EVIL CONSEQUENCES or LAND GRANTS. 145

successive minister for the colonies became expert at. count- ing on his fingers the number of years that had elapsed since the British government broke faith with the people of Prince Edward Island, and re-echoed the chant, “Too late! too late ! ” It must be conceded that, after the lapse of' so long a period, it was impossible, without positive injury to pro- prietors who were in no way responsible for existing evils, to esehcat. the land, and the views taken by the commis- sioners on this point must commend themselves to every unprejudiced mind; but, admitting all this, the question occurs, was it too late to fix blame in the proper quarter, and to repair the damage sustained by the island? Certainly not. \Ve think it must be regarded as a radical defect in the report of the commissioners that no pointed answer was given to that question. It was unfortunately too late to make compensation to those who first came to the country on the faith of imperial pledges which were not redeemed, and who, after a life of toil, had passed the bourne whence no t'aveller returns, leaving an inheritance of difficulty and trouble to their sons and daughters ; but it was not too late to make honorable compensation to the latter, and, at the same time, justice to the present owners of the soil, by buy- ing the land with money out of the public treasury of the mother country, and giving it. to those whose just claims had been so long criminally disregarded. \Vhilst in the plaiuest terms the commissioners admitted that the island grievances sprung from the injudicious mode in which the lands were originally given away, they did not press for due compensa- tion being made by the country whose rulers had produced these grievances, but rcconunended that the imperial gov-' crnment should guarantee a loan for the purchase of the land of one hundred thousand pounds, on the production, by the island authorities, of most satisfactory security for the

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