The House of Commons decided on Thursday night by a
vote of 275 to 40 that Great Britain would do its duty, whether the United States liked it or not, and that if Canada were invaded Canada would be defended by land as well as by sea. The debate was nominally about a grant of 50,000/. for the fortifica- tions of Quebec, but really about the propriety of defending Canada t all, The Opposition was led by Mr. G. W. P. Bentinck, who ply resisted the grant for fortifications, but those who wished
to desert Canada ranged themselves behind him, and showed their hands so completely that the stout old Tory,—who is wrong-headed but not exactly the man to hand his household over to burglars for fear he should get hurt,—refused to vote for his own motion, and left the doctrinaires to vote by themselves. Lord Palmerston and Mr. Cardwell were both clear as to the necessity of defending Canada by land ; those who resisted allowed for the sake of ' their seats that we must fight by sea, and all parties united in, deprecating the idea that England was hostile to the United' States. Mr. Disraeli was emphatic as to the duty of the country, and showed amidst constant cheering that the "impossibility of defending Canada" existed only in the imagination of men who did not wish to defend it.
