The Sun.
London, England, 1838-01-18 00:00:00

his firm, entire, and unequivocal adhesion to the Government
plan in all its parts. That it would be administered in that
conciliatory spirit in which it had been introduced, and in which
a general amnesty had been sanctioned, he felt no doubt, from
the character of the Nobleman to whom its execution
had been entrusted.—(Hear, hear.) He should anxiously
watch the operation of this plan, believing it to be founded
upon principles which would at once secure justice to the
colony, and maintain the honour and interests of, the Crown.
—( Hear, hear.) The House had no choice but to secede to
such great and comprehensive principles, if they wished to put an
end to these disputes in Canada. There were certain points,
as it was well known, upon which he differed with the Govern-
ment ; but he begged to offer them his most grateful thanks
for the wise and amicable plan which they had re-
commended, and which he believed would be produc-
tive of the most beneficial results.—( Hear, hear, hear. )
If the French Canadians should succeed in putting down the
claims of this country on the land in any way, their success
would lead to the entire confiscation of British property.
They considered the property acquired under the Charter
of the British Government as usurped and illegal. For
instance, the land held by the British American Land
Company—and they looked to the annulling of that Company's
Charter as one of the objects of the insurrection—if: they suc-
ceeded, the confiscation of all other British property would
follow. If, on the other hand, the British party should sues
ceed, violence and injustice would follow, from which his mind
equally revolted. Without being too sanguine as to the re-
sult of the present attempt of her Majesty's Govern-
ment, ho believed that it would be successful, if
they reverted to the old and sound principles of British
colonization—if they did not subject the colony to the officials
in Downing-street—if they contented themselves with exer-
cising their imperial power without interfering too much with
their internal legislation, and gave them the fullest control
over their own revenue, stipulating only for a temporary
Civil List, but leaving to the representatives of the people ( how-
ever they may be constituted), the control of the Civil List.
He believed that if they did so, they would restore tranquillity,
and permanently unite the Colony to this country.—( Hear.)
That was the old system of English colonisation, pursued
with uniform success in the Colonies of North America (now
the United States) for upwards of a century and a half. That
system produced more unity, harmony, and strength, than any
system of colonization that had ever before been heard of.—
( Hear.) Almost every Colony which England now possessed
in North America had originally been conquered by the States
of New England, in which the British Government never in-
terfered with the Legislative Assembly, by subjecting it to
a Legislative Council appointed by the Crown. Nova
Scotia and New Brunswick had both been conquered by
New England, which provided the troops, and paid the
expenses of the conquest, out of the revenues of the
State itself.—( Hear, hear.) He had heard with much
pleasure a part of the speech which the Noble Lord the Se-
cretary for the Home Department delivered last night ; but he
regretted to hear the Noble Lord defend the Legislative Coun-
cil, which had been engrafted upon the Constitution of 1791.
Mr. WA RBURT 0 N said, that the last time he had the
honour to address the House on this painful subject, an Hon.
Baronet, a friend of his on the opposite side, had made as a
matter of reproach to him what he rather considered a compli-
ment, that he ( Mr. W.) had endeavoured to discuss this ques-
tion with the same degree of temper and moderation as if he was
canvassing the merits of a private Bill. If anything, he would en.
treat of his friends around him to attend to the advice given by the
Minister of the Crown in the commeecement ofthose great de-
bates which arose on the disputes which took place between
Great Britain and her Colonial possessions, which now con-
stitute the United States of America, naively, " sine ulle
animorum sine dissensione."—( Hoar, hear.) He was of
opinion that in order to obtain the greatest measure of justice
for the Canadians, those who were their supporters in that
House ought to discuss the question before them with the
greatest possible degree of temper and moderation._( Hear,
hear.) What he (Mr. W.) wished to do in the present in-
stance was to look to the actual state of the Canadas at pre-
sent, and not retro,pectively.—( Hear, hear.) He did not
Clink it necessary to go minutely into all the questions
which had arisen between the Government on the one
hand, aril the House of Assembly on the other, or to measure
exactly the degree of praise or censure which had been in-
curred by either.—( Hear, hear.) He did not consider that
any degree of advantage would be obtained by exactly balancing
the merits of the respective parties ; because, neither the gen-
tlemen who approved of the course now to be taken with respect
to the Canadas, or the Secretaries who had been in corre-
spondence on the subject, disputed that there were great
grievances to be redressed in that Colony. For these reasons,
looking to the situation in which the Canadians were placed,
allowing for the state of irritation into which they had been
thrown by the delay of that redress to which they were en-
titled, assenting to all those measures of amnesty to which an
allusion had been made by the Noble Lord, he would say
again, let them consider what was best to be done
in the present existing circumstances of Lower Canada.
