The Sun.
London, England, 1838-08-16 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

A series of resolutions, which we have elsewhere in-
serted, passed by the Committee of the North American
Colonial Association, and subscribed by Alexander Gilles-
pie, Esq., the Chaieniatt. completely bears out the state-
ment made by Mr. Hawes on tueedtrr eight, that there
was but one opinion amongst the whole of the thCraehante
engaged in the trade with Canals, that the policy of Lord
Durham was the wisest that could have been pursued.
The Committee, it will be seen, unanimously resolve " that
they feel bound to state their conviction, and which coin-
cides with that of their correspondents in Canada, that. his
Excellency the Earl of Durham has been actuated in all
his proceedings by a sincere desire to promote the peace
and permanent welfare of the Canadas ;" and, moreo-
ver, that "they cannot but regard the discussions
which have lately been raised in Parliament as
tending to destroy British power and iufluence its
the colony, by encouraging the disaffiTted and dis-
heartening the loyal ; arid they and their constituents
having much property in jeopardy in the Canadas,
they owe it to themselves, and as loyal subjects they owe
it to her Majesty the Queen. most solemnly to declare their
serious apprehensions that these proceedings a e calculated
to retard the paccation, if, indeed, they do not lead to
the loss of these valuable appendages of the B itish Crown."
These are the ()Onions of plain sensible men, well ac-
quainted with Canade, deeply interested in its welfare, and
having the most powerful of all motives for arriving at
sound conclusions in a matter of so much moment to
them. They hesitate not a moment to declare that
Lord Durham has their confidence, and that the Tory
LOrds who abetted Lord Brougham in his factious and
most mischievous proceedings have, by so doing, placed
in jeopardy the British possessions of North - America,
those valuable appendages of the British Crown. They
transmit a copy of their resolutions to the Duke of
Wellington, Lord Glenelg, Lord John Russell, and Sir
Robert Peel. From the Duke of Wellington the country
was warranted in expecting better things. How. different
the estimate of him as a statesman and a patriot ten days
ago and at present! As for the prime mover in this
work, whose motives have been so correctly appreciated in
the House of Commons, in the desperate position to which
he is doomed, and which he feels so acutely, it can cause
little surprise that, like the fallen angel of the poet—
" To do aught good never will be his task,
But ever to do ill his sole delight,
And out of good still to find means of evil."
The justice of the sentence which dooms him to perpetual
exclusion from power, except he should succeed in plunging
this country in the same confusion in which the only ob-
jects of his regard in Canada sought to plunge that valu-
able possession, ,is not calculated to soften his animosity
towards the authors of that sentence, for it tells him to re-
nounce all hope. He knows that he cannot be trusted,
and he knows, too, that he possesses talents and an activity
which must make him be feared ; and mischief will here-
after
`be the god of his idolatry.
AX7I
" When slaughter's at hand, your bird of prey
Is never known to be out of the way •
And wherever mischief's to be got,
There's Puck instanter, on the spot."
With the aid of that personage whom Lord Melbourne
described as indebted to the Devil for the application of his
talents, and whom, before that compliment was paid to him,
the world had christened Alfephistophiles, much mischief
he undoubtedly may do. The two are attracted towards
each other by a powerful sympathy, which might not be
proof against prosperity, but which, in the desperate condi-
tion of both, may keep them sufficiently constant to each
other for their respective purposes. But admitting that
Old Pilch has been actuated by hatred of Lord Durham
and the love of mischief, how happens it that the
Tories, who appreciate his character and disposition
as accurately as his former associates, and place no
confidence in him, allowed themselves, on this occa-
sion, to become his instruments, and to be hallooed
on to the mean and most discreditable attempt to
throw the Canadas into confusion ? That the Tories were
aware of the tendency of the measures they were support-
ing no sane man can doubt. But they allowed their ani-
mosity to Lord Durham to blind them to the consequences
of their conduct with regard to their own reputation.
