Extracts.

Lyttelton Times, Volume X, Issue 599, 31 July 1858, Page 3

Extracts.

FEDERATION IN A NEW PHAZE—" 1 iKINGFOR CANADA.

>We abstract tlie'foUbwihg frbnran article in th^-Mielbourhe f'-Age," on the projected movemen^ i!h 'Canada for itserection into a. king- " T^ho would imagine finding at this time of day, in the landviwhere r the painted Iroquois lately hunted tlie: elk and moose, and where ■) the (Chippewa still( follows) the chase—where •'-; the Grand;Trunk;Railway carries the emigrants from Europe to shomb» }amorig primeval forests, in which* the£may lbe 'successful arid happy— who 1 would -firidvriext door to the republic! bf Washington and Frahkljh, the project for reviving, an oldiwbrld scheme of. kingdoms or >: empires ?7.Arid- Tyet such is actually the case! -Not -many days.; ago we drew attention to the ideaiwhichcwe .had authority for believing- was" entertained^: of^forming the several groups of British colonies in different portions-of the-globe into royalties>fforrr £he little princes ml Windsor and Osborne. We had reason to believe that Prince Alfred's projected visit to the Antipodes;- had reference to this object! and we see, by the last, files of papers from Canada, that the arrangement we speak of has already been broached and recommended there. There is a natural desire in the North American colonies, as in these of Australia, toknit into a federation for the accomplishment of the various social advantages to be derived from union- and security against external danger: Those who regret the European' system of aristocrary, or who would wish "to give' expansion to the seigneur arrangement which prevails by the Lower St. Lawrence, are recommending-that its head -should be a " Prince President" to be invited over from England. It is appropriately in Lower Canada, or East Canada, as it is now called, that this suggestion originates; There the population is French of the ancien, re^Wr—Frenchi untouched by theddeasfwhich wrought the Revo-' lution—French, whose ancestors.emigrated before Rosseau and.Mirabeau, the Girondists, arid Danton,:eaeh: in different degree assailed "-right divine-' and-the'sceptre of the descendants of St. Louis. There the land is owned and cultivated, as in -England; by landlord and. tenant— by seigneur ahd7taoitfa»—the* posterity of the feudal castellans-arid the pruners of Norman orchards 'arid the vineyards 7of 7. Burgundy.; There social development is non-existent,, and agriculture is. in a dower condition, and the people; are more inert and ignorant^: than; in any other country ofTTNorth::America. It is among the seigneurs of this* province, as most likely to welcome ■ a kingdonij that the project has'been* broached* but in --the columns of- an Euglish not a French newspapers—the ' Quebec Mercury.' Such a scheme would be likely to find less favour in an Ottawa or a Toronto journal—among the British settlers in the clearings of West Canada, and along the Great Lakes,who cultivate;their own farma^ and who areemigrants from a^ state of things advantage- ■; ous only to a few; ; What they will think of it remains to-be seen—what the men of Ne|v Brunswick and Nova Scotia—what the fishers of Newfoundland—all of whom are invited fjo send delegates to a conference on . the. subject. Eleven individuals.are suggested by the movers of this, plan,., to constitute ,the conference-4- ---" two from England, two from each ;.-■ of the four provinces, and one from Newfoundland." ) Itappears from the localpapers that the idea ° t * -federation "is daily-gaining intensity." tj . .mmence^ by a few leading persons in, the British provinces; among whom stands proniin-

ent the Hon. Mr. Howe of Nova Scotia, the discussion has widened continually." The natural instinct in the human mind that union is strength, that sister communities can prosper better by a common understanding, and that by •pulling together social progress can be best promoted and danger can be best warded off, is -displaying itself all over the world in our day. The tendency is to democracy, and it has seemed good to Leopold, Albert, and the council of European'Monarchs, to see if they can establish in the new regions developing beyond sea, the decaying institutions of Europe. And now it .likely that the first experiment in this direction will be made in the American colonies. The journal we have alluded to as ushering, in the proposal, indirectly hints that Quebec would be the most appropriate seat of Government-^a bait which is likely to take! in a; city now. alarmed by the recent decision! in England, for transferring the post of administration to Ottawa, as the most central situation. Setting aside the ideas involved in the scheme offered to Canadians by the ' Quebec Mercury,' it would be high time for those colonies to federate, and it would be time for us also. They seem m earnest about itithere. ''This idea," Canadian journals say, " has presented itself ito the minds of' all, and it has come tobe a settled -conviction that in federation lies the future'of British-North1 America." There is much greater necessity for it here, so far as security against a foreign foe is concerned. We have possible and probable antagonists now on our very borders, and by these countries putting their heads together they can all-the better perfect measures of; defence, and afford each other mutual assistance in the hour of need. There are a number of potent reasons why the Australian communities should accomplish this great object, and delay, before unnecessary: if not injudicious, would in the present aspect'of affairs be gravely unwise.