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Lee diagrammea suivanta iiiuatrent la m^thoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 TO THE aUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY. Tlie Petition of liie undersigned Proprietore of Real Estate, Merchants and others, Inhabitants of the City and Island of Montreal, in the Province of Lower Canada. MOST GRACIOUS SOVEREIGN, Your Petitioners most humbly reprcMcnl that His Excellency the Right Honoura- I)1p Charles Poiiletl Thomson, has submitted for the re-corisiderution of the Special Council •ppointed for the affairs oftUis Province an Ordinance, intituled, " An Ordinance to incorporate tlie Ecclesiastics oftheSeminary of Si.Siilpiceof Montreal, to confirm their title to the Fief and Seigniory of the Island of Montreal, tlie Fief and Seigniory of the Lake of the Two Monr.tains and the Fief and Seigniory of St. Sulpico, in tliis Province, to provide for the gradual extin'tion of Seigniorial rights and dues within the SL'igniiirial limits of the said Fiefs and Seigniories, and for other purjioses ;" the provisions of which involve theriglit of private property, the welfare of this Province and the general interests of the Canadas. Your Petitioners ri-pri'senl, that the evils and inconveniences of the feudal tenure have bi-eii SI niMieially iic'.iiKiwIedgod, that it will not lie necessary to occupy the attention of your Mnjesty wiili a detail of the various oppressions and exactions incident to its existence in Lower Ca- nada, in all parts of which it has retarded the extension of its commerce and the developement of its natu- ral resources : the hciivy fines on alienations, which impede the transmission of land and impose a burdensome tiix upon every improvement, the feudal privilege on every purchase of real estate, which rtMiders iis posseiision insecure and prevents investment of capital therein, and the Seignorial monopoly in llie manufacture of the |)roduets of the soil, which checks improvement in cultivation and cramps enterprizj in commerce, are not only injurious to the use of land for agriculture, but are infmitely more destructive to its - -"plication for building purposes. Yiiur Petitioners submit, that however objectionable the continued existence of the fetidal tenure may be ihroiiglioul the Province, its pernicious influence is felt with augmented force in the Island of Montreal which includes the City of Montreal, together with the ground on wliich it must, in progress of time, extend Itself, and is tiie admitted cause of the slow progress both in extent and prosperity of a City, which, fron\ its locnl position nnil the increasing resources of the Canadas, possesses every capa- bility of being one of the greatest marts of trade and most extensive scats of population in your Majc-sly'e North American dominions. Although repeated and respectful remonstrances have been made at various periods against the continuance of the feudal tenure, wWw.U has been unwisely permitted to exist in full force in this Provine.u nioiie, of all t'le wide dominions of the Urilish Empire, your Petitioners rejoice that it has been reserved to your Majesty to be enabled to sanction the abolition of its pernicious hifluenat3 in this l-lnnd, and to provide for it: entire exlliiclion. Your Petitioners have no diviro to impede the legislative powers of the Special Council, appointed for the making of Laws ami Ordinances for the Government of the Province, but tiiey entertoin a firm coMviciioii, lint freni the peculiur conslllulion of the Council ond the want of an effective system of re- presentation tliei'fin, public interests and private rights cannot, at all times, receive the ade(|uate eonsid- rrnilon that tlieir importance ami urgency demand, and that from those inharont legislative dofecls, the proposed Ordinance, nltogelhpr objeciioi nlile in principle and in detail, formerly received the sanction of lliat leuislaiive body, and would have been now in force, had not the temporary charneter of the Ordinance necessitated its re-conHlderntloii, for the piirpohc of being endued with the power o( permanent law. Your Peliiioners nre therefore rcliii'laiitly compelleil to lecur lo your Majesty, for protection and relief uij;aiii«t the provisions of the i onleniplnted Ordinance, which not only pei|wtuates and iiggravates the fiMidnl tenure ho loudly and so justly coinplaineil of, but at the same time superiidds eviU «f n mure ueneriil rharncler and ol'tiir ui'i'aler impiirlaiicei «■■ \ Y"ur Petitioners coinpiaiti that, coiitrnry to iniWic policy, contrary to tlio just dependence of alt religious Orders and Communities in the Province upon the will and pleasure of the Sovereign, in as far as the laws of Great P-itain porniit, and contrary to the express exception contained in the Imperial Statute 2d Victoria Chapter 53, which enacts " that it Hliould not he lawful for the Governor General with the ad\ ice and consent of the Special Council, to make any Law or Ordinance ..Itering or affecting the temporal or spiritual rights of the Clergy of any Religious Communion in the Province," the Ordinance provides for the erection of the Ecclesiastics of St. Sulpice at Montreal, into an Ecclesias- tical CtTporation, with all tho undefined rights and privileges which any Ecclesiastical Corporation might or could at any period exercise or possess, and which it is hunihly conceived that no authority less than that of the Imperial Parliament can institute in this Province. They complain that, although by the mere elTect of the Conquest of the Province, confirmed ' y the cession contained in the subsequent treaty o( peace, the Fiefs and Seigniories before enumerated, be- came the property of the Crown, and in its power to dispose of either lor public purposes or in such manner as