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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 "■y Copy qfa Petition presented to •stitutcs the Province of Lower Canada, whether of French or British extraction, as clearly appears by the representation .of their joint Agent, made at the bar of your Honourable House on the 23rd March, 1791. That the baleful consequences of this measijre were even then so clearly foreseen, and brought so fully before your Honourable House, that your Petitioners cannot describe what has actually occurred in more appropriate language than that used by the individual above alluded to, on that occasion :— in urging the continuance of the Province of Quebec un- divided , he say 8 , " There is one consideration of the utmost importance to the tranquillity of the people inhabiting all partt '■' of that country, and which will alone, 1 hope, be sufficient to engage this Honourable House to reject the plan of a new " Independent Government. I must beg to request that Honourable Members will recollect and attend to theOeogra- " phical situation of that Country, from which it will appear evident that no vessel of any kind can prooeetl further up the " River Saint Lawrence than the City of Montreal, on account of rapids which are immediately above that town. Of course, " as every article of necessity or luxury which the Inhabitants of the upper districts have occasion for, from Britain or any " foreign Country, must come to them by the river St. Lawrence, they must be landed at or below Montreal, where tiny " must be stored by the merchants of Quebec or Montreal until carriages or boats are provided to send them forward^ ' likewite, that every article of produce that the people of these upper districts wish to export, must be sent in Boat* to " Montreal, or, perhaps to Quebec, for the purpose of being shipped for exportation ; and that as well the articles of '" import as of export must, in passing through the lower country, become subject to the laws and regulations, duties and '" taxes, which may be imposed by the Legislature of the Lower Country. Now, supposing the division to take place, as tt " may be expected that the new Legislature of Quebec'shall in due time provide a revenue towards the support of the Civil ' " Government of that part of the Province, it is more than probable that whatever money is raised for that, or any other ' " public purpose, will be done by duties payable upon importations : — it is therefore au object that deserves the most serious " reBection of Honourable Members, to consider how far the people inhabiting the Upper Government will approve of, and " be content to pay, duties on their importations or exportations, when the produce of those Taxes or duties is to be ap- " plied towards supporting the expenses of the Civil Government of the Lower Province, or for building public edifices. " or otherwise improving or beautifying that part of the Country, or for the purpose of granting Bounties or ^ncouragemenU " to promote Agriculture, or particular trades or manufactures, of which the people in the Upper Province, cannot from ''their situation, participate the advantages. e ';.. " It is impossible. Sir, if the Province of Quebec is divided, for the wisdom of Man to lay a plan for these objects ' '* that Will not afford matter of dispute and create animosities between the Governments of the two Provinces, which in a "few years may lead to the n)ost nerious Consequences ; this would be sowing the seed of dissentions and quarrels, which, " however easy it may be to raise, it will be found exceedingly difficult to appease.'^ A>^aiii he adilk : "Sir, I have contideted the subject a thousand times since 1 firtt heard of this intended diviiion, " but hare not been able to form any reasonable idea of the motive that thus induced the proposition of inch a dangeroni " eiperimeitt. — If, at any future period, experience should point itout as expedient for the advantage and safety of Qovem- " meut, or for the general convenience or prosperity of the people, to divide that country, it may then be done with more "judgment, from a more certain knowledge of the consequences of lunh a division. The conveniences tliat may arise from "continuing the Province united under one Legislature are few, and they are well known and understood, the advantages " of unanimity, mutual support, and strength, but no man can tell the dang<>rs of a separation. The dangers, however, to " be apprehended are political weakness, disunion, animosities, and quarreis." That it is within the knowledge of several of your Petitioners, that the above Act had hardly become a Law, when the impolicy of the division of the Province of Quebec became apparent to his Majesty's Ministers, as was declared by them to the individual who made the representation from which your Petitioners have now quoted. Although that, by the wisdom of the imperial Parliament, an Act was passed in 1822, intending to set at rest, at least for the moment, the disputes between the two Provinces in regard to duties : for which end, the power of determining on the share of duties to which Upper Canada may be entitled, is taken out of the Hands of the two Colonial Legislatures andgiv(Bn to Arbitrators; yet. as the very passing of such a Law implies the existence of a very great evil, so your Petition- ers are well assured that this remedy, viewed as a permament measure, would, in its execution, prove a source of endless dispute, dissatiafactlon, and jealousy, between the the two Provinces : — and as pregnant with the same effects, do the Petitioners regar<} the depriving of the Legislature of Lower Canada of the power to raise any duties on importations into that Province, without the previous communication of any projected Law for that purpose to the Government of Upper Canada, and the transmission of it to England for the approval of the Qovernment there. The more consideration your Petitioners bestow un the subject, the more confident is their conviction, that, instead of palliative remedies, an effectual and complete remedy should be resorted to ; and this can only be' found by the union of the Provinces under one Legis- lature. 