New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-11-18
CANADIAN FEDERATION.

We mentioned SOME time since project on foot
in Canada. to substitut, instead Of the existing
Government federatiye union of Upper and Lower
Canada reserying to each Province separate ad-
ministration of its State affairs. This project has
Just received the Endorsement Of Conventloa Oh
FIVE hundred Delegates from all parts of Upper
Canada, including some twenty -fve or more oil the
Opposition members OF the Canadian Parliament
The union of the two Canadas into one Province,
and the introduction of the called system OF re-
spopsibe government, qnieted Tor the time the ViO-
lent political agitation by which those changes had
been preceded. and which had even reached the
extremity of civil war; Indeed. they totally extln-
pushed several of the political grievances of which
the Canadians had most bitterly complained. But,
owing to the different elements Of which
the population OF the two Provinces ia COM
posed. the union, at the same time that 1t
extinguished the old complaints, gave rise to
new ones. 1t was deemed necessary, in
order to maintain balance Of power between the
French and Roman Catholic population OF Canada
East on the one hand, and the British and Prot
estant population of Canada West on the other, to
provide as one of the terms OF the union that each
of ihe two sections should have an equal number OF
MEMBERS in the Provincial Parliament. This has
been. from the beginning subject of bitter com
plajnt-6rst on the part of the inhabitants of Cam
ada East, 80 long as that was the more prosperous
Province; and, since the preponderance OF numbers
las changed, on the part of the inhabitants oil
Canada West. The great cry of the Opposition IN
the Canadian Parliament has lately been for repre-
sensation according to populations and that Oppose
ton has become almost a sectional one, being al
most exclusively composed of Western members.
Another project has been to require that the Min
istry, in order to maintain themselves, should have
not merely majority Of the Parliament, but ma
iority of the members of each section. The scheme
of a Federal Union is NOW proposed as another
means of getting rid of the difficulty. The scheme,
however as suggested in the resolutions OF the Con-
yention, did not assume averypositiye shape. That
body merely declared itself in favor OF the formation
of two or more local governments, to which should
be committed all matters of local character, and
of some joint authority" to be charged with mat
ers necessarily common to bOthsections 1t appears
rom the debates that some of the members oil the
Convention were in favor of having four Provinces
instead of two, Of which the respective capitals
should be Quebec, Montreal, Kingston, and Ham
iiop. or some more northern town. There were
40 serious differences of opinion as to the consti-
tuition of the proposed Federal Government, some
wishing to assimilate it to our existing National
Government, and Othersfayoringa plan more like the
old Confederation. The only thing specifically
agreed to on this point was that the Colonial Gov
eminent ought to be constituted on the principle Of
representation in proportion to population
One noticeable thing in the debates was that the
ide, of annexation to the United States, once very
current in Upper Canada, seems now to have few
il any supporters.