The Sun.
London, England, 1870-07-29 00:00:00

CANADA Al\ D THE UNITED STATES.

The Pall Mall Gazette of a recent date published a nota-
ble article on the subject of the Canadian problem. The
point which the Gazette makes may be briefly stated and
easily understood. Canada is in a different position from
any of the other colonies. Its populous portion of terri-
tory is very long and narrow, hanging on the skirt of the
United States like the fringe of a garment. The Americans
need, and want Canada, while the annexation party in
Canada, if small, is active and resolute. British senti-
ment is unfavourable to a loss of this important confede-
ration-of colonies, but after it has been lost, such is the
logic of the Gazette, the severance will be felt no more than
was the loss of Calais by the English. A garrison to be
worth anything must be very strong, and if the United
States should really set about the conquest of Canada, on
land force that England could send would be able to with-
stand us. • The real defence of Canada would be in her
maritime force, in which England is certainly our superior
at the present time. The boast of the Gazette on this
point is justified by, the facts. Finally these views may
be distasteful to the great British public, but they must
be accepted as true nevertheless, and the security of Eng-
land in the possession of Canada must depend very largey
upon American feelings of justice, - truth, and national
honour. Such is, in brief, the reasoning of the
London journal. hen carefully analysed and divested
of its wrapping of British sentiment and conceit, there
will be found very little in the article to which an Ameri.
can can object, and few positions which he would care to
controvert. We may as well admit that we do desire that
Canada should become a part of this Republican common-
wealth, and that while we might be able to conquer and
hold all the territory of Canada by military force, the
naval operations against us must certainly cause
a suspension of our commerce and the wholesale
destruction of our few remaining ships, if it did
not, as the Gazette expresses it, ;extirpate our flag and our
commerce from every sea. It is wrong, howeVei, in
hinting at the possibility that we may make an attack on
Canada for the sake of conquest. Every consideration
that can appeal to an American is against such a course.
We are too great a nation to become unhappy about a
piece of territory that would add four or five states to the
Union. We have been able to get along without Canada
thus far, and we are entitled to feel that the continued
separation of Canada and the United States,
disadvantageous to both, is yet far more the
loss of Canada than our own. Besides this
sentiment of self-respect, the more powerful mot ye, as it
is sometimes supposed, of self-interest, operates in the
same direction. The acquisition of the Canadas by war
would be expensive in men and money if it should after
all be successfully accomplished. The most British mem-
bers of the Canadian Government, the newspapers which
cry never " loudest when annexation is mentioned,
know perfectly well that the union is as certain to take
place as is any future event. And it is not so distant
either as some may imagine. It will come in a very
few years by the peaceable will of the population
most interested in the movement. It would be
folly of the wildest sort to inflame so many passions
against the revolution as would be excited by hostile ope-
rations, when the pressure 'of events will bring it quietly
about, more quickly as well as more satisfactorily. The
strongest reason of all is that war would not bring about
any such union as we desire. For it is union and not an-
nexation or conquest that should be the object of our
efforts. A dissatisfied community of new States could
cause us more difficulty than all the controversy of
reconstruction occasioned.. Strongly as we believe
that the new Dominion ought to be and will
be merged in this country, we should oppose any
decided measures towards that result until the wish
of the -people of Canada is expressed emphatically in
favour of the change. Great Britain and Canada may
rest assured that if annexation comes at all, it will be
brought about by a general desire on the part of the
people of Canada to join us, and with the full consent of
the mother country that the piovinces shall transfer their
allegiance. Only such annexation can we seek for or
accept, because only on such terms would the union
be tolerable. For it we are content to wait.
The present feeling of Canada • is evidently un-
settled. That there is a growth of the in-
dependence party and of the annexation party also is a
fact too patent for proof. The statesmen of the Dominion
are coming to look upon one or the other result,—and
they are practically the same—as inevitable. We have
the assurance of a member of Parliament, who is a
staunch supporter of the government of Sir John A.
M'Donald, that this is a correct statement, and
he does not look upon the change with serious
apprehensiOn. When it has come to this ,point
it is safe' to. predict that the leading politicians
will come over to the winning side, and that speedily,
that they must not be left out in the cold by the people
when the movement is constunmated. The article in the
Pall Mall Gazette to which we have referred is an indica-
tion that there exists a party in England which will offer
no opposition to the peaceful separation of the Canadas
when they ask to secede to their powerful neighbour. The
discussion of what shall be done in case of a war is,
therefore, more than premature, it is useless. The
new union is to be a victory of peace.—Boston Adver-
tiser. •

A MARRIAGE UNION OF SEVENTY YEAR S.—
William and Elizabeth Cattriss, of the city of Ely; hair()
entered upon the seventieth year of their married life,
their union having taken place by license at Trinity
Church, Ely, on the 24th June, 1801. At that time their
respective ages were twenty and eighteen. They are now
consequently both on the verge of ninety. The case is
quite unique, and probably without a parallel in the
United Kingdom. The old people are in very straitened
circumstances.

THE Loss OF THE Osinis.—The Board of Trade
inquiry into the loss of the sailing ship Osiris, on the
20th of June, has been concluded at Liverpool. The Osiris
was on her voyage from Cardiff to Alicante, with a cargo
of coals, and when about four miles off Cape Palos she
grated on a sunken reef, and soon after filled and sank.
The crew were all saved. The court was of opinion that
the master was in default i hugging the shore so closely
when there was plenty of 'Sea room, and supended his
certificate for six calendar months.

THE TELEGRAPH SERVICE AND THE WAR.—
The return of the number of telegraphic messages for-
warded in the United Kingdom during the past
four weeks bears, ample testimony to the increase of
intercommunication caused by the war. In the week ending
July 2nd the number of messages was less than those sent
in the previous week by 9,176. In the week ending July
9th there was an increase of 6;528. In the week ending
July 16th an increase of 22,371, and in the week ending
July 23rd, an increase of 19,775,

Lord --Chief Justice Whiteside was presented on
Wednesday, by the High Sheriff, with a pair of white
gloves, on opening the Commission at Carrickfergus,
there being no prisoners to try. There was a similar
presentation to Judge Keogh at the last assizes. Baron
Fitzgerald opened the Commission for the County Antrim,
and observed that there were only twenty offences of a
heinous character committed since last assizes, and eleven
in the town of Belfast. He thought that was not un-
satisfactory, considering the population of the county and
of the town.