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5^ 
 
 
 THE 
 
 POLICY OF ENGLAND 
 
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 GREATEST 1 
 
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 FARMER, TRADESMAN, LABORER, 
 
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 AND OTHERS OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 fj-SsJ •, • " Would you be wise, then buy me."— OW PiflV- . 
 
 Oopy-Right Secured. 
 
 
 ST. CATHARINES J 
 PUBLXSHBD BY JOHN M'MULLEN, BOOSSBLLER, 
 
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 ^> AND SOLD, WHOLESALE AND RETAIL, BY M. MACKENDRlCK, HAMILTON, 
 ^^^t AND T. MACLEAR, 45 YONOE STREET, TORONTO. 
 
 h:b fjinf .rr-^^'S,: fi- ■:!j^^^f^' f 1849. 
 

 COLONIAL POLICY OF ENGLMD. 
 
 ^: 
 
 I. No country, in ancient or modern times, has ascended to the 
 proud position in the scale of nations, occupied at this moment by 
 Great Britain. She has possessions in every quarter of the habitable 
 world ; her broad flag waves over the strongest fortresses in exist- 
 ence ; her army, amounting to nearly 600,000 men of all arms, is 
 the most complete and efficient of the present time; her revenue is 
 more than £70,000,000 annually ; and her subjects exceed in number, 
 those bending to the sway of imperial Rome, in her palmiest days. 
 
 As we look on this stupendous picture of greatness, the question 
 naturally suggests itself to the mind, '♦ how has England, in the brief 
 space of a. century and a half, ascended to her present position?" 
 The "Latin Empire," the only one which, in any degree, bears 
 comparison with that of Great Britain, for extent or population, was 
 about eight hundred years in arriving at the pinnacle of its power. 
 Its progress was slow, laborious, and difficult : whereas, that of Eng- 
 land was the reverse. From a secondary position, among second rate 
 powers, she almost suddenly became elevated to the first place among 
 the nations of Europe — which elevation, as a consequence, was most 
 undoubtedly only owing, in an inferior degree^^to her victories, 
 whether by land or sea. The true source of England's enormous 
 power, is her still more enormous wealth. It was her money that 
 enabled her hitherto to maintain fleets, to pay armies, to subsidise 
 independent kingdoms, and to bind the nations of the continent, from 
 time to time, in unions so compact and powerful, as to place insuper- 
 able barriers to the ambition of a Louis, a Napoleon, and a Nicholas. 
 
 II. Let it be assumed, that England's wealth is the true source of 
 her power, and a second question then presents itself for examination, 
 viz., how has she acquired that wealth? We answer, chiefly by her 
 Colonial system of policy, at once the most complex, the most intri- 
 cate, and the most subtle, ever pursued by any country, and tending 
 in every way to make her great, rich, and powerful, to the prejudice, 
 and at the expense, of her various dependencies in every part of the 
 world. 
 
 Unlike philosophical Greece, England has not established Colo- 
 nies for the benefit of those Colonies themselves, or merely for the 
 single purpose of ridding herself of a redundant population, which 
 otherwise must either have pauperised her, or driven her to become a 
 marauding military power, similar to Denmark and Norway, in the 
 middle ages, and to France, in the nineteenth century. She did 
 
 gi 
 
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ided to the 
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 revenue is 
 in number, 
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 le question 
 in the brief 
 
 position ?" 
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 ilation, was 
 
 its power, 
 lat of Eng- 
 second rate 
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 3, was most 
 r victories, 
 ; enormous 
 money that 
 :o subsidise 
 inent, from 
 ce insuper- 
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 e source of 
 lamination, 
 efly by her 
 most intri- 
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 3 prejudice, 
 part of the 
 
 ished Colo- 
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 ion, which 
 o become a 
 my, in the 
 . She did 
 
 3 
 
 neither ; but, on the contrary, planted Colonies fur her own especial 
 benefit and profit ; and with subtle and far-seeing policy, made each 
 and all of them, solely and pre-eminently, subservient to her own 
 greatness, using them in turn as stepping stones to her present position. 
 
 Like the parents who beget children, for the sole and unnatural 
 purpose of having servants for their necessities, or ministers for their 
 pampered appetites, and without once contemplating their future 
 establishment in life, or the great ends of human existence — so Eng- 
 land, in planting a Colony, in fact but opened up a new market for 
 her own goods, and a new field of patronage for the Minister of the 
 day ; nor was it at any time for a moment her intention, that the 
 monopoly in either case should ever be taken out of her hands. 
 Hence the main features of her Colonial legislation has always been, 
 to preserve the balance of trade in her own favor, and against her 
 Colonies ; and thus she effected the double purpose of keeping them 
 poor, and consequently depfendant, and of enriching herself. That 
 these objects have ever been the most prominent ones in every branch 
 of her Colonial policy, we shall now proceed to show. 
 
 III. Charles the 2nd, on his restoration, found the principle of 
 absolute Colonial dependance already interwoven with the Consti- 
 tution. The "Long Parliament" had explicitly declared the com- 
 plete dependance of the Colonies upon the Mother Country. Maxims 
 were thus introduced, which at once received the sanction of the 
 Courts of Westminster Hall, and were accordingly interwoven with 
 the fabric of English law. The decisions of the Judges ruled, that 
 the American and other Plantations were included within the pale of 
 British dominion and legislation, and were therefore affected in the 
 same degree, as Great Britain herself, by Acts of Parliament, al- 
 though UNREPRESENTED IN THAT PARLIAMENT.* 
 
 The new House of Commons not only determined to retain the 
 system of Colonial policy which the " Long Parliament " had intro- 
 duced, but likewise to mature and extend it, in order to render the 
 Colonies completely subject to Parliamentary government, and exclu- 
 sively subservient to the interests of English commerce and navigation. 
 In furtherance of these objects, no sooner had Charles ascended the 
 throne, in 1660, than a duty of five per cent, was imposed on all 
 merchandize exported from, or imported into, any of the Colonies 
 belonging to the Crown; and the same session, in producing the 
 Navigation ^ct, established the most memorable and important branch > 
 of the Colonial policy of England. This celebrated statute, in addi- 
 tion to many other provisions, enacted, that no foreign commodities 
 should be imported into the British settlements, in Asia, Africa, or 
 America, or exported from thence, but in English built vessels ; that 
 no sugar, tobacco, cotton, or other staple commodities, produced or 
 manumctured in the Colonies, should be shipped from them to any 
 other country than England ; and to insure the perfect observance of 
 this last clause, it also enacted that the shippers should be obliged to 
 give bonds, with surety proportioned to the tonnage of the vessel .t 
 
 * Freeman's Reports, p. 175. 1 12 Car. II, cap. 4. 
 
