1P> o^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) ^. 1.0 I.I ll^|2B H2.5 ^ HI i2.0 i m L2I iu 11.6 Photogra{te ScMices Corporalion 33 WBT MAIN STRliT WIMTM,Ny. 145M (716)t7a-4$03 mr CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHIVI/iCIVIH Collection de microfiches. Canadian instituta for Historical IVIicroreproductions / institut Canadian de microreproductions historiquas ^ > ©1984 Technical and Bibliographic Notaa/Notaa tashniquas at bibliographiquaa Tha Inttltuta haa attamptad to obtain tha baat original copy avallebia far filming. Faaturaa of thia copy which may ba bibliographically uniqua. which may altar any of tha imagas in tha rap reduction, or which may significantly changa tha usual mathod of filming, ara chaclcad balow. 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Original copiaa In printad papar cnvara ara fllmad baglnning with tha front covar and anding on tha laat paga with a printad or illuatratad impraa- sion, or tha back covar whan appropriata. All othar o'-'iinai copiaa ara fllmad baglnning on tha firat pag« with a printad or Illuatratad impras- sion, and anding on tha last paga with a printad or illuatratad imprassion. Tha laat racordad frama on aach microficha shall contain tha symbol — ^- (maaning "CON- TINUED"), or tha symbol ▼ (maaning "END"), whichavar appllas. L'axamplaira film* fut raproduit grica i la ginArositA da: La bibliothiqua das Archives pubiiquas du Canada Laa imagaa auivantaa ont 4ti raprodultas avac ia plua grand aoin, compta tanu da ia condition at da la nattat* da l'axamplaira film*, at an conformity avac las conditions du contrat da fllmaga. 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The following diegrams illustrate the method: Lea cartas, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre fllmAs A dee taux da rAduction diff Arents. Lorsqus ie document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul ciichA, II est fiimA A partir da i'angia aupAriaur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut an bas, en prenent ie nombre d'images nAcessaira. Las diagrammes suivants iiluatrent ia mAthode. rata elure, A 3 2X 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 A A^ -t c->-7^ ^* .> CJ/^ A* . ' " " /^ /f ///. A '7 /- CONFEDERATION . / CONSIDEBBD IN EELATION TO THE INTERESTS OF THE EMPIRE, BT THE HON. JOSEPH HOWE. LONDON: EDWARD STANFORD, 6, CHARING CROSS, S.W 1866. / - 3 5 ^^ 7 CONFEDERATION. When Prussia overrun Schleswig Ilolatein all Europe cried shame, and the moral sense of England was deeply wounded. When the Emperor of the French took Nice, in return for the service rendered to Italy, the Press of England indignantly pro- tested against that appropriation of territory. However anxious the Emperor may be at the present moment to extend his do- minion and rectify his frontiers ho wisely spares Belgium, and does not advance his boundaries to the Ehine. If he did a bloody war would convulse the Continent, and wo all breathe more freely when he yields to the dictates of prudence and moderation. The public sentiment of England ought as religiously to re- spect the boundaries and rights of largecommunities on the other side of the Atlantic as on this ; and yet, strange to say, a mea- sure of spoliation and appropriation, on a more gigantic scale than any that has startled Europe, and which for two years has convulsed society in British America, seems to have advo- cates and defenders here. The Province of Canada is as large as Great Britain, Prance and Prussia put together, and will, if ever peopled, sustain a population of 50,000,000. If her territories were compact, and her frontiers defensible, she might develope into an Empire large enough to tax the administrative talents of a Bismark or of a Louis Napoleon. On such a territory one would naturally suppose that there was work enough to exhaust the energies of statesmen for the next two centuries, without their co- veting more land, or desiring to interfere with neighbouring communities, developing their industry in a peaceful and legal manner on either side. But Canada is not comj)act. She has yet only 3,000,000 of inhabitants, or about 8 to every square mile of territory. She has an exposed frontier of 1000 miles, with no natural defences for 800 miles above Quebec. Along the whole of this frontier A 2 line she is menaced or overlapped by the great "Republic, with thirty.four Tnillionn of inhabitants and a million of trained soldiers who have been under fire. Those troops, accustomed to obey officers of great ability, familiar with the art of war, could, by means of twenty railroads, pointing to tlie Canadian frontier, bo massed in a week, and thrown into the Province. Whether, when they got there, the Canadians could drive them out, with their comparatively small force of Volunteers and Militia, even when assisted by the troops this country could spare, is a military question which I will not undertake to decide. Distinguished Members of Parliament declare they could not : and that if Canada, thus overrun, is ever recovered to the British Crown, it must be after campaigns in other direc- tions, and a successful naval war, in which it is evident that that Province, being frozen up for five months of the year, and having no ships or sailors to spare, can render no assistance. One would suppose that the public men of a country so placed — 80 entirely at the mercy of the chapter of accidents, so unimproved and sparsely populated — would not be over anxi- ous to enlarge their territory or increase their responsibilities, even if they had displayed, in the past, a fair average acquaint- ance with the science of government. Let us see if they can claim credit for much more. From the conquest by Wolfe in 1759 to the flight of Papineau and McKenzie in 1837-8, with the exception of the two periods when the fear of invasion stilled the voice of faction, the history of Canada is but the history of internal strife between parties more or less acrimonious and uncompromising. In the Lower Province the French and English parties divided the legislature and society, and in the Upper, to the ordinary rivalries between Liberals and Con- servatives, common co the Mother Country and to all the Colonies, interminable strife between the Orange and the Irish factions has been added. So bitterly have these feuds been maintained that Toronto has sometimes been disturbed by armed organizations, while at Kingston the Prince of Wale3 was pre- vented from landing by an uncompromising assertion of Protes- tant ascendancy. In 1837 and 1838 both Provinces were con- vulsed by open insurrections, which were only put down by the shedding of blood, the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act and of the local constitutioiiH, and by the cxpeiuUturo, at the eoBt of tho British Government, of more than a million sterling. In 1841 tho two Provinces were united, and it was hoped that the severe lessons of the past would not be lost upon tho public men of Canada ; but, eight years afterwards, their national antipathies and personal rivalries culminated again in acts of open violence. The Parliament House at Montreal was burnt down, the library containing the archives of the Province and a choice collection of Colonial literature con- sumed — the Governor General and his Lady were pelted through the strec s — a Society was fonned to promote annexa- tion to the United States, and American flags were ostenta- tiously displayed from tho windows. The Maritime Provinces of British America are chargeable with no such excessee. For a hundred years some of them have worked representative Institutions in peaceful subordi- nation and devoted loyalty to the Crown and Parliament of England ; and, for a quarter of a century, since Responsible Govkjrnment was wisely conceded to them by the Mother Country, they have developed that system with skill and ability worthy of all praise. Had those Provinces been under the control of Canada in 1837, or had they been imbued with the spirit of disaffection, they would have cut off the troops marching through them in raid winter ; and, in a month, fifty thousand sympathizers would have crossed the American frontier, and British America, in all human probability, would have been wrested from the Crown. Had they sympathized with those who, with the settled purpose of throwing off their allegiance in 1849, got up the emeute at Montreal, the com- plications would have been serious, and the ultimate results extremely doubtful. Those Provinces stood firm to their allegiance on both occasions. They counselled and laughed at the Canadians, till the spirit of violence was laid, and a more loyal disposition gained the ascendency. But, as burnt children dread the fire, it is not to be wondered at that their inhabitants, sincerelv attached to the Mother Country, and desiring, above all things, the unity of the Empire of which she forms the centre, should not be very anxious to place themselves under the domination .hi 6 and control of a people whose conduct for the lost quarter of a century, not to put too fine a point upon it, has been a little eccentric at all times, and occasionally perilous in the extreme. The history of Canada, since the passage of the Union Act, has developed a strange antagonism between the Upper and Lower Province, with which the p()])ulation beside the sea may be pardoned if they desire to have nothing whatever to do. There is warning in the antagonism of races arbitrarily bound together, shaken by incompatibility of temper, till the moment of separation, as in the case of Belgium and Holland ; and history is full of examples to prove how indelible are the lines which divide large masses of men speaking different languages, and springing from sources whose original water- shed (to borrow a figure from the geograpliers) has been marked by impassable barriers. The history of Canada, for the last twenty years, is but the history of one long struggle between the two nationalities of which the Province is com- posed. At the start the French section had the largest popu- lation, but the other had the most influence in this coinitry ; and succeeded in securing an equal number of representatives, which, if representation should be regulated by population, was manifestly