CONCLUSIONS.

Tice pith Commissioner comes to the conclusion that the existing state of things cannot continue ; that the disorders of Lower Canada admit of no longer delay ; and that those of 'Upper Canada press for a remedy. lie is of opinion that though the inhabitants of the latter province will not endeavour to break their connexion with the Mother Country by open rebellion, they will " at the best only await in sullen prudimce the contingencies which may render the preservation of the province dependent on the devoted loyalty of the great mass of its population."

In the other North American Provinces the danger is not imminent, thought much dissatisfaction prevails.

A barren and injurious sovereignty " may be retained over the North American Colonies, but only by a large military expenditure. The addition of a million a year to the annual colonial outlay will

• barely suffice to attain this end.

There is little sympathy between the French population of Lower Canada and the people of the United States, who now perfectly under- stand the nature of the conflict between the two races • but in the case of Upper Camula there is a strong and durable sympathy. At present there is no serious danger from the Sympathizers of the 'United States ; but the indiation of the Uppper Canadian Loyalists is naturally very strong against the nation and the Government which has permitted the incursions front the opposite shore. The flicility of intercourse which has created sympathy between the malecentents and the Americans, affords occasion fim angry collisions between the Loyalists and the Americans.

There are subjects of dispute between the Governments of Great Britain and the Cnited States, unconnected with Canadian rebellion, which may produce less friendly feelings between the two Governments than now exist.

For these reasons, the necessity of applying an early remedy to the existing disorders is enforced ; tut the chances of rebellion or foreign invasion are not those which Lord Durham regards as most probable or most injurious. Depopulation and impoverishment of the provinces must result from the continuance of the present state of things. The emigration of peaceably-disposed persons, with their property and fatal. lies, to the Western parts of the United States, has commenced; and considerable alarm exists as to the general disposition to quit the coun- try, produced by some late measures of the authorities, among the mild and industrious but peculiar race of descendants from the Dutch, iglu.

biting the back part of Niagara district. •

The evils are manifest, and ,the causes of them have been laid bare. The more difficult task remains of applying the remedy ; and the dim. culty is so great, that Lord Durham almost shrinks from grappling with it. He relies chiefly on the efficacy of reform in the constitutional sys• tern by which the Colonies shall be governed.

DEFECTS AND REMEDIES OF THE EXISTING COLONIAL SYSTEM.

" The preceding pages have sufficiently pointed out the nature of those evils, to the extensive operation of which I attribute the various practical grievances and the present-unsatisfactory condition of the North American Colonies. It is not by weakening but strengthening the influence of the people on its Go- vernment ; by confining within much narrower bounds than those hitherto al- lotted to it, and not by extending, the interference of the Imperial authorities in the details of Colonial affairs, that I believe that harmony is to be restored where dissension has so long prevailed ; and a regularity and vigour hitherto unknown introduced into the administration of these provinces. It needs no change in the principles of government, no invention of a new constitutional theory, to supply the remedy which would, in my opinion, completely remove the existing political disorders. It needs but to follow out consistently the principles of the British constitution, and introduce into the Government of these great Colonies those wise provisions by which alone the working of the Kepresentative system can in any country be rendered harmonious and efficient. We tire not now to consider the policy of establishing representative govern- ment in the North American Colonies. That has been irrevocably done; and the ex` erhuent of depriving the people of their, present constitutional power is not to be thought of. To conduct their government harmoniously, in accord- ance with its established principles, is now the business of its rulers; and I know not how it is possible to secure that harmony in any other way than by government the iernment on those principles which have been found per- fectly efficacious in Great Britain. 1 would not impair a single prerogative of the Crown ; on the contrary, 1 believe that the interests of the people of these Colonies require the protection of prerogatives which have not hitherto been exercised. But the Crown must, on the other hand, submit to the necessary consequences of representative institutions; and if it has to carry on the go- vernment in unison with a representative body, it must consent to carry it on by means of those in whom that representative body has confidence. " In England, this principle has been so long considered an indisputable and essential part of our constitution, that it has hardly ever been found ne- cessary to inquire into the means by which its observance is enforced. When a Miuistry ceases to command a majority in Parliament on great questions of policy, its doom is innnediately sealed ; undit would appear to us as strange to attempt for any time to carry on a government by means of Ministers pinye- tually in a minority, as it would be to pass laws with a majority of votes against them. The ancient constitutional remedies, by impeachinent and a stoppage of the supplies, have never, since the reign of William the Third, been brought into operation for the purpose of removing a Ministry. They have i never been called for; because, in fact, it has been the habit of Ministers rather to anticipate the occurrence of an absolutely hostile vote, and to retire, when supported only by a bare and uncertain majority. If Colonial Legislatures have frequently stopped the supplies, if they have harassed public servants by unjust or harsh impeachments, it was because the removal of an unpopular Ad- ministration could not be effected in the Colonies by those milder indications of a want of confidence, which have always sufficed to attain the end in the Mother Country.

" The means which have occasionally been proposed in the Colonies them. selves, appear to me by no means calculated to attain the desired end in the best way. These propusols indicate such a want of reliance on the willing- ness of the Imperial Government to acquiesce in the adoption of it better

system, as, if warranted, would render an harmonious adjustment of the different powers of the State utterly hopeless. Au elective Executive Council would not only be utterly inconsistent with monarchical government, but would really, under the nominal authority of the Crown, deprive the com- munity of one of the great advantages of' an hereditary monarchy. Every purpose of .popular control might be combined with every advantage of vesting the immediate choice M advisers in the Crown, were the Colonial Governor to be instructed to secure the coilperation of the Assembly in his policy, by untrusting its administration to such men as could command a majority ; and if he were given to understand that he need count on nu aid from home in any difference with the Assembly, that should not directly bivalve the relations between the Mother Country and the Colony. This change might be effected by a single despatch containing such instructions; or if any legal enactment were requisite, it would only be one that would render kt necussarf that the official acts of the Governor should be countersigned by :Anne 1111 Ilk! functionary. This would induce responsibility for every act of the Government ; and, as a natural consequence, it would necessitate the sub- stitution of It system of administiaticm, by means of competent heads of de- partments, for the present rude machinery of an Executive Council. The Go- vernor, if he wished to retain advisers not possessing the confidence of the ex- isting Assemble might rely. on the effect of an appeal to the people; and if unsuccessful; Ile might be coerced by a refusal of supplies, or his ad- visers might be terrified by tire prospect of impeachment. But there can be no 11:116011 for apprehending that either jairty would enter on a contest, when each would find its interest in the maintenance of harmony ; and the abuse of the powers which each would constitutionally possess, would cease when the struggle for lamer powers became unnecessary. Nor cut I conceive that it would lie founde'impossible or difficult to conduct a colonial government with precisely that limitation of the respective powers which has been se long and so easily maintained in Great Britain. " 1 know that it has been urged that the principles which are productive of harmony and good wwernmeitt in the mother country, are by no means ap- plicable to it colonial dependency. It is said that it is necessary that the ad- ministration of a colony should be carried on by persons nomm:sted without any reference to the wishes of its people ; that they have to carry into effect the policy, not of that people, but of the authorities at bonne; and that a colony which should name all its own tub' l ll istrative functionaries, would, in fact, cease to be dependent. I admit that the system which I propose, would, in filet, place the internal government of the colony in the hands of the colonists thews( Ives ; and that we Aould thus leave to them the execution of the laws of which we have long intrusted the making solely to them. Perfectly aware of the value of our Colonial possessions, and strongly impressed with the neces- sity of maintaining our connexion with them, I know not in what respect it can be desirable that we should interfere with their internal legislation in matters which do mot affect their relations with the Mother Country. The matters which so concern us arc very few. The constitution of the form of govern- ment—the regulation of foreign relations, and of trade with the Mother

