East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1861-08-01
CANADIAN SENTIMENT.

States now in rebellion against our gov
eminent. The old fred coat hated for
republican institutions, which has been in
n measure s,nothcred for many years, has
burst out afresh since the commencement.
Of our unfortunate domestic difficulties,
and young John Bull, aping old John,
takes occasion to say many bitter things
about the Yankees This sentiment is
however by no means universal in Can
ada; conservative men, and papers, and
the"'plan people, to man, almost, SYM
patbisc with our Government, but what
is their return for such sympathy? If
any portion Of the Canadian press see
fit to criticise the course Of our rulers, they
are straightway denounced, and with
them the whole people of Canada, as
lickspittles and understrsppers, not worthy
the name of men, because, fosooth, they.
own allegiance to the mother government
Canadians, in times like these, can well
afford to laugh to scorn all such unmanly
and unmannerly filings, but they cannot,
if they would, ignore the arrogant and
dictatorial spirit which indues them, and
unless there is a change in this respect,
we may calculate to certainty that all
their sympathy will become alienated
We make these comments for the pur
pose Of introducing an extract from a
speech made by Mr.. MCGEE, member of
the Canadian Parliament from Montreal
West, at recent reunion in Chateauguay,
@. +. The tone of this speech is SO cour-
teous, fair and candid, that every word
it utters is rebuke to the mcan-spirited
illusions to which we have referred:
The chief of these observations-whoh
shall present to you before | close
concerns our own social state in Lower
Canada; and the other, to which / mean
to refer in tho first place, concerns our
present and future relations with our
American neighbors. We stand here on
the historic soil Of Chateauguay, where
DeSalaberry, with his little handful, re-
pulsed an army, as American armies
were then numbered; we are here within
two hours ride of the American line; your
relations and the relations of the al DIN.
ing counties, with our neighbors in West
ern New York, especially since the cs-
tablishment of the Reciprocity Treaty,
- &c tha ,ooot intimate aud cor1iol
character. Is it not so? Every true
Canadian, every true American wishes to
preserve and perpetuate these peaceful
relations. Is it not SO? This being the
determination on both sides, there can
be little possibility of rupture, and i
therefore entirely agree with the senti-
ments of those Imperial statesmen, and
those of our own editors who think that
the infusion of a small standing army in
to our old garrisons was uncalled for and
impolitic. DO not pretend to know
upon what representations such an ad-
dition to the regular army in this country
was made; but if it was made with any
feeling of anxiety or apprehension as to
our relations with our neighbours across
the line, / think it was made quite I'M
necessarily. 1t may be what is called an
error on the right side, but l confess to
you, ladies and gentlemen, L would look
for the preservation of peace between
ourselves and the American people far
more to the cultivation of just and gen.
erous style of dealing with the national
troubles than / would to the presence
here of few thousand regulars moro oil
less. (Cheers.) We have everything to
lose, and nothing to gain, by adopting
any other tone or any other tactics, and
/ repeat here, at this earliest opportunity
/ have had, what said in my place in
the last Parliament, that all this wretch.
ed small-talk about the failure Of the Re.
publican experiment in the United States
ought to be frowned down wherever ii
appears by the Canadian public. l am
not a Republican in politics. long before
these recent troubles came to head in
the american Union, / had ceased to
dogmatise upon any abstract scheme oil
government; but have no hesitation in
declaring my own belief-a belief found
ed on evidence accumulated through sew.
eral years of observation, that the Ameri.
obchi1 ~ iiOul BiONCh u
failure, as tyrants and toad eaters all over
the world would wish it to be,-that that
system will emerge from this, its first
great domestic trial purified, consoli-
dated, disciplined, for greater usefulness
and greater achievements than ever be-
fore. (Chcersl 1t is then, it seems to
me tbar1 >padian statesmen to
HQrary to the last.
sustain to our
\1ion at the