They joined in the mischief, believing that they would
thereby be able to disgust Lord Durham with an office
which they knew he reluctantly accepted, and that, as a
natural consequence of his return might be the renewal of
disturbances in Canada, they would be able to charge
him with their own work. They forgot, in their blind ani-
mosity towards his Lordship, that if he is a man of strong
feelings, he is also a man of elevated purpose ; and that if he
cannot be insensible to the miserable spite displayed to-
wards him, neither can he forget that Canada was confided
to him by his Sovereign as a sacred trust, and that
he owes to that Sovereign and to his &Ho* citi-
zens, the people of England, the faithful discharge of the
trust. Lord Durham despises his enemies too much to
aid them in giving effect to their mean and malignant in-
tentions. He will not give them a triumph ; he has dis-
cernment enough to know that the contempt of the
people of 'England will ere long be the reward of the men
who recklessly hazarded the safety of the British posses-
sions of North America. We should indeed be pronounc-
ing a libel on the people of England were we for one
moment to suppose that the opinion expressed by the
Committee of the North American Association will not
be the opinion of the nation. No one circumstance has so
much lowered the character of the Tories as their profli-
gate support of Old Puck in the schemes concocted by
him and Mr. Roebuck. and their consent to be-
come the firebrands of our colonies, because they
might thereby succeed in destroying the political
reputation of Lord Durham. They are beneath Old Puck,
because they made themselves his tools. He had the merit
of imagining the mischief, and they merely lent themselves
to give effect to it. Precious materials for a judicial as-
sembly ! We grieve to see the Duke of Wellington in
this disreputable business. What must have been his feel-
ings when the resolutions of the North American Com-
mittee first met his eye? He has suffered himself to be
bullied by the baser portion of the party who have been
constantly reproaching him of late for the honeurahle and
disinterested course lie pursued. England owes too much
to the Duke of Wellington to allow any one to think of
failing in respect to the national benefactor ; but let the
Duke repair to the City, and assuredly he will find deep
regret expressed by all men of weight and character at the
part he has acted. How much his remaining years must
be embittered if it should unfortunately happen that the
unruly spirits in Canada, who seek to separate it from the
British Crown, once more take courage and plunge into
fresh insurrection. What an idea that John Arthur Roe-
buck should be able to make the hero of a hundred battles
his tool for rendering Canada an independent democracy !
It is
pleasing to think that in the House of Commons there
is but one opinion, both as to the government of Lord
Durham and the mischievous tendency of the proceedings
in the House of Lords. We almost wish that the House
had given way to their f,!elin4s, and thrown out the
Brougham Bill with contempt. Ministers could have risked
nothing by such a course.—Morniny Chronicle.

In addition to the large outpouring of useless oratory
which flowed for almost nine successive hours on Tuesday
evening; when the Canadian Indemnity Bill was committed
and reported, a further effusion, both flitter and weaker,
took place last night upon the third reading ; es when, in
the family of some thrifty housewife, the morning's tea-
leaves are re-watered for the afternoon's entertainment.
Mr. Leader began, in a very irregular speech, by com-
plaining of observations reported in yesterday's newspapers
as having been made by two or three Members upon his
speech.of Tuesday, particularly with reference to his quo-
tations from and comments upon Mr. C. Buller's letter,
which were represented as amounting to a gross breach
of confidence and friendship on Mr. Leader's part. As
to confidence, he thought the breach was attributable,
not to himself, but to Mr. Buller's correspondent, who
had published the letter ; and with respect to friend-
ship, his separation from Mr. Buller in politics had
separated' them also in private intercourse, and he did
not wish (like certain eminent persons in that House, who
kept up the appellations of " Noble and Honourable
Friends while they were saying the bitterest things they
could invent against each other) to maintain the name
when the substance was severed ; his notions of friendship
were not so light nor so loose. The material point, how-
ever, of 111 r. Lsader's speech was a question to Lord John
Itusi,ell as to the intentions of Government respecting the
two sets of 8 and 15 men denounced by the ordinance. It
would be impessible now to try them by the usual tribunal,
a jury,
especially after the hint which Lord John bad
given of the way in which juries might be made to execute
a Governor's edicts without a transgression of the
law. To try them by that tribunal would be now im-
practicable, and it would be equally so to punish them
without any trial at all. In his mind, the best way
would be to let them alone altogether ; for he thought
a Government must be weak indeed, if it had danger
to apprehend from tbree-and-twenty private and power-
less persons like these. Lord John, with a manner and
tone somewhat less gracious than we should have expected

from the leader of the Ministry to a gentleman whose elec-
tion for Westminster the whole weight and influence oFtliL
Court and Government were set in motion to achieve, wa:-
pleased to say," As to the Hon. Member's question about
the men named in the ordinance, I shall certainly refrain
front givi g him any answer." Dr. Lushington doubted
(in a strain somewiott hoßler and more vehement than
usually belongs to simple scepticism) whether the ordinance
Were illegal at all ; but if it were, he should not therefore
be bound io eotteoe in an act of indemnity. He was ad-
verse to indemnities on ptiocipie. Any man who suffered
by a violation of the law was entitled to such damages as the
law would give him ; and if the act which the sufferer com-
plained of had been for the people's good, the people should
defray those damages. The Learned Civilian then intro-
duced an impassioned panegyric on Lord Durham, and said,
that if the fate of the Bill depended on his vote, he would
throw it out. To the same purpose spoke Mr. Sanford.