..040...1•••••••■•••••■■••■••■

Country, the other British Colonies, and foreign nations,—and the disposal of the public lands, arc the only points on which the Mother Country requires a control. This control is now sufficiently secured by the authority of the Imperial Legislature ; by the protection which the colony derives from us against foreign gogircs ; by the beneficial terms which our laws secure to its tattle ; and by its share of the reciprocal benefits which would be conferred by a wise system of colonization. A perfect subordination on the part of the colony, on these points, is secured by the advantages which it finds in the continuance of its connexion with the empire. It certainly is not strengthened, but greatly

weakened, by in a vexatious interference on the part of the Home Government,

with the enactment of laws for regulating the internal concerns of the colony, or in the selection of the persons intrusted with their execution. The colonists may not always know what laws arc best for them, or which of their country- men are the fittest for conducting their affairs; but at least they have a greater interest in coming to a right judgment on these points, and will take greater pains to do so than those whose welfare is very remotely and slightly affected by the good or bad legislation of these portions of the empire. If the colonists make bail laws, and select improper persons to conduct their affairs, they will generally be the only, always the greatest sufferers; and, like the people dottier countries, they must bear the ills which they bring on them- selves, until they choose to apply the remedy. But it surely cannot be the duty or the interest of Great Britain to keep a most expensive military posses- sion of these colonies, in order that a Governor or Secretary of State may be able to confer Colonial appointments on one rather than another set of persons in the Colonies. For this is really the only question at issue. The slightest acquaintance with these Colonies proves the Macy of the common notion, that any considerable amount of patronage in them is distributed among strangers from the Mot her Country. Whatever inconvenience a consequent frequency of changes among the holders of office may produce, is a necessary disadvantage of free government, which will be amply compensated by the perpetual harmony which the system must produce between the people and its rulers. Nor do I fear that the character of the public servants will, in any respect, suffer from a none popular tenure of office. For I can conceive no system re

so calculated to fill

important pasts with inefficient persons, as the present, in which public opinion is too little consulted in the original appointment, and in which it is almost impossible to remove those who disappoint the expectations of their usefulness, without inflictiug a kind of brand on their capacity or integrity. " I am well aware that many persons, both in the nries and at home, view the system which I recommend with considerable alarm, because they distrust the ulterior views of those by whom it was originally proposed, and whom they suspect of urging its adoption with the intent only of enabling them more easily to subvert monarchical institutions, or assert the indepen- dence of the colony. I believe, however, that the extent to which these ulterior views exist, has been greatly W

overrated. e must not take every rash

expression of disappointment as alt indication of a settled aversion to the ex- isting constitution ; and my own observation convinces me, that the predomi- nant feeling of all the English population of the North American Colonies is that of devoted attachment to the Mother Country. I believe that neither the interests nor the feelings of the people are incompatible with the Colonial Go- vernment, wisely and popularly administered. The proofs which many, Arlio are much dissatisfied with the existing administration of the government, have given of their loyalty, are not to he denied or overlooked. The attach- ment constantly exhibited by the people of these Provinces towards the thritish Crown and Empire, has all the characteristics of a strong national feeling. They value the institutions of their country, not merely from a sense of the practical advantages which they confer, lint from sentiments of national pride ; and they uphold them the more, because they arc accuetomed to view them as marks of nationality, which distin,guish them from their Republican neigh- bours. I do not mean to affirm that this is a feeling which no impolicy on the part of the Mother Country will be unable to impair; hut I do most con- fidently regard it as one which may, if rightly appreciated, be made the link of an enduring and advantageous e01111eXi011. The British people of the North American Colonies are a people on whom we may safely rely, and to whom we must runt grudge power. For it is not to the individuals who have been loudest in demanding the change, that 1 propose to concede the responsibility of the Colonial administration, but to the people themselves. Nor can I con- ceive that any people, or any considerable portion of a people, will view with dis- eatisfaction a change which would amount simply to this, that the Crown would henceforth consult the wishes of the people in the choice of its servants.

" The important alteration in the pulley of the Colonial Government which I

recommend, might be wholly or in great part elicited thr the present by the un- aided authority of the Crown ; and I believe that the great mass of discontent iu Upper Canada, which is not directly connected With personal irritation arising out of the incidents of the bite troubles, might he dispelled he an assu- rance that the government of the colony should henceforth be carried on in conformity with the views of the majority in the As:ombly. But I think that for the wellbeing of the Colonies, and the security of the 'Mother Country, it is necessary that such a change should be rendered more permanent than a momentary sense of the existing difficulties can insure its being, 1 cannot be- lieve that persons in power in this country will be restrained front the injudi- cious intethrence with the internal management of these Colonies, winch I deprecate, while they remain the petty and divided communities which they NOW are. The public attention at home is distracted by the various and some- times contrary complaints of these different contiguous provMeee. Each now urges its demands at different times, and in somewhat different forms; and the interests which each individual complainant represents as in peril, are too petty to attract the due attention of the empire. But if these important and exten- sive Colonies should speak with one voice—if it were felt that every error of our Colonial policy must cause a. common suffering and a common d'iscontent throughout the whole wide extent of British America—those complaints would never lie provoked; because no authority would ventare to run counter to the wishes of such a connnunity, except on points absolutely involving the few ba- rerio] interests which it is necessary to remove from the jurisdiction of Colonial gislat It is necessary that I should also recommend what appears to me an essential limitation on the present powers of the Representative bodies in these Colonies. 1 consider good government not to be attainehle while the present unrestricted lowers of voting public motley, and of managing the local expenditure of the community, are lodged in the hands of an Assembly. As long 05 0 revenue is raised, which leaves it large surplus after the payment of the zwees,ary expenses of the Civil Government, and as long as any member of the Assembly niiiv, without restriction, propose a vote ot• public money, so long will the .assembly retain in its hands the powers which it everywhere abuses, of misapplying that money. The prerogative of the Crown, which is constantly exercised in Great Britain for the real protection of the people, ouglul hank t never to he been waived in the Colonies; and if the rule of the Imperial Parliament, that no money-

vote should lie proposed with t the consent of the Crown, wore introduced into these Colonies, it might be wisely employed in protecting the public inte- rests, now frequently sacrificed in that scramble for local appropriations which chiefly serves to give an undue influence to particular individuals or pasties." Good Municipal institutions should be established. A sound and general system for the Management of the Lands, and the Settlement of the Colonies, is a necessary part of any good and durable system of government. [Tile nigh Commissioner's plan for this purpose is the subject of a distinct Report.]