There were two parties in Lower Canada—in that very colony
now in open rebellion—there were the insurgent!, and there
were those who took no Fart in the insurrection. With re-
gard to the insurgents themselves, he believed he might almost
take for granted that the insurrection had been put down. If the
insurrection had been put down, he was glad it had been put down
at he earliest possible period, because if success were to attend
the Government, the sooner that bloodshed and exasperation
were put au end to the better. The less the evils that
attended an insurrection, the sooner they would be put
an end to. He did not wish to observe particularly on
any course taken by the Government—yet while he
was on the case of the insurgents, and of the course
taken by the Government in putting that insurrection down,
without intending to say anything that was irritative, he
was sorry to observe, that unmerited praise was given to the
conduct of the officers who were engaged in putting that
insurrection down. He was willing to give every
praise to them for their gallantry; yet there were some
circumstances attending the putting down of the insurrection
which certainly did not deserve unqualified praise.—( Hear. )
If houses or barns had been burnt during the time the attack
was made—if those disasters had happened at the actual moment
of attack—be, for one, would have had nothing to com-
plain of on the subject. Yet he could not help noticing
in the dispatches he had seen, that a rule had
been laid down for destroying all houses from
which any firing had taken place.—(" Hear, hear," from an
Hon. Member on the Conservative benches.) And he also
noticed that those houses had been destroyed, not at the mo-
ment of attack, but at a subsequent period when the troops
had re-visited the houses from which attacks had been made.
He knew not to what extent that retaliation had taken place,
The irritation and heart-burnings which lasted for a consider-
able period after the cessation of the American war, were at-
tributed, and he believed rightly, to the burning of the houses
of those persons who were supposed to be active in the
war. Without, therefore, wishing to pour oil on the
flames, or blaming any party—but wishing to bind
the Government to those assurances given last night, that they
were anxious to extend mercy to all—wishing that it should
be extended as far as possible, he reminded them, then, in
the despatches of the Government acknowledging the ser-
vices of the officers engaged—the most unqualified praise
had been given for all that they had done. Such acts
ought net to be praised, even though they might be
committed under mistaken motives, and a sincere wish to do
that only which was only for the benefit of the public service.
These acts certainly should have bees excepted, and he ( Mr-
W. ) would have been more glad had he seen them noticed in
the Government dispatches. He could not for a moment
say that, in his opinion, the Canadians were at all
justified in having recourse to arms.—( Hear, hear.) At the
same time that he said so, he called upon the House to look at
the great grievances—the acknowledged grievances under
which they had suffered, and then let the Government make
the amnesty as wide and as extensive as possible.—( Loud
cheers.) There had been many charges brought against the
popular party in that country—they, in return, had great and
many grievances to complain of. Amongst others was that
which was prominently put forward by them respecting the
LandginruesattColony,benefits
anyebfiytstCompany.
whicharat s
ifHte
re:
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Companyothnqeeui
irtwe asc
capital tduarlaclo in disposedinto
or
arte
idt to deny
great u
p yoefnee
tye
feeling
gee
of jealousy should arise in the breasts of Canadians, at
seeing a great Corporation armed with such powers,
especially for the purchase of land.—( Cries of " Hear.")
Now let them look at the way in which the mother country
acted with regard to Corporations possessing extensive property
in land. Was there the smallest Corporation in which the
pjtlweaooaanwrsdoehiu
jealousy
kcowyheualwgys
iha
stnt
otowft
teabli .letemyos pieftoaetsugdossii
giving
egb possessing land to the utmost extent
le tysougrprearanirrsteiyndgpru
Corporationsd
alta
c tt
hedhn
esct
oe ?sor
so enormous
eteNanr:
ohrofmen rh
oeowul
sshd
an
nghh
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ona
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as
kmcoly
andoen placei— an touhnge h they
Hi
it
los House
sseueyb
for
oe rcwonder
t:he
Supposing
at the
disposal of a
which
r o p opll the
landedtwshuiecthyh
approve
po ppwrrcoorpv eetorot
Corporationpfy ut orr factnhhaas esfs
ee
trChr
and
iranot
zw?
great
hold,r
‘e would otoauul ddl t
masses
httheh eecyyorfneo
note Crown
ott
lawaaknneCdpcs ?orporation
property
,eVe
irftoyut
hlt Would
Crown property were to be sold, that it should be disposed of
in such a manner that Corporations should not be allowed to
purchase beyond the extent of their existing charters, and that
the property should be divided amongst the great mass of
purchasers? He did not mean to say that the situation of the
mother country and the colony was the same; but he stated this
as some excuse to the party in the colony whose conduct they
were now contemplating ; he stated the jealousy which was
felt in the mother country as to Corporations being allowed to
hold lands, as some excuse for the jealousy shown to this
Land Company holding landed property to an enormous
extent. This landed Company not only held this pro-
perty, of which a sale was made to it in the first in-
stance, but having disposed of certain lands, and other
new lands having been brought to the hammer since the
charter was granted, that very Company had been in the
market as purchasers of new lands. It seemed there was no
chock to the domain over which the Company entended its
influence—no chance of its being limited within any
limited period of time ; but it went on purchasing
lands, and, therefore, looking at the extensive powers granted
and exercised by this landed Company, he could not wonder at
the jealousy entertained by the popular party in Canada, as to the
very condition on which the landed Company had been formed.
But there was not only the insurgent party to be considered,
but the party of gentlemen who, at the period of 1828, were
among the foremost to petition that House for the removal of
grievances; but who had not taken part with Papineau, and
the other more ardent Reformers there.—( Cries of " Hear,
hear.") He would say that there was a large and liberal
party who had remained attached to the Crown, and
had taken no part in the insurrection ; and he must
say that whatever measures the Government thought
proper to take, the honor and the feelings of that
party above all things ought to be eonciliated.—(Hoar.