It may be worth while to notice the fact that the first notion of united action on the part of the British North American colonies may have been developed by the British government, and that the idea of independence was suggested by the very recommendations to self-defence which came from the mother country. The Convention of Delegates at Albany in 1754, which met in consequence of the advice tendered by the Home Government, adopted a federal system, which contained, in effect, the germ of the United States. Though this and similar propositions were not entertained, the growth of such an idea must have been rapid indeed. In the British Colonial system there was the breath of life--a little fanning, and the whole body was alive and active. In the Canadian system there was only the animating spirit of dependency on France, and on a system in France, which was perishing before the sneers of the new philosophy. The French Canadians of the present day, in accusing the British government of a hundred years ago of want of liberality and foresight in the administration of their newly acquired territory, are wilfully blind to the sort of government which they received from the Bourbons. The dominion of a foreign race, however, is always galling, be it covered ever so thickly with velvet, and all its acts are regarded with suspicion and dislike. The concessions and liberality of the British government which drew forth such indignant protests from the bigoted New Englanders, was ascribed to fears of Canadian revolt, or to a selfish desire to conciliate the good-will of subjects who might become formidable enemies. If England lost the American colonies because she refused to accept a principle which, however sound and just, was certainly new and not accepted as of universal application, she needed not to apprehend the recurrence of a separation, forcible or peaceable, of Canada on any such grounds. It is impossible for a country to be held by a more slender cord; and in all but the actual exercise of the sovereign style, title, and attributes, Canada is free and independent. If the sentiment or the nationality of the Lower Canadians ever induces them to seek the protection or rule of any European State, they will no doubt at once come into collision with Upper Canada and the United States, and we can but pity their infatuation. If Upper Canada thinks to better herself by separation, and union with the Western States, Great Britain assuredly will never hold her by force. It would be useless to discuss the rights and obligations of a sovereignty and its nominal dependency in relation to mutual succour in time of war; but it seems only fair that the great permanent works necessary for strategical purposes, and as _points d’appui_ for the forces of the protecting military power, should be made and repaired and garrisoned at the imperial expense, whilst on the mass of the population must be placed the task of rising to defend their