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On a sudden, whether under the effect of momentary excitement, or in pursuance of a plan arranged beforehand, the mob proceeded to the House of Parliament where the members were still sitting, and breaking the windows set fire to the building and burned it to the ground. By this wanton act public property of considerable value, including two excellent libraries, has been utterly destroyed. Having achieved their object the crowd dispersed, apparently satisfied with what they had done. The members were permitted to retire unmolested, and no resistance was offered to the military who appeared on the ground after a brief interval, to restore order, and aid in extinguishing the flames. During the two following days a good deal of excitement prevailed in the streets, and some further acts of incendiarism were perpetrated. Since then the military force has been increased, and the leaders of the disaffected party have shown a disposition to restrain their followers, and to direct their energies towards the more constitutional object of petitioning the Queen for my recall, and the disallowance of the obnoxious Bill. The proceedings of the House of Assembly will also tend to awe the turbulent. I trust, therefore, that the peace of the city will not be again disturbed. The newspapers which I enclose contain full, and I believe pretty accurate, accounts of all that has occurred since Wednesday last.

11. The Ministry are blamed for not having made adequate provision against these disasters; that they by no means expected that the hostility to the Rebellion Losses Bill would have displayed itself in the outrages which have been perpetrated during the last few weeks is certain. Perhaps sufficient attention was not paid by them to the menaces of the opposition press. It must be admitted, however, that their position was one of considerable difficulty. The civil force of Montreal-a city containing about 50,000 inhabitants of different races, with secret societies and other agencies of mischief in constant activity-consists of two policemen under the authority of the Government, and seventy appointed by the Corporation. To oppose, therefore, effectual resistance to any considerable mob, recourse must be had in all cases either to the military or to a force of civilians enrolled for the occasion. Grave objections, however, presented themselves in the present instance to the adoption of either of these courses until the disposition to tumult on the part of the populace unhappily manifested itself in overt acts. More especially was it of importance to avoid any measure which might have had a tendency to produce a collision between parties on a question on which their feelings were so strongly excited. The result of the course pursued is, that there has been no bloodshed, and, except in the case of some of the ministers themselves, no destruction of private property.

12. The proceedings in the Assembly have been important. I enclose the copy of an address which has been voted to me by a majority of 36 to 16, expressive of abhorrence at the outrages which have taken place in the city of Montreal, of loyalty to the Queen, and approval of my just and impartial administration of the Government with my late as well as my present advisers. Some of the opposition approve of the course which I have taken with respect to the Rebellion Losses Bill, as appears from the speeches of Messrs. Wilson and Galt, of which reports are given in the newspapers which I enclose. Mr. Wilson is an influential member of the Upper Canada conservative party, and Mr. Galt's views are the more important, because he has been returned to Parliament only a few days ago by a Lower Canadian constituency which comprises a large British population. Generally, however, as the amendments they have moved to the address show, they desire to avoid committing themselves on this point. The votes against the Address may be thus classed: Sir A. M'Nab and his party; my late ministers and their party; and Mr. Papineau. The first acts with perfect consistency in voting as he has done on this question; for he has always contended that government conducted on British principles is unsuited to Canada. The course of the second class is less intelligible; for, until the day on which they resigned their offices into my hands, they uniformly expressed approval of the principles on which my

conduct as Governor-General was guided; and these, as your Lordship well knows, have undergone no change with the change of administration. Mi. Papineau's vote conveys a useful lesson which will not, I trust, be lost on persons who had been induced to believe that the persecution of which I am now the object is really attributable to my having shown undue lenity to those who were led by him into rebellion.

