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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4928, 8 January 1877, Page 2

There has recently been a quarrel between certain provinces in the Dominion of Canada; and though the particulars of the disagreement itself are of little interest to us in New Zealand, a reference to a speech of the wellknown statesman Lord Dufferin, GovernorGeneral of Canada, in relation to the matter in dispute, seems particularly appropriate in view of the recent occurrences in New Zealand. The full speech is not before us, however, and we cannot do better than quote the following from the Yorkshire Post, which remarks succeed a summary of the causes of the quarrel' :—" Under such circumstances British Columbia is entitled to our full and perfect sympathy; but when local agitators go further and say that the province should detach its fortunes from the Government of Ottawa, they must be told—and we are very glad that Lord Dufferin hinted it in unmistakable terms—that a violent course would be impossible, and j could not be permitted. Such a retrograde | movement would be a terrible misfortune for the British colony on the Pacific slope, and would defer its prosperity by half a century. But the question is of wider interest than, as it affects British Columbia and Canada. Parliamentary action would become paralysed in every constitutional country in the world if the minority could physically protest against the action of the majority. Lord Dufferin did not raise this point in scmany words, but it is the ultima ratio of his long and valuable address. If the representatives of British Columbia in the Dominion Parliament should threaten to withdraw or even carry out their threat—and often as we have heard such a step recommended in Ireland it has never been adopted even there—the Legislature of Canada would simply go on ordaining the laws that it might judge to be necessary, and enforcing those laws coHtc qui coilte. Vestigia nulla retrorsum must be the motto of the Englishspeaking races so far as legislative -onion is concerned. And there is reason in this as well as right. 'lf one member suffer,' says the great Apostle of the Gentiles, ' all the members suffer with it;' and no saying could be more true in reference to the great British Erhpire, look at it from what point of view we may. Lord Dufferin put the matter on the proper ground when he said that justice would be>dojie to British Columbia because "neither England nor Canada would be content or happy in any settlement that was not arrived at.:...... satisfactory to every section of the province.' And he added, in words which we hope his brother Irishmen will lay to heart, ' The genius of the English race has ever been too robust and sensible to admit the existence of an irreconcilable element in its midst. It is only among weak and hysterical populations that such a growth can flourish.' "