The Impossibility Of
Reconciling The Rival, And Frequently Adverse Claims, Of The Upper And
Lower Provinces, Has Become A Very Embarrassing Question.
The strong
social restraints, and the generally high tone of public feeling in
England, which exercise a powerful control over the minister of the day,
do not at present exist in Canada; neither has the public mind that nice
perception of moral truth which might be desired.
The population of Upper
Canada, more especially, has been gathered from many parts of the earth,
and is composed of men, generally speaking, without education, whose sole
aim is the acquisition of wealth, and who are not cemented by any common
ties of nationality. Under these circumstances, and bearing in mind the
immense political machinery which the Papacy can set to work in Canada,
the transfer of British institutions to the colony must at present remain
a matter of problematical success. It is admitted that the failure of
representative institutions arises from the unworthiness of
constituencies; and if the efforts which are made by means of education to
elevate the character of the next generation of electors should prove
fruitless, it is probable that, with the independence of the colony,
American institutions, with their objectionable features, would follow. At
present the great difficulties to be surmounted lie in the undue power
possessed by the French Roman Catholic population, and the Romanist
influences brought to bear successfully on the Government.
There is in Canada no direct taxation for national purposes, except a mere
trifle for the support of the provincial lunatic asylums, and for some
other public buildings.
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