13. I have now furnished your Lordship with as clear a statement of these important occurrences as I can give, and I can conclude by assuring you that the city is perfectly tranquil, and that there is no present likelihood of a renewal of disturbances. A few days will show what echo the proceedings of the violent party awaken in Upper Canada, and to what extent they are followed by reaction. Meanwhile it is my firm conviction that if this dictation be submitted to, the government of this province by constitutional means will be impossible, and that the struggle between overbearing minorities, backed by force, and majorities resting on legality and established forms, which has so long proved the bane of Canada, driving capital from the province, and producing a state of chronic discontent, will be perpetuated. At the same time, I think that if I am unable to recover that position of dignified neutrality between contending parties which it has been my unremitting study to maintain, and from which I would appear to have been for the moment driven-not, as I firmly believe, through any fault of my own, but by the unreasoning violence oi faction-it may be a question with your Lordship whether it would not be for the interests of Her Majesty's service that I should be removed from my high office to make way for one who should not indeed hold views at variance with mine with respect to the duties of a constitutional Governor, but who should have the advantage of being personally unobnoxious to any section of Her Majesty's subjects within the province.

I have, etc.,

ELGIN AND KIncardine.

CLXVI

ELGIN TO EARL GREY

[Trans. T. Walrond, op. cit.]

Toronto, March 23, 1850.

Lord John's speech' on the colonies seems to have been eminently successful at home. It is calculated, too, I think, to do good in the colonies; but for one sentence, the introduction of which I deeply implore-the sting in the tail. Alas for that sting in the tail! I much fear that when the liberal and enlightened sentiments, the enunciation of which by one so high in authority is so well calculated to make the colonists sensible of the advantages which they derive from their connection with Great Britain, shall have passed away from their memories, there will not be wanting those who will remind them that, on this solemn occasion, the Prime Minister of England, amid the plaudits of a full senate, declared that he looked forward to the day when the ties which he was endeavouring to render so easy and mutually advantageous would be severed. And wherefore this foreboding? or, perhaps, I ought not to use the term foreboding, for really to judge by the comments of the press on this declaration of Lord John's, I should be led to imagine that the prospect of these sucking democracies, after they have drained their old mother's life-blood, leaving her in the lurch, and setting up as rivals, just at the time when their increasing strength might render them a support instead of a burden, is one of the most cheering which has of late presented itself to the English imagination. But wherefore then this anticipaiton-if foreboding be not

1 On February 8, 1850, Lord John Russell delivered a speech in the House of Commons in which he anticipated colonial independence, and stated that in making the colonies fit for such an event England would "have the consolation of saying that [she had] contributed to the happiness of the world."

the correct term? Because Lord John and the people of England persist in assuming that the Colonial relation is incompatible with maturity and full development. And is this really so incontestable a truth that it is a duty not only to hold but to proclaim it? Consider for a moment what is the effect of proclaiming it in our case. We have on this continent two great empires in presence, or rather, I should say, two great Imperial systems. In many respects there is much similarity between them. In so far as powers of self-government are concerned it is certain that our colonists in America have no reason to envy the citizens of any state in the Union. The forms differ, but it may be shown that practically the inhabitants of Canada have a greater power in controlling their own destiny than those of Michigan or New York, who must tolerate a tariff imposed by twenty other states, and pay the expenses of war undertaken for objects which they profess to abhor. And yet there is a difference between the two cases; a difference, in my humble judgment, of sentiment rather than substance, which renders the one a system of life and strength, and the other a system of death and decay. No matter how raw and rude a territory may be when it is admitted as a state into the Union of the United States, it is at once, by the popular belief, invested with all the dignity of manhood, and introduced into a system which, despite the combativeness of certain ardent spirits from the South, every American believes and maintains to be immortal. But how does the case stand with us? No matter how great the advance of a British colony in wealth and civilisation; no matter how absolute the powers of self-government conceded to it, it is still taught to believe that it is in a condition of pupilage from which it must pass before it can attain maturity. For one, I have never been able to comprehend why, elastic as our constitutional system is, we should not be able, now more especially when we have ceased to control the trade of our colonies, to render the links which bind them to the British Crown at least as lasting as those which unite the component parts of the Union. . .