unfair. But no sooner had immigration reinforced the AVestcrn section, and given it the preponderance, than the cry of " representation by population" was raised by the Upper Canadians, who insisted, in violation of their own stipulation at the time of the Union, upon having a share of representa- tion proportioned to their numbers, to be readjusted and in- creased after each decennial census. It was apparent to the French that, if this demand were once conceded, they would be swamped by the votes of the Upper Province, that the ascendancy •which they had ever maintained by unity of action would be swept away, and that thenceforward their language, their institutions, their educational establishments, would be completely at the mercy of the majority. For ten or fifteen years this question has convulsed the entire country ; and while in the Maritime Provinces representation has been quietly ad- justed to meet the wants of growing communities without re- gard to religion or origin, in Canada neither party would give way, aiul the battlo haH bceu fuught with a bittertioaH and imh- city peculiarly charactoriatic of the country. Tho conflict has been aggravated by another anomalous m- trivance which is a pure Canadian invention. In England, and in all the other colonies where her institutions have been copied, a Cabinet is formed by a gentleman who leads the Government and directs tho policy of the country for tho timo being, but this simple mode rarely satiufies the conflicting races and rival sectionalism of Canada For many years they have had two leaders, resting on double majorities, each side of the Cabinet responsible to its own division of the Province ; and, as might readily be supposed, the consequences have been inter- minable deadlocks, a great obstruction to business, and an ex- asperation of the ordinary conflicts incident to a representa- tive system of government, often ludicrous and vexatious in tho extreme. From all those complications and difficulties the Maritime Provinces are now free, and surely they may be pardoned if they have no desire to be mixed up with them. Their system is very simple. They govern themselves as complctfly aa any other British Provinces, or any States of the American Union, in perfect subordination to the Government and Parliament of the Empire. They owe no allegiance to Canada, are free from her antagonism of races — from her sectional rivalries — from her dual leaderships and double majorities — from her ever re- curring political crises and deadlocks ; and, being free from them, they naturally desire to preserve the great privileges they enjoy, and to develop their resources without being in- volved in entanglements difficult to unravel, and from which, when once enthralled, there may be no easy means of escape. There is no reason why Canada should not, whenever she desires more territory, extend herself to the North. She may want breadth, but is too long already. It is thought that she is indefensible — to extend her line of frontier is to multiply her difficulties — and surely it is not wise, looking to her past history, turbid and unquiet as it has been, to extend the area of her distractions ; or to allow her to disturb the peaceful progress of neighbours with whom she has no natural connec- tion, and over whom she should be permitted to exercise no control. Hor proper iniuHion would hcoiu to bo tu cultivate amicablo rolutions with hor nuighbuurs — to fill up hor Bpurseiy populated territory — to oliminato from lier political Bystem tho anachrouittmH of dual loadiTBhipH and double majorities, to con- trol her Irinh and Orange factionH, and to fuse into one race, by patient tact and mutual forbearance, hor Saxon, Celtic, and Norman elements. If she can do all this, and if controlled by the moral strength and phyuical roHources of the Empire, tho United States can be induced to lot her alone for another half century, she may grow into a nation of some respecta- bility, although, in presence of her powerful neighbour, and with her long defenceless frontier, she can never be anything more. That she can ever protect, or successfully govern the other great Provinces, already organized, or that may be formed out of tho boundless territory still subject to the authority of the Crown, on the American Continent, is an idea too preposterous to re- quire serious discussion. let us examine it for a moment by the light of history. The builders of Babel were only a little more ambitious than these Canadian politicians, but the Almighty scattered their confederacy, and set His seal upon the policy which bounds human ambition by lines of natural defence and homogeneous populations. Charlemagne and Napoleon aspired to universal dominion, but their experiments arc not worth repeating. Tho British Empire has grown out of the energies of a superior race, asserted by slow degrees on all the tields of human exer- tion with marvellous persistence and success ; but the English did not aspire to govern subject communities when they were only three millions of people — when they wore without a Navy, and while their own frontiers were so insecure that they had not a regiment to spare for foreign service. Many people be- lieve that the British Empire is too large. This may or may not be true, but there seems only too much reason to fear that it must collapse whenever the dominion of the sea is lost, and how to retain it would seem to be tho question for us all to consider at the present time. The example of the United States is often quoted in these discussions, and misleads a good many people on both sides of the Atlantic. But how long would the American Confederacy liHvo bt'Oii kept ii)p,'()ther Imd oiio Htate boon largo enough to dfuninato over all tlus otliorH — to appoint their Oovernors and Honators aH theno gontlo^^icn at Ottawa propose to do for UH, or had the (.'onHtitution not grown naturally out of mutual Mympathiea and HacriliooH, but !ui(' been t'oroed upon tho popu- lation by tho unfair cxorciHo of tlio prerogative or by an arbi- trary Act of Parliament ? The common porilH and gallant achievements of an eight years war had welded tho old thirteen States together —bad created for them a now ancestry — had detached them from tho Mother Country, and given them a body of administrators, trained into respect for each other's rights and reputations. They liad a boundlews continent to occupy. They had no for- midable neighbours to disturb them, and they went about tho task of organizing tlio great republic with an earncHtness and a deliberation worthy of all praise. Their work was a great success. So long an tlio Fathers lived, and while tho second generation who had known and loved them, were inspired by their spirit and animated by their example, the Constitution boro tho strain of annually expanding numbers and now organizations. Railroads, Canals, Steamers and Telegraphs, tlien camo in and asHisted to bind tho country together ; but in eighty years, with all these ai Is and appliances, the game was played out ; and the same causes, which in every quarter of the old world, and in almost every age, have asserted themselves, came distinctly into view, marking the subjection even of tho Great Republic to tho laws which tho Creator, for some wise purpose, has established for the government of tho universe. It is true that, by the expenditure of a million of lives and of nearly four thousand millions of dollars, the country is still nominally kept together ; but when hearts are estranged and in- terests are adverse, when commiuiities, baptized i. blood and tears, find in a great calamity ever recurring elenr, nts of discoi'd and reproach, tho time is rapidly drawing on when separation is inevitable, and when new combinations will grow out of the play of tho passionate ambitions which the wit of man has hitherto been found powerless to control. Any body who spends an hour on Pennsylvania Avenue will sec as many 10 varieties of human beings as in Constantinople. A Kentuckiau is no more like a Bostonian than a Virginiaa is like a man from Maine; and every year the distinctions are becoming more marked, and interests are growing up whicli, while pos- sessed of political power, one section or another is ever tempted to override. Providence may calm the tempest of angry passions which the late Civil war threw up, and the Eepublic may stagger on for some years ; but the signs of the times do not encourage us to break down a system of govern- ment which is working well, that we may try another experi- ment on a grand scale, without being driven by the necessity that coerced, or encouraged by the accessories that aided, the founders of the great Uepublic. Let us see what these Canadians desire to do. They are not, as we have shewn, a very harmonious or homogeneous community. Two-fifths of the population are French and three-fifths English. They are thereforo perplexed w^ith an internal antagonism which was fatal to the- unity of Belgium and Holland, and which, unless the fusion of races becomes rapid and complete, must ever be a source of weakness. They are shut in by frost from the outer world for five months of the year. They are at the mercy of a powerful neighbour who^e population already outnumbers them by more than eight to one, and who a quarter of a century hence will probably present sixty- eight millions to six millions on the opposite side of a naturally defenceless frontier. Surely such con- dii-iouR as these ought to repress inordinate ambition or lust of territory on the part of the public men of Canada. The wisdom of Solomon and the energy and strategy of Frederick the Great would seem to be required to preserve and strengthen such a people, if fi^rmed, as it appears they desire to form themselves, into " a new Nationality." While they discharge their duties as unobtrusive good neighbours to the surround- ing populations, and of loyal subjects of the Empire, Great Britain will protect them by htr energy in other fields should the Province become untenable ; but it is evident vhat a more unpromising nucleus of a new nation can hardly be found on the face of the earth, and that any organized communities. r 11 ba\ing a reasonable chance to do any thing better, would be politically insane to