ordered by the House to be printed; besides which, it has been copied and published in most of the newspapers.

"I accordingly submit to your Lordship my answer to this address, which you will perceive is written to meet the object, to which I well know it is intended to be applied; namely, to be circulated throughout the Canadas.”

This was pretty well for a beginning.

We now come to the point in Sir Francis Head's administration, the misrepresentation of which in Lord Durham's report, caused the publication of the "Narrative." It was that of the increase of the numbers of the "Executive Council." The facts, as stated by Sir Francis, are simply these:—

A few days after Sir Francis' arrival, he received a communication from the Executive Council, submitting to him the necessity of increasing their number; which, being composed of three individuals, was incompetent to form a quorum. After making every enquiry in his power, he became of opinion, that Mr. Robert Baldwin, advocate, a gentleman who had been already recommended by Sir John Colborne, for a seat in the Legislative Council, was the first individual he should select. Having come to this conclusion, he deemed it prudent to consult the chief justice, who was Speaker of the Legislative Council; Mr. Bidwell, the Speaker of the House of Assembly; and the then members of the Executive Council: and as all those gentlemen unreservedly approved of his appointment, he sent for Mr. R. Baldwin, and proposed to him to accept the same, with the addition of Mr. *who had already been recommended by his predecessor, and Dr. Rolph, who had also been recommended by Lord Goderich, as Solicitor-General of the province.

Mr. R. Baldwin, however, upon consulting with his friends, positively refused to take office, unless Sir Francis would consent to dismiss the three existing councillors. To this demand, the governor absolutely refused to comply, and Mr. Baldwin, finding it useless to resist, succumbed, and joined the Executive Council.

The three tory or old members, accordingly, were not dismissed as stated by Lord Durham. The following misrepresentations, however, are more important :

"Among the first acts of the Governor after the appointment of this council, was, however, the nomination to some vacant offices of individuals who were taken from the old official party, and this without any communications with his council. These appointments were attacked by the House of Assembly; and the new council, finding that their opinion was never asked upon these or other matters, and that they were seemingly to be kept in ignorance of all those public measures which popu'ar opinion, nevertheless, attributed to their advice, remonstrated privately on the subject with the governor. Sir Francis desired them to make a formal representation to him on the subject: they did so, and this produced such a reply from him, as left them no choice but to resign. The occasion of the differences which had caused the resignation, was made the subject of communication between the governor and the assembly, so that the whole community were informed of the ground of the dispute."

Sir Francis Head stigmatizes the whole of the above, as "a tissue of unintentional errors." The unpopular appointment to which Lord Durham in the plural number has alluded, was in favour of a new settler; it was made by him, not only by the advice, but solely at the suggestion of the leading members of his old council, before the three reformers were added to it. The causes which led to the resignation of these reformers, were as follows:

As soon as the addition of the reformers to the council was gazetted, universal joy was expressed by the radicals at the circumstance; and they sent in congratulatory addresses to the governor upon it. From certain clauses in these addresses, he became convinced, that an attempt was being made to pro

• We should like to know why Sir Francis Head does not give this gentleman's

name.

mulgate an error, which had long been artfully broached in this province; namely, that the Executive Council are responsible to the people for the acts of the lieutenant-governor.

The object of this smoothfaced, insidious doctrine, was at first to obtain for the council, merely responsibility; and, when that point was conceded, immediately to demand from the crown the power and patronage which has hitherto been invested in the lieutenant-governor.

As the addresses proceeded from places of no importance, his excellency replied to the personal congratulations on his arrival, with which they commenced, without taking any notice of the objectionable clauses; but, at the same time, he was perfectly aware of the very great danger that was brooding; and, expecting that it would sooner or later be brought before his notice, by an address from the House of Assembly, he determined that, the moment it assumed a tangible form, he would at once stand against it.