might be thereafter directed, the Ordinance provides for the divestment of those estates from the Crown, and for their investment, contrary to Law, in the Ecclesiastical Corporation intended to be erected under its provisions, and thereby absolutely prevents their application to purposes of public utility, as well as unconditionally abrogates any disposition thereof wiiich may ha ,e been made by the Royal pleasure. They complain that contrary to the Royal assurance contained in the Proclamation of His late Majesty King George the Third, and bearing date in the year 1763, which declared the Royal intention to settle and agree with the inhabitants of the Colony, and with all who should become iuhabiiants there- of for grants of such Lands, Tenements and Hereditaments as were then or thereafter should be, in the power of His Majesty to dispose of, upon the moderate quit rents and acliiuiwlcdgcments of the other Colonies, without any reference to feudal tenure as a condition of the giant, whcrcl.y ilie Fiefs and Seigniories above enumerated in right and justice became freed and exempt from tiie operation of feudal tenure, and although the Royal promise continues unrevoked and should receive the large and favourable construction affixed to every assurance of Royal grace am favour, the Oiilinance not only establishes Seignorial rights and dues in those Fiefs and Seigniories, but perpcluales tlu'ir existence by providing for their gradual and voluntary commutation only, in derogation of the express enactnieMt of the Imperial Parliament for their general and immediate extinction. They complain that, although at the Conquest of Quebec by the IJiitish Amif, the snid Fiefs and Seigniories were the acknowledged properly of the community of Ecclesiastics of the Si'iiiinary of St. Sulpice at Paris, and that the Missionaries and Members of the order resident at Montreal did not pos- aesanny exclusive title to the property of those Estates, and acted merely in the capacity of Agents in the collection of their revenues for the benefitof the community at Pari^■, and that altli(uij;li the Eccle- siastics at Paris neither at the Conquest nor nt any sulise(|uent peiiod, did or could convey iiny lilie in those Estates to the individual members of the Order resident at Montreal, who woi>. n .ii'pcn cut sec- tion of that community and possessed of no independent Corporate capacity to receive smh cmivey- ance, the Ordinance confirms to the Ecdesiasiics at Montreal a title to those FielVi and Seiyniorii's \\liich they never possessed, and to which they can estalilifb no claim, and endows ihein w itii pri\ili'ge8 and powers as Feudal Seigniors, indefinite in their extent, and embracing in llie tiiinraliiy of the con- cession the worst vassallage of the most feudal times. They complain that, although the Ecclesiastics at Montreal are dependent lor their existence in this Province, upon the Royal will and pleasure, restricted within the limitiilion, " in as far as the Laws of Great Britain [lennit," and were aiul still continue subject to the siinie Royal authority which suppressed the Communities of Jesuits and Recolleis and assumed the possession of their Estates for public purposes, the Oi'dinnnce altogether liberates the Ecclesiastics at Montreal from such Royal supervision, and renders them independent of Imperial legislation, conlriiry to the limited Legislative powers of the Governor and Special Council in this respect, and in violation tf the Laws of Great Britain. They complain that, nlthoiigh llie Ecclesinslicsat Montreal have unjustly received from allenolions of real estate in this Island an amount exceeding £300,000, equal to twenty times the value of the en- tiro Island at the Proclamation of the Royal promise, an increase in viiliie mainly to be atlribiiled to British industry and enteriirise, the Ordiniince propcK-s to invest llii'iii with ndditiriiid \\e«liii,lo be drawn chiefly from the Hanic sources of improvement, in extreme disproportion to the general wealth of the Province, and infinitely greater than their previous demands or expectiiiions, and moreover enables them to purchase and take in moilmain any real properly, and to iin unlimited amount without any restriction by the Royal iiuthorily or any peiini-sioii rei|uired lor such iicinafiiions; wheioliy t V^ f I f municipal as well as genera) improvement will Ikj greatly retarded, and an influence, bolli civil and ecclesiastica!, conferred upon the Ecclesiastics, wliich cannot fail of being exceedingly dangerous to the future tranquillity and welfare of the Provinces, They complain tiiat, although by the Imperial Statute, 14th George the Third, chap. 83, making more effectual provision for tiie Civil Government of Quebec, the Canadian subjects were secured in the enjoyment of their properties and possessions, with the express exception of the religious Orders and Communities, and the inhabitants professing the religion of the Church of Rome were fully and freoly tolerated in the exercise of their religious faith, subject to the supremacy of the Crown, and that although the Clergy of the said Church were restricted to claim and receive their accustomed dues and rights from such person.