N ly of $2.00 per Annum VOD bs " All extremes are error, the lee of error is not truth but error; truth lies between the extremes." "STRATFORD. WEDNESDAY. NOVEMBER 4, 18638 in advance, . NO. 19. Select Poetry. POPOL nmnmn_ Song for Skedaddlers. Arr-- All the blue bonnets are over the border." Run, run, Yankee and Foreigner-- Run, run, my lads, forward in order-- Run, run, conscripts and colored men-- All you skedaddlers en route for the border. Many a copperhead, Not liking steel or lead, Many a Unionist, famous for bluster, Mount and make ready, men, Here comes the draft again, Fly for security over the border. Run, run, etc. Come from your homes, for you're sure to be drafted, Trust to your heels to escape from the foe-- Come to the land where you'll only be laughed Biber ns Come where you still can continue to blow. Trumpets are braying, Conscripts are praying, Gird up your loins and run in good order ; Canada 'll many a day Tell of the funny way All the skedaddlers came over the border. Run, run, ete. AFurther Plea for British Am- erican Nationality, (From the British American Magazine.) BY THE HON. THOMAS D'ARCY M'GEE. To consider well of their own condition, hasbeen recommended to individuals from the remotest times as the highest wisdom ; and assuredly the duty of self-examination is no less salutary to great communities. It may indeed, be said, that the secret of the national vigor and longevity, lies hidden in this capacity for searching self-examination. Those empires which have possessed and never parted with that gift, have retained "power the longest, and recovered most readily from all their reverses ; while those from false confidence or false. tenderness, from the death of moral courage, or the de- cay of judical authority, have shown their - impotence to interrogate and to judge them- selves, have perished like fungi crushed be- neath the hoof of conquest, or exploded in atoms, before the pressure of events too powerful to be resited by such defective or- ganizations. Ifever a people of the New World were called to prove their capacity for self-exami- nation and self-guidance, it is the British Americans of our day, Allmen who think at all, admit that we have entered into..a veritable new era--that, we have.hereafter to dwell in a new America, to feel the pres- sure upon us of new forces, and the necessity of finding, if we donot intend to succumb to that pressure, adequate means. of resist- ance. The sudden oyercasting of our whole firmament has almost baffled the speed of thought., No natural storm, ever, spread over a fair prospect with more awful rapi- dity. Like the lightening that cometh out of the east, it appoared unto the west ; the evening went down calm and silent, but the morning woke dark and menacing. There, upon our visible horizon, the elements of aggression, are gathered together. apparent to every observant eye ; there.they hang and blacken, ready to pour, out their deluge upon our fields and cities, at the first shift- ting of the wind to the northward ; in which hour the cry of the lands. will be aa those prompt measures of defence, which can never be so improvised, on the spur of MP BEBLAD necessity. Tfwe should be called to fight func Our.ex- istence against, the aggression of a warlike democracy, for what, shall we fight 2 Will either, 'section of, Canada fight, for ms the Union as itis?" Is there the hearty at tachment to our present, constitution, that strong sentiment of pride, in, its exellencies, that _ undoubting belief i in, its perpetuity, which can. inspire, y the spitit, of self sacrifice into our tax-payers and .our armed. men>-- into, the youth: and proprictary. of, the land ? als; at. not. too uch, to - that, our pre- ¥ Oiig ty gent, constitution, with, all, its, merits, eX: cites no popular enthusiasm. 'It vvas_ in its Lae RE ear Tyme Tee aE nT a eee origin, no creation of ours. It was the off- spring of Imperial policy imposed by Im- perial power, It may have been a very much better frame of government than Up- per and Lower Canada could have devised themselves, a quarter of a century ago, but better or worse, it was not a government of our own making, and large classes of people destined to live under it have never heartily acknowledged all its advantages. We have indeed, in consequence of the Union, been enabled to borrow by millions, instead of thousands, but there is a deep seated-con- viction at the same time, that the United Government has sanctioned an extravagance in expenditure, which neither of the former Provinces, had they continued to keep dis- tinct accounts, would have tolerated.