British House of Commons. I consider it
but an act of justice as well as of policy. This step would, as I said
before, _identify_ these valuable provinces with ourselves. They then
would feel that they were not merely ruled by, but that they were part
and portion of, and assisted in, the government of the British empire.
And to draw the line as strictly as possible between them and their
democratic neighbours, and to attach them still closer to monarchical
institutions, it should be proposed to the Sovereign of these realms
that an Order of knighthood and an Order of merit expressly Canadian
should be instituted. These last may be considered by many to be, and
perhaps in themselves are, trifles; but they are no trifles when you
consider that they must militate against those democratic feelings of
equality which have been so industriously and so injuriously circulated
in the provinces by our transatlantic descendants. I cannot better
conclude these observations than by quoting the opinion of so
intelligent a nobleman as Lord Durham, who asserts most positively that,
"England, if she loses her North American colonies, must sink into a
second-rate power."

VOLUME THREE, CHAPTER SEVEN.

INDIANS.

There was no subject of higher interest to me during my travels in North
America, than the past and present condition of the Indian tribes. Were
I to enter into the history of the past, I could easily fill three or
four volumes with matter which I think would be found very well worth
perusing. It is to be lamented that there has been no correct history
of the Indian tribes yet published. There are many authors in America
well calculated to undertake the task; and the only reason which I can
give for its not having been already done, is that, probably, the
American Government are not very willing to open the archives of the
Indian department even to their own countrymen; and, at the same that
time, an American author, who would adhere to the truth, would not
become very popular by exposing the system of rapine and injustice which
was commenced by the English who first landed, and has been continued up
to the present day by the Federal Government of the United States.
Nevertheless, it is to be lamented, now that the race is so fast
disappearing, that a good historical account of them is not published.
There is no want of material for the purpose, even if the Government
refuse their aid; but at present, it is either sca