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 ''i'^ -' '. 
 
 AFFAIRS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE CANADA S. 
 
 IN A SERIES OF LETTERS. 
 
 HV 
 
 A CANADIAN 
 
 " Correct every real grievance, but maintain the happy Constitution inviolate."- 
 His Excellency Sir Francis li. Head, and the People of Upper Canada. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 I'RINTED BY J. KING, COLLEGE HILL, LONDON. 
 
 1837. 
 
 ^"WT^m^: 
 
,.1 
 
 TO THE MEMBERS 
 
 01-' 
 
 THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT, 
 
 . / 
 
 My Lords and Gentlemkn, 
 
 The following summary view of the rise, progress, 
 and present state of the principal questions which 
 have, of late years, agitated the Canadas,— and 
 which are, at the present time, destroying the peace 
 and blighting the prosperity of Lower Canada,— is 
 most respectfully dedicated to you, by a sincere 
 lover of his country, an humble admirer of the 
 Monarchical Government of Great Britain, and a 
 devoted friend to the unity of the British Empire. 
 
 A CANADIAN. 
 
 20, Guilford Street, Russell Square, 
 January 28, 1837. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 . ' 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Page 
 
 Author's reasons for ^\Titing these letters — Testimonies of the Cana- 
 dian press — Why anonymous i 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 To Messrs. Hume and Roebuck. 
 
 Tlie demands of Messrs. Hume and Roebuck and their Canadian 
 confederates — What those demands involve 5 
 
 LETTER IL 
 
 To the same. 
 
 Former character of the Canadian Executives — Committee of the 
 British House of Commons on the civil Government of tlie 
 Canadas in 1828 — Complaining parties in the Canadas satisfied 
 with the report of that committee — Improvement in the spirit 
 and administration of the Canadian Executives since 1828 — Split 
 amongst the Canadian " Reformers" in 1833 — One shade of them 
 change their gi'ound from complaints against abuses, to a war 
 against the Constitution, to which they had heretofore expressed 
 a strong attachment — This crusade against the Constitution of 
 the Canadian Government originated with Mr. Hume and Mr. 
 Roebuck — Proofs — Extracts of letters written by Mr. Hume and 
 Mr. Roebuck 9 
 
 LETTER in. 
 
 To the .same. 
 
 When a change in the Constitution of the Canadas was first advocated 
 in Lower, and afterwards in Upper Canada — Extracts from the 
 constitution of the " Canadian Alliance" Society, Mr. Roebuck's 
 letter, May, 1835, Mr. Papineau's speech, November, 1835, in 
 favour of a " pure democracy" in the Canadas — Character and 
 progress of this republican spirit — "Grievance Committee" Re- 
 port of ttie Upper Canada House of Assembly in 1834, on which 
 all Mr. Hume's attacks upon the Canadian Executives, during 
 the last Session of Parliament, (1835-6) were founded — how that 
 document was got up and sent to England — People of Upper 
 Canada not Republicans — Proofs — Extract from an address of the 
 Upper Canada House of Assembly to His Excellency Sir Francis 
 Head, the 15th of November, 1836, (note.) 15 
 
 To the iame. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 Hostility of the French party in Lower Canada to British commerce, 
 British immigration, and British inhabitants — Proofs — Extracts 
 from the Minerve tand Canadien newspapers, a speech of Mr. 
 Rodier, Member of the Assembly, and an address of Mr. Papineau 
 
to tlie electors oC tlic West W.'ird of Montreal -Coiu'Iusions — 
 l*.S. Extraets from a Frciicli pamplilel circulated onhj in the 
 country parts of J.owcr Caiuida '21 
 
 LFTTRR V. 
 
 'I'n the same. 
 
 Tlu'ee alternatives in (iovernini^ Lower Canada — i'o.sition of the 
 liriti.sh and French inhaljitants — eni'ct of continuing the Kreneh 
 lanyuajfe in legislative and judicial proceedinirs — The JJrilish in- 
 habitants opposed to Mr. liocbuck's schemes — Character (jf the 
 French inhabitants by a French nobleman — Treatment of them 
 by the British (Jovernment — Proceedings of the Legislative Comi- 
 cil and House of Assembly on the subject of education — Mr. Roe- 
 buck's statements respecting tlic Canadian Timber Trade, (note) 2S{ 
 
 LF.TTER VL 
 
 To (he .same. 
 Remarks on the attacks of Mr. Hume and Mr. Roebuck upon the Ca- 
 nadian Executives, Legislative Councils, and Land Companies — 
 The authority on which Mr. Roebuck's statements are founded nu- 
 gatory — More persons of French than of British origin have been 
 called to the Legislative Council and appointed to oliicc in Lower 
 Canada duruig the last eight years — Mr. Roebuck's " responsible 
 government" incompatible with the colonial relation — Responsi- 
 bihty of the colonial Executives as at present constituted — The 
 several objections urged by ^.Ir. Hume and Mr. Roebuck and 
 their Canadian associates ayainst the Canadian Legislative Coun- 
 cils and Land Companies suited and answered — What desired 
 by the author in behalf of the inhabitants of the two Canadas — 
 The influence of the debates of the Imperial Parliament upon 
 the public mind in the Canadas (note) 37 
 
 LETTER Vn. 
 
 To His Majesti/s principal Secretary of State for the Colonies. 
 
 Defence of His Excellency Sir Francis Head against the various alle- 
 gations of Mr. Hume and his anti-Constitutional associates in 
 Upper Canada 54 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 To the same. 
 
 Lower Canada — Inferences from the preceding letters — Present politi- 
 cal aspect of the province — Immediate interference of Parliament 
 necessary — Three things must not be done — Remedies suggested 
 — Interest of Upper Canada in the adjustment of Lower Canada 
 affairs— Pernicious effects of permitting the unconstitutional pay- 
 ment of £1,100 per annum to Mr. Roebuck (note) — Concluding 
 remarks 70 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
i;e 
 
 >I 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 lU 
 
 
 M 
 
 A 
 
 \ 
 
 I 
 
 The author of the following Letters is a native of Upper Canada, — 
 the son of an " United Empire Loyalist," who has been an officer in 
 His Majesty's service since the commencement of the American revo- 
 lution, and has resided in Upper Canada the last forty years, during 
 the greater part of which period he has fdled important public situa- 
 tions, such as High Sheriff, Colonel of Militia, Chairman of the 
 Quarter Sessions, &c., in the London District. The author had no 
 political object in view in his visit to this great country of his fore- 
 fathers ; but he came accredited by honorary letters of introduction and 
 recommendation from Sir John Colborxe, and other gentlemen of 
 the first respectability in both the Canadas. The circumstances under 
 which he has been induced to intrude upon the notice of the British 
 public are sufficiently explained in the following note, addressed by 
 the author to the editor of the journal in which these letters (except the 
 8th and the Notes) originally appeared : — 
 
 " ^ir. — During a period of several years the peace and interests of the Canadas 
 have been serio. -.■' injured, and the measures and wishes of his IMajesty's govern- 
 ment iiave been b'it'.tly embarrassed and retarded, by the statements, representa- 
 tions and proceedii,is of Mr. Hume and Mr. lloebuck, and their Canadian asso- 
 ciates. 
 
 " I believe that a plain and full exposure of the statements and conduct of these 
 parties, and a fair vmdication of the J5riiish and constitutional interests of tiiose 
 valuable provinces, has never been attempted by any person familiar with the 
 subject, and personally acquainted with the state of things in that country. Erro- 
 neous impressions have, therefore, been made on the public mind in tiiis country 
 respectine; the state of affairs and parties in the Canadas, and those noble posses- 
 sions are m danger of being wrested from the British Crown. 
 
 " The affairs of the Canadas are come to a crisis, and His IMajesty's government 
 and the British parliament are now called upon and obliged to interfere. 
 
 " Under these circumstances, I solicit, on behalf of both England and the 
 Canadas, a place in your journal (as the most extensively circulated, and the most 
 generally read by all parties) for a few letters on Canadian afl'airs. 
 
 " For the information of your numerous readers, respecting myself it may be 
 requisite for me to add, that 1 am, what I assume to be, a Canadian, by birth and 
 education, recently from Canada, from which 1 have never been absent two years 
 
u 
 
 ill my lil'e. All my ri.'dinjjs ainl cunucxions arc t'luiidiin. 1 aiu pcr^niuillv lU'- 
 qiiiiiiili (1 willi (iio'-l ill llic pulilio ruuii iiml 11:11 ly lt;i(lcr; ia 0110 piouiu'f, iiml witli 
 several of tliom in tlu' i lliur. I liavo tnvi lie I tluom^liout tln! wliolc louutry, atul 
 know till' (liiiiaclir, lUo, ;iu(l It ,liiis;s ot'tlit! iiilin'.titaiit-*. 1 liav(! htMi a regular 
 rem If r of nearly (:v( 17 nev\>j)ai)L:r of any coiisoiiiiciici', of all pailit-*, in liotli pio- 
 vinccs for many years pa-it. 1 liavc never received a favour iVom j;<)veinment, nor 
 has any of my re'alives. Inni eiiliiely anas'.uci.ile(l uilli any ennlMiili;!:.: paity in 
 the Cunailas, ntu' iiave I any intiue-.t whatever in tlie appointment of any iniliviilual 
 to, or Mimoval fiom, ollice. 
 
 " J'lUt from what 1 have per-^orially witnessed in the Canailas, in tin; rnite<l 
 State.s, and in Kni'jand, I havt; a dfMided preference for iMonaieiiieal iii-titutiou?. 
 I believe them to lie as essential tu tiie b^-t interest* and happinr^s of the Cauad.is 
 as of (ireat Hritain. 1 am anxious that tlmse piovinees siiould eontinue in (^onuexion 
 with, and sulijeet to, tiie. crown of Great iJiitaiu. J also owe a iluty as a llrilisli 
 subject. 1 am, lli'.refore, induced— i may say I feel myself eompeiled by a sen^c 
 of (luty — to step out of my accustomed relir(;metit, and attemj)! an exposition of the 
 general affairs of the ('ana<las. That exposition I now submit to the ;;rav(; auu 
 candid eonsidcrution of hritish statesmen, and of au enlightened 15rili>h pubhc. 
 
 " 1 have the honour to bo. Sir, 
 
 " Yourobudient humble servant, 
 
 " A CANADIAN." 
 " London, June 1, 183G." 
 
 By tile forcgoinff note, as well as in the following letters, it will be 
 seen that the (juestiuns of Canadian agitation have not been arrayed 
 against, or identified with, any political parfi/ in England. The 
 author's simple object has been to remove, as far as possible, the 
 obstacles to the adjustment of Canadian affairs which have embarrassed 
 successive administrations, and to rescue the Canndas from those pre- 
 judicial suspicions which had been created in political and mercantile 
 circles by Mr. Hume and Mr. Roebuck. 
 
 The following letters do not »oiv come before British statesmen and 
 merchants as unauthenticated exparte statements. The statements on 
 which the principal argimaents are founded have been confirmed by 
 recent occurrences in the Canadas, as shown in the Notes; and the 
 entire series (except the Sth and the Notes) has been republished and 
 widely circulated in those provinces, without any answer being 
 attempted by the Canadian republican writers. They have indeed 
 vented a few paragraphs of abuse against the supposed author of these 
 letters — showing thit they would have refuted his statements and 
 arguments had they Hie requisite materials : but the British public well 
 know that nibbling personal attacks are not argument, but are proofs 
 assumptive of the want of it. As testimony corroborative of what has 
 been advanced in these letters, the author selects the following out of 
 numerous similar notices respecting them, which have appeared in the 
 Canadian newspapers. The Patriot newspaper (published in Toronto, 
 Upper Canada) of the 15th of November, 1836, says,— 
 
 I 
 
 
 / 
 
 t 
 
( 
 
 / 
 
 / 
 
 111 
 
 " i Immu is iitilliiii); at >vlii('li Ipiirr C'uiiiiili.iii^^ liivu nuiitj ic.imiii Io k.jhicc tliiiii 
 llic I'ircumstai.ii' di lliulr all.iirs Itciiii; ikhv, Intiii tinio U) tiiiic, lai'l npi ii to ihn 
 llnli-ih public tliroui^li llie int'ilium ot'tlie l.oiitloii pru--. For tliis tin; provinro irt 
 
 ^ll•;lliy iiiili htcil to [ iiiiiniii}; llu; Mipposud ;uil!ior of lla-^i' letters |. 
 
 Tli;it t!C'utlciu;in, iti the ctiiniii) of tlii; last suimiuT, puhlislicd iii tlic l.omlon 'riiiun 
 u I'ouiseof letti'is adilnihsiMl to Messrs. Ilmiie iind lloL'buck, adiniiiilily calculiitcd to 
 ixposo to the people of Kiinhuid the iKdiirious luid bcditious prococdiiins of those 
 dispicalile men and tiair ini^eiidde tool-; hfii;. 'I hese lettei;* were repiiidished in 
 I'lii' I'lilru't, and, we Ijelicvf, in most of tlie Coiiscrviitive prints,— doubtless witli 
 siihitary etleol. i)oi't(n' Dum (indie's ioiirncy to London, to poi^on tlie ininds of 
 the people of Knt;l;>nd aR.dnst his l,xcelKni'y Sir I'rancis Ili.ad, by nionstroutily 
 f;d>e allegations of misl'.dsancc in his j^'ovcinnient, — which hi'^ ivtccllency conld 
 ha\c no opportunity (;f danyiuj; — has ehciled fiom Mr. ■ another masterly 
 
 production, winch h(j lias addrewseil throush the London V'/mtJs to tlie Right IIoii. 
 Lord (jleneli;, lli« Majesty's I'rineipal Secretary of State for tiie Colonial Depart- 
 ment. We call it nia.-ttrly, but that is a cold term wheroliy to express our high 
 adndration of its mi-rils." • * • << We regret our inabdity to give Mr. ——'« 
 (7th) Letter in tills tunober, but will conunence it in our n( xt, and >hall not be 
 able to finish it until tiie next after, it uccnpyinj; four elo.;eIy printed columns in 
 the London Tiiues, It is probai)le that, after it is coi'ipleled in type, we shall print 
 oil' some copii-, in pamplilet foiin, a.i it is desirable it .--hould iliid its way itttocvoiy 
 family. It ought to bo circulated by thousands." 
 
 (l''r(Mn the i-amo Journal, Nov. 18.) 
 " The letter of ' A Canadian,' u hicii we give to-day from the London Times, is 
 of so interesting a characlcr, so lull in cxpliuiation— so fervid and vigorous in de- 
 fence of riglit — so lucid ami ellectivc in the exposure of perlldy, and so triumphant 
 in the frustration of the knavi-h tricks of the sneaking enemies ot Sii' Francis Head, 
 and the people of Upper Canada, that wo could not reconcile its separation into 
 two parts with our ideas of the impatience w hich must be felt by the good people 
 to peruse tlie vindication of their justly cherisiied friend and champion from the 
 lalse ami malicious ac(;us.itioiis of bis and tlujir wretched mali.^ners. 'I'liercfore 
 have we given it entire, although it ocv'upies so large a portion of our impression. 
 Following it is tiie ielentical petition of J)r. Duncombe, which drew forth this 
 admirable letter of ' A Canadian.' Head thit petition our sub-cnbers ; read it 
 every man, woman, and cliild in tlie land ; read it reformers and iioii-reformeix, 
 constitutionalists and revobitioui-'ts, monaicliists ami pure democracy men, and 
 find us, il'it be possilile, a single hii:iian iteing with eU'rontery enough to speak of 
 it approvingly, 'i'hat the celebrated Joseph Hume shmild have identitied himself 
 with this ])r. Duncombe in foisting before the British pai iiatnent such disgusting 
 rigmarole, exhibits a ieature in his chaiacter which marks him titter for the hostler 
 of an inn than f'oi a representative of Middlesex." 
 
 The Montreal Gazette (Lower Caiicula) of the 19th of November, 
 
 observes : — 
 
 " , the author of a series of powerful letters in the London 7'jmes, under the 
 
 signature of ' A Canadian' —to whicii we have already given insertion —has como 
 forth in a seventh, of some length, in defence of Sir Francis Head, from the numerous 
 charges made by ]Mr. Hume, in the House of (Commons, focnded on the exparte 
 statements of Dr. ]3uncombc. 'ibis letter we present to our readers to-day. It 
 will be found characterized by tlie calm and forci'ile arguments of its predecessors, 
 the modeiation of its style, and the pointed a[)i)iicalion of its facts and references. 
 The inconsistency between l)v. Duncomljc's political opinions of IBIJ'j and 1B36, is 
 prominently brought into contrast, in a manner not very favourable to the Doctor's 
 political reputation, as well as the friendsliip now existing between Dr. Duncombe 
 and i\Ir. JIume, and the opinions but recently expressed by the former regarding the 
 latter. The constitutional party owe much to the activity and pcrseverence of the 
 author of these letters, for the able erpose of Canadian affairs he has volunteered 
 for the information of the British public." 
 
 The following sentence from the editorial remnrks of the Kingston 
 C/i/-o?ijfi'(' (Upper Canada), November 30lli, will eonchide these ex- 
 tracts : — 
 
IV 
 
 o 
 
 " The masterly litters which havu from time lo lime appeared in llic I-oiuluti 
 Timo siifncd ' A C'aiiiliiiii,' iiiii--t luvclivla povtciful tilt el iit ojKiiitin llii; cyi'» 
 of iiiiaisirirs to tlio nul ^l.itu i»l' «mr alliiirs, and of llie vicw-i and ol)jet'i-< ol" I'mt 
 pnrty.wlio, witli ;iii iiidu-try lli.it would be higldv rredital)li: in :in lioiioiuiililo 
 euii u, have i{'asi;lc>^ly cudeiivoured, by tlic mo>t wilful ami >hanit'l( -i di-ng ml to 
 truth, to mislead the jiooplo in linnlund witli rc;;ard t<j the true >l;ilc of the iillairs 
 «)!' this colony, by means ol their paid ai;. n», ^It. Koebuck, and that apo-lle of 
 misrepresentation and lalstdiood, ^Mr. Joseph Hume." 
 
 One word as to these letters being anonymous, 1. The statements 
 and arguments uilvunced are, the author conceives, bulRciently esta- 
 blished, independent of his name. "2. His name is already known 
 where it may be consiilered of any importance to what he has written. 
 3. lie has no desire to become conspicuous in the matters respecting 
 which he has been reluctantly induced to trespass upon the attention 
 of the British puUic. 4. From the tenderness of his age, and other 
 personal considerations, he would not have been emboldened, under his 
 own proper name, to have expressed himself with that freedom which 
 the occasion required, and his personal knowledge of the aflairs of the 
 Canadas authorised. The name of the author is, however, at the ser- 
 vice of any gentleman who chooses to inquire of the printer. 
 
 f 
 
 \ 
 
\ 
 
 ,1 
 
 li K T T E R 8 
 
 oir 
 
 THE CAN AD AS. 
 
 / 
 
 I 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 7o Joseph Hume and John Arthur Roebuck, E.squirci, Members of 
 
 Parliament, 
 
 Sirs, — The possession of the Canadas has been acquired and main- 
 tained by Great Britain at the expense of a vast amount of British 
 treasure and blood. They embrace a territory of 360,000 square miles, 
 the greater part of which is mild and healthy in climate, fertile in soil, 
 imexcelled in internal navigation, and amazing in its resources of pro- 
 duction, trade and commerce. Those provinces, so extensive, so 
 valuable, so greatly improved, and so rapidly improving, are on the 
 verge of being lost to the British Crown — of being lost, not on accoimt 
 of disaffection in the minds of any considerable portion of the inha- 
 bitants to British Government, but by means of the inculcation, diffusion, 
 and adoption of political theories (under the name of civil rights) which 
 involve the annihilation of every prerogative of the King and British 
 ParUaraent ; a change in the entire character of the social institutions 
 of the country ; and the substitution of an independent democracy for 
 British Colonial Monarchy. 
 
 That this is the state of things in the Canadas is now matter of 
 notoriety ; but the extent to which this state of things exists, who are 
 the authors of it, and the influence which it is likely to exert upon the 
 mutual interest of the Canadas and Great Britain, together with the 
 remedies it demands, is not so well imderstood,— is indeed but little 
 known in this country. This desideratum I will endeavour to supply. 
 
6 
 
 And at the outset, I do not hesitate to ufiii-m, nov do I doubt of being 
 able to demonstrate it, that you. Sirs, are the principal authors of that 
 unsettledness which now shakes the throne of British power in the 
 Canadas ; and if those fine countries be virtually or rudely severed from 
 the parent state, with you will rest the responsibility and guilt of it. 
 
 The first part of the subject resolves itself into two parts. 1. What 
 are the demands of the Canadian parties that you pati'onize and re- 
 present ? 2. Did those demands originate with them or with you ? 
 
 As to the demands of the Canadian parties, I refer not to them 
 all ; I refer only to those demands which distinguish them as parties 
 from the rest of the inhabitants of the Canadas, and which distinguish 
 you as their advocates. The nature of those demands I trust will not 
 be disputed, as they are stated at great length in a recent address of the 
 Lower Canada House of Assembly to the King, which has already ap- 
 peared in several of the British journals. I will, therefore, only state 
 them briefly: — 1. A Legislative Council (or House of Lords) chosen 
 periodically by poi^ular election, instead of its members being appointed 
 for life by the Crown. 2. Absolute control by the local assemblies of 
 all colonial revenues — those which arise from the sale of Crown lands, 
 as well as all others. 3. An Executive Government, wholly dependent 
 upon, and responsible to, a local legislature thus constituted. 4. The 
 abolition of the Canadian Land Companies. 5. The entire management 
 by the local legislature of the Crown lands. 6. The establishment of 
 the local institutions, and the appointments to public offices upon prin- 
 ciples of popular election, (a) 
 
 Such are the leading objects of the Canadian parties with which you 
 stand individually and officially identified, and whose measures you pub- 
 licly advocate. I will here pause, and respectfully request the British 
 reader to re-examine the foregoing paragraph, and will then ask him, 
 what do the objects therein enumerated involve ? Do they not involve 
 a total subversion of British power and authority in the Canadas? Is 
 not a large portion of the power of the British Crown extinguished by 
 wresting from it the election or appointment of one co-ordinate branch 
 of the Legislature ? Is not a great part of the rest of the Royal power 
 destroyed by the proposed annihilation of the control of the Crown over 
 
 (a) These objects are stated ia the words of the Canadiao Republican parties in 
 the thmi letter. 
 
I 
 
 
 all the Crown revenues, and even the Crown lands themselves ? And 
 is not British power completely extinguished in the Canudas, when the 
 Executive Government, together with its officers, is made directly res- 
 ponsible to the local elective a-<scmblies, instead of being responsible to 
 the King and British Parliament? 1 again ask the intelligent reader, 
 what these avowed objects of yourselves and your Canadian confederates 
 imply ? even apart from the proposed abolition of British companies 
 incorporated by royal charters and acts of Parliament, and therefore 
 having the pledge of the British nation for the security of their pro- 
 perty and interests. Is not your colonial reform, then, unqualified 
 republicanism — nay, dowrn-ight democracy ? Is not yoiu* colonial " self- 
 government" complete independence? And, supposing your objects to 
 be accomplished, 1 ask wherein has Great Britain an iota more control 
 or power over the Canadas than she has over any state of the American 
 Republic ? In such a case, will not the Governor himself be the poor 
 powerless creature of a local assembly, instead of being the represent- 
 ative of the King's Government ? The omnipotent two-fold elected 
 assembly would indeed send back a British Governor in a trice, as the 
 parties you represent are now striving by popular meetings to accomplish 
 already in respect to his Excellency Sir Francis Head, so lately ap- 
 pointed Governor of Upper Canada. And would you, would any 
 Englishman of common sense, vote hereafter for the appropriation of a 
 sixpence for the commercial and political protection and defence of a 
 country over which neither the King nor Parliament has a shadow of 
 control, and in which Great Britain has not a peimy of revenue or 
 property ? 
 
 Be it remembered then, Sirs, that your present objects are not the 
 correction of real or alleged abuses in the administration of the Cana- 
 dian Government; for it is admitted that the utmost efforts of His 
 Majesty's Government and its representatives in the Canadas have, for 
 several years past, been directed to the investigation and correction (as 
 far as the adverse complaining party has permitted) of every prac- 
 tical evil heretofore complained of. So much so, that your confederates 
 in Upper Canada can scarcely invent a single grievance of a practical 
 nature, but are directing their whole attention to theoretical questions. 
 Your objects, therefore, are not improvement in the practice or adminis- 
 tration of the established Government ; but they are, in every instance, 
 changes in the constitution of the Government, and changes too, which 
 in every instance involve a transfer of the revenues, property, and power 
 
8 
 
 of the Crown and British Parliament to the local assemblies; or, in other 
 words, changes which involve the annihilation of British dominion, and 
 the establishment of an independent Republic in the Canadas. 
 
 Will the reader, will any British heart, sanction such a project ? 
 Shall the thousands and tens of thousands who have settled in those noble 
 provinces, under the pledged faith of British national honour, and who 
 have fought in defence of British authority and interests, be nidely or 
 clandestinely severed from the land of their fathers, and be sacrificed to 
 the cupidity of an adventurous party of agitation traders in the Canadas, 
 and their commissioned advocates and partizans in England ? I trow 
 not. 
 