give up their distinct formations and subject themselves to the domination of Canada. Thus situated, and borne down by a public debt of ^75,000,000, or about $25 in gold per head of their population, the public men of Caitada propose to purchase the territories of the Hudson's Bay Company, larger than half of Europe. They propose to assurre the Government of British Oregon and Vancouver's Island, Provinces divided from them by an interminable wilderness, and by the natural barrier of the Eocky Mountains ; and They propose to govern Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland — countries severally as large as Switzerland, Sardinia, Greece, and Great Britain, appointing their Governors, Senators, and Judges, and ex- ercising over them unlimited powers of internal and external taxation. Truly the public men of Canada are ambitious. Bismark and Louis Napoleon are i^igmies in comparison. Presenting to the world their quarter of a century of internal turbulence and strife — their double majorities and interminable dead- locks — their unpeopled territory — their conflicting races — their high tariffs and heavy debt, and their long defenceless frontier, they have the hardihood, in the presence of the civilized world, to put forward these pretensions- to ask their fellow subjects in America to quietly submit to their domina- tion, and expect the British Government to become responsible for this hopeful policy by embodying it in an Act of Parlia- ment. Some of them even go further, and desire to see a Prince of the Blood come out and preside over this New Nation. Let us examine the last proposition first, as it involves not only the peace of the Empire, but the happiness and dignity of the Eoyal circle which all are bound to preserve. Erom the P'.^ace of Pai-is to the present time the boundaries of the British possessions on the American continent, when once defined, hjive been respected by the Government and people of the United States ; and although, when war arose upon other issues, the conquest of the Provinces was attempted, with peace came i r I 12 ll tlie statu quo, and every year the growing commerco of the two countries offers additional securities for its preservation. In thus respecting our rights the American Government have had to withstand pressure at all times from those who adhere to the Monro doctrine. Of late this party has been reinforced in two directions, by the financiers who see in a long line of fron- tier a certain loas of revenue while high duties prevail, and by the Fenians who affect to have discovered in the Provinces the shortest road to Ireland. Hitherto the Govemneut of the United States has loyally resisted this pressure. If matters remain as they are I think they will loyally resist it still ; and will not, in the fuce of the world, assume the responsibility of provoking a great war by any attempt to rectify boundaries, or interfere with political arrangements which they have for eighty years solemnly recognized. But if we begin, in a spirit of menace (which has been too prevalent throughout these Confederation discussions) to build up new nationalities, and to plant Crown Princes beside them, who can tell what may happen ? How long will the American people, thus challenged, be indifferent, and how long will their Government be able to withstand the pressure ? No sooner is the Quebec scheme launched than we are met by another, far more comprehensive and seductive, to incorporate the Provinces into the Republic, and by a proposition sustained by an unani- mous vote of the House of Representatives for a repeal of the Keutrality laws. These propositions are naturally born of the other, and those who desire to see the two countries united in the bonds of peace should pray that all may be thrown into the fire. Before we seriously entertain the policy of making one of our Royal Princes Viceroy or King of Canada, let us ponder what is passing in Mexico at the present time. Louis Napo- leon, in America's hour of sore distress, thought to build up a " New Nationality," and Maximilian accepted the throne. He has worn what one of the newspapers aptly describes as a " Crown of Thox-ns " for a few brief years — his Empress is now in Erance — and ^he Emperor can only sustain him on his tot- tering throne by risking an expensive and bloody war with a very doubtful issue. Will he do this ? Wo shall see. But come what will, enough is already known to warn lis from re- peating the Imperial blunder at the instance of certain purblind Canadian politicians, who certainly have an original way of manifesting their attachment to the Sovereign by proposing to overwhelm her family with humiliation and disgrace. Turning to the equally absurd proposition that Canada should be aided by a British guarantee, to enable her to pur- chase and govern the Hudson's Bay Company's territory, and that she should be permitted to extend her authority over the organised Provinces on the Pacific, with power to assume their revenues, appoint their Governors, Judges, and Senators, and tax them internally and externally, the idea is simply prepos- terous and absurd. Suppose that France, with her thirty- seven millions of people, were to propose to extend her frontier line and her responsibilities over two thousand additional miles. Suppose the people at the Cape were to propose to govern half of Africa, or that New Zealand, having enough to do with hei Maories, were to develop the not very laudable ambition to control the revenues, appointments, and public affairs of Mauritius and Ceylon. Either of these suggestions would be received by an universal burst of ridicule in Europe, and yet strange to say, the Canadian proposition, in gross ignorance of its monstrosity or in utter indifference to the subject, was received with general favour. Anybody who looks at the Map of British America, and in- telligently searches its geographical features in connection with its past record and present political condition, will perceive that it naturally divides itself into four great centres of poli- tical power and radiating intelligence. The Maritime Provinces, surrounded by the sea : three of them insular, with unchange- able boundaries, with open harbours, rich fisheries, abundance of coal, a homogeneous population, and within a week's sail of the British Islands, form the first division; and the Ashburton Treaty, which nearly severed them from Canada, defines its out- lines and proportions. These Provinces now govern themselves, and do it well, and Canada has no more right to control or in- terfere with them than she has to control the "Windward Islands or Jamaica. These Provinces have developed com- mercial enterprize and maritime capabilities with marvellous ViH 14 hli! \€ rapidity. Three of them can be lioltl while Great Britain keeps the sea. Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island are surrounded by it, and the narrow isthmus of fourteen miles wliich connects Nova Scotia with the mainland can be easily fortified, and can be enfiladed by gunboats on either side. But what is more, these Provinces can help Great Britain to pre- serve her ascendancy on the ocean. "While far seeing Members of the House of Commons are inquiring into the causes which diminish the number of her sailors and increase the difficulty of manning her fleet, is it not strange that the great nursery for seamen, which our Maritime Provinces present, should be entirely overlooked, and that flippant writers should desire to teach 60,000 hardy seafaring people to turn their backs upon England and fix their thoughts upon Ottawa ; and should deli- berately propose to disgust them by breaking down their institutions and subjecting them to the arbitrary control of an inland population, frozen up nearly half the year, and who are incapable of protecting them by land or sea ? Referring to the Statistics of Trade and Commerce, it will be found that Nova Scotia employs 19,637 Mariners and Fisher- men; Newfoundland, 38,578, and Prince Edward's Island, 2,113. Nova Scotia alone owns 400,000 tons of Shipping. Here are Colonies within seven days' steaming of these shores, floating the flag of England over a noble mercantile marine, and training 60,000 seamen and fishermen to defend it, and yet the House of Commons is to be asked to allow some gentlemen in Ottawa to draw these people away from the ocean, which for their own and the general security of the Empire they are required to protect, that their hearts may be broken and their lives wasted on interminable frontiers incapable of defence. Pai'liamont, it is hoped, will think twice about this proposition, and of the scheme for launching a Prince of the Blood into a sea of troubles for the glorifica- tion of the Canadians. Canada forms the second division of British America, in order of sequence as we ascend from the Atlantic. It is a fine country, with great natural resources, and may develop into some such nation as Poland or Hungary. Hemmed in by icy 15 barriers nt the North, and by a powerful Nation on the South, shut out from deep sea navigation for nearly half the year, with two nationalities to reconciio, and no coal, who will pre- dict for her a very brilliant destiny, at least, for many years to come ? The best she can do is to bo quiet, unobtrusive, thrifty, provoking no enmities, and not making herself disagreeable to her neifrhbours, or increasing the hazards which her defence involves, by any premature aspirations to become a nation, for which status at present she is totally unprepared. Between Canada and the Eocky Mountains, and divided from her by a belt of comparatively sterile country, lies a magnificent region, which is a standing reproach to the British Govern- ment, and a blot upon our civilization. The Republicans have shown their appreciation of the value of this territory by providing, in General Banks's Bill, that it shall be organized at once into wo Territories, and presently into two States of the Union. What has England ever done with it ? While the Q-ovemment of the United States has, within the past half century, formed opt of their great West one noble State after another, which have become the granaries of Europe, the Government of England, having a West, of great extent and fertility, have