OPINION IN CANADA.
IThe following passages from a letter just received by Mr. Tennyson from a Canadian of some literary mark, will, we think, interest our readers. They describe very clearly the suspicion • Thirteen Satires of Juvenal, svith a Commentary. By John E. B. Mayor, MA. Second Edition, enlarged. London: Macmillan.
t Flagellation asul the Flagdlants : a History of Me Rod in all Countries. By the Rev. W. 51. Cooper, B.A.. London: John C.1.1111C11 Holton. and hatred which are gradually growing up under Lord Granville's colonial policy.—En. Spectator.] "The recent speeches of certain English statesmen and the tone of an influential portion of the Press favouring the idea of an eventual, if not an early, separation of the North American Pro- vinces from the Empire, wring the hearts of Canadians with a feeling that you can farm no conception of in England. At present, that feeling is all one of regret, mitigated by a wilful disbelief in the possibility of England's dotage and decrepitude to that extent that her people would, without reason or necessity, break up the immense Empire which it has been her aim and policy for centuries to acquire. Ere long that feeling of regret now prevailing in Canada at this policy, which is getting in fashion among " advanced " statesmen in England, may, by a natural rebound, turn to indignation at the threatened cowardly abandon- ment of the Colonies,—the end of which would be fatal to English supremacy here and elsewhere.
"They know human nature very ill, at least I can vouch for Canadian nature, who think that England can shrink from her duties in connection with her Colonies, and make aliens of their inhabitants, and at the same time preserve their respect and affection.
"The result of an abandonment of the North American Colonies would not be their independence (that is a chimerical idea, cherished in England, but ridiculed here), but their immediate annexation to the United States, and the transfer of the maritime supremacy of the world from England to her most implacable enemy and rival. For if there be one idea more than another that predominates in the great Republic on our border, it is a desire and a purpose to humiliate England and take her high place among the nations, and above all, to transfer to America the dominion of the seas. That maritime supremacy will be gained at one stroke by the transfer of the marine of Canada (which stands the third in extent in the world) from the British flag to the American. Moreover, the most loving and faithful subjects our Queen has would resent that abandonment, until it would be seen that even
American against England would be a trifle to that engen- dered here, in the hearts of those who naturally are her dearest and most devoted SODS.
"It is for England to count the cost of those delusive and dan- gerous theories that are cropping up in her midst. Those theories appear so monstrous to the people of Canada, that as yet we wilfully shut our eyes and will not see them,—as Sham and Japhet turned their backs upon the shame of their father. We say to one another, "These are only the ideas of a few visionaries. The people of England will never be so insanely untrue to themselves, and to us." And so we wait and wait for the turn of the tide, and a change in the aspect of the times. •
"Still the public mind is deeply stirred, and is in that mood to be suddenly roused to action. A few false moves in England might be the spark in the powder-magazine that will blow our whole empire to fragments.
"Oh, that there were some visions in the dear old land ! and that Mr. Gladstone could read with full understanding the words of David, "Thou sellest thy people for nought, awl dust not in- crease thy wealth by their price "! Why do I say these things to you, Sir? Because I know that you are a true Englishman, who will not scorn a few words from a loyal Canadian on this momentous topic.
"Excuse, pray, this jeremiad. I never had the honour of writing to you before—I may never do so again—I detest politics as a rule, I do not even write this to enlighten you on Canada, that I am sure were needless, and I hardly know why I have allowed my pen to trace these lines, except to give utterance to the anxious thoughts that are being forced into the minds of even the quielot people of these colonies by the late declarations of English statesmen."
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