the particulars of such losses not
yet paid, should form the subject of more minute le-
gislative inquiry ; and that they should be paid and
satisfied, so far only as they have arisen from the total
or partial, unjust, wanton, or unnecessary destruc-
tions of the property and effects of the said inhabi-
tants, or by the taking or carrying away of their
property and effects." According to this, it will
be observed that no line of restriction what-
ever was marked for the Commissioners appointed to
superintend the distribution. Very considerable
disturbance resulted from the loose wording of this
resolution, and in order, in some degree, to allay the
excitement of the province, the Minister caused the
subjoined condition to be interpolated :—" That none
of the persons convicted of high treason alleged to
have been committed in Lower Canada, or who,
having been charged with high treason, submitted
themselves to the will and pleasure of her MAJESTY,
and were transported to Bermuda, shall be entitled
to indemnity." Although opposed with much viru-
lence by Mr. PAPINEAU, that emendation was ulti-
mately carried, but as if to weaken its whole beneficial
influence, the supplementary amendment of Mr.
CAYLEY, to the effect that compensation should not be
awarded to any save those "who remained true to
their allegiance, and risked life and property in defence
of their country," was thrown out. Two similar amend-
ments were afterwards rejected; one worded thus-
- " Nor any person who aided, assisted, or abetted the
said rebellion, shall be entitled to any indemnity,"
and the other, proposed by Mr. ROBINSON, run-
ning as follows—" Nor any person who was in
any manner implicated in the said rebellion, or
who refused, when called upon, to aid in sup-
pressing it." Against all these just and loyal
Umendments the members of the Administration
voted unanimously, thus placing themselves on the
side of those who are manifestly solicitous to propi-
tiate the good will of the rebels by insulting at once
the' Supreme Government, the mother country, and
the SOVEREIGN. Putting entirely out of view the
immorality and indecency of the policy adopted by the
Ministry—its immorality, for inasmuch as it is opposed
to all the principles of justice, and its indecency in as far
as it would be more becoming in a faction of con-
spirators than in a cabinet.of statesmen—we ask any
rational lover of his country, if the recent acts of
the Canadian Administration are not subversive of
all order, and pregnant with calamities to England
and to her dependencies ? We ask the supreme Ad-
ministration, if these things are to be permitted—if
the Assembly is to propagate insurrection by com-
pensating rebels ; if the loyal adherents of the
QUEEN are to be lowered to an equality with the
men who fought against her authority, and who shed
the blood of its defenders ?

Can Lord ELGIN permit these things to pass un
noticed ?

Will Lord GREY remain apathetic while the vindi-
cators of insurrection fan the smouldering embers o:
rebellion into a new and more disastrous conflagra.
tion ?

If the Canadian Cabinet carries into effect its late
resolutions it is impossible to foresee the perilous
consequences of their temerity. The loyal popula-
tion of the province will not submit quietly to the
insolent disregard of their services, and to the unde-
served encouragement of their antagonists. The
sentiment which prompted them to burn the effigy of
Mr. LAFONTAINE on the Place d'Armes in Montreal
is not an evanescent feeling of enthusiasm; neither
is the ardour displayed on that occasion by Sir
ALLAN MWAN peculiar to himself alone. It is
sympathised in by thousands throughout both the
Canadas, and those thousands will not remain idle
spectators of occurrences now transpiring.

There is now, at least, a prospect of some decisive
step being taken with respect to Indian railways.
From what fell from the President of the Board
of Control on Thursday evening, in answer to
the question of the Noble Lord the Member
for King's Lynn, it appears that a plan had
been submitted on behalf of the Government
to the Court of Directors, by which it was be-
lieved the Court could fairly come to terms with the
railway companies. The serious differences which
have so long prevailed may thus happily be arranged,
and the advantages of railway communication may be
extended, even at the eleventh hour, to our vast pos-
sessions in Hindostan.

It is, indeed, difficult to conceive the reasons by
which the Court of Directors could have been influ-
enced to understand the grounds of their policy, in
suffering a matter of such vital importance to the
British interests in India to remain in abeyance, while
they were engaged in wordy warfare, in undignified
squabbles, and fine. drawn arguments, as to the con-
struction of their contracts with the several railway
companies. If India is, indeed, to have railways;
if its vast resources are to be properly de-
veloped by additional facilities for cheap and
expeditious modes of transit, something must speedily
be done either by the East India Company itself, or
by such private parties as may be induced to enter
upon the speculation in consideration of the favour-
able terms that may be offered. No unnecessary
delays should be interposed to the attainment of the
great desideratum.

It may possibly be deemed more expedient that
these gigantic undertakings should be carried out by
private enterprise in India as well as in this
country. But if such enterprise should prove
inadequate to the purpose—if the only alter-
native should be, either that the several lines
should be neglected, or that they should be
constructed at the expense and for the benefit
of the East India Company itself, surely,
no rational doubt can be entertained as to the course
that should be adopted. In whatever point of view
we.regard the question, whether we examine its com-
mercial or its political bearings--whether we desire
to see the trade and commerce of the country ex-
tended, and its
productions increased and made easily
available, or wish to consolidate and strengthen the
British power, so as to render our Indian empire-aa
permanent as any merely human institution can -be,
the introduction of the railway system seems equally
essential. The production of cotton is languishing
and failing. America is rapidly attaining a
monopoly in the supply, in consequence of the
great disadvantages attending the carriage of the
cotton wool from the place where it is culti-
vated to the markets where it may be disposed
of. If additional facilities for transport were afforded,
British India might speedily be enabled to compete
with the United States, and, if necessary, furnish an
abundant supply of the raw material for the use of
the factories of Yorkshire and Lancashire. Mr MAC-
GREGOR, in his admirable work on " Commercial
Statistics," tells us (vol. iv., p. 731) :
" As some one of the several species of cotton plants
may be found in every district of Hindostan, from Cape
Comorin to the Himalaya mountains, it is assumed that
no portion of the globe of equal extent is capable of
yielding so large a quantity of this useful material; and,
from the earliest ages, cotton is often alluded to as a
special production of India. It is also assumed that no
part of India has a climate unsuited to the production of
superior cotton. That this assumption is demonstrated
by the fact that the best samples are produced in
Guzerat, at the north-west extremity, in Behar, in the
centre, and at Tumivelly, on the most southern point?'
We are also told, on the same high authority, that
"At Omrawutte cotton is grown at the rate of two
Pa
n"d nda for twopence, in moderately favourable seasons,
g
at Bombaoyodarto• aadshaenxiassto,mtehi_sreamrtuincleeractiounlgd
pbrie
cdee.livletreids
now carried on the backs of bullocks, and the extra cost