 In my next I will show how far yoiT have contributed to originate the 
 present agitations in the Canadas, and to bring them to this perilous 
 crisis. 
 
 I am, &c. 
 
 A CANADIAN. 
 
 London, June 1, 1836. 
 
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 trow 
 
 e the 
 ilous 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 Sirs,— In my last letter I showed that the objects which you and 
 your Canadian confederates propose is nothing less than the subversion 
 of the British, and the establishment of an independent republican Go- 
 vernment in the Canadas. 
 
 I proceed now to state the part which you have taken in originating 
 and promoting these objects. I must, however, premise a few general 
 observations. In former years partialities and abuses did exist in the 
 administration of the Canadian Governments, that, in my opinion, 
 justified the greater part of the complaints which were at that time 
 made against them. The character of the Government of Lower 
 Canada was exclusive ; its acts were, in many instances, partial, and its 
 general mien was rather haughty. In Upper Canada the administi-ation 
 of the executive power was equally exclusive ; favoritism prevailed, in 
 many instances, over merit ; the more numerous religious denominations 
 were not authorized to hold even a foot of land for chapels, &c. ; and the 
 affairs of the province generally were administered in the letter and 
 spirit of high ultraism. 
 
 Such was the state of Canadian affairs when a select committee of 
 the House of Commons was appointed in 1828, to investigate into the 
 civil government of the Canadas. With the report of that committee 
 the complaining parties in the Canadas expressed themselves well satis- 
 fied, especially the House of Assembly of Lower Canada. 
 
 Though all the objects recommended by that committee have not been 
 carried into effect so early and so extensively as has been desired both 
 by His Majesty's Government and its bcyt friends in the Canadas, yet, 
 every Colonial Secretary of State, from that time to this, has inquired 
 into and proposed remedies for more or less of the subjects of Canadian 
 complaint. The Royal despatches which have from time to time been 
 sent out to the Canadas, have been most liberal in their character, and 
 have afforded ample proof of the anxious attention bestowed upon the 
 interests of those provinces on the part of His Majesty's Government. 
 The local administrations, under the direction and influence of successive 
 royal instructions, have undergone an entire change in their spirit and 
 
 
 
10 
 
 H 
 
 character, and to some extent in their very composition. In Upper 
 Canada, the appointments to the offices of magistrate, &c., have, for 
 several years past, been impartial, even upon the confession of the 
 majority of the Radical journals ; no complaints of any importance 
 have been made against the administration of justice ; civil disabilities 
 on account of differences in religious faith have been entirely removed ; 
 openness and impartiality have, for the most part, characterized the 
 administration of affairs in that province. This improved spirit in the 
 government has been so apparent, and the former grounds of complaint 
 have been to so great an extent already removed, that a great proportion 
 of those who formerly complained of grievances have gratefully ac- 
 knowledged the obvious intentions and efforts of His Majesty's Govern- 
 ment to redress those grievances, and have become its decided supporters. 
 In Lower Canada, the Royal efforts made to improve the local govern- 
 ment and to advance the interests and happiness of the province, have 
 not been equally successful ; but, as one who has always desired the 
 removal of every obstacle to the good government and improvement of 
 the Canadas, I am bound to say, that the exertions of the King's 
 Government and of successive Governors have not been wanting to 
 redress every real grievance complained of — to reconcile adverse par- 
 ties — to promote the interests of all, without sacrificing the rights or 
 liberties of any. The leading French politicians, flushed with the 
 success of their former representations, — supported as they had been 
 by a very respectable portion of the English inhabitants, — began to 
 conceive higher objects ; even nothing less than the establishment of 
 their ancient nationality and ascendancy in the province. In the de- 
 velopment of this feeling may be found the cause why the remedial 
 measures of the King's Government in respect to Lower Canada have 
 not been carried more fully into effect. The objects contemplated by 
 these Frenchmen became apparent in the legislative session of I833» 
 when Mr. Neilson, of Quebec, and other liberal English inhabitants, 
 who had heretofore been associated with Mr. Papineau and the majority 
 of the Assembly, seceded from them, and declared their determination 
 to maintain their former professions and principles in supporting the 
 Constitution of the coimtry. That portion of the giievance party leaders 
 in Upper Canada, who had been influenced by no higher motives than 
 self-interest and aggrandizement (for there is this description of characters 
 in all political parties), perceiving the gradual correction of evils with- 
 out their rising to places of power and emolument, began now to make 
 
 'V* 
 
 m 
 
 1 
 
 
11 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 common cause with the French Republicans in the Lower pro\incc, and 
 to demand certain changes in the Constitution, and the concession of 
 certain prerogatives of the Crown. The grounds of complaint, as well 
 as the character and composition of these parties in both the Canadas, 
 have therefore become essentially changed since 1828, or even since 
 1832.. Formerly warm and unqualified attachment to the Constitution of 
 the country, as well as to the Royal person and government, was ex- 
 pressed in every address : now, the Constitution is denounced in toto as 
 radically vicious. Formerly it was a war against abuses ; now it is a 
 war against the Constitution, and against every man in authoritj-, and 
 even against the authority of the King's Government, as will fully 
 appear in my next letter. 
 
 TJie inquiry now arises, with whom has this change from reform to 
 revolution in the politics of the Canadas originated? I answer, un- 
 hesitatingly, with Mr. Hume and Mr. Roebuck. Of this I have been 
 fully convinced since 1833. As the suggestion and commencement of 
 all such schemes take place in secret, I cannot, of course, prove my 
 assertion to a moral certainty. I will, however, submit my reasons to 
 the consideration and judgment of the British reader, and leave him to 
 decide. 
 
 In 1831-2, two political persons from the Canadas were in London* 
 The one, Mr. Viger, was agent of the House of Assembly of Lower 
 Canada ; the other, Mr. Mackenzie, was agent for a grievance party in 
 Upper Canada. Those gentlemen, during their protracted stay of nearly 
 two years in London, were in constant and intimate communication 
 with Messrs. Hume and Roebuck ; who, it has since been ascertained, 
 (but was not known then in the Canadas), were theoretically hostile to 
 the Canadian constitution of Government; who maintained that most 
 important established prerogatives of the Crovm should be transferred 
 to the local assemblies — that the colonial legislatiu'es ought to be 
 modelled anew, and should, in fact, be as sovereign as the Parliament 
 of Great Britain. 
 
 Now, up to the time of Messrs. Viger and Mackenzie's leaving Lon- 
 don for the Canadas in 1832-3, the idea of interfering ^-ith the Royal 
 prerogative, or changing the constitution, was never mooted by either 
 of the complaining parties in the Canadas, but was expressly disclaimed 
 by both parties; and when they were charged by some of their warm 
 opponents with being republican in their feelings and views, and with 
 meditating a change in the established constitution of the country, they 
 repudiated the charge as an unfounded and wicked calumny. So far 
 
12 
 
 was even the French House of Aascmbly of Lower Cunudci, up to that 
 period, from advocating the repeal or subversion of tlie constitution, 
 that on the 28th of January, 1831, they concluded an address (agreed 
 to unanimously), to the Governor-in-Chief, in the following words : — 
 " It will be our earnest desire that harmony may prevail among the 
 several branches of the Legislature, that full effect may be given to the 
 Constitution as established by law, and that it may be transmitted, unim- 
 paired, to posterity." The addresses of the Assembly of Upper Canada 
 have breathed a similar spirit, and expressed the same sentiments up to 
 
 1835. But on the return of Messrs. Viger and Mackenzie to the 
 I Canadas in 1833, the questions of the defectiveness of the constitution 
 
 il i and the necessity of altering it — the prerogatives of the Crown, and the 
 
 i' f importance of superseding them by the increased power of the Assembly 
 
 ' ' — an elective Legislative Council, &c., began to be agitated, first in 
 
 Lower, and afterwards in Upper Canada, (for Mr. Viger returned to 
 Canada a few months before Mr. Mackenzie). But, when the pro- 
 position for even an elective Legislative Council was first brought 
 ! before the Lower Canada House of Assembly, it was negatived by a 
 
 considerable majority, many of the French party not having yet been 
 schooled into the ulterior schemes of Messrs. Viger, Papineau, Hume, 
 and Roebuck ; nor was the question of an elective Legislative Council 
 ever debated in the Assembly of Upper Canada until since January, 
 
 1836. These organic changes in the constitution have, however, been 
 contended for by Messrs. Viger and Mackenzie, and those who have 
 joined them since 1833 j and they have declared that Messrs. Hume 
 and Roebuck, " the best friends to Canadian rights and interests" ! ! ! 
 had assured them that such changes were absolutely necessary, in order 
 to the inhabitants of the Canadas becoming " a free people." 
 
 The cautious reader will probably reply, that these circumstances, 
 though strong, do not definitively fix the authorship of the schemes of 
 Canadian independence upon Messrs. Hume and Roebuck ; I admit 
 they do not ; nor will I ask his verdict without adducing further cor- 
 roborating testimony. In addition, therefore, to the assertions of the 
 Canadian party leaders whom you represent, I will submit to the reader 
 what must have been the advice of Messrs. Hume and Roebuck to 
 Messrs. Viger and Mackenzie in 1833, when, on the 4th of September 
 of the same year, Mr. Hume addressed a letter to Mr. Henry Taylor, of 
 Lower Canada, which contains the following words : — " As long as the 
 Canadas remain imder the direction of the Secretary of the Colonies, 
 my opimon ia that they should have representatives in the British Far- 
 
 1 
 
 vfe 
 
 ' ,i- 
 
13 
 
 llament. But my wish would be to set th« Cnnadag and the whole of 
 British North America, free to govern themselves, as the United States 
 do, l)y their own representatives, and to cultivate a good connection with 
 the mother country, for their mutual interest. Until that takes place, 
 neitlier the Canadas nor Great Britain will derive those advantages 
 which they ought to have from a different and more economical manage- 
 ment of their resources." 
 
 This, as far as can be ascertained, was the first written recommenda- 
 tion ever given in favour of Canadian republican independence, and it 
 was given before the question was agitated in the Canadas. A few 
 montlis after the date of the letter above quoted, namely in the follow- 
 ing March, Mr. Hume proceeded so far as to offer his advice openly and 
 directly to the Canadians, to the same effect. In a letter to Mr. Mac. 
 kenzie, he said — " Your triumphant election on the 16th, and ejection 
 from the Assembly on the 17th, must hasten that crisis which is fast 
 approaching in the affairs of the Canadas, and which will terminate in 
 freedom and independence from the baneful domination of the mother 
 country, and the tyrannical conduct of a small and despicable faction in 
 the colony." .... "The proceedings between 177*-^ and 1782 in 
 America, ought not to be forgotten, and to the honour of the Americans, 
 and for the interests of the civilized world, let their conduct and the 
 result be ever in view." (aj Mr. Roebuck was wont to give similar 
 advice to the Lower Canadians. In a letter dated July of the same year, 
 he said to the " Central Monti-eal Committee" of the Papineau and 
 Vigcr party — " One resource, and one resource alone, remains : — to be a 
 
 « 
 
 (a) The pretext under which Mr. Hume and his Canadian associates heretofore 
 advocated the establishment of a Canadian Republic was, that the Canadians desired 
 it, and would never be contented until they obtained it. But since the strong demon- 
 stration of the contrary feeling by the Upper Canadians at the late elections, these 
 republicans continue to advocate the same project of independence, but upon 
 another ground ; namely, that of neceaity, whether the Canadians desire it or not ! 
 Thus ]Mr. Mackenzie— to whom Mr. Ilunie addressed the letter quoted above — in an 
 address " to all spirited, sensible, and just Canadians," in September last, iiolds the 
 following language : — 
 
 " Whether we are the party of the few or the many, this great truth should be our 
 rallying point. Upper and Uower Canada to be groat and happy must be inde- 
 pendent ; and we should use all lawful means by petition and address to attain that 
 noble end. We are an infant nation — allow us to be free — permit us to part in 
 peace — and send the mean men who are placed over us back to their humble stations 
 from whence they were unhappily brought to our shores to di. grace our country 
 and theirs." 
 
 Mr. Mackenzie now exhorts "spirited and just Canadians" to attain the " noble 
 end " of " independence by petition and address ;" but, at the time he received Mr. 
 Hume's " baneful domination" letter, he exhorted the " spirited and just Canadians" 
 not to pay their taxes, and told them that they were " justified in open and armed re- 
 sistance " against what their " best friend" Mr. Hume had termed " a small and 
 despicable faction ;" aliai the Government of the country. 
 
14 
 
 i I: 
 
 free people you must resist the British ParUament." Mr. Roebuck then 
 (very prudently, of course) advises them to appeal once nior to the 
 British Parliament (whom he had directed them to " resist," as the only 
 means of becoming " a free people") before taking up arms, adding — 
 " It is better, I allow, to fight than to lose all chance of governing our- 
 selves; but it assuredly behoves us to try all means before resolving to 
 have recourse to arms." 
 
 Such, Sirs, has been your advice to the people of the Canadas in past 
 years. The above extracts are only specimens of much that you have 
 written to those countries. How faithfully Mr. Roebuck's advice has 
 been followed by the x\ssembly of Lower Canada is already matter of 
 history ; as that Assembly has, ever since that advice was given, resisted 
 every appointment and measure which have been approved of and 
 adopted by the King and British Parliament. 
 
 I now ask the reader whether my assertion is not sufficiently esta- 
 blished — that the scheme for establishing Canadian independency did 
 not originate in the Canadas — was not suggested to the Canadian inha- 
 bitants by any thing which they experienced or witnessed, but that it 
 originated with Messrs. Hume and Roebuck, and was the result of 
 ambition, covetousness, personal hostility, or political theory, or all 
 united? 
 
 I enquire not, in tlie present letter, as to the probable effects of your 
 schemes as beneficial or injurious upon both Canadian and British in- 
 terests — I only enquire here into its origin. When I therefore heard 
 you, Sirs, in the House of Commons, on the evening of the 16th instant, 
 speaking in affected tones of lamentation of the dissatisfaction and ex- 
 citement which exist in the Canadas, I could not but inwardly exclaim, 
 " Oh, shame ! where is thy blush ? Oh, integrity ! thou hast indeed 
 fled from such bosoms !" Who could have thought or felt less, to hear 
 men pretending to lament the progress and ruins of a conflagration 
 which they themselves had kindled and blown to a flame, and at the 
 ravages of which they inwardly rejoiced, anticipating thereby the har- 
 vest of their adventurous midnight devices ? 
 
 The above, however, is but the shade of your political portraits in 
 respect to your conduct in Canadian affairs ; the likenesses themselves 
 will be seen when I sketch the progress, spirit, and character of the 
 agitation and Canadian parties whom you represent and who have so 
 submissively and perseveringly followed your advice. 
 
 I am, &c., 
 
 June 6, 1836. A CANADIAN. 
 
i 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 € 
 
 1 
 
 Sirs, — The object of the present letter is to give an epitomized state- 
 ment of the progress, spirit, and character of the Canadian agitations 
 and parties th;it you represent, and of which 1 have shown you are 
 the primary movers. 
 
 I have said that the first step taken by the Lower Canada House of 
 Assembly to abolish the constitution of that province was in 1833. 
 That Assembly proposed to call a provincial convention of delegates to 
 consider the propriety of either abolishing the Legislative Council, or 
 of rendering it elective. This proceeding was adopted the very session 
 after that in which the same House of Assembly had imanimously 
 prayed that " the constitution, as established by law, might be trans- 
 mitted unimpaired to posterity." Their correspondence in the interval 
 of these two sessions with Mr. Hume and Mr. Roebuck, and the return 
 of Mr. Vigor from London, had poured this flood of new light upon 
 their minds. By a Royal despatch, dated January, 1834, this conven- 
 tional project was disallowed. In Upper Canada materials did not exist 
 for 80 speedy and successful an adoption of your opinions and advice ; 
 and for more than a year after Mr. Hume had recommended the esta- 
 blishment of an independent republic in British North America, like 
 that of the United States, his recommendation was not responded to by 
 a single newspaper in Upper Canada, except Mr. Mackenzie's, and in that 
 very cautiously. Not even your pupil, Mr. Mackenzie, had the hardi- 
 hood to whisper the Elective Legislative Council project within the 
 walls of the Assembly ; he therefore adopted another method to carry 
 your scheme into eflect. He proceeded, in the first place, to get a little 
 society formed for the discussion of political questions, and the diffusion 
 of political information. After a few months' weekly lecturing to 
 companies of persons thus assembled, a sufficient number of kindred 
 spirits were prepared for further proceedings, and the members of this 
 society, at a meeting held in its room on the 9th of December, 1834, 
 formed themselves into a society, with branches in the Canadas and 
 elsewhere, to be known by the title of " The Canadian Alliance," for 
 the attainment of the following among other objects :— 
 
IG 
 
 !< ,i 
 
 "1. A responsible representative system of government, and the 
 abolition of the Legislative Coiincil,the members fur which arc nomi- 
 nated for life by the colonial governors. 
 
 ** 2. A written constitution for Upper Canada, embodying and de- 
 claring the original principles of the government. 
 
 *• 3. The abolition of the law of primogeniture. 
 
 "4. The control of the whole public revenue by the representatives 
 of the j)eople. 
 
 "5. To oppose all undue interference by the Colonial-office, Trea- 
 sury, or Horse Guards, in the domestic affairs of the colonists. 
 
 "6. The diffusion of sound political information by tracts and 
 pamphlets. 
 
 " 7. The extinction of all monopolizing Land Companies. 
 
 " 8. The vote by ballot in the election of representatives, aldermen, 
 justices of the peace, &c. 
 
 " 9. To enter into close alliance with any similar association that 
 may be formed in Lower Canada or the other colonies, having for its 
 object 'the greatest happiness of the greatest number.' 
 
 "Mr. \V. L. Mackenzie, M.P., Corresponding Secretary for the 
 Society and all its branches. 
 
 " Mr. Joseph Hume, M. P., and Mr. John Arthur Roebuck, M. P., 
 agents in London. 
 
 "Mr. E. B. O'Callaghan, M. P., (editor of the Montreal Vindicator 
 newspaper), agent in Montreal. 
 
 "Mr. Etienne Parent, House of Assembly, Lower Canada, agent in 
 Quebec." Also Agents in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and New- 
 foundland. 
 
 How exactly do the objects thus stated by the parties for whom you 
 are agents agree with the recommendations (heretofore quoted) of Mr. 
 Hume in 1833 — the year in which this Mr.W.L. Mackenzie left London 
 for Upper Canada, and commenced this new scli(?me of political indepen- 
 dence. For let the above objects be accomplished, and where has 
 England a shred of monarchical government, property, or power in 
 North America ? And if you could by any means induce or compel 
 His Majesty's Government to sanction an elective House of Lords and 
 republican government there, how soon and emphatically would you 
 say, "What has been sanctioned as good and necessary for North 
 America cannot be vicious in principle, or bad for England." Nay, you 
 and your Canadian confederates have, in fact, already said so. In a 
 
 
 
the 
 lonxi- 
 
 I 
 
 17 
 
 leltci- jiddri'sscil by Mr. Roebiuk to Mr. Papineau, Speaker of the 
 Lower Canada House of Assembly, May, 1835, lie cnlls the Legishitive 
 Council " a wretched imitation of a baneful niiseliievous institution," 
 (the En<,'li.sli House of Lords); and adds, "The olijeet you have in 
 view is to frame a government in accordance with the feelings and wants 
 of the people. In America, no government can unite these conditions 
 but one that is purely democratic." Accordingly Mr. Papineau, on the 
 14tli of last November, in a speech on Mr. Roebuck's agency in London, 
 i.s reported to have called .Mr. Roebuck "the faithful mirror of that 
 house," and to have fiulher observed — "The people of this province 
 were now merely preparing themselves for a future state of political 
 existence, which he (Mr. Papineau) trusted would be neither a monarchy 
 nor an aristocracy. He hoped Providence had not in view for his 
 country a feature so dark as that it sliould be the means of planting 
 royalty in America, near a country so grand as the United States. He 
 hoped, for the future, America would give republics to Europe." 
 
 No comment is required on these passages but that which British 
 feeling -will indite to the mind of the reader. I therefore return to the 
 " Canadian Alliance" Society, of which you are the London agents. 
 This society has continued to hold its meetings nearly every week 
 since its formation ; has done all in its power to extend and multiply its 
 branches ; has succeeded in forming several in difl'erent parts of the 
 province; has, by resolutions, appeals, 6cc., attacked every measure of 
 Government which it could in any way convert into a topic of excite- 
 ment, and has assailed every member of the Assembly, and almost every 
 other public man who was known to be favorable to the established in- 
 stitutions of the country ; has, last of all, sent to the officers of its 
 branches and into various parts of the province printed petitions to the 
 Assembly against granting any supplies to Government, and in favor of 
 sending the newly-apjjoinied governor. Sir F. Head, back from whence 
 he came. This the majority of the Assembly have resolved to do— re- 
 fusing the supplies, demanding the recall of Sir F. Head, and a new 
 governor and government, responsible to the local Assembly, and a 
 variety of other things, " too numerous to mention." 
 
 There is one more event in the progress of incipient revolution in 
 Upper Canada which it is necessary to notice for the information of 
 many members of the British Parliament, to whom was presented, a 
 few months since, an octavo volume of Canadian grievances in the form 
 
 D 
 
 i 
 
18 
 
 4 
 
 of 11 report of u committee of the House of AKsemltly. (n) 1 wish (o 
 
 state how thnt vohime wns got up and transmitted to England. In llic 
 
 legislative session of IH'M Mr. Mackenzie moved for the api)ointment 
 
 of n committee, consisting of three «»r four besides himself, to take into 
 
 consideration certain parts of Lord Kipon'ii di.ipalch to Sir Jolui 
 
 Colborne, dated Nov(.'inber H, \Ki'2; and, as eliairman of ihc committee, 
 
 he availed himself of the pretext and opjiorlunity thus alVordcdhim to 
 
 assail the principles of the constitution, and every braiuh of Ihc 
 
 Government. Jiut little was heard of tlie proceedings of this conmiiltee 
 
 during the session. The rejiort, which Jills nearly 000 I'ages, was not 
 
 presented to the house until after 1 o'clock in the morning of the day 
 
 before the Governor had given m)ticcofhis intention to ])rorogue the 
 
 Legislature. Move than half of the members had retired for the night, 
 
 though there was not an abscnloe among the " Canadian Alliance" 
 
 mendiers. On accoimt of the advanced hour of the night, the laic 
 
 period of the session, the length of the report, (and the suj)i)]y bill not 
 
 having yet been passed) it was proposed to dispense wilh reading the 
 
 report and to print it for the information of Members and the public 
 
 during the recess. This proposition, after some complaint from one or 
 
 two members against such a mode of proceeding, was agreed to. 
 
 One of the leading Conservative members hearing next day that a 
 
 voluminous rci)ort of this committee had been, at a very late hour, 
 
 presented to the House and ordered to be printed, searched for it, in 
 
 order to learn its contents ; but the report was not to be found, either 
 
 in the clerk's olUce or in any of the committee-rooms. Just before the 
 
 prorogation he comidained of this to the H«juse, and Mr. Alackenzie, on 
 
 being questioned, re])lied, that he had not desired to conceal the report 
 
 from any member of the house until the close of the session, btit he 
 
 had taken it to his own house to get some parts of it copied and sent to 
 
 Mr. Papincau, of Lower Canada, and to Mr. Hume, in London. 
 
 Loud complaints were of course made agamst such unparliamentary 
 
 and unheard of conduct ; but the object of the " Canadian AUiance" 
 
 party was accomplished. The session closed; and this report was 
 
 printed, and sent home to His ;Majesty\s Government, and to many 
 
 members of the Imperial Parliament, as the deliberate sentiments of 
 
 the people of Upper Canada, speaking through their representatives j 
 
 and was made the basis of a very elaborate despatch from Lord Glenelg 
 
 (a) See the remarki of His Excellency Sir Francis Head, on that report, in the 
 first part of the 7lh letter. 
 
 1 
 
lU 
 
 J 
 
 i 
 
 to his Kxctllcncy Sir F. Head, dated Dcccnxber If), 183.'). Yet this 
 report was never even read in the Assembly, nor was a resohition for an 
 Kleetive hcgishitive Council ever moved, or the question ever discussed, 
 in the I'jtpcr Canada House of Assembly, until since the beginning of 
 the present year, (b) 
 
 "^ueh, Sirs, is the manner (as 1 can easily prove by abundant refer- 
 ence.s to legislative debates) in which your schemes have been promoted 
 in I'pper Canada. What would be thought of a report of a select 
 committee of the House of Conmions being thus made and sent forth to 
 the world, embfacing the constitution of the House of Lords, the 
 administration of justice, the prerogatives of the Crown, the whole 
 questions of" crown and public revenue, of church an 1 state, of taxation, 
 Arc? SiiKU' the assuuiplion of the governinciit of Upper Canada by 
 Sir F. Head, a majority of the Assembly have luulertaken to give him, 
 as a new man, some lessons on responsible government ; dillerences 
 have taken place ; the most outrageous proceedings have been adopted, 
 and the most extravagant demands have been made, and the snpj)lies 
 have been withheld by a majority of the Assembly. But their pro- 
 ceedings in any of these questions prove nothing as to the sentiments 
 and feelings of the people of Upper Canada, any more than the report 
 of one of their committees on geolog}' proves what are the geological 
 opinions of the Canadians. The i)eople of I pper Canada were never 
 ai'pealed to on any of these constilutional (piestions. The "Canadian 
 Alliance Society" itself had no existence until since the election of the 
 present House of Assembly. The test by which a majority of the 
 present Assembly was elected was tlieir disapproval of the proceedings 
 of the late Assembly, in expelling a member several times for the same 
 offence; and I confidently declare. Sirs, that the imputation of your 
 schemes to the people of Upper Canada is a libel up(m them. The 
 residence of my life has been among tlie people of wlumi I thus speak. 
 1 am one of them by birth, education, feeling, and interest. I admit 
 you have republican partisans there; you liave, indeed, a "Canadian 
 alliance" there : but it is not the organ of Upper Canadian principles 
 and feeling, and the animus of its talent, and its weekly lecturer, is 
 nothing but a deposed Catholic priest. The people of Upper Canada 
 
 {h) See this proved in the 7lh letter, wlieio it will bo seen, the leading " Re- 
 foniicis" in the L'ppi.r Caiiuda Hoii~t' iit A>-enilj!y, in 183r), disclaiiued all desire to 
 cliange tlie VonUiUiiion, ami (Icckiied tliat nineteen t.vcnlietlis of the inhabitants 
 of I'pper Canada were opposeil to any change of that kiod. 
 
