THE STATE OF THE COLONIAL OFFICE, AND OF THE CANADA
QUESTION.
THE Bumbureaueracy of " Tliis Office " are beginning to take heart. Lord NORMANDY has been Colonial Minister for a fort- night, and is still subject to King STEPHEN. The Over-Secretary was to have gone, it is said, with GLENELG and GREY, but is now retained, because Ministers are afraid of giving the appearance of a triumph to Sir FRANCIS WRONGHEAD. ThIS is so much of a piece with the feebleness and cowardice of the present Government, that it may well be believed. But, at all events, there is to be no interruption of that wretched system which, let who may become the Parliamentary Secretary for the Colonies, leaves the permanent Under-Secretary virtually chief of the department, and maintains the even tenor of Colonial misgovenunent. Lord DumfAses Report has but frightened the fixed and all-influential underlings. They know that the profound impression made by that document, cannot, on account of the foreign nature of its subject, last very long•i they trust that Lord NORMANDY wants the self-reliance for which the public gave him credit ; and they naturally rejoice, in the secret recesses of the Office, at the prospect of maintaining their supre- macy over a succession of nominal chiA and the Colonial empire of England. That prospect is, on the whole, very favourable. Lord NOR- MANDY, it may now be fairly presumed, does not intend to make any important changes in the department over which he nominally
presides. Reform beginning in Downing Street itself, is not to be expected. There is at present but one other means by which our system of Colonial misrule might be corrected,—namely, by such legislation for the future government of Canada as would protect that colony from the evils of Colonial Office meddling, and so, by the way of example, gradually procure for other colonies the ad- vantages of local self-government. But of this there really appears little chance. On the contrary, many circumstances indicate that the Canada question will be treated, whenever it shall at length be discussed in Parliament, with a view to English party objects chiefly, and with scarcely any reference to the interests of the colony. A
correspondent wonders that Lord DIMITAM'S plan, as laid down in
his Report, has not yet been even alluded to by any num of either party in either House of Parliament. We are by no means sur-
prised at it. Both parties really care nothing about Canada ; and each of them being wholly intent on its own party objects, is wait- ing to learn what course the other will pursue with respect to this question. In this as in most other cases which require legislation, each party is bent only on thwarting and disparaging the other; and the result will probably be, as in so many more cases, either nothing or nothing good. Nothing, or nothing good in legislation, is the natural consequence of equality between two hostile parties. This we believe to be a correct general view of the subject.
If we go into particulars, the prospect will not be found more satisfactory.
The Opposition will probably take care that the Government shall be the first to propose a measure for the settlement of Cana- dian affairs. In doing this, the Government must pursue one of two courses : it must either frame its plan so as to avert Tory opposition,—which would be in accordance with the general course of Lord MELBOURNE'S Administration,—or it must propose effi- cient reform of the Canadian Government with a view solely to giving satisffiction in the colony. In the former case, there will be no settlement of Canadian affairs, but the disorganization thereof and the discontent of the colonists will be greater than ever. In the latter case, the Canada question must become the point on which English polities will turn. The latter case seems the more probable of the two. In the face of Lord DURHAM'S Report, _Ministers will hardly venture to propose that there shall be it domi- nant church in Canada. In that ease, their measure will surely be rejected by the Lords, if not by the Commons : and then Lord MELBOURNE wilLhave to decide between resignation and submis- sion to the Tories. Some think that Lord JOHN RUSSELL, la least, will rather retire than adopt the Tory view of a church establish- ment in Canada ; and in that case the Government would be broken up. Perhaps this is the event most to be desired for Canadian interests ; just as there can now be no real doubt amongst Reform- ers, whatever some of them may still say to the contrary, in private, that, with a view to good legislation generally, a Tory dovernment, influenced by a Reforming Opposition, would be infinitely preferable to the present "Reform Government" controlled and guided by a Tory Opposition.
Meanwhile, all sorts of intrigues are on foot to counteract the influence of Lord Duanam's disclosures. Colonial officials, absent from their posts, are writing in the newspapers in defence of the "Family Compact" of Upper Canada. Some of the Canada lumber- men in the City, pretending to represent the colony, but really trembling for their monopoly, which is of no value to those who deserve the name of colonists, are very busy in framing bills and resolutions, and pestering Members of both Houses with their nar- row-minded importunity. A certain clique of Tories, with the aid - of absentee Colonial officials, are also said to be engaged in pre- paring a scheme of settlement to be brought forward in case of
need against that of the Ministers. Partisans of Lord MELBOURNE do not hesitate to sneer at Lord Duannses recommendations. Others might be named who have a finger in this mess. Lord NORMANDY and Mr. LABOUGHBRE cannot be better qualified to deal with this subject, than any other two men of common intelligence who have read Lord DURHAM'S Report. And the Bumbureau- cracy confidently bide their time.
A pleasant commentary on this description of the state of the Canada question has just been received, in the shape of tm account of a great increase of revenue during last year in Lower Canada. That revenue is chiefly derived from duties of customs. It in- creases, notwithstanding rebellion, civil war, and a general stagna. tion of ordinary industry and trade. But how ?—It increases by means of an extraordinary outlay for military purposes. One half of the colonists are paid by England to keep the other half in order. We expend two millions on garrison government; and a portion of this suni finds its way to the customhouse in the form of duties on customable goods consumed by regulars, militia, and. volunteers. "We are all soldiers, and shall want bread next year," says a settler, whom Lord DURHAM recently quoted in the • House of Lords ;* but the revenue increases ! It will soon be boasted too, that our exports to Canada arc increasing; for a large part of the Government remittances to the colony must go out in the form of goods. But this mode of augmenting our exports and the Colonial revenue, is not the worst part of the affair. Garrison government is becoming habitual to the colonists ; and they will not readily part with their military pay. It is to be feared that, in order to preserve and augment it, they may successfully endeavour to involve this country in a war with the United States. Nothing would surprise us less than to hear of some event which had re- vived American "sympathy " and rendered war inevitable. Then, indeed, would England pay dearly for having had a Colonial Office to harass and disorganize distant provinces. The Duke of WEL. LINGTON and Sir ROBERT PEEL did their best on the first day of the session, to provoke an American war; and they have been admirably seconded by the Tory press. Surely it were better for England that the Tories should be in office, and therefore respon- sible for their doings, than that the hands of a sham Reforming Govermnent should be palsied by the control of an irresponsible Tory Opposition.
* Spectator, 16th February, p. 152.
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