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

of the Province. Sir, I stated last night what the object of
this plan was. The object is, that in any future plan for the
Government of the Province we may not adopt them either
wholly on the authority of the Imperial Parliament or of the
Government of this country, or adopt them wholly on the au-
thority of the Governor-General, but adopt them en the authe-
thority of the Imperial Parliament of this country and the
Government of this country,with the sanction of those who re-
present the interests of America, and being conversant with all
the affairs transacted there, know perfectly well what are the
remedies which, in their opinion, will produce that which her
Majesty has declared to be her object—the lasting peace and
concord ofthat province.—( Cheers.) The Noble Lord then
moved for leave to bring in the Bill.
Mr. WARD said he was very anxious to make a few ob-
servations at that early part of the business, because
though having attended the House last night, at some
personal inconvenience and suffering, he had failed in ob-
taining an opportunity of stating his sentiments upon
that important subject—nor had he been able to wait
in order to record his opinions by his vote—he was the
more anxious to state his sentiments now, because he was
one of the very small minority who had almost uniformly op-
posed the resolutions of last session. He had opposed those
resolutions because, in his opinion, they were most unjust and
impolitic ; but infinitely more so because, in his opinion, it was
impossible that they could lead to any practicable result.
He had been of opinion, and was so still, that those
resolutions went either too far, or not far enough—
they were sure to create all the odium of interference, without
any of its good. It had seemed to him that they would be doing
exactly as it had turned out—that they would irritate the Ca-
nadians, without in the slightest allaying the dissensions which
prevailed in that Province. The result had proved that those
impressions were correct. They had irritated the Canadians,
and had produced no calm. The settlement of the grievances
seemed to be as far off as before these resolutions were
passed. Their effect had been to leave Canada without
any government but that of martial law.—( Hear, hear.) He
' acknowledged that this country was not alone responsible
for these results. He deplored the fatal error which had
been committed by the leaders of the popular party in America
--they had sacrificed the great advantages which would have
resulted from the popular opinion of this country being in
their favour ; for it would be so, sooner or later. The popu-
lar opinion of this country was sure to be in favour of the
weaker party fighting for their civil rights against the strong.
—( Hear.) The question now was, whether they were to give in
to the whole demands made by M. Papineau, or whether they
were to sift those demands—redress the just, and conciliate as
to the others—or whether they were to insist that the rebel-
lion which now existed there must be put an end to before
any redress can be given. In his opinion, the Goverment had
pursued, on this occasion, the very best policy which it was
possible, for the purpose of obtaining all the results
which every one had in view. He came into the
House yesterday with an entire ignorance of the in-
tentions of Government ; and had any plan been
brought forward, not resting on large principles, he should
have given the Noble Lord his most uncompromising opposition.
Had the plan of Government merely contemplated the suspen-
sion of the Constitution—had the Noble Lord talked simply
of coercion, and not of remedial measures—he should have
contended for their rights as strongly as he did now for the
prudence of adopting, in all its parts, the plan submitted by
Government to the House. Ile believed that plan to be
founded on just and enlarged principles. He believed it calcu-
lated to give justice to the Canadians, with a due regard to the
rights and honour of the Crown. He knew that objections were
taken that it imposed on us the necessity of suspending the Con-
stitution of 1791. Why, that Constitution was already de facto
suspended..—( Hear, hear.) It had been not merely sus-
pended—it had been repudiated by the Canadians themselves.
—c Hear, hear.) It was evident to him, upon the perusal of
the whole of Lord Gosferd's correspondence, that from the
moment the resolutions of the Government arrived on the
shores of Canada—that from that moment there
was a rash and wanton determination on the part
of the Canadian leaders to appeal to the sword,
as the arbitrator of the disputes between that colony and this
country. From that moment the only use made of the Consti-
tution of 1791 was to prepare the way for the utter destruction
of the British poacr in the province of Lower Canada. In
all the meetings held under the protection of the Canadian
Constitution, principles were avowed totally irreconcilable with
any of the pi inciples of the British Government.—( Heer.) He
found at these meetings the strongest expression of opinion in
favour of an immediate declaration of independence. He would
not trouble the House by quoting particular passages,but it would
be recollected that in the Address of the Sons of Liberty, it was
laid down that the power of the mother country ought not to sub
silt in a colony frcm the moment the colonists thought it
expedient to get rid of it. Flu found in the meeting of
the &x Counties what aas equivalent to a declaration of in-
dependence, and he saw a regular military organization
throughout the country—lie saw drills by foreign officers sanc-
tioned—he saw resolutions for the rejection of the British au-
thorities passed—he saw the substitution of a new judicial sys-
tem throughout the country organized—and he saw the parties
who disapproved of the course of Papineau, compelled by the de-
struction of their property, and threats on their lives to acquiesce
in the system. To allow men to avow these principles—to
allow them to plead against us, on the one hand, the Consti-
tution—would he as absurd as it would be rash in us to allow
them the benefit of such a plea. He saw, then, the Consti-
tution of Canada suspended by the Canadians themselves, and
