His first letter on the subject is to Lord Grey, written so early as April 26,1848:—­

    The question which you raise in your last letter respecting the
    military defence of Canada is a large one, and, before irrevocable
    steps be taken, it may be well to look at it on all sides.

The first consideration which offers itself in connection with this subject is this, ’Why does Canada require to be defended, and against whom?’ A very large number of persons in this community believe that there is only one power from which they have anything to dread, and that this power would be converted into the fastest friend, bone of their bone, and flesh of their flesh, if the connection with Great Britain were abandoned.

In this respect the position of Canada is peculiar.  When you say to any other colony ’England declines to be longer at the expense of protecting you,’ you at once reveal to it the extent of its dependence and the value of Imperial support.  But it is not so here.  Withdraw your protection from Canada, and she has it in her power to obtain the security against aggression enjoyed by Michigan or Maine:  about as good security, I must allow, as any which is to be obtained at the present time.

But you may observe in reply to this, ’You cannot get the security which Michigan and Maine enjoy for nothing; you must purchase it by the surrender of your custom houses and public lands, the proceeds of which will be diverted from their present uses and applied to others, at the discretion of a body in which you will have comparatively little to say.’  The argument is a powerful one, so long as England consents to bear the cost of the defence of the Colony, but its force is much lessened when the inhabitants are told that they must look to their own safety, because the mother-country can no longer afford to take care of them.

On the other hand very weighty reasons may be adduced in favour of the policy of requiring the province to bear some portion at least of the charge of its own protection.  The adoption of free-trade, although its advocates must believe that it tends to make the Colonies in point of fact less chargeable than heretofore, will doubtless render the English people more than ever jealous of expenditure incurred on their behalf.  I am, moreover, of opinion, that the system of relieving the colonists altogether from the duty of self-defence is attended with injurious effects upon themselves.  It checks the growth of national and manly morals.  Men seldom think anything worth preserving for which they are never asked to make a sacrifice.

    My view, therefore, would be that it is desirable that a movement in
    the direction which you Lave indicated should take place, but that it
    ought to be made with much caution.