The Sun.
London, England, 1849-05-16 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
TIMES.—The Canadian Tories have given us another
touch of their quality. They have proved their abhor-
rence of tumult and sedition by pelting her Majesty's re-
presentative with rotten eggs, and burning down the
House of Assembly. We are not in the least surprised
at it. It does not alter our estimate of the party, of its
temper, of its wisdom, or of its power. It only adds the
last testimony wanting to the value of the Liberal Con-
stitution we have fortunately given to Canada. Riot, in.
sult, and conflagration are the acts of a party which de-
spairs of attaining its end by peaceful and ordinary me-
thods. Thu conduct of the Canadian Tories, now for
many months, has been quite in character with this bril-
liant finale. A month since the steamer brought us an
account of Sir Alan M'Nab, with a dozen or two
brother legislators, dining in public, drinking destruc-
tion, both of body and soul, to the Governor-General's
responsible advisers, and standing in a balcony after
dinner to see the chief of them burnt in effigy before
the windows. In England we have only one opinion of
such proceedings. Lord Stanley is a warm and rather
reckless politician; but if his Lordship invited a party
of friends to dine and see Lord John or Sir Robert burnt
in effigy in St. James's-square, we should conclude that
he thought his chances of power somewhat desperate,
and was, in fact, taking it out in revenge. This is the
case of Sir Alan M'Nab and his associates. They are
now a despicable minority. Low as they are in numeri-
cal strength, for they barely count a quarter of the
Legislative Assembly, they are still lower in character
and fortune. With all their jobs laid bare to noon-
day, their characters blasted, and their fortunes
ruined ; with the doors of office closed against
them, and incapable of honest employment,
they have no alternative but to throw things
into confusion, if they can, and make every-
body else as miserable as themselves. We have no
wish to give these desperadoes a greater share in this
last crowning outrage than facts fully justify, for there
are many modes and degrees of participation in crime.
Perhaps they have no more to do with the burning of
the House of Assembly than Lord George Gordon had
with the destruction of the Roman Catholic chapels and
Newgate. The experience of this country shows that
very lamentable events, of apparent political significance,
may arise on a very short notice, and by very casual in-
struments. In the Nottingham and Bristol riots, the
mob being then and there assembled, finding themselves
in force, perceiving that there were leaders, and hearing
a cry, rushed at five minutes' notice to acts which
they probably had not dreamt of before.
Of course, they outstripped the vigilance of the authori-
ties as much as they did their own senses. Once in the
work, they knew not where to stop. At Montreal we
trust it was not worse. We trust there was nothing
organised in the destruction, though the cutting of the
gaspipes locks rather like plan. The mob was convened
and exeited at a mass meeting. Thence, as by sudden
impulse, it rushed to the House of Assembly. From
breaking windows to effecting an entrance, and from
that to firing the boiling, are easy transitions. Unfor-
tunately, a temporary wooden gallery adjoined the house,
for the stationery department. Two or three years back
there was a similar combination of combustible material
in our own Westminster-hall, and prudent people
shook their heads at it. The papers once flung
about and a candle applied, ten minutes and a high
wind put the matter beyond human control. The gar-
rison marched up with all speed, and arrived in time to
see a splendid conflagration with the usual crowd of de-
lighted spectators. They fired neither into the edifice
nor the crowd, and in fact could do nothing. The fire-
men played upon the adjoining buildings, which was
their wisest course. We had forgotten the police, who
mustered sixty strong under two constables, and kept
order on the ground. When everything was over, the
authorities, the military, and the police were all on the
qui vive ; the soldiers were marched to and fro ; sus-
pected parties were apprehended and marched off to
gaol ; and when the post left order triumphed at
Montreal. Nothing is so easy as a surprise, nothing so
worthless when there are no means of following it up,
and nothing so wicked where there is no solid advantage
in prospect. Why, one man might have set that house
on fire, and it is said that one man actually did. Under
ordinary circumstances it is impossible to guard against
a surprise. We remember another House of Assembly
in North America, situated fifty miles within land, in the
heart of twenty states and ten millions of men. One
fine day a handful of men, about as large as the Montreal
mob, sailed up a bay, landed, marched through some
woods, fought a smart action, walked up to a city,
passed a quiet night,
inldicgianhmgt,sea,nd the next day burned or blew
of
gotto their
the capital,
ships,nd a marchedas lsailed
back aumerrilyP the all
as
fur-
ther, where they fared worse. It was all a mere piece
of mischief, unworthy of the name of war, doing no-
thing but exasperate the people and widen the breach,
and proving nothing but that it was impossible
for us to bold a single inland position in the
enemy's country for more than 24 hours. Such a
feat is calculated to diminish our surprise both at the
folly and the success of the Montreal conflagration. The
minority which is making all this commotion is nothing
more or less than the old "family compact" turned out
of doors, and become by this time rather out at elbows,
and ravenously hungry. The MtNabs, the Sewells, the
Boultons, the Robinsons, and the Fentons, who divided
all the offices in Church and State, in the tribunals, in
the Bank, in the Canada Company, and every other
public establishment, between them—who made a ma-
jority in the Legislative Council, and who had actually
granted the greater part of Upper Canada to themselves,
their fathers, their infant children, their cousins and con-
nexions to the remotest degree, have worked out that once
productive mine. They have now changed places with
itahge ut
hnafot rttillionyatneos wwehno
jmoythey the
auosmednatoontbreeandefiutpoofna, •eraxscpeopitl.:
sible Government and a real Legislature. Their sima-
tion in Canada is pretty much that of the Conservatives
in this country, but that the Conservatives are not op-
pressedsuch
not a
crimeswar asof trhaocse. es of
Theth e
colonial
British are a large majority is
of the population; whereas
the tyi the InAasnsoamthbelrycoon-
ere by the
oligarchy. memoryi This
of
rim aolucroureteandtesras rwe dfiezciddtehdemviotriotioes