 1* 
 
 !^ II 
 
 i 
 
In 1663, this Act \vm onlargod, and additional restrictions imposed 
 by a new law, which prohibited the importation of European com- 
 modities into the Colonics, except in vessels laden in England, and 
 manned and navigated by British subjects. Largo penalties were 
 established, to socuro the duo observance of this law, and the prin- 
 ciple was now iully avowed, in a public declaration, that the Colonies 
 founded by England, ousfht to be retained in a firm dependance upon 
 her, and obliged to contribute to her advancement, in the employment 
 of English shippine, the vent of English goods or manufactures, and 
 the conversion of England into a settled mart or emporium, not only 
 as regarded *the productions of her own Colonies, but also of such 
 commodities of other countries, ns those Colonies themselves might 
 stand in need of.* The ParUnment likewise assumed the prerogative, 
 of regulating the trade of the several Colonics with each other; and 
 as the Navigation Act had left them at liberty to trade among them- 
 selves without duty, this exemption, in 1672, was withdrawn, and a 
 tax levied, equivalent to that collected on their commodities in the 
 English ports. 
 
 In these several Acts of Parliament, we have the basis of England's 
 Colonial policy nt once bared to our view — a policy, which common 
 sense and every-day experience tell us, can only be practised with 
 impunity during the feebleness of Colonial infancy — in which state of 
 helplessness, therefore, it has always been the wisdom of her states- 
 men to keep her several dependencies — a policy, which gives to her 
 merchants a gigantic monopoly, and creates at the same time, as 
 Adam Smith tells us, n fictitious and unhealthy revenue, dangerously 
 liable to obstruction and do-angement — a policy, we say, which en- 
 genders in every union it esitablishes, the germs of adverse principles, 
 the progress of which must ultimately lead to its dissolution. Because, 
 it obliges the parent to draw the reins of government tighter, as ma- 
 turity approaches, and to exercise a degree of unnatural authority, 
 which must sooner or later drive its offspring into rebellion, the only 
 mode left it, of assorting its right to rational self-government. 
 
 IV. Having now become acquainted with the principal objects of 
 the Colonial and dependency policy of England, the next course for 
 us to pursue, is to trace the operation of this policy, in order to be- 
 come aware of the influence it exercises upon the interests of other 
 countries, and especially upon those of our own. 
 
 The operation of the Colonial policy of England, with regard to 
 her American Colonies, is too well known and too generally under- 
 stood, to require in this place either comment or illustration at our 
 hands: let us turn then, for o brief space, to the opposite side of the 
 fflobe, and examine what it has been there. 
 
 With respect to India, England has pursued, with some slight modi- 
 fications, a course similar to that which she adopted towards her 
 Colonies on this continent — one is a transcript of the other. Scarcely 
 had she established herself firmly in Hindoostan, than she at once 
 instituted a complete monopoly in her own favor, and sedulously 
 
 • 15 Car. 11, otp. 7. 
 
carried out, a commercial and finance system, which has impoverished 
 one of the richest countries in the world, and poured its wealth, either 
 into her own imperial coffers, or into those ol' the merchant princes 
 of Leadenhall street. Turn we to the pages of Anglo-Indian history, 
 and what sickening details do they supply! Usurious monopoly 
 interwoven with moral and physical injustice, meet the eye at the 
 beginning, the middle, ond the end of every chapter — it is the burden 
 of every paragraph, and every period is "edolent of it. There is 
 monopoly of tluB Silk trade, of sugar, of indigo, of cotton, of labor« 
 of the staple articles of food, and lust though not least, of the profits 
 of idolatry.* Fraud, injustice, oppression, start up like phantoms to 
 affright us, from every page, as we read, and force us to the conclu- 
 sion, that none but unenlightened, plodding slaves, as the Hindoo- 
 stannees generally are, would patiently submit to the working of a 
 system which grinds them to the earth, and the result of which, as 
 the erudite Sir John Malcolm says, has been to ruin every branch of 
 native industry, for the beneiit of the English manufacturer, whose 
 wares are now for sale in every corner of that huge empire, from 
 Ceylon to the Himalaya, and from Arracan to Scinde. 
 
 From India, reader, turn your attention to Ireland, to her Colonies 
 in New Holland, to the Cape of Good Hope, to Jamaica, and to the 
 various other dependencies of Great Britain — review carefully, one 
 by one, the condition of each, and then answer the question honestly, 
 has any of them grown rich and powerful, or even respectable, under 
 her dominion? Your answer must be, not one! All their surplus 
 wealth has been annually drained into English coffers, and the 
 prominent features of their several histories are — not prosperity and 
 contentment ; no ! — but on the contrary, special monopoly, with few 
 exceptions, general poverty, and bad government. Scarcely a year 
 passes without witnessing the existence of rebellion in some one of 
 Great Britain's Colonies. The year 1848, for instance, witnessed 
 five rebellions against English authority, viz., one in New Zealand, 
 a second in India, a third in the Cape of Good Hope, a fourth in 
 Ceylon, and a fifth in Ireland ; and at this moment Jamaica is in a 
 state little short of rebellion — the Assembly having refused to grant 
 the necessary supplies for the support of Government. Reader, this 
 is a fearful condition of affairs, but remember, it is not the less true 
 because it is so. We do not want you to take our statements for 
 gospel : our object is to originate a spirit of inquiry within your breasts. 
 Examne for yourselves, analyze facts, trace results to their causes; 
 and when you have done all this, as we have done — when you have 
 examined the whole chain of England's Colonial policy, link by link, 
 until you come down to the present moment, you must then agree with 
 us, that that policy is selfish, unjust, arbitrary, and oppressive. 
 
 Has Ireland, the ri)ost fertile, the richest in natural resources, and 
 the healthiest of all England's dependencies, grown rich or prosperous 
 under her sway ? Not she, indeed ; on the contrary, she has become 
 
 * The East India Company levies a tax on the pilgrims to the Ganges. Thev 
 also levy a tax on those who resort to the idol temple of Juggernaut — whicn 
 temple they themselves support, at a cost of £60,000 sterling per annum. 
 