LOWER CANADA MUSS' nr: MADE ENGLISH.

" These general principles apply, however, only to those changes in the sys- tem of government whieh are required in order to rectify disorders common to all the North American Colonies; but they do not in any degree go to remove those evils in the present state of Lower Canda which require the most imme- diate remedy. The fatal feud of origin, which is the cause of the most exten- sive mischief, would be aggravated at the present moment by any change which should give the majority more power than they have hitherto possessed. A plan, by which it is proposed to insure the tranquil government of Lower Ca- nada, must include in itself the means of putting au end to the agitation of national disputes in the Legislature, by settling, at once and for ever, the na- tional character of the province. I entertain no doubts as to the national character which must he given to Lower Canada: it must he that of the British empire—that of the majority of the pepalation of British, America— that of the great race which must, in the lapse of no long period of time, be predominant over the whole North American Continent. Without effecting the change so rapidly or so roughly as to shock the feelings and trample on the welfare of the existing generation, it must herdeforth hie the first and steady purpose of the Britislt Government to establish en English population, with English laws and language, in this province, and to trust its government to none but a decidedly English Legislature. " It may be said that this is a hard ineaqire t.) a conquered people ; that the French were originally the whole, and still are the bulk. of the population of Lower Canada; that the F.mclish are rant' corners, wh) have uo right to demand the extinction of the nationality of a people among when catnmercisil enterprise has drawn them. It may he :JIM, that if the French are not so civilized, so energetic, or so money-making a race as that by which they are surrounded, they ire an amiable, a lirlinsis, and a contented people, pos- sessing all the essentials of material comfort, and not to be despised or ill-used because they seek to enjoy what they have without emulating the spirit din, cumulation which influences their neighbours. 'flieir nationality is, after all, an inheritance ; and they must not be too severely punished because they luny, dreamed of maintaining on the distant banks of the Si.Idtwrenee, and trans- mitting to their posterity, the language, the manners, and the institutions that great nation that for two centuries gave the tone of thought to the Euro- pean continent. If the disputes of the two races are irreconcileable, it may be urged that justice demands that the minority should he compelled to acquiesce in the snpreinacy of the ancient and most numerous occupants of the 1■rovince. and not pretend to force their own institutions and customs on the majority. "But before deciding which of the two races is now to be placed- in the ascendant, it is but prudent to inquire which of theta must ultimately prevail for it is not wise to establish to-day that which must, after a bard struggle. he reversed to-morrow. The pretensions of the French Canadians. to the e•: elusive elusive possession of Louver Canada, would debar the yet larger English popula- tion of Upper Canada and the townships from access to the great natural channel of that trade which they alone have created, and now carry on. The possession of the month of the St. Lawrence concerns not only those who hap- pen to have made their settlements along the narrow line which borders it, but all who now dwell, or will hereafter dwell, in the great basin of that river. Pot we must not look to the present alone. The fn fstion is, by what race is it likely that the wilderness which now enters the rich and ample regions sur- rounding the comparatively small mid contracted fladriets in which the French Canadians are located, is eventually to be converted into a settled and flourish- ing country? If this is to be llone in the British dominions, as in the rest it North America, by saint Twiner process than the ordinary growth of popu-

lation, opu-

lation, it must be by in _ration from the British e, or from the United States—the conntries which supply the only settlers that have entered, or will enter the Canadas in any large numbers. This immigration can neither is debanvil from a passage through Lower Canada, nor even he prevented from settling in that province. '1.‘b whole interior of the British dominions illui-t ere long he tilled with an English population, every yoar rapidly increasing it numerical superiority ever the French. Is it Jost that the priusperity cif thi, great majority, and of this vast tract of country, should be for ever. or even for a while, hopeled by the artilieial bar which the backtvard laws and civilize:oft of a part, and a part only. of Lower Canada, would pl we between them and the ocean ? Is it In lie supposed that such an English popfilation will ever submit to such a sacrifire of its interests ? I must not, however, assume it to be passible that the English Government. shall adopt the course pliwiles or allowing any check to the influx of English immigration into Lower ('attailit, fir any impediment to the rolitable employ - ment of that English capite which is already vested therein. The English have already in their bands the majority of the larger tons-es of property in the country ; they have the (habitat saperiority of iittelligiitice Ito they have the certainty that colonization must swell their numbers to a ninjo- rity ; and they belong to the race which wields the Imp, Government, and predominates en the .1.inerican continent. it' we note leave them in a minority. they will never abandon the a,sitrallee Or being a majority'unto, and nevi..

cease to continue the present contest with all the tierces'. Ii which it now

rages. In such a conli.,t they Mihaly on the syop.ihy air countryna at home; anti if that is denied them, they eel very ca id,.. ..t- of being nide to awaken the sympathy of their iiiiighLioirs of Is'isliest c uittin. They reel that if the British Government intends 10 maintain its .1' the eanallas it ran rely on the Engli di population alone ; that if it alio:Mons fns Colonial posses- sions, they must became a portion or that great wl.icli will sp,'''1 send forth its sw-talus of settlers, aunt by force of and activity quiickly master every other cited. The French Can:nil:MS, net the other hand. are lint the remains of an ancient colonization, and foie mitt ever must be isolate! in the midst of an Anglo-Saxon world. Whatever may happen, whatever government shall be established over them. British or .1filerican, they can see no hope for their iiatimitility. They can only -t•vcr th inselvcs font (lie British empire by waiting till some ger....1111 caiLv of alienates them, together with (lie surronieling Coleniee, and leaves th, pus of an Eufflisti

confederacy; or, if they are able, by el -t-ting a separdi and so eitlier

merging in the A lin-riven Veer., or lie, ping lip liar a few years a o retellea

Nance of feeble independence, which fx expos: ;hero more than ever to the

intrusion of the surroutiding populist lain. it r from wishing to encourage indiscriminately these pretensions to soperiority on the part of any participial race; but while the greater part of every port i.fil Df mlio c.intiaelit is

still uncleared and and while vonstaii•

and marked activity in colonization, so 1011!.. se'a'l it to imaifino thit there Is :111V 1)■101011 of that COlitillvOt IMO %%1111'11 0.11 r iee twit not penetrate. or in whicin when it pvpotrateil, it will not iwedimiiilate. It is loll. a (p.,-

thin of time and made ; it is but In.th, r the annuli number of

French oho now inhabit Loaer Calleda Omit he Eligii:11, under a esvere- Inca which can hints et them, or is Ii, they the 1.1.■1(.1.•“ ,1 tall I, delayed mail a much larger number shall LA ve to filid, rpi. .at; be rode hands 445 uncom rolled

rivals, the extinction offi nationality st he tied anilefoltil iered by coot i moire.