--The twofold division of our judical and admin- istrative establishments, also, keep alive the feeling. that the existing constitution is provisional ; thatit is rather a league than a Union ; andin this way deprives it of undoubting confidence and unconditional at- tachment, which men give only to institu- tions which they believe destined to outlive themselves, and to become a precious in- heritance to their posterity. We feel, in consequence, to our present system, neither the constitutional enthusiasm of the Ameri- cans nor of the British; we lock on it neither with the pride of parentage, nor as the hope of our posterity ; prospectively and retrospectively it excites no intense patriot- ic passion in our hearts, and its fall would not be lamented, as an universal calamity, either aboge or below Coteau Landing. What men love best they defend best ; what they truly believe in, for that they will bravely die. Enthusiasm is to war, as the streem to the mill-wheel, or steam to a steam engine. Whoever or whatever excites this irresistible spirit, whether for a creed or a constitution, an idea or a chief, brings into the field a tipi ing power, sufficient to com- batthe Most serious disparities, and tu vver flow the most formidable obstacles. Where enthusiasm for the cause is wanting, men fight mechanically, with bravery no doubt, but without that dashing disregard of the immediate end, which has carried armies so far, in all ages-----When the Prussian dy- nasty was swept away before the cannon of Jena, poet voices were raised in Germany, singing the songs of a common fatherland, extending from the Baltic to the Tyrol and the Rhine ; upon the wings of this inspira- tion, the prostrate monarchy rose to a great- er height than that from which it had been hurled, and this enthusiasm for German unity was not the least of the' causes which drove the Conqueror of Jena a fugitive from his throne. Austria, which protited by thjs enthusiesm only less than Prussia has since been taught in another field how muchstrong- er than battalions is the united purpose ofa brave people, who will strongly what they desire ardently. The euthusiasm for Italian unity, excited by the writings, speeches, and sacrifices of so many gifted fants of our own and the past age, has invested the de- scendants of the Dukes of Savoy, with the power and resources of the Caesars. Against that power, the veteran captains and the gallant troops of Austria huve contended in yain, and if this Italian passion for a united Italy, be as profound as it it ardent no power on earth can prevent the Latin Peninsula, from accomplishing its own centralization. In pleading again the cause of British American Nationality, we do soon this, among other grounds, that the bare idea, is capable of exciting in our breasts that force which, only patriotic, enthusiasm can. give. It,is an.idea, which begets a whole progeny, kindred, to itself,--such as ideas of exten- sion,, construction, permanence, grandeur, and_historical renown.,...It expands, as We) observe. its opening up Jong g, gleaming per- spectives, into both,time and space. It. com- prehends: the erection: of a new North, Am. erican Nation, inheriting. among ¢ other ad- vantages the fe of nations ;for i its shield and guidanee, .. For, whether the disunited republican, States, south of us, shall finally come together ander one government again or not, itis quite. clear, thatif two or more really independent powers, founded on dis- tinct schemes of policy should hereafter stand side by side on this continent, the in- ternational law of Christendom, or some substitute for it, must regulate the relations of neighborhood between such powers. Hitherto, as our readers are aware, the United States have not considered them- selves included in what they persisted, in calling "the European system" ofthe bal- ance of power, and the international justice symbolized by that balance. The only chap- ters of the common eode of Christendom, which our Republican nieghbors have hither- to recognized as binding on themselves, are certain provisions of maritime law, appli- cable and useful to them as a leading power for the rest they have rejected or accepted, arbitarily, as occasion arose, as much or as little as suited their convenience. Their scheme resembled that of the Romans, who erected their own standards of the jus gen- tium, and then imposed them by force upon the outside world, whose ethics on usages they preferred to consider as no part of a mutually obligatory law of Nations. To- wards the populations of both continents-- north and south,--they have, indeed, laid down as the basis of a new American system, "the Monroe doctrine," declaring the era of Colonization closed and the founding of new communities recognizing any Sovereignty i in an European state, inalyniectbte! Hitherto this doctrine has neither been formally ad- mitted nor rejected, by the great colonizing powers; but there ¢an hardly be a doubt that the erection of British Columbia into a Crown Colony, and the intervention of France in the government of Mexico, would, at any past period, haye been regarded by the professors of "the American system" as flagrant violations of the doctrine of Mr. Monroe. To extend the European system of inter- national law to North America, itis neces- sary that there should be two or more States dosirous to enjoy the benefits of that sypleim, While there was but one important power north of Panama, 1t was natural that power should dictate itsown will to an anarchical Mexico, and an impotent British America. But should