done nothing national or statesmanlike with it ; but have allowed it to be locked up as a hunting ground, for the exclusive benefit of a Eur Company, who, mo- nopolizing the consumption of Indian tribes reduced to a state of subjection akin to slavery, have maintained to this hour, in the face of the free ideas and advancing civilization of Europe and America, a job so gigantic that men stand aghast, when they contrast the unpeopled wilderness which these persons have got to show with the noble States, populous cities and waving cornfields, on the other side of the line. Two or three years ago, when attention was sternly called to the condition of this country, there was a movement among the dry bones about Fencharch Street, and we heard of roads to be opened, telegraphs to be built and colonization to be pro- moted. But what was done ? The stock was watered, and some 561,500,000, added to the nominal capital of the Company, bji which some persons made and others probably lost a large 10 sum of money ; aomo telegraph wire wns sent out which rusts in the wilderness, and there the matter ended — the few active spirits, within the Company, who already see the advancing wave of public indignation which is to sweep away their mono- poly, and desire to people the land, being controlled by those who are determined to do nothing but kill wild animals and make enormous profits out of poor Indians. The Canadian remedy for all this is characteristic of the country. Some of her public men say this territory belongs to us because our fathers hunted in it long since, but this plea would but confirm the Indian's title who hunted in it long before, or the Hudson's Bay Company's title, who have been hunting in it ever since. This plea is untenable, and though often challenged by the Company the Canadians have shrunk from attempting to make it good in any Court of Justice or before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Failing to establish a title, the Canadians at one time proposed to buy the Company out, with the consent and under the guarantee of the British Government, and to annex the country to Canada. Fortunately this policy also failed for two good rea- sons — that the Canadians had no money, and that the parties could not agree about the price. So far the country has been saved for wiser and better purposes than to be transferred from one description of thraldom to another. If it is to be ruled and governed by a distant authority, it does not much matter whether the seat of government is in London or in Ot- tawa. If the territory is not to be treated as national property and the people it contains as British subjects, then let it remain as a hunting ground, till the people of Minnesota and Montana break in and take it from us, which they will do, if it is not speedily organized. Above all things, do not let it be annexed to Canada, to weaken that Province by another thousand mQes of frontier, and to multiply her perplexities an hundred fold. Fancy a country in Europe as large as England, France and Prussia, with only eight people to the square mile, and a debt of $25 per head, wanting to purchase another country as large as Eussia, and then guage if you can the measure of scorn and ridicule with which the proposition would be received. Now, what ought to be done with this noble country ? What, ■ 17 if we romembor right, Lord Lytton proposed to do with it long since, it should be organized and opened for occupation without delay. There are 10,000 people in the settlements around Selkirk, many of them intelligent, public spirited and experienced. A Governor and Council, responsible to the Co- lonial Office and not to the Company, should be appointed, and the Queen's authority should be established as a protection to the spirit of development which would be at once evolved. Lot ample boundaries be assigned to the new Province, and freedom of trade and of settlement be at once establishec, the Governor being empowered whenever it contains 100,000 inhabitants to call a Representative Assembly, and allow the people to govern themselves. If these measures are adopted, there will be more life, improvement and activity, infused into this country in a single year than the Hudson's Bay Company have infused into it in a century. In less than ten years Selkirk will probably bo a Province as populous as New Brunswick, with its own legislature, and its own revenues amply sufficient to maintain it ; and by that time we may organise another, as popu- lation passes westward, attracted by a virgin soil, fine timber, and mines, the value of which, at the present moment, no man can estimate. But it may be asked who is to protect these new Provinces ? They will protect themselves if their people are wise and prudent. A just and generous policy will make the Indian tribes their friends and customers ; and if they make no raids across the frontier, harbour no enemies, and give no offence, the neighbouring states of Minnesoln and Montana, secure of a large participation in their growiiig trade, will rejoice in their prosperity, and gladly establish with them the same sound commercial intercourse which now make Massachusetts and Nova Scotia, Maine and New Brunswick, almost one : though nowhere, perhaps, are love of country, and loyalty to the institutions the populations prefer, more dis- tinctly marked. The Provinces on the Pacific side of the Eocky Mountains form the fourth great natural division of British America^ They are full of resources, and with a healthy climate, coal in abundance, gold mines, rich fisheries, fine timber, and a fer- tile soil, they must prosper with any kind of good manage- B «— ^ 18 mcnt, Thoy will rotnnin Britisli ho loiij* as En;:;1tuul can keep the spa. Thoy have no natural connection with Canada, or the Kocky Mountains were a mistake : but the " vaulting ambition " of certain people about Otta>va easily overleaps u couple of thousand miles of wilderness or a range of mountains, and would disregard the natural outlines of Creation with an audacity which in Europe would bo denounced as a wilful tem])tation of Providence. Fortunately their ])ower is not equal to their ambition ; and the Pacific Provinces, like all the others, will be left to govern themselves within the orbits as- signed to thorn by British interests and Imperial regulations, until the period arrives for a general break \ip, when the British Provinces and the American States on the Pacific will perhaps unite and form ono great English comnumity, preserving friendly relations, it is to be hoped, with the nations from which they sprung. Turning again to the Maritime Provinces on the Atlantic eeabonrd, we discern the nearest and most available allies that these Islands hn'.e, whenever (and may the time be very re- mote) they are forced into a great naval war. France knows the value of the North Atlantic as a training school for seamen, and for three; hundred years she has cultivated it with a per- sistent and enlightened national policy. Even after her hold upon the continent was severed by the fall of Louisburg and Quebec, she stipulated for the occupancy of St. Pierre and Micjuelon, and for certain rights of fishery upon tlio west coast of Newfoundland. By a liberal expenditure in bounties, and a rigid system of enrolment, she has now built up on two barren islands a prosperous mercantile community. AVithout riiisiug the legal question of exclusive occupancy she maintains, by the frequent visits of her men-of-war, and by the passive resistance of numbers, something like an ascendancy on what is called "the French shore," while the Banks swj^rm with her fishing craft whose bultovvs stretch for many hundreds of miles. By these means France employs every summer 10,000 men ou J;he Banks and shores of Newfoundland : this is the uaval re- serve which makes her formidable upon the ocean. Looking to the appai'ont decline in the number and eflicieucy of seamen in these Islands which some Members of Parliament Lave 10 I'ocontly pointod out, hIio would indeed bu f'urinidable lind uot our noble Provinces in the North AtUmtie, without bounties or encourap[ement of any kind, developed maritime capabilitioH that excite " our special wonder," and out of all proportion to any interest, strange to say, which the subject has ever excited in the Mother Country. In the event of n war with France, either Nova Scotia with her 20,000, or Newfoundland with her 3S,000 hard) seamen, would, if furnished with gun boats, sweep these 10,000 Frenchmen oft* Lho ocean in a single summer, and then come home to guard the coasts of England till the war was over. And yet wo are asked to break down the institu- tions which have fostered this naval resei /o, n '. animated it with a spirit of loyalty and devotion not to bo surpRssod on the coasts of Hampshire or of Sussex. Whatovec- the colonists feel, this is a question of vital Imperial policy ; and when Her Majesty's Ministers are asked to trui.sfer the government of these G0,000 mariners from England co Canada — from the sea- board where it may be guarded to Ottawa where it cannot — from the open, harbours that our ironclads can enter at all seasons of tho year, to an icy region hundreds of miles above tide water, inaccessible by our navy in summer, and in winter sealed by frost, the question should be answered by the Cabinet with a firmness commensurate with its magnitude and import- ance. But is there any necessity for a hasty and unwise decision of this question ? None whatever. If judiciously treated in this country it would liave settled itself long since. What are tho facts ? In 1802 a Conference was held at Quebec to discuss various topics of intercolonial interest, and at that Conference, representatives from the Grovernments of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick being present with the whole Canadian Cabi- net, it was decided unanimously, in presence of the great difli- calties which beset, the question of Colonial Union, that any discussion of tho subject was premature and could be followed by no good result. In ISGJi a Conference was held at Charlotte Town to con- sider the smaller and much less complicated question of aLegis- ' lative Union of the Maritime Provinces only. If permitted to continue