8 MAY 1841, Page 1

Another step has been made towards the consummation of the

union of the two Canadas. A majority in favour of the Union has been secured by the elections just completed for the new provincial Parliament ; but a fearful price has been paid for the advantage. The elections have in several places been marked by atrocious violenees ; in several places blood has been shed ; here and there the polling-place has been defended or besieged by organized bands of armed partisans ; and, according to the allegation, whole districts have foregone the exercise of the franchise through mortal terror. All parties are implicated in these outrages ; even the Governor is not free from a strong suspicion of most culpable conduct. It is shown, on the official evidence of his own Secretary's letters, that he has actively interfered in election matters„Auking the privilege of his office to coerce voters whose empletila_trtCtuaer Government placed them within his power : it is p? tptivICthittle took any precautions whatever to secure the inErktetnisice of the law during the excitement of a general electio‘bflt lirovince so recently distracted by rebellion and civil war ; thong,h'fie imist have known, that the very attempt to " swamp " the :French majority in Lower Canada would necessarily revive for a time, with as much

bitterness as ever, the prejudices and jealousies of race. The consequence is, that a large proportion, no fewer than eight or nine members out of the eighty-four of the new Parliament, are returned under protest. The disallowance of their election would greatly emperil the majority which Lord SYDENHAM has gained ; or, if all the returns be finally made good, the fact of such a wholesale dispute of the validity of election may prevent that implicit trust which ought to be reposed in the new Legislature. Lord SYDENHAM cannot have meant to create all these disturbances; he may be very much shocked that they should have happened: but when he turned the influence of the Colonial throne to electioneering purposes, he should have remembered that the same guns might be brought to the hustings which were lately levelled in battle, and that the once aroused passions of the people would not be readily subdued to a pitch of decorum in order to screen official transgressions and intrigues. "Pew" seems in a sorry plight, notwithstanding his Peerage.