How many under the empire? How many are ruled over at this moment by Louis Napoleon? Have they, at any period, all dressed alike, or spoke the same language? How great a diversity of speech, of religion, of costume, of mental and physical organization and development, is presented to the eye in the widely-extended dominions of the Czar? Of what many-colored materials was the German empire composed? And yet do not all these, harmoniously blending at times, and again broken and contradistinguished, - add endless variety and interest to the social aspects of that great nation? In the proudest periods of the Spanish monarchy, who could have mistaken an Andalusian for a Castilian- a native of Biscay for a dweller upon the Mediteranean shore? The greatest empires of antiquity were composed of different "nations, tribes, and tongues." Suppose that Xerxes had commenced the hopeful task of enforcing uniformity of costume, of speech, of weapons, of behaviour, among the countless battalia that he marshalled for the conquest of Greece. Fancy, even, the Greeks themselves to have presented this much-coveted uniformity, and you must fancy the page of Homer deprived of half its charms.

If, then, in every quarter of the globe, at every period of the world's history, people of various origin, and speech, and manners, have shared the ills and advantages of the same political organization; tilling the same soil, fighting under the same standards, illustrating a national history common to them all; if the greatest monarchs of antiquity could not enforce uniformity of expression, of feature, or of employment; and if the higher civilization, which the Asiatic and European races have attained, has left the distinctive qualities and lineaments discernible, what success is likely to attend the great Canadian experiment, by which Jean Baptist is to be suddenly hocussed into an Englishman?

Look to the British Islands, and do not close your eyes to the light streaming down from the luminous pages of their history. Ten centuries have passed away, and yet the Celt and the Saxon, inhabiting the same territory, have not, like Coleman's two single gentlemen, been rolled into one. The descendant of the Briton in the Cornish mine, can barely comprehend, at this hour, the language of the descendant of the Dane, who comes from the eastern coast. Upon the Welsh hills nim sassenach is the reply of every second peasant you meet. Has the Highlander taught the Lowlander of Scotland to talk Gaelic, or the Lowlander compelled the hardy mountaineer to abandon his plaid? How have the English anglified the Irish, after centuries of proscription and oppression? And yet, we are to be told, that it is a burning shame for the Lower Canadian to wear his own homespun, talk French, cover the roof of his

chapel with tin, or decorate his shrine with flowers. He must be anglified, forsooth; and if he is not, why then his Parliament Ilouse must be burnt, his representatives stoned, his public records destroyed, the representative of his Sovereign must be pelted with mud; and the Orangemen, and Glengaries and lumbermen of Upper Canada, must march upon the capital of his country and knock him on the head.

In Nova Scotia, sir, the Germans of Lunenburg, and the French of Isle Madame, have been settled for a century. They are Germans and Frenchmen still. Surrounded by a British population, who control the Legislature and set the mode, they adhere to their language, their faith, their social pleasures, their costume. But, we neither hate nor persecute them for their obstinacy. On the contrary, we learn from them and they from us. We think it no disadvantage if a Nova Scotian can speak two of the noblest European languages instead of one; and the very diversity of feature, and contrast of race with race, adds variety to life. If, then, we have been more than an hundred years anglifying a few thousand people, who have been every where surrounded and placed at disadvantage, and have not yet succeeded, with all the allurements which kindness, justice, and unrestrained social intercourse held out to the merging of all distinctions; how long will you be making converts of the compact mass of eight hundred thousand Lower Canadians, who must by and by multiply to millions, and who will adhere all the more closely to their customs and their faith, if their attachment to them be made the pretext for persecution? In the sunshine, the Frenchman may cast aside his grey capote; but, depend upon it, when the storm blows, he will clasp it more closely to his frame.

You ask me what is to be done with these recussants, either in United Canada, or by the North American confederation? Just what is done now in Nova Scotia on a small scale, and by republican America on a large one: Know no distinctions of origin, of race, of creed. Treat all men alike. Establish firmly the general laws and institutions essential to the preservation of life and property, and teach all to respect them by a sense of common advantage and the undeviating fidelity of their execution. This is the best mode of anglifying, and will come, in time, to be regarded as preferable to that which appears to be so popular in Montreal.

But we are told that the union of the Provinces must be dissolved; that it works badly, throwing the administration of affairs into the hands of the French, who are united, whilst the Anglo Saxons of Upper Canada are disunited. But the union was a British and not a French measIt was forced, in spite of the French Canadians, who were charged

ure.

with an enormous debt for public improvements in Upper Canada, commenced and carried through without their consent or approbation. They wisely make the best of it; those who were its advocates, having got what they wanted, are determined to make the worst of it.

It may be as well, however, before you dissolve the union, to balance its advantages, even setting against them all the cost of paying the rebellion losses. The British took the Frenchmen's money to pay their debts; but we never heard that the Frenchmen destroyed the canals upon which the revenue had been expended. But suppose the union dissolved, what security have you that the English will be more united than they are now? In Upper Canada they would split into two parties, as they did before; and in Lower Canada they would be a powerless and helpless minority.