While he was thus in suspense, an attack was made upon him from a quarter, from whence he least expected it; namely, from the Executive Council itself, which, in a document signed by them all, declared that the popular doctrine was the law of the land; that the old practice had been unconstitutional; and that in case the governor was of a different opinion, the council, although sworn to secrecy, prayed to be allowed to communicate with the people. His excellency, on the receipt of this document, immediately informed the council, that they could not retain such principles and his confidence, and that they must consequently abandon either the one or the other. Upon receiving this reply, the six members of the council suddenly and simultaneously resigned; a majority of twenty-seven against twenty-one of the House of Assembly, very resolutely espoused their cause: all business in the House was suspended until Sir Francis' answer to their address had been received. A public meeting was called on the subject at Toronto; and the whole province was thrown for a short time into a state of very great excitement.

Thus it appears, that the new council who were only in Sir Francis Head's service a fortnight, never once remonstrated with him on the" nomination to some vacant offices of individuals, who were taken from the old official party," or on any other subjects, till he received their official documents, which emanated wholly from themselves, without his knowledge or suggestion. Lastly, the communication from the House of Assembly was from the assembly to the governor, not from the governor to it.

We cannot resist making the following extracts from Sir Francis B. Head's Book upon Lord Durham's Report.

"After impugning the characters of the lieutenant-governor, of the Executive Council, and of the members of the House of Assembly, Lord Durham, not satisfied with resting his grievances on them, humbly submits to her Majesty a new subject of complaint, which, throughout his report, is termed "THE FAMILY COMPACT.' 'Successive governors,' says his lordship, as they came in in their turn, are said to have either submitted quietly to its influence; or after a short and unavailing struggle to have yielded to this wellorganised party the conduct of affairs."

In a monarchcial form of government, like that of Upper Canada, composed of a legislature of three branches, one of which contains the sturdy representatives of the people, it would be difficult to apprehend how this fourth power could possibly manage to exist, unless the mystery had been thus explained by his lordship:

The bench, the magistracy, the high offices of the Episcopal Church, and great part of the legal profession, are filled by the adherents of this party : by grant or purchase they have acquired nearly the whole of the waste lands of the province; they are all-powerful in the chartered banks; and, till lately, shared among themselves almost exclusively all offices of trust and profit. The bulk of this party consists, for the most part, of native-born inhabitants of the colony, or of emigrants who settled in it before the last war with the United Sates; the principal members of it belong to the Church of England,

and the maintenance of the claims of the church has always been one of its distinguishingcharacteristics.'

"It appears, then, from Lord Durham's own showing, that this 'FAMILY COMPACT,' which his lordship deems it so advisable that the Queen should destroy, is nothing more nor less than that 'social fabric' which characterises every civilised community in the world. It is that social fabric or rather fortress, within which the British yeoman, farmer, and manufacturer, is enabled to repel the extortionate demands of his labourers, and to preserve from pillage and robbery the harvest of his industry after he has reaped it!

"The bench,' the magistrates,' 'the clergy,'' the law,' the landed proprietors,' the bankers, the native born inhabitants,' and the supporters of the Established Church,' form just as much a Family Compact' in England as they do in Upper Canada, and just as much in Germany as they do in England. If Lord Durham proposes not only to make the Legislature of Upper Canada responsible to what he calls the people,' but to level to the ground our social fabric, why, I ask, instead of dedicating his Report to her Majesty, did not his lordship, on his landing, at once summon a National Convention, and place it in the hands of the people'"

·

"It therefore becomes important to the country soberly to enquire from what sources his lordship's information has been derived? In the Report itself this important fact stands shrouded in mystery; for instead of resting his opinion, verbal or written, upon any recognised authorities; almost every assertion is impersonally expressed by the words 'it is said,' or 'it seems,' or 'it appears.' But I trust Lord Durham will eagerly divulge to parliament by whom it is said' to whom it seems, and to whom it appears.""

The last sentence in our opinion very nearly, exclusive of all other considerations, invalidates the whole Report.

We have said before, that the ministry merely selected Sir Francis Ilead to make a "cat's paw," of him. They did not want a governor-they wanted an instrument. They had no idea that the poor-law commissioner, and halfpay major of Romney Marsh, would presume to have a will of his own. They most likely calculated, that he would be too much dazzled by the splendour of the office, and much too frightened at losing a station in which he was dignified with the title of "Representative of his Majesty,"—and in which he was, nominally at least, invested with many of the royal functions, to offer any effectual opposition to their measures: but they found themselves mistaken. They soon found out that, by some unaccountable misfortune, they had got hold, in the half-pay major of Romney Marsh, of a man possessed of good sound common sense,-and one who considered it his duty to watch over the interests of the people committed to his charge.