20 
 
 are not republicans, nor do they clesiro a '* government purely demo- 
 cratic." They desire nothing but a monarchical colonial government 
 well administered ; and the truth of this assertion they will assuredly 
 prove by an almost unanimous elective voice whenever any British 
 Government puts the question to them, (cj 
 
 I am, &c., 
 
 A CANADIAN. 
 June I5th, 1836. 
 
 
 (c) The first six of these letters were written before the dissolution of the Upper 
 Ciiiiada House of Asseni!)ly was known in England. The dissolution of that Assem- 
 bly tooic place thu 20lh of May— eighteen days before the date of this letter;— the 
 elections commenced the 27th of June— twelve days afterwards. The elections 
 resulted in the return of such an Assembly as the author, from his personal know- 
 ledge of tlie character and feelings of the inhabitants of Upper Canada, had 
 confidently predicted. On the new Assembly being called together, ^.constitutional 
 address to llis Excellency Sir Francis Head, of which the following are the 
 concluding paragraplis, was adopted by the Assembly on the 15th of November, 
 with a minority of only (ch,— tlius furnishing tiie strongest evidence of the correct- 
 ness of the views and statements given in these letters : — 
 
 "As the Constitution of Upper Canada happily secures to British Emigrants 
 their own revered and cherislied institutions— as this noble climate and luxuriant 
 soil orter them inmiediate independence and support, with a moral assurance that 
 their laud must in a few years unavoidably increase in value to a great extent— we 
 reasonably hope, and will earnestly endeavour, to attract the redundant enterprise, 
 capital and population of the Empire, by setting before them these solid advantages 
 in the most prominent and conspicuous manner; and it is but natural for us to expect 
 that capital and industry will now flow towards this favoured Province, in which 
 we agree with Your Excellency in the conviction that such capital is fully as secure 
 as in the ftlotiier Country, 
 
 " We will give our prompt and careful attention as well to the public accounts as 
 to the estimates of the sums required for the necessary support of the public service, 
 as soon as the same are laid before us, and will not fail to take into our immediate 
 consideration mea-ures for relieving the Government of this Province from the 
 embarrassment it has laboured under, and is still suffering, from the supplies for the 
 public service having been withheld. 
 
 " We most sincerely hope that the important trust reposed in us by our constitu- 
 ents will be disrliarged in a manner calculated to raise the Province in theestimation 
 of the British Empire, and to secure to it those advantages which we have hitherto 
 derived from its fostering care and protection. 
 
 " The principles of our Constitution, in the maintenance of which consists the 
 safeguard of our lives, liberties and property, are identical with those of the consti- 
 tution of the jMotlier Country, and if maintained in their purity, cannot fail to 
 produce peace, prosperity, and good government. 
 
 "We are fully satisfied tiiat the people of this Province desire nothing more 
 ardently than to see those principles supported, and the connexion with the British 
 Empire sustained, and we tliereforc cordially respond to Your Excellency's deter- 
 mination to maintain this, our happy constitution, inviolate. l^rolected from 
 external danger by the overshadowing power of the Mother Country, and free to 
 pursue any measures calculated to promote our internal welfare and improvement — 
 we feel that there is a course before us leading to the most auspicious results, and 
 that the time has arrived, when, preserving our character as a loyal British Province, 
 our institutions may be settled on a firm basis — our resources developed — all well- 
 founded causes of complaint removed— and peace and prosperity secured for us and 
 our posterity." 
 
 r\ 
 
 \ 
 
21 
 
 /I 
 
 ?■ 
 
 \ 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 Sirs, — I turn now to Lower Canada; and in reference to your partisans 
 there, I assert, that, imder the pretence of claiming a republican self- 
 government, they are endeavouring to destroy British commerce and 
 interests in that province : to put a stop to British immigration ; to ex- 
 terminate British infhience ; to bring the population, speaking the 
 English language, into complete subjection to the French inhabitants, 
 and thus to re-establish the ancient French ascendency. My proofs, in 
 this case, as they have been from the beginning, shall be derived from 
 the acts and sayings of your partisans themselves, and not from the 
 einthets or statements of an adverse party. 
 
 Mr. G. R. Robinson asserted thus much in his place in the House of 
 Commons on the evening of the 16th instant, which I propose lo prove. 
 Mr. Roebuck denied the truth of his statement, and called upon Mr. 
 Robinson for his "authority." I know nothing of Mr. Robinson, nor 
 to what party he is attached; but for the ti-uth of his statement, in this 
 instance, I can adduce numerous authorities. A few will answer my 
 present purpose. 
 
 If, then, as you seemed by a sneer in the House of Commons to in- 
 timate, the deadly opposition of the House of Assembly to a land com- 
 pany formed for the express purpose of settling the wilderness parts of 
 the province with British emigrants, and of developing its latent 
 resources, is no " authority" in this case, ivill you admit as " authority" 
 the loud denunciations of the Assembly against the expenditmre of a 
 farthing by the Government for the promotion of immigration into that 
 province ? Will you admit as " authority" the passing of a bill, duri;i g 
 its late session, to impose upon all ships and vessels coming from British 
 ports, a quarantine of twenty-one days, before they should be permitted 
 to land a bale of goods or an emigrant in the province ? Or, if all this 
 be no " authority," except to prove how strongly you and your Canadian 
 compeers favour British commerce and immigration in that province, 
 perhaps the following extract from the Mt'nene newspaper (the leading 
 
I, 
 
 22 
 
 French journal of your party published in Montreal, Lower Canada), 
 will be admitted as possessing some " authority" in support of the 
 assertion which I have undertaken to establish : — 
 
 " In examining with an attentive eye what is passing around us, it is 
 easy to convince oneself that our countiy is placed in very critical cir- 
 cumstances, and that a revolution will perhaps be necessary to place it 
 in a more natural and less pvecarit)us situation. A constitution to re- 
 model, a nationality to maintain — these are the objects which at present 
 occupy all Canadians. 
 
 " It may be seen, according to this, that there exist here two parties, 
 of opposite interests and manners — the Canadians and the English. 
 These first-born Frenchmen have the habits and character of such. 
 They have inherited from their lathers, a hatred to the English ; who, 
 in their turn, seeing in them the children of France, detest them. These 
 two parties can never unite, and will not always remain tranquil ; it is a 
 bad amalgamation of interests, of manners, of language, and of religion, 
 which sooner or later must produce a collision, It is sufficiently believed 
 that a revolution is possible, but it is believed to be far off; as for me, 
 I think it will not be delayed. Let them consider these words of a 
 great writer, and they will no longer treat a revolution and a separation 
 from the mother country as a chimera — ' The greatest misfortune for 
 man politically,' says he, * is to obey a foreign power ; no humiliation, 
 no torment of the heart, can compare to tliis. Tlie subjected nation, at 
 least if she be not jn-otected by some extraordinary law, ought not to 
 obey this Sovereign.' — We repeat it, an immediate separation from 
 England is the only means of preserving our nationality. Some time 
 hence, when emigration sliall have made our adversaries our equals in 
 number, more daring and less generous they will deprive us of our 
 liberties, or we shall have the same fate as cur unhappy countrymen 
 the Acadians, Believe me, this is the fate reserved for us, if we do not 
 hasten to make om'selves independent P' (a) 
 
 (n) F.Obits liave been mn.de to excite the French inhaLitants of Lower Canada 
 against the jG\ernii)eut, not merely becuu.se it i:i I'.riliJi, in opposition to a French 
 (Jovernnient, but iiecair^e it is F rot I'l- taut in eontra-dininction to Catholic; though 
 no Catholic is required by 1 iw to contiib\ite to the supjiort of any Protestint cler- 
 gyman ; and thougli by the :^t;ituteslkh George 111. and 31>t George 111., cap. 31, 
 His ^lajesty's sul.'jeets professing the religion of the Churcli of Home, in ijoth Upper 
 and J.ower Canada, are secured in the exercise and enjoyment of their religion, and 
 their clergy aie secured in the tithes i)nd rights which they had been accustomed 
 to enjoy under the Government of Fiance, as far as it relates to the professors of 
 that religion. So completely is the Romish Church secured by those imperial statutes 
 that it cannot be touched directly or indirectly by the colonial legislatures. Vet 
 
 I 
 
23 
 
 f 
 
 1 
 
 Probably, Sirs, the following from a speech of Mr. Rodier, member 
 of the Assembly, delivered shortly after the season of cholera in Lower 
 Canada, will also be admitted as some " authority." (The cholera was 
 made a pretext for opposing British immigration, although it appeared 
 in various places in the Canadas, and in the I'nited States, where an 
 emigrant had never been seen: — 
 
 " When I see my country in mourning, and my native land pr(?senting 
 to my eye nothing but (jue vast cemetery, I ask, wl^at has been the 
 cause of all these disasters? and the voice.; of thousands of my fellow 
 citizens respond from their tombs, — it is emisfvatiim. It is not enough 
 to send amongst us avaricious egotists, wilhotit any other spirit of liberty 
 than could be bestowed by a simple education of the counter, to enrich 
 themselves at the expense of the Canadians, and then endeavour to 
 enslave them — they nuist also rid themselves of their beggars, and cast 
 them by thousands on our shores — they must send us miserable beings, 
 who, after having partaken of tlie bread of our children, w'ill subject 
 
 liear the French newspaper organ of the Papiueau party in the very capital of 
 l^ovver Canada. 
 
 (Translatwl t'roni the " Ctmadien^' ne\v?pnpi;r, pnbli^lipd at Quo!)er, April 10, li}.!/).) 
 " I5e?i(l('>; seeing lliat puhlic opinion in Canada had turned to reform, and tlialtlie 
 model offered liy ttif institutions of the United Stnt'S inis one ultich nuts proper for 
 IIS and could alone e)isHre to t)ie country the prospect of happiness and great iiess ; 
 seeing tliis,t!h;-;e writer^ did not nu-s the occasion to dcprttciate these institutions, 
 which rt?-e </ie i,'/(»)\7 of this contin* nt. • * • 'I'lic only raticn;)! cons(>qu('ncc to 
 be drawn from the conflagration of ihe Boston Convent is, that I'roteitnntsare esaen- 
 tially intolerant and the suorn emmiei ofCnlliolicn, and wheicver they can persecute, 
 without dan^jer, tiiey will do it. * * I'herefore, in Lower ( 'anadn our Go- 
 vernment is Protectant, an I so nnich so, that it recognizes the Piolcst;int 
 religion only, proteiting it liy duty as well as by inclinulion, whih; it only 
 (o/er«(t'.s the Catholic Keligion. What U'conies, then, of the outcry over the ashes 
 of the Boston Convent against the institutions of our neighbours; they fall with all 
 their weight against the J/'rotcstant and powerful actual (Jovennnent of Lower 
 Canada. • * * To find CKn/fjj/cs <(;(</ yx-imf^ of intolerance, hostility and jealousy 
 on the part of the //^(iwp governmt nt, agair.-t Catiiolics, it is not necessary to cross 
 the sea. [ Here follow instructions to Sir Li. Prevost in IHll, ironically denominated 
 " tolerant," and wliich " we never can too often recall," says the writer, " to the 
 attention of the Catholic population of this piininrc : Read them, (Jatholics, to 
 whom the British Authorities are so much bo.i>ted, and see if your security is certain 
 under the spirit that animatis tliem."] Thcrv i- scarcely one of these articles that 
 does not menace the inuii/n/f/AJo;; of your religion. The only thing wanting is the 
 occasion to do it safely. Fortunately yon are ///c to one, but let the Land Company 
 go into quiet operation, and follow up the good odvii:e given it here by one of our 
 principal personages to bring out English, Irish, and Scotch Protestayits instead of 
 Catholics. Let alone the Lan ! Company, protectevl by the Legislative Council and 
 the Executive, and the pre-ent generation will not descend to the tomb without 
 witnessing the downfall, if not nrin, of a Beligion, umler the wing of which civiliza- 
 tion has settled itself on the banks of the Ft. Lawivmce.'' ♦ * * " J,et it not be 
 thought that these instructions are a dead letter," given after the discontents of Craig's 
 administration, when it was necessary to conciliate. " Under these circumstances, 
 a Governor ruling over a Catholic people, receives instructions, the execution of 
 which would raise in revolt subjects the most contentr I with their Government." 
 The writer terminates by the favourite explanation that " fear alone" restrains the Bri- 
 tish Government from all the most horrid peisecution«, &c." 
 
24 
 
 ir 
 
 them to the horrors of hunger and misery ; they must do still more — 
 they must send us, in their train, pestilence and death. If I present to 
 you so melancholy a picture of the condition of this country, I have to 
 encourage the hope that we may yet preserve our nationality, and avoid 
 those future calamities, by opposing a barrier to this torrent of emi- 
 gration. It is only in the House of Assembly we can place our hopes, 
 and it is only in the choice the Canadians make in their elections they 
 can ensure the preservation of their rights and political liberties." 
 
 The following from Mr. Papineau's jwn pen will, perhaps, be 
 admitted as still better, if not the best, "authority." These extracts 
 are made from an address of ten newspaper columns in length, to the 
 electors of the ^Vest Ward of ^Montreal, or rather to the French inha- 
 bitants of Lower Canada, which ^Ir. Papineau published after his last 
 election to the Assembly. I wish it were admissible to transfer the 
 whole address to this place ; but I nuist restrict myself to two or three 
 passages, which will be suflicient to illustrate the feelings and views of 
 your Canadian party. Mr. Papineau says— 
 
 " The constitution has ceased to exist of right ; and, in fact, can no 
 longer be maintained but by force and violence, employed for the 
 oppression of the many in the interest of a small band of pensioners, 
 who work it well to their owTi advantage, and who, for the good of the 
 mother country and of the colony, cannot be too soon di'iven from pub- 
 lic life, because they are too much corrupted to be reformed — too rotten 
 to be cured. Their contact is contagious: no honest man should act or 
 associate with them, and thereby prolong, even for a few days, their 
 calamitous administration. 
 
 " It (the French parly) has not, it ought not to entertain a shadow of 
 hope that it will obtain any justice whatsoever from any of the author- 
 ities, constituted as Ihey are at present in this country. If it would 
 entertain the same opinion of the authorities in England that it enter- 
 tains of the authorities in this country, these obstacles could easily be 
 overcome. 
 
 "The affections of the British for Ireland and the colonies has never 
 been any thing else than the love of the pillage of Ireland and the 
 colonics, abandoned to the cutting and carving of the British aristocracy 
 and its creatures." 
 
 (Query — Have the colonies been " pillaged," or made what they are, 
 by the British Government ?) 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
25 
 
 " Restrict your consumption of British produce as much as possible. 
 
 " Your enemies are not numerous enough to injure you. You are 
 sufficiently numerous to injure them. Break all connection in business 
 and interest with those who separate their affections and interests 
 from yours. Pardon the ignorant who is mistaken. Chastise the rogue 
 who deceives. Let those who are so presumptuous as to prefer their 
 own opinions and will, learn, that whatsoever be their titles to favours 
 from the Administration, they have no claims to the confidence of the 
 people. Bow not your heads," &c. 
 
 I could easily occupy columns with examples of such " authority" as 
 the above 5 but out of the mouths of these " three witnesses" my every 
 word is sufliciently established. 
 
 What conclusions, then, does this threefold authority establish ? I 
 think — 1st, that your French constituents in Lower Canada have struck 
 for a Government of "nationality ;" that is, a French Government; 2d, 
 that therefore every man in office, without exception, is to be deposed; 
 3d, that British commerce and immigration are to be opposed in every 
 possible way ; 4th, that every man speaking the English language, who 
 will not give in his adhesion to the " nationality" Government, is either 
 to be ruined in his business, or " chastised" as a " rogue" — that is, if the 
 " nationaUty" party can do it ; 5th, that " the British" are to be re- 
 garded and treated as " pillagers" of the " colonies," notwithstanding 
 *' the British" have given the French inhabitants of Lower Canada ten 
 times more liberty than a French king ever gave them, and have pro- 
 tected and fostered them as children, for more than half a century, 
 without a farthing remuneration. 
 
 I know not. Sirs, which is the greater prodigy of hiraian perverseness 
 of principle and feeling — the above examples of French ingratitude, 
 heartlessness, arrogance, and ambition, or your own conduct in origi- 
 nating and promoting such a "nationality" against the interests, 
 character, feehngs, and rights of your own countrymen. 1 will not im- 
 pugn your motives ; but I must say, that I envy neither your feelings nor 
 your reputation in such an advocacy and character. 
 
 I am, &c, 
 
 A CANADIAN. 
 June 24, 1836. 
 
 P.S. I beg to subjoin a few extracts from a French pamphlet, 
 printed at Montreal, but circulated in the country only amongst the 
 ilhterate and credulous habitans. An English translation of this 
 
 E 
 
I 
 
 26 
 
 (Til 
 
 pamphlet has appeared in the Canadian newspapers. The authorship 
 of the pamphlet is attributed to Mr. Papineau. It exprespos the same 
 sentiments and feelings with those which have been quoted from Mr* 
 Papineau in the former part of this letter. There are several things in 
 the following extracts to which I crave particular attention. 
 
 1. The feeling sought to be instilled into the minds of the French Ca- 
 nadians, in respect to the Constitutional Act of 1791, in respect to the mo- 
 tives which dictated the passing of that act — an act for which the French 
 party have again and again expressed their grateful acknowledgments; 
 and in addresses to the King in 1828 and 1831, they prayed his 
 Majesty " to maintain the inhabitants of Canada in the full enjoyment of 
 the constitution as established by law without any change whatever." 
 
 2. The impeachment of the British government in disposing of the 
 Crown Lands. The legal and constitutional right of the Crown to 
 dispose of these lands will be examined in the sixth letter. 
 
 3. The manner in which "Britors" are spoken of as intruders 
 " swarming" to " our" shores, " our" country, &c. 
 
 4. The admission that the "British" merchants, by their enterprise, 
 and the " indolence " of the " Canadians," have " made themselves 
 masters of all the trade, as well foreign as domestic." 
 
 5. The determination throughout to exterminate British power, and 
 to re-establish French ascendancy in Lower Canada. 
 
 The following are the extracts referred to : — 
 
 " Since 1792, Canada has enjoyed the advantage of a Constitution, which permits 
 
 her to participate in the legislation of the country, by the means of a House of 
 
 Assembly, elected by a majority of votes, in each of the towns and counties. The 
 
 friends of power extol this gift very highly, under pretext that we are indebted for it 
 
 to the magnanimous philanthropy of the English Government. The truth is, that 
 
 Constitution was granted to us by England only from necessity. She gave it with 
 
 regret ; and her Governors are but too successful in following up the intentions of 
 
 the Metropolitan State, by endeavouring daily to cripple the exercise of con« 
 
 stitutional rights, either by a blind adherence to the orders which they receive or 
 
 yielding to the impulse of their own propensity towards an absolute administration." 
 
 " But in granting this favour the spirit of British domination was made manifest : 
 
 the English Legislators took care to establish such an equiponderance as woula 
 
 enable them, at will, to destroy the favour which they seemed to grant. Therefore, 
 
 the powers of the Canadian House of Commons were so ambiguously defined as to 
 
 be susceptible of different interpretations ; so that its privileges might be curtailed. 
 
 "Iherefore, a species of aristocracy was created by an upper house, called the 
 
 Legislative Council, in such a manner as to frustrate every measure originating in 
 
 the Lower House, which might be in opposition to the views of the administration. 
 
 The Constitution was granted merely to propitiate the people, and to wheedle them 
 
 in the name of liberty ; but not to recognise any portion of sovereignty which 
 
 belongs to the people ; nor to secure to the country the good effects which it ought 
 
 to derive from so noble an institution." 
 
 " The protection, or to speak more plainly, English sovereignty over Canada, 
 brought other evils in its train. A swanri of Britot'S '..,» »entd to the shores of the new 
 British colony, to avail themselves of its adv.=-'itag«j8 to improve their own con< 
 dilion." 
 
27 
 
 i • 
 
 '.) 
 
 " The Government seized upon all the waste lands of the Crown. Those in- 
 valuable estates, and which are becoming more so eveiy year, ouglit to have beea 
 left, or the greater part thereof, to tlie country : they would have proveil instru- 
 mental in ameliorating every branch — in making new roads, building new bridges, 
 opening ports, establishing institutions, embellishing the cities, erecting Roman 
 Catholic churches, founding a school in every village, endowing colleges — in a 
 word, a number of things of which we are at present deprived, and which the want 
 of capital compels us to neglect, would have been accomplished by the proceeds of 
 the public lands, and would have produced to the province those improvements by 
 which the civilization of nations is advanced." 
 
 " It is unheard of, that a monarch should seize upon all the lands of a state, and 
 convert the same to his own sole use. In all kingdoms the ungranted lands become 
 national property ! they form the common treasure, they are managed for the gene- 
 ral advantage, and are only sold in the name of the nation, and each citizen receives 
 a portion of the purchase-money, by the amelioration which the proceeds are the 
 means of introducing into the country. Here it is quite the contrary ; these rich 
 territories have been wrested from Canada." 
 
 " The remainder of those lands so wrongfully called ' Crown Lands, ' has been 
 lately conceded to a Company of Speculators in England, who will realize immense 
 profits from them, while the Cana<lian people will be shut out from participating in 
 those advantages ; as the proceeds arising from the sale of those lands, wdl not be 
 expended in the Province, no benefit can result therefrom to the people of this 
 country, (h) J5ut this measure rs accompanied by a political object on the part of 
 the Colonial administration. 'Jhe growing knowledge of the Canadians and their 
 inclination towards right have alarmed the Britons: they wish to settle our soil with 
 their own children, in order to obtain a majority sufficient to balance the elections ia 
 Canada; and afterwards by force of oppression, to compel the descendants of the 
 Frenchmen, who profess a religion different from theirs, to abandon the place of their 
 birth, the place where the bones of their fathers repose, a land to which they cling 
 as their sacred home." 
 
 " In consequence of the facilities afforded by the administration, for the settlement 
 of Britons within our colony, they came in shoals to our shores, to push their fortunes; 
 every species of office was immediately filled with these new comers, but that was 
 not sufficient for British cupidity: others of them established themselves in our 
 cities, they were encouraged and supported by their fellow countrymen, and secretly 
 extending their schemes, they slipt into every profession, and made themselves mas- 
 ters of all the trade as well foreign as domestic. The Canadians by their indolence 
 contributed towards the fortunes of the British, they retired from trade satisfied with 
 the moderate competence they had acquired, they did not support the young be- 
 ginners in trade ; and gradually all the Canadian merchants were supplanted by 
 Britons." 
 
 " If, as there was little doubt, the patriotic party could maintain its ground ; if 
 the progress of reform could continue ; if the firmness of the Canadian representa- 
 tives shewed itself well worthy of the continued confidence of their constituents ; if 
 Britain should see herself forced to yield to all the demands of the colony, not only 
 would the Clerkarchy (Bureaucracy) lose all their offices, which would be then 
 distributed according to popular justice and common sense; not only would the 
 British see their favours, honours, and profits eclipsed, and the preponderance of 
 that aristocracy of which they are so proud ; but they would still further be com- 
 pelled to assist in the act of equity, calculated to wound most deeply their jealous 
 supremacy. They ought to be compelled to bend under the will of the majority. 
 These men who pretend, notwithstanding their petty number, to dictate to and com- 
 mand powerful bodies, (masses.) In a word, they would in despair be compelled 
 to see the government yielding to the general voice — restore power to the ' enfant 
 dusol,' whom they hate as much from political rancour, as from the difference 
 which exists between their origin, their religion, their character and habits." 
 
 (b) By the terms of purchase the British American Land Company are to expend 
 one-half the purchase-money within the province, in making roads, bridges, &c. 
 
^ 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 I 
 
 m 
 
 Sirs, — I think I have adduced ample testimony to prove that your 
 French constituents of Lower Canada hate "theBritish" as "pillagers," 
 consider themselves a totally distinct people from the English, are 
 hostile to British commerce and immigration, and are resolved upon esta- 
 bhshing a government of " nationality ;" or, in other words, of re-esta- 
 bUshing the ancient French ascendancy. They already possess the repre- 
 sentative branch of the Government ; they demand the control of the 
 Executive also, because, forsooth, they have been under British tuition 
 long enough to be able at last to count, and have learned that they are 
 the majority in numbers. 
 