and close threir deliberations, without intrusion, that u 2 ■wwM- it ' J g^Wli i i n * 20 M Conforoncc would probably liavo siniplificd the commercial niul financial arrangements of thoHo Provinces, though it is not at all probable that they would have consented to j^ive up the independent f^ovornments and legislatures under wliicli they had so long lived and prospered in harmony and good neigh- bourhood. In an'evil hour certain Canadian gentlemen ap- peared upon the scene, and from that time to the present all British ^ morica has been thrown into admired disorder. It appears that the antagonism of races, of dual leaderships and double majorities, already described, had about this time produced a deadlock of unexampled tenacity. Dissolutions and reconstructions had been tried, and still the House was nearly divided, and the rival politicians were at their wit's end. Neither would give way, or yield any thing for the good of the country, but at last they bethought them that the Mari- time Provinces might be used as make weights to relievo their embarrassments. When Herod and Pilate coalesced there was a sacrifice, and when Mr. Gait and Mr. Brown, after years of personal bitterness and malignant vituperation con- sented to clasp hands, it was with the understanding that tho Lower Provinces, which had had nothing to do with their dis- putes, were to be sacrificed to illustrate their reconciliation. But we are avenged. Swift retribution lias overtaken those who formed that coalition. Mr. Brown was wedged out of tho Cabinet last winter, and now, if; appears, that Mr. Gnlt has been compelled to resign by a new uianifcHtation of the religious rivalry and national antagonisms which are the peculiar ele- ments of discord in that unquiet region. The coalition once formed, no time was lost in carrying out the policy upon which it was based. Delegates were sent to Charlotte Town, and the quiet Conference going on there waa broken up. A new one, on a larger scale, was initiated under tho auspices of the Governor General at Quebec. After three weeks of light labour and " exhaustive festivities," what is called " tho Quebec Scheme" of Confederation was produced. So far the Imperial Government had had nothing to do with the matter, buf, in accepting this new scheme of Confederation, growing out of nothing but tho political necessities of a single Province, aud before it had been ratified by tho Legislatures or people of any of tlio others, tlioy coinniittod a grave imliscrotiou, with the boHt intentioiiB, no doubt, and naturally misled by the ap- l)aront unauinuty of the Conference. The PreMS and Parliament, and public men of England, knowing little of the ({uestion, and perhaps caring less, were also for a time misled by the action of iho Government, and by the plausible statements of some of the Canadian Ministers, who rushed over here to forestall l)ublic opinion. It is time that all parties were undeceived. The case of tlie Maritime Provinces has never been presented to the Parliament and people of England, nor has this question over been discussed except from the Canadian stand point, and never in relation to the great interests which should largely influence its decision, the good faith of the Crown, and the dignity and security of the Empire. There were in this country two or three classes of persons prepared to receive this proposition with special favour. Thfre were first, the Anti-Colonial school of politicians, who desire to pollard the British oak — who believe that England would bo richer, stronger, happier, if all her outlying Provinces were given away. If Australia belonged to France — India to Bussia ; if the West Indies were black republics ; if the other half of the American Continent were quietly handed over to the United States, and if the milions of people who now feed their commerce were permitted to drift about into new political alliances and hostile commercial combinations. These people thought that confederation meant separation, and were disposed, like Moore's French Cupid, " to pilot us off and then bid us good bye." Then certain persons in the Manufacturing towns had been disgusted with the high duties which Canada had imposed on British productions. They were angry, and did not stay to reflect that if Canada were in error the Maritime Provinces ought not to be punished for her fault, seeing that they had never followed her example. British manufactures are admitted into them all, under light revenue duties. They all have an interest in fostering equitable commercial relations with the whole Empire, and with foreign countries, far transcending any interest they may have in the consumption of three millions of J.. I t i ill IM)o|)1e in n ihoro iiilnnd country, which tlioir vohhcIh cnnnoi approach for ncjirly liuU' tlio year. But tlio Engliuh inanutacturerH did not Htay to rofloct tluit by handing over nearly a million of good cuHtoinorH to tho Cana* dians they wore doing a palpable injustico to theinHolvos, and to tho coloniHtH bcHidoM Up to thiu hour it iu doubtful whether a Canadian can bo found who Iuih invcHted a pound in Nova Scotia, cleared a farm, built a Hhip, opened a mine, or expended Hixponco in tho defence of tho country. Tho oxpenHcs of itu early colonization, and of its protection, have been paid by England ; and from this country, and not from Canada, came tho cmigrantH, tlio capital and the credit, which from time to time have stimulated its enterprizo, and quickened its industry. "Why then should ^"^uva Sfotia take blankets, broad cloth, crockery ware, or cutlery from Canada duty free, but tax tho manufactures of Lnncashire, Staffordshire, and Yorkshire? and yet this is just what these cunning Canadians are at ; and, strange to say, tho Free Traders of England, who abhor discri- minating duties, and will not permit any of the Colonies to impose them, even for their own advantage, are quietly permit- ting one British colony to swing four others out of the fiscal system and common obligations of tho Empire, that they may mouopoliso their consumption, and discriminate against the manufacturing industry of England and in favour of their own. Again, after a struggle of unexampled energy and duration the Corn Laws of England were abolished. In the wisdom of thai policy, at tho present moment, perhaps all parties in this country concur ; and the A merican Commissioners, appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury to revise the revenue system of tho United States, acknowledge its soundness when they say, that to give the producer his food free of duty is to give him the benefit of tho most subtle form of protection which can be devised. Ho would be a bold man who would stand up in the English Parliament and move to impose a duty on tho importation of flour. Yet tho Parliament of Canada, at the suggestion of JNIr. Gait, has just imposed a duty of half a dollar per barrel upon flour, nominally to punish the Americans for 23 iinpositioiid uqually abHurd, but in reality to quietly CHtablirih a Corn Law for tlio bouollt of Ctmada at tlio oxprnso of tho Maritime* ProviuccH. TIioho ProviutrH, baviu}^ a lar}i;o portion of tluMr population cniployod in lumbering, ininiu<{, HJiip- buibling, and iiavi^'iition, annually import 800,000 barrolti of Hour more tiian they produce. Tliey pay for iWia with I'ihI), lund)er, coal, ^^ypHum, ^rindHtonoH, new HliipH, luul other exportH, for which they iind a market abroad, a very Huudl profxirtion of tho whole beiiifj; purehiiHed by the Canadians ; nnd yet, if tlio peo|)loot Enj^laiui do not stamp the policy with indij^nant reprobation, and protect the Maritime I'rovincci* from thewo retro^M'ade politiciauH in the n ar, tln^y will probably bo taxed to tho extent of $k)0,000 a year, which tax muHt fall upon our shipwri^lds and our freights before wo can send a vessel to England, and increase the cost of living to our Usher- inon,ganantly making their way,by luirdihood and thrift, against tho unfair competition produced by the bounties of tho United •States and Franco. These questions havo never been under- Htood over here, but they shall bo ; and when they are, thero is uot a manufacturer, a, free trader, or a sound tliinking lover of fair play, in either of the throe kingdoms, who will not interfere to protect tho Maritime Provinces from this Canadian Corn Law. Unfortunately there is a third class of persons in England, not numerous perhaps, but higldy resjjoctaole and sufilciently influential, who, painfully interested in tho throes and eccen- tricities of Canada, are too much inclined to favour any thing which may be calculated to restore her to financial soundness and give buoyancy to stocks fearfully depreciated. Meetings are annually held in Loudon at which a body of very worthy persons, who havo invested ^610,000,000 or 3615,000,000 in certain enterpri/es connected with Canada, debate for a whole afternoon the very interesting question of how they can get their money back again. Judging by the share list, this is still an interesting (luestion : and it is to be feared that, despairing of relief from other quarters, it is sometimes assumed that if the productive revenues of tho Maritime Provinces could be flung into tho empty treasury of Canada, in vrhich, for ten years, there has been but one surplus, and that I , 'I ^ 21 if the British Governmcut would throw throo or four millions into the country, for any object and at anybody's expense, their prospect of dividends might be improved. There are high- mmded men, connected with those organizations, too discrimi- natmg and too jf st to be swayed by such considerations ; but there are probably others suft'ering from that sickness of the heart which hope deferred produces who would gladly make the Maritime Provinces, that have had nothing to do with their disappointments and their sufferings, pay the penalty of their own want of foresight. But this would be most unfair. Those Provinces have honestly borrowed, on the credit of their general revenues, all the money required for their public works. They pay the interest promptly every half year, and just as fast as capital accumulates, seeking permanent invest- ment, their Bonds are purchased by their own people, and will speedily disappear from the English