Lord Carnarvon brought up the question of our relations with
the American Colonies on Monday. In a very temperate but telling speech he sought to prove that the Colonial Office, in devolving on the Government of Ottawa new and heavy responsi- bilities, in withdrawing all British troops, and in allowing Ottawa to assume a kind of position in diplomacy—settling fishery questions, for example—is acting on a settled purpose or desire to induce the Dominion to withdraw from her connection with Great Britain. We have remarked on the debate elsewhere, but must add here that after Lord Granville had in the airiest manner denied everything, Lord Monck, late Governor-General of Canada, declared that in his opinion, as in that of the late Sir G. C. Lewis, this country would be better off without the self-governing colonies. That is an ominous speech, Sir G. C. Lewis's writings being to a certain number of Whigs what those of the Early Fathers are to Anglicans, com- ments almost as sacred as their text. So also was the speech of Lord Lyveden, who, though scarcely a statesman himself, has a trick of thinking as Whig statesmen think, and who evidently would be rejoiced by a separation.
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