the question remaining for us to decide was, what measure
presented the best prospect of a permanent settlement
of the differences with that colony hereafter. He
could conceive no measure better calculated to do that
than a measure which, while it placed a statesman of eminent
and admitted ability at the head of the affairs of Canada—
while it compelled him to stake his reputation on the success
of the experiment entrusted to him—while it armed him with
great power—laid down just, wise, and salutary principles that
that power should not be exercised without an attempt, at all
events, to secure the concurrence of the representation of a large
portion of the population to whom these powers were to apply,
he held that the example a hich England had set on the pre-
sent occasion—for he believed he had rightly understood the
plan of the Noble Lord—he believed that the example which
had been set by Great Britain, in giving her influence to the
principle of a Convention for the settlement of there griev-
ances, which had so long disturbed and distracted the Province
of Canada, was one of the greatest triumphs of reason
in modern times.---( Hear, hear.) Hitherto, when a dispute
had arisen between a colony and a mother country, what had
been the result? An appeal to mere brute force. There
had been no attempt to reason with the colony, or to bring
about an amicable adjustment of the differences. In the
present instance they had a colony invited to come to an
amicable understanding with them, and whatever the
result might be, the people of Canada might rest assured that
there was a disposition to acquiesce in all their reasonable
wishes on the part of a majority of that House as well as else-
where. The only example he (Mr. Ward) knew of a
similar Convention, and which was also attended with the
happiest results, although it was not a convention between
the mother country and her colony, but where a new State
had been recently formed—he meant the United States of Ame-
rica—the first Constitution that had been formed in the United
States, after their declarations of independence had worked so
as to give dissatisfaction. Instead of dividing into a number of
separate communities, they agreed to suspend their Constitution,
and to assemble delegates for the di.scussion of their common
grievances, and the result of fifty years had shown that that
Convention had been attended with the most happy results, for
they are a great and growiag people under the auspices of
that Convention of 1787. But as between a colony and
the mother-country the present was the first instance in
which the plan had been tried. He gave full honour and
credit to those who had ventured to grapple with the unhappy
case of Canada, and who had proposed so comprehensive a
measure as the present for the sanction of Parliament. He was
not going to enter upon the principles upon which the future
Constitution of Canada should be settled; but he could not
help pointing out to the House the vast complication of that
question—the infinite variety of interests at stake—the feelings
to be conceded—the extreme difficulty of inducing the French
Canadians, whose sole desire was to remain a separate commu-
nity amoag the subjects of that country—the extreme difficulty
of inducing them to acquiesce in a plan to secure to all British
subjects an identity of interests, and a community of rights
as to perpetuating the French Canadian people—a people
composed of:500,000 souls, who were trying to maintain a
separate existence—he believed that must be regarded as
perfectly impossible.—(Cheers.) He believed that the best
service they could render to the Canadian people would be to
give them a participation in British rights and laws.
Their system of representation should be changed, for the re-
presentation as it at present existed, was monopolized by
one party to the injury of another. The present was
a question where origin and race greatly prevailed. —( Cheers. )
The two parties in the Colonies had increased the animosity
of the struggle that had taken place. The two parties had
different objects in view, and they pursued their endea-
vours to accomplish those objects with a vehemence that
was unexampled. One party was identified with the Legis-
lative Council, and the other monopolised the whole of the
elections of the House of Assembly. It was his firm
belief that the result of such a convention as was
laid down in the present Bill would be to unite the
two parties, and produce the greatest benefits that
could be conferred on the country. As to abandoning Ca-
nada, and leaving them to settle their own differences, huma-
nity and common sense forbid it.--( Cheers.) It would lead
to the destruction of human life to a most fearful extent—it
would lead to a contest of race and prejudice—a contest in
which the bitterest passions would be exercised without
any controlling power—that controlling power, he was happy
to say, existed in this country. He believed that if the pro-
position of her Majesty's Ministers were carried into effect,
there would be some prospect of bringing the parties to
an amicable arrangement of their disputes, which they
would not have had if they had been left to themselves,
He (Mr. Ward) considered that these Legislative Councils,
whether composed better than they had been, or as they
were at present, were utterly incompatible with any per-
manent good understanding between the Mother Country
and the Colonies. They possessed all the most invidious
privileges of an aristocracy, without any of the benefits
which accompanied an aristocracy elsewhere.—( Hear, hear.)
They were, in fact, a spurious aristocracy—a psel.do House of
Lords—creating bickeriugs and quarrels, not only in the Ca-
nadas, but in all our North American Provinces.—
( Hear, hear, hear.) He hoped the House would depart
from the false and erroneous system of legislation
with regard to cur Colonies which had hitherto
been pursued ; and that they would be prepared to
agree to the abolition of the Legislative Councils.—( Hear,
hear.) He was convinced, that however harsh the suspen-
sion of the Constitution might at first appear, he thought
the measures which had been recommended by the
Government, would have the effect of promoting a good
understanding with the colony in question. He repeated