The Sun.
London, England, 1838-01-09 00:00:00

CANA DA.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Bryan-Anne-square, Jan. 8, 1833,

gitli----=The efforts which the opponents of the Canadas sic
making to represent the real situation of affairs in these pro-
%inces--to persuade the people of England that the Canadians
have no real gri:tvanccs to complain of—and that it is only
Radicabi like myself who arc now making complaints. for the
111,2 ast time, against tire measures of the Colonial Office—
are so perseveringly continued, that I beg lave to submit trs
your readers the opinions of some influential Members of Par-
liament, who have always been considered as Whigs, and no-
thing more.
/4:l`tet‘ Vit.! presentation by Sir James Mackintosh, in 1828, of
a retition frotii Lower Canada, figned by 87,000 of the most
wealthy and influential proprietors and iArabitants of that
province, a debate took place in the fluuse of Commons on
tic 2,1. of May, on the proposal, by Mr. Huskisson, the then
Secretary for the Colonies, for the appointment of a Select
Committee to inquire into the grievances stated in that peti-
tion. I took part in that dArit, and I request those gentle-
men who are desirous of knowing how long the Canadians

have et.tmplained against the British Government and its Go-
vernors then, encl what were the extent and nature of those
complaints, to peruse that debate. It will appear that at that
lime (1828), there had been ten stars of squabble and hosti-
lidee between the Canadians and their Governors—that it was
the irtentlon of Mr. Pitt, and of the Parliament which passed
the Bill in 1791, for st>parating- the Provinces into Upper and
Lower Canada, to throw the political weight into the hands
of the French settlers, then, as now, the most numerous in the
province, in order that they should enjoy the rights and customs
to which they were attached : —that it was also intended that the
Legislative Council should, as well as the House of Assembly, be
sleeted f,om the French Canadians :—that the large majority
of the Legislative Council were then. as they have been since
that time, placemen, and _English or of English descent, having
little interest as lauded proprietors, and holding their offices
at the pleasure of the Governor :—that these Legislative
Councillors were consequently the slaves and dependants of the
Governor, to carry his views, and not the views of the Per ple
into effect :—that the English race, now called the British
party, consisted then, as they do now, principally of the Civil
an:l.Military Qflicers of the Government, and their servants
and dependants in the towns :—that an attempt was then made
and has been now repeated, to draw a distinction as to the
right of enjoyment of civil rights, between the French settlers
and the English party, a distinction equally-mischievous in po-
licy, as unjust in principle :—and, that in fact, the existence
of the Legislative Council was then declared to be a Consti-
tutional grievance. By the Petition from the House of Assem-
bly in Lower Canada, presented to the House of Commons in
1836, it will appear that the catalogue of grievances which
I have now given, and many others which existed in 1828, and
had then produced so much dissatisfaction and irritation, exist
at .this time, with greatly increased force, although petitions
and addresses have been presented by the People, and by the
Houses of Assembly in that Province, yearly, since that time,
praying for redress ;—hut redress has been pertinaciously re-
fused, and the people have been thus goaded, to adopt the
Constitutional means of stopping part of the supplies
yearly, since 1833, with the view of forcing the attention
of the Ministers of the Crown and of Parliament to their com-
plaints. They have persevered, with a degree of forbearance
and patience almost unexampled, in seeking- redress, but
without effect; and, in my opinion, they would have perse-
vered much longer to demand relief in a constitutional way of
the House of Commons, had they not, in April last, agreed to
the revolutionary resolutions, proposed by Lord John Russell,
which violated their constitutional rights, which had been so
sacredly guaranteed to them by the Act of 1791.
In support of the statement I have made, I request that the
speech of Mr. Henry Labouchere, who had visited the Ca-
nadas in 1827, and is now Vice-President of the Board of
Trade, may be attentively considered. He is not a Radical !I
I ask your readers also to give due weight to the statement of
facts, and to the opinions of Sir James Mackintosh, as herein
subjoined, before they join in the cry that Lower Canada has
no real grievance, or that the strong dissatisfaction and ex-
citement existing in that province has been produced by the
Radicals in the House of Commons:—
IN THE DEBATE ON MAY 2, 1828, IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.

Mr. LABOUCHERE said, " No doubt the House is justified in
interfering with the inferior legislatures in extreme cases, and
if it be done in this case I trust it will be done with all due
regard to the rights given by the compact between this country
and Canada to the French Canadians. The principal object
of the Bill (of 1791) was the division of Canada into Upper
and Lower, and the object of this was to throw the political
weight into the hands of the French settlers, who formed the
great majority of the population. It was the only way Mr.
Pitt could devise to settle the Canadians in the enjoyn►ent of
the rights and customs to which they were attached."
" Mr. Pitt intended that the Legislative Assembly should
be selected
.from the French Canadians, as well as the House
of Assembly."
" I am sure the Canadas can never be preserved to this
country without the entire affection and approbatfun of the
Colonists."

Sir JAME*. MACKINTOSII-4' My maxims of Colonial policy
are few and simple—full permission to conduct the whole of
their own internal affairs, compelling them to pay all the rea-
sonable expenses of th,tir own Government, and giving thou
at the same time a perfect control over the expenditure ; end
lastly, imposing no restrictions of any kind upon the industry
or traffic of the people."—" These arc the only maxims bf
which colonies can be well governed, and the only maxims bf
which the evils of a distant Government can be mitigated;
hut of all these maxims, in my opinion, the most fundamental
is, that those living in the colonies should manage them-
selves."

