XXXVII. 1838. authority should be respected, the moral influence of CHAP. government was enfeebled by the existence of perpetual strife between the powers that ought to have afforded each other mutual support. No state of affairs could be imagined less favourable to the extinction of national animosities, and to the firm establishment of the gentle Lord Eland benignant control of those liberal institutions which patch, it is England's pride and privilege to bestow upon her § 66. children." 1 1 gin's Des Dec. 1854, 114. of democra But in truth there is more in the case than even these eloquent words convey; and it may with safety be Adaptation affirmed, not only that a popular form of government is cy to new the one best adapted to rising colonial settlements, but colonies. that it is the one indispensable to their growth and prosperity. There is no example in the history of mankind of a despotic government having formed real colonies, or of those offshoots of civilisation ever attaining a robust growth but under practically republican institutions. The colonies of Greece and Rome were as numerous and prosperous in ancient times, as those of Great Britain and Holland have been in modern; but colonisation died away under the imperial sceptre; it has never proceeded from the despotisms of the East; and though France and Spain have made brilliant colonial conquests, they have never founded real colonies. The reason is, that the warfare of man in infant colonies is with the desert or the forest, not with the property or influence of his neighbours, which is what in after times renders a strong and real government indispensable. The energy and independence which make him penetrate the woods, render him confident in himself and impatient of the control of others; the submission and contentment which are essential to the peace of aged society, are fatal to its commencement in those solitary regions. Self-government is the want of man in such circumstances, because isolation is his destiny, and plenty his accompaniment. The government of others becomes necessary in later times, because he is surrounded CHAP. by numbers, and the abundance of rude has been sucXXXVII. ceeded by the privations of civilised life. 1838. 115. Recent growth of rity, and opposite the United States. It is the more evident that the popular government, which has succeeded the rebellions and union of the prothis prospe- vinces in Canada, has been eminently favourable to the development of its energies and resources, that its precondition of sent extraordinary prosperity is of recent growth, and has chiefly arisen since its establishment. Twenty years ago the case was just the reverse; and the backward condition and neglected natural riches of Canada presented a strange and mortifying contrast to the opposite condition. of the adjoining provinces of the United States, which attracted the notice of every traveller. The superiority of the condition of our republican neighbours," said Lord Durham in 1838, "is perceivable throughout the whole extent of our North American territory. Even the ancient city of Montreal will not bear a comparison with Buffalo, a creation of yesterday. There is but one railroad in all British North America-that between Lake Champlain and the St Lawrence-and it is only fifteen miles long. The people on the frontier are poor and scattered, separated by vast forests, without towns or markets, and almost destitute of roads, living in mean houses, and without apparent means of improving their condition. On the American side, on the other hand, all is activity and bustle. The forest has been widely cleared; every year numerous settlements are formed, and thousands of farms created out of the waste. The country is intersected by common roads; canals and railroads are finished, or in course of formation. The observer is surprised at the number of harbours on the lakes, and the multitude of vessels they contain; while bridges, artificial landing-places, and commodious wharves, are formed in all directions as soon as required. Good houses, mills, inns, warehouses, villages, towns, and even great cities, are almost seen to spring out of the desert. Every village has its school-house and place of public worship; every 1 XXXVII. 1838. Lord Dur town has many of both, with its township buildings, book- CHAP. stores, and probably one or two banks and newspapers; and the cities, with their fine churches, great hotels, great exchanges, court-houses, and municipal halls of stone and marble, so new and fresh as to mark the recent existence port; Ann. Reg. 1838, of the forest where they now stand, would be admired in 341. any part of the world." 1 ham's Re state of the pro vinces at What a contrast does this graphic description present 116. to the present condition of the British provinces of North Opposite America! The picture drawn in 1838 by Lord Durham British ho of the American shore, might pass for a faithful portrait this time. of the British at present. Individual enterprise has been fostered by public encouragement; magnificent undertakings by Government have formed the arteries of prosperity through the State; and the forest has, in an incredibly short space of time, under the influence of such stimulants, yielded its virgin riches to the efforts of laborious man. Where, twenty years ago, only one railway, fifteen miles long, existed, thirteen millions of British capital have now been expended on railway communication; a vast system of internal lines renders commerce alike independent of the obstacles of nature and the hostility of man; and a gigantic bridge, rivalling the greatest works of antiquity, is about to attract all future generations to the romantic shores of the St Lawrence. Nor have these generous aids from the Government and riches of the mother country been thrown away upon an ungrateful people. Political divisions have in a great measure ceased in that prosperous land; even the rancour of religious hostility has been, comparatively speaking, appeased; loyalty to the British throne, attachment to the British connection, have become universal. During the darkest periods of the Russian war, the Canadians stood faithfully by our side; they subscribed generously to the Patriotic Fund, intended to alleviate the distresses with which it was accompanied; they offered battalions of volunteers to share our dangers, and the fall of Sebastopol was cele XXXVII. 