market, ui-less there be some financial blundering from which it is hoped they may be guarded by ordinary sagacity and circumspection. The Noblemen and Gentlemen who were members of the last Administration are of course committed to this schem"!. But let us hope that they are not too old to unlearn errors, or so unpatriotic as to persist in a line of policy that can no longer be defended ; and that they will not lightly value the pledged faith of England to loyal and devoted communities, who have done no wrong ; nor, in the face of such petitions as have been sent here from Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, attempt to sacrifice those Provinces at the shrine of Canadian ambition, without regard to the forms which in all free coun- tries protect from rash innovation Institutions which the people value. But, it may be asked, do not the Maritime Provinces desire this Union ? and, if the question includes the Quebec Scheme of Confederation, it is soon answered. Every one of them re- jected it with a unanimity and decision not to be misunderstood. In Prince Edward Island, both branches of the Legislature being elective, but five members could be got to vote for it. In Newfoundland it was condemned by the people at the polls. In Nova Scotia the lef der of the Government was com- pelled to come down to the House and declare it " imprac- iii, ^m 23 ticablo;" and in New Brunswick the electors, animated by the instinct of self preservation, rushed to the polls, swept the delegates aside, and trampled it under their feet. Here the matter would have rested, had all the Provinces been treated with the justice and impartiality to which they wore entitled. It is the pride and boast of Englishmen that in their pure Courts the humblest persons and the most exalted stand on an equal footing. A Judge would be disgraced and a Juioi perjured, if the number of acres or the rank or position of individuals were to influence the verdict. Between Corpo- rate Bodies in this country the rigid rule of strict and im- partial justice is invariably preserved. London cannot op- press York, or Manchester Oldham, and hence it is that while every man's personal rights are secure, every man's Corporate privileges, till laches, corruption, or abuse works forfeiture, are respected. If asked to-morrow what it is that binds this Empire together by bands stronger than Ironclads, the prompt answer would be the all pervading reliance of the people every where upon the pledged faith of the Crown, and on the justice and impartiality of the Imperial Parliamer.t. When franchises were conferred upon the people of the Maritime Provinces and Legislatures given to them, these could only be yielded up by voluntary consent, or be forfeited by miscon- duct. When self government was conceded it could never afterwards be withdrawn, unless upon ample proof, elicited by legal forms or deliberate Parliamentary enquiry, that it had been grossly abused. Even the Colonial legislators themselves, intrusted for a definite time, with limited powers, and sacred trusts, could not strip the people of their rights without their own consent, or transfer to others the power of legislation, any more than the Aldermen of London could annihilate the con- stitution which limits their sphere of action, or than the Common Councillors of Bath could transfer the government of that City to Bristol. If these rules guard securely every petty Corporation in the kingdom, surely they should be applied with equal stringency to the protection of great Provinces, exercising, in due subor- dination to Imperial authority, and with all loyalty and ..—-,.-> W9 20 ■ .; ! ' n afTectiou to their Mother Country, the high powers of legislation and internal self government. Until the people of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland, forfeit, by corruption or abuse, the privileges ccnferrod, or voluntarily relinquibh them, they cannot be rcclilmed by the Crown or swept away by Parliament without a breach of faith : nor can they be transferred by the local legislatures, any more than an estate can bo transferred by Trustees whose powers are limited in the Deed by which the trust has been created. Unfortunately these ^^lain principles of legal construction and constitutional law have, in dealing with the Maritime Pro- vinces, besn strangely overlooked. When all the parties to the Quebec scheme of Confederation found that they had made ar. egregious blunder, they should have abandoned the project and left the Provinces in peace ; and above all, the Government of England should have withdrawn from a controversy, i'lto which, for no Imperial objects, as has been clearly proved, they had been artfully drawn. They should have held the scales evcu and treated all Her Majesty's subjects in British America alike. This was not done. The policy, long after it had been condemned by public opinion, was not, as it should have been, abandoned ; but, inspired by Canadian influences, a system of Imperial pressure was brought to bear upon the Maritime Provinces for the first time in their history, which has roused a very indignant feeling. Thus countenanced in this country all boundaries were over- stepped by certain parties on the other side. Governors be- came partizans. In one Province, whUe the Fenians were upon the frontier, the Cabinet vas wedged out of office, the House dissolved, and the whole population precipitated into the turmoil of a general election just when every man should have been standing shoulder to shoulder ; and, what was worse, one half of an entirely loyal population were taught to brand the other half as disloyal, and permitted to threaten them with the loss of the Queen's favour and protection, if they did not accept Confederation, and forswear the opinions which only a year before, left to their unbiassed judgments, they had ex- pressed. The same arts were practised with ludicrous exag- 27 goration in another Province, and the result is that two out of the four were induced to pass a resolution, authorizing a new Convention, to be held in England, to be composed of an equal number of delegates from all the Provinces, (Upper and Lower Canada to count aa two,) who are to frame a new scheme of Union, which it is fondly hoped the Cabinet will sanction auH the Imperial Parliament adopt before it has been submitted to the Legislatures whose powers it is to transfer, or to the electors whobc rights and revenues it is proposed thus summarily to sweep away. Two " bodies of Dele- gates," as the papers inform us, came over here from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia a month ago. They were twelve in number, and it is presumed that they have been puzzled to know what to do with themselves, and Lord Carnar\on quite as much puzzled to know what to do Avith them, seeing that Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island have rtlused to take part in the Conference ; and that the Canadians, busy with sectional, national, and religious disputes, as u&ual, have as yet had nobody to spare, and do not, it is said, propose to send over their contingent till October. If all the Colonies were to be represented by equal numbers there would be just thirty- six of these Delegates here, costing a pretty round sum of money, and doing what might more becomingly be done at home. It is impossible to tell what the Colonial Secretary may say to these gentlemen when they all assemble, but if he were to say this, he would probably be sustained by enlightened public opinion : " Gentlemen, it is unfair for you to come here and attempt to mix the Government and Parliament of Eng- land up in your disputes. You possess ample powers to ma- ture a scheme of government. Go home and hold your Con- ference in some public hall, where the people to l)e afl'ected by your decision can hear your debates and be influenced by your arguments. If you can agree upon a plan of Union pub- lish it for three months and then dissolve your Legislatures. If the people accept it the Parliament of England, unless controlled by Imperial policy and interests, will probably ratify their decision ; but, as the people may not, it would be unfair to compromise me, as you did Mr. Cardwell, by getting nic to pledge myself to a measure, which, until it is ™-'.ii an**^" 2S ' I 1^ ■' \ » i'i ratified by the suftVages of those it is to all'ect, mu«t ob- viously be too crude and immature to require serious atteu- tion." . All this might be said, with great truth and propriety, and nobody ought to complain if the Secretary of State were to add, that it was very inconvenient to have both the Crown Officers of Nova Scotia on pleasure trips in England at the same time, that there was barely a quorum in either Colony to surround the Governor of Nova Scotia or New Brunswick at the present moment — that, as the Fenians threatened a second visit to the Provinces this autumn rather more serious than the last, it might be as well for them all to hurry home and look to their defences. This subject might be discussed more at large, and might be placed in many ludicrous points of view. It is a serious one, however, and it has been treated seriously. What the people of Nova Scotia think of the mission to this country may be gathered from the addresses to the Queen passed in eight of the most populous and wealthy counties, and by their petitions to the House of Commons. What the people of Newfoundland think of it may be gathered from their petitions to both Houses, while the opinions of the people of Prince Edward Island are expressed in their resolutions adopted last April. But it is said, in the case of Nova Scotia, petitions cannot contravene a resolution of the Legislature. No, provided it be such a resolution as, uninstructed by the electors, the Legisla- ture had a right to pass. In this case it strikes at the Consti- tution of the country which the representatives were chosen to guard and not to violate ; and besides, the present House are sitting upon a franchise which expired a year ago, and had not, according to British usage, the right to pass any resolution at all. Parliament in this country is invariably dissolved when a new franchise is adopted. That of Nova Scotia should and would have been, had the prerogative been exercised with firmness and impartiality. However, the law dissolves our Parliament next May, and we shall not have long to wait for an unmistakeable expression of the opinions of the people. 