" Anil is this French Caimiliati nat which, for the good merely of that people, we onetht to sl rive to pvvpot n ir, e t, o if it were possulde ? I know of no national distinctions marking and c .at 'radio; a more hopeless inforiority. The langunge, the laws, the cleiraeter of the North ..111C:..C;111 rand, vt, an

English ; mot every race but the (1 apply this to all who speak the

English laingiii:T) ■11,;11.:!I'S there in a usindition of inferiority. his to elevate them lium tliat interiority that I desire to give to the Canadians our Enelis character. I desire it for the sake of the educated classes, whom the distinc- tion of language and manners keeps apart from the great empire to which they belong. At the best, the fate of the educated and aspiring colonist is nt pre- sent one of little hope and little activity ; but the } rench Canadian is cast still further into the shade by. a language and habits foreign to those of the Imperial Government. A spirit of 'exclusion has closed the higher professions on the educated classes of the French Canadians, more, perhaps, than was ab- solutely necessary ; but a is impossible for the utmost liberality on the part of the British Government to give an equal position in the general competition of its vast population to those who speak a foreign language. I desire the amal- gamation still more for the sake of the humbler classes. Their present state of rude and equal plenty is fast deteriorating. under the pressure of population, in the !termer limits to which they are confiued. If they attempt to better their condition by extending themselves over the neighbouring country, they will necessary get more and moremingled with au English population ; if they prefer remaining stationary, the greater part of them must be labourers in the employ of English capitalists. In either case, it would appear that the great mass of the French Canadians are doomed, in some measure, to occupy an inferior position, and to be dependent on the Euglish for employment. The evils of poverty and dependence would merely be aggravated in a tenfold de- gree by a spirit Of jealous and resentful nationality, which should separate the working class of the community from the possessors of wealth and employers of labour.

" I will not here enter into the question of the effect of the mode of life and division of property among the trench Canadians on the happiness of the People. I trill admit, for the moment, that it is as productive of wellbeing as its admirers assert. But be it good or bad, the period in which it is practi- cable is past ; for there is not enough unoccupied land left in that portion of the country in which English are nut already settled, to admit of the present French population possessing farms sufficient to supply them with their pre- sent means of comfort, under their system of husbandry. No population has increased by mere births so rapidly as that of the French Canadians has since the conquest. At that period their number was estimated at 60,000; it is now supposed to amount to more than seven times as many. There has been no pro- portional increase of cultivation, or of produce from the land already under culti- vation ; and the increased population has been in a great measure provided for by mere continued subtlivieion of estates. In a report from a committee of the As- sembly in 1826, of which 3Ir. Andrew Steuart was chairman, it is stated, that since MS the. population of the seignories had quadrupled, while the number of cattle had tour doubled, and the quantity of land m cultivation had only increased one-third. Complaints of distress are constant, and the deteriora- tion of the condition of a great part of the population admitted on all hands. A people so circumstanced must alter their mode of life. if they wish to maintain the same kind of rude but well-provided agricultural existence, it must he by removing into those parts of the country in which the English are settled; or if they cling, to their present residence, they can only obtain a live- lihood by deserting thew present employment, and workiug for wages on farms, or in commercial occupations under English capitalists. But their present proprietary and inactive condition is one which no political arrangements can perpetuate. Were the French Canadians to be guarded from the influx of tiny other population, their condition iu a few years would be similar to that of the poorest of the Irish peasantry. "There can hardly be conceived a nationality more destitute of all that can invigorate and elevate a people, than that which is exhibited by the descendants of the French in Lower Canada, owing to their retaining their peculiar lan- rage and manners. They are a people with no history. and no literature. The literature of England is written in a language which is not theirs ; and the only literature which their language renders familiar to them, is that of a nation from which they have been separated by eighty years of a foreign rule, and still more by those changes which the Revolution audits consequences have wrought in the whole politic-al, moral, and social state of France. Yet it is on a people whom recent -history, manners, and modes of thought so entirely sepa- rate from them, that the French Canadians are wholly dependent for almost all the instruction and amusement derived from books; it is on this essentially foreign literature, which is conversant about events, opinions, and habits of lite perfectly strange and unintelligible to them, that they are compelled to be de- pendent. Their newspapers are mostly written by natives of France, who have either come to try thew fortunes in the province, or been brought into it by the party leaders, in order to supply the dearth of literary talent available for the political press. In the same way, their nationality operates to deprive them of the enjoyments and civilizing influence of the arts. Though descended front the people in the world that most generally love, and have most successfully cultivated the drama—though living on a continent in which almost every town, great or small, has an English- theatre—the French population of Lower Canada, cut off from every people that speaks its own language, can support no national stage.

" In these circumstances, I should be indeed surprised if the more reflecting part of the French Canadians entertained at present any hope of continuing to preserve their nationality. such as they struggle against it, it is obvious that the process of assimilation to English habits is already commencing. The Eng- Egli language is gaining ground, as the language of the rich and of the mn- ployees of labour naturally wilt It appeared by some of the few returns which had been received by the Commissioner of the Inquiry into the state of Education, that there are about ten times the number of French children in Quebec learn- ing English, as compared with the English children who learn French. A con- siderable time must, of course, elapse before the change of a language can spread over a whole people; and justice and policy alike require, that while the people continue to use the French language, their Government should take no such means to force the English language upon them, as would, in fact, deprive the great mass the community of the protection of the laws. But I repeat, that the alteration of the character of the province ought to he immediately entered on, and firmly, though cautiously, followed up; that in any plan which may he adopted for the future management of Lower Cenada, the first object ought to be that of making it an English province ; and that, with this end in view, the ascendancy should never again be placed in any hands but those of an English population. Indeed, at the present moment this is obviously necessary ; in the state of mind in which I have described the French Canadian population, as not only now :wing, but as likely for a long while to remain, the trusting them with an entire control over this province, would be, in fiect, only facilitating a rebel- lion. Lower Canada must he governed now, as it must be hereafter, by an English population ; and thus the policy which the necessities of the moment fore.. o:i us, is in accordance with that suggested by a comprehensive view of the future and permanent improvement of the province."

ot..ted FOR TUE FUTURE GOVERNMENT OF LOWER CANADA.

