Most well-informed English people are aware that there is such

a place as Canada, and they remember that three years ago there was a rebellion there ; but just now, probably, they are profoundly oblivious of the existence of such a "jewel in the British crown," and still more unaware that new difficulties are brewing. The Colonial Gazette has, by means of a correspondent at Montreal, who commands the best points of observation, kept its readers informed on the progress of events lately, in a series of papers on particular questions as they successively arose. The assembling of Sir CHARLES BAGOT the new Governor. General's first Parliament, on the 8th of this month, will bring matters to a crisis ; and, in a paper which we have borrowed, the writer alluded to enters into a masterly exposition of the state of parties and the state of affairs with which Governor BAGOT'S Parliamentary cam- paign must begin. He will be forced to a change of his indecisive policy, imitated from other times, but now out of date ; or disas- ter must ensue—how, the reader of the following expose will see explained.

[From the Colonial Gazette, August 31.]

licontreal, 12th August 1842.

The near approach of the second meeting of the Parliament of United

Canada gives to the subject of our politics a degree of interest that is great in- deed when compared with the indifference with which the affairs of Canada seem to be regarded in England. The British Government and public, if they ever think about us at all, would appear to suppose that the state of parties here affords no grounds for anxiety, but that albs going on with us as comfort- ably as possible. Perhaps there may be a disagreeable surprise in store for them. But judge for yourself upon the best information that it is in my power to furnish. By the old plan of governing in both the Canadas, which was the main cause of the two rebellions, the voice of the minority prevailed in a representative system ! Decency was not outraged to the extent of deciding questions in the Assembly according to the votes of the minority ; but the votes and opinions and wishes of the majority in the representative body were constantly set at nought by the Executive, which really gave effect to the wishes, opinions, and votes of the minority. It is understood this curious system has been abandoned for ever; that the English constitutional practice, as that singular and capital method of governing was expounded last year by Sir ROBERT PEEL in the House of Commons, is to be pursued; that the composition of the Executive and the character of its acts are to agree with the sentiments of the majority in the representative body. I don't think there are half-a-dozen men in a Canada who imagined that it would be possible to rule the United Province on any other plan. And it is quite certain, at all events, that any attempt to return to the old method of disregarding the majority in the Assembly, would put us back five years, and render of no avail all the trouble that Canada has cost the empire during that period. This introduction was requisite in order to show all the importance of what may be taken as a fact,—namely, that without some great change of policy on the part of the Executive, the House of Assembly is sure to open its session by a vote of "want of confidence." Some wish this ; some dread it ; some are in- different about it ; but all expect it. I am one of those who-dread it. For the effect would be to put the Governor-General in one or other of these two posi- tions,—either that of going on with his present Executive Council, against whom the vote of condemnation had been directed—which would be a return to the old plan of defying the majority ; or that of having to form a new Coun- cil upon compulsion from the Assembly, and when deprived of the advice of those whom alone he has hitherto consulted. I will not suppose for a moment that he would adopt the former course. In pursuing the latter, all would be well if he should happen to reconstruct his Council in a way to satisfy the great majority in the Assembly, and without laying the foundation of most serious though not immediate mischief. What that mischief might be, will appear from a brief account of the state of parties in the Assembly and in the country.

In the United Province there are four great parties ; which may be described as follows-

1st. Lower Canada French ; who have been described by Lord Duanam,

(too unfavourably, I now think, and with far too little regard to their deep in- terest in the British connexion,) whom their rebellion has crushed, upon whom the Union was forced, and who, though they compose a full half of the popu- lation of the whole province, are excluded from all share in the government of their country.

2d. Lower Canada British ; on whom the rebellion conferred the character of a dominant race, and according to whose ideas the Lower Province was go- verned during Lord SYDENHAM'S time.

Sd. Upper Canada Tories; who ruled their own province before the Union,

who made their rebellion, whose power Lord SYDENHAM destroyed by breaking up the party, and who long to recover their old position as a minority ruling in fiat opposition to the wishes of the great majority. The chiefs of this party are known as the Family Compact.

4th. Upper Canada Reformers ; consisting of allwhom the Family Compact used rigidly to exclude from influence in the government of their country, and forming the great majority.

