Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1869-04-28
CANADA Asp THE AL.saA eLnas.

large portion of the United States OF an-
nexing the Canadas; or, in palmer terms,
appropriating them without SO much as
~ by your leave to G cai Britain. we can
do no better than to lay before them the
following, clipped from the editorial coli
umns &C the Chicago Tribune of recent
date:
Senator Chandler has continued his
previous fame, without material modif-
cation or enhancement, by character
istic speech, proposing that the Govern
ment of the United States offer to Great
Britain to accept the Dominion of Cana>
da in full settlement for all our claims
against Great Britain arising out of the
depredations of her pirates The first
objection to this plan is that it is not
payment Leave the Canadas alone for
few years, cease shaking your fists at
them, and they Will seek annexation of
their own accord. In other words, we
shall get them for nothing. Senator
Chambers scheme is as If man had
caught wi Y old plunderer robbing his
sheep pen and should offer to compro-
mise by marrying his daughter He
seems to overlook the chief point in the
problem, viz: That the population of
Canada are entitled like ourselves and
like the people of England to exercise
self government They are not mere
chattels, to be sold like quadroon slaves
to pay the debts of their parent At
present, and for many years, they have
exercised this right as fully as perhaps
any people on earth, and as fully at all
events as they wish The authority of
England is nominal, barely sufficient to
extend over the Canadas the protection
of the British name. They have no debt
except that incurred for their own inter-
nal improvement, and their taxes are ex-
ceedingly light Their SIX per cent. Sc
curties7 instead of selling, like ours, at
such a discount as to make their rate of
interest over eight per cent, usually sell
at sufficient premium to reduce their
rate of interest to four and n half per
cent For many years they have mani
tested devotion to the substantial indies
pendence they enjoy under the cover
of nominal dependence on England, as
unanimous and hearty as even the North
ern and loyal portion of our own people
have shown toward our republic. If it
were freely put to vote tomorrow wheth-
er they should remain with Great Britain
or be annexed to the United States, Mr.
Chandler must know that only small
proportion of the population would now
vote for annexation. Nevertheless, the
feeling in favor of annexation is increas-
ine, and will continue to increase, un-
less killed off by the speeches Of thought-
less and inconsiderate persons like Cham
der The annexationists of the mara
time provinces are strong and aggress>
/ u y
making an impression on the Canadas =
Assuming, however as we safely may,
that the consent of Canada is at present
wanting, Mr.. Chambers proposition be-
comes one of the most un-democratic
propos itions ever offered in republican
Senate. 1t embodies denial of popu>
lar rights as blind and arbitrary as have
characterized the ages, now supposed to
be passed, when brute force was the sole
law of nations.
We recognize the fact that about six
tenths of the trade of Canada is with the
United States; that her real industrial
welfare is now almost as vitality affected
by the laws we pass at Washington as
by those they pass at Ottawa But, if,
despite these facts, the Canadian people
are not prepared for annexation, it would
be an act OF national ravishment to bar
ter and sell the right of her people to
govern themselves according to their own
preferences, in payment for injuries which
she had no share in committing, whatev-
err might have been her sympathies.-
Hence, every proposal having in view the
contamination of such Il wrong is an in
suit, which hinders instead OF promoting
the growth of a sentiment in Canada in
favor of a union with this country
The time is past when the right to gov
ern people is the proper subject of bar
gain and sale for money. u e have bought
the jurisdiction over large tracts of terri
tory now incorporated into the United
States, but it has been either where most
of their people were American and de-
sirous to cast their lot with ours, or where
there We're few people of any kind. Light
as are the The taxes on. the Canadian
people, their amount for two years is
equal to the entire value of the vessels
desn Dyed by the alabama. It is only
by going behind the mere value Of the
vessels destroyed and making 4 claim for
the general injuries to our commerce,
and for supposed prolongation of the
war, that we can arrive at a sum OF Suffi-
cient magnitude to call for q cession of
territory, were the required territory in
favor of the act of cession. We do not
believe that any data exist whereby such
damages can be estimated with precis>
ION that would, if between private parties
Justify recovery in a court of Justice
| f these English cruisers had teen strong
enough to fight our blockading squadron
or help to open the blockade and let in
supplies to the rebe' forces, there would
be ground for saying they prolonged the
war But so long as the rebels got their
required supplies they would have kept
up the fight on the land had not a single
English cruiser gone on the seas, The
damages from this source, and from in
jury to our commerce, could as easily be
estimated at fifteen hundred millions of
dollars as at one hundred million. This
is the very best proof possible that they
ale wholly incapable of being estimated
at all.
They amount to a grave national out
rage, for which none seem prepared at
present to suggest the most appropriate
remedy, or even to say whether the rem-
| edy should be in the nature of apology
or indemnity, or both In making our
demand upon England for the wrong done
to our sovereignty in aer acts of recog-
milton and of sympathy with tae rebels
/ lion it is fair that we should remember
that England as well as America was a
/ house divided against itself Both SWAY
/ ed between cpnsending parties; and,