One thing is, however, indispensable to the success of this or any other system of Colonial Government. You must renounce the habit of telling the Colonies that the Colonial is a provisional existence. You must allow them to believe that, without severing the bonds which unite them to Great Britain, they may attain the degree of perfection, and of social and political development, to which organised communities of free men have a right to aspire.

Since I began this letter I have, I regret to say, confirmatory evidence of the justice of the anticipations I had formed of the probable effect of Lord John's declaration. I enclose extracts from two newspapers, an annexationist, the Herald of Montreal, and a quasi annexationist, the Mirror of Toronto. You will note the use they make of it. I was more annoyed, however, I confess, by what occurred yesterday in Council. We had to determine whether or not to dismiss from his offices a gentleman who is both M.P.P., Q.C., and J.P., and who has issued a flaming manifesto in favour, not of annexation, but of an immediate declaration of independence as a step to it. I will not say anything of my own opinion on the case, but it was generally contended by the members of the Board, that it would be impossible to maintain that persons who had declared their intention to throw off their allegiance to the Queen, with a view to annexation, were unfit to retain offices granted during pleasure, if persons who made a similar declaration with a view to independence were to be differently dealt with. Baldwin had Lord John's speech in his hand. He is a man of singularly placid demeanour, but he has been seriously ill, so possibly his nerves are shaken-at any rate I never saw him so much moved. "Have you read the latter part of Lord J. Russell's speech?" he said to me. I nodded assent. "For myself," he added, "if the anticipations therein ex"pressed prove to be well founded, my interest in public affairs is gone for "ever. But is it not hard upon us while we are labouring, through good "and evil report, to thwart the designs of those who would dismember the "Empire, that our adversaries should be informed that the difference be"tween them and the Prime Minister of England is only one of time?

“If the British Government has really come to the conclusion that we are a "burden to be cast off whenever a favourable opportunity offers, surely "we ought to be warned."

I replied that while I regretted as much as he could do the paragraph to which he referred, I thought he somewhat mistook its import: that 1 believed no man living was more opposed to the dismemberment of the Empire than Lord J. Russell; that I did not conceive that he had any intention of deserting the Colonies, or of inviting them to separate from Eng land; but that he had in the sentence in question given utterance to a purely speculative, and in my judgment most fallacious, opinion, which was shared, I feared, by very many persons both in England and the Colonies: that I held it to be a perfectly unsound and most dangerous theory, that British Colonies could not attain maturity without separation, and that my interest in labouring with them to bring into full play the principles of Constitutional Government in Canada would entirely cease, if I could be persuaded to adopt it. I said all this, I must confess however, not without misgiving, for I could not but be sensible that, in spite of all my allegations to the contrary, my audience was disposed to regard a prediction of this nature, proceeding from a Prime Minister, less as a speculative abstraction_than as one of that class of prophecies which work their own fulfilment. I left the Council Chamber disheartened, with the feeling that Lord J. Russell's reference to the manhood of Colonies was more likely to be followed by practical consequences than Lamartine's famous "quand l'heure aura sonné" invocation to oppressed nationalities. It is possible, indeed, that I exaggerate to myself the probable effects of this declaration. Politicians of the Baldwin stamp, with distinct views and aims, who having struggled to obtain a Government on British principles, desire to preserve it, are not, I fear, very numerous in Canada; the great mass move on with very indefinite purposes, and not much inquiring whither they are going. Of oue thing, however, I am confident: there cannot be any peace, contentment, progress, or credit in this colony while the idea obtains that the connection with England is a millstone about its neck which should be cast off, as soon as it can be conveniently managed. What man in his senses would invest his money in the public securities of a country where questions affecting the very foundations on which public credit rests are in perpetual agitation; or would settle in it at all if he could find for his foot a more stable resting-place elsewhere? I may, perhaps, be expressing myself too unreservedly with reference to opinions emanating from a source which I am no less disposed than bound to respect. As I have the means, however, of feeling the pulse of the colonists in this most feverish region, I consider it to be always my duty to furnish you with as faithful a record as possible of our diagnostics. And, after all, may I not with all submission ask, Is not the question at issue a most momentous one? What is it indeed but this: Is the Queen of England to be the Sovereign of an Empire, growing, expanding, strengthening itself from age to age, striking its roots deep into fresh earth and drawing new supplies of vitality from virgin soils? Or is she to be for all essential purposes of might and power, Monarch of Great Britain and Ireland merely-her place and that of her line in the world's history determined by the productiveness of 12,000 square miles of a coal formation, which is being rapidly exhausted, and the duration of the social and political organization over which she presides dependent on the annual expatriation, with a view to its eventual alienization, of the surplus swarms of her born subjects? If Lord J. Russell, instead of concluding his excellent speech with a declaration of opinion which, as I read it, and as I fear others will read it, seems to make it a point of honour with the Colonists to prepare for separation, had contented himself with resuming the statements already made in its course, with showing that neither the Government nor Parliament could have any object in view in their Colonial policy but the good of the Colonies, and the establishment of the relation between them and the mother-country on the basis of mutual affection; that, as the idea of maintaining a Colonial Empire for the purpose of exercising dominion or dispensing patronage had