I leave out of the account a goodly number in both divisions of the province who have no marked political opinions, and who would be apt to go with the strongest party, of whatever colour it might be. The representatives of the four political parties, together with a certain

number of loose fish who hardly disguise that their sole object is personal ag- grandizement, and who would go with the strongest, compose the Assembly in the following proportions, or thereabouts : Lower Canada French, (including some members of English origin who have been sent to Parliament by French constituencies,) rather more than two-eighths ; Lower Canada British, rather less than one-eighth; Upper Canada Tories, one-eighth; Upper Canada Re- formers, three-eighths; Loose Fish, one-eighth. The combination of parties forming the majority which carried Lord SYDEN/IA31 through the first session of the United Parliament, consisted of all the L. C. British, all the U. C. Reformers except two or three who sided with the French, and all the Loose Fish ; making about five-eighths of the House. The minority, consisting of all the L. C. French and all the U. C. Tories, was in constant opposition to Lord &DENHAM'S Government; and his majority was so little reliable, that it may be said he dashed through the session in spite of several defeats, by dint of driving the coach himself and hard flogging., not to mention the 1,500,000/. to be guaranteed by England, and the foolish fear entertained by the U. C. Reformers of getting an out-and-out

Tory Government here in consequence of the general election then taking place in England.

Lord &DENHAM'S Executive Council was composed of all sorts, every one of whom gave up more or less of his own opinions in order to adopt Lord SYDENHAM'S ; and among whom there was no popular leader of any part), after Mr. ROBERT BALDWIN, the leader till then of the U. C. Reformers, re- signed and went into opposition along with the-French. It is quite certain, therefore, that Lord &DENHAM'S Government would not have got through another session in harmony with the Assembly. I have no doubt that if he had lived and been compelled to remain, he would have changed his policy and his Council so as to command a majority in the Assembly. Sir CHARLES BAGOT has not improved Lord &DENHAM'S Council, in the eyes of the Assembly. He has filled up a couple of vacancies in a way t9 dis- credit the Council with all parties, by giving office to two gentlemen of thbo- roughly antagonist opinions, and has created one vacancy by appointing t L. C. Solicitor-General to a Judgeship. The 1,500,000/. is secured, and ail the patronage created by the legislation of last session is disposed of. While, therefore, Sir CHARLES BACOT'S Council is rather more heterogeneous than Lord SEDENHAM'S. it is very considerably less qualified to command a majo- rity in the Assembly. And there is this yet more important difference between the two cases—that while Lord SYDENHAM'S Parliamentary experience enabled him to be his ORR Prime Minister, and while Lord Join/ RUSSELL'S entire confidence in him gave him vast individual influence as the representa- tive of the Crown, Sir CHARLES BACOT has had no practice in party politics, and is supposed (the supposition being quite as bail as the fact) to be very far from free to do just what in his judgment would suit every exigency as it oc- curred, and still further from being sure of unhesitating and public approval at home let him do what he might. In only one respect is Sir CHARLES Manor's position better than Lord SrnEtwara's. The latter, as the vigorous promoter of the Union and partisan of the British in Lower &nada, would have found it very difficult, not to say impossible, to come to any terms with the French; who, I believe, would gladly come to terms with Sir CHARLES BACOT, as one unconnected with the not very pure work of carrying the Union by hook or by crook—as the first Governor who has made a French Canadian (the eminent M. VALLLERES DE Sr. REAL) Chief Justice of Montreal—as an organ of the Imperial power who is supposed to disapprove in his heart of the exclusion of the French from all share in the government of their country. The parties in the Assembly who, it is believed, will join in a vote of want of confidence in the present Government, are all the U. C. Tories, led by Sir ALLAN M‘N.tir ; all the French, led by M. LAFONTAINE ; a good many of the U. C. Reformers, who object to the balancing plan of putting an extreme Tory into the Council at the same time with an extreme Reformer, and to whom the real and weighty grievances of the French will be explained this session by English representatives of the French party, who have got into Parliament during the recess—these being led by Mr. ROBERT BALDWIN; some of the Loose Fish, whom Sir CHARLES BAGOT cannot bring himself to buy with a place ; and even some of the L. C. British. led by Mr. MOFFATT, who call the most unexceptionable appointment of M. VALLIERES a subjection of the pro- vince to French domination, and who because they can no longer have their own will upon the French, would be glad to see the Governor-General in such a mess as might by chance bring him under their influence. These would form a large majority, perhaps nearly six-eighths of the Assembly. The Governor-General might disregard each a vote, and let his Executive, supported by a minority, fight with the majority, as of old in these provinces. But as this would be returning to the plan of representation without its con- sequences—the plan of lighting the fire and stopping the chimney which should have carried off the smoke—I conclude that his Excellency would attend to the vote : and indeed, if he were otherwise disposed, there can be no doubt that his Government would be broken up by the resignation of those of his Council who are deeply pledged to the principle of a responsible executive. Attending to the vote, he might justifiably dissolve the Assembly, but not wisely ; for it is unquestionable that a general election would so add to the numerical force in the Assembly both of the U. C. Tories and of the L. C. French, especially the latter, as to increase the majority opposed to the present Government. It seems to follow, that the only means by which fatal collisions may be avoided, is by changing the character of the Council, either with or without a dissolu- tion, so as to bring it into harmony with the predominating public opinion of the United Province.