'I'hat, as British subjects, and persons whose inter..'sts are deeply involved in the prosperity of diese Provinces, yoiir Petitioners cannot view the prtiient state 61' affairs' and their iiievitable result, without the most serious apprehensions. Situated as the Canadas are, with respect to the United States of America, it is the interest of Great Britain to give as rapid a derclopement to the resources of these Provinces as they are captible of, and augment and increase their strength as much as possible, with a view to their continuing a distinct portion of America, secure under British protection, and furnishing Greet Britain the means of exercising an important influence over that Country, in such a manner as cir- cumstances may render expedient : in furtherance of this object, it would be obviously fit that a communion of feeling and an identity of political views, with a sense of increased strength and importance, should, as far as can be produced, prevail in the two Provinces : this policy is altogether counteracted by a division, which tends to incrr<»se the opposition of the Inhabitanu of Lower Canada to the institutions, habits, and feelings, of those of Upper iJ^nada; while the latter, becoming gradually more estranged from their Sister Province, must be gradually and imperceptibly drawn into closer ties of connexion with the adjoining Slates, whose InhabiianU have the same laws, language, habiU, and manners: whereas, by the Union of the Provinces, the present divided parU of the Population would be gradually moulded into one Common Mass, with the same Political views and feelings, ready to act in concert, and to combine their resourcai for thwr common defence. Tliat, from the state of the representation in lx)wer Canada, a very large body of 1»i« Majettys aubjecta, amounting itU estimated, to 60,000 souls, of British birth and British descent, are unrepresented in the Legislature, either directly or indirectly. His Majesty'* tubjects of French descent, having it in their power to exclude, and actually excluding, from the House of assembly ail who do not fall into their very views, (which views, whether right or wrong, it is not the preient object of your Petitioners to discuss,) and the effect has been, that of a vast number of EmigranU, who of late years hare arrived from Great Britain and Ireland, probably not one twentieth part have remained within iu limitarthe rest have sooflM protection under English institutions, by setling in Upper Canada or in the United States. That, by a union of the two Provinces, every British Inhabitant therein would be represented, wei« soom mearare at the same to be adopted, to enable the Town-ships to return Members for themselves. And the claims of these Inhabi- tanta of British origin are so strongly built upon justice, that your Petitionera cannot doubt but your Honourable House would see fit to provide for the unrepresented state of the valuable and fertile portions of the Pronnce. "That the Legislature of the Lower Province has for a long time been so much agitated by dissentient, and thai deli- beraUons so much engrossed thereby, that Tirade, Agricultural Education, and matters of general interest have been ne- glected ; whereas, under an enlightened attd efficient legislature, undiatncted by partial Tiewi and intereate, your PetiUonMi oonfidaatly anticipate the rapid adTancementof thew, together with Iha improvement of the navigation, and internal mMut of aommnnieation, the establUhaeBt of an Iniolnnt Debtors' Act, of Offices for the Registry of Lands and MortgMw, and other ohJMte so necessary for Mcori^ in commerciidtranBaetiQwu ,, their hi principl be fonn That while your Petitioaeri thus point out to your Hoaourablo Houm the aecMiity of, and advantaget whieh.in their humble opinion, would flow from, an union, they are far from wiihing luch a meaaure on any other but on equitable principles, without innovation in the laws or religion, or without doing riolence to the feeling of any party, more than may be found neceeiary to conduce to the general good. May your Honourable House, therefore, be pleased to take these premises into your consideration ; and your Petitioners rely, with fiill confidence, on your wisdom for taking such measures thereupon, as will promote the best intaresia of these Provinces, and long preserve them as valuable dependencies of tim • ' ' -Crown of Great Britain And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray SIMON M'OILLIORAY. JCmN HVLLETT. JOHN BONUS. R. CARTER. J. MACKILLOP. A. STEWART. HENRY OSBORNE. W. T. HIBBERT. MARTIN CALDWELL. JAMES DYKE. F. L. HOOFFSTELLER. HUGH GRAY. MOBE HART. JOHN PRICE. ROBERT GILLESPIE. W. LOGAN. , ALEX. GILLESPIE. JAMES DOWIE. GEORGE SKINNEAR. GEORGE FORSYTH. EDWARD COI.SON. WILLLAM ROW, JUN. HART LOGAN. JOHN LACKWOOD. JOHN BAINBRIDGE ANTHONY ATKINSON. ROBERT HARRISON. J. WESTMORELAND. JOHN HIBBERT. E. FORSYTH. RICHARD CLARKE. THOMAS WILSON. GABRIEL SHAW. FLETCHER WILSON. B. A. GHIE. RUSSELL ELUCE. THOMAS W. ilARBY. KENNETH DOWIE. : JOHN GERRARD.