WILD FLOWERS FROM CANADA.
Mr. Punch has had much pleasure in receiving a newspaper from some of his friends in West Canada. It is called the Hamilton Spectator, and Mr. Punch cannot give a higher idea of the excellence of the journal than by mentioning that the first article in the number sent him is from his own pen. So long as the colonists keep such models before them they may safely be trusted with any amount of "self-government."
He must, however, confess himself rather less pleased with a report contained in the next page of the Hamilton Spectator. It is an account of the latest proceedings in the House of Assembly. The House was in "Committee of Supply," and salaries, printing expenses, and such matters were in discussion. The report shall speak for itself.
"The next item was £15,094 for expenses at Spencer Wood. Mr. Mackenzie objected to it; saying, that he supposed Colonel Prince would like to treat him as he had once treated the poor prisoners at Sandwich, who were shot accordingly. But if the Honourable Member could do so, it would not prevent him from doing his duty to his country.
"Colonel Prince looked on Mr. Mackenzie as a reptile, and trod on him as such. For the Member for Haldimand to talk of these times, when he practised rebellion, murder, and mail robbery! It was lucky for him he (Colonel Prince) did not catch him, for by the Holy Moses, if he had, the Honourable Member would never have been seen again on the floor of that House. He wished the Honourable Member had come over then, and by the Holy Moses he would have speedily sent him to Heaven. He would have given him a soldier's death, and have thus saved the country many thousand pounds. The Member for Haldimand was an itinerant mendicant, who earned a fortune by sitting in that House and getting a pound a day, because he could not get a fortune anywhere else. He concluded by assuring the Honourable Member that, friendly as he was to independence, if he ever caught him again in the position which he had once been in, he would hang him.
"The resolution was then carried."
Now, this is really rather strong for a Committee of Supply. The Irish Members at home are somewhat turgid and blatant; but, except that Mr. Grattan (the present one, not the clever one, of course) once intimated that he should like to have the head of one of the Ministers—and really no one wanted a head more than Mr. Grattan—we do not think that this very emphatic style has been introduced into the English legislature. Imagine Mr. Gladstone, on the estimates, intimating that he should like to hang Sir John Pakington, for objecting to one of the items, and enforcing his intimation by an appeal to the "Holy Moses."
On the whole, Mr. Punch is disposed to suggest to his colonial friends (over whose fortunes he watches with the utmost interest) that there is one species of "self government" to which they seem hardly to have given sufficient attention. It is personal. Therefore, Mr. Punch, who is never personal, will say no more about it.