The Sun. — 1841-04-20 (London, England)

ELECTIONS IN CANADA. (Extract of a Letter.) In Friday's Globe we gave a full account of the proceedings in Canada. We subjoin an extract from a letter swe have received from a correspondent in Montreal : " Of the it members of the Assembly, 71 have been already returned, of whom 5 at least arc Unionists. In all Upper Canada there is not a single opponent to the Union ; In Lower Canada, the opposition are principally members of the French counties. Returns of 13 members arc still to come in, of whom six or seven at least will be supporters of the Union ; in short, there is no fear that Lord Sydenham will have an efficient majority in the house. " As I mentioned in my last, there have been some disturbances at the Lower Canada elections, The acrimony produced by the long antagonism of the two races, broke out when they met face to face at the poll ; and in this county (Montreal) one or two Irishmen were, on the first day of the election, killed by the French Canadians. el he excitement in the town whoa this became known was excessive, and the Irish and English population went to the poll the next day, fully prepared to resist the violence of the French Canadians. The latter, however, took fright, and their member retired, and thus all disturbance was prevented " In the county of Terrebonne the French Canadians came down to the poll in a body of about two thousand, headed by their candidate, Lafontaine, and armed with bayonets, dirks, and loaded sticks. 'They were, however, so much frightened at the sight of the English and Irish voters, who, to the number of about six hundred, were on the ground, that Lafontaine retired without a struggle, stipulating only to be allowed to leave the ground unmolested. Some of the knives and bludgeons taken from the French at Terrebonne have been sent to the Government, and they are said to be moat murderous weapons. " Every effort is of course made by the French party to throw on their opponents and on the Government the odium of the violence at the elections. Nothing can possibly he more unjust, The feelings of both parties are exasperated to the utmost degree. The French, where they have been able, as in the county of Montreal and in the counties of St. Maurice and Berthier, have committed the grossest outrages ; but wherever there was any considerable body of English or Irish, their superior energy, strength, and courage, gave them the advantage immediately a riot commenced. This party being natural adherents of the British Government, has given a sort of colour to the accusation that the Government have interfered, which would otherwise have been altogether absurd. " In Upper Canada the elections generally have gone on quietly. At Toronto there was no disturbance during the election ; but when Dunn and Buchanan (the Government eendid-ites) were being chaired, a quarrel arose between those forming their procession and the inhabitants of a how() called Allan's Tavern. What was the origin of the quarrel is not very clear, but stones were thrown at the house and the windows broke!), on which shots were fired from the windows, and one mean killed, and three or four more wounded. The persons „he: were in the house have been arrested, and tile ttiattc° is undelezoing judicial investigation. It is the only case in which firti-arms have been resorted to. In another county there has been a disturbance, in which the p6l.A.Yooks and writ were destroyed, but no lives, I believe, Icet. " Hitherto the military have been kept almost en• tirely out of the elections. They were called out in St, Maurice and Berthier, in the former by the Government candidate, in the latter by the Opposition candidate. In no case, however, have they been required to fire. In Quebec the election is now proceeding with the greatest, industry on both sides ; voters have been sent for from this piece, and are gone down. That election, however, and all others, will be over before the middle of next week. The latest Upper Canada elections must have closed yesterday, although the returns have not arrived here ; but in Lower Canada there is no limit. to the duration of the elections, the proceedings of which are governed by the ell la.vc, aria cot 17 the Unien  which appears the likely of any yet presented to the