NEWS OF THE WEEK.
It t% lich Church interests in Canada can ever hope to obtain. Two important discussions in the House of Commons claim at- tention this week. The first occurred on Monday, when Lord Join; RUSSELL obtained leave to bring in a bill to reunite the Pro- vinces of Upper and Lower Canada. This measure is based on the resolutions adopted by the Legislature of Upper Canada, and the Special Council of the Lower Province. It provides for the election of thirty-nine Representatives from each of the Provinces, to meet in one House of Assembly ; for the appointment by the Crown of the members of a Legislative Council, not fewer in number than twenty, who will retain office for life; the resump- tion by the Crown of the duties surrendered to the House of As- sembly by Lord RIPON, and the grant of a permanent civil list of 75,000/. per annum, out of which fund the Governor, the Judges, and other functionaries of the Government are to be paid, and from the same source the Crown will be empowered to grant pen- sions to the amount of 5,000/. or 6,0001. a year. The debt of Upper Canada is to form part of the debt of the United Provinces ; municipal institutions are to be extended in Upper Canada and planted in Lower Canada ; waste lands to be sold, and the pro- ceeds applied to promote emigration, on the petneiples established by Mr. WAKEFIELD.
The immediate and pressing difficulties in the administration of Canada will be surmounted by this bill. Constitutional govern- ment will be restored in the Lower Province. The French ma- jority of that Province will be sunk in the common aggregation. The friends of British connexion will predominate in the Union. Thus far all is smooth sailing : none are dissatisfied save the dis- heartened aspirants at separate nationality for the French race. The new scheme of representation, however, neither adopts the ratio of existing population as a basis, nor provides for future en- largement with increase of numbers, according to the system so popular in the American continent, from the prosperous example of the United States. Even when the Upper Province outstrips the Lower in numbers—when the relative position of the two Pro- !laces will he reversed—the representatives will be equally divided in the House of Assembly. The power of appointing any number of Legislative Councillors, combined with the ample civil list and the too ample allowance for pensions, will render the Executive very strong and independent of the House of Assembly : but on the other hand Lord Jonx Ras- ill effect promises that the principle, without the name, of " responsible government" shall be the rule of the Executive, and the local administration conducted in conformity with the opinions of the Representatives of the People, and that members of the Executive Council shall be taken from the leaders of the House of Assembly. The reception of the measure in the House of Commons was as favourable as could be expected. Mr. Humn, still malecontent, Prophesied any thing but quiet to Canada from the Union ; and cautious Sir Ronmer PEEL withheld his opinions. But there was notormidable indication of hostility from any quarter.
fhe Clergy Reserves Bill—by which the lands tubwed in 1791 for the use of "the Protestant clergy," now lying waste and obstruc- ting improvement, are to be sold for the endowment of all sects of Christians in the colony—was not so fbrtunate. It encountered the Opposition of the Church party in the House of Commons; and when Lord DUNCANNON presented it to the Lords, the Archbishop of CANTERBURY and the Bishop of LoNnox announced their intention to muster all the force of the Church against it. Very unwisely
do these right reverend persons treat the most favourable arrange- mem
ca‘c it an " open question " for the United Legislature, and- a far different destiny awaits the lands from any thing that pious Bishops Iii England are aware of. They will continue for a time to inter- rupt the general prosperity, and serve the wranolino. Assembly with ii teine and a grievance : but they are doomed to ultimate conhs-
.
cation by the state—none but Voluntary churches will thrive per- manently on the soil of America. The second principal subject was Lord STANLEY'S Irish Regis-
tration Bill; which, notwithstanding the strenuous opposition of Mr. O'CONNELL and the Government, was read a second time, by a majority of 250 to 234. The debate occupied the greater part of 'Wednesday's and Thursday's sittings. The bill underwent a searching scrutiny by the Irish Members. It professes to amend a defect in the original Reform Bill for Ireland. Numerous electors, wanting the legal qualification, have been placed on the register by means of perjury and fraud ; they produce certificates granted several years ago to persons since dead, and swear that they are the original and bond fide holders: by others, certificates are ob- tained on false representations of the value of their property, also made on oath. The present system gives fiteilities to these frauds : Lord STANLEY proposes as a remedy, an annual revision of the lists by resident barristers, with privilege of appeal to the Judges of Assize. We recognized the force of the principal objection to this bill, when it was introduced four weeks ago,—namely, that it would "materially augment the power of the landlords, and interfere with the freedom of election." Mr. PICOT, Mr. Sergeant CURRY, and Mr. O'CONNELL proved, from the details, that such would be its effect ; for the means used to defeat the fraudulent claimant must occasion expense and annoyance to the honest elector, and annually, or oftener perhaps, bring him before his landlord as a refractory tenant. Lord STANLEY made no sufficient reply to this charge, but he was eminently successful in exposing the inconsistency of the Ministers and their supporters : he showed that bills comprising the same provisions as his own, and not at variance with it in any essential point, had been introduced by the Secretary for Ireland and the Irish Attorney-General, as well as by individual Whig Members: yet these persons now exclaimed against a measure scarcely distinguishable in its main features from their own ! when brought in by him, they stigmatized it as oppressive, and calculated to annihilate large portions of the con- stituency. The truth is, these Ministertilists are continually apply- ing to their own conduct and to that of their opponents a different rule. Their ?notices are always so disinterested and patriotic, that of course their measures must be unobjectionable: but what is excellent in MORPETH or RUSSELL is vile in STANLEY or PEEL.
We suppose Ministers were not prepared to take up the ground indicated by Lord MORPETH when he conceded permission to Lord STANLEY to bring in the bill. --- Could they bare announced a large and general measure for simplifying and making uniform the regis- tration system of the three kingdoms, Lord STANLEY would scarcely have persevered in his partial attempt for Ireland.
The absence of their own supporters occasioned the defeat of Government ; which the Globe attributes to the r,,tes as well as absence of some Liberals: but only two Members, with any pre- tensions to rank as Liberals, joined the Tories—Mr. GORING and Lord ARTHUR LENNOX. MT. GORING'S vote never could be counted certain; and we believe that the transfer of the discon- tented Duke of Rienatosm's interest to the Opposition is well understood, and that Lord ARTHUR LENNOX goes with his Glace. (The other brother, Lord GEORGE LENNOX, adheres to the Whigs, and will lose Sussex. Ministers must do something for lnin) The probable reason for the absence of some Liberal Members is indifference to the fate of Ministers—of others, a confiding per- suasion that Opposition majorities do time 1 ones no good and Ministers no harm. They please themselves with the notion that the Tories cannot " come in," and that even their majorities only serve to make -this truth more conspicuous. It must also be remarked. that the defeat on Lord Srxxi.Ev's motion differed essentially from those which :`,Iinisters experi- enced lately on Prince AT BERT'S pension, and th.? NuwPORT- MoNTEAGLE job. They have now tidied in stopping the pr3gress of an unpopular measure—not in defending one. Besides, it is probable that they will so flu. recover from its effects as to muster a majority in Committee, or on the third reading. On this ques- tion their small superiority in numbers may be available. The Government did not venture to oppose Mr. Ca.awroan's motion for a Committee on the petition of the opium-traders. Nay, it must have been very agreeable to them, as offering an opportunity to escape from the responsibility of deciding upon the claims for compensation. Lord PALMERSTON, however, while acceding to the motion, betrayed sym*ms -of uneasiness. He , was obviously annoyed by sonic remarks or sir GEORGE STAVSTON,
touching his diplomacy in Asia. , .