"T1. greater part of the plans which have been proposed for the future Fovurnment of Lower Canada, suggest either as a lasting or as a temporary and

intermediate scheme, that the government of that province should he con-

Minded on an entirely despotic footing, or on one that would vest it entirely in the hands of the British minority. it is proposed either to place the legis- lative authority in a Governor, with a Council Permed of the Mauls of the British party, or to contrive some minute of representation by which is mino- rity, with the forms of representation, is to deprive a majority of all voice in the management of its own affairs. "The maintenance of au absolute form of government on any part of the North American Continent can mew ventilate fur any lung time, without ex- citing a general feeling in the United States against a power of which the existence is secured by means so odious to the people : and as I rate the pre.. servatiou of the present general sympathy of the United States with the policy of our Government in Lower Canada as a matter of the greatest importance, I should be sorry that the feeling should be changed for one which, if prevalent among that people, must extend over the surrounding provinces. The influence of such an opinion would not only act very strongly on the entire French population, and keep up among them a sense of injury and a determination of resistance to the Government, but would lead to just as great discontent among the English. In their present angry state of feeling, they might tolerate' for awhile any arrangement that would give them is triumph, over the French; but I have greatly .misunderstood their character if they would long bear a Government in which they had no direct voice. Nor would their jealousy he obviated by the selection of a Council from the persons supposed to have their confidence. It is not easy to know who really possess that confidence ; and I suspect that there would be no surer way of depriving a man of influence over them, than by treating him as their representative, without their consent. " The experience which we have had of a government irresponsible to the people in these Colonies, does not justify us in believing that it would be very well administered. And the great reforms in the institutions of the province, which must be made ere Lower Canada can ever be a well-ordered and flourish. ing community, can be effected by no legislature which does not represent a great mass of public opinion. " But the great objection to any government of an absolute kind is, that it is palpably of a temporary nature ; that there is no reason to believe that its influence, dewing the few years that it would be permitted to last, would leave the people at all more fit to manage themselves; that on the contrary, being a mere temporary institution, it would be deficient in that stability which is the great requisite of government in times of disorder. There is every reason to believe that a professedly irresponsible government would be the weakest that could be devised. Every one of its acts would be discussed, not in the colony., but in England, on utterly incomplete and incorrect information, and run the chance of being disallowed without being understood. The must violent outcry that could be raised by persons looking at them through the medium of English and constitutional notions, or by those who might hope thereby to promote the sinister purposes of faction at home, would be constantly directed against them. Such consequences as these are inevitable. The people of England are not accustomed to rely on the honest and discreet exercise of absolute power ; and if they permit a despotism to be established in their Colonies, they feel bound, when their attention happens to be directed towards them, to watch its acts with vigilance. The Governor and Council would feel this responsibility in all their acts: unless they happened. to be men of much more than ordinary nerve and earnestness, they would shape their policy so as merely to avoid giving is handle to attacks; and their measures would exhibit all that uncertainty and weakness which, such a motive is were to produce.

" With respect to every one of those plans which propose to make the English minority an electoral majority by means of new and strange modes of voting, or unfair divisions of the country, I shall only say, that if the Canadians are to be deprived of representative government, it would be better to do it in a straightforward way, than to attempt to establish a permanent system of go- vernment on the basis of what nil mankind would regard as mere electoral frauds. It is not in North America that men can be cheated by au unreal semblance of representative government, or persuaded that they are outvoted, when, in fact, they arc disfranchised.

0 The only power that can be effectual at once in coercing the present dis- affection, and hereafter obliterating the nationality of the French Canadians, is that of a numerical majority of a loyal and English population ; and the only stable government will be one more popular than any that has hitherto existed in the North American Colonies. The influence of perfectly equal and popular institutions in effacing distinctions of race without disorder or oppres- sion, and with little more than the ordinary animosities of party in it free country, is memorably exemplified in the history of the State of Louisiana, the laws and population of which were French at the time of its cession to the American Uuion. And the eminent success of the policy adopted with regard to that State, points out to us the means by which a similar result can be ef- fected in Lower Canada.

" The English of Lower Canada, who seem to infer the means from the re- sult, entertain and circulate the most extraordinary conceptions of the course really pursued in this instance. 011 the single fact, that in the constitution of ' Louisiana it is specified that the public nets of the state shall be in the lan- guage in which thb Constitution of the United States is written,' it has been inferMd that the Federal Government in the most violent manner swept away the use.of the French language and laws, and subjected the French population to some peculiar disabilities, which deprived them, iu fact, of an equal voice in the government of their State. Nothing can be more contrary to the fact. Louisiana, on its first cession, was governed as a district ; ' its public officers were appointed by the Federal Government; and, as was natural under the circumstances of the case, they were natives of the Old States of the Union. In 1812, the District, having the requisite population, was admitted into the Union as a State, and admitted on precisely the same terms that any other population would have or has been. The Constitution was framed so as to give precisely- the same power to the majority as is enjoyed in the other States of the Union. No alteration was then made in the laws. The proof of this is afforded by a fact familiar to every person moderately acquainted with the jurisprudence of the age. The Code which is the glory of Louisiana and Mr. Livingstone, was subsequently undertaken under the auspices of the Legisla- ture, in consequence of the confusion daily arising in the administration of the English and French system of law in the same courts. This change of laws, effected in the manner most consonant to the largest views of legislation, was not forced on the Legislature and people of the State by an external authority, but was the suggestion of their own political wisdom. Louisiana is not the only State hi the Union which has been troubled by the existence of conflicting systems of law. The State of New York, till within a few years, suffered under the same evil which it remedied in the same way, by employing a com- mission of its ablest lawyers to digest both systems of law into a CO11111101/ code. The contending populations of Lower Canada may well imitate these examples ; and if, instead of endeavouring to force their respective laws upon each other, they would attempt un amalgamation of the two systems into one, adopting what is really best in both, the result would be creditable to the province. " Every provision was made in Louisiana for securing to both races a per equal participation in all the benefits of the government. It is true that the intention of the Federal Government to encourage the use of the English language was evinced by the provision of the constitution with respect to the language of the records; but those who will reflect how very few people ever read such documents, and how very recently it is that the English language has become the language of time law in this country, will see that such a pro- vision could have little practical effect. In all cases in which convenience requires it, the different parties use their respective languages in the Courts of Justice, amid in both branches of the Legislature. In every judicial proceeding, all documents which pass between the parties are required to be in both lan- guages ; and the laws are published in both languages. Indeed, the equality of the two languages ie preserved in the Legislature by a very singular contrivance : the French"itial English members speak their respective languages, and an interpreter, as I was informed, after every speeds explains its purport in the other language.

•

" For a long time the distinction between the two races was the cause of great jealousy. The Americans crowded into the State in order to avail them- selves of its great natural resources and its unequalled commercial advantages; there, as everywhere else on that continent, their energy and habits of busi- ness gradually drew the greater part of the commercial business of the country into their hands; and though, I believe, a few of the richest merchants, and most of the owners of plantations, are French, the English form the bulk of the wealthier classes. Year after year their numbers have become greater, and it is now generally supposed that they constitute the numerical majority. It

may be imagined that the French have borne this with a good deal of dissatis-

faction ; but as the advantages gained by the English were entirely the result, not of favour, but of their superiority in a perfectly free competition, this jealousy could excite no murmurs against the Government. The competition made the two races enemies at first, but it has gradually stirred the emulation of the less active race, and made them rivals. The jealousies in the city of New Orleans were so great at one time, that the Legislature of the State, at the desire of the English, who complianed of the inertness of the French, formed separate mu- nicipalities for the French and English parts of the city. These two municipa- lities are now actuated by a spirit of rivalry, and each undertakes great public works for the ornament and convenience of their respective quarters. "'The distinction still lasts, and still causes a good deal of division ; the so- ciety of each race is said to be in some measure distinct, but not by any means hostile ; and some accounts represent the social mixture to be very great. All accounts reprCsent the division of the races as becoming gradually less and less marked : their newspapers are printed in the two languages on opposite pages ; their local politics are entirely messed in those of the Union ; and instead of discovering to their papers any vestiges of a quarrel of races, they are found to contain a repetition of the same party recriminations and party arguments which ebound in all other parts of the Federation.