1838. CHAP. brated with greater enthusiasm in Quebec and Montreal than either in London or Dublin. These unequivocal proofs of undiminished loyalty in this noble portion of the British people, encourages the pleasing hope that the bonds which unite them to the mother country may be long, very long of being severed; that the advantages of real self-government may, in their case, be united with the chivalrous feelings of attachment to the throne; that mutual benefit may perpetuate an union commenced from a sense of mutual dependence; and that, when at length it comes, as come it will, from the greatness of the younger State, to be dissolved, it may not be violently severed, but insensibly wear away, like the sway of parental authority in an united family, and melt INTO A per PETUAL AND INDISSOLUBLE ALLIANCE. * It is painful to be obliged to add that the statesman to whose wisdom and firmness, more than that of any other single individual in existence, this marvellous progress is to be ascribed, and whose suggestions were all embodied in the constitution and union of the provinces which have finally given peace to Canada, fell a victim to the efforts he had made on behalf of his country. To remarkable talents, which his report on Canada unequivocally demonstrates, Lord Durham united the magnanimity and lofty spirit which form an essential part in the heroic character. Unfortunately he possessed also the love of approbation and sensitiveness to blame which are the predominant features in the female disposition. He was impatient of contradiction, and irritable when thwarted; and those failings, which in ordinary life would scarcely have been observed, proved fatal to him on the stormy eminence on which he was ultimately placed. His mortification at the disallowance of his ordinances was extreme, and it preyed upon a constitution naturally weak, to such a degree as to bring him to an untimely grave. He was busily engaged with his official duties to the very last, and the night before his departure he drew up an important proclamation relative to squatters on the crown-lands. Thousands accompanied him to the quay when he embarked, and every eye strained after the vessel-the Inconstant-as it made its way down the river in the gloom of a Canadian snow-storm. He landed at Plymouth, on December 1st, without any honours, by the special orders of Government, who sent down a special messenger to prohibit them; but he was amply indemnified by the respect paid to him by the people, and the tokens of respect and confidence given him during his journey to London. Lady Durham, Earl Grey's daughter, immediately resigned her situation in the Queen's household; but the ingratitude of his party made no difference in the political sentiments and conduct of her husband, who was consistent to the last. But his race was run-his heart was broken; and he died on 28th July 1840, the victim of ingratitude from a party on whom he had conferred the most essential services.-Ann. Reg. 1840; Chron. 173. MARTINEAU, ii. 390, 391. XXXVII. 1838. 117. state of the dies, and tice System. Canada was not the only portion of the British CHAP dominions which was convulsed during the disastrous years 1838 and 1839. The WEST INDIES also shared in the convulsion; and so great was the discontent Disturbed there, that it was prevented only by absolute impotence West Infrom breaking into open rebellion. The apprentice failure of system, as had been predicted by all really acquainted the Appren with the circumstances, had entirely failed in practice, and produced, instead of quiet and contentment, a degree of irritation on all sides, which had now risen to such a height as rendered its abandonment indispensable. It could not possibly be otherwise. The negroes thought they had been really emancipated by the Imperial Legislature, and that the full fruition of their rights was only prevented by the selfish conduct of the planters and local parliaments; hence continual contention and discord. The negroes could be made to work in many cases only by actual compulsion; and such was their aversion to this supposed invasion of their rights, that more stripes were inflicted by the police magistrates during the freedom of the apprentice system than had been done during the reality of slavery. These melancholy tidings speedily reached Great Britain, and revived the public agitation in all its intensity. Public meetings were held on all sides, in which the immediate and entire abolition of slavery was loudly demanded. Government gave proof of their belief in the reality of these evils; for they introduced, in the early part of 1838, a bill "to give full effect to the intent and meaning of the Act for the abolition of slavery;" and its provisions show how little had hitherto been gained for the cause of humanity by the emancipation of which so much had been said. It declares" that it shall no longer be lawful to place any female apprentice on a treadmill, or on the chain of a penal gang of Parl. Deb. any parish, or to punish any female apprentice by whip- 1279; Ann. ping or beating her person, or by cutting off her hair, for 345. any offence by her committed." 1 The bill contained also xlvi. 1243, Reg. 1838, VOL. VI. 2 A |