Lord Ebringtoiti seeing these symptoms of opposition to
the Bill, came, as usual, to the relief of Government, and
deprecated a division, whereof the two preceding speeches
seemed ominous. But his mediation was not particularly
influential, for Sir E. Cedrington forthwith held out the
promise of his own vote to any sturdy Member who might
be disposed to get up a division. Things now began to
wear an inconvenient aspect, for it was plain that the
Radical allies regarded with some scorn the pusillanimity
of the Government in submitting to this Bill, and were
greatly disposed to make a fraternal rally for Lord Dur-
ham. To calm the rising storm, Lord John interposed in
person, but he did not much advance his own object, for
after expressing his regret that the Bill had been intro-
duced at all, and observing that nevertheless, as it had
been carried so far, it could not now very well re-
jected, be urged, as an additional argument, the consi-
deration that the subject, being connected with judicial
law, was one on which the opinion of the Lords might
be deemed entitled to a peculiar weight. By thus
unluckily deviating into a sound and constitutional
course of reasoning, he nettled his Radical friends not a
little, who received the remark with a growl of displea-
sure ; and Mr. Aglionby started up to assert the equal
competence of the Commons on questions even of this de-
scription. He censured also the hurry with which the
measure had been forced through its several stages ; ob-
jected to indemnities in any case, but above all where the
parties affected did not call- for them ; and expressed his
conviction that Lord Durham would receive the Bill with
disgust. For himself, he said he was a man unconnected
with party, and felt his situation exceedingly difficult, be-
cause, while the request of the leader of the Government
to the House was that they would support the Bill, every
one of his arguments went to condemn it. (All this was
very wall ; but what can have put it into the head of the
Hon. Member for Cockermouth that he is not a partisan,
and a very determined and devoted one ?) Sir G. Grey, the
Under Secretary for the Colonies, explained that the Bill
implied no critninality in Lord Durham ; that it wasrendered
necessary only by the defect of his jurisdiction with reference
to the Bermudas, where it would not be lawful for the local
authorities to deal with the prisoners under Lord Dur-
ham's ordinance, simply because Lord Durham's legislative
powers did not extend to those islands. The use of the in-
demnity, therefore, was for the subordinate officers of the
Government at the Bermudas, not for Lord Durham. Se
spoke the Under-Secretary ; but if this is the view of the
Government—if they are prepared to vindicate the legality
of the ordinance in every particular except this one point
of local jurisdiction, and as this one point can be raised only
by eight particular individuals, who, by their own voluntary
act, have so far submitted to the discretion of the Govern-
ment as to have put themselves wholly out of condition to
recover Is. of damages in any action they could institute,
either against a Bermudean officer, or against a Canadian
councillor, why did not the Ministers at home resist this
Bill of interference like men of spirit, uphold the Governor,
for whom they had asked so. much from Parliament, and
brave the consequences of any petty action which any
ill-advised offender might have brought against their of-
ficers ! Mr. Easthope was sorry that any objection ex-
isted ag.iinst spurning and scorning this paltry piece of
legislation, the source whereof was known, he said, full
well to the country. Mr. Grote congratulated himself
that he had been among the small minority opposed to the
Canada Coercion Act, of which the present inconvenience
was one of the fruits. He could not reconcile the praises
bestowed on Lord Durham with the adoption of the In-
demnity Bill. If that Nobleman's conduct had been really
meritorious, the Ministers should not have consented to
such a piece of legislation ; on the other hand, his
conduct had been improper, lie deserved no indemnity.