§' 
 
 miserably poor — a perfect chaos of social evils — a bankrupt to her- 
 se|f, and an anomaly among tlie nations of the earth. By fraud and 
 corruption, that unhappiest of countries has been filched of one manu- 
 facture after another. Direct legislation, or all-powerful combination 
 on the part of English merchants, has robbed her of her woollen 
 trade, of her linen trade, and finally of her agricultural profits. De- 
 spite the advantages of cheap ^bor, and great natural facilities of 
 commerce, the Irish capitalist found it was useless to establish a busi- 
 ness in his native country ; for should he, even in the fate of unfriendly 
 legislation, meet for a time with partial success, the English manu- 
 facturer was sure to step into the ranks arrayed against him, and by 
 combination, to undersell him in his own market — thus eflfecting his 
 ruin, or at the best compelling him to wind up his affairs, and discon- 
 tinue business. 
 
 This want of success in traile of the Irish as a people, cannot 
 surely be owing to a national business incapacity, which facts clearky 
 prove does not, nor has never existed. . During the independence of 
 their Parliament, trade and manufactures were exceedingly pros- 
 perous; and now Irish capitalists go over to England, establish 
 business there, and are almost invariably and eminently successful. 
 It has also been very lately proved before a committee of the Imperial 
 Parliament, that the Irish in America are found in general to be in- 
 dustrious, and to possess good capacities for business, many of them 
 becoming eminent merchants, able conductors of newspapers, and 
 upright Magistrates. Glance for a moment at the annals of Irish 
 literature, and what a superb array of talent do they present! There 
 is Swift, Burke, McLane, (the author of Junius' Letters,) and a host 
 of others, who occupy the first positions in the ranks of genius and 
 learning. With all these indisputable facts before us, we must come 
 to the painful conclusion, that the want of success of the Irish at 
 home, in trade and commerce, is not owing to incapacity on their part, 
 or to unfitness for business ; but, on the contrary, to the jealous enact- 
 ments of English law, and the, (if possible,) still more jealous combi- 
 nations of English capitalists, against Irish manufactures. 
 
 V. Such then is the operation of the Colonial policy of England, as 
 propounded and laid down by her Legislature. It still remains for us 
 to examine the general line of conduct pursued by successive Minis- 
 ters, in enforcing the principle of absolute Colonial dependence which 
 it imperatively inculcates. 
 
 We assert, that the Executive policy of England has been equally 
 as unjust and as arbitrary as that of the Legislative. For, in the first 
 place, it was the object of Minister after Minister to keep the Colonies 
 as long as possible in a state of infancy and helplessness. In the se- 
 cond, that when, in the natural order of things, and in accordance with 
 the laws of human progress, they were emancipated from this stage of 
 existence, it was unceasingly sought to suppress and eradicate every 
 principle and symptom of self interest, hv an undue and tyrannical ex- 
 ercise of parental authority. Thirdi , , , at when maturity, despite all 
 these adverse circumstances, had at length arrived, and a natural de- 
 sire for self government and self control was originated, the principle 
 
to her- 
 aud and 
 8 manu- 
 bination 
 woollen 
 N. De- 
 lities of 
 
 I a busi- 
 friendly 
 
 II manu- 
 and by 
 
 :ting his 
 i discon- 
 
 cannot 
 3 clearly 
 dence of 
 ly pros- 
 establish 
 ccessful. 
 Imperial 
 to be in- 
 
 of them 
 lers, and 
 
 of Irish 
 ! There 
 nd a host 
 3nius and 
 lUst come 
 
 Irish at 
 iieir part, 
 lus enact- 
 js combi- 
 
 I gland, as 
 ins for us 
 ve Minis- 
 ice which 
 
 n equally 
 1 the first 
 Colonies 
 [n the se- 
 ance with 
 s stage of 
 ite every 
 nnical ex- 
 iespite all 
 atural de- 
 principle 
 
 of absolute Colonial dependence on the Mother Country vas still car- 
 ried out — first, by the creation of parties, and of adverse interests; and, 
 secondly, by sowing dissension between those parties, and those inte- 
 rests, and rendering their passions, their prejudices, and their antago- 
 nism, wholly subservient to ICnglish interests, to the sinister purposes 
 of Ministerial intrigue, and to the propping up of a corrupt and selfish 
 system. 
 
 To prove the soundness of our first and second positions, we have 
 only to direct the attention of the reader to Englisli history, and to the 
 various Acts of Parliament framed, from time to time, by English Min- 
 isters, which affect or aflected the Colonies, and some of which we 
 have already noticed. It is to our third position that we especially 
 wish to direct attention, namely : the creation of parties, by Minis- 
 ters, and the sowing dissension between those parties. 
 
 In India, the most extensive?, the most populous, and the richest of 
 all England's dependencies, Clive's comprehensive system of policy, 
 based upon universal and entire subjection, has been the guiding star 
 of each and all of his successors. The principal feature of that policy 
 was, the creating division between the Hindoo and the Mahometan ; 
 or, at the least, fanning the flame of differences already existing, in- 
 to a blaze ! thus forcing them into deadly conflict, until they exhaust- 
 ed alike their resources and their strength. In this way each in turn 
 became an easy prey to the arms of England, who, owing'to this crafty 
 system of policy, became, in an incredibly short space of time, the 
 dominant power, from the Himalaya to the southern extremity of 
 Hindoostan. 
 
 The rebellion of the Mahometan has been suppressed by the Hin- 
 doo, acting under the influence of British intrigue ; and the rebellion 
 of the Hindoo, by the Mahometan. To malte ourselves acquainted 
 with the condition of affairs resulting from this state of things, let us 
 glance for a moment at the pages of the impartial and right minded 
 Gleig, himself an Englishman. 
 
