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

or interest, or alit.
as to require the ex,
kindly and affectioL
other. (Hear, hear.)
add, was, no doubt, like every other form of government,
subject to change in different countries and under different
conditions; but so long as the spirit of moderation, there-
spect for the authority of the judicial bench, and the re-
gard for law and existing institutions continued to be pre-
served as they had hitherto been in our colonial possee-
sions, the result would, he felt confident, be found to be
the same. " Ccelum non anirnum mutant qui trans mare
currunt." Such a change as that which he meant to indi-
cate was the great proposal for the confederation of our
North American Provinces. It WAS sometimes urged
egaiust that proposal that it involved a
E,,igantic revol of the existing state of things. For his own
part, putting aside all other objections, and looking upon the scheme on
its own merits, ho could nut concur in that opinion. There
would still subsist the same institutions in many respects,
while the same men would have to work, with the same
bond of union of loyalty to the Sovereign as a matter of
feeling, while in point of practice there would be the same
representative sent out by the Sovereign to rule on her be-
half. It therefore seemed to him that there would, if the
propokd change were to be carried into effect, be very
little departure from the existing principles of constitu-
tional government, while there would be a broader theatre
and a larger body of electors. It must, on the other hand, be
admitted that a federative government such as that in con-
templation was in its very nature a delicate and artificial
arrangement, that it had been at all times the product of
a later civilisation, and that it was suited only to those
States which were so far akin that they could without,diffi-
culty be united to ono another, while they were also so
dissimilar as to be incapable of being fused into n, single
body politic. The change, however, involved nut only the
compromise of rights and interests, but that, of a small
with a great State. There was, of course, &certain virtue
in a small as well as inn large community. History taught
us that small States had a tendency to develope individual
character, and to raise up a high standard of culture. We
learnt., upon the other hand, that the life of such States
were but short; that in them the fire of national existence
burnt out rapidly, and that they needed the resources of a
great society to supply:(:::-em Ititit •!_elesuffictei.t to protect
their national existence. The first condition, then, neces-
sary to such a Federal Government as that of which he
was speaking, was, in his opinion, that it should provide
carefully for the relations which must subsist between the
parts and the whole, and that while on the one hand the
parts—by which he meant the several States—willingly
entered the union, retaining all the powers requisite for
the duo discharge of their local functions, the central Go-
vernment ought, on the other hand, to be invested with
ample powers not only to uphold the dignity, but also to
secure the proper cohesion of the entire body. (Hear.)
He had during the last few weeks deemed it to be part of
his duty to read throughout all, or nearly all, thathad been
written on the important question to which he was ad-
dressing himself, and he must as an outsider bear his tes-
timony to the great ability with which the literary war on
the subject had been conducted on all sides. The objec-
tions urged in the controversy might be divided into two
classes, and to all those objections which went to the struc-
ture of the proposed confederation, and which suggested
real and practical difficulties in the working of it, ho was
bound to lend a ready ear. When, also, it was alleged that
there was a disinclination on the part of a portion of the
population of British North America to enter into the
proposed union, the allegation was one which he thought
ought to be measured with the aid of all the lights which
be could command. But there was another and
a different class of objections on which he must frankly
say, with all the respect for the ability with which they
were urged, he looked with a very different eye. When
for instance, he heard it said that the whole of the great
scheme of confederation to which he was adverting was to
be attributed to the lust of territory on the part of a single
State—to the overweening desire of Canada to exercise a
mastery over her neighbours—he could not, he must con-
fess, accept the assertion as correct. (Cheers.) Again
when he was told that there was no advantage to be reaped
from the intimate consolidation of existing interests either
in a commercial, a political, or a social point of view, from
the superseding of various systems of jurisprudence and
legislation by means of one or nearly one system, or from
the throwing open the industry, the schools, and profes-
sions of the different provinces by applying the resources
of one of them for the advantage of another, he must at
once frankly admit that ho could not follow such a lino of
argument, nor could ho see the smallest ground by which
such a proposition—and it was no more than a proposition
—could be supported. (Cheers.) lie had, ho though;
said sufficient on that portion of the American difficulties
referred to by the chairman which came immediately
within the cognizance of the department over which he
had the honour to preside. The other portion belonged,
happily, to the Foreign, and not to the Colonial-office.
There was sufficient labour connected with the administra-
tion of the affairs of some 50 colonies, not to mention a re-
cent addition to the number in the shape of the Strait
settlement, to lead him to wish for no increase to the bur-
den. He would simply say in conclusion, that the whole
question of the Confederation of the North American Pro-
vinces was under the consideration of the Government, and
that whatever measures in their opinion would tend to
make these provisions at once more competent and more
powerful would secure not only their warmest sympathy,
but their most zealous support. (Cheers.)
Sir J. PARINOTON also spoke briefly in reply to the toast,
observing that it had been his good fortune when at the
Colonial-office to lay the foundation of that system of free-
dom in the case of our colonies which had been productive
of such satisfactory results, and that he would be happy
to lend all the aid in his power to his noble friend near him
in carrying out a similar policy towards those great depen-
dencies, which constituted our glory and pride.
' The CHAIRMAN next gave " The Health of tho Delegates
from the British North American Provinces."
Mr. MACDONALD returned thanks, as the representative
of Canada, remarking that, after the speech of the noble
lord the Secretary for the Colonies, but little remained for
him to say on the subject which had brought him to this
country. The Canadians, ho added, were warmly attached
to England, and they felt that the proposed union of the
provinces would, instead of being a source of weakness,
tend greatly to strengthen the empire. Ile might further
state that when, in 1864, delegates from all the North
American provinces met at Quebec, the first resolution
they passed, after that declaring the proposed union to be
expedient, was one to the effect that the supreme executive
authority over those provinces should ever continue to be
vested in Queen Victoria, her heirs, and successors. That
resolution was carried amid cheers which almost frightened
out of its propriety the ancient metropolis of Canada.
(Hear; hear.)
Mr. ARCHIBALD returned thanks on behalf of Nova
Scotia, and Mr. FISHER for New Brunswick.
Lieutenant Colonel CUMBERLAND and Vice-Admiral Sir
R. MUNDY returned thanks for the army and navy.
The CHAIRMAN then gave " The Health of the Lord
Mayor," who, having duly responded to the toast, gave
thatl of " The H ouse of Lords," to which Lord WHAM-.
CLFFE replied.
Mr. ROEBUCIE, in returning thanks for "The House of
Commons," said that it was, in his
b
an assemblyut re-
-
which not only represented thepeoplof England,
presented them well, and that any attempt at what was
called reforming it would not improve it, although it
might make it more acceptable to the people of this coun-
try. The House of Commons had of late been made the
object of much clamour, but in what one instance, he would
ask, had it failed to do its duty ? That was a challenge
which he fearlessly threw out, confident that it could not
be answered. Those who made the charge against the
House of Commons of neglect of duty knew that it could
not be sustained, and the real truth was that all the clamour
which was now raised against it was got up for private
ends. (Cheers.) Adverting in the next place to our colo-
nies, the hon. and learned gentleman pointed out that
England had given those great dependencies our language
and institutions, and that all she demanded in return was
that they should furnish advantageous markets for her
commodities—a privilege which Canada had by her tariff
arrangements done her best to neutralise.