 On the contrary, you have repeatedly declared that the French 
 Canadians are British in their views and feelings, and ought, therefore, 
 to be invested with the sovereign authority of the majority in the 
 government of Lower Canada. Now, apart from my refutation of your 
 assertions on this subject, I would ask, on whose side of the question 
 lies both a natural and historical absurdity? Is it natural for a man 
 bom and educated with the views and feelings of a Frenchman (and 
 thus have the French of Lower Canada been nurtured) to be British in 
 his predilections and attachments ? And in what age, or what continent 
 or island, has a Frenchman ever become an Englishman ? 
 
 Now, Sirs, the whole of British legislation towards Lower Canada — 
 indeed, towards any of her possessions which are or may be settled with 
 a mixed population of English and French — turns on this point. If 
 the English and French inhabitants differ in their views, feelings, 
 customs, habits, and language. Great Britain must do one of three 
 things. She must give them independency, and let them fight the 
 battle of ascendancy among themselves ; or she must legislate for, and 
 govern, them, as two distinct races of people ; or she must amalgamate 
 them, either by abolishing the French language and feudal customs, or 
 by abolishing the English language and British usages. The first, I 
 take it for granted, no British statesmen but Mr. Hume and Mr. Roe- 
 buck are inclined to do ; the last Great Britain ought to have done at 
 the conquest of Quebec : the second she has endeavoured to do for half 
 
29 
 
 I 
 
 . 
 
 a century. Several provisions of the British Acts of Parliament of 1784 
 and 1791 were made in reference to two distinct classes of inhabitants, 
 securing to each class ample protection in the enjoyment of certain of 
 its customs against the encrr "hments of the other. The great body of 
 the British inhabitants are Cotitented with, and claim the continuance 
 of, the protection thus secured to them by the original constitutional law 
 of the province. The French inhabitants demand an extension of their 
 privileges and powers ; they demand, in fact, the annihilation of the 
 less numerous British inhabitants, as a distinct class, under the assump- 
 tion of a " nationality" government— grasping for the control of those 
 branches of the government, by virtue of which the English inhabitants, 
 notwithstanding their inferiority in number, enjoy equal protection and 
 advantages, and attempting thereby to bring the English minority (but 
 the majority in wealth and intelligence) into that state of vassalage to a 
 French domination, to which the majority principle of a republican 
 government would reduce them in that province. 
 
 I would here put it to any candid reader of any party, whether the 
 English inhabitants of Lower Canada, even if they did not amount to 
 10,000 instead of 150,000, are not entitled to that protection and to those 
 advantages which the acts of the British Parliament pledged to them 
 when they purchased property and settled in that province ? And can 
 the British Parliament itself alter the constitution of Lower Canada so 
 as to bring the English inhabitants, against their own consent, more under 
 the control of the French, without violating good faith with the sons of 
 the mother country ? I ask, on the other hand, whether the French 
 inhabitants,by declaring that the constitution which bestowed upon them 
 the privileges they enjoy shall exist " no longer than it is supported by 
 force and violence," have not forfeited all right to the privileges of that 
 constitution ? The argument may be stated thus : — A majority of the 
 British inhabitants insist upon the continuance of the original consti- 
 tution, well administered upon British principles. A majority of the 
 French inhabitants insist upon having that constitution remodelled. 
 This is placing the question in the simplest light, and the most favoura- 
 ble to the French majority, for they do, in fact, demand independence. 
 My conclusion therefore is, that the British inhabitants have the 
 pledged faith of the British Legislature, for the continued enjoyment of 
 their constitutional rights and privileges ; whilst the French inhabi- 
 tants, by renouncing the established constitution and appealing to have 
 it remodelled, have placed the rights and privileges which they enjoy 
 
Hi 
 
 30 
 
 under it, such as their language, customs, &c., at the clisrosal of the 
 British Parliament, to be dealt with as a question of expediency. 
 
 I am not, however, prepared or disposed to say, that the English 
 language should henceforth, after the year 1840, be made the legislative 
 and judicial language of Lower Canada; nor do I say that the principles 
 of English law respecting property, general registry, &c., should super- 
 sede a French feudal system; but I will presume to submit to the 
 consideration of British statesmen the following observations of a 
 judicious and intelligent American writer : — 
 
 "The unwise act of Lord Grenville, passed through Parliament in the 
 year 1 784, permitting the people of Lower Canada to conduct their 
 pleadings and promulgate their laws in the French language, has pre- 
 vented them from ever becoming British, and so far weakened the 
 colony as an outwork of the mother country. It has always been the 
 policy of able conquerors, as soon as possible, to incorporate their 
 vanquished subjects with their own citizen?/ by giving them their own 
 language and laws, and not suffering them to retain those of their 
 pristine dominion. These were among the most efficient means by 
 which ancient Rome built up and established her empire over the whole 
 world ; and these were the most efficient aids by which modern France 
 spread her dominion so rapidly over the continent of Europe. While 
 Lower Canada continues to be French in language, religion, laws, 
 habits, and manners, it is obviris that her people will not make good 
 British subjects; and Britain may most assuredly look to the speedy 
 loss of her North American colonies, unless she immediately sets about 
 the establishment of an able, statesmanlike government there, and the 
 direction thitherward of that tide of emigration from her own loins, 
 which now swells the strength and resources of the United States. Her 
 North American colonics gone, her West India islands will soon 
 follow." — America and her Resources, p. 245. 
 
 Thus wrote even a republican in 1818. The progress of events in 
 Lower Canada for several years past could not be more accurately 
 narrated than the well-informed author of America and her Resources 
 predicted them 18 years ago. This prediction will receive its complete 
 accomplishment in less than 18 years more, if His Majesty's Govern- 
 ment does not take warning from the past. If British pride and obsti- 
 nacy once lost 13 colonies, it is not less possible that British indulgence, 
 and liberality, and indecision, may throw away half as many provinces, 
 
 I am aware that it may be attempted to evade the force of my facts 
 
m 
 
 f 
 
 ntid reasoning, by assertinf whan fow. ^irg, have often endeaviurf '' to 
 impress upon the Housf of Commons, lat the Canadian Rppnl t-ni .sm 
 which you advocate ig a common > tb* ]■ ihh as t( the iTiiich 
 inhabitants of Lower Canada, and that rhe v ties of nch pi ju- 
 dice and feeling which I have adduced occi red durir . strong party 
 excitement, and are not a fair specimen of tt generai itvUngs of the 
 French population. 
 
 To the first part of this objection I could oppose unquestionable 
 testimony and statistical facts. But I prefer establishing every part of 
 my statements and arguments by reference to the proceedings of your 
 own party. If, then, there is the slightest foundation in your often- 
 repeated assertion, how is it that an avowal of the feelings of the British 
 as well as French inhabitants of Lower Canada has never been made in 
 favour of your measures ? How is it that associations have been 
 formed, agents have been employed, and petitions, signed to the number 
 of 20,000 or 30,000, out of a population of 150,000, have been trans- 
 mitted to London against your "nationality" scheme? If even a 
 nominal fraction of " the British" support you, how happened Mr. 
 Speaker Papineau, in a written address, to characterise " the British" 
 as "pillagers?" How happened the leading French organ of your 
 party to assert that the English and French inhabitants were "opposite 
 in interest and manners," and could never be " amalgamated" without 
 "producing collision" — that the "French have inherited from their 
 fathers a hatred of the English ?" How happened Mr. Rodier, member 
 of Assembly, to denounce the English merchants of Lower Canada aa 
 " avaricious egotists, without any other spirit of liberty than could be 
 bestowed by a simple education at the counter ?" How happened the 
 Canadians to be exhorted to elect members to the Assembly with the 
 special view of "opposing a barrier to the torrent of emigration?" 
 How happens every advocate of your party to insist upon a government 
 of " nationality" in Lower Canada, as the grand consummation of their 
 efforts and wishes ? Never, then, Sirs, let this absurd and groundless 
 assertion escape yom lips again. 
 
 As to the second part of the objection, or rather the second objection, 
 I admit that the examples adduced have all occurred during the several 
 years of party discussion which has distracted Lower Canada. But 
 this very objection is founded upon the truth of my argument, instead 
 of overthrowing it j for if the opposition is not between the French and 
 English, as distinct classes, how could the representatives of the French 
 
Q2 
 
 1081 
 
 d. 
 
 party have ever thought of denouncing the English by v 
 under the most violent excitement ? Nay, indeed, if there were the 
 least truth in the objection, the stronger the excitement tlie more enthu- 
 biastically would the English inhabitants have been lauded, instead of 
 being scouted and proscribed as "foreigners," "egotists," " i)illager8," 
 and " beggars." 
 
 On the objection respecting the general feelings and prejudices of the 
 French Canadians, I may observe that the character of those ignorant, 
 harmless, idle , and superstitious people has imdergone no perceptible 
 change during the last half century ; in thijj sort of immutability of 
 attachments, habits, and manners, they themselves boast and feel a 
 national pride ; they declare their determination to perpetuate the cus- 
 toms of their forefathers. I blame them not for it; I only assert it to 
 be the fact 5 and, therefore, that the British Parliament and Govern- 
 ment must have an eye to this state of things in legislating for and in 
 governing Lower Canada. I have already shovs-n that one of their 
 organs frankly declared, "they had inherited from their fathers a hatred 
 for the English;" I will now prove it — not from what may have 
 occurred under the excitement of party feeling, but when gratitude for 
 British kindness was overflowing the heart. 1 take for my authority 
 the Duke de la Rochefoucault Liancourt's Travels through the United 
 States of North America and Upper Canada, t'n the years 1795, 1796, 
 and 1797; with an authentic Account of Lower Canada. The testimony 
 of that exiled French nobleman is of great importance on this subject. 
 I will, in the first place, give his ingenuous confession of his own 
 feelings ; and then his statement respecting the feelings and habits of 
 his countrymen in Lower Canada. The following passage, descriptive 
 of the Duke's feelings when sailing over the Canadian lakes, &c., is, 1 
 think, on more grounds than one, worthy of the particular attention of 
 British statesmen, and I am persuaded no apology will be necessary for 
 the length of it : — 
 
 " I am at a loss to account to myself for the various perceptions which 
 pressed upon my mind, and prevented my feelings from being entirely 
 absorbed by gratitude, and by the pleasing sensations it naturally pro- 
 duces. I love the English more, perhaps, than any other Frenchman ; 
 I have been constantly well treated by the English, I have friends 
 among them, I acknowledge the many great qualities and advantages 
 which they possess. I detest the horrid crimes which stain the French 
 revolution, and which destroyed so many objects of my love and esteem; 
 
33 
 
 1 am banislic'cl from France; my estates arc ccmfiscatecl ; by the 
 (iovernmeiit of my country I am treated ns a criminal or corrupt 
 citizen ; hcvercd from all 1 hold dear, I have been rcduceil to extreme, 
 inexpressible misery, l>y Kobespierrcand the rullians whom my country- 
 men have sutl'ered to become their tyrants : nor are my misfortunes yet 
 consimimated — and yet the love of my country, this innate feeling now 
 so painful to me, so clashing with my present situation, holds an absolute 
 sway over my soul, and pursues mo here more closely than elsewhere. 
 This English Hag, under which I nm sailing over lakes where the 
 French Hag was so long displayed — these forts, and these guns, the 
 s|)oils of France, this constant, obvious proof of our former weakness 
 and our misfortunes, give me pain, perplex and overpower ni'; to a 
 degree which I am at a loss to explain. The success last year obtained 
 by Lord Howe, w Inch the English mention with more frankness because 
 they suppose our interest to be intimately connected with theirs— the 
 eagerness they display in armouncing new defeats of the French, the 
 accounts of which are prefaced by the assurance that English 
 triumphs and exertion shall reinstate us in the possession of our estates' 
 and followed with congratulations — all these common topics of conver- 
 sation, which our guests seem to introduce with the best intention, prove 
 more painfid to n)y feelings, as I am necessitated to hide my thoughts, 
 lest I should be deemed a fool by the few, in whose eyes I am no 
 Jacobin, no Kobesjiierrian, and liecause I am, as it were, at cross 
 pm-poses with myself. And yet it is a sentiment rooted, deeply rooted 
 in my soul, that I would continue poor and banished all the days of my 
 life, rather than owe my restoration to my country and my estates to the 
 iniluence of foreign Powers and to British pride." — (Pp. 262, 263.) 
 
 The Duke de la Rochefoucault Liancourt's account of the French 
 Canadians is equally candid and equally fraught with wholesome 
 counsel to the politicians of this great empire. He does not say, with 
 Mr. Papincau and Mr, Roebuck, that "the British" have "pillaged" the 
 Canadi'ins — nay, though a bigoted, yet honest Frenchman, he admits 
 that " the British" have not only conferred upon the French Canadians 
 jjrivileges which had been withheld from them by a French King, but 
 that they have actually had much difficulty in teaching and introducing 
 among them those principles of civil liberty which are at once the 
 birthright and the glory of Englishmen. Take the following extracts 
 as i)roofs and illustrations : — 
 
 *'Xo Canadian has just grounds of complaint agamst the British 
 
§ 
 
 i : i 
 
 
 34 
 
 Government; the inhabitants of Canada acknowledge unanimously 
 that they are Letter treated than under the ancient French Govern- 
 ment; (a) but they love the French, forget them not, long after them, 
 hope for their arrival, will always love them, and betray these feelings 
 too frequently, and in too frank a manner, not to incur the displeasure 
 of the English, who, even in Europe, have not made an equal progi'ess 
 with us in discarding the absurd prejudices of one people against 
 another."— (Page 306.) 
 
 " They pay no taxes, live well, at an easy rate, and in plenty ; within 
 the compass of their comprehensions they cannot wish for any other 
 good. They are so little acquainted with the principles of liberty, that 
 it has cost a great deal of trouble io establish juries in their country ; 
 they oppose the inti-oduction of the trial by juiy ; in civil causes these 
 are not yet in use. But they love France, this beloved country engages 
 §till their aifections. In their estimation a Frenchman is a being far 
 superior to an Englishman." — (Page 307.) 
 
 " The farmers are a frugal set of people, but ignorant and lazy. In 
 order to succeed in enlargin/; and improving agriculture in this province, 
 the English Government nmst proceed with great prudence and per- 
 severance ; for in addition to the unhappy prejudices which the inhabi- 
 tants of Canada entertain in common with the farmers of all other 
 countries, they also foster a sti-ong mistrust against every thing which 
 they receive from the En/jlish ; and this mistrust is grounded on the 
 idea that the English are their conquerors, and the French their 
 brethren. There are some exceptions from this bad agricultural system, 
 but they are few. The best cultivators are always landholders arrived 
 from England."— (P. 314, 315.) 
 
 " Upon the whole, the work of education in Lower Canada is greatly 
 neglected. At Sorel and Three Rivers are a few schools, kept by the 
 nuns ; in other places men or women instruct childi-en. But the number 
 of schools is, upon the whole, so very small, and the mode of instruction 
 so defective, that a C'anadian who can read is a sort of phenomenon. 
 From the major part of these schools being governed by nuns and 
 other women, the numljer of the latter who can read is, contrary to the 
 
 (a) " Previous history affords no example of such forbearance and generosity 
 on the part of the conqueiors towards the conquered,— forming such a new era in 
 civilized warfare, that an Jidmiring world admitted the claim of Great liritain to the 
 glory of conquering a people, less from views of ambition and the security of her 
 otlier colonies, than from tlie hope of improving their situation and endowing them 
 with the privileges of frceinea." (Political Annals of Canada.) 
 
 i 
 
35 
 
 custom of other countries, much greater in Lower Canada than that of 
 men. 
 
 "The English Government is charged with designedly keeping the 
 people of Lower Canada in ignorance ; but were it sincerely desirous 
 of producing an advantageous change in this respect, it would have as 
 great obstacles to surmount on this head as in regard to agricultural 
 improvements."— (Pp. 318, 319.) 
 
 I will not weaken the force of the above extracts by any comments. 
 Our noble author remarks, in another place, that " nineteen-twentieths 
 of all property, amenable before the courts of justice, belong to 
 merchants." (b) (Page 320.) The same remark holds good still, as 
 far as regards the French population. I have been repeatedly and most 
 credibly hiformed that there is but one importing French mercantile 
 house in all Lower Canada, and that not a large one ; and that the 
 principal partner in that house was brought up in a British house. In 
 respect to education itself, a little, and but a little, advance has been 
 made among the French Canadians. It is notorious in Canada that 
 several of the French members of the Assembly can neither read nor 
 write. Out of two French grand juries in the district of Montreal, 
 empanelled a short time since, there was but one man who could write 
 his name. A special legislative act exists in Lower Canada io authorize 
 the trustees of common schools to affix their marks to school reports. 
 Such is the intellectual statiure of the gieat majority of the people whose 
 leaders and representatives issue mandates to the King and Parliament 
 of Great Britain, and demand a " nationality" Government over more 
 than 100,000 expatriated Britons, and that too imder the auspices and 
 guidance and advocacy of Mr. Hume and Mr. Roebuck ! (c) 
 
 (h) Tlie author of the French pamphlet, quoted in the Postscript of the 4th 
 letter, Intterly admits, that through the " indolence" of the "Canadians," British 
 merchants have become the sole possessors of the commercial wealth of Lower 
 Canada. 
 
 (c) The following remarks of the Kingston Chronicle (Upper Canada), November 
 30, 1836, will enable honourable members of the British Parliament to estimate the 
 correctness and importance of Mr. Roebuck's representations on Canadian affairs : 
 
 " We could quote numberless specimens of the bold mendacity of these respect- 
 able servants of the Lower Canada House of Assembly, (jMessis. Hume and Roe- 
 buck,) but one will suffice. During the last session of the Imperial Pai liament Mr. 
 Roebuck rose in his place, and presented a petition against the Timber Trade, in- 
 forming the House, at the same time, as the accredited representative of all the 
 British North American colonies, he was authorised to declare to the House his 
 constituents' extrenie anxiety for the abolition of a trade so pernicious in its conse- 
 quences. Tiiis daring assertion, of course, passed uncontrailicted in the House, for 
 the plain reason, there was no person to gainsay it. Wt-know, but the gentlemen 
 of tlic House of Commons could not, that all the British North American colonies 
 
36 
 
 ill! i 
 
 It may, indeed, be said, that the House of Assembly has passed 
 Ecveral bills to promote the education of the French inhabitants, but 
 the Legislative Council has either rejected or mortally mutilated them, 
 and this gross ignorance has been thus perpetuated. Be it so ; but what 
 sort of school bills has the House of Assembly passed ? Why, bills to 
 render each school among an ignorant peasantry a complete little 
 republic, and excluding the slightest inspection on the part of the 
 Government; and when the Legislative Council has amended any of 
 those bills so as to give the Government that oversight of the common 
 schools which obtains invariably in the United States, the House of 
 Assembly has indignantly rejected them, pronouncing the Legislative 
 Council a band of " British pillagers," and chosen Hottentot ignorance 
 in preference to any educational instruction in which British influence 
 might be incorporated — in which British generosity and intelligence 
 might come in contact with French prejudice and jealousy, and the 
 means of establishing a "nationality" republic be thereby retarded and 
 coimteracted. And all this, says Mr. Roebuck, to the time of £1,100. 
 a-year ; and says Mr, Hume, in the hope of a similar fee from Upper 
 Canada, (but the " baneful domination" letter has settled Mr. Hume^s 
 agency for that province) all this, say these incomparable statesmen and 
 patriots, is but the groanings of oppressed intelligence and vu-tue under 
 the grinding despotism of British tyranny ! I may say to you, 
 gentlemen, as Mr. O'Connell is sometimes wont to say to your superiors, 
 " I wish you much joy of your honour and your company !" 
 
 I am, &c., 
 
 A CANADIAN. 
 
 
 ' 
 
 repudiate the assertion, and denounce its author as a person totally regardless of 
 truth. There can be no doubt that Mr. Roebuck's masters in Lower Canada (for 
 we have nothing whatever to do with the man), are extremely anxious for the abo- 
 lition of a trade that introduces British capital, emigrants with knowledge, industry, 
 and loyal feelings, into these provinces. It is no part of their policy to cheri^ 
 such." 
 
37 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 Sirs, — I will conclude these letters with a few brief remarks on your 
 principal statements and arguments against the Canadian Executives, 
 Legislative Councils, and Land Companies. 
 
 You rest the truth of both your doctrines and statements upon the 
 representations of a provincial assembly, and adroitly denounce state- 
 ments, complaints, and remonstrances from any ever so respectable and 
 numerous a portion of the Canadian inhabitants, as unworthy of credit 
 or respect, because they stand contradicted by the declarations of the re- 
 presentatives of the people. (I allude particidarly to Lower Canada.) 
 Your tactics are specious, but dishonourable and deceptive. The 
 authoritative remarks of " Junius," in reference to a British House of 
 Commons, will apply with double force to either of the Canadian 
 Assemblies, and will call up in the minds of intelligent statesmen many 
 appropriate reflections on nearly all the representations of the present 
 Canadian Assemblies. " Any man who takes the trouble of perusing 
 the jom'nals of the House of Commons will soon be convinced that very 
 little, if any regard at all, ought to be paid to one branch of the Legisla- 
 ture declaratory of the law of the land, or even of what they call the law 
 of Parliament. It will appear that these resolutions have none of the 
 properties by which, in this country particularly, law is distinguished 
 from mere will and pleasure ; but that, on the contrary, they have every 
 mark of a power arbitrarily assumed and capriciously appUcd ; that 
 they are usufdly made in times of contest, and to serve some unworthy 
 purpose of passion or party ; that the law is seldom declared until after 
 the fact by which it is supposed to be violated ; that legislation and 
 jurisdiction are united in the same persons and exercised at the same 
 moment." 
 
 How fully have those very just observations of " Junius " been 
 illustrated in most of the proceedings of the Lower Canada House of 
 Assembly for several years past ! I will give one example out of 
 a score. That Assembly accused Lord Aylmer to the British House of 
 Commons, in 1834, '* of illegal, unjust, and unconstitutional conduct." 
 
M 
 
 .1 
 
 38 
 
 A committee of the House of Commons was nppointeil to investigate 
 tlicse (with many other similar) allegations, and acquitted the accused. 
 13ut did the accusers acquiesce in the decision of the tribunal to which 
 they had n])pcaled ? No, no, the decision did not accord with their 
 " will and pleasure," and therefore they, only a few months after, declare 
 that their " afl'ections are like to he alienated from the Government of 
 England itself," because " Matthew Lord Aylmer is still continued i:i 
 the government of this province, after having been formally accused of 
 ' illegal, unjust, and unconstitutional conduct.' " In the judgment of 
 these learned and " purely democratic" legislators, for a man to have 
 been " formally accused," even though he may have been acquitted, is a 
 total disqualification for office ; accusation is identical with guilt ; they are 
 both the accusers and judges, and pronounce it an " alienating" grievance 
 from the Government of England itself, because they are not allowed to 
 be the executors, as well as judges, of their own party accusations ! 
 Admirable emanations these of moral justice and constitutional 
 intelligence ! 
 
 Now, as an example out of a hundred of the weight which ought to 
 be attached to the statements of your " nationality" assembly, take 
 the following : — In an address to His Majesty, about three months since, 
 that Assembly says, — " We solemnly repeat that the principal object of 
 the political reforms, which this house and the people of this province 
 have for a great number of years used every elTort to obtain, is to extend 
 the elective principle to the Legislative Council," &c. Will the reader 
 credit it, that a proposition to render the Legislative Council elective 
 was never introduced into that Assembly until 1833; and that in 1831 
 that very Assembly prayed unanimously, that " the constitution as 
 established by law might be transmitted unimpaired to posterity ?' " 
 Are three years a " great number of years ?"' Well has " Junius" again 
 remarked, " In what a labyrinth of nonsense does a man involve himself 
 who labours to maintain falsehood by argument ! How much better 
 would it become the dignity of the House of Commons (House of 
 Assembly) to speak plainly, and tell us at once that their will must be 
 obeyed, not because it is lawful and reasonable, but because it is their 
 
 will." 
 
 So much. Sirs, for the authority on which you rest your state- 
 ments. I will notice but one of your charges against the Lower 
 Canada Executive. It is a principal one, and may, therefore, serve as 
 a specimen of the rest. It is this — " that it is seldom (to use the words 
 of the Assembly) men of French Canadian origin find their way into 
 
 / 
 
■l J 
 
 39 
 
 office under any circumstances." The ignorance of the French poimla- 
 tion, as was sho\\Ti in my last letter, is quite sufficient to account for the 
 appointment of comparatively few Frenchmen to public situations in 
 former years — especially imtler an English Government, with the 
 English laws, and with the French antipathies to the English. But 1 
 can prove from statistical documents, that a larger number of persons of 
 French origin have been appointed to office smce 1828 (when the Ca- 
 nada committee of the House of C!ommons made their report) than of 
 Bi itish and American origin. I can give the name? of the persons, offices, 
 and time of appointment, if the correctness of this statement be 
 questioned, (aj 
 
 Thus much, then, on your facts, in addition to what I have advanced 
 in my former letters. I will now advert to some of your peculiar 
 doctrines. One is (as the Lower Canada House of Assembly expresses 
 it), " to render the Executive Council directly responsible to the re- 
 presentatives of the Canadian people." This is what you call " re- 
 
 state- 
 I Lower 
 ierve as 
 
 words 
 ay into 
 
 (a) I will here add a few facts in support of these assertions. In the early- 
 part of Lord Ayhner's administration, his Lordsliip recommendtd the appointment 
 of five gentlemen to the Executive Council, whose names are given in his l.onl- 
 ship's dispatch of the 5ih of March, 1834, and of whom his Lordship says, — " Four 
 of the five gentlemen above named are of French origin, and it is a circumstance 
 worthy of notice with reference to the complaints of the House of Assembly of the 
 ' vicious composition ' (as they allege) of the Executive Council, tiiut these gen- 
 tlemen were all Membeis of the House of Assembly, and all belonged to what is 
 termed the popular or Canadian party in that house." 
 
