NEWS OF THE WEEK.
FURTHER news of the civil war in the Canadas has been rec!ived since our last publication. The tenour of this intelligence is ad- verse to the insurgents: For the present, the rebellion has been checked; though the announcement of the Ministerial journals, that the war is virtually at an end, is at least premature. The last official accounts from Montreal are dated the 13th Decem- ber. On the morning of that day, Sir JOHN COLBORNE marched from Montreal against the Canadians stationed at Grand-Bru16. His force consisted of three regiments of infantry, a strong body of artillery with six guns, and a considerable volunteer force, both horse and foot. Another body of volunteere was to march upon the rear of the insurgents; of whose speedy and total defeat not the slightest doubt was enter Montreal, although it was also expected thaiLL,v woul vd." The next acconnv.. pra:atlity iiiii171a, 7, , is 'expedition. In .b.• o ant.
while, it is manifest, from the heavy force employed against the insurgents, that, in the opinion of Sir JOHN COLBORNE, the ser- vice he was employed upon was serious, and required extraordi- nary preparation.
As yet, there are no authentic accounts of the outbreak in Vpper Canada. It seems tolerably clear, however, that MacitoN- ma's party did not actually enter Torouto, but approached within about two miles of it. An engagement there certainly was be- tween the insurgents and the Orange volunteers, who rallied round Sir FRANCIS Haan: It is equally certain that it termi- nated in the dispersion of the former, who took refuge in the woods; MACKENZIE himself, with five other leaders of the movement, escaping to Buffalo, in the United States. According to the Loyalists, their loss was only two men killed; but a well-accre- dited correspondent of the Morning Chronicle, writing from King- ston in Upper Canada, gives the affair a more serious colouring. MACKENZIE'S attack upon Toronto, he says, " led to bloodshed en both sides : a Colonel Moony, a veteran officer of the 104th, was killed on the spot; and various others made prisoners by them ; among the latter, Colonel CAMERON, who has been through all the Peninsular wars, and Colonel Wel.r.s." Several other gentlemen were also taken prisoners. Whether they were after- wards released by the Loyalists, or are still held by the incur- gents,—whether the latter hose been entirely dispersed, or still hold together in any considerable numbers,—are interesting points on which at present there is no certain information. It would be good policy in the insurgents to keep distinguished pri- 6:ntern, if p(issible, as hostages for the safety of Dr. WOLFRED NELSON and others, whom the Government troops are said to have made prisoners in Lower Canada.
Although the struggle is not over, vet it is apparent that the insurgents have been severely worsted. - Their leaders are either in prism.), or fugitives in the United States ; and if, as is most probable, Sir Jonsr COLBORNE has been victorious at Grand-Bre1(., the insurrection will scarcely assume any bead for some time to .come; though, doubtless, a desultory warfare, harassing and expeu-ive to the Loyalists, may' be continued. The outbreak was prentature, and the leaders of the Canadians were unprepared for a military movement. The arrest of several distinguished ruembers of the Liberal party provoked the people to rise against the Government ; which in the mean time has proved too strong far them.
• But it is necessary to distinguish present Military results from ultimate or permanent consequences. For the proofs of a deep- rooted antipathy to the British system of government in the Canada*, we are not left to vague conjectures or loose authorities. 1 he correspondenee hetween the Colonial Ql heeand Lord G woman, just published by order of the House of Commons, shows that the rebellion was the inevitable consequence of misrule acting upon a spirited and sensitive people. When Lord GOSEORD want to Canada iu 1835, a disposition on the part of the Canadians to- conciliation existed. The discovery that the mission was one of cajolery rather than justice, first disgusted and then inflamed the people, more than the resolute and consistent tyranny of Tory Governors, who always avowed their determination to uphold the supremacy of " British interests." Lord Goomon's instructions were to de the saute thing under the cover of Liberalism, and the pretence of extending equal rights to all. As soon as the Canadians discovered the cheat, they formed a determination to which they have since adhered, of placing no re- liance on the most solemn promises or plausible professions of Colonial officials. The course of the Government and the Assembly of Lower Canada, from that time to the outbreak of the insurrection, was one of mutual recrimination. The pretence of reined) Mg a deep-seated grievance by partly altering the Com- position of the Executive and Legislative Councils, augmented the popular contempt and hatred of the Government : for it was seen at once that the predominance of the representatives of the minority was still maintained in those assemblies. It was just at the time when Lord GOSFORISE Government had become most odious, that Lord Joon Russor.a's resolutions were promul- gated. Lord GOSFORD, amiable and easy man! anticipated no mischief from these arbitrary decrees. His correspondence with the Colonial Office shows, that two years' experience of the cha- racter of the men he had to deal with was lost upon him. To within about a month of the time when the Canadians actually took arm:[, he fondly dreamed that they were loyal to the b ick- bone. Like his aristocratic friends at borne, he could riot be- lieve that a people really felt " theoretical grievances:" he acted like good-natured country gentleman, and a most simple Gosroiw and GLENELG correspondence, illustrated by !SOWS 'ea events, ought to convince Parliament, that no merely violent or tel:pornry remedy will avail to put down the spirit of insurrection in the Canadas. As long as the ceuses of discontent exist, the insurrectionary spirit will not he laid. This it is which constitutes the main difficulty of the Canadian question. To hold Montreal and Quebec, and maintain a nominal sovereignty in Lower Canada by means of garrisons, requires only a certain num- ber of soldiers; but to construct a wise system for the future good government and welfare of the province as a colony of Great Bri- tain,—and not of Lower Canada alone, but all our colonies in North America—demands a higher degree of statesmanship than the Whig Ministers, or their probable successors in office, are likely to exhibit.
