THE FRENCH CANADIANS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SPECTATOR.

LARBitilL Val November 1833.

SIR—In a letter film Mr. Roeucce to yourself, which you published on the 10th instant, it is a...elect', on the authority of Mr. LAFONTAINE end 11Ir. DA VIGNON, than I wes employed by Lord DURHAM to negotiate with Mr. PAPINEAU Mr. ROEBUCK says—" An agent, well known to be employed by Lord Durham. Administration, who is actually and openly in communication with his Chief Secretes y, and who also foi sally reports his proceedings—this man is sent to Mr. Pepineau, the denow.ced traitor, in older to devise plans for the reestablishment of the constitution and the arrangement of the affairs of the province so nie to content the people." Mr. ROEBUCK h is been grossly imposed upon. This statement does not contain one omit tic troth. 1 never was employed by Lord De RUA M, or by any person belonging to hie Government, to communicate with dlr. Pent:EAU. or with any other of iltennecused, upon any subject whatever. I never made any "report," either by writing or verbelly, either to Lord DURHAM or any one belonging to hi. Government, upon the subject, or any part of the subject in question. For a confirmation of this statement, I might appeal to Lord Dr:Rome, and to every one attached to his commission. This statement, however, requires some explanation. The assertion made by Mr. ROEBUCK on the authority of two of hie clients, is not so much a pure in- vention, as it is a gross perversion of the truth. Rot, excepting upon one point, (which I shall notice presently,) it may be that the truth ha; not been wilfully perverted. I must, therefore, having contradicted Mr. ROEBUCK'S assertion, tell the whole truth.

Fur a long while before the rebellion in Lower Canada, I had deeply @pima- thized with the majority of the people as represented by the Ilouse of Assembly. I imagined, or rather fully believed, along with yourself and m any eminent 'Liberals in this country, that the contest in Lower Canada resembled thedinpute between England and her Old Colonies in America ; that the great majority of the colonists were struggling for popular principles and good government, against an arbitrary, corrupt. and oppressive faction ; that the act of the Imperial Government which violated the Canadian constitution would justify a rebellion ; and that if 'rebellion for such a cause should succeed, every friend of liberty in the world would have as good ground for rejoicing as when Le TII ea vanquished the religious despotism of Rome and WASHINGTON established the United States of America. Such were my impressions Mole the rebellion. The remarkable facility with which that rebellion was crushed, first led me to suspect that my view of Canadian affairs must have been erroneous; but I could not tell in what respect erroneous ; and I therefore entered the colony with a strong feeling of good.will and • ompassion towards those whose want of energy or neglect of preparation, alone, as it then seemed to me, had prevented them from maintaining sacred rights by

an appeal to the swots!. With this feeling, and with an anxious desire, moreover, to learn the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, with respect to Canadian affairs, I seized every opportunity of intercourse

with members of the soi.disant Liberal party. By the out of Colonel 'SIMPSON, (Mr. Itoenuce's stepfather,) I was placed upon terms of frank and friendly communication with most of the leaders of that party. They met my advances with an appearance of great cordiality. I passed hours and days in their society—especially with All. LAFONTAINE of 3lootreal and 31r. Alloatx of Quebec, who in the absence of Mr. PA PI N EAU may be con. sidered the leading men of the party. With these gentlemen, and many others, i often disclosed the whole subject of Canadian politics. I spike them without the least reserve or caution on every part of the subise•t, and believed that they spoke as frankly to me. Our intercourse was frequent, and rather cordial wul intimate, than merely candid and frank. la this manner, without excluding any part of the subject, we talked of the past. tine present, and the future—of the causes of the rebellion and its failure, of tine prisoners and refugees, of the chances of punishment or impunity for classes or individuals, nil of the prospects of the colony immediate and remote In the course of these discussions, I became convinced that Mr. LA rotere I NE and his friends were bent on pursuing a course which would be must injurious to the colony, and especially to the whale race of French Canadians. ap- peared to one to be profoundly ignorant of their owe position. and thormighly devoid of judgment as leaders of their party. I told them so, in the plainest terms ; and frequently in the presence of Colonel SIMPSON, who entirely agreed with me.