States are like children-in their infancy they are weak, and incapable of "walking alone," they are obliged to lean for support upon some older country able and willing to defend them; but by little and little, as their population, their commerce, and their resources increase, they begin to throw off their nursery clothes, and demand privileges more extended; and still, as they progress, they contrive to throw off the shackles which the parent country has imposed upon them, until at last they declare they are able to do for themselves, that they are arrived at maturity and WILL BE INDEPENDENT. To this stage the Canadians are fast approaching. They are not yet quite strong enough to form a separate nation; but yet "a little while" and the time will come.

III. THE CORN LAWS.

THE Corn Law question has probably received its quietus in the House of Commons for the present session-perhaps for many years.

On Tuesday, March 13th, came on Mr. Villiers' motion. He contended that the corn laws had not worked well for the farmer. Since he had been a member of parliament, the sufferings of the farmer had been a constant theme of complaint. Three years after the corn laws passed, agricultural distress was thus described by the board of agriculture.-Obnoxious seizures, executions for

debt, farmers becoming paupers, great arrears of rent, improvements discontinued, live stock lessened, tradesmen's bills unpaid, general pauperism. These circumstances were expressed in language indicating extreme distress. During twenty years, there had been five committees sitting, on what had been termed the unparalleled distress of the agriculturists. He had looked into some of these reports, and some of these inquiries, and found that, four or five years after the first corn laws were passed, an inquiry was instituted into the sufferings of the agriculturist; and if he collected any thing from reading the report, it was this, that distress was referred to the corn law itself. In regard to our manufactures, he repeated, the corn law would have the effect of preventing English capital from leaving our shores; because, by increasing the demand for the agricultural produce of other countries, it would raise the price of labour abroad, and prevent the manufactures of those countries from having the advantage of superabundant labour and cheap food. It happened by a singular coincidence, that these restrictive laws were also a check upon the introduction of our manufactures into other countries. In Prussia, and the north of Europe generally, and also in America, our manufactures were all but excluded, in consequence of those laws. By the united league of the northern European states, our manufactures were also excluded; and it depended much upon whether we received their produce, how far the restrictive duties imposed in those countries with respect to our grain would be altered. If we took their timber and grain, we should produce the double effect of not only checking their manufactures, but also of inducing them to take ours. The limited states would have the choice, whether they would supply our market with agricultural produce, taking manufactures in return, or whether they would persevere in manufacturing their own fabrics. The advantages politically, as well as otherwise, of uniting the north of Europe and America in one common commercial bond, could not be easily estimated. No greater benefit could accrue to nations, than extending amongst them those relations, founded upon commercial interests.

Mr. Cayley in opposition to the motion, entered into large statistical details, and concluded with saying, that—

"To hear the language which was spoken by some who advocate the repeal of the corn laws, one would almost imagine that this isle of ours, in all its richness and beauty-the offspring of centuries, of British liberty energy and industry, had sprung into existence but yesterday-the creature and spawn of Manchester; that history was a fiction, and the monuments of the dead foresworn. What? was England not England in the time of our Edwards and our Harrys, of Cressy and Agincourt; in the days of Elizabeth and Burleigh, of Cromwell and Blake, of William and of Anne, of Marlborough and Blenheim, and of Chatham, of whom it is said, that not a gun could be fired in Europe without his permission? And was she relatively less respected or feared, less envied or admired than in these latter days, even of Wellington and Grey, of Russell and of Peel; in those days of frugal industry and sober earnings, and these of grinding competition, and iron-hearted philosophy and of a frigid and gambling hypothesis? The foreign trade, as an offset, is doubtless a most valuable adjunct to the resources of the state, while it continues innoxious to the interests of industry at home: but, Sir, I will not consent to place the whole exertions of employment of my countrymen on so insecure and treacherous a base as that of a foreign trade, daily, we are told, slipping from under our feet, and hourly at the mercy of the caprice and tyranny, the necessity of other powers. And who are the advisers of a policy like this? Those who declare they owe no allegiance to this soil. In the lists of their moral obligations they do, indeed, seem to have excluded gratitude for having been nurtured, fostered, even fondled into existence, at many a temporary sacrifice of those on whom they would now turn again to rend them. 'Owe no allegiance to the soil.' Sir, then far, far distant, aye, and cursed be the day, when they and their schemes will preponderate in our councils,-schemes which would place the welfare and happiness of our people on a foundation, to-day expanded to a world, to-morrow contracted to a point; reducing us to a condition of a pyramid inverted on its apex; vibrating, reeling, tottering to our fall; with no stability for our institutione, no protection for our poor. No, give me, the broad lands of England and Ireland, on which to