Among the other toasts given were "The distinguished
Guests present," for which Lord BURY returned thanks.
The company separated shortly after 11 o'clock.

FATAL COLLISION ON THE THAMES.—The ad-
journed inquiry into circumstances connected with
the collision between the General Steam Navigation Com-
pany's steam packet Velocity, on her passage up the river
from Calais, and the barque Mary, bound for Tobago, was
held before the borough coroner at Gravesend yesterday.
The collision occurred off Coalhouse Point, on the 19th of
December last, when John Alfred Squire, aged 14, sus-
tained injuries which resulted in his death a few hours
afterwards in the Gravesend Infirmary. The jury, having
heard the remainder of the evidence, returned the follow-
ing verdict :—" We find that the boy John Alfred Squire
was accidentally killed by a collision on the river Thames,
between the steamer Velocity and the barquo Mary, caused
by an error in judgment on the part of tho captain of the
steamer, which we consider highly censurable."
THE LATE SNOWSTORM. —ln North and East Lan-
cashire railway traffic was impeded for hours. A
goods train proceeding from Carlisle to Preston was stopped
at Brock by the snow, which was several feet thick. The
snow threw six waggons off the rails, and for hours great
confusion prevailed. Many trains were detained in the rear
for miles, and the mail for London was thrown five hours
late through the stoppage at Brock. The railway between
Lytham and Kirkham was completely blocked up by snow
ill many places; the passenger train which should have
started from the former place at half-past Sin the morning
did not leave until after dinner, and it was" o'clock before
it got to Preston. The high wind which prevailed during
the snowstorm blew a waggon laden with merchandise out
of a siding at the Freston station ; it ran some distance
upon the main line, until at length the wheels got blocked
up with the snow, and it was thrown off the metals
against the side of an ornamental stone bridge, which it
smashed considerably. The East Lancashire Railway, at
Iloghton, was blocked up with snow, and some of the
trains were detained for an hour or two. The Longridgo
Railway was impassable for seven hours on Sunday. In
some parts the snow was sft. deep, and it took twenty men
nearly the whole clay to completely clear the rails,