difficulties to be surmounted, the prejudices to be combated, and the private interests which are constantly found in opposition to the public welfare. This opposition has unfortunately been the lot of all the colonies; but it is to be hoped that in time the evils will become less, that the troubles will cease, and animosities be appeased, and that a happy change will be effected by the judicious representations of enlightened persons.

We now return to the advantages possessed by the harbour of Tadoussac, in a political point of view. I pass by the consideration of the advantages possessed by various other bays, even up to the river Chicoutimy, for the establishment of an agricultural population, which might quickly extend to Lake St. John, and many other lakes in the same direction, and by this means facilitate the communication of the interior, and at length reach to Montreal and Upper Canada.

From the facility of its entrance, the river Saguenay ought to be considered as the key of Canada, for it cannot be doubted, that a port which is situated thirty-six leagues below Quebec, and which can receive, with perfect ease and safety, vessels of the largest burden; to which vessels may sail without the assistance of a pilot, and which has the advantage over Quebec of being open one month earlier for navigation, must, in time, become a place of the highest consequence, not only in a commercial point, but also of the greatest political importance. In case of a sudden declaration of war by the United States, at a time when supplies could be sent from England by no other route, not even by New Brunswick, this port would be open, and all the necessary succours might be despatched to any part of the country. All that is needed for this desirable object, is to form settlements at the mouth of the river Saguenay, and the inhabitants would quickly find the means of communicating with the capital, as well as with any other part of the country, in

route.

every season of the year. It is known that Quebec is not more than three days' journey distant from the settlement formerly established by the Jesuits on Lake St. John, and that the reverend fathers were accustomed to carry on their communication, and even to pass cattle by this There are few places in Lower Canada which, all circumstances considered, offer greater advantages to the surplus population of the country, and the emigrants from Great Britain, than are possessed by the Saguenay territory. The fertility of the soil is equal to that of any other part of the country; and the fish of the various rivers and lakes would alone be sufficient to maintain the settlers, during the period they must necessarily wait for returns from their newly cultivated lands.

We know that the English Government has received applications from individuals, offering, on reasonable terms, to buy lands in this part of the country, and that to these applications they have not paid the least attention; we, nevertheless, take the liberty of recommending this matter to their notice, as one deserving the most serious consideration.

III.

MUNICIPALITIES IN IRELAND.

It would have been a great misfortune if Lord Francis Egerton's motion in the Commons, on the 25th June, for throwing out the Irish Corporation Bill, on the third reading, had been carried.

If we could but arrange our differences in the United Kingdom, so that the principal men of all our adverse parties might form a strong ministry, and carry along with them the good-will of the people, what is there that England might not do? In her vast colonies and dependent states, what a field for noble enterprise, and for such results of beneficent government as the world has not yet seen!

Latterly it has been the affairs of Ireland, chiefly, which have stood in the way of this; and there is now an opportunity of settling them, which, if lost, may never be recalled.

The New Poor Law for Ireland is as good as passed: there is a likelihood that tithe may be converted into a rentcharge; and, upon the bill for establishing municipal corporations, the difference of opinion is only as to the amount of annual value which is to constitute the qualification of a burgess. Upon this point there has been so little precision in the views and reasoning on both sides of the House of Commons, that neither ought to be very obstinately bent upon adhering to its declarations.

Lord John Russell proposed a ten-pound qualification for the large towns. Sir Robert Peel could make up his mind to this, but then it must be a bonâ fide ten pounds; and the only mode of ascertaining the amount which would be satisfactory to Sir Robert Peel, or rather to the Conservative party, was that the tenement should be rated to the new poor's rate in Ireland, as of that value. To this it is replied, by the Irish members who support ministers, that, according to the method which is followed in all cases of rating in Ireland, no tenement would be rated as of ten pounds yearly value, unless it should be of considerably greater value; because the rate is only imposed upon the net value, after deducting all other rates, and taxes, and insurance, and repairs; or that, at least, the principle of rating is so uncertain in these respects, as to make the poor's rate a bad test of value. To this double replication, there is a double rejoinder from the Tory party; first, that it was the "clear" yearly value which was pro→ posed by Lord John Russell; and, secondly, that the Irish method of rating does not prove that a rate is a bad test, but that there is a bad rate; -to which comes the surrejoinder, that ministers had not attached any very clear notions to the terms "clear" yearly value; and, secondly, that a bad rate must be a bad test; and the Irish members, in their opposition to the present bill, can only look to the present method of rating.

Such have been the pleadings on this point; and it will be found, upon a little careful examination of the matter, that all the difficulty of coming to an understanding arises from a confounding of two very different things, as if they were nearly the same. They do not appear to have been rightly apprehended, even by Sir William Follett: and this may, in some degree, alter the aspect even of the Clonmell case, which he introduced with so much effect into the debates, and in which it was thought to be so monstrous, that "the hatching of partridges' eggs" should

have been one of the elements of a qualification to vote in the election of a member of parliament.

The Irish municipal corporation bill, like some other bills of modern date, defines the qualification to consist in being "the owner or occupier" of a tenement of "the clear" yearly value of ten pounds. The difficulty is found in determining what ought to be deducted from the gross amount of what is annually paid for the tenement, before the residue can be rightly called the clear or net yearly value. The mistake consists in the inference which results from the wording of this bill, and of some recent acts of par→ liament, that this process of extracting the net value from the gross amount of payments ought to be applied in like manner in the case of the occupier, as in the case of the owner; but the two cases are essentially different, and ought to be distinct in legislation.

If "the owner" of a tenement is obliged to pay annually on account of that tenement any sum of money, whether as tax, rate, tithe, or repairs, without which he could not obtain rent for the tenement, and by which the amount of money which he does or might put into his pocket is reduced from ten pounds to eight, it is plain that the tenement is only of eight pounds annual value to him; and when "ownership" is made a qualification, it is the "value to him, the owner;" or, in other words, what he does or might annually get for the tenement for his own proper use and behoof, which is the matter for consideration. But, when the "occupation" of a house of a certain value is made a qualification, it ought to be perceived that it is "the ability to pay," and not "the right to receive," which constitutes the qualification; and that it is not "the clear yearly value" of the tenement which decides the question, but "the gross amount of what is annually paid for it by the occupier."

Patrick is the landlord of No. 1, in Union Street, which he lets to Denis, who is a shopkeeper. The condition of