rest the solid and lasting fabric of our national greatness. Hold we and abide we by those who will hold and abide by us, rather than by those who boast of their power to fly from us, who are the tenants of a-day, and have no interest in the inberitance. Yes, sir, the land and labour of our country have thriven together for many a good long day, and, with God's blessing, they will yet again; yielding us the same symbols and the same fruits which they have heretofore developed; a happy, grateful, contented peasantry; a joyous, open-hearted yeomanry; a liberal and hospitable gentry; each in their plad degree, and through the wide ramifications of society and industry to which their influence extended, dispensing peace and good-will to all around them; and forming, in the close identity of interest which they exhibited, and in the high honour and devotion of character which they displayed, the noblest and strongest bulwark against external invasion and internal oppression that ever existed in any country."

Of the debate, on the 14th, we shall only notice the conclusion of Sir James Graham's eloquent speech::

"Repeal the Corn Laws, and what would be the condition of the country? If agriculture were not encouraged, every other interest must partake of the depression in a proportionate degree. The improvement of agriculture depended on the increased demand for production; but by turning arable land into pasture or grass land, the effect would be a displacement of labour, which would diminish the demand for manufactures. He could not, without a feeling of the deepest appre hension, contemplate the dire calamities that must spring from the change. It would lead to want, discontent, tumults, and, he feared, insurrection itself," "Ob!" but said honourable gentlemen opposite, "All that we propose by the change is the diversion of capital into different channels." "The real object was attempted to be concealed, by the mask of technical terms common to political economists; but," continued the right honourable baronet, "we can penetrate the mass of sorrow and suffering that lies concealed beneath these gently-flowing phrases. It is impossible to calculate upon the evils which such a change must bring it about. I view it not alone as a question of political economy, but as one that must operate most prejudicially against the labouring classes. In place of answering to the breezy call of incense-breathing morning, he will wake to the sound of the factorybell. The quiet grove and the green field will be exchanged for the dark garretthe rural sabbath for the pestilence of congregated towns. Where are now your moralists? Where now are your philanthropists? You denounce as tyrannical and oppressive the banishment of the Poles to the Siberian desart; but you are willing to consign your own countrymen to more intolerable exile. You would make England the workshop of the world! If you consent to this, I agree in the opinion of my noble friend, Lord Ashburton, that England is the last country I should wish to inhabit; and I concur with Lord Melbourne, that the year of the change would be worse than the change itself."

On the 4th day of the discussion (March 16), Sir Robert Peel shewed, from official documents, that the manufacturing interests of this country were on the advance, and its commercial activity rising. Then as to the point of profits, Sir R. Peel contended that in consequence of the increased skill of the manufacturer, and the diminution in the price of the raw article, there ought to be a reduction in the expense, and that this should be coincident with not so large a scale of profit as hitherto was reasonable to suppose, in the manufactured article. e. g. In the year 1782, cotton-manufactured twist had exceeded the cost of the raw material only by twenty shillings in the pound. It now, however, received the price of the raw material only by one shilling and sixpence; and, taking into account the diminution in the value of the article from twenty shillings to ninepence, and if they found that in any market the price of cotton manufactured goods had declined, they should not attribute it to increase in the price of labour; but should consider that it was in consequence of the improvement in machinery, and the advancement in the mechanical skill of the manufacturers. Again, the price of the raw material in 1812, was two shillings,-in 1830, it was only tenpence-in the former year the amount of the labourers' wages per diem, had been eighteen pence, while in the latter it had been only one shilling. Nor was more now required from the lahourer, but, on the contrary, less; beside the wages for man woman and child is at this moment one shilling and eightpence per day.