The explanation of this amalgamation is obvious. The French of Louisi- ana, ivlien they were formed into a State, in which they were a majority, were incorporated into a great nation, of which they constituted an extremely small part. The eye of every ambitious man turned naturally to the great centre of

Federal affairs, and the high prizes of Federal ambition. The tone of politics was taken from those by whose hands its highest powers were wielded; the le- gislation and government of Louisiana were from the first insignificant, com-

pared with the interests involved in the discussions at Washington. It became the object of every aspiring man to merge his French, and adopt completely au American nationality. What was the interest of individuals was also the inte- rest of the State. It was its policy to be represented by those who would ac- quire weight in the councils of the Federation. To speak only a language fo- reign to that of the United States, was consequently a disqualification for a candidate for the posts of either Senator or Representative ; the French qualified themselves by learning English, or submitted to the superior advantages of their English competitors. The representation of Louisiana in Congress is now entirely English; while each of the Federal parties in the State conciliates the Frencli feeling by putting up a candidate of that race. But the result is, that the Union is never disturbed by the quarrels of these races; and the French language and manners bid fair, in no long time, to follow their laws, and pass away like the Dutch peculiarities of New York. 'I'D is only by the same means—by a popular government, in which an Eng- lish majority shall permanently predominate—that Lower Canada, if a remedy fer its disorders be not too long delayed, can be tranquilly ruled.

"On these grounds, 1 believe that ne permanent or efficient remedy can be devised for the disorders of Lower Canada, except a fusion of the government in that of one or more of the surrounding provinces ; and as I am of opinion that the full establishment of a responsible government can only be perma- nently secured by giving these Colonies an increased importance in the politics of the Empire, 1 find in union the only means of remedying at once and com- pletely the too prominent causes of their present unsatisfactory condition. "Two kinds of union have been proposed—Federal and Legislative. By the first, the separate Legislature of each province would be preserved in its present form, and retain almost all its present attributes of internal legislation ; the Federal Legislature exercising no power, save in those matters of general concern which may have been expressly ceded to it by the constituent provinces. A Legislative union would imply a complete incorporation of the provinces included in it under one Legislature, exercising universal and sole legislative authority over all of them, in exactly the same manner as the Parliament legislates alone fur the whole of the British Isles.

"On my first arrival in Canada, I was strongly inclined to the project of a Federal Union ; and it was with such it plan in view that I discussed a general measure for the government of the Colonies with the Deputations from the Lower Provinces, andlwith various leading individuals and public bodies in both the Canadas. I was fully aware that it might be objected that a Federal Union would, in ninny cases, produce a weak and rather cumbrous government ; that a Colonial Federation must have, in fact, little legitimate authority or business, the greater part of the ordinary functions of a federation falling within the scope of the Imperial Legislature and Executive ; and that the main induce- ment to federation, which is the necessity of conciliating the pretensions of in- dependent states to the maintenance of their own sovereignty, could not exist in the ease of colonial dependencies, liable to be moulded according to the pleasure of the supreme authority at home. In the course of the discussions which I have mentioned, I became aware also of great practical difficulties in any plan of Federal government, particularly those that must arise in the management of the general revenues, which would in such a plan have to be again digs tributed among the Provinces. But 1 had still more strongly impres,ed on me the great advantage of an united government ; and I was gratified by finding the leading minds of the various Colonies strongly and generally inclined to a scheme that would elevate their countries into something like a national ex- istence. 1 thought it would be the tendency of n Federation sanctioned and consolidated by is Monarchical Government, gradually to become a complete Legislative Union ; and that thus, while conciliating the French of Lower Canada, by leaving them the government of their own province and their own internal legislation, I might provide for the protection of the British interests by the General Government, and for the gradual transition of the Provinces into an milted and homogeneous community. " But the period of gradual transition is past hi Lower Canada. In the present state of feeling among the French population, I cannot doubt that any power which they might possess wotibl be used against the policy and the very existence of any form of British government. 1 cannot doubt than any French Assembly that shall again meet in Lower Canada will use whatever power, he it mole or less limited, it may have, to obstruct the Government, and undo whatever has been done by it. Time, and the honest coiiperation of the vari- ous parties, would be required to aid the action of a Federal Constitution ; and thne is not allowed, in the present state of Lower Canada, nor coapenition to be expected from a Legislature of which the majority shall represent its French inhabitants. I believe that tranquillity can only be restored by sub- jecting the province to the vigorous rule of au Pandish majority; and that the only efficacious government would be that formed. .by a Legislative Union. " If the population of Upper Canada is rightly estimated at -MAO, the English inhabitants of Lower Canada at 150,000, and the French at 450,000, the union of the two provinces would not only give a clear English majority, but one which would be increased every year by the influence of English emi- gration ; and I have little doubt that the French, when one placed, by the would abandon their vain hopes of nationality. I do not mean that they would immediately give up their present animosities, or instantly renounce th r hope of -attaining their end by violent means. But the experience of the two Unions in the British Isles may teach us how effectually the strong arm of a popular Legislature would compel the obedience of the refractory population ; and the hopelessness of success would gradually subdue the existing animosities, and incline the French Canadian population to acquiesce in their new state of political existence. I certainly should not like to subject the French Cana- dians to the rule of the identical English minority with which they have so long been contending ; but, from a majority emanating from so much more ex- tended a source, I do not think they would have any oppression or injustice to fear ; and in this case, the far greater part of the majority, never having been brought into previous collision, would regard them with no animosity that could warp their natural sense of equity. The endowments of the Catholic Church in Lower Canada, and the existence of all its present laws, until altered by the United Legislature, might be secured by stipulations similar to those adopted in the Union between England and Scotland. I do not think that the sub- sequent history of British legislation need incline us to believe that the nation which has a majority in a popular legislature, is likely to use its power to tamper very hastily with the laws of the people to which it is united."

The Union proposed would be advantageous to Upper Canada. The surplus revenue of the Lower Province would supply the deficiency of the Upper ; the completion of public works would be promoted ; the cost of the Government would be less ; the responsibility of the Execu- tive would be secured by the increased weight which the representative body of the United Provinces would bring to bear on the Imperial Go- vernment and Legislature.

