By good luck, Lord Stanley has in part escaped the
ill effect of allowing the seat of government in Canada to become a topic of con- tention in the colony : the two branches of the Legislature do not re- main at open war, because the Assembly has beaten the Council ; the two races are not at open war, because a considerable part of the British race sides with the French : but the fortunate turn in the affair could scarcely have been seen by Lord Stanley when he risked a turmoil in the province, to avoid a little official responsibility. Local interests and the ultra-British party proved weaker in the Legislative Council than could have been hoped. The Opposition members of the Council seem to have foreboded as mach, when they resorted to a manceuvre, a right understanding of which is necessary in order to appreciate the actual State of the matter. The explanation we find in a letter from Kingston, Published in the Colonial Gazette this morning. The writer gives a very comprehensive exposition of the arguments for and against the removal of the government from Kingston to Montreal, strongly advocating the measure ; and those who wish for full information on the subject will find the letter well worth perusal ; but we must keep to the main point. In the autumn, the Lower Canadian members do not repair to head-quarters in great numbers, being busy at home, and not expecting important business to be brought forward. Without waiting for Go-. vernment to take the initiative, the Upper Canadian members of the Legislative Council, who were earlier upon the spot, stole a march upon the opposite party, by moving and carrying an address, in which they requested the Crown to select a site within their own section of the province. Time, however, crept on ; more French-Canadians arrived ; the subject came in due course before the Legislative Assembly, which passed an address in favour of Montreal : the concurrence of the Council was demanded—the Opposition felt themselves to be losing ground, and a numerous band of them retired in a body ; and thus the concurrence of the Council was obtained. The large majority in the popular branch of the Legislature attests the feeling of the country- " In the House of Assembly," says the writer already mentioned, "upon the resolution affirming the propriety of selecting Montreal as the capital of Canada, the numbers stood 51 to 27. Two members, known to aide with the majority, and who had voted with it on previous divisions, by which amend- ments to the resolution had been disposed of, were absent. Two Lower Cana- dian constituencies, having an opinion equally well-known, were unre- presented; as also was one Upper Canadian constituency, known to side the other way. Adding these votes and that of the Speaker, the numbers stand just 56 to 28; every Lower Canadian vote, and 14 of the 42 from Upper Canada, counting in the majority. By the most careful calculation I can ma I find these 14 votes represent constituencies numbering not less than 175,000 souls ; so that the entire majority of two to one in the House actually repre- sents a majority of, as nearly as may be, three to one of the whole community. On the second resolution, pledging the House to vote the supplies in the event of the removal, five of the previous minority voted with the Government ; OH the avowed ground that the decision for Montreal, once made, ought to be, and by them should be, acquiesced in. The majority for acquiescence may thus be said to have stood 61 to 23, or nearly three to one of the whole House. The population represented by it numbers little, if at all, less than four to one of the whole population of Canada." Thus the site is to be fixed at Montreal ; where it might have been fixed without all this turmoil, and without arraying race against race, by a simple exercise of the prerogative of the Crown ; which, as we see, would have had the support of the Province. A very bad feeling has been awakened. The way to mitigate the ill effect would be, to act upon this decision without delay ; permitting it not to remain open to delusive hopes of reversal, but putting an end to the whole question by making it an accomplished fact—a thing of the past.
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