29 By the last mail Lord Monck'a speech on closing the Session of tlio Canadian Parliament reached England. Beferring to the proposed Confederacy, His Lordship describes it as " that new nationality of which you will form a part, and the dimen- sions of which will entitle it to a fresh place amongst the Powers of the world." If I remember right this is the second or third time that this phrase has been used by Lord Monck, acting of course under the advice of his Canadian Ministers. The " dimensions" of the " new nationality" will certainly be formidable enough, seeing that it is to comprize a territory of 4,000,000 of square miles. The United States have not so much. All Europe, with its family of nations, is smaller by ninety-two thousand square miles. When all the absorptions and reconstructions arising out of Prussia's great success are made, there will still remain at least sixteen Sovereign States in Europe, ou a territory smaller than that which these aspiring political speculators at Ottawa seek to control. The " dimen- sions" of the new nation will certainly be sufficiently imposing, very nearly realizing Sam Slick's comprehensive phrase of " all out doors." When we survey it, with one human being stand- ing on every square mile, its strength in proportion to its dimensions can be rightly estimated. The Northern States, with 24,000,000 of people, by great exertions and at enormous cost were at last able to put into the field a million of soldiers. With 4,000,000 of people this " fresh Power," by exertions of the same character, after expending money in the like proportion, may be able to equip and pay an army of 166,000, and should the troops be ex- tended along the land frontier facing the United States, they will be only 37 yards apart, and may occasionally catch a glimpse of each other where the country is not thickly wooded. If massed on several points they would certainly not be much more than a match for the 200,000 men who marched past the White House at Washington in May, 1805, and who numbered about one-fifth of the disciplined soldiers of the Kepublic. Let us now look at the new nation from the naval point of 30 ', \ ii':* view. It Ima to defend a coast line on the North Atlantic of about five thousand miles, with a long seaboard on the Pacific side. It has to guard the shores of the great lakes, and it has no navy. But it may be said that Great Britain is to defend the coasts and the lakes, and to throw in an odd half million of troops to make the land defences perfect. Is she indeed ? Where the ships and the men are to come from would perhaps be puzzling questions at the Admiralty and the Horse Guards just now ; but let us suppose that they could be furnished, who is to pay for them ? If the people of Pjugland, then lot there be an end of this buncombe about a new nationality, and of pretensions utterly irrcconcileable with the resistless logic that must decide this question. If the people of England are to defend those Provinces with the whole force of the Empire, then let them think well of what they are about, for by disturbing old currents of thought, and multiplying the difiiculties of the Conservative element in the United States, sorely i)re8sed at all times by the turbulent and aggi'essive, they are increasing the hazards of a war ten-fold. The attitude of the British Provinces on the American Con- tinent is at this moment one eminently peaceful and sedative. But let this Guy of a " New Nationality" be set up, which other people are to pay for and are expected to protect, and every young fellow who has had a taste of the license of camp life in the United States will be sorely tempted to have a fling at it. Let the Provinces resume their accustomed role of peaceful developemcnt as outlying portions of a great empire, with which the United States cannot afford to quarrel. She cannot then disturb them without a violation of the diplomatic recognitions of three parts of a century, and without a war, causelessly provoked, and on which neither the civilized world nor the great God of Battles can br expected to smile. Let us then fling into the fire the paper constitution, manufactured at Quebec, and Governor Banks's Bill will probably be con- signed to the flames immediately after ; and then we shall begin to breathe freely again, and can set about adjusting the one or two questions that remain as causes of national irri- tation, and may look forward to peace for a century, with ! 1 31 industrial dovelo])cincnt, on a scale so vast aa to make war between the two great branches of the family impossible thenceforward and for ever. It is strange that in the Quebec resolutions Lord Monck can find no warrant for using the term " New Nationality." It is strange also that in the Maritime Provinces not one of the Delegates will ever admit that any such thing is to be created. The prevailing idea with these people is a largo country, defended by Great Britain. That she is to furnish ^4,000,000 for the Intercolonial Railroad; £2,000,000 to buy up the Hudson Bay Company's Territory; £3,000,000 for fortifi- cations along the line of the St. Lawrence; to provide gun-boats for the lakes ; and that by and bye, when money is plenty and John Bull in a marvellous good humour, an ad- vance of £5,000,000 to deepen and enlarge Canals may bo reasonably expected. To the unsophisticated Confederate mind, in all the Provinces, this is pretty nearly what confede- ration means ; but as to assuming the duties of a ration — selectiug a King — electing a President — maintaining a standing army — building and keeping a navy afloat, and managing foreign affairs, there is not one man in five hundred who has the slightest idea of assuming any such responsibilities, or of committing himself to any such expenditure. The people of England have been made to believe that these Confederates mean the very reverse of what they intend, but the time for mystification and self-delusion has gone by. Before a single step is taken to disturb the existing order of things, let us know what we are to have in stead. If we are to be Colonics, and Great Britain is to protect and defend us, then let us put on no airs, and create no divided allegiance or authority. If we are to be a nation, then let us set about the serious work we are assuming with a full sense of its perilous obligations. We cannot begin to make a nation without a King, or a Presideiit residing within our territory, armed with executive powers, narrowed and restrained by no external force, and responsible for the conduct of our Foreign Affairs. These are the first simple but indispensable elements of national life. We could not stagger on two years without them ; nay the first Session of the Confederate Legislature ' I I 32 would not have cloaod boforo the logical results of the false step we are asked to take would be apparent, and the Colonial Secretary would be informed that he might withdraw his Viceroy, and the Foreign Secretary that we had sent our own Minister to Washington. If when all this were done, " 'twere well done," then those who are for dismembering the Empire might exclaim, •* 'twere well it were done quickly," and those who are not might still accept the new responsibilities in consideration of the some- what questionable increase of dignity arising from the fact, timt thenceforward they would be called citizens and not subjects. If British America, organized into a nation, could stand alone, free to cherish and to act upon her hereditary attachment to these Islands, and if the Parliament of Great Britain, with the consent of the Crown, after full review of the interests of tho Empire, were to absolve us from our allegiance, we might with cheerful spirits set about the task, however unwisely and prematurely imposed. We might have attempted this with a chance or two of success in our favour ten years ago, when the United States presented the aspect of a great industrial community, indisposed to war, with whom we had diplomatically adjusted every irritating question, and whose standing army numbered but ten thousand men. But now the whole chequer-board has changed. The United States have suddenly become a great Military and Naval Power. When the Union is reconstructed and the Southern States are brought again within the fold, there will be a million and a half of disciplined soldiers and a powerful navy for Lord Monck's new nationality to confront ; and what is more, the Reciprocity Treaty has expired, the Alabama claims are unsettled, and a million of Fenians have sprung up to give an aggressive turn to American diplomacy, and to hang like a war-cloud over the frontier. By organizing the whole Empire, by standing upon long recognized rights, by firmness, tact, and moderation, peace may be preserved, and friendly commercial arrangements may be revived and strengthened; but any attempt to prematurely construct a rival Confederacy, too large for a Colony and too weak for a Nation, will but increase our difficulties an hundred-fold. When once organized, even if f! 38 every man in the Provineew was a consentinf; jiarty, it nuiHt bo obvious that tho Now Nation could not standalone ; and it is e(|ually certain that the people of England would expect to be relieved from the robpousibility and burthen of its defence. Inevitably it must succumb to the gi-owing power of the Republic. A treaty ott'ensive and defensive with the United States, involving ultimate participation in a war with England, would bo the hard terms of ils recognition an a separate but not independent Statu ; and if this were refused, one of two things would happen, either the New Natit)nality would be overrun and annexed, or harassed by Fenian raids and menaced by superior numbers till their revenues were wasted, and their industry was paralyzed, the Provinces would volun- tarily consent to rub out the long frontier that they couhl not defend, and seek admission to the Republic on the best terms they could obtain. When this was done, the parties in this country who take- un-English views of everything might bo satisfied