But, sir, believe me, your Canadian Union is worth something, after all. It makes you a nation, with a nation's strength; rather than what you were, two weak Provinces, to be played off against each other. Besides, the tendency of modern civilization proves, that widely extended dominion, either by a monarchy or a republic, offers the best security for peace and industrial development. If, then, you seek annexation to the United States, or a union or confederation of the Provinces, some apology may be made for you; but to go back to the enfeebled condition of separate, discontented and hostile Provinces, is to propagate, in British America, the idea that the extent of the territory of Canada is amazingly disproportioned to the extent of its intelligence. Lord Durham described the Canadas as two girdled trees; Lord Sydenham entwined their branches together, that they might shelter and protect each other. Montreal rioters, in order to disunite them, kindle a fire around the

stems.

But, it is said, business is dreadfully depressed in Canada; and, therefore, we must have a convention; must cast about for a new state of political existence; and, in the meantime, the burning of a few houses and books, is a matter of trifling concern. This would not be a bad reason for carpenters and stone-masons, out of employment, to give for the destruction of public property; but certainly for those who are to pay for a new Parliament House, the excuse, like the smooth shillings that used to circulate in Truro, may do very well for Montreal, but certainly will ot pass current anywhere else.

The emancipation of the slaves, for a time, annihilated our West India trade. But, what then? The full discussion of the subject - by which the British nation was induced to pay £20,000,000 sterling, to wipe away that stain from our national escutcheon convinced us that we

ought to submit to some sacrifice for the honor of belonging to an empire, in which traffic in human flesh was forbidden, and the possession of slaves was a violation of law. By emancipating her slaves, England has injured our commerce. Fish and lumber feel the effect of social and commercial derangement in the West Indies. But, what then? These causes are temporary; to be subdued and overcome by perseverence and enterprise. The great Act of Emancipation that backward step towards national honor and virtue, in which the temporary depression originated suffuses our cheeks with pride, and enables us to listen to the reading of the Declaration of Independence, which declares all men free and equal, with a calm pulse, and a consciousness of national superiority to our neighbors.

But the timber trade is depressed. Well, many believe that every stick shipped from our shores would leave more wealth behind it if it were burnt upon the soil, and the ashes scattered over its surface. I do not go this length, but I rejoice, from the very bottom of my soul, that England is nobly fulfilling her great mission of teaching the principles of free trade to all the world. If she has ceased to protect your timber, whatever the temporary inconvenience, she has thrown open her own soil, manufactures and capital, to equally free competition; and if, for a time, some thousands of people are thrown out of employment, remember that this is the penalty invariably paid for every valuable improvement; and let your people rejoice that they have the fertile soil of Canada upon which to fall back. Shame upon the cravens who, when the world at large is to be blessed, and the glorious British Empire is to be expanded and strengthened, burn down their Parliament House, and assemble conventions because a few shipyards are idle, and a few lumbermen wanting work. England has had her depressions. The industry of France has been paralyzed again and again. A dozen times, within my recollection, have the derangements of commerce driven thousands from the Atlantic States to the fertile regions of the south and west. Such derangements are as common in commercial States, as derangements of the digestive organs among a Board of Aldermen ; but I never heard that a rebellion was the remedy, or that burning down the Mansion House produced a restoration to health.

Waiting, for further revelations from Canada, I have the honor to remain,

Your obedient servant,

A NOVA SCOTIAN.

Halifax, May 8, 1849.

TO THE FREEHOLDERS OF THE COUNTY OF HALIFAX:

GENTLEMEN,-Having been charged, by the Lieutenant Governor, with a Mission to England, involving very important Provincial interests, I shall leave Halifax in the Steamer to-morrow, and shall probably be absent for eight or ten weeks.

During the last Summer, I visited every section of the County, and believe that there is nothing which any of you have confided to my care, or to which my attention has been called, that has not been dealt with as you desired, so far as the means at the disposal of your Representatives would admit. Should any casualties occur, prompt attention will no doubt be paid to any proper representation made to the Government, through my Colleague, Mr. Mott.

As I have not had an opportunity of publicly addressing you since the present Administration was formed, it may not now be out of place for me briefly to enumerate the leading measures to which its sanction and support have been given, and the questions which have been honorably and permanently settled.

Responsible Government, administered through Heads of Departments, holding their places by the tenure of public confidence, has occupied, as you are quite aware, a conspicuous place in the public discussions of British America for the last ten or fifteen years. Sustained by your sympathies, I gave, as a public Journalist, some years of life to its advocacy, at a time when there was much ignorance and indifference on the one side, and the whole weight of Executive and Legislative authority on the other. Excluded from the Administration in 1843, I still asserted, in every hamlet you inhabit, and in every County of the interior, the principles for the security of which my friends and myself retired; and which, with the aid of the Liberal majority, returned in 1847, we have lived, as Members of Administration, to establish. The days of toil, and nights of mental anxiety, which every prominent man of our party passed through during that long contest, few of those engaged in it are ever likely to forget. We have lived, however, to see our principles triumph-to see them recognized after full debate by the Lords and Commons of England- to see them clearly enunciated by successive Secretaries of State; and in Canada and New Brunswick, no less than in Nova Scotia, supplying new securities to liberty, and fresh vigour to every branch of Administration.

The old system of Government naturally generated extravagance; and, coupled with the general Constitutional questions, was the subsidiary, but yet important matter of economical reform. The People of