The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-10 00:00:00

PRICE.... 4d,
STAMPED sd,

the Favourite, of London; the Arab, of Portsmouth,
with rigging entangled on deck; the Lady Constance,
of Littlehampton, stern carried away ; the Express,
the Riga; the Mildenay, of Swansea ; onion Grove,
of Portsea ; the Norway; the Jane, of Whitstable ;
the Jenny, the Lurline, the Hannah, and the Henry.
The channel of the Wear at Sunderland is some-
what narrow, and is generally crowded with ship-
ping and other craft, especially in the winter
months, when many vessels lie by. It unfortunately
happened that the first effect of the heavy floes of
ice coming down the river was upon the G-oliah
dredger and some other large craft in the upper part
of the harbour, which broke their moorings and
came thundering down upon other ships, which, of
course, broke their moaringi, and they broke others
away, until a scene of the wildest confusion oc-
curred, and the mischief continued until the channel
got more expansion, when most of the ships were
brought to. The Lambton and some other colliery
staiths, with quayage and other river-side works,
were much damaged, but though many persons had
very narrow escapes, no one was seriously hurt, and
no lives were lost. The ice is now out of all the
northern rivers, and there is no cause to fear any
further injury, though they are a good deal swollen
by the heavy (g freshets."

WICKLOW (Irel..nd), Jan. 5.
A smack was observed in the bay about 10 o'clock,
making signals of distress. Th'ere was a heavy gale
blowing at the time, and she was riding with her
topmast and bowsprit gone. The R. T. Garden,
lifeboat, of the National Lifeboat Institution, was
promptly launched, and was happily the means of
rescuing the crew of three men of the smack, which
proved to be the Shamrock, of Arklow.

THE CANADA CLUB.

The Canada Club entertained at dinner last even-
ing, at the Albion, Aldersgate-street, the delegates
from the British North American Provinces now in
this country, consisting of the Hon. Messrs. Mac-
donald, Cartier, Houland, and Galt from Canada ;
the Hon. Dr. Tupper and Messrs. Henry, Ritchie,
and Archibald, from Nova Scotia ; and the Hon.
Messrs. Mitchell, Tilley, Fisher, Johnson, and Wil-
mot from New Brunswick. Mr. Watkin, M.P.,
presided, and the company included, besides those
already mentioned, the Earl of Carnarvon, Sir J.
Pakington, Lord Bury, Mr. Kinnaird, M.P., Mr. T.
Baring, M.P., Mr. Roebuck, M.P., Lord Wharn-
cliffe, the Lord Mayor, Sir E. Head, Sir F. B.
Head, Vice-Admiral Sir R. Mundy, Sir C. M.
Simpson, Sir Daniel Gooch, Governor Ilineks, and
about 60 other gentlemen.
After dinner " The Health of the Queen" and
of " The Prince and Princess of Wales and the rest
of the Royal Family" were drunk amid cheers.
The CHAIRMAN then proposed the toast of " Her
Majesty's Ministers," observing that he felt assured
it would be responded to in no party spirit. Al-
though he might differ from the present advisers of
the Crown on particular questions, still it must be
admitted that the Government of the day represented
in high ability and true patriotism the best traditions
of the political section to which they belonged. They
had, he might add, inherited three questions of great
difficulty with which they would have to deal. The
first, comprising our relations with the continent of
America, might be divided into two parts—the posi-
tion which we occupied with respect to our own pro-
vinces in that continent, and that which we held in
regard to the United States. The other two questions
bad reference to Ireland and the subject of reform.
On the two latter lie would not venture to make any
remark, but as to the first he might say that if that
great authority, the Times, spoke the truth—and the
information obtained from that journal was gene-
rally correct —an offer had been made to the Go-
vernment at Washington to submit the disputed
claims between the two countries to fair and hon-
ourable arbitration. (Hear.) For himself, he re-
gretted that a similar offer made from the other
side of the Atlantic had not been met, as he thought
it would be well it should have been by the Govern-
ment of the day. (Hear.) As to the British North
American Provinces he would simply express a hope
that they would not look upon themselves as the
elder sons of a family who might think it time to
set up on their own account, and get married, but
rather as partners in a concern which was one and
indivisible. He believed he might add that nothing
could be more unfortunate than that our fellow-
subjects in those provinces should think that we in
England were indifferent to the connexion with
them, or that we should ever willingly give up one ,
acre of ground in that quarter over which the flag
of Great Britain had ever floated. (Cheers.) He
begged, in conclusion, to couple with the toast which
he had the honour to propose the names of the Earl
of Carnarvon and Sir J. Pakington.
The Earl of CARNATIVON, who, on rising to re-
spond to the toast, was received with cheers, said a
good many years had elapsed since he had had the
pleasure of dining with the Canada Club, and that
it was with much satisfaction he found himself once
more in the position of their guest. Ile felt thank-
ful to them for the compliment which they had just
paid to his colleagues as well as to himself, and it
was with great satisfaction he saw around him seve-
ral gentlemen whom he had already met in private,
who had come as delegates across the Atlantic on a
most important mission, and to whose friendship he
hoped he might lay claim. The gentlemen to whom
he alluded had visited us as the representatives of
that responsible Government with which we
were so familiar that. we were sometimes in
danger of forgetting that it was the excep-
tion, and not the rule, and that out of England
there were few countries in which it had free play
and had endured a long time. It was in a certain
sense in the colonies that the great problem involved
in the question was now being tried, and it was
there that we looked for the exhibition of those
great qualities which alone made constitutional
government possible. (Hear, hear.) It was some-
times said that responsible government must be
fatal to the connexion subsisting between this

country and her colonies. In the truth of that
assertion he, for one, did not believe. On the con-
trary, the connex ion, so far from being destroyed,
would in his opinion be saved and confirmed by its
agency. When about a quarter of a century ago
responsible government was given to our colonies,
it was conceded amid, he might almost say, the
wreck and ruin of the colonial system which then
prevailed. The great dependencies of the Crown in
the East had not at that time started up in all their
wealth and prosperity; the capability of development
of our Australian possessions was almost unknown ;
the West Indies were reeling under the effect of
emancipation, and even Canada, now so prosperous,
was passing under a cloud of internal discord.
When we looked around and contrasted that which

was with that which now presented itself to our

view, we had, he thought, every reason to con-

gratulate ourselves on the change which bad taken

place. (Cheers.) It was occasionally stated, and
stated sometimes in a tone of reproach, that respon-
sible government was a very easy matter, but his
answer to that statement was, " If it be so simple,
how is it that we do not see a greater number of

illustrations of it all over the world ?" (Hear.)
The fact was it was not found to be a thing which
was at all easy in practice. It had taken us a long

time to construct the great fabric of constitutional
government in England ; it required the exercise of

the highest and most statesmanlike qualities to

maintain that fabric in equilibrium ; and when we

came to transplant that system—which meant a
system of changing Ministries and uncertain Par-
liaments—to distant colonies, and to connect it,
after all, with but slight bonds, with a similar

system of changing Parliaments and Ministries at
home, the marvel was that it had been found to

work so harmoniously and with so much success.

It must ho borne in mind that quesaons must arise from

timo to time of grave constitutional principle and grave
practical importance, and that the linos of imperial policy ,