Mr. Finch now wound the alarm of Ministers to the
highest pitch, by expressing a positive determination to di-
vide against the Bill. Then up rose succes.ively the At-
torney-General, Mr. Hawes, Mr. Bernal, Mr. Aglionby,
Dr. Lushington, and others of those gentlemen " uncon-
nected with party" who always vote with Ministers, and
begged and implored, not only on public grounds, but some
of them even as matter of personal favour, that Mr. Finch
woul relax from his fatal resolution. At lenLth tlelr con-
glomerated patriotism prevailed over the sternness of his
purpose, and after the Speaker had twice directed that the
gallery should be cleared for a division, Mr. Finch, re-
lentiog, allowed the Bill to be read a third time and
passed.— Tinzes.
The Session of Parliament terminates this day, not only
to the great joy of all Reporters, Editors of Newspapers

and others more immediately connected with its proceed-'
ings, but to the infinite satisfaction of a people deluded by
its hollow promises, sick of its delays, and disgusted at its
inactivity and want of energy. It has now sat nearly nine
months, and yet what has it done ? Nothing—absolutely
nothing ! It talked about five out of the nine months—it
-fiddled and danced away another to the tune of a Corona-
tion--it proceeded to what hal the appearance of business,
in the sixth, and with a few party squabbles to keep up
appearances, it has terminated its existence by undoing
during the last two weeks the whole labour of the last three
months ! Most precious legislators—most admirable
politicians—most excellent guardiani of the people's
rights and privileges, what have ye to say for your-
selves? Is not our picture of your conduct but too true,
and have ye a syllable of defence to offer in your behalf ?
Ye have voted away the public money, it is true, and with
the same ease and indifference that are displayed by all public
bodies who have the keys to the hard-earned money of
their neighbours ; hut what have ye done to amend the
domestic legislation of the country—to improve its do-
mestic trade or to extend its foreign commerce—to make
the poor man more wealthy, or to enable the rich man to
employ his wealth to better advantage ? Nothing—ab-
solutely nothing. Though the trade of the country may
be said to be, on the whole, in a sound and healthy con-
dition, yet there are questions connected with it of the
utmost importance, which have been either specially
avoided, or have not received that patient attention which
their importance so amply deserved. What has been
done with the timber-duties ? Nothing! What with the
duty on glass? Nothing! What with the duty on foreign
corn ? Nothing! What with our trade to Egypt and
t lie Black Sea? Nothing! What with the pacification
of Ireland ? Nothing! In a word, look to what
quarter we may we find the country at the close
of nine months precisely in the same position
as that which it previously occupied—with griev-
ances unredressed—complaints unattended to—peti-
tions unheard—our national condition unimproved—our
national resources rather on the decline, and the national
respect hitherto entertained for us converted into the most
galling indifference. What canker work has wormed its
way into the sturdy roots of our excellent Constitution, and
produced such deleterious fruit, it shall be our object to
show in a series of articles. We conclude for the present
by declaring, what is echoed from the Land's-end to John-
o'-Groat's-house, that there never was a session of Parlia-
ment which promised so mach at the beginning of its sit-
tings, and did so little at the close of them. A more ap-
propriate description of it could not be found, than in the
celebrated nursery ditty—" The King of France went up
the hill with 20,000 men," &c. ; and so good night to our
honourable and noble men (query ?) who constitute the re-
presentative and hereditary legislators of the country. To
the moors and to the streams—to the field and the fload—
to your guns and your rods—to the partridges, and the
grouse, and the pheasants—to occupations congenial with
your natures--to anything, in fact, but serviceable legisla-
tion, which does not befit your, for the next six months.
We can do excellently well without you.—Morn. Advertiser.
It appears from the Speech of her. Majesty's Secretary
of State for the Home Department on Tuesday evening,
that the Government is by no means satisfied with the Ca-
nada Indemnity Bill, which, nevertheless, the Minister
moved that the House of Commons should agree to with-
out any amendment. The Noble Secretary's fears are very
Freat, that highly important detriment to one of her Ma-
jesty's principal provinces may arise from passing the Bill
in its present shape ; but still he proposes that even in its
present shape it shall pass. Upon what ground, then,
does this high officer of her Majesty's Government, and
leader of the House of Commons, consent to this Bill,
and refrain from the attempt to make it what he thinks it
ou3ht to be'? Why—for this highly statesmanlike rca-