 "All the institutions of that great country," says this honest histo- 
 rian, speaking of India, " have been cither overthrown, or so com- 
 pletely remodelled as to have entirely lost their value, in the eyes of 
 tht; people. There is scarcely an office of trust, profit, responsibility, 
 or honor, to which a native can aspire. 100,000,000 of people are 
 dealt with as if there was not an honest man among th^cn ; and we re- 
 mind them, when all this is done, of the blessings they derive from our 
 authority." ###*»# "Our countrymen, 
 proceed to India, either as traders or in some official capacity ; but the 
 objects they have in view are, in either case, the same, namely : to ac- 
 quire wealth, to spend in another country. Let any thinking person 
 consider how such a state of things is likely to operate among the mul- 
 titude who are treated as mere instruments, by which the favored few 
 are to be enriched."* 
 
 Such is the testimony of an impartial English historian, with regard 
 to the Anglo-Indian policy of his countrymen. But he might have 
 
 * GleigB History of British India, yol. 4, p. 218. 
 
;^ 
 
 Kone further, and told us, in addition, thnt while the MuhometanM urcro 
 in a position to command respect, they were feared, courted, and flat- 
 tered. Their dynasties once crushed — their jnestiye destroyed — the 
 superior numbers of the Hindoos rendered them of more political im- 
 portance; and accordingly they are taken forthwith into the i'avor of 
 the Anglo-Indian Ciovcrnrnent. Lord b^llenborough, in playing the 
 part of tt second Julian, by the endeavor to restore the idol temple of 
 Somnauth — the supposed gates of which ho <lragged from the tomb of 
 Mahmood the iconoclast* at Ghuznee, to India — was simply following 
 up the course pursued by his predecessors, and only erred in making 
 the measure too public.t The Mahometans had ceased to bo of much 
 political importance : the case was the reverse, as regarded the Hin- 
 doos ; and in gratifying the stronger at the expense of the weaker, he 
 but acted in accordance with established principle and usage. His 
 Lordship was informed that the system had worked well hitherto, in 
 India : he was himself sufHciently grounded in history to know it had 
 succeeded to a miracle, in Ireland ; and he may now, if he will, con- 
 template its operation, semper idem eadem, in Canada, with the eye of 
 a philosopher. 
 
 Did any of you, my readers, ever peruse the excellent work of Cap- 
 tain Hall, on the operation of British policy in India — a work which, 
 if we recollect aright, met the approval of even Majesty itself, in the 
 person of Vyilliam IV. If you have read that book, you must know 
 all about what is termed the " Subsidiary System," the principal fea- 
 tures of which are : — the first involving native Princes in the meshes 
 of political intrigue, which hampers them so, that to free themselves, 
 they are driven either to assault or to resist British authority ; and thus 
 become apparently, what they never in reality are, the aggressors.^ 
 Craftily drawn into acts of aggression, they are beaten in the field, as 
 a matter of course ; and are then compelled to receive British troops 
 into their territory, on pretence of protecting them, but in reality to 
 watch their movements, and check them, should they be hostile. Their 
 own troops, in the meantime are disbanded, and from henceforward 
 they become merely the civil heads of their several principalities ; 
 their power being restricted to the exorcise of judicial and financial au- 
 thority. But British policy does not stop even here. By a secret ma- 
 chinery which it knows, from long experience, so well how to put into 
 operation, the revenue of these Princes, (out of which they have to pay 
 the troops quartered on them,) are caused to fall into disorder. The 
 people are next made to complain of undue exactions ; and the Anglo- 
 Indian Government institutes an inquiry — the invariable result of 
 which is, that the management of the estates of these Princes is taken 
 into its own hands : the rightful owners receiving in future, only a 
 small portion of their own money, by way of pension. 
 
 But these, and a host of others of the same kind, are not the only 
 evils which British rule entails upon India. In the true spirit of despo- 
 
 * For his History see Gibbon's Roman Empire, vol. 5, p. 530. 
 t Vide General Order of the Governor General of India, dated Sinila, 16th No- 
 vember, 1842. I This was exactly the case, as regarded the Seikhs. 
 
inH were 
 
 and tint- 
 
 /ed — the 
 
 tical im- 
 
 favor of , 
 
 ^ing the 
 
 mple of 
 
 tomb of 
 
 bllowing 
 
 making 
 
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 the Hin- 
 
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 ^e. His 
 
 iierto, in 
 
 3w it had 
 
 v'ill, con- 
 
 le eye of 
 
 kofCup- 
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 cipal fea- 
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 ; and thus 
 ;ressor8.| 
 3 field, as 
 ish troops 
 reality to 
 le. Their 
 ;e forward 
 lipalities ; 
 incial au- 
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 put into 
 ive to pay 
 ler. The 
 le Anglo- 
 result of 
 s is taken 
 e, only a 
 
 t the only 
 ; of despo- 
 
 a, 16th No- 
 
 tism, it exhibits itself opposed, or, at the very least, utterly indiflbrent 
 to the progress of Christian knowledge or information.* It is an estab- 
 lished theory with the potentates of the India House, that the general 
 diffusion of knowledge, and the consequent moral regeneration of the 
 benighted natives of Hindoostan, must first toke place, before their 
 power there qan be overturned. t Ilencc, as is well known, the An- 
 glo-Indian Government have never been favorably disposed towards 
 Missionary labor. It does not now oppose it openly, it is true; but 
 then it sets innumerable under currents at work lo counteract its ef- 
 fects,! and contributes a much larger sum for the maintenance of idol 
 temples, and Mahumedau ziarets, than it does for the support of its 
 Christian cliurclios. 
 
 Such, then, is England's Executive policy in India. Let us next look, 
 for a britif space, at what it has been in her American Colonics, ante- 
 rior to the Revolutionary War. And here, too, we find faction and dis- 
 sension in existence. "The disunion," says Grahame, "between the 
 provincial communities, was a favorite consideration among the Eng- 
 lish politicians, who were averse to American independence. They 
 knew that the natural progress of society in America, was towards in- 
 dependence ; but they hoped that it would yet be long retarded, partly 
 by British ^o//c//, and partly by the absence of united counsel and fel- 
 low feeling between the several Colonial communities.")! 
 