It was then that I determined on endeavouring to see Mr. Pe ere:re u. I wished tohave the saute unreserved communication wiflt him as I had had wItii

his friends. Still impelled hr a sentiment of good.will and coulee-ohm toe irde the Canadians, I cherished a hope that Mr. Pe el NE.% u might ceert his power-

ful influence in diverting the other leaders of his countrymen from a coarse

which, in my humble judgment, would produce greater calamities than had yet happened. With this hope, and furnielled with a letter from Colonel SInesos, I went to Saratoga, expecting to find Ale. PA PI NEA u there. lie was absent ; and I returned to Canada, leaving Colonel SIIMI'XON'S letter with Mr. Camex, an Americen friend of Mr. PA EINE A u, and a message to the effeet tinet I would return in ease he should wish to see me. While at Sarao.ea, i conversed fully and frankly with Dr. Deem NON on the subject of Canadian affirm,. Such was the nature of my intercourse with the leaders of tine Ft eneli Cana- dian party. But I have now to add, that Lord Dr meter was totally igeowant

of my journey to Saratoga; that I never repeated to him, or to any slue con- nected with his mi.sion, any of the conversations that had passed between me and those gentlemen ; that 'never made any report, of any sort or kind, to any- body, upon any of the subjects of those conversations, or upon the views, dispo-

sitions, or wishes of the persons who had admitted tile to such confidential and friendly intercourse; and, finally, that 'luting the course of that intercourse, I

took several opportunities of solemnly assuring those whom 1 met—awl often in

the presence of Colunel Stmesoe—that I hail no mission from lend Demi.% M, or from any one connected with him ; that I spoke for myself alone, as a well.

wisher of theirs, who had a right to say and do what he pleased without refer-

ence to Lord Deana am; and above all, that they might be sure I should care- fully abstain from repeating to Lord DcgliAM or others any part of their con-

versations with me. I said this the more emphatically, becawe it appeared

upon one or two occasions, that they hoped to convey to Lord DURHAM, through me, some expression of their own opinions anti wishes. I over and over again told them, that I would never, for any purpose, act as an agent be- tween them and the Government. May I be allowed the satisfaction of adding, that Lord DU4HAM, by never asking me a question about nay intercourse with the Fie ,ch Canadian leaders, showed that he believed roe incapable of playing the spy for him or anybody else. With respect to the specific statement in Mr. DAVIG NON'S letter to his bro- ther, as to my having made a report [it a fait urn rapport] to Mr. BULLER, and having expressed before Mr. BULI.ER and Mr. LAFONTAINE. a certain opi- nion upon the case of Dr. DA VIGNON, I have only to repeat, that I never made any report, or dill any thing like making a report to Mr. BULLER; and to say, that I did not express the opinion with respect to Dr. DA VIGNON, which his brother. writing confidentially and on the report of another, has attributed to me. If I believed the misstatement to have been wilful, I should flatly coarse diet it, and appeal to Mr. BULLER.

In order to contradict Mr ROEBUCK'S imputation that I was employed as a secret agent, or sort of spy, by Lind Du RHAM, it has been necessary for the to describe the opinions and sympathies with which I went to lower Canada. Personal inquiry on the spot, with the best opportunities of getting at the truth, has induced me to abandon those opinions and sympathies. I have been forced to abandon them, in spite of the deep.rooted conviction and earnest feeling with which they were enteitdned. I believe now, that I was blinded and rids. led, as many others have been, (yourself not excepted. allow me to say,) by a course of misrepresentation—a regular system of delusion, to which I was once (however unintentionally, as Mr. ROERUCK still is.) an active party. and which, while it occasions the minuet erroneous views here as to the nature of the dispute in Lower Canada, has a still more mischievous effect in deceiving the French Canadians as to the state of feeling in this country with respect to their position and objects. As to the nature of that dispute, and the state of affairs in the colony, the truth will probably be known here before long; when many will only have to wonder at the depth of their previous ignorance. I wish that the unhappy Canadians were as likely to be undeceived as to the state of feeling here with respect to them.