< only as should profess that religion, the provisions of the Ordinance subject nil iptlier inhabitants of this City and Island, professing a belief different from that of the Church of Rome, to support ai-d maintain the Ecclesiastics and Institutions of that Church, by the payment to the proposed Ecclesiastical Corporation, of a large amount for the commutation of Seigniorial tenure, in violiition of the pledge of the national faith and honour contained in the Imperial Statute, and in vio- lation of the express exception contained in the recent Imperial Statute above adverted to. Whatever m-iy bo the gracious dispositions of your Majesty with respect to the Ecclesiastics of the SL'minary of Si. Sulpice at Montreal, Your Petitioners humbly conceive, that the Royal muniti- cenro in favour of the Ecclesiastics should not be effected at the expense of British and Irish commercial cnio prise, pricticnl agricullural improvement, and active and untirir.g industry, and that Your Petitioners should not cither in justice or in equity be required to provide a compensation to the Ecclesiastics for their williipf^ness to "cllle this important question, however desireable it may be definitively to adopt and carry that settlement into eilect, or for their reailiness to agree to a commutation of Feudal rights in this Island, to which tlicy enjoy no legal title and over which they possess no legal controul. Your Petitioners are sensible, that by the mere sulferarice of the Crown, the Ecclesiastics of Montreal liave collected and received, for many years, the Seigniorial revenues arising from the Island of Motiiroal ; but your Petitioners humbly conceive, that mere sufferance of possesbion for any length time, canniit confer upon the Ecclesiastics a title in derogation of t'e rights of the Crown, and that they caiuKit coiiq)lHin if that sufferance should bo now witlidrawn, inasmuch as they would not ihereby be ileprived of property previously secured to them, wliich they had continued to enjiiy in good faith and in ignorance of their absolute want of title to possess the same. Your Petitioners submit, that the Ecclesiastics at Montreal have not at any time been in igno- rance of the injustice of their pretensions, but upon various occasions, have not only acknowledged the absence of any title, but likewise the precarious nature of their enjoyment of the revenues of the Seigniory. By tlie Ar'ides of Capitulailon of Montreal in the year 1760, in which no express claim or reservation of title was niado on their behalf ; by the treaty of peace of 1763, and the Cession therein roiiiained,in which no reference is made to the properties nml possessions in the Province claim- ed byReliyiiius Orders and Coinuuuiities ; by the terms of liic Deed of Gift executed at Paris in the year 1764, between the ('ommunity at Paris and the Missionaries of the Order resident nt Montreal, in which their want of title is admitted by themselves ; by the provisions of the Imperial Statute, passed in the year 1771, in which the Religious Orders and Conuuunitics are expressly excepted from the enjoyinent of propc rty and possessions j by their proposed abandonment to the Crown in 1826 of their proiensions to the properly of tlie Isliind in consideration of an annual allowance, and by their express admission in t!ie preamble of tlio Ordinance itself, tiieir want of title is not only established but distinctly admitied ; while it is evident that the reiterated Royal Instructions to the ttuceessive Governors of the Province in regard to the suflerance enjoyed by the said Ecclesiastics, and especially the Instructions to His Excellency Lord Aylmer in 1834 to assimie the possession r" the I-lnnd of Montreal, the iiivesligations of the Government with respect to the title of the Ecclesiastics, and the opinions, at diflt'renl |ieriods, of the law advisors of the Crown both in Enj^innd and in the Cul.iny nnd of the laio Royal Conmiissioners, all adverse to the pretensions of the Ecclesiastics, the repeated eoniplaints of the British inhabitants, nnd their imavailing attempts to obtain n deciuion in the Courts of Law in this Province, of all which the Eeclesiaslies at Montreal were perfectly cognizant, I'll concur in eslablishing their knowledge, as well of their want of title as of the mere sufTeranco of their enjoyment of the revenues derived from the Island, subject to interruption at any time, upon the pleasure of die Crown or by the decision of a conqietent legal tribunal, a knowledge on their part which is nnqily eonlirmed by die policy which they have constantly adopted, of accepting a modified composition from those who iioHsessed the means of contesting their title, while tliey exacted at Slior- i it's sales the full amount of Seignorinl dues, from the proceeds of the properly of those, who, from cireiiiiislaiices of calamity or misfortum , were deprived of the mcuiia of coiilobting their pretension*. A. Tkr f^i' vii-^J^ ) 1 IT Tm-i^T t' 't *■ f:> For these reasons, as well as from motives of public policy, from a due appreciation of tlie rights secured to them by tlu Royal assurance and the enactments of the Imperial Parliament, and from a siii cere wish to promote the prosperity of the Provinces, the extension of their commerce and their gen- eral peace and tranquillity, your Petitioners most humbly beseech your Majesty to refuse your gracious Banction to any Law or Ordinance, providing for the Incorporation of the Ecclesiastics of the Semmary at Montreal, for a confirmation of their pretension to the Seigniory of the I.land of Montreal, or for a continuance of feudal tenure therein, and to direct its immediate exemption from the opera- tion of that tenuro, and thereby relievo your Petitioners and the .nhabitants of the Island from the degrading vassailage to which they have been heretofore and still continue to be subjected, and that if contrary to good policy, contrary to the Royal ^urance and the remonstrances of the Bn- ti,h inhabitants, the exemption from feudal tenure shall be required to be purchased at the expense of the inhabitants of the Island of Montreal, your Petitioners humbly pray that the proceeds thereof may be applied to those public purposes, from which all clas.es of the population may derive equal ami commensurate advantage. And your Petitioners, as in duty and affection bound, will ever pray. o ^ ^ • ^ ^ H ^ CD ^0 o 9 1? & > ^ ^ 0) kiil!r«