New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-03-10
Y.sm ,s oe&sssOasi Correspondent


TORONTO, Monday, Feb. q, 1888.
Most true II is that man is guided rarely BY bis
reason, but often BY his passions; yet while we
Asye peace throughout America and Europe, u Is
ne duty Of the friends Of peace earnestly 10 appeal
- the reason of their rulers and OF those VINO can
hfuence the action Of their rulers, for a reinoVa
Of an iust causes Of discomfort, according 10 tner
aSiItg. Some weeks aimee / read IN Haypers
H.ulv leader eIultiDg in the prosperity and con-
TINT 10 be found in Canada Being faisciOus, it was
calculated to do mischief
Riohteeu months since, when Mr. Isasc Bucban-
m. pow the Representative in Assembly for Hamil-
tau. was sked again 10 enter public life, herepied,
june G. 1856, al would decline being party to
"aoy attempt 10 work our present political system.
"TbeIe is no use TO change your men, or to select
others, who pretend to more popular principles.
Wat Is rasted IS an entire alteration ia The ma
"ehixtry Of Government! "
Mr.. Buchanan was quite right, for how can the
conduct Of our public servants be properly invest-
gated If there is 20 constitutional check How
can the men who gil our highest Offices be made to
do their duty, in country where they are above all
hwi
In l649, one Of our Colonial Ministers was
associated with MessTs. Hume, Bright, Golden,
Miner Gibson, and others, in a society to try to
obtain for Canada and certain other British Colo
nice the right 10 meet and frame and alter their
Constitutions at pleasure. The sooner we OF Can
ada are placed in the way of exercising properly
such powers over our institutions ms were then
contemplated by Sir w. Molesworth, the less
likely is the tranquility of the American continent
to be again disturbed with the effects Of Canadian
misrue.
The time cannot be far distant when my repeated
warnings relative TO the desperate condition of the
finances OF Canada will be proved well-fOunded.
The Toronto Globe correctly describes this country
ms being very near the gulf of public bankruptcy.
The Governor and other State managers have but
little interest in the result beyond their salaries or
any secret bonus either Ofthem might obtain out OF
. clever shuttle Of the per cent bonds Of the Col
ony into AZ or IS, or Of similar shifts made with
other stocks and scrips. We seem, TO me, very
much TO resemble Illinois in finance. There they
do not know what they owe; frauds turn up from
time to time Of gigantic character, and then there
10 partial investigation, after which all is hushed
up again. Illinois, however, is more TO blame than
Canada, for she has always possessed ample powers
10 investigate, which the friends of financial honesty
here have not So poorly is misconduct in finance
checked in Canada, that as in 1881, we are likely,
ere long. to have no finances whatever 20 check.
To show how anxious the Government of Sir E.
Head 10 for concealment of the real condition OF
the public debt and revenue and the terror 1T lsan
lest full inquiry should exhibit yet more damning
frauds, and cause even more shameful exposures
than have vet been made, l now proceed to state
an important fact.
Mr.. George Brown and eleven of his political
friends were asked by Gov. Head last August TO
accept the chief Offices which the old State man
ayers had just vacated. They gladly accepted
them; but, by very discreditable shuttle, which,
had Sir Bulwsr Lytton been man of spirit and
energy and endowed with high sense of honor,
would have caused Gov. Heads immediate recall,
were elected in two days and the old stagers fraud
hlently reinstated
There can be no appropriations for any purpose
whatever by the Legislature, except where the
Governor has previously approved Of every item of
the proposed expenditure There is no Audit IN
Canada of receipts and payments, except by those
persons in Office who are themselves receiving and
expendng the public money. There 10, to be sure,
Mr.. LangtOn and two or three other clerks or
subordinates of Mr.. Calls department who profess
10 audit such special they are ordered
10 examine; and the only popular audit, as it is
called, il by standing Committee of Accounts,
chosen annually by the Legislative Assembly, many
Of the returns of members TO which are 1T present
grossly unjust false and fraudulent and this too by
the conniyance of persOns selected by Sir. T.. Head
to conduct the public business
This annual Committee of Accounts is chose by a
select Committee named and moved by one of the
Attorney Generals, seconded by the other; in other
words, the prentice Governor, from Europe, aud
his men, choose our only board of popular audit.
The Governor and his subs receive and expend
many millions annually and To prove their own
honesty, they select such Legislative Committee
Of whitewashers as viii proclaim "all's well'
without asking unpleasant questions or permitting
shameful disclosures. A majority of the members
of the Audit Committee is often composed of per-
sons little conversant with accents, and always of
ministeEialsts.
Last year, however, the officials permitted Mr..
Brown, the Upper Canada Opposition leader, to
xit az one Of its minority; and when some of the
friends Of the cabal Joined him in permitting &
wider range of inquiry than usual, it appeared that
false and fraudulent entries had been willtuly made
ofvery large sums, which 1t was pretended, IN the
Official edition Of the Public Accounts, had been
paid on account of the public debt, when they had
not, in fact, been paid; that false entries had
been made in the Provincial books of large amounts
of debentures sold abroad; that Canada had lost
nearly $500 COO by the sale IN London far below
their value, of two millions in Province bonds,
while the authorities here were secretly lending
$640,000 10 the Grand Trunk Railway Directors,
&e; yes, two millions were sold in London at
994, bearing ak per cent of interest payable in
Europe, on the very day when our skies were
quoted on the Exchange al LOG; that $50, 900 Of
debenturss of Hamilton City had been purchased
Of one Clarke Of Guelph-a servile worthless Az
semblyman-by the Government at 971, when the
market price was but 774 that So, 90 had been
paid to the Receiver General by the Great West
ern Railwa Company, ard never entered ~ the
Province ledger that priest, who presides over
education in Upper Canada, had put ~ 900 nearly
Of the interest OF the official funds, with which his
coyetous reverence had been trusted, into his pri-
vate pocket and refused Ia disgorge; that vast