 In an admirable despatch to the Larl of Aberdeen, dated the 18th of March, 
 1835, Lord Aylmer has given a statement " showing the appointments to offices of 
 profit or emolument made by his Lordship from the commencement of his adminL— 
 tration to the 1st JVIarch, 18J35," the offices, names, and vrigin of the persons ap- 
 pointed. I need not occupy these pages with the names and offices referred to. 
 'I'he following statements and observations of his lordship deserve particular atteo- 
 tion, and are, I think, conclusive on this subject. Ko apology is required for the 
 length of them. 
 
 " The House of Assembly complain ' that the chief recommendation to ofEce 
 continues to be a marked and bitter animosity towards the people of this province, 
 that it is seldom men of French Canadian origin find their way into office under any 
 circumstances,' and so forth. 
 
 " The assertion that it is seldom men of French Canadian origin find their way 
 into office, is best answered by a reference to facts. From the accompanying state- 
 ment, it appears that of 142 appointments which have been made to offices of profit 
 and emolument, from the conniiencement of my administration in the month of 
 October 18.30 to the 1st of the present month r March 1835), 80 are of French 
 origin, and 62 not of French origin ; that during tne same period the appointments 
 made to offices, not of profit and emolument, amounting to 580, 295 are of French 
 Origin, and 285 not of French origin. It thus appears, that in the two instances 
 above-mentioned, the one of appointments to offices of profit and emolument, and 
 the other to offices not of profit and emolument, the advantage is on the side of 
 individuals of French origin. 
 
 " In regard of the appointment of commissioners for the trial of small causes in 
 different parts of the country, the same statement shows th^it those appointment* 
 amounted during the same period to 330, of which 151 are of French origin, and 179 
 

 ^ 
 
 40 
 
 sponsible government ;" and it involves notliing more nor less than tlie 
 terminationoflJritish supremacy in the Canadas. For — 1. It is plain 
 that the Governor and his Council cannot both be responsible for the 
 same act, any more than the King and his Cabinet 2. If the Council be 
 responsible, the Governor must be merely the nominal head of the 
 Government, the same as the King of England, and cannot therefore be 
 responsible for the acts of the Local Executive, either to His Majesty or 
 to the British Parliament. 3. If the Executive Council be "directly 
 responsible" to the Local Assembly, then the Executive Council is not 
 only the acting head of the provincial Government, but is irresponsible 
 to the King and British Tarliament ; for no man can serve two masters ; 
 
 not of Frencli origin, leaving a trifling numerical advantage in favour of the latter 
 clas-i, which is accounteil for in a luHii bene at the foot of the, statement.* 
 
 " The appointments to be commissioners for the trial of small causes had no con- 
 nection whatever witli tlie general election, iluriiig wiiich tiie i^ocal Government 
 preserved the strictest neutrality. An augmentation of the number of the magis- 
 trates in various parts of the country, wiiich had been in contemplation for some 
 time, was suspended on that occasion to avoid anything tiiat could bear the 
 appearance of an inteference witli the elections ; and the same returning oiKcers in 
 the several counties, cities and boroughs who had before performed that oiticti, were 
 reappointed, although it was perfectly well known that the greater number of them 
 were favourable to the party opposed to the Government, and those only of the 
 former returning officers were removed (a few in number), who had on previous 
 occasions incurred the censure of the majority of the House of Assembly. 
 
 " The assertion of the House of A?_:(jmbly, that tiie persons appointed by me to 
 office are men who display 'a marked and bitter animosity towanls the people of 
 this province,' must appear very extraordinary after reviewing the accompanying 
 statement of appointments to ofiice during my a<lministration, and it is one which I 
 find difficult to answer, because the individuals alluded to are themselves taken from 
 ' the people of the province,' towards whom they are represented as entertaining 
 sentiments of ' marked and bitter animosity.' 
 
 "The drift of this assertion of the House of Assembly is evidently to make it 
 appear that the Canadians of French origin are unfairly dealt with in the distribution 
 of offices ; and it is made a matter of complaint with a certain political party in the 
 province, which is identified with the majoiity of the House of Assembly, that the 
 Canadians of French origin are not appointed to office in numbers corresponding 
 with their proportion to the whole population of the province. Upon this point I 
 take leave to submit a few observations to your Lordship's consideration. They 
 occur in my answer to an address from the inhabitants of Montreal during the last 
 summer, and are introduced here in order that they may be presented to your Lord- 
 ship's notice in an official form. 
 
 " If it be desirable that a rule should be established for the distribution of the 
 honours and employments at the disposal of the Crown amongst the King's subjects 
 
 • The following is the nota bene referred to : — 
 
 " N.B. The majority of commissioners of Small Causes not being of French origin, 
 is accounted for by the fact, that nearly one-third of these appointments are for the 
 townships, where persons of French origin do not reside, and where the French 
 language is not spoken. 
 
 " A'ot of French origin includes persons of every other origin who have received 
 appointments, very many of whom are descendents of families settled within the 
 province for several generations, and who are as much identified with the best inter- 
 ests of the province as it is possible for persons of French origin to be. A fact 
 which is alike applicable to every description of appointment, whether of emolu- 
 ment or otherwise." 
 
41 
 
 and " direct" responsibility to the local Assembly implies independence 
 of the Imperial Parliament. Your doctrine is, therefore, inconsistent 
 with the colonial relation of the Canadas to the Mother country, and 
 
 in the province of different origin, according to their relative numbers, it becomes a 
 matter for consideration, in what manner this object is to be accomplislied. Is it 
 proposed to separate and divide into classes the inhabitants of Knglish, French, 
 Scotch, Irish and American birth or origin ; and in like manner to parcel out into 
 shares proportioned to their respective numbers all those honours and employments 
 assigning to each class its due proportion ] or, is it proposed, that successively as 
 employments in the various departments of the administration become disposable, 
 they shall be conferred upon individuals of the several classes in rotation, thereby 
 establishing a species of lottery of the favours and distinctions of Government 1 
 
 " In giving effect to the principle of distribution above-mentioned, the necessary 
 calculations for ascertaining the numbers in each class must undergo frequent re- 
 visions, with reference to the constant changes going forward in the component 
 parts of the population of the province from the effects of immigration and other cir- 
 cumstances. These, and other details, would inevitably give rise to further com> 
 plaints and jealousies ; but what is more than all to be deprecated, the principle 
 above-mentioned directly tends to keep alive and perpetuate those very distinctions 
 of national origin, which have been complained of, and of which the traces cannot, 
 for the tranquillity and prosperity of the province, be too speedily or too effectually 
 obliterated. 
 
 " It is not in the light in which this subject has just been placed that I understand 
 the liberal views of His Majesty's Government, but rather that the most rigid impar- 
 tiality shall be observed in distributing the honours and employments at the disposal 
 of the Crown, and that without reference to national origin, he who may be con< 
 sidered the best qualified for employment, or most deserving of honour, shall be the 
 individual preferred. 
 
 " This, as I understand it, is the principle upon which His Majesty's Representative 
 in the province should govern his proceedings in the distribution of the honours and 
 employments at the disposal of the Crown — a departure from it in favour of any par- 
 ticular class can alone constitute a just ground of complaint, and if inflexibly and 
 steadily acted upon, no such ground of complaint can reasonably be brought forward 
 on any side. 
 
 " I have only to add, my Lord, to the foregoing observations, that the 
 principles they inculcate have served as the rule of my public conduct in the 
 administration of the Government of this province ; and that in selecting individuals 
 for office, I have invariably made choice of those who, according to the best of my 
 judgment, were best qualified for it, without partiality, favour or affection. 
 
 " It appears from the statement which accompanies this despatch, and referred to 
 above, that of the appointments to offices of profit and emolument which have been 
 made during my administration, more than one-half have been bestowed upon Ca- 
 nadians of French origin. The assertion of the House of Assembly, therefore, that 
 ' it is seldom men of French Canadian origin find their way into office under any 
 circumstances,' has been fully disproved. And with reference to the complaints of 
 the Assembly upon that head, I beg to call your Lordship's attention to the fact, that 
 the whole of the preferment of the Roman Catholic church in the province, ex- 
 ceeding 25,000/. per annum, besides fees and dues, is almost exclusively in the hands 
 of ' men of French Canadian origin ;' the head of their church, in the province 
 (himself invariably a French Canadian enjoying a large revenue, of which 1,000/. 
 per annum is paid out of the military chest), disposing of that preferment at pleasure, 
 and without the slightest interference or control being ever attempted on the part of 
 the Local Government. I beg not to be understood in stating this fact, that I con- 
 template, or would desire to see any change in the present system of patronage in 
 the Catholic church — far from it ; the fact is brought forward merely with reference 
 to the complaints of the Assembly. 
 
 " In addition to the foregoing advantage enjoyed almost exclusively by 'men of 
 French Canadiaa origin,' the appointment of teachers in the schools established io 
 
 o 
 
\n 
 
 42 
 
 proposes not merely the relinquishment of the royal prerogatives and 
 authority in those provinces, but also the transfer of the prerogatives and 
 authority of the Imperial Parliament to the local assemblies ; or, in other 
 words, the independence of the Canadas. 
 
 According to the present relation of the Canadas to the parent state, 
 the Governors are responsible to the King and Parliament for all the 
 acts of the local Executives; they can also be prosecuted by any 
 individual in the colonies for any act of oppression or injustice, as well 
 as any justice of the peace ; the Executive Councils are councils of 
 advice, not cabinets, and are responsible in those cases only in which 
 the constitution of the Canadas requires their concurrence to give effect 
 to executive acts. And pray, Sirs, what other responsibility is more 
 efficient than this, or can exist in the Canadian Executives, unless 
 SovereignLegislaturesbe established there, the same as in Great Britain, 
 or in theUnited States ? 
 
 What you have advanced respecting the Legislative Councils also re- 
 quires a brief notice. One of your principal charges is, that those Coun- 
 cils have opposed the improvement of the country. I have already shown 
 that the Legislative Council of Lower Canada has not opposed the diffu- 
 sion of education; I will now ask you how you can make it appear that the 
 Legislative Council of either province has opposed the improvement of 
 the country ? Have not the majority of those Councils always been 
 strenuous advocates of all possible facilities of internal navigation ? 
 Are they not mostly merchants, with considerable landed property 
 in the country ? How, then, can they be otherwise than favourable to the 
 agricultural and internal improvements of the country, when those very 
 improvements are the sinews and life-blood of their own commercial 
 enterprise and freehold wealth ? 
 
 But, you say, some xmworthy individuals have been appointed Legis- 
 lative Councillors. Has no unworthy individual ever been called to the 
 House of Lords ? 1 admit that individuals have been called to the 
 Legislative Council who, after their appointment, have shown them- 
 selves unworthy of the honour conferred upon them and the trust reposed 
 
 the country parts of the piovince, under the authority of Acts of the Provincial 
 Legislature, with salaries and allowances amounting altogether to 18,000/. per 
 annum, is virtually at the disposal of the Members of the House of Assembly, of 
 whom the great majority are of French origin. 
 
 " Taking together the facts which I have had the honour of stating above, your 
 Lordship will perhaps be of opinion that the Assembly have no reasonable cause to 
 complain of the men of ' French Canadian origin' being upon an inferior footing to 
 their fellow-subjects of British and other origin in the province, in regard to the 
 enjoyment of offices of profit or emolument." 
 
 : !! 
 

 1 -J 
 
 43 
 
 in them; but Imve not many wealthy, intclhgcnt, and worthy individuals 
 also been called to the Councils ; and have not many sharpers and 
 bankrupts been elected to the Assemblies? And would not such 
 characters be as likely to find their way into elective Councils as into 
 such elective Assemblies ? This objection only proves, at most, the want 
 of caution on the part of those who have invested such characters with 
 legislative powers ; but it afl'ects not the principle in the one case any 
 more than in the other. 
 
 You say, again, the Legislative Council is dependent upon the will of 
 the Executive, because its members are appointed by the Crown. I 
 answer, would the members of the Houseof Commons be very dependent 
 upon the people of Great Britain and Ireland, if they were elected for 
 life ? How, then, can you say the members of the Legislative Coimcils 
 are dependent upon the Crown, when, the very moment they are elected 
 Councillors, they are legislators for life, and can no more be deprived of 
 the legislative character than any member of the British House of Lords. 
 
 Your answer then is, " The Legislative Council bears no analogy to 
 the British House of Lords, either in number, wealth, influence, or 
 inteUigence." I admit it ; and will ask, in reply, what analogy the 
 Canadian House of Assembly bears to the British House of Commons, 
 in numbers, wealth, influence and intelligence ? What analogy does 
 Canada itself bear to Great Britain in these respects ? To establish 
 your vague and oft repeated assertions on this point, you must prove 
 three things. I. That a Canadian House of Assembly possesses more 
 wealth, intelligence, and influence in comparison of the Legislative 
 Council, than the British House of Commons does when compared with 
 the House of Lords. 2. That the British House of Lords possesses 
 more members, wealth, and intelligence in comparison of the population, 
 wealth, and intelligence of Great Britain and Ireland, than a Canadian 
 Legislative Council does in comparison of the population, w^ealth, and 
 intelligence of either of the Canadas. 3. That the House of Lords 
 represents a larger portion of the feelings and interests of the inhabi- 
 tants of Great Britain and Ireland, than the Legislative Councils do of 
 the feelings and interests of the inhabitants of the Canadas. Now, 
 Sirs, from 30 years' residence in the Canadas, and nearly a year's 
 travelling and residence in England, with a tolerable knowledge of the 
 political, commercial, and literary history and present state of Great 
 Britain and Ireland, I unequivocally deny each of these propositions ; 
 and (with the exception of purely French prejudice in Lower Canada 
 against every thing English) I positively affirm, that in each case the 
 
44 
 
 If 
 
 f It 
 
 il 
 
 
 itbti 
 
 comparison would turn on the side of Canadian Legislative Councils. 
 And in this assertion I concede to the House of Lords all that is attri- 
 buted to that venerable and noble body by its ablest advocates. 
 
 If it be desirable, in the present position of aiTairs, to increase the 
 number of members in the Canadian Legislative Councils, that can be 
 done without subverting the principles of their constitution, either by 
 the Crown exercising its already established prerogative, or by an 
 imperial act, empowering the present councillors to elect one or more 
 representative members from each county, the same as the 16 represen- 
 tative Peers of Scotland are elected at the commencement of each 
 Parliament. 
 
 But, Sirs, whence arises the implacable hatred of your Canadian 
 confederates and yourselves against the constitution of the Legislative 
 Councils ? I answer, from the same source with your enmity against 
 the constitution of the British House of Lords. You have, as a 
 pretext, adverted to the acts of the Lower Canada Legislative Council. 
 I r.m not the advocate of those acts, any more than I am the apologist 
 of numerous acts of the Elective Assembly : but I venture to assert, 
 that if the acts of the Assembly were as carefully and as pugnaciously 
 scrutinized as those of the Legislative Council have been, your argu- 
 ment would more than fall to the ground. Your familiar assertion, that 
 " the Legislative Council is the mere screen of the Executive Govern- 
 ment," sufficiently developes the cause of your rancorous denunciation 
 of that body. You and your partisans have sought the possession of 
 the Executive prerogative and power ; you have demanded that the 
 "Executive be directly responsible to the representatives of the 
 (Canadian) people 5" in the preambles and ce^ .ain clauses of many bills 
 which the Canadian Assembly has of late years passed, attempts have 
 been made to accomplish these objects ; which objects have been steadily 
 resisted by the Legislative Council, either by rejecting or modifying 
 Buch bills. Here, then, is the real cause of the present war against 
 the constitution of that branch of the Government. The Legislative 
 Council has met the Assembly on the threshold of its attempts to gain 
 the citadel of Executive supremacy, and has thus " screened" or shielded 
 the Royal power from being degraded into "a government purely demo- 
 cratic." Happy is it for the inhabitants of English, Scotch, Irish, and 
 American origin, who speak the English language, that there is a 
 Legislative Council in Lower Canada; and it is to be hoped that that 
 branch of the Government will be sustained with an integrity and 
 decision, in proportion to its importance. You have wisely concentrated 
 all your forces against the Legislative Council, because you well know 
 
 ( 
 
45 
 
 e 
 
 y 
 g 
 
 St 
 
 e 
 in 
 d 
 o- 
 lid 
 a 
 at 
 ad 
 ed 
 ow 
 
 that the constitution of that body forms an impregnable fortress for the 
 defence of the Royal prerogative on the one hand, and the protection of 
 the rights and interests of 150,000 British inhabitants on the other, fb) 
 The Upper and Lower Canada Land Companies are another strong 
 hold and increasing resource of British inlluence and power, on the 
 overthrow of which you are as intently bent as on that of the Legis- 
 lative Councils. Hence your " alliance" party in Upper Canada 
 demand the "extinguishment of all monopohzing land companies;" 
 and the majority of the Lower Canada Assembly charge the British 
 Parliament with having " sanctioned the sale of lands belonging to this 
 province to several individuals using the title of the * British North 
 American Land Company,' and hereby have taxed this colony, contrary 
 to the most important and indisputable of the birth-rights of British 
 subjects." These Frenchmen then employ a long paragraph of decla. 
 mation on this '* unconstitutional taxation," (cj and " equally unconsti- 
 tutional application of the said tax," this " destruction of the political 
 independence of the people," &c., and conclude by demanding " the 
 immediate repeal of the act passed in favour of said Land Company." 
 The speech of Mr. Roebuck, in the House of Commons on the evening 
 of the 16th of May, contains a repetition of this bombast of the 
 
 (b) During Sir James Kempt's administration of the Government of Lower Ca- 
 nada, /owr new members wore added to tlie Legislative Council, two of whom were 
 of French origin. Fourteen were added during the administration of Lord Aylmer, 
 of whom eight were of French, and six of British origin. Concerning these additions 
 to the Legislative Council of Lower Canada and the character and independence of 
 that honorable body, Lord Aylmer, in a despatch to Mr. (now Lord) Stanley, dated 
 5th March, 1834, makes the following very just observations. 
 
 " Not one of those 18 gentlemen holds ofrice, or is in any way connected with or 
 dependent upon the Government of the Province. 
 
 " The actual state of the Legislative Council is as follows : — It consists of thirty- 
 five Members, taken from the most opulent and respectable classes of society of 
 various oricin. in different parts of the Province, of whom seven only hold office, 
 including their Speaker (the Chief Justice of the Province,) and the Lord Bishop of 
 Quebec, who is rarely present at the deliberations of the Council. 
 
 " It would be difficult, perhaps, to find in any British Colony a Legislative Body 
 moie independent of the Crown than the Legislative Council of Lower Canada; and 
 so far am I from possessing, as the King's Representative, any influence there, that 
 I will ; not conceal, that I have on more than one occasion regretted the course 
 adopted by the Council. But whilst I make this confession, I will not deny but I 
 have, on the contrary, much satisfaction in avowing that I repose great confidence ia 
 that branch of the Colonial Legislature ; — it is a confidence derived from my know- 
 ledge of the upright, independent, and honorable character of the great majority of 
 those who compose it, and of their firm and unalterable attachment to His Majesty's 
 Person and Government, and to the Constitution of the Colony as by Law 
 established." 
 
 (c) To hear these Canadian republicans and their London counsellors and agents 
 clamour about " taxation " and the " burdens of the people," a stranger would 
 naturally conclude, that the Canadians are oppressively taxed ; when the fact is, 
 the whole of the public taxes in either of the Canadas is, for each individual, only a 
 fraction more than one-third of the amount of taxes paid by each citizen of the 
 neighbouring States of the American Republic. 
 
4n 
 
 if 
 
 i 
 
 Lower Canada House of Assembly. But whence this hostility to tlie 
 Canadian land companies ? Not on account of their mode of managing 
 their affairs, for no one huK attempted to impugn the honorable and 
 liberal character of their proceedings. Not on account of their 
 obstructing the improvement of the countrj-, for it is notorious, and 
 can be denied by none, that those companies have added much to the 
 value and brightening prospects of the Canadas, by making their cli- 
 mate and resources better known in this countrj-, by directing thither 
 thousands of British emigrants, many of whom have already risen 
 above the poverty that pressed upon them in their native land, and are 
 rising to easy competence, and in instances not a few to wealthy inde- 
 pendence, by settling tens of thousands of acres of excellent land — by 
 expending large sums of money in making roads, erecting machinery, 
 villages, &c. — by inspiring Enghsh capitaliiibs with confidence to make 
 Canadian investments — and by contributing incidentally to increase the 
 commerce between Great Britain and the Canadas. But all these facts 
 are so many objections with you and your partisans agaiiist the Canada 
 and British American land companies, because the salutary operations 
 of these companies all bear ultimately upon one point — the increase of 
 British property, of British principles, of British influence and power 
 in the Canadas, and the consequent defeat of the French "nationality" 
 and "purely democratic" schGmes.(dJ 
 
 (d) The interests of these Companies — especially the British American Land 
 Company, — have Leen seriously pnjudicod by the Cdutious silence which has been 
 observed on the part of the Ministers of the Crown, in the House of Commons, 
 whilst successive attacks have been made by ISlessrs. H'jme and Roebuck, during 
 the last two or three sessions, upon the legality of the titles to the lands which those 
 Companies have purchased, and the sales they have made to actual settlers. I have 
 known persons who were desirous of purchasing land of those Companies reason in 
 this way — " Their titles are publicly denounced in the British House of Commons as 
 defective, where it has also been asserted, no perH)n is secure of the property he pur- 
 chases of them ; nor has the King's Government said aught to the contrary. It is 
 plain therefore that the Government feels that the titles of these Companies are 
 
 Siuestionable.or that it is not disposed to atford them its countenance and protection ; 
 or surely, if otherwise in either case, it would defend its own acts and assure its 
 continued protection to those who, in reliance upon its good faith, have made large 
 investments and incurred heavy expenditures." It was therefore wilh no ordinary 
 satisfaction I heard the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, in his place in the 
 House of Commons, towards the close of la»t session of Parliament, denounce the 
 crusade of Messrs. Roebuck, Hume and Co. against the Canada and British American 
 Land Companies, and indicate the inflexible determination of His Majesty's Go- 
 vernment to fulfil to the uttermost its engagements with, and the reasonable 
 expectations of, those enterprising parties who have already done so much to promote 
 the British and commercial interests of the Canadas. Situated as the Canadas are in 
 the neighbourhood of the United States, His Majesty's Government will most effec- 
 tually strengthen and perpetuate the mutually I eneficial connexion of those provinces 
 with the Mother Country by encouraging, in every possible way, the Canadian in- 
 vestment of British capital, — thereby creating a reciprocal oneness of interest between 
 the two countries. On the other hand, that a very large and increasing profit will, 
 at no distant period, be realized from such investments there cannot be the slightest 
 doubt. The increased value of landed property in the neighbourhood of the im- 
 
47 
 
 The " Canadft Company," which has large tracts of cxctlUnt land in 
 Upper Canada, was incorporated by royal charter and act of Parli.initut 
 in IK*i(>. The " British American Land Company" was incorporated as 
 late as 1834; it has already purchased several townships of valuable land 
 in the southern parts of Lower Canada. The former has become too 
 firmly established in both its operations and character tobe much all'ected 
 by your attacks ; the beneficial and popular, thougli infant, operations 
 of the latter excite the principal terror and opposition of the *' nation- 
 ality," and anti-emigration Frenchmen of Lower Canada. Yom* objec- 
 tions and declamations, however, are directed equally against the titles 
 and objects of both companies; and on account of their incorporation 
 and the sale of certain waste lands of the Crown to them, you have 
 sought to disafTect the Canadas towards the British Government. 
 Allow me, then, to disabuse the Brhisli public on this point also. 
 
