The Sun.
London, England, 1838-01-06 00:00:00

'2,790,b90
1,611,c81 l,l

FRANCE.

of Lower Canada, 1 would take the lib, rty of suggesti, g.
the course most aqvisatle in the actual s.att• of the public
mind, that every possible attention should b given to the
several subjects of complaint comprised in the petition of the
House of Assembly, with a view to their remcval or modifica-
tion, according to circumstances.
" I cannot close this despatch without p-rforming what I
conceive to be an act cf justi,m ; and that is, to expres-,1 to,
your Lordship my fir.n conviction that throughout the whole
of the King's vast domini-ns his 11,Injcaty not hero possesses
subjects more loyal and true than the mph) of Lower
Canada."
OPINION OF 7112 COMMISSION2RII Wllll RESPECT I'O LOCAL'IIO.

VERNMENT AND MENICIPAL INATIVITIONS.
" 8. Since the whole of the revenue of Lower Canada is,
with few exceptions, raised by duties rf custom, the Reuse
of Assembly is, by the operation of the Trade Act, eaten-
tially crimped in the exercise of one of the most important
functions of a representative body. They have a lager re-
venue than they want for any of the ordkary i.urposes of gl-
vernment, without the power Lf redueiog it, by taking ofl
taxes ; and this superabundant revenue is censequentlyappli• d
by them to many purposes which, pei haps, in their own opi-
nion, and certainly in ours, would be better provided for either
wholly or in part by local assessmeats ; such, for instance, as
the expenses of gaols, the maintenancof sehAvli, az.d the re
pair of highways, bridges, &c. ; and thus it hap ens that the_
inhabitants of parishes or districts a...c first revented from
having iu their awn hands the mnisgerLent of the affairs in
which they are immediately cone( rned, and ti:en reproached
by their political opponents with an incvneity for public busi-
ness. We cannot help makiv, these rerreoks, because we
think that, in the present particular at -least, the 1, aders
the popular body have shown a laudable eesire to get out of
what has been called the French system, a system which
made the Government everything and the people
nothing ; and
that their opponents have laboured, and aro still labour inr, to
perpetuate the vices of a condition, the evi's of which, as far as
they hurt themselves, they are ever loud in •dtriluncing. We
need scarcely say that we allude to the f-eluent failure of bills
for the election of township and parish officers, and for the ma..
nagement of other matters of local concernment.

MINUTE OF SIR CHARLES GREY.
"I should regard it in rresent circumstances as a wise re-
solution to make, either no application at all to the Imperial
Parliament, or one for a comprehensive and permalent adjust-
ment. At the same time, I e.rn obliged to, say, that I have no
hope of the troubles of the province, as it is at present consti-
tuted, being settled by the existing Canadian Legislature. A
year's residence in the country has convitiied The that without
a perpetual dissension, the British in Lower Canada cannot
legislate in-forensic affairs for the French Canadians, nor the
French Canadians for the British, or for a prov:nce and a river
which are the heart and life-blood of the British American
commerce and colonies; nor is then: any ch Ince that, under
the present laws of election, the two parties Klll be so blended
in the Houses of Legislature as to make tiros., bodies effective
instruments of Imperial Government.''