New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-09-28
CANADA GONG.


"When is Canada eOng?" asked British
newspaper not a great while ago. Curious
watchers of the present phase Of provincial
development will be tempted 10 say-"Now.'
We are far from wishing to maintain that our
neighbors generally are for annexation. Nova
Scotia, it is true imauiic,ts passionate earn
estness to break from the leading strings of
Confederation. Quebec threatens anothcrmect-
ing for annexation under the auspices of q
professor and member of Parliament, and, 1t
is said, with the less public encouragement Of
an Archbishop Local causes for this disaiicc-
ton are not unknown to us-thc decline OF
wooden shipbuilding, owing in pat 20 the
demand for iIon ships; the exodus OF
! British industry To Montreal when the
deepening OF the river enabled ocean steamers
to ascend there; and we must admit that
Quebec has a French character, though neither
this nor the other considerations quite account
for the complaint which not Quebec alone
makes against the unhopefu fact of non-iDdc-
pendence. The last we read is that disailccton iu
Lower Canada is spreading, and not long since
we heard grumblc from British Columbia,
the rumor Of which may have induced Earl
Granville to urge, just now, the speedy adinis-
sion of that Territory into the Confederation.
Now we do not maintain that any or all of these
circumstances prove a radical or general desire
of the British Americans to join their for
tunes TO ours. Nevertheless they 20 far to
show a decided antipathy to imperial tutcagc
and patronage.
The rest is clear. The Canadians want in
dcpcndencc-soO or later, in one shape or
another. Annexation can only count minon-
A.. ..
bee; but the movement for independence is,
as it were, national, and certainly is national
zing. The best statesmen Of Canada favor il;
England has promoted Il; all provincial rcpub-
leans welcome it. Yet it docs not appear to
be the product of any one theory or interest.
Sir John Mcdonald and the late Mr. Darcy Me-
Gee favored kingdom in the interest of indie
pcndcnce, and some of the organs OF the Lower
Canada clergy were lately understood to
be friends of the same project Others ask for
nothing more than Confederation, provided the
Dominion erected there be substantially indie
pendent and its own master. Lastly are those
who, hating Confederation, have no choice but
Annexation. The Hon. Mr.. McDougall, first ap-
pointed Governor of the North West Territory
prOclalms that he does not see why Independ-
cnce is clamOrcd for when his cOuntrymen have
practically so much already But here are at
least two urgent parties in the Canadian State
whom nothing short Of absolute nationality
will content They murmur that their enter
prises do not pay that their railroads are fail
ures, save where they depend on traffic with
the States; that they pay tea and liquor duties
| nearly equal to the import duties of the States;
| that they are called TO support a ruinous Militia
law, and sustain a frontier army of excisemcn
at great cost. Many Of the merchants of To-
| ronto, Hamilton, London, and Guelph are, we
are told, ready to avow that the lifclcssness
of trade in their section is the effect of an
"efiete bond with the British Empire.n A
resident of GaspG-a district rich in SOIL and
Astounding with fish, lumber, and minerals
writes to MS that lands are for the most part
mortgaged, and that his neighbors are becom-
ing beggared-this, too while the Bay-des-
| Chaleurs abOunds in fish which are never
caught, and while Americans carry off large
| quantities of such spOils from Dominion
waters. Two journals, joint organs of the
clergy and of the party in power have recently
astonished and gatifed Lower Canada by
granting that the questions of Independence
or Annexation can now be discussed without
offending the Church. Here is a sign of move
ment, the importance of which Canadians ap-
preciate.
Of al the provinces, Upper Canada seems to
/ be the only one In which Lhg IudeDpndenc.