The same reasons apply, for the most part, to all the Provinces in British North America, and point out the advantages of a legislative union of all. One great benefit would be its influence in counterba- lancing existing tendencies to separation. Such a union would provide scope for the ambition of aspiring men, which might be satisfied by the possession of high offices in the Judicature and Executive Government of their own Union. By facilitating coiiperation for various common purposes, a Legislative Union would enable the Colonies to act with more advantage on questions of foreign relations. Their internal relations furnish quite as strong motives for union. For instance, the Post-office might- be managed by one general establishment ; the disposal of Public Lands and Colonization might be regulated by the same rules, and the Banking and Monetary system might be uniform. In the construction of Roads, Railroads, and the establishment of Steam communication, the advantage of combined action is obvious. To Prince Edward's Island and Newfoudland union appears absolutely necessary for insuring proper attention to their interests.

A letter from the late Duke of Rent to Mr. Sewell, formerly Chief Justice of Quebec, recommending a plan similar in some respects to that which Lord Durham describes, is quoted.

The chief difficulty in the way of union, is the reluctance of the Lower Provinces to lose the immediate control of the funds devoted to local expenditure. Bat it is suggested that the Provincial Assemblies might be retained with merely municipal powers ; though the High Commissioner, in preference, recommends that the disposal of local funds should be intrusted to Municipal Bodies in smaller districts.

But though perfectly convinced of the advantage of a Legislative Union of all the Provinces, yet as the regular course of government is not perilled or impeded in the Lower Provinces, Lord Durham thinks it would be ungracious and unjust to force upon the latter, measures which the condition of the Canadas render it necessary at once to adopt with regard to them. He therefore refers his proposition " for the ample deliberation and consent of the people of these Colonies ;" and the Report concludes with the following RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER.

"In existing, circumstances, the conclusion to which the foregoing consider- ations lead me, is, that no time should be lost in proposing to Parliament a bill for repealing the 31st Geo. III. ; restoring the Union of the Cauadas under one Legislature, and reconstituting them as one Province. "The bill should contain provisions by which any or all of the other North American Colonies may, on the application of the Legislature, be, with tile con- sent of the two Canadas, or their United Legislature, admitted. into the Union on such terms as may be agreed on between them. "As the mere amalgamation of the Houses of Assembly of the two Provinces would not be advisable, or give at all a due share of representation to each, a Parliamentary Commission should be appointed, for the purpose of forming the electoral divisions, and determining the number of Members to be returned on the principle of giving representation, as near as may be, in proportion to population. 1 am averse to every plan that has been proposed tbr giving an equal number of Members to the two Provinces, in order to attain the tempo- rary end of outnumbering the French ; because I think the same object will be obtained without any violation of' the principles of representation, and without any such appearance of injustice in the scheme as would set public 6Pinion, both in England and America, strongly against it ; and because, when emigration shall have increased the English population in the Upper Province, the adop- tion of such a principle would operate to defeat the very purpose it is intended to serve. It appears to me that any such electoral arrangement, founded on the present provincial divisions, would. tend to defeat the purposes of union, and perpetuate the idea of disunion.

" At the same time, in order to prevent the confusion and danger likely to ensue from attempting to have popular elections in districts recently the seats of open rebellion, it will be advisable to give the Governor a temporary powe- of suspending by proclamation, stating specifically the grounds of his determir nation, the writs of electoral districts, in which he may be of opinion that elections could not safely take place. " The same Commission should form a plan of local government by elective bodies subordinate to the General Legislature, and exercising a complete control over such local affairs as do not come within the province of general legislation. The plan so framed should be made an Act of the ImperiA Parliament, so as to prevent the General Legislature from encroaching on the powers of the Local bodies.

"A General Executive on an improved principle should he established, together with it supreme Court of Appeal. for all the North American Colonies. ,The other establishments and laws of the two Colonies should he left unaltered until the Legislature of the Union should think tit to change them; and the security of the existing endowments of the Catholic Church in Lower Canada should-be guaranteed by the Act. "The constitution of a Second Legislative Body for the United Legislature. involves questions of very great difficulty. The present constitution of the Legislative Councils of these Provinces has always appeared to me inconsistent with sunnd principles. and little calculated to answer the purpose of placing the effective check which 1 consider necessary on the popular branch of the Legis-

egitimate course of events and the working of natural causes, in a minority, tare. The (=logy which some persons love attempted to draw between the

House of Lords and the Legislative Councils seems to me 'erroneous. The con- stitution of the House of lords is consonant with the frame of English so- ciety ; and as the creation of a precisely similar body in such a state of society as that of these Colonies is impossible, it has always appeared to me most un- wise to attempt to supply its place by one which hos no point of resemblance to it, except that of being a non-elective check on the elective branch of the Legislature. The attempt to invest a few persons, distinguished from their fellow-colonists neither by birth nor hereditary property, and often only transiently connected with the country, with such a power, seems only calcu- lated to insure jealousy and bad fealties in the first instance, and collision at last. I believe that when the necessity of relying, in Lower Camila, on the English character of the Legislative Council as a check on the national pre- judices of a French Assembly, shall be removed by the union, few persons in the Colonies will be found disposed in favour of its present constitution. In- deed, the vert fact of union will complicate the difficulties which have hitherto existed; because a satisfactory choice of Councillors would have to be made with reference to the varied interests of a much more numerous and extended community.

" It will he necessary, therefore, for the completion of any stable scheme of government, that Parliament should revise the constitution of the LegiAative Council, and by adopting every proctical means to give that institution such a character as would enable it, by its tranquil and safe, but effective working, to act as an useful check on the popular branch of the Legislature, prevent a re- petition of those collisions which have already caused such dangerous irritation. "The plan which I have framed for the management of the Public Lands being intended to promote the common advantage of the Colonies and of the Mother Country, 1 therefore propose that the entire administration of it should be confided to an Imperial authority. The conclusive reasons which have in- duced me to recommend this course will be found at length in the separate Report on the subject of Public Lands and Emigration.

" All the revenues of the Crown, except those derived from this source, should at once he given up to the United Legislature, on the concession of an ade- quate civil list. " The responsibility to the United Legislature of all officers of the Govern- ment except the Governor and his Secretary, should be secured by every means " known to the British constitution. The Governor, as the representative of the Crown, should be instructed that he must carry on his government by heads of departments in whom the United Legislature shall repose confidence ; and that he must look for no support from home in any contest with the Le- gislature, except on points involving strictly Imperial interests.

" The independence of the Judges should be secured, by giving them the same tenure of office and security of income as exist in England. " No money votes should be allowed to originate without the previous con- sent of the Crown.