been for some time abandoned, and that of regarding it as a hot-bed for forcing commerce and manufacturers more recently renounced, a greater amount of free action and self-government might be conceded to British Colonies without any breach of Imperial Unity or the violation of any principle of Imperial Policy, than had under any scheme yet devised fallen to the lot of the component parts of any Federal or Imperial system; if he had left these great truths to work their effect without hazarding a conjecture which will, I fear, be received as a suggestion, with respect to the course which certain wayward members of the Imperial family may be expected to take in a contingency still confessedly remote, it would, I venture with great deference to submit, in so far at least as public feeling in the Colonies is concerned, have been safer and better.

You draw, I know, a distinction between separation with a view to annexation and separation with a view to independence. You say the former is an act of treason, the latter a natural and legitimate step in progress. There is much plausibility doubtless in this position, but, independently of the fact that no one advocates independence in these Colonies except as a means to the end, annexation, is it really tenable? If you take your stand on the hypothesis that the Colonial existence is one with which the Colonists ought to rest satisfied, then, I think, you are entitled to denounce, without reserve or measure, those who propose, for some secondary object, to substitute the Stars and Stripes for the Union Jack. But if, on the contrary, you assume that it is a provisional state, which admits of but a stunted and partial growth, and out of which all communities ought in the course of nature to strive to pass, how can you refuse to permit your colonies here, when they have arrived at the proper stage in their existence, to place themselves in a condition which is at once most favourable to their security and to their perfect national development? What reasons can you assign for the refusal, except such as are founded on selfishness, and are, therefore, morally worthless? If you say that your great lubberly boy is too big for the nursery, and that you have no other room for him in your house, how can you decline to allow him to lodge with his elder brethren over the way, when the attempt to keep up an establishment for himself would seriously embarrass him?

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Sir H. Bulwer spent four days with us, and for many reasons I am glad that he has been here. He leaves us knowing more of Canada than he did when he came. I think too that both he and Sir E. Head return to their homes re-assured on many points of our internal policy, on which they felt doubtful before, and much enlightened as to the real position of men and things in this province.

With one important truth I have laboured to impress them, and 1 hope successfully. It is this: that the faithful carrying out of the principles of Constitutional Government is a departure from the American model, not an approximation to it, and, therefore, a departure from republicanism in its only workable shape. Of the soundness of this view of our case I entertain no doubt whatever; and though I meet with few persons to whom it seems to have occurred (for the common belief of superficial observers is that we are republicanising the colonies), I seldom fail in bringing it home to the understanding of any intelligent person with whom I have occasion to discuss it. The fact is, that the American system is our old Colonial system with, in certain cases, the principle of popular election substituted for that of nomination by the Crown. Mr. Filmore stands to

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