CANADA AND THE NORTH.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 22, 28 December 1863, Page 5 (Supplement)

CANADA AND THE NORTH.

(From tho Time 3 New York Correspondent, ' Scpt:l) Mr Seward, accompanied by most of the foreign Ministers, has been making a tour of tho lakes of Western, New York, and. after visiting the Falls of Niagara, has crossed over into Canada — a country where no ringing of a bell on his right hand or his left, can consign a real or suppascd opponent either to Fort Lafayette or the cell of a police office, as he boasted to Lord Lyons that it could in Washington. He has visited, among other places, the; " ambitious little city " of Hamilton ; and if he has associated with any Englishman, Scotchman, or other colonist has perhaps . discovered that the conquest of Canada, if attempted by his Government, will be almost, if not quite as tough a job as the subjugation of the South. On this subject it is curious to note the ignorance or malice of the American press. The Democratic, equally with the Republican journals, affect to believe that the Canadas are a .hotbed of disaffection, that Great Britain retains them by the strong arm of military power, and would resist to the last extremity any attempt on the part of the Canadians to achieve their independence, or to vote themselves into the American Union. Understanding nothing of the facts, they express incredulity when told that the Government and people of En- : gland are in perfect accord upon the subject of Canada ; that if Canada wishes her independence she has only to say so by the votes of her people, and Great Britain will let her go without firing a shot or forming any other wish or thought than a simple *' God bless you ; go on and prosper ! " But that if the Canadians, on the contrary, desire to retain their connexion with the mother country, and will only give their desire the practical shape of self-defence against Federal or any other aggression, the Government and people of Great Britain will aid them with their last soldier and their last shilling. The Americans, engaged in coercing the South, cannot imagine that the English would not coerce Canada, and are continually talking of the damage they will do to Great Britain in that quarter at the first breath of war, and urging upon the Canadian^ to accept their inevitable of annexation. Even the World— so well informed and sensible on the politics of its own country — shares the errors of all Americans on this subject, and recommends the Canadians to apply for immediate admission into the Federation for the following singular reasons : — First, " It would insure them exemption for ever from all the horrors of war." As the United States are not themselves free at this moment from the horrors of one of the mast horrible wars that ever desolated a country, and may have before many months to super-add foreign to domestic strife, the Canadians may well be excused for turning a deaf ear to a proposition that has so little to recommend it on the score presented. Secon I, "It would save them the enormous expenses the mother country is trying to impose upon them in the way of fortifications." Such canny Canadians as do not laugh at this, will ask themselves whether in siving 5s on this item they might not have, as a consequence, to incur the expenditure of twenty in another and less pleasant and secure direction, and debute the matter accordingly. Third, " It would give them the boon of ahso ute free trade with the States." As it is as much the interest of the Americans to offer as of the Canadians to accept free trade, it is just possible the sensible Canadians will think it lietter to wait for the natural growth and development of commercial intercourse, than to bargain away their independence for a benefit which needs no such sacrifice to secure it hereafter. Fourth, " It would give them the benefit of Yankee energy and capital to develop their resources." As it will employ more energy and capital lhan the Yaukee posspsses to develop within the next twelve yeaTs the resources of such states as Wis consin,lo\va, Michigan, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, and the Far West, more than two-thirds of the superficies of which are in the original condition of wilderness, the C-inadians may think it possible that the Yankees would do well lo look at home before lhey look abroad, and may calculate moreover* that the " resources" SO highly vaunted have been so seriously diminished by the waste of upwards of two years incurred in one of the most extravagant wars ever known as to leave but little surplus for the existing generation, even if the war were brought to a close to-morrow. As, however, the war may last for two, four, ten, or even twenty years, the Canadians may incline to think that their particularly kind friends lo the South of the lakes may need all their cash for themselves. What Canada requires is men. And as the men of the old world have hitherto emigrated into the States, because there was no enforced military service, no public debt, no taxation except for local purpose, and that exceedingly light; and, better than all, because the public liberty was thought to be so well secured as to be beyond the reach of time and revolution to destroy, they may, perhaps, think it better to look for these advantages in British territories, as it is no longer possible to find them under the protection of the stars and stripes. The emigration within the next three years of half a million of stalwart Englishmen, Scotchmen, Irishmen, and Germans would do far more to develop the resources of Canada than all the energy and capital that the Yankees are likely to have to spare until a dozen years after they shall have been at peace with one another. Fifth, an.d last, "It would give them a share in the destiny of this great nation " If this be not intended as a grim joke it is the Teason least of all likely to recommend itself to the Canadians* A destiny that includes enormous debt, cruel conscription, and a series of civil wars and social convulsions, only to be ended by the establishment of a military despotism, is not a destiny to be envied, or which any- I one out of Bedlam would desire to share. The destinies of the Canadians are to be shaped by themselves. If they really desire annexation, they can have it. But if they value liberty, under the protecting eyes of Great Britain, sufficiently to fight for it, Great Hritain will stand by them with all her wealth, all her power, and all her tenacity of purpose, This is the strength of the case as regards Great Britain, but it is one which the Americans cannot understand, much less appreciate.