Mexico, under the guarantee of France, recover her lost unity and authority and British America under the protection of England, attain to the dignity of a king- dom or principality--dependent on the Im- perial Crown, as Hungary on Austria, Egypt on the Sultan, or Hindostan on Eng- land--then the two great western powers of Europe would feel equally with Mexico and British America, the importance of extend- ing to this continent the code under which, by the admission of Wheaton, the highest American authority, the Old World has made 'a considerable advance, both in the theory of international morality and in the practice of justice among States." Tf this restilt should follow the union of these Pro- vinees into one power, it is quite apparent our future history, like that of the Nether- lands, would derive additional lustre from its intimate connection with the history , of international, law on this continent. We are arrived at that stage of experience, and we find ourselves: surrounded by circum- stances which enable us to play.an_ essent- ially different part from that forced upon the revolted colonies of 1776. If we had been . subjected to thesame treatment they were, if the Imperial Parliament had denied us -also'the» right of local self-government, there 'would be some propriety in our' imit- ating, at whatever risks, the revolutionary e€aimples of these Salbiniks But' as 'the Atlantic of this age is no longer the tremen- dous and perilous sea iste it was to our great grandfathers, 50 neither i is the empire so exacting, nor are 'the colonies so restive, asin those times.) Every age and every' set of-cireumstances prescribe their own. duties to. statesmen,,and just,as truly as it ; might haye been right, andywise for the » American Congress of eighty, years, ago to declare , _its utter, severance fro ym, the European system, so, equally truly, may } "it, be wise and right for Canadian Atatesmen 0 of this day to "enlti- yate the. Cea and 'to _endeayour on patriotic ands, to extend to these shotes ry (iB 3a<4 PALI 6 Sati oF Rgsoges © 10 The Union of British America into one nationality would, then, according to our view, perpetuate our connexion with the European family of States, and make this country instrumental in bringing the whole of America within the circle of international law. Toenable us to play this distinguished part before both the New and the Old Worlds, it is essential that we should have first a constitution, framed from our own sensus communis; the offspring and image of our own intelligence; a constitution to love and to live for; a cherished inheritance for our children; in comprehension, noble ; in justice, admirable; in wisdom, yvenera- ble. Pleading for such a constitution, it is neither logical nor witty to meet us with ob- jections of detail, as to the cost or incongruity of a larger infusion of the monarchial ele- ment which we advocate. How this or the other detail may best be contrived is not for any individual to answer in advance, Our race have had but one way of arriving at such results from the beginning, and that is, by taking the sensus communis of the peo- ple to be governed. Whether on the Thames or the Delaware, at Runnymede or Phila- delphia, that is the mode by which in the past, the English-speaking communities have searched their own hearts, and obeyed the dictates of their own best judgments. We will not, therefore, argue details with any one; we will not wrangle over this subject as disputants ; templation than for controversy in its first stages, as it must be a matter for the decision of the community, acting as such, in its last. itis a matter more for con: All these changes which we advocate, in- ternal and external, we may be told, tend to one saialin aiioaiiibis from. the Empire. We would altogether be misunderstood if any reader was left under that. impression. That which we advocate we do most sin- cerely believe to be the only meatig to_per- petuate Tuture connexion between Great Britain and the trans-oceanie Provinces of the Empire, which connexion is the interest of these Provinces; and of civilization itself we hold to be beyond all price desirable. What we advocate is to substitute for the present. provincial connexion of dissociated provinces, belonging ¢o rather than of the Empire, anew explicit relation, more suited to our actual wants, dangers and dimensions, in other words, a modification of the Federal principle, reduced to the conditions of a compact equally intelligible to the central and the outlying administrations. The idea of a Federal monarchy embracing a number of perfect states, dependent on the same Imperial head, is, indeed, less familiar 'to this agé than' to former times. But in it is an idea neither chimerical nor novel. The German Empire from the' peace of West- phalia (1648), to the substitution of the title: of Emperor of; Austria for that) of Germany, by, Francis IL., in, 1805} Avas 'a Federal Empire. .At one time it contained no less than three huudred. and _ fifty-five sovereign states. or cities, royal, ducal, her- editary, electoral, ecclesiastical