 For a length of time prior to the Revolutionary War, the country 
 was over-run with the creatures of the Minister of the day, whose busi- 
 ness it was to create divided interests, and to report the progress of 
 public opinion, apart from the execution of various minor ofHces. Act- 
 ing upon the representations of these men, and also upon those of their 
 other officials, the British Cabinet definitively determined upon two 
 measures — one of which was to plunder the people of their property 
 by unconstitutional taxation, and the other to prevent all interior ex- 
 tension of the Colonies.§ Those measures were looked upon then, as 
 the two great links which were to firmly bind the latter to the Mother 
 Country. Hence the " Board of Trade and Plantations," in 1759, when 
 making their report to the Privy Council, reminds it of a previous re- 
 port made by them, immediately after the treaty of Paris, and which 
 was approved of and confirmed by his Majesty — the purport of which 
 
 * We have an example of the tender regard of English Statesmen, in the con- 
 duct of Seymour, William Ill.rd's Attorney- General, who objected to a College in 
 Virginia, on account of the expense. He was reminded, that the people there, had 
 Boufa to be saved, as well as in England. " Souls," uaid he, " damn your aouls — 
 make tobacco." 
 
 t Despots of every age, and every country, have always been opposed to the 
 progress of information. Charles II. in l()d3, prohibited any person in Virginia 
 from employing a printing press, on any occasion, or under any pretence whatso 
 ever. In tlie same spirit, the slave owner forbids the education of the Negroes. 
 
 t Missionary records of British India, p. 25 and 49. 
 
 II History of the United States, vol. 4, p. 138. 
 
 <^If we examine carefully the current of events, we will at once see that the 
 British Cabinet, at this moment, is averse to the increase of the population in the 
 Canadas, where there is plenty of room for every individual in the United King- 
 doms — all that is required, is a proper system of emigration. The Home Grovern- 
 tnent holds, tliat if we become rich and populous, we must become independent. 
 
 . B 
 
10 
 
 
 was, the confining tiie western boundary of settlements in America) 
 to such a distance from the sea coast as would efTectually serve to keep 
 them within the reach of the trade and commerce of the Mother Coun- 
 try, and the exercise of that authority and jurisdiction requisite to pre- 
 serve them in subordination to, and in dependence upon her. 
 
 In pursuance of its policy, the Home Government cautiously com- 
 menced its assumption of extraordinary perogative and power, by the 
 interfering in local matters of the most petty character. In its instruc- 
 tions issued, (according to its practice, at intervals, to all its officials,) 
 to Benning Wentworth, Governor of New Hampshire, in 1761, after 
 prohibiting him from assenting to any law calculated to obstruct the 
 importation of Negro slaves* into the province, it commanded that he 
 should allow no person to teach a school, without first having obtained 
 his license ; or, should he be an emigrant, the license of a bishop. It 
 likewise negatived an act, passed by the Assembly of Massachusetts, 
 incorporating a society for promoting Christian knowledge among the 
 Indians ; which scandalous conduct on its part, was owing to the re- 
 presentations of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and a portion of the 
 English clergy. 
 
 It is not necessary for us, here, to follow British Ministers through 
 their various unconstitutional assumptions of power to legislate, by 
 Acts of Parliament, for the American Colonies. Neither will the 
 space we have allotted to ourselves, permit us to examine the Stamp 
 Act, the Declaration Act, and other Acts, which aimed at depriving 
 them of the chartered and unalienable rights of British subjects, and of 
 subjecting thmn to a Government, in which they were unrepresented. 
 We can only add, in the language of an eminent English writer of 
 this century, "-The period of maturity had arrived, and accordingly 
 the final resort of the Minister, exemplified in the Latin saw, divide et 
 impera, was had recourse to, in agreement with established usage." • 
 • • • * *' Happily, however, for the interests of mankind 
 in general, and of England herself, that party favorable to tiie soil pre- 
 vailed. Self-government produced its legitimate fruits, and (mark the 
 contrast,) the United States, from comparatively poor, ill treated, and 
 dependant Colonies, suddenly exhibited themselves to the gaze of the 
 civilized world, as a great, rich, and powerful people.'* 
 
 But of all the countries dependant upon England, the condition of 
 none of them so aptly illustrates my argument, as that of Ireland, for 
 the past two hundred years, and at this moment. 
 
 " The position of that island," says her apologist, Barrington, " upon 
 the face of the globe, peculiarly fits her for universal intercourse. 
 Situated at the western extremity of Europe, she would be able to in- 
 tercept the trade of the New World from all other nations. The mer- 
 chandise of London, of Liverpool, and of Bristol, skirts her shores, be- 
 fore it reaches its own destination ; and some of the finest harbors in 
 the world invite her inhabitants to intercept the trade of India, and 
 form the emporium of Europe." 
 
 * The first cargo of slaves, ever taken from the coast of Africa, for the use of 
 the American Colonies, was in an English vessel, fitted out for that purpose by 
 an association, and commanded by an English Baronet, Sir John Hawkins. At 
 the above time, the traffic was one of immense emolument to British shipowners. 
 
11 
 
 But witli all theso advantages, in addition to a delightful climate, 
 and exceedingly fertile soil, owing to commercial jealousy, and uncon- 
 stitutional Government, the year 1779 found Ireland reduced to almost 
 the lowest ebb of misery. English intrigue had extinguished her " 
 manufactures, and robbed her of her commerce : public and individual 
 bankruptcy was of every day occurrence : a universal feeling of des- 
 pondence had seized alike upon the Protestant and the Roman Catho- 
 lic ; and a huge tide of emigration, as at this moment, rolled towards 
 the shores of the New World. 
 
 The struggles of America, however, for freedom, at length awak- 
 ened the people of Ireland as from a trance : they beheld the contest 
 with deepest interest, and regarded with admiration, the struggles of 
 the Colonies there, to establish their right to the first principles of 
 civil liberty. 
 
 At this time Poyning's Act was still in operation. This statute re- 
 strained the Irish Parliament from originating any law whatsoever, 
 either in the Lords or Commons. Before any statute could be discus- 
 sed by them, it had first to be submitted to the Lord Lieutenant and 
 his Privy Council, for their consideration ; and they had the power, 
 either to reject it altogether, or transmit it to England, for the appro- 
 val of the Attorney-General and Privy Council there. These latter 
 had also the power to suppress the bill, or to model it to thei'' j;leasure, 
 and then return it to the Irish Parliament, with permission lo pass it 
 into a law. Statutes were frequently returned from England, so al- 
 tered as hardly to retain a single feature of their original purport. 
 