 Your principal charge is, that the King and British Parliament have 
 violated the constitutional rights of the colonists by disposing of tracts 
 of waste lands of the Crown, because you say " these lands belong to 
 the Canadas." This act the Assembly of Lower Canada calls "a 
 virtual dissolution of the constitution, for the consequences of which it 
 cannot answer," and modestly declares, " that the people of the old 
 colonies, now the United States of North America, however much they 
 were aggrieved by attempts at unconstitutional taxation, had much less 
 to complain of on the score of executive usurpation than the people of 
 this province." Now, Sirs, how does it appear that the waste lands of 
 the Crown are the property of the Canadas ? Did not the whole of 
 
 proving provincial towns in Kngland, will enable any person to judge of the certain 
 increx»c in the value of landed property in a new country, as its almost every where 
 arable soil is brought under cultivation, wiiere towns and villages are ever and anon 
 already rising up in the wilderness, wl.ich is rapidly disappeariufj before the hand of 
 liritish and Canadian industry and enterprise ; where canals and railroads are 
 projecting and being carried into operation, in connexion with various other internal 
 improvements, calculated to develop the latent resources of the country and promote 
 theinterestiandcomfortof tin- inhabitants, — and where, even in a state of nature, there 
 are amazing facilities of internal navigation. It is true, that in Lower Canada the 
 blighting fimoon of French ignorance and ambition has paralyzed the efforts of 
 British enterprise and industry during the last few years ; has suspended every im- 
 provement, and even produced a temporary depression in the value of property ; but 
 this bairier to the prosperity of Lower Canada as a British province, it is in the 
 power of His Majesty's Government and the Lnperial Parliament, in a great degree, 
 if not entirely, to remove. In Upper Canada also the recently developed and now 
 defeated conspiracies of a similar Jacobin party have, for two years, partially checked 
 the rapid career of prosperity which has characterised the history of that province. 
 But when it is recollected that during the las( thirteen years, from 1823 to 1836, 
 (under various disadvantages which do not now exist,) that province alone has in- 
 creased in population froml50,lt)9 to 346,600, and that during the same period, landed 
 property has increased in value from one hundred and fifty to five hundred per 
 cent., the most cautious British capitalist can cntci tain little doubt of the security 
 and ultimately large profit of his Canadian speculations, 
 
48 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 those colonies once belong to the Crown of Great Britain and Ireland ? 
 No one can deny this. It thence follows that those parts of the Canadas 
 which the King has not given to the colonists or colonial legislatures 
 still belong to the British Crown. Have these lands, then, been given 
 to the Canadas by any order of the King's Government? No. Have 
 the)'^ been given by even a resolution of any branch of the British 
 Government ? No. Does any provincial charter or the Constitutional 
 Act of 1791, which established legislatures in the Canadas, concede 
 these lands to the colonies ? No. The very act which authorised the 
 colonists to elect representatives to legislate for them, recognizes the 
 authority of His Majesty to dispose of these lands as he pleases ; and 
 it is no more a violation of the constitution of His Majesty (and espe- 
 cially by an act of the Imperial Parliament) to dispose of these lands 
 to individuals or companies, than it is for Mr. Papineau to sit in the 
 House of Assembly. It is as much a subversion of the constitution to 
 infringe the prerogative of the Crown, as it is to infringe the rights of 
 the colonists. Both are equally recognized and cstabhshed by law. 
 The "property of the Canadas" is that which the constitution has 
 placed at the disposal of the local Legislatures ; the property of the 
 Crown is that which the constitution has placed at the disposal of His 
 Majesty. There were no Legislatures in the colonies until a Royal 
 charter or act of the Imperial Parliament created them. Those Legis- 
 latures, therefore, possess no power which was not given them by the 
 act which created them, or by some subsequent act of paramount au- 
 thority. If the titles of the Canadian land companies are not valid, 
 then not an individual in either of the Canadas has a valid title to a 
 foot of land. 
 
 But you will probably reply (as your Canadian confederates have 
 often contended) — that " these Crown lands were worth very little 40 
 years ago, but by the industry and enterprise of the colonists they have 
 been rendered valuable ; therefore they are the rightful property of the 
 colonists." I answer, the increased value of property in the colonies 
 does not annihilate the rights of the Crown any more than it annihilates 
 the rights of an individual. The increased value of the land enclosed 
 in Hyde-park, occasioned principally by the industry and enterprise of 
 the citizens of London during the last 200 years, does not transfer the 
 title or right to that property from the Crown to them. It is true that 
 the CroHTi lands in the Canadas were of little value 40 years ago; it is 
 also true that the lands of individuals were of as little value. It is 
 likewise true, that whilst the value of Crown lands has been increased 
 
49 
 
 by the industry and enterprise of the uihHbitants,the vahie of their lands 
 has been equally increased by the protection, and encouragement, and 
 expenditures of the Crown and the British Parliament. With how much 
 propriety therefore might the British Government say to your *■ purely 
 democratic" Canadian confederates, — "Most of you were worth nothing 
 when you settled in the Canadas — all you possess you have acquired 
 under the constitution of Government which you are now endeavouring 
 to destroy — to many of you lands were given with merely paying a few 
 shillings office fee ; we have protected your lives, property, and com- 
 merce — we have expended large sums of money in maintaining a 
 government amongst you, in erecting fortifications, and making im- 
 provements — you ought now to contribute something to reimburse those 
 expenditures." But the British Government demands no such return. 
 It has even given up to the Colonial Legislatures revenues which were 
 formerly imder its own control. 
 
 But whatever accession may have been made to the value of the 
 Crown lands in the Canadas by the labours of the inhabitants, your 
 French constituents have no claim to the benefit or credit of it. They 
 have never thought of going beyond the old French seigniories, and 
 have contributed no more to the improvement or increased value of 
 Crown lands than to the settlement of New South Wales. As well, then, 
 might the inhabitants of Guernsey talk about " unconstitutional taxa- 
 tion" as the French " nationality" of Lower Canada. But how does it 
 appear that selling a quantity of waste lands of the Crown is " taxation" 
 at all ? What tax does it impose upon a single individual of any 
 British colony ? Does it not, on the contrary, contribute to the settle- 
 ment of these wild lands, and add to the value of landed property in the 
 colony generally, and especially when it is known and considered that 
 every farthing of the pi-occcds of the sale of these lands is expended in 
 the Canadas ? Even in the United States, the public lands in the 
 different states are not granted or disposed of by the Local State Legis- 
 la hires, but by the General (or Imperial) Government. 
 
 How groundless, therefore, are your vapourings about "unconstitu- 
 tional taxation," " violation of the constitution," &c. The object of 
 them, however, is sufficiently obvious — namely, to establish in the 
 Canadas (to use your own words) "a government purely democratic." 
 
 What then would 1 ask of His Majestj-'s Government and the Impe- 
 rial Parliament in this state of Canadian affairs ? I would ask nothing 
 for Upper Canada but an opportunity f(;r the people to express their 
 wishes as to monarchical or republican government, by electing repre- 
 
50 
 
 i\ 
 
 sentatives for that purpose. They have never been appealed to on the 
 subject, as were the French habitans of Lower Canada in 1834. I 
 ask that the people of Upper Canada may not be libelled, but that they 
 may be permitted to speak for themselves. Is this request or proposi- 
 tion unreasonable ? (ej 
 
 In behalf of my fellow-subjects and countrymen who speak the 
 English language in Lower Canada, I ask, as they have often asked, 
 that their relation to the British Government may not be changed, by 
 the transfer of the Royal prerogative, or the control of the Crown 
 revenues, to the French House of Assembly. To accede to the demands 
 of the Assembly will be a violation of good faith, as pledged in the con- 
 stitution, to the British mhabitants, will turn over 150,000 soiJs from a 
 British Government to a French majority domination; and will virtually 
 and practically place them under a French Republic, whether it be 
 called a British province or not. I can hardly imagine such a policy on 
 the part of the British Government to be possible; but if it be possible, I 
 do say on good authority, that the sons and descendants of Great Britain 
 and Ireland will not be thus transferred, or sold, or given into the hands of 
 Frenchmen. Thousands of them will die on the battle-field first. They 
 will at once say, " If we must be placed under a Republic, it is far better 
 to be the citizens of an English, than the vassals of a French Repubhc." 
 They will, in the first place, make forcible resistance ; and in the next 
 place, they will seek a union with, and the protection of the United 
 States Government; because they know that if the United States 
 Government should obtain possession of Lower Canada, it would esta- 
 bUsh the English as the legislative and judicial language there, as it 
 has done in all its other French and Dutch possessions. The French- 
 men of Lower Canada are also aware of this, and dread a union with 
 the United States much more than they do Mr. Hume's "baneful 
 domination of the mother country." Their object is to establish a local 
 French " nationality" Republic. But such will most assiu-edly be the 
 feelings and eflbrts of the British inhabitants if the faith of the British 
 Government be broken with them. I cannot believe that they will ever 
 be reduced to such an alternative; but supposing a case which the 
 events of the past year have rendered possible, I frankly state what will 
 be the certain result. I have ample proofs in my possession that such 
 has been a common feeling and consultation amongst them during the 
 
 (e) The wish here expressed has since been realized. The gratifying result will 
 be found in a note on page 20. 
 
51 
 
 first few months of Lord Gosford's feeble though well-meant govern* 
 ment. •* Britons never will be slaves." 
 
 It may be said, " the United States do not want to enlarge their 
 territories." That may or may not be true ; yet no man would object 
 to the enlargement of his possessions, however extensive and valuable 
 they might be, provided an adjoining estate could be added to them with 
 comparatively little trouble or expense. Great Britain has no desire to 
 enlarge her territories; but she would not object to take possession of 
 all her old North American colonies again, if a majority of their wealth 
 and intelligence were to seek an allianc , with her upon justifiable and 
 honourable terms. But the burning shame would be, that the expa- 
 triated sons of Britain shordd ever be reduced to seek an alliance with 
 a foreign power. 
 
 One thing more is asked for the British inhabitants of Lower 
 Canada — namely, that as the sujjplies for the maintenance of the local 
 government have been lately placed under the control of the Assembly, 
 they may have an equality in the representation of the province. It were 
 easy to show from early Royal proclamations and acts of the Imperial 
 Parliament, and the administration of the government of Lower Canada 
 for more than half a century, thai the perfect equality of the British 
 with the French inhabitants was provided for and recognized, notwith- 
 standing the inferiority of their numbers. I now contend, that this 
 equality should be carried into the representative branch of the Govern- 
 ment also, when it is invested with great additional powers. 1 contend 
 for it, not because the British inhabitants are equal to the French 
 population in numbers, but upon the very stipulations of the conquest 
 of French Canada — upon the provisions or articles of the original 
 compact — and upon the ground of actual possession from 1763 to 1831, 
 when the supplies for the maintenance of the local government were 
 placed under the control of the Assembly. I contend for it also upon 
 the ground, that the British inhabitants possess, confessedly, the 
 majority of the wealth and intelligence, and pay more than one-half of 
 these recently conceded revenues of the province. Even before this 
 control of the supplies was given to the Assembly, Mr. Stephen, one 
 of the Under-Secretaries of State for the Colonial Department, gave it 
 as his opinion, " as the only effectual mode of rescuing the English 
 townships from disadvantages to which he thought it was neither just 
 nor safe to subject them," that " the French and English representatives 
 should be brought with an equaUty, or some approach to equality in 
 numbers, into the same Legislature." Mr. Stephen observed fizrther — 
 
 ,* 
 
i 
 
 i si' 
 
 52 
 
 " The great source of these controversies is the difTerence in the two 
 races, combined with the difference in the territories on which they are 
 settled." — (Evidence before tl e Canada Committee, 182S.) In a former 
 letter I have proved this to be the Pi'^t; I therefore contend, that "the 
 two races" should be equally represented in every branch of the 
 Government. This is all the British inhabitants ask for. One means 
 of accomplishing tliis object is, to increase the representation of the 
 English townships, as was done originally, and with great advantage 
 to new settlements, in the states of New Hampshire and Vermont, 
 where every given district was allowed to elect one representative to the 
 Legislature as soon as it contained 20 families, and to elect two repre- 
 sentatives as soon as it contained (I think) 40 families, when the 
 representation of the district was complete. Until this equality of the 
 " two races" in the representation is granted, or until the House of 
 Assembly retraces its steps and promises fidelity to the principles and 
 equitable administration of that constitution of government to which it 
 has heretofore professed unqualified attachment from 1791 to 1833, I 
 submit that it is no more than an act of justice to the British inhabitants 
 of Lower Canada, that His Majesty's Government should resume the 
 appropriation of those revenues out of which the supplies for the 
 maintenance of the local Government are gianted. (/) 
 
 I have only one thing more to ask in behalf of the Canadas. As 
 you, Mr. Hume and Mr. Roebuck, have been proved to be the authors, 
 as well as the agents of the " nationality" and *' democratic Govern- 
 ment" schemes in the Canadas, I would submit to the hon. members of 
 the House of Commons that they treat your speeches, whenever you 
 rise to address them on Canadian affairs, with those marks of neglect, 
 
 (f) The resolutions on which a bill was founded and afterwards passed, to place 
 the revenues raised under the 14th of (Jeorge III. (amounting to about £31,000 
 
 Eer annum) at tlie disposal of the Legislature of Lower Canada, were moved in the 
 [ouse of Commons by Lord Howick, tlie 18th February 1831. These resolutions 
 provided tliat a civil list for seven years, amounting to £14,000 per ann. should be 
 granted by the LowerCanada Legislature j but no such condition or saving clause was 
 embdiUed in the bill. The consequence is, that the House of Assembly has obtained 
 the control of those revenues, but has refused to pass any such supply bill for the 
 support of the provincial Government, the othcers of which are left year after year 
 without a fartiiing salary. \\ lien tl»e measure was brought into the House of Com- 
 mons—even witli the understood provision that the Lower Canada House of Assem- 
 bly should agree to the seven years' civil list of £14,000 per annum — Mr. Hume is 
 reported to have said. — " sure he [IMr. ilnme] was, that the passing of such an act 
 would bo lo the Canadians a highly prized boon ; it would afford satisfaction and 
 content." The sequel is, that iNlr. Hume's "satisfaction and content" has been the 
 virtual suspension of (jovernment and legislation in Lower Canada from that time to 
 thi-i,— the i)ionii)Ua^ ol the Camidians by iMr. Hume and i\lr. Roebuck to demand 
 organic changes in tiieir ui) to t'lat time lauded Constitution, to " resist the }3ritish 
 Parliament" itself, and to " keep the conduct of the Americans between 1772 and 
 .1782, and the result, ever in view," until they should obtain entire " freedom and 
 independence from the baneful dominiUion oi' the IMother Country." 
 
53 
 
 contempt, and scorn which your conduct so riciily merits. The members 
 of the British House of Commons would confer few greater benefits on 
 tlic Canadas than thus to treat the men who have endeavoured on the 
 one hand to persuade Enghshmen that the Canadas are a useless and 
 expensive burden to England, and on the other to excite the inhabitants 
 of the Canadas to " resist the Britisli Parliament," and to assert " free- 
 dom and independence from the baneful domination of the mother 
 country." (g) I am, &c. 
 
 London, July 12, 1836. 
 
 A CANADIAN. 
 
 (g) It is not easy for any other than a resident in the Canadas to appreciate or 
 conceive t.io .ntluence which tlie debates of the British Parhament have upon the 
 public mind in that country. When Messrs. Hume and Roebuck make positive 
 assertions as to either the measures or principles adopted in the administration of the 
 Colonial Government, and those assertions or arguments, so called, are very partially 
 met on the part of His Majesty's Government, or all discussion is pubJic/^ deprecated 
 and evidently evaded, the effect is most injurious to the Government m the Cana- 
 di^s. The pupils and partisans of Messrs. Hume and Roebuck proclaim, that " the 
 Government are afraid to have the people of England made acquainted with the 
 system of oppression and corruption which prevails in the Colonies ;" or that " such 
 and such statements were made and such principles were laid down before the 
 British House of Commons without being denied or contradicted, and were therefore 
 tacitly assented to and sanctioned by the reformed Parliament of Great Jiritain." 
 Such are the infeienceswhich have been sedulously and successfully impressed upon 
 the public mind in the Canadas from several debates or conversations which have 
 latterly taken place in the House of Commons on Canadian affairs; nor can any 
 explanation, however correct and conclusive to a mere English reader, remove the 
 erroneous and injurious impressions thus made. On the contrary, when the assertions 
 of these London dictators of Canadian republicanism are pointedly met, aad 
 their doctrines denounced with an English like frankness and independence, and 
 determination, the effect is equivalent to settling the questions thus mooted in the 
 minds of the Cy.nadian people,— especially in Upper Canada. I am aware that the 
 British public are fully competent to appreciate the statements and dogmas of 
 certain politicians, independent of other notice, and well know when silence m St. 
 Stephen's proceeds from sullen disgust at the tedious verbiage of a political empiric, 
 or breathless admiration of a profound statesman. But what is conventional ia the 
 British House of Commons is little understood or known in distant Colonies, where 
 a Roehuck and a Hume, from being unopposed, or opposed in a suhdued tone, in 
 their Canadian politics, — hare been puffed into the political magnitude of a 
 Stanley and a Peel ! 
 
 May I,tlierefore, withoutbeing considered presumptuous orintrusive, entreat that 
 Messrs. Hume and Roebuck be not henceforth allowed by the Members of the 
 House of Commons to proceed with impunity in their Colonial twaddle. Will 
 honorable Members favour the Canadians with some key to the understanding of 
 their real feelings on such occasions! Will every British Statesman who desires the 
 continuance of the North American Provinces as an integral part of the British 
 Empire, speak of the Constitution of those Provinces — at least of the Canadas— not 
 as a doubtful experiment — rightful game therefore for the speculations ofevery adven- 
 turer — but as the settled basis of a mutually ratified compact between the Colonies 
 and the Parent State — a compact under which, it can be provtd, the Canadas have 
 advanced in population, agriculture, commerce and wealth, more rapidly than the 
 adjoining Republican States — a compact under which at least 50,(XX) emigrants from 
 the United btates have settled in Upper Canada alone — a compact embodying 
 principles and obligations which have been, during nearly half a century, spoken of 
 in none other than the strongest terms of admiration and attachment in Royal dis- 
 patches to, and Legislative and popular addresses from, the Colonies,— principles and 
 obligations to whicli a //ec-iancp has been pledged on the otie side, and Royal faith 
 has been plighted on the other ; — a compact the unsettling of which will, I am 
 pursuadcd, be the precursor of the dissolution of the exiitting political connexion 
 between Great Britain and North America. 
 
pr 
 
 64 
 
 
 LETTER Vir. 
 
 Defence of Ilis Excellency Sir Francis Head, against the Attacks of 
 Mr. Joseph Hume and his anti-constitutional Associates in Upper 
 Canada, 
 
 To His Majestifs Principal Secretary of State for the Colonial 
 
 Department. 
 
 My Lord, — 1 take the liberty to address your Lordship as the official 
 defender of the Prerogatives of the Crown, and the protector of the 
 rights and privileges of the colonists, from the Governor down to the 
 humblest emigrant. The object of the present letter is to refute the 
 misrepresentations of Mr. Hume, in his speeches on the affairs of 
 Upper Canada, in the House of Commons, on the evenings of the 16th 
 and 19th ult., and to defend His Excellency Sir F. Head against the 
 attacks of Mr. Hume and his discomfited Canadian confederates. 
 
 In my former letters 1 think I have fully proved, in reference to 
 Upper Canada, — 1. That the object of Mr. Hume and his Canadian 
 associates, upon their own confession, is the establishment of a Canadian 
 Republic, under what they call the " British Constitution." 2. That 
 this project originated with Mr. Hume and Mr. Roebuck. 3. That the 
 party in Upper Canada, which Mr. Hume calls " Reformers," had 
 always expressed themselves attached to the constitution of that 
 province, up to January of the present year, and repudiated as a calumny 
 — what some of their opponents attributed to them — that they medi- 
 tated a change in the form or constitution of the Local Government. 
 4. That the inhabitants of Upper Canada had never been appealed to 
 or consulted on those changes in the Comtitution, which have been 
 demanded by a majority of the late House of Assembly at its last session, 
 and were utterly opposed to such changes, and would show themselves 
 so (as I expressed it in my third letter), " whenever the question should 
 be put to them by any British Government." My prediction has been 
 already fulfilled. The inhabitants of Upper Canada have been ap- 
 pealed to— not by His Majesty's Government, but by the Lieutenant 
 Governor, upon his own responsibility ; and more than two-thirds of 
 them have responded in favour of the constitution and Sir F. Head, and 
 
55 
 
 against Mr. Hume's fraternit)'. Of the sixty-two representatives newly 
 elected to the Assembly, forty-four are Constitutionalists ; (aj and i 
 venture to affirm, that the constitutional mnjority would have been still 
 more overwhelming, had the elections been held two months later. 
 This result of the Upper Canada elections has been termed "a re-action." 
 It is a re-action in respect to individuals elected to the Assembly ; but 
 it is not a " re-action" in the Constitutional principles of the inhabitants 
 of that province. That was the first time they had ever been appealed 
 to as Constitutionalists and anti-Constitutionalists. 
 
 The principal, and indeed, only authority on which Mr. Hume and 
 Mr. Roebuck have, for the last six months, based their statements, is a 
 Grievance Report, \ !)•■ .. has been transmitted to England, and distri- 
 buted amongst members of the Imperial Parliament. In my third letter 
 I have given some reasons why no confidence ought to be placed in that 
 fabricated and disgraceful document. About the same time that my 
 letter was written in London, the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada 
 publicly applied the following language to that Grievance Report: — 
 " Gentlemen, 1 arrived in this Province impressed with the belief that 
 the Grievance Report was an honest document. It is with deep regret 
 I now deliberately declare it to be a deception, containing assertions to 
 which I can give no milder designation than that they are incorrect ; 
 and whenever the proper time shall arrive, it will be easy for me to con- 
 trast the statements in this report with the facts which are before us all. 
 When this result shall be known, the British Government which so 
 promptly attended to these complaints, and His Majesty, who so nobly 
 desired they should be corrected, will no doubt entertain feelings which 
 it is not for me to express. In the meanwhile, the fact 1 state to you 
 will sufficiently explain, why I have been so vexatiously opposed 
 by the very agitators who called for reform ; for the truth is, they ilid 
 not dare to face their own Grievance Report — they were afraid to meet 
 me upon that ground, well knowing that it is easier to transmit accusa- 
 tions to a country '4000 miles off,' than to substantiate them upon the 
 spot." — Extract from His Excellency's reply to an address from certain 
 inhabitants of the Township of Toronto, Mmj, 1836. 
 
 The electors of Upper Canada have confirmed the truth of that 
 statement; yet does Mr. Hume, in the Hon. >• of Commons, on the 
 
 ("a ) Since the meeting of the new Assembly, the greatest force which the opposi- 
 tion hat been enabled to muster is eiivtn votes. 
 
5*5 
 
 III 
 
 I ■ I 
 
 i I 
 
 f 
 I 
 
 1; 'm 
 
 evenings of the IGth and 19th instants, reiterate a catalogue of chargeti 
 against the Governor and Government of Upper Canada, founded 
 entirely upon that exploded document, and the accompanying state- 
 ments of a majority of the late Assembly, who have been, on account 
 of their conduct in reference to that very Grievance Report, and those 
 statements, ejected from the Assembly during the recent elections in 
 Upper Canada. I doubt whether there is more than one other member 
 of the Imperial Parliament, besides Mr. Hume, who has the hardihood 
 to practise such an impudent impostiu:e upon an English House of 
 Commons, and the British public. 
 
 The next resource of this defeated party is, to attribute the result of 
 the late Upper Canadian elections to the exercise of corrupt and 
 unconstitutional influence, on the part of His Excellency Sir F. Head ; 
 and in order to prefer and establish these charges in this country, 
 against the Lieutenant Governor, a Mr. Charles Buncombe (Member 
 elect for the County of Oxford, Upper Canada,) proceeds to England, 
 petitions the House of Commons and employs Mr. Hume to com- 
 municate and endorse his statements to the British Parliament and 
 public. This Mr. Buncombe seems to have left Upper Canada secretly, 
 as 1 see no mention of his departure in the Canadian papers, and to 
 have taken upon himself the Herculean task of getting Sir F. Head 
 removed from the Government of that Province. I will, therefore, now 
 take upon myself the task of unmasking this political adventurer, and 
 of vindicating Sir F. Head from the calumnies of his republican and 
 disappointed enemies. 
 