and consoled. But how would it stand with these Islands ? When their only formidable commercial rival ruled the whole Continent of America, from the Gulf of Mexico to Hudson's Bay, — whoi her Mercantile Marine was increased by a million of tons ol' shipping, — when England, was left without a harbour of refuge, a spar, or a ton of coal on tho whole Continent of America, — when four millions of British subjects had been drawn behind the Morrill Tariff, and every loyal Irishman in British America had been converted into a Fenian, — when the outposts of the enemy had been advanced 800 miles nearer to England by the possession of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, — does anybody believe that American diplomacy would be any the less aggressive, or that tho coasts of this great centre of our civilization would be any the more secure ? No ! England that now fights for Empire would be compelled to fight for existence ; and Ireland, now tolerably steady, impressed by the odds against England, might become a doubtful ally ; and what would bo worse, millions of loyal subjects, trained in love and devotion to the Mother Country, would be coerced into a contest in which victory would be even more heart-rending and degrading than defeat. . ,i..v ; 84 lu \ iow of tliCHe conHoqiioueoH, ccrtnin tt» flow from thiH or •roin iiiiy 8c1um)i«< lur tliHinonilM^rinfj; tho BritiHh Einpiro, with all rcHi)0('t I wouhl implore tho (-nl)inot to put thorn all aHJdc, luul sot HorioiiHly about tho much more hopot'ul and ralioiml task of so c'oiiibiniiiij; ilM intolloctual and phywical rosourcos, as to make dotV^nco easy and the burthen light. Having shown, with Huilit'iont cloarnosB, that any attempt prematurely to set up a ' ironh Power' on tho American Con- tinent, oven if our people wore united upon the policy, and anxious to Hustain it, would bo a blunder worse than a crime, it is Hcarcoly worth while to show that all the difficulties and chances of failure would be multiplied ten-fold if the people of tho Maritime Provinces were carried into such a Confederacy by an arbitrary Act of Parliament. The people of Scotland were only reconciled to the Union by the lapse of time ; and the people of Ireland can hardly bo said to be re'^onciled yet. But in both those cases the measures matured, however questionable the means employed, were adopted after full dis- cussion by the Parliaments to be swept away ; and in neither case, let it be borne in mind, was there a powerful neighbour close at hand to sympathize with those whose independence had been purchased, or to foment tho bitter feelings which in both countries disturbed society for long periods, and often broke into open rebcllio:^. Beside the Provinces there is a powerful neighbour, armed to tho teeth, wary and watchful, bold and enterprising, ready to profit by divisions and perturbations, which now fortunately do not exist. That neighbour now respects tho union of sentiment which pervades our territory, and which has been fostered by the institutions we are asked to overturn, that leave to tho Maritime Provinces nothing to envy in tho privileges enjoyed by the smaller States of the Union. But let those Provinces be arbitrarily annexed to Canada by an Act of Parliament which had never been laid before their Legislatures or sanctioned by their people, how long then will he be indifferent or inactive? When our people go into mourning, as I believe they will, and wear their flags at half- mast on every sea as an expression of their sorrow and in- dignation, our neighbours will not be slow to perceive that this ibrcoil union has brought Htrcngth um r forcoil uiarringc bringM happiness; and when Canada in blessod with hundreds of thousands of unquiet subjects, who hate her rule and will not be too prompt to fight for a domination wliich thoy repudiate and for a nationality they despise, the Bopublicons will promptly avail themsolvoB of errors in policy which every loyal subject of the Queen should pray Her Majesty's Ministers to avoid. When the American Bepublic was formed the smaller States, which entered it, had many guarantees for protection and fair play which this Quebec scheme of government does not give to us. In the first place, no ouo largo State could domi- nate over all the others. There wore, even at that time, Virginia, the Caroliuas, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Tork to balance and control each other ; and, as some of these grew in wealth and population, there came Ohio, Kentucky, Louisiana, Illinois, and many others, which precluded the possibility of any permanent and invidious centralization of power, and so the smaller States grew and prospered, and were protected. In our case we are to have a Confederacy in name, but in reality the centre of power and of influence will always be in Canada. It can be no where else. When divided the eastern and western sections may quarrel as they have always done upon sectional questions, but they may be trusted to combine against us whenever our interests clash, and having no other large state to lean upon we will bo about as powerless as Hanover or Brunswick in the grasp of Bismark. Had the Maritime Provinces been permitted to organize themselves first and then to unite with Canada, they might have acted together and had a chance to guard their interests ; but, disunited, it is plain that they must be a prey to the spoiler ; and having but forty-seven representatives, all told, it is apparent that the Government of the Confederacy will always rest upon the overwhelming ma- jority of 147, and that even when close divisions and Ministerial crises occur the minority can easily be split up and played oft' against each other for purely Canadian purposes. Again, the smaller States of the Union secured an equal representation in the Senate, and without this protection they could not bo induced to enter the Confedci'acy at nil. We are asked to accept a proportional roprcscuiation in the Upper Chaiul)cr, and con always bo outvoted by tho Canadianti, even wlien, wbicli iH vory \mlikoly, wo nil act togothcr. Then tho American Senate, in which these Hinall States aro equally represented, share with tho President executive duties, and have a veto on all Trontios and on important appointments. The Senate iH, therefore, in tho American system, the body in which largely resides not merely the dignity but tho real substantial power of tho Oovornmont ; and thus to tho smaller States is eecured a fair share of influence over the administra- tion, that we, by no provision which tho Quebec scheme includes, can over hope to obtain. Tho people of tho United States elect their own Senators. Ours are to bo selected by the Cauadinii Minister, resting upon a ])ermanent Parliamentary n)ajority which we may occasionally hope to infliionco but can never control. Tho Colonial Minister in former times solcctod Colonial Judges, and tho Canadians liked that system so little that they broko into open insurrection in order to get rid of it. When they appoint ours, they must not be surprized if we follow their example, and even sigh for the American system of electing them which is now universally condemned. Then the Canadians are to select our Governors. The single '* golden link," as it is sometimes called, which binds us to the Mother country, is to be rudely severed, and the only piece of patron- age reserved to tho Crown in return for the protection which the " New Nationality" cannot do without, is to be wrenched from the Sovereign and dispensed from some bureau at Ottawa. The pretension is modest. Looking down the long line of Governors who have been sent to us from England, there may have been one or two not ovorwise, nr who were indiscreet, but at all events they were gentl oiien, and many brought with them ladies trained in the tccomplishments and pure domestic life of this country, I can remember Lord Dal- housie. Sir James Kempt, Sir Peregrine Maitland, Sir John Harvey, Sir Gaspard Le Marchant, Lord Normanby and others, who had acquired experience or won distinction in the service of the Crown. The example set by such people and their families is to be traced in the social cultivation and gentle manners dilVnsed from our capital to the shire towns, iHf 87 and all over tho country. But all thii is to be changed. Of courso no such people will bo eligible nndor Confederation. No nobleman or gentleman, who haa served his Sovereign by land or sea, need apply. Even the Victoria CroBs would be no recommendation. No patriotic lover of his country — no defender of the rights and interests of the Maritime Pro> viiices need hope for this promotion ; but if there is any pliant and subservient tool of the Canadian Minister, who has never won distinction any ivhere, and is heartily despised by his own countrymen, any body may safely bet the odds in his favour. But how long will the system last? Just till the men beside the sea trample it under their feet ; and, driven by the instinct of self-preservation to protect themselves, elect their own Governors, and set their Canadian masters at defiance. Instead of wasting precious time with schemes to dis- member the Empire, I wish the Government and people of England would seriously consider how it can be organized so as to draw around the Throne its vast intellectual and physical rcsourcos, and lift us above the atmosphere of dcubt and apprehension in which, in these latter days, it appears we live. The people of these Islands surveyed with wonder, a few years ago, the wealth of their Provinces combined in the Ciystal Palace. A happy thought, developed by some organization, enabled the people of each to become becter acquainted with the others, and the people of England to become familiar with them all. But how little is known here of the undeveloped strength which lies in those great British communities, whose thoughts ever turn to the Mother Country — whose stout arms would willingly defend her ; and whose resources, pecuniary, physical, and intellectual, might, by simple arrangements, bo driiwn into the service of tho State. But this subject is too important to be treated at the close of a paper, which I fear those who do me the honour to read it may consider already too long. London, 25, Saviixe Row.