This might be done in either of two very different ways ; which I will endea- vour to compare with each other as impartially as if I had no predilection for either course.

It is understood by everybody here whose opinions deserve any attention, that the French Canadians have got what may be termed the casting-vote in the representation of United Canada. For this they should thank God ; for it is by this alone that, after the rebellion, they could have been spared from ex- termination by the rude hands of the British party. It shows that the Union, if worked in the spirit of justice, was calculated to protect the French from the evils of a perpetual warrare with the British in Lower Canada.. Under the Union, the French cannot be the majority, but they can give the majority to any other considerable party. This, their balancing power, is felt and acknow- ledged by all who really know mach about Canada politics. Influenced by a knowledge of this important power in the French, the IT. C. Tory leaders, among whom there are some men of great political experience and ability, have, ever since the middle of last session, contemplated a union between their party and the French. The conditions of the bargain would be very simple. "Let us unite," say the U. C. Tories, "so as to form a majority in the Assembly ; and then let us divide the Government of Canada between us, you taking the East and we the West." Nor is this scheme by any means impracticable. The two parties really agree upon many points,—as, for instance, in their dis- like of the Union, which would be practically almost set aside by the execu- tion of this sharing project ; in the reliance which both parties, if each had its own way in its own part of the province, would be disposed to place on sup- port from the Imperial connexion ; and in their common hatred of Lord &DENHAM'S name and Lord SYDENGAIR'S policy, of which last this would be the very antipodes. Supposing that the Governor-General should enter heartily into this scheme, forming an Executive Council out of the two parties, and not only consenting to a dissolution but allowing the influence of the Executive to be unscrupulously used in the general election I have no doubt that the Tories above and the French below would gain enough strength in the Assembly to constitute a working majority. It would certainly be a strange alliance in some respects, but more so in appearance than reality, if one re- flects that the natural position of the French on this Anglo-Saxon continent is dependence on the British Government for the protection of their race against the encroachments and cruelties of a forcible Anglifzcation ; and that the loud " loyalty" of the U. C. Tories really consists of a wish to be again dependent on the British Government for the means of having their own way in Upper Canada. So, after all that has been said and done of late about Radicalism and disaffection in Canada, it appears that a resolute Tory Go- vernor might form a Loyal Tory Administration resting on the support of the representative body. I have no doubt of it. But now let me point to certain not very remote consequences of such a course, the prospect of which can be agreeable to those only who desire a separation from England. Lord SYDENHAH'S policy being totally reversed— the Tories of U. C. and the French of L. C., as such, being patronized by the Imperial power and invested with legislative and executive power in their re- spective divisions of the province—the British of L. C., whose first sentiment Is a horror of " French domination," and the Reformers of U. C., who dread and hate the Tories, against whose exclusive rule in fact some of them rebelled, would join as one man for the purpose of overturning the new com- bination. And they would not be very particular about the means to be em- ployed for attaining their object. The British of L. C., speaking generally and allowing for exceptions, save as their desire to Anglify the French without mercy makes them cling to the British connexion as their best support in that Pursuit, are essentially a democratic people; self-willed, stiff-necked, deter- mined to have their own way, or at all events utterly incapable of submission to a state of things in which every thing would go the other way. The U. C. Reformers, though now, I believe, perfectly content with the British con- nexion, because they have got a share of the governing power, would be driven mad by a restoration of the old ascendancy of the minority. These two out- raged parties--the really Democratic minority of Lower Canada and the large