Sir J. MAexitiTosti continued, " In every country the wishes
ofthe greater number of the inhabitants, and those in posses-
sion of the great mass of the property ought to have great in-
fluence with the Government—they ought to possess the power
of the Government; and, if this be the case as a general rule,
it ought, a multi fortiori, to be followed in the government of
colonies by a distant country, to which the information that is
to guide the Government is sent by a few, and is never correct
nor complete."
" The ten years of squabbles and hostilities which have ex-
isted are a sufficient charge against the Government."
" Undoubtedly the House of Assembly has a right to ap-
propriate the supplies it grants. This is implied in the verf
nature of the grants. It is the right of every representative
assembly ; and to the exercise of this right the House of
Commons is indebted for its importance and utility. If this
right be not possessed by the House of Assembly, it is a mero
delusion to talk of its control over the public expenditure."
" The Right Hon. Gentleman ( Huskisson) admits this
right ; but the Governor of Canada has infringed on it. Hee
appropriates 140,0001. of the supplies without the authority of
the Assembly."

" There is no disgrace in a Government consulting the feel-
ings of the people. There is nothing so unfortunate as on
infatuated arrogance on the part of a Government; and there
is nothing c,hich is a stronger indication of its precarious-
ness, and which will so surely lead to its fall. It is a
fatal opinion in the rulers of a country to despise,
the people ; and its safety, honour, and strength are at all
times best preserved by consulting their wishes and feelings."--;
" Of the Councillors, consisting of twenty-seven, seventeen hole
places under the Government at pleasure. These seventeen
divide among themselves 15,000/. of public money, which 0
not a small suns in a country where 1,000/. a-year is
large income for a country gentleman. The nine remaining
councillors were worn out by opposing the seventeen, and at
present have withdrawn from attending its deliberations • an
two of them, being the most considerable landowners of tlt
province, were among the subscribers to the petition I -pre,
seined to the House. Under these circumstances, I appeal to
the House if the Canadians are not justified in considering thi
very existence rf this Council as a Constitutional grievance
—All who have places in the Council, or at least the majoriti
of them, are, in the worst sense of the word, ‘placemen,
ploycd, not to give counsel to the Governor—for slaves can'
not give counsel to their masters—but to screen him from tlt
natural consequences of his own acts : the existence of lc
Council so composed, and so constituted, is a crying griev
ance. The English race principally consists of the militar
and civil officers of the Government, and their employes
the towns—respectable persons, no douLt, whose claims ough
not to be neglected ; but how can any system of represento'
tion he devised, that is not founded on an iniquitous basillt.
which will give them an equal interest faith the native Cana',-
dians, the original propri, tors of the soil ? Do riot let n'
consider, or give any other persons ground for supposing,
that we consider the native Canadians as less dear to us than
any eth,,r class of our fellow-subjects. They are equally the
subjects of the Kin;; with ourselves, and are as well entitled t°
the protection of the law as the English inhabitants. Let 11
consider all his Majesty's suljects in Canada equal
and s ut our ears to all unwise distinctions about English an
French races, for such distinctions cannot exist without gene.:
rating alarm, even if they do not produce mischief. PT
perfectly convinced that' the Canadas can never be lung hel"1
I will even say that they cannot be justly held, except by a tot°
abstinence on our part from all interposition with their inte7
nal affairs, by considering the inhabitants as of one race 0.11,
one family, and by making no distinction in reasoning,
less in law, between the descendants of English and of Frilic
settlers."
Mr. STANLEY.—" I am very well aware that there are timesil
which Constitutions solemnly sworn to on one day are violate.
before the ink is dry upon the parchment ; but equally certoP..
am I, that this is not the way Englishmen will treat congsituti
timid compacts. Englishmen will not look on a Constitutit
at
as a mere arbitrary and uncertain law, that may be alterca,
pleasure ; but they will consider it as a system of precut.' 0
principles of Government. which by long habit has bele
interwoven, and almost identified, with the feelings cf
people."

JOSEPH HUIIF•

On Tuesday last, about five o'clock in the afterno°
.0 d
• .
a large thatched barn was standing alone in a field, adjoglill
farming premises in the occupation of Mr. Ellis at Q0'.6.0
in this country, was wilfully set on fire, and the contents foe
quarters of barley), entirely consumed. What renders tit,
act the more daring is that several of Mr. Ellis's servo
were at work close by at the tirne.—Canibridge Chronicle.
The house of Grenus and Co., of Geneva, are 313 t
to send a vessel on a voyage round the world, in order torrei:e
tablish new vents for the manufactures of Switzerland.
4.;crn
_Edmond, the ship selected for this purpose, is to sailico,
Havre about the end of Janunry. Messrs. Grenus Ge-
offered a free passage to any naturalist tin horn the city 0 thencva would send out, to make collections for ti:e Muscat of,bt
city ; but, stiauge to say, the authorities have not r11°,.,57,01
proper to avail themselves of the cffe.r. A young co"
Glarus, however, a M. T:hudi, is to proceed with the c"`
dition, in order to collect for the Mus.eunt of Neufchatel.