 Such was the degrading condition of the Irish Parliament, before 
 Grattan and his peers awoke it to a true sense of its dishonor. Arou- 
 sed by their startling eloquence and representations, the Protestant 
 volunteers of Ireland determined on freeing themselves from the incu- 
 bus which weighed them down — their exertions to accomplish this ob- 
 ject, being warmly seconded and supported by their Roman Catholic 
 brethren. The benefits resulting from this harmonious state of things, 
 soon became evident. England was obliged to concede the demands 
 of her sister island : the Irish Parliament was declared altogether inde- 
 pendent, and left perfectly at liberty to consult its own welfare ; and 
 what was the result 1 Like America, Ireland soon became rich and 
 prosperous.* 
 
 Rivalled in her trade, and bafHed in her policy, by Statesmen wiser, 
 although not so crafty as her own, England, after a short breathing 
 time, sedulously, applied herself to recover the vantage ground she 
 had lost. To effect this object she had only one course to pursue, and 
 that course was, to separate the Irish people by dissension — to sever 
 the union existing between Protestant and Roman Catholic, by the 
 revival of former feud and antagonistic feeling. History informs us 
 she was too successful. Volunteer associations declined before her 
 
 * The reader must bear in mind, here, first, that Ireland was united : secondly, 
 that self-government then ensued : thirdly, that the prudential acts of that Gov- 
 ernment restored to her, for n. brief space, trade, commerce, and wealth. By al- 
 lowing herself to be divided, she again lost all these advantages. Canada is di- 
 vided, at this moment. 
 
12 
 
 baneful efforts; and in their stead, and as the children of her inces- 
 tuous intrigues, appeared the Peep o' Day Boy, and the Irish Orange- 
 men — both heretofore unknown; and whose several acts gradually 
 spread the flame of disunion wider and wider. Events rapidly fol- 
 lowed upon the heels of each other. The subtle and expert politicians 
 of England, versed, from long experience, in Mochiavelian intrigue, 
 proved more than an overmatch for the public men of Ireland — the 
 greater part of whom, indeed, had not virtue enougi) to resist the 
 tempting offers of the British Cabinet. Protestant and Catholic were 
 placed in direct antagonism ; the Irish Rebellion of 1798 broke out, 
 and the union was consummated. 
 
 Up to this epoch, reader, the Irish were exceedingly prosperous, as 
 a nation. Let us now look at the contrast. 
 
 Deprived of her Parliament — of the right of self-government, Ire- 
 land was soon plundered of her trade, mid despite her favorable position 
 for com77ierce, shortly dwindled down into a purely agricidtural country^ 
 and the granary qf manufacturing and wealthy England.* Meanwhile 
 law after law have been enacted, ostensibly for her benefit, but in real- 
 ity, militating, in some way or other, against her interests; and we 
 now behold her in even a woi"se position by far, than that from which 
 she was rescued, in 1782, by the Volunteers — an anomaly among the 
 nations, and her people starving in the midst of plenty. Such are the 
 blessings derivable from dejpendence on England. 
 
 In allowing the discontent of the Irish to break out into open rebel- 
 lion, by which thousands of her subjects lost their lives, England play- 
 ed a deep and a desperate game : it was her last stake ; but the loyalty 
 of the Irish Protestants enabled hei: to be the winner. Deeply their 
 debtor, it was but natural to suppose she would not be ungrateful, and 
 would repay them in some shape, for the immensely important service 
 they had rendered her. Such, however, was not the case. No ! ! 
 She pandered to the prejudices of the too devoted Orangeman — the be- 
 ing of her own creation, for her own purposes. She stirred up the 
 fears and apprehensions of the mere Protestant : arrayed both on her 
 side — used them while she wanted them ; flattered them, courtier like, 
 for a brief space afterwards, and then, when their loyalty was no long- 
 er useful, pushed them aside, in order to receive the Roman Catholics, 
 (now become a numerous and tbrmidable body,) into favor. 
 
 Here was gratitude for past favors with a vengeance ! But England 
 did not stop even at this point of her career — not she, indeed ! ! ! The 
 demands of the Irish Repealers rendered it necessary to fling them a 
 bone to pick ; but mark 1 that bone was not taken out of her own 
 stores: on the contrary, it was abstracted from the side of her Protes- 
 tant allies. The Orange Lodges were all suppressed : their meetings 
 
 * England is always overflowing with money : the question there, is, how to 
 employ it to advantage ? On the contrary, money is uncommonly scarce in the 
 Colonies ; which, nevortiieless, are part and parcel of tiie same empire. This must 
 surely be the result of a system, and not of local causes ; for the revenue of Eng- 
 land has grown with her Colonies. According to Hume, in 1604 the whole cus- 
 toms of England was only £127,000. Now they amount to very many millions 
 sterling. 
 
as 
 
 13 
 
 declared illegal, and placed on a par with those of the VVhitefoot and 
 the Ribbonman, and their members were expelled the Police force, 
 and forbid the Army and Navy. The "Municipal Bill" next turned 
 the Protestants out of all the Corporations, to ^lake way for the Ro- 
 man Calholics, who, at this moment, us we • i lill almost every sit- 
 uation in the country. Meanwhile, England objects have been ac- 
 complished. She had a long account to balance with the Protestants : 
 they had wrung a free Parliament from her, and might do so again ; 
 besides, they were an intelligent and independent class, who would not 
 willingly submit to despotism. So she crushed them first. The Re- 
 pealer was next wooed into his own ruin, and shared a similar fate. 
 "Conciliation Hall" is now a chapel of ease, and a bye-word: the 
 Young Irelanders have been snuffed out, and all Ireland, from the 
 highest aristocrat to the meanest peasant, now lie bowed down and 
 prostrate at the feet of haughty and selfish England, who can gaze, 
 with what feelings she best may, on the mighty and astounding ruin 
 and misery she has herself caused. 
 
 And now, fellow Colonists of Canada West, let us turn aside from 
 the examination of England's Colonial policy touching other countries, 
 to bring the question home to ourselves, to our families, and to our 
 firesides, arid what do we find ? Have you been more favored, or re- 
 garded more favorable, than the other Colonies of Great Britain 1 You ! 
 who turned the tide of victory in her favor, even in an unrighteous 
 war, and with stubborn and indomitable valor, repelled the trained 
 armies of the United States! You! who clung to her, in evil report 
 and good report, alike'! You ! who, eminently loyal, came forward, 
 in 1838, almost as one man, at her demand, to support and enforce 
 her authority, and to preserve the integrity of her power. Have you, 
 we say, who have done all these things, been more favored, or re- 
 garded more favorably, than England's other Colonies? We tell you, 
 you have not!! On the contrary, you have been, with all your dis- 
 plays of loyalty, looked upon as too independent in your views, and as 
 indulging too great a predilection for republicanism ; and have been 
 treated accordingly, with jealous and watchful distrust. 1845 saw a 
 standing army of 14,000 men scattered among the Canadas. That 
 army was not, surely, to guard you against the Americans, from whom 
 you were well able to guard yourselves. What was it here for, then ? 
 James II. and all other despots, have been, and ever will be, advo- 
 cates for the maintenance of standing armies. You have troops in 
 the very midst of you at this moment — to protect you from the In- 
 dians, perhaps! Pshaw!!! 
 