 This Mr. C. Buncombe is a native of the United States, where he 
 was formerly a coimtry schoolmaster. He at length qualified himself 
 to pass a medical examination ; came into Upper Canada about twelve 
 or sixteen years ago, and commenced business as a medical practitioner 
 and land speculator; has acquired considerable influence in the inland 
 County, for which he has got himself elected to the Assembly. But be 
 it remembered, that this same Mr. Buncombe has acquired his political 
 influence ^tnth his neighboiu-s and patients, bj' professing a M'arm attach- 
 ment to the established Constitution of Canada, and an uncompromising 
 opposition to all innovations upon it. And I feel quite sure that, 
 notwithstanding there is no local newspaper published in the County 
 in which this Mr. Buncombe has been elected, and the inhabitants have 
 not the greatest facilities of information, and perhaps a larger proportion 
 of them are American settlers than in any other County in Upper 
 
Canada, yet were Mr. Duncombc's new-born opinions as well and as 
 generally known amongst his constituents as his late constitutional 
 ones are, he would not be at this hour Member elect for (he County of 
 Oxford. So decided a constitutional reformer has this Mr. Buncombe 
 been, up to within a few months, that on the 30th of January, 1835, he 
 proposed a resolution in the House of Assembly strongly condemnatory 
 of Mr. Hume's celebrated " baneful domination" letter. Iv.iiilelMr. 
 Buncombe (in a speech corrected by himself) and his resolution speak 
 for themselves ; and I beg it may be remarked in what language Mr. 
 Bmicombe and the party he purports to represent were accustomed to 
 speak, not merely of the Constitution of Canada, but of the Canadian 
 policy of the British Government, up to last January: — 
 
 " I am not one of those," said Br. Buncombe, " who think they should 
 act without any regard to the opinions of their constituents ; neither am 
 1 one who hastily expresses an opinion upon another. But my opinion 
 on this subject (and I believe it is the opinion of the country), is, that 
 we should decidedly express our disapprobation of the sentiments con- 
 tained in this letter. — (Loud cries nf " hear, hear" from both sides of 
 the House.) If Mr. Hume wTote that letter for the purpose of express- 
 ing his opinions on the free trade, it might be allowed to pass unnoticed; 
 but 1 cannot view it in any other light than for the purpose of alienating 
 the affections of the people from the mother country, and in that light 
 I believe it is viewed by almost every person in the Province and out of 
 j^ » ••«•*«! ^ould ask if this House would allow a Mem- 
 ber of the Imperial Parliament to interfere in the affairs of this countrj^ 
 and advise the people to throw off the Government of Great Britain, 
 without addi-essing his Majesty on the subject ? I trust not. AVe are 
 told this is not what was intended by the letter; but the language is so 
 plain that any man of common sense carmot mistake it — (hear, hear) ; 
 and the explanation Mr. Hume has attempted is no better — it just 
 amounts to the same thing. If, Sir, !Mr. Hume had s'lown us that the 
 British G ovcrnment was ruling us with a rod of iron, that our addresses 
 were neglected, and our wishes disregarded, there might be some excuse 
 for his conduct. But that is not the case ; for I will appeal to the jour- 
 nals of this House, that when we passed addresses last session on 
 various subjects connected with the welfare of this countrj^ whether 
 they have not been attended to with the most favourable disposition on 
 the part of His Majesty's Government to our wishes. [Here the Hon. 
 Gentleman mentioned the several despatches which hud been commu- 
 
i^i 
 
 
 !li 
 
 ii 
 
 i '• 
 
 I' 
 
 , 
 
 58 
 
 nlcated to the House in answer to addresses.] And I do not recollect 
 any occasion when this House addressed His Majesty's Government, 
 and their address was unattended to. This, then, being the manner in 
 which the country is treated by the British Government, I do not believe 
 that there is a Member in this House will stand up and say that his con- 
 stituents approve of the sentiments put forth in Mr. Hume's letter, in 
 which the Government of the Mother Country is called a • baneful 
 domination.' And this being the case, I shall feel it my duty, if the 
 amendment proposed by the Hon. Member for Lenox and Addington 
 is lost, to move a resolution expressing a strong and decided opinion, 
 unconnected with any other matter. — (Hear, hear.) For, Sir, I con- 
 sider it to be of the utmost importance to this Province, that the British 
 Government should know what are the sentiments of the country, when 
 they (the British Government) are told that some are 'beginning to cast 
 about in their mind's eye for some new state of political existence,' and 
 others are * keeping in view the example and result of the revolution of 
 the United States.' If our loyalty and attachment to the British Govern- 
 ment should begin to be suspected, would not her protection be with- 
 drawn from our commerce, and no more of her money be expended in 
 this country ? And would not oiu* constituents very justly say to us, 
 when they began to feel the effects of such measures, 'You have 
 brought upon us all this evil, and all this poverty ; by refusing to disclaim 
 connexion with persons who have avowed themselves the enemies of 
 British Government in this coimtry ?' And how could we justify to 
 them our conduct ? It is not only necessary that Hon. Members should 
 ' feel loyal in their hearts,' but they shoiUd on this occasion express the 
 loyalty which they feel." " If the amendment be lost, 1 will move one 
 that will express my sentiments on the subject." [Here the Hon, 
 Member read the following resolution] : — " That this House, as the re- 
 presentatives of the sentiments, and guardians of the rights and interests 
 of the people of this Province, have witnessed with feehngs of regret 
 and utter detestation the suspicion of disaffection and disloyalty to His 
 Majesty's Govermnent, as construed to be cast upon the people of this 
 Province, by the seditious representations and advice contained in a let- 
 ter purporting to be written by Joseph Hume, Esq., Member of the 
 Imperial Parliament, dated 29th March, 1834, addressed to the Chief 
 Magistrate of the city of Toronto, and published in the public news- 
 papers of this Province, stating that ' a crisis was fast approaching in 
 the affairs of the Canadas which will terminate in freedom and inde- 
 
 I 
 
 si 
 
.'iO 
 
 pendence from the baneful domination of the Mother Country ; and 
 that to accomplish this object * the conduct of the Americans between 
 1 7r2 and 178*2, and the result, should be ever in view ' by the inha- 
 bitanlis of these Provinces. The inhabitants of this Province arc fully 
 sensible of the many advantages they derive from their connection with 
 the Mother Country, and the apprehension that there is a disposition on 
 their part to dissolve that connection, must be most injurious to their 
 best interests in the councils of their Sovereign's Government, and is 
 most repugnant to their feelings of strong and ti'ied attachment to their 
 Sovereign and the Constitution imder which they have the happiness 
 to live." 
 
 Such were this Mr. C. Buncombe's public doctrines and professions 
 in January, 1835, and by virtue of which he obtained a seat in the 
 Assembly in 1834. On the same occasion, Mr. Perry, the Jicknowledged 
 leader of tlie Opposition against Sir F. Head, the very man who 
 moved the "stopping of the supplies," because Sir F. Head would 
 not consent, as Sir George Grey expressed in the House of Commons, 
 on the evening of the 16th instant, "to alter the Constitution;" — 1 say, 
 on the same occasion, Mr. Peri'y uttered the following words : — " That 
 House had no evidence that Mr. Hume ever wrote such a letter ; but 
 admitting that he (Mr. Hume) had written it, and meant what it was 
 said he did — to make the people of Upper Canada dissatisfied with 
 their present form of Government — he (Mr. Perry) disagreed with him, 
 (Mr. Hume) and thought Mr. Hume must have been misinformed to 
 think the people of Upper Canada desired any change : for he (Mr. 
 Perry) woidd stake his existence, that where one would be found for it, 
 twenty would be found against it." Such were the professed principles 
 of Upper Canadian reformers, as late as 1835. Let the British reader 
 now hear the aforesaid Mr. (miscalled) "Reformer" Buncombe, on the 
 20th Januarj', 1836, in reference to an address which proposed to " alter 
 the Constitution" in respect both to the Legislative and Executive 
 Coimcils. What Mr. Buncombe had termed in 1835 " that Constitution 
 under which the inhabitants of Upper Canada had the happiness to 
 live," and to which they entertained "feelings of strong and tried 
 attachment," he terms in 1836, " an Act of Parliament" which it was 
 the " business of every day to amend," and in which he now says " the 
 peoide" wish " a change." Take the following extract from his speech 
 as an example : — " He (Mr. Buncombe) believed that the proposed 
 address accorded with the views of a majority of the people and of 
 
[Tf 
 
 (k) 
 
 \\ 
 
 . I 
 
 ! 
 
 that House. There was nothing revohitionary in it. It was simply a 
 proposition to amend an Act of Parliament which had created such 
 alarm, lie (Mr. Duncombe) had thought amending Acts of rurliament 
 was an evcry-day business, and it ought to be done whenever it was 
 recjuired to meet the wishes and interests of the people. We wish for 
 a change, and what (other) course shall we take ?" 
 
 After witnessing such "a change" in the doctrines of Mr. Duncombe 
 and his associates within twelve montlis, you, my Lord, and the British 
 reader, will not be nuich suri)rised— as incredible as it may api)ear — 
 thnt they should next be found employing, as their representative in 
 the House of Commons, the same identiciU Joseph Hume, whom they 
 had in 1S35 anathematised, and excluded from the circle of their political 
 connections. And it is (piite in keeping, that " honest Joseph," pocket- 
 ing and forgetting past insults, and in the true jreek Loan spirit, should 
 again become their man, nothing doubting, if he can reinstate them in 
 place and power, they will vote him a salarj-, (c<pml to Mr. Roebuck's 
 from Lower Canada) in 1837, as a plaster for their censures upon him 
 in 1835. 
 
 Here permit me to beg your Lordship's attention to the conclusion 
 which the foregoing singular facts authorise and establish. How 
 happen these Canadian sell-styled "refoimers" and Mr. Hume, who 
 were so far apart in 1835, to be one in 183G ? Has Mr. Hume changed 
 his doctrines of Colonial policy, since he stated, in a letter to Mr. H. 
 Taylor, of Canada, September, 1833, that it was his " wish to set not 
 only the Canadas, but all British North America, free to govern them* 
 selves by their own representatives, as the United States do ?" By no 
 means; but these Canadian patriots are now demanding what Mr. 
 Hume exhorted them to seek in 1833-4, and what they themselves dis- 
 claimed and condemned in 1835. In addition to this, they disclaimed in 
 1835 any fellowship with the French republicans of Lower Canada; 
 but in 183G, they adopt resolutions and addresses approving of the 
 objects and proceedings of the Lower Canadian Frenchman. 
 
 I would, therefore, submit to any candid reader of any party, whether 
 the above obvious and confessedly essential changes in the recorded 
 sentiments and proceedings of the majority of the late Assembly, in the 
 sessions of 1835 and 1836, are not amply sufficient to account for their 
 complete defeat during the recent elections in that Province, without 
 supposing the exercise of any improper influence on the part of Sir F. 
 Head? On this point I may also add, that in my private letters from 
 
(j\ 
 
 he 
 iir 
 
 Upper Canada, written in the months of April nnil May, ihc defeat of 
 the anti-Constitutional party was predicted. One gentleman, (not a 
 IH)btical man) who had travelled, during the month of Ajjril, through 
 the Midland, Prince Edward, and Newcastle Dihtricts, embracing the 
 Counties of Trontcnac, Lenox and Addington, Hastings, I'rince 
 Kdward, Northumberland, and Durham, btated to me in a letter dated 
 the 30lh of that month, (a month before the late Assembly was dissolved) 
 that Sir F. Head had already become very popular amongst the people; 
 that the proceedings of the majority of the Assembly appeared to be ge- 
 nerally reprobated) that there even seemed to be a general and strong 
 desire for the dissolution of the Assembly ; that in case of a dissolution 
 there appeared not to be lh<' slightest prospect of one of tlie majority 
 being re-el cted in any of tho counties through which he had travelled. 
 And it is .orthy of remark, that Constitutionalists only have been 
 elt cted in the counties r'cntioned by my Canadian corresj)ondent. All 
 these circumstanoLS ailurd, 1 think, strong presumptive evidence that 
 the returns uiiule in hie recent (..aniuhan elections, are the true expres- 
 bions of public opinion in t rpvi Canada, and not the result of Executive 
 corruption and coercion. 
 
 But in a matter kj iiuportant, I wisii to place Sir F. Head's conduct 
 above suspicion, arid that of his enemies also i' I i's true light, it will 
 have already been seen that their entire testimony, taken in connection 
 with their proceedings, amounts to scarcely the weight of a straw. 
 They stand condemned out of their own mouths, and by their own 
 doings. Neverthekds, 1 will examine their principal and only specific 
 charges against Sir F. Headaiul his Government : — I. That in order to 
 intluence the elections, persons holding office under the Government 
 actively interfered. 2. That bribery, intoxication, and riots, were 
 encouraged under the sanction of His Excellency. 3. That deeds were 
 issued &i> Hi theGovernmcnt Office, signed by Sir F. Head, for the purpose 
 of creafuig voters to outnumber the real freeholders of the country. 
 
 In respect to the first of these charges, 1 have to remark 1. That it 
 is fi 6tanding stereotype complaint and apolog}-, " time out of mind," 
 with the party who now employ it, in every instance of defeat. 2. That 
 the cla&s of public officers against whom Mr. Hume's new-born con- 
 federates most frequently and loudly complain, are Post-masters, (!) 
 who are not even appointed or removable by, or accountable to. Sir F. 
 Head; but are appointed by the Deputy Postmaster General in Quebec, 
 and hold their paltry offices under the same authority and regulation* 
 
Il • 
 
 I 
 
 62 
 
 with Postmasters in England. The very circumstance of such peculiar 
 prominence being given to Postmasters in the list of public functionaries, 
 shows how perfectly fabricated and ridiculous are the vapourings of 
 this detected and rejected party. 3. That "Postmasters, Militia Officers, 
 Magistrates, Registrars," &c. have never been precluded from the elec- 
 tive franchise in England ; nor have they ever been proscribed in Cana- 
 da. 4. That " Postmasters, Militia Officers, Magistrates," &c. have, in 
 several instances during the recent elections, as well as on former occa- 
 sions, actively supported the anti-constitutional party. Mr. Perry, the 
 leader of that party, and Mr. Roblin, a "no supply " man also, are both 
 magistrates and militia officers. Were it necessary I could mention 
 many similar examples. 5. That as persons are appointed to offices of 
 trust and honour, on account of their supposed attachment to the form 
 and constitution of Government under which they live, as well as in re- 
 spect to their personal qualifications and merit, the great majority of 
 them will, as a matter of course and of duty, support the Constitution 
 against either foreign or domestic invasion. Even a clerk in a mercan- 
 tile house is expected to support the general interests of the firm in 
 which he is employed. And the simple question to be decided by the 
 people of Upper Canada at the late elections was, whether they would 
 maintain the Constitution established by law, or whether they would 
 have a new one. G. That all the public functionaries complained of 
 were appointed to office before Sir F. Head's arrival in Upper Canada, 
 and could not therefore be his *' chosen favourites ;" and if any one of 
 them abused his power during the elections. Sir F. Head is not re- 
 sponsible for it until after his conduct shall have been brought imder 
 his notice, and he shall have refused to punish or dismiss the proved 
 offender. And is there not something suspicious and dark in the conduct 
 of this Mr. Duncombe and liis coadjutors, who, after having protested 
 " long and loud " against the interference of the British Government 
 and Parliament in any of the internal affairs of Canada which are with- 
 in the jurisdiction of the local tribunals, pass by every local tribunal, 
 and even petition the British Parliament on such matters as a post- 
 master's voting Ht an election ; or the decision of a Returni g Officer in 
 certain cases ; or the attitude and language of individual freeholders 
 during a warm election contest ? Do not these men kriow perfectly 
 well that it is not in the power of the Imperial Parliament or even of 
 the King upon the throne, to do that which the Constitution and law of 
 Upper Canada place under the control, in the furst instance at least, of 
 
C3 
 
 i 
 
 4 
 
 ^m» 
 
 the House of Assembly, and other local judicial tribunals P Their ob- 
 ject in thus coming to the Imperial Government, contrary to their own 
 previously avowed doctrines, and contrary to the laws of Upper Canada, 
 is unquestionably — 1. To throw discredit upon the character tand go- 
 vernment of Sir F. Head ; so that he may not hereafter obtain support 
 or countenance from the British Parliament or public. 2, (Knowing 
 that their ridiculous and irregular applications must be rejected,) To 
 create disaflcction in Upper Canada, by representing the British Govem- 
 ment as having no regard for the wishes or liberties of the "poor 
 Reformers" in Canada. 3. And then to assu:e the Canadian 
 " Reformers " that they have only themselves to depend upon for the 
 freedom they so honestly demand, which can never be obtained until 
 they shall have effected their " freedom and independence from the 
 baneful domination of the mother countiy," and thus, if possible, to bring 
 about the result in Canada which Mr. Hume and Roebuck have from 
 time to time recommended. So much on the first specific charge against 
 his Excellency Sir F. Head. 
 
 The second charge is, that Sir F. Head has employed "bribery, in- 
 toxication and riot," to overpower the anti-ConstitutionjJists at the 
 elections. As to appropriating Crown Revenues, (one of the items 
 named) to election bribery, Sir F. Head could not do it without perjuring 
 the principal clerks in the public offices, and without collusion on the 
 part of His Majesty's Government. This inference is so obvious, that 
 Mr. Hume and this Mr. Duncombe's principal coadjutor in Upper Ca- 
 nada (Mr. Mackenzie) publicly states in his newspaper of the 9th of 
 July, that " Lord Glenelg and the British Ministry have employed a 
 mean person like Sir F. Head, and secretly authorized him to use every 
 method in the power of a despotic government to crush the spirit of 
 freedom in Upper Canada." 1 will only therefore add, on this point, 
 that after carefully examining the newspaper organs of this party, 
 which have been published since the elections, the whole of the pecu- 
 niary bribery, upon their own showing, amounts simply to this ; that in 
 several counties conveyances to and from the polls were provided for 
 many of the Constitutional electors out of the funds of a " Constitutional 
 Society" lately formed in Upper Canada. In not a single instance is it 
 even pretended that money was either received or offered to voters on the 
 Constitutional side, much less that Sir F. Head promoted or sanctioned 
 such a proceeding. And 1 would ask if no anti-Constitutional 
 electors were not conveyed to the poll at the expense of their party ? 
 
 i 
 
G4 
 
 * i] 
 
 !Hi 
 
 
 The charge respecting " intoxication" stands upon the same ground 
 with that of bribery. The perfect gi'oundlessncss and wickedness of it 
 will appear, wlien I observe, upon the sliowiiig of Mr. Duncombe's oym 
 party, that those classes of people who are the most intUicntial examples 
 and advocates of sobriety and morals are denounced, as the decided suiv 
 porters of Sir F. B. Head. I will give one example out of several that lie 
 before me. It seems that the Wesleyan Methodists, who are known to 
 be the most numerous and influential denomination of Christians in Upper 
 Canada, voted very generally for Constitutional candidates ; which 
 circumstance is attributed to the influence of their Ministers. Hence 
 the aforesaid Mr. Mackenzie, in his newspaper of the Dth of July, 
 asserts — "The Ryerson Conference have proved themselves the basest 
 enemies the country has had to contend with during the late elections." 
 Mr. Mackenzie terms the Wesleyan Conference in Canada the " Ryerson 
 Conference," because four brothers of that name are connected with that 
 body, and are the sons of an United Empire loyalist, (bj who has been 
 an oflicer in His Majesty's service since the beginning of the American 
 revolution, and because Mr. Mackenzie and the rest of Mr. Duneombc's 
 fraternity are rabidly hostile to British loyalists. Now, two things 
 respecting this numerous and powerful body of Christians deserve 
 particular notice in connection with this subject: — 1. I perceive that 
 at the annual meeting of their Ministers, held the early part of June, 
 they addressed Sir F. Head, congratulating him (as is their custom) on 
 his safe arrival, as the King's Representative, in Upper Canada — 
 renewed their expressions of allegiance and loyalty — and stated 
 that they desired no support from Government but "equal and im- 
 partial protection." 2. That in their yearly epistle to their ad- 
 herents, whilst they disclaimed any wish to influence them in the 
 choice of their Representatives, they reminded tliem of their established 
 rule to encourage no candidates who should encourage the dealing out 
 
 (h) The following is Mr. IMackenzic's IniiuuaKe in re^aril to ll.e llycrson family. 
 In some personal aU.u ks upon IVIr. Ktjerlon llyiison, .Mr. .Mackenzie procpetl.s 
 thus: — " ills (Mr. K. IJycison's) lath(;r lifioil his sword again-l the thioatsof his 
 own counlrynien, striiKSlinn for freedom from Kslablishetl Churehes, stamp acts, 
 military domination, Scoteli (iovernors, and Irish CiovLrnment ; and hi* brother 
 Georne figured on the frontier in the war of lbl2, and got woundtd ami pensioned 
 for fighting to presorvc Crown and Clergy riscrves, and all the other strong hohU of 
 corruption in tin- hands of the locusts who infest and disturb the province. ' 
 
 Such are the fi-tdings of i\ir. Hume and Mr. Itoebuck's Canndian as-oeiatos in 
 regard to those old Inited Kmpire Loyalists who adhcrnl to the Crown of Great 
 Jiritain during the American revolution, and tlio^e faithful Canadian s dijects of Ills 
 liritannic Majesty who fought boldly and successfully in defence of Upper Canada 
 ai;ainht the invasions of the United States from 1812 to 1815. 
 
6^ 
 
 ill 
 •at 
 is 
 
 ita 
 
 
 of drums, &c. at their elections. Here then is a large body of people 
 remarkable for their religious strictness — notorious for their rigid en- 
 forcement of sobriety and murals — imlepciidont (;f the (iovernment — so 
 decided and formidable on the side of the Constitution as to be th_ 
 objects of loud and reiterated attacks by the defeated party; and yet 
 we are told the Constitutional candidates were returned by " bribery, 
 intoxication," and even " riot !" 
 
 In regard to " riot," out of forty elections, Sir F. Head's impugners 
 have only specified three at which the proceedings were suspended or 
 interrupted on account of riots — namely Leeds, Simcoe, and Grenville. 
 
 r j:A this look like carrying the elections tltroti;,'hout the Province by 
 " r^.1. '"' And let us examine the case of these three exceptions. 
 In the County of Leeds there lias not been an election these ten years 
 without a riot, insomuch that a Provincial Act was passed two years 
 ago to prevent the recurrence of such proceedings. There were, there- 
 fore, riots in that Cuiuity long before Sir F. Head came to Upper Ca- 
 nada. In the County of Simcoe tlie anti-C(mstitutional candidate, after 
 three days polling, and being hopelessly in the rear, retired from the 
 contest, protesting that he "feared" there would be a "riot" and "blood- 
 shed." And Mr. Duncombe hastens to Enghmd to impeach Sir F. 
 Head on account of this poor man's "fear" of a riot! As to Grenville 
 two anti-constituti(malists were rioted into the Assembly, and declared 
 by the Returning Otticer to be duly elected, in consequence of which, 
 the Constitutional candidates have protested. And yet is the Lieute- 
 nant Governor represented as the " head rioter" in Grenville also ! Such 
 are the unprincipled efTorts of Mr. Hume's Canadian compeers to 
 conceal the disgrace of their own defeat, and to blacken the character 
 of Sir F. Head, 4,000 miles distant from the scene of action ! 
 
 The last and most serious charge against Sir F. Head is, that he made 
 grants of land and issued patent deeds up to the time of, and even 
 during the elections, in order to create a sulhcient number of voters to 
 "overpower the reformers." The aforesaid Mr. M'Kenzie enumerates 
 eighteen instances in the County in which he was defeated by a 
 majority of one hundred. It is also asserted that "hundreds of voters' 
 were thus "manufactured" throughout the Province. Now, my Lord, I 
 will assume, for the sake of argument, that 1000 voters were " ma- 
 nufactured," by issuing patent deeds during the month previous to the 
 elections, and yet not the slightest suspicion of " corruption " or unfair- 
 ness is attributable to Sir F. Head, or to any party concerned. 
 