Democratic majority of Upper Canada—would become one party in opinion, in aim, and in desperation. And then would the foundation be laid of a truly formidable disaffection, nourished by a natural sympathy between Americans and the disaffected, from which I should expect rebellion and separation in less than half-a-dozen years. This is what I alluded to when I spoke of the danger of laying the foundation of serious though not immediate mischief.

The second course open to Sir CHARLES BdeOT is a combination which should unite the French of Lower Canada win. the Reformers of Upper Canada, giving the Government a majority of five-eighths at least in the pre- sent Assembly, or of six-eighths, if, as may fairly be done, we reckon several of the L. C. British Members who would fall into the arrangement, and most of the Loose Fish, who would go with any majority. This plan might be pur- sued moderately ; that is, by admitting the French, not, as in the case before supposed, to the whole power of Government in Lower Canada, but to a fair share—to such a share as would enable them to resist the unjust pretensions of the British race, but not to such a share as would convert them, Helots now, into the dominant race. Such a plan would have the entire approval of the U. C. Reformers ; many of whom are ashamed of having neglected the un- happy French and forgotten justice in pursuit of their own Upper Canada ob- jects, but would convert into supporters of the Government those of them who are now in opposition from sympathy with the French. Nor would the more moderate and estimable of the L. C. British party, who are more largely re- presented in the Assembly than the mere Anti-French bigots of their race, object to such an arrangement ; seeing that in their opinion it is the only one that holds out a prospect of tranquilhty for Canada, in whose prosperity they are deeply interested as merchants. The only parties who would object to such an arrangement are the IT. C. Tories and the brutal portion of the L. C. British. But it may be observed of the former, that Government might go on very comfortably in spite of their ill-will to the Executive, and that great numbers of them would soon be converted into supporters of a Government comfortably strong and likely to be permanent ; while the ruder and fiercer of the L. C. British would be taught some sense of justice and humanity towards the French, when it was seen that the Rome Government and the Assembly of United Canada were resolved on a policy of justice and humanity. The party most interested in such a combination are the now excluded_ French. I firmly believe that they would come into it. Although their pre- sent position is so bad, in consequence of their being excluded as a race from the protection and other benefits of government, as to excuse them from ally- ing themselves with their old enemies of the U. C. Family Compact, or with the Devil, yet their honour is engaged, by the sacrifices which Mr. ROBERT BALDWIN made for them last session, to stand by the U. C. Reformers; and they have, I think, more political honour than any other party in this country, as finding it more needful in their abject condition as a race, while they cannot he blind to the ultimate ruin for themselves which would happen through a disaffected union of the L. C. British and the U. C. Reformers, with an eye to help from the Anglifying Americana. I think that they would even be reason- able in their demands, not asking for more than might be properly granted, but provided always that the concessions were sufficient to prove the Governor- General in earnest. They have been so often taken in, that they may be par- doned for being very suspicious. In dealing with them, Sir CHARLES BACOT'S goodness of heart and total want of guile would be very serviceable to him.

Let us recapitulate. The present state of things cannot last over another month. The Assembly is sure to condemn the present Executive. It would be madness in the Governor-General to defy the Assembly. In order to get a majority of the Assembly to go along with him, Sir CHARLES Razor must needs adopt a policy and form a Council different from those of his predecessor. Two schemes present themselves to his choice. The one would be the greatest possible change from what now is ; the other but a partial change. Tile one would, ere long produce an extensive and the most formidable disaffection ; the other is a change recommended by justice, not likely to revolt the moderate of any party, and calculated to attach the vast majority to the Imperial con- nexion.

My predilection for the latter course is here avowed. I firmly believe that it is the only one by which Sir ROBERT PEEL'S Governor of United Canada can escape severe troubles ending in a conspicuous failure. His decision will have been made about a month hence, and before this letter can return to Canada printed in your columns.