 Is not, fellow Colonists, the history of the American Colonies, the history of 
 India, the history of the Cape of Good Hope,* and the history of Ireland, one and 
 all but transcripts of our own ? Do not its scanty pages tell us of the same re- 
 strictions on trade and commerce ; of the same navigation laws, and of the same 
 monopoly, internal and external, which kept and keeps them poor and dependant 
 provinces 7 The scene has only been shifted — every act throughout the plot, is 
 
 • In nearly all the British Colonies, the censorship of the press, by the Grovern- 
 ments of them, exist. Some few years ago, a public paper was suppressed in the 
 Cape, for commenting on the acts of the Governor : W. Pringle was the Editor. 
 Another paper, a short time since, was suppressed in the Carnatic. 
 
14 
 
 ll 
 
 t 
 
 5 
 
 111 
 
 the oame. First, there Ih the weakness and utter lielplessness of infancy : en- 
 treaty and prayer marks this slajre of existence. Next comes on a late and sickly 
 youth, which hati just sutKcient perception to discern dimly the injuries which has 
 retarded its growth. Ill defined murinuriiigs and conipliiints are now heard — to 
 quiet which, qu^pk nostrums and patent medicines are presurihed ; but no whole- 
 some physic is given. By-and-bye, in agreement with the laws of natural pro- 
 gress, \ot\g kept back, maturity comes on : the parent still seeks" to hold her off- 
 spring in leading strings, to prevent it from using its ripened faculties for its own 
 welfare. And the third act finislies, witli party division, partial rebellion, and 
 nnnatural union. What the fuurtli and concluding act will he, time and ovhSKi.vKa 
 must determine. 
 
 The entire system of Colonial Policy pursued by English Statesmen, from the 
 establishment almost of her first settlement up to this moment, fully proves, that 
 in effecting the union of Upper and Lower Canada — a union into which one pro- 
 vince was humbugged, and the otiier bullied- she did not look honestly for the 
 prosperity of either. Both those provinces had arrived at maturity — at a period 
 when the desire for self-control and Responsible Government, was natural and 
 laudable. Something must be done, therefore, to quiet their (leinund.s, and that 
 something was, to give them, indeed, the boon they soujjlit for; but it was given 
 in the spirit wiiich prompter the Declaratory Act, end clogged with the union of 
 two races, dissimilar in interests and religion ; which union, consequently, con- 
 tained within itself, all the elements of violent and lasting dissension and strife, 
 and rendered the concessions made virtually valueless. 
 
 In effecting the union of the two Canadas, the " Home Government" affirmed, 
 it was but acting in agreement with the spirit of Lord Durham's Report. Now, 
 reader, we will show you it did no such thing ; but, on the contrary, acted in di- 
 rect opposition to that Report, and was consequently guilty of the customary 
 amount of falsehood, and prevarication, which usually characterises the measures 
 originating with the Colonial Office. The spirit of Lord Durham's Report is as 
 follows : — The root of the evil in Lower Canada, is in the difference of races ar- 
 raying the people in bitter and enduring hostility against each other. The dis* 
 tinction in language, education, and religion, is not softened down by social in- 
 tercourse : they seldom meet in society ; each have their own Banks and Hotels. 
 They inherit, in an exaggerated degree, the peculiarities of their origin. Every 
 political difference may be traced to the same source — the contest of these races. 
 
 Now, will any person of common sense suppose, that these evils, or even the 
 least of them, could be removed by a union ? It has already existed for eight 
 
 fears, and has the French Roman Catholic yet merged into a Scotch, English, or 
 rish Protestant, or the Protestant into a FrencJi Roman Catholic ? Has one jot 
 of their former causes of hostility been removed ? Not one ! Differences and an- 
 tagonism are just now as rife us they were ten, twenty, or three hundred years 
 back. Until the men who effected the union can show, that they have removed 
 the broad landmark — the clear and well defined line of demarcation which sepa- 
 rates the two races — then, and not till then, can we believe they acted upon Lord 
 Durham's Report. If they cannot do this — and who will presume to say they 
 can — then, we assert, that the true object of the Colonial Office, in uniting Up- 
 per Canada, essentially Protestant, to Lower Canada, essentially Roman Catho- 
 lic, wa^, to place the grounds of difference and animositv on a more gigantic scale 
 than ever, in order to weaken the entire population of both races, by their dis- 
 sensions, so that the Mother Country might govern them the more easily. 
 
 Let us look at the question in another point of view. Let it be admitted, that 
 the Minister did not, in reality, act upon Lord Durham's Report ; and that his 
 real object was, to govern Lower Canada, disloyal, with the aid of Upper Canada, 
 Un^. Then, we ask, why is not the loyalty of the latter at as high a premium 
 now, as it was in 1838 ? and why has rebellion then, become loyalty now, and 
 the stepping stone to office and emolument ? Irish loyalty was very precious to 
 England, in 1798 — so was Canadian loyalty, in 1HI58. Subsequently, Irish loyalty 
 fell to par — so did Canadian ; and both are now in the market, at a tremendous 
 discount. Open your eyes, Orangemen, Episcopalians, and Protestant dissenters I 
 use the faculties God has given you, and you may once for all see, that England 
 does not regard her Colonists <i ' bona fide subjects ; and that she does not care 
 one pin about your unshaken loyalty, or your religion, save when she can use 
 
 
15 
 
 them as her tools, to further her own projects. So lont^ ns they suit her views, 
 Oranffemen, Romiin Catholics, Episcopalians, or Dissenters, are all equally ac- 
 ceptable to her. With equal readiness she endows the Irish Colleges, Oxford, 
 Cambridge, or the Hindoo temple of Juggernaut. 
 