and repub- lican. The Spanish Empire, under Charles V.and Philipp II., was in its structure, essentially federal. The Vice-royalties of Naples, the Netherlands, and the Indies, committed to 'the custody of royal Princes or eninent*noblemen, 'supported their own peace and-war establishments, collected and expended their own revenues, paying, 'of course, Imperial 'tribute; executed 'their own. local, laws and' ordinances, and were: re- presented abroad by. their.own conimercial and political agents.. .It,is,to be observed, also, that_should the statesmen of Great. Britain, decide. to develope the Federal Prin- ciple throughout the Empire hereafter, they will haye much less incongruous institutions and elements of population to retain in the bonds of a free unity, than had. those Ger- _ Most of the: man and 'Spanjsh. sovereigns. States, now advancing to. "soyereignty in AmeHies dud 4 abtralia, will be the offspring of British parentage, ae the > Tmiperial langage' and inheritin ame. 'conimibin aws, and 'chartered Except in the conspituoté' itistatice ef ee and 'the less striking case of 'Lower Canada, the - Cape and one or two of the West Indian Isles, the dependent states will be essentially Scdced, and therefore, justice observed, will naturally fall into the condition of perpetual allies. That they should advance to sover- eignty is as natural as that youth should grow to manhood; but there is no inevitable inference to be drawn, either from the na- ture of the case, or from past experience, that sovereignty should include separation. The two ideas, we know, are popularly identical. But a very dinnijed acquaintance with the varieties of Imperial constitutions which haye existed, and do even still exist in the world, will show sovereignty in the members of an Empire, to be entirely com- patible with the unity of the whole body. It is, true that where the separate courts and legislatures approached each other too narrowly in space, or where the united or allied kingdom pushed to its last result its patent independence, or where the central lower flagrantly disregarded the characters and customs of the associated state, yery serious discontents and insurrections have followed. But the American and Austra- lian Provinces of Great Britain, have both moral and national guarantees against these evil contingencies. In the spirit of the age, in their own internal resources, and above all, in their safe and salutary distance from the vortex of over centralization, they have every desirable safeguard for their local in- dependence. . _ ; Our greatest dangers lie in the eppoaide direction from centralization. Divided by vast oceans from the metropolis and arsenal of the Empire, divided from one another, even here, in North America, by long tracts of roadless wilderness, we are vulnerable in our separated resources, and disunited means. We cease to be secure when we cease to be formidable, because our enemies know that we are not now crown colonies, | to be thought for, and fought for, by the erown, er ee are We alliod ctatag, alaiming _ protection unde: kny well understood com- pact with our own sovereien. We have passed out of the state of pupilage, and we have not emerged into the state of partner- ship. We are retained in the empire under a temporary engagement, terminable at a month's notice, because we have not shown ourselyes truly desirous of understanding or acting upon the duties of another more intimate and more responsible relationship. Letter from Richfield. RicurieLp, September 7th, 1863. "T have not time to-day to give you much of a letter, but must briefly give you the leading items of current news. You may remember that the Grand Jury of Rich- field in their report recommended that pro- vision in the mining laws which authorizes the election ofa Mining Board be acted upon, and the Governor was petitioned to | order such an election. The election is ordered . for next Tuesday, the 8th inst., and. to-day .partizanship is running very high, and canvassing very brisk. Three tickets are now in. the field and some independent names will run alone. The prominent candidates are William Hazeltine, Major Downie, John Kurtz, George A. Walkem, Seales Griffen, Mr. Garfield, Mr. 'Bahay Edwin Campbell, David Greer, "Evan Jonés, John © A. Cameron, Wm. Cunningham, Samuel Crane, Mr: Morehead, Sage Miller, ede Weave, Dr. Black, J. G. Price, Tastes -- Duff, John Hilton.) °°! There can be no doubt that ifs a mail Mining Board is elected at-will be of: ineal- culable good: to the'miners,and the country at-large, The, absurd laws. in- existence now,. hate, operated, to the great injury. of both., Iti is only for any. one to be.cognizant of the loss of time and money, to which . ni population have been subject this penittn Yealize the imperative necessity, of a ra ical revision of the whole body of the Jaw. Ibis the first time the miter' have ever had sigh . to say in'the hatter of their laws,' 'and itis to be hoped ative wll el Rom the movement, BoM .nollsiaea: aad » The| powers'of tho Mininge ban oane limited to the revocation and alteration of