 I 
 
J: 
 
 a;^ 
 
 ^i 
 
 £•* :k 
 
 ^ 
 
 U 
 
 m 
 
 I will here remark, in the first place, what every roader of the ad- 
 vertisements in the Canadian newspapers nnist have observed, that there 
 are auction sales of Crown Lands, by the (jovernment Commissioner, in 
 various parts of Upper Cfinada, every week, from May to November, 
 in lots from a quarter of an acre (where town plots are sold out) to 200 
 acres. Thcpxa-chasers of land at such auctions are entitled to their 
 patent deeds from the Crown, as soon as they have fultillcd the con- 
 ditions of their purchases. A deed can generally be procured from the 
 Crown Land Office, under the signature of the Governor, on one, two, 
 or three days' notice. Patent deeds are thus being issued nearly everyday 
 in the year. It would, therefore, appear very strange that the Crown 
 Land Office should be shut up several weeks merely ijccause there was 
 to be a general election ; and it would appear equally strange, if pur- 
 chasers of lands, of both political parties, were not more than usually 
 anxious and diligent to obtain, on the eve of a general election, 
 and especially one of vital importance and thrilling interest, deeds of 
 land which they had purchased ; nor would it show any thing more 
 than a laudable disposition in the heads of departments to accommodate 
 those who were entitled to deeds, to employ, if necessary, additional 
 clerks, to meet the increased number of applications in such an emer- 
 gency. Such then, is Sir F. Head's criminality in " manufacturing " 
 voters of this class. The anti-constitutioiuil party are quite mute as to the 
 number of their own supporters who voted on the newly obtained deeds. 
 There is also another class of deeds issued from the Crown Land 
 Office, which it is proper for me to notice, and which are issued in the 
 form of " grants." It is on this class of deeds that Mr. Duncombe and 
 his associates ring the changes most lustily. This class of deeds is 
 issued to two descriptions of persons — I. To children of United Empire 
 loyaHsts, each of whin is entitled, by virtue of Royal liberality, to 200 
 acres, on his or her becoming of age, as a reward of paternal services to 
 the British Crown. 2. To persons who obtaineil as actual settlers " free 
 grants " from the Crown. The greater part of Uj)per Canada has been 
 settled by this second description of persons. Up to withhi a very few 
 years, grants were made by the Crown of 100 or 200 acres to actual 
 settlers, >ipon condition of their clearing ten acres, and erecting a 
 dwelling-house within two years. This done, the settler, on paying a 
 small office i\,'e, was entitled to a patent deed, in the form of a " free 
 grant" from the Crown. Now, there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, 
 of settlers in Upper Canada who have done what is there called 
 
a 
 
 1/ 
 
 
 " .sfttlmj,' duties ;" who Imve ui'ciipii'tl tlu'ir hinds from five to tifteen 
 yt-ars ; and who, knowing that thi-ir nanics are on the books of the 
 Surveyor General and Crown Land Commissioner, for the hjt or lots 
 they occujty, feel quite easy, and neglect to pay the requisite otliee fee, 
 or even ai)i)ly for their deeds, until they are prompted to do so hy some 
 such exeit nig occurrence as a general election, when they want to ex- 
 ercise their elective franchise, but which they cannot do without a bona 
 yWc deed of freehold projtcrty. For months, and especially for weeks, 
 previous to a general election of au exciting character, in that Province, 
 there is a scramble amongst njany inhabitants of new settlements after 
 their deeds from tile Crown Lund OHicc, similar to that which i;> 
 witnessed in Knglanil to register voters. Such has bcenthe case from my 
 earliest recollection, and 1 suppose it will continue to be so, as long as 
 public lands are to be granted or sold. In some cases, perhaps in most 
 cases, the parties coiicerned enij)l(»y an agtiif to procure their deeds 
 from the (joveiiiment ollice. On many occasions the land agent <»r his 
 deputy has met his employers at the election hustings, and delivered to 
 them their " free grant" deeds, when they have proceeded to vote. I 
 can state an individual case in point. On arriving at the age of twenty- 
 one years, 1 niy.-elf was entitled to a United Empire jxrant of 200 acres 
 of land. 1 at length prescii'ed the pro[ier application and jmpcrs to 
 the Governor (Sir V. Maitland) in Council, when the uaiial order was 
 issued. On locating my United Empi"'; right, I was informed at the 
 Crown Land Oflice that the Iloyal patent deed would be filled up and 
 signed by the Governor at any time on a couple of days' notice. 1 did 
 not ap])ly for the deed until several years afterwards. Now, had I, in 
 the mean time, desired to \ote at an election in tlie county where this 
 land is situated, I shonlil Live forthwith njjjilied for my deed, and would 
 have voted on a deed (lat( ,1 })erhaps the week of the election, t'" ,.; deed 
 specifying also that the land v.iiiiin descril)ed was a " free grant" from 
 the Crown ; and Mr. C. DuiM-ombe would have posted oil' to England to 
 memoviriiize the i3ritisli rariiament, through Mr. Hume, against Sir F. 
 Head, fi .■ making a "Canadian" a " free grant" of 200 acres of land, 
 during the very week of the election, in order to " manufacture" him 
 into a voter, so as to " swamp the friends of freedom " in Upper Canada ! 
 Now, my own case, my Lord, is the case of hundreds, if not thousands, 
 in that new and rising Province. And there is no more " corruption" 
 or "briberv" in thus issuins; deeds from the Crown Land Office in 
 I'pper Canada, than there is in England in registering votes in the 
 
«8 
 
 » 
 
 
 manner, suid by paying the fee, prescribed by law. Yet knowing how 
 such facts, unexphiined, would tell upon the minds of statesmen and 
 others in P^ngland, who are unacquainted with the local circumstances 
 of Upper Canada, this Mr. Buncombe and his conij)eers are employing 
 them to impeach and destroy the public character of a man who is an 
 honour to the country of his birth, and whose heart is as truly liberal, 
 and warm, and honest, and British, as his understanding is quick and 
 comprehensive, (c) 
 
 It is with painful reluctance I have again trespassed upon public 
 notice. Had 1 not felt that letting the misrepresentations and calumnies 
 of Messrs. Hume, Duncomln;, & Co. pass unnoticed, while I possessed 
 the requisite local knowledge to refute them, would be a dereliction of 
 duty to the inhabitants l d present Governor of Upper Canada, I should 
 not have intruded on the British public another letter on the Canadas. 
 As long as Mr. Duncombe supports the institutions, and endeavours to 
 promote the improvements of his adopted country, he is entitled to res- 
 pect and confidence ; but it is neither seemly nor sull'erable for an Ameri- 
 can fortune seeker to come into a British Province, and as soon as he has 
 accomplished his object, and raised himself to some consequence by 
 professing British feelings and loyalty, to attempt the overthrow of 
 British institutions, and even to foist himself before the British Legis- 
 lature, and dictate to a Britisli Government what kind and form of con- 
 stitution shall be established in a British Colony. I do confess my 
 indignation kindles at the thought of my infant native land being libelled 
 and disgraced, and retarded in its rapid career of improvement, from 
 such a quarter. If Mr. Duncombe has become discontented under any 
 other than Republican ' istitutions, let him return to the country from 
 whence he came, in many parts of which he can enjoy them in all the 
 natural perfection of that unsullied human natiure which he so much 
 
 (c) What lias 1 rm advanced in lliis letter in refatation of Mr. Hume and Mr. 
 Duncombe's iiUci; itions against His Kxcellency Sir Francis Head, has been recently 
 contirnied by the I'pper Canada House of Asseml)ly, which after a long debate, re- 
 fused oven to print mt, Duncoinbe's petition. J'he resolution for printing it was 
 moved by ono of Mr. l)uncouil)e'd friends, and was negatived by a majority of 
 39 to 11. 
 
 And if any further proof were wanting that the pres( nt House of Asseii\l)ly truly 
 represent the letlings and character of tiie people of I pper Canada, it may be found 
 in iheunprtredentedly harmonious, rapiil and statL'siniin like maimer ia wiru;h that 
 body is proceeding with the accumulated businns<) of the country; and i\\r present 
 tranquil and already prospering condition of the I'rovince. Jt is worthy of remark, 
 that the Canadian associates of Mr. Duncombe and Mr. Hume have not got up a 
 single political meeting in all Upper Canada since the election in June last. Why 
 this new era in Upper Canadian history if there is one word of truth in the state- 
 ments of Mr. Hume and Mr. Duncombe'? 
 
 : , 
 
 H 
 
«9 
 
 udmiros. But lie shall not transplant them into I'pper Canada, na long 
 as ninetecn-t\v('ntii'th.s of the inhabitants pobscs.s, as they do now, the 
 heart of, my Lord, your Lordship's most obedient hiunble servant, 
 ^M^M*r24, 1836. A CANADIAN. 
 
 V.a. — Since the foregoing letter was written, 1 have read Mr. Dun- 
 combe's i)etition to the House of Commons, as published in the Morning 
 Chronicle. I observe nothing in it tiiat deserves further notice, except 
 the terms applied to political i)arties in Canada, such as "Oraiigimen" 
 and "Tories," "\Vhigs" fuid "Ueformers,"— terms calculateil, if not 
 designed, to deceive the British ]»ublic, as they are used in a diJlerent 
 sense both in the United States and in Canada, from that in which they 
 have been usually employed in England. In the l.'nited States the term 
 " Tory" is apjdied to the ultra-democratic party — a party ojjposed to 
 even a national bank, as tending to create a monied aristocracy, and 
 infringing the principles of Uepubliean ctjuality ; and the term " \\ big" 
 is there applied to what is fretpiently called " the Aristocracy." In 
 Upper Canada, every man that supports the Constitution, however active, 
 and even ultra-Liberal he may be in his views and measures of practical 
 reform and improvement, is, by the anti-Constitutional party, called a 
 " Tory." On the other hand, those w lo have assumed the name of 
 "Reformers" advocate the abolition of the Legislative Council or 
 Canadian House of Lords, and the establishment of an elective Senate in 
 its place ; they insist upon the Governor being governed by a local Ex- 
 ecutive Council or Cabinet, that shall also be governed by the House of 
 Assembly, being removable at its pleasure; and that all Crown lands, 
 &c. shall be under the absolute management of this local Government. 
 What is that but a Republic ? What is that but Mr. Hume's " freedom 
 and independence from the baneful dominatitm of the Mother Country ?" 
 Or Mr. Roebuck's Canadian " Government purely democratic ?" 
 
 As to the term " Orangemen," it is employed to producB ellect in this 
 country, and is a mere figure of speech in its application to I'pper Ca- 
 nada; for Mr. Dimcombe knows perfectly well, that the comparatively 
 small denomination of Catholics in that Province are for the most part 
 supporters of the Constitution, with the Bishop at their head; and that 
 Catholic, Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Methodist clergy have alike been 
 denounced by the self-styled Canadian *' Reformers." The deception 
 thus attempted to be practised upon the British public by this Mr. Dun- 
 combe and his associates will be at once detected, when the Canadian 
 sense of the terms "Tory" and " Reformer" is understood. 
 
■JO 
 
 I III: 
 
 I:': 
 
 LETTER VII r. 
 
 To His Majesti/s Piinvipal Secret nri/ of State for the Colonics. 
 
 Mv Lord, — III concliKlintj these cursorv ohsorvations on the alVairs of 
 the C'anadas, I bfg to draw your Lordsliip's attention to the present .state 
 of Lower Canada. I do so, not with llie vain jiresmnption that I ean 
 furniish your Lordship individually with any fresh light upon cjuestions 
 rcspeetin<( which so much laljour and expense have heen incurred by 
 His Majesty's (iovernnient to obtain correct and ample mformation ; 
 nor do 1 presume to imagine, or desire to bring your Lordship to any 
 other conclusion in respect to the allair.s of that Province, than that 
 to which I am persuaded your Lordship must have already come. In 
 regard to the principles on which the Government of the C'anadas nmst 
 be conducted, in order to secure their existence, and promote their in- 
 terests as British Provinces, I think there is little room for diHerence of 
 opinion. My object is, to place, through your Lordship, before the 
 Members of the Imperial Parliament, and the British public, the crisis 
 at which the affairs of Lower Canada have arrived, and the alternatives 
 which are left to the British Legislature in adjusting them; — hoping 
 thereby to contribute, in some humble degree, towards securing the con- 
 currence of all British Stitcsmen, except Messrs. Hume and Roebuck, 
 in those constitutional measures which are essential to reform and 
 eslabliah the government of Lower Canada. 
 
 From the brief skt-tch which has been given in the preceding letters, 
 of the progress of events in Lower Canada, several inferences forcibly 
 present themselves. 
 
 L That during the last six years, every reasonable effort has been 
 employed by His Majesty's Government, even at the expense of the 
 feelings of the Anglo-Canadian inhabitants, to appease and conciliate 
 the French leaders in that Province. 
 
 2. That the demands and arrogance of the Canadian Frenchmen, 
 have increased in an exact ratio with the progiess of conciliation and 
 concession on the part of His Majesty's Government. 
 
 
 I 
 
71 
 
 3. 'J'liHt there is not the slightest trace of grateful feeling in themimU 
 of the ruling French politicians of Lower Canada, for the unparalleled 
 liberality and generosity which the Uritish (Jovenunent has displiiycd 
 towards that i'rovince, in comparison with tlie more wise but less ge- 
 nerous policy pursued by the (ioverninent of the United States towards 
 the ' enfans du sot ' of those French territories w hieli have eonie into 
 their j)OSsession. 
 
 4. That even the latent feelings of impatience, hatreil and contempt 
 of Hritish character and authority, cherished by the French Canadian 
 politicifins, have developed 'hemsdves in proportion us tlic Adminis- 
 tration has reached out the hand of fraternal embrace, and assumed 
 before them the attitude of anxious persuasion and entreaty. 
 
 5. That here is a province of vast capaljilities — the eye of British 
 North America — the mart of extensive and growing western territories 
 — with a river not inferior to the famed Mississippi, and sea-ports open 
 to all the world ; — here is a province, or rather a country, thus favoured 
 by nature and Providence,paralyticin the very act of putting forth its 
 mighty latent energies— awakened into life by British capital and 
 enterprise — and exhibiting the statue-like contrast of suspended anima- 
 tion to the happy and healthful activity of neighbouring provinces on 
 either side. And why ? Simply because a band of French politicians 
 — unknown in any single field of exertion and enteri>rise but that of 
 agitation, and prompted by personifications of restless selfishness in 
 London — demand the absolute control of that British intelligence and 
 energy which have changed Lower Canada from a rendezvous of Fur 
 Traders into the emporium of a large and increasing commerce, a port 
 of immcrous ships, and enlarging fields of successful agriculture! 
 
 6. Another inference suggested by the facts stated in the foregoing 
 letters is, that whilst concession to the Canadian Frcnclimen makes 
 them no better subjects, but renders them more arrogant and ungovern- 
 able, it exasperates otherwise peaceable and faithful British subjects 
 to the madness of despair, and the rebellion of self-defence, by the 
 dreary apprehension and prospect of a transfer from the fostering and 
 loved government of their father land to a local, selfish, anti-commer- 
 cial, anti-emigration, and anti-British French domination. 
 
 1 cannot draw a more faithful picture of the present political aspect 
 of Lower Canada, than in the following words of a gentleman now re- 
 siding in Quebec, and who has long been an attentive observer of the 
 progress of events in that Province •.— 
 
7-2 
 
 " 1. Die local LrKiulatiire i» divided against itself, one uf the iiuuses 
 seeking the de.struetion of the other for several years past. 
 
 "2. The pejjple rallying nnder prejudices of national origin, indus- 
 trioiiKly excited by political leaders, vvho by this means are NUre of 
 popular support. 
 
 "3. An executive Government kept for three years without the means 
 of paying its olliccrs for the execution of the laws, while the money is 
 levied (m the people in virtue of permanent Acts, and kept in the chest. 
 
 "4. The Judges I'orthc same time without their salaries, and depend- 
 ant on their tradesmen and fellow townsmen, on whose causes they are 
 to decide, while they are constantly exposed to the calumnious charges 
 of the Ilepresentative body, without its having provided the means of 
 bringing them to trial before aji im|)artial and independent tribunal. 
 
 '•5. The cities and towns left without any funds for police piu'poses, 
 or legal means of levying any, while thefts and roldn-rifs, iiiid nuinb'rs in 
 the street are of fretpient occurrence, and no proper place of detention 
 for criminals. 
 
 "(). The roads and bridges, made at the expense of the Province, 
 falling to ruin, and no public improvements going on. 
 
 "7. No amelioration of the existing laws, but a virtiuil abdication of 
 their Legislative functions by the Representative Assembly. 
 
 " 8. Real property rapidly declining in value, and the employment of 
 capital discouraged. 
 
 •*9. Labour and agricultural produce deprived of the natural reward, 
 and the only trade which keeps industry alive, threatened in its 
 existence. 
 
 "10. Disloyalty, disafleciitm and contempt of the royal and judicial 
 authorities encouraged and widely disseminated ; and the very existence 
 of the (iovernment threatened. 
 
 " Such is a true outline of the main features of the present condition 
 of Lower Canada, the correctness of which none will venture to deny, 
 however much parties may dilTer as to the cause. 
 
 "Can such a state of things last? 
 
 " is this the Government that a British King and a British Parliament 
 intend for Canada ? 
 
 •' Or do they intend for us something worse, the Government of men 
 who voluntarily and perseveringly, or ignorantly have brought the 
 Province to its present condition ? 
 
 "Let the British Parliam<nt and the people of England, Ireland, 
 
 
Mi) 
 /t) 
 
 nr\{\ Scuiland anbwcv, and save tlii>iii^i>1vfik uikI iin, before it i* /«• 
 tatvr 
 
 C'crtuin it is, therefore, thai soimf/iitifr musf he done, and done without 
 dehiy.^w; I think it is e(jually obvious, that three thing's must not be 
 done, if I^ower t' ..ada is to be saved to Great Uritain, or preserved from 
 civil war. 
 
 1. TheExeeutivefiovernnient must not be rendered res'ponsih/e totlie 
 Loeal Assembly in the manner denuuided bv the Fremh Uijiublieans, 
 and tlifir London advisers and advoeates. 
 
 2, Tlie Legishitive Coinieil must not be rendered effcfivf. 
 
 My reasons a^^ainst both of these |>roiiositions ha\e l»een ^iven at 
 snllieient h'n^Mh in the .sijfh letter, 
 
 H. And to adfl to the I.egishitise Couneil, as at jtresent eonstitutcd, 
 from the I'ajiincau seliool, wouhl be ((jually destruetive of every thing 
 Uritisli in that Provinee, as it would increase the dissatisfaction of 
 the British Inhabitants, and reduce them to the bitterness of slavery, 
 or rather rouse them to desj)erati()t» — would strengthen the power of 
 French resistance, and weaken the power of British control — would not 
 oven satisfy the French leaders themselves, (as past experience proves,) 
 but encourage them to increased and persevering exerticms in their 
 crusade for absolute supremacy until they attained it. 
 
 As to the remndies,(bj I will only make one or two remarks in addition 
 to the suggestions I have taken the liberty to oiler in a former letter, [Pp. 
 50-53.] A Governor of talent, judgment, and energy, it will be admitted 
 on all hands, is undoubtedly necessary. It requires something more 
 
 (a ) The earnest observations of Lord Aylmer, in a despatch to the Earl of 
 Aberflecn, dated 5th March 1834, have betn ^aiiiinK streni^th evury day from that 
 time to tlie present. " 1 lit'g most anxiously and earnestly to hesei'rh His Majesty's 
 Gover:inient to consider, that to wlialever causes tlie present state of Lower Canada 
 may be truly luscribed, whether to vices in the admiiiittralion of its affairs, past and 
 present, to the ilisappointeil ambition of factious and evil designini; men, or to other 
 causes inherent in the structure of its society, this at hast is certain, that the afiairs 
 of tiiis noble province havi; been brouRlit into such a condition, that unless the 
 Imperial Parliament can be induced to interpose its supreme authority in relieving 
 the Local Government from the diflicdtics with which it is encompassed, and in 
 providing against the recurrence of them hereafter, the auliiority of the King's Go- 
 vernment in the province must be viitually extinguished, and the institutions of the 
 Country set adrift under the guidance of the heads in which the 92 resolutions of 
 the House of Assembly wereeiigeiidertd." 
 
 (h) I deem it quite supeitluous to enter into a discussion of the feudal French laws, 
 want of registrifcs, &c. &c., winch are so loudly and justly complained of by the 
 mercantile and other liritish interests in Lower Cauttda. I limit myself to the 
 mere mention of those few great principles which I believe must form the basis of a 
 sellltd and successful British Government in that province. 
 
 and, 
 
(^^ 
 
 i^''. 
 
 74 
 
 t him a submissive giKwi-naturril man f«i a<,linini>lir the ^{ovoiniuiiil of 
 liowcr Canada. 
 
 Tlif iiitcirsts (if the t«i -■• "t •>( iiih.'iliiiants, rightly iiiulcr>tt)«»tl, arc 
 thi> saiiif; anil tlioiigh the jinti-n intcn-Nt \\ns hnn lost sight of in the 
 mist of national prtjinliii-, ami the raniing ambition of Frt'n«'hinrn to re- 
 gain an ancient sujininacy, — who ha\e thereby forfiitcil the eharttTetl 
 rights of the Constitution again»t uhieh they have itrotested and waged 
 war, — yet I desire not the sacrifice of the Constitutional rights of «'ither 
 race, but the equal protection of Ixjth. It is, therefore, sul>mitted, 
 whether, in the presi-nt state of |«irty feeling and i* rench republn anisni, 
 the K.\eeuti\e, in its nu ans of suii]>ort, ought not to be rendered, in a 
 great di';^'ree, independent Ifoth of the Legislative Coinieil aiul House of 
 Assendily. until an eipiality in the representation is secured to each class 
 of inhabitants, or the French renew their allegiance to the establisheil 
 Constitution, and desiat from their really suicidal hostility to Uritish 
 authority, inunigration, commerce, and internal iniprovenn-nts. 
 
 In saving Lower Canada from present agitation and prospective civil 
 commotion, the numerical majority-principle theory nuisl yield to the 
 weightier considerations of the state of society, heretofore settled and 
 acknowledged compact, and rightful Uritish prerogative. 
 
 1 beg it will also be remembered, tliat L'pper Canada has a deep 
 interest in this atl'air, and awaits xls adjustment with intense anxiety. I 
 have avoided discussing the great question and proposed ulterior remedy 
 of uniting the Canadas; nor have 1 deenieil it necessary to make any 
 remarks on the advantages to the Hritish conuuercial and agriculttu'al 
 interests of both the Canada.*. — viewed simidy in that light — of giving 
 Upper Canada imrestricted access to the ocean. The inliabitants of 
 Upper (.'anada possess a common feeling, as well as interest, with their 
 British fellow sul»jects of Lower Cauaila ; and should the ujdiappy day 
 of conllict ever come between Briton and Frenchman, thousaiuls of 
 Upper Canadians will l>c found ntllying to the eimtest. Sure I am that 
 Upper Canada will never suffer the toll-gate of a Freneli republic to be 
 erected across their high way to tlie Atlantic, from which to pay jll,l(K} 
 annual tax to the seltish democracy of Mr. Roebuck, and gratify the 
 
 ianism of Mr. Hume. 
 
 •l> 
 
 utop 
 
 (c) 
 
 (c) I lHli>.ve tlial no Mogle occarrtnce lias latterly tloiic more lo lower tiie 
 (ligiiily and wlmU'II the influtncc of Ilis .Majosty's (jovtriiii.ciil in l.ovvir Canarla 
 —-ami U» .soiiif extent in Ipper Canada— than the apparent emuiiviiii; at tho salary 
 of .Mr. lloelmck, paiii as it h.t- been out of the piiliir rcvcniu;^ ol iLal province, 
 iimler a simple r»-io!>'.tion of the A«scn)bly, and aijainsl (lu ienion»traiii e of the 
 
/•I 
 
 n^u^t \h> vi«'w»"il asnnc ('(iiinhy ; aiul if (ire. it Mriiain d»'>inv, to dcvrlup 
 the amiizin^' ifsourccs of that \viii\il(ifiil coimiry— 1<> i>l'ojiIi' its fertile 
 tcrritorii'N willi her <)lT>|iriiij,'— to cli.iiigL' It.i l)ouiiillr>s foiTsts into 
 riiiiil'iil liflils and lloiiriNliliiff towns — 1«» cnvt-r its rivers aiui lakrs with 
 lnr ^llills, and till its jiorts with her nuTclumdisi' — to hind it to JUTsi-lf 
 in liic liondft of rriiprooal intcri'st, connmct and alh'i'tion, — then inii.sl 
 she, n-^'ardlcss of the onicious nionot»)ny of a Iliinie and the si'Kish 
 dcchmiatinn of a Hochiick, the vaiioiiiint,' of a l'ii|»lm'au and the 
 cahiinny <d" a Matkin/.ie, infuse the con^tilniional cIcnKnts of her o«n 
 tnonarchica! j,'r('atnt'>s info the instiiniions of her t'atiadian pro'^cny ; 
 and, with a Sir-Francis-Hcad eourtcoii.s and manly iiicryy, |iroclaini 
 her intentions, a|»i'rise her enemies of the eonseijuenee of rc-sistanee 
 atid her friends of the sure j,'rountl of ailherenee and action; and, in 
 the lan_i,Miaj,'e of the |)re>ent aide and sueeessi'iil (iovernor of Upper 
 Canada, '^eorreet every real grievance luit preserve the happy eonsti- 
 tntion inviolate." In such a ease I helievi- all will he well; otherwise, 
 I am pnrsnniled nothing' will he well. 
 
 I have the hoiiotu' to he, 
 My Lord, 
 Your Lordship's most ol>edieiit humhie Servant, 
 
 A CANADIAN. 
 London, January '17, ^^'-^l • 
 
 l.e;;i>I;iliv( ('(Hinril iiml liif ( xpiTsscd opinion-* of llie lute (iovernor in Chief, 
 'lite iinitonii ^ikiict.' nt Hi" Mijcsty's (jovciiihk iil on tlic suliicct whenever it 
 hiis li'ji'ii piost'il upon their notice, iinioiMit.s l«) an iiilnn-sion that vuch ii 
 iiioile ol iipprnpiiatini; ihr puhlic ri'\cnue> i- uIa uii^ly iiiHen-tilnlion.il ; yet the tacit 
 >:inetioi'in^ < I .-lu li an v.ik o'.i-titiitional act and (huii;eitius iin eohit, ha-> appeared 
 to ini.ii ate the hUecninliinf; of (iovernn.t nt to the elaiooni- ol u l)aity, and the >acri- 
 ticeol i;r«'at priiiiiph < to tin; hiippo^ed pre-sureol temporal y expedii-ney ; aniuunl- 
 ini; till ret'ore to till! Cdutessioii ol .inin<hi:i>ion and u(.ikne-s wliicli h.ixe enilioldened 
 iiinov,ji>is on tlu' one >ide, aid >hak('n tlir eeniah nee and ahiriiicd thi' U\w> ot eon- 
 t>tiiutionali>t> (111 th(f oilier. 1 -tatt the-f t'.ict-j not in the nay of censure, Iml tor 
 llie puipuseol caution. I qut-tion nol the Inch <'oi sid< rations which ha\e (hclated 
 eveiy a( t of lli- .Maj(Sty's Cit^M innieiit lewanl- the Canada^ . and I Lnow too well 
 llio laliynnth of mi- lepre-iuntation and diiliciilty in wliichthe atiaii- of Lower Cu- 
 iiaila ha\«' lici!ii in\(ii\cil, to iiller one word of ciiii:p<aint in iet;ard to the pa»t. 
 It is perfectly clear, li(ivve\e;, tliat if the ( 'on-^titulioiial ( hart' r ot the Canadas is 
 to he the liasis of the (loxernmcnt, — and not the weather-cock vilnaiion^ of party 
 "expediency' - the priiici[ile>and provi-ions aii(lri)irit of that Charte: 11111^1 he lirndy 
 and inviolaldy iiiaiiitained, iiow much soever it may allect .Mr. Koehuck'- pocket or 
 Air. Jlume'.'^ puop^cts. 
 
 T!IF. KM). 
 
 the 
 
 KISt., IIMMH., et'l.LK.I 1111.1, U>M>.'N.