 In presenting us with ResponpiVIe Government, the ostensible^ language of the 
 British Ministry was — Now, people of Canada, we have conceded your demands : 
 you are, therefore, in the fullest enjoyment of the rights of British subjects: you can 
 make your own laws, and etitablish ^our national credit on the firmest basis. This 
 was all very good , but let us get, ior a moment, as Sam Slick has it, behind the 
 scenes : let us penetrate into the green-room of the Colonial Department, and we 
 shall find the language there, to be of a diiferent cast, and of which the following 
 might be a tolerably correct specimen. " Well, theue troublesome Canadas have 
 got Responsible Government from us ; we could not help giving it to them, it is 
 true ; but isn't it funny 7 it wont do them one pennyworth of good. They will 
 never pull together — not they ; but they will fight like winking. By-and-bye they 
 will get enough of it, and grow weary of the game ; then, like dutiful children, 
 they will come to ua to arrange their squabbles for them^which we can do upon 
 our own terms. Meanwhile we need not be idle ; we can secretly embarrass their 
 measures ; we can depress their Stocks, keep their Banks from active operations, 
 and thwart them in a hundred ways they know nothing about. We have played 
 the game dozens of times, with our wiseacre children ; and they, poor fools, 
 never knew what we were at, the wiiole time. It will go hard with us, indeed, 
 who have outwitted half the subtle politicians of Europe, and were more than a 
 match for the other half— who countermined Talleyrand, bamboozled Metternich, 
 and quizzed Guizot — it will go hard with us, indeed, who have done ali this, if 
 we can't manage a few unruly Colonists, and mould them to our will. They think 
 they govern themselves, don't they 1 but we'll show them they only play Punch 
 and Judy, and so catch the eye of the crowd, while it is we alone who pull the 
 check strings, and set them in motion." 
 
 Independent, honest, hard-working yeomanry of Canada West — you have had 
 Ihe Union for eight years, and what are you the better of it ? what have you got 
 in return for the insults and injuries you have sustained, from hands which should 
 mete you out notiiing but benefits ? Merchunis of Canada West — you also have 
 hud the Union for eight years : it promised you great and lasting benefits — has it 
 made you more prosperous f is your trade increasing 7 Caj)ita!ists of Canada 
 West — the Union was likewise for your good : do your houses rent as well as 
 hitherto 7 are your tenants equally as punctual at quarter day 7 are your land 
 speculations as sound 7 how do your town properties sell 7 Statesmen of Canada 
 West — you told us the Union would give us railways, good roads, education for 
 our children, national credit; and now eight years — nearly the one-twelfth of a 
 long century — has elapsed, and where are all these things 7 Eecho answers, 
 "where!" 
 
 Do not be deceived, my countrymen ; your interests are not interwoven with 
 the Union. You are told to have patience, and by-and-bye tiie increase in your 
 population will turn the tide in your favor, and give you a majority in the Provin- 
 cial Parliament. But glance across the Atlantic, and you will find, that the Home 
 Government thinks you are large and troublesome enough already*; and that it is 
 at this moment seeking to divert the stream of emigration from your shores, to 
 swell the millions of another country, to wliom she gives iier surplus money and 
 her surplus population, in preference to you. The same insidious policy which 
 labored to bound the American Colonies, is now in operation amongst you. You 
 canno^ see its course, perhaps ; you cannot follow it through all its sinuous wind- 
 ings ; nevertheless, it is not accomplishing its object the less surely. 
 
 Already matters begin to wear a most unprosperous appearance. Trade de- 
 clines, business is at a dead stop, money grows scarcer and scarcer, bankruptcy 
 becomes common, shops are shut in every town and village, debtors run off to the 
 United States, English capitalists look sour at our stocks, while the American are 
 nt ten per cent, premium, and the wealthy emigrant turns aside from our shores, 
 and gives to the Yankees, the three things we most want, namely : men, women, 
 and money. 
 
 And what under-cufrent, we would ask, has brought this state of things about 7 
 One may answer this, another may answer that ; but we say, the true solution of 
 
I 
 
 16 
 
 the qnesUon will be ibaii4 soiMwheie behind the curtain which fcreeiia the leip 
 oret eooncile of the Coloniel OlBce fiom the public eye. Tboee ceoBoUe, wUeb, 
 M rarely m theeuo ehinee above ue, will neutralise every nMeenre ef o«ir Reepon* 
 ■ible Oovecnment, by secret operations upon our Ainds, and by Bfaehiavdian !■•' 
 trigue— those bOfnoiii, which cause our inagnifioent inland seas and stately canals 
 to be of Hftle or no use to us — those councils, which keep our stocks below lero, 
 and which would still keep us poor, although we had the £3.500,000 expended on 
 railways, which Mr. Hincks is going to borrow for us one of these days, on verv 
 questionable seiburity—those councils, which have expended millions in Ireland, 
 in spoiling public rrnds and public morals, without cont.b'ucting one useful public 
 work-^those councils, we say, which have ever inculcated andenforced the doc- 
 trine of absolute Colonial dependence, and put that doctrine into practice, either 
 by intrigue, by corruption, or by force. 
 
 And now, fellow Colonieto, in conclusion, we would address a few words to you 
 in pur own behalf. We have endeavored, to the best of our abilities, to place be* 
 fore you the working of a aystem which afibcto you for evil', at this moment, end 
 will affect your ehildren after you, in a still greater degree, perhaps, than it does 
 
 irourselves ; yet do not take onr words upon trust : enquire for yourselves, reeol- 
 ecting always, that your political destinies are in your own hands, and that " God 
 helps them that help themselves." Our great ebjeet is, to originate a thorough 
 'spirit of inquiry in your breasts, or, at the least, to stimulate some more able 
 writer than ourselves to do so. That object once achieved, no matter by whom, 
 your political regeneration immediately ensues ; and then your villages will be con> 
 verted.into cities, fair towns will arise in the wilderness, railways will divide your 
 forests^ trade and commerce will flourish, men will come forward to loan you 
 money, who now will not risk a shilling ; and in after years your children and your 
 children's children will look with pride on the constitutional fobric you have, with 
 your own hands, reared for them. Canada will then, indeed, b» a nation ; and if 
 there is division among her sons, it will be the division of generous emulation, 
 struggling for her benefit. 
 
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