" In the same act should be contained a repeal of past provisions with re- spect to the Clerg y Reserves, and the application of the funds arising from them. " In order to promote Emigration on the greatest possible scale, and with the most beneficial results to all concerned, I have elsewhere recommended a system of measures which have been expressly framed with that view, after full inquiry and careful deliberation. Those measures would not subject either the Colonies or the Mother Country to any expense whatever. In conjunction with the measures suggested for disposing of public lands, and remedying the evils occasioned by past mismanagement in that department, they form a plan of colonization to which I attach the highest importance. The objects at least with which the plan has been formed, are to provide large funds tiw emi- gration, and for creating and improving means of communication throughout the Provinces; to guard emigrants of the labouring class against the present risks of the passage ; to secure for all of them a comfortable resting-place, and employment at good wages immediately on their arrival ; to encourage the in- vestment of surplus British capital in these Colonies, by rendering it as secure and as profitable as in the Unwed States; to promote the settlement of wild lands and the general improvement of the Colonies • to add to the value of every man's property in land; to extend the demand British-numuffictured goods, and the means of paying for them, in proportion to the amount of emi- gration and the general increase of the Colonial people ; and to augment the Colonial revenues in the same degree. " When the details of the measure, with the particular reasons for each of them, are examined, the means proposed will, I trust, be found as simple as the ends are great ; nor have they been suggested by any fine:Ifni or merely specu- lative view of the subject. they are finuided on the facts given in eviaence by practical men ; on authentic information as to the mutts and capabilities of the Colonies ; on an examination of circumstances which occasion so high a degree of prosperity in the neighbouring states • on the efficient working and remarkable results of improved methods of colonization in other parts of the British empire; in sonic measure on the deliberate proposals of a Committee of the House of Commons; and, lastly, on the favonrable opinion of every in- telligent person in the Colonies whom I consulted with respect to them. They involve, no doubt, a considerable change of system, or rather the adop- tion of a system where there has been none : but this, considering the number and magnitude of past errors, and the present wretched economical state of the Colonies, seems rather a recommendation than an objection. 1 do not flatter myself that so much good can be accomplished without an effort ; but in this, as in other suggestions, I have presumed that the Imperial Government and Legislature appreciate the actual crisis in the affairs of these Colonies, and will not shrink from any exertion that may be necessary to preserve them to the Empire. "By the adoption of the various measures here recommended, I venture to hope that the disorders of these Colonies may be arrested, and their future wellbeing and connexion with the British Empire secured. Of the certain result of -my suggestions,1 cannot, of course, speak with entire confidence, because it seems almost too much to hope that evils of so long growth, and such extent, can be removed by the tardy application of even the boldest remedy ; and be- cause I know that as much depends upon the consistent vigour and prudence of those who may have to carry it into effect as on the soundness of the policy sag- gested. The deep-rooted evils of Lower Canada will require great firmness to remove them. The disorders of rpper Canada, which appear to me to originate entirely in mere defects of its constitutional system, may, I believe, be removed by adopting a more sound and consistent mode of administering the govern- ment. We may derive some confidence from the recollection that very simple remedies yet remain to he resorted to for the first time ; and we need not de- spair of governing a people who really have hitherto very imperfectly known what it is to have a government.

" I have made no mention of emigration on an extended scale as a cure for political disorders, because it is my opinion that, until tranquillity is re-

stored, and a prospect of free and stable government is held out, no emigrants should be induced to go to, and that few would at any rate remain in Canada. But if by the means which I have suggested, or by any other, peace eau he restored, confidence created, and popular and vigorous government established, I rely on the adoption of a judicious system of colonization as an effectual bar- rier against the recurrence of many of the existing evils. If I should have

miscalculated the proportions in which the friends and the enemies of British connexion may meet in the United Legislature, one year's emigration would redress the balance. It is by a sound system of colonization that we can ren-

der these extensive regions available for the benefit of the British people. The mismanagement by which the resources of our Colonies have hitherto been wasted, has, I know, produced in the 'public mind too much of a disposition to regard them as mere sources of corruption and loss, and to entertain with to much complacency the idea of abandoning them as useless. I cannot parts ciliate in the notion that it is the part either of prudence or of honour to aban- don our countrymen, when our government of them has plunged them into disorder, or our territory, when we discover that we have not turned it to pro- per account. The experiment of keeping colonies and governing them well ought at least to have a trial, ere we abandon fur ever the vast dominion which might supply the wants of our surplus population, and raise up millions of fresh consumers of our manufitetures and producers of a supply for our wants, The warmest admirers and the strongest opponents of Republican institutions admit or assert, that the amazing prosperity of the United States is less owing to their form of government than to the unlimited supply of fertile hiel, which maintains succeeding generations in an undiminishing affluence of fertile soil. A region as large and as fertile is open to your Majesty's subjects in your Majesty's American dominions. The recent improvements of the means of communication will, in a short time, bring the unoccupied lands of Canada and New Brunswick within as easy a reach of the British Isles, as the territories of Iowa and Wisconsin arc of that incessant emigration that annually quits New England for the far West. " I see no reason, therefore, for doubting that, by good government and the adoption of a sound system of colonization, the itritish possessions in North America may thus lie made the means of conferring on the suffering classes of the Mother Country mummy of the blessings which have hitherto been supposed to be peculiar to the social state of the New World. " In conclusion, I must earnestly impress on your Majesty's advisers, and on the Imperial Parliament, the paramount necessity of a prompt and decisive settlement of this important question, not only on account of' the extent and variety of interests involving the welfare nod security of the British empire, which are perilled by every hour's delay, but on account of the state of feeling which exists in the public mind throughout all your Majesty's North American possessions, and more especially the two Caundas. " In various despatches addressed to your Majesty's Secretary of State, I have given a full description of that state of feelings as I tound it evinced by all classes and all parties, in consequence of the events which occurred in the last session of the British Parliament. I do not allude now to the French Canadians, but to the English population of both provinces. Ample evidence of their feelings will be found in the addresses which were presented to use from all parts of the North American Colonies, and which I have inserted in an Appendix to this Report. But, strong as were the expressions of regret and disappointment at the sudden annihilation of those hopes which the English had entertained of seeing a speedy and satisfactory termination of that state of confusion and anarchy under which they had so long laboured, they sunk into insignificance when compared with the danger arising from those threats of separation and independence, the open and general utterance of which was reported to me from all quarters. I fortunately succeeded in calming this irritation for the

time, by directing the public mind to the prospect of those remedies which the wisdom and beneficence of your Majesty must naturally incline your Majesty to sanction, whenever they are brought under your Majesty's consideration.

But the good effects thus produced by the responsibility which I took iipmi myself' will be destroyed; all these feelingsivill recur with redoubled violence; and the danger will become immeasurably greater, it' such hopes arc once move frustrated, and the Imperial Legislature fails to apply an immediate and final remedy to all those evils of which your Majesty's subjectsin America so loudly complain, and of which I have supplied such ample evidence.

" For these reasons, I pray your Majesty's earliest attention to this Report. It is the last net arising out of the loyal and conscientious discharge of the

high duties imposed upon me by the Commission with which your Majesty was

graciously pleased to intrust me. I humbly hope that your Majesty will cc- ceive it favourably, and believe that it has been dictated by the most devoted

feeling of loyalty and attachment to your Majesty's person and throne, by the strongest sense of public duty, and by the earnest desire to perpetuate and strengthen the connexion between this empire and the North American Colo- nies, which would then form one of the brightest ornaments In your Majesty's Imperial crown.

"All which is humbly submitted to your Majesty. " DURHAM."

" Loudon, 31st JaIlllary 1339."